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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SLEEK, n.² Also sleik, sleak, slick; erron. sleet (Per. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ XIX. 468, note); diphthongal forms slike, slyk (Fif. 1970), and palatalised forms slee(t)ch, sletch. See etym. note. [slik; Fif. sləik; slitʃ]

1. An alluvial deposit of mud or sludge left behind by the sea or a river, silt (Sc. 1808 Jam.; Gall. 1824 MacTaggart Gallov. Encycl. 428, sleetch; Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl., sleech; Ags., Kcb. (sleetch) 1970); also sea-sleech, id. Comb. slick-worm, a worm used for fishing which breeds in the mud of a river-bed or the sea. Adj. slee(t)chy, composed of alluvial silt, muddy (Wgt. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ IV. 138).Fif. 1704 P.S.A.S. LVI. 58–59:
The said William was desired some time ago to bring some slyk to a house that belonged to Agnes.Fif. 1710 R. Sibbald Hist. Fife (1803) 156:
The loam and slike at the mouth of waters, where they run into the sea, is very profitable for meliorating land.Gsw. 1736 Burgh Rec. Gsw. (1909) 456:
It not being practicable to fence his inclosures upon that side of the loch by reasons of moss and sleik.Ags. 1737 Medical Essays (2nd. ed.) II. 49:
There ouzes clear Water dropping over Sleeks suspended thereat.Sc. 1757 R. Maxwell Practical Husb. 36:
Middings of sea-sletch, earth, lime and dung.Lnk. a.1779 D. Graham Writings (1883) I. 206:
The pilot ran her into a creek Got past the breakers 'mong sand and sleik.Dmf. 1793 R. Heron Journey II. 83:
The sleech is a mixture of shells with earth, and sand comminuted by attrition.Per. 1795 Stat. Acc.¹ XVII. 469:
This brook has a rich muddy bottom, in which there is plenty of slick-worm, a species of food on which the trout peculiarly delight.Bte. 1820 J. Blair Hist. Bute (1880) 92:
A few inches of sleechy sand occupying a great part of that division of the bay.Abd. 1845 Stat. Acc.² XII. 804:
Below this vegetation ceases, and the sleek commences.Wgt. 1877 G. Fraser Wigtown 192:
The lands, fishings, sleechy grounds, and shores mentioned in the summons.sm.Sc. 1899 G. Neilson Ann. Solway 44:
The salty particles glittering on the sleech like hoar frost.Lnk. 1991 Duncan Glen Selected Poems 11:
The roadside burn daurk by groweth
hings in the stink o middens
and the livin sleech
and stanes
move the addle watter.

2. A stretch of alluvial soil or silt, a mud-flat.Abd. 1794 J. Anderson Agric. Abd. 120:
In the river Ythan there is a capacious bason which is filled with water every tide. This is called the slitch, provincially sleeks of Tartie.w.Lth. 1902 Scotsman (11 Feb.):
There were near Bo'ness wide expanses of flat muddy foreshore, known as ‘sleeches', or ‘slob-lands', . . . covered at high tide.