Chapter XIII: Vocabulary and Index (1)

[In this Vocabulary, as well indeed as through the whole book, _gh_ and _ch_ are to be sounded guttural, as in _lough_ and _loch_, unless otherwise stated or implied. Those who cannot sound the guttural may take the sound of _k_ instead, and they will not be far wrong.]

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

Able dealer; a schemer. (Limerick.)

Acushla; see Cushlamochree.

Adam's ale; plain drinking-water.

Affirming, assenting, and saluting, 9.

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

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

Aims-ace; a small amount, quantity, or distance. Applied in the
following way very generally in Munster:--'He was within an aim's-ace
of being drowned' (very near). A survival in Ireland of the old
Shakesperian word _ambs-ace_, meaning two aces or two single points in
throwing dice, the smallest possible throw.

Air: a visitor comes in:--'Won't you sit down Joe and take an _air_ of
the fire.' (Very usual.)

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

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

(BURNS.)

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

{210} Airy; ghostly, fearsome: an _airy_ place, a haunted place. Same
as Scotch _eerie_. From Gaelic _aedharaigh_, same sound and meaning. A
survival of the old Irish pagan belief that air-demons were the most
malignant of all supernatural beings: see Joyce's 'Old Celtic
Romances,' p. 15.

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

Allow; admit. 'I allow that you lent me a pound': 'if you allow that
you cannot deny so and so.' This is an old English usage. (Ducange.) To
advise or recommend: 'I would not allow you to go by that road' ('I
would not recommend'). 'I'd allow you to sow that field with oats'
(advise).

All to; means except:--'I've sold my sheep all to six,' i.e. except
six. This is merely a translation from the Irish as in _Do marbhadh na
daoine uile go haon triur_: 'The people were slain all to a single
three.' (Keating.)

Along of; on account of. Why did you keep me waiting [at night] so long
at the door, Pat?' 'Why then 'twas all along of Judy there being so
much afraid of the fairies.' (Crofton Croker.)

Alpeen, a stick or hand-wattle with a knob at the lower end: diminutive
of Irish _alp_, a knob. Sometimes called a _clehalpeen_: where _cleh_
is the Irish _cleath_ a stick. _Clehalpeen_, a knobbed cudgel.

Amadaun, a fool (man or boy), a half-fool, a foolish person. Irish
_amadan_, a fool: a form of _onmitan_; from _on_, a fool: see
_Oanshagh_.

American wake; a meeting of friends on the evening before the departure
of some young people for {211} America, as a farewell celebration. (See
my 'Old Irish Folk-Music and Songs,' p. 191.)

Amplush, a fix, a difficulty: he was in a great amplush. (North and
South.) (Edw. Walsh in Dub. Pen. Journal.)

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

Ang-ishore; a poor miserable creature--man or woman. It is merely the
Irish word _aindeiseoir_. (Chiefly South.)

Any is used for _no_ (in _no more_) in parts of West and North-west.
'James, you left the gate open this morning and the calves got out.'
'Oh I'm sorry sir; I will do it any more.' This is merely a
mistranslation of _nios mo_, from some confused idea of the sense of
two (Irish) negatives (_nios_ being one, with another preceding)
leading to the omission of an English negative from the correct
construction--'I will _not_ do it anymore:' _Nios mo_ meaning in
English 'no more' or 'any more' according to the omission or insertion
of an English negative.

Aree often used after _ochone_ (alas) in Donegal and elsewhere. _Aree_
gives the exact pronunciation of _a Righ_, and _neimhe_ (heaven) is
understood. The full Irish exclamation is _ochon a Righ neimhe_, 'alas,
O King of heaven.'

Arnaun or arnaul, to sit up working at night later than usual. Irish
_airnean_ or _airneal_, same meaning.

Aroon, a term of endearment, my love, my dear: _Eileen Aroon_, the name
of a celebrated Irish air: vocative of Irish _run_ [roon], a secret, a
secret treasure. In Limerick commonly shortened to _aroo_. 'Where are
you going now _aroo_?'

{212} Art-loochra or arc-loochra, a harmless lizard five or six inches
long: Irish _art_ or _arc_ is a lizard: _luachra_, rushes; the 'lizard
of the rushes.'

Ask, a water-newt, a small water-lizard: from _esc_ or _easc_ [ask], an
old Irish word for water. From the same root comes the next word, the
diminutive form--

Askeen; land made by cutting away bog, which generally remains more or
less watery. (Reilly: Kildare.)

Asthore, a term of endearment, 'my treasure.' The vocative case of
Irish _stor_ [store], treasure.

Athurt; to confront:--'Oh well I will athurt him with that lie he told
about me.' (Cork.) Possibly a mispronunciation of _athwart_.

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

Baan: a field covered with short grass:--'A baan field': 'a _baan_ of
cows': i.e. a grass farm with its proper number of cows. Irish _ban_,
whitish.

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

Back of God-speed; a place very remote, out of the way: so far off that
the virtue of your wish of _God-speed_ to a person will not go with him
so far.

Bacon: to 'save one's bacon'; to succeed in escaping some serious
personal injury--death, a beating, &c. 'They fled from the fight to
save their bacon': 'Here a lodging I'd taken, but loth to awaken, for
fear of my bacon, either man, wife, or babe.' (Old Anglo-Irish poem.)

{213} Bad member; a doer of evil; a bad character; a treacherous
fellow: 'I'm ruined,' says he, 'for some bad member has wrote to the
bishop about me.' ('Wild Sports of the West.')

Baffity, unbleached or blay calico. (Munster.)

Bails or bales, frames made of perpendicular wooden bars in which cows
are fastened for the night in the stable. (Munster.)

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

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

Ballyhooly, a village near Fermoy in Cork, formerly notorious for its
faction fights, so that it has passed into a proverb. A man is late
coming home and expects _Ballyhooly_ from his wife, i.e. 'the length
and breadth of her tongue.' Father Carroll has neglected to visit his
relatives, the Kearneys, for a long time, so that he knows he's _in the
black books_ with Mrs. Kearney, and expects Ballyhooly from her the
first time he meets her. ('Knocknagow.')

Ballyorgan in Co. Limerick, 146.

