Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1976 (SND Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

CHRISTIE CLEEK, prop.n. The name of a bugbear or monster used to frighten children (see quot.); a rascal, scamp (Slk. 1963).Sc. 1896 A. Cheviot Proverbs 76:
They resorted to canabalism at the instigation of their leader, Andrew Christie, a Perth butcher. This monster lay in wait for passing horsemen, and dragged them from the saddle with a large iron hook fixed to a long pole, hence his nickname. It is said Christiecleek died many years after, a married man and prosperous merchant in Dumfries. For centuries the mere mention of the word Christiecleek was sufficient to silence the noisiest child.

[The story derives from the continuation of Fordun's Scotichronicon about an incident in Perth in 1339 (see Liber Pluscardensis (Skene 1877) ix. xxxvii.).]