A Glossary of Words used in the Country of Wiltshire
by George Edward Dartnell · English · Gutenberg #45809 · 459,193 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: A Glossary of Words used in the Country of Wiltshire
Author: George Edward Dartnell
E. H. Goddard
Release date: May 29, 2014 [eBook #45809]
Most recently updated: October 24, 2024
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A GLOSSARY OF WORDS USED IN THE COUNTRY OF WILTSHIRE ***
Transcriber's Note:
_Underscores_ indicate italics.
=Equal signs= indicate bold fonts.
~word~ indicates bold word in slightly smaller font.
* * * * *
GLOSSARY OF WILTSHIRE WORDS
Oxford
HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY
A Glossary of Words
USED IN THE
COUNTY OF WILTSHIRE.
BY
GEORGE EDWARD DARTNELL
AND THE
REV. EDWARD HUNGERFORD GODDARD, M.A.
London:
PUBLISHED FOR THE ENGLISH DIALECT SOCIETY
BY HENRY FROWDE, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE.
AMEN CORNER, LONDON, E.C.
1893.
[_All rights reserved._]
PREFACE
The following pages must not be considered as comprising an
exhaustive Glossary of our Wiltshire Folk-speech. The field is a
wide one, and though much has been accomplished much more still
remains to be done. None but those who have themselves attempted such
a task know how difficult it is to get together anything remotely
approaching a complete list of the dialect words used in a single
small parish, to say nothing of a large county, such as ours. Even
when the words themselves have been collected, the work is little
more than begun. Their range in time and place, their history and
etymology, the side-lights thrown on them by allusions in local or
general literature, their relation to other English dialects, and
a hundred such matters, more or less interesting, have still to be
dealt with. However, in spite of many difficulties and hindrances,
the results of our five years or more of labour have proved very
satisfactory, and we feel fully justified in claiming for this
_Glossary_ that it contains the most complete list of Wiltshire words
and phrases which has as yet been compiled. More than one-half of
the words here noted have never before appeared in any Wiltshire
Vocabulary, many of them being now recorded for the first time for
any county, while in the case of the remainder much additional
information will be found given, as well as numerous examples of
actual folk-talk.
The greater part of these words were originally collected by us
as rough material for the use of the compilers of the projected
_English Dialect Dictionary_, and have been appearing in instalments
during the last two years in the _Wilts Archæological Magazine_
(vol. xxvi, pp. 84-169, and 293-314; vol. xxvii, pp. 124-159), as
_Contributions towards a Wiltshire Glossary_. The whole list has now
been carefully revised and much enlarged, many emendations being
made, and a very considerable number of new words inserted, either
in the body of the work, or as _Addenda_. A few short stories,
illustrating the dialect as actually spoken now and in Akerman's
time, with a brief _Introduction_ dealing with Pronunciation, &c.,
and _Appendices_ on various matters of interest, have also been
added; so that the size of the work has been greatly increased.
As regards the nature of the dialect itself, the subject has been
fully dealt with by abler pens than ours, and we need only mention
here that it belongs to what is now known as the South-Western group,
which also comprises most of Dorset, Hants, Gloucester, and parts
of Berks and Somerset. The use of dialect would appear gradually
to be dying out now in the county, thanks, perhaps, to the spread
of education, which too often renders the rustic half-ashamed of
his native tongue. Good old English as at base it is,--for many a
word or phrase used daily and hourly by the Wiltshire labourer has
come down almost unchanged, even as regards pronunciation, from his
Anglo-Saxon forefathers,--it is not good enough for him now. One
here, and another there, will have been up to town, only to come back
with a stock of slang phrases and misplaced aspirates, and a large
and liberal contempt for the old speech and the old ways. The natural
result is that here, as elsewhere, every year is likely to add
considerably to the labour of collecting, until in another generation
or so what is now difficult may become an almost hopeless task. No
time should be lost, therefore, in noting down for permanent record
every word and phrase, custom or superstition, still current among
us, that may chance to come under observation.
The words here gathered together will be found to fall mainly under
three heads;--(1) Dialect, as _Caddle_, (2) Ordinary English with
some local shade of meaning, as _Unbelieving_, and (3) Agricultural,
as _Hyle_, many of the latter being also entitled to rank as Dialect.
There may also be noted a small number of old words, such as _toll_
and _charm_, that have long died out of standard English, but still
hold their own among our country people. We have not thought it
advisable, as a general rule, to follow the example set us by our
predecessors in including such words as _archet_ and _deaw_, which
merely represent the local pronunciation of orchard and dew; nor
have we admitted _cantankerous_, _tramp_, and certain others that
must now rank with ordinary English, whatever claim they may once
have had to be considered as provincial. More leniency, however, has
been exercised with regard to the agricultural terms, many that are
undoubtedly of somewhat general use being retained side by side with
those of more local limitation.
The chief existing sources of information are as follows:--(1)
the Glossary of Agricultural Terms in Davis's _General View of
the Agriculture of Wilts_, 1809; reprinted in the _Archæological
Review_, March, 1888, with many valuable notes by Prof. Skeat;
(2) The Word-list in vol. iii. of Britton's _Beauties of Wilts_,
1825; collated with Akerman, and reprinted in 1879 for the English
Dialect Society, with additions and annotations, by Prof. Skeat;
(3) Akerman's _North Wilts Glossary_, 1842, based upon Britton's
earlier work; (4) Halliwell's _Dictionary_, 1847, where may be
found most (but not all) of the Wiltshire words occurring in our
older literature, as the anonymous fifteenth-century _Chronicon
Vilodunense_, the works of John Aubrey, Bishop Kennett's _Parochial
Antiquities_, and the collections by the same author, which form
part of the _Lansdowne MSS._; (5) Wright's _Dictionary of Obsolete
and Provincial English_, 1859, which is mainly a condensation of
Halliwell's work, but contains a few additional Wiltshire words;
(6) a Word-list in Mr. E. Slow's _Wiltshire Poems_, which he has
recently enlarged and published separately; and (7) the curious old
MS. _Vocabulary_ belonging to Mr. W. Cunnington, a _verbatim_ reprint
of which will be found in the Appendix.
Other authorities that must here be accorded a special mention are
a paper _On some un-noted Wiltshire Phrases_, by the Rev. W. C.
Plenderleath, in the _Wilts Archæological Magazine_; Britten and
Holland's invaluable _Dictionary of English Plant-names_, which,
however, is unfortunately very weak as regards Wilts names; the Rev.
A. C. Smith's _Birds of Wiltshire_; Akerman's _Wiltshire Tales_; the
_Flower-class Reports_ in the _Sarum Diocesan Gazette_; the very
scarce _Song of Solomon in North Wilts Dialect_, by Edward Kite,
a work of the highest value as regards the preservation of local
pronunciation and modes of expression, but containing very few words
that are not in themselves ordinary English; the works of Richard
Jefferies; Canon Jackson's valuable edition of Aubrey's _Wiltshire
Collections_; and Britton's condensation of the _Natural History of
Wilts_. In _Old Country and Farming Words_, by Mr. Britten, 1880,
much information as to our agricultural terms may be found, gathered
together from the _Surveys_ and similar sources. Lastly, the various
_Glossaries_ of the neighbouring counties, by Cope, Barnes, Jennings,
and other writers, should be carefully collated with our Wiltshire
Glossaries, as they often throw light on doubtful points. Fuller
particulars as to these and other works bearing on the subject will
be found in the Appendix on _Wiltshire Bibliography_.
We regret that it has been found impossible to carry out Professor
Skeat's suggestion that the true pronunciation should in all doubtful
cases be clearly indicated by its Glossic equivalent. To make such
indications of any practical value they should spring from a more
intimate knowledge of that system than either of us can be said to
possess. The same remarks will also apply to the short notes on
Pronunciation, &c., where our utter inexperience as regards the
modern scientific systems of Phonetics must be pleaded as our excuse
for having been compelled to adopt methods that are as vague as they
are unscientific.
To the English Dialect Society and its officers we are deeply
indebted for their kindness and generosity in undertaking to adopt
this _Glossary_, and to publish it in their valuable series of
County Glossaries, as well as for the courtesy shown us in all
matters connected with the work. We have also to thank the Wilts
Archæological Society for the space afforded us from time to time
in their _Magazine_, and the permission granted us to reprint the
_Word-lists_ therefrom.
In our _Prefaces_ to these _Word-lists_ we mentioned that we should
be very glad to receive any additions or suggestions from those
interested in the subject. The result of these appeals has been very
gratifying, not only with regard to the actual amount of new material
so obtained, but also as showing the widespread interest felt in
a branch of Wiltshire Archæology which has hitherto been somewhat
neglected, and we gladly avail ourselves of this opportunity of
repeating our expression of thanks to all those who have so kindly
responded. To Dr. Jennings we owe an extremely lengthy list of
Malmesbury words, from which we have made numerous extracts. We have
found it of special value, as showing the influence of Somersetshire
on the vocabulary and pronunciation of that part of the county. To
Sir C. Hobhouse we are indebted for some interesting words, amongst
which the survival of the A.S. _attercop_ is well worth noting. We
have to thank Mr. W. Cunnington for assistance in many ways, and for
the loan of MSS. and books, which we have found of great service.
To Mr. J. U. Powell and Miss Kate Smith we owe the greater part of
the words marked as occurring in the Deverill district. Mr. E. J.
Tatum has given us much help as regards local Plant-names: Miss E.
Boyer-Brown, Mr. F. M. Willis, Mr. E. Slow, Mr. James Rawlence,
Mr. F. A. Rawlence, Mr. C. E. Ponting, Mr. R. Coward, the Rev. W.
C. Plenderleath, Mr. Septimus Goddard, Mrs. Dartnell, the Rev. C.
Soames, and the Rev. G. Hill must also be specially mentioned. We
are indebted to Mr. W. Gale, gardener at Clyffe Pypard Vicarage, for
valuable assistance rendered us in verifying words and reporting new
ones.
We take this opportunity of acknowledging gratefully the assistance
which we have throughout the compilation of this _Glossary_ received
from H. N. Goddard, Esq., of the Manor, Clyffe Pypard, to whose wide
knowledge and long experience of Wiltshire words and ways we owe
many valuable suggestions; from the Rev. A. Smythe-Palmer, D.D., who
has taken much interest in the work, and to whose pen we owe many
notes; from Professor Skeat, who kindly gave us permission to make
use of his reprints; and last, but by no means least, from the Rev.
A. L. Mayhew, who most kindly went through the whole MS., correcting
minutely the etymologies suggested, and adding new matter in many
places.
In conclusion, we would say that we hope from time to time to publish
further lists of _Addenda_ in the _Wilts Archæological Magazine_ or
elsewhere, and that any additions and suggestions will always be very
welcome, however brief they may be. The longest contributions are not
always those of most value, and it has more than once happened that
words and phrases of the greatest interest have occurred in a list
whose brevity was its only fault.
GEORGE EDWARD DARTNELL,
_Abbottsfield, Stratford Road, Salisbury_.
EDWARD HUNGERFORD GODDARD,
_The Vicarage, Clyffe Pypard, Wootton Bassett_.
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION xiii-xix
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xx
GLOSSARY 1-186
ADDENDA TO GLOSSARY 187-204
SPECIMENS OF DIALECT:--
EXTRACTS FROM THE REMAINS OF WILLIAM LITTLE 205-208
THE HARNET AND THE BITTLE 208-209
THE VARGESES 210
THOMAS'S WIVES 210-211
MANSLAUGHTER AT 'VIZE 'SIZES 211
HOW OUR ETHERD GOT THE PEWRESY 211-212
GWOIN' RAYTHUR TOO VUR WI' A VEYTHER 212-213
NOTHEN AS I LIKES WUSSER 213-214
PUTTEN' UP TH' BANNS 214
THE CANNINGS VAWK 214-215
LUNNON AVORE ANY WIFE 215-216
KITCHIN' TH' INFLUENZY 216
APPENDICES:--
I.--BIBLIOGRAPHY 217-223
II.--CUNNINGTON MS. 224-233
III.--MONTHLY MAGAZINE WORD-LIST 234-235
INTRODUCTION
The following notes may perhaps serve to give some slight indication
as to pronunciation, &c., but without the aid of Glossic it is
impossible accurately to reproduce the actual sounds.
* * * * *
_A_ is usually lengthened out or broadened in some way or other.
Thus in _hazon_ and _haslet_ it would be pronounced somewhat as in
_baa_, this being no doubt what the _Monthly Magazine_ means by
saying that '_a_ is always pronounced as _r_.'
When _a_ is immediately followed by _r_, as in _ha'sh_, harsh,
and _paa'son_, parson, the result is that the _r_ appears to be
altogether dropped out of the word.
_Aw_ final always becomes _aa_, as _laa_, law, _draa_, draw, _thaa_,
thaw.
In _saace_, sauce, _au_ becomes _aa_.
_A_ is also broadened into _eä_.
Thus _garden_, _gate_, and _name_ become _geärden_, _geät_, and
_neäme_.
These examples may, however, be also pronounced in other ways, even
in the same sentence, as _garne_, _yăt_, and _naayme_, or often
_ne-um_.
_A_ is often softened in various ways.
Thus, _thrash_ becomes _draish_, and _wash_, _waish_ or _weish_.
It is often changed to _o_, as _zot_, sat, _ronk_, rank.
Also to _e_, as _piller_, pillar, _refter_, rafter, _pert_, part.
In _vur_, far, the sound is _u_ rather than _e_.
The North Wilts version of the _Song of Solomon_ gives frequent
examples of _oi_ for _ai_, as _choir_, chair, _foir_, fair, _moyden_,
maiden; but this is probably an imported letter-change, _chayer_ or
_chai-yer_, for instance, being nearer the true sound.
* * * * *
_E_ is often broadened into _aa_ or _aay_.
Thus _they_ gives us _thaay_, and _break_, _braayke_.
In _marchant_, merchant, and _zartin_, certain, the sound given is as
in _tar_.
_Ei_ takes the sound of _a_ in _fate_, as _desave_, deceive.
_Left_, _smell_, and _kettle_ become _lift_, _smill_, and _kiddle_.
In South Wilts _ĕ_ in such words as _egg_ or _leg_ becomes _a_
or _ai_, giving us _aig_ and _laig_ or _lăg_. Thus a Heytesbury
Rosalind would render--
'O Jupiter, how weary are my legs!'
by 'O-my-poor-vit'n-laigs!' uttered all in one gasp. In N. Wilts the
_e_ in these words is not perceptibly so altered.
The _ĕ_ in such words as _linnet_ usually takes the _u_ sound,
giving us _linnut_. In _yes_ it is lengthened out into _eece_ in S.
Wilts, and in N. Wilts into _cez_.
Long _e_ or _ee_ is shortened into _i_, as _ship_, sheep, _kippur_,
keeper, _wick_, week, _fit_, _vit_, feet, the latter word sometimes
being also pronounced as _ve-ut_.
_Heat_ becomes _het_, and _heater_ (a flat-iron), _hetter_; while
_hear_ is usually _hire_ in N. Wilts.
* * * * *
_I_ short becomes _e_, as _breng_, bring, _drenk_, drink, _zet_, sit,
_pegs_, pigs.
Occasionally it is lengthened into _ee_, as _leetle_, little.
In _hit_ (_pret._) and _if_ it usually takes the sound of _u_, as
_hut_ and _uf_ or _uv_; but _hit_ in the present tense is _het_, and
_if_ is often sounded as _ef_ in N. Wilts.
At the beginning of a word, _im_, _in_, and _un_ usually become _on_,
as _onpossible_, _ondacent_, _oncommon_.
In present participles the sound given varies between _un'_, _en'_,
and _in'_, the _g_ almost invariably being dropped.
* * * * *
_O_ very commonly becomes _a_, as _archet_, orchard, _tharn_, thorn,
_vant_, font, _vram_, from, _carn_, corn.
Quite as commonly it takes the _au_ or _aw_ sound, as _hawp_, hope,
_aupen_, open, _cawls_, coals, _hawle_, hole, _smawk_, smoke.
In such words as _cold_ and _four_, the sound is _ow_ rather than
_aw_, thus giving us _cowld_ and _vower_.
_Moss_ in S. Wilts sometimes takes the long _e_, becoming _mēsh_,
while in N. Wilts it would merely be _mawss_.
_Know_ becomes either _knaw_ or _kneow_.
_O_ is often sounded _oo_, as _goold_, gold, _cwoort_, court,
_mwoor'n_ or _moor'n_, more than, _poorch_, porch.
_Oo_ is sometimes shortened into _ŭ_, as _shut_, shoot, _sut_,
soot, _tuk_, took.
Very commonly the sound given to _ō_ is _wo_ or _woä_. Thus we
get _twoad_, toad (sometimes _twoad_), _pwoast_, post, _bwoy_, boy,
_rwoäs_, a rose, _bwoän_, bone, _spwoke_ (but more usually _spawk_ in
N. Wilts), spoke.
_Oa_ at the beginning of a word becomes _wu_, as _wuts_, oats.
_Oi_ in _noise_ and _rejoice_ is sounded as _ai_.
In _ointment_ and _spoil_ it becomes _ī_ or _wī_, giving
_intment_ and _spile_ or _spwile_.
_Ow_ takes the sound of _er_ or _y_, in some form or other, as
_vollur_ and _volly_, to follow, _winder_ and _windy_, a window.
* * * * *
_U_ in such words as _fusty_ and _dust_ becomes _ow_, as _fowsty_,
_dowst_.
* * * * *
_D_ when preceded by a liquid is often dropped, as _veel'_, field,
_vine_, to find, _dreshol_, threshold, _groun'_, ground.
Conversely, it is added to such words as _miller_, _gown_, _swoon_,
which become _millard_, _gownd_, and _zownd_.
In _orchard_ and _Richard_ the _d_ becomes _t_, giving us _archet_
and _Richut_ or _Rich't_; while occasionally _t_ becomes _d_,
_linnet_ being formerly (but not now) thus pronounced as _linnard_ in
N. Wilts.
_D_ is dropped when it follows _n_, in such cases as _Swinnun_,
Swindon, _Lunnon_, London.
* * * * *
_Su_ sometimes becomes _Shu_, as _Shusan_, Susan, _shoot_, suit,
_shewut_, suet, _shower_, sure, _Shukey_, Sukey.
* * * * *
_Y_ is used as an aspirate in _yacker_, acre, _yarm_, arm, _yeppern_,
apron, _yerriwig_, earwig. It takes the place of _h_ in _yeäd_, head,
_yeldin_, a hilding; and of _g_ in _yeat_ or _yat_, a gate.
* * * * *
Consonants are often substituted, _chimney_ becoming _chimbley_ or
_chimley_, _parsnip_, _pasmet_, and _turnip_, _turmut_.
* * * * *
Transpositions are very common, many of them of course representing
the older form of a word. For examples we may take _ax_, to ask,
_apern_, apron, _girt_, great, _wopse_, wasp, _aps_, the aspen,
_claps_, to clasp, _cruds_, curds, _childern_, children.
* * * * *
_F_ almost invariably becomes _v_, as _vlower_, flower, _vox_, fox,
_vur_, far, _vall_, fall, _vlick_, flick, _vant_, font.
In such words as _afterclaps_ and _afternoon_ it is not sounded at
all.
* * * * *
_L_ is not sounded in such words as _amwoast_, almost, and
_a'mighty_, almighty.
* * * * *
_N_ final is occasionally dropped, as _lime-kill_, lime-kiln.
* * * * *
_P_, _F_, _V_, and _B_ are frequently interchanged, _brevet_ and
_privet_ being forms of the same word, while to _bag_ peas becomes
_fag_ or _vag_ when applied to wheat.
* * * * *
_R_ is slurred over in many cases, as _e'ath_, earth, _foc'd_,
forced, _ma'sh_, marsh, _vwo'th_, forth.
It often assumes an excrescent _d_ or _t_, as _cavaltry_, horsemen,
_crockerty_, crockery, _scholard_, scholar.
* * * * *
_H_ has the sound of _wh_ in _whoam_, home. This word, however, as
Mr. Slow points out in the Preface to his Glossary--
_Bob._ Drat if I dwon't goo _wom_ to marrer.
_Zam._ Wat's evir waant ta go _wimm_ var.
_Bob._ Why, they tell's I as ow Bet Stingymir is gwain to be
caal'd _whoam_ to Jim Spritely on Zundy.--
is variously pronounced as _wom_, _wimm_, and _whoam_, even in the
same village.
As stated at page 72, the cockney misuse of _h_ is essentially
foreign to our dialect. It was virtually unknown sixty or seventy
years ago, and even so late as thirty years back was still unusual
in our villages. _Hunked_ for _unked_ is almost the only instance to
be found in Akerman, for instance. But the plague is already fast
spreading, and we fear that the Catullus of the next generation will
have to liken the Hodge of his day to the Arrius (the Roman 'Arry) of
old:--
C_h_ommoda dicebat, si quando commoda vellet
Dicere, et _h_insidias Arrius insidias ...
Ionios fluctus, postquam illuc Arrius isset,
Iam non Ionios esse, sed _H_ionios.
Touching this point the Rev. G. Hill writes us from Harnham Vicarage
as follows:--'I should like to bear out what you say with regard to
the use of the letter _h_ in South-West Wilts. When I lived in these
parts twenty years ago, its omission was not I think frequent. The
putting it where it ought not to be did not I think exist. I find
now that the _h_ is invariably dropped, and occasionally added, the
latter habit being that of the better educated.'
_H_ becomes _y_ in _yeäd_, head.
* * * * *
_K_ is often converted into _t_, as _ast_, to ask, _mast_, a mask,
_bleat_, bleak.
_T_ is conversely often replaced by _k_, as _masking_,
acorn-gathering, from 'mast,' while sleet becomes _sleek_, and pant,
_pank_.
* * * * *
_S_ usually takes the sound of _z_, as _zee_, to see, _zaa_, a saw,
_zowl_, soul, _zaat_ or _zate_, soft, _zider_, cider, _zound_, to
swoon.
* * * * *
_Thr_ usually becomes _dr_, as _dree_, three, _droo_, through,
_draish_, to thrash.
In _afurst_, athirst, and _fust_, thirst, we still retain a very
ancient characteristic of Southern English.
_T_ is always dropped in such words as _kept_ and _slept_, which
become _kep'_ and _slep'_.
* * * * *
Liquids sometimes drop the next letter, as _kill_, kiln; but more
usually take an excrescent _t_ or _d_, as _varmint_, vermin,
_steart_, a steer, _gownd_, gown.
* * * * *
_W_ as an initial is generally dropped in N. Wilts in such cases as
_'oont_, a want or mole, _'ooman_, woman, _'ood_, wood.
Occasionally in S. Wilts it takes the aspirate, _'ood_ being then
_hood_.
* * * * *
Final _g_ is always dropped in the present participle, as _singin'_,
_livin'_, living; also in nouns of more than one syllable which end
in _ing_. It is, however, retained in monosyllabic nouns and verbs,
such as _ring_ and _sing_.
* * * * *
_Pre_ becomes _pur_, as _purtend_, pretend, _purserve_, preserve.
* * * * *
Sometimes a monosyllabic word will be pronounced as a dissyllable,
as we have already mentioned, _ne-um_, _ve-ut_, _ve-us_, and _ke-up_
being used concurrently with _naayme_, _vit_ or _fit_, _veäce_, and
_kip_ or _keep_.
* * * * *
The prefix _a_ is always used with the present participle, as
_a-gwain'_, going, _a-zettin' up_, sitting up.
* * * * *
The article _an_ is never used, a doing duty on all occasions, as
'Gie I a apple, veyther.'
* * * * *
Plurals will be found to be dealt with in the _Glossary_ itself,
under _En_ and _Plurals_.
* * * * *
Pronouns will also be found grouped together under _Pronouns_.
* * * * *
_As_ is used for _who_, _which_, and _that_.
* * * * *
Active verbs govern the nominative case.
* * * * *
Verbs do not agree with their nominative, either in number or person.
* * * * *
The periphrastic tenses are often used in S. Wilts, as 'I do mind
un,' but in N. Wilts the rule is to employ the simple tenses instead,
merely altering the person, as 'I minds un.' In S. Wilts you might
also say 'It be a vine night,' whereas in N. Wilts ''Tes a vine
night' would be more correct.
* * * * *
In conclusion we would mention that we hope in the course of the next
year or two to be able to deal with the grammatical and phonological
sides of our Dialect in a somewhat more adequate manner than it has
been possible to do on the present occasion.
A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS USED.
[For full titles of works see Appendix.]
(A.) Words given for Wilts in Akerman.
(B.) " " Britton.
(C.) " " Cunnington MS.
(D.) " " Davis.
(G.) " " Grose.
(H.) " " Halliwell.
(K.) " " Kennett.
(M.) " " Monthly Magazine.
(S.) " " Slow.
(Wr.) " " Wright.
N. & S.W. North and South Wilts, the place-names following
being those of localities where the word is reported as being
in use.
* An asterisk denotes that the word against which it is placed
has not as yet been met with by ourselves in this county,
although given by some authority or other as used in Wilts.
WILTS GLOSSARY
=A=. He; she. See ~Pronouns~.
=A=, pl. =As= or =Ais=. _n._ A harrow or drag (D.); probably from
A.S. _egethe_, M.E. _eythe_, a harrow (Skeat).--S.W., obsolete. This
term for a harrow was still occasionally to be heard some thirty
years ago, in both Somerset and Wilts, but is now disused. Davis
derives it from the triangular shape of the drag, resembling the
letter A.
=A-Drag=. A large heavy kind of drag (_Agric. of Wilts_). Still used
in South Wilts for harrowing turnips before the hoers go in.
=Abear=. To bear, to endure (S.). 'I can't abear to see the poor
theng killed.'--N. & S.W.
=Abide=. To bear, to endure. 'I can't abide un nohow.'--N. & S.W.
=About=. (1) _adv._ Extremely. Used to emphasize a statement, as
''T'wer just about cold s'marnin'.'--N. & S.W. (2) At one's ordinary
work again, after an illness. 'My missus were bad aal last wick wi'
rheumatiz, but she be about agen now.'--N. & S.W.
=Acksen=. See ~Axen~.
=Adder's-tongue=. _Listera ovata_, Br., Twayblade.--S.W.
=Adderwort=. _Polygonum Bistorta_, L., Bistort.--S.W. (Salisbury, &c.)
=Afeard=, =Aveard=. Afraid (A.B.S.).--N. & S.W.
*=Agalds=. Hawthorn berries. (_English Plant Names._) _Aggles_ in
Devon.
=Agg=. (1) To hack or cut clumsily (A.B.H.S.Wr.); also ~Aggle~ and
~Haggle~.--N. & S.W. (2) To irritate, to provoke.--N. & S.W.
=Ahmoo=. A cow; used by mothers to children, as 'Look at they pretty
ahmoos a-comin'!'--S.W. (Som. bord.)
=Ailes=, =Eyles=, =Iles=, &c. The awns of barley (D.); cf. A.S.
_egle_, an ear of corn, M.E. _eile_. Hail in _Great Estate_, ch.
i.--N. & S.W.
=Aisles of wheat=. See ~Hyle~.
=All-a-hoh=. All awry (A.B.C.H.Wr.); also ~All-a-huh~. Unevenly
balanced, lop-sided. A.S. _awóh_. 'That load o' carn be
aal-a-hoh.'--N. & S.W.
=All-amang=, =Allemang=, =All-o-mong=. Mingled together, as when
two flocks of sheep are accidentally driven together and mixed up
(A.B.G.H.S.Wr.). Seldom heard now.--N. & S.W.
=All one as=. Just like. 'I be 'tirely blowed up all one as a
drum.'--N.W. Compare--
''Twere all as one to fix our hopes on Heaven
As on this vision of the golden year.'--TENNYSON.
=All one for that=. For all that, notwithstanding, in spite of, as
'It medn't be true all one for that.'--N.W.
=Aloud=. 'That there meat stinks aloud,' smells very bad.--N.W.
*=A-masked=. Bewildered, lost (_MS. Lansd._, in a letter dated 1697:
H.Wr.).--Obsolete.
'Leaving him more masked than he was before.'
FULLER's _Holy War_, iii. 2.
=Ameäd=. Aftermath. See note to Yeomath.--N.W. (Cherhill.)
*=Anan=, ='Nan=. What do you say? (A.B.); used by a labourer who does
not quite comprehend his master's orders. ='Nan= (A.B.) is still
occasionally used in N. Wilts, but it is almost obsolete.--N. & S.W.
=Anbye=. _adv._ Some time hence, presently, at some future time. 'I
be main busy now, but I'll do't anbye.'--N.W.
=Anchor=. The chape of a buckle (A.B.).--S.W.
=And that=. And all that sort of thing, and so forth. 'Well, he _do_
have a drop tide-times and that.'--S.W.
=Aneoust=, =Aneust=, =Anoust=, =Neust=, or =Noust=. Nearly, about the
same (A.B.G.).--N. & S.W.
=Anighst=. Near (A.S.). 'Nobody's bin anighst us since you come.'--N.
& S.W.
=Anneal=. A thoroughly heated oven, just fit for the batch of bread
to be put in, is said to be nealded, i.e. annealed.--S.W.
=Anoint=, ='Nint= (i long). To beat soundly. 'I'll 'nint ye when I
gets home!' See ~Nineter~.--N.W.
