SOME HOLDERNESS DIALECT FIGHTING WORDS. 269 



tweea on em gat agate o' fightin'. Yan on em landed 

 tuther a left-handed dandher, an' doon he went." (Nice 

 Sons o' " Brotherly Luv " they was !) 



Dhrissing (Dressing) — A flogging, general, particular and 

 extensive, with whatever weapon or instrument comes 

 first to hand. A good dhrissing doon is a specific for 

 laziness and other forms of disinclination to work, and 

 Solomon doubtless had this operation in mind when he 

 uttered his familiar proverb, " Spare the rod and spoil 

 the child. " 



Dhrop — To knock down with the fist. We use another word 

 "dhrop," meaning to "give up," or "cease to do." 

 Hence the two can be combined thus in a pun : " Noo, if 

 they dizzn't dhrop it (give up) Ah'll dhrop thoo. " The 

 old Norsemen, our fighting ancestors, had a word (Ice., 

 drepe) meaning a blow, from which the word " dhrop " 

 probably comes. To drop in for it is an expectation, in 

 which you hope that the realisation will be very much 

 less worse than the anticipation. Another threat is 

 " Ah'll come fo' yo' ! " and a certain scholar thought the 

 23rd psalm was awful because both rod and staff "come 

 fo' " me. 



Dhrub is a general flogging, a " dhrissing doon," only more 

 so. To be " weel dhrubbed " is not soon to be forgotten, 

 and not talked of lightly. 



Differ — A wordy quarrel, like a u callitin-bout." Said one 

 man to another, " Ah heeahd tell 'at thoo an* thi 

 neebors had a differin' bout, bud whativver meead yo' 

 differ ? " 



Dig — To poke with a stick or finger, &c. " He ga' ma a 

 dig i' ribs, and it's as sare as can be." 



Ding or Deng. — The Old Norse word dengja, to hammer, 

 gives force to this word, which Prof. Skeat describes as 

 a true English strong verb, though not found in A. S. 

 The word is used in the York Mystery Plays thus : " Dyng 

 tham doune tylle all be dede." Our nursery rhyme 

 again helps us : "Ding dong bell." " Deng" it, also 

 an interjection, or imprecation, a sort of incipient 

 swearing. 



Drive. — When an opponent " lets dhraave " at you, you may 

 hope he is not a disciple of Sandow, for in the blow thus 

 given is put all the strength of mind and muscle to the 

 very last particle. It may be said, " He up wiv his 

 neeaf, an' let dhraave at him full slap." 



