Page:The New Forest - its history and its scenery.djvu/307

 , To. To put up sheaves, especially of barley and oats, which are called "pucks." Used throughout the West of England in contradistinction to "hiling," applied only to wheat, which is placed in "hiles." In Dorsetshire, however, this last operation is called "stitching." See the word "stitch" in Mr. Barnes' Glossary of the Dorsetshire Dialect, p. 391.

, A. The udder of a cow or sheep, when hard after calving or lambing. Beer also is said to be "quarred," when it drinks hard or rough.

, The. The meadow-thistle (Cardans pratensis), which is common in the New Forest.

. The best sort of cheese, made of cream and new milk, in contradistinction to Omary cheese, which see.

. Dissolute, wanton. "A rammucky man," means a depraved character.

, or rather, ramhard. To the right. A corruption of framward, or fromward. So "toard," or "toward," means to the left, that is, towards you. Both words are used throughout the West of England, and are good examples of what Professor Müller would call "phonetic decay." With them may be compared the sailor's terms "starboard" (questo bordo, this side), and larboard (quello bordo, that side). See, too, Miss Gurney on the word "woash," which in the Eastern Counties is equivalent to "ramward." Glossary of Norfolk Words: Transactions of the Philological Society, 1855, p. 38.

, The. The wild carrot (Daucus carota), so called from its bunch of leaves. Used also in Wiltshire. See Hill-trot.

. The three heaths which grow in the New Forest—Erica tetralix, Erica cinerea, and Calluna vulgaris,— are respectively known as the bell, black, and red heaths.

. The boards or rails put round waggons, so as to enable them to take a greater load. Used throughout the West of England. See Mr. Barnes' Glossary under the word Riaves, p. 375.

. This is only used of the weather, as "rick-rack weather," that is, stormy, boisterous weather, and far stronger in meaning than the more common phrase, "cazalty weather." It is evidently from the Old-English ree, vapoury, cloudy weather, and well serves to explain the meaning of Shakspeare's "rack," a cloud, in the well-known passage in the Tempest (Act iv. sc. 1), which has given rise to so much controversy. Miss Gurney (Transactions of the Philological Society, 1855, p. 35), notices that "rack" is used in Norfolk for mist driven by the wind.

, To. To kick, or play, said of horses.

, To. To remove the gravel, which is deposited throughout the Forest in a thick layer over the beds of clay or marl. The gravel itself is called "the rubblin."

. A row, or hedgerow. See chap. v. p. 56. In the Forest some of the embankments, near which perhaps the Kelts and West-Saxons lived, are called Rew- and Row-ditch. I have, too, heard of attics being called "lanes," possibly having reference to the "ruelle" by which the space between the curtains was formerly called.

, also called a Lug-stick. A bar in the chimney, on which "the cotterel," or "iron scale," or "crane," as it is also called, to which the kettle or pot is fastened, hangs. We find the word still used in America as the "ridgepole" of the house, which helps us at once to the derivation.

, or squoyle. See chap. xvi. p. 182.

, A. (From the Old-English scylan, and so, literally, a division). A drove, or herd, or pack of low people, always used in an opprobrious sense. It 285