▪ I. thack, n. Now dial.
(θæk)
Forms: 1 þæc, 4 þak, þakke, 4–6 (9 dial.) thak, 5 thakk(e, 5–6 (9 dial.) thake, 5–7 thacke, 6 thecke, thaec, 6– thack (9 Sc. theck).
[Com. Teut.: OE. þæc = WFris. thek, OLG. *þak (MDu. dac (dāke), Du., MLG., LG. dak), OHG. dach, dah, thah (MHG., Ger. dach) roof, ON. þak roof, thatch (Sw. tak, Da. tag):—OTeut. *þako{supm}, f. root þek- to cover, Indo-Eur. teg-, in L. teg-ĕre to cover, tog-a covering, gown, tug-urium hut, cottage, Gr. τέγ-ος, στεγ-ή roof, στέγ-ειν to cover; Lith. stogas roof; OIr. teg, Irish and Gael. tigh house. See thatch v.]
† 1. The roof of a house or building. Obs.
| a 900 Cynewulf Christ 1503 Þæt hi under eowrum þæce mosten in-ᵹebuᵹan. c 975 Rushw. Gosp. Matt. viii. 8 Drihten nam ic wyrðe {thbar} ðu ga under þacu minne. Ibid. xxiv. 17 Seþe on þæce siæ ne stiᵹað he niðer. c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) cxxviii. 4 Þam þe on huses þæce heah aweaxeð. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 14689 In eueses þey [sparrows] crepte, & in þe þakkes. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. ii. xxxvii. 156 They ought to mounte up to the wyndowes of the houses and upon the thakkes. 1513 Douglas æneis iv. xii. 53 Spreding fra thak to thak, baith but and ben. 1524 Ld. Dacre Let. to Wolsey in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. I. 249 Ald Howses wherof the thak and covereings ar taken awey. 1526 in T. West Antiq. Furness (1805) 133 The said tenant to keep his hous tennantable, upon his own charges, with thake and walle. |
2. That with which the roof of a house or the like is covered to protect it from the weather;
spec. the covering of straw, reeds, or the like disposed so as to carry off the rain:
= thatch n. 1.
| a 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iii. viii. [x.] (1890) 180 Þæs huses hrof..wæs mid ᵹyrdum awunden & mid þæce beþeaht. Ibid. xiv. [xvi.] (1890) 202 On beamum & on ræftrum & on waᵹum & on watelum & on ðeacon. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 136 Ða tear þæt hors þæt ðæc of ðære cytan hrofe. 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 732/23 Hectectura, thak. 1486 Nottingham Rec. III. 244 Thak þat the grete wynde blewe of þe house. a 1500 Chaucer's Dreme 1773 That they would ever in houses of thacke, Their lives lead. 1530 Palsgr. 280/1 Thacke of a house, chaume. 1578 Banister Hist. Man i 1 To be well aduised..before he lay on Thack, Tile,..or Plaster. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 138 One to drawe thacke, and the other to serve the thatcher. 1721 Ramsay Ode to Mr. F― 30 Wa's of divots, roof'd wi' thack. 1815 Scott Guy M. viii. Ye have riven the thack off seven cottar houses. 1859 Geo. Eliot A. Bede x, It puts me i' mind o' the swallows as was under the thack last 'ear. Mod. north. dial. Wet as thack. |
(In
Eng. Dial. Dict. from
Scotl. to
Oxfordsh.,
Berksh., and from Worcester to E. Anglia.)
b. The covering of properly disposed straw with which the sloping top of a stack of corn or hay-rick is thatched.
thack and rape (
Sc.), this thatching and the straw rope with which it is secured: often used allusively.
| 1786 Burns Brigs of Ayr 26 An thack and rape secure the toil-won crap. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxvi, He kens..wha feeds him, and cleeds him, and keeps a' tight, thack and rape. Ibid. Gloss., Under thack and rape means snug and comfortable. 1896 Speaker 3 Oct. 353/1 All is secured in the cornyard under ‘thack and raip’. |
3. transf. Covering (in
quot. = skin).
