Part 9

*=Litten=, =Litton=. A churchyard. Lieton (H.Wr.) ~Chirche-litoun~ (_Chron. Vilod._). Still used in Hants, but probably now obsolete in Wilts (_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxv. p. 129).

'His next bed will be in the Litten, if he be laying on the ground on such a night as this.'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 161.

*=Liver-sand=. See quotation.

'Sand-veins ... which are deep and tough, and are of the nature called in Wilts "liver-sand."'--_Agric. of Wilts_, ch. xii.

=Lob=. Of leaves, to droop limply, as cabbages do before rain.--N. & S.W.

=Lock=. 'A lock of hay,' a small quantity of hay (A.B.).--N.W.

=Locks-and-Keys=. _Dielytra spectabilis_, D.C. The usual cottagers' name for it in Somerset.--S.W. (Som. bord.).

=Locky=. Of hay which has not been properly shaken about, stuck together in locks as it was cut.--N.W.

=Lodged=. Of wheat, laid or beaten down by wind or rain (D.).--N. & S.W. Also ~Ledged~ (_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxii. p. 112).

=Log=. See ~Lug~ (1).

=Loggered=. A boy who is at plough all day often gets so _loggered_, or weighed down with _loggers_, all the time, that he comes home at night quite exhausted.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Loggers=. Lumps of dirt on a ploughboy's feet.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.) In Glouc. a 'logger' is a small log attached to a horse's foot, to prevent straying.

=Loggerums=. (1) _Centaurea nigra_, L., Black Knapweed.--N.W. *(2) 'Scabious' (_Village Miners_).

=Loiter=. See ~Laiter~.

=Lolloper=. A lazy lout (S.).--N. & S.W.

=Lollup=. (1) To loll out. 'Look at _he_, wi' he's tongue a lolluping out o' he's mouth, vor aal the world like a dog!'--N.W. (2) To loll about, to idle about. 'What be a-lollupin' about like that vor?'--N. & S.W.

*=Long Eliza=. A kind of long blue earthen jar, formerly often seen in cottages.--N.W. (Berks bord.)

'The high black chimney-shelf was covered with crockery of a low type of beauty; pink and yellow china dogs shared their elevated station with "long Elizas" and squat female figures.'--_Dark_, ch. i.

=Longful=. Tedious (A.B.S.).--N. & S.W.

=Long purples=. _Lythrum Salicaria_, L., Purple Loosestrife. Rarely used. Tennyson's 'long purples of the dale' have been identified by himself as _Vicia Cracca_; Shakespeare's are either _Orchis mascula_, or _Arum maculatum_, while Clare applies the name to _Lythrum_.

=Long-winded=. 'A long-winded man' always means one who is very slow to pay his debts.--N.W.

=Long wood=. The long branches which are bent down and used to weave in and bind a hedge when it is being laid.--N.W.

=Lope along=. To run as a hare does.--S.W.

=Loppet=. (1) _v._ The same as ~Lope~. (2) _v._ To idle about, to slouch about. 'A girt veller, allus a loppetin' about.'--N.W. Cf. ~Sloppet~.

=Loppetty=. Weak, out of sorts.--N.W.

=Lords-and-Ladies=. _Arum maculatum_, L., Cuckoo-pint (A.B.).--N. & S.W.

=Lot=. To reckon, expect, think. 'I do lot her's a bad 'un.'--N.W.

=Lot-meads=. (1) Common meadows divided into equal-sized pieces, for the hay of which lots were cast each year (D.).--N.W., obsolete.

'"Lot Mead" is not an uncommon name of fields in Wiltshire parishes. It is perhaps a vestige of the original partition of lands when cleared, which the chronicler Simeon of Durham says were distributed by lot. See Kemble's _Anglo-Saxons_, i. 91.'--JACKSON'S _Aubrey_, note, p. 198.

(2) A kind of festival in connexion with this division.

'Here [at Wanborough] is a Lott-mead celebrated yearly with great ceremony. The Lord weareth a garland of flowers: the mowers at one house have always a pound of beefe and a head of garlic every man.'--JACKSON'S _Aubrey_, p. 198.

