Howking

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Digging or scraping into the earth to uncover or extract something, as used in Scots and northern English dialect
2. Excavating a hole or trench in the ground by scraping and tearing at the soil, a regional dialect usage
3. Burrowing or grubbing into soil to unearth buried material, a verb found in Scottish and northern English speech

Etymology: "Howking" is the present participle and gerund of "howk", a Scots and northern English verb meaning to dig or to scrape out. The form is one of those inflected words where the interesting history belongs to the base verb rather than to the ending, so the -ing simply marks an action in progress: someone is howking, or the act of howking is being described. The base word "howk" carries the older story. It belongs to the dialect vocabulary of northern Britain, where it has long meant digging up roots, scratching at earth, or pulling something out of the ground. Its sense is physical and practical, tied to farm and garden work, which is why it survives most strongly in regional speech rather than in standard English.