282 



Glossary of Provincialisms. 



[app. 



DouNT, To. To dint, or imprint. 

 Formed, as Mr. Wedgwood remarks, 

 of tlic kindred words, dint, dent, dunt, 

 by an onomatopoetie process. We find 

 tlie 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 traeked. 

 And her footsteps deep donated in 

 snow." 



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

 the Midland districts. Curiously enough 

 the old poet William Browne, as also 

 Wither, speaks of a squiiTel's nest as a 

 " dray "— stdl 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 

 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 paities of boys 

 and young men go into the woods 

 anned with " scales " and *• snogs " 

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

 will kill the most squirrels. Some- 

 limes as many as a hundred or more are 

 brought home, when they are baked in 

 a jiie. Their fiir, 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 pi-essiu-e. or 

 crowd. Mr. Barnes also, in his Glos- 

 sari/ 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 " fcss " 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 yeflit). 

 Not only as e-x:plained in the glossary of 

 Wiltshire, impertinent, busy, but, by 

 some houstrophedon process, good-hu- 

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

 that is, good-natured. 



Fldders. Worms, which on certain 

 land get into the li^'crs of sheep, when 

 the animal is said to be"cothed." Called 

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

 word " cothe." 



Gait, A. A crotchet, or, as the \'ul- 

 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 explanied in the glossaries, but 

 more especially to stifle a sob. 



Gold-heath, The. The bog-moss 

 {Sphagnum squarrosum), which is used 

 in the New Forest to make fine brooms. 

 Gold-withev, The. The bog-myr- 

 tle, or English mock-myrtle {Myriia 



