in dry weather are said "to lance" over the turf.
Lark's Lees, or Lease, A. A piece of poor land fit only for larks, or, as the peasantry of the Midland Counties would say, only "fit to bear peewits." Mr. Halliwell gives the form "lark leers," as a Somersetshire phrase; but the above expression may be daily heard in the New Forest.
Louster. Noise, disturbance. "What a louster you are making," signifies, what a confusion you are causing.
Lug-stick. See Rug-stick.
Mallace, The The common mallow (Malvus sylvestris). Formed like bullace, and other similar words.
Margon. Corn chamomile (Anthemis arvensis). Culled "mathan," throughout the Anglian districts.
Mark-oak, See Oak.
Mokin, or more generally in the plural, Mokins. Coarse gaiters for defending the legs from the furze. See chap. xv. p. 162.
Muddle, To. To fondle, caress, to rear by the hand. Hence we get the expression "a mud lamb," that is, a lamb whose mother is dead, which has been brought up by hand, equivalent to the "tiddlin lamb" of the Wiltshire shepherds. See Wosset.
Oak, Mark-, A. The same as a "bound-oak," or boundary oak or ash, as the case may be, so called from the ancient cross, or mark, cut on the rind. As Kemble notices (The Saxons in England, vol. i., appendix A. p. 480), we find in Cod. Dipl. No. 393, "on ðán merkeden ók," to the marked oak, showing how old is the name. I have never met in the New Forest with an instance of a "crouch oak" (from crois), such as occurs at Addlestone in Surrey, and which is said to have been the "bound-oak of Windsor Forest (See The Saxons in England, as before, vol i. chap. ii. p. 53, fool-note). The "bound-oak," marked in the Ordnance Map near Dibden, has fallen, but we find the name preserved in the fine old wood of Mark Ash, near Lyndhurst. In the perambulation of the Forest in the 29th year of Edward I. we read of the Merkingstak of Scanperisgh. The various eagle-oaks in the Forest are comparatively modern, and must not be confounded with the eagle-oak mentioned by Kemble (as above, vol. i. p. 480).
Omary Cheese. An inferior sort of cheese, made of skim-milk, called in most parts of England "skim Dick." See, further on, the word Rammel, and also Vinney, chap. xvi. p. 190.
Once. Sometime. "I will pay you once this week," does not mean in contradistinction to twice, but I will pay you sometime during the week.
Overrunner, An. A shrew mouse, which is supposed to portend ill-luck if it runs over a person's foot. In Dorsetshire it is called a "shrocop," where the same superstition is believed. See Barnes' Glossary of the Dorset Dialect, p. 382.
Panshard, or Ponshard, A. Rage, anger. "You have no need to get in a panshard," is a most common saying. See "peel," further on.
Patchy. Testy. Said of people who proverbially "blow hot and then cold."
Peel, A. A disturbance, noise. "To be in a peel," means, to be in a passion. Used in much the same sense as the word "pelt," which is rightly explained in the glossaries as anger, noise, rage, though it is, perhaps, more spoken of animals than "peel." "What a pelt the dog is making," that is, barking, would be said rather than "peel."
Picked. Sharp, pointed. "A picked piece," means a field with one or more sharp angular corners.
Pity. Love. "Pity is akin to love," says Shakspeare, but in the West of England it is often the same.
Plash, A. A mill-head. It is often used conjointly with another word, as Winkton Plash.
