(2) n. The udder of a cow (A.B.).—N.W.
Bake, Beak. (1) v. To chop up with a mattock the rough surface of land that is to be reclaimed, afterwards burning the parings (Agric. of Wilts, ch. xii). See Burn-beak. *(2) n. The curved cutting mattock used in 'beaking' (Ibid. ch. xii). (3) n. The ploughed land lying on the plat of the downs near Heytesbury, in Norton Bavant parish, is usually known as the Beäk, or Bake, probably from having been thus reclaimed. In the Deverills parts of many of the down farms are known as the Bake, or, more usually, the Burn-bake.—S.W.
Bake-faggot. A rissole of chopped pig's-liver and seasoning, covered with 'flare.' See Faggot (2).—N.W.
Ballarag, Bullyrag. To abuse or scold at any one (S.).—N. & S.W.
Balm of Gilead. Melittis Melissophyllum, L., Wild Balm.
Bams. Rough gaiters of pieces of cloth wound about the legs, much used by shepherds and others exposed to cold weather. Cf. Vamplets.—N. & S.W.
'The old man … had bams on his legs and a sack fastened over his shoulders like a shawl.'—The Story of Dick, ch. xii. p. 141.
Bandy. (1) A species of Hockey, played with bandy sticks and a ball or piece of wood.—N. & S.W. (2) A crooked stick (S.).
Bane. Sheep-rot (D.). Baned. Of sheep, afflicted with rot (A.B.).—N.W.
Bang-tail, or Red Fiery Bang-tail. Phoenicurus ruticilla, the Redstart.—N.W. (Wroughton.)
*Bannet-hay. A rick-yard (H.Wr.).
Bannis. Gasterosteus trachurus, the Common Stickleback (A.B.H.Wr.). Also Bannistickle (A.B.), Bantickle (A.Wr.), and *Bramstickle (S.). 'Asperagus (quoedam piscis) a ban-stykyll.'—Ortus Vocab. A.S. bán, bone, and sticels, prickle. (See N.E.D.).—S.W.
*Bannut. Fruit of Juglans regia, L., the Walnut (A.B.).
Bantickle. See Bannis.
*Barber's Brushes. Dipsacus sylvestris, L., Wild Teasel (Flower's Flora of Wilts). Also Brushes.—N.W.
Bargain. A small landed property or holding. 'They have always been connected with that little bargain of land.'—N.W., still in use. Sir W. H. Cope, in his Hants Glossary, gives 'Bargan, a small property; a house and garden; a small piece of land,' as used in N. Hants.
Barge. (1) n. The gable of a house. Compare architectural Barge-boards.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.) (2) v. Before a hedge can be 'laid,' all its side, as well as the rough thorns, brambles, &c., growing in the ditch, must be cut off. This is called 'barging out' the ditch.—N.W.
Barge-hook. The iron hook used by thatchers to fasten the straw to the woodwork of the gable.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
Barge-knife. The knife used by thatchers in trimming off the straw round the eaves of the gable.—N.W. (Clyffe Pypard.)
Bargin. The overgrowth of a hedge, trimmed off before 'laying.'—N. & S.W.
Barken. The enclosed yard near a farm-house (A.B.); Rick-Barken, a rick-yard (A.), also used without prefix in this sense (Wilts Tales, p. 121).
'Barken, or Bercen, now commonly used for a yard or backside in Wilts … first signified the small croft or close where the sheep were brought up at night, and secured from danger of the open fields.'—Kennett's Parochial Antiquities.
Barton was formerly in very common use, but has now been displaced by Yard.—N. & S.W.
*Barley-bigg. A variety of barley (Aubrey's Wilts MS., p. 304).
*Barley-Sower. Larus canus, the Common Gull (Birds of Wilts, p. 534).
Barm. The usual Wilts term for yeast (A.B.M.S.).—N. & S.W.
*Barn-barley. Barley which has never been in rick, but has been kept under cover from the first, and is therefore perfectly dry and of high value for malting purposes (Great Estate, ch. viii. p. 152).
Basket. In some parts of S. Wilts potatoes are sold by the 'basket,' or three-peck measure, instead of by the 'sack' or the 'bag.'
Baskets. Plantago lanceolata, L., Ribwort Plantain.—S.W. (Little Langford.)
Bat-folding net. The net used in 'bird-batting,' q.v. (A.): more usually 'clap-net.'
Bat-mouse. The usual N. Wilts term for a bat.—N. & S.W.
Batt. A thin kind of oven-cake, about as thick as a tea-cake, but mostly crust.—N.W.
*Battledore-barley. A flat-eared variety of barley (Aubrey's Wilts MS., p. 304: H.Wr.).
Baulk. (1) Corn-baulk. When a 'land' has been accidentally passed over in sowing, the bare space is a 'baulk,' and is considered as a presage of some misfortune.—N.W. (2) A line of turf dividing a field.—N.W.
'The strips [in a "common field"] are marked off from one another, not by hedge or wall, but by a simple grass path, a foot or so wide, which they call "balks" or "meres."'—Wilts Arch. Mag. xvii. 294.
Bavin. An untrimmed brushwood faggot (A.B.S.): the long ragged faggot with two withes, used for fencing in the sides of sheds and yards; sometimes also applied to the ordinary faggot with one withe or band.—N. & S.W.
*Bawsy, Borsy, or Bozzy. Coarse, as applied to the fibre of cloth or wool. 'Bozzy-faced cloth bain't good enough vor I.'—S.W. (Trowbridge, &c.)
Bay. (1) n. A dam across a stream or ditch.—N.W. (2) v. 'To bay back water,' to dam it back.—N.W. (3) n. The space between beam and beam in a barn or cows' stalls.—N.W.
*Beads. Sagina procumbens, L., Pearlwort.—N.W. (Lyneham.)
Beak. See Bake and Burn-bake.
Bearsfoot. Hellebore.—N.W. (Huish, &c.)
Beat. 'To beat clots,' to break up the hard dry lumps of old cow-dung lying about in a pasture.—N.W.
Becall. To abuse, to call names. 'Her do becall I shameful.'—N. & S.W.
Bed-summers. See Waggon.
Bedwind, Bedwine. Clematis Vitalba, L., Traveller's Joy.—S.W.
Bee-flower. Ophrys apifera, Huds., Bee Orchis.—S.W.
Bee-pot. A bee-hive.—S.W.
'Lore ta zee zom on'ms hair,
Like girt bee pots a hanging there.'—Slow's Poems, p. 43.
Been, Bin. Because, since; a corruption of being (B.S.). 'Bin as he don't go, I won't.'—N.W.
Bees. A hive is a Bee-pot. Bee-flowers are those purposely grown near an apiary, as sources of honey. Of swarms, only the first is a Swarm, the second being a Smart, and the third a Chit. To follow a swarm, beating a tin pan, is Ringing or Tanging.—N.W.
*Beet. To make up a fire (A.B.C.G.). A.S. bétan, to better; to mend a fire (Skeat).—N.W., obsolete.
Beetle. (1)