Transcribed from the 1873 Longmans, Green, Reader & Dyer edition by David
Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org
A
GLOSSARY
OF
PROVINCIAL WORDS & PHRASES
IN USE IN
SOMERSETSHIRE.
BY
WADHAM PIGOTT WILLIAMS, M.A.,
_VICAR OF BISHOP'S HULL_,
AND THE LATE
WILLIAM ARTHUR JONES, M.A., F.G.S.
WITH
AN INTRODUCTION
BY R. C. A. PRIOR, M.D.
[Picture: Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society emblem]
LONDON: LONGMANS, GREEN, READER, & DYER.
TAUNTON: F. MAY, HIGH STREET.
1873.
PREFACE
It is now nearly six years ago that the Committee of the Somersetshire
Archaeological Society asked me to compile a Glossary of the Dialect or
archaic language of the County, and put into my hands a valuable
collection of words by the late Mr. Edward Norris, surgeon, of South
Petherton. I have completed this task to the best of my ability, with
the kind co-operation of our late excellent Secretary, WM. ARTHUR JONES;
and the result is before the public. We freely made use of Norris,
Jennings, Halliwell, or any other collector of words that we could find,
omitting mere peculiarities of pronunciation, and I venture to hope it
will prove that we have not overlooked much that is left of that
interesting old language, which those great innovators, the Printing
Press, the Railroad, and the Schoolmaster, are fast driving out of the
country.
WADHAM PIGOTT WILLIAMS.
Bishop's Hull, Taunton,
7th September, 1873.
INTRODUCTION.
The following paper from the pen of Dr. Prior was read at a Conversazione
of the Society at Taunton, in the winter of 1871, and as it treats the
subject from a more general point of view than is usually taken of it, we
print it with his permission as an introduction to our vocabulary:--
On the Somerset Dialects.
The two gentlemen who have undertaken to compile a glossary of the
Somerset dialect, the Rev. W. P. Williams and Mr. W. A. Jones, have done
me the honour to lend me the manuscript of their work; and the following
remarks which have occurred to me upon the perusal of it I venture to lay
before the Society, with the hope that they may be suggestive of further
enquiry.
Some years ago, while on a visit at Mr. Capel's, at Bulland Lodge, near
Wiveliscombe, I was struck with the noble countenance of an old man who
was working upon the road. Mr. Capel told me that it was not unusual to
find among the people of those hills a very refined cast of features and
extremely beautiful children, and expressed a belief that they were the
descendants of the ancient inhabitants of the country, who had been
dispossessed of their land in more fertile districts by conquerors of
coarser breed. A study of the two dialects spoken in the county (for two
there certainly are) tend, I think, to corroborate the truth of this
opinion.
It will be urged that during the many centuries that have elapsed since
the West Saxons took possession of this part of England the inhabitants
must have been so mixed up together that all distinctive marks of race
must long since have been obliterated. But that best of teachers,
experience, shows that where a conquered nation remains in greatly
superior numbers to its conqueror, and there is no artificial bar to
intermarriages, the latter, the conqueror, will surely be absorbed into
the conquered. This has been seen in our own day in Mexico, where the
Spaniards, who have occupied and ruled the country nearly four hundred
years, are rapidly approaching extinction. Nay, we find that even in a
country like Italy, where the religion, language, and manners are the
same, the original difference of races is observable in different parts
of the peninsula after many centuries that they have been living side by
side.
It seems to be a law of population that nations composed of different
stocks or types can only be fused into a homogeneous whole by the
absorption of one into the other--of the smaller into the greater, or of
the town-dwellers into the country stock. The result of this law is,
that mixed nations will tend with the progress of time to revert to their
original types, and either fall apart into petty groups and provincial
distinctions, as in Spain, or will eliminate the weaker or less numerous
race, the old or the new, as the one or the other predominates. The
political character of our English nation has changed from that which it
was in the time of the Plantagenets by discharging from it the Norman
blood; and our unceasing trouble with the Irish is a proof that we have
not yet made Englishmen of them, as perhaps we never shall. A very keen
observer, M. Erckman, in conversation with the _Times_ correspondent, of
the 21st December, 1870, made a remark upon the state of France which is
so illustrative of this position, as regards that country, that I cannot
forbear to give it in his own words. The correspondent had expressed his
fear that, if the war were prolonged, France would lapse into anarchy.
"It is not that," said M. Erckman, "which fills me with apprehension. It
is rather the gulf which I begin to fear is widening between the two
great races of France. The world is not cognisant of this; but I have
watched it with foreboding." "Define me the two types." "They shade
into each other; but I will take, as perhaps extremes, the Gascon, and
the Breton." "He proceeded," says the correspondent, "to sketch the
characteristics of the people of Provence, Languedoc, and Gascony, and to
contrast them with those of Brittany, middle, and north France, their
idiosyncrasies of race, feeling, religion, manners--their diverse
aspirations, their antagonisms. For sufficient reasons I pass over his
remarks." A still more striking case of the kind is that of Egypt, a
country that for more than 2,000 years has been subject to foreign
conquerors, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Turks, and Mamelukes, and
the annual influx of many thousand negro slaves, and where,
notwithstanding all this, the peasantry, as far as can be judged by a
careful examination of the skull, is identical with the population of the
Pharaonic period.
This, then, being assumed, that a turbid mixture of different races has a
tendency to separate after a time into its constituent elements, and
certain originally distinct types to re-appear with their characteristic
features, how does this law of population apply to Somersetshire?
It is clear from the repeated allusions to the Welsh in the laws of Ina,
King of the West Saxons, that in his kingdom the ancient inhabitants of
the country were not exterminated, but reduced to the condition of serfs.
Some appear to have been landowners; but in general they must have been
the servants of their Saxon lords, for we find the race, as in the case
of the negroes in the West Indies, to have been synonymous with the
servile class, so that a groom was called a _hors-wealh_, or horse
Welshman, and a maid-servant a _wylen_, or Welsh-woman. As long as
slavery was allowed by the law of the land--that is, during the
Anglo-Saxon period, and for two centuries at least after the
Conquest--there was probably no very intimate mixture of the two races.
The Normans, as, in comparison with the old inhabitants of the country,
they were few in number, cannot have very materially affected them. We
have, therefore, to consider what has become of them since--the Saxon
master and the Welsh slave. In the Eastern Counties the invaders seem to
have overwhelmed the natives, and destroyed or driven them further
inland. Here, in Somerset, their language continued to be spoken in the
time of Asser, the latter part of the 9th century; for he tells his
readers what Selwood and other places with Saxon names were called by the
Britons. We may infer from this mention of them that they were still
dispersed over these counties, and undoubtedly they still live in our
peasantry, and are traceable in the dialect. Now, is there any
peculiarity in this which we may seize as diagnostic of British descent?
