Chiefly north. (and Sc.). Also 1 spelc, 5 spelke, 7 spelck. [OE. spelc (also spilc), WFlem. spelke (De Bo), Norw. spjelk, Icel. spelka, † spjalk, related to MDu. spalke (Kilian spalcke), spalc (Du. spalk), LG. spalke, spalk splinter, chip.]
1. A surgical splint.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 68. Þonne recce he þa ban swa he swiþost maeʓe, do spelc to.
1691. Ray, N. C. Words (ed. 2), 149. A Spelck, Fascia.
1703. in Thoresby, Lett. to Ray.
1855–. in north. dial. glossaries, etc.
2. A splinter or chip; a small strip of wood.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 468/1 Spelke, fissula.
1623. Markham, Country Housew. Gard., x. The lesse your Spelkes are, the lesse is the waste of your hony, and the more easily will they draw, when you take your Bees.
1788–. in northern glossaries.
1894. Rev. Reviews, Sept. 256/2. A belated attempt to extract a small spelk from the hand of the Irish peasant.
1899. R. Wallace, Country Schoolmaster, 26. A schoolboy carefully gathered up the larger ‘spelks’ of the tram of the broken vehicle.
3. A thatching-rod; = SPAR sb.4
1563. Richmond Wills (Surtees), 169. iij. spelks and iij. carres, xix d. Ibid. (1578), 282. Woodd and bords … with stangs, hots, and cares, and spelks and latts.
1712. in Trans. Cumbld. & Westm. Archæol. Soc. (N.S.), III. 108. For 184 bottles of thatch…. For spelks two hundred and twenty seven.
1781. J. Hutton, Tour to Caves (ed. 2), Gloss. 96. Spelks, small sticks to fix on thatch with.
1828–. in Yorkshire and Lancs. glossaries, etc.
4. In various uses: (see quots.).
1828. Carr, Craven Gloss., Spelk,… a spoke of a wheel.
1829. Brockett, N. C. Gloss. (ed. 2), Spelk, a little, slender creature; used as a term of reproach.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2264/1. Spelk,… a rod in a loom.
