A Glossary of Words used in the Country of Wiltshire. George Edward Dartnell

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СКАЧАТЬ Tales, p. 121).

      'Barken, or Bercen, now commonly used for a yard or backside in Wilts … first signified the small croft or close where the sheep were brought up at night, and secured from danger of the open fields.'—Kennett's Parochial Antiquities.

      Barton was formerly in very common use, but has now been displaced by Yard.—N. & S.W.

      *Barley-bigg. A variety of barley (Aubrey's Wilts MS., p. 304).

      *Barley-Sower. Larus canus, the Common Gull (Birds of Wilts, p. 534).

      Barm. The usual Wilts term for yeast (A.B.M.S.).—N. & S.W.

      *Barn-barley. Barley which has never been in rick, but has been kept under cover from the first, and is therefore perfectly dry and of high value for malting purposes (Great Estate, ch. viii. p. 152).

      Basket. In some parts of S. Wilts potatoes are sold by the 'basket,' or three-peck measure, instead of by the 'sack' or the 'bag.'

      Baskets. Plantago lanceolata, L., Ribwort Plantain.—S.W. (Little Langford.)

      Bat-folding net. The net used in 'bird-batting,' q.v. (A.): more usually 'clap-net.'

      Bat-mouse. The usual N. Wilts term for a bat.—N. & S.W.

      Batt. A thin kind of oven-cake, about as thick as a tea-cake, but mostly crust.—N.W.

      *Battledore-barley. A flat-eared variety of barley (Aubrey's Wilts MS., p. 304: H.Wr.).

      Baulk. (1) Corn-baulk. When a 'land' has been accidentally passed over in sowing, the bare space is a 'baulk,' and is considered as a presage of some misfortune.—N.W. (2) A line of turf dividing a field.—N.W.

      'The strips [in a "common field"] are marked off from one another, not by hedge or wall, but by a simple grass path, a foot or so wide, which they call "balks" or "meres."'—Wilts Arch. Mag. xvii. 294.

      Bavin. An untrimmed brushwood faggot (A.B.S.): the long ragged faggot with two withes, used for fencing in the sides of sheds and yards; sometimes also applied to the ordinary faggot with one withe or band.—N. & S.W.

      *Bawsy, Borsy, or Bozzy. Coarse, as applied to the fibre of cloth or wool. 'Bozzy-faced cloth bain't good enough vor I.'—S.W. (Trowbridge, &c.)

      Bay. (1) n. A dam across a stream or ditch.—N.W. (2) v. 'To bay back water,' to dam it back.—N.W. (3) n. The space between beam and beam in a barn or cows' stalls.—N.W.

      *Beads. Sagina procumbens, L., Pearlwort.—N.W. (Lyneham.)

      Beak. See Bake and Burn-bake.

      Bearsfoot. Hellebore.—N.W. (Huish, &c.)

      Beat. 'To beat clots,' to break up the hard dry lumps of old cow-dung lying about in a pasture.—N.W.

      Becall. To abuse, to call names. 'Her do becall I shameful.'—N. & S.W.

      Bed-summers. See Waggon.

      Bedwind, Bedwine. Clematis Vitalba, L., Traveller's Joy.—S.W.

      Bee-flower. Ophrys apifera, Huds., Bee Orchis.—S.W.

      Bee-pot. A bee-hive.—S.W.

      'Lore ta zee zom on'ms hair,

       Like girt bee pots a hanging there.'—Slow's Poems, p. 43.

      Been, Bin. Because, since; a corruption of being (B.S.). 'Bin as he don't go, I won't.'—N.W.

      Bees. A hive is a Bee-pot. Bee-flowers are those purposely grown near an apiary, as sources of honey. Of swarms, only the first is a Swarm, the second being a Smart, and the third a Chit. To follow a swarm, beating a tin pan, is Ringing or Tanging.—N.W.

      *Beet. To make up a fire (A.B.C.G.). A.S. bétan, to better; to mend a fire (Skeat).—N.W., obsolete.

      Beetle. (1) The heavy double-handed wooden mallet used in driving in posts, wedges, &c. Bittle (A.H.). Bwytle (S.). Also Bwoitle.—N. & S.W.

      'On another [occasion] (2nd July, 25 Hen. VIII) … William Seyman was surety … for the re-delivery of the tools, "cuncta instrumenta videlicet Beetyll, Ax, Matock, and Showlys."'—Stray Notes from the Marlborough Court Books, Wilts Arch. Mag. xix. 78.

      (2) The small mallet with which thatchers drive home their 'spars.'—S.W.

      *Beggar-weed. Cuscuta Trifolii, Bab., Dodder; from its destructiveness to clover, &c. (English Plant Names).

      Bellock. (1) To cry like a beaten or frightened child (A.B.).—N.W., rarely. (2) To complain, to grumble (Dark, ch. x.).—N.W.

      *Belly vengeance. Very small and bad beer.—N.W.

      'Beer of the very smallest description, real "belly vengeance."'—Wilts Tales, p. 40.

      Cf.:—

      'I thought you wouldn't appreciate the widow's tap. … Regular whistle-belly vengeance, and no mistake!'—Tom Brown at Oxford, xl.

      Belt. To trim away the dirty wool from a sheep's hind-quarters.—N.W.

      *Bennet. v. Of wood-pigeons, to feed on bennets (A.).

      'They have an old rhyme in Wiltshire—

      "Pigeons never know no woe

       Till they a-benetting do go;"

      meaning that pigeons at this time are compelled to feed on the seed of the bent, the stubbles being cleared, and the crops not ripe.'—Akerman.

      Bennets, Bents. (1) Long coarse grass or rushes (B.).—N.W. (2) Seed-stalks of various grasses (A.); used of both withered stalks of coarse grasses and growing heads of cat's-tail, &c.—N. & S.W. (3) Seed-heads of Plantain, Plantago major, L., and P. lanceolata, L.—N. & S.W.

      Bents. See Bennets.

      Bercen (c hard). See Barken. 'This form of the word is given in MS. Gough, Wilts, 5, as current in Wilts' (H.K.Wr.).

      Berry. The grain of wheat (D.); as 'There's a very good berry to-year,' or 'The wheat's well-berried,' or the reverse. See Old Country Words, ii. and v.—N.W.

      Berry-moucher. (1) A truant. See Blackberry-moucher and Moucher (A.).—N. & S.W. (2) Fruit of Rubus fruticosus, L., Blackberry. СКАЧАТЬ