Folklore of Northamptonshire
Page 23
pansy
palm
sallow
pisshead
dandelion
Queen Anne’s Needlework
geranium
slon, slun
sloe
sweethearts,
goose grass
beggar weed
”
lice weed,
”
scratch weed
”
bur weed
”
water blob
marsh marigold
witchen
rowan
yellows
dyer’s greenweed
Actions
ax
ask
ball off
finish quickly
baste
beat severely
batten
work hard
battle
trudge around the home in wet or muddy shoes
bear a bob
help out
bear the bell
excel at
becall
abuse
beggar
overwork the land (exhaust the soil)
belice
beat with a strap
bewottle
confuse
bezzle
guzzle down
bibber
shiver with cold
blaat
spread gossip
blink
evade (a question)
bob
move suddenly
boffle
thwart
butter the paws
coax, wheedle
chopse
talk loudly and vulgarly
chumble
nibble
clam, clem
starve
clang
eat voraciously
clip
climb
crack
boast
cree
soak clothes in lye
croffle
walk with difficulty
dare (north)
frighten
dather, dither
shake with fear/cold
delve (north)
dig
disannul
abolish
dixen, dizen
dress showily
drib, dribble
milk a cow dry
drop out
quarrel
flit (ON)
move, remove
friddle
waste or pass time
fridge
rub
gammock
go house to house in a festive mood
glize
stare
grin
sew/stitch poorly
gern, gurn
(1) yawn, grin
(2) look or speak maliciously
get a planting
get a beating
gline
look sideways furtively
goddle
deceive
gollop
eat greedily
grin
to sew poorly – the stitches so wide apart they look like teeth
gulsh
drink voraciously
hag
tire out
hedge hog
reveal, divulge
hike
move hastily
hill (up)
cover, clothe
hockle
shuffle along
jilt
throw, fling
job
poke, jab
keek (ON)
peep
klip (ON)
climb (e.g. a tree)
lape
walk through mud
learn
teach
limb
pull about roughly
match
manage
maunder
matter
moil
tire, toil
moon
stare
nanny
go at full speed
nap (ON)
catch hold of
offer
hold something in place
play with a bear
give a disadvantage to
play gooseberry
get one’s own back
prig
steal
pull back
sit back
pun about
be slow and fussy
quarter
drive a cart carefully avoiding ruts
quilt
beat, hit
quirk
turn quickly
rake
wander around
roil
disturb (water)
rub up
kid or fool someone
rym
move, remove
science
walk self-consciously
scrigg
squeeze
slive
slip past
smore
smoulder
sound for
long for
sprottle
sprawl
take on
fret, grieve
tell
(1) recognise
(2) count (ON)
(3) speak effectively
tind, tin
light, kindle
toot
peep, espy
tramp
go on foot
trig
trot, run
whang
throw or strike violently
be wonted
get used to
yawp
talk noisily
Descriptions
addled
rotten, decayed
adeal, adell
like, resembling
arseways
stubborn
article
useless, pitiful
astrut
prominent, protruding
bashy
gloomy, dirty
begrudge
envy
beholden
indebted, obliged
belegged
unable to keep up with someone
belike
probably
bishoped
confirmed
bodily back and edge
entirely
brackly
brittle, crumbly
brangled
confused, mixed up
chocky
rutted, uneven (roads)
churly
hard, dry
clagg’d
having wet, muddy petticoats(from dirty paths/lanes)
claggy
muddy, dirty (paths)
dannies
hands
clammer
parched with thirst
clapered
mud-spattered
clean
completely
clumpy
bulky
complin
impertinent
corned
drunk
cottering, croodling
(1) sitting close to a fire (2) reluctant to leave
cotting about
tied close to
cruel
excessive
crumpy
crisp
dark
blind
deadly (well, bad)
really
deep
crafty
doddy
marshy, waterlogged
drearisome
lonely (road, place)
drowking
drooping (from heat)
dwizy
sleepy
eyeable
pleasant to the eye
flaggy
large and thick
frem (ON)
(1) strange (person)
(2) juicy (fruit, food)
frousty
fil
thy
googy
marshy
gravelled
mortified, vexed
great
familiar, intimate
hard on
nearly
hip and thigh
completely
hob-job
clumsy
hum-strum
unskilled
in the dismals
sad
kick, kicking
height of fashion
moozing
dozing
mated
confused, puzzled
moping
dreamy, vacant
muggy (ON)
mouldy
naish
tender, delicate
nuzzling
caressing, nestling
pranked
dressed up
puggy
damp
puling
whimpering, whining
punning
dreamy, inactive
pure
extremely, very
queachy, quaggy
marshy
randy
unruly, rowdy
rash
dry, over-ripe
rousing, roozing
great (roaring fire)
roiling
fidgety (child)
scraggling, tousy
disorderly, wild
shanny
shy
sloomy
gloomy
sprack
shrewd, intelligent (used around Whittlewood)
sqeauchy
waterlogged
starky
stiff, shrivelled up
swaly
cool and shady
tatered
worn out, tired
temporary
dilapidated
tight
clean, tidy
trig (ON)
neat, trim
unkid, unked
dreary-looking (place), sinister (feeling)
waffling
non-stop barking
watchet
pale blue
work brittle
industrious
Threshing at Weldon in the 1890s.