Banagher and Ballinasloe, 192.

Bannalanna: a woman who sells ale over the counter. Irish
_bean-na-leanna_, 'woman of the ale,' 'ale-woman' (_leann_, ale).

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

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

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

{214} Banshee'; a female fairy: Irish _bean-sidhe_ [banshee], a 'woman
from the _shee_ or fairy-dwelling.' This was the original meaning; but
in modern times, and among English speakers, the word _banshee_ has
become narrowed in its application, and signifies a female spirit that
attends certain families, and is heard _keening_ or crying aloud at
night round the house when some member of the family is about to die.

Barcelona; a silk kerchief for the neck:--

'His clothes spick and span new without e'er a speck;
A neat Barcelona tied round his white neck.'

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

So called because imported from Barcelona, preserving a memory of the
old days of smuggling.

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

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

Baury, baura, baur-y[)a], bairy; the goal in football, hurling, &c.
Irish _baire_ [2-syll.], a game, a goal.

Bawn; an enclosure near a farmhouse for cattle, sheep, &c.; in some
districts, simply a farmyard. Irish _badhun_ [bawn], a cow-keep, from
_ba_, cows, and _dun_, a keep or fortress. Now generally applied to the
green field near the homestead where the cows are brought to be milked.

Bawneen; a loose whitish jacket of home-made undyed flannel worn by men
at out-door work. Very general: _banyan_ in Derry. From Irish _ban_
[bawn], whitish, with the diminutive termination.

Bawnoge; a dancing-green. (MacCall: Leinster.) {215} From _ban_ [baan],
a field covered with short grass; and the dim. _og_ (p. 90).

Bawshill, a _fetch_ or double. (See Fetch.) (MacCall: S. Wexford.) I
think this is a derivative of _Bow_, which see.

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

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

Better than; more than:--'It is better than a year since I saw him
last'; 'better than a mile,' &c. (Leinster and Munster.)

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

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

Birragh; a muzzle-band with spikes on a calf's or a foal's muzzle to
prevent it sucking its mother. From Irish _bir_, a sharp spit:
_birragh_, full of sharp points or spits. (Munster: see Gubbaun.)

Blackfast: among Roman Catholics, there is a 'black fast' on Ash
Wednesday, Spy Wednesday, and Good Friday, i.e. no flesh meat or
_whitemeat_ is allowed--no flesh, butter, eggs, cheese, or milk.

Blackfeet. The members of one of the secret societies of a century ago
were called 'Ribbonmen.' Some of them acknowledged the priests: those
were 'whitefeet': others did not--'blackfeet.'

Black man, black fellow; a surly vindictive implacable irreconcilable
fellow.

Black man; the man who accompanies a suitor to the house of the
intended father-in-law, to help to make the match.

{216} Black of one's nail. 'You just escaped by the black of your
nail': 'there's no cloth left--not the size of the black of my nail.'
(North and South.)

Black swop. When two fellows have two wretched articles--such as two
old penknives--each thinking his own to be the worst in the universe,
they sometimes agree for the pure humour of the thing to make a _black
swop_, i.e. to swop without first looking at the articles. When they
are looked at after the swop, there is always great fun. (See Hool.)

Blarney; smooth, plausible, cajoling talk. From Blarney Castle near
Cork, in which there is a certain stone hard to reach, with this
virtue, that if a person kisses it, he will be endowed with the gift of
_blarney_.

Blast; when a child suddenly fades in health and pines away, he has got
a blast,--i.e. a puff of evil wind sent by some baleful sprite has
struck him. _Blast_ when applied to fruit or crops means a blight in
the ordinary sense--nothing supernatural.

Blather, bladdher; a person who utters vulgarly foolish boastful talk:
used also as a verb--to blather. Hence _blatherumskite_, applied to a
person or to his talk in much the same sense; 'I never heard such a
blatherumskite.' Ulster and Scotch form _blether_, _blethering_: Burns
speaks of stringing 'blethers up in rhyme.' ('The Vision.')

Blaze, blazes, blazing: favourite words everywhere in Ireland. Why are
you in such a blazing hurry? Jack ran away like blazes: now work at
that job like blazes: he is blazing drunk. Used also by the English
_peasantry_:--'That's a blazing strange {217} answer,' says Jerry
Cruncher in 'A Tale of Two Cities.' There's a touch of slang in some of
these: yet the word has been in a way made classical by Lord Morley's
expression that Lord Salisbury never made a speech without uttering
'some blazing indiscretion.'

Blind Billy. In coming to an agreement take care you don't make 'Blind
Billy's Bargain,' by either overreaching yourself or allowing the other
party to overreach you. Blind Billy was the hangman in Limerick, and on
one particular occasion he flatly refused to do his work unless he got
L50 down on the nail: so the high sheriff had to agree and the hangman
put the money in his pocket. When all was over the sheriff refused
point-blank to send the usual escort without a fee of L50 down. So
Blind Billy had to hand over the L50--for if he went without an escort
he would be torn in pieces--and had nothing in the end for his job.

Blind lane; a lane stopped up at one end.

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

Blink; to exercise an evil influence by a glance of the 'evil eye'; to
'overlook'; hence 'blinked,' blighted by the eye. When the butter does
not come in churning, the milk has been _blinked_ by some one.

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

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

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

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

Boarhaun; dried cowdung used for fuel like turf. Irish _boithrean_
[boarhaun], from bo, a cow.

{218} Boccach [accented on 2nd syll. in Munster, but elsewhere on 1st];
a lame person. From the fact that so many beggars are lame or pretend
to be lame, _boccach_ has come to mean a beggar. Irish _bacach_, a lame
person: from _bac_, to halt. _Bockady_, another form of _boccach_ in
Munster. _Bockeen_ (the diminutive added on to _bac_), another form
heard in Mayo.

Boddagh [accented on 2nd syll. in Munster; in Ulster on 1st], a rich
churlish clownish fellow. Tom Cuddihy wouldn't bear insult from any
purse-proud old _boddagh_. ('Knocknagow.')

Body-coat; a coat like the present dress-coat, cut away in front so as
to leave a narrow pointed tail-skirt behind: usually made of frieze and
worn with the knee-breeches.

