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       ~ To a channel damper down, dolly bodger, through the ice so a ship could gandy, goat’s egg, flummy, reach the open water. fried dough, funnel bun, tiffin, cutting stage ~ A platform of toutin ~ Fried dough baked on planks slung at the side of a top of a stove damper, in a pan vessel. on a stove, wrapped around a cutwater ~ A vessel that cuts funnel, or over an open fire, us- through ice; the stem of a vessel; ing a stick. A modern cooking the lower, front-projecting part method, by dropping it in hot of a caribou’s antlers. fat, gives it the name puffy-up cuverd ~ A cupboard. damper devil See damper cake damper dog See damper cake D damper down See damper cake da, dar ~ Father or elderly man. damsel ~ The damson (Pur- dab ~ Damaged material. nus insititia). dab See smoked dam tender ~ A man who raises and lowers the gates of a dam as dabber, dapper ~ A weighted well as performing any other ac- hook that takes bait for fishing. tions involved in the operation. dabseek ~ Four (Beothuk). dancers See merry dancers daddle, dattle ~ A seal’s hind flip- dancing master ~ A wooden pup- per or hind paw. pet with articulated joints and daddle ~ To approach leisurely; to set on a board that when vibrat- dangle. ed, causes the puppet to dance. dadyeens ~ Newfoundland settlers dand ~ A dandy, fop. originating from Cork, Ireland. dandelion look ~ A hostile stare. dagger ~ A tapered whetstone used to sharpen a scythe. dander ~ Anger, indignation. ~ Ladies’ underwear. dale ~ Red pine (Pinus dandies resinoso). dandy, dandy long legs, daddy dally ~ A sudden turn, drop, or longlegs ~ The crane fly, an slackening of the wind; wind insect of the Tipulidae family; coming from all directions; to sometimes used to describe a loiter about. lanky, tall person. damp ~ A low grade of salted cod dandy cakes ~ Little cakes sold for that is not quite dry. slimy 10¢ each. damper ~ Round stove cover danger bell ~ A warning bell rung through which or coal is on a ship, usually to warn of added. fog. damper See dapper danger flag ~ Warning flag aboard a sealing ship to signal sealers to damper cake, damper boy, return. damper devil, damper dog,

59      dank ~ Disagreeably damp and ship’s side to lower or raise cold. lifeboats. dap ~ To fish for cod with hand- dawn ~ A drink of rum or other line and weighted hook near the liquor. surface. dawnies ~ Nightmares, or realistic dapper, dabber, damper ~ A dreams. weighted hook with bait used have the dawnies, be in the dawnies in handlining for cod near the ~ To be harried or exhausted; surface. flicker, , jigger hungover. daps ~ A likeness or image of dawny ~ Sick, in poor health; be something. hungover. dar See da dawt, tawt, thwart ~ A cross-seat darby, janney, john jack, mum- in a boat. mer ~ A person who dresses up day See to in odd clothes with their faces daybed See settle covered as they go from house day-dawn ~ The dawn layer of to house banging on doors and clouds above the horizon. asking, “Any mummers ’llowed in?”; a fairy; a mischievous de, de once See to person. dead as a dick ~ Quite dead. dark and dirty ~ Rum and cola. dead box ~ A seasman’s wooden dark angle harp ~ Type of harp chest. seal with black fur. dead cake ~ A strong, dense, dark one ~ Mummer or janny. chewing tobacco. dark one ~ A janny whose identity dead calm ~ Perfectly calm with no one can guess. not a breath of wind. darn ~ To repair a hole in clothing dead cart, dead wagon ~ Hearse. with needle and thread, or with dead end ~ A waterlogged stick wool. that is barely able to float. darnback See thornback deadeye ~ A sore or callus on the dart ~ The tip of an Inuit har- hand; in ship’s rigging, a block poon; a quick blow; to make a with a hole or holes through quick dash; to spear wildlife or which rope is passed; a hard- fish. wood block, part of a mooring device called a “haul-off.” See dasher, douser, trouncer ~ A haul-off device used to frighten fish in a certain direction by thrashing dead-head wind ~ Wind coming the water. from the direction a vessel is headed. dattle See daddle dead-man’s cap, devil’s cap ~ A daughter See dotard toadstool. davit ~ Arms extending over a dead-man’s daisy, deam man’s

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posy ~ The common yarrow the death of a horse is the life of a (Achillea millefolium). Plant used crow ~ Proverb. in folk cures for a number of death boxes ~ Long wooden sea complaints. chests used for sailors who died dead-man’s dive, cut the devil’s at sea and were brought home throat ~ To throw a stone high for burial. so that it drops vertically into death clock ~ A ticking sound that the water without making a foretells death. splash. deathfall ~ A type of animal trap. dead-man’s flower ~ Known death kit ~ Candles and holy under various names such as the water were kept in the house to common meadowsweet (Spi- be ready for the laying out of the raea latifolia). Known by other dead and for the protection of names: bridewort, meadow souls on a journey to the after- queen, meadow wort, pride of life. the meadow, lady of the mead- death plant ~ A cabbage with cup- ow, or mountain spiraea. Plant shaped leaves. used in many naturopathic and pharmaceutical applications, deck ~ A deck load; a level in a including the relief of acidic mine. stomach problems. deck boot ~ A sturdy boot worn dead-man’s pinch ~ A mark or by fishermen aboard ship. bruise with no explanation. deck broom ~ A heavy broom or dead-man’s share ~ A small brush to clean decks and stages. amount. deck-engine ~ An engine on a dead moss ~ The beard moss (Us- ship’s deck to raise a ship’s sail, nea barbata). A green-grey lichen move freight, and pump excess that grows on trees. water. dead reckoning ~ Navigating us- deckers ~ Layers of clothes. ing distance, course, and esti- deck glass ~ A glass viewing win- mated leeway. dow in the bottom of a boat. dead snow ~ Loose snow. deckhand ~ Ordinary crew who dead wood ~ Lengths of wood work the deck area of a ship. joining a boat’s stem to the deck ~ The second in com- keel, and a stern post to the mand of a sealing watch. keel. deck weight ~ A deck load. deaf as a haddock ~ Very deaf. dee-dee ~ The Newfoundland dealer ~ A merchant’s representa- black-capped chickadee (Parus tive, with a trading outpost, or atricapillus bartletti). one who travels from fishing deep ~ Keeping one’s thoughts or premises to another. feelings to oneself; the depth of dean ~ A valley. netting.

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deepwater ~ A great depression in devil-may-care ~ To have a care- the ocean’s bottom. less attitude. deer ~ The caribou native to New- devil’s angel ~ A small biting fly- foundland (Rangifer tarandus). ing insect (Simulium family). deer bush ~ Dwarf (Betula devil’s birthday ~ The day on family). which pea soup is served; Satur- deer ~ Barriers construct- day. ed to corral caribou toward a devil’s blanket, devil’s feathers ~ narrow opening for easy kill- A fresh snowfall that impedes ing. work. deer moss ~ Beard moss (Usnea devil’s cap, dead-man’s cap, barbata). devil’s umbrella ~ Toadstool, deer pass ~ A place where deer believed to be poisionous. cross on their migration routes. devil’s carpet ~ Hawkweeds (Hi- deer path ~ Paths or trails created eradum family). by migrating deer. devil’s claw, devil’s clay ~ The deer pound ~ An enclosure to grapnel used to anchor a vessel capture and confine deer. to ice. deerskin ~ The hide of a caribou. the devil’s cure to you ~ An expres- deer slide ~ A sled with vertical sion of mild ill-will. horns. devil’s fashion ~ The act of giving deer slip ~ A noose to entrap something and then taking it caribou. back. deer trap ~ A device that when devilskin ~ A prankster. devil’s sprung by a bent tree, captures pelt caribou. devil’s laughter ~ Wilson’s com- deliiue ~ Egg (Beothuk). mon (Capella gallinago delicata). dell See dill devil’s match ~ British soldier, a dennage See dinnage type of lichen (Cladonia fam- desert flower ~ Sea thrift (Armeria ily); a type of bulrush (Scripus maritima). cespitosus). desperate ~ Disturbing or shock- devil’s pelt ~ A mischievous child. ing; of poor quality or a poor devil’s pipe, Indian cup, Indian attempt. pipe ~ The pitcher plant, (Sar- destroy ~ To take one’s life. racenia purpurea). The provincial devil ~ A seam located at a ship’s flower of Newfoundland and waterline. Labrador. devil-ma-click ~ A jack of all devil’s racket ~ A hard session of trades. drinking. devil-ma- ~ A device with devil’s spit ~ The white secretion many uses. of an insect larvae.

