theek, theik, v. Sc. and north. dial.
(θiːk)
Forms: 4–7 theke, 5 thicke, 6 Sc. thik, thyk, 6–9 Sc. theik, thick, 7–9 theak(e, thake, 8–9 Sc. theck, theek.
[A collateral form of thatch v. in use before 1400, of somewhat uncertain history. Perhaps from OE. þęccan, the forms of the imperative þece and the 2nd and 3rd pers. sing. present þecest, þeceð being extended to the verb as a whole: cf. streek, Sc. and north. form of stretch, OE. stręccan.]
† 1. trans. To roof (a building) with stone, slate, tiles, shingles, lead, or the like. Obs.
| 1387 Charters &c. of Edinb. (1871) 35 (St. Giles) The forsayde v chapellys sal be thekyt abovyn with stane. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) x. 38 A full faire kirk..thekid wele with leed. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) II. 568 Rycht clene thickit was than all this tour, Weill gilt with gold. Ibid. III. 190 Sanct Androis kirk..That thekit wes with coper in tha dais. 1559 Burgh Rec. Edinb. (1875) III. 57 To thik the southe syde of the towlbuyth with new sklait. 1572 Satir. Poems Reform. xxxiii. 192, I se ȝour tempills cassin downe and reuin: The maist part are bot theikit with the heuin. 1628 Extracts Burgh Rec. Glasgow (1876) I. 365 [To] theik the samyn [ruiff] with leid. 1710 Sibbald Hist. Fife ii. v. §2. 78 They (as the Proverb has it) tirr'd the Kirk, to theek the Quire. 1777 J. Robertson in McKay Kilmarnock (1880) 177 Water is gude for mony a purpose, although ye're a' aware we canna theek Kirks wi't. |
b. spec. To cover the roof of (a house)
with thatch of straw or the like; also, to protect the top of (a corn or hay rick) with straw laid so as to carry off the rain.
| 1399 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 130 In vxx travis de stramine ordii emp. 5s.,..in salario j hominis tegentis,..thekand prædictam domum per v dies. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. i. 474 Thy berne also..to thicke hit, thou ne lette. c 1450 Life St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 7649 And thekyd it with hay and thak. 1513 Douglas æneis viii. xi. 30 Quhais rufis laitly full rouch thykyt war Wyth stra or gloy by Romulus the wycht. 1637–50 Row Hist. Kirk (Wodrow Soc.) 417 The fabrick of the kirk wes in so evill a condition, being theiked with heather. 1672 T. Whittingham Diary 30 Aug. in Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 138 note, Wheatley of Saiston ye theaker is to theake Leonords' Barn. 1721 Ramsay Bessy Bell & Mary Gray i, They bigg'd a bower..And theck'd it o'er with rashes. 1863 Mrs. Toogood Yorks. Dial., I want you to theak my rick. 1895 Crockett Men of Moss-Hags 283 The roof was daintily theeked with green rushes and withes. |
2. transf. To cover in general (but often with allusion to thatching a roof).
| 1667 in Campbell Balmerino (1899) 414 To men that thickit a holl in the kirk with divite. 1719 Ramsay To Arbuckle 117, I theck the out, and line the inside Of mony a douce and witty pash. a 1800 Twa Corbies iv. in Scott Minstr. Scot. Bord., Wi' ae lock o' his gowden hair, We'll theek our nest when it grows bare. a 1810 Tannahill Rab Roryson's Bonnet Poems (1846) 116 This bonnet that theekit his wonderful head. 1896 Crockett Cleg Kelly xlii. 283 A pump theekit frae the frost wi' strae rapes. |
3. absol. or intr. (from 1 or 2).
| a 1518 Skelton Magnyf. 1027 For it is I that other whyle Plucke down lede and theke with tyle. 1876 Whitby Gloss. s.v., ‘You mun theeak weel, this caud weather’, put on extra clothing. |
Hence
ˈtheeked,
-it ppl. a., thatched;
ˈtheeking vbl. n., the action (
concr. the material or product) of thatching;
ppl. a., that thatches or covers.
| 1792 Burns Bessie & her Spinnin Wheel ii, On ilka hand the burnies trot, And meet below my *theekit cot. a 1801 R. Gall Poems (1819) 28 She reached the theeked byre. |
| 1393 Regist. de Aberbrothoc (Bann.) II. 43 For the quhilkis *thekyn and gutteryn the abbot..sal pay till hym xxxv marcis. 1579 Burgh Rec. Edinb. (1882) IV. 104 Wynd tycht, watter tycht, in thyking, slating,..and vther necessaris. 1617 Mem. St. Giles', Durham (Surtees) 47 To Nycholas Sparke for thekin 4 days, viij a day. a 1835 Hogg Tales, Sheph. Cal. xvii, Bread for the belly and theeking for the back. 1846 Brockett N.C. Words (ed. 3) s.v. Theaker, A ‘theaking snow’ quietly but continuously falling, so as to cover thickly, as a thatch does, a house. |