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxvii. (Vincencius) 276 Þane of þe frame he bad hym tak, Þat hale had nothir lith na þak. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
thack-roof;
thack-board, a wooden roofing tile, a shingle;
thack-broach = thack-pin,
thack-prick,
broach n.1 5;
thack divot (
dowat)
= thack turf;
thack-gate (
Sc.): see
quot.;
thack house, a thatched house;
thack-lead, lead with which a roof is covered;
thack-nail,
-peg,
-pin, a sharpened pin or peg used in fastening the thatch on a roof;
thack-prick,
-prod, a sharpened wand or stick for the securing of thatch;
thack-rape (
Sc. and
north. dial.), a rope (usually of twisted straw) used in fixing the thatch on a rick or cottage roof;
thack-stone, a thin flat stone (
e.g. Stonesfield slate) used for roofing;
thack-tile [
OE. þæctiᵹile;
cf. G.
dachziegel], a roofing tile;
thack turf, a roofing turf or sod.
| 1354 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 91 In ccc de *thakbord' emp. pro stauro ecclesiæ. 1375 Barbour Bruce iv. 126 (MS. E.) For fyre all cleir Soyn throu the thak [v.r. thik] burd can appeir. 1418 in Rogers Agric. & Pr. (1882) III. 402/1 Norwich, Thackboard. 1447–8 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 186 In repar. molendini..in Cma Thakborde. |
| 1573 in Feuillerat Revels Q. Eliz. (1908) 208 Hookes & eies with *thackbroches. |
| 1504 Acc. Ld. H. Treas. Scot. II. 424 For theking of divers houses with *thak dowat. |
| 1825 Jamieson, *Thack-gate, the sloping edge of the gable-tops of a house, when the thatch covers them; in contradistinction from the wind-skews that are raised higher than the thatch. |
| 1582–8 Hist. Jas. VI (1804) 209 He exposit..sum of his souldiors to sum *thak housses besyd the West Port, in a windie nyght, and pat the same in fyre. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. ii. i, A snug thack house, before the door a green. 1894 Northumbld. Gloss., ‘Thack hoose’—a thatched house. |
| 1819 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd (1827) 214 Capper and *thack-lead aff were tane. |
| 1846 Brockett N.C. Words (ed. 3), *Thack-nail, *Thack-peg, *Thack-pin, a wooden pin or stob used in fastening thatch to the roof of a building. |
| 1828 Craven Gloss., *Thack-pricks, sharpened twigs for the securing of thatch. |
| 1876 Whitby Gloss., *Thack-reeaps, the cords for securing the thatch. 1887 Suppl. to Jamieson, Thack-rape. |
| 1442 Calverley Charters (1904) 253, j acre of soile..where he may gett and tak *thakstone. 1621 Sc. Acts Jas. VI, c. 26 (1816) IV. 627/1 To thaick þe same againe w{supt} Sklait, or skailȝee, leade, tyild, or Thackstone. 1880 A. L. Ritchie Ch. St. Baldred 37 The roof of the east end of Whitekirk Church is covered with thackstones. |
| c 725 Corpus Gloss. (O.E.T.) 1043 Imbricibus, *þæctiᵹilum. 1477 Act 17 Edw. IV, c. 4 Pleintile, autrement nosmer thaktile, roftile, ou crestile. 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey 4 Gallic and Thacke Tiles. c 1800 S. Pegge Anecd. Eng. Lang. (1803) 279 In Yorkshire they call bricks wall tile, and tiles thack tile. |
| 1576 in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1580. 20/1 Pro 108 oneribus focalium..et *thak turffis. |
▪ II. thack, v.1 Now
dial. (
θæk)
Forms: 5–6 (9
dial.)
thak, 6
thacke, 7
thake,
Sc. thaick, 6–
thack.
