Chapter XIII.
Vocabulary and Index.

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[In this Vocabulary, as well indeed as through the whole book, gh and ch are to sound guttural, as in lough and lock, unless otherwise stated or implied. Those who cannot sound the guttural may take the sound of k instead, and they will not be far wrong.]

Able; strong, muscular, and vigorous:- 'Nagle was a strong able man.'

Able dealer; a schemer. (Limerick.)

Acushla; see Cushlamochree.

Adam's ale; plain drinking-water.

Affirming, assenting, and saluting, 9.

Agra or Agraw: a term of endearment; my love: vocative of Irish grádh, love.

Ahaygar; a pet term; my friend, my love: vocative of Irish téagar, love a dear person.

Aims-ace; a small amount, quantity, or distance. Applied in the following way very generally in Munster:- 'He was within an aim's-ace of being drowned' {very near). A survival in Ireland of the old Shakesperian wora ambs-ace, meanLng two aces or two single points in throwing dice, the smallest possible throw.

Air: a visitor comes in:- 'Won't you sit down Joe and take an air of the fire.' (Very usual.)

Airt used in Ulster and Scotland for a single point of the compass:-

'Of a' the airts the wind can blaw I dearly like the west.' (Burns)

It is the Irish áird, a point of the compass.

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Airy; ghostly, fearsome: an airy place, a haunted place. Same as Scotch eerie. From Gaelic áedharaigh, same sound and meaning. A survival of the old Irish pagan belief that air-demons were the most malignant of all supernatural beings: see Joyce's 'Old Celtic Romances,' p.15.

Alanna; my child: vocative case of Irish leanbh [lannav], a child.

Allow; admit. 'I allow that you lent me a pound': 'if you allow that you cannot deny so and so.' This is an old English usage. (Ducange.) To advise or recommend: 'I would not allow you to go by that road' ('I would not recommend'). 'I'd allow you to sow that field with oats' (advise).

All to; means except:- 'I've sold my sheep all to six,' i.e. except six. This is merely a translation from the Irish as in Do marbhadh na daoine go haoin triúr: 'The people were slain all to a single three.' (Keating.)

Along of; on account of. 'Why did you keep me waiting [at night] so long at the door, Pat?' 'Why then 'twas all along of Judy there being so much afraid of the fairies.' (Crofton Croker.)

Alpeen, a stick or hand-wattle with a knob at the lower end: diminutive of Irish alp a limb. Sometimes called a clehalpeen: where cleh is the Irish cleath a stick. Clehalpeen, a knobbed cudgel.

Amadaun, a fool (man or boy), a half-foot, a foolish person. Irish amdán, a fool: a form of onmitán; from ón, a fool: see Oanshagh.

American wake; a meeting of friends on the evening before the departure of some young people for [p.201] America, as a farewell celebration (See my 'Old Irish Folk-Music and Songs,' p. l91.)

Amplush, a fix, a difficulty: he was in a great amplush. (North and South.) Edw. Walsh in Dub. Pen. Journal.)

Amshagh; a sudden hurt, an accident. (Derry.)

Ang-ishore; a poor miserable creature - man or woman. It is merely the Irish word aindeiseóir. (Chiefly South.)

Any is used for no (in no more) in parts of West and North-west. 'James, you left the gate open this morning and the calves got oat.' 'Oh I'm sorry sir; I will do it any mare.' This is merely a mistranslation of níos mo from some confused idea of the sense of two (Irish) negatives (níos being one, with another preceding) leading to the omission of an English negative from the correct construction - "I will not do it any more:' Níos mo meaning in English 'no more 'or 'any more' according to the omission or insertion of an English negative.

Aree often used after ochone (alas) in Donegal and elsewhere. Aree gives the exact pronunciation of a Rígh and neimhe (heaven) is understood. The full Irish exclamation is ochón a Rígh neimhe, 'alas, O King of heaven.'

Arnaun or arnaul, to sit up working at night later than usual. Irish airneán or airneál, same meaning.

Aroon, a term of endearment, 'my love, my dear: Eileen Aroon, the name of a celebrated Irish air: vocative of Irish rún [roon], a secret, a secret treasure. In Limerick common]y shortened to aroo. 'Where are you going now aroo?'

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Art-loochra or arc-loochra, a harmless lizard five or six inches long: Irish art or arc is a lizard: luachra, rushes; the 'lizard of the rushes.'

Ask, a water-newt, a small water-lizard: from esc or easc [ask] an old Irish word for water. From the same root comes the next word, the diminutive form-

Askeen; land made by cutting away bog which generally remains more or less watery. (Reilly: Kildare.)

Asthore, a term of endearment, 'my treasure.' The vocative case of Irish stór [store] treasure.

Athurt; to confront:- 'Oh well I will athurt him with that lie he told about me.' (Cork.) Possibly a mispronunciation of athwart.

Avourneen, my love: the vocative case of Irish muirnin, a sweetheart, a loved person.

Baan: a field covered with short grass:- 'A baan field': 'a baan of cows': i.e. a grass farm with its proper number of cows. Irish bán, whitish.

Back; a faction: 'I have a good back in the country, so I defy my enemies.

Back of God-speed; a place very remote, out of the way: so far off that the virtue of your wish of God-speed to a person will not go with him so far.

Bacon: to 'save one's bacon'; to succeed in escaping some serious personal injury - death, a beating, &c. 'They fled from the fight to save their bacon': 'Here a lodging I'd taken, but loth to awaken, for fear of my bacon, either man, wife, or babe.' (Old Anglo-Irish poem.)

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Bad member: a doer of evil; a bad character; a treacherous fellow: 'I'm ruined,' says he, 'for some bad member has wrote to the bishop about me.' ('Wild Sports of the West.')

Baffity, unbleached or blay calico. (Munster.)

Bails or bales, frames made of perpendicular wooden bars in which cows are fastened for the night in the stable. (Munster.)

Baithershin; may be so, perhaps. Irish b'féidir sin, same sound and meaning.

Ballowr (Bal-yore in Ulster); to bellow, roar, bawl, talk loudly and coarsely.

Ballyhooly, a village near Fermoy in Cork, formerly notorious for its faction fights, so that it has passed into a proverb. A man is late coming home and expects Baflyhooly from his wife, i.e. 'the length and breadth of her tongue.' Father Carroll has neglected to visit his relatives, the Kearneys, for a long time, so that he knows he's in the black books with Mrs. Kearney, and expects Ballyhooly from her the first time he meets 'her. ('Knocknagow.')

Ballyorgan in Co Limerick, 146.

Banagher and Ballinasloe, 192.

Bannalanna: a woman who sells ale over the counter. Irish bean-na-leanna, 'woman of the ale.' ale-woman' (leann, ale).

Ballyrag; to give loud abuse in torrents. (General)

Bandle; a 2-foot measure for home-mado flannel. (Munster.)

Bang-up; a frieze overcoat with high collar and long cape.

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Banshee; a female fairy: Irish bean-sidhe [ban-shee], a 'woman from the shee or fairy-dwelling.' This was the original meaning; but in modern times, and among English speakers, the word banshee has become narrowed in its application, and signifies a female spirit that attends certain families, and is heard keening or crying aloud at night round the house when some member of the family is about to die.

Barcelona; a silk kerchief for the neck

'His clothes spick and span new without e'er a speck;
A neat Barcelona tied round his white neck.'

(Edward Lysaght, in 'The Sprig of Shillelah.']

So called because imported from Barcelona, preserving a memory of the old days of smuggling.

Barsa, barsaun; a scold. (Kild. and Ulst.)

Barth; a back-load of rushes, straw, heath, &c. Irish beart.

Baury, baura, baur-ya, bairy; the goal in football, hurling, &c. Irish báire [2-syll.], a game, a goal.

Bawn; an enclosure near a farmhouse for cattle, sheep, &c.; in some districts, simply a farmyard. Irish badhun [bawn], a cow-keep, from ba, cows, and dún, a keep or fortress. Now generally applied to the green field near the homestead where the cows are brought to be milked.

Bawneen; a loose whitish jacket of home-made undyed flannel worn by men at out-door work. Very general: banyan in Derry. From Irish bán [bawn], whitish, with the diminutive termination.

Bawnoge; a dancing-green. (MacCall; Leinster.)

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From bán [baan], a field covered with short grass; and the dim. óg (p.90).

Bawshill, a fetch or double. (See Fetch.) (MacCall: S. Wexford.) I think this is a derivative of Bow, which see.

Beestings; new milk from a cow that has just calved.

Be-knownst; known: unbe-knownst; unknown. (Antrim.)

Better than; more than:- 'It is better than a year since I saw him last'; 'better than a mile,' &c. (Leinster and Munster.)

Bian, [by-ann']; one of Bianconi's long cars. (See Jingle.)

Binnen; the rope tying a cow to a stake in a field. (Knowles: Ulster.)

Birragh; a muzzle-band with spikes on a calf's or a foal's muzzle to prevent it sucking its mother. From Irish bir, a sharp spit: birragh, full off sharp points or spits. (Munster: see Gubbaun.)

Blackfast: among Roman Catholics, there is a 'black fast' on Ash Wednesday, Spy Wednesday, and Good Friday, i.e. no flesh meat or whitemeat is allowed - no flesh, butter, eggs, cheese, or milk.

Blackfeet. The members of one of the secret societies of a century ago were called 'Ribbonmen.' Some of them acknowledged the priests: those were 'whitefeet': others did not - 'blackfeet.'

Black man, black fellow; a surly vindictive implacable irreconcilable fellow.

Black man; the man who accompanies a suitor to the house of the intended father-in-law, to help to make the match.

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Black of one's nail. 'You just escaped by the black your nail': 'there's no cloth left - not the size of the black of my nail.' (North and South.)

Black swop. When two fellows have two wretched articles - such as two old penknives - each thinking his own to be the worst in the universe, they sometimes agree for the pure humour of the thing to make a black swop, i.e. to swop without first looking at the articles. When they are looked at after the swop, there is always great fun (See Hool.)

Blarney; smooth, plausible, cajoling talk. From Blarney Castle near Cork, in which there is a certain stone hard to reach, with this virtue, that if a person kisses it, he will be endowed with the gift of blarney.

Blast; when a child suddenly fades in health and pines away, he has got a blast, - i.e. a puff of evil wind sent by some baleful sprite has struck him. Blast when applied to fruit or crops means a blight in the ordinary sense - nothing supernatural.

Blather, bladdher; a person who utters vulgarly foolish boastful talk: used also as a verb - to blather. Hence blatherumskite, applied to a person or to his talk in much the same sense; 'I never heard such a blatherumskite.' Ulster and Scotch form blether, blethering: Burns speaks of stringing 'blethers up in rhyme.' ('The Vision.')

Blaze, blazes, blazing: favourite words everywhere in Ireland. Why are you in such a blazing hurry? Jack ran away like blazes: now work at that job like blazes: he is blazing drunk. Used also by the English peasantry:- 'That's a blazing strange

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answer,' says Jerry Cruncher in 'A Tale of Two Cities.' There's a touch of slang in some of these: yet the word has been in some way made classical by Lord Morley's expression that Lord Salisbury never made a speech without uttering 'some blazing indiscretion.'

