S s
sa-ant my Bob! - an exclamation of surprise (probably an intentional deformation of "So help me God")
sad - said of bread which hasn't risen properly
saggeryedded - stupid, foolish
salinge - to inquire, to investigate
Sammy-Billy, Sammy Dingle - a simpleton
sand-pot - quicksand
SanJam - pear ripening around 25th July, St. James Day, almost proverbially wet
sap - the soft outside part of timber
sapy - foolish - "What a sapskull!"
sarver - a round shallow basket, used to hold a feed of oats for a horse
sauce - a scolding
sblid - sblood (God's blood) - expletive
scabblins - the leavings on the ground after the haycocks have been moved
scaffling - an eel
scale - to scrape, graze the top of
scamp - v. to do work extremely badly
scar - a rock (often overhanging a river)
scoot - a small irregular plot of ground
scope - a ladle with a long handle (scoop)
scot - a scotch beast or any black beast
scragpiece - a useless bit of wood
scrallybob - a louse
scrammaz - to scramble, get along with difficulty
scrattle - scratch (as birds do)
scrawl - (1)a person of low rank (2)a difficulty (3) to crawl (4) to get away stealthily (5) to quarrel
scrawlin' - low, mean
screeve - to ooze out
scrinch - (1)a small piece or quantity (2) to stint
scrub - (1) a worn out broom (2) a mean or dirty person
scuffle - bustle, hurry
scufflin - dirty, dusty
scurrick, scorrick - scrap, particle "You won't get a scurrick more of pudding out of that dew-mug"
scutter - scramble away in a hurry
scuttle - a piece of wood pointed at both ends, used in the game of trap-ball (can anyone tell me how to play trap ball? e mail if you can!)
seave - a rush coated in grease and used as a lantern, a type of candle used by poor people
seech - a spring in a field forming a mizzick!
seedle-raind - to get round, to sidle round, wheedle
sess - (1) a pile of slates, bricks, pipes, tiles etc. (2) a lot, a quantity
settlestone / sinkstone/ slopstone - hollow stone used for washing items
shackabag, shacklebag - a lazy ne'er do well
shackaz - to shirk work, a person not to be relied upon
shacket - (1) a night shirt (2) a loose over garment (jacket)
shackussing - shambling, loose jointed
shade - to take shelter
shakebag - a worthless fellow
shake - a raffle "I won a bottle of wine in a shake"
shalligonaket - flimsy, unsuitable for outdoor wear - applied to a garment "Yo'n cut a fine swither, when yo getten that shalligonaket thing o'yur back; I think folks 'un see "What Dolly-maukin's comin' nai?"" (from Shall-I-go-naked)
shandry - a market cart
sharpen - to hasten "Come, shaprpen up, or else I'll sharpen thee!"index
sharps - the second (poorer) quality of flour (little folk like this!)
shattery - hare-brained
shaw - a wood or thicket (from the Danish shov)
shear - to reap with a sickle
sheid - to spill either liquids or dry substances
shem-rent - split at the seams "What rotten rubbitch theise shoes bin! They'm shem-rent a'ready, an' on'y new a threy-wik ago"
sheviton - an old coat
shift - a woman's shirt, used as a verb to mean to change clothes
shirt - to get someone's shirt out, is to put them in a rage (a bit like getting shirty)
shive / shiver - a slice, scrap - "Cut us a shive o'that bread, oud wench!"
shonkazin' - lounging idly about
shoods - husks of oats
shovel-tree - the handle of a spade (In Middle English, tree is used to mean a bar of wood)
showtin'-jef - stone-deaf
shuffle - a mess, a difficulty
shuttance - riddance, shutting the door on something unpleasant
shutting - the harvest home
side-awee - to put to one side; said of articles of household use
sift - to gossip
sike - (1) to sigh, catch a breath (2) to sob
sippering - dabbling (ducks)
sithee - see thee! Look here!
sitten - burnt
skelp - (1)to leap awkwardly (2) to squint at something
skerrycoat - to abuse, scold
skew-wifter, skee-wiff - cock-eyed, not straight
skelp - a deep scratch
skellet - a brass kettle used for preserving
skewbald - spotted, like piebald which is black and white spotted, skewbald is brown and white spotted
skimp, skimpin' - scanty, tight fitting
skinny - tight, not generous
skit - a hoax, a practical joke
skitterwit - a foolish fellow
shrike o'day - the break of day, when the cock crows (Icelandic skrika = to shriek)
skuds - owl pellets!
