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) To hatch (of birds); colloquially, of people, to be born.
   • 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

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

1. to hatch, to be born