The Biglow Papers

GLOSSARY.

Act'lly, actually.

Air, are.

Buster, a roistering blade; used also as a general superlative.

Caird, carried.
Cairn, carrying.
Caleb, a turncoat.
Cal'late, calculate.

Cass, a person with two lives.
Chapparal, a dense thicket of
bushes and briars. Span.
Chockful, brimfull.

Clear, or clear out, to go away, or be off-sometimes dered "clear the tracks." Close, clothes.

Cockerel, a young cock. Cocktail, a kind of drink; also, an ornament peculiar to sol diers.

Consarn, a euphemism for confound, or damn.

Convention, a place where people are imposed on; a juggler's show.

Coons, a cant term for a now defunct party; derived, perhaps, from the fact of their being commonly up a tree. Coot, a bird deemed unwise. Cornwallis, a sort of muster in masquerade, supposed to have had its origin soon after the Revolution, and to commemorate the surrender of Lord

Desput, desperate.
Dolls, dollars.
Doos, does.

Dough, in allusion to the dough-
faces of the North.
Doughfaces, α contemptuous
nickname applied to the Nor-
thern favorers and abettors of
negro slavery, pliable poli
ticians that can be bought or
sold.
Dror, draw.
Du, do.

Dunno, dno, do not or does not
know.
Dut, dirt.

E'en a'most, almost.
Eend, the New England pro-
nunciation of end.

Ef, if.
Emptins, yeast.
Env'y, envoy.
Ery, era.

Da and Martin, Day and Mar-
tin, the eminent London
blacking merchants. It is
amusing to know that this
firm is a symbol in the United
States for punctuality and
solidity; "always on hand,
like Day and Martin's black-
ing," is a common simile.
Dander, temper, passion.
Darkie, negro.
Darn, euphemism for damn.
Darsn't, used indiscriminately,
either in singular or plural
number, for dare not, dares
not, and dared not.
Deacon off, to give the cue to;
derived from a custom, once
universal, but now extinct, in
our new England Congrega-
tional churches. An impor-
tant part of the office of dea-Fer, for.
con was to read aloud the
hymns given out by the mi-
nister, one line at a time, the
congregation singing each line
as soon as read.

Demmercrat, leadin', one in fa-
vor of extending slavery: a
free-trade lecturer maintained
in the custom-house.

Everlastin, great, astounding,-
a common exclamation with
the vulgar.
Ev'y, every.
Ez, as.

Ferfie, ferful, fearful; also an
intensive.
Fin', find.

Fish-skin, used in New Eng-
land to clarify coffee.
Fit, to fight.

Fix, a difficulty, a nonplus. A
Foller, folly, to follow.
Forrerd, forward.

Gin, gave. Git, get.

Go, to advocate or profess; "I go free trade," i.e. I profess free trade principles. Golly, or by Golly, a New England euphemism for swearing by the name of the Deity. Grease-spot, a minute remnant, the only distinguishable remains of an antagonist after a terrific contest. Gret, great; "no great of a man," i.e. of but little account.

Grit, spirit, energy, pluck.

Grout, to sulk.

Grouty, crabbed, surly.

Gum, to impose on.

Gump, a foolish fellow,adullard.

Gumption, common sense, understanding. Gut, got.

Shakes, great, of considerable

consequence.

Shappoes,chapeaux, cocked-hats.
Sheer, share.
Shet, shut.

Shiver-de-freeze, chevaux de
frise. Fr.
Shut, shirt.

Sixty; "to go along like sixty," i. e. at a good rate, briskly. Skeer, to scare, or frighten. Skeeter, mosquito.

Skooting, running, or moving swiftly.

Skunk, a small but very objec· tionable animal;-the term is used figuratively in America for a mean man. Slarterin', slaughtering. Slick, to brighten up, or polish. Slick, sharp, clever, quick. Slim, contemptible.

Snaked, crawled like a snake; but to snake any one out is to track him to his hiding place; to snake a thing out is to snatch it out.

Snakes; "to wake snakes," to create a disturbance. Soffies, sofas

Sogerin', soldiering; a barba

rous amusement

common

among men in the savage state.

Som'ers, somewhere.

So'st, so as that.
Sot, firm; sotter, firmer.
Sot, set, obstinate, resolute.
Spiles, spoils; objects of political
ambition.

Spout, to preach, or lecture.
Spout o' invention, the mouth.
Spry, active.

Staddles, stout stakes driven into the salt marshes, on

« Претходна Настави »

Књиге