birkie

American  

[bur-kee, bir-kee] / ˈbɜr ki, ˈbɪr ki /

noun

Scot.

1. an aggressive, independent man.

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birkie British  

/ ˈbɪrkɪ /

noun

1. a spirited or lively person

2. a foolish posturer

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Etymology

Origin of birkie

First recorded in 1715–25; of uncertain origin

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

birkie

And how do you think, my braw birkie, that you are to pass for a tramping fiddler?'

From Redgauntlet by Sir Walter Scott

Hardly was his back turned, and amaist before ye could cry Jack Robison, in comes the birkie and the very young leddy the auld gentleman described arm and arm thegither, smoodging and lauching like daft.

From Amusing Prose Chap Books by Various

The stiffest o' them a' he bow'd, The bauldest o' them a' he cow'd; They durst nae mair than he allow'd, That was a law: We've lost a birkie weel worth gowd; Willie's awa!

From Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns

She was nine-and-twenty, and a birkie woman of nine-and-twenty can make a good husband out of very unpromising material.

From The House with the Green Shutters by George Douglas Brown

And maybe that’s the reason every silly birkie thinks he has the right to cast up to me that I am an auld maid.

From The Dew of Their Youth by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett