Chapter VII: Introduction (5)

'Mr. F. J. Kennedy, secretary of the Belfast Angling
Association ... "worked a quiff," to use a slang phrase, on a
well-known Lagan poacher.'--_Fishing Gazette_, Aug. 20, 1892,
p. 154.

*=Quile=. A heap of hay ready for carrying. Fr. _cueiller_.--N.W. (Cherhill.)

=Quill=. The humour, mood, or vein for anything. 'I can work as well as or a man, when I be in the quill for 't.' To 'Quill a person' in the language in use at Winchester College is to please, or humour him. This is very near the Wilts use.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Quilt=. (1) _v._ To swallow (A.B.C.G.). 'The baby wur that bad, it couldn't quilt nothen.' This is used of swallowing in the natural way, while _glutch_ is to swallow with difficulty (C.).--N.W. (2) _n._ A gulp, a mouthful of liquid. 'Have a quilt on't?' have a drop of it.--N.W.

=Quinnet=. _n._ (1) A wedge, as the iron wedge fastening the ring of the scythe nibs in place, or the wooden wedge or cleat which secures the head of an axe or hammer.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.) (2) See ~Scythe~.

=Quirk=. To complain (A.B.G.); spelt Quisk by Akerman in error. To grunt (S.); to croak. A frog often quirks, and a toad sometimes.--N. & S.W.

=Quiset about=. To pry about (_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxii. p. 112).--N.W.

=Quisk=. See ~Quirk~.

=Quist=, =Quisty=. See ~Quest~.

=Quob=. (1) A soft wet place, a piece of marsh or bog.--N.W. Cp. W. of Eng. _quob_, a bog; _quob-mire_, Salop. (2) Hence 'all in a quob,' said of a bad bruise.--N.W.

=Quomped=. See ~Quamped~.

*=Quop=. To throb (A.B.G.).

=R=. (1) In pronunciation _r_ often has _d_ or _t_ affixed or prefixed, as ~Cavaltry~, horsemen; ~Crockerty~, crockery; ~Millard~, miller, &c. (2) See ~Har~. (3) Transpositions frequently occur, as _cruds_, curds; _cruddle_, to curdle; _girn_, to grin; _girt_, great; _gird'l_, a great deal; _hirn_, to run.

=Rabbit-flower=. _Dielytra spectabilis_, DC., the flowers of which, when pulled apart, form two little pink rabbits.--S.W., occasionally.

=Rabbits=. Blossoms of Snapdragon when pinched off the stem.--S.W.

*=Race=. The heart, liver and lungs of a calf (A.B.).

=Rack=. (1) A rude narrow path, like the track of a small animal (A.S.). See Gen. Pitt-Rivers' _Excavations in Cranborne Chase_, vol. i. ch. i. On Exmoor the wild deer always cross a wall or hedge at the same spot. The gap thus formed is called a 'rack.' See _Red Deer_, ch. iv. Also in W. Somerset.--S.W. (2) Apparently also sometimes used in the sense of a boundary.--S.W.

=Radical=. 'A young radical,' a regular young Turk, a troublesome young rascal. Also used in Somerset.--N.W.

=Rafter=. To plough so as to leave a narrow strip of ground undisturbed, turning up a furrow on to it on each side, thus producing a succession of narrow ridges (_Agric. of Wilts_, ch. vii). See ~Balk-ploughing~.--N.W.

=Rafty=, =Rasty=, =Rusty=. Of bacon, rancid (A.B.S.).--N. & S.W.

=Rag-mag=. A ragged beggar, or woman all in tatters.--N. & S.W.

=Rail=. To crawl or creep about, to walk slowly (_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxii. p. 112). 'I be that weak I can't hardly rail about.'--N.W.

=Raims=, =Reams=. A mere bag of bones, a very thin person. 'He do look as thin as a raims.'--N. & S.W.

=Raimy=. Very thin.--N. & S.W.

=Ramp=. A curve (S.).--S.W.

=Ramping=. Tall, as 'a rampin' gel.'--N.W.

*=Randin=. Riotous living.--N.W. (Malmesbury.)

=Randy=. (1) _n._ A noisy merry-making (S.).--N. & S.W. (Malmesbury, etc.) (2) _n._ 'On the randy,' living in a riotous or immoral manner.--N. & S.W. (3) _adj._ A woman who used to be a regular attendant at all the tea-meetings and other gatherings of the kind in her neighbourhood in N. Wilts was usually spoken of as being 'a randy sort o' a 'ooman'--_randy_ apparently being there applied to such gatherings.

*=Range=. Two drifts or rows of felled underwood (D.).

=Rangle=. To twine round anything as a climbing plant does.--S.W. (Som. bord.)

=Rank=, =Ronk=. (1) Audacious. 'Hands off! Thee bist a bit too ronk!'--N.W. (2) Outrageous, as applied to a fraud or a lie.--N.W.

*=Rannel=. _adj._ Ravenously hungry.--N.W.

'A man comes in rannel vor 's food, and plaguey little dacent
vittles can a get.'--_Dark_, ch. ii.

=Rant=. (1) v. To tear.--N.W.

'She "ranted" the bosom of her print dress.'--_Field Play._

(2) _n._ A tear or rent.--N.W.

=Rantipole=. _Daucus Carota_, L., Wild Carrot (_English Plant Names_).--N.W.

=Rap=, =Wrap=. A thin strip of wood.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Rapid=. 'A rapid pain,' 'rapid weather,' i.e. very violent. Always so used at Clyffe Pypard. So in W. Somerset.--N.W.

'This is a Latin use: cf. Virgil's _rapidus aestus_ (Bucol.
ii. 10) and _rapidus sol_ (_Georg._ ii. 321)=strong,
violent.'--SMYTHE-PALMER.

=Rare=. Underdone, but not raw. Reer (A.). Pronounced _Raa_.

=Rash=. To burn in cooking (H.Wr.). Sometimes used of malt.

=Rasty=. See ~Rafty~.

*=Rathe-ripes=. (1) An early kind of pea (B.). (2) An early kind of apple.

*=Rattle-basket=. (1) _Rhinanthus Crista-galli_, L., Yellow Rattle.--S.W. (Zeals.) *(2) _Erica cinerea?_ Heath. Heard only from one person.--S.W. (Deverill.)

=Rattle-thrush=. _Turdus viscivorus_, the Missel-thrush, occasionally extended to any very large Song-thrush. ~Rassel-thrush~ at Huish.--N. & S.W. (Salisbury, &c.)

*=Rattle-weed=. _Silene inflata_, L., Bladder Campion.--N.W. (Lyneham.)

=Rave=. The ring of twisted hazel by which hurdles are fastened to their stakes or shores.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Raves=, =Reaves=. The waggon-rails (D.S.). At Clyffe Pypard applied to the flat woodwork projecting over the wheels from the side of the forward part of a waggon.--N. & S.W.

=Rawmouse, Raamouse=. The reremouse or bat; used at Tormarton, Clyffe Pypard, &c. ~Bat-mouse~ is, however, in more general use. ~Ryemouse~ (A.B.).--N.W.

=Rawney=, =Rowney=. (1) _adj._ Thin, poor, and uneven, as applied to badly manufactured cloth (A.B.C.).--N.W. (2) _adj._ Of persons, extremely thin.--S.W. (Som. bord.), occasionally.

=Ray=, or =Array=. _v._ To dress and clean corn (D.).--N.W.

=Ray-sieve=. _n._ A sieve used to get the dust out of horses' chaff. ~Rayen-sieve~ on Dorset bord.--N.W.

=Reams=. See ~Raims~.

=Reap-hook=. The 'rip-hook' is a short-handled hook without teeth, the blade bent beyond the square of the handle; used to cut to the hand a handful at a time (D.). The old reaping-sickle was toothed or serrated. See ~Hal~. _s.v._ ~Hook~.

=Red Bobby's eye=. _Geranium Robertianum_, L., Herb-Robert.--S.W. (Redlynch.)

=Red Fiery Bang-tail=. See ~Bang-tail~.

=Red Robin Hood=. _Lychnis diurna_, Sibth., Red Campion.--S.W. (Zeals.)

=Red-Robins=. _Lychnis diurna_, Sibth., Red Campion.--N. & S.W.

=Red-weed=. Red Poppy (D.). The only name for _Papaver Rhoeas_, &c., used about Salisbury and Warminster, _Digitalis_ being the 'Poppy' of those parts. One of our oldest plant-names.--N. & S.W.

=Reed=. Unthreshed and unbroken straw reserved for thatching (S.). A Somerset and Devon word. 'Reed' is seldom used in Wilts, where ordinary threshed straw, made up into 'elms,' is the common material.--S.W.

=Reer=. See ~Rare~.

