Lancashire Dialect Glossary W
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Wackert – quaked, trembled, weak, tottering ‘Thou wackers about like a tripe doll’
Waesme! – woe is me (SB)
Waeny – tending to wane, to diminish (SB)
Waint – will not
Waint – clever, stout (SB)
Waintly – cleverly, thoroughly (SB)
Wake – weak ‘He’s getting’ rather wake i’ th’ yed’
Wake – a yearly feast; Rushbearing (SB)
Wakes – village fair ‘ make a wakes’ – demolish
Wakes o'th' meawth – the extremities of the lips, the corners of the mouth (SB)
Wakken, wakkent – waken, wakened
Wakker – to tremble, to shiver (SB)
Wakkerin – trembling (SB)
Wakkern – they tremble (SB)
Wakkers – trembles (SB)
Wakkert – trembled (SB)
Wakkertn – they trembled (SB)
Wallit – a wallet, a poke (SB)
Walloper – large ‘A walloper of a pig’
Walt, wote – to topple over, to overturn
Wam – a place near Rochdale (SB)
Wamble – to stagger (SB)
Wambly – faintly, weakly (SB)
Wang – to throw violently ‘Aw wanged it at his yed’
Want’n – want
Wantit – wanted
Wap – to move quickly: "He wapt past;" "Ave just geet a wap on him;" also a process at law out of the Wapentake Court. (SB)
Wapt – walked, to move quickly ‘He wapt reaund th’ end an’ said ‘Good-neet’’
War, wor, wer, wur – were (was)
Warch – ache, ‘Yedwarch’; My heart warches – my heart aches. (SB)
Warchin – aching (SB)
Warchn – they ache (SB)
Warchnt – they ached (SB)
Warcht – ached (SB)
Wardle – a hamlet near Rochdale (SB)
Ward o' God – world of God, all the world (SB)
Ware – to spend
Warm wor, woss, wurr – worse
Ward – the world
War – were
Warch – ache
Warckt, warkt, wartcht, worched – ached
Wark, worch, wortch – work ‘Life’s o’ bed an’ wark’
Warkin – working (SB)
Warkt – worked (SB)
Warkmon – workman (SB)
Warlock – a wizard (SB)
Warlockin – wild, gamesome play; pranking, noisy uproar. Thus a mother would call home her children, at nightfall: "Come into th’ heawse; whot aryo rompin an warlookin theer for, at this time oneet." (SB)
Warlockt – ruffled, entangled, involved; as a coil of rope, a skein of thread: "Heaw's this rope gettn warlockt athisn?" (SB)
Warlock knot – a hard knot in timber (SB)
Warm (warm yo’) – ‘I’ll warm some on yo’, to some tune’
Warn – were
Warr – worse (SB)
Warr an wary – worse and worse (SB)
Warry – to curse (SB)
Warrid – cursed (SB)
Warrin – they curse (SB)
Warridn – they cursed (SB)
Warrittn – Warrington; doubtless so named from its being the centre or rallying point of many bloody contests betwixt the Mercians and Northumbrians during the Heptarchy, on the very out-post of which latter kingdom, and on the banks of the Mercy [Mersey], it was, and is situated. (SB)
Warst – worst (SB)
Warty – workday ‘There’s fourpence-hawpenny warty caps
For which they charge a bob’
Warty-cloas – workday clothes
Wary – weary
Wastril – a man of no character, a waster; a good-for-nothing person: "He's a greadly wastril.” (SB)
Waughish – weary, sickly, faintly (SB)
Waut, wawt – overturn ‘Gently! Tha’ll waut th’ whole consarn, if tha doesn’t mind’
Wauter – to stagger
Wawk – to walk (SB)
Wawk-mill – a fulling mill (SB)
Wawker – walker (SB)
Wawkin – walking (SB)
Wawkn – they walk (SB)
Wawk’n – walk
Wawknt – they walked (SB)
Wawks – walks (SB)
Wawt – to upset, to fall aside: "Th'cart wawted intoth doytch;" "Th' owd felley wawted o' one side." (SB)
Wawve – to upset, to turn over, or to put on one side: "He took howd ont, an wawvt it o'er;" "Just wawve that flag o' one side abit." (SB)
Waybroad – the herb plantain (SB)
Wayter, waythur, weatur – water ‘Sometimes, th’ wayter in his e’en’
‘Wi a calico rag on her back that hasn’t sin wayter as three week!’