Blind Billy. In coming to an agreement take care you don't make 'Blind Billy's Bargain,' by either overreaching yourself or allowing the other party to overreach you. Blind Billy was the hangman in Limerick, and on one particular occasion he flatly refused to do his work unless he got £50 down on the nail: so the high sheriff had to agree and the hangman put the money in his pocket. When all was over the sheriff refused point-blank to send the usual escort without a fee of £60 down. So Blind Billy had to hand over the £50 - for if lie wont without an escort he would be torn in pieces - and had nothing in the end for his job.

Blind lane; a lane stopped up at one end.

Blind window; an old window stopped up, but still plain to be seen.

Blink; to exercise an evil influence by a glance of the 'evil eye'; to 'overlook'; hence 'blinked,' blighted by the eye. When the butter does not come in churning, the milk has been blinked by some one.

Blirt; to weep: as a noun, a rainy wind, (Ulster.)

Blob (blab often in Ulster), a raised blister: a drop of honey, or of anything liquid.

Blue look out; a bad look-out, bad prospect.

Boal or bole; a shelved recess in a room. (North.)

Boarhaun; dried cowdung used for fuel like turf. Irish boithreán [boarhaun], from bo, a cow.

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Boccach [accented on 2nd syll. in Munster, but elsewhere on 1st]; a lame person. From the fact that so many beggars are lame or pretend to be lame, boccach has come to mean a beggar. Irish bacach, a lame person: from bac, to halt. Bockady, another form of boccach in Munster. Bockeen (the diminutive added on to bac), another form heard in Mayo.

Boddagh [accented on 2nd syl]. in Munster; in Ulster on lst], a rich churlish clownish fellow. Tom Cuddihy wouldn't bear insult from any purse-proud old boddagh. ('Knocknagow.')

Body-coat; a coat like the present dress-coat, cut away in front so as to leave a narrow pointed tail skirt behind: usually made of frieze and worn with the knee-breeches.

Body-glass; a large mirror in which the whole body can be seen. (Limerick.)

Body-lilty; heels over head. (Derry.)

Bog; what is called in England a 'peat moss.' Merely the Irish bog, soft. Bog (verb) to be bogged; to sink in a bog or any soft soil or swampy place.

Bog-butter; butter found deep in bogs, where it had been buried in old times for a purpose, and forgotten: a good deal changed now by the action of the bog. (See Joyce's 'Smaller Soc Hist. of Anc. Ireland,' p. 200.)

Bog-Latin; bad incorrect Latin; Latin that had been learned in the hedge schools among the bogs. This derisive and reproachful epithet was given in bad old times by pupils and others of the favoured, legal, and endowed schools, sometimes with reason,

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but oftener very unjustly. For those bog or hedge schools sent out numbers of scholarly men, who afterwards entered the church or lay professions. (See p.151.)

Boghaleen; the same as Crusheen, which see.

Bohaun; a cabin or hut. Irish both [boh], a hut, with the diminutive án.

Bold; applied to girls and boys in the sense of 'forward,' impudent.'

Boliaun, also called booghalaun bwee and geosadaun; the common yellow ragwort : all these are Irish word S

Bolting-hole; the second or backward entrance made by rats, mice, rabbits, &c., from their burrows, so that if attacked at the ordinary entrance, they can escape by this, which is always left unused except in case of attack. (Kinahan.)

Bones. If a person magnifies the importance of any matter and talks as if it were some great affair, the other will reply:- 'Oh, you're making great bones about it.'

Bonnive, a sucking-pig. Irish banbh, same sound and meaning. Often used with the diminutive - bonniveen, bonneen. 'Oh look at the baby pigs,' says an Irish lady one day in the hearing of others and myself, ashamed to use the Irish word. After that she always bore the nickname 'Baby pig': - 'Oh, there's the Baby pig.'

Bonnyclabber; thick milk Irish bainne [bonny] milk; and clabar, anything thick or half liquid. 'In use all over America.' (Russell.)

Boochalawn bwee; ragweed: same as boliam, which see.

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Boolanthroor; three men threshing together, instead of the usual two: striking always in time. Irish buail-an-triúr, 'the striking of three.

Booley as a noun; a temporary settlement in the grassy uplands where the people of the adjacent lowland village lived during the summer with their cattle, and milked them and made butter, returning in autumn - cattle and all - to their lowland farms to take up the crops. Used as a verb also: to booley. See my 'Smaller Soc. Hist. of Anc. Ireland,' p.431; or 'Irish Names of Places,' p. 239.

Boolthaun, boulhaun, booltheen, boolshin: the striking part of a flail: from Irish buail [bool], to strike, with the diminutive.

Boon in Ulster, same as Mihul eLsewhere; which see.

Boreen or bohereen, a narrow road. Irish bóthar [boher], a road, with the diminutive.

Borick; a small wooden ball used by boys in hurling or goaling, when the proper leather-covered ball is not to hand. Called in Ulster a nag and also a golley. (Knowles.)

Borreen-brack, 'speckled cake,' speckled with currants and raisins, from Irish bairghín [borreen], a cake, and breac [brack], speckled: specially baked for Hallow-eve. Sometimes corruptly called barmbrack or barn-brack.

Bosthoon: a flexible rod or whip made of a number of green rushes laid together and bound up with single rushes wound round and round. Made by boys in play - as I often made them. Hence 'bosthoon is applied contemptuously to a soft

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worthless spiritless fellow, in much the same sense as poltroon

Bother; merely the Irish word bodhar, deaf, used both as a noun and a verb in English (in the sense of deafening, annoying, troubling, perplexing, teasing): a person deaf or partially deaf is said to be bothered:- 'Who should come in but bothered Nancy Fay. Now be it known that bothered signifies deaf and Nancy was a little old cranky bothered woman.' (Ir. Pen. Mag.) You 'turn the bothered ear' to a person when you do not wish to hear what he says or grant his request. In these applications there is universal in Ireland among all classes - educated as well as uneducated accordingly, as Murray notes, it was first brought into use by Irishmen, such as Sheridan, Swift and Sterne; just as Irishmen of to-day are bringing into currency galore, smithereens, and many other Irish words. In its primary sense of deaf or to deafen, bother is used in the oldest Irish documents: thus in the Book of Leinster we have:- Ro bodrais sind oc imradud do maic, 'Yoy have made us deaf (you have bothered us) talking about your son' (Kuno Meyer): and a similar expression is in use at the present day in the very common phrase 'don't bother me '(don't deafen me, don't annoy me), which is an exact translation of the equally common Irish phrase ná bi am' bhodradh. Those who derive bother from the English pother make a guess, and not a good one. See Bowraun.

Bottheen, a short thick stick or cudgel: the Irish bata with the diminutive:- baitín.

Bottom; a clue or ball of thread. One of the tricks

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of girls on Hallow-eve to find out the destined husband is to go out to the limekiln at night with a ball of yarn; throw in the ball still holding the thread; re-wind the thread, till it is suddenly stopped; call out 'who howlds my bottom of yarn?' when she expects to hear the name of the young man she is to marry.

Bouchal or boochal, a boy: the Irish buachaill, same meaning.

Bouilly-bawn, white home-made bread of wheaten flour; often called bully-bread. (MacCall: Wexford) From Irish bul or búilidhe, a loaf, and bán, white.

Boundhalaun, a plant with thick hollow stem with joints, of which boys make rude syringes. From Irish banndal or bannlamh, a bandle which see), with the dim. termination án. I never saw true boundhalauns outside Munster.

Bourke, the Rev. Father, 71, 161

Bownloch, a sore on the sole of the foot always at the edge: from bonn the foot-sole [pron bown in the South], and loch a mere termination. Also called a Bine-lock.

Bowraun, a sieve-shaped vessel for holding or measuring out corn, with the flat bottom made of dried sheepskin stretched tight; sometimes used as a rude tambourine, from which it gets the name bowraun; Irish bodhur [pron. bower here], deaf, from the bothered or indistinct sound. (South.)

Bow [to rhyme with cow]; a banshee, a fetch (both which see. MacCall: South Leinster). This word has come down to us from very old times, for it preserves the memory of Bugh [Boo], a banshee or fairy queen once very celebrated, the daughter of

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Bove Derg king of the Dedannans or faery-race, of whom information will be obtained in the classical Irish story 'The Fate of the Children of Lir,' the first in my 'Old Celtic Romances.' She has given her name to many hills all through Ireland. (See my 'Irish Names of Places,' I. 182, 183. See Bawshill.)

Box and dice; used to denote the whole lot: I'll send you the books and manuscripts, box and dice.

Boxty; same as the Limerick muddly, which see.

Boy. Every Irishman is a 'boy' till he is married, and indeed often long after. (Crofton Croker: 'Ir. Fairy Legends,')

Brablins: a crowd of children: a rabble. (Monaghan.)

Bracket; speckled: a 'bracket cow.' Ir. breac speckled.

Braddach; given to mischief; roguish. Ir. bradach, a thief: in the same sense as when a mother says to her child, 'You young thief, stop that mischief.' Often applied to cows inclined to break down and cross fences. (Meath and Monaghan.)

Brander; a gridiron. (North.) From Eng. brand.

Brash; a turn of sickness (North ) Water-brash (Munster), severe acidity of the stomach with a flow of watery saliva from the mouth. Brash (North), a short turn at churning or at anything; a stroke of the churndash: 'Give the churn a few trashes.' In Donegal you will hear 'that's a good brash of hail.'

Brave; often used as an intensive:- 'This is a brave fine day'; 'that's a brave big dog': (Ulster) Also fine or admirable 'a brave stack of hay':

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tall, strong, hearty (not necessarily brave in fighting):- ''I have as brave a set of sons as you'd find in a day's walk.' 'How is your sick boy doing?' 'Oh bravely, thank you.'

Braw; fine, handsome Ir. breagh, same sound and meanings. (Ulster.)

Break. You break a grass field when you plough or dig it up for tillage. 'I'm going to break kiln field.' ('Knocknagow.') Used all over Ireland: almost in the same sense as in Gray's Elegy 'Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke.'

Break; to dismiss from employment: 'Poor William O'Donnell was broke last week.' This usage is derived from the Irish language; and a very old usage it is; for we read in the Brehon Laws:- 'Cid nod m-brís in fer-so a bo-airechus?' 'What is it that breaks (dismisses, degrades) the man from his bo-aireship (i.e. from his position as bo-aire or chief)?' My car-driver asked me one time:- 'Can an inspector of National Schools be broke, sir?' By which he meant could he be dismissed at any time without any cause.

Breedoge [d sounded like th in bathe]; a. figure dressed up to represent St. Brigit, which was carried about from house to house by a procession of boys and girls in the afternoon of the 31st Jan. (the eve of the saint's festival), to collect small money contributions. With this money they got up a little rustic evening party with a dance next day, 1st Feb. 'Breedoge' means '[ittle Brighid or Brighit,' Breed (or rather Breedh) representing the sound of Brighid, with óg the old diminutive feminine termination.

