Slabber a foolish talker, dirty person, wet day
Dialect – Words
Fews Glossary: S 2
Scut a mean person, term of abuse to younger person
Seasoned old
Sensible wise, ‘make me sensible’, explain to me
Seep soak, ‘seeping wet’
Sets seed potatoes
Fews Glossary: S 3
Dialect ‘S’ 3 of 7
Shorten the road have company while walking: ‘Will ye shorten the road wi’ me?’
Show loan, give, ‘show me your spade an’ I’ll larn ye till dig’
Showing Sunday Sunday after their wedding, the couple attend the church in which they were wed
Shows refuse from flax
Shiggy-shoo see-saw
Shook for a word at a loss; ‘He’s not shook for a word, that boy!’
Sift enquire, ‘he will sift it for you’
Sipple drink, ‘a wee sipple now, just what’ll wet the glass’
Signed branded
Skedaddle vamoose! ‘We skedaddled while we cud’
Skelf a wood splinter
Skelp slap, blow, ‘Clear aff or I’ll give yer backside a skelp!’
Skelly squint, ‘God love her, she’s skelly-eyed’
Skiff small shower of rain
Skinning the field breaking up the lea, ploughing
Skirl scream
Skirted run, ‘They had all skirted before the polis came’
Skite a light blow; to splash or throw
Skite 1. fool: 2. ‘he won’t be long skiting across’, running
Fews Glossary: R 3
Right complete, thorough, ‘he’s a right gentleman’
Rightly fine, ‘I’m doing rightly, thank you’: well, ‘I know it rightly’
Rigmarole a convoluted, unbelievable story
Rise rib, take a hand out of, raise his temper, ‘don’t rise him!’
Rogue v. cheat, ‘he’d rogue ye if he had the chance’
Roughness plenty
Rub n. praise or disparage, ‘he’d give ye a wee rub’
‘rub of the relic’, euphemism for sexual relations
Ructions a hullabaloo, a row, ‘he raised ructions over it’
Rue regret, repent, ‘she rued the day’
Rug to pull
Rummel to shake
Run leak, ‘the water has all run out of the pot’
Rung step of chair or ladder
Runner a person who is always in someone else’s house, ‘ceilier’
Runs goes, of inanimate object, ‘the road runs till Armagh’
Runt small, the reject
Rust to take fright, to refuse, ‘the horse rusted on me’
Fews Glossary: R 2
Right complete, thorough, ‘he’s a right gentleman’
Rightly fine, ‘I’m doing rightly’ well, ‘I know it rightly’
Rigmarole a convoluted, unbelievable story
Rise rib, tease, raise his temper, ‘don’t rise him!’
Rogue v. cheat, ‘he’d rogue ye if he had the chance’
Roughness plenty
Rub n. praise or disparage, ‘he’d give ye a wee rub’
Ructions a hullaballu, a row, ‘he raised ructions over it’
Rue regret, repent, ‘she rued the day that…’
Rug to pull
Rummel to shake
Run leak, ‘the water has all run out of the pot’
Rung step of chair or ladder
Runner one always in someone else’s house, ‘ceilier’
Runs goes, ‘the road runs all the way till Armagh’
Runt small, reject, ‘Pay no heed of the wee runt’
Rust take fright, to refuse, ‘the horse rusted on me’
Fews Glossary: Q
Dialect ‘Q’
Qua marshy land, shaky bog-land
Quare exceptional, usually qualifying a noun, from ‘queer’
Quare head scholar, or pejorative, ‘I woke with a quare head on me’, i.e. hangover effects
Quare geg ‘he’s a quare geg’, comic character not to be taken seriously
Quare-cleft partly silly
Quicks thorn plants
Quit Put an end to, ‘quit yer blettering, will ye?’
Quit acquit, ‘I quit ye of blame for it’
Quiz question, ‘quiz him as to where he was’
Quet alternative pronunciation of ‘quit’
Quest party search party, ‘the quest party looked for the lost gassun’
Fews Glossary: P 2
Dialect ‘P’ 2
Play conduct, ‘it will be the best of your play, not to meddle with him’
Plenish stock, furnish, ‘a well-plenished house or farm’
Polished consummate, ‘a polished rascal, him’
Poor mouth v. denigrate
Power quantity, ‘a power of money’
Prentice apprentice
Prig haggle or steal
Prod push or stick
Prog steal
Pross sue
Prough plenty, ‘he has a brave prough with him’
Poor, ‘a wee prough of a place’
Puke vomit, n. miserable, disagreeable type of person
Purty pretty
Purty-bread potato-bread
Purty-middling fair well
Puss sour-puss, miserable-looking face
Put by, Put about upset
Put by iridescent, ‘I was put by myself with anger’
Put on dress, ‘she had hardly time to put on herself’, pretending, ‘she’s good at putting it on’
Put out story, ‘that’s a quare put-out for you to repeat’
Putting a face on him showing his annoyance
Fews Glossary: N
Dialect ‘N’
Nail strike, ‘nail him on the chin’
(on the) nail promptly, ‘pay on the nail for it’
Narra narrow
Narley small, ‘narley potatoes,’ ‘a wee narl of a calf’
Near close, ‘a near friend’, ‘near hand’, ‘near hand couped’, almost overturned, ‘a near hand way’, short cut, mean, ‘she’s that near, she’d starve ye’.
Near-legged bandy-legged
Neb nose
Nebby inquisitive
Newance news, ‘it’s newance to me’
Newans unexpected, ‘it’s newans to see you’
Newfangled fancy
Nick devil; ‘nick of time’, a nick in the post, a mark
Nick to steal: past tense, nyuck, ‘He nyuck it on me’ (Newry Nyuck – see Guestbook) Nicker ‘the horse nickered’, neighed
Nip to punch or nip
Nips little bits
Nipping cold, ‘my toes are nipping’
Nobbin raised land in a field, a small hill
Norration oration, speech, ‘I heared the norration’, ‘that was the bloodiest norration ye ever heard’, commotion
Note time of cow’s calving
Notice small nip of drink, ‘just what ye’d notice in the glass’
Fews Glossary: P 1
Dialect ‘P’ 1
Pack friendly, ‘them two’s very pack’
Pad path
Paddle walk, ‘he’s that wake he can barely paddle’
Pang bung full, ”I am all panged up’, ‘pang up his plate’
Pant a story
Patch incomparable, ‘he’s not a patch on his father’
Peek pry
Peg a blow, ‘he got a peg on the side of the head’
Pelt n. naked, ‘in his pelt’: v. throw, ‘pelt him with stones’
Perk v. wasting, ‘she’s pelting away’: pleased, brightened, ‘she’s all perked up’, animated, ‘a perky wee bit, she is’
Pernickety fastidious
Perused sifted
Pick choice, search, ‘can I have my pick?’ ‘Pick one out’
Pickle quantity
Piece distance, ‘a quare piece off’, ‘put him a piece’, accompany him a part of the way, n. school (or worker’s) packed lunch, ‘have you your piece wi’ you?’
Pig’s back as in ‘on the pig’s back’, well-off
Pike big, lengthy, ‘a pike of a man’, greedy, ‘a pikey eater’
Pink accurate shot, ‘he pinked it first time’
Pinney pinafore
Pins legs, ‘he’s good on his pins, Paddy’
Pirtas potatoes
Pitch throw
Place home, house, farm,’I’m going till John’s place’
Plaster fuss