dowie

American  

[dou-ee, doh-ee] / ˈdaʊ i, ˈdoʊ i /

Or dowy

adjective

Scot. and North England.

1. dull; melancholy; dismal.

---

Other Word Forms

• dowily adverb
• dowiness noun

Etymology

Origin of dowie

1500–10; variant of dolly, equivalent to dull + -ly

Example Sentences

"A' was toom, a' heartless-like, an' bare; Her dowie pain she culdna mair conceal— The heart, they'll say, will never lie that's leal."

From The Proverbs of Scotland by Hislop, Alexander

Whiles, when I was worrying mysel’ anent Angus Ballister, I used to hae a dowie weariness come o’er me; but since feyther went awa’ I havena had as much as a headache.

From Christine A Fife Fisher Girl by Barr, Amelia Edith Huddleston

With stern a-droop, a "dowie chiel," I see him lugged at Beauty's heel, A captive bound on Fashion's wheel, Down Bond Street's aisle, Far from his land of cairn and creel In grey Argyle.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, May 13, 1914 by Seaman, Owen, Sir

The sable-wing'd blackbird yon birk-trees amang, And mavis sing notes that accord wi' my sang, A' nature is dowie, by bank and by brae, Since Peggy, sweet Peggy, gaed far, far away.

From The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume III The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century by Rogers, Charles

"Ye'll no put on the dowie black,35 Nor yet the dowie brown; But ye'll put on the robes o' red, To sheen thro' Edinbruch town."

From English and Scottish Ballads (volume 3 of 8) by Various