I submit that we have in the West of Somerset and in Devonshire in the
pronunciation of the vowels; a much more trustworthy criterion than a
mere vocabulary. The British natives learnt the language that their
masters spoke, and this is nearly the same as in Wilts, Dorset,
Gloucester, Berks, and Hampshire, and seems to have formerly extended
into Kent. But they learnt it as the Spaniards learnt Latin: they picked
up the words, but pronounced them as they did their own. The accent
differs so widely in the West of Somerset and in Devonshire from that of
the counties east of them that it is extremely difficult for a native of
these latter to understand what our people are talking about, when they
are conversing with one another and unconscious of the presence of a
stranger.
The river Parret is usually considered to be the boundary of the two
dialects, and history records the reason of it. We learn from the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 658, that "Cenwealh in this year fought
against the Welsh at Pen, and put them to flight as far as the Parret."
"Her Kenwealh gefeaht aet Peonnum with Wealas, and hie geflymde oth
Pedridan." Upon this passage Lappenberg in his "England under the
Anglo-Saxon kings" remarks: "The reign of Cenwealh is important on
account of the aggrandisement of Wessex. He defeated in several battles
the Britons of Dyvnaint and Cernau [Devon and Cornwall] who had
endeavoured to throw off the Saxon yoke, first at Wirtgeornesburh,
afterwards, with more important results, at Bradenford [Bradford] on the
Avon in Wiltshire, and again at Peonna [the hill of Pen in
Somersetshire], where the power of the Britons melted like snow before
the sun, and the race of Brut received an incurable wound, when he drove
them as far as the Pedrede [the Parret] in A.D. 658."
The same author in another passage says (vol. i. p. 120): "In the
south-west we meet with the powerful territory of Damnonia, the kingdom
of Arthur, which bore also the name of 'West-Wales.' Damnonia at a later
period was limited to Dyvnaint, or Devonshire, by the separation of
Cernau or Cornwall. The districts called by the Saxons those of the
Sumorsaetas, of the Thornsaetas [Dorset], and the Wiltsaetas were lost to
the kings of Dyvnaint at an early period; though _for centuries
afterwards a large British population maintained itself in those parts_
among the Saxon settlers, as well as among the Defnsaetas, long after the
Saxon conquest of Dyvnaint, who for a considerable time preserved to the
natives of that shire the appellation of the _Welsh kind_."
In corroboration of Lappenberg's opinion, one in which every antiquary
will concur, I may notice in passing that many a farm in West Somerset
retains to the present day an old name that can only be explained from
the Cornish language. Thus, "Plud farm," near Stringston, is "Clay
farm," or "Mud farm," from_ plud_, mire. In a word, the peasantry of
West Somerset are Saxonized Britons. Their ancestors submitted to the
conquering race, or left their country and emigrated to Brittany, but
were not destroyed; and in them and their kinsmen of Cornouailles in
France we see the living representatives of the ancient Britons as truly
as in Devonshire and Cornwall, in Cumberland, or Wales.
The characteristic feature of their dialect, and the remark applies of
course equally to the Devonian which is identical with it, is the sound
of the French _u_ or the German _u_ given to the _oo_ and _ou_, a sound
that only after long practice can be imitated by natives of the more
eastern counties. Thus a "roof" is a _ruf_, "through" _is thru_, and
"would" is _wud_. The county might consequently be divided into a
"Langue d'oo" and a "Langue d'u."
An initial _w_ is pronounced _oo_. "Where is Locke?" "Gone t' Ools, yer
honour." "What is he gone there for?" "Gone zootniss, yer honour." The
man was gone to Wells assizes as a witness in some case. In a
public-house row brought before the magistrates they were told that
"Oolter he com in and drug un out." ("Walter came in and dragged him
out.") _Ooll_ for "will" is simply _ooill_. An _owl doommun_ is an old
oooman. This usage seems to be in accordance with the Welsh
pronunciation of _w_ in _cwm_.
There are other peculiarities that seem to be more or less common to all
the Western Counties, and to have descended to them from that Wessex
language that is commonly called Anglo-Saxon--a language in which we have
a more extensive and varied literature than exists in any other Germanic
idiom of so early a date, itself the purest of all German idioms. It is
a mistake to suppose that it is the parent of modern English. This has
been formed upon the dialect of Mercia, that of the Midland Counties; and
it cannot be too strongly impressed upon strangers who may be inclined to
scoff at West Country expressions as inaccurate and vulgar, that before
the Norman Conquest our language was that of the Court, and but for the
seat of Government having been fixed in London might be so still; that it
was highly cultivated, while the Midland Counties contributed nothing to
literature, and the Northern were devastated with war; and that the
dialect adopted, so far from being a better, is a more corrupt one.
The peculiarities to which I allude as common to all the Southern
Counties are these: The transposition of the letter _r_ with another
consonant in the same syllable, so that _Prin_ for _Prince_ becomes
_Purn_, _fresh fursh_, _red ribbons urd urbans_--a change that certainly
is more general and more uniformly carried out in the Langue d'u district
than in the Langue d'oo, but cannot be quite exclusively appropriated by
the former.
Under the same category will fall the transposition of _s_ with _p_, as
in _waps_ for _wasp_, _curps_ for _crisp_; with _k_, as in _ax_ for
_ask_; with _l_, as in _halse_ for _hazel_.
A hard consonant at the beginning of a word is replaced with a soft one,
_f_ for _v_, as in _vire_ for _fire_; _s_ with _z_, as in _zur_ for
_sir_; _th_ with _d_, as in "What's _dee_ doing here _dis_ time o'night?"
_k_ with _g_, as in _gix_, the hollow stalk of umbelliferous plants, for
_keeks_. To be "as dry as a gix" is to be as dry as one of these
stalks--a strong appeal for a cup of cider.
Of another peculiarity which our Western district has in common with
Norway, I am uncertain whether it extends further eastward, or not; I
mean the replacing an initial _h_ with _y_, as in _yeffer_ for _heifer_,
_Yeffeld_ for _Heathfield_. One it has in common with Latin as compared
with Greek--the replacing an initial hard _th_ with _f_, as in _fatch_
for _thatch_, like L. _fores_ for [Greek text]. A singularly capricious
alteration of the vowels, so as to make long ones short, and short ones
long, is, as far as I am aware, confined to our Langue d'u district. For
instance, a _pool_-reed is called a _pull_-reed, a _bull_ a _bul_, a
_nail_ a _nal_, _paint pant_; and bills are sent in by country
tradespeople with the words so spelt. Again, a _mill_ is called a
_meel_, and a _fist_ a _feest_, _pebble_ becomes _popple_, and _Webber_
(a surname) _Wobber_. This looks like one of those dialectic
peculiarities for which there is no means of accounting.
