gowk

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English goke, gowke, from Old Norse gaukr (“cuckoo”), from Proto-Germanic *gaukaz (“cuckoo”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰegʰuǵʰ- (“cuckoo”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡaʊk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊk

Noun

gowk (plural gowks)

1. (Northern England, Scotland) A cuckoo.
2. A fool.
   • 1816, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 8, in Old Mortality:

     "Ill-fard, crazy, crack-brained gowk, that she is!" exclaimed the housekeeper.

   • 1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 83:

     "What does it look like?" "Like...like..." Catweazle made boulder-like gestures in the air, "like a wogle-stone, thou gowk."

   • 1976, Robert Nye, Falstaff:

     God has sent me gowks for secretaries.

   • 2016, Kerry Greenwood, Murder and Mendelssohn, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 303:

     `You daft great gowk, puttin' yerself in the way of harm after all this time out of a war.'

Derived terms

• begowk
• glimmer-gowk
• hunt the gowk

Verb

gowk (third-person singular simple present gowks, present participle gowking, simple past and past participle gowked)

1. To make foolish; to stupefy.
   • 1632 (first performance), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “The Magnetick Lady: Or, Humors Reconcil’d. A Comedy […]”, in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The Second Volume. […] (Second Folio), London: […] Richard Meighen, published 1640, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     look how the man stands as he were gowk'd

Etymology 2

Origin uncertain. Likely from Middle English coke, colk (“the core or heart of an apple or onion, pith”), from Old English *colc (“the gullet, esophagus; pit of the stomach; trench, pit, gully”), from Proto-West Germanic *kolk, from Proto-Germanic *kulkaz, *kulukaz (“gullet”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷel- (“to devour, swallow, gulp; throat, gullet”). Possibly a doublet of coke.

Alternative forms

• goke, goak, gauk, gouk, geak, cowk

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡaʊk/, [ˈɡæʊ̯ˀk]

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

gowk (plural gowks)

1. (Geordie) An apple core.
2. (Geordie, obsolete) The central part of any thing; pith; core. [until early 20th c.]
3. (dialectal) The hard centre of a boil or sore.
4. (dialectal) The yolk of an egg.
5. (dialectal) The inner part of a haystack.

Etymology 3

Compare Norwegian Nynorsk gulka (“to burp, belch”). Compare also Scots cowk (“to strain, retch”), Dutch kolken (“to belch”), German kolken (“to gulp”), dialectal German kölken, kolksen (“to vomit”), Danish kulke (“to gulp”).

Verb

gowk (third-person singular simple present gowks, present participle gowking, simple past and past participle gowked)

1. (dialectal) To retch; vomit.

Scots

FWOTD – 1 April 2026

Alternative forms

• goak, gouk

Etymology

Inherited from Middle Scots gowk, golk, from Middle English goke, from Old Norse gaukr, from Proto-Germanic *gaukaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡʌuk/, /ɡoːk/

Noun

gowk (plural gowks)

2. A cuckoo (bird of the family Cuculidae)
3. A fool or idiot; a person with little intelligence or judgment.
   • 1983, William Lorimer, transl., The New Testament in Scots, Edinburgh: Canongate, published 2001, →ISBN, →OCLC, Matthew 5:22, page 9:

     But I say til ye, ‘Onie-ane at is angert at his brither maun thole an assize afore the magistrate.’ Again, ‘Onie-ane at says til his brither, “Ye bee-heidit gowk!” maun thole an assize afore the Council.’ But I say: “Onie-ane at says til his brither, “Ye muckle sumph!” maun thole an assize afore ane at can duim til the lowes o hell.’

     But I tell you, "Anyone who's angry towards their sibling must endure a decision from the judge." Again, anyone who says to their sibling, 'You airheaded idiot!' must must endure a decision from the court." But I also say: "Anyone who says to their sibling, 'You absolute moron!' must endure a decision from the one who can consign you to the flames of Hell."

4. An April fool; the target of an April Fools' Day joke.
5. (rare) A joke or prank.

Verb

gowk (third-person singular simple present gowks, present participle gowkin, simple past and past participle gowkit)

2. (transitive) To fool or trick (especially in an April Fools' Day joke)
3. (intransitive, rare) To be tricked by an April Fools' Day joke.
4. (intransitive, rare) To monkey around; to waste time or act unseriously.

References

• “gowk, n.¹, v.¹”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.
• Eagle, Andy, editor (2026), “gowk”, in The Online Scots Dictionary‎^[1]