Page:A Glossary of Words Used In the Neighbourhood of Sheffield - Addy - 1888.djvu/107



BLACKLANDS.
 * ' Blacke lands and Redd hills. ' —Survey, 1624,

BLACK MONDAY, sb. the day when a schoolboy returns to his tasks after a holiday. Hunters MS.

BLACKO PLAINE, a place in Sheffield. Harrison.
 * In this word, as well as in Black acre and Black edge, &c., there may be a reference to the ancient practice of clearing patches of soil by cutting the brushwood and burning it on the spot. ' This simple plan, where the wood is not only got out of the way but the ashes serve for dressing, may still be seen among the hill tribes of India, who till these plots of land for a couple of years, and then move on to a new spot. In Sweden this brand tillage, as it may be called, is not only remembered as the old agriculture of the land, but in outlying districts it has lasted on into modern days. ' —Tylor's Anthropology, 1881, p. 218. See BURNED ACRE.

BLACK PIECE WOOD, in Cold-Aston.

BLACKTHORN, sb. a game played by boys.
 * It was played at Dronfield nearly as described in Easther's Huddersfield Glossary. In the Dronfield game the odd boy calls out, ' Blackthorn. ' The others reply, ' New milk and barley corn. ' The odd boy then asks, ' How many sheep han yo to sell? ' The reply is, ' More nor yo can catch and fly away wi. '

BLADE.
 * An eccentric man at Ridgway was called ' old Blade H——. '

BLAMANGE, sb. a dish made of milk, cream, sugar, and gelatine, and flavoured with almonds; blanc mange.
 * Blawemanger, peponus.—Cath. Angl.

BLAME IT, an imprecation, equivalent to ' confound it. '

BLANKET FAIR. To go to blanket fair is to go to bed.
 * Blanket Fair is the title of a ballad written in 1683. See New Eng. Dict.

BLASH-COKE, sb. soft coke, made at the coal pits near Sheffield for steel melters.
 * ' As soft as blash. '

BLASH-OVEN, sb. an oven in which 'soft cokes' are made from coal.

BLAST, sb. an inflammation or eruption on the skin. Old women profess to be able to cure it. Perhaps the erysipelas.

BLATHER or BLEDDER, sb. a bladder.

BLATTER, sb. batter.
 * ' A blatter pudding. '