BEEST, BEESTNING, BEESTLINGS, 2. First milk after a cow calves. BELG. biest, curdled milk. SAX. byst. Lye. "So may the first of all our fens be thine, B. Jons. Nares. "To give beest of a business or undertaking," is to relinquish it. BEET, To help, to assist. “And no man beet his hunger.” P. Plou. "Shame fa you & your trade baith." "Canna beet a good fellow by your mystery." Bor. Min. "Kest in caldrons and uthir sum bet the fire." D. Virg. p. 19. "Hinc in veteri nostro idiomate, "to beat the fire," BEET-NEED, Assistance in the hour of distress. A. S. bitan, to restore. The following verb is not in use. "He botneed a thousand." P. Plou: pass 9. Dr. Whitaker says this should be bottoned. The verb derived from the Craven word is more appropriate. BEILD, Shelter from the cold. Expressly for this purpose the farmers erect walls to protect cattle from tempestuous weather in large pastures. ISL. boele, domicilium. "But thou beneath the random bield 'O clod or stane." Burns. "Hard lucks, alate! when poverty and eild Gentle Shepherd. "This is our bield the blustering winds to shun." Fairfax's Tasso, Bk. 2 "Hecuba thidder with her childer for bield Ran all in vane." BEILD, To build. D. Virg. p. 56. "At last to fortunes power (quoth he) I yield Fairfax T. BEILD, A handle, a rake bield, also the bield of a boiler. BEILDY, Affording shelter. BELDER, To roar. BELDERER, A roarer. BELIVE, In the evening. 2. By and by, immediately, abbreviated by Chaucer, blive. 66 Beliffe Edeas membris schuke for cauld." 66 They gan arme bylive." D. Virg. Spenser F. 2. "From Asie to Antioge bit miles ten or five For to slen Christene men, he hiede him belive." MSS. of Marg. Anglo Norman, Trin Coll. Hickes. "Fast Robin hee hyed him to Little John He thought to loose him belive ; The Sheriffe and all his companye Fast after him did drive. Robin Hood and Guy of Gisbourne. "In everie greene, if the fense be not thine, The commentator, supposing that belive signified BELK, To belsh. BELL, To roar. A. S. bellan. BELL-KITE, A protuberant body from bell, and ISL. kwidr. BELL-WEDDER, A fretful, bellowing child. BELLONED, Afflicted with an asthma, to which smelters of lead are frequently subject. It is a painful disease, seldom admitting of a cure; the same as the colic of Poictou. BELLY-BAND, A girth to secure a cart saddle, made formerly of hemp or straw, not of leather. BELLY-GO-LAKE THEE, Take thy fill, indulge thy appetite. BELLY-PIECE, A thin part of a carcase near the belly. BELLY-TIMMER, "I read this verse to my ain kimmer, Wha kens I like a leg o' gimmer, Or sic an' sic guid belly-timmer." Ramsay's Poems. BELLY-VENGEANCE, Weak, sour beer, of which he that gets the most, gets the worst share. BELLY-WARK, The colic. BELSH, Small beer, the cause of eructation. A. S. beallcettan. BELT, Præt. of build. "And belt the city fra quham of nobil fame The Latine peopill taken has thare name." D. V. 1 B. BEND, Strong ox leather, tanned with bark and other ingredients, which give it a blue cast. Battle of Otterbourne. Min. S. Bord. "He cared not for dint of sword nor speere No more than for the stroke of straws or bents." Spenser F. Q. BERRIN, Burial, probably a corruption of berying. "She cam before to anoynte my body into berying.” Wiclif uses also beriels for graves. Wiclif, 14th Mark. "Beriels weren opened." 27th Matt. BERRINER, A person attending a funeral. BERRY, Gooseberry; a berry-pye. BESSY-BAB, One who is fond of childish amusements. BETHINK-YOU, Recollect yourself, a reflected verb. BE-THIS, An elliptical expression, signifying by this time. "Bessy be-this began to smell A rat, but kept her word t' hersell." Allan Ramsay. Miller's Wife. BETS, Darkening for bets. A person in company is said to do this when he takes little or no part in the conversation, and is all eyes and ears, with a view of slyly catching some hint or observation, which, in making a bet, he may turn to his own profit. In this sense, it seems nearly equivalent to Cotgrave's expression, "Contrefaire le loup en paille," which, he says, is to lie "scowking and leering in a corner, D and to take no notice, what persons do passe, or what things be done round about him." The following proverb in Miege further illustrates the meaning of our Craven expression, "Reculer pour mieux sauter,” to stand off for advantage, to withdraw in order to make his return the more effectual. BETTER, More, in reference to number, as, better than a dozen. Dr. Jamieson remarks in his Supplement, that this sense of the word is unknown in English writing, though it corresponds with the Gothic tongues. It is with us in daily use, and Mr. Todd has also illustrated it with examples. BETTERNESS, A state of improvement. Sylvester, in his translation of Odet de la Nove, has betterment. BETWEEN, This preposition is often used to express elliptically the present time, as "thou may lite omme between and Martlemas," i. e. between this time and Martinmas. BETWEEN-WHILES, In the interval, between the completing of one business and the beginning of another. BEZZLE, To drink, to tipple. BID, To invite. BIDE, Abide. Per aphær. BIDIN, Bearing, abiding. A. S. bedan, manere. BIG, Barley, with four sides or rows. ISL. bygg. |