Salt

SALT, sb., adj. and v. Var. dial. uses in Sc. Irel. Eng. and Aus. Also in forms saat Sc. Nhb.1; sat Abd. Nhb.1; saut Sc. Bnff.1 N.Cy.1 Nhb.1 Wm. n.Yks.2 n.Yks.4 ne.Yks.1 w.Yks.1 Lan.1 ne.Lan.1 e.Lan.1; sawt Sc. m.Lan.1 s.Lan.1 Chs.1; soat Nhb.1 Cum.3; sote Cum.4 Wm. [solt, sǭt, sāt.] 1. sb. In comb. (1) Salt-and-spooning, going jogtrot; (2) Salt-backet, a salt-box; (3) Salt-bed, the place where ooze proper for the manufacture of salt collects; (4) Salt-cadger, an itinerant seller of salt; (5) Salt-cart, in salt-making: a small two-wheeled truck with high sides, open at one end only for convenience of discharging or ‘tipping’ the salt; (6) Salt-cat or Salt-cate, (a) a composition of which salt is an ingredient, used to attract pigeons; (b) a lump of rock-salt; (c) oaten bread, soaked in water with salt sprinkled upon it; (7) Salt-cellars, the fossil vertebrae of Ichthyosauri and Plesiosauri; (8) Salt-cuddie or Salt-kuddie, see (2); (9) Salt-fat, (10) Salt-foot, a salt-cellar; (11) Salt-girnel, see (2); (12) Salt-horn, see (10); (13) Salt-killer, a man employed in kiln-drying salt; (14) Salt-kist, (15) Salt-kit, see (2); (16) Salt-man, see (4); (17) Salt-officer, obs., an officer whose duty it was to collect the salt-tax; (18) Salt-pan, a pond for making salt; (19) Salt-pice, see (2); (20) Salt-pie, a salt-box; fig. applied to a building with a sloping roof on one side only; a lean-to; also used attrib.; (21) Salt-seller life, an uncomfortable existence. (1) Nhp.1 (2) Sc. I spake nae mair than our salt-backit, And dought na cry, Pennecuik Coll. (1787) 14. ne.Sc. A wooden box in the shape of a house with a round hole in the exposed end; it was the ‘saat backet,’ Gregor Flk-Lore (1881) 51. Bnff.1, Abd. (G.W.), Cld. (Jam.) Ayr. Parritch-pats and auld saut-backets, Burns Grose's Peregrinations (1789) st. 6. Lth. A good saut-backet, A hammer scarce will ca' a tacket, Thomson Poems (1819) 36. (3) Dmf. By this operation the whole salt-bed, as it is technically called, is deprived of its surface, Agric. Surv. 527 (Jam.). (4) w.Sc. The Sauter or Salt-cadger, as he is called in some districts, Carrick Laird of Logan (1835) 89. (5) Chs.1 They contain about five cwt. when loaded, and are handled by one man each by means of a small pair of shafts. (6, a) n.Cy. Grose (1790) MS. add. (P.) n.Yks.2 A mixture of salt, cummin-seed, oatmeal, and assafœtida. m.Lan.1, s.Lan.1, Der.2, nw.Der.1, e.An.1 Hmp.1 A mixture of coarse meal, clay and salt, with some other ingredients, placed in a dove cot to prevent the pigeons from leaving it, and to allure others. (b) Hmp. A lump of rock-salt, for cattle to lick in the field or ‘barton.’ It is also put into a pigeon-house for the pigeons to peck at (J.R.W.); Hmp.1 (c) s.Lan.1 (7) Glo. N. & Q. (1877) 5th S. vii. 56. (8) Sh.I. Shü took her krummik o' saut oot o' the saut cuddie, Sh. News (June 2, 1900); Articles for domestic use from a straw, such as... saat-kuddies, Spence Flk-Lore (1899) 195. (9) Sc. It's lyin in a neuk of our saat fat carefully preserved, Thom Wks. (1799) 370 (Jam.). Cai.1 Rnf. Ane pair tongs, ane timber saltfat, Hector Judic. Rec. (1876) 155. (10) Sc. Monthly Mag. (1798) II. 437. Lth. Sauce-boats, saut-fits, oily-pigs, Thomson Poems (1819) 74. (11) Fif. The saut-girnel in the jambs, Colville Vernacular (1899) 17. (12) n.Yks.2 Old farmers talk of a natural horn fixed on to a stand, and used in this way