Glossary of old words for Yorkshire, Letters I-P

YORKSHIRE:
Glossary of old words for Yorkshire, Letters I-P

The words in this glossary were extracted from Langdale's Topographical Yorkshire Dictionary by Ron Long (USA) and from the Bulmer's History and Gazetteers of the East and North Ridings of Yorkshire by Peter Nelson (USA) and consequently have a "slant" towards Yorkshire, however some of the words are universal throughout England. The meanings for the words from Langdales YD were produced by Beryl Thompson (Australia) and myself (England). The meanings for the words from Bulmer's were produced by Liz Agar (Australia) who adds: All definitions unless noted otherwise were obtained from Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary or the Oxford English Dictionary (the complete OED was used where the word was not in Chambers' or the Shorter OED).

Although the context, from which the current instances of these words were taken, may indicate a particular meaning, where a word has multiple meanings the others may be included. The word may appear in other text with one of the other meanings.

The two glossaries were combined by my wife Pauline, and those words with (yd) following them are taken from Langdale's Yorkshire Dictionary, the remainder from Bulmers.

Colin Hinson, 2nd August 1999.

infangtheof
infangthief, n. Jurisdiction over a thief apprehended within the manor or territorial limits to which the privilege was attached; the right of the lord of a manor to try and to amerce a thief caught within its limits.

impropriate (yd)
impropriate rectory
impropriate Revenue for/from rectory placed in the hands of a layman or to transfer
rights from the church into lay hands.

inclose; inclosure; inclosed (yd)
inclose; inclosure; inclosed (less common spelling of enclose, etc) Surrounded, inclosed on all sides, means same as enclosed, see enclosure(s)above..

incumbent (yd)
incumbent A person who holds an office, especially a clergyman who holds a benefice.

ingle
ingle, 1. A fire; a fire burning upon the hearth; a house-fire. 2. An open fireplace

inveteracy (yd)
inveteracy Confirmed by time, or habit, also obstanacy.

intrenchment (yd) entrenchment
intrenchment (less common spelling of entrencment)
A trench, or ditch dug around a fort or castle to fortify same.

jackdaws (yd)
jackdaws Native English birds, of the crow family, black with grey head.

jupon
the effigy of a knight in full armour, with a hood, gorget, and tippet of chain or mail armour; he has a jupon, and over it an eriched belt for the sword
jupon, 1. A close-fitting tunic or doublet; especially one worn by knights under the hauberk; later a sleeveless surcoat worn outside the armour. 2. A short kirtle worn by women. 3. A woman's skirt.

justest (yd)
justest Justice, justly.

juxta
HUTTON juxta RUDBY
juxta Juxta = near to.

kalends
kalends = calends, n. pl. among the Romans, the first day of each month [L. kalendae calare; Gr. kaleein, to call(because the beginning of the month was proclaimed]

kine
kine, Archaic plural of cow.

kist-vaen
a very heavy sandstone, the cover of a large Kist-vaen, under which was the perfect skeleton
kistvaen, (cist) A sepulchral chest or chamber excavated in rock, etc.; especially a stone coffin formed of slabs placed on edge, and covered on the top by one or more horizontal slabs. (The word kistvaen is of Welsh origin, cist from Latin.)

kittywake (yd)
kittywake kittywake - oceanic gull having pale grey black tipped wings and a square cut tail.

labours (yd) (American = labor)
labours Works, toils.

labourers (yd) (American = laborers)
labourers Manual workers, usually unskilled. Though the term applied to farm workers,
who were often multi skilled, e.g. agricultural labourers.

latel
The arch between the chancel and nave is a pure Norman one, in four rims, springing from attached columns. The first rim is of two beads; the second is dogtooth, richly moulded; the third is a hollow and a bead, with birds' heads projecting about every six inches; and the fourth is an egg and tongue latel.
egg and latel, n Architectural moulding pattern, with alternating egg and vertical shapes.

liberty (yd)
a part in the liberty of St. Peter
liberty A liberty was a manor, or group of manors, or other area lying outside the juristriction of the sheriff. It had a separate Commission of Peace.

liveries (yd)
Context: (under Leckonfield) They breakfasted at seven, dined at ten, and supped at four: after which, between eight, and nine o'clock in the evening, they had their 'liveries' that is to say, "for my Lord and Lady, bread, as at breakfast;....
liveries don't know - probably "supper" from the context.

