ilk 1 (?lk)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.ilk 2 (?lk)adj. Variant of ilka.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.ilk (?lk) n1. a type; class; sort (esp in the phrase of that, his, her, etc, ilk): people of that ilk should not be allowed here. 2. of that ilk Scot of the place of the same name: used to indicate that the person named is proprietor or laird of the place named: Moncrieff of that ilk. [Old English ilca the same family, same kind; related to Gothic is he, Latin is, Old English gel?c like]Usage: Although the use of ilk in the sense of sense 1 is sometimes condemned as being the result of a misunderstanding of the original Scottish expression of that ilk, it is nevertheless well established and generally acceptableilk (?lk) or ilkadeterminerScot each; every[Old English ?lc each (+ a1)]Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014ilk1 (?lk) n. family, class, or kind: he and all his ilk. Idioms: of that ilk, a. (in Scotland) of the same family name or place. b. of the same class or kind. [before 900; Middle English ilke, Old English ilca (pronoun) the same = demonstrative i (c. Gothic is he, Latin is that) + a reduced form of l?c like1] ilk2 (?lk) pron. Chiefly Scot. each. [before 900; Middle English ilk, north variant of ilch] Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.