skeigh \skeekh\, adverb:
1. proudly.
adjective:
1. (of horses) spirited; inclined to shy.
2. (of women) proud; disdainful.
When thou an' I were young and skeigh, / An' stable-meals at fairs were dreigh...
-- Robert Burns, The Auld Farmer's New-Year Morning Salutation, 1792
My mare is young and very skeigh…
-- Sir Walter Scott, The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, 1803
In the 1500s, skeigh originally referred to skittish behavior of horses, and it came from the Old English word scéoh meaning "shy." The sense of "proudly" arose in the 1700s.
No comments:
Post a Comment