Safe

Source : Wright, Joseph English Dialect Dictionary
web : https://eddonline4-proj.uibk.ac.at/edd/main.html

SAFE, adj. and adv. Var. dial. and colloq. uses in Eng. Also in forms saaf w.Yks.1; saafe Lin.; saf Dev.; seaf Cum.4 Wm. n.Lan.1; seaff Cum.1; seeaf n.Yks.2 n.Yks.4; sef Lan.; syaf Dur.1; zaayfe Brks.1; zaff Dev. [sēf, seəf, siəf.] 1. adj. In comb. (1) Safe-listing, obs., see below; (2) Safe-skirt, obs., an outer petticoat to protect the dress of a woman on horseback. (1) e.Lan.1 A thin strip of cloth formerly sewn over the edge of a woollen piece, so that after the piece was dyed the selvage, when the listing was taken off, would retain its original colour. As it used to be thought that cotton would not take the same dye as wool, this device was resorted to to convince the buyer that all the cotton the piece contained was in the selvage. (2) Nhp.1 They were generally made of stuff, or what in olden time, when this habiliment was in vogue, was called tammy. Both the name and the thing have become obsolete since the disuse of pillions. 2. Phr. safe enough for being, obs., certain to be. Cum. He is safe enough for being hanged, Grose (1790). 3. adj. and adv. Sure, certain; assuredly, for certain; in gen. colloq. use. Sc. (A.W.) Nhb.1 He's safe to be there. Dur.1 Cum.1 It's seaff to rain o' Sunday, 'cause it rain't o' Friday; Cum.4 He's seaf to be droon't. Wm. Ah'll seaf enuff Catch t'aald 'un, Spec. Dial. (1880) pt. ii. 46. n.Yks.1; n.Yks.2 You'll knaw 'em seeaf; n.Yks.4 Safe eneeaf he did it. ne.Yks.1 e.Yks.1 He's safe tĭ get intĭ some sooat o' mischief. w.Yks.1 He's saaf to be hanged; w.Yks.2 He's safe to come; w.Yks.5 Lan. Davies Races (1856) 238; Lan.1, n.Lan.1, Chs.1 Chs.2 Chs.3, Stf.1 s.Stf. I'm safe to strike him one o' these days, Pinnock Blk. Cy. Ann. (1895). Der.2, nw.Der.1, Not.1 n.Lin. It's saafe to get i'to watter an' droond itsen, Peacock Tales and Rhymes (1886) 61; n.Lin.1 It's saafe to thunner. Lei.1 A's seaf to coom agen. Nhp.1 War.2 I'm safe to be back to night; War.3 War.4 s.War.1 He's safe to do it now. Hrf. Bound Provinc. (1876); Hrf.1 Oxf. Now don't you go on the ice, or you'll be safe to fall in (G.O.); Oxf.1 Brks.1 A gun is ‘zaayfe to go off’ when there is no chance of it ‘missing fire.’ Hnt. (T.P.F.), Sus.1 Hmp. N. & Q. (1854) 1st S. x. 120; Hmp.1 I.W.2 He's safe to be there Zadder-day. n.Wil. He's safe to gie the' some if thee axes un' (E.H.G.). w.Som. I be safe they on't never not be able vor to do it vor no jis money, Athenaeum (Feb. 26, 1898); w.Som.1 I be saa·f 'twas he, nif I didn never zay another word; I knowd'n saa·f enough, by the gurt mop 'pon th' aid o' un. Dev. They be a-comed zaff'nuff, an' I wish tha Dowl'd agot um avore they thort ov focing theirzels yer, Hewett Peas. Sp. (1892). 4. Used in various comparisons. Nhb.1 Safe as deeth. Nhp.1 Safe as brandy. w.Som.1 They'll sure to gee un a month vor't, saaf's a gun (s.v. Sure). Dev. Ha'th got tha Kolra safs a nit, Nathan Hogg Poet. Lett. (ed. 1866) 55; Yes'ir, I'm saved as safe as houses, Stooke Not Exactly, v. 5. adv. In phr. to hold safe, to hold firm. w.Som.1 Mind you hold zaa·f, Master Freddy, else he'll drow ee down.

SAFE, see Save.