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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1934 (SND Vol. I). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BEEK, BEAK, BEIK, Bike, v.¹ [bik Sc.; bəik Ags.]

1. To warm; bask; of the sun, shine brightly. The word is found in a nonce usage as an adj. = warm, snug. Gen.Sc.

(1) tr.Abd. 1827 J. Imlah May Flowers 138:
Whare cronies, by the chimla cheek, When cauld, their cuits an' bosoms beek.Slg. 1829 G. Wyse Orig. Poems 47:
With meal, and coals, We feel nae want, nae cauld ava, Beaking our soles.m.Sc. 1994 J. E. MacInnes in James Robertson A Tongue in Yer Heid 14:
It wis much later we understood what Wee Peachy wis trying tae teach us, but then, the sun jist cam beelin in the windaes, beekin us.Arg.¹ 1929:
Ah'll go an' beek mysel' in the sun.Lnk. 1798 D. Graham Writings (1883) II. 101:
A great big cat sitting in a weaver's window, beiking herself in the sun.

(2) intr.Sc. 1728 Ramsay Poems II. 201:
Her Cheek, where Roses free from Stain, In Glows of Youdith beak.ne.Sc. 1979 Alastair Mackie in Joy Hendry Chapman 23-4 (1985) 63:
Lug to the cushion I steek my een
and let my cheek and shouther beek
in the cosmic ingle o the sun. Ags. 1894 A. Reid Sangs o' the Heatherland 11:
Bricht the clachan fires are burnin', Warm the he'rts that bike a' roond.Fif. 1841 C. Gray Lays and Lyrics 237:
The morning sun on Melos beekit, But no a lum in Melos reekit.Edb. 1856 J. Ballantine Poems 90:
Whaur the big peat stack an' the craft o' bier Tauld that in winter simmer beakit here.Dmb. 1860 W. Watt Poems 34:
Saunders Gray; Wha, wi' his spouse, sat beekin' by the ingle.Uls.² 1929:
Beekin, roasting hot (as under a summer sun).

2. To add fuel to fire.Kcb. 1910 J. Heughan in Gallovidian No. 48, 181:
Wee Cupid beeks the fire.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B. 52:
Beek. To make up (a fire).Uls. 1897 A. M'Ilroy When Lint was in the Bell viii.:
After this, Dan would gather himself up, make his way slowly home, and spend the afternoon “beekin” the fire with whins.