sankey, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

sankey n.

also Sankey and Moody

[Ira David Sankey (1840–1908), who, with his partner Dwight Lyman Moody (1837–99), was the best known evangelist of the mid-19C]

(W.I.) a hymn; a hymn book; thus sankey hymn n.

1910		Meek & Wells George Meek, Bath Chair-Man 80: One young man came who was ultra-religious and insisted on preaching to them and having ‘Sankey and Moody’ every night.
1926		E. Walrond Tropic Death (1972) 123: She continued singing a Sankey hymn.
1938		Z.N. Hurston Tell My Horse (1995) 312: The leader tracked out sankeys. (Methodist hymns).
1980		(con. 1950s) M. Thelwell Harder They Come 21: He began singing — one of Miss ’Mando’s beloved long-meter sankey hymns.
1983		T. White Catch a Fire 136: Praise songs, digging songs, and ‘sankeys’ (revivalist hymns, named after [...] Ira David Sankey).