Sc. Obs. Also 5–6 sonȝe, 6 sounȝie, sunȝie. [var. SOIGN sb.]
1. Excuse; plea.
1438. Bk. Alexander Grt. (Bann. Club), 24. Quhan he sawe that na man wald ga, In the message bot sonȝe ma.
c. 1480. Henryson, Fables, Wolf & Fox, vii. All thy sonȝeis sall not auaill the.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxxix. 3. My coumpt, I sall it mak ȝow cleir, But ony circumstance or sonȝie.
a. 1585. Polwart, Flyting w. Montgomerie, 796. Thou will hing but a sunȝie.
a. 1687. R. McWard, Earnest Contend. for Faith (1723), 93–4. But I know, your last Sonzie and Shift will be, that they admitted … Non-indulged, to preach in their Pulpits.
2. Hesitation; delay.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, II. 97. Bot for his tre litill sonȝhe he maid.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xxvi. 72. Mony slute daw and slepy duddroun, Him serwit ay with sounȝie.