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

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

Bog; what is called in England a 'peat moss.' Merely the Irish _bog_,
soft. Bog (verb), to be bogged; to sink in a bog or any soft soil or
swampy place.

Bog-butter; butter found deep in bogs, where it had been buried in old
times for a purpose, and forgotten: a good deal changed now by the
action of the bog. (See Joyce's 'Smaller Soc. Hist. of Anc. Ireland,'
p. 260.)

Bog-Latin; bad incorrect Latin; Latin that had been learned in the
hedge schools among the bogs. This derisive and reproachful epithet was
given in bad old times by pupils and others of the favoured, legal, and
endowed schools, sometimes with reason, {219} but oftener very
unjustly. For those _bog_ or hedge schools sent out numbers of
scholarly men, who afterwards entered the church or lay professions.
(See p. 151.)

Boghaleen; the same as Crusheen, which see.

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

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

Boliaun, also called _booghalaun bwee_ and _ge[=o]sadaun_; the common
yellow ragwort: all these are Irish words.

Bolting-hole; the second or backward entrance made by rats, mice,
rabbits, &c., from their burrows, so that if attacked at the ordinary
entrance, they can escape by this, which is always left unused except
in case of attack. (Kinahan.)

Bones. If a person magnifies the importance of any matter and talks as
if it were some great affair, the other will reply:--'Oh, you're
_making great bones_ about it.'

Bonnive, a sucking-pig. Irish _banbh_, same sound and meaning. Often
used with the diminutive--bonniveen, bonneen. 'Oh look at the _baby
pigs_,' says an Irish lady one day in the hearing of others and myself,
ashamed to use the Irish word. After that she always bore the nickname
'Baby pig':--'Oh, there's the Baby pig.'

Bonnyclabber; thick milk. Irish _bainne_ [bonny] milk; and _clabar_,
anything thick or half liquid. 'In use all over America.' (Russell.)

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

{220} Boolanthroor; three men threshing together, instead of the usual
two: striking always in time. Irish _buail-an-triur_, 'the striking of
three.'

Booley as a noun; a temporary settlement in the grassy uplands where
the people of the adjacent lowland village lived during the summer with
their cattle, and milked them and made butter, returning in
autumn--cattle and all--to their lowland farms to take up the crops.
Used as a verb also: _to booley_. See my 'Smaller Soc. Hist. of Anc.
Ireland,' p. 431; or 'Irish Names of Places,' I. 239.

Boolthaun, boulhaun, booltheen, boolshin: the striking part of a flail:
from Irish _buail_ [bool], to strike, with the diminutive.

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

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

Borick; a small wooden ball used by boys in hurling or goaling, when
the proper leather-covered ball is not to hand. Called in Ulster a
_nag_ and also a _golley_. (Knowles.)

Borreen-brack, 'speckled cake,' speckled with currants and raisins,
from Irish _bairghin_ [borreen], a cake, and _breac_ [brack], speckled:
specially baked for Hallow-eve. Sometimes corruptly called _barm-brack_
or _barn-brack_.

Bosthoon: a flexible rod or whip made of a number of green rushes laid
together and bound up with single rushes wound round and round. Made by
boys in play--as I often made them. Hence '_bosthoon_' is applied
contemptuously to a soft {221} worthless spiritless fellow, in much the
same sense as _poltroon_.

Bother; merely the Irish word _bodhar_, deaf, used both as a noun and a
verb in English (in the sense of deafening, annoying, troubling,
perplexing, teasing): a person deaf or partially deaf is said to be
_bothered_:--'Who should come in but _bothered_ Nancy Fay. Now be it
known that _bothered_ signifies deaf; and Nancy was a little old cranky
_bothered_ woman.' (Ir. Pen. Mag.) You 'turn the _bothered_ ear' to a
person when you do not wish to hear what he says or grant his request.
In these applications _bother_ is universal in Ireland among all
classes--educated as well as uneducated: accordingly, as Murray notes,
it was first brought into use by Irishmen, such as Sheridan, Swift, and
Sterne; just as Irishmen of to-day are bringing into currency _galore_,
_smithereens_, and many other Irish words. In its primary sense of deaf
or to deafen, _bother_ is used in the oldest Irish documents: thus in
the Book of Leinster we have:--_Ro bodrais sind oc imradud do maic_,
'You have made us deaf (you have _bothered_ us) talking about your son'
(Kuno Meyer): and a similar expression is in use at the present day in
the very common phrase 'don't _bother_ me' (don't deafen me, don't
annoy me), which is an exact translation of the equally common Irish
phrase _na bi am' bhodradh_. Those who derive _bother_ from the English
_pother_ make a guess, and not a good one. See Bowraun.

Bottheen, a short thick stick or cudgel: the Irish _bata_ with the
diminutive:--_baitin_.

Bottom; a clue or ball of thread. One of the tricks {222} of girls on
Hallow-eve to find out the destined husband is to go out to the
limekiln at night with a ball of yarn; throw in the ball still holding
the thread; re-wind the thread, till it is suddenly stopped; call out
'who _howlds_ my bottom of yarn?' when she expects to hear the name of
the young man she is to marry.

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

Bouilly-bawn, white home-made bread of wheaten flour; often called
_bully-bread_. (MacCall: Wexford.) From Irish _bul_ or _builidhe_, a
loaf, and _ban_, white.

Boundhalaun, a plant with thick hollow stem with joints, of which boys
make rude syringes. From Irish _banndal_ or _bannlamh_, a _bandle_
(which see), with the dim. termination _an_, I never saw true
boundhalauns outside Munster.

Bourke, the Rev. Father, 71, 161.

Bownloch, a sore on the sole of the foot always at the edge: from
_bonn_ the foot-sole [pron. bown in the South], and _loch_ a mere
termination. Also called a _Bine-lock_.

Bowraun, a sieve-shaped vessel for holding or measuring out corn, with
the flat bottom made of dried sheepskin stretched tight; sometimes used
as a rude tambourine, from which it gets the name _bowraun_; Irish
_bodhur_ [pron. bower here], deaf, from the _bothered_ or indistinct
sound. (South.)

