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A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 1963 (DOST Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Lok, n.² Also: lock(e, loik, loick, loak, look. [ME. lok(ke, lock(e, look (Destr. Troy), lock of hair (Layamon), tuft of wool (1276), bundle of hay (Prompt. Parv.), OE. loc(c masc. lock of hair, ON. lokk-r.]

1. A lock or tress of hair. Chiefly plur., = the hair collectively.plur. a1500 Henr. Fab. 451 (B).
My lyart lokkis [v.rr. loikkis] Id. Test. Cress. 162. Id. III. 114/11.
Ane catyf … With chekis leyne and lyart lokis hoir 1513 Doug. x. iii. 41.
Hys curland lokkis hyngis down … About hys schuldris Ib. xiii. 177.
Hys ȝallow lokkis brycht Ib. xi. ii. 46.
Hys lokkis and hys harys 1540 Lynd. Sat. 1152 (B).
For all ȝour ȝallow lokkis [: stokkis; Ck. locks] Ȝour wantone wordis but dowt ȝe sall repent 15.. Christis Kirk 34 (M).
He wald haue luffit hir, sche wald nocht lat him For all his ȝallow lokkis [: mokkis, clokkis, rokkis; B. loikkis] a1605 Montg. Misc. P. xxxv. 19.
Hir curling loks … About hir hevinly haffats hings 1611-57 Mure Misc. P. ii. 4.
Quhill Beutie … reposes … The cooling air … rejoyses To sport hir with hir locks Id. Dido & Æneas ii. 251.
Of gold her quaver, gold her loks dividssing. 1632 Ellon Par. Rec. 77.
[Accused of giving him] ane lok of her hair

2. A tuft of wool. See Hals-lok, Haslok.

3. transf. A quantity, usu. a small quantity, of any loose solid, as meal, salt, sand, earth, etc.; ? also, a handful. Cf. also Luik n.So also in the mod. Sc. and north. Eng. dial. (as lock, loke, loak). But late ME. lok (Prompt. Parv.), e.m.E. lock(e, and mod. south. Sc., north. Ir. and midl. and south. Eng. dial. lock, = a small bundle or handful of hay, straw or the like. The sense-development ‘lock of hair’, ‘tuft or flock’, whence both ‘handful or armful of corn, etc.’ and ‘quantity’ more generally, is paralleled in LG. dialects in the cognate word lok, lock (Grimm). 15.. Lord Fergus' Gaist 30.
Thair man be hung abowt ȝour hals Pricket in ane woll poik Of neis powder ane grit loik 1590 Crim. Trials I. ii. 238.
Agnes Sampsone … directit Bessie Thomsoune and Anny Stratoune … to craif ane lok salt owre the dur heid 1597 Misc. Spald. C. I. 190.
James Og is indytit to haue … taine nyne stanes from his avine rig, and casine on the said Alexander his rig, and to have taine nyne lokis of muild fra the said Alexander his rig, and cassine on his avine 1624 Misc. Abbotsf. C. 136.
Quher Margaret was grinding ane lock of beir on the quernis 1628 Dundonald Par. Rec. 265.
Hew Reid … confessit he sawe ane peice timber on the water crape and bot rowld it ouer the body and kuist ane lok sand vpon it, and did no more to it quhill Monday morning 1629 Black Orkn. & Shetl. Folklore 77.
Ye … desyrit ane lock corne fra Edward Rendall his sone, quha said thair was nane threachin and ye said ye may give me ane lock and he pleasit out of the cassie under the unthreachin corne 1660 S. Ronaldshay 31.
Kathareen Mansone gave her ane locke of salt in her hand 1661 Reg. Privy C. 3 Ser. I. 647.
Shoe … went to the mylne and thair got a lock meill fra Kirklandis man1688 Ib. XIII. 248. 1662 Soc. Ant. XXII. 220.
My bear land would have been better had ye laid a loak lime upon it

b. A small quantity of meal from each sack ground, exacted as one of the sequels of certain mills.i.e. in addition to the knaveschip and bannok, and perh. what was elsewhere known as the, or a, gowpin. See also 1681 Stair Inst. II. vii. § 21, quoted s.v. Knaveschip n. b (a). 1608 (1614) Reg. Great S. 420/1.
Molendinum … de Invermessane [Wigtonshire] … cum lie knaifschip, bannok et lock et ceteris proficuis 1622 Linlithgow B. Rec. 13 Dec.
Ordaned that the girsteris pay ... ane loick to the boy 1629 Glasg. B. Rec. I. 369.
Ilk mylne to haue ane myller and ane vnder myller allanerlie … and na kynd of deutie to be takin … bot onlie the ordinar multour knaifship and bannok … and incais thai … tak ony loik or vther deutie directlie or indirectlie in tyme cuming [etc.] 1638 Ib. II. 565.
That the said James King … hes takin of everie seck of malt grund at the said mylne ane loik vpoun the back of ane bonnet, callit ane pickle, vnder pretence of voluntarie gifting thairof to him or his servandis attour his appoyntit missour 1687 Kirkcudbr. Sheriff Ct. Deeds II. 326.
[Tack … of the corn mylne croft of Dalbaity … with the] lok [of the said mylne, presently possessed by himself as miller] 1697 Fountainhall Decis. I. 764.
He had only the power of inputting a miller and uplifting the small duties of the lock, knaveship and bannock 1700 Cullen B. Rec. 197 b.
The old milne of Cullen with the … multers suckin knaveschip bannock & lock usit & vont