The Dialect of the West of England; Particularly Somersetshire | Page 8

in tying a cock to a stake, and throwing a stick at him from a distance till he is killed.
Cock-and-Mwile. _s._ A jail.
Col'ley, _s._ A blackbird.
To Collogue, _v. n._ To associate in order to carry out some improper purpose, as thieves. [Two such rascals collogue together for mischief. Rob Roy, p. 319, ed. 1821.]
Collo'gin. _s._ (g _hard_). An association for some improper purpose.
[Johnson defines it _flattery; wheedling_; which does not convey the correct meaning.]
Colt-ale, _s._ (Sometimes called footing or foot-ale) literally ale given, or money paid for ale, by a person entering on a new employment, to those already in it.
Comforts (comfits.) _s. pl._ Sugared corianders, cinnamon, &c.
Com'ical. _adj._ Odd; singular.
Contraption. _s._ Contrivance; management.
Coop. _interj._ Come up! a word of call to fowls to be fed.
To Cork. _v. a._ Cawk; calk; to set on a horse's shoes sharp points of iron to prevent slipping on ice.
To Count, _v. n._ To think; to esteem.
Cow-baby, _s._ A coward; a timid person.
To Crap, to Crappy. _v. n._ to snap; to break with a sudden sound; to crack.
Crap. _s._ A smart sudden sound.
Craup. preterite of creep.
Cre'aped. Crept.
Creem. _s._ Sudden shivering.
Cre??my. _adj._ Affected with sudden shivering.
Creeplin. _part._ Creeping.
Crips. _adj._ Crisp.
Criss-cross-lain. _s._ The alphabet; so called in consequence of its being formerly preceded in the _horn-book_ by a cross to remind us of the cross of Christ; hence the term. _Christ-Cross- line_ came at last to mean nothing more than the alphabet.
Crock, _s._ A bellied pot, of iron or other metal, for boiling food.
Croom. _s._ A crumb; a small bit.
Crowd-string, _s._ A fiddle-string.
Crowdy-kit. _s._ A small fiddle.
Crow'ner. _s._ A coroner.
To be Crowned. _v. pass._ To have an inquest held over a dead body by the coroner.
Crowst. _s._ Crust.
Crow'sty. _adj._ Crusty, snappish, surly.
Crub, Crubbin. _s._ Food: particularly bread and cheese.
Cubby-hole. s. A snug, confined place.
Cuckold _s._ The plant burdock.
To Cull. _v. n._ To take hold round the neck with the arms.
Cute. _adj._ [Acute] sharp; clever.
Cutty. _adj._ Small; diminutive.
Cutty, Cutty-wren._s._ A wren.

D.
DA`. _s._ Day.
D??yze. Days.
Dade. Dead.
Dad'dick. _s._ Rotten wood.
Dad'dicky. _adj._ Rotten, like daddick.
Dame. _s._ This word is originally French, and means in that language, _lady_; but in this dialect it means a mistress; an old woman; and never a lady; nor is it applied to persons in the upper ranks of society, nor to the very lowest; when we say dame Hurman, or dame Bennet, we mean the wife of some farmer; a school-mistress is also sometimes called dame (dame-schools).
Dang. _interj._ Generally followed by pronoun, as _dang it_; _dang ?am_; _od dang it_: [an imprecation, a corruption of God dang it (_God hang it_) or more likely corruption of damn.]
Dap, _v. n._ To hop; to rebound.
Dap. _s._ A hop; a turn. To know the daps of a person is, to know his disposition, his habits, his peculiarities.
Dap'ster. _s._ A proficient.
To Daver. _v. n._ To fade; to fall down; to droop.
Dav'ison. _s._ A species of wild plum, superior to the bullin.
Daw'zin. _s._ The passing over land with a bent hazel rod, held in a certain direction, to discover whether veins of metal or springs are below, is called Dawzin, which is still practised in the mining districts of Somersetshire. There is an impression among the vulgar, that certain persons only have the gift of the divining rod, as it has been sometimes called; by the French, Baguette Devinatoire.
Ray, in his _Catalogus Plantarum Angli?|, &c._, Art. Corylus, speaks of the divining rod: " Vulgus metallicorum ad virgulam divinum, ut vocant, qu?￠ venas metallorum inqu?-rit pr?| c?|teris furcam eligit colurnam." More may be seen in John Bauhin.
Des'perd. _adj._ [Corrupted from desperate.] Very, extremely; used in a good as well as a bad sense: _desperd good_; desperd bad.
Dewberry, _s._ A species of blackberry.
Dibs. _s. pl._ Money.
Did'dlecome. _adj._ Half-mad; sorely vexed.
Dig'ence. _s._ [g hard, diggunce, Dickens] a vulgar word for the Devil.
Dird. _s._ Thread.
Dirsh, _s._ A thrush.
Dirten. _adj._ Made of dirt.
Dock. _s._ A crupper.
Doe. _part._ Done.
To Doff. _v. a._ To put off.
To Don. _v. a._ To put on.
Donnins. _s. pl._ Dress; clothes.
Dough-fig. _s._ A fig; so called, most probably, from its feeling like dough. JUNIUS has _dotefig_: I know not where he found it. See FIG.
To Dout. _v. a._ To extinguish; to put out.
To Downarg. _v. a._ [To argue one _down_]; to contradict; to contend with.
Dowst. _s._ Dust; money; _Down wi' tha dowst!_ Put down the money!
Dowsty. _adj._ Dusty.
[Dr used for thr in many words:] as droo for through.
Draffit. _s._ [I suppose from draught-vat.] A vessel to hold pot-liquor and other refuse from the kitchen for pigs.
Drang. _s._ A narrow path.
To Drash. _v. a._ To thresh.
Dras'hel. _s._ The threshold; a flail.
Dras'her. _s._ A thresher.
Drauve. _s._ A drove, or road to fields.
Drawt. _s._ Throat.
To Drean. _v. n._ To drawl in reading or speaking.
Drean. _s._ A drawling in reading or speaking.
Dreaten. _v._ Threaten.
Dree. _a._ Three.
To Dring. _v. n._ To throng; to press, as in a