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

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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Stouk, Stuk, Stook, n.¹ Also: stouke, stoulk, stouck, stowk(e, stowik, stowck(e, stucke, sto(i)k. [Late ME and e.m.E. stowke (c1460), stouk (1530), stook (1586), stouck (1620), MLG stûke.] A stook, a number of sheaves of grain (also, peas, hemp, lint) placed together in an upright position to dry; the quantity of grain, etc. and straw contained in this number of sheaves. Also transf.(1) 1494 Acta Aud. 192/2.
Ilk persone haffand ane pleuch within the said schir ane thraiff of aitis … & ilk half pleuch a stouk & sa furth accordin to thar malingis 1533 Wigtown B. Ct. 281b.
For the vrangus shadyng of hym of xxii stovkis in his ley 1557 Prot. Bk. J. Robeson 199.
The said tent stouk and tend of the said beir 1570 Black Bk. Taymouth 413.
Twentie fyve bollis eatis prysit in the stouk with the stray 1578–9 Reg. Privy C. III 104.
Stouke 1589–90 Lanark B. Rec. 97.
Jonat Folkart and hir barnis for stelling hennis, elding, and schering gers, and rubin of stowkis in harvist 1621 Perth Kirk S. in Spottiswoode Misc. II 300.
Great plenty of corns … both in stacks and stouks, … were carried away by the waters 1627 Justiciary Cases I 68.
Throw negligence he had … sufferit his guidis to stray amang the stoukis and to eit his coirnes 1630 Rutherford Christ & Doves 24.
When a man has shorn a stouk of his corn-field, that puts him in assurance of the whole croop 1633 Lithgow Poet. Remains 97.
On their stowks thats seene, Snow-coverd tops, below they're grass-growne greene 1652 Nicolson Diurnals 12 March.
1 stouk that wes borrowed fra him for the pawnie a1699 Skene Agric. MS (ed.) 68.
Concerninge how many threaves goes to the boll of everie grain that is as the stowks be in greatnes som mor some les(b) 1531–2 Selkirk B. Ct. (ed.) 117.
Stukis 1690 Hawick Arch. Soc. (1905) 12.
18 Ma. they sher out the coufald and ther was 21 threfs and a stuk and 5 chifs 1693 Boharm Kirk S. 29 Sept.
To pay ten merks penaltie for … removeing Robert Malise stukes before sermon(c) 1648 Glasg. Univ. Mun. I 293.
The pryce of ilk teynd stook being four merkis money(d) 1622 Scot Course of Conformity 101.
Through the uncouth unseasonablenesse of the late harvest … S. Luke gat not a stowck, and the cornes universally are shaken and rotten 1676 M. P. Brown Suppl. Decis. III 57.
Drawing all the stoucks to one rig, or stacking them in a barn-yard, to preserve them from beasts or weather(e) 1681 Old Ross-shire II 53.
Cornes … soe eatin … be refunded … stucke for stucke, sheaffe for sheaffe(2) 1496 Alloway Baron Ct. 22 April.
The wrangus takyn of a stowk of corne 1523 Carnwath Baron Ct. (SHS) 8.
The vrangus haldin fra him of vij stowkis of bere 1529 Edinb. B. Rec. II 12.
The thifte … of ane stouk of peis and ane vther of aitis 1563 Dumfries B. Ct. 183a.
vj stowikis of his teind corne 1579 Inverness Rec. I 272.
Desyring of him ane thiggyne of corne, quha gaiff him ane stowke of aittis 1580–81 Dunbar Moray Doc. 176.
To pay the said George his Mair of ane stowcke of bear and ane stowcke of oats for the said plewghe land 1594 Breadalbane Ct. Bk. 71.
Stoulk 1625 Edinb. Test. LIII 114.
Ane stouk of cairill hempt vnpowit 1631 Kirkcudbr. B. Rec. II 439.
Thrie stowkis of lynt 1633 Rutherford Christ's Napkin 24.
When a man has shorn a stouk or two of corn, … he has gotten harvest and new corn 1684 Law Memor. 145.
Blowing the stowks and sheaves of corne in the air — 1542 Reg. Cupar A. II 213.
ix stoikis ij schaiffis atis 1649 Maxwell Mem. 349.
1 stouk, 2 sheaves cornecoll. 1602 Reg. Privy C. VI 508.
[Having set … the lands … for the yearly payment of the] thrie stouk of the haill cornis that growis on the saidis landis(3) c1500 Rowll Cursing 24 (B).
And raif … His quheit his aitis his peis his beir In stowk or stak to do him deir 1532 Selkirk B. Ct. (ed.) 124.
[Obligation by John Achesone, who] plegit the tane halff of the corn and stra … the quhilk corn and stra to be partit one the grownd without fraud or gyll in stouk or in scheiff 1547 Blackfriars Perth 240.
Ane haill crop beand windschorne, and put in stouke as said istransf. 1651 Dunferm. Ann. 325.
[The slain, resembled] a hairst field of stooks of corpses

b. The (quantity of) straw or fodder contained in a stook. 1554 Liber Dryburgh 291.
Sax furlettis beir … with thre stukkis of stray allanerlie 1556 Prot. Bk. T. Dalrymple 29b.
Fyve thravis and ane stouk of fodder to the wyntering of his cattell 1571 (1576) Reg. Great S. 709/1.
3 den. for thre stoukis [L. sarcinis] of custome stray 1573–4 Day-bk. J. Kyle 1a.
Item the xix of December for iij stouks stra to be raipis to the nort ile vij s. 1616 M. Works Acc. (ed.) II 7.
For [thre?] stoukis of quheit stray 1616 M. Works Acc. (ed.) II 57.
For xvi threves peis strae and ane stouk of ait stra to bind it with 1626 M. Works Acc. (ed.) II 200.
Ane stouke of ait strae to be braichhames to the sklaitteris 1644 Lochwinnoch Par. 169.
Robert Thomsone, 6 s. 8 d. land, payeis … ten creillis peittis, j stouk strae 1653–4 Peebles B. Rec. II 196.
To the gard at the Cunȝie-nuk … ane stouk ait straw 1670 Glasgow Weavers 82.
For thrie stouks of bear strae thairto—14 s.

c. attrib. 1573-4 quot. may belong elsewhere. 1473 Reg. Cupar A. I 166.
Ilke man sal gife a bol of quhet [etc.] … the mylnaris tende and abbe tendis falland in thar awn handis, and the tende fre multyr and the stok thyrl as wunt wes 1573–4 E. Loth. Antiq. Soc. VII 76.
For castin of xv^c faill to the dam at the stouk dub 1649 Maxwell Mem. 349.
This day I began to sheire my corne … quherof ther is 44 gaite and 6 sheaves on the stouk heid 1704 Coll. Witchcraft 135.
The Devil took her to a stook side, and caused her renounce her baptism