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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1941 (SND Vol. II). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

BOCK, BOKE, Bok, Bokk, Boak, bukk, Book, n., v. Also byoke. [bɔk, bok Sc., but ne.Sc. + bjɔk; bʌk Sh.; buk Uls.]

1. n.

(1) A retching, vomit, belch; nausea; also fig. a disgust, revulsion of feeling (Cai., Ags., Ayr. 1975). Gen.Sc.Sc. 1998 Scotsman 31 Jan :
Even we, as confirmed but hopefully conscientious carnivores, can identify several aspects of the lengthy preparations in making a haggis that are designed specifically to "gie ye the boak".Abd. 1981 Christina Forbes Middleton The Dance in the Village 12:
We heard aboot it in shocked disbelief
Like a byoke at a posh occasion. Dundee 1991 Ellie McDonald The Gangan Fuit 15:
Sic slaisters, yon table wi bottles
a glesses aa owre the place.
In the efternuin tae if ye plais.
Ain had a dug held up til her mou.
The faggot near gied me the boak. m.Sc. 1965 Hugh C. Rae Skinner (1988) 13:
"Booth always did give me the boke," Skinner says, "I wonder what he meant about his sergeant." em.Sc. 2000 James Robertson The Fanatic 174:
He still minded the journey from Dover to France when he was a student: he and a fellow passenger had fought over a bucket all night, filling it with their combined vomitings, and with every retch and boak the other man had groaned for God's mercy as if he was on the point of expiring, which had only made Lauder feel worse.Edb. 1812 P. Forbes Poems 28:
He's ill before, but now he's worse, Wi' gut an' ga' he's partin', An' 'twixt ilk boak he ga'e a curse.Edb. 1828 D. M. Moir Mansie Wauch (1839) xxiv.:
When he tried to speak, it was between a bock and a hiccup with him.wm.Sc. 1934 John MacNair Reid Homeward Journey (1988) 32:
He knew the tricks to combat ginger ale by this time; the threatening hiccough that could be baffled by a sudden holding-in of the breath; the boke that could be disguised as a clearing of the throat; ... wm.Sc. 1985 Liz Lochhead Tartuffe 52:
May God damn an' blast an' pit a pox on pious folk.
Ah loathe an' detest them they gie me the boke. Gsw. 1958 C. Hanley Dancing in the Streets 116:
Ah don't know how anybody can take that stuff withoot gettin' the boke. Gsw. 1974:
He fair gie's me the bock, that fella.Gsw. 1992 Jeff Torrington Swing Hammer Swing! (1993) 141:
As he bent forward to take a light from me a stench so rotten it would've given maggots the boke polluted my nostrils - the lighter flame turned green.

Comb.: drunkard's boke or bock, “eructation symptomatic of cirrhosis of the liver” (Arg.² 1935).

Deriv.: boky, feeling sick. Also boky-fu.Gsw. 1985 Michael Munro The Patter 11:
boke or boak ... boky means nauseous: "Feelin' boky son?" Boky-fu means drunk or over-stuffed with food to the point of feeling sick.

(2) Vomit. m.Sc. 1996 Christopher Brookmyre Quite Ugly One Morning (1997) 7:
The source of his panic was that he couldn't remember where he had thrown up, indeed couldn't recall the act at all, but was certain it couldn't have been anywhere sensible, because even an unflushed lavvy bowl of boak can't permeate a flat so comprehensively.m.Sc. 1996 Christopher Brookmyre Quite Ugly One Morning (1997) 13:
'A dead body in pyjama trousers in a wrecked flat awash with blood and boak, and a huge jobbie on the mantelpiece for garnish.'
Parlabane gaped.
'I didn't notice a jobbie myself.'

(3)  A spurt of liquid from a bottle, a gurgle, gulp. Sc. a.1838 Jam. MSS. X. 29:
Tak only a bock o' the bottle.

2. v.

