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 1934 (SND Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BACKSEY, n. Name for a part of the loin (not the same in all districts) in the Sc. method of cutting up a carcass of beef, less commonly of mutton or pork. [′bɑk′saɪ]Sc. 1704 Acc. Bk. Sir J. Foulis (S.H.S. 1894) 355:
A breast and backsey of beife.Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems 334:
A healthfu' Stomach sharply set Prefers a Back-sey pipin het.Sc. 1808 Jam. (s.v. Sey):
In the dissection of an ox or cow, the back bone being cut up, the one side is called the fore-sey, the other the back-sey. The latter is the sirloin.Sc. 1819 Scott Bride of Lamm. xxxiv.:
This bit morsel o' beef . . . is out o' the back-sey.Abd. 1933 (per Mry.²):
Backsey. The part between the scrag of the neck and the place from which the chops are taken. The shoulder bone passes through it. In Aberdeen used most frequently for pork and mutton.Ayr.⁸ 1933:
The word backsey refers in Ayrshire to the cut composed of the pope's eye [q.v.], the sirloin and the rib roast.Kcb.¹ 1933:
The back sey extends from the rump to the sixth rib of the shoulder and thus includes the pope's eye, the sirloin and the prime rib.