Sc. Also clyack. [Possibly a. Gaelic cliathach battle, because of the contest or struggle to have the ‘last cut.’]
The last armful of corn cut at harvest on any farm, the kirn-cut: called in the south of Scotland the ‘maiden,’ and in Northumberland the ‘kirn-baby’: cf. KIRN sb.2 Hence cliack-sheaf, cliack-night.
1880. Gordon, Bk. Chron. Keith, 58. In getting ‘Cliack’ a scramble was made to get the last handful of corn to cut.
1884. W. Carnie, in Mod. Sc. Poets, Ser. VII. 206. We spoke aboot the cliack nicht.
1889. Kirkcudbrightshire Advertiser, 23 Aug., 6/1. It [the clyack sheaf] is still occasionally to be seen hanging in farm kitchens above the fireplace having a ribbon tied round it.
