gowk

American  

[gouk, gohk] / gaʊk, goʊk /

noun

1. British Dialect. cuckoo.

2. a fool or simpleton.

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gowk British  

/ ɡaʊk /

noun

1. a stupid person; fool

2. a cuckoo

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Etymology

Origin of gowk

1275–1325; Middle English goke < Old Norse gaukr; cognate with Old English gēac, German Gauch

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gowk

This is another fun term derived from the cuckoo, known as a gowk in some Scottish dialects.

From Time ● Mar. 20, 2014

For oy in place of ou, as we should expect, cp. gowk and goilk, lowp and loip, etc., and the Norse laupa and loipa. 64Spae, spa, vb. to prophesy.

From Scandinavian influence on Southern Lowland Scotch by George Tobias Flom

Gowk, Gouk, gowk, n. a stupid fellow, a fool.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various

An' it maäde me seeä what a gowk I'd beeän to ha' gotten sa thick with a guse!

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 93, July 23, 1887. by Various

I cannae make head nor tail of it," he would say, "but it sticks in my mind ye've made a gowk of yourself.

From David Balfour, Second Part Being Memoirs Of His Adventures At Home And Abroad, The Second Part: In Which Are Set Forth His Misfortunes Anent The Appin Murder; His Troubles With Lord Advocate Grant; Captivity On The Bass Rock; Journey Into Holland And France; And Singular Relations With James More Drummond Or Macgregor, A Son Of The Notorious Rob Roy, And His Daughter Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson