CHAPTER XIII.

VOCABULARY AND INDEX.

[In this Vocabulary, as well indeed as through the whole book, _gh_ and

_ch_ are to be sounded guttural, as in _lough_ and _loch_, unless otherwise

stated or implied. Those who cannot sound the guttural may take the sound

of _k_ instead, and they will not be far wrong.]

Able; strong, muscular, and vigorous:--'Nagle was a strong able man.'

Able dealer; a schemer. (Limerick.)

Acushla; see Cushlamochree.

Adam's ale; plain drinking-water.

Affirming, assenting, and saluting, 9.

Agra or Agraw: a term of endearment; my love: vocative of Irish

_gradh_, love.

Ahaygar; a pet term; my friend, my love: vocative of Irish _teagur_,

love, a dear person.

Aims-ace; a small amount, quantity, or distance. Applied in the

following way very generally in Munster:--'He was within an aim's-ace

of being drowned' (very near). A survival in Ireland of the old

Shakesperian word _ambs-ace_, meaning two aces or two single points in

throwing dice, the smallest possible throw.

Air: a visitor comes in:--'Won't you sit down Joe and take an _air_ of

the fire.' (Very usual.)

Airt used in Ulster and Scotland for a single point of the compass:--

'Of a' the airts the wind can blaw I dearly like the west.'

(BURNS.)

It is the Irish _aird_, a point of the compass.

{210} Airy; ghostly, fearsome: an _airy_ place, a haunted place. Same

as Scotch _eerie_. From Gaelic _aedharaigh_, same sound and meaning. A

survival of the old Irish pagan belief that air-demons were the most

malignant of all supernatural beings: see Joyce's 'Old Celtic

Romances,' p. 15.

Alanna; my child: vocative case of Irish _leanbh_ [lannav], a child.

Allow; admit. 'I allow that you lent me a pound': 'if you allow that

you cannot deny so and so.' This is an old English usage. (Ducange.) To

advise or recommend: 'I would not allow you to go by that road' ('I

would not recommend'). 'I'd allow you to sow that field with oats'

(advise).

All to; means except:--'I've sold my sheep all to six,' i.e. except

six. This is merely a translation from the Irish as in _Do marbhadh na

daoine uile go haon triur_: 'The people were slain all to a single

three.' (Keating.)

Along of; on account of. Why did you keep me waiting [at night] so long

at the door, Pat?' 'Why then 'twas all along of Judy there being so

much afraid of the fairies.' (Crofton Croker.)

Alpeen, a stick or hand-wattle with a knob at the lower end: diminutive

of Irish _alp_, a knob. Sometimes called a _clehalpeen_: where _cleh_

is the Irish _cleath_ a stick. _Clehalpeen_, a knobbed cudgel.

Amadaun, a fool (man or boy), a half-fool, a foolish person. Irish

_amadan_, a fool: a form of _onmitan_; from _on_, a fool: see

_Oanshagh_.

American wake; a meeting of friends on the evening before the departure

of some young people for {211} America, as a farewell celebration. (See

my 'Old Irish Folk-Music and Songs,' p. 191.)

Amplush, a fix, a difficulty: he was in a great amplush. (North and

South.) (Edw. Walsh in Dub. Pen. Journal.)

Amshagh; a sudden hurt, an accident. (Derry.)

Ang-ishore; a poor miserable creature--man or woman. It is merely the

Irish word _aindeiseoir_. (Chiefly South.)

Any is used for _no_ (in _no more_) in parts of West and North-west.

'James, you left the gate open this morning and the calves got out.'

'Oh I'm sorry sir; I will do it any more.' This is merely a

mistranslation of _nios mo_, from some confused idea of the sense of

two (Irish) negatives (_nios_ being one, with another preceding)

leading to the omission of an English negative from the correct

construction--'I will _not_ do it anymore:' _Nios mo_ meaning in

English 'no more' or 'any more' according to the omission or insertion

of an English negative.

Aree often used after _ochone_ (alas) in Donegal and elsewhere. _Aree_

gives the exact pronunciation of _a Righ_, and _neimhe_ (heaven) is

understood. The full Irish exclamation is _ochon a Righ neimhe_, 'alas,

O King of heaven.'

Arnaun or arnaul, to sit up working at night later than usual. Irish

_airnean_ or _airneal_, same meaning.

Aroon, a term of endearment, my love, my dear: _Eileen Aroon_, the name

of a celebrated Irish air: vocative of Irish _run_ [roon], a secret, a

secret treasure. In Limerick commonly shortened to _aroo_. 'Where are

you going now _aroo_?'

{212} Art-loochra or arc-loochra, a harmless lizard five or six inches

long: Irish _art_ or _arc_ is a lizard: _luachra_, rushes; the 'lizard

of the rushes.'

Ask, a water-newt, a small water-lizard: from _esc_ or _easc_ [ask], an

old Irish word for water. From the same root comes the next word, the

diminutive form--

Askeen; land made by cutting away bog, which generally remains more or

less watery. (Reilly: Kildare.)

Asthore, a term of endearment, 'my treasure.' The vocative case of

Irish _stor_ [store], treasure.

Athurt; to confront:--'Oh well I will athurt him with that lie he told

about me.' (Cork.) Possibly a mispronunciation of _athwart_.

Avourneen, my love: the vocative case of Irish _muirnin_, a sweetheart,

a loved person.

Baan: a field covered with short grass:--'A baan field': 'a _baan_ of

cows': i.e. a grass farm with its proper number of cows. Irish _ban_,

whitish.

Back; a faction: 'I have a good back in the country, so I defy my

enemies.'

Back of God-speed; a place very remote, out of the way: so far off that

the virtue of your wish of _God-speed_ to a person will not go with him

so far.

Bacon: to 'save one's bacon'; to succeed in escaping some serious

personal injury--death, a beating, &c. 'They fled from the fight to

save their bacon': 'Here a lodging I'd taken, but loth to awaken, for

fear of my bacon, either man, wife, or babe.' (Old Anglo-Irish poem.)

{213} Bad member; a doer of evil; a bad character; a treacherous

fellow: 'I'm ruined,' says he, 'for some bad member has wrote to the

bishop about me.' ('Wild Sports of the West.')

Baffity, unbleached or blay calico. (Munster.)

Bails or bales, frames made of perpendicular wooden bars in which cows

are fastened for the night in the stable. (Munster.)

Baithershin; may be so, perhaps. Irish _b'feidir-sin_, same sound and

meaning.

Ballowr (Bal-yore in Ulster); to bellow, roar, bawl, talk loudly and

coarsely.

Ballyhooly, a village near Fermoy in Cork, formerly notorious for its

faction fights, so that it has passed into a proverb. A man is late

coming home and expects _Ballyhooly_ from his wife, i.e. 'the length

and breadth of her tongue.' Father Carroll has neglected to visit his

relatives, the Kearneys, for a long time, so that he knows he's _in the

black books_ with Mrs. Kearney, and expects Ballyhooly from her the

first time he meets her. ('Knocknagow.')

Ballyorgan in Co. Limerick, 146.

Banagher and Ballinasloe, 192.

Bannalanna: a woman who sells ale over the counter. Irish

_bean-na-leanna_, 'woman of the ale,' 'ale-woman' (_leann_, ale).

Ballyrag; to give loud abuse in torrents. (General.)

Bandle; a 2-foot measure for home-made flannel. (Munster.)

Bang-up; a frieze overcoat with high collar and long cape.

{214} Banshee'; a female fairy: Irish _bean-sidhe_ [banshee], a 'woman

from the _shee_ or fairy-dwelling.' This was the original meaning; but

in modern times, and among English speakers, the word _banshee_ has

become narrowed in its application, and signifies a female spirit that

attends certain families, and is heard _keening_ or crying aloud at

night round the house when some member of the family is about to die.

Barcelona; a silk kerchief for the neck:--

'His clothes spick and span new without e'er a speck;

A neat Barcelona tied round his white neck.'

(EDWARD LYSAGHT, in 'The Sprig of Shillelah.')

So called because imported from Barcelona, preserving a memory of the

old days of smuggling.

Barsa, barsaun; a scold. (Kild. and Ulst.)

Barth; a back-load of rushes, straw, heath, &c. Irish _beart_.

Baury, baura, baur-y[)a], bairy; the goal in football, hurling, &c.

Irish _baire_ [2-syll.], a game, a goal.

Bawn; an enclosure near a farmhouse for cattle, sheep, &c.; in some

districts, simply a farmyard. Irish _badhun_ [bawn], a cow-keep, from

_ba_, cows, and _dun_, a keep or fortress. Now generally applied to the

green field near the homestead where the cows are brought to be milked.

Bawneen; a loose whitish jacket of home-made undyed flannel worn by men

at out-door work. Very general: _banyan_ in Derry. From Irish _ban_

[bawn], whitish, with the diminutive termination.

Bawnoge; a dancing-green. (MacCall: Leinster.) {215} From _ban_ [baan],

a field covered with short grass; and the dim. _og_ (p. 90).

Bawshill, a _fetch_ or double. (See Fetch.) (MacCall: S. Wexford.) I

think this is a derivative of _Bow_, which see.

Beestings; new milk from a cow that has just calved.

Be-knownst; known: unbe-knownst; unknown. (Antrim.)

Better than; more than:--'It is better than a year since I saw him

last'; 'better than a mile,' &c. (Leinster and Munster.)

Bian' [by-ann']; one of Bianconi's long cars. (See Jingle.)

Binnen; the rope tying a cow to a stake in a field. (Knowles: Ulster.)

Birragh; a muzzle-band with spikes on a calf's or a foal's muzzle to

prevent it sucking its mother. From Irish _bir_, a sharp spit:

_birragh_, full of sharp points or spits. (Munster: see Gubbaun.)

Blackfast: among Roman Catholics, there is a 'black fast' on Ash

Wednesday, Spy Wednesday, and Good Friday, i.e. no flesh meat or

_whitemeat_ is allowed--no flesh, butter, eggs, cheese, or milk.

Blackfeet. The members of one of the secret societies of a century ago

were called 'Ribbonmen.' Some of them acknowledged the priests: those

were 'whitefeet': others did not--'blackfeet.'

Black man, black fellow; a surly vindictive implacable irreconcilable

fellow.

Black man; the man who accompanies a suitor to the house of the

intended father-in-law, to help to make the match.

{216} Black of one's nail. 'You just escaped by the black of your

nail': 'there's no cloth left--not the size of the black of my nail.'

(North and South.)

Black swop. When two fellows have two wretched articles--such as two

old penknives--each thinking his own to be the worst in the universe,

they sometimes agree for the pure humour of the thing to make a _black

swop_, i.e. to swop without first looking at the articles. When they

are looked at after the swop, there is always great fun. (See Hool.)

Blarney; smooth, plausible, cajoling talk. From Blarney Castle near

Cork, in which there is a certain stone hard to reach, with this

virtue, that if a person kisses it, he will be endowed with the gift of

_blarney_.

Blast; when a child suddenly fades in health and pines away, he has got

a blast,--i.e. a puff of evil wind sent by some baleful sprite has

struck him. _Blast_ when applied to fruit or crops means a blight in

the ordinary sense--nothing supernatural.

Blather, bladdher; a person who utters vulgarly foolish boastful talk:

used also as a verb--to blather. Hence _blatherumskite_, applied to a

person or to his talk in much the same sense; 'I never heard such a

blatherumskite.' Ulster and Scotch form _blether_, _blethering_: Burns

speaks of stringing 'blethers up in rhyme.' ('The Vision.')

Blaze, blazes, blazing: favourite words everywhere in Ireland. Why are

you in such a blazing hurry? Jack ran away like blazes: now work at

that job like blazes: he is blazing drunk. Used also by the English

_peasantry_:--'That's a blazing strange {217} answer,' says Jerry

Cruncher in 'A Tale of Two Cities.' There's a touch of slang in some of

these: yet the word has been in a way made classical by Lord Morley's

expression that Lord Salisbury never made a speech without uttering

'some blazing indiscretion.'

Blind Billy. In coming to an agreement take care you don't make 'Blind

Billy's Bargain,' by either overreaching yourself or allowing the other

party to overreach you. Blind Billy was the hangman in Limerick, and on

one particular occasion he flatly refused to do his work unless he got

L50 down on the nail: so the high sheriff had to agree and the hangman

put the money in his pocket. When all was over the sheriff refused

point-blank to send the usual escort without a fee of L50 down. So

Blind Billy had to hand over the L50--for if he went without an escort

he would be torn in pieces--and had nothing in the end for his job.

Blind lane; a lane stopped up at one end.

Blind window; an old window stopped up, but still plain to be seen.

Blink; to exercise an evil influence by a glance of the 'evil eye'; to

'overlook'; hence 'blinked,' blighted by the eye. When the butter does

not come in churning, the milk has been _blinked_ by some one.

Blirt; to weep: as a noun, a rainy wind. (Ulster.)

Blob (_blab_ often in Ulster), a raised blister: a drop of honey, or of

anything liquid.

Blue look-out; a bad look-out, bad prospect.

Boal or bole; a shelved recess in a room. (North.)

Boarhaun; dried cowdung used for fuel like turf. Irish _boithrean_

[boarhaun], from bo, a cow.

{218} Boccach [accented on 2nd syll. in Munster, but elsewhere on 1st];

a lame person. From the fact that so many beggars are lame or pretend

to be lame, _boccach_ has come to mean a beggar. Irish _bacach_, a lame

person: from _bac_, to halt. _Bockady_, another form of _boccach_ in

Munster. _Bockeen_ (the diminutive added on to _bac_), another form

heard in Mayo.

Boddagh [accented on 2nd syll. in Munster; in Ulster on 1st], a rich

churlish clownish fellow. Tom Cuddihy wouldn't bear insult from any

purse-proud old _boddagh_. ('Knocknagow.')

Body-coat; a coat like the present dress-coat, cut away in front so as

to leave a narrow pointed tail-skirt behind: usually made of frieze and

worn with the knee-breeches.

Body-glass; a large mirror in which the whole body can be seen.

(Limerick.)

Body-lilty; heels over head. (Derry.)

Bog; what is called in England a 'peat moss.' Merely the Irish _bog_,

soft. Bog (verb), to be bogged; to sink in a bog or any soft soil or

swampy place.

Bog-butter; butter found deep in bogs, where it had been buried in old

times for a purpose, and forgotten: a good deal changed now by the

action of the bog. (See Joyce's 'Smaller Soc. Hist. of Anc. Ireland,'

p. 260.)

Bog-Latin; bad incorrect Latin; Latin that had been learned in the

hedge schools among the bogs. This derisive and reproachful epithet was

given in bad old times by pupils and others of the favoured, legal, and

endowed schools, sometimes with reason, {219} but oftener very

unjustly. For those _bog_ or hedge schools sent out numbers of

scholarly men, who afterwards entered the church or lay professions.

(See p. 151.)

