sukey, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

sukey n.

[Sukey, a dimin. of proper name Susan, but ? Welsh Gypsy sukar, to hum, to whisper (cf. black sal under black adj.); in sense 3, the immediate root was presumably the mid-18C+ nursery rhyme ‘Polly put the kettle on’]

1. a male homosexual.

1707

J. Dunton Rump in Athenianism II 96: Sukey, (for so ’tis said you greet The Men you pick up in the Street) En’t you a monster thus to [...] make Mens Tails a sort of Wench?

2. a lower servant girl.

1734		Proceedings Old Bailey 27 Mar. 143/2: But there was a Vagabond Creature, one Sukey, that persuaded me to it.
1759		Proceedings Old Bailey 25 Apr. 156/2: She said she had been to carry a white petticoat and three pewter plates to pawn for Sukey at Mrs Hinkle’s.

3. a kettle.

1821		‘A Real Paddy’ Real Life in Ireland 193: Blake filled the Teakettle, alias Sukey, and clapt her on the fire.
1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 167: Sukey a tea-kettle. ‘Put over the Sukey,’ set the tea-kettle on the fire; or, ‘Molly put the kettle on, we’ll all have tea.’.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1898		Belfast News-Letter 11 Apr. 6/5: ‘Sukey’ for the kettle is familiar enough.

4. a fool.

1924		Lawrence & Skinner Boy in Bush 63: Why can’t y’ learn off me now, an’ be proper. Ye’ll be such an awful sukey when y’goes out campin’.
1937–84		Partridge DSUE (1984) 1176/1: mid-C.19–20.

In compounds

sukey jump (n.)

(US, Sth) a country dance held for and by African-Americans; also attri.

1946		Salt Lake Trib. (UT) 9 Dec. 7/6: I was at a sukey jump — a cotton pickers dance.
1950		Shreveport Times (LA) 17 Dec. 31/8: [T]o while away the lonely evenings in the piney woods and enliven the sukey-jumps and breakdowns.
1967		Shreveport Jrnl (LA) 2 Aug. 12A/2: [Leadbelly] began performing at ‘sukey jumps’ and ‘breakdowns’ in cabins and dance halls.
1973		Arizona Republic (Phoeniz, AZ) 22 July N-4/1: [Leadbelly] was [...] an entertainer at all-night dances, sukey jumps and barrelhouses.
1978		Calgary Herald (Alberta) ‘The Canadian’ 28 Jan. 17/2: At 15, [Leadbelly]’d play all night at suker-jumps (play parties) and breakdowns (square dances) for 50 cents and all he could drink .
1989		Shreveport Times (LA) 15 Jan. 11-F/2: Leadbelly’s songs [...] ‘Sukey Jump’.
1992		(con. 1890s) Wolfe & Lornell Leadbelly 18: Sukey, or sookie, was apparently a Deep South slang term dating from the 1820s and referring to a servant or slave. A sukey jump, therefore, was once a dance or party in slave quarters.
2005		Dly News (NY) 8 May 42/1: [G]igging at raucous ‘sukey-jump’ parties.