Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1976 (SND Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

WHEEGEE, n., v. Also whee-jee. [′ʍi:dʒi:]

I. n. 1. A whim, a perverse fancy or crotchet (Sc. 1825 Jam.); a humming and hawing, shilly-shallying, prevarication.m.Lth. 1857 Misty Morning 42:
Can ye no tell me withoot as mony looks and whee-jees?m.Lth. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick 168:
Jims here, wha has sae mony fikes an' whee-gees there's nae pleasin him.em.Sc. 1899 H. Rogers Meggotsbrae 88:
As mony wheegees aboot what ye can do an' what ye canna do.

2. In pl.: superfluous trappings, ornaments of dress (Fif., Ayr. 1825 Jam.).

II. v. To hum and haw, to beat about the bush, to be long-winded in one's talk. Vbl.n. whee-jeeing.Ayr. 1833 J. Kennedy G. Chalmers iv.:
Come, come, nane o' your wheegeeing.Ayr. 1870 J. K. Hunter Life Studies 285:
‘Gaun aboot the bush', or ‘wheejeein',' were terms used against long-winded speech-makers.