Chapter XIII: Vocabulary and Index (3)

Learn is used for _teach_ all over Ireland, but more in Ulster than
elsewhere. Don't forget to 'larn the little girl her catechiz.' (Seumas
Mac Manus.) An old English usage: but dead and gone in England now.

Leather; to beat:--'I gave him a good leathering,' i.e., a beating, a
thrashing. This is not derived, as might be supposed, from the English
word _leather_ (tanned skin), but from Irish, in which it is of very
old standing:--_Letrad_ (modern _leadradh_), cutting, hacking,
lacerating: also a champion fighter, a warrior, a _leatherer_. (Corm.
Gloss.--9th cent.) Used all through Ireland.

Leather-wing; a bat. (South.)

Lee, the Very Rev. Patrick, V. F., of Kilfinane, 148.

Lebbidha; an awkward, blundering, half-fool of a fellow. (South.) Irish
_leibide_, same sound and meaning.

Leg bail; a person gives (or takes) _leg bail_ when he runs away,
absconds. (General.)

Lend; loan. Ned came 'for the _lend_ of the ould mare.' ('Knocknagow.')
Often used in the following way:--'Come and lend a hand,' i.e., give
some help. 'Our shooting party comes off to-morrow: will you _lend_
your gun': an invitation to join the party. (Kinahan.) {284}

Leprachaun; a sort of fairy, called by several names in different parts
of Ireland:--luricaun, cluricaun, lurragadaun, loghryman, luprachaun.
This last is the nearest to the Gaelic original, all the preceding
anglicised forms being derived from it. Luprachaun itself is derived by
a metathesis from Irish _luchorpan_, from _lu_, little, and _corpan_,
the dim. of _corp_, a body:--'weeny little body.' The reader will
understand all about this merry little chap from the following short
note and song written by me and extracted from my 'Ancient Irish Music'
(in which the air also will be found). The leprachaun is a very tricky
little fellow, usually dressed in a green coat, red cap, and
knee-breeches, and silver shoe-buckles, whom you may sometimes see in
the shades of evening, or by moonlight, under a bush; and he is
generally making or mending a shoe: moreover, like almost all fairies,
he would give the world for _pottheen_. If you catch him and hold him,
he will, after a little threatening, show you where treasure is hid, or
give you a purse in which you will always find money. But if you once
take your eyes off him, he is gone in an instant; and he is very
ingenious in devising tricks to induce you to look round. It is very
hard to catch a leprachaun, and still harder to hold him. I never heard
of any man who succeeded in getting treasure from him, except one, a
lucky young fellow named MacCarthy, who, according to the peasantry,
built the castle of Carrigadrohid near Macroom in Cork with the money.
Every Irishman understands well the terms _cruiskeen_ and _mountain
dew_, some indeed a little too well; but {285} for the benefit of the
rest of the world, I think it better to state that a _cruiskeen_ is a
small jar, and that _mountain dew_ is _pottheen_ or illicit whiskey.

In a shady nook one moonlight night,
A leprachaun I spied;
With scarlet cap and coat of green;
A cruiskeen by his side.
'Twas tick tack tick, his hammer went,
Upon a weeny shoe;
And I laughed to think of a purse of gold;
But the fairy was laughing too.

With tip-toe step and beating heart,
Quite softly I drew nigh:
There was mischief in his merry face;--
A twinkle in his eye.
He hammered and sang with tiny voice,
And drank his mountain dew:
And I laughed to think he was caught at last:--
But the fairy was laughing too.

As quick as thought I seized the elf;
'Your fairy purse!' I cried;
'The purse!' he said--''tis in her hand--
'That lady at your side!'
I turned to look: the elf was off!
Then what was I to do?
O, I laughed to think what a fool I'd been;
And the fairy was laughing too.

Let out; a spree, an entertainment. (General.) 'Mrs. Williams gave a
great let out.'

Libber; this has much the same meaning as _flipper_, which see: an
untidy person careless about his dress and appearance--an easy-going
_ould sthreel_ of a man. I have heard an old fellow say, regarding
those that went before him--father, {286} grandfather, &c.--that they
were 'ould _aancient_ libbers,' which is the Irish peasant's way of
expressing Gray's 'rude forefathers of the hamlet.'

Lief; willing: 'I had as lief be working as not.' 'I had liefer': I had
rather. (General.) This is an old English word, now fallen out of use
in England, but common here.

Lifter; a beast that is so weak from starvation (chiefly in March when
grass is withered up) that it can hardly stand and has to be lifted
home from the hill-pasture to the stable. (Kinahan: Connemara.)

Light; a little touched in the head, a little crazed:--'Begor sir if
you say I know nothing about sticks your head must be getting light in
earnest.' (Robert Dwyer Joyce.)

Likely; well-looking: 'a likely girl'; 'a _clane_ likely boy.'

Likes; 'the likes of you': persons or _a person_ like you or in your
condition. Very common in Ireland. 'I'll not have any dealings with the
likes of him.' Colonel Lake, Inspector General of Constabulary in last
century, one afternoon met one of his recruits on the North Circular
Road, Dublin, showing signs of liquor, and stopped him. 'Well, my good
fellow, what is your name please?' The recruit replied:--'Who are you,
and what right have you to ask my name?' 'I am Colonel Lake, your
inspector general.' The recruit eyed him closely:--'Oh begor your
honour, if that's the case it's not right for the likes of me to be
talking to the likes of you': on which he turned round and took leg
bail on the spot like a deer, leaving {287} the inspector general
standing on the pathway. The Colonel often afterwards told that story
with great relish.

Linnaun-shee or more correct _Lannaun-shee_; a familiar spirit or fairy
that attaches itself to a mortal and follows him. From Irish _leannan_,
a lover, and _sidh_ [shee], a fairy: _lannaun-shee_, 'fairy-lover.'

Linnie; a long shed--a sort of barn--attached to a a farm house for
holding farm-yard goods and articles of various kinds--carts, spades,
turnips, corn, &c. (Munster.) Irish _lann-iotha_, lit. 'corn-house.'

Lint; in Ulster, a name for flax.

Linthern or lenthern; a small drain or sewer covered with flags for the
passage of water, often under a road from side to side. (Munster.)
Irish _lintrean_, _linntreach_ [lintran, lintragh].

Liscauns; gleanings of corn from the field after reaping: 'There's Mary
gathering _liscauns_.' (South.) Irish.

Loanen; a lane, a _bohereen_. (Ulster.)

Lob; a quantity, especially of money or of any valuable
commodity:--''Tis reported that Jack got a great lob of money with his
wife.' A person is trying to make himself out very useful or of much
consequence, and another says satirically--generally in play:--'Oh what
a _lob_ you are!'

Lock; a quantity or batch of anything--generally small:--a lock of
straw; a lock of sheep. (General.)

