Lancashire Dialect Glossary B
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Bab – a babe; a picture or print in a book (SB)
Bab-rags – clothes for a doll; play things (SB)
Babby – a babe (SB)
Babby-wark – child’s play
Bacca, bacco – tobacco ‘An’ some bacca an’ pipes for misel’
Backart, backurt, backerd – backward
Backin – going backwards
Backin – the slope of a rampart, of a fence of earth (SB)
Bad – difficult ‘Bad to please’, ‘Bad to find’
Badger – a provision dealer (SB)
Badger’s shop – grocer’s shop ‘Er Alick keeps a badger’s shop,
An teyches Sunday schoo’’
Baggin – bagging; lunch (SB)
Baggin’ – food, or a meal ‘Let me hev a bit o’ baggin’’, ‘Come to thi baggin’’
Baggin’-time – tea time, lunch time (SB) ‘It’s getting’ on for baggin’-time’
Bagged – discharged, sacked
Bailie – a bailiff (SB)
Bakstonem, bakstun – bake-stone
Bálderdash – trash; nonsense (SB)
Ball – the stem of a tree (SB)
Bállis – bellows (SB)
Ballispipes – the vocal organs
Bally – belly ‘A bally’s wo’th nowt iv id fail, To werm the verra cowdest ale.
Bally or Barley, to bespeak, "aw baley that" (SB)
Ballybant – a man’s waist belt, also applied to the belt of a horse
Bally-warch – belly ache (SB)
Ban – to curse (SB)
Bandybewit – an ironical term applied to a dog (SB)
Bang – to beat, also to excel ; "that bangs o" (SB)
Bángin – great, excelling (SB)
Banglin’ – idling ‘Banglin’ abeaut’
Bánkreawt – bankrupt (SB)
Bant – string, twine, sord (SB) ‘i’ bunches, teed wi bant’
Banterin’ – Beating down the price of anything ‘Aw bantered him deawn’
Bantin – cord, small twine (SB)
Bantlin – an infant (SB)
Bárkle – to stick to; to adhere (SB)
Bárklt – covered with dirt adhering (SB)
Barley – to claim, to bespeak ‘Barley me that’
Barm – yeast (SB)
Barm-bo – barm dumpling
Bárm-skin – a leathern apron (SB)
Barmy – silly
Barn – a child (SB)
Barrowfells – Barrowfields, from Baron's field
Barst, brast, brastid – burst ‘For trees were brastin’ into green’
Baste – to beat, to saturate meat whilst roasting (SB)
Bastert – bastard (SB)
Bastertly – like a bastard (SB)
Bastertly Gullion – child of a bastard (SB)
Bástin – beating, saturating (SB)
Bat – hit ‘Aw’ll bat thi earhole’, ‘Aw’ll gie thi a bat’
Bat-rate – speed ‘Thou’rt gooin’ at a terrible bat!’
Bate – deduct from wages, for imperfect work (from ‘abate’), diminish (SB)
Bátement – a subtraction, an allowance (SB)
Batt – to beat (SB)
Batter – liquid paste (SB)
Battin, beating (SB)
Battril – a strong flat piece of hard wood, with which women used formerly to batt or beat their linen when washing. It was also occasionally used to stretch or smooth linen, which was wrapped tightly round it, and pressed by a weight being placed on the top. Sometimes the good dames would economise time by sitting upon the linen and battril, whilst they gossiped, or carded wool, or knitted hose (SB)
Baun, beawn, bown – bound, about to, bound for, going to ‘neaw lads, where ar yo
beawn so fast?’
