Dictionary of Americanisms - Sn-Sz



SNAG. A tree having its roots fastened in the bottom of a river; or a
branch of a tree thus fastened. These are common in the Mississippi and
Missouri rivers, and frequendy destroy steamboats which come in contact
with them by piercing their bows, or sides. This word is not a new one,
and is defined by Johnson as "a jag or sharp protuberance."

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SNAGGED. Run against a snag, or projecting branch of a sunken tree.

SNAKE-HEAD. An object of dread to travellers on railways. The end of an
iron rail, which sometimes is thrown up in front of the car wheels, and
passes through the cars. Serious accidents have been caused by them. They
occur, however, only with flat rails.

The road to Petersburg consists of an iron strap laid upon pine timber,
and is beautifully diversified with that peculiar half horizontal,
vibrating rail known as "snake's head." Frequently, during our short ride,
an iron snake would strike his heavy head against the iron fenders of our
car; and then, as we rolled on unharmed, he would shake himself as if in
wrath awaiting another opportunity for vengeance.--N. Y. Tribune.

TO SNAKE. To crawl like a snake. A common expression at the West. A fine
example of the use of this term is given in the N. Y. Tribune, from one of
the Western newspapers:

In Iowa, as in other new countries, the duties of a judge often begin
before a court-house or place of shelter has been provided. Not long
since, Judge Williams was obliged to hold his first court beneath the
shade of a large tree, where logs were rolled up for seats, a larger one
being provided for the Judge. The clerk used a shingle on his knee for a
desk; and the jury, after being charged by the judge, were sent in care of
a sheriff to a hollow, or ravine, where they could sit in conclave beyond
the view of the court or spectators.

The grass grew very tall in the neighborhood, and the jurymen lay down in
a ring in the grass, where they could more perfectly exclude themselves
from observation. The jury had not been long in their quarters, when a
tall, raw-boned felow, rose up and addressed the judge as follows:

"May it please your honor, I wish to speak to you." "Order, sir; what is
it?" "Judge," continued he, with the utmost gravity, "is it right for
fellows to snake in the grass?" "How? what is that, sir?" "Why, you see,"
said the Yankee, "there's some fellows who's tarnal fraid the Grand Jury
will find something agin 'em, which they desarve, and they are snaking up
to the Grand Jury, on their bellies in the grass, kind of trying to hear
what the Jury are talking about." "No," responded the Judge, with as much
gravity as he could command, "I do not allow of snaking. Here, Mr.
Sheriff, go station a guard around each Jury's hollow, and if a man is
found 'snaking' have him brought before me, and I will cause him to be
punished. Indeed, if thls snaking is persisted in, I shall recommend a
special act to be passed, making it a misdemeanor."

The fact was, as the Judge said, there were present at the time some

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barefooted, vagrant rascals, who were, probably, justly suspected of horse-
stealing, and had "snaked it" on the Grand Jury, in order to find out
whether the Jury intended to present them; and, if so, to gain time by
this clandestine warning, and flee the jurisdiction of the Court by
escaping into Missouri.

TO SNAKE OUT. To drag out; to haul out, as a snake from its hole. A farmer
in clearing land, attaches a chain to a stump or log, whereby to draw it
out; this he calls, snaking it out. Maj. Downing says, in speaking of a
person who fell into the river:

We snaked him out of that scrape as slick as a whistle.--Letters, p. 14.

I went down again and found the cow as dead as a herrin'. We skinned her
and snaked her out of the barn upon the snow.--Evidence before a Court in
Boston, Daily Adv., March, 1848.

SNAP. Applied to the weather; as, 'a cold snap,' i. e. a period of sudden
cold weather. A common expression.

SNAPS. Young kidney-beans in the pod.

SNAPPED. Drunk. Used at the South.

I like to forgot to tell you 'bout cousin Pete. He got snapt on egg-nog
when he heard of my engagemout.--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 102.

SNAPPING-TURTLE. (Genus, chelonura.) A reptile common to all parts of the
United States, so named from its propensity to snap at everything within
its reach.

SNARL. An entanglement, as a twisted thread; a quarrel; an angry contest.
Provincial in England, and colloquial in the United States.--Worcester.

Her mother gets her to pick a snarl out of the yarn she is winding.--
Margaret, p. 160.

This gallant officer and estinable man [Sir John Harvey] has been
transferred from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland, where Lord Falkland had got
into a snarl.--Com. Adv., April 1, 1846.

The members of the House of Representatives got themselves into a most
admirable snarl on Saturday afternoon, by their proceedings in reference
to the recent case of resistance to the serving of a habeas corpus writ.--
Boston Traveller, Feb. 12.

Men, you have all got into a sort of snarl, as the militia Captain said to
his men, when he could not keep them in line.--Georgia Scenes, p. 149.

SNATCH. A hasty repast; a snack. Scottish.--Jamieson.

Our kind host and hostess would not go before taking a snatch, as they
called it; which was in truth a very good dinner.--Boswell's Journal.

p. 317

The most relishing snatch of slumber out of bed, is the one which a tired
person takes, before he retires for the night, while lingering in his
sitting-room.--Leigh Hunt, Indicator, ch. 21.

SNATHE.}
SNEAD.} The crooked handle of a mowing scythe. An agricultural term common
with the farmers both of England and of this country.

This is fixed on a long sneed, or strait handle.--Evelyn, B. II. ch. 6.
When stormy days constrain to quit the field,
The house or barn may useful business yield;
There crooked snathe of flexile sallow make,
Or of tough ash, the fork-stall and the rake.--Scott, Amæbæan Ecl.

SNEAKING NOTION. To have a sneaking notion for a lady, is to have a timid
or concealed affection for her.

Well, I always used to have a sort of a sneakin' notion of Mary Stallins.--
Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 11.
An army such as me would fright the devil--
What are ye giggling at? Can't ye be civil?
There--that's well done; now I've a sneaking notion--
When I git hum--I'll git some grand promotion.--D. Humphreys, The Yankee
in England, p. 102.

TO SNICKER, or SNIGGER. To laugh slily, wantonly, or contemptuously; to
laugh in one's sleeve.--Johnson.

Then I heard the gals snickering and laughing in the next room, and I
began to see how it was.--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 18.

Ha, ha, ha! snickered out the woman, more afraid of paper money than the
doctor's knife.--Margaret, p. 273.

Never mind, says the General, if you can't get them 'are pantaloons
mended, the State'll give you a new pair. And then we all snorted and
snickered.--Maj. Downing's Letters, p. 15.

A hyst is bad enough, without being snickered at.--Neal's Sketches.

TO SNIGGLE. A method of fishing for eels in small streams and ponds.

Sniggling is thus performed. In a warm day, take a small strong hook, tied
to a string about a yard long; and then into one of the holes, where an
eel may hide herself, with the help of a short stick, put in your bait
leisurely, and as far as you may, conveniently; if within the sight of it,
the eel will bite instantly, and as certainly gorge it; pull him out by
degrees.--Izaak Walton, Angler.

In the darkest nights we rowed across the pond and sniggled for eels.--
Margaret, p. 234.

p. 318

SNIPPER-SNAPPER. An effeminate young man; a trifler.

SNIPPY. Finical; and substantively, a finical person. A woman's word. In
the South they use the word sniptious.

SNIPSNAP. Tart dialogue; with quick replies.--Todd's Johnson.

Dennis and dissonance., and captious art,
And snipsnap short, and interruption smart.--Pope, Duncid.

Plucks snipsnaps with his wife, cracks on Hash, shows his white teeth to
Margaret.--Margaret, p. 161.

TO SNOOP. (Dutch, snoepen.) Applied to children, servants, and others, who
clandestinely eat dainties or other victuals which have been put aside,
not for their use. A servant who goes slyly into a dairy-room and drinks
milk from a pan, would be said to be snooping. The term is peculiar to New
York.

SNOOZE. Sleep; as 'he lay in a drunken snooze.'

SNOOZER. A thief who follows the business of robbing the boarders at
hotels. He takes hoard and lodgings, and endeavors to share a room and
become familiar with some country merchant; after which, by various
tricks, he succeeds in robbing him. The police reports of New York exhibit
frequent cases of this system of depredation.

SNORE. I snore! An exclamation used in New England.

I hain't lived in the woods to be skeered at owls, I snore.--Margaret.

SNORE. (Dutch, Snoer.) A string with a button on one end to spin a top
with. This term is retained by the boys of New York.

TO SNORT. To laugh outright.--Brockett's Glossary. Used in low language in
New England.

