gilly

Noun (1)

gillie (plural gillies)

1. (Scotland, originally) A male attendant of a Scottish Highland chief.
   • A Highland chief being as absolute in his patriarchal authority as any prince, had a corresponding number of officers attached to his person. […] Our officer of Engineers, so often quoted, has given us a distinct list of the domestic officers, who, […] belonged to the establishment of a Highland...1847, Walter Scott, “[Notes to Canto Third.] Note XVI.”, in The Lady of the Lake, a Poem, illustrated edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: Carey and Hart, →OCLC, pages 289–290
2. (Ireland, Scotland, UK) A fishing and hunting guide; a man or boy who attends to a person who is fishing or hunting, especially in Scotland.
   • Every deerstalker will bear witness to the eagerness of Highlanders in pursuit of their old favourite game, the dun deer; the mountaineer shews what he is when his eye kindles and his nostril dilates at the sight of a noble stag; when the gillie forgets his master in his keenness, and the southern...1860, “Introduction. The Fairy-egg, and What Came Out of It.”, in J[ohn] F[rancis] Campbell, editor, Popular Tales of the West Highlands: Orally Collected wih a Translation, volume I, Edinburgh...

Noun (2)

gillie (plural gillies)

1. (Scotland) A gill of an alcoholic drink.
   • Fareweel, my rhyme-compoſing billie! / Your native ſoil was right ill-willie; / But may ye flouriſh like a lily, / Now bonilie! / I'll toaſt ye in my hindmoſt gillie, / Tho' owre the Sea!1786 July 31, Robert Burns, “On a Scotch Bard Gone to the West Indies”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire: Printed by John Wilson, →OCLC; reprinted Kilmarnock...

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