CHIEVE, to succeed, to accomplish any business-to achieve. Used by Chaucer in this form. Fr. chevir, to master. CHILDER, children. The Saxon plural termination. In Palsgrave it is spelled chyldre. CHILDERMASS-DAY, the feast of the Holy Innocents. Pure Saxon. This is a festival of great antiquity. An apprehension is entertained by the superstitious that no undertaking can prosper which is begun on that day of the week on which it last fell. CHILD'S-FIRST-VISIT. The first time an infant visits a neighbour or relation, it is presented with three things-salt, bread, and an egg. This practice, which I do not find noticed either by Bourne or by Brand, though not overlooked by my vigilant friend, Sir Cuthbert Sharp, is widely extended over the North of England. CHIMLAY, a chimney. Cornish, tschimbla. Pryce. CHIMLAY-PIECE, a mantle-piece.-CHIMLAY-NEUK, the chimneycorner in a cottage-the fire-side. bird CHIP, to break or crack; said of an egg when the young cracks the shell. Dut. kippen, to hatch or disclose. CHIP, or BROTHER-CHIP, a person of the same trade; especially a carpenter and such like. Probably not local. CHIRM, to chirp; applied especially to the melancholy under-tone of a bird previous to a storm. It would seem to be derived from the Sax. cyrme, a clamour or noise. But Dr. Jamieson says, the true origin is Belg. kermen, to lament; lamentari, quiritari. Kilian. The term is known among the fancy tribe of cockfighters, in the sense of muttering an unpleasant noise. "These cocks chirm good-by." CHIZZEL, a term for bran. See BYE-BOOTINGS. CHOAK-DAMP, or CHOKE-DAMP, foul air in a colliery-carbonic acid gas. CHOLLER, a double chin. Also the loose flesh under a turkey- child, likely to live," which is certainly erroneous. It seems to be a boy well fed; and may be traced to Germ. schoppen, to feed, to fatten. CHOULS, OF JOWLS, the jaws. Sax. ceolas, fauces. CHOUP, CAT-CHOUP, a hip; the fruit of the hedge brier, or wild Rubus major. rose. CHOW, v. to chew, to masticate. Sax. ceowan.—CHEW, s. a quid of tobacco. CHRISTIAN-HORSES, a nickname for sedan-chairmen.-Newc. CHRISTMAS EVE. The country people have a notion that on this evening oxen kneel in their stalls and moan. In boyhood I was induced more than once to attend on the occasion; but, whether for want of faith, or neglect of the instructions given me, I know not,-they would not do their duty. CHUCK, a sea shell.-CHUCKS, a game among girls; played with five of these shells, and sometimes with pebbles, called chuckiestanes. CHUCKERS, DOUBLE CHUCKERS, potions of ardent spirits. Terms well known among Northern topers. CHUCKLE-HEADED, stupid, thick-headed. V. Jam. Supp. CHURN, OF KERN-SUPPER, harvest home. See MELL-SUPPER. CHURNEL, an enlargement of the glands of the neck. CLAG, to stick or adhere. Dan. klæg, viscous, glutinous. In Scotland it is used as a substantive, and in a metaphorical sense. "He has na clag to his tail;" i. e. no incumbrance. CLAGGY, sticky, unctuous, clogging by adhesion. CLAGHAM, CLAGGUM, treacle made hard by boiling.-Newc. Called in other places in the North, clag-candy, lady's-taste, slittery, tom-trot, treacle-ball, and toughy. CLAISE, CL'YAISE, the northern pronunciation of clothes. CLAITH, CL'YAITH, cloth. Sax. clath.-CLAITHING, CL'YAITHING, clothing. CLAM, v. to castrate a bull or ram; when the operation is performed, not by excision, but by compression; as is still practised in the emasculation of the human race in Italy; a savage mutilation fit only for Mahometans. The word may be referred to Germ. klemmen, to pinch, to squeeze. Swed. klämma seems cognate.-CLAM, s. an instrument used for the purpose of castration. ་་་ CLAM, to starve, to be parched with thirst. Dut. klemmen, to shrink up. Teut. klemmen, stringere, coarctare. When my entrails Were clamm'd with keeping a perpetual fast. Massinger, Rom. Actor. In Lancashire it is clem. See Nixon's Prophesy, where that mysterious half-ideot, is made to say, that if he went up to (Henry VIIth's) Court, he should be clemm'd; which proved the case by an accident. CLAMMERSOME, CLAMOURSOME, greedy, rapacious, contentious, clamorous. Dan. klammer-vorn. CLAMP, s. a large fire made of underwood. CLAMP, v. to make a noise, to tread heavily in walking. Dut. * klompen. Swed. klampig. CLAMPS, pieces of iron placed at the ends of a fire-place. "The door went to with a clank." Teut. klanck, clangor. CLANKER, a sound beating, a severe chastisement. 