bivvy

English

Etymology 1

From bivouac +‎ -y.

Noun

bivvy (plural bivvies)

1. (colloquial) A small tent or shelter.
   • 2011 November 12, Caitlin Moran, ‘Protestors? They're Beautiful’, The Times:

     It would be alarming and disconcerting if people sleeping on roll-mats in central London emerged from their bivvies at breakfast, box-fresh, and sporting a crease down each leg of their slacks.

Derived terms

• bivvy bag

 

Verb

bivvy (third-person singular simple present bivvies, present participle bivvying, simple past and past participle bivvied)

1. To erect, or to stay in, such a tent or shelter.

Etymology 2

Perhaps related to beverage.

Noun

bivvy

1. (UK, slang, obsolete) Beer.
   • 2016, Christopher James, Sherlock Holmes and The Adventure of the Ruby Elephants, →ISBN:

     Well, if you're willing to sub me a shant of bivvy, then I'll tell ya

References

• John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary
• Albert Barrère, Charles Godfrey Leland (1889) A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant