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.
