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First we should define what is dialect and what is accent. Dialect is original words spoken only in a county or part of that county as a language. Accent is the way in which dialect words or words of standard English are pronounced. It is difficult now to state how the dialect words began; some have sources in Anglo-Saxon, Old German, Middle English, Dutch, Scandinavian, Flemish and French, adapted by the tongues of the population for its use in the Kingdom of Kent. It is ironic that about the time Caxton was introducing printing into England, the Kentish dialect was one of those - with imported 'foreign' words - from which standard English was developed. As a result, many original Kent dialect words are in national use. Down through the centuries such words survived and were added to. The dialect stayed pure while the population remained in their villages and market towns, but as soon as roads improved and the railway established, people were able to venture further afield and hear 'alien' words. The decline in dialect was speeded up by universal education for all children, and teaching based on standard English.
The Kentish dialect was also divided into several areas - that spoken in East Kent, in the Romney Marsh, the Weald and North Kent. People living close to the east London borders were known as Kentish Londoners. The Medway communities on the long Kent coastline also had their own dialect workds and accents. On the Kent-Sussex border, too, some of the dialect was in common use on both sides.
The typical Kentish manner of speaking was more coarse or sharper than in Sussex; it had a nasal, high and low sing-song quality. A prominent speech characteristic was to use 'd' for 'th'. A parody says: 'By dis, dat, den, yew can tell de Kentish men' You was pronounced as ye, 'ee or yew. The 'h' was also silent - hog was 'og, hood 'ood. W at the start of a word was often suppressed, thus wood was 'ood. D on the end was dropped so pond was pon'. V was sometimes converted into w - weal for veal, wery for very. Charles Dickens often used Kentish dialect words and the language of the Medway towns in his novels. An example is in Pickwick Papers, where Mr Weller comments: 'Be wery careful o' vidders all your life'.
Dialect as a language in Kent has gone, but examples of dialect words survive, as quite a large number are still in use - those speaking them perhaps not realising they are using Kentish dialect!
| Dictionary of bygone Kentish words - some are still in use today | |
|---|---|
| A | |
| Abide | Tolerate, endure, put up with something |
| Act-about | Fooling about |
| Addle-pated | Giddiness in the head |
| Afore | Before |
| Aftermeath | A second crop of grass |
| Afters | Pudding, dessert, sweet |
| Agoo | The ague, a malarial fever, formerly frequent on Romney Marsh |
| Alleycumfee | A non-existent place. A nosy person enquiring where someone was going would be told to alley cumfee |
| Ammets, Ammuts | Ants |
| Ammet-cast, Ammut-cast | An ant hill (see also Emmet, Emmet-casties) |
| Amongst the Middlins | A fairly good state of health |
| Anoint | To give a repeatedly naughty child several hard smacks on the buttocks; also to thresh corn |
| Another when | Another time |
| Arzey-garzies | The haws or berries of hawthorn (also known as Haazes, Harves) |
| Awviz | Always, in Wealden Kent speech |
| B | |
| Back-answer - | A change of mind or decision. Also known as Back-say, Back-word |
| Backside | The yard at the rear of a dwelling. Also known as Back-out, Back-way |
| Bain't, Beeunt | Are not; be not; be you not |
| Bait | Food and drink consumed by workers in the fields, or by the roadside, also known as Beavor, Bever, Bevor, Nuncheon, Progger, Tommy |
| Bats | The legs. A woman with shapely legs had a "nice pair of bats" |
| Beddies | Bedtime for young children |
| Before-after | Until later. Something that won't occur until time has passed. "She won't see her before-after Easter now" |
| Beleft | Believed |
| Besom | An unmarried woman of moral laxity or temperamental character; a deliberately naughty child |
| Better-most | The best, superior to; also Bettermy |
| Bibber | To shake with nervousness or grief |
| Bird-boy | A boy who, with clappers, chased pigeons and other birds off crops |
| Bishop's finger | A guiding signpost with one pointed arm, supposedly named because it points the right way, often to a church; also Pointing post |
| Blessing | Something fortunate, such as good luck (see Mercy) |
| Blouse | A country wench with a red complexion, as if blushing |
| Blowed away | Not without financial means. "Though he looks like a tramp he's not blowed away" |
| Bo-boy | A human figure scarecrow (see Tatterdemalion) |
| Bobbery | Squabbling, arguing, rowing; a disturbance (see Set-out) |
| Bob's-a-dying | A crying or fretting child |
| Bodily-ill | A child or adult with a fever, flu and similar was bodily-ill, opposed to if they had a broken arm, cut leg or sprained ankle etc, these not being classed as physically ill but injured |
| Boldrumptious | Presumptuous (see Polrumptious) |
| Boo-boo | A sweet given to a child as a reward |
| Bounds | Uncertain, unknown. "No bounds where the ball has gone" |
| Boy-beat | To be beaten in anything competitive by someone younger |
| Brimp | The gadfly |
| Brown-deep | Day-dreaming, staring but not seeing |
| Buck-fisted | Clumsy, awkward (see Cack-handed) |
| Bumbulation | A humming sound |
| Bunting | A shrimp |
| Burr | The Wealden form of bare and bear; also the rainbow-like halo around the moon foretelling rain |
| Bythe | Spots on linen caused by mildew |
| C | |
| Cack-handed | Doing something the difficult way instead of the easy way, clumsy, awkward and fumbling, also someone left-handed (see Buck-fisted, Ham fisted, Unhandy) |
| Caggy | Sticky, muddy, also Claggy, Cludgy |
| Call-over | To upbraid, denigrate, deflate with a reprimand |
| Cantell | An indefinite number |
| Cast, Casties | An ant-hill or mole-hill; the soil excreted above the surface by earthworms |
| Ceremony | A disturbance, a fuss over something, a bother |
| Chathamese | The local dialect and speech in Chatham and surrounding area |
| Chickenstrap | Corruption of 'kicking strap' around a horse's hind quarters to dissuade it from kicking out |
| Checker | Full up, alternatively depressed, annoyed |
| Chuffer | Anyone with a large appetite |
| Clink-eyed | Poor eyesight |
| Cluck | A wife not feeling well was said to be 'a bit cluck' |
| Cocky | An elderly knowledgeable man, often a farm or similar labourer, a rural countryman |
| Corf gut | A bronchitic person |
| Crammer | A lie |
| Cream | To crumble, to shatter (see Shatter). |
| Cruppish | Peevish, unwell |
| Cubby bird | The jenny or jinny wren |
| Cuckooing | Talking in a rambling incoherent way |
| Culch | Culch - Litter, rubbish, any kind of refuse (see Pelt, Scutchell, Reffidge). |
| Cutting didoes | Cutting capers, fooling about. Didoes were pranks, tricks |
| Culver keys | The cowslip, also known as Cove Keys, Horsebuckle, Lady Keys, Paigle, Pegle |
| Cutting didoes | Cutting capers, fooling about. Didoes were pranks, tricks |
| D | |
| Dabbing out | Occasionally to wash clothes, over several days and not one day only |
| Dabster | Someone who is good at something; also Dab hand, a skilled person |
| Daddies | The hands, usually used in conversation with a child; also Dandymen, Donnies, Handy-Pandies |
| Dang, Dangle | Cuss words, alternative to damn |
| Danged | Damned |
| Darting fly | A dragonfly |
| Darvel | Wealden Kent/Kentish gipsy language for devil |
| Dawdy | Dainty, neat |
| Dead-alive | Uninteresting, boring, dull. A remote hamlet or village where nothing of any event took place was said to be a dead-alive place |
| Dencher | A slow bonfire made by denchering or dowsing it so it smouldered, thus the ash was supposedly better as fertiliser. Also Dencher-pout, Densher-pout |
| Denture | Variant of Dencher, where turf was cut off a field, heaped and burned |
| Dicky | Feeling unwell |
