Word of the Day for Friday, December 31, 2010
Hogmanay \hog-muh-NEY\, noun:
1. a gift given on New Year's Eve.
proper noun:
1. New Year's Eve in Scotland.
1. New Year's Eve in Scotland.
Farther on, Gib Dempster's dame, Kate, is at her door, with the bottle in her hand, to give another menagerie of maskers their "hogmanay," in the form of a dram; and Gib is at her back, eyeing her with a squint, to count how many interlusive applications of the cordial she will make to her own throat before she renounce her opportunity.
-- Alexander Leighton, Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland, Volume 17
The children who went about on December 31 asking for their "hogmanay" were really asking for a Scottized French word for a cake.
-- "A changed meaning," The Glasgow Herald, 1947
Hogmanay is the name for Scottish New Year's Eve. It probably comes from the Old French aguillanneuf, "last day of the year."
From Dictionary.com:
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