cleckv.
/klɛk/, U.S. /klɛk/, Scottish English /klɛk/ Chiefly Scottish.
1. transitive. Of birds: To hatch. Also absol.
ΚΠ
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 226 Kynd native nest dois clek bot owlis.
1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) III. 388 Birdis clekkit as tha war wont till do.
1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 40 To cleck burdis of thir egis.
2. transferred. Of human beings. (Contemptuously.)
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > source or principle of life > birth > confinement > confine or deliver [verb (transitive)] > give birth
forthbring971
akenOE
haveOE
bearOE
to bring into the worldOE
teemOE
i-bereOE
to bring forthc1175
childc1175
reara1275
ofkenc1275
hatcha1350
makea1382
yielda1400
cleck1401
issue1447
engenderc1450
infant1483
deliver?a1518
whelp1581
world1596
yean1598
fall1600
to give (a person or thing) birth1615
to give birth to1633
drop1662
pup1699
born1703
to throw off1742
beteem1855
birth1855
parturiate1866
shell1890
to put to bed1973
bring-
the world > space > place > removal or displacement > extraction > extract [verb (transitive)] > pull out or up
updrawc1290
plitchc1330
to pull outc1330
to pull upa1382
cleck1401
1401 in T. Wright Polit. Poems & Songs (1859) II. 95 Ȝe ben clekkid out to pursuwe holi chirche.
1553 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Eneados iv. vii. 9 The clekkit that horribil mont Cawcasus hat.
1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian vi, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. II. 146 Since the day ye was cleckit.
3. figurative. To hatch (devices, plots, etc.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > egg > [verb (transitive)] > hatch
cleck1578
1578 Gude & Godlie Ball. (1868) 91 The Amelekis, that lesingis weill can clek.
1725 A. Ramsay Gentle Shepherd ii. i To cleck, and spread the grossest lies aff-hand.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1889; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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