A Dictionary Of The Sussex Dialect - online book

A Collection Of Provincialisms In Use In The County Of Sussex.

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96
A Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect.
Rife, w. A ditch on the moorland. (See Rythe.)
Ringle. [Diminutive of Ring.] A small ring, such as that put into the snout of a pig to prevent him from rooting up the floor of his sty.
I find among the manorial customs the following regula­tion,—" It is also ordained that every one do yoke or ring his hogs before the feast of St. Michael the Archangel next, and the same keep so yoked or ringed until the feast of St. John the Baptist then next following, under pain of forfeiting to the lord, for every hog, for every week, 3s. 4d."
Ringle, m. To put rings in hogs' snouts.
Rip. To reap. The sickle is called the rip-hook.
Ripe. [Ripa, Latin.] A bank or sea-shore.
A village in East Sussex is called by this name.
Ripiers. [Icel., hrip, a basket.] Men from the coast who carry baskets of fish to inland towns and villages. The word rip is still used in Scotland for a basket.
Rising, e. Yeast.
Robbut. [Corruption of Rabbit.] Sometimes pronounced as broadly as robert.
" Robbuts! Ah, I layyou never see such aplaace for robbuts as what ourn is! I never should have beleft, without I'd seen 'em in my garden, that there was so many robbuts in the wurreld. Why they be ready to eat us up alive!"
Roke. [Roec, or Rede, Ang. Sax., smoke.] Steam; mist.
Romney-marsh. There is a saying in East Sussex that the world is divided into five parts—Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Romney-marsh.
Rooster. The common cock. The Americans invariably call cocks by this name.
Rookery, m. A disturbance; a fuss and chattering.
"I never knew of a wedding but what the women-folks made a middlin' rookery over it."
Rossel-fence, w. The same as raddle-fence.
Rother, w. [Hryther, Ang. Sax.] A horned beast. .
Rough. Passionate; angry.
"Mus Moppet he'll be middlin' rough if he sees you a throwing at he's rooster."
Roundel. A circle; anything round.
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