62        devil’s thumprints ~ The black dildo ~ Thole pin. Dildo, a place marks on the back of a had- name in Trinity Bay, NL. dock. A belief that it was left dill, dell ~ A duck, or to call by the devil who once grabbed ducks; the area in a boat’s one. bottom from which water is dew, pew ~ A prong with one tine. bailed. dewbeater ~ Early riser. dillberries, woolocks ~ Knobs on dewberry ~ The dwarf raspberry, the rear ends of goats and sheep. plumboy (Rubus arcticus). dill board ~ The removeable cov- dhoman ~ Woman. ering to access the dill. dialogue ~ The spoken portions of dill-cup, gillcup ~ The buttercup a play or concert. (Ranunculus family). diamond ~ Used with names of dill room ~ The deepest area in a objects that look like a rhombus, vessel under the floorboards in a i.e., diamond-eyed anchor, or vessel. diamond headland. dill thwart ~ A seat in a boat dick ~ A rooster. dead as a dick placed over the well of a vessel. dickey bird ~ A rooster. dill water ~ Bilge water; the stinky dickie See dicky liquid from the dill or space in the bottom of a boat, where dicky, dickey, dickie ~ A rooster. water collects. dicky, dickie ~ A hooded outer dilly-dalls, dilly dolly ~ Periods of garment; a heavy, usually wool- perfect calm at sea. len bib, worn by children to keep warm. dinnage, dennage, dynnage ~ Twigs, small branches, bark and diddies, ditties ~ A shivering fit, other items laid onto a surface triggered by a nightmare or on which salt fish or seals, etc., fright. are placed; dunnage. diddle ~ To create music using dinned ~ Something repeated. undeterminable sounds with the mouth, so people can dance. dinner ~ The big cooked meal served at midday. diddy ~ Breast. dip ~ To move fish from one place didoes ~ Boisterous behavior. to another using a small net; diet ~ Food and lodgings of a to move a liquid into another servant or shareman in a fishing container; to soak nets, etc., in a or sealing operation. tanning, preservative, liquid; of dieter, diter, dyeter ~ A fisherman seals, to leave the ice and jump who overwinters in exchange for into the water. the promise of work or payment dip net ~ A bag-like net with a the following fishing season. metal frame at the end of a diggin’ seat ~ A seat fashioned handle, used to handle fish. out of a log for use in a cook- dipped ~ Baptized: someone im- house or bunkhouse.

