glaikit - From Ulster to America
Source: From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English
Author: Michael Montgomery
Comments: From Ulster to America recounts the lasting impact eighteenth-century settlers from Ulster have made on the development of the English language of the United States. The book documents over 500 vocabulary items contributed to American English by these ‘Scotch-Irish’ settlers. Each ‘shared’ term with its meaning is authenticated by quotations from both sides of the Atlantic. This searchable online version of his book takes its text from the dictionary part of the second edition published by the Ullans Press in 2017.
glaikit, glaiket, glaikid, glakit adj Foolish, thoughtless, careless, giddy. Hence glakedness n Carelessness, stupidity. [< Old Scots glaik ‘senseless, foolish’ c1470→; cf snd glaikit adj 1 ‘stupid, careless, foolish’, glaikitness n ‘ineptitude, stupidity, carelessness, levity’]
Ulst.:
1817 Orr Posthumous Works An’ now an’ then divert awa their care, / By tellin’ tales to please some glaiket wean.
1923 Lutton Montiaghisms 22 glakit = giddy, thoughtless, inattentive.
1936 White Mrs Murphy 88 If your father happen to lift anything (and it’s the world’s wonder if he does, he’s that glaikit) he’s sure to lift it wrong.
1953 Traynor Donegal Glossary 120 = (1) foolish, stupid, of little sense; easy-going; (2) thoughtless, inattentive, careless.
1980/81 McClean Ulster Words IV 5 glaiket = dull, without initiative.
U.S.:
1889 Farmer Americanisms 266 Glaikid—Glaikit, in Lowland Scotch is given by Jamieson as unsteady; giddy; stupid; and with the last of these meanings glakid is used in Pennsylvania.
1928 (in 1952 Mathes Tall Tales 65) I’ve a notion to bust ye open jes’ fer yer glakedness!
1952 Wilson Folk Speech NC 545 glaiket = lazy, careless, foolish.
Purchase From Ulster to America
The second, revised edition of Michael Montgomery’s From Ulster to America is now available here:
From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English (Europe)
From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English (North America)