holk

English

Alternative forms

• howk, houk

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English holk, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English holc (“hole, cavity”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *hulkaz (“a hollow”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover, hide”). Cognate with Low German holke, hölke (“small hole”), German Holk (“a type of flat-bottomed barge”), Swedish holk (“nest, birdhouse”), Icelandic hólkur (“tube”). Related to hulk.

Noun

holk (plural holks)

1. (UK dialectal) A hollow cavity.

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, 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.

Anagrams

• kohl

---

Swedish

Etymology

Old Swedish holker, related to hole and hollow, 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
2. a hulk, an old, decommissioned ship (used for storage or housing)

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)