Obs. and dial. Also 5–6 calk(e, 7–8 cauke, (S calk, 9 caulk, cawk). [Cf. Du. kalk, MDu. calc; OHG. chalch, MHG. calch, calc, mod.G. kalk; also OE. cealc (:—*cælc, *calc); see CHALK. It is not clear whether calk, cauk is simply the northern form of CHALK, or adopted independently from Du. or Low German.]
1. = CHALK (dial.). † 2. Lime. Obs. 3. ? Calc spar. 4. Barytes, or heavy spar: see CAWK.
(The quotations carmot easily be separated, but 1653–1729 are app. in sense 4.)
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 58. Calke or chalke, erye, calx, creta.
c. 1475. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 769. Hec cals, a calkestone.
1483. Cath. Angl., 51. Calke, creta, calx.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scot. (1821), I. Introd. 19. This Ile wes callit Albion … fra the quhit montanis thairof, full of calk.
1641. French, Distill., V. (1651), 154. Take very strong lime, such as the dyers use, and call cauke.
1653. Manlove, Lead-Mines, 265 (E. D. S.). Cauke, Sparr, Lid-Stones, Twitches, Daulings and Pees.
1684–5. Boyle, Min. Waters, 21. Other Ingredient as Spar, Cauke, Sulphur, Orpiment, Arsenick.
1699. De la Pryme, Diary (Surtees), 212. Four-squair bitts of brick, slate and cauk, set in curious figueres.
1724. Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc. (1733), I. 87. Wi’ cauk and keel I’ll win your bread.
1729. Martyn, in Phil. Trans., XXXVI. 31. Cauk … Dr. Woodward says is a coarse talky Spar.
1816. W. Smith, Strata Ident., 10. A singular variety … is there called red caulk.
1851. Tapping, Gloss. Manlove’s Chron. (E. D. S.), Calk, calc, cauke, or calcareous spar, is the base mineral constituting with brownhen, &c. the deads or rubbish of a quick vein.
