welk (welks, present participle welking; past and past participle welked)

1. (obsolete) Of a plant: to wither, wilt, decay.
2. (obsolete) To diminish; to lose brightness, to wane.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.i.23:

     As gentle Shepheard in sweete euentide, / When ruddy Phoebus gins to welke in west [...].

   • 1641, John Milton, Of Reformation:

     The church, that before by insensible degrees welked and impaired, now with large steps went down hill decaying.

3. (dialectal) to soak, steep#Etymology_2|steep.
4. (dialectal) to thrash, beat severely.
5. To contract; to shorten.

   • Now sad winter welked hath the day.

6. (transitive) To form into wrinkles or ridges.

welk (plural welks)

1. Alternative form of whelk

1. Surname