Glossary additions

Just in…25 more words for the Glossary of Frontier Fiction. These are from Wilson M. Hudson’s collection of Andy Adams’ campfire stories.

big auger = the big boss. “I’m not afraid of any man in your outfit, from the gimlet to the big auger.” Andy Adams, Cattle Brands.

Black Book = the Texas Rangers’ list of fugitives, published annually. “We looked the ‘Black Book’ over afterward for any description of him. At that time, there were over four thousand criminals and outlaws described in it.” Andy Adams, Cattle Brands.

bobble = jerky, jumpy movement. “We had several bobbles crossing that strip of country; nothing bad, just jump and run a mile or so, and then mill until daylight.” Andy Adams, Cattle Brands.

Coming: A Glossary of Frontier Fiction

OK, I have completed, proofed, polished, and sent off Vol. 2 of How the West Was Written. (For more about Vol. 1 and how to get your copy—published by Beat to a Pulp Press and at a hard to beat price—click on the book cover in the left sidebar.)

Time to move on to the next project, a glossary of frontier fiction, which covers the same years, 1880–1915. As I read more from this period, I continue to add words, phrases, and their definitions. Here is the current crop from recent reading:

Bill = reference to a Wild West show, as in Bill-show, Bill-show cowboy, Bill-horse. “You she’d have seen Rusty Mikel, Miss, the time his Bill-hoss turned a flip-flop onto him.” Herman Whitaker, Over the Border.

charro = a Mexican horseman or cowboy, typically one wearing an elaborate outfit, often with silver decorations, of tight trousers, ruffled shirt, short jacket, and sombrero. “In their motley uniforms, regulation khaki or linen alternating with tight charro suits and peon cottons, they were exceedingly picturesque.” Herman Whitaker, Over the Border.

Chemisettes, 1850

chemisette = a woman's garment of linen, lace, or the like, worn, toward the end of the Victorian era, over a low-cut or open bodice to cover the neck and breast. “Under pretense of admiring the hand-made lace edging on the girl’s chemisette, she managed another peep and saw the leather worked with Gordon’s monogram in gold.” Herman Whitaker, Over the Border.

calzones = breeches, pants. “It appears that he had only has dirty cotton calzones to be buried in, so his wife begged a worn white suit from Mr. Benson.” Herman Whitaker, Over the Border.

Glossary of frontier fiction: addenda(mukluks – too dead to skin)

Below is a list of mostly forgotten terms, people, and the occasional song, drawn from a reading of frontier fiction, 1880–1915. Each week a new list, progressing through the alphabet, “from A to Izzard.” (The following are additions, turned up since weekly postings began a year ago.)

mukluks = a high, soft boot worn in the American Arctic and traditionally made from sealskin. “He moved lightly, his footing made doubly secure by reason of his soft-soled mukluks.” Rex Beach, The Spoilers.

  

needle-tell = a system for marking a deck of cards with invisible needles, as explained in Rex Beach’s The Spoilers, which prick “the dealer’s thumb, signaling the presence of certain cards.”

Glossary of frontier fiction: addenda(drop one’s watermelon – minié ball)

Below is a list of mostly forgotten terms, people, and the occasional song, drawn from a reading of frontier fiction, 1880–1915. Each week a new list, progressing through the alphabet, “from A to Izzard.” (The following are additions, turned up since these weekly postings began a year ago.)

drop one’s watermelon = to make a serious mistake. “That’s where Coyote makes the mistake of his c’reer; that’s where he drops his watermelon!” Alfred Henry Lewis, Wolfville Nights.

Edward Eggleston

Eggleston, Edward = American author and historian (1837-1902), best known for novels set in Indiana. “This serial (which involved my sister and myself in many a spat as to who should read it first) was The Hoosier Schoolmaster, by Edward Eggleston, and a perfectly successful attempt to interest western readers in a story of the middle border.” Hamlin Garland, A Son of the Middle Border.

fan = to drive away or scatter like chaff. “There was a kind of a Death March into the dining-room from which Mrs. Terriberry had unceremoniously ‘fanned’ the regular boarders.” Caroline Lockhart, The Lady Doc.

fice-dog = a Feist dog, used for hunting, believed to be a cross between Native American dogs and dogs brought by the colonists. “While grub’s cookin’ and Crawfish an’ me’s pow-wowin’, a little old dog Crawfish has—one of them no-account fice-dogs—comes up an’ makes a small uprisin’ to one side.” Alfred Henry Lewis, Wolfville.

