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gowk

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gowk¹

  • /ɡaʊk/

Rhymes with -aʊk

Where it comes from

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

noun gowks

  1. Northern England, Scotland A cuckoo.
  2. A fool. "Ill-fard, crazy, crack-brained gowk, that she is!" exclaimed the housekeeper.

verb gowks · gowking · gowked

  1. To make foolish; to stupefy. look how the man stands as he were gowk'd

gowk²

  • /ɡaʊk/
  • [ˈɡæʊ̯ˀk]

Where it comes from

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.

noun gowks · goke · goak · gauk · gouk · geak

  1. Geordie An apple core.
  2. Geordie, obsolete The central part of any thing; pith; core.
  3. dialectal The hard centre of a boil or sore.
  4. dialectal The yolk of an egg.
  5. dialectal The inner part of a haystack.

gowk³

Where it comes from

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”).

verb gowks · gowking · gowked

  1. dialectal To retch; vomit.

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Cite this
MLA

"gowk." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/gowk. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

gowk. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/gowk

Chicago

"gowk." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/gowk.

BibTeX
@misc{gowk_2026,
  title = {gowk},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/gowk},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}