I.] 



Glossary of Provincialisms. 



PUCK, To. To put up sheaves, es- 

 pecially of barley and oats, which are 

 called "pucks." Used throughout the 

 West of England in contradistinction to 

 " hiling," applied only to wheat, which 

 is placed in "hiles." In Dorsetshire, 

 however, this last operation is called 

 " stitching." See the word " stitch " 

 in Mr. Barnes' Glossary of the Dorset- 

 shire Dialect, p. 391. 



QUAK, A. The udder of a cow or 

 sheep, when hard after calving or 

 lambing. Beer also is said to be 

 " quarred," when it drinks hard or 

 rough. 



QUAT-VESSEL, The. The meadow- 

 thistle (Carduus pratensis}, which is 

 common in the New Forest. 



RAMMEL CHEESE. The best sort of 

 cheese, made of cream and new milk, 

 in contradistinction to Omary cheese, 

 which see. 



RAMMUCKY. Dissolute, wanton. " A 

 rammucky man," means a depraved cha- 

 racter. 



RAMWABD, or rather, ramhard. To 

 the right. A conniption of framward, 

 or from ward. So " toard," or " toward," 

 means to the left, that is, towards you. 

 Both words are used throughout the 

 West of England, and are good examples 

 of what Professor Miiller would call 

 " phonetic decay." With them may be 

 compared the sailor's terms " starboard " 

 and "larboard," on which see Wedg- 

 wood, Diet, of English Etymoluyy, vol. ii., 

 p. 310. See, too, Miss Gurney on the word 

 " woash," which in the Eastern Counties 

 is equivalent to "ramward." Glossary of 

 Norfolk Words: Transactions of the Phi- 

 loloyical Society, 1855, p. 38. 



RAXTIPOLE, The. The wild carrot 

 (Daucus carotd), so called from its bunch 

 of leaves. Used also in Wiltshire. See 

 Hill-trot. 



RED HEATH. The three heaths which 

 grow in the New Forest Erica tetralix, 

 Erica cinerea, and Calluna vulgaris, 

 are respectively known as the bell, black, 

 and red heaths. 



REIAVES. The boards or rails put 

 round waggons, so as to enable them to 

 take a greater load. Used throughout 

 the West of England. See Mr. Barnes' 

 Glossary under the word Riaves, p. 375. 

 RICK-RACK. This is only used of the 

 weather, as "rick-rack weather," that is, 

 stormy, boisterous weather, and far 

 stronger in meaning than the more com- 

 mon phrase, " cazalty weather." It is 

 evidently from the Old-English rec, 

 vapoury, cloudy weather, and well serves 

 to explain the meaning of Shakspeare's 

 "rack," a cloud, in the well-known pas- 

 sage in the Tempest (Act iv. sc. 1), 

 which has given rise to so much contro- 

 versy. Miss Gumey (Transactions of 

 the Philological Society, 1855, p. 35), 

 notices that " rack " is used in Norfolk 

 for mist driven by the wind. 



RONGE, To. To kick, or play, said 

 of horses. 



RUBBLE, To. To remove the gravel, 

 which is deposited throughout . the 

 Forest in a thick layer over the beds of 

 clay or marl. The gravel itself is called 

 " the rubblin." 



RUE. A row, or hedgerow. See 

 chap. v. p. 56. In the Forest some of 

 the embankments, near which perhaps 

 the Kelts and West-Saxons lived, are 

 called Rew- and Row-ditch. I have, 

 too, heard of attics being called "lanes," 

 possibly having reference to the " ruelle" 

 by which the space between the curtains 

 was formerly called. 



RUG-STICK, also called a LUG-STICK. 

 A bar in the chimney, on which " the 

 cotterel," or " iron scale," or " crane," 

 as it is also called, to which the kettle 

 or pot is fastened, hangs. We find the 

 word still used in America as the " ridge- 

 pole " of the house, which helps us at 

 once to the derivation. 



SCALE, or squoyle. See chap. xvi. 

 p. 182. 



SCULL, A. (From the Old-English 



scylan, and so, literally, a division). A 



drove, or herd, or pack of low people, 



always used in an opprobrious sense. It 



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