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COMPLETE GLOSSARY 
 
 TO THE 
 
 Poetry and Prose of Robert Burns. 
 
COMPLETE GLOSSARY 
 
 POETRY AND PROSE 
 
 ROBERT BURNS 
 
 WITH UPWARDS OK 
 
 THREE THOUSAND ILLUSTRATIONS FROM 
 ENGLISH AUTHORS. 
 
 JOHN CUTHBERTSON. 
 
 ALEXANDER GARDNER, 
 
 PAISLEY j AND 12 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. 
 
 1886, 
 
A 9 Dj (2 cr A ^ 
 
 i 
 
 f ^ f^-- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 While my aim, in the following pages, has been a little 
 more ambitious than the compilation of a mere Glossary 
 to the Writings of Burns, it is still a humble one. 
 
 My endeavour has been to show to English readers 
 that by far the greater number of the Poet's words for 
 which a glossary is generally consulted are to be found 
 in their own authors. For this purpose, I have quoted 
 upwards of three thousand passages from English 
 authors, besides words from old dictionaries and pro- 
 vincial glossaries. 
 
 With the exception of a very few words from provincial 
 authors, real or pretended, I have taken no illustrations 
 from works published since Burns's time. 
 
 I have not hesitated, when occasion offered, to insert 
 anything which seemed likely to illustrate, in however 
 small a degree, any word or passage, even at the risk of 
 being accused of going beyond the province of the 
 glossarist. 
 
 I have not, however, neglected what is the primary 
 purpose of a glossary ; and I believe this, which I now 
 offer to the public, will be found to contain a number of 
 words not to be found in any other. Of course, Burns's 
 own glossary has been incorporated. 
 
 I do not know whether or not this volume has any 
 philological value, but surely it cannot be altogether un- 
 
VI. PREFACE. 
 
 instructive to see so many words, most of them dead or 
 dying, which have had new hfe breathed into them by 
 the genius of Robert Burns. To have these words 
 shown, as it were, in their shrouds, and then to behold 
 them "instinct with life" in the pages of the modern 
 Poet, cannot fail to be interesting to many. 
 
 If I be successful in removing a single stumbling- 
 block from the path of the readers of the Ayrshire Bard, 
 it will be an ample reward. 
 
 J. C. 
 
 Umberley, Troon, 
 June, 1886. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 A. 
 
 A'. All. 
 
 Listeneth now to Merlin's saw, 
 And I will tell to aw 
 
 What he wrat for men to come. — Merlin's Prophecies. 
 Somewhere I have had a hugeous faw, 
 I'm sure o' that, and, master, that's neet aw. — Cotton. 
 Marry, Muffs' your counts, and there be no more life in them. — 
 Dekker. 
 
 Here beginny th a short tretice to make a tre here a maner frute. — 
 English MS. quoted by Sir F. Madden. 
 
 Dr. Jamiesoti says, "Z after broad a, as occurring in 
 English words, is changed (by Scotch writers) into silent 
 u or w, as malt, maut; salt, saui, etc.'' 
 
 This is true, but it is equally true of old English 
 authors, e.g.. 
 
 And after hem came a great company of heraudes. — Chaucer. 
 And roll with rest in Runes of Ribaudry (ribaldry). — Spenser. 
 
 And words like auter, assaute, emeraud, for altar, assault, 
 and emerald are common down to a comparatively 
 recent time. In Shakspeare's day, the proper name 
 Walter was pronounced Water, as may be seen in " The 
 
2 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Second Part of King Henry VI.; and Dr. Wolcot rhymes 
 Ralph with laugh. 
 
 L is also, sometimes in Enghsh and frequently in 
 Scotch, changed into w in words ending in oil, /, or le, as 
 scrow for scroll, pow for poll, stowe for stole, and some- 
 times when followed by other letters, especially d and t, 
 as gowd for gold, cowt for colt, &c. 
 
 It is also occasionally omitted after u, as xa.pu for pull; 
 never after e or oo in Scotch, wool excepted, and that it 
 is really not an exception, see under woo, and after / 
 only in the verb will, which Shakspeare and other writers 
 change into woo\ e.g., 
 
 WooU thou fight well ? — Antony and Cleopatra. 
 
 Aback. Away, aloof. 
 
 But when they came where thou thy skill didst show, 
 
 They drew abacke. — Spenser. 
 
 Stand abacke, stand abacke, sayd Robin, 
 
 Why draw ye me so near. — Robin Hood: Ritson. 
 For drede archeres abak they sterte. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Abeigh. At a shy distance. 
 
 Though I do not intend to make this an etymological 
 glossary, yet as abeigh has not hitherto been satisfactorily 
 accounted for, I venture to suggest a not unlikely origin 
 for it in Anglo-Saxon bedg, or bedh, gave way, from bugan, 
 bebgan, or bigan, to bow, bend, stoop, to give way, to 
 recede, avoid, flee. 
 
 Aboon, and 'boon. Above, up. 
 
 The toke on on ethar hand 
 
 Be the lyght of the mone ; 
 Many had no strengt for to stande 
 
 In Chyveat the hyllys abone. 
 
 Ancient Ballads of Chevy Chase. 
 
GLOSSARY. 3 
 
 Then he put on the old man's shoes, 
 Were patch'd both beneath and aboon. 
 
 Robin Hood: Ritson. 
 The rof abone unlek 
 As hyt wolde asounder. — Lybeaus Disconus. 
 
 About. Alternately. 
 
 Of lusty women in the route 
 
 A fresh caroll hath song aboute. — Gower. 
 
 Let every felowe telle his tale aboute. — Chaucer. 
 
 Abread. Abroad, in sight. 
 
 Thine arraes shall thou sprede abrede. 
 
 As man in warre were forwerede. — Romaunt of ihe\Rose^ 
 
 Abreed. In breadth. 
 
 Brede. Breadth. — Bailey's Dictionary. 
 
 The streets paved both in length and brede. — LydgcUe. 
 
 Hang me up on your main-mast tree, 
 
 If I miss my mark one shilling breed. — Sir Andrew Barton. 
 He shulde have be larde of that lande a lengthe and abrede. — 
 
 Piers Plowman. 
 
 Ace. The one of cards. In E. literature ace signifies 
 something very small, as, "I will not bate an aceP' 
 The figure is taken from dice, but Burns uses the word 
 to denote the one of cards. I do not know if he 
 played at cards, but he seems to have been fond of 
 the figure, for he uses it at least three times. In one 
 place he says — 
 
 My heart-warm love to guid auld Glen, 
 The ace and wale of honest men. 
 
 And in another — 
 
 But tent me, Davie, ace o' hearts. 
 
 It is often asked what was the use Jof spedfymg" hearts^ 
 since in all the games likely to be known to the poet or 
 
4 GLOSSARY. 
 
 his correspondents the ace, whether of hearts or others, 
 had always the same power, and, when it was a trump, 
 -could take any card. The explanation is that in the 
 game called " Twenty-five," once popular in country 
 districts, hearts are always trumps ; therefore, to call a 
 man the ace of hearts was to pay him the highest cuni- 
 pliment that could be drawn from " The devil's pictuied 
 ibeuks," unless " Kingo' hearts," as he calls Lapraik, sur- 
 pass it. 
 
 A-coming. The prefix does not alter the meaning. 
 I was told the queen was a-coming. — Pepys. 
 
 .Acquent. Acquaint for acquainted. E is often used for 
 a, as in 
 Whan that ye come agen (again) from Canterbury.^ — Chaucer. 
 Have thei no gernere (garner) to go to. — Piers Plowman. 
 Ase man that is fueini/ [quaint). — TAe Seven Sages. 
 Alle this loude it smerteth (smarteth). — Occleve. 
 Thou also most entirely art acquaint with all my ways. — 
 
 Psalm cxxxix. Rous' s Version. 
 But I must bannysshe him 
 As he that aquentyth hym with ydilnes. — Skelton. 
 
 .Advisement. Counsel. 
 
 Ye that I say gyve good advysement. — Skelton. 
 Perhaps my succour, or advisement meet, 
 Mote stead you much. — Spenser. 
 
 Addle, adle, or aidle. Addle, putrid water, liquid oozing 
 from a dunghill. 
 
 Ae. One. 
 
 Ae. One ; one of several ; ea.ch.—Halliweirs Archaic Dic- 
 tionary. 
 
 And not to fasten a (one) fryday in fyve score winter. 
 
 P. Plowman, 
 
GLOSSARY. 5 
 
 For the world and worldlis life to-gider 
 Chaunges & turnes oft hider & thider, 
 And in a (one) state duelles ful short while, 
 Unnethes the space of a myle. — Pricke of Conscience. 
 Wele he saw that by na gyn Allane to hir mycht he noght win. 
 Thar was hot a (one) diir and a (one) way, And tharof bare the 
 erl the Kay. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Aff. Off. A is often used for o, as in 
 
 The pope was nat profytable for them. — Froissari. 
 
 The beggar moht na better do. 
 
 But jfl/if/this corn igain him to. — E. Metrical Homilies, Small. 
 
 Aff-loof. Off-hand, without premeditation. Aff and 
 loof. 
 
 A-fiel. In the field. D is often omitted, as in 
 It is a dry scall (scald). — Lev. xiii. 30. 
 
 A baggepipe wel coude he blowe and soune. — Chaucer. 
 Their beds are hid with skalls (scalds). — Sylvester. 
 For ydell hyne (hind) for to fede. 
 Thereto hadde we lytyll nede. — Octovian Imperator. 
 
 A-field, which is hterally on the field, is used by English 
 writers to signify to the field ; thus, " We drove afield." — 
 Alilton. '■^A-field I went." — Gay ; but it is also found in 
 Burns's sense : — 
 
 Ant hou he sloh afelde 
 
 Him, that is fader aquelde. — King Horn. 
 
 How now, prince Troilus? wherefore not a-field? 
 
 Because not there. — Shah. 
 
 Rises, full-orb'd, the silver harvest-moon. 
 
 To light th' unwearied farmer, late afield 
 
 His scatter'd sheaves collecting. — Dyer. 
 
 Afore., Before. 
 
 Hang 
 Your shield afore your heart. — The Two Noble Kinsmen. 
 
6 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Let them be as the grass upon the house-tops, that withereth 
 afore it groweth up. — Psalm cxxix. 
 
 And with a crosse afor the Kynge comsed thus to techen. 
 
 Piers Plowman. 
 
 Aft. Oft. This word is often spelled eft, which comes 
 near to aft. 
 Eft looking back would faine have runne away. — Spenser. 
 
 Aften. Often. A iox o ; see under aff. 
 
 Against. Before, by the time. 
 
 Against he reached the middle of the arch.— 5«?-«J to Grose. 
 Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes 
 Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, 
 The bird of dawning singeth all night long. — Shak. 
 
 Agee, aj'ee. On one side. I have not found this word 
 in any E. author, except it may be in a passage in tlie 
 romance of Richard Coeur de Lion : — 
 Agee, awry, obliquely, askew. Ajee, awry, uneven. — Halli-iuell .' 
 
 The Sarezynes thoo turnyet ayee. 
 
 To that other syde off the town. 
 
 And cryede, trewes ! with gret soun, 
 
 To the false Kyng of Fraunse. 
 
 It must be remembered that_j' is often used for^; thus 
 in the romance quoted we read — 
 
 And for joye off this dede. 
 The cuppes fast ahoviien yede. 
 
 Occleve has 
 
 Tyme and tyme heyave them with his hondes 
 Of his goode passyngly. 
 
 The word will thus not appear to be forced if we spell it 
 agee ; and the circumstances in which it is used seem to 
 require a word of similar meaning. Let us see what the 
 circumstances were : — Richard of England and Philip 
 
GLOSSARY. 7 
 
 of France besieged Babylon, the former on one side of 
 the city, the latter on the other. The inhabitants desired 
 to make a truce with Richard, which he refused, and 
 then they " turnyd ayee " — applied to Philip on the other 
 side. I think this is really the so-called S. word agee, 
 and not again as Weber explains it. 
 
 Aqley. Off the right line, wrong, wide of the aim. 
 To glie, to look awry or sideways, to squint. — Bailey. 
 I garde her gaspe, I garde her gle. — Skelion. 
 
 Ahin. Behind. For elision of d see under a-fiel. A is 
 often used for be, as in 
 The maister his tale he gan agin (begin). — The Seven Sages. 
 But with outrageous strokes did him restrain, 
 And with his body barr'd the way atwixt'Ctve.xa twain. — -Spenser. 
 
 Aiblins. Perhaps. 
 Aiblins, perhaps, possibly. — Halliwell. 
 
 Aik. An oak ; aiken, oaken. 
 
 Akehorns, acorns. — Tyrwhitt. 
 
 Aec, an oak ; Aecen, oaken. — Bosworth. 
 
 Oundes synkyng oundes uppon the hard ake rise. — Chatterton. 
 
 Ain. Own. 
 
 But some than sat right sad 
 
 That nothynge had 
 
 There of theyr awn. — Skelton, 
 
 He was now come in hys awne proper person, — Hall's Chron. of 
 England. 
 
 Air. Early. 
 
 I griev'd you never in all my life, 
 Neither by late or air. — R. Hood. 
 
 Airl-penny, airles. Earnest-money. 
 
8 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Aries-Penny, earnest-money given to servants when they are first 
 hired. — Bailey. 
 
 Arh, or earles, earnest. — Thoresby, Ray Correspondence. 
 Aries, or earles, money paid to bind a bargain. — Grose. 
 
 So recently as 23rd May, 1883, at the Petty Sessions 
 Houghton-le-Spring, a servant was accused of having 
 " sent back his erls because he had heard the situation 
 was not a good one." 
 
 Aim. Iron, a tool of iron. Flough-irons, the coulter 
 and share. 
 
 And when they ban hir kist gotten 
 
 The bote ctnes they all foryetten.^C^ow«?-. 
 
 He was armed wele 
 Bot \i\Hhyrne and with stele. —ZJaz/iW Venus. 
 For steel, ne yrne, in her swerd, 
 Ne mighth hem percen, by weren so bard. — 
 
 Kyng Alisauniler. 
 
 I quote these lines because the seeming peculiarity 
 of the S. word lies not in the change of the vowel sound, 
 but in the loss of a syllable. Aim is found in the glos- 
 sary of the " Voiage and Travaile of Sir John Maunde- 
 vile," but it does not occur in the text of at least one 
 edition. 
 
 Airt. Quarter of the heavens ; to direct. 
 
 Airt, point of the compass. — Halliwell. 
 
 And over all this, full mokell more be thought 
 What for to speake, and what to holden inne, 
 And jvbat to arten, er to love he sought. — Chaucer. 
 
 Tyrwhitt understands arten to mean constrain — as 
 Troilus is thinking of his own action restrain would be 
 a better word — but that seems to be expressed by 
 " holden inne." Arten appears to refer to the schemes 
 he would devise, the methods he would take to gain the 
 
GLOSSARY. 9 
 
 love of Cressid. Art occurs again in Chaucer, in the 
 "Court of Loye," where it may mean constrain, but 
 may also signify conduct or guide : — 
 When I was young, — 
 Love arted me to do my observance 
 To his estate. 
 
 Aith. An oath. 
 
 Pride, wrath, and glotonie, 
 
 Aithe, sleuthe, and lecherie. — Artlwur and Merlin. 
 
 Depely has he sworn hys ath. — Ywain and Cawain. 
 
 But should he evrie ath lese kirtel or kote, 
 
 He sholde stande stark naked twyse a day or ene. — 
 
 The Simonie. 
 The mason sware grete athes him to. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Aits. Oats. A is frequently used for o by E. authors. 
 See under aith. 
 
 And hat (hot) is al Alisaundres blod. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 I durst no more say thereto. 
 
 For pur.e feare, but stale (stole) away. — Chaucer. 
 
 Aiver. An old horse. 
 
 Aver, a labouring beast. — Bailey. 
 
 A work-horse. — Halliwell. 
 
 Average formerly meant work done for the lord (of the manor) 
 by the avers, or draught-cattle of the tenants. — Wedge-wood. 
 
 Aizle. A hot cinder, a red ember. 
 
 Ysela, Ysla, a fire spark, spark, ember, hot ashes. — Bosworth. 
 
 When spelled eizel, as it sometimes is, it comes nearer 
 the Anglo-Sax. 
 
 Ajee. See agee. 
 
 Akind. Every kind. 
 
 There's alkyn welth ay to weld. — Pricke of Conscience. 
 And alkyn crafty men that konne lyven in treuthe. — 
 
 P. Plowman. 
 
I O GLOSSARY. 
 
 Ye sold think over alkyn thing. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Akwart. Awkward. 
 
 Akwart. — Thoresby. Aukert. — Halliwell. Aiukert. — Barnford. 
 
 They make interpretacyon 
 
 Of an aquarde facyon. — Skelion. 
 
 They cut like marmakt. — Fletcher. 
 The perpetual change of T into V, and vice versa, is 
 very familiar to all who have ever paid the smallest 
 attention to language. Home Tooke. Crook-backt. — 
 Lev. xxi. 20. 
 
 Now poor men to the justices with capons make their erranis. — 
 
 George Wither. 
 
 Alake. Alas, alack. That the change of ack into ake is 
 not unsanctioned by E. poets, is shown by — 
 Sorrow I am ; in endless torments pained 
 Among the Furies in the infernal lake 
 Where Pluto, God of Hell, so grisly Make (black) 
 Doth hold his throne. — The Mirrour for Magistrates. 
 Hire bro we broune, hire eghe Make. — 
 
 Wrights Specimens of Lyric Poetry. 
 
 Alane. Alone. 
 
 I said what dose you here allane. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 The knight allane went him to play. — The Seven Sages. 
 And band her hym alane, — The Felon Sewe of Rokeby. 
 
 Alatig. Along. See lang. 
 
 Ten myle they yeode alang. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 He set mirkenes his lurking lang. — Metrical E. Psalter. 
 
 Allegretto forte. Gay, merry, quick, and loud. 
 
 Amaist. Almost. See maist. 
 
 Now God, that es of mightes matte, 
 
 Grante him grace of the Haly Gaste. — Minot. 
 
GLOSSARY. 1 1 
 
 Amang. Among. 
 
 At the last thai ordeined twelve 
 
 The thoghtfulest amang themselve. — Cursor Mundi. 
 
 Ane banneist lord was thame amang. — 
 
 Ane Exclamation maid in England. 
 
 An'. And. 
 
 Pledoures shuld peynen hem to plede for such, an' helpe. 
 
 P. Plowman. 
 Betwix the lift an the erthe it glade. — Cursor Mimdi. 
 
 D is frequently omitted in E. poetry, even when the 
 Thyme does not require its omission, e.g. : — 
 
 'Tis strange, yet true, her glove, ring, scarfe, and Fan, 
 Make him {unhansome) a well-favoured man. — 
 
 House of Correction, 1629. 
 
 Sir Isaac Newton, I think, always wrote hansome, and 
 the d is still omitted in the pronunciation. 
 
 In the house there were many hansome ladyes. — Lord William 
 Russell, 1654. 
 
 An. If. 
 
 This day at least is friendship's — on the morrow 
 
 Let strife come an she will. — Otway. 
 
 Nay, an you will not. — Shak. 
 
 And myght kisse the kyng for cosyn an she wolde. — 
 
 P . Plowman. 
 
 Anana. The pine-apple. 
 
 Where rich ananas blow. — The Farewell. 
 Witness thou best anana, thou the pride 
 Of vegetable life. — Thomson. 
 
 Anathem. A curse. 
 
 Round your bold master flock, ye mitred hive, 
 
 With anathems on Whigs his soul revive. — The Rolliad. 
 
 Ance. Once. 
 
 Step on thy feet ; coine of, man, al at anes. — Chaucer. 
 
1 2 GLOSSARY. 
 
 He said, " Of thir es none so balde, 
 
 Nowther by day ne by night 
 
 Anes to pas out of mi sight." — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 To Christ ance be turning, not use him in jest. — 
 
 Black letter Ballads and Broadsides. 
 
 Anc, One. 
 
 And other trees there was xaz.ni.atie. — The Sqtiyr of Lowe Degre^ 
 If ane were doughty and single man. — Robert of Brimne. 
 When every yean had taen their place. — Ritson. 
 Byhind leved thar noght ane. — Ywain and Gawin. 
 His harp he hid in ane holme tre. — Orfeo and Herondes. 
 
 Ancnt. Over against, concerning, about. 
 
 Aneni, over against. — Bailey. 
 
 And many a sink poured out her rage anenst them. — Ben fonson. 
 
 For every word schal not be impossible anentis God. — Wyclif. 
 Of that down-cast we may bi chaunce 
 Anerit this world get coveraunce. — Cursor Mundi. 
 
 Aneuch. Enough. See eneugh. 
 
 Anither. Another. /" is often used for <? or the // sound, 
 as in — 
 
 John Gilden-xxiO\\\ (Golden-mouth) says. — Cursor Mundi. 
 
 Lordings, quod he, in chirche whan I preche. — Chaucer. 
 
 The faurtend day, at a schift 
 
 Sal bathe l-rin (burn) bathe erthe and lift. — E. Metrical Homilies^ 
 
 Antigua. Rum. 
 
 Antithesize. To employ antithesis. This is not straneer 
 than Sterne's epistolize. 
 
 Aqua fontis. Spring-water. I should not have inserted 
 this had I not found that some country people thouo-ht 
 aqua fontis and sal marinum to be genuine drugs, and 
 
GLOSSARY. 13 
 
 even in the "farina of beans and pease" did not recog- 
 nise an old friend — pease-meal. 
 
 Aqua-vitae. Properly brandy, but applied to whisky. 
 
 The first of them, in many a t'averne tide, 
 
 At last subdued by Aquavita died. — Rowlands. Warton. 
 
 I will trust an Irishman with my aqua vitae bottle. 
 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 Aqueesh. Betwixt or between. This seems, at first 
 sight, a most licentious spelling of betwixt, but when 
 we remember the various ways in which old English 
 authors wrote the word, it will be found not very far 
 from their pronunciation at least. Take a few 
 examples : — 
 
 Thou schalt part betwys hus two 
 
 Of all thyng that thou spede. — Sir Amadas. 
 
 For all the gold atwixen sunne and see. — Chaucer. 
 
 An the fiend had been a truss of hay 
 
 She wad a swallowed him and mickle mare, 
 Bequeen the night and the day. — Ritson. 
 
 X, it must also be remembered, was often used for sh, 
 
 and 7iice versa. 
 
 No Lushburghes (Luxemburghs) payen ye. — Chaucer. 
 
 The author of "Piers Plowman" has the same spel- 
 ling, and as late as Henry the Eighth's time we find 
 Skelton writing — 
 
 Xall (shall) kyt both wight and grene. 
 Thou xuldst have been shrynyd. 
 
 If X in atwix be sounded sh it is not far from aqueesh, to 
 build nothing on the q in bequeen. 
 
 Arioso. A musical term. 
 
 Arioso, the movement or tune of a common air. — Bailey. 
 
14 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Ase. Ashes. I believe that this word, in Ayrshire at 
 
 least, is always pronounced awz. 
 
 Ask, ash, as, do all come from the Saxon aesc, an ash-tree. — • 
 
 Camf/en. 
 
 jCw-hole, or aij-hole, the hole under the fire which holds ashes. — 
 
 Bamford. 
 As, or asse, ashes. — Vav, dial. Thoresby. 
 Esse, ashes. — Bailey. Ahse, asce, ashes. — Bosworth. 
 
 Asklent. Asquint, aslant. Except in the change of e 
 for a, for which see under held, this word differs from 
 aslant only by the insertion of k, which is often in old 
 E. authors placed between s and /, as in — 
 
 Her name men Sclaunder call. — Spenser. 
 
 Her amies long and sclendre. — Chaucer. 
 
 Chichevace is my name, 
 
 Hvmgry, meagre, sklendre, and lene. — Lydgate. 
 
 He schal hym scle (slay) with dethes dent. 
 
 Octovian Imperator. 
 
 He fond a knyght whar he lay 
 
 Isdayne (slain) and made full tame. — Lybsaus Disconnus. 
 
 What we now call slate was formerly sclat. — Home Tooke. 
 
 Many man is sclepyr (slippery) of tonge. 
 
 Ancient Mysteries. Hone. 
 
 Assoilyed. Absolved. 
 
 They sende aftur the pope Symonde, 
 
 And he schrofe hym and hoselde on that grounde, 
 
 And assoyled hym, wele y wate.— Z« Bone Florence of Rome. 
 Assoyle me yf thou wylte. — The Erie of Tolous. 
 Thilke horrible sinful! dede 
 Assailed was. — Goiver. 
 
 Asieer. Abroad, stirring, astir. See steer. 
 
 Athort. Athwart, abroad, through. 
 Allnirt, athwart, acioss.—Halliwell. 
 
GLOSSARY. 1 5 
 
 Attour. Besides, over. 
 
 Aitour, towards. — Bailey. 
 
 Ded buth my jDrynces be atour. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Alween. Between. 
 
 Worship not Jove with curious fancies vain, 
 
 Nor him despise, hold right atween these twain. — GrimoaU. 
 
 Feyr thei partud them atwen. — The Hunttyng of the Hare. 
 
 Pieres for pure tene pulled it atweyne. — P. Plowman. 
 
 Twene hope and drede my life I lede. — Skelton. 
 
 And seem'st to laugh atween thy twinkling light. — Spenser. 
 
 Aught. Eight. Supposing both words to have the 
 guttural sound aught and achtande, which means 
 eight, and not eighteen, as a young reader might sup- 
 pose, come very near each other : — 
 
 And al the erthe, the achtande day, 
 Sal stir, and quae and al folc flay. 
 
 English Metrical Homilies. 
 
 The King was thare with his Knyghtes 
 
 Aght dayes and aght nyghtes. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 He regnede ahte and twente yer. — Chronicle of England. 
 
 Aught. Possession, as " in a' my aught" in all my pos- 
 session. 
 
 An erl wond in that castele 
 
 That aght the lordship ilkadele. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 He hyhth hem aughte and gret nobleys. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 This werldes welth, auht, and catel. 
 
 E. Metrical Homilies. Small. 
 
 This stede aught Sir Campanus. — Ipomydon. 
 
 Auld. Old. 
 
 Take then thine ««/;/ cloak about thee. — Shakespeare. 
 He makes both young ar.d aide 
 Bow untill his hand. — Sir Penny. 
 
1 6 GLOSSARY. 
 
 This dome 
 He fand in an aid bok. — Cursor Mundi. 
 
 Auld-farran, qt. f arrant. Sagacious, prudent, cunning. 
 A ud-farrand. — Grose, 
 
 Aud-farand. Children are said to be so, when grave and witty 
 l^eyond what is usual in such as are of that age. — Bailey. 
 She knew non such in hyr londe, 
 So goodly a man and vie\e/arande. — Ipomydon. 
 
 Aidd lang-syne. Olden time. See auld, lang, and syne. 
 
 Auld light. The doctrine of the Church of Scotland and 
 other Presbyterian Churches in Scotland. 
 Fuller has a sermon on " The Feare of losing the 
 
 Old Light." 
 
 Aumos. Alms, gift to a beggar. For change of al into 
 au see under A'. 
 
 Almotis, alms; aiimrie, the place where alms are given. — Bailey. 
 
 Awmoss. — Thoresby. 
 
 Seynt lone, the aumenere. — Robert of Brunne. 
 
 Aumos dish. A dish for the reception of alms. 
 
 Auntie. Aunt. The diminutive in ie is rare in English. 
 Spenser has it in the "Shepherd's Calendar." 
 Forthy, my kiddie, be ruled by me. 
 Well heard kiddie all this sore constraint. 
 
 Ava. At all. Corruption of of all.^Jamieson. 
 
 Awa'. Away. Poets have often omitted y and more 
 important letters. 
 
 Awd: sometimes means about, as in here awa'. 
 A royal ghaist that had been cased 
 A prisoner eighteen years a'iua\ — Amang the Trees. 
 Our old limes (limbs) now wel ben unwelde (unwieldy). — Chaucer. 
 
GLOSSARY. 1 7 
 
 Awauken. To waken. Au for a is frequent in old E. 
 
 I am a good Aungel. — Coventry Mysteries. Hone. 
 
 These poetes of auncyente. 
 
 They ar to diffuse for me. — Skelton. 
 
 They to hym came, withouten eny daungere. — Occleve. Skeat. 
 
 Yi\% fraught (freight) we soon shall know. — Milton. 
 
 Awe. To owe. 
 
 For faith ye aw unto the Kyng, 
 
 Cumandes him his tale to tell. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Awfii. Awful. 
 
 Awkart. Awkward. For change of ^ to t see under 
 Ak7iiart. 
 
 Awkert. — Halliwell. 
 
 What silly discourse we had as to love matters, he being the most 
 awkerd man ever I met 'with in my life as to that business ! — Pepys. 
 
 Awn. The beard of barley, oats, etc. 
 
 The beard growing out of corn or grass.— ;/i)A«JO» and Bailey. 
 Awns. — Grose. 
 
 Awnie. Bearded, having awns. 
 
 Ayont. Beyond. B for be, see ahin. 
 
 They're going to seek their fortunes ayont the salt sea. 
 
 Jack and Tom Bell. 
 
 B. 
 
 Bd, A ball. See under a'. 
 
 At Scales, great Tom Barwise got the bcC in his hand, 
 And t' wives aw ran out, and shouted, and banned. 
 
 Hutchison's Hist, of Cumberland, 
 B 
 
1 8 GLOSSARY. 
 
 The best at thieve craft and the bd. 
 
 The Fray of Hantwessell. 
 
 Bawer, a maker of balls. Staffordsh. — Halliwell. 
 
 Bab at the Bowster. Bob at the bolster. A kind of 
 dance in which partners are selected by placing a 
 bolster, or some more handy thing, say a handkerchief, 
 before them, and sealing the engagement by kneeling 
 on it and kissing. Fifty years ago no rustic ball 
 ended without "Bab at the Bowster." A similar 
 dance called the "cushion dance" was known in Eng- 
 land. 
 
 Sukey that danced With the cushion, 
 An hour from the room had been gone. 
 
 The Winchester Wedding. 
 In King Charles's time, there has been nothing but trenchmore 
 and the cushion-dance, omnium gatherum, tolly poUy, hoite come 
 XoS.i&.—Selden's Table Talk. 
 
 Backet. A wooden trough for carrying coals, etc ; 
 another form of bucket. A for u, as in — 
 
 But right anon a thousand peple in thrast Ithrust). — Chaucer. 
 
 Backlins. Backward ; backlins-comin, coming back, re- 
 turning. 
 
 B ceding, backwards ; linga, adv. termination. — Bosworth. 
 
 A good deal has been said about the termination ling, 
 but as it occurs in a few English words it does not con- 
 cern us here. What is supposed to be a Scottish peculi- 
 arity is the omission of g. This letter is by English 
 writers often omitted for the sake of the rhyme, and still 
 more frequently unsounded even when written. 
 
 A ductile codlings skin. — Herrick. 
 
 I'll have no dumps, nor duinplins. — Fletcher. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 19 
 
 After this proud foe subduing 
 
 When your patriot friends you see, 
 Think on vengeance for my ruin. — Glover. 
 Some for abolishing Hsx^ pidding 
 
 And eating nothing with the blood in. — Butler, who also 
 • has pudden. 
 
 Beware of Latin authors all, 
 
 Nor think your verses sterling ; 
 Though with a golden pen you scrawl. 
 
 And scribble in a berlin. — Pope. 
 
 Bade. Desired, or asked ; past tense of bid, to pray. 
 As meche lande of the Kyng sche bade. 
 As vidth a bole hyde men mygth sprede. — Robert of Brunne. 
 He bad of heom all that he wolde, 
 Stedis, armes, seolver, and golde. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 He fel on knees and bad a boon. — H. C. de Leon. 
 
 Baggie. Dim. of bag, the stomach. 
 
 Hoo'U no com ogen till baggin-time (lunch-time). — Bamford. 
 
 Baide, or bade. Endured, did stay. 
 
 BAd, p. oibidan, to bide, abide, etc. — Bosworth. 
 
 This jolly prentys with his mayster bood, 
 
 Til he was oute neygh of his prentyshood. — Wrighfs Chaucer. 
 
 Nan man bude be northan him. — Life of Alfred. 
 
 He aboodfa^ lyon fers and wood. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
 Bailie. Magistrate ; corresponds to alderman. 
 
 Knight, squire, or bailie. — Chaucer. 
 As our Saviour sayd by the wicked baily, which though he played 
 the false shrewe for his master provided yet wilily somewhat for 
 himselfe.— i'iV T. More. 
 
 He had of bestes the bailie. — Cower. 
 
 Bailie in these passages is not the Scotch magistrate, but the 
 word is the same. 
 
20 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Bailiery. The extent of a bailie's jurisdiction ; some- 
 times the extent of the jurisdiction of a sheriff. — -Jamie- 
 son. In England it is called a bailiwick (which some- 
 times means a county, and sometimes a barony). We 
 still have baron bailies. 
 
 -Bairn. A child. 
 
 Mercy on's ! a bame : a very pretty iame ! — Shakespeare. 
 And every bairn. — Benjonson. 
 Has he not well provided for the bairn ? — Fletcher. 
 
 Bairn-time. A family of children ; a brood. 
 
 Wit-in (within) the toon of Bethleem, 
 And utewit (outwith) mani barntem 
 Did he sacclesli o lyf (life), 
 
 Ful waful made he mani wyf [yAk].— Cursor Mundi. 
 Antenoure was of that barne-teme. — La Bone Florence of Rome. 
 
 JBailh. Both. 
 
 I wold hold it for no scathe 
 
 Though thou hadst bow and arrows baith. 
 
 ffartshorne's An. Met. Tales. 
 For the mercy of God is swa mykel here. 
 And reches over all bathe far and nsrs.—irampole. 
 But I will make a recompence 
 Is better for you baith.— R. Hood. 
 
 Bake. A particular kind of biscuit; once the only kind 
 to be found in bakers' shops, and long the principal 
 article for which there was any demand, and hence its 
 name of bake as the only thing that came from fhe 
 bakers. The Scotch people were long before they 
 gave up baking their own bread,— even yet the practice 
 IS not altogether abandoned,— and only purchased what 
 they called tea-bread iot an occasional party, and bakes 
 which were the only kind of baby's food then known 
 
GLOSSARY, 2 1 
 
 This explains why, in "The Holy Fair," Burns repre- 
 sents those assembled in the tavern as " crying out for 
 bakes and yill," for, unless it might be a few oat-cakes, 
 there was no other bread in the house. 
 
 Ballets, ballants. Ballads. 
 
 Ballant, a ballad. — HalUwell. 
 
 This day the House of Peers have committed to preson ye man 
 that printed the scandalous ballet concerning the Queen. — Sir Ed. 
 Nicholas to Ch. I. 
 
 I make but repetition 
 Of what is ordinary, and Ryalto talk, 
 And ballated, and would be plaid o' th' stage. — Webster. 
 That can sing ballet tunes. — Burton. 
 
 Bamboozle. To impose upon; to deceive; to confound. 
 
 — Johnson. 
 
 You are so bamboozled with what you hear, you forget to scold 
 me. — Smollett. 
 
 Ban. To swear, curse. 
 
 And beggars they ban. — Skelton. 
 You bade me ban. — Shakespeare. 
 And now they^a« that thpy were born. — The Lover at Liberty. 
 
 Ban', Band. A neckcloth of a particular form worn by 
 clergymen; Johnson. A survival of the collar worn 
 in the sixteenth century; at one time part of every 
 gentleman's dress. 
 
 His cloaths rich, and band sit neat. — Ben Johnson,. 
 A Chrysostom to smoothe thy band in. — Pope. 
 
 Band. A bond. 
 
 Hast thou, according to thy oath and band. 
 Brought hither Henry Hereford thy bold son ? — Shakespeare. 
 Was he arrested on a bandl — lb. 
 
2 2 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Chains and bands she meant to make them prove. — Fairfax. 
 He sent to her his basenet as a faithfull band. — Spenser. 
 
 Bane. A bone ; a small toothed comb. 
 
 Hit had slicked the Yerl of Douglas 
 
 In at the brest bane. — Ancient Ballad of Chevy Cliase. 
 
 The bischop went in-to that toun, 
 And come into his knihtes wanes, 
 And soht ful gern his hali banes. 
 
 E. Metrical Homilies. Small. 
 
 These demy divines, and friscaioly yonkerk5Tis, moche better 
 bay lied than brayned. — Skelton. 
 
 Banie, or bainie. Having large bones, strong. 
 
 Bang. An effort, to beat, to strive, to excel. 
 
 Bang, to beat, also to excel ; "that ban^s a'." — Bamford. 
 You will bear me a bang for that. — Shakespeare. 
 My master comes like any Turk, 
 
 And bangs me most severely. — Henry Carey. 
 The young uns roaid for th' Ribband, me cusen banged awth lads 
 and gat it for sure. — Westmoreland Dialect. 
 
 She ban^d him, she banged him, for spending a penny when he 
 stood in need. — Speech at riding the utangin Yorkshire. Ellis. 
 
 Bannock. Flat, round, soft cake. As Jamieson has 
 
 pointed out, a bannock diflfers from a cake principally 
 
 in not being toasted before the fire as well as on it- 
 
 A bannock is also much thicker than a cake or scone. 
 
 Bannock, an oat -cake tempered in water and baked under the 
 embers. — Bailey, Ray, and Grose. 
 
 These definitions, Scotch and English, speak only of 
 bannocks made of oatmeal, whereas, in Scotland at 
 least, they were often made of cheaper material, as wit- 
 ness the song. 
 
 Bannocks o' bear meal. 
 Bannocks o' barley ! 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 23 
 
 Indeed, when bannocks were in common use, oat-meal 
 was considered too valuable to form more than a small 
 part — parritch always excepted — of the food of a cottar's 
 or even of a farmer's house. This is well brought out in 
 an incident in the life of Burns's mother, related by 
 Chambers. When a child, " Agnes Brown was sent to 
 live with her mother's mother. When this old person 
 was more than ordinarily pleased with her grand- 
 daughter's doings at her wheel, she gave her, as her ten- 
 hours, or lunch, a piece of brown bread, with a piece of 
 white as kitchen to it, both being only varieties of oat- 
 meal cake.'' 
 
 Now, I believe the brown bread was mashlum, a 
 cheaper kind of bread, oat-meal being always, till recently, 
 called white meal, and long after Agnes Brown's useful 
 days it was customary to reward deserving youngsters 
 with a piece of oat-cake along with the mashlum scone, ■ 
 not as kitchen, but as a donne bouche. 
 
 In Ireland they (fairies) frequently lay bannocks in the way of 
 travellers. — Grose. 
 
 The butter, the cheese, and the bannocks, 
 
 Dissolved like snaw in a fresh. — The Northumberland Garland, 
 Ritson. 
 
 Bardie. Dim. of bard. 
 
 Barefit. Barefooted. See fit. 
 
 Barkit. Barked. For change of d into t see under 
 
 akwart. 
 
 And shot they with the round, the square, or forket pile. — Poly- 
 olbion. 
 
 They withstoden and wel defendit. — Kyng Alesaunder. 
 
 The dame perceiv'd that Tancred breath'd and sight (sighed). — 
 
 Fairfax. 
 
24 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Barley bree. Barley juice, malt liquor. See bree. 
 
 Barmie. Of, or like barm, yeasty. 
 
 And their cold stomachs with crown'd goblets cheer 
 
 Of windy cider, and of barmy beer. — Dryden. 
 
 I think my brains will work without barm.—Fktcher. 
 
 Base. Bass. > 
 
 ,Next pans and kettles of all keys, 
 / From trebles down to double base. — Hudibras. 
 Hor. Madam, 'tis now in tune. 
 Luc. All but the base. 
 Hor. The base is right. — Shakespeare: 
 The mean (tenor) is drown'd with your unruly base. — Id. 
 The base murmurs of the water's fall. — Spenser. 
 
 Bash. To be ashamed. 
 
 His countenance was bold, and bashed not 
 
 For Guion's looks, but scornful eye-glance at him shot. — Spenser. 
 
 Bashfu'. Bashful. 
 
 Batch. The quantity of bread baked at a time ; a crew, 
 a gang. 
 
 I ne'er hurt their churnings, 
 
 Their brew-locks, nor their batches. — Thomas Middleton. 
 Except he were of the same meal and batch. — Ben Jonson. 
 I am a pupil of the same academy. We'll have a noble batch. 
 
 — Garrick. 
 
 Batts. Botts. A for o. See under aff. 
 
 Bauckie-bird. A bat. 
 
 The royalle egle with his fetherys dunne, 
 
 Of nature so hihe takith his flyght. 
 No bakke of kynde may looke ageyn the sunne. 
 
 Of frowardnesse yit wyl he fleen be rvy^\..~Lydgate. 
 
GLOSSARY. 25 
 
 Baudrons. A cat. ., 
 
 "Bawd is a common name for a hare in Aberdeenshire," says 
 Dr. Jamieson, and he asks, "CanBadrans have any affinity?" 
 It seems also to have been applied to a hare in England, if, as has 
 been supposed, bawd is so used in the second act of " Romeo and 
 Juliet." If so, then as cat or fuss was often applied to the hare, 
 one of the numerous names of that animal may, vrith a slight change, 
 have been given to the cat. 
 
 Bauk. A cross-beam ; a bauk en', the end of a beam. 
 
 This is Bums's definition, but I believe a bauk is a spar above, 
 and parallel to, a joist. 
 
 For change of / into au, see a'. Balks.— Johnson. 
 Bawks, timbers, beams. — Bamford. 
 
 Bawks, the large timber beams that support the roof. — Thoresby. 
 The sewe was in the kilne-hoile doone. 
 
 And they were on the bawke aboone. — The Felon Sewe of Rokeby. 
 Two yards a plaister tumald off at bawk onta me head. — Tom 
 Treddlehoyle. 
 
 Bauld. Bald. See aff. 
 
 He makes meke that ar was fell. 
 
 And waik that bald has been. — Sir Penny. Wart on. 
 
 Show yoursell 
 To all the shepherds bauldly. — Ben Jonson. 
 A prophet of Estrinland, 
 Heght Balaam, crafti and bald. — Cursor Mundi. 
 
 Bawmy. Balmy. See under d. 
 
 The bawmy liquor is so commendable. — Lydgate. 
 
 Bawk. A balk. 
 
 A strip of land, of indeterminate breadth, left unploughed. — 
 
 Jamieson. 
 Nor that they set debate between their lords 
 By earing up the balks that part their bounds. — George Gascoigne. 
 Dikeres and delveres digged up the balkes. — P. Plowman. 
 
26 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Baws'nt. Having a white stripe down the face like a 
 bawson or badger. 
 
 His mittens were oi bawson' s skin. — Drayton. 
 I am a lord of other gear ! this fine 
 Smooth bawsoiis cub. — Ben Jonson. 
 
 Bawtie. Dog, or name of dog. 
 
 Be. To let be, to give over, to cease. 
 
 Let be that Lady debonaire. — Spenser. 
 
 Neverthelese he let be 
 
 And loked on the chylde so fre. — Emare. 
 
 Let be, said Amys of the Mountayne. — Sir Guy. Warton. 
 
 Bear. Barley. 
 
 The farmers will not take it from them for their bere. — Swift. 
 Orge Paume, Beere-hzxYit ; big barlie ; barlie with the square ear. 
 — Cotgrave. 
 
 Seas'. Beasts, specially applied to cattle, but in the 
 " Address of Beelzebub " — lice. Burns applies it to a 
 sheep and a horse. 
 Beasts, and sheep, and horses. — Revelation, xviii. 13. 
 
 Meh measter seet store on hur becose o' fotchin the byess an sheep. 
 
 — Tim Bobbin. 
 Thoo when scome (I came) home esbote (I bought) some beass. 
 
 — Wright's Political Songs. 
 
 Beastte. Dim. of beast. 
 
 Ther wer Tmiiy bestys felle in that forest. — Octovian Imperaior. 
 
 Lene me 
 
 An hundred frankes for a weke or tweye, 
 
 For certain bestes that I must beye. — Chaucer. 
 
 Kepe the come fro the bestes. — P. Plowman. 
 The words bestys and bestes are not diminutives, but 
 their use as plurals may have led to the form beastte, and 
 probably all our diminutives in te had a similar origin. 
 
GLOSSARY. 27 
 
 Beck. A curtsy. 
 
 A beck was a bend of the knee, as well as a nod of the head. — 
 
 Halliwell. 
 My bony on gave me a bek. — Old Song, Ritson. 
 Then peine I me to stretcher, forthe my necke, 
 And est and west upon the peple I becke. — Chaucer. 
 
 Bedevil. To afflict. 
 
 Recruited once more, I forgot all my pain. 
 And was jilted, and burnt, and bedeviVd again. 
 
 — Edward Moore. 
 
 Lucretia is so fashion'd and bedeviVd that nothing can save her. — 
 
 Gartick. 
 
 Beef. Body. 
 
 Chastise that brawny beefoi thine ! — Shelton's Don Quixote. 
 
 Beek. To bask. 
 
 He had more mystyr of a gode fyre 
 
 To beyke hys boones by. — Le Bone, Florence of Rome. 
 That knyght es nothing to set by 
 That leves al his chevalry. 
 And ligges bekeand in his bed. 
 When he haves a lady wed. — Ywain atid Gawain. 
 
 And eke agaynst the sonne 
 
 Bekyth hym poor Diogenes in his tonne. — Sir T. More. 
 
 As Abraham was in the playn 
 
 Of Mamre where he dwelt. 
 And beakt himselfe agaynst the sunne. 
 
 Whose parching heat he felt. — W. Hunnis. 
 
 Beet. To add fuel to fire, to mend, to become better. 
 
 I will don sacrifice, and fires bete. — Chaucer. 
 
 Anoon a fyer ther was y-beet. — Octoman Imperator. 
 
 Jhesue crist our balys bete, and to the blys us brynge ! 
 
 — Chevy Chase. 
 
 Behadden. Beholden. See under d and haud. 
 
28 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Behint or behin. Behind. See akwart. 
 
 Beld. Bald. E for a, as in 
 
 A Hon almost sterved is not by upland herdsmen driven. 
 
 — Chafman. 
 
 Sone after she gan herh 
 
 Cokkes crowe and houndes berk. — Lay Le Fraine. 
 
 And his queene attone 
 Was Lady Flora, on whom did attend 
 A fayre flocke of faeries, and a fresh be7id [band] 
 Of lovely nymphes.' — Spenser. 
 Duke Gedeon whan it was derke 
 Ordeineth him unto his werke. — Govier. 
 
 Bellum. Force, \xaT^€m.%.—Jamieson. " To ward their 
 bellum " seems to mean " to defend from their 
 assaults." 
 
 Belyve. By and by, presently, quickly, immediately, at 
 once. 
 
 Belive, anon, by and by, or towards night. — Bailey. 
 
 To London the knyghts went belyve. — Rich. C. de Lion. 
 
 By the same way the direful dames do drive 
 
 Their mournful charet, fild with rusty blood. 
 
 And down to Plutoes house are come bilive. — Spenser. 
 
 Ben. In, into. Into the spence or parlour ; into any 
 place in which the speaker is ; but and ben, the country 
 kitchen and parlour. See but and ben. 
 Ren, into. — Halliwell. 
 
 & teyy (they) comen eft till Gerrsalem, 
 
 To seken himm thaer binnin (within). — The Ormulum. 
 
 The King Arthur es redy dight 
 
 To be her byn this fowretenyght. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Benison. A benediction. 
 
 Benizon, a blessing. — Bailey. 
 
GLOSSARY. 29 
 
 For which his fadres benison he wan. — Chaucer. 
 
 Be gone 
 Without our grace, our love, our benison. — Shaks. 
 Fadyr, thy benesoun with good entent ! 
 
 — Oct avian Imperator. 
 
 Benmost. Inmost. See ben. 
 Benorth. To the northward of. 
 
 So that folc binorthe durste nour at-route. — Rob. of Gloucester. 
 The army landed two myles bewest the town of Lethe. 
 
 The Late Expedition in Scotland, Land. , fSS4- 
 
 For Horn 
 
 That woneth her by-weste. — The Geste of Kyng Horn. 
 
 Bent A kind of coarse grass; the ground on which 
 bent grows. 
 
 Whiles round about thy greedy eye doth look, 
 
 Observing wonders in some flower by, 
 
 This bent, that leaf, that butterfly. — Henry Peacham. 
 
 Her cassock was of scarlet red ; 
 
 Long and large, as straight as ^«»^. — Robert Green. 
 
 Like as the bird, that having close imbarr'd 
 
 Her tender young ones in the springing bent. 
 Cries and complains most where she needeth least. — Fairfax. 
 
 Bent. Stretched, braced, in 
 
 Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve 
 
 Are bent like drums. — To a Haggis. 
 I'll give thanks 
 When my belly's braced up like a drum. — Massinger. 
 
 Besouth. To the southward of. 
 
 An harpour sange a gest be mouth 
 
 Of a knyght there be-south. — Sir Cleges. 
 
 Bethankit. Grace after meat. Past tense in / instead 
 of d, as in — 
 
30 GLOSSARY. 
 
 And soo invadet Scotland.— I commandet dewe watche to be 
 kepte.— £a;-/ of NorThumlerland to Henry VIII. 
 
 Bethankit is similar to Shakespeare's we-thank-you— 
 Like a cipher, 
 Yet standing in rich place, I multiply, 
 "With one we-thank-you, many thousands more 
 That go before it. — Winter's Tale. 
 
 Beuk. A book. Change of oo to u. 
 
 In the line from Gavin Douglas, which Burns has pre- 
 fixed to " Tam o' Shanter," this word is spelled iuke. It 
 is more common for both English and Scotch authors to 
 change oo to u or ui than to eu. 
 
 Arthur the Kyng of Yngland 
 
 That wan al Wales with his hand, 
 
 And al Scotland, als sayes the buke. 
 
 And mani mo, if men will luke. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Every man his leve tuke. — Ipomydon. 
 His daughter bears away the bell from all the buke-%€\Ssx% wives 
 in London. — Life aiid Errors of John Dunton. jLond., ijo^. 
 I hold hym never no good archer 
 That shuteth at buttes so wyde. — Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough. 
 
 Bicker. A drinking-cup made of staves and hoops like 
 
 a tub. 
 
 Byker, a beaker cujj. — Halliwell. 
 
 Jainieson, I believe correctly, says there is no connec- 
 tion between beaker and bicker. He seems to suggest 
 beech, the wood of which it was made, as the origin of 
 bicker, and this seems probable when we remember the 
 tendency to change ch into k, as biich into bick, pitch into 
 pick, beseech into beseke, etc. 
 
 Bicker. A short, rapid race ; a strife of any kind ; a 
 skirmish rather than a battle. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 31 
 
 Unnumber'd streamlets bicker'd through the sunny shade. 
 
 Thomson. 
 Byker, a fray or scuffle. BicTcering, a tilting or skirmishing dis- 
 pute, wrangling.— ^az'/cy. 
 
 Bomen bickarte uppon the bent. 
 
 Percy says bickarte here means skirmished, but it must 
 mean ra7i, for the Scots had not yet come up, and the 
 bomen were running after and shooting the deer. 
 
 As fast as the heels on't could bicker, 
 It scamper'd on northward away. 
 
 The Northumb. Garland. Ritson. 
 Thou art to old at (to) bykyr and fyght.— j?. C. de Lion. 
 Heore thonkyng they nowe be sikir, 
 Y schal heom yelde wel this byhir. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 We shall begin our ancient bickerings. — Shakespeare. 
 
 Bid. To ask. See bode. 
 
 I will bid\h& duke to the nuptial. — Shakespeare. 
 
 Biel, bield. A shelter. 
 
 Beeld, a sheltered place. — Bailey. 
 
 This our bield, the blustering winds to shun. — Fairfax. 
 
 Alweldand God, of mightes masle. 
 
 He be his beld, for he mai best. — L. Minot. 
 
 None es so wight wapins to welde, 
 
 Ne that so boldly mai us behle. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Bien. Wealthy, plentiful. 
 
 This is bien bouse, this is bien bouse. — Broome' s Jovial Crew. 
 
 Latham says, " The thieves of London are conserva- 
 tors of Anglo-Saxonisms,"and we may assume that Broome 
 would make his fovial Crew speak the language most 
 likely to be understood by a London audience ; if so, 
 bien may be a good old English word. 
 
32 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Big. To build. 
 
 Bigge, to build up. — Bailey. 
 
 That day is good a rayll to iygge. — De Curzione Lunaes. 
 
 On a buke the erl swar ■ 
 
 For to restor bath les and mar, 
 
 And big again both tour and toun. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Bigihs a hows, at thi liking. — The Two Dreams. 
 
 Biggin. Building, a house, from big. For omission of 
 g see backlins. 
 
 When he come to his byggynge. 
 
 He welcomed fayr that lady yyng. — Emare. 
 
 Vuche burde with her barne the byggynge they levez. 
 Dr. Morris's Early English Allite7-alive Poems. 
 
 ■Biggit. Built. It for ed, as in — 
 
 Thou -a&vet ploughit the ocean's foam, 
 
 To seek and bring rough pepper home. — Herbert. 
 
 She bringeth me forthe the great clobbet staves. — Chaucer. 
 
 So fell aslepe, slepet there all nyght. — Froissart. 
 
 She smirkit and she smyld. — Heywood. 
 
 Ther was mony a sarsyn, and \ong-berdei. Barbaryn. 
 
 Kyng Alisaujtder. 
 
 JSill. A bull. / for u sounding as in bull, is rare in E. 
 It is,--however, to be found, as in — 
 
 And with that worde, he for a quishen (cushion) ran. — Chaucer. 
 
 Billie. A brother, a young fellow, a companion, a man. 
 
 Billy, a brother, , a young fellow, a term of endearment. — 
 
 Halliwell. 
 
 Billy. Familiar for William. See under Commutation. 
 Had I a great princess been born, 
 My Billy had dear been to me. — Fielding. 
 
GLOSSARY. 23 
 
 Bing. A heap of grain, potatoes, etc. Unless a word 
 in Marlow's " Jew of Malta," which is suspected to be 
 a misprint, be relied on, I do not know that bing 
 occurs in any English author. 
 
 Here have I purst their paltry silver bings. 
 Fie, what trouble 'tis to count their trash ! 
 Well fare the Arabians, who so richly pay 
 The things they traffic for with wedge of gold. 
 
 Birdie. Dim. of bird ; a young woman. 
 
 Holy hath byrdys, a ful fayre flok. — Christmas Carol. Brand. 
 That fest lasted fourten night 
 ,0f barouns and oibirddes (ladies) bright. — Amis and Amiloun. 
 
 The Justices somme 
 Busked him to the boure there the birde dwelled.—/". Plowman. 
 
 Birk. Birch. K for ch, as in — 
 
 VWfick (pitch) you o'er the pales. — Shahespeare. 
 
 Stain or brack (breach) on her sweet reputation. — Fletcher. 
 
 We beseke (beseech) you of mercie and socour. — Chaucer. 
 
 Birk, a kind of birch tree. — Grose. Bailey. 
 
 He- bete her wyth a yerd oibvrke. — Le Bone Florence of Rome. 
 
 Birken. Consisting of birches. 
 
 Still, 'tis said, the fairy people meet 
 
 Beneath each birken shade on mead or hill. — Collins. 
 
 Birkie. A clever fellow. This is Burns's explanation of 
 the word, but it does not agree with his use of it : — 
 
 You see yon birkie ca'd a lord, — 
 He's but a coof for a' that. 
 
 And a coof, he tells us, is "a blockhead, a ninny." Now 
 a person cannot well be a clever fellow and a blockhead. 
 Cunningham says it means "a clever, a forward conceited 
 fellow," yet Burns says of himself — 
 
 There was a birkie born in Kyle, 
 C 
 
34 GLOSSARY. 
 
 and of Creech — 
 
 We've lost a Hrkie weel worth gowd. 
 The truth seems to be that Mrkk simply means fellow, 
 and, like fellow, depends for its signification on the 
 adjective joined with it. Had birch or birk ever been 
 used as an instrument of punishment in Scotland we 
 might have supposed a birkie to be a person possessing 
 some good qualities, but likely to be benefited by an 
 occasional use of the birch. 
 
 Birl. To club money for the purpose of procuring 
 drink ; to pour out. — famieson. 
 
 Some dame Elynour entrete 
 To byrle them of the best. — Skelton. 
 The olde God of wyne called Baccus birlyng the wyne. 
 
 Hairs Chron. 
 
 In these extracts byrl or birl, though the same word as 
 the S. birl, has not exactly the same meaning. The one 
 signifies to draw liquor, the other to provide for its being 
 drawn. 
 
 Birnie. Ground covered with the scorched stems of 
 heath. — -Jainieson. 
 
 Birnie. Burns uses this word, which Chambers trans- 
 lates lively, in a jocular letter to Nicol. I have not 
 met the word elsewhere, but from the context and the 
 fact that birn is a form of burn, lively or spirited seems 
 the meaning. 
 
 Birring. The noise of partridges when they rise. 
 
 Beere and birre, force or might, as with all my beere, i.e., with 
 all my might. — Bailey. 
 
 To him he stirt, with birful gxim.—Ywain and Gawain. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 35 
 
 With the mouth he made a here 
 That al the halle was afered. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 Good wife, let be all this beare. 
 
 That thou makest in this place here. — Chester Mysteries. 
 And the unclene spiritis entridden into the hoggis, and with greet 
 bire, or haste, the floe was cast down in-to the sea. — Wyclif, 
 
 Morris and Skeat. 
 Richard gaff 
 
 To labourers, and to trumpours, 
 Hors and robes to ber (sound) her los. 
 
 R. C. de Lion. 
 Bi that time was the barn for bere of that hounde 
 Draw him in to his den. — R. of Gloucester. 
 
 Birse. A bristle. 
 
 Byrst, a bristle. — Bosworth. Burst. — Thorpe. 
 
 Bit. Crisis, nick of time. 
 
 Bizz. To buzz, a bustle. / for u, as in — 
 
 That we be not exyled 
 
 To the dyne (dun) dale 
 
 Of boteless bale. — Skelton. 
 Of him ye might be trist (trust) enough. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 The tayl they kyt (cut) of hundredis fyve. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 And was war 
 
 Of the fir in the chirche-haw (church-yard). — The Seven Sages. 
 Bizz, to buzz. — Halliwell. 
 
 Bizzard. A buzzard. 
 
 Bizzie. Busy. Differs only in spelling. In some dis- 
 tricts of England z is often used for j. Thus in 
 "Tummas and Meary," by John Collier, we find yezzier 
 for easier, uz for us, etc. ; but this is not quite analo- 
 gous, for busy and bizzie have the same pronunciation. 
 There are also some very old writings in which the 
 
36 GLOSSARY. 
 
 flat is used in the spelling instead of the <>harp i in the 
 plural of nouns, thus— 
 
 Bukkez, bausenez, and bulez, to the bonkkez hyghed. 
 
 Dr. Morris's Early English Alliterative Poems. 
 
 Black. Disastrous, evil, in " Black be your fa ! " i.e., 
 " May your lot be unfortunate." 
 
 I will to France, hoping the consequence 
 
 Will prove as bitter, black, and tragical. — Shakespeare. 
 
 Black-art. Mysterious rite ; conjuration ; union with 
 evil spirits. 
 
 Black-art, necromancy. — Halliwell. 
 The black art of dark axiiiqaiiy.— James Heath. 
 
 Let's also flee the furious-curious spell 
 Of those black-artists that consult with hell. — Sylvester. 
 He (Chillingworth) was called the King's Black-art man. 
 
 Life of T. Fuller. 
 
 Black bonnet. A name given by Burns to the elder who 
 stands at the plate for receiving the offerings of those 
 entering the church. I believe it was the poet's own 
 invention, for the oldest people I have met never knew 
 the term till they saw it in " The Holy Fair.'' From 
 that poem it is plain who is meant, but it is not so easy 
 to find out why he is called Black Bonnet, for I do 
 not suppose that an elder had any distinctive dress. 
 It is not quite certain that Burns did not mean a 
 clergyman as well as an elder by the term. In his 
 Epistle to Mr. M'Math he says. 
 
 My music, tired wi' mony a sonnet 
 
 On gown, and ban', and douse black bonnet. 
 
 Gown and ban' mean minister, and I rather think so does 
 black bonnet. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 37 
 
 £lack-lipptt. Black-lipped, bitter tongued, foul-mouthed. 
 
 He's noble. He had a black mouth that said other of him. 
 
 Shakespeare. 
 
 Blade. A reckless fellow. This is one of those words 
 that depend for their meaning on the adjective with 
 which they are joined. 
 
 Despatch me, I pri'thee this troublesome blade. — Prior. 
 He is a bonny blade, and master of his trade — R. Hood. 
 If all the gods should now a fancy take 
 Some one of us a raw young blade to make. 
 
 Duke of Buckingham. 
 
 Blue. Livid ; the colour of the skin after a blow with 
 the fist or a blunt instrument. In old E. this word is 
 spelled bio. 
 
 O pereles Prynce, payned to the deth, 
 
 RufuUy rent, thy body wan and bio. — Skelton. 
 That fyre shall falle, and brenne al to bio askes 
 The houses and the homes. — P. Plowman. 
 And bett hym tille his rybbis braste, 
 And made his ilesche fuUe blaa. — Sir Isumbras. 
 
 Blastie. A shrivelled dwarf; a term of contempt. Blast 
 is a minced oath, and so blastie, in American phrase, 
 is a little cuss. 
 
 Quick, d — mme, take away your nasty sheep. 
 
 You blast (i.e., d — n, as above) the sheep, good Master Skinner I 
 
 Have I brow-beaten each thief and strumpet, 
 And blasted on them ? — Dr. Wolcot. 
 
 Blasiit. Blasted. 
 
 Blate. Bashful, sheepish. 
 Blait or blate, hs.s\da\.— Grose. 
 
38 GLOSSARY. 
 
 If they have supt e'er I come in, 
 I will look wondrous blate. — R. Hood. 
 
 The old E. form seems to have been blade: — 
 
 And they meet in her mirth whan mynstrals ben styl 
 Whan telleth they of the trinitie a tale or twaine 
 And bringeth forth a blade reason and take Bernard to witness. 
 
 P. Plowman. Warion. 
 
 Blather. The bladder. 
 
 There's nothing gained by being witty : fame 
 Gathers but wind to blather up a name. 
 
 Powell to the Memory of Master Fletcher. 
 
 The use of th for d is not a Scottish peculiarity. In a 
 letter to Parliament Cromwell speaks of the Earl of 
 Lautherdale (Lauderdale). 
 
 Well couth (could) he tune his pipe. — Spenser. 
 
 The dore was all oi athamant (adamant) eterne. — Chaucer. 
 
 Him was lever have . . 
 
 Twenty books . . 
 
 Then robus riche, or y?rta/ (fiddle). — Wright's Chaucer. 
 
 At Oxforth {O^iot&).—Skelton. 
 
 Murther for murder is still used. 
 
 Though he wer thoghtyer (doughtier) gome 
 
 Than Launcelot du Lake. — Lybeaus Disconnus. 
 
 Blaud. A flat piece of any thing, to slap, to dash ; a slap 
 or blow. 
 
 Blaw. To blow, to boast, to flatter. 
 The princes that war rich on raw, 
 Gert nakers strike, and trumpets blaw. — Minot. 
 In shynyng of the sonne whan March blaweth. 
 The aitches upward them thraweth. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 Gret bost he gan to blawe. — Amis and Amiloun. 
 
GLOSSARY. ,n 
 
 I do not know that Mow — as blaw does — means to flatter, 
 but that seems to be the sense in — 
 
 Whyle I was ryche inow at home 
 
 Grete bost then wolde they Howe. 
 And now they renne awaye fro me. — R. Hood. 
 
 To blaw south. When sentence of banishment was 
 passed on a Scotsman, unless he had considerable 
 means, he could go nowhere but to England, that is, 
 south ; so, to blaw south means to banish. 
 
 Blearie and blear ee. Wet eye. See ee. 
 
 A bleery-etd fowler trust not though he wepe. — Lydgate. 
 
 Bleer. To bedim, to deceive. 
 
 You your forces bend 
 To bleer men's eyes 
 With fopperies 
 Which fools embrace and wiser men despise. 
 
 Thomas Ellwood. 
 Gold's radiant lustre never blears his eye. — Sylvester. 
 Ambition blearde myne eyes, I could not see. 
 
 The Flower of Fame. 
 
 Bleerit. Bleered ; bleerit een, eyes hurt with weeping. 
 It for ed. See Biggit. 
 
 Bleeze. Blaze, flame. E for a, as in — 
 
 He held virginitee 
 More parfit than wedding in freeltee (frailty). — Chaucer. 
 Their tresour and their meles (males) 
 He toke to his own deles. — R. C. de Lion, 
 I wud the deil had had their craigs, 
 And a' things in a bleeze o' fire. — The Fray of Hantiwissell. 
 
 Blellum. An idle talking fellow. Of this word, which 
 Burns uses twice, nobody seems to know anything, 
 
40 , GLOSSARY. 
 
 and I suspect it must be placed in the same category 
 as Butler's duiberdegu'llion, Chaucer's viretote, his own 
 ramfeezled, and similar words which are perhaps none 
 the less effegtive that they cannot be exactly defined. 
 
 Blether. To talk idly. See blather. 
 Blether, to make a- great noise. — Halliwell. 
 I blunder,.! bluster, I blowe, and I blather. — Skelton. 
 
 . Blin. Blind. D is often oriiitted after n by E. authors. 
 Through the worlde went the soun (sound). — Chaucer. 
 And she shalt out, thus said heere and hoim (hound). — lb. 
 An almon (almond) now for Parrot. — Skelton. 
 His bestes hym folowed by the sowne. — The Frere and the Boye. 
 
 Ritson. 
 
 Blink. A little while, a smiling \oo\; to look kindly; 
 to shine by fits. 
 
 Pers of hys slepe gan blynke. — Robert of Brunne. 
 The dame who thought that one blink of her eye 
 Could make the stoutest heart feel love's sweet pain. — Fairfax. 
 Though she bee a vixen, she will blenlce blithly on you fo« my 
 cause. — Two Lancashire Lovers. 
 
 Blinker. A term of contempt; a young woman. 
 Jamieson says " a lively engaging girl." 
 
 A blinkard, blinker, strabo. Blinker, straba. She that is squint- 
 eyed, or has a cast in her eye. Si qua siraba est, Veneri sindlis. — • 
 Ovid. Ainsworth. 
 
 Is it possible that Burns, on one of those occasions when 
 he turned to his " Latin again," found this passage? 
 
 Blinkin. Smiling, shining. 
 
 Blirt. Out-burst of grief. 
 Blirt, to cry. — Grose. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 41 
 
 Blue-gown. One of those beggars who get (now got) 
 annually on the .King's birth-day a blue cloke or gown, 
 with a badge. (No new member has been added 'since 
 
 A blue coat with a badge does better with you. 
 
 Greetis Tu Quoque. 
 
 Bluid. Blood. U for 00^ See under beuk. 
 
 Blid, blood. Bamford. This is the Ayrshire pronunciation. 
 Yt was marvele ande the redde blude renne not. — Chevy Chase. 
 The red blude gan out glyde. — Sir Guy. 
 They are less bluddy than ever they. Were. — De Mornay. 
 In his right hand a naked sword he had, 
 That to the hiltes was al with blud embrewed. 
 
 The Mirrour for Magistrates. 
 
 Bluntie. A sniveller ; a stupid fellow. Bluntie seems to 
 be a noun formed from the adj. blunt by the addition 
 of ie, — a rare form of derivation, so rare that I recol- 
 lect only two other instances : brownie (the spirit) and 
 crummy, and both of these may be disputed, for it is 
 not universally conceded that brownie comes from 
 brown, the colour; and crumb, though an adj. in 
 ■ Anglo-Saxon, was not used as such in English ; 
 crummy is still not a noun but an adjective, with the 
 subaddition cow or staff. 
 
 Blunt, ignorant, or uncivilized. — Todd. Blunt, clownish. — 
 
 Bailey. 
 As base or blunt, unmeet for melodie. — Spenser. 
 
 Blutter. The heather-bleater, or blutter ; the mire-snipe. 
 Blype. A shred, a large piece ; anything peeled off. 
 
 Board. A plank on which a corpse is stretched. — 
 Jamieso7i. This is his definition of board trees, which 
 
42 GLOSSARY. 
 
 he says is a Northern term. In the South it is called 
 a straughtin-board. 
 The Laird o' the Ford will straught on a board (will die) 
 If he canna get her. — The Tariolton Lasses. 
 
 Bob. The obeisance made by a lady, a curtsey; to move 
 up and down. 
 When she drinks, against her lips I bob. — Shakespeare. 
 
 Bock. To vomit, to gush intermittently. 
 
 They looked him all round about, 
 
 But wound on him saw nane, 
 Yet at his mouth came backing out 
 The blood of a good vein. — R. Hood. 
 Agrunting and drinking, reboking up again. — Barclay. 
 His stomak stuffed ofte tymes dyde rebohe. — Shelton. 
 To boken, to nauseate, ready to vomit. — Thorcsby. 
 
 Bode. An offer made for anything on sale. The old 
 past tense of bid. 
 
 Another come and bode more. — Rob. of Gloucester. 
 Hour King boden him gold and fe. 
 With (if) that he wil with him be. 
 
 Horn Childe and Maiden Rimnild. 
 And we pray 
 That ye wolden take our bode. — Rich. C. de Lion. 
 
 Bodk. A copper coin of the value of two pennies Scots, 
 or the third part of an English halfpenny. — -Jainieson. 
 
 Boodle, an old English word for half a farthing, is still in use in 
 Lancashire. — Sir John Sinclair, jyS2. 
 Bodle. — Halliwell, Bamjord, and Grose. 
 
 Bogie. Dim. of bog. 
 
 Bogle. A spirit, an apparition. 
 
 Boggart, a spirit, an apparition. — Bamford. 
 
GLOSSARY. 43 
 
 Vo\.3.to-bogle, a scarecrow. — Halliwell. 
 
 Bogle-hoe, which seems, at least in sound, to bear some affinily 
 to Hobgoblin, is said to be derived from the Welsh Biogwyl, to 
 terrify. — Ellis. 
 
 Boggle. To Start, to fly back; to fear to come for- 
 ward. — -Johnson. 
 Theer wur a boggle in it, I often 'eered 'm mysen. — Tennyson. 
 
 Bole. An aperture in a wall for holding small articles in 
 frequent use. 
 
 5u/i?-holes. The openings in a barn for light and air. — Halliwell. 
 
 Bolus. A form of medicine. — -Johnson. 
 
 Take one of these boluses every six hours, washing it down with 
 six spoonfuls of the best Holland's Geneva..— Fielding. 
 
 Bonnie, bonny. Handsome, beautiful. Burns seems to 
 have generally written bonie. 
 
 And be ye blithe and bonny. — Shak. 
 
 And he wolde, after fyght, 
 
 Bonie landis to hem dyght. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Bonnet. This word needs no explanation, but one pas- 
 sage in which it occurs may deserve a line. In " The 
 Cottar's Saturday Night " it is said — 
 
 The cheerfu' supper done, wi' serious face, 
 The bonnet reverently is laid aside. 
 
 Does the poet mean us to understand that, in Scotland 
 in his day, men remained covered at meat ? This was 
 once the custom in England, and I suppose in Scotland, 
 but except for this passage I should not have thought it 
 had continued till so recent a period. Pepys, under date 
 1664, says — ^" Home to bed ; having got a strange cold 
 in my head, hy flinging off my hat at dinner." And his 
 editor remarks, in a note on this passage — "In Lord 
 
44 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Clarendon's Essay on the Decay of Respect paid to Age- 
 he says that in his younger days he never kept his hat 
 on before those older than himself except at dinner." 
 And Bishop Hall mentions among the degradations to 
 which a chaplain in a great man's house must submit, he 
 has " to sit bare at meals." 
 
 Hee dyd come in to diner, and dyd put on hys cappe.—Merie 
 Tales of Skelton. 
 
 Now hats fly ipjf (after dinner), and youths carouse. 
 
 Sir John Suchling. 
 
 Bonnock. See banneclt. 
 
 Since Bannock was in type, the following paragraph 
 appeared in the newspapers : — 
 
 At an election meeting in Wiltshire, a labourer said, " Wasn't it 
 six shillings a week and barley bannocks when the corn were taxed ? " 
 
 This shows that bannock is an E. word, and that it was 
 not always made of oatmeal. 
 
 Board. A board. The digraph oo in boord, broose, etc., 
 
 sounds like ii in Fr. fut, debut. 
 
 Ais, a planke or boord. — Cotgrave. Board, see boord ^^Sherwood. 
 
 We ben entred into schippes boord. — Wright's Chazicer. 
 
 An house of timber and boord hsrag there erecLed. — Stows. 
 
 Now have at all that lyeth upon the hurde. — Skelton. 
 
 The King and myself of all the Councell Boord were, etc. — Sir 
 E. Nicholas. 
 
 Boord-en, Board-end. The head of the table. For omis- 
 sion of d, see under blin. 
 
 With Marchauns to been were hend 
 
 Ne weore accountis at the bordis eynde. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Item, it is thought good that no plovers be bought at no season 
 
 but only in Christmas and principal feasts, and my lord to be served 
 
GLOSSARy 45 
 
 therewith, and his board end, and none other. — Household Book of 
 the Earl of Northumberland quoted by Hume, Hist, of E. 
 
 Take here the golde in a bagg, 
 
 I schall hyt hyng on a knagg, 
 At the schypp borde ende. — Le Bone F. of Rome. 
 
 Boortree. The shrub elder, planted much of old in 
 hedges of barn-yards, etc. ; literally a bowertree. 
 Boor, the parlour, bed-chamber, or inner room. — Grose. 
 A bur-tree, an elder, or dog-tree. — Thoresby. 
 
 Ful many a maide bright in hour 
 They mourned for him J>ar amour. — Chaucer, 
 And the boys were armed in general with bore-tree or elder pop- 
 guns. — HutchisofUs Hist, of Cumberland. 
 
 Boost. Behoved, must needs. 
 Buse, behoves. — Sir F. Madden. 
 
 And sen ye wil that it be thus, 
 
 At yowre likynge habide me bus. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Nedes bus you have sum nobil knyght 
 
 That will and may defend your right. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Another form of lioost is bud : — 
 
 Fer might thai noght fle, but thaire bud tham bide. — Z. Minoi. 
 This explains 
 
 Ne bode I never thence go. — Chaucer. Romaunt of the Rose. 
 
 Boot. The balance of value in barter. — Scott, 
 
 Boot-hose. Stockings to serve for boots ; spatterdashes. — 
 
 Johnson. 
 
 His lacquey with a linen stock on one leg, and a boot-hose on the 
 other, gartered with a red and blue list. — Shak. 
 
 Bore. A hole in a wall, a cranny. 
 A Sonne bem ful bryht 
 Schon opon the Quene 
 
 At a bore. — Sir Tristrem. 
 
46 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Lo, he saide, water hi can stop, 
 
 That hit ne mai nowt bi bores drop. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Your franchise, wherever you stood, confin'd 
 
 Into an augre's bore, — Shakespeare. 
 
 Bother. To tease, to trouble. 
 
 Bother, to tease, confuse, perplex. — Dr. Hooper. 
 
 Round the yard, a thousand ways, 
 
 Beasts in expectation gaze, 
 
 Catching at the loads of hay 
 
 Passing fodd'rers lug away. 
 
 Hogs with grumbling deafening noise 
 
 Bother round the server boys. — Clare. 
 
 Bouse. To drink. Bowze, a convivial meeting, a heavy 
 drinking. 
 
 Bouse, to drink lavishly; to io^e.— Johnson. 
 Then seke another house 
 And there wyll byb and bouse. — STcelton. 
 Drynke to hym deirly of fol god bous. 
 
 A Song on the Man in the Moon. 
 Come, prythee let's shog off. 
 And bowze an hour or two : there's ale will make 
 A cat speak at the Harrow. — Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 Up rose the bousy sire. — The Dunciad. 
 
 Bmii-hought. Bow-legged. 
 
 Bowk. The body. 
 
 Bowke, the body. — Bailey. 
 
 The clotered blood, for any leche-craft, 
 
 Corrumpeth, and is in his bouke yXSiil.— Chaucer. 
 
 Philotas mette Laban the duyk. 
 
 And bathed his spere in his bouTc. — JKyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Smothered it within my panting bulk. — Shah. 
 
 Bow-kail. Cabbage. See Kail. 
 
GLOSSARY. 47 
 
 Bow-Kail, cabbage, so called from the circular (Pglobular) form 
 of the plant.— ^/fflOTjVjoK. 
 
 Bow in bow-kail is not the same word as bow in bow- 
 hought, and is indeed in no way allied to it. The only 
 modern E. word which retains something of its appear- 
 ance, and is from the same root, is bowl, a round drink- 
 ing cup, and a ball for rolling on the ground. It is from 
 boll (A.-S. bolla), by the change of // into w, as are many 
 words, e.g., roll into row, poll into pow, knoll into knovtie, 
 etc., both in S. and E. One example may suffice here. 
 
 Or use any charmes in gadering of herbes, or hanginge oiscro-ojes 
 (scrolls) about man or woman for any sicknesses. — Dialogrte of 
 Dives and Pauper. 
 
 In Exodus ix. it is said " The flax was boiled" that is, 
 bowed. Johnson says boll is "to rise into a stalk," 
 whereas it means to form into a pod or bowl. 
 Whose feet were bowlne 
 With the streight cordes wherewith they haled him. 
 
 Surrey. 
 
 New ale will their bellies bowne (swell). — Wathiti's Ale. 
 It may be mentioned that bow in bow-kail ^^■^xa£.% to now, 
 and bow, to bend, to too, the difference of pronunciation 
 indicating a difference of origin. 
 
 Bowster. A bolster. 
 
 . Bowster, a bolster, a pillow. — Bamjord. 
 
 Taken by Collard MacCuUoch . . a feder bouster. — Deposi- 
 tion of a Manxman, quoted by Sir W. Scott. 
 
 To Judith White, a feather bedd and bowlster. — Will of Bish. 
 Davenant, 162'j. 
 
 Bow't. Bowed, bended, crooked. T for d, as in biggit. 
 
 A threepence bow'd would hire me. — Shakespeare. 
 Then .taking fourth a bowed Groat, and an old Pennie bowed, he 
 gave it her. — The Third Part of Couny-Catching. 
 
48 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Brackens. Fern. 
 
 Brofhen, female fern. — Bailey. Brakons, fern, brakes. — Thoresby. 
 Breckins. — Grose. 
 
 The hartt was in a bracken feme, 
 
 And hard the houndes and stode full derne. — Sir Gawaine. 
 
 Brae. A declivity, a precipice, the slope of a hill. 
 Up that steep bray. Lord Guelpho would not then 
 Hazard his folk. — Fairfax. 
 
 An old traveller and poet translates 
 
 Ipse inter ripas demisso flumine Nilus 
 Curretiners, 
 Slow Nile with low sunk streams shall keep his braies. — Sandys. 
 
 Sandys uses brae, as Allan Ramsay sometimes does, for 
 the bank of a river. 
 
 Making down the brae he was killed by a random shot. 
 
 Memoirs of Cap. J. Creichton. Swift. 
 
 Braid. Broad. 
 
 His face was full brade and fiat. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 His horns been as brade as rainbow bent. — Spenser. 
 
 Without the diche were listes made, 
 
 With wall battailed large and brade. — Chaucer. 
 
 With eghen that war ful bright and clere. 
 
 And brade, ilkone, als a sawsere. — Maister Gemes. 
 
 Braik. A kind of harrow (a heavy one). A different 
 spelling of brake. 
 Brake, a harrow. — Halliwell. 
 
 Braik. An instrument for rough-dressing flax. From 
 break. 
 
 Brake, an instrument with teeth, used in dressing flax or hemp. — 
 Bailey. 
 
 Brainge, or braindge. To run rashly forward, to draw 
 unsteadily. 
 
QLO?SARY 49 
 
 Brak. To break, made insolvent. 
 
 By helping of a friend brak his prisoun. — Chaucer. 
 
 The chancellor the wex to-brak. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
 The horse of his company brak lowse. — Surrey to He7iry Vi 12. 
 
 He blesside and brak and gaf looues to disciphs. — Wyclif. 
 
 Brake was formerly written Brak. — H. Tooke. 
 
 Brankie. Gaudy ; pranked up. — Jamieson. Allan 
 Ramsay has " Brankand, prancing." Perhaps it 
 means, spirited, forward, needing to be restrained by 
 the branks or bridle; or can it be the same as 
 prankie in — 
 
 So, that is somewhat like, but frankie cote, nay whan ? 
 
 Ralf Roister Doister. 
 
 Blanks. A kind of wooden curb for horses. Cheeks o' 
 branks, the wooden or side part of branks. 
 As this kind of halter, — for bridle it could not be 
 called, — has been long disused, it may be worth de- 
 scribing, especially as Jamieson's account of it is not 
 quite accurate. The head-stall was of rope, and the 
 nose-band consisted of two pieces of wood about a foot in 
 length and about four inches thick, fastened in front with 
 a strong cord or other ligature. To one of these sticks a 
 rope was fastened and passed through a hole in the other. 
 When this rope was pulled the nose-band pressed the 
 nostrils more or less tightly according to the force em- 
 ployed. It needed no bit, indeed could admit of 
 none. Animals could be readily enough stopped by 
 it, but could not be guided so steadily by it as by a 
 bit, and hence the force of Burns's line, in which he 
 speaks of himself as "Gaavin, as if led wi' branks," 
 that is, with head now up, now down, and moving 
 from side to side, like an animal under imperfect control 
 
 D 
 
5° 
 
 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Branks, a kind of halter or bridle, used by country people on the 
 borders. — Ilallvwell. 
 Brash. A sudden and short illness. 
 
 Brash, a fit, or tumbling one about. — Grose. 
 
 Brat. A worn shred of cloth ; brats, coarse clothes, or 
 simply clothes. 
 Brat, a rag.. — Bailey. Brat, a coarse apron, a rag. — Grose. 
 
 For ne had they but a shete 
 Which that they might wrappen hem in a-night 
 And a bratt to walken in by day-light. — Chaucer. 
 
 Brattle. A short race, hurry, fury. 
 
 Braw. Fine, handsome. This is the brave or braue of 
 old E. writers. 
 Right over stood in snow-white armour braue 
 The Memphite Zorous, a cunning dark. — Grimoald. 
 There is a great concourse of braw lads and lasses. 
 
 Bishop of Ossory to Earl of Northuvib. 
 
 Not many people need to be told that in old writings 
 u stands for both u and v. I suspect that in modern E. 
 many words which formerly had the u sound are spelled 
 with a V. 
 
 Brawlie, or brawJy. Very well, finely, heartily. 
 
 Braxie. A morkin sheep, etc. 
 
 This explanation, whatever may have been the case 
 when Burns wrote, is now as obscure as the word it was 
 designed to interpret. " Morkin, a wild beast that has 
 died by sickness or mischance," was taken from Bailey 
 by Johnson, who would not have been indebted to him 
 if he had found the word anywhere else; and more recent 
 Dictionaries, if they have the word, mostly use Bailey's 
 definition. 
 
 Braxie is a sheep that has died of splenic fever. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 5t 
 
 Query — Had Burns a Dictionary when his first volume 
 was published ? If not, where could he have got such 
 words as morkin, tenebrific, and melancholious ? 
 Thenne mourkne (rot) in the mudde. — Early E. Alliterative Poems, 
 
 Breast. To spring up or forward, to oppose. E. 
 
 The hardy Swiss 
 Breasts the keen air, and carols as he goes. — Goldsmith. 
 
 Breastie. Dim. of breast. 
 
 Brechame, or brechan. A horse-collar. Brechan is alto- 
 gether unknown in Ayrshire. 
 Bregham, a horse-collar. — Bailey. 
 Brauchin, a collar for a horse, made of old stockings stuffed with 
 
 straw. — Grose. 
 
 In "Willie Chalmers," "a braw new brechan" as part 
 of the equipment of a saddle-horse, if it means a horse- 
 collar, — and if it does not mean that, I know not what it 
 means, — seems to be a burlesque. 
 
 Breckan. Fern. See brackens. 
 
 Bree. Juice, liquid ; barley bree, malt liquor. 
 Bree, the liquor of a stew. — Bamford, 
 Brewis the bree of swine's meat. — lb. 
 A Cambridge lass, Venus-like, born of the froth 
 Of an old half fiU'd jug of Barley-Broth. — Cleaveland. 
 
 Breef. An invulnerable or irresistible spell or charm, a', 
 short writing. 
 
 This is a briefhow many sports are rife (giving a paper). — Shak. 
 With his carfcte would him enchaunt, — Gower, 
 Characts seem to have been charms in the form of Inscriptions- 
 (i.e., short writings, breafs). — Brand. 
 By carectes . . . 
 Whiche constrayned hym forcibly 
 To love a certayn body. — Skelton. 
 
52 
 
 GLOSSARY. 
 
 I think you have charms. — Shakesfectre. 
 
 The Divels or wicked spirits delight in furnishing folke with love 
 c harms, — De Mornay. 
 
 I do not know that the word breef occurs in English as 
 Burns uses it, but the thing is described in Sir Bevis of 
 
 Hampton : — 
 
 I shall go make me a writ. 
 
 Thorough a clerk wise of wit, 
 
 That there shall be no man have grace, 
 
 While that letter is in place. 
 
 Against my will to lie me by. 
 
 Nor do me shame nor villany. 
 
 This is the warlock breef of Burns, though used to repel 
 
 instead of to attract. 
 
 JBreeks. Breeches. 
 
 I have linen bteeks on. 
 False gelden, gang thy gait. 
 And du thy turns betimes ; or I'se gai take 
 Thy new breikes fra thee. — Ben Jonson. 
 Hastily that maiden meke 
 
 Took hose, and shose, and serk, and breke. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 It Cometh out on smale Trees, that ben non hyere than a Mannes 
 ■breek- Girdill. — Sir John Maundeville. 
 
 Breere. Briar. When Burns wrote " The rose upon the 
 brier by the water running clear," he plainly intended 
 that brier should be pronounced breere, as it is written 
 by many E. authors. 
 Hard by his side grew a bragging Brere. — Spenser. 
 Now in the crop, and now dovm in the breres. — Chaucer. 
 
 An other shape apperes 
 Of Greedy Care, stil brushing up the breres. — Lord Buckhurst. 
 
 -Brent. Smooth, not wrinkled. 
 
 Some etymologists think this is a corruption of bent. 
 Both forms are found in English authors. 
 
GLOSSARY. 53 
 
 With browes brent. — The Squyr of Lowe Degree. 
 
 Thou hast the right arched bent of the brow. — Shakespeare. 
 
 So spak the Knight, the geaunt sed, 
 
 Lead forth with the the sely maid, 
 
 And mak me quit of the and she"; 
 For glaunsing ee, or brow so brent. 
 
 Me lists not fight with thee. — Romance of the Falcon, 
 
 Dr. Mackay says, "Brant, brent, steep, high, precipi- 
 tous. In the song of 'John Anderson my Jo,' the 
 goodwife says to her husband — 
 
 When we were first acquent. 
 
 Your locks were like the raven, 
 
 Your bonnie brow was brent, 
 
 a high compliment both to his personal graces and his 
 intellect.'' But she speaks as if his brow were no longer 
 brent, because he has become bald, which could not 
 diminish the height of his brow, but rather appear to add 
 to it. Brent, however, does mean high, as in — 
 
 Bowed (went) to the hygh bonk there brentest hit were. 
 
 Early E. Alliterative Poems. Morris. 
 
 Brent-new. Quite new," brand new. Shakespeare has 
 Jire-neyi ; and brent means burned. 
 
 Yoni fire-new stamp of honour is scarce current. — Richard III. 
 For with long travel I am brent in the sun. Spenser. 
 
 Brie. The eye-brow. 
 Bree, an eye-brow. — Halliwell. Breg, a brow — Bosworth, 
 A great fot was betwix hys bryn (old plu. in n). — Octovian Im.- 
 
 perator. 
 
 Shaw's Brow, in Salford, is still (or was lately) called Shee Brees. 
 
 Brig. A bridge. 
 
 Brigboie. A contribution made towards the repairing or re- 
 building bridges. — Bailey. 
 
 And yet the fire consumed the Brigg. — Loves of Hero and Leander. 
 
54 GLOSSARY. 
 
 She helped him opon his hors ryg, 
 
 And sone thai come until a bryg. — Ywain mid Gawain. 
 
 Franche men put tham to pine 
 
 At Cressy, when thai brak the brig. — L. Minot. 
 
 Bring to. To amend, to cure. 
 
 Brither. Brother. / for u sound. See bizz, and wirk 
 for work, in — 
 
 Without mesure may non artificere 
 
 In his wirkyng parfitely precede. — Lydgate. 
 
 If any of the bretherkode be a-losed, etc. 
 
 — Chartulary of the Guild of the Holy Trinity. 
 Trew luf suld be us bytwene, 
 As suld bytwyx brether bene. — Ywain and Gawain, 
 
 Brock. A badger. 
 
 As big as brocks or badgers. — Hollands Trans, of Pliny. 
 
 Marry, hang thee brock ! — Shakespeare. 
 
 And go hunte hardiliche to hares and to foxes. 
 
 To bores and to brockes. — P. Plowman. 
 
 It es ful semeli, als me think, 
 
 A brok omang men for to stink. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Brogue. A hum (a cheat), a trick. 
 
 I do not think the word is used in this sense in Scot- 
 land, but HaUiwell gives "brog, a trick,'' as a word found 
 in the east of England. Coleridge uses it in a peculiar 
 way in his " Sonnet on the House that Jack built," — 
 Still on his thighs their wonted brogues are worn. 
 And through those brogues, still tattered and betorn, 
 His hindward charms gleam an unearthly white. 
 
 — Biographia Literaria. 
 
 If we allow Coleridge to make breeches of brogues, 
 which are really coarse shoes, Burns's use of the word 
 
GLOSSARY. 55 
 
 may be permitted. It is quite possible that Coleridge 
 had some authority for his substitution of brogues for 
 breeches. 
 
 Broo. Broth, liquid, water. See bree. 
 
 Tak a knyfe, and schere it smal, the rate and alle, and sethe it 
 in water ; take the broo of that. — MS. quoted by HalHwell. 
 
 Erode, broth, brue. — Cotgrave, 
 
 Broose. A race at country weddings (to determine) who 
 shall first reach the bridegroom's house on returning 
 from church. Broose seems originally to have meant 
 broth; thus — 
 
 Wheune he has a good tast. 
 
 And eeten weel a good repast, 
 
 And soupyed off the brouiuys a sope. — Rich. C. de Lion. 
 
 And brewis is frequently found : — "What an inundation of brewis 
 shall I swim in ! " — Fletcher. 
 
 When Burns speaks of the Broose as a race "on 
 returning from church" after the marriage, he must 
 refer to the practice of a time anterior to his own : for 
 though the " Directory for Public Worship " directs that 
 "the minister is publickly to solemnize it (marriage) in 
 the place appointed by authority for publick worship,'' 
 the ceremony has long been generally, it may almost be 
 said universally, performed in the house of the bride's 
 parents ; and it was from this house, and not from the 
 church — which would have been a somewhat unbecoming 
 "starting-post" — that the race began. Marriages in 
 churches are now growing fashionable. Let us hope this 
 arises from an increase of respect for the " Directory for 
 Publick Worship." 
 
 In the North of England a similar race did start from 
 the church : — 
 
56 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Fovir rustic Fellows wait the while 
 To kiss the bride at the Church stile : 
 Then vigorous mount their felter'd steeds — 
 To scourge them going, head and tail — 
 To win what country call the kail. 
 
 — The Collier's Wedding. Newcastle. 
 
 " Broose," says Sir Henry Ellis, " has the same mean- 
 ing as kail." 
 
 Brownie. A domestic goblin. — Sir W. Scott, according 
 to whom that which differentiates Brownie from other 
 spirits — embodied or disembodied — is his inclination 
 to labour without degireof recompence. 
 
 The Cornish to this day invoke the spirit Browny when their 
 bees swarm. — Antiquities of Cornwall. 
 
 Browst. The quantity of malt liquor brewed at one 
 time. Ew is often changed into ow, examples in this 
 very word being found. 
 
 A sorye beverage ther was bi'owen (brewed !) 
 
 Quarelles and arwes thykke flowen (flew]. — H. C. de Lion. 
 
 Thou schalt suffre kare and howe, 
 
 And drinke that thou hast i-browe. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Browster-wives. Ale-house wives ; lit. female brewers, 
 a name originating when every seller of ale was also 
 a maker of it. 
 
 Bakerys, browsterys, vyntenerys, with fressh liccour. — Lydgate. 
 
 Bothe Bontyng the browster & Sybyly Slynge. — Coventry My steries. 
 
 Ac Beton the brewestere bad hym good morwe. — P. Plowinati. 
 
 Brugh. A burgh. This transposition of r is quite com- 
 men in E. authors, as in Vanbrugh, a proper name. 
 Briddis (birds) of hevene comen and eeten it. — Wyclif. 
 Crull (curled) was his here, and as the gold it shone. — Chaucer. 
 
GLOSSARY. 5 7 
 
 Also Arestens fonde first the usage 
 
 Of mylke and cruddis (curds) and of honey swote. — Lydgate. 
 
 Every brid (bird) has chose his make. — Gower. 
 
 Bruilzie or bridzie. A broil, a combustion. 
 
 B''ulHment. — Halliwell. 
 
 BruzzU, to make a great ado, or stir. — Thoresby. ■ 
 I do not know that bruzzle has any connection with 
 bruilzie. It has the same meaning, and they are not un- 
 like in appearance. 
 
 Brunstane. Brimstone. Brunt ^cc^^ stane. 
 
 The blaste of the brynston blew away his brayne. — Slcelton. 
 
 Then the fendes made a fyre an one 
 
 Of blakke pyche and of bnns/oiic. — .5"/. Patrick's Purgatory. 
 
 Brunt. Did burn. See brugh. 
 
 The castell of Forde was brunte. — The Battle of Flodden Field. 
 His blistered hands amongst the cinders brent. — Spenser. 
 And of face of him brent the fire. — Metrical English Psal/er. 
 
 Brust. To burst. See brugh. 
 
 Who into England_seld did brust. 
 
 But they were brust in battle sore. — Bat. of Flod. Field. 
 Eftsoones she grew to great unpatience, 
 And into terms of open outrage brust. — Spenser. 
 
 If Renaldo 
 
 Have the sacred love of war so brust. 
 
 Take you the €asx%^.^Fairfax. 
 
