▪ I. loch1 Sc.
(lɒx)
Forms: 4–6 locht, louch, (6 louche), 6– loch.
[Gael. (and Irish) loch. Cf. the Anglo-Irish lough. The word was adopted in ONorthumbrian as luh.]
A lake; applied also to an arm of the sea, esp. when narrow or partially landlocked.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce iii. 430 In A nycht and In A day, Cummyn owt our the louch ar thai. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xx. (Blasius) 309 Þe tyrand þane gert bynd hym fast & in a depe locht hyme cast. 1501 Douglas Pal. Honour iii. vi, Bot suddanelie thay fell on sleuthfull sleip, Followand plesance drownit in this loch of cair. a 1586 Satir. Poems Reform. xxxvi. 84 Quhen that þe Quene wes in the Louche Inclusit. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 40 Amang the Lochis or bosumis of the Sey. 1609 Skene Reg. Maj., Crimes Pecuniall 146 Na greene lint, suld be laid in lochs, or running burnes. c 1730 Burt Lett. N. Scotl. (1818) II. 102 Winding hollows between the feet of the mountains whereinto the sea flows..these the natives call lochs. 1791 Boswell Johnson 13 Sept. an. 1773, Kingsburg conducted us in his boat across one of the lochs, as they call them, or arms of the sea. 1806 Gazetteer Scotl. (ed. 2) 22 Extensive arms of the sea which bear the name of lochs. 1847 Emerson Poems, Forerunners Wks. (Bohn) I. 447 On eastern hills I see their smokes, Mixed with mist by distant lochs. 1901 Longm. Mag. May 90 You may have heard friendly owls hooting to each other across a loch. |
b. attrib. and
Comb., as
loch-fishing,
loch-foot,
loch-side,
loch-trout;
loch-leech local Sc., a leech;
loch-maw, a species of mew (
Jam.);
loch-reed (see
quot.).
| 1860 G. H. K. Vac. Tour 165, I do not care much for *loch-fishing myself. |
| 1895 Crockett Men of Moss Hags xlvi. 328 The lads..now lay quiet enough down in the copse-wood at the *loch-foot. |
| 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece i. i. 43 In this Case Blood is to be taken at the Arm, or with *Loch-Leeches. 1829 Hogg Sheph. Calendar I. 182 The gowk kens what the tittling wants, although it is not aye crying Give, give, like the horse loch-leech. |
| 1673 Wedderburn Vocab. 16 (Jam.) Larus, a *loch-maw. |
| 1777 Lightfoot Flora Scotica II. 1131 Arundo phragmites. The *Loch-Reed. |
| 1375 Barbour Bruce iii. 109 Ane narow place, Betuix a *louchside and a brae. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 46 Vpon the loch-syd of the Ness..is situat a verie..ancient hous. 1899 Crockett Kit Kennedy 224 The household at the farm by the lochsides. |
| 1875 W. M{supc}Ilwraith Guide Wigtownshire 21 The grey *loch-trout plays in the depths of the little inland seas. |
▪ II. loch2 Mining. ?
Obs. (See
quots.)
| 1789 J. Williams Min. Kingd. I. 288 These open caverns are frequently met with in hard mineral veins, and they are generally called by miners lochs, or loch-holes. 1874 J. H. Collins Metal Mining Gloss., Loch, a cavity in a vein, a vugh. Derbyshire term. |
▪ III. loch variant of
lohoch.