dowie, dowy, a. Sc. and north. dial.
(ˈdaʊɪ, ˈdɒwɪ)
Also 5–6 dolly.
[The identity of dowie with l6th c. dolly appears to be proved by the treatment of the two as variants in Gawain Douglas. Probably a deriv. of ME. dol, doll, OE. dol, dull, with -y or -ly; cf. also dully, used in same sense, and OE. hál, háliᵹ, holy.]
Dull and lonely, melancholy, dreary, dismal.
| 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 412 Now done is my dolly nyght, my day is vpsprungin. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. Prol. 51 The dowy dichis [ed. 1553 dolly dikis] war all donk and wait. Ibid. x. iv. 73 The dolly tonys [ed. 1553 dowy tones] and lays lamentabill. Ibid. xiii. x 102 And end his dolly dayis, and dee. c 1581 Sempill Complaint on Fortoun 171 In Striuiling toun, out of his dowie den..thai fyrit him in his nest. ? 16.. The Dowie Dens of Yarrow xv. (in Minstr. Sc. Border), She kiss'd them, till her lips grew red, On the dowie houms of Yarrow. 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) I. 26 What dowy hours I thole by your disdain. 1790 Burns Highland Harry ii, I wander dowie up the glen. a 1851 Moir Poems, Disenchantment xiii, The dowie dens of Yarrow. 1890 Scot. Liberal 14 Feb. 11 Dark valleys and dowie dens of ignorance. |
Hence ˈdowily adv., ˈdowiness.
| ? 17.. Twa Brithers xi. in Child Ballads (1884) ii. xlix. 439/2 Sae dowilie alane. 1801 Macneill Poet. Wks. (1844) 107 Lying down dowylie, sighed by the willow tree. |