In the selection of words for their vocabulary I trust that these
gentlemen will follow the example of Mr. Cecil Smith in his admirable
work on "The Birds of Somersetshire"--not to admit one of which he had
not positive proof that it had been shot in this county. Every one
should be taken down from the lips of a native, and such as cannot be
identified should be sternly rejected. The task that they have
undertaken is a laborious one; but there is no county in England that
affords such materials for tracing the influence of a subordinate upon a
conquering race--of a Celtic language upon one that was purely German.
I cannot conclude these remarks without adverting to a rich and hitherto
quite unexplored mine of antiquities--the names of our fields. There is
reason to believe that our country roads were traced out, and the
boundaries and names of our fields assigned to them, when these were
first reclaimed from the primeval forest, and that they are replete with
notices of ancient men and manners that deserve and will well repay our
careful study.
* * * * *
Since the above has been in type I have had the satisfaction of learning
from Mr. G. P. R. Pulman, of the Hermitage, Crewkerne, that at Axminster,
the river Axe, the ancient British and Saxon boundary line, divides the
dialect spoken to the east of it (the Dorset, to judge from a specimen of
it that he has enclosed) from the Devon. He goes on to say: "On the
opposite, the west side of the river, as at Kilmington, Whitford, and
Colyton, for instance, a very different dialect is spoken, the general
south or rather east Devon. The difference between the two within so
short a distance (for you never hear a Devonshire sound from a native
Axminster man) is very striking." That after a period of 1,200 years the
exact limit of the two races should still be distinguishable in the
accent of their descendants, is an interesting confirmation of the view
that I have taken of the origin of these dialects, and at the same time a
remarkable proof of the tenacity of old habits in a rural population; the
more so that the boundary line of the dialects does not coincide with
that of the two counties.
A GLOSSARY
OF
PROVINCIAL WORDS AND PHRASES
IN USE IN
SOMERSETSHIRE.
A, _pron._ He, ex. a did'nt zai zo did a?
A, adverbial prefix, ex. afore, anigh, athin
A, for "have"
A, participal prefix, corresponding with the Anglo-Saxon _ge_ and _y_,
ex. atwist, alost, afeard, avroze, avriz'd
Abeare _v._ bear, endure, ex. for anything that the Court of this Manor
will abeare. _Customs of Taunton Deane_
Abbey _s._ great white poplar. Abbey-lug, a branch or piece of timber
of the same (D. _Abeel_)
Abbey-lubber _s._ a lazy idle fellow, _i.e._ worthless as abbey wood
Addice, Attis _s._ an adze
Addle _s._ a fester (A S _adl_ disease)
After, along side
Agallied, _past part_, frightened
Agin _pr._ against. Auverginst, over-against, up to, in preparation
for, as Agin Milemas
Agon, _past part._ gone by. Also _adv._
Ail _s._ ailment, a disease in the hind-quarter of animals, ex.
Quarter-ail
Aine _v._ to throw stones at (A S _haenan_ to stone)
Aines, just as. Al-aines, all the same, or all one
Al-on-een, on tip toe, eager
Aller, (A S _alr_) alder tree. Allern made of alder
Amper, Hamper _s._ a pimple. Ampery, pimply
An _prep._ If
An-dog, Handog _s._ andiron
Angle-dog, or Angle-twitch _s._ a large earth-worm (A S _Angel-twicce_),
_Angle_ a fish-hook
Anpassey, Anpussey, the sign of &, _i.e. and per se_
Anty, empty
Appropo, (Fr. _Apropos_) but used as one of a small group of Norman
French words which have got into popular use
Apse, Apsen-tree, (A S _aeps_) the aspen tree
Ar-a-one, ever-a-one. Nar-a-one, never-a-one
Arry, any. N'urry, none
Asew, drained of her milk: applied to a cow at the season of calving.
From _sew_ to drain, hence _sewer_
Aslun, Aslue, Aslope, _adv._ indicate oblique movements in different
directions and levels
Asplew _adv._ extended awkwardly
Astroddle _adj._ astride
Auverlook _v._ to bewitch
Ax _v._ to waddle
Axe, (A S _ascan_) _v._ to ask, always used in Wiclif's Bible
Axen, (A S _ahse. aexse_) _s._ ashes, ex. Here maaid, teeak showl and
d'up axen
Axpeddlar _s._ dealer in ashes
Backlet _s._ the back part of the premises
Back-stick, Backsword _s._ single-stick, a favourite game in Wedmore
Backsunded _adj._ with a northern aspect
Bal-rib _s._ spare-rib
Bally-rag _v._ to use abusive language
Ban _v._ to shut out, stop, ex. I ban he from gwain there
Bane _s._ liver disease in sheep, east of the Parret; west of the river
the term Coed or Coathed is used, ex. I count they be beund
Bannin _s._ That which is used for shutting out, or stopping
Bannut _s._ Walnut
A woman, a spaunel, and a bannut tree,
The mooar you bate 'em the better they be
Barrener _s._ a cow not in calf
Barrow _s._ a child's pilch or flannel clout
Barrow-pig _s._ a gelt-pig
Barton _s._ a farm-yard, the Barn-town
Bastick _s._ basket
Bat, But, the root end of a tree after it has been thrown, also spade of
cards, the stump of a post
Batch, a sand bank, or patch of ground, or hillock, "a hill," as
Churchill-batch, Chelvey-batch, (lying within, or contiguous to, a
river); emmet-batches, ant-hills. Duck-batches, land trodden by cattle
in wet weather
Bats _s._ corners of ploughed fields: low-laced boots
Bawker: Bawker-stone _s._ a stone for whetting scythes
Be, indic. ex. I be, thou bist, he be
Bear-hond _v._ to help
Bear-nan, Bear-in-hond, Bean-hond _v._ to intend, purpose, think,
suspect, conjecture, ex. I do beanhond et'l rain zoon
Beat the streets, to run about idly
Beeastle, Beezle _v._ to make nasty
Bee-bird _s._ the White-throat
Bee-but, Bee-lippen, a bee-hive (_lepe_, a basket, Wiclif Acts ix, 25)
Beetel, Bittle, or Bitle _s._ a bron-bitle, or brand-bitle, a heavy
mallet for cleaving wood. Shaks. Hen. IV. "fillip me with a three man
beetle." Bitle-head _s._ a blockhead
Becal _v._ to abuse, to rail at
Bedfly _s._ a flea
Bed-lier _s._ a bed-ridden person
Beever _s._ a hedge-side encumbered with brambles
Begaur, Begaurz, Begumm, Begummers, words of asseveration and exclamation
Begrumpled _adj._ soured, displeased
Begurg _v._ begrudge
Behither _adv._ on this side
Belge, or Belve _v._ to bellow
Belk, or Bulk, _v._ to belch
Bell flower, Bell-rose, a Daffodil
Belsh _v._ to clean the tails of sheep
Benet, Bents _s._ Bennetty _adj._ long coarse grass, and plantain
stalks
Benge _v._ to continue tippling, to booze
Benns, or Bends, ridges of grass lands
Bepity _v.a._ to pity
Beskummer _v._ to besmear, abuse, reproach
Bethink _v._ to grudge, ex. He bethink'd I but everything
Betwattled _v.n._ to be in a distressed state of mind, also _v.a._
Betwit, to rake up old grievances
Bevorne, before
Bibble _v._ to tipple. Bibbler _s._
Biddy _s._ a chick. Chick-a-Biddy, a term of endearment
Biddy's eyes _s._ pansy
Bide _v._ to live or lodge in. Bidin _s._ a place where a man lives
Big, Beg, Begotty _adj._ grand, consequential, ex. Too big for his
birches
Billid _adj._ distracted, mad
Billy _s._ a bundle of straw, or reed, one-third part of a sheaf
Bim-boms _s._ anything hanging as a bell, icicles, or tags of a woman's
bonnet, or dress
Bin, Bin'swhy _conj._ because, seeing that, prob. "being," provided that
Binnic, or Bannisticle _s._ stickle-back
Bird-battin _v._ taking birds at night with a net attached to two poles.