Logey; heavy or fat as applied to a person. (Moran: Carlow.) Also the
fireplace in a flax-kiln.

Lone; unmarried:--'A lone man'; 'a lone woman.' {288}

Long family; a common expression for a large family.

Lood, loodh, lude; ashamed: 'he was lude of himself when he was found
out.' (South.)

Loody; a loose heavy frieze coat. (Munster.)

Loof; the open hand, the palm of the hand. (Ulster.) Irish _lamh_
[lauv], the hand.

Loo-oge or lu-oge; the eel-fry a couple of inches long that come up the
southern Blackwater periodically in myriads, and are caught and sold as
food. (Waterford: Healy.) Irish _luadhog_, same sound and meaning.

Loose leg; when a person is free from any engagement or impediment that
bound him down--'he has a loose leg'--free to act as he likes. 'I have
retired from the service with a pension, so that now I have a loose
leg.' The same is often said of a prisoner discharged from jail.

Lord; applied as a nickname to a hunchback. The hunchback Danny Mann in
'The Collegians' is often called 'Danny the lord.'

Losset; a kneading tray for making cakes.

Lossagh; a sudden blaze from a turf fire. Irish _las_ [loss], a blaze,
with the usual termination _ach_.

Lossoge; a handful or little bundle of sticks for firing. (Mayo.) Irish
_las_ [loss], fire, a blaze, with the diminutive termination.

Low-backed car; a sort of car common in the southern half of Ireland
down to the middle of the last century, used to bring the country
people and their farm produce to markets. Resting on the shafts was a
long flat platform placed lengthwise {289} and sloping slightly
downwards towards the back, on which were passengers and goods. Called
trottle-car in Derry.

Loy; a spade. Used in the middle of Ireland all across from shore to
shore. Irish _laighe_, same sound and meaning.

Luck-penny; a coin given by the seller to the buyer after a bargain has
been concluded: given to make sure that the buyer will have luck with
the animal or article he buys.

Ludeen or loodeen [_d_ sounded like _th_ in _then_]; the little finger.
Irish _luidin_, same sound and meaning. From _lu_, little, with the
diminutive termination.

Lu-oge: see Loo-oge.

Luscan; a spot on the hillside from which the furze and heath have been
burned off. (Wicklow and round about.) From Irish _losc_ to burn:
_luscan_, 'burned little spot.'

Lusmore; fairy-thimble, fairy-finger, foxglove, _Digitalis purpurea_;
an herb of mighty power in fairy lore. Irish _lus_, herb; _mor_, great;
'mighty herb.'

Lybe; a lazy fellow. (MacCall: Wex.) See Libber.

Lyre; the full of the two hands used together: a beggar usually got a
_lyre_ of potatoes. (Munster: same as _gopen_ in Ulster.) Irish
_ladhar_, same sound and meaning.

MacManus, Seumas, 5, &c.

Mad; angry. There are certain Irish words, such as _buileamhail_, which
might denote either _mad_ or very _angry_: hence in English you very
often hear:--'Oh the master is very mad with you,' {290} i.e. angry.
'Excessively angry' is often expressed this way in dialect
language:--'The master is blazing mad about that accident to the mare.'
But even this expression is classical Irish; for we read in the Irish
Bible that Moses went away from Pharaoh, _air lasadh le feirg_,
'blazing with anger.' 'Like mad' is often used to denote very quickly
or energetically: Crofton Croker speaks of people who were 'dancing
like mad.' This expression is constantly heard in Munster.

Maddha-brishtha; an improvised tongs, such as would be used with a fire
in the fields, made from a strong twig bent sharp. (Derry.) Irish
_maide_ [maddha], a stick; _briste_, broken:--'broken stick.'

Maddhiaghs or muddiaghs; same as last, meaning simply 'sticks': the two
ends giving the idea of plurality. (Armagh.)

Maddhoge or middhoge; a dagger. (North and South.) Irish _meadog_ or
_miodog_.

Made; fortunate:--'I'm a made man' (or 'a _med_ man'), meaning 'my
fortune is made.' (Crofton Croker--but used very generally.)

Mag; a swoon:--'Light of grace,' she exclaimed, dropping in a _mag_ on
the floor. (Edward Walsh: used all over Munster.)

Maisled; speckled; a lazy young fellow's shins get maisled from sitting
before the fire. (Knowles: Ulster.)

Make; used in the South in the following way:--'This will make a fine
day': 'That cloth will make a fine coat': 'If that fellow was shaved
he'd make a handsome young man' (Irish folk-song): 'That Joe of yours
is a clever fellow: no doubt he'll {291} make a splendid doctor.' The
noun _makings_ is applied similarly:--'That young fellow is the makings
of a great scholar.'

Man above. In Irish God is often designated _an Fear suas_ or _an t-E
suas_ ('the Man above,' 'the Person above'): thus in Hardiman's 'Irish
Minstrelsy' (I. 228):--_Comarc an t-E ta shuas ort_: 'the protection of
the Person who is above be on thee': _an Fear suas_ occurs in the
Ossianic Poems. Hence they use this term all through the South:--'As
cunning as he is he can't hide his knavery from _the Man above_.'

Man in the gap, 182.

Mankeeper; used North and South as the English name of the little
lizard called in Irish 'Art-loochra,' which see.

Mannam; my soul: Irish _m'anam_, same sound and meaning:--'Mannam on
ye,' used as an affectionate exclamation to a child. (Scott: Derry.)

Many; 'too many' is often used in the following way, when two persons
were in rivalry of any kind, whether of wit, of learning, or of
strength:--'James was too many for Dick,' meaning he was an overmatch
for him.

Maol, Mail, Maileen, Moileen, Moilie (these two last forms common in
Ulster; the others elsewhere); a hornless cow. Irish _Maol_ [mwail],
same meaning. Quite a familiar word all through Ireland.

One night Jacky was sent out, much against his will, for an armful
of turf, as the fire was getting low; and in a moment afterwards,
the startled family heard frantic yells. Just as they jumped up
Jacky rushed in still yelling with his whole throat. {292}

'What's the matter--what's wrong!'

'Oh I saw the divel!'

'No you didn't, you fool, 'twas something else you saw.'

'No it wasn't, 'twas the divel I saw--didn't I know him well!'

'How did you know him--did you see his horns?'

'I didn't: he had no horns--he was a _mwail_ divel--sure that's how
I knew him!'

They ran out of course; but the _mwail_ divel was gone, leaving
behind him, standing up against the turf-rick, the black little
_Maol_ Kerry cow.

Margamore; the 'Great Market' held in Derry immediately before
Christmas or Easter. (Derry.) Irish _margadh_ [marga], a market, _mor_
[more], great.

Martheen; a stocking with the foot cut off. (Derry.) Irish _mairtin_,
same sound and meaning. _Martheens_ are what they call in Munster
_triheens_, which see.

Mass, celebration of, 144.