 Buchaii-bullers. The boiling of the sea among the rocks 
 on the coast of Buchan (in Aberdeenshire). — Cunning- 
 ham. That the flowing of water in a well was some- 
 times compared to the boiling of a pot, the following 
 couplet will show : — 
 
 Fro silver wellys that boyle up with fresshenesse 
 Cometh crystal watir renning a gret pas. — Lydgate. 
 
S8 GLOSSARY. 
 
 BiiUyne, to boil. — Prompt. Parv. 
 
 And she to builen caste ham in, 
 
 And let it buile. — Gower. 
 If I had any malice against a walking spirit, instead of laying 
 him in the Red Sea, I would condemn him to reside in the Bullar 
 of Buchan. — -Johnson^ s Tour. 
 
 Buckie. A spiral shell ; a person, generally with some 
 depreciatory adjective, as daft buckte, thrawn buckle, 
 etc. 
 
 Buckskin. An inhabitant of Virginia. 
 
 You call yourselves Buckskins, and you call your neighbour 
 Brother Jonathan. — Sir Ed. Seaward's Narrative. 
 
 Buckskin Kye. Virginian negro slaves. 
 
 Buff. To strike. Buff our beef, beat our bodies. 
 The giddy ship 
 
 Shoots amain 
 Till counteriJw^a' she stops. — Dryden. 
 The Sarazin, sore daunted with the buffe. — Spenser. 
 The buffs and boxes made the room to ring again. 
 
 Trans, of Scarroii s Co7nical Romance, 
 
 Buff and blue. The colour of the Whigs in Fox's time. 
 
 Now e'en the reptiles of the Blue a>td Buff, 
 
 In rural leisure, scrawl their factious stuff. — The Rolliad. 
 
 Bu!^ht. A pen, a sheep-fold : lit., something bent or 
 bowed. It is another form of bight, as the Bight of 
 Benin, of Biafra, etc. 
 
 Buchi, a milking or herding place for sheep. — Halliwell. 
 Jartier, the fourth branch of the thigh veine descending unto the 
 bought of the hamme. — Cotgrave. 
 
 And wrapt her scalie boughts with fell despight. — Spenser. 
 
 Bughtln-tlme. The time of collecting the sheep in the 
 pens to be milked. 
 
GLOSSARY. 59 
 
 Buirdly. Stout-made, broad-built. 
 
 Buredely, forcibly, swiftly. — Halliivell. 
 
 Bum. Bottom. 
 
 They (spiders) will often fasten their threads in several places to 
 the things they creep up ; the manner is by beating their bums or 
 tails against them as they creep up. — Ray Correspondence. 
 All but the wight of bum y-galled, he 
 
 Abhorreth bench and stool, and fourme, and (AiToc.—Shenstone. 
 A Barbary shape, and a jet with her bum, would stir an Anchor- 
 ite. — Congreve. 
 
 Bum. A humming noise j the sound emitted by a bee. 
 
 Bumbeth, making a humming noise. — Bailey. 
 
 X.bomme as a bombyll be doth. — Palsgrave. 
 
 And I hallus corned to's choorch afoir may Sally was dead, 
 
 And 'eerd un a bummin awaay like buzzard clock ower may yead. 
 
 Tennyson. 
 They had assembled themselves to the full number of bumbees. 
 
 Rabelais. Pantagruel. 
 From the hedge in drowsy hum. 
 Heedless buzzing beetles bum. — Clare. 
 A bumble-hee's soft plush. — Herrick. 
 
 Bum-clock. A humming beetle that flies in the summer 
 evenings. Bum and clock. 
 
 Bummle. To blunder. 
 Bummle, to blunder. — Halliwell. 
 
 Bummler. A blunderer. 
 
 Bunker. Any thing used for sitting on, not constructed 
 for that purpose, which may or may not be also used 
 as a chest. 
 Allan Cunningham, Sir John Sinclair, and other glos- 
 
 sarists define a bunker to be " a window seat." If they 
 
6o GLOSSARY. 
 
 are correct, Burns was guilty of a gross piece of tautology 
 in the line, "A winnock-bunker in the east," that is, a 
 windo7v window-seat in the east. Chambers again, in 
 relating an anecdote of Burns's friend Robert Ainslie, 
 treats bunker as if it were a chest, and not a seat. 
 "He had already a cellar — certainly, however, not an 
 extensive one, as it consisted simply of the recess under 
 a bunker seat in one of the windows of his apartment ; 
 an arrangement long ago common in Scotland, but now 
 only seen in old-fashioned honses." Whether a bunker 
 took its name from being promoted to the dignity of a 
 chest, or from serving in the humble capacity of a stool, 
 — chair it could never be — it is not easy, perhaps not 
 possible, to discover. Probably the former, if there be 
 any connection between bunker and the sailor's " Bunk, 
 a bed-place formed of boards."* Like it, it is applied to 
 concealed, or at least not conspicuous places. 
 
 In point of fact, however, the bunker in which the 
 grim musician sat in " Tam o' Shanter," had nothing to 
 do with a chest, as it is ready to this day to testify, but 
 was simply the window-sole, that is, a sill the whole 
 tliickness of the wall, a thing which has gone out of 
 fashion in dwelling-houses, but may still be seen in 
 churches and other public buildings. 
 
 Scott seems to have considered a bunker an enclosed 
 seat : " They sat cosily niched into what you might call 
 a bunker, a little sand-pit sun ounded by its banks, and 
 a screen of whins in full bloom." — Redgauntlet. 
 
 Bunter. A worthless woman. 
 
 Bunter, a gatherer of rags in the streets.— ^azV^j/. 
 
 ■ Bunks are, I believe, also found in lunatic asylums. 
 
GLOSSARY. 6 1 
 
 Bunter, a cant term for a woman who picks up rags about the 
 streets ; and used, by way of contempt, for any low vulgar woman. 
 
 Where Fielding met his bunter muse. Horace. Walpole. 
 
 Burdie. Dim. of bird ; a woman. U for i, as in — 
 
 Thus is t hurst (thirst) of false getting. — Chaucer. 
 
 Burde on of the best ; 
 
 This wommon (woman) woneth by west. 
 
 Wright's Specimens of Lyric Poetry. 
 I chot (I know) a burde on boure bryght, 
 That fully semly is on syht, 
 
 Menskful maiden of myht. — A Love Song. Ritson. 
 Vuche (each) burde with her barne, the bygging thay levez. 
 
 Morris's Early E. Alliterative Poems. 
 Than answered that burd bright. — Amis and Amiloun. 
 
 Bure. Did bear. 
 
 His steed was goode 
 
 And bure hym ouer that hydious floode. — Sir Guy. 
 
 Burn. A name given to water used in brewing, and 
 seemingly put by Burns for spirituous liquour in the 
 line — • 
 
 An' just a wee drap spiritual burn in. 
 
 Burn. Water, a rivulet. I think that, except in the 
 case referred to above, burn is never applied to other 
 than running water, a stream, that is ; a burn is not 
 water, but a water. 
 
 This word was once common in English poetry as bourne, and 
 survives in the names of such streams and places as Ravensbourne, 
 Kelburn, Blackburn, etc. — Dr. C. Mackay. 
 Burne, a brook, a small stream of water. — Grose. 
 And soone wythynne a lytyll space 
 
 Ranne bournes all on blode. — Le Bone F. of Rome. 
 Think of the ring by yonder burn. 
 
 Thou gav'st to love and me. — Dr. Wolcot. 
 
62 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Burnewin, i.e., burn the wind. A blacksmith. 
 Bumie. Dim. of burn. 
 Burro. Borough. 
 
 Burr-thistle. The spear-thistle. 
 
 Bur, a rough head of a plant. — Johnson. 
 
 Burr, the head of a thistle. — Bamford. 
 
 Bur-thistle, the spear-thistle. — Halliwell. 
 
 Boar thistle, a widely-spread popular name for the carduus lanceo- 
 latus, is a corruption oi Bur Thistle. — Palmer. 
 
 Busk. To dress ; to make ready. 
 
 The noble Baron whet his courage hot, 
 
 And busked him boldly to the dreadful fight. — Fairfax. 
 
 Bush ye, my merry young men. — R. Hood. 
 
 Rise up, Joseph, and busk and go. — Cursor Mundi. 
 
 Buskie. Bushy. 
 
 Busk, a bush. — Bailey. Busky, woody. — Johnson. 
 
 How bloodily the sun begins to peer 
 
 Above yon busky hill ! — Shakesfeare. 
 
 And every bosky bourn from side to side. — Milton. 
 
 His browes was litel buskes (bushes). — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Busslc. A bustle, to bustle. This differs only in spelling, 
 not in soimd, from the usual way of writing the word, 
 but instances of omission of t in similar words are not 
 uncommon in old E. authors. A curious one occurs 
 in the " Metrical Romance of Richard Coer de Lion" : 
 
 And the emperour of evil irush (trust perhaps) 
 Carved off his nose by the grusle (gristle). 
 A reformado began to bussle, and said he would cut the throats of 
 tliose round-headed dogs. — Kushworth. 
 
 Buss. Bush, shelter. .S for sh, as in — 
 
 In him ai hope I salle (shall). — Metrical E. Psalter. 
 
GLOSSARY. - 63 
 
 All they ren in a lees (one leash), but in divers maners. — Chaucer. 
 The lyon hungered for the nanes, 
 
 Ful fast he ete xz.fi Jiess and banes. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 Horn the wyket puste (pushed). — The Geste of Kyng Horn. 
 He frussed (frushed) alle his sides. — Horne Child and Maiden 
 Rimnild. 
 
 Confessouns approched, 
 
 Fressly (freshly) embrodred. Henry Bradshaw. Warton. 
 The riche man Cherissith the poore to robbe and reve. — Lydgate. 
 The more ssame (shame) be ido. — R. of Gloucester. 
 Ssoldren, shoulders. — lb. 
 
 But. Without. 
 And as blive (quickly) bout bod (without delay) he braydes to the 
 
 quene. — William of Palerne. 
 Bout bod is Blind Harry's but baid. 
 The beggar thought him dead but fail. — R. Hood. 
 We dye, lewed and lered, but we be stoute. — Octovian Imperaior. 
 
 But is used for than, in — 
 
 I asked for no more but a soger laddie. — The Jolly Beg!;ars. 
 
 The same use of it is found in English. 
 
 The full moon was no sooner up but she opened to me the gate. 
 
 Guardian. 
 
 But-an-ben. The country kitchen and parlour. Lit, the 
 outer and inner. The name was given when the 
 kitchen, or outer apartment, had to be passed through 
 to reach the parlour. But it came to have a wider 
 signification, — Burns himself being witness, — than to 
 a house, whether in town or country, of two rooms. 
 He says in "The Holy Fair" — 
 
 Now but an' ben the change-house rings, 
 
 meaning that every part of the house was filled. In 
 " The Calf," too, it means the whole house, even the 
 
64 GLOSSARY. 
 
 manse : "Your but an ben adorns." But-an-ben seems 
 to be used in some parts of England,for Halliwell has it. 
 
 Butch. To butcher, to kill. 
 
 Butche, to kill. — Halliwell. 
 Er in such words is sometimes omitted by E. writers, as 
 in 
 
 Now may men se mordre and manslaught. — Gower. 
 
 He h&AAs prisons (prisoners) so y fynde, 
 
 Gentil men an hundred thousand. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Heo tolde the slaught and the brennyng. — Id. 
 
 Butt. So Burns writes when speaking of the outer 
 apartment by itself, and uses it as if it were a preposi- 
 tion — 
 
 I pray and ponder butt the house . 
 
 Epistle to James Tennanf. 
 
 By. Past, as in " May he haud you by the covert snare 
 of deceit.'' 
 
 I did hear 
 The galloping of horse. Who was't came by ? — Shakespeare. 
 I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard "of the man 
 void of understanding. — Proverbs, xxiv. 31. 
 
 I found it hard to come by the lions' mouths. — Bunyan. 
 
 By himsel. (By himself) ; lunatic, distracted, beside 
 himself Under considerable provocation it is said in 
 " The Geste of Kyng Horn"— 
 
 Rimenild hine bywent. 
 These words taken literally are " She went by herself," 
 and she was at the same time distracted, for it is after- 
 wards said, — 
 
 Ther seh he Rymenild sitte, 
 
 Ase (hue) she were out of wytte. 
 
 For he was nouther there ne hers 
 
 But clene out of himself awey. 
 
GLOSSARy. 6- 
 
 By and beside have often the same meaning. By the rivers of 
 Babylon. — Psalm i^y, i. 
 
 If then be found by me thou art but dead. To did by thee were 
 but to die in jest. — Shakespeare. 
 
 Bye attour. Besides, in addition. A distinguished 
 etymologist who, for an Enghshman, has a consider- 
 able knowledge of Scotch, has lately mistaken attour ■ 
 for '■'■tire, an old word for a head-dress." 
 
 Byke. A wild bee, or wasp nest. 
 
 A byke of vyaspes bredde in his nose, 
 
 And Vaspasian is called by cause of his vifaspes. 
 
 — The Siege of ferusalem. 
 Bike, a building, a hive of bees. — Weber's Note on Beau, aitd 
 Fletcher. 
 
 By past. Past, a term of the Scotch iivsX&cX.^Johnson, 
 who, however, quotes an example of its use by an 
 English author. 
 
 Byre. A cow-stable. 
 , Byre, a covi'-house. — Grose. 
 
 c. 
 
 Ca\ To call, to name, to drive. For omission of // 
 see under a and — • 
 
 ShaH (shalt) have thy mortgage. — Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 
 All this shcC not bribe my conscience. — The Coronation. Shirley. 
 
 Near arcir ver az hie sa geude ; 
 
 And piple kaud'vav Robin Heude, i.e., 
 
 Ne'er archer were as he so good, 
 
 And people called him Robin Hood. — Robin Hood's Epitaph. 
 
66 GLOSSARY. 
 
 In came there a tike, they cau'd him Grim. 
 
 —The NoHhtimberland Garland. Ritson. 
 
 Ca, to drive; Caw, to call; Caw'd, called.— C'-wf- To call 
 cattle home, next to bring, whether by calling or otherwise, then to 
 drive, seems to be the process by which call is brought to signify to 
 drive. 
 
 Ca\ To calve. See under cdt. 
 
 Ca' through. To drive on any business with spirit. 
 
 Cadger. A carrier. Not, I believe, a common carrier, 
 but one who carries his own goods. If the term sur- 
 vives, it has the same meaning in Scotland as in Eng- 
 land. 
 Cadger. One who brings butter, eggs, and poultry from the 
 
 country to xa3x\£X..— Johnson . 
 
 Cadie or caddie. A person, a young fellow, a messen- 
 ger. 
 Cadet, Cadee. — Bailey. 
 
 This is the word, but it has not the meaning given above. 
 
 Caff. Chaff. For change of ch into k sound, see under 
 birk. 
 
 Me list not of the caf, ne of the stre 
 
 Make so long a tale as of the corn. — Wright's Chancer. 
 
 Caird. A tinker. 
 
 Cairn. A loose heap of stones. 
 
 Kairns, rude heaps of stones. — Halliwell. 
 
 There was (in the grounds of Otterbourne) a large cairn of stones, 
 computed to be about 60 ion.— John Horsley, author of Britannica 
 Romana, 1729. 
 
 Cake. Oatmeal bread baked on a girdle and toasted be- 
 fore the fire. Bread not so prepared does not get the 
 
GLOSSARY. 67 
 
 name of cake. This so-called Scotch cake must have 
 been well known in England in Shakspeare's time, for 
 one of the watch in " Measure for Measure " is called 
 Hugh Oatcake. 
 1 have cruddes and creem, and an haver (oat) cake. — P. Plowman.. 
 
 Cilices. Properly lime or chalk. 
 
 Cilf-ward. A smaU enclosure for calves. 
 Ward, a division. — Johnson. 
 
 Calimanco. A kind of cloth. 
 
 Calimanco, a strong woollen stuff. — Bailey. 
 
 As if it concerned people to know that a man had the honour to- 
 be driven into Paris by a postilion in a tawny yellow jerkin turned 
 up with red calamanco. — Sterne. 
 
 Calker. The hinder part of a horse-shoe sharpened and 
 turned downwards, so as to prevent slipping on ice. — 
 Jamieson. Dyce says, " turned up.'' 
 Coaken, the sharp point of a horse-shoe. — Grose, 
 
 On this horse is Arcite 
 Trotting the stones of Athens, which the calkins 
 Did rather seem to tell than trample. — The Two Noble Kinsmen, 
 
 Ciillan and callaiit. A boy. 
 
 Gallant, a lad, a stripling. — Halliwell. 
 
 Caller. Fresh, sound. 
 
 Caller, fresh, cool; ih^ caller air, the fresh air; caller ripe grosiers,. 
 ripe gooseberries freshly gathered. — Grose, 
 
 Callet. A loose woman. — -Johnson, 
 
 Gog's head ! and thinks the callet thus to keep my neele me fro t 
 
 Gammer GurtorCs Needle, 
 Make the shameless callet know herself. — Shak. 
 
68 GLOSSARY. 
 
 •Cam. Did come. 
 
 A prowd potter 
 
 Cam dryfyng owyr the ley. — R. Hood. 
 
 And thanne cam kynd wytte. — P. Plowman. 
 
 There was a mayde cam out of Kent. — Kit soti s Ancient Soni;!. 
 
 •Cankrie, and Cankert. Ill-humoured. 
 Cankatt, ill-tempered, peevish. — Bamford. 
 He rages and he raves, 
 And calls them cankered knaves. — Skellon. 
 
 The beggar answer'd cankardly, 
 
 I have no money to lend. — R. Hood. 
 
 ■Canna. Cannot. Can and na. 
 
 ■Caii7iie. Gentle, mild, dexterous. 
 
 Canny^ nice, neat, housewifely, handsome. — Grose. 
 O the bonny pit laddie, the cannie pit laddie, 
 The bonny pit laddie for me. — Old P. A. Song. Durham. 
 
 ■" Owre cannie," meaning poetically inspired., is used by 
 Burns in a letter to the author of " Tullochgorum.'' 
 
 ■Cannilie. Dexterously, gently. 
 
 Cant. A merry story. Connected with canty., merry. 
 
 Cantharidian. Made of cantharides. 
 
 Cantie or canty. Cheerful, merry. 
 Cantv, cheerful, chatty. — Bamford. 
 Cant, strong, lusty. — Bailey. 
 The King of Beme was rant and kene, 
 But there he left both play and pride. — Z. Alinot. 
 From the mention of play, cant probably means playful, canty. 
 Lest Peter should grow canty. — Northumberlatid Garland. Ritwn. 
 
 Cantraip, or Cantrip. A charm, a spell. 
 
GLOSSARY. 69 
 
 Cape-stone, cope-stone. Key-stone. Cape is nearer A.-S. 
 cxppe than cope. 
 
 Cape, the coping of a wall. — Grose. 
 To cape a wall, to crown it. — Thoresby. 
 
 Caput mortuum. Worthless remains. 
 lie was little better than a caput mortuum. — Garrick. 
 
 Card. A chart. 
 
 Sure if my card and compasse doe not fail. 
 We're near the Port. — Sylvester. 
 On life's vast ocean diversely we sail. 
 Reason the card, but passion is the gale. — Pope. 
 
 Care na by. To be indifferent. 
 
 Cark. A load, a burden. — Pamieson. Care, anxiety, 
 
 solicitude, concern, heedfulness. — -Johnson. 
 
 It is not easy to say how cark differs from care, yet all 
 writers who have used the word have looked upon it as 
 dissimilar in meaning. Burns has corking cares. 
 
 Esmay, carke. care, thought, sorrow. — Cotgrave. 
 
 For hire love y cark and care. — Poem of 13th Century. Ritson. 
 
 Yet to toyle itself in the cark and care, etc. — De Morjiay. 
 
 Waile we the wight whose absence is our carke. — Spenser. 
 
 He for us is carkin^ and thinking. — Nahum Tate. 
 
 Carl. An old man. 
 
 Carl, a mean, rude, rough, brutal m&n.^'ohnson. 
 The miller was a stout carle for the nones. — Chaucer. 
 
 Obstreperous carle ! 
 If thy throat's tempest could o'erturn my house. — Fletcher. 
 A knave and a carle, and all of one kynde. — Skelton. 
 
 Carl-hemp. The male stalk of hemp. 
 Carle, a kind of hemp.— /o/^wjot?. 
 
70 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Karle Hemp, the latter green hemp. — Bailey. 
 Carle-hemp, the hemp that bears the seed. — Grose. 
 The female to spin and the carl for seed. — Tusser. 
 
 Carleton. Charlestown in — 
 
 Down Lowrie's burn he took a turn, 
 And Carleton did ca', man.— fF/z«« Guildford Good. 
 
 Carlin. A stout old woman. 
 
 Why said'st thou 
 It was a boy, and sold'st him then to me 
 With such entreaty, for ten shillings, carlin ? — Benjonson. 
 
 Cartes. Cards. 
 
 Our ancientest carie is for the sin of gluttony. — Fuller. 
 
 And forth withall 
 As it is written in the carte. 
 Complexion he taketh of Marte. — Gower. 
 
 Car tie. Dim. of cart. 
 
 Case. To confine, as in case-knife. 
 
 Cast at the Cocks. To waste, to squander. — -Jamieso'i. 
 
 Castock. The stalk of a cabbage. 
 
 Castock, the heart of a cabbage. — Halliwell. 
 Not worth a shyttel cocke, 
 Nor worth a sour cahtock. — Skellon. — 
 
 Cast out. To disagree, to quarrel; a quarrel. 
 
 Ca!t or ca^d. Calved. 
 
 There being only three words, halve, salve, and valve, 
 which rhyme to calve, the chance of a variation in the 
 spelling and pronunciation is smaller than in most other 
 words. But V is very often omitted. Not to speak of 
 brave and salve, which in Scotch become braio and saw 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 71 
 
 or of e'er, ne'er, and o'er, we find in English writers gie 
 for give, ha or hue for have, lea'e, for leave, etc. 
 
 And as I prune my feathered youth, so I 
 
 Do mar' I (marvel) how I could die. — Herrick. 
 The Naseby mar'ls (marvels) 
 
 To see herself now drowned in the Charles. — Fuller. 
 
 Cattle. Used in reproach of human \)€\ng%.^Johnson. 
 
 Boys and women are for the most part cattle 6i this colour. 
 
 Shakespeare. 
 The Dutchess of Portsmouth, Nelly, . . concubines and cattell 
 of that sort. — Evelyn's Diary. 
 
 Caudron. A caldron. 
 
 And there such ghastly noyse of yron chaines 
 And brasen caudrons thou shalt rumbling heare. — Spenser. 
 I have seen in the infernal partyes a great number of wyd caude- 
 rons and ketels. — St. Patrick's Purgatory. 
 
 Cauf. A calf. 
 
 Caiik. Chalk. 
 
 Cawk stone, a mineral. — Bailey. 
 
 Cauk, a coarse talky spar. Cauky, adj. — Johnson. 
 
 They hadden walled cit4 townes. 
 
 And calke trappen maden ycLOwe.^Kyng AlisaunJer. 
 
 The word caulk is still (1810) used in the north of England for 
 chalk. — Weber. 
 
 Cauld, cold. 
 
 The storm rase ful sone onane 
 
 With wikked wedders (weathers) kene and calde. 
 
 Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 For now es cald, now es hete. 
 
 Now es dry, and now es hete. — Pricke of Conscience. 
 
 Caiip. A wooden drinking vessel (of cooper's work). 
 
 Cawpe, a cup. — Halliivell. 
 
72 GLOSSARY. 
 
 And gaf uchone 
 Ctfa/« of dene gold. — P. Plowman. 
 
 It seem: probable that cup, caup,- or coupe, was the name 
 of any drinking vessel, and that the peasantry having 
 only wooden dishes, the term became specific and was 
 appHed to these alone. 
 
 Cavie. A hen-coop. Perhaps this is a dimin. of cave, 
 for Lat. cavea is defined " a cage, or coop for birds." 
 — Ainsworth. 
 
 Caw. To drive, to hammer ; cawd and cawt, driven, as 
 in 
 He has cooper'd and cawt a wrong pin in't. — The Kirk^s Alarm. 
 
 This is the same word as ca^ but has generally a different 
 spelling when used as in the line quoted from Burns. 
 To caw a pin and CcC the yowes to the knowes do not 
 differ more than the hammer drives the nail does from 
 
 A shepherd's boy 
 Driving his sheep to the fold. 
 
 I do not know if cawthe in the following verse of an old 
 E. song be the word under consideration. Ritson, who 
 gives it ill his " Ancient Songs," did not know what to 
 make of it. It seems to signify beat, strike, or thump, 
 which is not far from hammer or drive. The song de- 
 scribes a convivial meeting of some gossips, one of whom 
 when she comes home is so overcome that 
 
 Sche muste as for anowe go sclepe (sleep). 
 
 Off her slepe when sche dothe wake 
 
 Paste on hey (haste) then gan sche a rake (start up), 
 
 And cawthe (? caweth) her servants abowte the bake (back), 
 
 Yff to here they oiithe (ought) had s,z.j<\. — Lytyll Thanke. 
 
 Centum per centum. A hundred per cent. ; a usurer. 
 
GLOSSARY. 7 3 
 
 Certes. Certainly. 
 
 And, certes, sire, though non auctoritee 
 
 Were in no book. — Chaucer, 
 
 For certes, these are people of the island. — Shakspeare. 
 
 Chamer or chaumer. A chamber. B is sometimes 
 omitted. 
 
 Ye weren children of God, and li?n!nes (limbs) of the regne of 
 God. — Chaucer. 
 
 Timmer, timber. — Barnford. 
 
 Dysdayne, I wene, this comerous (cumbrous) crabes hyghte. 
 
 Skelton. 
 
 Change-house. A public-house, but why so called I have 
 never heard, nor can I guess, unless from the change, 
 not always for the better, produced on its frequenters. 
 Probably it is in some remote way connected with 
 small coins, sometimes called change. The word 
 occurs in the life of John Metcalf, the blind road- 
 maker, soldier, cat;d-player, etc. 
 
 The brosteris (brewers) hes na change for aill. 
 
 A Satire. Pub. by Pinkcrton, 
 
 Changer-wife. An itinerant female huckster. — Halliwell. 
 
 Chanter. Part of a bag-pipe. 
 
 Chap. A fellow ; abbreviation of chapman. 
 Chap, a man. — Bamjord. 
 
 Are we so run out of stock, that there is no one lumber-headed, 
 muddle-headed, mortar-headed, pudding-headed chap amongst our 
 doctors? — Sterne. Let. to Garrick. 
 
 By gleaning pretty Httle scraps 
 Of Caesar, Alexander, and such c/m/j. — Wolcot. 
 
 Chap or chaup. A blow, a knock. 
 Chap, a knock. — Percy. 
 Anon her hedes wer off chappyd. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
74 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Chapel. A place of worship ; in Scotland a chapel was a 
 church built for the accommodation of those who 
 could not get room in the parish church. It was in 
 connection with the Established Church, but had no 
 parish assigned to it. I believe there was only one 
 such church known to Burns, the meeting-house, now 
 the High Church of Kilmarnock. Russell was the 
 pastor in those days, and it was to this chapel Burns 
 refers in " Gie her name up in the chapel," alluding to 
 the custom of requesting to be prayed for by name in 
 dangerous illness. The satire is lost when it is trans- 
 lated let her be prayed for in church. 
 
 Cheep. A chirp ; to chirp. 
 
 Pc filer, to peepe, cheepe or pule like a young bird. Pioler, to 
 pule, cheepe, or chirpe. — Cotgrave. 
 
 Notwithstanding cheeping of mice. — Rabelais. 
 
 And sparrows chelp glad tidings from the eaves. Chelp, cheep. 
 
 Clare. 
 
 Cheese and bread. Supposed to be a Scotticism for 
 bread and cheese. 
 
 Here is one dead that will give us cheese and bread. — R. Hood. 
 
 Chiel, chield, or cheel. A young fellow. Odd kind chiel, 
 strange sort of person. After what Bishop Percy and 
 others have said on this word, it may be assumed that 
 it is another form of child ; but I am not aware that it 
 has been noticed that child was sometimes spelled 
 chield. 
 
 A chield to thryve that is unchastisable 
 
 And ever inconstaunte and lightly changeable 
 
 It may well ryme but it accordeth not. 
 
 A chield without noryce to be upbrought. — Lydgate. 
 
GLOSSARY. 75 
 
 A wanton chyld 
 Spake words myld 
 
 To me alone. — Rilson's Ancient Songs. 
 That oon thefe callyd a knyght, 
 He was a feyre chylde and a bolde, 
 Twenty wyntur he was olde. — The Erie of Tolous. 
 
 Chimla or chimlie. A chimney. 
 
 Burns himself says, " a fire grate," and the word must 
 have been used in that sense at one time, otherwise 
 chimla-lug could never have existed any more than 
 chimla-neiik, chimla-cheek, etc., all of which refer to the 
 fire-place, and not to what is now considered the chimney 
 or vent for smoke. This is by Burns and old Scotch 
 people styled the lum, and the chimla is the fire-place 
 rather than the grate. In England chinaney was used 
 for fire-place, lum, and that part of the vent which is 
 above the roof. Shakspeare says — 
 
 " Our chimneys were blown down," 
 i.e, the tops ; and 
 
 " The chimney (fire-place) 
 Is south the chamber '' ; 
 
 and his contemporary, Bishop Hall, uses chimney for 
 vent — 
 
 " Look to the towered chimnies, which should be 
 The wind-pipes of good hospitalitie." 
 
 Chimley, chimney. — Bamford. 
 
 Chimley, a chimney or fire-place. This form is very common in 
 the provinces. — Halliwell. 
 
 I knows that ere chimley from a hinfant. — Sweep's evidence in a 
 Police Court in London, 1826. Book of Days. 
 
 Gilbert Burns makes a distinction between a chimney 
 and a fire. 
 
76 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Chimla cheek. A stone pillar at the side of a fire-place. 
 
 Cheek is often used for side. 
 
 Yet came my foot never within those door cheekes. — Gammer 
 Gzirtofi's Needle. 
 
 Clnmla-hig. The fire-side. See chimla and lug. 
 
 Chitter. To shiver, to tremble ; having the same mean- 
 ing, if it is not the same word, as '^chatter, to sound 
 as the teeth when one shivers." There is also a word 
 chitre, glossed chirp, used by Gower — 
 
 But she with all no word may soune, 
 
 But chitre and as a brid (bird) jargoune. 
 
 (She) chitereih out in her langage. — Confessio Anian. 
 
 I trowe it be a frost for the way is slydder 
 
 So (I avowe), for cold I chydder. — Skelton. 
 
 Sithen that day I have chivered oft. — Chaucer. 
 
 I have quoted this line from Chaucer, because I believe 
 chiver is more common in Ayrshire that chitter. Jamie- 
 son says — 
 
 " Boys are wont to call that bit of bread which they preserve for 
 eating after bathing, a chittering piece, or a chittering dole. '' 
 
 I am certain that my contemporaries will bear me out 
 when I state that sixty or seventy years ago — very near 
 to the time when Jamieson published his great work — 
 \.\\c piece so eaten was always called a chivering chow ; as 
 for dole, it was utterly unknown to the youngsters of 
 Kyle and Cunningham. 
 
 Perhaps my remark on chiver in connection with chitter 
 may seem out of place, but it is a peculiar word, and 
 almost the only one which old writers wrote with ch in- 
 stead of sh, and that whether it meant to shake or to 
 shatter: — 
 
 Thair shaftes chevered to thair hand. — Ywain and Gawaiiie. 
 
GLOSSARY. 7 7 
 
 Divynaciones by chyterynge of birdes or fleynge of foules. 
 
 Dives and Pauper. 
 Some useth strange wlaffyng, chyleryng, harryng, etc. 
 
 John of Trevesa. 
 
 Chow. To chew, a quid of tobacco ; cheek for chow, 
 side by side, close. Ow for ew, see bro^vst. 
 Chow, to chew. Var, dial. — Halliwell. 
 The tramphng steed — 
 Chawing the foming bit there fiercely stood. — Earl of Surrey. 
 
 Cheek for chow seems at first sight to mean the same 
 as cheeke by cheeke in Spenser, and Shakspeare's cheek to 
 cheek. Bailey has "Jig by Jowl, i.e., cheek by head, very 
 close together," and Maundeville uses jowe for jaw, and 
 an Englishman of his day might have said cheek for jowe, 
 which is very near cheek for chow. Butler has — 
 
 An by him in another hole 
 Afflicted Ralpho, clieek by jowl. 
 
 All these phrases have been formed, or are supposed to 
 have been formed, on the notion that jowl means jaw. 
 Dr. Jamieson, too, whose opinion on such a .subject is 
 entitled to great respect, thinks that chow as well d&jowl 
 means jaw ; but I rather think it means neck, and chesk 
 for chow will mean cheek on neck, being in effect head on 
 shoulder — a much more natural and likely attitude to be 
 assumed by "a chuffie vintner," to "a blackguard 
 smuggler " than to put his cheek to his jaw, a thing 
 difficult to do, and which I question if any body ever 
 saw done. 
 
 The following passages will, I think, go far to prove 
 that the meaning of chol or chow is throat. The first 
 gives an account of the dragon encountered by Sir Bevis 
 of Hampton. 
 
 Eighte toskes at 'is mouth stod out 
 The leste seventene ench about. 
 
78 GLOSSARY. 
 
 The her (hair) the cholle under the ching (chin) : 
 
 He was bothe leith (loathsome) and grim. 
 Vitx& cholle— Ixota. Fr. col, the neck— being under the 
 chin, it cannot be the jaw, and changed, as it has been 
 shown under Bow-kail that words in // often are, it be- 
 comes chow. 
 
 Another passage is from " The Awntyrs of Arthure '' : 
 
 Who that myghte that hedows see, hendeste in haulle, 
 
 How hir cholle chatired, hir chaftes, and hir chyne. 
 Sir F. Madden says cholle here is jowl, jaws, and chatired 
 gives countenance, I must acknowledge, to this inter re- 
 ration. But the philosophers who, we are told on good 
 authority, are of opinion that the " lips are parcel of the 
 mouth," must also hold that the chin is a part of the 
 jaws, and then we have three words, cholle, chaftes, and 
 chyne, for the same thing, or at least for parts of the same 
 thing, a degree of tautology or at best minuteness of 
 detail not easy to parallel in the old Metrical Rotnances. 
 Sir Richard Steele, in No. 147 of " The Tatler," says, 
 " I had a bribe sent me of a collar of brawn and s.jole of 
 salmon." 
 
 Jole ox jowl is generally explained cheek, not jaw, by 
 the way. Now, what sort of a bribe would the cheek of 
 a salmon be ? An epicure might be supposed capable 
 of being corrupted by a cut of the neck or shoulder of 
 an early salmon, but only the most stupid of fishmongers 
 could fancy that a favourable effect could be produced 
 by the present of a fish's cheek. 
 
 Christendie. Christendom. le for m, as in — 
 This epitaph, which here you see. 
 Supplied the epithalamie. — Hcrrick, 
 So rych a Jewell ys ther non 
 In all crystyante, 
 Christentye. King Estmere. Cristente. Launfal. 
 
GLOSSARY. 79 
 
 Chuck. A hen ; a familiar name for a woman. 
 
 Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, 
 Till thou applaud the A^^A.^Shak. 
 
 Chuck seems to have been applied to men as well as 
 to women. In " The Twelfth Night " Sir Toby Belch 
 says to Malvolio, " How dost thou, chuck 7 " and in 
 " Love's Labour's Lost," Armado, addressing the king 
 and lords, says, " Sweet chucks, beat not the bones of the 
 buried." 
 
 Chuckie. Dirain. of chuck. 
 
 Chuffie. Fat-faced. 
 Chuffy, clownish, rough, rude. — Bailey. 
 Blunt, surly, {■iX.— Johnson. 
 Joujfflu, chuffie, fat-cheeked, swolne, or puft up in the face. 
 
 Cot grave. 
 Ye fat chtiffs, I would your store were here. — Shaksfeaie. 
 
 Circumvolute. To circumvolve ; to use circumlocution. 
 
 Clachan. A small village about a church, a hamlet. 
 
 Clatse, or claes. Clothes. A common pronunciation of 
 clothes by the peasantry throughout England is close, 
 which by the change of o into a, as in bane, becomes 
 claise. 
 Clooas, clothes. — Bamford, 
 
 Pope seems to have pronounced clothes close : — 
 
 Poets make characters, as salesmen clothes ; 
 We take no measure of your fops and beaux. 
 
 Prologue to " Three Hours after Marriage." 
 
 Clatvers, or clovers. Idle stories. 
 
 Clavers, din, noisy talking. — Halllwell. 
 
So GLOSSARY. 
 
 Claith. Clothing, cloth ; to clothe. 
 When he unto the chamber yede, 
 The chamber flore, and als ye bede. 
 
 With klathes ot gold were all ouer sprede. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 And here he comes new daithed like a prince 
 Of swine herds. — Ben Jonson. 
 Whan thai had eten and dronken inoughe, 
 Thai toke up mete and clathes drogh. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Clamb. Did climb. 
 
 Tho behind gone up lepe. 
 
 And clamben up on other faste. — Chaucer. House of Fame. 
 The fatal gin thus avaclambe our walles. — Earl of Surrey. 
 Thence to the circle of the moone she clambe. — Spenser, 
 For hit clatn uche a clyffe cubites fyftene. — Early E. Alliterative, 
 
 Poems. 
 
 Clankie. Dim. of clank, a severe stroke ; a sharp blow 
 that causes a noise. — -Jamieson. 
 
 Clap. The clapper of a mill. A piece of wood shaking 
 the hopper. — -Johnson. 
 
 Some be soft and still 
 
 As dappes in a mill. — Image of Ipocrisy. 
 
 Clarkit. Wrote (literally clerked) ; common spelling at 
 one time. 
 
 The same was acknowledged by Mr. Taylor and all the darks of 
 that board. — Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. 
 
 Some clarkes doe doubt in their deviceful art. — Spenser. 
 
 Is the sonnelyht darke. 
 
 Or ignorance a darke? — Imagery of Ipocrisy. 
 
 Clartie or darty. Dirty, filthy. 
 
 Clai't, to spread, smear, or daub ; darts, mud ; darty, muddy, 
 sticky. — Grose. 
 
 Clatty, nasty, dirty, defiled by whatever means. — Id. 
 
GLOSSARY. 8t 
 
 Clatty, which Mr. Halliwell gives as a Lincolnshire 
 word, and which, Dr. Jamieson says, " seems to be more 
 ancient than darty," is, I believe the only form used in 
 Ayrshire, and suggests a remark on the language of 
 Burns, probably not left for me to make for the first 
 time. 
 
 Burns's language is generally that of Ayrshire, with 
 only a few words that are altogether unknown in that 
 county. These words he may have acquired from Ram- 
 say, Ferguson, and others, but some of them he in all 
 probability learned from his father, who, when he left 
 Kincardineshire, was nineteen years old, an age at which, 
 for all the ordinary purposes of life, a man's vocabulary is 
 generallj pretty complete, and which hardly any change of 
 circumstances, perhaps not even a change of country, 
 causes him altogether to abandon. We may therefore 
 presume, indeed it was impossible it should be otherwise, 
 that William Burness would occasionally give utterance 
 to a word brought from his native county, and thus his 
 gifted son would catch a note from the east which he 
 mingled with the music of the west, and fitted himself to 
 be the poet, not of the east or the west, but of the whole 
 of Scotland. 
 
 Clash. An idle tale, the story of the day. 
 
 About this time some that had run out from the truth and clashed 
 against Friends, were reached by the power of the l^orA.— Journal 
 of George Fox. 
 
 Clatter. To tell idle stories ; an idle story. 
 
 Now, siker, I see thou dost but clatter. — Spenser. 
 
 Spite of all your clatter. 
 The tedious chime is still ground, plants, and water. 
 
 Mason. 
 
82 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Tibullus, friend and gentle judge 
 
 Of all that I do clatter. — Thomas Drant. 
 To prevent their noise and clatter. — The Drunkard's Legacy. 
 Much clatter was about preparations for the child's cradle, etc. — 
 
 Bishop Goodwin. 
 
 Claught. Snatched at, seized, clutched. 
 
 Claight, snatched. — Northuinb. Halliwell. 
 
 Claut. To clean, to scrape ; what is clauted or scraped 
 together, as a claut o' gear, property amassed. 
 Claut, to scratch, to claw. — Bailey. 
 
 Claver. Clover. 
 
 Clcrfer, clover. — Bosworlh. 
 
 Claver-grass, a kind of three-leaved grass. — Bailey. 
 
 Clover, more properly claver.— Johnson. 
 
 And every one her called-for dances treads 
 
 Along the soft flower of the claver-gi3.%%. — Chapman. 
 
 Clavers, daivers. Idle stories. 
 Clovers, din, noisy talking. — Halliwell. 
 
 Clavers. John Graham of Claverhouse. 
 
 Claw. To scratch. 
 
 I do not know why this word should be accounted a 
 Scotch one. 
 
 Bush, why dost thou bear a rose, if none must have it? 
 Why thus expose it, yet claw those that crave it ? — Bunyan. 
 A beggar 
 Hath with his pyke-staff ^/aw V my back. — R. Hood. 
 
 Clean. Entirely, completely. Only in this sense, which, 
 according to Johiison, is obsolete, does Burns's use of 
 clean differ from that of E. writers. 
 
 Clean, elegant, neat, rot encumbered with anything useless or 
 disproportionate. — /ohnson. 
 
GLOSSARY. 83 
 
 A clean instep, 
 
 And that I love as life. — By the mass, a neat one. — Fletcher. 
 
 A clean made gentleman. — Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 
 All his lineaments 
 Strong and clean. — The Two Noble Kinsmen. 
 Thy waist is straight and clean as Cupid's shaft. — Waller. 
 To doe a thing cleane (entirely) 'ka.mme.—Cotgrave. 
 
 Cleckin. A brood of domestic fowl. Literally what is 
 clocked or hatched. 
 Cloican, to chick.— Bosworth. 
 Cleckin, a chicken. Clekyt, hatched. — Halliwell. 
 
 Cleed. To clothe. Th and d, as has already been 
 pointed out, are often interchanged. Compare kleth- 
 ing with clodys, both meaning clothes, in the following 
 
 ' passages : — 
 
 Vmlapped (enclosed) als klething -^'VCa. light. — Met. E. Psalter. 
 The ape thorgh clodys and also his schert 
 
 Brayde (bit) of his pappys. — Octovian Imferator. 
 
 When we infer, as we are justified in doing, that when 
 we find the past tense of a verb in a, as in clad, there 
 must once have been also a present tense in a, as clathe 
 or clade (Anglo-Saxon clath, cloth, we are, by a parity of 
 reasoning, entitled to conclude, when we find a past 
 tense in e, as cled, that there must also have been once a 
 present tense with a corresponding vowel, as bled suggests 
 bleed, and bred breed. But cled is an English word and 
 so probably is cleed. 
 
 This Troilus up rose and fast him cled.- — Chaucer. 
 Ful klenly was he cled and dyght. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 It is not so natural a thing in man to clad himself. — De Momay. 
 
 deeds, clothes. — Grose. 
 
 Cleek. Hook, catch. 
 
84 GLOSSARY. 
 
 CUek, to catch at hastily. Cleekin, catching. —Bamford. 
 
 He smate away al his left cheke. 
 
 His sholder als of gan he kleke. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 This is the first word that has occurred of " They reeFd, 
 they set, they cross' d, they deekit,"'!i line which to a Scots- 
 man old enough to have taken part in the "fierce 
 vanities " of a foursome reel — for I suspect the dancers 
 of the present day are too genteel to give way to the 
 rush and abaiidon of auld lang syne — comes with some- 
 thing of the feeling with which the remembrance of a 
 successful charge may inspire an aged soldier, and as an 
 explanation of the terms, reel, cross, set, and cleek, is 
 among the " things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme," 
 this seems a convenient place to endeavour to give it. 
 
 'Y\i& foursome reel, to which alone all the terms apply, 
 was danced by two couples, one at each end of the apart- 
 ment. When they reeled they " moved to the music of 
 the Doric reed " from end to end of the apartment, and 
 the gentlemen exchanged places and partners. 
 
 They set, means that the partners danced in front of 
 each other. 
 
 When they decked, the partners bent their right and 
 left arms alternately, and linking, hooking, or deeking 
 each other, danced in a circle, moving on their own 
 centres. They were not face to face, as in the following 
 description by Sir John Davies, but rather appeared as if 
 chasing each other. 
 
 Yet is there one the most delightfuU kind, 
 
 A loftie jumping, or a leaping round, 
 When arme in arme two dancers are entwined, 
 
 And whirle themselves, with strict embracements bound. 
 
 Orc/iestia. 
 
 Crossing, which required two sets of dancers, that is, 
 two couples at each end, was done by each of the dancers 
 
GLOSSARY. 8 5 
 
 at the same end stretching over, taking the hand of 
 the other's partner, and dancing as in cleeking. This 
 crossing is mentioned in the old song, " Arthur O'Brad- 
 ley's Wedding " : 
 
 There was lead up and down, figure in, 
 Four hands across, then back again. 
 
 Clegs. Gad-flies. 
 
 Hornets, clegs, and clocks. — Sylvester. 
 
 Clever. Handsome. 
 Clever, well shaped. — Batley. 
 
 Clew. Did claw. Old past tense, as, 
 
 With teeth he gnew (gnawed) the flessch ful harde. 
 
 Rich. C. de Lion. 
 
 He clew the bor (boar) on the rigge. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Cling. To shrink, as vessels made with staves do, from 
 heat or drought. — -Jamteson. 
 
 The sunne ariseth, and fallith the dewyng ; 
 
 The nesche clay hit makith clyng. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive 
 
 Till famine cling thee. — Shak. 
 
 His fete waxes calde, his bely clynges. — P. of Conscience. 
 
 Evermore thai grene springeth, 
 
 For winter no somer it no clingeth, — Sir Owain. 
 
 Clink. To jerk, to chink, to rhyme ; money. 
 
 Clink, to strike so as to make a small sharp \io\iz. ^Johnson. 
 
 In 
 
 O happy is the man 
 Whose ain dear lass 
 Comes clinkin down beside him, 
 
 Burns uses the word in the secondary sense, to indicate 
 the action that produces the sound described by John- 
 
86 GLOSSARY. 
 
 son, the nimble motion, for instance, employed in testing 
 a coin by ringing it. 
 
 Five years ! a long lease for the clinking of pewter. — Shah. 
 I shal dinken you so merry a belle, 
 That I shal waken all this compagnie. — Chaucer. 
 They who attempted verse in English down to Chaucer's time 
 made an heavy pudder, and are miserably put to it for a word lo 
 clink. — Rymer. 
 
 Writing what we do not think, 
 
 Merely to make the verse cry clink. — L' Estrange. 
 
 I have not found dink for money, but chink similarly 
 formed occurs often — 
 
 Those lack'd drink for want of chink. —John and Joan. 
 
 Clinkumbell. He who rings the church bell. 
 And as they sat they heard a belle clinke, 
 Eeforn a corps was carried to his grave. — Chaucer. 
 
 cups. Shears. 
 Clips, shears, scissors. — Northumb. Halliwell. 
 
 Clishmaclaver. Idle conversation. Compound of dash 
 and daver. 
 
 Clock. To hatch. 
 
 Clousseuse, a cloJdng henne, or a henne that uses to clocke 
 muche. — Cotgrave. 
 
 I am aware that clousseuse means a clucking, not a 
 brooding or hatching hen ; but the passage shows that 
 the spelling clock was known. 
 
 "Nay then," replies the feeble fox, 
 ' ' But hark; I hear a hen that clocks ! 
 Go, but be moderate in your food : 
 A chicken too might do me good." — Gay. 
 Our serving-men (like spaniels) range to spring. 
 The fowl which he had cluck'ti (hatched) under his vring. 
 
 — Cleveland . 
 
GLOSSARY. 87 
 
 Clock. A beetle. 
 
 Cloiii, a beetle. — Bailey. Sort aihe.%t\t.— Johnson. 
 Clock, a dor. or beetle. — Grose. 
 Hornets, clegs, and clocks. — Sylvester. 
 
 I 'eerd 'urn a bummin' away loike a buzzard-ir/oc/5 ower my 'ead. 
 
 — Tennyson. 
 
 Clomb. Did climb. An old past tense of climb. 
 
 They clomb that tedious height. — Spenser. 
 He on his throne was set, to which on hight 
 
 Who clomb an hundred ivory stairs first told. — Fairfax. 
 To a huge rock that clomb so high in air. — Gilbert West. 
 
 Cloot. The hoof of a cow, sheep, etc. — Burns. The 
 
 half of a hoof. — -Jamieson. 
 
 Perhaps the word clowen in the following passage, 
 rhyming as it does to drowen (drew), indicates as clearly 
 as any that has been given how the Anglo-Saxon cleofa, 
 that which is cloven, became cloot^ a cloven hoof. 
 
 This Thebes seyghen (saw) how men heom clowen (clove) : 
 To heore gates they drowen. — Kyng Alesaunder. 
 
 Clootie and Cloots. Having cloots, or cloven hoofs. Old 
 
 names for the Devil. 
 
 I do not know that the English ever had a word 
 expressive of the idea of a hoofed Satan, but the notion 
 was prevalent enough ; thus Othello says, — 
 
 " I look down towards his feet ; but that's a fable ; 
 If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thee." 
 The cloven-footed fiend is banish'd from us. — Dryden, 
 Tell me who cleft the divels foot. — Donne, 
 
 And so late as 1648 a tract was published in London with the 
 title, " The Devil as seen at St. Albans. Being a true relation, 
 how the Devil was seen there, in a Cellar, in the likeness of a Ram," 
 of course with cloots, — Ancient Mysteries Described. 
 
 Have you not cloven hoofs ? Are ye not devils ? — Massinger. 
 
88 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Clour. A bump or swelling after a blow. 
 
 Clud. A cloud. U for ou is quite common in old E. 
 authors. 
 
 I have you ftm (found) so sone. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 Bot wend hzifunden (found) that thai socht. — Ctirsor Mundi. 
 The abbesse lete clepe a prest anon, 
 
 And lete it cristin in funston (a stone fount). — Lay Le Freine. 
 To hawke, or els to hunt From the aulter to the /ant. — Skelton. 
 Thai said, He sal be bun (bound) or slain. — Launfal. 
 
 Clunk. To emit a hollow and interrupted sound, as 
 that preceding from a nearly empty cask when 
 violently shaken. 
 The advocates of what has been called the " Bow-wow " 
 
 theory of the origin of language could not find a better 
 
 illustration than this word affords, for it does not imitate, 
 
 but is, the very sound. 
 
 Coalition. Union, alliance. 
 
 The coalition to which Burns refers in the " Earnest 
 Cry and Prayer " was the union formed by the party of 
 Lord North and that of Mr. Fox. To this alliance he 
 again alludes in " A Fragment " ; — 
 
 North and Fox united stocks. 
 Gay Wilmot joined with thee, 
 Shall shew the world that such a thing can be 
 As, strange to tell ! a virtuous coalition ! — The Rolliad. 
 
 Coatie. Dim. of coat. 
 
 Coble. A fishing-boat. 
 Goggle and coble, a small fshing boat. — Bailey, 
 
 Cock. The mark for which curlers play, now generally 
 called the tee. 
 
GLOSSARY. 89 
 
 Cqchie. Dim. of cock, a. fowl, a familiar, perhaps vulgar 
 name, for an elderly friend. 
 He has drawn blood of him yet ; well done, old cock. — Massinger. 
 
 Cockernony. A lock of hair tied up on a girl's head, a 
 
 cap. 
 
 I do not think this word was in use, at least in Ayr- 
 shire, in Burns's day. It is an echo from an older time. 
 
 Cod. A pillow. 
 
 Cod, a pillow. — Bailey. Cod, a bag. — Tyrwhitt. 
 Faire coddis of %\Sk..^MS. quoted by Halliwell. 
 Selling of counterfeit cods. — Fletcher. 
 
 Weber, an editor of an edition of Beaumont and 
 Fletcher, says " cods are pillows.'' 
 
 Co'er. To cover. For omission of v see under ca't. 
 
 At last, him turning to his charge behight, 
 
 With trembling hand his troubled pulse gan try ; 
 
 Where finding life not yet dislodged quight, 
 
 He much rejoyst and cowiedii tenderly, 
 
 As chicken newly hatcht, from dreaded destiny. — Sfenser. 
 
 Officers full busily them cast 
 
 In the hall hordes for to cure. — Lydgate. 
 
 Coft. Bought. 
 
 Cog. A wooden dish of cooper's work, a pail. 
 
 This word I take to be the same as cog, a small boat, 
 from which we have cock-boat. That cog should signify 
 both a dish and a boat — not to speak of a dish called a 
 bvtter-boat — is not more strange than that coffin should 
 mean a box for the dead, part of the foot of a horse, and 
 also a mould of paste for a pie. 
 
 Agaynes hem comen her naveye, 
 
 Cogges, and dromoundes, many galeye. — H. C. de Lion. 
 
90 GLOSSARY. 
 
 And for the cog was narrow, small, and strait. 
 
 Alone he row'd, and bade his squire there ^^^.l..— Fairfax. 
 
 Found Jason and Hercules also. 
 
 That in a cogge to lond were ygo. — Chaucer. 
 
 Coggie. Dim. of Cog. 
 
 Coila. From Kyle, a district in Ayrshire; so called, 
 saith tradition, from Coil, or Coilus, a Pictish monarch. 
 
 Sche was Doughtre of Kyng Cool (or Coyle), bom in Colchester. 
 
 — Maundeville. 
 
 Collie. A general and sometimes a particular name for 
 
 country curs ; a shepherd's dog. 
 
 Collies are not now considered curs, but are fashionable 
 dogs. They probably received their name from being 
 generally black — the colour of Luath in "The Twa 
 Dogs." They seem to have been more so formerly than 
 they are now, being under the law that the longer animals 
 are domesticated the more varied their colours become. 
 This is not Jamieson's opinion ; but colly in Shaks- 
 peare means to blacken, as in Collied night, and — 
 
 Passion having my best j adgment collied, 
 Assays to lead the way, 
 
 which is something in favour of what, like his, is only a 
 guess. 
 
 Colfox, a black fox. — Bailey. Ran Colle our dog. — Chaucer. 
 
 He was colored as the cole corbyal untrwe. 
 
 — Early E. Alliteraiive Poems. 
 He made foule chere, 
 And bicollede is swere, i.e., blackened his neck. 
 
 — The Geste of Kyng Horji, 
 The newe Testament for them ? and then for cowle my dog. 
 
 — Nei-u Custom. 
 
GLOSSARY. 91 
 
 ColUeshangie. Quarrelling, a tumult, uproar ; such a 
 disturbance as is caused by a dog running through a 
 crowd with a shangan (q.v.), tied to his tail. 
 Shangy, a riot, a row. — Halliwell. 
 
 Com77iaun. Command. The insertion of tt between a 
 and n is common in old E. writers. In a single page 
 before me, I find daunce, launce, advauntage, and 
 demaund. 
 As his Grace shall commaund. — The Owlde order of makyng the 
 
 Kynges (Henry VIII.) bedde. 
 
 It is right easy to commaund. — -Gower. 
 
 Compleenin\ Complaining. 
 
 Where Burns uses it, it may mean ailing. E for a, as 
 in — 
 
 This is all and som, he held virginitee 
 
 More parfit than wedding in freeltee (frailty). — Chaucer. 
 
 Cood. The cud. Oo for tt, as in — 
 
 He strodk (struck) so hard, the bason broke. 
 
 The Noble Acts of Arthur and the Knights of the 
 Round Table. 
 Or as a stalon in the fennes. 
 Which goth amonges all the stood (stud). — Gower. 
 
 Swyn, Hares, and othere Bestes, that chewen not here code. 
 
 Maundeville. 
 
 Coof. A blockhead, a ninny. 
 
 When the word is spelled cufe, as it often is, it is seen 
 to be the same as chuff vihen it has undergone the change 
 of ch into c, as of churl into carl, of chalk into calke, etc. 
 See cauk. 
 
 Troth, sister, I heard you were married to a very rich chuff. 
 
 The Honest Whore. 
 
92 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Cook. To appear and disappear by fits. 
 
 Cook seems to be nearly the same as keek. To Tceek is 
 to see by fits, and to cook to be seen by fits. 
 
 Cooser. A stallion. 
 
 Coosf and Cuist Did cast. The digraph oo for a does 
 not occur often in English, though it is found in strook 
 for strake, schoof for shaved, etc., but it is quite pos- 
 sible that in such words oo may represent the long 
 sound of 0. There are, however, a great variety of 
 spellings of this word. 
 
 And kest water opon the stane. — Ywain and Gawain, 
 Ye hyst a shepys ie. — Skelton. 
 Cussen, cast, dejected. — Halliwell. 
 
 It requires to be noted that oo, in words like coost, 
 coof, and coot, has an entirely different sound from the 
 same digraph in boord, foord, and hoord, and is not easy 
 to explain. Cuisi more nearly represents the pronun- 
 ciation, and this is not far from Skelton's kyst in the line 
 quoted above, and the same word in — 
 
 He kyst a down the bores hed. — Carol for St. Siefheiis Day. 
 
 Coot. The ankle. 
 
 Cutes, the feet. — Halliwell. 
 
 Cootie. A wooden kitchen dish or tub ; also those fowls 
 whose legs are clad with feathers are said to be cootie. 
 I believe that the word cootie always includes the idea 
 
 of shortness. A cootie hen, or domestic fowl, is always 
 
 short-legged as well as feathered. Is it another form of 
 
 cutty i 
 
 Corbie. A species of crow. 
 
 Corby, a crow. — Grose. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 93 
 
 Slitteth anon 
 The belly to the side, from the corbyn bone, 
 That is corbyn's fee, at the death he will be. 
 
 — Dame Juliana Berners. 
 He watz (was) colored as the cole corbyal un-trewe. 
 
 — Early E. Alliterative Poems. 
 To her resorted many a beak, 
 And birds of sundry sorts of hue ; 
 Sir Ingram Corby he came first there 
 With his fair lady clad in black. 
 
 — The Northumbetland Garland. Ritson. 
 
 Core. Corps, a party, a clan ; differs only in spelling 
 from corps. 
 
 Cork-rumps. Stiffening for dresses; a "dress improver" 
 of the time. 
 
 You have my thanks for the inquiries you have made upon the 
 subject of male rumps corked, — Cowper. 
 
 Pleased with nature's hips, she scorns cork rumps. — -Wolcot. 
 
 Corn. Oats, to feed with oats. 
 
 Corn is, or was, the S. name for oats, but althougli 
 Burns always means oats when he says corn, there is 
 only one passage in his poems which cannot be trans- 
 lated grain, and be quite plain to an Englishman. That 
 passage is — 
 
 When thou was cornU, 
 which, to an ordinary Englishman, and, I suspect, to 
 many a Scotsman, is suggestive of salting rather than 
 feeding. But though Englishmen do not speak of cor?^- 
 ing their horses, they nevertheless feed them with corn : 
 
 A proud Bayard beginneth for to skippe 
 
 Out of the way so pricketh him his come. — Chaucer. 
 
 Later age's pride, like corn-fed steed, 
 
 Abused her plenty. — Spenser. 
 
94 GLOSSARY. 
 
 But after all it appears that corn was used as far south 
 at least as Bedfordshire for a particular kind of grain, 
 probably oats, for John Bunyan says — 
 
 He had them into his field, which he had sown with wheat and 
 corn. — Pilgrim^ s Progress, Second Part. 
 
 I've a bag for meal, and a bag for malt. 
 And a bag for barley and corn. — R. Hood. 
 
 Cars, corse, or corss. The cross or market-place. For 
 transposition of r see brugh. 
 
 Cottar. The inhabitant of a cot-house, or cottage. 
 
 Countra. Country. 
 
 This word was spelled by old E. writers, countrey, 
 countray, countre, etc. 
 
 Country. County. 
 
 In his letters Burns often uses country for county, 
 oiice a common practice, but now disused. 
 
 He is a justice of peace in his country. — Shak. 
 
 Her personal estate alone ^I'ill buy, 
 
 Upon good rates, a thousand pound a year. 
 
 Where must that be? Not in our comitry. — Tlu Old Couple. 
 
 There was neither tree, nor gate, nor stile, in all that countty, to 
 which I did not feel a relation. — Cowfer. 
 
 Drayton addresses Warwickshire as ' ' My native country. " 
 
 Polyolbion. 
 
 Court-day. Rent day. 
 
 I have at last met with the procedings of the court-baron. — Spec- 
 tator. 
 
 The court-baron, though in it the lord of the manor had much 
 greater power than in its successor, was the court-day's ancestor. 
 
 CoutJiie. Kind, loving. 
 
 Couth, known, or skilful in. Coutheutlaughe, one who know- 
 ingly, cherishes, entertains, or hides any outlawed person. — Bailey. 
 
GLOSSARY. 95 
 
 This uncouth word, coutheutlaughe, is just " a person 
 couthie, kind, or loving, to an outlaw." 
 
 Loke, boy, be naught betrayed 
 Oikouth ne strange. — Octovian Imferator. 
 
 And to the peples eres all and some 
 
 Was couth eke. — Chaucer. 
 
 Here as well as elsewhere couth means known, which is 
 the fundamental idea of couthie, loving, which follows, or 
 ought to follow, knowledge, being only a secondary idea. 
 
 Cove. A cavern. 
 
 In this wild, dark, and drearie cove. 
 
 Of wife, of children, and of health bereft, 
 I hailed thee, friendly spider, who had'st wove 
 Thy mazy net on yonder mouldering raft. 
 — To a S filler who inhabited a cell. Anthologia Bor. et A us. 
 In her barm scho (she) ledd hir child. 
 Till thai come at a cove was depe : 
 Thar tham thoght to rest and slepe. — Cursor Mundi. 
 
 Cowe. To terrify, to keep und:r; to lop; to fright; a 
 
 fright, a bunch of furze, broom, etc. 
 
 All these meanings, diverse as they may seem, spring 
 from the first, to terrify and keep under. To lop, 
 is to keep under by cutting off the top, and a bunch of 
 furze is here thought of as a means of terrifying, and a 
 most efficient one it has often proved, as most people 
 who have been brought up in the country can testify, 
 many of whom can say with Burns — 
 
 Ae dreary, windy, winter night, 
 Wi' you, mysel, I gat a fright, 
 Ye like a rash-bush stood in sight, 
 
 and can tell how relieved they were when the fearful 
 object " squatter'd awa," or its innocence was discovered. 
 
 To COOT one, to put one out of heart, or keep one in awe. — Bailey. 
 
96 GLOSSARY. 
 
 It hath loiti'd my better part of man. — Shaks. 
 
 For when men by their wives are cow'd. 
 
 Their horns, of course, are understood. — Butler. 
 Johnson quotes this passage under cow, to terrify, but it 
 seems more properly to mean lop, for horns may be cut, 
 but cannot well be frightened. 
 
 Colle to me the ryshes grene, colle to me. 
 Ritson in his " Ancient Songs " has one with this bur- 
 den, and says colle means cull. I think it means cowe 
 or cut. For change of ol iuto ow, see under a'. This 
 old E. song will thus appear to be similar to the old S. 
 song, "■Cow the me the rashes green." 
 
 At that I was held a master in, he has cow'd me. — Fletcher. 
 The people were annoyed by the pranks of a bogle called the 
 Hedley kow. — Richardson's Table Book. 
 
 Co7vp. To barter ; to tumble over ; a fall ; a gang. 
 
 Coup, to exchange, or swap. — Bailey. 
 To cope or coup, to chop or exchange. — Grose. 
 Coup, to empty or o\exs,el.~Halliwell. 
 Flemings began on me for to cry, 
 
 " Master, what will you copen or buy. — The Lotidon Lickpenny. 
 Since in horse coupino he began. 
 
 He had great cause to crack of wealth. — The Northumb. 
 Garland. Ritson. 
 
 She cowp'd him o'er the kale-pot. — lb. 
 
 Cowp the cran. To overset. See cowp and cran. 
 
 Cowrin. Cowering. 
 To cour, to squat down, to kneel. — Bailey, 
 As you creep or cowr, or lie, or stoop, or go. 
 So, marking you with care, the apish bird doth do. — Polyolbion. 
 Emere stroke in to that stowre. 
 And many oon made he for to cowre. — La Bon Florence of Rome. 
 
GLOSSARY. 97 
 
 Treowe love in heorte durith, 
 
 Ac nede coward byhynde kourith. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Cowte. A colt. For change of ol into ow, see under ci 
 and bow-hail. 
 Cow/, a colt — Bam ford. Coze//, a colt. — Var.dial. Halliwell. 
 
 Cozie. Snug. 
 Cosey, snug, comfortable. — Halliwell. 
 
 Crabbit. Crabbed. 
 
 Crack. Conversation ; to converse ; a crack, a short 
 time. 
 
 Hereat thy friends will crack full crouse. — R. Hood. 
 Here's mother Maudlin come to give you thanks. 
 Madam, for some late gift she hath received, 
 Which she's not worthy of, she says, but cracks 
 And wonders of it. — Benjonson. 
 Crack, discourse. — Weber. 
 In a crack, immediately. — Halliwell. 
 
 I con show thee in a crack, sed he.— John Collier. 
 
 Crack credit. To lose character and confidence in any 
 respect. — famieson. 
 
 Seeing that the intent of all writers of Stories is to be beleeved ; 
 what els had this beginning of an History at that point beene, but a 
 cracking of his credit at his first entrance in, if the majesty of the 
 author had not served for a warrant. — The Truenesse of the Chris- 
 tian Religion. 
 
 How many things there are to be observed 
 Which seem but little ; yet by one of us 
 Neglected, cracks our credits utterly. — Fletcher. 
 Shall she be clapt upon his back too, as though one wasn't enough 
 to crack his credit ? — Echard. 
 
 Craft or croft. A field near a house. A for o, see under 
 aff. 
 
 G 
 
,<)8 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Craig, craigie. The neck. 
 
 Thy ewes that woont to have blowen bags, 
 Like waileful widowes hangen their crags. — Spenser. 
 I wad the deil had had their craigs.—The Fray of Hant- 
 ■wessell. 
 I cannot see so far into a mill-stone as black-hooded and red- 
 craiged rabbles. — Life of Monmouth. 
 
 Craigy. Craggy. 
 Craig, the top of a rock. — Bailey. 
 
 Craik. Name of a bird ; to whine. 
 
 Craik. Creak, a corn creak, a landrail ; so called from its 
 creaking note. — Grose. 
 
 The landrail or corn-cra^c is a bird of passage. — Markwick. 
 The crahes sal ly if I may. — The Seven Sages. 
 I cannot crakell so in vaine. — Chaucer. 
 
 Crambo-clink, or crambo-jingle. Rhymes, doggrel verses. 
 
 Crambo, a play in rhyming in which he that repeats a word that 
 was said before forfeits something. — Bailey. 
 
 A little superior to them are those who can play at crambo, or 
 cap verses. — Spectator. 
 
 He pass'd his time 
 In virtuoso-ship, and cranibo-t\vy'ai&. — Walter Harte. 
 They were miserably put to it for a word to clink. — Bymer. 
 
 Crampet. An iron with small spikes to keep the foot 
 
 firm on ice. — Graeme. 
 
 In Burns's letter to Mr. Cunningham, the definition 
 which Johnson gives of cramp — though the above is what 
 in Scotland is understood by a crampet — seems to suit 
 his meaning better. The passage in which the word 
 occurs is — " If I choose to bind down with the cratnpets 
 of attention the brazen foundation of integrity, I may 
 rear up the structure of independence." Johnson says — 
 " Cramp, a piece of iron bent at each end, by which two 
 
GLOSSARY. 99 
 
 bodies are held together." Burns's figure implies the 
 holding of the foundation and the building together, and 
 a crampet is not used for that purpose. 
 
 Cran. An iron instrument, laid across the fire, reaching 
 from the ribs of the grate to the hinder part of it, for 
 the purpose of supporting a pot or kettle. It seems to 
 be denominated from its form, as it bore some resem- 
 blance to a crane. — -Jamieson. In some parts of Eng- 
 land a similar instrument is called a crab. 
 
 "Coup the cran," go to wreck like a pot on the fire, when the 
 cran upon which it stood is upset. — Sir W. Scott. 
 
 Crank. The noise of an ungreased wheel. 
 Crank, to creak. — Halliwell. 
 
 Crankous. Fretful, captious. 
 
 This is Burns's own definition of a word which, so far 
 as I am aware, is not to be found in any other author. 
 But he uses it, I think, in a stronger sense than his 
 definition implies. The times did not admit of his say- 
 ing Scotland was in a rebellious, fighting mood, so he 
 said she was " fretful, captious." Examine the passage 
 in which it occurs — 
 
 This while she's been in crankous mood, 
 Her lost militia^r't/ her bluid. 
 
 What is the state of mind intended to be indicated by 
 " fired her bluid " ? He has the same expression in an- 
 other passage — 
 
 Gie him strong drink until he wink, 
 
 That's sinking in despair ; 
 And liquor gude to fire his bluid. 
 
 That's prest wi' grief an' care. 
 
 Surely this prescription was not intended to make the 
 
io6 feLOSSAkV. 
 
 patient fretful and captious, but bold and sanguine, to 
 make him 
 
 Forget his loves or debts, 
 And mind his griefs no more. 
 Crank, healthy, sprightly ; sometimes corrupted into cranky. 
 
 Johnson. 
 Like chanticlere he crowed cranke 
 
 And piped full merrilie. — Dousabelle. 
 As cocke on his dunghill crowing cranke. — Spenser. 
 
 Upton's note on this is, " Crank is lusty, courageous." 
 
 Cranreuch. The hoar-frost. 
 
 Crap. A crop, to crop, the top. A for o, see under aff, 
 and in — 
 
 Be ye nevere the balder (bolder) to breke the ten hastes. 
 
 P. Plowman. 
 
 Craps d heather. Heather-tops. 
 Crop once meant top. 
 
 Man es a tre 
 
 Of whilk the crop es turned donward. 
 
 P. of Conscience. 
 
 Craw. A crow of a cock ; a rook. 
 
 With shame and grief adawed 
 That of a weed he was avex-crawed. — Spenser. 
 He hath queintise white so snawe. 
 With foules blac as ani crawe. 
 With sik werk it is wrought. 
 
 Horn Child and Maiden Rimnild. 
 
 Creel. A basket ; to have one's wits in a creel, to be 
 
 crazed, to be fascinated. 
 
 To be in a creel, with the same meaning, is more 
 common. 
 
 Creel, a wicker basket. — Halliwell. 
 
 He has made a cleek but and a creel. — Bell's Ancient Poems. 
 
GLOSSARY. lOI 
 
 Creepie chair. The stool of repentance. 
 
 Creeper, a small stool. — Hallhvell. 
 
 Creepie, a three-legged stool in North English and Scottish, — 
 Rev. A. S. Palmer'' s Folk Etymology. 
 
 Creeshie. Greasy. C for g, as in " Crussel, a gristle." 
 — Bailey. For sh instead of s, see under fleesh. 
 
 Creuks. Crooks, a disease in horses. Eu for oo. See 
 under beuk. 
 
 Crinkum-crankum. Burns applies this reduplication to 
 " Robin Adair," which he also styles a " cramp, out- 
 of-the-way measure." 
 Crincum-crancum occurs in the Spectator, No. 623, 
 
 with a very different meaning. 
 
 Here's none of your straight lines here — but all taste — zig-zag — 
 crinhnm-crankum — in and out. — Garrick. 
 
 Crocks. Refuse ; old sheep. 
 
 Croke, refuse, the bad or useless part of anything. Crock, an old 
 ewe. — Halliwell. 
 
 He sought not the world's croke. 
 
 For vaine honour ne for richesse. — Gower. 
 
 Crood or croud. To coo as a dove. 
 
 To croo, to crookle, to make a noise as a dove. — Bailey. 
 
 Croon. A hollow continued moan, to make a noise like 
 the continued noise of a bull, to hum a tune. 
 
 On a time it happened that his bull fell a bellowing, which in the 
 language of the country is called cruning, this being the genuine 
 Saxon word to denote that vociferation. Thereupon he said to one 
 of his neighbours, "Hearest thou how loud this bull crunes? If 
 these cattle should all crune together, might they not be heard 
 from Brough hither?" "Yea." "Well, then," says Brunskill, 
 "I'll make them all crune together." — Nicohon and Burns' s His- 
 tory and Antiquities of Cumberland and Westmoreland. 
 
I02 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Cross. Across, over. For cress in a dance, see under 
 deek. 
 
 Cross, over, from side to siAe.^/o/inson. 
 Enter Parley, running cross the stage. — Farquhar. 
 
 Crouchie. Crook-backed. 
 Crouch, crooked. — Bailey. 
 
 Feol bores, and eke wilde swyn ; 
 
 And crocked dragons saunfaill. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 He is a crooching fool. — Rabelais. 
 
 Crouse. Cheerful, courageous. 
 
 Crowse, brisk, lively, jolly. — Bailey. 
 
 Crowse, as Bailey ; as crowse as a nevi'-washen louse . — Grose. 
 
 How cheer my hearts ? Most crowse, most crapingly. 
 
 Richard Browne. 
 And now of late Duke Humphrey's old allies, 
 With banished Eleanor's accomplices, 
 Attending their revenge, grow wondrous crouse. 
 And threaten death and vengeance to our house. 
 
 Drayton. 
 
 Crousely. Cheerfully, courageously. 
 
 Crowdie. Meal and water in a cold state stirred together 
 
 so as to form a thick gruel. — -Jamiesoti. 
 
 Sir W. Scott defines crowdie, " Meal and milk mixed 
 in a cold state, a kind of pottage"; but in his "Two 
 Drovers," when describing their food, he says nothing of 
 milk, and there can be no doubt that Jamieson's defini- 
 tion is the correct one. It would be more accurate to 
 say was, for the dish is now unknown, and even in 
 Burns's day the word was only employed as a sort of 
 jocular name for "the halesome parritch." Indeed, 
 there is not a particle of evidence to show that it ever 
 was used, except when more carefully prepared food was 
 
GLOSSARY. 103 
 
 not attainable, and it would surprise me to find a single 
 Scotsman who believes the following statement : — 
 
 Crowdie, a dish very common in Scotland, and accounted a very 
 great luxury by labourers, is a never-failing dinner in Scotland with 
 all ranks of people on Shrove Tuesday, ... it being con- 
 sidered the most substantial dish in the country. — State of the Poor, 
 by Sir Frederick M. Morton Eden, Bart. 
 
 Crowdie, oatmeal, scalded with water, and mixed up into a paste. 
 
 Grose. 
 
 There is not a herd-laddie in Scotland but would say, 
 " That's brose ! " 
 
 Crowdie-time. Breakfast time. 
 But Mars 
 In pudding time came to his aid. — Butler. 
 
 Crowlin. Crawling. Ow or ou sound for aw or au, as 
 
 in — 
 And look that they be nought rowe (raw). — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Chaucer has doughtren for daughters, rought for raught, 
 Skelton cought for caught, and Powles continued for a 
 long time to be used for Paul's. 
 
 Syr Garcy went crowlande for fayne. — Le Bone Flo. of Rome. 
 I do not know that crowlande means crawling, though, as 
 Syr Garcy was more than a hundred years old, that word 
 might, in all likelihood, describe his motion. 
 
 Crucks. See creuks. 
 
 Crummie, crummock, crummit. A cow with crooked 
 horns. 
 
 Crump, crooked. — Bailey. 
 
 This is the cow with the crumpled horn. 
 
 The House that Jack built. 
 Rise up and save cow Crumbock's life. 
 
 Old Song. Percy. 
 
I04 GLOSSARY., 
 
 Crummock. A staff with a crooked head. 
 
 Crump. Hard and brittle, spoken of bread (and other 
 easily broken things). ' 
 
 Toiling in the naked fields, 
 Where no bush a shelter yields. 
 Needy Labour dithering stands. 
 Beats and blows his numbing hands ; 
 And upon the crumping snows 
 Stamps in vain to warm his toes. — Clare. 
 She took some little cakes out of her basket which she gave him, 
 
 and he crumfd them between his teeth. — The Power of Love. 
 
 This is a translation of Longus's Daphnis and Chloe, 
 when or by whom made I know not. My copy is dated 
 Dublin, 1763. 
 
 Crunt. A blow on the head with a cudgel. This word 
 is common in Ayrshire, though not known in literature 
 till Burns used it. 
 
 Cuif. See coof. 
 
 Cummock. A short staff with a crooked head. 
 
 Your wynde-schakyn shankes, your longe lothy legges, 
 
 Crokyd as a camoke, and as a kowe calfles(s). — Skelton. 
 
 All that he dothe is ryght, 
 
 As right as a cavimoke croked. — lb. 
 
 This is clean ham (crooked). — Shak. 
 
 Curch. A covering for the head. A corruption of ker- 
 chief. 
 
 Curchie. A courtesy, or curtsy, an old-fashioned female 
 reverence. 
 
 Then every man did put his hat ofifto his lass, 
 
 And every girl did curchie, curchie, curchie, on the grass. 
 
 Belts Ancient Poems and Songs of the English Peasantry. 
 
 Curler. A player at the game of curling. 
 
GLOSSARY. I OS 
 
 Curling. A well-known game on ice. To those who 
 have not seen it, it may be said that it is something 
 like the game of bowls ; but the stones used slide in- 
 stead of rolling like bowls. 
 
 Ctirlie. Curly : whose hair falls naturally in ringlets. 
 
 Curmurrin. Murmuring,'slight rumbling noise. — Burns. 
 Applied to the motion of the intestines which is pro- 
 duced by slight gripes.^/ami'eson. 
 This is another word which cannot, I suspect, be 
 traced farther than the pages of Burns, who would pro- 
 bably have been amused at the learned lexicographer's 
 praiseworthy attempts to find its parentage in kurrar i 
 magen, stomachus latrat, etc. 
 
 Curpin or curpon. The crupper, the buttock or haunch. 
 
 Curple. Same as curpin. 
 
 Cushat. The dove or wood pigeon. — Burns. Cushat 
 is never applied to any but the wood-pigeon. 
 Mansart, a culvert, cooshat, ring-dove. — Cotgrave. 
 Cusheis, wild pigeons. — Grose. 
 
 Cutty. Short ; a spoon, certainly not one broken in the 
 middle, as Allan Cunningham says, or anywhere. 
 Cutty is applied to various things, a cutty-pipe, a cutty- 
 stool, etc. In English it is cut, as cut and long tail. 
 His wyf walked him with 
 
 In a cutted cote. — Peres the Ploughman's Crede. Skeat. 
 I set not by the worlde two Douncaster cutiys (short-tailed horses). 
 
 Skelton. 
 
 Cutty-stool. A low stool ; stool of penance or repent- 
 ance. 
 
 Cannot sentence 
 To stools, or poundage of repentance. — Butler. 
 
I06 GLOSSARY. 
 
 D. 
 
 Daddie. Father ; dim. of dad. 
 
 Formal Patrick is transformed to Paddy, 
 And Father by the children christen'd Daddy. 
 
 Dr. Wokot. 
 Dicky your boy, that, with his grumbling voice, 
 Was wont to cheer his dad in mutinies. — Shak. 
 It says that daddy is a false man. — Farquhar. 
 
 Daffin. Daffing, merriment, foolishness. 
 And when this jape is told another day, 
 I shall be holden a daffe or a cokenay. — Chaucer. 
 Thoudotest, daffe, quod she, dull are thy wittes. — P. Plowman. 
 Daffin, merriment. — Northumbei-land. Halliwell. 
 
 Daft. Merry, giddy, foolish. 
 
 Daft, stupid, blockish. — Bailey. Daft, foolish. — Grose. 
 Noo, thou daft fule ! — Specimen of Durham Language. 
 
 Bails. Deals. A for e, as in — 
 
 His bones crake (creak), 
 Leane as a rake. — Skelton. 
 To make illusion, 
 By swiche an apparance (appearance) or joglerie 
 That she and every wight should wene and say. 
 That of Bretagne the rockes were away. — Chaucer. 
 He so longe criede and bade. 
 That him com from heven rctde, i.e. rede, counsel. 
 How he scholde heom distroye. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Daimm. Rare, now and then ; daimen-icker, an ear of 
 corn now and then. 
 
 This seems to be another word for which Burns alone 
 
GLOSSARY. 107 
 
 is responsible. Jamieson quotes no other authority for 
 it, and says it is perhaps derived from " diement, counted, 
 from A.-S. deman, to reckon." 
 
 Now, granting that deman means to reckon, "counted" 
 seems but a poor explanation of daimen, which is always 
 used as equivalent to something not worth taking into 
 consideration, and might well be translated a chance one. 
 
 As Jamieson introduces his derivation with a modest — 
 perhaps, I may, with the same saving adverb, suggest a 
 less recondite origin for the word. 
 
 In Burns's time and later the servants on a farm were 
 invariably engaged for the half-year, and the reapers as 
 invariably hired for the harvest, not for a fixed time, but 
 till the crop was secured. A person paid by the day 
 was never seen save in an emergency. Hence to denote 
 a thing of rare occurrence, especially as his visit formed 
 a sort of epoch in the monotonous lives of a farmer's 
 household, a dayman was a convenient and (to them) 
 expressive term. Anything seldom occurring would be 
 said to be like a dayman, and in the natural course of 
 language the sign of the simile would be dropped. It 
 may be said that if it were so " daysman " would have 
 been more natural, but the Scottish peasantry knew their 
 Bibles too well not to be aware that daysman had been 
 already appropriated. 
 
 Day-man, a labourer hired by the day. — East. Halliwell. 
 
 Day-woman in " Love's Labour Lost " is generally ex- 
 plained a dairy-woman, which is a mere guess. Chaucer 
 has — 
 
 She was as it were a maner dey. 
 Tyrwhitt thinks dey was originally a day-labourer. 
 
 Dainty. Pleasant, good-humoured, agreeable ; a deli- 
 
Io8 GLOSSARY. 
 
 cacy, primarily something for eating better than com- 
 mon food. 
 His life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat. — /ob xxxiii. 
 
 20. 
 
 Be not desirous of his dainties. — Proverbs xxiii. 3. 
 Dainties, delicacies, niceties, tidbits. — Bailey. 
 
 This seems to be a good English word, and yet Burns 
 has \t in his glossary; it is in Jamieson's Dictionary, and 
 in Halliwell's valuable Archaic Dictionary. What can 
 be wrong with the word ? 
 
 And Martilmass Beefe doth bear good tack 
 When countrey folke do dainties \z.r^t. — Tusser. 
 Among other dainties, I saw something like a pheasant. — Addison. 
 
 Daise or daez. To stupify. Does not seem to differ, 
 except in spelling, from E. daze. 
 
 Dazed, confused, amazed. — Bamford. 
 
 Dasing after dottrellers like drunkards. — Skelton. 
 
 For in good faith thy visage is ful pale ; 
 
 Thine eyen dasen, sothly as me thinketh. — Chaucer. 
 
 Poor humankind, all daz'd in open day, 
 
 Err after bliss, and blindly miss the way. — Dryden. 
 
 Dander. To wander. 
 Dander, to wander about. — Chesk. Halliwell. 
 
 Dare. To threaten, in "Straight the sky grew black 
 and daring." 
 
 Dare, to threaten. — Somerset. Halliwell. 
 
 What dares not Warwick if false Suffolk dare him ? — Shak. 
 
 Darklins. Darkling. The omission of^in such words 
 as backliiis and darklins is quite common, and easily 
 explained ; not so the addition of s, but that is also 
 found. 
 
gLossarV. 109 
 
 The wakeful bird 
 Sings darkling, and, in shadiest covert hid, 
 Tunes her nocturnal note. — Milton. 
 O, wilt thou darkling leave me ? — Shah. 
 He will go darkling to his grave. 
 
 Ralph Roister Doister. 
 All thair idels, in a stund, 
 Grovelings fel unto the grund. — Cursor Mundi. 
 For the mouth he had grinninge, 
 And the tong outjlatlinge. — Arthour and Merlin. 
 
 Dash. To depress. 
 
 Some stronger power eludes our sickly will ; 
 
 Dashes onr rising hope with certain ill. — Prior. 
 A foolish mild man ; an honest man, look you and soon dash'd. 
 
 Shak. 
 He was quite dash'd o\s.\. of countenance. — Echard. 
 
 Daud. To thrash, to abuse ; to drive forcibly. 
 
 Dauntott. To tame, to subdue, intimidate. 
 
 Beholding him above the common course of other men, dauntyng 
 a. fierce and cruell beaste. — Sir Thomas Elyot. Skeat. 
 
 And David shal be diademed, and daunten hem alle. — P. Plow- 
 man. 
 
 Daur. To dare. 
 
 In picturing the parts of beauty daynl , 
 
 So hard a workmanship adventure darre. — Spenser. 
 
 As they that dor nought schewen his presence. 
 
 Wright's Chaucer. 
 This wicked man of warr. 
 So haultis that he darr. 
 
 As he lyste, make and marr. — Image of Ipocrisy. 
 To hym dar no man doo no thyng. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
 Daurk or darg. A day's labour. Han' darg, work of 
 the hand. 
 
no GLOSSARY. 
 
 The contributed ploughing days in Northumberland are called 
 " Bone dargs." — Ellis. 
 
 " I'll do my darg before I arg " (i.e., argue), is a proverb current 
 in the eastern counties (of England). — Dr. C. Mackay. 
 
 Daut or dawt. To caress or fondle. 
 
 Dawted, fondled, caressed. — Halliwell. 
 
 Davoc. Dim. of Davie. 
 Daw. To dawn. 
 
 Long or the day began to dawe. — R. C. de Lion. 
 Hitginneth to dawe ; highe the \\sTin&.~-The Seven Sages. 
 And on the other side, from whence the morning daws. 
 
 Polyolbion. 
 
 Dawd. A large piece. 
 
 Bauds, pieces, fragments. — Halliwell. 
 
 Dawin. Dawning, dawn. Dunbar has dawing. See 
 daw. 
 
 And so befell, that in a dawening.— Chaucer. 
 
 Dead. Death. 
 
 Thou shalt die an evil dede. — Guy of Warwick. 
 
 And by the ded that I sail thole. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 E is the first letter and the hede 
 
 Of the name of Eve that began our dede. 
 
 Pricke of Conscience. 
 
 Dead sweer. Very reluctant. See sweer. 
 
 Dead, like dean, stark, etc., is often used as an inten- 
 sive adverb, as in "You could (hke a Suffolke man) 
 answer at the second question dead sure." — A Search for 
 
 Money. 
 
 And when he shall but doubt I dare attempt him, 
 Dead sute he cuts me off. — Fletcher. 
 
GLOSSARV. Ill 
 
 Dead-lights. Lights seen in places such as churchyards, 
 proceeding from decaying bodies. 
 
 Dearie. Dim. of dear. 
 
 Deary, little. — Bailey. 
 
 Deores (lovers) with huere derne rounes, 
 Domes forte deme. 
 
 Wrights Sfecimens of Lyric Poetry. 
 
 Dearthfu. High-priced. Dearth and fu. 
 
 Dearthful is a regularly formed E. word like healthful, 
 dreadful, etc. 
 
 Deave. To deafen. F is often used for y^ as in — 
 Their vapour vaded (faded). — Spenser.^ 
 Unware till that he be mischeved. — Gower. 
 And many of hem became blynde, and many deve. 
 
 Maundeville. 
 They ben dombe, and thereto they ben deve. — Chaucer. 
 Besides the change of letters, deave, by the substi- 
 tution of a flat for a sharp consonant, has from an adjec- 
 tive become a verb. Verbs are frequently formed from 
 nouns in this way, as grieve from grief, graze from grass, 
 etc., but the formation of verbs from adjectives in this 
 manner is not so common. It is found, however. Thus 
 close, by the change of sharp into flat s or z, becomes 
 a verb. Deave is therefore not un-English. Indeed, 
 many authors have used this very word deaf, without the 
 en, which is the characteristic of verbs formed from ad- 
 jectives. 
 
 When suddenly we heard a dreadful sound 
 
 Which deaft the earth. — Fairfax. 
 
 A wizard dame, the lover's ancient friend, 
 
 With magic charm has deaft thy husband's ear. — Hammond. 
 
 And fluttering round his temples deafs his ears. — Dryden. 
 
112 GLOSSARY. 
 
 I cannot help asking, "would ' deaves his ears' not 
 sound better ? " Shakspeare has also " deafs his ears," 
 but the following passage deserves special notice : — 
 
 If sickly ears, 
 Deaf'd with the clamour of their own dear groans. 
 Will hear your idle scorns, continue them. 
 
 Love's Labour Lost. 
 
 The fd in deaf 'd is unpronounceable. One of the 
 letters must be altered. Which ? Did Shakspeare say 
 deaft or deaved ? 
 
 Deeave, to stun with noice. — Tim Bobbin. 
 
 Dee. To die. 
 
 And thofe scho dee as wyle as hee. — Odovian Imperator. 
 
 Ddl. The devil. 
 
 From fire-drakes and fiends. 
 And such as the o'e;'/ sends. — Fletcher. 
 Perhaps he'll sneer or break a jest. 
 But deil a bit to break your fast. 
 
 Demi Fercival on Dean Swift. 
 " Well, I'm at leisure to attend you ! " 
 " Are you ? " (thought I) " the Deil befriend you ! " 
 
 Cowper. 
 
 Deil-ma-mre 1 No matter ! for all that 1 
 
 Sterne's " Le diable I'emporte, said I," is near it. 
 
 Deil-sticket. Not one. 
 
 Deil tak the hiiidmost ! Each for himself; haste. 
 Great wits jump. Pope has — 
 
 So take the hindmost, Hell ! — The Dunciad. 
 
 Deir s yeld iiowte. Sheriff's officers and other executors 
 of the law. — Gilbert Burns. 
 
GLOSSARY. I 1 3 
 
 Deleerit. Delirious. 
 Delirate, to dote ; to rave ; to talk or act o&Siy.^'ohnson. 
 
 Den. A hollow, a dingle. 
 Dene, a small valley. — Bailey, 
 
 With flowers fresh their heads bedeckt, 
 
 The Fairies dance in fielde ; 
 And wanton songes in mossy dennes 
 The Drids (Dryads) and Satirs yielde. 
 
 Barnaby Googe. 
 
 Ther war slayn, in playn and den. 
 
 Two hundryd thousand hethene men. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
 Dern. To hide, secret. 
 
 Of derne love he cowde and of solas. — Chaucer. 
 
 I pray th^ 
 
 In thy chaumbre thou woldest kepe me dern. 
 
 How a Merchants dyd hys Wyfe Betray. Ritson. 
 He soght and fand a dern wicket. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Desctive. To describe. 
 
 Of me, whose wo ther may no wight descrive. — Chaucer. 
 Oft I wisht some would their woes discryve. 
 
 The Mirrour for Magistrates. 
 How shall frayle pen descrive her heavenly face. — Spenser. 
 And thanne cam coveytise, can I hym nougte descryve. 
 
 P. Plowman. 
 
 Beuks. Ducks. Eu is often used by old E. authors for 
 u, as in — 
 
 Hostage y-take, and treuth y-plight. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 I me repente of my mysreuled lyfe. — Thomas Occleve. Skeat. 
 Deuk, to bend down. Bedfordshire.— ^a/AW//. 
 They conne wel also duke (in the water). — Caxton. 
 Dr. Mackay, whose slightest remark on the Scottish 
 language is entitled to respect, says that in the line. 
 
 The deuks dans o'er my daddie. 
 
1 14 GLOSSARY. 
 
 deuk should be deuch, i.e., drink. But I am afraid this 
 cannot be accepted, for the " auld wife," evidently in the 
 humour to say all the ill she can of the " paidlin' body," 
 does not charge him with drunkenness, and the old song 
 from which Burns took the idea says — 
 
 The wife and her cummers sat down to drink 
 But ne'er a drap gae the gudemannie. 
 
 So willingly or otherwise he was sober, and deuk, if it was 
 drink, could have found others to " ding o'er." 
 
 Devel. A severe or stunning blow. 
 
 Devilship. This termination is occasionally used to turn 
 
 a noun to a species of vocative case. 
 
 Does your rogueship understand me now? — The Fair Andtian. 
 
 I'd reward your bawdship according to your deserts. — The 
 Brothers. 
 
 Dictionar. Eiictionary. 
 
 Diddle. To shake, to jog. — -Jamieson. 
 
 Differ. Difference. 
 
 Dight. To wipe, to clean corn from chaff; cleaned 
 from chaff. 
 Chapman uses dite for winnow. — Iliad V. 
 
 Dight, dressed.— ^o/««WK. 
 
 Let Piers the Ploughman dwell at home and dyght us corn. — 
 Political SQtiib of the time of Rich. II. Turner^! Hist, of England. 
 
 Johnson says : — " The participle passive is dight, as 
 dighted in Htidibras is perhaps improper." He there- 
 fore would have sanctioned — 
 
 The cleanest corn that e'er was dight 
 May hae some pyles o' caff in. 
 
 I do not know that it has ever been pointed out that for 
 the figure in these lines Burns was indebted to a poet 
 
GLOSSARY. 115 
 
 whom he has praised enough to entitle him to borrow 
 this small matter from him. Allan Ramsay, in his pre- 
 lace to the " Evergreen," says — " The cleanest corn is 
 not without some chaff, no not after often winnowing." 
 
 What fouler object in the world than to see a young, fair, hand- 
 some beauty unhandsomely dighted, and incongruently accoutred. 
 
 The Fatal Dowry. 
 
 Din. Dun, sallow. / for u. See under bizz. 
 O goodly chyld 
 Of Mary mylde. 
 Then be our shylde ! 
 That we be not exyled 
 To the dynne dale 
 Of boteles bale. — Skelton. 
 
 Dine. A dinner, dinner-time. 
 
 They ben so poor, and full of pine, 
 
 They might not ones give me a dine. — Chaucer. 
 
 Ding. To worst, to push. 
 
 From highest Fortunes sudden down they ding. 
 
 Who'd or presume a Prince's grace to abuse. — Sylvester, 
 
 'Slight ! ding it open. — Ben Jonson. 
 
 He bad thai sold let for nothing, 
 
 His son with scourges for to dyng. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 His head he strook, his hands he wrang. 
 
 And each hand on another dang. 
 
 Sir Eger, Sir Grahame, and Sir Gray-SteeL 
 Always ding, dinging Dame Grundy into my ears ! 
 
 Speed the Plough. 
 
 Dink, Neat, trim. 
 
 Perhaps from digne, by the addition of k, as chink from cinif 
 or chetie. 
 
 Dinna. Do not. Do and na. Dunno. — Bamford. 
 
Il6 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Dirl. A slight tremulous stroke or pain. 
 
