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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SWICK, n., v., adj. Also sweck-; sweek; and, in sense I. 4., swig (Gregor). [swɪk]

I. n. 1. A piece of deceit or cheating, a trick, fraud, swindle (n.Sc. 1808 Jam.; I., n.Sc., em.Sc., Ayr., sm.Sc. 1972). It is uncertain whether the 1857 quot. belongs here. Derivs. swickery, cheating, swindling (ne.Sc. 1972), swickful, deceitful (Sc. 1888 C. Mackay Dict. Lowland Sc. 223), swicky, id., full of pranks, roguish (Ags. 1808 Jam.).Fif. 1825 Jam.:
He played them a swick.Clc. 1852 G. P. Boyd Misc. Poems 43:
For unco few I see noo cleckit, But what's wi' sweekery infeckit.Ags. 1853 W. Blair Aberbrothock 26:
There's sae muckle swick amo' them, ane needsna care whether they hae or want.Per. 1857 J. Stewart Sketches 97:
Fire, the devourer, wi' a swick, Mid battle's roar, Brunt to an eizel ilka stick In owre the door.Abd. 1902 Weekly Free Press (8 Nov.):
I expec'it a gowd watch, nae less. Sic a swick!Gsw. 1957 H. W. Pryde M. McFlannel's. Romance 63:
It's a swick when a minister gets down in the dumps. After all, it's his job to cheer folk up.Abd. 1969:
The soles o the sheen were jist paper. It was a perfeck swick.

2. A cheating rogue, a swindler, deceiver (Fif. 1825 Jam.; Sh., Ork., n.Sc., e. and wm.Sc. 1972).Knr. 1895 H. Haliburton Dunbar 31:
Turn aside From swicks and sweeps, the silly and the low.Abd. 1916 G. Abel Wylins 134:
Hame-drauchtit swicks, wha sair the deil.Kcd. 1932 L. G. Gibbon Sunset Song (1937) 152:
The lawyer man . . . swore that he was a swick.Ags. 1964 D. Phillips Hud Yer Tongue 57:
The Swick and the Sleekit.Bnff. 1967 Banffshire Advert. (19 Jan.) 10:
Ee'll niver be bit a fool swick.

3. With o: the responsibility for something bad or unfortunate, the blameworthiness for; hence by extension: tacit approval of, sympathy for, moral support of.n.Sc. 1808 Jam.:
I had nae swick o't, I had no blameableness in the matter.Abd. 1828 P. Buchan Ballads I. 229:
Ye'll relieve my merry young men, For they've nane o' the swick o' me.Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 188:
A've nae swick o' sic on-gaans.Abd. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xlv.:
The swick o' makin't a desolation.Abd. 1926 Abd. Univ. Review (March) 117:
Gin ye're scare't the nicht I sanna hae the swick o't.

4. The knack or ability to do something, skill, art, prob. orig. from an ironical use of 3. Now only liter.n.Sc. 1808 Jam.:
When one cannot accomplish what he attempts, it is said, He has nae the sweek o't.Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 188:
He giz a gey gueede swick o's wark.Sc. 1935 W. Soutar Poems in Sc. 28:
Mebbe gyteness is the sweek O' makin' [writing poetry].

II. v. To cheat, swindle, to deceive (Fif. 1825 Jam.). Gen.Sc.; to get by fraud. Hence swicker, a cheater, swindler (Abd. 1921).Per. 1889 T. Edwards Strathearn Lyrics 33:
My heaviest care was the loss o' a bool, When'twas stown or “swicket” at Auld Jenny's Schule.Sh. 1918 T. Manson Peat Comm. 132:
Dis is what we're swickid fur an grund ta da ert fur.Bnff. 1924 Swatches o' Hamespun 82:
They kennt they'd been swickit.Ags. 1934 J. Angus Sheltering Pine i. vi. 5:
Thae damned devils hae swicked me oot o't.Abd. 1970 Huntly Express (27 Feb.) 2:
Kilbady fair swicket you wi' that coo.wm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 27:
If yir dad's conscience disnae prick him,
Then, somehow, we'll funn a wey to swick him.

¶III. adj. “Clear of anything” (Bnff. 1808 Jam.), appar. meaning not responsible or to blame for, and phs. a misunderstanding of I. 3.