Part 2

* * * * *

Pronouns will also be found grouped together under _Pronouns_.

* * * * *

_As_ is used for _who_, _which_, and _that_.

* * * * *

Active verbs govern the nominative case.

* * * * *

Verbs do not agree with their nominative, either in number or person.

* * * * *

The periphrastic tenses are often used in S. Wilts, as 'I do mind un,' but in N. Wilts the rule is to employ the simple tenses instead, merely altering the person, as 'I minds un.' In S. Wilts you might also say 'It be a vine night,' whereas in N. Wilts ''Tes a vine night' would be more correct.

* * * * *

In conclusion we would mention that we hope in the course of the next year or two to be able to deal with the grammatical and phonological sides of our Dialect in a somewhat more adequate manner than it has been possible to do on the present occasion.

A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS USED.

[For full titles of works see Appendix.]

(A.) Words given for Wilts in Akerman. (B.) " " Britton. (C.) " " Cunnington MS. (D.) " " Davis. (G.) " " Grose. (H.) " " Halliwell. (K.) " " Kennett. (M.) " " Monthly Magazine. (S.) " " Slow. (Wr.) " " Wright.

N. & S.W. North and South Wilts, the place-names following being those of localities where the word is reported as being in use.

* An asterisk denotes that the word against which it is placed has not as yet been met with by ourselves in this county, although given by some authority or other as used in Wilts.

WILTS GLOSSARY

=A=. He; she. See ~Pronouns~.

=A=, pl. =As= or =Ais=. _n._ A harrow or drag (D.); probably from A.S. _egethe_, M.E. _eythe_, a harrow (Skeat).--S.W., obsolete. This term for a harrow was still occasionally to be heard some thirty years ago, in both Somerset and Wilts, but is now disused. Davis derives it from the triangular shape of the drag, resembling the letter A.

=A-Drag=. A large heavy kind of drag (_Agric. of Wilts_). Still used in South Wilts for harrowing turnips before the hoers go in.

=Abear=. To bear, to endure (S.). 'I can't abear to see the poor theng killed.'--N. & S.W.

=Abide=. To bear, to endure. 'I can't abide un nohow.'--N. & S.W.

=About=. (1) _adv._ Extremely. Used to emphasize a statement, as ''T'wer just about cold s'marnin'.'--N. & S.W. (2) At one's ordinary work again, after an illness. 'My missus were bad aal last wick wi' rheumatiz, but she be about agen now.'--N. & S.W.

=Acksen=. See ~Axen~.

=Adder's-tongue=. _Listera ovata_, Br., Twayblade.--S.W.

=Adderwort=. _Polygonum Bistorta_, L., Bistort.--S.W. (Salisbury, &c.)

=Afeard=, =Aveard=. Afraid (A.B.S.).--N. & S.W.

*=Agalds=. Hawthorn berries. (_English Plant Names._) _Aggles_ in Devon.

=Agg=. (1) To hack or cut clumsily (A.B.H.S.Wr.); also ~Aggle~ and ~Haggle~.--N. & S.W. (2) To irritate, to provoke.--N. & S.W.

=Ahmoo=. A cow; used by mothers to children, as 'Look at they pretty ahmoos a-comin'!'--S.W. (Som. bord.)

=Ailes=, =Eyles=, =Iles=, &c. The awns of barley (D.); cf. A.S. _egle_, an ear of corn, M.E. _eile_. Hail in _Great Estate_, ch. i.--N. & S.W.

=Aisles of wheat=. See ~Hyle~.

=All-a-hoh=. All awry (A.B.C.H.Wr.); also ~All-a-huh~. Unevenly balanced, lop-sided. A.S. _awóh_. 'That load o' carn be aal-a-hoh.'--N. & S.W.

=All-amang=, =Allemang=, =All-o-mong=. Mingled together, as when two flocks of sheep are accidentally driven together and mixed up (A.B.G.H.S.Wr.). Seldom heard now.--N. & S.W.

=All one as=. Just like. 'I be 'tirely blowed up all one as a drum.'--N.W. Compare--

''Twere all as one to fix our hopes on Heaven As on this vision of the golden year.'--TENNYSON.

