[F. dial. (Channel Islands) vraic, also vrec, vrac: see WRACK sb. and cf. VAREC.] A seaweed found in the Channel Islands, used for fuel and manure.
1610. W. Folkingham, Art of Survey, I. x. 30. Vraic or Orewood, (Alga Marina) is diuersly applyed for soyling.
1674. Blount, Glossogr. (ed. 4), Vraic, a kind of Sea-weed, of which they make fuel in the isles of Jersey and Gernsey.
1694. Falle, Jersey, ii. 67. ’Tis a Sea-weed; but a Weed more valuable to Us than the choicest Plant that grows in our Gardens. We call it Vraic;… and it grows on the Rocks about the Island.
1736. [W. R. Chetwood], Voy. Vaughan, vii. II. 203. For Fuel … they make use of a Sea Weed, by the Inhabitants call’d Vraic [printed Vraù].
1742. De Foe’s Tour Gt. Brit. (ed. 3), III. 269. Their Manure is Sea-weed, call’d Vraic, of which we have taken notice above.
a. 1847. Eliza Cook, Song Seaweed, xxix. The Vraic! the Vraic! pile it on to the fire.
1862. Ansted, Channel Isl., IV. xx. 469. The load of fresh vraic is computed to give three bushels of ashes.
1881. B. Webber, In Luck’s Way, I. i. Amid this wilderness of rock and vraic and wrinkled sand.
attrib. 1865. Mrs. L. L. Clarke, Common Seaweeds, Concl. 138. I have turned over the vraic-heaps as they were carted up from the lowest tide.
Hence Vraicker, one who gathers vraic. Vraicking, the gathering of vraic. Also attrib.
1835. H. D. Inglis, Channel Isl., 64. At half tide, or low water multitudes of carts and horses, boats and vraickers, cover the beach. Ibid., 63. The vraicking parties consisting of eight, ten, or twelve persons.
1841. Lane Clarke, Guernsey Guide, iii. 59. The scene is such a merry one that the stranger will be repaid for a walk or a ride to either of these bays on a vraicing day.
1862. Ansted, Channel Isl., I. vi. 123. It is only used … during the vraicking season. Ibid., IV. xxii. 515. Vraicking in the Channel Islands is a custom that time has hallowed into an institution.
