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An Attempt
at a Glossary Of Some Words Used in Cheshire.
Roger
Wilbraham. 1826, From the Archæologia Vol. XIX.
AN ATTEMPT
AT A GLOSSARY
SOME WORDS
USED IN CHESHIRE
COMMUNICATED
TO THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES,
ROGER
WILBRAHAM, ESQ. F.R.S. & S.A.
IN A
LETTER TO
SAMUEL
LYSONS, V.P.S.A.
FROM THE
ARCHÆOLOGIA,
VOL. XIX.
SECOND
EDITION.
LONDON:
PRINTED
FOR T. RODD, GREAT NEWPORT STREET.
MDCCCXXVI.
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Gaudet Patientia Duris.
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LONDON: PRINTED RICHARD TAYLOR, SHOE LANE ALERE FLAMMAM
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(delwedd B2747)
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AN
ATTEMPT AT A GLOSSARY
OF
SOME WORDS
USED IN
CHESHIRE.
Read before the Society of Antiquaries, 8th May, 1817.
PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.
ALTHOUGH a Glossary of the words peculiar to each County of England seems as
reasonable an object of curiosity as its History, Antiquities, Climate, and
various Productions, yet it has been generally omitted by those persons who
have undertaken to write the Histories of our different Counties. Now each of
these counties has words, if not exclusively peculiar to that county, yet
certainly so to that part of the kingdom where it is situated, and some of
those words are highly
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(delwedd B2748)
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An
Attempt at a Glossary
beautiful and expressive; many of their phrases, adages, and proverbs are
well worth recording, and have occupied the attention and engaged the pens of
men distinguished for talents and learning: among whom the name of Ray will
naturally occur to every Englishman at all conversant with his mother-tongue,
his work on Proverbs and on the different Dialects of England being one of
the most popular ones in our language. But there is a still more important
benefit to be derived from this custom, were it practised to its full extent
in a publication comprising all the provincial Dialects of England, as they
would, when united all together, form the only true and solid foundation for
a work much wanted, a General Dictionary of the English Language*.
Far be it from me to attempt in the least to depreciate the wonderful powers
displayed by Dr. Johnson in his Dictionary, although it is now pretty well
ascertained that he was himself much dissatisfied with it; but as an
Etymological Dictionary, it certainly has no claim whatever to praise;
* This deficiency no longer exists; as the new edition of Dr. Johnson's
Dictionary, by the Rev. H. J. Todd, now forms a most comprehensive and
satisfactory vocabulary of the English language. So that the author of this
little provincial Glossary may truly say, in the words of the great poet of
Italy, "Poca favilla gran fiamma seconda."
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(delwedd B2749)
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of
some Words used in Cheshire. 3
for the learning of Dr. Johnson, extensive as it was, yet did not embrace a
knowledge of the Gothic, Teutonic, or Anglo-Saxon languages, nor of the other
various Northern sources of our language; and moreover, he seems to have had
very little acquaintance with the old French or Norman languages. By
following the traces of Junius and of Skinner, he has indeed, though not very
successfully, attempted to supply the former deficiency; but to remedy the
latter, namely, his ignorance of the old French language, was not so easy a
task; his own labour and industry in that branch of learning being absolutely
necessary, as there is scarcely a single Lexicographer of the English tongue,
who, though aiming at Etymology, seems to have possessed a competent
knowledge of the old French language.
Had life, health, and the avocations of politics afforded to another
gentleman, one of the most acute grammarians, and of the most profound etymologists
that ever adorned this or possibly any other country (I mean, the late Mr.
Home Tooke), sufficient leisure to accomplish his great plan of a general Etymological
Dictionary of the English language, we should certainly have at this time a
clearer view into the origin of our mother-tongue than we have at present.
Most of the leading terms in all our provincial
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An
Attempt at a Glossary
Dialects, omitting those which are maimed and distorted by a coarse or
vicious pronunciation, are not only Provincialisms but Archaisms also, and are
to be found in our old English authors of various descriptions; but those
terms are now no longer in general use, and are only to be heard in some
remote province, where they have lingered, though actually dead to the
language in general.
Ut silvae foliis pronos mutantur in annos
Prima cadunt, ita verborum vetus interit aetas. Hor.
The truth of this observation of the poet is fully illustrated by an example
taken from this very Cheshire Dialect; there being several words recorded by
Ray as belonging to it, which are even now no longer in use, at least as far
as it could be ascertained by the investigations made by the writer of this;
so that they have actually perished since the time of Ray.
Provincial words, accompanied by an explanation of the sense in which each of
them still continues to be used in the districts to which they belong, would
be of essential service in explaining many obscure terms in our early poets,
the true meaning of which, although it may have puzzled and bewildered the
most acute and learned of our commentators, would perhaps be perfectly
intelligible to a Devonshire, Norfolk, or Cheshire clown.
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(delwedd B2751)
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of
some Words used in Cheshire. 5
Some of our provincial Dialects, as the North-Devon, Lancashire, and a few
others, are already in print, though in a very imperfect state; but by far
the greatest number of them, either have not yet been collected, or, if they
have, exist solely in MS.
To bring these all together, as well those which have already been published,
as what might be collected from different MS. copies, as well as from
individuals now living, is a most desirable object, and would, when
accomplished, form a work eminently useful to any English philologist who
might have the courage to undertake and the perseverance to accomplish a
General Dictionary of the English language.
In a letter I formerly received from the late Jonathan Boucher, vicar of
Epsom, (a gentleman who, had he lived to execute his plan of a General English
Dictionary, would probably have rendered the observations here made quite
superfluous,) he mentions the great similarity in many instances between the
Dialects of Norfolk and of Cheshire, though the same similarity does not
subsist between either of them and those of the interjacent counties, and
expresses his wish to have some reason given for this circumstance. His
observation I knew at that time to be well-founded, but I professed myself unable
to explain it; however,
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An
Attempt at a Glossary
having since that time reflected a good deal upon this singular circumstance,
I will endeavour at least in some measure to account for it.
The truth of the observation made by the same learned gentleman, that all
Provincialisms are also Archaisms, to those who are well acquainted with our
old English authors, is too evident to stand in need of an illustration. Now
the county palatine of Chester, having been in great measure a separate
jurisdiction till the days of Queen Elizabeth, had very little intercourse
with the neighbouring counties; the principal families of the county, and
much more those in a middle station of life, for the most part intermarried among
each other, and rarely made connections out of the county, a practice which
is recommended in an old Cheshire adage*: so that the original customs and
manners as well as the old language of the county have received less changes and
innovations than those of most other parts of England.
The inhabitants of Norfolk too, living in an almost secluded part of England,
surrounded on three sides of it by the sea, having little intercourse with
the adjoining counties, have consequently retained in great measure their
ancient
* It is better to marry over the mixen than over the moor: i.e. your
neighbour's daughter rather than a stranger.
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(delwedd B2753)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 7
customs, manners, and language, unchanged by a mixture with those of their
neighbours. Even at this day in Norfolk a person born out of the county is
called a Shireman or rather Sheerman, i. e. one born in?ome of the shires or
counties of England; not without some little expression of contempt on that
very account. So that the two languages of Cheshire and of Norfolk, having
suffered less innovation from a mixture with others, have also retained more
of their originality, and consequently must bear a closer resemblance to each
other than what is observable between most of the other Provincial Dialects
of England.
Dr. Ash in his English Dictionary has admitted many words which belong to the
Cheshire Dialect; these he has evidently taken from Ray's Proverbs: others he
marks as obsolete, or as local. With regard to those called by him obsolete,
it is apprehended, that, if they are still in use in any part of England, the
term obsolete is improper. Of those which he calls local he does not specify
their precise locality, so that the reader is left at liberty to assign them
to whatever district of England he pleases. He has some Cheshire words also
to which he has attributed a different meaning from what they now bear in the
county. These three last descriptions of words, namely those Dr. Ash marks as
local, those called by him obsolete, and those to which he has given a
different sense from
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(delwedd B2754)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
what they now convey, have all a place in this imperfect Glossary.
A few words are likewise admitted on the sole authority of Ray, though some
of them never occurred to the compiler of this catalogue, whose communications
in different parts of the county have since his early days been very slight,
and merely occasional.
The Reader will observe many words, particularly in the Appendix, which may
be found in Mr. Todd's edition of Dr. Johnson's Dictionary: these Mr. Todd
speaks of as northern words, and not in common use, except in the northern
counties; but as they are so in Cheshire, I thought the admission of them
here perfectly justifiable. To words of this description the name of Todd is generally
subjoined. This, however, is not so much the case in the first list of words,
which was sent to the Antiquarian Society before Mr. Todd's Dictionary was
completed.
The very great resemblance of the Dialects of Cheshire and of Lancashire may
be observed by the frequent repetition of the abbreviation Lan. in this
Glossary.
One peculiarity in the English language is to change, if I am not permitted
to say soften, the pronunciation of many words in the middle of
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(delwedd B2755)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 9
which is the letter L preceded by either of the consonants A or O. Thus in
common discourse we pronounce Bawk for Balk, Caaf for Calf, Haaf for Half,
Wawk for Walk, Tawk for Talk, Foke for Folk, Stawk for Stalk, and St. Awbans for
St. Albans; but in the Cheshire Dialect, as in all the other Northern ones,
this custom, and the practice of substituting the o for the a and the double
ee for the igh, prevail in a still greater degree: thus we call
All ...aw
Always ...awways
names
of places:
Alsager ...Auger
Altrincham ...Autrincham
Alvanley
...Awvanley
Bold ...bowd
Calf ...cauf
Call ...caw
Can ...con
Cold ...cowd
Colt ...cowt
Fold ...fowd
Gold ...gowd
False ...fause
Foul, dirty, ugly ...fow
Fool ...foo
Full ...foo
Fine ...foin
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(delwedd B2756)
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An
Attempt at a Glossary 10
Hold ...howd
Holt ...howt
Half ...hauf
Halfpenny ...hawpenny
Hall ...haw
Long ...lung
Man ...mon
Many ...mony
Manner ...monner
Might ...meet
Mold ...mowd
Pull ...poo
Soft ...saft
Bright ...breet
Scald ...scawd
Stool ...stoo
Right ...reet
Twine ...twoin
Flight ...fleet
Lane ...loan or lone
Mol ...mal
Sight ...see
Sit ...sect
Such ...sich
The following abbreviations have been adopted:
Lancashire Lan.
Junius, Etymologicon Anglicanum , . . Jun.
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(delwedd B2757)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 1 1
Skinner, Etymologicon Ling. Angl. . Skin. Wachter, Glossarium Germanicum . .
Wach. Ihre, Glossarium Suio-Gothicum . . . Ihre. Kilian, Etymologicon Linguae
Teotiscae.Kil. Somneri Dictionarium Saxo-Latino Anglicum
Jamieson, Scotch Dictionary Jam.
Law Latin Dictionary L. L. D.
Nyerup, Glossarium Linguae Teotiscae. Nye. PromptoriumParvulorumClericorum.
P. P. C.
Ortus Vocabulorum Ort. Voc.
Ray's Proverbs Ray.
Grose's Provincial Glossary G. P. Gl.
Ash's Dictionary Ash.
Palsgrave, L'Ecclaircissement de la *
Langue Fra^aise J
Hormanni Vulgaria H. V.
Littleton's Dictionary Litt. D.
Benson's Anglo-Saxon Dictionary . . Ben.
Shakespeare Shak.
Old Word O. W.
Scherzius, Glossarium Germanicum
Medii^vi jScherz.
Haldersoni Lexicon Islandicum .... Hald. Randle Holme's Academy of Ar- Acad.
of
moury J Arm.
Wolf's Danish Dictionary W T olf.
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(delwedd B2758)
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A.
ACHORN, or rather Aitchorn, s. to go altchorning is to go gathering Acorns.
The pigs are gone o' aitchorning.
ACKERSPRIT, part, said of potatoes, when the roots have germinated before the
time of gathering them, and consequently are of little value. Corn, and
particularly barley, which has germinated before it is malted, is said by the
maltsters in the eastern counties of England to be acrespired or eagerspired,
i. e. early grown. Bailey's Diet. Skinner derives this word from the A.S.
^Ecer, seges, satum, and nostro spire, spica.
ACKERSPYRE, v. to sprout, to germinate. Jam.
AFFRODILE, s. a daffodil.
AFTCRINGS, s. the last milk that can be drawn from a cow: the same as
STROKINGS.
AcaTE, adverbial expression, means not only a person up and recovered from a
sick-bed, but also one that is employed; " he is agate marling" or
"ploughing." A convalescent is said to be on his legs again. Agate
is also used in the sense of, employed with, or setting about a
14
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(delwedd B2759)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
work. I have been agate a woman, directing her in the road. I am agate a new
cart, I am making a new cart.
AGO, or EGG, v. to incite or provoke, from the Danish word Egger, to provoke.
Wolf. part. Agging, Egging.
AITCH, AITCHES, s. so pronounced; ache, aches, pain, pains. It is also used
for a paroxysm in an intermitting disorder. This seems to be the same word in
an extended sense. Hot aitches are flushings in the face. A.S. Ace, dolor;
pain, ach. Som.
ALL ALONG, adv. or, when abbreviated, aw long, wholly owing to, aw long of
such a one I could not do what I intended.
ANENST, or ANAINST, prep, opposite, over against. Anent. O. W. Chaucer. B.
Jonson uses Anenst.
ANEEND, adv. upright, not lying down, on one end; when applied to a
four-footed animal it means rearing, or what the heralds call rampant. It is
always pronounced aneeml, and possibly should be written on eend. Aneend means
also perpetually, evermore.
AXTRIMS, s. whims, vagaries, peevishness; the same as Tanterums or Anticks.
Anticks however is common.
ASTER, s. Easter.
Ax AFTER, adv. afterwards.
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(delwedd B2760)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 15
B.
BACCO, s. tobacco. Lan.
BADGER, s. a dealer in corn, from the A.S. bycgean, emere.
BAGGiNG-Time, s. Lan. the time of the afternoon luncheon.
BAITH, adj. both. In Hearne's Glossary to Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle we
have bathe used for both; Beithe, is the same thing.
BAIN, adj. near, convenient; common in the North. Jamieson derives it from
the Islandic beina, expedire.
BALLOW, v. to select or claim. It is used by boys at play, when they select a
goal or a companion of their game. I ballow, or ballow me that situation, or
that person. Ihre has walja, or valjan, eligere, and wal, electio; the w is
often changed into the y, and the v and the b are also convertible letters.
" Walja mig," choose me that situation. Fris.
BALKS, .v. the hay-loft is so called, I suppose, from its being divided into
different compartments by Balks or Beams. Balk in the old Northern languages
is a separation or division, and Balk is used for Capita, or Chapters in the
titles of the old Swedish laws; see Ihre, Glossarium Suio-Oothicum, in voce
Balk.
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(delwedd B2761)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
BALLY of pigs, i. e. a bellyful, is a litter of pigs.
BANDY-Hewit, s. a little bandy-legged dog, a turnspit. Of Hewit I can make
nothing, unless it be a corruption of Keout, which itself is probably derived
from Skout. See in voce Keout, Lan. where a different explanation of it is
given.
BARST, perfect tense of the verb to burst; barsten, is the participle.
BATCH, s. besides the common sense of a general baking, implies the whole of
the wheat flour which is used for making common household bread, after the
bran alone has been separated from it.
BATT, v. to wink or move the eyelids up and down: to bate is a term of
falconry, when die falcon beats his wings in this manner.
BAWM, v . to prepare, dress, or adorn. At Appleton in Cheshire it was the
custom at the time of the wake to clip and adorn an old hawthorn which till
very lately stood in the middle of the town. This ceremony is called the
Bawming of Appleton Thorn. Bo, Boa, is the Suio-Got. for to prepare: Ihre.
Bua, is Islandic for the same. To Bawm is common for to dress or adorn; it is
also a good O. W. used in Nychodemus' Gospell, 4<to, 1532. "And than
this " mayde Syndonia washed and bawmed her."
BAWSON, or BAWSIN, adj. great, large, swelled.
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(delwedd B2762)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 1 7
Bailey. In Andrew Boord's Breviary of Health, p. 35, we meet with a balson
ele, for a very large eel.
BAWSON, or BAWSIN, s. a badger. Skinner derives it fantastically enough from
Beau Sein, &c. &c. Bawsand, Bassant, or Bawsint, in Jam. is a term
applied to a horse or cow having a white spot in the forehead or face, which
is exactly the case of the Badger, and seems a more appropriate etymology of
the word, which on that account alone (it being in Johnson) has a place here.
Gavin Douglas in his Translation of Virgil, 146, 36, renders Frontem albam,
by bawsand-faced. Balzano in Italian, and Balzan in French, both mean a horse
with a white leg different from the general colour of the horse. Can this be
the origin of Douglas's bawsand-faced?
BEARDINGS, or a BEARD-HEDGE, s. the bushes which are stuck into the bank of a
new made hedge, to protect the fresh planted thorns.
BEDEET, part, or adj. dirtied, seems to come from the Scotch word Bedyit,
dipped, and that from
> the A.S. word Deagan, tingere, imbuere. See Jamieson. To deet is to
dirty.
BEEN, or BIN, is the plural of the present tense of the verb to be. Lan.
formerly of the verb to ben, to be.
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(delwedd B2763)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
BEEN, s. is the plural of Bee.
BEET the fire, v. to light, or, as we say, to make the fire: from the
Teutonic boeten het vier, struere ignem. Kil.
BELLART, or BELLOT, as it is pronounced, s. a bear-leader. There was an old
family of that name in Cheshire, now, I believe, extinct.
BERRY, s. a gooseberry.
BIDDING, s. an invitation to a funeral is so termed. Bidding is also an O. W.
for praying, from the A.S. Biddan, to pray; so it may possibly be the oflfering
of prayers for the soul of the deceased. A bidding is also an invitation to a
weddingfeast, as well as to a funeral. Cowel, in his Law Dictionary, in voce
Bidale or Bid-all, says, "It is the invitation of friends to drink at some
poor man's house, who thereby hopes to receive some assistant benevolence
from the guests for his relief: written by some, Bildale, and mentioned in
Henry VIII. cap. 6. The same is used also in the county palatine of Chester
by persons of quality towards the relief of their own or neighbour's poor
tenants.
BIDE, or ABIDE, v. to endure: bide is also used for to stay or remain.
BIGHT, '5. a projection in a river, a projecting or receding corner. It is
commonly used in sea voyages: as, the Bight of Benin on the coast
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(delwedd B2764)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 1 9
of Africa. It is an O. W. for the elbow. A.S. bygan, flectere. Som.
BIGHT, or BOUGHT, is used for anything folded or doubled: a sheet of paper is
by Herman in his Vulgaria called a bought of paper.
BiNGj v. to begin to turn sour, said of milk.
BIR, BIRRE, BER, BURRE, s. impetus: to take birr is to run with violence as a
person does before taking a great leap. See the Glossary to WiclifFe's New
Testament by Lewis, Matt. 8. " and lo in a great bire all the drove (of
swine) went heed-lyng into the sea." See also Apoc. c. 1 8. Bir, ventus
secundus. Hickes's Island. Diet. See also Douglas's Glossary. From the same
source is derived what is called the Bore or Eager in a tide-river. In
Ellis's Early English Poets, vol. i. p. 389, we read, " And land first
rumbland rudely with sic bere." Mr. Ellis explains Bere by noise; but
wrong, as I apprehend: it is rather violence.
BLOTEN, or BLOATEN, part. To be bloten of any one is to be unaccountably fond
of him. It is used in the same sense as globed to, and is perhaps less
common. It may be a kind of inflection of the participle Bloaten, swelled
with, full of. Or, perhaps it may be derived from the A.S. word Blotan,
immolare, that is, sacrificed, or wholly given up to. N.B. Grose in his Proc
2
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(delwedd B2765)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
vincial Glossary attributes this word to Cheshire.
BLUFTED, part, a term used at the game of blindman's buff. It is your turn to
be blufted. This appears to be a mistake for buffeted, which is occasionally
the lot of the individual who personates the blind man.
BOBBER, adj. Bobberous, the same word; sawcy, pert. Bob, or dry-bob, is an
old word for a merry joke or trick. Dobson's Drybobs, is the title of a merry
story book. We still use the phrases, to bear a bob, and bobbish, in familiar
discourse. In the Suio-Gothic we have Boffra, to play tricks. See Ihre, in
voce Bof.
BOGGY-BO, or BOGGART, s. a bug-bear or scarecrow. Bauw, Belgice, a spectre.
To take boggart is to take fright, as a horse does when he starts aside. See
Skinner, in voce Bug, and Ihre, in voce Puke. Also A.S. Bauw, larva.
BOGGARTY, or BucHARTY, adj. apt to start aside, applied to a horse.
BOKE, v. to poke, or thrust out. Lan.
BOOSE, 5. O. W. a cow's stall. Cherry being a favourite name for a red cow,
which colour is, among the country-people, the most esteemed for milking, any
person who is got into a comfortable situation is said to be " got into
Cherry's Boose." Bosih, prsesepe. Som.
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(delwedd B2766)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 21
BOOSY PASTURE, s. the pasture which lies contiguous to the cow stall or
Boose.
BOOTY-HOUSE, s. is an expression used by children for an old box or shelf, or
any place ornamented with bits of glass or broken earthenware, in imitation
of an ornamented cabinet: probably a corruption of Beauty.
BORSTEN, part, of the verb to burst, A.S. Borsten. Som. It is used for
ruptured. See Barst or brast, in Hearne's Glossary to Robert of Gloucester's
Chronicle.
Boss, s. a hassock to kneel upon in church; by Grose erroneously, as I
apprehend, called a Doss or Poss.
BoTHaM, s. bottom.
BOUT, adv. or prep, without: " Better bad than Bout," as I heard a
woman say, when urged to quit a bad husband. If a mother refuses any thing
her child asks for, she says, You mun be bout, you must go without it. See
Jam. under But and Ben, the outside and inside of a house.
BRACCO, or BRACCOW, used only when compounded with another word, as
Work-bracco, diligent, laborious. Ray.
BRAD, s. a small nail.
BRADOW, v. to spread or cover. A hen bradows her chickens: Teut. Broeden,
incubare. Kil.
22
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(delwedd B2767)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
So that Bradow is either a kind of augmentative of Brood, or an abbreviation
of Brood over.
BRAN, s. or BRANT, part, burn, or burnt. Old word.
BRASS, is commonly used for copper coin. See Shakspeare, Hen. V.
A BRAT, or A BISHOP, is a child's bib. Ruddiman derives this word from the
A.S. Bratan, conterere.
BRE, or BRAE, s. Brow. Eyebraes, eyebrows. The old word is Bre.
BREAD (pronounced long), s. breadth or extent. There is a great bread of corn
this year, i. e. a greater extent of land than usual, sown with corn this
year.
BREWES, or BROWIS, s. slices of bread, with fat broth poured over them, O. W.
but at present, I believe, used only in Cheshire and in Lancashire. A.S.
Broth, jus; or Brew, A.S. jus, jusculum.
BRICCO, adj. brittle. Brica, ruptor, A.S. Som.
BRID, s. bird, O. W. Wicliffe's New Testament. P. P. C.
BRID-LEGGED, adj. The Cheshire farmer, who holds that the perfect form of
female beauty consists more in strength than in elegance of limbs, often uses
this contemptuous appellation to any female whose limbs happen to be somewhat
slen
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(delwedd B2768)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 23
derer than he has in his own mind fixed upon as the criterion of symmetry and
taste.
BRIEF, adj. rife, prevalent; said chiefly of disorders. Agoes been brief,
agues are common.
BRIMMING, adj. or part. Lan. A sow when maris appetens is said to be
brimming. A.S.Bremend, mugiens, fervens. Som. O. W. used by Philemon Holland.
BROCK, s. a badger, (common.)
BRORDS, or BRUARTS, s. the young shoots of corn are so called: A.S. Brord,
frumenti spicae, corn new come up, or the spires of corn. Som.
BRORE, or BRORD, . to spring up, as corn does.
BROSIER, s. a bankrupt. It is often used by boys
at play, when one of them has nothing further
to stake. In the P. P. C. we have Brosyn or
Quashin, v. This is the origin of our modern
" word, to bruise.
BRUART, s. is the narrow thin edge of anything. Hat-bruarts are the parings
of the brim of a hat.
BRUART, v. to shoot out as newly sown corn does. Bishop Kennet, in his M.S.
vocabulary in the British Museum, has to Brere, or to be brered, as corn just
coming up. Dunelm has Brord, frumenti spicae.
BULL-HEAD, s. a tadpole.
BUR or BOR TREE, s. the elder, O. W. but common in Cheshire.
24s
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(delwedd B2769)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
BURR, s. the sweet-bread.
BUSHEL, s. when applied to oats, means five ordinary bushels.
C.
CADGER, s. a carrier.
CALE, or KALE, s. turn, chance, perhaps only Call. It is used by persons
doing any thing by rotation. It is my cale now. Kele, Lan. Kilian has Kavel,
sors, sortitio, sors in divisione bonorum, rata portio, which is very nearly
the sense in which it is now used. Kavel is lot, and Kavelen to draw lots, in
Flemish. See Halma.
CALL, v. To call a person out of his name, is to abuse or vilify him.
To call all to pieces, is to treat with the most opprobrious and abusive
language.
CANT, adj. strong, lusty. Ash calls it local. Bailey has the word. In the
Glossary to Langtoft's Chronicle by Hearne, Kant, adj. is explained by
courageous.
CAP, or CAPPEL, v. to put a new cover over shoes worn out at the toe.
CPERLASH, s. abusive language. To Cample is a northern word for to scold. See
Grose.
CAPO, s. a working horse, Ray. Corrupted from Capyl or Capel, from Ceffyl,
Welsh. O. W.
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(delwedd B2770)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 25
CARVE, or KERVE, v. to grow sour: local, according to Ash.
CASE, adv. because, perhaps. In the first example it seems to be an
abbreviation of becase, so pronounced in Cheshire; and in the second instance
it has the appearance of being shortened from percase, a word used by Bacon,
though now of very rare occurrence.
CAUF-KIT, or CRIB, s. a place to put a sucking calf in. A.S. Crybbe,
praesepe, Som. The same as Kidcrow.
CHEADLE DOCK, or KEDLE DOCK, is the Senecio Jacobcea.
CHEM, or TCHEM, s. a team, a team of horses, a team of wild ducks. Somner
talks of a team of young pigs.
CHILDER, s. children, Lan. The Ang. Sax. plural termination.
CHIMLY, or rather CHIMBLEY, s. Lan. the chimney.
CHUNNER, v. to grumble: a chunnering ill-conditioned fellow. A.S. Ceonian,
obmurmurare, Ben. To chowre, is a good old word for to scold. So in
Turberville's translation of Ovid,
" But when the crabbed nurse Begins to chide and chowre."
CLAP, v. to squat, to take her seat as a hare does when pursued by the
hounds, in order to escape
26
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(delwedd B2771)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
from them; from the French se clapper, se tapir, se cacher dans un trou. CLAMME,
or CLAME, v. to dirty or plaster over.
A.S. Clamian, linire, oblinire, oblimare, to
anoint or smear over, to dawbe, to foule, to
Clamme. Som. CLARGYMAN, s. a ludicrous appellation for a black
rabbit. CLAT, s. To tell Clats of a person is to tell stories
of him. CLAVER, s. idle talk; Scotch, Jam. Claffer is
German for garrulus. CLEA, s. a claw. It was anciently written Clea.
See Fleming's Dictionarie, et passim. CLEM, v . Clem'd, part. Lan. starved
with hunger.
Ash calls it local. Klemmen, Kil. Teut. strin gere, coarctare, to shrink up:
the bowels are
said to be clammed, to adhere together, by
hunger. CLOMB, perf. tense and part, of the verb to climb.
It is an old word, and used by Spencer in the
perfect tense. CLOTS, or CLOUTS, burrs or burdock. A.S. Clate,
Som. et in Glossario jElfrici. CLOUTS, Axle-tree Clouts, s. plaits of iron
nailed
at the end of it. Clouted shoon, are shoes done
in the same way. CLUSSUM'D, adj. clumsy, Lan. according to Ray,
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(delwedd B2772)
|
of some Words used in Cheshire. 27
but it means more, i. e. a hand shut and benumbed with cold, and so far
clumsy; certainly a corruption of closened, or closed.
COB, v. to throw, Lan. To cob is to lead or domineer, also, to govern or
surpass or excel others in any art or skill.
COB, s. a blow. I believe always a blow on the head. Cob is also a leader, a
chief: This boy will always be Cob. It is a good old word, and used by Horman
in his Vulgaria.
COBNOBBLE, v. to correct or chastize.
GOGGLE, KEGGLE, KICKLE, TICKLE, adj. easily moved; all, I believe, the same
word.
GOGGLE, v. to move with great ease, to be unsteady.
COLDING, part, seems to be, shivering: To sit colding by the fire-side is to
sit idling by the fire-side.
COLLOW, or COLLY, v. to blacken, to colour, to make black with a coal.
Charbonner. Pal.
COLLY WEST, adv. directly contrary.
COLLY WESTON is sometimes used when anything goes wrong. It is aw along with
Colly Weston. This seems to be some personal allusion, and, I should
apprehend, very local, and by no means general throughout the county.
COME. Sunday come se'night, the next Sunday but
28
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(delwedd B2773)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
one. This expression was formerly very common, not only in colloquial but in
written language, and may be found in Foxe's Book of Martyrs.
Tomorrow come never When two Sundays come together. To a person less given to
the fulfilling than to the making of promises, these words are often repeated
by way of quip, when he engages to do anything.
COME OUT, or rather COME EYT, an odd expression, used to a dog; meaning, lie
still, do not bark.
COMMIN, s. the common, waste land.
CONNA, v. cannot.
CONNY, or CANNY, adj. is used as brisk, lively. Their etymology may be found
in all the dead Northern languages.
COOTH, s. a cold. Coth, A.S. morbus, valetudo, Som.
COSP, s. the cross bar at the top of a spade. It is frequently used for the
head. A person whose head has been broken is said "to have had his cosp
broken." Randle Holme calls it Kaspe; and when enumerating the different
parts of a spade, has the head, or handle, or kaspe. Acad. of Arm. B. 3, Ch.
8, p. 329. It can scarcely
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(delwedd B2774)
|
of some Words used in Cheshire. 29
be a corruption of the German word Kopf, the head?
COWLICK, s. is that part of a cow's hide where the hairs of it, having
different directions, meet and form a projecting ridge of hair. This is
believed to be produced from the cow licking herself. The same term is used
when the same thing occurs in the human h^ad.
COW-SHORN, or SHARN, as in Lan. s. the leavings of the cow. Dung, in
Teutonic, is Sharn; in Suio-Got. Skarn; and a Shar Bud, an O. W. for beetle,
is so called rather from continually living under horse or cow dung, than for
its being found under shards or broken earthen-ware. A.S. Scearn, fimus,
stercus, cow-dung. Som. Handle Holme, in his Academy of Armory, says Shorn is
the dung of a bull or cow. It is also called Cowshot or Cowplague. In
Philemon Holland's translation of the Natural History of Pliny, vol. 2. p.
327, we read: "They say that bull's Sherne is an excellent complexion
forsooth to set a fresh rosat or vermilion colour on in the ball of the
cheeke."
CRADANT and CRADANTLY, s. and adv. Crassant and Crassantly, which two last
words are admitted on the sole authority of Ray; coward, cowardly: To set
cradants, among boys, is to do
30
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(delwedd B2775)
|
An
Attempt at a Glossary 30
something hazardous, to take any desperate leap which cradants dare not
undertake after you.
CRANNY, adj. pleasant, agreeable, or praiseworthy: A cranny lad. Bailey.
CREACHY, adj. crazy, out of order, in bad repair, or sick.
CREEM, v. the same as Teem, to pour; also to put slily into one's hand. Ash
calls it local.
CREWDLE or CROODLE, v. to crouch together like frightened chickens on the
sight of a bird of prey.
CREWDLING, s. a dull stupid person, a slow mover.
CROPE and CROPPEN, perf. tense and. part, of the verb to Creep. Lan.
CRUEL, or CREWEL, adj. is still in use for worsted. To work in crewels, is to
work in worsted.
CRUNNER, s. Such is the pronunciation of Coroner.
CUMBERLIN, s. a troublesome worthless person; from cumber.
CURRAKE, s. cowrake, used to clean the cowhouse from filth. In P. P. C. it is
written Colrake.
CUTE, adj. quick, intelligent; probably an abbreviation of acute.
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(delwedd B2776)
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of
some Words used in Cheshire. 31
D.
DADDLE, v. to walk with short steps, Lan. much the same as Dawdle. See Jam.
Dwalen, Dutch, huc illuc obambulare; or perhaps only the diminutive of Dade.
DAGG, v. to moisten or wet the feet or lower clothing, Lan.; generally used
to females who wear petticoats. Dagg is an O. W. for dew. In Norfolk a shower
of rain is called, a Dagg for the turnips. Johnson calls it a low word; it is
however in common use in Cheshire and elsewhere: daggle-tailed is also
common. A.S. Deagan, tingere.
DANDER, v. to wander about. It is also used for to ramble in conversation, to
talk incoherently. Jam. explains one of its meanings, to bewilder oneself on
a way, generally including the idea of a want of attention, or of stupidity.