Lixivium (yd)
Lixivium of its salt set by to crystallise
Lixivium Lye, water impregnated with alkaline salts taken from wood-ashe.

lucubration
the melting emotions and sublime lucubrations
lucubrate, to study by lamplight; to discourse learnedly or pedantically.
lucubration, study or composition protracted late into the night; a product of such study; a composition that smells of the lamp.

lurries
the water rose so high at this point, that all foot traffic was suspended in the vicinity of the bridge, and people were carried across on lurries.
lurry, Alternate spelling of lorry. 1. A long wagon without sides, or with low sides, running on four low wheels. 2. (Mining) A running bridge over a pit.

machicolations
by a gateway, still quite perfect, on the north side, which was protected by a portcullis and machicolations
machicolation, (Architectural) An opening between the corbels which support a projecting parapet, or in the floor of a gallery, or the roof of a portal, through which combustibles, molten lead, stones, etc., were dropped upon assailants. Also a projecting structure containing such openings.

maritage
maritage, The feudal superior's right to dispose of a vassal's heiress (or heir) in marriage, or exact a fine. Cham.

magazine (yd)
coal magazine
magazine A store for weapons, explosives or coal.

manchets (yd)
(two manchets of the finest meal)
manchets A small loaf of fine wheaten bread.

manor (yd)
manor A landed estate consisting of a demesne and certain rights over lands held by freehold tenants etc.

manor court
manor court, n. A court presided over by the lord of the manor or his official and attended by free tenants and serfs. The purpose of the manor court was to corordinate and regulate the activities of the community. Court meetings were usually convened somewhere between once a month to once every six months. The business of the court included settlement of disputes and enforcement of the rights of the lord of the manor.

manufactories
manufactories factories

mark (yd) (currency)
mark (Historically) English money of account valued at two thirds of an English pound (13s. 4d.).

mascled
bearing the outline of a lion rampant and mascled
mascle (heraldic) a bearing, lozenge-shaped and perforated: a lozenge-shaped plate for scale armour

mazer
by his will left to his son Roger, "pro capella de Boltoun in Castro" vestments, &c.; for the principal chamber his bed, &c.; for the hall his green curtains worked with griffins, &c.; for the buttery two silver barrels, the constable's cup, and one mazer, called "Spang."
mazer, 1. A hard wood, (? properly maple) used as a material for drinking cups. 2. [As used in the above context] A bowl, drinking-cup or goblet without a foot, originally made of mazer wood; often applied to bowls entirely of metal. 3. A helmet.

mediety
The living is a vicarage, formerly in two medieties, one of which was given by Guarin de Bubwith to the Dean and Chapter of York, and the other was given by John de Mowbray, lord of Oxholme, to Byland Abbey. There were thus two vicars in the church, whose yearly stipends are valued in the Liber Regis at £7 2s. 6d. and £8 0s. 5d. respectively. At the dissolution of religious houses the latter mediety fell to the Crown, and the Lord Chancellor (for the Crown) and the Dean and Chapter of York now present alternately.
mediety, n. 1. a. A half b. spec. in Law.MOIETY
moiety, n. 1. A half, esp. in legal or quasi-legal use. 2. loosely, One (of two or more) parts into which something is divided.

merlons
eastern watch tower, with its impenetrable walls, its small iron-barred windows, its narrow merlons, with chinks and gillots, where the keen bowmen peered on the advancing foe
merlon, The part of an embattled parapet between embrasures [openings in a wall for canon].

mesne lord
mesne lord, The tenant of another mesne lord or of a tenant-in-chief. He provided land to a mesne lord or to a tenant in return for services or payment.