| Diddle-o | Simple-minded, sometimes senile |
| Died-on | Already deceased |
| Dis-sight | A blemish, something unsightly |
| Dodman | A snail, also Hodman-dod, Snag, Sneg |
| Dogged | Smartly dressed |
| Dole | A boundary stone, stump of tree left in the earth after felling. Also a distribution of alms, a bundle of nets |
| Dollydum | A home-made kettle boiler using a biscuit tin used by Kentish tramps |
| Dolphin | Greenfly and blackfly |
| Dossett, Dussit | A small amount of liquid, a small dose |
| Doxey | A young woman of low repute |
| Draggletail | A scruffy, dirty woman, a slut. Origin from draggle-tailed sheep, hind-quarters with dried excreta; also a long-tailed sheep, a long-tailed old-fashioned skirt |
| Dreaning, Dreening | Clothes wet-through to the skin |
| Drinking | A refreshment between main meals taken by field workers |
| Drug | Washing hung out to drip if not windy enough to dry it |
| Drunkards | The outside poles of a hop garden that lean |
| Druv | Driven |
| Dumbledore | A bumble bee or a dor beetle |
| Dummyerker, Dummiekin | Fruity cakes or duff |
| E | |
| Effet, Evit | Newt |
| Emmet | Ant |
| Emmet-casties | Ant-hills |
| Enow | Enough |
| Ernful | Sorrowful, grieving |
| Ersh | Corn stubble |
| Everything-something | A mixture, allsorts. Some stew recipes had everything-something in them |
| F | |
| Face-catcher | A stag beetle that at dusk flies at face height |
| Fakement | Affliction, painful distress |
| Fanteeg | Being in a dither, a fluster |
| Fantod | Restless, uneasy |
| Fago, Fargo, Fogo | A stink, a foul smell; also a Hoogo, Hoogoo |
| Feetens | Footmarks |
| Fellowly | Companionable |
| Few | Not a small number, but a lot. "I had a good few plums this year" |
| Fill-nor-fall | No sign of, no news of |
| Flinder | A butterfly of any species |
| Foreigner | A stranger who comes to an area or village from another county and is not Kentish-born (see Strangers) |
| Frape | A thin woman with an anxious, worrying character |
| Frett | To beachcomb for washed-up items |
| Frigger | A restless, continually fidgeting child |
| Frith | A sparse, scrubby woodland or shaw with timber of little value, also a copse, sometimes a long, wide hedge |
| Frog's wool | Scanty-haired. "You only had some frog's wool when you was a baby" |
| G | |
| Gaffer, Garfer | A rural school |
| Gamble stick | A stick to keep open and suspend a slaughtered animal; also a Gambrel |
| Gammy | Any part of the body injured, broken or diseased |
| Carmed up | Anything smeared with something sticky or unpleasant |
| Garmy | Sticky |
| Gatteridge tree | The spindle, also known as Pegwood, Prickwood |
| Getting on | Ageing |
| Gimmer | A female employer of men and women |
| Gip | Sharp pain (pronounced jip) |
| Girl | Small clothes horse for drying or airing |
| Glimigrim | Punch, the drink |
| Golding | The ladybird beetle (see Marygold); also a hop variety |
| Gone off | Food that has become bad, milk turned sour (see Rasty) |
| Gorster, Goyster | To laugh loudly, boisterously, vulgarly |
| Gracious heart-alive | An utterance indicating complete surprise |
| Greenmeat | A summer cutting of clover and lucerne and when green fed to cattle and horses |
| Grinny-grogging | Grinning open-mouthed; gaping, looking foolish |
| Grip | A furrow to drain surface water off land |
| Griping | Catching flounders by groping for and picking up from beds of Medway tidal mudflat streams |
| Grizzling | Tearful, fretful, whining (see Yarping) |
| Grubbed-up | Area of trees that have been felled and cleared |
| Grubby | Stained, dirty |
| Guess-cow | A barren, dry cow |
| Gumble | Shoes or clothes that do not fit properly, too large or tight |
| Guttermud | The mud accumulating in gutters and drains |
| H | |
| Ha'ant | Haven't you |
| Hackle | Used in the expression 'to hackle to it', to get stuck into a task |
| Haffy-graffy | Almost, near enough |
| Haggaday | A type of door latch where the blade is put through the door to lift the latch, opened from the outside only |
| Half-baptised | Privately, not baptised in church |
| Ham-fisted | Awkward, clumsy (see Buck-fisted, Cack-handed, Unhandy) |
| Handful | A difficult, anxious worrying time |
| Happy-ho | Similar, coincidental |
| Hawk | Clear the throat and spit |
| He won't be said | Won't admit failure or give way. Obstinate |
| Heart-grief | Severe, deep grief and mourning |
| Heaver, Hever | Any species of crab, but usually the edible (see Ponger, Punger) |
| Hedge poker | The hedge sparrow or dunnock, known also as Dicky Hedge Poker, Jimmy Hedge Poker |
| Heft | The weight of an object |
| Helving | Gossiping |
| Hemm | A mild cuss word |
| Here-and-there-a-one | Only a few and these scattered |
| Herne | Heron, called Kitty hawk on Sheppey, Kitty herne, Hernshaw elsewhere |
| Herring-hang | A smoketight, brick room in which herrings were hung to dry |
| Hicket | Hiccup |
| High-lows | High laced shoes or boots |
| Hike | Remove, drive off, turn away |
| Hiking hussy | A young woman flirt, a tease |
| Hink | A forked cleft of a thin branch or hook on the end of a stick, used to hold up peas while bine is severed with a pea hook |
| Hobble-Gobbles | Wild arum, known also as cuckoo-pint, lords-and-ladies, lady-lords in Kent and elsewhere |
| Hobgrob | To eat in a greedy, messy way |
| Hockatty-kick | Somebody walking lame |
| Hodman-dod | A snail (see Dodman, Snag, Sneg) |
| Hogey-bogey | An attitude of could not care less |
| Hog-headed, Pig-headed | Obstinate, awkward |
| Hogshop- | Untidy, strewn about. "This room is proper hogshop alternative of a pigsty" |
| Hollacking | Moving clumsily |
| Hollard | An oak tree branch, dead and bare of bark |
| Holly bed | A very uncomfortable bed |
| Hombler | A humble bee |
| Hommucks | Large, clumsy feet |
| Hooshty-backed | Hunch-backed, also Umpty-backed |
| Hop-cat | The hairy caterpillar of the Pale Tussock moth on hops |
| Hop-dog | Green or brown caterpillar of the Peppered Moth; also an iron-toothed, long-handled tool used in the past for levering hop poles from the earth |
| Hop goad, Hop hook | A billhook-like, long-handled implement used by Pole-pullers to obtain pieces of hop bine left on poles and wires when the bine has been pulled down |
| Horse feathers | Tall tales, unlikely stories, a nonsense account, sometimes lies |
| Horse-lock | A padlock |
| Horse-nails | Legless tadpoles |
| Horses | To agree or not. Used in the expression 'to set horses together'. "Bert and Mary just can't set their horses together" |
| Hossing | A mare going to a stallion |
| Hotch-about | Move awkwardly, painfully (see Ruggle-about, Utch-about) |
| Housed | Corn got from the threshed stacks into a barn |
| Housey | Hop bines that have grown so that overhead branches are tangled together |
| Howsomedever, Howsomever | Howsoever |
| Huck | An outer husk, pod or shell of peas, beans, also hazel nuts, walnuts; a collar for tethering; a corruption of hock thus an ankle or foot |
| Hung up | Delayed, slowed, hindered |
| Hung-up-by-the-tongue | Delayed by idle gossip |
| Hurr, Hurrish | Sour, tart, harsh |
| Husband | A tree with branches severed short, close to the trunk |
| Hussing | Wheezing |
| Hussy | To rub hands together when cold |
| Hustle | To finish a task quickly, walk briskly |
| Hyste | A call, a signal to someone |
| I | |
| I be | I am | Idden | is not | Ikey | Snobbish, over-proud | Ikey-Mo | Possibly a corruption of Isaac Moses for a Jew; also a miserly person | Ill-wished | A run of bad luck | Innocent | Tiny and attractive | In 'opes | In hopes, said in East Kent instead of I hope | Itchell, Itchells, Itchull | A figure of speech for closeness of something. "The seeds I planted came up thick as itchells" | J |
| Jack-in, Jack-up | To end, stop, give up | Jawsy | A chatterbox | Jokesy | A jokey, witty person | Jole | Corruption of jowl or jaw. Cheek by jole, side-by-side, close together | Jolly looking | Having a healthy complexion | Jonnick, Jonnock, Jonnuck | Something not quite fair, questionable | Joutering | Frequently arguing, nagging or grumbling | Just so | Precisely, exactly, thoroughly. "My wife wants everything just so" | K |
