Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1934 (SND Vol. I). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BAWSEY, BAWSIE, BAWSY, n. Also bausie.

1. “A horse or a cow having a white strip or patch on the face” (Sc. 1887 Jam.⁶).Sc. 1776 D. Herd Sc. Songs II. 170:
Bruckie play'd boo to bausie And aff scour'd the cout like the win'.

2. An old horse.Fif. 1875 A. Burgess Poute 114:
I'm thinkin' my Bawsey wud count it a privilege and pleasure to keep her tongue in exercise for five minutes lickin' the broch frae their mou'.Edb. 1821 W. Liddle Poems on Different Occasions 87:
You mind me o' a buskit bawsey At th' carters' play.Cld. 1887 Jam.⁶:
Bawsie . . . is also used as a familiar name for an old horse, — a douce, canny old beast.Kcb. 1789 D. Davidson Seasons 7–8:
The harrows yok'd, and, now, Bawsy, reluctant, tears the breckan roots Harsh, spaul frae spaul.