A Glossary of Provincial Words & Phrases in use in Somersetshire Part 6

Cuss _v._ to curse; Cussin Sarvice the Commination

Custin _s._ a kind of small wild plum

Cutty _adj._ small, as cutty-pipe, cutty-wren; Cutty-bye, a cradle, a hob-gobblin

Dadd.i.c.k _s._ rotten-wood; Dadd.i.c.ky _adj._ perished like rotten-wood, applied metaphorically to the old and feeble

Dag-end _s._ applied to a sheaf of reed

Daggers _s._ sword-gra.s.s, a kind of sedge

Dame _s._ never applied to the upper ranks of society, nor to the very lowest, but to such as farmer's wives, or the schoolmistress: rarely if ever applied to a young woman

Dandy _adj._ distracted

Dap _v._ to hop as a ball

Dap _s._ the hop, or turn of a ball; also habits and peculiarities of a person, ex. I know all the daps on'm

Dor, Dare _v._ and _s._ to frighten, stupify: ex. Put a dor on'n

Dare-up _v._ to wake or rouse up a person that is dying or asleep

Dave _v._ to thaw

Davver, or Daver _v._ to fade, to droop; Davered drooping

Dawzin _s._ a conjuring device to discover minerals by the twisting of a hazel-rod

Devil-screech, Devil-swift, or Devilling _s._ the Swift

Devil's Cow _s._ a kind of beetle

Dew-bit _s._ an early morsel before breakfast

Diddlec.u.m _adj._ distracted, mad

Diff _adj._ deaf

Dilly _adj._ cranky, queer

Dir'd _s._ thread, ex. Whaur's my d'r'd and niddel?

Dish-wash, or Dippity-washty _s._ a water-wagtail

Dirsh, Drush, or Drasher _s._ a thrush

Dirt _s._ earth generally, as mould in a garden

Dirten _adj._ miry, dirty, or made of dirt

Dock _s._ the crupper of a saddle

Dockery-stick _s._ phosph.o.r.escent wood

Donnins _s._ dress, clothes

Double-sp.r.o.nged when potatoes lying in the ground throw out fresh tubers

Dough-fig _s._ a Turkey-fig

Douse, or Touse _s._ a smart blow, particularly on the face, ex. A douse on the chaps

Down-arg _v._ to contradict, ex. He 'ood downarg I

Down-daggered _adj._ disconsolate, cast-down

Draen, Drean _v._ to drawl (Fr. _trainer_)

Draffit _s._ a tub for pigs'-wash (_draught-vat_)

Drail _s._ the piece of leather connecting the flail with its handle

Drang _s._ a narrow path or lane

Drang-way a drove or gate-way

Drapper _s._ a small tub

Drash _v._ to thrash; Drashel, or Thrashle _s._ a flail (A S _therscel_)

Drashold, or Dreshol _s._ a threshold

Drawl, Drail _s._ the forepart of the sull of a plough; in West Somerset, weng (A S _w.a.n.g_ or _weng_ a cheek)

Drift _s._ a lask, or looseness

Drimmeling _adj._ slow, continuous pain

Dring _v._ (_pret._ Drang) to throng, crowd, _s._ Dringet, a crowd (Dutch, _dringen_, to press)

Drink _s._ small beer, or cider

Droot _v._ to drivel

Dro _v._ (_part._ Dro'd) to throw, ex. The tree wur dro'd

Drow, or Drowy _v._ to dry, ex. It do drowy terble now, as applied to gra.s.s; Muck-adrowd, or Muck-adrowy _s._ dust