Now dial. Forms: 1 þæc, 4 þak, þakke, 4–6 (9 dial.) thak, 5 thakk(e, 5–6 (9 dial.) thake, 5–7 thacke, 6 thecke, thaec, 6– thack (9 Sc. theck). [Com. Teut.: OE. þæc = WFris. thek, OLG. *þak (MDu. dac (dāke), Du., MLG., LG. dak), OHG. dach, dah, thah (MHG., Ger. dach) roof, ON. þak roof, thatch (Sw. tak, Da tag):—OTeut. *þakom, f. root þek- to cover, Indo-Eur. teg-, in L. teg-ĕre to cover, tog-a covering, gown, tug-urium hut, cottage, Gr. τέγ-ος, στεγ-ή roof, οτέγ-ειν to cover; Lith. stogas roof; OIr. teg, Irish and Gael. tigh house. See THATCH v.]
† 1. The roof of a house or building. Obs.
a. 900. Cynewulf, Christ, 1503. Þæt hi under eowrum þæce mosten in-ʓebuʓan.
c. 975. Rushw. Gosp., Matt. viii. 8. Drihten nam ic wyrðe ꝥ ðu ga under þacu minne. Ibid., xxiv. 17. Seþe on þæce siæ ne stiʓað he niðer.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. (Th.), cxxviii. 4. Þam þe on huses þæce heah aweaxeð.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 14689. In eueses þey [sparrows] crepte, & in þe þakkes.
1489. Caxton, Faytes of A., II. xxxvii. 156. They ought to mounte up to the wyndowes of the houses and upon the thakkes.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, IV. xii. 53. Spreding fra thak to thak, baith but and ben.
1524. Ld. Dacre, Lett. to Wolsey, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. I. I. 249. Ald Howses wherof the thak and covereings ar taken awey.
1536. in T. West, Antiq. Furness (1805), 133. The said tenant to keep his hous tennantable, upon his own charges, with thake and walle.
2. That with which the roof of a house or the like is covered to protect it from the weather; spec. the covering of straw, reeds, or the like disposed so as to carry off the rain: = THATCH sb. 1.
a. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., III. viii. [x.] (1890), 180. þæs huses hrof … wæs mid ʓyrdum awunden & mid þæce beþeaht. Ibid., xiv. [xvi.] (1890), 202. On beamum & on ræftrum & on waʓum & on watelum & on ðeacon.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., II. 136. Ða tear þæt hors þæt ðæc of ðære cytan hrofe.
14[?]. Nom., in Wr.-Wülcker, 732/23. Hec tectura, thak.
1486. Nottingham. Rec., III. 244. Thak þat the grete wynde blewe of þe house.
a. 1500. Chaucer’s Dreme, 1773. That they would ever in houses of thacke, Their lives lead.
1530. Palsgr., 280/1. Thacke of a house, chaume.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, I. 1. To be well aduised … before he lay on Thack, Tile,… or Plaster.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 138. One to drawe thacke, and the other to serve the thatcher.
1721. Ramsay, Ode to Mr. F——, 30. Wa’s of divots, roof’d wi’ thack.
1815. Scott, Guy M., viii. Ye have riven the thack off seven cottar houses.
1859. Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, x. It puts me i’ mind o’ the swallows as was under the thack last ’ear.
Mod. north. dial. Wet as thack.
(In Eng. Dial. Dict., from Scotl. to Oxfordsh., Berksh., and from Worcester to E. Anglia.)
b. The covering of properly disposed straw with which the sloping top of a stack of corn or hayrick is thatched. Thack and rape (Sc.), this thatching and the straw rope with which it is secured: often ased allusively.
1786. Burns, Brigs of Ayr, 26. An thack and rape secure the toil-won crap.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xxvi. He kens … wha feeds him, and cleeds him, and keeps a’ tight, thack and rape. Ibid., Gloss., Under thack and rape means snug and comfortable.
1896. Speaker, 3 Oct., 353/1. All is secured in the cornyard under ‘thack and raip!
3. transf. Covering (in quot. = skin).
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxvii. (Vincencius), 276. Þane of þe frame he had hym tak, Þat hale had nothir lith na þak.
4. attrib. and Comb., as thack-roof; thack-board, a wooden roofing tile, a shingle; thack-broach = thack-pin, thack-prick, BROACH sb. 5; thack divot (dowat) = thack turf; thack-gate (Sc.): see quot.; thack house, a thatched house; thack-lead, lead with which a roof is covered; thack-nail, -peg, -pin, a sharpened pin or peg used in fastening the thatch on a roof; thack-prick, -prod, a sharpened wand or stick for the securing of thatch; thack-rape (Sc. and north. dial.), a rope (usually of twisted straw) used in fixing the thatch on a rick or cottage roof; thack-stone, a thin flat stone (e.g., Stonesfield slate) used for roofing; thack-tile [OE. þæcliʓile; cf. G. dachziegel], a roofing tile; thack turf, a roofing turf or sod.
1354. Mem. Ripon (Surtees), III. 91. In ccc de *thakbord’ emp. pro stauro ecclesiæ.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, IV. 126 (MS. E.). For fyre all cleir Soyn throu the thak [v.r. thik] burd can appeir.
1418. in Rogers, Agric. & Pr. (1882), III. 402/1. Norwich, Thackboard.
1447–8. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 186. In repar. molendini … in Cma Thakborde.
1573. in Feuillerat, Revels Q. Eliz. (1908), 208. Hookes & eies with *thackbroches.
1504. Acc. Ld. H. Treas. Scot., II. 424. For theking of divers houses with *thak dowat.
1825. Jamieson, *Thack-gate, the sloping edge of the gable-tops of a house, when the thatch covers them; in contradistinction from the wind-skews that are raised higher than the thatch.
1582–8. Hist. Jas. VI. (1804), 209. He exposit … sum of his souldiors to sum *thak housses besyd the West Port, in a windie nyght, and pat the same in fyre.
1725. Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., II. i. A snug thack house, before the door a green.
1894. Northumbid. Gloss., ‘Thack-hoose’—a thatched house.
1819. W. Tennant, Papistry Storm’d (1827), 214. Capper and *thack-lead aff were tane.
1846. Brockett, N. C. Words (ed. 3), *Thack-nail, *Thack-peg, *Thack-pin, a wooden pin or stob used in fastening thatch to the roof of a building.
1828. Craven Gloss., *Thack-pricks, sharpened twigs for the securing of thatch.
1876. Whitby Gloss., *Thack-reeaps, the cords for securing the thatch.
1837. Suppl. to Jamieson, Thack-rape.
1442. Calverley Charters (1904), 253. j acre of soile … where he may gett and tak *thakstone.
1621. Sc. Acts Jas. VI., c. 26 (1816), IV. 627/1. To thaick þe same againe wt Sklait, or skailȝee, leade, tyild, or Thackstone.
1880. A. L. Ritchie, Ch. St. Baldred, 37. The roof of the east end of Whitekirk Church is covered with thackstones.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss. (O.E.T.), 1043. Imbricibus, *þæctiʓilum.
1477. Act 17 Edw. IV., c. 4. Pleintile, autrement nosmer thaktile, roftile, ou crestile.
1610. W. Folkingham, Art of Survey, 4. Gallic and Thacke Tiles.
c. 1800. S. Pegge, Anecd. Eng. Lang. (1803), 279. In Yorkshire they call bricks wall tile, and tiles thack tile.
1576. in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 1580. 20/1. Pro 108 oneribus focalium … et *thak turffis.