| Kean | A small breed of weasel | Keek Legs, Kite Legs | The early purple orchid, also known as Ladies Fingers, Red Butchers, Dead Men's Fingers due to its root shape | Keep-all-on | Persevere, finish the task regardless of its difficulty; used also for a whining, miserable child or person. "She kept-all-on till I smacked her" | Kelter, Kilter | Out of alignment, out of kilter | Kennedy garden | An allotment. Kennedy association unknown |
| Kept going | Continued with a task | Kiddle | Tickle | Killed-dead | Instantly killed | Kinkle | Charlock | Kippered | When the hands, ears or lips are chapped and sore | Kitty-run-the-street | The wild pansy or heartsease | Knucker | To neigh | L |
| Lace | To whip, to beat | Lady bug | The ladybird beetle | Lady Keys | Cowslip (see Culver Keys) | Lapper | A woman who often likes to sit on her boyfriend's lap | Larloes and medlars | Reply to a question one does not want to answer correctly | Lashing out | Being extravagant with something, usually money; also to be in a rage and strike out | Latchetty | Coming apart, loose, (see Wee-woeing, Wocketty) | Lawcus-heart, Lorcus-heart | A profane exclamation or interjection, meaning Lord Christ's heart | Lawk-a-massy, Lawk-a-mussy | Corruption of the invocation Lord have mercy | Lawyer | A tangled bramble bush that is difficult to get free of if held by its hooks, the inference being once in the hands of lawyers in a court case it is difficult to be free of them and legal action | Lay forth | Prepare a deceased person for burial | Leery | Doubtful, curious | Leety | Slow | Leury, Loury | Overcast sky | Lief-coup, Lit-cop | Sale of the goods by auction on the closing of a village shop or business | Light upon | A chance meeting | Limb | A rascally child, often mischievous. "Her boy is a young limb" | Limb-of-a-way | Some way off, a considerable distance | Linger | To pine for, to long for something or somebody | Lingering | Slowly dying of a lengthy illness | Lirry | An accidental or deliberate blow on the side of the head | Lishey, Lishy | Expression for plants, shrubs and crops that grow too fast, so they are tall, straggly and weakly (see Nurity) | List | The atmosphere when sounds can be heard clearly over a long distance | Lit in | To enter | Lit out | To leave | Lob-low | Birds flying just above the ground and hedges; for humans, means to keep low, out of sight | Lodged | Made flat, as corn beaten down by wind and rain | Loghead | A dimwit, slow to learn | Lompy | Awkward, clumsy | Long dog | Wealden for any dog long in body, such as a greyhound or whippet. Like a long dog means to move very swiftly | 'Long-of, 'Long-with | Along-of, Along- with. "Be you coming 'long-of us?" | Looby | Possibly a variant of loony for lunatic. A slow-thinking, dull-minded, childish person (see Sawney) | Look'ee | Look here | Lookey, Lukey | A backward or silly child or person | Look-upon | To regard someone favourably | Looking out | Clearly obvious, self-evident | 'Lowance | Allowance (lazy speech) | Lows | Marshland hollows where water accumulates | Lug, Sir Peter | A Sir Peter Lug was someone who regularly arrived late for a meeting or similar | Lushington | A drunkard, a person chronically fond of drinking | Lusty | Flourishing, healthy | M |
| Mabbled-up | Mixed up, mentally confused | Maggotty | A restless, unreliable person; alternatively an apple containing a larva of the codlin moth | Mammicking | Eating messily (see Mommicking) | Mankie-peas | Woodlice that roll into pea-like balls; also known as Monkey-peas, Pea bugs, Pill bugs, Peasie bugs | March-men | Those who come from the marches or borderland of two counties (see Sheeres-men) | Marm | Jelly | Marygold | The ladybird beetle. The name refers to the Virgin Mary and the orange-red colour of its wing cases; also known as Golding, Merrigo, Lady bug | Maudring | Mumbling speech | Maunder | Walking with no set purpose; to scold, complain | Maux | A lazy, slipshod person, often used of a woman or girl, a slattern or prostitute | Mawk | A slattern, abbreviation of Mawkin. Mawkser, Mawksin | Mauxer | A woman with a masculine character; a bold-minded, virtually uncontrollable, ungainly wench | Mawky | Overly sentimental | Mayhap | Maybe | May Hill | May used in the sense of someone ailing. "I don't think he will get up May Hill" (survive the month). May being, in the past, a trying month for the ailing and infirm due to cold winds and temperature changes | Meakers | Mice (see Mickies) | Measly | A poor quantity, inadequate small portion | Measured-for-a-new-jacket | To be flogged | Measuring-bug | A caterpillar, for example Hop Dog, which arches its body as it moves forward, so appears to be measuring the leaf or twig | Meeching | Creeping about softly | mooching. Meeker | A cat that frequently mews | Meen | One or two short shivers | Meening | Shivering with the Agoo, prevalent on Romney Marsh | Mercy | Word used for blessing. "It was a mercy the stack didn't catch fire" (See Blessing) | Merciful | Blessed. "The thieves took every merciful item they could find" | Merrigo | Corruption of Marygold | Mewse | A gap made through a hedge bottom to allow game to pass to and fro | Mickies | Wealden for mice | Middling | Variable meaning, depending on the sense in which it is used and the tone of voice, from very good or very much to very bad or very little | Middlings | Small or unripe apples and cherries left on the trees | Milch-hearted | Kind-hearted, tender, but also used for a timid or nervous person | Minnies | Tearful, depressed, fed up; the miseries | Misery | A sulking, whining child has the misery, but also used for severe pains suffered a long time | Misword | A cuss; abusive or cross word used in conversation | Mizmaze | Feeling confused, giddy or puzzled | Mommicking | Term used for someone, usually by a parent to a child, not eating a meal normally but picking over it | Mooch | To creep about in an indeterminate way, to dawdle | More-nigh | Nearby, adjoining, close to | Mort | A large quantity, an abundance, plenty | Mortal, Mortally | Very. "My potato crop was mortally poor" | Most-times | Usually | Much as ever | Unchanged | Much of a muchness | Similar to | Muddle about | To potter about; do a little work to keep occupied | Mung | To cadge | Musher | The wooden mushroom used to darn socks | N |
| Nabble | To hold idle conversation, to gossip |
| Nabbler | A gossip, a rumour-monger, a mischief maker. Also someone who drinks too much and becomes argumentative |
| Nabblerig | From Nabbler, argumentative person, and Rig, an excessive drinker; alternatively a game of chance like Find the Lady |
| Nag-narrowing | Anyone so doing was nagging or often fault finding |
| Narky | Bad tempered |
| Narlie | Gnarled, wood with many knots |
| Necessary house | Lavatory, sometimes also used for the wash-house |
| Ne'er-a-once | Never once |
| Nettle-frig | Restless person, fidget |
| Nimble Dick | Horse fly or gadfly (see Brimp) |
| Nipper | The youngest or smallest child of a family |
| Nisy | Nincompoop |
| Nod, Noddy | The nape of the neck |
| Noddle | Head and neck. Mother to tearful child: "There, there, did you bump your noddle?" |
| Nohow | Not possible |
| Nonce | Used in 'for the nonce', meaning 'for the once'; only on a special occasion |
| None | Neither. "None of them both are any use" |
| Noony | Behaviour that is uncharacteristic, thus said to be noony; also an ailing child |
| No rabbits caught | Nothing achieved |
| Noration | A disturbance, a scene |
| Nose holes | Nostrils |
| Not force put | Not obliged |
| Nubby | Cloddy earth |
| Nucket | Space between bushes; a recess or nook |
| Nuncheon | Midday meal or drink for labourers; originally noon-drink from Middle English none-chenche (see Bait) |
| Nurity | Wealden for the growing strength of plants and shrubs (see Lishey) |
| O | |
| Obedience | A curtsey or bow; an obeisance to a person |
| 'Od rabbit it | Blasphemous utterance meaning 'May God subvert it' |
| Off from | Prevent, avoid |
