these words is very remarkable, and instances will be continually found, in the following pages, where a word which is now considered as peculiarly characteristic of the dialect of some remote district, occurs as one in general use among the popular, and especially the dramatic, writers, of the age which followed the Restoration. Words of this description are a necessary part of a dictionary like the present, and they have been collected with as much care as possible. On the other hand, the mere organic differences of dialect, as well as the differences of orthography in words as found in different medieval manuscripts and early printed books, have been inserted sparingly, as belonging rather to a Comparative Grammar or to a philological treatise, than to a dictionary. In fact, to give this class of variations fully, would be simply to make a dictionary of each particular dialect, and of each medieval manuscript, and to combine these altogether, which could not be done within any moderate limits, and if done, with regard to the manuscripts especially, the first new manuscript that turned up would only show its imperfection. It has, therefore, been considered advisable not to insert mere orthographical variations of words, unless where they appeared for some reason or other sufficiently important or interesting. There are, moreover, certain letters and combinations of letters which are in the older forms of the English language interchangeable, so that we constantly find the same word occurring, even in the same manuscript, under two or three different forms, none of which are to be regarded as corruptions. To insert all these forms, would be to increase the dictionary twofold or threefold, for the words in which those letters occur, without any proportionate advantage; I have therefore in general given the word only under the form in which it occurs most usually, or which seems most correct; but, to facilitate the reference, I add at the end of this preface a list of the more common interchanges of this kind, so that if a word be not found under one form, it may be sought for under another. Various and indeed numerous glossaries have been already published, both of provincial and of Archaic English, but most of them have been special rather than general. We may mention among these the valuable work of Archdeacon Nares, which, however, was devoted only to the writers of a particular period; the extensive under 66 taking of Boucher, which was not continued beyond the latter B; and the numerous glossaries of particular dialects, among which one of the last and best is that of Northamptonshire by Miss Baker. The Dictionary" by Mr. Halliwell, when we consider that it was almost new in its class, and that the author had many difficulties to contend with, which would not, perhaps, have existed now, was in every respect an extraordinary work. In compiling the following pages, I have taken all the advantage I could honestly of the labours of my predecessors, in addition to a large quantity of original material which was placed in my hands, and I have added to this numerous collections of my own, especially from the dramatic and popular writers of the latter half of the seventeenth century, and of the earlier part of the eighteenth. I have also profited by lists of local words communicated from various parts of the kingdom, and among those who have contributed in this manner, I have especially to acknowledge the services of the Rev. E. Gillet, of Runham, in Norfolk. To make such a work perfect is impossible; but I hope that, on the whole, the present will be found one of the most generally useful works of the kind that has yet appeared. THOMAS WRIGHT. DICTIONARY OF OBSOLETE AND PROVINCIAL ENGLISH. A A, the definite article, is a mere abbreviation of an, which was used before consonants as well as vowels, till a comparatively recent period. The obsolete modes of employing the article are not very numerous. It is sometimes repeated with adjectives, the substantive having gone before, in such phrases as, а tall man and a good." It is not unusually prefixed to many, as "a many princes." It is also frequently prefixed to numerals, as a ten, a twelve. 66 And a grete hole therin, whereof the flawme came oute of.. And aftyre a vj. or vij. dayes, it aroose north-est, and so bakkere and bakkere; and so enduryd a xiiij nyghtes, fulle lytelle chaungynge, goynge from the north-este to the weste, and some tyme it wulde seme aquenchede oute, and sodanly it brent fervently ageyne. Warkworth's Chron. The Kynge and his counselle sent unto dyverse that were with the erle of Oxenforde prevely there pardones, and promysede to them grete yeftes and landes and goodes, by the whiche dyverse of them were turned to the kynge ayens the erle; and so in conclusione the erle hade nogt passynge ane viij. or ix. menne that wolde holde withe hym; the whiche was the undoynge of the erle. Ib. A is very commonly used as an abbreviation of one, as "Thre persones in a Godhede," (three persons in one Godhead). Hir a schanke blake, hir other graye. Ballad of True Thomas. It is used often as a mere expletive, generally at the end of a line in songs and popular verse. A, for on, or at, before nouns ; thus we have a place, at the place, a field, in the field. As representing on, it is frequently prefixed to words in composition, sometimes apparently giving intensity to the meaning, but in general not perceptibly altering it. Thus we have constantly such forms as acold, for cold, adown, for down, aback, for back, aready, for ready. It appears sometimes, chiefly when used before verbs, to represent the French preposition à, and was then no doubt an adaptation from the Anglo-Norman. Thus ado seems to represent the Fr. à faire. The following are the principal meanings of a as a separate word. (1) Always; ever (from the A.-S.); still used in this sense in Cumberland. A the more I loke theron, to what? (5) If. Suffolk. (6) He. It is often put into the mouths of ignorant or vulgar people in this sense by the old dramatists, and it is not uncommon in MSS. of an earlier date. (7) They. In the dialect of Shropshire. In the western counties it is used for she, and sometimes for it. (8) All. (9) Have. As in the common expression a done," i. e. have done. (10) In. "A Latin," in Latin. "A Goddes name," in God's is born, because it is the initial of Adam, and a female e-e, as that of Eve. AAC, S. (A.-S.) An oak. North. AAD, adj. (A.-S.) Old. Yorksh. AADLE, V. (4.-S.) To flourish. Suffolk. See Addle. AAINT, v. (A.-S.) To anoint. Suffolk. AAKIN, adj. (A.-S.) Oaken. North. AAN, (1) adj. Own. Yorks. (2) inter. A contraction of anan ! what say you? East. (3) adv. On. A form of the word used in a MS. of the 15th Century, in the Ashmolean And that we call the aane, which groweth out of the eare, like a long pricke or a dart, whereby the eare is defended from the danger of birds. Googe's Husbandry, 1577. AAR, prep. (A.-S. ær). Ere, before. This form occurs in the Romance of Kyng Alisaunder. AARM, 8. (A.-S.) The arm. Wycliffe, Bodl. MS. Aarmed, for armed, occurs in Wyclyffe's version of the Testament. AARON, 8. (4.-S.) The herb wakerobin. Cotgrave. AAS, S. (4.-N.) Aces. AAT, S. (A.-S.) Fine oatmeal, used for thickening pottage. AATA, prep. After. Suff. AATH, 8. (4.-S.) An oath. Yorks. |