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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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

CHICK, n.¹ and v. [tʃɪk]

1. n. †(1) A tick, a beat (as of a watch, etc.).Ayr. 1791 Burns Letter to R. Ainslie in Letters (Collins) 140:
Here must I sit . . . slowly counting every chick of the clock.

(2) A short space of time (Fif.¹ 1931), an extension of meaning (1).Clc. 1940 (per Fif.¹³):
Overheard in Alloa (one boy shouting to another): “I'll be wi' ye in a chick, if my gallowses 'll haud up.”

(3) A clicking noise made by the mouth to encourage horses, etc. (Bnff.², Abd.¹⁹, Fif.¹⁰, Lnk.³, Kcb.¹⁰ 1939). Used reduplicatively and as vbl.n. in quot.w.Dmf. 1910 J. L. Waugh Cracks wi' Robbie Doo vii.:
It took a good deal o' coaxin' and “chick chickin'” to get him [a horse] oot o' the stable.

2. v.

(1) “To make a clicking noise, as a watch does” (Sc. 1808 Jam.), to tick.Sc. 1823 Carlyle Letters (Norton 1886) II. 207: 
Nothing but dumb silence here, and the chicking is heard no more.Peb. 1838 W. Welsh Poems 62: 
A watch, that weel her rounds can trot, Hings chickin on the wa'.

(2) To make a clicking noise with the lips (Abd.², Abd.⁹, Fif.¹⁰ 1939), “or by a movement of the tongue against the roof of the mouth” (Bnff.² 1940).Bch. 1940 (per Abd.⁹):
Ach, Sauners min, it's nae eese chickin' to that ted o' a pownie; gie't a wallop wi' yer wheep.Edb. 1844 J. Ballantine Miller of Deanhaugh viii.:
He chicked his lips; he cracked his whip; he winked with a knowing leer.