BACKSTONE, Formerly a slate, but now a plate of iron on which oat cake is baked.

BACK'S-UP, "His back's up," that is, he is offended, an expression, says Grose, taken from a cat, when angry, always raising its back.

"Weel, Nelly, since my back is up, ye sall tak down the picture."

St. Ronan's Well, Vol. I. 65 p.

BACK WATTER, Water dammed up in the goit impeding the revolution of the wheel.

BADDER, The comparative of bad, though not in frequent

use.

"Than they can in hir lewednesse comprehende
They demen gladly to the badder end.”

Chaucer.

BADE, Continued præt. from bide. BADJER, A cornfactor, most probably a corruption of cadger. TEUT. kats-en, discurrere. Ir. bastaggio. GR. βαστάξω. Thompson. Wilbraham derives it from the A. S. bycgean, emere, but this seems far fetched.

BADGER, To bait, to give trouble; probably borrowed from the animal so frequently exposed to barbarous

treatment.

BAG, Udder. IsL. bagge, sarcina.

BAILEY, Bailiff, hence bum-bailey, a bailiff's attendant. BAIT, BATE, To lower a bargain; "thou mun bate summat;" from abate. Per aphæresin.

BAITH, Both.

BAKED, Incrusted.

"Troilus lies cmbaked

In his cold blood."

Heywood's Iron Age. Nares. BALDERDASH, Trifling or obscene language. I cannot assent to the etymon of this word given by Dr. Johnson. A. S. bald and dash; that of Dr. Jamieson appears much more probable from the

A bilder is an

ISL. bulldur, the prating of fools. instrument in common use in Craven. It is a mallet with a long handle, used by the peasants to break clods of earth. Hence balderdash may with propriety be called dirt spread by the bilder, alias bilderdasher. Mr. Todd, in his second edition of Johnson, derives it from WELSH, balddardhy, talkative. BALD-FACED, White-faced. Thus a horse with a large portion of white hair on his face is called a bald fac'd horse. "If the mare have a bald face, the filly will have a blaze." See Dr. Jamieson under

Bawsand.

BALL'D, White-faced. FR. baillet, celui qui a une tache

ou une etoile blanche, au front. Pelletier Dict. See Bell in Dr. Jamieson's Supplement.

BALK, "To be thrown ourt' balk," is to be published BAUK, in the church. "To hing ourt' balk," is marriage deferred after publication. Before the Reformation 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 exprestion therefore means, to be helped into the choir, where the marriage ceremony was performed.

BALL, Į The palm of the hand. Qu. The bowl or hollow BAW, of the hand. "A bee tang'd me reight

ith ban o my hand."

BAM, A false tale or jeer.

2.

Smith's Letters, 1553.

The iron hinges of a door, called door-bands.
"Without a roof the gates fall'n from their bands."

Gentle Shepherd.

BAND, Præt of bind.

"Exotinus prepar'd his cleansing gear,

And with a belt his gown about him band.”

Fairfax. Tasso.

BAND, A space of ground, containing twenty yards

square.

BANDISH, Bandage.

"It is impossible that my bandish or ligature should have started."

Crusaders, 2 vol. p. 17.

BANDY-BALL, A game with a crooked bat and a ball, the same as doddart at Newcastle and Golf in Scotland, in Latin Cambrica, so called from the crooked club or bat with which the game is played.

BANE, Bone.

"Hit hath strekene the yerle Douglas,

In at the brest bane."

Chevy Chase.

BANE, Near, convenient. BELG. bane, a path. ISL. beinn, rectus.

"And have reward for love and so get bene

Unto these women courtly."

Chaucer C. L.

Bane is not used to make ready, as in Bishop Douglas. "Thither returnyng agayne,

To seik your auld mother mak zou bane" (ready.)

BANGS, Beats, excels. IsL. banga.

er een." Beat her between her eyes.

Bang er amang

BANGS, To depart hastily and with violence.

bangs out at door."

"Shoe

BANNOCKS, Loaves made of oatmeal. SAx. bunna, a

BARRING OUT, The Saturnalia enjoyed by school boys at the approaching holidays, when they presume to prevent their master from entering the school. BARFOOT, Barefoot.

BARF,

BARGH,

"Barfoot and breedless."

P. Plou. 10 pass.

A hill, hence Stainsforth under Bargh. GOTн. bairg. WELSH. brig, per metathesin.

BERG,
BARGHEST,

A sprite that haunts towns and populous BAR-GUEST, S places. BELG. berg and geest, a ghost.

A. S. burge.

"And walke the roundes; when the barr-guest

Comes tumbling out of his smoakye nest."

Dr. Whit. Hist. Yorke p. 168.

"Thou art not, I presume, ignorant of the qualities of what the Saxons of this land call a Bahr-geist."

As they had worried lambs,
Maist like that day."

Allan Ramsay.

BARKHAM, ĮA collar, formerly made of bark, hence BARKUM, S Barkhaams. See Hams. In the highlands of Scotland they are frequently made of straw. GAEL. and IR. braighaidain.

"Ever haims convenient for sic note

And raw silk brechamis ouir thair halsis hinges."

Pal. of Honour. Dr. Jam.

BARLEY, A temporary cessation from play, probably a corruption of the French parler.

BARLEY-SEED BIRD, The yellow water wag-tail. BAR-MAISTER, A superintendant of mines. TEUT. Berg-maister. Skinner.

66

Sixpence a load for cope the Lord demands,
And that is paid to the Berghmaster's hand.”

Manlove's Treatise on the Mint.

BARN, A child, known to all the Teutonic tribe.

Rev. Dr. Whitaker.

"Then barnes may not be spared."

King Jas. Demonologie."

"Then spake a berne upon bent

2.

66

3.

Of comfort that was not colde;

And sayd, We have brent Northumberland

We have all welthe in holde."

Battle of Otterbourne.

Daddy's barn," a child resembling his parent no less in features than in conduct.

"Fray barn lile," from early infancy.

BARNISH, Childish, silly.

BARNISH-LAKE, Child's play.

BARN-LAKINS, Toys.

BARON, Rump, frequently the pudendum of a COW.

SAX. berende. From this word a baron of beef is