 Th and d, as already pointed out, were used in- 
 differently by both S. and E. authors. Burns has — 
 Roof and rafters a' did dirl, 
 
 and also — 
 
 It thirVd the heart-strings. 
 
 Burthen and murther, though somewhat antiquated, are 
 still occasionally used for burden and murder. John 
 Bunyan writes, " I must say to the puddles in the foot- 
 pads (paths), Be dry.'' Sometimes both spellings are 
 found in the same line — 
 
 I compass the conveyaunce unto the capitall 
 
 Of ower clerke Cleros, whythyr, thydyr, and why not hethyr ? 
 
 Skelton. 
 
 With a spere was thirled \i\s brest bone. — Chaucer. 
 
 So thirled viitii the point of remembrance. — Id. 
 The prayer of hym that loweth hym in his prayer thyrleth the 
 clowdes. — Dives and Pauper. 
 
 Disgeested. Digested. A common spelling. 
 
 Luciliiis he coulde not disgest. — An. Ballads and Broadsides. 
 
 Disrespecked. Disrespected. 
 
 T is often omitted by careless speakers, and comic 
 writers, after a sharp consonant, e.g. 
 
 T' amend his natural defects. 
 
 And perfect his recruiting sex. — Butler. 
 
 Who made you so bolde to interrupe my tale ? — Skelton. 
 
 Dizzen or diz'n. Dozen. / for o. See anither, and — 
 
 (Cerberus) tilled (lolled) forth his bloody flaming tongue. 
 
 Spenser, 
 
 Dizzie. Dizzy, giddy. 
 
 If Burns had not put words which differ from the 
 ordinary orthography only in having ie instead oi y in his 
 glossary, dizzie would hardly have found a place here. 
 
GLOSSARY. 117 
 
 Dochter. Daughter. 
 
 Douchtrin, daughter. — Bailey. An. Sax., DSchter. 
 Myne own good daughter, I am in good helthe of bodye. — Sir 
 T. More. 
 His dohter stode on the city wall. — Merlin. 
 He tok it to his douhter. — Lay le Freine. 
 
 That riche douke that y of told, 
 He had a douhter, isit and bold. 
 
 Amos and Amilon. 
 
 Doited. Stupified, hebetated (doted). 
 
 Where did Burns get " hebetated " ? And for whom 
 did he intend it to be an explanation ? To the most of 
 his readers hebetated given to explain doited would be 
 like Dugald Dalgetty, after he had desired his Highland 
 guide to go on, saying, " To be more plain, / prae, 
 sequar." Is it likely he had a dictionary from which he 
 could get this and similar " words of learned length, and 
 thundering sound " ? So late as 1789 we find him writ- 
 ing to Mr. Hill, " I want an English dictionary." 
 
 Doited, superannuated. Various dialects. — Halliwell. 
 
 Dotting and doyting. Walking sillily. 
 
 Donsie. Unlucky, dangerous, troublesome. 
 
 Doodle and doudle. To dandle. 
 Doodle-sac)i., a bagpipe. Kent. — Halliwell. 
 
 Dool. Sorrow ; to sing dool, to lament, mourn. 
 Dool, dolour, pain, grief. — Bailey. 
 
 On th' other side they see that perilous Poole, 
 
 That called was the Whirlepoole of decay ; 
 
 In which full many had with hapless doole 
 
 Been sunke of whom no memorie doth stay. — Sftnser. 
 
 (He) made the most dool that man might divise. 
 
 William of Paleme. 
 
1 1 8 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Doos. Doves. For omission of w, see under ca'. 
 
 The fauconer then was prest, 
 Came runnyng with a dow. — Skelton, 
 The giftes called of the Holy Ghost 
 Outward figuryd by seven dowys white. — Lydgate. 
 On ark on an eventyde drovez the downe (old E. plural of dow). 
 
 Early E. Alliterative Poems. 
 
 Dorty. Saucy, nice. 
 
 Douce or douse. Sober, wise, prudent. 
 
 Doose, thrifty, careful, also cleanly, though coarsely clothed. 
 
 Grose. 
 Douse French of Parryse Parrot can lerne. — Skelton. 
 
 Douse men chatt and chide it, 
 For they may not abide it. — Image of Ipocrisy. 
 Drynke to hym deorly of fol god bous, 
 And oure dame douse shal sitten hym by. 
 
 A Song upon the Man z« the Moon. Riison. 
 
 Doucely. Soberly, prudently. 
 
 Doughi. Was or were able. Preterite of dow. 
 Dohte, done good. Dohtig, doughty, valiant. — Bosworth. 
 There has been considerable controversy as to 
 whether the celebrated metrical romance of " Sir 
 Tristram " is of English or Scottish origin. It is 
 allowed by all that it was once very popular in the 
 south. If so, the language must have been understood, 
 and I shall here give myself the benefit of the doubt and 
 consider it an English production. 
 
 Three yer in care bed lay, 
 
 Tristrem the trevv him hight. 
 That never he dought him day, 
 
 For sorwe he hadde o day. 
 
 Jamieson has quoted this passage under dought, which 
 he thought was unquestionably a Scotch word, as was 
 
GLOSSARY. 119 
 
 natural when^he wrote, most people then accepting Sir 
 Walter Scott's theory without hesitation. 
 
 The high courage of Douglasse wan that addition of Doughty 
 Douglasse. — Drayton. 
 
 Sir Amis sent, full hastelye, 
 After many a knyght hardy, 
 
 That dowty were of dede. — Amis and Aniiloun. 
 The Kyngis knyghtis therwhiles dought. 
 On the lond every day fought. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Doup. The breech ; the extremity, the butt-end. 
 
 Whether this word be E. or S., it must be familiar to 
 thousands of Englishmen from — " Was not Minerva born 
 of the brain, even through the ear of Jove? and Castor 
 and Pollux of the doupe of that egg which was laid and 
 hatched by Leda ? " — Rabelais, Book II. 
 
 Doup-skelper. One that strikes the breech. 
 
 Like a &v!a-skelper he trotted. — The Northumb. Garland, 
 
 Doure. Stout, durable, stubborn, sullen. 
 O Alisaundre 1 dure sire, 
 
 Over alle men y the desire ! — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 Fast he strake them in that stour. 
 Might thare none his dintes dour. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 I am aware that dour here is a verb and not an adjective, 
 but it indicates the origin of the spelling, and perhaps of 
 the adjective. 
 
 Dow. Atn, or are able, can. 
 
 Ther watz moon forto make when meschef was cnowen 
 That noght dowed but the deth in the depe stremez. 
 
 Early D, Alliterative Poems. Morris, 
 Atrophe, one with whom his meat dowes not. — Cotgrave. 
 Yiff he have ony thing dow ylle, 
 He schal amend it at thy wylle. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
I20 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Yif eny hit wiste heigh or lowe, 
 I cholde be br.ent and done of dow. 
 
 Yif I forsoke my lay.— The Kyng of Tars and the Soudan 
 
 of Davias. 
 
 Ritson left dow unexplained, but there can be little 
 doubt that it is the verb used as a substantive. As the 
 word is rather a curiosity, and old metrical romances are 
 little read by the present generation, it may be as well to 
 tell the story as far as necessary to elucidate the word. 
 
 The Soudan, or Sultan, of Danias, a Mahometan, 
 marries the daughter of the Christian King of Tars. By 
 a very extraordinary miracle, he becomes convinced that 
 he has been holding an erroneous faith, and requests his 
 wife to send for a Christian priest to instruct him in the 
 doctrines of the religion which he is now willing to pro- 
 fess, but charges her to do it secretly, for if his Moslem 
 subjects knew what he was about to do he should be 
 burned and lose his authority or power, i.e., dow. The 
 only objection to this explanation is that it seems un- 
 natural to speak of losing his power after saying he 
 should be "brent"; but the old romancers cared little for 
 the ordinary sequence of events, to say nothing of the 
 exigencies of rhyme, when the language was still very im- 
 perfect. 
 
 Dowff. Pithless, wanting force. 
 
 To have a galle, and be clepid a douffe 
 
 To breke myn hede, and yeve me a houffe, 
 
 It may wele ryme, but it accordeth rvow^l.—Lydgate. 
 
 Dowie. Worn with grief or fatigue, crazy, dull. 
 Dowly, melancholy, lonely. — Bailey. 
 
 Downa. Am or are not able. See do^ii and na. 
 
 Downa-do. Inability. 
 
GLOSSARY. 121 
 
 Dow?i-siitin. Downsitting ; a meal. 
 
 Thou knowest my downsitting. — Psalm cxxxix. ^. 
 
 Doylt. Stupified, crazed. 
 
 Doyled, spiritless, careworn. Cumb. — Halliwell. 
 I am nere Ijand dold, so long have I nappyd. — Townley Mysteries. 
 Folk Etymology. 
 
 Dozen. To stupify, to benumb. 
 Doze, to stupify, to dull. — Johnson. 
 . Doze, to make or grow, dull, heavy, or sleepy. — Bailey. 
 
 Dozent. Dozened, p. participle of dozen. 
 
 Dozened, spiritless, impotent, withered. — Halliwell. 
 Dozand leuake, an old withered look. — Grose. 
 
 Draigk. Draggle, differs only in spelling. 
 
 Drap. To drop, a drop, a pellet of lead. For change 
 of into a see aft. 
 
 And neygh to dede we gan drappe 
 Wythout lesyng. — Oct avian Imperator. 
 
 Draunt or drant. To drawl, a drawl. 
 
 Drant, draunt, a drawling tone. Suffolk. — Halliwell. 
 
 Drave. Drove. 
 Drave. The preterite of drive. Drove is more used. — -Johnson. 
 I drave my suitor from his mad humour of love. — Shaks. 
 
 Who drave his oxen yesterday, 
 Doth now over the noblest Romans reign. — Cowley. 
 
 Dree. To suffer, to endure. 
 
 To dree, to be able to go through till the end of the journey. — 
 
 Thoresby. 
 Dree, to hold out, to be able to go. Dree always signifies long 
 beyond expectation. — Grose. 
 
 Of pure sorrow which I drie. — Gower. 
 
122 GLOSSARY. 
 
 A true herte will not plie 
 
 For no manace that it may drie. — Chaucer. 
 
 He telde him the sorewe that he dregh. 
 
 The Seven Sages. 
 
 Dreep. To ooze, to drop (perhaps rather drip). 
 
 Thou seest the see to over-dreep the earth. — De Momay. 
 Spenser also has ow&x-dreep, and he often uses e for i, as 
 in his "Verse to Lord Hunsdon" — 
 
 Of which apparaunt proofe was to be seene, 
 When that tumultuous rage and fearful! deene (din) 
 Of Northerne rebels ye did pacify. 
 We shall be sure to meet there with many creeples and beggars. 
 
 Fuller. 
 
 Dreigk. Tedious, long. 
 
 Dtee (spoken of a way), long, tedious beyond expectation. 
 
 Bailey. 
 
 This and dree as given by Grose are Just dreigh as a 
 modern Englishman would pronounce it. 
 In that Cite for sothe as saith us the story, 
 Mony gaumes were begonnen, the grete for to solas, 
 The draughtes, the dyse, and other dregh gaumes, 
 
 Guido de Colomia. Early E. Text Society. 
 The King was locked in a field 
 
 By a river broad and dreghe. — Morte Arthur. 
 Ho wyrles out on the weder on wyngez ful scharpe, 
 Dreghly alle a long day. — Early E. Alliterative Poems. 
 Dregh. — Thoresby. Dretche. — Gower. Drecche. — Chaucer. 
 Dreych, — Lib. Dis. 
 
 Dress. To chastise, to punish. 
 
 As for the boyes that frump and scoff. 
 And at my holynes doe laugh, 
 I mynd to dresse them wel enough, 
 Yf case I had them here. 
 
 Ancient Ballads atid Broadsides. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 123 
 
 Thider he wendeth with gret pres, 
 
 This stordy citeis for to dres. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Dribble. Drizzling, slaver. 
 
 This is another word which has no right to a place 
 here, had not Burns inserted it in his glossary. 
 
 The rain 
 
 Dribbled on every academic nob. — Dr. Wolcot. 
 
 Driddle. To move slowly j to be constantly in action, 
 but making little progress. — -Jamieson. The motion of 
 one who tries to dance, but moves the middle only. — 
 Cunningham. To play. — Chambers. 
 This is a great diversity of definition. The only word 
 calculated to throw any light on this and the somewhat 
 similar vocable diddle, is didder, which Bailey says means 
 "to shiver or shake with cold." Johnson gives it the 
 same signification, and says it is a provincial word. 
 These three words, diddle, driddle, and didder, have all 
 the idea of a silly motion in them, and the three authori- 
 ties, and I do not know of three greater, might each find 
 support in his definition of the word from the other two. 
 We must, therefore, to find what Burns meant by driddle, 
 examine his own words. 
 
 A pigmy scraper wi' his fiddle 
 
 Wha used at trysts and fairs to driddle. 
 
 If this is the true reading, then to play or to move 
 slowly would make sense. But if it is, as in some edi- 
 tions we find it — 
 
 Wha used to trysts and fairs to driddle, 
 the idea of playing is excluded, and to driddle means to 
 go from place to place, to saunter. In the " Epistle to 
 Major Logan " it undoubtedly means to move slowly — 
 
 Until you on a crummock driddle, 
 A gray-hair'd carl. 
 
124 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Drift. A drove. In the line " Poor hav'rel Will aff the 
 
 drift," it seems to mean company. 
 
 Drift, a drove of sheep. Sometimes a flock of birds, etc. 
 
 Halliwell, 
 
 The Earl of Carlisle prayed the King to grant a moderate toll on 
 cattle coming over the bridge with their great drifts. — Life of T. 
 Fuller. 
 
 Droddum. The breech. 
 Droddum, the breech. — Halliwell. 
 
 Droop-rumprt. That droops at the crupper. See rumple. 
 
 Drouk. To drench, to soak. Droukit, wet. 
 
 Drowking lies the meadow-sweet, 
 Flopping down beneath one's feet. — Clare. 
 
 I suspect Clare's word does not mean wet but dry. If 
 so, it is worth putting here for the singularity. Droukit 
 is probably a form of druken, drunken. 
 
 Drouth. Thirst, drought. 
 
 Single none 
 Durst ever, who returned, and dropt not here 
 His carcass, pined with hunger and with drouth. — Milton. 
 Thou life of strife, thou Horse-leach sent from Hell, 
 Thou Drouth, thou Death, thou Plague of Israel. 
 
 Sylvester. 
 
 Druken. Drunken. 
 
 In Anglo-Saxon drican as well as drincan signifies to 
 drink, and from the former drouk and druken may have 
 sprung. 
 
 Drucken, tipsy. — Halliwell. 
 
 iVis sometimes omitted before k, e.g. — 
 
 With botches and carbuckyls (carbuncles) in care I them knyt. 
 
 Skelton. 
 A druccan man nivver wants a lantern. — Yorkshire Proverb. 
 
GLOSSARY. 125 
 
 Drumlie. Muddy. 
 
 Drumly, muddy, or thick water. — Grose. Drumbled, disturbed, 
 muddy. — Halliwell. 
 
 Draw me some water out of the spring. 
 
 Madam, it is all foul, it is all drumly, black, muddy. 
 
 French and English Gratnmar, 1623, quoted by Dr. Mackay 
 in " Lost Beauties of the English Language.^' 
 
 Drummock. Meal and water mixed raw. This is an- 
 other name for crowdie, though they are sometimes 
 spoken of as if they were different. 
 
 Drumossie moor. Culloden. 
 
 Drunt. Pet, sour humour. 
 
 Dub. A small pond. 
 Dub, a pool of water. — Bailey. Grose. 
 Dub, a puddle, or plash of water. — Thoresby. 
 
 They stoutly ran with all their might, 
 Spared neither dub nor mire. — R. Hood. 
 
 Duds. Rags of clothes. 
 
 Dudds, rags, also clothes. — Grose. Dud-man, a scare-crow. — 
 Bailey. 
 
 In dud frese ye were schrynyd. 
 With better frese lynyd. — Skelton. 
 Crossing the road was a square called the Duddery, chiefly taken 
 up with woollen drapers, wholesale tailors, sellers of second-hand 
 clothes, etc. — History of Stourbridge Fair. 
 Harry was country neat as could be, 
 But his words were rough, and his duds were muddy. 
 
 Harry's Courtship. Bell. 
 
 Tell us 
 
 If it be milling a lag of duds. — Fletcher. 
 
 Duddie. Ragged. 
 
 Dune. Done. U for 0, see under huird. 
 
126 
 
 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Dung, dang. Worsted, pushed, driven. Past tense of 
 
 ding. 
 
 I sai yow lely how thai lye 
 
 Donged doun all in a daunce. — Minot. 
 
 Be not fear'd, our master, 
 
 That we two can be dung. — R. Hood. 
 He dung, or dattgii down, threw it down. — Thoresby. 
 
 With his tayl the erth he dang. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Dunt. To strike, to beat, a stroke. 
 To the Soudan he rode ful riht, 
 With a dimt of much miht 
 
 Adown he gan him here. 
 
 The King of Tars and the Soudan of Damas. 
 
 The stones (in the ring) beoth of such grace, 
 
 Thet thu ne schalt in none place 
 
 Of none duntes beon of drad 
 
 Ef the loke ther an. — The Geste of Kyng Horn. 
 
 Moni was the gode dunt that due William gef a day. 
 
 Rob. of Gloucester. 
 
 Durk. A dirk. TJ for t. See under hirdie. 
 The other he held in his sight 
 
 A drawen dm ;4 to his breast. — R. Hood. 
 
 Dush. To push as a bull, ram, etc. 
 
 Ryche harburgens all to-rusched, 
 And stele helmes all to-duschcd. 
 
 And bodyes brake out to blede. 
 
 Le Bone Florence of Rome. 
 Dush, to push violently. Dsos, to attack with the horns. — 
 
 Halliwell. 
 That law of yours standes talking of Beasts, 
 Of Pastures, of Oxen that dosse with their horns, etc. 
 
 Trewnesse of the Christian Religion. 
 
 Duty. Prayers, in " Min' your duty duly, morn an' 
 night." — Cottar's Saturday Nigfit. 
 In all our duty we beg the Divine assistance.— ^fr^wj/ Taylor. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 127 
 
 Dwalling. A dwelling, a house. A for e, as under dail 
 and in — 
 
 They conne not stinten, til no thing be laft (left). 
 
 Chaucer. 
 Duke Gedeon whan it was derke 
 
 Ordeined him unto his werke. — Gower. 
 
 Dwalt. Dwelt. 
 
 And us amonge, in payne and famyne 
 Dwalte. — Poem attributed to Skelton. 
 
 Dyke. A hedge, a stone wall without mortar, a fence of 
 turf — not a ditch, as is plain from — '■ 
 
 He was a gash an' faithfu' tyke 
 
 As ever lap a sheugh (ditch) or dyke. 
 Dike, a dry hedge. Cumberland.— ^o/Zzzu^//. 
 Now round his dores 
 
 Hang many a badger's snout and foxes tail, 
 The which had he through many a hedge persewd. 
 Through marsh, through meer, dyke, ditch, and delve and 
 dale. — Mickle's Sir Martyn. 
 
 Dyke-back. The slight elevation on which a hedge used 
 to be planted, as described in Dodsley's lines ; the 
 side opposite to that on which is the open drain or 
 ditch, called in Scotland the dyke-sheugJi. 
 
 Then low as sinks thy ditch on th' other side 
 Let rise in height the sloping bank ; there plant 
 Thy future ience.— Dodsley's Agriculture. 
 
 Dyvour. A bankrupt. 
 
 E. 
 
 Eastiin. Eastward. See under darklins. 
 
 Ee. The eye, to eye, to watch ; een, the eyes. 
 The teres sterte from his ee. — Sir Cauline. 
 
128 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Then a noble gunner you must have. 
 And he must aim well with his ee. 
 
 Sir Andrew Barton. 
 The knight tho up cast his een 
 
 And when he saw it was the Queen. — Chaucer. 
 
 I'll cut my green coat a foot above my knee ; 
 
 And I'll clip my yellow locks an inch below mine ee. 
 
 The Two Noble Kinsmen. 
 
 Ee-bree. Eyebrow. E'e and bree. 
 Ee-bree, eyebrow. — Bamford. 
 
 Een. Evening. JS/ight at e'en, evening, between the 
 cessation of labour in the country and bed-time, some- 
 times called the foj-enight. 
 Good, e'en, neighbours. — Shak. Good ^'«;, then. — Fletcher. 
 
 E£nin. Evening. 
 
 Mirk i' th' e'enin, dark in the evening.- — Thoresby. 
 
 Eerie. Frightened, dreading spirits. 
 
 Earh, A.-S. fleeing through fear. Earh-lice, fearfully., 
 — Bosworth. 
 
 Eerie, frightened. Eery, unearthly. — Halliwell. 
 
 These ben the eyrishe beests. — Chaucer. 
 Eyrish, aerial, belonging to the air. — Tyrwhitt. 
 Effectual Calling. One of the questions in the Shorter 
 Catechism, formerly the all but universal, and still to 
 a large extent, the theological text-book of Scotland. 
 
 Eild. Old age. 
 
 And from his eyes (not yet made dim with eild) 
 
 Sparkled his former worth and vigour brave. Fairfax. 
 
 Now leave we Robin and his men 
 
 Again to play the child. 
 And learn himself to stand and gang 
 By halds for all his eild, — R. Hood. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 129 
 
 Who scorns at eld peels ofif his own young hairs. 
 
 Ben Jonson. 
 
 Elbuck. The elbow. 
 
 Elboga, the elbow. — Bosworth. 
 
 Botones from his elbouthe to his hands. — Warton. 
 
 Elder. See ruling elder. 
 
 Eldritch. Ghastly, frightful. 
 
 For the Elridge knyghte, so mickle of myghte, 
 
 Will examine you beforne ; 
 And never man bare life awaye, 
 
 But he did him scath and scorn. — Sir Cauline. 
 
 In some copies of this old romance, Elridge \s spelled 
 eldrich. 
 
 Eleckit. Elected. 
 
 Elf-candles. Lights carried by elves or fairies. 
 
 Through this house give glimmering light 
 By the dead and drowsy fire, 
 
 Every ^^and fairy sprite. — Shah. 
 
 Ell. A Scotch ell is thirty-seven inches. 
 
 Eller. An elder. For omission of d see under afiel, 
 
 and — 
 
 Judas he Japed with Juwen silver, 
 
 And sithen on an eller (elder tree) honged hym after. 
 
 P. Plowman. 
 
 Elshin. An awl. 
 
 Elson, a shoemaker's awl. — Grose. 
 Elsin, a sort of awl. — Bamford. 
 
 Embryotic. Rudimentary. 
 
 This word. has not found a place in the dictionaries. 
 
130 GLOSSARY. 
 
 It seems as good as embryonic. So much cannot be 
 said for the next word. 
 
 Emhryoth. Unformal. 
 
 En\ End. For omission of d, see under afiel, and in — 
 Rather than thu sholdest faile he vtoM&spenne (spend) of his own 
 
 goode XX. marcis. — Royal and Historical Letters. 
 
 For hym I knowe for suffycyent to expoune (expound) every 
 
 diffyculty. — The Boke of Eneydos. 
 
 Enbrugh and Embro\ Edinburgh. 
 
 Eneugk or aneuch. Enough. 
 
 For he that haveth is god ploh (plough) 
 And of worldes wele yneh 
 
 Ne wot he of no sorewe. 
 
 The Proverbs of Hettdyng. 
 
 Had he said for nine months, I should think them enew,—John 
 Byrom. 
 
 There they gave them fighting eneugk. 
 
 The Bishopric Garland. Ritson. 
 
 Enfauld. Infold. Qet/auld. 
 
 Engine. Genius. 
 
 Very homely poets, such also as made most of their works by 
 translations out of the Latin and French toung, and few or^nor.e of 
 their own engine. — Putienham''s Art of English Poetry. 
 
 Art thou, my son, of such engin! — Gower. 
 
 A tyrant erst but now his fell engine 
 
 His graver age did somewhat mitigate. — Fail fax, 
 I ne usurpe not to have founden this werke of my labour nor of 
 myne engyn. — Chaucer. 
 
 (Virgil) past them all for deep e!!g)'en. — Churchyard. 
 Enlightened few, ike. Freemasons, 
 Ensuin. Ensuing, 
 Especial. Especially. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 131 
 
 Ether. An adder. For the use of th for d, see blather. 
 A nelher or nedder, an adder. — Thoresby. 
 Snakes and nederes thar he fand. — English Metrical Homilies. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to say that an adder was once a 
 nadder. 
 
 And from Megeras edders 
 
 From rufilynge of Philips fethers. — Skelton. 
 
 The word to which it rhymes shows that edders was 
 pronounced ethers. 
 
 Ether-stane. A stone supposed to be formed by adders ; 
 ancient beads. Ether and stajie. 
 
 Ettle. To try, to attempt ; an endeavour. 
 
 Ettle, to intend. Ettlement, intention. — Grose. 
 
 Themperour entred in a wey evene to attele 
 To have bruttenet (slain) that bor. 
 
 William of Paleme. Morris and Skeat. 
 The chorl grocching forth goth with the gode child, 
 And evene to themperour thei ettelden sone. — Id. 
 May I traist in the 
 For to tel my prevete 
 That I have aghteld for to do? — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Expeckit. Expected. 
 
 Extent. Valuation for the purpose of assessment. Old 
 extent, old valuation. 
 
 Let my officers 
 Make an extent upon his house and land. — Shak. 
 Extent is part of a legal phrase from the Sheriff appraising land 
 to its full value. — Malone. 
 
 Eydent. Diligent. 
 
 Sir W. Scott seems to suggest aye-doin, always doing, 
 as the origin of this word. 
 
132 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Fa\ Fall, lot ; to fall. For omission of // see under a\ 
 
 But somewhere I have had a lungeous/aw. — Cotton. 
 
 I wot it made him quickly /«'. — The Fray of Hantwessell. 
 
 I do not remember seeing the noun fall used for lot, 
 but the verb is often used to imply it, e.g. 
 
 Nought fully a furlong fro that fayre child, 
 Cloughtand kyndely his schon as to here ciaft falles (belongs). 
 William and the Werwolf. 
 Then 'tis most like 
 The sovereignty vrill fall upon Macbeth. — Shak. 
 
 Perhaps fall means lot in — 
 
 I pray, God yeve the e\i\fall ! — Oct avian Imperator. 
 
 Fa! that. To get that, to have that fall to him, to do. 
 
 Thomson, to whom Burns sent his famous " A man's 
 a man for a' that," though in general ready enough to 
 object to any of the poet's expressions which did not 
 please him or the associates to whom he showed the 
 verses, had no fault to find with the line — 
 Guid faith, he maunna fa' that, — 
 SO that we may infer that it was well enough understood 
 at the time. It has been much animadverted upon 
 since those days, and deserves some examination. I 
 hope to prove that it means to do, allowing the usual 
 modifications claimed by all poets. First of all it is to 
 be remembered that fall is a transitive as well as an in- 
 transitive verb. 
 
 Each drop ^e. Jails would prove a crocodile. — Shah. 
 
 Fill up that reverend unvanquish'd Bowl, 
 
 Who many a giant in his time has fallen. — Crowe. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 133 
 
 To fall a thing, may then be to produce an effect on it. 
 But I believe the word fa\ or its more common form 
 faw, was used in English poetry long before Burns's day. 
 According to an old writer, to whom I have already re- 
 ferred, the daughter of the King of Tars had married the 
 Mahometan Soudan of Damas, who, by a miracle, was 
 converted to the faith of his spouse. He had no sooner 
 abjured Islamism than he determined his subjects should 
 do the same. 
 
 And hos^ (whoso) wole not crisnet be, 
 Sholde be honged on a tre 
 
 Withouten any delay. 
 
 Not being certain, however, that they would yield sub- 
 missively to this summary conversion, or that he could 
 compel them to be thus suddenly " cristened," he re- 
 quested his father-in-law to come to his help " With al 
 the pouwer that he mouht," and the tale goes on thus — 
 
 A glador mon mighte not ben (than his father-in-law) 
 He clepte his barouns and his qwen, 
 
 And tolde hem in his sawe. 
 The Soudan that was stout and kene 
 Cristnet was withouten wene, 
 
 And leevede (believed) on Cristes lawe, 
 And he to me hath isent his soude, i.e., message, 
 He wol cristene al his londe, 
 
 Yif he mihte wel fawe ; 
 He (who) nil not come to cristenyng, 
 Weore he never so heigh lordyng, 
 
 He scholde be to drawe. 
 
 Ritson explains ^w« fain or glad, as if the King of Tars 
 were speaking of himself, whereas it is plain that he is 
 speaking of the Soudan, and telling his " barouns " that 
 he would " cristene " all his people if he could fawe, or 
 do it. This receives corroboration from a passage in 
 
134 GLOSSARY. 
 
 another romance. It leads to another story, but to 
 establish the meaning of this important word in the 
 glorious shout of humanity is worth a little detail, and 
 the risk of being tedious. 
 
 Launfal, an amiable Knight of the Round Table, upon 
 some dislike to Arthur's queen, leaves the court, and re- 
 tires to a town at some distance, where, through too 
 great liberality, he gets into debt. Even in those days 
 to be " short of cash " was a decided disadvantage, and 
 Launfal found that poverty is not favourable even to 
 devotion, at least in its social aspect, for on one 
 occasion he says — 
 
 To-day to cherche y wolde have gon, 
 But me fawtede hosyn and schon, 
 Clenly brech and scherte. 
 
 One day, while in this impoverished condition, he went 
 to the country, and encountered a most beautiful lady, 
 who, with the frankness of her sex in those days, declared 
 her aflfection for him, and, on his consenting to forsake 
 all women for her, endowed him with unlimited wealth, 
 and gave him gifts such as no mere mortal could bestow. 
 But she added n. caution — 
 
 But of othyng, Sir Knyght, i warne the, 
 That thou make no host of me. 
 
 For no kennes mede ; 
 And yf thou doost, y warny the before, 
 All my love thou hast forlore. 
 
 Some time afterwards, Arthur sends for him to court, 
 and while conversing with Gwennere the Queen, she 
 makes love to him, and provoked by his rejection of her 
 proffer, she taunts him and says, " Thou lovyst no wo- 
 man, ne no woman the." Irritated by these words, and 
 forgetful of the warning he had received, he said — 
 
GLOSSARY. 135 
 
 I have loved a fayryr woman, 
 Than thou ever leydest thy ney (eye) upon, 
 Thys seven yer and more. 
 
 He had no sooner said these words, than what the lady 
 foretold happened — 
 
 He softe (sought) his leef (love) but she was lore, 
 As sche hadde warnede hym before, 
 Tho was Launfal unfawe. 
 
 Now, what is the meaning of unfawe ? Ritson says 
 fawe is fain, but he saw that unfain would be a very weak 
 expression for Launfal's state of mind, and he left unfawe 
 as one of the words which he confessed he could not in- 
 terpret. If my conjecture concerning fawe is correct, 
 then unfawe becomes undone or ruined, which exactly 
 denotes the knight's condition, for he had lost his beauti- 
 ful l.idy, his inexhaustible purse, his invaluable servant, 
 and his matchless war-horse. 
 
 All that he hadde before ywonne, 
 It malt as snow agens the sunne ; 
 
 and he said — 
 
 All my joye I have forlore ; 
 
 and — 
 
 He bet hys body and hys hedde ek, 
 
 And cursed the mouth that he wyth spek (spoke). 
 
 Surely this indicates a man undone, rather than unfain. 
 
 Fac't. Faced. 
 
 Factor. A land-steward. 
 
 Faddom. To fathom. D for th, see under deed. 
 
 Fadom, fathom. — Bailey. 
 
 Thytty fado?n he sanke adowne. — Sir Guy of Warwick. 
 And iviSTAy fadome of hreAth.—CAaucer. 
 
136 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Fae. A foe. 
 
 Oifase may he mak frendes. — Sir Penny. 
 
 Mi leser (deliverer) artou, night and dai, 
 
 Fra vtafaes ben wrathful ai.,— Metrical E. Psalter. 
 
 Na preson yow sal halde, 
 
 AI if yomfase be many falde. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 He ouercome al the exX^s fase.—The TwolDreams. 
 
 Faem. Foam. A for o, see under bane. 
 Yoaxn, faem. — Home Tooke. 
 Fame, the foam of the sea. — Grose. 
 
 Faiket. Forgiven, spared, abated. 
 
 This word, which Burns has not given in his glossary, 
 has been the occasion of some diversity of opinion as to 
 its meaning. Chambers suggests that the Une — 
 
 Sic hauns as you sud ne'er be faiket, 
 
 should run — 
 
 Sic hauns as yours sud ne'er be faiket ; 
 
 that is — 
 
 Such hands as yours should never be folded. 
 
 One objection to this is, that it is rather too soon to be- 
 gin " new readings '' of Burns. A hundred years hence 
 they will have a better chance of acceptance. A 
 more serious objection is that it is altogether un- 
 necessary, and, to an Ayrshire man, at least, destroys 
 the force of the line. 
 
 Jamieson gives the meaning which ninety-nine of every 
 hundred Scotsmen who know Scotch attach to the word, 
 though he does not do it in connection with the line 
 quoted here, but with what he supposed to be a different 
 word. Like Chambers, he says Burns's faiket means 
 folded. He seems also to have been puzzled about the 
 
-GLOSSARY. 137 
 
 derivation, and hence possibly his mistake about the 
 meaning, for though etymology throws much light on 
 the meaning of words, it is occasionally a " light that 
 leads astray.'' He will not allow that faik comes from 
 Fr. defalquer, Lat. defalcare, and yet he gives this as the 
 derivation of the compound defalk, the two diifering only 
 in this respect that a person defalks something in or of 
 himself, but faiks something in or of another. The ex- 
 amples given by him under the two words (if two they 
 be) illustrate this :— " Will ye no falk me ? " " He will 
 not falk a penny ; " " he will not abate a penny of the 
 price," i.e., " the price demanded from some one." 
 
 Perhaps Dugald Graham, the " Literary Bellman " of 
 Glasgow, will be accepted as a good authority in a 
 matter of this kind. He makes one of his rough but 
 thoroughly Scottish characters of a remote time say — 
 " If a poor beggar body had a bit wean to chrisen, the 
 deil a doit they /i?/,4e him o't." — T/ie Coalman's Cotirtship. 
 
 I think we may conclude that " Sic hauns," etc., 
 means, " Frorn such men as you, we must have what you 
 can accomplish, the full tale of bricks must be exacted, 
 your work shall not be minished." 
 
 I have not met ■mih.falk in an E. author, but Johnson 
 has defalk, and quotes as his authority " The Practice of 
 Piety." "What he defalks from some insipid sin, is but 
 to make some other more gustful." 
 
 In the following extract from a letter of one of Charles 
 II. 's admirals, the word comes very near ouxfalk — 
 
 " Sir — Please to mynde Mr. Pepys to prepare a bill against the 
 next meeting for two thousand pounds to me out of the fower-penses 
 defalked (apparently saved, not spent) for Ministers (chaplains) re- 
 maining in his hand, or that shall come to his hand, by reason of 
 the want of ministers in divers of His Majesty's ships. Jo.Lawson." 
 — Pepys Correspondence. 
 
138 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Defalked was sometimes used in Scotland in the same 
 sense 2.%faiket. In the " Old Records of the Kilmarnock 
 Bonnet-makers," given in the Kilmarnock Standard, Jan. 
 8, 1881, after " Ane acompt of Money Given to buy a 
 Morcloath," it is stated " there was some reversions of 
 welvat and silk that defalked something from the prieses." 
 
 Fain. Glad ; merry ; cheerful ; fond. It is still re- 
 tained in Scotland in this sense. — -Johnson. 
 
 And this faire couple eke to shroud themselves were fain. 
 
 Spenser. 
 In all the hous thern' as so litel a knave, that he n' as ivXfain, 
 For that my lord Dan John was come again. — Chaucer. 
 Yea, man and birds are fain of climbing high. — Shak. 
 And when thai wist it was sertayn 
 Aylher of other was {v\fayn. — The Two Dreams. 
 
 Faitmess. Fondness. 
 
 Fair fa'. Good luck to you ! 
 
 Fair fo, fair fall ; good attend you ! — Bamford. 
 Then answeryd the Kyng with crowne, 
 Fail- fall the for thyn avise ! — The Erie of Tolous. 
 Fair fall the face ! — Shak. 
 
 Fairin. Fairing, a present. 
 
 The word no doubt originally meant a present brought 
 from a fair, or more correctly, as Jamieson and Johnson 
 put it, " a present at a fair." Indeed, except in very 
 large towns, nothing that could be properly given as a 
 present could be purchased except at fairs. But fairing 
 had lost that sense long before Burns's day. There was 
 no fair at which the fairings spoken of by the Princess in 
 " Love's Labour Lost," could have been bought. 
 Sweethearts, we shall be rich ere we depart, 
 \i fairings come thus plentifully in. — Shak. 
 I ha\e gold left to give thee a fairing yet. — Ben fonson. 
 
GLOSSARY. 139 
 
 Faith. Oath. 
 
 To which Mr. Burns is willing to make/a/M. — Burns' s answer lo 
 the petition of T. I. 
 
 Faiihfu'. Faithful. 
 
 Fallow. Fellow. A for e, as in — 
 
 Lewdly complainest thou, lasie lad, 
 
 Of winter's wrack for making thee sad. — Spenser. 
 Theophrast, the greatest dark of all his disciples. — De Mornay. 
 Felawe und /elaw are often found. 
 
 Welcome, quod he, and every goodfelaw. — Chaucer. 
 
 He halt (held) no word of covenant. — Cower. 
 
 The glorious standard last to heav'n they sprade (spread). 
 
 Fairfax. 
 
 Fund. Did find. 
 
 Searching about, on a rich throne hefand 
 
 Armida set. — Fairfax. 
 
 They shall her tell how they thee fand 
 
 Curteous and wise and well doand. — Chaucer. 
 
 Tha spak na word to na man born, 
 
 Of al the folk tha /a;«rf byforn. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Farl. A cake of bread. — Burns. Properly, the fourth 
 part of a thin cake, whether of flour or oatmeal (or any 
 other kind of meal) ; but now a third, according to 
 the different ways in which a cake is divided before it 
 is fired. — -Jamieson. 
 
 Farrel, the fourth part of a circular oat-cake, the division being 
 made by a cross. — Halliwell. 
 
 A fardel of land is the fourth part of a Yard Land. — Bailey. 
 
 In our ancient law books 3. farding-deale of land means the fourth 
 of an acre. — Home Tooke. 
 
 Fash. Trouble, care, to trouble, to care for. 
 Fash, trouble, etc. — Halliwell. 
 
I40 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Fash, to trouble or tease ; donna fash me.— Grose. 
 N^erfash your head, and ne'er fash your thumb, think 
 not of it. 
 
 Fasheous. Troublesome. 
 
 Fashions, troublesome. — Craven. HalliiBell. 
 
 Fasten-e'en. Fastens Even. 
 
 Fastens-Een or Even, Shrove Tuesday. — Bailey. 
 
 Fastne's een, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. — Thoresby. 
 
 Fatterels. Ribbon ends, etc. 
 
 Falters, tatters. — Craven. Halliwell. 
 
 Faugh. Land ploughed and left unsown for the season ; 
 
 fallow. 
 
 This word has, I believe passed out of the farmer's 
 vocabulary, green-cropping having put faughing out of 
 fashion. In some places it means a slight ploughing. 
 
 Faugh-ground. Ground which has Iain a year or more un- 
 plowed. — Bailey. 
 
 That is one E. dictionary-maker's account of faugh. 
 Here is another view of it — 
 
 'io faugh, to plough (the land), and let it be fallow a summer or 
 winter. — Thoresby. 
 
 Faught. A fight. 
 
 Up to the ancle ihey faught in here blood. — Chaucer. 
 
 Lyke marciall Hector, he faught them SLgayne.^Skelton. 
 
 'Hygwss.r faughte as he weore wod. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 Fauld znAfald. A fold, to fold. 
 
 Fald fee, a composition paid anciently for the privilege of setting 
 up folds for sheep in any field. — Bailey. 
 
 The right the lord of the manor claimed to fold 
 his tenants' sheep was caWeAfaldage. 
 
GLOSSARY. 141 
 
 More curtaysi and mor honour 
 Fand he with tham in that tour, 
 And mor comforth, by mony falde 
 Than Colgrevance had him of talde. 
 
 Ywain and Gawain . 
 Yet be they called 
 To the charge of the fald. 
 Because they be balled 
 And be for bishops stalled. — Image of Ipcrisy. 
 
 Pause. False. 
 
 Fause, false, cunning, subtle.' — Bailey. Grose. 
 
 Pause, cunning, also false. — Bamford. 
 
 I had rather be hanged in a withie, or in a cowtaile, than to be a 
 row-footed Scot, for they are ever fare and fase. — Dr. William 
 Bulleiiis Dialogue both Pleasant and Profitable. Lond., 1^64. 
 
 Fause-house. An empty space in a corn-stack. 
 
 Burns's note on this word makes any remarks un- 
 necessary, but I place it here to give me an opportunity 
 of quoting a passage which shows that the fause-house 
 was not confined to Scotland — 
 
 Thus leaving in the midst (of the stack) 
 An empty space, the cooling air draws in, 
 And from the flame, or from offensive taints 
 Pernicious to thy cattle, saves their food. — Dodsley. 
 
 Faut. Fault, offence. 
 
 He could then very well reherse his /a«to himself. — Sir T. More. 
 My scole is more solera and somewhat more haute 
 Than to be founde in any such/a«^^. — Skelton. 
 
 Faut. Fault, want, lack. 
 
 She swouned foxfauie of blood. — Chaucer. 
 
 In us schal be nofawte. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
 Me fawtede hosyn and schon. — Lannfal. 
 
 If he dythe fox faate of flesch 
 
 With a staf y wol the thresche. — Octovian Imperator. 
 
142 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Fautor. A transgressor, one who commits a faut or 
 fault. 
 
 There is an English word fautor, but it means 
 favourers — 
 
 To the general, and the gods and fautors, 
 The country owes her safety. — Massinger. 
 
 But fatour, faitour, or faytour, means ill-doers. 
 
 And fostor none faytoures ne swiche false freres. 
 
 Peres the Plowman's Crcde. 
 My scoles are not for unthriftes untaught, 
 For frantick7azVo«w half mad and half straught. — Skelton. 
 These fatours little regarden their charge 
 While they letten their sheepe runne at large. — Spenser. 
 
 Fawsont. Decent, seemly, orderly; lit. fashioned. 
 A corone wern all of the sa.me fasoun. — Warton. 
 Than com ridende Lentilioun, 
 A was maister and of fair fazoun. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Ther that the mayde set, 
 
 That was fayr oi fasoun, — Lyhaeus Disconus. 
 
 Feal. Loyal, stedfast, faithful. 
 Fealty, loyalty, —fohnson. 
 
 Tenants by knyghts' service were wont to swear to their lord to 
 he feal and leal, i.e., to be faithful and loyal. — Bailey. 
 For hefeighliche went that he his fader were. 
 
 William and the Werwolf. 
 
 Fear't. Feared, frightened. 
 
 No foes then could have made \m\\ feared. — Bat. of Flod. 
 Yet was this man 
 "WeM/earder than. 
 
 Lest he had slain the frere. — Sir T. More. 
 The folk fast to toun gan fle 
 
 So war Vasifrde for that lioin. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 Warwick was a bug that/«c>-V us all. — Shah. 
 
GLOSSARY. 143 
 
 Fearfu'. Frightful. 
 Feat. Neat, spruce. 
 
 My garments sit on me m\ixi\f eater than before. — Shak. 
 
 Never master had 
 A page so kind — • 
 So feat, so nurse-like.— Id. 
 'Y\s.\sfeat body of mine doth not crave 
 Half of the meat, drink, and cloth, one of your bulk will 
 have. — Benjonson. 
 
 Fecht. To fight ; a fight. E for ?', see dreep. Ch for gh, 
 as in — 
 
 Launfal began to syche (sigh). — Launfal. 
 
 He had a dochter fair and bold. — Amis and Amiloin. 
 
 1 said, that I sold find a knyght 
 
 That sold me mayntem in my ryght, 
 
 KnAfeght with al thre. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 He watz famed for fre ShsXfeght loved best. 
 
 Early E. Alliterative Poetns. 
 He bare always of usage three feathered darts, and ryclit well he 
 could handle them. — Froissart. 
 
 Fechtin. Fighting. 
 
 He wyll set men s.feightynge and syt hymselfe styll, 
 And smerke, lyke a smythy kur, at sperkes of steile. 
 
 — iykelton. 
 
 Feck, and fek. Number, quantity ; greatest part. 
 
 Feck, many ; plenty ; quantity. Also the greatest part. — Halli- 
 
 Will. 
 
 Fecket. Waistcoat. 
 
 Fecket. An under waistcoat, properly one worn under the shirt. — 
 famieson. 
 
 I have doubts as to the correctness of Jamieson's ex- 
 planation. I never heard the word and never tnet a per- 
 son who had, and another word, semmit, if that be its or- 
 
144 GLOSSARY. 
 
 thography, has long been in common use for the article 
 of dress spoken of by Jamieson. In the line — 
 
 His/eciei is white as the new-driven snow, 
 its colour must have been a matter of indifference — to 
 the public — if the fecket was worn under the shirt. 
 
 The only E. word the least like/eckei, and the likeness 
 is not great, is flocket, which is said to have been a 
 " loose garment with large sleeves " — 
 
 And yet she wyll jet 
 In her i-aii^i. flocket, 
 Lyke a jolly fet, 
 And gray russet rocket. 
 
 Skelion's Elynour Rummyng. 
 
 Feckfu\ Large, brawny, stout. 
 
 Feckful. Strong ; zealous ; active. — Halliwell. 
 
 Feckless. Puny, weak, silly. 
 Feckless, weak, feeble. — Halliwell. 
 
 Feckly. Mostly. 
 
 Feckly, mostly, most part oi.^Grose. 
 
 Fee. Servants' wages. 
 
 At Michaelmas next my cov'nant comes out, 
 When every man gathers tasfee. — R. Hood. 
 
 He had spent an hundred pounds, 
 And all his mennes/e. — Id. 
 
 Feg. A fig. E for /. See under dreep, and in — 
 
 My helpe, my love, whyll y leve (live). — The Erie of Tolous. 
 
 Fegs ! An exclamation used for faith. 
 
 Art thou my boy ? Ay, my good lord. 
 V fecks ? — Shak. 
 
 I'll torture you, \' fecks. — Duke of Buckingham . 
 Par mafy. I!y my fecke. — Cotgrave. 
 
GLOSSARY. 143 
 
 They have been shown and seen, 
 r fex have they. — Fletcher: 
 'Tis something, fags ! — Vr. Wokot. 
 Feckins, I hked it hugely. — Garrick. 
 
 Feid. Feud, enmity. 
 
 Kyng Phelippe, of great thede (power), 
 Maister was oi'Ca.dXfeide, — Kyng Alisaunder, 
 
 Feirrie ox fierrie. Bustle. 
 
 Fell. Keen, biting, tasty; the flesh immediately under 
 the skin (more properly the cuticle immediately above 
 the B^esh—Jamieson) j a field pretty level on the side 
 of a hill. 
 
 Fell, keen, hiting.—J'ohnsan. 
 
 He repayred to the priores(s) of Kyrkesly, who perceyving him 
 to be Robin Hood and waying how fell an enemy he was, etc . — 
 Grafton's Chronicle. Ritson. 
 
 Were worthy to be brent both fell and bones. — Chaucer. 
 Fell is generally, I might say universally, used for skin, 
 and I suspect Burns's sense of the word as " the flesh 
 immediately under the skin," or Jamieson's amendment 
 of it, is not to be found in any other author. And yet 
 there seems to have been at one time a distinction made 
 between fell and skin, unless John of Trevisa has been 
 guilty of tautology. Speaking of Britain, he says : — 
 " Flandres loveth the wolle of this lond, and Normandy 
 the skynnes and \ki&fellys.^' Skelton, too, is tautological, 
 if fell means skin, for he writes on "A Deadman's 
 Hed "— 
 
 Nakyd of hyde. 
 Neither flesh -oat fell. 
 
 Fell, a hill or mountain. — Grose. 
 
 He may ger both sle and lif, 
 
 Both by frith aai fell. — Sir Penny. 
 
146 GLOSSARY. 
 
 He and the priests had said, "The Quakers would not come into 
 any great towns, but lived in Fells like butterflies. -V"'"'*''' "f 
 George Fox. 
 
 Al the se 
 
 Alse 3.fellc up sal it stand.— £. Met. Homilies. 
 
 Felly. Relentless, biting. 
 
 Fen. To live comfortably ; a successful struggle. 
 Fend, to provide for ; ht fends for his family. — Bamford. 
 To fend, to shift for. — Bailey. Grose. 
 
 The contributions (at a pay-wedding) enable the new-married 
 couple to make so good a. fend as never to look ahint them. — Loc. 
 His. Table Book. 
 
 Mete and drink y schal iitmfende. 
 
 Horn Child and Maiden Rimnild. 
 
 Sir John Sinclair %2.-^%fen is from find; Jamieson says 
 he is wrong, but find is sometimes used in nearly the 
 sense of fend — 
 
 Find, to supply, to furnish. The war in continuance will find 
 itself. — Bacon. Johnson. 
 
 In the following passage ^«i/.j comes nearer to fen — 
 
 To sweete and swinke I make avowe, 
 My wife and children therewith iofinde. 
 
 Prologue to the Plow?itan's Tale, quoted by Skeat. 
 
 Fend. To defend. 
 
 The said Master of Kilmaurs will be put to his ovinfende at his 
 liberty in secret manner. — Dacre to Wolsey. 
 
 Thar fore be bad I sold me fend. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 All (are) prisoners 
 In the lime-grove that ^ssShex-fends your cell. — Shak, 
 
 Ferlie or ferly. To wonder, a wonder ; also a term of 
 contempt. 
 
 On Malverne hulles me byfel ay^-Zy of fairy. — P. Plowman. 
 
GLOSSARY. 147 
 
 Sain Jerom telles that fyften 
 
 Ferli takenenges sal be sen 
 
 Befor the day of dom. — Early E. Metrical Homilies. 
 
 A boot (boat) he fond by the brym. 
 
 And a glysteryng thing theryn 
 
 Therof they had ferly. — Emare. 
 
 Fetch oxfech. To pull by fits ; to stop suddenly in the 
 draught, and then come on too hastily ; to breathe in ■ 
 termittently. 
 
 Fetch, to perform with suddenness or violence. — /ohnson. 
 Note a wild and wanton herd, 
 Or race of youthful and unhandled colts 
 Fetching mad bounds. — Shak. 
 She fetches a deep sigh. — Addison. 
 She fetches her breath as short as a new-ta'en sparrow. 
 
 Shak. 
 A little is sufficient for a man well nurtured, and hsfetcheth not 
 his wind short upon his bed. — Ecclesiasticus xxxi. g. 
 
 Fey. Strange ; one marked for death ; predestined. 
 
 To fey it, to do any thing notably (i.e., out of one's usual way). 
 
 Bailey. 
 Longe to lyven ichulle forsake 
 
 AnAfeye fallen adoun. — Anc. Song. Ritson. 
 But thou arte fay, be my faythe. 
 
 MS. quoted by Halliwell. 
 
 Fidge. To fidget ; fidgirC fain, highly pleased. 
 Fidge, to be continually moving up and down. — Bailey. 
 
 Nay ni,-^ ex fidge up and down, Numps, and weary itself. 
 
 Ben /onson. 
 
 You wjiggle, fidge, and make a rout. 
 Puts all your brother puppets out. — Swift. 
 The yaAgefidges as if he had swallow'd cantharides. 
 
 Congreve, 
 
148 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Fiel. Some glossarists sa.y fiel means soft, smooth ; others 
 say dean. I believe Jamieson is right when he says it 
 means fell, i.e., very, and explains the line in which it 
 occurs thus — " Wraps me very warm." 
 
 Fien, fient. Fiend ! a petty oath. Fien-ma-care, no 
 matter ! T for d, as in — 
 
 Like commendation crook^t. 
 
 With " to and from my Love " it look^t. — Butler. 
 
 Fier. Sound, healthy ; a brother, a companion. 
 
 And seythen hethen kyng 
 
 That ich hoi zxi&fcre 
 
 In land aryved here. — The Geste of Kyiig Hor7i. 
 
 The King was blithe and of glad chere, 
 
 For that he saye Gy hole 3.n^fere. — Guy of Warwick. 
 
 Learn what maids have been 
 Her companions and ^\i.y-pheers. 
 
 The Two Noble Kinsmen. 
 The sisters nyne, the poet's pleasant /erf j. — Grimoald. 
 Where is my noble/ere ? — Surrey. 
 
 Fierrie. Bustle, activity. 
 
 Ferry -whisk, great bustle ; haste. Yorksh. — Halliwell. 
 
 Fissle. To make a rustling noise, to fidget ; a bustle. 
 
 Fussle, a slight confusion. — Suj^olk. Fissle, to fidget. — Halli- 
 well. 
 
 Come, you put Robin Cupid out with your waters and your 
 fisling. — Ben [oiison. 
 
 Fit. A foot. 
 
 Theyes, legges, fit, and al 
 
 Yeoraught of the best.— 0/rf Love Song. War/on. 
 
 And now that/tff male not fieye. —Ches/er Plays. 
 
GLOSSARY. 149 
 
 Fittie-lan\ The near horse of the hindmost pair in the 
 plough. Lit. foot-on-land, so called because he walks 
 on the unploughed land, while his neighbour, the fur- 
 ahin, occupies the furrow. 
 A note here on the ploughing of Burns's time, from 
 
 which, I believe, some of the difficulties which he, his 
 
 father, and, I suppose, other persons, experienced in 
 
 farming, may perhaps be allowed. 
 
 Burns always, in his poems, supposes four horses in a 
 
 team — 
 
 My pleugh is now thy bairn-time a', 
 Four gallant brutes as e'er did draw ; 
 
 and in the " Inventory " he says distinctly that there 
 were four horses in his plough, and Gilbert says : — " He 
 (Robert) and I were going out with our teams, and our 
 two younger brothers to drive for us." Now, this im- 
 plies that for each plough there were at least three 
 horses, for no ploughman could need a driver for two 
 horses. This was at Lochlea, a farm of a hundred and 
 thirty acres. These six, and probably eight, horses 
 might have been fairly employed while the ploughing 
 and harrowing were proceeding — though it is to be re- 
 membered that Lochlea was a dairy as well as an arable 
 farm — but what could they do during the remainder of 
 the year, seeing that green-cropping was unknown? 
 Simply eat their heads off. In such circumstances a 
 farmer might well say with Triptolemus Yellowlea, "The 
 carls and the cart-avers make it all, and the carls and 
 the cart-avers eat it all." 
 
 hjitty-foal, from Sax. fytian, to follow the mare. — Thoresby. 
 
 Fizz, to make a hissing noise. 
 Fiz, a flash, a hissing noise. — Halliwell, 
 
150 GLOSSARY. 
 
 If his pulse (I mean his purse) be hot, his fist may cryfizze, but 
 want his impression. — Whimsies. Brand. 
 
 This refers to the burning of the hand of certain male- 
 factors at the time the book was written, 1631. 
 
 And my hand hissing, 
 If I scape the halter, with the letter R 
 Printed upon it. — A New Way to Pay Old Debts. 
 
 Flat. A flea. A for e. See under dail, 
 
 Flaffin. Flapping, fluttering. 
 
 A thousand_/?a^«^ flags. — Sylvester. 
 
 Flandrehins. Natives of Flanders. 
 
 Our nobles are gone 
 
 Among the Burgonyons, 
 
 And Spanyardes onyons. 
 
 And the Flanderkyns, — Skelton. 
 Nel had left her work at home. 
 The Flanderkin had stayed his loom. — Mariilmasse Day. 
 
 Flang. Past tense oi fling, which see. 
 
 Flannen. Flannel. 
 
 Flannen, Var. dial. — Halliwell. Flannel was originally written 
 and pronouncedy?a;«K«K. — Words, Facts, a7id Phrases. 
 Felatin, flannel, or stuff Vikt flannen. — Cotgrave. 
 
 Flee. A fly. 
 
 To inriche their sees, 
 
 The blind men eat up /lees.— Image of Ipocrisy. 
 The wing of a pied butter;;?^. — Drayton. 
 A nice time this for butter-/f«x to use their little wings. 
 — Baimsla Peaks' Annual, 
 It helps you not a flee. — P, Hood. 
 
GLOSSARY. 151 
 
 Flee. To fly. 
 
 Thus with unwearied wings \flee 
 Through all Love's gardens and his fields. — Cowley. 
 If you list tofleen as high in the aire, 
 As doth an egle. — Chaucer. 
 And let your thoughts_/?«e higher. — Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 
 Fleech. To supplicate in a flattering manner. 
 Fleech, to wheedle. — Halliwell. 
 
 Fleesh. Fleece. Here we have the reverse of the change 
 of sh into s as in buss ; s sound into sA, as in 
 Christ commandeth us to sherch the Scriptures. — Tyndale. 
 His head was wreathed with a huge shash (sash). 
 
 — Thomas Herbert. Trench. 
 
 I believe Burns is alone in this spelhng. Dunbar has 
 flesche. Chaucer, Gower, Lydgate, and others write 
 flees. 
 
 Fleg. A kick, a random blow. 
 Tajleg, to whip. — Bailey. 
 
 Flether. To decoy by fair words, to flatter. 
 
 Flethers. Flattery. 
 
 Fky. To scare, to frighten. 
 
 Flay, to fright. Flaed, afraid. Grose. 
 
 I said to the man, "What made you run away?" His answer 
 was, " You're enough iojlay owt." — Sir W. Lawson. 
 And ferly7?aj/e(^that folk. — Early E. Alliterative Poems. Morris. 
 And al the erthe, the achtande day, 
 Sal stir and quae and al folc flay. 
 
 — E. Metrical Homilies. Small. 
 Tho was the boy aflyght, and dorst not speke. 
 
 — Oftovian Imperator, 
 
152 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Flichter. To flutter as young nestlings do when their 
 dam approaches. 
 
 This seems to be the same as E. flicker, which, accord- 
 ing to Johnson, is, "To flutter, to play the wings ; to 
 have a fluttering motion," and the authorities he quotes 
 quite express Burns's meaning : 
 
 The tuneful lark already stretch'd her wing, 
 
 KnA flickering on her nest made short essays to sing. 
 
 — Dryden. 
 
 If we compare a passage in the "Cottar's Satiirday 
 Night " with the following lines, we shall find a striking 
 similarity, if not identity, in the words : — 
 
 " The expectant wee things, todlin, stacher through, 
 To meet their dad, yii' flichlerin' noise and glee." 
 
 " At all her stretch her little wings she spread, 
 And with her feather'd arms embraced the dead ; 
 Then flickering to his pallid lips, she strove 
 To print a kiss, the last essay of love." — Dtyden. 
 
 In fact, flichter and flicker differ no more from each 
 other than stacher, in the passage quoted above, does 
 from stagger, or the old form stakers. 
 
 Her gost i\iiAflikered are aloft. 
 Into her woful hert ayen it went. — Chaucer. 
 
 Flicker. To meet, to encounter ; to coax, to flatter. 
 
 Thise clde dotardes holours, which wol kisse, and flicker, and 
 besie hemself — Chaucer, 
 
 Her colde brest began to hete, 
 
 Her herte also to flacke and bete. — Gotuer. 
 
 Flie. A fly. 
 
 Flinders. Shreds, broken pieces. 
 
 Flinders, small pieces, fragments ; "it's broken xxAo flinders." 
 
 Bamford, 
 
GLOSSARY. 153 
 
 The bow and his broad arrow 
 
 Inflinders flew about. — R. Hood. 
 The moon was clear, the day drew near, 
 
 The spears m flinders flew. — The Battle of Otterbourne. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott evidently thought flinders an English 
 word, for he prints it at least twice — once in "The 
 Minstrelsy " and once in "The Lay " — without explana- 
 tion. 
 
 The tough ash spear, so stout and true, 
 Into a thousand flinders flew. — Luy of the Last Minstrel. 
 
 Canto III. 
 
 Fling. To kick, to dance. 
 
 The heedless trunk 
 
 Still in the saddle seated did remain. 
 Until his steed 
 
 With leaps and flings that burden did discharge. — Fairfax. 
 Over the bars the hardy couple leapt, 
 And after them a band of Christians^/«^. — Id. 
 Then let's flock hither 
 Like birds of a feather, 
 To drink, io fling. 
 To laugh and sing. 
 
 — Aristipfus or the Jovial Philosopher. 
 
 Flingin-tree. A piece of timber hung by way of partition 
 
 between two horses in a stable : a flail (properly the 
 
 souple or striking part of a flail). 
 
 I render thee, fals rebelle. 
 
 To ^eflingande fende of helle. — Skelton. 
 
 As they ryde talkynge, 
 A rach ther coraflyngynge 
 
 Overwert the way. — Lybaeus Disconus. 
 
 Flisk. To fret at the yoke. Fliskit, past tense of flisk. 
 flisk, to skip, or bounce ; to fret at the yoke. — ffalliwell. 
 
154 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Flitter. To vibrate like the wings of a bird. / for u 
 
 sound. See anither. 
 Flitter-raov&e., i.e., flutter-mouse, a bat. — Bailey. 
 
 Flunkie. A servant in livery. 
 
 Dr. C. Mackay says, "This word was unknown to 
 literature until the time of Burns." This is not quite 
 correct as regards Scotland. Fergussori has it, — 
 
 'S,a flunky braw, when drest in maister's claise, 
 Struts to Auld Reekie's cross on sunny days. 
 
 Carlyle has established its position as an English 
 word, — 
 
 Praise-God-bare-bones one discerns to be of considerable private 
 capital, my viiU.y flunky friends. 
 
 Flyte. To scold. 
 
 Flite, to scold or brawl. — Bailey. 
 
 With chydyng and ynthflytynge, 
 Shewynge him Goddis la wis. — Skelton. 
 And als, madame, men says sertayne. 
 That woso (v\iOSo)fliies, or turnes ogayne, 
 He bygins the melle. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Focks. Folk. 
 
 Fodgel. Fat ; squat and plump. 
 
 Fodge, a small bundle. — Glouc. 
 
 Her face glystryng like glas : 
 
 AUyojgy fat she was. — Skelton. 
 ^foggy body. — Corpus obesum. Ainsworth. 
 
 Foggage. Rank grass which has not been ate in summer, 
 or which grows among grain, and is fed upon after 
 the crop is removed. — -Jamieson. 
 Fog, after-grass. — Ainsworth. Johnson. 
 Fogagum (Low Latin). Aftermath, or aftergrass. 
 Fogage, rank grass not eaten in summer, — Bailey, 
 
GLOSSARY. 155 
 
 All these definitions seem to confine foggage to food 
 for cattle, but Burns extends it to every thing that could 
 be of service to even so humble a creature as a mouse. 
 
 Foor. Went, hastened. 
 
 "Whaefured you ? Where went you ? — Bailey. 
 
 Be the dymmyng of the moyre, 
 
 Men myghte se where Richard fore. — i?. C. de Lion. 
 Swithost he for thyder. — Paul's Life of Alfred, Marsh. 
 
 And als V^for ham ward, he mette 
 
 A beggar that him cumly grette. 
 
 — E. Metrical Homilies. Small. 
 
 This enderday, as I iox'Caferde 
 
 To walk. — Gower. 
 
 Foord. A ford. 
 
 In his hands he bare a shield representing Saint Warburgh 
 crossynge \h& foord. — Chatterton. 
 
 Men in summer fearles passe th&foorde. 
 
 Which is in summer lord of all the plain. — Spenser. 
 
 In quoting foord as answering to S. foord, I ought, for 
 the sake of young readers, or those not familiar with old 
 E. authors, to mention that 00 is often used for the long 
 sound of 0. Thus in one verse of " The Libel of English 
 Policy," I find woo for woe, agoo for ago, zxx^foo for foe. 
 This is a merely alphabetical arrangement, and does not 
 necessarily imply the Scottish sound of 00 which as 
 Burns says is that of "the French u." But on the other 
 hand, when we find Sir John Cheke writing moother for 
 mother ; Sackville, strooke for struck ; and Bishop Pecock 
 v&ing foormal for formal, doone for done, anoon for anon, 
 oon for one, etc., it is natural to suspect that it was not 
 a mere peculiarity of orthography, but that it had some- 
 thing to do with the pronunciation. 
 
156 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Foorsday. Thursday. See under thumart. 
 
 For. In spite of, notwithstanding. 
 
 I avyse to speke/or ony drede. — Skelton. 
 
 I intend to make merry with my parishioners this Christmas/^?- 
 all the sorrow, lest perchance I never return to them again. 
 
 ' — Latimer. 
 
 For. Near, by, as in " cheek for chow.'' 
 
 For, in this sense, is probably contracted from forbye, 
 which is sometimes used for near. 
 
 Foreby, before and near to any place. — Bailey. 
 Flyngyth gode skowr \ivca.forby. — Kyng Alisamider. 
 
 For. Against, in opposition to, in competition with, as 
 in " Horn for horn, they stretch and strive." 
 
 For. In prevention of, as in " Was timmer propt for 
 
 thrawin." 
 
 Cloth'd with a pitchy cloud/or being seen. — Marlowe. 
 
 Walk off, sirrah, and stir my horse/or taking cold. — Fletcher. 
 
 The lettres ye send me close them surely for opening. — Letter to 
 Sir Ralph Sadler. 
 
 For roting es na better rede. — Cursor Mundi. 
 Forbears. Forefathers. 
 Forbye. Besides. 
 
 Forby, past, near, besides, in addition to.— West, and Cumb. 
 Dialect. Halliwell. 
 
 The smelle scholde not greve men that -weni forby. — Maundeville. 
 
 Fore. Alive. 
 
 "To the fore," remaining still in existence. — Sir W. Scott, 
 Except some man (resolved) shall conclude. 
 With Cesar's death to end our servitude, 
 
GLOSSARY. i5y 
 
 Else (god to fore) myself may live to see 
 His tired corse lie toiling in his blood. 
 
 — Thomas liyd's Cornelia. 
 
 I suspect " to fore " may mean before, and be equal to 
 God being my guide ; but it may also mean if there be 
 a god. 
 
 Fore-hammer. A large hammer requiring both hands to 
 wield it. It is called the fore-hammer because the 
 person using it stands before the anvil, i.e., on the 
 side farthest from the fire, and is the bout-hammer of 
 Beaumont and Fletcher, — botct, as I understand it, 
 referring to the way it is handled, that is, like 
 Burns's " owre-hip wi' sturdy wheel." 
 
 If my wife scold, my bout-hammer shall roar. — The Faithfull 
 Friends. 
 
 Forfairn. Distressed, worn out and jaded; lit. over- 
 travelled. 
 
 As it were a ms.nfoifare. — Gower. 
 
 And all thys worlde in compace iofoffare. — Sir T, More. 
 
 When they seen poore folke forfare, 
 
 For hunger die, and for colde quake. — Chaucer. 
 
 Madame, sho said, ye er a barn, 
 
 Thus may ye sone your seMforfarn. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Forfoughien. Exhausted with fighting. 
 
 For-foghten, tired with fighting. — Halliwell. 
 
 Shakspeare has forwearied in the same sense — 
 
 Forwearied va this action of swift speed. — King John. 
 
 Forspent with toil, as runners with a race. — Third Part of King 
 
 Henry VI. 
 
 Thay were so wtryforfaghi, thay myzt not fyzt mare. 
 
 — The Turnament of Tottenham. 
 
IS8 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Forgather. To meet, to encounter with. 
 
 Forgather. — Halliwell. 
 
 Forgie. To forgive. See under gie. 
 
 But — old Fortune (God forgie !) 
 She's so cross-grain'd. — Clare. 
 
 Forinawed. Worn out. 
 
 Can this be a corruption ol forgnawed ? Of course, it 
 would have a secondary sense, and to be gnawed, or 
 eaten away, would come to signify worn out by any 
 means, by the teeth of time as well as of animals. 
 
 He fonde 
 The wimpel 
 Bebledde aboute and aWforgnawe. — Gower. 
 
 Forjeskit. Jaded with fatigue. Perhaps for fortaskit, 
 i.e., overtasked. 
 
 Forrit. Forward. 
 
 Forrud, forward. — Bamford. 
 
 Father. Fodder. 
 
 He ripped the womb up of his mother, 
 
 Dame TeUus, 'cause he •wsinieA father 
 
 And provender wherewith to feed 
 
 Himself and his less cruel steed. — Butler. 
 
 From the plough soone free your teame, 
 
 Then come home axiA fot/ier them. — Herrick. 
 
 They /other them in the winter with straw. — Sandys. 
 
 Fou. Full, drunk. This is only a different spelling of 
 fu. 
 
 That is a gode yle and ^ItrAyfoits.—Maundeville. 
 
 Foughten. Old past participle of to fight. 
 On 'Cos foughten field 
 Michael and his angels, prevalent 
 
glossArV. 159 
 
 Encamping placed in guard their watches round 
 Cherubic waving fires. — Milton, 
 
 Bidders and beggeres 
 
 Fayteden for here ioii, foughten atte ale. — P. Plowman. 
 
 Foul thief. The devil. 
 
 'Y\i&foulfeend\axa quelle ! — Chaucer, 
 
 An ever I may that/OT(///«'^/'gette, 
 
 In a fyre I will him burn. — Marriage of Sir Gawain. 
 
 Founder (a horse). To over-ride, or spoil him with hard 
 working. — Bailey. 
 
 To founder a horse. To cause such a soreness and tenderness in 
 a horse's foot, that he is unable to set it to the ground. —Johnson. 
 
 The reason of this word's finding a place here, is that 
 most E. dictionaries, if they have it in this sense, speak 
 of it as Johnson does, whereas Burns speaks of a foun- 
 dered animal as looking none the worse for his malady, 
 which could only be detected by one skilled in horse- 
 flesh. This is the meaning of it in the following 
 passages : — 
 
 If you find a gentleman fond of your horse, persuade your master 
 to sell him because he is vicious, zxA foundered into the bargain. 
 
 The stumbling founder' d]3.i& can trot as high 
 As any other Pegasus can fly. — Earl of Dorset. 
 
 He has bought up 
 
 Old horses that your grace had ridden blind, zxvi. founder' d, 
 
 Fletcher, 
 
 Four-gill chap. A measure vessel containing an E. pint 
 (jocularly spoken of as " a person "). 
 
 Foursome. Union of four. " Foursome reel," dance of 
 four persons. 
 
l6o GLOSSARY. 
 
 Fouth. Abundance, plenty. Supposed to be formed 
 from fou, fou-th, or fulth, like Shakespeare's spilth, 
 from spill. 
 
 Notwithstanding a general agreement that fouth is 
 formed ixomfull, I doubt if it is correct. Some of those 
 who advocate this derivation are not quite consistent. 
 One distinguished writer says fou, drunk, if formed from 
 full should be written fu', and not fou, and immediately 
 after says, " Fouth is from full." Is it not possible that 
 fouth may be the same as E. fother, A.-S., a mass, a load, 
 or connected with it as food with fodder, and heath with 
 heather. At all events, in Chaucer's line — 
 
 It coste largely of gold a fother, 
 
 if we substitute fouth for fother, it might have been 
 written by Ramsay, who has — 
 
 And took a fouth 
 Of kisses from her yielding mouth. 
 
 No doubt fother became definite, but this is just what 
 happened to acre, gill, etc. 
 
 Fow. A bushel, etc. 
 
 That is what Burns says of foiv, meaning apparently 
 any measure-vessel full. He speaks of it indefinitely, 
 as he does also of another measure-dish in the same 
 verse in which fow occurs — the heapit stimpart — which 
 was a familiar name for the wooden vessel used in dis- 
 tributing grain to horses, whether it contained exactly 
 the " eighth part of a bushel " or not, and the meaning 
 seems to be " so long as I have corn, a large cog-full 
 shall be reserved for thee." 
 
 Jamieson, however, says positively thatyiwis a "firlot 
 or bushel." I can only say that I never heard the word 
 applied to any measure, 
 
GiOSSARY. 1 6 1 
 
 Frae. From. 
 
 His pyke-staff they have taken Vanfrae. — R. Hood. 
 Our fingers are hme-twigges and barbers we be, 
 To catch sheetes fra hedges, most pleasant to see. 
 
 Tke Three Ladies of London. 
 I sal help the/?-ffl presowne. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 Her ring was noght V\tfra. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Frammit, ox f remit. Estranged from, not related to. 
 
 Estrangier, -a. stranger, alien, kfremme bodie. — Cotgrave. 
 
 So now his friend is changed for 3.fremine. — Spenser. 
 
 Never was there yet so/remed a caas. — Chaucer. 
 
 Whether he hefremd-ot of his blod, 
 
 The child is trew and gode. — Amis and Amiloun, 
 
 As perjured cowards in adversity, 
 
 With sight of fear, from freends to fremb^d Aoih fly. — Sir Philip 
 Sidney. 
 
 Freath. Froth, to froth. Freath, in the sense of froth 
 on ale, was, I believe, first used by Burns, and is yet 
 mostly restricted to that and the froth produced in 
 washing. 
 E for as in — 
 
 First from one coast, till nought thereof be drie, 
 
 And then another, till that MVewhe fleat (float).— Spenser. 
 
 Frien'. Friend. Frien is always pronounced with the 
 e long in Scotland, and was probably so enunciated in 
 England also at one time. 
 
 Thereby founde I some holow hertes, and a few i3.ithi\i\ freendes. 
 
 — Sir John Harrington. 
 For hate ox frenshippe they shal ther domys dresse. — Lydgate.. 
 So goodly speke and iofreendly. — Chaucer. 
 
 Freit or freet. An omen, to portend ; to vex one's self 
 needlessly. 
 
1 62 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Fu\ Full. Fu' gay, very gay. See under a'. 
 Thus was Syr Ywaine sted that sesowne, 
 He wrought /«' mekyi ogayns resowne. — Ywain and Gawahu 
 
 Fud. The scut of the hare, coney, etc. 
 
 Fuff. To blow intermittently; also an interjection denot- 
 ing displeasure. 
 Fuff, to blow or puff. Halliwell. 
 
 Fu' han't. Full handed, rich. Fu' and hai^. 
 
 Funnie. Full of merriment. 
 
 Fun (a low, cant word). Sport, high merriment, frolicksome 
 delight.— yo/jKJOK. 
 
 Both fun and funny have got into good repute since 
 Johnson's day. 
 
 She swears you are a funny, jolly soul. — Sterne. 
 
 Funny, comical, pleasing. — Var. dial. Halliwell. 
 
 Authentic Memoirs of the memorable Joseph Collins of Oxford, 
 commonly known by the name of Funny [oe. — Howe, who quotes 
 from British Magazine for IJ^y. 
 
 Fur. A furrow. 
 
 A_/«?long is the length of a/ar. Fur,fttrh, a furrow, A. Sax. 
 
 Bosworth. 
 And setten him upon the molde. 
 Where that his fader held the plough 
 In 'Ha-HiVs fiirrgh which he tho drough. — Gower. 
 
 Furrgh may have been treated as a dissyllable, as burgh 
 sometimes is, but I think the line would be read or 
 scanned thus by Gower and his contemporaries : — 
 
 In thilk — e furrgh — which he — tho drough, making 
 no difference between the digraph gh in furrgh, drough, 
 and plough. The word in anotlier line of Gower's is un- 
 doubtedly a monosyllable — 
 
 Pi. furrgh of land in which a row. — Con. Amaiitis. 
 
GLOSSARY. 163 
 
 When Mylys sawe the emperoure, 
 He fell downe in a Aegefoure 
 
 Fro hys hors so hye. — Le Bo7ie Florence of Rome. 
 Ftir or foor, a furrow. — Thoresby. 
 
 Far-ahin. The hindmost horse on the right hand when 
 ploughing. Lit. the hinder horse of the pair which 
 walk on thenar. 'Site fur and ahin. 
 
 Furder. Further, success. 
 
 It longetli to our order, 
 To hurt no man, 
 But as we can . 
 
 Every wight to f order. — Sir T. More. 
 Forsothe, quod she, theys be 
 JFurdrers of love. — Skelton. 
 For your own ease, in furdrinff oi yowc need, 
 As fast as I may speak, I will you speed. — Chaucer. 
 lly ne therst (durst) her hxynge f order est. — Octovian Imperator.. 
 
 Fttrm. A form, a bench. 
 Fourm, a seat to sit on at school. — Bailey. 
 You shall find her sitting in \ier fourme. — Betijonson. 
 Syr, what fourme of preachinge would you appoynte me to> 
 preache before a kynge ? — Latimer. 
 
 And howe a verbe schall hefurmede. 
 
 Poem of i£th Century: Reliquce Aniiqtue. 
 My lefe chyld, I kownsel ye 
 Tofurme the vi. terns. — Id. 
 
 Fusionless. Without strength or sap. 
 
 Fuzzon oxfzon, the nature, juice, or moisture of the grass, or 
 other herb, the heart or strength of it. — Grose. 
 Which while he lived \i3.Afuysion of every thing, — 'Skelton. 
 Of all lazTitre fusion 
 
 Ynough they hadde. — Lybaeus Disconus. 
 
1 64 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Jpyftene. Fifteen. 
 
 For hit (the flood) clam vche a clyffe z\A».\es fyftene. 
 
 — Early E. Alliterative Poems. 
 
 Jyke. Trifling cares ; to be in a fuss about trifles. 
 
 Fyke, to move in an inconstant, indeterminate mannf^r. — Weber. 
 The Sarezynes fledde, away gunne fyke. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
 Fyke. To fidget or shrug, indicating suffering, as in — 
 Ye sud be licket 
 Until ye. fyke. 
 
 Jiyle. To soil, to dirty, to defile. 
 
 For Banquo's issue have \fdd my mind. — Shak. 
 Sirrah, I scorn my finger should be fird with thee. — Beaumont 
 .and Fletcher. 
 
 That byrd is not honest 
 That fylythe his own nest. — Skelton. 
 He wiped his lips with the hollow of his hand (otfyling his nap- 
 l<in. — Rob. Langham's Letter. 
 
 Take her up in thine armes twaine, 
 Yox filinge of her feet. — Child Waters. 
 
 G. 
 
 Go'. To gall. For omission of // see under a\ 
 Gab. The mouth ; to speak boldly or pertly. 
 
 Gabb, to prate or tattle. — Bailey. 
 
 Gab, the mouth. Gift of the gab, faculty of speech (perhaps 
 Auency of speech). — Grose. 
 
 In'm not Xstei X.O gabbe. — Chaucer. 
 
 That I so gabbeth it reweth me. — Morte d' Arthur. 
 
GLOSSARY. 165 
 
 Gaberlunzie. An old man. — Cunie. An old man who 
 takes to beggary. Literally it means a wallet carried 
 at the loins. — Douglas. Wallet-man, or tinker. — 
 RiUon. On what authority gaber is rendered a wallet 
 I have not been able to learn. — -Jamieson. A mendi- 
 cant ; a poor guest who cannot pay for his entertain- 
 ment. — Sir W. Scott. 
 
 The word is out of use. I do not know if it is related 
 to " Gaberliltie, a balla^i-singer." A curious thing about 
 this word is that, according to Jamieson, lunzie is a 
 wallet, so that {{gaber is also a wallet, gaberlunzie will 
 mean wallet-wallet. If lunzie be a wallet, then, as to be 
 " a gude crack," or talker, was essential to a successful 
 beggar, it may mean the gabber or talker with the wallet. 
 
 Ga'd. Galled. 
 
 Gae. To go. 
 
 He was ful loath to let it gae. — R. Hood. 
 
 And croked men thar geres he^a. — E. Metrical Homilies. 
 
 By the eres into the hert \i gase. — Ywain and Ga-wain. 
 
 At morn the childe cald seriantes twa, 
 
 And bad thai sold his errand ga.—The Ravens. 
 
 Gaed. Went, past tense oi gae. 
 
 And he gede out and myghte not speke to hem. — Wyclif. 
 The \>d\es gede anon doun. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Gael or gate. Way, manner, road. In " The Brigs of 
 Ayr" it seems to mean the outlet or mouth of a river. 
 
 Water-gate, flood-gate. — Halliwell. 
 
 When David was gone his gate. — Gower. 
 
 A cup in the pate is a mile in the gate. — Swijt. 
 
 Reason went \vtx gate. — Chaucer. 
 
 Every fairy take his gait. — Shak. 
 
1 66 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Gain. Same as gin and its original form, meaning 
 against (in relation to time). 
 
 Gair. Gore, a triangular piece of cloth inserted in a 
 lady's dress to widen it more at one place than 
 another. A for o. See under bane, and in — 
 
 So schooled the Gate (goat) her wanton Sonne. — Spenser. 
 The goar of a garment. — Ainsworth. 
 
 Galligaskins. Loose breeches. 
 
 Gally-gaskins, wide loose trousers. — Halliwell. 
 Galligaskins, a sort of wide slops or breeches. — Bailey. 
 Galligaskins, large open \i.o%&.— Johnson. 
 
 Galloway whey. Some old Galloway people say this 
 was whisky and water, and in support of their opinion 
 quote from " The Five Carlins " the lines — 
 
 And whisky Jean, that took her gill 
 In Galloway sae wide. 
 
 Other inhabitants of the district say it was brandy and 
 water, and in proof of their statement quote from a 
 copy of the same ballad sent by the poet to Mrs. 
 Stewart, in which " Whisky Jean " is called through- 
 out " Brandy Jean," as noticed by Cunningham. 
 This view is supported, if so small a matter were 
 worth supporting at any length, by an extract from a 
 letter of Burns to Mr. Tennant, which also shows how 
 recent is the introduction of whisky to a large part of 
 Scotland : — 
 
 They (a John Currie and his wife) keep a country public-house, 
 and sell a great deal of foreign spirits, but all along thought that 
 whisky would have degraded their house. . . . The whisky of 
 this country is a most rascally liquor ; and, by consequence, only 
 drunk by the most rascally part of the inhabitants. 
 
QLOSSARY. 1 67 
 
 Gallows-tree, English writers use gallow-tree. 
 
 He is condemned to the gallow-tree. — Wright's Political Songs. 
 
 A Scot, when from the gallow-tree got loose. 
 
 Drops into Styx, and turns a Solan goose. — Cleveland. 
 
 Gane. Gone. 
 
 Ever, alsone als he was gane, 
 
 The ermyte toke the flesh onane — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Had I spoken with any man, 
 
 To sevyn days war cumen and gane. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Thoroue lyvar & longes bathe the sharpe arrowe ys gane. 
 
 Chevy Chase. 
 
 Gang. To go, to walk. 
 Gang, an old 'fiax&.— Johnson. 
 
 And lard and \zAy gang'A. kirk. — Albion's England. 
 Thereto gan they^fl«^. — R. Hood. 
 But let them ^a»^ alone. — Spenser. 
 
 Gangrel. A wandering person. 
 
 Gangrel, one who by the strength of his legs rids much ground. 
 
 Bailey. 
 
 Longis. A slimme, slow backe, dreaming luske, a drowsie gan- 
 grill. — Cotgrave. 
 
 A tall gangrell. Longue eschine. — Sherwood s E. and Fr, 
 Dictionary, 
 
 Gar. To make, to force to ; gar't, made. 
 
 Tell me, good Hobbinol, what gars thee greet ? — Spenser. 
 Gar us have mete and drinke. — Chaucer. 
 I coude, and I lyst, garre you laugh at a game. — Skelton. 
 Then he girt arme of the spyrytualte. 
 
 Le Bone Florence of Rome. 
 
 Garten. A garter. 
 
 Garten, a garter. — Halliwell, ' 
 
1 68 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Gash. Wise, sagacious, talkative ; to converse. 
 
 He looked wan and gash. — CoUer of Canterburie. 
 
 This is riot our meaning, I doubt, at least not primarily, 
 as it refers to the look, but it may in a secondary sense 
 apply to the reality of ^seriousness, which is, more or less, 
 implied in gashness or wisdom. 
 
 Gat Old p. t. of get. 
 
 They took his head, and gat them away. — 2 Samuel, w. 7. 
 We then did peace desire to keep what we had gat. 
 
 The Disbanded Soldier. 
 I gat me men-singers and women-singers. — Ecclesiastes, ii. 8. 
 His fall gat earth with groans. — Chapman. 
 
 Gaucy or gawsie. Jolly, large. 
 Gaucy, fat and comely. — Halliwell. 
 
 Gaud or gad. A rod, a goad. 
 
 Cad, a long stick, a goad. — Grose. 
 
 In the den are drumming gads of steel. — Stanihursf s Virgil. 
 
 There would no sword bite upon him more than upon a gad of 
 steel. — Morte d^ Arthur. 
 
 A deputy from Broughton, Lincolnshire, brings a very long whip, 
 called here a ^Of^- whip. — Eveyy Day Book. 
 
 Gaudsman or Gadstnan. Ploughboy, the boy that drives 
 the horses in the plough. It is to be remembered 
 that this functionary existed only when there were 
 more than two horses in a plough, or when they were 
 not placed abreast. Now-a-days he is seldom seen, 
 for even when more than two horses are used, by a 
 better arrangement, the ploughman guides them as 
 well as the plough. The gadsman's business is some- 
 times said to be to ca' the plough. 
 This word affords a curious example of the truth that 
 
GLOSSARY. 169 
 
 language which took its rise in one state of society holds 
 its ground when things are entirely altered. It is long 
 since candles were placed on sticks, or ink was put in 
 horns, yet we still speak of candlesticks and inkhorns. 
 The gadsman of Burns's day was a boy and not a man, 
 and he did not use a gaud. Gauds we're never,, indeed 
 could not be, used for horses. They were employed 
 when oxen drew the plough, and were wielded by men 
 who took their turn in driving and -ploughing. These, 
 gauds were the ox-goads of Scripture. 
 
 The English farmer does not seem to have had any 
 distinctive name for the driver, but he had the gauds- 
 man, as we learn from an enumeration of the desired 
 possessions of a pleasing poet : — 
 
 A serving man not quite a clown, 
 
 A boy to help to tread the mow, 
 
 And drive while tother holds the plough. — -Mattheiv-Green. 
 
 Gaun. Going. 
 
 Gaunt. To yawn. 
 Gant, to yawn. — Halliwell. 
 
 Se how he ganeth, lo this dronken wight. — Wright's Chancer. 
 Why do ye gane and gaspe ? — Skelton. 
 
 Gawkie. A half-witted person. 
 Gawk, a foolish ^trson.^/ohnson. 
 
 Gawky, awkward ; generally used to signify a tall awkward per- 
 son. — Grose. 
 
 People of England. The grand pensioner. Lord Gawkee, etc. — • 
 New Political Dictionary. Life of John Wilkes. 
 
 Ye ioo\ gawkies ! ye'll ne'er be believ'd. 
 
 The Wandsworth Epistle Versified. 
 
 Jamieson quotas goky from some edition or MS. of P. 
 Plowman. I have not found it. 
 
179 GLOSSARY. 
 
 They have sent me a tall gawky boy to make a servant of. 
 
 Gart ick. 
 
 Gaivn. Gavin. V is often changed to w, as in — 
 
 And thai camen ouer the waive ot the sea unto the cuntree of 
 Genazareth. — iVycKf. Morris and Skeat. 
 Swithe mury hit is in halle, 
 When the burdes wawen (wave, wag) alia ! 
 
 ICytig Alisaunder, 
 The kyng tolde ham what sir Gawayn had tolda hym. 
 
 Lt Morte d^ Arthur. 
 
 Gaylies or gylie. Pretty well. 
 
 Marry, for this purpose whereof we now write, this would have 
 served gailie well. — Wilson's Arte of Rhetoricke, ISSS- 
 
 Goe thy way, father Grime, gayly well you doe say. 
 
 Damo7i and Pythias, 
 
 Gear. Riches, goods of any kind. 
 
 ; I've an eye and an ear 
 
 To look to our gear. — Ben Jonson, 
 
 Money, plate, and such good geere 
 
 Thay bear away. — Good Newes from the North, 1640. 
 
 Vat on the gere 
 
 That he should wear 
 
 He reight not what he spent. — Sir T. More. 
 
 Geek. To toss the head in wantonness or scorn ; to 
 sport or rejoice. 
 To geek, to make a fool of — Bailey. \ 
 
 Made the most notorious geek and gull 
 That a'ar invention play'd on. — Shak. 
 
 Ged. A pike. 
 
 Ged, a pike. Northumb. — Ilalliwell. 
 
 Gent. A person. In " Do ye envy the city gent 2" it 
 seems to mean a merchant or shopkeeper. 
 
GLOSSARY. 171 
 
 Gentle. Aristocratic, in " The Highland Lassie '' : — 
 
 "H&s gentle dames, though e'er sae fair, 
 
 Shall ever be my muse's care : 
 Their titles a' are empty show." 
 He to-day that sheds his blood with me, 
 Shall be my brother ; be he ne'er so vile. 
 This day ^fasW gentle his condition. — Shak. 
 
 I am as gentle as yourself, as freeborn. — Love's Pilgrimage. 
 
 Gentles. Gentry. 
 
 Will you go, gentles. — Shak. 
 
 I pray you, gentles, list to me. — Love in a Village. 
 
 Yet served I gentles. — Albion's England. 
 
 The nobles prepared themselves in the best manner ; the ladies 
 ■spared no cost ; the gentles flock'd to please their lord. — History of 
 Patient Grissell. Percy Society. 
 
 Gentoo. A native of Hindostan. 
 
 Genty. Neat, pretty. 
 
 Jaunty, dashing, showy, fine, elegant. This word is 
 •derived through the forms, jenty, genty, from Fr. gentil. 
 Geit, spruce, fine, handsomely clad, gay. — Bailey. 
 
 She that was noble, wise, as fair and gent. — Fairfax. 
 
 Fayre mote he thee, the prowest and most gent. — Spenser. 
 But, Mr. Bayes, is that too, modest ^.Tvd. gent. — The Rehearsal. 
 In men or beast they are so comely, so jantee, a-la-mode, and 
 
 handsome. — Butler. 
 
 Your ;anty air and easy motion. — Spectator. 
 
 Y is often added to adjectives. For example Cowley has 
 ■calmy for calm. 
 
 Geordie. Dim. of George, a guinea, and for the same 
 coin George is also used. 
 
172 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Strait at Wakefield— 
 
 When strength of ale had so much stirr'd me, 
 
 That I grew stouter far tha.Ti /prdie, i.e., George a Greett. 
 
 Pi7tner of Wakejield. 
 
 Coins are often named after monarchs, as Jacobus^ 
 Carolus, Napoleon, &c. Even Milton has not disdained 
 to follow this fashion. In his Defensio pro Populo Angli- 
 cano he has, — 
 
 Quis expedivit Salmasio suam hundredam 
 
 Picamque docuit nostra verba conari ? 
 
 Magister artis venter, et Jacobcei 
 
 Centum, exulantis viscera marsupii regis. 
 
 I have somewhere seen the following translation : — 
 
 Who to our English tuned Salmasius' throat. 
 Who taught the pye to speak our words by rote ? 
 A hundred %o\&e.n Jameses did the feat ; 
 He leain'd to prattle — for he wish'd to eat. 
 
 There is also this week dead a poulterer that hath left 40,000- 
 [acobs in gold. — Pepys. 
 
 He bound up my arm. 
 And I gave him two Georges which did him no harm. 
 
 C. Cotton, 
 When the Georges are flown 
 Then the cause goes down. — A New Ballade, i6jg. 
 
 Germin. A shooting or sprouting seed. — -Johnson,. 
 Germina, pi. ol germin. 
 
 Get, geat. A child, a young one. 
 
 He was some gentylraaunes beyete [beget). — Octovian Imperator. 
 
 A fendes bigete. — P. Plowman. 
 
 Get, that which is begotten. — Halliwell. 
 
 Though I know that I have all the glossarists of 
 Chaucer against me, I am of opinion that get in the 
 following lines is the word we are now considering 
 
GLOSSARY. 173 
 
 And with his stikke, above the crosselet (crucible), 
 That was ordained with that false get„ 
 He stirreth the coles. 
 
 It must be taken into account that, though Burns so 
 limits it, get is not confined to a child, but is applied to 
 grown and even elderly persons. Thus Dunbar calls 
 Kennedie, a rival poet, " Feynds get" which perhaps he 
 thought only a Scots, or old English, equivalent for St. 
 Paul's " Child of the Dfevil," its secondary meaning being 
 rogue. Then who ordained it, whatever it was ? With, 
 it needs no argument to prove, in Chaucer, as Tyrwhitt's 
 glossary shows, and other old E. authors often, very often 
 means by. The only other occasion on which Chaucer 
 uses the word get, it signifies fashion, and may be trans- 
 lated gait or way. And this, so far as I know, is its 
 meaning wherever it occurs except in " The Chanones 
 Yemanne's Tale,'' and it has generally new or old joined 
 with it. In the Prologue of the Pardonere he says — 
 
 Him thought he rode al of the newe get. 
 
 Even in the passage from Occleve, which Tyrwhitt quotes 
 in a note, the word means way, or manner. 
 
 Also ther is another newe gette, 
 All foul waste of cloth and excessif. 
 
 Taking these things into consideration, and noticing also 
 how unlike Chaucer it is to speak of a false trick, I sub- 
 mit with deference that the meaning is, " And with this 
 stick, which was prepared, or arranged, by that false get 
 (knave), he stirs the coals." I give one example of with 
 for by— 
 
 But, sertes, alle the rerewarde 
 
 Was i-slayn ■with (by) Kyng Richard. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
174 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Ghaist. A ghost. 
 
 As soone as the emperowre yylded the gast 
 
 A prowde garson came in haste. — Le Bone Florence of Rome. 
 
 That makes thine aungels gastes flighand. — Met. E. Psalter. 
 
 And ther thai herd a mes (mass) in haste, 
 
 That was said of the haly gaste. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Gie. To give ; gi'ed, gave ; gi'en, given. 
 New plays and . . , are much akin ; 
 Much followed both, for both much money gVen. 
 
 The Two Noble Kinsmen. 
 To their store 
 They add the poor man's yeanling, and dare sell 
 Both fleece and fell, not gting him the fell. — Ben Jonson. 
 If my daughter there should have done so I wou'd not have gi'en 
 her a groat. — Wycherly. 
 
 The course y wold that ye had sene ; 
 
 In the nownes ye had me the coppe gene. 
 
 The Himting of the Hare, 
 Daffodils £i'«?« up to thee. There shall be. — Herrick. 
 
 Gif. If. 
 
 Sir, thai said god gif so wer ! — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 In al the werld n' is man livind. 
 
