Essex Dialect in the 18th century In 1857 Thomas Wright compiled a dictionary of obsolete provincial words. In 1880 Richard Stephen Charnock compiled his Glossary of the Essex Dialect. The table below is based on words that  Wright  and Charnock specifically identified with usage in Essex. Other words have been added as a contribution from local people with memories of their parents and grandparents favourite expressions. The guide may help explain unknown words in old books on Essex people. When Essex Men talked they lengthened their vowels eg make is pronounced maake. A often becomes O so because becomes becos. O is often inserted before an I eg fine becomes foine. R is often dropped eg surpassed becomes suppasssed. O often becomes U eg from can become Frum. W and V and D and T are often interchanged. Words that comply with the above rules have not been included in the listings below Afeared Afraid Afore Before Agin Again Ails Ears of corn Artnoon Afternoon Bagging Hook Reaping Hook Bange Light rain Banjy Dull day Bast To beat severely Beaver Ploughman's lunch taken at about 11am Behounced Finely Dressed Bellar Shout loudly or bellow Bigge Cows teat Bin Been Billy Wicks Owl Biznus Business Boa Boy or man Boine Swelling Bonie Blow or wound Bonkka Very large Bonx Beat up mix for batter puddings Brank Wheat Bud A cow that is older than a calf but not yet fully grown Bullimong A mix of oats, vetch and peas Bumby Place where houshold rubbish is dumped Bunting Untidy Dress Busk Lie in sun Buss Kiss or embrace Bussock Donkey Cad The smallest of a litter especially of pigs Caint Can not Cart rake Cart track Chate A treat or feast Chevy Chase or run after Chice Small portion Chop Flog Chops Lips Clars Hands - Often clars and jaws = hands and face Clunchy Clumsy Cowd Cold Crotch tail Kite Dag Dew Dare To Grieve Dean Din or noise Dew Bit Ploughman's early morning breakfast Dicky Donkey Didal A sharp triangular spade Dog Rapper Parish Beadle or Sexton Dogs Dew Doke A small brook or a bruise Dooles Rough hay made from roadside verges or ditches Dolouring Mournful noise Dunnekin Outside Toilet Easles Embers of the fire Eel thing St Elmo's Fire Essex stile Ditch Fare To appear Favour Resemble Feff To overreach in buying or selling Fill Meadow Fimble To touch lightly Finnicks Tawdry dressed woman Fleet Milk Skimming milk Foine Fine Four Want Ways Crossroads with 4 roads meeting Fowers Ploughman's dinner taken about 4pm Furnitade Furniture Furriners People from outside the village Gab Gossip Gal Girl Gannicking Gossiping or idling Gaster To frighten Ginnick Neat or Perfect Go after To court a lady Goff A mow of hay Goffer To eat fast Goings On Proceedings or happenings Gole Prominent Golls Hands Gomes Gums in mouth Goon Going Grift Pencil Gultch Fall heavily Gullion Stomach Ache Gumption Nonsence or foolish talk Hainish Unpleasant Harve A haw Haumly Ugly Hazardable Dangerous Hazely brick earth Loamy soil found in Essex Hazle Stiff as clay Hodmedod Snail Hoap Helped Hoss Horse Ingons Onions Jice Small quantity Jink To check money is real by ringing it Joggle Shake Jounce a sudden shaking Julk Hard blow Keeping Room Living room Kidder A confidence trickster Largess Tip after harvest Latard late Leas-Ways At least Levens The name for lunch in harvest time - taken more quickly than a ' Beaver' Lib Basked used to carry seed corn Lugsome Heavy Martlemas beef Beef dried in the chimney like bacon Mauther Awkward girl Mavis A Song Thrush Meak A hook with a long handle used to cut peas Meece Mice Mizzle To succumb Muckinger Handkerchief Muggy Half intoxicated Newing Yeast Nig Small piece Nippet Small quantity Not Well tiled Noteless Stupified Nuzzle Sound of bellows Oaken Oak Oavis Eves of a house Obstropolous Unruly Okard Awkward Ollust Always Onbeknown Unknown Onsensed Stunned Owd Old - Used figuratively not literally Piggatory Great trouble Pin patches Periwinkle plant Plum Pudding Red Campion Plant Polliwig Tadpole Proper very ie proper good Puggle Move or stir Pulk Puddle Quackle To Suffocate Rassle To stire the embers of a fire especially on oven fire Releat A crossroads Ruinated Ruined Roile To annoy Saacy Saucy Sappy Smart Sarce Vegetables Scally Shabby or mean Shay Chaise Scat Scared Scatch pawed Left handed Shant A pot of beer Shirt Buttons Stitchwort plant Shote Young Pig Shuck Shook Slammack Untidy female Snarth The long handle on a scythe Spud Small person Teuk Redshank Thrap To Crowd Warsley Not much Waste To abate We's Our Whip Stalk Whip handle Winnick Suppressed cry Wusser Worse Wust Worst

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