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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

†GEG, n.², v.² Also gegg, ¶ggeg. Sc. (mainly Gsw.) forms of Eng. slang gag. [gɛg]

I. n. A trick, deception (Gsw. 1825 Jam.); a practical joke (Gsw. 1856 J. Strang Gsw. Clubs 401, geg).Gsw. 1830 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) II. 347:
But confess, at the same time, that you was bammed, sir. . . . Just sae, sir, — that's a Bam. In Glasgow, they ca't a ggeg.wm.Sc. 1837 Laird of Logan 51:
Willie had often been bitten by these gegs.Abd. 1922 Swatches o' Hamespun 66:
She wis at the eyn o' her teddir. By nae gegg nor idder cud she wile roon him.Uls.² 1929:
“Talkin' about veils,” ses she, “mines me av the best geg ivir ye heerd tell av in all yer born days.”

II. v. To hoax, play a trick on (someone) (Gsw. 1825 Jam.).Gsw. 1826 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) I. 111:
Sae sune as I turn the tables on you, gegg you, as they say in Glasgow, turn you into twa asses.Gsw. 1856 J. Strang Gsw. Clubs 403:
The party to be gegged would be present.

Hence ¶1. gegee, n., [gɛ′gi:] the person on whom a joke is played; 2. geggery, n., a hoax, practical joke, piece of deception (‡Ayr.⁴ 1928); “a cant term commonly used in Glasgow in regard to mercantile transactions which are understood to be not quite correct in a moral point of view” (Jam.²).1. Gsw. 1856 J. Strang Gsw. Clubs 404:
The whole party, including the geggee, were in the highest spirits.2. Sc. 1826 Wilson Noctes Amb. (1855) I. 235:
A steamer took us to Glasgow, where . . . the punch was pleasant, and the people given to geggery, every house hospitable.Gsw. 1856 J. Strang Gsw. Clubs 327:
That class . . . loved fun and frolic, jest and song, geggery and gossip.Sc.(E) 1913 H. P. Cameron Imit. Christ i. xx.:
Bot the sickerness o' the ill-deedy . . . i' the en' swees tae their ain geggery.