holk
English
Alternative forms
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)
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)
- (transitive, UK dialectal) To dig out; make hollow; hollow out.
- (transitive, UK dialectal) To dig; dig into; pierce; penetrate; investigate; poke.
- (transitive, UK dialectal) To dig up; excavate.
- 1908, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Studies, Volume 35, 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.
- 1908, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Studies, Volume 35, page 96,
Anagrams
Middle Low German
Alternative forms
Etymology
Compare Middle High German holche, Ancient Greek ὁλκάς (holkás, “barge”), ἕλκειν (hélkein, “to drag”).
Noun
holk m
- 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
- a nest box, a birdhouse; a hollow part of a tree trunk used as a container or as a birdhouse
- Synonym: fågelholk
- a hulk, an old, decommissioned ship (used for storage or housing)
- (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
References
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- British English
- English dialectal terms
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- Middle Low German lemmas
- Middle Low German nouns
- Middle Low German masculine nouns
- Swedish terms inherited from Old Swedish
- Swedish terms derived from Old Swedish
- Swedish terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Swedish terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Swedish terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish common-gender nouns
- Swedish slang