▪ I. stirk
(stɜːk)
Forms: 1 st{iacu}rc, st{iacu}orc, st{yacu}rc, st{yacu}ric, 5 stirkke, styyrke, strike, 5–6 strik, 5–7 stirke, 5–9 styrk, 6 steirk, sterke, stierke, striack, stryk, styrke, 6–7 sturke, 7–9 sturk, 4– stirk.
[OE. st{iacu}rc, st{iacu}orc, st{yacu}rc, st{yacu}ric, neut., app. a diminutive f. stéor steer n.1 + -ic, a variant (not found elsewhere) of -oc, -uc: see -ock. Cf. MLG. sterke, starke (mod.G. sterke, stärke, ? from LG.), MDu., mod.Du. dial. (Gelderland) sterke, early mod.Du. stierick (Kilian, who marks it ‘Sicambrian’, i.e. Gelderland, etc.), fem., a heifer, a cow that has not yet calved. Another diminutive formation is MDu. stierken bull-calf.
Kluge and Falk & Torp reject the connexion with OTeut. *steuro- steer n.1, and compare HG. dial. sterch ram or hog, OHG. stero (HG. dial. ster) ram, which they refer to the root *ster- of Goth. stairō fem. adj., barren, L. sterilis sterile a. But the relationship of these words is obscure.]
1. A young bullock or heifer, usually between one and two years old.
The mod. application varies in different localities. In the midland counties generally the word denotes only the female; in Scotland it is chiefly applied to the male; in northern England and Lincolnshire it is applied to either sex, often with defining word as bull-stirk, cow-, heifer-, or quey-stirk.
| 8.. Kentish Glosses in Wr.-Wülcker 70/12 Quam ad uitulum saginatum, ðonne to fettum stiorce. a 1000 Voc. ibid. 195/29 Bucula, iuuenca, uitula, stirc. a 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke xv. 23 Bringað an fætt styric [Vulg. vitulum] & of-sleað. c 1000 ælfric Lives Saints xv. 183 Þæt þridde [sc. the third evangelist] stod anum styrce ᵹelic [cf. þæs celfes ᵹelicnyss 192]. 10.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 321/9 Juuencus, styrc. 1377 in Test. Karleol. (1893) 117 Lego..Margarete del Hall unam vaccam bonam cum uno stirk. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 669/9 Hic bouiculus, styrk. 1448–9 in Finchale Priory Charters etc. (Surtees) p. cclvii, Item xxviij twynters. Item xxxiii striks. 1484 in Acta Dom. Concil. (1839) 95*/1 Three ky,..twa stirkis. 1513 Douglas æneis v. vi. 75 The stirkis for the sacrifice..War newly brittnit [L. cæsis..juvencis]. 1601 in Househ. Ord. (1790) 288 All beeves, muttons, veales, sturkes [etc.]. 1669 Chamberlayne Pres. St. Eng. 298 Yearly was spent [at the King's tables]..400 Sturks or young Biefes. 1724 Ramsay's Tea-t. Misc. (1733) II. 181 My bairn has tocher of her awin;..A Stirk, a staig, and acre sawin. 1808 Compl. Grazier (ed. 3) 97 note, The bull..when turned a year old..is a stirk, or yearling-bull. 1858–61 Ramsay Remin. ii. (1870) 28 A twa-year-auld stirk. 1880 W. H. Patterson Gloss. Antrim & Down 100 Stirk, sb. a cow one or two years old. ‘A bull stirk,’ a young bull. 1909 D. Houston 'E Silkie Man 4 Fan Kirsty tethered 'e stirk. 1949 Scotsman 17 May 8/7 130 Store cattle including 60 choice West of Ireland black polled bullocks and stirks,..and 30 North of Ireland stirks. 1973 Stirling Observer 25 July 7/2 They had on offer 51 dairy cattle,..64 accredited calves, 49 non-accredited calves and 81 store cattle and stirks... Charolais heifer stirks sold to {pstlg}148,..Hereford heifer stirks sold to {pstlg}107. 1978 Morecambe Guardian 14 Mar. 22 (Advt.), Rearing Calves and Stirks, Fat Cattle and Slaughter Cows. 1979 L. Derwent Border Bairn i. 15 Her brother, the shepherd..accepted me more or less as one of his flock. A yowe or a gimmer, a stirk or a stot. |
| Prov. 1721 J. Kelly Sc. Prov. 309 There was ay some Water where the Stirk drown'd. |
2. Used as a term of abuse: a foolish person.
| c 1590 Montgomerie Sonn. lxx. 13 Thou art a stirk, for all thy staitly stylis. 1728 Ramsay Last Sp. Miser xv, I took them a' for stirks That loo'd na money. 1788 Burns Calf ii, I doubt na, Sir, but then we'll find, Ye're still as great a Stirk. 1847 Le Fanu T. O'Brien 213 Sure he's never where he ought to be—the sturk. 1894 A. Gordon Northw. Ho! 303 What's the guid o' learnin' when it turns decent countra lads intae stirks an' asses? |
3. attrib. and Comb.
| c 1470 Henryson Mor. Fab. x. (Fox & Wolf) xvii, The deuill ane stirk taill thairfoir sall ye haif. 1567 in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 109 A stag or stirk buckskin jerkin. 1573 in Lanc. & Cheshire Wills (Chetham Soc.) II. 139 Item one cowe hede one striack skyne and one fole skyne, vijs. 1601 in Househ. Ord. (1790) 289 The Clerke [of the Accatry] hath for his fee all the calves skinnes, and stirk skinnes. 1651 Manch. Crt. Leet Rec. (1887) IV. 68 For sellinge a stirke beefe w{supc}{suph} wee were informed had the turne. 1891 ‘H. Haliburton’ Ochil Idylls 134 The haflin wi' his stirk-like glowre. |
Hence ˈstirkie (Sc.), † ˈstirkin, diminutive formations used in the same sense.
| 1559 Will of W. Perchy (Somerset Ho.) Styrkyns & hecfordes of ij yeres olde. 18.. Prov. in Ramsay's Remin. v. (1870) 153 There's aye water where the stirkie drouns. |
▪ II. stirk
obs. Sc. form of strike v.