Part 72 (1/2)

BIGS, Barbour, xix. 392. Pink. ed. Leg. ~Lugis~.

BIKE, BYKE, BEIK, _s._

1. A building, an habitation, S.

_Gawan and Gol._

2. A nest or hive of bees, wasps, or ants, S.

_Douglas._

3. A building erected for the preservation of grain; Caithn.

_Pennant._

4. Metaph. an a.s.sociation or collective body; S.

_Lyndsay._

_To skail the byke_, metaph. to disperse an a.s.sembly of whatever kind; S.

Isl. _biik-ar_ denotes a hive, alvear; and Teut. _bie-bock_, _bie-buyck_, apiarium, alvearium, Kilian. The Isl. word is probably from Su. G. _bygg-a_, to build, part. pa. _bygdt_; q. something prepared or built. There seems to be no reason to doubt that the word, as used in sense 2, is the same with that denoting a habitation. For what is a _byke_ or _bee-bike_, but a building or habitation of bees?

BYK, Apparently, an errat. for _byt_, bite.

_Dunbar._

BYKAT, BEIKAT, _s._ A male salmon; so called, when come to a certain age, because of the _beak_ which grows in his under jaw; Ang.

BILBIE, _s._ Shelter, residence; Ang.

This, I apprehend, is a very ancient word. It may be either from Su.G. _byle_, habitaculum, and _by_, pagus, conjoined, as denoting residence in a village; or more simply, from _Bolby_, villa primaria; from _bol_, praedium, and _by_, a village. Thus _bolby_ would signify a village which has a _praedium_, or territory of its own, annexed to it.

BILEFT, _pret._ Remained, abode.

_Sir Tristrem._

A. S. _belif-an_, superesse, to remain; Alem. _bilib-en_, Franc, _biliu-en_, manere; Schilter.

BILGET, _adj._ Bulged, jutting out.

_Douglas._

Su. G. _bulg-ia_, to swell, whence Isl. _bylgia_, a billow. Or, Isl. _eg belge_, curvo; _belgia huopta_, inflare buccas.