DANDY COCK or HEN, are Bantam fowls.
DANGERLY, adv. possibly, by chance.
DEAF, adj. a nut without a kernel is said to be deaf.
DEAVE, v. to deafen, or stun by noise. Doof or doove, Flem. deaf. Halma.
Deave, v. Scotch.
DEAVELY, or DEAFLY, adj. lonely, retired; a deavely place, a place where
nothing is heard.
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(delwedd B2777)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
DOESOM, or DOSOM, adj. healthy, thriving upon little. Lan. Bp. Kennet derives
it from the A.S. Dugan, valere.
DREE, adj. long in continuance, tedious, abundant in measure, more than it
appears to be. A dree rain is a close thick small rain. Ihre has Draella,
stillare, unde aliquid crebro decidit. Suio-Goth.
DREE, v. to continue or hold out.
DRUDGE-BOX, s. the flour-box. Dredge is the old word for oats and barley
mixed; perhaps it may have been originally the dredge-box.
DRUMBOW, or DRUMBLE, s. a dingle or ravin, generally with trees in it.
DUNCH, adj. deaf.
DUNGOW-DASH, or DRUMBOW-DASH, s. dung, iilth. When the clouds threaten hail
or rain, it is said, There is a deal of pouse or dungo-dash to come down.
DUNNOCK, s. the hedge-sparrow; from the very dark or dusky appearance of that
bird. Dun was anciently a dark colour, very different from what is now called
a dun colour. See Shakespeare passim. Quere if not Dun-neck? Bailey in his
Dictionary mentions a dun-neck as a bird.
DUZZY, adj. slow, heavy; perhaps a corruption of Drowsy.
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(delwedd B2778)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 35
E.
EALE, s. ale, pronounced as in the A.S. Eale.
EAM, or EEM, v. to spare time, to have leisure. Lan. I cannoh earn now. A.S.
^mtan, quies, otium, tempus, rest, leisure, spare time. Som. Bailey has to
eein, to be at leisure; but I never heard the word so pronounced.
EAMBY, adv. close by, at hand.
EASINGS of a house, s. the eaves. Lan.
EAVER, or EEVER, s. a quarter of the heavens. The wind is in the rainy eaver.
The Scotch use in this sense Art, Arth, Airt, or Airth. Jam. Bailey admits
Eever, as a Cheshire word. For the etymology of this word I am tempted to
look to the A.S. adverb Weard, versus, in the direction of, as it is
exemplified in its derivatives toward, froward, forward, backward. The sense
corresponds perfectly, and the v and w may be regarded as the same letter.
The whole difficulty consists in the first short syllable of the word: but
let it be remembered, that it is with considerable diffidence that this
etymology is suggested.
An EDDY, or a NEDDY, s. an idiot; of which word it may possibly be a
diminutive or a corruption.
EDDERINGS, s. Radlings in a hedge are so called. A.S. Edor or Edar, septum.
Som. Bailey has
34t
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(delwedd B2779)
|
An Attempt at a Glossary
DOESOM, or DOSOM, adj. healthy, thriving upon little. Lan. Bp. Rennet derives
it from the A.S. Dugan, valere.
DREE, adj. long in continuance, tedious, abundant in measure, more than it
appears to be. A dree rain is a close thick small rain. Ihre has Draella,
stillare, unde aliquid crebro decidit. Suio-Goth.
DREE, v. to continue or hold out.
DRUDGE-BOX, s. the flour-box. Dredge is the old word for oats and barley
mixed; perhaps it may have been originally the dredge-box.
DRUMBOW, or DRUMBLE, s. a dingle or ravin, generally with trees in it.
DUNCH, adj. deaf.
DUNGOW-DASH, or DRUMBOW-DASH, s. dung, filth. When the clouds threaten hail
or rain, it is said, There is a deal of pouse or dungo-dash to come down.
DUNNOCK, s. the hedge-sparrow; from the very dark or dusky appearance
of that bird. Dun was anciently a dark colour, very different from what is
now called a dun colour. See Shakespeare passim. Quere if not Dun-neck?
Bailey in his Dictionary mentions a dun-neck as a bird.
DUZZY, adj. slow, heavy; perhaps a corruption of Drowsy.
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(delwedd B2780)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 35
E.
EALE, s. ale, pronounced as in the A.S. Eale.
EAM, or EEM, v. to spare time, to have leisure. Lan. I cannoh earn now. A.S.
^Emtan, quies, otium, tempus, rest, leisure, spare time. Som. Bailey has to
eein, to be at leisure; but I never heard the word so pronounced.
EAMBY, adv. close by, at hand.
EASINGS of a house, s. the eaves. Lan.
EAVER, or EEVER, s. a quarter of the heavens. The wind is in the rainy eaver.
The Scotch use in this sense Art, Arth, Airt, or Airth. Jam. Bailey admits
Eever, as a Cheshire word. For the etymology of this word I am tempted to
look to the A.S. adverb Weard, versus, in the direction of, as it is
exemplified in its derivatives toward, froward, forward, backward. The sense
corresponds perfectly, and the v and TV may be regarded as the same letter.
The whole difficulty consists in the first short syllable of the word: but
let it be remembered, that it is with considerable diffidence that this
etymology is suggested.
An EDDY, or a NEDDY, s. an idiot; of which word it may possibly be a
diminutive or a corruption.
EDDERINGS, s. Radlings in a hedge are so called. A.S. Edor or Edar,
septum. Som. Bailey has
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(delwedd B2781)
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An Attempt at a Glossary 36
" Eder breche, the trespass of hedge-breaking." Tusser has
" Save Edder and stake, Strong hedge to make."
EDER, s. a hedge: a good old English word. See dowel's Law Dictionary, folio
edition.
ELDER, s. the udder of a cow. Lan. See Skinner, Belgice Elder.
ELLER, s. the elder-tree.
ESHIN, or ASHIN, s. a pail. These pails are, I believe, always made of ash
wood.
ESHINTLE, 5. an Eshin full.
Ess, or ESSE, s. ashes, or a place under the grate to receive them in. Bailey
calls it a Cheshire word.
EXPECT, u. to suppose, believe, or prognosticate; rather an extended sense of
the word.
F.
FANTOME corn is light corn. Fantome hay, light, well-gotten hay. North.
FARAND, or FARRAND, s. manner, custom, appearance. O. W. We have, old farrand:
farantly: to do things in the right or wrong farand.
FARANTLY, adj. or as usually pronounced, farancly or farincly, is supposed to
be composed of the two words fair and clean; but it is simply the
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(delwedd B2782)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 37
adjective of Farand, and means clean, decent, orderly. In Scotland well- or
ill-farand are used for well- or ill-looking: To fare is there also to go;
and a farand-man is a traveller or stranger. Jam. In P. P. C. we read, comly
or well farynge in shape; elegans. In Hormanni Vulgaria we have, " He
looked unfaringly, aspectu fuit incomposito." A.S. Faran, to go. Fare, a
journey. Som. To a gentleman ordering a pair of shoes of a Cheshire
shoemaker, he answered, " I know what you would wish, sir; you would
have a pair of shoes with a farantly toe and a mannerly heel." Farantly
and mannerly have much the same meaning, except that to the latter is
attached rather more elegance than to the former.
FARE, v. to go. To fare road is to trace the footsteps of a hare along the
road. The fare of a hare is her trace.
FARTHER, adv. expressive of repugnance. I will be farther if I do that,
means, I will never do it.
FASHOUS, adj. unfortunate, shameful; either from the verb to fash, to tease,
or from the French fascheux, unfortunate.
FAUGH, s. fallow; an abbreviation of the word.
FAVOUR, v. to resemble, as one person does to another: That child favours his
father. To favour, though admitted in this sense into many
38
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(delwedd B2783)
|
An Attempt at a Glossary
of our dictionaries, and though a good authority for the use of it be cited
by Dr. Johnson, yet I do not recollect to have ever heard it in conversation,
except in Cheshire, where it is very common.
FAY, or FAIGH, s. the soil before you reach the marl. To fay is to remove it.
In other parts of England to fie is to cleanse a ditch or pond. Fowings,
emundatio, in P.P.C.
FEABERRY, or FEEBERRY, s. a gooseberry.
FEND, v. to work hard, to struggle with difficulties. In hard times we must
fend to live. Lan. Fend is also used in the following sense. When a person is
not easily convinced, it is said, You must fend and prove with him. It is
probably, in both senses, an abbreviation of Defend.
FJETTLE, s. order, good repair.
FETTLE, v. to repair, or put in order. Dr. Johnson explains this word, to do
trifling business, to ply the hands without labour; and calls it a cant word,
from Fed. Mr. Todd says this is a mistake, and that it probably comes from
the Suio-Gothic Fykt, studium. The sense in which it is used in Cheshire and
Lancashire is, however, different from that assigned to it by these gentlemen.
In both these counties it means, to mend, to put in order any thing which is broken
or defective, as the substantive, Fettle,
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(delwedd B2784)
|
of some Words used in Cheshire. 39
means order, good condition, proper repair. Being used in this sense, it
appears to me to be derived from some deflection of the word Faire, to do,
which itself comes from the Latin Facere. The nearest which occurs to me is
the old French word Faiture, which has exactly the same meaning as our
substantive Fettle, and is explained by Roquefort, in his Glossaire de la Langue
Romane, by Facon, mode, forme, &c.
FEW, v. flew, perfect tense of the verb to fly.
FEW, adj. is not only a small number but also a little quantity: a few broth.
Fea, A.S. pauci. Som.
FEWMOT, or FOOMOT, s. i. e. a foulmart, a polecat, or weasel.
FITCHET-PIE, s. a pie composed of apples, onions, and bacon, served to
labourers at harvest-home.
FLAKE, or FLEAK, s. a hurdle. It is used by Harding in his Chronicle.
FLANGE, or FLANGE OUT, v. to spread, diverge, to increase in width or
breadth, like the mouth of a trumpet or a French horn.
FLASH, or PLASH, s. a shallow piece of water.
FLASKER, v. to choke, or stifle. A person lying in the mud and unable to
extricate himself is said to be flaskered. In Lan. it bears a different
sense. ,
40
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(delwedd B2785)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
FLATTER DOCK, or BATTER DOCK, s. pond weed, or potamogeton.
FLEE, s. a fly.
FLEETINGS or FLITTINGS, or FLEETMILK, s. part of the refuse milk in the
process of cheesemaking. Belg. Vlote-melck. Skinner. InP.P.C. Flet of mylk or
other like, despumatus.
FLECK, FLICK, FLEG, FLEGGE, FLIG, v. to fly. A.S. Fleogan, to fly. Ben.
FLIG, or FLIGGE, adj. spoken of young full fledged birds. Flygge, plumea.
Pal. Fligge as bird, maturus, P. P. C. Flig, volatilis. Junius, addenda.
FLIGGERS, s. young birds beginning to fly. From the A.S. Fliccerian, motare
alas; or from Fliggheren, Teutonice volitare. Kilian.
FLOUGH, s. (pronounced gutturally) a flea. In Lan. Fleigh.
FLY-DOD, s. (pronounced Flee-dod) Ragwort; Seneclo Jacobtea, vulgarly called
Mare f t. It is generally covered with a dusky yellow fly, which accounts for
the first part of its name: Dock is also a common termination of the names of
different weeds, by no means always of the same class, so that perhaps it
should be Flee-dock. Gerard in his Herbal gives the name of "
Flea-docke" to a plant.
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(delwedd B2786)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 41
Fow, adj. foul, ugly.
FRAMPOT, s. the iron ring which fastens the Sowl or cow yoke to the iron
range.
FREM'D, adj. strange, inimical. It is also used for tender, and is sometimes
pronounced Frim. A.S. Frem'd, exterus. Som.
FRETTEN, part, rubbed, marked, O. W. used chiefly in Pock-fretten. From the
French Frot^ ter, and that from A.S. Frothian, fricare, Som.
FRIM, adj. tender or brittle* Lan.
FRORT, FROWART, or FROWARTS, adv. forward.
FORTHINK, v. to repent. O.W. Chaucer. Piers Ploughman. Jam.
FORTHOUGHT, s. repentance. Forethought is forecast or prospective wisdom; but
our word has quite a different sense, the little word For signifying
privation, as for in forget, forgo (so it ought to be written and not as it
generally is, forego). The pronunciation of Forthought is very different from
that of Forethought.
FUKES, s. the hair. Bailey has Fax for the hair, and derives from it the
names, Fairfax, Halifax. A.S. Feax, coma, capilli. Som.
G.
GAFTY, adj. doubtful, suspected. A gafty person
is a suspected person. GATE, s. a road. " Gate heo goes," is the
usual cry
42
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(delwedd B2787)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
of the huntsman when he pricks (i. e. traces) the hunted hare along the
high-road. Gate is not onlyporta but also portus Sandgate, Margate.
GAWM, v. to comprehend. Gauwe, Teutonice acutus, attentus. Kil. Gaw,
intelligent. Flem. Halma. Palsgrave has, to awme, to guess, which I suppose
is nothing but to aim.
GAWN, s. a gallon.
GEE, v. to fit, suit, or agree together. Lan. from the O. W. to gee or to
gie, to go.
GEFF, or JEFF, adj. deaf.
GELL, or JELL, s. a great deal.
GESLING, s. a gosling.
GHEETEN, part, gotten.
To GO GIDDY is to go in a passion. A.S. Gidig, stultus, vertiginosus. Som. a
very trifling deflection from the common meaning of Giddy.
GILLER, or rather GUILLER, s. several horse hairs twisted together to compose
a fishing-line.
GIL-HOOTER, s. an owl.
GIRD, s. and v. a push, to push as a bull does. Shakesp. Ash calls it a
twitch, a pang, but I apprehend wrongly so. Gyrd, perce, or strike thorow
with a spear or weapon, Pal. Johnson gives it a different sense from what it
bears in Cheshire. So in Shakespeare's Henry IV. act i. sc. 2. Falstaff says,
" Men of all sorts take a pride to gird at me."
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(delwedd B2788)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 45
GLAVER, or GLAFFER, v. to flatter, coax, or fondle.
GLIFF, s. a glimpse. Flemish Glimp, apparence. Halma.
GLOBED TO, part, wedded to, foolishly fond of. In Ray alone; from Glop,
fatuus. Ihre.
GLOPPEN, v. to astonish, or stupify: from Glop also.
GNATTER, or NATTER, v. to gnaw to pieces. A.S. Gnaegan, to gnaw. Som.
GOLDING, s. a marygold.
GOOD, s. a property of any kind. A.S. Gode, bona.
GOODY, s. goodwife; a kind of familiar address or title given to women rather
in an inferior station of life. It grows much out of use.
GORSE-HOPPER, s. the bird called a whinchat.
GOWD-NEFS, or GOLD-NEPS, s. a kind of small red and yellow early ripe pear,
the petit muscat or sept en gueule of Duhamel.
GRADELY, GREADLY, GRAIDLY, adj. decent, orderly, good sort of man, thriving
honestly in the world; gradus, Latin; or to gree, O.W. for agree. A.S. Grith,
peace, used by Chaucer.
GRAZIER, s. a young rabbit just beginning to feed on grass.
GROSIER, s. a gooseberry.
GUEOUT, s. the gout; it is also a soft spungy part of a field, full of
springs, a defective place, perhaps used in a figurative sense.
44
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(delwedd B2789)
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An
Attempt at a Glossary
GUILL, v. to dazzle, chiefly by a blow.
GULL, s. A naked gull; so are called all nestling birds in quite an unfledged
state. They have always a yellowish cast, and the word is, I believe, derived
from the Ang. Sax. geole, or the Suio-Goth. gul, yellow. Som. and Ihre. The commentators,
not aware of the meaning of the term "naked gull," blunder in their
attempt to explain those lines of Shakspeare in Timon of Athens,
"Lord
Timon will be left a naked Gull,
Which
flashes now a Phoenix."
GUTTIT,
s. is, I am credibly informed, almost the only name by which Shrovetide is
known among the lower orders in Cheshire. This word seems to be a corruption
of Good tide. Shrovetide was formerly not only, (to use the words of Mr.
Warton,) "a season of extraordinary sport and feasting," but it was
also the stated time for repentance, confession, and receiving absolution.
For either of the above reasons, it may fairly have obtained the name of Good
tide, in like manner as the day of the Crucifixion has obtained that of Good
Friday.
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(delwedd B2790)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 45
H.
HAGG, s. To work by the Hagg is to work by the great, in contradistinction to
day-work. The price of day-labour is pretty much fixed; but to work by the
great or by the job must be subject to a bargain, i. e. to a Hagg or Haggle,
the frequent consequence of bargaining.
HAIGH, or HAY, v. to have. Lan.
HALOW, or HAILOW, adj. (Lan. healow,) awkwardly bashful, or shy: from the
A.S. Hwyl, bashful.
