ABDICATE. To remove one's self from a thing. To give up one's spoon. To hond over one's loom to a heir; that's why it's a heirloom. To give up one's unwhisperables for th' wife to wear.

ABED. In bed. Wheere a deeal o' folk liken bein ut say'n there's nowt like bein up soon in a mornin. A bed is th' only thing ut childer liken when they're in it, but disliken bein sent to.

ABHOR. To have the hair stand on end with fear. We'n mooest on us abhorred boggarts. My yure has mony a time bin like an owd besom wi' fear, when we'n bin tellin boggart tales reaund eaur hearthstone. There's very little springiness i' childer's yure neaw fro' that cause. Steeam has laid it flat for ever, so far as th' fear o' boggarts goes.

ABIDE. To endure. Bein laid across yo'r feyther's knee, th' face to'ard th' floor, an' havin it warm witheaut yeawlin. I've tried mony a time to abide, but gan meauth at last. His hont wur heavy, an' my Shudehill cord thin.

ABJURE. To swear away from. Mooestly used when folk are givin up summat they liken, same as a mellow-nosed chap swearin off drink.

ABSENT. Away from. That shillin we connot ackeaunt for, an' we thinken we'n lent to someb'dy.

ABSOLVE. To acquit. Th' wife sayin, "I'll let thee off this time, if theau'll never do it again."

ABUNDANCE. Plenty. Lots o'everythin. Lashins. Full up to th' brim. A lad feels th' effects of abundance when he conno' crom another apple in his pockets, an' there's plenty to goo at. It's what makes us forget there's sich a thing as famine, and

causes waste.

ACCELERATE. To make swift. I've bin accelerated mony a time by th' swing of a clog.

ACE. One. A card ut generally gets put deawn wi' a thump. ACCIDENT. A chance event. Sometimes done o' purpose. ACCOMMODATE. To lend to yo'r neighbour a cupful o' mayle, or a mowffin, when he's nowt for his teeth to do.

ACCOMPLISHED. Fulfilled. It's a word that's sometimes used when th' kayther (cradle) is bein put o' one side.

ACQUAINTANCE. A person we know. Sometimes he gets mistakken for a friend.

ACROBAT. A tumbler. Eaur Dick wur for bein one once, when he tried to jump through th' kitchen window, like a cleawn in a pantymime, an' filled his yure full o' bits o' brokken glass.

ACTING. What owt to be done i'stead o' so mich talkin.

ACUTE. Sharp. Bein alive to everythin, an' moore beside. When yo'r tryin to creep eaut o'th' heause, thinkin yo're chettin th' wife when hoo's asleep; an' hoo drops on yo' afore yo'n getten off th' durstep, wi' th' question-"Wheere art gooin?" Yo' may know then ut her yerrin's a bit acute. Th' same wi' childer's ears when yo' whispern they may have a haliday.

ADAGE. A maxim. An owd woman's sayin ut's takken for truth, till it's fund eaut to be summat different.

ADDICT. To devote. It may be said of a fuddler that he's addicted to drink.

ADDITION. The act of adding. One every year, an' o livin. Moore to come yet.

ADDLE. Empty. Eggs witheaut chickens. Yeads witheaut brains.

ADHERENT. A follower. A mon ut's aulus after yo' wantin a gill, an' says yo're a rare good chap if he gets one, an' summat elze if he doesno'.

ADJUST. To regulate. Squarin things up awhoam, after bein unackeauntable for a fortnit.

ADMIRE. To wonder at. Lookin through a watch shop window, or starin at a pratty woman, an' havin that for yo'r share.

ADMIT. To concede. Hearkenin what th' wife says abeaut yo', an' bein obleeged to let it pass for th' truth.

ADORABLE. Worthy of adoration. Yo'r wife when yo're coortin her. Co'in her sugar, honey, mintcake-everythin sweet an' grand-an' ut hoo reminds yo' on wi' a black look an' a bitter tongue, after th' weddin.

ADVANCE. To come forward. What yo'r intended feyther-inlaw promises to do afore yo' takken his dowter, an' ut he never does.

ADULATION. Flattery. Teemin warm wayter deawn yo'r back; or makkin yo' itch wheere it hasno' bin bitten.

ADULT. Grown-up. A mon ut's, generally spakin, moore health an' strength than brains.

ADVICE. Counsel. That ut yo' con give but conno' tak. Summat wurr than physic.

AERIAL. Belonging to the air. A place wheere a lot o' castles are built that are never seen. Th' only buildin lond ut con be

had for nowt. I've an acre or two.

AFFABILITY. Easiness of manners. Bein able to tak a cotter i'th' earhole, an' smile at it, as if a wench had gan yo' a buss. Bein pleasant o reaund, even when a choilt's skrikin, or yo'n getten th' toothwartch.

AFFECTION. Love, kindness. An article yo' conno' test th' wo'th on by touchin it wi' acid. I've getten agate o' thinkin there's moore on't Brummagem than real. Howd a leet!

AFFIDAVIT. (Generally proneaunced "have a davy.") A declaration upon oath. Swearin that summat's true, when yo' known it to be a lie; or upsy-deawnsy.

AFFINITY. Relation to. We'n no affinity to eaur relations when we're poor. Get to be rich, an' yo'r fifty-third cousin 'll find yo' eaut, an' claim yo' as one of his breed. Tell 'em yo'r 40,000th great gronfeyther wur a monkey, an' they'n fo off.