Shaks. bat-fowling
Bird's-meat, Bird's-pears _s._ hips and haws
Bisgee, (g hard), (Fr. _besaigue_. Lat _bis-acuta_) _s._ a mooting or
rooting axe, sharp at both ends and cutting different ways
Bis't _v._ Art thou? (Germ. _bist du_)
Bit _s._ the lower end of a poker _v._ to put a new end to a poker
Bivver _v._ to shake or tremble, ex. They'll make he bivver, (A S
_bifian_, to tremble)
Blackhead _s._ a boil, a pinswil
Black-pot _s._ black-pudding
Blacky-moor's-beauty _s._ Sweet scabious
Blake _v._ to faint (A S _blaecan_, to grow pale)
Blanker, Vlanker, Flanker _s._ a spark of fire
Blanscue _s._ an unforeseen accident
Blather _s._ Bladder _v._ to talk in a windy manner, to vapour
Bleachy _adj._ brackish
Blicant _adj._ bright, shining (A S _blican_, to shine)
Blid _s._ applied in compassion, as poor old blid--blade
Blowth _s._ bloom, blossom, ex. A good blowth on the apple trees
Blunt _s._ a storm of snow or rain, snow-blunt
Boarden _adj._ made of board
Bobsnarl _s._ a tangle as of a skein of twine
Booc _s._ a wash of clothes, (A S _buc_ water vessel)
Bodkins _s._ swingle-bars. Weys and Bodkins, portions of plough-harness
Body-horse _s._ the second horse in a team, that which draws from the
end of the shafts
Boming _adj._ hanging down, like a woman's long hair
Boneshave _s._ hip-rheumatism
Bore, the tidal wave in the river Parrett
Borrid _adj._ applied to a sow when seeking the boar
Bos, Bus _s._ a yearling calf, a milk sop (Lat. _bos_)
Bottle _s._ a bubble, a small cask for cider _v._ to bubble
Boughten _past part._ of to buy
Bow _s._ a culvert, arched bridge, arch, as Castle-bow, Taunton
Bowerly _adj._ portly, tall, well-made, quy. _buirdly_
Bowsin _s._ fore part of a cattle stall
Brandis _s._ an iron frame to support a pan or kettle over a hearth-fire
(A S _brand-isen_)
Brash _s._ a row, tumult, crash (A S _brastl_ a noise)
Brave _adj._ in good health
Brazed _past part._ cramped with cold
Br'd, or Bard, Breaze _v._ to bruize, to indent, as on an apple
Breath _s._ a scent, a smell
Breeze _v._ to braize or solder a kettle
Brickle, Burtle _adj._ brittle
Brineded _adj._ brindled
Bring-gwain _v._ to get rid of, to spend, to accompany a person some way
on a journey, bring-going
Brit, Burt, to leave a dent or impression
Brize, Prize _v.a._ to press down
Broom-squires _s._ Quantock broom-makers
Brock _s._ a piece of turf for fuel (Du. _brocke_, a morass)
Broller, Brawler _s._ a bundle of straw
Brow-square, an infant's head cloth
Bruckley, Brode _adj._ as applied to stock given to break fence, to
cheese that breaks into fragments
Brummle, Brimmel (A S _brimel_) _s._ bramble
Bucked _adj._ having a strong hircine taste, applied to cheese
Buckle _v.n._ to bend, to warp
Buckle _s._ a dispute _v._ to quarrel.
Buddle _v._ to suffocate in mud
Bug _s._ beetle, as water-bug, may-bug, cockchafer
Bullen _s._ large black sloes; bullace-plum
Bullworks, Bullocking _adj._ rude, romping
Bumtowel _s._ long-tailed tit
Bungee, (g hard), _adj._ short and squat
Burcott _s._ a load
Burge _s._ bridge
Burr _s._ a sweet-bread
Bursh _s._ brush
Busket _s._ a bush or brake
But _s._ a basket for catching salmon; also a bee-hive. But, for Put, a
heavy cart
Butter and Eggs _s._ toad-flax, _linaria vulgaris_
Button stockings _s._ gaiters
Butty _s._ a partner
Buzzies _s._ flies
Byes _s._ furrows
By-now, a short time ago
Caddle _s._ bustle, ex. We'rn jussy caddle to-day
Cadock _s._ a bludgeon, a short thick club
Cag _v._ to annoy, vex
Cag _v._ to irritate
Callenge _s._ and _v.a._ challenge
Cal-home, or Cal-over _v._ to publish or call the banns of marriage for
the last time
Callyvan' or Carryvan, also Clevant and Vant, a pyramidal trap for
catching birds, quy. _colly fang_, (A S _fangen_, to take)
Cannel, Cannal _s._ the faucet of a barrel--tap-and-canal
Car _v._ to carry, ex. Cassn't car'n?
Carry-merry _s._ a kind of sledge used in conveying goods
Carvy-seeds _s._ carraway seeds, (_carvi sem_:)
Cauk _v._ to turn down the ends of shoes for a horse to stand on ice
Caxon _s._ a sorry wig
Chaccle _v._ to caccle as a hen
Chaity _adj._ careful, nice, delicate
Chaine _s._ a weaver's warp
'Ch'am, (A S _ic eom_: Germ. _Ich bin_) I am. 'Ch'ave, I have. 'Ch'ad,
I had. 'Ch'ool, I would. Uch'll go, I will go. "Chill not let go, zir,
without vurther 'casion." Shaks. Lear, iv, 6. This form occurs chiefly
in the neighbourhood of Merriott.