We all snorted and snickered.--Maj. Downing Letters, p. 15.

SNORTER. A dashing, riotous fellow. A vulgar Western term.

"I'm a roaring earthquake in a fight," sung out one of the half-horse,
half-alligator sort of fellows, "a real snorter of the universe. I can
strike as hard as fourth proof lightning, and keep it up, rough and
tumble, as long as a wild cat.'--Thorpe's Backwoods, p. 183.

SNOWBALL. A jeering appellation for a negro.

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TO SNUGGLE. To lie close for convenience or warmth.--Johnson. Seldom used
except in familiar langunge.

SO is often improperly used for such, as in the phrase:

Prof. W----, who has acquired so high distinction in teaching the elements
of music and singing.--N. Y. Tribune.

TO SOAK. To bake thoroughly. It is particularly applied to bread, which,
to be good, must be macerated, as it were, in the caloric of the oven. If
it be dough-baked, the complaint is, that it has not been sufficiently
soaked.--Holloway, Forby's Vocabulary. This word is used in the same sense
in New England.

TO SOAK. To drink intemperately.--Johnson.

Let a drunkard see that his health decays, his estate wastes, yet the
habitual thirst after his cups drives him to the tavern, though he has in
his view the loss of health and plenty; the least of which he confesses is
far greater than the tickling of his palate with a glass of wine, or the
idle chat of a soaking- club.--Locke.

SOAKER. A great drinker. In low language.--Johnson. 'An old soaker,' is a
common name for a drunkard. Groses's definition is, "one that moistens his
clay to make it stick together."

SOAP-LOCK. A lock of hair made to lie smooth by soaping it. Hence also a
name given to a low set of fellows who lounge about the markets, engine-
houses, and wharves of New York, and are always ready to engage in
midnight rows or broils. It is, in fact, but another name for a Rowdy or
Loafer. The name comes from their wearing long side locks, which they are
said to smear with soap, in order to give them a sleek appearance; whence
the name.

The way my last letter has cradled off the soaplocks, and imperials, and
goat-knots, and musty shows, is truly alarming.--Maj. Jones's Courtship.

SOCIETY. In Connecticut, a number of families united and incorporated for
the purpose of supporting public worship, is called an ecclesiastical
society. This is a parish, except that it has not territorial limits. In
Massachusetts such an incorporated society is usually called a parish,
though consisting of persons only, without regard to society.--Webster.

SOCDOLAGER. A patent fish-hook, having two hooks which

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close upon each other by means of a spring as soon as the fish bites.

TO SOCK. To press by a hard blow a man's hat over his bead and face. Used
in Rhode Island. I have never heard it elsewhere. The New York term is, to
crown.

SOFT SOAP. Flattery; blarney. A vulgar phrase, thongh much used.

TO SOFT SOAP. To flatter; to blarney.

I am tired of this system of placemen soft- soaping the people, telling
them just before an election what fine, honest, noble, generous fellows
they are, and then, just after election, turning their backs on them.--
Mike Walsh, Speech, Sept. 1843.

SOFT SAWDER. Flattery; blarney.

Then he did a leadin' article on slavery and non-intervention, and spoke a
little soft-sawder about America.--Sam Slick in England. ch. 20.

The Washington Union cracks the whip gently about the ears of the
Democracy, and winds up with a counter-application of soft-sawder, in the
shape of appeals to patriotism.--N. Y. Com. Adv., Jan. 6, 1847.

TO SOFT SAWDER. To flatter.

I don't like to be left alone with a gall; it's plaguy apt to set me a
soft-sawderin' and a courtin'.--Sam. Slick in England, p. 19.

SOME. Somewhat; something. Ex. 'He is some better than he was;' 'it rains
some,' &c. Used chiefly by the illiterate.--Pickering's Vocabulary.

[WebRoots Note: We are unable to reproduce several Greek words used in the
Sophomore definition]

SOPHOMORE. This word has generally been considered an American barbarism,
but was probably introduced into our country at a very early period from
the University of Cambridge, England. Among the cant terms at that
University, as given in the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, we find Soph-Mor as
the next distinctive appellation to Freshman. It is added, that a writer
in the Gentleman's Magazine thinks Mor an abbreviation of the Greek mwria
introduced at a time when the Encomium Moreæ, the Praise of Folly by
Erasmus, was so generally used. The ordinary derivation of the word, from
sofoz and mwroz would seem, therefore, to be incorrect. The young Sops at
Cambridge appear, formerly, to have received the adjunct mor, mwroz to
their names, either as one they courted for the reason mentioned above, or
as one given them

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in sport for the supposed exhibition of inflated feeling in entering upon
their new honors. The term thus applied, seems to have passed at a very
early period from Cambridge in England to Cambridge in America, as the
next distinctive appellation to Freshmen, and thus to have been attached
to the second of the four classes in our American Colleges, while it has
now almost ceased to be known, even as a cant word, at the parent
institution in England, from whence it came. This derivation of the word
is rendered more probable by the fact that the early spelling was, to a
great extent at least, Sophimore, as appears from the manuscripts of
President Stiles of Yale College, and the records of the Harvard College,
down to the period of the American Revolution. This word would be
perfectly natural if Soph or Sophistu was considered as the basis of the
word, but can hardly be explained if the ordinary derivation had then been
regarded as the true one.--Prof. Goodrich, new ed. Webster's Dic.

SOSSLE, or SOZZLE. A lazy or sluttish woman. Provincial in Connecticut.

Mr. Todd gives this word, which he defines as a lazy fellow, on the
authority of Cotgrave and Sherwood. In the south of England, a soss-
brangle is a slatternly, lazy wench. This is precisely the sense in which
sossle is used with us.

TO SOZZLE. To loll; to lounge; to go lazily or sluttishly about the house.
A term used by housekeepers in certain parts of Connecticut. 'This woman
sozzles up her work.' To sozzle is provincial in England, and means the
same as lo soss; i. e. to lounge, to loll.

A sandpiper glided along the shore; she ran after it, but could not catch
it; she sat down and sozzled her feet in the foam.--Margaret, p. 8.
SPACK AND APPLEJEES. (Dutch.) Pork and apples, cooked together. An ancient
Dutch dish made in New York.

SPAKE. (Preterite of speak.) This antiquated word is still heard
occasionally from the pulpit, as well as in conversation.--Pickering's
Vocab.

SPAN. A span of horses consists of two of nearly the same color, and
otherwise nearly alike, which are usually harnessed

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side by side. The word signifies properly the same as yoke, when applied
to horned cattle, for buckling or fastening together. But in America, span
always implies resemblance in color at least; it being an object of
ambition with gentlemen, and with teamsters, to unite two horses abreast
that are alike.--Webster. This use of the word is not mentioned in any of
the English dictionaries or glossaries.

TO SPAN. To agree in color, or in color and size; as, 'The horses span
well.' New England.--Webster.

SPAN-CLEAN.}
SPANDY-CLEAN.} Very clean; perfectly clean.

TO SPARK IT. To court. Used chiefly in New England.

You were a nation sight wiser than brother Jonathan, sister Keziah, poor
little Aminadab, and all the rest; and above all, my owny, towny Lydia,
the Deacon's darlin darter; with whom I've sparked it, pretty often-times,
so late.--D. Humphrey, The Yankee in England.

SPARKING. 'To go a sparking,' is to go a courting; a common expression in
the Northern States.

Mr. Justice Crow was soon overtaken; Lieut. Col. Simcoe accosted him
roughly, called him "Tory," nor seemed to believe his excuses; when, in
the American idiom for courtship, he said, "he had only been sparking."--
Simcoe, Military Journal, p. 73.

He rolled his eyes horribly, and said that that was the way the young men
cast sheep's eyes when they went a sparking.--Mrs. Clavers's Western
Clearings, p. 16.

SPARROW GRASS. A vulgar pronunciation of asparagus both in England and
America. Hence the celebrated charade by a certain alderman:

"My first is a little thing vot hops,--(sparrow)
My second brings us good hay crops,--(grass)
My whole I eats with mutton chops,"--(sparrow grass.)--Pegge, Anecdotes of
the Eng. Lang., p. 54.

SPAT. A petty combat; a little quarrel or dissension. A vulgar use of the
word in New England.--Webster.

The National Bank and the Mechanic's Banking Association have hid a
standing spat for some time.--N. Y. Com. Adv.
We do not believe that Messrs. Buchanan and Walker have resigned their
seats in the cabinet. There has been a spat of course; but there may be
many more before either of the Secretaries will resign $6000 a year.--N.
Y. Tribune.

p. 323

TO SPAT. To dispute; to quarrel. A low word. New England.

