Old West glossary, no. 30

Montana cowboys, c1910

Here’s another set of terms garnered from early western novels. Definitions were discovered in various online dictionaries, as well as searches in Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang, Dictionary of the American West, The New Encyclopedia of the American West, The Cowboy Dictionary, The Cowboy Encyclopedia, The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology, The Oxford Dictionary of Idioms, and The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.

These are from Mary MacLane’s The Story of Mary MacLane about a 19-year-old “genius” in Butte, Montana; and Grace and Alice MacGowan's Aunt Huldah, about a paragon of generosity in a West Texas town. Once again, I struck out on a few. If anyone has a definition for “bat’s wool,” “tribble,” or “mauley grubs,” leave a comment below.

Pail with bail

bail = an arched handle, such as on a bucket or a teapot. “The bread was cut and spread, the coffee put in a small bucket, and a string of tin cups was tied to its bail.” Grace and Alice MacGowan, Aunt Huldah.

box-rustler = a chorus girl who followed her performance by mixing with the patrons in their boxes, promoting the sale of drinks and, when desired, offering herself as a part-time prostitute. “‘Box-rustlers’—who are as common in Butte as bar-maids in Ireland.” Mary MacLane, The Story of Mary MacLane.

dengue = a tropical disease, with fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a skin rash like measles. “The young girl whom Gilbert had brought to the Wagon-Tire House was indeed suffering from dengue.” Grace and Alice MacGowan, Aunt Huldah.

diggings = lodging. “I want you to make yourself scarce around here from now on. Don’t let Frosty know you’re in the diggin’s at all.” Grace and Alice MacGowan, Aunt Huldah.

felon = a puss-filled infection at the end of a finger or toe in the area surrounding the nail. “The only mark I know of that you can tell him by is that he has had a felon on the first finger of his left hand, and it left the finger sort of marked.” Grace and Alice MacGowan, Aunt Huldah.

Gunter, Archibald C. = English-born American and prolific writer of popular plays and novels (1847-1907). “From the books of Archibald C. Gunter and Albert Ross: Kind Devil, deliver me.” Mary MacLane, The Story of Mary MacLane.

Hildegarde Grahame = a character in a series of girls’ novels (1889-1897) by Laura E. Richards (1850-1943). “I have read some girl-books, a few years ago—‘Hildegarde Grahame,’ and ‘What Katy Did,’ and all.” Mary MacLane, The Story of Mary MacLane.

Irish point, 1904

Irish point = Brussels appliqué; needlepoint lace, made in Ireland. “The aristocratic family with the Irish-point curtains in the windows—that lives on the county.” Mary MacLane, The Story of Mary MacLane.

Jack Hazard = character in a series of children’s stories by John Townsend Trowbridge (1827-1916). “I read about a boy whose name is Jack Hazard and who, J. T. Trowbridge informs the reader, is doing his best, and who seems to find it somewhat difficult.” Mary MacLane, The Story of Mary MacLane.

lawn = a fine linen or cotton fabric used for making clothes. “The stiffly-starched lawn frocks, which would have been put on the little girls, were laid by, and a couple of dark calicoes substituted.” Grace and Alice MacGowan, Aunt Huldah.

Illustration, Tennyson's "Mariana," 1901

lisle thread = a strong, tightly twisted cotton thread, named after the town in France where it was first manufactured. “From lisle-thread stockings; from round, tight garters; from brilliant brass belts; Kind Devil, deliver me.” Mary MacLane, The Story of Mary MacLane.

“Mariana” = a poem about despondent isolation by Tennyson published in 1830. “All day long this heart-sickening song of Mariana has been reeling and swimming in my brain.” Mary MacLane, The Story of Mary MacLane.

mover = a tramp, itinerant. “And you don’t know anything of the parents, except that they were movers, and that the man deserted the woman here!” Grace and Alice MacGowan, Aunt Huldah.

offscouring = refuse, rubbish. “The dregs, the élite, the humbly respectable, the off-scouring—all thrown together, and shaken up, and mixed well.” Mary MacLane, The Story of Mary MacLane.

orris root = the root of certain iris plants, once important in western herbal medicine, now chiefly used for its fragrance in perfumes and potpourri. “As if orris-root were sprinkled in the folds of my brain.” Mary MacLane, The Story of Mary MacLane.

