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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.

BOUK, BOOK, Buik, Bowk, Buk, Buke, v.² [buk Sc., but Abd. + bjuk]

1. To bulk, lit. and fig.; to increase in size, to swell out. Of a rope: to increase by the accumulation of its coils when being wound round a capstan or the like (ne., em.Sc.(a) 1975).Sc. 1701–1731 R. Wodrow Analecta (Maitland Club 1842) I. 62:
It buikit nothing in his eye at all.Sc. 1886 J. Barrowman Mining Terms 12:
When a rope is not coiling evenly on a drum it is said not to be bouking well. . . . Bouked or bowked, increased in size, e.g., when a drum is increased in diameter, or a cylinder or the working barrel of a pump worn wide.Sh. 1914 Angus Gl.:
Hit buks up.Bnff.(D) 1933 M. Symon Deveron Days 36:
But ane an' a', they bouket sma' Aside the aucht-day clock.em.Sc. (a) 1895 “I. Maclaren” Days of Auld Langsyne i.:
Yon's no a bad show o' aits . . . a'm thinkin they'll buke weel.

Hence, (1) bouking, vbl.n., “segments of wood or other material used for increasing the diameter of a drum” (Sc. 1886 J. Barrowman Sc. Mining Terms 12); (2) bookin, boukit, bookit, booked, booket, bowked, ppl.adj. (often used in comb. with little, mair, muckle, sma', wee), (a) bulky, swollen. Wee-buikit is also used in a transf. sense = small-minded, mean-spirited.  (b) pregnant.(2) (a) Sc. 1858 (2nd ed.) E. B. Ramsay Reminisc. (1862) I. v. 213:
Are yer aits muckle bookit th' year?Sc. 1912 A.O.W.B. Fables frae the French 68:
“Ye're nae mair boukit than ye were at first” — The Paddock blew ance mair, an' than she — burst!Abd. c.1746 W. Forbes The Dominie Deposed in John Cheap, The Chapman's Library (1877) 13:
The carlings Maggy had sae cleuked, Before young Jack was rightly hooked, They made her twice as little booked.Fif. 1897 “S. Tytler” Lady Jean's Son v.:
I said he was shilpet in the face, and sma' booket in the body.sm.Sc. 1988 W. A. D. and D. Riach A Galloway Glossary :
bookit: wee bookit small, shrunk.w.Dmf. 1908 J. L. Waugh Robbie Doo (1914) xii.:
Ye're ower wee bookit to fill that big chair.Dmf. a.1848 D. Hogg Life J. Wightman (1873) 108:
Do ye no think, Sir, it was awfu' wee buikit o' the deevil to attack the woman instead o' the man?(b) Sc. 1721 J. Kelly Proverbs 73:
Bowked Brides should have bor'd Maidens.Sc. 1808 Jam.:
Boukit and muckle-boukit are used in a peculiar sense; as denoting the appearance which a pregnant woman makes, after her shape begins to alter.Bnff.⁹ c.1927; Bch., Abd. 1914 T.S.D.C. I.:
Bookin: spoken of a pregnant woman.Gsw. 1991 James Alex McCash in Tom Hubbard The New Makars 16:
Circuat aboot bride's gizzen-bed fertile
Neir-bluids, wi bite and sup tae wat your heid.
Tidy and boukit, bride's tocher's an heir indeed.

2. To store (of grain); to pack (of goods).Per. c.1800 Lady Nairne Songs, Twa Doos (ed. Rogers 1905) 231:
I see some pickles o' gude strae, An' wheat some fule has thrown away; For a rainy day they should be boukit.Edb. 1878 D. Cuthbertson Rosslyn Lyrics 58:
I'm wee, but folk tell me the best o' a' gear In sma's is weel boukit.