Chapter D: DA`. s. Day

Dàyze. Days.

Dade. Dead.

Dad'dick. _s._ Rotten wood.

Dad'dicky. _adj._ Rotten, like daddick.

Dame. _s._ This word is originally French, and means in that language, _lady_; but in this dialect it means a mistress; an old woman; and never a lady; nor is it applied to persons in the upper ranks of society, nor to the very lowest; when we say _dame_ Hurman, or _dame_ Bennet, we mean the wife of some farmer; a school-mistress is also sometimes called dame (dame-schools).

Dang. _interj._ Generally followed by pronoun, as _dang it_; _dang êm_; _od dang it_: [an imprecation, a corruption of _God dang it_ (_God hang it_) or more likely corruption of _damn_.]

Dap, _v. n._ To hop; to rebound.

Dap. _s._ A hop; a turn. _To know the daps of a person_ is, to know his disposition, his habits, his peculiarities.

Dap'ster. _s._ A proficient.

To Daver. _v. n._ To fade; to fall down; to droop.

Dav'ison. _s._ A species of wild plum, superior to the bullin.

Daw'zin. _s._ The passing over land with a bent hazel rod, held in a certain direction, to discover whether veins of metal or springs are below, is called _Dawzin_, which is still practised in the mining districts of Somersetshire. There is an impression among the vulgar, that certain persons only have the gift of the _divining rod_, as it has been sometimes called; by the French, _Baguette Devinatoire_.

_Ray_, in his _Catalogus Plantarum Angliæ, &c._, Art. _Corylus_, speaks of the divining rod: " Vulgus metallicorum ad virgulam divinum, ut vocant, quâ venas metallorum inquírit præ cæteris furcam eligit colurnam." More may be seen in John Bauhin.

Des'perd. _adj._ [Corrupted from desperate.] Very, extremely; used in a good as well as a bad sense: _desperd good_; _desperd bad_.

Dewberry, _s._ A species of blackberry.

Dibs. _s. pl._ Money.

Did'dlecome. _adj._ Half-mad; sorely vexed.

Dig'ence. _s._ [g hard, _diggunce_, Dickens] a vulgar word for the _Devil_.

Dird. _s._ Thread.

Dirsh, _s._ A thrush.

Dirten. _adj._ Made of dirt.

Dock. _s._ A crupper.

Doe. _part._ Done.

To Doff. _v. a._ To put off.

To Don. _v. a._ To put on.

Donnins. _s. pl._ Dress; clothes.

Dough-fig. _s._ A fig; so called, most probably, from its feeling like _dough_. JUNIUS has _dotefig_: I know not where he found it. _See_ FIG.

To Dout. _v. a._ To extinguish; to put out.

To Downarg. _v. a._ [To _argue_ one _down_]; to contradict; to contend with.

Dowst. _s._ Dust; money; _Down wi' tha dowst!_ Put down the money!

Dowsty. _adj._ Dusty.

[_Dr_ used for _thr_ in many words:] as _droo_ for _through_.

Draffit. _s._ [I suppose from draught-vat.] A vessel to hold pot-liquor and other refuse from the kitchen for pigs.

Drang. _s._ A narrow path.

To Drash. _v. a._ To thresh.

Dras'hel. _s._ The threshold; a flail.

Dras'her. _s._ A thresher.

Drauve. _s._ A drove, or road to fields.

Drawt. _s._ Throat.

To Drean. _v. n._ To drawl in reading or speaking.

Drean. _s._ A drawling in reading or speaking.

Dreaten. _v._ Threaten.

Dree. _a._ Three.

To Dring. _v. n._ To throng; to press, as in a crowd; to thrust.

Dring'et. _s._ A crowd; a throng.

To Droa. _v. a._ To throw.

Droa. Throw.

Drooäte. Throat.

Drob. _v._ Rob.

Drode (_throw'd_). _part._ Threw, thrown.

Droo. _prep._ Through.

To drool. _v. n._ To drivel.

To Drow. _v. n., v. a._ To dry.

_The hay do'nt drowy at all._ See the observations which precede this vocabulary.

Drowth. _s._ Dryness; thirst.

Drow'thy. _adj._ Dry; thirsty.

