Posted by John Nichols on July 26, 2005 at 17:38:45 from 165.91.196.16 user Mcneacail.
In Reply to: Re: Regional dialects posted by Peter H on July 25, 2005 at 22:30:19:
Just for Peter: This is not to exhausting. And I am sorry I find the OED definitions fascinating. Now I must send the reference to the OED.
I need the edition date and the publisher and the exact reference from whence the original reference came in this listing.
hk, hak) Forms: 4-6 holk(e, 7-9 hoke, huck, Sc. 7-9 howk, 9 houk. [Northern ME. holk, cognate with MLG. holken, LG. holken, hölken, to hollow, Sw. hålka; f. root of HOLL a., with dim. formative -k: cf. talk.]
1. trans. To hollow out by digging; to excavate; to dig out or up. With various spec. local senses: see quots.
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13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1222, [He] holkked out his auen yen heterly boe. 1483 Cath. Angl. 187/2 To Holke, palare. 1513 DOUGLAS Æneis I. vii. 18 onder wther sum the new havin holkis. 1552 LYNDESAY Monarche 1702 Sum holkit claye, sum brynt the tylde. 1573 SEMPILL in Satir. Poems Reform. xxxix. 270 Hes scho not helpit to holk out one Tod? 1686 G. STUART Joco-ser. Disc. 47 Who howks a hole for any other His sel' fau' in were he my brother. 1780 A. YOUNG Tour Irel. I. 261 They bring up their children to hoking potatoes. 1798 J. JEFFERSON Let. to J. Boucher 19 Mar. (MS.), Huck, to pick out any thing with an instrument, as to huck a thorn out of the finger. 1805 Sporting Mag. XXVI. 75 I'll away up to the kirk-yard, and howk a few graves. 1880 Antrim & Down Gloss., Hoke, to hollow-out anything, such as a toy boat. A dog hokes out the earth from a rabbit hole. 1891 HALL CAINE Scapegoat xviii, To howk out her grave with his own hands. 1899 A. WERNER Captain of Locusts 160 They howked a grave near the kraal, and buried their chief pro tem. 1926 D. H. LAWRENCE Let. 28 Dec. (1932) 676 We shall stay here if not howked out. 1950 B. MARSHALL Every Man a Penny xlix. 229 Deep in their trenches the hairy men stood, howking out the brown earth. 1955 E. POUND Classic Anthol. II. 90 Howk 'em up with a landing scoop.
2. intr. To dig, make excavation, turn things up.
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1513 DOUGLAS Æneis VI. ix. 139 Vndir his cost holkand in weill law. 1825 BROCKETT, Howk, to dig, to scoop. 1834 Blackw. Mag. XXXV. 874 He will lie upon his master's grave, and..howk wi' his paws. 1893 CROCKETT Stickit Minister 118 He was howkin' up in the garret twa efternoons last week. 1906 KIPLING Puck of Pook's Hill 69 Dan hiked and howked with a boat-hook (the brook was too narrow for sculls). 1950 John o' London's 24 Nov. 621/1 The solan goose..starts howking and pecking at the rope which sustains the climber.
Hence holked, -et, -it ppl. a. (a) Excavated, dug out or up; (b) Sunken, depressed, hollow. holking vbl. n. and ppl. a., excavating, burrowing.
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a1500 1785 1850
c1420 Anturs of Arth. 116 (Thornton) Hir eghne ware holkede fulle holle. a1500 P. JOHNSTON Thre Deid Powis iii, Full laithly thus sall ly thy lusty heid Holkit and how. 1508 DUNBAR Flyting w. Kennedie 164 Ffor hiddowis, haw, and holkit is thyne ee. 1552 LYNDESAY Monarche 1528 Holkit Glennis, and hie montanis. 1785 BURNS Addr. to Deil ix, They..in kirk-yards renew their leagues, Owre howkit dead. 1850 W. ALLINGHAM Poems 116 In thy bed of clay the howking mole Bores no tunnel thorough.