▪ I. jo Sc.
(dʒoː)
Also joe (anglicized joy).
[In sense 1, Sc. form of joy, F. joie. (In some dialects of 16th c. Sc., oy, oi ran together with ō: hence jone = join; rois = rose, etc.) In sense 2 app. the same word, and sometimes in 16th c. spelt joy.]
† 1. Joy, pleasure. Obs.
| c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) xxiv. 13 Hir court hes [pr. he] jo, quhair evir thay go. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 53 Now lat vs sing with myrth and Jo [rime principio]. 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xvii. 180 God may conuert our cair In plesure and in Jo [rimes wo, fo, no]. |
2. As a term of endearment: A sweetheart, darling, beloved one.
| a 1529 Skelton Agst. Scottes 91 Kynge Jamy, Jemmy, Jocky my jo, Ye summond our kynge,—why dyd ye so? [1535 Lyndesay Satyre 1302 Iennie, my Ioy [Pinkerton joe] quhair is thy dadie? 1563 Foxe A. & M. (1583) 1266 [Treigton, Bp. of Dunkelden] ‘My ioy Deane Thomas, I loue you wel’. 1573 Sempill in Satir. Poems Reform. xxxix. 255 Alace, my Joyis! ȝe had bot lytill skill. a 1605 Montgomerie Misc. Poems iii. 73 Judge of ȝour self by Julius, my joyes, Quhais fenȝeid freinds wer worse then open foes.] 1686 G. Stuart Joco-ser. Disc. 49 My Joe, quo' she, I need no' speer What wind it was that blew you here. 1725 Ramsay Gent. Sheph. i. i, Dear Roger, when your Jo puts on her gloom, Do ye sae too and never fash your thumb. 1790 Burns Song, ‘John Anderson’ i, John Anderson, my jo. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xxxviii, It's Miss Edith's first joe, your ain auld maister, Cuddie. 1830 Galt Lawrie T. ix. ii. (1869) 408 It might have been one of the servant girls with her jo. 1893 Stevenson Catriona iii. 28 Just twa o' my old joes, my hinny dear. |
▪ II. jo
variant of joe, Portuguese coin.