Glossary of frontier fiction: addenda(air-tights – dornick)

Below is a list of mostly forgotten terms, people, and the occasional song, drawn from a reading of frontier fiction, 1880–1915. Each week a new list, progressing through the alphabet, “from A to Izzard.” (The following are additions, turned up since the weekly postings began a year ago.)

air-tights = canned goods, e.g. tomatoes, peaches, milk. “At last Crawfish, havin’ turned his little game for flour, air-tights, an’ jig-juice, as I says, gets into the Red Light, an’ braces up ag’in the bar an’ calls for nose-paint all ’round.”  Alfred Henry Lewis, Wolfville.

alcalde = a town official, e.g. mayor (from Spanish). “We-alls is organized for a shore-’nough town, an Jack Moore is a shore-’nough marshal, come with Enright for alcalde that a-way, an’ thars a heap of improvements. Alfred Henry Lewis, Wolfville.

Allen’s Cherry Pectoral  = a patent medicine. “These advertising bulletins could be seen in heaps on the counter at the drug store especially in the spring months when ‘Healey’s Bitters’ and ‘Allen’s ‘Cherry Pectoral’ were most needed to ‘purify the blood.’” Hamlin Garland, A Son of the Middle Border.

almarjal = rain-fed boggy ground. “Even the rude rancheros and tradesmen who were permitted to enter the walls in the exercise of their calling began to speak mysteriously of the beauty of this garden of the almarjal.” Bret Harte, Frontier Stories.

Glossary of frontier fiction: XYZ(Yale Mixture – zanjero)

Below is a list of mostly forgotten terms, people, and the occasional song, drawn from a reading of mostly frontier fiction, 1880–1915. Each week a new list, progressing through the alphabet, “from A to Izzard.”

Yale Mixture = a smoking tobacco sold by Marburg Brothers of Baltimore, Maryland. “He preferred Yale Mixture in his pipe.” Frank Norris, McTeague.

yap = a simpleton; a contemptible person, irrespective of class or background. “That yap up there at the top of the hill could have done this for you long ago.” Caroline Lockhart, Me—Smith.

Yaqui = an Indian tribe originally in northern Mexico and now also in Arizona. “My Gosh, he can eat! And a complexion like a Yaqui.” Henry Herbert Knibbs, Overland Red.

yarder = a winch or system of winches powered by an engine and used to haul logs from a stump to a landing or to a skid road. “The yarder came snorting grotesquely down from the dip behind the first ridge.” Vingie Roe, The Heart of Night Wind.

yeggman = safe cracker, burglar, thug. “Observe, the gentleman still keeps his sawed-off yeggman’s delight in his pocket.” A. M. Chisholm, Desert Conquest.

Glossary of frontier fiction: W(whipstock – wurrah!)

Below is a list of mostly forgotten terms, people, and the occasional song, drawn from a reading of mostly frontier fiction, 1880–1915. Each week a new list, progressing through the alphabet, “from A to Izzard.”

whipstock = the handle of a whip. “John replied, fingering the whipstock of the doctor’s buggy.” Dell Munger, The Wind Before the Dawn.

whiskey jack = the gray jay or Canada Jay, a North American bird found in coniferous forests. “A whisky jack flitted from branch to branch of the under brush—always just a step ahead.” Agnes C. Laut, The Freebooters of the Wilderness.

whit leather = a leather that has been treated with alum and/or salt. “He is as sound as a dollar, as tough as whit-leather, and as to his gentleness he speaks for himself.” John C. Bell, The Pilgrim and the Pioneer.

white alley = in the game of marbles, a white marble used for shooting. “I make a distinction between gunman and gunfighter, the former being practically a murderer, while the latter always gave a foe a chance for his White Alley; in short, a gunfighter was not a hired killer.” Jack Thorp, Along the Rio Grande.