Mau-galore; nearly drunk: Irish _maith_ [mau], good: _go leor_, plenty:
'purty well I thank you,' as the people often say: meaning almost the
same as Burns's 'I was na fou but just had plenty.' (Common in
Munster.)

Mauleen; a little bag: usually applied in the South to the little sack
slung over the shoulder of a potato-planter, filled with the
_potato-sets_ (or _skillauns_), from which the setter takes them one by
one to plant them. In Ulster and Scotland, the word is _mailin_, which
is sometimes applied to a purse:--'A _mailin_ plenished (filled)
fairly.' (Burns.)

Maum; the full of the two hands used together {293} (Kerry); the same
as _Lyre_ and _Gopan_, which see. Irish _Mam_, same sound and meaning.

Mavourneen; my love. (Used all through Ireland.) Irish _Mo-mhuirnin_,
same sound and meaning. See Avourneen.

May-day customs, 170.

Mearacaun [mairacaun]; a thimble. Merely the Irish _mearacan_, same
sound and meaning: from _mear_, a finger, with the diminutive
termination _can_. Applied in the South to the fairy-thimble or
foxglove, with usually a qualifying word:--Mearacaun-shee (_shee_, a
fairy--fairy thimble) or Mearacaun-na-man-shee (where na-man-shee is
the Irish _na-mban-sidhe_, of the _banshees_ or fairy-women).
'Lusmore,' another name, which see.

Mearing; a well-marked boundary--but not necessarily a raised
_ditch_--a fence between two farms, or two fields, or two bogs. Old
English.

Mease: a measure for small fish, especially herrings:--'The fisherman
brought in ten mease of herrings.' Used all round the Irish coast. It
is the Irish word _mias_ [meece], a dish.

Mee-aw; a general name for the potato blight. Irish _mi-adh_ [mee-aw],
ill luck: from Irish _mi_, bad, and _adh_, luck. But _mee-aw_ is also
used to designate 'misfortune' in general.

Meela-murder; 'a thousand murders': a general exclamation of surprise,
alarm, or regret. The first part is Irish--_mile_ [meela], a thousand;
the second is of course English.

Meelcar' [_car_ long like the English word _car_]; also called
_meelcartan_; a red itchy sore on the sole of the foot just at the
edge. It is believed by the {294} people to be caused by a red little
flesh-worm, and hence the name _miol_ [meel], a worm, and _cearr_
[car], an old Irish word for red:--Meel-car, 'red-worm.' (North and
South.)

Meeraw; ill luck. (Munster.) From Irish _mi_, ill, and rath [raw],
luck:--'There was some _meeraw_ on the family.

Melder of corn; the quantity sent to the mill and ground at one time.
(Ulster.)

Memory of History and of Old Customs, 143.

Merrow; a mermaid. Irish _murrughagh_ [murrooa], from _muir_, the sea.
She dives and travels under sea by means of a hood and cape called
_cohuleen-dru_: _cochall_, a hood and cape (with diminutive
termination); _druadh_, druidical: 'magical cape.'

Midjilinn or middhilin; the thong of a flail. (Morris: South Monaghan.)

Mihul or mehul [_i_ and _e_ short]; a number of men engaged in any
farm-work, especially corn-reaping, still used in the South and West.
It is the very old Irish word _meithel_, same sound and meaning.

Mills. The old English game of 'nine men's morris' or 'nine men's
merrils' or _mills_ was practised in my native place when I was a boy.
We played it on a diagram of three squares one within another,
connected by certain straight lines, each player having nine counters.
It is mentioned by Shakespeare ('Midsummer-Night's Dream'). I learned
to be a good player, and could play it still if I could meet an
antagonist. How it reached Limerick I do not know. A few years ago I
saw two persons playing mills in a hotel in Llandudno; and my heart
went out to them. {295}

Mind; often used in this way:--'Will you write that letter to-day?'
'No: I won't mind it to-day: I'll write it to-morrow.'

Minnikin; a very small pin.

Minister; always applied in Ireland to a Protestant clergyman.

Miscaun, mescaun, mescan, miscan; a roll or lump of butter. Irish
_mioscan_ [miscaun]. Used all over Ireland.

Mitch; to play truant from school.

Mitchelstown, Co. Cork, 155.

Moanthaun; boggy land. Moantheen; a little bog. (Munster.) Both dims.
of Irish _moin_, a bog.

Molly; a man who busies himself about women's affairs or does work that
properly belongs to women. (Leinster.) Same as _sheela_ in the South.

Moneen; a little _moan_ or bog; a green spot in a bog where games are
played. Also a sort of jig dance-tune: so called because often danced
on a green _moneen_. (Munster.)

Month's Mind; Mass and a general memorial service for the repose of the
soul of a person, celebrated a month after death. The term was in
common use in England until the change of religion at the Reformation;
and now it is not known even to English Roman Catholics. (Woollett.) It
is in constant use in Ireland, and I think among Irish Catholics
everywhere. But the practice is kept up by Catholics all over the
world. Mind, 'Memory.'

Mootch: to move about slowly and meaninglessly: without intelligence. A
mootch is a slow stupid person. (South.) {296}

Moretimes; often used as corresponding to _sometimes_: 'Sometimes she
employs herself at sewing, and moretimes at knitting.'

Mor-yah; a derisive expression of dissent to drive home the
untruthfulness of some assertion or supposition or pretence, something
like the English 'forsooth,' but infinitely stronger:--A notorious
schemer and cheat puts on airs of piety in the chapel and thumps his
breast in great style; and a spectator says:--Oh how pious and holy Joe
is growing--_mar-yah_! 'Mick is a great patriot, mor-yah!--he'd sell
his country for half a crown.' Irish _mar-sheadh_ [same sound], 'as it
were.'

Mossa; a sort of assertive particle used at the opening of a sentence,
like the English _well_, _indeed_: carrying little or no meaning. 'Do
you like your new house?'--'Mossa I don't like it much.' Another form
of _wisha_, and both anglicised from the Irish _ma'seadh_, used in
Irish in much the same sense.

Mountain dew; a fanciful and sort of pet name for pottheen whiskey:
usually made in the _mountains_.

Mounthagh, mounthaun; a toothless person. (Munster.) From the Irish
_mant_ [mounth], the gum, with the terminations. Both words are
equivalent to _gummy_, a person whose mouth is _all gums_.

Moutre. In very old times a mill-owner commonly received as payment for
grinding corn one-tenth of the corn ground--in accordance with the
Brehon Law. This custom continued to recent times--and probably
continues still--in Ulster, {297} where the quantity given to the
miller is called _moutre_, or _muter_, or _mooter_.

Mulharten; a flesh-worm: a form of meelcartan. See Meelcar.

