Show Search Results Show Browse

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

About this entry:
First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

CLECKIN', CLECKING, vbl.n. [′klɛkən, -ɪŋ]

1. The act of hatching. Extended in comb. to denote child-birth.Ags. 1833 D. McKay in Chambers's Edb. Jnl. (25 May) 136:
One question to ask thee my wonderment begs, — How, Moon, have you skill in the clecking of eggs?

Comb.: cleckin(g) time, the time when a child is about to be born (Fif.10 1936).Sc. 1815 Scott Guy M. (1817) i.:
“The laird's servant . . . rade express by this e'en to fetch the houdie.” . . . “Perhaps . . . at such a time a stranger's arrival might be inconvenient?” “Hout, na, . . . clecking time's aye canty time.”
Bnff.2 1941:
Did you notice that Jess has an awfu' book. I'm thinkin' it's aboot cleckin' time wi' 'er.

2. A brood, a litter, esp. of cats, rabbits or mice; in some districts, however, exclusively of fowls.Sc. 1820 Scott Monastery iv.:
I wish there wasna sic a bird as a goose in the wide warld, forbye the clecking that we hae at the burn-side.
Abd. 1906 J. Christie in Bnffsh. Jnl. (22 May) 10:
An' whaur's the cattie wi' her cleckin?
Fif. 1909 Colville 130:
Knowing in the breeds of doos and rabbits, the “niffering” of the progeny or the “swauping” of the cleckin', with knives and bools as buit (luckpenny), prepared him for a commercial career.
Ayr. 1821 Galt Ann. Parish vii.:
She had set her mind on a clecking of pigs.
Slk. 1818 Hogg Brownie of Bodsbeck I. ix.:
They'll maybe hae been trying how weel they could vizy at the wild ducks; there's a hantle o' cleckins about the saughs o' the lake.

3. Extended to human beings, in a derogatory sense (Bnff.2, Fif.10, Lnl.1, Lnk.3 1937).Ags. 1933 W. Muir Mrs Ritchie xxvi.:
The next thing she heard was . . . that the whole clecking of Reids would likely follow their brothers as they grew older.
Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin xviii.: 
Mony time my mither wished the haill cleckin' o' them blawn into the German Ocean.
Hdg. 1902 J. Lumsden Toorle, etc. 213:
His Minnie gave him sooks for squackin', Same's she had dune for a' her cleckin', Noo a deil's dizzen strang.

Phr.: a doo's cleckin, see Doo, n., 3. (7).

[From Cleck, v.2 (1).]

You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.

"Cleckin' vbl. n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 28 Mar 2024 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/cleckin>

6656

snd

Hide Advanced Search

Browse SND:

    Loading...

Share: