ASSIL TOOTH, or AXLE TOOTH, a grinder-a tooth situated under the axis of the jaw. Isl. jaxle, dens molaris. Su.-Got. oxeltand, a grinder. V. Ihre. ASTITE, ASTY, rather, as soon as, sooner; literally as tide. Sax. and Isl. tid. ASTONIED, astonished, in a consternation. An old word, not yet obsolete. V. Todd's John. astone. ATTERCOP, ATTERCOB, a spider's web. Sax. atter, poison, and coppe, a cup; receiving its denomination, according to Dr. Jamieson, partly from its form and partly from its charactera cup of venom. Attercop is also occasionally used to denote the spider itself; which is curious, as being still unaltered Saxon-atter-coppa. Hence a female of a virulent or malignant disposition is sometimes degraded with the appellation of an attercap. A-TWEE, in two; as broken in two. Chaucer uses atow; a word still retained in the north. ATWEEN, between, betwixt. Ancient, but not obsolete. AUD, AULD. the vulgar pronunciation of old. Sax. cald. The latter form of the word is used in the beautiful old song of "Tak your auld cloak about ye," recovered by Bishop Percy, and given in his Reliques of Ancient Poetry. AUDFARANT, AULD-FARANT, grave, sagacious, ingenious. Children are said to be so when they are wiser or more witty than those of their age usually are; that is, fashioned, or formed like an older, or more experienced person. Dut. ervaren. Dan. erfaren, experienced. AUD-LANG-SYNE, AULD-LANG-SYNE, a favourite phrase in the North, by which old persons express their recollections of former kindnesses and juvenile enjoyments in times long since past-immortalized by the muse of Burns. AUD-PEG, AULD-PEG, old milk cheese. See' OLD-PEG. AUD-THRIFT, AULD-THRIFT, wealth accumulated by the successive frugality of a long race of ancestors. AUK, a stupid or clumsy person. From old Got. auk, a beast; or it may be from the northern sea bird, called the auk, of proverbial stupidity. Alum is also, in some AUM, the elm tree. Old Fr. oulme. places, pronounced aum. Br. alm. tion, the letter / is frequently dispensed with, or discarded. AUN'D, ordained, fated, destined. "I'm aun'd to this luck." AUNTS. "One of my aunts" is, in Newcastle, a common designation for a lady of more complaisance than virtue. Shakspeare and other play writers use the term. AUP, a wayward child-an ape; from Sax. apa. AUTER, altar. Many of our old authors write this word auter, or awter; which is still the pronunciation in the North. Old Fr. auter. The high altar-a term retained in Cumberland, where it is pronounced as one word heeautre— was probably so called to distinguish it from the Saint's altars, of which kind there were several in most churches. AUWARDS, awkward, athwart. A beast is said to be auwards, when it lies backward or downhill, so as to be unable to rise. Sheep, heavy in the wool, are often found so; in which case, if not extricated, they soon swell and die. Sax. awerd, per versus, aversus. AVER, a work-horse-a beast of burden. V. Spelman, affri, affra; and Du Cange and Kennett, averia. AVERISH, OF AVERAGE, the stubble and grass left in corn fields after harvest-the winter, or after-eatage. Aw, the common pronunciation of I. Aw's, I am. Aw was up and down, seekin for maw hinny, Song, Maw Canny Hinny. AW-MACKS, all makes, all sorts or kinds. V. Boucher. AWMUS, the pronunciation of alms in the North. Sax. almesse. Dan. almisse. Indeed, in most of the cognate languages the word is a dissyllable. Chaucer accordingly spells it almesse : other old writers have it almous. AWN, v. to acknowledge, to own. Sax. agan, possidere. never awn us now-a-days." AWN, AwNE, α. own, proper. Sax. agen, proprius. "You This house! these grounds! this stock is all mine awne. Awn-sell, own-self.