Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
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.

BECK, n. and v.¹ intr.

1. n. A bow, a curtsey.Sc. 1725 Ramsay T.T.Misc. (1762) 128:
And she right courteously Return'd a beck, and kindly said, Good day, sweet Sir, to you.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore 3:
An' shape his houghs to gentle bows and becks.Slk. a.1835 Hogg Tales, etc. (1837) III. 267:
Ellen came into the parlour with a beck as quick and as low as that made by the water ouzel.

2. v.intr. To bow, to curtsey, to bend.Sc. 1724 Ramsay T.T.Misc. (1762) 9:
And ay they bobit, and ay they beckt.Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian xxviii.:
I keep the straight road, and just beck if ony body speaks to me ceevilly.Sc. 1832 A. Henderson Sc. Proverbs 13:
You're as braw as Binks' wife, when she becket at the minister, wi' the dish-clout on her head.Ork.(D) 1880 Dennison Orcad. Sk. Bk. 19:
Sheu saw Meudie a peerie bit aff ae time an' beck'd tae him.Slk. a.1835 Hogg Tales, etc. (1837) II. 165:
The factor's naig wantit a fore-fit shoe, an' was beckin like a water-craw.

Phr. becking and beenging. (See quot.); beck an bou, To bow and scrape, curry favour.Sc. 1808 Jam. (s.v. Beck.):
“A great deal of becking and beenging,” is a phrase still used among the vulgar, to denote much ceremony at meeting, among persons of rank, or those who would wish to be thought such.m.Sc. 1998 William Neill in Neil R. MacCallum Lallans 51 17:
An you athoot the harns ti read an write
or speik ti lick-ma-dowps that beck an bou -
deaved wi the fletherin tales ye hear thaim tell.Edb. 2003:
She's aye beckin and booin tae the boss.