Bawd – bald (SB)
Bawk – a beam of timber; also to baulk, disappoint (SB)
Bawks – timbers, beams; disappoints (SB)
Bawkin – disappointing (SB)
Bawm – the herb balm (SB)
Báwtert – dirtied, plastered with mud (SB)
Bawtry – dirty, miry (SB)
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Be, bi – by ‘Why ‘twas alive ten minutes since, An that I’ll swear be king or prince’
Be – by (SB)
Beast – milk from a newly calfed cow
Beatneed – one who occasionally assists another person
Beawl – to bowl (SB)
Beawls – bowls (SB)
Beawlin – bowling (SB)
Beawt, bowt – without ‘An buttercakes etten beawt butter’
Beawlt – bowlet (SB)
Beawltn – pl. of bowled (SB)
Beawn – going to set off. "Awm beawn to start." "Awm beawn to Rachda” (SB)
Beawnce – to bownce; aw beawnce, pl. we beawncent (SB)
Beawncer – bouncer (SB)
Beawnty – bounty (SB)
Beawt – without; "beawt shoon" (SB)
Becose – because
Béd-geawn – a woman's open vest, with sleeves (SB)
Bedlam Spit – a crazy dish of liver, black pudding, onions and other seasoning
Béd-stid – bedstead (SB)
Bee-boe – a child's cradle (SB)
Beeast, beeost – beast ‘I’th name o’ Jesus say – whot art; That two black tungs for
meawth con dart? Whooas twisted body’s like the hurn, O’ that fem’d beeost
the unicorn’
Been, active, nimble (SB)
Beest – milk yielded after calving (SB)
Beétin – kindling (SB)
Beést'n – a place in Cheshire (SB)
Beet – to kindle; "beet th' foyer", also a herb (SB)
Beétin-bóbbin – a bobbin with thread on, from which a weaver pieces his warp (SB)
Beétn, kindle (SB)
Beét-need – one applied to in need only (SB)
Beetnt – we kindled (SB)
Beézum – a broom. [Ed. Waugh uses "Besom."] (SB)
Begant' – began to (SB)
Beghúnt' – begun to (SB)
Begum, bigum, bi gum – by gum! (an exclamation) ‘By gum, heaw every mon I’ th’
place, Clapt booath his een on th’ stranger’s face’
Beheend – behind ‘It gwos again my pluck to dee, An’ lev her wick beheend me’
Behint – behind ‘Back-o’-behint’
Behínt – behúnd, behúnt, be-índ – behind (SB)
Beholden – under obligation
Behóud – behold (SB)
Behóud'n – beholden, obligated (SB)
Beigh – buy ‘I sowd th’ owd couch to beigh ‘em bread’
Belady – by our lady (SB)
Belakins – a common interjection (SB)
Belike – surely; "he'll do it belike" (SB)
Bell – to roar, to cry out (SB)
Bélladen – near Edenfield (SB)
Béllart – a bull's ward (SB)
Bell'd – roared (SB)
Bellin – roaring (SB)
Belln – pl. of bell (SB)
Bellweather – a noisy woman
Berm – burm – barm, yeast
Berr – force, rapidity (SB)
Bérrid – buried (SB)
Bésses – Betsy's (SB)
Bésses oth' Barn – place at Prestwich (SB)
Best bib and tucker – best female garments (SB)
Bet, Betsy (SB)
Bethóught – recollected; called to mind (SB)
Bétter – better; the accent strong on the first syllable (SB)
Bett-thur – better
Beyéd – behead, decapitate (SB)
Beyler – boiler
Beylin’ – boiling
Bézzil – embezzle, purloin (SB)
Bézzilt – purloined; put aside (SB)
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Bi th’ mass – by the mass (an interjection or exclamation)
Bib – a child's breast-cloth (SB)
Bíbber – a tippler (SB)
Bíbbin – tippling (SB)
Bíbbn – pl. of bib (SB)
Bigg – to build; "he biggd yon heawse" (SB)
Biggin – a house, a building; bigg'n, pl. of bigg (SB)
Bill – a hedging tool; the beak of a bird; also William (SB)
Billy – a spinning machine of about 100 spindles for making slubbins, now discarded
Bin – been. I ha’ bin ‘He’s bin taitch’d i Adversity’s Skoo’
Bin – been; rm. with in (SB)
Binn – a chest for provender; a wine-stack (SB)
Birch – a hamlet near Middleton (SB)
Birkle – Erroneously spelled Birtle. Part of a township – Birkle-cum-Bamford
Birl, burl – pour out
Bishop – a pinafore worn by children to school
Bit – a small part (SB)