=Reeve=. To draw into wrinkles.--N.W. (Malmesbury, Clyffe Pypard, &c.)

=Remlet=. A remnant.--N.W.

=Reneeg=, =Renegue= (_g_ always hard). To back out of an engagement, to jilt.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.) In Ireland a horse refusing a fence would be said to _renage_. See Whyte-Melville's _Satanella_, ch. i. p. 7: _Lear_, ii. 2, &c.

=Revel=. A pleasure fair; a parochial festival, a wake (A.B.), as 'Road Revel.' A village Club Feast (S.).--N. & S.W. There was a revel held at Cley Hill formerly, on Palm Sunday, and one at Kington Langley on the Sunday following St. Peter's Day.

=Rhaa=. Hungry, ravenous. See ~Rhan~.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard, rarely.)

=Rhan= (pronounced _Rhaan_). To eat voraciously (S.). A form of _raven_. Cf. West of Eng. _ranish_, ravenous.--S.W.

*=Rhine= (pronounced _Reen_). A water-course. This is a Som. word.--N.W. (Malmesbury.) Mr. Powell mentions a Wiltshire poem, which begins:--

'There once were a frog that lived in a ditch, Or 'twere may be
a rheen, it don't matter which.'

=Rick-barken=. A rick-yard (A.). See Barken.--N.W.

=Rick-stick=. In thatching, after the 'elms' are fastened down with 'spicks' or 'spars' the thatch is then lightly combed over with the 'rick-stick,' a rod with a few teeth at one end and an iron point at the other by which it can be stuck into the thatch when not in actual use.--S.W. (Warminster.)

=Riddle=. (1) _n._ A coarse sieve (A.B.). Cp. A.S. _hridder_. See Rudder.--N. & S.W. (2) v. To sift. 'Hev 'ee riddled they ashes well s'marnin'?'--N. & S.W.

=Ridge-tie=. A back chain for shafts. ~Wridgsty~ (S.).--S.W.

*=Riffle=. A knife-board on which 'callus-stone' is used (_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxii. p. 113).--N.W. (Cherhill.)

=Rig=. (1) _n._ A horse which has not been 'clean cut,' i.e. is only half gelded, owing to one of its stones never having come down.--N.W. (2) _v._ To climb up upon (S.), or bestride anything, either in sport or wantonness. 'To rig about' is commonly used in S. Wilts of children clambering about on wood-piles, walls, &c.--N. & S.W.

=Rigget=. A woodlouse.--S.W. (Heytesbury.)

=Ring=. 'To ring bees,' to make a noise with poker and shovel when they swarm.--N.W.

=Rinnick=. The smallest and worst pig of a litter. Sometimes abbreviated into ~Nurk~. Cf. North of England _Rannack_, a worthless fellow.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Robin's eyes=. _Geranium Robertianum_, L., Herb Robert.--S.W.

=Rock=. The 'fur' or calcareous deposit inside a kettle.--N. & S.W.

=Rocket=. 'Don your rocket,' put on your bonnet.--S.W. (Downton.) No doubt originally this meant a woman's dress or cloak (_rochet_), as in M.E., but it has long been transferred to the bonnet. In Devon _rochet_ is still sometimes applied to female dress.

=Roke=. Smoke.--S.W., occasionally.

=Rollers= (_o_ short). (1) _n._ The long lines into which hay is raked before pooking.--S.W. (Warminster, &c.) (2) _v._ Rolly. To put grass into rollers (_Cycl. of Agric._).--S.W.

*=Rommelin=. Rank, overgrown (A.).

=Ronk=. See ~Rank~.

*=Rook Hawk=. _Falco subbuteo_, the Hobby (_Birds of Wilts_, p. 72).

=Ropey=. _adj._ (1) 'Rawpey bread,' a term applied to that peculiar condition of home-made bread, known only in dry summer weather, and caused by a kind of second fermentation, when the inside of the loaf appears full of minute threads, and has a disagreeable taste.--N.W. (2) Also applied to thick drink (S.).--S.W.

=Rough=. (1) _adj._ Unwell, as 'He bin terr'ble rough this fortnight.'--N. & S.W.

'There, she was took rough as it might be uv a Monday, and
afore Tuesday sundown she was gone, a-sufferin' awful.'--_The
Story of Dick_, ch. viii. p. 85.

(2) 'To sleep rough,' or 'lay rough,' to sleep about out of doors like a vagabond.--N. & S.W. (3) _v._ To treat roughly, to ill-use. 'Thuck there hoss 'll kick 'ee, if so be as you do rough un.'--N.W.

=Rough Band=. A housset. See _Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. i. p. 88.

=Rough-carpenter=. The same as ~Hedge-carpenter~.--N.W.

=Rough Music=. The same as _Housset_ and _Skimmenton_.--N. & S.W.

*=Round-tail=. _v._ To clip the dirty locks of wool off the tail and legs of sheep, previously to shearing. Very commonly used in many parts of the county.--N. & S.W.

*=Round-tailings=. The locks so clipt, which are washed and dried, and usually sold at half-price.--N.W.

*=Rouse=. 'To catch and rouse,' see ~Catch~.

=Rowet-grass=. The long rough grass in hedges, &c., which cattle refuse; rowan or coarse aftergrass.--N.W.

=Rowetty=. Of grass, coarse and rough.--N.W.

'Tangled dead ferns and rowetty stuff.'--_Gamekeeper at Home_,
ch. ii.

'That "rowetty" grass seen in the damp furrows of the
meadows.'--_Wild Life_, ch. ii.

'Our low meadowes is ... rowtie, foggie, and full of
flags.'--HARRISON'S _Description of Britain_.

=Rowey=. Rough (C.). See ~Rowetty~.

*=Rowless-thing=. In the _Diary_ of the Parliamentary Committee at Falstone House, S. Wilts, 1646-7, this curious phrase frequently occurs, apparently meaning waste and unprofitable land. It is once applied to a living. Several forms of it are used, as _Rowlass-thing_, _Rowlist-thing_, and _Rowless-thing_. See _Wilts Arch. Mag._, Nov. 1892, pp. 343-391. We have been unable to trace the word elsewhere, so that it may possibly be of local origin.

'George Hascall is become tenant for a Rowlass thing called
Dawes-Frowd, land of Lord Arundell and estated out to Mrs.
Morley a recusant ... John Selwood and Richard Hickes tenants
unto Sir Giles Mompesson for his farm at Deptford and his
Rowless-thing called Hurdles at Wiley.'--_Diary_, &c.

Sir Fras. Dowse, of Wallop, is said to have been possessed of 'another _thing_ called the Broyl [_Bruellii_ = woods] of Collingbourne.' See 'Wiltshire Compounders,' _Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxiv. p. 58. In the New Forest a 'rough' is a kind of enclosure.

'Philips promised to feed the horse in a "rough" or enclosure
... which was well fenced in, but the bank foundered and the
animal got out.'--_Salisbury Journal_, Aug. 5, 1893.

=Rowney=. See ~Rawney~.

=Rubble=. (1) In Wilts usually applied to the hard chalk used in making roadways through fields (_Wild Life_, ch. ii),--N. & S.W. (2) Rubbish (A.B.C.S.).--N. & S.W.

=Rubbly=. _adj._ Of soil, loose from being full of broken bits of chalk (_Agric. Survey_).

=Rucksey=. Muddy, dirty, untidy, as applied to road, weather, or house.--S.W.

=Rudder=. (1) _n._ A sieve. A.S. _hridder_. See Riddle.--N.W. (2) _v._ To sift.--N.W.

=Rudderish=. Passionate, hasty (A.B.G.).--S.W. (Som. bord.)

=Rudge=. _n._ The space between two furrows in a ploughed field.--N. & S.W.

=Rumple=, _v._ To seduce. The full force of the word can only be given by _futuere_, as:--'He bin rumplin' that wench o' Bill's again laas' night.'--N.W.

*=Rumpled-skein=. Anything in confusion; a disagreement (A.).

=Rumpum-Scrumpum=. _n._ A rude kind of musical instrument, made of a piece of board, with an old tin tied across it as a bridge, over which the strings are strained. It is played like a banjo, or sometimes with a sort of fiddle-bow.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Rusty=. See ~Rafty~.

=Ryemouse=. The bat (A.B.). A form of Reremouse.--N.W.

=Saat=. 'Saat bread,' soft, sweet puddingy bread, which pulls apart in ropes or strings, made from 'grown-out' wheat. Cp. Halliwell (~s.v.~ _Sad_): 'Sad bread, _panis gravis_, Coles.' See ~Zaad-paul~.

=Sails=. The upright rods of a hurdle (D.). ~Hurdle-zailin'~, _sing_. (Clyffe Pypard).--N.W.

=Sally-withy=. A willow (A.H.Wr.). A curious reduplication, both parts of the word having the same meaning in Anglo-Saxon.

=Sar=. (1) To serve (S.) or feed (_Wilts Tales_, p. 112). 'Sar the pegs, wull 'ee,' i.e. 'Give them their wash.'--N. & S.W. (2) ''Twon't sar a minute to do't,' will not take a minute.--N.W.

=Saturday's Pepper=. _Euphorbia Helioscopia_, L., Sun-spurge (_English Plant Names_). ~Saturday-night's-pepper~ (_Village Miners_).

=Sauf=. As if (S.). 'Looks sauf 'twur gwain to rain.'--N. & S.W. (Clyffe Pypard, &c.)

=Scallot=. Quarrymen's term for one of the upper beds of the Portland series--a fine white stone (Britton's _Beauties of Wilts_, vol. iii).

=Scambling=. 'A scambling meal,' one taken in a rough and hurried way.--N.W.

'In the _Percy Household Book_, 1511, "Scamlynge days" is of
constant occurrence for _jours maigres_.'--SMYTHE-PALMER.

=Scat=. _v._ To whip, beat, smack, slap.--S.W., occasionally.

=Scaut=. (1) _v._ To strain with the foot in supporting or pushing (A.); as at foot-ball, or in drawing a heavy load uphill; to stretch the legs out violently. ~Scote~ in S. Wilts.--N. & S.W.

'Stick your heels in the ground, arch your spine, and drag
with all your might at a rope, and then you would be said to
"scaut." Horses going uphill, or straining to draw a heavily
laden waggon through a mud hole "scaut" and tug.'--_Village
Miners._

(2) _n._ The pole attached to the axle, and let down behind the wheel, to prevent the waggon from running back while ascending a hill (A.S.).--N. & S.W.

*=School-bell=. _Campanula rotundifolia_, L., Harebell.--N.W. (Enford.)

=Scoop=. (1) A shovel (D.).--N.W. (2) Allowance or start in a race, &c. 'How much scoop be you a going to gie I?'--N. & S.W. (Baverstock, &c.)

'Alwaies dyd shroud and cut theyre fuel for that purpose
along all the Raage on Brayden's syde alwaies taking as
much Skoop from the hedge as a man could through [throw] a
hatchet.'--_Perambulation of the Great Park of Fasterne near
Wootton Bassett_, 1602.

The original document is in the Devizes Museum.--N.W.

=Scotch=. A chink, a narrow opening. The spaces between the boards in a floor are _scotches_.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard, Huish, &c.)

=Scote=. See ~Scaut~.

*=Scottle=. To cut badly or raggedly (H.Wr.). 'Her did scottle the stuff so, that my new gownd's 'tirely spwiled.'--N.W.

=Scraamb=. 'To scraamb a thing down' is to reach up to it and pull it down violently (S.), in the manner thus described by Jefferies:--

'Suppose a bunch of ripe nuts high up and almost out of reach;
by dint of pressing into the bushes, pulling at the bough,
and straining on tiptoe, you may succeed in "scraambing" it
down. "Scraambing," or "scraambed," with a long accent on the
aa, indicates the action of stretching and pulling downwards.
Though somewhat similar in sound, it has no affinity with
scramble: people scramble for things which have been thrown on
the ground.'--_Village Miners._

It would not be used of such an action as scrambling about on rocks.--N.W.

*=Scram=, =Skram=. Awkward, stiff as if benumbed.--N.W. (Malmesbury.)

=Scran=. *(1) A bag (A.H.Wr.) in which food is carried.--N. & S.W. (2) Victuals (S.).--S.W.

=Scratch Cradle=. Cat's-cradle (A.B.).

=Screech=. (1) The Missel Thrush, _Turdus viscivorus_ (A.).--N.W. (2) _Cypselus apus_, the Swift (_Birds of Wilts_, p. 309).--N. & S.W.

=Screechetty=. _adj._ Creaky (S.).--S.W.

=Screech Thrush=. The Missel Thrush, _Turdus viscivorus_ (_Birds of Wilts_, p. 129).--S.W. (Sutton Benger.)

*=Scricele=. To creak or squeak. See ~Scruple~.--N.W. (Wroughton.)

=Scriggle=. To take the last apples. See ~Griggles~.--N.W.

=Scroff=, =Scruff=. Fragments of chips (S.). The refuse of a wood-shed; ashes and rubbish for burning.--S.W.

=Scrouge=. To squeeze, press, or crowd any one (A.B.). 'Now dwoan't 'ee come a scrougin' on I zo!'

=Scrow=. (1) Angry, surly (A.H.).--N.W. *(2) Sorry, vexed.--N. & S.W., occasionally.

'Lawk, zur, but I be main scrow to be ael in zich a
caddle.'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 137.

=Scrump=. (1) _n._ A very dried up bit of anything (S.), as toast or roast meat 'done all to a scrump' (_Cottage Ideas_).--N. &. S.W. (2) Hence, sometimes applied to a shrivelled-up old man.--N. & S.W. (3) _v._ 'Don't scrump up your mouth like that!' i.e. squeeze it up in making a face.--N. & S.W. (4) _v._ To crunch. A sibilated form of Crump.--N. & S.W.

=Scrumpshing=. Rough play: used by boys (_Bevis_, ch. ix).--N.W.

=Scrupet=. To creak or grate, as the ungreased wheel of a barrow (_Village Miners_). Also Scroop, Scripet, Scrupetty, Scroopedee (S.), &c.--N. & S.W.

=Scruple=. To squeak or creak. 'When the leather gets old-like, he sort o' dries up, an' then he do scruple--he do scricele, Sir!' i.e. the saddle squeaks. Cf. ~Scroop~.--N.W. (Wroughton.)

=Scuff about= or =along=. To drag one's feet awkwardly, as in too large slippers; to 'scuff up' the dust, as children do for amusement, by dragging a foot along the road.--N. & S.W.

=Scuffle=. An oven-swab.--S.W.

=Scythe=. The various parts of the scythe are as follows in N. Wilts:--~Snead~, or ~Snaith~, the pole; ~Nibs~, the two handles; ~Pole-ring~, the ring which secures the blade; Quinnets (1) the wedges which hold the rings of the nibs tight, *(2) the rings themselves (A.); ~Crew~, the tang of the blade, secured by the pole-ring to the snead.

=Seed-lip=. The box in which the sower carries his seed (D.) (_Village Miners_). A.S. _léap_, basket, Icel. _laupr_.--N. & S.W. Misprinted _Seed-tip_ in Davis.

=Seer!= or =Sire!= 'I say, look here!' a very usual mode of opening a conversation when the parties are some distance apart.--N. & S.W.

=Seg=, =Sig=. Urine.--S.W.

=Seg-cart=. The tub on wheels in which urine is collected from house to house for the use of the cloth mills.--S.W.

=Sewent=, =Shewent=, =Suant=. (1) _adj._ Even, regular (A.B.C.S.), working smoothly. Formerly used all over the county, but now growing obsolete, although it is not infrequently heard still in S. Wilts. O.Fr. _suant_, pr. part. of _suivre_, to follow.--N. & S.W.

'A Piece of Cloth is said to be--shewent--when it is evenly
wove and not Rowey--it is also applied in other cases to denote
a thing Level and even.'--_Cunnington MS._

*(2) Demure (C.).--N.W., obsolete.

'To Look Shewent, is to Look demure.'--_Cunnington MS._

*=Shab off=. To go off (S.).--S.W.

=Shackle=. (1) A hurdle wreath or tie (S.): a twisted band of straw, hay, &c.--N. & S.W. (2) 'All in a shackle,' loose, disjointed (S.).--N. & S.W. (Devizes, Huish, Salisbury, Clyffe Pypard, &c.)

=Shaft-tide=, or =Shrift=. Shrovetide.--S.W.

=Shaggle=. Of a bough, &c., to shake.--S.W.

=Shakers=. _Briza media_, L., Quaking-grass.--N. & S.W.

*=Shally-gallee=. Poor, flimsy (_Great Estate_, ch. iv). Compare _Spurgally_, wretched, poor, Dors.; and _Shally-wally_, a term of contempt in N. of England.--N.W.

*=Shame-faced Maiden=. _Anemone nemorosa_, L., Wood Anemone (_Sarum Dioc. Gazette_).--S.W. (Farley.)

=Shammock=. To shamble or shuffle along hastily.

*=Shandy=. A row about nothing (S.). Probably a form of _Shindy_.--S.W.

=Shape= (pronounced _shap_). To manage, arrange, attempt, try. 'I'll shap to do 't,' try to do it. Compare the similar use of _frame_ in some counties.--N.W. (Devizes.)

