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GLOSSARY To assist the reader in understanding some of the unusual or archaic terms in the Annals, we have compiled the following Glossary. Some definitions are from the OED, others from Joseph Wright's English Dialect Dictionary, Oldham Local Studies, and some from our memory of terms used by our parents and grandparents. |
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Apoplexy |
A malady, very sudden in its attack, which arrests more or less completely the powers of sense and motion. Can be used to describe a 'stroke' or cerebral haemorrhage. |
Badger |
An itinerant licensed dealer in commodities used for food; a hawker; a huckster; formerly applied especially to one who bought grain in one place and sold it in another. |
Banksman |
The banksman used to collect the miners' brass tallies as they went underground and came up: also regulated the numbers going into each cage for the descent and ascent of the mine. |
Barm |
Commercial leavening agent containing yeast cells; used to raise the dough in making bread and for fermenting beer or whisky, |
Beadle |
A minor official. |
Boads |
Likely a bolt of white cotton fabric. |
Bresteye |
The mouth of a coalpit; the mouth of a tunnel leading to a coalpit on the side of a hill. |
Brused |
Bruised. |
Brusk |
An obsolete name for the colour tawny or orange. (OED) |
Calico |
A plain, white unprinted cotton cloth, bleached or unbleached and coarser than muslin. (OED) |
Clemmed |
Hungry or starved. |
Collegiate Church |
former name of Manchester Cathedral. |
Consumption |
Tuberculosis. |
Cott |
Cottage. |
Coyts |
A flat disc of stone or metal, thrown as an exercise of strength or skill; spec. in mod. use, a heavy flattish ring of iron, slightly convex on the upper side and concave on the under, so as to give it an edge capable of cutting into the ground when it falls, if skilfully thrown. Also, the ring of rope, rubber, etc. used in deck-quoits and similar games. |
Crape |
Crepe fabric, or sometimes used generically to describe mourning clothes. |
Dimities |
A sheer, crisp cotton fabric with raised woven stripes or checks, used chiefly for curtains and dresses. |
Dropsy |
Swelling from excessive accumulation of watery fluid in cells, tissues, or serous cavities. Oedema. Congestive heart failure. |
Durst |
Dared. |
Egadlings |
A mild oath or expletive |
Eyllinge |
A shed set against another building (lean-to). Anything reclining or at an angle, as the "ealing" or roof of a house. |
Feu de joy |
A feu de joie (French: "fire of joy") is a gun salute , described as a "running fire of guns", on occasions of public rejoicing of nation and/or ruling dynasty. It can also mean a bonfire lit in a public place as a token of joy. During the 18th and 19th centuries it was used to mark a military victory or birthday. |
Firey damp |
In coal mines – formerly, fulminating damp. The name given to a number of flammable gases, including methane. It is particularly commonly found in areas where the coal is bituminous. |
Flints |
The 'f'lints' or turn-out spinners (see p. 167 of the Diaries) |
Flitch |
Of bacon. A side of bacon. |
Florin |
Two shillings – one tenth of a pound sterling. |
Fulling |
The process of cleansing, shrinking, and thickening cloth by moisture, heat, and pressure. |
Fustian |
A coarse cloth made of cotton and flax, or a thick twilled cotton cloth with a short pile or nap, usually dyed an olive, leaden or other dark colour.. (OED) |
Ginghams |
Cotton or linen cloth, woven with stripes or checks. (OED) |
Grinfilt |
Greenfield, Saddleworth. |
Gudgeons |
A small European freshwater fish (Gobio fluviatilis ), allied to the carp. Half–a-crown Two shillings and sixpence – one eightth of a pound sterling. |
Hamsters |
Slang for trousers. |
Illumination |
Likely a torchlight procession. |
Jeaned |
A sturdy, twilled fabric; usually cotton. |
Jeremiah |
A person who complains continually or foretells disaster |
Knobstick spinners |
'Blackleg' workers; sometimes women; men who worked for reduced wages. |
Light |
To land. |
Marlpitt |
A pit where marl is dug. |
Marl |
Crumbling sedimentary rock, sometimes called limestone, including various types of calcareous clays and fine-grained limestones. |
Mattocks |
An industrial tool, or a mattress. A digging tool with a flat blade set at right angles to the handle. |
Nankeen |
A cotton cloth, originaly made from a yellow variety of cotton, but now manufactured from ordinary cotton and dyed yellow. |
Parced up |
Parched. |
Phisic |
Physic – a doctor, or to dose or treat with medicine, especially a purgative. |
Phiz |
Phizzog – the human face or countenance. |
Punced |
Variation of punched. |
Pund |
Pound (weight). |
Pussey |
Used as a proper name for a hare. (OED) |
Relect, relict |
Widow; survivor. |
Rushcarts |
The rushcart festival has historic origins, its purpose being to bring to the church rushes with which to strew the floor, often to a depth of 12 inches or more. These acted as insulation to help keep the parishioners warmer during the winter. The rushcarts with towering flower-bedecked loads of plaited rushes were the focus of processions. The festivities took place during August wakes week and were the cause of much celebration, sometimes apparently degenerating into riotous revelry and drunkenness. |
Scrivenor |
Professional penman or notary. |
Shippen |
Shippon or cow barn. |
Shrine of Hymen |
Altar of Hymen – the marriage altar. |
Slack |
Small or refuse coal. (OED) |
Spotted fever |
Described by Samuel Andrew in August 1793. p. 23 |
Swailer |
Miller or dealer in grain. |
Tabbys |
Fabric that is striped or streaked in parallel lines. (OED) |
Throstle |
Any of various Old World thrushes, especially a song thrush, or a machine formerly used for spinning fibres such as cotton or wool. |
Thunge |
A dull heavy sound, as with the fist, but with some resonance. (OED) |
Transported |
Sentence imposed at the Assizes involving transportation to Australia, usually for three, or seven years, or for life. |
Velveretts |
A variety of fustian with a velvet surface. |
Velveteens |
A fabric having the appearance or surface of velvet but made from cotton in place of silk. (OED) |
Wiseles |
Also written Wise, Weize (wais): of a plant, a set, stalk, haulm. |
Yatte, or Yate |
Gate. |
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William Rowbottom's
Diary as published in the Oldham Standard |
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