▪ I. keck, n. Now dial.
(kɛk)
[A sing. of kex, kecks, mistaken as a pl. form.]
Any of the large Umbelliferæ, or their hollow stems: = kex. broad-leaved keck, the Cow Parsnip (Heracleum Sphondylium); trumpet-keck, ? Wild Angelica.
| a 1624 Bp. M. Smith Serm. (1632) 234 The old man threw a dart; it had been as good he had thrown a kecke or a straw. 1706 Phillips, Kecks, dry Stalks. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 100 Half hid in meadow-sweet and keck's high flowers. 1827 ― Sheph. Cal., etc. Last of Autumn xi, Trumpet-kecks..Whose hollow stalks inspired such eager joy. 1887 S. Chesh. Gloss. s.v., As dry as a keck. |
b. Comb., as keck-stalk; † keck-bugloss, some medicinal herb.
| a 1693 Urquhart Rabelais iii. xxxi, The Fervency of Lust is abated by..Chastree, Mandrake, Bennet, Keck-buglosse [F. orchis le petit]. 1821 Clare Sonn. Night in Vill. Minstr. II. 179 From keck-stalk cavity, or hollow bean. |
▪ II. keck, v.
(kɛk)
[Echoic.
Cf. 1575 Gamm. Gurton iv. ii, Till I made her olde wesen to answere again, kecke.]
1. intr. To make a sound as if about to vomit; to retch; to feel an inclination to vomit; hence to keck at, to reject (food, medicine, etc.) with loathing. Also fig. expressing strong dislike or disgust.
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 148 Their pouder is..ordained for them who..are ready to keck and heaue at euery little thing. 1642 Milton Apol. Smect. Introd. Wks. (1851) 265 The worser stuffe she strongly keeps in her stomach, but the better she is ever kecking at, and is queasie. 1681 Temple Mem. iii. Wks. 1731 I. 335, I had propos'd Lord Hallifax as one of the Lords, whom the King had indeed keck'd at..more than any of the rest. 1710 Swift Lett. (1767) III. 61, I have taken a whole box of pills, and keckt at them every night. 1821 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Imperf. Symp., If they can sit with us at table, why do they keck at our cookery? |
b. = kink v.1 (Cf. Norw. kikje.)
| 1721 Bailey, To Keck, Keckle, to make a Noise in the Throat, by reason of Difficulty in Breathing. |
2. intr. Of a bird: To utter a sound like keck.
| 1844 in Whitelaw Bk. Scot. Song (1875) 347/2 Our grey clocking hen she gaed Kecking her lone. 1878 P. Robinson Indian Garden i. Green Parrots, The hawk now and again affords healthy excitement to a score of crows who keck at him as he flaps unconcerned..through the air. |
Hence ˈkecking vbl. n.
| 1709 Rambling Fuddle-Caps 12 B'ing ready to spew, I suppose, by his kecking. 1751 Stack in Phil. Trans. XLVII. 275 When this medicine produces nothing more than keckings at stomach. |