Exposition, Chicago, 1893

White City, The = Chicago, which gained the nickname during the 1893 World’s Exposition, illuminated at night by the extensive use of a new invention, electric street lights. “Like everyone else who saw it at this time I was amazed at the grandeur of ‘The White City’ and impatiently anxious to have all my friends and relations share in my enjoyment of it.” Hamlin Garland, A Son of the Middle Border.

white-eyes = Indian term for white people. “The Indians, being wicked, ungrateful, suspicious characters, doubted the promises of the White-eyes.” Gwendolen Overton, The Heritage of Unrest.

Glossary of frontier fiction: W(waddy – whipsaw)

Below is a list of mostly forgotten terms, people, and the occasional song, drawn from a reading of mostly frontier fiction, 1880–1915. Each week a new list, progressing through the alphabet, “from A to Izzard.”

waddy = a cowboy; also, a rustler. “A genuine rustler was called a ‘waddy,’ a name difficult to trace to its origin.” Emerson Hough, The Story of the Cowboy.

wady = dry riverbed. “I worked in the other direction by spells till I got to a little wady.” Harry Leon Wilson, The Lions of the Lord.

walk Spanish = to follow an unwelcome order. “He’d meet your representative like a gentleman, and step around lively and walk Spanish for you, if you so much as winked.” Samuel Merwin, The Road-Builders.

walk-a-heap = Indian term for a foot soldier. “The army is goin’ to come up agin’ us—pony soldiers, and walk-a-heaps, and twice guns, to take our water-holes.” Roger Pocock, Curly.

walk-down = a method of catching wild horses by following them until they are exhausted. “They were so worn and tired they marched up to and through the corral gate like a bunch of wild horses after a ‘nine-day walk-down.’” Edgar Beecher Bronson, Reminiscences of a Ranchman.

walking beam = on a steam engine, a lever that oscillates on a pivot and transmits power to the crankshaft. “When ‘Walkingbars’ got down to earnest pitching it seemed—and usually proved—as hard to stop him as to stay the mighty swing of a side-wheeler’s walking-beam.” Edgar Beecher Bronson, Reminiscences of a Ranchman.

walking boss = the superintendent of two or more logging camps. “He and Wright held council with McKenna, Tobin, Deever, and MacNutt, the former being Kent’s walking boss and the last three his foremen.” A. M. Chisholm, The Boss of Wind River.

Wall tent

wall tent = a canvas tent with four vertical walls. “The Britons has got up a wall tent an’ is shorely havin’ a high an’ lavish time.” Alfred Henry Lewis, Wolfville.

wambling = wobbling, rolling. “Whenever he spoke, Dan had a habit of wambling and grinning, thereby disclosing his tobacco-colored teeth, and quivering like a creature in convulsions.” Willis George Emerson, Buell Hampton.

Glossary of frontier fiction: U-V(ulster – vug)

Below is a list of mostly forgotten terms, people, and the occasional song, drawn from a reading of mostly frontier fiction, 1880–1915. Each week a new list, progressing through the alphabet, “from A to Izzard.”

ulster = heavy coat worn over ordinary clothing in cold weather. “He was tall, youthful, and stalwart of figure, dressed for a winter journey, in seal-skin cap and belted ulster.” Mary Hallock Foote, The Led-Horse Claim.

Sheep-lined ulsters, 1906

unchancy = unlucky, dangerous. “My unfortunate horse put his foot in that unchancy burrow and sent me flying.” Frederick Niven, The Lost Cabin Mine.

under the rose = in secret, privately, in a manner that forbids disclosure. “Tommy had started it, and he might conclude that it wasn’t worth following up—or at least inaugurate his private war under the rose, so to speak.” Bertrand Sinclair, Wild West.

underhack = an earmark on an animal made by cutting up on the underside of the ear about one inch. “I’m workin’ a bunch of cattle; Cross-K is the brand; y’ear-marks a swallow-fork in the left, with the right y’ear onderhacked.” Alfred Henry Lewis, Wolfville.

underhand stoping = the working of an ore deposit from the top downwards. “He would be compelled to a little ‘underhand stoping in another level’; and a very low level it was that he contemplated.” Lewis B. France, Pine Valley.

undress = informal, casual attire. “A child clad in leathern breeches, a miniature undress shirt, such as is affected by cow-boys, a great collar to boot, and a rough steeple-crowned form of straw sombrero, appeared.” Frances Charles, In The Country God Forgot.

undying worm = a reference to biblical prophecies regarding eternal punishment of the wicked. “The evangelist, a stout man of bull-like build, proceeded to cut off yards of the ‘undying worm,’ and to measure bushels of the ‘fire that quencheth not.’” Herman Whitaker, The Settler.

