Crowdie, crowdy. World English Historical Dictionary

Crowdie, crowdy. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1893, rev. 2025. Crowdie, crowdy

Sc. and north. Eng. Also 7 croudy. [Derivation unknown.

1

  Jamieson conjectured some connection with GROUT, and Icel. groutr porridge; this suits the sense, but leaves phonetic conditions unsatisfied.]

2

  1.  Meal and water stirred together so as to form a thick gruel. Frequently used as a designation for food of the brose or porridge kind in general. Jamieson. Now Obs. or only traditionally known.

3

1668.  Ld. Newbottle, Cakes o’ Croudy, in Jacobite Songs. Bannocks of bear meal, cakes of Croudy.

4

1724.  Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc. (1733), I. 91. Powsowdy and drummock and crowdy.

5

1804.  Anderson, Cumbrld. Ballads, 112. For dinner I’d hev a fat crowdy.

6

1855.  Robinson, Whitby Gloss., Crowdy, oatmeal and water boiled to a paste and eaten with salt, or thinned with milk and sweetened. Spoonmeat in general.

7

1862.  Smiles, Engineers, III. 238. There he [Stephenson] had his breakfast of ‘crowdie,’ which he made with his own hands. It consisted of oatmeal stirred into a basin of hot water … which was supped with cold sweet milk.

8

  2.  In some parts of the north of Scotland, a peculiar preparation of milk. ? Obs.

9

  ‘In Ross-shire it denotes curds with the whey pressed out, mixed with butter, nearly in an equal proportion’ (Jamieson).

10

1820.  Glenfergus, II. 275 (Jam.). Then came … the remains of a cog of crowdy, that is, of half butter, half cheese.

11

  3.  Comb., as crowdie-time; crowdy-mowdy = CROWDIE 1, ‘generally denoting milk and meal boiled together’ (Jam.); also humorously as a term of endearment.

12

1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, In Secreit Place, 46. My tyrlie myrlie, my crowdie mowdie.

13

1724.  Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc. (1733), I. 21. With crowdy mowdy they fed me.

14

1787.  Burns, Holy Fair, vi. Then I gaed hame at crowdie-time.

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