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mersed in a pond, lake or ocean dob ~ A fall or sudden dip, as the as a sign of baptism. bow of a boat. dipper ~ A small saucepan or pot; do be ~ Be, am. a harp seal, in its first year, when dock, elder-blossom, elder- it takes to the open water. bloom, eltrot, health root, hell- dipping time ~ Period in March- trot, helrope, poison turnip April when young seals take to (Hogweed) ~ The cow parsnip, the water. a plant whose leaves are used dipping tub, washing vat ~ A as greens (Heracleum maximum; wooden vat used for washing Heracleum Sphondylium). The gutted cod. leaves are boiled with other veg- directly, d’rackly, rackly, treckly etables. See hemlock, emblock, ~ Right now, soon. “I’m leaving ground hemlock directly.” dock ~ The water area where a dirt ~ Sticky, small marine ani- vessel floats when fastened to a mals (Ascidiacea) that grow on wharf. fishnets. doctor ~ A charmer; an organism dirty ~ To be resentful and that attaches itself to the wound vindictive; to be angry; describ- of a fish; the water strider, see ing bad weather, squally; of water doctor, prickly prickley objects, items that can cause doctor ~ To castrate male animals. harm. doctor See green doctor dirty water ~ Of marine animals doctor’s box ~ A ship’s medicine that make the water murky, but chest. have no food for fish to feed on. doddle See dodge discourse ~ To converse with doddling, doting ~ Meaning another. uncertain, but shows up in many disgusted ~ To be aggrieved. “I place names, i.e., Doting Cove. was disgusted to hear he passed dodge, doddle ~ To amble slowly, away.” to stroll; to stalk someone and dish ~ Give up playing a round hide; of a vessel, to sail leisurely. of cards by throwing away your dodger ~ A large horn button. hand. dodtrel See dotterel dish out ~ Deal out cards. dog eat dog, and vice versa ~ Folk dishy ~ Pale, ill-looking. expression. (Source: Art Wicks, diters ~ Rock walls. Badger’s Quay) ditties See diddies dog ~ used to fasten logs ditty ~ A fast tune. for sawing in a . ditty box ~ A small container to dog ~ The adult male hood seal: hold a seaman’s belongings. a large male animal, i.e., dog diver See black diver, sleepy diver bear, dog hood seal, etc.;The iron hook used to haul seal pelts doater See dotard (Common seal).

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aboard ship; to secure a ship’s ing opposite notches on the hatch; an improvised sled; a stumps.” piece of wood with hooks for dogfish ~ Small sharks, some- retrieving shot birds in the wa- times called greyfish. The bane ter; a piece of wood placed in a of cod fishermen. Especially rope to prevent timber from tip- the Scyliorhinidae and Squalidae ping when using a pit saw; used families. to refer to various dog-pulled dogger ~ A young man who fol- sleds; in sealing, the gunner’s lows and spies on lovers. assistant, who carries the am- dogging ~ To furtively follow munition. young lovers. dog ~ To track, or follow, espe- dog hold ~ The hatch in a jack cially spying on young couples. boat from which a man fished “Uncle George was always dog- while standing. ging them two young ones.”; to follow another vessel thought to dog pup ~ Water pup, or water know the location of seals whelp. out dogs and in dieters ~ At the dog rose ~ The wild rose (Rosa start of the fishing season, the nitida and Rosa virginiana). migratory fishermen would dogs ~ The last blocks knocked arrive and banish the dogs that away at a ship’s launching. took over their dwellings in the dogwood See dogberry winter. dole ~ A welfare allotment, pre- dogberries ~ The berry (Sorbus Confederation with Canada. aucuparia) of the mountain ash dole boots See lumps tree. Also known as the sorb dole bread ~ Bread made from apple, witchen, and rowan tree unrefined flour containing bran, berry. Used in wines, marma- and distributed to the needy. lades, jams, jellies, fruit sauces, and home remedies. dole days ~ The Great Depression (1930s). dogberry tree ~ The mountain ash dole flour ~ Unrefined, enriched tree (Pyrus Americana). flour. dog-cat ~ A catamaran pulled by dogs. dole order ~ Welfare note for sup- plies to the needy. dog days ~ Warm, sultry period between mid-July and mid- dole pin See thole pin August.; originally the day when doll(y) doucer ~ A child’s doll. the Dog Star rose and set with dolly ~ A wooden stick with the sun. prongs, used like an agitator to dog ears ~ Pointed projections left stir clothes in a washtub; a large on a stump by someone who hat. was unable to change hands dolly blaster ~ A child’s china while cutting down a tree. “He doll. changed sides instead, leav- dolly dodger, dolly bodger,

