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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

GUNDY, n.¹ A kind of toffee or candy made from brown sugar, syrup or treacle, butter and flavouring. Gen.Sc. Cf. Black-man, n., 3., Glessy, n., 1. [′gʌndi]Edb. 1828 D. M. Moir Mansie Wauch (1898) iv.:
Instead of gundy, I sold my thrums to Mrs Walnut for a penny, with which I bought . . . a sheet of paper and a pen.Ayr. 1871 J. K. Hunter Life Studies 301:
Aleck had a bit of gundy, glassy, or blackman (the stuff was known by any or all of these names) stuck on his thumb.Sh. 1891 J. Burgess Rasmie's Büddie 98:
Ita mi pooch i Sundy A caandy-drap, a mootie nip O peerie Jessie's gundy.Kcb. 1893 Crockett Stickit Minister 173:
Hey, you, gie's that gundy, or I'll knock your turnip heids thegither!Gsw. 1902 J. J. Bell Wee MacGreegor i.:
Ye micht think shame o' yersel', wantin' gundy efter ye've ett twa aiples an' a pie forbye.Per. 1910 Scotsman (9 Sept.):
Among sweets, “Gundy,” a supple stick of treacle toffy, seems to have succumbed in the struggle of existence among the more refined modern temptations.Mry. 1914 H. J. Warwick Tales 117:
The “gundy” was trickling in beneficent drops down the sides of the “staun,” to the silent delight of various urchins who feasted below.Fif. 1939 St Andrews Cit. (18 March) 4:
I laid a ha'p'ny doon and said: “I'd like a stick o' gundy.”

Combs. and attrib. uses: 1. gundy-ball, a round sweet made of gundy; 2. gundybool, id., see Bool, n.¹; 3. gundy-hammer, a piece of gundy pulled into a kind of hammer shape (Slg. 1954); 4. gundy-maker, -man, -monger, -seller, a person who makes or sells gundy; 5. gundy stand, a stand where gundy is sold; 6. gundy-wife, a seller of sweets.1. Sh. 1898 Shetland News (26 March):
“Gundy-balls,” candy, cracknuts, “jock taleys,” or other nick-nacks.2. Edb. 1850 J. Smith Hum. Sc. Stories 6:
Knockit his head richt through a gundy-bool wife's wundy.4. Edb. 1843 J. Ballantine Gaberlunzie 8:
In they a' stumble into a dim and dingy sweety shop, . . . the gundy-monger orders them off, an' awa they scamper.Edb. 1872 J. Smith Jenny Blair's Maunderings (1881) 57:
Through the toun, baith wat an' dry, Hark yon gundy-seller's cry.Lnk. 1884 T. McLachlan Thoughts 24:
Tak an' pitch it owre the wundy On the man that sells the gundy; Gundy man kicks up a row.Cai. 1934 John o' Groat Jnl. (9 Nov.) 7:
But the old-fashioned gundy-maker . . . has long since passed from that unhealthy trade.5. Edb. 1843 J. Ballantine Gaberlunzie vii.:
The stown licks o' sugar, the sair pykit bread, The apple and gundy stands.6. Edb. 1828 D. M. Moir Mansie Wauch (1898) iv.:
The thrums . . . I niffered with the gundy-wife for Gibraltar rock, cut-throat, gib, or bull's eyes.Gall. 1932 A. McCormick Galloway 76:
A gundy wife at a fair couldna ha'e looked prooder o' her wares.