 That couth you that sothe finde. 
 
 But ^z/ hit were child on. 
 
 That never hadde fader non. — Herowdes and Merlin. 
 
 Gift. In the line, " I grudge a wee the great folk's gift" 
 Burns seems to use gift as equivalent to fortune or 
 property. 
 
 Gifiie, Dim. of gift in its usual sense, not as above. 
 
 Giga. A musical term signifying, I understand, triple 
 time. 
 
GLOSSARY. 17s 
 
 Giglet. A playful girl. Giglet, a laughing girl. — Grose. 
 
 Thou wilt gad by night in giglei wise. — Fairfax. 
 Aye, Fortune's right hand Mosbie hath forsook, 
 To take a wanton giglol by the left. — Arden of Feversham. 
 It is for no other end than to make them giglots. — A Touchstone 
 for the time Present. 
 
 Gill. A liquid measure, the fourth of an E. pint. 
 
 Gill, a pint. — Grose. Gill, the fourth part of a pint, in some 
 places the half of a pint. —Johnson. 
 
 Every bottle must be rinced with wine, a gill may be enough. 
 
 Swift. 
 Thee shall each alehouse, thee each ^zV/house mourn. — Pope, 
 
 Gillie. Dim. of gill. 
 Gilpey. A young girl. 
 
 Gimmer. A ewe from one to two years old. 
 
 Gimmer-lamb, a ewe lamb. — Bailey. Gimmer, an old sheep. — 
 Bamford. 
 
 Gimmer-lamb, a ewe-lamb ; also a two-year's-old sheep. — Grose. 
 
 'Twas just like Hob Trumble's gimmer 
 Which he sold for six-pence a side. — The Noi thumberland Gar- 
 land. Rilson. 
 
 Gin. If, against (in relation to time), i.e., by, as in 
 "I'll aulder be gin Beltane," i.e., by Beltane or Whit- 
 sunday, which is similar to — ■ 
 Against his coming were laid many chambers. — Cavendish. 
 A good foundation against the time to come. — Timothy. 
 Against seems to have become again and then gain. 
 It is again his kind. — Chaucer. 
 That unneth I might make resistaunce 
 Agayn his power, for he was so stronge. — Stephen Hawes. 
 
176 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Gaytie dangerous stormys theyr anker of supporte. — Skelton. 
 
 Geyne al sikenes our chief restoratif, 
 
 This sacrament, this blessid brede of lyf. — Lydgate. 
 
 Gin, if. — Bailey. 
 
 Geyne surfetous suspecte the emerand comendable. — Skelton, 
 
 Gin is often used in our Northern counties and by 
 
 the Scotch, as we use if or an ; which they do with 
 
 equal propriety and as httle corruption. It is no other 
 
 than the participle given, gi'en, gin. — Home Tooke. 
 
 The Northern man saith, "A (I) sud eat mare cheese gin ay 
 had it. " — Verstegan. 
 
 Oh, dear father, gin I be not fair ! 
 
 7*^1? North Country Chorister. Ritson. 
 
 Gin-horse. Engine horse. In Burns's day coals were 
 raised, and cotton-mills were driven by engines called 
 gins., drawn by horses. 
 He that it wrought, he coude many a. gin. — Chaucer. 
 Alisaundre quic hoteth his hynen 
 Under heore walles to myne with stTOXi^gymtes. 
 
 Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Gipsy. A young girl. 
 
 Gipsy, a name of slight reproach to a woman. — -Johnson. 
 A slave I am to Clara's eyes ; 
 The gipsy knows her power and flies. — Prior. 
 Kelly, my things ! 
 
 Be quick, why sure the gipsy sleeps. — Robert Lloyd. 
 My shirts ! I never had but six, and a cunning gipsy of a laun- 
 dress cut me off the fore-laps of five. — Sterne. 
 
 Girdle. A thin circular plate of iron for baking cakes 
 and scones, — cakes receiving a supplenientary heating 
 before the fire : it is a closed gridiron, and the names 
 are from the same root, or one is a corruption of the 
 other. 
 
GLOSSARY. 17.7 
 
 Griddle, a gridiron. — Grose. 
 
 Gil die, a round iron plate for baking. — Halliwell. 
 
 Qirn. To grin, to twist the features in rage, agony, &c.; 
 girnin, grinning. 
 
 Girn, to grin ; girnin, grinning. — Bamford. 
 Monstrer la dent. To girne or grinne at. — Cotgrave. 
 
 He gaped like a gulfe when he did gerne. — Spenser. 
 
 Some tremblid, soms girnid. — Skelton. 
 
 He ne'er did ope his apish gerning mouth 
 
 But to retaile and broke another's wit. — Marston. 
 
 Gin: A hoop. Gird is sometimes used. D is fre- 
 quently omitted after some liquids, but, so far as I 
 know, never after ;- except in this word. 
 
 He, as I said, like dreadful lightning thrown 
 From Jupiter's shield, dispersed the arttied gird 
 With which I was environed. — Massinger. 
 
 Girran. A small horse. 
 
 Gaj-ran, a small horse ; a hohhy. ^/ohnson. 
 
 Gtiaranion, a kind of horse. — Cotgrave. 
 
 Yet by my description, you'll find he in short is 
 A pack and a garron, a. top and a tortoise. — Swift. 
 
 Gizz. A periwig. — Burns. A periwig, the face. — 
 Cunningham. Withered hair. — Chambers. Gizz, the 
 face. A cant term. — -Jamieso?i. 
 
 Glaildt. Inattentive, foolish. 
 
 Glaik, inattentive, foolish. — Halliwell. 
 
 Jamieson thinks glaikit is "radically the same as 
 gleek." It may, but so far as I have seen, gleek means 
 to do something, and glaikit always denotes a state. 
 
 Glaive. A sword. 
 
 Glave, a broad sword ; a ^2\<X\ovl.— Johnson. 
 M 
 
178 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Sir Guy upon that steed woned, 
 
 With a good glaive in his hand. — Guy of. Waiiuick. 
 
 In litter laid they lead him uncouth ways ; 
 
 If so they might deceive Antonius' cruel glaives. — Grimoald, 
 
 Witnesse 
 
 Achilles pressing through the Phrygian ^/azV^j. — Spenser, 
 
 Glaizie. Glittering, smooth like glass. 
 
 Glaze, to set a gloss upon, to polish. — Bailey. Glizzn, to 
 sparkle. — Bamford. 
 
 Glaze-woxm, a glow-worm. — Lilly. Glizzen, glister or sparkle. 
 
 Thorcslry. 
 When the postes wer 
 Englased glitteringe. — Skelton. 
 
 All the story of Troy 
 Was in the ^/a/j;«^ y wrought. — Chaucer. 
 
 Glamour. Magical delusion. — Scott. 
 
 Glaum. To aim, to snatch at with greed. 
 Glam, to grasp, to snatch. — Halliwell. 
 
 Gled. A hawk. 
 
 Ye shall not eat the glede. — Deii/eivnomy, xiv. 13, 
 The^/ifaa'and %^z\\ovi.-~Sylvester, 
 Milan, a kite, puttocke, glead. — Cotgrave. 
 
 Gleed. A burning coal. 
 
 lie sent hire pinnes, methe, and spiced ale, 
 
 And wafres piping hot out of the glede. — ChaKcer. 
 
 As a glede glowynge, your ien glyster as glasse. — Skelton. 
 
 The justyce het men schold her lede 
 
 Out of the cite, 
 
 And brenne anon to smale glede 
 
 Hem all thre. — Octovian Imperator, 
 
GLOSSARY. 179 
 
 Gleg. Sharp, ready. 
 
 Gkg, slippery, smooth. Cumb. Also, quick, clever, adroit. 
 
 Halliwell. 
 
 Gleib. Glebe. — Currie. A piece, part, or portion of 
 
 any thing. — -Jamieson. 
 
 Gleib undoubtedly originally meant glebe, land, but 
 the minister's portion of land being distinctively called 
 the glebe, the word came to signify a part of any thing, 
 though it is but little used in this sense. 
 
 Gky. A squint, to squint ; agley, off at a side, wrong. 
 
 Gly, to look asquint. — Bailey. Glea or a-glca, crooked. Gly or 
 glea, to squint. — Grose. 
 
 Gley, to squint. — Bamford. Glee, to look asquint. — Thoresby. 
 I garde her gaspe, I garde her gle. — Skelton. 
 
 Gleyde. An old horse. 
 
 Glib-gabbet. That speaks smoothly and readily. Glib- 
 and gab. 
 
 Glib, slippery, smooth. — Bailey. Gabb, to prate or tattle. — Id.. 
 It comes through you and your rascally glib-tongu'd companions.- 
 
 Green's Tu Quoque. 
 
 Glimmer. To look unsteadily in " When my spirits are- 
 a little lightened I glimmer a little into futurity." — 
 IJurns to his father, 1781. For this sense of glimmer 
 Chaucer uses glimse, i.e., glimpse : — 
 Ye have som glimsing (not a transient view, but the power of 
 
 seeing) and no perfect s'ght. — Can. Tales. 
 
 Glimmerous. Having imperfect sight. 
 
 Glint. To peep, to glance. Burns always uses glint ;- 
 other S. writers use glint and glent indifferently. Old 
 E. authors use the latter form. 
 
l8o GLOSSARY. 
 
 Glent, glanced. — Bailey. 
 
 O Earl Brand, I see your heart's blood ! 
 
 It's nothing but the glent and my scirlet hood. — Earl Brand. 
 
 Her browys bent, 
 
 Her eyes glent. — Skelton. 
 
 But at the last, as that her eye glent 
 
 Abide, anon she gan his sworde aspie. — Chaucer. 
 
 The stroke glented downe to his Vjelly. — Ftoissart. 
 
 Greahondes thorowe the gtefis glent. — Chevy Chase. 
 
 Gloamin. The evening twilight. 
 Gloinung, glominiing, twilight. — Bosworth. 
 If the Anglo-Sa.xons familiarly used this word their 
 ■successors south of the Tweed forgot it. The author of 
 the following lines which express the thing would have 
 be.n glad to have it. 
 
 He and y schal stele away, 
 
 Bitwene the day and the 7zight. 
 
 Horn Cliilde and Maiden RimnihL 
 
 •Gloamiii-shot. A twilight interval which workmen within 
 doors take before using lights. — -Jamieson. Twilight- 
 musing, a shot in the twilight. — Cunningham. 
 
 Gloom. To look angry, to frown. 
 
 To glome, to look gloomy, to frown. — Bailey. 
 Which whylome woll of folke smile. 
 And gloinbe on hem another while. — Chaucer. 
 On me she gave a glome 
 With browes bent. — Skelton. 
 Now glooming sadly. — Spenser. 
 What's he who with contracted brow, 
 Glooms downward with his eyes ? — Congreve. 
 
 Glowr. To stare, to look ; a stare, a look. 
 
 Gloar, to look askew. — Bailey. Glowr, to stare. — Grose. 
 
GLOSSARY. I8l 
 
 Gloor, to stare fatuuubly. — Bainford. Glare, to look staringly. — 
 Tlioresby. 
 
 Her dusky mantle Eve had spread ; 
 
 The west ^y glower' d with copper red. — Clare. 
 
 Glum. Sullen, displeased. Much the same as gloom, 
 but gloom in Burns indicates our feeling towards 
 others, and glum to our state of mind without refer- 
 ence to others. This distinction is not always observed 
 by E. writers ; thus Hawes, in a passage printed in 
 " Specimens of E. Literature," has — 
 
 Than to the ground he adowne did fall, 
 And upon me he gan to loure and glum. 
 
 The Passetyme of Pleasure, 
 Glum, sullen, sour in countenance. — Bailey. 
 They play scylens and glum. 
 Can say nothing but mum. — Shelton. 
 If one of all the four has frown'd. 
 You ne'er saw people glummer. — Ambrose Phillips. 
 
 Gliinch. A frown, to frown. Glunch seems to differ 
 from gloom, if one may venture to distinguish between 
 words so nearly identical in meaning, in this respect, 
 that we gloom at a person with whom we are angry on 
 any account, but glunch at one from whom we expec- 
 ted something and have been disappointed. Burns 
 does not, I acknowledge, bear me out in this, but he 
 does to some extent — 
 
 Does onie great man glunch an' gloom ? 
 That is apparently, " does any minister show that he 
 is disappointed at your being less servile than he 
 expected, and then gloom at you in anger." 
 
 Goave. To go about staring stupidly. 
 
 Gove, to stare vacantly. — Halliwell. Gofish, sottish, foolish. — 
 — Bailey. 
 
T»2 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Vet gan she him besech 
 For to beware o^ gofisshe people's speech. — Chaucer. 
 
 Gomeral. A foolish person. 
 Gonterill, a silly fellow. — Grose. 
 
 Gor-cock. The red game, red cock, or moor-cock. — 
 Janiieson (who doubts if it is a Scotch word). It is 
 now admitted into Enghsh dictionaries, though the 
 derivation oi gor is not certain. It has no connection 
 with gor in the name of another fowl. 
 Vulture, kite, 
 Raven, s.x\A gor-crow, all my birds of prey. — Benjonsoti. 
 
 Gos. The gos-hawk or falcon. 
 
 Go/ten. Old participle of get. 
 
 Wealth ^i7^/f« by vanity shall be dirr.inished. — Proverbs xiii. ij. 
 But who can tell how joyful this man was when he had gotten his 
 roll again. — Bunyan 
 
 Henry the Sixth hath lost 
 All that which Henry the Fifth had gotten. — Shak. 
 
 Gowan. The flower of the wild or mountain daisy, dan- 
 delion, hawkweed, etc. When gowan is used alone, it 
 always means the mountain daisy. 
 Ewe-gowan, the common daisy. — Halliwell. 
 
 Gowany. Abounding in mountain daisies. 
 
 Gowd. Gold. For omission of / see under a'. 
 
 Gowd-spink, a goldfinch.— Cnzjifw. Halliwell. 
 
 Taking from her hand a ring oi g02(lil. — Spejiser. 
 Aften whan they the ^(;«/a? have taken. — Clmucer. 
 The erie Barnard of ToUous, 
 Had'fele men chyva'rous 
 Taken to hys presoun ; 
 
GLOSSARY. 183 
 
 Moche gode of them he hadd, 
 Y can not tell, so god me gladd, 
 
 So grete was ther raunsome. — The Erie of Tolous. 
 Than the Steward, Syr Kadore, 
 A nobuU letter made he there, 
 
 And wroughte hit all with gode. — Emare, 
 
 Gowdspink. The goldfinch. 
 Goldspink, the goldfinch. — HalliweU. 
 
 Gowdeii. Golden. 
 
 Gowff. The game of golf; to strike, as the bat does the 
 ball at golf. 
 
 Goff, a sort of play at ball. — Bailey. 
 
 The prince lifted up his goff-(i\\sX) to strike the ball. — Life of 
 Prince Henry. 
 
 We merrily play 
 At GoffaXiA at Football. — Westminster Drollery. London, i6ji. 
 
 The game was known in England as early as the time 
 of Edward III., but the name, with which only I have 
 any concern, apparently was not. 
 
 Goivk. A cuckoo, a term of contempt. 
 
 Gawk, a cuckoo ; a foolish fellow. —Johnson. Gowk, a cuckoo. 
 — Grose. 
 
 Nay, look how the man stands, as hs •were gowked. — Benjonson. 
 
 Gawkies, tawpies, gowks, and fools. — Epistle to William Creech. 
 
 How does z.gawkie differ from a. gowk? Perhaps in 
 this : a gawkie is a silly person, but quiet, and a gowk 
 obtrudes his folly, speaks out like the cuckoo. 
 
 Gowl. To howl. 
 
 For unnethes es a child born fully 
 
 That it ne bygynnes to goule and cry. — Prick of Conscience. 
 
184 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Sche that whilom was 
 Dredful to kinges and to emperours, 
 'iiovi gauliih al the pepul on hir, alas ! — Wright's Chaucer. 
 
 Graff. A grave. F for v, as in 
 
 Tydides' life was soft (saved). — Chapman. 
 This is said by hem that be not worth t-^o fetches (vetches). 
 
 Chaiucv. 
 The old emperice, 'ihsfyle (vile) traytour. — Ociovian Iniperat'or. 
 The childe that was so nobuU and wysse, 
 
 Stode at his i&Aex' agrafe at eve. — Wright's St. Patrick's 
 Purgatory. 
 So long have I listened to thy speche, 
 That graffed to the groimd is my breche. — Spenser. 
 This my deare daughter's deep engraffed ill. — Id. 
 I rought of death, ne of life, 
 Whether that love would me drife. — Chaucer. 
 
 Graip. A pronged instrument for cleaning stables. 
 
 Rastelier, the steale of a grape. — Cotgrave. 
 
 Graip, like grapple and grapnel and grape (fruit), comes from 
 gripe, and it is sometimes so called. — Tooke. 
 
 They had grapers of yron to cast out of one shyppe into another. 
 
 Froissart. 
 
 Graith. Accoutrements, furniture, dress. 
 For over sees it grounded he, 
 
 And ouer stremes graithed it to be. — Metrical E. Psalter. 
 The new bride was graithed with all. — Lay ie Fraine. 
 Thise clerkes bete him wel, and let him lie, 
 AnA greithen hem, and tuke hir hors anon, 
 And on hir way they gon. — Chaucer. 
 
 Grajie or grain. A groan, to groan. A for (see under 
 ne). 
 He es ofte seke and ay granand. — Pricke of Conscience. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 '8S 
 
 Grannie or graunie. Grandmother. 
 
 The descendants of Granny Campbell would probably be found' 
 to exceed 1500 persons. — Historical Memoirs of Armagh. 
 
 The wrinkled, blear-eyed, good old granny, 
 
 In this same cot, illum'd by many a cranny. — Dr. VVolcot. 
 
 I heard vny granny say. — 7'itn Bobbin. 
 
 Uds Fish, Granny, how dost thou 1—Echard. 
 
 Grape. To grope. A for (see under bane). 
 
 Graf. Wept, past tense of greet, which see. A for e 
 (see \xnde.rfalloici). 
 
 Scho changyd no chere not greile. — Sir AmaJas. 
 Whan he hadde ful long gre/e. — Robert Mannyng. 
 Sche grette, and seyde, sche wolde that sche hadde ben ded. 
 
 Maundeville. 
 
 Great. Intimate, familiar. 
 
 As great as the devil and the Earl of Kent. — Swift. 
 
 When people are intimate, we say they are as great as two inkle- 
 weavers. — Cowfer. 
 
 The Chancellor is as great as ever with the King. — Pefys. 
 These two were vtrj great with Mr. Boyle. — Wotton to John 
 Evelyn. 
 
 The country tatlied as if he was great with her. — Trans, of 
 Scarron's Com. Romance. 
 
 Johnson calls great in this sense a low word. Some 
 very respectable persons, it will be seen, used it. 
 
 Gree. To agree. 
 
 Childhood must be maintained by men's authoritye, and slippery 
 youth underpropped with elder counsayle, which neither they can 
 have, but ye geve it, nor ye geve it, yf ye gree not. — Sir T. More. 
 We have gree'd so well together. — Shak. 
 
 He gree'd with the sexton of the churche to have the key of the 
 churche-dore. — STcellon's Merry Tales. 
 
i86 
 
 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Grei. Highest degree, superiority ; to bear the gree, to 
 be decidedly victor. 
 
 He is a shepherd great in gree. — Spenser. 
 But for the Court gay portaunce he perceiv'd, 
 And gallant shew to be in greatest ^«^. — Id. 
 Gre, gree, degree, prize, highest rank. — Weber. 
 He that bear'th him best in the tournament, 
 Shal be graunted the gree by the common assent. 
 
 Tournament of Tottenham. 
 The heraudes gaff the child i}a.e.gree. — Ifomydon. 
 
 Greens. Boiled colewort. 
 
 Thou cook of fat beef and dainty greens. — Burns, to Mr. Hill. 
 
 Greet. To shed tears, to weep. 
 
 Tell me what gars thee greete. — Spenser. 
 
 And fond that she herselven gan io grete. — Chaucer. 
 
 He says, " Al er we born gretand 
 
 And makand a sorowful sembland." — Pricke of Conscience. 
 
 And forthi sal \ii3.igret full sar. — E. Metrical Homilies. 
 
 Grey-nick-quill. In his glossary, Cunningham has Grey- 
 neek-quiW, and says it is " a quill unfit for a pen,'' and 
 quotes a proverb which refers to the inferiority of a 
 feather taken from the neck of a goose- compared with 
 one taken from the wing. 
 
 Grien. To long for, to desire ardently. 
 
 By the transposition of r, grien is formed from Old E. 
 ^er/i^ or A. S. geornian. 
 
 Gem he prayd the bischop. — E. Metrical Homilies. 
 He soht ful gerii his halie banes. — Id. 
 Gem hi biheld her. — Orfeo and Heurodis. 
 
 Griive. Overseer, a superior farm-servant. 
 IVi'-greave, the overseer of the highways. — Bailey. 
 Dike-grave, an officer who takes care of banks and ditches. — Id. 
 
GLOSSARY. J 87 
 
 In the " Coke's Tale of Gamelyn," sometimes printed 
 as one . of tiie Canterbury Tales, greeve must be some 
 sort of upper servant, though Mr. Wright, from whose 
 version I quote, has not put the vsrord in his glossary. 
 ■Garaelyn having slain the porter, whose business it was 
 to announce visitors, and forced himself into his brother's 
 house, says to those who accompany him — 
 Ye be welcome withouten eny greeve, 
 For we wiln be maistres here, and aske no man leve, 
 
 as if he had said, " Ye are welcome, though not formally 
 introduced by porter, usher, or other official." 
 
 Grip. To catch, to seize. Grips, embraces. 
 The one his 'pyke-sisS gripped fast. — H. Hood. 
 And gripe the sorer, being gript himself. — Marlowe. 
 For grippel Edel to himselfe 
 
 The kingdom sought to gaine. — Argentil and Curan. 
 He did fiercely fall 
 Upon his sunne-bright shield and grypt it fast withall. 
 
 Spenser. 
 My comrade laid him flat by a grip of his hair. — Memoirs of Cap- 
 tain [ohn Creichton. Swift. 
 
 Bi the helpe of that woman and of myne owne gryppyng y steied 
 (ascended) uppon that ladder. — Vision of William Staunton. 
 Grip, the past participle of ^^2/>a?«, prehendere. — H. Tooke. 
 Then gript ^acides his heel. — Chapman. 
 
 Grissle. Gristle. 
 
 This deviation from the usual spelling hardly deserves 
 notice. 
 
 And the emperour of evil trusle 
 
 Carved off his nose by the grusle. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
 Grizzie. Abbreviation of the female name Griselda. — 
 Jamieson. More frequently, I believe, a familiar name 
 of Grace. 
 
1 88 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Grit. Great. 
 
 By transposition, grit becomes girt in some dialects, 
 as in — 
 
 To diddle oud Tommy wad be a girt treat. 
 
 BMs Ancient Poems and Songs. 
 
 The lady of Synadowne 
 Long lyght in prisoun, 
 
 And that is gret dolour. — Lybeaus Disconus. 
 
 Horn dude him in the weye, 
 
 In a gret galeye. — The Gesie of Ryng Horn. 
 
 It is not possible to tell whether gret is intended for 
 great or grit, but in old writings e is more frequently used 
 for /than for ea. 
 
 Groanin'. Groaning, a lying-in ; groanin-maut (malt),, 
 ale brewed for the purpose of being drunk after the 
 lady or goodwife's safe delivery. — Guy Mannering. 
 There's nobody but Mr. Lyrick, and you had as safely tell a 
 secret over a groaning-cheese as to him. — Farqiihar. 
 
 Neece, bring the groaning-cheese and all the requisites ; I must- 
 supply the father's place. — The Vow-breaker. 
 Out comes the groaning-cake. — L' Estrange. 
 
 Groat. A coin ; to get the whistle of one's groat, to pla5r 
 
 a losing game. 
 
 To get the whistle of one's groat means more than to 
 play a losing game, unless a losing game means a total 
 loss ; it denotes parting with money for nothing, hear- 
 ing the sound of it passing away. See Whissle. 
 
 Grozet. A gooseberry. 
 
 Grozet-eyes, goggle-eyes. South. — Halliwell. 
 
 Gruesome, grousome. Loathsomely grim. 
 
 Grezv, thrill or curdle. — Scott. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 189 
 
 Grousome, loathsome, fearful. Cumb. — Halliwell. 
 
 As connected with this word Jamieson has groue, growe, 
 and Bailey has, " Growse, to be chill before the beginn- 
 ing of an ague fit." 
 
 Grumph. A grunt, to grunt. 
 
 Grumph, to growl, or grumble. — Halliwell. 
 
 Griimphie. A sow. 
 
 Grim. U for ou. See under dud. 
 
 Grtinsell, the lower part of a huildiiig.—J'o/mson, Milton, Fox. 
 Grunsel, groundsel. — Bamford. 
 
 Fall in a swoun, upon the grown. — Ben Jomon. 
 The Frenche men fast to grunde gan go. 
 
 Battallye of Agynkourte. 
 The best knyght that on grund mai ga. 
 
 Ywain and Gawaiii. 
 Nor means he after to frequent 
 Or court, or stately townes, 
 But solitarily to live 
 Amongst the cOM^ntxy grownes. — Argentite aiui Curan. 
 
 Grunstane. A grindstone. 
 Grand, ^towni.^Bamford. 
 
 Shod wele with yren and stele. 
 
 And Aso grunden wonder wele. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 Come to the grinstane, Charles, 'tis now too late 
 To recollect 'tis Presbyterian fate. 
 
 Old Sayings, &'c. Versified. Lond., idjy. 
 He grunte his teeth, and fast blew. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
 Grimile. The phiz, or visage ; a grunting noise. — Burns. 
 A nose. — Dr. C. Mackay. 
 
 Faire le groin, to pout, lowre, gruntle, or grow sullen. — Cotgravc. 
 To grunt or gruntle, grouden, — Sheiwood. 
 Grunt ox grtintle, grunnis. — Ainsworth. 
 
1 9° GLOSSARY. 
 
 We are delighted when wee heare a man gruntling like a hogge, 
 yet cannot indure the gruntling of the hog itself. — The Four Degen- 
 erate Sons. 
 
 Pensive in mud they wallow all alone, 
 
 And snore, and gruntle to each other's moan. 
 
 The Rehearsal, 
 
 Grunzie. Mouth, snout. 
 
 We preach the kingdom of heaven and yet have our groines ever 
 wiooting in the ground. — De Mornay. 
 Swine greun, a swine's snout. — Bailey. 
 Griyn, a swine's snout. — Bamford. Grose. 
 
 G?-ushie. Thick, of thriving growth. 
 
 G rut ten. Wept, past participle oi greet. 
 
 Glide. The Supreme Being ; good. 
 
 He, the Supreme Good, would send a glittering guardian. — Comus. 
 
 I Henry of Lancaster — als that I descendit by right line of the 
 blode, coming fro the gude King Henry therde — which rewme 
 (realm) was in poynt to be ondone by defaut of governance and 
 ondoying oi gude \a.vf.—Duke of Lancaster ( Hen. IV.). Hume. 
 Hist, of E. 
 
 For I rek noght, thogh the ryme be rude, 
 
 If the maters thar-of be g2tde. — Pricke of Co7iscience. 
 
 Gude-auld-has-been. Was once good. Gude and aiild. 
 
 Gude e'en. Good evening. 
 Good e'en, our neighbours. — Shak. 
 
 Gudes. Goods, property. 
 
 God grant us grace with hert and will, 
 The gudes that he has given us till, 
 
 Wele and wisely to spende. — Sir Penny. 
 
 Gude-willie. Hearty, cordial, cheerful. 
 
 Ah, fair lady, willy fond at all. — Chaucer. 
 
GLOSSARY. igi 
 
 O Love, O Charite, 
 Thy mother eke, Citheria the swete, 
 That after thy selfe, next heried be she.' 
 Venus I meane, the well willy planet. — Id. 
 And all for my gud wyll, 
 Y am in poynt for to spyll. — Sir Amadas. 
 It semeth love is wel zuillende 
 To him.— (jfpw^r. 
 
 Giiid faith. In reality, truly. I need hardly say that 
 gude and guid have the same meaning and pronun- 
 ciation. 
 
 I heartily could wish you all were gone, 
 For if you stay, good faith, we are undone. 
 
 Sir W. Davenanl. 
 
 Guidfather and guidmother. Father and mother-in-law. 
 
 And it please your Grace, as touching the King your goodfather, 
 etc. — English Ambassador in Spain to Hen. VI 11. 
 
 Guidman and guidwife. The master and mistress of a 
 house; young guidman, one newly married. 
 
 My men should call me lord ; 
 
 I am your goodman. — Shak. 
 
 Opon a day, in somers tyde, 
 
 The gudeman went by the se-syde. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 The godewife gan before him stand. — Id. 
 
 Gully, or gullie. A large knife. I believe that in Ayr- 
 shire gullie without any word prefixed always means a 
 clasp-knife. 
 
 Gully, a common knife. — Grose. 
 Fait gullies are little haulch-backed demi-knives. — Rabelais. 
 
 Gulravage. Joyous mischief. — Cunningham. A noisy 
 good-humoured frolic j a tumult; great disorder. — 
 Jamieson. 
 
192 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Gumlie. Muddy. 
 
 Gumption. Common sense, understanding, talent. 
 
 Gumptio7i^ talent. — Halliwell. 
 
 Gawm, to understand, to comprehend. Gawmless, without 
 understanding. — Baniford. 
 
 Gustifie. To give a relish. See under moisiify. 
 
 The palate of this age giisis nothing high. — V Estrange. 
 I shall gust it last. — Shak. 
 
 Gusty, gustfu\ Tasteful. 
 
 Gustfut, tasteful, ■wtVi-iasX&A.— Johnson. 
 
 Destroy all creatures for thy sport or gust. — Pope. 
 
 Gilt-scraper. A fiddler. 
 
 Hang your songsters and scrapers. — L' Estrange. 
 
 Out steps Dick the draper. 
 
 And he bids, " Strike up scraper. 
 
 It's best to be dancing a little. — Arthur O' Bradley. 
 
 For know, thou wretch, that every string 
 
 Is a cat's gut, which art dolh bring 
 
 Into a thread. — The Muse's Recreatwn. 
 I still am a merry gut-scraper. — The Merry Beggars, quoted by 
 Chambers. 
 
 Gutcher. A grandfather, i.e., guid-syre. 
 
 Gutty. Fat, paunchy. 
 
 Burns says to Lapraik, " Till ye forget ye're auld and 
 gutty." Allan Cunningham printed gatty, there being 
 probably no such word, and said it means " failing in 
 body." Chambers has gutty, which he e.xplains gouty. 
 Now, gut does mean gout, and the meaning may be 
 gouty. But gout is a disease with which Lapraik, hke 
 farmers in general, and Ayrshire farmers in particular, 
 who wrought and fed as their ploughmen did, was not 
 
GLOSSARY. 193 
 
 likely to be troubled. In fact, when Burns, in his 
 "Address to the Toothache,'' enumerates all the diseases, 
 known to him which produce acute pain, he omits gout, 
 which he certainly would not have done had he ever 
 seen a friend afflicted with it. But Lapraik might well 
 have been corpulent, and his obesity, which has always 
 been a topic for a little good-humoured banter among 
 friends, was more likely to be thus lightly referred to 
 than so serious a malady as gOut. And Burns could not 
 but be aware that the aqua vitae that was to " make 
 baith sae blythe and witty " was hardly a thing to pre- 
 scribe for a gouty man. 
 
 Is not " auld and gutty " Chaucer's " hem that been 
 hore and round of shape," or Falstaff's " There live not 
 three good men unhanged in England ; and one of them 
 \ifat and grows old" ? 
 
 Sir Walter Scott makes Highland Dougal call the 
 Glasgow magistrates — of whom the only one introduced 
 in the novel is spoken of as " stout, short, and somewhat 
 corpulent" — "filthy, gutty hallions.'' If he had meant 
 gouty he would hardly have called them hallions, and if 
 he had meant gluttonous, as the word filthy might sug- 
 gest, Scott was too great a master of the vernacular not 
 to have put into Dougal's mouth the stronger word 
 gutsy. 
 
 I have found gutty only once in an E. author : — " I am 
 punish'd for carrying the sick, the gutty, the lame, to 
 church." — L Estrange. Where this author certainly 
 means gouty he spells it so, and here he may mean 
 obese, for after saying a person was gutty, if he meant 
 gouty, there was little need for adding that he was lame. 
 
194 GLOSSARY. 
 
 H. 
 
 Ha'. Hall. In Burns's poems, ha! means kitchen. 
 
 For omission of //, see undei a\ 
 
 In " The Twa Dogs," the ha' folk are the servants, 
 and in "Young Jockey who whistled at the gaud, fu' 
 lightly danced he in the ha\" ha' is clearly the kitchen. 
 
 Ha'-Bible. The great Bible (sometimes called the 
 family Bible), which lies in the hall. 
 
 Haddin. House, possession ; a farm, I't. a holding. 
 See under hand. 
 
 Holding, tenure, a {s.im.— Johnson. Holdings were plentiful. 
 
 Carew. 
 
 Hae. To have. 
 
 I'll ha it proclaimed i' the fair. — Ben Jonson. 
 Come, you shall hd! it. — Shak. 
 Hay any work for Cooper? — Martin Marp--:late Pamphlet, 1589. 
 I could hd undertook to hd kill'd a spider 
 "With less venom. — Beaumo7it and Fletcher. 
 
 Haen. Had ; the participle, regularly formed from hae, 
 as given from give. 
 Han, had. — Bamford. 
 
 Haet. A particle, smallest thing. Fi'enf haet, a petty 
 
 oath of negation, nothing. 
 
 In reference to what Burns calls a petty oath, the fol- 
 lowing extract may be of interest : — " This morning, 
 being the gth Jan., 1633, the King was pleased to call 
 mee into his withdrawinge chamber, to the windowe, 
 when he went over all that I had croste in Davenant's 
 pla3'-booke, and allowing of faith and slight to bee 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 195 
 
 asseverations only, and no oathes, markt them to stande, 
 and some other few things. The King is pleased to take 
 faith, death, slight, for asseverations and no oathes, to 
 which I doe humbly submit, as my master's judgment; 
 but under favour, conceive them to be oathes." — Sir 
 Henry Herbert, Master of the Revels. 
 
 Haffet. The temple, the side of the head. 
 Hafiet, the forehead or temples. — Halliwell. 
 
 Hafflins. Nearly half, partly. 
 
 The leon shall restreyn his ire, 
 
 And turne away halfing ashamed. — Gomer. 
 
 Hag. A scar or gulf in mosses and moors. 
 
 Hag, a sink or mire in mosses : any broken ground. — Halliwell. 
 This said, he led me over hoults and hags, 
 Through thorns and bushes scant my legs I drew. — Fairfax. 
 The mountain was full of bogs and hags. — Swift. 
 
 Haggis. A kind of pudding boiled in the stomach of a 
 
 cow or sheep. 
 
 The word haggis occurs frequently in E. literature, but 
 as it has been thought to be a different article from that 
 praised by Burns, it may be worth a little examination. 
 
 They sent me word that I was like the first pufife of a hagasse, 
 hottest at the first. — Memoirs oj Sir Robert Carey. 
 
 This was no doubt a message of Scotsmen, but Carey 
 evidently understood it, and does not seem to have 
 thought that it required explanation to his countrymen. 
 "The first puffe of a haggasse, hottest at first," is appli- 
 cable only to the haggis described by Burns, and sup- 
 posed to be peculiarly Scotch, and not at all to that of 
 Johnson, "A mass of meat, generally pork, chopped, 
 and enclosed in a membrane," in short, a sausage, as 
 
196 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Jamieson says. This passage from Carey, even if it 
 stood alone, might justify us in concluding that the 
 Haggis,- the " Chieftain of the Puddin race," was once 
 common to England and Scotland. But there is other 
 evidence. Cotgrave, in his Dictionary, published 1632, 
 has " Gogue, a sheep's paunch, and thence a haggas made 
 of good hearbs, chopt lard, etc." "Thence a haggas^' is 
 worthy of notice. The ingredients of the pudding, 
 which he describes at length, constitute the French dish, 
 but because it is put in a sheep's paunch it becomes 
 entitled to the English name, haggas. 
 
 " Our host then invites him to supper, and promises 
 that he shall have a large pudding, a. round haggis, etc." — 
 Warton, who is speaking of a poem of Lydgate's which 
 I have not seen. Now haggises are round, but not 
 sausages. 
 
 Haggis, a sheep's maw filled with minced meat. — Bailey. 
 
 " Hackin (a word of similar origin with haggis), a pud- 
 ding made in the maw of a sheep or hog. It was 
 formerly a standard dish at Christmas," that is, in 
 England. 
 
 JIail. Lead, small shot. Hail-shot, small shot scattered 
 like hail. — -Johnson. 
 
 Hain. To spare, to save. Hain'd rig, a portion of 
 ground on which the grass has been preserved. 
 Hain, to save, to preserve. Hence, to exclude cattle from 
 
 a field so that the grass may grow for hay. — Halliwell. 
 
 Hair. Wi' tlie Jiair, smoothly, gently ; in accordance 
 with one's humour. 
 
 But, Lord ! to see how against the hair it is with these men, aiiJ 
 everybody, to trust us and the King. — Pepys. 
 
GLOSSARY. 197 
 
 He is merry against the hair. — Shak. 
 Some young people, when they read Burns's "Wicked 
 strings of hemp or hair,^' or hear of persons so ingenious 
 as to need only " a hair to make a tether," may require 
 to be told that ropes used to be made of hair. 
 
 Hairst. Harvest. For omission of v, see under cd and 
 gie. 
 
 Harrest, harvest. — Exmoor. Grose. 
 
 Hairum-scarum. Hare-brained, unsteady. 
 
 Who's there? I s'pose young harum-scarum. 
 
 Cambridge Faceti(E. Brewster, 
 Hairum-scairum, a wild fellow. — Bamford. 
 If ever I venture my carcass on such a harum-scarum blood again 
 my name is not Hawser Trunnion. — Smollett. 
 Like a Marche harum. — Skelton. 
 
 Hailh, a petty oath, faith. 
 
 Haivers. Nonsense. 
 Haver, to talk nonsense. — Halliwell. 
 
 Hal or hald. An abiding place, a hold. 
 
 They were bunden fast in halde. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 And also for to fynd the halde 
 
 That Sir Colgrevance of talde. — Id. 
 
 He was halden an hali man. — E. Metrical Homilies. 
 
 Hale or haill. Whole, tight, healthy. 
 
 Hale, i.e., healed or whole. — H. Tooke. 
 
 God, that for us sufferd wounde. 
 
 Sen us to se him hale and sounde. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 Soon he shall be fresh and haile. — Rich. C. de Lion. 
 To Ypocras anon he sent, that he scholde come his sone to hale. 
 
 The Se'Jen Sabres. 
 
igS GLOSSARY. 
 
 Hale andfier. Sound, healthy. Qtefier. 
 
 HaUsome. Wholesome. Hale and some. 
 
 No halesonie breeze here ever blew. — The Heir of Linne. 
 
 Half-lang. Half grown, short. 
 
 Hallachores. See Burns's letter to Mr. Robert Aiken, 
 
 1786. 
 
 In a letter from a distinguished East Indian scholar, it 
 is said " if hallachores is Hindustani, I should take it to 
 be for haldlkhores, sweepers, persons of the lowest caste, 
 because every sort of food is lawful (Jialal) for them.." 
 
 Hallan. A particular partition wall in a cottage. 
 
 Hallan, partition between the door of a cottage and the fire- 
 place. — Scott. 
 
 As neither of these definitions gives a very clear idea 
 of a hallan, and as Jamieson's, though quite correct, 
 does not give an account of all connected with it as re- 
 ferred to in " The Cottar's Saturday Night," at the risk 
 of being accounted tedious, I shall endeavour to make 
 it plainer. 
 
 The buildings of a farm generally, and those for 
 cottagers always, even when the occupant was so near to 
 the rank of farmer as to possess a cow, were always all 
 in a line, and might be said to be under one roof. At 
 the one end was the byre or cow-house, with a door in 
 front for the entrance and exit of the cattle. Another 
 front door admitted the household into the trance, or 
 passage between the cow-house and the kitchen. On 
 each side of the trance was a wall, more or less substan- 
 tial according to the size of the holding or the liberality 
 of the landlord. In the middle of each of these inside 
 walls was a door, admitting, on the one side, to the 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 199 
 
 kitchen, and, on the other, to the cow-house, so that in- 
 mates of the former could enter the latter without ex- 
 posure to the weather. The wall which separated the 
 kitchen from the trance was the kalian, and in inferior 
 cottages this was the only inside wall. 
 
 As to the origin of the term, I do not think it needs 
 to be sought in Gaelic, Su.-G., or any recondite quarter. 
 That end of the row of building in which was the cow- 
 house, was, and is still in many places, called the byre-en, 
 and as the kitchen was the principal apartment in a 
 farmer's or cottager's house, and the principal apartment 
 was called the hall, the wall which separated it from the 
 trance and byre came naturally and in the same way to 
 be styled the hall-end, hall-en, hallan, and it was outside 
 of this wall the Cottar's cow was placed — the Hawkie 
 That 'yont the hallan snugly chows her cood. 
 
 Hallion. A clown, a clumsy fellow, etc. — -Jamieson. A 
 worthless fellow. — Scott. 
 Halion, a reprobate. — Halliwell. 
 
 Hallow-day. All Saints' Day. 
 
 Hallow-een. All-Hallows-Eve. 
 
 Farewell, thou latter spring, farewell ! 
 All-hallown summer ! — Shak. 
 My lord (Wolsey) sitting at dinner upon All-hallowe'en day. — 
 Cavendish's Narrative. 
 
 We rede in olde tyme gode people wolde on All-hallowe^ en daye 
 bake brade and dele it for all crysten soules. — Fesiyval. Ellis. 
 
 Hallowmas. Same as Hallow-day. Why it should find 
 a place in S. dictionaries and glossaries I cannot guess, 
 but it is as difficult to understand how Allan Cun- 
 ningham, a Scotsman, could say in his Life of Burns 
 that Halloween "is the last night of harvest." Halimas. 
 Bailey. 
 
200 GLOSSARY. 
 
 To speak puling like a beggar at Hallowmas. — Shak. 
 
 Haly. Holy. 
 
 The kali water and the cryce. — Yivain and Gawain. 
 Do nothing in haly churche 
 But that thou might by reson wirche. — Gower. 
 And many an ympne for your haly dayes. — Chaucer. 
 
 Hajne. Home. 
 
 Men calle me Reynolde Grenelefe, 
 When I am at hame. — R. Hooi. 
 Think on your love wherever she be, 
 And on your friends that are at hame. 
 
 Sir Eger, Sir Graham, and Sir Gray Steel. 
 
 To grind our corn and carry it hame again. — Chaucer. 
 
 This lady was the same 
 
 That he had so dremyd of at hajne. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Hamely. Homely, affable. 
 
 Down he bro^ht her till his hows, 
 
 Hamely as sho war his spows. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Hand. Burns seems to use left-hand to signify wrong, 
 bad, or incompetent. In "The Battle of Sherra- 
 muir " he says, " Their left-hand general had nae 
 skill," and in the " Epitaph on Holy Willie," he fears 
 his soul has taken "the left-hand road." 
 He had his Mittimus and took the left-hand road at parting. 
 
 Qtievedo. The Last Judgment. 
 
 Han' or haun. A hand, a person. For omission of d 
 see under afiel. 
 And sighing sore her hatindes she wrong and folde. — Sackville. 
 Now, O thou sacred Muse, 
 
 That warlike handes (men) ennoblest with immortal name. 
 
 Spenser. 
 
GLOSSARY. 20 1 
 
 Sendith (imp. send) ows, to gode hans, 
 Ane thousand besans. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 I am aware that hans sometimes means multitude, 
 and that Weber says gode hans means in great quantity ; 
 but surely this was a strange expression to employ when 
 specifying the exact sum to be sent, and I believe it 
 means by good hands. To is used for by. — Dr. Fault. 
 
 Hands. In Burns' letters "among my hands" occurs 
 several times for " in or on my hands." 
 
 Hang. Used for hung in — 
 
 On every blade the pearls hang. — The Bonnie Lass d' Ballochmyle. 
 But a burde hang us beforn.-^yit/am and Cawain. 
 
 Hangk. A name for the devil, found only in Burns, 
 formed perhaps from hang, a very common word for 
 damn, Or it may be meant to denote a hangman, as 
 Burns speaks of him as doing the work of an execu- 
 tioner. 
 
 Han^s breed. Hand's breadth. See han and abreed. 
 He cleped a barber him before, 
 That as a fool, he should be shore, 
 All around like a frere, 
 An hand-brede above the ear. — Robert of Cyulle. 
 
 Hansel. The first money drawn at market ; new. 
 
 Hansel, the money drawn upon the first sold of any commodity, 
 or first in the morning. — Bailey. 
 
 I'll harlsel his woman's cloaths for him. — Farquhar. 
 
 Hark ! here comes handsel. — Fletcher. 
 
 Geuen glotoun with glad chere good ale to hansel. 
 
 P. Plowman. 
 
 Hantle. A considerable quantity. 
 
 Hantle, a handful, much, many, a great quantity. — Var. dial. 
 Halliwell. 
 
202 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Hap. An outer garment, mantle, plaid, etc. ; to wrap, 
 to cover. 
 
 To hap, to cover or wrap warm with bed-clothes. — Bailey, 
 f/appe, to cover for warmth. — Grose. 
 
 Your hede was wonte to be happed most drowpy and drowsy. — 
 
 Skelton. 
 
 Sche schall me bothe hodur and happe. — Le Bone Florence of 
 Rome. 
 
 Hap. A. for v. See under aff. 
 
 They hypped on their staves. — R. Hood. 
 Hip., it may be remarked, rather than hap, is used in 
 Ayrshire. 
 
 He came thedur with an evyll (disease) 
 Hyppyno on twa stares lyke the de\^'ll. 
 
 Le Bone Floretice of Rome. 
 
 It appears from this that the idea of a lame fiend had 
 occurred to some one before Le Sage got it, for here we 
 have "The Devil on Two Sticks." 
 
 Happer. The hopper of a mill. 
 
 Hap-shackled. Bound ; the legs on one side of an 
 aniinal tied together so as to admit of walking with 
 difficulty, — so called probably because an animal so 
 bound has a kind of hopping motion. 
 
 To hamshackle a horse is to shackle his head to one of his fore- 
 legs. — Dr. Brewster. 
 
 Hap-step-an'-Ioup. Hop-skip-and-leap. See second hap 
 and loup. 
 
 A hop and step and jump way of inditing, 
 
 My great and wise relation Pindar boasted. — Dr. Wolcot. 
 
 A hop step and loup on the head lands was often taken by the 
 ploughmen. — Richardson. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 203 
 
 Harigals. Heart, liver, and lights of an animal ; the 
 pluck. — -J'af/neson. 
 
 Hiirkit. Hearkened, listened. 
 
 And pricking up his ears to hark 
 
 If he cou'd hear too in the dark. — Butler. 
 
 Ham. Very coarse linen ; cloth made of yarn spun of 
 tow or the coarser part of flax. 
 Ham and hearn, coarse linen. — Grose. 
 
 In Northumberland a species of coarse linen is called ham. 
 
 Brand. 
 
 Has been. See under gude. 
 
 Hash. A sot, a term of contempt ; a stupid fellow. 
 Hash, a sloven ; one who talks hash or nonsense. — Halliwell. 
 I do not know if there is any connection between hash 
 and haskards, a word used by one or two E. poets. 
 There is at least a curious similarity in its use by Skelton 
 and the Scottish poet. Burns says 
 
 A set o' dull conceited hashes 
 Think to climb Parnassus ; 
 
 and Skelton, seeing a great number of people striving to 
 enter the Court of the Queen of Fame, but who cannot 
 get admission, asks the Queen who they are, and 
 Forsothe, quod she, theys be haskardis. 
 
 Haslock woo. Wool of a sheep's throat, the finest wool. 
 H ause and woo. 
 
 Haicd. Hold ; hald with the change of / into u, for 
 
 which see under a'. 
 
 A hipping-hold or hawd, a place wher^ people stay to chat when 
 they are sent of an errand. — Bailey. 
 
204 GLOSSARY. 
 
 He left her neane her bed to right, 
 Nor neane for to had up her head. 
 
 The Northumberland Garland. Ritson. 
 
 Hauf. Half. 
 
 Haugh. Low-lying rich lands, a valle^'. 
 
 Haugh, a green plat in a valley. — Bailey. 
 And came that night to Wooler Haugh. — Battle of Flodden Field. 
 
 Haurl. To drag, to peel. This is Burns's definition, 
 and is evidently intended to cover haurlin in " Till 
 skin in blypes came haurlin,'' but the word has really 
 nothing to do with peeling, but points to the force 
 used. 
 
 Haurl, to drag or pull. — Halliwell. 
 Jamieson quotes the following from an E. author : 
 
 To the grounde him caste, 
 And harlede him vorth villiche. — R. Glouc. 
 
 Farquhar has hurl for strip or peel : 
 
 We'll hurl off our cloaths. — Sir Harry Wildair. 
 
 Hause. To embrace. Literally to put the arms round 
 the neck, from hah, the neck, by changing al into au- 
 See a'. 
 
 Hause, the throat. Hauze, to hug or embrace. — Grose. 
 I wolde be wreken on this wreeches. 
 And don hem hongen bi the hals. — P. Plowman. 
 Well were that lady myght stande in my grace, 
 So I wolde hake her hartely. — Skelton. 
 Instead of strokes, each other kissed glad 
 And lovely haulst, from feare of treason free. — Spenser. 
 
 Haverel. A half-witted person, half-witted. 
 Haveril, one who havers.— Z>jw. A half-fool. — Halliivell. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 205 
 
 Haver or hauver-meal. Oatmeal. Haversack is in all 
 E. dictionaries. 
 Haver, oats. — Bailey. Johnson- 
 Havers, oats. Haver-cake, oat-cake. — Bamford. 
 Haver-meal, oat-meal. — Grose. 
 
 A fewe cruddes and creem, and an Aaver-cake. — P. P/owman. 
 She beggers me with haver and hey. — The Northumberland Gar- 
 land. Rilson. 
 
 Havins. Good manners, decorum, good sense. 
 
 Having, behaviour, regularity. This may possibly be 
 the meaning here, i.e., in — 
 
 He is of no having. — Shah. Johnson. 
 
 Surely havings in the following passage denotes men- 
 tal qualities : — 
 
 Lo ! this device was sent me from a nun, 
 Or sister sanctified of holiest note ; 
 Which late her noble suit in court did shun, 
 Whose rarest havings made the blossoms dote, 
 For she was sought by spirits of richest coat. 
 
 Shak. A Lover's Complaint. 
 Havance, good manners. — Devon. Grose. 
 
 Havers, manners. Thoresby. 
 
 Sir, the first vertue certaine, 
 The greatest, and most soveraigne 
 That may be found in any man, 
 For having, or for wit he can. 
 That is his tongue to refraine. — Chaucer. 
 That man — how dearly ever parted — 
 How much in having, or without, or in. 
 
 Troilus and Cressida, 
 
 Hawkie. A cow, properly one with a white face. I 
 believe it is rather a name for a particular cow. 
 Hawkie, a white-cheeked cow. — Halliwell. 
 
 Hazle. Hazel. 
 
2o6 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Bealsome. Healthful, wholesome. Another form of 
 halesome. 
 
 For seldom a man that has that held 
 Hele has, and himself may weld. —Pricke of Conscience. 
 And was comyn to seeke his hele. — Le Bone Flo. of Rome, 
 He was your right good maister while he was in heale. 
 
 Ralph Roister Doister. 
 
 Hearse. Hoarse. A for o as in bane. 
 Hase, hoarse. — Ritson. 
 
 By speech might no man Gawain knaw. 
 
 So was he hase and spak ful law. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Heartie. Dim. of heart. 
 
 Heartso7ne. Cheerful. 
 
 Heartsome, merry, lively. — Halliwell. 
 
 Heather. Heath. 
 
 Hadder, heath or ling. — Bailey. 
 
 The summer will exhibit a more pleasing prospect, for all the 
 heather or ling will be in full bloom. — Rev. C. Dodgson to the Earl 
 of Northumberla^id. 
 
 He (Mr. Warburton, died 1753) ordered that his body should be 
 inclosed in two coffins, one of lead, the other oak. The first he 
 directed should be filled with green broom, hather or ling, which 
 was brought from Epping Forest. — Noble's History of the College 
 of Arms. 
 
 Hech. Oh ! strange ! This exclamation is usually- 
 printed hech-ho or herh-how. 
 
 Alas for woe, why should it be soe? 
 This makes a sorrowful heigh-ho. 
 
 Ring of Scots and Andrew Barton. 
 Of no man he had no care, 
 But sung, hey how, away the mare. 
 
 The Frere and the Boye. 
 
GLOSSARY. 207 
 
 They do now with more gaiety and security than ever, sing on a 
 loud note that mad drunlcen catch, " Heigho ! the Devil is dead !" 
 
 Dr. Henry More. 
 
 Hecht. To foretell or forebode something that is to be 
 got or given, foretold, the thing foretold, promised, 
 offered, threatened ; to raise in price. Ch for gh, see 
 unAtx fecht. 
 
 Then out bespoke that lady bright. 
 
 Said, " Ye shall hold that ye have hight." — Sir Amadas. 
 
 That seke monk hihtto come him to. — E. Metrical Homilies. 
 
 This knight 
 Said, he had hold his day as he had hight, — Chaucer. 
 He schall hold all hys heghtes. — Lybeaus Disconus. 
 To height, to threaten. — Thoreshy. 
 
 I shall hold my vtaxA and behecht. — Sir Ralph Sadler's State 
 Papers. 
 
 Heckle. A board in which are placed a number of sharp 
 pins, used in dressing hemp, flax, etc. 
 Heckle, an instrument for dressing flax. — Bailey. 
 Heckle and heckler. — Grose. 
 
 Some laid to pledge 
 
 Their heckle and their reel. — Skelton. 
 
 He balou. A lullaby. — -Jamieson. 
 
 You musicians, play Balou ! — Beaumo7it and Fletcher. 
 
 Heels-owre-gowdie. Topsy-turvy. 
 
 The meaning of this combination of words, like topsy- 
 turvy, which is used to explain it, can be known only by 
 its context. '^h'iX gowdie is, or whence it comes, nobody 
 seems to know. 
 
 Heeze. To elevate, to raise. E for oi sound, as in — 
 Disleal (disloyal) ICnight whose coward courage chose 
 To wreake itselfe on beast all innocent. — Spenser. 
 
2o8 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Heft. Haft. E for a. See under held. 
 
 Her oily side devours both blade and heft. 
 
 And there his steel the bold Bermudan \di\..— Waller. 
 
 Heich, heigh. High. A heigh house, a house of more 
 than one story. 
 
 She is heigh beaute withouten pride. — Chaucer. 
 Ther he lay to the larke song 
 With notes newe, hegh up in the ayr. — Lydgate. 
 Y-take thou schalt be, thurch londes lawe, 
 
 And dempte heigh to hong ! — Amis and Amiloun. 
 
 Heiji-shinned. Having large projecting shin-bones. — 
 Janiieson. Cor. perhaps from hem-shinn'd, q., having 
 shins like haims or hems, i.e., projecting like an ox- 
 collar. — Longmuir. In Cunningham's edition it is 
 printed hem-shinned. A hem-shinned person is one 
 whose ankles meet as hems do at the lower part. It 
 may be as well to mention that hames, haims, or hems, 
 is not another name for collar, as both Johnson and 
 Jamieson say, but for two pieces of iron or wood 
 placed on the collar which they surround like a hem. 
 That hames and collars are not different words for the 
 same things is shown by the following passage : — 
 
 He (the ploughman) shall make ready his collars, hames, treats, 
 etc. — Gervase Markham. 
 
 Jamieson's mistake is curious. He defines "Brechame, 
 the collar of a working horse" (draught horse), and in 
 connection with hems, or haims, he quotes Douglas : 
 Evir (ivory) haims convenient for sic note, 
 And raw silk brecha?ms ouir halsis hingis-^ 
 
 making the " Boy-bishop " use two names for the same 
 thing within two lines, if brcchams and haims be both 
 collars. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 209 
 
 Hellim. Helm. Could Burns know that helm was once 
 a dissyllable, helma ? Poets, especially comic poets, 
 claim the liberty of lengthening or shortening words to 
 suit their rhyme or rhythm. 
 
 Heiit. To seize, to lay hold on. 
 
 The frere to the busche wente, 
 
 Up the byrde for to henie. — The Frere and the Boye. 
 
 And of this crie ne wolde they never stenten, 
 
 Till they the reines of his bridel henten. — Chaucer, 
 
 His harmful Hatchet he hent in hand. — Spenser. 
 
 And merrily hent the stile-a. — Shak, 
 
 Herd. To tend flocks, one who tends flocks. 
 Herd, a shepherd, or herdsman. — Bailey. 
 
 Herd is applied both to that which is guarded or kept, and him 
 by whom it is guarded or kept. — Home Tooke. 
 There did they find 
 The self-same flocks, 
 The which, for want of heards, themselves they kept. 
 
 Spenser. 
 There n'as baillif, ne herde, ne other hine. — Chaucer. 
 
 "Till kye be gaun without the herd" means till, the 
 crop being gathered, the cattle do not need to be 
 watched, but are allowed to pasture on the whole farm. 
 It may perhaps be necessary, for the sake of those who 
 know Scotland only in its present improved condition, 
 to say that in Burns's day there were very few hedges, on 
 many farms none, so that a herd was always required. 
 We do not hear of Burns having acted in this capacity, 
 but his sister, Mrs. Begg, did. 
 
 Here awa\ there awa\ Here and there, in this district 
 
 and in that. 
 
 They made more noise than if the king came there away with all 
 his clarions. — Coibetfs State Trials. 
 
 O 
 
210 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Afterwards I went to Mansfield and thereaway.— Journal of 
 George Fox. 
 
 Hern. A heron. 
 
 Hairon^ ?iherne; hern^^.'^. — Coigrave. 
 Hern, contracted from heron. — -Johnson, 
 
 The melancholy hern stalks by. — Song attributed to Prior. Ritson, 
 
 At his siege the hern. 
 
 Observant stands to take his scaly prize. — Somerville. 
 
 Herry. To plunder, most properly to plunder birds' nests. 
 
 And sone assoyl him of his sin, 
 
 Hende God that heriedheiY. — Minot. 
 
 But cumly Crist, that heried hell, 
 
 Len the grace, that thou may spede 
 
 Of thine erand, als thou has nede. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 After them come a poor man making a hevie complainte that'he 
 was hereyet throw the courtiers taking his fewe in one place and his 
 tackes in another. — Sir William Ewrie to the Lord PHvy Seal of 
 England. ^540. 
 
 Iferryment. Plundering, devastation. 
 
 Hersel. Herself, .^omitted as in — 
 Show yoursell 
 To all the shepherds. — Ben fonson. 
 
 Het Hot. 
 
 Her blushing het (did heat) her chamber. — Chapnan. 
 
 That one me hette, that other did me colde. — Chaucer. 
 
 Limping Vulcan het an iron barr, 
 
 And furiously made at the god of warr. — Old Tom of Bredlam. 
 
 His brayne hath been too het. 
 
 And with good ale so wet. — Doctour Double Ale, 
 
 For whan that thai be hell. 
 
 And Asmodeus grett, 
 
 They take, as thei can get. 
 
 All fysche that comes to nett. — Image of Ipocrisy. 
 
GLOSSARY. 211 
 
 Heugh. A crag, a coal-pit. 
 
 Heugh, a rugged steep hill-side ; a ravine. — Halliwell. 
 Word went east, and word went west, 
 
 And word is gone over the sea. 
 That a Laidley-worm in 'i^mS^&Aan-Heughs 
 
 Would ruin the North Country. — The Laidley Worm. 
 
 Hide and Hair. The whole of any thing. 
 
 Hidin. Hiding ; under hidin, in concealment. 
 
 Hie (pronounced he). High ; hie-gaie, high-way. 
 This began on a Monday at morn. 
 
 In Cheviat the hillys so he. — The Hunting of the Cheviat. 
 
 Ritson, 
 
 To encrese ther glorye and hie renoune. — Lydgate. 
 
 The golden Phoebus, now y mounted hie. 
 
 Hurled his beames. — Spenser. 
 
 Tharin stode a towre full hee. 
 
 Fairer saw he never with ee. — The Two Dreams. 
 
 Highlander. Lest Burns should be suspected of canni- 
 balism when he says, " I have just despatched a well- 
 Hned rib of John Kirkpatrick's Highlander" it may be 
 as well to mention that a Highland bullock or cow 
 is meant. 
 
 Hikh. To hobble, or halt. 
 Sossu, hulch-backt. — Cotgrave. 
 
 If Jamieson is correct in supposing that there is some 
 connection — not in the words certainly — between hilch 
 and crouchie, Cotgrave's hulch is in its proper place ; if 
 not Burns is the only authority for the word. 
 
 Hiltie-skiltie. Confusedly. Supposed to be helter- 
 skelter, which, like skimble-skamble, and a host of other 
 words, has no meaning except what it derives from 
 
212 GLOSSARY. 
 
 the context. Hiltie-skiltie, though a guess at its origin 
 might be made, will probably be explained when we 
 cease hearing that helter-skelter, from which it is 
 thought to be corrupted, is formed from '■'■ Heolster 
 sceddo, the darkness of Hell," or from " hilariter-celer- 
 iter, cheerfully, quickly.'' 
 
 Hinisel. Himself. See hersel. 
 
 Now nay, now nay, young Wharton said, 
 
 Sir James Stewart that may not be, 
 Unless we were drunkards and quarrelers, 
 
 That had no care of our sell. 
 Nor caring what we go about. 
 
 Or whether our souls go to heaven or hell. 
 
 Steivart and Wharton. Kitson. 
 
 Jliney. Honey ; also a term of endearment. I for o. 
 
 See anither. 
 He calleth me 
 
 His swetyng and his hony. — Skelton. 
 She would me hony call. — Wither, 
 To drenchen Alisoun, his honey deere. — Chaucer. 
 
 Ming. To hang. 
 
 Some gnaw the snakes that on their shoulder hing. — Fairfax. 
 
 About her middel twenty score 
 
 Of horse halters and well mo f, 
 
 There hingen. — Gower. 
 
 Thar sho fyndes the faire lady 
 
 Hingand hir hevyd ful drerely . — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 JTirple. To walk crazily, to creep, to halt. 
 
 Herple, to halt, or limp ; " He coom herplin after. " — Bamford. 
 Hirple, to limp, or walk lame. — Halliwell. 
 
 Hirsel, hissel. So many cattle (or sheep) as one person 
 
 can attend. 
 Hirsel, a flock of sheep or lambs. — Halliwetl. 
 
GLOSSARY. 213 
 
 Hisiie. Dry, chapt, barren. 
 
 Hitch. A loop, a knot ; jerk, sharp movement. 
 Hitch, to become entangled. — Halliwell. 
 To hitch is to catch hold of any thing with a hook or rope. 
 
 Bailey. 
 Then he began to hitch his ear. — R. Hood. 
 
 Hither-and-yont. Disorderly. 
 
 Hizzie. Hussy, a young girl. / for u, and z for s, as in 
 bizz and bizzie. 
 
 Hoddin (Hodding). The motion of a sage country man 
 
 riding on a cart horse. 
 
 Bunyan has not the word, but he expresses the idea, 
 showing that while he could picture the Slough of 
 Despond and the Celestial City, he could enjoy and 
 describe what he saw from the window of his prison. 
 It is curious to note that both Burns and Bunyan use 
 the same word, sage, in reference to the farmers. 
 
 There's one (farmer) rides very sagely on the road, 
 Shewing that he affects the gravest mode. — Poem in Prison. 
 
 Hoddin-gray. Cloth which has the natural colour of the 
 wool. Perhaps from E. hoiden, rustic, clownish. — 
 Jamiesen. May it not be from Anglo-Saxon hiid, pro- 
 nounced houd, the hide or skin ? As the thing is 
 now unknown, the word is little used, indeed but for 
 Burns it would be forgotten ; but I have always heard 
 it pronounced, by very old people, houden. 
 Her hoyden-grey is turned into thirty-piled velvet. — Don Quixote. 
 
 Hoggie. Dim. of hog, a two-year-old sheep. 
 
 Hog is used in Lincolnshire for a sheep of a certain age. 
 
 Skinner. Johnson. 
 
2 14 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Hog, a young weather sheep. — Bailey. 
 Hogg-xs\\M.ow, mutton of a year old sheep. — Bam ford. 
 
 Hog-score. A kind of distance-line, in curling, drawn 
 across the rink. 
 
 Hog-shouther. A kind of horse-play by jostling with the 
 
 shoulder, to jostle. See shouther. 
 
 As the curling-stone which does not pass the hog-score 
 is pushed aside, and hog-shouther means to push with the 
 shouther or shoulder, it would seem that hog in both 
 words means to push, and that it is a relation o{ shog. 
 
 Hole in a' your coats. An error in all your lives. 
 If I find a hole in his coat, I will tell him my mind. — Shak. 
 
 Hoodie-craw. A hooded crow, carrion-crow, corbie. See 
 craw. 
 
 Hoodock. 
 
 This word is generally explained "miserly." Dr. Mac- 
 kay objects to this, and says, " It is the French due, an 
 owl. Possibly the first syllable is the E. hood. The 
 idea in Burns is that of a greedy bird, or harpy in a 
 minor degree of voracity.'' Now, not to speak of the 
 hybridism of E. hood and F. due, to call people first 
 harpies, vultures, and afterwards mousers, owls, is a 
 bathos of a kind of which Burns could not be guilty. 
 The truth is that very little is known of hoodock. Neither 
 Jamieson nor Cunningham takes any notice of it. It is 
 to be found only in Burns, and the only words that re- 
 semble it are Skelton's hoddypeke, or huddypeke, and Dun- 
 bar's hudpikis. In Skelton, one knave, Crafty Convey- 
 ance (i.e.. Skilful Thievery^, speaking of another, says 
 Can he play well at the hoddypeke ? 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 215 
 
 meaning, apparently, " Is he dexterous at cheating or 
 stealing ? " In " The Daunce," Dunbar has 
 
 Catyvs, wretches, and ockerars, 
 
 Hudpikis, hurders, and gatherers, 
 All with this Warlo went ; 
 
 that is, caitiffs, niggards, and usurers, hudpikis, ere, 
 were the followers of covetousness. What sort of per- 
 sons could hudpikis be to be fit associates for these 
 characters ? Evidently not bold villains, but mean 
 cheats, deceivers, or thieves. If this is the proper inter- 
 pretation of hudpikis, and if there is any connection be- 
 tween hudpikis, or hoddypeke, and hoodock, then Burns's 
 
 The harpy, hoodock, purse-proud race 
 will mean extortioners, cheats, etc. 
 
 Hool. Outer skin or case. 
 
 Hide, hull or husk, as of corn. — Bosworth. 
 
 Then pried he in prively and pertiliche bi-holdes 
 Hou hertily the herdes wif hules (covers) that child. 
 
 William and the Werwolf, 
 And bad that counsell should be hole. — Odovian Imperator. 
 The lady lyght on hire bedde, 
 
 Y- heoled wel with silken webbe. — Gest of A lexander. Warton. 
 Above and bynethe is heore heolyng 
 With botemay, that wol clyng. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Hoolie. Slowly, leisurely ; hoolie ! take leisure ! stop ! 
 
 When he was on the other side, 
 Then fair and hulie could he ride. 
 
 Sir Eger, Sir Graham, and Sir Gray'Steel. 
 Oh hooly, hooly, ran she up 
 
 To the place where he was lying. — Barbara Allan. Percy. 
 Hooly, tenderly, gently. — Halliwell. 
 
 Hoord. A hoard, to hoard. 
 
 In which he found great store oi hoorded 'a^^s.xxts.. — Spenser. 
 He taught men to hoord up treasure in heaven. — De Mornay. 
 
2l6 GLOSSARY. 
 
 They hoarded up the whole world in the storehouse of their 
 memory. — Id. 
 
 Horn. A spoon (and comb) made of horn ; a drinking 
 
 vessel. 
 
 Horn for spoon is not in Jamieson, nor have I found . 
 any evidence of spoons being made of horn in England,* 
 or in any country but Scotland and Alaska. 
 
 We found a few spoons made of the horn of the mountain sheep 
 or goat. — The great River of Alaska. The Century, Oct. 1883. 
 
 Now cut up the haggis and bring me a horn spune. — Local His- 
 torian's Table Book. 
 
 Horn, signifying a comb, has also been denied a place 
 in the great Scottish Dictionary. Burns has it in — 
 
 Whare horn nor bane ne'er dare unsettle 
 
 Your thick plantations. 
 
 Horn and bane mean a redding kame and a bane kame. 
 The former is made of horn, whence its name, and the 
 latter, made of bone, is the small tooth comb spoken of 
 by Sidney Smith in his bitter article on the methodists. 
 
 His (a barber's) instrument contains his looking glass ; a set of 
 horn-z<XiAi% with teeth on one side and wide for the combing and 
 readyng of long, thick and strong heads of hair. — Randle Holme. 
 Frout and spices sche hem bede, 
 Wine to drink, wite and rede 
 Bothe of coppe and horn. 
 
 Home Childe and Maiden Rimnild. 
 
 Hornie. One of the many names of the devil, from the 
 horns he is supposed to wear when he makes himself 
 visible. 
 
 Wert thou the devil, and wor's it on thy horn, 
 It should be challenged. — Shak. 
 
 Had he no horns to push ? 
 
 As long as your two arms. — Gam. Gurton's Needle. 
 
 * Boswell tells us that Dr. Johnson, when in Scotland, collected " a number 
 of curious things, particulariy some A(7? ;/ spoons. " 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 217 
 
 Hose. To tie on^s hose. To fetter, to imprison. 
 
 Host or hoast. To cough. 
 
 Houst, to cough. Haust or hoste, a dry cough. — Bailey. 
 , Hoast and host, cough. — Thoresby. 
 
 Host, a cough. — Palmer. 
 
 In the winter- time she took a hoast. — The Northumb. Garland. 
 
 Ritson. 
 
 Bosworth evidently thought host an E. word ; he says, 
 " Hwbstan, to host, to cough." 
 
 Hatch. To shake, to move. 
 
 Hotchin, to keep shifting as if uneasy. — Bamford. 
 
 Hotch-^oi, flesh cut into small pieces, and sodden 
 with' herbs or roots. Hence metaphorically (in law) it 
 signifies the putting together of lands, for the .equal 
 division of them. — Bailey. The metaphorical use of the 
 word cannot be supposed to refer to the cutting or seeth- 
 ing, but to the shaking together. 
 
 Hotch seems to be only another form of hitch, which, 
 says Bailey, is " to wriggle or move by degrees." Hocher, 
 Fr. to shake. 
 
 Houghmagandie. Fornication. 
 
 On this word in his glossary to the first edition of his 
 poems. Burns has the only piece of pure nonsense which 
 I believe he ever printed, but as he left it out in the 
 Edinburgh edition, it is not fair to reproduce it as is 
 sometimes done. 
 
 The meaning which Burns has given to houghmagandie,. 
 whatever the word itself may signify, will for ever cling 
 to it. It is not in Jamieson's dictionary, but is in Long- 
 muir's abridgement of it. It occurs in a volume of 
 poems, and I believe only there, from which Jamieson 
 
2l8 GLOSSARY. 
 
 has made a number of quotations, more, perhaps, than 
 the size or merit of the work justifies. It may therefore 
 be inferred that he did not think it a word having any 
 fixed or definite meaning, and, supposing it to be one of 
 those words that spring up nobody knows whence or 
 how, and that perish in a few weeks unless saved by 
 their adoption by a man of genius, omitted it as unworthy 
 of a place in his great work. But Burns has made it live. 
 Some have thought it was his own creation, but it was 
 used as the name of a tune before his day. 
 
 Play up " Sa^ merry as ye hae been " ; 
 
 Or " Sups of Brandy " ; 
 Or " Gin the kirk wad lat's alane," 
 
 Or " Houghmagandy. " 
 
 Poems in the Buchan Dialect. 
 
 Houlet or howlet. 
 
 Eies they have red like houlets. — Philemon Holland. 
 There were three fools fell out about an houlet. 
 
 The Two Noble Kinsmen. 
 
 It shall be convey'd in at howlet time. — Middleton. 
 
 I'll sit in a barn with ina.Agt-howlet and catch mice first. 
 
 Ben Jonson. 
 
 Houp. Hope. Ou or ow for o, as in — 
 
 Taking from her hand a ring oi gould. — Spenser. 
 She was so diligent withouten slowth. — Chaucer. 
 On foure thousand Y hadde ynowe, 
 To awreke my wowe (woe). — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 I should rejoice to hear your desire in seeing me, but I desire to 
 
 submit to the providens of God, houping the Lord will in his good 
 
 time bring us together again to the praise of his name. — -Mrs. 
 
 Oliver Cromwell to her husband. 
 
 Housie. Dim. of house. 
 Hove. To heave, to swell. 
 
GLOSSARY. 219 
 
 Amyd her treasure and wavering richesse, 
 
 Proudly she hoveth as lady and empresse. — Sir T. More. 
 
 Essex was afraid lest the acclamations of the people should have 
 Jioven him up. — Memoirs of the Court of Q. Elizabeth. 
 
 The arc hoven wzXz on hyghe. — Early E. Alliterative Poems. 
 
 Hoven-Qhst^ss, that is swelled up. — Bailey. 
 
 Howdie. A midwife. 
 
 In the North of England a midwife is called a Howdy or Howdie- 
 wife. — Ellis. 
 ' Flowdy, a midwife. — Grose. 
 
 He (the Bar-guest, a sort of brownie) was a constant attendant 
 on the howdy or midwife. — Richardson. 
 
 Howe. Hollow, a hollow or dell. 
 How, deep, or low, hollow. — Halliwell. 
 
 They started at neither how nor height. — R. Hood. 
 
 Htrwe-backit. Sunk in the back, spoken of a horse, etc. 
 Howe and back. 
 
 Howff. A place of resort. 
 
 H6f (probably sounded hoof), a palace, house, dwelling. — Bos- 
 worth. 
 
 And as a hotise is a place where one remains this may 
 be the root of hove and hover, stay or tarry. 
 
 When Robert the Bruce saw this mischief, and gan to flee, and 
 hov'd him (went to some howff) that men might not him find. — 
 MS. in Brit. Mus. quoted by Ritson, 
 
 Howk. To dig. 
 
 Howk, to dig, to scoop. — Halliwell. 
 
 Hoy. To urge incessantly. 
 
 Hoi, a word used in driving hogs. — Minshew quoted by Dyce. 
 Such tunges shulde be torne out by the harde rootes, 
 Hoyning like hogges that groynis and wrotes. — Skelton. 
 
2 20 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Hoyn here has exactly the meaning of hoy, for it does 
 not refer to the kind of noise made by hogs, that is_ 
 expressed by groynes, i.e., grunts, but to its constancy, 
 its iteration. 
 
 Hooi, a sound used by shepherds to direct their dogs to drive 
 away the sheep. — Dr. Adair, 
 
 Hoyse. A pull upwards. 
 
 I hoyse up my sail. — Damon and Pithias, 
 Some hoyse their heels upward. — New Custom. 
 We hoyse up mast and sayle. 
 
 The Mirrour for Magistrates, 
 He, mistrusting them, 
 Hois' d sail, and made his course again for Bretagne. 
 
 Shak, 
 
 Hoyte. To amble crazily, a motion between a trot and 
 a gallop. 
 
 There he drinks and hoits. — B, and Fletcher. 
 
 Huchyal, To hobble. Evidently connected with hough 
 with a guttural sound. 
 To huckle, to hamstring (which would cause to huchyal). 
 
 Skintier, 
 Hochel, to walk awkwardly, or lamely. — Grose, 
 Scottish writers sometimes spell hough, houch; 
 His houch senons thai cuttyt in that press. 
 
 Blind Harry's " Wallace:' 
 
 Hughoc. Dim. of Hugh. 
 IIu7iders. Hundreds. 
 
 Huird. To hoard. Uiox o, as in — 
 
 But a burJe (board) hang us hftioxn. — Ywain and Gauiain. 
 (Seneca) Chees in a bathe to die in this manere, 
 Rather than han another turtnentise (torment). 
 
 Chaucer. 
 
GLOSSARY. 221 
 
 In some editions we read in " The Kirk's Alarm " — 
 Singet Sawney, are ye herding the penny ? 
 Other editions have hurding. 
 
 Hunker. To bend the body backward from the knees ; 
 
 hunkers, position of the body so bent. 
 
 " To hunker " is to adopt the attitude of warriors 
 depicted as in an ambush on archaic Greek vases — at 
 least that is the most dignified description we can give 
 of the position of him who hunkers. — Saturday Review, 
 May, 1883. 
 
 Those who may not be familiar with Greek vases, 
 may like to see how the Grecian poet describes a warrior 
 hunkering. 
 
 (He) croucheth curiously 
 On his bent haunches. — Iliad. Chapman. 
 (He) sits low-crouching on his hams. — Cowper. 
 
 Hurcheon. A hedge-hog. 
 
 And there ben also Urchounes als grete as yylde Swyn here. 
 
 Maicndeville. 
 Like sharpe urchons his haire was grow. — Chaucer. 
 
 Hurchin. Urchin, pigmy, little. The h is not easily- 
 accounted for. 
 
 Urchin is in all E. dictionaries, and is applied to 
 Cupid, as Burns applies hurchin. 
 
 Pleas'd Cupid heard, and check'd his mother's pride, 
 "And who's blind now, mamma?" the urchin cried. 
 
 Prior. 
 
 Hurdies. The loins, the crupper, the hips. 
 
 Hurl. To ride in a carriage. 
 
 Hushion. A cushion ; a stocking wanting the foot, more 
 correctly — wanting the sole. 
 
2 2 2 GLOSSARY. 
 
 A hushion by the editors of Burns has been always- 
 spoken of as a footless stocking, i.e., a stocking leg^ 
 That was, for I hope its day is past as an article of 
 apparel, a hogge?; or hugger, cocker, as it was called in 
 some parts of England, A hushion wanting only the 
 sole and being fastened to the toes protected to some 
 extent the upper part of the foot, and gave the wearer a 
 certain superiority over one who was reduced to the 
 hugger. 
 
 How a hushion ever came to be thought a cushion I 
 cannot understand. It would be very difficult to make 
 any person who gives a moment's thought to the subject 
 believe that the line in which the word occurs would be 
 better thus: "She dights (wipes) her grunzie (mouth) 
 wi' a cushion," or that the poet, if he had meant a 
 cushion, would not have said so seeing it makes as good 
 a rhyme as hushion. The thing is absurd. It is the 
 poet's intention to represent the woman as "no sae trig," 
 so neat, so cleanly as the cat, and as evidence of her in- 
 feriority in this respect, and as a very climax of filthiness 
 she wipes her face with a cushion ! If Willie ^^'astle, 
 her husband, who " was a wabster guid," had taken his 
 pirn-box to pare his nails, or his shuttle to shave his 
 beard, we should have said he was not skilful in adapting 
 means to ends, not that he was dirty, and if his wife had , 
 wiped her face with a cushion we should have thought 
 her equally unskilful, but should not have called her a 
 slattern, whereas if she kept two or three cows, for Lin- 
 kumdoddie was doubtless some country village, or pigs, 
 or even hens, and used her hushion as a towel, we should 
 have decided at once that if any person " gied a button 
 for lier" he had a dear bargain. 
 
 Willie Wastle's wife had a prototype in Maude Prate- 
 
GLOSSARY. 223 
 
 fast, who loved cleanliness and kept her dishes from all 
 foulness : 
 
 And when she laked clowtes withouten fayle 
 
 She wyped her dishes with her dogges tayle. 
 
 Stephen Hawes. 
 His hosen overhongen his hokschynes on euerice a side. 
 
 Feres the Ploughman's Crede. Skeat. 
 
 Hyte. Angry, mad. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon, hite, hate, hatred, indignation. — Bos-worth. 
 
 I. 
 
 Icker. An ear of corn. 
 
 For they woneth in water, y-wis, 
 
 With eker (in one MS. icker) and fysch. 
 
 He say (saw) the ekeris wonynge. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Weber, the editor of this old romance, says, " Eker, 
 watercresses. It may in a more general sense mean 
 weeds." I believe he might have said vegetables. It is 
 in reality acre, a field, or aecer, the word from which acre 
 with its present meaning has sprung. Ecker seems in 
 English, as distinguished from Anglo-Saxon, to have first 
 signified a vegetable, and then, by a law which, though 
 not so obvious as that under which words degenerate, is 
 as certain, it rose to signify the best part of vegetables, 
 that for which they are cultivated. As an example of this 
 process in a similar word let us take crop, which in 
 Chaucer and Gower means the top of a plant, then the 
 part above ground. 
 
 And ye that ben of beautie croppe and root. — Chaucer. 
 
2 24 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Another step was taken when it came to signify the 
 ■whole produce of a field or farm. 
 
 It would seem, I write under correction, that with 
 regard to icker this process had begun even in Anglo- 
 Saxon times, for while at- one time aecer was "a field, 
 land, any thing sown, sown corn, an acre," a little later 
 mchir, the same word, had come to mean an ear of corn. 
 
 ler oe. A great-grandchild. lAttrsSiy, a grandchild's heir ; 
 from oe, a grandchild, and eer, an heir. 
 Oye, a grandchild. — Halliwell. 
 
 Gif toward Edgar Atheling eni is herte drou. 
 
 That was kinde eir of this londe hun huld him tho stille. 
 
 Rob. of Gloucester. 
 
 Ignis fattius. Will o' the wisp ; pi. ignes fatui. 
 
 If I did not think thou hadst been an ignis fatuus, or a ball of 
 wild fire, there's no purchase in money. — Shak. 
 
 Conjecture, that ignis fatuus. — Churchill. 
 Ilk, or ilka. Each every. 
 
 Of good wine ilk man drank a draught. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
 Stones on ilka side. — Emare. 
 Of mouth of childer and soukand 
 Made thou lof in ilka land. — Metrical E. Psalter. 
 
 Ill-deedie. Mischievous, doing evil deeds. 
 Deedy, industrious, notable. — Berks. Halliwell. 
 He performed all the manoeuvres of a deedy battle. — Cowper. 
 
 Ill-thief. The devil. 
 
 The old sacrilegious theife when he first tooke possession of thy 
 temple brake in at these windowes. — W. Streat. Palmer. 
 
 Ill-willie. Ill-natured, malicious, niggardly, unkind. 
 We on our behalfe shalle be welle ivlllyng. — Lord Grey de Ruthyn. 
 Venus, I meane, the well willy planete. — Chaucer. 
 
GLOSSARY. 225 
 
 Malivole, ill-willie, malicious. — Cotgrave. 
 
 The loving present of youi heartie well-wilier. — Rich. Stanihursl. 
 
 Sure you have some ill-willers. — Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 
 Imprimis. In the first place. 
 A gentle imprimis. — Massinger. 
 
 Imprimis, I covenant that your acquaintance shall be general. 
 
 Congreve. 
 
 Incog. Incognito, disguised. 
 Incog, unknown, in private. ^^aA«JOK. 
 
 But if you're rough, and use him like a dog, depend upon it, he'll 
 remain incog. — Addison. Johnson. 
 
 Some words are hitherto but fairly split, as incog, &c. — The, Tatler. 
 In order to remain incog. 
 They always travel in a fog. — Churchill. 
 To bear me hence with many a jog. 
 From thee my charming dear incog. — Farquhar. 
 
 Indent. To contract, to bargain. 
 
 This is a strange juggler ; • 
 
 Neither indent before-hand for his payment. 
 Nor know the breadth o' th' business. — Fletcher. 
 Shall we buy treason ? and indent with fears. 
 When they have lost and forfeited themselves ? — Shak. 
 
 Indite. To indict, to accuse. C in words formed from 
 dido are often omitted. 
 
 They enderdyted his land, as the cronicle sayeth, Lady, Lady. 
 
 A Newe Ballade. 
 The Deuyll is endited. — An. Bal. and Broadsides. 
 
 'Twas a rogue 
 That knew me, and set on by the old Lady ; 
 I'll indite him for it. 
 
 The Night-walker, Fletcher and Shirley. 
 
 He is for this, I hear, indited. 
 
 A Hymne to the Gentle Craft. 
 P 
 
2 26 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Jelous the Jayler bound mee fast. 
 
 To heare the verdite (verdict) of the byll. — Gascoigne. 
 
 Ingitie. Genius, ingenuity. Bailey and Johnson have 
 ingeny in this sense. See engine. 
 If thy master be angry with thee I shall suspect his ingine, 
 
 Ben Jonson. 
 
 Ingle. Fire, fire-place ; ingle-cheek, fireside. 
 
 Ingle, fire or flame. — Grose. 
 
 Engle, or Ingle-viooA. signifies wood for firing. — Percy. 
 But it should rather seem to design a wood in which 
 extraordinary fires were made on particular occasions. 
 Ingleborough has obtained this name ft'om the fires 
 anciently lighted in the beacon erected on its flat top. 
 
 Ritson. 
 
 Ingrate. Ungrateful. 
 
 Perfidious and ingrate! — Pope. 
 
 Yet 'twere ingrate to charge thee with delay. 
 
 Clement Barksdale. 
 
 Integritive. Honest, with integrity. 
 
 Intermingledoms. Entanglements, complications. 
 
 /m/z blackguard. A kind of snuff so called. 
 
 'Tis blackguard I like best ; them brown snuff's ruin the nose 
 entirely. — Lever. 
 
 Pse. I shall or will. 
 I'se try whether your costard or my hallow be the harder. — Shak. 
 Thou'se pay for all. 
 
 I'se teche thee a sluttish coy. — Gammer Gurton's Needle. 
 Pse an honest lad as well as another. — Vanbrugh. 
 He's buy me a white cut, forth for to ride, 
 And I'll go seek him thro' the world that is so wide. 
 
 The Two Noble Kinsmen. 
 
GLOSSARY. 227 
 
 Ither. Other, one another, See anither. 
 
 ]■ 
 
 /ad. Jade ; also a familiar term, among country folks, 
 
 for a giddy young girl ; a for a. as in — 
 
 Mercy on's, a barn ; a very pretty barn ! — Shak. 
 
 This is evidently intended to be pronounced as bant, 
 a granary, and not as bairn, for we find, " he shall lack 
 no barns" (with a quibble), as Douce remarks, — pronoun- 
 cing the two words in the same manner. 
 
 Jade, a young woman ; in irony and slight contempt. — fohnson. 
 
 Let ihejade look to her quarters. — Vanbrugh. 
 
 A sullen jade. — Farquhar. 
 Spoken by two fathers of two daughters, respectable 
 young women. 
 
 Jag. Prick. 
 
 And I saw the jagges turn all to addres, to dragons, and todes^ 
 and many other orrible bestes, sowking hem, and bitying hem. — 
 
 Vision of William Staunton. 
 CMquiier, to cut, gash, jag. — Cotgrave. 
 
 Janwar. January. 
 
 Time sure hath wheel'd about this year, 
 December meeting Janiveer. — Cleveland. 
 The month is Fe'ruar, — Gower. 
 
 Jaiik. To dally at work, to trifle. 
 
 Jauner. Idle talk. 
 
 Jauntie. Dim of jaunt, an excursion. 
 
228 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Jaup. A jerk of water, to jerk as agitated water. 
 
 Jaup, to splash. — HalHwell. 
 
 Jaw. Coarse raillery; to pour out, to spurt, to jerk out, 
 as water. 
 Jaw, the ma\i.\}a. ^Johnson. Jaw, in this sense, naturally came 
 to signify what it gives forth or causes. 
 
 Hod (hold) your jaw ! — Specimen of Durham Language'. 
 Richa}dson. 
 Jaw, coarse idle language. — Var. Dial. HalHwell. 
 
 Jee. To move. This is the word which drivers use 
 when they wish their horses to come more to the left 
 side — that is, nearer. This is the sense in which it is 
 used in " The Vision." See a;ee. 
 
 But change o' place, and change o' folk, 
 May gar thy fancy Jee. — A/iss Blamire. 
 
 le/iny. Dim. of Janet. 
 
 For love of Jenny, that faire bonny bell. — Old Flay. Ritsan. 
 Jenny-wren, a fine song bird. — Bailey. 
 
 Jillet. A jilt, a giddy girl. 
 
 Jill, flirt, a sorry wench, an idle girl. — Bailey. 
 
 I would have you my-selfe, and a strawe for yond Gill. 
 
 Gam. Gurton's Needle. 
 
 Jimp. To juinp, slender in the waist, handsome. 
 
 Jimp, neat, tidy. — Bajnford. 
 
 Jimply. Slenderly, tightly, neatly. 
 
 Jimps. A kind of easy stays, open before, worn by 
 nurses. — Jamieson. 
 
 Jump, a kind of loose or limber stays worn by sickly ladies. 
 
 Tohnson. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 22g 
 
 A weeping Cassock scar'd into a. jump. — Cleveland, 
 
 She scorns the pride of pinching stays ox jumps. — Wolcot. 
 
 Jing. A petty oath. Another form of Jingo. 
 
 One of them, I thought, expressed her sentiments in a very coarse 
 manner when she observed, that, by the \i\mg jingo, she was all of 
 a muck of sweat. — Goldsmith. 
 
 In haste he to the fire applies it, 
 
 And turns it round and round, and eyes it, 
 
 Heigh, yzKgo/ worse than 'twas before. — Fenton. 
 
 Jink. To dodge, to turn a corner ; a sudden turning a 
 corner, to move quickly. 
 
 Jinker. That turns quickly ; a gay sprightly girl, a wag. 
 In prose, jinker has only the first meaning. 
 
 Jirk. A jerk. T for e, as in — 
 
 Thi tixt (text) telleth the nought so. — P. Plowman. 
 
 She hath now caught a thorn 
 She shall nat pull it out this next wike (week). — Chaucer, 
 
 Jirkinet. Dim. of jerkin. " A sort of bodice without 
 whalebone, worn by females as a substitute for stays." 
 
 Jamieson. 
 That women wore jerkins is proved by the following — 
 
 What be they? women? masking in mens weedes? 
 With dutchkin dublets, and with Jerkins jaggde ? 
 They be so sure, even Wo to Men in dede. 
 
 George Gascoigne. 
 Jirt. A jerk. 
 
 Jert, to jerk, to throw a stone by jerking. — Bamford. 
 
 Jo. Sweetheart, joy, delight. 
 
 Jocky my jo. 
 To summond our kynge — why dyd ye so ? — Skelton. 
 
 This shows that, if not an English word, it was at 
 least known in England in Henry VIII.'s time. 
 
230 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Joctehg. A kind of knife. — Burns. A clasp-knife. — 
 
 Scott. 
 Jack-o'-legs, a clasp knife. — Grose. Jack-a-legs. — Pal7?ier. 
 
 Jorum. A drinking vessel, its contents. 
 
 Joram, a large dish or jug of any eatables or liquids. — Var. dial. 
 
 Halliwell. 
 Now, Hark to Winchester ! we'll sing 
 And push about the Jorum. 
 
 The Bishopric Garland. Ritson. 
 
 Jouk. To Stoop, to bend the head, to elude. 
 
 Jook, to crouch suddenly. — Halliwell. 
 
 Jow. A verb which includes both the swinging motion 
 and pealing sound of a large bell. — Bums. 
 And every jow the deid-bell gied 
 
 Cried woe to Barbara Allan. — Percy's Reliques. 
 
 lowler. The name of a hunting dog or beagle. — -John- 
 son. 
 
 It has been lately argued that jowler means a cudgel. 
 If so, it must be a most remarkable one, for Burns 
 speaks of it in his " Address to Beelzebub '' as a fierce 
 growler. 
 
 See him drag his feeble legs about, 
 
 Like hounds ill-coupled ; jowler lugs him still 
 
 Through hedges, ditches, and through all this ill. 
 
 Drydeit. 
 
 It seems to have been a name not only for a kind of 
 dog, but of an individual. 
 
 joular, there boy. Joular, tinker, pedlar, etc. — Vanbrugh. 
 
 Ju7idie. To justle, a push aside. Jamieson seems to 
 think this word is connected with shunt. " Bailey 
 
 mentions shunt as an E. word signifying to shove." 
 
 Jamieson. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 231 
 
 K. 
 
 Kae. A daw. 
 
 Kail. Coleworts, a kind of broth. 
 
 /■Cell, a sort of pottage. — Ainsworth. 
 Cole, keal, or kail, broth. — Grose. 
 
 Sorbition, a supping ; also broth, cale, pottage. — Cotgrave. 
 Mother Jenkinson won't furnish me with cale and bacon on 
 Christmas day. — Swift. 
 
 This bogle was a perfect plague to the servant-girls . . during 
 their absence overturning the /sazV-pot, etc. — Richardson's Table 
 Book. 
 
 Not v/orth a shyttel-cocke, 
 
 Nor worth a soure calstocke. — Skelton. 
 
 Kail-blade. A leaf of colewort. 
 
 Kail-runt. The stem of the colewort. 
 
 Kail-time. Dinner-time. 
 
 "Tis pudding-time, wench, \\i pudding-time. 
 
 A Match at Midnight. 
 
 Kain and ka7ie. Fowls, etc. paid as rent by a farmer. 
 Kain, rent paid in liind. — East. Halliwell, 
 
 It would appear from the following lines that it was 
 something different from rent : — 
 
 And when the tenantes come to paie their quarter's rent, 
 They bring some fowl at Midsummer, a dish of fish in Lent ; 
 At Christmasse a capon, at Michaelmasse a goose. 
 And something else at New-yere's tide, for feare their lease flee 
 loose. — George Gascoigne. 
 
 Kapie. A comb. 
 
 Kame. — Bamford. 
 
232 GLOSSARY. 
 
 And on their, heads with long locks comely kenid. 
 They wore rich mitres. — Spenser. 
 Thou playest the babe, who thinkes his Nurce does him^wrong- 
 when she kernes his hair. — De Mortiay. 
 
 Kebar. A rafter. 
 
 Kebbuck. A cheese. Kebbuck-heel, end of a cheese, a 
 
 large piece. 
 
 The crustie heel of a loaf. — Cotgrave. 
 
 According to Sir W. Scott a kebbuck is not any kind of cheese, 
 but one made with ewe-milk mixed with cow's-milk. — Old Mor- 
 tality. 
 
 Keckle. A laugh ; to laugh, to cackle. E for a. See 
 held. 
 