*=Anont=, =Anunt=. Against, opposite (A.B.H.Wr.).
=Any more than=. Except, although, only. 'He's sure to come any more
than he might be a bit late.' Usually contracted into ~Moor'n~ in N.
Wilts.--N. & S.W.
=Apple-bout=. An apple-dumpling. (Cf. ~Hop-about~.)--N.W. (Clyffe
Pypard.)
=Apple-owling=. Knocking down the small worthless fruit, or
'griggles,' left on the trees after the apple crop has been gathered
in. See ~Howlers~, ~Owlers~, and ~Owling~.--N.W.
=Aps=. _Populus tremula_, L., Aspen; always so called by woodmen.
This is the oldest form of the word, being from A.S. _æps_, and is in
use throughout the south and west of England. In _Round About a Great
Estate_, ch. i. it is misprinted _asp_.--N.W.
=Arg=. To argue, with a very strong sense of contradiction implied
(S.). 'Dwoan't 'ee arg at I like that! I tell 'ee I zeed 'un!' See
~Down-arg~.--N. & S.W.
=Arms=. 'The arms of a waggon,' such parts of the axle-tree as go
into the wheels (_Cycl. of Agric._).--N.W.
=Arra=, =Arra one=, =Arn=. See ~Pronouns~.
=Array=, ='Ray=. To dress and clean corn with a sieve (D.).--N.W.
=Arsmart=. _Polygonum Hydropiper_, L., and _P. Persicaria_, L.--S.W.
=Ashore=, =Ashar=, =Ashard=. Ajar. 'Put the door ashard when you goes
out.'--N. & S.W.
=Ashweed=. _Aegopodium Podagraria_, L., Goutweed.--N. & S.W.
*=Astore=. An expletive, as 'she's gone into the street _astore_'
(H.). Perhaps connected with _astoor_, very soon, Berks, or _astore_,
Hants:--
'The duck's [dusk] coming on; I'll be off in _astore_.'
_A Dream of the Isle of Wight._
It might then mean either 'this moment' or 'for a moment.'
=At=. (1) 'At twice,' at two separate times. 'We'll ha' to vetch un
at twice now.'--N.W. (2) 'Up at hill,' uphill. 'Th' rwoad be all up
at hill.'--N.W.
=Athin=. Within (A.B.).--N. & S.W.
=Athout=. Without; outside (A.B.S.).--N. & S.W.
*=Attercop=. A spider. A.S. _atter-coppa_.--N.W. (Monkton Farleigh),
still in use. Mr. Willis mentions that _Edderkop_ is still to be
heard in Denmark.
*=Attery=. Irascible (A.B.).
=Away with=. Endure. This Biblical expression is still commonly used
in Wilts. 'Her's that weak her can't away with the childern at no
rate!'
=Ax=. To ask (A.B.S.).--N. & S.W.
*=Axen=. Ashes (A.B.); =Acksen= (_MS. Lansd._: G.H.Wr.).--Obsolete.
=Babies'-shoes=. _Ajuga reptans_, L., Common Bugle.--S.W.
=Bachelor's Buttons=. (1) Wild Scabious (A.B.), _Scabiosa arvensis_,
L., _S. Columbaria_, L., and perhaps _S. succisa_, L.--N.W. (2)
_Corchorus Japonica_ (_Kerria Japonica_, L.).--N.W. (Huish.)
=Back-friends=. Bits of skin fretted up at the base of the
finger-nails.--N.W.
*=Backheave=. To winnow a second time (D.).
=Backside=. The back-yard of a house (A.B.).--N. & S.W., now obsolete.
=Backsword=. A kind of single-stick play (A.H.Wr.). Obsolete, the
game being only remembered by the very old men. For an account of it
see _The Scouring of the White Horse_, ch. vi.--N.W.
=Bacon=. To 'strick bacon,' to cut a mark on the ice in sliding; cf.
to strike a 'candle.'--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Bacon-and-Eggs=. _Linaria vulgaris_, Mill., Yellow Toadflax. Also
called Eggs-and-Bacon.--N. & S.W.
*=Bad, Bod=. To strip walnuts of their husks (A.B.H.Wr.); cf. E.
_pod_.--N.W., obsolete.
*=Badge=. _v._ To deal in corn, &c. See ~Badger~.--Obsolete.
'1576. Md. that I take order of the Badgers that they do name
the places where the Badgers do use to badge before they
resieve their lycens.... Md. to make pces [process] against all
the Badgers that doe badge without licence.'--Extracts from
Records of Wilts Quarter Sessions, _Wilts Arch. Mag._ xx. 327.
*=Badger=. A corn-dealer (A.B.); used frequently in old accounts in
N. Wilts, but now obsolete.
'1620. Itm for stayeinge Badgers & keepinge a note of there
names viijd.'--F. H. Goldney, _Records of Chippenham_, p. 202.
Compare _bodger_, a travelling dealer (Harrison's _Description of
England_, 1577), and _bogging_, peddling, in Murray. (Smythe-Palmer).
=Bag=. (1) _v._ To cut peas with a double-handed hook. Cf. ~Vag~.
'They cannot mow it with a sythe, but they cutt it with such a
hooke as they bagge pease with.'--Aubrey, _Nat. Hist. Wilts_,
p. 51, ed. Brit.
(2) _n._ The udder of a cow (A.B.).--N.W.
=Bake, Beak=. (1) _v._ To chop up with a mattock the rough surface
of land that is to be reclaimed, afterwards burning the parings
(_Agric. of Wilts_, ch. xii). See ~Burn-beak~. *(2) _n._ The curved
cutting mattock used in 'beaking' (_Ibid._ ch. xii). (3) _n._ The
ploughed land lying on the plat of the downs near Heytesbury, in
Norton Bavant parish, is usually known as the ~Beäk~, or ~Bake~,
probably from having been thus reclaimed. In the Deverills parts of
many of the down farms are known as the ~Bake~, or, more usually, the
~Burn-bake~.--S.W.
=Bake-faggot=. A rissole of chopped pig's-liver and seasoning,
covered with 'flare.' See ~Faggot~ (2).--N.W.
=Ballarag, Bullyrag=. To abuse or scold at any one (S.).--N. & S.W.
=Balm of Gilead=. _Melittis Melissophyllum_, L., Wild Balm.
=Bams=. Rough gaiters of pieces of cloth wound about the legs,
much used by shepherds and others exposed to cold weather. Cf.
~Vamplets~.--N. & S.W.
'The old man ... had bams on his legs and a sack fastened over
his shoulders like a shawl.'--_The Story of Dick_, ch. xii. p.
141.
=Bandy=. (1) A species of Hockey, played with _bandy sticks_ and a
ball or piece of wood.--N. & S.W. (2) A crooked stick (S.).
=Bane=. Sheep-rot (D.). ~Baned.~ Of sheep, afflicted with rot
(A.B.).--N.W.
=Bang-tail=, or =Red Fiery Bang-tail=. _Phoenicurus ruticilla_, the
Redstart.--N.W. (Wroughton.)
*=Bannet-hay=. A rick-yard (H.Wr.).
=Bannis=. _Gasterosteus trachurus_, the Common Stickleback
(A.B.H.Wr.). Also ~Bannistickle~ (A.B.), ~Bantickle~ (A.Wr.),
and *~Bramstickle~ (S.). 'Asperagus (_quoedam piscis_) a
ban-stykyll.'--_Ortus Vocab._ A.S. _bán_, bone, and _sticels_,
prickle. (See N.E.D.).--S.W.
*=Bannut=. Fruit of _Juglans regia_, L., the Walnut (A.B.).
=Bantickle=. See ~Bannis~.
*=Barber's Brushes=. _Dipsacus sylvestris_, L., Wild Teasel (Flower's
_Flora of Wilts_). Also Brushes.--N.W.
=Bargain=. A small landed property or holding. 'They have always been
connected with that little bargain of land.'--N.W., still in use.
Sir W. H. Cope, in his _Hants Glossary_, gives '_Bargan_, a small
property; a house and garden; a small piece of land,' as used in N.
Hants.
=Barge=. (1) _n._ The gable of a house. Compare architectural
_Barge-boards_.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.) (2) _v._ Before a hedge can
be 'laid,' all its side, as well as the rough thorns, brambles, &c.,
growing in the ditch, must be cut off. This is called 'barging out'
the ditch.--N.W.
=Barge-hook=. The iron hook used by thatchers to fasten the straw to
the woodwork of the gable.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Barge-knife=. The knife used by thatchers in trimming off the straw
round the eaves of the gable.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Bargin=. The overgrowth of a hedge, trimmed off before 'laying.'--N.
& S.W.
=Barken=. The enclosed yard near a farm-house (A.B.); ~Rick-Barken~,
a rick-yard (A.), also used without prefix in this sense (_Wilts
Tales_, p. 121).
'Barken, or Bercen, now commonly used for a yard or backside in
Wilts ... first signified the small croft or close where the
sheep were brought up at night, and secured from danger of the
open fields.'--Kennett's _Parochial Antiquities_.
~Barton~ was formerly in very common use, but has now been displaced
by _Yard_.--N. & S.W.
*=Barley-bigg=. A variety of barley (Aubrey's _Wilts MS._, p. 304).
*=Barley-Sower=. _Larus canus_, the Common Gull (_Birds of Wilts_, p.
534).
=Barm=. The usual Wilts term for yeast (A.B.M.S.).--N. & S.W.
*=Barn-barley=. Barley which has never been in rick, but has been
kept under cover from the first, and is therefore perfectly dry and
of high value for malting purposes (_Great Estate_, ch. viii. p. 152).
=Basket=. In some parts of S. Wilts potatoes are sold by the
'basket,' or three-peck measure, instead of by the 'sack' or the
'bag.'
=Baskets=. _Plantago lanceolata_, L., Ribwort Plantain.--S.W. (Little
Langford.)
=Bat-folding net=. The net used in 'bird-batting,' q.v. (A.): more
usually 'clap-net.'
=Bat-mouse=. The usual N. Wilts term for a bat.--N. & S.W.
=Batt=. A thin kind of oven-cake, about as thick as a tea-cake, but
mostly crust.--N.W.
*=Battledore-barley=. A flat-eared variety of barley (Aubrey's _Wilts
MS._, p. 304: H.Wr.).
=Baulk=. (1) ~Corn-baulk.~ When a 'land' has been accidentally passed
over in sowing, the bare space is a 'baulk,' and is considered as
a presage of some misfortune.--N.W. (2) A line of turf dividing a
field.--N.W.
'The strips [in a "common field"] are marked off from one
another, not by hedge or wall, but by a simple grass path, a
foot or so wide, which they call "balks" or "meres."'--_Wilts
Arch. Mag._ xvii. 294.
=Bavin=. An untrimmed brushwood faggot (A.B.S.): the long ragged
faggot with two withes, used for fencing in the sides of sheds and
yards; sometimes also applied to the ordinary faggot with one withe
or band.--N. & S.W.
*=Bawsy=, =Borsy=, or =Bozzy=. Coarse, as applied to the fibre of
cloth or wool. 'Bozzy-faced cloth bain't good enough vor I.'--S.W.
(Trowbridge, &c.)
=Bay=. (1) _n._ A dam across a stream or ditch.--N.W. (2) _v._ 'To
bay back water,' to dam it back.--N.W. (3) _n._ The space between
beam and beam in a barn or cows' stalls.--N.W.
*=Beads=. _Sagina procumbens_, L., Pearlwort.--N.W. (Lyneham.)
=Beak=. See ~Bake~ and ~Burn-bake~.
=Bearsfoot=. Hellebore.--N.W. (Huish, &c.)
=Beat=. 'To beat clots,' to break up the hard dry lumps of old
cow-dung lying about in a pasture.--N.W.
=Becall=. To abuse, to call names. 'Her do becall I shameful.'--N. &
S.W.
=Bed-summers=. See ~Waggon~.
=Bedwind=, =Bedwine=. _Clematis Vitalba_, L., Traveller's Joy.--S.W.
=Bee-flower=. _Ophrys apifera_, Huds., Bee Orchis.--S.W.
=Bee-pot=. A bee-hive.--S.W.
'Lore ta zee zom on'ms hair,
Like girt bee pots a hanging there.'--SLOW'S _Poems_, p. 43.
=Been=, =Bin=. Because, since; a corruption of _being_ (B.S.). 'Bin
as he don't go, I won't.'--N.W.
=Bees=. A hive is a ~Bee-pot~. ~Bee-flowers~ are those purposely
grown near an apiary, as sources of honey. Of swarms, only the first
is a ~Swarm~, the second being a ~Smart~, and the third a ~Chit~. To
follow a swarm, beating a tin pan, is ~Ringing~ or ~Tanging~.--N.W.
*=Beet=. To make up a fire (A.B.C.G.). A.S. _bétan_, to better; to
mend a fire (Skeat).--N.W., obsolete.
=Beetle=. (1) The heavy double-handed wooden mallet used in
driving in posts, wedges, &c. ~Bittle~ (A.H.). ~Bwytle~ (S.). Also
~Bwoitle~.--N. & S.W.
'On another [occasion] (2nd July, 25 Hen. VIII) ... William
Seyman was surety ... for the re-delivery of the tools,
"cuncta instrumenta videlicet Beetyll, Ax, Matock, and
Showlys."'--_Stray Notes from the Marlborough Court Books_,
_Wilts Arch. Mag._ xix. 78.
(2) The small mallet with which thatchers drive home their
'spars.'--S.W.
*=Beggar-weed=. _Cuscuta Trifolii_, Bab., Dodder; from its
destructiveness to clover, &c. (_English Plant Names_).
=Bellock=. (1) To cry like a beaten or frightened child
(A.B.).--N.W., rarely. (2) To complain, to grumble (_Dark_, ch.
x.).--N.W.
*=Belly vengeance=. Very small and bad beer.--N.W.
'Beer of the _very smallest_ description, real "belly
vengeance."'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 40.
Cf.:--
'I thought you wouldn't appreciate the widow's tap.... Regular
whistle-belly vengeance, and no mistake!'--_Tom Brown at
Oxford_, xl.
=Belt=. To trim away the dirty wool from a sheep's
hind-quarters.--N.W.
*=Bennet=. _v._ Of wood-pigeons, to feed on bennets (A.).
'They have an old rhyme in Wiltshire--
"Pigeons never know no woe
Till they a-benetting do go;"
meaning that pigeons at this time are compelled to feed on the
seed of the bent, the stubbles being cleared, and the crops not
ripe.'--_Akerman._
=Bennets=, =Bents=. (1) Long coarse grass or rushes (B.).--N.W. (2)
Seed-stalks of various grasses (A.); used of both withered stalks of
coarse grasses and growing heads of cat's-tail, &c.--N. & S.W. (3)
Seed-heads of Plantain, _Plantago major_, L., and _P. lanceolata_,
L.--N. & S.W.
=Bents=. See ~Bennets~.
=Bercen= (_c_ hard). See ~Barken~. 'This form of the word is given in
_MS. Gough_, _Wilts_, 5, as current in Wilts' (H.K.Wr.).
=Berry=. The grain of wheat (D.); as 'There's a very good berry
to-year,' or 'The wheat's well-berried,' or the reverse. See _Old
Country Words_, ii. and v.--N.W.
=Berry-moucher=. (1) A truant. See ~Blackberry-moucher~ and ~Moucher~
(A.).--N. & S.W. (2) Fruit of _Rubus fruticosus_, L., Blackberry. See
~Moochers~.--N.W. (Huish.) Originally applied to children who went
mouching from school in blackberry season, and widely used in this
sense, but at Huish--and occasionally elsewhere--virtually confined
to the berries themselves: often corrupted into ~Penny-moucher~
or ~Perry-moucher~ by children. In _English Plant Names_ Mochars,
_Glouc._, and Mushes, _Dev._, are quoted as being similarly applied
to the fruit, which is also known as Mooches in the Forest of Dean.
See Hal., sub. _Mich._
=Besepts=. Except.--N. & S.W.
'Here's my yeppurn they've a'bin and scarched, and I've a-got
narra 'nother 'gin Zunday besepts this!'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 138.
=Besom=, =Beesom=, =Bissom=, &c. A birch broom (A.B.S.).--N. & S.W.
*=Betwit=. To upbraid (A.B.).
=Bide=. (1) To stay, remain (A.S.). 'Bide still, will 'ee.'--N.
& S.W. (2) To dwell (A.). 'Where do 'ee bide now, Bill?'
'Most-in-general at 'Vize.'--N. & S.W.
=Bill Button=. _Geum rivale_, L., Water Avens.--S.W.
=Bin=. See ~Been~.
=Bird-batting=. Netting birds at night with a 'bat-folding' or
clap-net (A.B., Aubrey's _Nat. Hist. Wilts_, p. 15, ed. Brit.).
Bird-battenen (S.).--N. & S.W.
=Bird's-eye=. (1) _Veronica Chamaedrys_, L., Germander Speedwell.--N.
& S.W. (2) _Anagallis arvensis_, L., Scarlet Pimpernel.--S.W. (3)
_Veronica officinalis_, L., Common Speedwell.--S.W. (Barford.)
=Bird's-nest=. The seed-head of Daucus Carota, L., Wild Carrot.--N. &
S.W.
'The flower of the wild carrot gathers together as the seeds
mature, and forms a framework cup at the top of the stalk, like
a bird's-nest. These "bird's-nests," brown and weather-beaten,
endured far into the winter.'--_Great Estate_, ch. vii. p. 137.
'The whole tuft is drawn together when the seed is ripe,
resembling a bird's nest.'--_Gerarde._
=Bird-seed=. Seed-heads of Plantain.--N. & S.W.
=Bird-squoilin=. See ~Squail~ (S.).
=Bird-starving=. Bird-keeping.--N.W.
'This we call bird-keeping, but the lads themselves, with
an appreciation of the other side of the case, call it
"bird-starving."'--_Village Miners._
=Birds'-wedding-day=. St. Valentine's Day.--S.W. (Bishopstone.)
=Bishop-wort=. _Mentha aquatica_, L., Hairy Mint.--S.W. (Hants bord.)
=Bissom=. See ~Besom~.
=Bittish=. _adj._ Somewhat. ''Twer a bittish cowld isterday.'--N. &
S.W.
=Bittle=. See ~Beetle~.
=Biver=. To tremble, quiver, shiver as with a cold or fright (S.).
Cp. A.S. _bifian_, to tremble.--N. & S.W.
'Bless m' zoul, if I dwon't think our maester's got the ager!
How a hackers an bivers, to be zhure!'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 55.
=Bivery=. _adj._ Shivery, tremulous. When a baby is just on the verge
of crying, its lip quivers and is 'bivery.'--N.W.
=Blackberry-moucher=. (1) A truant from school in the blackberry
season (H.). See ~Berry-moucher, Mouch~, &c.--N.W. (Huish, &c.)
'A blackberry moucher, an egregious truant.'--_Dean Milles'
MS._, p. 180.
(2) Hence, the fruit of _Rubus fruticosus_, L., Blackberry. See
~Berry-moucher, Moochers~, &c.--N.W. (Huish, &c.)
*=Blackberry-token=. _Rubus caesius_, L., Dewberry (_English Plant
Names_).
=Black-Bess=. See ~Black-Bob~.
=Black-Bob=. A cockroach (S.). ~Black-Bess~ on Berks border.--S.W.
=Black-boys=. (1) Flower-heads of Plantain.--N.W. (Huish.) (2) _Typha
latifolia_, L., Great Reedmace.--N.W. (Lyneham.)
*=Black Couch=. A form of _Agrostis_ that has small wiry blackish
roots (D). _Agrostis stolonifera._
=Black Sally=. _Salix Caprea_, L., Great Round-leaved Sallow, from
its dark bark (_Amateur Poacher_, ch. iv). Clothes-pegs are made from
its wood.--N.W.
*=Black Woodpecker=. _Picus major_, Great Spotted Woodpecker (_Birds
of Wilts_, p. 253). Also known as the Gray Woodpecker.
=Blades=. The shafts of a waggon (S.).--S.W.
=Blare, Blur=. To shout or roar out loudly (S.).--N. & S.W.
=Blatch=. (1) _adj._ Black, sooty (A.B.).--N.W. (2) _n._ Smut, soot.
'Thuc pot be ael over blatch.'--N.W. (3) _v._ To blacken. 'Now dwon't
'ee gwo an' blatch your veäce wi' thuc thur dirty zoot.'--N.W.
=Bleachy=. Brackish.--S.W. (Som. bord.)
=Bleat=. Bleak, open, unsheltered. 'He's out in the bleat,'
i.e. out in the open in bad weather. See K for examples of
letter-change.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Bleeding Heart=. _Cheiranthus Cheiri_, L., the red Wallflower
(A.B.).--N.W.
=Blind-hole=. _n._ A rabbit hole which ends in undisturbed soil,
as opposed to a Pop-hole, q.v. (_Gamekeeper at Home_, ch. vi. p.
120).--N.W.
=Blind-house=. A lock-up.
'1629. Item paied for makeing cleane the blind-house
vijd.'--_Records of Chippenham_, p. 204.
=Blind-man=. _Papaver Rhoeas_, L., &c., the Red Poppy, which is
locally supposed to cause blindness, if looked at too long.--S.W.
(Hamptworth.)
*=Blink=. A spark, ray, or intermittent glimmer of light (A.B.). See
~Flunk~.
*=Blinking=. This adjective is used, in a very contemptuous sense, by
several Wilts agricultural writers.
'A short blinking heath is found on many parts [of the
downs].'--_Agric. of Wilts_, ch. xii.
~Compare:--~
''Twas a little one-eyed blinking sort o' place.'--_Tess of the
D'Urbervilles_, vol. i. p. 10.
*=Blissey=. A blaze (A.H.Wr.). A.S. _blysige_, a torch.
=Blobbs, Water Blobs=. Blossoms of _Nuphar lutea_, Sm., Yellow Water
Lily (A.B.); probably from the swollen look of the buds. Cf. ~Blub
up~.
=Blood-alley=. A superior kind of alley or taw, veined with deep red,
and much prized by boys (S.).--N. & S.W.
=Bloody Warr= The dark-blossomed Wallflower, _Cheiranthus Cheiri_, L.
(A.B.S.).--N. & S.W.
=Blooens=. See ~Bluens~.
=Bloom=. Of the sun; to shine scorchingly (B.); to throw out heat as
a fire. 'How the sun do bloom out atween the clouds!'--N.W.
=Blooming=. Very sultry, as ''Tis a main blooming day.'--S.W.
(Salisbury.)
=Bloomy=. Sultry. ~Bloomy-hot.~ Excessively sultry (A.B.).--S.W.
=Blooth, Blowth=. Bloom or blossom.--S.W.
=Blossom=. A snow-flake. 'What girt blossoms 'twer to the snow
isterday!'--N. & S.W.
'Snow-flakes are called "blossoms." The word snow-flake is
unknown.'--_Village Miners._
=Blow=. Sheep and cattle 'blow' themselves, or get 'blowed,' from
over-eating when turned out into very heavy grass or clover, the
fermentation of which often kills them on the spot, their bodies
becoming terribly inflated with wind. See the description of the
'blasted' flock, in _Far from the Madding Crowd_, ch. xxi.--N. & S.W.
=Blowing=. A blossom (A.B.H.Wr.). See ~Bluen~.--N.W.
=Blowth=. See ~Blooth~.
=Blub up=. To puff or swell up. A man out of health and puffy about
the face is said to look 'ter'ble blubbed up.' Cf. Blobbs.--N.W.
Compare:--
'My face was blown and blub'd with dropsy wan.'--_Mirror for
Magistrates._
=Blue Bottle=. _Scilla nutans_, Sm., Wild Hyacinth.--S.W.
=Blue Buttons=. (1) _Scabiosa arvensis_, L., Field Scabious.--S.W.
(2) _S. Columbaria_, L., Small Scabious.--S.W.
=Blue Cat=. One who is suspected of being an incendiary. 'He has the
name of a blue cat.' See ~Lewis's Cat~.--S.W. (Salisbury.)
=Blue Eyes=. _Veronica Chamaedrys_, L., Germander Speedwell.--N.W.
=Blue Goggles=. _Scilla nutans_, Sm., Wild Hyacinth. Cf. ~Greygles~
or ~Greggles~.--S.W.
=Bluen= or =Blooens=. _pl._ Blossoms (S.). Also used in Devon.--N. &
S.W.
=Blue-vinnied=. Covered with blue mould. See Vinney. Commoner in
Dorset as applied to cheese, &c.--N. & S.W.
=Blunt=. 'A cold blunt,' a spell of cold weather. See Snow-blunt.
Compare _Blunk_, a fit of stormy weather, which is used in the East
of England.--N.W.
=Blur=. See ~Blare~. In Raleigh's account of the fight in Cadiz Bay,
he says that as he passed through the cross-fire of the galleys
and forts, he replied 'with a blur of the trumpet to each piece,
disdaining to shoot.'
=Board=. To scold, to upbraid. 'Her boarded I just about.'--S.W.
(occasionally.)
=Boar Stag=. A boar which, after having been employed for breeding
purposes for a time, is castrated and set aside for fattening (D.).
Cf. ~Bull Stag~.--N.W.
=Boat=. Children cut apples and oranges into segments, which they
sometimes call 'pigs' or 'boats.'
=Bob=. In a timber carriage, the hind pair of wheels with the long
pole or lever attached thereto.--N.W. In Canada 'bob-sleds' are used
for drawing logs out of the woods.
*=Bobbant=. Of a girl, romping, forward (A.B.H.Wr.).--N.W.
=Bobbish=. In good health (A.B.S.). 'Well, an' how be 'ee to-day?'
'Purty bobbish, thank 'ee.'--N. & S.W.
=Bob-grass=. _Bromus mollis_, L.--S.W.
*=Bochant=. The same as ~Bobbant~ (A.B.G.H.Wr.).
=Bod=. See ~Bad~.
=Boistins=. The first milk given by a cow after calving (A.). See
N.E.D. (~s.v. Beestings~).--N.W.
=Bolt=. In basket-making, a bundle of osiers 40 inches round.
(_Amateur Poacher_, ch. iv. p. 69).
=Boltin=, =Boulting=. A sheaf of five or ten 'elms,' prepared
beforehand for thatching. 'Elms' are usually made up on the spot, but
are occasionally thus prepared at threshing-time, and tied up and
laid aside till required, when they need only be damped, and are then
ready for use. Cf. ~Bolt.~--N.W.
=Bombarrel Tit=. _Parus caudatus_, the Long-tailed Titmouse (_Great
Estate_, ch. ii. p. 26). Jefferies considers this a corruption of
'Nonpareil.'--N.W.
=Book of Clothes=. See ~Buck~ (_Monthly Mag._, 1814).
=Boon Days=. Certain days during winter on which farmers on the
Savernake estate were formerly bound to haul timber for their
landlord.
*=Boreshore=. A hurdle-stake (S.).--S.W.
'This is a kind of hurdle stake which can be used in soft
ground without an iron pitching bar being required to bore
the hole first for it. Hence it is called bore-shore by
shepherds.'--_Letter from Mr. Slow._
*=Borky=. (Baulky?) Slightly intoxicated.--S.W.
*=Borsy=. See *~Bawsy~.
=Bossell=. _Chrysanthemum segetum_, L., Corn Marigold (D.). ~Bozzell~
(_Flowering Plants of Wilts_).--N. & S.W.
=Bossy=, =Bossy-calf=. A young calf, whether male or female.--N.W.
=Bottle=. The wooden keg, holding a gallon or two, used for beer in
harvest-time (_Wild Life_, ch. vii).--N. & S.W.
=Bottle-tit=. _Parus caudatus_, L., the Long-tailed Titmouse.--N.W.
=Bottom=. A valley or hollow in the downs.--N. & S.W.
=Boulting=. See ~Boltin~.
=Bounceful=. Masterful, domineering. See ~Pounceful~.--N.W.
=Bourne=. (1) _n._ A valley between the chalk hills; a river in such
a valley; also river and valley jointly (D.).--N. & S.W.
'In South Wilts they say, such or such a bourn: meaning a
valley by such a river.'--Aubrey's _Nat. Hist. Wilts_, p. 28.
Ed. Brit.
(2) _v._ In gardening, when marking out a row of anything with pegs,
you 'bourne' them, or glance along them to see that they are in
line.--N.W.
=Box= or =Hand-box=. The lower handle of a sawyer's long pit-saw, the
upper handle being the ~Tiller~.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Boy's-love=. _Artemisia Abrotanum_, L., Southernwood (A.B.).--N. &
S.W.
=Boys=. The long-pistilled or 'pin-eyed' flowers of the Primrose,
_Primula vulgaris_, Huds. See ~Girls~.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Bozzell=. See ~Bossell~.
*=Bozzy=. See *~Bawsy~.
=Brack=. _n._ A fracture, break, crack (S.). 'There's narra brack nor
crack in 'un.'--N. & S.W.
=Brain-stone=. A kind of large round stone (Aubrey's _Nat. Hist.
Wilts_, p. 9, ed. Brit., H.Wr.). Perhaps a lump of water-worn fossil
coral, such as occasionally now bears this name among N. Wilts
cottagers.
*=Bramstickle=. See ~Bannis~ (S.).