—Awn-SELLS, own-selves. AWSOME, appalling, awful. "The lightning was awsome.” AXE, to ask. This, now vulgar, word is the original Saxon form, and is used by Chaucer, Bale, Heywood, and many other ancient writers. It does not, however, appear to have obtained a footing in any of the cognate languages of the North, which seems to show that whilst we formed our vocabulary from the Saxons, other northern nations drew from Gothic sources. AYE, always, continually, for ever. An old word; said in Todd's Johnson to be now rarely used, and only in poetry. For colloquial purposes, however, it is frequently made use of in Northumberland; and, so far as my recollection serves me, in other parts of the North. My friend, Archdeacon Wrangham, an elegant classical scholar, refers me to Greek aısı or ası for a derivation. There is certainly a striking analogy. See EIGH. AYONT, beyond. "Far ayont the hill." Sax. a-geont. A YOU A, HINNY, A YOU A, HINNY BURD, a northern nurse's lullaby. Brand has observed that an etymologist, with a tolerably inventive fancy, might easily persuade himself that the the song usually sung in dandling children in Sandgate, in the suburbs of Newcastle upon Tyne, the Wapping or Billingsgate of that place, "A you a, hinny," is nearly of a similar signification with the ancient Eastern mode of saluting kings, "Live for ever." V. Pop. Antiq. Vol. I. p. 377. The song here referred to will be found in Bell's Rhymes of Northern Bards, p. 296. B. BABBLEMENT, silly discourse. Probably from Fr. babiller. In the Then on he went, as nice as owse, Song, Jemmy Joneson's Whurry. BACHELOR'S BUTTON, a well-known flower, resembling a button -supposed to possess a magical effect on the fortunes of rustic lovers. See Grey's Shak. V. I., p. 107. BACK-BY, behind, a little way distant. Bey (Germ.) is near:hence in-by, out-by, back-by. BACKERLY, late; as a backerly spring; a backerly harvest. BACK-CAST, the failure in an effort, a relapse into trouble. BACK-END, the autumnal part of the year,―the latter end of any given time. BACKHOUSE, (pronounced exactly Bacchus,) a bakehouse. Sax. bachus. BACKSIDE, any ground on the back part of a house-not confined to the court or area behind. It has the same signification in Scotland. V. Jam. Supp. Nicholas Ward, unfortunately smoor'd to death, in sinking for a draw well in his father's backside, 10 Feb. 1716. Sharp, Chronicon Mirabile. BACKSTONE, a heated stone for baking upon-a bakestone. Stones were first used for the purpose, and are still in use for oatcakes. As nimble as a cat on a hot backstone.-Yorkshire Proverb. BADGER, a cadger or pedlar; but originally a person who purchased grain at one market, and took it on horseback to sell at another. Lat. bajulus, a carrier. Before the roads in the North were passable for waggons and carts, this trade of badgering was very extensive. Badger, I understand, is a common name in Lancashire for an ordinary shop-flour and butter dealer. Badly, sick, ill.—SADLY badly, very much indisposed.- BADLING, a worthless person-a bad one. Sax. bædling, homo delicatus. BAG, the udder of a cow. Isl. baggi, onus, sarcina. BAIL, BALE, a signal of alarm, a bon-fire.-BAIL-HILLS, or BALEHILLS, hillocks on the moors where fires have formerly been. Isl. bal, pyra. See Crav. Gloss. Baal-hills. BAIN, near, ready, easy. Isl. beinn, rectus. Germ. bahn, a path, a beaten way.-BAINER WAY, a nearer way. BAIRN, a child. Sax. bearn. Mœ.-Got. barn. It is the same in the Islandic and Danish languages. The word is written by old English writers bearn, bearne. In All's Well, in the dialogue between the Countess and the Clown, it is observed, that "bearns are blessings;” and in the Winter's Tale, when the shepherd finds Perdita, he exclaims, mercy on's, a bearne! a very pretty bearne." Among the vulgar-especially the pitmen-bairn is applied to a female child only. By the favour of a friend I am enabled to present the reader with the following illustration of this confined meaning of the word, from their own phraseology. "Assa! wor wife's getten her bed, mun.”—“No!—ist a lad or a bairn, then ?" "Wey guess.' "Mebbies a bairn ?"-"No." "Mebbies a lad, then?" "Odd smash thou's a witch, or somebody's telt th'." In Shakspeare's time, it would seem that a child signified a |