=All one for that=. For all that, notwithstanding, in spite of, as 'It medn't be true all one for that.'--N.W.

=Aloud=. 'That there meat stinks aloud,' smells very bad.--N.W.

*=A-masked=. Bewildered, lost (_MS. Lansd._, in a letter dated 1697: H.Wr.).--Obsolete.

'Leaving him more masked than he was before.'

FULLER's _Holy War_, iii. 2.

=Ameäd=. Aftermath. See note to Yeomath.--N.W. (Cherhill.)

*=Anan=, ='Nan=. What do you say? (A.B.); used by a labourer who does not quite comprehend his master's orders. ='Nan= (A.B.) is still occasionally used in N. Wilts, but it is almost obsolete.--N. & S.W.

=Anbye=. _adv._ Some time hence, presently, at some future time. 'I be main busy now, but I'll do't anbye.'--N.W.

=Anchor=. The chape of a buckle (A.B.).--S.W.

=And that=. And all that sort of thing, and so forth. 'Well, he _do_ have a drop tide-times and that.'--S.W.

=Aneoust=, =Aneust=, =Anoust=, =Neust=, or =Noust=. Nearly, about the same (A.B.G.).--N. & S.W.

=Anighst=. Near (A.S.). 'Nobody's bin anighst us since you come.'--N. & S.W.

=Anneal=. A thoroughly heated oven, just fit for the batch of bread to be put in, is said to be nealded, i.e. annealed.--S.W.

=Anoint=, ='Nint= (i long). To beat soundly. 'I'll 'nint ye when I gets home!' See ~Nineter~.--N.W.

*=Anont=, =Anunt=. Against, opposite (A.B.H.Wr.).

=Any more than=. Except, although, only. 'He's sure to come any more than he might be a bit late.' Usually contracted into ~Moor'n~ in N. Wilts.--N. & S.W.

=Apple-bout=. An apple-dumpling. (Cf. ~Hop-about~.)--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Apple-owling=. Knocking down the small worthless fruit, or 'griggles,' left on the trees after the apple crop has been gathered in. See ~Howlers~, ~Owlers~, and ~Owling~.--N.W.

=Aps=. _Populus tremula_, L., Aspen; always so called by woodmen. This is the oldest form of the word, being from A.S. _æps_, and is in use throughout the south and west of England. In _Round About a Great Estate_, ch. i. it is misprinted _asp_.--N.W.

=Arg=. To argue, with a very strong sense of contradiction implied (S.). 'Dwoan't 'ee arg at I like that! I tell 'ee I zeed 'un!' See ~Down-arg~.--N. & S.W.

=Arms=. 'The arms of a waggon,' such parts of the axle-tree as go into the wheels (_Cycl. of Agric._).--N.W.

=Arra=, =Arra one=, =Arn=. See ~Pronouns~.

=Array=, ='Ray=. To dress and clean corn with a sieve (D.).--N.W.

=Arsmart=. _Polygonum Hydropiper_, L., and _P. Persicaria_, L.--S.W.

=Ashore=, =Ashar=, =Ashard=. Ajar. 'Put the door ashard when you goes out.'--N. & S.W.

=Ashweed=. _Aegopodium Podagraria_, L., Goutweed.--N. & S.W.

*=Astore=. An expletive, as 'she's gone into the street _astore_' (H.). Perhaps connected with _astoor_, very soon, Berks, or _astore_, Hants:--

'The duck's [dusk] coming on; I'll be off in _astore_.'

_A Dream of the Isle of Wight._

It might then mean either 'this moment' or 'for a moment.'

=At=. (1) 'At twice,' at two separate times. 'We'll ha' to vetch un at twice now.'--N.W. (2) 'Up at hill,' uphill. 'Th' rwoad be all up at hill.'--N.W.

=Athin=. Within (A.B.).--N. & S.W.

=Athout=. Without; outside (A.B.S.).--N. & S.W.

*=Attercop=. A spider. A.S. _atter-coppa_.--N.W. (Monkton Farleigh), still in use. Mr. Willis mentions that _Edderkop_ is still to be heard in Denmark.

