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Northern England English words page 2

Northern English dialect words, from Yorkshire to the North East. 286 words and meanings, most familiar first.

Word	Meaning
owt pronoun	Aught, anything
beastie noun	Beast, animal.
een adverb	Even.
aiblins adverb	Perhaps, maybe.
arval noun	A funeral feast or wake at which bread and ale was served, traditional in Scotland, the North of England, and among the Norse.
attercop noun	A spider.
ayond adverb	Beyond.
ayont adverb	Beyond.
bairnish adjective	Having the manners of a child; childish; silly.
baken verb	Alternative past participle of bake; baked.
banky adjective	Hilly; sloping.
bannock noun	An unleavened bread made with barley, wheat, or oatmeal.
behight verb	To be designated.
beseek verb	To beseech; entreat.
bigging noun	A building, especially an outbuilding.
bist verb	Used to form the second person singular of be.
bizen noun	Something serving as a warning or an example to be avoided.
blaeberry noun	The bilberry, Vaccinium myrtillus.
blart verb	To sound loudly or harshly; to cry out, wail, lament.
blateness noun	The quality of being blate.
bonnyish adjective	Somewhat bonnie.
chaft noun	The jaw.
chare noun	A narrow lane or passage between houses in a town.
cheerer noun	A glass of spirit with warm water.
chelp verb	To gossip, particularly in a forthright manner.
clarty adjective	Sticky and foul; dirty, filthy, muddy.
deg verb	To sprinkle, moisten.
dort noun	A sulky or sullen mood; the sulks.
dreich adjective	Bleak, miserable, dismal, cheerless, dreary.
fashery noun	Worry; bother; annoyance.
feal adjective	(of things) Cosy; clean; neat.
figgle verb	To fidget about; wriggle
fleam noun	The watercourse or runoff from a mill; millstream
fod noun	Forehead, particularly a large one
forspeak verb	To injure or cause bad luck through immoderate praise or flattery; to affect with the curse of an evil tongue, which brings ill luck upon all objects of its praise.
fouth noun	Abundance; plenty.
fulth noun	Fullness; abundance; plenty.
gey adverb	Very.
ghyll noun	A ravine.
girn verb	To whinge, moan, complain.
girning noun	A light-hearted competition in which people girn (make elaborate faces) through a horse collar; most popular in rural parts of England.
glaikit adjective	Senseless; silly, foolish.
glaum verb	To look sullen or sad; scowl, frown.
gleg verb	To glance.
gloppen verb	To be in fear; gaze in alarm or astonishment; look downcast
gote noun	A deep miry place.
gowk noun	A cuckoo.
gradely adjective	Decent, well-meaning, respectable
gripple adjective	Griping; tenacious; gripping.
guesten verb	To entertain as a guest; to lodge as a guest.
haggaday noun	A ring forming the handle for raising the latch on a door.
haugh noun	A low-lying meadow by the side of a river.
hause noun	A col, a lower neck or ridge between two peaks: a mountain pass.
heaf noun	A piece of mountain pasture to which a farm animal has become hefted; a heft.
jannock adjective	Pleasant, outspoken, honest, genuine, straightforward, or generous.
jaup noun	A splash.
jouk verb	To duck, dodge; to evade; to swerve.
keb verb	Of a ewe, to abort a lamb.
keelie noun	A sparrowhawk or kestrel.
kith noun	An acquaintance or a friend.
larn verb	To learn.
latesome adjective	Marked by lateness; characteristically late
lavy adjective	Lavish; liberal.
lickerish adjective	Sweet, luscious.
lippen verb	To entrust; trust to (someone/something).
loof noun	The palm of the hand.
lowth noun	Lowness.
mawky adjective	Maggoty, full of maggots.
menseful adjective	Decorous; mannerly; respectful and worth of respect
menseless adjective	Destitute of grace, propriety, or moderation; uncivil; immoderate
mislippen verb	To neglect.
mismove verb	To disturb; trouble; to disconcert; alarm; flurry.
mistal noun	A cowshed.
mither verb	To make an unnecessary fuss, moan, bother.
nesh verb	To act timidly.

Word	Meaning
oxter noun	The armpit.
pawkiness noun	Something that is pawky; something arch or shrewd; a subtlety.
pech verb	To pant, to struggle for breath.
pind verb	To confine within narrow limits, constrain.
plouter verb	To splash around in something wet; to dabble.
pobs noun	Pieces of bread soaked in hot milk used as a comfort food for children during illness
quey noun	A heifer.
rackan noun	A chain or bar drilled with holes to accommodate pot-hooks from which cooking vessels can be suspended over a fire; a pot-hook.
rame verb	To complain or cry incessantly.
rit noun	A scratch, a score or a groove.
sandshoe noun	A sports or walking shoe with canvas upper and rubber sole; a sneaker.
sarkful noun	A shirtful or smockful.
sarkless adjective	Without a shirt or smock.
scrike verb	To shriek; to screech.
scruffle noun	A scuffle; a physical fight or struggle.
scug noun	Shade, shadow.
selly adjective	Rare; wonderful; admirable
shoogle verb	To shake or rock rapidly.
sitten adjective	Seated.
skilly adjective	Skilled, skilful.
skirling noun	A shrill cry or sound; a crying shrilly; a skirl.
slive verb	To sneak; skulk; proceed in a sly way; creep.
slock noun	A draught; a gulp.
sneck noun	A latch or catch.
snelly adverb	Quickly; sharply; acutely; coldly
snicket noun	A narrow passage or alley.
snithe verb	To cut; to make an incision; to cut off; to lance or amputate; to cut up; to cut so as to kill; to slay an animal; to hew; to cut stone; to cut hair; to cut corn; to reap; to mow.
souter noun	A shoemaker or cobbler.
spald verb	To split.
sprent verb	To leap; bound; move quickly; dart
sprug noun	House sparrow
spurrings noun	Banns of marriage
starn noun	A star.
stotter verb	To stagger; totter; stumble
stravage verb	To wander aimlessly.
striddle verb	To straddle.
stut verb	To support, prop up.
sumph noun	A dunce; a blockhead.
sumphish adjective	Stupid; blockheaded
tass noun	A cup or cupful.
tewit noun	A northern lapwing, Vanellus vanellus.
thirling noun	In lead-mining, a mark indicating the termination of a set or pitch
thrang adjective	Busy, preoccupied.
thring verb	To thrust; crowd; press; squeeze.
torfel verb	To fall; decine; pass away; die.
ugsome adjective	Ugly; horrible; disgusting; offensive, loathsome, repellent.
wame noun	The belly.
wameful noun	A bellyful.
wankle adjective	Weak; unstable; unreliable; not to be depended on.
wark noun	Pain; ache.
wastry noun	Extravagance, wastefulness.
waugh adjective	Insipid; tasteless.
waw noun	A wall.
weaky adjective	Moist; damp; clammy.
whank noun	A strike with the fist; a blow; a knock.
wharve verb	To turn, turn over (especially of mown grass).
whizzle verb	To whiz or whirl along; to move with a hissing sound.
widgie noun	A penis.
wingle verb	To bend or twist.
yair noun	An enclosure for catching salmon as the tide ebbs.
yaud noun	A workhorse; an old or worn-out mare.

Meanings from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0). Sources