=Brandy-bottles=. _Nuphar lutea_, Sm., Yellow Water-lily.--S.W.
(Mere, &c.)
=Brave=. _adj._ Hearty, in good health (A.B.).--N.W.
=Bread-and-Cheese=. (1) _Linaria vulgaris_, Mill., Yellow
Toadflax.--N. & S.W. (2) Fruit of _Malva sylvestris_, L., Common
Mallow (S.).--S.W. (3) Young leaves and shoots of _Crataegus
Oxyacantha_, L., Hawthorn, eaten by children in spring (_English
Plant Names_).--S.W. (Salisbury.)
=Bread-board=. The earth-board of a plough (D.). ~Broad-board~ in N.
Wilts.
=Break=. To tear. 'She'll break her gownd agen thuc tharn.' You still
_break_ a bit of muslin, but to _tear_ a trace or a plate now grows
obsolete.--N.W. Similarly used in Hants, as
'I have _a-torn_ my best decanter ... have _a-broke_ my fine
cambrick aporn.'--COPE'S _Hants Glossary_.
=Brevet=, =Brivet=. (1) To meddle, interfere, pry into.--N.W.
'Who be you to interfere wi' a man an' he's vam'ly? Get awver
groundsell, or I'll stop thy brevettin' for a while.'--_Dark_,
ch. xix.
(2) _To brevet about_, to beat about, as a dog for game (A.).--N.W.
Also ~Privet~.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard; Castle Eaton, &c.)
'_Brivet_, a word often applied to children when they wander
about aimlessly and turn over things.'--_Leisure Hour_, Aug.
1893.
*(3) To pilfer. 'If she'll brevet one thing, she'll brevet
another.'--N.W. (Mildenhall.)
=Bribe=. To taunt, to bring things up against any one, to scold.
'What d'ye want to kip a-bribing I o' that vur?'--N.W.
=Brit=, =Brittle out=. (1) To rub grain out in the hand.--N.W. (2) To
drop out of the husk, as over-ripe grain (D.).--N.W.
=Brivet=. See ~Brevet~.
=Brize=. To press heavily on, or against, to crush down (S.). A
loaded waggon 'brizes down' the road.--N. & S.W.
=Broad-board=. See ~Bread-board~.
=Broke-bellied=. Ruptured.--N.W.
=Brook-Sparrow=. _Salicaria phragmitis_, the Sedge Warbler; from one
of its commonest notes resembling that of a sparrow (_Great Estate_,
ch. vii; _Wild Life_, ch. iii).--N.W.
'At intervals [in his song] he intersperses a chirp, exactly
the same as that of the sparrow, a chirp with a tang in it.
Strike a piece of metal, and besides the noise of the blow,
there is a second note, or tang. The sparrow's chirp has such
a note sometimes, and the sedge-bird brings it in--tang,
tang, tang. This sound has given him his country name of
brook-sparrow.'--JEFFERIES, _A London Trout_.
=Brow=. (1) _adj._ Brittle (A.B.C.H.Wr.); easily broken. Vrow at
Clyffe Pypard. Also ~Frow~.--N.W. *(2) _n._ A fragment (_Wilts Arch.
Mag._ vol. xxii. p. 109).--N.W. (Cherhill.)
=Brown=. 'A brown day,' a gloomy day (H.Wr.).--N.W.
=Bruckle=. (Generally with _off_ or _away_.) _v._ To crumble away, as
some kinds of stone when exposed to the weather (_Wilts Arch. Mag._
vol. xxii. p. 109); to break off easily, as the dead leaves on a dry
branch of fir. Compare _brickle_=brittle (_Wisdom_, xv. 13), A.S.
_brucol_=apt to break.--N.W.
=Bruckley=. _adj._ Brittle, crumbly, friable, not coherent (S.).--N.
& S.W.
=Brush=. 'The brush of a tree,' its branches or head.--N.W.
=Brushes=. _Dipsacus sylvestris_, L., Wild Teasel. See
~Clothes-brush~.--N. & S.W.
=Bubby-head=. _Cottus gobio_, the Bullhead.--N. & S.W.
=Buck=. A 'buck,' or 'book,' of clothes, a large wash--N.W.
=Bucking=. A quantity of clothes to be washed (A.).--N.W.
*=Buddle=. To suffocate in mud. 'There! if he haven't a bin an'
amwoast buddled hisel' in thuck there ditch!' Also used in Som.--N.W.
(Malmesbury.)
=Budgy=. Out of temper, sulky. A softened form of _buggy_,
self-important, churlish, from the Old English and provincial
_budge_, grave, solemn, &c. See _Folk-Etymology_, p. 42
(Smythe-Palmer).--N.W. Cp. Milton,
'Those budge doctors of the stoic fur.'--_Comus._
=Bullpoll=, =Bullpull=. _Aira caespitosa_, L., the rough tufts of
tussocky grass which grow in damp places in the fields, and have to
be cut up with a heavy hoe (_Great Estate_, ch. ii; _Gamekeeper at
Home_, ch. viii).--N.W.
=Bull Stag=. A bull which, having been superannuated as regards
breeding purposes, is castrated and put to work, being stronger than
an ordinary bullock. Cf. ~Boar Stag~.--N.W., now almost obsolete.
=Bulrushes=. _Caltha palustris_, L., Marsh Marigold; from some
nursery legend that Moses was hidden among its large leaves.--S.W.,
rarely.
=Bumble-berry=. Fruit of _Rosa canina_, L., Dog-rose.--N.W.
=Bunce=. (1) _n._ A blow. 'Gie un a good bunce in the ribs.'--N.W.
(2) _v._ To punch or strike.--N.W.
=Bunch=. Of beans, to plant in bunches instead of rows (D.).--N. &
S.W.
=Bunny=. A brick arch, or wooden bridge, covered with earth, across a
'drawn' or 'carriage' in a water-meadow, just wide enough to allow a
hay-waggon to pass over.--N.W.
=Bunt=. (1) _v._ To push with the head as a calf does its dam's udder
(A.); to butt; to push or shove up.--(_Bevis_, ch. x.) N.W. (2) _n._
A push or shove.--N.W. (3) _n._ A short thick needle, as a 'tailor's
bunt.' (4) _n._ Hence sometimes applied to a short thickset person,
as a nickname.--S.W.
=Bunty=. _adj._ Short and stout.--N.W.
=Bur=. The sweetbread of a calf or lamb (A.).--N.W.
=Bur'=, =Burrow=, or =Burry=. (1) A rabbit-burrow (A.B.).--N. & S.W.
(2) Any place of shelter, as the leeward side of a hedge (A.C.). 'Why
doesn't thee coom and zet doon here in the burrow?'--N. & S.W.
=Burl=. (1) 'To burl potatoes,' to rub off the grown-out shoots
in spring.--N.W. (2) The original meaning was to finish off cloth
or felt by removing knots, rough places, loose threads, and other
irregularities of surface, and it is still so used in S. Wilts (S.).
=Burn=. 'To burn a pig,' to singe the hair off the dead carcase.--N.
& S.W.
*=Burn-bake= (or =-beak=). (1) To reclaim new land by paring and
burning the surface before cultivation (_Agric. of Wilts_, ch.
xii). See ~Bake~. (2) To improve old arable land by treating it in
a similar way (_Ibid._ ch. xii). ~Burn-beke~ (Aubrey's _Nat. Hist.
Wilts_, p. 103. Ed. Brit., where the practice is said to have been
introduced into S. Wilts by Mr. Bishop of Merton, about 1639). (3)
_n._ Land so reclaimed. See ~Bake~.--S.W.
=Burrow=. See ~Bur'~.
=Burry=. See ~Bur'~.
='Buseful=. Foul-mouthed, abusive.--N.W.
=Bush=. (1) _n._ A heavy hurdle or gate, with its bars interlaced
with brushwood and thorns, which is drawn over pastures in spring,
and acts like a light harrow (_Amateur Poacher_, ch. iv).--N.W. (2)
_v._ To bush-harrow a pasture.--N.W.
=Butchers' Guinea-pigs=. Woodlice. See ~Guinea-pigs~.--S.W.
=Butter-and-Eggs=. (1) _Narcissus incomparabilis_, Curt., Primrose
Peerless.--N. & S.W. (2) _Linaria vulgaris_, Mill., Yellow Toadflax
(_Great Estate_, ch. v).--N. & S.W.
=Buttercup=. At Huish applied only to _Ranunculus Ficaria_, L.,
Lesser Celandine, all other varieties of Crowfoot being 'Crazies'
there.
=Butter-teeth=. The two upper incisors.--N.W.
=Buttons=. Very young mushrooms.--N. & S.W.
=Buttry=. A cottage pantry (A.B.).--N.W., now almost obsolete.
=Butt-shut=. (1) To join iron without welding, by pressing the heated
ends squarely together, making an imperceptible join (_Village
Miners_). See ~Shut~. (2) Hence a glaringly inconsistent story or
excuse is said 'not to butt-shut' (_Village Miners_).
=Butty=. A mate or companion in field-work (S.).--N. & S.W.
*=By-the-Wind=. _Clematis Vitalba_, L., Traveller's Joy.--S.W.
(Farley.)
*=Caa-vy= (? Calfy). A simpleton (S.).--S.W.
=Cack=. See ~Keck~.
*=Cack-handed=, *=Cag-handed=. Extremely awkward and unhandy: clumsy
to the last degree (_Village Miners_). Other dialect words for
'awkward' are Dev., _cat-handed_, Yorks., _gawk-handed_, and Nhamp.,
_keck-handed_. Cf. ~Cam-handed~.
=Caddle=. (1) _n._ Dispute, noise, row, contention (A.); seldom or
never so used now.--N. & S.W.
'What a caddle th' bist a makin', Jonas!'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 82.
'If Willum come whoam and zees two [candles] a burnin', he'll
make a vi-vi-vine caddle.'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 42.
(2) _n._ Confusion, disorder, trouble (A.B.C.S.).--N. & S.W.
'Lawk, zur, but I be main scrow to be ael in zich a caddle,
alang o' they childern.'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 137.
(3) _v._ To tease, to annoy, to bother (A.B.C.). See ~Caddling~. 'Now
dwoan't 'e caddle I zo, or I'll tell thee vather o' thee!' 'I be main
caddled up wi' ael they dishes to weish.'--N. & S.W.
''Tain't no use caddlin I--I can't tell 'ee no more.'--_Greene
Ferne Farm_, ch. viii.
(4) _v._ To hurry. 'To caddle a horse,' to drive him over-fast.--N.W.
(5) _v._ To loaf about, only doing odd jobs. 'He be allus a caddlin'
about, and won't never do nothin' reg'lar.'--N. & S.W. (6) _v._ To
mess about, to throw into disorder. 'I don't hold wi' they binders
[the binding machines], they do caddle the wheat about so.'--N. &
S.W.
=Caddlesome=. Of weather, stormy, uncertain. ''T 'ull be a main
caddlesome time for the barley.'--S.W.
=Caddling=. (1) _adj._ Of weather, stormy, uncertain.--N. & S.W. (2)
_adj._ Quarrelsome, wrangling (C.).--N. & S.W.
'His bill was zharp, his stomack lear, Zo up a snapped the
caddlin pair.'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 97.
'A cadling fellow, a wrangler, a shifting, and sometimes an
unmeaning character.'--_Cunnington MS._
(3) _adj._ Meddlesome (S.), teasing (_Monthly Mag._, 1814);
troublesome, worrying, impertinent (A.B.).--N. & S.W.
'Little Nancy was as naisy and as caddlin' as a wren, that a
was'.--_Wilts Tales_, p. 177.
*(4) Chattering (_Monthly Mag._, 1814): probably a mistake.
=Caffing rudder=. See ~Caving rudder~.
*=Cag-handed=. See ~Cack-handed~.
=Cag-mag=. Bad or very inferior meat (S.).--N. & S.W.
=Cains-and-Abels=. _Aquilegia vulgaris_, L., Columbine.--S.W.
(Farley.)
*=Calf-white=. See ~White~.
=Call=. Cause, occasion. 'You've no call to be so 'buseful'
[abusive].--N. & S.W.
=Call home=. To publish the banns of marriage (S.).--S.W.
'They tells I as 'ow Bet Stingymir is gwain to be caal'd
_whoam_ to Jim Spritely on Zundy.'--SLOW.
*=Callow-wablin=. An unfledged bird (A.).--S.W.
=Callus-stone=. A sort of gritty earth, spread on a board for
knife-sharpening (Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxii. p. 109).--N. & S.W.
(Cherhill, &c.)
=Calves'-trins=. Calves' stomachs, used in cheese-making. A.S.
_trendel_. See ~Trins~. Halliwell and Wright give _'Calf-trundle_,
the small entrails of a calf.'--N.W.
*=Cam=. Perverse, cross. Welsh _cam_, crooked, wry.--N.W.
'A 's as cam and as obstinate as a mule.'--_Wilts Tales_, p.
138.
'They there wosbirds [of bees] zimd rayther cam and
mischievul.'--_Springtide_, p. 47.
=Cam-handed=. Awkward.--N.W.
*=Cammock=. _Ononis arvensis_, L., Restharrow (D.).
=Cammocky=. Tainted, ill-flavoured, as cheese or milk when the cows
have been feeding on cammock. See ~Gammotty~ (2).--S.W.
=Canary-seed=. Seed-heads of Plantain.--N. & S.W.
=Candle=. 'To strike a candle,' to slide, as school-boys do, on the
heel, so as to leave a white mark along the ice.--S.W.
=Cank=. To overcome (H.Wr.): perhaps a perversion of _conquer_. The
winner 'canks' his competitors in a race, and you 'cank' a child when
you give it more than it can eat.--N.W.
=Canker=. Fungus, toadstool (A.B.).--N. & S.W.
=Canker-berries=. Wild Rose hips. ~Conker-berries~ (S.).--S.W.
(Salisbury, &c.).
=Canker-rose=. The mossy gall on the Dog-rose, formed by _Cynips
rosae_; often carried in the pocket as a charm against rheumatism
(_Great Estate_, ch. iv).--N.W.
*=Cappence=. The swivel-joint of the old-fashioned flail, _Capel_ in
Devon.--N. & S.W.
=Carpet=. To blow up, to scold; perhaps from the scene of the
fault-finding being the parlour, not the bare-floored kitchen.
'Measter carpeted I sheamvul s'marning.' 'I had my man John on the
carpet just now and gave it him finely.'--N.W.
=Carriage=. A water-course, a meadow-drain (A. B. G. H. Wr.). In S.
Wilts the _carriages_ bring the water into and through the meadow,
while the _drawn_ takes it back to the river after its work is
done.--N. & S.W.
=Carrier=, =Water-carrier=. A large water-course (_Wild Life_, ch.
xx).--N. & S.W.
=Carry along=. To prove the death of, to bring to the grave. 'I be
afeard whe'er that 'ere spittin' o' blood won't car'n along.'--N.W.
=Cart=. 'At cart,' carrying or hauling, as 'We be at wheat cart
[coal-cart, dung-cart, &c.] to-day.--N.W.
=Casalty=. See ~Casulty~.
=Cass'n=. Canst not (A.S.).--N. & S.W.
=Cassocks=. Couch-grass.--S.W. (Som. bord.).
=Casulty=. (1) _adj._ Of weather, unsettled, broken (_Green Ferne
Farm_, ch. i). ~Casalty~ (_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxii. p. 109).--N.
& S.W. (2) Of crops, uncertain, not to be depended on. Plums, for
instance, are a 'casalty crop,' some years bearing nothing.--N.W.
*=Cat-gut=. The ribs of the Plantain leaf; so called by children when
drawn out so as to look like fiddle-strings (_Great Estate_, ch. ii).
=Cat-Kidney=. A game somewhat resembling cricket, played with a
wooden 'cat' instead of a ball.--N.W. (Brinkworth.)
=Cat's-ice=. White ice, ice from which the water has receded.--N. &
S.W. (Steeple Ashton, &c.).
'They stood at the edge, cracking the cat's-ice, where the
water had shrunk back from the wheel marks, and left the frozen
water white and brittle.'--_The Story of Dick_, ch. xii. p. 153.
=Cats'-love=. Garden Valerian, on which cats like to roll.--S.W.
*=Cats'-paws=. Catkins of willow while still young and downy.--S.W.
(Deverill.)
=Cats'-tails=. (1) _Equisetum_, Horse-tail (_Great Estate_, ch.
ii).--N.W. (2) The catkin of the willow.--N.W. (Lyneham.) (3) The
catkin of the hazel.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Catch=. (1) Of water, to film over, to begin to freeze. ~Keach~,
~Keatch~, ~Kitch~, or ~Ketch~ (A.B.C.H.Wr.).--N. & S.W.
'A bright clear moon is credited with causing the water to
"catch"--that is, the slender, thread-like spicules form on
the surface, and, joining together, finally cover it.'--_Wild
Life_, ch. xx.
Also see _Bevis_, ch. xl. (2) To grow thick, as melted fat when
setting again.--N. & S.W. *(3) 'To catch and rouse,' to collect
water, &c.
'In the catch-meadows ... it is necessary to make the
most of the water by catching and rousing it as often as
possible.'--_Agric. of Wilts_, ch. xi.
*(4) _n._ The same as Catch-meadow (_Ibid._ ch. xii).
*=Catch-land=. The arable portion of a common field, divided into
equal parts, whoever ploughed first having the right to first choice
of his share (D.).--Obsolete.
*=Catch-meadow=, =Catch-work meadow=, or =Catch=. A meadow on the
slope of a hill, irrigated by a stream or spring, which has been
turned so as to fall from one level to another through the carriages
(_Agric. of Wilts_, ch. xii).
=Catching=, =Catchy=. Of weather, unsettled, showery (_Agric. of
Wilts_, ch. iii. p. 11).--N. & S.W.
=Caterpillar=. A cockchafer.--N.W.
=Cattikeyns=. Fruit of the ash.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Cave=. (1) _n._ The chaff of wheat and oats (D.): in threshing,
the broken bits of straw, &c. ~Cavin~, ~Cavings~, or ~Keavin~ in N.
Wilts.--N. & S.W. (2) _v._ To separate the short broken straw from
the grain.--N. & S.W.
=Cavin, Cavings=. See ~Cave~ (1).
*=Caving-rake=. The rake used for separating cavings and grain on the
threshing-floor.
=Caving= (or =Caffing=) =rudder=, or =rudderer=. *(1) The winnowing
fan and tackle (D.).--S.W. (2) A coarse sieve used by carters to get
the straw out of the horses' chaff.--N. & S.W.
=Cawk=, =Cawket=. To squawk out, to make a noise like a hen
when disturbed on her nest, &c. 'Ther's our John, s'naw [dost
know?]--allus a messin' a'ter the wenchin, s'naw--cawin' an'
cawkettin' like a young rook, s'naw,--'vore a can vly, s'naw,--boun'
to coom down vlop _he_ war!' ~Caa-kinn~ (S.).--N. & S.W. (Clyffe
Pypard; Seagry, &c.)
*=Centry=. _Anagallis tenella_, L., Bog Pimpernel.--S.W. (Barford.)
=Cham=. To chew (A.B.C.S.). 'Now cham thee vittles up well.' An older
form of _Champ_.--N. & S.W.
=Champ=. To scold in a savage snarling fashion. 'Now dwoan't 'ee gwo
an' champ zo at I!' Used formerly at Clyffe Pypard.--N.W.
=Chan-Chider=. See ~Johnny Chider~.--S.W.
=Chap=. (1) _v._ Of ground, to crack apart with heat.--N & S.W. (2)
_n._ A crack in the soil, caused by heat.--N. & S.W.
=Charm=. (1) _n._ 'All in a charm,' all talking loud together.
A.S. _cyrm_, clamour (A.H.S.), especially used of the singing of
birds. See Kingsley's _Prose Idylls_, i. Also used of hounds in full
cry.--N. & S.W.
'Thousands of starlings, the noise of whose calling to each
other is indescribable--the country folk call it a "charm,"
meaning a noise made up of innumerable lesser sounds, each
interfering with the other.'--_Wild Life_, ch. xii.
Cp, Milton,
'Charm of earliest birds.'--_P. L._, ii. 642.
(2) _v._ To make a loud confused noise, as a number of birds, &c.,
together.--N. & S.W. (3) _v._ 'To charm bees,' to follow a swarm of
bees, beating a tea-tray, &c.--N.W. (Marlborough).
=Chatter-mag=, =Chatter-pie=. A chattering woman.--N. & S.W.
=Chawm=, =Chawn=. A crack in the ground (A.).--N.W.
=Cheese-flower=. _Malva sylvestris_, L., Common Mallow.--S.W.
=Cheeses=. Fruit of _Malva sylvestris_, L., Common Mallow.--N. & S.W.
*=Chemise=. _Convolvulus sepium_, L., Great Bindweed.--S.W. (Little
Langford.) This name was given us as ~Chemise~, but would probably be
pronounced as ~Shimmy~.
=Cherky=. Having a peculiar dry taste, as beans (_Village
Miners_).--N. & S.W.
=Cherry-pie=. _Valeriana officinalis_, L., All-heal, from its
smell.--S.W.
=Cheure=. See ~Choor~.
=Chevil= (or =Chevril=) =Goldfinch=. A large variety of goldfinch,
with a white throat. See _Birds of Wilts_, p. 203, for a full
description of the bird.--N. & S.W.
=Chewree=. See ~Choor~.
=Chib=. 'Potato-chibs,' the grown-out shoots in spring. See
~Chimp~.--S.W.
=Chiddlens=, =Chiddlins=. Pigs' chitterlings (H.S.Wr.).--N. & S.W.
=Children of Israel=. *(1) A small garden variety of _Campanula_,
from the profusion of its blossoms (_English Plant Names_). (2)
_Malcolmia maritima_, Br., Virginian Stock, occasionally.
=Chilver=, =Chilver-lamb=. A ewe lamb (A.).--N.W.
=Chilver-hog=. A ewe under two years old (D.). The word hog is now
applied to any animal of a year old, such as a hog bull, a chilver
hog sheep. 'Chilver' is a good Anglo-Saxon word, 'cilfer,' and is
related to the word 'calf.' A chilver hog sheep simply means in the
dialect of the Vale of Warminster, a female lamb a year old. See
_Wilts Arch. Mag._ xvii. 303.--N. & S.W.
=Chimney-sweeps=. Flowering-heads of some grasses.--N.W. (Lyneham.)
=Chimney-sweepers=. _Luzula campestris_, Willd., Field
Wood-rush.--N.W.
=Chimp=. (1) _n._ The grown-out shoot of a stored potato (S.); also
Chib.--S.W. (2) _v._ To strip off the 'chimps' before planting.--S.W.
=Chink=. _Fringilla coelebs_, the Chaffinch; from its note.--S.W.
=Chinstey=. _n._ The string of a baby's cap.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.) A
horse's chin-strap.--S.W. Compare:--
'Oh! Mo-ather! Her hath chuck'd me wi' tha chingstey [caught
me by the back-hair and choked me with the cap-string].'--_The
Exmoor Scolding_, p. 17.
=Chip=. The fore-shoot of a plough.--S.W.
=Chipples=. Young onions grown from seed. Cf. ~Gibbles~ and
~Cribbles~.--S.W.
=Chisley=. _adj._ Without coherence, as the yolk of an over-boiled
egg, or a very dry cheese. When land gets wet and then dries too
fast, it becomes chisley. Compare:--'_Chizzly_, hard, harsh and dry:
_East_,' in Hal.--S.W.
=Chism=. To germinate, to bud (A.B.C.). 'The wheat doesn't make much
show yet, John.' 'No, zur, but if you looks 'tes aal chisming out
ter'ble vast.'--N. & S.W.
=Chit=. (1) _n._ The third swarm of bees from a hive.--N.W. (2)
_v._ To bud or spring (A.B.C.). 'The whate be chitting a'ter thease
rains.'--N.W.
=Chitchat=. _Pyrus Aucuparia_, Gærtn., Mountain Ash.--S.W.
=Chitterlings=. Pigs' entrails when cleaned and boiled (A.B.);
~Chiddlens~ (H.S.Wr.).--N. & S.W.
=Chivy=. _Fringilla coelebs_, the Chaffinch.--S.W. (Som. bord.).
=Choor=. (1) _v._ To go out as a charwoman (A.); ~Cheure,
Chewree-ring~ (H.Wr.); ~Char~ (A.S.). Still in use.--N.W. (2) _n._ A
turn, as in phrase 'One good choor deserves another' (A.). Still in
use.--N.W.
=Chop=. To exchange (A.B.S.). 'Wool ye chop wi' I, this thing for
thuck?' (B.).--N. & S.W.
*=Chore=. A narrow passage between houses (_MS. Lansd._ 1033, f. 2);
see N.E.D. (~s.v. Chare~).
=Christian Names=. The manner in which a few of these are pronounced
may here be noted:--_Allburt_, Albert; _Allfurd_, Alfred; _Charl_ or
_Chas_, Charles; _Etherd_, Edward; _Rich't_ or _Richet_, Richard;
_Robbut_, Robert; &c.
=Chuffey=. Chubby. 'What chuffey cheeks he've a got, to be
showr!'--S.W.
=Chump=. A block of wood (A.B.); chiefly applied to the short lengths
into which crooked branches and logs are sawn for firewood (_Under
the Acorns_).--N. & S.W.
=Ciderkin=, ='Kin=. The washings after the best cider is made.--N. &
S.W.
=Clacker=. The tongue (S.).--S.W.
=Clackers=. A pair of pattens (S.).--S.W.
=Clangy=, =Clengy=, or =Clungy=. Of bad bread, or heavy ground,
clingy, sticky.--N.W.
=Claps=. _n._ and _v._ clasp (A.).--N. & S.W.
=Clat=. See ~Clot~.
=Clattersome=, =Cluttersome=. Of weather, gusty.--S.W. (Hants bord.)
=Claut=. _Caltha palustris_, L., Marsh Marigold (A.H.Wr.).--N.W.
(Clyffe Pypard, &c.)
=Clavy=, =Clavy-tack=. A mantelpiece (A.B.C.).--N.W., now almost
obsolete. Strictly speaking, _clavy_ is merely the beam which
stretches across an old-fashioned fireplace, supporting the wall.
Where there is a mantelpiece, or _clavy-tack_, it comes just above
the _clavy_.
=Clean=. 'A clean rabbit,' one that has been caught in the nets, and
is uninjured by shot or ferret, as opposed to a 'broken,' or damaged
one. (_Amateur Poacher_, ch. xi. p. 212).--N. & S.W.
=Cleat=, =Cleet=. (1) The little wedge which secures the head of an
axe or hammer.--N.W. *(2) _n._ A patch (A.B.C.).--N.W. *(3) _v._ To
mend with a patch (A.B.C.)--N.W. *(4) Occasionally, to strengthen by
bracing (C.).--N.W.
=Cleaty=. Sticky, clammy; applied to imperfectly fermented bread, or
earth that will not work well in ploughing.--N.W.
=Cleet=. See ~Cleat~.
=Clengy=. See ~Clangy~.
=Clim=. To climb (A.S.). A cat over-fond of investigating the
contents of the larder shelves is a 'clim-tack,' or climb-shelf.--N.
& S.W.
=Clinches=. The muscles of the leg, just under the knee-joint.--N. &
S.W.
=Clinkerbell=. An icicle.--S.W. (Som. bord.) occasionally.
=Clitch=. The groin.--N.W.
=Clite=, =Clit=. (1) _n._ 'All in a clite,' tangled, as a child's
hair. A badly groomed horse is said to be 'aal a clit.'--N. & S.W.
(2) _v._ To tangle. 'How your hair do get clited!'--N. & S.W.
=Clites=, =Clytes=. _Galium Aparine_, L., Goosegrass (A.). Usually
pl., but Jefferies has sing., ~Clite~, in _Wild Life_, ch. ix.--N. &
S.W.
=Clitty=. Tangled, matted together.--S.W.
=Clock=. A dandelion seed-head, because children play at telling the
time of day by the number of puffs it takes to blow away all its
down.--N. & S.W.
=Cloddy=. Thick, plump, stout (H.Wr.).--S.W.
=Clog-weed=. _Heracleum Sphondylium_, L., Cow-parsnip (_Amateur
Poacher_, ch. vi).--N.W.
=Clot=. A hard lump of dry cow-dung, left on the surface of a
pasture. See ~Cow-clat~.--N.W.
'On pasture farms they beat clots or pick up stones.'--R.
JEFFERIES, Letter to _Times_, Nov. 1872.
'1661. Itm p^d Richard Sheppard & Old Taverner for beating
clatts in Inglands, 00. 04. 08.'--_Records of Chippenham_, p.
226.
*=Clote=. _n._ _Verbascum Thapsus_, L., Great Mullein (_Aubrey's
Wilts MS._).--Obsolete.
=Clothes-brush=. _Dipsacus sylvestris_, L., Wild Teasel. Cf.
~Brushes~.--S.W.
=Clottiness=. See ~Cleaty~. Clottishness (_Agric. Survey_).
'The peculiar churlishness (provincially, "clottiness") of a
great part of the lands of this district, arising perhaps from
the cold nature of the sub-soil.'--_Agric. of Wilts_, ch. vii.
p. 51.