Our Young Folks, February, 1873

Our Young Folks = magazine of stories, poems, and activities for children (1865-1873). “Usually the book that I read is an old dilapidated bound volume of that erstwhile periodical, ‘Our Young Folks.’” Mary MacLane, The Story of Mary MacLane.

Perry, Nora = an American poet and writer of juvenile stories (1831-1896). “The sort of person that Laura E. Richards writes about, and Nora Perry, and Louisa M. Alcott.” Mary MacLane, The Story of Mary MacLane.

put through a course of sprouts = to beat, flog, subject to harsh discipline. “Every incident in the history of the street is put through a course of sprouts by these same tireless members.” Mary MacLane, The Story of Mary MacLane.

Richards, Laura E. = prolific American writer of children’s books, biographies, and poetry (1850-1943). “I am not that quaint conceit, a girl: the sort of person that Laura E. Richards writes about.” Mary MacLane, The Story of Mary MacLane.

rippet = disturbance, mix-up, fight. “The terrible rippet about the morphine plumb skeered the sickness out o’ the little feller.” Grace and Alice MacGowan, Aunt Huldah.

Ross, Albert = pen name of popular American novelist, Linn Boyd Porter (1850-1916). “From the books of Archibald C. Gunter and Albert Ross: Kind Devil, deliver me.” Mary MacLane, The Story of Mary MacLane.

scutch = strike with a stick, whip or lash. “I was mad enough to ’ve give the boy a little scutchin’ sure enough.” Grace and Alice MacGowan, Aunt Huldah.

servigorous = determined, difficult to control. “You boys look out now, this here cow is just servigorous.” Grace and Alice MacGowan, Aunt Huldah.

skite = an objectionable person. “An’ every’ time them skites o’ hosses would come to whar’ I was, they’d go twenty feet wide o’ the noose.” Grace and Alice MacGowan, Aunt Huldah.

slat sunbonnet = a woman’s bonnet with deep, stiff brim surrounding the face and a skirt 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.

spang = absolutely, entirely, directly. “But I believe in mentionin’ each one’s faults right spang out to him.” Grace and Alice MacGowan, Aunt Huldah.

stalled ox = reference to Proverbs 15:17; “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.” “The small square rooms are distinctly pretty. But when I look at them seeingly I think of the proverb about the dinner of stalled ox.” Mary MacLane, The Story of Mary MacLane.

stravaging = wandering aimlessly. “A old fat lady like me—a-holdin’ out a danglin’ noose at arm’s len’th, waitin’ fer them snortin’, stravagin’ hosses to come up an’ kindly run their heads through it.” Grace and Alice MacGowan, Aunt Huldah.

Tally-ho, c1905

tally-ho = a fast, horse-drawn coach. “Smart society people in high traps and tally-hos.” Mary MacLane, The Story of Mary MacLane.

telescope valise = A valise made of two pasteboard boxes, one shutting down over the other and held in place by straps. “She had a dirty white handkerchief tied over her head—as all Italian peddler-women do—and she had a telescope valise.” Mary MacLane, The Story of Mary MacLane.

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

John Townsend Trowbridge, 1904

Trowbridge, John Townsend = prolific American writer of fiction and juvenile tales (1827-1916). “I read about a boy whose name is Jack Hazard and who, J. T. Trowbridge informs the reader, is doing his best, and who seems to find it somewhat difficult.” Mary MacLane, The Story of Mary MacLane.

turnout = a carriage or other horse-drawn vehicle with its horse or horses. “Huldah had been obliged to get her turnout from a Mexican who sometimes hired conveyances to the drummers who came through Blowout.” Grace and Alice MacGowan, Aunt Huldah.

What Katy Did = a children’s book by Susan Coolidge, published 1872. “I have read some girl-books, a few years ago—‘Hildegarde Grahame,’ and ‘What Katy Did,’ and all.” Mary MacLane, The Story of Mary MacLane.

Image credits: Wikimedia Commons

Coming up: William Holden, Glenn Ford, Texas (1941)