HAMES, s. horse collars, so called (according to Phillips in his New World of
Words) from their likeness in shape to the hams of man.
HAN, the plural of the present tense of the verb to have. It is an old word
used by Wicliffe, and seems to be a contraction of Haven.
HANTLE, or HANDTLE, s. a handful. Jamieson rightly explains this word, as it
is commonly used in Scotland, by a great quantity; but the doubt which he
expresses of its being derived from handful, when we state that the two
similar words of Piggintle and Noggintle are in constant use in this county,
is wholly done away.
HATTLE, adj. wild, skittish. Ash calls it local. Bailey.
HAVIOURS, or HAVERS, s. behaviour. To be on one's
46
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(delwedd B2791)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
haviours is to be on one's good behaviour. Jam. uses bavins, or havings, in
the same sense.
HAWPENNY, s. HAWPORTH, s. halfpenny; halfpenny-worth.
HIDE, v. to beat.
HIDING, s. a beating.
HIDLANDS, s. concealment. When a person keeps out of the way from the fear of
being arrested, he is said to be in Hidlands.
HIDNES is used in the same sense as Hidlands, in the Glossary to Langtoft's
Chronicle, by Hearne.
HILLING, or HEELING, s. the covering of a book, the quilt or blanket. Lan. to
hill, or hilling. It is a good O. W. employed by Wicliffe in his translation
of the New Testament, but I never heard it used in common conversation except
in Lancashire and Cheshire. See Ihre in voce Hilja, operire. A.S. Helan,
tegere. Som.
HIMSELL, or HISSELL, is used in the following sense, He is not himself, he is
out of his mind.
HINGE, adj. active, supple, pliant.
HOBBITY HOY, an awkward stripling, between man and boy. Tusser calls it
Hobart de Hoigh, or Hoyh. I believe it to be simply Hobby the Hoyden, or
Robert the Hoyden, or Hoyt. The word Hoyden is by no means confined to the
female sex; indeed it is believed to have anciently belonged to the male sex,
and to mean a rude
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(delwedd B2792)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 47
ill-behaved person. See Todd's Diet, in voce Hoiden. Hoyt in the North is an
awkward boy, or a simpleton. Grose.
HOG, or HOGG, s. a heap of potatoes of either a conical or roof-shaped form,
probably so called from its resemblance to a hog's back. It is always covered
with straw and earth, to preserve the potatoes from the frost; such is the
usual mode in Cheshire.
HOGG, v. to put up potatoes in this way.
HOLLIN, or HOLLEYN, s. the holly-tree: an almost
literal adherence to the Anglo-Saxon Holayn.
HOLT, or rather HOULT, s. a holing, going into a hole, or
putting a ball into a hole, which is required at several games. I gained
three points at one hoult, i. e. at one holing.
Hoo, or rather Oo, pron. she. This word, which is in common
use in the counties of Chester and Lancaster, is merely the Ang. Sax. Heo.
See Layamon of Ernley's translation of Wace's Brut, Robert of Gloucester's
Chronicle passim, and Somner. Verstegan in his Glossary of the Ancient
English Tongue, at the end of his Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, has
"Heo for she; " and in some places in England they yet say Heo, or
Hoo, instead of she.
BY HULCH AND STULCH, By hook and by crook. Hulch is
probably a corruption of Hutch, the
48
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(delwedd B2793)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
area frumentaria of the pantry; and Stulch may be the beginning of the word
Steal, with the termination in ulch, in order to make it rime with Hulch. It
means, as well by saving as by theft, by all possible means. The proverbial expression
is not, By hook and by crook, but By hook or by crook; meaning a
determination to obtain one's object either by direct or indirect ways,
quocunque modo.
HULL, v. to throw.
HULLOT, or HULLART, s. an owlet or owl.
HURE, s. the hair. Lan.
HURE-SORE, when the skin of the head is sore from a cold.
HURRY, s. a bout, a set-to, a scolding, a quarrel; perhaps from the old word
to harry, or to harass.
I.
JACK NICKER, s. a goldfinch: why so called I cannot conjecture. It is
particular, however, to observe the appropriation of Christian names to many
kind of birds. Thus all little birds are by children called Dicky birds. We
have Jack Snipe, Jack Daw, Tom Tit, Robin Redbreast, Poll Parrot, a
Gill-hooter; a Magpie is always called Madge, a Starling Jacob, a Sparrow
Philip, and a Raven Ralph.
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(delwedd B2794)
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of
some Words used in Cheshire. 49
JACK-SHARP, or SIIARPLING, s. a small fish called a stickleback.
JAG, or JAGG, s. a small parcel, a small load of hay or corn. In Norfolk it
is called a bargain.
JAGG, or JAG, v. to trim up the small branches of a tree.
JEE, or A-JEE, adv. awry.
JERSEY, or rather JAYSEY, a ludicrous and contemptuous term for a lank head
of hair, as resembling combed wool or flax, which is called Jersey. He has
got a fine jaysey. "Jarsey, the finest wool, separated from the rest by
combing." Bailey's Dict.
INSENSE, v. to instruct, to inform: To lay open a business to any one is to
insense him. To insense is a word formed in a similar manner with the old
French word assagir, rendre sage.
INTACK, s. an inclosure on a common, waste, or forest. An Intake.
JUMPS, s. a kind of stays worn by wet-nurses, which are easily loosened in
order to facilitate her suckling the child.
JURNUT, or YERNUT, s. a pignut, Bunium Bulbocastanum.
K.
KAILYARDS, or rather KELYARDS, the name of certain orchards in the city of
Chester. Kailyard
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(delwedd B2795)
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An Attempt at a Glossary 50
in Scotch is a cabbage- or a kitchen-garden. Jam. Yard and garden are both of
them the same thing, and derived from the A.S. Geard. See Diversions of
Purley, vol. 2. p. 275.
KALE. See in voce CALE.
KAZARDLY, adj. Lan. unlucky, liable to accident: perhaps a corruption of
Hazardly.
KECK, v. to put any thing under a vessel which lifts it up and makes it stand
uneven. In Lancashire to Keyke or Kyke, is to stand crooked. Keck, v. is
usually to heave at the stomach. Keck is the same word, differently applied,
and means to lift up, or to heave.
KEEVE, v. to overturn or lift up a cart, so as to unload it all at once. Ash
calls it local.
KENCH, s. a twist or wrench, a strain or sprain. Kenks (a sea term), are the
doublings in a cable or rope when it does not run smooth.
KEOUT, s. a little barking cur-dog. Randle Holme, in his Academy of Armoury,
uses Skaut or Kaut for the same, which seems to designate Scout for its
etymology; and this is partly confirmed by that line of Tusser
" Make bandog thy Scout-watch to bark at a thief."
KEOW, or sometimes Ku, s. sounding the it somewhat like ou, is used for Cow.
KY, or KEY, s. (the plural) Cows.
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(delwedd B2796)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 51
KERVE, v. to turn sour.
KIBBO KIFT. Thus in Cheshire is called a proof of great strength; namely, for
a man to stand in a half-bushel and lift from the ground and place on his
shoulders a load of wheat, that is, 14 score weight. This is called by the
name of Kibbo Kift; why, I do not know: but I have some idea of having seen
somewhere the word Kibbo or Kibbow used in the sense of strong. Should it not
rather be Kibbow Gift? and in that case the feat above mentioned will be a
gift of strength.
KID-CROW, or KIDCREW, s. a place to put a sucking calf in. Bailey has this
word, but he writes it Kibgrow. Crybbe being the A.S. word for stall or
stable, and Crebbe being the same in Teutonic, Bailey's mode of writing the
word, though differing from the ordinary pronunciation of it, is probably
right.
KIND, v. to kindle the fire.
KITLING, s. a kitten. Ash says it is not common. It is Scotch, Jam. Kytlinge,
catellus, P. P. C.
KIVER, v. and s. to cover, a cover, used by Wicliffe in his MS. translation
of the Psalms.
KNICKY-KNACKY, adj. handy, adroit.
KNOCKER-KNEE'D, adj. said of those knees which in action strike against each
other. It is usually called baker-knee'd.
KNOTCIIELLED, or NOTCHELLED, adj. or part.
52
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(delwedd B2797)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
When a man publicly declares he will not pay any of his wife's debts, which
have been contracted since some fixed day, she is said to be knotchelled, a
certain disgraceful imaginary mark. Lan.
KNOTTINGS, s. thin corn, not well grown. Acad. Arm.
L.
LAD'S LOVE, s. or OLD MAN, s. for by both these names is the herb
Southernwood called.
LADGEN, or LAGGEN, v. is to close the seams of any wooden vessels which have
opened from drought, so as to make them hold water. This is done by throwing
the vessels into water, which swells the wood and closes the seams. P. P. C.
has to laggen, or drabelen, palustro. N.B. to drabble, to wet or dirty, is a
word of frequent colloquial occurrence, though omitted by our best
lexicographers.
LAITH, adj. loth, unwilling.
LAT, s. a lath. Lan.
LAT, adj. lattance, s. hindrance; LAT, v. to hinder. Jam. has lattance, as
well as to lat, v. to hinder. Ang. Sax. Latian, to hinder or delay. An old
sense of the verb to Let was to defer or put off. In Horman's Vulgaria we
read, "I let my journey for the lowrynge wether, Propter
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(delwedd B2798a)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 53
nubilum distuli profectionem." To Let comes either from the Gothic
Latjan, tardare, or from the Suio-Gothic Lattia, tardare, morari.
LAX -A-FOOT, adj. slow in moving. Letten, verletten, Dutch. Latjan, Goth,
tardare.
LATHE, v. to ask, to invite, O. W. Lan.
LAWS YOU NOW, an exclamation. See you now; used as Lo! The Ang. Sax. for Lo
is La.
LEET, v. to let, also to light with a person, or meet him. I connah leet on
him, I cannot meet with him.
LEET, LEETEN, v. to pretend or feign. You are not so ill as you leeten
yourself, as you suffer yourself to appear. In Jam. Scotch Dictionary we read
to Leit, leet, let, to pretend to give, to make a show of. Junius assigns
Laeten, Belg. for its origin. Laeeta, Icelandic, simulare, se gerere, Late,
gestus. Belgice, Laeten, videri, simulare, gerere se hoc vel illo modo.
Gothice, Linter, dolus, Linta, hypocrita.
LESS is pronounced as if it was written Lass.
LICH-GATES, s. are the gates of the church-yard: LICH-ROAD, s. the road by
which the corpse passes for interment: from the A.S. Lice, corpus. N.B. These
gates are, I believe, never opened but for funerals.
LICKSOME, or LISSOME, adj. lightsome, pleasant, agreeable. Chiefly applied to
places or situa
54
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An Attempt at a Glossary
tions. Lissome often means active, agile, the same as hinge. A pretty girl is
said to be a licksome girl.
LIKE is used in the sense of obliged to do any thing, forced to do it. Thou
hast like to do it.
LIPP'N, v. to lippen, to expect. A. Sax. Leaf-an, credere.
LITE, s. a little. A farmer, after enumerating the number of acres he has in
wheat and barley, will often add, " and a lite wuts," i. e. a
little oats. It is an O. W. used by Chaucer. Danish Lidt, a little. Wolf.
Dan. Diet.
LITHE, v . To lithe the pot is to put thickenings into it. A.S. Lithan, to
lay one thing close to another. Som. To Alyth is a good old word, and used in
this sense in the Forme of Cury, p.107.
LITHEII, adj^Lan. idle, lazy: long and lither is said of a tall idle person.
Ash calls it obsolete. A.S. Lith, mollis, lenis. Chaucer uses it as wicked.
" There is no flatterer nor losyll so lyther" is a line of Shelton
in his Interlude of Magnificence.
LITHING, or LITHINGS, s. thickening for the pot, either flour or oatmeal.
Lyder,, Icelandic. To alye, is an O. W. for to mix.
LITIGIOUS, adj. I have heard weather that impeded the harvest so called; but
I believe it
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(delwedd B2798c)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 55
is only a cant term, and not a true county word.
LOCKED, part, a faced card in a pack is said to be locked.
LOOM, s. a utensil, a tool, a piece of furniture. Som. says Geloma,
utensilia, supellex, utensils, things of frequent necessary use, household stuff.
Belgis eodem sensu Alaem, alem. Hinc jurisperitorum nostrorum Heir-lome, pro
supellectili haereditaria.
A LONG WITH, ALL ALONG WITH, AWLUNG WITH, cause, occasion. It is all along
with such a person that this business does not proceed, he is the occasion,
&c.; evidently from the A.S. Gelang, ex culpa.
LOP, LOUP, LOPPEN, perf. tense and part, of the verb to leap.
LORJUS, an exclamation. Lord Jesus!
LOUNT, s. a piece of land in a common field, perhaps a corruption of Lond.
LUCK, v. to happen by good fortune. If I had lucked, if I had had the good
fortune.
LUNGEOUS, adj. ill-tempered, disposed to do some bodily harm by a blow or
otherwise. Allonger, French, to lunge. A lunge is common for a violent kick
of a horse, though Dr. Ash has omitted it.
LURKEY-DISH, s. the herb Pennyroyal.
56
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(delwedd B2799)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
M.
MACKEN UM BOOT, make them do it.
MADPASH, s. a madbrain. Pash is the head. See Jam.
MAIGH, or MAY, v. Lan. a corruption of to make. Maigh th'dur or th'yate, shut
it, or fasten it; perhaps an abbreviation of make fast. An Italianism, Far la
porta, is to shut the door.
MANY A TIME AND OFT is a common expression, and means, frequently. This use
of the word Many in the singular number is by no means uncommon either in
colloquial or in written language; Many a man, and Many a day, are
expressions fully justified by common usage. So, in the Merchant of Venice,
Shylock says " Many a time and oft, on the Rial to you have rated
me." With which colloquial expression, though common through all
England, Mr. Kean, the actor in the part of Shylock, being unacquainted,
always spoke the passage by making a pause in
the middle of it thus: "Many a time and
oft on the Rialto," without having any authority from the text of
Shakespeare for so doing.
MARA, the Forest of Mara, the old name of the Forest of Delamere. Randle
Holme, passim.
-F T, s. the name of the Yellow Ragwort, Senecio Jacobcea.
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 57
MARRY! COME UP, MY DIRTY COUSIN, is an expression used to those who affect
any extreme nicety or delicacy which does not belong to them; or to those who
assume a distinction to which they have no claim. This saying must have had
some local origin, which has not been transmitted to us.
MASKER, v. the same as Flasker. Jam. has to mask, to catch in a net. Maske,
mesh of a net. Flemish, Halma.
MAW, s. the stomach. A.S. Maga, stomachus. Som.
MAW-BOUND, adj. said of a cow in a state of costiveness.
MAWKS, s. a dirty figure, or mixture. Ash calls it colloquial.
MEAL, s. the appointed time when a cow is milked. She gives so much at a
meal. A. S. Mael, portio, aut spatium temporis. Som.
MEASTER, s. master.
MEASURE, s. a Winchester bushel of corn.
MEET, a kind of adverbial expletive, expressive of something of late
occurrence. Just meet now, is just even now. See Junius in voce Meet. A. S.
Gemet, obvius, which Somner translates Met, in English.
MELCH, adj. mild, soft; perhaps from milk, either through the medium of the
A.S. Meolc, or the Belgic Melk. Lan.
58
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An Attempt at a Glossary
MICH, adj. MICHNESS, s. Scotch. Jam. Mich of a miclmess, much the same. ^
MICKLES, s. size. He is of no mickles; he is of no size or height. Mickle is
common in the North, both as a substantive and as an adjective, but the word
Mickles I believe peculiar to Cheshire and Lancashire.
MID-FEATHER, s. is a narrow ridge of land left between two pits, usually
between an old marl pit and a new one which lie contiguous to each other.
MITTENS, s. strong hedging-gloves containing the whole hand, not leaving any
distinct places for the fingers.
MIXEN, s. a dunghill. A. S. Mixen. Somner.
MIZZICK, s. MIZZICKY, adj. a boggy place. Johnson has Mizzy.
MIZZLE, s. small rain; rather Mistle, as derived from Mist. Dr. Ash admits
the verb to mizzle, but rejects the substantive.
MONNY. Such is the vulgar pronunciation of Many.
MORTACIOUS,C?/. mortal; mortacious bad, very bad.
To CATCH A PERSON NAPPING AS MoSS CAUGHT HIS
MARE is a Cheshire adage, respecting which Mr. Archdeacon Nares, in his
Glossary, says: "Who Moss was, historians have not recorded," &c.
We have, however, one authority for its being a gray mare:
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(delwedd B2802)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 59
" Till daye come catch him as Mosse his grey mai'e."
Christmas Prince, p. 40.
This throws some light upon the adage, though not sufficient for its perfect
explanation. By his gray mare is certainly meant his wife. " The gray
mare is the better horse " implies that the Mistress rules; and in the
low colloquial style of the French, La jument grise, means the wife.
