Sawney
Britishnoun
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a derogatory word for Scotsman
-
informal (also not capital) a fool
Etymology
Origin of Sawney
C18: a Scots variant of Sandy, short for Alexander
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The day school opened, Old Sawney squatted on his heels beneath a beech tree, while new boys paraded past�as many as 75 in 90 minutes.
From Time Magazine Archive
Due to the pressure of the local "Wets," "Old Sawney," an ardent Prohibitionist, found it expedient to move.
From Time Magazine Archive
Said Sawney: "I would rather make my living plowing on a steep, rocky hillside with a blind mule than imprison innocent children."
From Time Magazine Archive
Of the two brothers who founded Webb School, Sawney and John, Sawney became the better known, but John Rice does not think much of him.
From Time Magazine Archive
A young man about Madison’s age named Sawney went with him.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