Mullaberta; arbitration. (Munster.) Merely the Irish _moladh-beirte_,
same sound and meaning: in which _moladh_ [mulla] is 'appraisement';
and _beirt[)e]_, gen. of _beart_, 'two persons':--lit. 'appraisement of
two.' The word mullaberta has however in recent times drifted to mean a
loose unbusinesslike settlement. (Healy.)

Mummers, 171.

Murray, Mr. Patrick, schoolmaster of Kilfinane, 153, 154, and under
'Roasters,' below.

Murrogh O'Brien, Earl of Inchiquin, 165.

Musicianer for musician is much in use all over Ireland. Of English
origin, and used by several old English writers, among others by
Collier.

Nab; a knowing old-fashioned little fellow. (Derry.)

Naboc'lesh; never mind. (North and South.) Irish _na-bac-leis_ (same
sound), 'do not stop to mind it,' or 'pass it over.'

Nail, paying on the nail, 183.

Naygur; a form of _niggard_: a wretched miser:--

'I certainly thought my poor heart it would bleed
To be trudging behind that old naygur.'

(Old Munster song; 'The Spalpeen's Complaint':
from 'Old Irish Folk Music and Songs.')

'In all my ranging and serenading,
I met no naygur but humpy Hyde.'

(See 'Castlehyde' in my 'Old Irish Music and Songs.')

{298}

Nicely: often used in Ireland as shown here:-- 'Well, how is your
[sick] mother to-day?' 'Oh she's nicely,' or 'doing nicely, thank you';
i.e. getting on very well--satisfactorily. A still stronger word is
_bravely_. 'She's doing bravely this morning'; i.e. extremely
well--better than was expected.

Nim or nym; a small bit of anything. (Ulster.)

Noggin; a small vessel, now understood to hold two glasses; also called
naggin. Irish _noigin_.

Nose; to pay through the nose; to pay and be made to pay, against your
grain, the full sum without delay or mitigation.

Oanshagh; a female fool, corresponding with omadaun, a male fool. Irish
_oinseach_, same sound and meaning: from _on_, a fool, and _seach_, the
feminine termination.

Offer; an attempt:--'I made an offer to leap the fence but failed.'

Old English, influence of, on our dialect, 6.

Oliver's summons, 184.

On or upon; in addition to its functions as explained at pp. 27, 28, it
is used to express obligation:-- 'Now I put it _upon_ you to give Bill
that message for me': one person meeting another on Christmas Day
says:--'My Christmas box _on_ you,' i.e. 'I put it as an obligation on
you to give me a Christmas box.'

Once; often used in this manner:--'Once he promises he'll do it'
(Hayden and Hartog): 'Once you pay the money you are free,' i.e. _if_
or _when_ you pay.

O'Neills and their war-cry, 179. {299}

Oshin [sounded nearly the same as the English word ocean]; a weakly
creature who cannot do his fair share of work. (Innishowen, Donegal.)

Out; used, in speaking of time, in the sense of _down_ or
_subsequently_:--'His wife led him a mighty uneasy life from the day
they married _out_.' (Gerald Griffin: Munster.) 'You'll pay rent for
your house for the first seven years, and you will have it free from
that _out_.'

Out; to call a person _out of his name_ is to call him by a wrong name.

Out; 'be off out of that' means simply _go away_.

Out; 'I am out with him' means I am not on terms with him--I have
fallen out with him.

Overright; opposite, in front of: the same meaning as _forenenst_; but
_forenenst_ is English, while overright is a wrong translation from an
Irish word--_os-comhair_. _Os_ means over, and _comhair_ opposite: but
this last word was taken by speakers to be _coir_ (for both are sounded
alike), and as _coir_ means _right_ or just, so they translated
_os-comhair_ as if it were _os-coir_, 'over-right.' (Russell: Munster.)

Paddhereen; a prayer: dim. of Latin _Pater_ (_Pater Noster_).
_Paddereen Paurtagh_, the Rosary: from Irish _pairteach_, sharing or
partaking: because usually several join in it.

Paideoge [paudh-yoge]; a torch made of a wick dipped in melted rosin
(Munster): what they call a _slut_ in Ulster.

Paghil or pahil; a lump or bundle, 108. (Ulster.)

Palatines, 65.

Palleen; a rag: a torn coat is 'all in _paleens_.' (Derry.) {300}

Palm; the yew-tree, 184.

Pampooty; a shoe made of untanned hide. (West.)

Pandy; potatoes mashed up with milk and butter. (Munster.)

Pannikin; now applied to a small tin drinking-vessel: an old English
word that has fallen out of use in England, but is still current in
Ireland: applied down to last century to a small earthenware pot used
for boiling food. These little vessels were made at Youghal and Ardmore
(Co. Waterford). The earthenware pannikins have disappeared, their
place being supplied by tinware. (Kinahan.)

Parisheen; a foundling; one brought up in childhood by the _parish_.
(Kildare.)

Parson; was formerly applied to a Catholic parish priest: but in
Ireland it now always means a Protestant minister.

Parthan; a crab-fish. (Donegal.) Merely the Irish _partan_, same sound
and meaning.

Parts; districts, territories:--'Prince and plinnypinnytinshary of
these parts' (King O'Toole and St. Kevin): 'Welcome to these parts.'
(Crofton Croker.)

Past; 'I wouldn't put it _past_ him,' i.e. I think him bad or foolish
enough (to do it).

Past; more than: 'Our landlord's face we rarely see past once in seven
years'--Irish Folk Song.

Pattern (i.e. _patron_); a gathering at a holy well or other relic of a
saint on his or her festival day, to pray and perform _rounds_ and
other devotional acts in honour of the patron saint. (General.)

Pattha; a pet, applied to a young person who is brought up over
tenderly and indulged too {301} much:--'What a _pattha_ you are!' This
is an extension of meaning; for the Irish _peata_ [pattha] means merely
a _pet_, nothing more.

Pelt; the skin:--'He is in his pelt,' i.e. naked.

Penal Laws, 144, and elsewhere through the book.

Personable; comely, well-looking, handsome:--'Diarmid Bawn the piper,
as personable a looking man as any in the five parishes.' (Crofton
Croker: Munster.)

Pickey; a round flat little stone used by children in playing _transe_
or Scotch-hop. (Limerick.)

Piggin; a wooden drinking-vessel. It is now called _pigin_ in Irish;
but it is of English origin.

Pike; a pitchfork; commonly applied to one with two prongs. (Munster.)

Pike or croppy-pike; the favourite weapon of the rebels of 1798: it was
fixed on a very long handle, and had combined in one head a long sharp
spear, a small axe, and a hook for catching the enemy's horse-reins.

Pillibeen or pillibeen-meeg; a plover. (Munster.) 'I'm king of Munster
when I'm in the bog, and the _pillibeens_ whistling about me.'
('Knocknagow.') Irish _pilibin-miog_, same sound and meaning.

Pindy flour; flour that has begun to ferment slightly on account of
being kept in a warm moist place. Cakes made from it were uneatable as
they were soft and clammy and slightly sour. (Limerick.)