MOT, s. moat, a wide ditch for defence, surrounding ancient country seats or
castles.
MUCH, s. a wonder, an extraordinary thing. It is much if such a thing happen.
MUCHNESS, s. is used for similitude in size, in number, or in value; as for
instance: it is said of two things between which there is not any difference
or ground for choice, They are much of a muchness.
MUCKINDER, s. a dirty napkin or pocket handkerchief. In Ort. Voc. we have
Muckeder, mete cloth, or towel. Littleton has Muckinger, and so has Bailey.
MUN, . must. Moune, or have a right, possum. P. P. C. Mowe, for may, is
common in Spenser. Mowne is used by Wicliffe for must: not mown, nequeo. Ort.
Vocab.
MUNCORN, 6-. Blencorn, Mengecorn and Blendecorn, maslin, wheat and rye mixed
together
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An Attempt at a Glossary
as they grow. Mungril is mixed. See Minshew.
MURENGER, s. a superintendent of the walls of a town or city. This word is in
Ainsworth and in Todd, but I never heard it used except in the city of
Chester, where two officers are annually selected from among the aldermen,
who are called the Murengers, and to whom the reparation of the city walls is
confided. This consideration seems to give the word Murenger a title to a
place in this little Glossary.
MyseLL, pron. so pronounced, myself.
N. NAAR, or NAR, near or nearer. Littleton has Narr
for nearer. Danish, Naehr, nigh. Wolf. Dan.
Diet. NATTER'D, adj. natured, i. e. ill-natured; very
nattered is very ill-tempered. Knattle, in Lan.,
is cross, ill-natured. To natter, or gnatter, is
also to gnaw into small pieces. NEELD, or NIELD, s. is in Cheshire in common
use
for a needle. It is used by Shakespeare. NEESE, v. to sneeze. NEEST, s. nest.
The boys say, To go a bird's
neezing; that is, in search of birds' nests. NEEZLE, v. to nestle, to settle
oneself in a good
situation.
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(delwedd B2804)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 6 1
NOBBUT, none but. Who was there? Nobbut John.
NOGGING, s. The filling up of the interstices between the timber work in a
wooden building with sticks and clay is called the nogging.
NOGGINTLE, s. a nogginful.
NOINT, v. to anoint; figuratively, to beat severely.
A NOINTED ONE, adj. or part, an unlucky or mischievous boy, who may be
supposed to have been severely corrected, is so called; a term corresponding
with the French un reprouve.
NOOKSHOTTEN, adj. disappointed, mistaken, having overshotten the mark.
Shakespeare uses the word in Henry V. " That nook-shotten isle of Albion;"
and the commentators suppose it to have reference to the jagged form of the
English coast. Pegge explains the word by " bevel, not at right angles;
" and Randle Holme, in his Academy of Armoury, among the glazier's terms
has, " a Querke is a nook-shoten pane, whose sides and top run out of a
square form:" so that we may conceive what the artist meant to be a
quarry or right-angled pane, had, from his want of skill, turned out
otherwise; and so far Nook-shotten may mean mistaken, not measured by the
square, not exact.
NOTE, s. A dairy of cows is said to be in good note, when all the cows come
into milking at the best time for making cheese.
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An Attempt at a Glossary
NOUGHT, or NAUGHT, adj. Lan. bad, worthless: stark nought, good for nothing.
It is often employed in the sense of unchaste, as explained by Bailey. Sir
Thomas More in his Apologye uses nought in the sense of wicked.
NOUGHT, NAUGHT: to call to naught, to abuse very much. To call to naught is
in Hor. Vul. p. 1 34, in tergo.
NUDGE, s. a jog or push.
NUDGE, v. to jog or push.
O.
OCCAGION, s. for Occasion, used in the sense of cause or motive, as " I
was the occagion, or cagion, of his doing so."
OMMOST is the common pronunciation of Almost.
ON, adv. a female of any kind who is marjs appetens is said to be On.
ONLIEST, adj. pronounced ownliest, superlative of Only: the best or most
approved way of doing any thing is said to be the onliest way.
OON, s. oven.
Oss, or OSSE, v. Lan. to offer, begin, attempt, or set about any thing, to be
setting out. Ash calls it local. Holland in his translation of Pliny has
" Osses and Presages." To osse is likewise to recommend a person to
assist you. Edgworth, in his Sermons in the time of Henry VIII. uses to osse
for to prophesy, in the
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(delwedd B2806)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 63
same sense in which Holland uses it; but in Cheshire it has the above
meaning.
OWETHER, either. O. W. Piers Plouhman: Whitaker's edition.
OWLER, s. the alder-tree. Aller and Eller are Scotch. Jam.
OWNDER, or AUNDER, s. the afternoon. Undern is used by Chaucer, and Yestronde
is an O.W. for yesterday. See Ellis's Ancient Poetry. Under was anciently
used in the sense of Post, Lat. See Skinner. Also in P. P. C. we have
Undermele, post meridianum.
P.
PALMS, s. branches of the willow in flower, with which it was formerly the
custom to decorate churches on Palm Sunday, being substitutes for branches of
the palm-tree.
PAPER, s. is pronounced as if it was written with a double p in the middle of
it; thus, Papper.
PERISHED, part, killed, or starved with cold. I am welly (well nigh)
perished.
PEWIT LAND, s. moist, spongy land; such as the Pewit usually frequents.
PIED-FINCH, a chaffinch.
PIGGINTLE, s. a pigginful.
PIKEHILL, s. a pitchfork; such is the pronunciation of the word: but I should
be inclined to
64-
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(delwedd B2807)
|
An Attempt at a Glossary
write it Pikel, and derive it from the French Piquelet, a little pike. Randle
Holme writes it Pikel.
PILPIT, s. pulpit. A Cheshire farmer, on being asked how he liked the new
clergyman, replied, " He is a pretty rough mon in the reading desk, but
when he gets into the pilpit, he goes off like the smoke of a ladle."
PINK, or PENK, s. a menow, a small fish. Littleton has Penk.
PIP, or PEEP, s. a single blossom, where flowers grow in bunches (as in the
Auricula): hence a spot on the cards is called a pip, fiori in Italian, flowers
in English, being the name of one of the suits of cards.
PIPE, s. a small dingle or ravin, breaking out from a larger one.
PLAT, s. a small bridge over a stream or gutter, probably from Flat. A plat
of turnips or potatoes in a field or garden is a bed of them, merely a
variation of the common word Plot.
PLIM, v. to plumb or fathom with a plummet.
PLIM, adj. or adv. perpendicular. To plymme down is used by Lady Juliana
Barnes for to pounce directly down as a falcon does upon his prey.
POKLE, s. i. e. a pokeful, is a bagfull.
POLLER, or POWLER, v. properly, to beat in the
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(delwedd B2808)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 65
water with a pole; figuratively, to labour without effect.
POPPILARY, or PEPPILARY, s. the poplar-tree. Poss, v. To poss is a jocular
punishment common among marlers when any one comes late to work in the
morning: he is held across a horse with his posteriors exposed, and struck on
them with the flat side of a spade by the head workman, called the lord of
the marl pit. Possed, pushed, tossed. Bailey. POTE, or PAWT, v. Lan. to kick
with one foot.
Jam. has to paut. Belgice, poteren. Jun. Pow, s. i. e. poll, the head.
POWSE, Pous, or POUST, s. Lan. filth, dirt; perhaps from the French
Poussiere, dust. See Skinner in voce Poust, also Piers Plouhman. POWSELS and
THRUMS are used to signify dirty scraps and rags. Powsels, I suppose, comes from
Pouse; and Thrums is a good old word, signifying tags or ends of coarse
cloths. PROVE, v. To prove pregnant, spoken of cattle. PUN, v. to pound or
beat down. It is a good old
word.
PUNGER, v. to puzzle or confound. A farmer in distress said, " I am so
pungered, I know not which eaver to turn to." To punge in Scotch, signifies
to prick or sting, mentally speaking. See Jamieson.
66
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(delwedd B2809)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
Q.
QUARRY, s. a square pane of glass set with the point upright. Acad. of Arm.
b. 3, ch. 9, p. 385.
QUERKE, s. a nook-shoten pane of glass, or any pane whose sides and top run
out of a square form. Acad. of Arm. ut supra. A QUIRKE, s. is a rhomb; in
which shape (that is, with the points uppermost) all panes of glass were
anciently cut and placed. Holme's Acad. of Arm.
QUICK, s. quickset. Quicks are plants of quicksets.
R.
RADLING, s. Lan. a long stick or rod, taken either from a staked hedge, or
from a barn wall made with long sticks twisted together and plastered with
clay. See Ellis's Specimens of Early English Poetry, vol. i. p. 31 8. "
Radyll of a carte, Costee," Pal. Quaere if not a roddling? Raddles are
hurdles. In Fleming's Dictionarie we read "a hartheled walle, or
ratheled with hasell roddes, wandes, or such other, Paries craticillus."
RAKE UP THE FIRE, is not only to rake the bottom of the grate, but also to
supply it well with coals, that it may continue burning all night, a custom
regularly observed by the kitchen-maid to
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(delwedd B2810)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 67
the kitchen fire in all the northern counties,
where coals are abundant. RAME, REAM, or RAWM, v. to stretch out the arm
as if to reach any thing: from the Teutonic
Raemen, extendere. Kil. A RAMPICKED tree is a stag-headed tree. RANK, adj. in
a passion: Ranc, A.S. superbus,
acediosus. Somner. RANK RIPE, or RONK RIPE, full ripe. RAPPIT, a rabbit.
RAPPIT IT, or ROT IT. A trivial exclamation expressive of dissatisfaction. RASE-BRAINED,
adj. violent, impetuous; perhaps
only rash-brained, though Rasend in German is
mad. Also in Flemish Razen, enrager. Halma. RAUGHT, perf. tense of the verb
to reach; used by
Shakespeare. READY, v. to comb the head with the wide-toothed
comb. Jam. has " to red the head or the hair,
to loosen or disentangle it." REEAN, s. Lan. a small gutter. A.S. Rin, a
stream.
Som. Randle Holme calls a Ree-an, the distance between two buts. REEF, s. a
rash on the skin: the itch, or any
eruptive disorder; from its being rife or reef,
i. e. frequent on the skin. REET, i. e. right. A common augmentative: Reet
nought, good for nothing.
68
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(delwedd B2811)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
REEVE, v. to separate corn that has been winnowed, from the small seeds which
are among it: this is done with what they call the reeving sieve. Acad. Arm.
RENDER, v. Lan. to separate or disperse. It is commonly used as in the phrase
To render suet, which is to break it to pieces, cleanse it, and melt it down.
See Jam. in voce Rind. Islan. Raenn-a, rinde, liquefacere, to melt.
RID, v. in the sense, get rid of. It is used for to clear a hedge or bushes
on a piece of land, chiefly to rid gorse. A.S. Areddan, to rid away. Som.
RIPER, s. a certain number of sheaves of corn put up together.
RIGATT, s. a small channel made by the rain, out of the common course of the
water. Rigols, old French, petit canal, Roquefort Glossaire de la Langue
Romane.
RIGG, s. a strong blast of wind. The storms which usually prevail about the
time of the autumnal equinox are called Michaelmas Riggs.
RINER, s. a toucher. It is used at the game of quoits. A Riner is when the
quoit touches the peg or mark. A Whaver is when it rests upon the peg and
hangs over, and consequently wins the cast. " To shed riners with a
whaver" is a proverbial expression, from Ray, and means, to surpass any
thing skilful or adroit by some
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(delwedd B2812)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 69
thing still more so. Rinda, Ost. Got. Ihre. Rennen, tangere. Wach.
RISE, or RICE, s. a twig or branch. O. W. Chaucer. In our county it is still
retained in the compound Pea-rise, for pea-sticks. Ash calls it obsolete.
Danis Riisz est virga. Jun. Teutonic Riis, surculus. Kilian. A.S. Hris, long and
small boughes to make hedges, rise-wood. Som.
RISK, s. a rush. It was anciently written Rysch, or Rysshe. P.P.C. and Ort.
Voc. Sir Thomas More in his Apologie writes it Ryssche.
RISOME, or RISM, s. the head of the oat. Well risom'd is well headed. Some
think it comes from Racemus; but probably it has the same origin as Rise.
Randle Holme, in his Acad. of Arm. has " Rizomes, the sparsed ears of oats
in the straw. A Rizome head, a chaffy sparsed head; the corn in the oats are
not called ears, but rizomes."
ROCHE, s. refuse stone. French, Roche.
RONK RIPE, i. e. rank ripe, quite ripe: said of fruit in a perfect state of
maturity.
ROTTEN, s. Lan. a rat, or rats; Rotta is Swedish for a rat. See Serenius's
Swedish Dictionary. " Thanne ran ther a route of ratones."
Piers Plouh. pass. 1.
RUCK, v. to get close or huddle together as fowls do.
70
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(delwedd B2813)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
RUCK, s. Lan. a heap; not quite peculiar to this county. Scotch. Jam. Ruga
vel Ruka, SuioGot. cumulus, acervus. Hire. See Horne Tooke, Diversions of
Purley, 4to, vol. ii. p. 229, in voce Ruck.
RUCKLING, s. the least of a brood, or of a ruck.
RUTE, v. to cry with vehemence, to strive as children do sometimes in crying
to make as much noise as they can; to bellow or roar. Ash calls it obsolete.
It is admitted here on the sole authority of Ray. The rut of the sea is the dashing
of the waves against any thing. A.S. Hrutan, to snort, snore, or rout, in
sleeping. Som.
RYFE, adj. is in the P.P.C. translated by publicus, manifestus.
RYNT, ROYNT, RUNT, v. Lan. in voce Rynty, to get out of the way. Rynt thee,
is an expression used by milkmaids to a cow when she has been milked, to bid
her get out of the way. Ash calls it local. It is used by Shakespeare, and
puzzles the commentators. Possibly it may owe its origin to the old adverb
Arowne, found in P.P.C. and there explained by remote, seorsum; or from
Ryman, or Rumian, A.S. to get out of the way. " Rym thysum men setl,
Give this man place." Saxon Gospels. Luke, ch. 1 4, v. 9. Arowme is used
by Chaucer in his House
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(delwedd B2814)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 71
of Fame, book 2, ver. 32, and is there explained by Speght, roaming,
wandering; and by Tyrwhitt, at large: perhaps remote, seorsum, might be a
more appropriate explanation. The MS. copy of the P.P.C. among the Harleian MSS.
in the British Museum has Arowne or more otter (i. e. more outer), remote,
seorsum. Areawt is in the Lancashire dialect, out of doors.
S.
SAFE, adj. sure, certain. He is safe to be hanged.
SAHL, SOHL, SOLE, Sow, s. an ox yoke. A.S. Sol, orbita. A Sowle to tye an ox
in the stall. Som. A.S. Sahle, fustis, sudes.
SAIN, SAYN, or rather SEN, the plur. of the present tense of the verb to say:
as, They sen so, Folk sen so. To add a final n or even the little syllable en
to many words when used in the plural number, as helpen for help, fighten for
fight, driven for drive, is a common usage.
SAN JAM PEAR, s. the green Chiswell pear, usually ripe about the 25th of July
(i. e. St. James's day), is so called.
SAPY, adj. foolish: perhaps only sappy ill-pronounced. Sap-scull is common.
SAEMONT, s. a sermon.
72
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(delwedd B2815)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
SAUGH, s. the sallow-tree, as Faugh is from fallow.
SBLID, an oath; by his blood.
SCHARN, s. cow-dung. A.S. Scearn, fimus, stercus. Holland, in his translation
of the Natural History of Pliny, uses "bull's sherne," vol. ii. p.
327.
SCRANNY, adj. thin, meagre. In Lancashire, a Scrannel is a miserable
emaciated person. Milton uses the word Scranel. In Kilian, we have Schrael,
gracilis, tenuis; as well as Schraepel, macer, pertenuis: and in Speghel's
Suio-Gothic Dictionary we find Skrinn, adj. macer, gracilis.
SCRATCH, s. the itch. It may seem extraordinary to seek the etymology of this
word in the old French language; and yet in Roquefort's Glossaire de la
Langue Romane, we find Escrache, gale, rogne.
SCRATTLE, v. to scratch as fowls do.
SCUTCH, v. Lan. a rod, a whip, perhaps Switch corrupted. Ash admits the
substantive and rejects the verb.
SCUTTLE, s. a small piece of wood pointed at both ends, used at a game like
trap-ball: perhaps from Scute, O. W. for a boat, it being exactly of that
shape. Johnson explains the word in a different sense.
A SEAVE, s. a rush. It is generally used for a rush
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(delwedd B2816)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 73
drawn through melted grease, which in the northern counties serves for a
candle. Todd.