Bow [to rhyme with _cow_]; a _banshee_, a _fetch_ (both which see.
MacCall: South Leinster). This word has come down to us from very old
times, for it preserves the memory of _Bugh_ [Boo], a _banshee_ or
fairy queen once very celebrated, the daughter of {223} Bove Derg king
of the Dedannans or faery-race, of whom information will be obtained in
the classical Irish story, 'The Fate of the Children of Lir,' the first
in my 'Old Celtic Romances.' She has given her name to many hills all
through Ireland. (See my 'Irish Names of Places,' I. 182, 183. See
Bawshill.)

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

Boxty; same as the Limerick _muddly_, which see.

Boy. Every Irishman is a 'boy' till he is married, and indeed often
long after. (Crofton Croker: 'Ir. Fairy Legends.')

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

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

Braddach; given to mischief; roguish. Ir. _bradach_, a thief: in the
same sense as when a mother says to her child, 'You young thief, stop
that mischief.' Often applied to cows inclined to break down and cross
fences. (Meath and Monaghan.)

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

Brash; a turn of sickness (North.) Water-brash (Munster), severe
acidity of the stomach with a flow of watery saliva from the mouth.
Brash (North), a short turn at churning, or at anything; a stroke of
the churndash: 'Give the churn a few brashes.' In Donegal you will hear
'that's a good brash of hail.'

Brave; often used as an intensive:--'This is a brave fine day'; 'that's
a brave big dog': (Ulster.) Also fine or admirable 'a brave stack of
hay': {224} tall, strong, hearty (not necessarily brave in
fighting):--'I have as brave a set of sons as you'd find in a day's
walk.' 'How is your sick boy doing?' 'Oh bravely, thank you.'

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

Break. You _break_ a grass field when you plough or dig it up for
tillage. 'I'm going to break the kiln field.' ('Knocknagow.') Used all
over Ireland: almost in the same sense as in Gray's Elegy:--'Their
furrow oft the stubborn glebe _has broke_.'

Break; to dismiss from employment: 'Poor William O'Donnell was _broke_
last week.' This usage is derived from the Irish language; and a very
old usage it is; for we read in the Brehon Laws:--'_Cid nod m-bris in
fer-so a bo-airechus?_' 'What is it that breaks (dismisses, degrades)
this man from his bo-aireship (i.e. from his position as _bo-aire_ or
chief)?' My car-driver asked me one time:--'Can an inspector of
National Schools be broke, sir?' By which he meant could he be
dismissed at any time without any cause.

Breedoge [_d_ sounded like _th_ in _bathe_]; a figure dressed up to
represent St. Brigit, which was carried about from house to house by a
procession of boys and girls in the afternoon of the 31st Jan. (the eve
of the saint's festival), to collect small money contributions. With
this money they got up a little rustic evening party with a dance next
day, 1st Feb. 'Breedoge' means 'little _Brighid_ or _Brighit_,' _Breed_
(or rather _Breedh_) representing the sound of Brighid, with _og_ the
old diminutive feminine termination.

{225} Brecham, the straw collar put on a horse's or an ass's neck:
sometimes means the old-fashioned straw saddle or pillion. (Ulster.)

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

Brew; a margin, a brink: 'that lake is too shallow to fish from the
brews': from the Irish _bru_, same sound and meaning. See Broo.

Brief; prevalent: 'fever is very brief.' Used all over the southern
half of Ireland. Perhaps a mistake for _rife_.

Brillauns or brill-yauns, applied to the poor articles of furniture in
a peasant's cottage. Dick O'Brien and Mary Clancy are getting married
as soon as they can gather up the few _brill-yauns_ of furniture.
(South-east of Ireland.)

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

Bring: our peculiar use of this (for 'take') appears in such phrases
as:--'he brought the cows to the field': 'he brought me to the
theatre.' (Hayden and Hartog.) See Carry.

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

Brock, brocket, brockey; applied to a person heavily pock-marked. I
suppose from _broc_, a badger. (Ulster.)

Brogue, a shoe: Irish _brog_. Used also to designate the Irish accent
in speaking English: for the old Irish thong-stitched brogue was
considered so characteristically Irish that the word was applied to our
accent; as a clown is called a _cauboge_ (which see: Munster).

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

Broken; bankrupt: quite a common expression is:--Poor Phil Burke is
'broken horse and foot'; i.e. utterly bankrupt and ruined.

Broo, the edge of a potato ridge along which cabbages are planted.
Irish _bru_, a margin, a brink.

Brosna, brusna, bresna; a bundle of sticks for firing: a faggot. This
is the Irish _brosna_, universally used in Ireland at the present day,
both in Irish and English; and used in the oldest Irish documents. In
the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, written in Irish ten centuries ago,
we are told that when Patrick was a boy, his foster-mother sent him one
day for a _brossna_ of withered branches to make a fire.

Broth of a boy; a _good_ manly brave boy: the essence of manhood, as
broth is the essence of meat.

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

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

Bruggadauns [_d_ sounded like _th_ in _they_]; the stalks of ferns
found in meadows after mowing. (Kerry.)

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

Brunoge; a little batch of potatoes roasted in a fire made in the
potato field at digging time: always dry, floury and palatable.
(Roscommon.) Irish _bruithneog_. See Brohoge.

Bruss or briss; small broken bits mixed up with dust: very often
applied to turf-dust. Irish _brus_, _bris_, same sounds and meaning.
(South.)

{227} Brutteen, brutin, bruteens; the Ulster words for caulcannon;
which see. Irish _bruightin_.

Buckaun; the upright bar of a hinge on which the other part with the
door hangs. Irish _bocan_.

Buckley, Father Darby, 68, 146.

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

Buck teeth; superfluous teeth which stand out from the ordinary row.
(Knowles: Ulster.)

Buddaree [_dd_ sounded like _th_ in _they_]; a rich purse-proud vulgar
farmer. (Munster.) Irish.

Buff; the skin; to strip to one's buff is to strip naked. Two fellows
going to fight with fists strip to their buff, i.e. naked from the
waist up. (Munster.)

Buggaun (Munster), buggeen (Leinster); an egg without a shell. Irish
_bog_, soft, with the dim. termination.

