Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 1963 (DOST Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Lirk, n. and v. [North midl. ME. lerke n. (Destr. Troy) a wrinkle, of Scand. origin. Common, as lirk (also lurk), in the mod. Sc., north. Eng. and north. Irish dial., also north. Irish lerk, north. Eng. lairk. By Per Thorson Anglo-Norse Studies (1936) 36, derived f. Norw. lyra ‘protruding crease or fold in the skin’, Icel. hlýra, hlýri ‘shoulder-knot of a gown etc.’, mod. dial. of Lincs. lire v. ‘to plait a shirt-front’; but cf. ON. lerka v. to lace up, bind (a garment, sleeve, hose) and Lark v.] a. n. A fold in the skin, a wrinkle. Also fig. b. v. intr. Of the skin: To become creased, to wrinkle. — 1663–9 Sel. Biog. I. 167.
A party of the rebells … were killed. They were so fat that one might have hid his fingers in the lirks of their breasts c1680 McWard Contendings 307 (Jam.).
It is the Lord we have to do with who knows how to seek out the lirks of our pretences 1684 Law Memor. (1818) 177.
It [the elephant] has … a rough tannie skin, and lirking throughout all its body; the trunk of it lirks, and it contracts it, and draws it in, and dilates and lets it out, as it pleases