SEECH, v. SEECHED, part, to seek: sought. To Seech, v. is clearly derived
from the Teutonic word Suchen, quaerere, as to Seek is from the A.S. Seccan,
quaerere.
SEECH, SECH, SIKE, or SYKE, s. Lan. a spring in a field, which having no
immediate outlet forms a boggy place. Sich, Ang. Sax. a furrow or gutter.
Som.
SEECHY, adj. boggy.
SEET, s. sight, a great many, or a great quantity. What a seet of
birds is in the air!
SEETLY, adj. i. e. Sightly, is generally used in the sense of handsome. A
seetly wench, is a handsome girl.
SEGG, s. a bull castrated when full-grown. Lan. Scotch. Jam.
SELL, pron. self, in the compounds mysell, yoursell, hissell.
SELT, s. chance, a thing of rare occurrence: hence, seldom and selcouth (a
northern term). Ang. Sax. Seld, rarus. Som.
SENEVE, v. A corpse which begins to change is said to seneve; so is
joiners' work which begins to warp. Senade is A. S. for signed, marked, noted:
but I dare not assign it as the etymology of Seneve.
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(delwedd B2817)
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An
Attempt at a Glossary 74
To SET, or TO GIVE A SET, is to lease, or give a lease of a house or farm. It
is the same as to let. In Cornwall, a set of a mine is a lease or grant of it
for a specified number of years. I believe it is common.
SHAPE, v. to begin, to set about any thing; to be shaping, is to be going
away. Shape me; prepare me, make me ready, m'apprester, Pal. " To shape
one's course " is a common expression either in nautical or familiar
discourse. See Ort. Voc. in voce Evado. To shape is a good O.W., used
precisely in this sense by Lidgate in his Historic of Thebes:
" And shope him forth upon his journie." Shop is used in Piers
Plouhman for went.
SHATTERY, adj. harebrained, giddy.
SHED, s. difference. " There is no shed between them," is a common
saying. It is also used for the separation of the hair on the head, falling to
the right and left.
SHED, v. to surpass, or divide; perhaps it should be written sched. Scotch.
Jam. to shed hair, to separate it in order that it may fall on each side.
"As heaven's water sheds or deals" (to deal is to separate) is a
northern expression for the boundary of different districts, generally the summits
of a ridge of hills; from the Teut.
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(delwedd B2818)
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of
some Words used in Cheshire. 75
Scheeden, separare. Kil. or A.S. Sceadan, dividere; Lancastrensibus To sheade.
Som. Schad, part, distinguished, shaded, shadowed, parted.
SHED, or rather SHEED, v. to spill; it is used equally for liquid as for dry
substances.
SCHEDE, v. to depart; i.e. to divide or separate: it is also, to pour out or
spill.
To SHEAD is also to slope down ground regularly.
SHEPSTER, s. the starling, a bird which frequents sheep.
SHEWDS, s. quasi Sheds, Lan. the husks of oats when separated from the corn.
SHIM, adj. a clear bright white. A.S. Scima, splendor. Sciman, splendere.
Som.
SHIPPIN, SHIPPEN, or SHIP'N, s. the cow-house: I suppose it is originally
sheep-pen; from the A.S. Scipene, stabulum, bovile. Som.
SHOAT, s. in some places a SHOT, a young pig between a sucker and a porker;
it is also a term of contempt, when applied to a young person.
SHONNA, or SHONNAH, shall not.
SHOO, or SHOOL, s. a shovel. Tusser uses shovel as a monosyllable.
SHOOL, SHOO, or SHU, v. To shoo, to drive away any thing, particularly birds
from the corn or garden. Lan. Scheuchen, Germ, to drive away.
SHRED, v. To shred suet is to break it into small
76
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(delwedd B2819)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
pieces. In the southern counties it is used for, to spread manure. A.S.
Screadan, resecare, amputare.
To GET SHUT OF A PERSON is to get rid of him. See Diversions of Purley, in
voce Shoot.
SHUTTANCE, s. riddance, delivering from any troublesome person or thing. A
good shuttance of such a one is, I suppose, the door shut upon him.
SIBBED, adj. related to, of kin to. Lan. Sib or Sibbe is a good O. W. for
relationship, still retained in gossip, i. e. God's Sib. Sibbe, affinitas, Teut.
Kilian. Sibberets, or Sibberidge, is the bans of marriage.
SIN, adv. or prep, since.
SIRRY, s. sirrah; a contemptuous term often used to dogs.
SKEER, v. To skeer the esse, is to clear the grate; separating the ashes from
the live coals: possibly only to scour.
SKELLERD, adj. crooked, out of the perpendicular; from Scheel. Teut.
obliquus, transversus. Kil.
SKELP, v. to leap awkwardly, as a cow does. Skelp, Scotch. Jam.
SKEN, v. to squint.
SKEW, or SKEW-BALD, adj. a bay or brown and white horse is so called. Piebald
is black and white, like the magpie.
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(delwedd B2820)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 77
SKITTERWIT, s. a foolish, harebrained fellow.
SKREEN, s. A wooden settee or settle, with a very high back sufficient to
screen those who sit on it from the external air, was with our ancestors a
constant piece of furniture by all kitchen fires, and is still to be seen in
the kitchens of many of our old farm-houses in Cheshire. So in Tusser's Five
Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, we read,
" If ploughman get hatchet or whip to the Skreene, Maids loseth their
cocke if no water be seen."
Note in Tusser redivivus. " If the ploughman can get his whip, his
plough-staff, hatchet, or any thing that he wants in the field, to the
fireside (Observe here that Screene and fire-side are one and the same
thing), before the maid hath got her kettle on, then the maid loseth her Shrovetide
cock, and it belongs wholly to the men."
SKRIKE, v. to shriek out loud. Lan. O. W. Skraik is Scotch, Jam. In P.P.C. we
have Scrykinge of childer, vagitus.
SLACK, s. small coal, Lan. sometimes pronounced sleek. Also a low moist place
between two hills. Scotch. Jam. It is admitted by Todd.
SLATHER, or SLUR, v. to slip or slide. Slidder is a good old word.
SLEAK, v. (so pronounced, for probably it should
78
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(delwedd B2821)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
be Slake,) to protrude the tongue. To Sleak out the tongue, is to loll it out;
only that to loll might proceed from weakness, whereas to sleak it out is an
act of volition.
SLECK, v. to extinguish, Lan. to slake; from the Isl. Slagi, humiditas.
SLINK, s. the untimely foetus of a cow when killed, being in calf; the veal
of this is called Slink veal.
SLIPPY, adj. abbreviation of Slippery.
SLOOD, s. Cart sloods are deep cart-ruts. A.S. Slog, a slough. Som.
SMEETH, v. to pass the iron over crumpled linen; A.S. Smsethe, smooth. Som.
SNAGG, or SNIG, v. to draw away by the hand branches of trees; also to cut
off the lateral branches. A.S. Snidan, secare. Som.
SNIDDLE, or HASSOCKS, s. that kind of long grass which grows in marshy
places. Lan. The Air a ccespitosa of Linnaeus.
SOXGOW, SONGAL, s. gleaned corn. Songow, Songoe, Sangow, to go Sangowing, v.
To glean, or go gleaning; generally supposed to be so named from picking up
the single straws, i. e. singleing. The explanation given by Kilian, Etym.
Teuton., is however far preferable: he says, Sangh, Sanghe, fasciculus
spicarum, Germ. Sax. Sicamb. Sang, gsang: Ang. Songe. The
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(delwedd B2822)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 79
same word Sanghe, manipulus spicarum, is found in Scherzius's German
Dictionary. In Bailey's Diet. 8vo, 1735, we have, "Songal, Songle, s. a handful
of gleaned corn. Herefordshire;" so that Kilian is certainly right in
saying that Songe is an English word, which doubtless may be found in some
old English authors, though it has hitherto escaped my observation. P.S. In
Hyde, de Religione Persarum, p. 398, we read, " Pauperiores puellae
virgines tempore messis triticese spicas legunt casque in parvum fasciculum, seu
manipulum, (Anglice, a Songall) colligatas, domum reportant."*
SOPE, s. a sup. A sope of rain is a great deal of rain.
Soss, s. a heavy fall.
SOWGER, s. is the pronunciation of soldier.
SPACT, adj. quick, comprehensive, also in one's senses. He is not quite
spact, means he is under some alienation of mind. Ash calls the word local,
and does not give this last meaning. Spaca, Islandic, sapiens. Spak, Ost.
Got. Ihre.
SPEER, s. the chimney-post on each side of the fire-place. A.S. Speare,
hasta, spams. Som.
SPOCKEN, participle of the verb to speak.
* Hyde was a Cheshire man, being of the family of the Hydes of Norbury in
that county.
80
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(delwedd B2823)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
SPRINGOW, adj. nimble, active. Littleton has
Springal. SQUANDER, v. to separate or disperse: to squander
a covey of partridges. STAGGERING BOB, or YELLOW SLIPPERS. Names
given by butchers to very young calves. When
in that state their hoofs are yellow. To STAND A PERSON ON, is to be
incumbent on him.
It stands every one on to take care of himself. STARE, s. a starling. In
^Elfric's Glossary we have
Beacita vel Sturnus, Stearn. He has also Tur dus, Stser. STAW, v. i. e. to
stay: a cart stopped in a slough,
as not to be able to proceed, is said to be stawed. STE-AN, s. (pronounced as
a dissyllable) is used
for a jug of that kind of earthenware called
stone; a stone jug. STONE is also often pronounced as a dissyllable, Stee-an
or Sto-an. STELE, or STEAL, the stalk of a flower, or the
handle of a rake or broom. Stele, Ang. Sax.
Ash calls it local. STEPMOTHER'S BLESSING, s. a little reverted skin
about the nail, often called a back friend. STIRROW, s. or STIR-ABOUT; a
hasty pudding. STOCKPORT COACH, or CHAISE; a horse with two
women riding sideways on it is so called; a
mode of travelling more common formerly than
at present.
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(delwedd B2824)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 81
To STOUK, or STOWK, v. to put ears or handles to such vessels as require
them.
STOWK, s. stalk or handle of a pail; it is also a drinking-cup with a handle.
A stowk of ale, from the participle of the A.S. Stican, figere. See Home
Tooke, Diversions of Purley, 4to, vol. 2, p. 220.
STRACT, adj. abbreviation of Distracted.
STRAIN, v. expressive of the union of the sexes in the canine race. A. S.
Strynan, gignere, generare, procreare. Som.
STREEA, s. a straw. One who goes out of the country for improvement, and
returns without having gained much, is said to have left it to learn to call
a Streea a straw.
STRUSHION, s. destruction. Lan.
STUBBO, or STRUBBOW, s. stubble.
STUBBO, or STUBBED, adj. thick, short.
STTJT, v. to stutter or stammer.
SWAT, s. sweat.
SWAT is the perfect tense of the verb to sweat.
SWIFPO, or SWIPPOW, adj. supple.
SWIPPO, s. The thick part of a flail is so called. Acad. of Arm. In Norfolk
it is called the Swingel. In Scotch Swap is a sharp stroke, Jam.
82
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(delwedd B2825)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
T.
T ACHING END, s. i. e. attaching end, a shoemaker's
waxed string.
TACK, s* a lease, or part of a lease, for a certain time is called a Tack, i.
e. simply a take. A Tack is a term of the Scotch law, and a farmer is
called a Tacksman. TACK, s. hold, confidence, reliance: There is no
tack in such a one, he is not to be trusted.
Johnson has this word, but not in this sense. To TACK ONE'S TEETH to any
thing, is to set about
it heartily. To Tack a stick to one, is to beat
him. TAFFY, s. what is called coverlid: this is treacle
thickened by boiling, and made into hard cakes.
Tafia, or taffiat, sugar and brandy made into
cakes. French. TAIGH, or TAY, v. Scotch, to take. Jam.; to tack
is also to take. TAIN, or TANE, is in common use, for taken, the
part, of the verb to take. In the very old metrical description of the
salutation of Vortigern
by Rowena, tane is so used. TANTRELLS, or rather TANTRUMS, s. freaks, whims.
It is often said of a child when he is peevish
and cross, that he is in his tantrums. TCHEM, s. Vide in CHEM.
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(delwedd B2826)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. $3
TEEN, s. When any one is in misfortune or bad plight, he is said to be in
fowteen.
TEEN, s. anger. Ray, Lan. Tynan, A.S. incitare. Som.
TENT, v. to attend to or guard; also to hinder or prevent. Lan.
TETHER-DEVIL, the plantWoody Nightshade; supposed to be so called from the
complicated growth of its branches.
THACK and THACKER, s. thatch and thatcher. Thekia, Islandic, thatch. A.S.
Thecan, tegere.
THATCH-PRICKS, s. (or simply the latter word,) sticks used in thatching.
THAT'N, A THAT'N, adv. in that manner.
THINK ON, v. to remind.
THIS'N, qdv. in this way. In Hearne's Glossary to Robert of Gloucester's
Chronicle we have thisne for this. THISNE being the accusative case of the
Anglo-Saxon pronoun This, this. I apprehend it would not be proper to say This'n
man or This'n horse, or even That'n man or That'n horse, using it only
adjectively; but when used as a substantive, a That'n or a This'n (the word
manner being understood),
it is in common use. In Norfolk a-this-ne,
a-that-nej are commonly used for in this manner, in that manner.
THISTLE-TAKE, s. a duty of a halfpenny, anciently
84
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(delwedd B2827)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
paid to the lord of the manor of Halton, in the county of Chester, for every
beast driven over the common, suffered to graze or eat but a thistle. Bailey.
THRIPPA, or THRIPPOW, v. to beat: which may mean either to beat with the
geers or thrippows, in the same way as to strap and to leather signify to
beat with a strap or leathern thong; or it may derive its origin (as well as
the verb to drab) from drapa, to strike or beat severely. Ihrehas Drapa,percutere.
Also to labour hard. Stubbes, in his Anatomie of Abuses, p. 97, has
"This makes many a one to thripple and pynche."
THRIPPOWS, s. the harvest geers of carts and waggons, which are moveable, and
put on only when hay and corn are to be carried.
A THRIPPOWING PUNGOWING LIFE, is a hard laborious life. Pungow may be derived
from the A.S. Punian, conterere.
THROPE, THROPPEN, the perf. tense and the part. of the verb to threap.
THRUNK, adj. thronged, crowded. "As thrunk as three in a bed " is a
common saying.
THRUTCH, Lan. v. to thrust or squeeze. Squeezing or pressing the cheese is
called thrutching it. Palsgrave says, "Threche, pynche, pincer, this is
a farre Northern term."
THUNNA, s. and v. thunder.
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(delwedd B2828)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 85
TICE, v. per aphseresin, to entice.
TICKLE. See KICKLE or GOGGLE.
TIN, or TYNE, v. Lan. to shut. Tinn the dur, shut the door.
TIN, adv. till.
To TIN, TINE, TEND, or TIND the fire, is to light the fire. A.S. Tynan,
accendere. Som. The word tinder has the same etymology; taender, to light or
kindle, Dan. Wolff, or from Islandic Tendra, accendere. Hald. They are all good
old words. Herman, in his Vulgaria, translates "About candle
tending" by primis tenebris. Tende, accendere, Danish.
TIT, s. a common name for a horse, and generally one of an inferior kind, in
all the Northern counties. A Cheshire carter seeing one of the horses he was
driving in some danger of falling down, cried out to his assistant driver, Tittle
j aw. The assistant answered, What tittle f aw? Baw, was the reply, i. e. The
tit will fall. -What tit will fall? Ball.
To TINE A HEDGE is to repair it with dead wood.
TINING, s. the dead wood used to repair a hedge.
TOATLY, or TOADLY, adj. quiet, easily managed; apparently only a corrupt
pronunciation of the adjective Towardly.
TOART, Tow ART, towards, this way.
TON, the one; TON AND TOTHER, the one and the
86
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(delwedd B2829)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
other. So in Hearne's Glossary to the Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester, the
ton is used for the one; and in Sir Thomas More's Apology, p. 88, back,
edition of 1553, we have " Of the tone or of the tother."
TOOT, v. to pry curiously or impertinently into any little domestic concern.
Toten, O.W. for to look out. Chaucer has toteth for looketh, passim. A
tote-hill is an eminence from whence there is a good look-out.
TURMIT, s. Lan. a turnip.
TWARLY, adj. peevish, cross.
To TWIN A FIELD, to divide it into two parts.
TWITCHEL, s. i. e. tway child, twice a child. A,
person whose intellect is so weakened by age as to become childish, is called
a twitchel.
TWITCHEL, v. to geld a bull or ram by forcing the chords of his testicles
into a cleft stick, so that the chords rot and the testicles fall off. A.S.
Twiccan, vellicare. See Skinner. To twitchell, in a more general sense, is to
tie any living creature, a horse or a dog, with a sharp tight cord to confine
him.
