286 



Glossary of Provincialisms. 



[app. 



is properly applied to fish, especially 

 the grey mullet which visits the coast in 

 the autumn, and so metaphorically to 

 beggars who go in companies. IMilton 

 uses the word 



" sculls that oft 



Bank the mid sea." 



Paradise Lost, Book vii. 



Shakspeare, too, speaks of " scaled 

 sculls" (^Troilus and Cressida, Act v. 

 sc. 5). The expression " school of 

 whales," which we so often find in Arctic 

 and whaling voyages is nothing but 

 this woid slightly altered. According 

 to Miss Gurney's Glossary of Norfolk 

 ■words {Transactions of the Fhilotogical 

 Society, 1855), the word "school" is 

 applied to herrings on the south-eastern 

 coast. Juliana Berncrs, in the Boke of 

 St. Albans, curiously enough says that 

 we should speak of " a sculke of foxes, 

 and a scuUe of freiys." — Quoted in 

 Muller's Science of Language, p. 61. 



Setty. Eggs arc said to be " setty " 

 when they are sat upon. 



Shamjiock, To. To slouch. " A 

 shammocking man " means an idle, 

 good-for-nothing person. Applied also 

 to animals. " A shammocking dog," 

 means almost a thievish, stealing dog, 

 thus showing how the word is akin to 

 shamble, scamble, which last verb also 

 signifies to obtain any thing by false 

 means. 



Shear, after-. The. The second 

 crop of grass. Called in the Midland 

 Counties " the eddish," and also the 

 " latter-math," or " after-math." 



SnEETs'-AXE, A. An oak apple. 

 See chap. xvi. p. 183. 



Shelf, A. A bank of sand or pebbles, 

 or shallow in a river, or even the ford 

 itself Milton uses the word in Comus : — 



" On the tawny sands and shelves." 

 Hence we got the adjective " shelvy," 

 also in common use, and employed by 

 Falstafl^c — " The shore was slielvy and 

 shallow " ( The MerryWives of Windsor, 

 Act iii., sc. 5). It is this latter word, 

 286 



which Mr. Halliwcll and Mr. Wright 

 must mean instead of " shelly," and 

 which ihey define as "an ait in a river." 

 The word is probably ft'om the same 

 Scandinavian root as shoal. 



Shim. Lean. " He's a shim fellow," 

 that is, thin. It is used, I see from 

 Mr. Cooper's glossaiy, for a shadow, in 

 the western division of Sussex ; and I 

 think I have somewhere met with it in 

 the sense of a ghost. 



Shoak, Shock, Shuck, Off, To. To 

 break off short. Thus gravel is said to 

 shock off at any particular stratum, or 

 " list," or " scale," as it would be called. 

 See the following word. 



Shock, A. Not applied merely to 

 com, but to anything else. " A shock 

 of sand " means a line or band of sand, 

 called also a " list," or " lissen," or 

 " bond," or " scale," and sometimes 

 " drive : " which last, however, Jias a 

 more particular reference to the direc- 

 tion of the stratum. 



Size. Thickness, consistency. " The 

 size of the gruel" means its consistency. 

 Skim.^ier-Cake, a. a small pud- 

 ding made up from the remnants of 

 another, and cooked upon a " skimmer," 

 the dish with which the milk is skimmed. 

 Nearly equivalent to the " girdle-cake," 

 north of England. 



Skrow. Shattered or battered. 

 Slab, A. A thick slice, lump, used 

 like squab, which see. Thus we hear 

 of " a slab of bacon," meaning a large 

 piece. Opposed to " snoule," -which 

 signifies a small bit. — " I have just had 

 a snoule," means I have only liad a 

 morsel. 



Slink, A. " A slink of a thing," in 

 which phrase the word is only found, is 

 alike applied to objects animate or in- 

 animate, and means either a poor, weak, 

 starved creature, or anything which is 

 small and not of good quality. 



Slut. A. A noise, sound. " A slut 

 of thunder," means a clap or peal of 

 thunder. It is in this sense that the 

 word is most generally used. 



