Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BRECK, BREK(K), Brecks, Brekks, Braiks, Brack, n.

1. “Hillock; ridge; elongated mound. De brek . . . o' de hill, used of the uppermost edge or part of a slope” (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928)).

2. “Rarely used in sing. — poor, thin, shallow soil — hardly worth cultivation” (Ork. 1929 Marw.); “a common or pasture-ground” (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl., braiks); “a tract of barren ground in or adjoining a township” (Cai. 1905 E.D.D. Suppl., brack); “a stripe of uncultivated ground between two shots or plots of land” (Rxb. 1825 Jam.², brack), given as obs. by Watson in W.-B. (1923).Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928):
In n.Unst brekk and pl. brekks is [sic] found in sense of a common, a plot of uncultivated or fallow land, used as pasture, between two farms or parts of a village.Ork. 1920 J. Firth Reminisc. Ork. Par. (1922) 59:
In the contest the rival horsemen did not keep to the highway, but struck straight for the terminus across “breck” and burn and cultivated field.Ork. 1936 G. Robertson and C. M. Allen in Ork. Agric. Jnl. XI. 48:
An experiment in the reclamation of “brecks” was laid down in 1933 at Lyking, Sandwick. The land under experiment was typical dry, hill brecks overlying flagstone. The ground, which was very uneven and mainly covered with heather and a little bent grass, was ploughed up in 1932–1933.Ork. 1995 Orcadian 28 Dec 9:
Like many other legume plants, it [a kind of lupin] it has the ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil and for a long time it was popular as a means of converting breck and thin peat into good grassland.