=Shard=, =Shord=, =Sheard=. (1) A gap in a hedge (A.B.).--N. & S.W.

'I went drough a sheard in th' hedge, instead o' goin' drough
th' geat.'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 167.

'1636. Itm. to Robert Eastmeade for mendinge a shard in
Englands ijd.'--_Records of Chippenham_, p. 207.

(2) A narrow passage between walls or houses; usually Shord.--S.W. (3) 'To put in a shard, or shord,' to bay back or turn the water in a meadow trench by a rough dam, such as a piece of wood or a few sods of turf.--N.W.

(4) 'A cow-shard,' a cow-clat.

*=Shares=. The cross-bars of a harrow (D.).

=Sharpish=. Considerable. 'I be eighty-vive to-year, an' 'tis a sharpish age.'--N.W. (Huish, &c.)

=Sharps=. The shafts of a cart (A.S.).--N. & S.W.

=Shaul=. v. To shell nuts. Compare _Shalus_, husks (_Chron. Vilod._).--N.W.

=Sheening=. Thrashing by machinery (_Wild Life_, ch. vi).--N.W.

=Sheep=. See _Agric. of Wilts_, p. 260; also quotation below.

'In the article of sheep what strange nomenclature! Besides the
intelligible names of ram, ewe, and lamb, we have wether hogs,
and chilver hogs, and shear hogs, ram tegs, and theaves, and
two-tooths, and four-tooths, and six-tooths. So strange is the
confusion that the word hog is now applied to any animal of a
year old, such as a hog bull, a chilver hog sheep. "Chilver" is
a good Anglo-Saxon word, "cylfer" [this should be "cilfer"] ...
a chilver hog sheep simply means, in the dialect of the Vale of
Warminster, a female lamb a year old.'--_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol.
xvii. p. 303.

*=Sheep-bed= (_Ship-bed_). When a labourer had drunk too much, he would 'take a ship-bed,' i.e. lie down like a sheep to sleep in a grass-field, till he was sober.--N.W., obsolete.

=Sheep's-cage=. The same as ~Lamb's-cage~.--N.W.

=Sheep-sleight=. See Sleight (D.). Common in Wilts (Jackson's _Aubrey_, p. 10).

=Sheer=. Sharp, cutting. 'Uncommon sheer air s'marnin', yunnit?'--N.W.

=Shekel=. (1) The old reaping sickle, now quite superseded by the vagging-hook. The first _e_ is long. An old labourer, on being asked how he used to sharpen his ancient reaping-sickle, said, 'I did allus use to car' a grab [crab-apple] wi' me, an' draa my shekel droo un,' the acid biting like aquafortis into the curiously serrated edge of the steel, and renewing it without injury. Farm-lads still sharpen their knives thus. See _Great Estate_, ch. v; also _Summer in Somerset_.--N.W., obsolete. (2) The fork in which 'elms' are carried up to the thatcher.--N.W.

=Shepherds'-crowns=. Fossil _Echini_.--N.W.

*=Shepherds'-pedler=. _Capsella Bursa-pastoris_, L., Shepherds' purse.

=Shepherds'-Thyme=. _Polygala calcarea_, Sch., Chalk Milkwort.--S.W. (Salisbury, Bishopstone, Little Langford, &c.).

=Shepherds'-weatherglass=. _Anagallis arvensis_, L., Scarlet Pimpernel.--N. & S.W.

=Shewent=. See ~Sewent~.

=Shick-shack=. See ~Shitsack~.

*=Shim=. It seems. 'He's a fine fellow, shim' (A.B.C.H.Wr.).--N.W.

'This word is rather of Glocestershire, but it is nevertheless
in use on the North Border of Wilts.'--_Cunnington MS._

*=Shimmy=. _Convolvulus sepium_, L., Great Bindweed. Reported to us as 'Chemise.'--S.W. (Little Langford.)

=Shirp=, or =Shrip=. (1) 'To shirp off,' to shred or cut off a little of anything.--S.W. (2) 'To shrip up,' to shroud up the lower boughs of roadside trees, to cut off the side twigs of a hedge or bush.--N.W.

*=Shirt-buttons=. Flowers of _Stellaria Holostea_, Greater Stitchwort.--S.W. (Deverill.)

=Shitabed=. _Leontodon Taraxacum_, L., Dandelion (H.).--N.W.

=Shitsack=, or =Shitzack=. An oak-apple (H.Wr.). Oak-apple and leaf (S.).--N. & S.W.

=Shitsack, or Shick-shack Day=. King Charles' day, May 29. The children carry ~Shitsack~, sprigs of young oak, in the morning, and ~Powder-monkey~, or ~Even-Ash~, ash-leaves with an equal number of leaflets, in the afternoon. See _Wild Life_, ch. v.--N. & S.W. (Clyffe Pypard, &c.)

=Shivery-bivery=. All in a shake with cold or fright.--N.W.

=Shog=. To sift ashes, &c., by shaking the sieve.--N.W. (Devizes, Huish, &c.)

=Shog off=. To decamp in a hurried, stealthy, or cowardly manner (A.B.C.).--N.W.

=Shoot=, =Shute=. (1) A young female pig of three or four months old (D.).--N. & S.W. (2) _Fore-shoot and Backward-shoot_, the pieces of wood immediately behind the coulter of a plough (D.). (3) A precipitous descent in a road; a steep narrow path.--N. & S.W.

=Shord=. See ~Shard~.

=Shore=. _n._ The edge of a ditch on the meadow side (_Wild Life_, ch. xviii).--N.W.

'A Mearstone lyinge within the Shoore of the
Dyche.'--Perambulation of the Great Park of Fasterne, 1602.

=Shot=, or =Shut of, to be=. To rid one's self of a thing. 'Her can't get shut o' thuck there vool of a bwoy.'-N. & S.W.

=Shoulder, to put out the=. At Clyffe Pypard and Hilmarton it is customary to ask a man whose banns have been published once, 'How his shoulder is?'--because you have heard that it has been 'put out o' one side,' owing to his having 'vallen plump out o' the pulput laas' Zunday.' Next Sunday will 'put'n straight agean.' This implies that the banns were formerly published from the pulpit.--N.W.

=Showl=. A shovel (A.B.D.); occasionally a spade (D.).--N. & S.W.

=Shrammed=. Chilled to the bone, benumbed, perished with cold (A.B.M.S.).--N. & S.W.

'I was half-shrammed (i.e. perished with cold) on the
downs.--_Monthly Mag._ 1814.

=Shrift=. See ~Shaft-tide~.

*=Shrigging=. Hunting for apples (S.). See ~Griggles~ and ~Scriggle~.--S.W.

=Shrill=. To shudder. 'I never couldn't eat fat bacon--I do allus shrill at it.'--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Shrimps=. A particular kind of sweets.--N. & S.W.

=Shrowd=. (1) To trim off the lower boughs of a tree (S.).--N. & S.W. (2) To cut a tree into a pollard. See Polly.--N. & S.W.

=Shrub=. To rub along somehow, to manage to live after some sort of a fashion. 'I do shrub along middlin' well, when I bain't bad wi' the rheumatiz.' A sibilated form of _rub_.--N. & S.W., occasionally.

=Shrump up=. To hunch up the shoulders. 'Don't shrump up your shoulders like that!'--N.W.

=Shucks=. Husks of oats, &c.--S.W.

=Shuffet=. To shuffle along hurriedly.--N.W.

*=Shurne=. _Cacare_ (_MS. Lansd._ 1033, f. 2), Cp. A.S. _scearn_, dung.--Obsolete.

=Shut=. (1) _v._ To join together; used of welding iron, splicing a rope, joining woodwork, laying turf, &c.--N. & S.W. (2) _n._ The point of junction, as where rick is built against rick.--N. & S.W. (3) _adj._ See ~Shot~.

=Shutleck=, =Shutlock= (S.). See ~Waggon~.

=Sibilated words=. These are somewhat common in Wilts, as _Snotch_, notch; _Spuddle_, puddle; _Scrunch_, crunch; _Spyzon_, poison; _Spicter_, picture.

=Sick=. 'Turnip-sick,' of land, exhausted as regards turnip-growing (_Great Estate_, ch. i). 'Tater-sick,' &c.--N.W.

=Sideland ground=. Sloping ground on a hillside.--N.W.

=Sidelong=, =Sideling=. (1) With one side higher than the other (_Wild Life_, ch. vi). 'I wur nigh upset, th' rwoad wur that sideling.'--N. & S.W. (2) Sitting _sidelong_, i.e. with the side towards the spectator (_Gamekeeper at Home_, ch. ii).

=Sig=. See ~Seg~ (S.).--S.W.

