Hell. A dark place in the woods. See chap. x. [p. 110].
Herder. A sieve. See chap. xvi. [p. 185], foot-note.
Hill-trot, The. The wild carrot (Daucus Carota), used also in Wiltshire. Most probably a corruption of eltrot, eldrot, oldroot, and so from the Old-English. These last forms are given in Mr. Barnes’ Glossary of the Dorset dialect, p. 336.
Hoar-withey. The whitebeam (Sorbus Aria), which, with its white leaves, is very conspicuous in the Forest. We find the word used in the perambulation of the Forest in the twenty-second year of Charles I.,—“by the road called Holloway, and from thence to Hore-withey, in the place whereof (decayed) a post standed in the ground.” It is exactly the same as the “har wiðig” of the Old-English. It is called also, but more rarely, the “white rice.” See chap. xvi. [p. 183].
Hoo, To. To simmer, boil; evidently formed, like so many other words, by an onomatopoëtic process (See chap. xvi. [p. 186]). There is also the phrase, “the kettle is on the hoo,” that is, to use a vulgarism, on the simmer, or boil.
Hoop, To go a. To go where you like. “He is going a hoop,” means, he is going to the bad.
Hum-water. A cordial which is made from the common horse-mint (Mentha aquatica). Does “hum” here mean strong, as it is used in some counties with reference to beer? See chap. xv. [p. 166].
Joseph’s Walking-stick. The Joseph’s-ladder of the Midland Counties, common in all the cottage gardens round the Forest. It is curious to notice, amongst our peasantry, the religious element in the names of both the wild and cultivated flowers derived from Catholic times. Thus we have ladies’ cushions, and ladies’ tresses, and St. Peter’s-wort, and St. John’s-wort, besides the more common plants, such as marygolds and ladysmocks, which every one can remember.
Kittering. Weak. The more North-country word “tuly” is also heard in the same sense.
Lance, To. To jump, leap, or bound. Used especially of the Forest deer, which in dry weather are said “to lance” over the turf.