Drove. _s._ A road leading to fields, and sometimes from one village to another. Derived from its being a way along which cattle are driven. RAY uses the word in his _Catalogus Plantorum Angliæ, &c._, Art. _Chondrilla_.

To Drub. _v. n., v. a._ To throb; to beat.

Drubbin. _s._ A beating.

To Druck. _v. a._ To thrust down; to cram; to press.

Dub, Dub'bed, Dub'by. _adj._ Blunt; not pointed; squat.

Dub'bin. _s._ Suet.

Duck-an-Mallard. _s._ (Duck and Drake) a play of throwing slates or flat stones horizontally along the water so as to skim the surface and rise several times before they sink. _"Hen pen, Duck-an-Mallard, Amen."_

To Dud'der. _v. a._ To deafen with noise; to render the head confused.

Duds. _s. pl._ Dirty cloaths.

Dum'bledore. _s._ A humble-bee; a stupid fellow.

Dunch, (Dunce?). _adj._ Deaf.

As a deaf person is very often, apparently at least, stupid; a stupid, intractable person is, therefore, called a DUNCE: one who is deaf and intractable. What now becomes of _Duns Scotus_, and all the rest of the recondite observations bestowed upon DUNCE?--_See_ GROSE.

I have no doubt that _Dunch_ is Anglo-Saxon, although I cannot find it in any of our old dictionaries, except Bailey's. But it ought not to be forgotten, that many words are floating about which are being arrested by our etymologists in the present advancing age of investigation.

Durns. _s. pl._ A door-frame.

Dwon't, Dwon. _v._ (Don't) do not.

E.

Eake. _adv._ Also.

Ear-wrig. _s._ Earwig.

This word ought to be spelled _Earwrig_, as it is derived, doubtless, from wriggle. See WRIGGLE.

Eese. _adv._ Yes.

Eet. _adv._ Yet.

El'men. _adj._ Of or belonging to elm; made of elm.

El'ver. _s._ A young eel.

Em'mers. _s. pl._ Embers.

Emmet-batch, _s._ An ant-hill.

To Empt. _v.a._ To empty.

En. _pron._Him; _a zid en_; he saw him.

Er. _pron._ He. [Used West of the Parret.]

Eth. _s._ Earth.

To Eve. _v.n._ To become damp; to absorb moisture from the air.

Evet. _s._ A lizard.

Ex. _s._ An axle.

F.

Fags! _interj._ Truly; indeed.

Fayer. _s._ and _adj._ Fair.

To Fell. _v.a._ To sew in a particular manner; to inseam.

This word is well known to the ladies, I believe, all over the kingdom; it ought to be in our dictionaries.

Fes'ter. _s._ An inflammatory tumour.

Few, Veo. _adj._ More commonly pronounced _veo_. Little; as a _few broth_.

Fig. _s._ A raisin.

Figged-pudding. _s._ a pudding with raisins in it; plum- pudding.

Fildèfare. _s._ A Fieldfare. "Farewell fieldèfare." _Chaucer_. Meaning that, as fieldfares disappear at a particular season, _the season is over_, _the bird is flown_.

Fil'try. _s._ Filth; nastiness; rubbish.

Firnd. _v._ To find.

Firnd. _s._ Friend.

Fitch, Fitchet. _s._ A pole-cat. _As cross as a fitchet._

Fit'ten, Vit'ten. _s._ A feint; a pretence.

Flap-jack. _s._ A fried cake made of batter, apples, &c.; a fritter.

To Flick. _v.a._ To pull out suddenly with some pointed instrument.

Flick-tooth-comb. _s._ A comb with coarse teeth for combing the hair.

Flick. _s._ The membrane loaded with fat, in the bellies of animals: a term used by butchers.

Flook. _s._ An animal found in the liver of sheep, similar in shape to a flook or flounder.

Flush. _adj._ Fledged; able to fly: (applied to young birds.)

Fooäse. _s._ Force. See Vooäse.

To Fooäse. _v.a._ To force.

Foo'ter. _s._ [Fr. _foutre_] A scurvy fellow; a term of contempt.

Foo'ty. _adj._ Insignificant; paltry; of no account.

For'rel. _s._ the cover of a book.

