soukn.

a1817 J. L. Burckhardt Trav. Arabia (1829) I. 54 In a row of eight or ten shops are sold rice, onions, butter, dates, and coffee-beans... This is what the Arabs call a souk, or market.

1826 D. Denham & H. Clapperton Narr. Trav. N. & Central Afr. ii. 51 The soug, or market, is well supplied with every necessary and luxury.

1855 R. F. Burton Personal Narr. Pilgrimage to El-Medinah I. 333 There is a large ‘Suk’, or market-place in the usual form, a long narrow lane darkened by a covering of palm leaves, with little shops let into the walls of the houses on both sides.

1899 A. E. W. Mason Miranda of Balcony ii. 24 Every evening he comes down to the Sôk, buys milk and bread.

1909 G. W. Furlong Gateway to Sahara i. 21 One afternoon, I was passing here from the Suk..when a ragged, unkempt fellow appeared in the caravan road there, acting most strangely.

1911 J. F. Fraser Land of Veiled Women xvi. 191 Let us saunter through the souks, the market places of the natives.

1921 Glasgow Herald 20 Oct. 4 The suqs or covered streets, which, being screened from the glare of the sun, afford fine shelter for shops and markets.

1923 Blackwood's Mag. July 128/2 Sheep, chickens, and eggs were..sold to his profit in the neighbouring ‘suq’.

1926 D. Byrne Brother Saul v. 64 When Anna went abroad..to the sook of the perfumers.

1931 Observer 6 Sept. 13 The sun-smitten pavement of the sukh.

1959 W. Thesiger Arabian Sands xiii. 258 Behind the..houses which lined the water-front were the suqs, covered passageways, where merchants sat in the gloom, cross~legged in narrow alcoves among their piled merchandise.

1968 R. Hargreaves Bloodybacks iii. 74 The importation of assorted consignments of filles du roi, nubile but dowerless wenches willing to marry anyone in a position to provide them with a home... Their distribution was reminiscent of nothing so much as the disposal of Christian slaves in an Oriental Sok.

1978 L. Heren Growing up on The Times iii. 91 The assassins escaped into the souks of the city [sc. Damascus], and no more was heard of them.

1981 Financial Times 12 Dec. 7/2 The lust for gold..grabs most visitors to Sharjah and Dubai, where the gold souks gleam with the stuff.