Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
THROCK, n.1 The name applied to the third, fourth and fifth pairs of oxen counting from the front in the twelve-oxen plough team, the pairs being distinguished as fore-, mid-, and hind-throck, the left hand ox being the throck on land and the right hand the throck in fur. In a ten-oxen plough the mid throcks were omitted. See J. B. Pratt Buchan (1858) 18 and Frock, n.1 [θrok]
[Extended usage of O.E. þroc, the share-beam of a plough, Eng. dial. throck, id.]