Nothing more appears to be known about this festival.--N.W. (Wanborough), obsolete.

*=Lottle=. _v._ To sound as water trickling in a small stream. Cf. ~Glox~.--N.W.

=Love-an'-idols=, or =Loving Idols=. _Viola tricolor_, L., Love-in-idleness, usually the wild form, but occasionally applied to the garden pansy also. ~Nuffin-idols~ at Clyffe Pypard. ~Lovenidolds~ (S.).--N. & S.W.

*=Loving-andrews=. _Geranium pratense_, L., Meadow Cranesbill (_Village Miners_).

*=Lowl-eared=. Long-eared (A.B.H.Wr.).

=Luce=. (1) Luke-warm.--S.W. *(2) A sore in sheep.--S.W.

=Lug=. (1) In land measure, a pole or perch (A.B.G.H.S.). ~Log~ (_MS. Gough_: K.Wr.)--N. & S.W.

'A lug ... is of three lengths in this county: 15, 18, and 16½ feet. The first of these measures is getting out of use, but is still retained in some places, particularly in increasing mason's work. The second is the ancient forest measure, and is still used in many parts of the county for measuring wood-land. But the last, which is the statute perch, is by much the more general.'--_Agric. of Wilts_, p. 268.

(2) Any rod or pole (D.H.), as a perch for fowls, a clothes pole (A.B.). See ~Oven-lug~.

'Olde Freeman doe weare ruggs [coarse cloth], And Thomas Lord doe goe to the woods to steal poles and luggs.'

Seventeenth century doggrell rhymes from Wroughton, quoted in _Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxii. p. 216.

=Lug-wood=. Lops and tops of trees.--S.W.

=Lummakin=. Heavy, ungainly, clumsy (A.B.).--N.W.

=Lumper=. To move heavily, to stumble along. Of a pony, to stumble. To kick against anything (S.).--N. & S.W. (Malmesbury, Pewsey, &c.)

=Lumpus=. (1) Noise, row. 'Don't 'ee make such a lumpus.'--N.W. (2) All in a lump, heavily, as applied to a fall. 'Th'oss didn't vall down, but a come down wi' a kind of a lumpus.'--N.W.

=Lump work=. Piece work.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Lumpy=. Stout and strong. To say to any one, 'Why, ye be growed main lumpy!' is to pay him a high compliment.--N.W.

=Lurry=. Of cows, suffering from looseness.--N.W.

=Lynchet=, =Lytchet=. See ~Linch~.

'Another British coin, found on the "lytchets" at East Dean, has passed into the cabinet of Dr. Blackmore.'--_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxii. p. 242.

=Maakin=. See ~Malkin~.

=Mace=. See Note to quotation.

'This is a style still used by the lower classes in North Wiltshire to tradesmen and sons of farmers. Thus at Ogbourne St. George, a brickmaker whose name is Davis, is called "Mace Davis," and sons of farmers are called "Mace John," or "Mace Thomas," the surname being sometimes added and sometimes not.'--_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. i. p. 338.

This seems a misapprehension. The word used is simply _Mais'_ (before a consonant), a shortened form of 'Maister.' 'Mais' John' is short for Maister John. Before a vowel it would be _Mais'r_ or _Maistr'_--as 'Maistr' Etherd' [Edward].--N.W.

'_Mas_ was formerly a common contraction for _master_, e.g. "Mas John," and is used by Ben Jonson and other Elizabethan writers. See Nares, s.v. _Mas_.'--SMYTHE-PALMER.

*=Mad=. Of land, spoilt, damaged, as by sudden heat after much rain (Lisle's _Husbandry_).--Obsolete.

=Madde=. *(1) _Asperula odorata_, L., Sweet Woodruff.--N.W. (Lyneham.) (2) _Anthemis Cotula_, L., Stinking Camomile.--N. & S.W.

