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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

STAKE, n. Also stai(c)k. Sc. usages:

1. As in Eng. Combs.: (1) stake-net, a salmon fishing net fixed on stakes in tidal water (see 1812 quot.). Gen.Sc.; (2) stake and rice, see Rice, n., 3.(1) Per. 1722 W. Macfarlane Geog. Coll. (S.H.S.) I. 305:
Good salmond fishings by strake [sic] nets and yairs.Ags. 1802 Dundee Advertiser (14 May):
The new mode of catching salmon by what is called the stake-net. . . . This mode, though in our rivers in its infancy, has been practised on the shores and rivers of Italy for these many years past.Dmf. 1812 Scots Mag. (Sept.) 690:
Stake or Trap-nets consist of one or more apartments, inclosed with netting, supported by stakes of from 5 to 15 feet high or upwards, driven into the sand and with netting also for their roof, and having doors that open with the tide, which, after admitting the fish, are shut by the returning current. The salmon, and other kinds of fish, are led into these traps by two long arms, or leaders, which embrace several hundred yards of the channel, the one conducting them into the traps in the flowing, and the other in the ebbing tide.Sc. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet Letter vi.:
You and your partners are using unlawful craft to destroy the fish in the Solway by stake nets and wears.Sc. 1860 M. Mackenzie Salmon Fishery 42:
Fishing-apparatus, called Stake-nets, formed of a long range of stakes carried out from the shore sometimes a mile into the water. Stake-nets are always placed on sands, or ground left dry by the receding of the tide.Sc. 1930 P. F. Anson Fishing Boats 10:
Stake Nets. Used chiefly for salmon.

2. A young ling, Molva molva, from its shape, freq. in dim form stakie (ne.Sc. 1903 G. Sim Fauna of “Dee” 239; Abd. 1971).Abd. 1789 J. Cranna Fraserburgh (1914) 57:
Cods, staiks, tusks, flounders, or other fish.Abd. 1815 J. Arbuthnot Fishes 11:
The young of this spawn are called by the fishermen Stakes, and the older ones are called Ling.