Cham _v._ To chew
Charm _s._ confused noise as of birds
Cheaymer, Chimmer _s._ a bed-room
Cheese-stean _s._ a wring or press for cheese
Chibbole _s._ (Sp. _cepolla_, Fr. _ciboule_) a young onion, before the
bulb is fully formed
Chilbladder _s._ a chilblain
Chilver, (A S _cilfer-lamb_), an ewe lamb. Pur, the male lamb
Chilver-hog and Pur-hog, sheep under one year old
Chine _s._ that part of a cask which is formed by the projection of the
staves beyond the head. Chine-hoops top-hoops
Chissom, Chism _v._ to bud, to shoot out; also, _s._ a bud
Chowr _v._ to grumble, to mutter (A S _ceorian_, to murmur)
Clam _v._ to handle in a slovenly manner
Clamper _s._ a difficulty, ex. I zined once and a got meself in jissey
clamper I never w'ont zine nothing no more
Claps _v._ clasp
Clathers _s._ clothes or rags
Clavy, a shelf. Clavel-tack, a mantel-piece, a place where keys
(_claves_) are kept, a shelf for keys. Holmen-clavel, an inn on Blagdon
hill, so called from having a large _holm-beam_ supporting the
mantel-piece
Cleve-pink, or Cliff-pink, a species of pink growing wild in the Cheddar
cliffs, _dianthus deltoides_
Clim, Climmer, Climber _v._ to climb. Clammer _s._ a worn footpath up
a steep bank
Clinkers _s._ hoof marks. Clinker-bells, icicles
Clint, or Clent _v._ to clench
Clit _v._ Clitty _adj._ applied to bread not properly kneaded
Clittersome _adj._ troublesome
Clivver-and-shiver _adv._ completely, totally
Clize, Clice _s._ a swinging door, or valve of a dike or rhine, (A S
_clysing_)
Cloam, Cloamen, coarse earthen ware
Clothen _adj._ made of cloth
Clotting, Clatting _s._ fishing for eels with a knot or clot of worms,
which is also called reballing
Clout _s._ and _v._ a blow in the face or head, to beat about the head
Clumber _s._ a clump, or large piece
Cly, Cliver, Clider, or Clidden _s._ goose-grass
Coathe, or Coe _v.a._ to bane, applied to sheep, rabbits, and hares
Cock-and-mwile _s._ a jail
Cock-lawt, Cock-lart _s._ a garret or cock-loft
Cock-squailing _s._ an old Shrove Tuesday sport--(in Somerset, Shaff
Tuesday), flinging sticks at a cock tied by the leg, one penny per throw,
whoever kills him takes him away
Cob-wall _s._ made of mud and straw, mud-and-stud, or wattle-and-dab
College _s._ an assemblage of small tenements, having a common entrance
from the street, and only one
Colley blackbird; Water-colley water-ouzel; Mountain-colley ring-ouzel
Colt a person entering on a new employment; Colting, Colt-ale a fine on
entering; footing; also, a thrashing
Comb-broach _s._ tooth of a wool-combe, a spit, knitting-needle (Fr.
_broche_)
Commandement _s._ (Four syllables as in Chaucer and Wiclif), command
Conk, or Skonk _s._ a collection of people (Lat. _concio_)
Connifle _v._ to embezzle, to sponge
Cop-bone _s._ knee-pan, patella
Count _v._ to think, to esteem
Couples, Cooples _s._ an ewe with her lambs; Double-couples _s._ an ewe
with twins
Coy _v._ to decoy; Cway Pool _s._ a decoy
Cowerd Milk _s._ milk not skimmed
Cow-babby _s._ a great childish fellow
Crab-lantern _s._ a cross froward child
Crap a bunch or cluster (Fr. _grappe_)
Crap, Crappy _v._ to snap, to crack
Craze _v.a._ to crack
Crease _s._ crest of a horse's neck, a crestaline of a roof
Creem _s._ and _v._ a cold shivering, to shiver; to creemy _adj._
subject to shivers
Creem _v._ to crush or squeeze severely the limbs of a person
Crewel _s._ a cowslip
Creeze _adj._ squeamish, dainty
Crip _v._ to clip--as the hair
Cripner, Kr'pner _s._ crupper strap
Crips, or Curps _adj._ crisp
Criss-cross-lain the alphabet, because in the Horn-book it was preceded
by a X (Fr. _croissette_)
Crope _pret. of creep_ crept, ex. A craup'd in
Cross-axe _s._ an axe with two broad and sharp ends, one cutting
breadth-wise, the other length-wise, called also grub-axe and twibill
Crowdy, Crowdy-kit (Celtic _crwth_) _s._ small fiddle; to crowd _v._ to
grate as the two ends of a broken bone, to make a flat creaking; Crowder
_s._ a fiddler (W. _crwthwr_)
Crown _v._ Crowner's quest _s._ Coroner's Inquest. To be crowned, to
have an inquest held over a dead body by the direction of the coroner
Crub, Croost _s._ a crust of bread
Cruel _adv._ intensive, as cruel-kind, very kind
Cry _s._ to challenge, bar, or object to
Cubby-hole _s._ a snug comfortable situation for a child, such as
between a person's knees when sitting before the fire
Cuckold _s._ the plant Burdock; cuckold-buttons, the burs, (A S
_coccel_, darnel, tares)
Cue _s._ the shoe on an ox's hoof, or tip on a man's boot
Curdle _v.a._ to curl, also, _v.n._; Curdles _s._ curls
Cut _s._ a door hatch
Curse _s._ cress
Cuss _v._ to curse; Cussin Sarvice the Commination
Custin _s._ a kind of small wild plum
Cutty _adj._ small, as cutty-pipe, cutty-wren; Cutty-bye, a cradle, a
hob-gobblin
Daddick _s._ rotten-wood; Daddicky _adj._ perished like rotten-wood,
applied metaphorically to the old and feeble
Dag-end _s._ applied to a sheaf of reed
Daggers _s._ sword-grass, a kind of sedge
Dame _s._ never applied to the upper ranks of society, nor to the very
lowest, but to such as farmer's wives, or the schoolmistress: rarely if
ever applied to a young woman
Dandy _adj._ distracted
Dap _v._ to hop as a ball
Dap _s._ the hop, or turn of a ball; also habits and peculiarities of a
person, ex. I know all the daps on'm
Dor, Dare _v._ and _s._ to frighten, stupify: ex. Put a dor on'n
Dare-up _v._ to wake or rouse up a person that is dying or asleep
Dave _v._ to thaw
Davver, or Daver _v._ to fade, to droop; Davered drooping
Dawzin _s._ a conjuring device to discover minerals by the twisting of a
hazel-rod
Devil-screech, Devil-swift, or Devilling _s._ the Swift
Devil's Cow _s._ a kind of beetle
Dew-bit _s._ an early morsel before breakfast
Diddlecum _adj._ distracted, mad
Diff _adj._ deaf
Dilly _adj._ cranky, queer
Dir'd _s._ thread, ex. Whaur's my d'r'd and niddel?
