Sc. Obs. Also -nonny, -nonie. [Derivation obscure: Jamieson conjectured connection with COCKER sb.1]
‘The gathering of a young woman’s hair, when it is wrapped up in a band or fillet, commonly called a snood’ (Jam.). App. used at random in the last two quots.
1718. Ramsay, Christ’s Kirk Gr., III. vii. She … tumbling wi’ him on the grass Dang a’ her cockernony A-jee that day.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxv. ‘Ye silly tawpie … what garr’d ye busk up your cockernony that gate?’
1830. Galt, Lawrie T., VII. iii. (1849), 323. Forays, moss-troopers, and other cockernony minstrelsy.
1833. M. Scott, Tom Cringle, xi. (1859), 233. Taking a shot at the old woman’s cockernony itself.
