Bif the Rev. W. C. Plenderleath, M.A. 118 



Riffle, «.=an artificial whetstone, or knife-board, made with 

 " callus-stone," q.v. I presume that this word, like reef, rift. &c. 

 comes from the Old English word rive, to tear, and is cognate with 

 the German rijjel, a comb. The root is Scandinavian. 



Skive, v. fl.=shave, slice. Halliwell gives this as a technical 

 expression for " to pare the thicker parts of hides previously to 

 tanning them." I have heard it, however, in general use for any- 

 thing which was capable of being sliced. It exists in the same 

 form in Kent; but the Cumberland folk talk of "skiving off" a 

 slice of bread. And a Norfolk correspondent sends me the following 

 note: — "'slive,' 'slive off'=slice obliquely. Cf. 'slift of beef* 

 for pickling, i.e., the silver side of the round." 



Soft-tide, *.=the three days next before Lent. I am unable to 

 offer any explanation of this phrase unless it should be from the 

 Old English word sauf, and so point to a similar idea as the French 

 expression for a penitent who has been reconciled to the Church, as 

 having '■'fait son salut." A friend suggests to me the possibility 

 of its being simply a verbal coiTuption of shrove-tide. 



Terrify, ?;.=to injure. Constantly spoken of non-sentient things : 

 e.g., a sharp hailstorm in the spring of the year would not only 

 " terrify " a small child who might be caught in it, but also the 

 apple trees, whose blossoms it might knock off. I have not heard 

 of the phrase in other counties. 



TiMES,=mauy times, frequently. This elliptical expression ap- 

 pears also to be peculiar to Wiltshire, where (I may add) " Anyone 

 who has conversed much with the people must have heard it times." 

 Halliwell gives "times and about" as meaning very frequently , but 

 does not say where used. I have never met with the latter phrase 

 here. 



Trig, v. a. ^fasten, make firm. This is a word to which, as 

 substantive, adjective, and verb, Halliwell gives no less than nine 

 different significations, all connected with the idea of firmness and 

 stability. In Hampshire and Yorkshire I have heard of its being 

 used in our Wiltshire sense : in the North of England as an ad- 

 jective meaning tight, compact, neat. And in Cornwall substan- 

 tively, for a patch put on the sole of a shoe to strengthen it. The 



VOL. XXII. — NO. LXIV. I 