| Old | Does not refer to age but is an intensive expression: "She started a tidy old argument" |
| Old Lip | Back-answering, cheeky comment or reply. "Don't give me your old lip" |
| On the Gammock | Dashing from place to place to find excitement and amusement |
| One-eyed | A term of disapproval. "I wouldn't stop in that one-eyed village" |
| Oo | All of an oo was to be confused; to feel all of an oo was to feel unwell |
| Ornary, Ornery | Ordinary |
| Orts and Ertsies | Scraps left from a meal, odds and ends |
| Otherwhere-else | Elsewhere |
| Otherwhile | Occasionally |
| Our Saviour's Flannel | The great mullein, due to its soft, velvety-smooth leaves. Rose campion or agrostemma, the garden flower, for the same reason, was known as Jesus's Flannel |
| Outasked | Couples whose banns have been 'asked' in church three times and not challenged |
| Outface | To defy (see Outstand) |
| Out of doors | No longer fashionable |
| Outroope | An auction of household items |
| Outrunnings | An irregular, tree-scattered woodland extending from the end of a hedge |
| Outstand | To stand out against a decision true or false |
| Out of Kilter | Out of alignment or order (see Tilter) |
| Overlaid | Slept later than intended |
| P | |
| Paal | Pole |
| Pack | A litter of kittens or puppies |
| Paddock | Toad (see Puddock) |
| Paddy | Angry, annoyed; also wood that has been attacked by woodworm |
| Failed | Chathamese for piled |
| Palter | To steal from wrecked ships and crews |
| Pandle | Shrimp |
| Parcel | A number, a quantity, also Passel |
| Parish oven | A human mouth |
| Parnch, Parnch-bag | Rabbit's paunch, stomach |
| Part | Used redundantly with another word, for example, back. "You'll be happy to see the back part of me", meaning 'to see me leave' |
| Partial | Very fond of something or someone |
| Pass the time o' day | Greet people in a street |
| Pattern | To pattern was to imitate |
| Pauncher | Wealden for a poor shot with a gun |
| Pawl | A prop against a building to hold its weight |
| Pea-hucking | Pea picking, or shelling peas from the Hucks or pods |
| Peart | Energetic |
| Pedigree | A rigmarole, a tedious narrative or speech |
| Peeked up | Feeling unwell |
| Peekings | Gleanings of orchard fruit trees, usually cherries, perhaps originally unripe but ripened after the main crop has been picked |
| Peeky | Looking or feeling unwell |
| Peepers | The eyes |
| Peggy | A pied wagtail, also Peggy Dish Washer, Paddy Dish Washer |
| Pelt | Rubbish; worn-out, broken items (see Culch, Reffidge, Sculch, Scutchell) |
| Pence money | Weekly penny taken to school for a child's education |
| Penner | A door fastening or catch |
| Pent | Sloping land |
| Perk | Fidgety, dithery |
| Pester up | To hamper or harass |
| Peth | To pith |
| Pett | A group of trees |
| Pharisees | Fairies |
| Pick the bin | In hop-picking removing leaves that got into the bin with the hops before the hops were 'measured' |
| Pick-licking | Removing food from a table to eat before time for the meal |
| Pikey, Piky, Pykie | Early use for a turnpike-using traveller; later vagabond, a scruffy, badly-dressed, low type of person |
| Pillow-beare | Pillow case |
| Pimp | Bundle of twigs or cut wood bound together with tarred string to light a fire |
| Pinch | A short, but steep hill or incline |
| Pincherwig, Pinchywig | Earwig (see Twinge) |
| Pinner | Swivel door fastener; also a pinafore or apron |
| Pip | Feeling depressed, annoyed, was to 'have the pip' |
| Pippy | Looking unwell, (see Peeky) |
| Pither | To seek, to try to find out |
| Pithered | Shivering with cold (see Hovered, Puckered up) |
| Pithering | Dithering from one thing to another |
| Fitter | To loosen earth and throw up lightly |
| Pittering iron | An iron fire poker |
| Plagued | Annoyed by something or someone |
| Plaguesome | Troublesome |
| Plaguey death | Very deaf |
| Planets | 'It rained by planets'; meant rainfall as a shower in one area only and not generally |
| Plat, Platt | A grassy lane; also a small cultivated area of land, usually for a plantation of Kent filberts or cob-nuts, or a small orchard of fruit trees |
| Plates | The brasses worn by horses against the 'evil eye' |
| Platty | Here and there, scattered |
| Platty-like | In and out |
| Play upon | Dwell upon |
| Plexicle | Apoplexy |
| Plog | To hinder |
| Plum - Ver | Plum pleasant was something very pleasant. Also quite. Plum wrong was quite wrong |
| Plump | Hard or dry |
| Ply-golding | Ladybird beetle (see Marygold) |
| Poach | Treading earth into depressions as cattle around a drinking trough in wet weather (see Putch, Stodgy) |
| Pod | A large stomach on a person (see Parnch) |
| Podded | The swollen, tight stomach of a rabbit that ate too much green food was podded (see Tommy) |
| Podder gratten, Podder gratton | Stubble of peas and beans |
| Pogger | A person who worries about almost anything |
| Poke | The green bag or sack in which 'measured' hops are transported from hop garden to oast house; also a puddle draining from a dung heap |
| Polrumptious | Unruly obstreperous (see Boldrumptious) |
| Polt | Audacious (see Old Lip); also to strike or beat |
| Ponger, Punger | Edible crab |
| Ponto | Person who searches dustbins, or begs |
| Pooch, Pooch out | Puffing up the cheeks to pout |
| Poochy | A bathe or paddle in shallow water |
| Poor Man's Blood | The early purple orchid, known also as Keek-legs, Dead Man's Bones, Dead Man's Fingers |
| Pretty nigh | Nearly |
| Prodigal | Proud |
| Progger | Food eaten about mid-morning; a carried cold meal similar to Bait |
| Prole | A pleasant short walk, a stroll |
| Properly | Thoroughly |
| Pucker | Excited |
| Puckered up | Almost overcome shivering with cold (see Pithered) |
| Pudduck | Large frog (see Paddock) |
| Pug | Clay earth, soft, sticky after rain; also something hidden; a ferret |
| Puggy | Wet, as sticky clay earth after rain |
| Pull | To debilitate |
| Pull-back | A drawback |
| Pungers | Large crabs (see Ponger) |
| Putch | A puddle, a water-filled hole (see Poach) |
| Puttock-candle | Small candle among a quantity of something bought at a grocers, added to make weight |
| Put upon | To impose upon, to selfishly bother someone |
| Q | |
| Quant | A young oak sapling |
| Queen hops | Larger than usual hops with small leaves protruding from them, also known as French hops |
| Queenie, Queeny | A truculent, haughty, defiant child inviting punishment |
| Quid | The cud. In Kent said as 'chewed the quid' |
| Quiddy | Lively |
| Quillies | To cut some quillies' was to take part in frolicsome antics |
| Quilly | An antic or prank |
| Quittee for Quottee, Quitter for Quatter | Tit for tat, (see Whicket for Whacket) |
| R | |
| Rabbit-pauncher | Person only able to hit a rabbit with a shotgun at close range and the paunch of the animal |
| Racksened | Exhausted soil, known also as Tillered out; also land given up to, or over-run with weeds |
| Rade | Something occurring early |
| Radical | Rebellious, trouble-causing man |
| Rafe | To hurry, dash about |
| Raff | Plunder |
| Raft | Noisy, argumentative rabble |
| Raid | To rise early |
| Rain-bug | Any of the ground beetles that, if accidentally or deliberately trodden on and killed, meant heavy rain would result |
| Rammed | Used as an alternative to damned as a cuss |
| Rapid | Used to describe severe pain. "Sciatica causes a rapid pain" |
| Rasty, Reasty | Rancid (see Gone-off) |
| Ratty | Irritable (see Rousey) |
| Raw | Angry |
| Rayer | Rare, a mid-Kent pronunciation |
| Rear | Early, too soon; also pronounced rare |
| Reckon | Used to state a personal opinion. "I reckon it will soon rain" |
| Red bottle, Red petticoat | Common field poppy |
| Redgum | A rash or sore |
| Reemer | Excellent |
| Reeming | Very good, superior |
| Reffidge | Refuse (see Culch, Pelt, Refuge, Scutchell) |
| Refuge | Refuse waste; also the poorest examples in a flock or crop |
| Renag | To renege |
| Rexen, Rexon, Rixon, Wraxen, Wrexon | To infect or taint with an infectious disease such as smallpox or measles |
| Reynolds | Foxes |