TO SPAT THE HANDS. To slap the hands.

The little Isabel leaped up and down spatting her hands.--Margaret.

SPEC. A bit; in the least.

I doubled up my fist, for I did not like the treatment a spec.--S. Slick
in England, ch. 2.

SPEC, for speculation; as, 'He made a good spec in flour.'

TO SPEECHIFY. To make a speech; to harangue.--Webster. A rather low word,
and seldom heard except among bar-room politicians. It is not peculiar to
America, though not in any English dictionary.

The treaties continually going on in the bazaar for buying and selling are
carried on by speechifying, rather than by mere colloquies.--Eöthen.
We'll forth in posse comitatus,
And take the Fox, ere he escape us;
Without a moment's pause he dies;--
We'll hang him ere he speechifies!--Reynard the Fox, p. 143.

The Dyaks of Borneo are very fond of speechifying.--Keppel's Borneo.

SPELL. (From Ang. Sax. spelian, to supply another's room; to act or be
proxy for.--Bosworth.) A turn of work; a vicissitude of labor.--Todd's
Johnson. It is often used in a secondary sense, to denote a short turn; a
little time; about; a fit; and is applied particularly to work, to
sickness, or to the weather. Provincial in England and colloquial in the
United States.

Their toil is so extreme as they cannot endure it above four hours in a
day, but are succeeded by spells; the residue of their time they wear out
at coytes and kayles.--Carew.

Come, thou's had thy spell, it's now my time to put in a word.--Carr's
Craven Glossary.

Josiah Norton said he had come home from the South, where he had been
pedling a spell.--Crockett, Tour, p. 90.

Spain has obtained a breathing spell of some duration from the internal
convulsions which have, through so many years, marred her prosperity.--
President Tyler's Message to Congress, 1844.

I and the General have got things now pretty considerable snug; public
affairs go on easier than they did a spell ago, when Mr. Adams was
President.--Maj. Downing's Letters, p. 35.

During the same spell of weather, two waggoners and some oxen were frozen
on the prairie.--Hoffman, Winter in the West, Let. 26.

SPIDER. A cast iron frying-pan with three legs.

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SPIKE TEAM. A waggon drawn by three horses, or by two oxen and a horse,
the latter leading the oxen or span of horses.

SPILL. A strip of paper rolled up to light a lamp or [a cigar]. Provincial
in England.

SPITTOON. A spitbox; a box or vessel to spit in.--Worcester.

Now, Caudle, I won't have my dear child lost by any of your spittoon
acquaintance, I can tell you.--Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures.

SPLENDIFEROUS. Splendid; fine. A make-believe word used only in jest.

A splendiferous white horse, with long tail and flowing mane.--S. Slick in
England, ch. 13.

An itinerant gospeller was holding forth to a Kentuckian audience, on the
kingdom of Heaven:
"Heaven, my beloved hearers," said he, "is a glorious, a beautiful, a
splendiferous, an angeliferous place. Eye hath not seen, ear hath not
heard, it has not entered into the imagination of any cracker in these
here diggins what carrying on the just made perfect have up thar.'

SPLIT. A division.

The fiery spirit which has occasioned a split among the British
Archæologists, would appear not yet to have burnt itself out, &c.--London
Athenæum, p. 840.

There was a split in the Democratic Convention in Baltimore, caused by the
Old Hunkers and Barnburners of New York.--Newspaper.

The split in the Whig organization, if it come to anything serious, will
extend beyond the Presidential election.--Letter from Boston, N. Y.
Herald, June 21, 1848.

SPLIT. A rapid pace or rate of going. 'He went full split,' i. e. as hard
as he could drive. 'To go like split,' is a common expression in New
England.

There was no ox-teams [in New York] such as we have in Downingville; but
there was no end to the one-hoss teams, goin' like split all over the
city.--Maj. Downing, May-day in New York, p 64.

TO SPLIT. To go at a rapid pace; to drive along. Used in the phrase, 'As
hard as he could split.'

The thing tuk first rate, and I set the niggers a drummin' and fifin' as
hard as they could split right afore the cabin door.--Maj. Jones's
Courtship.

TO SPLURGE. To make a blustering demonstration in order to produce an
effect. A term in common use at the South and West.

p. 325

Cousin Pete was thar splurgin about in the biggest, with his dandy-cut
trowsers and big whiskers.--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 101.

Well, them was great times, but now the settlements is got too thick for
them to splurge.--Porter's Tales of the South-west, p. 54.

SPLURGE. A great effort; a demonstration.

Members of Congress should not forget when Senator Benton was shinning
around, making what they call in Missouri a great splurge to get gold.--N.
Y. Com. Adv., Dec. 13. 1845.

SPOOK. (Dutch.) A ghost; hobgoblin.

SPOONEY. A man who has been drinking till be becomes disgusting. A stupid
or silly fellow.--Grose. We use the word only in the latter sense. The
Hon. Mr. Preston, in his remarks on the Mexican war, thus quotes from Tom
Crib's remonstrance against the meanness of a transaction, similar to our
cries for more vigorous blows on Mexico when she is prostrate:

Look down upon Ben--see him, dunghill all o'er,
Insult the fallen foe that can harm him no more.
Out, cowardly spooney! Again and again,
By the fist of my father, I blush for thee, Ben.

Ay, you will see all the spooneys, that ran, like so many dunghill
champions, from 54 40, stand by the President for the vigorous prosecution
of the war upon the body of a prostrate foe.--N. Y. Tribune, 1847.

I shall escape from this beautiful critter, for I'm gettin' spooney, and
shall talk silly presently.--Sam Slick.

TO SPORT. To exhibit; to make a show of; as, 'Mr. A sported a new carriage
yesterday;' 'I shall sport a new coat to-day.' "The word sport in this
sense," says Grose, "was in great vogue in the years 1873 and 1784."

SPORTSMAN. A term often applied to a gambler.

SPOSH. A mixture of mud and water. See Slush. The New York Tribune, in
speaking of the falling of rain and snow, at the same time, adds:

The morning was blue and streaked, and the streets were one shining level
of black sposh.--Nov. 25, 1845.

SPOTTED TREES. Equivalent to blazed trees, which see. Maine.

TO SPOUT. To make a speech, especially in debating-clubs, etc.

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SPREE. A merry frolic.--Halliwell.

A spree is to come off to-night.--Neal's Sketches.

SPRINKLING. A small quantity scattered.--Todd.

[Infidels] by giving a sprinkling of irreligion to all their literary
productions, aim to engross the formation of the public mind.--Robert
Hall, Modern Infidelity.

There is a good sprinkling of distinguished personages at Saratoga
Springs.--N. Y. Com. Adv., July 10, 1845.

TO SPRUCE UP. To dress oneself sprucely. In Sussex (England) they say, to
sprug up, in the same sense.

To-night we're goin' to a quiltin' at Uncle Josh's. The Deacon's eldest
daughter is sprucin' up for it.--Maj. Downing, Letters, p. 27.

"What! would you not have the child exhilarate and spruce up a little?["]
cried the father.--Margaret, p. 28.

SPRY. Having great power of leaping or running; nimble; active; vigorous.--
Webster.

This word is much used in familiar language in New England. It is not in
the English dictionaries, but Jennings notices it among the provincialisms
of Somersetshire.

In a Fable by R. W. Emerson, "The Mountain and the Squirrel," Squirrel
says:
If I'm not so large as you,
You are not so small as I,
And not half to spry.

She is as spry as a cricket.--Margaret, p. 58.

"How are you, Jeremiah?" "Why, I'm kinder sorter midlin', Mr. Slick, what
you call considerable nimble and spry."--Sam Slick.

SPUNK. Mettle; spirit; vivacity.--Brockett's Glossary. A colloquial word,
considered in England extremely vulgar.

I admire your independent spirit, Doolittle. I like to have people think
well of themselves. You have convinced me of your spunk. I am your
friend.--D. Humphreys, The Yankee in England.

SPUNKY. Sparkling; fresh; spirited.--Brockett's Glossary. Forby also
mentions the word as provincial in Norfolk.

SPUR. A mountain that shoots from any other mountain or range of
mountains, and extends to some distance in a lateral direction, or at
right angles.--Webster.

SQUADDY. Short and fat. A vulgar word formed from squat.

p. 327

I had hardly got seated, when in come a great, stout, fat, sjuadJy woman.--
Maj. Downing, May- day.

