Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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About this entry:
First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1700-1746, 1798-1894, 1951
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TOUK, v.1, n.1 Also took, touck, tow(c)k, tuik, teuk, tuke, tuck. [tuk]
†I. v. tr. To beat or bang (a drum); intr. of a drum: to sound, to beat. Now obs. By extension, of the wind: to blow in strong gusts, to boom, roar. Ppl.adj. teukin, of the wind: variable, veering in gusts (s.Sc. 1825 Jam.). Also in Eng. dial.; also given as “quarrelsome, troublesome” (s.Sc. 1808 Jam. but this may be a mistake for tuilyin, see Tuilyie, or a different word of obscure origin.Ags. 1833 Chambers's Jnl. (May) 136:
I have wondered full oft, as it tookit and blew, If ever its sughing was eerie to you.Rxb. 1951:
A toukin wind — a wind blowing by fits and starts, making it difficult to sow seed, esp. of April winds.
II. n. The beat or tap of a drum, esp. in phr. by tuck of drum, of a proclamation made by a public crier with his drum. Now liter. or hist. and fig.Peb. 1700 Burgh Rec. Peebles (B.R.S.) 163:
To be put in the thiefes holl, till he be banished by tuik of drum.Gsw. 1728 Burgh Rec. Gsw. (B.R.S.) 308:
To be publicly intimate by towck of drum.ne.Sc. 1746 Origins Forty-Five (S.H.S.) 136:
Intimation was made by Tuke of Drum.Fif. 1798 R. Flockhart Sketch 12:
They gather'd all into a crowd, Which was warn'd out by tuck of drum.Sc. 1818 Scott H. Midlothian xliii.:
A recruit that is marching for the first time to the took of drum.Edb. 1844 J. Ballantine Gaberlunzie viii.:
A' the racers show off their best paces, At tuck o' wee Tam an' his drum.Sc. 1878 Stevenson Inland Voyages 85:
Wherever death sounds his own potent tuck upon the cannons.Kcb. 1894 Crockett Raiders xiv.:
The companies are marching to the tuck of drum.