| Rice | Brushwood, twiggy branches (see Roist) |
| Ride | Something indigestible eaten rides upon the stomach |
| Rig | A drinker to excess (see Nabblerig) |
| Rights | The nearest or shortest route - 'to go to rights'. Something achieved in a thorough manner was 'done to rights' |
| Ring, Ringe | Underwood after it was felled lay in ringes prior to being cut into faggots; also a long clamp in which mangolds were stored during winter |
| Ringle | To ringle was to put a ring through a pig's snout |
| Ripper | Fish peddler who carried his fish for sale in a rip - a pannier basket |
| Rit | To dry flax and hemp |
| 'Rivance | Abbreviation of Arrivance, a person's previous place of abode |
| Road proud | Field crops that appear healthy from a road but on closer inspection are not such quality as thought |
| Rodfall | Strip of standing timber in a woodland, about a rod wide, that did not belong to the same owner and was felled at a different date |
| Roist | Brushwood before being cut into faggots (see Baven, Kilnbrush, Pimp, Rice) |
| Romance | To exaggerate on a story or true event |
| Rookery | A heated argument sometimes between several people |
| Rook-toll | A rookery (see Toll) |
| Rough | Neglected copse or woodland, also Roughet, Roughit, Ruff it (see Frith) |
| Roughings | Meadow grass after first mowing (see Aftermeath, Ersh, Rowens) |
| Rough Stuff | London household cinders, ash, other refuse used in brickmaking |
| Round-tilth | Continuous cropping of land without letting it lie fallow |
| Rousey | Irritable, bad-tempered | Rowens | Second crop of grass from a meadow; in East Kent a third cut of clover was also known as rowens (see Aftermeath, Roughings) |
| Rozz | To secure tightly |
| Rubble of noise | Intense confusion of noise made by a talking and moving crowd |
| Ruck | To be in a ruck was an angry temper |
| Ruckle | Struggle between two people |
| Rude-heart | Something learnt by heart |
| Ruggle-about | Walking or moving with difficulty, usually applied to the elderly infirm (see Hotch-about, Utch-about) |
| Ruins | What is left after a meal from a meat joint or poultry |
| Runagate | Tearaway child or youth |
| Run agin | Run against or met up with |
| Run-ahead | Delirious |
| Runt, Runtlet, Runtling, Rutling | The weakest, smallest piglet in a litter; also known as Anthony-pig, Daniel, Dolly |
| Rustle-up | To create or quickly prepare |
| Rusty | Disagreeable, bitter mood |
| Rutting | Making mischief, meddling |
| Ruttle, Ruttling | Rattle or rustle, but applied to the death rattle of a dying person |
| S | |
| Safe-sown | Self-sown, applied to crop plant seeds |
| Sagaciating | "How's sagaciating?" How are you getting on? |
| Saints-alive | Exclamation (see Gracious Heart-alive) |
| Saint's-bell | The sanctus bell |
| Salvey | Soapy, used for apples or potatoes not floury when cooked |
| Sarce | Sauce, as for cheekiness (see Old Lip, Tongue) |
| Sare | Wood that is dry to burn; also means worn, faded |
| Sartin | Steadfast in character |
| Sawny | Simple-minded, a simpleton (see Looby) |
| Say Swear | Indicates annoyance, exasperation, with someone. "If you continue to annoy me I shall say swear." I will use strong, bad language to stop you |
| Scaddle, Sceddle | Mischievous, thievish |
| Scaddly | Light-fingered thieving |
| Schoat | Kneading trough, also Scout, Shoat |
| Scimminger | Counterfeit coin |
| Scithers | Scissors |
| Scoase, Scorse | To swap |
| Scoff, Scorf | Eat greedily |
| Scoon, Scooning | To search or examine closely |
| Scourge | Sweep away with a broom or besom |
| Scran | Food snack taken into fields by labourers (see Bait, Beaver, Elevenses) |
| Scraps | Broken herrings it is not possible to hang to cure (see Herring-hang, Spit) |
| Scratch | Do something hastily; also forked length of branch used as a clothes line prop |
| Scratch-along | Survive, overcome hard times |
| Scratching | Picking hops as quickly as possible |
| Scraunch | Crunch, also Scronch, Scrunch |
| Scrooch, Slooch | Scraping noise when furniture is pushed along a floor |
| Scrooge, Scronge | Squeeze by, push past |
| Scroop | Similar to Scrooch but also to squeak or creak |
| Scrow | Peevish person |
| Scrump | Poorly developed apple; also an undersized, shrivelled person (see Shockled) |
| Scrumps | Small apples too tiny to pick, left on trees |
| Scrumping | Stealing fruit from orchards |
| Scudger | Bonded together |
| Scudgering | Scratching, as a horse rubbing against a post or tree |
| Sculch, Scultch | Unwholesome items children delight in eating; also refuse (see Culch) |
| Scupper | Scoop or scooper |
| Scurf | To handle roughly |
| Scutchell | Rubbish, accumulated debris (see Culch, Pelt, Reffidge, Sculch) |
| Scutty | Paltry. "So mean he didn't even leave her a scutty farthing" |
| Searse | Sift or strain, through a sieve or strainer |
| Seconds | The second course of a meal (see Afters) |
| Sense | In negative to mean 'nothing to signify'. "Sun don't shine no sense." The sun doesn't shine very long |
| Sep | Secretion accumulating in corners of the eyes during sleep |
| Sessions | Noisy disturbance |
| Set out | Exciting event or occurrence, also a disturbance or fuss (see Bobbery, Ceremony, Noration, Start) |
| Sew | To dry, to drain |
| Sewells | Feathers attached to a cord stretched across a section of a park to prevent deer straying in it |
| Shadder | To be afraid of |
| Shake-a-donnie | To shake or wave a hand when leaving |
| Shant | Tumbledown, near-derelict building |
| Shatter | When their petals fall, flowers were said to shatter; also when hops become dry and break into pieces, they shatter, or are shattery (see Cream). When seeds were sown they were covered by a shatter of fine earth |
| Shave, Shaw | Small copse, small woodland by side of road or field |
| Shay | Slight likeness or resemblance; also pale-coloured |
| Sheal, Sheel | To flake off or to peel; also to shell |
| Sheeres-men | Men from outside Kent, Sussex and Surrey, the shires (see Foreigner, Marchmen) |
| Shide, Shyde | Length of wood, plank |
| Shim | Horse-drawn hoe for lightly loosening earth between rows of peas, beans, hops |
| Shining bug, Shiney bug | Glow-worm beetle |
| Shoal-in | To pick sides for cricket or any team game |
| Shockled, Shrockled | Shrivelled apple (see Scrump) |
| Shooler | Beggar |
| Shop goods | Items bought at a shop, usually groceries, instead of from a market stall |
| Shrape, Shreap | To disapprove, find fault with |
| Shucking | Shelling peas |
| Shunnel | Anything undersized |
| Sig | Animal urine, sometimes seeping from a cow manure heap |
| Skivers | Skewers for meat made from blackthorn |
| Skrimshanker | Workshy, idle person |
| Skutting | Crouching. When disturbed in a meadow, rabbits skut |
| Skymarooting | Hurriedly, usually impatiently, searching for something among items in cupboards, sheds or elsewhere |
| Slack | Food not sufficiently cooked or baked |
| Slanted | Aborted or miscarried, usually for farm animals |
| Slap cabbage | Sluttish woman (see Draggletail, Slommocks) |
| Slats | Thin pea pods in which peas have not matured |
| Sliphuck | Unskilful person incapable of doing a task correctly |
| Slipped its huck | Horse or dog that has escaped after being tethered or chained |
| Slobbed | Liquid slopped, spilt |
| Slommuck | Lazy, sluttish, unkempt woman (see Draggletail, Slap cabbage); also to furtively creep or sprawl about |
| Sloop | To meander aimlessly with no set intention |
| Slope off | Leave the scene without being noticed |
| Slub | Liquid manure or mud (see Slurry) |
| Sluggered up | Slowed down |
| Slummocks, Slummocky | Slattern woman, lazy dishevelled person, man or woman (see Draggletail, Slap cabbage, Slommuck) |
| Slurry | Sticky, liquid mud that drops off implements or footwear in dollops (see Slub) |
| Smack-smooth | Very smooth and flat |
| Smarmed | Smeared with something sticky; a child's mouth after eating jam was smarmed |
| Smarmy | Flattering, smooth-tongued person |
| Smarty | To be pleased with oneself over success |
| Smickery | Unlevel, uneven |
