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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SUGARALLIE, n. Also -all(e)y, -alla, -aloe, -ali(e), -alae, -all, -awly, -aully, -olie, -olly, -ellie, -y, -ella; succreali; also in full form sugarallie crieshe (see etym. note). [ʃugər′ɑle; wm.Sc. -′ole; n., em.Sc. -′ɛle]

1. Liquorice, esp. when made up as a sweet, Black Sugar, a stick or other confection of liquorice (Sc. 1825 Jam.; Fif., Lth. (-ellie), Ayr. (-allie) 1923–6 Wilson). Gen. (exc. I.) Sc.m.Lth. 1812 P. Forbes Poems 21:
Sulphur, salt fish, sugar allie.e.Lth. 1842 Children in Mines Report (2) 465:
Mother gives me 3d., which I spend in sugaralleys and sweeties.Gsw. 1854 Glasgow Past & Present (1884) II. 167:
All the porter, however, which was brewed in Glasgow at this time was of a very inferior quality, being extremely dark in its colour, and coarse in its flavour. It was generally understood to have contained a strong infusion of liquorice or “sugarallie crieshe,” as our operatives called it.Gsw. 1880 H. Barclay Old Glasgow 152:
A third Volunteer body was the “grocers,” which was in mockery termed the “Sugar-aloe” corps.Lnk. 1910 W. Wingate Poems (1919) 74:
Dabbities, peevers, and thick sugar-all.Ags. 1921 A. S. Neill Carroty Broon xvii.:
Long tubes of sugarella.Rxb. 1922 Kelso Chronicle (6 Jan.) 4:
Sugaralae, composed of liquorice sugar and elecampane (Inula Helenium) was dissolved in the mouth [as a cough cure].s.Sc. 1947 L. Derwent Clashmaclavers 87:
Whiles a lucky-bag I'd try, Or sticky sugar-alla buy.Abd. 1985 Robbie Kydd in Alexander Scott New Writing Scotland 3 41:
There are aniseed balls and black-strippit balls and sugar-elly straps and sherbet bags, all a haipny each.

2. In Combs.: (1) sugarellie button, a liquorice sweet made in a disc form like a button; ‡(2) sugarallie hat, a tall black silk hat, specif. as orig. worn by policemen (m.Sc. 1971); hence used as a nickname for a policeman, occas. shortened to sugarallie; (3) sugarally mountains, a name for the heaps of black waste from the St. Rollox Chemical Works dumped in mounds in the Cranhill district of Glasgow; (4) sugarallie water, a children's drink made by dissolving a piece of liquorice in a bottle of water. Gen.Sc.(1) Ags. 1886 A. D. Willock Rosetty Ends 148:
Flossie had a weakness for sugarellie buttons.(2) Ags. 1887 J. McBain Arbroath 104:
Their bonnets were replaced by “sugarellie hats.”Gsw. 1899 Gsw. Herald (23 Dec.) 8:
The term “sugar-ally” was applied to the “Peeler” from his tall hat having strips of metal up the sides, not unlike sticks of black sugar.Gsw. 1904 H. Foulis Erchie 65:
The sugaraully hats the polis used to hae.Ags. 1948 J. C. Rodger Lang Strang 29:
In comes the mannie Wi' the sugarellie hat [the minister].Gsw. 1953 J. J. Lavin Compass of Youth i. vi.:
Yelling derisively: “Sugarawlly Hat ,” to the might and majesty of law.(3) Gsw. 1965 Scotsman (26 Aug.) 13:
An area of ugly waste heaps known euphemistically as the Sugarally Mountains.(4) Ags. 1889 Barrie W. in Thrums xxii.:
Bairns gaily shook their bottles of sugarelly water into a froth.Bte. 1913 Rymour Club Misc. II. 77:
Sugar ally water, as black as the lum, If you gather up your pins, I'll gie ye some. (The reference is to liquorice with water in a bottle, a sip of which is given in exchange for a pin, a button, etc.).Kcb. 1923 W. D. Lyell Justice Clerk I. iv.:
What say ye to a sma' bottle o' sugaralie water?Gsw. 1947 J. F. Hendry Fernie Brae 10:
Shall we make some sugarolly water?Gsw. 1972 Molly Weir Best Foot Forward (1974) 51:
And it took no coaxing at all to get us to take sugarally water. This was made by putting a wee piece of jet-black Spanish liquorice in the bottom of a medicine bottle, topping it up with water, and a spoonful of sugar, and shaking it for hours, until the brew turned dark brown. We used to chant a wee rhyme as we shook the bottle: 'Sugar-ally water, As black as the Lum, Gether up peens, An' ye'll a' get some.' wm.Sc. 1979 Robin Jenkins Fergus Lamont 32:
We were alchemists, with our mysterious sugar-olly water, made of water, sugar, licorice, and any other ingredient that might give it a strange flavour. After being vigorously shaken, it was kept in a dark secret place for a certain number of days. Then we would chant: "Sugar-olly water, black as the lum, Gether up peens and you'll get some." Gsw. 1990 John and Willy Maley From the Calton to Catalonia 48:
Oh, an see when ye wur Dracula an ye bit that wummin's neck, ah nearly choked oan my sugarolly watter. Gsw. 1995 Herald (23 Sep) 14:
On Paisley Road West in Kinning Park, diagonally opposite the church of which I am minister, there is a huge poster advertising Red Bull fizzy drink which reads "Clergymen in heterosexual scandal". It is part of a series using "ironic humour".
Presumably the joke is that we clergy are all a bit suspect in the hormone department. Forgive me if I find it as flat as I find a can of the sugarolly water it advertises. Edb. 1997:
Yeuch! This wine's lik sugarallie water. Sc. 1997 Scotland on Sunday (8 Jun) 14:
My Mohammad Sarwar prize competition this week - bottle of bubbly for the winner, sugarallie water if you're a Muslim - is to put the best headline, in English preferably, to this cutting from a Chinese newspaper. Gsw. 1997 Scotsman (28 Jul) 9:
Truth to tell there was an awful lot of keich written about doon the water ..., by which I meant a sort of Glasgow late kailyard in which music hall Tory-voting West of Scotland execrescences, like so-called comedians and horrors like Mollie Weir, ... giving us drivel about how: "There we were wae oor sugarally watter in oor poackits, skipping excitedly in oor wee black sannies. Oor maw skelping us forbye, and jings, were they no' the days.