GLOSSARY OF WILTSHIRE WORDS

Oxford
HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY

A Glossary of Words
USED IN THE
COUNTY OF WILTSHIRE.

BY

GEORGE EDWARD DARTNELL
AND THE
REV. EDWARD HUNGERFORD GODDARD, M.A.

London:

PUBLISHED FOR THE ENGLISH DIALECT SOCIETY
BY HENRY FROWDE, OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE.
AMEN CORNER, LONDON, E.C.

1893.
[All rights reserved.]

[v]

PREFACE

The following pages must not be considered as comprising an exhaustive Glossary of our Wiltshire Folk-speech. The field is a wide one, and though much has been accomplished much more still remains to be done. None but those who have themselves attempted such a task know how difficult it is to get together anything remotely approaching a complete list of the dialect words used in a single small parish, to say nothing of a large county, such as ours. Even when the words themselves have been collected, the work is little more than begun. Their range in time and place, their history and etymology, the side-lights thrown on them by allusions in local or general literature, their relation to other English dialects, and a hundred such matters, more or less interesting, have still to be dealt with. However, in spite of many difficulties and hindrances, the results of our five years or more of labour have proved very satisfactory, and we feel fully justified in claiming for this Glossary that it contains the most complete list of Wiltshire words and phrases which has as yet been compiled. More than one-half of the words here noted have never before appeared in any Wiltshire Vocabulary, many of them being now recorded for the first time for any county, while in the case of the remainder much additional information will be found given, as well as numerous examples of actual folk-talk.

The greater part of these words were originally collected by us as rough material for the use of the compilers of the[vi] projected English Dialect Dictionary, and have been appearing in instalments during the last two years in the Wilts Archæological Magazine (vol. xxvi, pp. 84-169, and 293-314; vol. xxvii, pp. 124-159), as Contributions towards a Wiltshire Glossary. The whole list has now been carefully revised and much enlarged, many emendations being made, and a very considerable number of new words inserted, either in the body of the work, or as Addenda. A few short stories, illustrating the dialect as actually spoken now and in Akerman's time, with a brief Introduction dealing with Pronunciation, &c., and Appendices on various matters of interest, have also been added; so that the size of the work has been greatly increased.

As regards the nature of the dialect itself, the subject has been fully dealt with by abler pens than ours, and we need only mention here that it belongs to what is now known as the South-Western group, which also comprises most of Dorset, Hants, Gloucester, and parts of Berks and Somerset. The use of dialect would appear gradually to be dying out now in the county, thanks, perhaps, to the spread of education, which too often renders the rustic half-ashamed of his native tongue. Good old English as at base it is,—for many a word or phrase used daily and hourly by the Wiltshire labourer has come down almost unchanged, even as regards pronunciation, from his Anglo-Saxon forefathers,—it is not good enough for him now. One here, and another there, will have been up to town, only to come back with a stock of slang phrases and misplaced aspirates, and a large and liberal contempt for the old speech and the old ways. The natural result is that here, as elsewhere, every year is likely to add considerably to the labour of collecting, until in another generation or so what is now difficult may become an almost hopeless task. No time should be lost, therefore, in noting down for permanent record every word and phrase, custom or superstition, still current among us, that may chance to come under observation.

[vii]

The words here gathered together will be found to fall mainly under three heads;—(1) Dialect, as Caddle, (2) Ordinary English with some local shade of meaning, as Unbelieving, and (3) Agricultural, as Hyle, many of the latter being also entitled to rank as Dialect. There may also be noted a small number of old words, such as toll and charm, that have long died out of standard English, but still hold their own among our country people. We have not thought it advisable, as a general rule, to follow the example set us by our predecessors in including such words as archet and deaw, which merely represent the local pronunciation of orchard and dew; nor have we admitted cantankerous, tramp, and certain others that must now rank with ordinary English, whatever claim they may once have had to be considered as provincial. More leniency, however, has been exercised with regard to the agricultural terms, many that are undoubtedly of somewhat general use being retained side by side with those of more local limitation.

The chief existing sources of information are as follows:—(1) the Glossary of Agricultural Terms in Davis's General View of the Agriculture of Wilts, 1809; reprinted in the Archæological Review, March, 1888, with many valuable notes by Prof. Skeat; (2) The Word-list in vol. iii. of Britton's Beauties of Wilts, 1825; collated with Akerman, and reprinted in 1879 for the English Dialect Society, with additions and annotations, by Prof. Skeat; (3) Akerman's North Wilts Glossary, 1842, based upon Britton's earlier work; (4) Halliwell's Dictionary, 1847, where may be found most (but not all) of the Wiltshire words occurring in our older literature, as the anonymous fifteenth-century Chronicon Vilodunense, the works of John Aubrey, Bishop Kennett's Parochial Antiquities, and the collections by the same author, which form part of the Lansdowne MSS.; (5) Wright's Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English, 1859, which is mainly a condensation of Halliwell's work, but contains a few additional[viii] Wiltshire words; (6) a Word-list in Mr. E. Slow's Wiltshire Poems, which he has recently enlarged and published separately; and (7) the curious old MS. Vocabulary belonging to Mr. W. Cunnington, a verbatim reprint of which will be found in the Appendix.

Other authorities that must here be accorded a special mention are a paper On some un-noted Wiltshire Phrases, by the Rev. W. C. Plenderleath, in the Wilts Archæological Magazine; Britten and Holland's invaluable Dictionary of English Plant-names, which, however, is unfortunately very weak as regards Wilts names; the Rev. A. C. Smith's Birds of Wiltshire; Akerman's Wiltshire Tales; the Flower-class Reports in the Sarum Diocesan Gazette; the very scarce Song of Solomon in North Wilts Dialect, by Edward Kite, a work of the highest value as regards the preservation of local pronunciation and modes of expression, but containing very few words that are not in themselves ordinary English; the works of Richard Jefferies; Canon Jackson's valuable edition of Aubrey's Wiltshire Collections; and Britton's condensation of the Natural History of Wilts. In Old Country and Farming Words, by Mr. Britten, 1880, much information as to our agricultural terms may be found, gathered together from the Surveys and similar sources. Lastly, the various Glossaries of the neighbouring counties, by Cope, Barnes, Jennings, and other writers, should be carefully collated with our Wiltshire Glossaries, as they often throw light on doubtful points. Fuller particulars as to these and other works bearing on the subject will be found in the Appendix on Wiltshire Bibliography.

We regret that it has been found impossible to carry out Professor Skeat's suggestion that the true pronunciation should in all doubtful cases be clearly indicated by its Glossic equivalent. To make such indications of any practical value they should spring from a more intimate knowledge of that system than either of us can be said to possess. The same remarks will also apply to the short notes on Pronunciation, &c., where our utter inexperience as regards the modern[ix] scientific systems of Phonetics must be pleaded as our excuse for having been compelled to adopt methods that are as vague as they are unscientific.

To the English Dialect Society and its officers we are deeply indebted for their kindness and generosity in undertaking to adopt this Glossary, and to publish it in their valuable series of County Glossaries, as well as for the courtesy shown us in all matters connected with the work. We have also to thank the Wilts Archæological Society for the space afforded us from time to time in their Magazine, and the permission granted us to reprint the Word-lists therefrom.

In our Prefaces to these Word-lists we mentioned that we should be very glad to receive any additions or suggestions from those interested in the subject. The result of these appeals has been very gratifying, not only with regard to the actual amount of new material so obtained, but also as showing the widespread interest felt in a branch of Wiltshire Archæology which has hitherto been somewhat neglected, and we gladly avail ourselves of this opportunity of repeating our expression of thanks to all those who have so kindly responded. To Dr. Jennings we owe an extremely lengthy list of Malmesbury words, from which we have made numerous extracts. We have found it of special value, as showing the influence of Somersetshire on the vocabulary and pronunciation of that part of the county. To Sir C. Hobhouse we are indebted for some interesting words, amongst which the survival of the A.S. attercop is well worth noting. We have to thank Mr. W. Cunnington for assistance in many ways, and for the loan of MSS. and books, which we have found of great service. To Mr. J. U. Powell and Miss Kate Smith we owe the greater part of the words marked as occurring in the Deverill district. Mr. E. J. Tatum has given us much help as regards local Plant-names: Miss E. Boyer-Brown, Mr. F. M. Willis, Mr. E. Slow, Mr. James Rawlence, Mr. F. A. Rawlence, Mr. C. E. Ponting, Mr. R. Coward, the[x] Rev. W. C. Plenderleath, Mr. Septimus Goddard, Mrs. Dartnell, the Rev. C. Soames, and the Rev. G. Hill must also be specially mentioned. We are indebted to Mr. W. Gale, gardener at Clyffe Pypard Vicarage, for valuable assistance rendered us in verifying words and reporting new ones.

We take this opportunity of acknowledging gratefully the assistance which we have throughout the compilation of this Glossary received from H. N. Goddard, Esq., of the Manor, Clyffe Pypard, to whose wide knowledge and long experience of Wiltshire words and ways we owe many valuable suggestions; from the Rev. A. Smythe-Palmer, D.D., who has taken much interest in the work, and to whose pen we owe many notes; from Professor Skeat, who kindly gave us permission to make use of his reprints; and last, but by no means least, from the Rev. A. L. Mayhew, who most kindly went through the whole MS., correcting minutely the etymologies suggested, and adding new matter in many places.

In conclusion, we would say that we hope from time to time to publish further lists of Addenda in the Wilts Archæological Magazine or elsewhere, and that any additions and suggestions will always be very welcome, however brief they may be. The longest contributions are not always those of most value, and it has more than once happened that words and phrases of the greatest interest have occurred in a list whose brevity was its only fault.

George Edward Dartnell,
Abbottsfield, Stratford Road, Salisbury.

Edward Hungerford Goddard,
The Vicarage, Clyffe Pypard, Wootton Bassett.

[xi]

CONTENTS

[xii]

[xiii]

INTRODUCTION

The following notes may perhaps serve to give some slight indication as to pronunciation, &c., but without the aid of Glossic it is impossible accurately to reproduce the actual sounds.

A is usually lengthened out or broadened in some way or other.

Thus in hazon and haslet it would be pronounced somewhat as in baa, this being no doubt what the Monthly Magazine means by saying that 'a is always pronounced as r.'

When a is immediately followed by r, as in ha'sh, harsh, and paa'son, parson, the result is that the r appears to be altogether dropped out of the word.

Aw final always becomes aa, as laa, law, draa, draw, thaa, thaw.

In saace, sauce, au becomes aa.

A is also broadened into eä.

Thus garden, gate, and name become geärden, geät, and neäme.

These examples may, however, be also pronounced in other ways, even in the same sentence, as garne, yăt, and naayme, or often ne-um.

A is often softened in various ways.

Thus, thrash becomes draish, and wash, waish or weish.

It is often changed to o, as zot, sat, ronk, rank.

Also to e, as piller, pillar, refter, rafter, pert, part.

[xiv]

In vur, far, the sound is u rather than e.

The North Wilts version of the Song of Solomon gives frequent examples of oi for ai, as choir, chair, foir, fair, moyden, maiden; but this is probably an imported letter-change, chayer or chai-yer, for instance, being nearer the true sound.

E is often broadened into aa or aay.

Thus they gives us thaay, and break, braayke.

In marchant, merchant, and zartin, certain, the sound given is as in tar.

Ei takes the sound of a in fate, as desave, deceive.

Left, smell, and kettle become lift, smill, and kiddle.

In South Wilts ĕ in such words as egg or leg becomes a or ai, giving us aig and laig or lăg. Thus a Heytesbury Rosalind would render—

by 'O-my-poor-vit'n-laigs!' uttered all in one gasp. In N. Wilts the e in these words is not perceptibly so altered.

The ĕ in such words as linnet usually takes the u sound, giving us linnut. In yes it is lengthened out into eece in S. Wilts, and in N. Wilts into cez.

Long e or ee is shortened into i, as ship, sheep, kippur, keeper, wick, week, fit, vit, feet, the latter word sometimes being also pronounced as ve-ut.

Heat becomes het, and heater (a flat-iron), hetter; while hear is usually hire in N. Wilts.

I short becomes e, as breng, bring, drenk, drink, zet, sit, pegs, pigs.

Occasionally it is lengthened into ee, as leetle, little.

In hit (pret.) and if it usually takes the sound of u, as hut and uf or uv; but hit in the present tense is het, and if is often sounded as ef in N. Wilts.

At the beginning of a word, im, in, and un usually become on, as onpossible, ondacent, oncommon.

[xv]

In present participles the sound given varies between un', en', and in', the g almost invariably being dropped.

O very commonly becomes a, as archet, orchard, tharn, thorn, vant, font, vram, from, carn, corn.

Quite as commonly it takes the au or aw sound, as hawp, hope, aupen, open, cawls, coals, hawle, hole, smawk, smoke.

In such words as cold and four, the sound is ow rather than aw, thus giving us cowld and vower.

Moss in S. Wilts sometimes takes the long e, becoming mēsh, while in N. Wilts it would merely be mawss.

Know becomes either knaw or kneow.

O is often sounded oo, as goold, gold, cwoort, court, mwoor'n or moor'n, more than, poorch, porch.

Oo is sometimes shortened into ŭ, as shut, shoot, sut, soot, tuk, took.

Very commonly the sound given to ō is wo or woä. Thus we get twoad, toad (sometimes twoad), pwoast, post, bwoy, boy, rwoäs, a rose, bwoän, bone, spwoke (but more usually spawk in N. Wilts), spoke.

Oa at the beginning of a word becomes wu, as wuts, oats.

Oi in noise and rejoice is sounded as ai.

In ointment and spoil it becomes ī or wī, giving intment and spile or spwile.

Ow takes the sound of er or y, in some form or other, as vollur and volly, to follow, winder and windy, a window.

U in such words as fusty and dust becomes ow, as fowsty, dowst.

D when preceded by a liquid is often dropped, as veel', field, vine, to find, dreshol, threshold, groun', ground.

Conversely, it is added to such words as miller, gown, swoon, which become millard, gownd, and zownd.

In orchard and Richard the d becomes t, giving us archet[xvi] and Richut or Rich't; while occasionally t becomes d, linnet being formerly (but not now) thus pronounced as linnard in N. Wilts.

D is dropped when it follows n, in such cases as Swinnun, Swindon, Lunnon, London.

Su sometimes becomes Shu, as Shusan, Susan, shoot, suit, shewut, suet, shower, sure, Shukey, Sukey.

Y is used as an aspirate in yacker, acre, yarm, arm, yeppern, apron, yerriwig, earwig. It takes the place of h in yeäd, head, yeldin, a hilding; and of g in yeat or yat, a gate.

Consonants are often substituted, chimney becoming chimbley or chimley, parsnip, pasmet, and turnip, turmut.

Transpositions are very common, many of them of course representing the older form of a word. For examples we may take ax, to ask, apern, apron, girt, great, wopse, wasp, aps, the aspen, claps, to clasp, cruds, curds, childern, children.

F almost invariably becomes v, as vlower, flower, vox, fox, vur, far, vall, fall, vlick, flick, vant, font.

In such words as afterclaps and afternoon it is not sounded at all.

L is not sounded in such words as amwoast, almost, and a'mighty, almighty.

N final is occasionally dropped, as lime-kill, lime-kiln.

P, F, V, and B are frequently interchanged, brevet and privet being forms of the same word, while to bag peas becomes fag or vag when applied to wheat.

R is slurred over in many cases, as e'ath, earth, foc'd, forced, ma'sh, marsh, vwo'th, forth.

[xvii]

It often assumes an excrescent d or t, as cavaltry, horsemen, crockerty, crockery, scholard, scholar.

H has the sound of wh in whoam, home. This word, however, as Mr. Slow points out in the Preface to his Glossary—

Bob. Drat if I dwon't goo wom to marrer.

Zam. Wat's evir waant ta go wimm var.

Bob. Why, they tell's I as ow Bet Stingymir is gwain to be caal'd whoam to Jim Spritely on Zundy.—

is variously pronounced as wom, wimm, and whoam, even in the same village.

As stated at page 72, the cockney misuse of h is essentially foreign to our dialect. It was virtually unknown sixty or seventy years ago, and even so late as thirty years back was still unusual in our villages. Hunked for unked is almost the only instance to be found in Akerman, for instance. But the plague is already fast spreading, and we fear that the Catullus of the next generation will have to liken the Hodge of his day to the Arrius (the Roman 'Arry) of old:—

Touching this point the Rev. G. Hill writes us from Harnham Vicarage as follows:—'I should like to bear out what you say with regard to the use of the letter h in South-West Wilts. When I lived in these parts twenty years ago, its omission was not I think frequent. The putting it where it ought not to be did not I think exist. I find now that the h is invariably dropped, and occasionally added, the latter habit being that of the better educated.'

H becomes y in yeäd, head.

K is often converted into t, as ast, to ask, mast, a mask, bleat, bleak.

[xviii]

T is conversely often replaced by k, as masking, acorn-gathering, from 'mast,' while sleet becomes sleek, and pant, pank.

S usually takes the sound of z, as zee, to see, zaa, a saw, zowl, soul, zaat or zate, soft, zider, cider, zound, to swoon.

Thr usually becomes dr, as dree, three, droo, through, draish, to thrash.

In afurst, athirst, and fust, thirst, we still retain a very ancient characteristic of Southern English.

T is always dropped in such words as kept and slept, which become kep' and slep'.

Liquids sometimes drop the next letter, as kill, kiln; but more usually take an excrescent t or d, as varmint, vermin, steart, a steer, gownd, gown.

W as an initial is generally dropped in N. Wilts in such cases as 'oont, a want or mole, 'ooman, woman, 'ood, wood.

Occasionally in S. Wilts it takes the aspirate, 'ood being then hood.

Final g is always dropped in the present participle, as singin', livin', living; also in nouns of more than one syllable which end in ing. It is, however, retained in monosyllabic nouns and verbs, such as ring and sing.

Pre becomes pur, as purtend, pretend, purserve, preserve.

Sometimes a monosyllabic word will be pronounced as a dissyllable, as we have already mentioned, ne-um, ve-ut, ve-us, and ke-up being used concurrently with naayme, vit or fit, veäce, and kip or keep.

The prefix a is always used with the present participle, as a-gwain', going, a-zettin' up, sitting up.

[xix]

The article an is never used, a doing duty on all occasions, as 'Gie I a apple, veyther.'

Plurals will be found to be dealt with in the Glossary itself, under En and Plurals.

Pronouns will also be found grouped together under Pronouns.

As is used for who, which, and that.

Active verbs govern the nominative case.

Verbs do not agree with their nominative, either in number or person.

The periphrastic tenses are often used in S. Wilts, as 'I do mind un,' but in N. Wilts the rule is to employ the simple tenses instead, merely altering the person, as 'I minds un.' In S. Wilts you might also say 'It be a vine night,' whereas in N. Wilts ''Tes a vine night' would be more correct.

In conclusion we would mention that we hope in the course of the next year or two to be able to deal with the grammatical and phonological sides of our Dialect in a somewhat more adequate manner than it has been possible to do on the present occasion.

[xx]

A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS USED.

[For full titles of works see Appendix.]

N. & S.W. North and South Wilts, the place-names following being those of localities where the word is reported as being in use.

* An asterisk denotes that the word against which it is placed has not as yet been met with by ourselves in this county, although given by some authority or other as used in Wilts.

[1]

WILTS GLOSSARY

A. He; she. See Pronouns.

A, pl. As or Ais. n. A harrow or drag (D.); probably from A.S. egethe, M.E. eythe, a harrow (Skeat).—S.W., obsolete. This term for a harrow was still occasionally to be heard some thirty years ago, in both Somerset and Wilts, but is now disused. Davis derives it from the triangular shape of the drag, resembling the letter A.

A-Drag. A large heavy kind of drag (Agric. of Wilts). Still used in South Wilts for harrowing turnips before the hoers go in.

Abear. To bear, to endure (S.). 'I can't abear to see the poor theng killed.'—N. & S.W.

Abide. To bear, to endure. 'I can't abide un nohow.'—N. & S.W.

About. (1) adv. Extremely. Used to emphasize a statement, as ''T'wer just about cold s'marnin'.'—N. & S.W. (2) At one's ordinary work again, after an illness. 'My missus were bad aal last wick wi' rheumatiz, but she be about agen now.'—N. & S.W.

Acksen. See Axen.

Adder's-tongue. Listera ovata, Br., Twayblade.—S.W.

Adderwort. Polygonum Bistorta, L., Bistort.—S.W. (Salisbury, &c.)

Afeard, Aveard. Afraid (A.B.S.).—N. & S.W.

[2]

*Agalds. Hawthorn berries. (English Plant Names.) Aggles in Devon.

Agg. (1) To hack or cut clumsily (A.B.H.S.Wr.); also Aggle and Haggle.—N. & S.W. (2) To irritate, to provoke.—N. & S.W.

Ahmoo. A cow; used by mothers to children, as 'Look at they pretty ahmoos a-comin'!'—S.W. (Som. bord.)

Ailes, Eyles, Iles, &c. The awns of barley (D.); cf. A.S. egle, an ear of corn, M.E. eile. Hail in Great Estate, ch. i.—N. & S.W.

Aisles of wheat. See Hyle.

All-a-hoh. All awry (A.B.C.H.Wr.); also All-a-huh. Unevenly balanced, lop-sided. A.S. awóh. 'That load o' carn be aal-a-hoh.'—N. & S.W.

All-amang, Allemang, All-o-mong. Mingled together, as when two flocks of sheep are accidentally driven together and mixed up (A.B.G.H.S.Wr.). Seldom heard now.—N. & S.W.

All one as. Just like. 'I be 'tirely blowed up all one as a drum.'—N.W. Compare—

All one for that. For all that, notwithstanding, in spite of, as 'It medn't be true all one for that.'—N.W.

Aloud. 'That there meat stinks aloud,' smells very bad.—N.W.

*A-masked. Bewildered, lost (MS. Lansd., in a letter dated 1697: H.Wr.).—Obsolete.

'Leaving him more masked than he was before.'

Fuller's Holy War, iii. 2.

Ameäd. Aftermath. See note to Yeomath.—N.W. (Cherhill.)

*Anan, 'Nan. What do you say? (A.B.); used by a labourer who does not quite comprehend his master's orders. 'Nan (A.B.) is still occasionally used in N. Wilts, but it is almost obsolete.—N. & S.W.

[3]

Anbye. adv. Some time hence, presently, at some future time. 'I be main busy now, but I'll do't anbye.'—N.W.

Anchor. The chape of a buckle (A.B.).—S.W.

And that. And all that sort of thing, and so forth. 'Well, he do have a drop tide-times and that.'—S.W.

Aneoust, Aneust, Anoust, Neust, or Noust. Nearly, about the same (A.B.G.).—N. & S.W.

Anighst. Near (A.S.). 'Nobody's bin anighst us since you come.'—N. & S.W.

Anneal. A thoroughly heated oven, just fit for the batch of bread to be put in, is said to be nealded, i.e. annealed.—S.W.

Anoint, 'Nint (i long). To beat soundly. 'I'll 'nint ye when I gets home!' See Nineter.—N.W.

*Anont, Anunt. Against, opposite (A.B.H.Wr.).

Any more than. Except, although, only. 'He's sure to come any more than he might be a bit late.' Usually contracted into Moor'n in N. Wilts.—N. & S.W.

Apple-bout. An apple-dumpling. (Cf. Hop-about.)—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Apple-owling. Knocking down the small worthless fruit, or 'griggles,' left on the trees after the apple crop has been gathered in. See Howlers, Owlers, and Owling.—N.W.

Aps. Populus tremula, L., Aspen; always so called by woodmen. This is the oldest form of the word, being from A.S. æps, and is in use throughout the south and west of England. In Round About a Great Estate, ch. i. it is misprinted asp.—N.W.

Arg. To argue, with a very strong sense of contradiction implied (S.). 'Dwoan't 'ee arg at I like that! I tell 'ee I zeed 'un!' See Down-arg.—N. & S.W.

Arms. 'The arms of a waggon,' such parts of the axle-tree as go into the wheels (Cycl. of Agric.).—N.W.

Arra, Arra one, Arn. See Pronouns.

[4]

Array, 'Ray. To dress and clean corn with a sieve (D.).—N.W.

Arsmart. Polygonum Hydropiper, L., and P. Persicaria, L.—S.W.

Ashore, Ashar, Ashard. Ajar. 'Put the door ashard when you goes out.'—N. & S.W.

Ashweed. Aegopodium Podagraria, L., Goutweed.—N. & S.W.

*Astore. An expletive, as 'she's gone into the street astore' (H.). Perhaps connected with astoor, very soon, Berks, or astore, Hants:—

'The duck's [dusk] coming on; I'll be off in astore.'

A Dream of the Isle of Wight.

It might then mean either 'this moment' or 'for a moment.'

At. (1) 'At twice,' at two separate times. 'We'll ha' to vetch un at twice now.'—N.W. (2) 'Up at hill,' uphill. 'Th' rwoad be all up at hill.'—N.W.

Athin. Within (A.B.).—N. & S.W.

Athout. Without; outside (A.B.S.).—N. & S.W.

*Attercop. A spider. A.S. atter-coppa.—N.W. (Monkton Farleigh), still in use. Mr. Willis mentions that Edderkop is still to be heard in Denmark.

*Attery. Irascible (A.B.).

Away with. Endure. This Biblical expression is still commonly used in Wilts. 'Her's that weak her can't away with the childern at no rate!'

Ax. To ask (A.B.S.).—N. & S.W.

*Axen. Ashes (A.B.); Acksen (MS. Lansd.: G.H.Wr.).—Obsolete.

Babies'-shoes. Ajuga reptans, L., Common Bugle.—S.W.

Bachelor's Buttons. (1) Wild Scabious (A.B.), Scabiosa arvensis, L., S. Columbaria, L., and perhaps S. succisa, L.—N.W. (2) Corchorus Japonica (Kerria Japonica, L.).—N.W. (Huish.)

Back-friends. Bits of skin fretted up at the base of the finger-nails.—N.W.

*Backheave. To winnow a second time (D.).

[5]

Backside. The back-yard of a house (A.B.).—N. & S.W., now obsolete.

Backsword. A kind of single-stick play (A.H.Wr.). Obsolete, the game being only remembered by the very old men. For an account of it see The Scouring of the White Horse, ch. vi.—N.W.

Bacon. To 'strick bacon,' to cut a mark on the ice in sliding; cf. to strike a 'candle.'—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Bacon-and-Eggs. Linaria vulgaris, Mill., Yellow Toadflax. Also called Eggs-and-Bacon.—N. & S.W.

*Bad, Bod. To strip walnuts of their husks (A.B.H.Wr.); cf. E. pod.—N.W., obsolete.

*Badge. v. To deal in corn, &c. See Badger.—Obsolete.

'1576. Md. that I take order of the Badgers that they do name the places where the Badgers do use to badge before they resieve their lycens.... Md. to make pces [process] against all the Badgers that doe badge without licence.'—Extracts from Records of Wilts Quarter Sessions, Wilts Arch. Mag. xx. 327.

*Badger. A corn-dealer (A.B.); used frequently in old accounts in N. Wilts, but now obsolete.

'1620. Itm for stayeinge Badgers & keepinge a note of there names viijd.'—F. H. Goldney, Records of Chippenham, p. 202.

Compare bodger, a travelling dealer (Harrison's Description of England, 1577), and bogging, peddling, in Murray. (Smythe-Palmer).

Bag. (1) v. To cut peas with a double-handed hook. Cf. Vag.

'They cannot mow it with a sythe, but they cutt it with such a hooke as they bagge pease with.'—Aubrey, Nat. Hist. Wilts, p. 51, ed. Brit.

(2) n. The udder of a cow (A.B.).—N.W.

Bake, Beak. (1) v. To chop up with a mattock the rough surface of land that is to be reclaimed, afterwards burning the parings (Agric. of Wilts, ch. xii). See Burn-beak. *(2) n. The curved cutting mattock used in 'beaking' (Ibid. ch. xii). (3) n. The ploughed land lying on the plat of the downs near Heytesbury, in Norton Bavant parish, is usually known as the Beäk, or Bake, probably from having been thus reclaimed. In the Deverills parts of many of the down farms are known as the Bake, or, more usually, the Burn-bake.—S.W.

[6]

Bake-faggot. A rissole of chopped pig's-liver and seasoning, covered with 'flare.' See Faggot (2).—N.W.

Ballarag, Bullyrag. To abuse or scold at any one (S.).—N. & S.W.

Balm of Gilead. Melittis Melissophyllum, L., Wild Balm.

Bams. Rough gaiters of pieces of cloth wound about the legs, much used by shepherds and others exposed to cold weather. Cf. Vamplets.—N. & S.W.

'The old man ... had bams on his legs and a sack fastened over his shoulders like a shawl.'—The Story of Dick, ch. xii. p. 141.

Bandy. (1) A species of Hockey, played with bandy sticks and a ball or piece of wood.—N. & S.W. (2) A crooked stick (S.).

Bane. Sheep-rot (D.). Baned. Of sheep, afflicted with rot (A.B.).—N.W.

Bang-tail, or Red Fiery Bang-tail. Phoenicurus ruticilla, the Redstart.—N.W. (Wroughton.)

*Bannet-hay. A rick-yard (H.Wr.).

Bannis. Gasterosteus trachurus, the Common Stickleback (A.B.H.Wr.). Also Bannistickle (A.B.), Bantickle (A.Wr.), and *Bramstickle (S.). 'Asperagus (quoedam piscis) a ban-stykyll.'—Ortus Vocab. A.S. bán, bone, and sticels, prickle. (See N.E.D.).—S.W.

*Bannut. Fruit of Juglans regia, L., the Walnut (A.B.).

Bantickle. See Bannis.

*Barber's Brushes. Dipsacus sylvestris, L., Wild Teasel (Flower's Flora of Wilts). Also Brushes.—N.W.

Bargain. A small landed property or holding. 'They have always been connected with that little bargain of land.'—N.W., still in use. Sir W. H. Cope, in his Hants Glossary, gives 'Bargan, a small property; a house and garden; a small piece of land,' as used in N. Hants.

[7]

Barge. (1) n. The gable of a house. Compare architectural Barge-boards.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.) (2) v. Before a hedge can be 'laid,' all its side, as well as the rough thorns, brambles, &c., growing in the ditch, must be cut off. This is called 'barging out' the ditch.—N.W.

Barge-hook. The iron hook used by thatchers to fasten the straw to the woodwork of the gable.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Barge-knife. The knife used by thatchers in trimming off the straw round the eaves of the gable.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Bargin. The overgrowth of a hedge, trimmed off before 'laying.'—N. & S.W.

Barken. The enclosed yard near a farm-house (A.B.); Rick-Barken, a rick-yard (A.), also used without prefix in this sense (Wilts Tales, p. 121).

'Barken, or Bercen, now commonly used for a yard or backside in Wilts ... first signified the small croft or close where the sheep were brought up at night, and secured from danger of the open fields.'—Kennett's Parochial Antiquities.

Barton was formerly in very common use, but has now been displaced by Yard.—N. & S.W.

*Barley-bigg. A variety of barley (Aubrey's Wilts MS., p. 304).

*Barley-Sower. Larus canus, the Common Gull (Birds of Wilts, p. 534).

Barm. The usual Wilts term for yeast (A.B.M.S.).—N. & S.W.

*Barn-barley. Barley which has never been in rick, but has been kept under cover from the first, and is therefore perfectly dry and of high value for malting purposes (Great Estate, ch. viii. p. 152).

Basket. In some parts of S. Wilts potatoes are sold by the 'basket,' or three-peck measure, instead of by the 'sack' or the 'bag.'

Baskets. Plantago lanceolata, L., Ribwort Plantain.—S.W. (Little Langford.)

[8]

Bat-folding net. The net used in 'bird-batting,' q.v. (A.): more usually 'clap-net.'

Bat-mouse. The usual N. Wilts term for a bat.—N. & S.W.

Batt. A thin kind of oven-cake, about as thick as a tea-cake, but mostly crust.—N.W.

*Battledore-barley. A flat-eared variety of barley (Aubrey's Wilts MS., p. 304: H.Wr.).

Baulk. (1) Corn-baulk. When a 'land' has been accidentally passed over in sowing, the bare space is a 'baulk,' and is considered as a presage of some misfortune.—N.W. (2) A line of turf dividing a field.—N.W.

'The strips [in a "common field"] are marked off from one another, not by hedge or wall, but by a simple grass path, a foot or so wide, which they call "balks" or "meres."'—Wilts Arch. Mag. xvii. 294.

Bavin. An untrimmed brushwood faggot (A.B.S.): the long ragged faggot with two withes, used for fencing in the sides of sheds and yards; sometimes also applied to the ordinary faggot with one withe or band.—N. & S.W.

*Bawsy, Borsy, or Bozzy. Coarse, as applied to the fibre of cloth or wool. 'Bozzy-faced cloth bain't good enough vor I.'—S.W. (Trowbridge, &c.)

Bay. (1) n. A dam across a stream or ditch.—N.W. (2) v. 'To bay back water,' to dam it back.—N.W. (3) n. The space between beam and beam in a barn or cows' stalls.—N.W.

