▪ I. sark, n. Sc. and north. (and occas. arch.).
(sɑːk)
Forms: 1 serc, serce, syrce, 2 syric, suric, 3 serc, 3–6 (9 Sc. local) serk, (4 scherk), 4–5 serke, 4–7 sarke, 4– sark.
[OE. sęrc, masc. (also in extended form serce, wk. fem.) = ON. serk-r (Sw. särk, Da. særk):—OTeut. type *sarki-z. Affinities outside Teut. are doubtful: OSl. sraka tunic does not correspond phonetically, but some scholars believe it to be adopted from Teut.
The final k instead of ch is due to the fact that the word has come down only in the northern dialect. The anomalous form scherk (quot. 13..) app. proceeds from a southern scribe to whom the word was unknown.]
1. A garment worn next the skin; a shirt or chemise; occas. a nightshirt; also transf. a surplice.
In Sc. still the ordinary word for ‘shirt’.
| Beowulf 1111 æt þæm ade wæs eþᵹesyne swat-fah syrce. a 1100 Ags. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 328/12 Colobium, uel interula, syric. a 1200 Ibid. 547/25 Colobi(um),..suric. a 1300 Cursor M. 17243 For-sak þi serc o silk and line. Ibid. 21527 Of he kest al to his serk. 13.. Coer de L. 3630 Tyl he have maad al playn werk Off thy clothes of gold, into thy scherk. c 1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 161 Bare in serke & breke Isaac away fled. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 66 She shulde vnsowen hir serke and sette þere an heyre To affaiten hire flesshe. c 1440 Gesta Rom. ix. 24 (Harl. MS.) If it happe me to dye..for þe in batill.., þat þu sette out my blody serke on a perch afore. 1503 Dunbar Thistle & Rose 46 In serk and mantill [eftir hir] I went In to this garth. 1571 Satir. Poems Reform. xxviii. 69 My Steming Sark & Rokket was laid doun, Fra tyme that I hard tell the King was deid. 1572 Ibid. xxxiii. 369 Buft brawlit hois, Coit, Dowblet, sark, and scho. 1578 Inv. R. Wardr. (1815) 215 Ane hieland syd serk of yallow lyning pasmentit with purpour silk and silver. Foure Inglis sarkes with blak werk. a 1634 W. Row Contin. J. Row's Hist. Kirk (Maitl. Cl.) 204 Shee, being in hard labour in chyld-birth, posted away her servant..to St. Allarit's Chapell..with her sarke. 1725 Ramsay Gent. Sheph. iii. ii, Aneath his oxter is the mark, Scarce ever seen since he first wore a sark. 1790 Burns Tam o' Shanter 153 Had..Their sarks, instead o' creeshie flannen, Been snaw-white seventeen hunder linnen! Ibid. 171 Her cutty sark, o' Paisley harn, That while a lassie she had worn. a 1802 in Scott Minstr. Scott. Bord. III. 152 Jenny shall wear the hood, Jocky the sark of God. 1809 T. Donaldson Poems 158 The Clerk, Wha croons his notes like morning lark Before the man i' Holy Sark. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xxiv, And Cuddie at the heels o' him, in ane o' Sergeant Bothwell's laced waistcoats..and a ruffled sark, like ony lord o' the land. 1849 Longfellow Building of Ship 219 Speeding along..Like a ghost in its snow-white sark. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. III. iv. 70 A silken sark wrought wondrously In some far land across the sea. |
| fig. c 1410 26 Pol. Poems 40 Þey wil..resceyue þe charge..To wasche synful soules serkis. 14.. Henryson Garmont Gude Ladeis iii, Hir sark suld be hir body nixt Of chestetie so quhyt. |
| Proverbs. ? a 1598 D. Ferguson Prov. (1785) 26 Near is the kirtle, but nearer is the sark. |
b. Phrase.
sark alane, with a sark as the only covering of the body.
| 1538 Aberdeen Reg. (1844) I. 155 Thai ordane the said Besse..to gang, sark alane, afore the procession. 1786 Har'st Rig (1794) 35 Auld Seonet comes in sark-a-lane. |
† c. sark of mail: a shirt of mail.
Obs.| 1515 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) V. 62 My sark of mayll and a battell axe. |
2. attrib., as
sark-neck,
sark-skirt,
sark-tail.
| 1786 Burns Author's Cry x, There's some *sark-necks I wad draw tight, And tie some hose well. |
| c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 302 And þis man..with his *sarke skirte, wypid it [sc. the leper's nose] als softlye as he cuthe. |
| 1715 Ramsay Christ's Kirk Gr. ii. v, Some did their *sark-tails wring. 1721 Kelly Sc. Prov. 139 He was wrap'd in his Mother's Sark Tail..The Scots..believing that this Usage will make him well-beloved among Women. 1896 Crockett Grey Man xv, Some fought like Highlandmen in their sark-tails. |
▪ II. sark, v. orig. Sc. and
north. (
sɑːk)
[f. sark n.] 1. trans. To furnish with or clothe in a sark.
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 330/2 Serked, camisiatus, jnterulatus. 1789 D. Davidson Th. on Seasons 15 On's back a coat..And, underneath well sarket Wi' harn, that day. a 1869 C. Spence Fr. Braes of Carse 166 They told me..How drink had brought me to sic fash; How I was neither clad nor sarkit. |
2. Building. To cover (a roof) with wooden boards or sarking felt (see
quot. 1771 and
sarking vbl. n.).
| 1464–5 [see sarking vbl. n. 1]. 1568–9 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 717 For sarking of the inner howse in the dorture, 7s. 9d. 1642 in J. Watson Jedburgh Abbey (1894) 86 Item for making of the roofe and sarking of it,..300 mks. 1771 Pennant Tour Scot. in 1769, 121 The roofs are sarked, i.e. covered with inch-and-half deal, sawed into three planks, and then nailed to the joists, on which the slates are pinned. 1961 Guardian 21 Feb. 2/7 (Advt.), Other kinds of Sisalkraft will insulate buildings, cure concrete, sark roofs. 1977 Belfast Tel. 19 Jan. 24/2 (Advt.), Roofspace partly floored, sarked and felted. |