Chiefly Sc. Also cuddie. [Of uncertain derivation: the senses here grouped may be distinct in origin: sense 2 is perh. from Gaelic.
In sense 1, a word of the same homely status in Scotch as donkey is in English, for which written evidence begins only in the 18th c. It has been plausibly conjectured to be the same word as Cuddy, a familiar diminutive of Cuthbert in some parts of the north. Cf. the analogous application of Neddy, Dicky, to an ass; but unlike these, cuddy has, now at least, no conscious connection with the proper name, being, like donkey, simply a common noun. The Gypsy origin conjectured by Jamieson has no basis in fact; there is no name for the donkey common to the Rommany dialects, and the Scottish Gypsy term is eizel from German.]
1. A donkey. (Also cuddy ass.)
1714–5. Jacobite Songs (1819), 83, The Riding Mare, iv. Then hey the ass, the dainty ass … And mony ane will get a bite Or cuddy gangs awa.
1807. Hogg, Mountain Bard, 174 (Jam.). Wi’ joy we’ll mount our cuddy asses.
1815. Scott, Guy M., iii. ‘He’s nae gentleman … wad grudge … the thristles by the road-side for a bit cuddy.’
1862. Smiles, Engineers, III. 65. Many a time have I ridden straight into the house, mounted on my cuddy.
b. fig. A stupid fellow, an ‘ass.’
c. 1845. Hood, Kilmansegg, Fancy Ball. To exhibit a six-legged calf To a boothful of country Cuddies.
1885. J. Runciman, Skippers & Shellbacks, 127. You’re not going to make a cuddy of me.
2. A name for the young of the coal-fish or seath; = CUDDEN 2. [Gael. cudaig, cudainn.]
1775. Johnson, West. Isl., Wks. X. 406. The cuddy is a fish … not much bigger than a gudgeon, but is of great use in these islands.
1865. J. C. Wilcocks, Sea-Fisherman (1875), 104–5. Immense numbers of young Coal-fish are taken with rod and line in the Scotch lochs under the name of Cuddies.
1883. W. Black, Four MacNicols, iii. ‘Cuddies’ is the familiar name in those parts for young saithe.
3. A local name for the hedge-sparrow or ‘dunnock,’ and for the moor-hen.
1802. G. Montagu, Ornith. Dict. (1833), 188. Moorhen … Cuddy.
1868. Atkinson, Cleveland Gloss., Cuddy, the hedge-sparrow.
4. Mech. (See quots.)
1852. S. C. Brees, Gloss. Pract. Archit., 129. Cuddy, a three-legged stand, forming a fulcrum upon which a long pole is placed, and which is used as a spring lever.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., Cuddy.… 2. A lever mounted on a tripod for lifting stones, leveling up railroad-ties, etc.
5. Comb. Cuddy-legs (see quot.).
1880–4. F. Day, Fishes Gt. Brit., II. 209. Cuddy legs, a large herring.
