Sc. Also joe (anglicized joy). [In sense 1, Sc. form of JOY, F. joie. (In some dialects of 16th c. Sc., oy, oi ran together with ō: hence jone = join; rois = rose, etc.) In sense 2 app. the same word, and sometimes in 16th c. spelt joy.]
† 1. Joy, pleasure. Obs.
c. 1560. A. Scott, Poems (S.T.S.), xxiv. 13. Hir court hes [pr. he] jo, quhair evir thay go.
1567. Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.), 53. Now lat vs sing with myrth and Jo [rhyme principio].
1570. Satir. Poems Reform., xvii. 180. God may conuert our cair In plesure and in Jo [rhymes wo, fo, no].
2. As a term of endearment: A sweetheart, darling, beloved one.
a. 1529. Skelton, Agst. Scottes, 91. Kynge Jamy, Jemmy, Jocky my jo, Ye summond our kynge,—why dyd ye so?
[1535. Lyndesay, Satyre, 1302. Iennie, my Ioy [Pinkerton joe] quhair is thy dadie?
1563. Foxe, A. & M. (1583), 1266. [Treigton, Bp. of Dunkelden] ‘My ioy Deane Thomas, I loue you wel.’
1573. Sempill, in Satir. Poems Reform., xxxix. 255. Alace, my Joyis! ȝe had bot lytill skill.
a. 1605. Montgomerie, Misc. Poems, iii. 73. Judge of ȝour self by Julius, my joyes, Quhais fenȝeid freinds wer worse then open foes.]
1686. G. Stuart, Joco-Ser. Disc., 49. My Joe, quo’ she, I need no’ speer What wind it was that blew you here.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., I. i. Dear Roger, when your Jo puts on her gloom, Do ye sae too and never fash your thumb.
1790. Burns, Song, ‘John Anderson,’ i. John Anderson, my jo.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., xxxviii. It’s Miss Edith’s first joe, your ain auld maister, Cuddie.
1830. Galt, Lawrie T., IX. ii. (1869), 408. It might have been one of the servant girls with her jo.
1893. Stevenson, Catriona, iii. 28. Just twa o’ my old joes, my hinny dear.
Jo, variant of JOE, Portuguese coin.