Glossary of frontier fiction: T(touch a hunchback – tyro)

Below is a list of mostly forgotten terms, people, and the occasional song, drawn from a reading of mostly frontier fiction, 1880–1915. Each week a new list, progressing through the alphabet, “from A to Izzard.”

touch a hunchback = a superstition, believed to bring good luck. “The mere mention of it brings better fortin’ than touchin’ a hunchback.” Marguerite Merington, Scarlett of the Mounted.

touch-me-not = a person who does not allow or invite touching. “He waited a moment, watching her in mingled amusement and pique. ‘Another touch-me-not,’ he told himself.” Ada Woodruff Anderson, The Heart of the Red Firs.

touching pitch = to come under a bad influence; from the proverb “He that touches pitch shall be defiled.” “They were taught copy-book morals about touching pitch, I reckon.” Gwendolen Overton, The Heritage of Unrest.

tow = the coarse and broken part of flax or hemp prepared for spinning. “If a flintlock, the filling was to be taken out and the pan filled with tow or cotton.” Harry Leon Wilson, The Lions of the Lord.

Town Topics = a magazine devoted to gossip about high-society people. “He had been lying for some time with his eyes half closed, a half-consumed cigarette between his lips, an uncut Town Topics in his hand.” Hattie Horner Louthan, This Was a Man!

trail out = death. “I don’t like a knife none myse’f as a trail out.” Alfred Henry Lewis, Wolfville.

trammer = a mine worker loading broken ore or mineral into a tram, a box-like wagon on rails. “The little thin, nervous lady, whose husband was merely a trammer in the mine, had no such violence of energy either for or against in her mind.” Frances Charles, In The Country God Forgot.

trap rock = a dark colored igneous rock of great weight and strength, including basalt and feldspar. “She had rounded the craggy hill on their right and was in sight of a scattered grove of boxelders below a dike of dark colored trap rock that outcropped across the bed of the creek.” Robert Ames Bennet, Out of the Depths.

traps = personal effects, belongings, baggage. “Mike got a few necessary traps together and started.” Frank Lewis Nason, To the End of the Trail.

traveling glass = a drinking glass with carrying case; drinking cup with lid. “I screwed the cover on the traveling-glass, and put it with the sandwiches in the bottom of the stage.” Paul Leicester Ford, The Great K&A Train Robbery.

trencherman = a hearty eater. “You ought to be a valiant trencher-man at your age!” Mary Hallock Foote, The Led-Horse Claim.

trick at the wheel = time allotted to a sailor on duty at the helm. “I’ve played the baby act on this picnic as much as I propose to. It is my trick at the wheel.” Honoré Willsie Morrow, The Heart of the Desert.

Glossary of frontier fiction: T(thorough braces – tot )

Below is a list of mostly forgotten terms, people, and the occasional song, drawn from a reading of frontier fiction, 1880–1915. Each week a new list, progressing through the alphabet, “from A to Izzard.”

thorough braces = strips of leather cured to the toughness of steel and strung in pairs to support the body of a coach and enable it to swing back and forth. “In rolled the old thorough-brace coach and its puffing, steaming team of six.” Edgar Beecher Bronson, Reminiscences of a Ranchman.

three cheers and a tiger = cheers followed by a long, drawn-out shriek, often of the word “tiger.” “At the grave we turns in an’ gives three cheers for King, an’ three for Doc Peets; an’ last we gives three more an’ a tiger for the camp.” Alfred Henry Lewis, Wolfville.

through-other = disordered, untidy. “I been too through-other in my housekeeping’.” Grace and Alice MacGowan, Aunt Huldah.

throw down = to cover someone with a gun, to shoot. “He had sat up and leveled a finger at me with the throw-down jerk of a marksman.” Owen Wister, Lin McLean.

throw off = to speak off-handedly. “Those two boys were not throwing off on each other—not a little bit. They meant every word and meant it deep.” Andy Adams, Cattle Brands.

throw twine = to rope, lasso. “The cutting out from the herd of some eighteen or twenty horses for the day’s work, involving much ‘throwing of the twine,’ in cowboy slang, was full of excitement for all concerned.” Mary Etta Stickney, Brown of Lost River.