Boghaleen; the same as Crusheen, which see.

Bohaun; a cabin or hut. Irish _both_ [boh], a hut, with the diminutive

_an_.

Bold; applied to girls and boys in the sense of 'forward,' 'impudent.'

Boliaun, also called _booghalaun bwee_ and _ge[=o]sadaun_; the common

yellow ragwort: all these are Irish words.

Bolting-hole; the second or backward entrance made by rats, mice,

rabbits, &c., from their burrows, so that if attacked at the ordinary

entrance, they can escape by this, which is always left unused except

in case of attack. (Kinahan.)

Bones. If a person magnifies the importance of any matter and talks as

if it were some great affair, the other will reply:--'Oh, you're

_making great bones_ about it.'

Bonnive, a sucking-pig. Irish _banbh_, same sound and meaning. Often

used with the diminutive--bonniveen, bonneen. 'Oh look at the _baby

pigs_,' says an Irish lady one day in the hearing of others and myself,

ashamed to use the Irish word. After that she always bore the nickname

'Baby pig':--'Oh, there's the Baby pig.'

Bonnyclabber; thick milk. Irish _bainne_ [bonny] milk; and _clabar_,

anything thick or half liquid. 'In use all over America.' (Russell.)

Boochalawn bwee; ragweed: same as boliaun, which see.

{220} Boolanthroor; three men threshing together, instead of the usual

two: striking always in time. Irish _buail-an-triur_, 'the striking of

three.'

Booley as a noun; a temporary settlement in the grassy uplands where

the people of the adjacent lowland village lived during the summer with

their cattle, and milked them and made butter, returning in

autumn--cattle and all--to their lowland farms to take up the crops.

Used as a verb also: _to booley_. See my 'Smaller Soc. Hist. of Anc.

Ireland,' p. 431; or 'Irish Names of Places,' I. 239.

Boolthaun, boulhaun, booltheen, boolshin: the striking part of a flail:

from Irish _buail_ [bool], to strike, with the diminutive.

Boon in Ulster, same as _Mihul_ elsewhere; which see.

Boreen or bohereen, a narrow road. Irish _bothar_ [boher], a road, with

the diminutive.

Borick; a small wooden ball used by boys in hurling or goaling, when

the proper leather-covered ball is not to hand. Called in Ulster a

_nag_ and also a _golley_. (Knowles.)

Borreen-brack, 'speckled cake,' speckled with currants and raisins,

from Irish _bairghin_ [borreen], a cake, and _breac_ [brack], speckled:

specially baked for Hallow-eve. Sometimes corruptly called _barm-brack_

or _barn-brack_.

Bosthoon: a flexible rod or whip made of a number of green rushes laid

together and bound up with single rushes wound round and round. Made by

boys in play--as I often made them. Hence '_bosthoon_' is applied

contemptuously to a soft {221} worthless spiritless fellow, in much the

same sense as _poltroon_.

Bother; merely the Irish word _bodhar_, deaf, used both as a noun and a

verb in English (in the sense of deafening, annoying, troubling,

perplexing, teasing): a person deaf or partially deaf is said to be

_bothered_:--'Who should come in but _bothered_ Nancy Fay. Now be it

known that _bothered_ signifies deaf; and Nancy was a little old cranky

_bothered_ woman.' (Ir. Pen. Mag.) You 'turn the _bothered_ ear' to a

person when you do not wish to hear what he says or grant his request.

In these applications _bother_ is universal in Ireland among all

classes--educated as well as uneducated: accordingly, as Murray notes,

it was first brought into use by Irishmen, such as Sheridan, Swift, and

Sterne; just as Irishmen of to-day are bringing into currency _galore_,

_smithereens_, and many other Irish words. In its primary sense of deaf

or to deafen, _bother_ is used in the oldest Irish documents: thus in

the Book of Leinster we have:--_Ro bodrais sind oc imradud do maic_,

'You have made us deaf (you have _bothered_ us) talking about your son'

(Kuno Meyer): and a similar expression is in use at the present day in

the very common phrase 'don't _bother_ me' (don't deafen me, don't

annoy me), which is an exact translation of the equally common Irish

phrase _na bi am' bhodradh_. Those who derive _bother_ from the English

_pother_ make a guess, and not a good one. See Bowraun.

Bottheen, a short thick stick or cudgel: the Irish _bata_ with the

diminutive:--_baitin_.

Bottom; a clue or ball of thread. One of the tricks {222} of girls on

Hallow-eve to find out the destined husband is to go out to the

limekiln at night with a ball of yarn; throw in the ball still holding

the thread; re-wind the thread, till it is suddenly stopped; call out

'who _howlds_ my bottom of yarn?' when she expects to hear the name of

the young man she is to marry.

Bouchal or boochal, a boy: the Irish _buachaill_, same meaning.

Bouilly-bawn, white home-made bread of wheaten flour; often called

_bully-bread_. (MacCall: Wexford.) From Irish _bul_ or _builidhe_, a

loaf, and _ban_, white.

Boundhalaun, a plant with thick hollow stem with joints, of which boys

make rude syringes. From Irish _banndal_ or _bannlamh_, a _bandle_

(which see), with the dim. termination _an_, I never saw true

boundhalauns outside Munster.

Bourke, the Rev. Father, 71, 161.

Bownloch, a sore on the sole of the foot always at the edge: from

_bonn_ the foot-sole [pron. bown in the South], and _loch_ a mere

termination. Also called a _Bine-lock_.

Bowraun, a sieve-shaped vessel for holding or measuring out corn, with

the flat bottom made of dried sheepskin stretched tight; sometimes used

as a rude tambourine, from which it gets the name _bowraun_; Irish

_bodhur_ [pron. bower here], deaf, from the _bothered_ or indistinct

sound. (South.)

Bow [to rhyme with _cow_]; a _banshee_, a _fetch_ (both which see.

MacCall: South Leinster). This word has come down to us from very old

times, for it preserves the memory of _Bugh_ [Boo], a _banshee_ or

fairy queen once very celebrated, the daughter of {223} Bove Derg king

of the Dedannans or faery-race, of whom information will be obtained in

the classical Irish story, 'The Fate of the Children of Lir,' the first

in my 'Old Celtic Romances.' She has given her name to many hills all

through Ireland. (See my 'Irish Names of Places,' I. 182, 183. See

Bawshill.)

Box and dice; used to denote the whole lot: I'll send you all the books

and manuscripts, box and dice.

Boxty; same as the Limerick _muddly_, which see.

Boy. Every Irishman is a 'boy' till he is married, and indeed often

long after. (Crofton Croker: 'Ir. Fairy Legends.')

Brablins: a crowd of children: a rabble. (Monaghan.)

Bracket; speckled: a 'bracket cow.' Ir. _breac_, speckled.

Braddach; given to mischief; roguish. Ir. _bradach_, a thief: in the

same sense as when a mother says to her child, 'You young thief, stop

that mischief.' Often applied to cows inclined to break down and cross

fences. (Meath and Monaghan.)

Brander; a gridiron. (North.) From Eng. _brand_.

Brash; a turn of sickness (North.) Water-brash (Munster), severe

acidity of the stomach with a flow of watery saliva from the mouth.

Brash (North), a short turn at churning, or at anything; a stroke of

the churndash: 'Give the churn a few brashes.' In Donegal you will hear

'that's a good brash of hail.'

Brave; often used as an intensive:--'This is a brave fine day'; 'that's

a brave big dog': (Ulster.) Also fine or admirable 'a brave stack of

hay': {224} tall, strong, hearty (not necessarily brave in

fighting):--'I have as brave a set of sons as you'd find in a day's

walk.' 'How is your sick boy doing?' 'Oh bravely, thank you.'

Braw; fine, handsome: Ir. _breagh_, same sound and meanings. (Ulster.)

Break. You _break_ a grass field when you plough or dig it up for

tillage. 'I'm going to break the kiln field.' ('Knocknagow.') Used all

over Ireland: almost in the same sense as in Gray's Elegy:--'Their

furrow oft the stubborn glebe _has broke_.'

Break; to dismiss from employment: 'Poor William O'Donnell was _broke_

last week.' This usage is derived from the Irish language; and a very

old usage it is; for we read in the Brehon Laws:--'_Cid nod m-bris in

fer-so a bo-airechus?_' 'What is it that breaks (dismisses, degrades)

this man from his bo-aireship (i.e. from his position as _bo-aire_ or

chief)?' My car-driver asked me one time:--'Can an inspector of

National Schools be broke, sir?' By which he meant could he be

dismissed at any time without any cause.

Breedoge [_d_ sounded like _th_ in _bathe_]; a figure dressed up to

represent St. Brigit, which was carried about from house to house by a

procession of boys and girls in the afternoon of the 31st Jan. (the eve

of the saint's festival), to collect small money contributions. With

this money they got up a little rustic evening party with a dance next

day, 1st Feb. 'Breedoge' means 'little _Brighid_ or _Brighit_,' _Breed_

(or rather _Breedh_) representing the sound of Brighid, with _og_ the

old diminutive feminine termination.

{225} Brecham, the straw collar put on a horse's or an ass's neck:

sometimes means the old-fashioned straw saddle or pillion. (Ulster.)

Brehon Law; the old native law of Ireland. A judge or a lawyer was

called a 'brehon.'

Brew; a margin, a brink: 'that lake is too shallow to fish from the

brews': from the Irish _bru_, same sound and meaning. See Broo.

Brief; prevalent: 'fever is very brief.' Used all over the southern

half of Ireland. Perhaps a mistake for _rife_.

Brillauns or brill-yauns, applied to the poor articles of furniture in

a peasant's cottage. Dick O'Brien and Mary Clancy are getting married

as soon as they can gather up the few _brill-yauns_ of furniture.

(South-east of Ireland.)

Brine-oge; 'a young fellow full of fun and frolic.' (Carleton: Ulster.)

Bring: our peculiar use of this (for 'take') appears in such phrases

as:--'he brought the cows to the field': 'he brought me to the

theatre.' (Hayden and Hartog.) See Carry.

Brock, brockish; a badger. It is just the Irish _broc_.

Brock, brocket, brockey; applied to a person heavily pock-marked. I

suppose from _broc_, a badger. (Ulster.)

Brogue, a shoe: Irish _brog_. Used also to designate the Irish accent

in speaking English: for the old Irish thong-stitched brogue was

considered so characteristically Irish that the word was applied to our

accent; as a clown is called a _cauboge_ (which see: Munster).

{226} Brohoge or bruhoge; a small batch of potatoes roasted. See

Brunoge.

Broken; bankrupt: quite a common expression is:--Poor Phil Burke is

'broken horse and foot'; i.e. utterly bankrupt and ruined.

Broo, the edge of a potato ridge along which cabbages are planted.

Irish _bru_, a margin, a brink.

Brosna, brusna, bresna; a bundle of sticks for firing: a faggot. This

is the Irish _brosna_, universally used in Ireland at the present day,

both in Irish and English; and used in the oldest Irish documents. In

the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, written in Irish ten centuries ago,

we are told that when Patrick was a boy, his foster-mother sent him one

day for a _brossna_ of withered branches to make a fire.

Broth of a boy; a _good_ manly brave boy: the essence of manhood, as

broth is the essence of meat.

Brough; a ring or halo round the moon. It is the Irish _bruach_, a

border.

Broughan; porridge or oatmeal stirabout. Irish _brochan_. (Ulster.)

Bruggadauns [_d_ sounded like _th_ in _they_]; the stalks of ferns

found in meadows after mowing. (Kerry.)

Brulliagh; a row, a noisy scuffle. (Derry.)

Brunoge; a little batch of potatoes roasted in a fire made in the

potato field at digging time: always dry, floury and palatable.

(Roscommon.) Irish _bruithneog_. See Brohoge.

Bruss or briss; small broken bits mixed up with dust: very often

applied to turf-dust. Irish _brus_, _bris_, same sounds and meaning.

(South.)

{227} Brutteen, brutin, bruteens; the Ulster words for caulcannon;

which see. Irish _bruightin_.

Buckaun; the upright bar of a hinge on which the other part with the

door hangs. Irish _bocan_.

Buckley, Father Darby, 68, 146.

Bucknabarra; any non-edible fungus. (Fermanagh.) See Pookapyle.

Buck teeth; superfluous teeth which stand out from the ordinary row.

(Knowles: Ulster.)

Buddaree [_dd_ sounded like _th_ in _they_]; a rich purse-proud vulgar

farmer. (Munster.) Irish.

Buff; the skin; to strip to one's buff is to strip naked. Two fellows

going to fight with fists strip to their buff, i.e. naked from the

waist up. (Munster.)

Buggaun (Munster), buggeen (Leinster); an egg without a shell. Irish

_bog_, soft, with the dim. termination.

Bullaun, a bull calf. Irish, as in next word.

Bullavaun, bullavogue; a strong, rough, bullying fellow. From _bulla_

the Irish form of _bull_. (Moran: Carlow.)

Bullaworrus; a spectral bull 'with fire blazing from his eyes, mouth,

and nose,' that guards buried treasure by night. (Limerick.) Irish.

Bullia-bottha (or boolia-botha); a fight with sticks. (Simmons:

Armagh.) Irish _buaileadh_, striking; and _bata_, a stick.

Bullagadaun [_d_ sounded like _th_ in _they_]; a short stout

pot-bellied fellow. (Munster.) From Irish _bolg_ [pron. bullog], a

belly, and the dim. _dan_.

Bullshin, bullsheen; same as _Bullaun_.

{228} Bum; to cart turf to market: _bummer_, a person who does so as a

way of living, like Billy Heffernan in 'Knocknagow.' Bum-bailiff, a bog

bailiff. (Grainger: Arm.) Used more in the northern half of Ireland

than in the southern.

Bun; the tail of a rabbit. (Simmons: Arm.) Irish _bun_, the end.

Bunnans; roots or stems of bushes or trees. (Meath.) From Irish _bun_

as in last word.

Bunnaun; a long stick or wattle. (Joyce: Limerick.)

Bunnioch; the last sheaf bound up in a field of reaped corn. The binder

of this (usually a girl) will die unmarried. (MacCall: Wexford.)

Butt; a sort of cart boarded at bottom and all round the sides, 15 or

18 inches deep, for potatoes, sand, &c. (Limerick.) In Cork any kind of

horse-cart or donkey-cart is called a _butt_, which is a departure from

the (English) etymology. In Limerick any kind of cart except a butt is

called a _car_; the word _cart_ is not used at all.

Butthoon has much the same meaning as _potthalowng_, which see. Irish

_butun_, same sound and meaning. (Munster.)

Butter up; to flatter, to cajole by soft sugary words, generally with

some selfish object in view:--'I suspected from the way he was

buttering me up that he came to borrow money.'

Byre: the place where the cows are fed and milked; sometimes a house

for cows and horses, or a farmyard.

By the same token: this needs no explanation; it is a survival from

Tudor English. (Hayden and Hartog.)