Waytertomes – sick fits
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Weal – to choose (obs.) (SB)
Wean or Whean – a strumpet, a quean (SB)
Weantly or Waintly – hearty, pretty well: "Heaw arto this mornin?" "Well, awm weantly, thank yo." (SB)
Wear – to expend, to part with, to lay out money: "Mind heawe theaw wears the brass." (SB)
Weas-me – woe-is me: an interjection of sorrow (SB)
Weatherpeg – the nose
Weatur – water (SB)
Weatursheedins – Watersheddings, a place at Oldham (SB)
Weatur-tawm or tome – an efflux of watery fluid from the stomach, causing sickness and sometimes fainting (SB)
Weatur-shaken – having an incontinence of urine (SB)
Weawghin – barking: "Th' dhog coom weawghin at meh heels." (SB)
Weawnd – to wound, also a wound; Weawnded, wounded (SB)
Weawnds – wounds (SB)
Weawnder – wounder (SB)
Weawndin – wounding (SB)
Weawndn – they wound (SB)
Weawndnt – they wounded (SB)
Webster – a weaver (nearly obs.) (SB)
Weedn, we hadn – we had.
Week – to kick; Weekin – the kicking of a horse (SB)
Weeker – a kicker (SB)
Weel – well ‘We’re neighbours, an’ very weel met’
Weel – well; Pratty-weel – pretty well (SB)
Weem – handy, convenient, ready: "It's a very weem tool;" "It's quite weem at hond." (SB)
Ween, we han – we have; also We win – we will (SB)
Wee'n, ween, we’n – we have ‘Thank God we’n each a spoon apiece’
Weer – we are
Weer – where
Weet – wet ‘Weet an’ warm, like Owdham brewis’,
Wee't – with it: "Awst want summut wee't," with it. (SB)
Weetish – wettish (SB)
Weetn – they wet (SB)
Weetnt – they wetted (SB)
Weld – boiled (SB)
Weld-milk – boiled milk (rarely used.) (SB)
Welkin – the sky, the firmament
Welkin-looker – an observer of the firmament, a star gazer
Welly, Welley or Wellne – very nearly, well nigh (almost) ‘He said ‘Aw’m feelin’ welly deead’’ (SB)
Wem or Weme – the belly (SB)
We’n, we’r, we’st – we have, we are, we shall
Wench – a lass, a young girl; Wenchish, girlish (SB)
Wenchin – seeking the company of a wench (SB)
Wentn – we, or they went (SB)
Welt – a blow ‘Aw’ll gie thi a welt’
Wescot – waistcoat
Wesh – wash ‘Wi pop to wesh em deawn’
We’t – with it
Whake or Wake – to wakker, to tremble (SB)
Whangby – coarse cheese
Waugh or Waw – a wall (SB)
Whaw – why (SB)
Whean – wheasand, the gullet (SB)
Wheawt – to whistle (SB)
Wheawted – whistled (SB)
Wheawtin – whistling (SB)
Wheawtn – we whistle (SB)
Wheawtnt – we whistled (SB)
Wheer – where
Wheeze – to make a noise in breathing (SB)
Wherken – to retch and choke from an effort to get up something from the gullet. (SB)
Wherknt – having a momentary stoppage in the wind-pipe. (SB)
Wherr – sour; "As seawer as wherr." (SB)
Wherrit – a box on the ear: "A good wherrit o'th yer." (SB)
Wherry – to laugh, to giggle; Wherryin, laughing; Wherrid, laughed.