in former days. (13) Chs.1 Sheaf, I. 291 (s.v. Killer). (14) Bnff. A gude sawt kist ayont the fire, Taylor Poems (1787) 59. (15) N.Cy.1, Nhb.1, n.Yks.4, ne.Yks.1 (16) Bwk. Sandy Pae, the mautman, Is drinkin' wi' the sautman, Henderson Pop. Rhymes (1856) 60. Chs.1 These men hawk lump salt all over Cheshire in small carts. (17) Chs. Prior to any duty being laid on foul salt, every person wishing to use it for manure, paid a salt-officer to attend, and see it laid upon the land, Marshall Review (1818) II. 26. (18) Sc. Better acquainted with salt-pannes than with salt-petre, Maidment Spottiswoode Miscell. (1844-1845) I. 179; (A.W.) (19) w.Yks.2 (20) w.Yks. Leeds Merc. Suppl. (Nov. 8, 1884) 8; w.Yks.1 w.Yks.3 Lan.1 ‘Saut-pye-biggin',’ a building slated only upon one side ─ (of the same shape as a salt-box). s.Lan.1 Cottages built back to back without any intervening space are termed ‘sawt-pies.’ ne.Lan.1, e.Lan.1 Cor. Salt-pye roof, Whitaker Cathedral in Gent. Mag. (1880) 460. (21) w.Yks. When Jerry wor on t'rant shoo hed a salt seller life on it, poor lass (S.K.C.). 2. Phr. (1) in salt, pickled; fig. in store, laid by for future reference; (2) not to be salt, not to be delicate, or easily made ill; (3) not worth salt to the poddish, to be utterly worthless; (4) to be neither sugar nor salt, see (2); (5) to cast salt on any one's tail, to catch; to take advantage of, cajole; to get the better of; (6) to earn salt to one's kail, to earn one's living, to make a sufficient livelihood; (7) to eat a peck of salt with any one, to share many meals with any one; fig. to have familiar intercourse with; (8) to eat another (a) peck of salt, to gain additional strength or ability to accomplish anything; (9) to get salt, (10) to get salt to one's kail, (11) to get salt to one's porridge, see (6); (12) to have salt to one's kail, to have the necessaries of life; (13) to lay salt on or to any one's tail, see (5); (14) to make salt to one's kail, see (6); (15) to set one up with salt, to provide the necessaries of life for one. (1) Sh.I. Sibbie haes suntin' in saut till him tü, Sh. News (May 29, 1897). Ayr. The Blair Cove and Glesco will baith o' them keep ─ I've laid them in saut, Service Notandums (1890) 48. Cum.3 ‘It's no'but Edard swine!’ ‘Nay, nay,’ sez Edard, ‘mine's i' soat,’ 66. (2) Edb. The Highlanders ne'er mind a douk, For they're nae sawt, Har'st Rig (1794) 27, ed. 1801. (3) Wm. Thoos nit werth sote ta the poddish, Spec. Dial. (1885) pt. iii. 6. (4) e.Sc. The head... was neither sugar nor saut, an' wouldna melt, Strain Elmslie's Drag-net (1900) 2. w.Yks. Bless the bairn, shoo's noather sugar nor saut, schoo'll noan melt, Banks Wooers (1880) II. 7. (5) Sc. The most common applications are to take one unawares, to get the better of one in argument, in bargain-making, or by means of some sly underhand trick (Jam. Suppl.); ‘You will ne'er cast salt on his tail.’ That is, he has clean escaped, Kelly Prov. (1721) 380. Cai.1 Ayr. He'd ne'er cast saut apo' thy tail, Burns Ep. to H. Parker, 1. 36; Syne, whip! his tail ye'll ne'er cast saut on, BURNS Poem on Life (1796) st. 4. (6) Sc. I'm no' that auld... but I can earn saut to my kail yet, Swan Gates of Eden (ed. 1895) ii. (7) Sc. Before ye chuse a friend eat a peck o' saut wi' him, Ramsay Prov. (1737). (8) Bnff.1 Y'ill need t' eat anither peck o' saut t' yir pothitch afore ye yoorn that stane, MS. add. Abd. Ye'll need to eat a few pecks o' saut afore ye're able to do this (G.W.). (9) nw.Der.1 'Ee wi·nu' gyaet s:au·tt.’ Spoken of any one who has taken a job of work by contract, at which he can only earn very low wages. (10) Sc. I canna get salt to my kail, Pennecuik Coll. (1787) 26. Abd. To our kail we'll no get saut For want o' Royal Charlie, Walker Bards Bon-Accord (1887) 176. (11) Nhp.1 He can hardly get salt to his porridge. War.3, Hnt. (T.P.F.) (12) Sc. They mak sic a din about saving, saving, that I think in a wee while they'll no leave him saut to his kail, Petticoat Tales (1823) II. 164 (Jam.). (13) s.Sc. In a fortnight's time there wasna ane amang them could lay saut on my tail, Wilson Tales (1836) II. 276. Kcb. They'll never lay saut to his tail, or I'm a Dutchman, Armstrong Kirkiebrae (1896) 307. (14) Sc. (Jam.); I wad ne'er mak saut to my kail sowthering claith thegither, Ford Thistledown (1891) 296. (15) ne.Sc. So high was the price of salt that the poor could not afford it; and those living on the sea coast were in the habit of using sea-water in the boiling of potatoes and such other articles of food. Hence the proverb ‘to set one up wi' saut,’ Gregor Flk-Lore (1881) 102. 3. Obs. A salt-cellar. Sc. Monthly Mag. (1798) II. 437. Abd. (Jam.) Edb. Chrystal salts, an' sugar dishes, Forbes Poems (1812) 20 4. Fig. The sea. Ayr. Gie me the jaup o' the dear auld saut, Ainslie Land of Burns (ed. 1892) 315. 5. Cost, penalty, smart. Abd. He maun dree the saut o't On's ain expences, Cock Strains (1810) II. 91. 6. Sarcasm, pungency. Abd. A wee bit luckless sa't Breeds a' her scorn, COCK Strains I. 14. 7. pl. Epsom salts. Ayr. A neffow of salts, and a neffow of senna, Service Dr. Duguid (ed. 1887) 123. Lnk. There's salts or ile, whilk wull ye ha'e? Coghill Poems (1890) 55. Gall. ‘Salts and senna,’ the favourite purgative of a past generation (A.W.). n.Cy., Yks. (J.W.), n.Lin.1 8. pl. Marshes near the sea, overflowed by the tides. Cf. salting, 1. Nrf. Dead and swollen fish turned up and killed by the ‘salts,’ and left putrefying on the ronds, Emerson Birds (ed. 1895) 138. Ken. The marshy land in the vicinity of Pegwell Bay is called The Salts (W.F.S.); Ken.1 Sus. A place thus named at Rye (W.F.S.); Sus.1 Sus.2, Hmp.1 9. adj. In comb. (1) Salt-bree, salt-water; (2) Salt-collop, anything not of a bulky description purchased at a high price; (3) Salt-eel, a form of punishment, rope's-ending; game among boys; (4) Salt-fish, a schoolboys' method of punishment; (5) Salt-grass, grass-covered flats by the seaside; (6) Salt-mash, flat pasture near the sea which is covered occasionally at very high tides; (7) Salt-water, the sea-side; (8) Salt-water-bullock, a jocular term for the red herring, Clupea harengus; (9) Salt-water-flook, the dab, Pleuronectes limanda; (10) Salt-water-folk, visitors to the sea-side; (11) Salt-weed, the toad-rush, Juncus bufonius. (1) Abd. Tho' it sae be That I may get a drookit hide Wi' her saut-bree, Shirrefs Poems (1790) 263. (2) Nhb.1 (3) e.An.1 Suf.1 This is something like ‘hide and find.’ The name salt-eel may have been given it from one of the points of the game, which is to baste the runaway individual whom you may overtake all the way home with your handkerchief, twisted hard for that purpose. Salt-eel implies, on board ship, a rope's ending, and on shore an equivalent process. ‘Yeow shall have salt-eel for supper’ is an emphatic threat. (4) Dur. I spare you the details of the tortures named salt-fish and regnum, Henderson Flk-Lore (1879) i. (5) Nhb.1 [Aus. He sat him down on the summit, amid the rough and dry salt-grass, O'Reilly Moondyne (1889) bk. v. ii.] (6) w.Som.1 There are several on the shores of the Bristol Channel. (7) Ayr. For the complete healing of the disease we had to remove to the salt water at Irvine, Johnston Glenbuckie (1889) 140. Uls. The father sent them to the salt water times and again, Hamilton Bog (1896) 137. w.Yks.1 My mam's gaan to't' saut watter. (8) s.Lan.1 (9) e.Sc. Often emphatically distinguished by the fish-dealers as the salt-water fleuk, Neill Fishes (1810) 11 (Jam.). [Satchell (1879).] (10) ne.Sc. The general inhabitants of the town... and ‘saut watter’ folks from the landward region of Peatmoor, Green Gordonhaven (1887) 41. Lnk. Saut-water folks frae Glasca toun, What will they say ava? Hunter Poems (1884) 52. (11) Suf. (Hall.); (B. & H.) 10. Phr. as saut as saut sel, very salt, over-salted. n.Yks.2 11. Costly, expensive, high in price; also used fig. Sc. (Jam.) n.Sc. ‘I shall make it salt to you,’ i.e. I shall make you pay dear for it. ‘That's the thing that makes the kail salt,’ Ruddiman Introd. (1773) (JAM.). w.Sc. His accounts were what is called ‘pretty salt,’ Macdonald Settlement (1869) 64, ed. 1877. Ayr. ‘My fee is a guinea and a half per month.’ ‘That is oure saut,’ quoth I, Johnston Kilmallie (1891) II. 59. Lin.1 Meat is at a salt price. Hence Sautly, adv. dearly, highly in price. Rnf. Sautly noo the bodies pay For sic conveyances as thae On this 'bune a' days o' the year, Young Pictures (1865) 166. 12. Severe, painful. Sc. It's naething but a saut sickness That's like to gar me die, Queen's Marie (Jam.). Lnk. I... can speak o't frae a saut personal experience, Murdoch Readings (1895) III. 108. 13. Of a bitch: maris appetens; occas. used fig. n.Cy. (Hall.), Cum.4, n.Wm. (B.K.), w.Yks.1 War. Wise Shakespere (1861) 156; War.2, e.An.1 Suf.1 It is applied only, I believe, to the canine species, unless in bitterness and grossness of taunt, vituperatively to a woman. [All the dogs follow the salt bitch, Ray Prov. (1678) 126.] 14. v. In phr. (1) to salt any one's kail, to scold, make things unpleasant for any one; (2) salt any one's tail, to catch and handle any one smartly. (1) Elg. Faith, weel I wat he'd saut her kail, For deil ane daur gang nigh him, Tester Poems (1865) 129. (2) Elg. I've sautit wi' vengeance the laureate's tail, TESTER Poems 138. Lnk. Saut the deil's tail an ye dow! Murdoch Doric Lyre (1873) 12. 15. To snub, put down, check; to have revenge upon. Bnff.1 He played ma an ill skitt, bit a'll saut 'im for't or lang geh by. Dmf. Ane nicht be dearly sauted, Quinn Heather (1863) 188. Don. He was now helpin', as hard as he could, the neighbours to salt him for his suddint change, Pearson's Mag. (July 1900) 50. Nrf. It would salt the mischief-makers properly if their evil intentions turn out good after all, Forbes Odd Fish (1901) 116. 16. To bribe. w.Yks. It used to be a very common thing in Wakefield to ‘salt’ the electors, Yks. Wkly. Post (Aug. 22, 1896). 17. To heighten in price; also used fig. Sc. I'll saut it for you (Jam.). 18. A dyeing term: see below. w.Yks. When the material in the dyebath does not match the pattern, a little more colouring matter is added in small portions at a time. This is called salting (H.H.).