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damper cake ~ A piece of fried dose of shot See shot bread dough. dotard, doter, daughter, doater, dolly varden ~ A large crock used doter ~ The common seal, espe- by fishermen to drink tea. cially in its second or third year dominion ~ Of Newfoundland, (Phoca vitulina); an older seal. when it was self-governing. The skin turned inside out can donkey ~ A wooden barrel or cask make a seamless nunny bag. to pack salt cod in for export; dote ~ To be weak-minded with a homemade clothes chest; a age. frame, such as a wood, to place dote off ~ In age, to drift off to logs on for sawing; to manhan- sleep. dle an opponent. doter See dotard (Common seal). donkey’s breakfast ~ A sealer’s mat- doting See doddling tress. dotterel, dodtrel ~ A simple- don’t ~ Doesn’t. minded person; the long-legged don’t buy a dog and bark yourself ~ shorebirds: the marbled godwit Folk expression (Sarah Power, (Limosa fedoa); Hudsonian god- Fox Cove, Burin). wit (Limosa haemastica). doodle-laddle See loodle-laddle double See double sled doone, doonaneen, doonee ~ double-ball mitt ~ A heavy, knit- Newfoundland settlers from ted mitt using two balls of wool. Kilkenny, Ireland. Kilkenny double-bitted See double bit- boys. ter door, doorway ~ In fishing gear, double bitter ~ A two-edged axe, the entrance of a cod trap. with a sharp edge and a less door box ~ Porch or shelter. sharp edge. The sharp edge was door place ~ The open area in for cutting timber, the duller for front of a house entrance. trimming branches. dory ~ Flat-bottomed boat, with double blader ~ A double-edged flaring sides and a narrow stern. axe. They were often clinker-built, double crew ~ Two pairs of breed- and on schooners, could be ing beavers in one lodge. stacked to conserve space. double-handed ~ Rowing or fish- dory- ~ Used to describe many at- ing with another man. tributes of a dory: dory banker, double Irish chain ~ A decora- dory banking, dory boat, dory tive pattern in quilt-making or buff, dory hat, dory hook, dory knitting. jig, doryman, dory , dory double jar ~ A common seal past master, dorymate, dory pig- its first year. It breeds in late gin, dory pin, dory plug, dory June and molts in mid-August. schooner, dory scoop, dory The bottoms of seal boots skipper, dory strap. are made from the older seals

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whose skin is thick. The legs downalongs ~ People residing in of seal boots come from the the east end of St. John’s. thin-skinned jar. These seals live down dru me’s ~ Diarrhea. in dens created the ice until it down north ~ Labrador; on the breaks up and then they move Labrador; northward. into the bays. downs ~ Stretches of open coun- double linnet ~ An overlapping tr y. of netting when the cod trap is down scent ~ Down-slope, or pulled up. downhill. double (ball) mitt ~ A heavy, down shaft ~ A vertical shaft. knitted mitt using two balls of wool. down the banks ~ A reprimand. tongue-banging double pneumonia ~ Pneumonia in both lungs (A kill or cure: a down the Labrador ~ Part of the dose of kerosene and molasses). movement of a larger group. double sled ~ A heavy sled drawn down the line ~ Homeward from by two horses; a sled in two sec- a logging camp. tions for hauling wood. dowsing rod ~ A Y-shaped stick double-spring trap ~ An animal used to locate underground trap with two tension rods to water. secure the prey. dows’y poll, po ~ Large moth at- double-team cart ~ Large, four- tracted to a flame. wheeled cart. draft ~ Two quintals of dried cod, doughball, doughboy See dump- 224 pounds weight, manage- ling able by two men using a draft barrow doughboy See dumpling draft barrow ~ A flat, wooden dough fig ~ Used to describe a platform with handles at two doughboy made with figs rather ends so that two men could than raisins. handle it. douse ~ A quick smack or blow; to drag, drug ~ A chain with a pin throw something overboard; to which was put around the run- throw water onto something; to ner of a sled for use as a braking throw useless things out; home- device on hills. made shot. dragger ~ A large fishing boat douser ~ A device to stir up water, equipped with dragnets. It could and drive fish in the direction yield 25,000 pounds of fish in required, i.e., toward a net. one tow. dout ~ To extinguish a fire or drag twine ~ Twine of a cer- stove, or turn off a light. tain size used to make animal douter ~ A device to extinguish snares. flame. drain ~ A man-made ditch or oth- down ~ Northward. er constructions to run off water

