cleck

English

Etymology

From Scots cleck, from Old Norse klekja.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛk

Verb

cleck (third-person singular simple present clecks, present participle clecking, simple past and past participle clecked)

1. (chiefly Scotland, transitive) To hatch (a bird); (colloquial) to give birth to (a person).
   • 1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song, Polygon 2006 (A Scots Quair), p. 46:

     Poor he might be, but the creature wasn't yet clecked that might put on its airs with him, John Guthrie.

Scots

Etymology

From Old Norse klekja.

Verb

cleck (third-person singular simple present clecks, present participle cleckin, simple past cleckit, past participle cleckit)

1. to hatch, to give birth to