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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1934 (SND Vol. I). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BACKIE, BAUKIE, n.¹, v., adj. [′bɑkɪ̢, ′b(:)k See P.L.D. §§ 85, 93.]

1. n. (1) A hoist on the back. Also buckie-up (Bnff., Ags., Edb., Gsw. 2000s) Also a piggyback.Sc. 1997 Daily Mail 17 Oct 11:
( ... giving idle weans a backie up the stairs to bed or flinging said layabouts off sofa etc). Sc. 2004 Sun 25 Jun :
Milan reckoned the only way they were going to finish the trek was if I got a backie - but I was left red-faced as his soldier pals all hooted with laughter.Edb. 1992:
Gimme a buckie-up tae hing the curtains. Edb. 1993:
Backie meaning a piggy back was used by my children at school in Edinburgh.  Gsw. 1985 Michael Munro The Patter 12:
buckie-up This means the same as backie in the sense of climbing: 'Sumdy gie's a buckie-up.' Ayr. 1887 J. Service Dr Duguid 171:
Ane o' them gied the ither a backie up on to the wa'.

(2) A boys' game.Ags.¹ 1932:
In e.Ags. a game called backie used to be played. A row of boys bent down, the head of each touching the posterior of the one before him. A boy leaped on the back of the last and advanced along the row of backs, to see where a back would give way. [See Bab at the Bowster, phr., , and Hockey-duck.]

(3) A ride on the back of a bike.Sc. 1998 Daily Record 10 Apr 27:
I'm talking about Scotland's biking god, Niall Mackenzie.
I cadged a backie from him while testing Yamaha's big beastie Thunderace.Sc. 2000 Mirror 4 Apr 34:
'I thought we were getting transport,' quibbles Michelle. I confess that the front tyre is punctured on my Hercules foldaway shopper bike, so the backie I'd promised is off.Sc. 2004 Sun 10 May :
JUDE LAW, who just gets better with age, shows he's not just a pretty face as he gives girlfriend SIENNA MILLER a backie on his bike.Edb. 2005:
Ma uncle used tae gie me a backie tae the shoaps on his bike.

(4) Reduced form of back green (s.v. green adj., n. III. 1.).Sc. 2002 Aberdeen Evening Express 27 Nov 18:
Highlights, of which there are many, include ... several wrestling-style bouts involving people trying to rescue jackets and coats from underneath a conked-out journalist (not me, I hasten to add) and a bonfire out the 'backie' ... ne.Sc. 2003 Press and Journal 1 Sep 12:
Then again I canna miss oot the fine filie I hid in Phil Cunningham's mam's hoose in Portobello, sittin oot in the backie wi mum hearknin tae ivvery wird in case Phil didna tell aa!Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 71:
I mean, 'Love thy neebour' is aa verra weel, bit nae fin yer neebour dumps his auld fridge an sofa oot the backie.Dundee 1991 Ellie McDonald The Gangan Fuit 35:
Out the backies,
in bricht yella hard hats,
the laddies
hemmer doun the wash house.Edb. 2003:
When Ah wis wee ye aye sent bairns tae play in the backie.

(5) Phr. a backie o win'. (See quot.)Mry.¹ 1927:
A backie o win', a slight breath of wind shewing on the surface of the sea: a cats-paw of wind.

2. v. To lift a person on one's shoulders.Ayr. 1825 Jam.²:
Baukie. To raise a person on one's shoulders to any object beyond his reach.

3. adj. Sore on the back.Bnff.² 1932:
An old man engaged in cleaning the walks in the Duff House policies used to speak of his employment as “a gey backie job.”