Messuage (yd)
Messuage A dwelling house with land and out-buildings. A Capital Messuage was the house (manor), of the Lord of the Manor, or similar large residence, also know as a "mese".

middlin' or middling
nobbut middlin' = not as good as hoped
middlin' (in higher pitch voice) = better than I dared hope but I'm not letting on for fear of you thinking I've made enough money to be generous.
middlin' (in lower pitched voice) = worse than I expected but do not want you to think I'm admitting to poor husbandry.
Middlin' An adjective meaning average but which is modified by speech pattern and/or qualifier (often used about the year's harvest)

modus
At the enclosure, in 1765, the great tithes were commuted for an allotment of 450 acres and a small modus paid out of the old enclosures; and at the same time 37 acres were allotted to the vicar, and an acre to the parish clerk.
modus, n. 1. Mode or manner. of operation. 2. A money payment in lieu of tythe

monody (yd)
monody Poem of lament for someones death

monstre
It is frequently used for monstre meetings and large gatherings, for which it is admirably adapted.
monstre, Huge. [This seems to be a quaint spelling of the word 'monstrous' with one of its meanings being huge. 'Monstre' was not found in the Complete Oxford English Dictionary, Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary, The Yorkshire Dictionary (Kellet)]
s

mortmain
mortmain, the condition of lands or tenements held inalienably by an ecclesiatical or other corporation; the transfer of property to a corporation which is said to be a dead hand, or one that can never part with it again. statutes of mortmain, act of parliament restricting or forbidding the giving of property to religious houses (1736)

mosstroopers
moss troopers
moss-trooper, n. One of the freebooters that used to infest the mosses of the Border.
*Found under the word moss, which has, in addition to the plant meanings, the following:
moss, n. (now chiefly Scots) A bog: boggy ground or soil.

moted (yd)
moated (yd)
moted, moated A fortification which is surrounded by a moat around it, "moated", a moat is a deep ditch filled with water.

moulter
This Walter gave to St. Mary's Abbey, York, and to Wetheral Priory, Cumberland - an offshoot of that house - four acres of land and leave to grind corn at his mill in Stirkland, moulter free.
Thomas Dixon and Walter Kighley shall bring in their milner at the next court to be sworne, and also his moulter dish to be tryed on pain of 20s.
moulter, n. Bird that is moulting. Perhaps altered form of moulder. To fret, to fall off in consequence of friction or some smilar cause; it is applied to friable stones, rotten wood.
moulter, v. To moult as in lose feathers. To rot or decay over time.
moulder, n. One who moulds dough or bread. One who is employed in making moulds for casting. One who moulds clay into bricks. An instrument for moulding, a mould. Mould.

mouldering (yd)
mouldering Crumbling, wasting.

multure
The founder endowed it with the church of St. Andrew, in Marrick, one carucate of land, tithes of his mill, multure of corn there, and he also gave the sisterhood liberty to grind their corn without paying multure.
multure, A toll in kind paid to the miller for grinding corn; the right to exact this. Hence multurer, one who pays toll for the grinding of his corn at a mill.

muniment
Adjoining is the vestry, over which is a chamber approached by an external staircase of 15th century work. The purpose of this chamber is not known, but it is generally supposed to have been a chapter or muniment room.
muniment, n. 1. Document, e.g. a title-deed, etc., preserved as evidence of rights or privileges. Chiefly in pl. 2. pl. Things with which a person or place is provided; furnishings.

narthex
narthex, n. . Archæol. A vestibule or portico stretching across the western end of some early Christian churches, divided from the nave by a wall, screen, or railing, and set apart for women, catechumens, etc.

nigh (yd)
nigh Near, close.

nimbus
Among the figures are our Blessed Lord with a nimbus round His head, kneeling penitents, St. Peter with the keys, some interlacing knot-work, and a figure, half man and half serpent, probably intended to represent the sting of the flesh, to which St. Paul alludes.
nimbus, n. a cloud or luminous mist investing a god or godess: a halo: a rain-cloud

nitre (yd)
nitre Saltpetre, or potassium nitrate.