SQUALLY. Windy; gusty. A sailor's word.--Johnson. It is often used by us
in a figurative sense; so that to look squally, means to bode a quarrel;
and especially as applied to political meetings and debates.

TO SQUALE. To throw a stick or other thing with violence, and in such a
manner that it skims along near the ground. New England.--Pickering's
Vocabulary.

According to Grose, it is provincial in the west of England, and means,
"to throw a stick, as at a cock."

TO SQUARE UP. To put oneself in an attitude fit for boxing. Provincial in
various parts of England.--Halliwell.

You will remember that Mr. Polk asserted that our title to Oregon was
clear and unquestionable." Well, how was that settled? There were Polk and
Cass fidgeting and squaring up to Queen Victona, one declaring that unless
England or the United States backed out, war was "inevitable."--Speech at
a Whig Meeting in Baltimore, June, 1848.

TO SQUAT. To squeeze; to press. Ex. The boy has squat his finger. Used by
the vulgar in New England.--Pickering's Vocabulary.

Mr. Todd has this word in his dictionary from Barret (1580): "To bruise or
make flat by letting fall." Provincial in the south of England.

TO SQUAT. In the United States, to settle on another's lands, or on public
lands, without having a title.--Worcester.

On either side of the bank the colonists had been allowed to squat on
allotted portions until the survey of the town should be completed.--
Wakefield's Adventures in New Zealand in 1844.

SQUATTER. In the United States, one that settles on new land without a
title.--Webster.

When I was at Prairie du Chien, there were several of the officers who had
been cited to appear in court, for having, pursuant to order, removed
squatters from the Indian lands on the Mississippi.--Hoffman, Winter in
the West, Let. 29.

The Western squatter is a free and jovial character, inclined to mirth
rather than evil; and when he encounters his fellow-man at a barbecue,
election, log-rolling, or frolic, he is more disposed to join in a feeling
of hilarity, than to participate in wrong or outrage.--Robb, Squatter Life.

p. 328

The London Spectator has the following remarks on this word, occasioned by
the removal of a number of the occupants of Glenculvie, in Scotland, who
had squatted there as under-tenants:
The term "squatter" is very ambiguous. In America it denotes a ragged
rascal without a cent in his pockets, and with a rifle or woodman's axe in
his hand. In Australia, it designates a young Oxonian or retired officer
of the army or navy, possessed of stock to the value of some thousands. In
Scotland it seems to designate a person very differently circumstanced
from either of the preceding .... The Scotchmen who "squat under tenants,"
are men who have followed their fathers and grandfathers for unknown
generations in the occupancy of their huts and kail-yards. Their families
are of older standing in the district than those of the tacks-men or the
lairds. The Scotch squatter is no clandestine intruder upon the soil; he
stands in the place of his forefathers, and the act which ejects him is a
violent innovation on the customs of the country--a forcible change in a
mode of tenancy, sanctioned by the "use and wont" of all ages.--June 7,
1845.

SQUAW. (Narragansett Indian.) An Indian woman. Mr. Duponceau, after giving
a list of the languages and forms in which this word occurs, observes: "On
voit que la famille de cc mot s'étend depuis les Knisténaux en Canada, et
les Skoffies et Montagnards d'Acadie, jusqu'aux Nanticokes sur les confins
de la Virginie."--Mém. sur les Langues d'Amérique du Nord, p. 333.

SQUAW-ROOT. (Lat. macrotys racemosa.) A medicinal plant put up by the
Shakers. It is recommended for correcting the secretions, and possesses
narcotic properties.

SQUAW-WEED. (Lat. senecio obovatus.) A medicinal plant used for diseases
of the skin.

SQUETEAGUE, or SQUETEE. (Labrus Squeteague.) A very common fish in the
waters of Long Island Sound and adjacent bays. It never visits rivers, and
is similar in habits to the tautog. In New York it is called Weak-fish,
owing to the feeble resistance it makes when caught with a hook.

TO SQUIB. To throw squibs; to titter sarcastic or severe reflections; to
contend in petty dispute; as, 'two members of a society squib a little in
debate.' Colloquial.--Webster. This word is not in the English
dictionaries.

p. 329

TO SQUIGGLE. To move about like all eel. New England. Often figuratively
used in speaking of a man who evades a bargain as an eel eludes the
grasp. --Pickering.

Forby's Glossary of Norfolk contains the word in the sense of "to shake a
fluid about the mouth."

TO SQUIRM. To wriggle or twist about, as an eel. Provincial in England,
and colloquial in the United States.--Bailey. Worcester.

TO SQUIRM. To climb by embracing and clinging with the hands and feet, as
to a tree without branches. Johnson writes this word swarm; and this is
probably the original word. Bailey writes it squirm.--Webster.

SQUIRT. A foppish young fellow; a whipper-snapper. A vulgar word.

If they won't keep company with squirts and dandies, who's going to make a
monkey of himself?--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 160.

SQUIRTISH. Dandified.

It's my opinion that these slicked up squirtish kind a fellars ain't
partlcular hard baked, and they always goes in for aristocracy notions.--
Robb, Squatter Life, p. 73.

SQUSH. To crush. A vulgarism.

The next time I meet the critter, I'll take my stick and kill it--I'll
sqush it with my foot.--Neal's Charcoal Sketches.

STADDLE. A young tree; a tree left to grow when others are cut;
standard.-- Worcester.

Leave growing for staddles the likeliest and best,
Though seller and buyer despatched the rest.
In bushes, in hedge-row, in grove, and in wood,
This lesson observed, is needful and good.--Tusser, Husbandry.

At the edge of the woods a rude structure had been thrown up, of staddles
interlaced with boughs.--Margaret, p. 274.

STAFF. 'To have the staff in one's own hand,' is to keep possession of
one's own property, and, consequently, to retain authority and obedience.
A very common expression used in good language. Mr. Carr has it in his
Craven Glossary.

STAG. In the New York courts, a stag is the technical name

p. 330

for a man who is always ready to aid in proving an alibi, of course "for a
consideration."

STAG-DANCE. A dance performed by males only, in barrooms, &c. Also called
a bull-dance.

STAGE. A carriage for conveying passengers; a stage-coach.--Worcester. We
sometimes use mail-stage for mail-coach, which is hardly allowable.

To pay my duty to sweet Mrs. Page,
A place was taken in the Stamford stage.
Our coachman, Dick, the shades of night to shun,
Had yok'd his horses long before the sun.--Hawkes, The Stage Coach.

STAGE DRIVER. A stage-coachman.

STAGING. Scaffolding. Used in New England, and I believe in other parts of
the United States.--Pickering.

STAMPEDE, or STAMPADO. (Span. estampado, foot-steps, noise of stamping
feet.) A general scamper of animals on the Western prairies, generally
caused by a fright. Mr. Kendall gives the following interesting account of
them:

'A stampede!' shouted some of the old campaigners, jumping from the ground
and running towards their frightened animals; 'a stampede! look out for
your horses, or you'll never see them again!' was heard on every side.

It is singular, the effect that sudden fright has, not only upon horses,
but oxen, on the prairies. The latter will, perhaps, run longer and
farther than the former; and although not as difficult to 'head,' because
they can not run so fast, their onward course it is impossible to stay.
Oxen have been known to run forty miles without once stopping to look
back. Not one in fifty of them has seen the least cause of fear, but each
simply run becanse his neighbor did. Frequent instances have occurred
where some worthless but skittish horse has caused the loss of hundreds of
valuable animals.

Nothing can exceed the grandeur of the scene when a large cavallada, or
drove of horses, take a 'scare.' Old, weather-beaten, time-worn, and
broken-down steeds--horses that have nearly given out from hard work, or
old age--will at once be transformed into wild and prancing cults. When
first seized with that indescribable terror which induces them to fly,
they seem to have been suddenly endowed with all the attributes of their
original wild nature. With heads erect, tails and manes streaming in the
air, eyes lit up, and darting beams of fright, old and jaded hacks will be
seen prancing and careering about with all the buoyancy of action which
character-

p. 331

izes the antics of young colts. The throng will sweep along the plain with
a noise which may be likened to something between a tornado and an
earthquake, and as well might feeble man attempt to arrest either of the
latter.

Were the earth rending and cleaving beneath their feet, horses, when under
the terrifying influence of a stampede, could not bound away with greater
velocity, or more majestic beauty of movement.--Santa Fé Expedition, Vol.
I. p. 96.

