Nov. 4. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



359 



Ndty. Meat in which the fat fibres are much 

 mixed with those of the lean is said to be riaty. 



Neg, neggy., a baby's tooth. 



Nttihy gibby. An expression I suppose to be 

 not local ; but it signifies, a very narrow escape : 

 " It was nibby gibby with him," that is, he had a 

 very narrow escape from injury. 



Niddick. The pit of the neck behind, where 

 the head is joined to it. 



Niff. This word is employed both as a sub- 

 stantive and a verb. An offence ; a sullen quarrel, 

 but not deep. It commonly implies resentment 

 that does not show itself openly : a silent feeling 

 of being offended. 



Nin and ninny, to drink. It is used chiefly to- 

 wards children, in a coaxing way, to entice them 

 to drink. Probably this is the origin of the word 

 ninny, as signifying a foolish, weak person, in un- 

 derstanding, as if bemuddled with drink. 



Oile, the awn of barley, 



^Oodd, a wood. 



Orestone. The name of some large single rocks 

 in the sea, not far from land. Some fishes when 

 cooked are said to taste ory, some things to smell 

 ory; that is, like the sea-beach. The word there- 

 fore has a similar meaning to the Latin word of a 

 like sound, and referring to the beach. 



Oreweed, seaweed. 



O^'zel. The common name for the windpipe, or 

 front of the throat, 



Panger, a pannier or wicker basket, fitted by its 

 shape to be carried on the back of fishermen. 



Patched, mended in an imperfect manner ; cob- 

 bled up, with newer materials on the old, to serve 

 a temporary purpose. 



Pay. This word, in ordinary language, is only 

 used to signify the delivering over of money, or 

 other valuables, in discharge of a debt. But in its 

 original meaning, it seems to have had a particular 

 reference to the act or manner of blotting out the 

 record of the debt. This was done in times not 

 long passed, and is sometimes done now, by draw- 

 ing a line, or more commonly two lines crossing 

 each other athwart the writing in the book ; and 

 from the custom, it is often said by country peo- 

 ple, when they have paid a debt, that the book is 

 crossed. But at the time when very few were 

 able to read what was written, not only would it 

 be thought unsatisfactory to have nothing more 

 than a written receipt entered in the book, but 

 this drawing a line across the record of the debt 

 was supposed too slight a matter ; and therefore 

 the obliteration was made by dipping the tip of 

 the finger in ink, and smearing it over with writ- 

 ing. This blotting out of the record was what 

 was particularly understood by the word paying, 

 and not simply the act of delivering the money : 

 and hence our local application of the word to pay 

 is only an extension of the original meaning, when 

 it is applied to the smearing over of the bottom of 



a ship or boat with pitch. When a new coat of 

 pitch or tar is thus laid, the boat is said to be paid 

 over, 



Peasen, the plural of peas. So also we have 

 rosen for roses ; and I have heard the word honsen 

 for houses. In the same form of the plural, we 

 have in common English the word children ; but 

 the word chicken has of late suffered a remarkable 

 change, as if there were no such word as chick ; 

 and, to depart from all analogy, the letter s has 

 lately been added to the former plural, and many 

 people familiarly use the word chickens as the 

 plural. 



Peendy. Meat which has begun to suffer a 

 change in smell or taste ; a peculiar taste or smell 

 short of decay or decomposition. 



Penny liggy ; with an empty purse. A person, 

 who has been from home and spent all his money, 

 when he returns with empty pockets, is said to 

 come home penny liggy. 



Pin, to fix one to a point. Hence a person is 

 said to be pinned when he is so brought to a point 

 that he cannot escape or equivocate. In old time, 

 the keeper of a pound was called a pinner, as being 

 one who fixed and confined cattle that were 

 straying. Milton uses the word pinfold for the 

 pound itself. 



Pinnet, for pint. 



Pittis, pale and wan ; pale and mournful. It is 

 not allied to the words pity or piteous. A person 

 is said to look pittis, when he is pale and emaciated. 



Planching, a wooden floor. To planch a floor, 

 is to make it of wood, as distinguished from a 

 stone floor. 



Pluff, puffed up or plumped up, as a spongy 

 substance. It does not answer to the word plump, 

 for it conveys the idea of inflated emptiness. It 

 is often applied to an apple or turnip that has lost 

 its succulency, without being deprived of its ap- 

 parent fulness, A bag of feathers is pluff. 



Plum, soft. Bread is said to be plum when it is 

 well fermented, and consequently has sprung up 

 well. Any substance, as fur or a cushion, is plunif 

 when it is soft and yielding, 



Poddle, to move about with the feet irregularly. 

 Also, a puddle, as expressive of a dirty pool. The 

 root seems to imply such a movement of the feet 

 as children may be engaged in ; and a puddle is a 

 pool stirred up by thus trampling in it. It some- 

 times means to meddle. 



Pook. It is applied only to a heap of hay, or 

 what is elsewhere called a haycock ; but it seems 

 the same word with peak, which as well describes 

 the point of a bonnet as the Peak of Teneriffe. ^ 



Poot, to strike about with the foot, but not with 

 the object of kicking. Children are said to poot^ 

 when in their sleep they strike about their feetk 



Porr, pother. 



Portence, the henge of a beast ; for the most 

 part, of a sheep. 