*=Attery=. Irascible (A.B.).

=Away with=. Endure. This Biblical expression is still commonly used in Wilts. 'Her's that weak her can't away with the childern at no rate!'

=Ax=. To ask (A.B.S.).--N. & S.W.

*=Axen=. Ashes (A.B.); =Acksen= (_MS. Lansd._: G.H.Wr.).--Obsolete.

=Babies'-shoes=. _Ajuga reptans_, L., Common Bugle.--S.W.

=Bachelor's Buttons=. (1) Wild Scabious (A.B.), _Scabiosa arvensis_, L., _S. Columbaria_, L., and perhaps _S. succisa_, L.--N.W. (2) _Corchorus Japonica_ (_Kerria Japonica_, L.).--N.W. (Huish.)

=Back-friends=. Bits of skin fretted up at the base of the finger-nails.--N.W.

*=Backheave=. To winnow a second time (D.).

=Backside=. The back-yard of a house (A.B.).--N. & S.W., now obsolete.

=Backsword=. A kind of single-stick play (A.H.Wr.). Obsolete, the game being only remembered by the very old men. For an account of it see _The Scouring of the White Horse_, ch. vi.--N.W.

=Bacon=. To 'strick bacon,' to cut a mark on the ice in sliding; cf. to strike a 'candle.'--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Bacon-and-Eggs=. _Linaria vulgaris_, Mill., Yellow Toadflax. Also called Eggs-and-Bacon.--N. & S.W.

*=Bad, Bod=. To strip walnuts of their husks (A.B.H.Wr.); cf. E. _pod_.--N.W., obsolete.

*=Badge=. _v._ To deal in corn, &c. See ~Badger~.--Obsolete.

'1576. Md. that I take order of the Badgers that they do name the places where the Badgers do use to badge before they resieve their lycens.... Md. to make pces [process] against all the Badgers that doe badge without licence.'--Extracts from Records of Wilts Quarter Sessions, _Wilts Arch. Mag._ xx. 327.

*=Badger=. A corn-dealer (A.B.); used frequently in old accounts in N. Wilts, but now obsolete.

'1620. Itm for stayeinge Badgers & keepinge a note of there names viijd.'--F. H. Goldney, _Records of Chippenham_, p. 202.

Compare _bodger_, a travelling dealer (Harrison's _Description of England_, 1577), and _bogging_, peddling, in Murray. (Smythe-Palmer).

=Bag=. (1) _v._ To cut peas with a double-handed hook. Cf. ~Vag~.

'They cannot mow it with a sythe, but they cutt it with such a hooke as they bagge pease with.'--Aubrey, _Nat. Hist. Wilts_, p. 51, ed. Brit.

(2) _n._ The udder of a cow (A.B.).--N.W.

=Bake, Beak=. (1) _v._ To chop up with a mattock the rough surface of land that is to be reclaimed, afterwards burning the parings (_Agric. of Wilts_, ch. xii). See ~Burn-beak~. *(2) _n._ The curved cutting mattock used in 'beaking' (_Ibid._ ch. xii). (3) _n._ The ploughed land lying on the plat of the downs near Heytesbury, in Norton Bavant parish, is usually known as the ~Beäk~, or ~Bake~, probably from having been thus reclaimed. In the Deverills parts of many of the down farms are known as the ~Bake~, or, more usually, the ~Burn-bake~.--S.W.

=Bake-faggot=. A rissole of chopped pig's-liver and seasoning, covered with 'flare.' See ~Faggot~ (2).--N.W.

=Ballarag, Bullyrag=. To abuse or scold at any one (S.).--N. & S.W.

=Balm of Gilead=. _Melittis Melissophyllum_, L., Wild Balm.

=Bams=. Rough gaiters of pieces of cloth wound about the legs, much used by shepherds and others exposed to cold weather. Cf. ~Vamplets~.--N. & S.W.

'The old man ... had bams on his legs and a sack fastened over his shoulders like a shawl.'--_The Story of Dick_, ch. xii. p. 141.

=Bandy=. (1) A species of Hockey, played with _bandy sticks_ and a ball or piece of wood.--N. & S.W. (2) A crooked stick (S.).

