Sawney
adj, name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A fool, an idiot. countable
- 2 A Scotsman. archaic, derogatory
"“They can live upon barley-meal without a morsel of meat from week-end to week-end, can these miserable Sawnies,” quoth another."
- 3 Bacon. UK, obsolete, uncountable
"Tyrrell, another boy, confirmed their testimony, and said, on one occasion, when they had stolen a heart, liver, and lights, the prisoner said, "go out, one or two of you, and see if you can get a bit of sawney!" (meaning a bit of bacon)."
- 1 foolish, stupid
- 1 A diminutive of the male given name Alexander, of Scots origin.
"Sawney Bean"
Example
More examples"Tyrrell, another boy, confirmed their testimony, and said, on one occasion, when they had stolen a heart, liver, and lights, the prisoner said, "go out, one or two of you, and see if you can get a bit of sawney!" (meaning a bit of bacon)."
Etymology
(fool, idiot): From Sawney, a Scots variant of the personal name Sandy.
Related phrases
More for "sawney"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.