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

Bullavaun, bullavogue; a strong, rough, bullying fellow. From _bulla_
the Irish form of _bull_. (Moran: Carlow.)

Bullaworrus; a spectral bull 'with fire blazing from his eyes, mouth,
and nose,' that guards buried treasure by night. (Limerick.) Irish.

Bullia-bottha (or boolia-botha); a fight with sticks. (Simmons:
Armagh.) Irish _buaileadh_, striking; and _bata_, a stick.

Bullagadaun [_d_ sounded like _th_ in _they_]; a short stout
pot-bellied fellow. (Munster.) From Irish _bolg_ [pron. bullog], a
belly, and the dim. _dan_.

Bullshin, bullsheen; same as _Bullaun_.

{228} Bum; to cart turf to market: _bummer_, a person who does so as a
way of living, like Billy Heffernan in 'Knocknagow.' Bum-bailiff, a bog
bailiff. (Grainger: Arm.) Used more in the northern half of Ireland
than in the southern.

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

Bunnans; roots or stems of bushes or trees. (Meath.) From Irish _bun_
as in last word.

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

Bunnioch; the last sheaf bound up in a field of reaped corn. The binder
of this (usually a girl) will die unmarried. (MacCall: Wexford.)

Butt; a sort of cart boarded at bottom and all round the sides, 15 or
18 inches deep, for potatoes, sand, &c. (Limerick.) In Cork any kind of
horse-cart or donkey-cart is called a _butt_, which is a departure from
the (English) etymology. In Limerick any kind of cart except a butt is
called a _car_; the word _cart_ is not used at all.

Butthoon has much the same meaning as _potthalowng_, which see. Irish
_butun_, same sound and meaning. (Munster.)

Butter up; to flatter, to cajole by soft sugary words, generally with
some selfish object in view:--'I suspected from the way he was
buttering me up that he came to borrow money.'

Byre: the place where the cows are fed and milked; sometimes a house
for cows and horses, or a farmyard.

By the same token: this needs no explanation; it is a survival from
Tudor English. (Hayden and Hartog.)

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

Cabman's Answer, The, 208.

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

Cadge; to hawk goods for sale. (Simmons: Armagh.) To go about idly from
house to house, picking up _a bit and a sup_, wherever they are to be
had. (Moran: Carlow.)

Caffler; a contemptible little fellow who gives saucy _cheeky_ foolish
talk. Probably a mispronunciation of _caviller_. (Munster.)

Cagger; a sort of pedlar who goes to markets and houses selling small
goods and often taking others in exchange. (Kinahan: South and West.)

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

Cailey; a friendly evening visit in order to have a gossip. There are
usually several persons at a cailey, and along with the gossiping talk
there are songs or music. Irish _ceilidh_, same sound and meaning. Used
all over Ireland, but more in the North than elsewhere.

Calleach na looha [Colleagh: accented on 2nd syll. in South; on 1st in
North] 'hag of the ashes.' Children--and sometimes _old
children_--think that a little hag resides in the ashpit beside the
fire. Irish _cailleach_, an old woman: _luaith_, ashes.

Calleach-rue ('red hag'); a little reddish brown fish about 4 inches
long, plentiful in small streams. We boys thought them delicious when
broiled on the turf-coals. We fished for them either with a loop-snare
made of a single {230} horsehair on the end of a twig, with which it
was very hard to catch them; for, as the boys used to say, 'they were
cute little divels'--or directly--like the sportsmen of old--with a
spear--the same spear being nothing but _an ould fork_.

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

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

'Bedad,' says he, 'this sight is queer,
My eyes it does bedizen--O;
What _call_ have you marauding here,
Or how daar you leave your prison--O?'

(Repeal Song: 1843.)

Need, occasion: they lived so near each other that there was no call to
send letters. 'Why are you shouting that way?' 'I have a good call to
shout, and that blackguard running away with my apples.' Father O'Flynn
could preach on many subjects:--'Down from mythology into thayology,
Troth! and conchology if he'd the call.' (A. P. Graves.) Used
everywhere in Ireland in these several senses.

Call; custom in business: Our new shopkeeper is getting great call,
i.e. his customers are numerous. (South.)

Cam or caum; a metal vessel for melting resin to make _sluts_ or long
torches; also used to melt metal for coining. (Simmons: Armagh.) Called
a _grisset_ in Munster. Usually of a curved shape: Irish _cam_, curved.

Candle. 'Jack Brien is a good scholar, but he couldn't hold a candle to
Tom Murphy': i.e. he {231} is very inferior to him. The person that
holds a candle for a workman is a mere attendant and quite an inferior.

Cannags; the stray ears left after the corn has been reaped and
gathered. (Morris: Mon.) Called _liscauns_ in Munster.

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

Caravat and Shanavest; the names of two hostile factions in Kilkenny
and all round about there, of the early part of last century. Like
Three-year-old and Four-year-old. Irish _Caravat_, a cravat; and
_Shanavest_, old vest: which names were adopted, but no one can tell
why.

Card-cutter; a fortune-teller by card tricks. Card-cutters were pretty
common in Limerick in my early days: but it was regarded as
disreputable to have any dealings with them.

Cardia; friendship, a friendly welcome, additional time granted for
paying a debt. (All over Ireland.) Ir. _cairde_, same meanings.

Cardinal Points, 168.

Carleycue; a very small coin of some kind. Used like _keenoge_ and
_cross_. (Very general.)

Carn; a heap of anything; a monumental pile of stones heaped up over a
dead person. Irish _carn_, same meanings.

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

Caroogh, an expert or professional card-player. (Munster.) Irish
_cearrbhach_, same sound and meaning.

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

{232} Carrigaholt in Clare, 145.

Carry; to lead or drive: 'James, carry down those cows to the river'
(i.e. drive): 'carry the horse to the forge' (lead). 'I will carry my
family this year to Youghal for the salt water.' (Kinahan: South, West,
and North-west.) See Bring.