obelisk (yd)
obelisk A retantangular column or monumental structure which tapers to a point at the top

ogee
ogee, n. A moulding S-shaped in section: an S-shaped curve. adj.having S-shaped curves. adj. ogeed.

one market-town (yd)
one market-town A town with a market, usually granted by Royal Charter.

ordonance (yd)
Context: (under Rokeby) The front extends 96 feet it has a rustic basement, and in the centre four columns and two pilasters support Corinthian ordonance.
ordonance harmonious combination of parts of a building (or picture).

outfangthief
outfangthief, the right of judging and fining thieves when outside of one's own jurisdiction.

overseer
overseer, n. One who oversees or superintends. A supervisor. Some specific uses: A person, appointed by a testator, to supervise the executor of the will; an officer (appointed annually) to perform various administrative duties mainly connected with the relief of the poor.

oxgangs (yd)
with 2 carucates, and 2 oxgangs of land
oxgangs One eighth of a ploughland. N.B. See Bovate above re. ploughland.

palatinate (yd)
palatinate the area ruled by a count or an earl

pannage
At the same time he granted them also a meadow called Utengs (out-ings), with the arable land therein, lying between "Nendike" and the pasture called "Fefang;" also exemption henceforth from the payment of pannage for such of their swine as they agisted in the 'wood called "Hagge," (Hagg, a hedge, the hawthorn) afterwards known as Beverley Parks.
pannage, n. 1 a. The feeding of swine, etc. in a forest or wood; pasturage for swine. b. The right or privilege of pasturing swine in a forest. c. The payment made to the owner of a woodland for this right; the profit thus accruing. 2 Acorns, beech-mast, etc. on which swine feed.

parclose
At the east end of the south aisle is the Wandesforde chapel, formerly enclosed by a parclose screen.
parclose, 1. Close, conclusion. 2. A partition, screen or railing serving to shut off a space in a building; now only a screen or railing in a church enclosing an altar, a tomb, etc. from the main body of the church.

parish (yd)
parish A place having it's own church and priest, also an old poor law district, see Alms-house, hospital.

parish-town (yd)
parish-town A town or village containing the Parish Church.,

park
park, n. Enclosed tract of land held by Royal grant or prescription for keeping beasts of the chase. (Distinguished from forest or chase by being enclosed; distinguished from a forest also by having no special rates or officers.)

parvise
parvis, Also erroneously parvise. 1. The enclosed area or court in front of a building, especially of a cathedral or church; sometimes applied to a single portico or colonnade in front of a church, and (in dictionaries) explained as a church porch. b. Erroneously applied to a 'room over a church-porch' 1836. 2. A public or academic conference or disputation. (So called from being originally held in the court or portico of a church.)'
mad

patens
The communion plate, consisting of a flagon, chalice, and two patens, is of solid silver, and was presented by the late Lady Sykes.
paten, n. 1. The shallow dish, usu. circular and of silver, on which the bread is laid at the celebration of the Eucharist. 2. gen. A shallow dish or plate.

Patent
Letters Patent n. are letters open for public inspection written by or on behalf of the sovereign usually granting land or privilege to a person or area and have been in existence for at least 600 years. Patents conferring protection on inventions sprang out of these in the 16/17th Centuries. ( from Matt Stephenson)

cross patonce
patonce, Heraldic term. In cross patonce, a cross with its arms usually expanding in a curved form from the centre, having ends somewhat like those of the cross fleury (i.e. having the arms tipped with fleurs-de-lis).

patron (yd)
patron One who has/ had the right to present a "church living" e.g. appoint the vicar or priest. Also a person who funded education (for an individual or groups e.g. grammar schools, local schools), causes (funding the building of churches, hospitals, alms-houses etc), arts (individuals, in all forms of the arts, painting, music, crafts and the buidling of galleries, theatres).

