General
Bink – A stone bench. Bishops foot – when something has been burned to the pan when boiling. ‘The bishop has set foot in it or ‘it’s been bishopped’. Bizon – shame or scandal. Black bowwowers – brambles. Blaze – to take a salmon at night using a three pronged barbed dart called a Leister. Boothaler – robber. Byspelt – mischievous person. Carling – An old shrew. Chance bairn – an illegitimate child. Chaugh/Chaff – The lower jaw. Choller – double chin, Curse of Scotland – the nine of diamonds. William Duke of Cumberland was said to have written his order for the battle of Culloden on the back of the card. Crocket – a small wooden stool. Cutty – a short knife. Dag – a small gun. Delf – a pit from which ironstone has been dug. Derwentwater lights – the Aurora Borealis. Deuse – the devil or evil spirit. Donfron – Labourers afternoon drinking. Drunkards cloak – a large barrel. Elflocks – tangled hair. Ell Mother – stepmother. Fairy money – found treasure, the location must never be disclosed. Fause – cunning, sharp, clever. Fendy – clever at providing for oneself. Flay – to frighten. Flesher – a butcher. Fout – a spoilt child. Frim – handsome. Fuddle – to intoxicate fish whilst poaching. Gadger/gauger – an exciseman / customs officer. Gantree – a stand for ale barrels. Gavelock – a crowbar. Ged – a pike. Girngaw – the cavity of the mouth. Gowpens – handfuls. Greybeard – a stone or earthenware jug. Greyhen – a large stone bottle. Gully – a large sharp knife. Hair – a small quantity of anything. Half Marrow – a middle sized lad. Half rocked innocent – a fool. Hammie – a coward. Hause – neck or throat. Hidlins – done by stealth, secretly. Hob Collingwood – The four of hearts – unlucky. Jennick – true and proper. Joskin – a masons labourer. Keed – to peep. Keslop – the belly or stomach. Kirok – a large pile of stones. Kisting – a funeral. Kite – the belly. Kitty – Jail. Lamb – to beat soundly/leather/lather. Lashy – cold/wet. Lig – to lie down. Lob cock – a sluggish person also Lurdane. Mab – to dress carelessly. Maunderer – a tedious, weary speaker. Mere stone – boundary stone. Merry dancers – Aurora Borealis. Muck worm – a miser. Mugger – a hawker of pots. Old Bendy/hooky/scratch/nick – the devil. Old Peg – inferior cheese. Old trot – old woman. Pickatree – woodpecker. Powsoddy/pansoddy – a pudding placed under a roast. AKA Yorkshire pudding, Auld Wife’s Sod, Cinder catcher. Purdy – a thick set fellow. Pyrray Dancers – Aurora Borealis. Reckling – The last child. Rummleduster – Unruly. Scab Andrew – A worthless fellow. Skadely – a sly thief. Skew the dew – a splay footed person. Smartle – to melt or waste away. Snot – the burned wick of a candle. Sough – to sigh like the wind. Stevin – To rant. Sunderland Fitter – the Knave of Clubs. Taplash – bad small beer, dregs. Thruff stone – a flat tomb stone. Thruntu – stout, robust, strong built. Trapes – A slattern,a draggletail trollop . Threeskin – three weeks since. Unlicked cub – an ignorant, unpolished youth. Vaig – to roam. Vamp – to pawn an item. Wain – a cart drawn by oxen. Wame – the belly. Wankelly – uncertain weather – vairable. Wark – Seaweed. Wet-hand – drunk. Windy wallets – a noisy fellow. Yuck – to itch
Land