*Beads. Sagina procumbens, L., Pearlwort.—N.W. (Lyneham.)

Beak. See Bake and Burn-bake.

Bearsfoot. Hellebore.—N.W. (Huish, &c.)

Beat. 'To beat clots,' to break up the hard dry lumps of old cow-dung lying about in a pasture.—N.W.

Becall. To abuse, to call names. 'Her do becall I shameful.'—N. & S.W.

Bed-summers. See Waggon.

Bedwind, Bedwine. Clematis Vitalba, L., Traveller's Joy.—S.W.

[9]

Bee-flower. Ophrys apifera, Huds., Bee Orchis.—S.W.

Bee-pot. A bee-hive.—S.W.

Been, Bin. Because, since; a corruption of being (B.S.). 'Bin as he don't go, I won't.'—N.W.

Bees. A hive is a Bee-pot. Bee-flowers are those purposely grown near an apiary, as sources of honey. Of swarms, only the first is a Swarm, the second being a Smart, and the third a Chit. To follow a swarm, beating a tin pan, is Ringing or Tanging.—N.W.

*Beet. To make up a fire (A.B.C.G.). A.S. bétan, to better; to mend a fire (Skeat).—N.W., obsolete.

Beetle. (1) The heavy double-handed wooden mallet used in driving in posts, wedges, &c. Bittle (A.H.). Bwytle (S.). Also Bwoitle.—N. & S.W.

'On another [occasion] (2nd July, 25 Hen. VIII) ... William Seyman was surety ... for the re-delivery of the tools, "cuncta instrumenta videlicet Beetyll, Ax, Matock, and Showlys."'—Stray Notes from the Marlborough Court Books, Wilts Arch. Mag. xix. 78.

(2) The small mallet with which thatchers drive home their 'spars.'—S.W.

*Beggar-weed. Cuscuta Trifolii, Bab., Dodder; from its destructiveness to clover, &c. (English Plant Names).

Bellock. (1) To cry like a beaten or frightened child (A.B.).—N.W., rarely. (2) To complain, to grumble (Dark, ch. x.).—N.W.

*Belly vengeance. Very small and bad beer.—N.W.

'Beer of the very smallest description, real "belly vengeance."'—Wilts Tales, p. 40.

Cf.:—

'I thought you wouldn't appreciate the widow's tap.... Regular whistle-belly vengeance, and no mistake!'—Tom Brown at Oxford, xl.

Belt. To trim away the dirty wool from a sheep's hind-quarters.—N.W.

[10]

*Bennet. v. Of wood-pigeons, to feed on bennets (A.).

'They have an old rhyme in Wiltshire—

"Pigeons never know no woe
Till they a-benetting do go;"

meaning that pigeons at this time are compelled to feed on the seed of the bent, the stubbles being cleared, and the crops not ripe.'—Akerman.

Bennets, Bents. (1) Long coarse grass or rushes (B.).—N.W. (2) Seed-stalks of various grasses (A.); used of both withered stalks of coarse grasses and growing heads of cat's-tail, &c.—N. & S.W. (3) Seed-heads of Plantain, Plantago major, L., and P. lanceolata, L.—N. & S.W.

Bents. See Bennets.

Bercen (c hard). See Barken. 'This form of the word is given in MS. Gough, Wilts, 5, as current in Wilts' (H.K.Wr.).

Berry. The grain of wheat (D.); as 'There's a very good berry to-year,' or 'The wheat's well-berried,' or the reverse. See Old Country Words, ii. and v.—N.W.

Berry-moucher. (1) A truant. See Blackberry-moucher and Moucher (A.).—N. & S.W. (2) Fruit of Rubus fruticosus, L., Blackberry. See Moochers.—N.W. (Huish.) Originally applied to children who went mouching from school in blackberry season, and widely used in this sense, but at Huish—and occasionally elsewhere—virtually confined to the berries themselves: often corrupted into Penny-moucher or Perry-moucher by children. In English Plant Names Mochars, Glouc., and Mushes, Dev., are quoted as being similarly applied to the fruit, which is also known as Mooches in the Forest of Dean. See Hal., sub. Mich.

Besepts. Except.—N. & S.W.

'Here's my yeppurn they've a'bin and scarched, and I've a-got narra 'nother 'gin Zunday besepts this!'—Wilts Tales, p. 138.

Besom, Beesom, Bissom, &c. A birch broom (A.B.S.).—N. & S.W.

*Betwit. To upbraid (A.B.).

[11]

Bide. (1) To stay, remain (A.S.). 'Bide still, will 'ee.'—N. & S.W. (2) To dwell (A.). 'Where do 'ee bide now, Bill?' 'Most-in-general at 'Vize.'—N. & S.W.

Bill Button. Geum rivale, L., Water Avens.—S.W.

Bin. See Been.

Bird-batting. Netting birds at night with a 'bat-folding' or clap-net (A.B., Aubrey's Nat. Hist. Wilts, p. 15, ed. Brit.). Bird-battenen (S.).—N. & S.W.

Bird's-eye. (1) Veronica Chamaedrys, L., Germander Speedwell.—N. & S.W. (2) Anagallis arvensis, L., Scarlet Pimpernel.—S.W. (3) Veronica officinalis, L., Common Speedwell.—S.W. (Barford.)

Bird's-nest. The seed-head of Daucus Carota, L., Wild Carrot.—N. & S.W.

'The flower of the wild carrot gathers together as the seeds mature, and forms a framework cup at the top of the stalk, like a bird's-nest. These "bird's-nests," brown and weather-beaten, endured far into the winter.'—Great Estate, ch. vii. p. 137.

'The whole tuft is drawn together when the seed is ripe, resembling a bird's nest.'—Gerarde.

Bird-seed. Seed-heads of Plantain.—N. & S.W.

Bird-squoilin. See Squail (S.).

Bird-starving. Bird-keeping.—N.W.

'This we call bird-keeping, but the lads themselves, with an appreciation of the other side of the case, call it "bird-starving."'—Village Miners.

Birds'-wedding-day. St. Valentine's Day.—S.W. (Bishopstone.)

Bishop-wort. Mentha aquatica, L., Hairy Mint.—S.W. (Hants bord.)

Bissom. See Besom.

Bittish. adj. Somewhat. ''Twer a bittish cowld isterday.'—N. & S.W.

Bittle. See Beetle.

[12]

Biver. To tremble, quiver, shiver as with a cold or fright (S.). Cp. A.S. bifian, to tremble.—N. & S.W.

'Bless m' zoul, if I dwon't think our maester's got the ager! How a hackers an bivers, to be zhure!'—Wilts Tales, p. 55.

Bivery. adj. Shivery, tremulous. When a baby is just on the verge of crying, its lip quivers and is 'bivery.'—N.W.

Blackberry-moucher. (1) A truant from school in the blackberry season (H.). See Berry-moucher, Mouch, &c.—N.W. (Huish, &c.)

'A blackberry moucher, an egregious truant.'—Dean Milles' MS., p. 180.

(2) Hence, the fruit of Rubus fruticosus, L., Blackberry. See Berry-moucher, Moochers, &c.—N.W. (Huish, &c.)

*Blackberry-token. Rubus caesius, L., Dewberry (English Plant Names).

Black-Bess. See Black-Bob.

Black-Bob. A cockroach (S.). Black-Bess on Berks border.—S.W.

Black-boys. (1) Flower-heads of Plantain.—N.W. (Huish.) (2) Typha latifolia, L., Great Reedmace.—N.W. (Lyneham.)

*Black Couch. A form of Agrostis that has small wiry blackish roots (D). Agrostis stolonifera.

Black Sally. Salix Caprea, L., Great Round-leaved Sallow, from its dark bark (Amateur Poacher, ch. iv). Clothes-pegs are made from its wood.—N.W.

*Black Woodpecker. Picus major, Great Spotted Woodpecker (Birds of Wilts, p. 253). Also known as the Gray Woodpecker.

Blades. The shafts of a waggon (S.).—S.W.

Blare, Blur. To shout or roar out loudly (S.).—N. & S.W.

Blatch. (1) adj. Black, sooty (A.B.).—N.W. (2) n. Smut, soot. 'Thuc pot be ael over blatch.'—N.W. (3) v. To blacken. 'Now dwon't 'ee gwo an' blatch your veäce wi' thuc thur dirty zoot.'—N.W.

Bleachy. Brackish.—S.W. (Som. bord.)

[13]

Bleat. Bleak, open, unsheltered. 'He's out in the bleat,' i.e. out in the open in bad weather. See K for examples of letter-change.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Bleeding Heart. Cheiranthus Cheiri, L., the red Wallflower (A.B.).—N.W.

Blind-hole. n. A rabbit hole which ends in undisturbed soil, as opposed to a Pop-hole, q.v. (Gamekeeper at Home, ch. vi. p. 120).—N.W.

Blind-house. A lock-up.

'1629. Item paied for makeing cleane the blind-house vijd.'—Records of Chippenham, p. 204.

Blind-man. Papaver Rhoeas, L., &c., the Red Poppy, which is locally supposed to cause blindness, if looked at too long.—S.W. (Hamptworth.)

*Blink. A spark, ray, or intermittent glimmer of light (A.B.). See Flunk.

*Blinking. This adjective is used, in a very contemptuous sense, by several Wilts agricultural writers.

'A short blinking heath is found on many parts [of the downs].'—Agric. of Wilts, ch. xii.

Compare:—

''Twas a little one-eyed blinking sort o' place.'—Tess of the D'Urbervilles, vol. i. p. 10.

*Blissey. A blaze (A.H.Wr.). A.S. blysige, a torch.

Blobbs, Water Blobs. Blossoms of Nuphar lutea, Sm., Yellow Water Lily (A.B.); probably from the swollen look of the buds. Cf. Blub up.

Blood-alley. A superior kind of alley or taw, veined with deep red, and much prized by boys (S.).—N. & S.W.

Bloody Warr The dark-blossomed Wallflower, Cheiranthus Cheiri, L. (A.B.S.).—N. & S.W.

Blooens. See Bluens.

Bloom. Of the sun; to shine scorchingly (B.); to throw out heat as a fire. 'How the sun do bloom out atween the clouds!'—N.W.

[14]

Blooming. Very sultry, as ''Tis a main blooming day.'—S.W. (Salisbury.)

Bloomy. Sultry. Bloomy-hot. Excessively sultry (A.B.).—S.W.

Blooth, Blowth. Bloom or blossom.—S.W.

Blossom. A snow-flake. 'What girt blossoms 'twer to the snow isterday!'—N. & S.W.

'Snow-flakes are called "blossoms." The word snow-flake is unknown.'—Village Miners.

Blow. Sheep and cattle 'blow' themselves, or get 'blowed,' from over-eating when turned out into very heavy grass or clover, the fermentation of which often kills them on the spot, their bodies becoming terribly inflated with wind. See the description of the 'blasted' flock, in Far from the Madding Crowd, ch. xxi.—N. & S.W.

Blowing. A blossom (A.B.H.Wr.). See Bluen.—N.W.

Blowth. See Blooth.

Blub up. To puff or swell up. A man out of health and puffy about the face is said to look 'ter'ble blubbed up.' Cf. Blobbs.—N.W. Compare:—

'My face was blown and blub'd with dropsy wan.'—Mirror for Magistrates.

Blue Bottle. Scilla nutans, Sm., Wild Hyacinth.—S.W.

Blue Buttons. (1) Scabiosa arvensis, L., Field Scabious.—S.W. (2) S. Columbaria, L., Small Scabious.—S.W.

Blue Cat. One who is suspected of being an incendiary. 'He has the name of a blue cat.' See Lewis's Cat.—S.W. (Salisbury.)

Blue Eyes. Veronica Chamaedrys, L., Germander Speedwell.—N.W.

Blue Goggles. Scilla nutans, Sm., Wild Hyacinth. Cf. Greygles or Greggles.—S.W.

Bluen or Blooens. pl. Blossoms (S.). Also used in Devon.—N. & S.W.

Blue-vinnied. Covered with blue mould. See Vinney. Commoner in Dorset as applied to cheese, &c.—N. & S.W.

[15]

Blunt. 'A cold blunt,' a spell of cold weather. See Snow-blunt. Compare Blunk, a fit of stormy weather, which is used in the East of England.—N.W.

Blur. See Blare. In Raleigh's account of the fight in Cadiz Bay, he says that as he passed through the cross-fire of the galleys and forts, he replied 'with a blur of the trumpet to each piece, disdaining to shoot.'

Board. To scold, to upbraid. 'Her boarded I just about.'—S.W. (occasionally.)

Boar Stag. A boar which, after having been employed for breeding purposes for a time, is castrated and set aside for fattening (D.). Cf. Bull Stag.—N.W.

Boat. Children cut apples and oranges into segments, which they sometimes call 'pigs' or 'boats.'

Bob. In a timber carriage, the hind pair of wheels with the long pole or lever attached thereto.—N.W. In Canada 'bob-sleds' are used for drawing logs out of the woods.

*Bobbant. Of a girl, romping, forward (A.B.H.Wr.).—N.W.

Bobbish. In good health (A.B.S.). 'Well, an' how be 'ee to-day?' 'Purty bobbish, thank 'ee.'—N. & S.W.

Bob-grass. Bromus mollis, L.—S.W.

*Bochant. The same as Bobbant (A.B.G.H.Wr.).

Bod. See Bad.

Boistins. The first milk given by a cow after calving (A.). See N.E.D. (s.v. Beestings).—N.W.

Bolt. In basket-making, a bundle of osiers 40 inches round. (Amateur Poacher, ch. iv. p. 69).

Boltin, Boulting. A sheaf of five or ten 'elms,' prepared beforehand for thatching. 'Elms' are usually made up on the spot, but are occasionally thus prepared at threshing-time, and tied up and laid aside till required, when they need only be damped, and are then ready for use. Cf. Bolt.—N.W.

Bombarrel Tit. Parus caudatus, the Long-tailed Titmouse (Great Estate, ch. ii. p. 26). Jefferies considers this a corruption of 'Nonpareil.'—N.W.

[16]

Book of Clothes. See Buck (Monthly Mag., 1814).

Boon Days. Certain days during winter on which farmers on the Savernake estate were formerly bound to haul timber for their landlord.

*Boreshore. A hurdle-stake (S.).—S.W.

'This is a kind of hurdle stake which can be used in soft ground without an iron pitching bar being required to bore the hole first for it. Hence it is called bore-shore by shepherds.'—Letter from Mr. Slow.

*Borky. (Baulky?) Slightly intoxicated.—S.W.

*Borsy. See *Bawsy.

Bossell. Chrysanthemum segetum, L., Corn Marigold (D.). Bozzell (Flowering Plants of Wilts).—N. & S.W.

Bossy, Bossy-calf. A young calf, whether male or female.—N.W.

Bottle. The wooden keg, holding a gallon or two, used for beer in harvest-time (Wild Life, ch. vii).—N. & S.W.

Bottle-tit. Parus caudatus, L., the Long-tailed Titmouse.—N.W.

Bottom. A valley or hollow in the downs.—N. & S.W.

Boulting. See Boltin.

Bounceful. Masterful, domineering. See Pounceful.—N.W.

Bourne. (1) n. A valley between the chalk hills; a river in such a valley; also river and valley jointly (D.).—N. & S.W.

'In South Wilts they say, such or such a bourn: meaning a valley by such a river.'—Aubrey's Nat. Hist. Wilts, p. 28. Ed. Brit.

(2) v. In gardening, when marking out a row of anything with pegs, you 'bourne' them, or glance along them to see that they are in line.—N.W.

Box or Hand-box. The lower handle of a sawyer's long pit-saw, the upper handle being the Tiller.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Boy's-love. Artemisia Abrotanum, L., Southernwood (A.B.).—N. & S.W.

Boys. The long-pistilled or 'pin-eyed' flowers of the Primrose, Primula vulgaris, Huds. See Girls.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

[17]

Bozzell. See Bossell.

*Bozzy. See *Bawsy.

Brack. n. A fracture, break, crack (S.). 'There's narra brack nor crack in 'un.'—N. & S.W.

Brain-stone. A kind of large round stone (Aubrey's Nat. Hist. Wilts, p. 9, ed. Brit., H.Wr.). Perhaps a lump of water-worn fossil coral, such as occasionally now bears this name among N. Wilts cottagers.

*Bramstickle. See Bannis (S.).

Brandy-bottles. Nuphar lutea, Sm., Yellow Water-lily.—S.W. (Mere, &c.)

Brave. adj. Hearty, in good health (A.B.).—N.W.

Bread-and-Cheese. (1) Linaria vulgaris, Mill., Yellow Toadflax.—N. & S.W. (2) Fruit of Malva sylvestris, L., Common Mallow (S.).—S.W. (3) Young leaves and shoots of Crataegus Oxyacantha, L., Hawthorn, eaten by children in spring (English Plant Names).—S.W. (Salisbury.)

Bread-board. The earth-board of a plough (D.). Broad-board in N. Wilts.

Break. To tear. 'She'll break her gownd agen thuc tharn.' You still break a bit of muslin, but to tear a trace or a plate now grows obsolete.—N.W. Similarly used in Hants, as

'I have a-torn my best decanter ... have a-broke my fine cambrick aporn.'—Cope's Hants Glossary.

Brevet, Brivet. (1) To meddle, interfere, pry into.—N.W.

'Who be you to interfere wi' a man an' he's vam'ly? Get awver groundsell, or I'll stop thy brevettin' for a while.'—Dark, ch. xix.

(2) To brevet about, to beat about, as a dog for game (A.).—N.W. Also Privet.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard; Castle Eaton, &c.)

'Brivet, a word often applied to children when they wander about aimlessly and turn over things.'—Leisure Hour, Aug. 1893.

*(3) To pilfer. 'If she'll brevet one thing, she'll brevet another.'—N.W. (Mildenhall.)

Bribe. To taunt, to bring things up against any one, to scold. 'What d'ye want to kip a-bribing I o' that vur?'—N.W.

[18]

Brit, Brittle out. (1) To rub grain out in the hand.—N.W. (2) To drop out of the husk, as over-ripe grain (D.).—N.W.

Brivet. See Brevet.

Brize. To press heavily on, or against, to crush down (S.). A loaded waggon 'brizes down' the road.—N. & S.W.

Broad-board. See Bread-board.

Broke-bellied. Ruptured.—N.W.

Brook-Sparrow. Salicaria phragmitis, the Sedge Warbler; from one of its commonest notes resembling that of a sparrow (Great Estate, ch. vii; Wild Life, ch. iii).—N.W.

'At intervals [in his song] he intersperses a chirp, exactly the same as that of the sparrow, a chirp with a tang in it. Strike a piece of metal, and besides the noise of the blow, there is a second note, or tang. The sparrow's chirp has such a note sometimes, and the sedge-bird brings it in—tang, tang, tang. This sound has given him his country name of brook-sparrow.'—Jefferies, A London Trout.

Brow. (1) adj. Brittle (A.B.C.H.Wr.); easily broken. Vrow at Clyffe Pypard. Also Frow.—N.W. *(2) n. A fragment (Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxii. p. 109).—N.W. (Cherhill.)

Brown. 'A brown day,' a gloomy day (H.Wr.).—N.W.

Bruckle. (Generally with off or away.) v. To crumble away, as some kinds of stone when exposed to the weather (Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxii. p. 109); to break off easily, as the dead leaves on a dry branch of fir. Compare brickle=brittle (Wisdom, xv. 13), A.S. brucol=apt to break.—N.W.

Bruckley. adj. Brittle, crumbly, friable, not coherent (S.).—N. & S.W.

Brush. 'The brush of a tree,' its branches or head.—N.W.

Brushes. Dipsacus sylvestris, L., Wild Teasel. See Clothes-brush.—N. & S.W.

Bubby-head. Cottus gobio, the Bullhead.—N. & S.W.

Buck. A 'buck,' or 'book,' of clothes, a large wash—N.W.

Bucking. A quantity of clothes to be washed (A.).—N.W.

[19]

*Buddle. To suffocate in mud. 'There! if he haven't a bin an' amwoast buddled hisel' in thuck there ditch!' Also used in Som.—N.W. (Malmesbury.)

Budgy. Out of temper, sulky. A softened form of buggy, self-important, churlish, from the Old English and provincial budge, grave, solemn, &c. See Folk-Etymology, p. 42 (Smythe-Palmer).—N.W. Cp. Milton,

'Those budge doctors of the stoic fur.'—Comus.

Bullpoll, Bullpull. Aira caespitosa, L., the rough tufts of tussocky grass which grow in damp places in the fields, and have to be cut up with a heavy hoe (Great Estate, ch. ii; Gamekeeper at Home, ch. viii).—N.W.

Bull Stag. A bull which, having been superannuated as regards breeding purposes, is castrated and put to work, being stronger than an ordinary bullock. Cf. Boar Stag.—N.W., now almost obsolete.

Bulrushes. Caltha palustris, L., Marsh Marigold; from some nursery legend that Moses was hidden among its large leaves.—S.W., rarely.

Bumble-berry. Fruit of Rosa canina, L., Dog-rose.—N.W.

Bunce. (1) n. A blow. 'Gie un a good bunce in the ribs.'—N.W. (2) v. To punch or strike.—N.W.

Bunch. Of beans, to plant in bunches instead of rows (D.).—N. & S.W.

Bunny. A brick arch, or wooden bridge, covered with earth, across a 'drawn' or 'carriage' in a water-meadow, just wide enough to allow a hay-waggon to pass over.—N.W.

Bunt. (1) v. To push with the head as a calf does its dam's udder (A.); to butt; to push or shove up.—(Bevis, ch. x.) N.W. (2) n. A push or shove.—N.W. (3) n. A short thick needle, as a 'tailor's bunt.' (4) n. Hence sometimes applied to a short thickset person, as a nickname.—S.W.

Bunty. adj. Short and stout.—N.W.

Bur. The sweetbread of a calf or lamb (A.).—N.W.

[20]

Bur', Burrow, or Burry. (1) A rabbit-burrow (A.B.).—N. & S.W. (2) Any place of shelter, as the leeward side of a hedge (A.C.). 'Why doesn't thee coom and zet doon here in the burrow?'—N. & S.W.

Burl. (1) 'To burl potatoes,' to rub off the grown-out shoots in spring.—N.W. (2) The original meaning was to finish off cloth or felt by removing knots, rough places, loose threads, and other irregularities of surface, and it is still so used in S. Wilts (S.).

Burn. 'To burn a pig,' to singe the hair off the dead carcase.—N. & S.W.

*Burn-bake (or -beak). (1) To reclaim new land by paring and burning the surface before cultivation (Agric. of Wilts, ch. xii). See Bake. (2) To improve old arable land by treating it in a similar way (Ibid. ch. xii). Burn-beke (Aubrey's Nat. Hist. Wilts, p. 103. Ed. Brit., where the practice is said to have been introduced into S. Wilts by Mr. Bishop of Merton, about 1639). (3) n. Land so reclaimed. See Bake.—S.W.

Burrow. See Bur'.

Burry. See Bur'.

'Buseful. Foul-mouthed, abusive.—N.W.

Bush. (1) n. A heavy hurdle or gate, with its bars interlaced with brushwood and thorns, which is drawn over pastures in spring, and acts like a light harrow (Amateur Poacher, ch. iv).—N.W. (2) v. To bush-harrow a pasture.—N.W.

Butchers' Guinea-pigs. Woodlice. See Guinea-pigs.—S.W.

Butter-and-Eggs. (1) Narcissus incomparabilis, Curt., Primrose Peerless.—N. & S.W. (2) Linaria vulgaris, Mill., Yellow Toadflax (Great Estate, ch. v).—N. & S.W.

Buttercup. At Huish applied only to Ranunculus Ficaria, L., Lesser Celandine, all other varieties of Crowfoot being 'Crazies' there.

Butter-teeth. The two upper incisors.—N.W.

Buttons. Very young mushrooms.—N. & S.W.

[21]

Buttry. A cottage pantry (A.B.).—N.W., now almost obsolete.

Butt-shut. (1) To join iron without welding, by pressing the heated ends squarely together, making an imperceptible join (Village Miners). See Shut. (2) Hence a glaringly inconsistent story or excuse is said 'not to butt-shut' (Village Miners).

Butty. A mate or companion in field-work (S.).—N. & S.W.

*By-the-Wind. Clematis Vitalba, L., Traveller's Joy.—S.W. (Farley.)

*Caa-vy (? Calfy). A simpleton (S.).—S.W.

Cack. See Keck.

*Cack-handed, *Cag-handed. Extremely awkward and unhandy: clumsy to the last degree (Village Miners). Other dialect words for 'awkward' are Dev., cat-handed, Yorks., gawk-handed, and Nhamp., keck-handed. Cf. Cam-handed.

Caddle. (1) n. Dispute, noise, row, contention (A.); seldom or never so used now.—N. & S.W.

'What a caddle th' bist a makin', Jonas!'—Wilts Tales, p. 82.

'If Willum come whoam and zees two [candles] a burnin', he'll make a vi-vi-vine caddle.'—Wilts Tales, p. 42.

(2) n. Confusion, disorder, trouble (A.B.C.S.).—N. & S.W.

'Lawk, zur, but I be main scrow to be ael in zich a caddle, alang o' they childern.'—Wilts Tales, p. 137.

(3) v. To tease, to annoy, to bother (A.B.C.). See Caddling. 'Now dwoan't 'e caddle I zo, or I'll tell thee vather o' thee!' 'I be main caddled up wi' ael they dishes to weish.'—N. & S.W.

''Tain't no use caddlin I—I can't tell 'ee no more.'—Greene Ferne Farm, ch. viii.

(4) v. To hurry. 'To caddle a horse,' to drive him over-fast.—N.W. (5) v. To loaf about, only doing odd jobs. 'He be allus a caddlin' about, and won't never do nothin' reg'lar.'—N. & S.W. (6) v. To mess about, to throw into disorder. 'I don't hold wi' they binders [the binding machines], they do caddle the wheat about so.'—N. & S.W.

[22]

Caddlesome. Of weather, stormy, uncertain. ''T 'ull be a main caddlesome time for the barley.'—S.W.

Caddling. (1) adj. Of weather, stormy, uncertain.—N. & S.W. (2) adj. Quarrelsome, wrangling (C.).—N. & S.W.

'His bill was zharp, his stomack lear, Zo up a snapped the caddlin pair.'—Wilts Tales, p. 97.

'A cadling fellow, a wrangler, a shifting, and sometimes an unmeaning character.'—Cunnington MS.

(3) adj. Meddlesome (S.), teasing (Monthly Mag., 1814); troublesome, worrying, impertinent (A.B.).—N. & S.W.

'Little Nancy was as naisy and as caddlin' as a wren, that a was'.—Wilts Tales, p. 177.

*(4) Chattering (Monthly Mag., 1814): probably a mistake.

Caffing rudder. See Caving rudder.

*Cag-handed. See Cack-handed.

Cag-mag. Bad or very inferior meat (S.).—N. & S.W.

Cains-and-Abels. Aquilegia vulgaris, L., Columbine.—S.W. (Farley.)

*Calf-white. See White.

Call. Cause, occasion. 'You've no call to be so 'buseful' [abusive].—N. & S.W.

Call home. To publish the banns of marriage (S.).—S.W.

'They tells I as 'ow Bet Stingymir is gwain to be caal'd whoam to Jim Spritely on Zundy.'—Slow.

*Callow-wablin. An unfledged bird (A.).—S.W.

Callus-stone. A sort of gritty earth, spread on a board for knife-sharpening (Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxii. p. 109).—N. & S.W. (Cherhill, &c.)

Calves'-trins. Calves' stomachs, used in cheese-making. A.S. trendel. See Trins. Halliwell and Wright give 'Calf-trundle, the small entrails of a calf.'—N.W.

*Cam. Perverse, cross. Welsh cam, crooked, wry.—N.W.

'A 's as cam and as obstinate as a mule.'—Wilts Tales, p. 138.

'They there wosbirds [of bees] zimd rayther cam and mischievul.'—Springtide, p. 47.

Cam-handed. Awkward.—N.W.

[23]

*Cammock. Ononis arvensis, L., Restharrow (D.).

Cammocky. Tainted, ill-flavoured, as cheese or milk when the cows have been feeding on cammock. See Gammotty (2).—S.W.

Canary-seed. Seed-heads of Plantain.—N. & S.W.

Candle. 'To strike a candle,' to slide, as school-boys do, on the heel, so as to leave a white mark along the ice.—S.W.

Cank. To overcome (H.Wr.): perhaps a perversion of conquer. The winner 'canks' his competitors in a race, and you 'cank' a child when you give it more than it can eat.—N.W.

Canker. Fungus, toadstool (A.B.).—N. & S.W.

Canker-berries. Wild Rose hips. Conker-berries (S.).—S.W. (Salisbury, &c.).

Canker-rose. The mossy gall on the Dog-rose, formed by Cynips rosae; often carried in the pocket as a charm against rheumatism (Great Estate, ch. iv).—N.W.

*Cappence. The swivel-joint of the old-fashioned flail, Capel in Devon.—N. & S.W.

Carpet. To blow up, to scold; perhaps from the scene of the fault-finding being the parlour, not the bare-floored kitchen. 'Measter carpeted I sheamvul s'marning.' 'I had my man John on the carpet just now and gave it him finely.'—N.W.

Carriage. A water-course, a meadow-drain (A. B. G. H. Wr.). In S. Wilts the carriages bring the water into and through the meadow, while the drawn takes it back to the river after its work is done.—N. & S.W.

Carrier, Water-carrier. A large water-course (Wild Life, ch. xx).—N. & S.W.

Carry along. To prove the death of, to bring to the grave. 'I be afeard whe'er that 'ere spittin' o' blood won't car'n along.'—N.W.

Cart. 'At cart,' carrying or hauling, as 'We be at wheat cart [coal-cart, dung-cart, &c.] to-day.—N.W.

Casalty. See Casulty.

Cass'n. Canst not (A.S.).—N. & S.W.

[24]

Cassocks. Couch-grass.—S.W. (Som. bord.).

Casulty. (1) adj. Of weather, unsettled, broken (Green Ferne Farm, ch. i). Casalty (Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxii. p. 109).—N. & S.W. (2) Of crops, uncertain, not to be depended on. Plums, for instance, are a 'casalty crop,' some years bearing nothing.—N.W.

*Cat-gut. The ribs of the Plantain leaf; so called by children when drawn out so as to look like fiddle-strings (Great Estate, ch. ii).

Cat-Kidney. A game somewhat resembling cricket, played with a wooden 'cat' instead of a ball.—N.W. (Brinkworth.)

Cat's-ice. White ice, ice from which the water has receded.—N. & S.W. (Steeple Ashton, &c.).

'They stood at the edge, cracking the cat's-ice, where the water had shrunk back from the wheel marks, and left the frozen water white and brittle.'—The Story of Dick, ch. xii. p. 153.

Cats'-love. Garden Valerian, on which cats like to roll.—S.W.

*Cats'-paws. Catkins of willow while still young and downy.—S.W. (Deverill.)

Cats'-tails. (1) Equisetum, Horse-tail (Great Estate, ch. ii).—N.W. (2) The catkin of the willow.—N.W. (Lyneham.) (3) The catkin of the hazel.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Catch. (1) Of water, to film over, to begin to freeze. Keach, Keatch, Kitch, or Ketch (A.B.C.H.Wr.).—N. & S.W.

'A bright clear moon is credited with causing the water to "catch"—that is, the slender, thread-like spicules form on the surface, and, joining together, finally cover it.'—Wild Life, ch. xx.

Also see Bevis, ch. xl. (2) To grow thick, as melted fat when setting again.—N. & S.W. *(3) 'To catch and rouse,' to collect water, &c.

'In the catch-meadows ... it is necessary to make the most of the water by catching and rousing it as often as possible.'—Agric. of Wilts, ch. xi.

*(4) n. The same as Catch-meadow (Ibid. ch. xii).

*Catch-land. The arable portion of a common field, divided into equal parts, whoever ploughed first having the right to first choice of his share (D.).—Obsolete.

[25]

*Catch-meadow, Catch-work meadow, or Catch. A meadow on the slope of a hill, irrigated by a stream or spring, which has been turned so as to fall from one level to another through the carriages (Agric. of Wilts, ch. xii).

Catching, Catchy. Of weather, unsettled, showery (Agric. of Wilts, ch. iii. p. 11).—N. & S.W.

Caterpillar. A cockchafer.—N.W.

Cattikeyns. Fruit of the ash.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Cave. (1) n. The chaff of wheat and oats (D.): in threshing, the broken bits of straw, &c. Cavin, Cavings, or Keavin in N. Wilts.—N. & S.W. (2) v. To separate the short broken straw from the grain.—N. & S.W.

Cavin, Cavings. See Cave (1).

*Caving-rake. The rake used for separating cavings and grain on the threshing-floor.

Caving (or Caffing) rudder, or rudderer. *(1) The winnowing fan and tackle (D.).—S.W. (2) A coarse sieve used by carters to get the straw out of the horses' chaff.—N. & S.W.

