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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

DAIGHIE, DAICHY, Daichie, Daechie, Daikie, adj. [′de:xi]

1. Doughy; “heavy, half-baked, sodden” (Slg.³ c.1917, daighie; Edb.³ 1929, daechie, daichie); “applied to bread not well fired” (Sc. 1808 Jam.). Hence daighiness, “the state of being doughy” (Sc. 1825 Jam.²).Rnf. 1862 A. McGilvray Poems 337:
Why, if your loaves are made o' flour Are they sae daichy, dark, and sour?Lnk. 1990s:
My doughballs are always a bit daikie.

2. “Soft, inactive, destitute of spirit” (Sc. 1808 Jam.). Hence used as a noun = a simpleton (Sc. 1818 Sawers Dict. Sc. Lang.), and in comb. daichy dough = a “softy.”Sc. 1909 Colville 132:
The bappy-faced nonentity was graphically but unkindly described as “daichie” (doughy).Lnk. 1895 W. Stewart Lilts and Larks 93:
But “Effie” sune proved she was gaffer By stealin' puir daichy dough's scone.

3. (See quots.)Bnff. 1812 D. Souter Agric. Bnff. App. 68:
A dry mellowy soil, made up of a due mixture of clay and sand, very deep, passes under the name of daichy haughs.Bch. 1735 J. Arbuthnot Practice of Farmers in Bch. (1811) 77:
A mixture of moss, sand and light earth, lying on a clay bottom, from which the mold receives such richness and fatness, that it deserves the name of daichy.