Airt – direction point of the compass. Aither – furrowed ground. Balk – A strip of land. Bale Hill – Smelting place or slag heap. Bargh, Barugh, Barf – A hill forming part of a low ridge. Beck – Small stream. Beeld, bield, beild – A shelter from weather. Bladdry – Soft splashy mud. Blashment – Melted snow or soft mud. Bleb – Air rising in water. Blue-flint – Whinstone from the Cleveland Dyke. Blutherment – Puddle or slush. Boddums – Lowest ground. Bounder-stoups – Upright boundary stones. Bow-bridge – A packhorse bridge. Brant – Steep. Brigg – a natural promintary into the sea or bridge. Brae – The overhanging bank of a river. Brant – Steep. Cam – The sloping bank from a hedge bottom. Carr – Low-lying boggy ground. Causer, caus’ay – A paved footpath. Cinder Hills – Ancient slag heaps. Cleugh – A narrow ravine. Clum – Sodden heavy clayey land. Coo-yat – Cow pasture. Coo-grip – a channel to carry off urine. Covin-scar – A low, flat expanse of rock. Cross gang/gate – A crossroads. Crow-ling – Heath. Dale – A valley. Dale-end The end or widest part of a dale. Dale-heead – The upper and narrowest portion of a dale. Dike – A ditch. Dike-back – The bank forming one side of a ditch. Dub – A large pond. Dump – Deep hole in the bed of a river. Faugh – Fallow land. Fold Garth – Farmyard. Foss – A waterfall. Gain-way – A shorter path. Garth – A small enclosure of land. Gate – a way, road or street. Gessing-land – Grassland. Gill – A narrow valley or ravine. Gimmal – A narrow passage. Goitstead – An old watercourse. Gote – A narrow natural ravine. Griff – A deep narrow valley. Grip – A channel or small ditch. Hag – A broken rugged bank. Hays – Enclosure fence acting as a boundary. Head rig – The part of a field where the horses and plough turn. Hirst – a woody bank. Hipping steeans – Stepping stones. Holl – A deep depression in the land. Holm – Land which is at times surrounded by water. Hope – the head of a valley. Hoss trod – A bridle road. Hottery – A bumpy, uneven road. Houe, Howe – A Hill. Hossocks – Coarse tufts of grass. Ing – low lying pasture. Intak – Enclosed land from a common for cultivation. Kansh – A hard ridge of gravel or a rock in a river, dangerous to navigation. Keld – A spring of water./the still part of a river. Knap – the brow or projection of a hill (nab). Knowe – top of a hill. Liberty – The parish or township. Lits – A spring or source of a stream. Loning, loaning, lonnin’, lo’nin – A narrow lane. Marrish – Low lying ground liable to flood. Mere, mere-stone – A boundary mark or stone. Moor stone – A large exposed stone embedded in the soil of the moor. Nab – A hill, rocky point, headland. Ness – A projecting headland. Neuk – a corner of a field. Out-end, out-gang, out-gaat – An exit, way out. Owergait – A gap in a hedge. Plother, plodder – Soft mud. Rack – a bend in a river. Ramper – The sloping side of a raised footpath. Rands, reeands – The unploughed edges of a field. Rein – The sides of a field overgrown with brushwood. Riding – An open space in a wood. Rigg – A long narrow hill. Rone – a thick covering of bushes/whin. Rook, ruck –A pile, a carefully made heap of stones/turf. Scau’p – Bare spots of rock and stones on a hillside. Skaff, skeeaf – A rough, steep, broken bank. Slack – The hollow part of an undulation in the ground. Sloke – The scum or slime on stagnant water. Smout-hole – An opening at the bottom of a wall to allow hares or sheep to pass through. Snake-stone – An Ammonite. Spout – A waterfall.Sprunt – A steep hill. Strand – The beach. Sump – A bog or marsh. Swang – A boggy stretch of land. Swarth – The quality and quantity of grass upon the land. Swidden – Part of the moor cleared by burning. Syke – A small stream. Toft – A small grove of trees. Trod – A footpath. Upgang – A pathway up a hill. Warp – Alluvium. Wharrel – a quarry Wath – A ford. White flint – A hard, sedimentary rock found on the moors and used for road stone. Wheal – the deepest part of a river. Wyke – A small bay on the coast. Yowden – a fissure in a rock or the earth.