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Brecham, the straw collar put on a horse's or an ass's neck: sometimes means the old-fashioned straw saddle or pillion. (Ulster.)

Brehon Law; the old native law of Ireland. A judge or a lawyer was called a 'brehon.'

Brew; a margin, a brink: 'that lake is too shallow to fish from the brews': from the Irish bru, same sound and meaning. See Broo.

Brief; prevalent: 'fever is very brief.' Used all over the southern half of Ireland. Perbaps a mistake for rife.

Brillauns or brill-yauns, applied to the poor articles of furniture in a peasant's cottage. Dick O'Brien and Mary Clancy are getting married as soon as they can gather up the few brill-yauns of furniture. (South-east of Ireland.)

Brine-oge; 'a young fellow full of fun and frolic.' (Carleton: Ulster.)

Bring: our peculiar use of this (for 'take') appears in such phrases as:- 'he brought the cows to the field': 'he brought me to the theatre.' (Hayden and Hartog.) See Carry.

Brock, brockish; a badger. It is just the Irish broc.

Brock, brocket, brockey; applied tO a person heavily pock-marked. I suppose from broc, a badger. (Ulster.)

Brogue, a shoe: Irish bróg. Used also to designate the Irish accent in speaking English: for the old Irish thong-stitched brogue was considered so characteristically Irish that the word was applied to our accent; as a clown is called a cauboge (which see: Munstcr).

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Brohoge or bruhoge; a small batch of potatoes roasted. See Brunoge.

Broken; bankrupt: quite a common expression is:- Poor Phil Burke is 'broken horse and foot'; i.e. utterly bankrupt and ruined.

Broo, the edge of a potato ridge along which cabbages are planted. Irish bru, a margin, a brink.

Brosna, brusna, bresna; a bundle of sticks for firing: a faggot. This is the Irish brosna, universally used in Ireland at the present day: both in Irish and English; and used in the oldest Irish documents. In the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, written in Irish ten centuries ago, we are told that when Patrick was a boy, his foster-mother sent him one day for a brossna of withered branches to make a fire.

Broth of a boy; a good manly brave boy: essence of manhood, as broth is the essence of meat.

Brough; a ring or halo round the moon. It is the Irish bretach, a border.

Broughan; porridge or oatmeal stirabout. Irish brochán. (Ulster.)

Bruggadauns [d sounded like th in they]; the stalks of ferns found in meadows after mowing. (Kerry.)

Brulliagh; a row, a noisy scuffle. (Derry.)

Brunoge; a little batch of potatoes roasted in a fire made in the potato field at digging time: always dry, floury and palatable. (Roscommon.) Irish bruithneóg. See Brohoge.

Brass or briss; small broken bits mixed up with dust: very often applied to turf-dust. Irish brus, bris, same sounds and meaning. (South.)

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Brutteen, brutin, bruteens; the Ulster words for caulcannon; which see. Irish brúightin.

Buckaun; the upright bar of a hinge on which the other part with the door hangs. Irish bocán.

Buckley, Father Darby, 68, 146.

Bucknabarra; any non-edible fungus. (Fermanagh). See Pookapyle.

Buck teeth; superfluous teeth which stand out from the ordinary row. (Knowles: Ulster.)

Buddaree [dd soundel like th in they]; a rich purse-proud vulgar farmer. (Munster.) Irish.

Buff; the skin; to strip to one's buff is to strip naked. Two fellows going to fight with fists strip to their buff i.e. naked from the waist up. (Munster.)

Buggaun (Munster), buggeen (Leinster); an egg without a shell. Irish boy, soft, with the dim. termination.

Bullaun, a bull calf. Irish, as in next word.

Bullavaun, bullavogue; a strong, rough, bullying fellow. From bulla the Irish form of bull. (Moran: Carlow.)

Bullaworrus; a spectral bull 'with fire blazing from his eyes, mouth, and nose,' that guards buried treasure by night. (Limerick.) Irish.

Bullia-bottha (or boolia-botha); a fight with sticks. (Simmons: Armagh.) Irish buaileadh, striking; and bata, a stick.

Bullagadaun [d sounded like th in they]; a short stout pot-bellied fellow. (Munster.) From Irish bolg [pron. bullog], a belly, and the dim.

Bullshin, bullsheen; same as Bullaun.

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Bum; to cart turf to market: bummer, a person who does so as a way of living, like Billy Heffernan in 'Knocknagow.' Bum-bailiff, a bog bailiff. (Grainger: Arm.) Used more in the northern half of Ireland than in the southern.

Bun; the tail of a rabbit. (Simmons: Arm.) Irish bun, the end.

Bunnans; roots or stems of bushes or trees. (Meath.) From Irish bun as in last word.

Bunnaun; a long stick or wattLe. (Joyce: Limerick.)

Bunnioch; the last sheaf bound up in a field of reaped corn. The binder of this (usually a girl) will die unmarried. (MacCall: Wexford.)

Butt; a sort of cart boarded at bottom and all round the sides, 15 or 18 inches deep, for potatoes, sand, &c. (Limerick.) In Cork any kind of horse-cart or donkey-cart is called a butt, which is a departure from the (English) etymology. In Limerick any kind of cart except a butt is called a car; the word cart is not used at all.

Butthoon has much the same meaning as potthalowng, which see. Irish butún, same sound and meaning. (Munster.)

Butter up; to flatter, to cajole by soft sugary words, generally with some selfish object in view:- 'I suspected from the way he was buttering me up that he came to borrow money.'

Byre: the place where the cows are fed and milked; sometimes a house for cows and horses, or a farmyard.

By the same token: this needs no explanation; it is a survival from Tudor English. (Hayden and Hartog.).

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Cabin-hunting; going about from house to house to gossip. (South.)

Cabman's Answer, The, 208.

Cadday; [strong accent on -day] to stray idly about. As a noun an idle stray of a fellow.

Cadge; to hawk goods for sale. (Simmons: Armagh.) To go about idly from house to house, picking up a bit and a sup, wherever they are to be had. (Moran: Carlow.)

Caffler; a contemptible little fellow who gives saucy cheeky foolish talk. Probabiy a mispronunciation of caviller. (Munster.)

Cagger; a sort of pedlar who goes to markets and houses selling small goods and often taking others in exchange. (Kinahan: South and West.)

Cahag; the little cross-piece on the end of a spade-handle) or of any handle. (Mon.)

Cailey; a friendly evening visit in order to have a gossip. There are usually several persons at a cailey, and along with the gossiping talk there are songs or music. Irish céilidh, same sound and meaning. Used all over Ireland, but more in the North than elsewhere.

Calleach na looha [Colleagh: accented on 2nd syll. in South; on 1st in North] 'hag of the ashes.' Children - and sometimes old children think that a littLe hag resides in the ashpit beside the fire. Irish cailleach, an old woman: luaith, ashes.

Calleach-rue ('red hag'); a little reddish brown fish about 4 inches long, plentiful in small streams. We boys thought them delicious when broiled on the turf-coals. We fished for them either with a loop-snare made of a single

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horsehair on the end of a twig with which it was very hard to catch them; for, as the boys used to say, 'they were cute little divels' - or directly - like the sportsmen of old - with a spear - the same spear being nothing but an auld fork.

Caish; a growing pig about 8 months old. (Munster.)

Call; claim, right: 'put down that spade; you have no call to it.'

Bedad,' says he, 'this sight is queer,
My eyes it does badizen - O;
What call have you marauding here,
Or how daar you leave your prison - O?'

(Repeai Song: 1843.)

Need, occasion: they lived so near each ether that there was no call to send letters. 'Why are you shouting that way?' 'I have a good call] to shout, and that blackguard running away with my apples.' Father O'Flynn could teach on many subjects:- 'Down from mythology into thayology, Troth! and conchology if he'd the call.' (A. P. Graves.) Used everywhere in Ireland in these several senses.

Call; custom in business: Our new shopheeper is getting great call, i.e. his customers are numerous. South.)

Cam or caum; a metal vessel for making resin to make sluts or long torches; also used to melt metal for coining. (Simmons: Armagh.) Called a grisset in Munster. Usually of a curved shape: Irish cam, curved.

Candle. 'Jack Brien is a good scholar, but he couldn't hold a candle to Tom Murphy': i.e. he

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is very inferior to him. The person that holds a candle for a workman is a mere attendant and quite an inferior.

Cannags; the stray ears left after the corn has been reaped and gathered. (Morris: Mon.) Called liscauns in Munster.

Caper: oat-cake and butter. (Simmons: Armagh.)

Caravat and Shanavest; the names of two hostile factions in Kilkenny and all round about there, of the early part of last century. Like Three-year-old and Four-year-old. Irish Caravat, a cravat; and Shanavest, old vest: which names were adopted, but no one can tell why.

Card-cutter; a fortune-teller by card bricks. Card-callers were pretty common in Limerick in my early days: but it was regarded as disreputable to have any dealings with them.

Cardia; friendship, a friendly welcome, additional time granted for paying a debt. (All over Ireland.) Ir. cáirde, same meanings.

Cardinal Points, 168

Carleycue; a very small coin of some kind. Used like keenoge and cross, (Very general.)

Carn; a heap of anything; a monumental pile of stones heaped up over a dead person. Irish carn, same meanings.

Caroline or 'Caroline hat'; a tall hat. ('Knocknagow': all over Munster.)

Caroogh, an expert or professional card-player. (Munster.) Irish cearrbhach, same sound and meaning.

Carra, Carrie; a weir on a river. (Derry.) Irish carra, same meaning.

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Carrigaholt in Clare, 145.

Carry; to lead or drive: 'James, carry down those cows to the river' (i.e. drive): 'carry the horse to the forge' (lead). 'I will carry my family this year to Youghal for the salt water.' (Kinahan: South, West, and North-west.) See Bran g.

Case: the Irish cás, and applied in the same way: 'It is a poor case that I have to pay for jour extravagance.' Nách dubhach bocht un cás bheith ag tuitim le ghrádh: 'isn't it a poor case to be failing through love.' - Old Irish Song. Our dialectical Irish case, as above, is taken straight from the Irish cás; but this and the standard English case are both borrowed from Latin.

Cassnara; respect, anything done out of respect: 'He put on his new coat for a casnara. (Morris: South Mon.)

Castor oil was our horror when we were children. No wonder; for this story went about of how it was made. A number of corpses were hanging from hooks round the walls of the factory, and drops were continually falling from their big toes into vessels standing underneath. This was castor oil.

Catin clay; clay mixed with rushes or straws used in building the mud walls of cottages. (Simmons: Arm.)

Cat of a kind: they're 'cat of a kind,' both like each other and both objectionable.

Cat's lick; used in and around Dublin to express exactly the same as the Munster Scotch lick, which see. A cat has a small tongue and does not dc much licking,

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Caubeen; an old shabby cap or hat Irish cáibín: he wore a 'shocking bad caubeen.'

Cauboge; originally an old hat, like caubeen; but now applied - as the symbol of vulgarity - to anignorant fellow, a boor, a bumpkin: 'What else could you expect from that cauboge?' (South.)