Pinkeen; a little fish, a stickleback: plentiful in small streams.
Irish _pincin_, same sound and meaning. See Scaghler.

Piper's invitation; 'He came on the piper's invitation,' i.e.
uninvited. (Cork.) A translation of {302} Irish _cuireadh-piobaire_
[curra-peebara]. Pipers sometimes visited the houses of well-to-do
people and played--to the great delight of the boys and girls--and they
were sure to be well treated. But that custom is long since dead and
gone.

Pishminnaan' [the _aa_ long as _a_ in _car_]; common wild peas.
(Munster.) They are much smaller--both plant and peas--than the
cultivated pea, whence the above anglicised name, which has the same
sound as the Irish _pise-mionnain_, 'kid's peas.'

Pishmool; a pismire, an ant. (Ulster.)

Pishoge, pisheroge, pishthroge; a charm, a spell, witchcraft:--'It is
reported that someone took Mrs. O'Brien's butter from her by
_pishoges_.'

Place; very generally used for house, home, homestead:--'If ever you
come to Tipperary I shall be very glad to see you at _my place_.' This
is a usage of the Irish language; for the word _baile_ [bally], which
is now used for _home_, means also, and in an old sense, a place, a
spot, without any reference to home.

Plaikeen; an old shawl, an old cloak, any old covering or wrap worn
round the shoulders. (South.)

Plantation; a colony from England or Scotland settled down or _planted_
in former times in a district in Ireland from which the rightful old
Irish owners were expelled, 7, 169, 170.

Plaumause [to rhyme with _sauce_]; soft talk, plausible speech,
flattery--conveying the idea of insincerity. (South.) Irish _plamas_,
same sound and meaning.

Plauzy; full of soft, flattering, _plausible_ talk. Hence {303} the
noun _plausoge_ [plauss-oge], a person who is plauzy. (South.)

Plerauca; great fun and noisy revelry. Irish _plearaca_, same sound and
meaning.

Pluddogh; dirty water. (MacCall: Wexford.) From Irish _plod_ [pludh], a
pool of dirty water, with the termination _ach_.

Pluvaun; a kind of soft weed that grows excessively on tilled moory
lands and chokes the crop. (Moran: Carlow.)

Poll-talk; backbiting: from the _poll_ of the head: the idea being the
same as in _back_biting.

Polthogue; a blow; a blow with the fist. Irish _palltog_, same sound
and meaning.

Pooka; a sort of fairy: a mischievous and often malignant goblin that
generally appears in the form of a horse, but sometimes as a bull, a
buck-goat, &c. The great ambition of the pooka horse is to get some
unfortunate wight on his back; and then he gallops furiously through
bogs, marshes, and woods, over rocks, glens, and precipices; till at
last when the poor wretch on his back is nearly dead with terror and
fatigue, the pooka pitches him into some quagmire or pool or
briar-brake, leaving him to extricate himself as best he can. But the
goblin does not do worse: he does not kill people. Irish _puca_.
Shakespeare has immortalised him as Puck, the goblin of 'A
Midsummer-Night's Dream.'

Pookapyle, also called Pookaun; a sort of large fungus, the toadstool.
Called also _causha pooka_. All these names imply that the Pooka has
something to do with this poisonous fungus. See Causha-pooka (pooka's
cheese). {304}

Pookeen; a play--blindman's buff: from Irish _puic_, a veil or
covering, from the covering put over the eyes. Pookeen is also applied
in Cork to a cloth muzzle tied on calves or lambs to prevent sucking
the mother. The face-covering for blindman's buff is called _pookoge_,
in which the dim. _og_ is used instead of _in_ or _een_. The
old-fashioned _coal-scuttle_ bonnets of long ago that nearly covered
the face were often called _pookeen_ bonnets. It was of a bonnet of
this kind that the young man in Lover's song of 'Molly Carew' speaks:--

Oh, _lave_ off that bonnet or else I'll _lave_ on it
The loss of my wandering sowl:--

because it hid Molly's face from him.

Poor mouth; making the poor mouth is trying to persuade people you are
very poor--making out or pretending that you are poor.

Poor scholars, 151, 157.

Poreens; very small potatoes--mere _crachauns_ (which see)--any small
things, such as marbles, &c. (South: _porrans_ in Ulster.)

Porter-meal: oatmeal mixed with porter. Seventy or eighty years ago,
the carters who carried bags of oatmeal from Limerick to Cork (a
two-day journey) usually rested for the night at Mick Lynch's
public-house in Glenosheen. They often took lunch or dinner of
porter-meal in this way:--Opening the end of one of the bags, the man
made a hollow in the oatmeal into which he poured a quart of porter,
stirring it up with a spoon: then he ate an immense bellyful of the
mixture. But those fellows could digest like an ostrich. {305}

In Ulster, oatmeal mixed in this manner with buttermilk, hot broth,
&c., and eaten with a spoon, is called _croudy_.

Potthalowng; an awkward unfortunate mishap, not very serious, but
coming just at the wrong time. When I was a boy 'Jack Mullowney's
_potthalowng_' had passed into a proverb. Jack one time went
_courting_, that is, to spend a pleasant evening with the young lady at
the house of his prospective father-in-law, and to make up the match
with the old couple. He wore his best of course, body-coat, white
waistcoat, caroline hat (tall silk), and _ducks_ (ducks, snow-white
canvas trousers.) All sat down to a grand dinner given in his honour,
the young couple side by side. Jack's plate was heaped up with
beautiful bacon and turkey, and white cabbage swimming in fat, that
would make you lick your lips to look at it. Poor Jack was a bit
sheepish; for there was a good deal of banter, as there always is on
such occasions. He drew over his plate to the very edge of the table;
and in trying to manage a turkey bone with knife and fork, he turned
the plate right over into his lap, down on the ducks.

The marriage came off all the same; but the story went round the
country like wildfire; and for many a long day Jack had to stand the
jokes of his friends on the _potthalowng_. Used in Munster. The Irish
is _patalong_, same sound and meaning; but I do not find it in the
dictionaries.

Pottheen; illicit whiskey: always distilled in some remote lonely
place, as far away as possible from the nose of a gauger. It is the
Irish word _poitin_ {306} [pottheen], little pot. We have partly the
same term still; for everyone knows the celebrity of _pot_-still
whiskey: but this is _Parliament_ whiskey, not _pottheen_, see p. 174.