Dish-wash, or Dippity-washty _s._ a water-wagtail
Dirsh, Drush, or Drasher _s._ a thrush
Dirt _s._ earth generally, as mould in a garden
Dirten _adj._ miry, dirty, or made of dirt
Dock _s._ the crupper of a saddle
Dockery-stick _s._ phosphorescent wood
Donnins _s._ dress, clothes
Double-spronged when potatoes lying in the ground throw out fresh tubers
Dough-fig _s._ a Turkey-fig
Douse, or Touse _s._ a smart blow, particularly on the face, ex. A douse
on the chaps
Down-arg _v._ to contradict, ex. He 'ood downarg I
Down-daggered _adj._ disconsolate, cast-down
Draen, Drean _v._ to drawl (Fr. _trainer_)
Draffit _s._ a tub for pigs'-wash (_draught-vat_)
Drail _s._ the piece of leather connecting the flail with its handle
Drang _s._ a narrow path or lane
Drang-way a drove or gate-way
Drapper _s._ a small tub
Drash _v._ to thrash; Drashel, or Thrashle _s._ a flail (A S
_therscel_)
Drashold, or Dreshol _s._ a threshold
Drawl, Drail _s._ the forepart of the sull of a plough; in West
Somerset, weng (A S _wang_ or _weng_ a cheek)
Drift _s._ a lask, or looseness
Drimmeling _adj._ slow, continuous pain
Dring _v._ (_pret._ Drang) to throng, crowd, _s._ Dringet, a crowd
(Dutch, _dringen_, to press)
Drink _s._ small beer, or cider
Droot _v._ to drivel
Dro _v._ (_part._ Dro'd) to throw, ex. The tree wur dro'd
Drow, or Drowy _v._ to dry, ex. It do drowy terble now, as applied to
grass; Muck-adrowd, or Muck-adrowy _s._ dust
Drub, Drubby _v._ to throb
Druck _v._ to cram or thrust down
Druck-pieces _s._ pieces of wood let into a wall to support the pipe of
a pump
Drug _v._ to drag, also _pret._ of drag; ex. He drug un out of the pond;
Drugs _s._ harrows or drags
Dub, Dubby, Dubbid _adj._ blunt, squat
Dubbin _s._ suet or fat for greasing leather
Duck _v._ to carry a person under the arms in a suspended state
Dudder _v._ to confound with noise
Duds _s._ foul linen
Dumbledore, Dumbledory _s._ a humble bee, stupid fellow
Dummic, Dunnic _s._ a hedge-sparrow
Dumps _s._ the twilight, ex. Dumps of the yavening; Dumpsy towards
twilight
Dunch _adj._ deaf
Dunder-daisy _s._ large field daisy
Dungmixen _s._ a dung-heap
Durgin (g hard) _s._ a great stupid fellow
Durns _s._ side-posts of a door, (? _doorings_)
Ear-burs _s._ a swelling behind the ear
Ear-grass, or Hay-grass _s._ grass after mowing, from A S _erian_, to
till; the grass of tilled land
Ear-keckers _s._ the tonsils of the throat
Eave, Heave _v.n._ to give out moisture, as flagstones in wet weather
E'en-to, Ee'nsto _adv._ up to, all but, ex. There were ten e'ensto one
or two
Element _s._ the sky, used in this sense by Shakespeare in Twelfth-night
Elem'n, or Elm'n _adj._ made of elm
Eldern _adj._ made of the elder
Elt-pig _s._ a young sow
Elver, Eelver, or Yelver _s._ the young eel
Emmers _s._ pl. embers
Emp, or Empt _v._ to empty
En, or Un _pron._ Him, ex. A zid'n: he saw him (A S _hine_)
Er _pron._ He, ex. Er ziden: he saw him
Errish, Arrish, or Herrish _s._ stubble
Evet _s._ eft, or newt
Ex _s._ an axle
Eye _s._ the cavity beneath the arch of a bridge
Fadge _v._ to fare, to be in good condition. "How will this fadge?"
Shaks. Twelfth-night
Fags _interj._ truly! indeed!
Fairy, Fare, Vare _s._ a weasel (old Fr. _vair_, ermine)
False _adj._ forsworn, perjured
Falsing _adj._ coaxing
Fardel _s._ a small bundle, Shaks. Hamlet
Faut (faat) _v._ to find fault
Fauty (faaty) _adj._ given to find fault
Fauth, Foth, Voth _s._ the turning place of the plough at the side of a
field
Featy _adj._ pretty, neat
Feaze _v._ to harass, or ferret
Feaver-largin (g hard), _s._ a fit of indolence
Fell _v._ to sew down a hem
Fend _v._ to forbid (Fr. _defendre_)
Fess _adj._ gay, smart, ex. A fess fellow
Few, Veo _adj._ little, as a few broth
Fie _s._ to succeed, ex. Che-ating pl'y'll never fie
Fig _s._ raisin: figgety-pudden, figgy-cake, rich with raisins
Fildefare, Veelvare _s._ a fieldfare: varewell veelvare, farewell winter
Filtry _s._ rubbish
Fitch, Fitchet _s._ a pole cat, ex. As cross as a fitchet
Fitten _s._ an idle fancy, whim
Flap-jack _s._ small pancake, fritter
Flanker, Vlanker _s._ a spark of fire
Flannin, Vlannen _s._ a flannel
Fleet _s._ the windward side of a hedge
Fleet _v._ to float
Flick _s._ the inside fat of animals; also flitch of bacon
Flittermouse _s._ a bat (Ger. _Fledermaus_)
Flook _s._ a flounder; also a parasite in the liver of sheep
Flush _adj._ fledged, in full feather _adv._ even with
Foase _v._ to wheedle, to deceive _adj._ false
Fob _s._ froth, slaver _v._ to put off with a pretence
Fog _s._ old, withered or spoilt grass
Fog-earth _s._ bog-earth, peat
Foggy _adj._ fat, corpulent
Fooase, or Vooase _v._ to force, to oblige
Footer _s._ a worthless shabby fellow _adj._ footy
Fore-spur, or Vore-spur _s._ the fore-leg of pork
Fore-right, Vore-right _adj._ rash, head-long, head-strong
Forrel _s._ the cover of a book, the selvage of a handkerchief
Forware, or Verware _v._ to indemnify
Forweend _adj._ hard to please, wayward, spoilt in nursing
Frame _v._ to form, fashion the speech, ex. If I wur axed I could'nt
frame to spake it so
Frange _s._ fringe (Fr. _frange_)
Free-bore _adj._ free, free-born
French-nut _s._ walnut
Fret _v._ to eat, as the lower animals (G _fressen_, A S _fretan_, as
opposed to G _essen_, A S _etan_, applied to man): ex. The moth fretteth
the garment; a use of the word retained in the West, and usually applied
to the browsing of cattle
Furcum, or Vurcum _s._ the whole, even to the bottom
Furr, or Vurr _v._ to cast a stone far
Fump _s._ the whole of a business
Fuz, Fuzzen, Furze _s._ gorse, prov.
