howk
A British dialectal verb meaning to dig, grub, or disturb soil — to root around and turn things up.
Definitions
A British dialectal verb meaning to dig, grub, or disturb soil — to root around and turn things up. Common in Scottish and Northern English dialects. Can describe anything from potato digging to rummaging through a pile of things. Also used figuratively for digging up information or old memories.
He spent the afternoon howking tatties out of the frost-hardened ground.
Comments
(UK, dialect, transitive) To disturb by digging.
Comments
Used in
Have a better definition?
Add your own interpretation of "howk".
🇬🇧About British & Irish slang slang
UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
See all British & Irish slang slang on Slangora.
Tags
Other words near "howk" (H)
Browse all slang words starting with H.
Related terms
People also read
Semantically related
- howf71%
(intransitive, Scotland, archaic) To frequent or resort to a place; to haunt.
- forhow68%
(transitive, UK, _, dialectal, Scotland) To cast off; scorn.
- forhow66%
(transitive, UK, _, dialectal, Scotland) To forsake; quit; abandon; desert.
- hork66%
(regional) To steal, especially petty theft or misnomer in jest.