▪ I. spelk, n. Chiefly north. (and Sc.).
(spɛlk)
Also 1 spelc, 5 spelke, 7 spelck.
[OE. spelc (also spilc), = WFlem. spelke (De Bo), Norw. spjelk, Icel. spelka, † spjalk, related to MDu. spalke (Kilian spalcke), spalc (Du. spalk), LG. spalke, spalk splinter, chip.]
1. A surgical splint.
| c 1000 Saxon Leechd. II. 68 Þonne recce he þa ban swa he swiþost maeᵹe, do spelc to. 1691 Ray N.C. Words (ed. 2) 149 A Spelck, Fascia. 1703 in Thoresby Let. to Ray. 1855– in north. dial. glossaries, etc. |
2. A splinter or chip; a small strip of wood.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 468/1 Spelke, fissula. 1623 Markham Country Housew. Gard. x, The lesse your Spelkes are, the lesse is the waste of your hony, and the more easily will they draw, when you take your Bees. 1788– in northern glossaries. 1894 Rev. Reviews Sept. 256 A belated attempt to extract a small spelk from the hand of the Irish peasant. 1899 R. Wallace Schoolmaster 26 A schoolboy carefully gathered up the larger ‘spelks’ of the tram of the broken vehicle. |
3. A thatching-rod; = spar n.4
| 1563 Richmond Wills (Surtees) 169, iij. spelks and iij. carres, xix d. 1578 Ibid. 282 Woodd and bords..with stangs, hots, and cares, and spelks and latts. 1712 in Trans. Cumbld. & Westm. Archæol. Soc. (N.S.) III. 108 For 184 bottles of thatch... For spelks two hundred and twenty seven. 1781 J. Hutton Tour to Caves (ed. 2) Gloss. 96 Spelks, small sticks to fix on thatch with. 1828– in Yorkshire and Lancs. glossaries, etc. |
4. In various uses: (see quots.).
| 1828 Carr Craven Gloss., Spelk,..a spoke of a wheel. 1829 Brockett N.C. Gloss. (ed. 2), Spelk, a little, slender creature; used as a term of reproach. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2264/1 Spelk,..a rod in a loom. |
Add: [2.] b. A type of woven basket made of narrow strips of wood or ‘spelks’.
| [1926 FitzRandolph & Hay Rural Industries Eng. & Wales I. vii. 97 The tools used and the methods of making oak-spelk baskets are nearly the same in all districts.] 1949 K. S. Woods Rural Crafts Eng. viii. 142 The baskets have various names in different districts—scuttles or sculls, spelks, skips, or whiskets. 1953 A. Jobson Househ. & Country Crafts xviii. 171 Besides besoms, wiskets (swills, spelks, slops or skips elsewhere, to which might be added Sussex trugs), are made in this Wyre Hill yard. 1968 J. Arnold Shell Bk. Country Crafts 260 The Furness ‘spelk’ is made with rent oak strips or bands, rendered pliable by a period of boiling. |
▪ II. spelk, v.1 Now Sc. and north. dial.
(spɛlk)
Also 1 spelcean, 5 spelkyn, spelke.
[OE. spelcan (also spilcan), = WFlem. spelken (Du. spalken), OIcel. spelkja, Norw. spjelka, Sw. spjälka (MSw. spiälca), f. spelc, etc.: see prec.]
trans. To fasten with a spelk; esp. to bind or join (a broken limb, bone, etc.) by means of splints.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 6 Ᵹif scancan forade synd,..hu mon spelcean scyle. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 468/1 Spelte [v.r. spelke, spelkyn] broke bonys or oþer þyngys. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1881) ciii. 199 Many broken legs since Adam's day hath He spelked. c 1700 Kennett MS. Lansdowne 1033 (Halliw.), To spelk in Yorkshire, to set a broken bone. 1802 in Sibbald Chron. S.P. Gloss. 1828– in north. dial. and Sc. glossaries (Yks., Lancs., Shetland). 1889 W. Westall Birch Dene II. ix. 140 The doctor bound up and spelked his maimed fingers. |
Hence ˈspelking vbl. n.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 468/1 Spellynge [v.r. spelkynge], broke bonys or oþer thyngys, fissulatus. |
▪ III. † spelk, v.2 Obs.—0
[Of obscure origin: cf. spelt v. and Sc. spilkings split peas.]
trans. To bruise (beans).
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 28/1 Benes spelked, fabefrese. Ibid. 353/2 Spelkyd benes,..fabefrese. [1796 S. Pegge Derbicisms Ser. i. 66 (E.D.S.), To spelch horse-beans, to bruise them in a mill. Obsolete.] |