Caulcannon, Calecanpon, Colecannon, Kalecannon; potatoes mashed with butter and milk, with chopped up cabbage and pot-herbs. In Munster often made and eaten on Hallow Eve. The first syllable is the Irish cál, cabbage; cannon is also Irish, meaning speckled.

Caur, kindly, good-natured, affable. (Morris: South Mon.)

Cawmeen; a mote: 'there's a cawmeen in my eye.' (Moran: Carlow.) Irish with the diminutive.

Cawsha Pooka; the big fungus often seen growing on old trees or elsewhere. From Irish cáise, cheese: the 'Pooka's cheese.' See Pooka, and Pookapyle and Bucknabarra.

Cead míle fáilte [caidh meela faultha], a hundred thousand welcomes. Irish, and universal in Ireland as a salute.

Ceólaun [keolaun], a trifling contemptible little fellow. (Munster.

Cess; very often used in the combination bad cess (bad luck): - 'Bad cess to me but there's something comin' over me.' (Kickhm: 'Knocknagow.') Some think this is a contraction of success; others that it is to be taken as it stands - a cess or contribution; which receives some little support from its use in Louth to mean 'a quantity of corn in for threshing.'

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Chalk Sunday; the first Sunday after Shrove Tuesday (first Sunday in Lent), when those young men who should have been married, but were not, were marked with a heavy streak of chalk on the back of the Sunday coat, by boys who carried bits of chalk in their pockets for that purpose, and lay in wait for the bachelors. The marking was done while the congregation were assembling for Mass: and the young fellow ran for his life, always laughing, and often singing the concluding words of some suitable doggerel such as:- 'And you are not married though Lent has come!' This custom prevailed in Munster. I saw it in full play in Limerick: but I think it has died out. For the air to which the verses were sung, see my 'Old Irish Music and Songs,' p. 12.

Champ (Down); the same as caucannon,' which see. Also potatoes mashed with butter and milk; same as 'pandy,' which see.

Chanter; to go about grumbling and fault-finding. (Ulster.)

Chapel: Church: Scallan, 143.

Chaw for chew, 97. 'Chawing the rag'; continually grumbling, jawing, and giving abuse. (Kinahan.)

Cheek; impudence; brass: cheeky; presumptuous.

Chincough, whooping-cough: from kink-cough. See Kink.

Chittering; constantly muttering complaints. (Knowles.)

Chook chook [the oo sounded rather short]; a call for hens. It is the Irish tiuc, come.

Christian; a human being as distinguished from one of the lower animals:- 'That dog has nearly as much sense as a Christian.'

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Chuff: full. - I'm chuffey after my dinner.' (MacCall: Wexford.)

Clabber, clobber, or clawber; mud: thick milk. See Bonnyclabber.

Clamp; a small rick of turf, built up regularly. (All through Ireland.)

Clamper; a dispute, a wrangle. (Munster.) Irish clampar, same meaning.

Clarsha; a lazy woman. (Morris: South Monaghan.)

Clart; an untidy dirty woman, especially in preparing food. (Simmons: Armagh.)

Clash, to carry tales: Clashbag, a tale-bearer. (Simmons: Armagh.)

Classy; a drain running through a byre or stable-yard. (Morris: South Monaghan.) Irish clais, a trench, with the diminutive y added.

Clat; a slovenly untidy person; dirt, clay: 'wash the clat off your hands': clatty; slovenly, untidy - (Ulster): called clotty in Kildare; - a slattern.

Clatch; a brood of chickens. (Ulster.) See Clutch.

Cleean [2-syll.]; a relation by marriage - such as a father-in-law. Two persons so related are cleeans. Irish cliamhan, same sound and meaning

Cleever; one who deals in poultry; because he carries them in a cleeve or large wicker basket, (Morris: South Monaghan.) Irish cliabh [cleeve], a basket.

Cleevaun; a cradle: also a crib or cage for catching birds. The diminutive of Irish cliabh or cleeve, a wicker basket.

Clegg; a horsefly. (Ulster and Carlow.)

Clehalpeen; a shillelah or cudgel with a knob at the end. (South.) From Irish cleath, a wattle, and ailpin dim. of alp, a knob. 

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Clever is applied to a man who is tall, straight, and well made.

Clevvy; three or four shelves one over another in a wall: a sort of small open cupboard like a dresser. (All over the South.)

Clibbin, clibbeen; a young colt. (Donegal.) Irish clibín, same sound and meaning.

Clibbock; a young horse. (Derry.)

Clift; a light-headed person, easily roused and rendered foolishly excited. (Ulster.)

Clipe-clash: a tell-tale. (Ulster.) See Clash.

Clochaun, clochan; a row of stepping-stones across a river. (General.) From Irish cloch, a stone, with the diminutive dn.

Clock; a black beetle. (South.)

Clocking hen; a hen hatching. (General.) From the sound or clock she utters.

Clooracaun or cluracaun, another name for a leprachaun, which see.

Close; applied to a day means simply warm :-' This is a very close day.'

Clout; a blow with the hand or with anything. Also a piece of cloth, a rag, commonly used in the diminutive form in Munster - cloutheen. Cloutheens is specially applied to little rags used with an infant. Clout is also applied to a clownish person:- 'It would be well if somebody would teach that clown some manners.'

Clove; to clove flax is to scutch it - to draw each handful repeatedly between the blades of a 'cloving tongs,' so as to break off and remove the brittle husk, leaving the fibre smooth and free.

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Clutch; a brood of chickens or of any fowls: same as clatch. I suppose this is English: Waterton (an English traveller) uses it in his 'Wanderings'; but it is not in the Dictionaries of Chambers and Webster.

Cluthoge; Easter eggs. (P. Reilly; Kildare.)

Cly-thoran; a wall or ditch between two estates. (Roscommon.) Irish cladh [cly], a raised dyke or fence; teóra, gen. teórann [thoran], a boundary.

Cobby-house; a little house made by children for play. (Munster.)

Cockles off the heart, 194.

Cog; to copy surreptitiously; to crib something from the writings of another and pass it off as your own. One schoolboy will sometimes copy from another:- 'You cogged that sum.'

Coghil; a sort of long-shaped pointed net. (Armagh.) Irish cochal, a net.

Coldoy; a bad halfpenny: a spurious worthless article of jewellery. (Limerick.)

Colleen; a young girl. (All over Ireland.) Irish cailin, same sound and meaning.

Colley; the woolly dusty fluffy stuff that gathers under furniture and in remote corners of rooms. Light soot-smuts flying about.

Colloge; to talk and gossip in a familiar friendly way. An Irish form of the Latin or English word 'colloquy.'

Collop; a standard measure of grazing land, p.177.

Collop; the part of a flail that is held in the hand. (Munster.) See Boolthaun. Irish colpa.

Come-all-ye; a nickname applied to Irish Folk Songs and Music; an old country song; from the

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beginning of many of the songs:- 'Come all ye tender Christians,' &c. This name, intended to be reproachful, originated among ourselves, after the usual habit of many 'superior' Irishmen to vilify their own country and countrymen and all their customs and peculiarities. Observe, this opening is almost equally common in English Folk-songs; yet the English do not make game of them by nicknames. Irish music, which is thus vilified by some of our brethren, is the most beautiful Folk Music in the world.

Comether; come hether or hither, 97.

Commaun, common; the game of goaling or hurley. So called from the commaun or crooked-shaped stick with which it is played: Irish cam or com', curved or crooked; with the diminutive - camán. Called hurling and goaling by English speakers in Ireland, and shinney in Scotland.

Commons; land held in common by the people of a village or small district: see p. 177.

Comparisons, 186.

Conacre; letting land in patches for a short period. A farmer divides a large field into small portions - ¼ acre, ½ acre, &c. - and lets them to his poorer neighbours usually for one season for a single crop, mostly potatoes, or in Ulster flax. He generally undertakes to manure the whole field, and charges high rents for the little lettings. I saw this in practice more than 60 years ago in Munster. Irish con, common, and Eng. acre

Condition; in Munster, to 'change your condition' is to get married.

Condon, Mr. John, of Mitchelstown, 155.

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Conny, canny; discreet, knowing, cute.

Contrairy, for contrary, but accented on second syll.; cross, perverse, cranky, crotchety, 102.

Convenient: see Handy.

Cool: hurlers and football players always put one of their best players to mind cool or stand cool, i.e. to stand at their own goal or gap, to intercept the ball if the opponents should attempt to drive it through. Universal in Munster. Irish cúl [cool], the back. The full word is cool-baur-ya where 'baur-ya'is the goal or gap. The man standing cool is often called 'the man in the gap' (see p. 182).

Cool; a good-sized roll of butter. (Munster.)

Cooleen or coulin; a fair-haired girl. This is the name of a celebrated Irish air. From cúl the back [of the head], and fionn, white or fair: - cúil-fhionn, [pron. cooleen or coolin].

Coonagh; friendly, familiar, great (which see): - These two are very coonagh.' (MacCall: Wexford.) Irish cuaine, a family.

Coonsoge, a bees' nest. (Cork.) Irish cuansa [coonsa], a hiding-place, with the diminutive óg.

Cooramagh; kindly, careful, thoughtful, provident:- 'No wonder Mrs. Dunn would look well and happy with such a cooramagh husband.' Irish curamach, same meaning.

Coord [d sounded like th in bathe], a friendly visit to a neighbour's house. Irish cuaird, a visit. Coordeeagh, same meaning. (Munster.)

Cope-curley; to stand on the head and throw the heels over; to turn head over heels. (Ulster.)

Core: work given as a sort of loan to be paid back.

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I send a man on core, for a day to my neighbour: when next I want a man he will send me one for a day in return. So with horses: two one-horse farmers who work their horses in pairs, borrowing alternately, are said to be in core. Very common in Munster. Irish cobhair or cabhair [core or co-ir, 2-syll.] help, support.

Coreeagh; a man who has a great desire to attend funerals - goes to every funeral that he can possibly reach. (Munster.) Same root as last.

Corfuffle; to toss, shake, confuse, mix up. (Derry.)

Correesk; a crane. (Kildare.) Irish corr, a bird of the crane kind, and riasc [reesk], a marsh.

Cosher [the o long as in motioni; banqueting, feasting. In very old times in Ireland, certain persons went about with news from place to place, and were entertained in the high class houses: this was called coshering, and was at one time forbidden by law. In modern times it means simply a friendly visit to a neighbour's house to have a quiet talk. Irish cóisir, a banquet, feasting.

Costnent. When a farm labourer has a cottage and garden from his employer, and boards himself, he lives costnent. He is paid small wages (called costnet wages) as he has house and plot free. (Derry.)

Cot; a small boat: Irish cot. See 'Irish Names of Places,' 1. 226, for places deriving their names from cots.

Cowlagh; an old ruined house. (Kerry.) Irish coblach [cowlagh].

Coward's blow; a blow given to provoke a boy to fight or else be branded as a coward.

