I'm agog with curiosity, Dave. What is your "usual use of the word"
honies, that wasn't listed in the dictionary? A Google search quickly turns up Web sites such as "Harlem Honies" and "Hairy Honies" - are these anything to do with it? I suppose you'll be telling us that, as a poet, you visit such sites for the alliteration...
I'm not totally persuaded about this being a "pretty regular variation". I would say it's a pretty obscure and archaic spelling, actually. I suspect it dates from the times when the singular was often written
hony. The past participle
honied has survived into current usage as an alternative to
honeyed, perhaps because of figurative expressions like "honied phrases". (
Honied is already allowed in Chihuahua.)
Of course, the word
honeys - however it may be spelled - is not used very often, so it's probably not surprising that there are not a wealth of examples from literature of
honies. However, a full-text search at Project Gutenberg reveals a few, such as this one from
The Children's Pilgrimage by L T Meade (1854-1914):
"Oh! my little Honies," she said, coming forward, "we don't allow dogs in the church..."
Anyhow, as the word is listed in at least one dictionary, I'll allow it into our list.
