Source : Wright, Joseph English Dialect Dictionary

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BARROW, sb.1 Nhb. Yks. Lan. Der. Glo. Bdf. Hrt.
e.An. Ken. Hmp. Dor. Som. Dev. Cor. Also written
barra Suf.1; barro, borro Cor.1; borrow nw.Dev.1
[ba·rə, bæ·rə, bo·rə.]
1. A gelt pig.
Yks. If the rind be fat and the fat remarkably tender it is not
boar-brawn but barrow or sow, Yks. Wkly. Post (Sept. 22, 1883) 3;
w.Yks. Hlfx. Wds. Der.1 Obs. Dev. w. Times (Feb. 26, 1886) 2,
col. 2; Dev.1 n.Dev. Es must ha' wone that es can trest... to
zar the Ilt and the Barra, Exm. Crtshp. (1746) l. 409; Grose
(1790) An whare tha busk and barras be, Rock Jim an' Nell
(1867) st. 5. nw.Dev.1, Cor.1
2. Comp. (1) Barrow-hog, (2) Barrow-pig, a gelt pig; (3) the
smallest pig of a litter; cf. Anthony-pig.
(1) Lan.1 Hrt. Ellis Mod. Husb. (1750) V. i. Ken. (P.M.)
Hmp. Barrow-hogs have small tusks like sows, White Selborne
(1788) 149, ed. 1853. (2) N.Cy.1, Nhb.1 n.Yks.2 Also called hog-pigs.
Glo.1 Glo.2 Bdf. Batchelor Anal. Eng. Lang. (1809) Hmp.1
Dor. Barnes Gl. (1863) The little curly-tailed barrow pig, Hardy
Trumpet Major (1880) xvi. Som. Jennings Obs. Dial. w.Eng. (1825)
W. & J. Gl. (1873) w.Som.1 Never heard alone, or otherwise than
with ‘pig.’ It could not be said ‘the pig is barrow’ ─ it is always
‘'tis a barrow-pig.’ Dev. Now, vathur, when yü go'th tü market,
dawntee vurgit tü buy a peg. Have a barrow-peg, not a zow,
Hewett Peas. Sp. (1892) (3) e.An.1 The Pitman has the same
meaning, and perhaps is more general; also called a Dodman.
Nrf.1 The smallest and shrillest grunter of the litter. Suf.1
[1. Brestes of barowes þat bryghte ware to schewe,
Morte Arth. 191 (Mätzner). OE. beargh. Cp. ON. börgr.
EFris. barg (Koolman). LG. borg, barg (Berghaus). 2.
A barrow-hog, Porcus Majalis. A barrow-pig, Porcus
castratus, a lib'd or gelded hog, Robertson Phras. (1693);
Porc chastré, a hog, or barrow-hog.... Gorret, a little sheat,
or barrow-pig, COTGR.]
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BARROW, v. and sb.2 Sc. Nhb. Dur. Cum. Yks. Chs.
Stf. Lin. War. Wor. Glo. Nrf. [ba·rə, bæ·rə.]
1. v. To carry in a wheelbarrow.
n.Lin.1 Barra' them few taaties i'to steäm-hoose.
2. sb. Comp. (1) Barrow-backed, bent from heavy work,
such as wheeling barrows; (2) Barrow-drill, see below; (3) Barrow-hale,
the handle of a wheelbarrow; (4) Barrow-man, a mason's assistant,
who carries mortar on a handbarrow; a lame beggar
carried from house to house in a barrow; in coal mines,
a ‘putter,’ who pushes the tubs of coal from the working
places to the flats or stations; (5) Barrow-steel, the handle of
a wheelbarrow; (6) Barrow-tram, the shaft of a wheelbarrow;
applied jocularly to a raw-boned person; (7) Barrow-way, the
tram-road in a coal-pit along which ‘barrows’ of coal were
carried; (8) Barrow-woman, see Barrow-man.
