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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

CLECKIN', CLECKING, vbl.n. [′klɛkən, -ɪŋ]

1. The act of hatching. Extended in comb. to denote child-birth.Ags. 1833 D. McKay in Chambers's Edb. Jnl. (25 May) 136:
One question to ask thee my wonderment begs, — How, Moon, have you skill in the clecking of eggs?

Comb.: cleckin(g) time, the time when a child is about to be born (Fif.¹⁰ 1936).Sc. 1815 Scott Guy M. (1817) i.:
“The laird's servant . . . rade express by this e'en to fetch the houdie.” . . . “Perhaps . . . at such a time a stranger's arrival might be inconvenient?” “Hout, na, . . . clecking time's aye canty time.”Bnff.² 1941:
Did you notice that Jess has an awfu' book. I'm thinkin' it's aboot cleckin' time wi' 'er.

2. A brood, a litter, esp. of cats, rabbits or mice; in some districts, however, exclusively of fowls.Sc. 1820 Scott Monastery iv.:
I wish there wasna sic a bird as a goose in the wide warld, forbye the clecking that we hae at the burn-side.Abd. 1906 J. Christie in Bnffsh. Jnl. (22 May) 10:
An' whaur's the cattie wi' her cleckin?Fif. 1909 Colville 130:
Knowing in the breeds of doos and rabbits, the “niffering” of the progeny or the “swauping” of the cleckin', with knives and bools as buit (luckpenny), prepared him for a commercial career.Ayr. 1821 Galt Ann. Parish vii.:
She had set her mind on a clecking of pigs.Slk. 1818 Hogg Brownie of Bodsbeck I. ix.:
They'll maybe hae been trying how weel they could vizy at the wild ducks; there's a hantle o' cleckins about the saughs o' the lake.

3. Extended to human beings, in a derogatory sense (Bnff.², Fif.¹⁰, Lnl.¹, Lnk.³ 1937).Ags. 1933 W. Muir Mrs Ritchie xxvi.:
The next thing she heard was . . . that the whole clecking of Reids would likely follow their brothers as they grew older.Fif. 1864 W. D. Latto T. Bodkin xviii.: 
Mony time my mither wished the haill cleckin' o' them blawn into the German Ocean.Hdg. 1902 J. Lumsden Toorle, etc. 213:
His Minnie gave him sooks for squackin', Same's she had dune for a' her cleckin', Noo a deil's dizzen strang.

Phr.: a doo's cleckin, see Doo, n., 3. (7).