Power; a large quantity, a great deal: Jack Hickey has a power of
money: there was a _power of cattle in the fair yesterday_: there's a
power of ivy on that old castle. Miss Grey, a small huckster who kept a
little vegetable shop, was one day showing off her rings and bracelets
to our servant. 'Oh Miss Grey,' says the girl, 'haven't you a terrible
lot of them.' 'Well Ellen, you see I want them all, for I go into _a
power of society_.' This is an old English usage as is shown by this
extract from Spenser's 'View':--'Hee also [Robert Bruce] sent over his
said brother Edward, with a power of Scottes and Red-Shankes into
Ireland.' There is a corresponding Irish expression (_neart airgid_, a
power of money), but I think this is translated from English rather
than the reverse. The same idiom exists in Latin with the word _vis_
(power): but examples will not be quoted, as they would take up a power
of space.

Powter [_t_ sounded like _th_ in _pith_]; to root the ground like a
pig; to root up potatoes from the ground with the hands. (Derry.)

Prashagh, more commonly called prashagh-wee; wild cabbage with yellow
blossoms, the rape plant. Irish _praiseach-bhuidhe_ [prashagh-wee],
yellow cabbage. _Praiseach_ is borrowed from Latin _brassica_.

Prashameen; a little group all clustered together:--'The children sat
in a prashameen on the floor.' I have heard this word a hundred times
in Limerick {307} among English speakers: its Irish form should be
_praisimin_, but I do not find it in the dictionaries.

Prashkeen; an apron. Common all over Ireland. Irish _praiscin_, same
sound and meaning.

Prawkeen; raw oatmeal and milk (MacCall: South Leinster.) See
Porter-meal.

Prepositions, incorrect use of, 26, 32, 44.

Presently; at present, now:--'I'm living in the country presently.' A
Shakespearian survival:--Prospero:--'Go bring the rabble.'
Ariel:--'Presently?' [i.e. shall I do so now?] Prospero:--'Ay, with a
wink.' Extinct in England, but preserved and quite common in Ireland.

Priested; ordained: 'He was priested last year.'

Priest's share; the soul. A mother will say to a refractory
child:--'I'll knock the priest's share out of you.' (Moran: Carlow.)

Professions hereditary, 172.

Pronunciation, 2, 91 to 104.

Protestant herring: Originally applied to a bad or a stale herring: but
in my boyhood days it was applied, in our neighbourhood, to almost
anything of an inferior quality:--'Oh that butter is a Protestant
herring.' Here is how it originated:--Mary Hewer of our village had
been for time out of mind the only huckster who sold salt herrings,
sending to Cork for a barrel from time to time, and making good profit.
At last Poll Alltimes sent for a barrel and set up an opposition shop,
taking away a large part of Mary's custom. Mary was a Catholic and Poll
a Protestant: and then our herrings became sharply distinguished as
Catholic herrings and Protestant herrings: each party eating herrings
{308} of their own creed. But after some time a horrible story began to
go round--whispered at first under people's breath--that Poll found
_the head of a black_ with long hair packed among the herrings half way
down in her barrel. Whether the people believed it or not, the bare
idea was enough; and Protestant herrings suddenly lost character, so
that poor Poll's sale fell off at once, while Mary soon regained all
her old customers. She well deserved it, if anyone ever deserved a
reward for a master-stroke of genius. But I think this is all
'forgotten lore' in the neighbourhood now.

Proverbs, 105.

Puck; to play the puck with anything: a softened equivalent of _playing
the devil_. _Puck_ here means the Pooka, which see.

Puck; a blow:--'He gave him a puck of a stick on the head.' More
commonly applied to a punch or blow of the horns of a cow or goat. 'The
cow gave him a puck (or pucked him) with her horns and knocked him
down.' The blow given by a hurler to the ball with his _caman_ or
hurley is always called a _puck_. Irish _poc_, same sound and meaning.

Puckaun; a he-goat. (South.) Irish _poc_, a he-goat, with the
diminutive.

Puke; a poor puny unhealthy-looking person.

Pulling a cord (or _the cord_); said of a young man and a young woman
who are courting:--'Miss Anne and himself that's pulling the cord.'
('Knocknagow.')

Pulloge; a quantity of hidden apples: usually hidden by a boy who
steals them. (Limerick.) Diminutive of the Irish _poll_, a hole. {309}

Pusheen; the universal word for a kitten in Munster: a diminutive of
the English word _puss_; exactly equivalent to _pussy_.

Puss [_u_ sounded as in _full_]; the mouth and lips, always used _in
dialect_ in an offensive or contemptuous sense:--'What an ugly _puss_
that fellow has.' 'He had a puss on him,' i.e. he looked sour or
displeased--with lips contracted. I heard one boy say to
another:--'I'll give you a _skelp_ (blow) on the puss.' (General.)
Irish _pus_, the mouth, same sound.

Pusthaghaun; a puffed up conceited fellow. The corresponding word
applied to a girl is _pusthoge_ (MacCall: Wexford): the diminutive
termination _aun_ or _chaun_ being masculine and _og_ feminine. Both
are from _pus_ the mouth, on account of the consequential way a
conceited person squares up the lips.

Quaw or quagh; a _quag_ or quagmire:--'I was unwilling to attempt the
_quagh_.' (Maxwell: 'Wild Sports': Mayo, but used all over Ireland.)
Irish _caedh_ [quay], for which and for the names derived from it, see
'Irish Names of Places': II. 396.

Quality; gentlemen and gentlewomen as distinguished from the common
people. Out of use in England, but general in Ireland:--'Make room for
the quality.'

Queer, generally pronounced _quare_; used as an intensive in
Ulster:--This day is quare and hot (very hot); he is quare and sick
(very sick): like _fine and fat_ elsewhere (see p. 89).

Quin or quing; the swing-tree, a piece of wood used {310} to keep the
chains apart in ploughing to prevent them rubbing the horses. (Cork and
Kerry.) Irish _cuing_ [quing], a yoke.

Quit: in Ulster 'quit that' means _cease from that_:--'quit your
crying.' In Queen's County they say _rise out of that_.

Rabble; used in Ulster to denote a fair where workmen congregate on the
hiring day to be hired by the surrounding farmers. See Spalpeen.

Rack. In Munster an ordinary comb is called a _rack_: the word _comb_
being always applied and confined to a small close fine-toothed one.

Rackrent; an excessive rent of a farm, so high as to allow to the
occupier a bare and poor subsistence. Not used outside Ireland except
so far as it has been recently brought into prominence by the Irish
land question.

Rag on every bush; a young man who is caught by and courts many girls
but never proposes.

Raghery; a kind of small-sized horse; a name given to it from its
original home, the island of Rathlin or Raghery off Antrim.

Rake; to cover up with ashes the live coals of a turf fire, which will
keep them alive till morning:--'Don't forget to rake the fire.'

Randy; a scold. (Kinahan: general.)

Rap; a bad halfpenny: a bad coin:--'He hasn't a rap in his pocket.'

Raumaush or raumaish; _romance_ or fiction, but now commonly applied to
foolish senseless brainless talk. Irish _ramas_ or _ramais_, which is
merely adapted from the word _romance_. {311}

Raven's bit; a beast that is going to die. (Kinahan.)

