Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

HOCHMAGANDY, n. Also houghmagandie, -y, houghmegandie. Fornication. Also used attrib. and fig. The word is obs. except as a reminiscence of Burns, etc. [hoxmə′gɑndi]Abd. a.1700 J. Maidment New Book Old Ballads (1885) 11:
And well I wot he kens the gate To play at hough-ma-gandy.Abd. 1746 W. Forbes Dominie Deposed lxxvii.:
Play up, sae merry as we hae been. . . . Gin the kirk wad let's alane' Or Houghmagandy.Ayr. 1785 Burns Holy Fair xxvii.:
An' monie jobs that day begin, May end in Houghmagandie Some ither day.Gall. 1796 J. Lauderdale Poems 50:
Be not sair on hough-magandie, As it's a fit o' friendly passion, And vera muckle now in fashion.Rnf. 1805 R. Tannahill Poems (1876) 44:
The priest convenes his scandal court, Tae ken what houghmagandie sport Has been gaun on within the parish.wm.Sc. 1979 Robin Jenkins Fergus Lamont 62:
Scotsmen do not find it easy to speak frankly of love, especially the physical aspects, without some protective coarseness. We call the act houghmagandy, and alas, in the performance we are too apt to make it measure up or rather down to that crude term. wm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 31:
If you were barescud-nakit, aye and geared
Up guid and proaper, staunin' hoat for houghmagandie
I could lukk and lukk ett you, and no get randy. Sc. 1991 Roderick Watson in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 102:
A bit houghmagandie was aa it was.
(Troy was an awfu place for that
aabody kent it, it was even expeckit,
tho nae by the Greeks at the city waas
- a gey conventional crood they were.) Dundee 1991 Ellie McDonald The Gangan Fuit 21:
The lassies
aiblins thocht ye braw - ye widden
heidit feckless redeless randy.
I telt ye that ye'd licht i the midden
atween usquebae an hochmagandie. Sc. 1994 Pete Fortune in James Robertson A Tongue in Yer Heid 154:
If it wis houghmagandie he wis intendin, we aa thocht he wis mair than welcome til it. Sc. 2000 Douglas Gifford in Conrad Wilson In Scotland 2 55:
It seems miles away from Scottish literature as a commentary on Scotland; but in its relish for comic reduction and topsy-turvy reversal it is not so far from the joyous riot and houghmegandie of Ramsay, Burns, and Hogg.