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Cow's lick. When the hair in front over the forehead turns at the roots upward and backward, that is a cow's lick, as if a cow had licked it upwards. The idea of a cow licking the hair is very old in Irish literature. In the oldest of all our miscellaneous Irish mss. - The Book of the Dun Cow - Cuculainn's hair is so thick and smooth that king Laery, who saw him, says:- 'I should imagine it is a cow that licked it.'

Cox, Mr. Simon, of Galbally, 156.

Craags; great fat hands; big handfuls. (Morris: South Mon.)

Crab: a cute precocious little child is often called an old crab. 'Crabjaw' has the same meaning.

Cracked; crazy, half mad.

Cracklins; the browned crispy little flakes that remain after rendering or melting lard and pouring it off. (Simmons: Armagh.)

Crahauns or Kirraghauns; very small potatoes not used by the family: given to pigs. (Munster.) Irish creathán.

Crans (always in pl.); little tricks or dodges. (Limk.)

Crapper; a half glass of whiskey. (Moran: Carlow.)

Craw-sick; ill in the morning after a drunken bout.

Crawtha; sorry, mortified, pained. (Limerick.) Irish cráidhte [crawtha], same meaning.

Crawthumper; a person ostentatiously devotional.

Creelacaun: see Skillaun.

Creel; a strong square wicker frame, used by itself for holding turf, &c., or put on asses backs (in pairs). or put on carts for carrying turf or for taking calves, bonnives, &c., to market. Irish críol, (All through Ireland.)

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Creepy; a small stool, a stool. (Chiefly in Ulster.)

Crith; hump on the back. Irish cruit, same sound and meaning. From this comes critthera and critthten, both meaning a hunchback.

Cro, or cru: a house for cows. (Kerry.) Irish cro, a pen, a fold, a shed for any kind of animals.

Croaked; I am afraid poor Nancy is croaked, i.e. doomed to death. The raven croaks over the house when one of the family is about to die. (MacCall: Wexford.)

Croft; a water bottle, usually for a bedroom at night. You never hear carafe in Ireland: it is always croft.

Cromwell, Curse of, 166.

Crumel'ly. (Limerick.) More correctly curr anvilly. (Donegal.) An herb found in grassy fields with a sweet root that children dig up and eat. Irish 'honey-root.'

Cronaun, croonaun; a low humming air or song, any continuous humming sound: 'the old woman was cronauning in the corner.'

Cronebane, cronebaun; a bad halfpenny, a worthless copper coin. From Cronebane in Co. Wicklow, where copper mines were worked.

Croobeen or crubeen; a pig's foot. Pigs' croobeens boiled are a grand and favourite viand among us - all through Ireland. Irish crúb [croob], a foot, with the diminutive.

Croost; to throw stones or clods from the hand 'Those boys are always croosting stones at my hens.' Irish crústa [croostha], a missile, a clod.

Croudy: see Porter-meal.

Crowl or Croil; a dwarf, a very small person: the smallest bonnive of the litter, An Irish word.

[p.243]

Cruiskeen; a little cruise for holding liquor. Used all over Ireland.

'In a shady nook one moonlight night
A leprechaun I spied;
With scarlet cap and coat of green,
A cruiskeen by his side.'

The Cruiskeen Laun is the name of a well-known Irish air - the Scotch call it 'John Anderson my Jo.' Irish cruiscín, a pitcher: lán [laun], full i.e. in this case full of pottheen.

Crusheen; a stick with a flat crosspiece fastened at bottom for washing potatoes in a basket. Irish cros, a cross, with the diminutive. Also called a boghaleen, from Irish bachal, a staff, with diminutive. (Joyce: Limerick.)

Cuck; a tuft: applied to the little tuft of feathers on the head of some birds, such as plovers, some hens and ducks, &c. Irish coc: same sound and meaning. (General.)

Cuckles; the spiky seed-pods of the thistle: thistle heads. (Limerick.)

Cuckoo spit; the violet: merely the translation of the Irish name, sail-chuach, spittle of cuckoos. Also the name of a small frothy spittle-like sub-stance often found on leaves of plants in summer, with a little greenish insect in the middle of it. (Limerick.)

Cugger-mugger; whispering, gossiping in a low voice: Jack and Bessie had a great cugger-mugger. Irish cogar, whisper, with a similar duplication meaning nothing, like tip-top, shilly-shally, gibble-gabble, clitter-clatter, &c. I think 'hugger-

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mugger' is a form of this: for hugger can't be derived from anything, whereas cugger (cogur) is a plain Irish word.

Cull; When the best of a lot of any kind - sheep, cattle, books, &c. - have been picked out, the bad ones that are left - the refuse - are the culls. (Kinahan: general.)

Culla-greefeen; when foot or hand is 'asleep' with the feeling of 'pins and needles.' The name is Irish and means 'Griffin's sleep'; but why so called I cannot tell. (Munster.)

Cup-tossing; reading fortunes from tea-leaves thrown out on the saucer from the tea-cup or teapot. (General.)

Cur; a twist: a cur of a rope. (Joyce: Limerick.)

Curate; a common little iron poker kept in use to spare the grand one: also a grocer's assistant. (Hayden and Hartog.)

Curcuddiagh; cosy, comfortable. (Maxwell: 'Wild Sports of the West': Irish: Mayo.)

Curifixes; odd curious ornaments or fixtures of any kind. (General.) Peter Brierly, looking at the knocker:- 'I never see such curifixes on a doore afore.' (Edw. Walsh: very general.)

Curragh; a wicker boat covered formerly with hides but now with tarred canvass. (See my 'Smaller Social Hist. of Anc. Ireland.')

Current; in good health: he is not current; his health is not current. (Father Higgins: Cork.)

Curwhibbles, currifibbles,currywhibbles; any strange, odd, or unusual gestures; or any unusual twisting of words, such as prevarication; wild puzzles and puzzling talk:- 'The horsemen are in regular currywhibles about something.' (R. D. Joyce.)

[p.245]

Cush; a sort of small horse, from Cushendall in Antrim.

Cushlamochree; pulse of my heart. Irish cuisle, vein or pulse; mo, my; croidhe [cree], heart.

Cushoge; a stem of a plant; sometimes used the same as traneen, which see. (Moran: Carlow; and Morris: Monaghan.)

Cut; a county or barony cess tax; hence Cutman, the collector of it. (Kinahan: Armagh and Donegal) 'The three black cuts will be levied.' (Seumas MacManus: Donegal.)

Daisy-picker; a person who accompanies two lovers in their walk; why so called obvious. Brought to keep off gossip.

Dalk, a thorn. (De Vismes Kane: North and South.) Irish dealg [dallog], a thorn.

Dallag [d sounded like th in that]; any kind of covering to blindfold the eyes (Morris: South Monaghan): 'blinding,' from Irish dall, blind.

Dallapookeen; blindman's buff. (Kerry.) From Irish dalladh [dalla] blinding; and puicín [pookeenj, a covering over the eyes.

Daltheen [the d sounded like th in that], an impudent conceited little fellow: a diminutive of dalta, a foster child. The diminutive dalteen was first applied to a horseboy, from which it has drifted to its present meaning.

Dancing customs, 170, 172.

Dannagh; mill-dust and mill-grains for feeding pigs. (Moran: Carlow: also Tip.) Irish deanach, same sound and meaning.

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Dander [second d sounded like th in hither], to walk about leisurely: a leisurely walk.

Dandy; a small tumbler; commonly used for drinking punch.

Darradail or daradeel [the d's sounded like th in that] a sort of long black chafer or beetle. It raises its tail when disturbed, and has a strong small of apples. There is a religious legend that when our Lord was escaping from the Jews, barefoot, the stones were marked all along by traces of blood from the bleeding feet. The daradail followed the traces of blood; and the Jews following, at length overtook and apprehended our Lord. Hence the people regard the daradail with intense hatred, and whenever they come on it, kill it instantly. Irish darbh-daol.

Dark; blind: 'a dark man.' (Very general.) Used constantly even in official and legal documents, as in workhouse books, especially in Munster. (Healy.)

Darrol; the smallest of the brood of pigs, fowl, &c. (Mayo.) Irish dearóil, small, puny, wretched.

Davis, Thomas, vi. 83, &c.

Dead beat or dead bet; tired out.

Dear; used as a sort of intensive adjective:- 'Tom ran for the dear life' (as fast as he could). (Crofton Croker.) 'He got enough to remember all the dear days of his life.' ('Dub. Pen. Journ.')

Dell; a lathe. Irish deil, same sound and meaning. (All over Munster.)

Devil's needle; the dragon-fly. Translation of the Irish name snathad-a'-diabhail [snahad-a-dheel].

Deshort [to rhyme with port]; a sudden interruption, a surprise: 'I was taken at a deshort.' (Derry.)

Devil, The, and his 'territory,' 56.

Dickonce; one of the disguised names of the devil used in white cursing: 'Why then the dickonce take you for one gander.' (Gerald Griffin.)

Diddy; a woman's pap or breast: a baby sucks its mother's diddy. Diminutive of Irish did, same.

Dido; a girl who makes herself ridiculous with fantastic finery. (Moran: Carlow.)

Didoes (singular dido); tricks, antics: 'quit your didoes. (Ulster.)

Dildron or dildern; a bowraun, which see.

Dillesk, dulsk, dulse or dilse; a sort of sea plant growing on rocks, formerly much used (when dried) as an article of food (as kitchen), and still eaten in single leaves as a sort of relish. Still sold by basket-women in Dublin. Irish duilisc.

Dip. When the family dinner consisted of dry potatoes, i.e. potatoes without milk or any other drink, dip was often used, that is to say, gravy or broth, or water flavoured in any way in plates, into which the potato was dipped at each bit. I once saw a man using dip of plain water with mustard in it, and eating his dinner with great relish. You will sometimes read of 'potatoes and point,' namely, that each person, before taking a bite, pointed the potato at a salt herring or a bit of bacon hanging in front of the chimney: but this is mere fun, and never occurred in real life.

Disciple; a miserable looking creature of a man. Shane Glas was a long lean scraggy wretched looking fellow (but really strong and active), and another says to him - jibing and railing - 'Away with ye, ye miserable disciple. Arrah, by the hole

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of my coat, after you dance your last jig upon nothing, with your hemp cravat on, I'll coax yer miserable carcase from the hangman to frighten the crows with.' (Edw. Walsh in 'Pen. Journ.')

Disremember: to forget. Good old English; now out off fashion in England, but common in Ireland.

Ditch. In Ireland a ditch is a raised fence or earthen wall or mound, and a dyke (or sheuch as they call it in Donegal and elsewhere in Ulster) is a deep cutting, commonly filled with water. In England both words mean exactly the reverse. Hence 'hurlers on the ditch,' or 'the best hurlers are on the ditch' (where speakers of pure English would use 'fence') said in derision of persons who are mere idle spectators sitting up on high watching the game - whatever it may be - and boasting how they would do the devil an' all if they were only playing. Applied in a broad sense to those who criticise persons engaged in any strenuous affair - critics who think they could do better.

Dollop; to adulterate: 'that coffee is dolloped.'

Donny; weak, in poor health. Irish donaidhe, same sound and meaning. Hence donnaun, a poor weakly creature, same root with the diminutive. From still the same root is donsy, sick-looking.

