PURLICUE, a flourish in writing. "A spang and purlicue." pour le queue. V. Jam. Fr. PYANNET, PYNET, a magpie. Welsh, pioden. See MAGGY. Q. QUAIL, to fail, to fall sick, to faint. Teut. quelen, to languish. V. Nares, for examples of its ancient use. QUANDARY, a dilemma, an unpleasant predicament, a state of perplexity. Skinner's derivation from Fr. qu'en dirai je, is adopted in Todd's John. But the pronoun (nominative) was often left out by old French writers, which would here make the derivation more accurate-qu'en dirai? QUEAN, a term of abuse to a female-sometimes implying the most disgraceful name that can be applied to the sex. Mo.-Got. queins, quens. Sax. cwen, a wench-though not primarily used in a reproachful sense. A witch, a quean, an old cozening quean. QUEER, a quire of paper. Shak. Mer. Wives of Windsor. Old Eng. quaire. Old Fr. quayer. QUERN, a hand mill. One of our oldest words. Su.-Got. quern. Teut. querne. See KERN. Wheras they made him at the querne grind. Chaucer, Monkes Tale. Skim milk; and sometimes labour in the quern, Shak. Mid. Night's Dream. Capell ridiculously supposed that quern here meant churn. Y QUISEY, confounded, dejected. QUORN, QUOARN, corn. "The quorn's now gettin up,-varry fast." R. RABBLE, to speak in a confused manner. blaterare. Teut. rabbelen, RABBLEMENT, a crowd, the mob. A very old word. Cornish, rach, care. V. Ray. RACK, s. a trace. Our great dramatic poet, in a well-known passage in the Tempest, says, "leave not a rack behind"; that is, not a trace-whatever the commentators may be pleased to say to the contrary. RACK, S. the clouds; or rather the track in which they move. Sax. rec, vapour. Archdeacon Nares is mistaken in thinking the word not now in use. But, as we often see, against some storm, A silence in the heavens, the rack stand still, The bold winds speechless, and the orb below Shak. Hamlet. RACKLESS, thoughtless, careless, improvident. Old Eng. retchless, reckeless. Sax, recce-leas. RAFF, a low fellow.-RIFF-RAFF, an alliterate term of reproach -the rabble. Dan. ripsraps, the dregs of the people. Raff-merchant, a timber-merchant. Raft-merchant. RAFFLING, idle, worthless. "A raffling chap." RAG, to rate, to reproach. Isl. raega, to accuse.-BULLYRAG, the same. RAGABASH, low, idle people-such as are generally in rags. Rubbish is used in the same sense. be synonymous with ragamuffins. Both may be said to RAGEOUS, in a rage, in excessive pain, violent. RAKE, to cover, to gather together. To rake the fire, is to supply it with coals, or to put it in such a condition that it may continue burning all night, so as to be ready in the morning-a common practice in many kitchens in the North, where coals are plentiful. Shakspeare uses the word in this sense, when, in King Lear, he makes Edgar say, Here, in the sands Thee I'll rake up.-Act. IV. Sc. 6. RAM, fœtid, acrid, pungent. Isl. rammr, amarus. smell"-" A ram taste." "A ram RAME, to cry, to ask over and over again in a teazing manner. Sax. hream, clamor. Su.-Got. raama, clamare.— RAMING, crying; especially as denoting reiteration of the same sound. "What are yah raming at yah little dirty baggage ?" RAME, OR RAWM, to reach any thing awkwardly or greedily, to stretch after. Teut. raemen, extendere, distendere. RAMLIN-LAD, a tall fast growing youth, a hobblety-hoy. RAMPADGE, to prance about furiously, to make a great noise or disturbance. RAMSHACKLE, RAMSHECKLE, to search narrowly, to ransack.— Ranshackle is an old word for plunder. RANDY, s. a vulgar, brawling woman, a termagant. RANDY, a. boisterous, obstreperous, disorderly. RANK, thick, or many things or people together. Sax. ranc. RANNEL-BALK, a beam or bar across a chimney on which boilers are hung. RANTY, riotous, in high spirits, disorderly.-RANTY-TANTY, in great wrath, in a violent passion. RAPE, a rope. Mo.-Got. raip. Sax. rap. RAPIER-DANCE, nearly the same as the sword-dance of the ancient Scandinavians, or as that described by Tacitus among the Germans. See a full account of it, in Archæologia, vol. xvii. p. 155. RASH, dry; as rash-corn-corn so dry in the straw that it falls out without handling. RASHER, a rush. Sax. resce.-A rasher-cap, a rasher-ducket, a rasher-whip; articles made of rushes. RASPS, both the bush and the fruit. RATCH, a straight line of a navigable river; as the Long Ratch, in the Tyne. This word is politely, but impurely, pronounced Reach. The keelmen generally say Rack. It is, perhaps, properly Rach. RATHER To have rather is a common North country expression, when a preference is desired. See Dr. Johnson's 6th sense of rather. The corruption may be thus traced. It is customary to contract both I would and I had into I'd. I had rather was probably first used as a false translation for I'd rather, written for I would rather; and when I had rather was once received, to have rather followed of course. RATLER, a great lie, an abominable falsehood. "That's a ratler." RATTEN, RATTON, a rat. Span. raton. RATTLE, to strike or chastise. "Aw'll rattle yor Mere cant. cannister." RATTLEPATE, RATTLESCAP, RATTLESCAUP, a giddy, thought less, volatile person. RAUK, to mark with lines, to scratch. "Dont rauk the table?" I am told ratch is also used in the same sense. raska, frangere? Q. Isl. RAW, a row of buildings, a sort of street. "Pether-Raw" RAX, to stretch out, to enlarge, to reach. To rax oneself, is to extend the limbs, after sleep or long sitting. Sax. ræcean, porrigere. As applied to the weather, to rax out, means to clear up. READ, REDE, counsel, advice. Sax. ræd. REAP, a bundle of corn, parcels of which are laid by the reapers to be gathered into sheaves, by the binders in harvest time. Sax. ripa, ripe. REAST, restiveness.-REASTY, restive, stubborn. Old Eng. restie. "A reasty horse." REASTY, rancid, Sax. rustian, to contract rust. And then came haltyng Jone, And brought a gambone Of bakon that was reasty.-Skelton. REAVE, to take away, to bereave. Sax. reafian, to rob. REAVEL, OR RAFFLE, to entangle, to knot confusedly together, to ravel. "A reaveled hank”. -a twisted skain. RECKNING, the score at a public house. Reckoning. RECKON, to suppose, to conjecture, to conclude. he'll come"-" I reckon I shall." RED, to put in order, to clear, to disentangle. the house." Su.-Got. reda, explicare. REDDING-COMB, a comb for the hair. I reckon "To red up READE, a calf's stomach, used for rennet. Teut. roode. Sax. REEK, v. to smoke. Sax. recan.-REEK, s. smoke. rec.-REEK-PENNY, a modus paid to the clergy in many parts of Northumberland and Durham for fire wood. Called also smoke-penny, and hearth-penny. See Tomlins' Law Dict. smoke-silver. Reek is also a term for money. REEKING-CROOK, a sort of crane or crook over the fire to support boilers exposed to the smoke. |