=Clout=. (1) _n._ A box on the ear, a blow (A.B.C.S.). See ~Clue~.
'I'll gie thee a clout o' th' yead.'--N. & S.W. (2) _v._ To
strike.--N. & S.W.
=Clue=. 'A clue in the head,' a knock on the head (_Village Miners_).
A box on the ear. Cf. _clow_, Winchester College. See ~Clout~.--N.W.
=Clum=. To handle clumsily (A.B.), roughly, boisterously, or
indecently (C.).--N.W.
=Clumbersome=. Awkward, clumsy.--N.W.
=Clumper=, =Clumber=. A heavy clod of earth.--N.W. (Marlborough.)
=Clums=. _pl._ Hands. 'I'll keep out o' thee clums, I'll warnd I
will!'--N.W. ~Clumps~ is used in S. Wilts in a similar way, but
generally of the feet (S.), and always implies great awkwardness,
as 'What be a treadin' on my gownd vor wi' they girt ugly clumps o'
yourn?'
=Clungy=. See ~Clangy~.
*=Cluster-of-five=. The fist. ~Cluster-a-vive~ (S.).--S.W.
=Clutter=. _n._ Disorder, mess, confusion. 'The house be ael in a
clutter to-day wi' they childern's lease-carn.'--N. & S.W.
=Cluttered=. (1) 'Caddled,' over-burdened with work and worry.--N. &
S.W.
'"_Cluttered up_" means in a litter, surrounded with too many
things to do at once.'--JEFFERIES, _Field and Hedgerow_, p. 189.
*(2) Brow-beaten. Said to have been used at Warminster formerly.
=Cluttersome=. See ~Clattersome~.
=Cluttery=. Showery and gusty.--S.W.
*=Clyders=. _Galium Aparine_, L., Goosegrass.--S.W.
*=Clyten=. *(1) _n._ An unhealthy appearance, particularly in
children (A.B.C.).--N.W., obsolete. *(2) _n._ An unhealthy child
(C.).--N.W., obsolete.
*=Clytenish=. _adj._ Unhealthy-looking, pale, sickly
(A.B.C.H.Wr.).--N.W., obsolete.
=Clytes=. See ~Clites~.
*=Coath=. Sheep-rot (D.S.).--N. & S.W.
=Cobbler's-knock=. 'To do the cobbler's knock,' to slide on one foot,
tapping the ice meanwhile with the other.--S.W.
*=Cob-nut=. A game played by children with nuts (A.B.).--S.W.
=Cockagee=, =Cockygee= (_g_ hard). A kind of small hard sour cider
apple. Ir. _cac a' gheidh_, goose-dung, from its greenish-yellow
colour (see N.E.D., ~s.v. Coccagee~).--S.W. (Deverill, &c.)
=Cocking-fork=. A large hay-fork, used for carrying hay from the cock
into the summer-rick.--S.W.
*=Cocking-poles=. Poles used for the same purpose.--N.W.
=Cockles=. Seed-heads of _Arctium Lappa_, L., Burdock.--N.W. (Clyffe
Pypard).
=Cock's Egg=. The small eggs sometimes first laid by pullets.--N. &
S.W.
=Cock-shot=. A cock-shy: used by boys about Marlborough and
elsewhere. 'I say, there's a skug [squirrel]--let's have a cock-shot
at him with your squailer.'--N. & S.W.
*=Cock's-neckling=. 'To come down cock's-neckling,' to fall head
foremost (H.Wr.).--Obsolete.
=Cock's-nests=. The nests so often built and then deserted by the
wren, without any apparent cause.--N.W.
*=Cock-sqwoilin=. Throwing at cocks at Shrovetide (A.Wr.). See
~Squail~.--N.W., obsolete.
'1755. Paid expenses at the Angel at a meeting when the By Law
was made to prevent Throwing at Cocks, 0.10.6.'--Records of
_Chippenham_, p. 244.
=Cocky-warny=. The game of leap-frog.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
*=Cod-apple=. A wild apple (_Wilts Arch. Mag._ xiv. 177).
=Codlins-and-cream=. _Epilobium hirsutum_, L., Great Hairy
Willow-herb; from its smell when crushed in the hand. Cf.
~Sugar-Codlins~.--S.W.
*=Coglers=. The hooks, with cogged rack-work for lifting or lowering,
by which pots and kettles were formerly hung over open fireplaces.
Now superseded by _Hanglers_.--N.W., obsolete.
=Colley=. (1) A collar.--N. & S.W. *(2) Soot or grime from a pot or
kettle (A.B.). Compare:--
'Brief as the lightning in the collied night.'--_Midsummer
Night's Dream._
'Thou hast not collied thy face enough.'--JONSON'S ~Poetaster~.
=Colley-maker=. A saddler. See ~Colley~ (1).--N. & S.W.
=Colley-strawker=. A milker or 'cow-stroker.'--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Colt's-tail=. A kind of cloud said to portend rain.--N.W.
'The colt's tail is a cloud with a bushy appearance like a
ragged fringe, and portends rain.'--_Great Estate_, ch. viii.
*=Comb=, =Coom=. (1) _n._ The lower ledge of a window (Kennett's
_Paroch. Antiq._). (2) _n._ Grease from an axle-box, soot, dirt, &c.
~Koomb~ (S.).--S.W.
=Comb-and-Brush=. _Dipsacus sylvestris_, L., Wild Teasel.--S.W.
=Combe=, =Coombe=. (1) The wooded side of a hill (D.); used
occasionally in this sense in both Wilts and Dorset.--N. & S.W.
(2) A narrow valley or hollow in a hillside. This is the proper
meaning.--N. & S.W. Used of a narrow valley in the woodlands in
_Gamekeeper at Home_, ch. i.
=Come of=. To get the better of, to grow out of. 'How weak that child
is about the knees, Sally!' 'Oh, he'll come o' that all right, Miss,
as he do grow bigger.'--N. & S.W.
=Come to land=. Of intermittent springs, to rise to the surface and
begin to flow (_Agric. of Wilts_, ch. xii).--S.W.
=Comical=. (1) Queer-tempered. 'Her's a comical 'ooman.'--N. & S.W.
(2) Out of health. 'I've bin uncommon comical to-year.'--N. & S.W.
(3) Cracky, queer. 'He's sort o' comical in his head, bless 'ee.'--N.
& S.W. 'A cow he's a comical thing to feed; bin he don't take care
he's very like to choke hisself.'--N.W. (Marlborough.) It should
be noted that Marlborough folk are traditionally reputed to call
everything _he_ but a bull, and that they always call _she_!
=Coney-burry=. A rabbit's hole.--S.W. (Amesbury.)
=Coniger=, =Conigre=. This old word, originally meaning a
rabbit-warren, occurs frequently in Wilts (as at Trowbridge) as the
name of a meadow, piece of ground, street, &c. See _Great Estate_,
note to ch. ix.
=Conker-berries=. See ~Canker-berries~.
=Conks=, =Conkers= (i.e. _conquerors_). (1) A boy's game, played
with horse-chestnuts strung on cord, the players taking it in
turn to strike at their opponent's conk, in order to crack and
disable it.--N.W. (Marlborough.) (2) Hence, the fruit of _Aesculus
Hippocastanum_, L., Horse-chestnut.--N.W.
=Coob=. A hen-coop (H.): invariably so pronounced.--N. & S.W.
=Cooby=. A snug corner. See ~Cubby-hole~.--N. & S.W.
=Coom=. See ~Comb~.
*=Coombe-bottom=. A valley in a hillside (_Great Estate_, ch. iv).
See ~Combe~.
=Coom hedder=. (A.S.). See ~Horses~.
=Coop! Coop!= The usual call to cows, &c., to come in.--N. & S.W.
=Coopy-house=. A very small house or cottage (S.). See
~Cubby-hole~.--S.W.
*=Cooted=. Cut slanting, sloped off, as the ends of the upper part of
an oblong hay-rick (D.).
'Hayricks are usually made round; sometimes oblong with cooted
ends, not gable ends.'--_Agric. of Wilts._
=Cord=. 'A cord of plocks,' a pile of cleft wood, 8 ft. long and 4
ft. in girth and width (D.).--N.W.
=Corn-baulk=. See ~Baulk~ (1).
=Corndrake=. _Crex pratensis_, the Landrail; almost invariably so
called about Warminster and in some parts of N. Wilts.--N. & S.W.
*=Corn-grate=. The Cornbrash formation (_Agric. of Wilts_, p. 164).
*=Corn Grit=. Quarrymen's term for one of the building stone beds of
the Portland series (Britton's _Beauties of Wilts_, vol. iii).
*=Corn Pop=. _Silene inflata_, Sm., Bladder Campion.--N.W. (Enford.)
=Corruptions=. Some of these are curious, and perhaps worth
recording, as _Rainball_, rainbow (always used at Huish);
_Lattiprack_, paralytic; _Nuffin-idols_, Love-in-idleness; _Polly
Andrews_, Polyanthus. Also see _Nolens-volens_. Bronchitis is
always _Brantitus_, and Jaundice always _The Janders_, plural.
Persuade is always _Suade_. The crab-apple is usually _Grab_ in N.
Wilts. At Etchilhampton we find _Plump_ for pump, and _Moth_ for
moss, while at Huish and elsewhere proud flesh is always _Ploughed
flesh_. _Pasmet_, parsnip, and the universal _Turmut_, turnip, may
be noted as illustrating a curious letter-change. _Varley-grassey_,
gone green, is evidently from verdigris. In _Great Estate_, ch. iv,
Jefferies traces _Meejick_ ('a sort of a _Meejick'_=anything very
strange or unusual) back to menagerie. Cavalry becomes _Cavaltry_,
meaning horsemen, and crockery is usually _Crockerty_. Other more or
less common perversions of words are _Patty Carey_, Hepatica; _Chiny
Oysters_, China Aster; _Turkemtime_, turpentine; _Absence_, abscess
(Cherhill); _Abrupt_, to approve (Huish); _Tiddle_, to tickle;
_Cribble_, a cripple; _Strive_ (of a tree), to thrive (Steeple
Ashton); _Hurly-gurly_, a hurdy-gurdy (S.W.); _Midger_, to measure;
_Cherm_, to churn (_Slow_, S.W.); _Rumsey-voosey_, to rendezvous,
as 'He went a rumsy-voosing down the lane to meet his sweetheart';
_Dapcheek_, a dabchick; _Drilly-drally_, to hesitate, to dawdle over
anything; _Kiddle_, a kettle.
=Couch=, =Cooch=. Couch-grass in general.--N. & S.W. ~Black Couch~,
_Agrostis stolonifera_ (D.); ~White Couch~, _Triticum repens_ (D.);
~Couchy-bent~, _Agrostis stolonifera_ (D.); ~Knot Couch~, _Avena
elatior_.
=Couchy-bent=. See ~Couch~.
=Count=. To expect or think. 'I don't count as he'll come.'--N.W.
*=Coventree=. _Viburnum Lantana_, L., Mealy Guelder rose.--S.W.,
obsolete.
'Coven-tree common about Chalke and Cranbourn Chase; the
carters doe make their whippes of it.'--AUBREY'S _Wilts_, p.
56, Ed. Brit.
*=Coward=. _adj._ Pure: used of unskimmed milk. Cf. 'cowed milk,'
Isle of Wight (_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxii. p. 110).--N.W.
(Cherhill.)
*=Cow-baby=. A childish fellow, a simpleton (S.).--S.W.
=Cow-clap=. A form of ~Cow-clat~, q.v.--N.W.
=Cow-clat=, =Cow-clap=. A pat of cow-dung (A.).--N.W.
*=Cow-down=. A cow-common (_Agric. Survey_).--Obsolete.
=Cows-and-Calves=. (1) _Arum maculatum_, L., Cuckoo-pint.--S.W. (2)
When a saw has alternately long and short teeth, they are known as
_cows_ and _calves_ respectively.--N.W.
=Cowshard=. Cow-clat.--N.W.
*=Cowshorne=. Cow-clats. Obsolete.
'The poore people gather the cowshorne in the
meadows.'--JACKSON'S _Aubrey_, p. 192.
*=Cow-white=. See ~White~.
*=Crab=. To abuse (_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxii. p. 110). Compare
North Eng. _crab_, to provoke, and _crob_, to reproach. Originally
a hawking term, hawks being said to _crab_ when they stood too
near and fought one with another. See _Folk-Etymology_, p. 81
(Smythe-Palmer).--N.W. (Cherhill.)
*=Crandum=. The throat (S.).--N.W.
'I first heard this word near Hungerford, where some farm hands
were having a spree. There was a six-gallon jar of beer on the
table, which they were continually smacking with their hands,
whilst they sang in chorus:--
"Let it run down yer crandum,
An' jolly will we be," &c.
I have only heard it applied to the human throat, never to that
of an animal.'--_Letter from Mr. Slow._
*=Crap=. Assurance (H.Wr.). There is probably some mistake here.
=Craw=. The crop of a bird; hence, the bosom (A.). 'A spelt th' drenk
down 's craw,' he spilt it down his bosom (A.).--N.W.
=Crazy=, =Craisey=, =Craizey=. The Buttercup (A.B.H.Wr.). Buttercups
in general, _Ranunculus acris_, _R. bulbosus_, _R. repens_, and often
_R. Ficaria_ also, but at Huish never applied to the last-named. In
Deverill the term _Craizies_ is restricted to the Marsh Marigold. See
N.E.D. (~s.v. Crayse~).--N. & S.W.
=Crazy Bets=. (1) The general name all over Wilts for _Caltha
palustris_, L., Marsh Marigold; apparently always pl. in form.
~Crazy Betties~ (_Great Estate_, ch. ii) and ~Crazy Betseys~ are
occasionally used, the latter at Little Langford, S.W. Cf. 'Pretty
Bets,' Oxf. and Nhamp., for Red Spur Valerian and London Pride, and
'Sweet Betsey,' Kent, for the former. In Glouc. Marsh Marigold is
merely a _Crazy_.--N. & S.W. *(2) Mr. Slow says that 'Crazy bets'
is applied to the 'buttercup' in South Wilts. *(3) _Chrysanthemum
leucanthemum_, L., the Ox-eye Daisy.--S.W. (Hampworth.)
=Crazy-mor=e, =Crazy-mar=, or =Crazy-moir=. (1) _Ranunculus repens_,
L., Creeping Buttercup. _More_=root or plant.--N.W. (Devizes; Huish.)
(2) At Clyffe Pypard, N.W., and probably elsewhere, ~Crazy-mar~ means
a plant of any kind of buttercup.
=Crease=. A ridge-tile.--N.W.
'From the top of Aland's house ... a slate ridge-crest
(or crease, as it is provincially termed) ... was carried
northwards about 40 yards.'--_The Great Wiltshire Storm, Wilts
Arch. Mag._ vol. vi. p. 378.
=Creed=. _Lemna minor_, L., Duckweed (_Great Estate_, ch. ii).--N.W.
*=Creeny=. Small (A.B.H.Wr.).
*=Creeping Jack=. _Sedum_, Stonecrop.--N.W. (Lyneham.)
=Creeping Jenny=. (1) _Linaria Cymbalaria_, Mill., Ivy-leaved
Toadflax.--S.W. (Salisbury.) (2) _Lysimachia Nummularia_, L.,
Moneywort.--N. & S.W.
*=Cresset=, =Cressil=. _Scrophularia aquatica_, L., Water Figwort
(_Great Estate_, ch. iv).
=Crew=. The tang of a scythe-blade, fastening into the
pole-ring.--N.W.
=Cribble about=. To creep about as old people do.--N. & S.W.
=Cribbles=. Onions grown from bulbs. See ~Gibbles~ and
~Chipples~.--S.W. (Som. bord.)
=Crick crack=. People who try to talk fine language, and cannot, are
said to use 'crick crack' words. ~Crick crach~: words not understood
(S.).--N. & S.W.
'Crink-crank words are long words--_verba sesquipedalia_--not
properly understood. See _Proceedings of Phil. Soc._ v.
143-8.'--COPE'S _Hants Gloss_.
=Crink=. A crevice or crack.--N.W.
*=Crippender=. Crupper harness.--S.W. (Bratton.)
=Critch=. A deep earthen pan (S.). Also used in Hants. Fr.
_cruche_.--S.W.
=Crock=. A pot; especially an earthen one (A.B.S.).--N. & S.W.
=Croud=. See ~Crowdy~.
=Croupy down=. To crouch down (S.) as children do when playing
hide-and-seek.--N. & S.W.
=Crow-bells= (pl. used as sing.). _Scilla nutans_, Sm., Wild Hyacinth
(H.Wr.).--S.W. This is probably the flower referred to in Aubrey's
_Wilts_, Roy. Soc. MS., p. 126 (p. 52, ed. Brit.), under the same
name:--
'In a ground of mine called Swices ... growes abundantly a
plant called by the people hereabout crow-bells, which I never
saw any where but there. Mr. Rob. Good, M.A., tells me that
these crow-bells have blue flowers, and are common to many
shady places in this county.'
=Crowdy=. A kind of apple turnover (S.). ~Croud~ (H.Wr.).--N. & S.W.
=Crow-flower=. _Scilla nutans_, Sm., Wild Hyacinth.--S.W. (Hants
bord.)
=Crow-hearted=. Young cabbage and broccoli plants that have lost
their eye or centre are said to be 'crow-hearted.'--N.W. (Clyffe
Pypard.)
=Crowpeck=. (1) _Scandix Pecten_, L., Shepherd's-needle (D.).--S.W.
(2) _Ranunculus arvensis_, L., Corn Crowfoot.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
*=Crow's-legs=. _Scilla nutans_, Sm., Wild Hyacinth.--N.W.
=Crump=. To crunch or munch.--N.W.
=Crumplings=, =Crumplens=. Small, imperfectly grown apples.--N. & S.W.
=Cubby-hole=. A snug corner, a sheltered place (A.S.). Also ~Cooby~;
cf. ~Coopy-house~.--N. & S.W.
=Cuckoo=. About Salisbury _Saxifraga granulata_ is known as ~Dry~ (or
~Dryland~) ~Cuckoo~, and _Cardamine pratensis_ as ~Water Cuckoo~,
from their respective habitats. The use of _Cuckoo_ in a plant-name
always implies that it flowers in early spring.
=Cuckoo-flower=. (1) _Cardamine pratensis_, L., Lady's Smock.--N. &
S.W. (2) _Anemone nemorosa_, L., Wood Anemone.--S.W.
=Cuckoo fool=. _Yunx torquilla_, the Wryneck.--N.W. (Broadtown.)
=Cuckoo-gate=. A swing-gate in a V-shaped enclosure.--N. & S.W.
=Cuckoos=. _Anemone nemorosa_, L., Wood Anemone.--S.W. (Hamptworth.)
*=Cuckoo's bread-and-cheese=. The young shoots of the Hawthorn
(_Great Estate_, ch. iii).--N.W.
=Cuddickwaay=! Order to a horse to 'Come this way.'
=Cue= (1), _n._ An ox-shoe (A.). Only used on flinty lands.--N. &
S.W. (2) _v._ To shoe an ox.--N. & S.W.
=Cull=, or =Tom Cull=. _Cottus gobio_, the Bullhead (A.B.).
=Culls=. Sheep or lambs picked out of the flock, as inferior in size
or in any other way, and sold. Fairs at which they are sold are
called '_Cull Fairs_.'--N.W.
=Curdle=. A curl of hair (S.).--N. & S.W.
=Curly-buttons=. Woodlice.--S.W.
=Curly-cob=. The Bullhead, _Cottus gobio_--S.W. (Bishopstone.)
=Curry-pig=. A sucking pig (H.Wr.). Also ~Cure-pig~.
=Cushion-pink=. _Armeria maritima_, Willd., Thrift; the garden
variety.--N.W.
*=Cushions=. _Scabiosa arvensis_, L., Field Scabious.--N. & S.W.
(Enford, &c.)
*=Cusnation=. An expletive (A.).
'Ha' done, Jonas! Dwon't 'e be a cussnation vool! I'll call
missus!'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 83.
=Cut-finger-leaf=. _Valeriana_, All-heal. The leaves are good for
application to sluggish sores, whitlows, &c. Mr. Cunnington quotes it
as _V. dioica_.--N.W. (Huish, &c.)
=Cutty=. _Troglodytes vulgaris_, the Wren (S.).--S.W.
=D=. (1) In comparatives, &c., _d_ is frequently added to liquids,
as _coolder_, cooler; _thinder_, thinner; feeldins, feelings; and
_scholard_, scholar. In _Chronicon Vilodunense_, fifteenth century,
we find _jaylarde_, a gaoler. (2) It is also used for _th_, as
_draish_, thresh; _droo_, through; _dree_, three. (3) _D_ not sounded
after a liquid; examples:--_veel_, field; _vine_, to find; _dreshol_,
threshold.
=Daak=. See ~Dawk~.
=Dab=. An expert at anything; sometimes used ironically, as 'He's a
perfect dab at gardening,' he knows nothing whatever about it.--N. &
S.W.
=Dabster=. A proficient (A.). See ~Dapster~.--S.W.
=Dack=. See ~Dawk~.
=Daddick=, =Daddock=. _n._ Rotten wood (A.B.G.).--N.W.
=Daddicky=. _adj._ Of wood, decayed, rotten (A.B.S.). Cf.
~Dicky~.--N. & S.W.
*=Daddy's Whiskers=. _Clematis Vitalba_, L., Traveller's Joy.--S.W.
(Farley.)
=Daffy=. The usual name in N.W. for the wild Daffodil.
=Daggled=. See ~Diggled~.
=Daglet=. An icicle (A.H.S.Wr.). See ~Daggled~.--N. & S.W.
'Thatched roofs are always hung with "daglets" in
frost.'--_Village Miners._
=Dain=. Noisome effluvia (A.B.C.H.Wr.). Formerly applied mainly to
_infectious_ effluvia, as 'Now dwoan't 'ee gwo too nigh thuck there
chap; he've a had the small-pox, and the dain be in his clothes
still.' (See _Cunnington MS._). Now used of very bad smells in
general.--N.W.
=Dainty=. Evil-smelling. 'That there meat's ter'ble dainty.'--N.W.
=Dall=. An expletive (S.).--N.W.
''Od dal th' vor'n ungrateful varment!'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 50.
=Dandy-goshen=. See ~Dandy-goslings~.
=Dandy-goslings=. (1) _Orchis mascula_, L., Early Purple Orchis. See
~Gandigoslings~, &c.--N.W. (2) _O. Morio_, L., Green-winged Meadow
Orchis. ~Dandy-goshen~ at Salisbury (_English Plant Names_), also at
Little Langford.--S.W.
*=Dane=, =Daner=. In Kingston Deverill there was an old man who
called red-haired men 'Danes,' or 'Daners,' as 'Thee bist a Dane.'
This being in the centre of the Alfred district, the term may be a
survival. In Somerset red-haired men are often said to be 'a bit
touched with the Danes.'
*=Dane's Blood=. _Sambucus Ebulus_, L., Dwarf Elder (Aubrey's _Nat.
Hist. Wilts_, p. 50, ed. Brit.). It is popularly believed only to
grow on the ancient battle-fields, and to have sprung originally from
the blood of the slain Danes.
=Dap=. (1) _v._ To rebound, as a ball.--N. & S.W. (2) _n._ The
rebound of a ball.--N. & S.W.
=Dap on=. To pounce down on, to take unawares.--N. & S.W.
=Daps=. (1) 'He's the daps on his feyther,' the very image of him
(S.).--S.W. (2) 'He got the daps o' he's feyther,' he has the same
tricks as his father.--N.W.
'~Dap~, a hop, a turn. The daps of any one would therefore be
his habits, peculiarities, &c.'--JENNINGS, _Somerset Gloss_.
=Dapster=. *(1) A nimble boy.--S.W. (Deverill). (2) A proficient
(S.). See ~Dab~.--S.W.
*=Dar=. _n._ 'To be struck in a dar, to be astonished or
confounded.'--_Cunnington MS._ Apparently from O.E. _dare_, to
frighten birds.--N.W., obsolete.
'Never hobby so dared a lark.'--BURTON, _Anatomy of Melancholy_.
*=Daver=. To fade, fall down, droop, as flowers or leaves on a hot
day.--N.W. (Malmesbury.)
=Dawk=, =Dack=, =Daak=, =Dauk=. To incise with a jerk, or insert a
pointed weapon with rapidity (H.Wr.). To stab and tear together as a
cat's claw does. To puncture.--N.W.
'Should a savage cat tear out a piece of flesh from the hand,
she is said to "dawk" it out. Dawk expresses a ferocious stab
and tear combined.'--_Village Miners._
Also used of a baker marking loaves:--
'Prick it and dack it and mark it with T,
And put it in the oven for baby and me.'--_Nursery Rhyme._
This seems to be identical with A.S. _dalc_, _dolc_, Dutch and Danish
_dolk_, Icel. _dálkr_, Germ. _dolch_, all meaning a sharp piercing
instrument, a skewer, a dagger, &c. (Smythe-Palmer).
=Dead hedge=. A wattled fence (_Agric. of Wilts_, ch. x).--N.W.
=Dead pen=. A sheep pen is occasionally so called in S. Wilts.
=Dead-roof=. A skilling roof made of bavins and thatched over.--N.W.
=Dead year=. Often used with possessive pronoun, as 'his dead year,'
the year immediately following his death (_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol.
xxii. p. 111). A widow should not marry again 'afore the dead year's
up.'--N.W.
=Deaf-nettle=. _Lamium album_, L., the Dead nettle. Cf.
~Dunch-nettle~.--S.W.
=Deaf-nut=. A rotten or empty nut. _Deaf_=useless, inactive.--S.W.
=Deedy=. (1) Industrious, busy, as 'He's a deedy man.'--N.W. (2)
Intent, as 'What bist looking so deedy at?'--N.W.
*=Dee-gee=. Mr. William Cunnington writes us as follows:--
'"Twas a Dee-gee" was the name of a kind of dance, which our
old nurse taught us as children, mostly performed by moving
sideways and knocking the feet together.'
This would seem to be a survival of the Elizabethan _heydeguies_. See
Spenser, _Shepherd's Calendar_, June.--N.W., obsolete.
*=Densher=. To prepare down-land for cultivation by paring and
burning the turf (Aubrey's _Wilts Nat. Hist._, p. 103, ed. Brit.).
See ~Bake~ and ~Burn-bake~.
=Desight=, =Dissight=. An unsightly object (H.Wr.).--N.W.
=Devil-daisy=. _Matricaria Parthenium_, L., Common Feverfew, and
_Anthemis Cotula_, L., Stinking Camomile, from their daisy-like
flowers and unpleasant odour.--S.W.
=Devil-in-a-hedge=. _Nigella damascena_, Love in a mist.--N.W.
=Devil-screecher=. _Cypselus apus_, the Common Swift.--N. & S.W.
=Devil's-ring=. A kind of hairy caterpillar which curls up on being
touched (_Wild Life_, ch. xvii).--N.W.
'Devyls-gold-rynge, the colewort worme.'--_Huloet._
'Oak-egger and fox moths, which children call "Devil's Gold
Rings."'--KINGSLEY, _Chalk-stream Studies_.
=Dew-beater=. A man who has large feet, or who turns out his toes, so
that he brushes the dew off the grass in walking (A.S.).--N. & S.W.
Compare:--
'The dew-beaters [early walkers, pioneers] have trod their way
for those that come after them.'--HACKET'S _Life of Williams_,
i. 57.
=Dew-bi=. A very early breakfast (A.).--N. & S.W.
=Dew-pond=. A pond on the downs, not fed by any spring, but kept up
by mist, dew, and rain. Such ponds rarely fail, even in the longest
drought. Also ~Mist-pond~.--N.W.
*=Dewsiers=. The valves of a pig's heart (A.B.G.); a corruption of
O.F. _jusier_.
=Deyhus=, =Da'us=, =Day'us=. A dairy, a cheese-room (A.B.). From
_deye_, a dairymaid; Icel. _deigja_ (Skeat). In this and similar
words, as Brewhouse, Woodhouse, &c., _house_ is always pronounced
as A.S. _hús_ (Akerman), the _h_, however, not being invariably
sounded.--N.W.
=Dibs=. A game played by boys with sheep's dibs or knuckle-bones
(S.).--N. & S.W.
*=Dick-and-his-team=. The Great Bear.--N.W. Compare Jack-and-his-team.
'I know the north star; there it is.... And the Great Bear; the
men call it Dick and his Team.'--_Greene Ferne Farm_, ch. vi.
=Dicker=. (1) To bedeck. 'Gels be allus a dickerin' therselves up
now-a-days.'--N.W. (Huish.) (2) 'As thick as they can dicker,' very
intimate.--S.W. (Amesbury.) 'All in a dicker (or 'digger'),' very
close together.--S.W.
=Dicky=. (1) Of vegetables, decayed. (2) Of persons or plants,
weakly or in ill-health (_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxii. p. 110). Cf.
~Daddicky~.--N.W.
=Dicky-birds=. _Fumaria officinalis_, L., Common Fumitory.--S.W.
=Diedapper=. _Podiceps minor_, the Dabchick; _Divedapper_ in
Shakespeare. In common use at Salisbury until quite recently. Before
the streams running through the city were covered over, it was an
every-day occurrence to see a dripping urchin making for home, with
an escort of friends at his heels yelling 'Diedapper, Diedapper,
Diedapper, die!'--S.W.
