Chiefly Sc. and north. dial. Also 6 tyk, 6–9 tike. [a. ON. tík female dog, bitch (Norw. tik, also she-fox, vixen, Sw. dial. tik, older Da. tig); also MLG. tike bitch.]
1. A dog; usually in depreciation or contempt, a low-bred or coarse dog, a cur, a mongrel.
c. 1400. Melayne, 1325. Says Charls: ‘þou false hethyn hownde,… aythire of thies dayes Ilyke Hase þou stollen a waye lyke a tyke.’
1500–20. Dunbar, Of James Dog, 14, Poems (S.T.S.), 195. He barkis lyk ane midding tyk.
1570. Levins, Manip., 122/25. A Tyke, dogge, canis.
1575. Churchyard, Chippes (1817), 182. At great dogs the little tikes doe snarre.
1634. Heywood, Lanc. Witches, II. Wks. 1874, IV. 199. Are Mr. Robinsons dogges turn’d tykes with a wanion?
1786. Burns, Twa Dogs, 29. He was a gash an’ faithfu’ tyke, As ever lap a sheugh or dike.
1815. Scott, Guy M., lv. The mad randy gipsy, that had … been hounded like a stray tike from parish to parish.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 89. A drover of sheep should always be provided with a dog,… a knowing cautious tyke.
1861. J. Brown, Horæ Subs., II. 138. Toby was the most utterly shabby, vulgar, mean-looking cur I ever beheld—in one word, a tyke.
2. transf. Applied opprobriously to a man (rarely with similar force to a woman): A low-bred, lazy, mean, surly, or ill-mannered fellow; a boor. (Cf. DOG sb. 3 a, HOUND sb.1 4 a.) Also said in playful reproof to a child.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 3642. Hewe downe hertly ȝone heythene tykes!
a. 1500[?]. Chester Pl., vii. 275. Lyther tyke,… thy deedes are done.
1567. Satir. Poems Reform., xiv. 42. For me that Nobill of Renoun With ane Tyke, Tratour Hammiltoun, Was schot.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., II. i. 31. Base Tyke, cal’st thou mee Hoste?
1625. B. Jonson, Staple of N., V. iv. 57. Yo’are a dissembling Tyke.
1681. Colvil, Whigs Supplic. (1751), 87. Yet many utterly mislikes, That butcher Presbyterian tykes Should flee upon their throats and faces.
1806. Jamieson, Gude Wallace, in Ball. & Songs (1806), II. 174. Tyke, by the rude thou ’scapes nat sae.
1825. Brockett, N. C. Words, Tike or Tyke, a person of bad character, a blunt or vulgar fellow.
1868. [see tykishness below].
1894. Daily News, 4 Oct., 7/2. Mr. R—— … exclaimed, ‘You dirty little tyke.’
3. A nickname for a Yorkshireman: in full Yorkshire tyke.
(Perhaps originally opprobrious; but now accepted and owned. It may have arisen from the fact that in Yorkshire tyke is in common use for dog.)
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Yorkshire-Tike, a Yorkshire manner of Man.
a. 1714. Prior, Wandering Pilgrim, vii. Could Yorkshire-Tyke but do the same, Then He like Them might thrive.
1761. British Mag., II. 464. I’se a poor Yorkshire tyke.
1820. Syd. Smith, in Life, x. (1884), 249. Give a tyke a bridle and he’ll soon have a horse.
1856. H. H. Dixon, Post & Paddock, vi. 92. The tykes, who were very jealous of the honour of their jocks, did not relish their defeat.
1901. Harper, Great North Road, I. 268. By common consent, whatever its origin may have been, ‘tyke,’ applied to a Yorkshireman, is taken in the complimentary sense.
4. attrib. and Comb., as tyke dog, -man, -sticker.
a. 1585. Polwart, Flyting w. Montgomerie, 787. Tyk stickar, poysond viccar, pot lickar!
1826. Sporting Mag., XVII. 283. A provincial touch … between Bob Luckman, a tyke-man, and John Bouck, a rat-trap.
1895. Crockett, Men of Moss-Hags, xxxiv. A great debate concerning this tyke dog.
Hence (nonce-wds.) Tykedom, the realm or community of tykes; humorously, Yorkshire (see 3); Tykishness, the character of a tyke.
1868. E. H. Yates, Wrecked in Port, iii. As the ‘tyke’ grew up she dropped all outward signs of tykeishness.
1905. Westm. Gaz., 18 Dec., 3/1. At Bradford or Sheffield or some other murky stronghold of Tykedom.
