towzy

comparative towzier · superlative towziest

1. ScotlandShaggy and unkempt.

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

   1870, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, page 370

   3 more examples

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

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

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

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

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

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