*=Diggle=. _v._ To grow thickly together. 'They weeds be a coming
up agen as thick as ever they can diggle.' See ~Dicker~.--N.W.
(Potterne.).
=Diggled=, =Daggled=. Covered over or hung thickly with anything.
Compare ~Daglet~. 'Thick may-bush be aal diggled wi' berries.'--S.W.
(Salisbury.)
=Diggles=. _n._ Abundance, plenty (S.). 'Let's go a blackberryin';
there's diggles up Grovely.' See ~Diggle~.--S.W.
=Dill=, =Dill Duck=. A young duck.--N. & S.W.
=Dillcup=. _Ranunculus Ficaria_, L., Lesser Celandine (S.).--S.W.
=Diller=. The shaft-horse (H.Wr.). See ~Thiller~.--N.W.
=Dills=. See ~Thills~.
=Dimmets=. Dusk, twilight.--S.W.
=Ding=. To strike violently (_Dark_, ch. xv).--N.W.
=Dishabille=. A labourer's working clothes. The word is not used in
Wilts in its ordinary sense of undress or negligent costume, but a
common excuse for not appearing at church is that a man has nothing
but his _dishabille_ to wear. Fr. _déshabillé_.--N.W.
=Dishwasher=. (1) _Motacilla flava_, the Yellow Wagtail (A.S.).--N. &
S.W. (2) _M. Yarrellii_, the Pied Wagtail (A.S.).--N. & S.W.
=Do=. 'To do for any one,' to manage or keep house for him.--N. & S.W.
*=Dock=. _Malva sylvestris_, L., Common Mallow (A.). Now restricted
to _Rumex_.
=Dodder=, =Dudder=, =Duther=, &c. (1) _v._ To bewilder, to deafen
with noise (A.B.H.S.Wr.). 'I be vinny doddered, they childern do
yop so.'--N. & S.W. (2) _n._ 'All in a dudder,' quite bewildered
(H.).--N. & S.W. (3) _v._ To deaden anything, as pain. 'It sort o'
dudders the pain.'--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
*=Doddle-grass=. _Briza media_, L., Quaking Grass (_English Plant
Names_).
=Doddler=. 'A bit of a doddler,' a small boy.--N. & S.W.
=Dog, how beest=? This phrase seems worth noting. At Clyffe Pypard
a person complaining of loneliness, or the want of sociability or
kindness amongst the neighbours, will say, 'There isn't one as 'll so
much as look in and say, "Dog, how beest?"'
=Dog-Cocks=. _Arum maculatum_, L., Cuckoo-pint. Compare _Dogs-dibble_
in N. Devon.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Dog-daisy=. Any large daisy-like white flower, such as
_Chrysanthemum leucanthemum_, L., Ox-eye Daisy.--N. & S.W.
=Dogged=. (2 syl.) Very, excessively; as _dogged cute_ (A.).--N. &
S.W.
'Maester was dogged deep, but I was deeper!'--_Wilts Tales_, p.
110.
*=Dog out=. To drive out anything, as a sheep out of a quagmire, by
setting the dog furiously at it (_Great Estate_, ch. viii).
=Dog's-mouth=. _Linaria vulgari_s, Mill., Yellow Toadflax.--N.W.
*=Dom=. A door case (H.Wr.): probably a mistake for _Dorn_ or _Doorn_.
=Domel=. See ~Dumble~.
=Doner=. A man, animal, &c., 'done for' and past hope (S.). 'Thuck
old sow be a dunner; her 'll be dead afore night.'--N. & S.W.
*=Donnings=. Clothes (A.B.).
*=Dooke=. (2 syl.) Do ye, will ye. 'Be quiet, dooke' (H.M.Wr.).
'Obsolete, having been superseded by _do 'ee_. It was
pronounced as a dissyllable.'--SKEAT.
=Door-Drapper= (i.e. Dropper or Dripper). The piece of wood fastened
to the bottom of cottage doors to shoot the water off the 'Dreshol'
(threshold).--N.W.
*=Doorn=. A door frame (H.Wr.). Also ~Durn~ (S.). At Warminster
applied only to the sides of a door-frame.--S.W.
=Double=. 'He is a double man,' i.e. bent double with age or
infirmity.--S.W.
*=Double-Dumb-Nettle=. _Ballota nigra_, L., Black Horehound.--S.W.
(Charlton.)
*=Double-ladies'-fingers-and-thumbs=. _Anthyllis vulneraria_, L.,
Kidney Vetch.--N.W. (Enford.)
=Double-mound=. A double hedge (_Amateur Poacher_, ch. xi; _Wild
Life_, ch. ix. p. 152). See ~Mound~.--N.W.
*=Double Pincushion=. _Anthyllis vulneraria_, L., Kidney Vetch.--S.W.
(Barford.)
=Doublets=. Twin lambs (_Annals of Agric._).--N.W.
=Dough-fig=. The same as ~Lem-feg~. A Turkey Fig.--N.W.
=Dout=. To put out, as 'Dout the candle' (A.B.S.): to smother or
extinguish fire by beating.--N. & S.W.
'An extinguisher "douts" a candle; the heel of a boot "douts"
a match thrown down. But the exact definition of "dout" is to
smother, or extinguish by beating.'--_Village Miners._
=Dowl=. The fine down of a bird.--N.W.
'Coots and moor-hens must be skinned, they could not be plucked
because of the "dowl." Dowl is the fluff, the tiny featherets
no fingers can remove.'--_Bevis_, ch. vii.
=Down=. To tire out, to exhaust. 'That there 'oss's downed.'--N.W.
(Wroughton.)
=Down-along=. 'He lives down-along,' a little way down the street
(S.), as opposed to 'up-along.'--S.W.
=Down-arg=. To contradict in an overbearing manner (A.B.S.), to
browbeat.--N. & S.W.
=Down-dacious=. Audacious (S.). 'Her's a right downdacious young
vaggot, that her is!'--S.W.
*=Down-haggard=. Disconsolate (S.).--S.W.
=Down-hearten=. To feel disheartened. 'A be vurry bad, but I don't
down-hearten about un.'--N.W.
=Dowse=. A blow (A.B.C.S.), as 'a dowse in the chops.'--N. & S.W.
=Dowst=. (1) Chaff or cave. ~Dust~ (D.). (2) 'To go to dowst,' go
to bed, perhaps from _dowst_ (chaff) being used to fill mattresses.
Heard at Huish occasionally, but not traced elsewhere.
=Dowst-coob=. The chaff cupboard in a stable.--N. & S.W.
=Drag=. A harrow (D.).--N. & S.W.
=Drail=. (1) In a plough, the iron bow from which the traces draw,
and by which the furrow is set (D.).--N.W. (2) _Crex pratensis_, the
Landrail.--N.W.
*=Drainted=. Of dirt, ingrained (H.Wr.).
=Drang=, =Drangway=, =Drung=. (1) A narrow lane. ~Drun~
(H.Wr.).--S.W. (2) A narrow passage between walls or houses. Drun
(H.Wr.).--S.W.
=Drangway=. See ~Drang~ (S.).
=Drashel=, =Dreshol=, &c. A flail (D.). The correct term for a flail
is a _drashel_, but '_a pair o' drashells_' (or 'dreshols') is more
commonly used, as two men generally work together.--N. & S.W.
*=Drattle=. Much talk (S.).--S.W.
=Draught=. A cart-shaft. ~Draats~ (S.).--S.W.
=Draughts=. Hazel-rods selected for hurdle-making (D.). A 'draught'
is not a rod, but a bundle of long wood suitable for hurdles or
pea-sticks, bound with a single withe.--N.W.
=Drave=. 'I be slaving an' draving (i.e. working myself to death) for
he, night and day.'--N. & S.W.
=Draw=. (1) A squirrel's dray or nest.--N.W. (Marlborough.) (2)
Rarely applied to a large nest, as a hawk's. Compare:--'_Draw_, to
build a nest (_Berners_),' an old hawking term.--N.W. (Marlborough.)
=Drawing=. See ~Drawn~.
=Drawn=. In a water-meadow, the large open main drain which carries
the water back to the river, after it has passed through the various
carriages and trenches.--S.W. In every-day use about Salisbury, and
along the Avon and Wiley from Downton to Codford, but rarely heard
elsewhere.
'Many of the meadows on either length [near Salisbury] abound
in ditches and "drawns."'--_Fishing Gazette_, July 18, 1891, p.
40, col. 2.
'I ... descried three birds, standing quite still [at Britford]
by the margin of a flooded "drawing."'--_Wilts Arch. Mag._ xxi.
229.
=Dredge=, =Drodge=. Barley and oats grown together.--S.W.
=Dribs-and-Drabs=. Odds and ends. 'All in dribs and drabs,' all in
tatters.--N. & S.W.
=Drieth=. See ~Dryth~.
=Drift=. A row of felled underwood (D.).--N.W.
=Dripple= See ~Waggon~.
=Drive=. Of manure, to stimulate growth. 'Thur, that'll drive th'
rhubub, _I_ knaws!'--N. & S.W.
=Drock=. (1) A short drain under a roadway, often made with a hollow
tree.--N. & S.W. (2) A broad flat stone laid as a bridge across a
ditch (_Amaryllis at the Fair_).--N.W. (Castle Eaton, &c.)
'Drock, a water-way, or sometimes the stone slab over a narrow
ditch.'--_Leisure Hour_, Aug. 1893.
'1674. Item Paid Richard Serrell for a Stone to make a
Drocke.--_Records of Chippenham_, p. 230.
*(3) A water-course (H.Wr.). A water-way (_Leisure Hour_, Aug.
1893).--N.W. (Castle Eaton, &c.)
'Where meaning a water way, it is usually spoken of as
a Drockway, "drock" alone being the passage over the
ditch.'--MISS E. BOYER-BROWN.
*(4) Used in compounds such as ~Well-drock~, windlass.
=Drockway=. See ~Drock~ (3).
=Drodge=. See ~Dredge~ .
*=Dromedary=. (1) _Centaurea nigra_, L., Black Knapweed.--S.W.
(Barford St. Martin.) (2) _Centaurea Scabiosa_, L., Hardheads.--S.W.
(Barford St. Martin.)
=Dropping=. 'A dropping summer,' one when there is a shower every two
or three days (_Wild Life_, ch. ii).--N.W.
=Drove=. A green roadway on a farm.--N. & S.W.
=Drown=. To turn the water over the meadows.--S.W.
=Drowner=. The man who attends to the hatches, managing the supply
of water, and turning it on and off the meadows at the proper
times.--S.W.
*=Drowning-bridge=. A water-meadow sluice-gate (A.B.G.H. Wr.).
=Drowning-carriage=. A large water-course for drowning a meadow. See
~Carriage~.--S.W.
*=Droy=. A thunderbolt (Aubrey's _Wilts MS._, H.Wr.).--Obsolete.
*=Drucked=. Filled to overflowing (S.).--S.W.
=Drug=. (1) 'To drug timber,' to draw it out of the woods under a
pair of wheels (D.).--N.W. (2) 'To drug a wheel,' to put on some kind
of drag or chain.--N.W.
*=Druid's-hair=. Long moss (H.Wr.).
=Drun=. See ~Drang~ (H.Wr.).
=Drunge=. (1) _n._ A crowd or crush of people (H.Wr.)--N.W. (2) _v._
To squeeze (S.).--S.W.
=Drunkards=. Flowers of _Caltha palustris_, L., Marsh Marigold;
probably from the way in which they suck up water when placed in a
vase. The reason assigned by children for the name is that if you
look long at them you will be sure to take to drink.--S.W. (Som.
bord.)
=Dry Cuckoo=, or =Dryland Cuckoo=. _Saxifraga granulata_, L., White
Meadow Saxifrage. See ~Cuckoo~.--S.W.
=Dryth=, or =Drieth=. Dryness, drought.--N.W.
'1633. The cryer ... to give warninge to the inhabitants to
sett payles of water at their doores in the late tyme of drieth
and heate.'--_Records of Chippenham_, p. 206.
=Dub=. To pelt with stones. 'Just dub that apple down out of the
tree, will 'ee?' See ~Frog-dubbing~.--S.W.
=Dubbed=. Blunt, pointless (A.B.).
*=Dubbing=. 'A dubbin' o' drenk,' a pint or mug of beer (A.B.H.Wr.).
=Dubby=. Oily.--N.W.
=Duck's-frost=. A very slight white frost.--N.W.
'That kind of frost which comes on in the early morning, and is
accompanied with some rime on the grass--a duck's frost, just
sufficient to check fox-hunting.'--_Gamekeeper at Home_, ch.
vii.
=Duckstone=. A game played by boys with stones (S.).--S.W.
=Dudder=. See ~Dodder~.
=Dudge=. (1) A bundle of anything used to stop a hole.--N.W. (Clyffe
Pypard.) *(2) 'Peg the dudge,' tap the barrel (A.B.G.H.Wr.).
=Dudman=. A scarecrow.--N.W. (Malmesbury.)
=Dumb-Ague=. A kind of ague which is not accompanied by the usual
shaking fits. ''Tis what 'ee do caal the dumb-agey.'--N.W. (Clyffe
Pypard.)
=Dumble=. Stupid, dull (A.B.H.Wr.); also ~Domel, Dummel, &c.~--N.W.
'Severe weather ... makes all wild animals "dummel" in
provincial phrase,--i.e. stupid, slow to move.'--_Gamekeeper at
Home_, ch. vii.
=Dumbledore=, or =Dumble=. The Humble-bee (A.B.S.).--N. & S.W.
'Th' mak'st a noise like a dumbledore in a pitcher.'--_Wilts
Tales_, p. 68.
=Dumb Nettle=. _Lamium album_, L., White Dead-nettle.--S.W.
(Charlton.)
=Dump=. (1) _n._ 'A treacle dump,' a kind of coarse sweetmeat.--S.W.
(2) _v._ To blunt, as 'I've dumped my scythe against a stone.'--N.W.
(3) A pollard tree, as 'Ash-dump,' or 'Willow-dump.'--N.W. (Clyffe
Pypard.)
=Dum-put=. See ~Dung-pot~.
=Dunch=. (1) Deaf (A.B.C.); now rarely so used. In _Cunnington MS._
said to be at that time the usual N. Wilts term for _deaf_.--N & S.W.
'Ah! Molly, ye purtends to be as dunch as a bittle, but I
kneows 'e hears ev'ry word I zays.'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 81.
(2) Stupid, heavy; now the common use. 'The wapses gets dunch' in
late autumn. A labourer who can't be made to understand orders is
'dunch.'--N. & S.W. (3) Of bread, heavy (_Wild Life_, ch. vii). Cf.
~Dunch-dumpling.~--N. & S.W. ~Dunchy~ is frequently used in S. Wilts
instead of ~Dunch~, but usually means deaf.
=Dunch-dumpling=. A hard-boiled flour-and-water dumpling (A.B.C.) See
~Dunch~ (3).--N.W.
=Dunch-nettle=, =Dunse-nettle=. (1) _Lamium purpureum_, L., Red
Dead-nettle. ~Dunch~=stupid, inactive. Cf. ~Deaf-nettle~.--S.W. (2)
_Lamium album_, L., White Dead-nettle.--S.W. (Barford.)
=Dung-pot=. A dung-cart (D.); rarely ~Dum-put~. See ~Pot~.--N. & S.W.
*=Dup=. 'To dup the door,' to open or unfasten it (_Lansd. MS._
1033).--Obsolete. Cf. :--
'Then up he rose, and donn'd his clothes,
And dupp'd the chamber-door.'--_Hamlet_, iv. 5.
The word now means the very reverse.
=Dutch Elder=. _Aegopodium Podagraria_, L., Goutweed.--S.W. (Farley,
&c.)
=Duther=, =Dutter=. See ~Dodder~.
=Ea-grass=. After-grass (D.); Lammas grass as well as aftermath.--S.W.
=Eass= (sometimes =Yees=). An earthworm.--S.W.
*=Edge-growed=. Of barley, both growing and ripening irregularly; the
result of a want of rain after it is first sown (D.).
=Eel-scrade=. A kind of eel-trap.--S.W.
'A trap used to catch eels, placed near a weir. The water is
turned into the scrade when high, and the fish washed up to
a stage through which the water finds an outlet, the fish,
however, being retained on the platform by a piece of sloping
iron.'--F. M. WILLIS.
=Eel-sticher=. An eel-spear.--S.W.
'Wishing to secure [a Little Grebe] in summer plumage, I asked
the old "drowner" in our meadows to look out for one for
me--and this he very soon did, fishing one out from under the
water between the spikes of his eel-sticher, as it was diving
under the water.'--_Wilts Arch. Mag._ xxii. 193.
=Effet=, =Evet=. _Lissotriton punctatus_, the Newt (A.S.)--N. & S.W.
'She ... sometimes peered under the sage-bush to look at the
"effets" that hid there.'--_Great Estate_, ii.
=Eggs-and-Bacon=. _Linaria vulgaris_, Mill., Yellow Toadflax. Cf.
~Bacon-and-Eggs~.--N. & S.W.
*=Eggs-eggs=. Fruit of the hawthorn.--S.W. (Farley.)
*=Elet=. Fuel (H.Wr.). *~Ollit~ (Aubrey's _Wilts MS._).--N.W.,
obsolete.
=Elm=, =Helm=, or =Yelm=. (1) _v._ To make up 'elms.'--N. & S.W.
'Two or three women are busy "yelming," i.e. separating the
straw, selecting the longest and laying it level and parallel,
damping it with water, and preparing it for the yokes.'--_Wild
Life_, ch. vi.
(2) _n._ (Almost invariably pl.,'elms' being the usual form). Small
bundles or handfuls of fresh straw, damped and laid out straight for
the thatcher's use (_Wild Life_, ch. vi). See _Wilts Arch. Mag._
vol. xxii. p. 111. According to Prof. Skeat _yelm_, seldom now
used in Wilts, is the correct form, from A.S. _gilm_, a handful.
About Marlborough it is usually pronounced as _Yelms_, but at Clyffe
Pypard there is not the slightest sound of _y_ in it. Elsewhere it is
frequently pronounced as _Ellums_.--N. & S.W.
=Eltrot=. _Heracleum Sphondylium_, L., Cow-parsnip (S.). *~Altrot~ at
Zeals.--S.W.
=Emmet=. The Ant (S.). 'Ant' is never used in Wilts.--N. & S.W.
=Emmet-heap=. An anthill.--N. & S.W.
=En=. (1) _pl. termination_, as ~Housen~, houses; ~Hipsen~,
rose-berries; ~Keyn~, keys; ~Facen~, faces; ~Wenchen~, girls;
~Bluen~, blossoms; ~Naas'n~, nests (rarely heard, _Nestises_ being
the usual form); ~Pigs'-sousen~, pigs'-ears.--N. & S.W.
'In North Wilts ... the formation of the Plural by affixing
_en_ to the Noun is almost universal, as house housen,
&c.'--_Cunnington MS._
(2) _adj. term._, as ~Harnen~, made of horn; ~Stwonen~, of stone;
~Elmin~, of elm wood, &c. '~Boughten~ bread,' baker's bread, as
opposed to home-made. 'A ~dirten~ floor,' a floor made of earth,
beaten hard. 'A ~tinnin~ pot.' 'A ~glassen~ cup.' ~Boarden~, made of
boards; ~Treen-dishes~, wooden platters, &c. 'There's some volk as
thinks to go droo life in glassen slippers.'--N. & S.W.
'Almost as universal too is the transformation of the
Substantive into an adjective by the same termination as ... a
Leatheren Shoe, an elmen Board, &c.'--_Cunnington MS._
(3) See ~Pronouns~.
'The pronoun Possessive too is formed in the same way, as hisn
hern Ourn theirn.'--_Cunnington MS._
=English Parrot=. _Picus viridis_, the Green Woodpecker (_Birds of
Wilts_, p. 251).--S.W. (Salisbury.)
=Ether=, =Edder=. The top-band of a fence, the wands of hazel, &c.,
woven in along the top of a 'dead hedge,' or wattled fence, to keep
it compact (A.B.). A 'stake and ether' fence. A.S. _edor_.--N.W.
'Mughall [Midghall] had nothing to doe withought [without]
the Eyther [hedge] between Bradene Lane and Shropshire
Marsh.'--1602, MS., _Perambulation of the Great Park of
Fasterne, N.W._, in Devizes Museum.
'An eldern stake and blackthorn ether
Will make a hedge to last for ever.'--_Wilts Saying_ (A.).
=Eve=. See ~Heave~.
=Even-ash=. Ash-leaves with an equal number of leaflets, carried by
children in the afternoon of the 29th May (_Wild Life_, ch. v). See
~Shitsac~.--N.W.
=Evet=. See ~Effet~.
=Ex=, pl. =Exes=. An axle (S.).--N. & S.W.
=Eyles=. See ~Ailes~.
=F=. (1) _F_ for _th_. Examples :.--_Fust_, thirst; _afust_, athirst.
An old characteristic of the Western and South-Western groups of
dialect. (2) F, at the beginning of a word, is frequently sounded as
_v_, as fall, _vall_; flick, _vlick_; font, _vant_.
=Fadge=. See ~Fodge~.
=Fag=. See ~Vag~.
=Faggot=, =Fakket=. (1) A woman of bad character is 'a nasty stinking
faggot (or vaggot).' Often used in a milder sense, as 'You young
vaggot! [you bad girl] what be slapping the baby vor?'--N. & S.W.
'Damn you vor a gay wench, vor that's what you be, an' no
mistake about it; a vaggot as I wun't hae in _my_ house no
longer.'--_Dark_, ch. xii.
(2) A rissole of chopped pig's-liver and seasoning, covered with
'flare': also known as ~Bake-faggot~.--N. & S.W.
'Tripe an mince meat,
Vaggots an pigs veet,
An blackpuddins stale, on which to regale.'--SLOW'S _Poems_, p. 26.
=Falarie=. Disturbance, excitement, commotion.--N. & S.W.
'"Look'ee here, there 've bin a fine falarie about you, Zur."
He meant that there had been much excitement when it was
found that Bevis was not in the garden, and was nowhere to be
found.'--_Wood Magic_, ch. ii.
'Used about Wilton, but not so extensively as its synonym
_rumpus_.'--_Letter from Mr. Slow._
=Fall about=. _v._ Of a woman: to be confined. 'His wife bin an' fell
about laas' night.'--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Fall down=. Of arable land: to be allowed to relapse of itself into
poor rough pasture.--N.W.
'Some of the land is getting "turnip-sick," the roots come
stringy and small and useless, so that many let it "vall
down."'--_Great Estate_, ch. i. p. 6.
=Falling=. _n._ A downfall of snow. 'I thenks we shall have some
vallen soon.' Only used of snow.--N. & S.W.
=Falling-post=. The front upright timber of a gate. Occasionally
heard at Huish; ~Head~, however, being the more usual term
there.--N.W.
=Falsify=. Of seeds, young trees, &c.: to fail, to come to
nought.--N.W.
=Fancy man=. A married woman's lover. 'He be Bill's wife's fancy man,
that's what _he_ do be.'--N.W.
*=Fang=. To strangle; to bind a wounded limb so tightly as to stop
the flow of blood (A.B.H.Wr.).
=Fantag=, =Fanteague=, &c. (1) _n._ Fluster, fuss. ~Fantaig~
(S.).--N. & S.W. (2) Vagaries or larks, as 'Now, none o' your
fantaigs here!' At Clyffe Pypard, N.W., 'a regular fantaig' would be
a flighty flirting lad or girl, a 'wondermenting or gammotty sort of
a chap.'--N. & S.W.
*=Fardingale=. A quarter of an acre (H.Wr. _Lansd. MS._). The old
form is _Farding-deal_ (Wr.). Compare _Thurindale_, &c.--Obsolete.
'1620. Itm, to the same Thomas & Nicholas Lea for theire helpe
to laye the Acres into ffarendells.'--_Records of Chippenham_,
p. 202.
'1649. Twoe ffarthendels of grasse.'--_Ibid._ p. 217.
=Farewell Summer=. The Michaelmas Daisy.--N. & S.W.
=Fashion=. The farcey, a disease in horses (A.H.Wr.). Fr.
_farcin_.--N.W.
'An old Wiltshire farmer, when his grand-daughters appeared
before him with any new piece of finery, would ask what it all
meant. The girls would reply, "_fashion_, gran'váther!" when
the old man would rejoin, "Ha! many a good horse has died o'
th' fashion!"'--_Akerman._
=Favour=. To resemble in features, &c. 'He doesn't favour you,
Sir.... He is his mother's own boy.'--N. & S.W.
=Featish=. Fair, tolerable (A.B.). Used of health, crops, &c. 'How be
'e ?' 'Featish, thank 'e.'--'There's a featish crop o' grass yander!'
(A.). M.E. _fetis_ (in Chaucer), O.F. fetis, _faitis_.--N.W.
'The worthy farmer proceeded to ask how the children got on
at the Sunday-school. "Oh, featish, zur ... Sally, yander ...
her's gettin' on oonderful."'--_Wilts Tales_, pp. 139-140.
'"How's your voice?" "Aw, featish [fairish]. I zucked a
thrush's egg to clear un."'--_Greene Ferns Farm_, ch. i.
'"Ees, this be featish tackle," meaning the liquor was
good.'--_Ibid._ ch. vii.
'A' be a featish-looking girl, you.'--_Ibid._ ch. i.
*=Fern Buttercup=. _Potentilla Anserina_, L., Silverweed.--S.W.
(Zeals.)
=Fess=. (1) Of animals: bad-tempered, fierce. A cat with its back up
looks 'ter'ble fess.'--N. & S.W. (2) Cocky, impudent, confident. Also
used in Hants.--S.W., occasionally. (3) Proud, stuck-up (S.).--S.W.
=Fet=. See ~Preterites~.
=Fevertory=. _Fumaria_, Fumitory, from which a cosmetic for removing
freckles used to be distilled.--S.W.
'If you wish to be pure and holy,
Wash your face with fevertory.'--_Local Rhyme._
=Few=. 'A goodish few,' or 'a main few,' a considerable quantity or
number.--N. & S.W.
'I ferrets a goodish few rabbits on bright nights in
winter.'--_Amateur Poacher_, ch. vii.
=Fiddle-strings=. The ribs of the Plantain leaf, when pulled out. See
~Cat-gut~.--N.W.
*=Field=. The space, or bay, between beam and beam in a barn, as 'a
barn of four fields.' (D.).
=Figged= (_two syll._), =Figgedy=, =Figgetty=, =Figgy=. (1) Made with
a few 'figs,' or raisins, as 'viggy pudden.' Figged Pudding, Plum
pudding (_Monthly Mag._, 1814). Figgetty Pooden (S.).--N. & S.W. (2)
~Figged.~ Spotted all over, as a pudding is with plums.--S.W. A
true-born Moon-raker, describing his first night in 'Lunnon,' where
he made the acquaintance of numerous members of the 'Norfolk-Howard'
family (_Cimex lectularius_), spoke of his face as being 'vigged aal
auver wi' spots an' bumps afore marning.'
=Fighting-cocks=. _Plantago media_, L., and other Plantains. Children
'fight' them, head against head.--N.W.
=Filtry=. Rubbish. 'Ther's a lot o' filtry about this house.'--N.W.
=Fine=. Of potatoes, very small.--N.W.
=Fingers-and-Thumbs=. Blossoms of _Ulex Europaeus_, L., Common Furze
(S.).--S.W.
*=Fire-deal=. A good deal (H.Wr.).
=Fire-new=, =Vire-new=. Quite new (A.)--N.W.
=Firk=. (1) To worry mentally, to be anxious; as 'Don't firk so,' or
'Don't firk yourself.' A cat does not _firk_ a mouse when 'playing'
with it, but the mouse _firks_ grievously.--N.W. (Marlborough). (2)
To be officiously busy or inquisitive, as 'I can't abear that there
chap a-comin' firkin' about here.' A policeman getting up a case
_firks about_ the place, ferreting out all the evidence he can.--N.W.
*=Fitten=. A pretence (A.B.).--Obsolete. Compare:
'He doth feed you with fittons, figments, and
leasings.'--_Cynthia's Revels._
=Fitty=. In good health. 'How be 'ee?' 'Ter'ble fitty.'--N.W.
*=Flabber-gaster=. _n._ Idle talk (S.).--S.W.
=Flag=. The blade of wheat.--N.W.
'The wheat was then showing a beautiful flag.... The flag is
the long narrow green leaf of the wheat.'--_Great Estate_, ch.
i. p. 8.
=Flake=. _n._ (1) A frame, barred with ash or willow spars, somewhat
resembling a light gate, used as a hurdle where extra strength is
needed (_Bevis_, ch. xii; _Wild Life_, ch. iv). 'Flake' hurdles
are used to divide a field, or for cattle, the ordinary sheep
hurdles being too weak for the purpose.--N.W. (2) _v._ To make
'flakes.'--N.W.
=Flamtag=. A slatternly woman.--N.W. (Huish, &c.)
=Flare=. (1) The flick, or internal fat of a pig, before it is melted
down to make lard.--N. & S.W. (2) The caul, or thin skin of the
intestines of animals, used for covering 'bake-faggots,' &c.--N. &
S.W.