The boys leaped and whooped, flung their hats in the air, chased one
another in a sort of stampede, &c.--Margaret, p. 120.

After him I went, and after me they came, and perhaps there wasn't the
awfullest stampede down three pair of stairs that ever occurred in
Michigan!--Field, Western Tales.

TO STAMPEDE. To cause to scamper off in a fright.

Col. Snively was on the point of marching in pursuit of the Mexicans, when
an incident occurred which frustrated the purposes of the expedition. This
was effected by a war party of Indians, who succeeded in stampeding a
large band of the army horses.--Scenes in the Rocky Mountains, p. 268.

STANCHEOUS. Strong; durable. Western.

I tell you what, it's a mighty stancheous looking building, and looks far
off at a distance when you're going up to it.--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p.
33.

TO STAND IN. To cost. 'This horse stands me in two hundred dollars.'

TO STAND IN HAND. To concern; to behoove.--Holloway, Prov. Dict. This
phrase is a colloquial one in New England. Ex. 'It stands you in hand to
attend to your business.'

STAND-POINT. (Germ. stand-punkt.) Place of standing; point of view. An
expression lately introduced from the German.

TO STAND UP TO THE RACK. A metaphorical expression of the same meaning as
the like choice phrases, 'to come to the scratch;' 'to toe the mark.'

I begun a new campaign at Washington. I had hard work, but I stood up to
the rack, fodder or no fodder.--Crockett, Tour, p. 137.

By making a great rush upon these free-thinkers, we can whip them back
into the party, and make them stand up to the rack, fodder or no fodder.--
Ibid., p. 212.

It was the hottest night's work ever old Wolf undertook and it tuck a
mighty chance of hollerin' to make him stand up to his rack' as well as he
did.--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 64.

p. 332

STARS. A Southern pronunciation of the word stairs, like bar for bear;
also heard in New England.

STATE-ROOM. A small room in a ship or steam-vessel for one or two
passengers.--Worcester.

TO STAVE. To break a hole in; to break; to burst; as, 'to stave a cask.'--
Webster. This is the legitimate use of the verb; but sometimes we make it
govern the instrument directly, as in the following example:

I'll stave my fist right through you, and carry you on my elbow, as easily
as if you were an empty market-basket.--Neal's Charcoal Sketches.

TO STAVE. To hurry; to press forward.

A president of one of our colleges once said to a graduate at parting, "My
son, I want to advise you. Never oppose public opinion. The great world
will stave right on!"--Am. Review, June, 1848.

Hiloa! Steve! where are you a staving to? If you're for Wellington, scale
up here and I'll give you a ride.--Mrs. Clavers's Forest Life.

TO STAVE OFF. To push away as with a staff; to delay; as, 'to stave off
the execution of the project.--Webster.

Humane, divine laws, precepts, fear of God and men, fame, honor, cannot
oppose, stave off, or withstand fury of illicit passion.--Burton, Anat. of
Melancholy.

We hope that Congress will sink all party jealousies, and go for such
measures as will show an undivided front. It is the way to stave off a
war; because the enemy is calculating upon a division among the people
upon the Oregon question.--N. Y. Herald, March, 1848.

In the mean time, this new episode [Mr. Webster's speech on the Ashburton
treaty] will stave off the Oregon question.--N. Y. Com. Adv.

STEAL (pronounced stail). The handle of various implements; as a rake-
steal, a fork-steal. Used by the farmers in some parts of New England.
Provincial in various parts of England.--Pickering.

STEBOY.}
SEBOY.} A word used to set dogs upon pigs or other animals.

"There it is--that black and white thing--on that log," says Tom. Steboy;
catch him!" say he [to the dog]. Ben run up with his light, and the first
thing I heard him says was, "Peugh! oh, my Lord look out, fellers, it's a
pole-cat."--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 55.

STEVEDORE. A man employed in loading and unloading vessels.--Worcester.

p. 333

STEW. To be in a stew, is to be in a heat, a confusion of mind. According
to Grose, however, who is followed by Todd and Webster, a stew is
"confusion, as when the air is foil of dust, smoke, or steam."

Incensed were Isengrim and Bruin,
To see the couple such a stew in.--Reynard the Fox, p. 189.

It aint such an easy thing to feel mad at a rite pretty gall; and the more
he feels mad, the more he's apt to feel sorry too. I tell you what, I was
in a stew. I didn't know what to do.--Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 77.

Clay, Calhoun, Van Buren, Benton, Cass, Webster, and all the intriguing
politicians, who have kept the country in a stew for years past, may be
considered as effectually laid on the shelf.--Newspaper.

TO STICH. To form land into ridges. Common in New England.--Webster. The
word is not new, though it does not seem to be used now in England.

Many men at plough he made, and drave earth here and there
And turn'd up stitches orderly.--Chapman, Iliad.

TO STICK. To take in; to impose upon; to cheat in trade. 'I'm stuck with a
counterfeit note;' 'He went to a horse sale, and got stuck with a spavined
horse.'

As soon as the whole class of small speculators perceived they had been
stuck, they all shut their mouths; no one confessing the ownership of a
share.--A Week in Wall Street, p. 47.

Very often is a client stuck for a heavy bill of costs, which he would
have saved but for the ignorance of his attorney.--Newspaper.

STICK-CHIMNEY. In newly settled parts of the country, where log-houses
form the first habitations of the settlers, the chimneys are made with
sticks from one to two inches square, and about two feet in length, which
are laid crosswise and cemented with clay or mud. The fire-places are
built of rough stone, and the stick-chimneys are merely the conductors of
the smoke.

The stick-chimney [of this house] was like its owner's hat, open at the
top, and jammed in at the sides.--Mrs. Clavers's Western Clearings, p. 7.

STICKER. An article of merchandise which sticks by the dealer and does not
meet with a ready sale, is technically called a sticker.

STICKLING. Hesitating; delaying.--Dr. Humphreys.

p. 334

STILL-HOUSE. A common term in the United States for a distillery.

Despise it not, ye Bards to terror steel'd,
Who hurl'd your thunders round the epic field;
Nor ye who strain your midnight throats to sing
Joys that the vineyard and the still-house bring.--Joel Barlow, Poem on
Hasty Pudding.

STIMULUS. This very common word is not mentioned by any English
lexicographer, though it is used by good English writers. Our American
lexicographers, Pickering, Webster, and Worcester, have noticed it.

1. Literally, a goad; hence something that rouses the mind or spirits; as,
'the hope of gain is a powerful stimulus to labor and action.'

2. In medicine that which produces a quickly diffused or transient
increase of vital energy and strength of action in the circulating
system.--Webster.

3. In vulgar use, intoxicating drink.
Those young academicians will receive, from the perusal of his book, a
powerful stimulus to their ambition.--British Critic, Vol. III. p. 518.

We should expect even the voluntary productions of the pen, without this
violent stimulus, to be sufficient to satisfy the expectations of the
public.--Ibid., Vol. I. p. 362.

TO STIVE UP. To stuff up close.--Johnson.

Things are a good deal stived up. People's minds are sour, and I don't
know what we can do.--Margaret, p. 329.

You would admire, if you saw them stive it into their ships.--Sandy's
Travels.

"Oh, marcy on us," said a fat lady who was looking for a house, "this'll
never do for my family at all. There's no convenience about it, only one
little stived up closet. .... And the bed-rooms,--she would as soon sleep
in a pig-pen and done with it, as to get into such little mean stived up
places as them.--Downing, May-day in New York.

TO STIVER. To run; to move off. A low word used in the Northern States.

STIVER. A Dutch coin about the value of a cent. A common expression in New
York is, 'He's not worth a stiver,' i. e. he's very poor.

STOCK. Cattle in general; the cattle belonging to a farm. Provincial in
the North of England.--Pegge's Glossary.

p. 335

STOCKHOLDER. One who is proprietor of stock in the public funds, or in the
funds of a bank or other company.--Webster. This is not in the English
dictionaries. In England when speaking of the same, they say shareholders,
members, or proprietors, generally the former. Mr. Pickering, however,
cites the Edinburgh Review for the use of the word:

The stockholdsrs who allow inferior capitalists to derive a profit from
commission, will diminish that allowance.--Vol. III. p. 475.

