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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1934 (SND Vol. I). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

‡AIK, AKE, Yik, n. The oak; the wood of the oak. Also fig. Once Gen.Sc., but now obsol. or poetical. [ek Sc.; jɛk + jɪ̢k s.Sc.] Chron. order observed.Sc. 1721 Ramsay Poems 258:
On scroggy Braes shall Akes and Ashes grow.Sc. a.1725 O Waly, Waly, in Orpheus Cal. (1733) 71:
I leant my back unto an Aik.Ayr. 1792 Burns O Leeze Me iii.:
On lofty aiks the cushats wail.Sc. 1815 Scott Guy M. viii.:
There had nae been sick a sprout frae the auld aik since the death of Arthur MacDingawaie.Sc. 1832 in A. Henderson Sc. Proverbs 85:
Little straiks fell muckle aiks.Edb. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick 75:
It didna maitter whether the kist was aik or deal.Abd. 1913 C. Murray Hamewith 100:
Ah, then 'tis pleasant on saft mossy banks 'Neath auncient aiks to ease his wearied shanks.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B. 40 and 337:
‡Aik, ‡yik, the oak. [Aik, n. and w.Rxb., yik, ne.Rxb.]m.Sc. 1988 William Neill Making Tracks 56:
Pit back the aik, the rowan an the sally
see yince again the blackthorn on the druim;
rowan an elm, the birk an bonnie gean Abd. 1990 Stanley Robertson Fish-Hooses (1992) 99:
She had seven brithers and they were built like aiks, and they aa doted upon their young sister. Abd. 1998 Sheena Blackhall The Bonsai Grower 69:
Fur the showdie-powdie wins that ruggit an tuggit the booin birks an leerichie-larrichie laricks, the fusslin firs an the creakin aiks o the howe war fulled wi the echoes o birdsang an wattersang, ...

Comb.: aik-tree, Sc. form of Eng. oak tree.m.Sc. 1985 William J. Rae in Joy Hendry Chapman 40 18:
Whaun onybody caa'd on him at his nest in the hollow o an aik-tree, and socht his advice, he'd tell them he wisna like ither owls ...