Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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GOSK, n., v. Also ‡gorsk, †gosque, ¶ghosk. [gɔ(r)sk]

I. n. 1. Strong, rank grass forced up on pasture-land by cattle droppings (Ags. 1808 Jam.; Abd.⁸ 1917, go(r)sk; Abd., Ags. 1955); a tuft of such grass (Abd.⁷ 1925, gorsk). Also used attrib.Bch. 1735 J. Arbuthnot Farmers (1811) 37:
Being thus . . . enriched [by dung], it will very readily shoot out in long grass, commonly called gorsk.Ags. 1759 Scots Mag. (Sept.) 495:
Many people went to the place; where they found only some bones scattered among the gosque and heather where the carcase had lain.Bnff. 1812 D. Souter Agric. Bnff., App. 58:
If they [sandy fields] be early toth'd, they shoot out the whole into gorsk.Bch. 1862 Banffshire Jnl. (17 June) 7:
Another neighbour, who keeps no sheep, had these “gosk hillocks” cut close in Autumn, used salt and is now free of grub.Mry. 1897 J. Mackinnon Braefoot Sk. iii.:
It was a bright warm day in the end of August, what time the leas are mainly “gosks” and tanzies.Abd. 1928 Abd. Press & Jnl. (22 Oct.) 6:
When he pulled the trigger, the gun recoiled so violently as to throw him on his back, where he crushed a hare under him as it lay in a “ghosk” of grass.

Hence go(r)skie (-y), grossky (met.), ¶gasky, adj., (1) rank, luxuriant, “having more straw than grain” (Ags. 1808 Jam.; Fif. 1853 J. Pringle Poems 48, gasky; ne.Sc., Ags. 1955, goskie), gen. applied to grass; (2) “large in size, but feeble; applied to an animal” (Ags. 1808 Jam.); “without substance, as root vegetables, e.g. potatoes and turnips, when overgrown” (Abd.⁴ 1928); (3) comb. gosky-heidit, having thick tously hair (Ags. 1955).(1) Fif. 1827 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd 73:
Sae whair thy altars glister now, Shall craps o' gosky dockens grow.Bch. 1862 Banffshire Jnl. (17 June) 7:
Another neighbour, who keeps no sheep, and whose leas were full of gosky foliage had these cut close in Autumn.Bnff. 1869 W. Knight Auld Yule 15:
Auld Effy's kissed frae lug to lug, And Maggie tries her cheek to rug Frae Saunders beard sae gosky.Ags. 1880 Mod. Sc. Poets (Edwards) I. 29:
The peppermint gosky, the deep green rosemary.Gall. 1912 Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. 290:
A grossky spit. Grossky grass.Abd.²⁷ 1948:
It wis peer, gosky stuff fan hairst cam'.

2. Chickweed, Stellaria media (Cai. 1900 E.D.D., Cai.⁹ 1940); also applied to groundsel, Senecio vulgaris (Cai.⁹ 1940).

†II. v. Of grass: “to grow in luxuriant patches, through the dung dropped by cattle on the pasture” (Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 68; Mry.¹ 1925).