Rawney; a delicate person looking in poor health; a poor sickly-looking
animal. (Connaught.) Irish _ranaidhe_, same sound and meaning.

Reansha; brown bread: sometimes corrupted to _range_-bread. (MacCall:
Wexford.)

Red or redd; clear, clear out, clear away:--Redd the road, the same as
the Irish _Fag-a-ballagh_, 'clear the way.' If a girl's hair is in bad
tangles, she uses a _redding-comb_ first to open it, and then a finer
comb.

Redden; to light: 'Take the bellows and redden the fire.' An Irishman
hardly ever _lights_ his pipe: he _reddens_ it.

Redundancy, 52, 130.

Ree; as applied to a horse means restive, wild, almost unmanageable.

Reek; a rick:--A reek of turf: so the Kerry mountains, 'MacGillicuddy's
Reeks.'

Reel-foot; a club-foot, a deformed foot. (Ulster.) 'Reel-footed and
hunch-backed forbye, sir.' (Old Ulster song.)

Reenaw'lee; a slow-going fellow who dawdles and delays and hesitates
about things. (Munster.) Irish _rianalaidhe_, same sound and meaning:
from _rian_, a way, track, or road: _rianalaidhe_ , a person who
wanders listlessly along the _way_.

Reign. This word is often used in Munster, Leinster, and Connaught, in
the sense of to occupy, to be master of: 'Who is in the Knockea farm?'
'Mr. Keating reigns there now.' 'Who is your landlord?' 'The old master
is dead and his son Mr. William reigns over us now.' 'Long may {312}
your honour [the master] reign over us.' (Crofton Croker.) In answer to
an examination question, a young fellow from Cork once answered me,
'Shakespeare reigned in the sixteenth century.' This usage is borrowed
from Irish, in which the verb _riaghail_ [ree-al] means both to rule
(as a master), and to reign (as a king), and as in many other similar
cases the two meanings were confounded in English. (Kinahan and
myself.)

Relics of old decency. When a man goes down in the world he often
preserves some memorials of his former rank--a ring, silver buckles in
his shoes, &c.--'the relics of old decency.'

Revelagh; a long lazy gadding fellow. (Morris: Monaghan.)

Rib; a single hair from the head. A poet, praising a young lady, says
that 'every golden _rib_ of her hair is worth five guineas.' Irish
_ruibe_ [ribbe], same meaning.

Rickle; a little heap of turf peats standing on ends against each
other. (Derry.) Irish _ricil_, same sound and meaning.

Riddles, 185.

Ride and tie. Two persons set out on a journey having one horse. One
rides on while the other sets out on foot after him. The first man, at
the end of a mile or two, ties up the horse at the roadside and
proceeds on foot. When the second comes to the horse he mounts and
rides till he is one or two miles ahead of his comrade and then ties.
And so to the end of the journey. A common practice in old times for
courier purposes; but not in use now, I think. {313}

Rife, a scythe-sharpener, a narrow piece of board punctured all over
and covered with grease on which fine sand is sprinkled. Used before
the present emery sharpener was known. (Moran: Carlow.) Irish _riabh_
[reev], a long narrow stripe.

Right or wrong: often heard for _earnestly_: 'he pressed me right or
wrong to go home with him.'

Ringle-eyed; when the iris is light-coloured, and the circle bounding
it is very marked, the person is _ringle-eyed_. (Derry.)

Rings; often used as follows:--'Did I sleep at all?' 'Oh indeed you
did--you _slept rings round you_.'

Rip; a coarse ill-conditioned woman with a bad tongue. (General.)

Roach lime; lime just taken from the kiln, burnt, _before_ being slaked
and while still in the form of stones. This is old English from French
_roche_, a rock, a stone.

Roasters; potatoes kept crisping on the coals to be brought up to table
hot at the end of the dinner--usually the largest ones picked out. But
the word _roaster_ was used only among the lower class of people: the
higher classes considered it vulgar. Here is how Mr. Patrick Murray
(see p. 154) describes them about 1840 in a parody on Moore's 'One
bumper at parting' (a _lumper_, in Mr. Murray's version, means a big
potato):--

'One _lumper_ at parting, though many
Have rolled on the board since we met,
The biggest the hottest of any
Remains in the round for us yet.'

In the higher class of houses they were peeled and brought up at the
end nice and brown in {314} a dish. About eighty years ago a well-known
military gentleman of Baltinglass in the County Wicklow--whose daughter
told me the story--had on one occasion a large party of friends to
dinner. On the very day of the dinner the waiter took ill, and the
stable boy--a big coarse fellow--had to be called in, after elaborate
instructions. All went well till near the end of the dinner, when the
fellow thought things were going on rather slowly. Opening the
diningroom door he thrust in his head and called out in the hearing of
all:--'Masther, are ye ready for the _roasthers_?' A short time ago I
was looking at the house and diningroom where that occurred.

Rocket; a little girl's frock. (Very common in Limerick.) It is of
course an old application of the English-French _rochet_.

Rodden; a _bohereen_ or narrow road. (Ulster.) It is the Irish
_roidin_, little road.

Roman; used by the people in many parts of Ireland for _Roman
Catholic_. I have already quoted what the Catholic girl said to her
Protestant lover:--'Unless that you turn a _Roman_ you ne'er shall get
me for your bride.' Sixty or seventy years ago controversial
discussions--between a Catholic on the one hand and a Protestant on the
other--were very common. I witnessed many when I was a boy--to my great
delight. Garrett Barry, a Roman Catholic, locally noted as a
controversialist, was arguing with Mick Cantlon, surrounded by a group
of delighted listeners. At last Garrett, as a final clincher, took up
the Bible, opened it at a certain place, and handed it to his opponent,
{315} with:--'Read that heading out for us now if you please.' Mick
took it up and read 'St. Paul's Epistle to the _Romans_.' 'Very well,'
says Garrett: 'now can you show me in any part of that Bible, 'St.
Paul's Epistle to the _Protestants_'? This of course was a down blow;
and Garrett was greeted with a great hurrah by the Catholic part of his
audience. This story is in 'Knocknagow,' but the thing occurred in my
neighbourhood, and I heard about it long before 'Knocknagow' was
written.

Rookaun; great noisy merriment. Also a drinking-bout. (Limerick.)

Room. In a peasant's house the _room_ is a special apartment distinct
from the kitchen or living-room, which is not a 'room' in this sense at
all. I slept in the kitchen and John slept in the 'room.' (Healy and
myself: Munster.)

Round coal; coal in lumps as distinguished from slack or coal broken up
small and fine.

Ruction, ructions; fighting, squabbling, a fight, a row. It is a memory
of the _Insurrection_ of 1798, which was commonly called the 'Ruction.'

Rue-rub; when a person incautiously scratches an itchy spot so as to
break the skin: that is _rue-rub_. (Derry.) From _rue_, regret or
sorrow.