Glossary of frontier fiction: T(taboret – Thomas, Seth)

Below is a list of mostly forgotten terms, people, and the occasional song, drawn from a reading of frontier fiction, 1880–1915. Each week a new list, progressing through the alphabet, “from A to Izzard.”

taboret = a small portable stand or cabinet. “Richard lay indolently in the veranda hammock within easy reach of the bottles and glasses on a small taboret.” Hattie Horner Louthan, This Was a Man!

taffrail = a rail and ornamentation around a ship’s stern. “The faintest line of contour yet left visible spoke of the buoyancy of another element; the balustrade of her roof was unmistakably a taffrail.” Bret Harte, Frontier Stories.

taffy = insincere and obvious flattery. “That Simpson’s tryin’ t’ cut me out—and so he’s givin’ you all this taffy about your voice.” Eleanor Gates, Alec Lloyd, Cowpuncher.

taglock = a matted lock of wool or hair. “This is a large flock of sheep that has come up into this valley of the mountains, and some of them have got tag-locks hanging about them.” Harry Leon Wilson, The Lions of the Lord.

tail a pony = a rough practical joke played by one rider on another, as explained in the following quote. “It’s ridin’ up from the r’ar an’ takin’ a half-hitch on your saddle-horn with the tail of another gent’s pony, an’ then spurrin’ by an’ swappin’ ends with the whole outfit,—gent, hoss, an’ all.” Alfred Henry Lewis, Wolfville.

Glossary of frontier fiction: S(straddlebug – syringa)

Below is a list of mostly forgotten terms, people, and the occasional song, drawn from a reading of frontier fiction, 1880–1915. Each week a new list, progressing through the alphabet, “from A to Izzard.”

straddlebug = tripod commonly constructed of three planks of wood with a settler’s name attached to notify others that a plot of land was being claimed by a homesteader. “And so at last they came to the land of ‘the straddle-bug’—the squatters’ watch dog—three boards nailed together (like a stack of army muskets) to make a claim.” Hamlin Garland, The Moccasin Ranch.

straddling = in poker, a bet made before cards are dealt. “Let us have a regulation ‘ante.’ No ‘straddling.”’ Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

straggle = to wander off, stray. “It’s a day straggled from heaven, ain’t it?” Frederick Thickstun Clark, In the Valley of Havilah.

strangler = killer. “I don’t want no strangler work on this range, nor shootin’—unless deputy sheriffs do the shootin’.” Bertrand Sinclair, Wild West.

strapper = a big, strong person; a notably hard worker. “Man alive, jes’ look at that air gal’s shape! Ain’t she a strapper?” Frederick Thickstun Clark, In the Valley of Havilah.

Glossary of frontier fiction: S(sponge gold – strabismus)

Below is a list of mostly forgotten terms, people, and the occasional song, drawn from a reading of frontier fiction, 1880–1915. Each week a new list, progressing through the alphabet, “from A to Izzard.”

sponge gold = a noncohesive form of pure gold, used for dental restoration. “McTeague turned to her suddenly, his mallet in one hand, his pliers holding a pellet of sponge-gold in the other.” Frank Norris, McTeague.

spoon = a fishing lure. “Whether it’s with flies, spoons or minnows, castin’ or trollin’, or spearin’ or nettin’, Warry’s the expertest fish-catcher that ever waded the rapids.” Edgar Beecher Bronson, The Red-Blooded.

spoon = foolish, sentimental affection. “Stuart had a bad case of spoons.” Marah Ellis Ryan, Told in the Hills.

spoony = a fool or silly person. “Mr. Bruin fell dead; and the spoonies are handing down his hide to a numerous posterity.” Hattie Horner Louthan, This Was a Man!

sporting gentleman = a gambler. “Our sporting gentlemen are also men of education; you may find gentlemen of such education on every one of our steam-packets.” Charles Sealsfield, The Cabin Book.

spotted fever = typhus or meningitis; any of several diseases characterized by fever and skin spots. “The cook contracted spotted fever and died.” James Hendryx, The Promise.

spotted pup = rice pudding. “‘Close shave that,’ panted Glenister, feeling his throat gingerly, ‘but I wouldn’t have missed it for spotted pup.’” Rex Beach, The Spoilers.

spotter = a detective, an informer. “Know an engineering chap tramped the Sierras for a hundred miles dogged by a spotter from one of the railroads.” Agnes C. Laut, The Freebooters of the Wilderness.

