Gowf

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. In Scots dialect, to strike or hit someone or something with a blow ; a hollow place or cavity in the ground or in a surface
2. A Scottish word meaning to strike a blow at something ; a dip, pit or hollow scooped out of the land or a surface
3. Used in Scots to mean hitting something sharply ; also denotes a small depression, pit or hollow in a surface

Etymology: In Scotland, "gowf" was the older spelling of the game now called golf. Scots spellings kept a vowel and consonant sound that English later simplified, so the modern word is largely the same word with a different spelling. Its deeper origin most likely lies in the Low Countries. Middle Dutch "kolve" and "kolf" meant a club or bat, and the same term named the Dutch game "kolf," played with a stick and ball. Contact between Scotland and the Low Countries through trade makes that the probable route, though the exact path is uncertain. Scots also had a verb "gowf" meaning to strike or hit, which fits a game built around swinging a club.