Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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FORKIETAIL, n. comb. Also forki-, forky-, †forkit-,  forkietailie and curtailed form forkie (ne.Sc., Rxb. 1953; Bnff., Abd., Ayr., Dmf.;). The earwig (Sh., Ork., Cai., Bnff., Abd., Ags., Ayr., Dmf. 2000s forkietail; Abd. 1825 Jam., forkit-, forky-; I.Sc., n.Sc., Ags., Per., Hdg., Bwk., Ayr. 1953). See also Golach. Also applied in dim. to a swallow-tailed coat.Ags. 1871 Arbroath Guide (24 June) 3:
His bed was just the "bare girse laft," Where "forkytailies" teas'd him sair.Per. 1894 Trans. Per. Soc. Nat. Science 30:
Where, too, can we find a better example of widespread prejudice than that exhibited towards the common earwig, or "forky-tail?"Ags. 1934 G. M. Martin Dundee Worthies 150:
Dressed in a cast-off "swallow-tailed" coat colloquially known as a "Claw Hammer" or "Forkie Taily."Bch. 1946 J. C. Milne Orra Loon 19:
A forkie doon yer neck? Dyod, man, ye'll need te change yer sark!Abd. 1950 Huntly Express (8 Dec.):
It wis a perfeck hairbor for hairyworms an' forkytails.Abd. 1991 Douglas Kynoch in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 86:
Terpsichore was trachelt;
But, for aa she had tae pech,
Was lowpin like a limmer
Wi a forkie or a flech. Dundee 1991 W. N. Herbert in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 178:
deep sang, dallowit frae thi dung-heich
oxtir o a warkin mithir oan
thi line in deean Timex, thi faithirs
lyk forkietailies craa atween
thi cemetaries, ... Abd. 1998 Sheena Blackhall The Bonsai Grower 18:
Forkietails an wyvers crawled ower the kinnlers that war hackit an riven frae muckle logs gaitherit frae the fairm widdie.