tousy, towsy, a. Chiefly Sc. and north. dial.
(ˈtaʊzɪ, ˈtuzɪ)
Also 8– touzie, 9– touzy, 9 towzy, -sie, toosy.
[f. touse v. + -y.]
1. Dishevelled, unkempt, tousled; shaggy, rough. Also in Comb., transf., and fig.
| [1500–20 Dunbar Poems xviii. 32 And be I ornat in my speiche, Than Towsy sayis, I am sa streiche.] 1786 Burns Twa Dogs 33 His breast was white, his touzie back Weel clad wi' coat o' glossy black. 1820 Blackw. Mag. May 159/1 Like yere ain towsie hassock o' hair, that has nae been kamed since Kate Kimmer kamed it with the three-footed stool. 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 180 What an outlandish, toosy-headed, wee sun-brunt deevil o' a lassie that. 1871 C. Gibbon Lack of Gold xiv, His hair was long and ‘touzy’. 1873 A. G. Murdoch Lilts 57 Tell him, when in the touzie key, A nicht wi' him I wadna gie. 1897 H. Ochiltree Out of Shroud xxiv. 331, I was oot gey late ae nicht—a touzie nicht it was. 1925 G. B. Cumming A'anside Lilts 71 The times then were touzie to live in. 1955 Times 9 May 6/3 A campaign that is already showing signs of developing into a tousy fight. 1972 Listener 27 July 104/3 (heading) Glory goals rock tousy Rangers. |
2. Abundant, prolific; esp. in Comb., tousy tea, a knife-and-fork tea, high tea.
| 1835 Glasgow Jrnl. 31 Oct. 44 Mrs Stewart had laid what she styled a ‘touzie tea’. 1895 H. Ochiltree Redburn ix. 90 It's no very great place for yits or barley, but a gye tousie place for gress. 1934 T. Smellie Tea-Pairty 12 Next to a touzie tea there's naething like maesic tae soothe a savage beast. |