Other forms: dirks
A dirk is a short straight dagger. Draw a dirk, a Highland dirk, the dirk at his belt.
It is particularly Scottish, and the Highland one is worn at the belt with Highland dress to this day. A small version, the sgian-dubh, goes in the sock. The origin of the word is unknown; the modern spelling comes from Johnson's dictionary of 1755.
1noundirkA short straight dagger.
“The pirate pulled a dirk from his boot and held it to the captain's throat.”
dirk is a dagger.
The origin is unknown, apparently Scots. The spelling dirk was fixed by Johnson's dictionary in 1755.
Proto-Germanic
*dulkaz
Proto-West Germanic
*dalk
Low German
Dulk
Scots
dirk
English, today
dirk
Built from
Etymology unknown, apparently from Scots dirk. First attested in 1602 as dork, in the later 17th century as durk. The spelling dirk is due to Johnson's Dictionary of 1755. Early quotations as well as Johnson 1755 suggest that the word is of Scottish Gaelic - origin, but no such Gaelic word is known. The Gaelic name for the weapon is biodag. Gaelic duirc is merely an 18th-century adoption of the English word.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire