Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1934 (SND Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

ASK, ESK, AWSK, n.³ A newt, an eft; also the common lizard. According to the N.E.D. this is the common name for the newt or eft in Scotland and in the north and north-east of England as far as Morecambe Bay and Lincolnshire. [ask, ɛsk Sc., but s.Sc. + æsk]Sc. a.1792 Tam Lin in Ballads ed. Child (1904) No. 39 xxxi.:
They'll turn me in your arms, lady, Into an esk and adder.Sc. 1808 Jam.:
Ask, awsk, eft, newt; a kind of Lizard.Sc. 1879 S. Smiles Life of Sc. Naturalist i.:
He brought home horse-leeches, asks (newts), young rats.Bnff.² 1932:
The stank at the fit o' the brae was swarmin' wi' young podducks an' asks.Abd.⁹ 1932:
The newt we called the esk in Buchan, the lizard we called the heather-esk.Edb.¹ 1932:
In Fife, Clc. and the Lothians the general pronunciation is ask.Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 22:
Asks, newts. Animals of the lizard species; they are always considered to have poison somewhere about their hinnerliths [hind quarters].s.Sc. 1824 J. Telfer Border Ballads 45:
The perte little eskis, theye curlit their tails, And dansed a myrthsome reele.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B. 42:
Ask, n. Also esk [Liddesdale]. 1. The eft or newt. 2. Dry ask, the lizard. NE. [Rxb.]. 3. Waiter ask = 1 [Eft or newt]. NE. [Rxb.].