gowk

G2O1W4K5
/ɡaʊk/[ˈɡæʊ̯ˀk]

noun

A cuckoo.

OriginMiddle English goke ← Old Norse gaukr ← Proto-Germanic *gaukaz →
First used until early 20th c.Scrabble 12
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Meanings

gowk1

noungowk (plural gowks)

plural gowks

  1. Northern EnglandScotlandA cuckoo.
  2. A fool.

    God has sent me gowks for secretaries.

    1976, Robert Nye, Falstaff
    3 more examples

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

    1816, Sir Walter Scott, chapter 8, in Old Mortality

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

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

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

    2016, Kerry Greenwood, Murder and Mendelssohn, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 303
verbgowk (third-person singular simple present gowks, present participle gowking, simple past and past participle gowked)

present singular third person gowks · participle present gowking · participle past gowked · past gowked

  1. To make foolish; to stupefy.

    look how the man stands as he were gowk'd

    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)

gowk2

noungowk (plural gowks)

plural gowks · alternative goke · alternative goak · alternative gauk · alternative gouk · alternative geak · alternative cowk

  1. GeordieAn apple core.
  2. GeordieobsoleteThe central part of any thing; pith; core.First known use until early 20th c.
  3. dialectalThe hard centre of a boil or sore.
  4. dialectalThe yolk of an egg.
  5. dialectalThe inner part of a haystack.

gowk3

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

present singular third person gowks · participle present gowking · participle past gowked · past gowked

  1. dialectalTo retch; vomit.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
april foolfool

Origin

gowk · noun, verb

  1. Proto-Indo-European*gʰegʰuǵʰ-“cuckoo”
  2. Proto-Germanic*gaukaz“cuckoo”
  3. Old Norsegaukr“cuckoo”
  4. Middle Englishgoke
  5. Englishgowk

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

More words from Middle English, Old Norse, Proto-Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

gowk · noun

  1. Proto-Indo-European*gʷel-“to devour, swallow, gulp; throat, gullet”
  2. Proto-Germanic*kulkaz, *kulukaz“gullet”
  3. Proto-West Germanic*kolk
  4. Old English*colc“the gullet, esophagus; pit of the stomach; trench, pit, gully”
  5. Middle Englishcoke, colk“the core or heart of an apple or onion, pith”
  6. Englishgowk

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.

More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-West Germanic

Full word history & related roots →

gowk · verb

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”).

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with gowk

Auch
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

gowk. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gowk

MLA

“gowk.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gowk. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gowk,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gowk.

Source: gowk on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.