Lonk
(lɒŋk)
[dial. var. of Lank, the first syllable of Lancashire: see E.D.D.]
A large-sized variety of mountain sheep which originated in Lancashire or Yorkshire; the wool of this variety of sheep.
| 1863 in W. Fream Youatt's Compl. Grazier (1893) 473 If the Lonks be as hardy as they are good, they must be the most valuable sheep for the hills that we have at present. 1866 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. II. 367 The hill ranges of Yorkshire and Lancashire are believed to be the earliest home of the Lonks. 1911 Chambers's Jrnl. Dec. 778/2 The lonk is believed to have come originally from the Yorkshire hills. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 510/2 Lonk, wool that comes from the large type of mountain sheep of the same name, reared on the Lancashire and Yorkshire moorlands. 1968 Fraser & Stamp Sheep Husbandry (ed. 5) ii. 110 The Lonk. Another horned and black-faced breed is native to a rather confined hill district of Lancashire and Yorkshire. It is a big sheep, handsome, with very clearly differentiated black-and-white markings on face and legs, strong-boned and active. 1972 J. Wainwright Night is Time to Die 7 The dark patch could be a sheep... Ye-es—it could be some stupid, wandering Lonk. 1974 Times 23 Feb. 14 Several farmers may turn out their Swaledale or Scottish Blackface, Herdwick or Lonk sheep onto one moor. |