Case: the Irish _cas_, and applied in the same way: 'It is a poor case
that I have to pay for your extravagance.' _Nach dubhach bocht un cas
bheith ag tuitim le ghradh_: 'isn't it a poor case to be failing
through love.'--Old Irish Song. Our dialectical Irish _case_, as above,
is taken straight from the Irish _cas_; but this and the standard
English _case_ are both borrowed from Latin.

Cassnara; respect, anything done out of respect: 'he put on his new
coat for a _casnara_.' (Morris: South Mon.)

Castor oil was our horror when we were children. No wonder; for this
story went about of how it was made. A number of corpses were hanging
from hooks round the walls of the _factory_, and drops were continually
falling from their big toes into vessels standing underneath. This was
castor oil.

Catin clay; clay mixed with rushes or straws used in building the mud
walls of cottages. (Simmons: Arm.)

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

Cat's lick; used in and around Dublin to express exactly the same as
the Munster _Scotch lick_, which see. A cat has a small tongue and does
not do much licking.

{233} Caubeen; an old shabby cap or hat: Irish _caibin_: he wore a
'shocking bad caubeen.'

Cauboge; originally an old hat, like caubeen; but now applied--as the
symbol of vulgarity--to an ignorant fellow, a boor, a bumpkin: 'What
else could you expect from that cauboge?' (South.)

Caulcannon, Calecannon, Colecannon, Kalecannon; potatoes mashed with
butter and milk, with chopped up cabbage and pot-herbs. In Munster
often made and eaten on Hallow Eve. The first syllable is the Irish
_cal_, cabbage; _cannon_ is also Irish, meaning speckled.

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

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

Cawsha Pooka; the big fungus often seen growing on old trees or
elsewhere. From Irish _caise_, cheese: the 'Pooka's cheese.' See Pooka
and Pookapyle and Bucknabarra.

Cead mile failte [caidh meela faultha], a hundred thousand welcomes.
Irish, and universal in Ireland as a salute.

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

Cess; very often used in the combination _bad cess_ (bad luck):--'Bad
cess to me but there's something comin' over me.' (Kickham:
'Knocknagow.') Some think this is a contraction of _success_; others
that it is to be taken as it stands--a _cess_ or contribution; which
receives some little support from its use in Louth to mean 'a quantity
of corn in for threshing.'

{234} Chalk Sunday; the first Sunday after Shrove Tuesday (first Sunday
in Lent), when those young men who should have been married, but were
not, were marked with a heavy streak of chalk on the back of the
_Sunday coat_, by boys who carried bits of chalk in their pockets for
that purpose, and lay in wait for the bachelors. The marking was done
while the congregation were assembling for Mass: and the young fellow
ran for his life, always laughing, and often singing the concluding
words of some suitable doggerel such as:--'And you are not married
though Lent has come!' This custom prevailed in Munster. I saw it in
full play in Limerick: but I think it has died out. For the air to
which the verses were sung, see my 'Old Irish Music and Songs,' p. 12.

Champ (Down); the same as 'caulcannon,' which see. Also potatoes mashed
with butter and milk; same as 'pandy,' which see.

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

Chapel: Church: Scallan, 143.

Chaw for _chew_, 97. 'Chawing the rag'; continually grumbling, jawing,
and giving abuse. (Kinahan.)

Cheek; impudence; _brass_: cheeky; presumptuous.

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

Chittering; constantly muttering complaints. (Knowles.)

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

Christian; a human being as distinguished from one of the lower
animals:--'That dog has nearly as much sense as a Christian.' {235}

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Classy; a drain running through a byre or stable-yard. (Morris: South
Monaghan.) Irish _clais_, a trench, with the diminutive _y_ added.

Clat; a slovenly untidy person; dirt, clay: 'wash the _clat_ off your
hands': clatty; slovenly, untidy--(Ulster): called _clotty_ in
Kildare;--a slattern.

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

Cleean [2-syll.]; a relation by marriage--such as a father-in-law. Two
persons so related are _cleeans_. Irish _cliamhan_, same sound and
meaning.

Cleever; one who deals in poultry; because he carries them in a
_cleeve_ or large wicker basket. (Morris: South Monaghan.) Irish
_cliabh_ [cleeve], a basket.

Cleevaun; a cradle: also a crib or cage for catching birds. The
diminutive of Irish _cliabh_ or cleeve, a wicker basket.

Clegg; a horsefly. (Ulster and Carlow.)

Clehalpeen; a shillelah or cudgel with a knob at the end. (South.) From
Irish _cleath_, a wattle, and _ailpin_ dim. of _alp_, a knob. {236}

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

Clevvy; three or four shelves one over another in a wall: a sort of
small open cupboard like a dresser. (All over the South.)

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

Clibbock; a young horse. (Derry.)

Clift; a light-headed person, easily roused and rendered foolishly
excited. (Ulster.)

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

Clochaun, clochan; a row of stepping-stones across a river. (General.)
From Irish _cloch_, a stone, with the diminutive _an_.

Clock; a black beetle. (South.)

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

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

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

Clout; a blow with the hand or with anything. Also a piece of cloth, a
rag, commonly used in the diminutive form in Munster--_cloutheen_.
_Cloutheens_ is specially applied to little rags used with an infant.
_Clout_ is also applied to a clownish person:--'It would be well if
somebody would teach that _clout_ some manners.'

Clove; to clove flax is to _scutch_ it--to draw each handful repeatedly
between the blades of a 'cloving tongs,' so as to break off and remove
the brittle husk, leaving the fibre smooth and free. (Munster.)

{237}

Clutch; a brood of chickens or of any fowls: same as clatch. I suppose
this is English: Waterton (an English traveller) uses it in his
'Wanderings'; but it is not in the Dictionaries of Chambers and
Webster.

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

Cly-thoran; a wall or ditch between two estates. (Roscommon.) Irish
_cladh_ [cly], a raised dyke or fence; _teora_, gen. _teorann_
[thoran], a boundary.

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

Cockles off the heart, 194.

Cog; to copy surreptitiously; to crib something from the writings of
another and pass it off as your own. One schoolboy will sometimes copy
from another:--'You cogged that sum.'

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

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

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

Colley; the woolly dusty fluffy stuff that gathers under furniture and
in remote corners of rooms. Light soot-smuts flying about.

