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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.

BROCK, Broke, Brok, Bruck, n.² coll. and v.¹ [brɔk, brok Sc.; brʌk I.Sc.]

I. n.

1. Scraps of bread, meat, etc.; “left-overs”; “kitchen refuse used for feeding pigs” (Fif.¹⁰, Arg.², Kcb.¹ 1936; Dmf. 1925 W. A. Scott in Trans. Dmf. and Gall. Antiq. Soc. 19, broke; n.Ant. 1931 “Ballymoney” in North. Whig (27 Nov.), brock). Given as obs. in N.E.D. s.v. broke and by Cai.⁷ 1936 as obsol. Gen.Sc.Sc. 1724–1727 Ramsay T. T. Misc. (1733) 183:
The wife speerd gin the kail was sodin, When we have done, tak hame the brok.Fif. 1887 “S. Tytler” Logie Town I. vii.:
There were two old women from the alms-houses to be seen on certain days of the week with “pokes” or sacks on their backs half full of meal, “broke” or broken bread, meat and vegetables.Slg. 1932 W. D. Cocker Poems 20:
Here there is nocht but brock to eat.wm.Sc. [1835–1837] The Laird of Logan (1868) 451:
The verra brock o' the beast wad sair our family for a hail month.Ayr. 1887 J. Service Dr Duguid 77:
Ye's neither hae bite nor sup to weet your thrapple frae me, no nor the brock frae oor table.

2. Refuse in gen.; rubbish; broken pieces (found in pl. in this sense only). Also fig. Gen.Sc.Sc. 1721 J. Kelly Proverbs 211:
I neither got Stock, nor Brock.Sc. 1743 R. Maxwell Select Trans. 329:
They must be gathered up in a Heap at Night, covered with the Waste or Broke made by the Rippling.Sc. 1983 John McDonald in Joy Hendry Chapman 37 44:
... the lave shauchlin,
shauchlin forrit bairns claucht tae breists,
shauchlin forrit greiting feart - the brock
o a hellish gemme. Sh.(D) 1922 J. Inkster Mansie's Röd 99:
Be what I can see, Magnus, I faer I needna expeck you ta sell da brucks o' da auld boat?Sh. 1993:
Dinna chuck bruck! (Notice in a carpark in Shetland) Ork. 1929 E. Linklater White Maa's Saga 122:
He took that cheap-jack wha'd been swindling folk aal day and flang him fair in the middle o' his toys and bruck.Ork. 1952 R. T. Johnston Stenwick Days (1984) 33:
The film was over and the audience began streaming out of the Stenwick Parish Hall, buzzing with comment, some of it appreciative, some not, for as always there were two schools of thought on the standard of the entertainment, the one holding that it had been wonderful, the other taking the view that it had been a lot of bruck. Ork. 1996 Orcadian 4 Jan :
The opening function of the 1995-96 season was a night for members to display their "old bruck" in public. Ork. 1999 Orcadian 4 Nov 4:
Last night my part of town saw litter bins emptied and/or set on fire, a wall mounted bin battered to bruck, downpipes and other rainwater goods wrenched from buildings, a can of motor oil poured into the road and a gate pulled off its hinges. Ork. 2000 Orcadian 18 May 10:
The St Magnus Cathedral group wrestle with some of the bruck they cleared from Scalpa Beach on Saturday morning.ne.Sc. 1979 Alastair Mackie in Joy Hendry Chapman 23-4 (1985) 63:
And sae to teem oot aa my clytrie like you,
skailin on the beaches
amon corks, tangle, star-fish,
the affcasts and bruck o your abyss. ne.Sc. 1994 Alison Mann in James Robertson A Tongue in Yer Heid 196:
Trees fa'en doon aa ower the place, tattie brock dumpit in hapes, a quarry howkit oot, the ponds aa chokit. Blight an ruin aa wey. Edb. 1894 P. H. Hunter J. Inwick ii.:
The twa-three bit shopkeeper bodies doun here-a-way, that live off the brok o' the laird's custom.Hdg. 1896 J. Lumsden The Battle of Dunbar, etc. 122:
The feck o't is but scum an' brock, An' dregs up-jumlet from below.

Hence brockage, broken fragments of crockery, biscuits, furniture, etc. (E.D.D.).Per. 1898 E.D.D.:
I'll gie ye a saxpence for the brockage.

3. In phr.: stock an' brock, the whole concern.Sc. 1936 J. G. Horne Flooer o' the Ling 57:
It's a queer warl' this, stock an' brock, But there's nocht in't queerer nor folk.

4. The bits of straw raked up in a field after the grain has been cut and gathered; the “gleanings,” “rakings” (Cai. 1907 D. B. Nicolson in County of Cai. 66–67; Bnff.², Abd.¹⁹, Ags.¹ 1936; Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.).Bnff.⁷ 1930:
I think we'll yok' twa cairts and tak hame the brock o' the ley shift the day.Abd. 1918 W. A. Mutch Ay, ay, hev ye a Spunk? 35:
An' the orra loon, puir stock, Was tyavin' wi' the rake an' makin' windlin's o' the brock.

5. “Small potatoes” (Abd.¹⁹ 1936; Ayr.⁴ 1928; Kcb.¹ 1936).

6. Phr.: the brucks o Yule, the last days of the Christmas festive season before Twelfth Night or Uphellya. Sh. 1939 Shetland Times (4 Feb.):
During the eighties the organised squad guizing on Christmas morning with Up-Helly-A' as the 'brucks of Yule' was gradually changing to the reverse order.

Comb.: brock-riddle, “a riddle for riddling small potatoes” (Ayr.⁴ 1928).

†II. v. “To cut, crumble, or fritter any thing into shreds or small parcels” (Sc. 1808 Jam. s.v. brok).Dmf. 1854 Laird of Logan 481:
Deil choke you, ye lang neckit brutes [geese], brokin' the guid corn that gait!