AFFLUENT. Wealthy. That is, if they feel so. Ax a mon wo'th his fifty theausant if he feels rich; an' he'll tell yo' he feels no richer than he did when he'd scraped th' fust hundert t'gether. Th' owd rib says nob'dy's richer than I am when I've five shillin i'my pocket, an' my heels to'ard whoam. I'm i' affluence

then.

AFLOAT. Floating. Heaw mony "limiteds" ut han bin floated are swimmin neaw? A good deeal on 'em are lyin upo' dry greaund, an' keeled o'er o' one side.

conno' be too weel There's nowt like It's as good as

AFOREHAND. Provided. This is a word ut understood. I'm feart it's bin a bit neglected. havin an owd stockin to fly to i' rainy weather. bein duck-backed. Th' wayter 'll run off.

AFTER. Following in place. Sometimes this word's used i'th' wrong place. If a lad's purtendin t' coort a wench, an' her mother gets t' know, th' owd woman 'll say to a neighbour, "Jammie So-an'-so's after eaur Betty," when at th' same time he'll be walkin four or five yeard th' fust, wi' his honds in his pocket.

AFTERCLAP. Th' wife givin yo' another dressin deawn, after yo'n thowt th' storm wur o'er.

AGAIN. Axin for a shillin one day, an' sayin ditto th' day after. Different to a gain.

AGAZE. Starin at summat wi' th' oppen meauth. Lookin reaund after someb'dy's hit yo' an' wonderin where th' blow coome fro.

AGE. Summat men dunno' like, an' women winno' own to, when it concarns theirsels. We're a bit partial to it i' wine, an' friends, an' cheese, an' ale; an' "a yure off th' owd dog" is sometimes welcome. Comin of age, when there's brass at th' end on't, is a very comfortable thing for a yorney.

AGGRANDISE. To make great. Steep a pae i' wayter for twentyfour heaurs, an' it'll think it's a beean. Creawn a foo, an' folk 'll goo deawn o' their knees to him. It's th' same i' every station o' life.

AGGRAVATE. To make worse. Someb'dy tellin yo'r wife yo're feightin i'th' owd Bell fowt, when at th' same time yo're nobbut havin a cross word or two i'th' kitchen.

AGGRESSOR. An invader. A neighbour gettin o'er yo'r garden fence, a fotchin eggs eaut of a corner, becose he thinks his hens han laid 'em. His wife claimin th' right o' yo'r wife's clooas line.

AGITATOR. A mon ut'll stir folk again one another till they're up to feightin. A woman ut'll set a whisper agate at one end o'th' fowt ut'll travel till it brings o th' women to their durs, shakin their fists o reaund.

AGONY. Th' state o' one's feelins after a late fuddle, when one's yead wants hoopin reaund, an' we wonder wheere that hauve-creawn's gone, an' what th' policeman's dooin at th' dur. AGREE. What no men con do ten minits t'gether; an' women An impossibility i' religion an' politics; or o'er dividin yo'r uncle's brass.

never.

AHEAD. Bein before another. What we're aulus strivin for, if we strive at o. There are folk ut mun aulus be th' fust at summat; an' if they'rn i' paradise they'd swarm th' apple tree afore others could thrutch in at th' gate.

AID. To help. To set yo'r shoother to a neighbour's cartwheel while he's havin a pint at th' aleheause dur. A woman

lendin another her ring for t' pop, an' gettin a threshin for it when her husband finds it eaut. "Let us help one another" is a very nice sentiment, an' seaunds weel in a song, but when we're wanted to put it i' practice, we liken gettin eaut o'th' road, if we con find a gap for t' creep through.

AILMENT. What a lad feels when he doesno' want to go to th' skoo; an' a woman when hoo wants to go to th' saeside.

AIR. A nice thing when it's fresh, but unpleasant when some folk han bin tamperin with it. Welcome when it comes off th’ sae; but unwelcome when it comes off fish. Sweet when potatoes are i' fleawer; but not when they're i' settin.

ALACRITY. Sprightliness. Get howd o'th' wrong end o'th' firepotter, after th' wife has bin tryin t' so'der a hole up i'th' ladincan, an' if yo' dunno' drop it with alacrity, it's becose yo' conno' part wi' it o at once. It's th' way with a lad when he's i'th' front

of his feyther's foot.

ALBUM. A book to write bad poetry in. Another to look in for ugly faces an' stiff backs; an' to find yo'rsel an' yo'r wife in a dozen places.

ALE. Here I'm fast. Con anybody help me, by tellin me what it is? Has anybody ever tasted it? If they han, I shall be mich obleeged to 'em if they'n let me know what it's like.

ALIBI. Elsewhere. If a mon swears he're a whoam, havin his black-puddin an' breawis, at th' same time as another swears he seed him in his neighbour's hencote, he sets up an alibi.

ALIKE. What no two folks i'th' wo'ld are. But yo'n sometimes yer a woman say, when her lad an' another han bin feightin-"They're booath alike; speshly that lad o' yo'rs."

ALIVE. Wick. Bein in a kickin state. Up to a thing or two. Th' state ut some folk liken cheese in.

ALLEGE. Sayin summat abeaut someb'dy, an' stickin to yo'r said-so. Sometimes if a mon says of another mon-" He's a thief," he get's hissel in a hobble. But if he nobbut thinks so, it's another thing.

ALLOWANCE. 'Leawance. Givin a mon three pints o' ale, a hauve a peaund o' cheese, an' th' hauve of a loaf, beside a shillin', for gettin a looad o' coals in.