Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

FORKIETAIL, n. comb. Also forki-, forky-, †forkit-,  forkietailie and curtailed form forkie (ne.Sc., Rxb. 1953; Bnff., Abd., Ayr., Dmf.;). The earwig (Sh., Ork., Cai., Bnff., Abd., Ags., Ayr., Dmf. 2000s forkietail; Abd. 1825 Jam., forkit-, forky-; I.Sc., n.Sc., Ags., Per., Hdg., Bwk., Ayr. 1953). See also Golach. Also applied in dim. to a swallow-tailed coat.Ags. 1871 Arbroath Guide (24 June) 3:
His bed was just the “bare girse laft,” Where “forkytailies” teas'd him sair.Per. 1894 Trans. Per. Soc. Nat. Science 30:
Where, too, can we find a better example of widespread prejudice than that exhibited towards the common earwig, or “forky-tail?”Ags. 1934 G. M. Martin Dundee Worthies 150:
Dressed in a cast-off “swallow-tailed” coat colloquially known as a “Claw Hammer” or “Forkie Taily.”Bch. 1946 J. C. Milne Orra Loon 19:
A forkie doon yer neck? Dyod, man, ye'll need te change yer sark!Abd. 1950 Huntly Express (8 Dec.):
It wis a perfeck hairbor for hairyworms an' forkytails.Abd. 1991 Douglas Kynoch in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 86:
Terpsichore was trachelt;
But, for aa she had tae pech,
Was lowpin like a limmer
Wi a forkie or a flech. Dundee 1991 W. N. Herbert in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 178:
deep sang, dallowit frae thi dung-heich
oxtir o a warkin mithir oan
thi line in deean Timex, thi faithirs
lyk forkietailies craa atween
thi cemetaries, ... Abd. 1998 Sheena Blackhall The Bonsai Grower 18:
Forkietails an wyvers crawled ower the kinnlers that war hackit an riven frae muckle logs gaitherit frae the fairm widdie.