STOOL-PIGEONING. One of the old standing and oft-repeated charges urged
with great pertinacity against the police of tbis city in olden times, was
that of "stool-pigeoning." As this term may not be familiar to our
readers, we will briefly explain it. "Stool-pigeoning" is for an officer
to arrest a party of doubtful or perhaps decidedly bad reputation on
suspicion, and making him or her give up money or valuables to obtain
liberty, when the officer would set the party free, and nothing would be
heard by the public or any one else of the arrest, or anything else
connected with it.--N. Y. Courier and Enquirer.

STONE-ROOT. (Lat. Collinconia Canadensis.) A plant used in medicine. Its
properties are diuretic and stomachic.

STOOP. (Dutch, stoep.) The steps at the entrance of a house; door-steps.
It is also applied to a porch with seats, a piazza, or balustrade. This,
unlike most of the words received from the Dutch, has extended, in
consequence of the uniform style of building that prevails throughout the
country, beyond the bounds of New York State, as far as the backwoods of
Canada.

About nine o'clock all three of us passed up Wall street, on the stoops of
which no small portion of the tenants were already seated.--Cooper,
Satanstoe, Vol. I. p. 69.

Nearly all the houses [in Albany] were built with their gables to the
streets, and each had heavy wooden Dutch stoops, with seats at the door.--
Ibid. p. 161.

There was a large two story house, having a long stoop in front.--
Margaret, p. 63.

I shall step back to my party within the stoop.--Backwoods of Canada.

The stoup is up, and I have just planted hops at the base of the pillars.--
Ibid. p. 309.

p. 336

TO STOP. To visit; to stay; as, 'When you come to New York, stop with me
instead of going to a hotel.'

Those who remain at home know little of the newer portions of our conntry,
and of the primeval syle of living. I recently stopped with a friend on
court-day. The court-house was of logs, without a floor, etc.--Corresp. of
Newark Daily Adv.

STORE. In the United States and Canada, shops of every kind for the sale
of goods whether at wholesale or retail, are commonly called stores. Thus
we have dry goods stores, shoe stores, book stores, hardware stores, etc.
etc. This use of the word, whose proper meaning is a magazine or
storehouse, where merchandise or movable property is kept, seems to arise
from that tendency to the magniloquent with which Americans have been
charged.

TO SET STORE BY. To value; esteem; regard. This sense of the word store is
not noticed by the English or American lexicographers, though it comes to
us from a good source. It is much used in New England in familiar
conversation, and is also provincial in England, according to Halliwell.

STOREKEEPER. In America, a man who has the care of a store or warehouse; a
shopkeeper. The officer who has charge of the government warehouse, where
property to the value of millions is deposited for inspection, or for safe
keeping, is a storekeeper; so too is the man who stands behind the counter
of a shop, and sells his yard of tape, or paper of pins.

STORM. A violent wind; a tempest. Thus, 'a storm of wind' is correct
language as the proper sense of the word is rushing, violence. It has
primarily no reference to a fall of rain or snow; but, as a violent wind
is often attended with rain or snow, the word storm has come to be used,
most improperly, for a fall of rain or snow without wind.-- Webster.

TO STORM. To blow with violence; impersonally, as, it storms.--Webster. We
use it improperly in the sense of to rain or to snow.

STORY. A floor; a flight of rooms.--Johnson. In the United

p. 337

States, the floor next the ground is the first story. In France and
England, the first floor or story is the second from the ground.--Webster.

STRAIGHT AS A LOON'S LEG, is a common simile in New England.

They were puzzled with the accounts; but I saw through it in a minit, and
made it all as straight as a loon's leg.--Maj. Downing's Letters, p. 42.

STRANGER. It is the common practice in the Western States to accost a
person whose name is not known by this title. In England, for example, a
person would say, 'Can you tell me, sir, if this is the road to B?' At the
West he would say, 'Stranger, is this the road?' &c.

STRAPPER. A woman of a bulky form. A large, tall person.--Carr's Craven
Dialect. Jodrell's Philology. This vulgar word is used in the same sense
with us.

Your mother! by St. Anthony, she's a strapper; why, you are a dwarf to
her.--Mrs. Centlivre, The Wonder, Act IV.

STRAPPING. Huge, lusty, bouncing; as, 'a strapping lass.'--Philips, New
World of Words.

Then that t'other great strapping lady.--Congreve, The Double Dealer.
Wi' kindly welcome Jenny brings him ben,
A strappin youth; he takes the mother's eye.--Burns.

STREAKED, or STREAKY. 'To feel streaked,' is to feel confused, alarmed.

I begun to feel streaked enough for our folks, when I see what was done on
Boston Common.--Maj. Downing's Letters, p. 18.

Polly begun to look a little streaked.--May-day in New York, p. 49.

People felt considerable streaked [about the executions in Canada], in
consequence of the rebellion in 1837.--Sam Slick, 3d Series.

Oh what a beautiful sight the ocean is when there aint no land in sight!
There we was in a little shell at the mercy of them big waves, higher than
father's barn. I never did feel so streaky and mean afore--talk of a grain
of sand; why I felt like a starved speck of dust cut up into homœopathic
doses for a child two minits old.--Hiram Bigelow, Letter in Family
Companion.

Gen. Tell the truth--keep back nothing--I promised no harm shall happen
you.

Dolittle. Oh, I'll tell all now--I won't stay to be hanged first. Oh,--

p. 338

the good, gracions suzz! how streaked I feel all over!--D. Humphreys, The
Yankee in England.

TO STREAK, or TO STREAK IT, is to run as fast as possible.

O'er hill and dale with fury she did dreel,
A' roads to her were good and bad alike;
Nane o't she wyl'd, but forward on did streak.--Ross's Helenore.

I was certain it wasn't no fox or wolf, but a dog; and if I didn't streak
off like greased lightnin'.--Carlton, The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 8.

I streaked it for Washington, and it was well nigh upon midnight when I
reached the White House.--Maj. Downing's Letters, p. 91.

When I did get near, he'd stop and look, cock his ears, and give snuff, as
if he'd never seen a man afore, and then streak it off as if I had been an
Indian.--Porter's Tales of the South-west, p. 165.

STRETCHER. A notorious lie.--Carr's Craven. Brockett.

Whenever Mrs. Oscar Dust told a stretcher, old Waters was expected to
swear to it.--Field, Drama at Pokerville.

STRICKEN. "This ancient participle," says Mr. Pickering, is much used in
Congress and our other legislative assemblies. A member moves that certain
parts of a bill should be stricken out," &c.--Vocabulary.

The use of the word referred to by Mr. Pickering is peculiar to us, though
there are examples of its occasional use in England applied in other ways.
Many of the foreigners were much stricken with the splendor of scene.--
London Statesman, June 10, 1814.

TO STRIKE, among workmen in manufactories, in England and America, is to
quit work in a body or by combination, in, order to compel their employers
to give them higher wages.--Webster.

STRIKE. A combination among workmen to obtain an advance in wages. This,
as well as the verb to strike, is new, and has not yet found its way into
the English dictionaries. Its use is now common both in England and
America.

STRING. A common name among teamsters for a whip.

With some judicious touches of the string, the horses are induced to
struggle as for their lives.--Mrs. Clavers, A New Home, p. 9.

STRING-BEANS. The common name for French beans; so

p. 339

called from the string-like substance stripped from the side of the pod in
preparing it for the table.

STRIPPINGS. The last and consequently the richest milk drawn from a cow in
milking. It is provincial in England.

When they were ahout breaking up the meeting, Deacon Ramsdell said,
"Shan't we have a collection? We have had nice times, but strippins arter
all is the best milk."--Margaret, p. 159.

GOOD STROKE. Used in the sense of considerable; as, 'a good stroke of
business.'--Brockett's North County Words.

STRONG. To go it strong, means to do a thing with energy or perseverance.

The pilot on duty above; another was calling out the Captain, who went it
strong at cards.--Porter's Tales of the South-west, p. 107.

You should go it, remarked Spifflekins, go it strong--that's the way to
scatter the blue devils, go it strong; and as the poet judiciously
remarks, go it while you're young.--Neal's Peter Ploddy, p. 46.

TO STUB, or STUMP. 'To stub one's toe,' is to strike it against anything
in walking or running; an expression often used by boys and others who go
barefoot.

STUBBY.}
STUBBED.} Short and thick; truncated.--Todd. Webster. This word is now
provincial in England. In the United States it is colloquial and not much
used. It is found in well known authors.

A pain he in his head-piece feels,
Against a stubb'd tree he reels,
And up went poor Hobgoblin's heels.--Drayton.

It is also used to signify hardy; not delicate.--Todd's Johnson. In this
sense it is heard with us. Ex. That is a 'stubbed child;' meaning hardy,
plump, or strong.