Forweend'. _adj._ Humoursome; difficult to please: (applied to children).

Fout. _preterite._ of to fight.

French-nut. _s._ A walnut.

To Frump. _v.a._ To trump up.

To Frunt. _v.a._ To affront.

To Fur. _v.a._ To throw.

Fur'cum. _s._ The bottom: the whole.

Fur'nis. _s._ A large vessel or boiler, used for brewing, and other purposes; fixed with bricks and mortar, and surrounded with flues, for the circulation of heat, and exit of smoke.

G.

Gaern. _s._ A garden.

Gale. _s._ An old bull castrated.

Gal'libagger. _s._ [From _gally_ and _beggar_] A bug-bear.

Gal'lise. _s._ The gallows.

Gallid. _adj._ Frightened.

To Gal'ly. _v. a._ To frighten.

Gallant'ing, Galligant'ing. _part._ Wandering about in gaiety and enjoyment: applied chiefly to associations of the sexes.

Gam'bril. _s._ A crooked piece of wood used by butchers to spread, and by which to suspend the carcase.

Gan'ny-cock. _s._ A turkey-cock.

Ganny-cock's Snob. _s._ The long membranous appendage at the beak, by which the cock-turkey is distinguished.

Gare. _s._ The iron work for wheels, waggons, &c., is called ire-gare; accoutrements.

Gate-shord. _s._ A gate-way; a place for a gate.

Gat'fer. _s._ An old man.

Gaw'cum. _s._ A simpleton; a gawkey.

Gawl-cup. _s._ Gold cup.

To Gee. _v.n._ [g soft] To agree; to go on well together.

To Gee. _v.n._ [g hard; part, and past tense, _gid_.] To give. _Gee_ often includes the pronoun, thus, "I'll gee" means I'll give you; the _gee_, and _ye_ for _you_, combining into _gee_.

To G'auf. _v.n._ To go off.

To G'auver. _v.n._ To go over.

To G'in. _v.n._ To go in.

To G'on. _v.n._ To go on.

To G'out. _v.n._ To go out.

To G'under. _v.n._ To go under,

To G'up. _v.n._ To go up.

Gib'bol. _s._ [g soft] The sprout of an onion of the second year.

Gid. _pret. v._ Gave.

Gifts. _s.pl._ The white spots frequently seen on the finger nails.

Gig'letin. _adj._ Wanton; trifling; applied to the female sex.

Gil'awfer. _s._ A term applied to all the kinds of flowers termed _stocks_; and also to a few others: as a _Whitsuntide gilawfer_, a species of _Lychnidea_.

Gim'mace. _s._ A hinge.

Gim'maces. _s. pl._ When a criminal is gibbeted, or hung in irons or chains, he is said to be hung in _Gimmaces_, most probably because the apparatus swings about as if on hinges.

Ginnin. _s._ Beginning.

Girnin. _part._ Grinning.

Girt. _adj._ Great.

Gird'l. Contracted from _great deal_; as, gird'l o' work; great deal of work.

To Glare. _v. a._ To glaze earthenware.

Glare. _s._ The glaze of earthenware.

G'lore. _adv._ In plenty.

This word, without the apostrophe, _Glore_, is to be found in Todd's Johnson, and there defined _fat_. The true meaning is, I doubt not, as above; _fat g'lore_, is _fat in plenty_.

Gold. _s._ The shrub called sweet-willow or wild myrtle; _Myrica gale_.

This plant grows only in peat soils; it is abundant in the boggy moors of Somersetshire; it has a powerful and fragrant smell.

Gold-cup. _s._ A species of crow-foot, or ranunculus, growing plentifully in pastures; _ranunculus pratensis._

To Goo. _v. n._ [_Gwain_, going; _gwon_, gone.] To go.

Gookoo. _s._ Cookoo.

Goo'ner. _interj._ Goodnow!

Good'-Hussey. _s._ A thread-case.

Goose-cap. _s._ A silly person.

Graint'ed. _adj._ Fixed in the grain; difficult to be removed; dirty.

Gram'fer. _s._ Grandfather.

Gram'mer. _s._ Grandmother.

To Gree. _v. n._ To agree.

Gribble. _s._ A young apple-tree raised from seed.

