int. Also 8–9 lauk. [vulgar form of LACK sb.2 or deformation of LORD.] = Lord! Also Lawk-a-daisy (me) and as sb. = LACK-A-DAISY. Lawk-a-mussy = Lord have mercy!; also as v. = to cry ‘Lawk-a-mussy!’
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 168. Lauk! that cannot be like mistress, for she has never a blue gown.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xxxix. Lauk, Mr. Weller,… how you do frighten one!
a. 1845. Hood, Lost Heir, 25. Lawk help me, I don’t know where to look.
1864. J. Payn, Sir Massingberd, 33. Spread-eagled fruit-trees, or, as school-boys called them, ‘lawk-a-daisies.’
1886. Pioneer (N. Y.), Oct. (Cent.). ‘Lawks!’ exclaimed Mrs. Partington, ‘what monsters these master-builders must be!’
1890. Baring-Gould, Arminell, xlix. 464. Lawk, miss! She wouldn’t stand no nonsense. Ibid. (1893), Cheap Jack Z., I. 10. The servant maids … were lawk-a-mussying and oh-mying over the bargains.
