rounding the feet with new leather. Worcester. I am told the term is used in Ireland. Fox FIRE. Rotten wood which makes a phosphorescent light. It may be a corruption of phosphorus. Fox GRAPE. (Vitis labrusca.) A large grape common on the borders of streams. The surface of the leaf is characterized by its foxy pubescence. The Southern fox grape is Vitis Vulpina. Its fruit is larger, and its taste more agreeable, than the former. FOXED, or FOXY. incipient decay. To FRAGGLE. FREE LABOR. A term applied to timber or paper, when discolored by Also used in England. To rob. A word used in Texas. Labor performed by freemen, in contradistinction to that of slaves, a term now greatly in vogue both at the North and South. So, wheresoe'er our destiny sends forth J. G. Whittier, The Panorama. FREE LOVE. Freedom of the affections; the right to consort with those with whom we have "elective affinities," regardless of the shackles of matrimony. Within the last few years several associations have been organized in the North, for the purpose of carrying this doctrine into practical effect. At the convention in Rutland, last week, after an afternoon spent in denouncing the Bible, the marriage institution, etc., and in laudation of "spiritualism," "vegetarianism," and "free love," Elder Grant, the Millerite, got up and repeated 1st Timothy iv. 1, 3, "Now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from meats," etc. Whether because this apt passage proved unpalatable, or for some other reason, the convention incontitinently adjourned. — Nat. Intelligencer, July 3, 1858. FREE LOVER. An advocate of the free love doctrine. A "reform convention" assembled at Rutland, Vermont, on Friday. About a thousand persons—abolitionists, spiritualists, and free lovers — attended, the spiritualists predominating. - Balt. Sun, June 28, 1858. FREE-LOVISM. The doctrine of free love. FREE SOIL. Freedom of the soil belonging to the United States, and not yet formed into States, from negro slavery. The people are roused! They 've slumbered too long, But now they are coming from hill and glen, Mrs. Child, Free Soil Song. FREE-SOILER. An advocate of the exclusion of slavery from the territories belonging to the United States. A word which first came into use in the year 1848. I only want to see the first free-soiler here. I'll drop the first one that opens his mouth for abolition cusses. I'll be dog-gauned if I don't. Gladstone, Englishmen in Kansas, p. 48. FREE-SOILISM. The principles or doctrines of the advocates of freedom in the territories in opposition to those of slavery. I tell you, mark every scoundrel among you that is the least tainted with freesoilism or abolitionism, and exterminate him. Neither give nor take quarter from them. - Speech of Gen. Stringfellow in the Kansas Legislature. FREE STATES. Those States in which negro slavery does not exist. Equal and exact justice to both slave and free States is the only ground upon which the Southern States can maintain their claim to equal rights in the Federal Union. Richmond Enquirer, Aug. 1858. - FREEZE. A Southern term for frosty weather. - The effects of the late freeze have been severely felt.- - Charleston Paper. TO FREEZE. To have a longing desire for any thing. South-western. This child has felt like going West for many a month, being half froze for buffalo meat and mountain doins.- Ruxton's Far West. FRESH, n. 1. An abbreviation for Freshman. 2. Used locally in Maryland for a stream distinct from the tide water; "Allen's Fresh," "Pile's Fresh." The lands in Talbot County, Md., are divided into freshes and salts. as, FRESH, adj. Forward, bold; as, "don't make yourself too fresh here." FRESHET. A flood, or overflowing of a river, by means of heavy rains or melted snow; an inundation. Webster. This word is used in the Northern and Eastern States. That it is an old English word is evinced by the following extract from the Description of New England, written and published in England, in 1658: "Between Salem and Charlestown is situated the town of Lynn, near to a river, whose strong freshet at the end of the winter filleth all her banks, and with a violent torrent vents itself into the sea."- p. 29. It appears to be now confined to America; but the word fresh is still used in the north of England and in Scotland in precisely the same sense. See Pickering's Vocabulary for a full discussion of the word and its uses. FRIJOLES. (pron. fre-hó-les). Spanish. Kidney beans. A common article of food upon the plains and on the Mexican frontier. FROE. An iron wedge. New England. The shingle-maker stands with froe in one hand and mallet in the other, endeavoring to rive a billet of hemlock on a block. — Margaret, p. 159. "He beat his head all to smash with a froe," said one. "No, it was with an axe," said another. Ibid. p. 323. FROG. The iron plate where two lines of railroad intersect; probably so called from its resemblance to the "frog" of a horse's foot. FROLIC. A favorite term in the West for a party. FROMETY, FRUMTY. Wheat boiled with milk, to which sugar and spice are added. — Hallamshire Glossary. Used in Maryland. Storer, FROST-FISH. (Genus, morrhua.). A small fish which abounds on our coast during the winter months. It is also called Tom-cod. Fishes of Massachusetts. FROST-GRAPE. See Chicken-Grape. FROSTWORT. (Cistus canadensis.) A medicinal plant prepared by the Shakers, and used for its astringent, and tonic properties. FROUGHY. Frough is provincial in the north of England, and means any thing loose, spongy, or easily broken; often applied to wood, as "brittle" is to mineral substances. Brockett's Glossary. "Froughy butter" is rancid butter. This word is in common use in many parts of New England. It is doubtless a corruption of frough, which is sometimes used here.— Pickering. FROWCHEY. (Dutch, vrouwtje.) A furbelowed old woman. Local in New York and its vicinity. TO FRUMP. To mock; to insult. A very old word, occurring in the dictionaries of Cotgrave and Minshew. I was abas'd and frumped, sir. -Beaumont and Fletcher. This old word, though long out of use in England, still lingers among the descendants of the first settlers in New England. The sleighs warped from side to side; the riders screamed, cross-bit, frumped, and hooted at each other. - Margaret, p. 174. FUFFY. Light; soft; puffy. Used in Yorkshire, England, and preserved in some parts of New England. She mounted the high, white, fussy plain; a dead and unbounded waste lay all about her. Margaret, p. 168. FULL CHISEL. At full speed; an equivalent for the phrases "full drive" and "full split," both of which are used in England and in this country. A modern New England vulgarism. "Oh yes, sir, I'll get you my master's seal in a minute." And off he set full chisel. -Sam Slick in England, ch. ii. The moose looked round at us, shook his head a few times, then turned round and fetched a spring right at us full chisel. - John Smith's Letters. At that the boys took arter them full chisel, and the galls run as if a catamount had been arter them.—Downing, May-day in New York, p. 46. And so the Yankee staves along By Golly! Anonymous. FULL TEAM. A powerful man; a man of 66 consequence. FUNERAL. "To preach a funeral." In some parts of the West, the funeral sermon is preached, not at the time of the burial, but long after, sometimes even a year after the death of the person. The custom arose, probably, from the difficulty of obtaining a competent "preacher" in a thinly settled country. After so long an interval, "preaching the funeral," which is almost always accompanied by a feast, becomes rather an occasion of merrymaking than of lamentation. TO FUNERALIZE. To perform the clerical duties preparatory to a funeral. Southern. FUNK. 1. Fear, or sensibility to fear; cowardice. So my friend's fault is timidity. I grant, then, that the funk is sublime, which is a true and friendly admission. — Letter in Literary World, Nov. 30, 1850. 2. A coward. TO FUNK. To make an offensive smoke or dust. When the smoke puffs out from a chimney place or stove, we say "it funks." The term is also applied to the dust which is caused by a vehicle on a road. The expression, in the former sense at least, is used in England. TO FUNK Out. To "back out" in a cowardly manner. To funk right out o' political strife aint thought to be the thing, TO FUNKIFY. To frighten; to alarm. New England. Scared! says he, serves him right then; he might have knowed how to feel for other folks, and not funkify them so peskily.—Sam Slick in England, ch. viii. FURROW. To draw a straight furrow is to live uprightly or decorously. Governor B. is a sensible man; He stays to his home and looks arter his folks; TO FUSH OUT. He draws his furrow as straight as he can, And into nobody's tater-patch pokes. - Biglow Papers. To come to nothing. Comp. To Fizzle out. FYKE. (Dutch, fuik, a weel, bow-net.) The large bow-nets in New York harbor, used for catching shad, are called shad-fykes. G. GABBLEMENT. Gabble, prate. A Southern word. "This court's got as good ears as any man," said the magistrate; "but they aint for to hear no old woman's gabblement, though it's under oath."— Chron. of Pineville. GAD. A long stick or switch, especially one used for driving oxen. used also in the north of England. So I looked around and saw where the three had set down on a log. I measured the length of the foot, and found where they had cut a big gad.-N. Y. Spirit of the Times, Oct. 1848. GAFF. An artificial spur put upon game-cocks; so called from its resemblance to fishing and nautical instruments, properly gaffle. GAL. A vulgar pronunciation of girl, alike common in England and America. At length came in the Deacon's Sall From milking at the barn, sir; And faith she is as good a gal As ever twisted yarn, sir. - Song, Yankee Doodle. GAL-BOY. A romping girl, a hoyden, a tom-boy. GALE. Among the ladies, a state of excitement; as, "Mrs. Aquite a gale on New Year's Day." was in The ladies, laughing heartily, were fast getting into what, in New England, is sometimes called a gale. - Brooke, Eastford. GALL. 1. A kind of low land in Florida. It consists of a matted soil of vegetable fibres, spongy and treacherous to the foot, unpleasant as well as dangerous to crop. Vignoles, Florida, p. 91. Mr. S., living near the Oclawaha, while crossing a bay gall, or saw grass, in company with his son, last Wednesday, was seriously injured by the attack of an alligator. The water in the gall was about knee deep. - East Florida Paper. 1 2. (Ger. qualle.) A name applied by the New York children to the jelly-fishes. The medusa, or sea-nettles (Discophora), they call stinging galls (called also in some parts of England stang-fishes). The |