about, as herum laufer is a vagabond? Herum parson, or rum parson, may, therefore, be a vagabond parson. RUMBUSTICAL, rude, noisy, overbearing, turbulent. RUM-GUMPTIOUS, pompous, forward, violent, bold, rash. RUMMEL-GUMSHON, the same as GUMSHON. Sc. rumgumption. RUMPUS, a great noise, a disturbance, an uproar. V. Jennings. RUN AWAY DR. BOCANKI, a proverbial expression, familiar in the county of Durham, near the river Tees-said to have originated in the trepidation and sudden flight of Dr. Balcanquall, Dean of Durham, a Scotchman, who was peculiarly obnoxious to his countrymen, on account of having penned the King's declaration against the Covenanters. V. Surtees' Hist. of Dur., Vol. I., p. xcvi. RUNG, a spoke, the step or round of a ladder. Mo.-Got. hrung, virga. It is also a name for a cudgel, or walking-staff. Be sure ye dinna quit the grip And lay ye twafald owre a rung.-Old Scots Song. RUNKLE, to crease, to crumple, to wrinkle. Sax. wrinclian. RUNT, the hardened stalk or stem of a plant. "A kail-runt." 436. ness, is still considered in the North as an omen of death. Levinus Lemnius (Occult Miracles of Nature, Lib. II., Ch. 15,) is very learned on this subject. RUZE, to extol, to boast, to magnify in narration--to rouse, or raise. Isl. rausa, multa effutire. Dan. rose, to praise. Cornish, rôs, bragging. Hence, perhaps, roozer, or rouser, a great untruth. S. SACK-AND-SEAM-ROAD, a horse road-properly a pack-horse road V. Lye, vo. seam. over moors. SACKLESS, simple, weak, helpless, innocent. Dr. Willan considers that this epithet must have originated after the introduction of the favourite beverage, sack and sugar; but the word (which is old in our language, and often occurs in the Border Laws) may evidently be traced to Sax. sacleas, quietus. Isl. saklaus, innocens. Swed. saklös, exempt from punishment. SAD, heavy, as contrary to light-stiff; applied to a pudding, or to bread when the yeast has had no effect. SAE, SEE, SEEA, SO.-SAEBETIDE, SEEABETIDE, if so be. Shak SAINT CUTHBERT'S DUCK, the eider duck; or great black and white duck. Anas mollissima.-Linnæus. These interesting sea-birds are found on most of the Farne Islands on the coast of Northumberland, the only places in England where they are known to incubate. They are now, however, almost extinct, in consequence of the wanton cruelty of those who visit the islands during the breeding season. Their feathers are remarkably soft, and of great value. The popular name is obviously connected with the celebrated Saint and Patron of Durham; who, regardless of all earthly pomp and vanity, resigned the splendour and magnificence of an episcopal station, for the purity of an hermetical life. Retiring to a humble cell in one of these desolate spots-as yet unmarked by the habitation of man,-or, as a well known legend expresses it," as voide of men, as full of devills"-he commenced a mode of living extremely austere, forcing the barren soil to yield him sustenance by the labour of his own hands. SAINT CUTHBERT'S BEADS, a name given to the Encrinites which are found in great abundance among the rocks at Holy Island, and sold to strangers as the attributed workmanship of the Saint. According to the popular tradition, this holy man often visits the shore of Lindisfarne in the night; and sitting on one rock, uses another as his anvil, on which he forges and fashions these beads. Saint Cuthbert sits, and toils to frame Scott's Marmion. SAINT CUTHBERT'S PATRIMONY, an appellation for all the land between the waters of Tyne and Tees, which it is recorded was conferred upon the church, for the sake of her tutelary Saint -eminently distinguished certainly for his exalted piety; but above all for the miraculous powers with which he was believed to be invested, and of which the wily monks never failed to avail themselves as the best means of enriching their coffers. SAINT JOHN'S NUT, a double nut.