V. U.
VALUE, s. amount, as well in measure as in quantity; circiter, when you come
to the value of five feet deep.
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(delwedd B2830)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 87
VARIETY, s. a rarity.
VEW, or VIEW, s. Lan. a yew-tree. A.S. iw.
UNBETHINK, v. to recollect; often implying a change of opinion. Ash calls it
local. Unbethink is used as a verb reflective, to unbethink oneself. It is a
good old word, made use of in Sir Robert of Knaresborough, one of the
Roxburghe Club reprints.
UNCO, UNCOW, or UNKeRT, adj. Lan. awkward, strange, uncommon. Cockeram in his
Dictionary has " Uncoe, unknown, strange;" merely uncouth.
UNDENIABLE, adj. good, with which no fault can be found. An undeniable road
is not only a long established road, but also one in perfect repair.
UP AND TOLD, or rather UPPED AND TOLD, making a verb of up; to tell with
energy or animation. Perhaps merely, rose up and told.
UPHOLD, v. to warrant or maintain; pronounced uphoud.
UPSIDES, adv. To declare you will be upsides with any one, is to threaten
severe vengeance for some supposed injury or affront.
W.
WAGE, s. in the singular is often used instead of Wages in the plural. Wage
in the singular is
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(delwedd B2831)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
used for wages in the New Notbrowne Mayd, by John Scott: no date.
WAITER, s. water. The A and the JE were interchangeably used in the
Anglo-Saxon language, as we see in Bosworth's Anglo-Saxon Grammar, p. 51.
Hence the Cheshire pronunciation of Water as if it were written waeter or
waiter. WALL, s. a spring of water, O.W. Walle, Teut.
ebullitio, Kil. Weallan, bullire, A.S. WALL UP, v. to spring up as water
does. Old word
used by Gervase Markham. WANGLE, v. to totter or vibrate. See Junius in
voce Wanckle. WARCH, s. pain, Lan. Scotch. See Jam. under
Wark. Ware, A. S.
WARRE, or WORRE, worse: A.S. Wo, bad, wo-er. Warre and warre, worse and
worse. Vserre, Danish, worse: Wolff, Danish Diet. The Danish v is equivalent
to the English TV. A.S. Wirse, Wirs. In the Suio-Gothic, Warre, is worse. WART,
or rather WALT, v. In Lan. to wawt, is to overturn; chiefly used of
carriages. To waiter, in Scotch, is to overturn; and a sheep await, is a cast
sheep. Skinner derives it from the Islandic Valter. A.S. Wealtian, wealtigan,
titubare. Som. Kilian has Walian, wellen, volvere, volutare. A THREEWEEK, s.
So in the Cheshire dialect is
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(delwedd B2832)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 89
generally designated three weeks, making a singular substantive of it, as is
customary in the word a fortnight.
WEET, s. wet weather. Lan.
WEET, v. to rain rather slightly. Lan.
WELLY, adv. well nigh. A.S. wel neah, pene, almost, well nigh. Som.
WERN, v. abbreviation of neren, the plural of the perfect tense of the verb
to be: used only when the following word begins with a vowel.
WETSHET, or WETCHED, adj. wetshod, wet in the feet. Whetshod is used in Piers
Plouhman, passus 18.
WEVER, s. river, from the Welsh Wy or Wye, a river, and Fawr, great.
WHARRE, s. crabs, or the crab-tree. Sour as wharre.
WHAVE, v. to hang over. Hvaelve, Dan. hwelfi, Island, to arch, hang over, or
overwhelm: hv in those Northern languages are equivalent to our rvh, hvid in
Danish being white in English.
WHAVER, s. See in voce RINER.
WHEADY, adj. that measures more than it appears to be. Dr. Asjh explains it
ill by Tedious, and calls it local.
WHEAM, adj. lying near, convenient, ready at hand; Lan. perhaps from home,
here pronounced whome. Bp. Kennet derives this word from the A.S. Geweene,
gratus, commodus.
90
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(delwedd B2833)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
WHEAMOW, adj. nimble, active. Ray. Bailey.
EVERY WHILE STITCH, is, every now and then, at
x times.
WHINSTONE, s. a coarse-grained stone; toadstone, ragstone. Jam.
WHITE, v. to quit or requite; cited by Bailey, as belonging to Cheshire. God
white you!
WHOAVE, v. Lan. to cover or overwhelm. Ray has the same etymology as, Whave,
above.
WHOME, or WHOAM, s. home. Lan.
WHOOKED, adj. broken in health, shaken in every joint. Ash calls it local.
Perhaps merely, shook.
WHOT, adj. hot. Hot was formerly writtenWhot. So in the Christen State of
Matrimonye, 1 2mo, p. 8. b. we read " Then shall the indignacion of the
Lorde wax whot over you."
WIBROW, WYBROW, s. the herb Plantain. The old English name for plantain (see
Dodoen's Herbal by Lite) is Waybrede, of which word I take Wibrow to be
merely a corruption.
WICH, orWycH. s. Several places in Cheshire and elsewhere terminate in nick;
which when it is pronounced long is supposed to designate a salt-work; and
when short, to come from the A. S. Vic. Wich is also a hut or hutch, and so
used in different parts of England, and particularly in the little island of
Canvey in Essex.
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(delwedd B2834)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 9 1
WILL-JILL, or WILL-GILL, s. an hermaphrodite.
WITHERING, adj. strong, lusty: a great withering fellow. To wither, is in the
North of England used for to throw any thing down violently; it is also used
substantively, to throw down with a wither: perhaps from the A.S. Witherian,
certare, resistere.
To WIZZEN or WISSEN AWAY, v. to fade or wither away: a poor sickly wizzened
thing. Weornian A. S. decrescere, tabescere. Hence also comes the common word
to wither.
WOOAN, orWoNE, v. to dwell; Wooant, did dwell. Lan. Ash calls it obsolete.
Woonen, habitare. Kil. A. S. Wimian, the same. Som. The word Wone may be
found in the P. P. C. and in the Ort.Vocab., and also in Skinner, but is not
admitted by Todd. Junius among his addenda has the word Woan, and cites
Chaucer for the use of it. Woant, s. a mole. Want is an old word for the
same.
WUT THOU, is Wilt thou.
WUTS, WHOATS, s. oats.
WYCH-WALLER, s. a salt-boiler at one of the wyches in Cheshire. Wice, Sax.
sinus, or the bend of a river. " To scold like a wych-waller "is a common
adage.
WYZELS, s. the green stems of potatoes. Randle Holme, in his Academy of
Armory, calls them
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(delwedd B2835)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
turnips. Weize is the German for corn, as Holm is for straw. Peas-holm is
still in use. Strawberry Wises are Strawberry Runners in Lanca shire. In
jElfr. Gloss, we have Framen, Streaberie-wisan.
Y.
YAFF, v. to bark. A little fow yaffing cur, is a little ugly barking cur.
Scotch. Jam. Gaf, Ang. Sax. a babbler. Som. To yaff, is to make a short
shrill bark: to yaff would be improperly applied to the barking of a great
dog. From the French japper. The j long and the y are convertible letters.
YATE, s. gate. Lan.
YED, or YEAD, s. head.
YEJ>WARD, YETHART, s. Lan. Edward. In Islandic Jatvardr is Edward.
YELVE, s. a dung fork, or prong.
YELVE, . to dig chiefly with the yelve.
YERN, or YARN, s. a heron.
YERNUTS, s. See JURNUTS.
YEWKING, YEWKINGLY, adj. and adv. having a sickly appearance.
YIELD, v. reward. God yield you! or rather as it is pronounced, God eeld you!
God reward you! Gialld, money, reward, Islandic. Giaellder, to be of value,
Danish, Wolff. Gelda or Jelda in the Frisic. " Sa gelde the
Redieva," " so let the Reeve pay." (Leges Hansigiae.)
SeeWiarda
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(delwedd B2836)
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of $ome Words used
in Cheshire. 93
APPENDIX.
Some further Words, which though of common use in Cheshire yet do not seem to
belong exclusively to that county, but are heard in several of the adjoining
counties, and particularly in the northern ones. Perhaps, indeed, the same objection
may be made to some of the words which have been admitted into the preceding List;
but it is hoped they are not numerous, considering the great difficulty, if
not almost impossibility, of perfectly avoiding this error.
A.
ADDLE, or YEDDLE, v. to thrive or flourish, to merit by labour: admitted by
Todd in his edition of Johnson's Dictionary. A.S. ^Edlean, a reward, or to
reward.
ADDLINGS, s. earnings from labour.
ADOE, s. much to do, hurry, bustle, difficulty, P.P.C.
AGREEABLE, adj. complying, consenting.
94
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(delwedd B2837)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
ALLEGAR, s. vinegar made of Ale, generally used with the adjunct Vinegar.
ANAN, adv. is made use of in vulgar discourse by the lower order of persons
addressing a superior, when they either do not hear or do not comprehend well
what is said to them, and is equivalent to " what did you say?" or
" have the goodness to repeat or explain what you said." Mr.
Boucher, in his supplement to Johnson's Dictionary, of which the words
beginning with the letter A only were printed, distinguishes very properly
between the colloquial pronunciation Anan, and the more common adverb Anon.
He thinks the former a reduplicative of the Saxon or Gothic particle An,
which is defined to be " particula interrogationibus praemissa." In
common discourse the first letter is often omitted, and Nan is used for Anan.
APPO, s. an apple.
ARRH, s. a mark or scar. Todd.
ASK, or ASKER, s. a land or water newt.
ASTOUND, part, astonished.
B.
BADGER, s. a dealer in corn. O.W. In the Law Latin Dictionary it is rendered
by Emax. Junius calls it Frumentarius, sive Mercator mag
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(delwedd B2838)
|
of some Words used in Cheshire. 95
narius, fruges undiquaque coemens atque in unum comportans. BAITH, pron.
both.
BANG, v. to beat; figuratively, to excel or surpass. BANG-BEGGAR, s. a
beadle. BANGLE, v. to waste, or consume. Teut. Benghe len, caedere fustibus.
Kil. BARMSKIN, s. a leathern apron. Barm, O.W. the
breast. A.S. Barme, sinus. BEASTINGS, or BEESTINGS, s. the first milk given by
a cow after calving. Biest, Flemish, the same thing. See Halma's Flemish
Dictionary. BEDEET, adj. bedirtied. BEESOM, s. a broom. Todd. A.S. Besm,
scopa.
Som.
BLEAR, or BLARE, v. to roar or cry vehemently, as
children occasionally do. Todd. Dutch, Blaren.
BLISSOM, v. to tupp. How many ewes will a ram
blissom?
BIGGENING, the recovery of a woman after lying in. BILBERRY, s. whortleberry.
Todd. Sued. Blabaer.
In the North, Blaeberry.
BIN, BINNE, or BING, s. the place where the fodder for cattle is put. A. S.
Binne, praesepe. Bo AC, or BOKE, v. to retch, keck, or kick at the
stomach.
BORST and BORSTEN, perf. tense and part, of the verb to burst.
96
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(delwedd B2839)
|
An Attempt at a Glossary
BOTHOM, s. bottom.
BRAGGET, s. spiced ale. Good old word, still in use in the Northern counties.
Bragod, the same thing. Welsh.
BRATT, s. a small bib or apron worn by children to keep their clothes clean.
A.S. Bratt, a blanket. This name is also given to young children, probably
from wearing bratts.
BRIMMING, part, or adj. spoken of a sow who is maris appetens.
BRIZZ, s. the gadfly, OEstrus equi aut boms. The common dragon-fly is
generally but erroneously called the Brizz.
BUCKOW, v. to buckle.
BUTTY, s. in those parts of Cheshire adjoining to Staffordshire and
Shropshire is used as a companion in any work or labour. As the word Boot signifies
in general advantage, profit, help; so I take Butty to be merely a helpmate.
To play booty, is to play false, as at cards where those who cheat have often
associates in their knavery; or it may mean to play false for the stake, calling
it the Booty.
BY LAKIN, BY LEAKINS, diminutive of By our Lady.
BYSPELL, s. a natural child.
* .
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(delwedd B2840)
|
of some Words used in Cheshire. 97
C.
CAAS, adv. because.
CADGE, v. to carry. Bailey calls it a country word.
CADGER, s. a carrier.
CANKER'D, adj. ill-tempered.
CARLINGS, s. gray peas boiled; so called from being served at table on Care
Sunday, which is Passion Sunday, as Care Friday and Care Week are Good Friday
and Holy Week; supposed to be so called from that being a season of
particular religious care and anxiety. See Brand's Popular Antiquities, 4to,
vol. i. p. 93: also Ihre, Dictionarium Suio-Gothicum in voce "
Kaerusunnadag."
CAWN, for Callen.
CLIP, v. to embrace. A.S. Cleopan, cleafan, to cleave or stick to.
COCKER, v. to fondle or spoil a child.
CONNA, cannot.
CONNOH, can not.
COPPET, adj. pert, saucy: perhaps a corruption 01 Cocket.
COT, s. probably only an abbreviation of Cotquean; any man who interferes
with female domestic employment, and particularly in the kitchen, is so
called. The usual punishment to
38
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(delwedd B2841)
|
An Attempt at a Glossary
children so interfering, is to pin a dishclout to
their clothes. COTTER, v. to mend, repair, or assist with little
effect.
COWE, v. to depress or intimidate. CREWE, s. a coop to shut up fowls in. CREWE,
v. to shut up fowls. CRINCKLE, v. to recede from an engagement. CRUD, s. curd;
a transposition of letters very
common.
D.
DAB, s. a blow.
DAB, v. to give a blow.
DACITY, s. intelligence, quickness; an abbreviation of Audacity.
DADE, v. to lead children beginning to walk. Todd; but not common.
DADING-STRINGS, s. leading-strings.
DANG, v. to throw carelessly or violently: hence the term of Dangwallet for a
spendthrift.
DAWB, v. to plaster with clay.
DAWBER, s. a plasterer in clay.
DAZE, v. to dazzle, or stun by a blow. Dased, vertiginosus, P.P.C. Sir Thomas
More in his Apologye talks of making men's eyes adased.
DECK, s. a pack of cards. It is used by Shakespeare.
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(delwedd B2842)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 99
DEE, v. to die.
DEBT, part, dirtied.
DELF, s. a stone quarry. Todd. from to delve, to dig. The words mines, delfs,
quarries, often occur in old deeds.
DOFF, v. to pull off.
DOLE, or DOALE, s. a distribution of alms, generally on the death of some
considerable person; from the A.S. Daelan, distribuere.
DON, v. to put on.
DOWK, or DOUK, v+ to duck or bow down the head.
DUG, s. a dog.
DUR, s. a door, or DURRE. See the Glossary to Langtoft's Chronicle.
E.
EDGE, v. to make room, or go aside. To edge off
is common. EEND, s. end.
F.
FAIN, adj. glad. Breet a rd rain makes foos fain: that is, when a rainy cloud
is succeeded by a little brightness in the sky, fools rejoice, thinking it
will soon be fair weather; whereas that brightness is often of short
duration, and H 2
100
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(delwedd B2843)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
is followed by another rainy cloud, and the wet weather still continues.
FASH, v. to trouble, tease, shame, or cast down. To fash turnips, is to beat
down their leaves. The rain has fashed the flowers.
FAW, s. or v. a fall, or to fall.
FAWSE, adj. false, cunning, quick, intelligent.
FEART, adj. afraid.
FECK, or FECKS, an exclamation; probably a corruption of Faith.
FITTER, v. to move the feet quickly, as children do when in a passion.
FLET-MJLK, s. skim milk. A.S. Flete, cremor lactis.
FLIT, v. to remove, or change one's habitation. Todd. Flyter, Danish, to
remove.
FLITTING, s. a removal.
FLITE, or FLYTE, v. to scold. A.S. Flytan, contendere, rixare.
FLUKE, s. a fish, the flounder. A.S. Floe, a plaice, a fish, or sole. Som.
FLUMMERY, s. oatmeal boiled in water till it becomes a thick gelatinous
substance. Todd admits the word; but I believe that only in Cheshire and some
other northern counties it is in that sense in common use.
FOGG, s. rank eddish, or aftergrass.
FOIN, adj. fine.
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(delwedd B2844)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 101
Fow, adj. fowl, ugly. To have a fow life to do
any thing, is to have a great difficulty in doing
it.
FOW-DRUNK, very drunk. FOWK, or FOKE, s. folk or persons. You hinder
folk, is often used for You hinder me in my
business. FRIDGE, v. to rub to pieces.
G.
GAD, v. to go. To be on the gad, to be just on
the point of going or setting out. GAD, *. setting out, starting. GANDER-MONTH,
s. the month in which a man's
wife is confined in lying-in. GAWP, v. to gape, or stare with open mouth.
