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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SCAFFIE, n. Also scaffy, scavvie. Curtailed dim. form of Eng. scavenger, a street-sweeper. Also a refuse collector. Gen.Sc. Combs. scaffie-bucket, an ash-bucket (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.), scaffy cairt, scaffies' barrae, scaffies' barrow, a scavenger's cart. [′skɑfe]Ags. 1853 W. Blair Aberbrothock 19:
Hecklers, an' wabsters, an' baxters, an' scaffies, an' wives, an' bairns, dowgs an' cats.Edb. 1876 J. Smith Archie and Bess 25:
Scaffies and leeries crackin' like pea-guns.Slk. 1892 W. M. Adamson Betty Blether 74:
Tin cans intendit for the scaffy cairt.Rxb. 1918 Kelso Chronicle (1 Nov.) 2:
She often is too late for the Scaffy Bucket.Abd. 1931 J. Hall Holy Man 37:
Geordie, the road scavvy, was wearily trundling his little hand-cart up the steep slope of the village street.Sh. 1949 J. Gray Lowrie 41:
Dere's da scaffy fur takkin awa ony coarn o' bruk an' ess.Abd. 1967 Buchan Observer (7 Feb.) 2:
Not up in the morning early enough to catch the “scaffy cairt”.Dundee 1986 David A. MacMurchie I Remember Another Princes Street! 31:
Once upon a time, all employees of the cleansing department except office staff were termed 'scaffies'. Sc. 1989 Scotsman 26 Jun 8:
The toast this morning is Raymond Watkins, the popular street cleaner of Saddleworth. It is not every scaffie who is beloved of his community, far less mentioned in the House of Commons as a shining example to everyone, so Mr Watkins's achievement is no mean one. Per. 1990 Betsy Whyte Red Rowans and Wild Honey (1991) 65:
I had a huge golf umbrella which I had rescued from amongst the rubbish thrown out for the scaffies, and I was eager to try it out. We stepped out of the tent and up to the knees in water.Edb. 1994:
Scaffies' barraes are aw motorized noo. Sc. 1994 Herald 6 Aug 14:
"I had a variety of jobs, and then one day I was working the scaffy cart - a refuse collector ..." Dundee 1997:
The scaffie comes every Tuesday tae empty the rubbish bins. m.Sc. 1998 Ian Cameron The Jimmy Shand Story 96:
Jimmy remembers a young man who introduced himself in Edmonton. He said his name was John Davidson and his father had been a Lochee scaffie (street sweeper) who used to do Jimmy's street.Sc. 1998 Daily Record 30 Jan 11:
What we are talking about here is a motorised version of the scaffies' barrow and brush - "sweeping towards the millennium" as its brochure announces. Sc. 2003 Daily Mail 30 Apr 7:
The SNP has turned the railway station into a street party and its leader alights looking radiant and in the pink. ...
On the pedestrian overpass, a startled scaffie has surrendered his broom.
Swinney brandishes it for photographers. Sc. 2004 Edinburgh Evening News 26 Apr 18:
The photographs include shots of people, such as The Scaffie - an unnamed road sweeper - and of cityscapes, such as Tenement Street Uprising - a snap of the Old Town.