 If keckle be cackle, as I suppose there is no doubt, the 
 change of a into e rendered the retention of c undesir- 
 able, as the word might have been sounded seckle. 
 
 Keckle, to laugh violently. Yorksh. — Halliwell. 
 
 To prate. — Bamjord. 
 
 «i 
 
 Keek. A peep, .to peep. 
 
 Keikert {oi kiecken, to see), stared. — Bailey. 
 
 Keek, to peep, to look slily. — Halliwell. 
 
 This Nicholas sat ever gaping upright. 
 
 As he had kyked on the newe mone. — Chaucer. 
 
 The Robin came to the wren's nest 
 
 And keeked in. — Nursery Rhymes of England. 
 
 Keekin' glass. A mirror. 
 
 Keel. Red clay. Ruddle for sheep. — Halliwell. 
 
 Kelpie. A sort of mischievous spirit, said to haunt fords 
 and ferries at night, especially in storms. 
 
GLOSSARY. 235 
 
 I lie weltering on the osier'd shore, 
 
 Drown'd by the kelpie's wrath, nor e'er shall see thee more. 
 
 Coliiiis. 
 
 Ken. To know, knowledge, sight. 
 
 They talk of witty conceits, and I ken not what a deal of prittle 
 prattle. — The Muse's Looking-glass. 
 
 For the luf of symple men, 
 
 That strange Inglis cannot ken. — Rob. of Brunne. 
 
 Of whence? I ken not yet, sir. — Fletcher. 
 
 None alive did better ken the secretary's craft— Fuller, 
 
 Within a ken our army lies. — Shak. 
 
 Kennin. A small matter, a little. 
 
 Kennin^ a measure. — Grose. 
 
 By laws made in the time of Rich. I., " when a vessel arrived at 
 her port of discharge, she was to be hauled up on dry ground, the 
 sails taken down, and everything properly stowed away ; and then 
 the master ought to consider an increase of wages ' kenningby kenn- 
 ing.' " — Lindsay's History of Merchant Shipping. 
 
 My friends, I see land ! Pluck iip a good spirit, boys, it is within 
 a kenning. — Rabelais. Moiteux. 
 
 An old kenning Edward Hall gave her 
 Of comforts the choicest and best. 
 
 The Northumberland Garland. Ritson. 
 Even widiin our kenning. — Holland's Pliny. 
 
 Kenspeckle. Well known, easily known, having some 
 peculiarity. 
 
 Ken-specked, marked or branded. — Bailey. 
 
 Kenspeckled, speckled or marked so as to be conspicuous. 
 
 — Halliwell. 
 
 Kep. To catch. 
 
 Kep, to catch a ball. — Grose. To kep a ball, to catch it, or keep 
 it from falling. — Bailey. 
 
2 34 GLOSSARY. 
 
 These sely clerkes rennen up and doun 
 \^\t\ikepe, kepe ; stand, stand ; jossa, warderere,* 
 Ga whistle thou, and I shal kepe him here. — Chancer. 
 
 The editors of Chaucer translate kepe, care, attention, 
 to take care. But the passage will not make sense with 
 any of these meanings. To a Scotsman, it is quite clear, 
 and most graphic. The young men are in chase of their 
 horse, and cry to each other, " Kep ! kep ! " that is, 
 catch or intercept. 
 
 The same meaning with the same spelling is found 
 elsewhere : 
 
 But sune King Edward came full still. 
 When that he trowed no harm him till 
 And kepedhi-ai in the berde. — Minot. 
 
 This schip ful gret waves kepes. E. Metrical Homilies. 
 
 And hastily that lady hende 
 
 Cumand al her men to wende. 
 
 And dight thaim in thair best array. 
 
 To kepe the king that ilk day. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Of suche strokes kepe I no mo. — Rich. C. de Lion. 
 
 The knyght him keped {\A curtaysly. — The Two Dreams. 
 
 Ket. A matted, hairy fleece of wool. 
 
 Kettle. By kettle, which he also calls his "auld mither's 
 pot," Burns means distillation. 
 
 Kiaugh. Carking anxiety. 
 
 Killie. Kilmarnock. 
 
 * Though it is going out of my way, I cannot help saying that it might save 
 -some trouble to students of Chaucer, if, seeing that " Stand, stand Jossa " are 
 spoken to the horse, they assumed that "warderere" is also addressed to him 
 and that it is his name. Who ever tried to catch a horse without calling him 
 by his name, if it was known ? 
 
GLOSSARY. 235 
 
 Kiln. A place for preparing grain for grinding. This 
 word has no right to be put here were it not for the 
 fact that in " Hallowe'en " it is spoken of as an ap- 
 pendage to a farm-house instead of a mill, where, I 
 believe, it is only found at present. In the time of 
 Burns, and considerably later, farmers used to kiln-dry 
 Iheir grain at home and take it to the mill ready for 
 grinding. Ford, in the "Merry Wives of Windsor," is 
 certainly not a miller, and yet his wife bids Falstaff 
 " Creep into the kiln-hole.'' 
 
 Kiln-pat. Kiln-pot, the empty space under the plates, 
 by millers called the kiln-head, on which the grain to 
 be dried is laid. This I take to be Shakspeare's kiln- 
 hole. 
 
 Kilt. To turn up the clothes. 
 
 Kilt, to tuck up the clothes. — Halliwell. 
 
 The work kilt is Gothic, and used in England and the 
 Lowlands of Scotland to designate the peculiar petticoat 
 worn by the Scotch. — Edwards. 
 
 In borrow 'd shoes she's kilted. — Ritson. 
 
 Kimmer. A young girl, a gossip. 
 
 Kin. Kindred. 
 
 Others in their distress do aid implore 
 
 Oi kin and friends (i.e., oi kith and kin). — Fairfax. 
 
 See kith. 
 
 Kill'. Kind, adj. D omitted. See under afiel', and in 
 In the summer they lanced the rine (rind) with a stone. — San- 
 dys's Travels. 
 
 Of exalacion I finde 
 
 Fire kinled of the same Icind. — Gower. 
 
236 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Kind. Kind, sort. The phrase "Of a' kind coin/' 
 meaning, of every kind of coin, has been called a 
 Scotticism, but there is English authority for it. 
 
 Folk was ful fre to fond, 
 
 And brought hem anough to hond 
 
 Of al kines thijig. — Amis and Aviiloiui. 
 Nought for to borwe of him no kyn monay. 
 
 Wright's Chaucer. 
 What kins thing is kind? quod I. — P. Plowman. 
 
 Kind. Nature, in "A woman has't by kind." 
 
 Formed by kind for rape and villany. — Shah. 
 For no man may fordo the law oi kind. — Chaucer. 
 
 King^s hood. A certain part of the entrails of an ox, etc. 
 (from its supposed resemblance to some puckered 
 head-dress formerly worn by persons of rank). — 
 Jamieson. Literally, a covering for a king's head. 
 
 Kintra, kintrie. Country. See Countra. 
 
 Kintra-side. A district. 
 
 Menstrelles, that walken far and wyde, 
 Her and ther in every a syde. 
 
 In mony a dyverse londe. — -Erjiare. 
 The word of hire sprong ful wyde, 
 Fer and ner, bi uche a syde. — The King of Tars. 
 He let cry in every syde, 
 
 Bothe in felde and towne. — The Erie of Tolous. 
 He dwellyd be Kardyfe side. — Sir Cleges. 
 
 Kipper. Salmon cured. A.-S. cypera. 
 
 Kirk. A church. 
 
 The kyng and his knightes to the kirke wente. — P. Plomtnan. 
 
 Sone unto the kirk thai went. — Ywain and Gawaiti. 
 
 And he herd fra his hali kirke mi steuen. — Metrical E. Psalter. 
 
 Kirk-hammer. Tongue of a church-bell. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 237 
 
 Kirn. The harvest supper ; a churn, to churn. Kirn, 
 meaning churn, is a change of k for ch. See birk. 
 Kern. This Northern word is plainly a corruption of corn baby 
 or image, as is the kern supper, of corn supper. In Cornwall 
 people speak of an ill kerned, or saved harvest. — Every Day Book. 
 I should have thought that most certainly kern supper was no 
 more than corn supper, had not (Eugene) Aram asserted that it was 
 called the churn supper because from immemorial times it was cus- 
 tomary to produce in a churn a great quantity of cream, and to 
 circulate it in cups to each of the rustic company, to be eaten with 
 bread. — Brand. 
 
 The word and the thing, it appears, were once known 
 in England. The word, thanks chiefly to Burns, is alive 
 in Scotland, but the "jovial, rantin' kirn" is dead and 
 gone. * 
 
 The Foreman in Nature's shop, the Sune, turned and kerned from 
 water into salt. — Puichai his Pilgrimage. 
 
 Kirsen. To christen. 
 
 *' Kersn or kersen, to christen. — Bamford. 
 
 Are they cursen^d? No, they call them infidels. One good- 
 man Ceasar ketsen^d\ivca. — Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 I cannot tell 
 If mine were kyrsen'd 01 no. — Ben Jonson. 
 This is the time when Kent stands out of Kirsendoni, 
 For he that's king now was never kirsen'd. 
 
 The Mayor of Quinborough. 
 
 Kist. A chest, a shop-counter. 
 
 The word with the latter meaning is, I believe, found 
 only in Burns. 
 
 * In some places there is » mockery kept up and called by the 
 name of kirn, by the harvest workers subscribing each a small sum 
 to pay for a little festival, to which the farmer contributes the loan 
 •of his barn for an evening. 
 
238 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Kyste, a chest, or coffin for the burial of the dead. — Bailey. 
 In a kiste 
 The se her threwe upon the londe. — Gower. 
 
 Fy on the bagges in the kist. — Id. 
 
 "Now, Noe," quod oure lorde, "art thou al redy ? 
 
 Hast thou closed thy kyst with clay alle aboute ? " 
 
 Early S. Alliterative Poems. Morris, 
 
 Kitchen. Any thing eaten with bread, that serves for 
 
 soup, gravy, etc. 
 
 Kitchen, all sorts of eatables, bread only excepted. — Halliwell. 
 
 Neither of these definitions is quite correct. The 
 first errs by defect, for more than bread is the better of 
 kitchen, potatoes, for example, and Burns expressly men- 
 tions parritch as requiring some obsonium, some addition 
 to make " the wale of food " more palatable, and it 
 seems to limit the terms to liquids, whereas it is applied 
 to cheese, butter, fish, and meat. 
 
 Mr. Halliwell's definition, on the other hand, errs by 
 excess, for there are eatables, as already pointed out, 
 besides bread, which are not kitchen. 
 
 Kith. Circle of acquaintance ; neighbours, from kith, a 
 country, a region, which is its primary meaning ; its 
 secondary is people whom we know and to whom we 
 are known ; thus connecting it with kythe, to show. 
 In most of the editions of Burns, kin and kith are 
 
 both rendered kindred. If these words mean the same 
 
 thing, there is a gross tautology in — 
 
 At kith or kin I need na spier. 
 
 This disappears when we translate it — " at relatives or 
 acquaintances or neighbours." 
 
 Thai (the wise men) ferd al sauf in-to thair kyth (country). 
 
 Cursor Miindi. 
 
GLOSSARY. 239 
 
 Kitlle. To tickle ; to excite ; ticklish, likely. In this 
 last sense used by Burns only. 
 Kittle, uncertain, doubtful. — Bailey. Bamford. 
 Kilelung, a tickling. — Bosworth. 
 
 Kittle, to tickle ; kittle weather, ticklish, changeable, or uncer- 
 tain weather. — Grose. 
 
 It stands kittle, i.e., ticklishly, ready to fall. — Thoresby. 
 This done, 
 His hittling eyes begin to run 
 Quite through the table, 
 
 i.e., seeking something to eat or drink. 
 
 Kittling here may mean kitten. If so, it should be 
 placed under the next word. But I think it means 
 tickling, itching, covetous, like the " itching palm " of 
 Cassius. A young cat's eyes would be out of proportion 
 to the rest of the body of a creature who quenched his 
 thirst on — 
 
 "A chrystal pearl of infant dew 
 Brought and besweetened in a blew 
 And pregnant violet,'' and whose buskins were made 
 "Of the cow-lady's coral wing." — Oberoii's Feast, 
 
 Kittlin. A kitten. 
 
 Out kitlings ! what caterwauling's here ? — Fletcher. 
 Look for her money, you killing. — Swift. 
 Yet can thy humble roof maintain a quire 
 
 Of singing crickets by the fire ; 
 And the brisk mouse may feed herself with crumbs, 
 
 Till the green-eyed killing comes. — fferricli's Hesperides^ 
 When the females have brought them their kitlins, they etc. — 
 
 Littlehury'' s Herodotus. 
 
 Kiuttle. To cuddle, to fondle, to court. 
 Knaggie. Knaggy, knotty, rugged. 
 
240 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Knap. To break. X«a///«-hammer, a hammer for 
 breaking stones. 
 Knap, to snap or break asunder. — Bailey. 
 
 He thought to give Guy a knap. — Guy of Warwick. 
 
 I would she were as lying a gossip as ever knapt ginger. — SAak. 
 
 He breaketh the bow and 'knapfeth the spear in sunder. 
 
 Ps. xlvi. of English Prayer-book Versioti. 
 
 Kiiock. In " But every shot and every knock" it means 
 every stroke of the frame, technically called a lay, 
 which drives home the weft. 
 
 Knots. Mystic knots play an important part in the 
 history of witchcraft. Most readers will remember — 
 
 O wha has loosed the nine vritch knots. 
 That were among that ladye's locks ? 
 
 Minstrelsy of the Scot. Border. 
 
 The harmless knot-grass from its knots was supposed to 
 have some thing of the witch-knot character about it, — 
 You minimus of hitid'ring knot-grass made. — Shak. 
 Middleton, in a passage which can hardly be quoted 
 entire, speaks of the power of knots, — 
 
 So sure into what house these are convey'd, 
 
 Knit with these charms, and with retentive knots, etc. 
 
 2I1& Witch. 
 
 Knowe. A small round hillock, a knoll. For omission 
 of / see under a'. 
 
 Knowe, a knoll, a hillock. KnoTiie-\iA\, near Rochdale. — Bamford. 
 It stands on a knowle. — Evelyn. 
 In the lower grove as on the rising knowle. — Drayton. 
 
 Knurl. A dwarf. 
 
 Knurl, a knot in timber. — Bailey. 
 Knurrs, knots, warts on trees. — Bamford. 
 
GLOSSARY. 241 
 
 Knor, or knurer, a short, stubbed, dwarfish man ; a metaphor 
 from a, knot in a tree. In the South we use the diminutive knurle 
 in the same sense. — Grose. 
 
 There shall be no tr^e, how hard and knurry howsoever, but 
 therein we shall write her name. — Shelton's Don Quixote, 1620. 
 
 Knurlin. Dim. oi Knurl. 
 
 Kye. Cows. 
 Kye, kine. — Bailey. 
 
 More meet it were for them to milke kye at a fieyke. — Little John 
 Nobody. 
 
 Flesh meat I saw never, 
 But milk of the kye.— The King and the Hermit. 
 
 , Also the good yeman. 
 
 Some tyme in this realme (pronounced ream, as in "Wo is 
 
 tlie Ream," £. Plowman), 
 Had plenty of kye and cream. — Vox Populi, Vox Dei. 
 
 Kyle. A district of Ayrshire. 
 
 Kyle Stewart. The district between the rivers Ayr and 
 Irvine. 
 
 Kyte. The belly. 
 Kite, belly. — Bailey. 
 
 Kythe. To discover, to show one's self. 
 Kythe, to show, to make known, to discover. — Bailey. 
 For but Christ upon thee miracle kythe, 
 Withouten gilt thou schalt be slayu as swithe. — Chaucer. 
 
 She kitheth what she is. — Id. 
 
 Than hast thou the fairest chance 
 
 That ever yet had any knight 
 
 That theddur came to kythe his might. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Pure to the pure, froward thou kyth'st 
 Unto the froward wight. — Psalm xviii., 
 Q 
 
242 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Rous's version, commonly, but erroneously, called the 
 Scotch version, for, it may be a matter of regret or other- 
 wise, neither Scotland's Confession of Faith nor her 
 Psalter is of home growth. 
 
 In a letter to Mrs. Dunlop, Burns, speaking of print- 
 ing poetry, says, " As to the punctuation, the printers do 
 that themselves." He evidently acted on this opinion, 
 and his printers did his punctuation, and after an extra- 
 ordinary fashion, for very few books have been so 
 wretchedly punctuated as the first and second editions 
 of his poems. Indeed, the most of the editors of his 
 works seem to have thought that even his, or his printer's, 
 commas were stamped with his genius, and refused to 
 touch them, and they still remain to disfigure and render 
 almost unintelligible some of his finest passages. Take, 
 for example, the lines in which the word kythe, which 
 has led to this digression, occurs. They look like a 
 conundrum : 
 
 Their faces blithe, fu' sweetly kythe, 
 Hearts leal, an' warm, an' kin'. 
 
 These words, if read as they are pointed, are impossible 
 to be understood; but take out the unnecessary commas, 
 and as soon as the meaning of the words is known, the 
 sense is obvious — " Their cheerful faces show that their 
 hearts are loyal, warm, and kind." The expression is 
 very much the same as Chaucer's 
 
 His malice in his chere was kidde. — Rom. of the Rose. 
 
 Labour. To work. 
 
 In " The Inventory " it means " make to work." 
 According to Cunningham, it signifies thrash, i.e., beat. 
 
GLOSSARY. 243 
 
 I put in this word, which is E. even in Cunningham's 
 sense, as may be seen from Dryden's couplet quoted by 
 Johnson — 
 
 Take, Shepherd, take a plant of stubborn oak 
 And labour him with many a sturdy stroke, 
 
 to protest against the implication that Burns and, of 
 course, other Ayrshire farmers, were in the habit of in- 
 flicting corporal punishment on their servants, or they 
 of submitting to it. Honest Allan has libelled both 
 parties. The thing is, and was, utterly unknown. Think 
 of the cottar of the Saturday Night asking his " elder 
 bairns at service out amang the farmers roun'," if their 
 masters had beaten them often since they were last at 
 home, and charging them to take the labouring patiently ! 
 Labour, in "The Auld Farmer's Address," has the 
 special meaning oi ploughing. 
 
 Laddie. Dim, of lad. 
 
 Lade. A load. A for 0. See under bane. 
 
 To Lade, to load. — Bailey. 
 
 And they laded Haevc asses with corn. — Genesis, xlii. 26. 
 
 They laded them with such things as were necessary. — Bunyan. 
 
 Lag. Sluggish, slow ; to move slowly or delay, as in — 
 
 It only lags the fatal hour. 
 Some tardy cripple had the countermand 
 That came too lag to see him buried. — Shak. 
 Behind her far away a dwarf did lag. — Spenser. 
 
 Laggen. The angle between the side and the bottom of 
 a wooden dish. 
 
 Laggen, as above. — Halliivell. Laggins, staves of a tub. 
 
 Bamford. 
 
 Laigh, Low. A laigh house, a house of one story. 
 
244 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Lair. To wade and sink in snow, mud, etc. 
 Lare, a quagmire. — Grose. 
 Lairing, walking through mire, etc. — Halliwell. 
 
 The Shad and Tweaf do rather like the laire 
 Of brackish waves where it doth ebb and flow. 
 
 Secrets of Angling. Beloe. 
 
 Laird. Owner of land or houses. 
 
 But, an' your turns be serv'd, the devil a bit you care for a man 
 after, e'er a laird oi yov.. — Ben Jonson. 
 
 And lard and ladie gang till kirk. — Warner. 
 
 The laird of Bukcleugh is not forfeited. — Sir C. Dacre to Lord 
 Dacre. 
 
 LMith. Loath. 
 
 For to gif dome them is fall lath. — Sir Penny. 
 
 He was a lathly creature. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Series, madam, that es me lathe. — Id. 
 
 The pouer said, layth thine me 
 
 To selle Goddess charite. — E. Metrical Homilies. 
 
 He riped amang the wormes lathe. — Id. 
 
 Laithfii. Bashful, sheepish. Laith and/u'. 
 
 Lallan. Lowland. A for o, as in aff. 
 
 Lallans. Scotch dialect. 
 
 Lambie. Dim. of lamb. 
 
 Jjimpit. A kind of shell-fish, a limpet. 
 
 Lan\ Land, estate. For omission of d see afiel . 
 
 Lan'-afore. The foremost horse, when there are four, on 
 the left side of the plough ; the foremost horse not in 
 the furrow. Lan' and afore. 
 
 Lan'-ahin. The horse behind the laii-afore. Lan^ and 
 ahin. 
 
GLOSSARY. 245 
 
 Lan'-loufer. A vagabond. Lan' and loup. Shakespeare 
 has land-raker with the same meaning. Land-loper. 
 A vagabond. — Bailey. 
 Villotier, a vagabond, land-loper. — Cotgrave. 
 
 Let mariners learn astronomy ; land-leapers geography. 
 
 Anat. of Melancholy. 
 The materials of this journal have laid by me several years, ex- 
 pecting that some land-loper would have done it more methodically. 
 
 Journal of Charles Wolley. 
 
 Lane. Lone, alone; my lane, thy lane, &c., myself 
 alone, thyself alone, &c. The use of a for has been 
 shown to be common to E. and S. authors, but I sus- 
 pect that my lone is not to be found among the writings 
 of the former. 
 
 Lanely. Lonely. 
 
 Lang. Long ; to think long, to long, to weary. 
 
 His spear he sticked, it vi^as so lang. — Sir Eger, Sir Graham, 
 
 and Sir Grey Steel. 
 Lunger there noght he durst bide. — L. Minot. 
 His lange heer ykempt behyn' his bak. — Chaucer. 
 Lene he was also lang. — The Seven Sages. 
 Do me have him here in my sight. 
 Me langes sar him to se. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Lang hame. Long home, the grave. 
 
 Man goeth to his long home. — Ec. xii. j. 
 
 This hand hath sent some to their long home. — Butler. 
 
 Lang-kail. Coleworts boiled and eaten with meat. 
 Lang, i.e., unshorn and kail. 
 
 Lap. Did leap : past tense of leap. 
 Lap, leapt, vaulted. — Halliwell, 
 
246 GLOSSARY. 
 
 The mayde stout and gay 
 
 Lep on her palfray. — Lybeaus Disconus. 
 
 She lep on hyr palfray, 
 
 And bad hem all have good day. — Launfal. 
 
 Lassie. Dim. of lass. 
 
 She cares not for her daddy, nor 
 She cares not for her mammy, for 
 
 She is, she is, she is 
 My lord of Lowgrove's lassy. — Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 
 Diminutives like lassy are not very numerous in Eng- 
 lish. Here are two others from the same authors : 
 Begone, begone, my juggy, ray puggy, 
 Begone, my love, my dear. 
 Ay, little Larky! vjfhat's the reason. 
 Singing thus in winter season? — Clare. 
 
 Last day. Yesterday. 
 
 A willow garland thou didst send 
 Perfumed, last day, to me. — Herrick. 
 Last day, yesterday. — West. Halliwell. 
 He saluted me last day. — Marston. 
 
 My lords, last day our state was much impair'd. 
 Our friends were slain, kill'd were our soldiers bold. 
 
 Fairfax. 
 
 Lave. The rest, the remainder. 
 The lave, all the rest. — Bailey. 
 Lave, the remainder or leaving. — Grose. 
 And last of all among the lave 
 
 King James himself to death was wrought. 
 
 Battle of Flodden. 
 Of doughty knights the lusty lave. — Id. 
 
 Laverock. The lark. 
 
 Here see a blackbird feed her young. 
 
 Or a leverock build her nest. — Jsaak Walt07i, 
 
GLOSSARY. 247 
 
 She made many a wonder soune (sound), 
 
 Sometime lich unto the cock. 
 
 Sometime unto the laverock. — Gower. 
 
 The gaynty /avyroc/s. — Christmas Carol. Brand. 
 
 Law. To rule, determine, in "Let inclination law 
 that." 
 
 Law. Low. Also, a hill, as in — 
 
 The ship rides by the Berwick-Zaze'. — My Bonnie Mary. 
 
 For to delight each one they draw, 
 
 That haunt this work both hie and law. — Chaucer. 
 
 Ful law he lay and likked his fete. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Now er we hegh, now er we lawe. — Pricke of Conscience. 
 
 Measure is a meane, nother to hy nor to lawe. — Skelton. 
 
 Lawlan'. Lowland. Law and land. 
 
 Lay. Ground unplowed ; more frequently and more 
 properly written lea.^l'ohnson. 
 
 Fayre fields and pleasant layes there been. — Spencer. 
 
 A tuft of daisies on a flowery lay 
 
 They saw. — Dry den. 
 
 And bad hym hold hym at home, and eryen his leyes. 
 
 P. Plowman. 
 
 Lay. To charge, to impute, in — "I'll lay my deid," i.e., 
 I'll impute my death. 
 
 Lea'e. To leave. For elision of v, see under ca' and gie. 
 
 Leal. Loyal, true, faithful. 
 
 Tenants by Knights' service were wont to swear to their Lord to 
 be Feal and Leal, i.e., faithful and loyal. — Bailey. 
 
 Disleal knight. — Spenser. 
 
 His mone, that was gude and lele, ' 
 
 Left in Braband ful mekill dele. — L. Minot, 
 
248 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Thou shalt find me true and leal. — Sir Amadas. 
 To love me leelly. — P. Plowman. 
 
 Lear, pronounce lare. Learning. 
 
 I did thee lear 
 A lore repugnant to thy father's faith. — Fah-fax. 
 He was invulnerable made by Magicke lair. — Spenser. 
 Vif thou wilt leve (believe) upon my lare. 
 
 Amis and Amiloun. 
 And thi lare in end me righted al. — Metrical E. Psalter. 
 
 Lea-rig. Grassy ridge : unploughed field. Lea and rig. 
 
 Learn. To teach. 
 
 Lerne me my crede. — P. Ploughman's Crede. 
 Hast thou not learned me 
 How to make perfumes ? — Shak. 
 
 Lee. A lie. 
 
 Seyde the emperour, "Dame, that ys leesse." 
 
 Octovian Imperator. 
 I woU ou (you) tell thing not lees. — King Robert of Sicily. 
 The emerayles dowghter of hethenes 
 Made this cloth withouten lees. — Emare. 
 
 They wente, and alle was founde les. — Gower. 
 To tamen him withouten lees. — Chaucer. 
 
 Lee-lang. Live-long. Lee may seem a long way from 
 live, but live was sometimes written leve as in 
 Chaucer's — 
 
 Thus may we both leve. 
 Then v was omitted as in lea'e for leave, loe for love. 
 O, where have you ridden this lee-lang day ? 
 
 BeWs An. Songs and Poems, 
 
GLOSSARY. 249 
 
 Leesome. Pleasant, happy, gladsome (lovesome).* Lee 
 in leesome,Xi^e^ le in leman, is a contraction or corrup- 
 tion of love through the forms lief, lefe, leve, and loe. 
 
 With lossum cheer she on me lough. — Old Song. Ritson. 
 
 So God me helpe at my nede, 
 
 Unlossum is that Kynrede. — King AKsaunder. 
 
 They are with God toth lefe arid dear. — Roh. of Brunne. 
 
 Leeniiti. Living. 
 
 Leeze me. A phrase of congratulatory endearment. — 
 Burns. I prefer deriving it from leif dear, agreeable ; 
 q. "leif is to me," literally "dear is to mz."—Jamieson. 
 If Jamieson's derivation is the right one, leeze is con- 
 nected with leesome. But does leeze me not rather 
 signify, "I praise, commend, or take pleasure in? 
 Commend me to the ploughman," and — 
 
 Of a' the thoughtless sons of man, 
 Commend me to the Bardie clan. 
 
 i.e., " I praise the ploughman and poets." The mean- 
 ing in both passages would be the same if instead of 
 commend we read leeze, '^ leeze me on the plough- 
 man," etc., and " Leeze me on thee John Barleycorn" 
 would have the same meaning, though it would spoil 
 the rhythm, if it were written'" Commend me to thee," 
 etc. If this is the meaning of leeze it is an English 
 
 * The definition here given is proper in most cases, but I SUspect that in— 
 O, gear will buy me rigs 0' Ian, 
 
 And gear will buy me sheep and kye ; 
 But the tender heart o' leesome love, 
 The gowd and siller canna buy, 
 it means lawful, Lefulior lawful is often found in E. authors, and the follow- 
 ing will show that in Scotland the word meant lawful : — " It shall be leisum to 
 all persons to apprehend any vagabonds who shall be found begging." — Act 
 Mngwiratef of Rdinhvrgh, 168^. 
 
2 so GLOSSARY. 
 
 word, derived probably from A. -Sax. les or less, favour, 
 comfort, happiness. 
 
 Mickle she desireth to show her body. 
 
 Her faire hair, her face rody, 
 
 To have lees (commendation, EUis,) and all praising. 
 
 The Life of Alexander, quoted by Ellis. 
 
 In Weber's " King Alisaunder " los is put instead of 
 lees, but this is the same as praising, and ElHs's reading 
 is not so obviously tautological. 
 
 If I herde of thinges straunge, 
 
 Yet for a time it shulde chaunge 
 
 My peine and lisse (ease or please) me somedele. — Cower. 
 
 Thou might thy time lisse. — lb. 
 
 Leister. A three-pronged fork for sticking fish. 
 
 Leister, a kind of trident used in the North of England for stick- 
 ing fish. — Halliwell. 
 
 Salmons shall leave their cover void of fear, 
 Nor dread the thievish net or triple spear. — Gay. 
 
 Gay was a Devonshire man, and as in his native county 
 they had the thing, it is likely that the name also was 
 known, but in his day to use a common name for any 
 thing for which a poetical periphrasis could be found, 
 was considered prosaic, and he had to employ a substi- 
 tute. 
 
 Len\ To lend. 
 
 For hys luf that lens us life, 
 
 Gif me my right withouten strife. — Ywain and Ga7vain. 
 Fetel (vessel) will I nan &k thee. — E. Metrical Homilies. 
 And yf thou have nede of ony more, 
 More shall I len thee. — H. Hood. 
 
 Leugh. Did laugh. 
 
 The lough this Pandarus. — Chaucer. 
 
 " Ough ! " quoth Otuel and lough. — Sir Otuel. 
 
GLOSSARY. 251 
 
 When Robin had told his tale, 
 
 He leugh and made good cheer. — R. Hood. 
 They leugh, and said it was good sport. 
 
 The Northumberland Garland. RUson. 
 
 Leuk and luke. A look, to look. Eu for 00. See under 
 beuk. 
 
 He luked up unto the toure 
 
 And saw the lady, white so flowre. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Full earnestful luikedhee. — Bell's Anc. Poems and Songs. 
 
 Makes the peur man 
 
 Leuk on mony an unkend face. — The Northumb. Car. 
 
 Lib. To geld. 
 
 Neither grow there any (horns) if they (stags) had none before 
 they were libbed. — Philemon Holland. 
 
 But now who pares his nails, or libs his swine, 
 But he must first take counsel of the sign (the stars) ? 
 
 Bishop Hall. 
 
 Lick. To beat, to vanquish, a blow. Lick, to beat. — 
 
 Grose. Bamford. 
 
 Johnson says it is a low word, but quotes the follow- 
 ing:— 
 
 He turned upon me as round as a chased boar and gave me a 
 lick across the face. — Dryden. 
 
 Suppose I've a mind he should drub. 
 
 Whose bones are they, sir, he's to lick ? — Fielding. 
 
 Lie. To stay all night, to sleep. 
 
 To my Lord Sandwich's lodgings ; who is come hither to lie. 
 
 Pepys. 
 
 Does he lie at the Garter ? — Shak. 
 
 Lieve. Willingly, dear. 
 
 I had as lieve the town-crier had spoke my lines. — Shak. 
 Tell hit me, 
 As thou wilt to me lefht. — The Seven Sages. 
 
252 GLOSSARY. 
 
 A wel fair feste thai made thare, 
 O frendes that hem leve ware. — Id. 
 
 Lift. The sky. 
 
 The galey yede as swift 
 
 As any fowle by the lyfte. — R. C. de Lyon. 
 
 Betwix the lift an the erth it glade, 
 
 Swa fair a stern was never made. — Cursor Mundi. 
 
 Nis there hawk no fowl so swift 
 
 Better fleeing by the lift 
 
 Than the monkes.— 7%^ Land of Cockayne. 
 
 Lift. A portion, as much as a man may lift, in — 
 Gie me o' wit and sense a lift. 
 Lift in Scotland denotes a load or snrcharge of any thing.— yo/4«- 
 son. Jamieson. 
 
 Off gold well twenty mennys lyffle 
 
 Were layd on mule and rabyte. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
 In the following passages of Burns and Ramsay, lift 
 seems to mean a drain or drawing off— 
 To gie the jars and barrels 
 
 A lift that day.— 77/£ Holy Fair. 
 And lent her fresh nine-gallon trees (barrels) 
 
 A hearty lift. — Lucky Woods Elegy. 
 In Scotland if one is disguised in liquor they say, He has got a 
 great lift. —Johnson. / 
 
 Lightly. Sneeringly, to depreciate. Adverb used as a 
 verb in — 
 
 And whiles ye may lightly my beauty a wee. 
 
 Like. To please. 
 
 In the sense in which Burns uses it in " He rises when 
 he likes himsel'," this verb is, as Johnson says, now ob- 
 solete. It was once common. 
 
 It lykes me 
 
 To suffer for the, — Skelton, 
 
gLossarV. 2S3 
 
 His countenance likes me not, — Shak. 
 
 I can find no company that likes me. — Fletcher. 
 
 It liketh hem to be dene in body and gost. — Chaucer. 
 
 Where likes me best I can command. — Milton. 
 
 Lilt. A ballad, a tune, to sing. 
 
 It does not seem ever to have been used in this sense 
 in England. Halliwell says : — " Lilt, to jerk or spring ; 
 to do anything cleverly or quickly " ; and Bamford — 
 " Lilt, to walk quickly, lightly," and in addition " Liltin, 
 dancing, moving with a jaunty air." 
 
 Is litling, explained " very little " by Tyrwhitt, not a 
 misprint for lilting i 
 
 And many a floyte (flute) and litling home. 
 
 Book of Fame, Bk. III., v. 133. 
 
 Lilting horn would be Gray's " echoing horn " and the 
 " cheerful horn " of other poets. There is or was the 
 word litling, but it meant making little, rather than very 
 little. 
 
 Limb. A leg, in — 
 
 And there I left for witness an arm and a limh. 
 
 Limbie. Dim. of limb. 
 
 Limmer. A kept mistress, a strumpet. 
 Foul limmer, dretty lown ! — Ben Jonson. 
 
 The limmer thieves of Liddesdale. 
 
 The Fray of Hautwessell, 
 I asked one lad, a lymere, 
 " Say, fellow, who shall hunt here ? " — Chaucer. 
 
 Here limmer is applied to a man, apparently one 
 who led a limer, or dog. Tyrwhitt says a bloodhound. 
 
 There overtook I a great rout 
 Of hunters and eke forresters, 
 And many relaies and timers. 
 
 The Beoke of the Dutchesse. 
 
2 54 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Limmer, a mongrel.— /ff/^«J»«. A mongrel iog.— Bailey. 
 
 This is the meaning of limmer, and, like other opprob- 
 rious words taken from the canine race, was applied to 
 male and female indifferently. It is now confined, when 
 used, which I believe it seldom is, to the latter. 
 
 Lingo. Language. 
 
 I have thoughts to learn somewhat of your lingo before I cross- 
 
 the sea. — Congreve. 
 I understand no lingo but my mother-tongue. — Don Quixote. 
 
 Link. To trip along, to walk smartly. 
 
 Link, to walk quickly. — Halliwell. 
 
 Linn. A waterfall. 
 
 Lin, a pool, a cascade, a precipice. — Halliwell. 
 
 The first sense is the only one I have found in E. 
 authors. 
 
 Tivy Cometh down from the capacious lin. — Drayton. 
 
 Lint. Flax. Lint, the substance commonly called flax. 
 
 Johnson. 
 
 Lint in the bell. Flax in flower. 
 
 Bell is used for any thing in the form of a bell, as the cups of 
 ?iO'^&xi.— Johnson. 
 
 Where the bee sucks, there suck I. 
 
 In the cowslips bell I lie. — Shak. 
 
 Her apron dy'd in grain, as blue, I trowe. 
 
 As is the hsas-bell that adorns the field. — Shenstone. 
 
 With her snowy bells the lily of the vale. — Hurdis. 
 
 Lintwhite. A linnet ; of the colour of flax. 
 Lint'cuhite, a lark. — Suffolk. Halliwell. 
 As an adjective it is a compound like lily-white. 
 Lylie-whyt hue (she) is. — Wrighfs Specimens of Lyric Poetry. 
 
GLOSSARY. 255 
 
 Lintie. A linnet. 
 Lippen. To rely upon. 
 
 Liffen, to trust, or rely upon. — Bailey. Lippin, to expect. 
 
 Lipptn, to expect, to rely, to trust to, or place confidence in. 
 
 Halliwdl. 
 
 Lippie. Dim. of lip. 
 
 Yive-day long. Live-long day. A curious illustration of 
 the straits to which even such a master of rhythm and 
 rhyme as Burns may be reduced. 
 
 Loan, loanin'. The place of milking. A place now un- 
 known, as the milking is done in-doors. 
 Yy-loan, a word used to call cows home to be milked. — Grose. 
 Lone, a lane. — Bamford. 
 
 Lurkede thorw lones tologged of Monye. — P. Plowman. 
 When my father was dying, the brag was heard coming up the 
 lonin like a coach and six, . . and then went down the lonin. 
 
 Sharp's Bishopric Garland. 
 The fiend gae down the loaning ^'Ca. her. — The Northumb. Gar- 
 land. Ritson. 
 
 Loe. To love. For elision of -v see under ca' and gie. 
 That was a lustie melodie. 
 Whan every man with other low. — Gower. 
 
 Ldesome. Lovable, lovely. See lo^e and leesome. 
 A lovesome lady bright ! — Chaucer, 
 Her lovesum eighen, her rode so bright. — Lay le Frein, 
 A generous bottle, and a lovesome she 
 Are th' only joys in nature next to thee. — Otway. 
 With lossum eis grete and gode. — The earliest love-song known 
 
 to Warton. 
 
256 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Loof. The pahn of the hand, plural, looves according to 
 Burns, but generally loofs'ox lufes. 
 The lufe, the open hand. — Bailey. Grose. 
 
 Loot. Did let. 
 
 Leet, to let. — Bamford. 
 
 Death came driving after, 
 And all to duste perished ; 
 He loot no man stand. 
 
 Dr. Mackay quotes this as from P. Plowman. I have 
 not seen it in any edition that has come under my notice. 
 
 Losh. Rustic exclamation. 
 
 Lough. A loch or lake. 
 
 The Mukel lauande leghe to the lyfte rered. — Alliterative Poems, 
 
 A people 
 
 Whom Ireland sent from loughs and forests hoar. — Fairfax. 
 
 Loun. A fellow, a ragamuffin, a woman of easy virtue. 
 
 Loon, an idle, lazy, good-for-nothing fellow. — Bailey. 
 We should have both, lord and lown. — Shak. 
 My son's slain, he is falling to swoon, 
 And it's all for the sake of an English loon (womah). 
 
 Belts An. Poems and Songs. 
 
 Loup. To jump, to leap. 
 
 To loup or laup, to leap. — Ttwresby. 
 
 Thus even on hem I wait and hope, 
 
 Till I may se hem lepe a lope. — Gower. 
 
 For loupe he so lightly laughen he wolde. — P. Plowman. 
 
 Then play our casts among the whipstea-s. 
 
 Throw for the hammer, lowp for slippers. 
 
 A Joes-Serious Discourse, Land., 1686. 
 
 He loop yn haste on his palftay. — Octovian Tmperafor. 
 
.GLOSSARY. 257 
 
 Louper. Leaper. See lan'-louper. It may be as well 
 to mention that the wojd loup, lope, means to run as 
 well as to leap. 
 
 Lowe. A flame, to flame. Lowin, buriyng, rather 
 blazing. 
 
 Low-bell, flame and he^,— Johnson. 
 
 The rising and falling of the cords at which the low-bells were 
 hanged ceased not. — Shellon's Don Quixotte. 
 
 Of lightnes sal you se a lowe. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 The dewle hym 
 Born (burn) on a lowe. — Sir C leges. 
 The breath of his mouth that outblow 
 As it had been a fire on low — Sir Degorl. 
 
 I hope I have not a shadow of the feeling which 
 animated Ritson when he had occasion to speak of 
 "Mister Ellis," as he always called the celebrated liter- 
 ary antiquary, when I say that I believe he is wrong in 
 explaining low, " a small hill or eminence." The body of 
 the dragon, the breath of whose mouth is spoken of, was 
 " like a wine tun,'' which would be a very Small hill, and 
 a lowing or blazing fire is a common expression. 
 
 Lowrie. Abbreviation of Lawrence 
 Do ye hear that, Lory ? — Vanbrugh. 
 
 Lorry has a light heart. — Sterne. 
 The priest Lowry was suddenly taken.— ^(;«?-«a/ of George Fox. 
 
 Lowriis burn. The river St. Lawrence. 
 
 Lowse. To loose. 
 
 And he being with me at supper, the horses of his company brak 
 lowse. — Surrey to Henry VJII. 
 
 And whan the hors was laus he gan to gon 
 
 Toward the fen. — Chaucer. 
 
2S8 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Then they lowsyd hur feyre faxe (hair).— Z« Bone Flo. of Rome. 
 Louse me out of bond. — Tale of Gamelyn. 
 
 Lucerne. A lamp (Ital. lucerna), but Burns, in a letter to 
 Nicol, 2oth Feb., 1792, uses it for a dim window. 
 
 With Marione clarione, sol, lucerne. — Skelton. 
 
 Luck-penny. Discount, a small sum returned to the 
 payer of the amount agreed on at a sale. 
 
 Luck-penny, a small sum of money returned to the purchaser for 
 luck. — Halliwell. 
 
 Come, strike me luck with earnest, and draw the writings. 
 There's &god's-penny for thee. — Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 
 Both the god's-penny and the luck-penny refer to the 
 belief that it was necessary to the fortunate result of a 
 bargain that money should be returned, but to this 
 Burns's use of the word luck-penny does not apply. He 
 must allude to some present that he had received from 
 Mrs. Dunlop on occasion of his marriage, or entering on 
 his farm, when he says to her, " I am indeed seriously 
 angry with you at the quantum of your luck-penny." If 
 this is correct, luck-penny is, I believe, used in an uncom- 
 mon sense. 
 
 Lucky. An elderly woman; generally, I believe, a 
 woman in some kind of business, a keeper of a shop, 
 tavern, &c. 
 
 Lug. The ear, a handle. At the lug o\ near. 
 
 With hair in characters and luggs in text. — Cleveland. 
 I shrewe thy Scottish lugges. — Skelton. 
 Le mol d' oreille, the lug, or list of the ear. — Cotgrave. 
 They fanged the remnant of his lugs — Epitaph on Prynne. 
 I would take thee such a woundy cut on this spectacle-bearing htg 
 of thine. — Rabelais. Motteux. 
 
GLOSSARY. 259 
 
 Lugget. (Lit. eared), having a handle. 
 
 Luggie. A small wooden dish with a handle. — Burns. 
 
 The luggie is not a very small dish, as it is the milking 
 pail, and must be large enough to hold, if not the milk 
 of " twal-pint Hawkie," at least that of an ordinary cow. 
 It is of cooper's work, and the lug or handle from which 
 it takes its name is one of the staves standing above the 
 rest. If Jamieson had remembered this he would not 
 have said that the handle of a dish was called a lug only 
 when it "projected from the side," i.e., stood at right 
 angles to it as the handle of a caup does. 
 
 Lum. The chimney. 
 Lum, a cottage chimney. — Halliwell. 
 
 Lume. A loom, tool, instrument, utensil. 
 
 This word is used in all these senses in various parts 
 of Scotland, but I think is seldom heard in Ayrshire, ex- 
 cept to denote a weaving-machine. 
 Loom, any tool or utensil. — Bailey. Johnson. 
 I ha' that wark on hand, 
 That web upon the luime will gar them think. — Ben Johnson. 
 
 Lunardi. A name given to a fashion of lady's bonnet 
 from Lunardi, the celebrated aeronant, as explained 
 by Burns in a note. He was not the only poet who 
 rhymed of the fashion. 
 
 Great is the world's inconstancy. . . 
 Fame, like the ocean ebbs as well as flows ; 
 Next year the million pitches on a ruff, 
 A halloon-cap, a shawl, a muff. — Dr. Wolcot. 
 
 Lunch. A large piece of cheese, flesh, &c. 
 
 It is applied to any thing edible, though the poet's de- 
 finition seems to restrict it to kitchen. That he did not in- 
 
2 6o GLOSSARY. 
 
 tend it to do so his own words show : — " And cheese, 
 and bread was dealt about in lunches" — The Holy Fair. 
 Limch, as much food as one's hand can \\a\ii.,— Johnson, 
 who brackets it with luncheon, and quotes a passage from 
 Gay, in which luncheon is used as lunch is employed by 
 Burns : — 
 
 When hungry thou stood'st staring like an oaf, 
 I sliced the luncheon from the barley loaf. 
 
 Luncheon, a large lamp of food. — Halliwell. 
 
 A huge lunshin of bread, a large piece. — Thoresby, 
 
 Lunt A column of smoke, to smoke. 
 
 Lunt, the matchcord with which guns are BxeA.— Johnson. 
 
 Lupjien. Leaped ; participle of loup. 
 
 Luve. Love. 
 
 Though a single line would serve my purpose, I cannot 
 resist the temptation to insert the following passage de- 
 scriptive of the last scene of the Deluge : — 
 
 Bi that the flod to her (their) fete floghed and waxed, 
 Then uche a segge (man) segh wel that synk hym byhoved ; 
 Frendez fellen in-fere and fathmed (embraced) togeder. 
 To drygh (dree) her delful deystyne, and dyghen alle samen ; 
 Luf(\oYs) lokez to lufzxA his leve takez, 
 For to ende alle at onez and for ever twynne. 
 
 Morris's Early English Alliterative Poems. 
 
 Yette hard y never no mon speyke, 
 
 That so mykyll of my luffe myght geyt. — Sir Amadas. 
 
 Luver. Lover. 
 
 Lyart. Of a mixed colour, grey. 
 
 Hard, mingled toan.^/ohnson. 
 
 That was wel twight, min own Hard boy (grey horse). 
 
 Chaucer, 
 Thou shall sporeles o' thy lyard. 
 
 Richard of Almayne. Percys Reliques. 
 
GLOSSARY. 261 
 
 M. 
 
 Mae. More. 
 
 Na ma sal wit hot we. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 The mone and steraes mani ma. — Metrical E. Psalter. 
 
 Magnum-Bonum. Double-sized bottle, containing two 
 English quarts. 
 
 Two bottles in one are excellent fun, 
 
 So waiter, a magnum of claret. — Hor. in London. 
 
 Mahoun. Satan. 
 
 He defy'd Mahounde and Apolyne, 
 Jubiter, Astarot, and Alcoran also. 
 
 The Sowdon of Balylone. 
 Many Sarezyn hadden her fyn. 
 
 And wenten to Mahoun and Apolyne. — R. C. de Lion. 
 The Christians in the crusades were accustomed to hear the Sara- 
 cens swear by their prophet Mahomet ; which thence became for 
 Europeans another name for the devil. — Warton. 
 
 It is however likely that Burns got the word from 
 Dunbar's " Daunce " — 
 
 But yet luche nevir Mahoun. 
 Mailen. A farm. 
 
 Maling Comes from mail, in consequence of rents being originally 
 paid in mails or bags. — Sir John Sinclair. 
 
 Jamieson is decided against this theory, but notwith- 
 standing all that has been said in opposition to it, it 
 seems the most plausible that has been suggested. Sir 
 Walter Scott seems to favour it. He says, '■'■Mail, pay- 
 able rent." * 
 
 '^Mailejiy however, it must be confessed, did not always mean a farm for 
 which rent was paid ; — 
 
 A well-stocked maitent himsel for the laird— L/Usi May a Braw IVooer, 
 
262 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Mainers. Manners. , Long for short a, as in — 
 It were in sothe a maner ydylnesse. — Lydgale. 
 And when this tnaister saw it was time. — Chaucer. 
 
 Mair. More. 
 
 For, sooth, thou seest me never mair. — Morte Arthur. 
 Both to lesse and eke to mare. — Chaucer. 
 A mare payne couthe no man in hert cast. — P. of Conscience. 
 I wot he might not draw a sword 
 
 For forty days and mair. — R. Hood. 
 
 Maist. Most. 
 
 Ilkon played the gamen he couth, 
 
 And maste had used in his youth. — Rob. de Brunne. 
 
 Thou Bethleem Juda, 
 Thof thou be noght the maste cite. — Cursor Mundi. 
 
 Mak. To make, to make much of, be kind to, to court. 
 
 Fok had wonder that nature 
 
 Myght mak so foule a creature. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Welcum alle and mak good chere. — Christmas Carol. Ritson. 
 
 See, Lucius, how much she makes of thee. — Shak. 
 
 'Tis not enough that I love thee. 
 
 But sometimes thou must make of me. — The Wife's Answer. 
 
 I am Lyberte, m.ade of in every nacyon. — Skelton. 
 
 Mallie. Molly, Mary. 
 
 Mall, contraction of Mary. — Bailey. Mali, Mary. — Bamford. 
 Three large sowes had she, and no mo ; 
 Three kine and eke a sheep that hight Malle. — Chaucer. 
 Sweet Mall. — Sir John Harrington to his Wife. 
 I hope my Lord Arran has toulde your Majestie that I did mean 
 to wene Mall very shortly. — Duchess of Buckingham to J. 1. 
 
 Mammie, and mammy. Mother. 
 
 By saynt Mary, my lady, your mammy and your dady 
 
 Brought forth a godely babi ! — Skelton. 
 
glossary; 263 
 
 Mang. Among. See amang. 
 
 Manor. An E. word, but used by Burns to signify farm. 
 
 Manse. A parsonage house.— Johnson. 
 
 In " The Holy Fair '' manse means a living, a benefice, 
 and raises the question, " How could an unbeneficed, 
 and of course unordained, man be there ? " 
 
 Manteele. A mantle. 
 
 They sawe nothynge but mantels of grene. — R. Hood. 
 Mantellis, robes and pavelounes. — Geste of Alexander. 
 In hys mantyll that is so fyne. — Ipomydon. 
 She ne had on but a straite old sacke, 
 And many a cloute on it there stacke, 
 This was her cote, and her mantele, 
 No more was there never a dele 
 To cloath her with. — Chaucer. 
 
 Mark, merk. Marks. This, and several other nouns 
 which in English require an s to form the plural, are 
 in Scotch like the words sheep, deer, the same in 
 both numbers. — Burns. 
 
 This is not peculiar to the Scottish language. Many 
 words are by English writers employed as Burns used 
 mark, this very word being so treated. 
 His benefice worthe ten pounde. 
 Or skante worthe twenty marke. — Skelton. 
 Sixe mark yerely and no more but that. — Occleve. 
 Give me the pencil whose amazing style, 
 Makes a bird's beak appear at twenty mile. — Dr. Wolcot. 
 Or, in pure equity the case not clear, 
 The chancery takes your rents for twenty _j/ear. — Pofe. 
 
 Marled. Variegated, speckled, of mingled colours. 
 The lanners and the marlyons (merlins) 
 Shall stand in their morning (mourning) gowns. — Skelton, 
 
264 GLOSSARY 
 
 There was . . the merlion that peineth 
 Himself full oft the larke for to %e&e..— Chaucer. 
 
 Jamieson has not suggested a derivation for this word 
 which Burns seems to have learned from Mrs. Scott, as 
 he never used it except in reply to her letter. Can it be 
 derived from merlin, merlen, marlyoii, or merlion, or 
 their common source merula ? The French have two 
 adjectives, emerillone and merle, apparently from this 
 root, and there was once, as we learn from Cotgrave, 
 " A fashion of light gowne or mantle for the summer 
 called Marlotte." Whether this word was any relation 
 of merula or of the Scotch marie I cannot say. 
 
 Mar's year. The rebellion, a.d. i 7 i 5. So named from 
 the Earl of Mar. 
 
 Mashlum. Meslin, mixed corn. — Burns. It is, or was, 
 a mixture of oats and pease ; a superior kind, of later 
 introduction, had wheat instead of oats. Sh for s, see 
 fleesh. 
 
 Meslin, which Burns uses to explain mashlum, now 
 stands, for most people, as much in need of explanation 
 as the word which it is meant to interpret, though it is 
 in Johnson. It is fi:om the same root as mell, to mix, or 
 mingle. 
 Masslin, wheat and rye mixed. — Cotgrave. 
 Mang corn, mixed corn, masting . — Bailey. 
 
 And wing'd purveyors his sharp hunger fed. 
 With frugal scraps of flesh and maslin bread. 
 
 Harte quoted by Johnson, 
 
 The word meslin allures me to the insertion of the 
 following passage, and to a short digression : — 
 He was of old Pythagoras' opinion, 
 That green cheese was most wholesome with an onion ; 
 
GLOSSARY. 265 
 
 Coarse mesHn bread, and for his daily swig, 
 Milk, butter-milk, and water, whey and whig ; 
 Sometimes methiglin, and by fortune happy, 
 He sometimes sipped a cup of ale most nappy, 
 
 /o/m Taylor On Old Parr. 
 
 It will be seen from this extract that whig is not a 
 Scotch word, and that it is neither milk nor whey. The 
 word, except in its political sense, has apparently died out, 
 but I once heard a moorland farmer's wife say when her 
 buttermilk began to ferment and cast up this substance, 
 "The milk's whigging." Wodrow, Defoe, and others 
 speak of it as having been drunk by the Cameronians in 
 the time of the Persecution. Evidence of this is want- 
 ing ; but if the poor people did drink this nasty stuff — 
 and surely they first drank the milk — it could hardly 
 have been worth the notice of the historian seeing that 
 it was not uncommon for people in England to quench 
 their thirst with it before the Cameronians came into 
 existence, for Old Parr died in 1635, and the poem from 
 which I have made a quotation must have been written 
 about that time; and Breton, who died in 1624, says in 
 his " Farewell to Town,"— 
 
 With leeks and onions, whig and whey, 
 I must content me as I may. 
 
 Scotland has often been taunted with her poverty, and 
 some of her singing birds, like Breton, have often had 
 difficulty enough to get a living ; but there is no record 
 of any of them being reduced to wet their whistle with 
 so thin a potation as whig. Indeed, I question very 
 much if ever there were a Scotsman who voluntarily, 
 even in his greatest need, swallowed a tea-spoonful of it. 
 
 Mask. To mash, as malt, etc., to infuse. 
 k, to infuse, — Grose, 
 
266 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Maskin-pat. A tea-pot. 
 
 Maud. A grey chequered plaid. 
 Maud, a plaid worn by Cheviot shepherds. — HaUiwell. 
 
 Maukin. A hare. Another form of Malkm, a dim. of 
 Mary. See under a'. 
 
 The severity of the game laws led people to speak of 
 protected animals under ambiguous names. Thus the 
 hare was maukin, baud, Wat, Mally, etc. 
 
 Malkin was a cat — " I come, Grimalkin,'' Shak. — ^a 
 cat was puss, puss was applied to the hare, and maukin 
 naturally followed. 
 
 He swore that Maulken to her cost, etc. — Vanbrugh. 
 Thou took'st me up at every word I spoke, 
 As I had been a Maukin. — Fletcher. 
 Maukin, cor. of Magdalen. — Weber. 
 
 Maun. Must. 
 
 Thou men be dede, es noght to laine 
 For my lord that thou has slayne. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 To me all prynces to lowte man be sene. — Skelton. 
 For dole now I mun dye. — Sir Cauline. 
 A gentleman mun show himself like a gentleman. — Ben Jonson. 
 And thou mun be ful fayn may fall 
 On knees for to serve tham all. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Maunna. Must not. Maun and na. 
 
 Maut. Malt. See under a\ 
 
 The churche-wardes of every parish provide halfe a score or 
 twenty quarters of mault. — Anaiomie of Abuses. 
 
 O you ale-knights, you that devoure the marrowe of the mault, 
 drinke whole ale- tubs into consumption. — Jacke of Dover. Ritson, 
 
 Mavis. The thrush, 
 
GLOSSARY. 267 
 
 I put in this word because Burns has it in his glossary, 
 and to show that all Englishmen did not think the mavis 
 was the thrush, as is shown by — 
 
 The Thrush replies, the Mavis descant sings. — Spenser. 
 
 Maw. Mow. Mawn, mowed. Aw for ow, as in — 
 
 He hadde more taive (tow) on his distaf 
 
 Than Gerveis knew. — Chaucer. 
 
 But some than sat ryght sad 
 
 That nothynge had 
 
 There of theyr awne (own). — Skelton. 
 
 Mawn. A basket. 
 Maund, a Hamper or Basket with handles. — Bailey. 
 
 A thousand favours from a maund ^^ drew. — ShaTi. 
 
 Behold, for us the naked graces stay 
 
 With maunds of roses, for to strew the way. — Herrick. 
 
 Maybe. Perhaps. 
 May-be. Perhaps. Var. dial. — Halliwell. 
 
 Meere. A mare. 
 
 That on was a mere lyke, 
 
 The other a colt, a noble stede. — R. C. de Lion. 
 In a tabbard he rood upon a mere. — Chaucer. 
 Forthledand hai to meres ma. — Met. E. Psalter. 
 
 Meg. Dimin. of Margaret. 
 Meg, some wine ! — Fletcher. 
 But to our business, Meg. — A New Way to Pay Old Debts. 
 
 Meikle. Much. 
 
 Mekyll sm I made of nowe-a-days. — Skelton. 
 To sleep would mickle grieve me. — Fletcher. 
 The one ne'er got me credit, the other mickle blame. 
 
 Shak. 
 
268 GLOSSARY. 
 
 " I sey for me," quod the mouse, " I se so mykel after. 
 Shall never the cat ne the kitoun bi mi conseille be greved." 
 
 P. Plowman. 
 
 Melancholious. Mournful. 
 
 This is a regularly formed English word like melo- 
 dious, harmonious, etc., but like Milton's thunderous and 
 inquisitorious, Warner's hospitalious, and others, it has 
 not been admitted to the rank of a dictionary word. 
 
 He was a fumisshe man and malencolyous. — Froiisart. 
 I am so malencolious. — Gower. 
 Henry VII., having some thoughts of marrying the widovir ot 
 King Ferdinand of Naples, sent me to see what she was like. . 
 To report whether her visage was sharp or round, fat or lean, pleas- 
 and or amiable and malencolyous.— Bacon. 
 
 The uncleane spirits made the melancholious man flye out of the 
 houses, and to live in the graves. — The Four Degenerate Sons. 
 
 Melder. As much corn as is sent at one time to be 
 milled or ground. 
 
 Melder, a kiln-full of oats, as many as are dried at one time for 
 meal. — Grose. 
 
 We come nearer to Burns's fnelder and melvie, if we 
 remember that mill and its compounds were formerly 
 spelled with e instead of i. 
 
 A melle he had of gret maystry. — R. C. de Lion. 
 Munde the mellere, and many moo other. — P. Plowman. 
 Upon the whiche brook ther stont a }nelle. — Chaucer. 
 
 Mell. A mallet. 
 
 Mell, a wooden mallet or beetle. — Bailey. Grose. 
 Some made a mell of massy lead. 
 With leaden mells and lances strong. 
 
 E. Ballad of Flodden Field. 
 Knocking-?«f//, a large wooden hammer used for bruising barley. 
 
 Halliwell. 
 
GLOSSARY. 269 
 
 Mell. To meddle, to mix. 
 
 Men are to mell with. — Shak. 
 
 With his Prowess Policy can mell. — Sylvester. 
 
 Old Dan Geffrey durst not with it mell. — Spenser. 
 
 Such is the luck that some men get, while they begin to mell 
 
 In setting at one such as were out. — Gammer Gurion's Needle. 
 
 Mellow. In liquor. 
 
 Did not some mild-beer Bellman tag the metre ? 
 
 If so, I pray, invite the honest fellow, 
 
 Let him partake the praise and make him mellow. 
 
 Samuel Richardson. 
 This honest weaver 
 Being a little mellow in his ale . . sprung his neck 
 
 Beaum. and Fletcher. 
 In the morning when sober, in the evening when mellow. 
 
 The Old Man's Song. 
 
 Meltie. To soil with meal. 
 
 I do not know anything of the v in this word, nor have 
 I met with any attempt to account for it. If it had not 
 been printed more than once under the poet's superin- 
 tendence, it might have been supposed a mistake for z, 
 which occurs frequently, as in falzie, to fail, plenzie, to 
 complain, sonzie, to excuse, &c. 
 Their apprentices are fain to meal their faces. — R. Hood. 
 He thought he had done them wrong in mealing their clothes. 
 
 Montaigne by Peter Coste. 
 Were he meaVd 
 With that which he corrects, then were he tyrannous. 
 
 Shak. Meas, for Measure. 
 
 Burns's melvie seems nearer Shakspeare's meaVd than 
 Dyce's "mingled, compounded." 
 
 Memento mori. Remember death. 
 
2)0 GLOSSARY. 
 
 I make as good use of it as many a man doth of a death's head, 
 or a memento mori. — Shak. 
 
 Men\ To mend. For omission of d see afield. 
 
 The amense (amends) therof is far to call agayne. — Skelton. 
 
 Mense. Good manners, decorum. 
 
 Menseful, comely, graceful, crediting, or giving reputation to a 
 man.— ^aj'&y. 
 
 Mense, decency, credit. — Grose. Mensful, neat and clean. — 
 Thoresby. 
 
 Or efter werdes mense and miht, 
 
 That geres foles fal in pliht. — E. Metrical Homilies. Small. 
 Never a soul had the mense to come near them. — The Northumb, 
 Garland. 
 
 Served he wes with menske and mirthe. — Amis and Amiloun. 
 
 Menseless. Ill-bred, rude, impudent, wanting mense. 
 Skelton has demensy for want of mense. 
 
 Merle. Generally said to be the blackbird. I doubt if 
 this was so at one time. Ramsay says, " merle, a mer- 
 lin, a bird." 
 Upon his dulcet pipe the merle doth only play. — Drayton. 
 
 Mess. Mass. Mess John, a priest. 
 
 Here messe and here matynes. — P. Plowman. 
 By the messe, I shall cleve thy head.— Skelton. 
 The highe messe was ydone. — Chaucer. 
 
 Messin. A small dog, a cur. 
 
 He was, notwithstanding his uttermost endeavours to free him- 
 self from all untoward noises, surrounded with the barking of curs, 
 bawling of mastiffs, snarling oimessins, &c. — Rabelais. Pantagruel. 
 
 Middin. A dunghill. 
 
 Midding, a 6m\0n\\.— Bailey. Ainsworth. Middin.— Bam- 
 ford. Midden. — Grose. 
 
GLOSSARY. 271 
 
 It made a noise like a bull stuck fast in a muck-middin. — 
 Bairnslea FoaKs Annual. 
 
 A fouler myddyng saw thou never nane 
 
 Than a man is, with flesche and bane. — P. of Conscience. 
 
 Midden-creels. Dung-baskets, panniers in which dung 
 was carried on horseback. Things not in use for a 
 century. I do not believe that Burns ever saw them 
 in operation unless in the Highlands. 
 
 Midden-hole. A gutter at the bottom of the dunghill. — 
 Burns. Rather, as Jamieson gives it, "a hole or 
 small pool beside a dunghill, in which the filthy water 
 stands." This, too, is now nearly, if not altogether, 
 unknown. 
 
 Midge. A gnat. 
 
 Midge, a gnat. — Bailey. Johnson. 
 
 Where the viidge dare not venture, 
 
 Lest herself fast she lay : 
 If love come he will enter, 
 % And soon find out his way. 
 
 Love will find out the way : Ritson, 
 
 Milkin-shiel. A place for milking cows or ewes. See 
 shiel. 
 
 Mill. SnufF-box. See sneeshin-mill. 
 
 Mim. Prim, afifectedly meek. 
 
 Mifn, primly silent. — Halliwell. Mimp, precise. — Bamford. 
 Thow mihtest beter meten the Myst on Malverne hilles, 
 Than geten a Mom of heore Mouth till Moneye weore schewed. 
 
 P. Plowman. 
 I gat not a mum of his mouth for my meed. — Lydgate. 
 
 Mim-mou'd. Speaking precisely. Mim and mou. 
 
2'J2 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Min'. Mind, remembrance. 
 There is nothynge done in any place, but and he set his myne 
 
 thereto he will kndwe it. — Fnissart. 
 
 This writte was gett fra kin to kin, 
 
 That best it couth to haf in min. — Cursor Mundi. 
 
 Minawa and minawae. A minuet. 
 
 Mind. To resolve, to intend, to remember, to remind. 
 
 I mind (resolve or intend) to keep thi league that stands between 
 us. — Q. Elizabeth. 
 
 ! now it mindeth me (I remember) that you was one who saw 
 this man elsewhere. — Ibid. 
 
 What is man that thou mines of him ? — Metrical E. Psalter. 
 Which booke I minde also to publish. — Spenser. 
 
 1 need not mind your ladyship how God hath measured outward 
 happiness to you. — Fuller. 
 
 Minnnie. Mother, dam. 
 
 Minny, mother. — Halliwell. 
 
 Mirk. Dark. 
 
 A shadow blacker than the mirkest night. — Fairfax. 
 
 Through mirksome aire her ready way she makes. — Spenser. 
 
 Dancing in mirky night, o'er fen and lake 
 
 He glows. — Collins. 
 
 Mirke watres that ware of hewe. — Metrical E. Psalter. 
 
 Misca'. Miscall, to abuse, to call names. See ca'. 
 
 My heart will sigh when I miscall it so. — Shak. 
 
 Mischanter. An accident, misadventure. Mis and 
 auntre, as in 
 
 Of atmtres that han befelle, 
 I can sum telle. — Sir Orpneo. 
 To the chapell dore he yode 
 
 Mo anters for to here. — Sir Amadas. 
 
■GLOSSARY. 273 
 
 Gef ye meteth the traitour robbour, 
 
 Geveth (give) him messantottre. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Messantoure was doubtless pronounced misshanter, 
 for ss in old authors is often used for sh, e.g.: — 
 
 How longe ssoUe (shall) her luther heved above her ssoldres 
 (shoulders) be? — Robert of Gloucester. 
 
 A thouzend dyvelen ssel (shall) come. — Dan Michel of Northgate. 
 The unright ido to poueremen to such mesaunture turnde. 
 
 Rob. of Gloucester. 
 
 Mislear'd. Mischievous, unmannerly. Literally mis- 
 taught. Mis and lear. 
 Mislering, misteaching. — Weber. 
 
 Traitour, thi schal be quit thi mede ! 
 
 For mi sones mislering. 
 
 Ye schuUe habbe evil ending ! — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Miss. A lewd woman, a kept mistress. 
 
 I had restor'd his fame and bliss 
 Long since, but that he keeps a Miss. — Amherst. 
 She was taken to be the Earle of Oxford's Misse (as at this time 
 they began to call lewd women). — Evelyn. 
 
 That which was reported with the boldest confidence was that I 
 had my misses.— John Bunyan. 
 
 Misteuk. Misteuk. Eu for 00; see under beuk. 
 They tuik our naigs. — Richardsott. 
 He had the letter by the noke. 
 To the erle he it tuke. — MS. quoted by Halliwell. 
 
 Mither. Mother. / for ; see anither. 
 
 I knaw thee. Jack ! mind an I doont tell thee mither. 
 
 Specimens of Durham Language. 
 
 Mixtie-maxtie. Confusedly mixed. 
 
 The effects . . detraction mixty-maxty, etc. — Coleridge. 
 Mish-mash, a mingle, a hotch-potch. ^^a/wMow. 
 S 
 
2^4 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Moistify. To moisten. 
 
 I have not met with this word, probably the poet's own 
 coinage, and hardly could a word be found better fitted 
 to the place it fills, but similar words are found, e.g., 
 cripplefied occurs in '' The Death of Robert Earl of 
 Huntingdon," and Spenser has — 
 
 Whilest she did weepe of no man mercifide,- 
 
 They flatter the devil here and smoothify his name. — Motteux. 
 
 The land was moysied ynih blood. — Maundeville, 
 
 Art thou one of those wha aim to be ladyfied? — Massinger. 
 
 Mom Meg. A cannon in Edinburgh Castle. 
 
 Mony or Monte. Many. 
 
 There he dwelled moni a day. — Ipoytndon. 
 
 He sent him to London with mony armed groom. 
 
 Old E. Ballad. 
 Sorwes in Englelond were wel mony-va\&Q. —R. of Glou. 
 Wikked gostes, I wote, fro helle, 
 So mony that no tonge mygte telle. — Owayn Miles. 
 Off our folk they schotte monye. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
 Mools. Earth, mould. 
 
 Mullock, dirt, rubbish. — Bamford. 
 
 The mullok on an hepe yswSped was. — Chaucer, 
 Let us not moulen thus in idlenesse. — lb. 
 The other cofre of straw and viull 
 He fild also. — Gower. 
 
 And sithen was Gamelyn graven under vioolde. 
 
 Tale of Gamelyn, 
 Show plainly how the pre-existent soul 
 Enacts and enters bodies here below, 
 And then entire unhurt can leave the moul. 
 And thence her airy vehicle can draw. — Z>r. Henry More. 
 
GLOSSARY. 275 
 
 Moony. Moon-struck, lunatic. Johnson has the word 
 but not in this sense. . 
 
 The moony nights call forth fierce lovers. — Herrick. 
 
 ' Moop. To nibble as a sheep. 
 
 Moorlan'. Of or belonging to moors. 
 
 Morn. The next day, to-morrow. 
 Then swere Garcy 
 That he wolde brenne all Rome with fyre, 
 
 On the morne yf that he myght. — Le Bone Florence of Rome. 
 
 I have made vowes fourty and forgete hem on the morne. 
 
 P. Plowman, 
 Opon the morn 
 
 He went to selce that lady bright. — The Seven Sages. 
 On the morn, when it was day, 
 The messenger went on his way. — Emare. 
 
 Mottie. Dusty, full of motes. 
 
 Mou. The mouth. 
 Mow, the mouth. — Bailey. Hone. Mow, wry raQn!Ca..^Johnson. 
 Such beauty as the fair princess 
 
 Is not for a tyrant's mow.—R. Hood. 
 Then laugheth she and maketh him the mow. 
 
 Chaucer. 
 
 Moudiewort, or modework.. A mole. Mould, i.e., earth 
 
 and work. 
 
 Mowdywarp, a mole. — Bamford. Moudy-rat, a mole ; moudy- 
 hill, a mole-hill. — Halliwell. 
 
 Mousie. Dim. of mouse. 
 
 Muckle. Great, big, much. Another spelling of meikle 
 and mickle. 
 
 Their practices were such 
 
 That they wrought muckle woe. — R. Hood. 
 
276 GLOSSARY. 
 
 The mukel lauande loghe to the lyfte rered. 
 
 Early E. Alliterative Poems. 
 
 Muckle house. Parliament. 
 
 Muir. A moor. U for 00, as in beuk, but muir and 
 moor are pronounced alike. 
 
 Mutiny Begum. Used by Burns for Indian. 
 
 Mwmy Begum was a woman appointed by Warren 
 Hastings, guardian of the young Nawab, or Nabob, of 
 Bengal. 
 
 That Hastings, Munny Begum, Scott, must fall. 
 
 And Pitt, and Jenkinson, and Leadenhall. — The Rolliad. 
 
 Dames in India, christen'd Munny Begum, — Wolcot. 
 
 Musie. Dim. of Muse. 
 
 Muslin-kail. Broth composed simply of water, shelled 
 barley, and greens, i.e., vegetables. See mashlum. 
 
 Muslin-kail is exactly what is described as the food of the Eng. 
 lish peasant at one time: "wortes flechles wrought," vegetables 
 cooked without meat. — Peres the Ploughman's Crede. Skeat. 
 
 Mutchkin. An English pint. 
 
 MyseV. Myself. 
 
 I'll fetch yon pedlars back mysell — Sir Aiidrew Barton. 
 
 Mystic tie, mystic word and grip. The secrets of Free- 
 masonry. 
 
 N. 
 Na. No, not, nor. 
 
 Na, no. — Bailey. 
 
 But yet, na fors, al sal be for the hzsi.— Chaucer. 
 
GLOSSARY. 277 
 
 To speke of luf na time was than. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 Naw, naw, tha was not born then. — Tennyson's Northern 
 Farmer. 
 
 Nae. No, not any. There is a difference between na 
 and nae, but I think it is little attended to except in one 
 case, that of the adverb of refusal or denial which to a 
 Scotsman is always na, never, nae. 
 
 They found hardy men who went nae foot back for them. — Surrey 
 to Cardinal Wolsey. 
 
 Ne his name knew she na thing. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Naething, or naithing. Nothing. Nae and thing. 
 
 Naig. A horse. A for a. See under shaird. 
 
 They were a comical sort of people, riding upon negs, as they 
 called their small horses. — North's Life of Lord- Keeper Guilford. 
 They tuik our naigs. 
 And left us eke an empty byre. — Richardson. 
 
 Naigie. Dim. of naig. 
 
 Nane. None. 
 
 Swlk saw I never nane. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Latyn als, I trow, canne nane. 
 
 But those that it of scole have tane. — Pricke of Conscience. 
 
 Ne of thaire wisdom, o nane wise, 
 
 Wil I mak no mar marchandise. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Nappy. Ale, strong, tasty. 
 
 He'll swear by the nappy. 
 That man who'd be happy 
 
 Must be drunk from the womb to the grave. 
 
 The Artful Husbana. 
 
 When I my thresher heard 
 With tiappy beer I to the barn repair'd. — Gay. 
 If his head be hard-braced with nappie ale. 
 
 Old Meg of Herefordshire, 
 
278 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Natch. A YioXch.—Jamieson. As Burns uses it I should 
 rather think it was something fitted to make a notch, — 
 a large needle perhaps. 
 
 Near hand. Nearly. Johnson has near hand, but with 
 a different meaning. 
 
 I have been watchman in this wood 
 Near hand this twenty year, — R. Hood. 
 Bifor hym sone thai come ilk ane, 
 Nerhand ni!A.t& and wobigane. — Launfal. 
 
 Neck-bane. Neck. Neck and bane. 
 
 And right so als he stouped down, 
 
 Syr Vwain with his brand was boun. 
 
 And strake his nek-bane right in sonder. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Beware, and kepe thy nekke-bone from yren. — Chaucer. 
 
 Neebor. A neighbour. 
 
 Now neybors and kynnesmen lete us forth go. 
 
 Ancient Mysteries. 
 But inwardly he chawed his owne maw 
 At neihors welth that made him ever sad. — Spenser, 
 When you would sneeze, straite turne yourselfe unto your neibours 
 face. — The School of Slovenrie. 
 
 And, sone, yf thou wylt lyf at ese, 
 And warme among thy neybours sit. 
 
 How the Wise Man taught his Son. 
 
 Ne'er-do-weel. One never likely to do well. See weel. 
 
 Negleckit. Neglected. See disrespeckit. 
 
 Neist. Next. 
 
 Neist, or niest, i.e., nighest, superlative of nie, a com- 
 mon form of nigh, is really — but for the rule that, what- 
 ever is, is right in language — the correct though not the 
 
GLOSSARY. 279 
 
 fashionable spelling of next, x having come into use, 
 
 among other purposes, as a substitute for ^ and es, e.g., — 
 
 Till "thow lixfe" (liest), and "thow lixte" lopen out at ones. 
 
 — P. Plowman. 
 Daries blod thou art next, 
 
 Wyght and gentil, y-bore hext (highest). — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 And thanne neste (next) 
 He hath eke foure upon his breste. — Gower. 
 Nest the rote growand, 
 
 Es the heved with nek folowand. — P. of Conscience. 
 Melchior him com thair neist. — Cursor Mundi. 
 The following shows the word in a transition state, 
 the old spelling being retained, but the new pronun- 
 ciation adopted : — 
 
 Yet some hold opinyon, all is well with the highest ; 
 They are in good saftie when freedome is niest. 
 
 A Newe Well a Daye. 
 
 Neuk. Nook. Eu for 00. See under beuk. 
 Where saw you her ? I' the chimney neuk within. — B. Jonson. 
 
 New-cdd. Newly calved. See under cd. 
 
 New Light. Newly introduced doctrines at variance 
 
 with those of the Church of Scotland. 
 
 This New-light was very different from that of Butler's 
 Ralph. The witty poet of Charles the Second's day 
 ridicules the New-light of his time, the Ayrshire bard 
 rather patronized that of his. 
 
 Some call it gifts, and some New-light. — Hudibras. 
 
 Nick. A name for the devil. Nickie-ben, the same. 
 
 Nickie is a familiar name for Nick, but what ben is I 
 have never heard any body attempt to explain, nor can 
 I guess, unless we may suppose that as ben is sometimes 
 used to express intimacy, the poet had wrought himself 
 
•28o GLOSSARY. 
 
 up to a kind of liking for the patriarch, as I have more 
 than once heard him called, and had something of the 
 feeling of the old Scottish minister who, after hearing a 
 young man preach, criticised his pronunciation thus : — 
 " Ye said devil, but I wadna say't that way. I aye say 
 deevil, its mair kindly like." 
 
 Nick Machiavel had ne'er a trick 
 
 Though he gave name to our Old Nick. — Butler. 
 
 Nobody now-a-days needs to be told that Butler is 
 wrong. 
 
 Nick. A notch cut into something. Crummies nicks, 
 
 natural notches on cows' horns. 
 
 In his curious letter to Nicol, Burns uses nick for 
 notch. 
 
 Nick. To cut. 
 
 Nick is used by E. writers to signify to cut into, but- 
 Burns employs it to mean to cut through, as in — 
 Sin I began to nick the thread. 
 
 Death and Dr. Hornbook. 
 
 In one passage of Butler it seems to mean cut 
 through — 
 
 For he had drawn your ears before, 
 And nick'd them on the self-same score. 
 
 ffudibras. 
 
 Nieve. The fist. 
 
 I wu'not, my good two-penny rascal ; reach me thy neif.—Ben 
 fonson. 
 
 I kiss thy neif. — Shak. 
 And yet the thefe, or he wolde leeve, 
 He put the hafte in Florence neeve, 
 For she schulde have the wyte. 
 
 Le Bone Florence of Home. 
 Neive, neife, a {is.t,— Bailey. Neyve, a griped ^A.—Bamford, 
 
GLOSSARY. 281 
 
 Nievefu'. A handful. 
 
 Niffer. An exchange, to exchange, to barter. 
 To pass from one neive to znoihsx.—Jamieson, 
 
 Niger. A negro. 
 
 Nines. To the nines, to perfection. 
 
 Nine appears to have been a favourite number. We 
 still speak of a nine days' wonder. The Romans had 
 their novendiales feriae, or nine expiatory days, and 
 Shakespeare makes his witches speak as if they con- 
 sidered their circUng nine times perfected their rites — 
 
 The weird sisters, hand in hand, 
 
 Posters of the sea and land, 
 
 Thus do go about, about ; 
 
 Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine, 
 
 And thrice again, to make up nine : 
 
 Peace ! the charm's wound up. — Macbeth. 
 
 Nine-tailed-cat. A hangman's whip. 
 
 Cai 0' nine tails, a whip with nine lashes, used for the punish- 
 ment of cximes.^/ohnson. 
 
 You dread reformers of an impious age. 
 
 You awful cat 0' nine tails to the stage. 
 
 This once be just, and in our cause engage. — Vanbrugh. 
 
 Fine chains for the neck, and ^ cat with nine tails. 
 
 — Coivper. 
 
 Nipperkin. A small tankard or drinking-cup ; a measure. 
 
 We'll drink it out of the nipperkin, boys. 
 
 The Barley Mow Song. 
 On one hand was to be seen a long train of flagons, nifferkins, 
 etc. — Rabelais, 
 
 Nit. A nut. T for u. See under bizz. 
 
 No. Not, as in — 
 
 this is no mine ain lassie. 
 
282 GLOSSARY. 
 
 If there were of my degree 
 
 That wolde sain it was no right. — Cower. 
 
 Thou art y-falle in hond myne, 
 
 Th6 to solace, and no pyne. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 And round about the valley as ye passe, 
 
 Ye may no see, for peeping flowres, the grasse. 
 
 G. Peek, 1584. 
 
 Nob. The head, knob. 
 
 Nature so slighting the poor Royal nob, 
 
 As if she bargained for it by the job. — Wolcot. 
 
 Nocht. Nothing. 
 
 Gef thou art rich and wel ytold (spoken of), 
 Ne be thou noht tharefore to bold. 
 
 Proverbs of Hendyng. 
 To noght es lede lither in his sight. 
 
 Metrical E. Psalter. 
 
 Noosing. In the " Ode sacred to the Memory of Mrs. 
 Oswald," noosing probably means tying tightly, though 
 some think it means nousel, to nurse. Either signifi- 
 cation makes sense of — ^ 
 
 Noosing with care a bursting purse. 
 
 O impe of darkness, and seed of the deuyll ! 
 
 Born to all wickednesse, and nusled in all evyll. 
 
 NeT.u Custom. 
 
 Nor. Though, than. 
 
 A man should love his wife better nor his father. — The Four 
 Degenerate Sons. 
 
 Norland. Of or belonging to the north. 
 
 Nor-west. North is frequently contracted to nor, when 
 joined to other words, as, Norman, Norfolk, Norwich, 
 etc. It is sonetimes found even alone so contracted. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 283 
 
 The storm's on wing comes powdering from the Nore.- 
 'Tis past the Alps already, and whirls forward 
 To th' Appenines. — Brutus of Alba. 
 
 Note. A bank-note for a guinea. 
 
 Some of these notes seem to be still in existence. 
 The Glasgow Weekly Herald, of Oct. 11, 1884, says, in 
 answer to a correspondent, " Supposing the guinea bank 
 note to be genuine, it is worth 21s." 
 
 With not a single note the purse supply. — Crabbe. 
 
 Nowte. Black cattle. 
 Nowte, neat cattle. — Grose. 
 
 They brought also ccc nowt and Ix horse. — Duke of Northu?nher- 
 land to Henry VIII. 
 
 All that ever was his and mine, 
 Horse and nowt, and sheep and swine, 
 
 Away they drove and bare. — Sir Amadas. 
 
 o 
 
 Och 1 and och-hey. Oh ! 
 
 Och hon ! och-rie ! Alas ! 
 
 But by the way repeated the och-hones 
 
 Of his wild Irish and chromatic tones. — Butler. 
 
 Oh, hone ! oh, hone I — Beaumont aud Fletcher. 
 
 The frier then, that treacherous knave, with ough ough-hone 
 
 lament 
 To see his cousin Devill's son to have so foul a shent. 
 
 Derrick. Sir W. Scott. 
 
 Hone occurs in the old English romance of Ywain and 
 Gawain. Ritson and Halliwell think it means shame ; 
 the latter adds mockery ; Jamieson says it is delay. It 
 may be worth a little examination, 
 
284 GLOSSARY. 
 
 The two knights, as remarkable for their friendship as 
 for their prowess, engaged in battle without knowing 
 each other. The fight, as was to be expected when two 
 such warriors met in conflict, was long and terrible. 
 Night put an end to the battle when 
 
 Thai had bled so mekil blode, 
 It was great ferly that thai stode. 
 
 They then asked each other's names, and found to their 
 great surprise that they were dear friends. Then said 
 Sir Ywain 
 
 ' ' I grant thou has me overcomen. 
 
 Sir Gawain answered als curtays, 
 
 Thou sal noght do, sir, als thou sais ; 
 
 This honour sail noght be myne, 
 
 Bot sertes it aw wele at be thine ; 
 
 I gif it the her, withouten hone. 
 
 And grantes that i am undone." 
 
 There was plainly no room for shame or mockery, and 
 as little for delay, and with deference I think it means 
 without regret or sorrow, that is willingly. 
 
 This view is supported by an expresssion of Milton's 
 friend, T. Ellwood :— 
 
 " I honed after personal conversation with friends," i.e. , he longed 
 for friends, regretted their absence. 
 
 I had no money, nor ever honed after it. — lb. 
 
 If this be correct Burns's och-hon will be oh the sorrow ! 
 
 Ochtlins, or oughtlins. Somewhat, in any degree. 
 
 Talde thou hir oght my name ? — Ywain mid Gawain. 
 For when he hath oht bygeten, 
 
 Al the fredom is forgeten. — Proverbs of Hendyng. Rcl. 
 Antiquae. 
 
 O'ergang. Overgo, to surpass, to excel. O'er and gang, 
 O'erlay. A cravat, 
 
GLOSSARY. 285 
 
 O'erword. The chorus, refrain, or burden of a song, any 
 word frequently repeated. 
 
 Ony, or onie. Any. 
 
 And he had the fairest gardyn that ony man might behold. — 
 Maundevelle. 
 
 All she thought was lost, by the rode, 
 
 That dyd the lytell boye ony good. — The Frier and the Boye. 
 
 Thy soveraine temple wol I most honouren 
 
 Oi ony place. — Chaucer. 
 
 Ook. A week. 
 And yaf hym sowke Fourty woke. — Octovian Imperator. 
 Bot thre woukes were set 
 
 And batayle schal there be. — Childe Horn and Maiden Rimnild. 
 I wolde be gladder 
 Than thoughe I had this woke ywonne a wey of essex cheese. 
 
 P. Plowmati. 
 She shall kepe her chambre these three wookes. 
 Letter of Lord Dacre and T. Magnus to Hen. VIH. Dyce. 
 
 Or. Ere, before. 
 
 Yet wold he have a ferthing or he went. — Chaucer. 
 
 The great man was gone out or I came. — Latimer. 
 
 Or I could make a prologue to my brains, 
 
 They had begun the play. — Shak. 
 
 He's for a jig, or a tale of bawdry, or he sleeps. — Id. 
 
 Orra. Superfluous, odd. 
 
 Otherwhere. Elsewhere, in other ^\a.ces.— Johnson. 
 
 Ourie. 'Shivering, drooping. 
 Oury, dirty, ill-looking, untidy. — Halliwell. 
 
 Oursel, or oursels. Ourselves. See mysel. 
 
 Out-cast. A quarrel. 
 
286 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Outlers. Outliers, cattle not housed, lying in the fields 
 at night. 
 
 Outler; an animal not hoMSeA.—Halliwell. 
 These naciouns ben outelying. — Kyng AKsaunder. 
 It is but a trifling sport for you to pull down an out-Iyer. 
 
 Cleveland. 
 
 Outspak. Spoke out. 
 Owre. Over, too. 
 
 Ourlop, probably of over and leap. — Bailey. 
 Now er we ryche, now er we pur, 
 
 Now have or litel, now pas we measur. — P. of Conscience. 
 He ligges or long on here. — Sir Amadas, 
 
 Fand u being used indifferently by old writers, it is 
 not easy to determine when ouer should be read over 
 or when ower, but surely in the following passages ouer is a 
 monosyllable. This will appear more evident if it is 
 remembered that the old romances and ballads were 
 sung rather than read or recited. 
 
 But then fare with her esely, 
 
 And cherysch hur for her gode dede, 
 For thyng ouerdon unskylfully, 
 
 Makys wrath to grow where ys no nede. 
 
 How the Wise Man taught his Son. 
 And broke his parks, and slawe his dere, 
 
 Ouer all they chose the best, 
 So perelous outlawes as they were, 
 
 Walked not by easte or west. — Adafn Bell, 6^,r. 
 Ute ouer that hus than stode the stern, 
 Thar Jesus and his moder wern. — Cursor Mundi. 
 Ower my 'ead. — Tennyson. 
 
 Owre with Burns's spelling occurs in "The Seven 
 Sages '' — 
 
 He might han don a better ginne : 
 Ibiried hit ozvre priveliche. 
 
GLOSSARY. 287 
 
 Helle may hold hym be no lawe, 
 But that he may pas, at hese lyberte, 
 Ower Ewyche. — Coventry Mysteries. 
 
 Owre hip. A way of fetching a blow with a hammer 
 over the arm. — Burns. 
 
 Striking with a forehammer by bringing it with a swing over the 
 hip. — Cunningham. 
 
 Owsen. Oxen. 
 
 Ows, an ox. — Thoreshy. Owsen, oxen. — Baviford. Ousen. — 
 Bailey. 
 
 Oxter. The arm-pit j to support by putting the hand 
 under the arm-pit. 
 
 Oxter, ihz. z.txa^\\.. — Bailey. 
 
 Pacing horse. A horse trained to canter. 
 
 Before the battle of Dunbar, Major General Lambert having been 
 taken prisoner by the Scottish cavalry, "the valiant Lieutenant 
 Empson, one of Hacker's officers pursued with five or six of our 
 soldiers and hewed him out and brought him to his own regiment, 
 when we procured him ^ pacing-horse." — Memoirs of Captain John 
 Hodgson. 
 
 They rode, but authors having not 
 Determined, whether /ai;« or trot. — Butler. 
 
 Pack. Intimate, famiHar ; twelve stones of wool. 
 
 Pack, a company. Pack of wool, a quantity of about 240 lbs. — 
 Bailey. 
 
 Pack, to confederate in '^.—Johnson. 
 
 Pack aff. To go away. 
 
 If she do bid me pack, I'll give her thanks. 
 
 As though she bid me stay by her a week. — Shak. 
 
288 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Poor Stella must pad offlo town. — Swift. 
 
 She should have stay'd, and you fark'd of. — Echard. 
 
 Paidle. To walk in shallow water; a hoe. 
 
 Patoiiiller, io padle or dable in with the feet. — Cotgtave. 
 As ever thou deserv'st thy daily drink, 
 Padlingra. sack. — Ben Jonson. 
 He may make a padler i' the world, 
 But never a brave swimmer. 
 
 Wit at Several Weapons. 
 
 Painch. Paunch. 
 
 Painches, .tripe. — Halliwell. 
 
 Pance, the panch, maw, belly. — Cotgrave. 
 
 Like fowls with Virgins faces, purging still 
 
 "Vdrxx Why panches. — Sandys. '■ 
 
 Paitrick. A partridge. 
 
 Paitrick, a partridge. — Halliwell. 
 
 The painted partrich lyes in every field. — B. Jonson. 
 De brave contra where dey killa Ae patrich vid de hawka. — Duke 
 of Buckingham. 
 
 There is no flesch so norrysaunt 
 
 Unto an Ynglischeman, 
 
 Partrick, plover, heroun, ne swan, 
 
 Cow, ne oxe, scheep, ne swyn. 
 
 As the hed ofiFa Sarezyn. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Paly. Pale. 
 
 Fire answers fire ; and through their paly flames 
 Each battle sees the other's umber'd face. — Sliak. 
 Sweet violets. Love's paradise, that spread 
 
 Your gracious colours, which you couched beare 
 Within yom palie faces. — Sir Walter Raleigh. 
 
 Pang. To cram. 
 
 Pang, to fill, to atuS.— Halliwell. 
 
GLOSSARY. 289 
 
 If in the following lirles Skelton does not use pang for 
 fill, but for pain, he is the only author I remember 
 who so speaks of heaviness. David says, "I am full of 
 heaviness," Ps. 69 and 20 ; and to be in heaviness and 
 to have heaviness, are common expressions, but to be 
 pained by heaviness is, I think, unknown. 
 
 No creatiier but that wolde 
 
 Have rewed upon me, 
 
 To behold and se 
 
 What hevynesse dyd me pange. 
 
 Wherewith my handes I wrange. 
 
 Phyllyp Sparowe. 
 
 Parishen. Parish. 
 
 Lewed men they were in clerkes clothyng 
 
 Disguysed fayre, in forme of clerkes wyse, 
 
 'Y^L^vc parishyns ful lytle enfourmyng 
 
 In laive devine, or els in God his service. — Hardynge. 
 
 Quoted by Jamieson, who supposes it means parishes, 
 but il may mean parishioners. The same word is found 
 in Piers Plowman, and seems to stand for people rather 
 than a place, — 
 
 Bote the Parisch-preste, and he departe the selver, 
 
 That have schulde the pore parisschens. — Prologue, v. yg. 
 
 Chaucer has parishens, but it also means parishioners. 
 Park. A field. 
 
 Park, a farm, field, or close. — Devon. Halliwell. 
 Parruc, pearroc, a park, an enclosure. — Bosworih. 
 
 Parle. Speech, courtship. 
 
 Commanders have the power to parle with princes. — Fletcher. 
 
 Of all the gentlemen 
 That every day WiXh parle encounter me. 
 In thy opinion which is worthiest love? — Shak. 
 The creature's jubilee ; Oo&\ parle with dust. — Henry Vanghan. 
 T 
 
290 GLOSSARY. 
 
 This, if in lengthen'd parte the night they pass. 
 
 Shall furnish still his opening to Dundas. — The Rolliad. 
 
 Parliamentin. Attending parliament. This change of 
 a noun to a verb resembles Butler's — 
 And out he rode a colonelling. 
 
 JParritch. Oatmeal pudding, a well-known Scotch dish. 
 Porridge. —Johnson. Po7'ritch. — Bamford, 
 Ge or dge was often changed to ch, e.g., — 
 
 Thu knowlechest that thy men breake our parke by nyght. 
 
 Lord Grey de Ruthyn. 
 To whom he bore so fell a grutch (grudge). — Butler^ 
 Charchyng (charging) hym fast to hie. — Lydgate. 
 His foul rank blood of bacon and 'pea.it porritch, 
 Must out of you to the last dram. — Aspasids Garden. 
 
 Oatmeal porridge must once have been well known in 
 England. We learn this from a scene in one of Beau- 
 mont and Fletcher's plays. Wellborn having gone to a 
 house in London, says to his servant, " Have they (the 
 horses) any meat?" to which he replies, "Faith, sir, 
 here are no oats to be got, unless you'll have 'em in 
 porridge; the people are so mainly given to spoon meat.'' 
 
 The Scornful Lady. 
 
 Speaking of " the halesome parritch," one cannot help 
 recalling that melancholy note which the poet wrote to 
 his wife, seven days before his death : — 
 
 No flesh or fish can I swallow ; porridge and milk are the only 
 thing I can tnste. 
 
 It is curious to notice that E. authors used the plural 
 as they do in Scotland at this moment : — 
 
 They lie oa his understanding. — Fletcher. 
 
 The fool spit in his porridge to try if they'd hiss ; they did not 
 hiss. — L' Estrange. 
 
GLOSSARY. 291 
 
 Pat. Did put. 
 Pet, put. — Weber, 
 
 Pat to. Did distress, pressed, overtaxed. E. writers 
 use put to it. 
 
