1494 in T. Dickson Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1877) I. 253 Ane gret mast, ane ra, ane swken, a pygy mast.

1496 in T. Dickson Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1877) I. 300 A barel of pyk and a pegy mast to the said schip.

1505 in J. B. Paul Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1901) III. 86 To Robert Bertoun..for ane mozan mast and ane pege mast.

a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1957) iii. vi. 4 For the south wyndis blast Our piggeis and our pinsalis wavit fast.

1823 J. Badcock Domest. Amusem. 153 Family linen or home-made cloths may be bleached with much less..wear-and-tear, than is experienced in the use of the Yorkshire Peggy-tub.

1860 B. Brierley Tales & Sketches Lancashire Life ii. 144 How well she looked at a tub—how dexterously she twisted her fat red arms about when..plying the ‘peggy’.

1885 G. M. Fenn Patience Wins (1886) 169 Clothes were washed in the peggy tub, and kept in motion by a four-legged peggy..with a cross handle.

1896 ‘T. Treddlehoyle’ Bairnsla Foaks' Ann. 64 Sha poss'd, an sooapin t' cloas sha made a splash, Her peggy used, sha'd give her things a scrub.

1958 People's Jrnl. 23 Aug. in Sc. National Dict. (1968) at Peg A peggy is a stout pole about one yard long with a round base something like the shape of an old-fashioned potato masher, but much larger. This was used to dump the blankets on washing day.

1836 C. Hooton Adventures Bilberry Thurland I. i. 6 The sides of her nose are freckled like a peggy whitethroat's egg.

1881 S. Evans Evans's Leicestershire Words (new ed.) Peggy, a name given to the garden warbler, the black-cap, both the whitethroats, the sedge-warbler, and probably others of the family.

1885 C. Swainson Provinc. Names Brit. Birds 44 Pied Wagtail.., Peggy dishwasher (Kent).

1922 E. Booth Tree of Garden 81 The name of every bird was known to him, from the great brown ‘muck-bird’..to the..voluble Peggy-whitethroat..chattering in the hawthorn hedge.

1973 Times 31 Mar. 14/1 At Reading..this dapper black and white bird—the Peggy Dishwasher of rural folk tale—is adding a remarkable chapter to ornithological records.

2001 Leicester Mercury (Nexis) 7 Mar. 14 We knew a ditch where we could find scribble larks'..nests and sometimes peggy whitethroats.

1855 Shevvild Ann. 9 in Eng. Dial. Dict. As bad as follerin Peggy wit lantern.

1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirlaugh II. 31 Dazed..so as not to discern the flicker of a peggy wi' her lantern from the light of day.

1895 Trans. Amer. Philol. Assoc. xxvi. 111 Jack with the lantern..is also known as Jemmy Burty, and he has sisters called Jenny with the lantern, Peggy-lantern, and Joanin the wad.

1994 A. Theroux Primary Colors 79 ‘Willy-with-the-wisp-and-Peggy-with-the-lantern’ is an oddly mysterious yellow light that appears at night in England over marshy ground.

1869 J. C. Atkinson Peacock's Gloss. Dial. Hundred of Lonsdale Peggy, a simpleton.

1886 H. Cunliffe Gloss. Rochdale-with-Rossendale Words & Phrases Peggy, a man with feminine habits.

1902 B. Lubbock Round Horn iii. 105 An institution on board a sailing-ship is ‘peggy’. Each of us take it in turn, and peggy has to fetch the grub from the galley.

1930 ‘Greenhorn’ Tinker, Tailor viii. 191 The sailors' Peggy is a kind of fo'c'sle steward, and..he has to wash up the pots and pans in the forrard galley, clean out the fo'c'sle, make the bunks, and generally keep the sailors' quarters swept and garnished.

1972 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 19 July 24/3 Some waterfront employers think Peggy should do other work..between tea breaks and lunch.

1994 Guardian 15 Oct. (Weekend Suppl.) 59/1 As a teenager, I worked my passage from Buenos Aires to Tilbury on an old Liberty Ship... I went as a ‘peggy’, a dogsbody for every dog aboard.

1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 622/2 Peggies, slates 10–14 in. long.

1944 J. Millar in R. Greenhalgh Pract. Builder iv. 183/2 Peggies (as small randoms are generally called) may be fixed by means of single nails at the head.

1959 Archit. Rev. 125 292 Peggies, small sizes of slates of random sizes which are sold by weight.

1904 Trenton (New Jersey) Times 10 Nov. 12/8 They're in all the most recent shapes and sizes including the new crush leather Peggy bag.

1922 Daily Mail 11 Dec. 13 (advt.) Peggy bags with side handle and two outside pockets.

1974 Trafford Catal. Spring–Summer 182/2 Classic ‘peggy’ bag with twin easy-to-get-at compartments..twin handle length straps.

1911 Hairdressing Oct. 589/2 (advt.) ‘Peggy’ Guard Purse... We reproduce here one of their most popular bags, which really sells at sight.

1921 Indianapolis Star 2 June 18/4 With every department of the Gift Store so full of interesting suggestions for Graduation gifts, we can mention only these few: For Girl Graduates..peggy purses [etc.].

1999 Jrnl. (Newcastle) (Nexis) 29 May 11 Where we had peggy purses and beatniks (jazzy bloomers, that is, not scruffy youths), teenagers these days have got mobile phones.

1908 Daily Chron. 17 June 7/6 At Wyke, one of the suburbs of Bradford, a woman named Illingworth last evening placed a peggy tub half-full of water outside the kitchen door.

2002 Yorks. Evening Post (Nexis) 19 Mar. Why not go further and do our washing in the old pot sinks and peggy tubs.

1959 W. H. Scott-Shawe & A. Wykes Mariner's Tale i. iii. 29 I was escaping my peggy-work in the Ashmore's galley.

1882 R. Quain Dict. Med. 1595/1 The lower incisors are peggy and pointed.

1998 Sunday Star-Times (Auckland) (Nexis) 8 Mar. 2 I bumped into a young man with peggy teeth and jumbo-size combat pants.

2001 Mail on Sunday (Nexis) 25 Feb. 70–1 The film..centres on little Liam,..with peggy teeth, button-black eyes and the sweetest way of skipping along the cobblestones.