Donagh-dearnagh, the Sunday before Lammas (lst August). (Ulster.) Irish Domnach, Sunday; and deireannach, last, i.e. last Sunday of the period before 1st August.

Doodoge [the two d's sounded like th in thus]; a big bunch of snuff. I Limk.] Irish dúdóg.

Dooraght [d sounded as in the last, word]; tender care and kindness shown to a person. Irish

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dúthracht, same sound and meaning. In parts of Ulster it means a small portion given over and above what is purchased (Simmons and Knowles); called elsewhere a tilly, which see. This word, inits sense of kindness, is very old; for in the Brehon Law we read of land set aside by a father for his daughter through dooraght.

Doorshay-daurshay [d in both sounded as th in thus], mere hearsay or gossip. The first part is Irish, representing the sound of dubhairt-sé, 'said he.' The second part is a mere doubling of the first, as we find in many English words, such as 'fiddle-faddle,' 'tittle-tattle' (which resembles our word). Often used by Munster lawyers in court, whether Irish-speaking or not, in depreciation of hearsay evidence in contradistinction to the evidence of looking-on. Ah, that's all mere doorshay-daurshay.' Common all over Munster. The information about the use of the term in law courts I got from Mr. Maurice Healy. A different form is sometimes heard:- D'innis bean dom gur innis bean dí, 'a woman told me that a woman told her.'

Dornoge [d sounded as in doodoge above]; a small round lump of a stone, fit to be cast from the hand. Irish dorn, the shut hand, with the dim. óg.

Double up; to render a person helpless either in fight or in argument. The old tinker in the fair got a blow of an amazon's fist which 'sent him sprawling and doubled him up for the rest of the evening.' (Robert Dwyer Joyce: 'Madeline's Vow.')

Down in the heels; broken down in fortune (one mark of which is the state of the heels of shoes).

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Down blow; a heavy or almost ruinous blow of any kind:- 'The loss of that cow was a down blow to poor widow Cleary.'

Downface; to persist boldly in an assertion (whether true or no): He downfaced me that he returned the money I lent him, though he never did.

Down-the-banks; a scolding, a reprimand, punishment of any kind.

Dozed: a piece of timber is dozed when there is a dry rot in the heart of it. (Myself for Limk.: Kane for North.)

Drad; A grin or contortion of the mouth. (Joyce.)

Drag home. (Simmons; Armagh: same as Hauling home, which see.)

Drass; a short time, a turn:- 'You walk a drass now and let me ride': 'I always smoke a drass before I go to bed of a night.' ('Collegians,' Limerick.) Irish dreas, same sound and meaning.

Drench: a form of the English drink, but used in a peculiar sense in Ireland. A drench is a philtre, a love-potion, a love-compelling drink over which certain charms were repeated during its preparation. Made by boiling certain herbs (orchis) in water or milk, and the person drinks it unsuspectingly. In my boyhood time a beautiful young girl belonging to a most respectable family ran off with an ill-favoured obscure beggarly diseased wretch. The occurrence was looked on with great astonishment and horror by the people - no wonder; and the universal belief was that the fellow's old mother had given the poor girl a drench. To this hour I cannot make any guess at the cause of that astounding elopement: and it is

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not surprising that the people were driven to the supernatural for an explanation.

Dresser; a set of shelves and drawers in a frame in a kitchen for holding plates, knives, &c.

Drisheen is now used in Cork as an English word, to denote a sort of pudding made of the narrow intestines of a sheep, filled with blood that has been cleared of the red colouring matter, and mixed with meal and some other ingredients. So far as I know, this viand and its name are peculiar to Cork, where drisheen is considered suitable for persons of weak or delicate digestion. (I should observe that a recent reviewer of one of my books states that drisheen is also made in Waterford.) Irish dreas or driss, applied to anything slender, as a bramble, one of the smaller intestines, &c. - with the diminutive.

Drizzen, a sort of moaning sound uttered by a cow. (Derry).

Drogh; the worst and smallest bonnive in a litter. (Armagh.) Irish droch, bad, evil. (See Eervar.)

Droleen; a wren: merely the Irish word dreoilín.

Drop; a strain of any kind 'running in the blood.' A man inclined to evil ways 'has a bad drop' in him (or 'a black drop'): a miser 'has a hard drop.' The expression carries an idea of heredity.

Drugget; a cloth woven with a mixture of woollen and flaxen thread: so called from Drogheda where it was once extensively manufactured. Now much used as cheap carpeting.

Druids and Druidism, 178.

Drumaun; a wide back-band for a ploughing horse,

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with hooks to keep the traces in place. (Joyce: Limerick.) From Irish druim, the back.

Drummagh; the back strap used in yoking two horses. (Joyce: Limerick.) Irish druim, the back, with the termination -ach, equivalent to English -ous and -y.

Dry potatoes; potatoes eaten without milk or any other drink.

Dry lodging; the use of a bed merely, without food.

Drynaun-dun or drynan-dun [two d's sounded like th in that]; the blackthorn, the sloe-bush. Irish droigheanán [drynan or drynaun], and donn, brown-coloured.

Ducks; trousers of snow-white canvas, much used as summer wear by gentle and simple 50 or 60 years ago.

Dudeen both d's sounded like th in those; a smoking-pipe with a very short stem. Irish dúidínn, dúd, a pipe, with the diminutive.

Duggins; rags: 'that poor fellow is all in duggins.' (Armagh.)

Dull; a loop or eye on a string. (Monaghan.)

Dullaghan [d sounded as th in those]; a large trout. (Kane: Monaghan.) An Irish word.

Dullaghan; 'a hideous kind of hobgoblin generally met with in churchyards, who can take off and put on his head at will. (From 'Irish Names of Places,' I. 198, which see for more about this spectre. See Croker's 'Fairy Legends.')

Dullamoo [d sounded like th in those]; a wastrel, a scapegrace, a ne'er-do-weel. Irish dul, going; amudha [amoo], astray, to loss:-dullamoo, 'a person going to the bad,' 'going to the dogs.'

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Dundeen; a lump of bread without butter. (Derry.)

Dunisheen; a small weakly child. (Moran: Carlow.). Irish donaisín, an unfortunate being; from donas, with diminutive. See Donny.

Dunner; to knock loudly at a door. (Ulster.)

Dunt (sometimes dunch), to strike or butt like a cow or goat with the head. A certain lame old man (of Armagh) was nicknamed 'Dunt the pad (path'). (Ulster.)

Durneen, one of the two handles of a scythe that project from the main handle. Irish doirnín, same sound and meaning: diminutive from dorn, the fist, the shut hand.

Durnoge; a strong rough leather glove, used on the left hand by faggot cutters. (MacCall: Wexford.) Dornoge, given above, is the same word but differently applied.

Duty owed by tenants to landlords, 181.

Earnest; 'in earnest' is often used in the sense of 'really and truly':- 'You're a man in earnest, Cus, to strike the first blow on a day [of battle] like this.' (R. D. Joyce.)

Eervar; the last pig in the litter. This bonnive being usually very small and hard to keep alive is often given to one or the children for a pet; and it is reared in great comfort in a warm bed by the kitchen fire, and fed on milk. I once, when a child, had an eervar of my own which was the joy of my life. Irish iarmhar [eervar], meaning 'something after all the rest'; the hindmost. (Munster.) See Drogh for Ulster.

Elder; a cow¹s udder, All over Ireland,

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Elegant. This word is used among us, not in its proper sense, but to designate anything good or excellent of its kind:- An elegant penknife, an elegant gun:- 'That's an elegant pig of yours, Jack?' Our milkman once offered me a present for my garden - 'An elegant load of dung.'

I haven't the janius for work,
For 'twas never the gift of the Bradys;
But I'd make a most elegant Turk,
For I'm fond of tobacco and ladies.

(Lever.)

'How is she [the sick girl] coming on?' 'Elegant,' was the reply. ('Knocknagow.')

Elementary schools, 159.

Exaggeration and redundancy, 120.

Existence, way of predicating, 23.

Eye of a bridge; the arch.

Faireen (south), fairin (north); a present either given in a fair or brought from it. Used in another sense - a lasting injury of any kind:- 'Poor Joe got a faireen that day, when the stone struck him on the eye, which I'm afraid the eye will never recover.' Used all over Ireland and in Scotland.

Ah Tam, ah Tam, thou'lt get thy fairin',
In hell they'll rout thee like a herrin'.

(Burns.)

Fair-gurthra; 'hungry grass.' There is a legend all through Ireland that small patches of grass grow here and there on mountains; and if a person in walking along happens to tread on one of them he is instantly overpowered with hunger so as to

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be quite unable to walk, and if help or food is not at hand he will sink down and perish. That persons are attacked and rendered helpless by sudden hunger on mountains in this manner is certain. Mr. Kinahan gives me an instance where he had to carry his companion, a boy, on his back a good distance to the nearest house: and Maxwell in 'Wild Sports of the West' gives others. But he offers the natural explanation: that a person is liable to sink suddenly with hunger if he undertakes a hard mountain walk with a long interval after food. Irish feur, grass; gorta, hunger.

Fairy breeze. Sometimes on a summer evening you suddenly feel a very warm breeze: that is a band of fairies travelling from one fort to another; and people on such occasions usually utter a short prayer, not knowing whether the 'good people' are bent on doing good or evil. (G. H. Kinahan.) Like the Shee-geeha, which see.

Fairy-thimble, the same as 'Lusmore,' which see.

Famished; distressed for want of something:- 'I am famished for a smoke - for a glass,' &c.

Farbreaga; a scarecrow. Irish fear, a man: breug falsehood: a false or pretended man.

Farl; one quarter of a griddle cake. (Ulster.)

Faúmera [the r has the slender sound]; a big strolling beggarman or idle fellow. From the Irish Fomor. The Fomors or Fomora or Fomorians were one of the mythical colonies that came to Ireland (see any of my Histories of Ireland, Index): some accounts represent them as giants. In Clare the country people that go to the seaside in summer for the benefit of the 'salt water' are

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called Fawmeras. In Tramore they are called olishes [o long]; because in the morning before breakfast they go down to the strand and take a good swig of the salt water - an essential part of the cure - and when one meets another he (or she) asks in Irish 'ar ólish,' 'did you drink?' In Kilkee the dogfish is called Faumera, for the dogfish is among the smaller fishes like what legend represents the Fomorians in Ireland.

Faustus, Dr., in Irish dialect, 60.

Fear is often used among us in the sense of danger. Once during a high wind the ship's captain neatly distinguished it when a frightened lady asked him:- 'Is there any fear, sir?' 'There's plenty of fear, madam, but no danger.'

Feck or fack; a spade. From the very old Irish word, fec, same sound and meaning.

Fellestrum, the flagger (marsh plant). Irish felestrom. (South.)

Fetch; what the English call a double, a preternatural apparition of a living person, seen usually by some relative or friend. If seen in the morning the person whose fetch it is will have a long and prosperous life: if in the evening the person will soon die.

Finane or Finaun; the white half-withered long grass found in marshy or wet land. Irish finn or fionn, white, with the diminutive.

