bowsy
English
Adjective
bowsy (comparative bowsier, superlative bowsiest)
- Obsolete spelling of boozy
- 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Tenth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:
- In his cups the bowsy poet sings.
Etymology 2
Probably from above, from being applied to drunkards.
Alternative forms
Noun
bowsy (plural bowsies)
- (Ireland, colloquial) an unsavoury and unreliable (usually male) layabout.
- 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 1]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
- —The mockery of it, he said contentedly, seconleg they shoub be. God knows what poxy bowsy left the off.
Further reading
- Eric Partridge (1961) “boosy”, in A Dictionary of the Underworld, New York: Bonanza Books, page 63
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