Cawk, Cawket. To squawk out, to make a noise like a hen when disturbed on her nest, &c. 'Ther's our John, s'naw [dost know?]—allus a messin' a'ter the wenchin, s'naw—cawin' an' cawkettin' like a young rook, s'naw,—'vore a can vly, s'naw,—boun' to coom down vlop he war!' Caa-kinn (S.).—N. & S.W. (Clyffe Pypard; Seagry, &c.)

*Centry. Anagallis tenella, L., Bog Pimpernel.—S.W. (Barford.)

Cham. To chew (A.B.C.S.). 'Now cham thee vittles up well.' An older form of Champ.—N. & S.W.

Champ. To scold in a savage snarling fashion. 'Now dwoan't 'ee gwo an' champ zo at I!' Used formerly at Clyffe Pypard.—N.W.

Chan-Chider. See Johnny Chider.—S.W.

Chap. (1) v. Of ground, to crack apart with heat.—N & S.W. (2) n. A crack in the soil, caused by heat.—N. & S.W.

[26]

Charm. (1) n. 'All in a charm,' all talking loud together. A.S. cyrm, clamour (A.H.S.), especially used of the singing of birds. See Kingsley's Prose Idylls, i. Also used of hounds in full cry.—N. & S.W.

'Thousands of starlings, the noise of whose calling to each other is indescribable—the country folk call it a "charm," meaning a noise made up of innumerable lesser sounds, each interfering with the other.'—Wild Life, ch. xii.

Cp, Milton,

'Charm of earliest birds.'—P. L., ii. 642.

(2) v. To make a loud confused noise, as a number of birds, &c., together.—N. & S.W. (3) v. 'To charm bees,' to follow a swarm of bees, beating a tea-tray, &c.—N.W. (Marlborough).

Chatter-mag, Chatter-pie. A chattering woman.—N. & S.W.

Chawm, Chawn. A crack in the ground (A.).—N.W.

Cheese-flower. Malva sylvestris, L., Common Mallow.—S.W.

Cheeses. Fruit of Malva sylvestris, L., Common Mallow.—N. & S.W.

*Chemise. Convolvulus sepium, L., Great Bindweed.—S.W. (Little Langford.) This name was given us as Chemise, but would probably be pronounced as Shimmy.

Cherky. Having a peculiar dry taste, as beans (Village Miners).—N. & S.W.

Cherry-pie. Valeriana officinalis, L., All-heal, from its smell.—S.W.

Cheure. See Choor.

Chevil (or Chevril) Goldfinch. A large variety of goldfinch, with a white throat. See Birds of Wilts, p. 203, for a full description of the bird.—N. & S.W.

Chewree. See Choor.

Chib. 'Potato-chibs,' the grown-out shoots in spring. See Chimp.—S.W.

Chiddlens, Chiddlins. Pigs' chitterlings (H.S.Wr.).—N. & S.W.

[27]

Children of Israel. *(1) A small garden variety of Campanula, from the profusion of its blossoms (English Plant Names). (2) Malcolmia maritima, Br., Virginian Stock, occasionally.

Chilver, Chilver-lamb. A ewe lamb (A.).—N.W.

Chilver-hog. A ewe under two years old (D.). The word hog is now applied to any animal of a year old, such as a hog bull, a chilver hog sheep. 'Chilver' is a good Anglo-Saxon word, 'cilfer,' and is related to the word 'calf.' A chilver hog sheep simply means in the dialect of the Vale of Warminster, a female lamb a year old. See Wilts Arch. Mag. xvii. 303.—N. & S.W.

Chimney-sweeps. Flowering-heads of some grasses.—N.W. (Lyneham.)

Chimney-sweepers. Luzula campestris, Willd., Field Wood-rush.—N.W.

Chimp. (1) n. The grown-out shoot of a stored potato (S.); also Chib.—S.W. (2) v. To strip off the 'chimps' before planting.—S.W.

Chink. Fringilla coelebs, the Chaffinch; from its note.—S.W.

Chinstey. n. The string of a baby's cap.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.) A horse's chin-strap.—S.W. Compare:—

'Oh! Mo-ather! Her hath chuck'd me wi' tha chingstey [caught me by the back-hair and choked me with the cap-string].'—The Exmoor Scolding, p. 17.

Chip. The fore-shoot of a plough.—S.W.

Chipples. Young onions grown from seed. Cf. Gibbles and Cribbles.—S.W.

Chisley. adj. Without coherence, as the yolk of an over-boiled egg, or a very dry cheese. When land gets wet and then dries too fast, it becomes chisley. Compare:—'Chizzly, hard, harsh and dry: East,' in Hal.—S.W.

Chism. To germinate, to bud (A.B.C.). 'The wheat doesn't make much show yet, John.' 'No, zur, but if you looks 'tes aal chisming out ter'ble vast.'—N. & S.W.

Chit. (1) n. The third swarm of bees from a hive.—N.W. (2) v. To bud or spring (A.B.C.). 'The whate be chitting a'ter thease rains.'—N.W.

[28]

Chitchat. Pyrus Aucuparia, Gærtn., Mountain Ash.—S.W.

Chitterlings. Pigs' entrails when cleaned and boiled (A.B.); Chiddlens (H.S.Wr.).—N. & S.W.

Chivy. Fringilla coelebs, the Chaffinch.—S.W. (Som. bord.).

Choor. (1) v. To go out as a charwoman (A.); Cheure, Chewree-ring (H.Wr.); Char (A.S.). Still in use.—N.W. (2) n. A turn, as in phrase 'One good choor deserves another' (A.). Still in use.—N.W.

Chop. To exchange (A.B.S.). 'Wool ye chop wi' I, this thing for thuck?' (B.).—N. & S.W.

*Chore. A narrow passage between houses (MS. Lansd. 1033, f. 2); see N.E.D. (s.v. Chare).

Christian Names. The manner in which a few of these are pronounced may here be noted:—Allburt, Albert; Allfurd, Alfred; Charl or Chas, Charles; Etherd, Edward; Rich't or Richet, Richard; Robbut, Robert; &c.

Chuffey. Chubby. 'What chuffey cheeks he've a got, to be showr!'—S.W.

Chump. A block of wood (A.B.); chiefly applied to the short lengths into which crooked branches and logs are sawn for firewood (Under the Acorns).—N. & S.W.

Ciderkin, 'Kin. The washings after the best cider is made.—N. & S.W.

Clacker. The tongue (S.).—S.W.

Clackers. A pair of pattens (S.).—S.W.

Clangy, Clengy, or Clungy. Of bad bread, or heavy ground, clingy, sticky.—N.W.

Claps. n. and v. clasp (A.).—N. & S.W.

Clat. See Clot.

Clattersome, Cluttersome. Of weather, gusty.—S.W. (Hants bord.)

Claut. Caltha palustris, L., Marsh Marigold (A.H.Wr.).—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard, &c.)

[29]

Clavy, Clavy-tack. A mantelpiece (A.B.C.).—N.W., now almost obsolete. Strictly speaking, clavy is merely the beam which stretches across an old-fashioned fireplace, supporting the wall. Where there is a mantelpiece, or clavy-tack, it comes just above the clavy.

Clean. 'A clean rabbit,' one that has been caught in the nets, and is uninjured by shot or ferret, as opposed to a 'broken,' or damaged one. (Amateur Poacher, ch. xi. p. 212).—N. & S.W.

Cleat, Cleet. (1) The little wedge which secures the head of an axe or hammer.—N.W. *(2) n. A patch (A.B.C.).—N.W. *(3) v. To mend with a patch (A.B.C.)—N.W. *(4) Occasionally, to strengthen by bracing (C.).—N.W.

Cleaty. Sticky, clammy; applied to imperfectly fermented bread, or earth that will not work well in ploughing.—N.W.

Cleet. See Cleat.

Clengy. See Clangy.

Clim. To climb (A.S.). A cat over-fond of investigating the contents of the larder shelves is a 'clim-tack,' or climb-shelf.—N. & S.W.

Clinches. The muscles of the leg, just under the knee-joint.—N. & S.W.

Clinkerbell. An icicle.—S.W. (Som. bord.) occasionally.

Clitch. The groin.—N.W.

Clite, Clit. (1) n. 'All in a clite,' tangled, as a child's hair. A badly groomed horse is said to be 'aal a clit.'—N. & S.W. (2) v. To tangle. 'How your hair do get clited!'—N. & S.W.

Clites, Clytes. Galium Aparine, L., Goosegrass (A.). Usually pl., but Jefferies has sing., Clite, in Wild Life, ch. ix.—N. & S.W.

Clitty. Tangled, matted together.—S.W.

Clock. A dandelion seed-head, because children play at telling the time of day by the number of puffs it takes to blow away all its down.—N. & S.W.

Cloddy. Thick, plump, stout (H.Wr.).—S.W.

[30]

Clog-weed. Heracleum Sphondylium, L., Cow-parsnip (Amateur Poacher, ch. vi).—N.W.

Clot. A hard lump of dry cow-dung, left on the surface of a pasture. See Cow-clat.—N.W.

'On pasture farms they beat clots or pick up stones.'—R. Jefferies, Letter to Times, Nov. 1872.

'1661. Itm p^d Richard Sheppard & Old Taverner for beating clatts in Inglands, 00. 04. 08.'—Records of Chippenham, p. 226.

*Clote. n. Verbascum Thapsus, L., Great Mullein (Aubrey's Wilts MS.).—Obsolete.

Clothes-brush. Dipsacus sylvestris, L., Wild Teasel. Cf. Brushes.—S.W.

Clottiness. See Cleaty. Clottishness (Agric. Survey).

'The peculiar churlishness (provincially, "clottiness") of a great part of the lands of this district, arising perhaps from the cold nature of the sub-soil.'—Agric. of Wilts, ch. vii. p. 51.

Clout. (1) n. A box on the ear, a blow (A.B.C.S.). See Clue. 'I'll gie thee a clout o' th' yead.'—N. & S.W. (2) v. To strike.—N. & S.W.

Clue. 'A clue in the head,' a knock on the head (Village Miners). A box on the ear. Cf. clow, Winchester College. See Clout.—N.W.

Clum. To handle clumsily (A.B.), roughly, boisterously, or indecently (C.).—N.W.

Clumbersome. Awkward, clumsy.—N.W.

Clumper, Clumber. A heavy clod of earth.—N.W. (Marlborough.)

Clums. pl. Hands. 'I'll keep out o' thee clums, I'll warnd I will!'—N.W. Clumps is used in S. Wilts in a similar way, but generally of the feet (S.), and always implies great awkwardness, as 'What be a treadin' on my gownd vor wi' they girt ugly clumps o' yourn?'

Clungy. See Clangy.

*Cluster-of-five. The fist. Cluster-a-vive (S.).—S.W.

Clutter. n. Disorder, mess, confusion. 'The house be ael in a clutter to-day wi' they childern's lease-carn.'—N. & S.W.

[31]

Cluttered. (1) 'Caddled,' over-burdened with work and worry.—N. & S.W.

'"Cluttered up" means in a litter, surrounded with too many things to do at once.'—Jefferies, Field and Hedgerow, p. 189.

*(2) Brow-beaten. Said to have been used at Warminster formerly.

Cluttersome. See Clattersome.

Cluttery. Showery and gusty.—S.W.

*Clyders. Galium Aparine, L., Goosegrass.—S.W.

*Clyten. *(1) n. An unhealthy appearance, particularly in children (A.B.C.).—N.W., obsolete. *(2) n. An unhealthy child (C.).—N.W., obsolete.

*Clytenish. adj. Unhealthy-looking, pale, sickly (A.B.C.H.Wr.).—N.W., obsolete.

Clytes. See Clites.

*Coath. Sheep-rot (D.S.).—N. & S.W.

Cobbler's-knock. 'To do the cobbler's knock,' to slide on one foot, tapping the ice meanwhile with the other.—S.W.

*Cob-nut. A game played by children with nuts (A.B.).—S.W.

Cockagee, Cockygee (g hard). A kind of small hard sour cider apple. Ir. cac a' gheidh, goose-dung, from its greenish-yellow colour (see N.E.D., s.v. Coccagee).—S.W. (Deverill, &c.)

Cocking-fork. A large hay-fork, used for carrying hay from the cock into the summer-rick.—S.W.

*Cocking-poles. Poles used for the same purpose.—N.W.

Cockles. Seed-heads of Arctium Lappa, L., Burdock.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard).

Cock's Egg. The small eggs sometimes first laid by pullets.—N. & S.W.

Cock-shot. A cock-shy: used by boys about Marlborough and elsewhere. 'I say, there's a skug [squirrel]—let's have a cock-shot at him with your squailer.'—N. & S.W.

*Cock's-neckling. 'To come down cock's-neckling,' to fall head foremost (H.Wr.).—Obsolete.

[32]

Cock's-nests. The nests so often built and then deserted by the wren, without any apparent cause.—N.W.

*Cock-sqwoilin. Throwing at cocks at Shrovetide (A.Wr.). See Squail.—N.W., obsolete.

'1755. Paid expenses at the Angel at a meeting when the By Law was made to prevent Throwing at Cocks, 0.10.6.'—Records of Chippenham, p. 244.

Cocky-warny. The game of leap-frog.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

*Cod-apple. A wild apple (Wilts Arch. Mag. xiv. 177).

Codlins-and-cream. Epilobium hirsutum, L., Great Hairy Willow-herb; from its smell when crushed in the hand. Cf. Sugar-Codlins.—S.W.

*Coglers. The hooks, with cogged rack-work for lifting or lowering, by which pots and kettles were formerly hung over open fireplaces. Now superseded by Hanglers.—N.W., obsolete.

Colley. (1) A collar.—N. & S.W. *(2) Soot or grime from a pot or kettle (A.B.). Compare:—

'Brief as the lightning in the collied night.'—Midsummer Night's Dream.

'Thou hast not collied thy face enough.'—Jonson's Poetaster.

Colley-maker. A saddler. See Colley (1).—N. & S.W.

Colley-strawker. A milker or 'cow-stroker.'—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Colt's-tail. A kind of cloud said to portend rain.—N.W.

'The colt's tail is a cloud with a bushy appearance like a ragged fringe, and portends rain.'—Great Estate, ch. viii.

*Comb, Coom. (1) n. The lower ledge of a window (Kennett's Paroch. Antiq.). (2) n. Grease from an axle-box, soot, dirt, &c. Koomb (S.).—S.W.

Comb-and-Brush. Dipsacus sylvestris, L., Wild Teasel.—S.W.

Combe, Coombe. (1) The wooded side of a hill (D.); used occasionally in this sense in both Wilts and Dorset.—N. & S.W. (2) A narrow valley or hollow in a hillside. This is the proper meaning.—N. & S.W. Used of a narrow valley in the woodlands in Gamekeeper at Home, ch. i.

[33]

Come of. To get the better of, to grow out of. 'How weak that child is about the knees, Sally!' 'Oh, he'll come o' that all right, Miss, as he do grow bigger.'—N. & S.W.

Come to land. Of intermittent springs, to rise to the surface and begin to flow (Agric. of Wilts, ch. xii).—S.W.

Comical. (1) Queer-tempered. 'Her's a comical 'ooman.'—N. & S.W. (2) Out of health. 'I've bin uncommon comical to-year.'—N. & S.W. (3) Cracky, queer. 'He's sort o' comical in his head, bless 'ee.'—N. & S.W. 'A cow he's a comical thing to feed; bin he don't take care he's very like to choke hisself.'—N.W. (Marlborough.) It should be noted that Marlborough folk are traditionally reputed to call everything he but a bull, and that they always call she!

Coney-burry. A rabbit's hole.—S.W. (Amesbury.)

Coniger, Conigre. This old word, originally meaning a rabbit-warren, occurs frequently in Wilts (as at Trowbridge) as the name of a meadow, piece of ground, street, &c. See Great Estate, note to ch. ix.

Conker-berries. See Canker-berries.

Conks, Conkers (i.e. conquerors). (1) A boy's game, played with horse-chestnuts strung on cord, the players taking it in turn to strike at their opponent's conk, in order to crack and disable it.—N.W. (Marlborough.) (2) Hence, the fruit of Aesculus Hippocastanum, L., Horse-chestnut.—N.W.

Coob. A hen-coop (H.): invariably so pronounced.—N. & S.W.

Cooby. A snug corner. See Cubby-hole.—N. & S.W.

Coom. See Comb.

*Coombe-bottom. A valley in a hillside (Great Estate, ch. iv). See Combe.

Coom hedder. (A.S.). See Horses.

Coop! Coop! The usual call to cows, &c., to come in.—N. & S.W.

Coopy-house. A very small house or cottage (S.). See Cubby-hole.—S.W.

[34]

*Cooted. Cut slanting, sloped off, as the ends of the upper part of an oblong hay-rick (D.).

'Hayricks are usually made round; sometimes oblong with cooted ends, not gable ends.'—Agric. of Wilts.

Cord. 'A cord of plocks,' a pile of cleft wood, 8 ft. long and 4 ft. in girth and width (D.).—N.W.

Corn-baulk. See Baulk (1).

Corndrake. Crex pratensis, the Landrail; almost invariably so called about Warminster and in some parts of N. Wilts.—N. & S.W.

*Corn-grate. The Cornbrash formation (Agric. of Wilts, p. 164).

*Corn Grit. Quarrymen's term for one of the building stone beds of the Portland series (Britton's Beauties of Wilts, vol. iii).

*Corn Pop. Silene inflata, Sm., Bladder Campion.—N.W. (Enford.)

Corruptions. Some of these are curious, and perhaps worth recording, as Rainball, rainbow (always used at Huish); Lattiprack, paralytic; Nuffin-idols, Love-in-idleness; Polly Andrews, Polyanthus. Also see Nolens-volens. Bronchitis is always Brantitus, and Jaundice always The Janders, plural. Persuade is always Suade. The crab-apple is usually Grab in N. Wilts. At Etchilhampton we find Plump for pump, and Moth for moss, while at Huish and elsewhere proud flesh is always Ploughed flesh. Pasmet, parsnip, and the universal Turmut, turnip, may be noted as illustrating a curious letter-change. Varley-grassey, gone green, is evidently from verdigris. In Great Estate, ch. iv, Jefferies traces Meejick ('a sort of a Meejick'=anything very strange or unusual) back to menagerie. Cavalry becomes Cavaltry, meaning horsemen, and crockery is usually Crockerty. Other more or less common perversions of words are Patty Carey, Hepatica; Chiny Oysters, China Aster; Turkemtime, turpentine; Absence, abscess (Cherhill); Abrupt, to approve (Huish); Tiddle, to tickle; Cribble, a cripple; Strive (of a tree), to thrive (Steeple Ashton); Hurly-gurly, a hurdy-gurdy (S.W.); Midger, to measure; Cherm, to churn (Slow, S.W.); Rumsey-voosey, to rendezvous, as 'He went a rumsy-voosing down the lane to meet his sweetheart'; Dapcheek, a dabchick; Drilly-drally, to hesitate, to dawdle over anything; Kiddle, a kettle.

[35]

Couch, Cooch. Couch-grass in general.—N. & S.W. Black Couch, Agrostis stolonifera (D.); White Couch, Triticum repens (D.); Couchy-bent, Agrostis stolonifera (D.); Knot Couch, Avena elatior.

Couchy-bent. See Couch.

Count. To expect or think. 'I don't count as he'll come.'—N.W.

*Coventree. Viburnum Lantana, L., Mealy Guelder rose.—S.W., obsolete.

'Coven-tree common about Chalke and Cranbourn Chase; the carters doe make their whippes of it.'—Aubrey's Wilts, p. 56, Ed. Brit.

*Coward. adj. Pure: used of unskimmed milk. Cf. 'cowed milk,' Isle of Wight (Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxii. p. 110).—N.W. (Cherhill.)

*Cow-baby. A childish fellow, a simpleton (S.).—S.W.

Cow-clap. A form of Cow-clat, q.v.—N.W.

Cow-clat, Cow-clap. A pat of cow-dung (A.).—N.W.

*Cow-down. A cow-common (Agric. Survey).—Obsolete.

Cows-and-Calves. (1) Arum maculatum, L., Cuckoo-pint.—S.W. (2) When a saw has alternately long and short teeth, they are known as cows and calves respectively.—N.W.

Cowshard. Cow-clat.—N.W.

*Cowshorne. Cow-clats. Obsolete.

'The poore people gather the cowshorne in the meadows.'—Jackson's Aubrey, p. 192.

*Cow-white. See White.

*Crab. To abuse (Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxii. p. 110). Compare North Eng. crab, to provoke, and crob, to reproach. Originally a hawking term, hawks being said to crab when they stood too near and fought one with another. See Folk-Etymology, p. 81 (Smythe-Palmer).—N.W. (Cherhill.)

[36]

*Crandum. The throat (S.).—N.W.

'I first heard this word near Hungerford, where some farm hands were having a spree. There was a six-gallon jar of beer on the table, which they were continually smacking with their hands, whilst they sang in chorus:—

"Let it run down yer crandum,
An' jolly will we be," &c.

I have only heard it applied to the human throat, never to that of an animal.'—Letter from Mr. Slow.

*Crap. Assurance (H.Wr.). There is probably some mistake here.

Craw. The crop of a bird; hence, the bosom (A.). 'A spelt th' drenk down 's craw,' he spilt it down his bosom (A.).—N.W.

Crazy, Craisey, Craizey. The Buttercup (A.B.H.Wr.). Buttercups in general, Ranunculus acris, R. bulbosus, R. repens, and often R. Ficaria also, but at Huish never applied to the last-named. In Deverill the term Craizies is restricted to the Marsh Marigold. See N.E.D. (s.v. Crayse).—N. & S.W.

Crazy Bets. (1) The general name all over Wilts for Caltha palustris, L., Marsh Marigold; apparently always pl. in form. Crazy Betties (Great Estate, ch. ii) and Crazy Betseys are occasionally used, the latter at Little Langford, S.W. Cf. 'Pretty Bets,' Oxf. and Nhamp., for Red Spur Valerian and London Pride, and 'Sweet Betsey,' Kent, for the former. In Glouc. Marsh Marigold is merely a Crazy.—N. & S.W. *(2) Mr. Slow says that 'Crazy bets' is applied to the 'buttercup' in South Wilts. *(3) Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, L., the Ox-eye Daisy.—S.W. (Hampworth.)

Crazy-more, Crazy-mar, or Crazy-moir. (1) Ranunculus repens, L., Creeping Buttercup. More=root or plant.—N.W. (Devizes; Huish.) (2) At Clyffe Pypard, N.W., and probably elsewhere, Crazy-mar means a plant of any kind of buttercup.

Crease. A ridge-tile.—N.W.

'From the top of Aland's house ... a slate ridge-crest (or crease, as it is provincially termed) ... was carried northwards about 40 yards.'—The Great Wiltshire Storm, Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. vi. p. 378.

[37]

Creed. Lemna minor, L., Duckweed (Great Estate, ch. ii).—N.W.

*Creeny. Small (A.B.H.Wr.).

*Creeping Jack. Sedum, Stonecrop.—N.W. (Lyneham.)

Creeping Jenny. (1) Linaria Cymbalaria, Mill., Ivy-leaved Toadflax.—S.W. (Salisbury.) (2) Lysimachia Nummularia, L., Moneywort.—N. & S.W.

*Cresset, Cressil. Scrophularia aquatica, L., Water Figwort (Great Estate, ch. iv).

Crew. The tang of a scythe-blade, fastening into the pole-ring.—N.W.

Cribble about. To creep about as old people do.—N. & S.W.

Cribbles. Onions grown from bulbs. See Gibbles and Chipples.—S.W. (Som. bord.)

Crick crack. People who try to talk fine language, and cannot, are said to use 'crick crack' words. Crick crach: words not understood (S.).—N. & S.W.

'Crink-crank words are long words—verba sesquipedalia—not properly understood. See Proceedings of Phil. Soc. v. 143-8.'—Cope's Hants Gloss.

Crink. A crevice or crack.—N.W.

*Crippender. Crupper harness.—S.W. (Bratton.)

Critch. A deep earthen pan (S.). Also used in Hants. Fr. cruche.—S.W.

Crock. A pot; especially an earthen one (A.B.S.).—N. & S.W.

Croud. See Crowdy.

Croupy down. To crouch down (S.) as children do when playing hide-and-seek.—N. & S.W.

Crow-bells (pl. used as sing.). Scilla nutans, Sm., Wild Hyacinth (H.Wr.).—S.W. This is probably the flower referred to in Aubrey's Wilts, Roy. Soc. MS., p. 126 (p. 52, ed. Brit.), under the same name:—

'In a ground of mine called Swices ... growes abundantly a plant called by the people hereabout crow-bells, which I never saw any where but there. Mr. Rob. Good, M.A., tells me that these crow-bells have blue flowers, and are common to many shady places in this county.'

[38]

Crowdy. A kind of apple turnover (S.). Croud (H.Wr.).—N. & S.W.

Crow-flower. Scilla nutans, Sm., Wild Hyacinth.—S.W. (Hants bord.)

Crow-hearted. Young cabbage and broccoli plants that have lost their eye or centre are said to be 'crow-hearted.'—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Crowpeck. (1) Scandix Pecten, L., Shepherd's-needle (D.).—S.W. (2) Ranunculus arvensis, L., Corn Crowfoot.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

*Crow's-legs. Scilla nutans, Sm., Wild Hyacinth.—N.W.

Crump. To crunch or munch.—N.W.

Crumplings, Crumplens. Small, imperfectly grown apples.—N. & S.W.

Cubby-hole. A snug corner, a sheltered place (A.S.). Also Cooby; cf. Coopy-house.—N. & S.W.

Cuckoo. About Salisbury Saxifraga granulata is known as Dry (or Dryland) Cuckoo, and Cardamine pratensis as Water Cuckoo, from their respective habitats. The use of Cuckoo in a plant-name always implies that it flowers in early spring.

Cuckoo-flower. (1) Cardamine pratensis, L., Lady's Smock.—N. & S.W. (2) Anemone nemorosa, L., Wood Anemone.—S.W.

Cuckoo fool. Yunx torquilla, the Wryneck.—N.W. (Broadtown.)

Cuckoo-gate. A swing-gate in a V-shaped enclosure.—N. & S.W.

Cuckoos. Anemone nemorosa, L., Wood Anemone.—S.W. (Hamptworth.)

*Cuckoo's bread-and-cheese. The young shoots of the Hawthorn (Great Estate, ch. iii).—N.W.

Cuddickwaay! Order to a horse to 'Come this way.'

Cue (1), n. An ox-shoe (A.). Only used on flinty lands.—N. & S.W. (2) v. To shoe an ox.—N. & S.W.

Cull, or Tom Cull. Cottus gobio, the Bullhead (A.B.).

[39]

Culls. Sheep or lambs picked out of the flock, as inferior in size or in any other way, and sold. Fairs at which they are sold are called 'Cull Fairs.'—N.W.

Curdle. A curl of hair (S.).—N. & S.W.

Curly-buttons. Woodlice.—S.W.

Curly-cob. The Bullhead, Cottus gobio—S.W. (Bishopstone.)

Curry-pig. A sucking pig (H.Wr.). Also Cure-pig.

Cushion-pink. Armeria maritima, Willd., Thrift; the garden variety.—N.W.

*Cushions. Scabiosa arvensis, L., Field Scabious.—N. & S.W. (Enford, &c.)

*Cusnation. An expletive (A.).

'Ha' done, Jonas! Dwon't 'e be a cussnation vool! I'll call missus!'—Wilts Tales, p. 83.

Cut-finger-leaf. Valeriana, All-heal. The leaves are good for application to sluggish sores, whitlows, &c. Mr. Cunnington quotes it as V. dioica.—N.W. (Huish, &c.)

Cutty. Troglodytes vulgaris, the Wren (S.).—S.W.

D. (1) In comparatives, &c., d is frequently added to liquids, as coolder, cooler; thinder, thinner; feeldins, feelings; and scholard, scholar. In Chronicon Vilodunense, fifteenth century, we find jaylarde, a gaoler. (2) It is also used for th, as draish, thresh; droo, through; dree, three. (3) D not sounded after a liquid; examples:—veel, field; vine, to find; dreshol, threshold.

Daak. See Dawk.

Dab. An expert at anything; sometimes used ironically, as 'He's a perfect dab at gardening,' he knows nothing whatever about it.—N. & S.W.

Dabster. A proficient (A.). See Dapster.—S.W.

Dack. See Dawk.

Daddick, Daddock. n. Rotten wood (A.B.G.).—N.W.

Daddicky. adj. Of wood, decayed, rotten (A.B.S.). Cf. Dicky.—N. & S.W.

[40]

*Daddy's Whiskers. Clematis Vitalba, L., Traveller's Joy.—S.W. (Farley.)

Daffy. The usual name in N.W. for the wild Daffodil.

Daggled. See Diggled.

Daglet. An icicle (A.H.S.Wr.). See Daggled.—N. & S.W.

'Thatched roofs are always hung with "daglets" in frost.'—Village Miners.

Dain. Noisome effluvia (A.B.C.H.Wr.). Formerly applied mainly to infectious effluvia, as 'Now dwoan't 'ee gwo too nigh thuck there chap; he've a had the small-pox, and the dain be in his clothes still.' (See Cunnington MS.). Now used of very bad smells in general.—N.W.

Dainty. Evil-smelling. 'That there meat's ter'ble dainty.'—N.W.

Dall. An expletive (S.).—N.W.

''Od dal th' vor'n ungrateful varment!'—Wilts Tales, p. 50.

Dandy-goshen. See Dandy-goslings.

Dandy-goslings. (1) Orchis mascula, L., Early Purple Orchis. See Gandigoslings, &c.—N.W. (2) O. Morio, L., Green-winged Meadow Orchis. Dandy-goshen at Salisbury (English Plant Names), also at Little Langford.—S.W.

*Dane, Daner. In Kingston Deverill there was an old man who called red-haired men 'Danes,' or 'Daners,' as 'Thee bist a Dane.' This being in the centre of the Alfred district, the term may be a survival. In Somerset red-haired men are often said to be 'a bit touched with the Danes.'

*Dane's Blood. Sambucus Ebulus, L., Dwarf Elder (Aubrey's Nat. Hist. Wilts, p. 50, ed. Brit.). It is popularly believed only to grow on the ancient battle-fields, and to have sprung originally from the blood of the slain Danes.

Dap. (1) v. To rebound, as a ball.—N. & S.W. (2) n. The rebound of a ball.—N. & S.W.

Dap on. To pounce down on, to take unawares.—N. & S.W.

[41]

Daps. (1) 'He's the daps on his feyther,' the very image of him (S.).—S.W. (2) 'He got the daps o' he's feyther,' he has the same tricks as his father.—N.W.

'Dap, a hop, a turn. The daps of any one would therefore be his habits, peculiarities, &c.'—Jennings, Somerset Gloss.

Dapster. *(1) A nimble boy.—S.W. (Deverill). (2) A proficient (S.). See Dab.—S.W.

*Dar. n. 'To be struck in a dar, to be astonished or confounded.'—Cunnington MS. Apparently from O.E. dare, to frighten birds.—N.W., obsolete.

'Never hobby so dared a lark.'—Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy.

*Daver. To fade, fall down, droop, as flowers or leaves on a hot day.—N.W. (Malmesbury.)

Dawk, Dack, Daak, Dauk. To incise with a jerk, or insert a pointed weapon with rapidity (H.Wr.). To stab and tear together as a cat's claw does. To puncture.—N.W.

'Should a savage cat tear out a piece of flesh from the hand, she is said to "dawk" it out. Dawk expresses a ferocious stab and tear combined.'—Village Miners.

Also used of a baker marking loaves:—

This seems to be identical with A.S. dalc, dolc, Dutch and Danish dolk, Icel. dálkr, Germ. dolch, all meaning a sharp piercing instrument, a skewer, a dagger, &c. (Smythe-Palmer).

Dead hedge. A wattled fence (Agric. of Wilts, ch. x).—N.W.

Dead pen. A sheep pen is occasionally so called in S. Wilts.

Dead-roof. A skilling roof made of bavins and thatched over.—N.W.

Dead year. Often used with possessive pronoun, as 'his dead year,' the year immediately following his death (Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxii. p. 111). A widow should not marry again 'afore the dead year's up.'—N.W.

Deaf-nettle. Lamium album, L., the Dead nettle. Cf. Dunch-nettle.—S.W.

Deaf-nut. A rotten or empty nut. Deaf=useless, inactive.—S.W.

[42]

Deedy. (1) Industrious, busy, as 'He's a deedy man.'—N.W. (2) Intent, as 'What bist looking so deedy at?'—N.W.

*Dee-gee. Mr. William Cunnington writes us as follows:—

'"Twas a Dee-gee" was the name of a kind of dance, which our old nurse taught us as children, mostly performed by moving sideways and knocking the feet together.'

This would seem to be a survival of the Elizabethan heydeguies. See Spenser, Shepherd's Calendar, June.—N.W., obsolete.

*Densher. To prepare down-land for cultivation by paring and burning the turf (Aubrey's Wilts Nat. Hist., p. 103, ed. Brit.). See Bake and Burn-bake.

Desight, Dissight. An unsightly object (H.Wr.).—N.W.