Fauna
Arran web – a cobweb. Ask, Esk – Newt. Attercop – The spider. Back-bearaway – The Common Bat. Beeas, Beeos, Beeast – An ox. Bessy-ducker – The water-ousel. Bike – The nest of the wild bee. Billy-biter – The blue tit. Black-clocks – Black beetles. Bloacher – any large animal. Borril – The gadfly. Bramlings – red worms used for fishing bait. Buer – The gnat. Bull spink – The chaffinch. Bull stang, Bull teng – Dragon-fly. Butt – The Halibut. Buzzard – A large moth. Chaudy-bag – Stomach of an animal. Cheeper – A young partridge or grouse. Cleg – Horse-fly. Clow or Coo clags – Dried dung on the back of an animal, in sheep they are called ‘doddings’. Clubster – A stoat. Cooscot – The ringdove. Crake, Creeak, Cruke – Carrion crow or Rook. Crowping – The croaking of frogs or toads. Cuddy – A donkey or a hedge sparrow. Cuvvins – Periwinkles. Dakky – A pig. Dappers – Birds ready to leave the nest. Daupee – The grey headed crow. Devil screamer – The common swift. Dicky ass – A donkey. Dodded – Hornless. Doddings – The matted wool on the hind quarters of a sheep. Doody cow, Dundy cow, Dowdy cow – Ladybird. Dowp – The carrion crow. Draker-hen – Corn Crake. Fat Hen – a goose. Fleeing ask – The dragon fly. Fleking eather – a large dragonfly. Flesh fly – The common bluebottle. Flither – The common limpet. Flittermouse – The common bat. Fluke – A maggot. Forking robin – The earwig. Foulmart, Fumart – The polecat. Frog-fry – Frog spawn. Fussack – A donkey. Gangeril – A toad. Gawk – A cuckoo. Glead – The kite. Goldie – The yellow hammer. Golly – A newly hatched bird. Gorocock – red grouse. Hagworm – The adder. Hairy Worm – Any hairy caterpillar. Hay chat – The whitethroat. Hoomer – The grayling. Hoss teng – The common dragon fly. Jagger Galloway – a pony with a saddle for carrying lead in Teessdale. Jagger is Scots for a peddler. Jinny spinner – The crane fly. Jinny-ullot, Jenny Howlet – Tawney owl. June bug – Ladybird. Kead, Ked – Sheep tick. Kelk – Single fish egg. Lairock – The lark. Lenny – The linnet. Lobsterlouse – The wood louse. Mawk– A maggot. Meadow drake – Corn crake. Meggy money legs – a millipede. Mennem, mennad – The minnow. Mole rat, Mowdywarp – The mole. Moor titling, Moor taalin – The meadow pipit. Nanpie – The magpie. Needer – The adder. Nullet, nullot, Ullot – The owl. Nias – A young hawk. Ninnycocks – Young lobsters. Owee – The ox. Piet – The magpie. Pinnies – Fish just hatched. Pissimire – The common ant. Porriwiggle – The tadpole. Pricky-back otch’n –The hedgehog. Rack rider – a small trout. Rain Bird – woodpecker. Raun – Fish spawn. Ressil – The weasel. Riggot – A horse with only one testicle. Seg – A gelded mature bull. Sheep cade – Sheep Tick. Ship-starnel, shipster – The starling. Skelly– the Dace/chubb/roach. Sneck-dog – A lurcher or greyhound. Spanker Eel – a Lamprey. Spink – The chaffinch. Spraints – Otter dung. Stang-fish – The weever fish. Streamers – minnows during spawning. Steg – A male goose. Teufit, teeafit, tewit – The Lapwing. Three-thrums – The purring of a cat. Throstle – The thrush. Yaud/Yawd – horse.
