Obs. exc. dial. [perh. a form of BOUK, OE. búc belly, body, trunk, etc.; cf. senses 1, 2 (if these are genuine, and rightly placed here). But the phonetic history is not clear, though the shortening of long ú is found in suck:—súcan.]
† 1. ? The body of an animal, a carcase. Obs.
1592. Acts James VI. (1814), 577 (Jam.). Sic derth is rasit in the cuntrie that ane mutton buck is deirar and far surmountis the price of ane boll of quheit.
† 2. ? Belly. Obs.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 515. The ventricle [in swine] is large to receive much meat, and to concoct it perfectly, we call it vulgarly the Buck.
1691. [see sense 3].
3. The body of a cart or wagon. Used dial., and in U.S. in comb., as buck-board, -cart, -wagon, species of vehicles.
1691. Ray, S. & E. Country Wds., Buck the breast. Suss. It is used for the body, or the trunck of the body. ‘The buck of a cart,’ i. e. the body of a cart.
1767. A. Young, Farmer’s Lett. People, 273. These waggons … should … have very stout hanging-boards … projecting, about fourteen or sixteen inches from the buck, over the wheels.
1881. Evans, Leicestersh. Wds. (E. D. S.), Buck, the front part of the body of a cart or waggon, generally constructed with a ledge at the top called the ‘fore-buck.’
1883. C. H. Farnham, in Harper’s Mag., Aug., 390/2. The common road cart—with wooden springs—costs $15; the fashionable buckboard, $40.
1884. Chr. World, 7 Aug., 598/3. I have just had a ride in a buckcart.
1885. Sat. Rev., 21 Feb., 240/1. A buckboard is a plank of well-seasoned wood … slung upon four wheels placed within two feet of either end. Across the middle of the board is a light seat holding two persons.
4. ‘A T-shaped end to the plough-beam, having notches in it for the purpose of regulating the draught of the plough. The “shackle” goes into it to which the horses are yoked.’ Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk.
1562. Wills & Inv. N. C. (1835), 207. J wayne heade shakle, j waynehead yoke … j bucshackill.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. viii. 332. The Buck [of a plow] is the iron which the Horses are tyed unto.
