Forms: 5–6 currok, 7 -ogh, (carrogh(e), 8 corrach, 8–9 courach, 9 corach, corrack, 7– corragh, curragh. [Ir. curach boat, little ship; also corrach boat, coracle; cf. Welsh corwg, also corwgl, cwrwgl CORACLE; these point to an OCelt. *kuruk-os, *kurok-os boat. (The spelling carrogh in Camden and his citers is prob. only a misprint.)]
A small boat made of wickerwork covered with hides, used from ancient times in Scotland and Ireland; a coracle.
c. 1450. St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 779. Þai called þat bate a currok.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scot. (1821), I. p. lix. Ane bait of ane bull hid, bound with na thing bot wandis. This bait is callit ane currok; with the quhilk thay fische salmond … thay beir it to ony place, on thair bak.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 107. Their carroghes, wherein they passed over the Sciticke vale.
1683. Brit. Spec., 144. The Scots likewise out of their Carroghs or Leather vessels … landing in whole Swarms.
1747. Carte, Hist. Eng., I. 156. Their wicker boats, covered with hides, and called Corraghs, not being fit for sea voyages of any length.
1828. T. C. Croker, Fairy Leg. S. Irel., II. 53. Corragh or currugh is a small boat used by the fishermen of that part.
1884. Graphic, 4 Oct., 353/2. We embarked at an early hour in a ‘corrack’ at Dugort.
