A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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About this entry:
First published 1990 (DOST Vol. VII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1650-1662
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Quickene, Qwicken, n.. [North. e.m.E. (Yorks.) whickens pl., deriv. of north. ME and e.m.E. and mod. north. Eng. dial. quike (a 1387), quikk (Cath. Angl.), quick, etc., OE cwice (also Norw. dial. kvika), couch-grass, thought to be related to OE cwic Quik adj. In the mod. Sc. and north. Eng. dial. as quicken, (Yorks.) whicken, wicken, and freq. in pl. (Cf. also Quickning.)] In pl.: Couch-grass. —1650 Dumfries Treas. Acc. MS 39.
Payed for quickenes to stop the calle of the mill 1662 Criminal Trials III 603.
[Isobel Gowdie, of Auldearn parish, Nairnshire:] Paddokis did draw the plewgh, as oxen; qwickens wer sowmes