When fuz is out o' blossom
Kissing's out o' fashin
Fuz-pig _s._ hedge hog
Gad _s._ a fagot-stick; Spar-gad a twisted stick picked at both ends to
spar (Ger. _sperren_) or fasten down thatch. Near Bath, spick-gad
Gain _adj._ handy; Gainer more handy
Gale _s._ an old bull castrated
Gall _s._ a wet place, abounding in springs
Gally, Gallow _v._ to frighten; Gallied frightened Shak. K. Lear, iii,
2, "Skies gallow the wanderer"
Gally-baggur _s._ bug-bear, a trace of the time when gallows were a more
common sight
Gamble _s._ a leg, (Ital. _gamba_)
Gambril _s._ a crooked stick used by butchers to suspend a carcase
Gammets, Gamoting _s._ whims, tricks, pranks
Ganny-cock _s._ a turkey-cock
Ganny-cock's nob _s._ the appendage to a turkey-cock's beak
Gapes-nest _s._ an idle spectacle
Gare _s._ gear; Ire-gare _s._ plough-gear, iron-work
Garn, or Gearn, Gearden _s._ a garden
Gatchel _s._ the mouth
Gate-shord, or sheard _s._ a gate-way, a place for a gate
Gatfer _s._ an old man (good father)
G'auf to go off; G'auver to go over; G'in to go in; G'on to go on;
G'out to go out; Go'vorn go before him or them; G'under to go under;
G'up to go up: ex. Thear I wur', d' knaw, carnared (in a corner); coud'n
g'auver, g'under, g'in, nor g'out
Gawcum, Gawcumin _s._ a simpleton, a gawkey
Gee-wi' (g soft), _v._ to agree; Gee (g hard), to give, ex. To gee
out--to thaw
Gib, or Gibby (g hard), _s._ a pet lamb
Gibby-heels (g hard), _s._ kibed-heels
Giffin (g hard), _s._ a trifle, a small portion of time
Gilawfer, Gillifer, Gilliflower (g soft), stocks; Whitsun Gilawfer,
carnation, also the wallflower
Giltin-cup (g hard), _s._ butter-cup
Gimmace (g hard), _s._ a hinge
Gimmaces (g hard) _s._ a criminal is said to be hung in gimmaces, when
he is hung in chains
Glare _v._ to glaze earthenware. Also _s._ ex. The roads are all a
glare of ice
Glassen _adj._ made of glass
Glou, Glouie _v._ to stare
Glou-beason _s._ a glow-worm, a bold impudent fellow
Glutch, Glutchy _v._ to swallow _s._ the act of swallowing, Glutcher
_s._ the throat
Gold _s._ sweet willow; _Myrica gale_, abundant in the moors of
Somerset, in the herbalists called _Gaule_
Go-lie _v._ spoken of corn falling after rain; applied to wind, to
subside
Gool-french a gold-finch, a proud tailor
Gollop _s._ a large morsel
Gommer _s._ an old woman (good mother)
Good-hussy _s._ a thread-case
Goody _v._ to appear good, to prosper
Goose-cap _s._ a giddy, silly person
Goose-herd, or Goosier _s._ one who breeds or looks after geese
Gore-in, Gore-with _v._ to believe in, to trust
Gossips _s._ sponsors; Gossiping the festivities of the christening
Gout _s._ a drain, a gutter
Gowder _s._ a higgler of fruit
Grainded, Grainted _adj._ ingrained, dirty
Granfer, Grammer _s._ grandfather, grandmother
Granfer griggles _s._ wild orchis
Gribble _s._ a young apple tree raised from seed
Grig _v._ and _s._ to pinch, a pinch
Griddle, Girdle _s._ a gridiron
Gripe, or Grip _s._ a small drain or ditch _v._ to cut into gripes
Grizzle _v._ to laugh or grin
Gronin _s._ labour, childbirth; Gronin-chair nursing chair; Gronin-malt
provision for the event
Ground _s._ a field, a piece of land enclosed for agricultural purposes
Grozens, Groves _s._ duck-weed
Gruff, Gruff-hole _s._ a trench or groove excavated for ore
Gruffer, Gruffler _s._ a miner, one who works in a gruff or groove
Gumpy _adj._ abounding in protuberances
Gurds _s._ eructations; Fits and Gurds fits and starts
Gurl, or Gurdle _v._ to growl
Gush _v._ to put the blood in quicker motion by fright or surprise, ex.
A' gied I sich a gush
Guss _v._ and _s._ to gird, a girth
Gurt _adj._ great
Hack _s._ the place where bricks newly-made are arranged to dry
Hack, Hacket, Hick, Heck _v._ to hop on one leg, to play hackety oyster,
hopscotch, or hack-shell
Hacker _v._ to chatter with the cold, to stammer
Hackle _s._ a good job
Hag-mal _s._ a slattern, a titmouse
Hag-rided _adj._ subject to night-mare
Hag-ropes traveller's joy, wild clematis (A S _Hage_, a hedge)
Hain _v._ to let up grass for mowing
Halfen-deal _s._ moiety _adj._ composed of different materials
Half-strain _adj._ mongrel, half-witted
Halipalmer _s._ the palmer-worm, (holy-palmer)
Hallantide _s._ All Saints' Day, (hallow-een-tide)
Halse _s._ hazel; halse coppice
Halsen, Hawseny, Noseny, Osney _v._ to divine, predict, forebode (A S
_halsen_, from the hazel divining rod)
Halve, or Helve _v._ to turn over, to turn upside down
Ham _s._ an open field, usually near a river: on Mendip, old calamine
pits
Hame _v._ "rem habere" (A S _haeman_)
Hames, Heamsies _s._ parts of harness
Hang-fair, Hanging-vayer _s._ an execution
Hanch _v._ to gore as a bull
Hangles, (a pair of hangles) _s._ a pot or kettle-rack suspended over
the fire
Hank _s._ dealings with
Happer _v._ to crackle, rattle like hail
Hard _adj._ full grown, as hard stock, or sheep; a Hardboy a boy of
about 13 years old
Harr _s._ the part of a gate which holds the hinges, ex. Heads and harrs
Hart _s._ haft, or handle as of knives, awls
Hat, or Het _pret._ of _v._ to hit
Hathe _s._ to be in hathe, _i.e._, to be thickly covered with pustules,
to be closely matted together
Haydigees, (g hard and soft) _s._ high spirits
Hay-sucker _s._ the white-throat
Hayty-tayty seesaw, also _interj._ what's here!