Wherridn – they laughed (SB)
Wherrin – they laugh. (SB)
Whewtin – whistling
Whiff-wall – trifling words or deeds; Whiffo-whaffo, the same (SB)
Whimper – to cry, to whine (SB)
Whinney – to neigh (SB)
Whinneyin – the neighing of a horse (SB)
Whinnid – neighed (SB)
Whirlers – extra stocking legs, turned down about the ancles; hay-bands are sometimes worn as whirlers (SB)
Whirl-bwons – the round of the human knee; but all large bones of the thigh and leg are included in the term; "Look at his great clumsy whirl-bwons." (SB)
Whisky – frisky, immodest (SB)
Whiskit – a basket; "Conyo lyend meh mother yore Yorshur whiskit?" (SB)
Whisk-tail – a wanton female (SB)
Whitster – a bleacher (SB)
Whitfeelt – a place in Crompton (SB)
Whit-brook, or Wood-brook – a stream in Thornham (SB)
Whoa, whey, weigh – sotp ‘Before owd Time says ‘weigh’’
Whoam – see ‘Whom’
Whod cake, or Whot-cake – oaten cake (SB)
Whol – while, until ‘He cried whol his e’en were quite red’
Whom, whoam – home ‘Come whoam to thi’ childer an’ me’ (SB)
Whomly – homely (SB)
Whomsted – homestead (SB)
Whon – a hone, a wetstone (SB)
Whooa – who; Whooas tat? who's that? Whooad, who had? Whooall? who will? (SB)
Whooad, whood, who’d – who would, who had
Whoo-op – all over, finished, done for (SB)
Whor – what; whot being chiefly used (SB)
Whot, wot – hot ‘Sed Jone to his wife, on a whot summer’s day’
Whot – what (SB)
Whot-cake, oaten cake (SB)
Whottn, Whot-win – what will: "Whottn they say." (SB)
Whots, Whuts, oats (SB)
Whots – what is (SB)
Whotted – what would (SB)
Whottle, whatt’ll – what will
Whottleto – whot wilt thou. "Whottleto doo?" what wilt thou do? (SB)
Whysty – draughty ‘A whysty reawm’
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Wi' – with ‘go wi’ me’
Wichurt – wet-shod (SB)
Wick – quick, alive ‘It’s said ‘I’m fain I’m wick to-day – Tick-Tock’
Wickin – the mountain ash; the rowan.
Wift – whiff ‘While takin’ a wift o’ my pipe’
Wilcat – a wild cat, the pole-cat (SB)
Wilto’ – wilt thou
Wimeh – with me (SB)
Wimme, wimmy – with me
Win – (rm. with in) will.
Winna, winno – will not
Winnodoo – will not do (SB)
Winnotto? – will not thou? (SB)
Winrow – a long row of raked-up hay
Wint, wynt, woind – wind ‘Wi hur heart in hur hont, an hur wynt welly gone’
Winterhedge – now called a clothes horse
Wirkened – a choking sensation with drinking too fast
Witchert, witchod – wet-shod, shoes let water in, ‘Mi feet are witchert’
Witheawt – without (SB)
Wither – swift, forcible (SB)
Witherin – large, powerful: "He's a great witherin felley." (SB)
Wizzn – to pine, to waste (SB)
Wizznt –pined, decayed; also to whine like a whelp: "Whot's this dhog wizznin for?" (SB)
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Wo, wole – wall ‘Hoo fell yed first o’er th’ garden wo’’
Wod – what ‘’Wod, nowt?’ sed th’ tailor, ‘is ther nowt?’’
