The Dialect of the West of England; Particularly Somersetshire | Page 9

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 Angliæ, &c._, Art. Corylus, speaks
of the divining rod: " Vulgus metallicorum ad virgulam divinum, ut
vocant, quâ venas metallorum inquÃ-rit præ cæteris 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 crowd; to thrust.
Dring'et. _s._ A crowd; a throng.
To Droa. _v. a._ To throw.
Droa. Throw.
Drooäte. Throat.
Drob. _v._ Rob.
Drode (_throw'd_). _part._ Threw, thrown.
Droo. _prep._ Through.
To drool. _v. n._ To drivel.
To Drow. _v. n., v. a._ To dry.
_The hay do'nt drowy at all._ See the observations which precede this
vocabulary.
Drowth. _s._ Dryness; thirst.
Drow'thy. _adj._ Dry; thirsty.
Drove. _s._ A road leading to fields, and sometimes from one village to
another. Derived from its being a way along which cattle are driven.
RAY uses the word in his _Catalogus Plantorum Angliæ, &c._, Art.
Chondrilla.
To Drub. _v. n., v. a._ To throb; to beat.

Drubbin. _s._ A beating.
To Druck. _v. a._ To thrust down; to cram; to press.
Dub, Dub'bed, Dub'by. _adj._ Blunt; not pointed; squat.
Dub'bin. _s._ Suet.
Duck-an-Mallard. _s._ (Duck and Drake) a play of throwing slates or
flat stones horizontally along the water so as to skim the surface and
rise several times before they sink. _"Hen pen, Duck-an-Mallard,
Amen."_
To Dud'der. _v. a._ To deafen with noise; to render the head confused.
Duds. _s. pl._ Dirty cloaths.
Dum'bledore. _s._ A humble-bee; a stupid fellow.
Dunch, (Dunce?). _adj._ Deaf.
As a deaf person is very often, apparently at least, stupid; a stupid,
intractable person is, therefore, called a DUNCE: one who is deaf and
intractable. What now becomes of Duns Scotus, and all the rest of the
recondite observations bestowed upon DUNCE?--See GROSE.
I have no doubt that Dunch is Anglo-Saxon, although I cannot find it in
any of our old dictionaries, except Bailey's. But it ought not to be
forgotten, that many words are floating about which are being arrested
by our etymologists in the present advancing age of investigation.
Durns. _s. pl._ A door-frame.
Dwon't, Dwon. _v._ (Don't) do not.

E.
Eake. _adv._ Also.

Ear-wrig. _s._ Earwig.
This word ought to be spelled Earwrig, as it is derived, doubtless, from
wriggle. See WRIGGLE.
Eese. _adv._ Yes.
Eet. _adv._ Yet.
El'men. _adj._ Of or belonging to elm; made of elm.
El'ver. _s._ A young eel.
Em'mers. _s. pl._ Embers.
Emmet-batch, _s._ An ant-hill.
To Empt. _v.a._ To empty.
En. _pron._Him; _a zid en_; he saw him.
Er. _pron._ He. [Used West of the Parret.]
Eth. _s._ Earth.
To Eve. _v.n._ To become damp; to absorb moisture from the air.
Evet. _s._ A lizard.
Ex. _s._ An axle.

F.
Fags! _interj._ Truly; indeed.
Fayer. _s._