Colloge; to talk and gossip in a familiar friendly way. An Irish form
of the Latin or English word 'colloquy.'

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

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

Come-all-ye; a nickname applied to Irish Folk Songs and Music; an old
country song; from the {238} beginning of many of the songs:--'Come all
ye tender Christians,' &c. This name, intended to be reproachful,
originated among ourselves, after the usual habit of many 'superior'
Irishmen to vilify their own country and countrymen and all their
customs and peculiarities. Observe, this opening is almost equally
common in English Folk-songs; yet the English do not make game of them
by nicknames. Irish music, which is thus vilified by some of our
brethren, is the most beautiful Folk Music in the world.

Comether; _come hether_ or _hither_, 97.

Commaun, common; the game of goaling or hurley. So called from the
_commaun_ or crooked-shaped stick with which it is played: Irish _cam_
or _com_, curved or crooked; with the diminutive--_caman_. Called
_hurling_ and _goaling_ by English speakers in Ireland, and _shinney_
in Scotland.

Commons; land held in common by the people of a village or small
district: see p. 177.

Comparisons, 136.

Conacre; letting land in patches for a short period. A farmer divides a
large field into small portions--1/4 acre, 1/2 acre, &c.--and lets
them to his poorer neighbours usually for one season for a single crop,
mostly potatoes, or in Ulster flax. He generally undertakes to manure
the whole field, and charges high rents for the little lettings. I saw
this in practice more than 60 years ago in Munster. Irish _con_,
common, and Eng. _acre_.

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

Condon, Mr. John, of Mitchelstown, 155.

{239}

Conny, canny; discreet, knowing, cute.

Contrairy, for _contrary_, but accented on second syll.; cross,
perverse, cranky, crotchety, 102.

Convenient: see Handy.

Cool: hurlers and football players always put one of their best players
to _mind cool_ or _stand cool_, i.e. to stand at their own goal or gap,
to intercept the ball if the opponents should attempt to drive it
through. Universal in Munster. Irish _cul_ [cool], the back. The full
word is _cool-baur-ya_ where 'baur-ya' is the goal or gap. The man
standing cool is often called 'the man in the gap' (see p. 182).

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

Cooleen or coulin; a fair-haired girl. This is the name of a celebrated
Irish air. From _cul_ the back [of the head], and _fionn_, white or
fair:--_cuil-fhionn_, [pron. cooleen or coolin].

Coonagh; friendly, familiar, _great_ (which see):--'These two are very
_coonagh_.' (MacCall: Wexford.) Irish _cuaine_, a family.

Coonsoge, a bees' nest. (Cork.) Irish _cuansa_ [coonsa], a
hiding-place, with the diminutive _og_.

Cooramagh; kindly, careful, thoughtful, provident:--'No wonder Mrs.
Dunn would look well and happy with such a _cooramagh_ husband.' Irish
_curamach_, same meaning.

Coord [_d_ sounded like _th_ in _bathe_], a friendly visit to a
neighbour's house. Irish _cuaird_, a visit. Coordeeagh, same meaning.
(Munster.)

Cope-curley; to stand on the head and throw the heels over; to turn
head over heels. (Ulster.)

Core: work given as a sort of loan to be paid back. {240} I send a man
on _core_ for a day to my neighbour: when next I want a man he will
send me one for a day in return. So with horses: two one-horse farmers
who work their horses in pairs, borrowing alternately, are said to be
in _core_. Very common in Munster. Irish _cobhair_ or _cabhair_ [core
or co-ir, 2-syll.] help, support.

Coreeagh; a man who has a great desire to attend funerals--goes to
every funeral that he can possibly reach. (Munster.) Same root as last.

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

Correesk; a crane. (Kildare.) Irish _corr_, a bird of the crane kind,
and _riasc_ [reesk], a marsh.

C[=o]sher [the _o_ long as in _motion_]; banqueting, feasting. In very
old times in Ireland, certain persons went about with news from place
to place, and were entertained in the high class houses: this was
called _coshering_, and was at one time forbidden by law. In modern
times it means simply a friendly visit to a neighbour's house to have a
quiet talk. Irish _coisir_; a banquet, feasting.

Costnent. When a farm labourer has a cottage and garden from his
employer, and boards himself, he lives _costnent_. He is paid small
wages (called _costnent_ wages) as he has house and plot free. (Derry.)

Cot; a small boat: Irish _cot_. See 'Irish Names of Places,' I. 226,
for places deriving their names from _cots_.

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

Coward's blow; a blow given to provoke a boy to fight or else be
branded as a coward. {241}

Cow's lick. When the hair in front over the forehead turns at the roots
upward and backward, that is a _cow's lick_, as if a cow had licked it
upwards. The idea of a cow licking the hair is very old in Irish
literature. In the oldest of all our miscellaneous Irish MSS.--The Book
of the Dun Cow--Cuculainn's hair is so thick and smooth that king
Laery, who saw him, says:--'I should imagine it is a cow that licked
it.'

Cox, Mr. Simon, of Galbally, 156.

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

Crab; a cute precocious little child is often called an _old crab_.
'Crabjaw' has the same meaning.

Cracked; crazy, half mad.

Cracklins; the browned crispy little flakes that remain after
_rendering_ or melting lard and pouring it off. (Simmons: Armagh.)

Crahauns or Kirraghauns; very small potatoes not used by the family:
given to pigs. (Munster.) Irish _creathan_.

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

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

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

Crawtha; sorry, mortified, pained. (Limerick.) Irish _craidhte_
[crawtha], same meaning.

Crawthumper; a person ostentatiously devotional.

Creelacaun; see Skillaun.

Creel; a strong square wicker frame, used by itself for holding turf,
&c., or put on asses' backs (in pairs), or put on carts for carrying
turf or for taking calves, _bonnives_, &c., to market. Irish _criol_.
(All through Ireland.) {242}

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

Crith; hump on the back. Irish _cruit_, same sound and meaning. From
this comes _critthera_ and _crittheen_, both meaning a hunchback.

Cro, or cru: a house for cows. (Kerry.) Irish _cro_, a pen, a fold, a
shed for any kind of animals.