| Smig | The eggs on female shrimps |
| Smiggy | Small, inferior potatoes or fruit (see Scrump) |
| Smirking | Not the usual meaning of a disagreeable expression, but removing the creases in linen so that it can be folded properly |
| Snag, Sneg, Snaig | Snail, usually the garden snail, though in West Kent the term is also applied to slugs (see Dodman, Hodman-dod) |
| Snaggle | To cut or carve without skill, usually of meat |
| Snaggles, Snaggle teeth | Long, pointed teeth of an animal |
| Snatagog, Snodgog, Snotty-gog | Yew berry |
| Snap grass | Wild bluebell, named due to fat stems some times snapping when picked |
| Snazzums | Hiccups |
| Snirked | Dry, withered |
| Snobbing | Repairing boots and shoes |
| Snowl | Large piece of cake or bread, usually home-made |
| Snying | Curving, twisting, bending |
| Sob | To soak thoroughly with water |
| Sock | To wrap or enclose a corpse in its shroud |
| Somer-land, Summerland | Land that lies fallow during summer |
| Some-one-time | Occasionally, now and again |
| Soodle | To wait about. Soodle potting, hanging about doing unnecessary tasks, getting in everyone's way |
| Soshell, Soshull | Movement, a post worked loose in its hole was soshel) |
| Sossing | Toying with one's food at meal time |
| Sossling | Drinking noisily |
| Sossy | A dirty, messy situation |
| Spaddle, Spandle | To make dirty, traipsing mud and debris over a clean floor was spaddling (see Stoach) |
| Spalter, Spolter | Branch that is partly sawn through, then breaks off due to its weight, leaving the end uneven, was said to be spalter |
| Sparking | A seriously courting couple were sparking |
| Sparticles | Corruption of spectacles |
| Spat | A blow, slap, smack |
| Specks | Metal toe and heel caps on boots and shoes |
| Spike | The workhouse, alternatively the local prison |
| Spit | A resemblance to someone else |
| Sponging | Sewing. Pronounced spong-ing, not spunj-ing |
| Spotty | Scattered, uneven |
| Sprig | Thick twig or thin branch |
| Sprog | Forked sprig |
| Sprollocks | Someone who sprawls their feet about (see Slommucks, Strommocks) |
| Spronky | Plant, shrub or tree with many roots |
| Spry | Large-headed broom to sweep a barn floor |
| Spun out | Short, applied to rope, string, cord; or short of money |
| Squatted | Splashed with muddy puddle water by a vehicle |
| Squib | A squirt tool syringe for plants |
| Stab | Rabbit's nest in hutch or burrow |
| Stanmel, Stammel | Type of red woollen cloth for petticoats and nightdresses |
| Starf take you | Oath to call bad luck or misfortune on a person; a curse or phrase of annoyance |
| Staunch | To stomp, walk heavily |
| Stilt | A crutch |
| Stiver | To stagger; also near poverty, to strugle along |
| Stoach | To work in muddy, dirty conditions, to tread mud elsewhere (see Spaddle) |
| Stock-log | The largest log that is placed behind smaller logs to create a support |
| Stodge, Stotch | To tread muddy land into puddle holes as cattle do around a trough (see Stoach) |
| Stodgy | Sticky, muddy earth |
| Stolpe, Stulpe | Stout post, often put in to mark a boundary |
| Strangers | People who came from East London annually for hop picking (see Foreigners, Marchmen) |
| Stray | Winding stream flowing into the sea |
| Strig | Stalk of a fruit |
| Stringy | Late harvested runner beans, tough to eat (see Ucky) |
| Strod | Fork in a tree |
| Strommocks, Strommucks | Someone or animal that sprawls about (see Slummuck, Sprollocks) |
| Strooch | To drag or slide one's footwear |
| Stud | Line of young trees cut off at the tops to sprout and form a boundary see Dole) |
| Stunt | Obstinate, refuse to be beaten |
| Stuppin | Stewpan |
| Sullage | Dung, sewage, dirty water |
| Sununut | Something, somewhat |
| Sundays and worky days | If a workman's job took up every day's working period it was said that Sundays and worky days are all one and the same for him |
| Surelye | Surely |
| Swarved, Swarved up | Choked with sediment |
| Sweal | To singe a pig |
| Swimmy, Swimmy-headed | Giddy |
| Swish along | To walk at a speedy pace |
| Swot | Soot |
| T | |
| Tack | Distasteful flavour (see Twang) |
| Tackle | Used in describing something of poor quality, usually food. "This cake is poor tackle" |
| Taffety | Child or adult choosy, fussy about choice of food |
| Take and | Meaning to go ahead, to do. "I had better take and wash the dinner things now" |
| Tamsin | Small clothes horse in front of a fire to warm a child's clothes (see Girl) |
| Tanted | Fainted |
| Tants | Tantrums of a child |
| Tarnal, Tarnel | Expletive, about a good or bad event, usually the latter |
| Tarse, Tass | Mow of corn |
| Tass cutter | Tool used to cut straw or hay in a stack |
| Tatterdemalion | Scarecrow (see Bo-boy), also a ragged man with clothes in tatters |
| Tattery | Peevish, bad tempered |
| Team | Brood of ducks or litter of piglets |
| Tear rag | Mischievous child |
| Tedding | Tossing and spreading hay about to dry |
| Tee-dance | Child's see-saw (see Titterny-tortarny) |
| Tenter-ground | Area where tenterhooks were situated to stretch skins, linen etc |
| Tetaw | Imbecile, simpleton |
| Thick-thumbed | Awkward, clumsy with the hands |
| This-here | This in intensive form. "She was sitting on this-here chair when she tanted away" |
| Thisser, This yer | This here |
| Throw | Thoroughfare. Four throws was a crossroads where four roads met |
| Thumbheads | Mice, usually field mice |
| Thunder bug | Midge, usually flying in heavy, sultry weather before a storm |
| Ticklebat, Tiddlebat, Tittlebat | Freshwater fish, stickleback |
| Tiddy | Tiny, small |
| Tidy | Strong, considerable. A tidy few was quite a lot; a gale-like wind could be a tidy old blow |
| Tightish-lot | Considerable number, many |
| Tight-up | Tidy up |
| Tiller | Sapling of less than six inches in girth |
| Tilter | Used in the expression 'out of tilter', out of condition (see Out of Kilter) |
| Timid | Fragile |
| Timnail, Timnel | Vegetable marrow used for jam and pies |
| Tin-tan | Unsure situation, in the balance |
| Tip-tongued | Inarticulate, alternatively someone who lisped |
| Tissicky | Tickling cough |
| Tit | To gossip, spread rumours, tell tales. A child who carried tales to parents or teacher was a tit tale or a tell-tale-tit |
| Tither | To waste time and effort |
| Titterny-tortarny | Child's see-saw (see Tee-dance) |
| Tiver | Red ochre used to mark sheep |
| To-and-again | To and fro |
| Toe-peg | Cramp in the toes |
| Toify | Variant of terrify, to annoy, to pester |
| To it | To do a task. "I'm just going to it" |
| To wrongs | Out of order |
| Tommy | Green food, such as dandelion, for a tame rabbit; also a labourer's lunch; a male cat or cockerel |
| Tommy hoe | Short-handled small tool with one or two curved tines used around hop bines to pull up runners |
| Tongue pie | A telling off, usually from wife to wayward husband |
| Took-to | Became fond of |
| Torf | Chaff removed from corn after it is threshed |
| Tot, Tott | Plant's rootstock or a tuft or clump of grass |
| Tother-me | The other meadow, a meadow or field other than the one you are standing in |
| Town-weed | Wild plant annual mercury, also known as Canterbury Balsam, Canterbury Weed |
| To-year | This year |
| Treddles | Sheep droppings |
| Trilly-ally | Anything applied to a building or object as decoration |
| Trot | If anxious, nervous, a person was 'in a trot' |
| Troubled-to-go | Difficulty to walk |
| Trush | Hassock to kneel on in a pew |
| Tumble | Terrible |
| Twang | Unpleasant taste or flavour, such as rank butter (see Tack) |
| Twinge | Earwig (see Pincherwig) |
| Twink | Cunning or sharp-tempered woman |
| 'In a twitter', in a state of flustered agitation | |
| U | |
| Uck up | To help up |
| Ucky | As Stringy |
| Umblement | The number or complement of |
| Umpkey-diddlums | Upside down, things in disorder |
| Umpty | Downhearted, low in spirit |
| Uncous, Unky | Melancholy |
| Underspindled | Undermanned |
| Unhandy | Clumsy, awkward; also inconvenient (see Cack-handed, Unthrum) |
| Unker-money | Dirty money paid for an unpleasant task |
