A.

• Act'lly, actually.
• Air, are.
• Airth, earth.
• Airy, area.
• Aree, area.
• Arter, after.
• Ax, ask.

B.

• Beller, bellow.
• Bellowses, lunge.
• Ben, been.
• Bile, boil.
• Bimeby, by and by.
• Blurt out, to speak bluntly.
• Bust, burst.
• Buster, a roistering blade;
  • used also as a general superlative.

C.

• Caird, carried.
• Cairn, carrying.
• Caleb, a turncoat.
• Cal'late, calculate.
• Cass, a person with two lives.
• Close, clothes.
• Cockerel, a young cock.
• Cocktail, a kind of drink;
  • also, an ornament peculiar to soldiers.
• Convention, a place where people are imposed on;
  • a juggler's show.
• Coons, a cant term for a now defunct party;
  • derived, perhaps, from the fact of their being commonly up a tree.
• Cornwallis, a sort of muster in masquerade;
  • supposed to have had its origin soon after the Revolution, and to commemorate the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. It took the place of the old Guy Fawkes procession.
• Crooked stick, a perverse, froward person.
• Cunnle, a colonel.
• Cus, a curse;
  • also, a pitiful fellow.

D.

• Darsn't, used indiscriminately, either in singular or plural number, for dare not, dares not, and dared not.
• Deacon off, to give the cue to;
  • derived from a custom, once universal, but now extinct, in our New England Congregational churches. An important part of the office of deacon was to read aloud the hymns given out by the minister, one line at a time, the congregation singing each line as soon as read.
• Demmercrat, leadin', one in favour of extending slavery;
  • a free-trade lecturer maintained in the custom-house.
• Desput, desperate.
• Doos, does.
• Doughface, a contented lick-spittle;
  • a common variety of Northern politician.
• Dror, draw.
• Du, do.
• Dunno, dno, do not or does not know.
• Dut, dirt.

E.

• Eend, end.
• Ef, if.
• Emptins, yeast.
• Env'y, envoy.
• Everlasting, an intensive, without reference to duration.
• Ev'y, every.
• Ez, as.

F.

• Fer, for.
• Ferfle, ferful, fearful;
  • also an intensive.
• Fin', find.
• Fish-skin, used in New England to clarify coffee.
• Fix, a difficulty, a nonplus.
• Foller, folly, to follow.
• Forrerd, forward.
• Frum, from.
• Fur, far.
• Furder, farther.
• Furrer, furrow.
  • Metaphorically, to draw a straight furrow is to live uprightly or decorously.
• Fust, first.

G.

• Gin, gave.
• Git, get.
• Gret, great.
• Grit, spirit, energy, pluck.
• Grout, to sulk.
• Grouty, crabbed, surly.
• Gum, to impose on.
• Gump, a foolish fellow, a dullard.
• Gut, got.

H.

• Hed, had.
• Heern, heard.
• Hellum, helm.
• Hendy, handy.
• Het, heated.
• Hev, have.
• Hez, has.
• Holl, whole.
• Holt, hold.
• Huf, hoof.
• Hull, whole.
• Hum, home.
• Humbug, General Taylor's antislavery.
• Hut, hurt.

I.

• Idno, I do not know.
• In'my, enemy.
• Insines, ensigns;
  • used to designate both the officer who carries the standard, and the standard itself.
• Inter, intu, into.

J.

• Jedge, judge.
• Jest, just.
• Jine, join.
• Jint, joint.
• Junk, a fragment of any solid substance.

K.

• Keer, care.
• Kep, kept.
• Killock, a small anchor.
• Kin', kin' o', kinder, kind, kind of.

L.

• Lawth, loath.
• Let day-light into, to shoot.
• Let on, to hint, to confess, to own.
• Lick, to beat, to overcome.
• Lights, the bowels.
• Lily-pads, leaves of the water-lily.
• Long-sweetening, molasses.
• Loon, the northern diver.

M.

• Mash, marsh.
• Mean, stingy, ill-natured.
• Min', mind.

N.

• Ned, a slang phrase, going it like Ned, equivalent to our 'going like old Harry.'
• Nimepunce, ninepence, twelve and a half cents.
• Nowers, nowhere.

O.

