Glossary of Mountain Speech
An Excerpt From Southern Mountain Speech by Cratis D. Williams
Edited with an introduction & Glossary by Jim Wayne Miller & Loyal Jones
Berea College Press, 1992
Note: Cratis Williams was born and grew up in Caines Creek in Lawrence County. He earned a PhD and became an authority in southern mountain speech. His books may be purchased at the book store at Berea College.
Southern Mountain Speech is not, contrary to popular opinion, an incorrect form of English. It is, rather, the oldest form of English still spoken today. It dates to the time of Chaucer.
| ENTRY | DEFINITION |
| a sight of | a lot of |
| a-raisin’ | the process of growing up (We didn’t have no fotch-on clothes when I was a-raisin'.) |
| abide | to tolerate, endure |
| acrost | across |
| act up | to misbehave |
| acting up | the manifestation of symptoms of any physical disorder (My arthritis has been acting up lately.) |
| Adam’s off-ox | the off-ox is the ox of a team of oxen which is farther from the driver as he walks or rides; used as a metaphor for the unfamiliar |
| addled | confused |
| adopt | contract (a disease) |
| afeard (afyeard) | afraid |
| afore | before |
| agg up | egg on (to encourage a fight) |
| ag’in (agin, ‘gin) | against (He leaned his gun agin a tree.); by the time (Agin ('gin) we get home, it will be dark.) |
| ailin’ | sick |
| aim | to intend (I aim to settle down.) |
| air | are |
| airish | breezy |
| akyfortis | aqua fortis; literally strong water, hence liquor |
| all overs | nervous or aggravated state (that woman gives me the all-overs.) |
| all to pieces | an expression used to describe an acute state of anxiety |
| allers (allus) | always |
| allow | to think; suppose (What do you allow he’ll say to that?) to intend to (I 'low that I'll go tomorrow.) |
| almanick | variant of almanac |
| alter | to castrate |
| ambeer (ambrew) | tobacco spittle |
| amen corber | mourners’ bench, altar |
| ancher | answer, to answer |
| anent | close to or by |
| angry | a sore that is infected and sensitive to the touch (I’ve got an angry sore on my arm.) |
| anti-godlin (anti-goglin) | lop sided or crooked |
| antic | joking, playful, ludicrous |
| antsy | fidgety |
| anty-over | a game in which a ball is thrown back and forth over a house |
| apern | apron |
| ar-tickle | article |
| argufy | argue |
| arn | iron, to iron, sometimes variant of earn |
| Arsh | Irish |
| arter | after |
| ary | seen as related to e’er a (Ary one of us could do that.) |
| as | who, that, which (Them as think they’s better than me can go jump in the lake.) |
| ashamed | bashful |
| ast, astes (axes) | ask, asks |
| atter or arter | after |
| atwixt | between |
| aunt (pronounced aint) | term used to address any woman advanced in years |
| awfullest | best |
| ax(e) | to ask |
| axe to grind | to hold a grudge |
| aye gonnies | mild expletive; I’ll bet guineas (money). |
| Babtis’, babtize | variants of Baptist and baptize |
| baby in the oven | pregnant condition |
| babytears | bluets |
| back | to address (Back this envelope for me.) |
| back door trots | diarrhea |
| back sass | back talk |
| ‘backer | tobacco |
| backings | whiskey produced from a second distillation of mash |
| backset | setback, a relapse |
| bad blood | poor social relations between people (There’s been bad blood between them for years.) |
| bad disease | veneareal disease |
| bad mouth | to say bad things |
| bad off | real sick |
| bag | to beg |
| bait | food, generally a large amount (I eat a bait of black eyed peas and hog jowls New Year's.) |
| balk | the space between furrows in a cultivasted field; refuse to go |
| ballet | variant of ballad. Usually referring to one written down, as in a ballet book. |
| ballhoot | to skid logs down slope |
| ballhooter | a log roller from a lumber camp |
| banded up | formed into a band, or group; bandaged |
| banjer | banjo |
| banjo-picken-est | indicating superlative degree |
| bank clothes | miner’s clothes |
| bank postin’ | mining timbers |
| banter | to challenge, dare (He bantered him for a fight.) |
| bar | bear; also barrow, a castrated male hog |
| baseborn | illegitimate |
| bastard | illegitimate; a woods-colt; also, an outsider |
| batch | an amount |
| batter | to batten (beat) clothes |
| battern | the beater bar on a loom |
| battling block, battling stick | a smooth wooden block on which clothes are beaten with a battling stick while being washed |
| batty | crazy |
| bawl | cry |
| be dom | variant of "be damned" |
| be-dad or be-doz | mild oath |
| bead | bubbles appearing on surface of moonshine whiskey when the bottle or jar is shaken |
| bealin’ | suppurating; a boil coming to a head and draining |
| bear down | to try hard |
| beast | usually a horse or mule |
| beastes | plural of beast |
| beat | exhausted |
| beatinest | extraordinary, astonishing |
| bed it | to lie abed |
| bed tick | straw mattress |
| bedevil | to worry or tease |
| bee-gum | beehive, formerly made from a section of a hollow gum log |
| bee-line | straight line |
| beer | mixture of cornmeal and water that has fermented for distilling |
| begger’s itch | scabies; a lice condition |
| begommed | dirtied; made a mess of |
| begone | kingly word spoken to an inferior; in Appalachia, to a dog (Be gone you mangy fleabag!) |
| begun | used in all tenses for begin |
| behaps | perhaps; as it may be |
| beholden | obligated |
| bellin | shivaree or wedding festivity |
| bell-tail | a rattlesnake |
| belong | suppose (I don’t belong to go with you.) |
| bemean | to abuse or shame someone |
| benasty | to soil oneself |
| ben-hickey-my-funker | a term of disparagement |
| benighted | detained after nightfall |
| bereft | crazy, touched in the head |
| best | should or had better (You best stay the night with us.) |
| betwixt | between |
| beyance,beyanst,beyant | beyond, behind |
| biddies | chicks |
| biffed | hit |
| bigged | to make pregnant (He bigged her.) |
| big sticks | forest wilderness |
| big-eye | insomnia |
| biggety | conceited or bigoted |
| bile | to boil |
| biler | boiler |
| biscuit pone | a large cake of biscuit bread |
| bite | a little; snack; light meal |
| bitty | short for "bit of a" (a little bitty fellow) |
| blabber | idle talk |
| blabber mouth | a gossip |
| blackberry winter | late cold snap when blackberries are in bloom |
| blackguard | use obscene language |
| blackguarder | someone who engages in verbal abuse of others |
| bless out | to scold |
| blind billiards | dizzy, nauseated condition |
| blind staggers | a feeling of dizziness or lightheadedness; inability to walk due to intoxication |
| blind tiger | a bootleg joint |
| blinky | curdled or soured (milk) |
| blockade whiskey | illegally distilled whiskey |
| blockade | to make illicit whiskey |
| bloody flux | bleeding from the rectm; menstruation |
| blossoms | flowers |
| blow | to brag |
| blowed | preterit of blew |
| blowth | the mass of blossoms that blow in the wind (There’s a good blowth on the fruit trees this year.) |
| blue-John | skim milk; milk with low cream content |
| blue-tick | kind of hound |
| blues | mental depression |
| bluffs | puzzles, surprises |
| bobble | a mistake |
| bodaciously | completely, totally |
| body | a person (A body can’t stand such foolishness.) |