▪ I. gillie, n.1
(ˈgɪlɪ)
Also 6 cuille, geilȝie, 8 gaelly, 8–9 gilly, 9 ghillie.
[a. Gael. gille a lad, servant = Irish gille, giolla.]
1. Hist. a. An attendant on a Highland chief.
| [1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe) 641/2 Next after the Irish Kearne, me seemes the Irish Horse-boyes or Cuilles (as they call them) would come well in order. a 1605 Montgomerie Misc. Poems liv. 2 Fyndlay M{supc}Connoquhy..Cativilie geilȝie with ye poik-braik.] c 1730 Burt Lett. N. Scotl. (1754) II. 158 It is very disagreeable to an Englishman over a Bottle, with the Highlanders, to see every one of them have his Gilly; that is, his Servant standing behind him all the while, let what will be the Subject of Conversation. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 3 Sept., We were attended by a..number of Gaellys, or ragged Highlanders. 1814 Scott Wav. xix, From the jargon, therefore, of the Highland gillies, I pass to the character of their Chief. |
† b. gillie-wetfoot, a rendering of Gael. gillecasfliuch (f. cas foot + fliuch wet); a contemptuous name among Lowlanders for the follower of a Highland chief; spec., the servant who carried the chief across a stream (see quot. c 1730). Also in adapted form gillie-casflue.
| 1681 S. Colvil Whigs Supplic. (1751) 84 Like gilliwetfoots purging states By papers thrown in pocks or hats [1751 Note, Gilliwetfoots, the attendants on highland chieftans]. [c 1730 Burt Lett. N. Scotl. (1754) II. 158 Gillie-casflue carries him [the Chief] when on Foot over the Fords.] 1755 Johnson s.v. Sorehon, Whenever a chieftan had a mind to revel, he came down among the tenants with his followers, by way of contempt called in the lowlands giliwitfitts, and lived on free quarters. 1814 Scott Wav. xiii. note, A bare⁓footed Highland lad is called a gillie-wet-foot. [1815 Mrs. Johnstone Clan Albin v, Roban's father had been Gillie⁓casflue to the old Laird.] |
| transf. 1808–80 Jamieson, Gilliewetfoot,..a worthless fellow, a swindler, one who gets into debt and runs off. Loth[ian], almost obsolete. |
2. One who attends a sportsman in hunting or fishing in the Scottish Highlands.
| 1848 Clough Bothie iii. 130 They had run, and beaten the gillies of Rannoch. 1873 Black Pr. Thule (1874) 5 The tall gillie patiently waited until his master had exhausted his passion. 1884 Marquis of Lorne in Pall Mall G. 10 May 2/1 The moral life of a ghillie in a deer forest is a most virtuous one. |
3. A type of shoe (see quots.).
| 1934 Webster, Gillies, low-cut sport shoes or ties with laces wound about the ankles. 1939 A. Keith Land below Wind xiii. 220 We had tried lace boots, gillies, short riding boots. 1950 H. McCloy Through Glass Darkly (1951) vi. 57 And brown shoes. The sort with no tongues and criss-cross laces that they call ‘gillies’. |
▪ II. gillie, n.2 Sc.
(ˈdʒɪlɪ)
[dim. of gill n.3]
A gill of liquor.
| 1786 Burns On a Scotch Bard 59 I'll toast ye in my hind⁓most gillie Tho' owre the sea. 1790 A. Wilson Ep. W. Mitchell xi, Owre a pint or gillie. |
▪ III. gillie, n.3 rare.
(ˈdʒɪlɪ)
[dim. of gill n.4; cf. gillot, jillet.]
a. A giddy young woman; = gill n.4 1, gillot 1. b. A mare; = gill n.4 3, gillot 2.
| a 1529 Skelton Elynour Rummyng 390 Of folys fylly That had a fole wyth wylly, With Iast you, and gup, gylly. 1603 Philotus xcvii, Sho is a gillie, Scho is a Colt-foill, not a fillie. 1822 Hogg Perils of Man I. iv. 54 ‘I wad ride fifty miles to see ony ane of the bonny dames’..‘Twa wanton glaikit gillies, I'll uphaud’, said Pate. |
▪ IV. gillie, v.
(ˈgɪlɪ)
[f. gillie n.1]
intr. To act as gillie. Hence ˈgillying vbl. n.
| 1905 Daily Chron. 2 Mar. 3/2 Contriving during the long vacation of six months to make enough money—by teaching, gillying or field-labour—to keep himself at the University for another year. 1926 Chambers's Jrnl. Mar. 153/1 Archie usually gillied for me. 1927 Scots Observer 9 Apr. 10/1 Nor is it intended to have classes in gamekeeping and ghillie-ing. |