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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1934 (SND Vol. I). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BAIKIE, Bakie, Bya(c)kie, Byaakie, n.² [′bekɪ̢ Sc.; ′bjɑ:kɪ̢ Mry., Bnff., Abd. + ′bekɪ̢]

1. An iron or wooden peg to which the tether was attached; sometimes supplied with ring or hook. Also used fig.Bnff.⁷ 1925:
Baikie (also bya(c)kie, byaakie), the peg of a tether.Abd. 1811 G. S. Keith Gen. View of Agric. of Abd. 355:
If the stake, provincially termed a baikie, be not removed frequently, the cattle tread down a great proportion of the grass.Abd.¹ 1929:
Ye micht flit (move) the ewe's baikie a bit an' gie her a fresh bite.Id.:
The men's baikies are a' oot the day (term day).

2. “The stake to which an ox or cow is bound in the stall” (Jam. 1808 for Ags.).Sc. 1855 J. C. Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 720:
Baikie . . . the stake to which the cow is fastened in the byre.Sc. 1862 A. Hislop Proverbs (1868) 59:
Better hand loose nor bound to an ill bakie.Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto Tammas Bodkin (1868) xxxiv.:
Mrs Witherspoon had gien her final orders to the servant lass to see . . . that the ill-deedy bruckit stot didna brak his baikie, an' butt the unweel beastie in the stall ahent the door.Fif. 1909 Colville 147:
In Fife an upright pole, secured to the floor of a byre at one end, to the roof at the other, had a sliding ring on it, to which the collar of the cow was attached, so that its head could move freely up and down. This was the coo-baikie.

3. “A piece of curved wood, about eighteen inches long, with a hole in each end of it, through which a rope passes to fix it to the stake below. It has a corresponding piece of rope at top, which after the baikie is round the neck of the cow, is likewise tied round the stake” (Jam.² 1825 for Lth. and s.Sc.).Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B. 46:
Baikie, a former kind of wooden collar with holes at each end for roping a cow, etc., to the stake.

4. The toggle on the chain of a pocket-watch,usually put through a buttonhole in the wearer's waistcoat (Abd. 1980s; Edb. 2000s).