[app. partly (in form thake) from OE. þacian, f. þæc thack n. (so MHG., Ger. dachen to roof, from dach): cf. Sc. mak, tak, for make, take; but thak, thack, may also have been a later formation from the n. See also thatch v., theek v.] 1. intr. To put thatch on houses;
= thatch v. 5.
| a 1100 Gerefa in Anglia (1886) IX. 261 Me mæcg in Agusto and Septembri and Octobri ðacian, ðecgan and fald weoxian. 1486 Nottingham Rec. III. 247 Paid to a thakker thakkyng on þe same barne. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §27 To mowe theyr stubble, eyther to thacke or to bren. 1523 ― Surv. xx. (1539) 42 He shall bothe thacke and daube at his owne coste. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 139 Thatchers allwayes beginne att the eize [eaves], and soe thake upwards till they come to the ridge. |
2. trans. To cover (a roof) or roof (a house) with thatch, formerly also with lead, tiles, etc.;
= theek v. 1;
spec. to cover the top of a rick with straw or other material so laid as to carry off the rain.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 490/1 Thakkyn howsys, sartatego,..sarcitego. 1474 Coventry Leet-bk. 389 Þat no maner man frohensfurth thak ne couer his house with strawe nor brome within this Cite. 1530 Palsgr. 754/2 Sythe I can nat tyle my house, I must be fayne to thacke it. 1552 Inv. Ch. Goods (Surtees No. 97) 9 The churche thacked with leade. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. v. iv. §5. 22 Houses and cottages..Which, as Diodorus Siculus saith were vsually thacked with reed. 1621 [see thackstone s.v. thack n. 4]. 1671 J. Fraser Polichron. (S.H.S.) 496 Tirr the Kirk to thack the quire. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Thack, v. to thatch. 1863 Mrs. Toogood Yorks. Dial., It will take two threave of strea to thack the hay-stack. |
Hence
thacked (
θækt)
ppl. a., thatched;
ˈthacking vbl. n., the action of thatching; also
concr. the material used for the purpose, thatch.
| 1530 Palsgr. 699/1 This is a mete man to sytte on a *thacked house to scarre away crowes. 1597 1st Pt. Return fr. Parnass. i. i. 134 Some thacked cottage or some cuntrie hall. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. v. ii. 2091 True mirth we may enioy in thacked stall. 1828 Craven Gloss., Thack'd, thatched. |
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 490/1 *Thakkynge, sartatectum. 1546 Yorks. Chantry Surv. (Surtees) 168 The reparacion of the belles, thakkyng and other necessaries pertenyng to the sayd churche. 1613 Markham Eng. Husbandman i. i. xvii. (1635) 103 Whole Strawe Wheate..Husbandmen esteeme it so much for their thacking. c 1680 H. Leigh in Macfarlane Geog. Collect. (S.H.S.) III. 252 The common and ordinary thacking is of a kind of Divet [= sod]. |
▪ III. thack, v.2 Obs. exc. dial. (
θæk)
[OE. þaccian, app. onomatopœic. Cf. thwack.] † 1. trans. To clap with the open hand or the like; to pat, slap lightly.
Obs.| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xli. 303 Swa [swa] wildu hors, ðonne we h[ie] æresð ᵹefangnu habbað, we hie ðacciað & straciað mid bradre hande. a 900 ― in Cockayne Shrine (1864) 185 Hine lyst bet þaccian and cyssan ðonne oðerne on bær lic. c 1305 Land Cokayne 141 To þe maid dun hi fleeþ And geþ þe wench al abute, And þakkeþ al her white toute. c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 118 Whan Nicholas had doon thus euerideel And thakked [MS. Petw. twakked] hire aboute the lendes weel. ― Friar's T. 261 (Harl. MS.) This carter thakketh his hors vpon the croupe. |
† b. intr. To beat, to shower blows.
Obs.| 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxliv. 299 Our men of armes and archyers that thakked on hem so thikke with arewes. |
† 2. trans. To clap (something)
on or
in a place.
| 1542 St. Papers Hen. VIII, IX. 42 But here he thakked on as many wordes, as he did bifore lawes in the other parte. 1589 R. Robinson Gold. Mirr. 31 The thorny thumps that Thought did thacke Within my wofull breast. |
3. mod. dial. To
thwack, beat, flog.
| 1861 Quinn Heather Lintie (1863) 22 (E.D.D.) Ye weel deserve a thackin' For tellin [etc.]. 1904 in Eng. Dial. Dict. (Norf.), He rarely thacked th' old dicky (donkey). |