Here’s another set of terms gleaned 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 Oxford Dictionary of Idioms, and The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.
These are from Marie Manning’s Judith of the Plains, about a mixed-race woman in a remote part of
Wyoming, and A. B. Ward’s The Sage Brush Parson, about a Methodist minister in a Nevada mining camp.
Once again, I struck out on a few. If
anyone has a definition for “exhibit stock,” “chiny,” “blue country,”
“cadunkered,” or “crazy lock,” leave a comment below.
bisque = fired, unglazed pottery; used for doll heads.
“Bettine, the bisque toy, sat stiffly erect in a go-cart pushed before her.” A.
B. Ward, The Sage Brush Parson.
blam-jam =
mild expletive for “damned.” “We can’t get
that blam-jam handcar up to Palisade and back without somethin’ more’n four-man
power.” A. B. Ward, The Sage Brush Parson.
blow in = to spend money. “The one thought they shared in
common was that of the wages that would come to them at the end of the drive;
of the feverish joy of ‘blowing in,’ in a single night.” Marie Manning, Judith
of the Plains.
Bride of the Tomb, The = one of 80 dime
novels by popular romance writer Mrs. Alex. McVeigh Miller (1850-1937). “The
brand on this here book that effected my change of heart was The Bride of the
Tomb. I forget the name of the girl in that romance, but she was in
hard luck from the start.” Marie Manning, Judith of the Plains.
budge = liquor. “‘He don’t put in any “budge,”’ said an
honest-faced young miner. ‘Parson wouldn’t allow it.’” A. B. Ward, The Sage
Brush Parson.
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Caryatides |
cap sheaf =
the top sheaf of a stack of grain; the
crowning or finishing part of a thing. “‘Ricker’s going to say grace. This’ll
put on the cap sheaf,’ his next neighbor whispered to Penrose.” A. B. Ward, The
Sage Brush Parson.
caryatid =
a supporting column sculptured in the form
of a draped female figure. “She proposed a bewildering choice—an inverted
wash-tub, two buckets sustaining the relation of caryatides to a board, the
sheet-iron cooking stove.” Marie Manning, Judith of the Plains.
Clodd, Edward =
an early follower of the work of Charles
Darwin, and writer of books popularizing evolution (1840-1930). “There lay on
the teacher’s ‘desk’ copies of Clodd’s Childhood of the World, two
of that excellent series of History Primers, and The Young Geologist.”
Marie Manning, Judith of the Plains.
“Cowboy’s Lament” =
title of a song, also known as “Streets of
Laredo.” “They tried all the old favorites, the ‘Cow-boy’s Lament’ being chief
among them.” Marie Manning, Judith of the Plains. Listen here.
Cranford =
a town in a series of novels by English
author Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865). “Even now her own letters to Peter were
no sprightly scrawl of passing events, but efforts whose seriousness suggested,
at least in their carefully elaborated stage of structure, the letters of the
ladies of Cranford.” Marie Manning, Judith of the Plains.
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Durham Ox, 1802 |
Durham = a breed of shorthorn cattle developed in 18th
century England. “Mrs. Yellett, who had never heard that ‘a soft voice is an
excellent thing in woman’ and whose chest-notes were not unlike those of a
Durham in sustained volume of sound, made the valley of the Wind River echo
with the summons of the pupils to school.” Marie Manning, Judith of the
Plains.
fairy well =
a small pool of water or spring into which
visitors dropped pins or buttons for wishes to be granted. “Judith, going to
her favorite pool to bathe, saw that it had shrunk till it seemed but a fairy
well hid among the willows.” Marie Manning, Judith of the Plains.
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Flannel band |
flannel band =
a band made of flannel, worn to protect
the navel-cord dressing until a baby was six weeks old. “There were infant
ailments to be discussed, there were the questions of food and of teething, of
paregoric and of flannel bands.” Marie Manning, Judith of the Plains.
gee = voice command
to horses or oxen to go right; haw, go left. “He watched the
driver gee his train with a steady pull
on the rod and haw it with two
swift, strong jerks.” A. B. Ward, The Sage Brush Parson.
geeswax = a mild expletive for “Jesus.” “If ’twould ease the
Parson any to talk, by geeswax, he would stand it!” A. B. Ward, The Sage
Brush Parson.
go-cart = a stroller, baby walker. “Elsie reluctantly trundled
the go-cart out of the room.” A. B. Ward, The Sage Brush Parson.
Hannah Cook =
something of little or no importance; from
“hand or cook,” a nautical reference to the lowest worker on a ship. “This was
the final word with Shed. When a thing beat Hannah Cook there was no more to be
said.” A. B. Ward, The Sage Brush Parson.
High Tippy Bob Royal =
a very important person; a show off. “He’s
a regular High Tippy Bob Royal! That’s what I told Mart Young yesterday.” A. B.