Hay-ward _s._ pound-keeper, a keeper of hedges or hays (A S
_haeig-weard_)
Hedge-bore _s._ a rough workman
Heel, Hell _v._ to pour out or in, hence Heel-taps
Heel _v._ to hide, to cover (A S _helan_)
Heeler _s._ one who hides or covers. Proverb: The heeler is as bad as
the stealer
Heft _s._ and _v._ weight, to lift up, from _v._ to heave
Hegler, or Higler _s._ an egg or fowl collector and dealer
Hellier _s._ a tiler, one who covers
Hel'm _s._ haulm of wheat, beans, peas, potatoes (A S _healm_)
Hem _pron._ he or him, ex. If hem had hat hem as hem hat hem, hem 'oud a
kill'd hem or hem 'oud a kill'd hem
Hen _v._ to throw, see Aine
Hen-hussey _s._ a meddling officious person, a woman who looks after
poultry
Hent, or Hint _v._ to wither or dry up
Hern, His'n _pron._ her's, his
Herret _s._ a pitiful little wretch
Hevel-twine _s._ a fine sort of twine
Hike off _v._ to steal away slily, to skulk off
Hirddick, Ruddick _s._ robin, ruddock
Hird-in, Hird-out _v._ to remove one's goods. Transp. for rid
Hirn, Hurn, Hirnd _v._ _pret._ and _part._ to run (A S _yrnan_)
Hive, or Heave _v._ to urge in vomiting
Hizy-prizy _s._ Nisi-prius
Hoak _v._ to goar as an ox
Hob _v._ to laugh loudly _s._ a clown
Hob _s._ a cheek of a grate
Hod _s._ a sheath, a cover
Hoddy _adj._ hearty
Hog, Hogget _s._ a sheep or horse one-year old
Hogo _s._ strong savour or smell (Fr. _haut gout_)
Holders _s._ fangs of a dog
Holmen _adj._ made of holm or holly, as Holmen Clavel a holly mantle
piece
Holme-screech _s._ the missel-thrush, from its eating the berries of the
holly or holme tree
Homany _s._ a noise, disturbance
Home-to _adv._ up to
Honey-suck _s._ red clover
Hoop _s._ a bullfinch, ex. Cock-hoop, hen-hoop
Hoppet _v._ to hop
Hornen, Harnin _adj._ made of horn
Horse-godmother _s._ a masculine woman
Houzen _s._ houses
Hove _v._ and _s._ to hoe, ex. To hove banes, hove turmits with an auld
hove
How _v._ to long for
Huck-muck _s._ strainer over the faucet
Hud _s._ as of gooseberry, the skin, hull, husk
Huf-cap _s._ a weed commonly found in fields
Hug _s._ the itch
Hulden _v._ to conceal, harbour
Hulley, or Holley _s._ a basket-trap for eels
Hull _v._ to hurl
Hum-drum _s._ a three-wheeled cart
Humacks _s._ wild-briar stocks on which to graff roses
Ich (soft), _pron._ I 'Cham I am; 'Ch'ool I will; 'Ch'ood I would,
&c.
Idleton _s._ an idle fellow
Infaring _adj._ lying within, as an infaring tithing, _i.e._, a tithing
within a borough
Insense _v._ to inform
Ire _s._ iron, "ire or mire" said of stiff clay soil
Ire-gaer _s._ iron work or gear
Ize _pr._ I, ex. Ize warrant you wunt
Jib _s._ the wooden stand for a barrel
Jigger _s._ a vessel of potter's ware used in toasting cheese
Jitch, Jitchy, Jissy _adj._ such, ex. Jitch placen, such places
Joan-in-the-wad _s._ will-of-the-wisp
Jonnick _adv._ fair, straight-forward
Jot _v._ to disturb in writing, to strike the elbow
Junket _s._ curds and cream with spices and sugar, &c., from Ital.
_giuncata_, cased in rushes; from _giunco_, a rush; a name given in Italy
to a kind of cream-cheese
Kamics, Kramics _s._ rest-harrow
Keamy _adj._ covered with a thin white mould; applied to cider
Kecker, Kyecker-pipe, Kyecker, Kyeck-horn, the wind-pipe, a pervious
pipe, from _kike_ to look through
Keeve, or Kive _s._ a large tub used in brewing or cider making _v._ to
put the wort or cider in a keeve to ferment
Keep _s._ a large basket
Keffel _s._ a bad, worn-out horse (Welsh, _Keffyl_)
Kern _v._ to coagulate as milk; also applied to fruit and wheat becoming
visible after the blossoming
Kex, Kexy _s._ dry, pervious stalks, as of cow-parsley and hemlock
Kexies, see Kecker
Kid _s._ a pod To Kiddy _v._ ex. They do kiddy, but they don't villy
Kilter _s._ money
Kircher _s._ caul, used by butchers
Kittle, or Kettle-Smock _s._ a carter's frock
Knap _s._ a rising ground
Knee-sick _adj._ applied to corn when the stalk is not strong enough to
bear the ear
Knottle _v._ to entangle with knots
Knottlins _s._ the intestines of a pig prepared for food
Knot _s._ flower-bed
Knot-Sheep _s._ sheep without horns
Kowetop _s._ the barm which rises above the rim of the tub
Kurpy, Kerp _v._ to speak affectedly; scold (Lat. _increpare_)
Labber _v._ to loll out the tongue
Lades, or Ladeshrides _s._ the sides of a waggon which project over the
wheels
Ladies-smock _s._ bindweed _Convolvulus sepium_, _Cardamine pratensis_
Lady-Cow _s._ lady-bird _Coccinella septempunctata_,
Laiter _s._ the whole number of eggs laid by a hen before she becomes
broody, ex. She 've laaid out her laiter
Lamiger _s._ lame, a cripple
Lar _s._ bar of a gate
Larks-lees, Leers _v._ neglected lands
Lart, Lawt _s._ a loft, as cock-lart, hay-lart, apple-lart
Lary, Leary, Lear _adj._ empty, thin _s._ flank; Lear-quills, small
quills
Las-chargeable _interj._ be quiet! _i.e._, he who last speaks or strikes
in contention is most to blame
Lat, or Lart _s._ a lath, ex. Lartin nails
Lat _s._ shelf
Latitat _s._ a noise or scolding