(1) Cum. There I sat, a poor barrow-back't creature, Caine
Shad. Crime (1885) 9; Cum.3 I gat past my prime, Jwohn
barrow-back't and grey, 50. (2) n.Lin.1 Barrow-drill, a small drill
which is pushed forward by hand like a wheelbarrow. (3) n.Lin.1
(4) Sc. I will give you to know that old masons are the best
barrowmen, Perils of Man, II. 326 (Jam.); An auld mason makes
a good barrow-man, Ramsay Prov. (1737) Two of the inmates of
one house carried the beggar to the next house, and so on from
one to another (W.G.). Nhb., Dur. Formerly, before the application
of tramways underground, coals used to be conveyed in barrows,
whence the name barrowman, Greenwell Coal Tr. Gl. (1849)
Nhb.1 Trams in a pit were formerly worked by putters and barrowmen,
the latter pulling before, and the former putting or thrusting
behind: boys about fifteen or sixteen years old are employed
in this department of the colliery, Hodgson Descr. of Felling
Colliery (c. 1812). There is another sort of labourers which are
called Barrow-men, or Coal-Putters; these persons take the
hewed coal from the hewers as they work them, or as fast as
they can, and filling the corves with these wrought coals, put
or pull away the full corves of coals, which are set, when
empty, upon a sledge of wood, and so ‘halled’ all along the
barrow-way to the pit shaft by two or three persons, one
before and another behind the corfe, J.C. Compleat Collier (1708)
36. (5) Rxb. When man and wife draw well together, each is
said to keep up his or her ain barrow-steel. The phr. may have
been orig. applied to the bearing, by different persons, of a load
on a barrow (Jam.). (6) Sc. Grose (1790) MS. add. (C.); (Jam.);
Ye black barrow-tram of the kirk that ye are, Scott Guy M.
(1815) xlvi. (7) Nhb. Cowped corves i' the barrow-way, Wilson
Pitman's Pay (1843) 30; Nhb.1 Nhb., Dur. Barrow-way, tram road
between the face and the flat along which the putters take the
tubs, Nicholson Coal Tr. Gl. (1888) (8) Sc. (W.G.)
3. Phr. (1) Go on with your barrow, mind your own
business, ‘get along with you’; (2) it's just my barrow,
about my barrow, it suits me, it is what I am capable of
doing; (3) you never know till you take the barrow back, you
cannot judge of a matter until the end.
(1) ne.Wor. To a person who is hindering the progress of work
by talking or by raising foolish objections, the retort is sometimes,
‘Come, go on [or, get along] with your barrow’ (J.W.P.). Nrf.
Go on wi' yer barrer an take away yer chips (E.M.). (2) War.
‘It's just my barra' is commonly heard in Birmingham, N. & Q.
(1889) 7th S. viii. 326. Stf., War., Wor., Glo. ‘That's about my
barrow’ signifies that some job, action, or feat is within the
speaker's capacity, Northall Flk-Phrases (1894) (3) w.Yks.
This is a common saying in Sheffield, meaning that you do not
know the result of a thing until you take the barrow back
(S.O.A.).
4. In a coal-pit: the sledge or tram on which ‘corves’
were ‘halled’ or carried to the flats or stations from the
working places. Obs.
Nhb.1
5. In salt-mines or works: a conical wicker basket in
which salt is put to drain; a salt-maker's tub.
Chs. Ray (1691) (K.); The waller places a barrow, as it is
called, within the pan, Marshall Review (1818) II. 93; Chs.1
At the present day at Northwich the tubs are so called which are
used in making lump salt; Chs.3 A barrow contained about six
pecks. Wor. Used at Droitwich (K.).
Hence Barrow-maker, sb. a man who makes barrows
for salt-mines.
Chs.1 Chs.3
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BARROW, sb.3 Cum. Wm. Yks. Lan. Wor. Glo. Pem.
Brks. Ken. Dor. Cor. [ba·rə, bæ·ə.]
1. A hill; the side of a rocky hill; a large heap of stones.
Freq. in place-names.
n.Cy. Grose (1790) Holloway. Cum. Latterbarrow and Gowbarrow
[are names of hills], Linton Lake Cy. (1864) 215. w.Yks.
Hutton Tour to Caves (1781) ne.Lan.1 The side of a rocky hill;
quite as often, or oftener, the hill itself, particularly the top or
conical part of the hill. In names Torrisholme barrows, Howbarrow,
&c. s.Wor. Berrow, a hill (H.K.).
