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A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 1983 (DOST Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Pik(e, Pyk(e, n.¹ [ME. and e.m.E. pike (a 1225), pyk(e pickax, spike, prickle, pikestaff, peak, etc., OE. piic, píc pickax. Cf. ME. and e.m.E. pick Pik n.² and e.m.E. peak; also Welsh pīg pointed end, pike, etc., F. pic (12th c.) pickax, spike, etc. Also in the mod. Sc. and Eng. dials., in the same or like senses.]

1. A pointed tip or end (of a horn, piece of timber, etc.); a tapering horn-like projection. b. A projecting spur or spike. c1460 Alex. (Taym.) 12131.
And the bakkis … Quhilkis had letheryng wingis with pykis lang 1590 Burel Pilgr. i. vi.
The hart with his faire forked horns Quhois pikes is sharpe as ony thorns 1595 Skipper's Acc. (Morton) 71 a.
Ane pes of croket tember quharof ther is twa pykis 1597 Skene Verb. S. s.v. Particata.
The pykes or nether endes of the staues 16.. Archbald in Macfarlane's Geog. Coll. III. 195.
The horn-eel … hath a pike out of its foreheadb. c 1594 Fowler II. 174/14.
A dogs collar al beset with iron pykes 1603 Eglinton P. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) 31.
Ane vyer to my haed vith nyne pykis 10 s.

2. A thorn; a prickle. a1500 Henr. Orph. 292 (A).
With scharpe pykis he had bene schorn & schent ?a1500 Dewoit Exerc. 132. c1500 Makc. MS. iv. 26.
Out throw thi harnis the pykis of thorne apliit c1500-c1512 Dunb. lxii. 23.
Ȝow thirsill … Quhois pykis throw me so reuthles ran 1513 Doug. iii. iv. 42.
And thik harsk granyt pikis standing owt Ib. xii. Prol. 98. 1549 Compl. 148/34.
The palme tre hes schearp broddis and pikis a1568 Bann. MS. 31 b/44.
The thorne pykis thay to my tay dang doun

3. A tool with a pointed (or ? tapered, see the quot. for 1555–6) end. = Pik n.² 1. 1555–6 Edinb. B. Rec. II. 326.
Wrocht on the quariors pikis, irne waigis to maik them als gude as thai come to the wark 1566 Treas. Acc. XI. 518.
For nalis to fessin the pikis 1574–5 Haddington Treas. Acc. 17.
Four pownd Spanye yrin to lay the pykis of the west myll