Dialect – Words

Dab bit, dip, soil  ‘a dab of butter’; ‘dab the crust in yer tae, woman dear’ ‘the chile had dabbed her clane pinny’
Daisy-quilt grave sods, ‘she’s covered by her daisy-quilt this two years, poor dear’
Daffy silly
Dander stroll, anger ‘take a dander’, ‘he’d raise yer dander’
Dandily flirt, ‘she’s anybody’s dandilly’
Damsel damson
Dar  dare
Debate progress, ‘he cud make no debate for himself’
Dead-end ‘ye cud take yer dead-end at him’ [he’d greatly amuse you]
Deef  deaf
Dealing man  cattle dealer, huckster
Death on greatly opposed ‘she’s death on smoking’
Delude, deluder coax, deceive ‘she’d delude the birds from the trees’ she’s only deluding him’ [she has another boy whom she prefers]
Demean as with ‘bemean’
Desperation  want, rage
Devant  to play or amuse
Divil’s dozen  13
Dint  mark [as ‘dent’]

Dirty  illicit-sex-filled, ‘I’m on a dirty weekend’
Doldrum doubtful, confusing
Donsey delicate
Doom  fate, punishment, ‘he’ll meet his doom alright!’
Down-faced brazen, ‘a down-faced rascal, that’
Down-looking dejected, ‘he has a very down-looking aspect’
Down in the mouth  as above
Down-take  come-uppance, ‘he’ll get his down-take yet’
Down-come  fall
Douse   to soak, extinguish
Drain  small quantity,  empty ‘there’s a wee drain yit left in the bottle’  ‘let’s drain it’
Draw  pull, ‘take a draw of yer pipe’, ‘draw up yer chair’
Dribs and drabs small steps, amounts ‘job done by dribs & drabs’
Drig  milking term, ‘Are ye sure she’s drigged dry?’
Dressing beating ‘give him a good dressing’
Drookit wet, sodden
Drop  various: ‘there’s a bad drop in that family’ [their trouble’s in the genes or blood] ‘they’re not a drop’s blood to each other, ”wud ye take a drop in the hand?’ [would you like a cup of tea?] she dropped her calf [gave birth, alternatively aborted] ‘he had a drop too much’ [was drunk] the childer are dropping potatoes [sowing]
Drudge an ill-used person
  To dredge, ‘he drudged the flax-hole clean’
Druth  thirst
Duds  clothes
Dunt  push, strike
Dunch  punch, shove
Duke  bend low, hide
Due  owe, ‘I am due him the price of a calf’
Durneens short, wooden handle shaft grips
Dwamish sickish

Hag old, depraved woman; to chop or cut
Hagging-block where meat is chopped
Haggard stack yard

Hake   rob an orchard
Hallion abusive term for unattractive person, usually woman
Hanch  snap
At Hand close by
A hand’s turn the smallest item of work
To my hand  convenient
A bad hand at unskilled
Hamsel first use of anything
Haveral coarse, silly
Hap  to cover or clothe
Well-happed well clad
Happed with a spade buried
HARD hardy morning frosty morning
 Hard of hearing deaf
 Hard man difficult/close-fisted/paramilitary
 Hard tack strong drink
 Hard hat bowler hat, by extension an Orangeman
 Hard word negative assessment
 Hard-used badly-used
Hairy[harey] cunning, evasive tactics, like a hare: scary a hairy experience
Harl a lump
Harn harden
Harem-scarem wild
Hash slash
Hate 1. quantity ‘put a hate o’ salt in the broth’
 2. bit ‘divil a hate I care’
 3. ‘not a hate to his story’, it’s untrue
 4. heat, ‘the birds’ tongues were hangin’ out wi’ the hate’
Head 1. headway, ‘making no head with his lessons’
 2. ‘not a word out o’ yer head!’, be silent
 3. ‘he’d ate yer head off’, he would shout loud at you
 4. ‘over the head of’, because, i.e. ‘it’s all over the head of you’
 5. ‘good heads’, clever people
Head-rig ridge where the plough-horse turns
Heart-scalded very seriously troubled by
Hear-tell I heard it said, ‘I hear-tell he’s for moving’
Heartening encouragement, ‘a sunny day’s a heartenin’ in the hay field’
Heartsome cheerful
Heavy charge weighty burden
Heavy-han’-ful troublesome, ‘the boy’s a heavy-han’-ful’
Heavy on the leather walks unevenly, wears out shoes frequently
Heavy-headed stupid
Heavy-handed footery, physically inept
Hector bully   [also well-loved 60s Newry market-trader!]
Hedge  conceal, dodge, ‘he can hedge, all right!’
Heel-in place plant temporarily in the soil
A light heel a good dancer
Heel  upend a cart
Heel-end the very end, ‘at the heel-end of the evening’
Heels foremost as corpse carried from house, ‘he won’t budge again until he’ll go out heels-foremost’
Het heat, pickle, ‘he was in a great het over it’
Helter-skelter disorder
Hinch  thigh
Hilt-nor-hare  sign nor light, ‘I saw neither hilt nor hare o’ them’
Himself [as in ‘not’] ‘he’s not himself at all’, he’s feeling unwell
Himself [ as in ‘full of’] ‘he’s full of himself’, conceited
Hipple  limp
Hirple  to walk with difficulty
Hit  catch, ‘unless he puts his best fut for’ard he’ll not hit the bus’
Hobble trouble, ‘she’s in a quare hobble’
Hoke  to hollow out, excavate, search for, ‘hoke it out, will ye?’
Holm  sheltered land
Home  grave, as in ‘the long home’
Horn  to gore, ‘the cow horned the wee calf’
Hot-foot go speedily
Houghle move awkwardly
Hoult  hold, grip, catch ‘take a good hoult of it there!’
Hudders top sheaves of a stook, ‘put the hudders on the stook’, i.e. draw your story to a close
Hugger-muggery shameful or secret conduct
Hunker crouch
Hunker-slider untrustworthy person
Hurry  usu. in the negative, ‘shure there’s no hurry’ or ‘take yer hurry in your hand’
Hursel  bronchial-sounding, ‘he had a hursel in he’s throat’
Hut  hit, ‘he hut me first, he did!’