Bith – by the ‘Like sailors, thrut bith stormy main’
Bith'-mass – by the mass; a common exclamation (SB)
Bitin’-on – a snack ‘Have some bread an’ cheese for a bitin-on till t’goose is ready’
Bítter bump – the bittern (SB)
Bla – to bleat (SB)
Blam – bleating (SB)
Blaan – they bleat (SB)
Blab – to tattle (SB)
Blabbin – tattling (SB)
Blabn – they tattle (SB)
Blachinworth – a hamlet near Rochdale (SB)
Blackstonedge – a ridge dividing Lancashire and Yorkshire (SB)
Blain – a small boil, a sore (SB)
Blash – a flash; a sudden burst; "a bash o foyer” (SB)
Blaúnders – the glanders in a horse (SB)
Bleawze – a blouse, a slop (SB)
Bleawzy – dull, stupid, drowsy (SB)
Bleb – a blister; a blob, a small bubble (SB)
Blédder – bladder (SB)
Bléffin – a block of wood (SB)
Bléffin-yed – a blockhead (SB)
Bléther – to blubber, to cry (SB)
Blid – blood, "Odds-blid," a common interjection (SB)
Blínkert – a blinkard, blind of one eye; near sighted (SB)
Blob – to tattle (SB)
Blobbin – tattling (SB)
Blobd – tattled (SB)
Blobn – pl. of blob (SB)
Blobber – one who blobs, as a bubble (SB)
Blobmouth – a loud mouthed gossip
Bloint – blynt – blind ‘Till aw’m very near getten as bloint as a bat’
Bloke – a fellow (familiarly or contemptuously)
Blonk – blank (SB)
Blózzum – blossom (SB)
Blubber – a bubble, also blubbering or crying
Blund – blind (SB)
Blurr – a blot, an abrasion (SB)
Blurt – to speak loudly and suddenly ‘To blurt it eaut’
Bluz – to chafe, to rub, to abrade (SB)
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Bo – but ‘Bo for me, aw’m content when aw’ve paid deawn mi rent’; "Abbo' aye but" (SB)
Boadle – half a farthing (SB)
Boady bawdy – obscene (SB)
Baokes – beams ‘Barn boakes’
Boarshaw – Boarshaw cloof, near Middleton (SB)
Bobbersom – obtrusive, impatient. "Dunno be so bobbersome” (SB)
Bóckin – coarse flannel (SB)
Bode – bald; bode-yed – bald head (SB)
Boe – a dumpling; ,a potboe;" also a bow; also a ball to play with (SB)
Bog – a bug, a louse; the o sounded broad (SB)
Bogblinders – Limewashers
Boggart – a ghost, an apparation, a goblin ‘Has th’ boggarts taen houd o’ my dad?’
Boggart-hole – Boggart Hole Clough - a place in Blackley (SB)
Boggle – to hesitate, to be afraid (SB)
Boh or bo – the aspiration short; but (SB)
Boll – a boggart (SB)
Boll howt, –Boll-holt, near Bury (SB)
Bonk – bank ‘Bi yon bonk side at t’ nook o’ t’ wood’; slope (SB)
Bonk-full – bank-full (SB)
Bonny – Pretty, handsome. ‘It’s a bonny posey’
Bonny-broo – Bonny-brow at Rhodes, Middleton (SB)
Booan – bone ‘They sayn there’s a saint’s owd booans on show, I’ th’ Parish Church
– it may be so’
Booart – a board
Booath – both ‘An’ when they’d booath together prayed, He dudn’d feel I’ th’ least
bit flayed’
Boof – bough of a tree, shaft of a cart; boovs, boughs, shafts (SB)
Boose – cow stall
Borrod – borrowed (SB)
Boskin – a stall in a shippon (SB)
Boose – cow's stall (SB)
Boss – a fat lazy woman; "lazy boss, and brawsn boss," are common terms of reproach (SB)
Boother – a boulder, a stone (SB)
Bootherstone – Bolderstone, near Rochdale (SB)
Botch – to mend clumsily (SB)
Bo'th' – but the (SB)
Bouse, boose, booze – alcoholic drink; to drink till drunk ‘Werk, an’ dorn’d booze,
nor – wod is woss – Put yo’r last stake on a ‘done’ hoss’
Bowd – bold ‘Aw thin i’ my heart, if he’d nobbut be bowd, He needna’ quite let me a-
be’
Bowe – a bowl, a vessel (SB)
Bowlée – near Middleton (SB)
Bowster – bolster, a pillow (SB)
Bowt – to bolt, to run away; also a bolt of iron; and bought (SB)
Bowt – bought ‘We’n bowt a pup an’ paid the price’
Bowt rushes – the finest of rushes, from which are made the ornamental bowts (bolts) for rush carts; Thunnerbowt, is the fall of lightning; and Edtherbowt, is the dragonfly.
