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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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

Quotation dates: 1958-2004

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BILLY, n.3 A Gsw. slang term for a Protestant, an Orangeman, a supporter of King William as against King James in Irish history.Gsw. 1958 C. Hanley Dancing in Streets 22:
A Billy or a Dan or an auld tin can?

Comb.: Billy Boy, (1) a member of a Glasgow gang; in pl. the gang itself; (2) by extension, a supporter of Rangers Football Club. (1) Sc. 2002 Sunday Herald 8 Dec 12:
Sure, there were a few Red Hand flags and tricolours in the terraces, the odd pro-IRA chant, and renditions of 'We are the Billy Boys', but maybe those "eejits over in Edinburgh", as one Celtic fan described the Scottish parliament, had had an effect on the usually hostile and ugly celebrations that go hand-in-hand with Old Firm rivalry.
Sc. 2003 Evening Times 23 Sep 8:
Bridgeton Cross was the scene of fighting between the notorious Billy Boys and the Norman Conks.
Sc. 2004 Scotsman 25 Feb 9:
They queued in sub-zero temperatures to buy into their dream of making Bridgeton famous for more than Orange marches by the "Brig'ton Billy Boys" and the Seventies rock legend, Frankie Miller.
Sc. 2004 Scotsman 19 Jul 8:
Grown men wept as the coffin of Billy Fullerton was led through the streets of Bridgeton and the Gorbals where his infamous razor gang had once held sway. ...
Fullerton, who died in 1962, founded and led the Billy Boys - which had 800 members at its height - during the 1920s and 1930s, before joining Oswald Mosely's British Fascists and starting a Glasgow branch of the Ku Klux Klan.
(2) Sc. 1994 Herald 25 Aug 14:
This Scottish fan will be giving wholehearted support to Aberdeen, Motherwell, and Dundee United this season in their respective European contests. But I am refusing to be whipped into line by James Traynor as a temporary Billy Boy.

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"Billy n.3". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 12 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/snd00087979>

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