subs. (colloquial).—1.  Scotch whiskey: cf. IRISH.

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  1886–96.  MARSHALL, He Slumbered [‘Pomes,’ 118]. In the early evening watches he had started well on SCOTCHES.

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  1893.  H. CRACKANTHORPE, Wreckage, 125. Mary, two bitters and a small SCOTCH to the Commercial Room, and a large Irish for Mr. Hays here.

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  2.  See SCOTCH-PEG.

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  PHRASES.—SCOTCH-BAIT = ‘A halt and a resting on a stick as practised by pedlars’ (GROSE); SCOTCH-CASEMENT = the pillory; SCOTCH-CHOCOLATE = ‘brimstone and milk’ (GROSE); SCOTCH-COFFEE = hot water flavoured with burnt biscuit; SCOTCH-FIDDLE = the itch; TO PLAY THE SCOTCH-FIDDLE = ‘to work the index finger of one hand like a fiddle-stick between the index and middle finger of the other’ (DYCHE, GROSE); SCOTCH GREYS = lice: hence HEADQUARTERS OF THE SCOTS’ GREYS = a lowsy head (GROSE); SCOTCH-HOBBY = ‘a little sorry, scrubbed, low Horse of that country’ (B. E.); SCOTCH-MIST = a soaking rain (B. E., GROSE); SCOTCH-ORDINARY = ‘the house of office’ (RAY); SCOTCH-PEG = (rhyming slang) a leg: also SCOTCH; SCOTCH-PINT = ‘a bottle containing two quarts’ (GROSE); SCOTCH-PRIZE = a capture by mistake (GROSE): cf. DUTCH; SCOTCH-SEAMANSHIP = all stupidity and main strength; SCOTCH-WARMING-PAN = (1) a chambermaid, and (2) a fart (q.v—RAY, B. E., GROSE); TO ANSWER SCOTCH FASHION = to reply by asking another question; cf. YANKEE FASHION.

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  1675.  ROCHESTER, Tunbridge Wells, June 30.

        And then more smartly to expound the Riddle
Of all his Prattle, gives her a SCOTCH FIDDLE.

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  1762.  London Register [Notes and Queries, 3 S., v. 14.] “THE SCOTCH FIDDLE,” by M’Pherson. Done from himself. The figure of a Highlander sitting under a tree, enjoying the greatest of pleasures, scratching where it itches.

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  1836.  M. SCOTT, The Cruise of the Midge, 231. What ship is that? This was answered SCOTCH FASHION—What felucca is that?

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  1851–61.  H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, i. 357. But mind, if you handle any of his wares, he don’t make you a present of a SCOTCH FIDDLE for nothing.

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  1868.  Temple Bar, xxv. 76. The SCOTS GREYS were frequently on the march in the clothes of the convicts.

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  1886.  MARSHALL, Pomes, 23. But some buds of youthfull purity, with undisplayed SCOTCH PEGS. Ibid., Giddy (70). With that portion of his right SCOTCH PEG supposed to be his calf.

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  1900.  St. James’s Gazette, 9 April, 3, 1. The superiority of resources on our sidle is so overwhelming that we must win if only by what the sailors call SCOTCH SEAMANSHIP.

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  1883.  W. C. RUSSELL, Sailors’ Language, 121. SCOTCHMAN. A piece of wood fitted to a shroud or any other standing rope to save it from being chafed.

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