Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
SMUCK, n., v. Also smuk(k), smuick, smock. [smʊk]
I. n. 1. A thick woollen shoe or slipper made of several layers of coarse cloth sewn or stuck together (Sh. a.1838 Jam. MSS. XII. 201, 1908 Jak. (1928), 1914 Angus Gl.), now applied to carpet- or other soft slippers (Sh. 1970). Comb. smuckie-needle, a large needle used for sewing smucks (Sh. 1970).Sh. 1888 B. R. Anderson Broken Lights 81:
Dan, solemn, soucht again da door, But never crossed his smuck da goit.Sh. 1906 T. P. Ollason Spindrift 74:
Stamping her smuck on the floor.Sh. 1934 W. Moffatt Shetland 84:
In snowy weather these are replaced by smocks or smuicks, a cloth slipper or overshoe sewn across and across the soles to prevent slipping.Sh. 1953 New Shetlander No. 35. 8:
Marbel cood get nothing on her right fit but a saft smuck.
2. A loose, ragged fibrous peat (Sh. 1968, a smuck o a paet). For the semantic development cf. Dufftin, Sod, n., 5.(2).Sh. 1898 Shetland News (5 Feb.):
Improvised as fuel over and above the usual twopenny Sound kishie of smucks.
3. A nickname for a native or inhabitant of Aithsting parish in Sh. (Sh. 1883 J. R. Tudor Ork. and Sh. 625, Sh. 1970).
II. v. 1. To put on smucks; specif. to tie or sew a fowl's foot up in rags to prevent it scraping in newly-sown corn ground (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928), Sh. 1970).Sh. 1874 Trans. Highl. Soc. 209:
Five or six hens, whose feet are “smocked” or sewed up in rags, at critical times and places.Jak.:
To geng like a smukket hen — to lift the feet high in walking.
2. In deriv. form smu(c)ks: to strike the ground with a sound like that of a slipper, to walk or hop in a clumsy ungainly way, to shuffle (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928), Sh. 1970).Sh. 1886 J. Burgess Sketches 114:
Naethin' ta be heard bit da smucksin o' feet ipo da fluir, an' noo an' dan a wild “heech!” frae some o' da young chaps.