The hardness of stubbed vulgar constitutions renders them insensible of a
thousand things.--Bishop Berkeley.

If he thinks I'll put that treatment to my wife. he's mistaken. He may he
stubbeder than I be, Uncle, that's a fact; but if he was twice as stubbed
I'd walk into him like a thousand of brick.--Sam Slick in England, ch. 29.

However, I can always help a gentleman, if he asks me like a gentleman;
and, upon the whole, I guess I'm rather stubbeder than you be.--Mrs.
Clavers, Forest Life, Vol I. p. 97.

STUD. A collecton of breeding horses and mares.--Johnson.

p. 340

In the United States we use the term stud-horse, or simply stud, to
signify a breeding horse; a stallion.

STUFFY. In Scotland, stout, mettlesome, resolute.--Jamieson. In the United
States, angry or sulky; obstinate. Colloquial.--Worcester.

STUFFENING. Stuffing; seasoning for meat or poultry. usually made of bread
and herbs to give it a higher relish. Western.

By way of amends [for the dried up turkey] quarts of gravy were
judiciously emptied on our plates from the wash-basin bowls. That also
moistened the stuffinin, composed of Indian meal and sausages.--Carlton.
The New Purchase, Vol. I. p. 182.

TO STUMP. To challenge; to defy.--Webster. Worcester. The more usual
meaning, however, is to puzzle; to confound.

Dabbs turns up his nose at betting. Instead of stumping his antagonist by
launching out his cash, he shakes a portentous fist under his nose, and
the affair is settled.--Neal's Charcoal Sketches.

When you see Lord Sydenham, tump him; and ask him, when a log is hewed and
squared, if he can tell the tenth side of it.--Sam Slick.

Heavens and earth! thinks I, what does all this mean? I knowed I hadn't
done anything to be put in prison for, and I never was so stumped.--Maj.
Jones's Courtship, p. 133.

At this the parson appeared as if he was stump't.--Crockett, Tour, p. 16.

I put a conundrum to them. They were all stump't and gave it up.--Ibid.

TO STUMP. 'To stump it,' or 'take the stump.' A cant phrase signifying to
make electioneering speeches.--Worcester. This is a term borrowed from the
backwoods, where the stump of a tree often supplies the place of the
English hustings.

STUMPER. A puzzler.

My moto was a stumper to Sally; so she got Joss to explain it, and the way
he did it was enormous.--Robb, Squatter Life.

STUMP ORATOR. A man who harangues the people froru the stump of a tree, or
other elevation.

STUMP ORATORY. The sort of popular speaking used by stump orators.

STUMP SPEECH. A speech made from a stump or other

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elevation; i. e. an electioneering speech in favor of one's self, or some
other political candidate.

We had of course a passion for stump speaking. But recollect, we often
mount the stump only figuratively and very good stump speeches are
delivered from a table, a chair, a whiskey-barrel, and the like. Sometimes
we make the best stump speeches on horseback.--Carlton, The New Purchase,
Vol. I. p. at 1.

STUMP SPEAKER. A popular political speaker.

The lion. W. R. Thompson, of Indiana, one of the most popular stump
speakers of the day, addressed a large meeting of Whigs from the stoop of
Barnum's Hotel, Baltimore, in support of the nominations of the late Whig
Convention.--Letter from Washington, N. Y. Herald, June 21, 1848.

The New York Commercial Advertiser, in giving the requisites of a good
stump speaker, says
A less objectionable pre-requisite is self-reliance. A man may be pardoned
for faltering in delivering a lecture; or for showing sweet confusion and
charming hesitation in addressing a fashionable audience on manners and
taste; a man may even be agitated by the conflict of natural bashfulness
aud a desire to advocate a good cause; but woe, confusion and utter
rejection as an instrument of power await him who breaks down in a
political stump speech. Right or wrong, well-informed or ignorant, he must
be bold in speech and dogmatical in his assertions, and the weaker he
feels his cause to be, the more vehemently and confidently he must
advocate it. His self-reliance had better rise into impudence than sink
into modesty, if he desires to make an impression; at least we have heard
speakers who seemed to act on this principle. Seriously however, nerve,
and energy, and self-reliance of a high order, are pre-requisites for
those who enter upon the work of itinerant speech-makers among either
party.

But we cannot longer dwell on this view of the matter. Other pre-
requisites there are, as experience has shown, but they must be summarily
dismissed: a good, meaning thereby a convenient, memory, that will retain
the slightest incident or the most apocryphal anecdote that will tell in
favor of the speaker's candidate and against his opponent, but will prove
a very open sieve in the matter of a favorite's follies or an opponent's
virtues. Then the campaigner should have the last edition of the political
jest book; a vocabulary of hard names; a dictionary of offensive epithets;
a text book of political phrases and clap-trap expressions; with a general
assortment of "principles," "issues," "consequences," and a package of
"patriotism," "devotion," "free republics," "enlightened people," &c. &c.,
and thus armed he may go forth to political war.--June 23, 1848.

STUMPAGE. The sum paid to owners of land for the privilege of cutting the
timber growing thereon. State of Maine.

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STUN, for stone, so pronounced in the back parts of New England.

Captain Stone, I've been clean away amongst the Yankees, where they call
your name Stunn.--Crockett, Tour, p. 145.

STURTION. A common pronunciation for nasturtion.

TO STUTTER. To saunter lazily, with a slip-shod movement. This is not a
common word. I have never met with it except in the example quoted.

I stuttered up to No. 4 yesterday arter the funeral; but they are so grown
over with rum there, you can hardly tell what is nater and what is not.--
Margaret, p. 327.

SUABILITY. Liability to be sued; the state of being subject by law to a
civil process.--Webster.

SUABLE. That may be sued; subject by law to be called to answer in court.--
Webster.

SUANT. Even; uniform; spread equally over the surface. Provincial in
England.--Holloway's Prov. Dict. Used by farmers in some parts of New
England, and applied thus: 'The grain is sowed suant,' i. e. evenly;
regularly.--Pickering.

TO SUBSIST. To feed; to maintain.--Todd. This and the following verb are
sometimes, though rarely, used transitively.

Instructions have been given by the Department, to cause the officers and
men of the California regiment, left on shore, to be quartered on
Governor's Island, where they will be subsisted and provided for until a
transport can take them to tbeir place of destination.--Washington Union.

TO SUCCEED. To prosper; to make successful.

Sincerely praying and desiring for your Excellency's highest personal
happiness, and the smiles of Heaven to succeed your present and very
important embassy, I have the honor to remain, &c., &c.--J. Perkins,
Residence in Persia, p. 219.

SUCKATASH, or SUCCOTASH. (Narragansett Ind., msickquatash, corn boiled
whole.) Green Indian corn and beans boiled together. It is a favorite disk
wherever these plants are cultivated.

Joel Barlow, in his admirable poem on Hasty-pudding, thus compares
succotash with it:

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Let the green succotash with thee contend;
Let beans and corn their sweetest juices lend;
Not all the plate, how fam'd soe'er it be,
Can please my palate like a bowl of thee.--Canto I. p. 6.

SUCKER. A nickname applied throughout the West to a native of Illinois.
The origin of this term is as follows:

The Western prairies are, in many places, full of the holes made by the
"crawfish," (a fresh water shell-fish similar in form to the lobster,)
which descends to the water beneath. In early times, when travellers
wended their way over these immense plains, they very prudently provided
themselves with a long hollow weed, and when thirsty, thrust it into these
natural artesians, and thus easily supplied their longings. The crawfish-
well generally contains pure water, and the manner in which the traveller
drew forth the refreshing element gave him the name of "Sucker."--Let.
from Illinois, in Providence Journal. A correspondent of the New York
Tribune, writing from Illinois, says:
We say to all friends of association, come West; to the land of suckers,
and liberal opinions.

SUCKER. A greenhorn; an awkward country fellow. Western.

SUCKER. A hard drinker; a drunkard.

SUCKER. A tube used for sticking sherry-cobblers. They are made of silver,
glass, straw, or sticks of maccaroni.

SUCKER. A very common fish of the genus labeo, and of which there are many
varieties, including the Chub, Mullet, Barbel, Horned Dace, etc. They are
found in most of the lakes and rivers of North America.

TO SUCK IN. To take in; to cheat; to deceive. A figurative expression,
probably drawn from a sponge, which sucks up water. To be sucked in, is to
be 'sponged' out of one's money, or to be cheated in a bargain. It is a
low expression, though often heard, and is understood by all.