3 CLAP, to touch gently, to fondle, to pat: Clap his head." CLAP-BENNY, CLAP-BENE, a request made to infants in the nurse's arms, to clap their hands, as the only means they have of expressing their prayers, or of signifying their desire of a blessing. Isl. klappa, to clap, and bæn, prayer. CLAPPER, the tongue-a female weapon of great power and eloquence, especially in that part of rhetoric "stirring the passions." In the quaint title of an old and rare English Poem, in the Author's library," The Anatomie of a Woman's Tongue," it is divided into five parts-" a medicine, a poison, a serpent, fire, and thunder." CLART, to daub, to bemire, to foul.-CLARTS, dirt or mire-in short, any thing that defiles.-CLARTY, miry, dirty, wet, slippery. V. Jam. clarty and clattie. CLASH, v. to gossip, to tell tales. Germ. klatschen, to prattle. CLASH, s. an idle story, tittle tattle, vulgar talk. CLASH, v. to throw any thing carelessly or violently, to bang a door. Germ. klatschen, to make a noise. CLATTER, to tell idle stories, to prattle. Teut. klettern, concrepare. CLAUT, to scratch or claw, to scrape together. V. Jam. clat. CLAVER, CLAVVER, to climb up; mostly applied to children. It would seem to be a corruption of cleaving or adhering, mixed with the idea of climbing; though it may be satisfactorily deduced from Teut. klaveren, scandere in subrectum. CLAVER, to talk fast, or to little purpose. Germ. klaffer, garru lus. CLAVER, clover. Sax. claefer. Dut. klaver. The late Mr. Pegge pronounces claver to be a corruption of pronunciation, for clover; but it is more analogous to the etymology, and Mr. Todd has shown that it is used by an author of good note -Sandys. CLAVERS, din, noisy talking, garrulities. Identical with CLISH CLASH. CLAY-DAUBIN, a custom in Cumberland, where the neighbours and friends of a new married couple assemble and don't separate until they have erected them a cottage; something in the style of the old British wattled dwellings, and not unlike the plastered houses in Norfolk, erected by the workmen called daubers. From the number of hands employed, the building is generally completed in a day. The company then rejoice and make merry. CLEAN, entirely, completely. This sense is yet in use in the North. CLECK, CLOCK, to hatch. Isl. klekia. Su.-Got. klaecka. A hen sitting, or desirous of sitting on her eggs, is called a CLECKER, or CLOCKER. CLECK, CLECKIN, the entire brood of chickens. Dan. klukken. CLECKING, or CLOCKING, the noise made by a brooding hen, or when she is provoked. Isl. klak, clangor avium. In Scotland "clecking time is ae a canty time," as applied to child-birth. CLEED, to clothe.-North. Probably from Sax. clathian; though the pronunciation is more consonant to Su.-Got. klaeda, Germ. kleiden, and Dan. klaeder, the other cognate terms.-CLEEDING, clothing, apparel. CLEET, a stay or support; a term among carpenters. cluves, a Cumb. term for the hoofs of horses or cows. It seems to have affinity to Su.-Got. klyfwa, to divide, and Sax. cleofian, to cleave. CLEETS, pieces of iron worn by countrymen on their shoes. CLEG, the gad-fly; very troublesome in hot weather, particularly to horses. Oestrus ovis. Linn. Dan. klaeg. CLEG, a clever person, an adept. Probably identical with GLEG; which see. Also a person difficult to get rid of-one who sticks like a cleg. CLEGNING, CLEANING, CLEANSING, the after-birth of a cow. CLEUGH, CLOUGH, a ravine, a valley between two precipitous banks, generally having a runner of water at the bottom-a narrow glen. Sax. clough, fissura ad montis clivum. Dan. klof, incisura, is radically the same. The old Norm. or Fr. clough, is a valley; whence, perhaps, as conjectured by Mr. Todd, the introduction of the word into Domesday Book. The admirers of old ballads are familiar with the valiant exploits of our celebrated Northern outlaws, Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, and William of Cloudeslee, whose skill in archery rendered them formerly as famous in the North of England, as Robin Hood and his companions were in the midland counties. CLEVER-CLUMSY, a term of reproach; used ironically. CLICK, to snatch hastily, to seize. Germ. klicken, to throw; or perhaps a contraction of Sax. gelæccan, apprehendere. "Clickem-in," the name of a place in Northumberland. CLIFTY, well managing, actively industrious, thrifty. |