=Bane=. Sheep-rot (D.). ~Baned.~ Of sheep, afflicted with rot (A.B.).--N.W.

=Bang-tail=, or =Red Fiery Bang-tail=. _Phoenicurus ruticilla_, the Redstart.--N.W. (Wroughton.)

*=Bannet-hay=. A rick-yard (H.Wr.).

=Bannis=. _Gasterosteus trachurus_, the Common Stickleback (A.B.H.Wr.). Also ~Bannistickle~ (A.B.), ~Bantickle~ (A.Wr.), and *~Bramstickle~ (S.). 'Asperagus (_quoedam piscis_) a ban-stykyll.'--_Ortus Vocab._ A.S. _bán_, bone, and _sticels_, prickle. (See N.E.D.).--S.W.

*=Bannut=. Fruit of _Juglans regia_, L., the Walnut (A.B.).

=Bantickle=. See ~Bannis~.

*=Barber's Brushes=. _Dipsacus sylvestris_, L., Wild Teasel (Flower's _Flora of Wilts_). Also Brushes.--N.W.

=Bargain=. A small landed property or holding. 'They have always been connected with that little bargain of land.'--N.W., still in use. Sir W. H. Cope, in his _Hants Glossary_, gives '_Bargan_, a small property; a house and garden; a small piece of land,' as used in N. Hants.

=Barge=. (1) _n._ The gable of a house. Compare architectural _Barge-boards_.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.) (2) _v._ Before a hedge can be 'laid,' all its side, as well as the rough thorns, brambles, &c., growing in the ditch, must be cut off. This is called 'barging out' the ditch.--N.W.

=Barge-hook=. The iron hook used by thatchers to fasten the straw to the woodwork of the gable.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Barge-knife=. The knife used by thatchers in trimming off the straw round the eaves of the gable.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Bargin=. The overgrowth of a hedge, trimmed off before 'laying.'--N. & S.W.

=Barken=. The enclosed yard near a farm-house (A.B.); ~Rick-Barken~, a rick-yard (A.), also used without prefix in this sense (_Wilts Tales_, p. 121).

'Barken, or Bercen, now commonly used for a yard or backside in Wilts ... first signified the small croft or close where the sheep were brought up at night, and secured from danger of the open fields.'--Kennett's _Parochial Antiquities_.

~Barton~ was formerly in very common use, but has now been displaced by _Yard_.--N. & S.W.

*=Barley-bigg=. A variety of barley (Aubrey's _Wilts MS._, p. 304).

*=Barley-Sower=. _Larus canus_, the Common Gull (_Birds of Wilts_, p. 534).

=Barm=. The usual Wilts term for yeast (A.B.M.S.).--N. & S.W.

*=Barn-barley=. Barley which has never been in rick, but has been kept under cover from the first, and is therefore perfectly dry and of high value for malting purposes (_Great Estate_, ch. viii. p. 152).

=Basket=. In some parts of S. Wilts potatoes are sold by the 'basket,' or three-peck measure, instead of by the 'sack' or the 'bag.'

=Baskets=. _Plantago lanceolata_, L., Ribwort Plantain.--S.W. (Little Langford.)

=Bat-folding net=. The net used in 'bird-batting,' q.v. (A.): more usually 'clap-net.'

=Bat-mouse=. The usual N. Wilts term for a bat.--N. & S.W.

=Batt=. A thin kind of oven-cake, about as thick as a tea-cake, but mostly crust.--N.W.

*=Battledore-barley=. A flat-eared variety of barley (Aubrey's _Wilts MS._, p. 304: H.Wr.).

=Baulk=. (1) ~Corn-baulk.~ When a 'land' has been accidentally passed over in sowing, the bare space is a 'baulk,' and is considered as a presage of some misfortune.--N.W. (2) A line of turf dividing a field.--N.W.

'The strips [in a "common field"] are marked off from one another, not by hedge or wall, but by a simple grass path, a foot or so wide, which they call "balks" or "meres."'--_Wilts Arch. Mag._ xvii. 294.