{229} Cabin-hunting; going about from house to house to gossip.

(South.)

Cabman's Answer, The, 208.

Cadday' [strong accent on -day] to stray idly about. As a noun an idle

_stray_ of a fellow.

Cadge; to hawk goods for sale. (Simmons: Armagh.) To go about idly from

house to house, picking up _a bit and a sup_, wherever they are to be

had. (Moran: Carlow.)

Caffler; a contemptible little fellow who gives saucy _cheeky_ foolish

talk. Probably a mispronunciation of _caviller_. (Munster.)

Cagger; a sort of pedlar who goes to markets and houses selling small

goods and often taking others in exchange. (Kinahan: South and West.)

Cahag; the little cross-piece on the end of a spade-handle, or of any

handle. (Mon.)

Cailey; a friendly evening visit in order to have a gossip. There are

usually several persons at a cailey, and along with the gossiping talk

there are songs or music. Irish _ceilidh_, same sound and meaning. Used

all over Ireland, but more in the North than elsewhere.

Calleach na looha [Colleagh: accented on 2nd syll. in South; on 1st in

North] 'hag of the ashes.' Children--and sometimes _old

children_--think that a little hag resides in the ashpit beside the

fire. Irish _cailleach_, an old woman: _luaith_, ashes.

Calleach-rue ('red hag'); a little reddish brown fish about 4 inches

long, plentiful in small streams. We boys thought them delicious when

broiled on the turf-coals. We fished for them either with a loop-snare

made of a single {230} horsehair on the end of a twig, with which it

was very hard to catch them; for, as the boys used to say, 'they were

cute little divels'--or directly--like the sportsmen of old--with a

spear--the same spear being nothing but _an ould fork_.

Caish; a growing pig about 6 months old. (Munster.)

Call; claim, right: 'put down that spade; you have no call to it.'

'Bedad,' says he, 'this sight is queer,

My eyes it does bedizen--O;

What _call_ have you marauding here,

Or how daar you leave your prison--O?'

(Repeal Song: 1843.)

Need, occasion: they lived so near each other that there was no call to

send letters. 'Why are you shouting that way?' 'I have a good call to

shout, and that blackguard running away with my apples.' Father O'Flynn

could preach on many subjects:--'Down from mythology into thayology,

Troth! and conchology if he'd the call.' (A. P. Graves.) Used

everywhere in Ireland in these several senses.

Call; custom in business: Our new shopkeeper is getting great call,

i.e. his customers are numerous. (South.)

Cam or caum; a metal vessel for melting resin to make _sluts_ or long

torches; also used to melt metal for coining. (Simmons: Armagh.) Called

a _grisset_ in Munster. Usually of a curved shape: Irish _cam_, curved.

Candle. 'Jack Brien is a good scholar, but he couldn't hold a candle to

Tom Murphy': i.e. he {231} is very inferior to him. The person that

holds a candle for a workman is a mere attendant and quite an inferior.

Cannags; the stray ears left after the corn has been reaped and

gathered. (Morris: Mon.) Called _liscauns_ in Munster.

Caper: oat-cake and butter. (Simmons: Armagh.)

Caravat and Shanavest; the names of two hostile factions in Kilkenny

and all round about there, of the early part of last century. Like

Three-year-old and Four-year-old. Irish _Caravat_, a cravat; and

_Shanavest_, old vest: which names were adopted, but no one can tell

why.

Card-cutter; a fortune-teller by card tricks. Card-cutters were pretty

common in Limerick in my early days: but it was regarded as

disreputable to have any dealings with them.

Cardia; friendship, a friendly welcome, additional time granted for

paying a debt. (All over Ireland.) Ir. _cairde_, same meanings.

Cardinal Points, 168.

Carleycue; a very small coin of some kind. Used like _keenoge_ and

_cross_. (Very general.)

Carn; a heap of anything; a monumental pile of stones heaped up over a

dead person. Irish _carn_, same meanings.

Caroline or 'Caroline hat'; a tall hat. ('Knocknagow': all over

Munster.)

Caroogh, an expert or professional card-player. (Munster.) Irish

_cearrbhach_, same sound and meaning.

Carra, Carrie; a weir on a river. (Derry.) Irish _carra_, same meaning.

{232} Carrigaholt in Clare, 145.

Carry; to lead or drive: 'James, carry down those cows to the river'

(i.e. drive): 'carry the horse to the forge' (lead). 'I will carry my

family this year to Youghal for the salt water.' (Kinahan: South, West,

and North-west.) See Bring.

Case: the Irish _cas_, and applied in the same way: 'It is a poor case

that I have to pay for your extravagance.' _Nach dubhach bocht un cas

bheith ag tuitim le ghradh_: 'isn't it a poor case to be failing

through love.'--Old Irish Song. Our dialectical Irish _case_, as above,

is taken straight from the Irish _cas_; but this and the standard

English _case_ are both borrowed from Latin.

Cassnara; respect, anything done out of respect: 'he put on his new

coat for a _casnara_.' (Morris: South Mon.)

Castor oil was our horror when we were children. No wonder; for this

story went about of how it was made. A number of corpses were hanging

from hooks round the walls of the _factory_, and drops were continually

falling from their big toes into vessels standing underneath. This was

castor oil.

Catin clay; clay mixed with rushes or straws used in building the mud

walls of cottages. (Simmons: Arm.)

Cat of a kind: they're 'cat of a kind,' both like each other and both

objectionable.

Cat's lick; used in and around Dublin to express exactly the same as

the Munster _Scotch lick_, which see. A cat has a small tongue and does

not do much licking.

{233} Caubeen; an old shabby cap or hat: Irish _caibin_: he wore a

'shocking bad caubeen.'

Cauboge; originally an old hat, like caubeen; but now applied--as the

symbol of vulgarity--to an ignorant fellow, a boor, a bumpkin: 'What

else could you expect from that cauboge?' (South.)

Caulcannon, Calecannon, Colecannon, Kalecannon; potatoes mashed with

butter and milk, with chopped up cabbage and pot-herbs. In Munster

often made and eaten on Hallow Eve. The first syllable is the Irish

_cal_, cabbage; _cannon_ is also Irish, meaning speckled.

Caur, kindly, good-natured, affable. (Morris: South Mon.)

Cawmeen; a mote: 'there's a cawmeen in my eye.' (Moran: Carlow.) Irish

with the diminutive.

Cawsha Pooka; the big fungus often seen growing on old trees or

elsewhere. From Irish _caise_, cheese: the 'Pooka's cheese.' See Pooka

and Pookapyle and Bucknabarra.

Cead mile failte [caidh meela faultha], a hundred thousand welcomes.

Irish, and universal in Ireland as a salute.

Ceolaun [keolaun], a trifling contemptible little fellow. (Munster.)

Cess; very often used in the combination _bad cess_ (bad luck):--'Bad

cess to me but there's something comin' over me.' (Kickham:

'Knocknagow.') Some think this is a contraction of _success_; others

that it is to be taken as it stands--a _cess_ or contribution; which

receives some little support from its use in Louth to mean 'a quantity

of corn in for threshing.'

{234} Chalk Sunday; the first Sunday after Shrove Tuesday (first Sunday

in Lent), when those young men who should have been married, but were

not, were marked with a heavy streak of chalk on the back of the

_Sunday coat_, by boys who carried bits of chalk in their pockets for

that purpose, and lay in wait for the bachelors. The marking was done

while the congregation were assembling for Mass: and the young fellow

ran for his life, always laughing, and often singing the concluding

words of some suitable doggerel such as:--'And you are not married

though Lent has come!' This custom prevailed in Munster. I saw it in

full play in Limerick: but I think it has died out. For the air to

which the verses were sung, see my 'Old Irish Music and Songs,' p. 12.

Champ (Down); the same as 'caulcannon,' which see. Also potatoes mashed

with butter and milk; same as 'pandy,' which see.

Chanter; to go about grumbling and fault-finding. (Ulster.)

Chapel: Church: Scallan, 143.

Chaw for _chew_, 97. 'Chawing the rag'; continually grumbling, jawing,

and giving abuse. (Kinahan.)

Cheek; impudence; _brass_: cheeky; presumptuous.

Chincough, whooping-cough: from _kink-cough_. See Kink.

Chittering; constantly muttering complaints. (Knowles.)

Chook chook [the _oo_ sounded rather short]; a call for hens. It is the

Irish _tiuc_, come.

Christian; a human being as distinguished from one of the lower

animals:--'That dog has nearly as much sense as a Christian.' {235}

Chuff: full.--'I'm chuffey after my dinner.' (MacCall: Wexford.)

Clabber, clobber, or clawber; mud: thick milk. See Bonnyclabber.

Clamp; a small rick of turf, built up regularly. (All through Ireland.)

Clamper; a dispute, a wrangle. (Munster.) Irish _clampar_, same

meaning.

Clarsha; a lazy woman. (Morris: South Monaghan.)

Clart; an untidy dirty woman, especially in preparing food. (Simmons:

Armagh.)

Clash, to carry tales: Clashbag, a tale-bearer. (Simmons: Armagh.)

Classy; a drain running through a byre or stable-yard. (Morris: South

Monaghan.) Irish _clais_, a trench, with the diminutive _y_ added.

Clat; a slovenly untidy person; dirt, clay: 'wash the _clat_ off your

hands': clatty; slovenly, untidy--(Ulster): called _clotty_ in

Kildare;--a slattern.

Clatch; a brood of chickens. (Ulster.) See Clutch.

Cleean [2-syll.]; a relation by marriage--such as a father-in-law. Two

persons so related are _cleeans_. Irish _cliamhan_, same sound and

meaning.

Cleever; one who deals in poultry; because he carries them in a

_cleeve_ or large wicker basket. (Morris: South Monaghan.) Irish

_cliabh_ [cleeve], a basket.

Cleevaun; a cradle: also a crib or cage for catching birds. The

diminutive of Irish _cliabh_ or cleeve, a wicker basket.

Clegg; a horsefly. (Ulster and Carlow.)

Clehalpeen; a shillelah or cudgel with a knob at the end. (South.) From

Irish _cleath_, a wattle, and _ailpin_ dim. of _alp_, a knob. {236}

Clever is applied to a man who is tall, straight, and well made.

Clevvy; three or four shelves one over another in a wall: a sort of

small open cupboard like a dresser. (All over the South.)

Clibbin, clibbeen; a young colt. (Donegal.) Irish _clibin_, same sound

and meaning.

Clibbock; a young horse. (Derry.)

Clift; a light-headed person, easily roused and rendered foolishly

excited. (Ulster.)

Clipe-clash: a tell-tale. (Ulster.) See Clash.

Clochaun, clochan; a row of stepping-stones across a river. (General.)

From Irish _cloch_, a stone, with the diminutive _an_.

Clock; a black beetle. (South.)

Clocking hen; a hen hatching. (General.) From the sound or _clock_ she

utters.

Clooracaun or cluracaun, another name for a leprachaun, which see.

Close; applied to a day means simply warm:--'This is a very close day.'

Clout; a blow with the hand or with anything. Also a piece of cloth, a

rag, commonly used in the diminutive form in Munster--_cloutheen_.

_Cloutheens_ is specially applied to little rags used with an infant.

_Clout_ is also applied to a clownish person:--'It would be well if

somebody would teach that _clout_ some manners.'

Clove; to clove flax is to _scutch_ it--to draw each handful repeatedly

between the blades of a 'cloving tongs,' so as to break off and remove

the brittle husk, leaving the fibre smooth and free. (Munster.)

{237}

Clutch; a brood of chickens or of any fowls: same as clatch. I suppose

this is English: Waterton (an English traveller) uses it in his

'Wanderings'; but it is not in the Dictionaries of Chambers and

Webster.

Cluthoge; Easter eggs. (P. Reilly; Kildare.)

Cly-thoran; a wall or ditch between two estates. (Roscommon.) Irish

_cladh_ [cly], a raised dyke or fence; _teora_, gen. _teorann_

[thoran], a boundary.

Cobby-house; a little house made by children for play. (Munster.)

Cockles off the heart, 194.

Cog; to copy surreptitiously; to crib something from the writings of

another and pass it off as your own. One schoolboy will sometimes copy

from another:--'You cogged that sum.'

Coghil; a sort of long-shaped pointed net. (Armagh.) Irish _cochal_, a

net.

Coldoy; a bad halfpenny: a spurious worthless article of jewellery.

(Limerick.)

Colleen; a young girl. (All over Ireland.) Irish _cailin_, same sound

and meaning.

Colley; the woolly dusty fluffy stuff that gathers under furniture and

in remote corners of rooms. Light soot-smuts flying about.

Colloge; to talk and gossip in a familiar friendly way. An Irish form

of the Latin or English word 'colloquy.'

Collop; a standard measure of grazing land, p. 177.

Collop; the part of a flail that is held in the hand. (Munster.) See

Boolthaun. Irish _colpa_.

Come-all-ye; a nickname applied to Irish Folk Songs and Music; an old

country song; from the {238} beginning of many of the songs:--'Come all

ye tender Christians,' &c. This name, intended to be reproachful,

originated among ourselves, after the usual habit of many 'superior'

Irishmen to vilify their own country and countrymen and all their

customs and peculiarities. Observe, this opening is almost equally

common in English Folk-songs; yet the English do not make game of them

by nicknames. Irish music, which is thus vilified by some of our

brethren, is the most beautiful Folk Music in the world.

Comether; _come hether_ or _hither_, 97.

Commaun, common; the game of goaling or hurley. So called from the

_commaun_ or crooked-shaped stick with which it is played: Irish _cam_

or _com_, curved or crooked; with the diminutive--_caman_. Called

_hurling_ and _goaling_ by English speakers in Ireland, and _shinney_

in Scotland.

Commons; land held in common by the people of a village or small

district: see p. 177.

Comparisons, 136.

Conacre; letting land in patches for a short period. A farmer divides a

large field into small portions--1/4 acre, 1/2 acre, &c.--and lets

them to his poorer neighbours usually for one season for a single crop,

mostly potatoes, or in Ulster flax. He generally undertakes to manure

the whole field, and charges high rents for the little lettings. I saw

this in practice more than 60 years ago in Munster. Irish _con_,

common, and Eng. _acre_.

Condition; in Munster, to 'change your condition' is to get married.

Condon, Mr. John, of Mitchelstown, 155.

{239}

Conny, canny; discreet, knowing, cute.

Contrairy, for _contrary_, but accented on second syll.; cross,

perverse, cranky, crotchety, 102.

Convenient: see Handy.

Cool: hurlers and football players always put one of their best players

to _mind cool_ or _stand cool_, i.e. to stand at their own goal or gap,

to intercept the ball if the opponents should attempt to drive it

through. Universal in Munster. Irish _cul_ [cool], the back. The full

word is _cool-baur-ya_ where 'baur-ya' is the goal or gap. The man

standing cool is often called 'the man in the gap' (see p. 182).

