Bell-heath. See Red-heath.
Bed-furze. The dwarf furze (Ulex nanus), which is very common throughout the Forest.
Black-heath. See Red-heath.
Black-heart, The. The bilberry (Vaccinium Myrtillus), the “whimberry” of the northern counties, which grows very plentifully throughout the Forest. It is so called, by a singular corruption, the original word being hartberry, the Old-English heorot-berg, to which the qualifying adjective has been added, whilst the terminal substantive has been lost, and the first totally misapprehended. To go “hearting” is a very common phrase. (See Proceedings of the Philological Society, vol. iii. pp. 154, 155.)
Brize. To press. “Brize it down,” means, press it down. Is this only another form of the old word prize, preese, to press, crowd?
Boughy. A tree, which instead of running up straight is full of boughs, is said to be “boughy.” It is also used generally of thick woods. Akin to it is the old word buhsomenesse, boughsomeness, written, as Mr. Wedgwood notices (Dictionary of English Etymology, p. 285), buxomeness by Chaucer.
Bower-Stone, A. A boundary-stone. Called a “mere-stone” in some of the Midland Counties. Perhaps from the Keltic bwr, an inclosure, intrenchment; just as manor is said to be from maenawr, a district with a stone bound.
Bound-Oak. See Oak, Mark-.
Brownies, The. The bees. See chap. xvi., [p. 185].
Brow. Mr. Halliwell and Mr. Wright give this as a Wiltshire word, in the sense of brittle. In the New Forest it is applied only to short, snappy, splintering timber of bad quality.