 This put Christian moK to it than anything he met with before. 
 
 Bunyan. 
 
 Pat. A pot. A for 0, see under aff. 
 
 Beth nat agast, ne quaketh nat. — Chaucer. 
 
 Hee seeth her nase (nose) straught and even. — Gower. 
 
 Pattle or peitle. A plough-staff. A small spade with a. 
 shaft long enough for the ploughman when at work to 
 reach those parts of the plough which are apt to 
 gather clay. It is the same &s paddle in " Thou shalt 
 have 3. paddle on thy weapon." — Deuteronomy. 
 
 Paughty. Proud, haughty, saucy. 
 
 Paukie. Cunning, sly. 
 
 Pauky, sly, mischievous, pettish, proud, insolent. — HalHwelL 
 
 Pay. To beat. 
 
 To pay, to punish. -^Johnson. 
 
 He/3zV/good Robin back and side. — R. Hood. 
 Mass, you'll ^o;/ him then ! — Shak. 
 Tell their schoolmistress 
 What truants they are, and bid her /ay them soundly. 
 
 The Antipodes. 
 
 Peat-reek. The smoke of peat-fire; Highland whisky, 
 so called from a flavour, real or fancied, given to it by 
 the peats used in its manufacture. 
 
 Pech. To fetch the breath short, as in an asthma. 
 Pech, to pnnt, to breathe heavily. Cumber. — Halliiuell. 
 
292 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Pechan. The crop of fowls, the stomach. 
 
 Jamieson calls this an Ayrshire word, which means 
 that he found it in Burns alone. I believe it is un- 
 known in the county. 
 
 Pennie ox penny. Money, riches. 
 
 For never wight he lets to passe that way 
 
 But he him makes his pa5sage-/«KK7 pay. — Spenser. 
 
 My dowry and other thyng y sold, 
 
 And all ^q pennys to them I told. — Sir Amadas. 
 
 Penny-fee. Wages. 
 
 Country servants did not, nor do they yet, receive all 
 their remuneration in money ; what money they did get 
 seems to have been called their penny-fee. The expres- 
 sion has died out. 
 
 They insisted that they must either have the money or the fee- 
 in merchandise. — Life of Sir Thomas Gresham. 
 
 Penny-pay weddinf^. A marriage feast at which the guests 
 pay. Not peculiar to Scotland. See under yfez. 
 
 Penny-wheep. Small beer. See wheep. 
 
 What bread how stale ! 
 
 'WcaX pennie ale. — Tusser. 
 Penny ale and podyng ale she poured togederes. — P. Plowman. 
 Penny-whip, very small beer. — Lane. Halliwell. 
 
 Perish. To destroy, to cause to perish, as in "And 
 perish'd monie a bonnie boat." 
 I could stand till I had perished my lungs with violent laughter. 
 
 The Atheist's Tragedy. 
 Thy flinty heart 
 
 Might in thy palace perish Margaret. — Shak. 
 And if 1 wrong the dead, heaven perish me. — Fletcher. 
 
GLOSSARY. 293 
 
 His wants and miseries have perished his good face. — Beaumont 
 and Fletcher, 
 
 Per se. By themselves. 
 
 Pet. A domesticated sheep, &c., a favourite. 
 
 Pet, a cade lamb, i.e., one brought up in the house. — Bailey. 
 Peat, a little fondling. It is now commonly called ?i, pet.— Johnson. 
 This is become ?>. pet vice amongst us. — Swift. 
 
 Pettle. To cherish, to treat as a pet. 
 
 Philabeg. A kilt. 
 
 Phraise. Fair speeches, flattery ; to flatter. 
 
 But Virgil wan 'Cnsfraes, 
 
 And past them all for deep engyen. — Verses Prefixed to Skel- 
 ton^s Works. 
 
 Pibroch. Music adapted to the bag-pipe. 
 
 Pickle. A small quantity, a single grain. 
 
 Pickle, a small parcel oi\&Ti&.— Johnson. 
 
 When the word was once appHed to any thing small, 
 though I do not think that in Scotland a pickle land was 
 ever heard of, it would not long be confined to, that par- 
 ticular thing, but, like other words, would soon be ap- 
 plied to objects very different from that in which it ori- 
 ginated. A pickle land would naturally lead to its 
 equivalent 2i pickle siller, and so to other small things. 
 
 Pickle-herring. A merry-andrew. 
 
 The pickle-herring found the way to shake him. — Spectator. 
 A plague o' these pickle-herrings ! — Shak. 
 
 Pier. A quay or harbour. 
 
2 94 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Pilgarlick. A silly fellow. 
 
 Poor pilgarlicS% fain to make every body's time his own. 
 
 Motteiix. 
 
 Pilgarlick must meet with a dry beating. — Echard. 
 
 Pin (in " Your pin would help to mend a mill "). A 
 wooden pin or skewer used to fasten the end of a 
 pudding or haggis ; called also, both in England and 
 Scotland, a pudding-prick. Both terms are now for- 
 gotten, modern cookery, I believe, preferring needle 
 and thread to timber. 
 
 They pynche at the payment oi & poddynge prycke. — Skelton. 
 I know no use for them so meet 
 As to \!t puding-pHcks. — R. Hood. 
 
 Pine. Pain, uneasiness. 
 
 Pierc'd through the heart with sorrow, grief, and pine. 
 
 Fairfax. 
 
 But wel I wote. that in this world gxeipine is. — Chaucer. 
 
 The grene coverlet sufferd grete pine. — Skelton. 
 
 By some deadly chance be done to pine. — Spenser. 
 
 Thomne stowue he taught to take two staves 
 
 And fecche felice home for the wyuen/j'«i'. — P. Plow man. 
 
 The Rev. Walter W. Skeat, and nobody has a better 
 right to speak on such a subject, says, " jcyuene pyne k 
 one more allusion to the woynen's punishment, the cucking 
 stool." It seems rather to mean childbed, and to corres- 
 pond to Barbour's childill, and Thomme was " taught " 
 to bring his wife home from gossiping at lyings-in. 
 
 Pingle. To be busy about trifles to little purpose. 
 
 Pingle had in English some connection with pickle, 
 being that which enclosed a pickle land, and sometimes 
 meaning the land enclosed. 
 
GLOSSARY. 295 
 
 Pingle, a small enclosure, generally one long and narrow. 
 
 Halliiuell. 
 Pingle, a small croft'or pycle. — Grose. 
 
 Pint. Two'quarts. 
 
 Pit. To put. /for u sound, see under _/f/, and in — 
 
 And sore hym hirten (hurt). — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 And with that word he for a quishen (cushion) ran. 
 
 Chaucer, 
 What mon art thou this morning mase, 
 
 With syche (such) sympell chere ? — Sir Amadas. 
 The small guttes ye shall out/j/^. — Book of St. Albans. 
 
 Placad. A public proclamation. 
 
 If this word is not a corruption of placard, I cannot 
 guess what it is. Burns apparently meant it for that, 
 and yet a " loud placad," i.e., a writing affixed to a wall, 
 except in the slang sense in which we sometimes hear of 
 a " loud dress," seems nonsense. Chambers thinks it 
 means " cheers," which like " shouts " would give a good 
 enough^meaning to — 
 
 The Saxon lads, wi' loud flacads. 
 On Chatham's boy did ca', man ; 
 
 but then we have the poet's own statement that it is a 
 public proclamation. Placard, however, seems to have 
 been at one time something different from what we now 
 understand it to be, as may be seen in Tusser. The 
 old poetical agriculturalist, having the misfortune to 
 possess a good voice and musical ear, was impressed for 
 the king's choir by some one empowered by placard to 
 seize suitable youths. His own words are — 
 
 Thence for my voice, I must, no choice. 
 Away of forse, like postboy horse ; 
 For sundry men had placardes then 
 Such child to take. 
 
296 GLOSSARY. 
 
 PlaTcaot is Dutch for proclamation. 
 
 Flack. An old Scotch coin ; used to denote the smallest 
 
 sum of money. 
 
 I found some outlawes of Ingland, some of Scotland at cards, 
 some for ale, some for plake and hard-hedds. — Sadler's State Papers. 
 
 Though he not worth a plackis. 
 
 Korihiiinierland Ballad. 
 
 Pluck up thyne herte upon a mery pyne 
 
 And lete us laughe 3. placke or tweyn at nale. 
 
 Skelton. 
 
 Plackless. Penniless. 
 
 Flaid. A loose upper garment. — Ramsay. A long and 
 narrow woollen shawl ; also a kind of cloth. 
 This word has found a place in all E. dictionaries 
 since Bailey, who spells it plad., inserted it in his ; but it 
 was known in England before Bailey's day, as the follow- 
 ing curious note shows : — 
 
 Waybreg, July 15, 1681. 
 Sir, — I am encoreged to geve you thes trubell, and beg a favor 
 of you, knoing the regard you ever had for my Lord Duke desest, 
 and his oblegations to you ; which is that you well own, as for 
 yourself, a parsell of Scottch plad of ten or leven peses, or geve me 
 leve to order them to be derected to you, that I may with less 
 trubell com by them. — Your Servant, 
 
 NOKFOLK. 
 Duchess of Norfolk to Mr. Pcpys. 
 
 The Duchess's morality seems to have been on a level 
 with her orthography, for she tried to entice a Govern- 
 ment official to assist her in a smuggling transaction 
 there being at the time a duty on Scotch woollen cloth 
 brought into England. 
 
 And checkev'd //a!af become their prey. — Tickell. 
 
 Plaidie. Dim. of plaid. 
 
GLOSSARY. 297 
 
 Plaiding, or plaiden. A kind of cloth differing from 
 
 plaid and flannel. 
 
 Allan Cunningham says, " The wives of our husband- 
 men spun their wool and flax, and sent the yarn and 
 thread to the weaver to be manufactured into cloth. 
 In this way sackcloth for the corn, plaiding for the beds, 
 linen for the body, and broad-cloth and stuffs for daily 
 or even holiday wear were produced." Now, I never 
 heard the word sackcloth used in Scotland except in the 
 Scriptural expression, sackcloth and ashes, or simply 
 sackcloth for mourning; sacking is the most used. 
 Plaiding was not used for beds. If it had been, what 
 became of the flannel which they manufactured ? The 
 broad-doth and stuffs were plaiding for coat or jacket, 
 and drugget for vest, in which Allan and many a 
 wealthier man's son, in their schoolboy days, thought 
 themselves well dressed. 
 
 That (wetting) is soon effected by the looseness and springiness 
 of the plaiding. — Letters from Scotland. 
 There was a stub-bearded John-a-Styles with a. ploydens face. 
 
 Marston. 
 
 This resembles — 
 
 Those linen cheeks of thine 
 Are counsellors to fear. — Shak. 
 
 and — 
 
 PeeI'd, patch 'd, and piebald, linsywolsy brothers. — Pope. 
 Russet yeas and honest Kersey noes. — Shak. 
 
 I was wont 
 To call them woollen vassals. — lb. 
 
 Flainstanes. The pavement. Plain and stane. 
 
 Plate. A pewter vessel, placed at the door or gate of a 
 church to receive the offerings of the worshippers. 
 
298 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Flate. Dim. of plate, not the previous word but one 
 sometimes used for saucer. 
 
 Flea. A disagreement, a quarrel. 
 
 Pleiiish. To furnish a house, to stock a farm. 
 
 I have not found plenish in an English author, but 
 Chaucer has plein, full, and Milton uses replenish, not as 
 in "Multiply and replenish the earth," addressed to Noah 
 after the flood, when, of course, it means to furnish or 
 stock again, but in the S. sense, to furnish for the first 
 time. The angel, describing the creation, says — 
 The waters thus 
 With fish replenished, and the air with fowl 
 Ev'ning and morn solemniz'd the fifth day. 
 
 Paradise Lost. B. VII. 
 
 With pileful scriches she repleniskyd the hole mancion. — Hall. 
 
 Pleugh, plew. A plough. £u iLnd ew for ou a.nd ow, i.e., 
 the sound of m for that of ou, as in shm' for show, and 
 in — 
 
 Til him dues (bows) bathe winde and se. — E. Metrical Homilies. 
 Quen (when) Maria sagh thaa bestes lute (lout) 
 First SCO (she) was gretli in dute (doubt). — Cursor Mundi. 
 And he was in the hynder part of the boot (boat), slepynge on a 
 
 pilewe. — Wyclif. 
 
 Pliskie. A trick. 
 
 Pliver. A plover. O into i. See anither. 
 
 Plumrose. A primrose. Jamieson has plumrock. 
 
 Strange as primrose appears in this disguise, it is not 
 farther from the present spelling than are the following, 
 which, however, are nearer the or\g\na\. primula : — 
 The honysoucle, the primerollys, 
 Ther levys splaye at Phebus vp-rysing. — Lydgate. 
 
GLOSSARY. 299 
 
 He giveththe fixsis priinerole. — Cower, 
 This word is used by Burns in a burlesque letter to 
 Nicol, and may have been made by himself, but the pro- 
 bability is that he had met it somewhere, for / and r are 
 " so nearly related in sound," to quote Dr. Bosworth, 
 "that they are used promiscuously.'' Many examples 
 might be given. I give them as they come to remem- 
 brance. Shakespeare, Massinger, and Dryden write 
 Argier for Algiers, Chaucer has lamer, purpre, for laurel 
 and purple, Skelton flagraiint for fragrant, Thomas 
 Herbert, tulipant for turban, etc. 
 
 Grose and Halliwell both give plum, very. I do not 
 Icnow that there is any connection, but very, especially if 
 disguised as plum, might easily have been changed into 
 having the meaning o^ fine or good, and the primrose, 
 from coming early, have been called the good or plum 
 Tose. But how came it to be called a j-osel 
 
 Plum seems to be used in America for very or quite — 
 You \oo\l flum fagged out. — The Century, Feb., 1866. 
 
 Plush. A well-known cloth, but it is so long since 
 ploughmen or gentlemen could say, " Thir breeks o' 
 min that ance were plush^'' that it may be advisable to 
 show that this material was a common wear, 
 
 An old cast pair of black plush breeches. — Sterne. 
 
 I have rent ray plush and' satin. 
 
 And now am fit to beg 
 
 In Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.— i?r. Robert Wilde. 
 
 (Modesty) Smiles on the plated buckles in my shoes ; 
 
 Smiles on my breeches too, of handsome//«i/^. — Dr. Wolcet. 
 
 Poacher-court. Kirk-session. 
 
 Pock. A small bag. This is just the E. poke, only with 
 the spelling nearer the A.-S. pocca. Pock has been 
 
300 GLOSSARY. 
 
 preserved in the dim. pocket, in pock, a pustule pro- 
 duced by small-pox, and in the name of that disease, 
 which the pronunciation shows to be a variation in the 
 spelling of pocs or poks, and not oi pokes. 
 
 This pouer man was will of wan 
 For /Of ne sek no havid he nan. 
 
 E. Metrical Hoviilies. 
 
 Poind. To distrain ; to seize a tenant's effects for rent 
 due. 
 
 To pin ox pen is the Anglo-Saxon /_)///a'a«, includere, to close in, 
 and the past participle is pond, pound, pen, pin, bin. — Richardson 
 on the Study of Language. 
 
 Piind, a pound, a fold. — Bosworfh. 
 
 Though differing slightly in use, this is the same as E. 
 pound, to confine strayed animals, and is, I believe, in 
 Ayrshire, if not in Scotland, generally pronounced pt?i or 
 pind, rather than poind. 
 
 George a Green the pinner of Wakefield. — j?. Hood. 
 In Wakefield there lives a jolly /z?2i/tfr. — Ih. 
 
 Married once, 
 A man is staked or poun'd. — Massinger. 
 
 Poortith. Poverty. Apparently formed from /^««;-/(;, or 
 pouert, by the addition of ith or th, as in month, tilth, 
 wealth, etc. 
 
 To her wyll I nowe all my pouerte lege. — Skelton. 
 To lyve yn pouert and yn servage. — R. Manning. 
 
 Potence. Potency, power. K omitted, as in — 
 
 And must I own, she said, my secret smart ? 
 What with more decence were in silence kejit. 
 
 Drydcn. 
 O trusllesse state of earthly things, and slipper hope 
 Of mortal men. — Spenser. 
 
GLOSSARY. 301 
 
 Pou and pu'. To pull, to gather. For omission of I, 
 see under a\ 
 Poo, to pull, food, pulled, pooin, pulling. — Bainford. 
 
 Pouchie. Dim. of pouch, the pocket. 
 
 Pouk. To pluck. 
 
 And Pandar wep as he to water wold, 
 And piiked ever his nece new and newe. — Chaucer. 
 Hee also wold to the threshing of the cocke, pucke with hens 
 blindfold, and the like. — Life of Thomas Lord Berkeley. 
 
 KnA pukketh forth pruyde to prayse thi-selven. 
 
 P. Plozmaaji. 
 
 Pause. To push. 
 
 Pass, to thrust, to push violently. — Bamford. 
 The see by night as any torche brente 
 For wood,' 3.ndL posseih him up and doun. — Chaucer. 
 A cat of a courte cam whan hym lyked 
 
 And pleyde with hem perelouslych &n&. passed hem aboute. 
 
 P. Plowman. 
 
 Poussie. A hare or cat. Dim. of puss, the fondling 
 name for a cat, and here transferred to a hare, owing 
 to a general unwillingness already mentioned to speak 
 of animals protected by the game laws. 
 Puss, the sportsman's name for a ha.is. ^fohnson. 
 Recent dictionaries h&ve pussy. 
 
 Our gunners were rambling the fields, 
 So that pussy was quickly espy'd. 
 
 The Bishopric Garland, Ritson. 
 
 Pout. A poult, a chicken. 
 
 Powt, a sort of fish, a bird, 1 young turkey ; hesifh-powl, a bird 
 of game. — Bailey. 
 
 Pool, a young fowl ; unooi-poot, a moor-fowl. — Bamford. 
 
302 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Then they housed within his muzzle pheas^nt-J>oois, turkeys and 
 tuikey-poo/s, bustards and bustard-/»(j^J. — Motteux. 
 
 Pouther or powther. Powder. For change of d into th 
 see under blather, and in — 
 
 I sal tel yow swilk tithandes{\hs&Tig%). — Ywain and Gawain. 
 And the traytour be the rothe (rood), 
 
 We shall hym asayle. — Lybeaus Disconnus. 
 
 But the word powther occurs several times in the Records 
 of the Stationers' Company — 
 
 Item, paid powther and matche, 7d. Paid for 2 homes for goune 
 powther^ 3s. — Steeven^s Illustrations. 
 
 Pouthery. Like powder. 
 
 Pvw. The head, the skull. Poll, the head, then powl, 
 then pow. See a'. 
 
 Po'iu, the head, etc. — Grose. 
 
 And others corne or egges againe, to poul-shome persons sweete. 
 
 B. Googc. 
 They sett on their nowls 
 Good blacke bowls 
 To keep iheii po-wls from battering of battes. 
 
 Tournament of Tottenham. 
 Ac, an the gate weore y-loke, 
 Mony poune (pi. of pou) was to-broke. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Was seems to make poune singular : had it been so it 
 would not have been many poune but tnony a poune. 
 
 Po7vnie. A pony. For change of into on sound see 
 under houp., and in — 
 
 Ther thei madyn a fowie lowtte 
 And begounnon a sore nowtte (note). 
 
 The Huntyng of the Hare. 
 I rekyn yow in ray ro7ollys (rolls). — Skellon. 
 
GLOSSARY. 303 
 
 Poz. Sure. 
 
 I believe I can't do it, that's poz. — T/ie Toiler, 
 
 Praise. Figuratively used for God, the object of 
 praise.— ^a;««(fw«. 
 
 Preclair. Super-eminent. 
 
 Shakespeare has the word, but in Latin — 
 
 Praeclarissimus filius noster Henricus. — Henry V. 
 
 Preen. A pin. 
 
 Frin, a pin ; frin-cod, a pin-cushion. — Grose. 
 
 Preen, awl, borer, piercer. — Repp. 
 
 Tier kerchefes were curwuse, with mony a ^xow&prene. — Robson's 
 Romances. — Halliwell, 
 
 Pin is said by some etymologists to be a modern form 
 of old English preon. Bosworth has preon, a clasp, a 
 bodkin. 
 
 Prent. Print. E for i. See under dreep. 
 
 "ih^ prente which he bare in his pilgremage 
 
 Scorn and rebuke cast on his visage. — Lydgate. 
 And with that prent he sette a seal. — Gower. 
 And after that might the worke be alowed by the ordinaries, and 
 by their authorities, put nnto preni. — Sir T. More. 
 
 Prick-the-louse. A word of contempt for a tailor. — 
 
 — -Johnson. 
 
 Many men have some scavenger or prick-louse taylor to attend 
 upon them. — Anatomy of Melancholy. 
 
 The ^oox prick-lice were startled at that. — L' Estrange. 
 
 Prie. To taste. 
 
 There is a horse in my father's stable, 
 
 He stands beyond the thorn. 
 He shakes his head above the trough. 
 
 But he dares not prie the corn. 
 
 Blow the Winds, I-ho. Bell. 
 
3°4 
 
 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Frief. Proof. 
 
 By evidence to maken o-pfn preef.—Lydgate. 
 
 He that seemeth the wisest 
 
 Is most fool, when it cometh to the prief. — Chaucer. 
 
 He gan apply relief 
 Of salves and medicines, which had passing brief. — Spenser. 
 
 Frief o' shot. That cannot be hurt by lead or shot. 
 
 It seems he (/Eneas) was no warlock, as the Scots commonly call 
 such men, who, they say, are iron-free or lead-free. — Dryden. 
 Dedication prefixed to his Ti'anslaiion of the JEneid. 
 
 It is Strange that Dryden should refer to the Scots 
 when speaking of this superstition, fresh as he was from — 
 
 Quem neque fas igni cuiquam, nee sternere ferro. — v^. Lib. VII. 
 which he renders — 
 
 Secure of steel, and fated from the fire, 
 
 not to speak of the all but invulnerable Achilles, and 
 other examples of persons whose " beginning life from 
 steel was free." I believe that all we find of "arms of 
 proof," "lapt in proof," etc., had its origin in this super- 
 stition which is found in many lands. 
 
 He cared not for dint of sword or speere 
 
 No more than for the stroke of straws or bents, 
 
 He was invulnerable made by magicke leare. — Spenser. 
 
 Priest. For English readers of Burns it may be as well 
 to mention that this word is never applied to clergy- 
 men in Scotland, except when some degree of dis- 
 paragement or dislike is meant to be expressed. 
 
 Prig. To cheapen, to dispute. 
 
 Prig, to higgle in price. — Hallituell. 
 
 Frimsie. Demure, precise. 
 
GLOSSARY. 305 
 
 Propone. To lay down, to propose. ■ 
 
 Proponent, one that makes a proposal, or lays down a position. 
 
 [ohnson. 
 Proponent, a propounder. — Ainsworth. 
 
 Proponed, proposed. — Halliwell. 
 
 Proven. Proved. En for the modern e£ was once com- 
 mon, as in — 
 
 And that was gnaauen on every where. — Spenser. 
 
 Such hnngei-starven trencher poetrie 
 
 Or let it never live, or timely die, — Bishop Hall. 
 
 Provoses. Provosts, chief magistrates of royal burghs. 
 
 Jamieson says — " Provost seems to have been used in 
 the same sense in E. in R. Brunne's time," and quotes 
 the following: — 
 
 The provest of the toun, a wik traitour and cherle, 
 He thought to do tresoun vnto his lord the erle. 
 
 The word is still well known in England, but the official 
 it denotes is not the same as in Scotland. 
 
 Burns's spelling is not to be commended, but as droll 
 plurals are found. 
 
 We are animals no less, 
 
 Altho' of different specieses. — Hudibras. 
 
 Can tell the oddses of all games. — Butler's Mis. Poems, 
 
 As shameful deth as herte can devis 
 
 Come to thise juges and hir advocas (advocates). 
 
 Chaucer. 
 So is Sibeles of goddesses 
 The moder, whom withoute gesses (gests) 
 The folke prein, honour, and serve. — Gower. 
 
 Peter English's Moseses, though I do not know there 
 is anything wrong with it, makes a good rhyme with 
 Burns's provoses — 
 
 So did Moses. And our Moseses ought to do so too. — The Sur- 
 vey of Policy, 16^3. 
 
 U 
 
3o6 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Bailiffes, beadles, provost, countours. — Chaucer. 
 
 From the association of provost with these officers, it 
 would seem that in Chaucer's time a provost was a 
 magistrate. 
 
 In "Measure for Measure," Shakespeare calls the 
 
 gaoler Provost. 
 
 Were the stars only made to light 
 
 Robbers and burglarers by night. — Httdibras. 
 
 Puddin. Pudding. 
 
 For guts, some write, ere they are sodden, 
 Are fit for'music, or fot pudden. — Dodsley. 
 I don't think these puddens are much good unless the seeds are 
 taken out of the raisins. — Archdeacon Paley. Literary Life of Rev. 
 W. Harness.. 
 
 Yf you wyll come you shall be welcome, but I tell you afore 
 hande, you shall have but sclender fare, one dish and that is all. 
 Apuddyne, and nothynge els. — Latimer. 
 
 Pudding, more conectiy puddin. — Folk-Etyiiiology , 
 
 Puddock-stool. A toad-stool, a mushroom. 
 
 Champignon, a mnshroome, toad-stoole, paddock-stoole. 
 
 Cotgrave. 
 Euetis, and snakes, and paddokes brode, 
 That heora thoughte mete gode. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 The rats brush o'er their faces with their tails. 
 And CToakmg paddocks crawl upon their limbs. — Dry den, 
 
 Pu'pit. Pulpit. 
 
 Pulvilised. Scented with powder. Burns underlined 
 
 this word in a letter to Mr. Hill. 
 
 To pulvil. To sprinkle with perfumes in powdeT.—fohnson. 
 
 Have you pulvilled the coachman and postilion, that they may 
 not stink of the stable? — Congreve. 
 
 How many pound of pulvil must the fellow use in sweetening 
 himself from the smell of hops and tobacco ? — Farquhar. 
 
GLOSSARY. 307 
 
 Pund, or pun. Pound, pounds. U for ou ; see under 
 dud. 
 
 Item, payde for 38 punde.oi butter 4s. 2. — First Public Dinner 
 in Stationers' Hall, iSS7- Stephen^ s Illustrations. - 
 
 He would /«» thee into shivers with his fist. — Shak. 
 I can spare you pownes. — The Patient Countess. 
 
 Pursie. Dim. of purse. 
 
 Pyd. A magpie. 
 The fiot ordinarily bring's forth nine Piannets. — Holland's Pliny. 
 This can hardly be our pyet. 
 
 In Derbyshire there is or was a. public-house with the sign of 
 "The Cock and Pynot." — Every- Day Book. 
 Pynots, magpies. — Bamford. 
 
 Swarms there did appear 
 Oi plots hopping at his back. 
 
 The Northumberland Garland. Ritson. 
 
 Pyke, pike. To pick. 
 
 Phylip had leve to go 
 
 Topyhe my lytell too. — Skelton. 
 
 Whan hath gadred what him liketh. 
 
 He set him thame down and piketh 
 
 And wisshe his herbes in the flood. — Gower. 
 Then cometh the Pye or the ravene and pyketh out the one eye. 
 Then cometh the fende and pyketh out thir right eye. — Dives and 
 Lazarus. 
 
 Pyle, a.pyle <?' caff. A single grain of chaff. 
 
 Pile, a blade of grass. — Halliwell. 
 
 He has no whiskers, not 3. pile. — Sterne. 
 
 Chaff not being grain but its covering, a grain of chaff 
 seems a strange expression. Chaff is the peel of corn, 
 and, if the pronunciation were not so decidedly against 
 the idea, I should be disposed to say that pyle meant 
 peel. But the pronunciation is sometimes a disguise for 
 
308 GLOSSARY. 
 
 words. Thimble is not very like thumb, and riddle does 
 not to everybody suggest the verb to read, and so pyle 
 may after all be peel. Filk is Danish for to pick and to 
 peel, and this is at least as likely to be its derivation as 
 Lat. pilus, a hair, which is that of Jamieson. Pill is 
 sometimes used iox peel : — 
 
 His skalpe all filde, and he with elde forlore. — Sackville. 
 Aspyled (peeled) as an ape was his skulle. — Wright's Chaucer, 
 Take 3 hazle sticks, pill them fayre and white. — Percy. 
 
 Pystle. An epistle, a letter. 
 
 The mavys with her whystell 
 Shall rede then the fystell. — Skelton. 
 As saith seint Jame, if ye his pistel rede. — Chaucer. 
 Nether Gospell nor Pystle. — Skelton, 
 This corruption is found in similar words, e.g., — 
 A faire high-standing cup, and two great Postle spoons. 
 
 Middleton, 
 
 Q- 
 
 Quak, To quake, the cry of a duck. 
 
 In the second sense it differs from quack only in spel- 
 ling. In the first it differs from quake by the omission 
 of silent e, which is often done by old E. writers when 
 the only effect of its insertion is to give a preceding 
 vowel its long sound, as in — 
 
 O suilk a stern the writt it spak. 
 
 And of thir offerands to mak, — Cursor Mundi, 
 
 Al the ICinges o' this werld 
 
 For him sal be quakand 3xA ferd. — lb, 
 
 Al the erth, the achtande day, 
 
 Sal stir and quae (quake) and al folc fley. 
 
 E, Metrical Homilies. Small. 
 
GLOSSARY. 309 
 
 Quarter basin. This occurs in — 
 
 Gat ye me, O gat ye me, 
 
 Gat ye me wi' naething : 
 Rock and reel, and spinnin- wheel, 
 
 A mickle quarter basin. 
 
 What this part of " The Lass of Ecclefechan's " para- 
 phernalia was I cannot say. Perhaps it was like the 
 vessel in "Measure for Measure;" "As it were, a fruit 
 dish, a dish of some threepence." The word quarter 
 shows it was a dish of some well-known size. It may 
 have been a "Bassie, bassy, a large wooden dish used 
 for carrying meal from the girnal (meal-chest) to the 
 bake-board (kneading-board), or for containing the meal 
 designed for immediate Vise.."—Jamieson. 
 
 Quat. To quit. A for /, as in — 
 
 Thei leyd at her with mallus strong. 
 As fast as thei myght lack (lick). 
 
 The Hunttyng of the Hare. 
 And ho . . skowtes aboute, 
 Tyl hyt watz nyghe at naght (night). 
 
 Early E. Alliterative Poems. Morris. 
 
 Quech (ch gutt.) A drinking cup of cooper's work, with 
 two little knobs for handles. 
 
 Questions. The Shorter Catechism of the Westminster 
 Divines. Getting his questions, preparing his lessons, 
 or speech. 
 
 Quey. A cow from one to two years old. 
 
 Quy-calf, a cow-calf. — Grose. Que, a cow. — Line. Quee, a 
 female calf, — HalHwell. 
 
 When it is remembered that q is used for c or k \\. will 
 be seen that quey or cuey comes very near E. cow, and 
 still nearer A. -Sax. cu. 
 
 He was rughher than any ku. — Kyng Alisaunder, 
 
3IO GLOSSARY. 
 
 Quine or quean. A woman. 
 Queyne, a woman. — Bamford. 
 
 Did I not charge thee 
 To pinch that quean to the heart? — The Witch of Edmonton. 
 And gan to cry with loud din ; 
 
 " Thou lyest !" he said, " old quean" — Merlin. Ellis. 
 Thou like a traiterous quean, keep'st twenty devils. — Fletcher, 
 When lazie queans have nought to do, — Ben Jonson, 
 
 Quirk. An intricacy. 
 
 Qiid. Quoth. 
 Ye are happy [ko /) that ye are a woman. — Ralf Roister Doister, 
 
 R. 
 
 Rab. Dim. of Robert. 
 
 Rad. Afraid. 
 
 This man went ham thoh he were rad. 
 
 And did als his bischop him badde. — Cursor Mundi. 
 
 Rade. Rode. A for o, see under ba?ie. 
 
 Thair scrippes, quer thai rade or yode, 
 
 Tham failed never o drinc ne fode. — Cursor Mundi. 
 
 Al that dai as thai rade, 
 
 Cret morning both thai made. — Amis and Amiloun. 
 
 Ragged. Rugged, rough, as in — 
 
 A ragged cowte's been known. 
 His men him brought a grisly best, a ragged colt. 
 
 ICyng Alisaunder. 
 My voice is ragged; I know I cannot please 'jom.Shak. 
 The raggedst hour that time and spite dare bring. Id. 
 
GLOSSARY. 311 
 
 To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged 
 rocks. — Isaiah, ii. si. 
 He left the plain 
 To scale the ragged cliff. — Massinger, 
 
 Ragweed. The herb ragwort. 
 
 Raible. To rattle nonsense. 
 Rabble, to speak confusedly. 
 
 Let thy tunge serve thyn hert in skylle, 
 And rable not words recheles out of reson. 
 
 MS. quoted by HalHwell. 
 
 Is this not Douglas's wrable for warble ? 
 
 In wrablis dulce of hevynly armonyis 
 The larkis lowd, releschand in the skyis, 
 Lovys thar lege with tonys curyus. — Eneados. 
 
 Rair. To roar. A for ; see under bane. 
 
 Both bul and bare, 
 That rewfuUy gan rope and rare. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Raise. Rose. A for 0; see under bane. 
 
 Raize. To madden, to enflame. Differs only in spell- 
 ing from E. " raise, to excite to war or tumult ; to stir 
 up ; to excite ; to put in a.c\.ion."— Johnson. 
 
 He stert up in a brayde, 
 
 And bygan for to rese (to be maddened) 
 
 As he wold take hyr by the nese. — Ipmydon. 
 
 Saladyn began to rase for ire. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
 Do thou no thinge in such a rees. — Gower. 
 
 Ramfeezled. Fatigued, overspent. 
 
 Ramgunshoch. Rugged, unkind, surly. 
 
 Ramp. To rage. 
 
 Jiamp, to paw like a mad horse. — Bailey, 
 
312 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Whan she comth hom she rampeth in my isxx..— Chaucer. 
 And when the king sat in his halle, 
 Cam in rampend among hem alle. — Cower. 
 I've a great ;-aOT/2K^ daughter, that stares like a heifer. 
 
 Vanbrugh. 
 
 Ram-stam. Forward, thoughtless. 
 
 Ram-stam, thoughtless. — Halliwell. 
 
 Randie. A scolding, sturdy beggar, a shrew. 
 
 Randy, boisterous, noisy, obstreperous, disorderly. — Crose. 
 
 An audatious raouthing->-aK(fm^-impudent, scullery- waistcoat-and- 
 bodied rascal would have hail'd a penny from us for his scuUership. 
 — A Search for Money. Percy Society. 
 
 He was here randy ing for a Knight of his acquaintance. — 
 Fielding. 
 
 Rant. To be joyous, merry. 
 
 We'll rani and we'll roar like true British heroes, 
 We'll rant and we'll roar across the salt seas. 
 
 The Spanish Ladies. 
 
 And doubtless where these brambles claim the ground. 
 The glass once flow'd to hail the ranting song. — Clare. 
 June 10, 1657. A complaint having been made, Sir William 
 Strickland said, "The business needs no examination: the party 
 that informs us is at the door ; his name is Robert Ogle, Anglice 
 (plainly an error for alias), Ranting Rodin. — Burton's Parliamen- 
 tary Diary. 
 
 Was he, by any chance, like our Ranting Robin ? Per- 
 haps he was one of the sect called Ranters or Family of 
 Love. 
 
 Ra7it To be extravagant in the mode of living. 
 
 So many blades that rant in silk, 
 And put on scarlet cloathing.— ^/^^ Prodigal's Resolution. 
 Now that I'm an elder brother, I'll court, and swear, and ratit 
 with the best of them. — Farquhar, 
 
GLOSSARY. 313 
 
 Jiant. Outrage, uproar, tumult. 
 Rant, to rage. — Bailey. 
 
 Burns uses rani in two or perhaps three senses : — 
 My wicked rhymes, and drunken rants (merry-makings). 
 While coofs on countless thousands rant (live wastefuUy). 
 As filled his after life with grief 
 
 And bloody rants (outrages). 
 
 I do not think the last has any connection with the 
 other two. 
 
 Rape, or raep. A rope. A for 0. See under bane. 
 
 When Ralph of Rokeby saw the rape. 
 He wist that there had been debate. 
 
 The Felon Sow of Rokeby. 
 
 Raploch. A coarse cloth, coarse. 
 
 Rare. Fine, excellent. 
 Her grant holds, sir. O rare 1 — The Parliament of Love. 
 The gentleman is learn'd, and a most rare speaker. — Shak. 
 
 Raree-show. A show carried about in a box, a peep- 
 show. 
 
 No more they pant for public raree-shows. — Churchill. 
 
 Rarely. Excellently, finely, nicely, 
 
 How rarely does it meet with this time's guise ! — Shak. 
 An admirable prince ! How rarely he talks. — Massinger. 
 I'm acting Sir Courtly, and I do't rarely, methinks. — V Estrange. 
 
 Rase. Rose. See raise. 
 
 Rash. A rush. A for u ; see under backet. 
 Though it avail him not a reisshe. — Cower. 
 All dere ynough a rishe. — Chaucer. 
 And strewed with grene Rysshes, — The Festyval. Ellis, 
 
314 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Rash-buss. A bush of rushes. Rash and buss. 
 
 Ratan. A walking-stick. Ratan, an Indian cane. — 
 
 Johnson. 
 
 Ration. A rat. 
 
 And praied him that he him wolde sell 
 
 Som poison, that he might his ralouns quell. — Chaucer. 
 
 A raton of renon most renable of tonge 
 
 Seide. — P. Plowman. 
 
 And alle manere of wylde Beestes they eten, Houndes, Cattes, 
 
 Ratouns, and alle other wylde Beestes. — Maundeville. 
 
 Raucle. Rash, stout, fearless. 
 
 Rakehell, rakil, or rakle, seems synonymous with reckless. — 
 Thomas Campbell. 
 
 To my mind resort 
 The jolly woes, the hateless short debate, 
 The rakehell life that longs to love's disport. — Earl of Surrey. 
 
 rake! hand to do so foul a mis. — Chaucer. 
 Thou rakle night. — Id. 
 
 Beth nat to rakel of sodayne hastynesse. — Lydgate. 
 
 Raught. Reached. 
 
 And so at length are justly humbled down 
 
 Beneath the foot, that rafight above the crown. — Sylvester. 
 
 An aged sire 
 
 Clad in a linen robe that raught down low. — Fairfax. 
 
 Come make him stand upon this molehill here. 
 
 That raught at mountains with outstretched arms. — Shak. 
 
 Sir Guyon's sword he lightly to him raught. — Spenser. 
 
 Raw. A row. 
 
 1 wolde not 
 
 For all the gold in mery England, 
 
 Though it lay now on a rauie. — R. Hood. 
 
GLOSSARY. 315 
 
 The princes that war riche on raw, 
 
 Gert nakers strike and trumpes blaw. — Minot, 
 
 Than the lordes, al on raw, 
 
 Held them wele payed of this saw. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Rax. To stretch. X stands for ks or «, so Skelton's 
 rachchyd is not far from raxed. 
 
 The next halter there sail be 
 
 I bequeth, yt hole to th^ ; 
 
 Soche pelfry thou hast pachchyd (packed ?) 
 
 And so thy selfe houyr wachyd (over-watched) 
 
 That ther thou sculdest be rachchyd (raxed or stretched) 
 
 If thow war metely machchyd. — Poems against Garnesche, 
 
 Ream. Cream, to cream. 
 
 Ryem, cream. Ryemin, foaming. — Bamford. 
 Ream, rem, cream. — Bosworth. 
 
 That on is white so milkes rem. — Arthour and Merlin. 
 
 Reave. To rob. 
 
 Dismounting from his lofty steed 
 
 He to him leapt, in mind to reave his life. — Spenser. 
 
 He wold pull downe my halles and castles, 
 
 And reave me of my life ; 
 I cannot blame him if he doe, 
 
 If I reave him of his wife. — King Estmere. 
 
 Rebute. Repulse, denial. 
 Rebut. To retire back. Obsolete.— yi!/4«joK. 
 Like a bulwark firmely did abyde, 
 Rebutting him, which in the midst did ryde. 
 
 Spenser. 
 
 Reck. To take heed. 
 
 Reck, to care. — Bailey. 
 
 Thou rechs much of thy swinke. — Spenser. 
 I reck not though I lose my life to-day. — Shak. 
 
3l6 ■ GLOSSARY. 
 
 Goo playe, hym I ne reke. — Skelton. 
 
 Qi night or loneliness it recks me not. — Milton. 
 
 Red. Advised. 
 
 Jamieson thinks it is afraid in " I'm red ye're glaikit." 
 It may be " I am of opinion." This connects it with 
 the succeeding word rede, of which it is the p. p. 
 
 A ! mercy, moder, for Mari maide ! 
 
 I schal deghghe ; nou red me red. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 And so longe criede and bade, 
 
 That him com from heven, rade, 
 
 How he scholde heom distroye. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Rede. Counsel, to counsel ; part. p. red and rad. 
 
 Such mercy He by His most holy reed 
 Unto us taught. — Spenser. 
 
 If I would follow his reed. 
 Into your house he would me guide and lead. 
 
 Gammer Gurton's Needle. 
 And luf it noght over wele, I rede. — Sir Penny. 
 If thou redes that it sua be. — Cursor Mundi. 
 The man is blest that hath not bent 
 
 To wicked read his ear. — First Psalm. Stemhold. 
 She asked what she rad. — Chaucer. 
 
 Red-wud. Stark mad, very angry. See wud. 
 Heat is often applied to some of the passions : — 
 
 A noble emulation heats your breast. — Dryden. 
 Neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. — Psalm xxxviii., 
 
 and as iron heated to redness is very hot, the poet puts 
 red-wud or red-mad for a great degree of anger. 
 
 Ree. Half-drunk, fuddled. 
 
 Ree, as, All in one Ree, all in one river, or overflowed with water. 
 
 Bailey. 
 Rie, fun, merriment. — Halliwell. 
 
GLOSSARY. 317 
 
 I do not know that either of these words is in any way 
 connected with Burns's ree, but in the absence of Hght 
 on the word, it may be suggested that the first might 
 apply to a tipsy man, seeing that his brain has been 
 overflowed with (strong) water, and the second because 
 if there is any fun in a man it is brought out when he is 
 ree, before he becomes maudlin, mad, or imbecile. 
 
 Eeek. Smoke, to smoke; reekin, smoking; reekit, 
 smoked, smoky. — Burns. Found in all E. dictionaries. 
 
 Reekie. Smoky. Auld Reekie, Edinburgh. 
 
 Reel. A lively dance ; to change place in a foursome 
 dance. See cleek. 
 
 Thornton, aid us in our waltzing ; 
 
 Aid us, Bacchus, in our reels ! — Hor. in London, 
 
 Reest. To stand restive. 
 
 Raisty, or resty, a. term used of a horse, when he will stand still 
 and will not go backwards or forwards. — Bailey. Reist. — 
 Richardson. 
 He told me of a resty horse. — The White Devil. 
 In the Cleveland dialect a restive horse is said to reist. — Atkin- 
 son. Palmer. 
 
 Resty sloth 
 Finds the down pillow hard. — Shak. 
 
 Knight says resty here means rusty, spoiled for want 
 of use. Does not reest explain it better? 
 
 Sometimes by appearing to the horse and making him take the 
 reist. — Richardson, 
 
 Reestet. Stunted, withered, shrivelled, dried or smoked. 
 
 Restfto roast. — Somerset. Halliwell. 
 
 Jieest, otreast, rusted, smoke-dried, discoloured; " Rest hacon.'' 
 
 Bamford. 
 
3l8 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Ranci, mustie, fustie, reasie, xes,\.i.—Cotgrave. Aa«V (or reastie), 
 ranci. ■ — Sherwood. 
 
 Reflec'. Reflect. 
 
 Reft. (Past tense of reave and rive). Torn, ragged. 
 
 If thou mayest finde any shore, 
 
 Or hole or reft whatever it were. — Gower. 
 
 Such are the robes that Kings must wear, 
 
 When death has reft their crown. — Margaret's Ghoit. 
 
 Relent. To soften. In " Young Peggie," relent is used 
 as a transitive verb. 
 
 And hated earth, and water hated fire, 
 
 Till love relented their rebellious ire. — Spenser. 
 
 Relief. The name given to those who seceded from the 
 Established Church of Scotland that they might be 
 relieved from the yoke of patronage. Relief minister, 
 a clergyman of that body. 
 
 Reniead. Remedy. F omitted; see under /(?/«««. 
 Poets often omit more important syllables than y. 
 
 In mynd to bene ywroken 
 Of all the vile demeane (demeanour) and usage bad. — Spenser. 
 These she to strangers oftentimes would show, 
 With grave demean and solemn vanity. — Gilbert West. 
 It's ever alas ! but what remeed ? — T/ie Northumberland Garland. 
 Retson. 
 
 Requite, requit. Requital. 
 
 To quit the benefits bestowed. — Chapman. 
 Exposed unto the sea, which hath requit it. 
 Him, and his innocent child. — Shak, 
 
 Resign. This trans, v. is used by Burns as an intransi- 
 tive, " Teach me to resign.''' 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 319 
 
 The gallant spirit resigns, but resigns with an air that speaks a 
 resolution. — Steele. 
 
 Respecket. Respected. 
 
 Restricked. Restricted. See disrespecket. 
 
 Rew. To repent, to pity. 
 
 Werke all by conseil, and thou shalt not rewe. — Chaucer. 
 
 The quene hyt rew well sore. — Launfal. 
 
 So rewe on this robbere. — P. Plowman. 
 
 And God so wisly on my soule rewe, 
 
 As I shall even juge ben, and trewe. — Chaucer. 
 
 And rewe on hym of her womanhede. — Lydgate. 
 
 Rhyme-proof. Capable of resisting all inducements to 
 write poetry. See. prief d shot. 
 
 No Muse shall tempt me with her siren lay ; 
 Verse I abjure. — Churchhill. 
 
 Rickle. Dim. of rick, which is a small stack put up in 
 the field in which the grain grew. A rickle may be 
 made by one man, and is not higher than he can reach 
 from the ground, whereas a rick requires a person to 
 stand on it when building, while another forks up the 
 sheaves. 
 
 I have been particular with this word, because it does 
 not appear to be generally understood, Cimningham 
 saying, " Rickles are shocks of corn, stocks," and Cham- 
 bers that they are ricks. 
 
 Ridge., an old wife's. A small piece of land near a cot- 
 tar's garden. — Burns to G. Hamilton, 28 August, 
 
320 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Rief. Thieving, as rief randies, thieving or reaving beg- 
 gars. Another form of reave. 
 Robbers and rivers walk at libertie uncorrected. — Sir T. More. 
 
 Rief, reef. Rife, plenty. E for i, as in lee. 
 
 Rig. A ridge. 
 
 The place where the Scots and English fought is still called the 
 Battle Riggs. — Percy. 
 Her rigs thou waterest plenteously. — Psalm LXV. Potts' s 
 
 Version. 
 Oppression the Persoune I leif untill 
 Pouir Men's come to hald upon the Rig — 
 Quhill he get the Teynd all hail at his will. — Duncan Leider. 
 
 Rig. Back. 
 
 This word is not used by Burns except in combina- 
 tion. But it appears in rigwoodie, and it is perhaps right 
 to take it by itself. 
 
 She helped him opon his hers ryg. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Ilk Inglis man on others rig, 
 
 Ouer that water er thai went. — Minot. 
 
 The graihond on the rigge he hit. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 He clave him by the rigge bone. 
 
 Sir Eglanwur of Artoys. 
 
 Riggin'. The ridge of a house. 
 
 Riggen, the ridge of a house. — Grose. 
 
 With bellies top-full to the rigging. 
 
 The Northumb. Garland. Ritson. 
 
 Rigwiddie, rigwoodie. The rope or chain, originally a 
 withe or withy, that crosses the saddle to support the 
 shafts of a cart. See rig and woodie. 
 Of the witches characterised by^Burns as — 
 Rigwoodie hags wad spean a foal, 
 
. GLOSS ARV. 321 
 
 Chambers says, "worthy of the gallows," i.e., rigwoodie 
 means worthy of the gallows. Now, not to dwell on the 
 fact that to deserve to be hanged is not a physical but a 
 moral deformity, and it is the former only that could 
 produce. such disgust as would wean a foal, as is proved 
 by Nannie, though as wicked as her old associates, being 
 so attractive that gazing on her Tam — 
 
 Thought his very e'en enrich'd, 
 
 the meaning of the word as applied to the "withered 
 beldams " is obvious to any one who has ever seen a 
 rigwoodie, ridge-band^ ridge-rope, ridge-stay, or ridge-with, 
 as it is called in Cheshire, of the poet's day. Instead of 
 being smooth and intended to move easily in the saddle, 
 like the modern chain, it was rough, in order, I believe, 
 that it might remain firm in its place unaffected by the 
 vibration of the cart. To any person who has seen one 
 of these chains, rigwoodie will appear appropriate to the 
 bodies of the witches, and has no reference to their 
 moral qualities. To each of them might be applied, and 
 rigwoodie means no more, Burns's line — 
 Thou's howe-backit now and knaggie, 
 
 or Spenser's description of a very different character — 
 Eche bone myght through her body well be red. 
 It is only fair to state that Jaraieson, as well as Cham- 
 bers, says that rigwiddie means " deserving the widdie 
 or the gallows." Probably both of them, from neither 
 of whom in a matter of this kind would one willingly 
 differ, were thinking rather of Lindsay's widdiefow than 
 of Burns's rigwoodie — 
 
 The widdiefow wardens tuik my gear, 
 
 And left me nowthir horse nor meir. 
 
 Rin> To run, to melt. 
 
 w 
 
32 2 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Rivers rin not tyll the spryng be full. — Skeltoti. 
 Nedes must he rin that the devyll driveth. — Id. 
 The roo full rekeles ther she rinnes. 
 
 Anc. Bal. of the Battle of Otterbourne. 
 For a best, when it is born, may ga 
 Als-tite aftir, and ryn to and fra. —P. of Conscience. 
 Unto the pleasant river where by Eden it did rin. 
 
 The Masonic Hymn. 
 
 Ring-bane. Ring-bone, an osseous deposit on the pas- 
 tern joint, the result of inflammation. — Williams's 
 Principles and Practice of Vet. Surgery. 
 The said horse was thoroughly cured of a ring-hone which he had 
 
 on that foot. — Rabelais. 
 
 Ring their bells. To blow their own trumpets, to praise 
 themselves. 
 
 Rink. The course of the stones, a term in curling. A 
 
 peculiar pronunciation of ring. — Skeat. 
 
 I borrow the following from Dr. C. Mackay's " Lost 
 Beauties of the English Language '' : — 
 
 "Rink, a course or arena for pubUc sports. The word is princi- 
 pally used in connection with skating, and applied either to an open 
 pond, frozen over, where a ring is made, or to a covered enclosure 
 for the same purpose. The word is common in America and Scot- 
 land, though but little used in England. " 
 
 Rip. A handful of unthreshed oats, etc. 
 
 Wed-bed Rip, the customary service which inferior tenants 
 yielded their lord in reaping and mowing, ^(^-towel, a gratuity or 
 reward given to tenants, after they had reaped their lord's corn. 
 Bed-rip, same as wed-bed rip. — Bailey. 
 
 Ripe, a handful of corn, a sheaf. — Bosworth. 
 
 Ripple. To separate the seed of flax or hemp from the 
 stalk. 
 
 Rippel flax, to rub or wipe off the seed-vessels. — Bailey. 
 Ripple. — Grose. 
 
GLOSSARY. ^23 
 
 Ripples. A weakness in the back and xdms.^/amteson. 
 Burns uses it in the singular, if this be the word, in — 
 
 Auld Orthodoxy lang did grapple, 
 But now she's got an unco ripple ; 
 
 but is it possible that ripp/e is figuratively used to signify 
 a tearing or breaking-up from the instrument called a 
 ripple or its effect ? 
 
 Ripple, to scratch slightly. — Skeat's Etymological Dictionary. 
 
 An unco ripple means a severe scratch. 
 
 Ripplin-kaim. An instrument for dressing flax. See 
 ripple and kaim. 
 
 Risk. To make a noise like the tearing of roots. 
 
 Burns is the only authority Jamieson cites for this word, 
 and he gives the poet's definition. 
 
 Road. Track. 
 
 To road. Applied to small game which, when found by the set- 
 ting dogs, instead of taking wing, run along the ground before the 
 sportsman.— ;/a»2j«<;«. 
 
 This, in " He smell'd their ilka hole and road" is pro- 
 bably a corruption of trod. 
 
 They never set foot on that same irode. — Spenser. 
 
 As shepherds curre that 
 
 Hath tracted forth some salvage beastes trade. — lb. 
 
 Rockin. A social meeting of neighbours on a winter 
 
 evening. 
 
 Young ladies now-a-days, when a visit is not intended 
 to be a mere call, take their " work " with them. For- 
 merly this work was almost always spinning, and they 
 took their rock or spinning apparatus, — not a spinning- 
 wheel but the less cumbrous rock and distaff, — with 
 them and used during the evening with more or less 
 diligence. Hence a friendly visit of some duration was 
 
^24 GLOSSARY. 
 
 called a " rockin." A similar meeting had a similar 
 naxae, filerie, a. spinstrie, in France. — Cot grave. 
 
 Reawkin and rookin, meeting in neighbours' houses, and spend- 
 ing time in idle gossip. — Bamford. 
 
 I do not know if rock gave name to a social meeting 
 further south than Lancashire, but it seems to have been 
 constantly in the women's hands, in all parts of England, 
 and to have been frequently employed for other purposes 
 than the making of thread : — 
 
 Some laid to pledge (for ale) their rock. — Skelton. 
 
 The wiffe came yet, 
 
 And with her rocke 
 
 Many a knocke 
 She gave hym on the crown. — Sir T. More. 
 
 Roon. A shred, a remnant. — Burns. A shred, the sel- 
 vage of woollen cloth. — Cunningham. 
 Selvage seems to be meant in the lines — 
 
 In thae auld times they thought the Moon 
 Woor by degrees, till her last roon 
 Gaed past their viewin' ; 
 
 but if by selvage is meant rind, rine and not roon is the 
 Ayrshire pronunciation. Jamieson has " roond shoon," 
 from " roond, a list of cloth." I suspect that the princi- 
 pal, if not the only, authority for this spelling is the pas- 
 sage just quoted. At all events selvages or lists are 
 always in Ayrshire called selvages when remaining on the 
 cloth, and rines when separated from it. And as for list 
 shoes no Ayrshire woman, — they were not worn by men, 
 — ever knew them by any other name than rine or rind 
 shoes, and as for the carpet shoes which Jamieson thinks 
 were also called " roond shoon,'' in Ayrshire at least, to 
 have so styled them would have seemed to degrade them. 
 
 Clogs, pattens wanting the «'««. — BaiUy, 
 
GLOSSARY. 325 
 
 Unfortunately he has not told us what rines are, but I 
 believe they were strips of cloth, tape, or list, passing 
 over the foot and round the ankle of the wearer of pat- 
 tens, were in fact rinds with the spelling of Spenser : 
 
 A goodly oake sometime had it bene ; 
 And with his nuts larded many swine ; 
 But now the graye mosse marred his rine. 
 
 Shepheard's Calendar. 
 
 Probably if Burns had not told us what he meant by 
 roon, most Scotsmen would have understood " her last 
 roon " to signify the moon's last visible round, or motion 
 for the month. 
 
 Soose. To praise, to commend ; praise. 
 Reuse, to extol, or commend highly. — Bailey. 
 Rooze, to praise, to puff up. — Bamford. 
 Rooyse, to extol. — Thoresiy. 
 
 A morn Lybeaus was boun 
 For to Wynne renoun 
 And ros wythoute les. — Lybeaus Disconnus. 
 
 Roosty. Rusty. Oo for short sound of u, as in — 
 
 Or they twynned them they pekked mood (mud). 
 
 Occleve. 
 The mooder (mother) of the Sowdan. — Chaucer. 
 And in his hand he had a rousty sword. — Id. 
 And strooke (struck) the din within our ears. — Sackville. 
 That conqu'ring look like lightning strook. — Waller. 
 The mizens strooted (strutted) with the gale. — Chapman. 
 
 Rostrum. Pulpit. 
 
 Roun'. Round, in the circle of neighbourhood. D 
 omitted ; see afiel. 
 
 Round. A simultaneous drinking by a company ; a 
 toast. 
 
326 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Their manner of drinking is called Streah, i. e. , a Rotmd. Martin. 
 
 Roup. Sale by auction. Roup of parks, letting of fields 
 for grazing, for the season, by auction. 
 
 Rowpand, calling. — Bailey. 
 Out-rope, sale by auction. — Cotgrave. 
 
 Roupet. Hoarse, as with a cold. 
 Roup, hoarseness. — Bailey. Roop, hoarseness. — Grose. 
 Rawp and roup, hoarseness. — Thoresby. 
 
 The emprour fond his emperice 
 
 With Jourand chere, . . . 
 
 Hond wringging, and loud roupe. 
 
 And here visage al biwope. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Roupe here means outcry, that which makes roupet. 
 It is probably the same as the previous word. 
 
 The goods of this poor man sold at an outcry. — Massinger. 
 
 It has been said that Burns is "guilty of a pleonasm " in 
 
 My roupet Muse is hearse. 
 
 But the words have not the same meaning. A person 
 may be hearse without being roupet. An English poet 
 has a similar line : — 
 
 Long since my voice is hoarse, my throat is sore. — Sidney. 
 
 Rousing. Great. 
 A rousing, a whisking great one. — Bailey. 
 
 Routhie, rowthie. Plentiful, from rowth, plenty. 
 
 Row. To roll, to wrap. For omission of / see under a'. 
 Roll was sometimes written rowl, and the change to 
 roiv was easy. 
 
 I'me no slave to such as you be ; 
 
 Neither shall that snowy brest, 
 Rowling eye, and lip of ruby, 
 
 Ever rob me of my rest, — George Wither. 
 
GLOSSARY. 327 
 
 The burning spit still rowling up and down. 
 
 Strange Histories. Percy Soc. 
 Her mother came out spinning a rowl of flax. — Thomas Shelton, 
 The Lolardes set up srcowis (scrolls) at Westminster. — Cap- 
 gravis Chronicle. Marsh. 
 
 For thou'st have forty pounds a week, 
 In gold and silver thou shalt row (roll). 
 
 The Lover's Quarrel. 
 
 Rowing (of cloths) is the smoothing of them with a roller.— 
 
 Bailey. 
 The rowling light of heaven. — Waller. 
 
 Rowte. To low, to bellow. 
 
 Rowt, to low like an ox or co-w.— Grose. Rout, a noise. — 
 Bailey. 
 
 Parde, lyke the beating of the see, 
 
 And that a man stand out of doute, 
 
 A myle thens, and here it route. — Chaucer. 
 
 It routes as it wer a thondyr \—Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 The lewid people 
 
 Laughen mereli, and maken route. — Hone's An. Mysteries. 
 
 He bereth him there so slowte. 
 That no man dare rowte. — Shelton. 
 
 Rowth, or routh. Plenty, abundance. 
 Routh. — Halliwell. 
 
 Rozet. Rosin. Mercurial rozet, mercury formed into a 
 
 paste. 
 
 A querne of rosate of vi. stane. — Deposition of a Manxman, 
 quoted by Sir W. Scott. 
 
 Ruling-elder. Among Presbyterians, one ordained to 
 the exercise of government in Church courts, without 
 having authority to \.ta.ch..—Jamieson. 
 As the minister, or pastor, is also an elder, for distinc- 
 tion's sake he is sometimes spoken of as a teaching elder, 
 
328 GLOSSARY. 
 
 those conjoined with him, who do not teach, being styled 
 ruling elders. This, which I supposed every person in 
 Scotland knew, seems to have been a matter of which 
 Chambers was ignorant, for he says, in a tiote to " The 
 Whistle " — " An elder of the Scottish Church is called a 
 ruling-elder when sent to represent a burgh in the 
 General Assembly," the truth being, that a man must be 
 a ruling-elder before he can be such a representative. 
 
 -Scotsmen sometimes complain that they, their institu- 
 tions, and ways in general, are misunderstood, and con- 
 sequently misrepresented by Englishmen ; but it would 
 seem to be possible for even a distinguished Scotsman 
 to know very little of some things, and important things, 
 in his own country. 
 
 Rumble-gumption. Common sense. Appears not to 
 differ from gumption. 
 Rummel-gumshon, wit, sense. — Halliwell. 
 
 RumUe-gairie. A rambling or roving person. Rumble, 
 to stir, move about. 
 
 It seems to be of the same family as Rumbustuous, obstreperous. 
 
 Grose. 
 
 Run-deils. Downright devils. — Cunningham. 
 
 Rung. A cudgel. 
 
 Be not fear'd, our master, 
 
 That we two can be dung 
 With any bhiter base beggar, 
 
 That has nought but a rung. — R. Hood. 
 And then I'll make a line for every rung. 
 
 Swift. 
 
 Runkle. To wrinkle. U ior /, as in — 
 
 They armed heom and gurd (girt) with sweord. 
 
 A'yng Alisaunder. 
 
GLOSSARY. 329 
 
 Theyr thrust (thirst) was so great, 
 They asked neuer for mete, 
 But drynke, styll drynke. — Skelton. 
 Runkle, to crease, to wrinkle. — HalUwell. 
 Than waxes his gast seke and sare. 
 And his face roundes ay mare and mare. 
 
 Pricke of Conscience, 
 
 Runt, The stem of a colewort or cabbage. 
 
 Runt, the stump of underwbod. Also, the dead stump of a 
 tree. Also, the. stem of a plant. — Halliwell, 
 Runt, a dwarf, a stunted animal or trse. — Bamford, 
 Befare I buy a bargain of such runts, 
 I'll buy a college of bears. — Fletcher, 
 
 Ruth, Pity, compassion. 
 
 The better part with Mary and with Ruth 
 Chosen thou hast ; and they that overween. 
 And at thy growing virtues vent their spleen. 
 
 In thee no anger find, but pity and ruth. — Milton. 
 And in his herte he caught of it gret routhe. — Chaucer. 
 Rue, even for ruth, here shortly shall be seen. 
 In the remembrance of a weeping queen. — Shak, 
 
 Ryke, To reach. 
 
 This word is not in Jamieson's Dictionary, but it is in 
 Dr. Longmuir's edition of an abridgement, and Burns is 
 given as the only authority. It is apparently derived 
 from A.-Saxon rmcan, from which we have reach, raught, 
 and rax, i.e., racs. The only English form I have found 
 is reike and reyke, 
 Reike, to reach or fetch anything. — Halliwell, 
 A candyll at a lawmpe he lyght. 
 And to her chamber reyhedhe ryht. — Ze Bone Flo. of Rome. 
 
330 GLOSSARY. 
 
 s. 
 
 'S for Bas. 
 
 The busy sun 
 
 Drinks up the sea, and when Ae's done, 
 
 The moon and stars drink up the sun. — Cowley. 
 
 Sab. Sob. Aiox ; see under aff. 
 
 Sae. So. 
 
 King Estmere he stabled his steede, 
 Sae fayre at the hall bord. — King Estmere. 
 
 Elles moght not kinges thre 
 Haf raght (reached) to ride sa fer awai. — Cursor Mundi. 
 
 The stately stagge, that seems sa stout, 
 
 By yalping houndes at bay is set. — Anon. isSy. 
 
 Soft. Soft. A iox o; see under aff. 
 
 Ye all can spek safie words at home. 
 
 — The Felon Sewe of Rokehy. 
 
 Sagitarre. The constellation Sagitarius. 
 
 Of Scorpio the heved all faire 
 
 Be spreden of the Sagitiaire. — Gower. 
 
 Sair. To serve. A for e; see under dails ; for 
 omission of v see under cd! or gre. 
 
 Sair. Sore. 
 
 So was he woundyd wonder sare. — Ipomydon. 
 On knees they fellen alle tho 
 
 With sorrow and sighing sare. — Guy of Warwick. 
 His heart was never so sair. — R, Hood. 
 
 Sairie. Poor, silly, feeble. Jamieson. 
 
 I am by no means certain that Burns ever used this 
 word. In "O aye my wife she dang me" sa'ar, is 
 
GLOSSARY. 331 
 
 sometimes printed instead of satrie. "Some sairie 
 comfort still at last " seems feeble for Burns. 
 
 No stivet e'er lived was so much misused 
 As sairy aid Sawney for claiming the breeks. 
 
 The Northumberland Garland, Ritson, 
 Ful ^aW life he led. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Sairly. Sorely. 
 
 Sail or Sal. Shall. 
 
 Their idels all sal fall dun. — Cursor Mundi. 
 
 And knawe na-mare sal he 
 
 His stede, where that it sal be. — E. Metrical Psalter. 
 
 It ra/nan other be ! — Wrights Chaucer. 
 
 Sir, thus sail thi maisters wise 
 
 Decay ve the with thaire quayntise. — The Seven Sages, 
 
 Sal-marinum. Sea-salt. 
 
 Salt-permit. A note given by an ofiScer of the Excise 
 permitting the moving of salt, on which, in Burns's 
 time, duty was paid. 
 
 Sands, to take the. To flee the country or go into 
 concealment. 
 
 Sannock, Dim. of Sawnie and Sandy, diminutives of 
 Alexander. 
 
 Sang. A song. 
 
 Herdistow ever slik a sang er now ? — Wrights Chaucer. 
 The Castel and the Citee rang 
 
 With menstralsi and nobil sang. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 A sangidci schal you singe. — The Geste of Kyng Horn. 
 
 Sang about. See about. 
 
 Sapientipotent. Wisely powerful or powerfully wise ; the 
 poet's own coinage. 
 
332 . GLOSSARY. 
 
 Sappy. Plump. 
 
 Sa'r. If there is such a word, it must mean share, 
 portion. This simulacrum of a word is found only in 
 a song referred to under sairie. I cannot decide 
 which word is the worse. 
 
 Sark. A shirt. 
 
 Gamelyn stood in the place alone without serk. 
 
 Tale of Gamelyn, 
 He had a sarke of silk 
 
 About his middle meet. — The Boy and the Mantle. 
 Stryppyd hem nakyd to the sarke. — R. C. de Leon. 
 The minister of Crossthwaite Church had a whittle-gait or the 
 valuable privilege of using his knife for a week at a time at any 
 table in the parish, and lastly, a harden sark or shirt of coarse 
 linen. — Brandos Popular Antiquities. 
 
 Sunday's sark. A finer sort of shirt, donned only when 
 its owner put on his best clothes, which for many was 
 only on Sundays. 
 
 Intelligence 
 Would for a Sunday-suit thy breath condense. — Cleveland. 
 
 Sarkit. Shirted, provided with shirts. 
 
 But naked now, or shirtedh\3.\. with air. — Dryden. 
 
 Sarkie. Dim. of sark. 
 
 Saugh. The willow. 
 Saugh, a willow, or withen. — Bamford. 
 
 They made a bier of the broken bough, 
 The sauch and the aspin gray. 
 
 Barthram's Dirge. 
 
 Saul. Soul. 
 Methinks it should not be worth your while to risque your saul. 
 
 Vanbrugh^ 
 
GLOSSARY. • 33J 
 
 Remember, man, thy sawlys helthe. — Skelion. 
 
 Unto his sawl was sho fell h\i\Ae.—Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 He makes mani be forsworne 
 
 And sum life and jaa/ forsworn. — Sir Penny. 
 
 That yvel the saiil sal grefe gretely. — P. of Conscience. 
 
 Saumont. Salmon. 
 
 This, except the added t, which was frequently ap- 
 plied to words ending in n, is the French form of the 
 Latin salmo, and that which was used by early English 
 writers. 
 
 In the ryver ys gret plente of samon.—John of Trevisa. Morris 
 and Skeat. 
 
 They defend them with lamprey, 
 
 With luce, with elis, with samons. — Chaucer. 
 
 There with his turbant (turban) and his robe arrayed, 
 
 I shall convict her. — Congreve. 
 
 Give me the turbant and the false beard. 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 
 How can I tell but that his talants (talons) may 
 
 Yet scratch my son. — Spenser. 
 
 For the orizont (horizon) had reft the sonne his light. 
 
 Chaucer. 
 
 A sorrow so great as brought her to the margent of the grave. 
 Taylor's Holy Living and Dying. 
 
 Saunt. A saint. 
 The insertion of u in words like this is common. 
 Ane brother of the cloystre of Sauynt AMS,\.m.—Ayenbite of 
 Inwyie. 
 
 The black Sanctus was a hymn to Saunte Satan.— Dodsley's Old 
 Plays. 
 
 And I wil nu this ilk tre 
 
 Stand in paradis to be 
 
 To mi santes in sted of hde.— Cursor Mundi, 
 
334 GLOSSARY. 
 
 She straungeth 
 Her love, and longe er that she chautigetht 
 
 _ Gower. 
 
 Saut. Salt. To cast saut on onis tail, to catch or over- 
 take. See under a' for omission of /. 
 
 Sawt, salt. — Bamford. 
 
 Such great achievements cannot fail 
 To cast salt on a woman's tail, — Butler. 
 
 Sauted. Salted, troubled. 
 
 Saw. To sow. 
 
 For on his visage was in little drawn. 
 
 What largeness thinks in paradise was sawn. — Shak. 
 
 Measure and I wyll never be devydyd 
 
 For no dyscorde that any man can sawe. — Skelton. 
 
 He thought on his londes that layen unsawe. 
 
 — Tale of Gamelyn. 
 And to cause the christen to him to geve confidence 
 By the false seede of errour that they sawe 
 Before his comming, against our fayth and lawe. 
 
 — Barclay's Shif of Fools. 
 
 Sawtiy or Sawnie. Sandy, Alexander. In " Hallow- 
 een" it seems to mean Satan. 
 
 Sax. Six. A for i is not common, though it is found, 
 as in — 
 
 Hy ne eteth non othere thing 
 
 Than the erthe youet (gives) withouten tallyng (tilling). 
 
 — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 But six is often written sex, and thus we have a for e, 
 for which see under fallow. 
 
 It was sex months syn. — Coventry Mysteries. 
 
 Now, als this time sex yer, 
 
 I rade allane, als ye sal her. — Ytnain and Gaiuain. 
 
glossarV. ^35 
 
 A litil village of myne having not past sex houses. 
 
 — Earl of Northumberland to Henry VIII. 
 
 Scaith. To damage, to injure, injury. 
 
 This trick may chance to scath you. — Shak. 
 
 And of the wyf of Bath 
 That VForketh much scath. — Skelton. 
 Tryde often to the scath of many deare. — Spenser. 
 But she was somdel defe, and that was scathe. — Chaucer. 
 Yet no such quickness for defence he used, 
 As did the prince to work him harm and scaith. — Fairfax. 
 
 Scandal-potion. Tea. 
 
 At one time satirists joined scandal and tea together. 
 They are not now, I believe, supposed to have any con- 
 nection. 
 
 But chief, all sexes, every rank and age. 
 
 Scandal and tea, more grateful shall engage. — The Rolliad. 
 
 Now with mama at tedious whisk I play ; 
 
 Now without scandal drink insipid tea.^Lord Lyttleton. 
 
 Scant. Scarcity. Verb or adjective used as a noun ; 
 but surely there must have been a noun scant be- 
 fore we could have scanty, as there were wind, win- 
 ter, and sand, before there were windy, wintry and 
 sandy. 
 
 Scantling. Burns uses this word for scanty or small in 
 one of his letters to Clarinda. 
 
 Scar. To scare. E omitted as in 
 
 Whar artow ! — whar ? 
 An hore to Amon the bar (bare). 
 Alisaundre swor. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 For what tyme he to me spak (spake) 
 Out of hys mouth me thoght brak (brake) 
 A flamme of fyre. — Robert of Brunne. 
 
336 glossarV. 
 
 Scar. A cliff. See scaur. 
 
 Scaud. To skald. L omitted ; see under a\ 
 
 Scaud, skode, or scode, to scald. — Bamford. 
 
 Scauld. To scold. A for o ; see hald. 
 
 He was of his tong a skald. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Scaur. To scare, apt to scare. Long sound of a 
 changed into au ; see under awauken, and in — 
 
 For penaunce chaunged was his hew. — Rob. of Brunne. 
 Monye he brought ol\yl dawe (day). — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Scaur and scar. A cliff, a precipice. 
 
 Scar, a steep rock, the cliff of a rock. — Bailey. 
 Scarr, scaur, a steep, bare, and rocky place on the side of a hill. 
 
 Bamford. 
 And eke ful ofte a little scar upon the bank, 
 Lets in the streme. — Gower. 
 
 Whose longitude do swage 
 His fury, when his waves on Furnesse seem to war, 
 Whose crooked beak is arm'd with many a rugged scar, 
 Against his boist'rous shocks. — Poly-olbion. 
 
 Scone. A kind of bread. 
 
 A scone differs from a bannock in being thinner, and 
 both from a cake in not being toasted before the fire as 
 well as above it. A scone, also, is not made of oatmeal, 
 indeed, I am told that unless mixed with some other 
 substance, as potatoes, oatmeal could not be made into 
 scones. 
 
 Scone-bonnet. A flat bonnet, like a scone, formerly worn 
 by the peasantry of the Lowlands of Scotland, and 
 which continued to be the head-dress of millers till 
 recently. 
 This word does not occur in Burns's works, but 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 337 
 
 according to Allan Cunningham, he made use of it in a 
 conversation in Edinburgh. — Life, p. 361. 
 
 Scanner. A loathing, to loathe. 
 Scunner, to loafhe, to shun. — Halliwell. 
 
 Scotch mile. Nineteen hundred and eighty-four yards, 
 or two hundred and twenty-four yards longer than an 
 English mile. 
 
 Scots. The Scottish language. 
 
 Scratch. To scream, as a hen, partridge, etc. 
 
 Screik, to shriek. — Bailey. Scrike, skriech, scriech. — Weber. 
 
 The solemn dirge, ye Owls, prepare, 
 Ve Bats, more hoarsely screek. 
 
 An Excellent New Ballad. 
 
 Screed. To tear, a rent. 
 
 Screade, a shred, leaf. Screadian, to shred, cut. — Bosworlh. 
 
 Scriegh. To cry shrilly. Another form of scraich. 
 
 Scrieve. To glide swiftly along. 
 
 Scrievin. Gleesomely, swiftly. 
 
 Jamieson has indicated that it is only metaphorically 
 that "gliding swiftly along" can mean gleesomely. He 
 quotes no authority but Burns for the word. 
 
 Scrimp. To scant. 
 
 Scrimp, to spare, to pinch. — Var. dial. Halliwell. 
 Scrimpness, scantiness. — Bailey. 
 
 Scroggie. Bushy. 
 
 Scrog, a stunted bush. Scraggy, abounding in underwood. 
 
 Halliwell. 
 Scrog, a fragment, a scrag. — Bamford. 
 X 
 
338 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Shrogs, a company of bushes, of hazels, thorns, briers. 
 
 Thoresby. 
 
 Sculduddery. Fornication. 
 
 Se^d. Did see. 
 
 The weak for the strong past tense was often used. 
 In " The Jovial Hunter of Blomsgrove " I find " He 
 Mowed a blast " and " Then Sir Ryalas drawed his broad 
 sword." I could however have been well content if 
 Burns had not used seid. 
 
 Some of the old poets seem, as regards this word, to 
 
 make a sort of compromise : — 
 
 The Devil ne're see such two Sir Harrys. 
 
 IVrighfs Political Songs. 
 
 And there we see Thomas. — Ji. Hood. 
 A damsel come unto me, 
 
 The semeliest that ever i see. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 I seed an old chap at Bartlemy fair. 
 Look more like a king than that chap there. 
 The King and the Countryman. — Belts An. Poems attd Songs. 
 
 Sel. Self; a body's sel, one's self alone. 
 Seln, self, — Bamford. Sel, seln, self. — Thoresby. 
 Which they dig out fro the dells, 
 For their bairns' bread, wives, and sells. — Ben Jonson. 
 
 Show your sell 
 To all the shepherds. — Id. 
 To Perciens Ywol me seolle (myself). — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 Tim Bobbin entered by him sell. — Tim Bobbin. 
 
 Seirt. Did sell. T for d, see under akwart; strong 
 verb conjugated as if it were a weak one, as in 
 Witness, ye heavens, the truth of all that I have teld. — Spenser. 
 The fayrest thorne that eve'c groued (grew). — Vwain and Gawain. 
 He zeld her haill hide for a groat. — The Northumberland Gar- 
 land. Ritson. 
 
CtLOSSARY. 
 
 339 
 
 Semple. Simple, humble in station, low-born. E for /, 
 as in 
 
 He toke hys kyrtyl of, as smert, 
 
 And ded (did) hyt on Ihe man above. — F. of Conscience. 
 
 I made noght for no disours, 
 
 Ne for no seggours, no harpours, 
 
 Bot for the luf of symple men 
 
 That strange Inglis cannot ken. — R. of Brunne. 
 
 Sche made hem in Xht. fettes (pits) wete. — Gower. 
 
 Servafi. Servant. T is often omitted after n. 
 
 For summe of my servanns bethe seke other- while. 
 
 P. Plowman. 
 Sendeth ous 
 An C. tlioiisand besans (besants). — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Set. To face in a dance. See deck. 
 
 Enter young Loveless and his comrades with wenches and two- 
 fiddlers — 
 
 Come, my brave man of war, trace out thy darling ; 
 And you, my learned council, set and turn, boys. 
 
 Beatimont and Fletcher, 
 Thou'st out, says Dick ; it's a lie, says Nick, 
 For the fiddler play'd it false. 
 The fiddler then began to play it over again. 
 And every lass did set it unto the man. — Old Ballad. 
 
 Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, Vol. VIII. 
 
 Set. To go, in " His only son for Hornbook sets."' 
 
 Sets aff, goes away. 
 
 So let him land 
 And solemnly set on to London. — Shak. 
 
 Set by. To regard. 
 
 For a greytte lorde was Y tyld. 
 And mykell Y was sette by. — Sir Amadas. 
 And David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of 
 Saul, so that his name was much set by. — i Samuel, xviii. 30. 
 
34° GLOSSARY. 
 
 She settes not by thy love a leeke. 
 
 Lord Vatix. 
 Your ladyship can set 
 As little by such tunes as may be possible. 
 
 Shak. 
 
 Seillin. Settling ; to get a settlin, to be frightened into 
 quietness. 
 
 He settled him at a blow. — Fuller. 
 
 Till the fury of his highness settle 
 Come not before him. — Shak. 
 
 His insolence 
 He settled v/ith his sceptre. — Chapman. 
 
 Several. Separate, in " Each took aff his several way." 
 He was a leper and dwelt in a several house. — 2 Kings, xv. j. 
 Thanks to you all, and leave us ; fare you well. 
 Good morrow, masters, each his several way. — Shak. 
 He does allot for every exercise 
 A several hour. — Massinger. 
 
 Sha\ Shall. 
 
 Shachlet. Distorted, shapeless. 
 
 It is often said that the word is used metaphorically 
 in " Last May a braw wooer " but I think the inquiry 
 about the "shachlet feet'' of her rival is to be under- 
 stood as literally as the question " Gin she had re- 
 covered her hearing." 
 
 Shaird. A shred, a shard. Long for short sound of a 
 as in — 
 
 For either they be ful of jelousie. 
 Or maistcrful. — Chaucer. 
 Hire browe broune, hire eye Make 
 With middel smal and wel ymake. 
 
 IVrighfs Specimens of Lyric Poetry. 
 Sheard, a fragment, — Bailey. 
 
GLOSSARY. 341 
 
 Shangan. A stick cleft at one end for putting the tail 
 of a dog, &c. into, by way of mischief, or to frighten 
 him away. 
 
 Shank. To go on foot. From shank, a leg. 
 
 Shaul. Shallow. 
 
 But this Molaunce, were she not so shole. 
 Were no less faire and beautiful than she. — Spenser. 
 When shauUes and sandie bankes appear, 
 What pillot can direct his course 1— Early Naval Ballads. 
 
 Percy Society. 
 Shoal, a shallow.— ^a/mj-cw. 
 
 Shaver. A barber, a humorous wag. 
 
 The brace are flinch' d, 
 The brace of shavers are sneak'd from us, Don. — Ford. 
 Who could imagine now that this young shaver, 
 Could dream of a woman so soon ? — Farquhar. 
 Yet Hampden, Cholmondely, those sinful shavers. 
 Rebellious, riot in their Sabbath quavers. — Dr. Wolcot. 
 
 Shavie. A trick, an ill turn. Apparently a trick played 
 by a shaver. 
 
 Shaw. To show. 
 
 It schawed thar ful openlye 
 
 That I led mi lif wrangwislie. — E. Metrical Homilies. 
 
 For to shawe hire gentyll face. — Life of Alexander. 
 
 Bot Hatherof, thou most me schawe, 
 
 Wharbi y schal Wikard knawe. — Horn Childe and Maiden 
 
 Rininild. 
 To our Lorde Jeshu Crist in heven, 
 Iche to-day schazve myne sweven. — Davies'' Visions. 
 
 Shaw. A small wood in a hollow place. " Wild natural 
 wood."— &> W. Scott. 
 
 When shaivs been sheen. — R. Hood. 
 
342 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Gaillard he was, as goldfinch in the shawe. 
 
 Chaucer. 
 In sommer he lyveth by hawys, 
 That on hauthorne growth by schawys. 
 
 Sir Orfheo. 
 I well abide under the shawe. — Cower. 
 
 Shear. To reap, to cut grain with a hook or sickle, the 
 only way of reaping known in Burns's day. 
 He shears, he reaps. — Bamford. Shear, to reap. — Bailey. 
 Certain I am full like indeed 
 To him that cast in earth his seed, 
 But ere he it in his sheves shere 
 May fall a weather that shall it dere. — Chattcer. 
 Now o'er our bodies (tumbled up in heaps) 
 Like cocks of hay when July shears the field. 
 
 Thos. Kyd. 
 
 Sche fond and gadreth herbes swote ; 
 
 Sche pulleth up som be the rote, 
 
 And many with a knyf sche scherth. — Cower. 
 
 In tyme of harvest men their come shere. Skelton. 
 
 Shearer. A reaper. 
 
 Shears and sheers. Scissors. Johnson makes a distinc- 
 tion between shears and scissors, and the use of the 
 former for the latter is thought a Scotticism. 
 
 I saw a smith 
 
 With open mouth swallowing a tailor's news, 
 Who, with his shears and measure in his hand, 
 Told of a many thousand warlike French. — Shah. 
 There went but a pair of sheers between us. — Id. 
 Fate urged the sheers, and cut the sylph in twain ; 
 The meeting points the sacred hair dissever 
 From the fair head. — The Rape of the Lock. 
 
 Sheen. Shining, bright. This word, said to be obsolete, 
 is now to be found in all E. dictionaries. 
 
GLOSSARY. 343 
 
 With spere and schelde and helmis schene. — Minot. 
 Ther as this fresshe Emelia the shene 
 Was in hire walk. — Chaucer. 
 
 Sheep-shank. To think one's self nae sheep-shank, to be 
 
 conceited. 
 
 Burns, both in prose and verse, speaks of a sheep- 
 shank as if it were a worthless thing. But the peasantry 
 of Ayrshire, who have a high appreciation of a sheep's 
 trotter as an adjunct to a sheep's head, use this meta- 
 phor differently, and say of a person supposed to set too 
 high a value on himself, " He thinks his nae sma' sheep- 
 shank," i.e., he considers himself to be an excellent 
 sheep-shank. I have always heard the emphasis laid on 
 sma'. 
 
 Sheerly. Entirely. The adjective is common enough, 
 but I do not remember meeting the adverb. 
 Sheer, clear, entire, through. — Bamford. 
 Sheer, altogether, quite. — Bailey. 
 
 Sherra-muir. Sheriff-moor, the famous battle fought in 
 the Rebellion, a.d. 1715. 
 
 Sherewe, a sheriff. — Lydgate. Halliwell. 
 
 I have missed this word in Lydgate, but this spelling 
 comes very near shireues in the following lines, if we had 
 any means of knowing that u did not stand for the 
 modern v : — 
 
 Sysours and sompnours, Shireues and here clerkes. 
 And sette Mede vpon a Schyreue shodde al newe. 
 
 — P. Plo'W}na7t. 
 
 The Anglo-Saxon, however, gives no countenance to 
 the S. pronunciation. 
 
 Sheugh. A ditch, a trench. 
 
 Seugh, or sough, a wet ditch. — Grose. 
 
344 GLOSSARY. 
 
 It is probably allied to sewer. It occurs in " Death 
 and Doctor Hornbook," and is said by some editors to- 
 mean a furrow, though in the same stanza it is said, 
 "Ye need na yoke the pleugh," the only thing that can 
 produce a furrow. In " The Twa Dogs," it means an 
 open drain, or ditch. 
 
 Sheuk. Shook. Eu for oo ; see under beuk. 
 
 Shiel, shieling. A shed, a hut, a temporary dwelling- 
 place. 
 
 Shift. To exchange. 
 
 Some to every side and party go, 
 
 Shift every friend, and join with every foe. — Crabbe. 
 
 Skill. Shrill. 
 
 He taketh his harpe anone ryght, 
 
 Into the wode it ringeth schylle. 
 
 As he coude harpe at his wille. — Sir Orpheo. 
 
 And so schil schal that noyse bi, and so swete. 
 
 F. of Conscience. 
 Thai ganne arere swich a cri,^ 
 That it schillede into the ski. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Shog. A shock. 
 
 A shog, the meeting of two hard bodies which strike against one 
 another with violence. — Bailey. 
 
 Shog, violent concussion. —^/o/iwjoK. 
 
 Why then capricious mirth make sholders shog. 
 
 Mar St on. 
 After daybreak a shog was felt. — Isacu Litthbmy's Herodotus. 
 Sagotier, to shog or shake. — Cotgrave. 
 
 Shog on, kind patient. — Massinger. 
 
 Shod. A shovel. 
 
 6'/joo/, a shovel. — Grose. Bamford. Thoresby. 
 
GLOSSARY. 345 
 
 Gave him a realm to rule, 
 That occupyed a showell, 
 
 A mattoke and a spade. 
 From the donge carte, 
 The mattocke and the shule. 
 
 To reygne and to rule. — Skelton. 
 Who dug his grave ? 
 I, said the owl, with my spade and showl. 
 
 Death of Cock Robin. 
 
 Shoon. Shoes. 
 
 Do on thy hosen and thy schoon. — Wrighfs Chaucer. 
 And leav'st such prints of beauty 
 
 As clouted shoon do on a floor of loam. — Bishop Corbet. 
 Some their hose, and some their shoon. — Skelton. 
 
 Shore. To offer, to threaten. 
 
 Shore, to threaten. — Halliwell. 
 
 Shot. A movement of the shuttle across the warp. 
 
 My shuttle's shot, my race is run, 
 
 My sun is set, my day is done. — Thomas Dudley, Gov. of Massa- 
 chusetts, one of the Pilgrim Fathers. 
 An honest weaver, and as good a workman 
 As e'er shot shuttle. — Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 
 Shouther. Shoulder. For change of d into th see 
 blather. 
 Shoot her. — Bamford. 
 
 Scho toke hym by the shouther bane. 
 
 BelVs An. Poems and Songs. 
 
 Schure. Did shear (reap), shore. Uiora; see under 
 bure. 
 
 Her kercheves were well schyre. — Launfal. 
 In two yt share Guyes stedes body. — Sir Guy. 
 The god of love, which all to-share 
 Mine breast. — Chaucer. 
 
346 GLOSSARY. 
 
 The spores of his heles it schare. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 Her throtes he schar atwo. — Amis and Amiloun. 
 
 Sic. Such. 
 
 But sike fancies weren foolerie. — Chaucer. 
 And who is yon, thou ladye faire, 
 
 That looketh with sic an austerne face. 
 
 Northumberland betrayed by Douglas. 
 
 And loatheth sike delightes, as thou doest prayse. — Spenser. 
 
 Sicker. Sure, steady. 
 
 And made all siker ynow with holinesse. — Chaucer. 
 
 Sicker thy head verie tottie is. — Spenser. 
 
 Now am I sicker I shall never finish my queste. 
 
 Morte D' Arthur. 
 
 The dancing past, the board is laid. 
 And siker such a feast is made 
 As heart and lip desire. — Parnell. 
 
 Side. A district. See kinira-side. 
 
 The worde (report) of hire spronge ful wyde 
 Ffeor and ner, bi uch a syde. — The Kyng of Tars. 
 
 Sidelins. Sidelong, slanting. 
 
 Sideling, sideways, awry. — Bailey. 
 
 Sidelin, shuffling, hesitating. — Bamford. 
 
 At last, with great sideling, my shoulders, and my whole body, 
 got in. — -John Bttnyan, 
 
 They had chosen a strong grounde somewhat sideling on the side 
 of a hill. — Holliiigshed's Chron., quoted by Jamieson. 
 
 I passed very gently and jz(/A'«^ through the two principal streets. 
 
 Swift. 
 
 Sightless. Used in " The Vision " for unseen or invisible. 
 
 Come to my woman's breasts. 
 
 And take my milk for gall, you murd'ring ministers. 
 
GLOSSARY. 347 
 
 Wherever in your sightless substances 
 You wait on nature's mischief. — Shak. 
 
 Siller. Silver. 
 
 A little thing with a hole in the end, as bright as any siller. 
 Small, long, sharp at the point and strait as any piller. 
 
 Gammer Carton's Needle. 
 
 Siller. Silver ; money. 
 
 Oh dainty duchess, here I bring that knyght. 
 Him that your writings, pack'd on every pillar, 
 Promised promotion to, and store of siller. — Fletcher. 
 
 Some so-called Scotch words require a double explana- 
 tion. Their spelling differs from the modern English ; 
 and they are used in apparently a different manner. Yet 
 both in form and meaning are they found in English 
 v(?riters. Siller is a good example. It is not the conven- 
 tional orthography, and it is used for money as the French 
 use argent. But the spelling, as shown above, was known 
 in England, and the English — as was to be expected in 
 a country in which for two centuries after the Conquest 
 no gold was coined — used silver in the same sense. In- 
 deed, it was long the custom to join silver with gold when 
 money was spoken of, e.g. — 
 
 Ther was gold gyffen in that stonde. 
 
 And plenty of sylver, many a ponde. — Sir Amadas. 
 
 Silver for money — 
 
 On swych chaffare 
 
 Wuld y feyn my silver ware. — Rob. of Brunne. 
 One John Pelegrin was corrupted with silver. — Luther's Fore- 
 runners, Lond., 1624. 
 
 So that the king in such manere sulver wan ynow. 
 
 Rob. of Gloucester. 
 I expect forty pounds in good silver. I am not obliged to take 
 gold ; neither will I. — Dry den to Jacob Tonson. 
 
348 GLOSSARY. 
 
 The use of silver was once so common in England, as- 
 to give origin to a verb signifying to bribe — 
 
 He has whytyd Saladynys hand, 
 
 To be kyng of Surryeland. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
 Simmer. Summer. / for u sound ; see under aniiher,. 
 bizz, and in — 
 
 His lemman/izV/« (cut) hem with hire sheres. — Chaucer. 
 
 Sin. Son. / for it sound as above. Son was often 
 spelled sun. 
 
 Quen (when) ani deid o that dizein 
 His sun (son) for him was sett again. — Cursor Mundi. 
 John, sun to King Henry, and Fulco fell at variance at chestes. 
 
 Lelantfs Collectanea. 
 
 Sin'. Since. 
 
 I could never vaunt of any purse 
 
 I had, sin' you were my god-fathers. — Ben Johnson. 
 
 But when as Calidore was comen in 
 
 And gan aloud for Pastorell to call, 
 
 Knowing his voice, although not heard long sin'. 
 
 Spenser. 
 For sin' he said that we ben jangleresses, 
 I shall not sparen. — Chaucer. 
 Was never syn Noe floode sich floodes seyn. 
 
 Wakefield Mysteries. 
 
 •t. Singed. 
 
 Sinn. The sun. / for u ; see under bizz. 
 
 Sinsyne. Since then. Sin and syne. 
 
 Sirs ! and dear sirs ! An interjection having no re- 
 ference to the company. It is not addressed to per- 
 sons, but expresses the emotion of the speaker, like 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 349 
 
 oh ! ah ! eh ! &c. Shakspeare has sir as an interjec- 
 tion twice, and Skelton has 
 
 Kynge Phylyp of Macedony 
 
 Had no such Phylyp as I, No, no, syr, hardely. 
 
 Phyllyp Sparowe. 
 Lo, lo, sers! — Coventry Mysteries. 
 
 Skaith. To injure, to damage ; injury, another form of 
 scaith. 
 
 To me it es ful mekel skath, 
 
 Bot better es lose it than yo w bath. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 It was but in my own defence 
 
 If he has gotten skaith . — H. Hood. 
 
 or skiegh. Proud, nice, high-mettled. — Burns. 
 Skittish. — Ramsay. Timorous, apt to startle; un- 
 manageable, mettlesome, skittish ; coy, shy ; proud, 
 nice. — -Jamieson. 
 Skekie, shy, frightened. — Halliwell. 
 
 Skelhim. A worthless fellow. 
 
 Skellum, a rogue. — Bailey. Skellum, a villain, a scoundrel. — 
 Johnson. Cheltne, a knave, a skellain. — Cotgrave. 
 
 Skellie. To squint. 
 
 Skellut, crooked, awry. — Bamford. Skelly, to squint. — Halliwell. 
 
 Jamieson quotes the following from an edition of 
 Piers Plowman which I have not seen : — " Than Scrip- 
 ture scorned me and a skile loked." He also gives 
 A.-Sax. sceol-edge, which Bosworth translates squint-eyed, 
 goggle-eyed, and a number of other words as the origin 
 ■of skellie. But whatever the derivation of it, I think it is 
 the same as skail, sometimes spelled skeil, to disperse, to 
 scatter. This word was known in England. 
 
 After his army, to his perpetual shame, skated, he called a 
 council." 
 
35 o GLOSSARY. 
 
 But the English word nearest to skellie, both in spelling 
 and meaning, occurs in " Early English Alliterative 
 Poems.'' I quote from Dr. Morris's excellent edition 
 published in 1869. I make no alteration on the lines 
 except to substitute modern for Anglo-Saxon characters. 
 The flood is over, and Noah relieves the animals from 
 their confinement in the ark : — 
 
 Therwyth he blesses uch a best & bytaght (gave) hem this erthe, 
 Then watz (was) a skylly skyualde, quen scaped all the wylde 
 (beasts). 
 
