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Examples
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It wad look unco-like, I thought, just to be sent out on a hunt-the-gowk errand wi a land-louper like that.
Chapter XLV 1917
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It wad look unco-like, I thought, just to be sent out on a hunt-the-gowk errand wi 'a landlouper like that.
Guy Mannering, Or, the Astrologer — Complete Walter Scott 1801
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It wad look unco-like, I thought, just to be sent out on a hunt-the-gowk errand wi 'a landlouper like that.
Guy Mannering, Or, the Astrologer — Volume 02 Walter Scott 1801
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It wad look unco-like, I thought, just to be sent out on a hunt-the-gowk errand wi 'a landlouper like that.
Guy Mannering — Complete Walter Scott 1801
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It wad look unco-like, I thought, just to be sent out on a hunt-the-gowk errand wi’ a landlouper like that.
Guy Mannering 1815
hernesheir commented on the word hunt-the-gowk
To go on a fool's errand. The Scots term gowk was used for the cuckoo bird as well as for a foolish fellow. The phrase is similar in meaning to "a snipe hunt" in the US.
May 23, 2011
hernesheir commented on the word hunt-the-gowk
Not to be confused with Scots hunt-the-slipper, "a common sport among young people." --Dr. Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary and Supplement, 1841.
May 23, 2011