a. and sb. Sc. and north. dial. [f. CUT v.] A. adj.

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  1.  Cut short, curtailed, so abnormally short as to appear to have been cut, esp. in certain connections, as cutty knife, cutty pipe (humorously cutty gun), cutty spoon, cutty sark, etc. (in which the two words are often unnecessarily hyphened).

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17[?].  Old Song, Andro, etc. (Jam.). But wha cam in to heese our hope, But Andro, wi’ his cutty-gun?

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1790.  Burns, Tam O’Shanter, 171. Her cutty sark, o’ Paisley harn … In longitude tho’ sorely scanty.

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1810.  Cromek, Rem. Nithsdale Song, 208 (Jam.). He gae to me a cuttie knife, And bade me keep it as my life.

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1816.  Scott, Old Mort., Introd. The man of cutty-spoon and ladle saw his trade interrupted.

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1855.  Thackeray, Newcomes, xxiii. Allowed to use his cutty-pipe.

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1878.  Cumbrld. Gloss., Cutty, short.

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  † 2.  In Engraving (see quot.). Obs.

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1660.  Albert Durer Revived, 5. Let nothing be done hard, sharp, or cutty.

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  3.  ‘Testy, hasty, short of temper’ (Jamieson).

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  4.  Comb. Cutty-brown, a dock-tailed brown horse; cutty-stoup, ‘a pewter vessel holding the eighth part of a chopin or quart’ (Jamieson).

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a. 1776.  in Herd, Songs (1776), II. 220 (Jam.). I scoured awa to Edinborow-town, And my cutty-brown together.

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17[?].  Song (Jam.). The cuttie-stoup bit hauds a soup, Gae fetch the Hawick gill, O.

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  B.  sb. 1. a. Short for cutty spoon. (Sc.)

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17[?].  Earl Lithgow, xlix. in Child, Ballads, IV. (1886), 470/1. Bring to me my horn cutties, That I was best used wi.

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1768.  Ross, Helenore, 116 (Jam.). The green-horn cutties rattling in her lap.

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1776.  in Ramsay, Sc. Prov., 44 (Jam.). It is better to sup with a cutty than want a spoon.

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  b.  Short for cutty pipe.

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1776.  in Ramsay, Sc. Prov., Wks. 1818, III. 185. I’m nae sae scant o’ clean pipes as to blaw wi’ a brunt cutty.

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1859.  Macm. Mag., Nov., 74. Either as long clay or as cutty.

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1888.  M. Robertson, Lombard St. Myst., xv. Knocking the ashes of his cutty on the floor.

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  2.  a. ‘A short stump of a girl. Dumfriesshire’ (Jamieson). b. A term of reprobation for a testy, or naughty girl or woman; but often used playfully.

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1816.  Scott, Old Mort., x. He’s gaun to be merried to Meg Murdieson, ill-faur’d cuttie as she is.

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1830.  Galt, Lawrie T., VII. xi. (1849), 351. The cutty of a servant lass said, however, with a smile, that Miss Beeny was at home.

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1891.  Barrie, Little Minister, I. viii. 131. To gie her her due, she’s cracky, and as for her being a cuttie, you’ve said so yoursel.

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  3.  A familiar local appellation of some animals: a. The wren; also cutty-quean, -wren. b. The Black Guillemot (Uria Grylle). c. The hare.

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a. 1776.  in Herd, Sc. Songs (1776), II. 167 (Jam.). Go, pack ye out at my chamber door, Ye little cutty-quean.

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a. 1808.  Fleming, Tour in Arran (Jam.). On the passage I observed several Black Guillemots … which the boatmen called cutties.

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1819.  Edin. Mag., July, 507 (Jam.). Common Hare.—Maukin, Cuttie.

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1875.  Parish, Sussex Gloss., Cutty, a wren; also called a kitty.

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1883.  Hampsh. Gloss., Cuttran, Cutty, a wren. Cutty is the commoner term.

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