bowsie

/ ˈbaʊziː /

noun

1. a low-class mean or obstreperous person
2. a drunkard

Word History and Origins

Origin of bowsie¹

of unknown origin

Example Sentences

She would respond just as viciously and call him a “bowsie”, an old Irish word for someone who doesn’t go to work.

From The Guardian

One who had twice sold himself, and offered himself for sale a score of times over, had no difficulty in getting matters placed in a train for a new offer; and an hour had scarcely elapsed after the monologue we have mentioned, when Mr Caleb Crabbin and Mrs Jemima Bowsie were walking and talking together as if they had been acquainted from the period of conning the alphabet.

From Project Gutenberg

"That will I, Mrs Bowsie," answered Caleb, "as sincerely as if you were my wedded wife."

From Project Gutenberg

The name she carried, Mrs Jemima Bowsie, was a mixture of her own maiden name and the surname of her husband, very well blended; and she carried herself with such an air of frankness, surrounded with the eclat of her fortune, which she had taken care to blaze pretty well, that Mr Caleb Crabbin was immediately struck.

From Project Gutenberg

"That is my mark," said he, "as sure as was Belinda Yellowlees; and, if I'm not worth the purchase at one hundred and fifty pounds per annum, on the life of Mrs Jemima Bowsie, I have lost all my saleable commodity."

From Project Gutenberg