Wachter says, "li qui rem aut exitum rei
avide praestolantur plerumque hiscentes id fa ciunt." BROWN GEORGE, s.
the common sort of brown
bread.
GIZZERN,V*. the gizzard. GLAFFER, or GLAVER, v. to flatter. Todd. A.S.
Gleafan, adulari. Som. GLENT, s. a glimpse. GLOUR, or GLOWER, v. to have a
cross look.
When the clouds threaten bad weather, we call
them glowering. Todd.
102
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(delwedd B2846)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
Throughout many parts of Lancashire, the children in all the villages salute
you with what sounds exactly to my ears, " GOODY GOOD EEN," or
" GOODY GOOD EEL;" the meaning of which expression may perhaps be,
" God give you good den" i. e. good day: or otherwise it may be, "
May God good yld or yield to you:" but from the sound of the words, I
rather incline to the first explanation, " May God give you good den."
In Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio says to the Nurse, "God ye good den, fair gentlewoman;"
to which salutation the Nurse replies, " Is it good den? " Mercutio
answers, " Tis no less, I tell you," c.
GRAITH, s. riches.
GROUT, or GROWT, s. poor small beer. Todd has it, but not quite in this
sense.
GUEST, s. instead of guise. Another guest person, is a different kind of
person.
H.
HAIGH, v. to have.
HAN, v. They han, for they have.
HANNAH, v. have not.
HAPPENS, adv. perhaps, possibly, or haps. Hap peley is an old word used in
this sense. HAUF, or HAWF, s. half. HAW, s. hall.
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(delwedd B2847)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 103
HEAZE, v. to cough, or hawk.
HEAZY, adj. hoarse.
HIE, or HYE, v. to hasten. Todd.
HIE, or HYE, s. haste. Todd. A.S. Higan, festinare. Som.
HOVE, v. to take shelter. Hovel, as a shelteringplace for cattle, is common.
O. W. Todd has it, but does not give exactly this meaning to it. To hove is a
common sea term.
How DONE YOU? for How do you? or How do you do? Done is used as the plur. of
do; they done well.
HOYK, v. to lift up or toss, as a bull does with his horns.
To HOYND, or To HOIND, v. to make a hard bargain, to screw up. A landlord who
behaves in this manner with, his tenants, is said to hoynd them. A.S. Hiened,
humbled, subdued, vanquished; Som. or perhaps from his treating them as his
hinds or slaves.
HULL, v. to pick peas or beans out of the hulls or pods. Todd.
HURE, s. the hair.
HUBN, s. a horn.
J.
JURR, s. a blow or a push: a corrupt pronunciation of jarr.
1 04
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(delwedd B2848)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
K.
KEEVE, v. to overturn. KEOW, s. a cow. Key, or kye, the plural. KEOWER, v. to
cower down. KICKLE, adj. uncertain, the same as Tickle. KILL'T, adj. killed.
Todd.
KIT, s. a set or company, generally in a contemptuous sense The whole kit of
them.
L.
LAKE, v. a good old word, to play. We see in a MS. copy of the P.P.G. among
the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, Laykin used for a child's plaything.
Skelton in his interlude of Magnificence has "By Lakin it hathe cost me pence:"
but here I apprehend Lakin to be the diminutive of our Lady.
To LAM, LAMME, LEATHER, or LICK, are all cant words, used for to beat.
LAWKIN, LADYKIN. By Lawkin or Ladykin, by our blessed Lady.
LEATH, s. leisure, cessation from labour, remission of pain.
LEY, s. the law.
LIG, v. to lie, in utroque sensu verbi, according to Junius. Todd.
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(delwedd B2849)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 105
LYTHE, adj. supple, pliant. A.S. Lyth, a joint. Todd.
M.
MAL, or MALLY, for Moll, or Molly. MARROW, s. mate, companion. The following metrical
adage is common in Cheshire:
The Robin and the Wren Are God's cock and hen, The Martin and the Swallow Are
God's mate and marrow.
MEASY, adj. I suppose mazy, giddy.
MEET, s. might.
MEETY, adj. mighty.
MEG-HARRY, s. a tomboy, a young girl with masculine manners.
MESS, s. the mass.
MON, s. man.
MORT, s. a great deal, a great number. Todd has the word, and assigns an
Icelandic etymology for it.
MOTTY, s. talk. " None of your motty," no verbal interference on
your part. Mot is used commonly in this sense, from the French mot, word.
MOULDY, adj. moldy.
MOULDY-WARP, s. the mole; from the A.S. Molde, the earth, and Weorpan, to
cast. Som. Todd.
106
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(delwedd B2850)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
Molworp, or Mulworp, Teutonice, talpa. Ki lian. MULLIGRUBS, s. To have the
mulligrubs is to be
in an ill humour. Todd. MUNNAH, v. must not. MUN, s. the mouth, Sued. Mun.
Serenius.
N.
NERE, s. the kidney. O.W. P.P.C. Lady Juliana
Barnes uses it. NESH, adj. tender, delicate, O.W. Chaucer. A.S.
nice, soft, tender. Som. NESHIN, v. to make tender. P.P.C. NETHER, s. an adder.
A nether and an adder
are pronounced much the same.
O.
OAF, s. a fool. This word is not peculiar to Cheshire, but it is here
introduced on account of the singular mode of spelling it by Cockeram in his
Dictionary. It is there written Gnoflfe, which is an old word for a miser,
and presents a different etymology of the word from Ouph, which is usually
assigned to it.
OLD, adj. is often used in the sense of great, famous. Such as was practised
in old times. Old doings, signify great sport, great feasting, an uncommon
display of hospitality.
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(delwedd B2851)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 107
OLD MAN, s. a name for the plant Southernwood.
OVERGET, v. to overtake.
OVERWELT, part, a sheep overthrown and lying
on its back is said to be overwelt, i. e. it is
over waited. OURN, for ours. OUTING, s. a going from home.
P.
PEE, v. to look with one eye. This seems nearly the same thing as to peep.
PEE'D, part. adj. having only one eye. Todd.
PECKLE, v. to spot or speckle, chiefly used in the part, peckled.
PEERK, or PERK, adj. seems to be a corruption of Pert, brisk, lively,
convalescent from sickness. Dr. Ash admits it, and cites Spenser for the use of
it, but calls it obsolete.
PERISHED, part, starved with cold.
PEEWIT, s. a lapwing. Littleton has Peewit, vanellus. The black-headed gull,
which frequents some of the lakes in Shropshire, and is there called a
Peewit, though a very different bird from the common lapwing. Dr. Jamieson
explains Peu or Pew as a kind of imitative word, expressing the plaintive cry
of birds. This affords a probable etymology for the word Pewit, expressive of
its cry, as Lapwing is of its pecu
108
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(delwedd B2852)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
liar method of flying. My etymological conjecture is confirmed by what Kilian
says in voce Kievit, vanellus, avis Teutonice dicta a sono vocis quam edit.
PIEANNOT, s. a pie; pieannet, French. In Scotch, Pyeot, or Pyeat.
PINGLE, s. a small croft. Todd.
PITSTEAD, s. the place where there has been a pit.
POTTER, v. to disturb or confound.
POTTERD, part, confused, disturbed. Poteren, agitare. Dutch.
POUK, s. a pustule or pimple; possibly a coarse pronunciation of Pock.
POWER, s. a great quantity; in old French, force; and in Latin, vis: est
hederse vis. Horace.
Poo, v. to pull.
Q.
QUEEZE, s. quasi quest, from its plaintive tone, a wood-pigeon or ring-dove.
Littleton has the word.
QUILT, v. to beat.
R.
RECKON, v. to suppose, conjecture, or conclude.
I reckon he '11 come. RHEUMATIZ, s. rheumatism. RICK, s. a stack.
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(delwedd B2853)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 109 '
S.
SCRAT, s. an hermaphrodite, is in Huloch. Littleton has the word, and so has
Todd. A. S. Scritta. Som.
SCRAT, s. the itch.
SEET, v. to sit.
SHALE, or SHULL, v. to clear peas or beans from their pods. Todd.
SHEAR, or SHEER, v. to cut corn with the sicklehook. P.P.C. Todd. Scir, or
Scyre. A.S.
SHIVE, or SHIVER, s. a slice. Dutch, Schyf. Todd. O.W. Ort. Vocab. in voce
Lesca.
SHOAF, or SHOFE, s. a sheaf of corn.
SHONNA, or SHANNA, shall not.
SHOON, s. shoes.
SICH, adj. such.
SIN, adv. or prep, since.
SINK, s. the sewer of a house.
SKEW, v. to squint. Todd has it not in this sense of the word, but only in
that of, to walk obliquely.
SKITTER, v. to scatter.
SKUFF, s. hinder part of the neck. Gothic, Skuft, the hair of the head.
Glossary to the translation of the Ulphilan Codex.
SLAB, s. the outside board sawed from a piece of timber.
110
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(delwedd B2854)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
SLAT, v. to throw, or to spill.
SLIVE, v. to cut off.
SLIVER, s. a slice.
SLOVEN, part, of the verb to slive, divided.
SLOTTEN, part, divided. Slot and Slotten are the participles of the A. S.
word Slitan, to slit. When at the game of Whist the honours are equal on each
side, they are said to be sloven, or slotten.
SNIG, s. an eel, generally a small one.
SNITE, s. mucus nasi.
SORRY, adj. vile, worthless. Dr. Johnson assigns an Anglo-Saxon origin to the
word sorry in the sense of grieved, afflicted, and an Icelandic one when in
the sense of vile or worthless. I am inclined, however, to think that they
are one and the same word, and that the latter sense is only a figurative
one, just as in Italian the word tristo, derived from the Latin tristis, not only
signifies sorrowful or afflicted, but also vile, or in no estimation.
SOULING. To go a-souling, is to go about as boys do, repeating certain
rigmarole verses, and begging cakes or money, in commutation for them, the
eve of All Souls day. These cakes are called Soul cakes. In Letters from
Spain, by Leucadio Doblado, p. 70, we read as follows: " We heard the
church bell toll what in Spain
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(delwedd B2855)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. Ill
is called ' Las Animas,' The Souls. A man bearing a large lantern with a
painted glass representing two naked persons enveloped in flames, entered the
court, addressing every one of the company in these words ' The holy Souls,
brother! Remember the holy Souls.' Few refused the petitioner a copper coin,
worth about the eighth part of a penny. This custom is universal in Spain."
Our Cheshire custom of going a-Souling is somewhat similar to this.
So WRING, s. vinegar or verjuice taken with meat.
SPARKLE, v. to disperse. Disperkleth is used in this sense in the English
translation of Bartholomseus, De proprietatibus rerum.
SPARLING, s. a fish, the smelt; from the French eperlan. Todd.
SPARROW-BILLS, s. small nails, of a particular kind.
SPEER, s. the chimney post.
SPER, or SPEER, v. to inquire; from A.S. Spyrian, to inquire. Todd. It is a
good old word, used by Harding in his Chronicle.
STARK, augmentative. German, Stark, strong; or perhaps more legitimately from
the A.S. Stare, fortis. It is generally used in a bad sense, as Stark bad.
STROKINGS, s. the last milk that can be drawn from a cow. The same as
Afterings.
SWALE, or SWEAL, v. to burn to waste, as candles
112
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(delwedd B2856)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
often do when the melted substance runs down
the candle. O.W. A.S. Swselan. Som. Todd. SWALER, s. a dealer in corn, or
rather one who
buys corn and converts it into meal before he
sells it again. SUPPINGS, s. the refuse milk after the cheese is
made.
SUMMAT, somewhat. STRIKE OF CORN, a common bushel of corn.
T.
TANTONY PIG: To follow any one like a Tantony Pig, is to stick as close to
him as Saint Anthony's favourite is supposed to have done to the saint.
To TARR ON, to excite to anger or violence, is still used in Cheshire. It is
a good old word, used by Wicliffe in his Path Waye to Perfect Knowledg; and
also in a MS. translation of the Psalms by Wicliffe, penes me: " They
have terrid thee to ire."
TATOE, s. a potatoe.
TEEM, v. to pour out, is in common use in the north of England. Swift having
used it, it has become a legal English word. In P.P.C. we
, have to tamyn, to tap or broach a vessel of liquor. It is used in the
" Informac'on for Pylgrymes to the Holy Land," an old poem in 4to, among
the Roxburghe Club reprints.
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(delwedd B2857)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 113
THRAVE, s. is generally twelve, but sometimes
twenty-four, sheaves of corn. THREAP, v. to maintain with vehemence, or, to
insist. TIKE, or TYKE, s. a little dog. Sui.-Got. Tik,
canicula. Islandic Tijk or Tijg, Ihre. A cross
child is often called a cross Tike. TOM-TIT, s. the bird called a tit-mouse. TUMMUZ,
s. Thomas.
U.
UMBER, OUMBER, or OUMER, s. shade: from the French ombre. Corn does not ripen
well if it is in the umber.
V.
VARMENT, s. vermin.
VAST, s. a great quantity or number. There is a vast of corn this year.
W.
WALM, v. to seethe or boil. This word is used by Gervase Markham and by
Handle Holme. It seems to be derived from the old word to wall, to spring up.
WALM, s. a bubble up in boiling.
WARD, or WARLD, s. world.
WHAP, s. a blow. A Whapper or Whapping is not
114
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(delwedd B2858)
|
An Attempt at a Glossary
uncommon in colloquial language for anything
very large. WHAPPED, part, or verb. When any one goes
away suddenly he is said to have whapped
away.
WHEINT, adj. quaint. WHICK, adj. quick, alive. WHICKS, s. quickset plants. WHIG,
s. whey. A. S. Hwaeg, serum. Som. WHITESTER, s. a bleacher of linen. WHIZZEN,
v. to shrivel or shrink. Todd. It is
chiefly used in the participle, Whizzened. WINNA, or WONNA, will not. WON,
WONE, or WOAN, v. to dwell or inhabit. WONNA, will not.
Y.
YARTH, s, the earth. Such is the pronunciation of this word throughout all
the northern counties of England; and it seems to be derived from the Danish
Jord, Isl. Jorth, the earth.
YATE, s. a gate.
YED, or YEAD, s. the head.
YEDWARD, or YETHART, Edward. Isl. latvardr.
YEUK, or YOKE, s. the itch. Among the Suffolk Letters in 2 vols. 8vo, 1 824,
there is one written by a very lively correspondent, Mrs. Bradshaw, dated
28th May 1722, from Gosworth Hall in
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(delwedd B2859)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 115
Cheshire, ,in which she says, " All the best families in the parish are
laid up with what they call the yoke, which in England is the itch." Of this
word, however, in Cheshire I could find no trace; and therefore it may appear
strange to admit it into this Glossary on the authority of a court lady; but
when I find in Mr. Trotter Brockett's Glossary of North Country Words, published
in 1 825, " Yeuk, v. to itch," and in the Glossary annexed to the
Praise of Yorkshire Ale, "Toyeauke, v. to itch," I have no doubt but
that the word was in common use in Cheshire about a century since. By finding
also in the P.P.C. " Yekin, s. pruritus," it turns out to be a good
old English word, of which the etymology is doubtless from the Teutonic
Joocken, Jeucken, prurire. YOY, yes. Ja, pronounced yau, German.
116
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(delwedd B2860)
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An Attempt at a Glossary
OMITTED.
Page 21, Bowk, s. a pail. This seems to be the origin of the common word
Bucket.
Page 41, Forkin Robin, s. an earwig.
Page 46, Hirple, v. to limp.
Page 46, Hitch, s. To have a hitch in his gait, is to be lame.
Page 48, in voce Jack Nicker, at the end, " and the name for the common
black-and-white water wagtail in the North of England is a Billy Biter."
Page 51, Kindle, v. to bring forth: chiefly used when speaking of hares,
rabbits, or cats. Skinner admits the word, and derives it from the A.S.
Cennan, parere. In the old terms enumerated by Lady Juliana Barnes, and
others, a litter of cats is called a kendel of cats.
Page 52, Kype, s. an ugly distorted face, a grimace. To make kypes, is to
make faces. [Quere, if it be anything more than an erroneous provincial pronunciation
of Gibe? The g pronounced harsh, and the k, are in old English often used the
one for the other.]
Page 57, Melder (of oats), s. a kiln full, as many
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(delwedd B2861)
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of some Words used in Cheshire. 117
as are dried at a time for a meal. This word is admitted as a Cheshire word
by Jamieson, who assigns for his authority, Grose's Provincial Glossary.
Page 65, Pride, s. To have a pride in his pace or manner of going, is a
ludicrous way of expressing that a person is lame.
THE END.
P^v
^;.
/ J>
^
PE Wilbraham, Roger 184/7
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(delwedd B2862)
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LONDON:
PRINTED BY RICHARD TAYLOR, SHOE LANE.
ALERE jl FLAMMAM
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