=Bavin=. An untrimmed brushwood faggot (A.B.S.): the long ragged faggot with two withes, used for fencing in the sides of sheds and yards; sometimes also applied to the ordinary faggot with one withe or band.--N. & S.W.

*=Bawsy=, =Borsy=, or =Bozzy=. Coarse, as applied to the fibre of cloth or wool. 'Bozzy-faced cloth bain't good enough vor I.'--S.W. (Trowbridge, &c.)

=Bay=. (1) _n._ A dam across a stream or ditch.--N.W. (2) _v._ 'To bay back water,' to dam it back.--N.W. (3) _n._ The space between beam and beam in a barn or cows' stalls.--N.W.

*=Beads=. _Sagina procumbens_, L., Pearlwort.--N.W. (Lyneham.)

=Beak=. See ~Bake~ and ~Burn-bake~.

=Bearsfoot=. Hellebore.--N.W. (Huish, &c.)

=Beat=. 'To beat clots,' to break up the hard dry lumps of old cow-dung lying about in a pasture.--N.W.

=Becall=. To abuse, to call names. 'Her do becall I shameful.'--N. & S.W.

=Bed-summers=. See ~Waggon~.

=Bedwind=, =Bedwine=. _Clematis Vitalba_, L., Traveller's Joy.--S.W.

=Bee-flower=. _Ophrys apifera_, Huds., Bee Orchis.--S.W.

=Bee-pot=. A bee-hive.--S.W.

'Lore ta zee zom on'ms hair, Like girt bee pots a hanging there.'--SLOW'S _Poems_, p. 43.

=Been=, =Bin=. Because, since; a corruption of _being_ (B.S.). 'Bin as he don't go, I won't.'--N.W.

=Bees=. A hive is a ~Bee-pot~. ~Bee-flowers~ are those purposely grown near an apiary, as sources of honey. Of swarms, only the first is a ~Swarm~, the second being a ~Smart~, and the third a ~Chit~. To follow a swarm, beating a tin pan, is ~Ringing~ or ~Tanging~.--N.W.

*=Beet=. To make up a fire (A.B.C.G.). A.S. _bétan_, to better; to mend a fire (Skeat).--N.W., obsolete.

=Beetle=. (1) The heavy double-handed wooden mallet used in driving in posts, wedges, &c. ~Bittle~ (A.H.). ~Bwytle~ (S.). Also ~Bwoitle~.--N. & S.W.

'On another [occasion] (2nd July, 25 Hen. VIII) ... William Seyman was surety ... for the re-delivery of the tools, "cuncta instrumenta videlicet Beetyll, Ax, Matock, and Showlys."'--_Stray Notes from the Marlborough Court Books_, _Wilts Arch. Mag._ xix. 78.

(2) The small mallet with which thatchers drive home their 'spars.'--S.W.

*=Beggar-weed=. _Cuscuta Trifolii_, Bab., Dodder; from its destructiveness to clover, &c. (_English Plant Names_).

=Bellock=. (1) To cry like a beaten or frightened child (A.B.).--N.W., rarely. (2) To complain, to grumble (_Dark_, ch. x.).--N.W.

*=Belly vengeance=. Very small and bad beer.--N.W.

'Beer of the _very smallest_ description, real "belly vengeance."'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 40.

Cf.:--

'I thought you wouldn't appreciate the widow's tap.... Regular whistle-belly vengeance, and no mistake!'--_Tom Brown at Oxford_, xl.

=Belt=. To trim away the dirty wool from a sheep's hind-quarters.--N.W.

*=Bennet=. _v._ Of wood-pigeons, to feed on bennets (A.).

'They have an old rhyme in Wiltshire--

"Pigeons never know no woe Till they a-benetting do go;"

meaning that pigeons at this time are compelled to feed on the seed of the bent, the stubbles being cleared, and the crops not ripe.'--_Akerman._

=Bennets=, =Bents=. (1) Long coarse grass or rushes (B.).--N.W. (2) Seed-stalks of various grasses (A.); used of both withered stalks of coarse grasses and growing heads of cat's-tail, &c.--N. & S.W. (3) Seed-heads of Plantain, _Plantago major_, L., and _P. lanceolata_, L.--N. & S.W.