Devil-daisy. Matricaria Parthenium, L., Common Feverfew, and Anthemis Cotula, L., Stinking Camomile, from their daisy-like flowers and unpleasant odour.—S.W.

Devil-in-a-hedge. Nigella damascena, Love in a mist.—N.W.

Devil-screecher. Cypselus apus, the Common Swift.—N. & S.W.

Devil's-ring. A kind of hairy caterpillar which curls up on being touched (Wild Life, ch. xvii).—N.W.

'Devyls-gold-rynge, the colewort worme.'—Huloet.

'Oak-egger and fox moths, which children call "Devil's Gold Rings."'—Kingsley, Chalk-stream Studies.

Dew-beater. A man who has large feet, or who turns out his toes, so that he brushes the dew off the grass in walking (A.S.).—N. & S.W. Compare:—

'The dew-beaters [early walkers, pioneers] have trod their way for those that come after them.'—Hacket's Life of Williams, i. 57.

Dew-bi. A very early breakfast (A.).—N. & S.W.

Dew-pond. A pond on the downs, not fed by any spring, but kept up by mist, dew, and rain. Such ponds rarely fail, even in the longest drought. Also Mist-pond.—N.W.

*Dewsiers. The valves of a pig's heart (A.B.G.); a corruption of O.F. jusier.

[43]

Deyhus, Da'us, Day'us. A dairy, a cheese-room (A.B.). From deye, a dairymaid; Icel. deigja (Skeat). In this and similar words, as Brewhouse, Woodhouse, &c., house is always pronounced as A.S. hús (Akerman), the h, however, not being invariably sounded.—N.W.

Dibs. A game played by boys with sheep's dibs or knuckle-bones (S.).—N. & S.W.

*Dick-and-his-team. The Great Bear.—N.W. Compare Jack-and-his-team.

'I know the north star; there it is.... And the Great Bear; the men call it Dick and his Team.'—Greene Ferne Farm, ch. vi.

Dicker. (1) To bedeck. 'Gels be allus a dickerin' therselves up now-a-days.'—N.W. (Huish.) (2) 'As thick as they can dicker,' very intimate.—S.W. (Amesbury.) 'All in a dicker (or 'digger'),' very close together.—S.W.

Dicky. (1) Of vegetables, decayed. (2) Of persons or plants, weakly or in ill-health (Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxii. p. 110). Cf. Daddicky.—N.W.

Dicky-birds. Fumaria officinalis, L., Common Fumitory.—S.W.

Diedapper. Podiceps minor, the Dabchick; Divedapper in Shakespeare. In common use at Salisbury until quite recently. Before the streams running through the city were covered over, it was an every-day occurrence to see a dripping urchin making for home, with an escort of friends at his heels yelling 'Diedapper, Diedapper, Diedapper, die!'—S.W.

*Diggle. v. To grow thickly together. 'They weeds be a coming up agen as thick as ever they can diggle.' See Dicker.—N.W. (Potterne.).

Diggled, Daggled. Covered over or hung thickly with anything. Compare Daglet. 'Thick may-bush be aal diggled wi' berries.'—S.W. (Salisbury.)

Diggles. n. Abundance, plenty (S.). 'Let's go a blackberryin'; there's diggles up Grovely.' See Diggle.—S.W.

Dill, Dill Duck. A young duck.—N. & S.W.

Dillcup. Ranunculus Ficaria, L., Lesser Celandine (S.).—S.W.

[44]

Diller. The shaft-horse (H.Wr.). See Thiller.—N.W.

Dills. See Thills.

Dimmets. Dusk, twilight.—S.W.

Ding. To strike violently (Dark, ch. xv).—N.W.

Dishabille. A labourer's working clothes. The word is not used in Wilts in its ordinary sense of undress or negligent costume, but a common excuse for not appearing at church is that a man has nothing but his dishabille to wear. Fr. déshabillé.—N.W.

Dishwasher. (1) Motacilla flava, the Yellow Wagtail (A.S.).—N. & S.W. (2) M. Yarrellii, the Pied Wagtail (A.S.).—N. & S.W.

Do. 'To do for any one,' to manage or keep house for him.—N. & S.W.

*Dock. Malva sylvestris, L., Common Mallow (A.). Now restricted to Rumex.

Dodder, Dudder, Duther, &c. (1) v. To bewilder, to deafen with noise (A.B.H.S.Wr.). 'I be vinny doddered, they childern do yop so.'—N. & S.W. (2) n. 'All in a dudder,' quite bewildered (H.).—N. & S.W. (3) v. To deaden anything, as pain. 'It sort o' dudders the pain.'—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

*Doddle-grass. Briza media, L., Quaking Grass (English Plant Names).

Doddler. 'A bit of a doddler,' a small boy.—N. & S.W.

Dog, how beest? This phrase seems worth noting. At Clyffe Pypard a person complaining of loneliness, or the want of sociability or kindness amongst the neighbours, will say, 'There isn't one as 'll so much as look in and say, "Dog, how beest?"'

Dog-Cocks. Arum maculatum, L., Cuckoo-pint. Compare Dogs-dibble in N. Devon.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Dog-daisy. Any large daisy-like white flower, such as Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, L., Ox-eye Daisy.—N. & S.W.

[45]

Dogged. (2 syl.) Very, excessively; as dogged cute (A.).—N. & S.W.

'Maester was dogged deep, but I was deeper!'—Wilts Tales, p. 110.

*Dog out. To drive out anything, as a sheep out of a quagmire, by setting the dog furiously at it (Great Estate, ch. viii).

Dog's-mouth. Linaria vulgaris, Mill., Yellow Toadflax.—N.W.

*Dom. A door case (H.Wr.): probably a mistake for Dorn or Doorn.

Domel. See Dumble.

Doner. A man, animal, &c., 'done for' and past hope (S.). 'Thuck old sow be a dunner; her 'll be dead afore night.'—N. & S.W.

*Donnings. Clothes (A.B.).

*Dooke. (2 syl.) Do ye, will ye. 'Be quiet, dooke' (H.M.Wr.).

'Obsolete, having been superseded by do 'ee. It was pronounced as a dissyllable.'—Skeat.

Door-Drapper (i.e. Dropper or Dripper). The piece of wood fastened to the bottom of cottage doors to shoot the water off the 'Dreshol' (threshold).—N.W.

*Doorn. A door frame (H.Wr.). Also Durn (S.). At Warminster applied only to the sides of a door-frame.—S.W.

Double. 'He is a double man,' i.e. bent double with age or infirmity.—S.W.

*Double-Dumb-Nettle. Ballota nigra, L., Black Horehound.—S.W. (Charlton.)

*Double-ladies'-fingers-and-thumbs. Anthyllis vulneraria, L., Kidney Vetch.—N.W. (Enford.)

Double-mound. A double hedge (Amateur Poacher, ch. xi; Wild Life, ch. ix. p. 152). See Mound.—N.W.

*Double Pincushion. Anthyllis vulneraria, L., Kidney Vetch.—S.W. (Barford.)

Doublets. Twin lambs (Annals of Agric.).—N.W.

Dough-fig. The same as Lem-feg. A Turkey Fig.—N.W.

[46]

Dout. To put out, as 'Dout the candle' (A.B.S.): to smother or extinguish fire by beating.—N. & S.W.

'An extinguisher "douts" a candle; the heel of a boot "douts" a match thrown down. But the exact definition of "dout" is to smother, or extinguish by beating.'—Village Miners.

Dowl. The fine down of a bird.—N.W.

'Coots and moor-hens must be skinned, they could not be plucked because of the "dowl." Dowl is the fluff, the tiny featherets no fingers can remove.'—Bevis, ch. vii.

Down. To tire out, to exhaust. 'That there 'oss's downed.'—N.W. (Wroughton.)

Down-along. 'He lives down-along,' a little way down the street (S.), as opposed to 'up-along.'—S.W.

Down-arg. To contradict in an overbearing manner (A.B.S.), to browbeat.—N. & S.W.

Down-dacious. Audacious (S.). 'Her's a right downdacious young vaggot, that her is!'—S.W.

*Down-haggard. Disconsolate (S.).—S.W.

Down-hearten. To feel disheartened. 'A be vurry bad, but I don't down-hearten about un.'—N.W.

Dowse. A blow (A.B.C.S.), as 'a dowse in the chops.'—N. & S.W.

Dowst. (1) Chaff or cave. Dust (D.). (2) 'To go to dowst,' go to bed, perhaps from dowst (chaff) being used to fill mattresses. Heard at Huish occasionally, but not traced elsewhere.

Dowst-coob. The chaff cupboard in a stable.—N. & S.W.

Drag. A harrow (D.).—N. & S.W.

Drail. (1) In a plough, the iron bow from which the traces draw, and by which the furrow is set (D.).—N.W. (2) Crex pratensis, the Landrail.—N.W.

*Drainted. Of dirt, ingrained (H.Wr.).

Drang, Drangway, Drung. (1) A narrow lane. Drun (H.Wr.).—S.W. (2) A narrow passage between walls or houses. Drun (H.Wr.).—S.W.

[47]

Drangway. See Drang (S.).

Drashel, Dreshol, &c. A flail (D.). The correct term for a flail is a drashel, but 'a pair o' drashells' (or 'dreshols') is more commonly used, as two men generally work together.—N. & S.W.

*Drattle. Much talk (S.).—S.W.

Draught. A cart-shaft. Draats (S.).—S.W.

Draughts. Hazel-rods selected for hurdle-making (D.). A 'draught' is not a rod, but a bundle of long wood suitable for hurdles or pea-sticks, bound with a single withe.—N.W.

Drave. 'I be slaving an' draving (i.e. working myself to death) for he, night and day.'—N. & S.W.

Draw. (1) A squirrel's dray or nest.—N.W. (Marlborough.) (2) Rarely applied to a large nest, as a hawk's. Compare:—'Draw, to build a nest (Berners),' an old hawking term.—N.W. (Marlborough.)

Drawing. See Drawn.

Drawn. In a water-meadow, the large open main drain which carries the water back to the river, after it has passed through the various carriages and trenches.—S.W. In every-day use about Salisbury, and along the Avon and Wiley from Downton to Codford, but rarely heard elsewhere.

'Many of the meadows on either length [near Salisbury] abound in ditches and "drawns."'—Fishing Gazette, July 18, 1891, p. 40, col. 2.

'I ... descried three birds, standing quite still [at Britford] by the margin of a flooded "drawing."'—Wilts Arch. Mag. xxi. 229.

Dredge, Drodge. Barley and oats grown together.—S.W.

Dribs-and-Drabs. Odds and ends. 'All in dribs and drabs,' all in tatters.—N. & S.W.

Drieth. See Dryth.

Drift. A row of felled underwood (D.).—N.W.

Dripple See Waggon.

Drive. Of manure, to stimulate growth. 'Thur, that'll drive th' rhubub, I knaws!'—N. & S.W.

[48]

Drock. (1) A short drain under a roadway, often made with a hollow tree.—N. & S.W. (2) A broad flat stone laid as a bridge across a ditch (Amaryllis at the Fair).—N.W. (Castle Eaton, &c.)

'Drock, a water-way, or sometimes the stone slab over a narrow ditch.'—Leisure Hour, Aug. 1893.

'1674. Item Paid Richard Serrell for a Stone to make a Drocke.—Records of Chippenham, p. 230.

*(3) A water-course (H.Wr.). A water-way (Leisure Hour, Aug. 1893).—N.W. (Castle Eaton, &c.)

'Where meaning a water way, it is usually spoken of as a Drockway, "drock" alone being the passage over the ditch.'—Miss E. Boyer-Brown.

*(4) Used in compounds such as Well-drock, windlass.

Drockway. See Drock (3).

Drodge. See Dredge .

*Dromedary. (1) Centaurea nigra, L., Black Knapweed.—S.W. (Barford St. Martin.) (2) Centaurea Scabiosa, L., Hardheads.—S.W. (Barford St. Martin.)

Dropping. 'A dropping summer,' one when there is a shower every two or three days (Wild Life, ch. ii).—N.W.

Drove. A green roadway on a farm.—N. & S.W.

Drown. To turn the water over the meadows.—S.W.

Drowner. The man who attends to the hatches, managing the supply of water, and turning it on and off the meadows at the proper times.—S.W.

*Drowning-bridge. A water-meadow sluice-gate (A.B.G.H. Wr.).

Drowning-carriage. A large water-course for drowning a meadow. See Carriage.—S.W.

*Droy. A thunderbolt (Aubrey's Wilts MS., H.Wr.).—Obsolete.

*Drucked. Filled to overflowing (S.).—S.W.

Drug. (1) 'To drug timber,' to draw it out of the woods under a pair of wheels (D.).—N.W. (2) 'To drug a wheel,' to put on some kind of drag or chain.—N.W.

*Druid's-hair. Long moss (H.Wr.).

[49]

Drun. See Drang (H.Wr.).

Drunge. (1) n. A crowd or crush of people (H.Wr.)—N.W. (2) v. To squeeze (S.).—S.W.

Drunkards. Flowers of Caltha palustris, L., Marsh Marigold; probably from the way in which they suck up water when placed in a vase. The reason assigned by children for the name is that if you look long at them you will be sure to take to drink.—S.W. (Som. bord.)

Dry Cuckoo, or Dryland Cuckoo. Saxifraga granulata, L., White Meadow Saxifrage. See Cuckoo.—S.W.

Dryth, or Drieth. Dryness, drought.—N.W.

'1633. The cryer ... to give warninge to the inhabitants to sett payles of water at their doores in the late tyme of drieth and heate.'—Records of Chippenham, p. 206.

Dub. To pelt with stones. 'Just dub that apple down out of the tree, will 'ee?' See Frog-dubbing.—S.W.

Dubbed. Blunt, pointless (A.B.).

*Dubbing. 'A dubbin' o' drenk,' a pint or mug of beer (A.B.H.Wr.).

Dubby. Oily.—N.W.

Duck's-frost. A very slight white frost.—N.W.

'That kind of frost which comes on in the early morning, and is accompanied with some rime on the grass—a duck's frost, just sufficient to check fox-hunting.'—Gamekeeper at Home, ch. vii.

Duckstone. A game played by boys with stones (S.).—S.W.

Dudder. See Dodder.

Dudge. (1) A bundle of anything used to stop a hole.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.) *(2) 'Peg the dudge,' tap the barrel (A.B.G.H.Wr.).

Dudman. A scarecrow.—N.W. (Malmesbury.)

Dumb-Ague. A kind of ague which is not accompanied by the usual shaking fits. ''Tis what 'ee do caal the dumb-agey.'—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Dumble. Stupid, dull (A.B.H.Wr.); also Domel, Dummel, &c.—N.W.

'Severe weather ... makes all wild animals "dummel" in provincial phrase,—i.e. stupid, slow to move.'—Gamekeeper at Home, ch. vii.

[50]

Dumbledore, or Dumble. The Humble-bee (A.B.S.).—N. & S.W.

'Th' mak'st a noise like a dumbledore in a pitcher.'—Wilts Tales, p. 68.

Dumb Nettle. Lamium album, L., White Dead-nettle.—S.W. (Charlton.)

Dump. (1) n. 'A treacle dump,' a kind of coarse sweetmeat.—S.W. (2) v. To blunt, as 'I've dumped my scythe against a stone.'—N.W. (3) A pollard tree, as 'Ash-dump,' or 'Willow-dump.'—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Dum-put. See Dung-pot.

Dunch. (1) Deaf (A.B.C.); now rarely so used. In Cunnington MS. said to be at that time the usual N. Wilts term for deaf.—N & S.W.

'Ah! Molly, ye purtends to be as dunch as a bittle, but I kneows 'e hears ev'ry word I zays.'—Wilts Tales, p. 81.

(2) Stupid, heavy; now the common use. 'The wapses gets dunch' in late autumn. A labourer who can't be made to understand orders is 'dunch.'—N. & S.W. (3) Of bread, heavy (Wild Life, ch. vii). Cf. Dunch-dumpling.—N. & S.W. Dunchy is frequently used in S. Wilts instead of Dunch, but usually means deaf.

Dunch-dumpling. A hard-boiled flour-and-water dumpling (A.B.C.) See Dunch (3).—N.W.

Dunch-nettle, Dunse-nettle. (1) Lamium purpureum, L., Red Dead-nettle. Dunch=stupid, inactive. Cf. Deaf-nettle.—S.W. (2) Lamium album, L., White Dead-nettle.—S.W. (Barford.)

Dung-pot. A dung-cart (D.); rarely Dum-put. See Pot.—N. & S.W.

*Dup. 'To dup the door,' to open or unfasten it (Lansd. MS. 1033).—Obsolete. Cf. :—

The word now means the very reverse.

[51]

Dutch Elder. Aegopodium Podagraria, L., Goutweed.—S.W. (Farley, &c.)

Duther, Dutter. See Dodder.

Ea-grass. After-grass (D.); Lammas grass as well as aftermath.—S.W.

Eass (sometimes Yees). An earthworm.—S.W.

*Edge-growed. Of barley, both growing and ripening irregularly; the result of a want of rain after it is first sown (D.).

Eel-scrade. A kind of eel-trap.—S.W.

'A trap used to catch eels, placed near a weir. The water is turned into the scrade when high, and the fish washed up to a stage through which the water finds an outlet, the fish, however, being retained on the platform by a piece of sloping iron.'—F. M. Willis.

Eel-sticher. An eel-spear.—S.W.

'Wishing to secure [a Little Grebe] in summer plumage, I asked the old "drowner" in our meadows to look out for one for me—and this he very soon did, fishing one out from under the water between the spikes of his eel-sticher, as it was diving under the water.'—Wilts Arch. Mag. xxii. 193.

Effet, Evet. Lissotriton punctatus, the Newt (A.S.)—N. & S.W.

'She ... sometimes peered under the sage-bush to look at the "effets" that hid there.'—Great Estate, ii.

Eggs-and-Bacon. Linaria vulgaris, Mill., Yellow Toadflax. Cf. Bacon-and-Eggs.—N. & S.W.

*Eggs-eggs. Fruit of the hawthorn.—S.W. (Farley.)

*Elet. Fuel (H.Wr.). *Ollit (Aubrey's Wilts MS.).—N.W., obsolete.

Elm, Helm, or Yelm. (1) v. To make up 'elms.'—N. & S.W.

'Two or three women are busy "yelming," i.e. separating the straw, selecting the longest and laying it level and parallel, damping it with water, and preparing it for the yokes.'—Wild Life, ch. vi.

(2) n. (Almost invariably pl.,'elms' being the usual form). Small bundles or handfuls of fresh straw, damped and laid out straight for the thatcher's use (Wild Life, ch. vi). See Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxii. p. 111. According to Prof.[52] Skeat yelm, seldom now used in Wilts, is the correct form, from A.S. gilm, a handful. About Marlborough it is usually pronounced as Yelms, but at Clyffe Pypard there is not the slightest sound of y in it. Elsewhere it is frequently pronounced as Ellums.—N. & S.W.

Eltrot. Heracleum Sphondylium, L., Cow-parsnip (S.). *Altrot at Zeals.—S.W.

Emmet. The Ant (S.). 'Ant' is never used in Wilts.—N. & S.W.

Emmet-heap. An anthill.—N. & S.W.

En. (1) pl. termination, as Housen, houses; Hipsen, rose-berries; Keyn, keys; Facen, faces; Wenchen, girls; Bluen, blossoms; Naas'n, nests (rarely heard, Nestises being the usual form); Pigs'-sousen, pigs'-ears.—N. & S.W.

'In North Wilts ... the formation of the Plural by affixing en to the Noun is almost universal, as house housen, &c.'—Cunnington MS.

(2) adj. term., as Harnen, made of horn; Stwonen, of stone; Elmin, of elm wood, &c. 'Boughten bread,' baker's bread, as opposed to home-made. 'A dirten floor,' a floor made of earth, beaten hard. 'A tinnin pot.' 'A glassen cup.' Boarden, made of boards; Treen-dishes, wooden platters, &c. 'There's some volk as thinks to go droo life in glassen slippers.'—N. & S.W.

'Almost as universal too is the transformation of the Substantive into an adjective by the same termination as ... a Leatheren Shoe, an elmen Board, &c.'—Cunnington MS.

(3) See Pronouns.

'The pronoun Possessive too is formed in the same way, as hisn hern Ourn theirn.'—Cunnington MS.

English Parrot. Picus viridis, the Green Woodpecker (Birds of Wilts, p. 251).—S.W. (Salisbury.)

Ether, Edder. The top-band of a fence, the wands of hazel, &c., woven in along the top of a 'dead hedge,' or wattled fence, to keep it compact (A.B.). A 'stake and ether' fence. A.S. edor.—N.W.

'Mughall [Midghall] had nothing to doe withought [without] the Eyther [hedge] between Bradene Lane and Shropshire Marsh.'—1602,[53] MS., Perambulation of the Great Park of Fasterne, N.W., in Devizes Museum.

Eve. See Heave.

Even-ash. Ash-leaves with an equal number of leaflets, carried by children in the afternoon of the 29th May (Wild Life, ch. v). See Shitsac.—N.W.

Evet. See Effet.

Ex, pl. Exes. An axle (S.).—N. & S.W.

Eyles. See Ailes.

F. (1) F for th. Examples :.—Fust, thirst; afust, athirst. An old characteristic of the Western and South-Western groups of dialect. (2) F, at the beginning of a word, is frequently sounded as v, as fall, vall; flick, vlick; font, vant.

Fadge. See Fodge.

Fag. See Vag.

Faggot, Fakket. (1) A woman of bad character is 'a nasty stinking faggot (or vaggot).' Often used in a milder sense, as 'You young vaggot! [you bad girl] what be slapping the baby vor?'—N. & S.W.

'Damn you vor a gay wench, vor that's what you be, an' no mistake about it; a vaggot as I wun't hae in my house no longer.'—Dark, ch. xii.

(2) A rissole of chopped pig's-liver and seasoning, covered with 'flare': also known as Bake-faggot.—N. & S.W.

Falarie. Disturbance, excitement, commotion.—N. & S.W.

'"Look'ee here, there 've bin a fine falarie about you, Zur." He meant that there had been much excitement when it was found that Bevis was not in the garden, and was nowhere to be found.'—Wood Magic, ch. ii.

'Used about Wilton, but not so extensively as its synonym rumpus.'—Letter from Mr. Slow.

[54]

Fall about. v. Of a woman: to be confined. 'His wife bin an' fell about laas' night.'—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Fall down. Of arable land: to be allowed to relapse of itself into poor rough pasture.—N.W.

'Some of the land is getting "turnip-sick," the roots come stringy and small and useless, so that many let it "vall down."'—Great Estate, ch. i. p. 6.

Falling. n. A downfall of snow. 'I thenks we shall have some vallen soon.' Only used of snow.—N. & S.W.

Falling-post. The front upright timber of a gate. Occasionally heard at Huish; Head, however, being the more usual term there.—N.W.

Falsify. Of seeds, young trees, &c.: to fail, to come to nought.—N.W.

Fancy man. A married woman's lover. 'He be Bill's wife's fancy man, that's what he do be.'—N.W.

*Fang. To strangle; to bind a wounded limb so tightly as to stop the flow of blood (A.B.H.Wr.).

Fantag, Fanteague, &c. (1) n. Fluster, fuss. Fantaig (S.).—N. & S.W. (2) Vagaries or larks, as 'Now, none o' your fantaigs here!' At Clyffe Pypard, N.W., 'a regular fantaig' would be a flighty flirting lad or girl, a 'wondermenting or gammotty sort of a chap.'—N. & S.W.

*Fardingale. A quarter of an acre (H.Wr. Lansd. MS.). The old form is Farding-deal (Wr.). Compare Thurindale, &c.—Obsolete.

'1620. Itm, to the same Thomas & Nicholas Lea for theire helpe to laye the Acres into ffarendells.'—Records of Chippenham, p. 202.

'1649. Twoe ffarthendels of grasse.'—Ibid. p. 217.

Farewell Summer. The Michaelmas Daisy.—N. & S.W.

Fashion. The farcey, a disease in horses (A.H.Wr.). Fr. farcin.—N.W.

'An old Wiltshire farmer, when his grand-daughters appeared before him with any new piece of finery, would ask what it all meant. The girls would reply, "fashion, gran'váther!" when the old man would rejoin, "Ha! many a good horse has died o' th' fashion!"'—Akerman.

[55]

Favour. To resemble in features, &c. 'He doesn't favour you, Sir.... He is his mother's own boy.'—N. & S.W.

Featish. Fair, tolerable (A.B.). Used of health, crops, &c. 'How be 'e ?' 'Featish, thank 'e.'—'There's a featish crop o' grass yander!' (A.). M.E. fetis (in Chaucer), O.F. fetis, faitis.—N.W.

'The worthy farmer proceeded to ask how the children got on at the Sunday-school. "Oh, featish, zur ... Sally, yander ... her's gettin' on oonderful."'—Wilts Tales, pp. 139-140.

'"How's your voice?" "Aw, featish [fairish]. I zucked a thrush's egg to clear un."'—Greene Ferns Farm, ch. i.

'"Ees, this be featish tackle," meaning the liquor was good.'—Ibid. ch. vii.

'A' be a featish-looking girl, you.'—Ibid. ch. i.

*Fern Buttercup. Potentilla Anserina, L., Silverweed.—S.W. (Zeals.)

Fess. (1) Of animals: bad-tempered, fierce. A cat with its back up looks 'ter'ble fess.'—N. & S.W. (2) Cocky, impudent, confident. Also used in Hants.—S.W., occasionally. (3) Proud, stuck-up (S.).—S.W.

Fet. See Preterites.

Fevertory. Fumaria, Fumitory, from which a cosmetic for removing freckles used to be distilled.—S.W.

Few. 'A goodish few,' or 'a main few,' a considerable quantity or number.—N. & S.W.

'I ferrets a goodish few rabbits on bright nights in winter.'—Amateur Poacher, ch. vii.

Fiddle-strings. The ribs of the Plantain leaf, when pulled out. See Cat-gut.—N.W.

*Field. The space, or bay, between beam and beam in a barn, as 'a barn of four fields.' (D.).

[56]

Figged (two syll.), Figgedy, Figgetty, Figgy. (1) Made with a few 'figs,' or raisins, as 'viggy pudden.' Figged Pudding, Plum pudding (Monthly Mag., 1814). Figgetty Pooden (S.).—N. & S.W. (2) Figged. Spotted all over, as a pudding is with plums.—S.W. A true-born Moon-raker, describing his first night in 'Lunnon,' where he made the acquaintance of numerous members of the 'Norfolk-Howard' family (Cimex lectularius), spoke of his face as being 'vigged aal auver wi' spots an' bumps afore marning.'

Fighting-cocks. Plantago media, L., and other Plantains. Children 'fight' them, head against head.—N.W.

Filtry. Rubbish. 'Ther's a lot o' filtry about this house.'—N.W.

Fine. Of potatoes, very small.—N.W.

Fingers-and-Thumbs. Blossoms of Ulex Europaeus, L., Common Furze (S.).—S.W.

*Fire-deal. A good deal (H.Wr.).

Fire-new, Vire-new. Quite new (A.)—N.W.

Firk. (1) To worry mentally, to be anxious; as 'Don't firk so,' or 'Don't firk yourself.' A cat does not firk a mouse when 'playing' with it, but the mouse firks grievously.—N.W. (Marlborough). (2) To be officiously busy or inquisitive, as 'I can't abear that there chap a-comin' firkin' about here.' A policeman getting up a case firks about the place, ferreting out all the evidence he can.—N.W.

*Fitten. A pretence (A.B.).—Obsolete. Compare:

'He doth feed you with fittons, figments, and leasings.'—Cynthia's Revels.

Fitty. In good health. 'How be 'ee?' 'Ter'ble fitty.'—N.W.

*Flabber-gaster. n. Idle talk (S.).—S.W.

Flag. The blade of wheat.—N.W.

'The wheat was then showing a beautiful flag.... The flag is the long narrow green leaf of the wheat.'—Great Estate, ch. i. p. 8.

Flake. n. (1) A frame, barred with ash or willow spars, somewhat resembling a light gate, used as a hurdle where extra strength is needed (Bevis, ch. xii; Wild Life, ch. iv). 'Flake' hurdles are used to divide a field, or for cattle, the ordinary sheep hurdles being too weak for the purpose.—N.W. (2) v. To make 'flakes.'—N.W.

[57]

Flamtag. A slatternly woman.—N.W. (Huish, &c.)

Flare. (1) The flick, or internal fat of a pig, before it is melted down to make lard.—N. & S.W. (2) The caul, or thin skin of the intestines of animals, used for covering 'bake-faggots,' &c.—N. & S.W.

Fleck. See Flick.

Flews. A sluice is occasionally so called. See Flowse.—S.W.

Flewy. Of a horse, troubled with looseness. 'He's what we calls a flewy 'oss, can't kip nothing in 'im.' Cf. North of Eng. Flewish, morally or physically weak. In Hants a horse of weakly constitution is said to be flue or fluey (Cope).—N.W.

Flick, Fleck. (1) n. The internal fat of a pig (A.B.C.S.).—N. & S.W. *(2) v. To flare (S.).—S.W.

Flig-me-jig. A girl of doubtful character. 'Her's a reg'lar flig-me-jig.'—N.W.

Flirk. To flip anything about (H.Wr.), as a duster in flicking a speck of dust off a table (Village Miners). Flirt is the S. Wilts form of the word.—N.W.

*Flitch. (1) Pert, lively, officious (A.B.H.Wr.).

'Right flygge and mery.' Paston Letters, iv. 412.

*(2) To be flick or flitch with any one, to be familiar or intimate (C.).—N.W., obsolete.

Flitmouse. The bat. A shortened form of Flittermouse.—N.W. (Marlborough.)

Flitters. Pieces. A cup falls, and is broken 'aal to vlitters.'—N.W.

*Floating or Flowing meadow. A meadow laid up in ridges with water-carriages on each ridge and drains between (D.). A lowland meadow watered from a river, as opposed to Catch-meadow (Annals of Agric.). Floted meadowes (Aubrey's Nat. Hist. Wilts, p. 51, ed. Brit.).

Flod. See Preterites.

Flop-a-dock. Digitalis purpurea, L., Foxglove.—S.W. (Hants bord.)

[58]

Floppetty. adj. Of a woman, untidy, slatternly in dress or person. Flopperty (S.).—S.W.

Flowing Meadows. See Floating Meadows.

Flowse. (1) v. act. You 'flowse,' or splash, the water over you in a bath.—N. & S.W. (2) v. neut. Water is said to be 'flowsing down' when rushing very strongly through a mill hatch. A horse likes to 'flowse about' in a pond.—S.W. (3) n. The rush of water through a hatch.—S.W. (4) n. Occasionally also applied to the narrow walled channel between the hatch gate and the pool below.—S.W.

Flucksey. adj. 'A flucksey old hen,' i.e. a hen who makes a great fuss over her chickens.—S.W. (Bishopstrow, &c.) Cope's Hants Glossary has:—'Flucks, to peck in anger like a hen.'

Flump. 'To come down flump, like a twoad from roost,' to fall heavily (A.B.S.); also used alone as a verb, as 'Her vlumped down in thic chair.'—N. & S.W.

Flunk. A spark of fire; probably a form of Blink, q.v. Vlonker (S.).—S.W.

Flush. *(1) n. Of grass, a strong and abundant growth (Agric. of Wilts, ch. xii). (2) adj. Of grass, &c., luxuriant.—N.W. (3) adj. Of young birds, fledged (A.B.).—N. & S.W.

Flustrated. (1) Taken aback, flustered.—N.W.

'A didn't zay anything ... but a looked a leetle flustrated like.'—Wilts Tales, p. 119.

(2) Tipsy.—N.W.

Fluttery. Of weather, catchy, uncertain, showery. ''T ull be a main fluttery hay-making to-year, I warnd.'—N.W. (Huish.)

*Fodder. A labourer 'fodders' his boots—stuffs soft hay into them to fill up, when they are too large for him (Village Miners).

[59]

*Fodge (rarely Fadge). In packing fleeces of wool, when the quantity is too small to make up a full 'bag' of 240 lbs., the ends of the bag are gathered together as required, and the sides skewered over them, thus forming the small package known as a 'fodge.'—N.W.

Fog. v. To give fodder to cattle. Cf. Welsh ffwg, dry grass.—N. & S.W.

'Fogging, the giving of fodder ... from a Middle English root ... is common in Mid-Wilts.'—Leisure Hour, Aug. 1893.

Fog off. To damp off, as cuttings often do in a greenhouse.—N.W. (Marlborough.)

Fogger. A man who attends to the cows and takes them their fodder morning and evening (My Old Village, &c.). A groom or man-servant (H.Wr.), the duties of groom and fogger being usually discharged by the same man on farms about Marlborough.—N. & S.W.

*Foldsail, Fossel. A fold-shore (D.). See Sails.—N.W.

'A fold stake, locally called a "fossle."'—Wilts Arch. Mag. xxi. 132.

'The "fossels" means the fold-shores, or the stakes to which the hurdles are shored up, and fastened with a loose twig wreath at the top.'—Ibid. xvii. 304.

Fold-shore. A stake pitched to support a hurdle (D.H.).—S.W.