=Fleck=. See ~Flick~.
=Flews=. A sluice is occasionally so called. See ~Flowse~.--S.W.
=Flewy=. Of a horse, troubled with looseness. 'He's what we calls a
flewy 'oss, can't kip nothing in 'im.' Cf. North of Eng. _Flewish_,
morally or physically weak. In Hants a horse of weakly constitution
is said to be _flue_ or _fluey_ (Cope).--N.W.
=Flick=, =Fleck=. (1) _n._ The internal fat of a pig (A.B.C.S.).--N.
& S.W. *(2) _v._ To flare (S.).--S.W.
=Flig-me-jig=. A girl of doubtful character. 'Her's a reg'lar
flig-me-jig.'--N.W.
=Flirk=. To flip anything about (H.Wr.), as a duster in flicking a
speck of dust off a table (_Village Miners_). Flirt is the S. Wilts
form of the word.--N.W.
*=Flitch=. (1) Pert, lively, officious (A.B.H.Wr.).
'Right flygge and mery.' _Paston Letters_, iv. 412.
*(2) To be _flick_ or _flitch_ with any one, to be familiar or
intimate (C.).--N.W., obsolete.
=Flitmouse=. The bat. A shortened form of _Flittermouse_.--N.W.
(Marlborough.)
=Flitters=. Pieces. A cup falls, and is broken 'aal to
vlitters.'--N.W.
*=Floating= or =Flowing meadow=. A meadow laid up in ridges with
water-carriages on each ridge and drains between (D.). A lowland
meadow watered from a river, as opposed to Catch-meadow (_Annals of
Agric._). ~Floted meadowes~ (Aubrey's _Nat. Hist. Wilts_, p. 51, ed.
Brit.).
=Flod=. See ~Preterites~.
=Flop-a-dock=. _Digitalis purpurea_, L., Foxglove.--S.W. (Hants
bord.)
=Floppetty=. _adj._ Of a woman, untidy, slatternly in dress or
person. ~Flopperty~ (S.).--S.W.
=Flowing Meadows=. See ~Floating Meadows~.
=Flowse=. (1) _v. act._ You 'flowse,' or splash, the water over you
in a bath.--N. & S.W. (2) _v. neut._ Water is said to be 'flowsing
down' when rushing very strongly through a mill hatch. A horse likes
to 'flowse about' in a pond.--S.W. (3) _n._ The rush of water through
a hatch.--S.W. (4) _n._ Occasionally also applied to the narrow
walled channel between the hatch gate and the pool below.--S.W.
=Flucksey=. _adj._ 'A flucksey old hen,' i.e. a hen who makes a
great fuss over her chickens.--S.W. (Bishopstrow, &c.) Cope's _Hants
Glossary_ has:--'_Flucks_, to peck in anger like a hen.'
=Flump=. 'To come down flump, like a twoad from roost,' to fall
heavily (A.B.S.); also used alone as a verb, as 'Her vlumped down in
thic chair.'--N. & S.W.
=Flunk=. A spark of fire; probably a form of ~Blink~, q.v. ~Vlonker~
(S.).--S.W.
=Flush=. *(1) _n._ Of grass, a strong and abundant growth (_Agric.
of Wilts_, ch. xii). (2) _adj._ Of grass, &c., luxuriant.--N.W. (3)
_adj._ Of young birds, fledged (A.B.).--N. & S.W.
=Flustrated=. (1) Taken aback, flustered.--N.W.
'A didn't zay anything ... but a looked a leetle flustrated
like.'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 119.
(2) Tipsy.--N.W.
=Fluttery=. Of weather, catchy, uncertain, showery. ''T ull be a main
fluttery hay-making to-year, I warnd.'--N.W. (Huish.)
*=Fodder=. A labourer 'fodders' his boots--stuffs soft hay into them
to fill up, when they are too large for him (_Village Miners_).
*=Fodge= (rarely =Fadge=). In packing fleeces of wool, when the
quantity is too small to make up a full 'bag' of 240 lbs., the ends
of the bag are gathered together as required, and the sides skewered
over them, thus forming the small package known as a 'fodge.'--N.W.
=Fog=. _v._ To give fodder to cattle. Cf. Welsh _ffwg_, dry
grass.--N. & S.W.
'_Fogging_, the giving of fodder ... from a Middle English root
... is common in Mid-Wilts.'--_Leisure Hour_, Aug. 1893.
=Fog off=. To damp off, as cuttings often do in a greenhouse.--N.W.
(Marlborough.)
=Fogger=. A man who attends to the cows and takes them their fodder
morning and evening (_My Old Village_, &c.). A groom or man-servant
(H.Wr.), the duties of groom and fogger being usually discharged by
the same man on farms about Marlborough.--N. & S.W.
*=Foldsail=, =Fossel=. A fold-shore (D.). See ~Sails~.--N.W.
'A fold stake, locally called a "fossle."'--_Wilts Arch. Mag._
xxi. 132.
'The "fossels" means the _fold-shores_, or the _stakes_ to
which the hurdles are shored up, and fastened with a loose twig
wreath at the top.'--_Ibid._ xvii. 304.
=Fold-shore=. A stake pitched to support a hurdle (D.H.).--S.W.
=Follow or Follow on=. To continue.--N.W.
'If you do want a good crop, you must _follow on_ a hoeing
o' the ground; but you can't do no hoeing so long as it do
_follow_ raining.'--_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxii. p. 111.
=Folly=. A circular plantation of trees on a hill, as 'Harnham
Folly,' or 'The Long Folly' on Compton Down. This seems quite
distinct from its more general use as applied to a tower or other
building which is too pretentious or costly for its builder's
position and means.--N. & S.W.
'"Every hill seems to have a Folly," she said, looking round.
"I mean a clump of trees on the top."'--_Greene Ferne Farm_,
ch. vi.
*=Foot-cock=. The small cock into which hay is first put (D.).
=Footy=. Paltry (A.B.), as a present not so large as was expected
(_Village Miners_).--N.W.
=For=. Often affixed to the verbs _say_ and _think_. ''Tean't the
same as you said for'; 'I bean't as old as you thinks for.'--N.W.
=Fore-eyed=. Fore-seeing, apt to look far ahead (S.).--S.W.
=Fore-spur=. A fore-leg of pork (S.).--S.W.
=Forefeed=, =Vorfeed=. To turn cattle out in spring into a pasture
which is afterwards to be laid up for hay.--N.W.
=Foreright=, =Vorright=. (1) _adj._ Headstrong, self-willed. 'He's
that vorright there's no telling he anything.'--N. & S.W. (2) _adj._
Blunt, rude, candid.--N.W. (Malmesbury.) (3) Just opposite. 'The
geat's vorright thuck shard.'--N.W.
*=Forel=. The actual cover of a book, not the material in which it is
bound. This is the usual term in Som. Old Fr. _fourrel_, a sheath,
case.--N.W. (Malmesbury.)
=Fork=. The apparatus used by thatchers for carrying the elms up to
the roof.--N.W.
=Forester=. (1) A New Forest horse-fly.--S.W. (2) Any very tall
thistle growing among underwood.--N.W. (Marlborough.)
*=Fossel=. See ~Foldsail~.
=Fot=. See ~Preterites~.
=Frame= A skeleton. 'Her's nothing in the world but a frame.'--N.W.
*=Frea=, =Fry=. To make a brushwood drain (D.).
=Freglam=. Odds and ends of cold vegetables, fried up with a little
bacon to give a relish. Compare Lanc. _Braughwham_, cheese, eggs,
clap-bread, and butter, all boiled together.--N.W., obsolete.
*=French Grass=. _Onobrychis sativa_, L., Sainfoin.--N.W. (Enford.)
=Fresh liquor=. Unsalted hog's-fat (A).--N.W.
=Frickle=, =Friggle=. (1) To potter about at little jobs, such as an
old man can do. 'I bain't up to a day's work now; I can't do nothing
but frickle about in my garne.'--N. & S.W. (2) To fidget, to worry
about a thing.--N.W.
'He freggled [fidgetted] hisself auver thuck paason as come a
bit ago.'--_Greene Ferne Farm_, ch. vii.
=Frickling=, =Friggling=. _adj._ Tiresome, involving much minute
attention or labour. Used of fiddling little jobs.--N.W.
=Friggle=. _n._ A worrying little piece of work. 'I be so caddled
wi' aal these yer friggles, I caan't hardly vind time vor a bit o'
vittles.' See ~Frickle~.--N.W. (Huish.)
=Frith=. (1) _n._ 'Quick,' or young whitethorn for planting
hedges.--N.W. *(2) _n._ Thorns or brush underwood (D).--N.W.
'1605. Itm to James Smalwood for an Acre & halfe of
hedginge frith out of Heywood.... Item for felling the same
frith.'--_Records of Chippenham_, p. 194.
(3) _v._ To make a brushwood drain, as opposed to ~Grip~, q.v. (D).
=Froar=. Frozen (A.B.S.); generally ~Vroar~ or ~Vrŏr~ in N.
Wilts, but the usual form at Wroughton, N.W., is ~Froren~. A.S.
_gefroren_.--N. & S.W.
=Frog-dubbing=. Boys throw a frog into a shallow pool, and then 'dub'
or pelt it, as it tries to escape. See ~Dub~.--S.W.
=Froom=. See ~Frum~.
=Frout=. Of animals: to take fright. 'My horse frouted and run
away.'--S.W.
=Frouten=, =Froughten=. To frighten (S.).--N. & S.W.
'Lor, Miss, how you did froughten I!'--_Greene Ferne Farm_, ch.
vii.
=Frow=. See ~Brow~.
=Frum=, =Froom=. Of vegetables, grass, &c.: fresh and juicy (A.B.);
strong-growing or rank. A.S. _from_, vigorous, strong.--N.W.
*=Fry=. (1) _n._ A brushwood drain (H.Wr.). See ~Frith~ (3).--N.W.
(2) _v._ To make a brushwood drain (D.). Also ~Frea~ and ~Frith~
(D.).--N.W.
'1790. For 234 Lugg Hollow frying in Englands
2.18.6.'--_Records of Chippenham_, p. 248.
=Fullmare=. _n._ In my childhood I remember being told more than
once by servants at Morden, near Swindon, N.W., that a colt which
was playing about in a field near was 'a fullmare.' Could this
possibly have been a survival of the old word '_Folymare_, a young
foal,' which is given by Halliwell and Wright as occurring in a
fifteenth-century MS. at Jesus College, Oxford? I have never heard
the word elsewhere.--_G. E. D._
=Fur=. _n._ The calcareous sediment in a kettle, &c.--N. & S.W.
=Furlong= (pronounced ~Vurlin~). The strip of newly-ploughed land
lying between two main furrows.--N.W. (Lockeridge.)
=Fur up=. Water-pipes, kettles, &c., when coated inside with 'rock,'
or the calcareous sediment of hard water, are said to 'fur up,' or to
be 'furred up.'--N. & S.W.
*=Furze-hawker=. _Saxicola oenanthe_, the Wheatear.--N.W.
*=Furze Robin=. _Saxicola rubicola_, the Stonechat (_Birds of Wilts_,
p. 150).--N.W. (Sutton Benger.)
=Fuzz-ball=. _Lycoperdon Bovista_, L., Puffball.--N. & S.W.
=Gaa-oot!= See ~Horses~ (A.).
=Gaam=. (1) _v._ To smear or bedaub with anything sticky. ~Gaamze~
(_Village Miners_). (2) _n._ A sticky mass of anything. See
~Gam~.--N. & S.W. Many years ago, at a Yeomanry ball in a certain
town in N. Wilts, the Mayor, who had done his duty manfully up to
then, stopped short in the middle of a dance, and mopping his face
vigorously, gasped out to his astonished partner, a lady of high
position, 'Well, I don't know how _you_ be, Marm, but _I_ be ael of a
gaam o' zweat!'--N.W.
=Gaamy=, =Gammy=. Daubed with grease, &c., sticky. In Hal. and Wr.
'~Gaam~, _adj._ sticky, clammy,' is apparently an error, _gaamy_
being probably intended.--N.W.
=Gaapsey=. _n._ A sight to be stared at. See ~Gapps~.--N.W.
=Gaapus=. _n._ A fool, a stupid fellow. 'What be at, ye girt
gaapus!'--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Gabborn=. Of rooms or houses, comfortless, bare (B.C.). ~Gabbern~
(A.H.) and ~Gabern~ (_Great Estate_, ch. iv. p. 78). This term
always denotes largeness without convenience or comfort (_Cunnington
MS._).--N.W. ~Gabberny~ on Berks bord.
*=Gage-ring=. An engagement ring (_Great Estate_, ch. x).--N.W.
=Galley-bagger=. A scarecrow (S.).--S.W.
=Galley-crow=. A scarecrow (A.H.Wr.).--N. & S.W.
'"Maester," said the child, "wull 'e let m' chainge hats wi'
thuck galley-crow yander?" ... pointing to a scarecrow at the
other end of the garden.'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 103.
=Gallivant=. To be gadding about on a spree with a companion of the
opposite sex (S.): to run after the girls, or 'chaps,' as the case
may be.--N. & S.W.
=Gallow=. See ~Gally~.
=Gallows= (pronounced _Gallus_). *(1) A pair of braces. (2)
Exceedingly. Used with any adjective; as 'Gallus dear,' very
expensive (_Great Estate_, ch. iv. p. 75).--N. & S.W.
'A gallus bad wench her be!'--_Dark_, ch. xviii.
*(3) 'He's a gallus chap,' i.e. plucky.
=Gallows-gate=. A light gate, consisting only of a hinged style,
top-rail, and one strut.--N.W.
=Gallus=. See ~Gallows~.--N.W.
=Gally=, =Gallow=. To frighten or terrify. ~Gallow~ (B.H., _Lansd.
MS._), ~Gally~ (A.B.S.), Pret. _gallered_, astonished, frightened
(A.B.C.S.) 'He gallered I amwost into vits.' Still in use about
Marlborough and in S.W. From M.E. _galwen_; A.S. _agælwan_, to
stupefy.--N. & S.W.
'The wrathful skies
Gallow the very wanderers of the dark.'--_Lear_, iii. 2.
The word is still commonly used in the whale-fishery:--
'Young bulls ... are ... easily "gallied," that is,
frightened.'--MARRYAT, _Poor Jack_, ch. vi.
=Gam=. A sticky mass, as 'all in a gam.' See ~Gaam~ (2).--N. & S.W.
In S. Wilts the _a_ in this word and its derivatives is usually
short, while in N. Wilts it is broad in sound.
=Gambrel=. The piece of wood or iron used by butchers for extending
or hanging a carcase (A.). ~Gamel~ (S.).--N. & S.W.
=Gamel=. See ~Gambrel~.
=Gammer=. A woodlouse.--S.W.
=Gammet=, =Gamut=. (1) _n._ Fun, frolicsome tricks. 'You be vull o'
gamuts.'--N.W. (2) _v._ To frolic, to play the fool. See ~Gammock~
and ~Gannick~. 'Thee bist allus a gammetting.'--N.W. (3) _v._ To play
off practical jokes; to take in any one.--N.W.
=Gammock=. _v._ To lark about, to play the fool, to frolic. See
~Gannick~ and ~Gammet~.--N.W. (Marlborough.)
=Gammotty=, =Gammutty=. (1) _adj._ Frolicsome, larky. See
~Gammet~.--N.W. (2) _adj._ Of cheese, ill-flavoured. See
~Cammocky~.--N.W.
=Gammy=. (1) Sticky. See ~Gaamy~.--S.W. (2) Lame, crippled, having a
'game leg.'--N. & S.W.
=Gamut=. See ~Gammet~.
=Gander-flanking, To go=. To go off larking or 'wondermenting.'
Perhaps a corruption of _gallivanting_.--S.W. (Upton Scudamore.)
=Gandigoslings=. _Orchis mascula_, L., Early Purple Orchis. Compare
_Gandergosses_ in _Gerarde_ (_Appendix_), and _Candle-gostes_
in _Folk-Etymology_. Also see ~Dandy-goslings~, ~Dandy-goshen~,
~Goosey-ganders~, ~Goslings~, ~Grampha-Griddle-Goosey-Gander~, and
~Granfer-goslings~.--N.W.
=Gannick=. To lark about, to play the fool. See ~Gammock~.--S.W.
(Warminster, &c.)
=Gapps=, =Gaapsey=. To gape or stare at anything. 'Thee'st allus a
gaapsin' about.'--N.W.
=Garley-gut=. A gluttonous person. Perhaps connected with _gorle_, to
devour eagerly (see Halliwell).
'"Let's go to bed," says Heavy-Head,
"Let's bide a bit," says Sloth,
"Put on the pot," says Garley-gut,
"We'll sup afore we g'auf" [go off].'--_Nursery Rhyme._
=Gashly=. See ~Ghastly~.
=Gate=. _n._ Excitement, 'taking.' 'Her wur in a vine gate
wi't.'--N.W.
=Gatfer=. See ~Gotfer~.
=Gauge-brick=. A brick which shows by its change of colour when the
oven is hot enough for baking. Cf. ~Warning-stone~.--N.W.
'She knew when the oven was hot enough by the gauge-brick:
this particular brick as the heat increased became spotted
with white, and when it had turned quite white the oven was
ready.'--_Great Estate_, ch. viii. p. 152.
=Gawl-cup=. See ~Gold-cup~.
=Gawney=. A simpleton (A.H.S.Wr.).--N. & S.W.
'Leave m' 'lone y' great gawney!'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 83.
=Gay=. Of wheat, rank in the blade (D.).--N.W.
=Gee=, =Jee=. To agree, to work well together (A.B.).--N.W.
=Genow=. See ~Go-now~.
*=Gentlemen's-and-ladies'-fingers=. _Arum maculatum_, L.,
Cuckoo-pint. Cf. ~Lady's-Finger~ (2).--S.W. (Farley.)
=Ghastly= (pronounced Gashly). This word is used in many ways, as
'Thick hedge wur gashly high, but it be ter'ble improved now.'--N.W.
(Huish.) At Etchilhampton, N.W., a 'gashly ditch' is one that is cut
too wide.--N. & S.W.
=Gibbles=. Onions grown from bulbs. Cf. ~Chipples~ and
~Cribbles~.--N. & S.W.
=Gicksey=. See ~Kecks~.
=Giggley=. See ~Goggley~.
=Gigletting=. _adj._ Fond of rough romping; wanton. Used only of
females. 'Dwoan't ha' no truck wi' thuck there giglettin' wench o'
his'n.'--N.W. (Malmesbury.)
=Gilcup=. Buttercups in general; occasionally restricted to _R.
Ficaria_. Cf. ~Gold-cup~.--S.W.
*=Gill=. A low four-wheeled timber-carriage (_Cycl. of Agric._).
*=Gilty-cup=. _Caltha palustris_, L., Marsh Marigold.--S.W. (Zeals.)
=Gin-and-Water Market=. See quotation.
'Some towns have only what is called a "gin-and-water" market:
that is, the "deal" is begun and concluded from small samples
carried in the pocket and examined at an inn over a glass of
spirits and water.'--_The Toilers of the Field_, p. 28.
=Gipsy=. Carnation grass, _Carex panicea_, L., because it turns so
brown.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Gipsy-rose=. _Scabiosa atropurpurea_, L., the Garden Scabious.--N.W.
=Girls=. The short-pistilled or 'thrum-eyed' blossoms of the
Primrose, _Primula vulgaris_, L. See ~Boys~.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Gix=, =Gicksey=, &c. See ~Kecks~.
=Glory-hole=. A place for rubbish or odds and ends, as a housemaid's
cupboard, or a lumber room.--N.W.
'This has nothing to do with Lat. _gloria_, but is connected
with M.E. _glorien_, to befoul (_Prompt. Parv._). Compare Prov.
Eng. _glorry_, greasy, fat. Thus _glory-hole_=a dirty, untidy
nook. See _Folk-Etymology_, p. 145.'--SMYTHE-PALMER.
*=Glox=. This is given by most authorities as a noun, and defined as
'the sound of liquids when shaken in a barrel' (A.B.H.Wr.); but it
is really a verb, and refers to the motion and peculiar gurgling of
liquids against the side of a barrel or vessel that is not quite full
(C.). In Hants _gloxing_ is the noise made by falling, gurgling water
(Cope). Cf. ~Lottle~.--N.W., obsolete.
'Fill the Barrel full, John, or else it will glox in
Carriage.'--_Cunnington MS._
=Glutch=. To swallow (A.B.C.S.). According to _Cunnington MS_, the
use of _glutch_ implies that there is some difficulty in swallowing,
while _quilt_ is to swallow naturally.--N. & S.W.
=Glutcher=. The throat (S.). See ~Glutch~.--N. & S.W.
*=Gnaa-post=. A simpleton (S.).--S.W.
=Gnaing=. To mock, to insult (S.). Also used in West of England and
Sussex.--S.W.
=Goat-weed=. _Polygonum Convolvulus_, L., Black Bindweed.--N.W.
*=Gob=. (1) _n._ Much chatter (S.).--S.W. (2) _v._ To talk.--S.W.
*=Goche=. A pitcher (H.Wr.). Perhaps a mistake, as Morton (_Cycl. of
Agric._) gives _gotch_ under Norfolk.
=Gog=, =Goggmire=. A swamp or quagmire. Cf. ~Quavin-gog~. 'I be all
in a goggmire,' in a regular fix or dilemma.--N.W.
'In Minty Common ... is a boggie place, called the _Gogges_....
_Footnote_. Perhaps a corruption of _quag_, itself a
corruption of _quake_. "I be all in a goggmire" is a North
Wilts phrase for being in what appears an inextricable
difficulty.'--JACKSON'S _Aubrey_, p. 271.
=Goggle=. (1) _n._ A snail-shell. Cf. E. _cockle_ (Skeat).--N.W.
'=Guggles=, the empty shells of snails--not the large brown
kind, but those of various colours.'--MISS E. BOYER-BROWN.
(2) _v._ 'To go goggling,' to collect snail-shells (_Springtide_,
p. 89).--N.W. (3) _v._ To shake or tremble, as a table with one leg
shorter than the others. 'I do trembly an' goggly ael day.'--N. &
S.W. (4) _n._ 'All of a goggle,' shaking all over, especially from
physical weakness. 'How are you to-day, Sally?' 'Lor', Zur! I be aal
of a goggle.' 'What on earth do you mean?' 'Why, I be zo ter'ble
giggly, I can't scarce kip my lags nohow.'--S.W. (Steeple Ashton.)
=Goggles=. A disease in sheep (_Agric. of Wilts_, ch. xiv).--N.W.
(Castle Eaton.)
=Goggly=. Unsteady, shaky. Sometimes ~Giggly~ is used, as in example
given under ~Goggle~.--N. & S.W.
=Goggmire=. See ~Gog~.
=Gold=. Nodules of iron pyrites in chalk.--N.W. Heard once or twice,
near Clyffe Pypard, years ago.--G. E. D.
'On past the steep wall of an ancient chalk-quarry, where the
ploughboys search for pyrites, and call them thunderbolts and
"gold," for when broken the radial metallic fibres glisten
yellow.'--_Greene Ferne Farm_, ch. v.
=Gold-cup= (pronounced _Gawl-cup_). The various forms of Buttercup.
Cf. ~Gilcup~.--N.W. (Malmesbury.)
=Golden Chain=. (1) Laburnum (S.). The general name for it
in Wilts.--N. & S.W. (2) _Lathyrus pratensis_, L., Meadow
Vetchling.--S.W. (Salisbury.)
=Goldlock=. _Sinapis arvensis_, L., Charlock.--S.W. (Zeals.)
=Go-now=, =Genow=, =Good-now=. Used as an expletive, or an address
to a person (S.). 'What do 'ee thenk o' that, genow!' Also used in
Dorset.--N. & S.W.
=Gooding Day=. St. Thomas' Day, when children go 'gooding,' or asking
for Christmas boxes.--N.W.
*=Good Neighbour=. Jefferies (_Village Miners_) speaks of a weed
called by this name, but does not identify it. See below.
=Good Neighbourhood=. (1) _Chenopodium Bonus-Henricus_, L., Good
King Henry.--N.W. (Devizes.) (2) _Centranthus ruber_, DC., Red Spur
Valerian (_English Plant Names_).--N.W. (Devizes.)
=Good-now=. See ~Go-now~ (S.). Used at Downton, &c.--S.W.
=Gooseberry-pie=. _Valeriana dioica_, L., All-heal.--S.W.
=Goosegog=. A green gooseberry (S.). Used by children.--N. & S.W.
=Goosehill=. See ~Guzzle~.
*=Goosen-chick=. A gosling (Wr.). *~Goosen-chick's vather~. A gander
(Wr.). Both these words would appear to belong to Som. and Dev.
rather than Wilts.
=Goosey-gander=. A game played by children (S.).--N. & S.W.
=Goosey-ganders=. _Orchis mascula_, L., Early Purple Orchis.--N.W.
*=Gore=. A triangular piece of ground (D.).
=Goslings=. _Orchis mascula_, L., Early Purple Orchis. See
~Gandigoslings~.--N.W.
=Goss=. _Ononis arvensis_, L., Restharrow. Gorse, _Ulex_, is always
'Fuzz.'--N.W.
=Gossiping=. A christening.--N.W., obsolete.
*=Gotfer=. An old man (H.Wr.). *~Gatfer~ is still in use about
Malmesbury.--N.W.
=Grab-hook=. A kind of grapnel used for recovering lost buckets from
a well.
=Graft=. (1) A draining spade.--N.W. (2) The depth of earth dug
therewith.--N.W.
=Grained=. Dirty (A.H.Wr.); ~Grainted~ (B.); the latter being a
mispronunciation.--N.W.
=Grains=. The tines of a gardening fork, as 'a four-grained
prong.'--N. & S.W.
=Gramfer=. Grandfather (A.B.). ~Granfer~ (S.) and ~Gramp~ are also
used.--N. & S.W.
=Grammer=. Grandmother (A.B.S.).--N. & S.W. Becoming obsolete.
=Grammered in=. Of dirt, so grained in, that it is almost impossible
to wash it off. ~Grammered~: Begrimed (H.).--N.W.
*=Grampha-Griddle-Goosey-Gander=. _Orchis mascula_, L., Early Purple
Orchis (_Sarum Dioc. Gazette_).--S.W. (Zeals.)
*=Granfer-goslings=. _Orchis maculata_, L., Spotted Orchis (_Village
Miners_).--N.W.
*=Granny-jump-out-of-bed=. _Aconitum Napellus_, L., Monks-hood.--S.W.
(Deverill.)
=Granny= (or =Granny's=) =Nightcap=. (1) _Anemone nemorosa_, L.,
Wood Anemone.--S.W. (Salisbury.) (2) _Aquilegia vulgaris_, L.,
Common Columbine.--N.W. (Huish.) (3) _Convolvulus sepium_, L., Great
Bindweed.--N.W. (4) _Convolvulus arvensis_, L., Field Bindweed.--N.W.
*=Grate=. Earth (D.).
*=Grate-board=. The mould-board of a plough (D.).
*=Gratings=. The right of feed in the stubbles (D.). See ~Gretton~.
=Gravel-Path, The=. The Milky Way.--N.W. (Huish.)
*=Gray Woodpecker=. _Picus major_, the Great Spotted Woodpecker
(_Birds of Wilts_, p. 253). See ~Black Woodpecker~.
=Great axe=. The large English woodman's axe (_Amateur Poacher_, ch.
iv).
=Greggles=, or =Greygles=. _Scilla nutans_, Sm., Wild Hyacinth. Cf.
~Blue Goggles~.--S.W.
*=Gretton=. Stubble (Aubrey's _Wilts MS._) See ~Gratings~.
=Greybeard=. _Clematis Vitalba_, L., Traveller's Joy, when in
seed.--N.W.
=Greygles=. See ~Greggles~.
=Griggles=. Small worthless apples remaining on the tree after the
crop has been gathered in.--N.W.
=Griggling=. Knocking down the 'griggles,' as boys are allowed by
custom to do.--N.W.
=Grindstone Apple=. The crab-apple; used to sharpen reap-hooks, its
acid biting into the steel. The 'Grindstone Apple' mentioned in the
_Eulogy of R. Jefferies_, p. iv. is probably the 'Grindstone Pippin'
of _Wood Magic_, not the crab.--N.W.
=Grip=, or =Gripe=. (1) To _grip_ wheat is to divide it into bundles
before making up the sheaves.--N.W. (2) _n._ 'A grip of wheat,' the
handful grasped in reaping (A.). It is _laid down in gripe_ when laid
ready in handfuls untied (D.).--N.W. (3) _v._ To drain with covered
turf or stone drains, as opposed to _frith_. To _take up gripe_, is
to make such drains (D.).--S.W.
=Grist=, =Griz=. To snarl and show the teeth, as an angry dog or man
(A.H.Wr.).--N.W.
=Grizzle=. To grumble, complain, whine, cry.--N. & S.W.
*=Grom=. A forked stick used by thatchers for carrying the bundles of
straw up to the roof (A.B.G.).
*=Gropsing=. 'The gropsing of the evening,' dusk.--Obsolete.
'Both came unto the sayd Tryvatt's howse in the gropsing of the
yevening.'--_Wilts Arch. Mag._ xxii. 227.