Dialect ‘S’ 6 of 7

Staff :  stick

Stagger : attempt, ‘he staggered it anyhow’

Start : ‘you gave me a start’, scared me; commence, ‘start the game’

Read moreFews Glossary: S 6

On the latter note, I recently remarked that High Street, Oludeniz offers the choice of three doctor/hospital services: the first is the Letoon Doctor; the second Esnaf; and the third is the Likya doctor.  It is a moot question whether conventional medicines are on offer!!

Labour  dig, toil
Laced  beaten, ‘Pat’s Hughie was laced to ribbons in the fight’
Laced  fortified with spirits
Lamentable bad, ‘lamentable news’
Land  arrive [regardless of mode of transport!]
Landed  ended up, fell, ‘he landed in the water’
  hit ‘I landed him one on the nose’
  caught, ‘She landed him’
Lant  scold
Lap  wrap, ‘Lap the shawl round ye’
Lapped up ate hungrily, wrapped up, succombed to flattery
Lash  plenty, heaps, ‘lashings o’ money’
  Splash, ‘lash the water round ye’
  Vomit, ‘she lashed it all off’
  Threshed, ‘he lashed it with the flail’
  Scold, ‘she’s always lashing out’
Last  endurance, ‘there’s no last in it’ ‘he’ll not last the night’
Lasty  lasting
Laudy-daw snobbish
Law  ‘to take the law’, to go to law, ‘lay down the law wi’ them’, talk with authority
Lay  clear, leave, ‘Lay the house this minit’
Lay on  flattery, chastisement, ‘She’s good at laying it on’
Learn  teach, ‘I’ll learn ye if I get me hands on ye’
Leather  to beat
Let on  var.  ‘don’t let on’, don’t tell
  ‘we never let on we saw her’
  ‘he’s ony letting on’, pretending
Let be  leave alone
Level going easy tempered
Lick  n. a toady, a blow ‘a lick on the snout’, a blow to the nose,
  Careless washing, ‘that’s just a lick and a promise’ v. to beat, also a promise or a pledge, ‘we’ll lick thumbs on that’
Lies   near, ‘it lies by me till I need it’ 
Lift  church, or event collect, ‘What was the lift?’
  Understand, ‘I didn’t lift you there’
  Steal, ‘that boy ‘ud lift anything not nailed down’
  Carry a coffin, ‘You’re with the second lift, OK?‘
  Kick, ‘I’ll lift ye with me toe’
  A dead lift, a weight raised from ground level
Liggety  long
Lights  lungs, ‘..roaring his lights out for nothing at all’ ‘I’ll knock yer lights out’
Like  continuation of above ‘..like I don’t know what’
  ‘what like is the calf?’ is it good or otherwise
Likeness photograph, ‘he had his likeness tuk’
Limber  easily broken
Lines  certificate of marriage, baptism etc.
Linge  to chastise
Lip  impertinence
  Taste, ‘I haven’t lipped drink the day’
Lint-hole flax-hole
Load  quantity of drink
  ‘he had a full load, drunk as a lord’
Load of coul’  a bad dose of the cold
Lock  an unspecified quantity, ‘a lock of potatoes’
Loft  upstairs
Lobby  big, careless, slothful
Loodther to beat
Looks his bit  begs for food, ‘a poor man looks his bit’
Looney  lunatic
Longsome slow, ‘he’s that longsome’
Loose  free, ‘When yer father’s loose I’d like a word with him’
Loose-leg free to come and go, as a bachelor
Looseness diarrhoea
Loy  spade
Lue  lukewarm, as of water, courting, friendship
Lump it  put up with, ‘If you don’t like it you can lump it!’
Lump  large, ‘a great lump of a child’, [or horse, house etc]
Lying  sick, ‘she’s been lying for months’
Long-tongued indiscreet person
Loose-tongued same, also, a bawdy conversationalist
Lug  ear