camstairy

English

Etymology

From cam (“crooked”) and uncertain second component.

Adjective

camstairy (comparative more camstairy, superlative most camstairy)

1. (archaic, Scotland) unruly; unmanageable
   • 1908, John Oxenham, Pearl of Pearl Island‎^[1]:

     "Ah!" he said again, with a reproving wag of the head, for he knew now what was coming,--"idols are perverse, camstairy things at best, you know, and a bit out of date too.

   • 1884, various, Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, XXII‎^[2]:

     My faither was on a strong mare, and I was on a bit powney; and amang the cattle there was a camstairy three-year-auld bull, that wad neither hup nor drive.