Follow or Follow on. To continue.—N.W.

'If you do want a good crop, you must follow on a hoeing o' the ground; but you can't do no hoeing so long as it do follow raining.'—Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxii. p. 111.

Folly. A circular plantation of trees on a hill, as 'Harnham Folly,' or 'The Long Folly' on Compton Down. This seems quite distinct from its more general use as applied to a tower or other building which is too pretentious or costly for its builder's position and means.—N. & S.W.

'"Every hill seems to have a Folly," she said, looking round. "I mean a clump of trees on the top."'—Greene Ferne Farm, ch. vi.

*Foot-cock. The small cock into which hay is first put (D.).

Footy. Paltry (A.B.), as a present not so large as was expected (Village Miners).—N.W.

For. Often affixed to the verbs say and think. ''Tean't the same as you said for'; 'I bean't as old as you thinks for.'—N.W.

[60]

Fore-eyed. Fore-seeing, apt to look far ahead (S.).—S.W.

Fore-spur. A fore-leg of pork (S.).—S.W.

Forefeed, Vorfeed. To turn cattle out in spring into a pasture which is afterwards to be laid up for hay.—N.W.

Foreright, Vorright. (1) adj. Headstrong, self-willed. 'He's that vorright there's no telling he anything.'—N. & S.W. (2) adj. Blunt, rude, candid.—N.W. (Malmesbury.) (3) Just opposite. 'The geat's vorright thuck shard.'—N.W.

*Forel. The actual cover of a book, not the material in which it is bound. This is the usual term in Som. Old Fr. fourrel, a sheath, case.—N.W. (Malmesbury.)

Fork. The apparatus used by thatchers for carrying the elms up to the roof.—N.W.

Forester. (1) A New Forest horse-fly.—S.W. (2) Any very tall thistle growing among underwood.—N.W. (Marlborough.)

*Fossel. See Foldsail.

Fot. See Preterites.

Frame A skeleton. 'Her's nothing in the world but a frame.'—N.W.

*Frea, Fry. To make a brushwood drain (D.).

Freglam. Odds and ends of cold vegetables, fried up with a little bacon to give a relish. Compare Lanc. Braughwham, cheese, eggs, clap-bread, and butter, all boiled together.—N.W., obsolete.

*French Grass. Onobrychis sativa, L., Sainfoin.—N.W. (Enford.)

Fresh liquor. Unsalted hog's-fat (A).—N.W.

Frickle, Friggle. (1) To potter about at little jobs, such as an old man can do. 'I bain't up to a day's work now; I can't do nothing but frickle about in my garne.'—N. & S.W. (2) To fidget, to worry about a thing.—N.W.

'He freggled [fidgetted] hisself auver thuck paason as come a bit ago.'—Greene Ferne Farm, ch. vii.

Frickling, Friggling. adj. Tiresome, involving much minute attention or labour. Used of fiddling little jobs.—N.W.

[61]

Friggle. n. A worrying little piece of work. 'I be so caddled wi' aal these yer friggles, I caan't hardly vind time vor a bit o' vittles.' See Frickle.—N.W. (Huish.)

Frith. (1) n. 'Quick,' or young whitethorn for planting hedges.—N.W. *(2) n. Thorns or brush underwood (D).—N.W.

'1605. Itm to James Smalwood for an Acre & halfe of hedginge frith out of Heywood.... Item for felling the same frith.'—Records of Chippenham, p. 194.

(3) v. To make a brushwood drain, as opposed to Grip, q.v. (D).

Froar. Frozen (A.B.S.); generally Vroar or Vrŏr in N. Wilts, but the usual form at Wroughton, N.W., is Froren. A.S. gefroren.—N. & S.W.

Frog-dubbing. Boys throw a frog into a shallow pool, and then 'dub' or pelt it, as it tries to escape. See Dub.—S.W.

Froom. See Frum.

Frout. Of animals: to take fright. 'My horse frouted and run away.'—S.W.

Frouten, Froughten. To frighten (S.).—N. & S.W.

'Lor, Miss, how you did froughten I!'—Greene Ferne Farm, ch. vii.

Frow. See Brow.

Frum, Froom. Of vegetables, grass, &c.: fresh and juicy (A.B.); strong-growing or rank. A.S. from, vigorous, strong.—N.W.

*Fry. (1) n. A brushwood drain (H.Wr.). See Frith (3).—N.W. (2) v. To make a brushwood drain (D.). Also Frea and Frith (D.).—N.W.

'1790. For 234 Lugg Hollow frying in Englands 2.18.6.'—Records of Chippenham, p. 248.

Fullmare. n. In my childhood I remember being told more than once by servants at Morden, near Swindon, N.W., that a colt which was playing about in a field near was 'a fullmare.' Could this possibly have been a survival of the old word 'Folymare, a young foal,' which is given by Halliwell and Wright as occurring in a fifteenth-century MS. at Jesus College, Oxford? I have never heard the word elsewhere.—G. E. D.

[62]

Fur. n. The calcareous sediment in a kettle, &c.—N. & S.W.

Furlong (pronounced Vurlin). The strip of newly-ploughed land lying between two main furrows.—N.W. (Lockeridge.)

Fur up. Water-pipes, kettles, &c., when coated inside with 'rock,' or the calcareous sediment of hard water, are said to 'fur up,' or to be 'furred up.'—N. & S.W.

*Furze-hawker. Saxicola oenanthe, the Wheatear.—N.W.

*Furze Robin. Saxicola rubicola, the Stonechat (Birds of Wilts, p. 150).—N.W. (Sutton Benger.)

Fuzz-ball. Lycoperdon Bovista, L., Puffball.—N. & S.W.

Gaa-oot! See Horses (A.).

Gaam. (1) v. To smear or bedaub with anything sticky. Gaamze (Village Miners). (2) n. A sticky mass of anything. See Gam.—N. & S.W. Many years ago, at a Yeomanry ball in a certain town in N. Wilts, the Mayor, who had done his duty manfully up to then, stopped short in the middle of a dance, and mopping his face vigorously, gasped out to his astonished partner, a lady of high position, 'Well, I don't know how you be, Marm, but I be ael of a gaam o' zweat!'—N.W.

Gaamy, Gammy. Daubed with grease, &c., sticky. In Hal. and Wr. 'Gaam, adj. sticky, clammy,' is apparently an error, gaamy being probably intended.—N.W.

Gaapsey. n. A sight to be stared at. See Gapps.—N.W.

Gaapus. n. A fool, a stupid fellow. 'What be at, ye girt gaapus!'—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Gabborn. Of rooms or houses, comfortless, bare (B.C.). Gabbern (A.H.) and Gabern (Great Estate, ch. iv. p. 78). This term always denotes largeness without convenience or comfort (Cunnington MS.).—N.W. Gabberny on Berks bord.

*Gage-ring. An engagement ring (Great Estate, ch. x).—N.W.

Galley-bagger. A scarecrow (S.).—S.W.

[63]

Galley-crow. A scarecrow (A.H.Wr.).—N. & S.W.

'"Maester," said the child, "wull 'e let m' chainge hats wi' thuck galley-crow yander?" ... pointing to a scarecrow at the other end of the garden.'—Wilts Tales, p. 103.

Gallivant. To be gadding about on a spree with a companion of the opposite sex (S.): to run after the girls, or 'chaps,' as the case may be.—N. & S.W.

Gallow. See Gally.

Gallows (pronounced Gallus). *(1) A pair of braces. (2) Exceedingly. Used with any adjective; as 'Gallus dear,' very expensive (Great Estate, ch. iv. p. 75).—N. & S.W.

'A gallus bad wench her be!'—Dark, ch. xviii.

*(3) 'He's a gallus chap,' i.e. plucky.

Gallows-gate. A light gate, consisting only of a hinged style, top-rail, and one strut.—N.W.

Gallus. See Gallows.—N.W.

Gally, Gallow. To frighten or terrify. Gallow (B.H., Lansd. MS.), Gally (A.B.S.), Pret. gallered, astonished, frightened (A.B.C.S.) 'He gallered I amwost into vits.' Still in use about Marlborough and in S.W. From M.E. galwen; A.S. agælwan, to stupefy.—N. & S.W.

The word is still commonly used in the whale-fishery:—

'Young bulls ... are ... easily "gallied," that is, frightened.'—Marryat, Poor Jack, ch. vi.

Gam. A sticky mass, as 'all in a gam.' See Gaam (2).—N. & S.W. In S. Wilts the a in this word and its derivatives is usually short, while in N. Wilts it is broad in sound.

Gambrel. The piece of wood or iron used by butchers for extending or hanging a carcase (A.). Gamel (S.).—N. & S.W.

Gamel. See Gambrel.

Gammer. A woodlouse.—S.W.

[64]

Gammet, Gamut. (1) n. Fun, frolicsome tricks. 'You be vull o' gamuts.'—N.W. (2) v. To frolic, to play the fool. See Gammock and Gannick. 'Thee bist allus a gammetting.'—N.W. (3) v. To play off practical jokes; to take in any one.—N.W.

Gammock. v. To lark about, to play the fool, to frolic. See Gannick and Gammet.—N.W. (Marlborough.)

Gammotty, Gammutty. (1) adj. Frolicsome, larky. See Gammet.—N.W. (2) adj. Of cheese, ill-flavoured. See Cammocky.—N.W.

Gammy. (1) Sticky. See Gaamy.—S.W. (2) Lame, crippled, having a 'game leg.'—N. & S.W.

Gamut. See Gammet.

Gander-flanking, To go. To go off larking or 'wondermenting.' Perhaps a corruption of gallivanting.—S.W. (Upton Scudamore.)

Gandigoslings. Orchis mascula, L., Early Purple Orchis. Compare Gandergosses in Gerarde (Appendix), and Candle-gostes in Folk-Etymology. Also see Dandy-goslings, Dandy-goshen, Goosey-ganders, Goslings, Grampha-Griddle-Goosey-Gander, and Granfer-goslings.—N.W.

Gannick. To lark about, to play the fool. See Gammock.—S.W. (Warminster, &c.)

Gapps, Gaapsey. To gape or stare at anything. 'Thee'st allus a gaapsin' about.'—N.W.

Garley-gut. A gluttonous person. Perhaps connected with gorle, to devour eagerly (see Halliwell).

Gashly. See Ghastly.

Gate. n. Excitement, 'taking.' 'Her wur in a vine gate wi't.'—N.W.

Gatfer. See Gotfer.

[65]

Gauge-brick. A brick which shows by its change of colour when the oven is hot enough for baking. Cf. Warning-stone.—N.W.

'She knew when the oven was hot enough by the gauge-brick: this particular brick as the heat increased became spotted with white, and when it had turned quite white the oven was ready.'—Great Estate, ch. viii. p. 152.

Gawl-cup. See Gold-cup.

Gawney. A simpleton (A.H.S.Wr.).—N. & S.W.

'Leave m' 'lone y' great gawney!'—Wilts Tales, p. 83.

Gay. Of wheat, rank in the blade (D.).—N.W.

Gee, Jee. To agree, to work well together (A.B.).—N.W.

Genow. See Go-now.

*Gentlemen's-and-ladies'-fingers. Arum maculatum, L., Cuckoo-pint. Cf. Lady's-Finger (2).—S.W. (Farley.)

Ghastly (pronounced Gashly). This word is used in many ways, as 'Thick hedge wur gashly high, but it be ter'ble improved now.'—N.W. (Huish.) At Etchilhampton, N.W., a 'gashly ditch' is one that is cut too wide.—N. & S.W.

Gibbles. Onions grown from bulbs. Cf. Chipples and Cribbles.—N. & S.W.

Gicksey. See Kecks.

Giggley. See Goggley.

Gigletting. adj. Fond of rough romping; wanton. Used only of females. 'Dwoan't ha' no truck wi' thuck there giglettin' wench o' his'n.'—N.W. (Malmesbury.)

Gilcup. Buttercups in general; occasionally restricted to R. Ficaria. Cf. Gold-cup.—S.W.

*Gill. A low four-wheeled timber-carriage (Cycl. of Agric.).

*Gilty-cup. Caltha palustris, L., Marsh Marigold.—S.W. (Zeals.)

Gin-and-Water Market. See quotation.

'Some towns have only what is called a "gin-and-water" market: that is, the "deal" is begun and concluded from small samples carried in the pocket and examined at an inn over a glass of spirits and water.'—The Toilers of the Field, p. 28.

[66]

Gipsy. Carnation grass, Carex panicea, L., because it turns so brown.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Gipsy-rose. Scabiosa atropurpurea, L., the Garden Scabious.—N.W.

Girls. The short-pistilled or 'thrum-eyed' blossoms of the Primrose, Primula vulgaris, L. See Boys.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Gix, Gicksey, &c. See Kecks.

Glory-hole. A place for rubbish or odds and ends, as a housemaid's cupboard, or a lumber room.—N.W.

'This has nothing to do with Lat. gloria, but is connected with M.E. glorien, to befoul (Prompt. Parv.). Compare Prov. Eng. glorry, greasy, fat. Thus glory-hole=a dirty, untidy nook. See Folk-Etymology, p. 145.'—Smythe-Palmer.

*Glox. This is given by most authorities as a noun, and defined as 'the sound of liquids when shaken in a barrel' (A.B.H.Wr.); but it is really a verb, and refers to the motion and peculiar gurgling of liquids against the side of a barrel or vessel that is not quite full (C.). In Hants gloxing is the noise made by falling, gurgling water (Cope). Cf. Lottle.—N.W., obsolete.

'Fill the Barrel full, John, or else it will glox in Carriage.'—Cunnington MS.

Glutch. To swallow (A.B.C.S.). According to Cunnington MS, the use of glutch implies that there is some difficulty in swallowing, while quilt is to swallow naturally.—N. & S.W.

Glutcher. The throat (S.). See Glutch.—N. & S.W.

*Gnaa-post. A simpleton (S.).—S.W.

Gnaing. To mock, to insult (S.). Also used in West of England and Sussex.—S.W.

Goat-weed. Polygonum Convolvulus, L., Black Bindweed.—N.W.

*Gob. (1) n. Much chatter (S.).—S.W. (2) v. To talk.—S.W.

*Goche. A pitcher (H.Wr.). Perhaps a mistake, as Morton (Cycl. of Agric.) gives gotch under Norfolk.

[67]

Gog, Goggmire. A swamp or quagmire. Cf. Quavin-gog. 'I be all in a goggmire,' in a regular fix or dilemma.—N.W.

'In Minty Common ... is a boggie place, called the Gogges.... Footnote. Perhaps a corruption of quag, itself a corruption of quake. "I be all in a goggmire" is a North Wilts phrase for being in what appears an inextricable difficulty.'—Jackson's Aubrey, p. 271.

Goggle. (1) n. A snail-shell. Cf. E. cockle (Skeat).—N.W.

'Guggles, the empty shells of snails—not the large brown kind, but those of various colours.'—Miss E. Boyer-Brown.

(2) v. 'To go goggling,' to collect snail-shells (Springtide, p. 89).—N.W. (3) v. To shake or tremble, as a table with one leg shorter than the others. 'I do trembly an' goggly ael day.'—N. & S.W. (4) n. 'All of a goggle,' shaking all over, especially from physical weakness. 'How are you to-day, Sally?' 'Lor', Zur! I be aal of a goggle.' 'What on earth do you mean?' 'Why, I be zo ter'ble giggly, I can't scarce kip my lags nohow.'—S.W. (Steeple Ashton.)

Goggles. A disease in sheep (Agric. of Wilts, ch. xiv).—N.W. (Castle Eaton.)

Goggly. Unsteady, shaky. Sometimes Giggly is used, as in example given under Goggle.—N. & S.W.

Goggmire. See Gog.

Gold. Nodules of iron pyrites in chalk.—N.W. Heard once or twice, near Clyffe Pypard, years ago.—G. E. D.

'On past the steep wall of an ancient chalk-quarry, where the ploughboys search for pyrites, and call them thunderbolts and "gold," for when broken the radial metallic fibres glisten yellow.'—Greene Ferne Farm, ch. v.

Gold-cup (pronounced Gawl-cup). The various forms of Buttercup. Cf. Gilcup.—N.W. (Malmesbury.)

Golden Chain. (1) Laburnum (S.). The general name for it in Wilts.—N. & S.W. (2) Lathyrus pratensis, L., Meadow Vetchling.—S.W. (Salisbury.)

Goldlock. Sinapis arvensis, L., Charlock.—S.W. (Zeals.)

[68]

Go-now, Genow, Good-now. Used as an expletive, or an address to a person (S.). 'What do 'ee thenk o' that, genow!' Also used in Dorset.—N. & S.W.

Gooding Day. St. Thomas' Day, when children go 'gooding,' or asking for Christmas boxes.—N.W.

*Good Neighbour. Jefferies (Village Miners) speaks of a weed called by this name, but does not identify it. See below.

Good Neighbourhood. (1) Chenopodium Bonus-Henricus, L., Good King Henry.—N.W. (Devizes.) (2) Centranthus ruber, DC., Red Spur Valerian (English Plant Names).—N.W. (Devizes.)

Good-now. See Go-now (S.). Used at Downton, &c.—S.W.

Gooseberry-pie. Valeriana dioica, L., All-heal.—S.W.

Goosegog. A green gooseberry (S.). Used by children.—N. & S.W.

Goosehill. See Guzzle.

*Goosen-chick. A gosling (Wr.). *Goosen-chick's vather. A gander (Wr.). Both these words would appear to belong to Som. and Dev. rather than Wilts.

Goosey-gander. A game played by children (S.).—N. & S.W.

Goosey-ganders. Orchis mascula, L., Early Purple Orchis.—N.W.

*Gore. A triangular piece of ground (D.).

Goslings. Orchis mascula, L., Early Purple Orchis. See Gandigoslings.—N.W.

Goss. Ononis arvensis, L., Restharrow. Gorse, Ulex, is always 'Fuzz.'—N.W.

Gossiping. A christening.—N.W., obsolete.

*Gotfer. An old man (H.Wr.). *Gatfer is still in use about Malmesbury.—N.W.

Grab-hook. A kind of grapnel used for recovering lost buckets from a well.

Graft. (1) A draining spade.—N.W. (2) The depth of earth dug therewith.—N.W.

[69]

Grained. Dirty (A.H.Wr.); Grainted (B.); the latter being a mispronunciation.—N.W.

Grains. The tines of a gardening fork, as 'a four-grained prong.'—N. & S.W.

Gramfer. Grandfather (A.B.). Granfer (S.) and Gramp are also used.—N. & S.W.

Grammer. Grandmother (A.B.S.).—N. & S.W. Becoming obsolete.

Grammered in. Of dirt, so grained in, that it is almost impossible to wash it off. Grammered: Begrimed (H.).—N.W.

*Grampha-Griddle-Goosey-Gander. Orchis mascula, L., Early Purple Orchis (Sarum Dioc. Gazette).—S.W. (Zeals.)

*Granfer-goslings. Orchis maculata, L., Spotted Orchis (Village Miners).—N.W.

*Granny-jump-out-of-bed. Aconitum Napellus, L., Monks-hood.—S.W. (Deverill.)

Granny (or Granny's) Nightcap. (1) Anemone nemorosa, L., Wood Anemone.—S.W. (Salisbury.) (2) Aquilegia vulgaris, L., Common Columbine.—N.W. (Huish.) (3) Convolvulus sepium, L., Great Bindweed.—N.W. (4) Convolvulus arvensis, L., Field Bindweed.—N.W.

*Grate. Earth (D.).

*Grate-board. The mould-board of a plough (D.).

*Gratings. The right of feed in the stubbles (D.). See Gretton.

Gravel-Path, The. The Milky Way.—N.W. (Huish.)

*Gray Woodpecker. Picus major, the Great Spotted Woodpecker (Birds of Wilts, p. 253). See Black Woodpecker.

Great axe. The large English woodman's axe (Amateur Poacher, ch. iv).

Greggles, or Greygles. Scilla nutans, Sm., Wild Hyacinth. Cf. Blue Goggles.—S.W.

*Gretton. Stubble (Aubrey's Wilts MS.) See Gratings.

[70]

Greybeard. Clematis Vitalba, L., Traveller's Joy, when in seed.—N.W.

Greygles. See Greggles.

Griggles. Small worthless apples remaining on the tree after the crop has been gathered in.—N.W.

Griggling. Knocking down the 'griggles,' as boys are allowed by custom to do.—N.W.

Grindstone Apple. The crab-apple; used to sharpen reap-hooks, its acid biting into the steel. The 'Grindstone Apple' mentioned in the Eulogy of R. Jefferies, p. iv. is probably the 'Grindstone Pippin' of Wood Magic, not the crab.—N.W.

Grip, or Gripe. (1) To grip wheat is to divide it into bundles before making up the sheaves.—N.W. (2) n. 'A grip of wheat,' the handful grasped in reaping (A.). It is laid down in gripe when laid ready in handfuls untied (D.).—N.W. (3) v. To drain with covered turf or stone drains, as opposed to frith. To take up gripe, is to make such drains (D.).—S.W.

Grist, Griz. To snarl and show the teeth, as an angry dog or man (A.H.Wr.).—N.W.

Grizzle. To grumble, complain, whine, cry.—N. & S.W.

*Grom. A forked stick used by thatchers for carrying the bundles of straw up to the roof (A.B.G.).

*Gropsing. 'The gropsing of the evening,' dusk.—Obsolete.

'Both came unto the sayd Tryvatt's howse in the gropsing of the yevening.'—Wilts Arch. Mag. xxii. 227.

Ground. A field.—N.W.

'A whirlewind took him up ... and layd him down safe, without any hurt, in the next ground.'—Aubrey's Nat. Hist. Wilts p. 16, ed. Brit.

*Ground-sill stone. Quarrymen's term for one of the beds of the Portland oolite—useful for bridges, &c., where great strength is required (Britton's Beauties, vol. iii).

Ground-rest. The wood supporting the share, in the old wooden plough (D.). Rest is a mistake for wrest (Skeat).—N.W.

[71]

Grout. (1) v. To root like a hog.—N.W. (2) v. Hence, to rummage about.—N.W.

Grouty. adj. Of the sky, thundery, threatening rain. It looks 'ter'ble grouty' in summer when thunder clouds are coming up.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Grump. 'To grump about,' to complain of all sorts of ailments.—N.W.

*Grupper. To give up (Wr.). There would appear to be some mistake here, as we cannot trace the word elsewhere.

*Gubbarn. n. A filthy place, a foul gutter or drain (A.H.Wr.), Gubborn (B.). Should not this be adj. instead of n.? Compare Devon gubbings, offal, refuse.

Guggles. See Goggles.

Guinea-pigs, Pigs. Woodlice. See Butchers'-Guinea-Pigs.—N. & S.W.

*Gule. To sneer or make mouths at (A.). Also used in Hereford.

Guley, Guly. adj. (1) Of sheep, giddy, suffering from a disease in the head which affects the brain and causes a kind of vertigo.—N.W. (2) Of persons, queer, stupid, or silly-looking. Compare Guled, bewildered, Berks. After being very drunk over-night, a man looks 'ter'ble guley' in the morning.—N.W.

Gullet-hole. A large drain-hole through a hedge-bank to carry off water.—N.W.

*Gurgeons. Coarse flour (A.).

Gushill. See Guzzle.

Guss. (1) n. The girth of a saddle (A.B.).—N.W. (2) v. To girth; to tie tightly round the middle. A bundle of hay should be 'gussed up tight.' A badly dressed fat woman 'looks vor aal the world like a zack o' whate a-gussed in wi' a rawp.'—N.W.

Gustrill. See Guzzle.

Gutter. To drain land with open drains (D.).—N.W.

[72]

Guzzle. (1) The filth of a drain (B.). (2) A filthy drain (A.B.). Goosehill (Wr.), Gushill (K.), and Gustrill (H.Wr.), the latter being probably a misprint.—N.W.

Guzzle-berry. Gooseberry. Used by children.—N. & S.W.

H. It should be noted that the cockney misuse of H is essentially foreign to our dialect. Formerly it was the rarest thing in the world to hear a true Wiltshire rustic make such a slip, though the townsfolk were by no means blameless in this respect, but now the spread of education and the increased facilities of communication have tainted even our rural speech with cockneyisms and slang phrases.

Hack. (1) v. To loosen the earth round potatoes, preparatory to earthing them up. This is done with a 'tater-hacker,' an old three-grained garden-fork, which by bending down the tines or 'grains' at right angles to the handle has been converted into something resembling a rake, but used as a hoe. In Dorset hoeing is called hacking.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.) *(2) n. The shed in which newly-made bricks are set out to dry.—N.W. (Malmesbury.)

*Hacka. n. A nervous hesitation in speaking (Village Miners).—N.W.

'He speaks with so many hacks and hesitations.'—Dr. H. More.

Hacker. (1) v. See Hakker. (2) n. The instrument used in 'hacking' potatoes; also known as a Tomahawk.—N.W.

Hacketty. See Hicketty.

Hackle. *(1) n. The mane of a hog (A.H.Wr.). (2) n. The straw covering of a bee-hive or of the apex of a rick (A.).—N.W. *(3) To agree together (A.). (4) To rattle or re-echo.—N.W.

Hagged. Haggard, worn out, exhausted-looking. 'He came in quite hagged.' 'Her 've a had a lot to contend wi' to-year, and her 's hagged to death wi't aal.'—N. & S.W.

Hagger. See Hakker.

[73]

Haggle. To cut clumsily. See Agg.—N.W.

'They took out their knives and haggled the skin off.'—Bevis, ch. vii.

Hag-rod. Bewitched, hag-ridden, afflicted with nightmare. *Haig-raig, bewildered (S.).—S.W.

Hail. The beard of barley. See Aile, which is the more correct form (Smythe-Palmer).—N. & S.W.

'The black knots on the delicate barley straw were beginning to be topped with the hail.'—Round about a Great Estate, ch. i. p. 8.

Hain, Hain up. v. To reserve a field of grass for mowing (A.B.D.).—N.W. Treated as a noun by Akerman.

'Three acres of grass ... to be hayned by the farmer at Candlemas and carried by the Vicar at Lammas.'—Hilmarton Parish Terrier, 1704.

Haito. A horse; used by mothers and nurses concurrently with Gee-gee. A contraction of Hait-wo, the order to a horse to go to the left. Highty is similarly used in N. of England.—N. & S.W.

Hait-wo. See above.

Hakker, Hacker. To tremble (S.), as with passion (A.), cold, or ague. Hagger. To chatter with cold (H.Wr.).—N. & S.W.

'Bless m' zoul, if I dwon't think our maester's got the ager! How a hackers an bivers, to be zhure!'—Wilts Tales, p. 55.

Half-baked, or Half-saved. Half-witted.—N. & S.W.

*Hallantide. All Saints' Day (B.).

Hallege, Harrige. n. The latter seems to be the original form of the word, and is still occasionally heard; but for at least seventy years it has been more commonly pronounced as hallege, l and r having been interchanged. We have met with it at Clyffe Pypard, Bromham, Huish, and elsewhere in N. Wilts; but, so far as we know, it is not used in S. Wilts. Havage=disturbance, which the Rev. S. Baring-Gould heard once in Cornwall, and made use of in his fine West-Country romance, John Herring, ch. xxxix, is doubtless a variant of the same word. (1) Of persons, a crowd; also, contemptuously, a low rabble. 'Be you a-gwain down to zee what they be a-doing at the Veast?' 'No, I bean't a-gwain amang such a hallege as that!'—N.W. (2) Of things, confusion, disorder. Were a load of top and lop, intended to be cut up for firewood, shot down clumsily in a yard gateway, it would be said, 'What a hallege you've a-got there, blocking up the way!—N.W. (3) Hence, it sometimes appears to mean rubbish, as when it is applied to the mess and litter of small broken twigs and chips left on the ground after a tree has been cut and carried.—N.W. (4) It is also occasionally used of a disturbance of some sort, as 'What a hallege!' what a row!—N.W.

[74]

Ham. (1) A narrow strip of ground by a river, as Mill-ham (A.D.). (2) See Haulm (S.).

Hames. Pieces of wood attached to a horse's collar in drawing (A.D.).—N. & S.W.

Hanch (a broad). Of a cow or bull, to thrust with the horns, whether in play or earnest.—N.W.

Hand. (1) n. Corn has 'a good hand' when it is dry and slippery in the sack, 'a bad hand' when it is damp and rough (D.).—N.W. (2) v. To act as a second in a fight.—N.W. (3) v. 'To have hands with anything,' to have anything to do with it. 'I shan't hae no hands wi't.—N.W. See Hank.

Hand-box. See Box.

Hander. The second to a pugilist (A.). See Hand (2).—N.W.

Handin'-post. A sign-post.—N.W.

Hand-staff. The part of the 'drashell' which is held in the hand.

Hand-wrist. The wrist.—N.W.

Handy. Near to, as 'handy home,' 'handy ten o'clock' (A.B.M.S.). 'A gied un vower days' work, or handy.'—N. & S.W.

Hang. 'To hang up a field,' to take the cattle off it, and give it a long rest, so as to freshen up the pasture.—N.W.

Hang-fair. A public execution, as 'Hang-fair at 'Vize,' formerly treated as a great holiday.—N.W., obsolete. The Pleasure Fair at Warminster on August 11 is known as 'Hang-Fair,' perhaps from the hanging of two murderers there on that day in 1813. See Wilts Notes and Queries, i. 40, 139.

[75]

Hang-gallows. A gallows-bird (S.).—N. & S.W.

'"Where's the money I put in th' zack, you hang-gallus?" roared Mr. Twink.'—Wilts Tales, p. 55.

Hanging. (1) The steep wooded slope of a hill.—N. & S.W. (2) A hillside field (S.).—S.W.

Hanging Geranium. Saxifraga sarmentosa, L.; from the way in which it is usually suspended in a cottage window; also known as Strawberry Geranium, from its strawberry-like runners.—S.W.

Hanging-post. The hinder upright timber of a gate, by which it is hung to its post. Frequently heard, although Har is much more commonly used.—N.W. (Huish, &c.)

Hanglers. The hooks by which pots and kettles are suspended over open fireplaces in old cottages and farm-houses. See Coglers.—N.W.

*Hank. Dealings with (S.). 'I won't ha' no hank wi' un,' will have nothing at all to do with him. Cf. Hand (3).—S.W.

*Hants-sheep, Hants-horses. See quotation.

'They were called [in Wilts] hants sheep; they were a sort of sheep that never shelled their teeth, but always had their lambs-teeth without shedding them, and thrusting out two broader in their room every year.... There were such a sort of horses called hants horses, that always showed themselves to be six years old.'—Lisle's Husbandry, 1757.

Happer-down. To come down smartly, to rattle down, as hail, or leaves in autumn.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Haps. (1) n. A hasp (A.B.).—N. & S.W. (2) v. To hasp, to fasten up a door or box (A.B.)—N. & S.W.

Har. The hinder upright timber of a gate, by which it is hung to its post. A.S. heorre, M.E. herre, the hinge of a door. See Head and Hanging-post.—N.W. (Marlborough; Huish; Clyffe Pypard.)

'We wants some more heads and hars cut out.' Carpenters about Marlborough usually reduce the word to a single letter in making up their accounts, as 'To a new R to Cow-lease gate, &c.'—Rev. C. Soames.

[76]

Hardhead. Centaurea nigra, L., Black Knapweed.—N. & S.W.

Harl. (1) v. To thrust a dead rabbit's hind-foot through a slit in the other leg, so as to form a loop to hang it up or carry it by (Gamekeeper at Home, ch. ii). Hardle in Dorset.—N. & S.W. (2) v. To entangle (C.). Harl, knotted (A.S.), is a mistake for harled.—N. & S.W. (3) n. An entanglement (B.C.). 'The thread be aal in a harl.' A knot (Aubrey's Nat. Hist. Wilts, p. 51, ed. Brit.)—N. & S.W. *(4) Of oats, well-harled is well-eared (D).

Harrige. See Hallege.

*Harrows. The longitudinal bars of a harrow (D.).

Harvest-trow. The shrew-mouse (Wild Life, ch. ix); Harvest-row (A.H.Wr.)—N.W.

*Hask. A husky cough to which cows are subject (Lisle's Husbandry). See Husk.

Hatch. (1) n. A 'wallow,' or line of raked-up hay.—N.W. (2) v. 'To hatch up,' to rake hay into hatches.—N.W. (3) n. A half-door (A.B.C.). 'Barn-hatch,' a low board put across the door, over which you must step to enter.—N.W.

Haulm, Ham, Haam, Helm. A stalk of any vegetable (A.B.), especially potatoes and peas.—N. & S.W.

Haycock. A much larger heap of hay than a 'foot-cock.'—N. & S.W.

*Hayes. A piece of ground enclosed with a live hedge; used as a termination, as Calf-Hayes (D.). A.S. hege (Skeat).

Hay-home. See quotation.

'It was the last day of the hay-harvest—it was "hay-home" that night.'—R. Jefferies, A True Tale of the Wiltshire Labourer.