Glossary of frontier fiction: S(snap a cap – spondulix)

Below is a list of mostly forgotten terms, people, and the occasional song, drawn from a reading of frontier fiction, 1880–1915. Each week a new list, progressing through the alphabet, “from A to Izzard.”

snap a cap = to fire a shot. “The watch officer had caught him in the act, followed him into his lodge, leveled his pistol, and snapped a cap in the Crow’s face.” Cy Warman, Frontier Stories.

snapped corn = corn that has been removed from the stalk but remaining in the husk. “As Elizabeth started to the house, she noticed her father and the boys coming from the cornfield with a wagon-load of snapped corn.” Dell Munger, The Wind Before the Dawn.

snapshot = a quick, hurried shot fired without deliberate aim, especially at a moving target. “But Tib, ignoring his annoyer and after foolishly chanting some lines about ‘Lions to right of ’em, lions to left of ’em,’ pivoted and raked my villain by a neat snap-shot.” Hugh Pendexter, Tiberius Smith.

snoozer = sheep or sheep man. “He’d been raised a cow pony and didn’t much care for snoozers.” O. Henry, Heart of the West.

snoozer = a person. “They played the thing up to the limit, and took in each snoozer and bloke.” William De Vere, Jim Marshall’s New Pianner.

snow wreath = snow drift. “To be sure, there be times when one canna stir for the snow wreaths, but that’s to be allowed for.” Marah Ellis Ryan, Told in the Hills.

Glossary of frontier fiction: S(skive – snap)

Below is a list of mostly forgotten terms, people, and the occasional song, drawn from a reading of frontier fiction, 1880–1915. Each week a new list, progressing through the alphabet, “from A to Izzard.”

skive = the action of cutting into something; shaving, paring, trimming. “Great yellow rolls of butter into which the knives of the men skived deeply.” James Hendryx, The Promise.

skookum = Chinook jargon for strong, powerful. “Bring dynamite – kiyu skookum powder.” A. M. Chisholm, Desert Conquest.

skookum box = a place onboard ship for confining troublesome passengers. “There too is the skookum box—that is, the strong room or lock-up. To it the first mate of the Cassiar is wont to shoot too noisy drunks.” Martin Allerdale Grainger, Woodsmen of the West.

skunk = to defeat, get the better of. “All of Sprague’s boys an’ his gals had some spunk / an’ he bragged that none on ’em nobody could skunk.” William De Vere, Jim Marshall’s New Pianner.

sky scout = a parson. “He was dressed all in black, a sky-scout of sorts, but dusty and making signs as though he couldn’t shout for thirst.” Roger Pocock, Curly.

sky piece = any form of headgear. “I started out in a tin suit with a sort of kettle turned upside down an’ covered with feathers for a sky-piece.” Robert Alexander Wason, Happy Hawkins.

skypiece = brains. “If you only got a twice-by-two skypiece all the schoolin’ in the world won’t land you on top of the heap.” Bertrand Sinclair, Wild West.

slack water = a cessation in the strong flow of a current or tide. “Just beyond Church House we lay at anchor for an hour or two, waiting for slack water in the Euclataws.” Martin Allerdale Grainger, Woodsmen of the West.

slant = an opportunity to seize an advantage. “Silas was more than pleased to be able to get a ‘slant’ (to use his own expression) at his old enemy, Sim Lory.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

slant = to move off or toward. “With these remarks he slanted away back to town.” Roger Pocock, Curly.