Cool; a good-sized roll of butter. (Munster.)

Cooleen or coulin; a fair-haired girl. This is the name of a celebrated

Irish air. From _cul_ the back [of the head], and _fionn_, white or

fair:--_cuil-fhionn_, [pron. cooleen or coolin].

Coonagh; friendly, familiar, _great_ (which see):--'These two are very

_coonagh_.' (MacCall: Wexford.) Irish _cuaine_, a family.

Coonsoge, a bees' nest. (Cork.) Irish _cuansa_ [coonsa], a

hiding-place, with the diminutive _og_.

Cooramagh; kindly, careful, thoughtful, provident:--'No wonder Mrs.

Dunn would look well and happy with such a _cooramagh_ husband.' Irish

_curamach_, same meaning.

Coord [_d_ sounded like _th_ in _bathe_], a friendly visit to a

neighbour's house. Irish _cuaird_, a visit. Coordeeagh, same meaning.

(Munster.)

Cope-curley; to stand on the head and throw the heels over; to turn

head over heels. (Ulster.)

Core: work given as a sort of loan to be paid back. {240} I send a man

on _core_ for a day to my neighbour: when next I want a man he will

send me one for a day in return. So with horses: two one-horse farmers

who work their horses in pairs, borrowing alternately, are said to be

in _core_. Very common in Munster. Irish _cobhair_ or _cabhair_ [core

or co-ir, 2-syll.] help, support.

Coreeagh; a man who has a great desire to attend funerals--goes to

every funeral that he can possibly reach. (Munster.) Same root as last.

Corfuffle; to toss, shake, confuse, mix up. (Derry.)

Correesk; a crane. (Kildare.) Irish _corr_, a bird of the crane kind,

and _riasc_ [reesk], a marsh.

C[=o]sher [the _o_ long as in _motion_]; banqueting, feasting. In very

old times in Ireland, certain persons went about with news from place

to place, and were entertained in the high class houses: this was

called _coshering_, and was at one time forbidden by law. In modern

times it means simply a friendly visit to a neighbour's house to have a

quiet talk. Irish _coisir_; a banquet, feasting.

Costnent. When a farm labourer has a cottage and garden from his

employer, and boards himself, he lives _costnent_. He is paid small

wages (called _costnent_ wages) as he has house and plot free. (Derry.)

Cot; a small boat: Irish _cot_. See 'Irish Names of Places,' I. 226,

for places deriving their names from _cots_.

Cowlagh; an old ruined house. (Kerry.) Irish _coblach_ [cowlagh].

Coward's blow; a blow given to provoke a boy to fight or else be

branded as a coward. {241}

Cow's lick. When the hair in front over the forehead turns at the roots

upward and backward, that is a _cow's lick_, as if a cow had licked it

upwards. The idea of a cow licking the hair is very old in Irish

literature. In the oldest of all our miscellaneous Irish MSS.--The Book

of the Dun Cow--Cuculainn's hair is so thick and smooth that king

Laery, who saw him, says:--'I should imagine it is a cow that licked

it.'

Cox, Mr. Simon, of Galbally, 156.

Craags; great fat hands; big handfuls. (Morris: South Mon.)

Crab; a cute precocious little child is often called an _old crab_.

'Crabjaw' has the same meaning.

Cracked; crazy, half mad.

Cracklins; the browned crispy little flakes that remain after

_rendering_ or melting lard and pouring it off. (Simmons: Armagh.)

Crahauns or Kirraghauns; very small potatoes not used by the family:

given to pigs. (Munster.) Irish _creathan_.

Crans (always in pl.); little tricks or dodges. (Limk).

Crapper; a half glass of whiskey. (Moran: Carlow.)

Craw-sick; ill in the morning after a drunken bout.

Crawtha; sorry, mortified, pained. (Limerick.) Irish _craidhte_

[crawtha], same meaning.

Crawthumper; a person ostentatiously devotional.

Creelacaun; see Skillaun.

Creel; a strong square wicker frame, used by itself for holding turf,

&c., or put on asses' backs (in pairs), or put on carts for carrying

turf or for taking calves, _bonnives_, &c., to market. Irish _criol_.

(All through Ireland.) {242}

Creepy; a small stool, a stool. (Chiefly in Ulster.)

Crith; hump on the back. Irish _cruit_, same sound and meaning. From

this comes _critthera_ and _crittheen_, both meaning a hunchback.

Cro, or cru: a house for cows. (Kerry.) Irish _cro_, a pen, a fold, a

shed for any kind of animals.

Croaked; I am afraid poor Nancy is croaked, i.e. doomed to death. The

raven croaks over the house when one of the family is about to die.

(MacCall: Wexford.)

Croft; a water bottle, usually for a bedroom at night. You never hear

_carafe_ in Ireland: it is always _croft_.

Cromwell, Curse of, 166.

Crumel'ly. (Limerick.) More correctly _curr amilly_. (Donegal.) An herb

found in grassy fields with a sweet root that children dig up and eat.

Irish 'honey-root.'

Cronaun, croonaun; a low humming air or song, any continuous humming

sound: 'the old woman was cronauning in the corner.'

Cronebane, cronebaun; a bad halfpenny, a worthless copper coin. From

Cronebane in Co. Wicklow, where copper mines were worked.

Croobeen or crubeen; a pig's foot. Pigs' croobeens boiled are a grand

and favourite viand among us--all through Ireland. Irish _crub_

[croob], a foot, with the diminutive.

Croost; to throw stones or clods from the hand:--'Those boys are always

_croosting_ stones at my hens.' Irish _crusta_ [croostha], a missile, a

clod.

Croudy: see Porter-meal.

Crowl or Croil; a dwarf, a very small person: the smallest _bonnive_ of

the litter. An Irish word. {243}

Cruiskeen; a little cruise for holding liquor. Used all over Ireland.

'In a shady nook one moonlight night

A _leprechaun_ I spied;

With scarlet cap and coat of green,

A _cruiskeen_ by his side.'

The _Cruiskeen Laun_ is the name of a well-known Irish air--the Scotch

call it 'John Anderson my Jo.' Irish _cruiscin_, a pitcher: _lan_

[laun], full: i.e. in this case full of _pottheen_.

Crusheen; a stick with a flat crosspiece fastened at bottom for washing

potatoes in a basket. Irish _cros_, a cross, with the diminutive. Also

called a _boghaleen_, from Irish _bachal_, a staff, with diminutive.

(Joyce: Limerick.)

Cuck; a tuft: applied to the little tuft of feathers on the head of

some birds, such as plovers, some hens and ducks, &c. Irish _coc_: same

sound and meaning. (General.)

Cuckles; the spiky seed-pods of the thistle: thistle heads. (Limerick.)

Cuckoo spit; the violet: merely the translation of the Irish name,

_sail-chuach_, spittle of cuckoos. Also the name of a small frothy

spittle-like substance often found on leaves of plants in summer, with

a little greenish insect in the middle of it. (Limerick.)

Cugger-mugger; whispering, gossiping in a low voice: Jack and Bessie

had a great _cugger-mugger_. Irish _cogar_, whisper, with a similar

duplication meaning nothing, like tip-top, shilly-shally,

gibble-gabble, clitter-clatter, &c. I think {244} 'hugger-mugger' is a

form of this: for _hugger_ can't be derived from anything, whereas

_cugger_ (_cogur_) is a plain Irish word.

Cull; when the best of a lot of any kind--sheep, cattle, books,

&c.--have been picked out, the bad ones that are left--the refuse--are

the _culls_. (Kinahan: general.)

Culla-greefeen; when foot or hand is 'asleep' with the feeling of 'pins

and needles.' The name is Irish and means 'Griffin's sleep'; but why so

called I cannot tell. (Munster.)

Cup-tossing; reading fortunes from tea-leaves thrown out on the saucer

from the tea-cup or teapot. (General.)

Cur; a twist: a _cur_ of a rope. (Joyce: Limerick.)

Curate; a common little iron poker kept in use to spare the grand one:

also a grocer's assistant. (Hayden and Hartog.)

Curcuddiagh; cosy, comfortable. (Maxwell: 'Wild Sports of the West':

Irish: Mayo.)

Curifixes; odd _curious_ ornaments or _fixtures_ of any kind.

(General.) Peter Brierly, looking at the knocker:--'I never see such

_curifixes_ on a _doore_ afore.' (Edw. Walsh: very general.)

Curragh; a wicker boat covered formerly with hides but now with tarred

canvass. (See my 'Smaller Social Hist. of Anc. Ireland.')

Current; in good health: he is not current; his health is not current.

(Father Higgins: Cork.)

Curwhibbles, currifibbles, currywhibbles; any strange, odd, or unusual

gestures; or any unusual twisting of words, such as prevarication; wild

puzzles and puzzling talk:--'The horsemen are in regular currywhibles

about something.' (R. D. Joyce.) {245}

Cush; a sort of small horse, from _Cushendall_ in Antrim.

Cushlamochree; pulse of my heart. Irish _Cuisl[)e]_, vein or pulse;

_mo_, my; _croidhe_ [cree], heart.

Cushoge; a stem of a plant; sometimes used the same as _traneen_, which

see. (Moran: Carlow; and Morris: Monaghan.)

Cut; a county or barony cess tax; hence Cutman, the collector of it.

(Kinahan: Armagh and Donegal.) 'The three black _cuts_ will be levied.'

(Seumas MacManus: Donegal.)

Daisy-picker; a person who accompanies two lovers in their walk; why so

called obvious. Brought to keep off gossip.

Dalk, a thorn. (De Vismes Kane: North and South.) Irish _dealg_

[dallog], a thorn.

Dallag [_d_ sounded like _th_ in _that_]; any kind of covering to

blindfold the eyes (Morris: South Monaghan): 'blinding,' from Irish

_dall_, blind.

Dallapookeen; blindman's buff. (Kerry.) From Irish _dalladh_ [dalla]

blinding; and _puicin_ [pookeen], a covering over the eyes.

Daltheen [the _d_ sounded like _th_ in _that_], an impudent conceited

little fellow: a diminutive of _dalta_, a foster child. The diminutive

_dalteen_ was first applied to a horseboy, from which it has drifted to

its present meaning.

Dancing customs, 170, 172.

Dannagh; mill-dust and mill-grains for feeding pigs. (Moran: Carlow:

also Tip.) Irish _deanach_, same sound and meaning. {246}

Dander [second _d_ sounded like _th_ in _hither_], to walk about

leisurely: a leisurely walk.

Dandy; a small tumbler; commonly used for drinking punch.

Darradail or daradeel [the _d_'s sounded like _th_ in _that_] a sort of

long black chafer or beetle. It raises its tail when disturbed, and has

a strong smell of apples. There is a religious legend that when our

Lord was escaping from the Jews, barefoot, the stones were marked all

along by traces of blood from the bleeding feet. The daradail followed

the traces of blood; and the Jews following, at length overtook and

apprehended our Lord. Hence the people regard the daradail with intense

hatred, and whenever they come on it, kill it instantly. Irish

_darbh-daol_.

Dark; blind: 'a dark man.' (Very general.) Used constantly even in

official and legal documents, as in workhouse books, especially in

Munster. (Healy.)

Darrol; the smallest of the brood of pigs, fowl, &c. (Mayo.) Irish

_dearoil_, small, puny, wretched.

Davis, Thomas, vi. 83, &c.

Dead beat or dead _bet_; tired out.

Dear; used as a sort of intensive adjective:--'Tom ran for the dear

life' (as fast as he could). (Crofton Croker.) 'He got enough to

remember all the dear days of his life.' ('Dub. Pen. Journ.')

Dell; a lathe. Irish _deil_, same sound and meaning. (All over

Munster.)

Devil's needle; the dragon-fly. Translation of the Irish name

_snathad-a'-diabhail_ [snahad-a-dheel].

Deshort [to rhyme with _port_]; a sudden interruption, a surprise: 'I

was taken at a _deshort_.' (Derry.) {247}

Devil, The, and his 'territory,' 56.

Dickonce; one of the disguised names of the devil used in _white_

cursing: 'Why then the dickonce take you for one gander.' (Gerald

Griffin.)

Diddy; a woman's pap or breast: a baby sucks its mother's diddy.

Diminutive of Irish _did_, same.

Dido; a girl who makes herself ridiculous with fantastic finery.

(Moran: Carlow.)

Didoes (singular _dido_); tricks, antics: 'quit your didoes.' (Ulster.)

Dildron or dildern; a bowraun, which see.

Dillesk, dulsk, dulse or dilse; a sort of sea plant growing on rocks,

formerly much used (when dried) as an article of food (as _kitchen_),

and still eaten in single leaves as a sort of relish. Still sold by

basket-women in Dublin. Irish _duilesc_.

Dip. When the family dinner consisted of dry potatoes, i.e. potatoes

without milk or any other drink, dip was often used, that is to say,

gravy or broth, or water flavoured in any way in plates, into which the

potato was dipped at each bit. I once saw a man using dip of plain

water with mustard in it, and eating his dinner with great relish. You

will sometimes read of 'potatoes and point,' namely, that each person,

before taking a bite, _pointed_ the potato at a salt herring or a bit

of bacon hanging in front of the chimney: but this is mere fun, and

never occurred in real life.

Disciple; a miserable looking creature of a man. Shane Glas was a long

lean scraggy wretched looking fellow (but really strong and active),

and another says to him--jibing and railing--'Away with ye, ye

miserable _disciple_. Arrah, by the hole {248} of my coat, after you

dance your last jig upon nothing, with your hemp cravat on, I'll coax

yer miserable carcase from the hangman to frighten the crows with.'

(Edw. Walsh in 'Pen. Journ.')

Disremember; to forget. Good old English; now out of fashion in

England, but common in Ireland.

Ditch. In Ireland a ditch is a raised fence or earthen wall or mound,

and a dyke (or _sheuch_ as they call it in Donegal and elsewhere in

Ulster) is a deep cutting, commonly filled with water. In England both

words mean exactly the reverse. Hence 'hurlers on the ditch,' or 'the

best hurlers are on the ditch' (where speakers of pure English would

use 'fence') said in derision of persons who are mere idle spectators

sitting up on high watching the game--whatever it may be--and boasting

how they would _do the devil an' all_ if they were only playing.

Applied in a broad sense to those who criticise persons engaged in any

strenuous affair--critics who think they could do better.

Dollop; to adulterate: 'that coffee is dolloped.'

Donny; weak, in poor health. Irish _donaidhe_, same sound and meaning.

Hence _donnaun_, a poor weakly creature, same root with the diminutive.

From still the same root is _donsy_, sick-looking.

Donagh-dearnagh, the Sunday before Lammas (1st August). (Ulster.) Irish

_Domnach_, Sunday; and _deireannach_, last, i.e. last Sunday of the

period before 1st August.

Doodoge [the two _d_'s sounded like _th_ in _thus_]; a big pinch of

snuff. [Limk.] Irish _dudog_.