[77]

Hay-making. Grass as it is mown lies in swathe (N. & S.W.); then it is turned (S.W.), preparatory to being tedded (N. & S.W.), or spread; then raked up into lines called hatches (N.W.), which may be either single hatch or double hatch, and are known in some parts as wallows (N.W.); next spread and hatched up again, and put up in small foot-cocks, cocks (N.W.), or pooks (N. & S.W.); finally, after being thrown about again, it is waked up into long wakes (N.W.), or rollers (S.W.), and if not made temporarily into summer-ricks (N.W.), is then carried. No wonder that John Burroughs (Fresh Fields, p. 55) remarks that in England hay 'is usually nearly worn out with handling before they get it into the rick.' Almost every part of the county has its own set of terms. Thus about Warminster meadow-hay is (1) turned, (2) spread or tedded, (3) put in rollers, (4) pooked; while at Clyffe Pypard it is tedded, hatched, waked and cocked, and at Huish waked and pooked. Roller is pronounced as if it rhymed with collar. Hay is 'put in rollers,' or 'rollered up.'

Hazon (a broad). To scold or threaten (A.B.C.H.Wr.). 'Now dwoan't 'ee hazon the child for 't.'—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Head. The front upright timber of a gate. See Har and Falling-post.—N.W. (Marlborough; Huish; Clyffe Pypard.)

Headland. (1) adj. Headlong, as to 'fall headland' or 'neck-headland.'—N.W. (2) The strip where the plough turns at bottom and top of a field, which must either be ploughed again at right angles to the rest, or dug over with the spade; generally called the Headlong by labourers in S. Wilts.

Headlong. See Headland.

Heal, Hele. Of seeds, to cover or earth over (D.); Heeld, Yeeld (Great Estate, ch. viii). When the ground is dry and hard, and the wheat when sown does not sink in and get covered up at once, it is said not to heal well, and requires harrowing.—N.W.

Heartless. 'A heartless day' is a wet day with a strong south-west wind.—S.W.

Heater (pronounced Hetter). A flat iron (S.).—N. & S.W.

Heave, Eve. Of hearthstones, &c., to sweat or become damp on the surface in dry weather, a sign of coming change and wet. Eave, to sweat (S.).—N. & S.W.

Heavy (pronounced Heevy). Of weather, damp. See Heave.—N.W.

Heaver. Part of the old-fashioned winnowing tackle.—N.W.

*He-body. A woman of masculine appearance.—S.W. (Deverill.)

[78]

*Hecth. Height (A.).

Hedge-carpenter. A professional maker and repairer of rail fences, &c. (Gamekeeper at Home, ch. iii).—N.W.

Hedge-hog. The prickly seed-vessel of Ranunculus arvensis, L., Corn Buttercup (Great Estate, ch. vii).—N.W.

Hedge-peg. The fruit of the Sloe, q.v. Cf. Eggs-eggs.—N.W. (Marlborough.)

Hedge-pick, Hedge-speäk. See Sloe.—N.W.

Heeld. See Heal.

Heft. (1) n. The weight of anything as poised in the hand (A.B.C.M.S.).—N. & S.W. (2) v. To weigh or test weight in the hand (A.B.), to lift.—N. & S.W.

Hele, Heel, Hill. (1) To pour out (A.B.H.Wr.), to serve out or dispense.—S.W. (2) See Heal.

Hellocky. See Hullocky.

Helm (1) See Elm. (2) See Haulm.

Helyer. A tiler. An old word, but still in use.—N.W.

Hen-and-Chicken. (1) Saxifraga umbrosa, L., London Pride.—N.W. (2) Saxifraga sarmentosa, L., from its mode of growth.—N.W.

Henge. See Hinge.

Hen-hussey. A meddlesome woman.—N.W.

Here and there one. 'I wur mortal bad aal the way [by sea] and as sick as here and there one.'—N. & S.W.

*Herence. Hence (A.B.).

Hereright. (1) Of time: on the spot, immediately (A.B.), the only use in N.W. (2) Of place: this very spot (S.).—S.W. (3) Hence (A.), probably a mistake.

Hesk. See Husk.

Het. 'A main het o' coughing,' a fit of coughing.—S.W.

Hetter. See Heater (S.).

He-woman. The same as He-body.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard, &c.)

Hicketty. Hacking, as a cough.—S.W. Hacketty.—N.W.

[79]

Hidlock. 'In hidlock,' in concealment. Akerman, by some mistake, treats this as verb instead of noun. 'Her kep' it in hidlock aal this time.'—N.W.

Hike. To hook or catch. 'I hiked my foot in a root.' See Hook and Uck.—N.W.

Hike off. To decamp hastily, to slink off (A.B.C.S.); mostly used in a bad sense.—N. & S.W.

Hile. See Hyle.

Hill. See Heal.

Hill-trot. Apparently a corruption of Eltrot. (1) Heracleum Sphondylium, L., Cow-parsnip. *(2) Oenanthe crocata, L., Water Hemlock.—S.W. (Charlton and Barford.)

Hilp. Fruit of the sloe.—N.W.

Hilp-wine. Sloe-wine.—N.W.

Hilt. A young sow kept for breeding (A.).—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Hinge, Henge. The heart, liver, and lungs of a sheep or pig (A.). In some parts of S. Wilts used only of the latter.—N. & S.W.

Hinted Harvested, secured in barn (D.). 'Never zeed a better crop o' wheat, if so be could be hinted well.' A.S. hentan, to seize on, to secure.—N.W.

Hit. (1) To bear a good crop, to succeed: as 'Th' apples hit well t' year.' Treated by Akerman as a noun instead of a verb.—N.W. (2) v. To pour out or throw out. 'You ought to het a quart o' drenk into 'ee.' 'Hit it out on the garden patch.'—N.W.

Hitchland. See Hookland.

Hitter. A cow which is ill and appears likely to die is said to be 'going off a hitter.'—N.W.

Hittery. Of cows: suffering from looseness, ill.—N.W.

Hobby. Yunx torquilla, the Wryneck.—S.W. (Bishopstone.).

*Hob-lantern. Will-o'-the-Wisp (A.B.).

[80]

Hock about. To treat a thing carelessly; drag it through the mud. 'Now dwoan't 'ee gwo a-hocken on your new vrock about.'—N.W. The usual form in S. Wilts is Hack-about.

Hocks. (1) To cut in an unworkmanlike manner (A.). (2) To trample earth into a muddy, untidy condition.—N.W.

Hocksy, Hoxy. Dirty, muddy, miry.—N.W.

'It's about two miles in vine weather; but when it's hocksey like this, we allows a mile vor zlippin' back!'—Wilts Tales, p. 179.

*Hodmandod, Hodmedod. adj. Short and clumsy (B.).

Hodmedod. (1) n. A snail.—N.W. (Mildenhall.) *(2) Short and clumsy (B.). See Hodmandod.

Ho for. (1) To provide for. See Howed for.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard; Malmesbury.) (2) To desire, to long for. 'I did hankeran' ho a'ter 'ee zo.'—N.W. (Malmesbury.)

Hog. (1) n. Originally a castrated animal, as a hog pig (D.). (2) Now extended to any animal of a year old, as a chilver hog sheep (D.).

'We have wether hogs, and chilver hogs, and shear hogs ... the word hog is now applied to any animal of a year old, such as a hog bull, a chilver hog sheep.'—Wilts Arch. Mag. xvii 303.

'1580 ... Una ovis vocata a hogge.'—Scrope's History of Castle Combe.

(3) To cut a mane or hedge short (D.), so that the stumps stick up like bristles (Village Miners).—N. & S.W.

Hogo. (Fr. haut goût). A bad smell (Monthly Mag. 1814). Still frequently used of tainted meat or strong cheese.—N. & S.W.

*Hollardy-day. The 3rd of May. Apparently a perversion of 'Holy Rood Day.'—N.W. (Malmesbury.)

Home, to be called. To have the banns of marriage published.—S.W.

'They tells I as 'ow Bet Stingymir is gwain to be caal'd whoam to Jim Spritely on Zundy.'—Slow.

Honesty. Clematis Vitalba, L., Traveller's Joy, occasionally. *Maiden's Honesty (Aubrey's Wilts MS.).—N.W.

Honey-bottle. (1) Heather. (2) Furze. It is not clear which is intended in Great Estate, ch. i.

[81]

*Honey-plant. Some old-fashioned sweet-scented plant, perhaps the dark Sweet Scabious, which used to be known as 'Honey-flower' in some counties.

'In the garden, which was full of old-fashioned shrubs and herbs, she watched the bees busy at the sweet-scented "honey-plant."'—Great Estate, ch. ii.

Also see Reproach of Annesley, vol. i. p. 119, for Hants use of the name:—

'Sibyl bent over a honey plant encrusted with pink-scented blossoms, about which the bees ... were humming—an old-fashioned cottage plant.'

Honey-suckle. (1) Lamium album, L., White Dead Nettle, sucked by children for its honey.—S.W. (Salisbury.) (2) Also applied to both Red and White Clover, Trifolium pratense and T. repens.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Hook. Of a bull, to gore (S.). See Uck.—N. & S.W.

'Compare huck, to push, lift, gore, Hants; and Prov. hike, to toss.'—Smythe-Palmer.

Hookland (or Hitchland) Field. A portion of the best land in a common field, reserved for vetches, potatoes, &c., instead of lying fallow for two years (Agric. of Wilts, ch. vii). Parts of some fields are still known as Hooklands in S. Wilts, though the system has died out. Sometimes defined as 'land tilled every year.'—N. & S.W.

Hoop. Pyrrhula vulgaris, the Bullfinch (A.B.); also Red Hoop.—N.W.

Hoops, or Waggon-Hoops. The woodwork projecting from the sides of a waggon so as to form an arch over the hind wheels.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Hooset. See Housset.

Hop-about. An apple dumpling (B.C.), probably from its bobbing about in the pot. Cf. Apple-bout.—N.W.

Hopper. A grig (Amateur Poacher, ch. i).

Horse-daisy. Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, L., Ox-eye Daisy.—N. & S.W.

[82]

*Horse-Matcher. Saxicola rubicola, the Stonechat (Birds of Wilts, p. 150).

'Horse-matchers or stonechats also in summer often visit the rick-yard.'—Wild Life, ch. x. p. 159.

Horses. In N. Wilts the orders given to a plough or team are as follows:—to the front horse, Coom ether, go to the left, and Wowt, to the right: to the hinder horse, Wo-oot, to the right, and Gie aay or Gie aay oot, to the left. The orders to oxen are somewhat different.

Horse-shoe. Acer Pseudo-platanus, L., Sycamore.—S.W. (Barford St. Martin.)

*Horse's-leg. A bassoon.

Horse-Snatcher. Saxicola oenanthe, the Wheatear (Birds of Wilts, p. 152).—N.W. (Huish, &c.)

Horse-stinger, Hosstenger. The Dragon-fly (A.B.S.).—N. & S.W.

Hound. The fore-carriage of a waggon.—N.W.

House, Houst. To grow stout. 'Lor, ma'am, how you've a-housted!'—N.W.

Housset, Hooset, Wooset. (1) n. A serenade of rough music, got up to express public disapproval of marriages where there is great disparity of age, flagrant immorality, &c. See article on The Wooset in Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. i. p. 88; cp. N. & Q. 4 Ser. xi. p. 225. In Berks the 'Hooset' is a draped horse's head, carried at a 'Hooset Hunt.' See Lowsley's Berks Gloss.—N.W. (2) v. To take part in a housset.—N.W.

*Howe. n. 'To be in a howe,' to be in a state of anxiety about anything (C.). See Ho for.—N.W., obsolete.

*Howed-for. Well provided for, taken care of (A.B.C.H.Wr.).

Huckmuck. (1) A strainer placed before the faucet in brewing (A.B.H.Wr.).—N.W. (2) Parus caudatus, the Long-tailed Titmouse (Birds of Wilts, p. 173).—N. & S.W. (3) General untidiness and confusion, as at a spring-cleaning. A very dirty untidy old woman is 'a reg'lar huckmuck.'—N.W.

[83]

Hucks, Husks. (1) The chaff of oats (Village Miners).—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.) (2) Grains of wheat which have the chaff still adhering to them after threshing, and are only fit for feeding poultry.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Hud. (1) n. The husk of a walnut, skin of a gooseberry, shell of a pea or bean, &c.—N. & S.W. (2) v. To take off the husk of certain fruits and vegetables. Beans are hudded and peas shelled for cooking.—N.W. (3) A finger-stall or finger of a glove (S.). Also Huddick (S.).—N. & S.W. (4) A lump or clod of earth.—N.W. Cf. Hut.

Huddy, Oddy. Of soil, full of lumps and clods.—N.W.

*Hudgy. Clumsy, thick (A.B.C.H.Wr.).

Hudmedud. (1) n. A scarecrow (A.). In common use in N. Wilts.

'Mester Cullum i sends you back your saddell koz its such a cusnashun rum looking hudmedud of a theng that pipl woll no it direckly.'—Wilts Tales, p. 79.

'"That nimity-pimity odd-me-dod!"... Little contemptible scarecrow.'—Greene Ferne Farm, ch. iii.

*(2) adj. Short and clumsy (B.). See Hodmedod.

Hullocky! 'Hullo! look here!' exclamation denoting surprise, or calling attention to anything (S.). This is usually pronounced Hellucky, and is a contraction of 'Here look ye!' Also Yellucks.—N. & S.W.

'"Now which way is it?"... "Yellucks," said the boy, meaning "Look here."'—Greene Ferne Farm, ch. v.

'"This be the vinest veast ... as ever I zeed.... Yellucks!"—as much as to say, Look here, that is my dictum.'—Ibid. ch. xi.

Humbug. A sweet or lollipop.—N.W.

Humbuz. A cockchafer.—N.W.

*Humdaw. To speak hesitatingly (Village Miners).

Humming-bird. Regulus cristatus, the Golden-crested Wren.—N.W. (Huish.)

'We always calls 'em humming-birds here, and they are humming-birds!' said the school-children at Huish, in the most decided manner, when cross-examined as to the Gold-crest. Apparently the[84] same use obtains in Devon, as Martin speaks of the 'humming-bird' as occurring in certain localities about Tavistock, which are assigned to the Gold-crest by other writers. See Mrs. Bray's Description of Devon, 1836, vol. ii. p. 146.

*Hummocksing. Clumsy, awkward, loutish.

'She had a lover, but he was "a gurt hummocksing noon-naw" ... a "great loose-jointed idiot."'—Great Estate, ch. iv.

Humstrum. A home-made fiddle (S.). Sometimes applied also to a large kind of Jew's-harp.—S.W.

Hunch about. To push or shove about.—S.W.

*Hunder-stones. Thunder-bolts (Aubrey's Wilts, Roy. Soc. MS.). Probably either belemnites, or else the concretionary nodules of iron pyrites, called 'thunder-bolts' by the labourers, are here intended. See Thunder-stones.

Hunked. See Unked (A.H.).

Hurdle-footed. Club-footed.—S.W.

Hurdle-shore. The same as Fold-shore.—S.W.

Hurkle. To crowd together, as round the fire in cold weather. An old form of hurtle.

'Hurtelyn, as too thyngys togedur (al. hurcolyn, hurchyn togeder). Impingo, collido.'—Prompt. Parv. c. 1440 (Smythe-Palmer).

Husk, Hesk. A disease of the throat, often fatal to calves. See Hask.—N.W.

Husks. See Hucks.

Hut. A lump of earth.—N.W. See Hud (4).

Hutty. Lumpy, as ground that does not break up well.—N.W.

Hyle, Hile, Aisle, &c. (1) n. A shock or cock of wheat, consisting of several sheaves set up together for carrying. The number of sheaves was formerly ten, for the tithing man's convenience, but now varies considerably, according to the crop. Tithing in N.W. Hile-a-whate (S.) The forms given by Davis, aisle, aile, and isle, seem purely fanciful, as also does the derivation there suggested, a hyle being merely a single shock. In some parts of Wilts the shape and size of a hyle will depend largely on the weather at harvest-time. Thus in a stormy season it will usually be built compact and round, while in a calm one it may sometimes form a line several yards in length.—S.W.

[85]

''Tis merry while the wheat's in hile.'—Barnes, Poems.

(2) v. To make up into hyles. Wheat and rye are always hyled, and oats usually so, about Salisbury.—S.W.

Ichila-pea. The Missel-thrush: only heard from one person, but perhaps an old name.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Iles. See Ailes.

Imitate. To resemble. 'The childern be immitatin' o' their vather about the nause.' Participle only so used.—N.W.

In-a-most. Almost.—N. & S.W.

'It inamwoast killed our bwoy Sam.'—Wilts Tales, p. 145.

Innocent. Small, neat, unobtrusive, as 'a innocent little primrose.' Virtually restricted to flowers.—N.W.

Iron Pear. Pyrus Aria, L., White Beam.—N.W. (Heddington, &c.) Iron-Pear-Tree Farm, near Devizes, is said to take its name from this tree.

*Isnet. Alkanet bugloss (D.).

*Ivors. Hanging woods (Slow).—S.W. There would appear to be some misunderstanding here. The word may refer to the coverts on the hillside above Longbridge Deverill, which are known as The Ivors, the farm below being Long Ivor Farm. At Wroughton a field is called 'The Ivory,' but this is perhaps a family name.

Izzard. The letter Z (A.S.). Still in use in S.W.

*Jack. A newt.—N.W. (Swindon.)

Jack, Jack Ern. Ardea cinerea, the Heron (Birds of Wilts, p. 395).—N.W. Also Moll 'ern.

Jack-and-his-team. The Great Bear.—N.W. (Huish.) See Dick-and-his-team.

Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon. Tragopogon pratensis, L., Goat's Beard.—N. & S.W.

[86]

Jack-in-the-green. (1) Adonis autumnalis, L., Pheasant's-eye.—S.W. (2) The hose-in-hose variety of Polyanthus.—N. & S.W.

Jack-run-along-by-the-hedge. Alliaria officinalis, Andrzj., Hedge Mustard.

Jacky-Dinah. Sylvia sylvicola, the Wood Warbler.—S.W. (Bishopstone.)

Jacob's-ladder. Polygonatum multiflorum, All., Solomon's Seal.—S.W. (Farley, &c.)

Jag. The awn and head of the oat. Oats are spoken of as 'well-jagged,' 'having a good jag,' 'coming out in jag,' &c.—N.W.

'The despised oats were coming out in jag ... in jag means the spray-like drooping awn of the oat.'—Round about a Great Estate, ch. i. p. 8.

Jan-Chider. See Johnny Chider.

Jarl. To quarrel, to 'have words.'—N.W.

Jaw-bit. Food carried out in the fields by labourers, to be eaten about 10 or 11 o'clock.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Jee. See Gee.

Jew-berry. Rubus caesius, L., Dewberry; a corruption of the proper name (Wild Life, ch. xi).—N. & S.W.

Jibbets. Small pieces. 'You never did see such a slut! her gownd a-hangin' in dirty jibbets [rags] aal about her heels!'—N. & S.W.

*Jiffle. At Bishopston, N. Wilts, an old bell-ringer was recently heard to accuse the younger men of having got into a regular 'jiffle' (? confusion) while ringing. We have not met with the word elsewhere, but Hal. and Wright have jiffle, to be restless, var. dial.

Jiggery-poke. Hocus-pocus. Jiggery-pokery. Unfair dealing (S.): deception.—N. & S.W.

Jigget. v. To ride or walk at a jog-trot. 'Here we go a jiggettin' along.'—N. & S.W.

Jiggetty. adj. (1) Jolty, shaky. 'This be a ter'ble jiggetty train.'—N.W. *(2) Fidgetty (S.).—S.W.

[87]

Jimmy, Sheep's Jimmy. A sheep's head (S.).—N. & S.W.

*Jimmy-swiver. n. A state of trembling. Apparently connected with whiver or swiver.—N.W.

'"Lor, Miss, how you did froughten I! I be all of a jimmy-swiver," and she visibly trembled, which was what she meant.'—Greene Ferne Farm, ch. vii.

*Jitch, Jitchy. Such.—N.W. (Malmesbury.)

Jobbet. A small load (A.).—N.W.

*Jod. The letter J (A.S.).

Johnny Chider, Chan-chider. The Sedge Warbler, Salicaria phragmitis. So called 'because it scolds so.'—S.W. Jan Chider (S.).

Jolter-headed. Wrong-headed; used generally of a jealous spouse. 'Her wur allus a jolter-headed 'ooman.'—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Jonnick. Honest, fair, straightforward in dealings (S.).—N. & S.W.

Joseph-and-Mary. Pulmonaria officinalis, L., Common Lung-wort, the flowers being of two colours, red and blue.—N.W.

Joy-bird. The Jay, Garrulus glandarius. The name commonly used in N. Wilts for the Jay. Fr. geai.—N.W. (Savernake Forest, &c.)

Jumble. A kind of coarse dark brown sweetmeat (My Old Village).—N.W.

Jumping Jesuses. The long-legged water-flies, Gerris, which skim along the surface of streams.—N.W. (Hilmarton.)

Junk. A hunch of bread-and-cheese, &c.; a lump of wood or coal. A solid piece (S.).—N.W.

Junket. A treat or spree; still in use. When potatoes were not so common as now, a man would complain of his wife's 'junketing wi' the taters,' i.e. digging them up before they were ripe, as a treat for the children.—N.W.

Just about. Extremely. See About (1).—N. & S.W.

*Jut. To nudge, to touch (S.).—N.W.

[88]

K. K sometimes becomes t, as bleat, bleak; blunt, blunk. Conversely, t becomes k, as sleek, sleet.

Keach, &c. See Catch (1).

Keavin. See Cave (1).

Keck. To retch as if sick (A.); to cough; also Cack.—N.W.

Kecker. The windpipe (A.S.).—N. & S.W.

Kecks. Dry stalks of hemlock (A.B.). Hemlock must here be taken to mean several of the larger Umbelliferae, and to include occasionally growing plants as well as dry stems. There are many variants of the word, as Keeks (A.), Kecksey (A.B.), Gix (A.B.H.Wr.), Gicksies (Amateur Poacher, ch. iii), Gicks (Great Estate, ch. v).—N. & S.W.

Keep, Kip. Growing food for cattle, &c. (A.B.S.).—N. & S.W.

Kerf. A layer of turf or hay (A.B.C.). A truss of hay.—N.W.

Ketch. See Catch (1).

Keys, or Keyn. Fruit of ash and sycamore (A.B.).—N. & S.W.

*Kibble. *(1) To chip a stone roughly into shape (A.). Cf. Glouc. cabble, to break smelted pig-iron into small pieces, before proceeding to draw it into bar-iron. *(2) To cut up firewood (Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxiv. p. 210).—Obsolete.

Kid. (1) n. The cod or pod of peas, beans, &c.—N. & S.W. (2) v. To form pods; used of peas and beans. Well-kidded, of beans or peas, having the stalks full of pods (D.).—N. & S.W.

Kidney-stones. Dark water-worn pebbles (Eulogy, p. 28).—N.W.

'Kin. The same as Ciderkin.

Kind. Some woods and soils 'work kind,' i.e. easily, pleasantly.—N.W.

King's-cushion. See Queen's-cushion.

Kiss-behind-the-garden-gate. Saxifraga umbrosa, L., London Pride.—S.W. (Som. bord.)

Kissing-gate. A 'Cuckoo-gate,' or swing gate in a V-shaped enclosure.—N. & S.W.

[89]

Kiss-me-quick. Centranthus ruber, DC., Red Spur Valerian.—N.W.

*Kite's Pan. Orchis maculata, L., Spotted Orchis.—S.W. (Farley.)

Kitty Candlestick. Ignis fatuus, Will-o'-the-Wisp. Kit of the Candlestick (Aubrey's Nat. Hist. Wilts, p. 17, ed. Brit.).—S.W. (Deverill.)

Kiver. A cooler used in brewing (A.B.).—N. & S.W.

Knacker. To snap the fingers. Nacker (H.Wr.)—S.W.

Knap, Knop. (1) v. To chip stone, as formerly in making a gun-flint.—N.W. (2) n. A little hill; a steep ascent in a road (S.). This is really a Devon use.—S.W. (Dorset bord.)

Knee-sick. Of wheat, drooping at the joints, from weakness in the straw (D.).—N.W.

Knee-socked. Corn beaten down by storms is 'knee-socked down.'—N.W. See Knee-sick.

Knit. Of fruit, to set. 'The gooseberries be knitted a'ready.'—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Knitch, Nitch, Niche, &c. Usually spelt incorrectly, without the k. M.E. knucche, Germ. knocke: used by Wycliffe, also in Alton Locke, ch. xxviii. (1) Nitch, a burden of wood, straw, or hay (A.B.), such a faggot as a hedger or woodman may carry home with him at night; a short thick heavy chump of wood (Village Miners). Hence a fine baby is spoken of as 'a regular nitch' (Ibid.). A bundle of gleaned corn (S.).—N. & S.W. (2) 'He has got a nitch,' is intoxicated, has had as much liquor as he can carry (A.B.). Compare:—

'He's got his market-nitch.'—Tess of the D'Urbervilles, vol. i. p. 19.

Knot Couch. Avena elatior, so called from the roots sometimes looking like a much-knotted cord or a string of beads.—N.W.

Koomb. See Comb (S.).

[90]

Ladies-and-Gentlemen. Arum maculatum, L., Cuckoo-pint. Leades an Genlmin (S.).—N. & S.W.

*Ladies'-balls. Centaurea nigra, L., Black Knapweed.—S.W. (Charlton.)

*Ladies'-fingers-and-thumbs. Lotus corniculatus, L., Bird's-foot Trefoil.—N.W. (Enford.)

Ladies-in-white. Saxifraga umbrosa, L., London Pride.

Lady-cow. The Ladybird.—N.W.

Lady's-cushion. Anthyllis vulneraria, L., Kidney Vetch.—S.W. (Salisbury.)

Lady's-finger. (1) Applied generally to Lotus corniculatus and Hippocrepis comosa, and occasionally also to Lathyrus pratensis. 'Leades vingers, the wild Calceolaria' (S.), probably refers to one of these flowers.—N. & S.W. (2) Arum maculatum, L., Cuckoo-pint.—S.W. (Barford St. Martin): N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

*Lady's-glove. 'The Greater Bird's-foot.'—S.W.

Lady's-nightcap. The flower of Convolvulus sepium, L., Great Bindweed (A.B.).

Lady's-petticoat. Anemone nemorosa, L., Wood Anemone.—S.W. (Mere.)

Lady's-ruffles. The double white Narcissus.—N.W.

Lady's-shoe. Fumaria officinalis, L., Common Fumitory.—S.W. (Barford St. Martin.)

Lady's-slipper. Applied generally to the same plants as Lady's-finger.

*Lain. Of a smith, to dress the wing and point of a share (D.). See Lay (4).

Laiter, Loiter. A full laying or clutch of eggs. The whole number of eggs produced by a hen at one laying, before she gets broody and ceases to lay.—N.W.

Lake. A small stream of running water.—S.W. (Hants bord.)

Lambkins. Catkins of hazel.—S.W. (Barford St. Martin.)

Lamb's-cage. A crib for foddering sheep in fold (D.).—N.W.

[91]

Lamb's-creep. A hole in the hurdles to enable the lambs to get out of the fold.—N.W.

Lamb's-tails. Catkins of willow and hazel.—N. & S.W.

Land. The 'rudge,' or ground between two water-furrows in a ploughed field.—N.W.

'The ploughman walks in the furrow his share has made, and presently stops to measure the "lands" with the spud.'—Amateur Poacher, ch. vii. pp. 130-1.

*Landshard. The strip of greensward dividing two pieces of arable in a common field (D.).

Land-spring. A spring which only runs in wet weather (Gamekeeper at Home, ch. v. p. 109).—N.W.

Lane (a broad). A strip of grass, generally irregular, bounding an arable field.—N.W. (Devizes.)

*Lannock. A long narrow piece of land (A.H.Wr.).

Lanshet. See Linch.

*Lark's-seed. Plantago major, L., Greater Plantain.—S.W. (Charlton.)

*Latter Lammas. An unpunctual person (S.)—S.W.

'When a person is habitually late and unpunctual, folks say—"What a Latter Lammas thee beest, ta be sure!"'—Letter from Mr. Slow.

Lattermath. Aftermath (A.B.). Lattermass at Cherhill.—N.W.

Lave. (1) Of a candle, to gutter down (H.Wr.).—N.W. (2) To splash up water over yourself, as in a bath. 'Lave it well over ye.'—N.W.

Law. In N. Wilts, when speaking of relations-in-law, the in is always omitted, as brother-law, father-law, &c., the only exception being son-in-law.

Lay. (1) To lay a hedge, to trim it back, cutting the boughs half through, and then bending them down and intertwining them so as to strengthen the fence (A.).—N. & S.W. (2) To lay rough, to sleep about under hedges like a vagabond.—N. & S.W. (3) To lay up a field, to reserve it for mowing.—S.W. (4) To lay a tool, to steel its edge afresh. This appears to be the same as Davis's lain, which is probably a contraction of lay in. At Mildenhall you often hear of laying or laying in a pickaxe, and the word is to be traced back for a century or more in the parish accounts there.—N. & S.W. (5) An idle dissipated man is said to lay about.—N.W.

[92]

Laylocks. Usually Syringa vulgaris, L., Lilac, but rarely applied to Cardamine pratensis, L., Lady's Smock, in S. Wilts.

*Lay-over. A wooden bar, or a rope, used to fasten tackle together.

'Two or three horses go abreast, each drawing a harrow diagonally, all the harrows being fastened together with a lay-over or rider.'—Agric. of Wilts, ch. v.

Leach. A strand of a rope.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Lear, Leer. (1) Empty (A.B.C.G.).—N. & S.W. (2) Hence, craving for food, hungry (A.C.S.).—N. & S.W. Leary is the usual form on the Som. bord.

'I never eat but two meals a day—breakfast and supper ... and I'm rather lear (hungry) at supper.'—Gamekeeper at Home, ch. i.

Learn. To teach. 'I'll learn 'ee to do that again, you young vaggot!' 'Her do want some 'un to learn she, 'stead o' she learnin' we!' In general use in Wilts.—N. & S.W.

Lease, Leaze, &c.: sometimes used with a prefix, as Cow-leaze, Ox-leaze. (1) As much pasture as will keep a cow (B.).—N. & S.W. (2) A large open pasture. Legh, Lease (Aubrey); Leaze (Amateur Poacher, ch. iii).—N. & S.W.

Lease. To glean (A.S.).—N. & S.W.

Lease-bread. Bread made from lease-corn.—N.W.

Lease-corn. Wheat collected by gleaning.—N.W.

Leaser. A gleaner.—N. & S.W.

Ledged. See Lodged.

Lemfeg. An Elleme fig (A.H.Wr.).—N. & S.W.

[93]

*Length, Lent. A loan (A.B.). *Lenth (S.).

Let-off. To abuse.—N.W. (Cherhill.)

'Maester let I off at a vine rate.'—Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxii. p. 111.

Lew (pronounced Loo). (1) adj. Warm (H.).—N. & S.W. (2) n. Shelter (A.B.C.S.). 'Get in the lew,' i.e. into a place sheltered from the wind. A.S. hleo, hleow.—N. & S.W.

Lewis's Cat. A person suspected of incendiary habits. Many years ago fires are said to have occurred so frequently on the premises of a person of this name (whose cat sometimes had the blame of starting them), that the phrase passed into common use, and a suspected man soon 'got the name of a Lewis's Cat,' now corrupted into 'Blue Cat.'—S.W.

Lewth. Warmth (A.B.C.). Usually restricted to the sun's warmth, but in Cunnington MS. applied to a thin coat, which 'has no lewth in it.'—N.W.

Lew-warm. Luke-warm.—N. & S.W.

Libbet. A fragment (S.). 'All in a libbet,' or 'All in libbets and jibbets,' torn to rags.—N. & S.W. Also Lippet.

*Liberty. v. To allow anything to run loose. 'It don't matter how much it's libertied,' the more freedom you can give it the better.—N.W. (Cherhill.)

Licket. 'All to a licket,' all to pieces.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

*Lide. The month of March (A.). A.S. hlýda, hlýdamonath, the stormy month, from hlúd, boisterous, noisy (so Grein). This has nothing to do with lide or lithe, mild, whence come the A.S. names for June and July. See N. & Q. Feb. 6, 1892.

Lieton. See Litton.

Lill. To pant as a dog (A.B.H.).—N.W.

Lily, or Lilies. (1) Convolvulus sepium, L., Great Bindweed.—S.W. (Farley and Charlton.) (2) Arum maculatum, L., Cuckoo-pint.—S.W. (Barford.)

Limb, Limm. (1) n. A ragged tear (Village Miners).—N.W. (2) v. To tear irregularly, to jag out (Ibid.).—N.W.

Limbers. The shafts of a waggon (S.).—N. & S.W.