=Madell= (_a_ broad), =Medal=, &c. The game of 'Merrills' or 'Nine Men's Morris.' Also known as ~Puzzle-Pound~. Several varieties of ~Madell~ are played in Wilts, known respectively as ~Eleven-penny~ (strictly ~The Merrills~), ~Nine-penny~, ~Six-penny~, and ~Three-penny~, according to the number of pieces used. 'Eleven-penny' is played with eleven pieces each side, instead of nine, the game being in other respects identical with 'Nine Men's Morris' as described in Strutt's _Sports and Pastimes_. The players move alternately, and the general principle is to get three pieces together in a line anywhere on the dots or holes, while at the same time preventing your adversary from making a line. 'Nine-penny,' 'Six-penny,' and 'Three-penny' differ only in the number of men each side and the form of the board (_see diagrams_). The 'board' is scratched or chalked out on paving-stones, drawn on the slate, cut deep into the turf on the downs, or the top of the corn-bin (with holes instead of dots), in short, made anywhere and anyhow. The 'men' or 'pieces' may be anything available, sticks being played against stones, beans against oats, &c.--N.W. (Devizes, &c.)

=Maggots=. _n._ Tricks, nonsense. 'Her's at her maggots again.'--N.W.

*=Maggotting=. Meddling (S.).--S.W.

=Maggotty=. _adj._ Frisky, playful (A.S.).--N. & S.W.

=Maggotty-pie=. _Picus caudatus_, the Magpie (_MS. Lansd._ 1033, f. 2), still in use.--N.W.

*=Maiden's Honesty=. _Clematis Vitalba_, L., Traveller's Joy. See ~Honesty~.--N.W., obsolete.

'All the hedges about Thickwood (in the parish Colerne) are ... hung with maydens honesty.'--AUBREY'S _Wilts_, Royal Soc. MS. p. 120.

=Main=. (1) _adv._ Very, as 'main good,' excellent (A.B.).--N.& S.W. (2) _adj._ 'A main sight o' frawk,' a great number (S.).--N. & S.W.

=Mais'=. See ~Mace~.

=Make=. 'That makes me out,' puzzles me (H.).--N.W.

=Malkin=. See ~Mawkin~.

*=Mammered=. Perplexed (A.).

*=Mammock=. _v._ To pull to pieces (_Leisure Hour_, August, 1893).--N.W. (Castle Eaton, &c.)

'He did so set his teeth and tear it; O, I warrant, how he mammocked it!'--SHAKESPEARE, _Coriolanus_, i. 3.

*=Mander=. To order about in a worrying dictatorial fashion (S.). 'Measter do mander I about so.'--S.W.

=Mandy= (long _a_). (1) Frolicsome, saucy, impudent (A.B.C.): now only used by very old people.--N.W. *(2) Showy (C.).--N.W., obsolete.

=Mar=. See ~More~.

=Marlbro'-handed=. People who used their tools awkwardly were formerly called '_Marlbro'-handed vawk_,' natives of Marlborough being traditionally famed for clumsiness and unhandiness.--N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)

=Marley=. Streaky, marbled; applied to fat beef, or bacon from a fat pig, where the fat seems to streak and grain the lean.--N.W.

=Martin=, =Free-martin=. A calf of doubtful sex.--N.W. An animal with an ox-like head and neck, which never breeds, but is excellent for fatting purposes. It is commonly supposed that a female calf born twin with a male is always a free-martin. Recent investigations, however, have proved that though the external organs of a free-martin may be female the internal are in all cases male. The rule laid down by Geddes and Thomson is that twin calves are always normal when of opposite sex or both female; but that if both are male one is invariably thus abnormal (_Evolution of Sex_, ch. iii. p. 39). Compare Scotch _ferow_ or _ferry cow_, a cow not in calf, and _mart_, an ox; also A.S. _fear_, a bullock (_Folk-Etymology_).

=Masked=. See ~A-masked~.

=Mathern=, =Mauthern=. *(1) _Chrysanthemum leucanthemum_, L., Ox-eye Daisy (A.D.H.Wr.).--N.W. (2) Wild Camomile (_Great Estate_, ch. viii).--N.W.