(1) To retch, vomit; belch. Gen.Sc.Sc. 1983 John McDonald in Joy Hendry Chapman 37 44:
Let the glaikit follow
thir gainterin gowks,
bokin frae brunstane
bealin wi douts. Sc. 1994 Pete Fortune in James Robertson A Tongue in Yer Heid 155:
Ye ken, A canna staun mushrooms: only hud thaim the ane tum, when we hud a high tea comin back frae the seashore, an A sweer A wis bockin aa weeken. Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928) s.v. bok; 1914 Angus Gl. s.v. bok:
Bokk, bukk, to be ready to vomit.Cai. 1929 “Caithness Forum” in John o' Groat Jnl. (22 Nov.):
A whale ashore at John o' Groats bokin' an' pechin' . . . some o' 'e women's hats . . . stuck in his win'pipe.Abd. 1768 A. Ross Rock and Wee Pickle Tow i.:
An she choaked an' boaked, an' cry'd like to mang.Abd. 1995 Sheena Blackhall Lament for the Raj 1:
Noo my quinie's pulse is quickened bi the TV's trashy trock -
Foo she yearns tae gyang tae Disneyland (the thocht o't gars me bock). Dundee 1991 W. N. Herbert in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 178:
an hoodie craws, an doos, an speugies,
an heckil-breistit thrushis, an noo
Eh'm boakin flooers: barkan doaggies
an kirrie-dumplins an gillyflooers -
waash yir hauns, waash yir hauns. m.Sc. 1991 William Neill in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 50:
Yon tartan laird in the picter wi his glessfu o whisky
an the bonnie pipers playin in yon kid-on Balmoral
cannae possibly be drinkin the selsame stuff
as yon puir gowk staucherin aboot the Gressmercat
slitterin an boakin his saul oot in the siver
inspired nae doot bi bauld John Barleycorn. m.Sc. 1994 Mary McCabe Everwinding Times 339:
See Linda, ma big sister, well wan time ma mammy made hur take a haill big Chinese cerry-oot an she wis awfy awfy no weel after it. She boked it aw ower the new 3-piece suite, so she did, an it wisnae even peyed fur yet. Ags. 1993 Mary McIntosh in Joy Hendry Chapman 74-5 112:
The fousome guff wis like tae mak him boak but he chockit it back. wm.Sc. 1995 Alan Warner Morvern Callar 43:
I was going to boak: I made the window and opened it but most of the sickness hit the window-sill in a heap.Arg.¹ 1931:
I catched it comin doon the soon' yesterday. I'm no whut ye caal a bad sailor an I wuzna deed seek, but I boked aa the wey doon. Gsw. 1972 Molly Weir Best Foot Forward (1974) 51:
The magic didn't work for me. I still 'reached' and 'boked' in misery. Gsw. 1990 Ian McGinness Bannock 6:
I felt physically ill but tried to rearrange my features in a neutral sort of a way. 'I think I'm going to have to take you under my wing.' (Feathers with body odour; a moulting, corvine oxter. Clear the decks, I'm going to boak.) sm.Sc. 1988 W. A. D. and D. Riach A Galloway Glossary :
boak to belch, retch, vomit. Tyr. 1931 “Clone” in North. Whig and Belfast Post (17 Dec.) 10/6:
When he came to the churn Jane lucked like bookin', so I tuk the brash mysel.

vbl.n. bocking.Ayr. 1822 Galt Steam-boat iv.:
Even between the bockings of the sea-sickness, she was aye speaking.

(2) To gush, spurt, of a stream of water, of blood, etc.Edb. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 339; Lth. 1935 (per Lnk.³):
Frae mou an' nose he gart my red bluid bock out.Ayr. 1787 Burns Winter Night ii.:
While burns, wi' snawy-wreaths up-choked, . . . . . . thro' the mining outlet bocked, Down headlong hurled.

3. Phrs.: (1) boak up, to vomit (something) up. Also fig; (2) boking days, “certain stages of pregnancy” (Ayr. 1928 (per Ayr.⁴)). (1) em.Sc. 1999 James Robertson The Day O Judgement 7:
Skelpit by cankert howderin storm
Ah! hou the yirth will rive an screed,
An like an ants' heap heaving, sae
The mools an lairs boak up their deid.wm.Sc. 1995 Alan Warner Morvern Callar 26:
It was only saliva I boaked up in the sink. I ran the tap. In the toilet I used the toothbrush twice.Uls. 1987 Sam Hanna Bell Across the Narrow Sea 57:
'Lord help ye, daughter,' said Rushin Coatie, grinning, 'have ye boked up your breakfast? Hut, tut, I'm 'feard you'll need a strong wame to bide here.'

4. Combs.: (1) bock-foo, full to the point of belching, lit. and fig.; (2) dry-bock (see quot.). Also fig., esp. in phr. to gie someone the dry boke.(1) Ags. 1893 Arbroath Herald (15 June) 2/3; Ags.¹ 1935:
He was juist bock-foo o' mischief.(2) m.Sc. 1989 Martin Bowman and Bill Findlay The Guid Sisters 90:
No again! Ah've hid ma full ae that wee gett. He gies me the dry boke. Fif.¹⁰ 1935:
A "dry-bock" meant retching when there was nothing to vomit.Edb. 1990:
See that minister, he's aye that nicey nice he wid gie the dry boak, so he wid. wm.Sc. 1990:
Gie's ye the dry boak. Gsw. 1990 Alan Spence The Magic Flute (1991) 42:
'I wouldnae eat they chips if I was you mister.' 'Give ye the dry boke.' 'Make ye spew yer ring.' Gsw. 1990:
Enough tae gie a camel the dry boak.Uls. 1997 Bernard MacLaverty Grace Notes (1998) 256:
But nothing had come. A dry boke. She'd swallowed again and again until the spasm passed.