Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A man, especially one who is spirited and energetic.
- adjective Lively; spirited; cocky.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Lively; spirited; tart in speech.
- noun A lively young fellow; a self-assertive fellow.
- noun Beggar-my-neighbor: a game at cards.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Jocular, Scot. A lively or mettlesome fellow.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun skiing a kind of American cross country ski race.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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A lord, no doubt, may be a "birkie" and a "coof," but may not a ploughman be so too?
Robert Burns John Campbell Shairp 1852
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The shades of evening were growing thicker around us as my conductor finished his long narrative with this moral — ‘Ye see, birkie, it is nae chancy thing to tak a stranger traveller for a guide, when you are in an uncouth land.’
Redgauntlet 2008
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And then, Alan, I thought to turn the ball our own way; and I said that you were a gey sharp birkie, just off the irons, and if it would oblige my lord, and so forth, you would open
Redgauntlet 2008
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Sharpitlaw, triumphantly, “the minister did say that he thought he knew something of the features of the birkie that spoke to him in the Park, though he could not charge his memory where or when he had seen them.”
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But this young birkie here, that ye are hounding the fastest way to the gallows -- tell me, will all his stage-plays and his poetries, or your broad oaths and drawn dirks tell him where Rashleigh Osbaldistone is?
Red Cap Tales Stolen from the Treasure Chest of the Wizard of the North Samuel Rutherford Crockett
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Ye see yon birkie [Footnote: fellow], ca'd a lord,
Public Speaking Irvah Lester Winter
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Sandy took oot his tnife an 'gae me a bit skrape; an' we landit at the kirk an 'got a rale gude sermon aboot the birkie' at belanged to
My Man Sandy J. B. Salmond
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"Wud ye?" said the Carnoustie birkie, jumpin 'till his feet.
My Man Sandy J. B. Salmond
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"Yon Lord Curzon's an impudent birkie," she said, with a rush of tears to her eyes that seemed even to herself an excessive comment on Lord Curzon; then the knock came.
The Judge Rebecca West 1937
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"It wad be better telling ye to answer ceevilly a ceevil question, my birkie."
A Daughter of Raasay A Tale of the '45 William MacLeod Raine 1912
whichbe commented on the word birkie
A lively, engaging, intelligent, clean-cut, confident person. (from WordCraft)
May 20, 2008
sionnach commented on the word birkie
in other words, an insufferable a$$marmot.
May 20, 2008
yarb commented on the word birkie
'...after her mother had gone out she had begun to read the Scotsman's report of an anti-Suffrage meeting in London. "Yon Lord Curzon's an impudent birkie," she said, with a rush of tears to her eyes that seemed even to herself an excessive comment on Lord Curzon...'
- Rebecca West, The Judge
West appears to be nearer to sionnach's interpretation than whichbe's.
July 18, 2009
qms commented on the word birkie
The nature of humans is murky.
Our moods make our preferences quirky.
Who one day beguiles
With laughter and smiles
The next is a tedious birkie.
August 1, 2016