 Skylly, skailing, dispersing, divergent, like a skellie 
 eye. Skyvalde, a scramble, perhaps the origin of our 
 slang word chivy. 
 
 It will be seen by any one who looks carefully at it 
 that skile, in the passage from Piers Plowman quoted by 
 Jamieson, means to scowl rather than to squint, for 
 squinting does not proceed from scorn or any other feel- 
 ing, but is purely physical. 
 
 The maryners awey gonne skylle. 
 
 And yorne awey well hastily. — Octovian Imperator. 
 
 Skelp. To strike, to slap, to walk with a smart tripping 
 step ; a smart stroke. 
 
 Skelping, full, bursting, very large; also a hearty beating. — Grose. 
 I shall skelpe thee on the skalpe. — Skelton. 
 
 Skelpie-limmer. A technical term in female scolding. 
 
 See skelp and limmer. 
 
 As Burns does not say what this word means, some 
 people seem to have misunderstood it. Dr. Mackay, for 
 instance, says, " Skelpie-limme?', a violent woman, ready 
 both with her hands and tongue." 
 
 It is, I think, pretty clear that Burns did not mean a 
 violent woman — that would have been a skelper, not a 
 skelpie — but one that deserved to be skelped, one not 
 
GLOSSARY. 35 1 
 
 too old to be subjected to the chastisement which skelp- 
 ing primarily denotes. Look at the passage in which it 
 occurs : — 
 
 Wee Jennie to her Grannie says, 
 
 Will ye go wi' me, Grannie? 
 
 Evidently both from the word wee applied to her, and 
 from her desire to secure the presence and protection of 
 her aged relative in what she regarded as a dangerous 
 adventure, she was a mere child, and the grandmother's 
 answer is equivalent to " Ye deserve to be whipped for 
 proposing such a thing.'' Skelpie-Ummer is, I believe, 
 the feminine of stripling, if the old derivation be allowed, 
 one not too old for corporal punishment, or of Shakes- 
 peare's — 
 
 I am no breeching scholar in the schools. — Taming of the Shreiv. 
 
 This view of the word seems to be countenanced by 
 whippy, given by Jamieson as a term of contempt 
 applied to a girl or young woman. 
 
 Skink. Drink, anything potable ; to serve drink. — 
 Johnson. 
 
 Bacchus the win hem skinketh al aboute. — Chaucer. 
 
 Skinklin. Shining ; a small portion. 
 
 Skirl. To shriek, to cry shrilly. 
 Skirl, to scream, to shrielc. — Halliwell. 
 Skyrm, to scream. — Bamford. 
 
 Sklent. Slant, to run aslant, to deviate from truth, to fib; 
 
 to glance. See under asklent. 
 
 Burns's use of sklented in " To William Simpson " is 
 like the squinting in the following : — 
 
 The writers of them seldom or never do attain that end which 
 they propound to themselves, especially if squinting at sinister 
 ends. — Fuller. 
 
3S2 GLOSSARY. 
 
 The observations have a squint at the author. — Cowper. 
 
 Skouth. Room, freedom to act. 
 
 And he get scouth to wield his tree, 
 I fear you'll both be paid. — R. Hood. 
 
 Skreigh or skriegh. To scream, a scream. 
 
 Screek and scritch. — Bailey. Skriche, scriech, cry out. — Weber. 
 Whose fathers struck France so with fear, 
 As made poor vrives and children skrilie. 
 
 Bal. of Flodden Field. 
 Women scrike, girles gredyng. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Sky fin. Shining, showy. 
 
 Sciy (A. -Sax.). Sheer, pure, clear, bright, glorious. — Bosworth. 
 Burns uses this word only once — 
 
 But had you seen the philibegs, 
 And skyrin tartan trews. 
 
 The following pretty long extract from an old English 
 romance, is given to show that the word is applied to 
 showy colours by the older as well as the more recent 
 poet : — 
 
 A melle (mill) he hadde of gret maystry ; 
 
 In mydys a schyp for to stand ; 
 
 Swylke on saugh nevyr man in land. 
 
 Four sayles wer thereto, 
 
 Yellw, and grene, red and bloo. 
 
 With canevas layd wel al about, 
 
 Ful scliyr withinne, and eke without. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
 For leuening (lightning) in his sight cloudes schire^ 
 
 Forthyheden (went forth), haile, coles of fire. 
 
 Metrical English Psalter. 
 
 Skyte. Very forcible motion. 
 
 Skyt, hasty, precipited. — Dyce. Skit, quickly. — Weber. 
 Syr skyrgalyard, ye were so skyt. 
 Your wyll than ran before your wyt. — Skelton. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 353 
 
 A knyght took him up full skeet.—R. C. de Lion. 
 
 Sldde. Did slide. A for o, as under bane, slode being 
 the old form. 
 
 In hys goynge out of hys schyp a slod.^ohn of Trevisa. 
 Hys hors slod, and fel jm the fen. — Launfal. 
 
 Slae. A sloe. A iox o; see under bane. 
 Slaigh, sloes, berries of the blackthorn. — Bamford. 
 
 Slap. A gate, a breach in a fence. — Burns. A breach 
 in a wall ; a gap in a tence..^/amieson. 
 
 Slap. Unawares, unexpectedly, as if through a slap or 
 gap in a fence, in 
 
 Till, slap, come in an unco loon. — The Dumfries Volunteers. 
 
 Slaw. Slow. Aw for ow ; see under 7naw. 
 
 Slaw, slow, idle, lazy. — Bosworth. 
 He es swyft to spek on his manere, 
 And latsome and slaw for to here. — Pricke of Conscieiue. 
 
 Slee. Sly. E for / sound ; see under lee. 
 
 Be war for ire that in thy bosom slepeth, 
 
 War for the serpent that so slely crepeth 
 
 Under the gras. — Wrighfs Chaucer. 
 
 As wisely and as slely as it might. — Id. 
 
 But Florentyn kidde (showed) that he was slegh. 
 
 Octovian Imperator. 
 
 Sleekit. Sleek. Sleek sometimes takes the participial 
 form. 
 
 Yet are the men more loose than they, 
 
 More sleek' d, more soft, and slacker-limb'd. — Benjonson. 
 
 Sliddery. Slippery. 
 
 To a dronke man the way is slider. — Chaucer. 
 I trow it be a frost, for the way is slider. — Skelton. 
 Y 
 
354 GLOSSARY. 
 
 He wot not whider 
 To go, the waies ben so slider. — Gower. 
 The way was so depe and slider 
 
 Thai fal doun in the clay. — Amis and Amiloun. 
 
 Slight. Sleight, art, dexterity, cunning. 
 Slight, a cunning trick, dexterity. — Bailey. 
 Thus with slight 
 Thou shalt disarm them first. — Ben Johnson. 
 
 I should not have thought of inserting this word, or 
 have supposed its meaning could have been mistaken in 
 the passage, — 
 
 O Willie was a wanton wight, 
 And had o' things an unco slight, 
 
 had I not seen slight called a collection. Not only the 
 lines themselves point out that Willie was an artful 
 manager of affairs, but the other places in which the 
 words occur show clearly that slight is not a collection, — 
 
 And wow ! he has an unco slight 
 
 O' cauk and keel. 
 His knife see rustic labour dight, 
 And cut it (a haggis) up wi' ready slight. 
 
 To see a good haggis neatly opened is, to a hungry 
 Scotsman, what the poet calls it, a "glorious sight," but 
 to see it cut up with a collection, say a collection made 
 at the church-door, would be a sight indeed. 
 
 Sloken. Quench, slake. 
 
 Slocken, soften, as slocken with overtnuch moisture. — Bailey. 
 
 Slokened, q. slackened, choked, as a fire is slokened by throwing: 
 water on it. — Grose. 
 
 That bottell swet, which served at the first 
 
 To keep the life, but not to slocken thirst. — Sylvester. 
 
 Slype. To fall over, as a wet furrow from the plough, to- 
 slip. Long for short i. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 355 
 
 There is a slight inaccuracy in Burns's definition of 
 this word, perhaps hardly worth notice. It is not the 
 furrow that slypes over. A furrow is the trench or hollow 
 made by the removal of the soil by the plough. It is 
 this soil that slypes over. But the word itself is interest- 
 ing for more than one reason. It is a modification of 
 slip, and it is interesting to notice what brought about 
 the change. When the soil was short and loose it slipped 
 over from the plough at once; but when the ground, from 
 the growth of rushes, sprits, or other coarse plants, was 
 tough, it fell slowly, and in masses, often not without a 
 stamp of the ploughman's foot, it was found desirable to 
 have a word which should indicate the longer process, 
 and slip was lengthened into slype, which, as Allan 
 Cunningham well explains it, is " To fall over with a slow, 
 reluctant motion." That there should have been such a 
 word shows the low state of agriculture in Burns's day. 
 Owing to better drainage and other improvements in 
 farming, it is now unknown even to ploughmen. 
 His mouth upon the gras he wipeth, 
 And so with feigned chere him slipeth. — Cower. 
 
 Sma\ Small ; used as a noun in " Wi' sma' to sell, and 
 less to buy." See under a\ 
 
 Small-pox. Inoculation. 
 
 Small-pox was the name generally given to inoculation; 
 vaccination, I need hardly say, was, when Burns used 
 the word (1791), unknown. 
 
 Smeddum. Dust, powder ; mettle, sense. 
 
 Anglo-Saxon, Smedema, smedem, meal, flour. — Bosuiorih. 
 Smedme, meal. Dunelm. Smedum, dust. West. — Halliwell. 
 
 Smeek. Smoke. E lox ; see xmAsx freath. 
 Sink, smioc, snieac, vapour, smoke. — Bosivorth. 
 
3S6 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Sniiddy. Smithy. D for th ; see under deed, and in — 
 Now by my modre Ceres soul I swere. — Chaucer. 
 Thou schalt cum theder (thither) al so gay 
 As any eyrthely mon may. — Sir Amadas. 
 A myssal newe bound with Aeiys-ledder (leather). 
 
 The Brethren of tlu Holy Trinity. 
 
 Smit. To infect. 
 
 Smiting, contagion. — Bosworth. 
 
 Each glance of her eye is so smittle. 
 That all men are catch'd if they gaze. 
 
 The Northumb. Garland. Ritson. 
 
 Smoor. To smother. 
 
 Sinoor, to smother ; smoort, smothered. — Bamford. 
 To smoor, to smother, per contrac. — Thoresby. 
 
 Some brains out-bet, some in the guts were gor'd, 
 Some dying vomit blood, and some were smord. 
 
 Sylvester. 
 
 Smoutie. Smutty, ugly, obscene, and perhaps sooty, 
 differing from smutty only in spelling. Ou for ii, 
 as in — 
 The constable hath of hir so gret pitee, 
 
 And eek his wyf, that they wepen for routhe (ruth). — Chaucer. 
 Hit openeth ous (us) to the hevene blisse. 
 
 William- of Shoreham. 
 
 Smytrie. A numerous collection of small individuals. 
 No authority but that of Burns can be cited for this 
 word. 
 
 Snapper. To stumble, to trip and not fall. 
 Count ye your selfe good clerkes. 
 And snapper in suche werkes ? — Skelton. 
 
 Snash. Abuse, Billingsgate. 
 
GLOSSARY. 357 
 
 Snaw. Snow, to snow. 
 
 Your hyghnes subjects was xiii myles within the growndes of 
 Scotland, where great snawes doth lye. — Duke of Northumberland 
 to Hen. VI 11. 
 
 I was drevyn with snawe and slete. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 His heved was whyte as any snawe. — Lives of the Saints. 
 
 Now es snaw, hail, or rayn, 
 
 And now es fair wedyr again. — Pricke of Conscience. 
 
 Snaw-broo. Melted snow. Snaw and broo. 
 Sned. To lop, or cut off. 
 
 Siied besoms. To cut brooms. — Cunningham. Rather 
 
 to dress, to prune, or render snod. 
 
 It is quite clear that by snedding besoms Burns meant 
 making brooms or other sweeping instruments, and it is 
 also true that in " To a Haggis " he uses sned for to lop 
 or cut. It is true too that A. -Saxon sneddun means cut, 
 and snidan, to cut. But it is as true that not all besoms, 
 nor even mostly all, were made of broom. There were, 
 even since I remember, birch-besoms, though often 
 called brooms, for the stable and the cow-house ; rush- 
 besoms, and rather expensive things they were, for the 
 cottage, the barn, and the mill. All these, as also the 
 broom proper, required handles, and to supply them was 
 the most important part of the broom-maker's work. 
 Now sned is A.-Saxon for a handle or shaft, and both in 
 England and Scotland sned is the name for the handle of 
 a scythe to this day. Sned besoms may therefore mean 
 " put handles to them." 
 
 Sneeshin. Snuff. 
 
 Cup o' sneeze, a pinch of snuff. — Grose. Bamford. 
 Snuff, a sneeshin powder. Snush, snuff. — Bailey. 
 He takes snush ; Mockmode taking snush sneezes. — Farquhar^ 
 
358 GLOSSARY. 
 
 If any young person thinks snush or sneeshin a strange 
 name for snuff, perhaps he may be enticed to learn 
 Danish when he hears that a snuff-box is called snitsto- 
 baksdaase in that language. 
 
 Sneeshi?i-mill. A snuff-box. 
 
 Sneeze-hurn, a horn to hold snuff. — Bamford. 
 
 The snuff-mill sxA gloves came in season. — The North, Garland. 
 Ritson . 
 
 As tobacco is good here, you had best bring a Scotch-mill and 
 make it (snuff) yourself. — Siemens Letters. 
 
 Snell. Bitter, biting. 
 
 He was a handy man and siull 
 
 In tournament, and eke in fight. — Morte Arthur. 
 
 In araang all thir wormes snelle, 
 
 Als naked als he was borne he felle. — E. Metrical Poems. 
 
 Than sayd Gyfroun, al so snell. 
 
 To all thys y graunte well. — Lybeaus Disconnus. 
 
 Thyderward Florentyn, well good pas, 
 
 He rood full snelle. — Octovian Imperator. 
 
 Snick., and Sneck. The latchet of a door. 
 
 To sneck the door, to latch it. — Bailey. Grose. 
 
 Sneck, a string to pull up the latchet of a door. — Bamford. 
 
 Loquet d'une huis, the latchet or snecket of a doore. — Cotgrave. 
 
 Sir Toby, in "The Twelfth Night," bids Malvolio, 
 ■whose harangue is disagreeable to him, "Snick up!" 
 This has been guessed to mean " Hang yourself ! " May 
 it not mean "Shut up ! " a cry which sometimes greets 
 an unpopular speaker ? 
 
 Snick-drawing. Trick-contriving, synonymous with latch- 
 drawing. 
 He lived by robbery, . . and principally by and with vaga- 
 
GLOSSARY. 359 
 
 bonds, idle wanderers, night-walkers, and draw-latches.— Lord 
 Coke. 
 
 The same word occurs in a statute of Ed. III., which mentions 
 " wasters and draw-laches." — Riison, 
 
 Snirt, snirtle. To laugh restrainedly, a restrained laugh. 
 Esbrou'ir des narines, to snurt or snufter. — Cotgrave, 
 
 Snod. Neat. 
 
 A.-S. sneddun, cut, pruned (made snod). 
 
 Snod, neat, handsome. — Bailey. 
 
 Snod, smooth, sleek, and snug. — Bamford. 
 
 Snood. A ribbon for the hair. 
 
 Snod, a fillet, cap, hood. — Bosworth. 
 
 Snoode, a fillet to tie up a woman's hair. — Bamford. 
 
 Snool. One whose spirit is broken with oppressive 
 slavery, to submit tamely, to sneak. 
 
 Sneul, a poor sneaking fellow. — Halliwell. 
 
 Snoove. To go smoothly and constantly, to sneak. 
 
 Snever, slender, smooth.— Thoresby. 
 Sneving, sneaking. Devon. — Halliwell. 
 
 Snowk. To scent or snuff, as a dog, horse, etc. 
 
 Snook, to be lurking for a thing. — Bailey. 
 
 Snuck, to smell. — Grose. Snook, to smell, to go about smell- 
 ing. — Bamford. 
 
 Halener, to snowk, smell, search out. — Cotgrave, 
 
 Sodger. A soldier. 
 
 For that sort o{ sowdiers so manfully mand. — Hey wood. 
 I dwelled with him as Soudyour in his Werres a gret while. 
 
 Maunde^ille. 
 For y also my selfe am a man undre power and have Sowdeeres 
 undre me. — Tyndale. 
 
360 GLOSSARY. 
 
 And sowdears wyll come to me. — Le Bone Flo. of Rome. 
 Dere be great difiFerentia between the gentlemen officiera and de 
 rogua de sogiera. — Duke of Buckingham. 
 
 Some. Somewhat, rather, as in " We bardies ken some 
 
 better." 
 
 This word is not used as an adverb in Ayrshire, but 
 it is commonly used for rather in the eastern counties. 
 See under clartie. 
 
 Some better will remind those familiar with Chaucer 
 of— 
 
 Alas, why plainen men so in commune 
 Of purveyance of God, or of fortune, 
 That yeveth hem ful oft in many a gise 
 Wei better than they can hemselfe devise ? 
 
 The Knightes Tale. 
 
 Something. Somewhat. 
 
 He was something &\%zoviX2.g&& by a new pain. — Tetnple. 
 
 Sonsie. Having sweet, engaging looks, lucky, jolly. 
 
 Soncy, cunning. — Thoresby. Soncy, lucky, fortunate. — Grose. 
 Sonde, fortunate. It is still in use, and also used in the sense of 
 pleasant, agreeable, plump, fat, and cunning. — Halliwell. 
 
 Sons of light. Freemasons. 
 
 Soom. To swim. 
 
 He sworn an easy current for his love. 
 
 The Two Noble Kinsmen. 
 The lady prickt her wanton steed, 
 And o'er the river sworn with speed. 
 
 The Uugrateful Knight. 
 
 Sooth. Truth, a petty oath. 
 
 Johnson says sooth is obsolete. It is now in good use, 
 especially in poetry. 
 
 If thy speech be sooth, 
 I care not if thou dost for me as much. — Shak. 
 
GLOSSARY. 361 
 
 Sootie. Sooty. 
 
 Sough. A sigh, the sound of wind at a distance. 
 
 Soiagh, to sigh; sooiti, moaning of the wind. — Bamford. 
 Ther ran a romble and a swough (sound of wind), 
 As though a storme shuld bresten every bough. — Chaucer. 
 
 With ful many a sory swough (sigh), 
 He goth and geteth him a Icneding trough. — Id. 
 The well greased wherry now had got between 
 And bade her farewell sough with her burden. — Ben Johnson. 
 
 Souk. To suck ; a suck. 
 
 As a colte sholde souk his dame. — R. C. de Lion. 
 When that this childe had souked but a throwe. — Chaucer. 
 The wafifore souketh honeye fro the bee. — The Libel of E. Policy. 
 He hath sowked out the most poison that he could find through 
 all Luther's books, — Sir T. More. 
 
 Souple. Flexible, swift. 
 Soople, a supple, a stick of hazel or ash. — Bamford. 
 
 Evidently Bamford's words apply to Burns's " Thresher's 
 weary flingin-tree,'' which is called a soople. 
 
 His botes souple, his hors in gret estate. 
 
 Now certainly he was a fayre prelat. — Chaucer. 
 
 Hire skyn is tendyr for to towche. 
 
 As of an hownd-fyssh or of an hake, 
 Whose tewhyng hath cost many a crowche (cross, coin), 
 
 Hire pylche (shift) souple for to make. — Lydgate. 
 
 Souse. To punish, to hurt in any way. To strike with 
 sudden violence. — -Johnson. 
 
 The stormy blastes her cave so sore did sowse. 
 
 Sir Thomas Wyat. 
 The falcon 
 With sudden souse her to the ground shall strike. 
 
 Sylvester. 
 
362 GLOSSARY. 
 
 ■Soiiter. A shoemaker. 
 
 Souter, sowter, a shoemaker or cobbler. — Bailey. 
 
 A conqueror? a cobbler ! Hang him, sowter. — Fletcher. 
 I saw a sowter go to supper or ever he had dined. — Skelton. 
 I have levere here an harlotrie, or a somer game of souteres. 
 
 P. Plowman. 
 
 Souther or sowther. Solder, to solder, to cement. Solder 
 
 is often written soder, and for the change of d into th 
 
 see under blather. 
 
 Sodder, to join or fasten with solder. — Bailey. 
 
 To sodder gold they use the coarser to sodder the finer. — Ray Cor- 
 respondence. 
 
 It is ready for the sodering. — Isaiah xli. 7. 
 
 The metal's stronger that's well souder'd. — Farquhar. 
 
 So7vens. A sort of pudding made out of oat-flour soured : 
 something resembling that now made of corn-starch. 
 Sowins, flummery made of oatmeal.— ^iJ/^«^(;k. 
 Sowings o-c sewings, oatmeal flummery. — Grose. 
 Our lasses fair, say what you dare, 
 Who sowens make with shellings. — Swift. 
 
 .Sowp. A spoonful, a small quantity of any thing liquid. 
 Not confined to liquids unless that term includes 
 porridge, sowens, and puddings in general. 
 They sowpen, and they speken of solace. 
 
 Wright's Chaucer. 
 And whanne they hadde souped alia 
 They token leve. — Gower. 
 Whan they had sowped, and the day was gone, 
 They wente to bedde. — Launfal. 
 
 Bidde hem go swynke, 
 And he shal soupe swettere. — P. Plowtnan. 
 And they sozoped that evenyng wyth grete gladnes. 
 
 Caxton. Skeat. 
 
GLOSSARY. 363 
 
 Sowth. To try over a tune with a low whistle. 
 
 Soud, soud, soud, soud! — Taming of the Shrew, Act iv., S. i. 
 This word, when we remember that d and th are 
 interchangeable, will appear to be Burns's soivth, 
 and 'if Mason had known it he would doubtless 
 have used it to support the first part of his conjec- 
 ture — " These words seem merely intended to denote 
 the humming of a tune, or some kind of ejaculation." 
 The idea of its being an ejaculation is not borne 
 out by the circumstances. Petruchio has just sung a 
 line of one song, and is about to begin another, and is 
 ^x-^mg—southing or souding—io get into the tune. The 
 one poet helps to explain the other, if my notion be 
 correct. 
 
 Spae. To prophesy. 
 
 A purely Danish word ; at spaae i kort, to tell fortunes 
 on the cards. 
 
 Spails. Chips of wood, splinters. E. spill, a splinter. 
 
 SpaiU and speals, chips, etc. — Bailey. Spalls, chips. — Grose. 
 There men might see spears fly in speels. 
 
 Bat. of Flodden. 
 
 Spalls, broken pieces. — Cotgrave. 
 
 Spairge. To dash, to soil as with mire. 
 
 Spargefaction, the act of sprinkling.— ^u/j^jsw. 
 To sparkle away, to disperse. — Thoresby. 
 
 But some faire sunne hath sperst that lowring clowd. 
 
 Spenser. 
 
 Sperse or sparge frequently occurs in our old writers. — Todd. 
 We were spanU abroad. — Sternhold atid Hopkins. 
 
 'Tis now scarce honour 
 
 (For you) To sparkle (scatter) such poor people. 
 
 Fletcher. 
 
364 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Sparseth all the gathered clouds. — Chapman. 
 
 Spak. Did speak. E omitted ; see under quak. 
 
 And anon he spak with hem. — Wyclif. 
 
 And Frensch she spak ful fare and fetysly. 
 
 Chaucer. 
 
 No worde more she spacke. — The Frere and the Boye. 
 
 More he thoughte than he spak. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Spate or speat. A sweeping torrent after rain or thaw. 
 
 Spaetan, to spit. — Bosworth. Spet, to bring or pour abun- 
 dantly.— ^o/zmjob. 
 
 Spot is the matter spitten, spate, or spilled. — Tooke. 
 When the dragon womb 
 Of Stygean darkness spets her darkest gloom. — Milton. 
 
 Spaul. A limb. 
 Spalles, shoulders. — Bailey. 
 
 Their mightie strokes their haberiens dismayl'd, 
 
 And naked made each others' manly spalles. — Spenser. 
 
 (He) smote Ser Thomas 
 
 On his spawdeler (armour for the shoulder). — R. C. de Lion^ 
 
 Spavie. The spavin. 
 
 Spaviet. Having the spavin, spavined. 
 
 Spean. To wean. 
 
 Spana, teats. — Bosworth. Speene, or spene, a cow-pap. Grose^ 
 
 Spane, to wean a cKiM,— Johnson. 
 
 To span, or spene a child, to wean it. — Bailey. 
 
 Sped. To climb. 
 
 Speel, to climb, to clamber. — Halliwell. 
 Over rocks, over mountains and ditches, 
 
 Dike-gutters and hedges it speals. — The Northumb. Garlands 
 Ritsoji, 
 
GLOSSARY. 365 
 
 Speet. To spit, to pierce. E for /; see under dreep, and 
 
 She began to preche 
 
 Of the tewsday in the weke 
 
 When the mare doth keke (kick). — Skelion. 
 
 The truth, dog, or I'll spit you like a sparrow. — Farquhar. 
 
 Spence. The country parlour. 
 
 Al vinolent as hotel in the spence. — Chaucer. 
 
 (He) ladde him into jr/e«i:« rapely and anon. — Tale of Gaiuelyn. 
 
 To compounde 
 With Elynour in the spence. — Skelton. 
 What do you here within our spence ? — An, Songs. Ritson. 
 
 Spier, or speer. To ask, to enquire. 
 
 But saw they no man there at whom 
 Theymight the matter spear. — R, Hood. 
 
 My will 
 
 Ben fully set to herken and spire 
 
 What any man will speke of hire. — Gower. 
 Howr Kyng bad hes men abeyde, 
 
 And he welde sper of hem the wey. — The King and the Barber. 
 They passed thorow Pole and Chawmpayne, 
 'E,\yic jperyng ther gatys. — Le Bone Florence of Rome. 
 
 To speer the price of a young woman is to ask her in 
 marriage. — -Jamieson. To speer the price occurs in " O 
 Tibbie, I hae seen the day," and is similar to Benedict's 
 " Rich she shall be, that's certain ; wise, or I'll none ; 
 virtuous, or I'll ne'er cheapen her. — Much Ado About 
 Nothing. 
 
 Speir in. To go in and ask for. 
 Splatter. A splutter, to splutter. 
 Spleuchan. A tobacco seal-skin pouch. 
 Splore. A frolic, a riot, a noise. 
 
366 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Spontoon. A sort of half-pike carried by officers in the 
 army. 
 
 Sprachle. To clamber. 
 
 Sprattle. To scramble. 
 
 Spreckled. Spotted, speckled. 
 
 Spiring. A quick air in music, a Scotch reel. 
 
 And strike him such new springs, and such free welcomes, 
 
 Shall make him scorn an empire. — Fletcher. 
 
 There saw I famous old and young, 
 
 Piperis all of the Duche tong 
 
 To lerne love-daunces and springis.— Chaucer, 
 
 I dyde nought elles as I you saye. 
 
 But pyped him a springe, — The Frerejind the Boye, 
 
 Come, piper, and play us a spring, 
 
 Wright's Polit. Bal, Percy Society, 
 
 Sprit, Spret, A tough-rooted plant, something like a 
 rush. 
 
 Spreot, a sprit, a sprout. — Boszoorth, 
 Sprit, to vegetate, to sprout. — Bamford. 
 
 His eyn wer carbonkeles bryght, 
 
 As the mone they schon a-nyght, 
 
 That spret eth out ovyr all. — Launfal, 
 
 Sprittie, Full of sprits, rushy. 
 
 Sprush. Spruce, smart, neat. Sh for ^ sound. See 
 under fleesh. 
 
 Spunk. Fire, mettle, wit. 
 
 Spunk, match for guns. — Bailey. 
 
 Spunk, a dried fungus used as tinder. — Grose. 
 
 Spunk, and sponk, touchwood.— ^(j/;»joff. 
 
 In that snug room where any man of spunk 
 Would find it a hard matter to get drunk. —JVolcof. 
 
GLOSSARY. 367 
 
 She scarcely drinks a dozen drams a day, — 
 
 And, in love matters, is a Queen of spunk. — The Rolliad. 
 
 Spunkie. Mettlesome, fiery, Will o' Wisp, or ignh 
 fatuus, ardent spirits. 
 In the " Epistle to Mr. John Kennedy," the lines — 
 
 But gie me just a true guid fallow 
 
 Wi' right engine. 
 And spunkie ance to make us mellow," 
 
 are sometimes pointed so as to make spunkie an attri- 
 bute of the " guid fallow,'' thus leaving nothing to make 
 them mellow. 
 
 Saturday, the i6th oi September next, will be sold a strong 
 spunky sorrel steed. — Manchester Hand-bill, i82g. 
 
 Spurtle. A stick used for stirring a pot in cooking. 
 Spurtle-blade. A jocular name for a sword. 
 
 Squad. A crew, a party. 
 
 Monarch of mighty Albion, check thy talk, 
 
 Behold the squad approach, led on by Palk. — The Rolliad. 
 
 Ev'n Pitt himself once deign'd to court the squad. — Id. 
 
 Squatter. To flutter in water as a wild duck, &c. 
 
 Squattle. To sprawl. — Burns. Perhaps it rather signi- 
 fies, to lie squat, from the E. a.6.].^/amieson. To 
 sprawl in the act of hiding. — Cunningham. I believe 
 it is a frequentative of the verb to squat. 
 
 Squeel. A scream, a screech, to scream, differing only 
 in spelling from E. squeal. 
 
 Squeel. School in " when there came a yell o' foreign 
 squeels." — Amang the Trees. This is an Aberdeenshire 
 word. E for 00 ; see vsiA&i preef. 
 
368 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Stable-meal. Liquor consumed in an inn by farmers by 
 way of remuneration for the accommodation of their 
 horses during the day. 
 
 Stacker, or stacker. To stagger. 
 
 She riste her up, and stakereth here and \}aRxe..— Chaucer. 
 All those that he with halbert caught, 
 
 He made to stacker m that stound. — Bat. of Flodden Field. 
 
 Stack. Stuck, the old preterite of stick. 
 She ne had on but a straite old sacke, 
 And many a cloute on it there stacke. — Chaucer. 
 A broche of gold and azure, 
 Creseide him yave and stacke it on his sherte. — Id. 
 
 Her hertes depe 
 Stak in his bounden cofre. — OccUve. 
 
 Staggie. Diminutive of stag. 
 
 After this explicit declaration by Burns himself one 
 would have thought it impossible to mistake the meaning 
 of the word, had not Chambers said it means a colt., in 
 
 I've seen the day 
 Thou could hae gaen like ony staggie 
 Out-owre the lay ; 
 
 that is, when she was a young mare she could run as fast 
 as a young horse. I wonder what old Maggie, could she 
 have understood it, would have thought of such a com- 
 pliment. 
 
 Staig. A stallion. It was doubtless this word that led 
 Chambers astray. 
 
 St.. Jamie's. The E. Court. 
 
 Stalwart. Strong, stout. 
 
 Our king and his men helde the felde, 
 Stalwortly, with spere and schelde. — Minot. 
 Thou semyst a stalward and a stout. — R. Hood. 
 
GLOSSARY. 369 
 
 This Christian and this Saracen togather then soon met, 
 And as stalword men to-gather fast set.—/ioi. of Gloucester. 
 A stalwart Baron here doth \is.—The Rolliad. 
 
 Stan'. To stand. Z) omitted ; see under M;?'. 
 The Justice Bramble with Sir Hugh the Canon, 
 And the bride's parents, which I will not stan' on. 
 
 Ben Jonson. 
 
 Stane. A stone. Aiox 0; see under bane. 
 
 By the well standes a stane. — Ywain and Gawain, 
 Good Robin answer'd ne'er a word. 
 
 But stood still as a stane. — R. Hood. 
 When the king had said his will 
 All the lordes sat stane-i'C-CiS.. — The Ravens. 
 
 Stang. A sting, stung. Old preterite of sting. 
 
 Stang, to &iing.—Bamford. 
 
 The adder so the grey-hound stang. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 The fende which appered in the lyknes of an adder to Eve ande 
 stange full evyl. — Dives and Pauper. 
 
 More stinging than scorpions that stang Phaotis. 
 
 Skelton. 
 
 Stank. Did stink. Old preterite of %'(vc^.— Johnson. 
 And the river stank. — Exodus, vii. 21. 
 
 Stank. A pool of standing water. 
 Stank, a dam or bank to stop water. — Bailey. 
 
 Ther faure (four) citees were set, . . . 
 As a stynkande stane that stryed synne. 
 
 Early E. Alliterative Poems. 
 
 In that Contree ben Bestes, taughte of men to gon in to Watr'es, 
 into Ryveres, and in to depe Stankes, for to take Fysche. 
 
 Maundeville. 
 
 Stap. To stop. Aiox o\ see under aff. 
 
 z 
 
370 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Stark. Stout. 
 
 He had a pike-staff in his hand, 
 
 That was both stark and Strang. — R. Hood. 
 I feel my limmes stark and suffisant. — Chaucer. 
 Stark beer, boy, stout and strong beer. — Fletcher. 
 
 Starn. A star. 
 
 And mikel of a sterne he tald, 
 
 A Sterne to cum that suld be sene. — Cursor Mundi. 
 
 The twelft day, sal sternes fall. — E. Metrical Homilies. 
 
 Some lay stareand on the sternes. 
 
 And some lay, knocked out thair hemes. — Minot. 
 
 And I sal teche him, . . . 
 
 That falles to sternes of the sky. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Starnie. Dim. of starn. 
 
 Startle. To run as cattle stung by the gad-fly, or 
 
 frightened. 
 
 The Queen coming to the place where she was seen of them, 
 though they knew not her estate, yet something there was which 
 made them startle aside and gaze upon her. — Additions to the 
 Countess of Pembroke's '^ Arcadia." 
 
 Staukin'. Stalking. Z omitted ; see under a'. 
 
 Stawk, to stride ; stawkin, striding. — Bamford. 
 
 Fowling is delightsome, be it with guns, stawking horses or 
 otherwise. — Anatomy of Melancholy. 
 
 Staumrel. Half-witted. 
 
 Staw. Stole. L changed to aw ; see under d. 
 It befell upon a day. 
 That he through out her chambre wall 
 Came in all sodeinlich and stall 
 That thing, which was to him so lefe, 
 But wo the while, he was a thefe. — Gower. 
 
GLOSSARY. 371 
 
 Tho the dai dawen gan, 
 
 Awai stal the young man. — The Husband shut out. 
 
 Staw. To surfeit. 
 
 This word has no connection with the preceding. It 
 is probably stall, by the common change of / into aw, 
 where animals are fed, and it may be <?»«^-fed, or it may 
 be stawed, i.e., stowed, or filled, and of course sated. 
 
 Staud, surfeited, tired. — Halli-well. 
 
 When ye are j/awa? (stowed). — Early E. Alliterative Poems. 
 
 Stech. To cram the belly. 
 
 Steek. To shut. 
 
 And when he was out of chaumber gon, 
 
 The dore he steked still anon. — Amis and Amiloun. 
 
 And at a posterne unsteke 
 
 Lybeaus gan out breke. — Lybeaus Disconnus. 
 
 This coffre into his chambre brought, 
 
 Which that they finde faste stoke (steked). — Gower. 
 
 Steek. A stitch. 
 
 For the best that sewes her any styk 
 
 Takes bot four penys in a wyk. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Wight Wallace could hardly have with her kept steaks. 
 
 The Northumberland Garland. Ritson. 
 
 It seems to be used as a verb in — 
 
 He siiked wp his lappes tho, i.e., he stitched up the flaps of his 
 coat. — Amis and Amiloun. 
 
 Steer. To stir, to molest. 
 
 He woll nought ones stere his fote. — Cower. 
 
 And in Latin I speke a wordes fewe 
 
 To saffron with my predication, 
 
 And for to stere men to devotion. — Chaucer. 
 
3? 2 SlossarV. 
 
 Stowtlyche stere we us yn were. — Octoman Imferator. 
 He scarcely then will steer. — Chapman. 
 
 Steeve. Firm, compacted. 
 
 This is simply a different spelling of stiff, as used by 
 Spenser and others. 
 
 I trust for to slay this fiende 
 Though he be stiff in. stour. — Sir Cauline. 
 
 Steeve in stour would be accounted good Scotch. 
 
 So stif-inoTi he was in armes 
 
 That unnethe eni man mighte is bowe bende. — Ji. of Gloucester. 
 
 Sometimes it is spelled with e instead of / .• — 
 
 With coronals stefz.nA stelde. — Lybeaus Disconus. 
 Sometimes /becomes v, as stive, strong : — 
 
 The sponges were stived into sacks when wet. — Sandys. 
 
 Stell. A still. E for i; see under semple. 
 
 It seems to have been long before E. authors could 
 determine whether to use e or / in many words, — Spen- 
 ser, for example, employs them indifferently : — 
 
 He cast him to scold 
 And snebbe the oak. 
 That list at will them to revile and snib. 
 
 Sten. To rear as a horse. 
 
 I suspect that this is an old form of stand. Before he 
 can rear, or at least in the act of rearing, a horse must 
 stand for an instant, but the rearing being more likely to 
 attract observation than the standing, in course of time 
 gave the meaning to the word. The Anglo-Saxon standan 
 has stent, standest, stent, stands. 
 
 Sten. A spring or leap. 
 
GLOSSARY. 373 
 
 Stents. Tribute, dues of any kind. E. stent, proportion, 
 quantity assigned. 
 
 Stent, an allotted portion. — Var. dial. Halliwell. 
 
 But this I charge that ye the stents keepe, 
 
 And breUe them not for slouth nor ignorance. — Chaucer. 
 
 Erythius had even nowe attayndehis journeyes stent. — Sackville. 
 
 Stewartrie. Kirkcudbright, which is not a shire or 
 county, but a stewartry. 
 
 Stey. Steep. 
 
 Steegh, steigk, steep, — Weber. Steigh, a ladder. — Bamford. 
 The Beast 
 
 Thought with his winges to stye above the ground. — Spenser. 
 This on the wal steigh on heigh. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 King James thought he was writing English, and cer- 
 tainly expected to be understood by his English subjects 
 when he wrote, " If one fall from a high and stay rock 
 his breath will be forcibly banished from the body before 
 he can win to the earth." — Daeviotiologie. 
 
 Stibble. Stubble. / for u ; see under bizz. 
 
 Stibble rig. The reaper, in harvest, who takes the lead. 
 
 Stick an' stowe. Totally, altogether. 
 
 Sticks, furniture. — Cumb. Halliwell. 
 
 Stick and stow may be furniture, and all else that one 
 has stowed or stored. There are many adverbial phrases 
 used to express a complete sweep, the separate words of 
 which it is difficult, if not impossible, to explain. In 
 addition to stick and stow Jamieson gives stab and stow, 
 ^nd stoop and roop, 
 
374 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Godfrey meanwhile to ruin stick and stone 
 
 Of this fair town, with battery sore assay?,.— Fairfax. 
 
 A' to sticks, completely. 
 
 Stilt. A crutch, to halt, to limp. 
 
 In one letter Burns speaks of the same things as stilts 
 and crutches. 
 
 In modern English stilt does not mean a crutch, but 
 in the following passage the word must signify crutches, 
 for they are used by cripples, and it requires an active 
 man to manage what are now called stilts. 
 
 Once at Jerusalem, when the pilgrims kneel'd, 
 I strewed powder on the marble stones. 
 And therewithal their knees would rankle so 
 That I have laughed a good to see the cripples 
 Go limping home to Christendom on stilts. 
 
 Marlow. The Jew of Malta. 
 
 Stimpart. The eighth part of a Winchester bushel. 
 
 Stirk. A cow or bullock a year old. 
 
 Stiri and siuri, a young steer or heifer. — Bailey. Bamford. 
 Grose. 
 
 They've stolen the stirks from half the cows. — Swift. 
 
 Stock. A plant of colewort, cabbage, etc. 
 A stawk, i.e., a stalk of ^\sxA?,.—Thoresby. Bamford. 
 Not worth a shyttel-cocke, 
 Nor worth a sowre calstocke. — Skelton. 
 
 Stock and horn. A musical instrument. 
 Stockin. Stocking. 
 
 Stocking, corruptly written for slacken.— Home Tooke. 
 
 Which our plain fathers erst would have accounted sin, 
 Before the costly coach and silken stock came in. 
 
 Poly-olbion. 
 
 Thomas Fuller writes stockcn. If Dr. Johnson was 
 
GLOSSARY. 375 
 
 puzzled by Shakspeare's reference to right-and-left shoes, 
 what would he have thought of right-and-left stockings ? 
 The next morning I found the same usage, the stockins for one 
 leg onlie left me. — Sir James Turner's Memoirs. 
 
 Stoiter. To stagger, to stammer. 
 Stottar, to stagger. Stawter, to stotter, to tumble. — Bamford. 
 Stowter, to struggle, to walk clumsily. — Halliwell. 
 
 Stook. A rick or shock of corn, consisting of twelve 
 
 sheaves ; to put into ^ock%.—Jamieson. 
 I give Jamieson's definition that I may have an op- 
 portunity of explaining fully what a stook is. A stook is 
 not a rick. In a rick the sheaves are placed on the top 
 of each other ; in a stook they are set on end, arid it may 
 or may not have a sheaf on its top. A stook, also, does 
 not necessarily consist of twelve sheaves, but often of 
 four, more frequently of six, though it appears that twelve 
 was the number in several places. 
 
 Stook, a shock of corn of twelve sheaves. — Bailey. 
 
 Stook, a collection of sheaves of corn, being ten set up together, 
 and covered by two, called also a thrave. — Grose. 
 
 Treseau, a shocke, stouke, rowke, heap of sheaves in a corn-field. 
 — Cotgrave. 
 
 Stoor. Sounding hollow ; strong and hoarse. 
 Stour, harsh, deep-toned. — Halliwell. Stoure, strong. — Weber. 
 The trappure of hym was white sylke, 
 The other was rede, bothe styffe and stoure. — Ipomydon. 
 The king and his men ilk ane 
 Wend tharwith to have bene slane. 
 
 So blew it store with slete and rayne. — Ywain and Gawain, 
 They are so stowre, so frantyke mad. — Skelton. 
 
 Storm-staid. Hindered from proceeding by a storm. 
 
376 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Stoi. An ox. 
 Stole, a young horse or bullock. — Bailey. 
 Stol, a young bullock or steer. — Grose. 
 A slot signified properly a bullock. — Tyrwhilt. 
 
 Stound. A sudden acute pain. 
 
 Slounds, sorrows, dumps, fits. — Bailey. 
 
 Begin and end the bitter baleful stound. — Spenser. 
 
 To put away the stoundes strong, 
 
 Which in me lasten all too long. — Chaucer. 
 
 Stoup. A kind of jug ordish with a handle. 
 Steop, a drinking cup ; the North of England stoup, — Bosworth. 
 Stoop or stoup, sometimes used to signify a cup, sometimes a 
 much larger vessel. — Dyce. 
 
 Set me the stoups of wine upon the table. — Shak. 
 Rutterkin shall bring you all good luk, 
 A stoup of here up at a pluk. 
 
 Till his brayne be as wise as a duk. — Old Song, quoted by 
 
 Dyce. 
 Was not thy ale the mightiest of the earth in malt, and thy stupe 
 fiU'd like a tide ? — Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 
 Stoure, stowre. Dust, more particularly dust in motion ; 
 fight, battle. 
 
 Stour, formerly in much use, means moved, stirred ; and was ap- 
 plied equally to dust, water, and to men. — Home Tooke. Stour, 
 dust raised. — Grose. 
 
 That es the hard stour at the last ende, 
 
 When the saule sal fra the body wende. — P. of Conscience. 
 
 Men sene all day, and reden eke in stories, 
 
 That after sharpe stoures ben victories. — Chaucer. 
 
 Such stormy stoures do breed my baleful smart. — Spenser. 
 
 Women may maintene no stowr.—Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Siourie or stowrie. Dusty. 
 
GLOSSARY. 377 
 
 Stowlins. By stealth. 
 
 Many of his men and bestes 
 
 Stelendeliche drouken of this lake. 
 
 They into the walles stowe (stole), 
 
 And defended hem with howe. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Stown. Stolen. L into ow. See under a\ 
 
 I have not ridden this lee lang day, 
 
 Nor yet have I stown this lady away. — The Brave Earl 
 
 Brand. 
 Then he went out of that town, 
 Gliding away as dew is stown. — Sir Amadas. 
 The aus stown that tit. — Tim Bobbin, 
 
 Stoyte. To stumble. See stoiter. 
 
 Struck. Did strike. Final e omitted. See under quak. 
 Strake, obsolete preterite of strike. —Johnson. 
 As sone as Sir Renold had given Sir Galahaut that stroke, he 
 strak his spurres, and toke the feldes. — Froissart. 
 On helmes strake they so with yre 
 At ilka strake out-brak the fyre. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Strae. Straw ; to dee a fair strae death, to die in bed. 
 Strae here is the same as straw in the E. phrase, the 
 lady in the straw, still sometimes heard. 
 
 Strey, straw. — Bamford. 
 
 Our peasantry still pronounce straw strah. — Home Tooke. 
 
 Me list not of the chaffe ne of the stree 
 
 Make so longe a tale as of the corn. — Chaucer. 
 
 By his sar set he noght a stra, 
 
 Bot for his houn he was wa. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 I make a vow, quoth Duchman, and swore by the stra. 
 
 Tournament of Tottenham. 
 
 Straik. To stroke. A tor o; see under bane. 
 Strdcian, to stroke; strdcung, soothing. — Bosworth, 
 
378 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Strang. Strong. A for o ; see under off. 
 He es so worthy and so strung. 
 That be it never so mekill wrang, 
 
 He will mak it right. — Sir Penny. Warton. 
 He outtoke me thare amang 
 
 Fra mi faas that war sa Strang. — Metrical English Psalter. 
 He thoght the towre was so Strang, 
 That thare myght na man do him wrang. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Strange. To become strange. 
 
 And right so as her jargon straungeth 
 
 In sundry wise her forme chaungeth. — Gower. 
 
 Would not you strange now at this? — Duke of Buckingham. 
 
 Strappan or strappin. Tall and handsome. 
 
 Strapping, vast, large, hvXky.— Johnson. Huge, lusty, bouncing. 
 — Bailey. 
 
 There are five-and-thirty strapping officers gone this morning to 
 live upon free quarters in the city. — Farquhar. 
 
 I have two strapping daughters. — Vanbrugh. 
 
 Then that t'other great strapping lady — I can't hit of her name. 
 
 Congreve. 
 
 Strath. Low alluvial land. 
 
 This is certainly one of the few words of Burns that 
 we are perfectly sure is Scotch, though it is found in an 
 English author : 
 
 O'er the wat'ry strath or quaggy moss. 
 
 They see the gliding ghosts unbodied troop. — Collins. 
 
 Strathspey. A kind of dance ; its music. 
 Straught. Straight. 
 
 For they anone come out of ship. 
 And straught unto the king they went. — Gower. 
 Twenty fadom of brede the armes straught (stretched, the 
 same -vtmA).— Chaucer, 
 
GLOSSARY. 379 
 
 Thus they schuU lye long straught 
 
 Or that they go. — Odovian Imperator. 
 
 Stravagin. Wandering idly. Extravagaie, to wander 
 out of \im\ts.— Johnson. 
 
 Extravagate, to roame, raunge, wander. — Cotgrave. 
 Stravaige, to stroll about. — Halliwell. 
 
 The extravagant (wandering) and erring spirit. — Skak. 
 
 Sireek. To stretch. K for ch ; see under birk. 
 To streik, to stretch out the limbs. — Thoresby. 
 You shall have 
 A lese (leash) of hounds with you to streke. 
 
 The Squire of Low Degree. 
 Umlapped (surrounded) als klething with light 
 Strekand heven als fel with blis. 
 
 Metrical E. Psalter. Morris and Skeat. 
 In the North of England laying out a body is called streeking. — 
 Brand. 
 
 Striddle. To straddle. 
 
 Straddle, q.d., to striddle or stride. Umstrid, astride, astridlands. 
 — Bailey. 
 
 Astridlands is an addition to the E. words similar to 
 
 those in tins, as backlins, and is important as having the 
 
 final s. 
 
 Fy on the, best, thou standest so a strydlyng that a man may 
 dryue a cart between thy legges. — Palsgrave. Halliwell. 
 
 Stroan. To spout, to piss, to pour out like a spout. 
 
 This seems as appropriate a place as I am likely to 
 find for the introduction of a paragraph to show that 
 Burns, like other great poets, could " lift unconsidered 
 trifles," and polish them. In " The Dean of Faculty " 
 
 he says, — 
 
 Which shews that heaven can boil the pot, 
 Though the devil p — s in the fire, 
 
380 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Now in an edition of L'Estrange's translation of Queve- 
 do's Visions, published in Glasgow in 1753, and sold as 
 a superior sort of chap-book, these words occur, — 
 " Money will make the pot boil though the devil p — s 
 in the fire.'' 
 
 That Burns's version is an improvement is obvious, 
 for while it is certain that the devil will do his best to 
 frustrate the work of heaven, it is quite possible that a 
 scheme which money promotes may receive his encou 
 ragement, Sathanas and Mammon, as Richie Moniplies 
 says, being near akin. 
 
 Stroup. The spout. 
 
 Strunt. Spirituous liquor of any kind. 
 
 Burns is the only authority for strunt in this sense. I 
 believe it is allied to stroan. 
 
 Strunt, a tail or rump. — Bailey. Strunt ed, cut off short. — 
 Thoresby. 
 
 No Christian booke 
 May thou on looke 
 If thou be an English strunt. — Quoted by Ritson. 
 
 Strunt, To w^alk sturdily. 
 
 This makith men mysdoe more than ought ellis, 
 And to stronte and to stare and stryve ageyn vertue. 
 
 Deposition of Richard II. 
 
 Studdie. An anvil. D for th; see under deed. 
 
 Stiddy, an anvil. — Bainford. Stiddy, a stithy. — Tlioresby. 
 He said he did see t\iefardest (farthest) house on fire. — A Record 
 of the Mercies of God, Lond. i6jj. 
 
 Siude. Did stand. U for 00 ; see under beuk or gude, 
 and in 
 
 After gxesijladdes (floods).— .4 Boke of Counseil, &'c., Lond, 
 
GLOSSARY. 381 
 
 Naked we come hider and bare, 
 
 An pure (poor) swa sal we hethen fare. — Pricke of Conscience. 
 
 Stuff. Corn or pulse of any kind ; goods. 
 
 This word is explained by Burns as denoting what far- 
 mers are most interested in, viz., their crops. In the 
 same way men of other callings call their materials stuff. 
 Mechanics who receive a quantity of goods to make up 
 speak of "planning their stuff." Shakspeare makes a 
 traveller say, " Therefore away, to get our sfuff aboaxd ; '' 
 and Burns, though in his definition he limits it to grain, 
 applies it to a song, — "The siuff won't bear mending." 
 — Letter to Mr. Thomson. 
 
 Stump. To walk clumsily. 
 
 The old chap to Windsor did stump. 
 
 The King and the Country Man. 
 
 Stumpie. Dim. of stump, a worn quill. 
 
 Stumps. Legs. 
 
 I'll work thee off thy stumps as thou deservest. — Echard. 
 He struts, stands on tip-toes, bustles, and bestirs his stumps. — 
 Rabelais. Motteux. 
 
 We shall have a fellow bestir his stumps from chocolate to coffee 
 house. — Farquhar, 
 
 I will catch thee up by one 
 
 Of those fat stumps thou walkest upon. — Cotton. 
 
 Start. Trouble, to molest, to frighten. 
 
 Sturt, to struggle.— .Saz/ci'. Sturd, stvcieA.Samford. 
 Sturt is formed in the usual manner from stour (stur, A.-S.), 
 slur-ed, sturd, sturt. — Horne Tooke. 
 
 The following epitaph, in Farlam church-yard, though 
 printed in Camden's Remains, cannot, I am afraid, be 
 deemed an English one. As Farlam is geographically 
 south of the Tweed it may be allowed a place here. 
 
382 GLOSSARY. 
 
 John Bell of Brekenbrow ligs under this stean, 
 
 Four of mine een sons laid it on my weam. 
 
 I lev'd all my deays but stirt (sturt) or strife ; 
 
 I was man of my meat, and master of my wife. 
 
 If thou'st done better in thy time than I have done in mine, 
 
 Take the stean off o' my weam and lay it upon thine. 
 
 Sturtin. Troubled, frightened. 
 
 Styme. A glimmer. 
 
 And with a fling the meal he shook 
 
 Into their face all hail : 
 Wherewith he blinded them so close 
 A styme they could not see. — R. Hood. 
 Stime, a particle, or ray of light. — Halliwell. 
 
 Sucker. Sugar. 
 
 When venim meddleth with the sucrt 
 
 And marriage is made for lucre. 
 
 And with the mirre (myrrh) taketh the sucre. — Gower. 
 
 K for g sound, as in tricker for trigger, and in — 
 
 She rist her up, and stakereth here and there. — Chaucer. 
 
 Sud. Should. 5 for sh ; see under duss. 
 They sulde than have good leyser to do yvel. — Froissart. 
 Gladly thai gaf mete and drink. 
 So that they suld the better svnnk. — Minot. 
 The Northern man saith, "Ay «(rf eat mare cheese gin ay had 
 it. " — Verstegan. 
 
 Siigh. The continued rushing noise of wood or water. 
 Another form of sough. 
 
 Sumph. A blockhead. 
 
 Sune. Soon. U for 00 \ see beiik. 
 
 Lad, wilt thou for Hob Trumble rin ? 
 That he may seun take off her skin. 
 
 The North. Garland. Ritson. 
 
GLOSSARY. 383 
 
 Suthron. Southern, English; an old name for the 
 English nation. 
 
 All the longage of the Northumbres and specialych at York is so 
 sharp that we Southeron men may that longage unnethe under- 
 stonde. — fohn of Trevisa. Morris and Skeat. 
 
 In suthrin Englys was it drawn, 
 And I have turned it til ur awn 
 Language of the Northern lede, 
 That can non other Engles rede. 
 
 Garnett, Phil, Trans. Latham. 
 
 Swaird, Sward. ^ for a ; see under shaird. 
 
 Swall. To swell. ^ for e ; see und.ex fallow. 
 Swale, swelled. — Bailey. 
 
 Hire thought it swal so sore aboute hire herte, 
 That nedely som word hire must asterte. — Chaucer. 
 Whylom in Kent there dwelt a clerke. 
 Who wyth grete cheer and litil werke, 
 M-gswalen was. — Fenton. 
 
 Swank. Stately, jolly. — Burns. 
 
 Jamieson says this is not the proper explanation, and 
 that swank "often conveys the idea of limber, pliant, 
 agile, and in this sense Fergusson speaks of fallows, 
 
 Mair hardy, souple, steeve, and swank. 
 Than ever stood on Sammy's shank." 
 
 Now swank may have the meaning given by Jamieson, 
 but the passage he quotes does not support his view un- 
 less we suppose Fergusson, in one line, to have used two 
 words for the same thing, because souple means "limber, 
 pliant, agile." Burns may be allowed to have known in 
 what sense he used the word, whatever may be its mean- 
 ing elsewhere, and, independently of his own statement, 
 we may infer that swank did not appear to him equiva- 
 
384 GLOSSARY. 
 
 lent to agile, for of the nineteen stanzas of the poem in 
 which the word occurs four of them are devoted to praise 
 of the mare's agility. In corroboration of Burns's cor- 
 rectness in the explanation of the word, it may be 
 mentioned that Bailey has " Swanking, great," and 
 Halliwell " Swanking, big, large.'' 
 
 I think the word is connected with swink, toil, and 
 refers to her capacity for work : — 
 
 Thar thai offerd, praid, and swank, 
 
 Thre dais nother ete ne dranc. — Cursor Mundi. 
 
 Swankie or swanker. A tight strapping young fellow or 
 girl. See swank. 
 
 Swap. An exchange, to barter. 
 Swap, to exchange.— ^0/^«jaK. 
 Swap, to exchange, to barter, to truck. — Bailey. 
 
 Swarf. To swoon. 
 
 Swat. Did sweat. 
 
 Yet did he labour long, 
 And swat, and chauf d. — Spenser. 
 The hakeney 
 
 So swatte that it wonder was to see. — Chaucer. 
 The swapte together tyll the both swat. 
 
 The Hunting of the Cheviot. Riison. 
 Tells how the drudging goblin swet. — Milton. 
 
 Swatch. A sample. 
 
 Swatch, a sample. — Grose. Swatch, a patch, or fragment. — 
 Bainford. 
 
 A swache, a i&Wy.— Bailey. A swatch, a shred of cloth.— 
 — Thoresby. 
 
 Swats. Ale. (A. -Sax.) Swatan, ale, httr. —Bosworth. 
 
GLOSSARY. 385 
 
 Sweer. Ijazy, averse ; dead sweer, extremely averse. 
 Swcer, heavy, burdensome, slothful, inactive. — Bosworth. 
 One of their company, called Sweer-to-go, showed them that this 
 adventure had been foretold. — Rabelais. 
 Thou art as young a man as I, 
 And seem'st to be as sweer. — R. Hood. 
 
 Sweet-milk cheese. Cheese made of milk as it comes 
 from the cow, opposed to skim-milk cheese. 
 
 Swinge. To beat, to whip. 
 Dober, to beat, to swinge. — Cotgrave. 
 I was in love vrith my bed ; 
 You swinged m& for my love. — Skak. 
 
 V th' end, he swinged us 
 And swinged us soundly too. — Beau, and Fletcher. 
 I have a plot to swinge him. — Farquhar. 
 
 Swinke. To labour hard, toil. 
 
 For meat would I swink fain. — Sir Isumbras. 
 And the swink' d hedger at his supper sat. — Milton. 
 All the night he schop him for to swynke 
 In carying the gold out of that place. — Chaucer. 
 
 Thou's but a lazy loord, 
 And rekes much of thy swinke. — Spenser. 
 
 Swirl. A curve, an eddying blast or pool, a knot in 
 wood. 
 
 Swire (Dan.), to whirl, to turn round. 
 Swirl, a whirling wavy motion. — East. Halliwell. 
 
 Swirlie. Knaggy, full of knots. 
 
 If this is an adjective connected with swirl, its true 
 sense cannot be seen unless we take in Jamieson's ex- 
 planation of that word : " S-wirl, the vestiges of a cir- 
 cular motion;" there swirlie will be perceived to be, 
 
 A 2 
 
386 GLOSSARY. 
 
 having swirls or knots. However, if Burns had not told 
 us what he meant by swirlie, few Scotsmen, I believe, 
 would have thought of knotty as its signification. 
 
 Swiss. A native of Switzerland ; a mercenary writer. 
 
 The Swiss for a long time were notorious for hiring 
 themselves out to fight for any State that would pay for 
 their service, hence any mercenary was called a Swiss. 
 Heaven's Swiss, who fight for any god or man. — Pope. 
 
 Like Swiss, their force is always laid 
 
 On that side where they best are paid. — Churchill. 
 
 Smith J Get away ! Literally, quick or quickly. 
 
 Kyng Estmere threwe the harpe asyde. 
 
 And swith he drew his brand, — King Estmere. 
 This messager, to don his avantage, 
 Unto the ICinge's mother rideth swithe. — Chaucer. 
 I wot you telle us swithe trewly the sothe. — W. of Palerne. 
 
 Swither. To hesitate in choice, an irresolute wavering 
 
 in choice. 
 
 The use of this word — that is, the sense in which it is 
 understood — is perfectly well known, but its real mean- 
 ing and origin are matters upon which, so far as I know, 
 no person has been very positive. This being the case, 
 I venture to suggest that it is connected with the pre- 
 vious word swith, being in reality its comparative degree, 
 and that it is A.-S. swither, rather, and that it has come 
 to signify doubt, hesitation, in the same way that shilly- 
 shally has come to mean irresolution. Johnson says : 
 " To stand shill-1-shall-I, is to continue hesitating and 
 procrastinating." In like manner, a person who should 
 stand saying, "What shall I swithur — i.e., rather do?" 
 would be swithering or in a swither. Where certainty 
 cannot be attained, conjecture may be admitted. 
 
GLOSSARY. 3^7 
 
 Swoor. Swore, did swear. 
 
 Our Host tho lowh and swoor. — Wrights Chaucer. 
 
 Kyng Richard 
 
 Swoor hys oth, be Seynt Symoun. 
 
 Kyng Richard swoor and was agreved. — Rich. C. de Lion. 
 
 Sybo, or syebow. An onion. 
 
 Cibol, a small sort of onion used in salads. This word is common 
 in the Scotch dialect, but the / is not pronounced.— ^(?/^«ji!«. 
 
 Cibol, a sort of small degenerate onion. — Bailey. 
 
 It is said in at least one editipn, and that a deservedly 
 popular one, that a sybo is a leek. It is not so, and the 
 line quoted by Sir Walter Scott should settle the matter : 
 There's nought in the Highlands but syboes and leeks. 
 If this word is not rightly understood it might be in- 
 ferred from what Burns says about a sybo tail that the 
 Scotch are in the habit of eating raw leeks which, how- 
 ever palatable to a native of Wales, are to a Scotsman 
 simply disgusting, and not more to his taste than a raw 
 potato ; to make him eat one would require a Fluellin. 
 
 Syne. Since, ago, then. 
 
 Alle hyt was shewed hym before, 
 
 How he had lyved syn he was bore. — Rob. of Brunne. 
 
 Was nevyr such a senatour syn Crystes incarnacion. — Skelton. 
 
 Rowen drank, as her list, 
 
 And gave the kyng ; sine him kist. — R. of Brunne. 
 
 And syne go to the tavern house. — R. Hood. 
 
 Tack. A lease ; to extend a tack, to draw up its pro- 
 visions in detail. In the " Earnest Cry and Prayer," 
 "Now stand as tightly by your tack" seems to mean 
 " Stand to your bargain, fulfil your promise." 
 
388 GLOSSARY. 
 
 See under Herry for the only E. example of tach in 
 this sense which I remember, but James V. is reported 
 by Sir Ralph Sadler to have used the word, and as Sir 
 Ralph does not explain it to his master, it must have 
 been known in England. 
 
 To hold tacke, stand to a bargain. — Cotgrave. 
 
 Tackets. Nails for shoes, a form of tack, a small nail. 
 
 Tae. A toe ; three-fae'd, having three prongs. A for ; 
 see under bane. 
 
 And ilk a vayne of the mans body 
 
 Had a rote fastened thar-by, 
 
 And in ilk a taa and fynger of hand 
 
 Was a rote fra that tre growand. — Pricke of Conscience. 
 
 Finger and tcus, fote and hande, 
 
 And alle his touches er tremblande. — Id. 
 
 Taed. A toad. A for 0; see under batu. 
 Snakes and nederes thar he fand, 
 And gret blac tades gangand. — E. Metrical Homilies. 
 
 Taet. A small quantity. 
 Taettecan, rags, tatters. — Bosworth. 
 
 Tairge, or targe. A target ; to deal strictly with one. 
 
 Ac with targes, and hurdices, 
 
 Theo Gregeis heom wryed als the wise. 
 
 Kyng Alisaunder. 
 Crystene men made hem a targe 
 
 Off dores, and of wyndowes large. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
 I am utterly unable to explain, and, so far as I know, 
 no one has attempted to explain, how targe, a shield, a 
 means of defence, should have come to signify, to deal 
 strictly, to strike, to cross-examine, etc. 
 
 It would be interesting to know if Burns, when he 
 wrote — 
 
GLOSSARY. 389 
 
 And aye on Sundays, duly, nightly, 
 I on the Questions targe them tightly. 
 was aware that tiht was A.-S. for instruction, discipline. 
 
 Tak. To take. Final e omitted ; see under quak. 
 
 Let delyver him anon, and tak him to me. — Wright's Chaucer. 
 
 Steward, tac thou here 
 
 My fondling for to \exe^.—The Geste of Kyng Horn. 
 
 For he wist noght whederward 
 
 That he sold tak the redy way. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 No tak thou never wreththe non. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Tarn. Dim. of Thomas. 
 You know. Tarn, your education has been a little at large. 
 
 Vanbrugh. 
 
 Tane. Taken. 
 
 Keep carefully what thou hast tane in charge. — Sylvester. 
 See, Cupid with a word has tane up the brawl. — Ben Jonson. 
 Therefore my Daphne they have tane away. — Spenser. 
 
 Tangle. Sea-weed. — Bailey. Halliwell. 
 
 Tangs. Tongs ; a sheep-head on a tangs, a sheep's head 
 undergoing singeing. 
 
 Mother Midnight told him she would try whether his scull or the 
 tangs were the harder metal.— ;/ii/4« Collier. 
 
 Tap. Top ; tap o' tow, the quantity of flax put on the 
 spinning wheel at one time. A iox ; see under aff. 
 This shows us the meaning of a passage which Mr. 
 Halliwell, with all his extraordinary knowledge of archaic 
 and provincial words and customs could not explain : — 
 I take my tappe in my lappe, and am gone. — Morality of Every 
 Man. 
 
 That is, " I take the flax which I brought for my even- 
 ing's work with me and go away." 
 
39° GLOSSARY. 
 
 Tapetless. Heedless, foolish. 
 
 I am not sure that Burns has here hit on the word 
 which most fully expresses, in prose, the meaning of a 
 word used in his verse. It is to be remembered that in 
 explaining Scotch words he had no such assistance as we 
 have. There was no Jamieson's Dictionary of the lan- 
 guage, indeed it was hardly allowed to be a language. 
 We need not, therefore, wonder if there should some- 
 times appear to be a slight discrepancy between the 
 poetical word and its prosaic definition. Perhaps I am 
 wrong in thinking there is one here. Let us examine 
 the passage. It occurs in the Second Letter to Lapraik : 
 
 My awkart Muse sair pleads and begs 
 
 I would na write. 
 The tapetless, ramfeezl'd hizzie, 
 She's saft at best an' something lazy, 
 Quo' she, " Ye ken we've been sae busy 
 
 This month an' mair, 
 That trouth, my head is grown right dizzie. 
 
 An' something sair. " 
 
 Her dowf excuses pat me mad ; 
 
 " Conscience," says I, "ye thowless jad !" 
 
 Here we have ramfeezl'd, saft, lazy, and thowless, all 
 words indicating inability or unwiUingness to perform 
 the task he assigned her, and none of them appropriate 
 to a foolish or heedless personage. Indeed, he represents 
 himself as of opinion that she thought too much, for he 
 says — 
 
 Her dowf excuses pat me mad. 
 I think it will appear not unreasonable to conclude that 
 tapetless must mean something in accordance with ram- 
 feezled and other words in the passage. 
 
 Let us now hear what Jamieson — the greatest authority 
 on the Scottish tongue — says : " Tapetless, heedless, fool. 
 
GLOSSARY. 391 
 
 isb." This is taken from Burns, and we are no farther 
 advanced. Then he says, " Tabetless, tapetless, tebbitless, 
 adj. Not as explained by ' Shirr, and Sibb. ' without 
 strength,' but destitute of sensation, benumbed." Here 
 he is opposed to Burns and to himself when he adopted 
 heedless, foolish, as the translation of tapetless. Now I 
 believe that destitute of strength, benumbed, is nearer 
 the meaning than his first explanation, but I also believe 
 that Shirref and Sibbald are right, and that tapetless means 
 want of strength, energy, or what we should now call 
 pluck. Indeed, I have often wondered that Jamieson, 
 usually so fond of Danish derivations, did not refer this 
 word to tapper, brave, valliant, gallant. 
 
 Tap-pickle. The grain at the top of the stalk. Tap and 
 picMe. 
 
 Tappit-hen. A tin pot with a knob on the top, contain- 
 ing a quart. — Scott : glossary. 
 In " Waverley " and "Guy Mannering " it is said to be 
 
 three English quarts. 
 
 Tapsalteerie. Topsy-turvy. This seems another form of 
 Barbour's top-our-tail, i.e., top-over-tail. 
 He lap till ane and can hym ta 
 Richt be the neck full felonly 
 Till top our tail he gert him \y.—The Bruce. 
 He yede down 
 
 Off hys hors, top on tayk.—R. C. de Lion. 
 The storm doth topside-turvey toss thee. 
 
 T. Kyd. 
 
 Tarrow. To murmur at one's allowance. 
 
 In "A Dream," as Chambers correctly says, "To tar- 
 row at food is to linger over it from dislike or want of 
 appetite," 
 
392 GLOSSARY. 
 
 In the " Address of Beelzebub," " If you on your 
 station farrow," it seems to mean " if you are not pleased 
 with the place assigned you, or if you contend about it.'' 
 
 Tarry-breeks, A sailor. Tarry and breeks. 
 
 Stainhurst, the translator of Virgil, in 1582, makes Dido call 
 ^neas, hedge-brat, cullion, and tar-breech in the course of one 
 speech. — Malone. 
 
 Tassie. A cup or goblet. 
 
 Tasse. a cup, a dish. Var. dial. — Halliwell. 
 
 He distributed among them his whole cupboard of plate, huge 
 pots, large basins, big tasses, &c. — Rabelais. 
 
 Tauld, or tald. A ior 0; see under aff. 
 I fand the Bacyn as he talde. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 Ther (thir, i. e. , these) thre partes er thre spaces talde 
 Of the lyf of ilk man, yhung and aide. — Pricke of Conscience. 
 And he teld him how he hadde the steward slain. — Amis and 
 
 Amiloun. 
 
 Taupie. A foolish, thoughtless young person. 
 
 7 anted, tawted, or tauiie. Matted together ; spoken of 
 
 hair or wool. 
 
 I have little doubt that this word is connected with 
 tease, which means to take out the tawts or entanglements 
 of wool or hair, though I cannot trace the steps by which 
 ea became aw, but neither can I tell how see has for its 
 past tense saw, or teach, taught. 
 
 Tow, which is really the disordered, i.e., tauted, drop- 
 pings of flax in dressing, is found written taw as well as 
 to2v in A.-S., and is so spelled by Chaucer — 
 He had more tawe on his distaf 
 Than Gerveis knew.— 77;e Milleres Tale. 
 
GLOSSARY. 393 
 
 Tawie. That allows itself to be peaceably handled, 
 
 spoken of a horse, cow, &c. 
 
 This word, which the old farmer applies to his mare, 
 will be best understood by reading what Lord Colchester 
 says of his celebrated horse Cruzier, tamed by Rarey, 
 " He was vicious from a foal, always troublesome to 
 handle, and showed temper on every opportunity." 
 Tawie means the reverse of all this, in short, the mare 
 was tractable, teachable, which to some may suggest a 
 derivation of the word as probable as any yet conjectured. 
 
 Teat. Same as taet. 
 
 'Teen. The evening, abbreviation of at e'en. 
 
 Teen. Vexation. 
 
 The angry pagan bit his lip for teen. — Fairfax. 
 For hunger I feele so grete teene — Lydgate. 
 Never was there no word them betweene 
 Of jalousie, ne of non other tene. — Chaucer. 
 Print in your hart some parcel of my tetie. — Surrey. 
 
 Teethin a heckle. Putting new spikes or teeth in a heckle. 
 
 Temper-pin. The pin of a spinning-wheel, used to 
 slacken or tighten the band which, passing over the 
 wheel, gave motion to the spindle. Also the pin used 
 to temper a fiddle string. 
 
 He taketh the harp and tempreth it. — Gower. 
 
 Ten hours' bite. A slight feed to the horses while in the 
 
 yoke in the forenoon. 
 
 In provincial English there are many instances of 
 meals being named from the hour at which they are 
 usually eaten. Thus in Sussex an elevener is a luncheon, 
 &c. — Folk-Etymology. 
 
394 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Tenebrific. Dark, tenebrous. Johnson has ienebricose. 
 
 The radiant brightnes of golden Phebus 
 
 Auster gan cover with clowde tenebrous. — Stephen Hawes, 
 
 Tent. A field pulpit. 
 
 I am very far from desiring to give a ludicrous notion 
 of this (once) important part of the ecclesiastical appara- 
 tus of Scotland, having some very solemn associations 
 with it, but to those who have not seen it I cannot con- 
 vey a clearer idea than by saying it closely resembles the 
 structure in which Punch performs his drama. It was a 
 relic of suffering times when very insufficient shelter had 
 to be provided for the preacher. 
 
 Tent. Heed, caution, to take heed. 
 To tent, to tend, or look to. — Bailey. 
 Ya, ya ! all olde men to me take tent 
 & weddyth no wyff, in no kyimes wyse. 
 That is a yonge wench. — Cov. Mysteries. 
 Takegode tent to thys matere. — JIow the Wise Man Taught, etc. 
 A madame, takes tent to me. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Tentie. Heedful, cautious. 
 Tentiff, careful. — Bailey. 
 
 Tentless. Heedless. 
 
 Terraefilial. Belonging to sons of the earth, worldlings. 
 
 Terraefilius, a scholar in the University of Oxford, appointed to 
 make jesting and satyrical speeches. — Bailey. 
 
 Tester. A sixpenny piece. 
 
 There is a tester for thee. — Shaik. 
 
 Plums and directors, Shylock and his wife. 
 
 Will club their testers now to take thy life. — /'ope. 
 
 Who throws away a tester and a mistress loses sixpence. 
 
 J^arguhar. 
 
GLOSSARY. 395 
 
 Teugh. Tough. Eu {qx ou ; %&e. xm^ex pleugh. 
 And he there caste botemay (bitumen) 
 Of Meopante, that towhe clay. — Kyng AHsaunder. 
 
 Teuk. Took. Eu for oo ; see under beuk. 
 
 Thack. Thatch. K for ch ; see under birk. 
 
 TTiack, thatch, is the past participle aithecan, to cover. — Tooke. 
 
 Thack, thatch. Thacker, a thatcher. — Grose. 
 That they should ever in houses of thacke. 
 Their lives lead, and v^ear but blacke. — Chaucer. 
 
 Thae. Those. 
 
 Fra he was born the dai thretteind 
 
 Thai offerd him thaa kinges heind. — Cursor Mundi. 
 
 Sir Ywain said, God, maste of myght, 
 
 Sal strenketh us in ilka dede, 
 
 Ogains tha devils and al thair drede. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Thairms. Small guts, fiddle-strings. 
 
 Tharms, guts washed for making hogs' puddings. — 
 Bailey. And this is a dictionary, and not a very old one 
 either, of the people who profess to be disgusted at a 
 haggis because it is made in the paunch of a cow or 
 sheep ! 
 
 Tharms, intestines twisted for several \xie.%.— Johnson. 
 Tharms, pudding-skins. — Thoresby. 
 But tharmes. 
 The wombe and al down to the kne, 
 Of bras they were upo to see. — Cower. 
 
 Theek. To thatch. 
 Theak, to thatch. — Grose. 
 
 For it is I that other whyle 
 
 Plucke downe lede, and theke with tyle. — Skelton. 
 
396 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Thegither. Together. Th for t, as in 
 
 The great lordys of renoun 
 
 Thold (told) the kyng. — Odoman Imperaior. 
 
 Th is often used not only for t, but for other dentals, 
 as couifie for could, thoth for doth, etc. 
 
 Themsel'. Themselves. See under mysel. 
 
 Thick. Intimate, familiar. 
 
 We begin now, though contrary to my expectation, to be pretty 
 thick, and I thank God who reconciles me to my adversaries. — 
 Bishop Law. 
 
 Thievekss. Cold, dry, spirited, spoken of a person's 
 
 demeanour. 
 
 This word has been a stumbling-block to many a 
 Scotsman; even to those most familiar with the ver- 
 nacular it has proved a sort of puzzle. Cunningham 
 omits it from his glossary altogether. Jamieson has 
 "Thewless, i.e., thowless, thieveless," which he regards 
 as synonymous, and his observations on these words are 
 very interesting. Thowless, however, it cannot be, for 
 Auld Brig was " bauldly doure," and his speeches were 
 spirited. I believe it means unmannerly, rude, coming 
 from the same A.-S. thedw or theau as thews in the 
 following passages : — 
 
 For though that ever vertuous was she. 
 
 She was encresed in swiche excellence 
 
 Ot ihewes good, yset in high bountee. — Chaucer. 
 
 Prowd, peviche, lyddyr, and lewde, 
 
 Malapert, medyllar, nothyng well thewde. — Skelton. 
 
 Blithe was eche a barn ho best might him plese, 
 
 & folowe him for his fredome & for his fair thewes. 
 
 W. of Palerne. 
 Upbroughl in gentle thewes and martial might, — Spenser, 
 
GLOSSAbY. 
 
 397 
 
 A derivative from this, thedulice signifies decently, 
 properly, and if the privative affix less be added to thedu 
 we have theauless, unmannerly, improper. It is to be 
 remembered, as has already been pointed out, that u 
 often did duty for both v and u. 
 
 Thigger. A beggar. 
 Thigan, to receive, accept, take. — Bosworth. 
 Thaym were betere thygge thayre mete, 
 Than any gode on that wyse gete. — MS. quoted by Halliwell. 
 
 Thir. These. 
 
 Many a piece of bacon have I had out of thir bailees. 
 
 Gam. Gurton's Needle. 
 The galay men held up thaire handes. 
 And thanked God for thir tithandes. — Minot. 
 Al thir men virote, and so wote i, 
 That she bitrayed hir lady. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 ^To army thir knyghtes wer fayn. — Libeaus Disconnus. 
 
 Thirl. To thrill. R transposed ; see under brugh. 
 
 Thirl, to pierce. It is now pronounced and written thrill. — 
 Johnson. 
 
 Thirle, to bore or drill, to pierce through. — Bailey. 
 The thik thunder-braste thirled hem ofte. 
 
 Early E. Alliterative Poems. 
 With a spere was thirled his brest bone. — Chaucer. 
 
 Thole. To suffer, to endure. 
 
 " Lord ! " said Guy, " that raised Lazaroun, 
 
 And for man //5i)&a^ passioun. " — Guy of Warwick. 
 He tholes gode men and lele. — E. Metrical Homilies. 
 Mony is jolif in the morning. 
 And tholeth deth or the evenyng. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Jesu that was nomen with wrong, 
 
 And tholed mani paines strong. —ZfiVA of Adam and His Descen- 
 dants. 
 
398 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Thou's. Thou hast. Thoi^se, thou art. See I'se. 
 
 Pse, tkou'se, and thou'st occur frequently in both E. 
 and S. authors, but, I believe, they generally express the 
 future rather than the present tense. 
 
 Thou'se be the next.— i?. Hood. 
 If thou'It wend thither, my little Musgrave, 
 Thou'st lig in mine arms all night. 
 
 Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard, 
 
 The third person of the verb is often used with thou, 
 as in 
 
 Telling the bushes that thou looks for wars. — Shdk. 
 
 This may have been the result of inadvertence, but 
 the following must have been done purposely : — 
 
 And, wheresoe'er thou casts thy view, 
 Upon that white and radiant crew. — Cowley. 
 
 Thowe. A thaw, to thaw. 
 
 Thooant, thawing. — Bamford. 
 A vale there is 
 Where eye-room is from rock to cloudy sky. 
 
 From thence to dales which stormy ruins shroud. 
 Then to the crushed water's frothy fry. 
 Which tumbleth from the tops where snow is thow'd. 
 Robert Southwells Mcenia. 
 A fresy thowe, a meltyng fryse. — Lydgaie. 
 
 Thowless. Slack, lazy. See thieveless. 
 Thrall. Bondage. 
 
 And laid about him, till his nose 
 
 From thrall ai ring and cord broke loose. — Butler. 
 
 Thrang. A throng, a crowd. Thrang. — Bamford. 
 Perkyn turned hym about in that ych thrang, 
 Amang thos wery boyes he wrest and he wrang. 
 
 The Tournament of Tottenham. 
 
glossarV. 399 
 
 About hir was ful mekyl the thrang. — Ywain and Gawain, 
 AUe weore dryven athrang. — Xyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Thrang. Busy. 
 
 Thrang, busy, beset with affairs. — Bamford. 
 
 Sir Launcelot thranged in the thicke of the presse. 
 
 Historic of Prince Arthur. 
 
 Throng in the sense of busy is not now an E. word, 
 but it was so once. 
 
 Throng, busily employed. — Grose. Very throng, busily employed. 
 — Bailey. 
 
 Though I am thronged with a multitude of business, &c. — Mr. 
 Morland to Mr. Pell, Protectorate of Cromwell. 
 
 Thrapple. Throat, windpipe. 
 
 Thrapple, the windpipe of a \iOX?,^.— Bailey. Thropple, wind- 
 pipe. — Grose. 
 
 Thrapple, the windpipe of any s.VL\xa3S..^Johnson. 
 
 Thrave. Twenty-four sheaves of grain. 
 A thrave, as above. — Bailey. 
 A threave of straw, a burden of it. — Thoresby. 
 Diseaux degerbes, hs\{ thraves of tenne sheaves a peece. — Cotgrave. 
 He sends forth thraves of ballads. — Bishop Hall. 
 Gallants 
 
 (Have) been seen to flock here in threaves. — Ben Jonson. 
 The hospital had received, from an ancient grant of King Athel- 
 stane, a right of levying a thrave of corn upon every plough-land in 
 the county. — Hume's Hist, of E. 
 
 Thraw. To sprain, to twist, to contradict. 
 Thraw, to argue, to dispute. — Bamford. 
 Thrdwan, to wheel, turn round. — Bosworth. 
 
 For I se wel that hit is sothe that alle mannez wyttez, 
 To un-thryfte am alle thrawen. — Early E. Allit. Poems. 
 
460 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Thraw. A throe, a pang. 
 
 Time is come the lady schal childe, 
 
 The thrawes hire afongon. — Kyng Alismmder. 
 
 Threap. To maintain by dint of assertion. 
 
 Threap, a country word denoting to argue much or contend. — 
 fohnson. 
 
 Tkrepe, to affirm, to blame. — Bailey. 
 
 It was at Cork that the people of the town first threaped upon 
 him that he was the son of the Duke of Clarence. — Perkin Warbeck's 
 Confeision. 
 
 It's not for a man with a woman to threape. — Percy's Reliques. 
 Sol gold is, and Luna silver we threpe. — Chaucer. 
 But al for Church they cride and threape. 
 
 The Wonders of England. 
 
 Threesome. The union of three. 
 
 Thresh. To thrash (with a flail) ; thresh the barn, to do 
 a man's work with the flail. 
 Thresh is the spelling in the Bible, as— 
 
 O my threshing, and the corn of my floor. — Isaiah. 
 The careful ploughman doubting stands. 
 Lest on the threshing-6.oor his sheaves prove chaff. — Milton. 
 The corne is theyrs, let others thresh. — Spenser. 
 
 Threteen. Thirteen. 
 
 For threttene is a convent as I guesse. — Chaucer. 
 Of these sterres which I mene, 
 Cor Scorpionis is threttene. — Gower. 
 
 Tyl ten yerdes or twelve hadde tolled out threttene. 
 
 P. Plowman. 
 Threttie. Thirty. 
 
 Threity thousande stronge and wightes. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 And loke even that thyn ark have of heghthe thretti (cubits). 
 Early E. Alliterative Poems. 
 He held hir wele al threfy yer. — The Seven Sages. 
 
GLOSSARY. 401 
 
 Thrissle. A thistle. 
 
 It were a gode Contree to sowen inne Thristle and Breres and 
 Thorns. — Maundeville. 
 
 Throng. Busy. Very throng, busily employed. — Bailey. 
 
 Through. To go on literally; to mak to through, to make 
 
 good. — -Jamteson, 
 
 I believe the line in " The Brigs of Ayr," in which to 
 through occurs should be, "And muckle mair than ye 
 can mak to-through" and it would be at once seen that 
 to is joined with through to strengthen the meaning, as 
 in — 
 
 A certain woman cast a piece of mill-stone upon Abimelech's 
 head, and all to-brake his ^\i!iS..— Judges, ix., 53. 
 
 Throuther. Pell-mell, confusedly. Through and other. 
 
 Thrum. To pur as a cat. 
 
 Blunderbusses planted at every loop-hole go ofif constantly at the 
 squeaking of a fiddle and the thrumimng of a guitar. — Dryden. 
 
 Thud. To make a loud, intermittent noise ; the noise 
 so made. 
 
 Thoden, a noise, din, whirlwind, — Bosworth. 
 
 This expressive word is said to have been first used in English in 
 the description given in the Times newspaper of the fight between 
 Heenan and Sayers. — Edwards. 
 
 Thumart. Foumart, pole-cat. Th for /. In at least 
 one word Shakespeare uses /or th indifferently. 
 
 An you draw back we'll put you in 'Has. fills. 
 
 Troilus and Cressida. 
 Thou hast got more hair on thy chin than Dobbin my thill horse 
 has on his tail. — The Merchant of Venice. 
 
 Huet, that hende litel dwer(h (dwarf). — William of Paleme. 
 
 Thyser. Thyself Se niyseV. 
 B 2 
 
402 GlossArV. 
 
 Tibbie. Isabella. 
 
 Then said Perkyn, To Tybbe I have hyght. 
 
 Tournament of Tottenhavt. 
 
 And Tib my wife, that as her life 
 
 Loveth good ale to seeke, 
 Full oft drinkes she till ye may see 
 
 The teares run downe her cheeke. 
 
 Gam. GurtoiCs Needle. 
 
 Tight. Strong, active. 
 Tightest. Best, in — 
 
 And aye the hindmost hour the tightest. — Burns to Nicol. 
 Tight, active, alert. — Halliwell. 
 
 Tightly. Firmly, severely. 
 
 What, beaten with a song? Never more tightly, gentlemen. — 
 Fletcher. 
 
 Work but tightly 
 And we will not have a dish-clout in the house 
 But of your spinning. — Massinger. 
 Hold, sirrah, bear you these letters tightly. — Shak. 
 But he stood tightly up to them. — T. Ellwood. 
 
 Till. To; tilVt, to it. 
 
 Till Daniel his dreme he tolde. — Gower. 
 Whan Philip till Acres cam. — Ji. C. de Lion. 
 Tillhti that squire bespake. — Spenser. 
 Sleep and feeding may prorogue his honour 
 Even till a Lethe'd dullness. — Shak. 
 
 Till for to is supposed to be a marked peculiarity of 
 Scottish speech, but it was once very common in Eng- 
 land, and at one time it seemed not unlikely that till and 
 to would change places : — 
 
 Had I spoken with any man 
 
 To sevyn days were comen and gane. — The Seven Sages. 
 
Glossary. 463 
 
 Seyvon yere weddeseytt my londes, 
 To the deyttes that ar woonde 
 
 Be qwytte al bedene, 
 And owtte of countre wille y wende, 
 To y have gold and silver to spende. — Sir Amadas. 
 Ther saw I how woful Calistope 
 Was turned from a woman til a here. — Chaucer. 
 To every tale 
 
 Not hastily to yeve thereto credence 
 Into tyme thou knew that it were trewe. — Lydgate. 
 
 Timmer. Timber, timmer-propt, propped with timber. 
 See under chanter. 
 
 Timmer, timber. — Var. dial. Halliwell. Slummer, slumber. 
 Bamjord, 
 
 Tine. To lose ; tint, lost. 
 
 His knife was tint. — Sir Eger, Sir Graham and Sir Gray Steel. 
 
 His takyll he shall tyne. — R. Hood. 
 
 Lothe I were him to tine. — Sir Cauline. 
 
 For a flour that semes fayre and bright, 
 
 Thurgh stormes fades and tynes the myght. — Pricke of Conscience. 
 
 In that time nothing tint he. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Tinkler. A tinker. 
 
 " By the mass ! " quoth the tinkler, " it's nappy brown ale." 
 An. Poems, &'c., of the English Peasantry. 
 
 A tinker is still called a tinkler in the North of England. — Bell. 
 Ale makes the tinkler bang his wife. — Craven Churn Supper 
 
 I once did know a tinkling pewterer. — Marston, 
 
 Tip. A ram. Tip and toop are only different spellings 
 of tup. 
 
 Tip, or tup, a ram. — Grose. 
 
 Tippence. Two-pence. This differs only in spelling 
 from two-pence j scarcely, if at all, in pronunciation. 
 
4*4 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Tuppence. — Bamford. 
 
 He had but a groat, and that was in two two-pences. — Beaumont 
 and Fletcher. 
 
 Tippenny. A kind of ale, so named from its price. 
 
 It was common both in England and Scotland to 
 designate ale by the price at which it was sold. 
 
 A kylderkin of ^ half-penny here and a kilderkin of single here, 
 £,Q 2s. 4d. — Accounts of Kingston upon Thames. — Antiq. Rep. 
 
 Before the year 1730, the malt liquors in use in London were ale, 
 beer, and twopenny. — Leigh. Words, Facts, and Phrases. 
 
 Peny-ale and podyng-ale she poured togederes. — P. Plowman. 
 
 Tipper-taiper. To totter, to walk on tip-toe, or inse- 
 curely. 
 
 Tirl. To make a slight noise. 
 
 Tirl, to put in motion. — Halliwell. 
 
 Make rome, syrs, and let us be mery. 
 With huff a galand, synge tyrll on the bery. 
 
 The nil. Elements. 
 
 Tirl. To uncover. 
 
 Tither. The other. / for 0; see anither. 
 Tother, contracted from the other. ^fohnson. 
 To tine the gear and Simmy too, 
 The ane to the tither's nae relief. — Richardson. 
 See where yonder stondeth the teder man. — Skelton. 
 
 Tittle. Sister. 
 
 Titty, a sister. — Cumb. Halliwell. 
 
 Tittle. To whisper, to prate idly. 
 
 Titelung (A.-S.), recapitulation. 
 7V«&-tattle, to prate iHy .—Johnson. 
 
 & te deouel leieth his tutel adun to his earen, & tuteleth him al 
 that he ever wule, — The Ancren Riwle. 
 
GLOSSARY. 405 
 
 Tocher, and tocher gude. Marriage portion. 
 Towgher, a dower, or dowry. — Grose. 
 A cow and a calf, 
 An ox and a half. 
 Forty good shillings and three, 
 Is not that enough tocher 
 For a shoemaker's daughter. 
 
 Nursery Rhymes of England, 
 
 Tod. A fox. 
 
 Or stew iods' hairs. — Ben Jonson. 
 Driv'st hence the wolf, the tod, the brock, 
 Or other vermin from the flock. — Id. 
 
 Toddle. To totter like the walk of a child. 
 
 Ton. Style or height, as in — 
 
 The ton of your fashion. — The Sons of Old Killie. 
 
 Too fa'. Twilight, close of the day. To 3.nA fa'. 
 
 For him in vain at to fall of the day, 
 
 His babes shall linger at the unclosing gate. — Collins. 
 
 The prefix to- has an intensive or augmentative force. 
 
 His brest to-brosten with his sadel bow. — Chaucer. 
 
 The lyon . . wolde have him al /o-?-«»^. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
 Toom. Empty. In England and some parts of Scotland 
 this is spelled and pronounced teem. 
 
 Tee7tt out, pour out. — Bailey. Bamford. 
 
 Some busy gin to teem the loaded com. — Clare. 
 Tom, empty, void, exempt. — Bosworth. 
 Toome, or tume, empty. — Grose. 
 
 Soon the tresowre up they drowe. 
 
 And ther stedys strong ynowe. 
 
 And made ther schyppys tome. — Le Bone Flo. of Rome. 
 
 A byrdles cage, a key withouten lok, 
 
 A tombe shyppe alway ridyng on a rok. 
 
 It may wele ryme, but it accordith nought. — Lydgate. 
 
406 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Toop. A tup, a ram. Oo for «, as in — 
 
 She fond a tred and forthe ys gon, 
 
 To a noonrie (nunnery) men call Beverfayre. 
 
 Le Bone Florence of Rome. 
 
 Toothy, Furnished with teeth, biting. 
 
 Toothy, peevish, crabbed. — Ray. Toothy, having many or large 
 teeth. — Halliwell. 
 
 Toss. A toast, a celebrated beauty. T omitted ; see 
 under disrespecket. 
 
 Tost, the nomination of a person whose health is to be drunk. — 
 — Bailey. 
 
 Miss Molly, a fam'd toast, was fair and young. — The Tattler. 
 Toast, a health proposed, or a belle whose health is often drunk 
 is a corruption of toss, which in Scottish has the same meaning. — 
 Folk Etymology. 
 
 The plump chalice and the cup, 
 
 That tempts till it be tossed up. — Herrick. 
 
 Tosie. Warm and snug. 
 
 Toun and toon. A hamlet, a farm-house, a farm ; also a 
 town, as "Toun of Ayr." 
 Toun is the old spelling of town, thus. 
 
 As sone as day he went out of the toun. — Chaucer. 
 
 The modern subaudition, when we use the word toim, 
 is restricted to any number of houses enclosed together. 
 Formerly, the E. subaudition was more extensive, and 
 embraced also any enclosure, any quantity of land, etc., 
 enclosed. 
 
 Sotheli thei dispiriden, and thei wenten awei . . . another 
 into his ?()««. Mat. xxii. 5. — ]Vyclif. 
 
 And alle bigunnen togidre to excuse ; the first seide, I have 
 bought a toun, and I have nede to go out and se it, Luke xiv, 18, 
 — Tooke, 
 
GLOSSARY. 407 
 
 The first town, though a mere enclosure, gave the name to all 
 other towns. — Max Muller. 
 
 In "Poor Mailie's Elegy," Burns, though he has not 
 given that meaning in his glossary, uses toun for farm : — 
 Thro' a' the toun she trotted by him, 
 A lang half-mile she could desciy him. 
 
 As however it is thought a Scotticism to call a farm- 
 house a town, I must try to show that it was once 
 customary in England to apply the term to a single 
 house. In Anglo-Saxon times tim, according to Bos- 
 worth, meant, " a dwelling-house, mansion," and in this 
 sense it is found in many English writers. I shall only 
 give one example. In order to see the force of the 
 word, a short explanation of the circumstances in which 
 it was used is necessary. 
 
 Sir Ywain, having become insane, wandered in a 
 wood in which he is found naked and insensible by a 
 young woman. She by anointing him with "unement," 
 frees him from his " brayn-wodeness,'' and lays clothing 
 beside him. Having with difficulty, owing to his 
 extreme weakness, put on the garments provided for 
 him, he addresses the lady, who now rides up to him as 
 if she were passing by and knew nothing of his previous 
 condition, in the following terms : 
 
 Pur charite, i wald ye pray 
 
 For to lene me that palfray 
 
 That in thi hand is redy bowne, 
 
 And wis (direct) me unto som towne. 
 
 Now I think it is obvious that in his circumstances a 
 town, in the modern sense of the word, would be the last 
 place he would seek, and that he desired to be wised to 
 a house of any kind. Fletcher has town for a farm- 
 house ; — ■ 
 
408 GLOSSARY. 
 
 The woods or some near town 
 That is a neighbour to the bordering down, 
 Hath draw them thither. — The Faithful Shepherdess. 
 