2. A tumulus or sepulchral mound; freq. in place-names.
Also in comp. Barrow-hill.
Wm. I grovel amongst these knots and barrows, Hutton Bran
New Wark (1785) l. 70; Wm.1 Applied to hills which have been
used as burial places. m.Yks.1 Glo. Grose (1790) MS. add.
(H.) Brks.1 Barrow hill, an ancient tumulus. Dor. Common in
place-names. Several occur in the Isle of Purbeck, such as Nine
Barrow Down, near Corfe, and Creech Barrow, a large mound on
the summit of a hill in the Purbeck range. ‘It's a hard pull to the
top o' the Barrow,’ said an old woman near Creech Grange
(J.B.P.). Cor.2
3. Comp. (1) Barrow-mouth, Barra-mouth, an adit or level
dug in a hillside; (2) Barrow-pence, coins found in a tumulus;
(3) Barrow-roses, the burnet-leaved rose, Rosa spinosissima.
(1) Cum. There are several entrances to the coal-mines at
Whitehaven by inclined passages; these are called Beermouths
or Bearmouths. There are also two or three drifts from the
surface at a place s. of Whitehaven which gets its name Barramouth
or Barrowmouth from this circumstance. It's awesome to
see him in his barramouth in the fell side, Caine Shad. Crime
(1885) 29; Cum.1 (s.v. Beermouth). (2) Ken.1 Borrow-pence. Obs.
(3) Pem. Possibly so called from their growth [at Tenby] on sandhills
near the sea.
[Barrow (a local word), a hillock under which, it is
supposed, the dead bodies of those who fell in battle were
buried, Ash (1795); Barrow, tumulus, Skinner (1671);
Those round hills, which in the plains of Wiltshire are...
by the inhabitants termed barrowes, Chaloner in Vale
Royall (1656) IV. 10 (N.E.D.); These hillockes, in the
West Countrie... are called barowes, Lambard Peramb.
Kent (1576) 341. OE. beorh; cp. Luke iii. 5, ǣlc munt
and beorh (euery hil and litil hil, Wyclif (1388).]
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BARROW, sb.4 Dur. Chs. [ba·rə.] A grove, copse,
dingle.
Dur. (K.) Chs.1 Also called a Burrow, q.v.
[Barrow (a local word), a grove, Ash (1795); Berwe, or
schadewe (berowe, Pynson, 1499), Umbraculum, umbra,
Prompt. OE. bearu (gen. bearwes), a grove, wood. Cp.
ON. börr (gen. pl. börwa), a tree.]
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BARROW, sb.6 Irel. Nhb. Cum. Yks. Shr. Pem. Som.
[ba·rə, bæ·rə.]
1. An infant's flannel swathe or pilch. Also called
Barrie, Bar, q.v.
n.Yks.1 The flannel in which a newly-born infant is received
from the hands of the accoucheur. w.Yks.2 w.Yks.3 A flannel garment
for an infant between the chemise and the ‘lapping piece.’
s.Pem. Gi' me that clean barro, I moost change this child
(W.M.M.). Som. W. & J. Gl. (1873)
2. Comp. Barrow-coat, Barra-coat, an infant's first underdress;
a child's flannel petticoat or nightdress.
N.I.1 A long flannel petticoat, open in front. N.Cy.1, Nhb.1
Cum. Hand owre the barra-cwot for mey bairn, Anderson Ballads
(ed. 1840) 55; Cum.1 n.Yks. (I.W.)
3. A child's pinafore.
Shr.1 Oud your barrow, Polly, for some apples.
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BARROW, sb. and v. Sc. Yks. 1. sb. In comp. Barrow-drill,
a turnip-drill, wheeled by hand. n.Yks. (I.W.)
2. v. To carry in a wheelbarrow; also used of a sedan-chair.
Lnk. Fu' soon they 'gree, in box they're pitten, An' harrow'd
aff, 'tween twa men sittin', Watt Poems (1827) xi. n.Yks. (I.W.)
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BARROW, sb.3 Sc. A tumulus. Sc. (A.W.) Glo.
Horae Subsecivae (1777) 29.
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