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8 dictionary results for: Ilk

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

ilk1

[ilk] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	family, class, or kind: he and all his ilk.

–adjective

same.

—Idiom

of that ilk,

a.	(in Scotland) of the same family name or place: Ross of that ilk, i.e., Ross of Ross.

b.	of the same class or kind.

[Origin: bef. 900; ME ilke, OE ilca (pronoun) the same, equiv. to demonstrative i (c. Goth is he, L is that) + a reduced form of līc like¹; cf. which, such

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

ilk2

[ilk] Pronunciation Key Chiefly Scot.

–pronoun

each.

–adjective

2.	each; every.

[Origin: bef. 900; ME ilk, north var. of ilch, OE ylc (pronoun) each

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

ilk¹   (ĭlk) Pronunciation Key
n.   Type or kind: can't trust people of that ilk.

pron.   Scots
The same. Used following a name to indicate that the one named resides in an area bearing the same name: Duncan of that ilk.

[Middle English ilke, same, from Old English ilca; see i- in Indo-European roots.]

Word History: When one uses ilk, as in the phrase men of his ilk, one is using a word with an ancient pedigree even though the sense of ilk, "kind or sort," is actually quite recent, having been first recorded at the end of the 18th century. This sense grew out of an older use of ilk in the phrase of that ilk, meaning "of the same place, territorial designation, or name." This phrase was used chiefly in names of landed families, Guthrie of that ilk meaning "Guthrie of Guthrie." "Same" is the fundamental meaning of the word. The ancestors of ilk, Old English ilca and Middle English ilke, were common words, usually appearing with such words as the or that, but the word hardly survived the Middle Ages in those uses.

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ilk² (ĭlk) Pronunciation Key
adj. Variant of ilka.

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il·ka (ĭl'kə) Pronunciation Key
adj. Scots
Each; every.

[Middle English ilk a, each one : ilk (variant of ech, each; see each) + a, one, a; see a².]

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
ilk

O.E. ilca "same" (n. and adj.), probably from demonstrative particle i- (cognate with Goth. is "he" and first element of L. idem) + -lic "form" (see like). Of similar formation are which and such. Phrase of that ilk implies coincidence of name and estate, as in Lundie of Lundie; applied usually to families, so by c.1790 it began to be used with meaning "family," then broadening to "type, sort."

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