To Gripe, _v. a._ To cut into gripes. See GRIPE.

Gripe. _s._ [from Dutch, _groep_.] A small drain, or ditch, about a foot deep, and six or eight inches wide.

In English Dictionaries spelled _grip_.

Griping-line. _s._ A line to direct the spade in cutting gripes.

Groan'in. _s._ Parturition; the time at which a woman is in labour.

Ground, _s._ A field.

Gro'zens. _s. pl._ The green minute round-leaved plants growing upon the surface of water in ditches; duck's-meat; the _Lens palustris_ of Ray.

Gruff. _s._ A mine.

Gruf'fer. Gruf'fier. _s._ A miner.

To Gud'dle. _v. n._ To drink much and greedily.

Gud'dler. _s._ A greedy drinker; one who is fond of liquor.

To Gulch, _v. n._ To swallow greedily.

Gulch. _s._ A sudden swallowing.

Gump'tion. _s._ Contrivance; common sense.

Gum'py. _adj._ Abounding in protuberances.

Gurds. _s. pl._ Eructations. [By _Fits and gurds._]

Guss. _s._ A girth.

To Guss. _v. a._ To girth.

Gwain. _part._ Going.

Gwon. _part._ Gone.

H.

Hack. _s._ The place whereon bricks newly made are arranged to dry.

To Hain. _v. a._ To exclude cattle from a field in order that the grass may grow, so that it may be mowed.

Hal'lantide. _s._ All Saints' day.

Ham. _s._ A pasture generally rich, and also unsheltered, applied only to level land.

Hame. _sing._, Hames. _pl._ _s._ Two moveable pieces of wood or iron fastened upon the collar, with suitable appendages for attaching a horse to the shafts. Called sometimes _a pair of hames_.

Han'dy. _adv._ Near, adjoining.

Hang-gallise. _adj._ Deserving the gallows, felonious, vile; as, _a hang-gallise fellow_.

Hange. _s._ The heart, liver, lungs, &c., of a pig, calf, or sheep.

Hang'kicher. _s._ Handkerchief.

Hangles. _s. pl._ A _pair of hangles_ is the iron crook, &c., composed of teeth, and hung over the fire, to be moved up and down at pleasure for the purpose of cookery, &c.

To Happer. _v. n._ To crackle; to make repeated smart noises.

To Haps. _v. a._ To Hasp.

Haps. _s._ A hasp.

Hard. _adj._ Full grown. _Hard people_, adults.

Harm. _s._ Any contagious or epidemic disease not distinguished by a specific name.

Har'ras. _s._ Harvest.

Hart. _s._ A haft; a handle.

Applied to such instruments as knives, awls, etc.

Hathe. _s. To be in a hathe_, is to be set thick and close like the pustules of the small-pox or other eruptive disease; to be matted closely together.

To Have. _v. n._ To behave.

Haw. See _ho_.

Hay-maidens. _s. pl._ Ground ivy.

Hay'ty-tay'ty, Highty-tity. _interj._ What's here! _s._ [height and tite, weight]. A board or pole, balanced in the middle on some prop, so that two persons, one sitting at each end, may move up and down in turn by striking the ground with the feet. Sometimes called _Tayty_ [See-saw].

In Hay'digees. [g soft] _adv._ To be in high spirits; to be frolicsome.

Heät _s._ Pronounced He-at, dissyllable, heat.

Hea'ram-skearam. _adj._ Wild; romantic.

To Heel, _v. a._ To hide; to cover. Chaucer, "_hele_." Hence, no doubt, the origin of _to heal_, to cure, as applied to wounds; _to cover over_.

Heeler, _s._ One who hides or covers. Hence the very common expression, _The healer is as bad as the stealer_; that is, the receiver is as bad as the thief.

Heft. _s._ Weight.

To Hell. _v. a._ To pour.

Hel'lier. _s._ A person who lays on the tiles of a roof; a tiler. A Devonshire word.

Helm. _s._ Wheat straw prepared for thatching.

To Hen. _v. a._ To throw.

To Hent. _v. n._ To wither; to become slightly dry.

Herd _s._ A keeper of cattle.

Hereawa, Hereaway. _adv._ Hereabout.

Herence. _adv._ From this place; hence.

