local. [perh.:—OE. búc bulging vessel, pitcher, also ‘belly,’ see BOUK, and cf. BUCKET.]
† 1. A milk pail; a pail. Obs. or dial.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Judges vii. 20. Hi tobræcon þa bucas.
1663. P. Henry, Diary, 15 June (1882), 139. A mayd … who coming from milking fell down with the Bowk on her head and dyed.
1879. Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Gloss., Bouk, obsols. a pail with an upright handle, used for various purposes of brewing, dairy-work, &c.
2. A large tub or bucket used in coal-mines.
1865. Engineer, 1 Dec., 16/3. Three men … were lowered down the shaft in a bowk or tub.
1869. Echo, 28 June. They then … got into the water bowk, which they were using as a skip.
1882. Law Reports, 357. A workman … killed through falling from a ‘bowk,’ in which he was being drawn up the pit shaft.
