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Montana cowboys, c1910 |
Here’s another set of terms gleaned
from early western fiction. Definitions were discovered in various online
dictionaries, as well as searches in Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang,
Dictionary of the American West, The Cowboy Dictionary, The Cowboy Encyclopedia,
Cowboy Lingo, and The Shorter
Oxford English Dictionary.
These are from Robert Alexander Wason’s Happy Hawkins, Charles Alden Seltzer’s The Two-Gun Man, Cyrus Townsend Brady’s The West Wind, and Vingie Roe’s The Heart of Night Wind. One I could not figure out is at the bottom of
the page.
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Besom |
besom = a broom made of twigs tied around a stick. “The
Indians would undoubtedly line the banks with riflemen and the island would be
swept by bullets as with a besom without delay.” Cyrus Townsend Brady, The
West Wind.
bosun’s chair =
a seat suspended by ropes, originally used
to lift a navy ship’s officers on board. “Murphy had rigged up a sort of a rude
bo’s’n’s chair out of the largest piece of wood he could find.” Cyrus Townsend
Brady, The West Wind.
bullets = in the game of poker, aces. “Jabez had queens full
on Jacks, Piker had three bullets an’ a team o’ ten-spots, Dick had a royal
straight flush, an’ I had a nervous chill.” Robert Alexander Wason, Happy
Hawkins.
bunch grasser =
a range horse living upon bunch grass, a
dense turf grass of the West. “Why didn’t you let him climb his own way? He
knew,—he’s a bunch-grasser.” Vingie Roe, The Heart of Night Wind.
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Loggers using choker, 1941 |
choker = in logging, a short steel cable with a loop at one
end and a hook at the other, used for looping around logs. “Sandry was standing
beside it, but the girl passed him without a glance, running to where the
foreman set a choker.” Vingie Roe, The Heart of Night Wind.
cure = to air. “The scant bedding was ‘cured’ in the white
sunlight.” Charles Alden Seltzer, The Two-Gun Man.
dopey = stupefied by sleep. “It don’t take as much sleep for
me now as it used to, an’ I never was dopey.” Robert Alexander Wason, Happy
Hawkins.
drill = to walk. “One mornin’ I noticed that I was dead
broke; so I drilled down to the dock an’ sat on a post.” Robert Alexander
Wason, Happy Hawkins.
even bones =
a tied score. “They played the five hands
an’ it was even bones at the fourth show.” Robert Alexander Wason, Happy Hawkins.
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Flail |
flail = a threshing tool consisting of a wooden staff with a
short heavy stick swinging from it. “The gun barrel rose and fell like a flail
beating down the heads of grain.” Cyrus Townsend Brady, The West Wind.
flat head =
a stupid, foolish person. “I enjoyed
myself first rate, an’ upset a couple o’ delivery wagons because they wouldn’t
make way for me, roped a runaway steer ’at had the whole town scared, an’
chased a flat-head clear into the Palace Hotel.” Robert Alexander Wason, Happy
Hawkins.
flicker out =
to die. “She had married a good man, an’
had come out to the coast with him on account of his health, an’ he had
flickered out without leavin’ her much but a stack o’ doctor’s bills an’ little
Maggie.” Robert Alexander Wason, Happy Hawkins.
from wire to wire =
from start to finish. “They would fuss an’
stew an’ revile each other an’ keep it up all through dinner; an’ then go off
in the afternoon an’ scrap from wire to wire.” Robert Alexander Wason, Happy
Hawkins.
hash herder =
a cook. “Supper time hove in sight and
nairy a report from the substitute hash-herder.” Robert Alexander Wason, Happy
Hawkins.
hitch = a knot (throwed, not tied), e.g., pack
hitch, diamond hitch. “‘You, Jim Anworthy,’ she called sharply, ‘you’ll ruin
that pump if you don’t quit jerkin’ it so. ’Tain’t no hitched choker.” Vingie
Roe, The Heart of Night Wind.
hooked = bitten. “Ferguson got hooked by a rattler!” Charles
Alden Seltzer, The Two-Gun Man.
jimcrack =
a cheap and showy object of little or no
use. “Jabez was buoyant as a balloon, an’ sent here an’ there for nick-nacks
an’ jim-cracks an’ such like luxuries.” Robert Alexander Wason, Happy
Hawkins.
keeno = excellent, wonderful, first-rate. “‘Keeno!’ shouts
back Ches, some exasperated.” Robert Alexander Wason, Happy Hawkins.
keep up the stroke =
to labor without resting. “‘How do you
manage to keep up the stroke?’ ‘Law bless you!’ she laughed easily, “I ben
trained into it.’” Vingie Roe, The Heart of Night Wind.
mighty sight =
a great deal. “You have give me a mighty
sight of heartaches in my time.” Robert Alexander Wason, Happy Hawkins.
mockish = counterfeit, sham. “Right at the time it didn’t
sound so empty an’ mockish.” Robert Alexander Wason, Happy Hawkins.