Dooraght [_d_ sounded as in the last word]; tender care and kindness

shown to a person. Irish {249} _duthracht_, same sound and meaning. In

parts of Ulster it means a small portion given over and above what is

purchased (Simmons and Knowles); called elsewhere a _tilly_, which see.

This word, in its sense of kindness, is very old; for in the Brehon Law

we read of land set aside by a father for his daughter through

_dooraght_.

Doorshay-daurshay [_d_ in both sounded as _th_ in _thus_], mere hearsay

or gossip. The first part is Irish, representing the sound of

_dubhairt-se_, 'said he.' The second part is a mere doubling of the

first, as we find in many English words, such as 'fiddle-faddle,'

'tittle-tattle' (which resembles our word). Often used by Munster

lawyers in court, whether Irish-speaking or not, in depreciation of

hearsay evidence in contradistinction to the evidence of looking-on.

'Ah, that's all mere _doorshay-daurshay_.' Common all over Munster. The

information about the use of the term in law courts I got from Mr.

Maurice Healy. A different form is sometimes heard:--_D'innis bean dom

gur innis bean di_, 'a woman told me that a woman told her.'

Dornoge [_d_ sounded as in doodoge above]; a small round lump of a

stone, fit to be cast from the hand. Irish _dorn_, the shut hand, with

the dim. _og_.

Double up; to render a person helpless either in fight or in argument.

The old tinker in the fair got a blow of an amazon's fist which 'sent

him sprawling and _doubled_ him up for the rest of the evening.'

(Robert Dwyer Joyce: 'Madeline's Vow.')

Down in the heels; broken down in fortune (one mark of which is the

state of the heels of shoes). {250}

Down blow; a heavy or almost ruinous blow of any kind:--'The loss of

that cow was a down blow to poor widow Cleary.'

Downface; to persist boldly in an assertion (whether true or no): He

downfaced me that he returned the money I lent him, though he never

did.

Down-the-banks; a scolding, a reprimand, punishment of any kind.

Dozed: a piece of timber is dozed when there is a dry rot in the heart

of it. (Myself for Limk.: Kane for North.)

Drad; a grin or contortion of the mouth. (Joyce.)

Drag home. (Simmons; Armagh: same as Hauling home, which see.)

Drass; a short time, a turn:--'You walk a drass now and let me ride':

'I always smoke a drass before I go to bed of a night.' ('Collegians,'

Limerick.) Irish _dreas_, same sound and meaning.

Drench: a form of the English _drink_, but used in a peculiar sense in

Ireland. A _drench_ is a philtre, a love-potion, a love-compelling

drink over which certain charms were repeated during its preparation.

Made by boiling certain herbs (_orchis_) in water or milk, and the

person drinks it unsuspectingly. In my boyhood time a beautiful young

girl belonging to a most respectable family ran off with an

ill-favoured obscure beggarly diseased wretch. The occurrence was

looked on with great astonishment and horror by the people--no wonder;

and the universal belief was that the fellow's old mother had given the

poor girl a _drench_. To this hour I cannot make any guess at the cause

of that astounding elopement: and it is {251} not surprising that the

people were driven to the supernatural for an explanation.

Dresser; a set of shelves and drawers in a frame in a kitchen for

holding plates, knives, &c.

Drisheen is now used in Cork as an English word, to denote a sort of

pudding made of the narrow intestines of a sheep, filled with blood

that has been cleared of the red colouring matter, and mixed with meal

and some other ingredients. So far as I know, this viand and its name

are peculiar to Cork, where _drisheen_ is considered suitable for

persons of weak or delicate digestion. (I should observe that a recent

reviewer of one of my books states that drisheen is also made in

Waterford.) Irish _dreas_ or driss, applied to anything slender, as a

bramble, one of the smaller intestines, &c.--with the diminutive.

Drizzen, a sort of moaning sound uttered by a cow. (Derry).

Drogh; the worst and smallest bonnive in a litter. (Armagh.) Irish

_droch_, bad, evil. (See Eervar.)

Droleen; a wren: merely the Irish word _dreoilin_.

Drop; a strain of any kind 'running in the blood.' A man inclined to

evil ways 'has a bad drop' in him (or 'a black drop'): a miser 'has a

hard drop.' The expression carries an idea of heredity.

Drugget; a cloth woven with a mixture of woollen and flaxen thread: so

called from Drogheda where it was once extensively manufactured. Now

much used as cheap carpeting.

Druids and Druidism, 178.

Drumaun; a wide back-band for a ploughing horse, {252} with hooks to

keep the traces in place. (Joyce: Limerick.) From Irish _druim_, the

back.

Drummagh; the back strap used in yoking two horses. (Joyce: Limerick.)

Irish _druim_, the back, with the termination _-ach_, equivalent to

English _-ous_ and _-y_.

Dry potatoes; potatoes eaten without milk or any other drink.

Dry lodging; the use of a bed merely, without food.

Drynaun-dun or drynan-dun [two _d_'s sounded like _th_ in _that_]; the

blackthorn, the sloe-bush. Irish _droigheanan_ [drynan or drynaun], and

_donn_, brown-coloured.

Ducks; trousers of snow-white canvas, much used as summer wear by

gentle and simple fifty or sixty years ago.

Dudeen [both _d_'s sounded like _th_ in _those_]; a smoking-pipe with a

very short stem. Irish _duidin_, _dud_, a pipe, with the diminutive.

Duggins; rags: 'that poor fellow is all in duggins.' (Armagh.)

Dull; a loop or eye on a string. (Monaghan.)

Dullaghan [_d_ sounded as _th_ in _those_]; a large trout. (Kane:

Monaghan.) An Irish word.

Dullaghan; 'a hideous kind of hobgoblin generally met with in

churchyards, who can take off and put on his head at will.' (From

'Irish Names of Places,' I. 193, which see for more about this spectre.

See Croker's 'Fairy Legends.')

Dullamoo [_d_ sounded like _th_ in _those_]; a wastrel, a scapegrace, a

_ne'er-do-weel_. Irish _dul_, going; _amudha_ [amoo], astray, to

loss:--_dullamoo_, 'a person going to the bad,' 'going to the dogs.'

{253}

Dundeen; a lump of bread without butter. (Derry.)

Dunisheen; a small weakly child. (Moran: Carlow.) Irish _donaisin_, an

unfortunate being; from _donas_, with diminutive. See Donny.

Dunner; to knock loudly at a door. (Ulster.)

Dunt (sometimes _dunch_), to strike or butt like a cow or goat with the

head. A certain lame old man (of Armagh) was nicknamed 'Dunt the pad

(path'). (Ulster.)

Durneen, one of the two handles of a scythe that project from the main

handle. Irish _doirnin_, same sound and meaning: diminutive from

_dorn_, the fist, the shut hand.

Durnoge; a strong rough leather glove, used on the left hand by faggot

cutters. (MacCall: Wexford.) _Dornoge_, given above, is the same word

but differently applied.

Duty owed by tenants to landlords, 181.

Earnest; 'in earnest' is often used in the sense of 'really and

truly':--'You're a man in earnest, Cus, to strike the first blow on a

day [of battle] like this.' (R. D. Joyce.)

Eervar; the last pig in a litter. This _bonnive_ being usually very

small and hard to keep alive is often given to one of the children for

a pet; and it is reared in great comfort in a warm bed by the kitchen

fire, and fed on milk. I once, when a child, had an eervar of my own

which was the joy of my life. Irish _iarmhar_ [eervar], meaning

'something after all the rest'; the hindmost. (Munster.) See Drogh for

Ulster.

Elder; a cow's udder. All over Ireland. {254}

Elegant. This word is used among us, not in its proper sense, but to

designate anything good or excellent of its kind:--An elegant penknife,

an elegant gun: 'That's an elegant pig of yours, Jack?' Our milkman

once offered me a present for my garden--'An elegant load of dung.'

I haven't the _janius_ for work,

For 'twas never the gift of the Bradys;

But I'd make a most _elegant_ Turk,

For I'm fond of tobacco and ladies.

(LEVER.)

'How is she [the sick girl] coming on?'

'Elegant,' was the reply. ('Knocknagow.')

Elementary schools, 159.

Exaggeration and redundancy, 120.

Existence, way of predicating, 23.

Eye of a bridge; the arch.

Faireen (south), fairin (north); a present either given in a fair or

brought from it. Used in another sense--a lasting injury of any

kind:--'Poor Joe got a faireen that day, when the stone struck him on

the eye, which I'm afraid the eye will never recover.' Used all over

Ireland and in Scotland.

Ah Tam, ah Tam, thou'lt get thy fairin',

In hell they'll roast thee like a herrin'.

(BURNS.)

Fair-gurthra; 'hungry grass.' There is a legend all through Ireland

that small patches of grass grow here and there on mountains; and if a

person in walking along happens to tread on one of them he is instantly

overpowered with hunger so as to {255} be quite unable to walk, and if

help or food is not at hand he will sink down and perish. That persons

are attacked and rendered helpless by sudden hunger on mountains in

this manner is certain. Mr. Kinahan gives me an instance where he had

to carry his companion, a boy, on his back a good distance to the

nearest house: and Maxwell in 'Wild Sports of the West' gives others.

But he offers the natural explanation: that a person is liable to sink

suddenly with hunger if he undertakes a hard mountain walk with a long

interval after food. Irish _feur_, grass; _gorta_, hunger.

Fairy breeze. Sometimes on a summer evening you suddenly feel a very

warm breeze: that is a band of fairies travelling from one fort to

another; and people on such occasions usually utter a short prayer, not

knowing whether the 'good people' are bent on doing good or evil. (G.

H. Kinahan.) Like the Shee-geeha, which see.

Fairy-thimble, the same as 'Lusmore,' which see.

Famished; distressed for want of something:--'I am famished for a

smoke--for a glass,' &c.

Farbreaga; a scarecrow. Irish _fear_, a man: _breug_ falsehood: a false

or pretended man.

Farl; one quarter of a griddle cake. (Ulster.)

Faumera [the _r_ has the slender sound]; a big strolling beggarman or

idle fellow. From the Irish _Fomor_. The _Fomors_ or _Fomora_ or

Fomorians were one of the mythical colonies that came to Ireland (see

any of my Histories of Ireland, Index): some accounts represent them as

giants. In Clare the country people that go to the seaside in summer

for the benefit of the 'salt water' are {256} called _Faumeras_. In

Tramore they are called _olishes_ [o long]; because in the morning

before breakfast they go down to the strand and take a good _swig_ of

the salt water--an essential part of the cure--and when one meets

another he (or she) asks in Irish '_ar olish_,' 'did you drink?' In

Kilkee the dogfish is called _Faumera_, for the dogfish is among the

smaller fishes like what legend represents the Fomorians in Ireland.

Faustus, Dr., in Irish dialect, 60.

Fear is often used among us in the sense of _danger_. Once during a

high wind the ship's captain neatly distinguished it when a frightened

lady asked him:--'Is there any fear, sir?' 'There's plenty of fear,

madam, but no danger.'

Feck or fack; a spade. From the very old Irish word, _fec_, same sound

and meaning.

Fellestrum, the flagger (marsh plant). Irish _felestrom_. (South.)

Fetch; what the English call a _double_, a preternatural apparition of

a living person, seen usually by some relative or friend. If seen in

the morning the person whose fetch it is will have a long and

prosperous life: if in the evening the person will soon die.

Finane or Finaun; the white half-withered long grass found in marshy or

wet land. Irish _finn_ or _fionn_, white, with the diminutive.

Finely and poorly are used to designate the two opposite states of an

invalid. 'Well, Mrs. Lahy, how is she?' [Nora the poor sick little

girl]. 'Finely, your reverence,' Honor replied (going on well). The old

sinner Rody, having accidentally {257} shot himself, is asked how he is

going on:--'Wisha, poorly, poorly' (badly). (G. Griffin.)

Finger--to put a finger in one's eye; to overreach and cheat him by

cunning:--'He'd be a clever fellow that would put a finger in Tom's

eye.'

First shot, in distilling pottheen; the weak stuff that comes off at

the first distillation: also called singlings.

Flahoolagh, plentiful; 'You have a flahoolagh hand, Mrs. Lyons': 'Ah,

we got a flahoolagh dinner and no mistake.' Irish _flaith_ [flah], a

chief, and _amhail_ [ooal], like, with the adjectival termination

_ach_: _flahoolagh_, 'chieftain-like.' For the old Irish chiefs kept

open houses, with full and plenty--_launa-vaula_--for all who came.

(South.)

Flipper; an untidy man. (Limerick.)

Flitters; tatters, rags:--'His clothes were all in _flitters_.'

Flog; to beat, to exceed:--'That flogs Europe' ('Collegians'), i.e. it

beats Europe: there's nothing in Europe like it.

Fluke, something very small or nothing at all. 'What did you get from

him?' 'Oh I got flukes' (or 'flukes in a hand-basket')--meaning

nothing. Sometimes it seems to mean a small coin, like _cross_ and

_keenoge_. 'When I set out on that journey I hadn't a fluke.' (North

and South.)

Fockle; a big torch made by lighting a sheaf of straw fixed on a long

pole: fockles were usually lighted on St. John's Eve. (Limerick.) It is

merely the German word _fackel_, a torch, brought to Limerick by the

Palatine colony. (See p. 65.)

Fog-meal; a great meal or big feed: a harvest dinner. {258}

Fooster; hurry, flurry, fluster, great fuss. Irish _fustar_, same sound

and meaning. (Hayden and Hartog.)

'Then Tommy jumped about elate,

Tremendous was his _fooster_--O;

Says he, "I'll send a message straight

To my darling Mr. Brewster--O!"'

(Repeal Song of 1843.)

Forbye; besides. (Ulster.)

For good; finally, for ever: 'he left home for good.'

Fornent, fornenst, forenenst; opposite: he and I sat fornenst each

other in the carriage.

'Yet here you strut in open day

Fornenst my house so freely--O.'

(Repeal Song of 1843.)

An old English word, now obsolete in England, but very common in

Ireland.

Foshla; a marshy weedy rushy place; commonly applied to the ground left

after a cut-away bog. (Roscommon.)

Four bones; 'Your own four bones,' 127.

Fox; (verb) to pretend, to feign, to sham: 'he's not sick at all, he's

only foxing.' Also to cut short the ears of a dog.

Frainey; a small puny child:--'Here, eat this bit, you little

_frainey_.'

Fraughans; whortleberries. Irish _fraoch_, with the diminutive. See

Hurt.

Freet; a sort of superstition or superstitious rite. (Ulster.)

Fresh and Fresh:--'I wish you to send me the butter every morning: I

like to have it fresh and fresh.' {259} This is English gone out of

fashion: I remember seeing it in Pope's preface to 'The Dunciad.'

Frog's jelly; the transparent jelly-like substance found in pools and

ditches formed by frogs round their young tadpoles, 121.

Fum; soft spongy turf. (Ulster.) Called _soosaun_ in Munster.

