Go back to the main Dialect page
Go back to the letter R
S
Sair / Sairy Poor, pitiable, pitifully (e.g. “sair jinged” – pitifully tired)
Sarra Serve (e.g. “sarra thoo reet” – serve you right!
Sconce Stone shelf in dairy or pantry for keeping milk & food cool (before fridges!)
Scop Throw
Scran Food
Scrat Scratch, but from Old Norse skratti, a goblin or evil spirit. See Scrattin’ aboot
Scrattin’ aboot See “Ratching”
Scrow A mess (the end spoken to rhyme with now, not roe)
Scrunt Apple core
Sec Such (e.g. “Watt sec fettle?” – What such health are you in? / How are you?)
Seckayyan Such-a-one (e.g. “Seckayyan as yon divvel,” – “Such-a-one as that devil.”)
Set-pot A fixed boiler for water, heated by a fire, beneath.
Shift A very old-fashioned shirt or smock, or, nowadays, an undershirt
Shillies Shingle, on a beach, or small-stoned scree on a fellside
Si So – pronounced like “see” (e.g. “Ah thowt si.” – “I thought so.”)
Side-up Clear up or clean up (e.g. “Side-up yon scrow!” – “Clear up that mess.”)
Sista Look! (possibly from something like “See’est you!”)
Sk’yull School
Slape Slippery (e.g. “Cuss, it’s gay slape!” – “Damn, it’s very slippery!”)
Smit A coloured daub-mark on the wool, to show who owns particular sheep
Sneck A door/window latch, or a nose (e.g. “A bat on t’ sneck” – a blow on the nose)
Spell / spelk A splinter in one’s flesh.
Sp’yatry Aspatria – to show how much dialect pronunciations can differ from English
Stint A right to pasture a set number of sheep or cows on common land
Stirk A young heifer or bullock (i.e. cattle)
St’yan Stone (pron: the ‘st’ as in street and ‘yan’ as a completely separate syllable)
Summat Something
Swardle/s The Swaledale breed of sheep
____________________
Go forward to the letter T
Go back to the main Dialect page