skwirmidge - a scuffle
slack - adj. hollow
slade - a boggy piece of ground in an arable field slade- gress is coarse grass grown under such conditions
slancing / slanching - prying into the business of others
slang - (1) a long narrow portion of land (2) a patch on a patchwork quilt (3) a small square portion of other substances (4) a long row
slanker - to lounge, loiter
slare - to slide "Quick, let's have a slare on the ice"
slathertrash - one who drags one's feet when walking
slatter - to spill
slattery - wet, sloppy weather
sleach - to scoop out liquids, to dip a vessel into liquid
sleak - (1)to stick out one's tongue (2)to smear, streak with dirt.
sleead - a sledge
slimsy - worthless
slinkaz - to loiter
slink-meat - meat not really fit for consumption
slipe-up - to climb up a ladder
slip-strings - an unreliable person
slob - sea-mud
slobber - a slight downfall
slop - a smock, white linen coat used for working in
slorry - slush
slotch - to lap up, as a dog does
slubber - frog spawn
slug - a sluggard, slow mover
slutch - mud
smatch - a doubtful or bad flavour. Cheese or milk which is just beginning to turn sour is said to be smatched, or to have a smatch
smay - to shrink or flinch from, to falter "Dunna yo smay at speakin' yur mind"
smellers - a cat's whiskers
smicket - a smock, a woman's shirt
smowcher - a kiss "I wunna ha' thee smowchin' mey; tha mun go an' smowch that other wench o' thine"
smush - (1)spruce, tidy "Yo looken despert smush i'yur new clooas" (2) to mash
snarl - a tangle
sneap - a snud, rebuff "There's that hafe-strained auf of a Tom Woodall makin' it ait 'at hai aw th'wenches i'th' country bin after him; it 'ud sarve him reight if some on 'em 'ud give him a reight dain good sneap sometimes"
sneck - a drop-latch, a latch lifted by means of a string
sneel-haisen - snail shells
sneizer - the nose (slang)
snicket - a naughty female child
sniddle - long, coarse grass, grows in marshy places
sniddlebog - a marshy place where sniddle grows
snift - to sniff, snivel; to make as though to cry
snitter - to creep or walk slowly
snig - (1)to bring something out of the water by throwing a stick behind it which has been attached to a rope or string. (2) an eel
snig-ballied - thin
snippet - a little bit
snoodle - to snuggle up to
snoozle - to have a nap
snot-rag - a handkerchief
snotter - the nose
snotty - pert, conceited
snudge - an intrusive, sponging fellow
snuft - to sniff
snurt - to snort (only a term for horses)
snyin' - swarming, infested with "Them fields agen the woods bin snyin' wi' rappits"
soak-alung = to go at a steady, continuous pace
soaked - refreshed by sleep
sock - liquid manure
sod sludge - sea mud
sofeth - So faith! An exclamation of wonder or surprise
soft-soap - flattery, blarney
sog - to sway up and down "Theer he went sog, sog, soggin' on that owd mare o' theeirs, an' I towd 'im he sit a hoss like a bag o' sond"
solid - solemn, grave
sond-pot - a bed of wet sand in the subsoil of a field
soo - (1) a whisting sound (2) a whirring of machinery (3)a resounding noise or shout
soppin' wet - soaking wet "I'll tak good care as noobody gets mey up to go mushrowmin' agen; my feit an' aw up my legs bin soppin' wet, an' it's a strange thing to mey if I dunna ketch a bad cooth after it"
soss - a heavy fall - onomatopaeic - "Well, he tripped over the grindlestone and came down, soss!"
soul - to go about on the eve of All Souls' Day begging for fruit, beer, money etc..(In the very distant past, this practice must have been in the form of offerings to dead souls, out of a respect but also to keep them happy in their afterlife)
sour-stuff - vinegar
sowger - soldier
spadger - a sparrow
spang-few - to jerk into the air by means of a lever. This is a very onomatopaeic word!