Finely and poorly are used to designate the two opposite states of an invalid. 'Well, Mrs. Lahy, how is she? ' [Nora the poor sick little girl]. 'Finely, your reverence,' Honor replied (going on well). The old sinner Rody, having accidentally

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shot himself, is asked how he is going on;- 'Wisha, poorly, poorly' (badly). (G. Griffin.)

Finger - to put a finger in one's eye; to overreach and cheat him by cunning:- 'He'd be a clever fellow that would put a finger in Tom's eye.'

First shot, in distilling pottheen; the weak stuff that comes off at the first distillation: also called singlings.

Flahoolagh, plentiful; 'You have a flahoolagh hand, Mrs. Lyons': 'Ah, we got a flahoolagh dinner and no mistake.' Irish flaith [flah], a chief, and amhail [ooal], like, with the adjectival termination ach: flahoolagh, 'chieftain-like.' For the old Irish chiefs kept open houses, with full and plenty - launa-vaula - for all who came. (South.)

Flipper; an untidy man. (Limerick.)

Flitters; tatters, rags:- 'His clothes were all in flitters.'

Flog; to beat, to exceed:- 'That flogs Europe' ('Collegians'), i.e. it beats Europe: there's nothing in Europe like it.

Fluke, something very small or nothing at all. 'What did you get from him?' 'Oh I got flukes (or 'flukes in a hand-basket') - meaning nothing. Sometimes it seems to mean a small coin, like cross and keenoge. 'When I set out on that journey I hadn't a fluke.' (North and South.)

Fockle; a big torch made by lighting a sheaf of straw fixed on a long pole: fockles were usually lighted on St. John's Eve. (Limerick.) It is merely the German word fackel, a torch, brought to Limerick by the Palatine colony. (See p.65.)

Fog-meal; a great meal or big feed: a harvest dinner.

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Fooster; hurry, flurry, fluster, great fuss. Irish same sound and meaning. (Hayden and Hartog.)

'Then Tommy jumped about elate,
Tremendous was his foosteer - O;
Says he, "I'll send a message straight
To my darling Mr. Brewster - O!"'

(Repeal Song of 1843.)

Forbye; besides. (Ulster.)

For good; finally, for ever: 'he left home for good.'

Fornent, fornenst, forenenst; opposite: he and I sat fornenst each other in the carriage.

'Yet here you strut in open day
Fornenst my house so freely - O).'

(Repeal Song of 1843.)

An old English word, now obsolete in England, but very common in Ireland.

Foshla; a marshy weedy rushy place; commonly applied to the ground left after a cut-away bog. (Roscommon.)

Four bones; 'Your own four bones,' 127.

Fox; (verb) to pretend, to feign, to sham: 'he's not sick at all, he's only foxing.' Also to cut short the ears of a dog.

Frainey; a small puny child:- 'Here, eat this bit, you little frainey.'

Fraughans; whortleberries. Irish fraoch, with the diminutive. See Hurt.

Freet; a sort of superstition or superstitious rite. (Ulster.)

Fresh and Fresh:- 'I wish you to send me the butter every morning: I like to have it fresh and fresh.

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This is English gone out of fashion: I remember seeing it in Pope's preface to 'The Dunciad.'

Frog's jelly; the transparent jelly-like substance found in pools and ditches formed by frogs round their young tadpoles, 121.

Fum; soft spongy turf. (Ulster.) Called soosaun in Munster.

Gaatch [aa long as in car], an affected gesture or movement of limbs body or face; gaatches; assuming fantastic ridiculous attitudes. (South.)

Gad; a withe: 'as tough as a gad.' (Irish gad, 60.)

Gadderman; a boy who puts on the airs of a man; a mannikin or manneen, which see. (Simmons: Armagh.)

Gaffer; an old English word, but with a peculiar application in Ireland, where it means a boy, a young chap. 'Come here, gaffer, and help me.'

Gag; a conceited foppish young fellow, who tries to figure as a swell.

Gah'ela or gaherla; a little girl. (Kane: Ulster.) Same as girsha.

Gaileen; a little bundle of rushes placed under the arms of a beginner learning to swim. (Joyce:

Limerick.) When you support the beginner's head keeping it above water with your hands while he is learning the strokes: that we used to designate 'giving a gaileen.'

Galbally, Co. Limerick, 156.

Galoot: a clownish fellow.

Galore; plenty, plentiful. Irish adverb go leor, 4.

Gankinna; a fairy, a leprachaun. (Morris: South Mon.) Irish gann, small.

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Gannoge; an undefined small quantity. (Antrim.) Irish gann, small, with diminutive óg.

Garden, in the South, is always applied to a field of growing potatoes. 'In the land courts we never asked "How many acres of potatoes?"; but "How many acres of garden?"' (Healy.) A usual inquiry is 'How are your gardens going on?' meaning 'How are your potato crops doing?'

Garlacom; a lingering disease in cows believed to be caused by eating a sort of herb. (P. Moran: Meath.)

Garland Sunday; the first Sunday in August (some-times called Garlick Sunday.)

Garron, garraun; an old worn-out horse. (Irish gearrán.)

Gash; a flourish of the pen in writing so as to form an ornamental curve, usually at the end. (Limerick.)

Gatha; an effeminate fellow who concerns himself in women's business: a Sheela. (Joyce: Limerick.)

Gatherie; a splinter of bog-deal used as a torch. (Moran: Carlow.) Also a small cake (commonly smeared with treacle) sold in the street on market days. Irish geataire [gatthera], same meanings.

Gaug; a sore crack in the heel of a person who goes barefooted. (Moran: Carlow.) Irish gág [gaug], a cleft, a crack.

Gaulsh; to loll (MacCall: Wexford.)

Gaunt or gant; to yawn. (Ulster.)

Gaurlagh; a little child, a baby: an unfledged bird. Irish gárlach, same sound and meanings.

Gawk; a tall awkward fellow. (South.)

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Gawm, gawmoge; a soft foolish fellow. (South.) Irish gám, same meaning. See Gommul.

Gazebo; a tall building; any tall object; a tall awkward person.

Gazen, gazened; applied to a wooden vessel of any kind when the joints open by heat or drought so that it leaks. (Ulster.)

Gallagh-gunley; the harvest moon. (Ulster.) Gallagh gives the sound of Irish gealach, the moon, meaning whitish, from geal, white.

Geck; to mock, to jeer, to laugh at. (Derry.)

Geenagh, geenthagh; hungry, greedy, covetous. (Derry.) Irish gionach or giontach, gluttonous.

Geens; wild cherries. (Derry.)

Gentle; applied to a place or thing having some connexion with the fairies - haunted by fairies. A thornbush where fairies meet is a 'gentle bush': the hazel and the foxglove (fairy-thimble) are gentle plants.

Geócagh; a big strolling idle fellow. (Munster.) Irish geocach, same sound and meaning.

Geosadaun or Yosedaun [d in both sounded like th in they]; the yellow rag-weed: called also boliaun [2-syll.] and booghalaun.

Get; a bastard child. (North and South.)

Gibbadaun; a frivolous person. (Roscommon.) From the Irish giob, a scrap, with the diminutive ending dán: a scrappy trifling-minded person.

Gibbol [g hard as in get]; a rag: your jacket is all hanging down in gibbols~.' (Limerick.) Irish giobal, same sound and meaning.

Giddhom; restlessness. In Limerick it is applied to cows when they gallop through the fields with

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tails cooked out, driven half mad by heat and flies: 'The cows are galloping with giddhom.' Irish giodam, same sound and meaning.

Gill-gowan, a corn-daisy. (Tyrone.) From Irish geal, white, and gowan, the Scotch name for a daisy.

Girroge [two g's sounded as in get, got]. Girroges are the short little drills where the plough runs into a corner. (Kildare and Limerick.) Irish gearr, short, with the diminutive óg: girroge, any short little thing.

Girsha; a little girl. (North and South.) Irish geirrseach [girsagh], from gearr, short or small, with the feminine termination seach.

Gistra [g sounded as in get], a sturdy, active old man. (Ulster.) Irish giostaire, same sound and meaning.

Gladiaathor [aa long as in car]; a gladiator, a fighting quarrelsome fellow: used as a verb also:- 'he went about the fair gladiaatherin,' i.e. shouting and challenging people to fight him.

Glaum, glam; to grab or grasp with the whole hand; to maul or pull about with the hands. Irish glám [glaum], same meaning.

Glebe; in Ireland this word is almost confined to the land or farm attached to a Protestant rector's residence: hence called glebe-land. See p. 148.

Gleeag; a small handful of straw used in plaiting straw mats: a sheaf of straw threshed. (Kildare and Monaghan.)

Gleeks: to give a fellow the gleeks is to press the forefingers into the butt of the ears so as to cause pain: a rough sort of play. (Limerick.)

Glenroe, Co. Limerick, 68, 146.

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Gliggeen; a voluble silly talker. (Munster.) Irish gluiqín [gliggeen], a little bell, a little tinkler: from glog, same as clog, a bell.

Gliggerum; applied to a very bad old worn-out watch or clock. (Limerick.)

Glit; slimy mud; the green vegetable (ducksmeat) that grows on the surface of stagnant water. (Simmons: Armagh;)

Gloit; a blockhead of a young fellow. (Knowles.)

Glory be to God! Generally a pious exclamation of thankfulness, fear, &c.: but sometimes an ejaculation of astonishment, wonder, admiration, &c. Heard everywhere in Ireland.

Glower; to stare or glare at: 'what are you glowerin' at!' (Ulster.)

Glugger [u sounded as in full]; empty noise; the noise made by shaking an addled egg. Also an addled egg. Applied very often in a secondary sense to a vain empty foolish boaster. (Munster.)

Glunter: a stupid person. (Knowles: Ulster.)

Goaling: same as Hurling, which see.

Gob; the mouth including lips: 'Shut your gob.' Irish gob, same meaning. Scotch, 'greedy gab.' (Burns.)

Gobshell; a big spittle direct from the mouth. (Limerick.) From Irish gob, the mouth, and seile [shella], a spittle.

Gobs or jackstones; five small round stones with which little girls play against each other, by throwing them up and catching them as they fall; 'there are Nelly and Sally playing gobs.'

Gods and goddesses of Pagan Ireland, 177.

Godspeed: see Back of God-speed.

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God's pocket. Mr. Kinahan writes to me:- 'The first time 1 went to the Mullingar hotel I had a delicate child, and spoke to the landlady as to how he was to be put up [during the father's absence by day on outdoor duty]. "Oh never fear sir," replied the good old lady, "the poor child will be in God's pocket here."' Mr. K. goes on to say:- I afterwards found that in all that part of Leinster they never said 'we will make you comfortable,' but always 'you will be in God's pocket,' or 'as snug as in God's pocket.' I heard it said of a widow and orphans whose people were kind to them, that they were in 'God's pocket.' Whether Seumas MacManus ever came across this term I do not know, but he has something very like it in 'A Lad of the O'Friels,' viz., 'I'll make the little girl as happy as if she was in Saint Peter's pocket.'