Flora
Awm – Elm. Beeaf – The bough of a tree. Benty – Wiry, blue looking pasture. Bessy-bainworts – Daisies. Bigg – Barley with four rows of ears on one stalk. Blarberry – Bilberry. Birk – The birch tree. Bleea – The inner bark of a tree. Bobblekins – The water buttercup. Boll – Trunk of a tree. Bottery, Bore-tree, Bur-tree – The alder tree. Brassic – Wild mustard or charlock. Breear – The briar. Breeking – That part of a tree where the stem breaks into branches. Brown-leemers – Brown or ripe nuts. Bullace – The wild plum. Bull feeaces, Bull fronts – Hair grass. Bumm’l-kites – Brambles. Burr-thistle – Small headed thistle. Busk – A small bush. Cat hawes – The fruit of Hawthorns. Cats and eyes – Seeds of the ash tree. Cat-trail – Root of valerian. Cat whins – The dog rose. Chatt – A fir-apple. Cheese-cake Grass – The common bird’s foot trefoil. Clot bur – The burdock. Corr’n-berries – Red or white currants. Cowstripling – The cowslip. Cramm’ls – The gnarled twisted boughs of trees. Crashes – Watercress. Cup or cock rose – Common poppy. Cushia – Cow parsnip. Daffy down dilly – daffodil. Deeaf nettle – The blind or hemp nettle. Docken – The dock plant. Dog-choops – Rose hips. Eak – Oak. Flags – Yellow iris. Floss Docken – The foxglove. Floss-seave – Cotton grass. Fog – The grass which grows after hay has been harvested. Fog field – A field that has been left for a second growth of grass. Fusba / Fuzzball – Puffball. Goldens – Charred stems of burnt heather. Gowland – The corn marigold. Hag – A wood or coppice on wild broken ground. Hag berry – Wild cherry. Hag-snare – The stump left after coppicing. Horse hogs – A common plum. Horse-knops – Black Knapweed. Kelk – Fool’s parsley. Kitty-kels – Seeds of the ash tree. Lingberry – The seed capsule of heather. Mauls – The marsh mallow. Nep – Hazel. Palms, Paum – Catkins. Quicken tree – mountain ash. Sap tree – The rowan tree. Scrogs – Stunted bushes or shrubs. Sea-tang – Seaweed or wrack. Seggrums – Common ragwort. Sour-docken – The wild sorrel. Tangles – seaweed. Traveller’s joy – Stags-horn club moss. Whins – Gorse. Wickens – Couch grass. Yackron – Acorn.
Weather
Backendish – Winterly. Blashy – wet weather. Brissling – Brisk blowing wind. Brough – a faint luminous ring around the moon. Cock-leet – Dawn. Cockshut – Twilight. Dank – Damp, moist. Dagg – Drizzling rain. Drooty – Very dry weather. Droopy – Long continued rain. Faffle – A light intermittent wind. Fair up – to cease raining, becoming fine. Griming – A light covering of snow. Grow-day – A mild warm day after showers. Hen-scrats – Small cirrus clouds also known as Filly-Tails. Hag – A thick white fog which when followed by frost forms frost hag. Harr – A thick fog. Hing for rain – Rain is probable. Holl – The dead of night. Ice-shoggles, Ice-shogglins, Ickles – Icicles. Moy – Muggy. Nisly – Showery. Ower-kessen – Overcast, cloudy. Pash – A heavy fall of rain or snow. Peerching – A cold, biting wind. Pit Murk – A very dark night. Rack – Fleecy clouds driven by wind. Roke, rawk – Thick fog. Roving – Wild unsettled weather, likely to be stormy. Shy – A piercing wind. Slathery – Wet rainy weather. Snaw broth – melted snow. Sob – To sigh as the wind does on the approach of calmer weather. Steeping rain – Heavy rain. Stoury – Weather, characterised by driving dust or snow. Summer-colt – Undulating vapour near the surface of the ground on a hot summers day – haze. Teeave – to wade in snow. Turf-graving time – Autumn. Waft – A slight puff of wind. War-days – All days but Sunday. Weather Breeder – Unseasonal fine weather. Weather gaul – An incomplete rainbow, a sign of rain. Weather Gleam – A clear sky on the horizon – spoken of objects seen on the ridge of a lofty hill, so as to appear as if in the sky. ‘A man looks gigantic, he seems to be clad in radiance, like one of Ossian’s departed heroes’.
The Smell of Water 