282 



Glossary of Provincialisms. 



[APP. 



DOUNT, 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 harmless hare from 



the woods that is tracked, 

 And her footsteps deep dounted in 

 snow." 



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

 the Midland districts. Curiously enough 

 the old poet William Browne, as also 

 Wither, speaks of a squirrel's nest as a 

 "dray" still used, by-the-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 

 Archceoloyical 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 squirrels. Some- 

 times as many as a hundred or more are 

 brought 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 pressure, or 

 crowd. Mr. Barnes also, in his Glos- 

 sary of the Dorsetshire Dialect, p. 235, 

 gives the forms " dringe 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 



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 cream 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 boustrophedon 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 tobe"cothed." Called 

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

 word " cothe." 



GAIT, A. A crotchet, or, as the vul- 



I gar expression is, a maggot. Used 



| always in a deprecatory sense. When a 



| person has done anything foolish he says, 



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



identical with " 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 squarrusum'), which is used 

 in the New Forest to make fine brooms. 



GOLD-WITHEY, The. The bog-myr- 

 tle, or English mock-myrtle (Myrica 