=Sight=. A quantity, as 'a sight o' vawk,' 'a main sight o' rain.'--N. & S.W.

*=Sil=. Seldom. 'Sowle-grove sil lew,' February is seldom warm (H.).--Obsolete.

=Silgreen=. _Sempervivum tectorum_, L., Houseleek (_Village Miners_). A.S. _singréne_. See ~Sungreen~--N.W.

*=Sillow=, =Sullow=, or =Sul=. A kind of plough (D.). A.S. _sulh_.--S.W., obsolete.

'~Sylla~, a plough, was used at Bratton within the memory of
persons still living. ~Sylla-foot~, or ~Zilla-fut~, was a
guiding piece of wood alongside of the share.'--Miss WAYLEN.

*=Silver-bells=. The double Guelder-rose of gardens.--N.W. (Cherhill.)

=Silver-fern= or =Silver-grass=. _Potentilla Anserina_, L., which has fern-like silvery foliage.--N. & S.W.

=Sim=. _n._ A smell, as of burning wool or bone. 'That there meat hev got a main sim to 't.'--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

*=Simbly=. To seem.--N.W.

'He've a bin and tuk dree bottles o' doctor's stuff; but I'll
be whipped if a do zimbly a bit th' better var't.'--_Wilts
Tales_, p. 137.

=Simily=. Apparently, as 'Simily 'tis a bird.'--N.W.

=Simmin=. It seems. 'Simmin to I 'tis gwain' thic way.'--N.W.

=Sinful=. Excessively, as 'sinful ornary,' very ugly.--N.W.

=Sinful-ordinary=. Plain to the last degree in looks.--N.W.

'I once knew a young gentleman in the Guards who was very
ordinary-looking--what is called in Wiltshire "sinful
ordinary."'--_Illust. London News_, March 23, 1889.

=Singreen=. See ~Sungreen~.--S.W.

=Skag, Skeg=. (1) _v._ To tear obliquely.--N.W. (2) _n._ A ragged or oblique tear in clothes, such as is made by a nail.--N.W.

=Skeart=. To cause to glance off, as a pane of glass diverts shot striking it at an angle.--N.W.

=Skeer=. (1) To skim lightly and quickly over a surface, barely touching it, as a ball does along ice.--N.W. (Malmesbury.) *(2) To mow summer-fed pastures lightly.--N.W. (Malmesbury.)

=Skeer-devil=, =Skir-devil=. _Cypselus apus_, the Common Swift.--N.W. (Malmesbury, &c.)

=Skewer-wood=. _Euonymus Europaeus_, L., Spindle-tree.--N.W.

=Skewy=, =Skeowy=. When the sky shows streaks of windy-looking cloud, and the weather seems doubtful, it is said to 'look skeowy.'--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.) Compare:--

'_Skew_: thick drizzle or driving mist.'--JAGO'S _Cornish
Glossary_.

*=Skiel=. A cooler used in brewing beer (A.B.G.H.Wr.).

=Skiffley=. Showery. Perhaps from O.E. _skyfte_, to change.--S.W.

=Skillet=. A round pot to hang over the fire.--N.W.

=Skillin=, =Skilling=. A pent-house (A.C.S.); an outhouse or cow-shed. A.S. _scyldan_, to protect; Old Germ. _schillen_, to cover (A.). _Skillion_ is used in Australia for a small outhouse.--N. & S.W.

=Skimmenton=, =Skimmenton-riding=. A serenade of rough music got up to express disapproval in cases of great scandal and immorality. The orthodox procedure in N. Wilts is as follows: the party assembles before the houses of the offenders, armed with tin pots and pans, and performs a serenade for three successive nights. Then after an interval of three nights the serenade is repeated for three more. Then another interval of the same duration and a third repetition of the rough music for three nights--nine nights in all. On the last night the effigies of the offenders are burnt. ~Housset~ is the same thing. The word and the custom have emigrated to America.--N.W.

=Skimmer-cake=. A cake made of odd scraps of dough (S.). See ~Skimmer-lad~.--S.W.

=Skimmer-lad=. A dunch-dumpling, or piece of dough put on a skimmer and held in the pot while boiling.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Skippet=. The long-handled ladle used for filling a water-cart, emptying a hog-tub, &c.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Skipping-ropes=. Sprays of _Clematis Vitalba_, L., Traveller's Joy.--S.W. (Bishopstone.)

=Skit=. A passing shower (_Great Estate_, ch. i).--N.W.

*=Skive=. To shave or slice (_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxii. p. 113).--N.W. (Cherhill.)

=Skram=. See ~Scram~.

=Skug, Sqwug=. A squirrel. 'I say, there's a skug! Let's have a cock-shot at him with your squailer.'--N. & S.W.

=Slack=. Impudence, cheek (S.). 'I'll ha' none o' your slack!'--S.W.

=Slammock=, =Slummock=. A slattern. ~Slammick~ (S.).--N. & S.W.

=Slan=. A sloe (A.). A.S. _slán_, pl. of _slá_, sloe.--N.W. (Castle Eaton, &c.)

'Those eyes o' yourn be as black as slans.'--_Wilts Tales_, p.
81.

=Slang-up=, or =Slang-uppy=. Untidy, slatternly.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Slat=. (1) _v._ To split or crack (A.B.S.). 'Thuc plate's slat.'--N. & S.W. (2) _n._ A crack. 'What a girt slat thur is in un.'--N. & S.W. (3) _n._ A slate (A.). 'Thur's a slat blowed off.'--N.W.

=Slay=. See ~Sleight~.

=Sleek=. (1) _adj._ Slippery. 'The rwoad's terrible sleek.'--N.W. (2) _n._ Sleet.--N.W.

=Sleight=, =Slay=. (1) _v._ To pasture sheep on the downs (D.).--N.W. (2) _n._ Sheep-sleight, a sheep-down (D.); a pasture good for sheep.--N.W.

=Slent=. (1) _v._ To tear (S.). 'I've a bin an' slent ma yeppurn.'--S.W. (2) _n._ A tear or rent in clothes.--S.W.

=Slewed=, =Slewy=. Drunk (S.).--N. & S.W.

*=Slickit=. (1) A long thin slice (not a curly shaving) of wood (_Village Miners_).--N.W. (Berks bord.) (2) 'A slickit of a girl,' a young undeveloped girl (_Ibid._).--N.W. (Berks bord.) Cp. _Slacket_, slim, Cornw.

=Slide=. The cross-bar on the tail of the fore-carriage of a waggon. See Waggon.--N.W.

=Slip=. To shed. Of a horse, to shed its coat.--N. & S.W.

=Slippetty-sloppetty=. Draggle-tailed, slovenly. 'I never zeed zich a slippetty-sloppetty wench in aal my barn days.'--N.W.

=Slire=. _v._ To look askance or out of the corners of your eye at anything.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard, &c.)

'"Why should you suspect him?" "Aw, a' be a bad 'un; a' can't
look 'ee straight in the face; a' sort of slyers [looks
askance] at 'ee."'--_Greene Ferne Farm_, ch. ix.

*=Slize=. To look sly (A.B.H.Wr.). To look askance at any one.--N.W.

=Slocks=. See ~Slox~.

=Slocks about=. To go about in an untidy slatternly way.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Sloe=. In S. Wilts, about Salisbury, the large fruit is known as Sloes or Slues, and the small as Snags; in N. Wilts, at Huish, ~Slŏns~ are large and ~Hedge-speäks~ small, while at Clyffe Pypard the same terms are used, but the latter is not confined to the small fruit. At Cherhill ~Hilps~ and ~Picks~ are the names. ~Slues~ is used in both N. and S. Wilts, and ~Slŏns~ or ~Slăns~ in N. Wilts.

=Slommakin=. _adj._ Of females, untidy, slatternly (S.).--N. & S.W. (Malmesbury, &c.)

*=Sloop=. To change (A.H.Wr.). Perhaps a perversion of _slew_, or a misreading of _swop_ in badly written MS.

=Slop about=. To shuffle about in a slipshod slovenly fashion.--N. & S.W.

=Sloppet=. (1) _v._ The same as Slop about.--N.W.

'He "sloppets" about in his waistcoat and
shirt-sleeves.'--_Hodge and his Masters_, ch. xxiii.

*(2) _v._ Applied to a rabbit's peculiar gait, and the manner in which it wears away and covers with sand the grass near its bury (_Amateur Poacher_, ch. ii).

=Slouse=. To splash about, as a horse or dog does in water.--N.W.

*=Sloven's year=. A wonderfully prosperous season, when even the bad farmer has good crops (_Great Estate_, ch. viii).

=Slox=, =Slocks=. To waste, to pilfer from employers (A.B.C.H.Wr.).--N.W.

=Slummock=. See ~Slammock~.

