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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

KISHIE, n. Also kizhi(e) (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl.), kizhy, kizzie (Sh. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XII. 125); kes(c)hie (Sh. 1888 Edmonston and Saxby Naturalist 166), kesshie (Sh. 1931 Scots Mag. (Aug.) 336), kessi(e) (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928)), ke(y)sie, keyshie (Sh. 1869 J. T. Reid Art Rambles 51, 1886 G. Temple Britta 132), kaesie, kaishie. [′kɪʃi, ′kɪʒi, ′kəisi]

1. Variant forms of Cassie, n.¹, a straw basket or creel. Hence kishie-foo, kessieful, the quantity or load carried in such a basket (Sh. 1960).Ork. 1700 P. Ork. A.S. (1923) II. 20:
They did fynd lying hidd in your kaill yaird ane kessieful of wooll.Sh. 1811 G. S. Keith Agric. Abd. 13:
Their lordly masters filled their creels or kessies (i.e. baskets made of straw) with the dung, which the women carried on their backs to the field.Sh. 1856 E. Edmonston Sketches 48:
An old man tottering under the weight of his keyshie of sillacks.Ork. 1880 J. Omond 80 Years Ago 19–20:
A meil's kaesie was made to hold about a meil of corn; a meil was twelve Dutch stones of seventeen and a half lbs. As they were used to take home meal from the mill they were tightly woven of straw and bands, the bottom being flat and the sides almost straight up, round like a barrel.Cai. 1891 D. Stephen Gleanings 97:
He was never without his straw creel or “keysie” going from house to house, and anything was welcomed by him.Sh. 1916 J. Burgess Rasmie's Smaa Murr (Siptember 25):
Der never ony boddom til a föl's kizhy.Sh. 1947 New Shetlander (March) 9:
Boo'd anundir a kishie a paets.Sh. 1957 Sh. Folk-Bk. III. 60:
A kishie-foo o Faroe braandy wisna ta be squeeched at.

Combs.: (1) kessilepp (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928)), kishie-laepp, -lepp, kizhilep (Sh. 1914 Angus Gl.), an old, broken, or worn-out basket, or its remains (Sh. 1960); (2) keshie-simmind, a thin rope, of bent or coarse grass, used for making keshies (Sh. 1960).(1) Sh. 1899 Shetland News (19 Feb.):
If yon bröt, Tappa, id no driv'n doon da bit o' kishie-laep an' laid Kaemsa's bonnie broon egg in skroil.Sh. 1956 New Shetlander No. 43. 20:
When a kishie can no longer be used it is usually waapd furt apo da midden . . . When it reaches this stage it is known as a kishielepp, and it is said that a haaf-man from Nesting once came ashore on a kishie-lepp.(2) Sh. 1898 W. F. Clark Northern Gleams 21:
When there was nothing else to occupy our attention, there was the inevitable keshie-simmind to fall back upon.

2. A name for the cowrie-shell (Abd. 1960). Also in the form cassie (Id.).Abd. 1952 People's Jnl. (12 July):
“Kysies” are tiny, buff-coloured buckie shells . . . Farther along the coast, towards Fraserburgh, their name changes to “groaties.”