=Bents=. See ~Bennets~.

=Bercen= (_c_ hard). See ~Barken~. 'This form of the word is given in _MS. Gough_, _Wilts_, 5, as current in Wilts' (H.K.Wr.).

=Berry=. The grain of wheat (D.); as 'There's a very good berry to-year,' or 'The wheat's well-berried,' or the reverse. See _Old Country Words_, ii. and v.--N.W.

=Berry-moucher=. (1) A truant. See ~Blackberry-moucher~ and ~Moucher~ (A.).--N. & S.W. (2) Fruit of _Rubus fruticosus_, L., Blackberry. See ~Moochers~.--N.W. (Huish.) Originally applied to children who went mouching from school in blackberry season, and widely used in this sense, but at Huish--and occasionally elsewhere--virtually confined to the berries themselves: often corrupted into ~Penny-moucher~ or ~Perry-moucher~ by children. In _English Plant Names_ Mochars, _Glouc._, and Mushes, _Dev._, are quoted as being similarly applied to the fruit, which is also known as Mooches in the Forest of Dean. See Hal., sub. _Mich._

=Besepts=. Except.--N. & S.W.

'Here's my yeppurn they've a'bin and scarched, and I've a-got narra 'nother 'gin Zunday besepts this!'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 138.

=Besom=, =Beesom=, =Bissom=, &c. A birch broom (A.B.S.).--N. & S.W.

*=Betwit=. To upbraid (A.B.).

=Bide=. (1) To stay, remain (A.S.). 'Bide still, will 'ee.'--N. & S.W. (2) To dwell (A.). 'Where do 'ee bide now, Bill?' 'Most-in-general at 'Vize.'--N. & S.W.

=Bill Button=. _Geum rivale_, L., Water Avens.--S.W.

=Bin=. See ~Been~.

=Bird-batting=. Netting birds at night with a 'bat-folding' or clap-net (A.B., Aubrey's _Nat. Hist. Wilts_, p. 15, ed. Brit.). Bird-battenen (S.).--N. & S.W.

=Bird's-eye=. (1) _Veronica Chamaedrys_, L., Germander Speedwell.--N. & S.W. (2) _Anagallis arvensis_, L., Scarlet Pimpernel.--S.W. (3) _Veronica officinalis_, L., Common Speedwell.--S.W. (Barford.)

=Bird's-nest=. The seed-head of Daucus Carota, L., Wild Carrot.--N. & S.W.

'The flower of the wild carrot gathers together as the seeds mature, and forms a framework cup at the top of the stalk, like a bird's-nest. These "bird's-nests," brown and weather-beaten, endured far into the winter.'--_Great Estate_, ch. vii. p. 137.

'The whole tuft is drawn together when the seed is ripe, resembling a bird's nest.'--_Gerarde._

=Bird-seed=. Seed-heads of Plantain.--N. & S.W.

=Bird-squoilin=. See ~Squail~ (S.).

=Bird-starving=. Bird-keeping.--N.W.

'This we call bird-keeping, but the lads themselves, with an appreciation of the other side of the case, call it "bird-starving."'--_Village Miners._

=Birds'-wedding-day=. St. Valentine's Day.--S.W. (Bishopstone.)

=Bishop-wort=. _Mentha aquatica_, L., Hairy Mint.--S.W. (Hants bord.)

=Bissom=. See ~Besom~.

=Bittish=. _adj._ Somewhat. ''Twer a bittish cowld isterday.'--N. & S.W.

=Bittle=. See ~Beetle~.

=Biver=. To tremble, quiver, shiver as with a cold or fright (S.). Cp. A.S. _bifian_, to tremble.--N. & S.W.

'Bless m' zoul, if I dwon't think our maester's got the ager! How a hackers an bivers, to be zhure!'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 55.

=Bivery=. _adj._ Shivery, tremulous. When a baby is just on the verge of crying, its lip quivers and is 'bivery.'--N.W.

=Blackberry-moucher=. (1) A truant from school in the blackberry season (H.). See ~Berry-moucher, Mouch~, &c.--N.W. (Huish, &c.)