"I ain't bound to drive nobody in the middle of the night," said the
driver; "so you don't try to suck me in there."--Mrs. Clavers's Forest
Life, Vol. I. p. 1O9.

p. 344

Who was the first unfortunate speculator? Jonah. Ah! why? Because he got
sucked in!--Newspaper.

SUGAR MAPLE. (Acer saccharintem.) A handsome forest tree from 50 to 80
feet high, from the sap of which is made the well known maple sugar. The
wood is valuable for fuel; and accidental varieties of it are the birds-
eye maple and curled maple of cabinet makers.--Dr. Torrey, in Nat. Hist.
of New York.

SUGAR ORCHARD. A collection of maple trees selected and preserved in the
forest for the purpose of making sugar therefrom.

SULKY. A carriage for a single person; generally in the form of a chaise.

He bought him a sulky and a fast trotter.--J. C. Neal, p. 40.

SU MARKEE. (French, sou marqué.) Used in the sea-port towns of New England
and in New York. Ex. 'I would not give a soo markée for it,' i. e. a
single cent.

SUNDOWN. Sunset. Peculiar to the United States.

SUPAWN. An lndian name, in universal use in New England, New York, aud
other Northern States, for boiled Indian meal.

The common food of the Indians is pap, or mush, which in the New
Netherlands is named supaen. This is so common among them, that they
seldom pass a day without it, unless they are on a journey or hunting. We
seldom visit an Indian lodge at any time of day, without seeing their
supaen preparing, or seeing them eating the same. It is the common food of
all; and so fond of it are they, that when they visit our peopte, or each
other, they consider themselves neglected unless they are treated with
supaen.--Van der Donck's New Netherlands, (1656,) N. Y. Hist. Soc.
Collections

The flour [of maize] makes a substantial sort of porridge, called by the
Americans supporne; this is made with water, and eaten with milk.--
Backwoods of Canada, p. 189.

SUPPLE JACK. (Lat. rhamnus volubilis.) The popular name of a vine common
to some of the Southern States. Twisted walking canes made of it are much
admired.--Williams's Florida.

SUSPENDERS. Braces; straps worn over the shoulders for

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holding up pantaloons; also called gallowses in many parts of the country.

SURE AS A GUN. Absolutely certain. A common colloquial expression.--
Brockett.

There's luck, says auld Lizzy, in facin' the sun;
Thou's young, lish, and clever, may wed a feyne leady,
And come home a nabob--aye, as sure as a gun.--Westm. and Cumb. Dialect,
p. 256.

SUZZ! A common pronunciation of sirs! An exclamation much used in New
England, as sirs is in Scotland.

SWACKING. Huge; robust.--Forby's Vocabulary.

SWAD. In New England, a lump, mass, or hunch; also, a crowd.--Webster.
This is a vulgar word. In the North of England it is the common name for
the pod or shell of peas. May not our word be derived from this? A pod is
a quantity, a bunch of peas. A quantity or large pile of potatoes, would
be called 'a swad of potatoes'--so, 'a swad of people.' (See Dreadful.)

There was a swad of fine folks, and the house was well nigh upon chuck
full.--Maj. Downing's Letters, p. 35.

How is a colonist able to pay for this almighty swad of everlasting
plunder, seein' he has no gold or silver.--Sam Slick, 3d Ser. ch. 6.

SWAG. A term used in speaking of booty lately obtained. I have never seen
the word used except by Mr. Greeley, who has good authority for its use in
Grose's Slang Dictionary.

Between Gen. Storms and the late Comptroller, there have been at least $20,
000 lost to the State; and though Mr. Flagg seems to have been exceedingly
remiss and blameworthy in the premises, it will not be easy to make the
people of New York believe that any of the swag has found its way into his
pocket.--N. Y. Tribune, April 21, 1848.

SWALE. A local word in New England, signifying an interval or vale; a
tract of low land.--Webster. This word is provincial in Norfolk, England,
and means a low place; and shade, in opposition to sunshine.--Forby's
Vocabulary.

TO SWALE.}
TO SWEALE.} To melt and run down, as the tallow of a candle; to waste away
without feeding the flame; to blaze away.--Pickering. Webster. This word
is provincial in England, and is mentioned by Ray, Grose, and other
writers.--Craven Glossary.

p. 346

TO SWAMP. To plunge into 'inextricable difficulties.--Webster. To whelm or
sink as in a swamp.--Todd. The former use of the word is not in Todd's
Johnson, or other English dictionaries. Dr. Webster quotes the Quarterly
Review as authority. It is common in the United States, though not
elegant. Ex. 'He invested a large sum of money in land speculations, which
swamped him;' i. e. ruined him.

I SWAMP IT! An interjection of the same meaning as I swan! which see.

Had that darn'd old vessel--that frigate there--bin a stone's throw farder
off from land, I should never have swimmed to shore, dead or alive, to all
eternity, I swamp it.--D. Humphreys, The Yankee in England.

SWAMP-PINK. (Lat. Azalea Viscosa.) A popular name for the Wild
Honeysuckle.--Bigelow's Plants of Boston.

SWAN! A euphemistic pronunciation of the word swear; as, I swan! Used
chiefly in New England.

"Well I swan!" exclaimed the mamma, givin' a round box on the ear to a
dirty little urchin, "what made you let the little huzzy have your
specs?"--Mrs. Clavers's Forest Life, Vol. I. p. 29.

I took a turn round Halifax, and I swan if it aint the thunderinest,
drearyest place I ever seen, aud the people they call blue-noses.--Hiram
Bigelow's Lett. in Family Companion.

SWANGA. A word used among the negroes in some parts of the South in
connection with buckra, as swanga buckra; meaning a dandy white man, or
literally, a dandy devil. Swanga is an African word, and belongs to the
language spoken near the Gaboon river, where anything gay or elegant is
swanga. The Rev. J. L. Wilson, long a resident in Africa, and acquainted
with the language, recognises this word among the Southern negroes.

TO SWAP. To exchange; to barter.--Johnson.

This word has often been noticed by English travellers in this country,
and may, perhaps, be more common here than in England; but it is also used
by the vulgar in that country.--Pickering.

When I drove a thrust home, he put it by,
And cried as in derision. "Spare the stripling."
Oh, that insulting word I would have swopp'd

p. 347

Youth for old age, and all my life behind,
To have been then a momentary man.--Dryden, Cleom.

He makes me an offer to swap his mare.--Edgeworth's Castle Rack Rent.

I'm for a short talk in a horse-swap, and always tell a gentlemen wbat I
wish to do.--Georgia Scenes, p. 28.

SWEEP. The pole or piece of timber moved on a fulcrum or post, used to
lower and raise a bucket in a well for drawing water.--Webster.

The same is used in England. In Yorkshire it is called a swape; in Norfolk
a swipe. It is written swipe in Bailey's Dictionary.
SWEET TOOTH. A person who is fond of sweet things is said to have a sweet
tooth in his head. And so in England.--Carr's Craven Glossary.

SWEET OIL. The common name for olive oil.

TO SWINGE. 1. To whip; to bastinade; to punish.--Johnson.

And that baggage, Beatrix, how I would swinge her if I had her here.--
Dryden, An Evening's Love, Act V.

Go it, old fellow give the goats a swinging every time you come across
them.--Maj. Joness Courtship, p. 180.

2.To singe. Provincial in various parts of England.--Halliwell.
The weather has been monstrous hot here, and I don't think I ever did see
things jest sprawled out and swinged up so with the sun hefore.--Maj.
Jones's Courtship, p. 185.

SWINGLE-TAIL. (Genus, carcharias. Cuvier.) The popular name for the
Thresher Shark, from the use it makes of its long flexible tail, "with
which," says Dr. De Kay, "it literally threshes its enemies."--Nat. Hist.
of New York.

SWITCHEL. Molasses and water; a common beverage in New England.

TO SWATE, pron. swot. (Dutch, perf. of suizen, to make the ears tingle.)
To give a violent slap or blow in the face with the open hand. A low word.

Tell me that again, and I'!l swot you over the mug.--Report of the Hunker
Meeting in Albany, June, 1848.

SWOT. A violent slap or blow with the open hand.

p. 348

I SWOW! An exclamation.

TO SYSTEMIZE. To systematize. A word rarely used by good writers.--
Worcester. Dr. Webster, however, gives it the preference over systematize,
which he denounces as "ill formed." What would he have thought of dogmize
and stigmize, by way of 'improving' the language?