geck

From Dutch gek or Low German geck, from an imitative verb found in North Sea Germanic and Scandinavian/North Germanic meaning "to croak, cackle," and also "to mock, cheat" (Dutch gekken, German gecken, Danish gjække, Swedish gäcka).

• IPA^(key): /ɡɛk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛk

geck (countable and uncountable, plural gecks)

1. (archaic, derogatory, poetic) Fool; idiot; imbecile.
   • 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv]:

     To become the geck and scorn / O' the other's villainy.

   • 1859, George Eliot, “IX Hetty's World”, in Adam Bede‎^[1], HTML edition, published 2010, archived from the original on 5 April 2012:

     … for where’s the use of a woman having brains of her own if she’s tackled to a geck as everybody’s a-laughing at?

geck (third-person singular simple present gecks, present participle gecking, simple past and past participle gecked)

1. (ambitransitive, chiefly Scotland, Northern England) To jeer or mock; to show contempt for.
   • 1812 [1768?], Ross Alexander, Helenore : or the fortunate shepherdess, a pastoral tale, page 92:

     To say that ye was geck'd ye'se hae nae need.

   • 1815, Robert Tannahill, Poems and Songs, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, page 59:

     And Jenny geck'd at Roger,  […]

   • 1816, [Walter Scott], The Antiquary. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:

     I brought her frae England, and, during our whole journey, she gecked and scorned at my northern speech and habit

   • 1828, Allan Ramsay, The Gentle Shepherd: A Pastoral Comedy. With Notes, and an Original Memoir of the Author, page 21:

     She ... gecks at me , and says I smell o' tar.

   • 1893, Robert Ford, The Harp of Perthshire: A Collection of Songs, Ballads, and Other Poetical Pieces Chiefly by Local Authors, page 163:

     Oh, geck na' at hame hodden grey, Jean Linn! Oh, geck na' at hame hodden grey!

2. To toss (one's head) scornfully; to look (at) derisively or disdainfully.
   • 1793, Thomas Scott (of Paisley.), Poems, with Edwin and Catherine, or The distressed lovers, a tragedy, page 339:

     ... The like o ' me they'll har'ly own , But geck their head , an ' gester on , An ' fou'd they speak , Set up their beek . They wi ' a jeer , or crabit frown , But yet the day or lang may light , Whan matters will be judged right ; We've […]

   • 1801, William Beattie, Fruits of Time Parings: Being a Small Collection of Original Poems, Scotch and English: Composed to Fill Up a Few of the Author's Blank Hours - and Respectfully Offered to the Public, page 9:

     Out-throw the rest my aunty gecket, / To see which way she was dissecket;

   • 1806, John Black, The Falls of Clyde: Or, The Fairies; a Scotish Dramatic Pastoral, in Five Acts. With Three Preliminary Dissertations, page 135:

     ... he was saying that to geck you're free, If now he sings upon the primrose  […]

   • 1878, Robert Burns, The poetical works of Robert Burns, ed. by C. Kent, page 124:

     ... Adieu , my Liege ! may Freedom geck Beneath your high protection; […]

   • 1880, James E. Watt, Poetical Sketches of Scottish Life and Character, page 34:

     ... it set oor auld gossips a-geckin' Whan' the news o't cam' hame to auld Robbie Macmeeken.

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “geck”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “geck”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Joseph Wright, editor (1900), “GECK”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume II (D–G), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC.