=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.