Gaatch [_aa_ long as in _car_], an affected gesture or movement of

limbs body or face: _gaatches_; assuming fantastic ridiculous

attitudes. (South.)

Gad; a withe: 'as tough as a gad.' (Irish _gad_, 60.)

Gadderman; a boy who puts on the airs of a man; a mannikin or

_manneen_, which see. (Simmons: Armagh.)

Gaffer; an old English word, but with a peculiar application in

Ireland, where it means a boy, a young chap. 'Come here, gaffer, and

help me.'

Gag; a conceited foppish young fellow, who tries to figure as a swell.

Gah'ela or gaherla; a little girl. (Kane: Ulster.) Same as _girsha_.

Gaileen; a little bundle of rushes placed under the arms of a beginner

learning to swim. (Joyce: Limerick.) When you support the beginner's

head keeping it above water with your hands while he is learning the

strokes: that we used to designate '_giving a gaileen_.'

Galbally, Co. Limerick, 156.

Galoot: a clownish fellow.

Galore; plenty, plentiful. Irish adverb _go leor_, 4.

Gankinna; a fairy, a leprachaun. (Morris: South Mon.) Irish _gann_,

small. {260}

Gannoge; an undefined small quantity. (Antrim.) Irish _gann_, small,

with diminutive _og_.

Garden, in the South, is always applied to a field of growing potatoes.

'In the land courts we never asked "How many acres of potatoes?"; but

"How many acres of garden?"' (Healy.) A usual inquiry is 'How are your

gardens going on?' meaning 'How are your potato crops doing?'

Garlacom; a lingering disease in cows believed to be caused by eating a

sort of herb. (P. Moran: Meath.)

Garland Sunday; the first Sunday in August (sometimes called Garlick

Sunday.)

Garron, garraun; an old worn-out horse. (Irish _gearran_.)

Gash; a flourish of the pen in writing so as to form an ornamental

curve, usually at the end. (Limerick.)

Gatha; an effeminate fellow who concerns himself in women's business: a

_Sheela_. (Joyce: Limerick.)

Gatherie; a splinter of bog-deal used as a torch. (Moran: Carlow.) Also

a small cake (commonly smeared with treacle) sold in the street on

market days. Irish _geataire_ [gatthera], same meanings.

Gaug; a sore crack in the heel of a person who goes barefooted. (Moran:

Carlow.) Irish _gag_ [gaug], a cleft, a crack.

Gaulsh; to loll. (MacCall: Wexford.)

Gaunt or gant; to yawn. (Ulster.)

Gaurlagh; a little child, a baby: an unfledged bird. Irish _garlach_,

same sound and meanings.

Gawk; a tall awkward fellow. (South.) {261}

Gawm, gawmoge; a soft foolish fellow. (South.) Irish _gam_, same

meaning. See Gommul.

Gazebo; a tall building; any tall object; a tall awkward person.

Gazen, gazened; applied to a wooden vessel of any kind when the joints

open by heat or drought so that it leaks. (Ulster.)

Gallagh-gunley; the harvest moon. (Ulster.) _Gallagh_ gives the sound

of Irish _gealach_, the moon, meaning whitish, from _geal_, white.

Geck; to mock, to jeer, to laugh at. (Derry.)

Geenagh, geenthagh; hungry, greedy, covetous. (Derry.) Irish _gionach_

or _giontach_, gluttonous.

Geens; wild cherries. (Derry.)

Gentle; applied to a place or thing having some connexion with the

fairies--haunted by fairies. A thornbush where fairies meet is a

'gentle bush': the hazel and the foxglove (fairy-thimble) are gentle

plants.

Geocagh; a big strolling idle fellow. (Munster.) Irish _geocach_, same

sound and meaning.

Geosadaun or Yosedaun [_d_ in both sounded like _th_ in _they_]; the

yellow rag-weed: called also boliaun [2-syll.] and booghalaun.

Get; a bastard child. (North and South.)

Gibbadaun; a frivolous person. (Roscommon.) From the Irish _giob_, a

scrap, with the diminutive ending _dan_: a _scrappy_ trifling-minded

person.

Gibbol [_g_ hard as in _get_]; a rag: your jacket is all hanging down

in gibbols.' (Limerick.) Irish _giobal_, same sound and meaning.

Giddhom; restlessness. In Limerick it is applied to cows when they

gallop through the fields with {262} tails cocked out, driven half mad

by heat and flies: 'The cows are galloping with giddhom.' Irish

_giodam_, same sound and meaning.

Gill-gowan, a corn-daisy. (Tyrone.) From Irish _geal_, white, and

_gowan_, the Scotch name for a daisy.

Girroge [two _g_'s sounded as in _get_, _got_]. Girroges are the short

little drills where the plough runs into a corner. (Kildare and

Limerick.) Irish _gearr_, short, with the diminutive _og_: _girroge_,

any short little thing.

Girsha; a little girl. (North and South.) Irish _geirrseach_ [girsagh],

from _gearr_, short or small, with the feminine termination _seach_.

Gistra [_g_ sounded as in _get_], a sturdy, active old man. (Ulster.)

Irish _giostaire_, same sound and meaning.

Gladiaathor [_aa_ long as in _car_]; a gladiator, a fighting

quarrelsome fellow: used as a verb also:--'he went about the fair

_gladiaatherin_,' i.e. shouting and challenging people to fight him.

Glaum, glam; to grab or grasp with the whole hand; to maul or pull

about with the hands. Irish _glam_ [glaum], same meaning.

Glebe; in Ireland this word is almost confined to the land or farm

attached to a Protestant rector's residence: hence called _glebe-land_.

See p. 143.

Gleeag; a small handful of straw used in plaiting straw mats: a sheaf

of straw threshed. (Kildare and Monaghan.)

Gleeks: to give a fellow the gleeks is to press the forefingers into

the butt of the ears so as to cause pain: a rough sort of play.

(Limerick.)

Glenroe, Co. Limerick, 68, 146. {263}

Gliggeen; a voluble silly talker. (Munster.) Irish _gluigin_

[gliggeen], a little bell, a little tinkler: from _glog_, same as

_clog_, a bell.

Gliggerum; applied to a very bad old worn-out watch or clock.

(Limerick.)

Glit; slimy mud; the green vegetable (_ducksmeat_) that grows on the

surface of stagnant water. (Simmons: Armagh.)

Gloit; a blockhead of a young fellow. (Knowles.)

Glory be to God! Generally a pious exclamation of thankfulness, fear,

&c.: but sometimes an ejaculation of astonishment, wonder, admiration,

&c. Heard everywhere in Ireland.

Glower; to stare or glare at: 'what are you glowerin' at!' (Ulster.)

Glugger [_u_ sounded as in _full_]; empty noise; the noise made by

shaking an addled egg. Also an addled egg. Applied very often in a

secondary sense to a vain empty foolish boaster. (Munster.)

Glunter: a stupid person. (Knowles: Ulster.)

Goaling: same as Hurling, which see.

Gob; the mouth including lips: 'Shut your gob.' Irish _gob_, same

meaning. Scotch, 'greedy _gab_.' (Burns.)

Gobshell; a big spittle direct from the mouth. (Limerick.) From Irish

_gob_, the mouth, and _seile_ [shella], a spittle.

Gobs or jackstones; five small round stones with which little girls

play against each other, by throwing them up and catching them as they

fall; 'there are Nelly and Sally playing gobs.'

Gods and goddesses of Pagan Ireland, 177.

Godspeed: see Back of God-speed. {264}

God's pocket. Mr. Kinahan writes to me:--'The first time I went to the

Mullingar hotel I had a delicate child, and spoke to the landlady as to

how he was to be put up [during the father's absence by day on outdoor

duty]. "Oh never fear sir," replied the good old lady, "the poor child

will be _in God's pocket_ here."' Mr. K. goes on to say:--I afterwards

found that in all that part of Leinster they never said 'we will make

you comfortable,' but always 'you will be in God's pocket,' or 'as snug

as in God's pocket.' I heard it said of a widow and orphans whose

people were kind to them, that they were in 'God's pocket.' Whether

Seumas MacManus ever came across this term I do not know, but he has

something very like it in 'A Lad of the O'Friels,' viz., 'I'll make the

little girl as happy as if she was _in Saint Peter's pocket_.'

Goggalagh, a dotard. (Munster.) Irish _gogail_, the cackling of a hen

or goose; also doting; with the usual termination _ach_.

Going on; making fun, joking, teasing, chaffing, bantering:--'Ah, now I

see you are only _going on_ with me.' 'Stop your _goings on_.'

(General.)

Golder [_d_ sounded like _th_ in further]; a loud sudden or angry

shout. (Patterson: Ulster.)

Goleen; an armful. See Gwaul.

Gombeen man; a usurer who lends money to small farmers and others of

like means, at ruinous interest. The word is now used all over Ireland.

Irish _goimbin_ [gombeen], usury.

Gommul, gommeril, gommula, all sometimes shortened to _gom_; a

simple-minded fellow, a half {265} fool. Irish _gamal_, _gamaille_,

_gamairle_, _gamarail_, all same meaning. (_Gamal_ is also Irish for a

camel.) Used all over Ireland.

Good deed; said of some transaction that is a well-deserved punishment

for some wrong or unjust or very foolish course of action. Bill lends

some money to Joe, who never returns it, and a friend says:--''Tis a

good deed Bill, why did you trust such a schemer?' Barney is bringing

home a heavy load, and is lamenting that he did not bring his

ass:--''Tis a good deed: where was I coming without Bobby?' (the ass).

('Knocknagow') 'I'm wet to the skin': reply:--''Tis a good deed: why

did you go out without your overcoat?'

Good boy: in Limerick and other parts of Munster, a young fellow who is

good--strong and active--at all athletic exercises, but most especially

if he is brave and tough in fighting, is 'a good boy.' The people are

looking anxiously at a sailing boat labouring dangerously in a storm on

the Shannon, and one of them remarks:--''Tis a good boy that has the

rudder in his hand.' (Gerald Griffin.)

Good people; The fairies. The word is used merely as _soft sawder_, to

_butter them up_, to curry favour with them--to show them great respect

at least from the teeth out--lest they might do some injury to the

speaker.

Googeen [two _g_'s as in _good_ and _get_]; a simple soft-minded

person. (Moran: Carlow.) Irish _guag_, same meaning, with the

diminutive: _guaigin_.

Gopen, gowpen; the full of the two hands used together. (Ulster.)

Exactly the same meaning as _Lyre_ in Munster, which see. {266}

Gor; the coarse turf or peat which forms the surface of the bog.

(Healy: for Ulster.)

Gorb; a ravenous eater, a glutton. (Ulster.)

Gorsoon: a young boy. It is hard to avoid deriving this from French

_garcon_, all the more as it has no root in Irish. Another form often

used is _gossoon_, which is derived from Irish:--_gas_, a stem or

stalk, a young boy. But the termination _oon_ or _un_ is suspicious in

both cases, for it is not a genuine Irish suffix at all.

Gossip; a sponsor in baptism.

Goster; gossipy talk. Irish _gastair[)e]_, a prater, a chatterer.

'Dermot go 'long with your goster.' (Moore--in his youth.)

Gouloge; a stick with a little fork of two prongs at the end, for

turning up hay, or holding down furze while cutting. (South.) Used in

the North often in the form of _gollog_. Irish _gabhal_ [gowl], a fork,

with the dim. _og_.

Gounau; housewife [huzzif] thread, strong thread for sewing, pack

thread. Irish _gabhshnath_ (Fr. Dinneen), same sound and meaning: from

_snath_, a thread: but how comes in _gabh_? In one of the Munster towns

I knew a man who kept a draper's shop, and who was always called

_Gounau_, in accordance with the very reprehensible habit of our people

to give nicknames.

Goureen-roe: a snipe, a jacksnipe. (Munster.) Irish _gabhairin-reo_,

the 'little goat of the frost' (reo, frost): because on calm frosty

evenings you hear its quivering sound as it flies in the twilight, very

like the sound emitted by a goat.

Gra, grah; love, fondness, liking. Irish _gradh_ {267} [graw]. 'I have

great gra for poor Tom.' I asked an Irishman who had returned from

America and settled down again here and did well:--'Why did you come

back from America?' 'Ah,' he replied, 'I have great _gra_ for the old

country.'

Graanbroo; wheat boiled in new milk and sweetened: a great treat to

children, and generally made from their own gleanings or _liscauns_,

gathered in the fields. Sometimes called _brootheen_. (Munster.) The

first from Irish _gran_, grain, and _brugh_, to break or bruise, to

reduce to pulp, or cook, by boiling. _Brootheen_ (also applied to

mashed potatoes) is from _brugh_, with the diminutive.

Graanoge, graan-yoge [_aa_ in both long like _a_ in _car_], a hedgehog.

Irish _graineog_, same sound.

Graanshaghaun [_aa_ long as in _car_]; wheat (in grain) boiled. (Joyce:

Limerick.) In my early days what we called _graanshaghaun_ was wheat in

grains, not boiled, but roasted in an iron pot held over the fire, the

wheat being kept stirred till done.

Graffaun; a small axe with edge across like an adze for grubbing or

_graffing_ land, i.e. rooting out furze and heath in preparation for

tillage. Used all through the South. 'This was the word used in Co.

Cork law courts.' (Healy.) Irish _grafan_, same sound and meaning.

Graip or grape; a dung-fork with three or four prongs. Irish _grapa_.

Grammar and Pronunciation, 74.

Grammel; to grope or fumble or gather with both hands. (Derry.)

Graves, Mr. A. P., 58, &c.

Grawls; children. Paddy Corbett, thinking he is {268} ruined, says of

his wife:--'God comfort poor Jillian and the grawls I left her.'

(Edward Walsh.) 'There's Judy and myself and the poor little grawls.'

(Crofton Croker: p. 155.)

Grawvar; loving, affectionate:--'That's a grawver poor boy.' (Munster.)

Irish _gradhmhar_, same sound and meaning: from _gradh_, love.

Grazier; a young rabbit. (South and West.)

Great; intimate, closely acquainted:--'Tom Long and Jack Fogarty are

very great.' (All over Ireland.) 'Come gie's your hand and sae we're

_greet_.' (Burns.)

Greedy-gut; a glutton; a person who is selfish about stuffing himself,

wishing to give nothing to anyone else. Gorrane Mac Sweeny, when his

mistress is in want of provisions, lamenting that the eagles (over

Glengarriff) were devouring the game that the lady wanted so badly,

says:--'Is it not the greatest pity in life ... that these greedy-guts

should be after swallowing the game, and my sweet mistress and her

little ones all the time starving.' (Caesar Otway in 'Pen. Journ.')

Greenagh; a person that hangs round hoping to get food (Donegal and

North-West): a 'Watch-pot.'

Greesagh; red hot embers and ashes. 'We roasted our potatoes and eggs

in the greesagh.' (All over Ireland.) Irish _griosach_, same sound.