patronymick (yd)
patronymick name showing descent from a given person by adding a prefix or suffix

peculiar, peculiar jurisdiction (yd)
The parish was formerly a peculiar under the Dean and Chapter of Durham, but is now for all ecclesiastical purposes merged in the Archdeaconry of the East Riding.
peculiar, peculiar jurisdiction An area (property and lands) within an archdeaconary, but outside the juristriction of the archdeacon and usually the bishop. These were often the properties of either church officials from another diocese, or the lord of the manor.

pedlary (yd)
pedlary-ware.
pedlary Small goods sold by a pedlar, (a pedlar was a travelling salesman with no base, a chapman was the same but had a "warehouse")

peel
Scargill Castle, an ancient peel, of which three storeys of the tower still remain
peel, The general name in modern writers, for the massive square towers or fortified dwellings built in the C16th in the border counties of England and Scotland, for defence against forays. 1726. Other meanings are 1. A stake (rare) Middle English only. 2. A palisade formed of stakes; a stockaded or palisaded (and moated) enclosure -1596. 3. A castle, especially a small castle or tower. -1679

pele
This tower is strikingly imposing, and resembles in the massiveness of its masonry and internal construction, a Border pele
pele, An early (Middle English) spelling of peel (see above).

pence (yd)
Pence English currency. See Preface.

peppercorn rent (yd)
peppercorn rent A rent that is very low or nominal (but not zero).

pinder
pinder, An officer of a manor who impounds stray beasts

piscina
piscina, n. A fish-pond: a swimming-pool (as in Roman baths): a basin and drain in old churches, usually in a niche south of an altar, into which was emptied water used in washing the sacred vessels: -pl. piscinas, or piscinae Also piscine [L. piscina piscis, fish]

plough (yd)
plough American= plow.

plumassier
plumassier, n. A worker in feathers: a feather-seller.

pompous house (yd)
pompous embassy (yd)
pompous embassy, pompous house In both cases pompous in this context means splendid, outstanding, imposing.

pon (yd)
pon upon.

pontage
pontage, A toll paid for the use of a bridge; a tax paid for the maintenance and repair of a bridge or bridges; a bridge toll.

popish recusant convict (yd)
popish recusant convict Roman Catholic person convicted (and usually thrown into jail) of failing to take the oath of allegiance and failing to go to the Church of England church every Sunday. (Henry VIII had a thing against the pope, refer to English History).

porch (yd)
porch low structure projecting from the door of a house, church, or other building and forming a covered entrance. (NOT a veranda as in the USA)

post-town (yd)
post-town The town in which the post riders would change (post-)horses (at the post-house!)

Praemonstratensian
Praemonstratensian, (Premonstratensian) A religious order founded in 1120 by St Norbert at Prémontré near Laon in France. The members of the order were known as the White Canons from their long white hooded cloaks, white cassocks, and white caps. They came to England in 1143.

prebend (yd)
prebend Stipend assigned by a cathedral or collegiate church to a canon or other member of a chapter.

prebendary (yd)
prebendary Someone who holds a prebend.

Preceptors (yd)
Preceptors Tutors or instructors

preferred (yd)
was preferred to the bishopric of Bristol
preferred Was installed, appointed or promoted to

Pre-monstratensian (yd)
Pre-monstratensian Period before a shrine was consecrated.

preferred (yd) was preferred to the bishopric of Bristol
preferred Was installed, appointed or promoted to....".

Pre-monstratensian (yd)
Pre-monstratensian Period before a shrine was consecrated.

priory (yd)
priory Abbey, monastery.

Propraetor (yd)
Propraetor of Britain.
Propraetor Roman magistrate, in old script the "ae" was combined, i.e. joined together.

puffin (yd)
puffin northern diving bird, having a black and white plumage and a brightly coloured vertically flattened bill, lives in burrows.

purgative (yd)
purgative a drug or agent for purging (emptying) the bowels.

pyx, n. The vessel in which the host or consecrated bread of the sacrament is reserved.