Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 3.djvu/281

 12 s. in. APRIL I*, 1917.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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AsTbug as a thrush. As clean as a new penny. The " new " may be left out.

As clean as a whistle. Example : " He chopped oft his thunb-end as clean as a whistle."

As crooked as a dog's hind leg. The " hind " may be left out. In Nottinghamshire they say : " In and out, like a dog's hind leg."

As dead as a hammer. " Dead " in this case sometimes is equivalent to " thoroughly." As dead as a nit. As dear as saffron. As deep as Garrick. As deep as Wilkes. As dizzy as a goose. As drunk as a beggar. As drunk as soot. As dry as a basket. As dry as a kex. That is, as dry as a dead stem of Heracleum sphondylium, or other alliedjplants : " My throat is as dry as a kex." As fast (asleep) as a church. As fat as mud. As fause as a fox. " Fause " is a form of " false," but it may mean " wary," " cunning," or " full of expedients," in a good sense. As fell as a bull.

As fell as a fox. When a fox breaks into a hen-roost it will often kill a great number of birds, leaving some where they fall, and carrying others away to bury.

As fierce as a dog. " Fierce " often means " eager." The dog is used in many comparisons. We can say " As howerly hungry lame mad mucky sick stalled tired as a dog." " Howerly " is a term expressive of many forms of dissatisfaction, and " stalled " means " sati- ated," " wearied."

As fine as a fore-horse. When decorated for a show or other festivity.

As full as a tick. A gipsy said to a Lincolnshire man : " I wish your head was as full of bees as hell is full of spiders."

As fussy as a hen with one chicken. As happy as ducks in mud, or, in rain. As happy as a pig in muck. As hard as brazil. That is, iron pyrites. As hard as a ground toad. Of strong con- stitution.

As idle as a dog is hairy. As idle as a foal. As lame as a tree.

As lazy as Ludlam's dog, that leaned its head against a wall to bark ; or, that lay down to bark. The latter form is also current in Nottingham- shire.

As lively as buttermilk. Dashing about in the

As long as a hay-rake shaft. Said when any one looks melancholy, and " pulls a long face. " A face like a foal " is also said of " a long face."

As long as a wet week in harvest. Only farmers and their men can know how long that is.

As lousy as a coot.

As mad as a tup. As angry as a ram.

As naked as an egg.

As near as a toucher.

As neat as ninepence.

As numb as a besom. " Numb " is dull mentally; slow, awkward, unready in action, physically.

As numb as wood.

As pert as a louse. Brisk, lively.

As plain as a pikestaff.

As pleased as a dog with two tails. Since a dog with one tail can express so much pleasure with that appendage, it is inferred that a dog with two would show himself to be more delighted still.

As poor as a craw, or, as poor as a craw in a Candlemas blast. " Poor " means thin, " craw " means crow or rook, " blast " is long-continued frost.

As poor as wood.

As queer, wry, or awkward, as Dick's hatband, that went nine times round his hat and then would not tie. A Fenland explanation is that the hat- band was of sand. See Baker's ' Northampton- shire Glossary,' 1854, p. 179 ; and 2 S. ii. 189, 238, 259.

As ragged as a milestone. " Why, her gown is as ragg'd as a milestone ! " I do not understand this comparison.

As red as a ferret. Said of people with a rufous complexion ; also of those who flush suddenly.

As right as a trivet.

As rough as a badger, or, as a badger's back. As sick as a newt.

As slape as oil. " Slape " is slippery ; hence smooth-tongued, wily.

As slape as a plough-slipe. A " plough-slipe " is the sheet of iron on the " land " side of a plough, which turns over the earth as the plough cuts into the soil.

As sleepy as a bat.

As smopple as a carrot. That is, as easily snapped in two. I never heard it applied to anything rigid, like glass or china.

As solid as a bee. " Solid " usually means serious, grave, in earnest.

As stiff as a cart. Which is " stiff " when the wheels need greasing.

As still as a bee. This may refer to the quiet humming of the insect on a bright, calm day, which does make the prevailing peace more impressive.

As' straight as a dig. That is, as a " stub-dig," an implement for grubbing up roots, weeds, &c.

As strong as Hull. This saying alludes to the fortifications and garrison formerly at Kingston- upon-Hull.

As stunt as a burnt wong, or, as tough as a burnt wong. " Stunt " means obstinate, im- passive, sullen, abrupt, inflexible. " Wong " is a leathern thong.

As stunt as a hammer. To come off as stunt as a hammer is to come off abruptly, unexpectedly, as a hammer-head will sometimes do. As stunt as a nail. As stunt as a dead worm. As thick as thack.

As thick as thieves. Intimate, closely con- nected.

As thick as three in a bed.

As thick as a wood. E.g., " This flannel has run up as thick as a wood " ; to " run up " being shrink.

As thin as a grew. " Grew " being greyhound. As throng as Throp's wife. ' Throng " meaning busy. See 11 S. ix. 12.

As tight as a clicket-nail. " Clicket " is, or was, a door-knocker, the iron knob on which it truck being the clicket-nail.

As tough, or as tiff, as Billy Whitlam's dog, that >arked nine times after it was dead.