Slanting Annie = well-remembered prostitute who lived and died in Creede, Colorado. “All about were new-made graves, where Joe Simmons and ‘Slanting Annie’ slept side by side.” Cy Warman, Frontier Stories.

slap-up = excellent, first-rate, lavish. “We’ll make it a dandy, slap-up affair as’ll par’lyze folk.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Sheriff of Dyke Hole.

slash = an area of debris left by logging. “He had something treed about a mile from the house, across a ridge over in some slashes.” Andy Adams, The Outlet.

slashing = very fine, splendid. “Immediately after dinner Casey brought up his road team, two wiry, slashing chestnuts.” A. M. Chisholm, Desert Conquest.

slat sunbonnet = a woman’s bonnet with deep, stiff brim surrounding the face and covering neck and shoulders. “The child was inside the house now, untying her slat sunbonnet, and setting away the precious pail of milk which had come too late for the invalid.” Grace and Alice MacGowan, Aunt Huldah.

slaunchways = diagonally, slantways. “When night would come, Cupid would go through his lessons, eat his supper, an’ fling himself slaunch-ways on the wide bunk.” Robert Alexander Wason, Happy Hawkins.

sleeper = a railroad tie. “He led Clara to some sleepers which lay piled below the railroad embankment near by.” Elizabeth Higgins, Out of the West.

sleeper = a calf that has been ear-marked, but not branded. “Every owner has a certain brand, as you know, and then he crops and slits the ears in a certain way, too. In that manner he don't have to look at the brand, except to corroborate the ears; and, as the critter generally sticks his ears up inquirin’-like to anyone ridin’ up, it’s easy to know the brand without lookin’ at it, merely from the ear-marks. Once in a great while, when a man comes across an unbranded calf, and it ain’t handy to build a fire, he just ear-marks it and let’s the brandin’ go till later. But it isn’t done often, and our outfit had strict orders never to make sleepers.” Stewart Edward White, Arizona Nights.

slimpsy / slimsy = flimsy, frail. “Monday mornin’s and they’re sleepy and kind o’ dreamy and slimpsy, and good f’r nothin’ on Tuesday and Wednesday.” Hamlin Garland, Main-Travelled Roads.

slip = a railway switch, where one pair of tracks crosses another, allowing a train to change from one track to the other. “One line of wagons—laden with scrapers, ‘slips’ and ‘wheelers,’ tents and camp equipage, the timbers and machinery of a pile-driver, and a thousand and one other things—was little by little extricating itself from the tangle.” Samuel Merwin, The Road-Builders.

slip one’s wind = to die or cause to die. “What assurance could I have that once you had the sketch in your hands you wouldn’t slip my wind?” Frederick Niven, The Lost Cabin Mine.

slippy = agile, nimble, speedy. “If yer don’t move—an’ move mighty slippy—you’ll be dumped headlong into the muck.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

slope = to depart, move off; leave without paying; escape. “‘You know that is Bill Lawton’s wife?’ he said. Taylor nodded. ‘The one who sloped with the Greaser?’” Gwendolen Overton, The Heritage of Unrest.

slope = to move in a leisurely manner, amble. “Next day Oregon sloped into the office, asked for his time, was paid off.” Martin Allerdale Grainger, Woodsmen of the West.

slouch hat = a wide-brimmed felt or cloth hat with a chinstrap, commonly worn as part of a military uniform. “He saw her, and without the hesitation of an instant raised his slouch hat and kept on.” Gwendolen Overton, The Heritage of Unrest.

slough = a card game for 4-6 players, originating in Germany; also known as solo. “He no longer found diversion in his nightly game of ‘slough’ in the card room of the Terriberry House.” Caroline Lockhart, The Lady Doc.

slow bell = an order to a ship’s engine to proceed slowly. “The revenue vessel steamed on under slow bells toward Seattle.” Ada Woodruff Anderson, The Heart of the Red Firs.

slow elk = cows being rustled. “The big non-resident cattle companies were the chief sufferers through losses of their ‘slow elk’.” Emerson Hough, The Story of the Cowboy.

slum = a stew of meat and vegetables, especially potatoes and onions (cf. slumgullion). “He rolled up his sleeves an’ started to peel spuds for the evenin’ slum.” Robert Alexander Wason, Happy Hawkins.

slumgullion = cheap food and drink. “Mace ain’t makin’ enough money passin’ slumgullion to them passenger cattle all day, so she’s a’goin’ over to Silverstein’s ev’ry night after this to fix up his books.” Eleanor Gates, Alec Lloyd, Cowpuncher.

slush lamp = a crude lamp burning tallow, grease, or fats obtained from boiling meat. “The slush lamp was burning low, and I saw Bella at the door.” Jack London, A Daughter of the Snows.