[94]

Linch, Linchet, Lynch, Lanshet (N.W.), Lytchet (S.W.), Linchard, &c. (S.). A.S. hlinc, a bank. For articles on Lynchet, Linchet, or Linch, see Wilts Arch. Mag. xii. 185, and xv. 88. Also articles and letters in Marlborough College Natural History Report and Marlborough Times, 1892, Seebohm's Village Community, and Britten's Old Country Words. In an old MS. schedule of land at Huish, N.W., 'Lanshes and borders,' i.e. turf boundary banks and field margins, are enumerated. (1) Certain terraces, a few yards wide, on the escarpment of the downs, probably the remains of ancient cultivation, are locally known as Lynches or Lynchets.—N. & S.W. (2) The very narrow ledges, running in regular lines along the steep face of a down, probably made by sheep feeding there, are also frequently so called.—S.W. (3) A raised turf bank dividing or bounding a field.—S.W. (4) A strip of greensward dividing two pieces of arable land in a common field (D.).—N. & S.W. (5) An inland cliff, cf. 'The Hawk's Lynch' (Tom Brown at Oxford); occasionally applied to a steep slope or escarpment, as at Bowood and Warminster.

*Linchard A precipitous strip of land on a hillside, left unploughed (Spring-tide, pp. 79 and 186). See Linch. Cf. A.S. hlinc, a bank; and perhaps sceard, a piece or portion (Skeat).

*Lined. Of an animal, having a white back (D.).

Linet. Tinder (H.Wr.). Tinder was made of linen.—N.W., not long obsolete.

*Lipe. A pleat or fold in cloth.—S.W. (Salisbury.)

Lipping. Of weather, showery, wet, and stormy. 'I thenks as we shall have a ter'ble lipping summer to-year.' Cf. Lipping-time, a wet season, Glouc., and Lippen', showery, Som.—N. & S.W.

*Litten, Litton. A churchyard. Lieton (H.Wr.) Chirche-litoun (Chron. Vilod.). Still used in Hants, but probably now obsolete in Wilts (Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxv. p. 129).

'His next bed will be in the Litten, if he be laying on the ground on such a night as this.'—Wilts Tales, p. 161.

[95]

*Liver-sand. See quotation.

'Sand-veins ... which are deep and tough, and are of the nature called in Wilts "liver-sand."'—Agric. of Wilts, ch. xii.

Lob. Of leaves, to droop limply, as cabbages do before rain.—N. & S.W.

Lock. 'A lock of hay,' a small quantity of hay (A.B.).—N.W.

Locks-and-Keys. Dielytra spectabilis, D.C. The usual cottagers' name for it in Somerset.—S.W. (Som. bord.).

Locky. Of hay which has not been properly shaken about, stuck together in locks as it was cut.—N.W.

Lodged. Of wheat, laid or beaten down by wind or rain (D.).—N. & S.W. Also Ledged (Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxii. p. 112).

Log. See Lug (1).

Loggered. A boy who is at plough all day often gets so loggered, or weighed down with loggers, all the time, that he comes home at night quite exhausted.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Loggers. Lumps of dirt on a ploughboy's feet.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.) In Glouc. a 'logger' is a small log attached to a horse's foot, to prevent straying.

Loggerums. (1) Centaurea nigra, L., Black Knapweed.—N.W. *(2) 'Scabious' (Village Miners).

Loiter. See Laiter.

Lolloper. A lazy lout (S.).—N. & S.W.

Lollup. (1) To loll out. 'Look at he, wi' he's tongue a lolluping out o' he's mouth, vor aal the world like a dog!'—N.W. (2) To loll about, to idle about. 'What be a-lollupin' about like that vor?'—N. & S.W.

*Long Eliza. A kind of long blue earthen jar, formerly often seen in cottages.—N.W. (Berks bord.)

'The high black chimney-shelf was covered with crockery of a low type of beauty; pink and yellow china dogs shared their elevated station with "long Elizas" and squat female figures.'—Dark, ch. i.

Longful. Tedious (A.B.S.).—N. & S.W.

[96]

Long purples. Lythrum Salicaria, L., Purple Loosestrife. Rarely used. Tennyson's 'long purples of the dale' have been identified by himself as Vicia Cracca; Shakespeare's are either Orchis mascula, or Arum maculatum, while Clare applies the name to Lythrum.

Long-winded. 'A long-winded man' always means one who is very slow to pay his debts.—N.W.

Long wood. The long branches which are bent down and used to weave in and bind a hedge when it is being laid.—N.W.

Lope along. To run as a hare does.—S.W.

Loppet. (1) v. The same as Lope. (2) v. To idle about, to slouch about. 'A girt veller, allus a loppetin' about.'—N.W. Cf. Sloppet.

Loppetty. Weak, out of sorts.—N.W.

Lords-and-Ladies. Arum maculatum, L., Cuckoo-pint (A.B.).—N. & S.W.

Lot. To reckon, expect, think. 'I do lot her's a bad 'un.'—N.W.

Lot-meads. (1) Common meadows divided into equal-sized pieces, for the hay of which lots were cast each year (D.).—N.W., obsolete.

'"Lot Mead" is not an uncommon name of fields in Wiltshire parishes. It is perhaps a vestige of the original partition of lands when cleared, which the chronicler Simeon of Durham says were distributed by lot. See Kemble's Anglo-Saxons, i. 91.'—Jackson's Aubrey, note, p. 198.

(2) A kind of festival in connexion with this division.

'Here [at Wanborough] is a Lott-mead celebrated yearly with great ceremony. The Lord weareth a garland of flowers: the mowers at one house have always a pound of beefe and a head of garlic every man.'—Jackson's Aubrey, p. 198.

Nothing more appears to be known about this festival.—N.W. (Wanborough), obsolete.

*Lottle. v. To sound as water trickling in a small stream. Cf. Glox.—N.W.

[97]

Love-an'-idols, or Loving Idols. Viola tricolor, L., Love-in-idleness, usually the wild form, but occasionally applied to the garden pansy also. Nuffin-idols at Clyffe Pypard. Lovenidolds (S.).—N. & S.W.

*Loving-andrews. Geranium pratense, L., Meadow Cranesbill (Village Miners).

*Lowl-eared. Long-eared (A.B.H.Wr.).

Luce. (1) Luke-warm.—S.W. *(2) A sore in sheep.—S.W.

Lug. (1) In land measure, a pole or perch (A.B.G.H.S.). Log (MS. Gough: K.Wr.)—N. & S.W.

'A lug ... is of three lengths in this county: 15, 18, and 16½ feet. The first of these measures is getting out of use, but is still retained in some places, particularly in increasing mason's work. The second is the ancient forest measure, and is still used in many parts of the county for measuring wood-land. But the last, which is the statute perch, is by much the more general.'—Agric. of Wilts, p. 268.

(2) Any rod or pole (D.H.), as a perch for fowls, a clothes pole (A.B.). See Oven-lug.

Seventeenth century doggrell rhymes from Wroughton,
quoted in Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxii. p. 216.

Lug-wood. Lops and tops of trees.—S.W.

Lummakin. Heavy, ungainly, clumsy (A.B.).—N.W.

Lumper. To move heavily, to stumble along. Of a pony, to stumble. To kick against anything (S.).—N. & S.W. (Malmesbury, Pewsey, &c.)

Lumpus. (1) Noise, row. 'Don't 'ee make such a lumpus.'—N.W. (2) All in a lump, heavily, as applied to a fall. 'Th'oss didn't vall down, but a come down wi' a kind of a lumpus.'—N.W.

Lump work. Piece work.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Lumpy. Stout and strong. To say to any one, 'Why, ye be growed main lumpy!' is to pay him a high compliment.—N.W.

[98]

Lurry. Of cows, suffering from looseness.—N.W.

Lynchet, Lytchet. See Linch.

'Another British coin, found on the "lytchets" at East Dean, has passed into the cabinet of Dr. Blackmore.'—Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxii. p. 242.

Maakin. See Malkin.

Mace. See Note to quotation.

'This is a style still used by the lower classes in North Wiltshire to tradesmen and sons of farmers. Thus at Ogbourne St. George, a brickmaker whose name is Davis, is called "Mace Davis," and sons of farmers are called "Mace John," or "Mace Thomas," the surname being sometimes added and sometimes not.'—Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. i. p. 338.

This seems a misapprehension. The word used is simply Mais' (before a consonant), a shortened form of 'Maister.' 'Mais' John' is short for Maister John. Before a vowel it would be Mais'r or Maistr'—as 'Maistr' Etherd' [Edward].—N.W.

'Mas was formerly a common contraction for master, e.g. "Mas John," and is used by Ben Jonson and other Elizabethan writers. See Nares, s.v. Mas.'—Smythe-Palmer.

*Mad. Of land, spoilt, damaged, as by sudden heat after much rain (Lisle's Husbandry).—Obsolete.

Madde. *(1) Asperula odorata, L., Sweet Woodruff.—N.W. (Lyneham.) (2) Anthemis Cotula, L., Stinking Camomile.—N. & S.W.

Madell (a broad), Medal, &c. The game of 'Merrills' or 'Nine Men's Morris.' Also known as Puzzle-Pound. Several varieties of Madell are played in Wilts, known respectively as Eleven-penny (strictly The Merrills), Nine-penny, Six-penny, and Three-penny, according to the number of pieces used. 'Eleven-penny' is played with eleven pieces each side, instead of nine, the game being in other respects identical with 'Nine Men's Morris' as described in Strutt's Sports and Pastimes. The players move alternately, and the general principle is to get three pieces together in a line anywhere on the dots or holes, while at the same time preventing your adversary from making a line. 'Nine-penny,' 'Six-penny,' and 'Three-penny' differ only in the number of men each side and the form of the board (see diagrams). The 'board' is scratched or chalked out on paving-stones, drawn on the slate, cut deep into the turf on the downs, or the top of the corn-bin (with holes instead of dots), in short, made anywhere and anyhow. The 'men' or 'pieces' may be anything available, sticks being played against stones, beans against oats, &c.—N.W. (Devizes, &c.)

[99]

Nine Men's Morris,
or Eleven-penny Madell.

Nine-penny Madell,
or The Merrills.

Six-penny Madell.

Three-penny Madell.

Maggots. n. Tricks, nonsense. 'Her's at her maggots again.'—N.W.

*Maggotting. Meddling (S.).—S.W.

Maggotty. adj. Frisky, playful (A.S.).—N. & S.W.

Maggotty-pie. Picus caudatus, the Magpie (MS. Lansd. 1033, f. 2), still in use.—N.W.

*Maiden's Honesty. Clematis Vitalba, L., Traveller's Joy. See Honesty.—N.W., obsolete.

'All the hedges about Thickwood (in the parish Colerne) are ... hung with maydens honesty.'—Aubrey's Wilts, Royal Soc. MS. p. 120.

Main. (1) adv. Very, as 'main good,' excellent (A.B.).—N.& S.W. (2) adj. 'A main sight o' frawk,' a great number (S.).—N. & S.W.

[100]

Mais'. See Mace.

Make. 'That makes me out,' puzzles me (H.).—N.W.

Malkin. See Mawkin.

*Mammered. Perplexed (A.).

*Mammock. v. To pull to pieces (Leisure Hour, August, 1893).—N.W. (Castle Eaton, &c.)

'He did so set his teeth and tear it; O, I warrant, how he mammocked it!'—Shakespeare, Coriolanus, i. 3.

*Mander. To order about in a worrying dictatorial fashion (S.). 'Measter do mander I about so.'—S.W.

Mandy (long a). (1) Frolicsome, saucy, impudent (A.B.C.): now only used by very old people.—N.W. *(2) Showy (C.).—N.W., obsolete.

Mar. See More.

Marlbro'-handed. People who used their tools awkwardly were formerly called 'Marlbro'-handed vawk,' natives of Marlborough being traditionally famed for clumsiness and unhandiness.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Marley. Streaky, marbled; applied to fat beef, or bacon from a fat pig, where the fat seems to streak and grain the lean.—N.W.

Martin, Free-martin. A calf of doubtful sex.—N.W. An animal with an ox-like head and neck, which never breeds, but is excellent for fatting purposes. It is commonly supposed that a female calf born twin with a male is always a free-martin. Recent investigations, however, have proved that though the external organs of a free-martin may be female the internal are in all cases male. The rule laid down by Geddes and Thomson is that twin calves are always normal when of opposite sex or both female; but that if both are male one is invariably thus abnormal (Evolution of Sex, ch. iii. p. 39). Compare Scotch ferow or ferry cow, a cow not in calf, and mart, an ox; also A.S. fear, a bullock (Folk-Etymology).

Masked. See A-masked.

[101]

Mathern, Mauthern. *(1) Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, L., Ox-eye Daisy (A.D.H.Wr.).—N.W. (2) Wild Camomile (Great Estate, ch. viii).—N.W.

*Maudlin. The Ox-eye Daisy (D.).—N.W.

Mawk (pronounced Maak). To clean out the oven with the 'maakin,' before putting in the batch of bread.—N.W.

Mawkin, Malkin, Maak, or Maakin, (1) An oven-swab with which the charcoal sticks are swept out of the oven, before putting in the batch (A.).—N. & S.W.

'The malkin, being wetted, cleaned out the ashes ... malkin [is] a bunch of rags on the end of a stick.'—Great Estate, ch. viii.

(2) Also used as a term of reproach.—N.W.

'Thee looks like a girt maakin.'—Great Estate, ch. viii.

*May-beetle, The cockchafer (A.B.).

*May-blobs, May-blubs, or May-bubbles, Flowers and buds of Caltha palustris, L., Marsh Marigold.

Mazzard, *(1) A small kind of cherry (English Plant Names). Merry is the usual Wilts name, Mazzard being Dev. and Som. (2) The head (A.), but only in such threats as:—

'I'll break thee mazzard vor thee!'—Wilts Tales, p. 31.

Ben Jonson has mazzarded, broken-headed.—N.W.

*Meadow-soot, Spiraea Ulmaria, L., Meadow-sweet (Great Estate, ch. ii). Sote, or soot=sweet.—N.W.

*Mealy, Mild and damp. ''Twar a oncommon mealy marnin'.'—N.W. (Bratton.)

Measle-flower, The garden Marigold, the dried flowers having some local reputation as a remedy. Children, however, have an idea that they may catch the complaint from handling the plant.—N. & S.W.

Med, See Mid.

Meg, Meggy. (1) In the game of Must, q.v., a small stone—called a 'meg' or 'meggy'—is placed on the top of a large one, and bowled at with other 'meggies,' of which each player has one.—N. & S.W. *(2) Maig. A peg (S.).—S.W.

[102]

Mere. A boundary line or bank of turf.—N. & S.W. A turf boundary between the downs on adjoining farms: formed by cutting two thick turves, one smaller than the other, and placing them, upside down, with the smaller one on top, at intervals of about a chain along the boundary line.—N.W. (Devizes.)

'The strips [in a "common field"] are marked off from one another, not by hedge or wall, but by a simple grass path, a foot or so wide, which they call "balks" or "meres."'—Wilts Arch. Mag. xvii. 294.

'Two acres of arable, of large measure, in Pen field, lying together and bounded by meres on both sides.'—Hilmarton Parish Terrier, dated 1704.

Mere-stone. A boundary stone (Amateur Poacher, ch. iii).—N.W.

Merry. The cherry; applied to both black and red varieties, but especially the small semi-wild fruit.—N. & S.W.

Merry-flower. The wild Cherry.—S.W. (Barford.)

*Mesh (e long). Moss or lichen on an old apple-tree.—S.W. (Som. bord.)

Messenger. (1) A sunbeam reaching down to the horizon from behind a cloud is sometimes said to be the sun 'sending out a messenger.' Cf. Cope's Hants Glossary. Used by children in both N. & S. Wilts. (2) pl. The small detached clouds that precede a storm (Greene Ferne Farm, ch. vi).—N. & S.W.

*Mice's-mouths. Linaria vulgaris, Mill., Snapdragon.—S.W. (Farley.)

Michaelmas Crocus. Colchicum autumnale, L., Meadow Saffron.—N.W.

Mickle. Much (A.S.). A.S. micel.—N. & S.W., occasionally.

Mid, Med. v. Might or may (S.).—N.W.

Middling. (1) Ailing in health (H.); Middlinish (Wilts Tales, p. 137).—N. & S.W. (2) Tolerable, as 'a middlin' good crop.' Middlekin is occasionally used in S. Wilts in this sense.—N. & S.W. 'Very middling' (with a shake of the head), bad, or ill; 'pretty middling' (with a nod), good, or well (Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxii. p. 112).

[103]

*Midstay. The barn-floor between the mows.—N.W. (Aldbourne.) Compare Middlestead, a threshing-floor: East of England; also

W. Morris, The Land East of the Sun.

Midsummer men. Sedum Fabaria, Koch., a variety of the red Orpine.—N.W. occasionally; S.W. (Farley.)

Mild. Of stone or wood, easily worked (Great Estate, ch. ix).—N.W.

*Milk-flower. Lychnis vespertina, Sibth., Evening Campion.—S.W. (Charlton All Saints.)

Milkmaids. Cardamine pratensis, L., Lady's Smock. In common use in Hill Deverill and Longbridge Deverill, also at Farley and Hamptworth.—S.W.

Milkwort. Euphorbia Peplus, L., Petty Spurge.—N. & S.W.

Mill. To clean clover-seed from the husk (D.). Milled Hop (D.).—N.W.

Miller, Millard, Mallard, or Dusty Miller. A large white moth (A.S.); generally extended to any large night-flying species.—N. & S.W.

*Mill-peck. A kind of hammer with two chisel-heads, used for deepening the grooves of the millstone (Great Estate, ch. ix).

*Mill-staff. A flat piece of wood, rubbed with ruddle, by which the accuracy of the work done by the mill-peck may be tested (Great Estate, ch. ix).

Mind. (1) To remind. 'That minds I o' Lunnon, it do.'—N. & S.W. (2) To remember. 'I minds I wur just about bad then.'—N. & S.W. (3) 'To be a mind to anything,' to be inclined to do it.—N.W.

Minding. A reminder. After a severe illness you are apt to have 'the mindings on't' now and again.—N.W.

Minnies. Small fry of all kinds of fish.—N. & S.W.

[104]

Mint. A cheese-mite (A.). The older form of mite (Skeat).—N.W.

Minty. Of cheese, full of mites (A.).—N.W.

Mist-pond. A pond on the downs, not fed by any spring, but kept up by mist, dew, and rain. Such ponds rarely fail, even in the longest drought. More commonly called Dew-ponds.—S.W. (Broadchalke, &c.)

Mixen, Muxen. A dungheap (A.B.C.S.).—N. & S.W.

Mix-muddle. One who muddles things imbecilely (Village Miners).—N.W.

Miz-maze. Puzzle, perplexity, confusion.—S.W.

Miz-mazed. Thoroughly puzzled, stupefied. Stunned (S.).—S.W.

Mizzy-mazey. Confused. Used of print swimming before the eyes.—S.W.

Moile. Dirt, mud. Mwoile (A.). 'Aal in a mwoile.'—N.W.

Moll*'ern, Molly Heron. The Heron (Great Estate, ch. iv).—N.W.

Mommick, Mommet. A scarecrow. Cf. Mummock.—N.W. (Malmesbury.)

Money-in-both-pockets. Lunaria biennis, L., Honesty, from the seeds showing on both sides of the dissepiment through the transparent pod.

Monkey-musk. The large garden varieties of Mimulus, which resemble the true musk, but are scentless, and therefore merely monkey (i.e. mock, spurious) musk.—N. & S.W.

Monkey Nut. Poa annua, L., Meadow Grass; eaten by boys for its nut-like flavour.—S.W. (Salisbury.)

Monkey-plant. Garden Mimulus (Wild Life, ch. viii).—N.W.

Mooch. See Mouch.

Moocher. See Moucher.

Moochers. Fruit of Rubus fruticosus, L., Blackberry (S.). Cf. Berry-moucher (2).—S.W.

[105]

Moon-daisy. Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, L., Ox-eye Daisy (Great Estate, ch. ii). A very general name, especially in N. Wilts. The flowers are sometimes called Moons.—N. & S.W.

Moonied up. Coddled and spoilt by injudicious bringing up. 'Gells as be moonied up bean't never no good.'—N. & S.W.

Moots. Roots of trees left in the ground (A.). See Stowls.—E.W.

Mop. (1) A Statute Fair for hiring servants (A.B.); also used in Glouc. (Wilts Tales, p. 33).—N.W. (2) A rough tuft of grass.

Moral. A child is said to be the 'very moral,' or exact likeness, of its father. A form of 'model.'—N. & S.W.

More, Mar, Moir. (1) An old root or stump of a tree.—N. & S.W. (2) A root of any plant (A.B.G.S.: Aubrey's Wilts MS.), as 'a strawberry more'; 'fern mars'; 'cowslip mars,' &c. (Amateur Poacher, ch. vii.) Occasionally Moir in N. Wilts, as in Crazy Moir.—N. & S.W.

Moreish. Appetizing, so good that you want more of it. 'Viggy pudden be oncommon moreish.'—N. & S.W.

Mort. n. A quantity.—N. & S.W.

'Her talks a mort too vine.'—Dark, ch. x.

'I stuck up to her a mort o' Sundays.'—Ibid. ch. xv.

Most-in-deal. Usually, generally (A.B.C.). 'Where do 'e bide now, Bill?' 'Most-in-deal at 'Vize [Devizes], but zometimes at Ziszeter [Cirencester].' Most-in-general is more commonly used now.—N.W.

Most-in-general. Usually.—N.W.

'Most in gen'ral I catches sight of you when I goes by wi' the horses, but you wasn't in the garden this afternoon.'—Dark, ch. i.

Mote, Maute. A morsel of anything, a very minute quantity.—S.W., formerly.

Mother-of-thousands. (1) Saxifraga sarmentosa, L.—S.W. (2) Linaria Cymbalaria, Mill., Ivy-leaved Toadflax.—S.W. (Salisbury.)

[106]

*Mother Shimbles' Snick-needles. Stellaria Holostea, L., Greater Stitchwort (Sarum Dioc. Gazette).—S.W. (Zeals.)

Mothery. Thick, muddy, as spoilt beer or vinegar (A.B.C.S.).—N. & S.W.

Mouch, Mooch. (1) v. To prowl about the woods and lanes, picking up such unconsidered trifles as nuts, watercresses, blackberries, ferns, and flower-roots, with an occasional turn at poaching (Gamekeeper at Home, ch. vii); to pilfer out-of-doors, as an armful of clover from the fresh-cut swathe (Hodge and his Masters, ch. xxiii).—N. & S.W.

'Probably connected with O.F. mucer, muchier, Fr. musser, to hide, to lurk about. It always implies something done more or less by stealth.'—Smythe-Palmer.

(2) v. To play the truant.—N. & S.W. (3) v. To be sulky or out of temper.—N. & S.W. (4) n. 'In a mouch,' in a bad temper. 'On the mouch,' gone off mouching.—N. & S.W.

Moucher, Moocher. (1) A truant (A.B.). See Berry-moucher.—N. & S.W. (2) A man who lives by mouching (Gamekeeper at Home, ch. vii).—N. & S.W.

Moulter. Of birds, to moult.—N.W.

Mound. (1) n. A hedge. In general use in N. Wilts.—N. & S.W. (2) v. To hedge in or enclose.—N.W.

'The Churchyard ... to be mounded partly by the manor, partly by the parish and parsonage except only one gate to be maintained by the vicar.'—1704, Hilmarton Parish Terrier.

Mouse. The 'mouse' is a small oblong piece of muscle, under the blade-bone of a pig.—N.W.

'The chief muscles of the body were named from lively animals; e.g. ... mus, mouse, the biceps muscle of the arm, and so in A.S. and O.H.G. Cf. musculus, (1) a little mouse, (2) a muscle.' (Folk-Etymology, p. 615, sub Calf.)—Smythe-Palmer.

*Mousetails. A kind of grass, perhaps Cats'-tail, but not Myosorus.—N.W.

*Moutch. 'On the moutch,' shuffling (H.). Some meaning of Mouch has probably here been misunderstood.

Mouthy. adj. Abusive, cheeky, impudent.—S.W.

[107]

Mow. In a barn, the unboarded space at each end of the threshing-floor, where the corn used to be heaped up for threshing.—N.W.

*Mowing-machine Bird. Salicaria locustella, Grasshopper Warbler, from its peculiar note (Birds of Wilts, p. 154).—S.W. (Mere.)

Much. (1) 'It's much if he do,' most likely he won't do it. 'It's much if he don't,' most likely he will.—N.W. (2) v. To make much of, to pet. 'Her do like muching,' i.e. being petted.—N.W.

Much-about. Used intensively.—N.W.

'I was never one to go bellockin', though I've allus had much-about raison to murmur.'—Dark, ch. x.

Muck. Dirt, mud, earth.—N. & S.W.

*Mucker. A miserly person (S.) Cf. Mouch.—S.W.

'A fine old word, that I do not remember to have met with in other counties. It=Old Eng. mokerer (Old English Miscellany, E. E. T. S. p. 214), a miser; Scot. mochre, mokre, to hoard.'—Smythe-Palmer.

Muckle. (1) n. Manure, long straw from the stable (Agric. of Wilts, ch. vii).—N. & S.W. (2) 'Muckle over,' to cover over tender plants with long straw in autumn, to protect them from frost.—N.W.

Muddle-fuss. A persistent meddler with other people's affairs.—N.W. (Steeple Ashton.)

*Mudel over. The same as Muckle over, q.v. (Agric. of Wilts, ch. vii).

Mud-up. (1) To pamper and spoil a child.—S.W. (Hants bord.) *(2) To bring up by hand (H.Wr.), as 'Mud the child up, dooke' (Monthly Mag., 1814).

Muggeroon. A mushroom.—N.W.

Muggerum. Part of the internal fat of a pig.—N.W.

Muggle. (1) n. Confusion, muddle (A.S.).—N. & S.W.

'Here we be, ael in a muggle like.'—Wilts Tales, p. 137.

(2) To live in a muddling, haphazard way.—N.W. Cf.:—

'Most on us 'ad a precious sight rather work for a faermer like the old measter, an' have our Saturday night reg'lar, than go muggling the best way we could, an' take our chance.'—Jonathan Merle, xxxvii. 412.

[108]

Muggle-pin. The pin in the centre of a want-trap.—S.W.

Mullin. The headstall of a cart-horse: sometimes extended to the headstall and blinkers of a carriage horse.—N.W.

Mullock. A heap of rubbish (A.B.), now applied to mine refuse in Australia.

Mummock. A shapeless confused mass. A clumsily-swaddled baby or badly-dressed woman would be 'aal in a mummock.'—N.W.

Mum up. To make much of, pamper, pet, and spoil. 'A granny-bred child's allus a-mummed up.'—N. & S.W.

Mun. Used in addressing any person, as 'Doesn't thee knaw that, mun?' (A.)—N.W.

Must. A game played by children: a small stone—'a meggy'—is placed on the top of a large one, and bowled at with other 'meggies,' of which each player has one.—N.W.

Muxen. See Mixen.

Nacker. See Knacker.

Nail-passer. A gimlet (A.). Kennett has Nailsin in a similar sense.—N.W.

'"Here's the kay" ... holding up a small gimlet. "Whoy, thuck ben't a kay ... that's nothing but a nail-passer."'—Wilts Tales, p. 44.

Nails. Bellis perennis, L., Daisy.—S.W. (Mere.)

Naked Boys. Colchicum autumnale, L., Meadow Saffron, the flowers and leaves of which do not appear together (Aubrey, Nat. Hist. Wilts, p. 51, ed. Brit.). Naked Lady in Cornw., Yks., &c., and Naked Virgins in Chesh.—N. & S.W. (Huish, Stockton, &c.)

*Naked Nanny. Colchicum autumnale, L., Meadow Saffron. See Naked Boys.—S.W. (Deverill.)

Nammet. See Nummet (S.).

'Nan. What do you say? (A.B.C.). See Anan.

Nanny-fodger, or Nunny-fudger. (1) A meddlesome prying person.—S.W. (2) Troglodytes vulgaris, the Wren.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

[109]

Narration. Fuss, commotion. 'He do allus make such a narration about anythin'.'—N. & S.W.

Nash, Naish, Nesh. (1) Tender, delicate, chilly (A.B.H.Wr.).—N. & S.W. (2) Tender and juicy: applied to lettuces.—S.W., occasionally.

Nation, Nashun, &c. Very, extremely, as nation dark (A.B.S.).—N. & S.W.

Nation-grass. Aira caespitosa, L., perhaps an abbreviation of Carnation-grass.—S.W. (Som. bord.)

Natomy, Notamy, Notamize, &c. A very thin person or animal, an anatomy.—N. & S.W.

*Naumpey. A weak foolish-minded person.—N.W.

*Navigator. A drain-maker's spade, with a stout narrow gouge-like blade (Amateur Poacher, ch. xi), more usually known as a Graft.

Neal, Nealded. See Anneal.

Neck-headland. 'To fall neck-headland,' i.e. headlong.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Neet. See Nit (S.).

Neoust of a neoustness. Nearly alike (A.). See Aneoust.—N.W.

Nesh. See Nash.

Nessel-tripe, Nessel-trip, Nussel-trip. The smallest and weakest pig in a litter. Commonly used in the Deverills, and elsewhere.—S.W.

Nettle-creeper. Applied generally in Wilts to the following three birds:—(1) Curruca cinerea, Common Whitethroat, (2) C. sylvatica, Lesser Whitethroat, and (3) C. hortensis, Garden Warbler (Birds of Wilts, pp. 159-161).—N.W.

Neust. See Aneoust.

Neust alike. Nearly alike.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard, &c.)

Neust of a neustness. See Aneoust.

[110]

*Never-the-near. To no purpose, uselessly. 'I cwourted she ten year, but there, 'twer aal niver-the-near.'—N.W. (Malmesbury.)

Next akin to nothing. Very little indeed. 'There's next akin to nothen left in the barrel.'—N.W.

Nibs. The handles of a scythe (A.).—N.W.

Niche. See Knitch.

Nightcaps. (1) Convolvulus sepium, L., Great Bindweed.—N. & S.W. (2) Aquilegia vulgaris, L., the garden Columbine.—N.W. (Devizes, Huish, &c.)

Night-fall. n. A disease in horses. A humour in the fetlock joint, recurring until it produces incurable lameness.—S.W.

'Witness ... told him his animal was very lame, and asked what was the matter with it. He replied, "Nothing, it is only 'night-fall,' and it comes on several times during the year."'—Wilts County Mirror, Oct. 27, 1893.

Nightingale. Stellaria Holostea, L., Greater Stitchwort.—S.W. (Hants bord.)

*Night Violet. Habenaria chlorantha, Bab., Greater Butterfly Orchis (Sarum Dioc. Gazette).—N.W. (Lyneham.)

Nine-holes. A game played by children.—N.W.

'This is mentioned among the "illegal games" in the Castle Combe records.'—Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. iii. p. 156.

'1576. Lusum illicitum vocatum nyne holes.'—Scrope's History of Castle Combe.

Nineter. (1) 'A nineter young rascal,' a regular scamp. Not perverted from anoint (as if it meant set apart to evil courses and an evil end), but from Fr. anoienté, anéanti, brought to nothing, worthless (Folk-Etymology, p. 9).—N.W. (Seend.) *(2) A skinflint (S.).

Ninny-hammer. A fool, a silly person.—N.W.

'Nint. See Anoint.

'Ninting (i long). A beating. See Anoint.—N.W.

Nipper. A small boy (S.).—N. & S.W.

Nippers. The same as Grab-hook.—N.W. (Huish.)

Nippy. Stingy (S.).—N. & S.W.

[111]

Nistn't. Need not.—N.W.

'Thee nistn't hoopy at I—I can hyar as well as thee.'—Greene Ferne Farm, ch. iii.

Nit, Neet. Nor yet. Wrongly defined by Akerman, Slow, and others as not yet. 'I han't got no money nit no vittles.'—N. & S.W.

Nitch. See Knitch.

Nog. A rough block or small log of wood.—N.W.

Nog-head. A blockhead (S.). Nug-head in W. Somerset.—S.W.

Nolens volens. Used in N. Wilts in various corrupted forms, as 'I be gwain, nolus-bolus,' in any case; 'vorus-norus,' rough, blustering; and 'snorus-vorus,' vehemently.

Noodle along. To lounge aimlessly along, to move drowsily and heavily, as a very spiritless horse.—N.W.

*Noon-naw. A stupid fellow, a 'know-naught' (Great Estate, ch. iv).

Nor, Nur. Than; as 'better nur that' (B.).—N. & S.W.

Not-cow. A cow without horns (A.). A.S. hnot, clipped, shorn.—N. & S.W.

Noust. See Aneoust.

Nummet. The 'noon-meat' or noon-day meal (A.). Nammet in S. Wilts.—N. & S.W.

Numpinole. The Pimpernel.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Nuncheon, Nunchin. The noon-meal (A.S.). Nunch (Wilts Tales, p. 117).—N.W.

Nunchin-bag. The little bag in which ploughmen carry their meals (A.).—N.W.

Nunny-fudging. Nonsense. 'That's all nunny-fudgen.'—N.W., now nearly obsolete.

Nunny-fudgy. 'A nunny-fudgy chap,' a poor sort of a fellow with no go in him: now used only by old people.—N.W.

Nur. See Nor.

*Nurk. The worst pig of a litter. See Rinnick.—N.W.

Nurly. Of soil: lying in lumps.—S.W. (Bratton.)

