Buck, The. The stag-beetle, so called from its strong horn-like antennæ. The children, when catching it, sing this snatch—
“High buck,
Low buck,
Buck, come down.”
It is also called pinch-buck. The female is known as the doe. See “Bryanston Buck,” in Mr. Barnes’s Glossary of the Dorsetshire Dialect, appended to his Poems of Rural Life.
Bunch, A. A blow, or the effects of a blow; and then a blotch, burn, scald, pimple, in which latter senses “bladder” is also often used. The verb “to bunch,” to strike, is sometimes heard. See Wedgwood (vol. i. p. 269, and vol. ii. p. 263) on its allied forms. Used by Pope, Iliad, bk. ii. 328.
Cammock, The. (From the Old-English cammec, cammoc, cammuc.) The various species of St. John’s-wort, so plentiful in the neighbourhood of the New Forest; then, any yellow flower, as the fleabane (Pulica dysenterica) and ragwort (Senecto Jacobæa). In Dorsetshire, according to Mr. Barnes, it only means the rest-harrow (Ononis arvensis).
Cass, A. A spar used in thatching, called in the Midland and North-Western Counties a “buckler.” Before it is made into a cass, it is called a “spargad.”
Cattan, A. A sort of noose or hinge, which unites the “hand-stick” to the flail. It is made in two parts. The joint which joins the “hand-stick” is formed of ash or elm, whilst that which fits the flail is made of leather, as it is required to be more flexible near the part which strikes the floor. Mr. Wright and Mr. Halliwell give as a North-country word the verb “catton,” to beat, with which there is evidently some connection.
Childag, A. A chilblain. Often called simply a “dag,” and “chilbladder.”