-SAINT MARY'S NUT, a triple nut. I know not why so called. SAINT SWITHIN'S DAY, the 15th of July. I introduce this term for the purpose of remarking, that almost all the vulgar, but more especially elderly females, place great confidence in the prediction that if it rain on this critical day, not one of the next forty will be wholly free from the Saint's influence over the humid department of the firmament. The lower orders cling to their ancient notions aud legends with much more tenacity than their betters; superstition being always powerful in proportion to the ignorance of its professors. The origin of this particular prognostication is variously deduced. See Brand's Pop. Antiq., Vol. I., p. 271; and Nares' Glossary. SAIR. See SARE. See, also, the example under KEN. SAIRY, poor, pitiable, helpless. Sax. særi, sarig, sorry, sad. SALL, a common vulgarism for shall. V. Crav. Gloss. sal. SALLY, to move or run from side to side; as is customary with the persons on board of a ship after she is launched. I am unable to offer any etymology, unless it be Fr. saillir, to leap. SALT, for saltcellar. Our old word was saler. Fr. saliére. SAMCAST, same cast, two ridges ploughed together. Referrible to Germ. sammeln, to gather; zusammen, together. SAMPLETH, a sampler. That which gives a sample-sampleth. V. Suffolk words. The ingenious author is mistaken in thinking that samplers are not still worked. SANDED, short-sighted—as if the eyes were full of sand. Sandblind is an old term for imperfect sight. SANDGATE-CITY, a burlesque name for Sandgate, Newcastle; a place of great antiquity, but described by a local poet as The devil's besom sure, With which oft times he sweeps the floor. SANDGATE-RATTLE, a peculiar step in vulgar dancing, consisting of a quick and violent beating of the toes on the floor. SANDGATE-RING, a particular mode of lighting a tobacco pipe, which I am unable to describe. SANG, a song. Germ. Pure Saxon. It is the same in Teut. and SANG! MY SANGS! BY MY SANG! frequent exclamations, generally implying a threat-equivalent to 'sblood, or by my blood. Fr. sang. SANGING-EATHER, the large dragon fly. See FLEEING-EATHER. SAPSCULL, a simple, foolish fellow—a blockhead. SARE, sore, painful. Sax. sar. Su.-Got. saar. Sc. sair.SARE-HEED, sore head, the head ache. SARE, very much, greatly, intensely. Teut, seer. Germ. sehr. "Sare hadden"-(sore holden)-very much distressed by pain or sickness. SARK, a shirt-sometimes a shift. Sax. syre. Su.-Got. særk. See a curious quotation from Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence Displayed, in Boucher, vo. agee; and Kelly's Scottish Proverbs, p. 139, 140. SARTIES, certainly, in good truth. Spenser and other early poets use certes. SARTIN, sure, positive, certain.-SARTINLY, certainly. SATTLE, to settle. This pronunciation is conformable to the Saxon origin of the word. In Peirs Ploughman it is sahtle. SAUCE, insolence of speech, impertinence-sauciness. SAUCE, vegetables. An ancient use of the word. SAUGH, the sallow; a species of willow. Sax. salh. Ir. saleog. Many of the common people imagine this to be the real Palmtree, branches of which were strewed by the multitude in commemoration of our Saviour's triumphal entry into Jerusalem; and seldom omit to gather its flowers or buds, early in the morning of Palm-Sunday. With these flowers they decorate small pieces of wood formed into crosses, called Palm-crosses, which are stuck up or suspended in their houses. SAUL, the soul. Pure Saxon; and the ancient mode of writing the word. "By Christe's saule." Chaucer. SAUL, the solid substance in the inside of a covered button. Fr. saoul, soul, a filling, SAUT, SOTE, salt. Sax. sealt. Teut. saut, sout. In the pronunciation of many of the provincial dialects of the North, the sound of the l is omitted.-SAUT-KIT, a salt-box of a peculiar formation; often found in the houses of old farmers. SAVELICKS, an excrescence from the brier, placed by boys in their coat cuffs, as a charm, to prevent a flogging. In Durham it is called TOMMY-SAVELICKS. SAW, to sow. Germ. säen. Mo.-Got. saian. Sax. sawan. Su.-Got. så. SAWNEY, a silly, stupid fellow-a sarcastic designation for a na tive of Scotland. |