[112]

Nut. The nave of a wheel (S.).—S.W.

Nyst, Niest. Often used in Mid Wilts in same way as neust, as 'I be nyst done up,' i.e. over tired.

Nythe. A brood, as 'a nythe o' pheasants'; always used by gamekeepers.—N.W. Apparently a form of Fr. nid, a nest. In the New Forest they say 'an eye of pheasants.' See Cope's Hampshire Glossary (s.v. Nye).

Oak-tree loam or clay. The Kimmeridge Clay (Britton's Beauties, 1825, vol. iii., also Davis's Agric. of Wilts, p. 113, &c.).

Oat-hulls (pronounced Wut-hulls). Oat chaff and refuse.—S.W.

Oaves. (1) Oat chaff.—N. & S.W. (Huish, &c.) (2) The eaves of a house (S.).—S.W.

'A good old form. Mid. Eng. ovese (Old Eng. Miscell., E. E. T. S. p. 15, l. 465),=O. H. Germ, opasa (Vocab. of S. Gall).'—Smythe-Palmer.

Odds. (1) v. To alter, change, set right. 'I'll soon odds that' (Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxii. p. 112).—N.W. (2) n. Difference. 'That don't make no odds to I.' 'What's the odds to thee?' what does it matter to you?—N.W.

Oddses. Odds and ends.

Oddy. (1) See Huddy. (2) Strong, vigorous, in hearty health.—N.W.

Of. With. 'You just come along o' I!'—N. & S.W.

Offer. 'To offer to do a thing,' to make as though you were going to do it, or to begin to do it. 'He offered to hit I,' i.e. did not say he would, but just put up his fists and let out.—N.W.

Old man. (1) Artemisia Abrotanum, L., Southernwood.—N. & S.W. (2) Anagallis arvensis, L., Scarlet Pimpernel.—S.W.

Old man's beard. (1) Clematis Vitalba, L., Traveller's Joy, when in fruit.—N. & S.W. (2) The mossy galls on the dog-rose.—N. & S.W.

Old Sow. Melilotus coerulea, L., from its peculiar odour (Science Gossip, Nov. 1868).—N. & S.W., rarely.

[113]

*Old woman's bonnet. Geum rivale, Water Avens.—S.W. (Mere.)

*Old woman's pincushion. Orchis maculata, L., Spotted Orchis.—S.W.

Ollit. See Elet.

On. (1) =in, prep., as 'I run agen un on th' street' (A.).—N. & S.W. (2) =in, prefix, as ondacent.—N. & S.W. (3) =im, prefix, as onpossible (A.B.).—N. & S.W. (4) =un, prefix, as ongainly (B.). Onlight, to alight.—N. & S.W. (5) =of, as 'I never did thenk much on 'en.'—N. & S.W. (6) =by, as 'He come on a mistake.'—N. & S.W.

Once. (1) Some time or other (M.). 'Once before ten o'clock,' some time or other before ten.—N. & S.W.

'Send it once this morning, dooke.'—Monthly Mag. 1814.

(2) 'I don't once (=for one moment) think as you'll catch un.'—N. & S.W.

Oo. Such words as hood, wood, want, a mole, wonder, &c., are usually pronounced in N. Wilts as 'ood, 'oont, 'oonder.

*Organy. (1) Mentha Pulegium, L., Pennyroyal (A.B.). (2) Origanum vulgare, L., Marjoram (English Plant Names).

Otherguise. Otherwise.—N.W.

Out-axed. Of a couple, having had their banns fully asked, or called for the last time (Wilts Tales, p. 100). The banns are then out, and the couple out-axed.—N.W.

Oven-cake. Half a loaf, baked at the oven's mouth.—N.W.

Oven-lug. The pole used as a poker in an oven. See Lug (2).—N.W.

*Over-get. To overtake, to catch up.—N.W. (Malmesbury.)

*Overlayer. See quotation.

'The waggons ... seldom have any overlayers or out-riggers, either at the ends or sides.'—Agric. of Wilts, ch. xxxviii.

Overlook. To bewitch. Rare in Wilts, common in Dev. and Som.—N.W. (Malmesbury.)

Over-right, Vorright. Opposite to.—N.W.

[114]

Owl about. To moon about out of doors in the dark.—N.W.

Owling. The same as Griggling, q.v.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Compare:—

'Howlers. Boys who in former times went round wassailing the orchards.'—Parish, Sussex Glossary.

*Owl-catchers. Gloves of stout leather (Amateur Poacher, ch. xi).

Pack-rag Day. October 11, Old Michaelmas Day, when people change house. Also used in Suffolk.—N.W.

*Paint-brushes. Eleocharis palustris, Br.—S.W. (Charlton All Saints.)

Palm-tree. The Willow. Palms. Its catkins.—S.W.

Pamper. To mess about, to spoil a thing.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Pancherd. See Panshard.

Pank. To pant (S.).—N. & S.W.

Panshard, Ponshard, Pancherd. (1) A potshard: a broken bit of crockery (A.B.S.).—N.W. (2) 'In a panshard,' out of temper, in a rage.—S.W. Also used in the New Forest.

Pantony. A cottager's pantry (Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxii. p. 112). Compare Entony, an entry: Berks. There are many slight variants, as Panterny.—N. & S.W.

Paper Beech. Betula alba, L.—N.W.

*Parasol. Sanguisorba officinalis, L., Salad Burnet.—S.W. (Little Langford.)

Parson. In carting dung about the fields, the heaps are shot down in lines, and are all of much the same size. Sometimes, however, the cart tips up a little too much, with the result that the whole cartload is shot out into a large heap. This is known as a 'Parson.'—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Parters. Pieces of wood in a waggon which join the dripple to the bed. See Waggon.—N.W.

[115]

Passover. 'A bit of a passover,' a mere passing shower.—S.W. (Som. bord.)

Payze. To raise with a lever (B.). Norman French peiser, cp. Fr. poiser.—N. & S.W.

Peace-and-Plenty. A kind of small double white garden Saxifrage.—S.W.

Peakid, Peaky, Picked, Picky. Wan or sickly-looking.—N. & S.W.

Pearl-blind. See Purley.

Peart. (1) Impertinent (A.S.).—N. & S.W. (2) In good health. 'How be 'ee?' 'Aw, pretty peart, thank'ee.'—N. & S.W. (3) Clever, quick, intelligent.—S.W. (4) Stinging, sharp, as a blister.—S.W. (5) Lively. 'Her's as peart as ar' a bird, that's what her is!'—N.W.

Peck. (1) n. A pickaxe.—N. & S.W. (2) v. To use a pickaxe.—N. & S.W. (3) v. Of a horse, to trip or stumble: also Peck-down.—N.W.

'Captain Middleton's horse "pecked"—it is presumed through putting its foot in a hole—and threw the rider.'—Daily Telegraph, April 11, 1892.

*Pecker. n. The nose (S.).—S.W.

Pecky. Inclined to stumble. 'Th'old hoss goes terr'ble pecky.'—N.W.

Peel. (1) A lace-making pillow (A.B.). A little 'Peel lace' is still made about Malmesbury. A.S. pile.—N.W. (2) The pillow over the axle of a waggon (D.). See Waggon.—N.W. (3) The pole, with a flat board at end, for putting bread into the oven.—N.W.

Peggles. See Pig-all.

Pelt. Rage, passion (A.S.). 'A come in, in such a pelt.'—N. & S.W. The word occurs in this sense in some old plays. Herrick alludes in Oberon's Palace to 'the stings of peltish wasps,' and Topsell uses 'pelting' for angry or passionate.

'You zims 'mazin afeert to zee your gran'fer in a pelt! 'Ten't often as I loses my temper, but I've a-lost 'un now.'—Dark, ch. xii.

[116]

Penny (or Perry) moucher. A corruption of Berry-moucher, q.v.

Perkins. The same as Ciderkin.—N.W.

Perk up. To get better, to brighten up.—S.W.

*Perseen. v. To pretend to (S.).—S.W.

'There's Jack White a comin'; I wun't perseen ta know un.'—Mr. Slow.

Peter grievous. (1) n. A dismal person, or one who looks much aggrieved. Pity grievous at Clyffe Pypard, and Peter grievous at Salisbury.—N. & S.W.

'I'll tell you summat as 'll make 'ee look a pater grievous!'—Dark, ch. xv.

(2) adj. Dismal-looking. 'He be a peter-grievious-looking sort of a chap.'—S.W.

*Peter-man. See Jackson's Aubrey, p. 11.—Obsolete.

'At Kington Langley ... the revel of the village was kept on the Sunday following St. Peter's Day (29th June), on which occasions a temporary officer called "the Peter-man" used to be appointed, bearing the office, it may be presumed, of master of the sports.'—Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxiv. p. 83.

Peth. The crumb of bread.—N.W.

Pethy. Crumby, as 'a pethy loaf.'—N.W.

Pick. (1) A hay-making fork (A.B.D.), a stable-fork (D.). Pick=pitch, as in pitch-fork (Skeat).—N. & S.W. (2) The fruit of the sloe.

Picked (two syll.). (1) Sharp-pointed. Piggid on Som. bord. 'Thuck there prong yun't picked enough.'—N. & S.W. (2) Looking ill (S.). With features sharpened by ill-health. See Peakid.—N. & S.W.

Pickpocket. Capsella Bursa-pastoris, L., Shepherd's Purse.—N. & S.W. (Enford, Mere, &c.)

Picky. See Peakid.

*Pie-curr. Fuligula cristata, Tufted Duck (Birds of Wilts, p. 190).—S.W.

Pig-all, Pig-haw. Fruit of the hawthorn (A.). Peggles (Jefferies, Marlborough Forest, &c.)—N.W.

[117]

Pig-berry. Fruit of the hawthorn (S.).—N. & S.W.

Pigeon-pair. When a woman has only two children, a boy and a girl, they are called a 'pigeon pair.'—N. & S.W.

'So in N. Eng. "a dow's cleckin" (a dove's clutch) is used for two children.'—Smythe-Palmer.

Piggid. See Picked (1).

Pig-haw. See Pig-all.

Pig-meat. The flesh of the pig in Wilts is, if fresh, 'pig-meat.' It is never 'pork' unless the animal is specially killed as a 'little porker.'

*Pig-muddle. Disorder, mess.—N.W.

Pig-nut. (1) Bunium flexuosum, With., The Earth-nut.—N. & S.W. (2) The very similar root of Carum Bulbocastanum, Koch., Tuberous Caraway.—N.W., occasionally.

Pig-potatoes. Small potatoes, usually boiled up for the pigs.—N. & S.W.

Pigs. (1) See Boats.—S.W. (Hants bord.) (2) Woodlice.—N. & S.W. Also Guinea-pigs and Butchers' Guinea-pigs.

Pig-weed. Symphytum officinale, L., Comfrey.—N.W. (Enford.)

Pillars. See Waggon.

Pimrose. A primrose. Also used in Hants.—N. & S.W.

Pin-bone. The hip bone; sometimes the hip itself.—N.W.

Pincushion. (1) Anthyllis vulneraria, L., Kidney Vetch.—S.W. (Barford.) (2) Scabiosa arvensis, L., Field Scabious.—S.W. (Charlton.)

Pinner. A servant's or milker's apron; a child's pinafore being generally called Pinney.—N. & S.W.

'Next morn I missed three hens and an old cock, And off the hedge two pinners and a smock.'

Gay, The Shepherd's Week.

Pinny-land. Arable land where the chalk comes close to the surface, as opposed to the deeper clay land.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Pins. The hips. A cow with hips above its back is said to be 'high in the pins.'—N.W.

[118]

Pip. The bud of a flower (B.).—N.W.

*Pish! or Pishty! A call to a dog (A.). In co. Clare, Ireland, this is the order to a horse to stop.

Pissabed. Leontodon Taraxacum, L., Dandelion, from its diuretic effects.—N. & S.W.

*Pissing-candle. The least candle in the pound, put in to make up the weight (Kennett's Paroch. Antiq.). Cp. Norman French peiser, to weigh.—Obsolete.

Pit. (1) n. A pond.—N.W. (2) n. The mound in which potatoes or mangolds are stored (Agric. of Wilts, ch. vii).—N. & S.W. (3) v. 'To pit potatoes,' to throw them up in heaps or ridges, in field or garden, well covered over with straw and beaten earth, for keeping through the winter.—N. & S.W.

Pitch. (1) n. A steep place.—N.W. (2) n. 'A pitch of work,' as much of the water-meadows as the water supply will cover well at one time (Agric. of Wilts, ch. xii).—S.W. (3) n. The quantity of hay, &c., taken up by the fork each time in pitching (Gamekeeper at Home, ch. iv).—N. & S.W. (4) v. To load up wheat, &c., pitching the sheaves with a fork (S.).—N. & S.W. (5) v. To fix hurdles, &c., in place (Bevis, ch. xxiii).—N. & S.W. (6) v. To settle down closely.

'Give the meadows a thorough good soaking at first ... to make the land sink and pitch closely together.'—Agric. of Wilts, ch. xii.

(7) v. To lose flesh, waste away. Still in use in N. Wilts.

'The lambs "pitch and get stunted," and the best summer food will not recover them.'—Agric. of Wilts, ch. xii.

(8) v. To set out goods for sale in market. 'There wur a main lot o' cheese pitched s'marnin'.'—N. & S.W. (9) v. To pave with Pitchin, q.v.—N.W. (10) v. Of ground, to have an uneven surface. 'The ground this end o' the Leaze pitches uncommon bad.'—S.W. (Hants bord.)

Pitched market. A market where the corn is exposed for sale, not sold by sample (D.).—N.W.

[119]

Pitchin. n. Paving is done with large flat stones, 'pitching' with small uneven ones set on edge (A.S.).—N. & S.W.

Pitching-bar. The iron bar used in pitching hurdles (Amateur Poacher, ch. ii).—N. & S.W.

Pitch-poll. When rooks are flying round and round, playing and tumbling head over heels in the air (a sign of rain), they are said to be 'playing pitch-poll'—N.W.

Pitch-up. A short rest, as when a cart is going up a steep hill.—N.W.

Pit-hole. The grave (S.). Used by children.—N. & S.W.

'They lies, the two on 'em, the fourth and fifth i' the second row, for I dug pit-holes for 'em.'—The Story of Dick, ch. vi. p. 66.

*Pixy. A kind of fairy. This is a Dev. and Som. word, but is said to be in use about Malmesbury.

Plain. Straightforward, unaffected, as 'a plain 'ooman.'—N. & S.W.

Plan. 'In a poor plan,' unwell, in a poor way, &c.—N.W. (Seend.)

*Plank-stone. A flag-stone.

'This soyle (at Easton Piers) brings very good oakes and witch hazles; excellent planke stones.'—Jackson's Aubrey, p. 236.

'At Bowdon Parke, Ano 1666, the diggers found the bones of a man under a quarrie of planke stones.'—Aubrey's Nat. Hist. of Wilts, p. 71, ed. Brit.

*Plash, Pleach. To cut the upper branches of a hedge half through, and then bend and intertwine them with those left upright below, so as to make a strong low fence (A.). Also Splash.—N. & S.W.

Plat. The plateau or plain of the downs.—S.W.

Pleach. See Plash.

Pleachers. Live boughs woven into a hedge in laying.—S.W.

[120]

Plim. (1) v. To swell out (A.B.S.), as peas or wood when soaked in water.—N. & S.W. (2) v. Many years ago, near Wootton Bassett, old Captain Goddard spoke to a farmer about a dangerous bull, which had just attacked a young man. The farmer's reply was:—'If a hadn't a bin a plimmin' an' vertin' wi' his stick—so fashion—(i.e. flourishing his stick about in the bull's face), the bull wouldn't ha' run at un.' No further explanation of these two words appears to be forthcoming at present.

Plocks. Large wood, or roots and stumps, sawn up into short lengths, and cleft for firewood (S.). Plock-wood (D.).—N. & S.W.

Plough. A waggon and horses, or cart and horses together, make a plough (D.). See Kennett's Paroch. Antiq.—N.W.

'The team of oxen that drew the plough came to be called the plough, and in some parts of South Wilts they still call even a waggon and horses a plough. This is needful for you to know, in case your man should some day tell you that the plough is gone for coal.'—Wilts. Arch. Mag. vol. xvii. p. 303.

'1690. Paid William Winckworth for Worke downe with his Plough to the causway.'—Records of Chippenham, p. 237.

'1709. Paid for 41 days worke with a ploughe carrying stones to the Causey.'—Ibid. p. 239.

(2) For the various parts of the old wooden plough see as follows:—

'I should like to hear a Wiltshire boy who had been three years at plough or sheep fold, cross-examine one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, and ask him, in the article of a plough, to be so good as to explain the difference between the vore-shoot and back-shoot, the ground rest, the bread board, the drail, the wing and point, and the whippence.'—Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xvii. p. 303.

*Ploughman. A waggoner or carter.—N.W., obsolete.

'1690. Paid for beere for the plowmen and pitchers.'—Records of Chippenham, p. 237.

*Ploughman's-weatherglass. Anagallis arvensis, L., Scarlet Pimpernel.—S.W. (Barford.)

Plurals. (1) The old termination in en is still much used, as Housen, Hipsen, &c. See En (1). (2) Plurals in es are very commonly used, as beastes, ghostes, nestes, postes, gutses. Very often a reduplication takes place, as beastises, ghostises, &c.—N. & S.W. (3) Plurals are used sometimes instead of singulars. Examples:—'Nows and thens,' 'You'll find un a little ways furder on,' &c.

[121]

'These are rather an adverbial use of the genitive, like always, now-a-days, needs, whiles, etc.'—Smythe-Palmer.

(4) Plant-names are almost invariably used in the plural, even where only a single blossom is referred to, as 'What is that flower in your hand, Polly?' 'That's Robins, ma'am' (or Cuckoos, Poppies, Nightcaps, &c., as the case may be).—N. & S.W.

Poach. (1) Of cattle, to trample soft ground into slush and holes.—N. & S.W. (2) Of ground, to become swampy from much trampling (Wild Life, ch. xx).—N. & S.W.

*Podge. Anything very thick and sticky. Cf. Stodge.

*Pog. *(1) To thrust with the foot.—N.W. (Malmesbury.) *(2) To set beans.—N.W. (Malmesbury.)

Poison-berry. (1) Fruit of Arum maculatum, L., Cuckoo-pint.—N.W. (2) Fruit of Tamus communis, L., Black Bryony.—N.W.

Poison-root. Arum maculatum, L., Cuckoo-pint.—N.W.

Pole-ring. The ring which fastens the scythe-blade to the snead (A.).—N.W.

Polly. A pollard tree.—S.W. A Wiltshire man, on being told by the hospital surgeon that his arms would have to be amputated, exclaimed, 'Be I to be shrowded like a owld polly?'

Polt, Powlt. A blow (B.). A blow with a stick (A.). In Glouc. apples, walnuts, &c., are beaten down with a 'polting-lug,' or long pole.—N.W.

Ponshard. See Panshard.

Pooch out. (1) To project or stick out.—N.W. (2) To cause to project.—N.W. (3) 'To pooch out the lips,' to pout.—N.W.

Pook. (1) n. A small cock of hay, &c. (S.).—N. & S.W. (2) v. To put up in pooks (D.).—N. & S.W.

[122]

Pooker. A woman employed in pooking.—S.W.

Pookers'-tea. The yearly treat given to the pookers.—S.W.

Pooking-fork. The large prong, with a cross handle, for pushing along in front of the pookers, to make up the hay into pooks.—S.W.

Pop-hole. A rabbit-hole running right through a bank, as opposed to Blind-hole (Gamekeeper at Home, ch. vi). Any hole through a hedge, wall, &c.—N.W.

Popple-stone. A pebble (S.). A.S. papol.—S.W.

Poppy, or Poppies. (1) Digitalis purpurea, L., Foxglove, so called because children inflate and 'pop' the blossoms. Papaver is only known as 'Red-weed' by children about Salisbury.—S.W. (2) Silene inflata, L., Bladder Campion, also 'popped' by children.—S.W. (Salisbury.) *(3) Stellaria Holostea, L., Greater Stitchwort (Sarum Diocesan Gazette).—N. & S.W. (Lyneham and Farley.)

Posy. The garden Peony, from its size.

Pot, or Put. (The latter is the usual S. Wilts form.) *(1) A tub or barrel (D.).—Obsolete. (2) A two-wheeled cart, made to tilt up and shoot its load (D.).—N. & S.W. Manure used formerly to be carried out to the fields in a pair of pots slung across a horse's back. When wheels came into general use the term was transferred to the cart used for the same purpose (D.). See Dung-pot.

Pot-dung. Farmyard manure (Agric. of Wilts, ch. vii).—N.W.

Pots-and-Kettles. Fruit of Buxus sempervirens, L., Box.—S.W. (Barford St. Martin, Deverill, &c.)

*Pot-walloper A 'pot-waller,' or person possessing a house with a 'pot-wall,' or kitchen fireplace for cooking. All such persons formerly had votes for the borough of Wootton Bassett. See Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxiii. p. 172.

Poult. (1) 'A turkey poult,' a young turkey.—N. & S.W. (2) 'A perfect poult,' an awkward girl.—S.W. (Warminster.)

Pounceful. Masterful, self-willed. Cf. Bounceful. 'He preached pouncefully,' i.e. powerfully, forcibly.—S.W.

[123]

Powder-monkey. (1) Damp gunpowder, moulded into a 'devil,' or cake which will smoulder slowly, used by boys for stupefying a wasp's nest. (2) Ash leaves with an even number of leaflets, worn by boys on the afternoon of May 29. See Shitsack Day.

Power. 'A power o' volk,' a number of people. A quantity of anything.—N. & S.W.

'A's got a power of plaguy long spikes all auver's body.'—Wilts Tales, p. 118.

Powlts. (1) Peas and beans grown together.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.) (2) See Poult and Polt.

*Poyn. To pen sheep (D.).

Prawch. To stalk, to swagger. 'I see un come a prawchin' along up the coort.'—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Preterites. A few specimens may be given, as craup, or crope, crept; drowd, threw; flod, flew; fot, vot, or vaught, fetched; hod, hid; hut, hit; lod, led; obloge, obliged; raught, reached; scrope, scraped; slod, slid; woc, awoke; seed, seen, saw.

Pretty-money. Coins, such as old George-and-dragon crowns, or new Jubilee pieces, given to a child to keep as curiosities, not to be spent.—N.W.

Pride. (1) The ovary of a sow.—N.W. *(2) The mud lamprey (H.).

'Petromyzon branchialis. L., ... in the southern part of England is locally known as the Pride.'—Seeley, Fresh-water Fishes of Europe, p. 427.

'Lumbrici ... are lyke to lampurnes, but they be muche lesse, and somewhat yeolowe, and are called in Wilshyre prides.'—Elyotes Dictionarie, 1559, quoted by Hal.

Primrose soldiers. Aquilegia vulgaris, L., Garden Columbine.—N.W. (Huish.)

*Prin it. Take it (A.H.Wr.).—N.W.

Privet, Brivet. 'To privet about,' pry into things. 'To privet out,' to ferret out anything. See Brevet.

Pronged. A scythe-blade with a small flaw in the edge which may develop into a serious crack is said to be 'pronged.'—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

[124]

Pronouns. I, he, and she do duty as accusatives, as 'He towld I, but I bean't a-goin' to do nothen for he.' Her and us are nominatives, as 'Her be a girt vule, that her be'; 'Us be at coal-cart s'marnin.' Thee is used for both thou and thy, as 'What's thee name?' 'What's thee'se want to knaw vor?' 'Never thee mind.' Hyn, or more commonly un,=him, or it, as 'I seed un a-doing on't'; 'poor zowl on hyn!' This is the old hime, the accusative of he. A=he, as 'How a hackers an bivers!' Thac, Thuck, or Thuck there=that. Themmin=those. Thic, Thissum, Thease, Thic here, &c.=this. Theesum, or Theesum here=these. Occasionally Theesen in S. Wilts. Thick and Thuck require some explanation. Thuck always=that, but is mainly a N. Wilts form, its place in S. Wilts being usually taken by Thick. Thic or Thick often=this in N. Wilts, but far more frequently=that,—in fact, the latter may probably now be taken as its normal meaning, although it would appear to have been otherwise formerly. In Cunnington MS., for instance, it is stated that 'The old terms thic and thoc almost constantly exclude the expressions This and That,' and similar statements are found in other authorities. In Thick here and Thick there the use of the adverb defines the meaning more precisely. As regards the neighbouring counties, it may be said that in Som. and Dors. thick=that; while in N. Hants it never does so (see Cope's Glossary), always there meaning this. It should be noted that the th is usually sounded dth, much as in Anglo-Saxon. His'n=his; Hern, or occasionally Shis'n,=hers; Ourn=ours; Theirn=theirs; Yourn=yours; Whosen=whose, as 'Whosen's hat's thuck thur?' Mun=them, is occasionally, but not often, used. Arra, Arra one, Arn, &c.=any. Negatives, Narra, Narra one, Narn, &c. 'Hev 'ee got arra pipe, Bill?' 'No, I han't got narn.' In the Pewsey Yale Ma is occasionally used for I, in such phrases as 'I'll go we 'ee, shall ma?' or 'I don't stand so high as he, do ma?' About Malmesbury (and elsewhere in N. Wilts) the following forms may be noted:—Wither, other; Theasamy, these; Themmy, those; Totherm or Tothermy, the other.

[125]

Proof. n. Of manure, hay, &c., the strength or goodness. 'The rain hev waished aal the proof out o' my hay.' 'That there muckle bain't done yet; the proof yun't gone out on't.'—N. & S.W. A thriving tree is said to be in 'good proof.'

Proofey. Stimulating, fattening.—N.W.

'The Monkton pastures used to be of good note in Smithfield, from the very feel of the beasts. There are no more "proofey" fatting grounds in Wilts.'—Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. vi. p. 29.

Proof maggot. The larva of the gadfly, which causes warbles in cattle.—N.W.

Proper. 'Her's a proper beauty,' is extremely handsome. 'He's a proper fool,' an utter idiot.—N.W.

Proud. When wheat is too rank and forward in winter, it is said to be 'winter-proud' (D.).—N.W.

Pucker. Perplexity, dilemma (S.) 'I be in a main pucker 'bout what to do wi' they taters.'—N. & S.W.

Pucksey (1) A quagmire. 'The roads wer aal in a pucksey,' i.e. very muddy. 'Out of the mucksey (=mixen) into the pucksey,' from bad to worse.—S.W. (2) Hence, a mess or muddle. 'What a pucksey the house be in!' i.e. a dirty untidy state.—S.W.

Pud. The hand; a nursery word.—N. & S.W.

*Pud-beggar, Pudbaiger. The Water Spider (S.).—S.W.

'A very interesting word. M.E. padde, a toad, paddock, Dev. and East Anglia. M.E. pode, tadpole, Icelandic padda, used of any beetles or insects that inhabit stagnant water.'—Smythe-Palmer.

Puddle or Piddle about. To potter about, doing little jobs of no great utility.—N. & S.W.

*Pue. The udder of a cow or sheep (A.). Fr. pis, Lat. pectus.

Pug. (1) n. The pulp of apples which have been pressed for cider.—N.W. *(2) v. To eat (H.Wr.). *(3) To ear, plough, till (Wr.).

Pummy. n. A soft mass. 'To beat all to a pummy'; from pomace, the apple-pulp in cider-making.—N. & S.W.

[126]

Purdle. To turn head over heels in a fall.—N.W.

Pure. In good health. 'Quite purely,' quite well (A.).—N. & S.W.

Purler. A knock-down blow, a heavy fall.—N.W.

'One of them beggars had come up behind, and swung his gun round, and fetched him a purler on the back of his head.'—Gamekeeper at Home, ch. ix.

Purley. Weak-sighted (A.H.Wr.). Pearl blind is sometimes similarly used.

Pussy-cats, Pussies, and Pussies'-tails. Catkins of willow and hazel, more commonly of willow only (S.).—N. & S.W.

Pussyvan. See Puzzivent.

Pussy-willow. Salix.—S.W.

Put. See Pot (S.).

Put about. To vex, to worry. 'Now dwoan't 'ee go an' put yourself about wi't.'—N.W.

Puzzivent. A flurry or taking. 'He put I in such a puzzivent.' Formerly used in both N. and S. Wilts, but now almost obsolete. Fr. poursuivant. According to a note in The Astonishing History of Troy Town, by 'Q,' ch. xvii, the phrase originated from the contempt with which the West-country sea-captains treated the poursuivants sent down by Edward IV to threaten his displeasure. Hence pussivanting, ineffective bustle, Dev. and Corn.—N. & S.W. Pussyvan (S.).—S.W.

Puzzle-pound. The game of Madell, q.v.—S.W. (Longbridge Deverill, &c.)

*Pwine-end. The whole gable-end of a house, which runs up to a sharp point or pwine.—N.W. (Malmesbury.)

Quakers. Briza media, L., Quaking-grass.—N. & S.W.

Quamp. Still, quiet (A.B.G.).—N.W.

*Quamped, Quomped. Subdued, disappointed. See Quamp.—N.W. (Malmesbury.)

*Quanked. Overpowered by fatigue (A.). Compare Cank.

[127]

Quar, Quarr. (1) n. A stone-quarry (A.B.G.S.).—N. & S.W. (2) v. To work as a quarryman (A.B.).—N. & S.W.

Quar-Martin. Hirundo riparia, Sand-Martin, from its breeding in holes drilled in the face of sandy quarries (Wild Life, ch. ix).—N.W.

Quat, Qwot, or Qwatty. (1) To crouch down (sometimes, but not always, remaining quite still), as a scared partridge (Amateur Poacher, ch. iii). To squat (A.); to sit (S.).—N. & S.W. (2) To flatten, to squash flat.—N.W.

*Quavin-gog or Quaving-gog.A quagmire (A.B.H.Wr.). See Gog.—N.W.

'In the valley below the hill on which Swindon is built, are some quagmires, called by the inhabitants quaving-gogs, which are considered of great depth, and are consequently shunned as places of danger.'—Beauties of Wilts, vol. iii. p. 8.

*Quean.A woman.—N.W. (Castle Eaton.)

'The Saxon word quean, woman, is still used without any objectionable meaning, but its use is rare.'—Leisure Hour, Aug. 1893.

'When a man says of his wife that "th' old quean" did so and so, he means no disrespect to her, any more than if he were speaking of his child as "the little wench."'—Miss E. Boyer-Brown.

Queed, Quid. (1) n. The cud. 'To chamme the queed' is given as a Wiltshire phrase in MS. Lansd. 1033 (H.).—N.W. *(2) Quid. v. To suck (A.).—N.W.

Queen's-cushion. A seat for a little girl, made by two persons crossing hands, and so carrying her between them. When a boy is so carried the term used is King's-cushion.—N. & S.W.

Quest, Quist. The Woodpigeon, Columba palumbus (A.B.); Quisty. 'Thee bist a queer quist,' i.e. a strange sort of fellow.—N. & S.W.

'The Wiltshire labourers invariably call it ... the "Quisty."'—Birds of Wilts, p. 318.

Quid. See Queed.

Quiddle. (1) n. A fussy person; one hard to satisfy in trifling matters of diet, &c.—S.W. (2) n. To make a fuss over trifles (S.).—S.W.

[128]

*Quiet Neighbours. Centranthus ruber, DC., Red Spur Valerian.—S.W. (Longbridge Deverill.)

Quiff. A knack, a trick. 'Ther's a quiff about thuck old gate-latch.'—N.W. Compare:—

'Mr. F. J. Kennedy, secretary of the Belfast Angling Association ... "worked a quiff," to use a slang phrase, on a well-known Lagan poacher.'—Fishing Gazette, Aug. 20, 1892, p. 154.

*Quile. A heap of hay ready for carrying. Fr. cueiller.—N.W. (Cherhill.)

Quill. The humour, mood, or vein for anything. 'I can work as well as or a man, when I be in the quill for 't.' To 'Quill a person' in the language in use at Winchester College is to please, or humour him. This is very near the Wilts use.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

Quilt. (1) v. To swallow (A.B.C.G.). 'The baby wur that bad, it couldn't quilt nothen.' This is used of swallowing in the natural way, while glutch is to swallow with difficulty (C.).—N.W. (2) n. A gulp, a mouthful of liquid. 'Have a quilt on't?' have a drop of it.—N.W.

Quinnet. n. (1) A wedge, as the iron wedge fastening the ring of the scythe nibs in place, or the wooden wedge or cleat which secures the head of an axe or hammer.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.) (2) See Scythe.

Quirk. To complain (A.B.G.); spelt Quisk by Akerman in error. To grunt (S.); to croak. A frog often quirks, and a toad sometimes.—N. & S.W.

Quiset about. To pry about (Wilts Arch. Mag. vol. xxii. p. 112).—N.W.

Quisk. See Quirk.

Quist, Quisty. See Quest.

Quob. (1) A soft wet place, a piece of marsh or bog.—N.W. Cp. W. of Eng. quob, a bog; quob-mire, Salop. (2) Hence 'all in a quob,' said of a bad bruise.—N.W.

Quomped. See Quamped.

*Quop. To throb (A.B.G.).

[129]