English

Alternative forms

• collieshangie

Noun

collie-shangie ‎(plural collie-shangies)

1. (archaic, Scotland) A loud quarrelsome fight.
   • 1819, Sir Walter Scott, Guy Mannering, page 30:

     She therefore glanced at a table-cloth not quite clean, and conned over her proposed supper a minute or two, before, patting her husband on the shoulder, she bade him sit down for "a hard-headed loon, that was aye bringing himsell and other folk into collie-shangies."

   • 1841 April, “Rustic Controversies - The Penny Wedding”, in Fraser's Magazine, volume 24, page 456:

     But though the weaver tried to dance all desire of mischief down, and manfully vowed that he would make vengeance the work of another day, such seemed not the pleasure of the less philosophic spirits of the company. They had counted on a collie-shangie, and resolved to have one.

   • 1869 September 6, Victoria Queen of England, “A Visit to Invertrossachs”, in More Leaves From the Journal of A Life in the Highlands From 1862 to 1882, page 69:

     At five minutes to eleven rode off with Beatrice, good Sharp going with us and having occasional "collie-shangies" with collies when we came near cottages (A. Thomson and Kennedy following).

References

1. ↑ Shangie, Dictionary of the Scots Language

Scots

Alternative forms

• collieshangie

Etymology

From collie ‎(“a breed of dog”), and shangie ‎(“an object tied to a dog's tail”). The frustration of having a shangie attached made the highly-energetic collies irritable and likely to fight.^[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈkɒliˌʃɑŋi/

Noun

collie-shangie ‎(plural collie-shangies)

1. A quarrel, a fight.
   • 1790, Robert Burns, Lines to a Gentleman:

     This mony a day I've grain'd and gaunted,
     To ken what French mischief was brewin;
     Or what the drumlie Dutch were doin;
     That vile doup-skelper, Emperor Joseph,
     If Venus yet had got his nose off;
     Or how the collieshangie works
     Atween the Russians and the Turks,

   • 1901, Neil Munro, Doom Castle, page 166:

     Water's an awfu' thing to rot ye'r boots; I aye said if it rotted ane's boots that way, whit wad it no' dae to ane's stamach? Oh, sirs! sirs! this is becomin' the throng hoose, wi' comin's and goin's and raps and roars and collie-shangies o' a' kin's.

   • 2004 July 10, Michil, “Re: Aljazeera says "THANKS CANADA!'”, in soc.culture.scottish, Usenet:

     Oo luik tae ither daeins, like nae gaun oan in yon menseless wey ye aa aye dae, cryin doon wur hameland an wur weys. Haudin a collie-shangie in by wi's isna gaun tae mak ye ony freens.

References

1. ↑ Shangie, Dictionary of the Scots Language