BASTE, v. to tack or make long stitches in sewing. Hunter says that it 'signifies hasty and temporary sewing preparatory to more earnest work, and to be picked out when the work is finished.' Hunter's MS. Palsgrave has 'I baste a garment with threde.'
BATE CROFT [bait croft], in Cold-Aston.
- 'Bate moors' are fields near Dronfield. The O. M. has 'The Batemoor.' See BEET.
BATTEN, sb. a small sheaf of straw.
BATTS, sb. pl. shale found in coal.
BAWSON, sb. a fright, an ugly person.
- 'You do look a bawson.' 'Well, you never saw such a bawson in all your life.' 'Nah, mind; it '11 tak thee. Tha'h '11 meet a bawson,' i.e., a 'goblin.'
BAY, sb. that part of a barn in which corn or straw is stored.
- It was usual for Irish labourers who came over to reap the harvest to sleep in the bay. By indenture dated 1679, John Oldale, of Gleadless, conveyed to Alexander Fenton, of the same place, inter alia, 'one bay of a barne or lath abuting on the lath' of Fenton. Each barn has two bays, the threshing-floor lying between them, one containing unthreshed corn, and the other straw. Harrison frequently describes houses, barns, &c., as consisting of so many bays. See an example under FOX HILL. Probably these houses had no chambers or upstairs rooms, and were divided by wooden partitions. Examples yet remain of houses of this kind, the rooms communicating with each other. Probably a house was enlarged by building new bays at each end. See CORKE WALLS.
BEACON ROD, in Bradfield. See HOB HOYLE.
BEAGLE, sb. a fright, uncouth object.
- 'Yo nivver saw such a beagle.'
BEAM, v. to soak a leaky tub or other vessel in water.
BEANE YARD, the name of a field exceeding three acres in or near Sheffield. Harrison.
BEARD, sb. a tip of metal on the end of a knife haft.
BEARES STORTH.
- 'An intacke called Beares storth,' in Bradfield.—Harrison. See BRAWN HERST and STORTH.
BEAR-GARDEN, sb. a disorderly assemblage.
BEAST-GATE, sb. summer pasturage. Derbyshire.
BEASTINGS, sb. pl. the first milk given by a cow after calving.
BEATNEED, sb. a temporary help in a difficulty; a makeshift.