smack = a sailing boat used for fishing during the 19th century. “The rival notes of an accordion floated over from a passing fishing-smack.” Ada Woodruff Anderson, The Heart of the Red Firs.

smallclothes = men’s close-fitting knee breeches. “His ruffles were all of very fine needlework, his smallclothes of Genoese velvet, his jacket ropy with precious embroidery.” Mary Austin, Isidro.

smart as paint = exceedingly smart; a phrase apparently originating with Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. “The girl is as smart as paint; at the first inkling of your purpose she’ll curl up—shut up like a rat trap.” Ridgwell Cullum, The Story of the Foss River Ranch.

Smart Set, The = a literary magazine founded in 1900 and edited by H. L. Mencken. “The Boss’s son, deep in his June number of the Smart Set when informed, gave utterance to several expressive oaths.” Hattie Horner Louthan, This Was a Man!

smilax = a slender vine with glossy foliage, popular as a floral decoration. “They bore it into a large, unheated room that smelled of dampness and disuse and furniture polish, and set it down under a hanging lamp ornamented with jingling glass prisms and before a ‘Rogers group’ of John Alden and Priscilla, wreathed with smilax.” Willa Cather, The Troll Garden.

smoke wagon = six gun. “As we drew closer we made our smoke-wagons ready, while his two Greasers kept their hands in plain view, and harmless.” Robert Alexander Wason, Friar Tuck.

smoking concert = social event for men only with a program of music and comedy and often including drinking. “He who worships a Goddess in spirit and in truth is not likely to slide too often from his chair beneath the table, at a smoking concert.” Frederick Niven, Hands Up!

smut = any of several fungal plant diseases characterized by the formation of black powdery spores. “He intended a visit to the barn, where his man was dipping seed wheat in bluestone solution to kill the smut.” Herman Whitaker, The Settler.

smutch = blacken, dirty, smudge. “Tillie had a great deal of charity for black sheep, but she believed in them having a corral to themselves, and not allowing them the chance of smutching the spotless flocks that have had good luck and escaped the mire.” Marah Ellis Ryan, Told in the Hills.

snag boat = a steamboat with an apparatus for removing impeding debris (snags) from inland waters. “As I once said to Sidney Rigdon, our boat is an old snag boat and has never been out of Snag-harbour.” Harry Leon Wilson, The Lions of the Lord.

snake = to drag or pull forcibly, with rope or chain. “Here, ketch to my pommel, and I’ll snake you out.” Caroline Lockhart, Me—Smith.

snake feeder = dragonfly. “Here the gaudy-winged ‘snake feeder’ skipped from side to side, across the waters.” Willis George Emerson, Buell Hampton.

snake weed = Any of various plants reputed to have the power to cure snakebite. “In a

land like New Mexico, what with barrancas, arroyos, waste sand hills, timbered land, and miles where there is nothing but snake-weed, it takes upon an average from eighty to a hundred acres to support a cow.” Jack Thorp, Along the Rio Grande.

snakeroot = an herb growing in rich, shady woods; taken as a stimulant and tonic and believed to be an antidote for bites of snakes and mad dogs. “Myrtle Swanstrom was askin’ me the other day what I thought of marriage. ‘It’s a quick jump,’ I says, ‘ from molasses to snake-root.” Nancy Mann Waddell Woodrow, The New Missioner.

snakes = alcoholic hallucinations, delirium tremens. “His groping brain grasped at the idea, and it gave him strength—better the ‘snakes’ than that!” James Hendryx, The Promise.

snap = a share, portion. “When any man offers you a gilt-edged snap, try to figure out why he doesn’t keep it all for himself.” A. M. Chisholm, The Boss of Wind River.

snap = a homesteading claim taken by a person, who proves up on it, gets a patent, and then sells out. “They don’t often come here to live. This here’s a snap.” Vingie Roe, The Heart of Night Wind.

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Old West glossary of strong drink

Old West cuss words

Sources: Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang, Dictionary of the American West, The Cowboy Dictionary, The Cowboy Encyclopedia, Cowboy Lingo, The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, and various online dictionaries

Image credits: Wikimedia Commons

Coming up: Alethea Williams, Walls for the Wind