*=Maudlin=. The Ox-eye Daisy (D.).--N.W.

=Mawk= (pronounced _Maak_). To clean out the oven with the 'maakin,' before putting in the batch of bread.--N.W.

=Mawkin=, =Malkin=, =Maak=, or =Maakin=, (1) An oven-swab with which the charcoal sticks are swept out of the oven, before putting in the batch (A.).--N. & S.W.

'The malkin, being wetted, cleaned out the ashes ... malkin [is] a bunch of rags on the end of a stick.'--_Great Estate_, ch. viii.

(2) Also used as a term of reproach.--N.W.

'Thee looks like a girt maakin.'--_Great Estate_, ch. viii.

*=May-beetle=, The cockchafer (A.B.).

*=May-blobs=, =May-blubs=, or =May-bubbles=, Flowers and buds of _Caltha palustris_, L., Marsh Marigold.

=Mazzard=, *(1) A small kind of cherry (_English Plant Names_). ~Merry~ is the usual Wilts name, _Mazzard_ being Dev. and Som. (2) The head (A.), but only in such threats as:--

'I'll break thee mazzard vor thee!'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 31.

Ben Jonson has _mazzarded_, broken-headed.--N.W.

*=Meadow-soot=, _Spiraea Ulmaria_, L., Meadow-sweet (_Great Estate_, ch. ii). _Sote_, or _soot_=sweet.--N.W.

*=Mealy=, Mild and damp. ''Twar a oncommon mealy marnin'.'--N.W. (Bratton.)

=Measle-flower=, The garden Marigold, the dried flowers having some local reputation as a remedy. Children, however, have an idea that they may catch the complaint from handling the plant.--N. & S.W.

=Med=, See ~Mid~.

=Meg=, =Meggy=. (1) In the game of ~Must~, q.v., a small stone--called a 'meg' or 'meggy'--is placed on the top of a large one, and bowled at with other 'meggies,' of which each player has one.--N. & S.W. *(2) ~Maig.~ A peg (S.).--S.W.

=Mere=. A boundary line or bank of turf.--N. & S.W. A turf boundary between the downs on adjoining farms: formed by cutting two thick turves, one smaller than the other, and placing them, upside down, with the smaller one on top, at intervals of about a chain along the boundary line.--N.W. (Devizes.)

'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.

'Two acres of arable, of large measure, in Pen field, lying together and bounded by meres on both sides.'--_Hilmarton Parish Terrier_, dated 1704.

=Mere-stone=. A boundary stone (_Amateur Poacher_, ch. iii).--N.W.

=Merry=. The cherry; applied to both black and red varieties, but especially the small semi-wild fruit.--N. & S.W.

=Merry-flower=. The wild Cherry.--S.W. (Barford.)

*=Mesh= (_e_ long). Moss or lichen on an old apple-tree.--S.W. (Som. bord.)

=Messenger=. (1) A sunbeam reaching down to the horizon from behind a cloud is sometimes said to be the sun 'sending out a messenger.' Cf. Cope's _Hants Glossary_. Used by children in both N. & S. Wilts. (2) _pl._ The small detached clouds that precede a storm (_Greene Ferne Farm_, ch. vi).--N. & S.W.

*=Mice's-mouths=. _Linaria vulgaris_, Mill., Snapdragon.--S.W. (Farley.)

=Michaelmas Crocus=. _Colchicum autumnale_, L., Meadow Saffron.--N.W.

=Mickle=. Much (A.S.). A.S. _micel_.--N. & S.W., occasionally.

=Mid=, =Med=. _v._ Might or may (S.).--N.W.

=Middling=. (1) Ailing in health (H.); ~Middlinish~ (_Wilts Tales_, p. 137).--N. & S.W. (2) Tolerable, as 'a middlin' good crop.' ~Middlekin~ is occasionally used in S. Wilts in this sense.--N. & S.W. 'Very middling' (with a shake of the head), bad, or ill; 'pretty middling' (with a nod), good, or well (_Wilts Arch. Mag._ vol. xxii. p. 112).

