The forst one's just as prood as us, / Te see his bonny mate, / An' if thor spared te grow up lads, / They'll fettle real forst-rate; / But if like hempy lads they fight, / We'll heh to keep them doon, / An’ try te myek them byeth as gud / As ony in the toon. 1890, Joseph Wilson, “Wor Canny Second-Born!”, in Tyneside Songs and Drolleries, page 255:
(Northern-England, Scotland, obsolete) A criminal; someone who deserves to be, or is likely to be, hanged.
(Northern-England, Scotland, obsolete) A rogue.
'Ha, ha, Patie lad!' quo Bessie Elliot, a free-spoken Liddesdale hempy, 'there's a wife com'd for ye the night, Patie lad.' 1846, Moses Aaron Richardson, The Borderer's Table Book, volume 7, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne: Printed for the author, page 137:
(Northern-England, Scotland, obsolete) A wild, romping girl.
“Ay, ay,” answered Rob, “she's under lawfu' authority now; and full time, for she was a daft hempie[…]” 1817, Sir Walter Scott, Rob Roy: