a female, in contradistinction to a male infant; though it appears from Warton that it was once just the reverse.

A boy, or child, I wonder.-Winter's Tale.

BAIRNISH, silly, childish, having the manners of a child. BAIRNLESS, childless, without progeny. Sax. bearnleas. BAIRNS'-PLAY, the sport of children, any sort of trifling. BAIRN-TEAM, a large family, a brood of children, or lots of bairns. Sax. bearn-team, liberorum sobolis procreatio. BAIST, to beat severely. Isl. beysta, to strike. Swed. basa, to beat. In Scotland they use this word in the sense of to overcome; particularly at cards, where one has lost considerably. It is also used as a substantive-one who is overcome. BAITH, BEATH, B'YETH, both. V. Jam. bathe.

BALLANT, a ballad. This is the general pronunciation among the vulgar, in the North of England, as well as throughout Scotland.

BALL-MONEY, money demanded of a marriage company, and given to prevent their being maltreated. In the North it is customary for a party to attend at the church gates, after a wedding, to enforce this claim. The gift has received this denomination, as being originally designed for the purchase of a foot-ball.

BA! LOU! a nurse's lullaby. Thought by some to be a corruption of the French nurse's threat in the fable: He bàs! là le loup! hush! there's the wolf; an etymology not less fanciful than ingenious. In Scotland it is balow; as in Lady Bothwell's Lament.

BANE, (North.)-B'YAN (Newc.), a bone. Sax. ban. Teut.

bein.

BAN-FIRE, BON-FIRE, a fire kindled on the heights at appointed

places in times of rejoicing. Notwithstanding what Mr. Todd has alleged as to the primitive meaning of the word, I remain of opinion that bone-fire is a corruption. See BAIL. BANG, v. to thump, to handle roughly. Su.-Got. and Isl. banga. Teut. bangelen. A friend considers this word not

D

local; but surely t

Bang her amang her een"-hit her between the eyes, is a λs not to be understood by uniniti

ated South country ears.

BANG, v. to beat, to exceed, to surpass, to excel.

Harnham was headless, Bradford breadless,

Shaftoe picked at the craw;

Capheaton was a wee bonny place,

But Wallington bangs them a'.-Northumb. Ballad.

BANG, s. a leap, a severe blow. In a bang, suddenly, violently. BANGER, any thing larger in proportion to the rest of its species. V. Todd's John. banging.

BANKROUT, a vulgar name for a bankrupt; and, judging by the etymology, the right word. Fr. banquerout. Ital. bancorotto. Teut. banckrote. According to the compilers of the Dictionnaire de Trevoux, the term originally came from the Italians, who formerly transacted their business in a public place, and had coffers in which they counted their money. When a merchant found his affairs in disorder, and returned not to this place of business, it was said that his banco, or coffer, was rotto, broken.

BANNOCK, a thick cake of oaten or barley meal, kneaded with water; originally baked in the embers, and toasted over again on a girdle when used. Gael. bonnack, a cake. Irish, boinneog. Some, however, think that it may be from Isl. baun, a bean; such cakes having formerly been made of bean meal. BANY, B'YANY, bony, having large bones. Sc. bainie. BAR, v. to shut, to close. "Bar the door"-shut the door.

"Bar the yet"-close the gate.-BAR, S. the gate of a town. BARGH, BERG, a hill, or steep way. Su.-Got. berg, mons. V. Ihre.

BAR-GUEST, a local spirit or demon; represented as haunting

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populous places, and accustomed to howl dreadfully at midnight, before any dire calamity. Perhaps from Dut. berg, a hill, and geest, a ghost. Grose, however, describes it as a ghost all in white, with large saucer eyes, commonly appearing near gates or stiles, there called bars.-Yorksh. Derived

from bar and gheist." But see Drake's Eboracum, p. 7, Appendix; where it is supposed to come from Sax. burh, a town, and gast, a ghost-signifying a town sprite.

BARK, a box for holding candles; formerly made of bark, and sometimes so still.

BARK, v. to cough.-BARK, s. a cough. "What a bark he's got.

BARGE-DAY, Ascension day; when the Mayor of Newcastle and the River Jury make an aquatic perambulation in barges, according to ancient custom,

BARKED, BARKENED, BARCLED, covered with dirt, clotted, hardened. Isl. barka, cutem induere.

BARKER, a tanner-so denominated from bark, the great article used in his trade. The word is pure Danish. "The com

pany of Barkers."-Newc.

BARKHAAM, a draught-horse's collar; formerly made of bark. BARNEY-CASTLE, the old, and still the vulgar, name of BarnardCastle.-Dur. Barney-Castle gingerbread;" the best in world.