*=Midstay=. The barn-floor between the mows.--N.W. (Aldbourne.) Compare _Middlestead_, a threshing-floor: _East of England_; also

'The old and one-eyed cart-horse dun The middenstead went hobbling round, Blowing the light straw from the ground.'

W. MORRIS, _The Land East of the Sun_.

=Midsummer men=. _Sedum Fabaria_, Koch., a variety of the red Orpine.--N.W. occasionally; S.W. (Farley.)

=Mild=. Of stone or wood, easily worked (_Great Estate_, ch. ix).--N.W.

*=Milk-flower=. _Lychnis vespertina_, Sibth., Evening Campion.--S.W. (Charlton All Saints.)

=Milkmaids=. _Cardamine pratensis_, L., Lady's Smock. In common use in Hill Deverill and Longbridge Deverill, also at Farley and Hamptworth.--S.W.

=Milkwort=. _Euphorbia Peplus_, L., Petty Spurge.--N. & S.W.

=Mill=. To clean clover-seed from the husk (D.). ~Milled Hop~ (D.).--N.W.

=Miller=, =Millard=, =Mallard=, or =Dusty Miller=. A large white moth (A.S.); generally extended to any large night-flying species.--N. & S.W.

*=Mill-peck=. A kind of hammer with two chisel-heads, used for deepening the grooves of the millstone (_Great Estate_, ch. ix).

*=Mill-staff=. A flat piece of wood, rubbed with ruddle, by which the accuracy of the work done by the mill-peck may be tested (_Great Estate_, ch. ix).

=Mind=. (1) To remind. 'That minds I o' Lunnon, it do.'--N. & S.W. (2) To remember. 'I minds I wur just about bad then.'--N. & S.W. (3) 'To be a mind to anything,' to be inclined to do it.--N.W.

=Minding=. A reminder. After a severe illness you are apt to have 'the mindings on't' now and again.--N.W.

=Minnies=. Small fry of all kinds of fish.--N. & S.W.

=Mint=. A cheese-mite (A.). The older form of _mite_ (Skeat).--N.W.

=Minty=. Of cheese, full of mites (A.).--N.W.

=Mist-pond=. A pond on the downs, not fed by any spring, but kept up by mist, dew, and rain. Such ponds rarely fail, even in the longest drought. More commonly called ~Dew-ponds~.--S.W. (Broadchalke, &c.)

=Mixen=, =Muxen=. A dungheap (A.B.C.S.).--N. & S.W.

=Mix-muddle=. One who muddles things imbecilely (_Village Miners_).--N.W.

=Miz-maze=. Puzzle, perplexity, confusion.--S.W.

=Miz-mazed=. Thoroughly puzzled, stupefied. Stunned (S.).--S.W.

=Mizzy-mazey=. Confused. Used of print swimming before the eyes.--S.W.

=Moile=. Dirt, mud. ~Mwoile~ (A.). 'Aal in a mwoile.'--N.W.

=Moll*'ern=, =Molly Heron=. The Heron (_Great Estate_, ch. iv).--N.W.

=Mommick=, =Mommet=. A scarecrow. Cf. ~Mummock~.--N.W. (Malmesbury.)

=Money-in-both-pockets=. _Lunaria biennis_, L., Honesty, from the seeds showing on both sides of the dissepiment through the transparent pod.

=Monkey-musk=. The large garden varieties of _Mimulus_, which resemble the true musk, but are scentless, and therefore merely _monkey_ (i.e. mock, spurious) musk.--N. & S.W.

=Monkey Nut=. _Poa annua_, L., Meadow Grass; eaten by boys for its nut-like flavour.--S.W. (Salisbury.)

=Monkey-plant=. Garden _Mimulus_ (_Wild Life_, ch. viii).--N.W.

=Mooch=. See ~Mouch~.

=Moocher=. See ~Moucher~.

=Moochers=. Fruit of _Rubus fruticosus_, L., Blackberry (S.). Cf. ~Berry-moucher~ (2).--S.W.

=Moon-daisy=. _Chrysanthemum leucanthemum_, L., Ox-eye Daisy (_Great Estate_, ch. ii). A very general name, especially in N. Wilts. The flowers are sometimes called ~Moons~.--N. & S.W.

=Moonied up=. Coddled and spoilt by injudicious bringing up. 'Gells as be moonied up bean't never no good.'--N. & S.W.

=Moots=. Roots of trees left in the ground (A.). See ~Stowls~.--E.W.

=Mop=. (1) A Statute Fair for hiring servants (A.B.); also used in Glouc. (_Wilts Tales_, p. 33).--N.W. (2) A rough tuft of grass.

=Moral=. A child is said to be the 'very moral,' or exact likeness, of its father. A form of 'model.'--N. & S.W.

=More=, =Mar=, =Moir=. (1) An old root or stump of a tree.--N. & S.W. (2) A root of any plant (A.B.G.S.: Aubrey's _Wilts MS._), as 'a strawberry more'; 'fern mars'; 'cowslip mars,' &c. (_Amateur Poacher_, ch. vii.) Occasionally ~Moir~ in N. Wilts, as in ~Crazy Moir~.--N. & S.W.

=Moreish=. Appetizing, so good that you want more of it. 'Viggy pudden be oncommon moreish.'--N. & S.W.

=Mort=. _n._ A quantity.--N. & S.W.

'Her talks a mort too vine.'--_Dark_, ch. x.

'I stuck up to her a mort o' Sundays.'--_Ibid._ ch. xv.

=Most-in-deal=. Usually, generally (A.B.C.). 'Where do 'e bide now, Bill?' 'Most-in-deal at 'Vize [Devizes], but zometimes at Ziszeter [Cirencester].' ~Most-in-general~ is more commonly used now.--N.W.

=Most-in-general=. Usually.--N.W.

'Most in gen'ral I catches sight of you when I goes by wi' the horses, but you wasn't in the garden this afternoon.'--_Dark_, ch. i.

=Mote=, =Maute=. A morsel of anything, a very minute quantity.--S.W., formerly.

=Mother-of-thousands=. (1) _Saxifraga sarmentosa_, L.--S.W. (2) _Linaria Cymbalaria_, Mill., Ivy-leaved Toadflax.--S.W. (Salisbury.)

*=Mother Shimbles' Snick-needles=. _Stellaria Holostea_, L., Greater Stitchwort (_Sarum Dioc. Gazette_).--S.W. (Zeals.)

=Mothery=. Thick, muddy, as spoilt beer or vinegar (A.B.C.S.).--N. & S.W.

=Mouch=, =Mooch=. (1) _v._ To prowl about the woods and lanes, picking up such unconsidered trifles as nuts, watercresses, blackberries, ferns, and flower-roots, with an occasional turn at poaching (_Gamekeeper at Home_, ch. vii); to pilfer out-of-doors, as an armful of clover from the fresh-cut swathe (_Hodge and his Masters_, ch. xxiii).--N. & S.W.

'Probably connected with O.F. _mucer_, _muchier_, Fr. _musser_, to hide, to lurk about. It always implies something done more or less by stealth.'--SMYTHE-PALMER.

(2) _v._ To play the truant.--N. & S.W. (3) _v._ To be sulky or out of temper.--N. & S.W. (4) _n._ 'In a mouch,' in a bad temper. 'On the mouch,' gone off mouching.--N. & S.W.

=Moucher=, =Moocher=. (1) A truant (A.B.). See ~Berry-moucher~.--N. & S.W. (2) A man who lives by mouching (_Gamekeeper at Home_, ch. vii).--N. & S.W.

=Moulter=. Of birds, to moult.--N.W.

=Mound=. (1) _n._ A hedge. In general use in N. Wilts.--N. & S.W. (2) _v._ To hedge in or enclose.--N.W.

'The Churchyard ... to be mounded partly by the manor, partly by the parish and parsonage except only one gate to be maintained by the vicar.'--1704, _Hilmarton Parish Terrier_.

=Mouse=. The 'mouse' is a small oblong piece of muscle, under the blade-bone of a pig.--N.W.

