dial. [f. STOUK sb.] trans. To fit with a handle or handles. Also absol.
1686. Plot, Staffordsh., iii. § 27. 123. When they are dry they stouk them, i. e. put Ears and Handles to such Vessels as require them.
1820. Wilbraham, Cheshire Gloss., 63. To Stouk or Stowk, to put ears or handles to such vessels as require them.
1829. S. Shaw, Staffordsh. Potteries, 104. Vessels … with loop handles stouked to the sides. Ibid., 166. A good workman could throw, turn, and stouk.
Hence Stouker, one who fits vessels with handles; Stouking vbl. sb.
1809. in Jewitt, Life Wedgwood (1865), 105. Fletcher was a ‘Stouker’ by trade. I gave him a pint of ale to show my handlers the old way of ‘Stouking.’
1829. S. Shaw, Staffordsh. Potteries, 104. The Stouker … was the workman who affixed handles, spouts, and other appendages. Ibid., 123. Some of the black tea pots are glazed, but not all; and the stouking branch seems improved in all the specimens.
