Sc. In other Sc. dialects caigh, keach, keagh. [Origin obscure.] Trouble, worry.
1786. Burns, Cotter’s Sat. Nt., iii. His clean hearth-stane, his thrifty wifie’s smile, The lisping infant, prattling on his knee, Does a’ his weary kiaugh and care [ed. 1787 carking cares] beguile.
1794. Poems, Eng. Scotch & Latin, 97 (Jam.). Your caigh and care ahint you fling.
1824. Mactaggart, Gallovid. Encycl., s.v., To be in a kauch, to be in an extreme flutter, not knowing which way to turn; over head and ears in business.
1825–80. Jamieson, Keach, Keagh, uneasiness of mind,… bustle, anxious exertion. Dumfr[ies].
1881. Lucy B. Walford, in Gd. Words, 402/1. Me in a kauch of work, an’ Meg kirnin’, an’ a’ the hooss wrang side up maist.