| Unthrum | Unhandy, awkward |
| Utch-about | Walking with difficulty, usually for someone arthritic (see Ruggle-about, Troubled-to-go) |
| V | |
| Vampishness | Deliberately, wilfully wrong |
| Vast | Curiously used as very in referring to the size of things. "What I paid was vast little" |
| Vigilous | Vicious |
| W | |
| Wacker | Something or some person bigger than usual; also to be active or overjoyed |
| Wale | Large swelling, boil or tumour |
| Wands | Thin flexible sticks, usually fresh growth of hazel or willow. If hazel, known as Nut Wands |
| Wankly, Wonkly | Poor state of health, usually of a child |
| Waps, Wops, Wopse | Wasp |
| Wartweed | Lesser spurge; its juice dabbed on a wart removed it |
| Water-table | Small ditch by a lane side to drain it of surface water |
| Wee-woeing | Wobbling, unstable (see Latchetty, Wocketty) |
| Weekers, Wickers | The ears, used usually when washing a child |
| Welter | To wilt, wither |
| Wet the tea | Pour a little boiling water on the tea in a teapot to stand awhile before the pot is filled |
| Wet-foot | Footwear interior, stockings, feet very wet. Opposite of dryshod |
| What-for | What sort of, also blunt reply or physical action. "He was going to punch me so I gave him what-for first" |
| What-say | "What did you say?" |
| Whicket for Whacket | Tit for tat (see Quittee for Quottee) |
| Whiewer | Short-tempered man |
| Whipsticks | To walk whipsticks was to do so very hurriedly |
| Whispering the death of a person | The custom of telling a hive of bees that their owner or someone in the house had died |
| Whist | Quiet |
| Whoot | With Gee, Wai, Wey, Why, Whut, a word of command to a wagon horse |
| Wics | Straw-clad shelters made with hurdles for protecting sheep during lambing |
| Widdershins | Going contrary to the course of the sun or anti-clockwise; back to front |
| Windgey | Baby or infant with wind |
| Windrows | Rows of corn sheaves standing in the fields so the wind would dry them |
| Wocketty | Loose, usually for a chair leg (see Wee-woeing) |
| Woin | Won't, will not |
| Won't be said | Obstinate |
| Woodfall | Area of underwood marked to be cut |
| Wood-lodge | Shed for storing wood |
| Wood noggin | Term applied to half-timbered houses |
| Wooden hill | Stairs leading to bedrooms. "It's time to go up the wooden hill" |
| Wringed | Blistered |
| Wrongtake | To misunderstand |
| Wus | Was |
| Y | |
| Yaffle | Eat or drink greedily, noisily |
| Yar, Yare | Quick, brisk |
| Yarping | Complaining or whining, applied to a grizzling child |
| Yer | Here |
| Yog | Fire used for boiling a kettle or warm food at Bait time; the hop garden fire that boiled the pickers' kettles |
| Yokelet | Small farm or manor |
| Yummery | Festering skin injury |
| Z | |
| Zeterday | Saturday |
| Zomere | Summer |
| Zonday | Sunday |
| Zuorde | Sword |
| Zuot | Sweat |
Crafts, trades and rural jobs, also the tasks involved in them, had their own words. Some still survive, many others are disused. Examples are listed. No doubt many more await being remembered again and recorded.
| Dictionary of old-time Kentish working words | |
|---|---|
| Abithe | Said of timber that was rotten |
| Ackle | A machine or anything mechanical which did or did not work normally. "It will (or will not) ackle" |
| Allworks | A farm labourer able to do any job needing to be done where employed |
| Amendment, mendment | Manure spread on farmland |
| Barvel | A leather apron worn by washerwomen and fishermen |
| Beaver, Bever | A light, cold meal eaten in the open, by field workers, between breakfast and dinner, or dinner and tea (see Elevenses, Nuncheon) |
| Binder | The long stick used in the task of hedge-laying |
| Brushie | A chimney sweep |
| Clad-hoppers, Clod-hoppers | Strong boots worn when doing tough tasks needing the feet to be well protected |
| Clay Punchers | Brick and tile makers |
| Cockle | A stove used in an oasthouse to dry hops |
| Dagging | Task of a shepherd to use hand shears and remove the soiled wool from sheeps' hindquarters; also known as Clatting |
| Deckers | Men who dug, kept plant clean and maintained dykes (deeks) draining land |
| Dibber | A handled tool, one end pointed, to make holes in earth for hand planting plants, seed such as beans; also known as a Dibble |
| Dodger | A tool used to extract thistles, dandelion and similar rooted weeds |
| Drift | A number of rows of bines in a hop garden (see Set) |
| Earing, Eryng | The time in a working day's ploughing |
| Elevenses | A drink and light meal consumed about 11am; also known as Leavener. (see Beaver, Nuncheon) |
| Father sheaves | The large sheaves tied with straw bands, resulting from hand cutting the corn on a cornfield's outside edge so a reaping machine had access to it to start |
| Furrin peasies | 'Foreign' pea pickers who came from outside the parish; Home peasies lived near the pea fields |
| Givey | Frozen earth that becomes soft and breaks down as it thaws |
| Goud-up | Exhausted after tiring work |
| Hardhewer | A stonemason |
| Hemp | Word shouted by a man on the ground to workmate on top of a loaded wagon to warn latter that former was about to throw a rope to him |
| Hill | The ridge to one side of each row in which hop bines are growing, one plant per hill with four to six shoots to each climb-up a string (see Drift, Set) |
| Horsenet | A piece of net worn over the face by workers among overhanging growing hops to avoid scratches from the rough bines and leaves |
| Iles | The ails or 'beards' of cultivated barley; the awns |
| Jack Harry | A long-handled tool, a three-tined fork bent to form a hook, used to drag dung out of a cart on to the field |
| Kibsy, Kipsy | A basket, flat on one side, with a carrying handle, a belt securing it around the waist worn on the lower back by cherry pickers |
| Kindly | A term for land which is productive |
| Kittens | Baskets in which fish were packed at Folkestone for transporting by train fish vans to London and other fish markets |
| Laid-in | When livestock were kept off grazing land to allow grass to grow it was said to be 'laid-in. |
| Lease-wheat | Ears of corn gathered by gleaners |
| Lees | A line of trees grown to shelter a hop garden |
| Lews | Straw-sided hurdles supported by posts erected in grazing pasture to create shelters to protect lambs from cold wind |
| Lewing | The coir netting attached to poles around a hop garden to protect growing and mature hops from wind damage |
| Livery | The small, weakly greenish-white hops at the lower end of the bines |
| Lollyman | A travelling vendor visiting hop gardens, sometimes daily by bicycle, to sell confectionery, biscuits, cakes and similar, occasionally other small-ware necessities |
| Man | Small piece of wood used for cleaning a spade; when not in use tucked into a Bowyang (see Yorks) |
| Marsh-man | A man who lives or farms on a marsh, Sheppey or Romney |
| Marsh mould | The silt cleared from dykes by Deekers then spread on land as a fertiliser |
| Maxen, Maxhill, Maxon, Maxul, Midden, Misken, Mixhill, Mixon | Dungheap |
| Mether and Gee | Left and right in waggoner's language |
| Muddle | Labourer who dug mud from Medway mudflats to transport by barge to cement works for use in latter's manufacture; also built up seawalls using river mud (see Skevalmen) |
| Mud slinger | Man who specialised in pond making, digging, cleaning them (see ; Skevalmen) |
| Noonchion, Nuncheon, Nunchion | Noon, mid-day light meal or refreshment in fields, hop gardens, etc. Originally noon-drink from Middle English nonechenche |
| Nut Wands | Young, base sucker growth of hazel cut each autumn, dried, used as we use bamboo canes |
| Peekings | Gleanings of orchard fruit trees after the main crop has been picked |
| Peck | A knife for heading and gutting fish used by fishermen |
| Pelt man | A dustman or rag and bone man |
| Prule | A fishing gaff-hook |
| Quant | The long stick used for driving oxen |
| Rafter, Roughter | A rasp used in woodworking |
| Rezon | A plate or timber horizontally in a wall to support the joists; corruption of raising plate |