Rury; a rough hastily-made cake or bannock. (Morris: Monaghan.)

Rut; the smallest bonnive in a litter. (Kildare and Carlow.)

Saluting, salutations, 14.

Sapples; soap suds: _sapple_, to wash in suds. (Derry.) {316}

Saulavotcheer; a person having _lark-heels_. (Limerick.) The first
syll. is Irish; _sal_ [saul], heel.

Sauvaun; a rest, a light doze or nap. (Munster.) Irish _samhan_, same
sound and meaning, from _samh_ [sauv], pleasant and tranquil.

Scagh; a whitethorn bush. (General.) Irish _sceach_, same sound and
meaning.

Scaghler: a little fish--the pinkeen or thornback: Irish _sceach_
[scagh], a thorn or thornbush, and the English termination _ler_.

Scald: to be _scalded_ is to be annoyed, mortified, sorely troubled,
vexed. (Very general.) Translated from one or the other of two Irish
words, _loisc_ [lusk], to burn; and _scall_, to _scald_. Finn Bane
says:--'Guary being angry with me he scorched me (_romloisc_), burned
me, _scalded_ me, with abuse.' ('Colloquy.') 'I earned that money hard
and 'tis a great _heart-scald_ (_scollach-croidhe_) to me to lose it.'
There is an Irish air called 'The _Scalded_ poor man.' ('Old Irish
Music and Songs.')

Scalder, an unfledged bird (South): _scaldie_ and _scaulthoge_ in the
North. From the Irish _scal_ (bald), from which comes the Irish
_scalachan_, an unfledged bird.

Scallan; a wooden shed to shelter the priest during Mass, 143, 145.

Scalp, scolp, scalpeen; a rude cabin, usually roofed with _scalps_ or
grassy sods (whence the name). In the famine times--1847 and after--a
scalp was often erected for any poor wanderer who got stricken down
with typhus fever: and in that the people tended him cautiously till he
recovered or died. (Munster.) Irish _scailp_ [scolp]. {317}

Scalteen: see Scolsheen.

Scollagh-cree; ill-treatment of any kind. (Moran: Carlow.) Irish
_scallach-croidhe_, same sound and meaning: a 'heart scald'; from
_scalladh_, scalding, and _croidhe_, heart.

Scollop; the bended rod pointed at both ends that a thatcher uses to
fasten down the several straw-wisps. (General.) Irish _scolb_
[scollub].

Scolsheen or scalteen; made by boiling a mixture of whiskey, water,
sugar, butter and pepper (or caraway seeds) in a pot: a sovereign cure
for a cold. In the old mail-car days there was an inn on the road from
Killarney to Mallow, famous for scolsheen, where a big pot of it was
always kept ready for travellers. (Kinahan and Kane.) Sometimes the
word _scalteen_ was applied to unmixed whiskey burned, and used for the
same purpose. From the Irish _scall_, burn, singe, _scald_.

Sconce; to chaff, banter, make game of:--'None of your sconcing.'
(Ulster.)

Sconce; to shirk work or duty. (Moran: Carlow.)

Scotch Dialect: influence of, on our Dialect, 6, 7.

Scotch lick; when a person goes to clean up anything--a saucepan, a
floor, his face, a pair of shoes, &c.--and only half does it, he (or
she) has given it a _Scotch lick_. General in South. In Dublin it would
be called a 'cat's lick': for a cat has only a small tongue and doesn't
do much in the way of licking.

Scout; a reproachful name for a bold forward girl.

Scouther; to burn a cake on the outside before it is fully cooked, by
over haste in baking:--burned outside, half raw inside. Hence 'to
scouther' {318} means to do anything hastily and incompletely.
(Ulster.)

Scrab; to scratch:--'The cat near scrabbed his eyes out.' (Patterson:
Ulster.) In the South it is _scraub_:--'He scraubed my face.'

Scrab; to gather the stray potatoes left after the regular crop, when
they are afterwards turned out by plough or spade.

Scraddhin; a scrap; anything small--smaller than usual, as a small
potato: applied contemptuously to a very small man, exactly the same as
the Southern _sprissaun_. Irish _scraidin_, same sound and meaning.
(East Ulster.)

Scran; 'bad scran to you,' an evil wish like 'bad luck to you,' but
much milder: English, in which _scran_ means broken victuals,
food-refuse, fare--very common. (North and South.)

Scraw; a grassy sod cut from a grassy or boggy surface and often dried
for firing; also called _scrahoge_ (with diminutive _og_). Irish
_scrath_, _scrathog_, same sounds and meaning.

Screenge; to search for. (Donegal and Derry.)

Scunder or Scunner; a dislike; to take a dislike or disgust against
anything. (Armagh.)

Scut; the tail of a hare or rabbit: often applied in scorn to a
contemptible fellow:--'He's just a scut and nothing better.' The word
is Irish, as is shown by the following quotation:--'The billows [were]
conversing with the _scuds_ (sterns) and the beautiful prows [of the
ships].' (Battle of Moylena: and note by Kuno Meyer in 'Rev. Celt.')
(General.)

Seeshtheen; a low round seat made of twisted straw. {319} (Munster.)
Irish _suidhistin_, same sound and meaning: from _suidhe_ [see], to
sit, with diminutive.

Set: all over Ireland they use _set_ instead of _let_ [a house or
lodging]. A struggling housekeeper failed to let her lodging, which a
neighbour explained by:--'Ah she's no good at _setting_.'

Set; used in a bad sense, like _gang_ and _crew_:--'They're a dirty
set.'

Settle bed; a folding-up bed kept in the kitchen: when folded up it is
like a sofa and used as a seat. (All over Ireland.)

Seven'dable [accent on _ven_], very great, _mighty great_ as they would
say:--'Jack gave him a _sevendable_ thrashing.' (North.)

Shaap [the _aa_ long as in _car_]; a husk of corn, a pod. (Derry.)

Shamrock or Shamroge; the white trefoil (_Trifolium repens_). The Irish
name is _seamar_ [shammer], which with the diminutive makes _seamar-og_
[shammer-oge], shortened to _shamrock_.

Shanachus, shortened to _shanagh_ in Ulster, a friendly conversation.
'Grandfather would like to have a shanahus with you.' ('Knocknagow.')
Irish _seanchus_, antiquity, history, an old story.

Shandradan' [accented strongly on _-dan_]; an old rickety rattle-trap
of a car. The first syllable is Irish _sean_ [shan], old.

Shanty: a mean hastily put up little house. (General.) Probably from
Irish _sean_, old, and _tigh_ [tee], a house.

Shaugh; a turn or smoke of a pipe. (General.) Irish _seach_, same sound
and meaning. {320}

Shaughraun; wandering about: to be _on the shaughraun_ is to be out of
employment and wandering idly about looking for work. Irish _seachran_,
same sound and meaning.