Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1960 (SND Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1852-1957
[0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0]
HICK, n.1, v.1 Also hic and dim. or freq. form hicker. Cf. Hix. [hɪk]
I. n. A hiccup, the act of hiccuping (Ags., Per. 1825 Jam.; Abd., Ags. 1957).Per. 1893 R. Ford Harp Per. 319:
Jamie began, wi' a “hic” an' a stan', Like ony whase heart's ower fu'.Fif. 1929 A. Taylor Bitter Bread 126:
Ye'd think a man that had lost a leg wi'oot a murmur wad never mak' sic a stramash aboot a hicker in his thrapple.
II. v. 1. To hiccup (Ags., Per. 1825 Jam.; Abd., Ags. 1957).Rxb. 1925 E. C. Smith Mang Howes 20:
A hickeet an tuik the rewe, for the . . . look o'd wad heh gien a body the scunners.Fif. 1957:
To hick on it — to have one's gorge rise, on a last mouthful when one has eaten too much already.
2. To catch the breath and make a hiccuping sound preparatory to bursting into tears, to sob noisily (s.Sc. 1825 Jam.; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.); to grieve (†Rxb. Ib.). Also in n.Eng. dial.Clc. 1852 G. P. Boyd Misc. Poems 25:
Cheer up, my sweet auld-farrant dearies, Near hick tho' your heads cast their hairies.
You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Hick n.1, v.1". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 7 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/hick_n1_v1>
