holk

English

Alternative forms

• howk, houk (Northern England, Scotland)

Etymology 1

From Middle English holk, from Old English holc, holoc (“hole, cavity”), from Proto-West Germanic *holuk, from Proto-Germanic *hulukaz (“a hollow”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover, hide”). Equivalent to hole +‎ -ock (diminutive ending).

Cognate with Low German holke, hölke (“small hole”), German Holk (“a type of flat-bottomed barge”), Swedish holk (“nest, birdhouse”), dialectal Norwegian holk, hylke (“wooden barrel, cask”), Icelandic hólkur (“hollow cylinder or tube”). Related to hulk.

Noun

holk (plural holks)

1. (UK dialectal) A hollow cavity.

Etymology 2

From Middle English holken, from Old English *holcian (attested in āholcian, āhlocian (“to dig out”), from Proto-West Germanic *holukōn, derived from the noun above. Cognate with Middle Low German holken, hȫlken (“to hollow out”), German Low German uthöhlken (“to hollow out”).

Verb

holk (third-person singular simple present holks, present participle holking, simple past and past participle holked)

1. (transitive, UK dialectal) To dig out; make hollow; hollow out.
2. (transitive, UK dialectal) To dig; dig into; pierce; penetrate; investigate; poke.
3. (transitive, UK dialectal) To dig up; excavate.
   • 1908, Aberdeen University Studies, volume 35, University of Aberdeen, page 96:

     The Sessioune perceiving gryt perell through the burieing of people in the kirkyaird of thair perroche kirk and within the kirk itself by raising of grene graivis and holking under the kirk vall undermynding of the samyne ordanis fra this furth that na persone presume to mak graivis within the precinct thairof or yit to burie any persone within the boundis of the samine.

Anagrams

• Kohl, kohl

Middle Low German

Alternative forms

• hulk, hollek, hollik, hollich, holyk, hulyck

Etymology

Compare Middle High German holche, Ancient Greek ὁλκάς (holkás, “barge”), ἕλκειν (hélkein, “to drag”).

Noun

holk m

1. hulk (large cargo ship)

References

• "holk" in Köbler, Gerhard, Mittelniederdeutsches Wörterbuch (3rd edition 2014)

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish holker, from Proto-Germanic *hulkaz (“cavity, hollow, recess”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover, hide, conceal”), cognate with English hulk.

Noun

holk c

1. a nest box, a birdhouse; a hollow part of a tree trunk used as a container or as a birdhouse

   Synonym: fågelholk

2. a hulk, an old, decommissioned ship (used for storage or housing)
3. (slang) a pipe stuffed with cannabis, or more rarely a joint

Declension

Declension of holk
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	holk	holken	holkar	holkarna
Genitive	holks	holkens	holkars	holkarnas

Related terms

• batteriholk
• fågelholk
• holka
• holkyxa
• holkärm
• starholk

References

• holk in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• holk in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• holk in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)