Sc. and north. dial. [f. KEMP sb.1] A kemp or champion; one given to fighting; a rough or uncouth fellow.
1525. in Pitcairn, Crim. Trials, I. 126*. John Steill, alias Kempy Steill, convicted.
1801. Macneill, Poet. Wks. (1856), 172. I’ve heard some hair-brained kempy Growl when your chappin bottle’s empty.
1822. Scott, Pirate, xxviii. When kempies were wont, long since, to seek the habitations of the galdragons and spae-women.
1874. Waugh, Chimn. Corner (1879), 158 (E. D. D.). ‘Never … quiet but when he’re feightin’.’ ‘Ay, he’re a regilar kempie.’
