Howk

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To dig out earth or scoop out soil, especially to make a hole in the ground, as in Scottish and northern English usage
2. Excavating ground by scraping and digging with hands or tools to hollow out a pit or trench
3. Burrowing into the soil to dig something up or form a cavity, a dialect term common in Scotland and northern England

Etymology: Anyone who meets "howk" in a Scottish or northern English text may first think of the bird, but the two are unrelated. The bird's name comes from Old English "hafoc", while this verb has a separate, rougher history rooted in the dialects of the north. It survives in Scots and northern English, where it is used for digging something out of the ground, especially when the digging is laborious. Its earlier forms appear in Middle English as "houken" and related spellings. Dictionaries disagree about its deeper ancestry, and a connection to Old Norse words for hollowing out has been proposed, but no origin is firmly established. The word stayed largely regional, which is why it still feels more at home in a Border farm than in a standard English dictionary.

Synonyms: dig, excavate, burrow, delve, scoop

Antonyms: fill