Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
†HOBOY(E), n. Also †hoyboye, hautboy. A performer upon the hautboy or oboe, specif. a member of the company of musicians employed by Edinburgh Town Council until the middle of the 19th c. as town waits. See Wake.Edb. 1701 Burgh Rec. Edb. (10 Dec.):
The Council . . . Discharged all others to exerce the said office of Hoyboyes . . . and appoints the petitioners to begin their usuall play upon the first Teusday morning of October.Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) I. 54:
The Hautboys distant Notes shall then oppose Your phantom Cares, and lull you to Repose.Sc. 1724 Ramsay T.-T. Misc. (1876) I. 83:
What if I shou'd waking ly, When the hoboys are gawn by.
