north. dial. and Sc. [Imitative of the bird’s cry.]
1. A local name for the sparrow-hawk or kestrel.
1808. Jamieson, Keelie, a hawk, chiefly applied to a young one. Loth., Teviotd.
1893. Northumbld. Gloss., Keely-haak, the kestrel…. Its note ‘keely-keely’ gives it the name.
1898. J. Colville, Scott. Vernacular (1899), 11. Sclim the branchless stem of the fir for the keelie’s nest.
2. A low or vulgar boy; a street-loafer or rough. Sc.
[a. 1825. Scott (Jam.). A combination of young blackguards in Edinburgh hence termed themselves the Keelie Gang.]
1863. N. B. Daily Mail, 18 Aug. The defender … said that I was a Saltmarket keelie, a fighting man, a thief.