Goggalagh, a dotard. (Munster.) Irish gogail, the cackling of a hen or goose; also doting; with the usual termination ach.

Going on; making fun, joking, teasing, chaffing, bantering:- 'Ah, now I see you are only going on with me.' 'Stop your goings on.' (General.)

Golder [d sounded like th in further]; a loud sudden or angry shout. (Patterson: Ulster.)

Goleen; an armful. See Gwaul.

Gombeen man; a usurer who lends money to small farmers and others of like means, at ruinous interest. The word is now used all over Ireland. Irish goimbín [gombeen], usury.

Gommul, gommeril, gommula, all sometimes shortened to gom; a simple-minded fellow, a half

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fool. Irish gamal, gamaille, gamairle, gamarail, all same meaning. (Gamal is also Irish for a camel.) Used all over Ireland.

Good deed; said of some transaction that is a well-deserved punishment for some wrong or unjust or very foolish course of action. Bill lends some money to Joe, who never returns it, and a friend says:- ''Tis a good deed Bill, why did you trust such a schemer?' Barney is bringing home a heavy load, and is lamenting that he did not bring his ass: - ''Tis a good deed: where was I coming without Bobby?' (the ass). ('Knocknagow') 'I'm wet to the skin': reply:- ''Tis a good deed: why did you go out without your overcoat?'

Good boy: in Limerick and other parts of Munster, a young fellow who is good - strong and active - at all athletic exercises, but most especially if he is brave and tough in fighting, is 'a good boy.' The people are looking anxiously at a sailing boat labouring dangerously in a storm on the Shannon, and one of them remarks:- ''Tis a good boy that has the rudder in his hand.' (Gerald Griffin.)

Good people; The fairies. The word is used merely as soft sawder, to butter them up, to curry favour with them - to show them great respect at least from the teeth out - lest they might do some injury to the speaker.

Googeen [two g's as in good and get]; a simple soft-minded person. (Moran: Carlow.) Irish guag, same meaning, with the diminutive: guaigín.

Gopen, gowpen; the full of the two hands used together. (Ulster.) Exactly the same meaning as Lyre in Munster, which see.

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Gor; the coarse turf or peat which forms the surface of the bog. (Healy: for Ulster.)

Gorb; a ravenous eater, a glutton. (Ulster.)

Gorsoon: a young boy. It is hard to avoid deriving this from French garcon, All the more as it has no root in Irish. Another form often used is gossoon, which is derived from Irish - gas, a stem or stalk, a young boy. But the termination oon or ún is suspicious in both oases, for it is not a genuine Irish suffix at all.

Gossip; a sponsor m baptism.

Goster; gossipy talk. Irish gastaire, a prater, a chatterer. 'Dermot go 'long with your goster.' (Moore - in his youth.)

Gouloge; a stick with a little fork of two prongs at the end, for turning up hay, or holding down furze while cutting. (South.) Used in the North often in the form of gollog. Irish gabhal [gowl], a fork, with the dim. óg.

Gounau; housewife [huzzif] thread, strong thread for sewing, pack thread. Irish gabhshnáth (Fr. Dinneen), same sound and meaning: from snáth, a thread: but how comes in gabh? In one of the Munster towns I knew a man who kept a draper's shop, and who was always called Gounau, in accordance with the very reprehensible habit of our people to give nicknames.

Goureen-roe: a snipe, a jacksnipe. (Munster.) Irish gabhairín-reó, the 'little goat of the frost' (reó, frost): because on calm frosty evenings you hear its quivering sound as it flies in the twilight, very like the sound emitted by a goat.

Gra, grah; love, fondness, liking. Irish grádh

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[graw]. 'I have great gra for poor Tom.' I asked an Irishman who had returned from America and settled down again here and did well:- 'Why did you come back from America?' 'Ah,' he replied, 'I have great gra for the old country.'

Graanbroo; wheat boiled in new milk and sweetened: a great treat to children, and generally made from their own gleanings or liscauns, gathered in the fields. Sometimes called brootheen. (Munster.) The first from Irish grán, grain, and brúgh, to break or bruise, to reduce to pulp, or cook, by boiling. Brootheen (also applied to mashed potatoes) is from brúgh, with the diminutive.

Graanoge, graan-yoge [aa in both long like a in car], a hedgehog. Irish gráineóg, same sound.

Graanshaghaun [aa long as in car]; wheat (in grain) boiled. (Joyce: Limerick.) In my early days what we called graanshaughan was wheat in grains, not boiled, but roasted in an iron pot held over the fire, the wheat being kept stirred till done.

Graffaun; a small axe with edge across like an adze for grubbing or graffing land, i.e. rooting out furze and heath in preparation for tillage. Used all through the South. 'This was the word used in Co. Cork law courts.' (Healy.) Irish grafán, same sound and meaning.

Graip or grape; a dung-fork with three or four prongs. Irish grápa.

Grammar and Pronunciation, 74.

Grammel; to grope or fumble or gather with both hands. (Derry.)

Graves, Mr. A. P., 58, &c.

Grawls; children. Paddy Corbett, thinking he is

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ruined, says of his wife:-- 'God comfort poor Jillian and the grawls I left her.' (Edward Walsh.) 'There's Judy and myself and the poor little grawls.' (Crofton Croker: p. 155.)

Grawvar; loving, affectionate:- 'That's a grawver poor boy.' (Munster.) Irish grádhmhar, same sound and meaning: from grádh, love.

Grazier; a young rabbit. (South and ~West.)

Great; intimate, closely acquainted:- 'Tom Long and Jack Fogarty are very great.' (All over Ireland.) 'Come gie's your hand and sae we're greet.' (Burns.)

Greedy-gut; a glutton; a person who is selfish about stuffing himself, wishing to give nothing to anyone else. Gorrane Mac Sweeny, when his mistress is in want of provisions, lamenting that the eagles (over Glengarriff) were devouring the game that the lady wanted so badly, says:- 'Is it not the greatest pity in life . . . that these greedy-guts should be after swallowing the game, and my sweet mistress and her little ones all the time starving.' (Caesar Otway in 'Pen. Journ.')

Greenagh; a person that hangs round hoping to get food (Donegal and North-West): a 'Watch-pot.'

Greesagh; red hot embers and ashes. 'We roasted our potatoes and eggs in the greesagh.' (All over Ireland.) Irish gríosach, same sound.

Greet; to cry. 'Tommy was greetin' after his mother.' (Ulster.)

Greth; harness of a horse: a general name for all the articles required when yoking a horse to the cart. (Knowles: Ulster.)

Griffin, Gerald, author of 'The Collegians,' 5, &c.

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Grig (greg in Sligo): a boy with sugarstick holds it out to another and says, 'grig, grig,' to triumph over him. Irish giog, same sound and meaning.

Grinder; a bright-coloured silk kerchief worn round the neck. (Edward Walsh: all over Munster.)

Gripe; a trench, generally beside a high ditch or fence. 'I got down into the gripe, thinking to [hide myself].' (Crofton Croker.)

Griskin or greeskeen; a small bit of meat cut off to be roasted - usually on the coals. Irish gríscín.

Grisset; a shallow iron vessel for melting things in, such as grease for dipping rushes, resin for dipping torches (sluts or paudioges, which see), melting lead for various purposes, white metals for coining, &c. If a man is growing rapidly rich:- 'You'd think he had the grisset down.'

Groak or groke; to look on silently - like a dog - at people while they are eating, hoping to be asked to eat a bit. (Derry.)

Grogue; three or four sods of turf standing on end, supporting each other like a little pyramid on the bog to dry. (Limerick.) Irish gruag, same meaning.

Groodles; the broken bits mixed with liquid left at the bottom of a bowl of soup, bread and milk, &c.

Group or grup; a little drain or channel in a cow-house to lead off the liquid manure. (Ulster.)

Grue or grew; to turn from with disgust:- 'He grued at the physic.' (Ulster).

Grug; sitting on one's grug means sitting on the heels without touching the ground. (Munster.) Same as Scotch hunkers 'Sit down on your grug and thank God for a seat.'

Grumagh or groomagh; gloomy, ill-humoured

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'I met Bill this morning looking very grumagh.' (General.) From Irish gruaim [grooim], gloom, ill-humour, with the usual suffix -ach, equivalent to English -y as in gloomy.

Grumpy; surly, cross, disagreeable. (General.)

Gubbadhaun; a bird that follows the cuckoo. (Joyce.)

Gubbaun; a strap tied round the mouth of a calf or foal, with a row of projecting nail points, to prevent it sucking the mother. From Irish gob, the mouth, with the diminutive. (South.)

Gubbalagh; a mouthful. (Munster.) Irish goblach, same sound and meaning. From gob, the mouth, with the termination lach.

Gullion; a sink-pool. (Ulster.)

Gulpin; a clownish uncouth fellow. (Ulster.)

Gulravage, gulravish; noisy boisterous play. (Northeast Ulster.)

Gunk; a 'take in, a 'sell'; as a verb, to 'take in,' to cheat. (Ulster.)

Gushers; stockings with the soles cut off. (Morris: Monaghan.) From the Irish. Same as triheens.

Gurry; a bonnive, a young pig. (Morris: Mon.)

Gutter; wet mud on a road (gutters in Ulster).

Gwaul [l sounded as in William]; the full of the two arms of anything: 'a gwaul of straw.' (Munster.) In Carlow and Wexford, they add the diminutive, and make it goleen. Irish gabhdáil.

Hain; to hain a field is to let it go to meadow, keeping the cows out of it so as to let the grass grow: possibly from hayin'. (Waterford: Healy.) In Ulster hain means to save, to economise.

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Half a one; half a glass of whiskey. One day a poor blind man walked into one of the Dublin branch banks, which happened to be next door to a public-house, and while the clerks were looking on, rather puzzled as to what lie wanted, he slapped two pennies down on the counter; and in no very gentle voice:- 'Half a one!'

Half joke and whole earnest; An expression often heard in Ireland which explains itself. 'Tim told me - half joke and whole earnest - that he didn't much like to lend me his horse.'

Hand; to make a hand of a person is to make fun of him; to humbug him: Lowry Looby, thinking that Mr. Daly is making game of him, says:- ''Tis making a hand of me your honour is.' (Gerald Griffin.) Other applications of hand are 'You made a bad hand of that job,' i.e. you did it badly. If a man makes a foolish marriage: 'He made a bad hand of himself, poor fellow.'

Hand-and-foot; the meaning of this very general expression is seen in the sentence 'He gave him a hand-and-foot and tumbled him down.'

Hand's turn; a very trifling bit of work, an occasion:- 'He won't do a hand's turn about the house': 'he scolds me at every hand's turn,' i.e. on every possible occasion.

Handy; near, convenient:- 'The shop lies handy to me'; an adaptation of the Irish láimh le (meaning near). Láimh le Corcaig, lit. at hand with Cork - near Cork. This again is often expressed convenient to Cork, where convenient is intended to mean simply near. So it comes that we in Ireland regard convenient and near as exactly synonymous,

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which they are not. In fact on almost every possible occasion, we - educated and uneducated - use convenient when near would be the proper word. An odd example occurs in the words o