=Sly=. 'A sly day' looks bright and pleasant, but the air has a chill nip in it. 'Sly cold' is the treacherous kind of cold raw weather that was very prevalent during the influenza epidemic two or three years ago.--N.W. (Huish.)

=Smaak=. _n._ 'Aal in a smaak,' quite rotten; used of potatoes.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Smarm=. To bedaub. 'Don't smarm me aal auver wi' they dirty paws o' yourn.' ~Smaam~ (S.).--N. & S.W.

=Smart=. A second swarm of bees.--N.W.

=Smart=, =Smartish=, _adj._ Considerable (H.), as 'a smartish lot o' vawk.'--N. & S.W.

=Smeech=. Dust.--S.W. (Salisbury, Hill Deverill, &c.)

=Smeechy=. Dusty.--N.W. (Cherhill.)

*=Smicket=. A smock or shift (A.).

=Smother=. A weed and rubbish fire in a garden.--N. & S.W.

=Snag=, =Snaig=. (1) A badly shaped or decayed tooth; often used of a child's first teeth.--N.W. (2) Fruit of the sloe, q.v. (S.).--S.W.

*=Snag-bush=. _Prunus spinosa_, L., the Sloe (_Miss Plues_).

=Snake-fern=. _Pteris aquilina_, L., Bracken.--S.W. (Deverill.)

=Snake-flower=. (1) _Verbascum nigrum_, L., Black Mullein. Children are cautioned not to gather it, because a snake may be hiding under the leaves.--S.W. (Salisbury.) (2) _Stellaria Holostea_, L., Greater Stitchwort.--S.W. (Barford.)

*=Snake's-head=. _Potentilla Tormentilla_, Sibth., Tormentil.--S.W. (Zeals, Hill Deverill, &c.)

*=Snake-skin Willow=. _Salix triandra_, L., so called because it sheds its bark (_Great Estate_, ch. v).

*=Snake's-victuals=. _Arum maculatum_, L. Cuckoo-pint.--N.W.

'In August ... she found the arum stalks, left alone without
leaves, surrounded with berries.... This noisome fruit ...
was "snake's victuals," and ... only fit for reptile's
food.'--_Great Estate_, ch. ii.

=Snap=. A trap, as _Mouse-snap_, _Wont-snap_.--N. & S.W., occasionally.

=Snaps, Snap-jacks=. _Stellaria Holostea_, L., Greater Stitchwort.--S.W.

*=Snap-willow=. _Salix fragilis_, L., from its brittleness (_Great Estate_, ch. v).

=Snead=, =Snaith=. The pole of a scythe (A.). A.S. _snǽd_.--N.W.

=Snig=. A small eel.--S.W.

=Sniggle=. (1) To snigger.--S.W. (2) 'To sniggle up,' to toady or endeavour to ingratiate yourself with any one.--S.W.

*=Sniggling=. 'A sniggling frost,' a slight frost that just makes the grass crisp.--S.W. (Steeple Ashton.)

=Snig-pot=. An eel-trap.--S.W.

=Snippy=. Mean, stingy.

=Snivett=. A newt. Perhaps a sibilated form of _Evet_.--N.W.

=Snop=. (1) _v._ To hit smartly, as in chipping a stone.--N. & S.W. (2) _n._ A smart blow (S.), as 'A snop on the yead.'--N. & S.W.

=Snotter-gall=. The yew-berry, probably from its slimy pulp.--N. & S.W.

=Snotty=. (1) 'A snotty frost,' a slight crisp rime frost.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.) (2) Nasty, dirty, mean.--N. & S.W.

=Snowball-tree=. The double Guelder-rose. ~Snowballs~, its blossoms.--N. & S.W.

=Snow-blunt=. A slight snowstorm.--N. & S.W. See ~Blunk~.

=Snow-in-harvest=, or =Snow-in-summer=. _Cerastium tomentosum_, L.--S.W.

=Snowl=. (1) _n._ A large piece of anything (S.). 'Gie I a good snowl o' bread, mother!'--N. & S.W. *(2) _n._ The head.--N.W. (Malmesbury.)

=Snow-on-the-mountains=. (1) _Saxifraga granulata_, L., White Meadow Saxifrage.--S.W. (2) White Cress.--N. & S.W.

=Snuff-rag=. A pocket-handkerchief (S.).--N. & S.W. (Lockeridge, &c.) Also used formerly at Clyffe Pypard, N.W.

=Sobbled=. Soddened, soaked with wet (_Village Miners_).--N.W.

*=Soce=. Friends; addressed to the company generally, as 'Well, soce, an' how be ye all to-day?'--N.W. (Malmesbury.) Very rarely heard in Wilts, but common in Dev. and Som. It is probably a relic of _Socii_, as used by monkish preachers. In the old ghost-story in Jefferies' _Goddard Memoir_ (see Waylen's _History of Marlborough_, p. 555), the use of the word _soas_ (there spelt _source_) by one of the characters is alluded to in such a way as to show that it was looked on as a curious peculiarity of his. See _W. Somerset Words_.

=Sod-apple=. _Epilobium hirsutum_, L., Great Hairy Willow-herb, from its smell when crushed.--N.W.

'Willow herb ... country folk call it the sod-apple, and say
the leaves crushed in the fingers have something of the scent
of apple-pie.'--_Great Estate_, ch. ii.

*=Soft-tide=. The three days next before Lent (_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxii. p. 113).--N.W. (Cherhill.)

=Sog=. Soft boggy ground (S.).--N. & S.W. (Malmesbury, &c.)

=Sogging-wet=. Soaked.--N.& S.W.

=Soldiers=. _Papaver Rhoeas_, &c., Red Poppy.--S.W.

=Soldiers'-buttons=. _Arctium Lappa_, L., Burdock.--S.W. (Hamptworth.)

=Soldiers-sailors-tinkers-tailors=. _Lolium perenne_, L.--S.W.

=Souse=. 'Pigs'-sousen,' pigs'-ears.--N.W. (Malmesbury, Clyffe Pypard, &c.)

*=Sow-flower=. _Sonchus oleraceus_, L., Sowthistle.--(Lyneham.)

*=Sowle-grove=. February. (A.H.Wr.)--Obsolete.

'The shepherds and vulgar people in South Wilts call Februarie
"_sowlegrove_," and have this proverb of it:--"Soulgrove
sil lew,"--February is seldome warme--sil _pro_ seld,
seldome.'--AUBREY, _Anecdotes_, Camden Society, cxlvii.

=Spade=. The congealed gum of the eye (A.B.). Also ~Spady~ in N. Wilts. A.S. _sped_, phlegm.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard, &c.)

*=Spances=. 'Raves or sides, spances, compose the waggon-bed' (D.).

=Spanky=. Showy, dashing (A.B.).--N.W.

=Spar=. In thatching, the 'elms' are fastened down with 'spicks' or 'spars,' split hazel rods, pointed at both ends, and bent into hairpin shape, with a twist just at the bend to give them a tendency when fixed to spring outwards, and so hold faster.--S.W.

=Sparked, Sparky=. Of cattle, mottled or of two colours (D.); pied, variegated (_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxii. p. 225).--N. & S.W.

'One of the earliest indictments on the roll of the Hilary
Sessions [Wilts], 1603-4, tells of _quatuor vaccas quar'
due color sparked et una alia coloris rubri et altera color
browne_.'--_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxii. p. 225-6.

=Sparked-grass=. _Phalaris arundinacea_, L., Striped Ribbon-grass.--S.W. (Som. bord.)

*=Spawl=. A chip or splinter from a stone.--N.W. (Malmesbury.)

=Spear=. (1) _n._ A stalk of reed-grass (S.).--N.W. (2) _v._ See ~Spurl~.--S.W.

=Spend=. To turn out. 'How do your taters spend to-year?'--N.W.

=Spick=. (1) In thatching, the same as ~Spar~.--S.W. (2) Lavender. ~Spick~ (Som. bord.), and ~Spike~ (Hants bord.).--S.W.

=Spikenard=. (1) Lavender.--N.W., occasionally. (2) _Anthoxanthum odoratum_, L., Sweet Vernal-grass.--N.W. (Bromham.)

=Spill=. (1) The long straight stalk of a plant.--N.W. (Malmesbury.) *(2) 'To run to spill,' to run to seed.--N.W. (Malmesbury.) *(3) Hence, figuratively, to be unproductive.--N.W. (Malmesbury, occasionally.)

=Spit, Spet=. (1) _n._ 'The very spit of his father,' his very image (_Wilts Tales_, p. 31). Cf. _Spit_, to lay eggs (_Skeat_). Just like (S.).--N. & S.W. (2) _v._ 'To spit up the ground,' to work the surface lightly over.--N. & S.W.