Wofo – woeful (SB)
Woisty – spacious, empty murky: as, "A great woisty reawn." (SB)
Wolfstone – in Nadinwater, a boundary mark betwixt the parishes of Rochdale, Middleton, and Bury (SB)
Wom – home
Woan or Wonn – to reside (SB)
Woans – lives, or dwells: "He woans at CheIburn;" "He woant at yon heawses." (SB)
Wonst – once ‘Wonst on a time, ther’ wur a mon’
Woo – wool (SB)
Wooant – lived (SB)
Wooann – they live (SB)
Wooans or Woans – lives at a certain place (SB)
Wooantn – they lived (SB)
Woode – mad; Stark woode – stark mad (SB)
Worn’d – were not
Worr or Whor – what (SB)
Worr – worse (SB)
Worr an’ worr – worse and worse (SB)
Worch – to work (SB)
Worchin – working (SB)
Worcher – a worker (SB)
Worcht – worked (SB)
Worchn – they work (SB)
Worchnt – they worked (SB)
Word – to hoard (SB)
Wordin – hoarding (SB)
Worder – a hoarder (SB)
Worded – hoarded (SB)
Wordn – they hoard (SB)
Wordnt – they hoarded (SB)
Worritin – troubled, upset
Worse – hoarse (SB)
Worsniss – hoarseness (SB)
Wort – a word: "Let's have a wort withe?" also new liquor drained from malt. (SB)
Woss, wurr – worse ‘This an’ better may do – but this an’ wurr ’ll never do’
Wost – worst
Wot – what
Wott – hot
Wott-ter – hotter
Wot-ist – hottest.
Wotony – a dilemma; a surprise, an urgency: "Well, takthe time, an dunno be i’ sitch a wotony. " (SB)
Wotyel – a spindle made red-hot to burn holes in wood or other hard substance. (SB)
Wrack, wreck – Wrack-an-rend – to wreck and tear, to destroy (SB)
Wrang, Wrank – wrong; Reet-wrank, quite wrong (SB)
Wrakin, a wrekin – a chimney, a reekin place (SB)
Wrakin-hook – a hook fixed to a chain in a chimney, whereon to hang iron pots when over the fire. A pot-hook is a wrakin-hook (SB)
Wratch – a wretch (SB)
Wrawl – a brawl, a noisy contention (SB)
Wreet – a wright, a wheelwright (SB)
Writhen – irritable, petulant
Wrossle or Wrostle – to wrestle (SB)
Wrosslin – wrestling (SB)
Wrossler – a wrestler (SB)
Wrosslt – wrestled (SB)
Wrossln – they wrestle (SB)
Wrossltn – they wrestled (SB)
Wrynot – a bye-word: "He shad (surpassed) Wrynot, an Wrynot shad the devil." (SB)
Wrythn – twisted, gnarled, cross-tempered: "He's very wrythn to day." (SB)
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Wud – would, also vexed, mad
Wudd or Woode – mad (SB)
Wudno’ – – would not
Wudto? – wouldest thou? (SB)
Wudtono? – wouldst thou not? (SB)
Wuerdle – a hamlet near Rochdale (SB)
Wun – wound (up)
Wuns, or Woans, or Wooans – lives at a place: "He Wuns at yon biggins." Also an abbreviation of the word wounds, an old Papist oath, "Odds Wuns," God's wounds. (SB)
Wur – were
Wur – was (SB)
Warn – we were (SB)
Wurno – was not. (SB)
Wurno’ – were not
Wurnno – were not (SB)
Wurto’ – were thou
Wurto? – avast thou? (SB)
Wurtono? – vast thou not? (SB)
Wurnnoyo? – were you not? (SB)
Wurther? – was there? (SB)
Wurtherno – was there not. (SB)
Wycawe – a she calf. (SB)
Wynd – to wind with a wheel. (SB)
Wynder – a winder of spools or bobbins for weavers: "An when hoo toucht a threed o' silk, Like magic it wur folded. An when the worsted honk hoo wund, Hur skill wur further proved; No threed uneven theer wur fund, Hur bobbins never roved." (SB)
Wynt, wint – the wind
Wynt-pipe – the wind-pipe (SB)
Wythins – grey willows, osiers (SB)
Wyzles – stalks, haulm of potatoes (SB)
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