dooker

English

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

Noun

dooker (plural dookers)

1. (Scotland, in the plural) Swimming trunks.
   • 2002 March 12, Bagpuss, “Choosing a new bathing suit”, in uk.people.silversurfers‎^[1] (Usenet):

     And that reminds me... I got new dookers a couple of weeks ago and I haven't tried it on yet.

   • 2004 August 18, Russell W. Barnes, “Fluoride”, in uk.local.cumbria‎^[2] (Usenet):

     You'll be packing in boozing next because of the alcohol that's in it. (Ethyl-Alcohol being toxic, of course...) - and swimmingน^[sic], for fear of taking in a gobful of chlorinated water (you should see how my dookers have faded since using Penrith swimming pool; what's it doing to my innards?)

   • 2010, Ken Howard, The Young Chieftan, London: Tamarind Books, →ISBN, pages 110–111:

     'Oh, if youre gonna stand there like a stookie.' Wee Malkie threw Jamie his shirt and watched him brazenly as he came out of the water holding it in front of him. 'So do they not wear dookers then? In Africa?'

2. (Scotland) A loony dooker.
   • 2019 January 1, Joe Middleton, quoting Charlie Wood and Ed Bartlam, “Carnival in the capital! Thousands turn out for London's colourful New Year's Day parade with dancers, stunt riders and a marching band among 8,000 performers from 20 countries”, in Daily Mail‎^[3], London: DMG Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-12-06:

     'It was fantastic being a 'Dooker' welcoming the new year. It's terrific how much energy and excitement the Loony Dook generates and the fantastic fancy dress costumes people make and the money generated for charity. We'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

   • 2019 December 30, Soo Kim, “Hogmanay 2019: What is it and where are the best New Year’s Eve celebrations in Edinburgh, Glasgow and across Scotland?”, in Chris Evans, editor, The Daily Telegraph‎^[4], London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-10-04:

     This classic New Year's Day dip in the River Forth sees people in fancy dress jump into the water in the shadow of the Forth bridges. Spectators can cheer on the "dookers" at the beach or along the route of the parade towards South Queensferry.

   • 2020 January 6, George Mair, “Original loony dookers disgusted by £12 ticket”, in The Times‎^[5], London: News UK, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 November 2022:

     The swim started out as a challenge between friends in the town's former Moorings pub. Only five hardy souls dived in 33 years ago. A few from the early years still take part but some of the first dookers believe that it has been tarnished by commercialism.

3. (Scotland) A bather.
   • 1992, Eric Simpson, Discovering Banff, Moray & Nairn, Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers Ltd, →ISBN, page 152:

     Nairn, as with Lossiemouth and some other Moray coast towns and villages, had good bathing beaches. At the more fashionable resorts the facilities for bathing included a number of bathing machines. For less hardy dookers, indoor salt-water baths were seen as essential amenities.

4. (slang) A piece of poo.
   • 1994 April 1, BRIAN R. COTTLE, “DO YOU SHIT IN THE WOODS”, in rec.humor‎^[6] (Usenet):

     Last summer a couple of buddies and I were camping. After a bit too much bourbon, my buddy goes into the woods to shit. He drops his pants and grabs a tree. One key point- he forgot to lean back and dropped a dooker into is^[sic] drawers. We didn't let him back to the campfire circle.

   • 2016, Todd Campau, Ridiculosity: A Deployment to Afghanistan, Austin, T.X.: Soldier Todd Publishing, →ISBN, page 68:

     Afghans didn't sit on the toilet seat to take a dooker. Instead they climbed on the seat and squatted over the hole, which left the seats soiled with mud and often crap (Afghans are notoriously bad aimers).

5. A thing whose actual name is unknown or forgotten; doohickey.
   • 1992, Tom Morton, Spirit of Adventure: A Journey Beyond the Whisky Trails, Edinburgh, London: Mainstream Publishing, →ISBN, pages 81–82:

     John goes to a cupboard. Out of it he takes a copper tube, about two feet long and an inch and a half wide. It is sealed at one end and has a leather thong at the other. 'There you are,' he says. 'A dooker, one I confiscated many years ago from a workman here. That's something else we just don't get any trouble with any more. People are more responsible nowadays.'

   • 1999 July 28, sarah curry, “Price for VSC”, in rec.crafts.textiles.quilting‎^[7] (Usenet):

     A "dooker" is nothing more (or less) than a thing-a-ma-jig; very similar, y'know, to a do-lolly. Silly gurrlll ... you can find a copper dooker (at least at MY hardware store) in the same aisle where you find the copper pipe. I haven't a CLUE what it's called, but it just fits right onto the end of the pipe (if you get the right sized dooker, which is always an important consideration — that the dooker be the right size — right, John? :-) ). It's not an "elbow", and it doesn't have a "T-shape." It has a little end that fits over the pipe, and it just blumps out to become a bigger size ... and it looks just a whole LOT like what the fashion gurus call a FINIAL!

6. An oddball.
   • 2000, Norman Malcolm Macdonald, Portrona, Edinburgh: Birlinn, →ISBN, page 77:

     The porch door opens and MacAllan comes in. His nose is up already, sniffing the metal money, trust a dooker from Havelock Close to enter the front door of a man's house without a knock even though it be a bank now.

7. A wild boar.
   • 1974 February, Frank Richardson, “Tartan Pincushions in Corsica”, in Blackwood's Magazine, volume 315, number 1900, Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons Limited, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 129, column 2:

     And among the numerous herds of semi-wild pigs snuffling for acorns close to the roadsides, one can see an occasional pigling with the striped back which to an old hoghunter brings to mind a picture of a 'dooker' emerging from the forests like a human bandit to take his pleasure with some domestic sow, less well guarded than her sisters, or perhaps less discriminating and, like Spada's lady-friend, with a taste for something a little wild and shaggy.

8. Loon.
   • 1883, W[illiam] Anderson Smith, Benderloch: Or, Notes From the West Highlands, 2nd edition, Paisley: Alexander Gardner, page 156:

     So as we toiled at the oar over the calm clear water of Loch Linnhe, and saw the flocks of gulls and dookers dotting the sea around and about us, we asked ourselves if this were not the forerunner of the anticipated herring shoals?

Etymology 2

From dook +‎ -er.

Noun

dooker (plural dookers)

1. A ferret that tends to dook.
   • 2001 April 29, oldmolly, “A Different View of Ferrets in Our Lives?”, in alt.pets.ferrets‎^[8] (Usenet):

     hehe spooky dookers?

   • 2002 February 2, scoiveg, “Ferret math strikes again”, in alt.pets.ferrets‎^[9] (Usenet):

     Congrats on both types of "babies" :) Having a dooker is wonderful! It might even spread to your other weasels - like G.I.R's did :)

   • 2004 June 10, lin, “In Other News.......”, in alt.pets.ferrets‎^[10] (Usenet):

     Little ball of energy on slightly-wobbly legs. Deaf as a frikken rock, but is a real dooker when he gets wound up.

See also

• mollydooker

 

Further reading

• “dooker”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
• “dooker”, in Urban Dictionary, launched 1999.

Scots

Etymology

Agent noun of dook (“duck (verb)”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈduːkər/

Noun

dooker (plural dookers)

1. seabird, diving bird
2. cormorant; horned grebe; tufted duck; goldeneye
3. (in the plural) swimming trunks

   Och no, ma dookers is ower sma! Oh no, my swimming trunks are too small!