 Tout. The blast of a horn or trumpet, to blow a horn, 
 &c. 
 
 Toot, to blow a horn. — Bailey. 
 
 Toot was used in a contemptuous sense which I do not under- 
 stand.— ^/oAkjok. And he quotes 
 
 This writer should wear a tooting horn. — Howell. 
 
 This is surely an insinuation that he was his own trum- 
 peter, blew his own horn, or sang his own praise. 
 
 Touzle. To handle roughly, to rumple. 
 
 Tussle, or teawzle, to struggle in play, to pull, to romp. — Barn- 
 ford. Touz, to lug or pull about, to tumble. — Bailey. 
 
 And farther, not having the fear of your worships before his eyes, 
 but being moved and induced . . did then . . feloniously 
 tear, wound, and touzle him . of which tearings and tonzlings 
 
 the said Hare did die. — The Trial of Farmer Carter's Dog Porter 
 /or Murder, 1771. 
 
 Then they to bete and tusle the sayde bedde. 
 The Order of Making the Kin^s (Hen. VIII.) Bed. 
 Father's own son ! he'll touzle her. — Congreve. 
 
 Tow. A rope. This word is given in old dictionaries 
 as a verb only ; in recent ones it is admitted as a noun. 
 
 Towmoiid. A twelvemonth. The substitution of d for 
 th, by which month became mond, has been sufficiently 
 dwelt upon ; but the change of twelve into tow is not 
 so easily explained. Twel or twal was the first step, 
 and the elision of / brought it very near its present 
 form. 
 
 Towzie. Rough, shaggy. Connected with tovse, touze, 
 and touzle. 
 
GLOSSARY. 409 
 
 And what sheep, that is full of wuUe 
 
 Upon his baclce, they toose and puUe. — Gower. 
 
 Toy. A very old fashion of female head-dress. 
 T^^-top, a garland, a top-knot for the head of maids. — Bailey. 
 Can toy be a corruption of tye-X.o'p ? 
 
 On my head no toy 
 But was her pattern?— T'/^e Two Noble Kinsmen. 
 
 I do not say this is Burns's toy. 
 
 Toyte or tyte. To totter like old age. 
 Totty, shaking, unsteady, dizzie. —Johnson. 
 Totty and tottie, wavering, tottering, dizzy. — Bailey. 
 Sicker, thy head very tottie is. — Spenser. 
 
 Tozie. Tipsy. In some editions of Burns's Poems 
 "the martial chuck" of "The Jolly Beggars'' is called 
 a tozie, i.e. tipsy, and in others a to7vzie, drab. Which 
 is the right reading must of course be determined by 
 the manuscript, which I have not seen, and have no 
 opportunity of seeing. Unless that document is quite 
 distinct on the point, I should say the poet meant 
 toKizte, for he had already sufficiently indicated her 
 condition by saying, just two lines before, that she 
 was — 
 
 Wi' usquehae and blankets warm. 
 Tozy, soft like wool. — Bailey. 
 
 Tram. The shaft of a cart, or carriage of any kind. 
 
 Tramp. A journey. This word, now common, was not 
 admitted to English dictionaries in Burns's days. 
 Tramp, a foot traveller. Tramps, travels on foot. — Bamford. 
 Tramp, a walk, a journey. — Halliwdl. 
 
 Transmugrified. Transmigrated, metamorphosed. 
 
410 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Transmogrify, to transform. — Var. Dial. Halliwell. 
 They visibly, without the least hint, transmogrify them into such 
 birds as you now see. — Rabelais. Motteux. 
 
 Those banditti have been long accustomed to chop, change and 
 transmography every thing that belongs to my master. — Don 
 Quixote. 
 
 Trashtrie. Trash. Trie in trashtrie resembles Spenser's 
 ree in — 
 
 Shake off this vile harted cowardree, 
 
 and may be allowed to pass with the remark of his 
 learned editor : " Cowardrie, a word coined by the poet 
 for the sake of the rhyme." Todd. See under wastrie. 
 
 Trews and trouse. Trousers. 
 
 The leather quilted jack serves under his shirt of mail, and to 
 cover his trouse on horseback. — Spenser. 
 
 Then Dr. Ridley said, " It were best to go in my trouse." — Book 
 of Martyrs. 
 
 Trickle, Tricky, full of tricks. 
 
 Let thought turn exile, while the vacant mind 
 To tricky words and pretty phrase confin'd 
 Pumping for trim description's art. 
 To win the ear neglects the heart. — Cowpcr. 
 
 Trig. Spruce, neat. Trick was used in England, 
 instead of trig. G and K were often used in- 
 differently. For example, Johnson says : — " Trigger. 
 This is often written tricTcer ; I know not which is 
 right," and Gayton has "a century of spickets" for 
 spigots. 
 
 Oh, dear father gin I be not trig.—Northumh. Garland. 
 Riison. 
 
 A neighbour mine not long ago there was, 
 But nameless he for blameless he shall be, 
 
GLOSSARY. 411 
 
 That married had a trick and bonny lass 
 As in a summer day a man might see. 
 
 — Sir Philip Sidney. 
 There is a brail come out of France, 
 
 The tryxt ye harde this year a. 
 We will trype so tricke and gaye, 
 
 — Ancient Ballads and Broadsides, 
 I saugh a tour on a toft trighely i-maked. 
 
 P. Plowman. Morris and'Skeat. 
 
 Trimly. Excellently. 
 
 These play and counterfeit the whole passion so trimly as though 
 it had been an Enterlude. They do plaie so trimly and livelie. 
 
 Beehive of the Romish Church. 
 
 Trinle, trintle. A wheel of a barrow, to roll, /for u; 
 see under bizz. 
 
 Trendel, a sphere, an orb, a circle. — Bosworth. 
 Trindle, the wheel of a barrow. — Bamford. 
 Doest not thou things thyself which men deeme to be without 
 end as strange Mills and Trindells and such other kind of selfe- 
 movings. — De Mornay. 
 
 In the nekke he hyt him withal 
 
 That the hed trendelyd off as a bal. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
 His hevid trindeled on the sand. 
 
 Ywain and Gaiuain. 
 He order't th' wheel-barrow with spon-new trindle to be fctch't. 
 
 fohn Collier. 
 
 Trinkle. To trickle. 
 
 To trinkle, to trickle. — Var. Dial. Halliwell. 
 
 Troke. To exchange. E. truck. O for u, as in Fr. 
 troq or troc^ and in — 
 
 Now up, now down, as boket (bucket) in a well. 
 
 Chaucer, 
 
412 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Mannes compaignye hy shoneth (shunneth). 
 
 Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Whan note (nut) brounith in haselrys. — Id. 
 
 The horse brake loose, and ron (run) 
 The same way other flyers fled. — Chapman. 
 
 Troggers. Wandering merchants who procured old 
 
 clothes by purchase or exchange. 
 
 This is just another form of trokers or truckers, from 
 trucan, to fail, to truck, to abate, to diminish. Trog, 
 troke, and truck, are different forms of the same word. 
 
 Ther ne is non hope of guode, non wantrokiynge of kueade. 
 Dan Michel of Northgate. Morris. 
 Trugg-corn, an allowance of corn to the vicar of Leimster, for 
 officiating in some Chapels of Ease in that parish. — Bailey. 
 
 Troggin. What troggers deal in, second-hand clothes. 
 
 Trowth. Truth ; a petty oath. 
 Be my trowth, I seyd the same. — Cov. Mysteries. 
 We wald that thai were trowth plight. 
 
 Ywahi and Gawain. 
 In life she is Diana chast, 
 In trouth Penelope. — Earl of Surrey. 
 By my troth, 
 Methought 'twas excellent sport. 
 
 Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 
 Trump. A Jew's harp. 
 
 Crembalum, a Jew's trump. — Ainsworth. 
 Here a fiddle, and here a Jew's trump. — Pepys. 
 Some take tobacco, some take snuff' ; 
 Some play the trump. — Irish Hudibras, i6Sg. 
 There is howlynge and scowlyng, all cast in a dumpe, 
 With whewling and pewling, as though they had lost a 
 trump. — Gam. Gurton^s Needle. 
 
 Tongue of the trump, the wire of the Jew's harp ; 
 
GLOSSARY. 413 
 
 metaphorically the principal person in a company, or in 
 the management of an affair. 
 
 Tryste. To agree to meet, an appointed meeting ; a 
 
 fair. 
 
 Think not, Gray-steel albeit he wold 
 Shall hinder you your tryste to hold. 
 
 Sir Eger, Sir Graham, and Sir Gray-steel. 
 Under my trystle tree. — R. Hood. 
 
 Notwithstanding all that has been said of tryst, it is 
 perhaps only another form of trust, which is often spelled 
 y or i, e.g.:— 
 
 And be the more bold and studefast for to tryste on the fynal 
 arysyng of ded bodyes.— ^0/4» of Trevisa. 
 
 The erle answered wyth wordys hende, 
 
 Y tryste to the as to my frende. — Le Bone Florence of Rome. 
 
 I have in you such a triste. — Gower. 
 
 Tug. Raw-hide, of which, in old times, plough traces were 
 frequently made. 
 
 I can find no evidence that the practice mentioned by 
 Burns ever existed. Burns must have heard it, but it 
 seems impossible now to prove it. Whatever a tug may 
 originally have been, it is plain that the poet means that 
 his horse was a " wordy beast as e'er drew" nearest the 
 plough or farthest from it, whether a fur-ahin or a fur- 
 afore. 
 
 Tug is found only as a verb in E. dictionaries, or as 
 
 signifying a pull, and not that by which a thing is pulled, 
 
 but Bosworth has "Tige, A.-S.-, a tie, band, knot, tug^'' 
 
 and Bailey has '■'•Tuggae (old law term), harness, traces, 
 
 or ropes for drawing." Jamieson also gives teug, which 
 
 is not far from Fletcher's teugh : 
 
 Be sure then 
 
 His teugh be tith and strong. — Monsieur Thomas, 
 
4*4 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Tulzie. A quarrel, to quarrel, to fight, a fight. 
 
 Tumbler. A small cart, lightly ioxxs\&A.^Jainieson. 
 
 Some old people may have seen carts in which, instead 
 of the wheels revolving on the axle, it revolved with the 
 wheels. It is not easy to determine whether, a tumbler 
 was a cart of this description, or a tumbrel (originally a 
 tumble-caxt, Scotice, a coupoit), a dung-cart. 
 Tumbler, a cart. — Bailey. 
 
 It cumys thee better for to dryve 
 
 A dogcart or a tumrelle. — Skelton. 
 
 Twa. Two. 
 
 Thai had bene like thai twa. — The Two Dreams, 
 
 I wat you byne great lordes twaiv. — An. Bal. of Chevy Chase. 
 
 I have herd say, man sal take of twa thinges, 
 
 Slike as he findes, or slike as he bringes. — Chaucer. 
 
 Was broader than twa large span. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Twa-three. A few ; two or three. 
 'Twad. It would. See wad. 
 Twal. Twelve. 
 
 Twel, twelve. — Weber. 
 
 On al wise that ye be her 
 
 This day twelmonth. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Twal-hnndred. Twelve hundred. This and seventeen 
 hunner are technical terms denoting the quality of the 
 cloth. 
 
 Twal pennie worth. A small quantity; an English 
 pennyworth. 
 
 Twal-pint Hawkie. A cow yielding twelve pints at one 
 milking. 
 
GLOSSARY. 415 
 
 Twalt. Twelfth. 
 
 Twang, A twinge. G for ge ; see under brig. 
 
 Tweedle-dee. An indifferent fiddler. 
 
 Tiveedle, to handle lightly. Used of awkward fiddling. 
 
 Strange ! all this difference should be 
 
 'Twixt Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee ! — Pope. 
 
 Twin. To part ; also, to deprive, as in 
 
 May twin auld Scotland 0' a life. — Address of Beehebub. 
 
 Which many a lusty love hath twinned. — Gower. 
 
 Sith Eialacoil mote fro me twin, 
 
 Shette in her prison yond within. — Chaucer. 
 
 When the body and the saule salle twyn. 
 
 Pricke of Conscience. 
 
 Twistle. To twist ; a twist, a wrench. 
 
 Twistle, that part of a tree where the branches divide from the 
 stock .-^Halliwell. 
 
 Tyke. A dog. 
 
 Tike, a dog. — Grose. He's a fine tike, — Bamford. 
 
 Tike. In Shakspeare it is the name of a dog ; in which sense it 
 is used in %co\\zxA.— Johnson, 
 
 If Johnson meant that tyke was a word used to signify 
 dog, he has not expressed his meaning with his usual 
 clearness. If he meant, as his words imply, that it was 
 a proper name, like Jowler, Help, etc., he is wrong. It 
 is not used by Shakspeare, or in Scotland, as the name 
 of a dog, but as another word for dog. It was used by 
 Shakspeare and other English writers exactly as it is 
 employed by Burns. 
 
 Bob-tail'd tike, or trundle-tail. — Shak, 
 
 If you will have a good tike 
 
 Of which there are few like. — Gervase Markham. 
 
41 6 glossarV. 
 
 With all the barkand parish tikes set at her. — Ben Jonson. 
 Luke Robinson shall go before ye, that snarling northern tike. 
 
 A Proper New Ballad on the Old Parliament. 
 Percy Society. 
 
 Tysday. Tuesday. 
 The Tyseday tharaftyre. — Morte d' Arthur. 
 On Tuysday the xxi day of Apryll.^-^»ir. Bal. and Broadsides. 
 
 u, 
 
 Unback'd. Untamed, not broken, not accustomed to the 
 saddle. 
 
 Let me beg of you, like an unback'd filly, to kick it. — Sterne. 
 Like unback'd colts, they prick'd their ears. — Shak. 
 
 Uncaring. Disregarding. 
 
 Unce. An ounce. 
 
 He put this unce of copper in the croslet. — Chaucer. 
 
 Unchancy. Unlucky. 
 
 Unco. Strange, uncouth, very, very great, prodigious. 
 Th omitted ; see under mou. 
 
 Unto yowre court, sir, have i broght / 
 
 An unkouth (strange) knyght that ye knaw noght. 
 
 Ywain and Gawain, 
 
 Uncos. News. 
 
 The devil cannot stop their mouthes, 
 
 But they wyl talke of suche uncouthes [uncos, news). 
 
 Skelton. 
 I'd ax him what uncouths he'd yerd (heard) slurrin, 
 
 Tim Bobbin, 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 417 
 
 Unfauld. Unfold. Seefauld. 
 
 Unkenn'd. Unknown. See ken. 
 
 Nor seas unused, strange clime, or pool unken'd. — Fairfax. 
 
 Uiisicker. Unsure, unsteady. See sicker. 
 
 Unskaithed. Undamaged, unhurt. See skaith. 
 
 Unweeting. Unwotting, unknowing ; imweeting groan, 
 involuntary groan. 
 
 To meet, to know. — Bailey. Unweeting, ignorant, not knowing. 
 —Johnson.- 
 
 \ Unweeting he fulfiU'd 
 The purpos'd counsel, pre-ordain'd and fix'd. — Milton. 
 Unweting of this Dorigene at al. — Chaucer. 
 
 Upo\ Upon. 
 
 If Burns had not inserted this word in his glossary it 
 would not have been placed here. But, since it is here, 
 it may be pointed out, as a matt6r of a little interest, 
 that upon, which is now mostly displaced by on, seemed 
 at one tirhe more Hkely to drop the second thanthe first 
 syllable. For from the Anglo-Saxon times down at 
 least to those of Lydgate, we find in English writers 
 iippe, upe, and up, for on or upon. 
 
 He wolde him-sulf up is fot (upon his foot). — Sob. of Gloucester. 
 
 That upe the pope's lokinge of Rome. he ssolde it do. — Id. 
 
 His office naturel ay wol it hold, 
 
 Up peril of my lif, til that it die. — Chaucer. 
 
 Ther lith one up my wombe and up mjm hed. — Id. 
 
 Up peyn of lyf and lesyng of her hede. — Lydgate. 
 
 Ursa Major.. Dr. Johnson. 
 
 Usquebae. Whisky. 
 
 Usquebaugh, a certain cordial made in Ireland. — Bailey. 
 
4l8 GLOSSARY. 
 
 V. 
 
 Valentine^ dealing. Drawing of names by lot on St. 
 Valentine's day. 
 
 Vap'rifi. Vapouring. 
 
 Vapour, to huff, brag, or boast. — Bailey. 
 
 Variorum. Mutability. 
 
 Vauntie. Boastful, proud. 
 
 Vauntful, boastful, ostentatious. ^yo/^wjo?;. 
 
 Vaimtor, boaster. — Bailey. 
 
 No vauntor, saine itien, certain he is none. — Chaucer. 
 
 Vend. To utter, to give currency to, to vent. 
 
 You return fraught with their vices which you vend here for 
 fashionable gallantry. — Farquhar. 
 
 When he (Sir Matthew Hale), took any counterfeit money, he 
 would not vend it again. — Life of Judge Hale. 
 
 Our bishops are all far from making or vending heresies. — War- 
 burton. 
 
 Venlige. A small hole. 
 Govern these ventages with your finger and thumb. — Shak, 
 
 Vera. Very. 
 
 Varra. Very. — Bamford. 
 But it is vara fine. — Shak. 
 
 A man hath vcray knowleche of himself. — Chaucer. 
 A verray few right as am I. — Gower. 
 
 Virl. A ring round a column, etc. 
 
 Verril, a little brass or iron ring at the end of a cane or handle 
 of a tool. — Bailey. 
 
GLOSSARY. 419 
 
 Frete, a verril, the yron bande, or hoope that keeps a wooden 
 tool from riving. — Cotgrave. 
 
 A serving man halh 
 
 His hood and his verrils brave. 
 
 — God speed the Plough. 
 
 Vittle, vittel. Victual, grain of all kinds. 
 
 Bothe flessche and fissche, and many other vitailles, — P. Plow- 
 man. * 
 
 Pompeys there are of every shape and size ; 
 
 Some are the Great y-clep'd and some the Little, 
 Some Mfith their deeds that fill the wond'ring skies, 
 And some on ladies' laps that eat their viitle. 
 
 — The Rolliad, 
 With other mtile, which anon 
 We farther shall dilate upon. — Butler. 
 To all tapsters and tiplers, 
 And all ale-house vitlers. — Skelton. 
 
 Vogie. Vain, proud. 
 
 w. 
 
 Wa\ Wall ; wa's, walls ; to have one's back at the wa', 
 to be unfortunate. 
 
 And there was shall be gayly arayed with fayre flowers. 
 
 The Festyval. Ellis. 
 Then Alex Rydly he lette flee 
 
 A cloth-yard schaft, ahint the wa\ — Richardson. 
 Wowes do whiten, and wyndowes glasen. — P. Plowman. 
 She hath been at London to call a strea a straw, and a luatv a 
 wall. — Cheshire Proverb. Grose. 
 
 Wab. A web. A lox e ; see -awAsx fallow, and in — 
 
 They conne not stinten till no thing be laft (left). 
 
 Chaucer. 
 
420 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Gud is bot a lant (lent) lone, 
 
 Sumtyme basse a mon oght, sumtyme non. 
 
 Sir Amoitas. 
 
 Wabster. A weaver. A ior e ; see wab. 
 Webster, a ■^e.zyex.— Johnson. 
 
 I saugh in that Semble 
 
 Wollene websteris, and weveris of Lynen. 
 
 P. Plowman. 
 
 Wad. Would. 
 
 Wud, would. — Bamford. 
 
 I believe this comes nearer the Ayrshire pronuncia- 
 tion than wad. 
 
 Wald is very common in old E. authors, and as 
 would, by the elision of /, came to be sounded wood, by 
 the same process wald became wad. 
 
 A worde to me wald he noght say. — Y-wain and Gawain. 
 He was ful wroth and grim, 
 
 For no prest wald sing for him. — Chronicle of Englatid. 
 Rookhope stands in a pleasant place, 
 If the false thieves wad let it be. 
 
 The Bishopric Garland. Kitson. 
 
 Wad. To bet, a bet, a pledge. A ior e ; see under 
 fallow. 
 
 Wed no schalt thou have of me, 
 
 Ac Y wol have wed of thee. — K'ytig Alisaunder. 
 
 All the needs full soon are sped, 
 
 Both withouten borgh and wed 
 
 When Penny goes between. — Sir Penny. 
 
 Wad. Wed, marry. 
 
 Wadna. Would not. Wad and na. 
 
 Wadset. A mortgage. 
 
GLOSSARY. 421 
 
 My londes beth sei to weddes, Robyn, 
 
 Untyll a certayne day. — R. Hood. 
 Seyvon yere weddeseytt my londe, 
 To (till) the dettes that ar woonde (owing) 
 Be qwytte all beddene. — Sir Amcuias. 
 His maners (manors) he ded to wedesett, — Sir Cleges. 
 
 IVae. Woe, sorrowful. 
 
 Wa^s me. Woe's me. 
 Wais me. — Bamford. 
 Woe's me, woe is the heart, etc. — Thoresby. 
 
 Waesucks t Alas ! O the pity ! Plural of wae's me. 
 Usic, usich, us. — Bosworth. 
 
 Woe worth ! Woe worth! unhappy be! woe be to ! Anglo- 
 Saxon, worthan, to be. 
 Wo worth the faire gemme vertulesse. 
 Wo worth that hearbe also that doth no bote, 
 Wo worth the beauty that is routhlesse. 
 Wo worth that wight that trede ech under fote. — Chaucer. 
 
 Woworth the man 
 That first did teach the cursed steel to bight 
 On his owne flesh, and make way to the living spright . 
 
 — Spenser. 
 Well worth is also found ; — 
 lie had his will at Berwick, wele wurth the while ! — Minot. 
 
 IVa' flower. Wall-flower. Wa and flower. 
 
 Waft. The woof. E. weft. A for e; see under 
 fallow. 
 
 Wage. To carry on a war, to compete, to rival, in — 
 Warring sighs and groans I'll toage thee. 
 
 Ae fond kiss. 
 Troihis. I am as true as truth's simplicity. 
 Crcssida. In that I'll war with you. — Shak. 
 
42 2 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Waifs. Strays, wanderers. 
 
 Waifs, lost goods or cattle, claimed by nobody. Bailey. 
 
 Choses guesves, waifes, stray es, or things left, quitted, abandoned. 
 — Cotgrave. 
 
 Somme serven the kyng . , . 
 
 chalengen his dettes 
 Of wardes and wardmotes, weyves and streyues. 
 
 P. Plowman. 
 
 Wair. To lay out, to expend. 
 Ware your money, i.e., bestow it well. — Bailey. 
 To ware one's money, to bestow it well. — Grose. 
 Both Bailey and Grose, and others, differ from Burns 
 in regard to the meaning of this word. The idea of well 
 or ill is not, I think, included in wair. 
 
 Wear, to expend, to part with, to lay out money. " Mindheaw 
 theaw wears the brass. " — Bamford. 
 
 On swych chaffare 
 Wulde y feyne my sylver ware. — Rob. of Brunne. 
 Hys wyfe 
 He walde ware no Ihyng upon. 
 
 How a Merchant did his Wife Betray. 
 
 Wale. Choice, to choose; hand-waled, picked by the 
 hand ; the best. 
 
 Wailed wine, choice wine ; ouiwail, an outcast. — Bailey. 
 
 Botte thenne thie soughle woulde throwe thie vysage sheene, 
 Vatte shemres oune thie comlie semlykeene. 
 Or scarletie with waylde lynnen clothe, 
 Lyke would thie sprite upon thy vysage. 
 
 Chatterton. Wrag. of Ella. 
 Most i ridden by rybbes dale, wilde wymmen for to wale. 
 
 Early English Poem. IVarton. 
 
 And he led me in brede to be ; 
 
 Sauf made he me, for he wald me. — Metrical Enelish Psalter. 
 
GLOSSARY. 423 
 
 Morris and Skeat, in their excellent " Specimens of 
 Early English," translate wald would, wanted. Wald, 
 as has been shown under wad, is undoubtedly often used 
 for would, but here, I believe, it means waled, chosen. 
 The Vulgate, from which the version of Psalms in which 
 the lines quoted occur, has — 
 
 Turn est Jehovae pro scipione mihi : 
 
 Et educit me in latum ; liberal me, quia delectatur me. 
 The authorised version gives " he delighted in me," 
 which is not far from "he chose me." And I suspect 
 " he would me " is an expression very rare if not un- 
 known. 
 
 Walie. Ample, large, jolly. 
 
 Wally, to cocker, to indulge. — Bailey. This may be 
 Burns's walie, as to cocker, or feed liberally has a ten- 
 dency to make the body large and jolly. I have seen it 
 stated that walie means choice, but Burns, neither in his 
 definition of the word nor in his use of it, gives any coun- 
 tenance to the idea that it is in any way connected with 
 wale. Try the following line with the notion of choice 
 in your mind, — 
 
 Clap in his walie nieve a blade, 
 and you will see that the choice was limited ; and as 
 choosing implies the leaving of something, Willie Wastle's 
 wife must have been well stocked with hands if she had 
 " walie nieves like midden creels," and had a few over. 
 
 By looking carefully at one of the lines in which this 
 word occurs we may perhaps be able to connect it with 
 some word known to be English. Take the line. 
 
 There was ae winsome wench and walie. 
 Why does the poet dwell on her qualities ? Because he 
 wishes to prepare us for the parts she has to play. She 
 
424 GLOSSARY. 
 
 is described as ■winsome that she might so attract the 
 tipsy gazer that he " thought his very een enrich'd," and 
 uttered the words that broke up the unhallowed assem- 
 bly. And the other quality ipalie is meant to indicate 
 that she was fitted to take a prominent part in the chase 
 that followed when she 
 
 Far before the rest 
 
 Hard upon noble Maggie press'd. 
 
 For this she is made ample, large, jolly, long of limb, 
 and in excellent condition— in a word, walie; and 
 Chaucer supplies us with a word which, with changes 
 such as have been frequently indicated, comes very near 
 the one under consideration : — 
 
 For both he had a body, and might 
 To doen that thing, as well as hardinesse, 
 And eke to seen him in his geare dresse 
 So freshe, so yong, so weldy seemed he, 
 It was an heaven upon him for to se. 
 
 Troilus and Creseide, B. II. 
 Weldy, active. — Tyrwhitt. 
 
 There is no doubt that Douglas by wallie, meant 
 large : — 
 
 This warld walteris as dois the inallie sey. 
 
 The Palice of Hoitour. 
 
 Walie. An interjection of distress. 
 
 This is probably a form of A.-S. Wa'-ld ! Oh ; O 
 if ! It occurs in many shapes. 
 
 Wally, alas ! — Yorkshire. HalliiueU, 
 
 Wala wa the while ! — Chaucer. 
 
 In Wright's Chaucer it is welaway and weylaway ,■ 
 Gower has 7i<ailoway ; WiaX, weleaway. 
 
 Wallop. To move cumbrously. 
 
GLOSSARY. 425 
 
 WeU a daye, well a day, woe is me. 
 
 Ancient Ballads and Broadsides , 
 
 JVame. The belly. Womb, originally meant belly. 
 Falstaff says " My womb undoes me." 
 Wem, the womb, or belly. — Grose. 
 Wamb, the womb. — Thoreshy. 
 
 I pray who's this we've met with here, 
 That tickles his trunk-wa»z^. 
 
 BeWs An. Poems and Ballads. 
 Prick't but the wem and out there came 
 
 Heroic guts and garbage. — .5';'. George for England. 
 ' But long they had not digged ere they herde, as it might seme, 
 within the warn of the erthe, etc. — Of wondeiful and surprising 
 Eventys. 
 
 He bled his leggs, and in his waim 
 Two tapps he there sets running. 
 
 Northumb. Garland. Ritson. 
 
 Wamefou\ A belly-full. Wame and/c«'. 
 
 Wanchancie. Unlucky. Wan, prefix signifying want or 
 luck, equal to un, and chance. 
 
 Wantrust, distrust. — Bailey. 
 
 Than shulden I fallen in wanhope. — Chaucer. 
 
 Wangee. A species of Chinese cane. 
 
 Wanrest. Inquietude. Wan and rest. 
 
 Wanresifu'. Restless, unrestful. 
 
 Ware. Wore, old past tense of wear, and used by 
 Burns for worfi in 
 
 The marled plaid ye kindly spare, 
 
 By me should gratefully be ware. 
 
 There met him a certain man which ware no clothes. 
 
 Luke, via. 27. 
 
426 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Above his hanberk strong a coat he ware 
 
 Embroidered fair with pearl and rich stone. — Fairfax. 
 She let make hir self a nonne, and ware white clothes and 
 blacke. — Le Morte d' Arthur. 
 
 Wark. Work. 
 
 God guide thee, Guion, well to end thy warke. — Spenser. 
 
 And bids me leave my useful wark. — Lord Vaux. 
 
 Some to make hie wayes, and such like warks, 
 
 And some to maintaine preests and clarks.— The Four P.'s. 
 
 That wyll syt ydyll all the day, 
 
 And can not set herselfe to wark. — Skelton. 
 
 IVark-lume. A tool to work with. Wark and lume. 
 
 Warl or warld. World. For omission of d see under 
 afiel. 
 
 Methinks it should not be worth your while to risque your saul 
 in the next warld for, etc. — Vanhrugh. 
 
 Where so he in warld wende, 
 
 Y schal be to him trewe. — Amis and Amiloun. 
 All the warlde will spy your shame. — Skelton. 
 
 Warld' s zvorm. A world's worm, a miser. 
 
 IVarlock. A wizard. 
 
 IVarlock, a wizzard. — Bamford. 
 Warlock, a male witch ; a wizzard.— ^o//«jok. 
 He was no warluck. — Dryden. 
 
 Warlock-kno7iie. A knoll on which warlocks held 
 their meetings. 
 
 IVarly. Worldly, eager on amassing wealth. See warl. 
 
 Warp. To prepare the warp for the loom. The word 
 warp as a noun is found in all dictionaries, but in 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 427 
 
 none of the older, except Bailey's, is it inserted as a 
 verb. 
 
 Warran. A warrant, to warrant. T is frequently 
 omitted after n, as in 
 
 For lordly love is such a tyranne fell. 
 
 That when he rules, all power he doth t-n-^eW.— Chaucer. 
 
 Looke every mannys name thou wryte. 
 
 Upon a scrow oi farchemyn (parchment). — Rich. C. de Lion. 
 
 And ye the sweet savour fele 
 
 Your laarrans may right wele. — Chaucer. 
 
 Warsle or warstle. WmrstUc, wrestling. — Bosworth. 
 
 If wrestle and warsle are only different forms of the 
 same word, the change oi e to a is easily accounted for. 
 Indeed a is found in several English authors : 
 Wrastling and casting of the bar. — Froissart, 
 For ever I wrastle, and ever I come behind. — Cower. 
 At wrastling he wold here away the ram. — Chaucer. 
 But the substitution of war for tvr can only, I suspect, 
 be explained by the supposition, which seems to be that 
 of Jamieson, that wrestle and warsle come from different 
 roots. If warsle had been only an east country word 
 there would have been no difficulty, because, in Forfar- 
 shire for instance, wr becomes a distinct syllable, wright 
 and wreck being pronounced wur-right and wur-reck; 
 but in Ayrshire, unless warstle be accounted one, not a 
 single case of such a pronunciation can be produced. 
 
 As this matter is still, notwithstanding all that has been 
 written about it, sub judice, I should be disposed to say 
 that warstle comes from warst, that is worst, by the addi- 
 tion of le as in sparkle, or Shakspeare's writhle. When 
 a competition between two parties is about to take place 
 we often hear the expression, " Now we shall see who is 
 
428 GLOSSARY. 
 
 the best ; " why may we not say, " We shall see who gets 
 the worst," especially when in the wrestling ring it is the 
 fall, that is, the worst, which is always spoken of? This, 
 I think, gives a force to the word in 
 
 An' owre she warstd in the ditch. 
 By the ordinary acceptation of wrestled warsled has to 
 have a different meaning given to it. To wrestle, i.e., to 
 contend into, for that is the meaning of it here, is non- 
 sense, but when we say she was worsted in her struggle 
 all is plain.* 
 
 Warst. Worst. 
 
 Which has shapen us the werst. — Gower. 
 
 The warst hors is worthe ten pounde. — Sir Amadas. 
 
 The warste of ther fadurs were barons. 
 
 Le Bone Florence of Rome. 
 
 Washen. Washed. Old part, of wash. 
 'He:^-washen. — Grose. 
 
 Hire forehead shone as bright as any day, 
 So was it washen, whan she lete hire werk. — Chaucer. 
 They wesshen hym and wyped hym and wonden h3'm in cloutes. 
 
 P. Plowman. 
 
 Wast. West. A for e ; see under fallow. 
 
 * There is a word in Piers T/te PlougJunatis Creed which has a curious re- 
 semblance to this word. A ploughman is described as having 
 
 His hosen ouerhongen his hokschynes on eueriche a side, 
 Al beslombered in fen ; 
 and then it is said, — 
 
 This whit warselede in the fen almost to the ankle. 
 Beslonibred undoubtedly means bedaubed. If he was bedaubed to the hoks- 
 chynes, i.e., gaiters, what need was there for saying he ivaselede to the ancle 
 xi ivaselede means bemired himself? I know if a Scotch peasant had seen this 
 whit struggling after the plough, drawing his feet with difficulty from the fen 
 his salutation would have been, " Ye're warstin' awa ! " 
 
GLOSSARY. 429 
 
 Wastrie. Prodigality, wastefulness. A regularly formed 
 E. word like ribaldry, coquetry, &c. It is an E. word, 
 though like Chaucer's kasardrie, Bishop Hall's gaw- 
 derie, Gower's novelrie, and many others, it is not 
 found in common dictionaries. 
 
 Wastrel, a good-for-nothing person. — Bamford. 
 
 Whan note brouneth in haselrys. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Wat. Wet. A iox e ; see under /aHoui. 
 
 We were ready to wa/ie our feet for that purpose. 
 
 T/ie Late Expedicion in Scotland. Land., 1J44. 
 
 Wat-shod. Wet-shod. 
 
 So he went over at last, not much above wet-shod. — Pilgrim's 
 Progress. 
 
 And after many wearied steppes 
 All wet-shod both in dust and myre. 
 
 The Dutchesse of Suffolke s Calamities. 
 My hopes are seam-rent, and go wet- shod. — Massinger. 
 
 Wat. Wot, know. 
 
 I ivat that he was largely 
 
 By the shoulders mare than I. — Ywaiii and Gawain. 
 
 Noght all the sothe watte. — Sir Amadas. 
 
 For are we begin our prayer, 
 
 Wat he quarof we haf mister. — E. Metrical Homilies. Small. 
 
 That he trespasseth well I wate.— Chaucer. 
 
 Wat. A man's upper dress ; a sort of mantle.— Ci/sw- 
 
 ningham. 
 
 In Cunningham's edition of Burns the line which else- 
 where appears as 
 
 To make a coat to Johnny o't, 
 is given as " a wat to Johnny o't." Wat, in this sense, 
 I never met. I insert it, however, lest it turn out the right 
 reading. 
 
43° GLOSSARY. 
 
 Water. A river. Down the water, seawards by the 
 river. 
 
 In the Confynes of this Countrie (as I take it) I was offered Skir- 
 mishe by MacNeill Brian Ertaugh, at my passage over the Water 
 at Belfast. — Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy, to the E. Council. 
 Then came he to a water brode. — Sir Guy of Warwick. 
 The wear borne along be the waiter a Twyde, 
 y th bowndes of Tividale. 
 
 The Hunting of the Cheviat. Ritson. 
 To a water they buth y-come, . 
 The ryver was clere and deop. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 Water-brose. Brose made of meal and water simply, 
 without the addition of milk, butter, &c. See irose. 
 Eigh, said hoo, an aw stown a loyte wetur porritch, an sura 
 
 thrutchins (whey), an a trecle butter-cake ev yo con eyght urn. — 
 
 Tim Bobbin. 
 
 Water-fit. Water-foot, mouth of a river. 
 
 Wattle. A twig, a wand. Wattle, to bind with twigs. — 
 Johnson. 
 
 Wauble. To swing, to reel. Differs only in spelling 
 from E. wabble. 
 
 Wabble, to totter as >■ top sometiuies in spinning, to wriggle 
 about as an arrow sometimes does in the air. — Bailey. 
 
 Waucht. A draught. See wecht. 
 
 Wauk and wauken. To awake. Wauken, waking, 
 
 watching. See awauken. 
 
 If you hear a bairn scream it neet-time, its a sign it's wackan. — 
 Pogmoor Olmenack. 
 
 Waukit. Thickened, as fullers do doth. For omission 
 of / see under a'. 
 A walk-mil], a fulling-mill ; walkers, fullers. — Bailey. 
 
GLOSSARY. 431 
 
 Wawk-miW, a fulling-mill. — Bamford. 
 
 She curst the weaver and the walker. 
 That cloth that had wrought. 
 
 The Boy and the Mantle. 
 Chambers, notwithstanding Burns's express declara- 
 tion that wauket means thickened, says wauket loof is 
 "dyed pahn." The hardness of a workman's palm is so 
 often mentioned by poets that we are forced to the 
 conclusion that it was only by inadvertence that so 
 experienced a writer as Mr. Chambers could have made 
 this mistake. Shakspeare speaks of the " hard hands of 
 peasants " and " Hard-handed men that work in Athens 
 here," and Browne gives us a word not unworthy to stand 
 beside wauket : — 
 
 The swarty smith spits on his buckhornfist. 
 
 Britannia's Pastorals. 
 
 Waukrife. Not apt to sleep, wakeful ; from wauk and 
 ryf, prevalent, full. 
 
 Wakker, easily awakened. — Grose. 
 
 Waur. Worst, to worst. 
 
 /^ar (Z«rf war, worse and worse. Bailey. Bamford. Grose, 
 
 They sayne the world is much war than it wont, 
 
 All for her shepherdes been beastly and blont. — Spenser. 
 
 Wean or weanie. A child. As a verb, wean, I need 
 not say, is common in E. 
 
 Weanel, a child newly ■wea.aei.^/ohnson. 
 
 Weanel, a young creature fit to be weaned. — Bailey. 
 
 Wean, a child, or wee one. — Halliwell. 
 
 It may be as well to remark that whether wean be 
 formed from wee ane or not, the pronunciation, which is 
 wane and not ween, is rather opposed to the idea, and, 
 as far as I can make out, Jamieson does not approve of 
 this genesis of the word. 
 
432 GLOSSARY. 
 
 IVearie. Weary ; monie a wearie body, many a different 
 person. 
 
 If ever the words monie a wearie bodie meant many a 
 different person, it must have been a very long time ago, 
 and in very peculiar circumstances. The expression is 
 found in Burns alone, and I rather think the explanation 
 weakens the line in which it occurs. 
 
 For roads were clad frae side to side 
 Wi' monie a wearie body, 
 
 In droves that day. 
 
 Here the poet evidently means to show us that the road 
 was crowded with all sorts of people, and to emphasise 
 his description he says there was " monie a wearie body," 
 that is, "there were many people who had travelled great 
 distances," as we know from history was the case at such 
 times. Besides, if " monie a wearie body " means 
 " many a different person," it makes " In droves that 
 day " superfluous. In short, I do not believe Burns in- 
 tended this part of his explanation to apply to the line in 
 "The Holy Fair." 
 
 Wear the plaid. To be a shepherd ; figuratively, to be 
 a pastor or clergyman. 
 
 Weary. To think long. 
 
 Johnson's " Weary, to make impatient of continuance," 
 and his quotation from Shakespeare, " I stay too long, I 
 weary thee," are not very different from the Scotch use 
 of the word. 
 
 He never forced minister or people to weary themselves to wait 
 for his coming.* — Fuller. 
 
 " This quotation is interesting as showing that the delay of public worship till 
 Ihe arrival of the great man of the parish spoken of in "The Heart of Mid- 
 Lothian " was known in England. 
 
GLOSSARY. 433 
 
 How wearisome 
 Eternity so spent. — Milton. 
 
 Weary fa'. A curse, probably from ufery, A.-S., a curse. 
 This Soudanesse, whom I thus blame and warrie.— Chaucer. 
 
 Weason. The weasand, the wind-pipe. 
 Sijlet, the weason or wind-pipe. — Cotgrave. 
 Feel, man, whether thy weason be not cracked first. — Ford. 
 The valiant knight his weason cut. 
 
 St. George for England. 
 The unerring steel descended while he spoke, 
 Pierc'd his wide mouth and thro' his weason broke. 
 
 Dryden. 
 
 Weave the stockin. To knit stockings. 
 
 On Fa§ten-een we had a rockin' 
 
 To ca' the crack, and weave our stockin'. 
 
 In Burns's day, and long afterwards, every man and 
 boy about a farm-house, from the master to the herd- 
 laddie, learned to knit, hence the kindly our stockin' of 
 the poet, and spent many of the long winter evenings 
 with their knitting-needles, and when they went to pass 
 the evening with a neighbour it was as natural and as 
 common for them to take their stocking as for the women 
 to take their " rock," and had it not been from deference 
 to the ladies these country assemblies might as well have 
 been called " stockins " as " rockins." 
 
 To weave for to knit has been called a Scotticism. 
 But it has good English authority : — 
 Knit, to weave without a loom.— Johnson. 
 The spinsters and the knitters in the sun, 
 And the free maids that weave their thread with bones, 
 Do use to chant it. — Shak. 
 Yon cottager who weaves at her own door, 
 Pillow and bobbins all her little store. — Cowper 
 D 2 
 
434 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Of ■weaving gray-silk stockings of the webs of spiders, see the 
 Philosophical Transactions. — Note on the Dunciad by Pope and War- 
 burton, 
 
 Wecht. A species of basket, made of sheep-skin, shaped 
 
 like a sieve or riddle. 
 
 Burns has not admitted the word into his glossary, 
 thinking, perhaps, that he had sufficiently explained it in 
 his note to " Halloween." That note, however, has led 
 to some misapprehension as to the use of the wecht. In 
 the rite described in the note he had occasion to men- 
 tion only one purpose for which it was employed, and it 
 has been inferred that the winnowing of grain was the 
 sole use to which it was put, whereas that was only one 
 of the services in which it was employed. Its principal 
 use was that of a basket, the winnowing only an inciden- 
 tal one. In short, it was a vessel, and this suggests a 
 more probable derivation than that of Jamieson. Waeg, 
 weg, is a cup, a dish ; wegi, all kinds of cups. 
 
 Waeg, is also, I believe, the origin of waucht or waughi, 
 a cup or glass, in "We'll tak a right guid-willie waught." 
 A recent suggestion that waught is a corruption of qua;ff 
 cannot, I am afraid, be accepted. 
 
 ]Vee. Little. A wee, a short time. 
 
 No forsooth, he hath but a little wee face. — Shak. 
 For 'tis, to speak in a familiar style, 
 A Yorkshire wee-bit longer than a mile. — Cleveland. 
 My pretty wee comrade, my half-inch of man's flesh, how run the 
 
 dice of this cheating world ? — Massinger. 
 
 Quen SCO (she) had sitten thar a wei, 
 
 Sco bihild a tre was hei. — Cursor Mundi. 
 
 Weed. Dress, apparel. 
 
 Ye dide me stripe out of my poure wede. — Chaucer, 
 
GLOSSARY. 435 
 
 And simple was their weed. — Spenser.- 
 
 Gete you monkes wede. — R. Hood. 
 
 Apparayled as a Palmere in pilgrimes wedes. — P. Plowman. 
 
 Weeder-clips. Large wooden pincers, about four feet in 
 length, for extracting weeds, especially thistles, from 
 growing com. It is now nearly, if not altogether, dis- 
 used. It was sometimes called a corn-clips, and a line 
 of an old song yet lingers in some memories : 
 
 Ye lean'd out owre yere corn-clips. 
 Clips, a wooden instrument for pulling weeds out of corn. — 
 Close. 
 
 Here I clip 
 The anvil of my sword. — Shak. 
 The lusty vine not jealous of the ivy, 
 Because she clips the elm. — Beati. and Fletcher. 
 (The ark was) withouten mast, 
 Kable, other capstan to clyppe to her ankrez. 
 
 Early E. Alliterative Poems^ 
 
 Weel. Well. 
 
 The rattling quiver at her shoulders hung, 
 
 Therein a flash of arrows feathered weel. — Fairfax. 
 Sir, in this hopping I will hop si weel, 
 That my tung shall hop better than my heel. 
 
 The Four Ps.. 
 He came to the gallows armed ivele, 
 Both in iron and in steel. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Weelfare. Welfare. See weel. 
 
 Weel-faur'd or faurt. Well favoured. 
 Faranly, handsome. — Bailey. 
 
 There is many euil faueryd, and thou be foule. — Skelton. 
 Well-faueryd bonne. — Id. 
 
 Forthy she gan her eye impresse 
 Upon his face and his stature, 
 
436 GLOSSARY. 
 
 And thought how never creature 
 
 Was so welfarend z.% was he. — Gower. 
 Be fore the king in hall scho went 
 A coupe with wine scho had in hand, 
 And hir hatire was yielefarand. — Rob. de Brunne. 
 
 Weepers. Strips of muslin stretched on the cuff of a 
 coat or gown, a token of mourning. 
 
 Weet. Rain, wetness, to wet. Weet our whistle. To 
 drink. 
 
 We must lodge on the plain dry or weet. 
 
 The Nut Brown Maid. 
 His mouth weel weet, his sleeve's right thred bare, 
 
 Stephen Hawes. 
 With eyhen reed and wete 
 Throughout the cite, by the maister streete. 
 
 — Wrights Chaucer. 
 Now have thise lordes but litell nede of bromes 
 To sweepe away the filthe out of the streete, 
 Setthe side sieves of penyles groomes 
 
 Wole it up likke, be it dry or %vete. — Occleve. 
 She sparyd not to wete her fete. — Skelton. 
 As eny jay sche light was and jolyf. 
 So was hir joly whistel wele y-wete. — Wrighfs Chaucer. 
 Let's drink the other cup to wet our whistles. — /. IValton. 
 
 Weird. Fate. 
 
 J Vird and uyrd, fate. — Bosworth. 
 
 I beheld the wofuU tverd befall, 
 
 That by the wrathfuU wyl of Gods was done. 
 
 The Mirrour for Rfaglsirales. 
 It were a wondrous wierde 
 To sen a kynge become an herde. — Gower. 
 But O Fortune, executrice of wierdes, 
 O influences of these hevens hie. 
 
 Chaucer. Troilus and Creseuie. 
 
GLOSSARY. 437 
 
 JVe'se. We shall. See I'se. 
 
 JVe'se have our neele, els dame Chat comes never within heaven- 
 gate. Thou's pay for all. Fse teach thee. — Gam. Gurton's Needle. 
 
 Westlin. Westward. Another form of westla/id. 
 
 Wha. Who. 
 
 Lauerd in thi telde (tabernacle) loha sal won ? — Met. E. Psalter. 
 
 But Kay wist not wha it was. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Ask them wha sal you defend. — Id. 
 
 To Perciens Y wol me seoUe (myself), 
 
 Sywe (follow) me now wha so wol ! — Kyng Alisaunder, 
 
 Whaizle. To wheeze. A for e ; see under daU. The 
 frequentative le is often added at the pleasure of the 
 poet. Both Spenser and Shakespeare from writhe 
 have formed writhle. 
 
 Whalp. Whelp. A for e ; see under j^/Ztw. 
 
 Wham. Whom. 
 
 Whidur wol thou go and to wham ? — Sir Orpheo. 
 
 The mayden red that thai myght her 
 
 A real romance in that place, 
 
 Bot i ne wote oiwham it was. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 Of wham God hath don ys wille. — Percy's Reliques. 
 
 Whang. A leathern string ; a piece of cheese, bread, 
 
 etc. ; to give the strappado. 
 
 As in the course of time "Monuments themselves 
 memorials need," so the explanations in glossaries and 
 dictionaries which were well understood when first given, 
 require, say after a century, to be explained. To give the 
 strappado, which Burns gave as one meaning of whang, 
 is in this predicament. It signifies to punish by blows 
 with a strap or leathern thong, and to whang is its literal 
 translation. 
 
438 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Were I at the strappado I would not tell you on compulsion. 
 
 Skak. 
 Whangs, leather thongs. — Grose. 
 
 A ihwang for a shoe, the latchet, a thong. — Thoresby, 
 Whang, anything large. — Yorksh. Halliwell. 
 Whang, a blow. — lb. 
 
 His meal-poke hang about his neck, 
 
 Into a leathern whang. — R. Hood. 
 
 And a klub, ful grete and lang, 
 
 Thik fret with mani a ihwang. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 I'd just streak'd down and with a swish 
 
 Whang'' d off my hat. — Clare. 
 Threw down with violence. — Glossary. 
 
 I am not worth to unbynde the thwong of hise shoon. — Luke III. 
 \6. Wyclif. 
 
 Whare. Where. 
 
 And knawe namare sal he 
 
 His stede, whare that it sal be. — Metrical E. Psalter. 
 
 Thare strif was Peni makes pese (peace) 
 
 In land whare he will lende. — Sir Penny. 
 
 He went up in a towr on hight, 
 
 Whare the Sarzins se him might. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Whose. Whose. 
 
 I had wondre what she was, and whas wyf she were. 
 
 P. Plowman. 
 Ne her es nana that the can tell, 
 Bot if it be a damysell 
 For whas sake he heder come. 
 And for hir the batayl he nome. — Ywain and Gawain. 
 
 What-reck. Nevertheless, notwithstanding. The best 
 explanation of this word, which is ver)' much the same 
 as "what does it matter?" or "who cares?" is pro- 
 bably to be found in the poet's own " Louis, what reck 
 I by thee ? " 
 
GLOSSARY. 439 
 
 Whatt. Past tense of whet, to sharpen, or of white, to 
 cut with a knife. It matters not which of these words 
 we suppose !Q^rns to have thought of when he wrote 
 
 Sae ray auld stumpie pen I gat it 
 An took my jocteleg and whatt it 
 
 as they both mean what writing-masters were disagree- 
 ably familiar with before the introduction of steel pens 
 banished the " Mend my pen '' from schools. 
 
 White, to cut sticks vrith a knife and make them white. — 
 Thoresby. 
 
 IVhatip. The curlew. 
 
 Whaup, the larger curlew. — Halliwell. 
 Hweop, a cry. — Bosworth. 
 
 Those who have heard the eerie cry of the whaup on a 
 lonely moor will have little doubt of this being the origin 
 of the name. 
 
 The snaw-wreaths are gane frae the gray Girdlestane, 
 And the whaups are at Chattlehope Spout. — Richardson. 
 
 Wheep. To fly nimbly, to jerk ; penny-wheep, small- 
 beer. E for i; see dreep. 
 
 Whip, to sew after a particular manner. — Bailey. This, 
 I am given to understand, refers primarily to the peculiar 
 motion of the arm in sewing, and only secondarily to the 
 kind of seam produced. If this be correct, it interprets, 
 " Oh, rare ! to see our elbucks wheep" which must sadly 
 puzzle any person who looks to Jamieson for an explana- 
 tion and finds, " To wheep, i. To give a sharp whistle at 
 intervals ; 2. To squeak ; " either of which it would be 
 difficult to do with one's elbow, at least so far as one who 
 has to confess that he never tried, may venture to speak 
 Brisk Susan whips her linen from the rope. — Gay. 
 
440 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Whip-belly, thin weak liquor.— Zjk^. Fenny-whip, very small 
 beer. — Lane. Halliwell. 
 They whipped us half a dozen hogsheads. — Spectator. 
 
 Where. Used as a noun in "Wi' you I'll scarce gang 
 ony where.'' 
 
 And if he found owhere a good felawe. — Chaucer. 
 
 Whid. The motion of a hare running but not frighted. 
 
 Whid. A lie. 
 
 I believe that till Burns used it to denote a lie, whid 
 was simply a cant term for word. In Fletcher's " The 
 Beggar's Bush," the new King lays down the rules for 
 his community of rogues : — 
 
 Clause. "To give good words.'' 
 This is interpreted by the orator of the gang — 
 
 Higgen. " Do you mark? To cut bene whids.' 
 
 Whidi, words. — Bailey. 
 
 Whignieleeries. Whims, fancies, crotchets. 
 
 Whilk. Which. 
 
 Twenty score of bees 
 Whilk all the summer hum about the h\vt.—Ben Jonson^ 
 Whilke way is he gon ? he gan to crie. — Chaucer. 
 And gude it is for many thynges. 
 For to here the dedis of kynges, 
 Whilk were foles and whilk were wyse, 
 & whilk of tham couth mast quantyse ; 
 And whilk did wrong and whilk ryght, 
 And 7ahilk mayntened pes and fyght. — jR. of Brunne. 
 
 Whinge. To complain, to whine. 
 ]Vhinge, to whine, to sob. — Halliwell. 
 
 Whipper-in. A person who keeps hounds from straying.- 
 
GLOSSARY. 441 
 
 This word is found in recent dictionaries, but I believe 
 whip is more used in England. 
 
 The whipper-in had arrived. —Zz/e of John Metcalf, the Blind 
 Road-maker. 
 
 Whirligigum. Useless ornament, trifling appendage ; a 
 whirligig. 
 
 Whisht! Silence! to hold one^s whisht, to be silent. 
 Sh for s ; see waA&r Jleesh. 
 
 Whist, an interjection commanding silence. — Bailey. 
 
 So was the Titaness put down and whist. — Spenser. 
 
 Yonge chyldren can I charme, 
 
 With whysperynges and whysshinges.—John Bale. 
 
 Whisk. To sweep, to lash. 
 
 Whisking is also switching ; "there will be whisking iox't " ; alsO' 
 beating, swinging, whipping. — Thoresby. 
 
 This said, he whisli^d\is, parti-coloured wings. 
 
 England's Helicon. 
 I suppose that he is 
 Of Jeremy the whyskynge rod, 
 The flayle, the scourge of almighty God. — Skelton. 
 
 Whiskin. Large ; whiskin' beard, a beard like the whis- 
 
 kers'of a cat. — Cunningham. 
 
 This is apparently a guess of Cunningham's, and not 
 a happy one, if it be true, " as some philosophers hold, 
 that the whiskers are a parcel of the beard," for it only 
 says a beard is like a beard. 
 
 There is no doubt whiskin, I rather think it should 
 not be written whiskin', means large — 
 
 Whisking, great, swinging. — Bailey. 
 
 Whiskin or whisking, adjectively is great, applied to almost 
 every thing, as floods, tire, winds. — Thoresby. 
 
 But I believe that whilst Burns meant large, he had a 
 
442 GLOSSARY. 
 
 definite large object in view. He uses the word only 
 once, and in a song written after he had met Captain 
 Grose, and until then the word was unknown in S. litera- 
 ture, though found in E. as far back as 1 640 — 
 
 And wee will han a wliiskin at every rushbearing ; a wassel cup 
 at yule ; a seed-cake at festens. — The Two Lancashire Lovers. 
 
 Now, Grose says, " Whiskin, a great black drinking pot," 
 and what could be better fitted to give an exaggerated 
 notion, or caricature of a beard ? We know how readily 
 Burns picked up marled from Mrs. Scott's lines, and 
 nothing is more probable than that he and Grose en- 
 larged each other's vocabulary. 
 
 Whissle. A whistle. To change raoney.—Jamieson. 
 See under groat. T omitted ; see bussle. 
 
 He luhyslede and hys hondys clapte. — Odovian Imferator. 
 
 IVhitter. A hearty draught of liquor. 
 
 Jamieson gives this word and its explanation from 
 Burns, and says, " Perhaps q. whttter^ from E. whet, 
 ■applied to a dram, as supposed to sharpen the appetite." 
 The Anglo-Saxon has hwtta, hwoita, a sharpener. 
 Whether this word has anything to do with whitter I 
 -cannot say, but it certainly expresses the idea that Burns 
 so often conjoins with drink, viz., that of sharpening, not 
 the appetite, but the intellectual faculties : — 
 
 It kindles wit, it waukens lair. 
 
 It pangs us fou' o' knowledge. 
 
 For wet your whistle, Fletcher has — 
 
 Piper, whet your whistle. — The Beggars' Bush. 
 
 "* Sir W. Scott uses whetter where Burns would probably have written whitter- 
 This other is a quiet place, where I have ta'en my 'wlt^tier now and then. 
 
 The FcriHjies of Xigel. 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 443 
 
 They are commonly known by the name of Whettiers. — The 
 Tatler. 
 
 Whim-stane. Whin-stone, a species of trap. 6'" for i ; 
 see under burdie. 
 
 Whyles. Whiles, sometimes. 
 
 It is the plural of while, often used as a noun by good 
 English authors, and is equal to at times, with this 
 advantage that it does not require the preposition. 
 Burns in his glossary writes as if he thought whiles and 
 sometimes were synonymous ; but whiles is not, so far 
 as I know, found in E. authors with this meaning. 
 Spenser approaches very near it — 
 
 Somewhile with merry purpose, fit to please, 
 And otherwhile with good encouragement. 
 
 Whiles, as Burns employs it, would have saved the 
 •cumbrous and prosaic some and other. 
 
 Whyles mice and moudieworts they howkit ; 
 Whyles scour'd awa in lang excursion. 
 Whyles owre a linn the burnie plays, 
 Whyles round a rocky scaur it strays. 
 
 It is, however, sometimes used in the plural by English 
 writers, but seldom without that irritating other — • 
 
 But these people which otherwhiles delight so much. — De Mornay. 
 Don Quixote, sometimes stumbling, otherwhiles falling, began to 
 :run after the whole Herd. — Thomas Sheltotis Do7i Quixote. 
 Otherwhiles, the famish'd English 
 Besiege us. — Shak. 
 
 Wl\ With. 
 
 God be wV you. — Shak. 
 Yet goe to the court, my lord, she sayes, 
 And I myselfe will ride wi' thee. 
 
 The Rising in the North. Percy. 
 
444 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Wick. To strike a stone in an oblique direction, a term- 
 
 in curling. 
 
 Is it not rather to touch lightly a corner of a lying 
 stone so that the one in motion may take a new direc- 
 tion ? " Take a wick off this one " may sometimes be 
 heard, and it means that the person about to play is to 
 cause his stone to touch the corner of the one indicated, 
 so that it may move at an angle, more or less acute, 
 from its straight course. 
 
 It may seem strange to speak of the corner of a round 
 stone, if wick really means a corner, which I doubt, but 
 curling-stones were not always circular. In early times 
 they remained as they were found, generally in the chan- 
 nel of a river. If they were of a proper size, and had a 
 tolerably flat and smooth bottom, that was all that was 
 required. 
 
 The wawks, or corners of the mustachios. — Thoresby. 
 
 The -wikes of the mouth, the corners of the xacm.\h.~-Bailey . 
 
 Wikes. — Grose, 
 
 In " to wick a bore," which means to make a stone 
 glide through a narrow passage wick, if in the previous 
 paragraph it means a corner, must be a different word, 
 for the most expert curler could hardly be expected to 
 obey his " skip " if he ordered him to " corner a crevice 
 or an opening." 
 
 Widde or woodie. Properly a rope made of twigs of wil- 
 low ; used to denote a halter. — -Jamieson. Widdie is 
 simply withy, an old form of wit/ie or wil/i, th and d, 
 as has been already sufficiently dwelt upon, being inter- 
 changeable. 
 
 I think there is a greater vaiiety of U'ithys than you mention. — 
 Ray Correspondence. 
 
GLOSSARY. 445 
 
 Ash and withy poles are best.— ^wi'. of Surrey. 
 
 Withy, an ozier. — Newberry. 
 
 It is generally supposed that Scotland had a monopoly 
 of the widdie for punishment ; the following passages, 
 the first of which cannot be written or read without a 
 shudder, will show that it was known both in France and 
 England : — 
 
 The breasts of many women were cut off, after whose deaths the 
 poor infants died of famine, D'Opede having caused proclamation 
 to be made upon paine of the with, that no man should give any 
 reliefe or sustenance to any of them. Others appeared with a with 
 ■ sHoovii^htxr xvsoks,.— History of the Waldenses, London, 1624. 
 A wyth take him ! — Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 A withe had served my turn to hang myself. — Massinger. 
 
 Widdiefu'. Cross, one deserving the gallows. Widdie 
 
 and fu. 
 
 In " The Laird was a widdiefu, bleerit knurl," he is 
 contrasted with the miller who "was strappin' and ruddy,'' 
 and I think Burns meant to say, not that he deserved 
 hanging, but that he was cross and ill-tempered. We 
 still say of such a person, " He's as thrawn as a woodie." 
 
 Widdie. A struggle. 
 Widdie, to fret. — Grose. 
 
 Waedle, poverty, want, indigence. — Bosworth. 
 Widdie waddle, to go sidling first towards one side and then the 
 other. — Bailey. 
 
 Wiel. A small whirlpool. 
 
 Weel, a whirlpool. ^^d/z«jok. Wheel. — Grose. Wheel-pit, — 
 Thoresby. 
 
 Wifie, wifikie. A diminutive or endearing term for a 
 wife. 
 
446 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Wight. Strong, a person. 
 
 And she could eke 
 Wrastlen by veray force and veray might 
 With any yong man, were he never so wighl. — Chaucer. 
 
 Gladly thai gaf mete and drink, 
 
 So that thai suld the better swink, 
 
 The wight men that thar weire. — Minot. 
 
 As a substantive wight is found in all E. dictionaries, 
 but with the remark that it is now used ludicrously. It 
 was once a respectable word, and employed in all 
 seriousness by Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, 
 Dryden, etc. I rather refer to an example from Rous's 
 version of the Psalms, as I have met intelligent Scotsmen 
 who did not know that the word was in their own psal- 
 ter. See under kythe. 
 
 Wight was formerly used in Englandjn a more exten- 
 sive meaning than I have been able to hear of it in 
 Scotland. In Anglo-Saxon it meant creature, any thing, 
 and as late as the seventeenth century it was in use for 
 all living creatures : — 
 
 Thou art beholden to the sea for the great number of living 
 ■mights which it fostereth. — De Mornay. 
 
 It had also other meanings, as the following line indi- 
 cates : — 
 
 I crouche (cross) thee from elves, and from wightes. — Chaucer. 
 
 WiT cat. Wild cat. D oinitted ; see under afiel. 
 
 Wilcat, a wild cat, the pole-cat. — Bamford. 
 WW fire. Wildfire. 
 Wilfu\ Wilful, willing. L omitted ; see under «'. 
 
 A proud priest may be known when he denieth lo follow Christ 
 and his apostles in w«^/ poverty and other virtues. — Foxe. 
 
GLOSSARY. 447 
 
 Willyari. Shy, bashful, confused. Perhaps a corruption 
 of wildered. 
 
 Wimple. To meander, to wave. 
 
 Wimple, a muffler or jDlaited linen cloth which nuns wear about 
 their necks ; also a streamer or flag. — Bailey. 
 
 For with a veile that wimpled every where, 
 Her head and face was hid. — Spenser. 
 
 Win. The wind ; wins, the winds. D omitted ; see 
 under afiel. 
 
 Win. To wind, i.e., to dry corn after it is cut. 
 
 Yt felle abowght the Lammasse tyde, 
 When husbonds wynne ther haye. 
 
 Anc. Bal. of Chevy Chase. 
 
 It is possible that wynne may here mean the in-gathering 
 of " ther haye," rather than the drying of it. 
 
 Win, to dry hay. — Halliwell. Winny, to dry. — Skeat. 
 
 Win'. To wind, to winnow. 
 Winning, winnowing. — Bosworth. 
 
 Win. Live, dwell. 
 
 Win. To wind ; win^t, winded, as a bottom of yarn. 
 
 Whereby, by all likelihood, weavers, carders, and winders of 
 yarn would be destitute. Stat. Ed. IV. 
 
 Bottom, introduced by way of explanation, to most 
 people now needs explanation. 
 
 Bottom, a ball of thread. — Halliwell. Originally the spool or 
 knob of wood on which cotton was wound. — Palmer. 
 
 Win for won, in — 
 
 Like fortune's favours, tint as win.^The Vision. 
 
 Windy door. The door on the side of a barn on which 
 the wind blows. 
 
448 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Before the invention of fanners, barns had always two 
 doors, exactly opposite each other. While the winnow- 
 ing was carried on, the door on the windy side was 
 opened to let the wind perform " its good office," and 
 the other shut to prevent the chaff and lighter grain from 
 being blown away. 
 
 Winkers. Eye-lashes. 
 
 Winna. Will not. Will and na. 
 Winno, will not. Winno do, will not do. — Bamford. 
 I wi' not, that I wV not. — Fletcher. 
 
 Winnins. Winnings, earnings. 
 He stakes all his winnings upon every cast, — Addison. 
 They shulde bugge (buy) boldely that hem best liked, 
 And sithenes selle it agein and save the wynnynge. 
 
 P. Plowman. 
 
 Winnock. A window. 
 
 The omission of d after n is only another example of 
 what has been frequently pointed out. The change of 
 ow into ock is not so easily explained. But window 
 seems to have had a severe struggle before its present 
 form was firmly established. In addition to winnock, 
 winduck, witidock, which, d being elided, is Burns's word, 
 luindon, 7vindore, and wind-dooi-, which was once thought 
 to be its derivation, are found. Butler has windore — 
 
 Love is a burglar, a felon, 
 
 That at the %i.'indore-tyt does steal in ; 
 
 and Raleigh in his stately History of the World, page 
 105, has the same form. 
 
 JVinsome. Gay, hearty, vaunted, attractive. 
 
 IVinsum, niynsuin, pleasant, delightful, sweet, grateful, prosper- 
 ous. — Bosworth. 
 
OLOSSARY. 449 
 
 iVinsonie, smart, trimly dressed, lively, joyous. — Grose. 
 Blisse, mi saiile, to Lawerd of alle thinges, 
 And nil forgete alle his foryheldinges. 
 That winsom es to alle thine wickenesses. 
 Winsome to him be mi speche zX.— Metrical E. Psalter. 
 
 Wintle. A staggering motion ; to stagger, to reel. 
 
 Found only in Burns, according to Jamieson, but 
 Johnstone says it is heard in Clydesdale and Roxburgh-- 
 shire. It is a common word in Ayrshire, but whether it 
 was so before the publication of Burns's poems or not 
 I cannot say. One thing is certain, many words are now 
 common not only in Scotland, but in England, that owe 
 their currency, perhaps their existence, to his poetry. 
 
 Winze. An oath. 
 
 This is another word unheard of till Burns used it, 
 and which even his genius could not acclimatise, for it is 
 one of the few words in his poems which are never heard. 
 Wince, winse, and winch are found, but they all mean to 
 kick : — 
 Ware, ware, the mare Wynsyth with her wanton hele. — Skelton. 
 Tiver, to yerk, winse, to kick. — Cotgrave. 
 
 Let the gall'djade winch. — Shak. 
 It is to be remembered, however, that Burns does not 
 profess to give the meaning of words, but the sense in 
 which he uses them. 
 
 Wiss. To wish. .S for sh ; see under buss, and in 
 
 The thride dai mersuine and qualle, 
 
 An other j^j' (fish) gret and small 
 
 i'a/ (shall) yel. — Metrical E. Homilies. Small. 
 
 Bot for hSsfleis (was jMned here, 
 
 His sawel es now til Godd fill dere. — Id. 
 
 When al was hust (hushed) then lay she still. — Chaucer. 
 
 E 2 
 
45 O GLOSSARY. 
 
 I have given examples in s and not in ss, for this 
 digraph was sometimes used for sA, as in 
 
 Bissopes (bishops) and abbodes were to is wille echon. 
 
 Rob. of Gloucester. 
 
 Wit. To know, to wot. 
 
 Now please you wit the epitaph. — Shak. 
 
 That sal men se ful sone, I trow, 
 
 And thiself sal noght wit how. — The Seven Sages. 
 
 Assaieth it yourself, than may ye witen 
 
 If that I lie or non in this matere. — Chaucer. 
 
 Wit. Wisdom in "There's wit there, ye'U get there." 
 
 Who knew the witte of the Lord, or who was his counceilour f 
 — Rom. xi. 34. Wiclif, quoted by Trench. 
 
 Hath this fellow any wit that told you this ? — Shak. 
 Thou art both beautiful in thy countenance and witty in thy 
 words. — Book of Judith. 
 
 When I say wit, I wisdom mean. — Churchill. 
 
 Withouten. Without. 
 
 Still she stood withouten let. 
 Neither changed hue nor gret, 
 
 That lady mild and dear. — Sir Aniadyce. 
 And thou shall have blys, 
 That never shall mys 
 
 Withottten nay. — Skelton. 
 And hers be hole withouten raote.— Chaucer. 
 
 Wizened. Hide-bound, dried shrunk. 
 Wisnian, to wizzen. — Bosworth. Wizen, — Home Tookc. 
 IVizzn, to pine, to waste. — Bamford. 
 irizen\l, dried, withered. — Grose. 
 
 The tre weloid and wisened sone, 
 
 And we.x olde and dry. — MS. quoted by Halli'ivell. 
 
 Won. To dwell. 
 
GLOSSARY. 45 1 
 
 Fame blazed hath, that here in Faery Land 
 
 Doe many famous Knightes and Ladies wonne. — Spenser. 
 
 A sturdy pas doun to the court he goth, 
 
 Wher as ther waned a man of gret honour.— C/^azi^n 
 
 And is welcome whan he wil and woneth wyth hem oft. 
 
 P. Plowman. 
 Ipomydon saw non othyr won. — Ipomydon. 
 
 Wanner. A wonder; a contemptuous appellation. D 
 omitted ; see under blin, and in — 
 
 An (and) sone thar wex, withouten fayle, 
 
 Wynd, and thonor (thunder), and rayn, and hayle. 
 
 Ywain and Gawain. 
 (The) Lauerd thonored fra hevin. — Metrical E. Psalter. 
 
 Woo'. Wool. 
 
 This is the only word in ool in which the Scotch elide 
 the /, though they use pu' for pull, fu^ for full. The 
 reason may be that wool was originally wull or wulle. 
 Woo, wool. Piece-xcao, wool for a piece of flannel. — Bamford. 
 
 Woodie. See widdie. 
 
 Wooer-bab. The garter knotted below the knee with a 
 couple of loops. 
 
 Literally, a wooer, lover, or suitor's knot, bab or bob 
 meaning an easily moved bunch of any thing. 
 
 An old set-stitched chair, valanced and fringed around with 
 party-coloured worsted bols, stood at the bed's head. — Sterne. 
 
 The introduction of trousers, which heralded the de- 
 struction of so many more important things, put out of 
 fashion this piece of rustic foppery, for it was no more, 
 though Jamieson says they were "formerly worn by a 
 young man who was too bashful to announce in words 
 that the purpose of his visit was to propose marriage." 
 
45 2 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Not many Scots lads get the credit of being so mini 
 moued. 
 
 The custom was not confined to Scotland, or to rus- 
 tics, for Wood says that Dr. Owen, Dean of Christ 
 Church, and vice-Chancellor at Oxford, in 1652, used 
 to go " like a young scholar, with powdered hair, and a 
 large set of ribbands, pointed, at his knees." IVooer-babs 
 were, we learn, part of the usual dress of students in the 
 seventeenth century, and may have continued till Burns's 
 day. 
 
 The first that steps up is Lord (any popular lord) you'll see, 
 With a bunch of Hue ribbons tied down to his knee. * 
 
 The Masker's Song. 
 
 Woor. Wore. 
 
 Wordy. Worthy. D for th ; see under deed, and in — 
 
 A ryche present wyth hym he browght, 
 
 A clothe that was wordy lye wroght. — Emare. 
 
 That day full wordelyhe wroght. — Battalyeof Agyjikourtc. 
 
 Wordie. Dim. of word. 
 
 Worset. Worsted. T omitted ; see under bussle. T 
 for d ; see under akwart, and in 
 
 And this south-westerne wynt on a Seterday at eve. 
 
 P. Plowman. 
 His life upon so yonge a wight 
 Besette wolde xajeopartie. — Gower. 
 
 WouK An exclamation of pleasure or wonder. 
 
 * Wooer-habs, were the dregs of a fashion prevalent in the highest circles :— 
 At this day men of meane rank weare garters and shoe roses of more than 
 
 five pounds price. — Stow. 
 Farquhar makes a beau say "I'll wear the buckles of my garters behini." 
 
 — Letters. 
 
GLOSSARY. 453 
 
 JVow is an old spelling of wo or woe, and is equivalent 
 to oh ! 
 
 Wo worth. Wo be. See wae worth. 
 Howl ye, woe worth the day ! Ezekiel, xxxi. 2. 
 
 Wrack. To tease, to vex. 
 
 Wrack, to torture, to torment. This is commonly written rack. 
 —Johnson. 
 
 The constabel of the castel down is fare 
 
 To se this wrak. — Chaucer. 
 
 The beggar then thought all was wrong. 
 
 They were set for his wrack. — R. Hood. 
 Some squire, perhaps you talie delight to rack. — Pope. 
 Pope's rack and Burns' wrack mean exactly the same 
 thing. Pope speaks of Teresa Blount probably torment- 
 ing some clumsy lover ; Burns makes a young matron 
 speak of her purpose to similarly treat her ancient 
 spouse. 
 
 Wraith. A spirit, a ghost, an apparition exactly like a 
 
 living person whose appearance is said to forebode the 
 
 person's approaching death. 
 
 Jamieson has a most interesting article on this word, 
 but comes to no decision as to its derivation. Its root 
 is probably A.-S. wder, a caution, or ivarning. 
 
 A wraith, or wauf, as it is frequently called in Northumberland, 
 is the apparition of a person which appears before his death.— 
 Richardson. 
 
 Wrung. Wrong, to wrong. 
 
 They dyd our Englyssh men grete wrang. 
 
 Bat. of Otterbourne. 
 
 Bot he thoght the towre was so Strang, 
 
 That there myght no man do him ivrang. — The Seven Sages. 
 
454 GLOSSARY. 
 
 Wrong, however written, whether wrang, wrong, or wrung, is 
 merely the past tense of the verb to wring. — Home Tooke. 
 
 Wreeth. Wreath, a drifted heap of snow. 
 Wreath, any thing curled or twisted.— y(;/;«w«. 
 
 His rigge was bristled as with sharp sithen, 
 
 Toeth he had so wreihen writhen. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 
 As wreath of snow on mountain breast. — Scott. 
 
 Sir Walter seems to have thought it an E. word, as did 
 
 also Thomson.* 
 
 Write. What is written, writing. Verb for noun. 
 
 Writer. An attorney, a solicitor. 
 Does writere in the following mean a lawyer ? — 
 
 Now mot ich soutere his sone setten to schole, 
 
 & ich a beggers brol on the booke lerne, 
 
 & worth to a tariiere and with a lorde dwell. 
 
 Piers the Ploughman's Crede. Skeat. 
 
 Wild. Mad, distracted ; angry, wood. U is often used 
 for 00, as in — 
 
 There followed a general 7f«(/ (flood). — De Mornay. 
 Wud, mad, — Bamford. 
 
 I would be glad to do you good, 
 
 And him also, be he never so wood. — The Four Ps. 
 
 He lift his sword aloft, for ire nigh wood. — Fairfax. 
 
 But the two brethren borne of Cadmus blood, 
 
 Blind through ambition, and with vengeance wood. 
 
 Spenser. 
 
 Wumble. Wimble. C^for i; see under burdie, and in — 
 
 O fatall sustren (sisters). — Chancer. 
 
 * Thomson has— 
 
 Scarce his head 
 Raised o'er the heapy wreath, the branching elk. 
 Lies slumbering sullen in the white abyss. — Winter. 
 
GLOSSARY. 455 
 
 Withoute batayl, other dunt (dint), 
 That londe he wan, verrament. — Kyng Alisaunder. 
 IFoinmel, an auger. — Grose. 
 
 Wyle. To wile, beguile, persuade ; wyling, persuasive. 
 
 Wytiecoat. A flannel vest. 
 
 Jamieson says of this word, " its origin is quite uncer- 
 tain." I have always understood that it was a woolly or, 
 taking the older spelling, wully coat, from the material of 
 which it was made, named woolly by way of eminence 
 owing to the flannel composing it being manufactured of 
 the finest wool that could be procured. 
 
 When an accession is likely to be made to a family, in the North 
 of England, some nightgowns called wyllies are prepared for the 
 ■expected infant. — Richardson. 
 
 Wilecoat, a vest for a child. — Halliwell. 
 
 This is the meaning of the word in Ayrshire — I may 
 rather say was, for it seems now unknown. Gawin 
 Douglas has welecote — 
 
 In doubill garmont cled zxA welecote. — Prologue vii. 
 
 Wyte. Blame, to blame. 
 
 If that I missjiieke or say. 
 Wife it the ale of Southwerk, I you ^xa.y.^Chaucer. 
 Alas my wyckydness, that may I toyte. — Skelton. 
 That him ne thorst yt not wyte, 
 For febyl his dint to smyte.— i?. C. de Lion. 
 •For none would give, but all men would them wyte. 
 
 Spenser. 
 
 Y. 
 
 Yard. A garden. 
 
 Chaucer applies garden and yard to the same place. 
 
456 GLOSSARY. 
 
 I saw a garden right anone ; . . 
 Mirthe, that is so faire and fre, 
 Is in this yerd with his meinie. 
 "There was many a bird singing, 
 Throughout the yerde all thringing. 
 
 The Romaunt of the Rose. 
 
 Garden is yard with the addition of the participial ter- 
 mination en. 
 
 The (initial) Anglo-Saxon letter is pronounced indifferently G or 
 1'. — Home Tooke. 
 Yaud. An old mare. — -Jamieson. I do not think yaud 
 
 has any reference to age or sex. It is only a softened 
 
 form of jade oxjaud. 
 
 Yaud, a horse. — Thoresby. 
 
 Tommy Linn has a mare of the gray ; 
 It's a running j/a^f, says Tommy Linn. 
 
 The North Country Chorister. Rilsoii. 
 Youi yauds may take cold. — The Jovial Crew. 
 
 Yauld. Strong. 
 
 Ye. This pronoun is frequently used for thou. 
 
 Yealings. Born in the same year, coevals. Probably a 
 corruption oi yearlings. 
 
 Year. It is used for both singular and plural. See under 
 merk. 
 
 Yell and yeld. Barren, that gives no milk. 
 
 Yeld-\>e.xsX% animals barren, not giving milk, or too young to give, 
 profit. — Halliwell. 
 
 Yerk, To lash, to jerk ; to rouse. 
 
 Vark, to strike hard, and suddenly. — Baiuford. 
 Let us alone 
 To rule the slaves at home; I can %o yerk them. — Massinger. 
 
GLOSSARY. ^^y 
 
 Their wounded steeds 
 yeri out their armed heels at their dead masters.— ^-/jfl/t. 
 A carter a courtier, it is a worthy warke 
 That with his whyp his mares was wont to yark.—Skelton. 
 
 Yestreen. Yesternight. 
 
 Yestreen to chamber I him led ; 
 
 This night Gray-steel has made his bed. 
 
 Sir Eger, Sir Graha?n, and Sir Gray-steel. 
 In hope that you would come '^s.i&yestere'en. — B.Jonson. 
 
 Yett. A gate. 
 
 But with glad chere to the yate is went. — Chaucer. 
 
 Thee y will follow ham, 
 
 And that y mote with the gan, 
 
 In atte csiStel-yete. — Jlorn Childe and Maiden Rinmild. 
 
 They rode till they came to his mother's jye^A 
 
 Brave Earl Brand. 
 If he chance to come when I am abroade, 
 Sperre the yate for fear of fraude. — Spenser. 
 
 Yeuk. To itch, to be keenly desirous, to have an un- 
 easy feeling. 
 
 Yuck, itch. — fohnson. Grose. Yeeke. — Thoresby. 
 Yeuk. — Bailey. 
 
 All the best families are laid up with what they call the yoke. — 
 Lady Suffolk's Correspondence, 1702 to ry6y. 
 Cassius, you yourself 
 Are much condemned to have an itching palm, 
 To sell and mart your offices for gold. — Shak. 
 
 In " If Warren Hastings' neck was- yeukin," Burns 
 uses it to mean a sign of fear, and in his " Poem on 
 Life " the reverse, " Thy auld elbow yeuks wi' joy." Per- 
 haps the former should heyaukin', i.e., aching. 
 
 Yill. Ale. 
 
45 8 GLOSSARY. 
 
 If I should die, as it may hap, 
 My greauve shall be under the good yeal tap. 
 Ancient Poems, etc., of the Peasantry of England, Bell. 
 I wanted a chappin of yale from the public-house. — Letter 
 (1762) to the Duke of Northumb., from Rev. Charles Dodson, 
 afterwards Bishop of Ossory. 
 
 Yird and yerd. Earth ; yerded, buried. D for th ; see 
 under deed. 
 
 And after Phillis Philliberd 
 
 This tree was cleped in the yerd. — Gower. 
 
 And his ancestors of old time, 
 
 Have yearded theere longe. — Percy. 
 
 She semed non erdly thing. — Emare. 
 
 Yirl. An earl. 
 
 lama yerle callyd within my cuntre . 
 
 An, Bal. of Chevy Chase. 
 
 The yerle of Huntley cawte and kene. 
 
 Bat. of Otierbourne. 
 
 For many tongs of them will tell, 
 How these to yerles false did rebelL 
 
 John Barker, London. 
 
 Yirr. An angry bark of a dog. 
 Yrre, ire, anger, indignation, fury. — Bosworth. 
 Yarre, like a dog that is angry. — Cotgrave. 
 
 Yirth. Earth. 
 
 There were many cast to the yerthe. — Froissart. 
 
 Yokin. Yoking, a bout, an engagement. Entering on 
 any employment with vigour or keenness. — -Jamteson, 
 Yoking, the ploughing that is done at one putting-to of the horse. 
 
 — Scott. 
 
 When the battle of Ancrum was about to begin, a heron soared 
 
 away betwixt the encountering armies, "O!" exclaimed Angus, 
 
GLOSSARY. 459 
 
 "that I had here my white goss-hawk that we might all yoke at 
 once:'—Gods<:roft, quoted by Sir W. Scott. 
 
 It was not part of my design to quote Scotch authors, 
 indeed it was distinctly opposed to it, but this passage 
 was so appropriate to Burns's "hearty yokin," that I 
 could not resist the temptation to give it. 
 
 Ay, tell me that and unyoke. — Shak. 
 To haud a yokin at the pleugh, to do a day's ploughing. 
 
 Yon. 
 
 Burns's use of this word is not in accordance with the 
 explanations given in E. dictionaries. He says, "Yon 
 sang," referring to a song which the gentleman to whom 
 he wrote had in his possession, at a distance, and of 
 course completely out of the poet's sight, while according 
 to Johnson Yon is " being at a distance within view." 
 But it is found in good E. authors indicating objects and 
 
 persons not visible. 
 
 Would yon woman 
 Had been ten fathoms under ground, when first 
 I saw her eyes ! — Fletcher. The Captain. 
 
 And again, the person spoken of being absent — 
 
 Now to be married 
 To yon strange prince. — Id. Philaster. 
 " I'll go and visit JO?; sick gentlewoman," who was in bed. 
 Beaumont and Fletcher. The Coxcomb. 
 Go get thee gone, and by thyself 
 Devise some tricky game, 
 For to enthral >'u» rebels all. — R. Hood. 
 
 Here the speaker is in London, and the rebels are in 
 Sherwood Forest, and, of course, not "within view;" 
 and, not to multiply examples, Shakespeare makes Anne 
 Page say, after Slender has gone out : — 
 
 Good Mother, do not marry me to yond fool. 
 
 The Merry Wives of Windsor. 
 
460 GLOSSARY. 
 
 And Pandarus in Troy and the girl in the Grecian 
 camp, says : — 
 
 Here's a letter from yon poor girl. — Troilus and Cressida. 
 
 Yont. Beyond. 
 
 Geond, adv. yond, yonder, thither, beyond. G often becomes y, 
 2& gear, a year. — Bosworth. 
 
 Be omitted, as in — 
 
 No ceremony that to great ones longs. — Shak. 
 
 Young guidtnan. New-married man. 
 
 Youngling. A youth, but used by Burns as an adjective, 
 young, youthful. 
 
 The youngling painter brood. — JVblcot. 
 
 Younker. A youth. 
 
 A yonker then began to laugh. — Wright's Political Ballads. 
 
 How like z. younker, or a prodigal. 
 
 The scarfed bark puts from her native bay. — Shak. 
 
 For yonkers, such follies fit, 
 
 But we tway been men of wit. — Spenser. 
 
 Yoursel'. Yourself. See mysel'. 
 
 Yowden. Yielded, wearied. For change of / into z.', 
 see under a'. 
 
 And glader ought his fren ben of his deth. 
 
 Whan with honour hy olden up his breth. — Chaucer. 
 
 Ne had I er now, my swete herte dere. 
 
 Been yolde ywis, I were now not here. 
 
 Id. Rom. of the Rost. 
 Barouns and knyghtis of that lond, 
 Yolden heom to his bond. — R. C. de Lion. 
 
 Yowe. A ewe. Ow for ew ; see under browst. 
 
GLOSSARY. 461 
 
 The orthography differs more than the pronunciation. 
 I'he y sound is heard in both ewe and yowe. 
 
 Yo7ei2e. Dim. of yowe. 
 
 Yu/e. Christmas. 
 
 Yule, the time of Christmas, —fohnson. 
 
 This was the most respectable festival of our druids called Yule- 
 tide. — Brand. 
 
 The twenty day oi yowle, ywys. 
 
 Le Bone Flo. of Rotne. 
 At the high feast of youle. —LelancTs Itinerary. 
 It is good to ciy Ule at other men's cost. — Ray. 
 A nother day ye wyll me clothe, 
 I trowe, ayenst the Yole. — R. Hood. 
 Was never seen such rule 
 In any place but here, at bonfire, or at Yule. 
 
 Drayton. 
 
 Words Omitted. 
 
 Craftsmen. Free-masons. 
 Cvstoc. See castock. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Words which occur in verses quoted by Burns. 
 
 Blathrie. Nonsense. 
 
 Bob. a. dance. 
 
 Brucket. ~ Of variegated colours. 
 
 Bumeaz'd. Stupified. 
 
 Cauld Kail. Cold broth ; soup 
 left from a previous day. 
 
 Chanlers. Candlesticks, chande- 
 liers. 
 
 Clintin. Crevice or shelf on the 
 bank of a river. 
 
 CoGGiN. The teeth of a spinning- 
 wheel. 
 
 Cummin'. Coming. 
 
 CURCHIE. Dim. of cttrch, a female 
 head-dress. 
 
 Daunton. To subdue, to intimi- 
 date. 
 
 Door-cheeks. Door-posts. 
 
 DouK. To duck. 
 
 Fee. To hire. 
 
 Feetie. Dim. of feet. 
 
 Fye ! Haste ! 
 
 Gaes wi' me. Is easy to me. 
 
 Greetie. Dim. oi greet, cry. 
 
 Hen-bawks. Hen-roosts. 
 
 Holland. Fine linen. 
 
 HoLLiN-BUss. A holly tree. 
 
 JINGLAN, Inglan. Jingling. 
 
 Kill. A kiln. 
 
 Link. A lock of hair. 
 
 Menzie. Serving-men, dependants. 
 
 Oliphants. Elephants. 
 
 Shak. Shake. 
 
 Shellin-hill. Rising ground where 
 
 the shelled oats are winnowed. 
 Shute. Shoot, put over. 
 Stand wi. To dispute, to differ 
 Sicken. Such. 
 Stent. To stop. 
 Three-girr'd cap. This is Shak- 
 
 speare's three-hoofed fot. 
 Wanton. To please. 
 Warse. Worse. 
 Water-side. Bank of a river. 
 Wonder. Wondrous. 
 
 Foreign Words and Phrases used by Burns. 
 
 A la Francais. After the French 
 
 Ab origine. From the beginning. 
 
 A' Dieu, le bon Dieu, je vous 
 COMMENDE ! To God, the good 
 God, I commende you ! That is 
 evidently what is meant, but I 
 doubt if the words express it. 
 
 A' l' egard de moi. Concerning 
 me. 
 
 manner. 
 Alias. Otherwise. 
 Aqua vitae. Brandy, whisky. 
 Belle et aim able. Beautiful and 
 
 amiable. 
 Belle fille. Pretty girl. 
 Belles lettres. Polite literature. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 463 
 
 Bellum. War. 
 
 Billet doux. A love-letter. 
 
 Bon ton. The fashion, good style. 
 
 Ca IRA ! This will go, this will do ! 
 
 Carmagnole. Dress, dance, etc., 
 much in vogue in France at the 
 Revolution ; a person who wore 
 the dress ; put by Burns for a cruel 
 person. 
 
 Chef d'ceuvre. A master-piece. 
 
 Cher petit Monsieur. Dear little 
 Master. 
 
 Cl DEVANT. Former. 
 
 Cognoscenti. Connoisseurs. 
 
 CO.MPAGNON DE VOYAGE. Fellow 
 traveller. 
 
 Coup de main. Sudden and suc- 
 cessful effort. 
 
 Cri de guerre. War-cry. 
 
 De facto. Really. 
 
 De haut en bas. Contemptuously, 
 condescendingly. 
 
 Denouement. The end, catas- 
 trophe. 
 
 Dernier ressort. The last re- 
 source. 
 
 DONT j'ai eu l'honneur d'etre 
 UN miserable esclave. Of 
 which I have had the honour of 
 being a wretched slave. 
 
 Dramatis personae. The charac- 
 ters in a drama. 
 
 Duresse. Hardness, sternness, Sc. 
 dourness. 
 
 Eclat. Splendour. Eclatant, splen- 
 did. 
 
 Eloignee. Distant. 
 
 Embaras. Perplexity. 
 
 Enbonpoint. In good condition, 
 plump. 
 
 En PASSANT. By the way. 
 
 En poete. Like a poet. 
 
 Entre nous. Between you and 
 me. 
 
 Faites mes baise-mains respec- 
 TUEUSE. Give my respectful 
 compliments. 
 
 Faux pas. A false step, an error. 
 Fete Champetre. Country festival. 
 Fillette. a young woman. 
 
 Finesse. 
 Fbater. 
 
 Artifice, trickery. 
 A brother. 
 
 Gaiete de cceur. Lightness of 
 
 heart, wantonness. 
 Gens comme il faut. People as 
 
 they should be, of the right sort. 
 Germina. Germs. 
 Gravissimo. Exceedingly grave, 
 
 musical term. 
 Hardiesse. Boldness. 
 Hauteur. Haughtiness. 
 Integer. A whole, not a fraction. 
 In terrorem. To deter. 
 lo triumphe ! Triumph ! rejoice I 
 
 I suspect that Burns went to 
 
 Horace for these words. If so, 
 
 his knowledge of Latin may have 
 
 been greater than he pretended, or 
 
 than his biographers have given 
 
 him credit for possessing. 
 Jeu d'esprit. a witty sally. "^ 
 La plus aimable de son sexe. 
 
 The most amiable of her sex. 
 Lapsus Lingua. A slip of the 
 
 tongue. ,_ 
 Lente largo. Slow and grave. 
 Le pauvre inconnu. The poor 
 
 unknown. 
 Le pauvre miserable. The poor 
 
 wretch. Cowper too calls himself 
 
 pauvre miserable. 
 Le plus BEL esprit, et le plus 
 
 honnete HOMME. The greatest 
 
 genius and the most honest man. 
 Les beaux esprits. Persons of 
 
 genius. 
 Les environs. The neighbourhood. 
 Le ^'RAI n'est pas toujours le 
 
 vraisemblable. The true is not 
 
 always like the truth. 
 Ma chere amie. My dear friend. 
 Maitre d' hotel. Steward. 
 Memento. A remembrance. 
 Mes cheres Mesdames. My dear 
 
 Ladies. 
 Miserable perdu. Wretched lost 
 
 one 
 Moi-MEME. Myself. 
 MON AMI. My friend. 
 
464 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 MdN GRAND BUT. My great aim. ^ 
 MoRCEAUX. Morsels. _. 
 
 Naivete. Candour, simplicity. 
 Noblesse. The nobility. 
 NoTA BENE. Mark well. .« 
 OUBLIE MOI, GRAND DIEU, SI JAMAIS 
 
 JE l'oublie ! Forget me, great 
 
 God if I ever forget him ! 
 
 Opinionatre, Opionatrete. Ob- 
 stinacy. 
 
 OU IL PLAIT a' DIEU-ET MON ROI. 
 
 (I go) whither it pleases God — and 
 
 my King. 
 Outre'. Preposterous, odd. 
 Pardonnez MOI, Madame. Pardon 
 
 me. Madam. 
 Pas. Precedence. 
 Pauvres miserables. Poor 
 
 wretches. 
 PeCCAVI, PATERi MISERERE MEI. I 
 
 have sinned, O father, pity me. 
 Penchant. Inclination. 
 PoET^ JIINORES. Minor poets. 
 POLITESSE. Politeness. 
 Primo. Firstly. 
 
 Pro and con. For and against. — 
 Probatum est. It has been proved. 
 Quantum. Amount. 
 <2uEM Deus conservet ! Whom 
 
 may God preserve ! 
 Quondam. Former. 
 Reveur. Dreamer. 
 Role. One's place in the world. 
 Sanctum sanctorum. The holy 
 
 of holies. 
 .Sans ceremonie. Without cere- 
 mony. 
 
 Sans culottes. Lit. men without 
 breeches, revolutionists in France. 
 
 Scelerat. Villain. 
 
 Secundum artem. According to 
 
 rule. 
 Solitaire. Recluse, hermit. 
 Statu quo. As before. 
 SUBSCRIPSI HUIC. I have subscribed 
 
 this. 
 Tant PIS. So much the worse. " 
 Tapis. The carpet. 
 Terra firma. Solid earth, a firm 
 
 footing. 
 Tete-a-tete. Private conversation. 
 Ton. Style. Burns seems to use it 
 
 to signify height. 
 Tout au contraire. Quite the 
 
 reverse. «^ 
 Un but. An aim. 
 Une bagatelle de l'amitie'. a 
 
 small token of friendship. 
 Un HOMME DES AFFAIRES. A man 
 
 of business. 
 Un PENCHANT a'l'aDORABLE 
 
 moitie' du genre humain. a 
 liking for the adorable half of the 
 human race. 
 
 Un peu trompe. A little deceived. 
 Un tout ensemble. A whole. 
 Vade mecum. Constant companion. 
 Veni, vidi, vici. I came, I saw, I 
 
 conquered. - 
 Viva voce. By the living voice, by 
 
 word of mouth. 
 Vive la bagatelle ! Trifles for 
 
 ever ! Let us be merry ! 
 Vive l' amour ! Love for ever !