towzy

English

Adjective

towzy (comparative towzier, superlative towziest)

1. (Scotland) Shaggy and unkempt.
   • 1870, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, page 370:

     The waiter rolled his bloodshot eyes and scratched his towzy head.

   • 1890, James Russell Lowell, The Works of James Russell Lowell, page 342:

     There sat Auld Nick in shape o' beast, A towzy tyke, black, grim, an' large, To gie them music with his charge.

   • 1892, J. Wilson McLaren, “John Bremnar”, in Scots Poems and Ballants, page 113:

     His pow is towzy, and his eyes ne'er lack Deep sympathy; voluminous his crack, and connoisseur of quaintest bric-a-brac.

   • 2007, James Hogg, Suzanne Gilbert, “The Author's Address to his Auld Dog Hector”, in The Mountain Bard, page 110:

     Come, my auld, towzy, trusty friend; What gars ye look sae douth an' wae?