Boyern – to rinse, to wash out (SB)
Boyernt – rinsed, washed (SB)
Boyernín – rinsing (SB)
Brabble, Brabblement, Brangle, Branglement – Squabbling, falling out (SB)
Brad – spread ‘He brad his sel’
Bradd – spread abroad (SB)
Braggot – new ale spiced and sugared (obs.) (SB)
Braid – bread (SB)
Braid-flake – a corded frame hung from the ceiling, on which the flat oaten cakes used in Lancashire are placed to dry and become brittle (SB)
Brandlesome – near Bury (SB)
Brandwood – a division of Spotland, on the border of Rossendale; a district in Rossendale (SB)
Brass – copper money, also all sorts of coins ‘There’s nod one lass ‘at’s addlin’ brass’
Brass up – turn out your wages
Brast – burst (or start) ‘Sup, an’ then brast off’
Brat – an apron used in rough work
Brat – a child
Brattle – to spend money on trifles; to dissipate property. "He's brattlt o' away" (SB)
Brawsen – brossen – gorged with food, overfull
Brawson – very lusty, much too fat; stuffed with meat, gorged (SB)
Brazent – brazen, impudent (SB)
Breadfleck – once used for drying oatcakes. See ‘braid-flake’.
Breawn – brown
Bree – the liquor of a stew; also fear (SB)
Breed – frightened. "He's quite breed" (SB)
Breek, brick, also bricks (SB)
Breer – briar (SB)
Breet – bright ‘Tha’rt as breet as when new made’
Breéther – brother (SB)
Brekfust – breakfast (SB)
Brewert – sprouting of vegetables. "Yo'n a fine brewert o' potatoes" (SB)
Brewis – Oatcake, beef dripping, pepper and salt, and a little hot water.
A one-time favourite supper dish; oat-cake toasted, and soaked in strong broth or stew; or the bree of swine's meat (SB)
Brewster – a brewer (SB)
Breyd–fleck, bread-fleck – bread rail – home-made oat-cakes were dried on the
bryed-fleck, a rail of many cross-pieces hung high above the hearth
‘Aw polish th’ fire irons, dust th’ breyd fleyk’
Breyd – a shelf
Brid – bird, child ‘Thar’t prattiest brid we have i th’ nest’
‘An’ mi shuttle shall fly like a brid’
Brig, brig – bridge ‘Oe’r brucks an’ briggs do gallop Whigs,
Wi whip an’ spur unscented’
Briggs – irons to set over the fire (obs) (SB)
Brim – the rim, the edge of a thing (SB)
Brim-ful – full to the rim (SB)
Bríndlt – of mixed colours. "Thrice the brindled cat" (SB)
Brítchil – brittle (SB)
Brock – the insect in the froth called cuckoo spit
Broddle – to assume, to swagger. "See heaw he broddles" (SB)
Brodlin – assuming, swaggering (SB)
Brodlin-fussuck – an ignorant, presuming woman (SB)
Brog – a swampy place. (obs.)