Agricultural
assil-tree
wheel axle
aum, awm (ON)
beard on head of barley
baffled
corn beaten down by the wind
bagpipes
flail
bait
worker’s lunch
batting (south)
bundle of straw bound with bands after threshing
bolting, bottling (north)
bundle of straw bound with bands after threshing
beastings
first milk after a cow
has calved
bells
ears of oats
binstead
a bay in a barn for storing the corn
bleed
good yield
blind
poor yield
blow
blossoms of fruit trees or flowers
bone, bun
to mark out land or timber for felling
bottle, costerel
small wooden barrel of beer for field workers
bout
ploughing once along a field and back again
brackle
break up soil or stone
brake
(1) narrow strips of shrub-covered land (2) field after reaping
brands
pitch used for sheep marking (busting)
brawn
a boar pig
broad cast
sow seed by hand
bull-pated grass
a crop driven by wind and rain into an eddy
cave
(1) separate wheat from chaff
(2) break up large clods of earth
cavings
chaff
cazzleby
sickly looking cattle
clat
cow pat
colly fleece
black wool
cradging
mending river banks to prevent overflow of water into a field
dibbling
making holes in the soil to seed corn
double couple
twin lambs
drape
cow that can no longer give any milk
drug
heavy cart
dudman
scarecrow
eddish, aftermath
second crop of grass after mowing
fantome
poor quality or ‘sickly’ corn
fezzle
pig litter
fog
coarse grass avoided as food by cattle
goggy, boggy, soppy
heavy soil
gratten
stubble
to glean, lease
gather loose corn
grudgeons, sharps
coarse wheatmeal
hain
lay a field for mowing (by taking out cattle)
hog, teg, hoggard
a yearling sheep
to keel or raddle
use red stain for marking sheep
Jinny
large shire horse
keep
grass as food
lath (ON)
granary, loft in a barn
laughter
(1) roost (2) gather heaps of grain
mag
penny
mawkin
(1) scarecrow
(2) hare
pie
a pit for storing root crops
piggle
root out potatoes by hand
piling
breaking off beards of thrashed barley using a piling iron
poached
marks in pasture made by the feet of livestock
pollard cow
one without horns
puggens
barley husks
quail
to ‘turn’ or curdle milk
queach
unploughable land adjacent to arable land
raddle, ruddle
red sheep dye (red ochre with grease)
shorts
fine bran
screwing
mean, stingy
smut,
bunty, blunt stick, half, flail
thone
moist, damp (crop)
tig-rigs
pigs
yolk
grease on wool
A humorous sign recently seen along a quiet road near Southwick.
People
Amy Florence
a shabbily dressed female
anointed rascal
a troublesome boy
avern, drab, fagot
coarse and uncouth in dress and manners
drotchell, flommax
coarse and uncouth in dress and manners
bab
baby
barley bump
sluggard
brother chip
fellow worker
cade
spoilt child (also a pet lamb)
cank
gossipmonger
chap
husband
come day, go day
a person who wastes money, spending and
never saving
Cousin Betty
insane person
Bess o’Bedlam
insane person
crab stick
sour-tempered person
dawdle
a female slow in speech and manner
dilling
youngest in a family
dotkins
spitting image
emmot
a lively person
fiz-gig