Greet; to cry. 'Tommy was greetin' after his mother.' (Ulster.)

Greth; harness of a horse: a general name for all the articles required

when yoking a horse to the cart. (Knowles: Ulster.)

Griffin, Gerald, author of 'The Collegians,' 5, &c. {269}

Grig (greg in Sligo): a boy with sugarstick holds it out to another and

says, 'grig, grig,' to triumph over him. Irish _griog_, same sound and

meaning.

Grinder; a bright-coloured silk kerchief worn round the neck. (Edward

Walsh: all over Munster.)

Gripe; a trench, generally beside a high ditch or fence. 'I got down

into the gripe, thinking to [hide myself].' (Crofton Croker.)

Griskin or greeskeen; a small bit of meat cut off to be

roasted--usually on the coals. Irish _griscin_.

Grisset; a shallow iron vessel for melting things in, such as grease

for dipping rushes, resin for dipping torches (_sluts_ or _paudioges_,

which see), melting lead for various purposes, white metals for

coining, &c. If a man is growing rapidly rich:--'You'd think he had the

grisset down.'

Groak or groke; to look on silently--like a dog--at people while they

are eating, hoping to be asked to eat a bit. (Derry.)

Grogue; three or four sods of turf standing on end, supporting each

other like a little pyramid on the bog to dry. (Limerick.) Irish

_gruag_, same meaning.

Groodles; the broken bits mixed with liquid left at the bottom of a

bowl of soup, bread and milk, &c.

Group or grup; a little drain or channel in a cow-house to lead off the

liquid manure. (Ulster.)

Grue or grew; to turn from with disgust:--'He grued at the physic.'

(Ulster).

Grug; sitting on one's grug means sitting on the heels without touching

the ground. (Munster.) Same as Scotch _hunkers_. 'Sit down on your grug

and thank God for a seat.'

Grumagh or groomagh; gloomy, {270} ill-humoured:--'I met Bill this

morning looking very _grumagh_.' (General.) From Irish _gruaim_

[_grooim_], gloom, ill-humour, with the usual suffix _-ach_, equivalent

to English _-y_ as in _gloomy_.

Grumpy; surly, cross, disagreeable. (General.)

Gubbadhaun; a bird that follows the cuckoo. (Joyce.)

Gubbaun; a strap tied round the mouth of a calf or foal, with a row of

projecting nail points, to prevent it sucking the mother. From Irish

_gob_, the mouth, with the diminutive. (South.)

Gubbalagh; a mouthful. (Munster.) Irish _goblach_, same sound and

meaning. From _gob_, the mouth, with the termination _lach_.

Gullion; a sink-pool. (Ulster.)

Gulpin; a clownish uncouth fellow. (Ulster.)

Gulravage, gulravish; noisy boisterous play. (North-east Ulster.)

Gunk; a 'take in,' a 'sell'; as a verb, to 'take in,' to cheat.

(Ulster.)

Gushers; stockings with the soles cut off. (Morris: Monaghan.) From the

Irish. Same as triheens.

Gurry; a _bonnive_, a young pig. (Morris: Mon.)

Gutter; wet mud on a road (_gutters_ in Ulster).

Gwaul [_l_ sounded as in _William_]; the full of the two arms of

anything: 'a gwaul of straw.' (Munster.) In Carlow and Wexford, they

add the diminutive, and make it _goleen_. Irish _gabhail_.

Hain; to hain a field is to let it go to meadow, keeping the cows out

of it so as to let the grass grow: possibly from _hayin'_. (Waterford:

Healy.) In Ulster _hain_ means to save, to economise. {271}

Half a one; half a glass of whiskey. One day a poor blind man walked

into one of the Dublin branch banks, which happened to be next door to

a public-house, and while the clerks were looking on, rather puzzled as

to what he wanted, he slapped two pennies down on the counter; and in

no very gentle voice:--'Half a one!'

Half joke and whole earnest; an expression often heard in Ireland which

explains itself. 'Tim told me--half joke and whole earnest--that he

didn't much like to lend me his horse.'

Hand; to make a hand of a person is to make fun of him; to humbug him:

Lowry Looby, thinking that Mr. Daly is making game of him, says:--''Tis

making a hand of me your honour is.' (Gerald Griffin.) Other

applications of _hand_ are 'You made a bad hand of that job,' i.e. you

did it badly. If a man makes a foolish marriage: 'He made a bad hand of

himself, poor fellow.'

Hand-and-foot; the meaning of this very general expression is seen in

the sentence 'He gave him a hand-and-foot and tumbled him down.'

Hand's turn; a very trifling bit of work, an occasion:--'He won't do a

hand's turn about the house': 'he scolds me at every hand's turn,' i.e.

on every possible occasion.

Handy; near, convenient:--'The shop lies handy to me'; an adaptation of

the Irish _laimh le_ (meaning _near_). _Laimh le Corcaig_, lit. _at

hand with Cork_--near Cork. This again is often expressed _convenient

to Cork_, where _convenient_ is intended to mean simply _near_. So it

comes that we in Ireland regard _convenient_ and _near_ as exactly

synonymous, {272} which they are not. In fact on almost every possible

occasion, we--educated and uneducated--use _convenient_ when _near_

would be the proper word. An odd example occurs in the words of the old

Irish folk-song:--

'A sailor courted a farmer's daughter,

Who lived _convaynient_ to the Isle of Man.'

Hannel; a blow with the spear or spike of a pegging-top (or

'castle-top') down on the wood of another top. Boys often played a game

of tops for a certain number of hannels. At the end of the game the

victor took his defeated opponent's top, sunk it firmly down into the

grassy sod, and then with his own top in his hand struck the other top

a number of hannels with the spear of his own to injure it as much as

possible. 'Your castle-tops came in for the most hannels.'

('Knocknagow.')

Hap; to wrap a person round with any covering, to tuck in the

bedclothes round a person. (Ulster.)

Hard word (used always with _the_); a hint, an inkling, a tip, a bit of

secret information:--'They were planning to betray and cheat me, but

Ned gave me the hard word, and I was prepared for them, so that I

defeated their schemes.'

Hare; to make a hare of a person is to put him down in argument or

discussion, or in a contest of wit or cunning; to put him in utter

confusion. 'While you were speaking to the little boy that made a hare

of you.' (Carleton in Ir. Pen. Journ.)

'Don't talk of your Provost and Fellows of Trinity,

Famous for ever at Greek and Latinity,

Faix and the divels and all at Divinity--

Father O'Flynn 'd make hares of them all!'

(A. P. GRAVES.)

{273}

Harvest; always used in Ireland for autumn:--'One fine day in harvest.'

(Crofton Croker.)

Hauling home; bringing home the bride, soon after the wedding, to her

husband's house. Called also a 'dragging-home.' It is always made the

occasion of festivity only next in importance to the wedding. For a

further account, and for a march played at the Hauling home, see my

'Old Irish Folk Music and Songs,' p. 130.

Hausel; the opening in the iron head of an axe, adze, or hammer, for

the handle. (Ulster.)

Haverel: a rude coarse boor, a rough ignorant fellow. (Moran: Carlow.)

Havverick; a rudely built house, or an old ruined house hastily and

roughly restored:--'How can people live in that old havverick?'

(Limerick.)

Hayden, Miss Mary, M.A., 5, &c.

Healy, Mr. Maurice, 178, &c.

Head or harp; a memorial of the old Irish coinage, corresponding with

English _head or tail_. The old Irish penny and halfpenny had the

king's head on one side and the Irish harp on the other. 'Come now,

head or harp,' says the person about to throw up a halfpenny of any

kind.

Heard tell; an expression used all throughout Ireland:--'I heard tell

of a man who walked to Glendalough in a day.' It is old English.

Heart-scald; a great vexation or mortification. (General.) Merely the

translation of _scallach-croidhe_ [scollagh-cree], _scalding_ of the

heart.

Hearty; tipsy, exhilarated after a little 'drop.'

Hedge schools, 149. {274}

Higgins, The Rev. Father, p. 244, and elsewhere.

Hinch; the haunch, the thigh. To hinch a stone is to _jerk_ (or _jurk_

as they say in Munster), to hurl it from under instead of over the

shoulder. (Ulster.)

Hinten; the last sod of the ridge ploughed. (Ulster.)

Ho; equal. Always used with a negative, and also in a bad sense, either

seriously or in play. A child spills a jug of milk, and the mother

says:--'Oh Jacky, there's no _ho_ to you for mischief' (no equal to

you). The old woman says to the mischievous gander:--'There's no ho

with you for one gander.' (Gerald Griffin: 'The Coiner.') This _ho_ is

an Irish word: it represents the sound of the Irish prefix _cho_ or

_chomh_, equal, as much as, &c. 'There's no ho to Jack Lynch' means

there's no one for whom you can use _cho_ (equal) in comparing him with

Jack Lynch.

Hobbler; a small cock of fresh hay about 4 feet high. (Moran: Carlow.)

Hobby; a kind of Irish horse, which, three or four centuries ago, was

known all over Europe 'and held in great esteem for their easy amble:

and from this kind of horse the Irish light-armed bodies of horse were

called hobellers.' (Ware. See my 'Smaller Social History of Ancient

Ireland,' p. 487.) Hence a child's toy, a hobby-horse. Hence a

favourite pursuit is called a 'hobby.'

Hoil; a mean wretched dwelling: an uncomfortable situation. (Morris:

South Monaghan.)

Hollow; used as an adverb as follows:--'Jack Cantlon's horse beat the

others hollow in the race': i.e. beat them utterly. {275}

Holy show: 'You're a holy show in that coat,' i.e. it makes quite a

show of you; makes you look ridiculous. (General.)

Holy well; a well venerated on account of its association with an Irish

saint: in most cases retaining the name of the saint:--'Tober-Bride,'

St. Bride's or Brigit's well. In these wells the early saints baptised

their converts. They are found all through Ireland, and people often

pray beside them and make their _rounds_. (See 'Smaller Social History

of Ancient Ireland.')

Hool or hooley; the same as a Black swop.

Hot-foot; at once, immediately:--'Off I went hot-foot.' 'As soon as

James heard the news, he wrote a letter hot-foot to his father.'

Houghle; to wobble in walking. (Armagh.)

Hugger-mugger: see Cugger-mugger.

Huggers or hogars, stockings without feet. (Ulster.)

Hulk; a rough surly fellow. (Munster.) A bad person. (Simmons: Armagh.)

Irish _olc_, bad.

Hungry-grass: see Fair-gurtha.

Hunker-slide; to slide on ice sitting on the hunkers (or as they would

say in Munster, sitting on one's _grug_) instead of standing up

straight: hence to act with duplicity: to shirk work:--'None of your

hunker-sliding for me.' (Ulster.)

Hurling; the common game of ball and hurley or _commaun_. The chief

terms (besides those mentioned elsewhere) are:--_Puck_, the blow of the

hurley on the ball: The _goals_ are the two gaps at opposite sides of

the field through which the players try to drive the ball. When the

ball is thrown high up between two players with their {276} commauns

ready drawn to try which will strike it on its way down: that is

_high-rothery_. When two adjacent parishes or districts contended

(instead of two small parties at an ordinary match), that was

_scoobeen_ or 'conquering goal' (Irish _scuab_, a broom: _scoobeen_,

_sweeping_ the ball away). I have seen at least 500 on each side

engaged in one of these _scoobeens_; but that was in the time of the

eight millions--before 1847. Sometimes there were bad blood and

dangerous quarrels at scoobeens. See Borick, Sippy, Commaun, and Cool.

(For the ancient terms see my 'Smaller Social History of Ancient

Ireland,' p. 513.) For examples of these great contests, see Very Rev.

Dr. Sheehan's 'Glenanaar,' pp. 4, 231.

Hurt: a whortleberry: hurts are _fraughans_, which see. From _whort_.

(Munster.)

Husho or rather huzho; a lullaby, a nurse-song, a cradle-song;

especially the chorus, consisting of a sleepy _cronaun_ or croon--like

'shoheen-sho Loo-lo-lo,' &c. Irish _suantraighe_ [soontree]. 'The

moaning of a distant stream that kept up a continual _cronane_ like a

nurse _hushoing_.' 'My mother was hushoing my little sister, striving

to quieten her.' (Both from Crofton Croker.) 'The murmur of the ocean

_huzhoed_ me to sleep.' (Irish Folk Song:--'McKenna's Dream.')

Idioms; influence of the Irish language on, 4:--derived from Irish, 23.

If; often used in the sense of _although_, _while_, or some such

signification, which will be best understood from the following

examples:--A Dublin {277} jarvey who got sixpence for a long drive,

said in a rage:--'I'm in luck to-day; but _if I am_, 'tis blazing _bad_

luck.' 'Bill ran into the house, and if he did, the other man seized

him round the waist and threw him on his back.'

If that. This is old English, but has quite disappeared from the

standard language of the present day, though still not unfrequently

heard in Ireland:--'If that you go I'll go with you.'

'_If_ from Sally _that_ I get free,

My dear I love you most tenderlie.'

(Irish Folk Song--'Handsome Sally.')

'And _if that_ you wish to go further

Sure God He made Peter His own,

The keys of His treasures He gave him,

To govern the old Church of Rome.'

(Old Irish Folk Song.)

Inagh' or in-yah' [both strongly accented on second syll.]; a satirical

expression of dissent or disbelief, like the English _forsooth_, but

much stronger. A fellow boasting says:--'I could run ten miles in an

hour': and another replies, 'You could _inah_': meaning 'Of course I

don't believe a word of it.' A man coming back from the other world

says to a woman:--'I seen your [dead] husband there too, ma'am;' to

which she replies:--'My husband _inah_.' (Gerald Griffin:

'Collegians.') Irish _an eadh_, same sound and meaning.

Inch; a long strip of level grassy land along a river. Very general.

Irish _inis_ [innish], of the same family as Lat. _insula_: but _inis_

is older than _insula_ which is a diminutive and consequently a derived

form. 'James, go out and drive the cows down to the inch.'

Insense'; to make a person understand;--'I can't {278} insense him into

his letters.' 'I insensed him into the way the job was to be done.'

[Accent on -sense'.]

In tow with; in close acquaintance with, courting. John is in tow with

Jane Sullivan.

Ire, sometimes _ira_; children who go barefoot sometimes get _ire_ in

the feet; i.e. the skin chapped and very sore. Also an inflamed spot on

the skin rendered sore by being rubbed with some coarse seam, &c.

Irish language; influence of, on our dialect, 1, 23.

Jackeen; a nickname for a conceited Dublin citizen of the lower class.

Jack Lattin, 172.

Jap or jop; to splash with mud. (Ulster.)

Jaw; impudent talk: _jawing_; scolding, abusing:--

'He looked in my face and he gave me some jaw,

Saying "what brought you over from Erin-go-braw?"'

(Irish Folk Song.)

Jingle; one of Bianconi's long cars.

