Sc. Also -whaw, -whaa, -wa, whilli(e)wha, whullywha. [Of obscure origin.]
1. A wheedling or insinuating person; a flattering deceiver. Also attrib.
c. 1680. [F. Sempill], Banishm. Poverty, in Watson, Coll. Sc. Poems (1706), I. 12. We fear’d no Reavers for our Money, Nor Whilly-whaes to grip our Gear.
1714. Ramsay, Elegy on Cowper, v. He gather’d Gear … and left it a’! May be to some sad Whilliwhaw O’ fremit Blood.
1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, ch. xii. He’s a whilly-whaw body and has a plausible tongue of his own.
1890. Service, Notandums, xix. Ony whillywha o’ an Englisher.
2. Wheedling speech, flattery, cajolery.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., v. I wish ye binna beginning to learn the way of blawing in a woman’s lug wi’ a’ your whilly-wha’s.
1843. Ballantine, Gaberlunzie’s Wallet, x. 225. ‘Gae wa’ wi’ your whillywhaws,’ said Nanny.
