Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1960 (SND Vol. V).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
KALK, v., n. A variant of Cauk, n., v.1, q.v.
I. v. To chalk, fig. in phrs.: 1. to kalk somebody's door, to avoid visiting one as a sign of displeasure, from the practice of marking with chalk the doors of houses where plague was present as a warning to keep away or, in later times, where the tenant was under notice to remove; 2. to kalk somebody up for a thing, to put to someone's account.1. Ags. 1946 Forfar Dispatch (7 March):
I've kalkit her door this lest sevenicht and I'll gie her a some short shrift gin ever she darkens mine.2. Abd. 1959:
What did he kalk ye up for that?
II. n. Chalk.Per. 1910:
An old auntie of mine at Pitlochry used to say, when she sent us home on a dark night, “tak (or pit) a bit o' kalk in your teeth” (sc. jocularly as a method of showing oneself in the darkness).
