every man was expected to bring his own bread or cheese or provisions. At Bradfield the parish clerk used to pronounce these words in the church when the coffin was being taken to the grave: 'The bearers and friends of the deceased are requested to call at my house (i.e., a public-house) and to partake of such things as are there provided for them.' See PAY BERRING.
BIERLAW [byrelaw].
- Two townships in the parish of Sheffield are called 'bierlows' or 'bierlaws.' These are Ecclesall Bierlaw and Brightside Bierlaw. The parishes or townships of Ecclesfield, Rotherham, and Bradfield are divided into bierlaws. The Cath. Angl. has 'a byrelawe, agraria, plebiscitum.' The bierlaws of Bradfield are or were Waldershelf, Westmonhalgh, or Westnal, Bradfield, Dungworth, and Stannington. Hunter's South Yorkshire, ii. 191.
BIGOTED, adj. stupid, self-willed, without reference to any religious creed.
BILHAM FIELD, in Cold-Aston.
BILK, v. to rob, to cheat.
- 'The half-year's rent is just at hand,
- And different debts upon demand,
- I'm fit upon my head to stand—
- Since no man I can bilk, sir.'
- Mather's Songs, 9.
BILLET-METAL, sb. a soft, white, or yellow metal cast in sprays and stamped in a 'die-billet' to make the 'shields' of knives.
- The 'shield' is the bit of metal on which the owner's name is cut. The Prompt. Parv. has ' bylet, scrowe. Matricula.' Mr. Ellin tells me that the 'bylet-shield' of a knife is usually scroll-shaped, and that it has a small 'tip' at each end.
BILLEY WOOD, a place in Ecclesfield. Harrison.
BILLY, used in the expression 'to work like billy J i.e., to work very hard.
- A steam locomotive is called by children 'a puffing billy.'
BILLY-COCK, sb. a wide-awake hat.
BINGE, sb. a corn bin. The g is soft.
BINKLEY WOOD, near Whittington. Bink=bank. The surname Bingley is found in South Yorkshire.
BIRCHITT, a place between Bradway and Dronfield.
- Formerly Bircheheved, birch head, birch hill. Pegge's Beauchief Abbey, 92.
BIRKES. 'A tenement called Birkes' in Ecclesfield. Harrison.
- See BERKE GREAVES.
BIRLE, v. to pour out. A.S. byrlian.
- 'Come, lass, birle out t' ale.'
