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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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HIZZIE, n. Also hizz(e)y; hissie, -y; huzzie, -y; hussie, -ey. Sc. forms and usages of Eng. hussy.

1. Used with jocular or slightly disparaging force for a woman, esp. a young frivolous woman, a servant girl. Gen.Sc. Occas. of female animals.Sc. 1724 Ramsay T.-T. Misc. (1876) I. 28:
E'en gar the hissie come hither.Abd. 1754 R. Forbes Jnl. from London 28:
Three young giglet hissies.Lnk. a.1779 D. Graham Writings (1883) II. 154:
If a poor man want a perfect wife, let him wale a weel blooded hissie wi' braid shouders an thick about the haunches.Hdg. a.1801 R. Gall Poems (1819) 109:
The landwart hizzy winna speak.Rxb. 1811 A. Scott Poems 128:
"Thou faithless hizzie," Jamie cry'd, "Is this thy plighted troth to me?"Sc. 1815 Scott Guy M. xv.:
The death of the grey mare, puir hizzie, was naething till't.Ags. 1853 Montrose Standard (4 Feb.) 8:
A cumskarry hizzie wi' a tongue like the clapper o' a mill.Edb. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick 26:
At this the hizzies frae the big hoose, in the pew ahint, a' nudged ane anither an' giggled.Kcb. 1911 G. M. Gordon Clay Biggin' 22:
They stepped alang, licht an' free, . . . clean shanket hizzies baith o' them.Abd. 1920 C. Murray Country Places 38:
. . . a beggar hizzie Cadgin' the country side.wm.Sc. 1980 Anna Blair The Rowan on the Ridge 87:
James looked at Ann Muir that springtime afternoon and instead of the blowsy hizzie he expected to see, he found a thin girl with frightened tears in her golden brown eyes, whose lips trembled when she tried to speak. Abd. 1990 Stanley Robertson Fish-Hooses (1992) 9:
There wis a young red-heided hizzie on the finnin machine, wha hid a face on her like a pig. em.Sc.(a) 1991 Kate Armstrong in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 112:
Ye're aye dead busy, ye daft auld hizzy,
Tryin tae mak me speak braw;
Ye'll sune be deid, an aa the wards in yer heid
Ll've deed an a.

Hence hizzie-fallow, hussy-fellow, a man who interferes with or undertakes women's duties (Lth., w.Sc. 1825 Jam.); an effeminate man or mannish woman.Ayr. 1811 W. Aiton Agric. Ayr. 466:
There is some sort of false odium attached to men milking cows. His companions would call him hizzy fallow and other nick-names, and offer him a petticoat to wear.Ayr. 1823 Galt Entail xxxv.:
What's t'ou doing there like a hussy-fellow? . . . leave the bairn to the women.Dmf. 1836 A. Cunningham Lord Roldan II. iii.:
She's just a real hizzie-fallow — half man and half woman, wi' pantaloons where she should have petticoats.

2. A woman of bad character (Sc. 1808 Jam., hissie, hizzie). Gen.Sc.Ayr. 1790 Burns To a Gent. 31–2:
If that daft buckie, Geordie Wales, Was threshin' still at hizzies' tails.Ayr. 1822 Galt Sir A. Wylie ciii.:
De'il an the like of that hizzy was e'er in ony creditable family.Sc. 1896 Stevenson W. of Hermiston vii.:
Making a mess o' himsel' wi' nesty hizzies.Sc. 1931 J. Lorimer Red Sergeant x.:
But perhaps I'm Jael, the hizzy Jael.

3. A pocket-case for holding needles, thread, etc., a housewife, a pouch (Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 278, huzzy; Sc. 1825 Jam., hussey, huzzie; Ork., Cai. 1957). Comb. hussy-case. Rare and obs. in Eng.Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian xxix.:
And I have seen the Queen, which gave me a hussy-case out of her own hand.Kcd. a.1826 J. Burness The Recruit 32:
I hae a ring, 'tis either gowd or brass, A thimble, hussey, and a keeking glass.wm.Sc. 1854 Laird of Logan 16:
My answer to every advice was, I kent what I was doin' — did I never see my mither makin' a hussey?Bnff. 1880 J. F. S. Gordon Chrons. Keith 164:
The Daughter unwarily displayed a well-filled Purse or "Huzzie," and remarked that she could lend money, if she knew where to find good Interest.Edb. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick xii.:
He coft me a bonny hussie to mind me o' the day.