worricow Sc.
(ˈwʌrɪkaʊ)
Forms: α. 8 wirrycow, -kow, 8–9 wirricow, -kow. β. 8–9 worry-, worricow (9 worriecow, warricoe).
[f. worry v. +cow n.3 (as if ‘a goblin apt to worry’).]
A scarecrow; a hobgoblin. Also transf. a person of frightful or unprepossessing appearance.
| α 1711 Ramsay On Maggy Johnstoun xi, I hirsl'd up my dizzy Pow, Frae 'mang the Corn like Wirricow. 1728 ― Gen. Mistake 181 Much hated Gowk, tho' vers'd in kittle Rules, To be a Wirry-kow to writing Fools. 1815 G. Beattie John o' Arnha' (1826) 41 Or yet wi' wirriekows to mingle, That brinstane belsh. 1894 Crockett Raiders vi, That's Yawkins and his crew..the ill-contriving wirricows. |
| β 1757 Smollett Reprisal ii. i, It canna be our commander Monsieur de Champignon, running about in the dark like a worricow. 1789 D. Davidson Seasons 122 The worrycow gid sic a yell. 1809 T. Donaldson Poems 37 Where harpie, imp, an' warricoe, An' goblins dwell. 1816 Scott Bl. Dwarf ii, They do say there's a sort o' worricows and lang-nebbit things about the land. 1818 ― Hrt. Midl. xxviii, It..keeps unceevil folk frae staring as if ane were a worrycow. |
b. with
the = the Devil.
| 1719 W. Hamilton 3rd Ep. Ramsay xiii, May thou..thro' thy creed, Be keeped frae the wirricow, After thou's dead. a 1774 Fergusson Farmer's Ingle vii, Auld warld tales..O' warlocks loupin' round the wirrikow. |