rawk

Related to roke (“mist; smoke”), Swedish rök (“smoke”). Compare raggy (“foggy”).

rawk (plural rawks)

1. (Yorkshire) A thick fog.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Clare, manuscript poems, quoted in 1854, Anne Elizabeth Baker, Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases, page 163:

     The rawk o' the hills, and the mist o' the mountains, / Like the reek o'a pot, and the smoke of a kiln, / Draws further off still, while the round sun is counting / His pulses o' light o' the morning so still.

Compare roke (“defect in steel”).

rawk (plural rawks)

1. (UK, dialectal, possibly obsolete) A mark.
   • 1865, William Stott Banks, Wakefield Words:

     Rawks o' muck dahn't side on his faace.

   • 1896 June 27, Yorkshire Weekly Post:

     'At drew all them rawks.

   • 1943, Textile Colorist: A Monthly Journal Devoted to Practical Dyeing, Bleaching, Printing and Finishing, Dyes, Dyestuffs and Chemicals as Applied to Dyeing, volume 65, page 241:

     When the piece is on shade, cool down gradually and thoroughly to avoid “rawks” […]

rawk (uncountable)

1. Pronunciation spelling of rock (“music genre”).

   I enjoy listening to good rawk.

   • [2005 May, Chuck Klosterman, “The Rock Lexicon”, in SPIN, page 61:

     RAWK: This is how people who start bands in order to meet porn stars spell rock.]

rawk (third-person singular simple present rawks, present participle rawking, simple past and past participle rawked)

1. Pronunciation spelling of rock.

   What do ya think 'bout it? It rawks!

• Wark, wark