sparrables - "sparrow-bills" = small headless nails which are put into shoe soles
splashed - to be drunk
spattle - a spot of dirt
spattlin'-brass - spending money
speckt-baw - a dumpling interspersed with currants (speckled ball)
spectables - spectacles
spicy - smartly dressed
spinny - a small wood
spiry - long in the stalk, tall and weak (from Anglo- Saxon spir = stalk of a reed)
spit - (1) the exact likeness (from the Welsh word sbit meaning the same) (2) to rain slowly and intermittently
splather, splother - (1)to sprawl (2) -footed = awkward (3) -in' = loose-limbed, lanky
splent - a splinter, this is a Middle English word.
splutter - a bustle, hurry
spoontle - a spoonful
spot - a drop of (Swedish spott - spit)
Spotted-Dick - (1) a large spotted marble (2) a suet dumpling with currants in (like a speckt baw)
spreed - to spread (Middle English spreeden = spread, Anglo Saxon sproedan = spread)
sprent - (1) a sudden start or spring (2) a vigorous effort
sprig-bit - a brad-awl
spriggy - spruce, neat
Spring-Heeled Jack - a highwayman, from a common belief that highway robbers had springs in their heels, enabling them to run so fast as to evade pursuit.
springy - nimble, active
sprinker/springer - a thatching peg
sprit - to sprout
sprose - a show, display, a fuss
spud - slang for potato
spur - the thick root of a tree
squander - to scatter in all directions, disperse
squashy - wobbly, said of a weakly overgrown young person, but applied to anyone who, instead of walking with a firm and upright gait, goes, "wallockin' about like a barrow-trindle"
squat - quiet "Keep it squat"
squatter - to scatter, making an untidy litter
squeize-crab - a contemptuous term for a small child
squib - a squirrel
squirl - to peer, look around, or askance "I wunna have sich folks raind my bonk; I know what they bin after, auvays squintin' and squirlin' fur t'get a seight o'th' cheise"
squirt - an insignificant person
squitch, squatch - couch-grass
stair-hole - the place under the stairs, if boarded to form some sort of closet
stait - stout and brave
stare-agog - one who stares open-mouthed, a gazer Stare- agog, stare-agog, tumblet o'er the tatoe-hog
stark-ait - completely out, said of a fire
staw - to stop or bring to a standstill, to satiate
stean - a jug of stone
steekler - a heavy blow
steekle-up - to entice, coax, cajole
still on - nevertheless
Stir up Sunday - day of preparing mince meat for yuletide festivities
stitch - a space of time
stock - to pull up by the roots
stocken - stunted in growth
stodge - to cram with food
St. Patrick's needle - Anyone who has been through the Bankruptcy Court is described as having gone through St. Patrick's needle
straddle-legs - astride
straggled - said of corn which has been laid low by storms
strappuzin' - untidy, slovenly
strave - to stray "I wonder what hoo wants go stravin' off to Wrenbury at this time o'neight fur"
street - That's up another street = That's quite a different thing
streight - (1)haughty, dignified (2)straightforward, direct
stronomize - to be in a study, to be astronomizing or star- gazing "What a't tha stronomizin' abait, theer?"
stubbo - stubble (in field)
stutto - stutter
summat - something
Summer an' Winter - to have known someone for a long time is to have "Summer'd an' Winter'd" him
sunsuckers - the streaks of light often radiating from the sun when behind a cloud
suppin' - milk and water boiled together and thinckened with oat-meal
sup up - to feed and bed down the livestock of a farm for the night
swaddle, swaggle, swilker - what a liquid does when it is carried unsteadily, to sway from side to side, to swaddle o'er is to spill
swaddledidaff - a term of endearment, sweetheart
swallowmass - a glutton!
swauve - to lean over, hang over
swauve off - a load of hay which has toppled over is said to swauve off (swerve)
sweak - a crane used to suspend a pot or kettle over a fire
sweddles - a child's swaddling band
swedgel - a fat person
sweel - to burn away, a candle sweels away when it is in a draught
swelcha heavy fall
swelcher - anything large, overgrown or exceeding normal limits
swey - a swing (Middle English sweien)
swift - a sand lizard
swig - spiced ale and toast
swinters - fragments
swither - a quick, rushing movement
swob, swobby - marshy ground which sways beneath the feet is swobby
swoppery - exchange "Swoppery's noo robbery"