Ward, The Sage Brush Parson.
ignus fatuus =
will-o’-the-wisp; a phosphorescent light
that appears in marsh lands. “At the time he was following that ignis fatuus,
Holy Grail, pillar of cloud and pillar of fire, which was to him his Duty.” A.
B. Ward, The Sage Brush Parson.
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Kate Greenaway illustration |
Indian pipe =
monotropa uniflora, a flower-like white plant not requiring sunlight,
growing in the understory of dense forests; also ghost plant, corpse plant.
“In a niche of the wall an alabaster Piétà, brought home from Florence, slender and white and fragile as the Indian
pipes that spring without warning in the black forest mold, ghosts of flowers,
caught her eye.” A. B. Ward, The Sage Brush Parson.
Kate Greenaway =
English illustrator of children’s books
(1846-1901) . “The flowers, a daily offering from the Barkers and Mrs. Wellman and from the Chisholm conservatories, Martha was allowed to put into empty bottles and set up around the room, like a Kate Greenaway frieze.” A. B. Ward, The Sage Brush Parson.
laying pipe =
a politician’s efforts to accomplish some particular end, frequently his own
political advancement. “Dr. Elliott, who came to atone for Dr. Addison’s
shortcomings, found himself a possible candidate for State senator and was
usually away, ‘laying pipe,’ when he was needed.” A. B. Ward,
The Sage Brush
Parson.
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Original Lone Star Brewery |
Lone Star =
the beer; Lone Star Brewery, built in
1884, was the first large, mechanized brewery in Texas, founded by Adolphus
Busch with a group of San Antonio businessmen. “Vaughan selected a vacant space
between the picture of a female with floating hair and preternaturally large
eyes, offering an open box of ‘Lone Star,’ and a presentment of ‘Highland
Whiskies: The Best,’ and tacked up the notice.” A. B. Ward, The Sage Brush
Parson.
make a poor mouth =
to complain, to slander. “‘What I like
about him’ said Jack, in his customary drawl, ‘is that he don’t “make a poor
mouth.”” A. B. Ward, The Sage Brush Parson.
oh my suz/dear me suz =
an all-purpose phrase of emphasis or
surprise. “A nightcapped head appeared in the doorway and was suddenly
withdrawn, with an ‘Oh, my suz!” A. B. Ward, The Sage Brush
Parson.
Old Gentleman =
God. “I’d ’a’ sworn ye were one ’o them
Prophets in the Wilderness, sent by the Old Gentleman, once in a while, to keep
up our courage and show us the way out.” A. B. Ward, The Sage Brush Parson.
orris = a kind of lace made of gold or silver. “There were
her two little cambric pocket-handkerchiefs, remotely suggestive of orris, and
bearing her monogram delicately wrought and characteristic.” Marie Manning, Judith
of the Plains.
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Ox-eyed daisy |
ox-eyed daisy =
the loves-me-loves-me-not daisy, also
called dog daisy, margarite, and moon daisy. “A bunch of prairie flowers,
flaming cactus blossoms in scarlet and yellow, ox-eyed daisies, white clematis
from the creek, seemed none the less decorative for the tin cup that held
them.” Marie Manning, Judith of the Plains.
punk = soft, crumbly wood that has been attacked by fungus.
“Think? With a brain like punk?” A. B. Ward, The Sage Brush Parson.
put on dog =
to show off, act superior. “The acting
foreman thought the Wetmore men looked down on him, ‘put on dog.’” Marie
Manning, Judith of the Plains.
scab = mange, or a similar skin disease in animals. “I hope
every herd in the State dies of scab.” Marie Manning, Judith of the Plains.
scuttle = a hatchway. “There was a ladder here, leading to a
scuttle in the roof.” A. B. Ward, The Sage Brush Parson.
Southdown =
a small British sheep raised chiefly for
mutton. “There’s a lot of women as wouldn’t exactly regard me as a Merino, or a
Southdown, either.” Marie Manning, Judith of the Plains.
stick = a shot of spirits added to a nonalcoholic beverage.
“Jack had made lemonade, with a ‘stick,’ a barrelful each time, and had offered
it as his donation.” A. B. Ward, The Sage Brush Parson.
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Vinaigrette |
vinaigrette =
a small ornamental container for holding
aromatic vinegar, smelling salts, or spirits of ammonia to ward off evil smells.
“She was sniffing away at her vinaigrette as she always did when she didn’t
like things.” A. B. Ward, The Sage Brush Parson.
vinegar and brown paper = a home remedy for
headache. “Not a great deal, if there ain’t plenty of vinegar and brown paper
handy, and I seldom had such fancy fixings in camp.” Marie Manning, Judith
of the Plains.
wean = a young child. “She opened her arms to receive a
violet-eyed wean brought in by a young woman of perhaps twenty.” A. B. Ward, The
Sage Brush Parson.
Image credits:
Flannel band, The New Dressmaker, 1921
All others, Wikimedia Commons
Coming up: Dane Coolidge, western photographer