=Splash=. Commoner form of ~Plash~, q.v.--N.W.

*=Split-fig=. A short-weight grocer (S.).--S.W.

=Sploach=. To splutter (S.).--S.W.

=Sprack=. (1) Lively, active (A.B.C.S.); also ~Sprag~ (B.).--N. & S.W.

'That's a sprack mare o' yourn.'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 68.

(2) Intelligent, quick (A.C.).--N. & S.W.

'He had picked up a few words and phrases with which he
sometimes "bothered" his neighbours, who thought Jem "a mortal
sprack chap"; but in truth he was a great fool.'--_Wilts
Tales_, p. 65.

=Sprank=. A sprinkling of anything. 'There be a good sprank o' fruit to-year.' Also used in Somerset.--N.W. (Mildenhall.)

*=Sprawing=. A sweetheart. This word is given for Wilts by Britton, Akerman, Halliwell, Wright, and others, but should be treated as a 'ghost-word,' and struck out of our glossaries. In _Cunnington MS._ it is written as ~Sprawny~, q.v., but Britton when transcribing from that source would appear to have misread it as _Sprawing_, probably not being himself acquainted with the word, while Akerman and others must simply have taken it blindly on his authority.

*=Sprawny=. A sweetheart (_Cunnington MS._). A variant of _Sprunny_. See note on ~Sprawing~. A male sweetheart in Glouc.--N.W., obsolete.

'Whipped to some purpose will thy sprunny be.'--COLLINS,
_Miscellanies_, 1762.

=Spreader=. The thin pole or bar which keeps the traces apart _(Wilts Tales_, p. 173).--N.W.

*=Spreath=, =Spreeth=. Active, nimble, able (A.B.H.Wr.). 'He is a spreeth young fellow' (B.).

=Spreathed=. Of the skin, roughened or chapped by cold (B.S.) Spreazed (A.).--N. & S.W.

=Spreyed=. Of the skin, roughened by cold, but not chapped. Spryed on Som. bord.--S.W.

=Spring=. Of a cow, to show signs of calving.--N.W.

=Spring-dag=. A chilblain. Cf. _Dag_, a twinge of pain.--S.W.

=Spring-flower=. The garden Polyanthus.--N.W.

=Spuddle=. (1) _v._ To stir about (A.B.), to fuss about at doing trifles. 'He's allus a-spuddling about like, but there yen't nothen to show for 't ses I.'--N.W. (2) v. To make a mess (S.). A sibilated form of _puddle_.--S.W.

=Spudgel=. A wooden scoop (S.).--N. & S.W.

=Spuds=. Potatoes (S.). Perhaps introduced by Irish harvesters.--N. & S.W.

*=Spur=. See ~Spurl~.--S.W.

=Spurl=. To spread dung about the fields (S.). Also ~Spear~, ~Spur~, and ~Spurdle~.--N. & S.W.

*=Spurling-boards=. Boards set to prevent the corn from flying out of the threshing-floor (D.).

=Spur-stone=. A projecting stone, set in the ground as a support to a post, or to protect anything near the roadway (_Bevis_, ch. v).

*=Squab=. The youngest or weakest bird of a brood or pig of a litter (A.). The 'darling' of a litter.--N.W. (Lockeridge.)

=Squail=, =Sqwoil=. (1) To throw (A.H.S.); used of sticks, not stones.--N. & S.W.

'In the orchard Bevis and Mark squailed at the pears with short
sticks.'--_Bevis_, ch. xvi.

'They would like to squail a stick at his high and ancient
hat.'--_Ibid._ ch. xvi.

(2) _Fig._ To do a thing awkwardly (H.), as 'Her went up the street a squailing her arms about.'--N.W. *(3) Cock-squoilin, throwing at cocks at Shrovetide (A.).--Obsolete. Bird-squoilin, killing birds with stones (S.). (4) Of a candle, to gutter.--N. & S.W.

=Squailer=, =Squale=, =Squoile=. A stick or loaded cane, used by boys for throwing at apples, rabbits, squirrels, &c.--N. & S.W.

'The handle of a "squailer" projected from Orion's coat-pocket.
For making a squailer a tea-cup was the best mould:... A ground
ash sapling with the bark on, about as thick as the little
finger, pliant and tough, formed the shaft, which was about
fifteen inches long. This was held upright in the middle of
a tea-cup, while the mould was filled with molten lead. It
soon cooled, and left a heavy conical knob on the end of the
stick. If rightly thrown it was a deadly missile, and would fly
almost as true as a rifle ball. A rabbit or leveret could thus
be knocked over; and it was peculiarly adapted for fetching a
squirrel out of a tree, because, being so heavy at one end, it
rarely lodged on the boughs, as an ordinary stick would, but
overbalanced and came down.'--_Amateur Poacher_, ch. iii.

'The "squaler" came into use very early in the school's
history, and was for years almost as much a part of the
ordinary equipment of a Marlborough boy as a cricket-bat would
now be. To later generations the very name probably conveys no
meaning. The weapon itself was simple enough, though extremely
formidable. It consisted of a piece of lead something the shape
and about the size of a pear, with a cane handle about eighteen
inches long. A squaler could be thrown a great distance and
with terrific force, and at short ranges by the practised hands
of the Marlburians of those days with great accuracy. Its
ostensible purpose was squirrel-hunting, as the name suggests
[No, it is not a contraction of "squirreller," but is from
_squail_, to throw.--_G.E.D._], but it came in handy for the
larger quarry which the more adventurous tribes pursued and
slew, such as rabbits, hares, and very frequently even deer.
It lingered on as an article of local sale till the middle of
the sixties; but ... was made contraband, and finally died
out.'--_History of Marlborough College_, ch. ix. p. 94.

'To make a squailer you provide yourself with an eighteen-inch
length of half-inch cane, two inches of which you sheath with
tow and then insert in a ladle of molten lead. There you
manipulate it in such sort that there is presently left to
cool at the end of your cane a pear-shaped lump of lead of
the weight experience has shown you to be proper. With this
weapon an adept can bring down a squirrel from on high, or
stop one on the level at five-and-twenty yards, almost to a
certainty.'--W. F. WALLER in _Notes & Queries_, 8th series, ii.
p. 197. 'Another Marlborough mode of making it is to pour the
melted lead into a cone composed of many folds of well-wetted
paper, tied round the slightly notched upper end of the cane or
ground ash.'--G. E. DARTNELL in _N. & Q._, 8th series, ii. p.
257. Also see various letters in _N. & Q._, 8th series, ii. pp.
149, 197, 257. Squailers were in use at the Grammar school as
well as at the College, up to about 1867.

=Squailing=. Clumsy, badly, or irregularly shaped, as 'a squailing loaf,' 'a squailing sort of a town,' &c. (H.).--N.W.

=Square=. Thatching is paid by the 'square,' which is 100 square feet.--N.W.

=Squat=. See ~Squot~.

=Squeak-Thrush=. The Missel Thrush.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Squeeze-belly=. A V-shaped stile.--N.W.

=Squelch=, =Squelp=. (1) _adv._ 'A vell down squelch,' he fell heavily (A.B.).--N.W. (2) _v._ To squash to pieces, as a heavy stone would an egg.--N.W.

=Squinney=. (1) _v._ 'To squinney round,' to peep about.--S.W. (2) _n._ 'Squinney-hole,' a peep-hole. Sometimes also used of a hagioscope in a church.--S.W.

=Squish=. (1) _v._ Of soft or boggy ground, to give under foot with the peculiar spirt and sound that denote a water-logged condition. 'The rwoad wer squishing under I ael the waay to 'Vize.'--N. & S.W. (2) _v._ Of mud, to spirt and splash up as it does in a boggy place. 'It wer main hocksey, an' the muck squished up ael over I, purty nigh up to my eyes.'--N. & S.W.

=Squishey=. _adj._ Soft, wet, swampy.--N. & S.W.

'The ploughing engine be stuck fast up to the axle, the land be
so soft and squishey.'--_Wild Life_, ch. vii.

=Squoil=. See ~Squail~ (S.).--S.W.

=Squot= or =Squat=. (1) n. A bruise (Aubrey's _Wilts MS._).--N.W. (2) _v._ To bruise or crush (S.), as 'I've bin an' squot my thumb.' To bruise by compression (B.).--N.W.

=Sqwawk=. To squall out as a hen does when pulled off the nest.--N.W.

=Stabble=. v. Of ground, to poach up by continual treading, as near a field gateway (_Village Miners_). Children are always 'stabbling about' indoors, making a mess and litter.--N. & S.W.

