Old West glossary quiz

Montana cowboys, c1910

Not a quiz exactly. Just another set of forgotten terms gleaned from early western fiction. These are from Robert Alexander Wason’s cowboy novel, Happy Hawkins, which is peppered with odd expressions. A search of the usual references turned up hardly a glimmer of illumination. Readers of the BITS glossaries are free to hazard their best guesses in the comments below.

blotchy = “He was no account to work, he couldn’t even learn to tie a knot; but he talked kin’ o’ blotchy, an’ it was divertin’ to listen to him.”

breedy = “Jessamie was breedy all right, but compared to Barbie, she looked like a six o’ suit alongside the queen o’ trumps.”

brewer = “As soon as the noose caught the tip o’ the tongue I yanked back on the brewer until he must ’a’ thought his lower jaw had dissolved parntership.”

bullfrog vest = “They even got me into a long-tailed coat an’ a bullfrog vest.”

copper-toed boots = “I felt like a boy with copper-toed boots and a toy balloon.”

didoes = “I bought a silver trimmed bridle n’ some Mexican didoes.”

eye-winker = “When it came to ridin’ a bucker or shootin’ off an eye-winker or expessin’ herself free an’ frank, she didn’t have to import no testimony to prove ’at she was his daughter.”

get someone’s tag = “He was the most frolicsome goat I ever see, an’ he about got my tag before I heard him comin’.”

gold sweater = “That car had been loaded with a group o’ the real, genuine gold-sweaters, an’ they entered into a fierce competition to see which could load me down with the finest watch an’ load me up with the finest champagne.”

grippy = “I had been lookin’ for a six-footer with bulgy muscles an’ a grippy jaw. This pink-cheeked boy didn’t look like no athlete to me.”

gritchety = [of a phantom] “The whiskers was one long waverin’, ghastly flame, an’ the horns was two others. The’ was a blue gritchety sort o’ smoke curlin’ up around the face.”

jerk lightning = “I glanced at Dick; an’ talk about jerk-lightnin’! Well, I can’t see yet what kept Piker from gettin’ scorched.”

joint oil = “He was allus friendly with me, but he didn’t overdo it, an’ things went along smooth as joint oil.”

kazoo = “The storm that was presently kazooin’ along was fierce an’ horrible.”

link = “The pinto let out a couple of links as cheerful as a rainbow, an’ I rode at his cinch.”

number nine = [to a cook] “You’re sure of a number nine crown an’ a spotless robe jest fer this one meal.”

own up = [of a horse] “The old bald-face was whipcord an’ steel; but he looked purty near ready to own up.”

put on ruffles = “When Thanksgivin’ hove in sight the ol’ man dug up a bottle o’ whiskey, an’ put on a few ruffles to sort o’ stiffen up his back.”

run in oil: “If things hadn’t run in oil, I’d a stayed right along, I reckon; but it got so’ at the’ wasn’t a hitch from week to week, an’ I couldn’t stand it.”

sizey = “Ol’ Jabez Judson was purty tol’able sizey when you came to fence him in.”

squeezy = “The stranger took out a healthy lookin’ stack o’ gold, Dick an’ Jabez did the same, an’ my little squad o’ yella fellers looked purty tol’able squeezy.”

string haltered = “He always walked like a hoss ’at was string-haltered in all four legs.”

toe the scratch = “Barbie was about the palest lookin’ bride ’at ever got ready to toe the scratch, I reckon.”

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Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Coming up: The Sundowners (1960)