• Offen, often.
• Ole, old.
• Ollers, olluz, always.
• On, of;
  • used before it or them, or at the end of a sentence, as on 't, on 'em, nut ez ever I heerd on.
• On'y, only.
• Ossifer, officer (seldom heard).

P.

• Peaked, pointed.
• Peek, to peep.
• Pickerel, the pike, a fish.
• Pint, point.
• Pocket full of rocks, plenty of money.
• Pooty, pretty.
• Pop'ler, conceited, popular.
• Pus, purse.
• Put out, troubled, vexed.

Q.

• Quarter, a quarter-dollar.
• Queen's arm, a musket.

R.

• Resh, rush.
• Revelee, the rÉveille.
• Rile, to trouble.
• Riled, angry;
  • disturbed, as the sediment in any liquid.
• Riz, risen.
• Row, a long row to hoe, a difficult task.
• Rugged, robust.
• Row-de-dow, troublesome talk.

S.

• Sarse, abuse, impertinence.
• Sartin, certain.
• Saxon, sacristan, sexton.
• Scaliest, worst.
• Scringe, cringe.
• Scrouge, to crowd.
• Sech, such.
• Set by, valued.
• Shakes, great, of considerable consequence.
• Shappoes, chapeaux, cocked-hats.
• Sheer, share.
• Shet, shut.
• Shine, a fancy or liking, also written shindy.
• Shut, shirt.
• Skeered, scared.
• Skeeter, mosquito.
• Skooting, running or moving swiftly.
• Slarterin', slaughtering.
• Slim, contemptible.
• Snaked, crawled like a snake;
  • but to snake any one out, is to track him to his hiding-place;
  • to snake a thing out is to snatch it out.
• Soffies, sofas.
• Sogerin', soldiering;
  • a barbarous amusement common among men in the savage state.
• Som'ers, somewhere.
• So 'st, so as that.
• Sot, set, obstinate, resolute.
• Spiles, spoils; objects of political ambition.
• Spry, active.
• Staddles, stout stakes driven into the salt marshes, on which the hay-ricks are set, and thus raised out of the reach of high tides.
• Streaked, uncomfortable, discomfited.
• Suckle, circle.
• Sutthin', something.
• Suttin, certain.
• Swan, to swear.

T.

• Take on, to sorrow.
• Talents, talons.
• Taters, potatoes.
• Tell, till.
• Tetch, touch.
• Tetch tu, to be able;
  • used always after a negative in this sense.
• Tollable, tolerable.
• Toot, used derisively for playing on any wind instrument.
• Thru, through.
• Thundering, a euphemism common in New England, for the profane English expression devilish. Perhaps derived from the belief, common formerly, that thunder was caused by the Prince of the Air, for some of whose accomplishments consult Cotton Mather.
• Tu, to, too;
  • commonly has this sound when used emphatically, or at the end of a sentence. At other times it has the sound of t in tough, as Ware ye goin' tu? Goin' ta Boston.

U.

• Ugly, ill-tempered, intractable.
• Uncle Sam, United States;
  • the largest boaster of liberty and owner of slaves.
• Unrizzest, applied to dough or bread;
  • heavy, most unrisen, or most incapable of rising.

V.

• V spot, a five-dollar bill.
• Vally, value.

W.

• Wake snakes, to get into trouble.
• Wal, well;
  • spoken with great deliberation, and sometimes with the a very much flattened, sometimes (but more seldom) very much broadened.
• Wannut, walnut (hickory).
• Ware, where.
• Ware, were.
• Whopper, an uncommonly large lie;
  • as, that General Taylor is in favour of the Wilmot Proviso.
• Wig, Whig;
  • a party now dissolved.
• Wiz, to whiz;
  • go off (like a rocket).
• Wunt, will not.
• Wus, worse.
• Wut, what.
• Wuth, worth;
  • as, Antislavery perfessions 'fore 'lection aint wuth a Bungtown copper.
• Wuz, was, sometimes were.

Y.

• Yaller, yellow.
• Yeller, yellow.
• Yellers, a disease of peach-trees.

Z.

• Zach, Ole, a second Washington, an antislavery slaveholder, a humane buyer and seller of men and women, a Christian hero generally.

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