The rebells have gevyn over the sege of Barney-Castle.

BARLEY, to bespeak or claim.

Sadler's State Papers, 1569.

Barley me that"-I bespeak that-let me have that. Quasi, in corrupt contraction, “by your leave me that." But see Wilb. vo. ballow.

BARREL-FEVER, an illness occasioned by intemperate drinkingthe frequent effect of a too copious sacrifice to the jolly god. BASELER, a person who takes care of neat cattle.—North. BASS, BAST, matting. Isl. bast, philyra. Bass, is also the name of a hassock to kneel upon at church. Likewise, in Yorkshire, the slaty part of coal after it is burnt white.

BASTE, to put a tar mark upon sheep. It is done with a tarred stick; and may therefore be derived from old Fr. basten, a stick. It is a variation of BUIST, BEUST, Or BUST; which see. BASTILE, a fortified building; similar to a PEEL; which see. Bastillus, in the sense of a tower or bulwark, occurs in

Hearne's edition of Elmham in Vit. Hen. V.; and bastelle, with the same meaning, is to be found in old French writers, as is also bastiller, to besiege. Hence the name of the notorious Bastile of Paris-that tremendous fortress

Full of such dark, deep, damp, chill dungeons of horror and silence,

of which no reader requires to be reminded. The ruins of many of these strong-holds are to be found in that extensive tract of country in Northumberland, upon which once stood the famed Forest of Rothbury; and in most Border villages of antiquity.

BAT, a blow or stroke. Old Gothic, bata, to beat.—LAST-BAT, a play among children. See TIG.

BAT, state or condition. "At the same bat," signifying in the same manner; at the aud bat," as formerly. Bat also signifies speed; as, "to go at a great bat," to go at great speed. BATTEN, v. to feed, to bring up, to thrive. Sax. batan, to fatten. Swed. beta, to feed. "The wife a good church going and a battening to the bairn," is a common toast at the gossip's feast on the birth of a child.

Could you on this fair mountain leave to feed, and batten on this moor.-Shak. Hamlet.

BATTEN, OF BATTIN, s. the straw of two sheaves folded together.

I have been referred to Germ. beythun, to join; formed from bey, double or both, and thun, to do or make. Sax. ba twa, both two, i. e. two together, seems analogous.

BATTS, low flat grounds adjoining rivers, and sometimes islands in rivers. V. Jam. Supp. ana.

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BAUK, BALK, a cross beam or dormant. Germ. balk. Dut. balck, a beam. "To be thrown ourt' balk," is, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to be published in the church. To hing ourt' balk," is marriage deferred after publication. V. Crav. Gloss. balk. Before the Reformation, as observed by the author of that amusing little work, the laity sat exclusively in the nave of the church. The balk here appears to be the

rood beam, which separated the nave from the chancel. The expression, therefore, would seem to mean, to be helped into the choir, where the marriage ceremony was performed. BAUKS, or BALKS, the grass ridges dividing ploughed lands; properly those in common fields. Also lengths of solid unbroken land left by a bad ploughman. Isl. baulk-ur, lira in agro, vel alia soli eminentia minor. Bauks are not so common as they used to be when land was ploughed by oxen. BAUKS, or BALKS, a place above a cow-house, where the beams are covered with wattles and turf, and not boarded-a henroost, or hay-loft. Mr. Wilbraham supposes the hay-loft is so called, from its being divided into different compartments by balks or beams. Balk in the old northern languages is a sepa ration or division; and the word is used for capita, or chap ters, in the titles of the ancient Swedish laws. V. Ihre, in voce, balk.

BAWM, to dress, to adorn.-West. Mr. Wilbraham calls this a good old word, quoting Nychodemus' Gospell, 4to. 1532; and derives it from Su.-Got. bo, boa, to prepare. Isl. bua, is

the same.

BAXTER, an implement used for baking cakes upon; common in old houses.

BAY, to bend. Sax. bygan. Whence a bay window (Shak. Twelfth Night)—also bay-ice, fresh ice, which is thin enough to bend. Capt. Ross explains bay-ice, "newly formed ice, of the same colour as the water;" but the above is probably the true origin.

BEAKER, a large drinking vessel, usually of glass, a rummer or

tumbler-glass. In Scotland it is called a bicker, and made of wood. Germ. becher, Dan. bæger, a cup. The word is also used figuratively to express any other large thing.

BEAL, to roar. Sax. bellan. Teut. bellen, to bellow. Beal, bellow, and bawl, all seem cognate.

BEASTLINGS, the milk of the cow for a short time after calving. Sax. bysting. The pronunciation in Cumberland is beastings; and in Scotland beistins.