=Ground=. A field.--N.W.
'A whirlewind took him up ... and layd him down safe, without
any hurt, in the next ground.'--AUBREY'S _Nat. Hist. Wilts_ p.
16, ed. Brit.
*=Ground-sill stone=. Quarrymen's term for one of the beds of the
Portland oolite--useful for bridges, &c., where great strength is
required (Britton's _Beauties_, vol. iii).
=Ground-rest=. The wood supporting the share, in the old wooden
plough (D.). _Rest_ is a mistake for _wrest_ (Skeat).--N.W.
=Grout=. (1) _v._ To root like a hog.--N.W. (2) _v._ Hence, to
rummage about.--N.W.
=Grouty=. _adj._ Of the sky, thundery, threatening rain. It looks
'ter'ble grouty' in summer when thunder clouds are coming up.--N.W.
(Clyffe Pypard.)
=Grump=. 'To grump about,' to complain of all sorts of ailments.--N.W.
*=Grupper=. To give up (Wr.). There would appear to be some mistake
here, as we cannot trace the word elsewhere.
*=Gubbarn=. _n._ A filthy place, a foul gutter or drain (A.H.Wr.),
~Gubborn~ (B.). Should not this be _adj._ instead of _n._? Compare
Devon _gubbings_, offal, refuse.
=Guggles=. See ~Goggles~.
=Guinea-pigs=, =Pigs=. Woodlice. See ~Butchers'-Guinea-Pigs~.--N. &
S.W.
*=Gule=. To sneer or make mouths at (A.). Also used in Hereford.
=Guley=, =Guly=. _adj._ (1) Of sheep, giddy, suffering from a
disease in the head which affects the brain and causes a kind of
vertigo.--N.W. (2) Of persons, queer, stupid, or silly-looking.
Compare _Guled_, bewildered, Berks. After being very drunk
over-night, a man looks 'ter'ble guley' in the morning.--N.W.
=Gullet-hole=. A large drain-hole through a hedge-bank to carry off
water.--N.W.
*=Gurgeons=. Coarse flour (A.).
=Gushill=. See ~Guzzle~.
=Guss=. (1) _n._ The girth of a saddle (A.B.).--N.W. (2) _v._ To
girth; to tie tightly round the middle. A bundle of hay should be
'gussed up tight.' A badly dressed fat woman 'looks vor aal the world
like a zack o' whate a-gussed in wi' a rawp.'--N.W.
=Gustrill=. See ~Guzzle~.
=Gutter=. To drain land with open drains (D.).--N.W.
=Guzzle=. (1) The filth of a drain (B.). (2) A filthy drain (A.B.).
~Goosehill~ (Wr.), ~Gushill~ (K.), and ~Gustrill~ (H.Wr.), the latter
being probably a misprint.--N.W.
=Guzzle-berry=. Gooseberry. Used by children.--N. & S.W.
=H=. It should be noted that the cockney misuse of _H_ is essentially
foreign to our dialect. Formerly it was the rarest thing in the
world to hear a true Wiltshire rustic make such a slip, though the
townsfolk were by no means blameless in this respect, but now the
spread of education and the increased facilities of communication
have tainted even our rural speech with cockneyisms and slang phrases.
=Hack=. (1) _v._ To loosen the earth round potatoes, preparatory
to earthing them up. This is done with a 'tater-hacker,' an old
three-grained garden-fork, which by bending down the tines or
'grains' at right angles to the handle has been converted into
something resembling a rake, but used as a hoe. In Dorset hoeing is
called _hacking_.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.) *(2) _n._ The shed in which
newly-made bricks are set out to dry.--N.W. (Malmesbury.)
*=Hacka=. _n._ A nervous hesitation in speaking (_Village
Miners_).--N.W.
'He speaks with so many hacks and hesitations.'--DR. H. MORE.
=Hacker=. (1) _v._ See ~Hakker~. (2) _n._ The instrument used in
'hacking' potatoes; also known as a ~Tomahawk~.--N.W.
=Hacketty=. See ~Hicketty~.
=Hackle=. *(1) _n._ The mane of a hog (A.H.Wr.). (2) _n._ The straw
covering of a bee-hive or of the apex of a rick (A.).--N.W. *(3) To
agree together (A.). (4) To rattle or re-echo.--N.W.
=Hagged=. Haggard, worn out, exhausted-looking. 'He came in quite
hagged.' 'Her 've a had a lot to contend wi' to-year, and her 's
hagged to death wi't aal.'--N. & S.W.
=Hagger=. See ~Hakker~.
=Haggle=. To cut clumsily. See ~Agg~.--N.W.
'They took out their knives and haggled the skin
off.'--_Bevis_, ch. vii.
=Hag-rod=. Bewitched, hag-ridden, afflicted with nightmare.
*~Haig-raig~, bewildered (S.).--S.W.
=Hail=. The beard of barley. See ~Aile~, which is the more correct
form (Smythe-Palmer).--N. & S.W.
'The black knots on the delicate barley straw were beginning to
be topped with the hail.'--_Round about a Great Estate_, ch. i.
p. 8.
=Hain=, =Hain up=. _v._ To reserve a field of grass for mowing
(A.B.D.).--N.W. Treated as a noun by Akerman.
'Three acres of grass ... to be hayned by the farmer at
Candlemas and carried by the Vicar at Lammas.'--_Hilmarton
Parish Terrier_, 1704.
=Haito=. A horse; used by mothers and nurses concurrently with
_Gee-gee_. A contraction of _Hait-wo_, the order to a horse to go to
the left. _Highty_ is similarly used in N. of England.--N. & S.W.
=Hait-wo=. See above.
=Hakker=, =Hacker=. To tremble (S.), as with passion (A.), cold, or
ague. ~Hagger.~ To chatter with cold (H.Wr.).--N. & S.W.
'Bless m' zoul, if I dwon't think our maester's got the ager!
How a hackers an bivers, to be zhure!'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 55.
=Half-baked=, or =Half-saved=. Half-witted.--N. & S.W.
*=Hallantide=. All Saints' Day (B.).
=Hallege=, =Harrige=. _n._ The latter seems to be the original form
of the word, and is still occasionally heard; but for at least
seventy years it has been more commonly pronounced as _hallege_,
_l_ and _r_ having been interchanged. We have met with it at Clyffe
Pypard, Bromham, Huish, and elsewhere in N. Wilts; but, so far as
we know, it is not used in S. Wilts. _Havage_=disturbance, which
the Rev. S. Baring-Gould heard once in Cornwall, and made use of
in his fine West-Country romance, _John Herring_, ch. xxxix, is
doubtless a variant of the same word. (1) Of persons, a crowd; also,
contemptuously, a low rabble. 'Be you a-gwain down to zee what they
be a-doing at the Veast?' 'No, _I_ bean't a-gwain amang such a
hallege as that!'--N.W. (2) Of things, confusion, disorder. Were a
load of _top and lop_, intended to be cut up for firewood, shot down
clumsily in a yard gateway, it would be said, 'What a hallege you've
a-got there, blocking up the way!--N.W. (3) Hence, it sometimes
appears to mean rubbish, as when it is applied to the mess and litter
of small broken twigs and chips left on the ground after a tree has
been cut and carried.--N.W. (4) It is also occasionally used of a
disturbance of some sort, as 'What a hallege!' what a row!--N.W.
=Ham=. (1) A narrow strip of ground by a river, as ~Mill-ham~ (A.D.).
(2) See Haulm (S.).
=Hames=. Pieces of wood attached to a horse's collar in drawing
(A.D.).--N. & S.W.
=Hanch= (_a_ broad). Of a cow or bull, to thrust with the horns,
whether in play or earnest.--N.W.
=Hand=. (1) _n._ Corn has 'a good hand' when it is dry and slippery
in the sack, 'a bad hand' when it is damp and rough (D.).--N.W. (2)
_v._ To act as a second in a fight.--N.W. (3) _v._ 'To have hands
with anything,' to have anything to do with it. 'I shan't hae no
hands wi't.--N.W. See ~Hank~.
=Hand-box=. See ~Box~.
=Hander=. The second to a pugilist (A.). See ~Hand~ (2).--N.W.
=Handin'-post=. A sign-post.--N.W.
=Hand-staff=. The part of the 'drashell' which is held in the hand.
=Hand-wrist=. The wrist.--N.W.
=Handy=. Near to, as 'handy home,' 'handy ten o'clock' (A.B.M.S.). 'A
gied un vower days' work, or handy.'--N. & S.W.
=Hang=. 'To hang up a field,' to take the cattle off it, and give it
a long rest, so as to freshen up the pasture.--N.W.
=Hang-fair=. A public execution, as 'Hang-fair at 'Vize,' formerly
treated as a great holiday.--N.W., obsolete. The Pleasure Fair at
Warminster on August 11 is known as 'Hang-Fair,' perhaps from the
hanging of two murderers there on that day in 1813. See _Wilts Notes
and Queries_, i. 40, 139.
=Hang-gallows=. A gallows-bird (S.).--N. & S.W.
'"Where's the money I put in th' zack, you hang-gallus?" roared
Mr. Twink.'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 55.
=Hanging=. (1) The steep wooded slope of a hill.--N. & S.W. (2) A
hillside field (S.).--S.W.
=Hanging Geranium=. _Saxifraga sarmentosa_, L.; from the way in
which it is usually suspended in a cottage window; also known as
~Strawberry Geranium~, from its strawberry-like runners.--S.W.
=Hanging-post=. The hinder upright timber of a gate, by which it
is hung to its post. Frequently heard, although ~Har~ is much more
commonly used.--N.W. (Huish, &c.)
=Hanglers=. The hooks by which pots and kettles are suspended over
open fireplaces in old cottages and farm-houses. See ~Coglers~.--N.W.
*=Hank=. Dealings with (S.). 'I won't ha' no hank wi' un,' will have
nothing at all to do with him. Cf. ~Hand~ (3).--S.W.
*=Hants-sheep=, =Hants-horses=. See quotation.
'They were called [in Wilts] hants sheep; they were a sort of
sheep that never shelled their teeth, but always had their
lambs-teeth without shedding them, and thrusting out two
broader in their room every year.... There were such a sort of
horses called hants horses, that always showed themselves to be
six years old.'--LISLE'S _Husbandry_, 1757.
=Happer-down=. To come down smartly, to rattle down, as hail, or
leaves in autumn.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Haps=. (1) _n._ A hasp (A.B.).--N. & S.W. (2) _v._ To hasp, to
fasten up a door or box (A.B.)--N. & S.W.
=Har=. The hinder upright timber of a gate, by which it is hung to
its post. A.S. _heorre_, M.E. _herre_, the hinge of a door. See
~Head~ and ~Hanging-post~.--N.W. (Marlborough; Huish; Clyffe Pypard.)
'We wants some more heads and hars cut out.' Carpenters about
Marlborough usually reduce the word to a single letter in
making up their accounts, as 'To a new R to Cow-lease gate,
&c.'--Rev. C. SOAMES.
=Hardhead=. _Centaurea nigra_, L., Black Knapweed.--N. & S.W.
=Harl=. (1) _v._ To thrust a dead rabbit's hind-foot through a slit
in the other leg, so as to form a loop to hang it up or carry it
by (_Gamekeeper at Home_, ch. ii). _Hardle_ in Dorset.--N. & S.W.
(2) _v._ To entangle (C.). _Harl_, knotted (A.S.), is a mistake for
_harled_.--N. & S.W. (3) _n._ An entanglement (B.C.). 'The thread
be aal in a harl.' A knot (Aubrey's _Nat. Hist. Wilts_, p. 51, ed.
Brit.)--N. & S.W. *(4) Of oats, _well-harled_ is well-eared (D).
=Harrige=. See HALLEGE.
*=Harrows=. The longitudinal bars of a harrow (D.).
=Harvest-trow=. The shrew-mouse (_Wild Life_, ch. ix); ~Harvest-row~
(A.H.Wr.)--N.W.
*=Hask=. A husky cough to which cows are subject (Lisle's
_Husbandry_). See HUSK.
=Hatch=. (1) _n._ A 'wallow,' or line of raked-up hay.--N.W. (2) _v._
'To hatch up,' to rake hay into hatches.--N.W. (3) _n._ A half-door
(A.B.C.). 'Barn-hatch,' a low board put across the door, over which
you must step to enter.--N.W.
=Haulm=, =Ham=, =Haam=, =Helm=. A stalk of any vegetable (A.B.),
especially potatoes and peas.--N. & S.W.
=Haycock=. A much larger heap of hay than a 'foot-cock.'--N. & S.W.
*=Hayes=. A piece of ground enclosed with a live hedge; used as a
termination, as ~Calf-Hayes~ (D.). A.S. _hege_ (Skeat).
=Hay-home=. See quotation.
'It was the last day of the hay-harvest--it was "hay-home" that
night.'--R. JEFFERIES, _A True Tale of the Wiltshire Labourer_.
=Hay-making=. Grass as it is mown lies in _swathe_ (N. & S.W.); then
it is _turned_ (S.W.), preparatory to being _tedded_ (N. & S.W.), or
_spread_; then raked up into lines called _hatches_ (N.W.), which
may be either _single hatch_ or _double hatch_, and are known in
some parts as wallows (N.W.); next _spread_ and _hatched up_ again,
and put up in small _foot-cocks_, _cocks_ (N.W.), or _pooks_ (N. &
S.W.); finally, after being thrown about again, it is _waked up_
into _long wakes_ (N.W.), or _rollers_ (S.W.), and if not made
temporarily into _summer-ricks_ (N.W.), is then carried. No wonder
that John Burroughs (_Fresh Fields_, p. 55) remarks that in England
hay 'is usually nearly worn out with handling before they get it into
the rick.' Almost every part of the county has its own set of terms.
Thus about Warminster meadow-hay is (1) turned, (2) spread or tedded,
(3) put in rollers, (4) pooked; while at Clyffe Pypard it is tedded,
hatched, waked and cocked, and at Huish waked and pooked. _Roller_ is
pronounced as if it rhymed with _collar_. Hay is 'put in rollers,' or
'rollered up.'
=Hazon= (_a_ broad). To scold or threaten (A.B.C.H.Wr.). 'Now dwoan't
'ee hazon the child for 't.'--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Head=. The front upright timber of a gate. See Har and
Falling-post.--N.W. (Marlborough; Huish; Clyffe Pypard.)
=Headland=. (1) _adj._ Headlong, as to 'fall headland' or
'neck-headland.'--N.W. (2) The strip where the plough turns at bottom
and top of a field, which must either be ploughed again at right
angles to the rest, or dug over with the spade; generally called the
~Headlong~ by labourers in S. Wilts.
=Headlong=. See ~Headland~.
=Heal=, =Hele=. Of seeds, to cover or earth over (D.); ~Heeld~,
~Yeeld~ (_Great Estate_, ch. viii). When the ground is dry and hard,
and the wheat when sown does not sink in and get covered up at once,
it is said not to _heal well_, and requires harrowing.--N.W.
=Heartless=. 'A heartless day' is a wet day with a strong south-west
wind.--S.W.
=Heater= (pronounced _Hetter_). A flat iron (S.).--N. & S.W.
=Heave=, =Eve=. Of hearthstones, &c., to sweat or become damp on the
surface in dry weather, a sign of coming change and wet. ~Eave~, to
sweat (S.).--N. & S.W.
=Heavy= (pronounced _Heevy_). Of weather, damp. See ~Heave~.--N.W.
=Heaver=. Part of the old-fashioned winnowing tackle.--N.W.
*=He-body=. A woman of masculine appearance.--S.W. (Deverill.)
*=Hecth=. Height (A.).
=Hedge-carpenter=. A professional maker and repairer of rail fences,
&c. (_Gamekeeper at Home_, ch. iii).--N.W.
=Hedge-hog=. The prickly seed-vessel of _Ranunculus arvensis_, L.,
Corn Buttercup (_Great Estate_, ch. vii).--N.W.
=Hedge-peg=. The fruit of the Sloe, q.v. Cf. ~Eggs-eggs~.--N.W.
(Marlborough.)
=Hedge-pick=, =Hedge-speäk=. See ~Sloe~.--N.W.
=Heeld=. See ~Heal~.
=Heft=. (1) _n._ The weight of anything as poised in the hand
(A.B.C.M.S.).--N. & S.W. (2) _v._ To weigh or test weight in the hand
(A.B.), to lift.--N. & S.W.
=Hele=, =Heel=, =Hill=. (1) To pour out (A.B.H.Wr.), to serve out or
dispense.--S.W. (2) See ~Heal~.
=Hellocky=. See ~Hullocky~.
=Helm= (1) See ~Elm~. (2) See ~Haulm~.
=Helyer=. A tiler. An old word, but still in use.--N.W.
=Hen-and-Chicken=. (1) _Saxifraga umbrosa_, L., London Pride.--N.W.
(2) _Saxifraga sarmentosa_, L., from its mode of growth.--N.W.
=Henge=. See ~Hinge~.
=Hen-hussey=. A meddlesome woman.--N.W.
=Here and there one=. 'I wur mortal bad aal the way [by sea] and as
sick as here and there one.'--N. & S.W.
*=Herence=. Hence (A.B.).
=Hereright=. (1) Of time: on the spot, immediately (A.B.), the only
use in N.W. (2) Of place: this very spot (S.).--S.W. (3) Hence (A.),
probably a mistake.
=Hesk=. See ~Husk~.
=Het=. 'A main het o' coughing,' a fit of coughing.--S.W.
=Hetter=. See ~Heater~ (S.).
=He-woman=. The same as ~He-body~.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard, &c.)
=Hicketty=. Hacking, as a cough.--S.W. ~Hacketty~.--N.W.
=Hidlock=. 'In hidlock,' in concealment. Akerman, by some mistake,
treats this as verb instead of noun. 'Her kep' it in hidlock aal this
time.'--N.W.
=Hike=. To hook or catch. 'I hiked my foot in a root.' See ~Hook~ and
~Uck~.--N.W.
=Hike off=. To decamp hastily, to slink off (A.B.C.S.); mostly used
in a bad sense.--N. & S.W.
=Hile=. See ~Hyle~.
=Hill=. See ~Heal~.
=Hill-trot=. Apparently a corruption of ~Eltrot~. (1) _Heracleum
Sphondylium_, L., Cow-parsnip. *(2) _Oenanthe crocata_, L., Water
Hemlock.--S.W. (Charlton and Barford.)
=Hilp=. Fruit of the sloe.--N.W.
=Hilp-wine=. Sloe-wine.--N.W.
=Hilt=. A young sow kept for breeding (A.).--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Hinge=, =Henge=. The heart, liver, and lungs of a sheep or pig (A.).
In some parts of S. Wilts used only of the latter.--N. & S.W.
=Hinted= Harvested, secured in barn (D.). 'Never zeed a better crop
o' wheat, if so be could be hinted well.' A.S. _hentan_, to seize on,
to secure.--N.W.
=Hit=. (1) To bear a good crop, to succeed: as 'Th' apples hit well
t' year.' Treated by Akerman as a noun instead of a verb.--N.W. (2)
_v._ To pour out or throw out. 'You ought to het a quart o' drenk
into 'ee.' 'Hit it out on the garden patch.'--N.W.
=Hitchland=. See ~Hookland~.
=Hitter=. A cow which is ill and appears likely to die is said to be
'going off a hitter.'--N.W.
=Hittery=. Of cows: suffering from looseness, ill.--N.W.
=Hobby=. _Yunx torquilla_, the Wryneck.--S.W. (Bishopstone.).
*=Hob-lantern=. Will-o'-the-Wisp (A.B.).
=Hock about=. To treat a thing carelessly; drag it through the mud.
'Now dwoan't 'ee gwo a-hocken on your new vrock about.'--N.W. The
usual form in S. Wilts is ~Hack-about~.
=Hocks=. (1) To cut in an unworkmanlike manner (A.). (2) To trample
earth into a muddy, untidy condition.--N.W.
=Hocksy=, =Hoxy=. Dirty, muddy, miry.--N.W.
'It's about two miles in vine weather; but when it's hocksey
like this, we allows a mile vor zlippin' back!'--_Wilts Tales_,
p. 179.
*=Hodmandod=, =Hodmedod=. _adj._ Short and clumsy (B.).
=Hodmedod=. (1) _n._ A snail.--N.W. (Mildenhall.) *(2) Short and
clumsy (B.). See ~Hodmandod~.
=Ho for=. (1) To provide for. See ~Howed for~.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard;
Malmesbury.) (2) To desire, to long for. 'I did hankeran' ho a'ter
'ee zo.'--N.W. (Malmesbury.)
=Hog=. (1) n. Originally a castrated animal, as a hog pig (D.). (2)
Now extended to any animal of a year old, as a chilver hog sheep (D.).
'We have wether hogs, and chilver hogs, and shear hogs ... the
word hog is now applied to any animal of a year old, such as a
hog bull, a chilver hog sheep.'--_Wilts Arch. Mag._ xvii 303.
'1580 ... Una ovis vocata a hogge.'--SCROPE'S _History of
Castle Combe_.
(3) To cut a mane or hedge short (D.), so that the stumps stick up
like bristles (_Village Miners_).--N. & S.W.
=Hogo=. (Fr. _haut goût_). A bad smell (_Monthly Mag._ 1814). Still
frequently used of tainted meat or strong cheese.--N. & S.W.
*=Hollardy-day=. The 3rd of May. Apparently a perversion of 'Holy
Rood Day.'--N.W. (Malmesbury.)
=Home, to be called=. To have the banns of marriage published.--S.W.
'They tells I as 'ow Bet Stingymir is gwain to be caal'd whoam
to Jim Spritely on Zundy.'--_Slow._
=Honesty=. _Clematis Vitalba_, L., Traveller's Joy, occasionally.
*~Maiden's Honesty~ (Aubrey's Wilts MS.).--N.W.
=Honey-bottle=. (1) Heather. (2) Furze. It is not clear which is
intended in _Great Estate_, ch. i.
*=Honey-plant=. Some old-fashioned sweet-scented plant, perhaps the
dark Sweet Scabious, which used to be known as 'Honey-flower' in some
counties.
'In the garden, which was full of old-fashioned shrubs
and herbs, she watched the bees busy at the sweet-scented
"honey-plant."'--_Great Estate_, ch. ii.
Also see _Reproach of Annesley_, vol. i. p. 119, for Hants use of the
name:--
'Sibyl bent over a honey plant encrusted with pink-scented
blossoms, about which the bees ... were humming--an
old-fashioned cottage plant.'
=Honey-suckle=. (1) _Lamium album_, L., White Dead Nettle, sucked by
children for its honey.--S.W. (Salisbury.) (2) Also applied to both
Red and White Clover, _Trifolium pratense_ and _T. repens._--N.W.
(Clyffe Pypard.)
=Hook=. Of a bull, to gore (S.). See ~Uck~.--N. & S.W.
'Compare _huck_, to push, lift, gore, Hants; and Prov. _hike_,
to toss.'--SMYTHE-PALMER.
=Hookland= (or =Hitchland=) =Field=. A portion of the best land in a
common field, reserved for vetches, potatoes, &c., instead of lying
fallow for two years (_Agric. of Wilts_, ch. vii). Parts of some
fields are still known as ~Hooklands~ in S. Wilts, though the system
has died out. Sometimes defined as 'land tilled every year.'--N. &
S.W.
=Hoop=. _Pyrrhula vulgaris_, the Bullfinch (A.B.); also ~Red
Hoop~.--N.W.
=Hoops=, or =Waggon-Hoops=. The woodwork projecting from the sides of
a waggon so as to form an arch over the hind wheels.--N.W. (Clyffe
Pypard.)
=Hooset=. See ~Housset~.
=Hop-about=. An apple dumpling (B.C.), probably from its bobbing
about in the pot. Cf. ~Apple-bout~.--N.W.
=Hopper=. A grig (_Amateur Poacher_, ch. i).
=Horse-daisy=. _Chrysanthemum leucanthemum_, L., Ox-eye Daisy.--N. &
S.W.
*=Horse-Matcher=. _Saxicola rubicola_, the Stonechat (_Birds of
Wilts_, p. 150).
'Horse-matchers or stonechats also in summer often visit the
rick-yard.'--_Wild Life_, ch. x. p. 159.
=Horses=. In N. Wilts the orders given to a plough or team are as
follows:--to the front horse, _Coom ether_, go to the left, and
_Wowt_, to the right: to the hinder horse, _Wo-oot_, to the right,
and _Gie aay_ or _Gie aay oot_, to the left. The orders to oxen are
somewhat different.
=Horse-shoe=. _Acer Pseudo-platanus_, L., Sycamore.--S.W. (Barford
St. Martin.)
*=Horse's-leg=. A bassoon.
=Horse-Snatcher=. _Saxicola oenanthe_, the Wheatear (_Birds of
Wilts_, p. 152).--N.W. (Huish, &c.)
=Horse-stinger=, =Hosstenger=. The Dragon-fly (A.B.S.).--N. & S.W.
=Hound=. The fore-carriage of a waggon.--N.W.
=House=, =Houst=. To grow stout. 'Lor, ma'am, how you've
a-housted!'--N.W.
=Housset=, =Hooset=, =Wooset=. (1) _n._ A serenade of rough music,
got up to express public disapproval of marriages where there is
great disparity of age, flagrant immorality, &c. See article on _The
Wooset_ in _Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. i. p. 88; cp. _N. & Q._ 4 Ser. xi.
p. 225. In Berks the 'Hooset' is a draped horse's head, carried at a
'Hooset Hunt.' See Lowsley's _Berks Gloss_.--N.W. (2) _v._ To take
part in a housset.--N.W.
*=Howe=. _n._ 'To be in a howe,' to be in a state of anxiety about
anything (C.). See ~Ho for~.--N.W., obsolete.
*=Howed-for=. Well provided for, taken care of (A.B.C.H.Wr.).
=Huckmuck=. (1) A strainer placed before the faucet in brewing
(A.B.H.Wr.).--N.W. (2) _Parus caudatus_, the Long-tailed Titmouse
(_Birds of Wilts_, p. 173).--N. & S.W. (3) General untidiness and
confusion, as at a spring-cleaning. A very dirty untidy old woman is
'a reg'lar huckmuck.'--N.W.
=Hucks=, =Husks=. (1) The chaff of oats (_Village Miners_).--N.W.
(Clyffe Pypard.) (2) Grains of wheat which have the chaff still
adhering to them after threshing, and are only fit for feeding
poultry.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Hud=. (1) _n._ The husk of a walnut, skin of a gooseberry, shell
of a pea or bean, &c.--N. & S.W. (2) _v._ To take off the husk of
certain fruits and vegetables. Beans are _hudded_ and peas _shelled_
for cooking.--N.W. (3) A finger-stall or finger of a glove (S.). Also
~Huddick~ (S.).--N. & S.W. (4) A lump or clod of earth.--N.W. Cf.
~Hut~.
=Huddy=, =Oddy=. Of soil, full of lumps and clods.--N.W.
*=Hudgy=. Clumsy, thick (A.B.C.H.Wr.).
=Hudmedud=. (1) _n._ A scarecrow (A.). In common use in N. Wilts.
'Mester Cullum i sends you back your saddell koz its such a
cusnashun rum looking hudmedud of a theng that pipl woll no it
direckly.'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 79.
'"That nimity-pimity odd-me-dod!"... Little contemptible
scarecrow.'--_Greene Ferne Farm_, ch. iii.
*(2) _adj._ Short and clumsy (B.). See ~Hodmedod~.
=Hullocky!= 'Hullo! look here!' exclamation denoting surprise, or
calling attention to anything (S.). This is usually pronounced
_Hellucky_, and is a contraction of 'Here look ye!' Also
_Yellucks_.--N. & S.W.
'"Now which way is it?"... "Yellucks," said the boy, meaning
"Look here."'--_Greene Ferne Farm_, ch. v.
'"This be the vinest veast ... as ever I zeed....
Yellucks!"--as much as to say, Look here, that is my
dictum.'--_Ibid._ ch. xi.
=Humbug=. A sweet or lollipop.--N.W.
=Humbuz=. A cockchafer.--N.W.
*=Humdaw=. To speak hesitatingly (_Village Miners_).
=Humming-bird=. _Regulus cristatus_, the Golden-crested Wren.--N.W.
(Huish.)
'We always calls 'em humming-birds here, and they are
humming-birds!' said the school-children at Huish, in the most
decided manner, when cross-examined as to the Gold-crest.
Apparently the same use obtains in Devon, as Martin speaks of
the 'humming-bird' as occurring in certain localities about
Tavistock, which are assigned to the Gold-crest by other
writers. See MRS. BRAY'S _Description of Devon_, 1836, vol. ii.
p. 146.
*=Hummocksing=. Clumsy, awkward, loutish.
'She had a lover, but he was "a gurt hummocksing noon-naw" ...
a "great loose-jointed idiot."'--_Great Estate_, ch. iv.
=Humstrum=. A home-made fiddle (S.). Sometimes applied also to a
large kind of Jew's-harp.--S.W.
=Hunch about=. To push or shove about.--S.W.
*=Hunder-stones=. Thunder-bolts (Aubrey's _Wilts, Roy. Soc. MS._).
Probably either belemnites, or else the concretionary nodules of iron
pyrites, called 'thunder-bolts' by the labourers, are here intended.
