gawsyadj.
/ˈɡɔːsi/, U.S. /ˈɡɔsi/, /ˈɡɑsi/, Scottish English /ˈɡɔsɪ/ Scottish and northern dialect.
Of persons: Well-dressed and jolly-looking. Of things: Large and handsome.
ΚΠ
1720 A. Ramsay Edinb.'s Salut. to Ld. Carnarvon iii But since I have been fortune's sport, I look nae hauf sae gawsy.
1773 R. Fergusson Poems 112 Pacing wi' a gawsy air In gude Braid Claith.
1786 R. Holy Fair xxiv, in Poems 52 In comes a gawsie, gash Guidwife.
1786 R. Burns Twa Dogs v, in Poems 11 His gawcie tail, wi' upward curl, Hung owre his hurdies wi' a swirl.
a1810 R. Tannahill Rab Roryson's Bonnet in Poems (1846) 116 A braw gawcier bonnet there never was seen.
1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian iv, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. II. 96 Gawsie and grand he lookit, like ony queen in the land.
1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian iii, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. III. 66 Whilk is a dribble in comparison of our gawsie Scots pint.
1830 J. Galt Lawrie Todd I. i. ii. 9 A decent, gausy, conversible carlin.
1888 Glasgow Evening Times 9 Aug. 2/5 Not so long ago it was quite orthodox to have a big gaucie midden in front of or near the house doors in Glasgow.
1894 S. R. Crockett Raiders 393 He cam' steppin' sae gawsy across the dry stanes at Sandy's Ford.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1898; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.1720