Also jasy, jazey, jazy, Sc. jeezy. [According to Forby = Jersey: see quot. 1825.] A humorous or familiar name for a wig, esp. one made of worsted.
c. 1780. G. Parker, Lifes Painter, 157. Wig, Jasey.
1797. Mrs. M. Robinson, Walsingham, IV. 8. Dash my jasey, if I wasnt threatened with the pillory for drawing caricatures.
1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, ch. xx. The old gentleman in the flaxen jazy.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Jasey, a contemptuous name for a wig, or even a bushy head of hair, as if the one were actually, and the other apparently, made of Jersey yarn, of which this is the common corrupt pronunciation.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, lxii. A little snuffy spindle-shanked gentleman in waiting, in a brown jasey and a green coat covered with orders.
1899. Besant, Orange Girl, II. xviii. 335. He wore the old jasey with a broken pigtail.
Hence Jaseyed a., wigged.
1883. L. Wingfield, A. Rowe, I. ix. 203. Was ever jaseyed person so perfidious?