Brogged – broken up. ‘He’s brogged hissel op wi’ drinkin’’
Broggin – to fish for eels, with a pole, a line, and plummet, or by putting a hoose and worm on a small twig, and thrusting them into holes where eels lie. (This term is either obsolete or but little used) (SB)
Brokn – broken (SB)
Brone – a boar (SB)
Broo – brow, a hilly rise; also, the forehead ‘Hey, dear o’ me, aw’m reyt fagged eawt,
This broo it is a pull’
Browt – brough ‘Aw th’ wenches coom an’ browt th’ sweethearts’
Bruck – brook ‘To banish ducks fro’ dams an’ brucks’
Bruit – to make a talk of (SB)
Bruited – much talked about (SB)
Brun/brunt – burn/burnt ‘Some fiery oon tha’ll soon be brunt in’
Brunnin – burning (SB)
Brunedge – Burnedge, a place in Crompton (SB)
Bryèd – to spread (SB)
Bryèdth – breadth (SB)
Bryèdin – spreading (SB)
Bryedn – pl. of spread (SB)
Bryèm – a bream, a fish (SB)
Bryèth – breath (SB)
Bryèthin – breathing (SB)
Bryethen – pl. of breathe (SB)
Bruzzd – bruised, chafed, abraded (SB)
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Buckle – to do something ‘Buckle to thi wark’
Buckth – bulk, size (SB)
Bud – but ‘An heaw happy aw lived I’ that spot, There’s nobudy knows bud mysel’
Buerdshill – a place in Castleton (SB)
Bule – handle of a pot, or other utensil (SB)
Bullirag – To abuse a person with the tongue
Bullock – to insult, to bully
Bùlloe – a sloe; a wild plum (SB)
Bums, bumbaylies – baliff, officers distraining for debt
‘Th’ bumbylis coom an’ marked their things, an’ took ‘em o’ away’
Bun/bun up/be bun – bound/bound up/be bound
Bund – bound (SB)
Bunhedge – a hedge of twisted sticks (SB)
Bunhorns – briars to wind woollen yarn upon (SB)
Bunfoyer – a fire in the open air, and probably named from the circumstance of the wood and coal being given in small portions as boons (SB)
Bunt – to take home weaver's work (SB)
Buntin – taking home work (SB)
Buoy – to buy, pronounced as buoy, a sea-mark (SB)
Buoyern – to wash out; to rinse a vessel (SB)
Buoyernt – washed out, rinsed (SB)
Buoyl – a boil, a sore (SB)
Buoyl – to boil water (SB)
Buoylin – boiling (SB)
Buoylt – boiled (SB)
Bur – but ‘Bur some clever uns han mentioned’
Burly – thick, clumsy, powerful. "A great burly felly" (SB)
Burly-mon – an officer appointed at courts-leet, to examine and determine respecting disputed fences (SB)
Burmyed – silly person
Burn – a burden. "A great burn to carry" (SB)
Burr – the flower of the large water-dock; the head of a thistle (SB)
Busk – to dress smartly. "Come, busk the op." Also a piece of flat wood, worn in front of women' stays (SB)
Busk – from Bosk, the name of a place on North-moor, near Oldham (SB)
Buss – kiss ‘They geet th’ job done, an busst one another ‘i th’ church’
Buttery – pantry, also where the home-made butter was made
Butty – bread and butter ‘Daddy’s gone to feight for butties’
Butty – an intimate pal ‘Come on, owd butty’
Butty – a dishonest contest ‘A butty do’
Buzz – tale ‘Poor beggar! For o th’ time Owd Nick
Hed reeled his buzzes off off so slick’
Bwon – a bone (SB)
Bwony – bony (SB)
Bwort – a board (SB)
Bwordin – boarding (SB)
Bwordn – pl. of board (SB)
Bwoth – both (SB)
By – aside ‘They nobbut wear’t in better days, Then lay it nicely by’
By Gum – by the man, .i.e., Christ (from Anglo-Saxon ‘guma = man, hero)
Byedlam, –bedlam (SB)
Byeds – beads (SB)
Byegle – beagle, a hound (SB)
Byek – beak of a bird (SB)
Byem – a beam, timber (SB)
Byen, a bean, pl. byen (SB)
Byern-sha – Bearnshaw, near Cliviger (SB)
Byert – beard (SB)
Byet – to beat (SB)
Byetn – beaten (SB)
Byetin – beating (SB)
Byes – beasts (SB)
Byest – a beast (SB)
Byth' – by the, as "byth' mass," "byth' mon" (SB)
Byzen – blind (obs.) (SB)
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