Johnny Magorey; a hip or dog-haw; the fruit of the dog-rose. (Central

and Eastern counties.)

Join; to begin at anything; 'the child joined to cry'; 'my leg joined

to pain me'; 'the man joined to plough.' (North.)

Jokawn; an oaten stem cut off above the joint, with a tongue cut in it,

which sounds a rude kind of music when blown by the mouth. (Limerick.)

Irish _geocan_, same sound and meaning.

Jowlter, fish-jowlter; a person who hawks about fish through the

country, to sell. (South.)

Just: often used as a final expletive--more in {279} Ulster than

elsewhere:--'Will you send anyone?' 'Yes, Tommy just.' 'Where are you

going now?' 'To the fair just.'

Keenagh or keenagh-lee: mildew often seen on cheese, jam, &c. In a damp

house everything gets covered with _keenagh-lee_. Irish _caonach_,

moss; _caonach-lee_, mildew: _lee_ is Irish _liagh_ [lee], grey. (North

and North-West of Ireland.)

Keeping: a man is _on his keeping_ when he is hiding away from the

police, who are on his track for some offence. This is from the Irish

_coimead_, keeping; _air mo choimead_, 'on my keeping.'

Keeroge; a beetle or clock. Irish _ciar_ [keer], dark, black, with the

diminutive _og_: _keeroge_, 'black little fellow.'

Kelters, money, coins: 'He has the kelthers,' said of a rich man.

_Yellow kelters_, gold money: 'She has the kelthers': means she has a

large fortune. (Moran: Carlow.)

Kemp or camp; to compete: two or more persons kemp against each other

in any work to determine which will finish first. (Ulster.) See

Carleton's story, 'The Rival Kempers.'

Keolaun; a contemptible little creature, boy or man. (South and West.)

Keowt; a low contemptible fellow.

Kepper; a slice of bread with butter, as distinguished from a _dundon_,

which see.

Kesh; a rough bridge over a river or morass, made with poles,

wickerwork, &c.--overlaid with bushes and _scraws_ (green sods).

Understood all through Ireland. A small one over a drain in a bog is

{280} often called in Tipperary and Waterford a _kishoge_, which is

merely the diminutive.

Kib; to put down or plant potatoes, each seed in a separate hole made

with a spade. Irish _ciob_, same sound and meaning.

Kickham, Charles, author of 'Knocknagow,' 5, &c.

Kiddhoge, a wrap of any kind that a woman throws hastily over her

shoulders. (Ulster.) Irish _cuideog_, same sound and sense here.

Kilfinane, Co. Limerick, 147.

Killeen; a quantity:--'That girl has a good killeen of money. (Ulster.)

Irish _cillin_ [killeen].

Killeen; an old churchyard disused except for the occasional burial of

unbaptised infants. Irish _cill_, a church, with the diminutive _in_.

Kimmeen; a sly deceitful trick; kimmeens or kymeens, small crooked

ways:--'Sure you're not equal to the _kimmeens_ of such complete

deceivers at all at all.' (Sam Lover in Ir. Pen. Mag.) Irish _com_,

crooked; diminutive _cuimin_ [kimmeen].

Kimmel-a-vauleen; uproarious fun. Irish _cimel-a'-mhailin_, literally

'rub-the-bag.' There is a fine Irish jig with this name. (South.)

Kink; a knot or short twist in a cord.

Kink; a fit of coughing or laughing: 'they were in kinks of laughing.'

Hence _chincough_, for whooping-cough, i.e. _kink_-cough. I know a holy

well that has the reputation of curing whooping-cough, and hence called

the 'Kink-well.'

Kinleen or keenleen, or kine-leen; a single straw or corn stem.

(South.) Irish _caoinlin_, same sound.

Kinleen-roe; an icicle: the same word as last with the addition of

_reo_ [roe], frost: 'frost-stem.' {281}

Kinnatt', [1st syll. very short; accent on 2nd syll.: to rhyme with

_cat_]; an impertinent conceited impudent little puppy.

Kippen or kippeen; any little bit of stick: often used as a sort of pet

name for a formidable cudgel or shillelah for fighting. Irish _cip_

[kip], a stake or stock, with the diminutive.

Kish; a large square basket made of wattles and wickerwork used for

measuring turf or for holding turf on a cart. Sometimes (South) called

a _kishaun_. Irish _cis_ or _cisean_, same sounds and meanings: also

called _kishagh_.

Kishtha; a treasure: very common in Connaught, where it is often

understood to be hidden treasure in a fort under the care of a

leprachaun. Irish _ciste_, same sound and meaning.

Kitchen; any condiment or relish eaten with the plain food of a meal,

such as butter, dripping, &c. A very common saying in Tyrone against

any tiresome repetition is:--'Butter to butter is no kitchen.' As a

verb; to use sparingly, to economise:--'Now kitchen that bit of bacon

for you have no more.'

Kitthoge or kitthagh; a left-handed person. Understood through all

Ireland. Irish _ciotog_, _ciotach_, same sounds and meaning.

Kitterdy; a simpleton, a fool. (Ulster.)

Knauvshauling [the _k_ sounded distinctly]; grumbling, scolding,

muttering complaints. (Limerick.) From Irish _cnamh_ [knauv: _k_

sounded], a bone, the jawbone. The underlying idea is the same as when

we speak of a person giving _jaw_. See Jaw.

'Knocknagow ': see Kickham.

Kybosh; some sort of difficulty or 'fix':--'He put the kybosh on him:

he defeated him.' (Moran: Carlow.) {282}

Kyraun, keeraun; a small bit broken off from a sod of turf. Irish

_caor_, or with the diminutive, _caoran_, same sound and meaning.

Laaban; a rotten sterile egg (Morris: for South Monaghan): same as

_Glugger_, which see. Irish _lab_ or _laib_, mire, dirt, with

diminutive.

Lad; a mischievous tricky fellow:--'There's no standing them lads.'

(Gerald Griffin.)

Lagheryman or Logheryman. (Ulster.) Same as Leprachaun, which see.

Lambaisting; a sound beating. Quite common in Munster.

Langel; to tie the fore and the hind leg of a cow or goat with a

spancel or fetter to prevent it going over fences. (Ulster.) Irish

_langal_, same sound and meaning.

Lapcock; an armful or roll of grass laid down on the sward to dry for

hay. (Ulster.)

Lark-heeled; applied to a person having long sharp heels. See

Saulavotcheer.

Larrup; to wallop, to beat soundly. (Donegal and South.)

Lashings, plenty: lashings and leavings, plenty and to spare: specially

applied to food at meals. (General.)

Lassog, a blaze of light. (Morris: South Monaghan.) From Irish _las_,

light, with the diminutive.

Lauchy; applied to a person in the sense of pleasant, good-natured,

lovable. Irish _lachaiidhe_, same sound and sense. (Banim: general in

the South.) 'He's a _lauchy_ boy.'

Laudy-daw; a pretentious fellow that sets up to be a great swell.

(Moran: Carlow; and South.) {283}

Launa-vaula; full and plenty:--There was launa-vaula at the dinner.

Irish _lan-a-mhala_ (same sound), 'full bags.'

Lazy man's load. A lazy man takes too many things in one load to save

the trouble of going twice, and thereby often lets them fall and breaks

them.

Learn is used for _teach_ all over Ireland, but more in Ulster than

elsewhere. Don't forget to 'larn the little girl her catechiz.' (Seumas

Mac Manus.) An old English usage: but dead and gone in England now.

Leather; to beat:--'I gave him a good leathering,' i.e., a beating, a

thrashing. This is not derived, as might be supposed, from the English

word _leather_ (tanned skin), but from Irish, in which it is of very

old standing:--_Letrad_ (modern _leadradh_), cutting, hacking,

lacerating: also a champion fighter, a warrior, a _leatherer_. (Corm.

Gloss.--9th cent.) Used all through Ireland.

Leather-wing; a bat. (South.)

Lee, the Very Rev. Patrick, V. F., of Kilfinane, 148.

Lebbidha; an awkward, blundering, half-fool of a fellow. (South.) Irish

_leibide_, same sound and meaning.

Leg bail; a person gives (or takes) _leg bail_ when he runs away,

absconds. (General.)

Lend; loan. Ned came 'for the _lend_ of the ould mare.' ('Knocknagow.')

Often used in the following way:--'Come and lend a hand,' i.e., give

some help. 'Our shooting party comes off to-morrow: will you _lend_

your gun': an invitation to join the party. (Kinahan.) {284}

Leprachaun; a sort of fairy, called by several names in different parts

of Ireland:--luricaun, cluricaun, lurragadaun, loghryman, luprachaun.

This last is the nearest to the Gaelic original, all the preceding

anglicised forms being derived from it. Luprachaun itself is derived by

a metathesis from Irish _luchorpan_, from _lu_, little, and _corpan_,

the dim. of _corp_, a body:--'weeny little body.' The reader will

understand all about this merry little chap from the following short

note and song written by me and extracted from my 'Ancient Irish Music'

(in which the air also will be found). The leprachaun is a very tricky

little fellow, usually dressed in a green coat, red cap, and

knee-breeches, and silver shoe-buckles, whom you may sometimes see in

the shades of evening, or by moonlight, under a bush; and he is

generally making or mending a shoe: moreover, like almost all fairies,

he would give the world for _pottheen_. If you catch him and hold him,

he will, after a little threatening, show you where treasure is hid, or

give you a purse in which you will always find money. But if you once

take your eyes off him, he is gone in an instant; and he is very

ingenious in devising tricks to induce you to look round. It is very

hard to catch a leprachaun, and still harder to hold him. I never heard

of any man who succeeded in getting treasure from him, except one, a

lucky young fellow named MacCarthy, who, according to the peasantry,

built the castle of Carrigadrohid near Macroom in Cork with the money.

Every Irishman understands well the terms _cruiskeen_ and _mountain

dew_, some indeed a little too well; but {285} for the benefit of the

rest of the world, I think it better to state that a _cruiskeen_ is a

small jar, and that _mountain dew_ is _pottheen_ or illicit whiskey.

In a shady nook one moonlight night,

A leprachaun I spied;

With scarlet cap and coat of green;

A cruiskeen by his side.

'Twas tick tack tick, his hammer went,

Upon a weeny shoe;

And I laughed to think of a purse of gold;

But the fairy was laughing too.

With tip-toe step and beating heart,

Quite softly I drew nigh:

There was mischief in his merry face;--

A twinkle in his eye.

He hammered and sang with tiny voice,

And drank his mountain dew:

And I laughed to think he was caught at last:--

But the fairy was laughing too.

As quick as thought I seized the elf;

'Your fairy purse!' I cried;

'The purse!' he said--''tis in her hand--

'That lady at your side!'

I turned to look: the elf was off!

Then what was I to do?

O, I laughed to think what a fool I'd been;

And the fairy was laughing too.

Let out; a spree, an entertainment. (General.) 'Mrs. Williams gave a

great let out.'

Libber; this has much the same meaning as _flipper_, which see: an

untidy person careless about his dress and appearance--an easy-going

_ould sthreel_ of a man. I have heard an old fellow say, regarding

those that went before him--father, {286} grandfather, &c.--that they

were 'ould _aancient_ libbers,' which is the Irish peasant's way of

expressing Gray's 'rude forefathers of the hamlet.'

Lief; willing: 'I had as lief be working as not.' 'I had liefer': I had

rather. (General.) This is an old English word, now fallen out of use

in England, but common here.

Lifter; a beast that is so weak from starvation (chiefly in March when

grass is withered up) that it can hardly stand and has to be lifted

home from the hill-pasture to the stable. (Kinahan: Connemara.)

Light; a little touched in the head, a little crazed:--'Begor sir if

you say I know nothing about sticks your head must be getting light in

earnest.' (Robert Dwyer Joyce.)

Likely; well-looking: 'a likely girl'; 'a _clane_ likely boy.'

Likes; 'the likes of you': persons or _a person_ like you or in your

condition. Very common in Ireland. 'I'll not have any dealings with the

likes of him.' Colonel Lake, Inspector General of Constabulary in last

century, one afternoon met one of his recruits on the North Circular

Road, Dublin, showing signs of liquor, and stopped him. 'Well, my good

fellow, what is your name please?' The recruit replied:--'Who are you,

and what right have you to ask my name?' 'I am Colonel Lake, your

inspector general.' The recruit eyed him closely:--'Oh begor your

honour, if that's the case it's not right for the likes of me to be

talking to the likes of you': on which he turned round and took leg

bail on the spot like a deer, leaving {287} the inspector general

standing on the pathway. The Colonel often afterwards told that story

with great relish.

Linnaun-shee or more correct _Lannaun-shee_; a familiar spirit or fairy

that attaches itself to a mortal and follows him. From Irish _leannan_,

a lover, and _sidh_ [shee], a fairy: _lannaun-shee_, 'fairy-lover.'

Linnie; a long shed--a sort of barn--attached to a a farm house for

holding farm-yard goods and articles of various kinds--carts, spades,

turnips, corn, &c. (Munster.) Irish _lann-iotha_, lit. 'corn-house.'

Lint; in Ulster, a name for flax.

Linthern or lenthern; a small drain or sewer covered with flags for the

passage of water, often under a road from side to side. (Munster.)

Irish _lintrean_, _linntreach_ [lintran, lintragh].

Liscauns; gleanings of corn from the field after reaping: 'There's Mary

gathering _liscauns_.' (South.) Irish.

Loanen; a lane, a _bohereen_. (Ulster.)

Lob; a quantity, especially of money or of any valuable

commodity:--''Tis reported that Jack got a great lob of money with his

wife.' A person is trying to make himself out very useful or of much

consequence, and another says satirically--generally in play:--'Oh what

a _lob_ you are!'

Lock; a quantity or batch of anything--generally small:--a lock of

straw; a lock of sheep. (General.)

Logey; heavy or fat as applied to a person. (Moran: Carlow.) Also the

fireplace in a flax-kiln.

Lone; unmarried:--'A lone man'; 'a lone woman.' {288}

Long family; a common expression for a large family.

Lood, loodh, lude; ashamed: 'he was lude of himself when he was found

out.' (South.)

Loody; a loose heavy frieze coat. (Munster.)

Loof; the open hand, the palm of the hand. (Ulster.) Irish _lamh_

[lauv], the hand.

Loo-oge or lu-oge; the eel-fry a couple of inches long that come up the

southern Blackwater periodically in myriads, and are caught and sold as

food. (Waterford: Healy.) Irish _luadhog_, same sound and meaning.

Loose leg; when a person is free from any engagement or impediment that

bound him down--'he has a loose leg'--free to act as he likes. 'I have

retired from the service with a pension, so that now I have a loose

leg.' The same is often said of a prisoner discharged from jail.

Lord; applied as a nickname to a hunchback. The hunchback Danny Mann in

'The Collegians' is often called 'Danny the lord.'

Losset; a kneading tray for making cakes.