Croaked; I am afraid poor Nancy is croaked, i.e. doomed to death. The
raven croaks over the house when one of the family is about to die.
(MacCall: Wexford.)

Croft; a water bottle, usually for a bedroom at night. You never hear
_carafe_ in Ireland: it is always _croft_.

Cromwell, Curse of, 166.

Crumel'ly. (Limerick.) More correctly _curr amilly_. (Donegal.) An herb
found in grassy fields with a sweet root that children dig up and eat.
Irish 'honey-root.'

Cronaun, croonaun; a low humming air or song, any continuous humming
sound: 'the old woman was cronauning in the corner.'

Cronebane, cronebaun; a bad halfpenny, a worthless copper coin. From
Cronebane in Co. Wicklow, where copper mines were worked.

Croobeen or crubeen; a pig's foot. Pigs' croobeens boiled are a grand
and favourite viand among us--all through Ireland. Irish _crub_
[croob], a foot, with the diminutive.

Croost; to throw stones or clods from the hand:--'Those boys are always
_croosting_ stones at my hens.' Irish _crusta_ [croostha], a missile, a
clod.

Croudy: see Porter-meal.

Crowl or Croil; a dwarf, a very small person: the smallest _bonnive_ of
the litter. An Irish word. {243}

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

'In a shady nook one moonlight night
A _leprechaun_ I spied;
With scarlet cap and coat of green,
A _cruiskeen_ by his side.'

The _Cruiskeen Laun_ is the name of a well-known Irish air--the Scotch
call it 'John Anderson my Jo.' Irish _cruiscin_, a pitcher: _lan_
[laun], full: i.e. in this case full of _pottheen_.

Crusheen; a stick with a flat crosspiece fastened at bottom for washing
potatoes in a basket. Irish _cros_, a cross, with the diminutive. Also
called a _boghaleen_, from Irish _bachal_, a staff, with diminutive.
(Joyce: Limerick.)

Cuck; a tuft: applied to the little tuft of feathers on the head of
some birds, such as plovers, some hens and ducks, &c. Irish _coc_: same
sound and meaning. (General.)

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

Cuckoo spit; the violet: merely the translation of the Irish name,
_sail-chuach_, spittle of cuckoos. Also the name of a small frothy
spittle-like substance often found on leaves of plants in summer, with
a little greenish insect in the middle of it. (Limerick.)

Cugger-mugger; whispering, gossiping in a low voice: Jack and Bessie
had a great _cugger-mugger_. Irish _cogar_, whisper, with a similar
duplication meaning nothing, like tip-top, shilly-shally,
gibble-gabble, clitter-clatter, &c. I think {244} 'hugger-mugger' is a
form of this: for _hugger_ can't be derived from anything, whereas
_cugger_ (_cogur_) is a plain Irish word.

Cull; when the best of a lot of any kind--sheep, cattle, books,
&c.--have been picked out, the bad ones that are left--the refuse--are
the _culls_. (Kinahan: general.)

Culla-greefeen; when foot or hand is 'asleep' with the feeling of 'pins
and needles.' The name is Irish and means 'Griffin's sleep'; but why so
called I cannot tell. (Munster.)

Cup-tossing; reading fortunes from tea-leaves thrown out on the saucer
from the tea-cup or teapot. (General.)

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

Curate; a common little iron poker kept in use to spare the grand one:
also a grocer's assistant. (Hayden and Hartog.)

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

Curifixes; odd _curious_ ornaments or _fixtures_ of any kind.
(General.) Peter Brierly, looking at the knocker:--'I never see such
_curifixes_ on a _doore_ afore.' (Edw. Walsh: very general.)

Curragh; a wicker boat covered formerly with hides but now with tarred
canvass. (See my 'Smaller Social Hist. of Anc. Ireland.')

Current; in good health: he is not current; his health is not current.
(Father Higgins: Cork.)

Curwhibbles, currifibbles, currywhibbles; any strange, odd, or unusual
gestures; or any unusual twisting of words, such as prevarication; wild
puzzles and puzzling talk:--'The horsemen are in regular currywhibles
about something.' (R. D. Joyce.) {245}

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

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

Cushoge; a stem of a plant; sometimes used the same as _traneen_, which
see. (Moran: Carlow; and Morris: Monaghan.)

Cut; a county or barony cess tax; hence Cutman, the collector of it.
(Kinahan: Armagh and Donegal.) 'The three black _cuts_ will be levied.'
(Seumas MacManus: Donegal.)

Daisy-picker; a person who accompanies two lovers in their walk; why so
called obvious. Brought to keep off gossip.

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

Dallag [_d_ sounded like _th_ in _that_]; any kind of covering to
blindfold the eyes (Morris: South Monaghan): 'blinding,' from Irish
_dall_, blind.

Dallapookeen; blindman's buff. (Kerry.) From Irish _dalladh_ [dalla]
blinding; and _puicin_ [pookeen], a covering over the eyes.

Daltheen [the _d_ sounded like _th_ in _that_], an impudent conceited
little fellow: a diminutive of _dalta_, a foster child. The diminutive
_dalteen_ was first applied to a horseboy, from which it has drifted to
its present meaning.

Dancing customs, 170, 172.

Dannagh; mill-dust and mill-grains for feeding pigs. (Moran: Carlow:
also Tip.) Irish _deanach_, same sound and meaning. {246}

Dander [second _d_ sounded like _th_ in _hither_], to walk about
leisurely: a leisurely walk.

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

Darradail or daradeel [the _d_'s sounded like _th_ in _that_] a sort of
long black chafer or beetle. It raises its tail when disturbed, and has
a strong smell of apples. There is a religious legend that when our
Lord was escaping from the Jews, barefoot, the stones were marked all
along by traces of blood from the bleeding feet. The daradail followed
the traces of blood; and the Jews following, at length overtook and
apprehended our Lord. Hence the people regard the daradail with intense
hatred, and whenever they come on it, kill it instantly. Irish
_darbh-daol_.

Dark; blind: 'a dark man.' (Very general.) Used constantly even in
official and legal documents, as in workhouse books, especially in
Munster. (Healy.)

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

Davis, Thomas, vi. 83, &c.

Dead beat or dead _bet_; tired out.