Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1790, 1843-1877, 1933
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HAPPITY, adj. Also reduced and altered form ¶happert. Lame (Ags. 1956); that causes one to hop or limp (Sc. 1808 Jam.).Sc. 1790 Sc. Musical Mus. III. 253:
I've a hen wi' a happity leg, Lass gin ye lo'e me tak' me now!Gsw. 1863 W. Miller Nursery Songs 27:
For a cloit o' a fa', Gars them hirple awa', Like a hen wi' a happity leg, John Frost.Sc. 1874 A. Hislop Sc. Anecdotes 6:
He was rather little, and had a happity leg.Gsw. 1877 A. G. Murdoch Laird's Lykewake 131:
An' yon ane [song] where on happert leg The waefu' woman comes to beg.Sc. 1933 W. Soutar Seeds in the Wind 31:
A puggie snaig'd aff wi' the cripple man's crutch . . . Och hone, och hone, grat happity John.
Hence (1) happetty, n., a man with a club-foot (Per. 1902 E.D.D.); (2) happertie-clink (Fif.), -clout, = (3), 'dot and carry one' (Lnk. 1959); (3) happie-ti-kick, the limping uneven gait of a lame person, whose legs are ill-matched. Also in Eng. dial. Used fig. in quot. of an ill-assorted marriage (Ags. 1956).(3) Edb. 1843 J. Ballantine Gaberlunzie's Wallet i.:
Like a' the lave o' her kind, she'll try to look young, but a bonny happie-ti-kick ye'll mak o't atween ye. You an' her gaun to the kirk wad need to get some auld sodger to pit ye thro' your facings.