See ~Thunder-stones~.
=Hunked=. See ~Unked~ (A.H.).
=Hurdle-footed=. Club-footed.--S.W.
=Hurdle-shore=. The same as ~Fold-shore~.--S.W.
=Hurkle=. To crowd together, as round the fire in cold weather. An
old form of _hurtle_.
'_Hurtelyn_, as too thyngys togedur (al. _hurcolyn_, hurchyn
togeder). _Impingo_, _collido_.'--_Prompt. Parv._ c. 1440
(SMYTHE-PALMER).
=Husk=, =Hesk=. A disease of the throat, often fatal to calves. See
~Hask~.--N.W.
=Husks=. See ~Hucks~.
=Hut=. A lump of earth.--N.W. See ~Hud~ (4).
=Hutty=. Lumpy, as ground that does not break up well.--N.W.
=Hyle=, =Hile=, =Aisle=, &c. (1) _n._ A shock or cock of wheat,
consisting of several sheaves set up together for carrying.
The number of sheaves was formerly ten, for the tithing man's
convenience, but now varies considerably, according to the crop.
~Tithing~ in N.W. ~Hile-a-whate~ (S.) The forms given by Davis,
_aisle_, _aile_, and _isle_, seem purely fanciful, as also does the
derivation there suggested, a _hyle_ being merely a single shock.
In some parts of Wilts the shape and size of a hyle will depend
largely on the weather at harvest-time. Thus in a stormy season it
will usually be built compact and round, while in a calm one it may
sometimes form a line several yards in length.--S.W.
''Tis merry while the wheat's in hile.'--BARNES, _Poems_.
(2) _v._ To make up into hyles. Wheat and rye are always hyled, and
oats usually so, about Salisbury.--S.W.
=Ichila-pea=. The Missel-thrush: only heard from one person, but
perhaps an old name.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Iles=. See ~Ailes~.
=Imitate=. To resemble. 'The childern be immitatin' o' their vather
about the nause.' Participle only so used.--N.W.
=In-a-most=. Almost.--N. & S.W.
'It inamwoast killed our bwoy Sam.'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 145.
=Innocent=. Small, neat, unobtrusive, as 'a innocent little
primrose.' Virtually restricted to flowers.--N.W.
=Iron Pear=. _Pyrus Aria_, L., White Beam.--N.W. (Heddington, &c.)
Iron-Pear-Tree Farm, near Devizes, is said to take its name from this
tree.
*=Isnet=. _Alkanet bugloss_ (D.).
*=Ivors=. Hanging woods (_Slow_).--S.W. There would appear to be
some misunderstanding here. The word may refer to the coverts on the
hillside above Longbridge Deverill, which are known as _The Ivors_,
the farm below being _Long Ivor Farm_. At Wroughton a field is called
'_The Ivory_,' but this is perhaps a family name.
=Izzard=. The letter Z (A.S.). Still in use in S.W.
*=Jack=. A newt.--N.W. (Swindon.)
=Jack=, =Jack Ern=. _Ardea cinerea_, the Heron (_Birds of Wilts_, p.
395).--N.W. Also ~Moll 'ern~.
=Jack-and-his-team=. The Great Bear.--N.W. (Huish.) See
~Dick-and-his-team~.
=Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon=. _Tragopogon pratensis_, L., Goat's
Beard.--N. & S.W.
=Jack-in-the-green=. (1) _Adonis autumnalis_, L.,
Pheasant's-eye.--S.W. (2) The hose-in-hose variety of Polyanthus.--N.
& S.W.
=Jack-run-along-by-the-hedge=. _Alliaria officinalis_, Andrzj., Hedge
Mustard.
=Jacky-Dinah=. _Sylvia sylvicola_, the Wood Warbler.--S.W.
(Bishopstone.)
=Jacob's-ladder=. _Polygonatum multiflorum_, All., Solomon's
Seal.--S.W. (Farley, &c.)
=Jag=. The awn and head of the oat. Oats are spoken of as
'well-jagged,' 'having a good jag,' 'coming out in jag,' &c.--N.W.
'The despised oats were coming out in jag ... in jag means the
spray-like drooping awn of the oat.'--_Round about a Great
Estate_, ch. i. p. 8.
=Jan-Chider=. See ~Johnny Chider~.
=Jarl=. To quarrel, to 'have words.'--N.W.
=Jaw-bit=. Food carried out in the fields by labourers, to be eaten
about 10 or 11 o'clock.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Jee=. See ~Gee~.
=Jew-berry=. _Rubus caesius_, L., Dewberry; a corruption of the
proper name (_Wild Life_, ch. xi).--N. & S.W.
=Jibbets=. Small pieces. 'You never did see such a slut! her gownd
a-hangin' in dirty jibbets [rags] aal about her heels!'--N. & S.W.
*=Jiffle=. At Bishopston, N. Wilts, an old bell-ringer was recently
heard to accuse the younger men of having got into a regular 'jiffle'
(? confusion) while ringing. We have not met with the word elsewhere,
but Hal. and Wright have _jiffle_, to be restless, var. dial.
=Jiggery-poke=. Hocus-pocus. ~Jiggery-pokery.~ Unfair dealing (S.):
deception.--N. & S.W.
=Jigget=. _v._ To ride or walk at a jog-trot. 'Here we go a
jiggettin' along.'--N. & S.W.
=Jiggetty=. _adj._ (1) Jolty, shaky. 'This be a ter'ble jiggetty
train.'--N.W. *(2) Fidgetty (S.).--S.W.
=Jimmy=, =Sheep's Jimmy=. A sheep's head (S.).--N. & S.W.
*=Jimmy-swiver=. _n._ A state of trembling. Apparently connected with
_whiver_ or _swiver_.--N.W.
'"Lor, Miss, how you did froughten I! I be all of a
jimmy-swiver," and she visibly trembled, which was what she
meant.'--_Greene Ferne Farm_, ch. vii.
*=Jitch=, =Jitchy=. Such.--N.W. (Malmesbury.)
=Jobbet=. A small load (A.).--N.W.
*=Jod=. The letter J (A.S.).
=Johnny Chider=, =Chan-chider=. The Sedge Warbler, _Salicaria
phragmitis_. So called 'because it scolds so.'--S.W. Jan Chider (S.).
=Jolter-headed=. Wrong-headed; used generally of a jealous spouse.
'Her wur allus a jolter-headed 'ooman.'--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Jonnick=. Honest, fair, straightforward in dealings (S.).--N. & S.W.
=Joseph-and-Mary=. _Pulmonaria officinalis_, L., Common Lung-wort,
the flowers being of two colours, red and blue.--N.W.
=Joy-bird=. The Jay, _Garrulus glandarius_. The name commonly used in
N. Wilts for the Jay. Fr. _geai_.--N.W. (Savernake Forest, &c.)
=Jumble=. A kind of coarse dark brown sweetmeat (_My Old
Village_).--N.W.
=Jumping Jesuses=. The long-legged water-flies, _Gerris_, which skim
along the surface of streams.--N.W. (Hilmarton.)
=Junk=. A hunch of bread-and-cheese, &c.; a lump of wood or coal. A
solid piece (S.).--N.W.
=Junket=. A treat or spree; still in use. When potatoes were not so
common as now, a man would complain of his wife's 'junketing wi' the
taters,' i.e. digging them up before they were ripe, as a treat for
the children.--N.W.
=Just about=. Extremely. See ~About~ (1).--N. & S.W.
*=Jut=. To nudge, to touch (S.).--N.W.
=K=. _K_ sometimes becomes _t_, as _bleat_, bleak; _blunt_, blunk.
Conversely, _t_ becomes _k_, as _sleek_, sleet.
=Keach=, &c. See ~Catch~ (1).
=Keavin=. See ~Cave~ (1).
=Keck=. To retch as if sick (A.); to cough; also ~Cack~.--N.W.
=Kecker=. The windpipe (A.S.).--N. & S.W.
=Kecks=. Dry stalks of hemlock (A.B.). Hemlock must here be taken
to mean several of the larger _Umbelliferae_, and to include
occasionally growing plants as well as dry stems. There are many
variants of the word, as ~Keeks~ (A.), ~Kecksey~ (A.B.), ~Gix~
(A.B.H.Wr.), ~Gicksies~ (_Amateur Poacher_, ch. iii), ~Gicks~ (_Great
Estate_, ch. v).--N. & S.W.
=Keep=, =Kip=. Growing food for cattle, &c. (A.B.S.).--N. & S.W.
=Kerf=. A layer of turf or hay (A.B.C.). A truss of hay.--N.W.
=Ketch=. See ~Catch~ (1).
=Keys, or Keyn=. Fruit of ash and sycamore (A.B.).--N. & S.W.
*=Kibble=. *(1) To chip a stone roughly into shape (A.). Cf. Glouc.
_cabble_, to break smelted pig-iron into small pieces, before
proceeding to draw it into bar-iron. *(2) To cut up firewood (_Wilts
Arch. Mag._ vol. xxiv. p. 210).--Obsolete.
=Kid=. (1) _n._ The cod or pod of peas, beans, &c.--N. & S.W. (2)
_v._ To form pods; used of peas and beans. _Well-kidded_, of beans or
peas, having the stalks full of pods (D.).--N. & S.W.
=Kidney-stones=. Dark water-worn pebbles (_Eulogy_, p. 28).--N.W.
='Kin=. The same as ~Ciderkin~.
=Kind=. Some woods and soils 'work kind,' i.e. easily,
pleasantly.--N.W.
=King's-cushion=. See ~Queen's-cushion~.
=Kiss-behind-the-garden-gate=. _Saxifraga umbrosa_, L., London
Pride.--S.W. (Som. bord.)
=Kissing-gate=. A 'Cuckoo-gate,' or swing gate in a V-shaped
enclosure.--N. & S.W.
=Kiss-me-quick=. _Centranthus ruber_, DC., Red Spur Valerian.--N.W.
*=Kite's Pan=. _Orchis maculata_, L., Spotted Orchis.--S.W. (Farley.)
=Kitty Candlestick=. _Ignis fatuus_, Will-o'-the-Wisp. ~Kit of the
Candlestick~ (Aubrey's _Nat. Hist. Wilts_, p. 17, ed. Brit.).--S.W.
(Deverill.)
=Kiver=. A cooler used in brewing (A.B.).--N. & S.W.
=Knacker=. To snap the fingers. Nacker (H.Wr.)--S.W.
=Knap=, =Knop=. (1) _v._ To chip stone, as formerly in making a
gun-flint.--N.W. (2) _n._ A little hill; a steep ascent in a road
(S.). This is really a Devon use.--S.W. (Dorset bord.)
=Knee-sick=. Of wheat, drooping at the joints, from weakness in the
straw (D.).--N.W.
=Knee-socked=. Corn beaten down by storms is 'knee-socked
down.'--N.W. See ~Knee-sick~.
=Knit=. Of fruit, to set. 'The gooseberries be knitted
a'ready.'--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Knitch=, =Nitch=, =Niche=, &c. Usually spelt incorrectly, without
the _k_. M.E. _knucche_, Germ. _knocke_: used by Wycliffe, also in
_Alton Locke_, ch. xxviii. (1) _Nitch_, a burden of wood, straw, or
hay (A.B.), such a faggot as a hedger or woodman may carry home with
him at night; a short thick heavy chump of wood (_Village Miners_).
Hence a fine baby is spoken of as 'a regular nitch' (_Ibid._). A
bundle of gleaned corn (S.).--N. & S.W. (2) 'He has got a nitch,' is
intoxicated, has had as much liquor as he can carry (A.B.). Compare:--
'He's got his market-nitch.'--_Tess of the D'Urbervilles_, vol.
i. p. 19.
=Knot Couch=. _Avena elatior_, so called from the roots sometimes
looking like a much-knotted cord or a string of beads.--N.W.
=Koomb=. See ~Comb~ (S.).
=Ladies-and-Gentlemen=. _Arum maculatum_, L., Cuckoo-pint. Leades an
Genlmin (S.).--N. & S.W.
*=Ladies'-balls=. _Centaurea nigra_, L., Black Knapweed.--S.W.
(Charlton.)
*=Ladies'-fingers-and-thumbs=. _Lotus corniculatus_, L., Bird's-foot
Trefoil.--N.W. (Enford.)
=Ladies-in-white=. _Saxifraga umbrosa_, L., London Pride.
=Lady-cow=. The Ladybird.--N.W.
=Lady's-cushion=. _Anthyllis vulneraria_, L., Kidney Vetch.--S.W.
(Salisbury.)
=Lady's-finger=. (1) Applied generally to _Lotus corniculatus_
and _Hippocrepis comosa_, and occasionally also to _Lathyrus
pratensis_. 'Leades vingers, the wild Calceolaria' (S.), probably
refers to one of these flowers.--N. & S.W. (2) _Arum maculatum_, L.,
Cuckoo-pint.--S.W. (Barford St. Martin): N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
*=Lady's-glove=. 'The Greater Bird's-foot.'--S.W.
=Lady's-nightcap=. The flower of _Convolvulus sepium_, L., Great
Bindweed (A.B.).
=Lady's-petticoat=. _Anemone nemorosa_, L., Wood Anemone.--S.W.
(Mere.)
=Lady's-ruffles=. The double white Narcissus.--N.W.
=Lady's-shoe=. _Fumaria officinalis_, L., Common Fumitory.--S.W.
(Barford St. Martin.)
=Lady's-slipper=. Applied generally to the same plants as
Lady's-finger.
*=Lain=. Of a smith, to dress the wing and point of a share (D.). See
~Lay~ (4).
=Laiter=, =Loiter=. A full laying or clutch of eggs. The whole number
of eggs produced by a hen at one laying, before she gets broody and
ceases to lay.--N.W.
=Lake=. A small stream of running water.--S.W. (Hants bord.)
=Lambkins=. Catkins of hazel.--S.W. (Barford St. Martin.)
=Lamb's-cage=. A crib for foddering sheep in fold (D.).--N.W.
=Lamb's-creep=. A hole in the hurdles to enable the lambs to get out
of the fold.--N.W.
=Lamb's-tails=. Catkins of willow and hazel.--N. & S.W.
=Land=. The 'rudge,' or ground between two water-furrows in a
ploughed field.--N.W.
'The ploughman walks in the furrow his share has made,
and presently stops to measure the "lands" with the
spud.'--_Amateur Poacher_, ch. vii. pp. 130-1.
*=Landshard=. The strip of greensward dividing two pieces of arable
in a common field (D.).
=Land-spring=. A spring which only runs in wet weather (_Gamekeeper
at Home_, ch. v. p. 109).--N.W.
=Lane= (_a_ broad). A strip of grass, generally irregular, bounding
an arable field.--N.W. (Devizes.)
*=Lannock=. A long narrow piece of land (A.H.Wr.).
=Lanshet=. See ~Linch~.
*=Lark's-seed=. _Plantago major_, L., Greater Plantain.--S.W.
(Charlton.)
*=Latter Lammas=. An unpunctual person (S.)--S.W.
'When a person is habitually late and unpunctual, folks
say--"What a Latter Lammas thee beest, ta be sure!"'--_Letter
from Mr. Slow._
=Lattermath=. Aftermath (A.B.). ~Lattermass~ at Cherhill.--N.W.
=Lave=. (1) Of a candle, to gutter down (H.Wr.).--N.W. (2) To splash
up water over yourself, as in a bath. 'Lave it well over ye.'--N.W.
=Law=. In N. Wilts, when speaking of relations-in-law, the _in_
is always omitted, as ~brother-law~, ~father-law~, &c., the only
exception being ~son-in-law~.
=Lay=. (1) _To lay a hedge_, to trim it back, cutting the boughs
half through, and then bending them down and intertwining them so
as to strengthen the fence (A.).--N. & S.W. (2) _To lay rough_, to
sleep about under hedges like a vagabond.--N. & S.W. (3) _To lay up a
field_, to reserve it for mowing.--S.W. (4) _To lay a tool_, to steel
its edge afresh. This appears to be the same as Davis's _lain_, which
is probably a contraction of _lay in_. At Mildenhall you often hear
of _laying_ or _laying in_ a pickaxe, and the word is to be traced
back for a century or more in the parish accounts there.--N. & S.W.
(5) An idle dissipated man is said to _lay about_.--N.W.
=Laylocks=. Usually _Syringa vulgaris_, L., Lilac, but rarely applied
to _Cardamine pratensis_, L., Lady's Smock, in S. Wilts.
*=Lay-over=. A wooden bar, or a rope, used to fasten tackle together.
'Two or three horses go abreast, each drawing a harrow
diagonally, all the harrows being fastened together with a
lay-over or rider.'--_Agric. of Wilts_, ch. v.
=Leach=. A strand of a rope.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Lear=, =Leer=. (1) Empty (A.B.C.G.).--N. & S.W. (2) Hence, craving
for food, hungry (A.C.S.).--N. & S.W. ~Leary~ is the usual form on
the Som. bord.
'I never eat but two meals a day--breakfast and supper ... and
I'm rather lear (hungry) at supper.'--_Gamekeeper at Home_, ch.
i.
'His bill was zharp, his stomack lear,
Zo up a snapped the caddlin pair.'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 97.
=Learn=. To teach. 'I'll learn 'ee to do that again, you young
vaggot!' 'Her do want some 'un to learn she, 'stead o' she learnin'
we!' In general use in Wilts.--N. & S.W.
=Lease=, =Leaze=, &c.: sometimes used with a prefix, as ~Cow-leaze~,
~Ox-leaze~. (1) As much pasture as will keep a cow (B.).--N. & S.W.
(2) A large open pasture. ~Legh~, ~Lease~ (Aubrey); ~Leaze~ (_Amateur
Poacher_, ch. iii).--N. & S.W.
=Lease=. To glean (A.S.).--N. & S.W.
=Lease-bread=. Bread made from lease-corn.--N.W.
=Lease-corn=. Wheat collected by gleaning.--N.W.
=Leaser=. A gleaner.--N. & S.W.
=Ledged=. See ~Lodged~.
=Lemfeg=. An Elleme fig (A.H.Wr.).--N. & S.W.
'A cure-peg, a curry-peg,
A lem-feg, a dough-feg.'--_Wilts Nursery Jingle._
*=Length=, =Lent=. A loan (A.B.). *~Lenth~ (S.).
=Let-off=. To abuse.--N.W. (Cherhill.)
'Maester let I off at a vine rate.'--_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol.
xxii. p. 111.
=Lew= (pronounced _Loo_). (1) _adj._ Warm (H.).--N. & S.W. (2) _n._
Shelter (A.B.C.S.). 'Get in the lew,' i.e. into a place sheltered
from the wind. A.S. _hleo_, _hleow_.--N. & S.W.
=Lewis's Cat=. A person suspected of incendiary habits. Many years
ago fires are said to have occurred so frequently on the premises
of a person of this name (whose _cat_ sometimes had the blame of
starting them), that the phrase passed into common use, and a
suspected man soon 'got the name of a Lewis's Cat,' now corrupted
into 'Blue Cat.'--S.W.
=Lewth=. Warmth (A.B.C.). Usually restricted to the sun's warmth, but
in _Cunnington MS._ applied to a thin coat, which 'has no lewth in
it.'--N.W.
=Lew-warm=. Luke-warm.--N. & S.W.
=Libbet=. A fragment (S.). 'All in a libbet,' or 'All in libbets and
jibbets,' torn to rags.--N. & S.W. Also ~Lippet~.
*=Liberty=. _v._ To allow anything to run loose. 'It don't matter
how much it's libertied,' the more freedom you can give it the
better.--N.W. (Cherhill.)
=Licket=. 'All to a licket,' all to pieces.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
*=Lide=. The month of March (A.). A.S. _hlýda_, _hlýdamonath_, the
stormy month, from _hlúd_, boisterous, noisy (so Grein). This has
nothing to do with _lide_ or _lithe_, mild, whence come the A.S.
names for June and July. See _N. & Q._ Feb. 6, 1892.
=Lieton=. See ~Litton~.
=Lill=. To pant as a dog (A.B.H.).--N.W.
=Lily=, or =Lilies=. (1) _Convolvulus sepium_, L., Great
Bindweed.--S.W. (Farley and Charlton.) (2) _Arum maculatum_, L.,
Cuckoo-pint.--S.W. (Barford.)
=Limb=, =Limm=. (1) _n._ A ragged tear (_Village Miners_).--N.W. (2)
_v._ To tear irregularly, to jag out (_Ibid._).--N.W.
=Limbers=. The shafts of a waggon (S.).--N. & S.W.
=Linch=, =Linchet=, =Lynch=, =Lanshet= (N.W.), =Lytchet= (S.W.),
=Linchard=, &c. (S.). A.S. _hlinc_, a bank. For articles on Lynchet,
Linchet, or Linch, see _Wilts Arch. Mag._ xii. 185, and xv. 88. Also
articles and letters in _Marlborough College Natural History Report_
and _Marlborough Times_, 1892, Seebohm's _Village Community_, and
Britten's _Old Country Words_. In an old MS. schedule of land at
Huish, N.W., '_Lanshes and borders_,' i.e. turf boundary banks and
field margins, are enumerated. (1) Certain terraces, a few yards
wide, on the escarpment of the downs, probably the remains of ancient
cultivation, are locally known as ~Lynches~ or ~Lynchets~.--N. &
S.W. (2) The very narrow ledges, running in regular lines along the
steep face of a down, probably made by sheep feeding there, are
also frequently so called.--S.W. (3) A raised turf bank dividing or
bounding a field.--S.W. (4) A strip of greensward dividing two pieces
of arable land in a common field (D.).--N. & S.W. (5) An inland
cliff, cf. 'The Hawk's Lynch' (_Tom Brown at Oxford_); occasionally
applied to a steep slope or escarpment, as at Bowood and Warminster.
*=Linchard= A precipitous strip of land on a hillside, left
unploughed (_Spring-tide_, pp. 79 and 186). See ~Linch~. Cf. A.S.
_hlinc_, a bank; and perhaps _sceard_, a piece or portion (Skeat).
*=Lined=. Of an animal, having a white back (D.).
=Linet=. Tinder (H.Wr.). Tinder was made of linen.--N.W., not long
obsolete.
*=Lipe=. A pleat or fold in cloth.--S.W. (Salisbury.)
=Lipping=. Of weather, showery, wet, and stormy. 'I thenks as we
shall have a ter'ble lipping summer to-year.' Cf. Lipping-time, a wet
season, Glouc., and _Lippen'_, showery, Som.--N. & S.W.
*=Litten=, =Litton=. A churchyard. Lieton (H.Wr.) ~Chirche-litoun~
(_Chron. Vilod._). Still used in Hants, but probably now obsolete in
Wilts (_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxv. p. 129).
'His next bed will be in the Litten, if he be laying on the
ground on such a night as this.'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 161.
*=Liver-sand=. See quotation.
'Sand-veins ... which are deep and tough, and are of the nature
called in Wilts "liver-sand."'--_Agric. of Wilts_, ch. xii.
=Lob=. Of leaves, to droop limply, as cabbages do before rain.--N. &
S.W.
=Lock=. 'A lock of hay,' a small quantity of hay (A.B.).--N.W.
=Locks-and-Keys=. _Dielytra spectabilis_, D.C. The usual cottagers'
name for it in Somerset.--S.W. (Som. bord.).
=Locky=. Of hay which has not been properly shaken about, stuck
together in locks as it was cut.--N.W.
=Lodged=. Of wheat, laid or beaten down by wind or rain (D.).--N. &
S.W. Also ~Ledged~ (_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxii. p. 112).
=Log=. See ~Lug~ (1).
=Loggered=. A boy who is at plough all day often gets so _loggered_,
or weighed down with _loggers_, all the time, that he comes home at
night quite exhausted.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Loggers=. Lumps of dirt on a ploughboy's feet.--N.W. (Clyffe
Pypard.) In Glouc. a 'logger' is a small log attached to a horse's
foot, to prevent straying.
=Loggerums=. (1) _Centaurea nigra_, L., Black Knapweed.--N.W. *(2)
'Scabious' (_Village Miners_).
=Loiter=. See ~Laiter~.
=Lolloper=. A lazy lout (S.).--N. & S.W.
=Lollup=. (1) To loll out. 'Look at _he_, wi' he's tongue a lolluping
out o' he's mouth, vor aal the world like a dog!'--N.W. (2) To loll
about, to idle about. 'What be a-lollupin' about like that vor?'--N.
& S.W.
*=Long Eliza=. A kind of long blue earthen jar, formerly often seen
in cottages.--N.W. (Berks bord.)
'The high black chimney-shelf was covered with crockery of
a low type of beauty; pink and yellow china dogs shared
their elevated station with "long Elizas" and squat female
figures.'--_Dark_, ch. i.
=Longful=. Tedious (A.B.S.).--N. & S.W.
=Long purples=. _Lythrum Salicaria_, L., Purple Loosestrife. Rarely
used. Tennyson's 'long purples of the dale' have been identified by
himself as _Vicia Cracca_; Shakespeare's are either _Orchis mascula_,
or _Arum maculatum_, while Clare applies the name to _Lythrum_.
=Long-winded=. 'A long-winded man' always means one who is very slow
to pay his debts.--N.W.
=Long wood=. The long branches which are bent down and used to weave
in and bind a hedge when it is being laid.--N.W.
=Lope along=. To run as a hare does.--S.W.
=Loppet=. (1) _v._ The same as ~Lope~. (2) _v._ To idle about, to
slouch about. 'A girt veller, allus a loppetin' about.'--N.W. Cf.
~Sloppet~.
=Loppetty=. Weak, out of sorts.--N.W.
=Lords-and-Ladies=. _Arum maculatum_, L., Cuckoo-pint (A.B.).--N. &
S.W.
=Lot=. To reckon, expect, think. 'I do lot her's a bad 'un.'--N.W.
=Lot-meads=. (1) Common meadows divided into equal-sized pieces, for
the hay of which lots were cast each year (D.).--N.W., obsolete.
'"Lot Mead" is not an uncommon name of fields in Wiltshire
parishes. It is perhaps a vestige of the original partition
of lands when cleared, which the chronicler Simeon of Durham
says were distributed by lot. See Kemble's _Anglo-Saxons_, i.
91.'--JACKSON'S _Aubrey_, note, p. 198.
(2) A kind of festival in connexion with this division.
'Here [at Wanborough] is a Lott-mead celebrated yearly with
great ceremony. The Lord weareth a garland of flowers: the
mowers at one house have always a pound of beefe and a head of
garlic every man.'--JACKSON'S _Aubrey_, p. 198.
Nothing more appears to be known about this festival.--N.W.
(Wanborough), obsolete.
*=Lottle=. _v._ To sound as water trickling in a small stream. Cf.
~Glox~.--N.W.
=Love-an'-idols=, or =Loving Idols=. _Viola tricolor_, L.,
Love-in-idleness, usually the wild form, but occasionally applied to
the garden pansy also. ~Nuffin-idols~ at Clyffe Pypard. ~Lovenidolds~
(S.).--N. & S.W.
*=Loving-andrews=. _Geranium pratense_, L., Meadow Cranesbill
(_Village Miners_).
*=Lowl-eared=. Long-eared (A.B.H.Wr.).
=Luce=. (1) Luke-warm.--S.W. *(2) A sore in sheep.--S.W.
=Lug=. (1) In land measure, a pole or perch (A.B.G.H.S.). ~Log~ (_MS.
Gough_: K.Wr.)--N. & S.W.
'A lug ... is of three lengths in this county: 15, 18, and
16½ feet. The first of these measures is getting out of
use, but is still retained in some places, particularly in
increasing mason's work. The second is the ancient forest
measure, and is still used in many parts of the county for
measuring wood-land. But the last, which is the statute perch,
is by much the more general.'--_Agric. of Wilts_, p. 268.
(2) Any rod or pole (D.H.), as a perch for fowls, a clothes pole
(A.B.). See ~Oven-lug~.
'Olde Freeman doe weare ruggs [coarse cloth],
And Thomas Lord doe goe to the woods to steal poles and luggs.'
Seventeenth century doggrell rhymes from Wroughton,
quoted in _Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxii. p. 216.
=Lug-wood=. Lops and tops of trees.--S.W.
=Lummakin=. Heavy, ungainly, clumsy (A.B.).--N.W.
=Lumper=. To move heavily, to stumble along. Of a pony, to stumble.
To kick against anything (S.).--N. & S.W. (Malmesbury, Pewsey, &c.)
=Lumpus=. (1) Noise, row. 'Don't 'ee make such a lumpus.'--N.W. (2)
All in a lump, heavily, as applied to a fall. 'Th'oss didn't vall
down, but a come down wi' a kind of a lumpus.'--N.W.
=Lump work=. Piece work.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
=Lumpy=. Stout and strong. To say to any one, 'Why, ye be growed main
lumpy!' is to pay him a high compliment.--N.W.
=Lurry=. Of cows, suffering from looseness.--N.W.
=Lynchet=, =Lytchet=. See ~Linch~.
'Another British coin, found on the "lytchets" at East Dean,
has passed into the cabinet of Dr. Blackmore.'--_Wilts Arch.
Mag._ vol. xxii. p. 242.
=Maakin=. See ~Malkin~.
=Mace=. See Note to quotation.
'This is a style still used by the lower classes in North
Wiltshire to tradesmen and sons of
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