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Auld Hairy noun an older person who is extremely wily and who wants to gain his or her own ends: You’re a fly auld hairy’, Jessie told him. Then she turned to me, saying, ‘She is an auld tartar, but never heed her.’ 20. etymology: Scots auld ‘old’ + Scots hairy ‘contemptuous term for a girl or woman’; attested by BW note:

This is an example of a Travellers’ development of a Scots phrase. The Dictionaries of the Scots Language originally defined hairy thus: A young woman living in the slums of Glasgow who habitually goes about without a hat. latterly however, its meaning has shifted as recorded by Munro: A contemptuous term for a sluttish girl: What are ye runnin about wi that wee hairy for?’