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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1934 (SND Vol. I). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Quotation dates: 1721-1725, 1792-1832, 1894-1923, 1985-1998

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AIK, AKE, Yik, n. The oak; the wood of the oak. Also fig. Once Gen.Sc., but now obsol. or poetical. [ek Sc.; jɛk + jɪ̢k s.Sc.] Chron. order observed.Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems 258:
On scroggy Braes shall Akes and Ashes grow.
Sc. a.1725 O Waly, Waly, in Orpheus Cal. (1733) 71:
I leant my back unto an Aik.
Ayr. 1792 Burns O Leeze Me iii.:
On lofty aiks the cushats wail.
Sc. 1815 Scott Guy M. viii.:
There had nae been sick a sprout frae the auld aik since the death of Arthur MacDingawaie.
Sc. 1832 in A. Henderson Sc. Proverbs 85:
Little straiks fell muckle aiks.
Edb. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick 75:
It didna maitter whether the kist was aik or deal.
Abd. 1913 C. Murray Hamewith 100:
Ah, then 'tis pleasant on saft mossy banks 'Neath auncient aiks to ease his wearied shanks.
Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B. 40 and 337:
Aik, ‡yik, the oak. [Aik, n. and w.Rxb., yik, ne.Rxb.]
m.Sc. 1988 William Neill Making Tracks 56:
Pit back the aik, the rowan an the sally
see yince again the blackthorn on the druim;
rowan an elm, the birk an bonnie gean
Abd. 1990 Stanley Robertson Fish-Hooses (1992) 99:
She had seven brithers and they were built like aiks, and they aa doted upon their young sister.
Abd. 1998 Sheena Blackhall The Bonsai Grower 69:
Fur the showdie-powdie wins that ruggit an tuggit the booin birks an leerichie-larrichie laricks, the fusslin firs an the creakin aiks o the howe war fulled wi the echoes o birdsang an wattersang, ...

Comb.: aik-tree, Sc. form of Eng. oak tree.m.Sc. 1985 William J. Rae in Joy Hendry Chapman 40 18:
Whaun onybody caa'd on him at his nest in the hollow o an aik-tree, and socht his advice, he'd tell them he wisna like ither owls ...

[O.Sc. ake, aik(e), ayk. North. Mid.Eng. ake, ak. From O.E. āc.]

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"Aik n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 6 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/aik_n>

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