'A blackberry moucher, an egregious truant.'--_Dean Milles' MS._, p. 180.

(2) Hence, the fruit of _Rubus fruticosus_, L., Blackberry. See ~Berry-moucher, Moochers~, &c.--N.W. (Huish, &c.)

*=Blackberry-token=. _Rubus caesius_, L., Dewberry (_English Plant Names_).

=Black-Bess=. See ~Black-Bob~.

=Black-Bob=. A cockroach (S.). ~Black-Bess~ on Berks border.--S.W.

=Black-boys=. (1) Flower-heads of Plantain.--N.W. (Huish.) (2) _Typha latifolia_, L., Great Reedmace.--N.W. (Lyneham.)

*=Black Couch=. A form of _Agrostis_ that has small wiry blackish roots (D). _Agrostis stolonifera._

=Black Sally=. _Salix Caprea_, L., Great Round-leaved Sallow, from its dark bark (_Amateur Poacher_, ch. iv). Clothes-pegs are made from its wood.--N.W.

*=Black Woodpecker=. _Picus major_, Great Spotted Woodpecker (_Birds of Wilts_, p. 253). Also known as the Gray Woodpecker.

=Blades=. The shafts of a waggon (S.).--S.W.

=Blare, Blur=. To shout or roar out loudly (S.).--N. & S.W.

=Blatch=. (1) _adj._ Black, sooty (A.B.).--N.W. (2) _n._ Smut, soot. 'Thuc pot be ael over blatch.'--N.W. (3) _v._ To blacken. 'Now dwon't 'ee gwo an' blatch your veäce wi' thuc thur dirty zoot.'--N.W.

=Bleachy=. Brackish.--S.W. (Som. bord.)

=Bleat=. Bleak, open, unsheltered. 'He's out in the bleat,' i.e. out in the open in bad weather. See K for examples of letter-change.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Bleeding Heart=. _Cheiranthus Cheiri_, L., the red Wallflower (A.B.).--N.W.

=Blind-hole=. _n._ A rabbit hole which ends in undisturbed soil, as opposed to a Pop-hole, q.v. (_Gamekeeper at Home_, ch. vi. p. 120).--N.W.

=Blind-house=. A lock-up.

'1629. Item paied for makeing cleane the blind-house vijd.'--_Records of Chippenham_, p. 204.

=Blind-man=. _Papaver Rhoeas_, L., &c., the Red Poppy, which is locally supposed to cause blindness, if looked at too long.--S.W. (Hamptworth.)

*=Blink=. A spark, ray, or intermittent glimmer of light (A.B.). See ~Flunk~.

*=Blinking=. This adjective is used, in a very contemptuous sense, by several Wilts agricultural writers.

'A short blinking heath is found on many parts [of the downs].'--_Agric. of Wilts_, ch. xii.

~Compare:--~

''Twas a little one-eyed blinking sort o' place.'--_Tess of the D'Urbervilles_, vol. i. p. 10.

*=Blissey=. A blaze (A.H.Wr.). A.S. _blysige_, a torch.

=Blobbs, Water Blobs=. Blossoms of _Nuphar lutea_, Sm., Yellow Water Lily (A.B.); probably from the swollen look of the buds. Cf. ~Blub up~.

=Blood-alley=. A superior kind of alley or taw, veined with deep red, and much prized by boys (S.).--N. & S.W.

=Bloody Warr= The dark-blossomed Wallflower, _Cheiranthus Cheiri_, L. (A.B.S.).--N. & S.W.

=Blooens=. See ~Bluens~.

=Bloom=. Of the sun; to shine scorchingly (B.); to throw out heat as a fire. 'How the sun do bloom out atween the clouds!'--N.W.

=Blooming=. Very sultry, as ''Tis a main blooming day.'--S.W. (Salisbury.)

=Bloomy=. Sultry. ~Bloomy-hot.~ Excessively sultry (A.B.).--S.W.

=Blooth, Blowth=. Bloom or blossom.--S.W.

=Blossom=. A snow-flake. 'What girt blossoms 'twer to the snow isterday!'--N. & S.W.