sharny, a. dial. chiefly Sc.
(ˈʃɑːnɪ)
[f. sharn + -y.]
Bedaubed with dung. So sharny-faced adj.; sharny-peat (see quot. 1808).
| a 1625 F. Sempill Blythsum Bridal v. in Herd Sc. Songs (1776) II. 25 Flea-lugged sharney-fac'd Lawrie. 1737 Ramsay Sc. Prov. (1750) 125 Ye shine like the sunny side of a sharney weght. 1808 Jamieson, Sharny-peat, a cake consisting of cows' dung mixed with coal-dross, dried in the sun, and used by the poor for fuel in some places. 1821 Scott Pirate v, Nane of your sharney peats, but good aik timber. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb x. 77 Gyaun in owre's bed wi's sharnie beets on. 1896 Crockett Cleg Kelly xliv. 291 Ye sufferin', shairny blastie o' the byres. |
b. as n. (see quot. 1825).
| 1825–82 Jamieson, Sharnie, a name given to the person who cleans a cow-house. 1897 E. W. Hamilton Outlaws of Marches xviii. 207 Hout! you auld sharnie... Gae round to the byre and see till the kye. |