Obs. exc. dial. Also 5 lakan, lakayn, 5–6 laykin, -yn, 8 laken, laking, 9 (in glossaries) lairkin. [app. connected with LAKE v.1; cf. ON. leika plaything.] A plaything, toy; in quots. 1440, 1460 said of a baby.
Bp. Kennet (c. 1700), quoted in Promp. Parv., gives ‘Leikin, a sweetheart. Northumb.’
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., xxxii. 123 (Harl. MS.). He putt vp in his bosom þes iij. lakayns.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xiii. 242. Ilk yere that commys to man She bryngys furth a lakan.
1570. Levins, Manip., 134/5. A Laykin, babie, crepundia.
1790. Grose, Prov. Gloss. (ed. 2), Suppl., Lakings, playthings for children. North.
1790. Mrs. Wheeler, Westmld. Dial. (1821), 87. I brout her a Lunnon laken, a conny bab.
1855. Robinson, Whitby Gloss., Lairkins, children’s toys; trinkets in general.