=Stack=. 'A stack of elms'=either one score or two score of 'elms.'--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Staddles=, =Staddle-stones=. The pillars on which a rick stands (A.B.S.). Cf. ~Stavel~ (~Steevil~ in S.W.). A.S. staðol.--N. & S.W.

=Stael=. See ~Stale~.

=Stag=, =Steg=. A rent in clothes.--N. & S.W.

=Staid=. Of mature age, elderly (S.).--N. & S.W.

=Stake-and-ether-hedge=. A wattled fence. See ~Ether~.--N.W.

=Stale=, =Stael=, or =Steale=. The long handle of any husbandry tool (A.B.). A.S. _stel_ (in compounds).--N.W.

'A was as lang and as lane as a rake-stael.'--_Wilts Tales_, p.
177.

'The peculiar broad-headed nail which fastens the mop to the
stout ashen "steale," or handle.'--_Wild Life_, ch. iv.

*=Standing=, =Stannin=. A stall or small booth at a fair. ~Stannen~ (S.).--S.W.

=Star-flower=. (1) _Potentilla Tormentilla_, Sibth., Tormentil.--S.W. (Barford.) (2) _Lysimachia nemorum_, L., Wood Loosestrife.--S.W. (Barford.)

=Stark=. _v._ To dry up. 'The ground is got so stark--you see the hot sun after the rain did stark the top on't.'--N.W. (Hilmarton.)

=Starky=. (1) Stiff, dry (A.B.). Shrivelled up, as applied to things.--N.W. (2) Shrivelled and wasted by ill-health.--N.W.

*=Stars=. _Campanula glomerata_, L., Clustered Bellflower.--N.W. (Enford.)

=Start=. (1) An outing or pleasure-party. 'Wher be th' missus, Bill?' 'Whoy, off on a bit of a start.'--S.W. (2) A 'go.' 'That's a rum start, yun' it?'--N.W.

=Starve=. (1) _v._ 'To starve with cold,' to be extremely cold; to cause anything to be cold. Chiefly used in past participle, as 'starved wi' th' cowld,' perished with cold. A.S. _steorfan_, to die. 'My old man he do starve I at nights wi' the cowld, 'cause he got a crooked leg, and he do sort o' cock un up 'snaw, and the draaft do get in under the bed-claus, and I be fairly starved wi' the cowld.'--N. & S.W. (2) See ~Bird-starving~.--N.W.

*=Stavel-barn=. A barn on stone pillars (Agric. Survey). See ~Staddles~.

=Steale=. See ~Stale~.

=Stean=. (1) _v._ To 'stone,' or cover a path or road with gravel or small stones.--N.W. (2) 'To stean a well,' to line its sides with stone (S.).--S.W.

=Steaner=. The man who lays the second and inner rows of sheaves in building a wheat rick.--N.W.

=Steanin=. (1) A road made with small stones (A.).--N.W. (2) The built-up portion of a well.--S.W. See ~Stean~.

=Steart=. (1) _n._ The tang which fastens anything; the ring of a button, &c.--N.W. (2) _n._ The small iron rod, on the head of which the cappence of the old-fashioned flail played.--N.W. (3) _n._ A young ox. Apparently _steer_, with _t_ excrescent.--N.W.

=Steer=. The starling. A form of _Stare_.--N.W.

=Steip=. See ~Stipe~.

=Stem=. A period of time (A.H.S.), as 'a stem o' dry weather.' Work on the roads, &c., is done 'on the stem,' or 'by the stem.' A.S. _stemn_.--N. & S.W.

=Stepple=. A hoof-mark (_Village Miners_). Cf. ~Stabble~.--N.W.

=Stewer=, =Stour=, =Sture=. Fuss, commotion.--S.W.

=Stew up=. To tidy up.--S.W.

=Stick=. To decorate with evergreens, &c. 'We allus sticks th' Church at Christmas,'--the decorations formerly consisting only of sprigs of holly stuck into holes in the backs of the pews.--N.W.

=Stickle=. To stick. 'They're as thick as they can stickle on it.'--S.W.

=Stick-up=. _v._ To make the first tentative advances towards courtship.--N.W., occasionally.

'I've bin a-stickin' up to another young ooman this summer, wi'
a view to keepin' comp'ny wi' she.'--_Dark_, ch. xv.

=Stipe=. 'The stipe o' the hill,' the steepest part.--N.W.

*=Stipe=, =Steip=. A dozen and a half of 'elms' (H.Wr.). '_Steip of helms_, eighteen helms: Wilts.'--Holloway's _Dict._--S.W.

=Stived up=. Shut up in a warm close place. Fighting cocks were formerly kept warm in a 'stive,' or kind of straw basket like a hive, whilst waiting their turn to fight.--N. & S.W.

=Stoach=. To plant potatoes with a 'stoacher.' In some counties _stoach_=poach, to trample into holes.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard, &c.)

=Stoacher=. 'A tater stoacher,' a thick stake, with projecting notch on which the foot is placed to drive the sharpened point into the ground. The potatoes are dropped into the holes so made.--N.W.

=Stobball-play=. An old game, played with a withy-staff and a small ball, stuffed full of quills, said by Aubrey (_Nat. Hist. Wilts_, p. 117, ed. Brit.) to be peculiar to North Wilts, North Gloucester, and the neighbourhood of Bath; but probably a form of _stool-ball_ (H.Wr.).--N.W., obsolete.

'Illegal games ... mentioned are ... hand-ball, foot-ball,
and stave-ball or "stobball"; (_pilum manualem, pedalem,
sive baculinam_), "nine-holes" and "kittles."'--_On the
Self-government of Small Manorial Communities, as exemplified
in the Manor of Castle Combe.--Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. iii. p.
156.

=Stodge=. (1) _n._ Substantial food.--N.W. (2) _v._ To stuff gluttonously. ~Stodged~, quite unable to cram down another morsel.--N.W.

=Stodgy=. _adj._ Of food, causing a feeling of repletion.--N.W.

=Stogged=. Stuck in the mud, bogged (S.).--N. & S.W.

=Stoggy=. Wet and sticky; used of ground that 'stogs' you, or in which you get 'stogged.'--N.W.

=Stomachy=. _adj._ Unbending (S.). Obstinate, headstrong, self-willed.--N. & S.W.

*=Stone-bruise=. A kind of corn on the foot. In an American trouting-yarn in _Fishing Gazette_, December 17, 1892, p. 429, the following occurs:--

'It's just the age for "stone-bruises" in a boy, and he must
have a pair of shoes any way.'

*=Stone-osier=. _Salix purpurea_, L. (_Gamekeeper at Home_, ch. viii).--N.W.

=Stop=. A hole in the ground--not in a hedgerow, but a few yards away, or on cultivated ground--where the doe rabbit has her young; said to be from her 'stopping' or covering it over when she leaves it. Also used in Hants.--N.W., common.

=Storm-cock=. _Turdus viscivorus_, Missel Thrush (_Birds of Wilts_, p. 129).--S.W.

=Stout=. The gadfly (A.B.). 'They stowuts be so terrifyin'.'--N.W.

=Stowl=. (1) _n._ The root of a timber-tree left in the ground after felling (A.B.C.); the stump of a bush or tree, in hedge or copse, cut off low down so as to form a stock from which underwood may spring (C.D.S.).--N. & S.W. (2) _v._ 'To stowl out,' to shoot out thickly, as a bush cut off low down, or wheat which has been fed off when young.--N.W.

=Strafe=. To wander about.--N.W., occasionally.

=Strapper=. An Irish harvester or tramping labourer.--N.W.

=Strawberry-leaved Geranium=. _Saxifraga sarmentosa_, L. See ~Hanging Geranium~.--S.W.

=Strick=. See ~Strike~.

*=Strickle=. See ~Stritch~.

*=Striddling=. The right to lease fallen apples after the gathering in of the crop. Cf. ~Griggling~.

=Strike=, =Strick=. To slip up; to slip and swing out as a vehicle does when turning a corner fast on a slippery road. 'Her stricked up on thuck there slide, an' come down vlop.'--N. & S.W.

*=Strim-strum=. _adj._ Unmusical (S.).--S.W.

*=Stripe=. A fool, a simpleton (H.Wr.). Probably a mistake for ~Stupe~.

=Strip-up=. _v._ To shroud the lower part of a tree, as is usually done with hedgerow timber at intervals.--N. & S.W.

*=Stritch=, =Strickle=. A piece of wood used for striking off the surplus grain from a corn measure. A.S. _stricol_.--N.W. (Malmesbury.)

*=Strommelling=. *(1) Awkward, ungainly (A.B.H.). *(2) Unruly (A.B.H.), as 'a strommellin' child.'

=Strong=. 'Strong a-dying,' at the point of death.--N.W.

*=Strouter=. A strut or support in the side of a waggon (S.).--S.W.