Hereright. _adv._ Directly; in this place.

Het. _pron._ It. _Het o'nt_, it will not.

To Het. _v. a._ To hit, to strike; _part._ _het_ and _hut_.

To Hick. _v.n._ To hop on one leg.

Hick. _s._ A hop on one leg.

_Hick-step and jump._ Hop-step and jump. A well known exercise.

To Hike of. _v. n._ To go away; to go off. Used generally in a bad sense.

Hine. _adj._ (Hind) Posterior; relating to the back part. Used only in composition, as, a _hine_ quarter.

To Hire tell. _v. n._ To hear tell; to learn by report; to be told.

Hip'pety-hoppety. _adv._ In a limping and hobbling manner.

Hirches. _s._ riches.

Hir'd. _v._ [i long] heard.

To Him. _v. n._ [_hirnd_, pret, and part.] To run.

To Hitch, _v. n._ To become entangled or hooked together; to hitch up, to hang up or be suspended. _See the next word._

To Hitch up. _v. a._ To suspend or attach slightly or temporarily.

The following will exemplify the active meaning of this verb:

Sir Strut, for so the witling throng Oft called him when at school, And _hitch'd_ him _up_ in many a song To sport and ridicule.

Hiz'en. Used for _his_ when not followed by a substantive, as, whose house is that? _Hiz'en._ [His own].

Hi'zy Pi'zy. A corruption of _Nisi Prius_, a well known law assize.

To Ho for, To Haw vor. _v. a._ To provide for; to take care of; to desire; to wish for.

Hob'blers. _s. pl._ Men employed in towing vessels by a rope on the land.

Hod. _s._ A sheath or covering; perhaps from _hood_.

Hog. _s._ A sheep one year old.

To Hoke. _v. a._ To wound with horns; to gore.

Hod'medod. _adj._ Short; squat.

Hollar. _adj._ Hollow.

To Hollar. _v. a._ To halloo.

Hollar. _s._ A halloo.

Hol'lardy. _s._ A holiday.

Hollardy-day. _s._ Holy-rood day; the third of May.

Hollabeloo'. _s._ A noise; confusion; riot.

Hol'men. _adj._ Made of holm.

Holt. _interj._ Hold; stop. _Holt-a-blow_, give over fighting.

Ho'mescreech. _s._ A bird which builds chiefly in apple- trees; I believe it is the _Turdus viscivorus,_ or missel.

Hon. _s._ hand.

Honey-suck, Honey-suckle. _s._ The wodbine.

Honey-suckle. _s._ Red Clover.

Hoo'say. _See_ WHOSAY.

Hoop. _s._ A bullfinch.

Hor'nen. _adj._ Made of horn.

Hornen-book. _s._ Hornbook.

Horse-stinger. _s_ The dragon-fly.

Hoss. _s._ horse.

Hoss-plâs _s. pl._ Horse-plays; rough sports.

Houzen. _s. pl._ Houses.

Howsomiver. _adv._ However; howsoever.

Huck'muck. _s._ A strainer placed before the faucet in the mashing-tub.

Hud. _s._ A hull, or husk.

Huf. _s_ A hoof.

Huf-cap _s._ A plant, or rather weed, found in fields, and with difficulty eradicated.

I regret that I cannot identify this plant with any known botanical name.

Graced with _huff-cap_ terms and thundering threats, That his poor hearers' hair quite upright sets.

_Bp. Hall, Book_ I, _Sat._ iii.

Some editor of Hall has endeavoured to explain the term huff-cap by _blustering, swaggering._ I think it simply means _difficult_.

Hug. _s._ The itch. _See_ SHAB (applied to brutes. )

Hug-water. _s._ Water to cure the hug. _See_ SHAB.

To Hul'der. _v. a._ To hide; conceal.

Hul'ly. _s._ A peculiarly shaped long wicker trap used for catching eels.

To Hulve. _v. a._ To turn over; to turn upside down.

Hum'drum. _s._ A small low three-wheeled cart, drawn usually by one horse: used occasionally in agriculture.

From the peculiarity of its construction, it makes a kind of humming noise when it is drawn along; hence, the origin of the adjective _humdrum_.

Hunt-the-slipper. _s._ A well-known play.