| Rook starving | Frightening rooks and other birds off field crops usually done by a youth using a wooden clapper |
| Rubber | A whetstone used to sharpen sickles, scythes, by a rubbing action on the blade |
| Scry | A large sieve placed at an angle in a barn through which corn was thrown with a Scubbit to sift grains from chaff |
| Scubbit | A large long-handled wooden shovel used to move corn in barns (see Scuppet) |
| Scuppet, Scuppit | A large, broad, short-handled shovel, comprising a wood frame covered with canvas, used in hop oasthouses to move hops |
| Scuppeting | Using a Scuppet to move hops on the oasthouse floor during drying or when dried into the Poke |
| Scutchell | The shavings, wood chips, sawdust accruing around a wood craftsman's bench, chopping block, horse, etc |
| Seasoning | Sowing corn |
| Set | A number of bins, one per row, in a hop garden Drift, overseen by a Pole puller; also a hop garden unit comprising twenty-four Hills |
| Setting | The siting of a ladder in a tree, preferably in a branch fork, to gather its fruit |
| Shingler | A craftsman who tiled church spires and other properties with shingles, wood tiles |
| Shining stick | A thin, peeled stick, sometimes hazel, carried at statute fairs by labourers to indicate they were available for a year's hire |
| Short work | Hand working in the corners of odd shaped fields not touched by the long, straight plough furrows |
| Shotver-men | Mackerel fishermen, their nets being shot-nets used during Shot-fare, the mackerel season, usually starting early May |
| Skeval-men | Men who dredged and deepened creeks in the Faversham area, name a corruption of scuffle, a shovel, which they used (see Muddle) |
| Skyancer | Someone who obtained income from dealing in small items, often waste or discarded objects still useful in some way |
| Snob | A cobbler; footwear repairer who travelled round the villages |
| Snobbing | Cobbling |
| Spudger | A stick or piece of wood used to clean a spade or fork after use (see Man) |
| Storter | A carpenter's trestle or stand in public houses on which beer barrels were placed |
| Stow-boating | Dredging stone from the seabed to use in making Roman cement; also name for sprat fishing |
| Strip-shirt | Working in shirt sleeves without a waistcoat or jacket |
| Thake | A tradesman's bicycle with or without a carrier basket |
| Wheat-shear | To cut and harvest a field of wheat |
| Wood-shuck | A man who bought standing or felled timber at site |
| Yorks | Straps, bands or cords tied just below knees by labourers to raise their breeches or trouser bottoms off the mud, and to give more room around the knees; also known as Bowyangs, Nimbs, Redgers |
As the state of the weather could be very important in past times, meaning whether field labourers worked and were paid, or had no work and were unpaid; whether a crop was cut or picked or not; whether other actions were taken or not, there were many words in the Kent speech referring to it.
| Dictionary of bygone Kentish words relating to the weather | |
|---|---|
| Airey | A windy, blustery day |
| Aitchy | Misty, chilly early morning |
| Anvil clouds | White, large billowy area of clouds, said to forecast rain |
| Aquabob | An icicle (see Cobble, Cock-bell, Cog-bell, Ice Candle, Icicly) |
| Bitter-cold | Very cold (see Hand-cold, Finger-cold) |
| Black dark | A very dark night, used on Sheppey |
| Bleat wind | Very cold, clothes-piercing wind; Wealden corruption of bleak wind |
| Blow | Strength, force of the wind. "That sou-wester yes'day was a tidy old blow" |
| Blowing up | When the wind is increasing in strength; maybe a sign of coming rain |
| Boblight | Twilight |
| Bodily-cold | All-over physically cold (see Bitter-cold, Finger-cold, Hand-cold) |
| Boneless | Corruption of Boreas, the north wind |
| Bucking-up | Brightening, improving. "It looks as if the weather is bucking-up and the sun is going to shine" |
| Captured | Frost-damaged or destroyed flowers and vegetables. "Last night my potatoes were captured by Jack Frost" |
| Coarse | A cold, blustery, snow-bearing wind |
| Cobble, Cobbel | An icicle (see Aquabob) |
| Cock-bell | An icicle, also Cog-bell, Cong-bell |
| Dolours, Dollours | Describing a strong wind when it makes a noise, it moans, it dollours |
| Donkey's breath | A thin mist. "The mist isn't thick, only donkey's breath" |
| Downward | Wind in the south was described as downward (see Out, Upward) |
| Dulling-up | Sky becoming dull, cloudy, overcast |
| Ellinge | A windy, wet night |
| Finger-cold | Weather cold but only enough to chill the fingers (see Bodily-cold, Hand-cold) |
| Flavour | Warm. "The sunshine is flavour today" |
| Folkestone Girls, Folkestone Lassies, Folkestone Washerwomen | Large, billowy, solid looking, grey clouds, foretelling rain |
| Frore | Frozen |
| Fruz | Frozen |
| Gagey | Strong wind blowing occasionally, then stops, then blows again |
| Glince, Glincey | An icy, slippery path or road |
| Hand-cold | Not bitter cold but enough to chill the hands (see Finger-cold) |
| Hasty | Heavy rainfall was described as hasty (see Heavenshard) |
| Heavenshard | Heavy rain. "It rained heavenshard last night" (see Hasty) |
| Hovvered-up | Numbed by cold weather (see Pithered, Puckered-up) |
| Hovery, Hovvery | Shivery with cold |
| Huvver | Soil that has dried, is loose, workable for sowing and planting |
| Huvvery | Shivering with cold (see Kivvery) |
| Ice candle | Icicle (see Aquabob, Cock-bell) |
| Icily | Alternative way of saying icicle |
| Jack and his Wain | North Pole Star and the Plough stars |
| Kippered | Chapped lips, ears, hands, skin cracked by cold, wet weather |
| Kivvered | Very cold, shivery; used Medway Towns and Isle of Sheppey |
| Kivvery | Shivery (see Huwery) |
| Lain | Laying, layer, thin covering. "There's been a lain of snow" |
| Lazy wind | A ferocious north-east wind said to be 'lazy' because it tried to blow through you instead of around you (see Piercing wind) |
| Leury, Loury | An overcast day |
| Loo | Sheltered, out of the cold wind, if in a hollow, behind a hedge or tree or building. "In the loo" was in the lee of, protected |
| Mist | Drizzle, very fine rain (see Mizzle, Mizzling) |
| Mizzle | Very fine rain falling lightly in a mist (see Mist) |
| Mizzling | Heavier falling drizzle |
| Out | Meaning 'in' when used for the direction of the north, north-east, east wind. "The wind is out the east today" (see Downward, Upward) |
| Out Will's mother's way | In the distance; on the horizon; somewhere else. "Looks like a storm coming and its already raining out Will's mother's way." The origin, and who Will and his mother were, are unknown. Other counties have similar expressions. In Gloucestershire they say "It's dark over our Bill's mum's mind" |
| Parney | Rain. "It is going to parney soon" |
| Piddle | A brief rain shower |
| Piddling | Light rain but intermittent |
| Pithered | Shivery, feeling cold (see Hovvered-up, Puckered-up) |
| Print star, Print moonlight | Bright, clear, of starlight or moonlight. "The stars are very print tonight" |
| Puckered-up | Shivery, almost overcome by the cold (see Pithered) |
| Puggy | Soil stodgy after heavy rain (see Stodgy) |
| Shatter | Scattered spots of light rain |
| Shucky | An unsettled rainy period in summer |
| Spattering | The first raindrops falling before a downpour |
| Spatters | First raindrops, often large, before a heavier fall |
| Stodgy | Glutinous earth, sticky mud |
| Swelked | Overcome by hot weather |
| Temperament | Changeable, unsettled. "The weather is surelye temperament today" |
| Upward | Wind in the north was described as upward (see Downward, Out) |
| Urp | A cloud |
| Urpy | Cloudy, lots of very large clouds |
| Utchy | Cold |
| Weather fit | Unsettled, inclement, used more in the negative than positive sense. "It's not weather fit to work in the garden" |
| Whiffling, Wiffling | The wind coming in gusts, blowing hither and thither, scattering and turning leaves over on the ground |
| Windyfied | Referring to windy weather; a windy day was 'proper windyfied' |