▪ I. widdy Chiefly Sc.
(ˈwɪdɪ)
Forms: 5 widde, wedde, pl. wedeis, -ys, wyddis, 6 wedy, viddy, -ie, woddie, pl. widdeis, weddeis, veddeis, 6–9 widdie, 7 wyddie, 8–9 woodie, woody, 9 widdey, wuddy -ie, 5– widdy.
[Sc. and north. dial. variant of withy.]
1. A band or rope, properly one made of intertwined osiers or the like.
| c 1470 Henry Wallace iii. 215 Thai band thaim fast with wedeis [ed. 1570 widdeis] sad and sar. 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. i. xii, Out throw the wod come rydand catiues twane, Ane on ane asse, a widdie about his mone. 1513 Rec. Burgh Prestwick (Maitland Club) 45 For..cuttyn of the vyddyis of þe dur. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) II. 90 Witht widdieis [v.r. windassis] and towis. c 1730 Burt Lett. N. Scot. (1754) I. 87 Instead of Ropes for Halters and Harness, they generally make use of Sticks of Birch twisted and knotted together; these are called Woodies. 1789 Burns To Dr. Blacklock vi, I hae a wife and twa wee laddies, They maun hae brose and brats o' duddies;..But I'll sned besoms—thraw saugh woodies Before they want. 1824 Carr Craven Gloss., Widdy, twigs of willows or hazles dried partially in the fire, and then twisted into wreaths for many agricultural purposes. |
2. A rope for hanging, a halter; used (like halter and gallows) in various allusive expressions referring to hanging.
In later use sometimes app. understood as = gallows (in forms wuddy, woodie perh. by association with wood).
| c 1450 Holland Howlat 823 Callit him thryss thevisnek, to thrawe in a widdy. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxxiii. 48 He had purgatioun to mak a theif To dee withowt a widdy. 1508 Kennedie Flyting w. Dunbar 367 Thou has a wedy teuch..about thy crag to rax. c 1536 Lyndesay Compl. Bagsche 151 This Prouerb, it is of verite,..Hiest in Court, nixt the weddie. a 1568 in Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Club) 299/40 All tymes in thair legasie, Fyre, sword, watter and woddie, Or ane of thir infirmeteis. 1717 Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 221 In short, I think what the wooddie leaves the water gets. 1762 Bp. Forbes Jrnl. (1886) 213 God sin the Liars girn i' the Widdy. 1785 Burns Twa Herds xvi, Then Orthodoxy yet may prance, And Learning in a woody dance. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxxiv, There is as much between the craig and the woodie as there is between the cup and the lip. 1893 Stevenson Catriona iii, There's the shadow of the wuddy..that lies braid across your path. |
† 3. A certain quantity of iron: perh. orig. a bundle bound with a ‘widdy’. Obs.
| 1482 in Charters, etc. Edin. (1871) 168 The hundreth widde of Oismond irne..cumand to Leith. 1483 Acta Audit. in Acta Dom. Conc. II. Introd. 124, iijxx xv wedeis of irne, price of the wedde ij s. 1484 Exch. Rolls Scot. IX. 239, xx wethyis ferri..xx wyddis ferri. 1527 in Sir W. Fraser Sutherland Bk. (1892) III. 79 Fowrtein xx of veddeis of irne. 1603 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 516/1 Ilk hundreth wyddie of Oismond iryn of unfremen cumand to Leith. |
4. attrib. and Comb. (in sense 2): † widdy-neck, one deserving or destined to be hanged. (See also widdiful.)
| c 1480 Henryson Fox & Wolf 653 In dreid and schame our dayis we indure; Syne widdienek and crakraip callit als, And till oure hire hangit vp be the hals. a 1583 Montgomerie Flyting 765 Spew bleck, widdie neck! |
▪ II. widdy
dial. or vulgar var. widow.