Obs. exc. dial. Also 4 bouken, 5 bowke, 5–6 bucke, bouck, 9 Sc. bouk. [ME. bouken, bowken, answering to an OE. type *búcian not found. Cognate words appear both in Teut. and Romanic; cf. OHG. *bûhhen, MHG. bûchen, Ger. bäuchen, beuchen, LG. büken, Sw. byka, to steep in lye; Ger. beuche, Sw. byk lye, a wash of clothes. Also F. buer:—L. type *bucāre to steep in lye, wash clothes, It. bucata, Sp. bugada, F. bucé lye, a wash of clothes. The relation of the Teutonic and Romanic words is not settled: Kluge thinks the Teutonic may be original: see also Diez, and cf. BUCK sb.3]
1. trans. To steep or boil in an alkaline lye as a first process in buck-washing, or bleaching.
1377. Langland, P. Plowman, B. XIV. 19. Dowel [shal] wasshen it … Dobet shal beten it and bouken it.
1413. Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle, I. xxv. (1859), 30. She hadde bathyd, bowkid hym, and strongly wesshen hym.
1530. Palsgr., 472/1. Bucke these shyrtes, for they be to foule to be wasshed by hande.
1562. Bulleyn, Bk. Simples, &c. 33 a. This venemous herbe … women use to bucke their clothes with.
1615. Markham, Eng. Housew., II. v. (1668), 139. Buck it with Lie and green Hemlocks.
1720. Stow’s Surv. (ed. Strype, 1754), I. I. xxvi. 207/2. Juniper ashes to buck their clothes.
1820. Glenfergus, III. 84 (Jam.). [They] had them [their necks and arms] boukit an’ graithed.
2. transf. To drench, soak.
1494. Fabyan, Chron., VII. ccxliii. 284. Fell such plente of water, yt the grounde was therwith … bucked and drowned.
1619. R. Harris, Drunkard’s Cup, 21. Our brethren … whilest they bee buckt with drinke, and then laid out to be sunn’d and scorned.
