282 



Glossary of Provincialisms. 



[app. 



DoDNT, To. To dint, or imprint. 

 Formed, as Mr. Wedgwood remarks, 

 of the kindred words, dint, dent, dunt, 

 by an onomatopoetic process. We find 

 the word in an old song still sung in 

 the New Forest, ' A Time to remem- 

 ber the Poor :" — 



" Here's the poor haiinless hare from 

 the woods tliat is tracked, 

 And her footsteps deep dounted in 

 snow." 



Drat, A. A prison ; " the cage " of 

 the Midland districts. Cm-ionsly enough 

 the old poet William Browne, as also 

 Wither, speaks of a squiiTel's nest as a 

 " dray " — still used, by-thc-by, in some 

 counties — which in the New Forest is 

 always called a " cage." In this last 

 sense Mr. Lower adds it to the glos- 

 sary of Sussex provincialisms (^Sussex 

 Archceologicul Collections, vol. xiii., 

 p. 215). I may further note that at 

 Christmas in the Forest, as in other 

 wooded parts of England, squirrel- 

 feasts are held. Two parties of boys 

 and young men go into the woods 

 armed with " scales " and " snogs " 

 (see chap. xvi. p. 182), to see who 

 will kill the most squiiTels. Some- 

 times as many as a hundred or more are 

 brouglit home, when they are baked in 

 a pie. Their fur, too, is sought after 

 for its glossiness. 



Drum, Ivy-, An. The stem of an 

 ivy tree or bush, which grows round the 

 bole of another tree. 



Drunch, To. To draw up, press, 

 squeeze. We find the substantive 

 " drunge," with which it is evidently 

 connected, given in Wright as a Wilt- 

 shire pronunciation for pressiu'C, or 

 crowd. Mr. Barnes also, in his Glos- 

 sary of the Dorsetshire Dialect, p. 235, 

 gives the forms " dringc or " drunge," 

 to squeeze or push. 



Elam, An. An handful of thatch. 



Common both in the New Forest and 



Wiltshire. In the former three elams 



make a bundle, and twenty bundles 



282 



one score, and four scores a ton. In 

 the latter the measurement is some- 

 what different, five elams forming a 

 bundle. 



Fessey. (From the Old-English 

 fits, ready, prompt, quick). Proud, 

 upstart. In the glossaries of Wright 

 and Halliwell we find " fess " given as 

 the commoner form. 



Fetch, To. Used with reference to 

 churning butter. " To fetch the butter," 

 means, to raise the ci-eam into a certain 

 consistency. 



Fire-bladder. A pimple, or erup- 

 tion on the face. See " bunch." 



Flisky. Small, minute. Used es- 

 pecially of. misty rain. 



Flitch, or quite as often Fritch. 

 (From the Old-English flit, or geflit). 

 Not only as explained in the glossary of 

 Wiltshire, impertinent, busy, but, by 

 some houstrophedon process, good-hu- 

 moured. " You are very flitch to-day," 

 that is, good-natured. 



Fluders. Worms, which on certain 

 land get into the livers of sheep, when 

 the animal is said tobc"cothed." Called 

 also " flukes," and " flounders." See the 

 word " cothe." 



Gait, A. A crotchet, or, as the ml- 

 gar expression is, a maggot. Used 

 always in a dejirecatory sense. When a 

 person has done anything foolish lie says, 

 " this is a gait I have got." Doubtless, 

 identical M'ith " get " in Wedgwood, 

 vol. ii. p. 144. 



Gettet. Sprung, or slightly cracked. 

 Used throughout the West of England. 



Giggle, To. To stand awry or 

 crooked. Said especially of small things, 

 which do not stand upright. 



Glutch, To. (From the French 

 en-gloutir). Not simply, to swallow or 

 gulp, as explained in the glossaries, but 

 more especially to stifle a sob. 



Gold-heath, The. The bog-moss 

 {Sphagnum squarrosiim), which is used 

 in the New Forest to make fine brooms. 



Gold-withey, The. The bog-myr- 

 tle, or English mock-myrtle (Mt/rica 