'The chief muscles of the body were named from lively animals; e.g. ... _mus_, mouse, the biceps muscle of the arm, and so in A.S. and O.H.G. Cf. _musculus_, (1) a little mouse, (2) a muscle.' (_Folk-Etymology_, p. 615, sub Calf.)--SMYTHE-PALMER.

*=Mousetails=. A kind of grass, perhaps Cats'-tail, but not _Myosorus_.--N.W.

*=Moutch=. 'On the moutch,' shuffling (H.). Some meaning of ~Mouch~ has probably here been misunderstood.

=Mouthy=. _adj._ Abusive, cheeky, impudent.--S.W.

=Mow=. In a barn, the unboarded space at each end of the threshing-floor, where the corn used to be heaped up for threshing.--N.W.

*=Mowing-machine Bird=. _Salicaria locustella_, Grasshopper Warbler, from its peculiar note (_Birds of Wilts_, p. 154).--S.W. (Mere.)

=Much=. (1) 'It's much if he do,' most likely he won't do it. 'It's much if he don't,' most likely he will.--N.W. (2) _v._ To make much of, to pet. 'Her do like muching,' i.e. being petted.--N.W.

=Much-about=. Used intensively.--N.W.

'I was never one to go bellockin', though I've allus had much-about raison to murmur.'--_Dark_, ch. x.

=Muck=. Dirt, mud, earth.--N. & S.W.

*=Mucker=. A miserly person (S.) Cf. ~Mouch~.--S.W.

'A fine old word, that I do not remember to have met with in other counties. It=Old Eng. _mokerer_ (_Old English Miscellany_, E. E. T. S. p. 214), a miser; Scot. _mochre_, _mokre_, to hoard.'--SMYTHE-PALMER.

=Muckle=. (1) _n._ Manure, long straw from the stable (_Agric. of Wilts_, ch. vii).--N. & S.W. (2) 'Muckle over,' to cover over tender plants with long straw in autumn, to protect them from frost.--N.W.

=Muddle-fuss=. A persistent meddler with other people's affairs.--N.W. (Steeple Ashton.)

*=Mudel over=. The same as _Muckle over_, q.v. (_Agric. of Wilts_, ch. vii).

=Mud-up=. (1) To pamper and spoil a child.--S.W. (Hants bord.) *(2) To bring up by hand (H.Wr.), as 'Mud the child up, dooke' (_Monthly Mag._, 1814).

=Muggeroon=. A mushroom.--N.W.

=Muggerum=. Part of the internal fat of a pig.--N.W.

=Muggle=. (1) _n._ Confusion, muddle (A.S.).--N. & S.W.

'Here we be, ael in a muggle like.'--_Wilts Tales_, p. 137.

(2) To live in a muddling, haphazard way.--N.W. Cf.:--

'Most on us 'ad a precious sight rather work for a faermer like the old measter, an' have our Saturday night reg'lar, than go muggling the best way we could, an' take our chance.'--_Jonathan Merle_, xxxvii. 412.

=Muggle-pin=. The pin in the centre of a want-trap.--S.W.

=Mullin=. The headstall of a cart-horse: sometimes extended to the headstall and blinkers of a carriage horse.--N.W.

=Mullock=. A heap of rubbish (A.B.), now applied to mine refuse in Australia.

=Mummock=. A shapeless confused mass. A clumsily-swaddled baby or badly-dressed woman would be 'aal in a mummock.'--N.W.

=Mum up=. To make much of, pamper, pet, and spoil. 'A granny-bred child's allus a-mummed up.'--N. & S.W.

=Mun=. Used in addressing any person, as 'Doesn't thee knaw that, mun?' (A.)--N.W.

=Must=. A game played by children: a small stone--'a meggy'--is placed on the top of a large one, and bowled at with other 'meggies,' of which each player has one.--N.W.

=Muxen=. See ~Mixen~.

=Nacker=. See ~Knacker~.

=Nail-passer=. A gimlet (A.). Kennett has _Nailsin_ in a similar sense.--N.W.