Jouk
To dodge, duck, or move quickly out of the way. To slip behind something to avoid being seen. 'Jouk in there' = duck into that doorway. As a quick action: 'he jouked round the corner.' Standard English 'dodge' is the nearest equivalent.
Etymology
From Scots 'jouk' (= to duck, dodge), documented in Older Scots from the sixteenth century. Origin uncertain; possibly imitative of the quick movement, possibly related to 'duke' or 'duck' through dialect drift. The word survived in Scots and was carried into Ulster Scots, where it remains in everyday use.
In a sentence
"Jouk in there till the rain eases off - it'll be over in ten minutes."
Historical notes
Jouk is a small, useful word that English elsewhere splits across 'dodge', 'duck', 'nip', and 'slip'. Each Ulster Scots speaker has a few jouk-uses in their daily speech: jouking in out of the rain, jouking past a queue, jouking the question. The verb works particularly well with directional particles - 'jouk in', 'jouk out', 'jouk round', 'jouk past' - which gives it more flexibility than its standard English equivalents.
Alternate spellings
juke
Sources
- Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL), entry JOUK v. · dictionary
- Macafee, Caroline. A Concise Ulster Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 1996. · dictionary