STRAW BAIL. "Worthless bail, bail given by 'men of straw.'" This is surely no Americanism, and we have seen its origin very differently explained, namely, that men willing for a fee to become bail walked in the neighborhood of the courts with straws stuck in their shoes,—though Mr. Bartlett's explanation is ingenious.
SUNFISH. Mr. Bartlett thinks this a corruption; but the resemblance of the fish, as seen in the water, to the ordinary portraits of the sun in almanacs and on tavern-signs seems to us enough to account for the name.
A few phrases occur to us that have escaped Mr. Bartlett.
A CARRY: portage. Passim.
CAT-NAP: a short doze. New England.
CHOWDER-HEAD: muddle-brain. New England.
COHEES (accent on the last syllable): term applied to the people of certain settlements in Western Pennsylvania, from their use of the archaic form, Quo' he.
TO COTTON TO.
DON' KNOW AS I KNOW: the nearest your true Yankee ever comes to acknowledging ignorance.
GANDER-PARTY: a social gathering of men only. New England.