English As We Speak It in Ireland Part 30

Brock, brockish; a badger. It is just the Irish _broc_.

Brock, brocket, brockey; applied to a person heavily pock-marked. I suppose from _broc_, a badger. (Ulster.)

Brogue, a shoe: Irish _brog_. Used also to designate the Irish accent in speaking English: for the old Irish thong-st.i.tched brogue was considered so characteristically Irish that the word was applied to our accent; as a clown is called a _cauboge_ (which see: Munster).

{226} Brohoge or bruhoge; a small batch of potatoes roasted. See Brunoge.

Broken; bankrupt: quite a common expression is:--Poor Phil Burke is 'broken horse and foot'; i.e. utterly bankrupt and ruined.

Broo, the edge of a potato ridge along which cabbages are planted.

Irish _bru_, a margin, a brink.

Brosna, brusna, bresna; a bundle of sticks for firing: a f.a.ggot. This is the Irish _brosna_, universally used in Ireland at the present day, both in Irish and English; and used in the oldest Irish doc.u.ments. In the Tripart.i.te Life of St. Patrick, written in Irish ten centuries ago, we are told that when Patrick was a boy, his foster-mother sent him one day for a _brossna_ of withered branches to make a fire.

Broth of a boy; a _good_ manly brave boy: the essence of manhood, as broth is the essence of meat.

Brough; a ring or halo round the moon. It is the Irish _bruach_, a border.

Broughan; porridge or oatmeal stirabout. Irish _brochan_. (Ulster.)

Bruggadauns [_d_ sounded like _th_ in _they_]; the stalks of ferns found in meadows after mowing. (Kerry.)

Brulliagh; a row, a noisy scuffle. (Derry.)

Brunoge; a little batch of potatoes roasted in a fire made in the potato field at digging time: always dry, floury and palatable.

(Roscommon.) Irish _bruithneog_. See Brohoge.

Bruss or briss; small broken bits mixed up with dust: very often applied to turf-dust. Irish _brus_, _bris_, same sounds and meaning.

(South.)

{227} Brutteen, brutin, bruteens; the Ulster words for caulcannon; which see. Irish _bruightin_.

Buckaun; the upright bar of a hinge on which the other part with the door hangs. Irish _bocan_.

Buckley, Father Darby, 68, 146.

Bucknabarra; any non-edible fungus. (Fermanagh.) See Pookapyle.

Buck teeth; superfluous teeth which stand out from the ordinary row.

(Knowles: Ulster.)

Buddaree [_dd_ sounded like _th_ in _they_]; a rich purse-proud vulgar farmer. (Munster.) Irish.

Buff; the skin; to strip to one's buff is to strip naked. Two fellows going to fight with fists strip to their buff, i.e. naked from the waist up. (Munster.)

Buggaun (Munster), buggeen (Leinster); an egg without a sh.e.l.l. Irish _bog_, soft, with the dim. termination.

Bullaun, a bull calf. Irish, as in next word.

Bullavaun, bullavogue; a strong, rough, bullying fellow. From _bulla_ the Irish form of _bull_. (Moran: Carlow.)

Bullaworrus; a spectral bull 'with fire blazing from his eyes, mouth, and nose,' that guards buried treasure by night. (Limerick.) Irish.

Bullia-bottha (or boolia-botha); a fight with sticks. (Simmons: Armagh.) Irish _buaileadh_, striking; and _bata_, a stick.

Bullagadaun [_d_ sounded like _th_ in _they_]; a short stout pot-bellied fellow. (Munster.) From Irish _bolg_ [p.r.o.n. bullog], a belly, and the dim. _dan_.

Bullshin, bullsheen; same as _Bullaun_.

{228} b.u.m; to cart turf to market: _b.u.mmer_, a person who does so as a way of living, like Billy Heffernan in 'Knocknagow.' b.u.m-bailiff, a bog bailiff. (Grainger: Arm.) Used more in the northern half of Ireland than in the southern.

Bun; the tail of a rabbit. (Simmons: Arm.) Irish _bun_, the end.

Bunnans; roots or stems of bushes or trees. (Meath.) From Irish _bun_ as in last word.

Bunnaun; a long stick or wattle. (Joyce: Limerick.)

Bunnioch; the last sheaf bound up in a field of reaped corn. The binder of this (usually a girl) will die unmarried. (MacCall: Wexford.)

b.u.t.t; a sort of cart boarded at bottom and all round the sides, 15 or 18 inches deep, for potatoes, sand, &c. (Limerick.) In Cork any kind of horse-cart or donkey-cart is called a _b.u.t.t_, which is a departure from the (English) etymology. In Limerick any kind of cart except a b.u.t.t is called a _car_; the word _cart_ is not used at all.

b.u.t.thoon has much the same meaning as _potthalowng_, which see. Irish _butun_, same sound and meaning. (Munster.)

b.u.t.ter up; to flatter, to cajole by soft sugary words, generally with some selfish object in view:--'I suspected from the way he was b.u.t.tering me up that he came to borrow money.'

Byre: the place where the cows are fed and milked; sometimes a house for cows and horses, or a farmyard.

By the same token: this needs no explanation; it is a survival from Tudor English. (Hayden and Hartog.)

{229} Cabin-hunting; going about from house to house to gossip.

(South.)

Cabman's Answer, The, 208.

Cadday' [strong accent on -day] to stray idly about. As a noun an idle _stray_ of a fellow.

Cadge; to hawk goods for sale. (Simmons: Armagh.) To go about idly from house to house, picking up _a bit and a sup_, wherever they are to be had. (Moran: Carlow.)

Caffler; a contemptible little fellow who gives saucy _cheeky_ foolish talk. Probably a misp.r.o.nunciation of _caviller_. (Munster.)

Cagger; a sort of pedlar who goes to markets and houses selling small goods and often taking others in exchange. (Kinahan: South and West.)

Cahag; the little cross-piece on the end of a spade-handle, or of any handle. (Mon.)

Cailey; a friendly evening visit in order to have a gossip. There are usually several persons at a cailey, and along with the gossiping talk there are songs or music. Irish _ceilidh_, same sound and meaning. Used all over Ireland, but more in the North than elsewhere.