A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1499-1500, 1597-1623
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Slak, Slaik, n.2 [Ir. sleabhac or slabhac, cf. Gael. slabhacan. Cf. also north. e.m.E. and late north. ME slauk(e (c1450), slawke (1577). Also in the later dial. as slake and slawk.] A species of edible algae. — a1500 Henr. Practysis 45.
A sleiffull of slak, that growis in the slus 1597 Misc. Spald. C. I 166.
Bevitching of vmquhill Alexander Robertsone … be macking of a quantitie of slaik, … and causing the said Elspett gif him the said slaik, quhairthrow he contractis incontinentlie a deidlie disease 1623 Dalyell Darker Superst. 389.
[Giving him a] cogfull of slaik [to be ate raw on a cake, he recovered daily]
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"Slak n.2". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 17 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/slak_n_2>
