a. and sb. Sc. Obs. Also 6–7 wack, 6 vak. [a. ON. *wakw- (Icel. vǫk-r) moist, damp (M)Du. wak:—OTeut. *wakwo-, cogn. w. Gr. ὑγρός, L. ūvidus (:—*ugvidus) moist.]
A. adj. Moist, damp.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, III. ix. 2. Quhen Aurora the wak nycht did arest, And chais fra hevin with hir dym skyis donk.
1528. Lyndesay, Dreme, 388. First, to the Mone,… Quene of the see,… Off nature wak and cauld, and no thyng clere.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, V. xxii. (S.T.S.), II. 224. Þai ar nurist with wak humouris and Caldnes.
1572. Satir. Poems Reform., xxxiii. 1. Ȝe vapurs wak, and watters in the air!
c. 1590. J. Stewart, Poems (S.T.S.), II. 215. And till eschew nocturnall vapor vak.
1609. Skene, Reg. Maj., Chalm. Air, xxv. 153 b. They make the claith wak and donke.
1666. Despauterii Gram. Instit., Lib. VII, E 7 b (Jam.). Madeo, to be wack or drunk. Permadeo, to be very wack.
1776. Herd’s Coll. Sc. Songs, II. Gloss., Wak, moist, wet.
Hence Wakness, moisture.
c. 1520. Nisbet, N. T. Scots, Luke viii. 6. Ane vthir fell on staan; and it sprang vp and dryit, for it had nocht moistour (or wacnes).
1528. Lyndesay, Dreme, 460. Than past we vp quhare Jupiter the kyng Satt in his speir…. Complexionate with waknes and with heit.
1563. Knox, Ressoning betw. Abbot Crosraguell & K. (1812), Prol. ij b. The earth bringeth forth the tree, it groweth by moistour, and natural wacknes.
1595. Duncan, App. Etymol., Mador, humor, waknesse.
1808. Jamieson, Waknes, humidity.
B. sb. Moisture.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 76. Quhen it [the moon] is full, all thingis … that ar governyt be wak or moystnes, ar mare forssy and vigorous na quhen it is wane.