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or other liquids; when singing to That finer part of a mesh where hold a note for a long time. cod are held when hauling in drain bulk ~ The pile of split and netting. washed cod laid out for the wa- drawknife ~ A two-handled ter to drain. used for, among other things, drain hole ~ The hole in the ice trimming bark from logs. used by seals. draw-latch ~ To loiter. drainings ~ The residue of mo- draw up ~ To pull fish to the lasses adhering to a measuring surface. container. dray ~ A two-wheeled cart with drakkar ~ A small Viking boat. two long poles and pushed or drang, drong, drung ~ A narrow pulled by one person or two lane or road. people; a larger dray was pulled drars ~ Drawers. by a horse; in St. John’s, a dray was four-wheeled and pulled by drash, dresh ~ To visit energeti- horse. cally; exhaust someone. dreadful ~ Full of dread; very, ex- drash ~ A lashing of heavy weath- tremely. “It’s dreadful cold out.” er. dreads ~ To be apprehensive or drashel, dreshel ~ Threshold. anxious. draught, draft ~ The depth of dredge, drudge ~ To catch her- water displaced by a vessel. ring; to salt herring. draw ~ To determine a fishing dredge ~ A dragnet for taking berth by lot; to trim unevenness bottom-dwelling fish or shellfish. from trees to make them uni- form for making barrel hoops. drenty ~ Referring to badly washed linen, stained or ~ To have no recall. draw a blank streaked. draw the spile ~ To imbibe, guzzle dresh, drash ~ A lashing of heavy down. weather. you can draw by the head, but you dreshold, threshold ~ A door sill. must drag by the tail ~ The work comes after the fun, or easy part. dress ~ To head, gut and split fish for salting; to remove branches drawbar ~ A bar at the rear of a from a felled tree; to make a tractor to which sleds etc. can be attached. bed. . draw bucket ~ Bucket with a rope dress in the fools; go out in the fools on it for getting water from a ~ To dress in comical disguise well, or for obtaining salt water, and go from door to door acting especially in a stage. foolish. ~ Get decked out in drawing twine ~ In hauling a cod dress off trap, the small mesh the cod are one’s finest clothes. lastly held in. dress up ~ To disguise oneself to go mummering. drawing up, drying up area ~

68        drew, droo ~ In a net, the num- planks tied together and thrown ber of meshes per single row; over the stern of a dory to keep the quantity of salt fish stored the dory’s nose into the wind. equivalent to the length of a See sea anchor storage pound. droke See droch dribble, driddle ~ A small, barely droke, drook ~ A deep, wooded running brook or stream; to valley; thick grove or patch of weakly urinate. trees. dribs and drabs ~ In bits and droll ~ Odd or unusual. pieces, sporadically. drong, drang, drung ~ A narrow driet See drite passage between houses. drift ~ The sea room; to slowly droo See drew pass over an area; a spray of drook See droke water, freezing in winter; rub- bish, odds and ends; a spree; a drop ~ To drop anchor concentration, as in “a drift of dropped down ~ Died down, fish.”; affected by. “In the drift decreased. of the current.” droughers ~ Coffin ships (unsea- drift-bank ~ Snowbank. worthy). drift ice ~ Arctic ice moving drove ~ Put under pressure. swiftly by currents or wind. drubbin, dubbin ~ An oil and ~ To subject someone to hard fat (tallow) mixture, used hard, manual labour. to waterproof leather. ~ A difficult experience. drudge ~ To catch herring; to sprinkle salt on herring as a drite, driet, dryth ~ Low humidi- preservative. ty, dryness in the air, a condition ~ A dragnet for good for drying fish. drudge, dredge taking bottom-feeding fish, drive ~ To drift or sail quickly; and shellfish, especially oys- to ensure pulp logs are moving ters. downriver. drudge barrow, dredge barrow driver ~ A person on the log drive; ~ A rectangular platform with a sail at the stern of a handles on two ends for two vessel, used for running before men to carry. Sometimes had a the wind. barrel or tub fitted on top. driving shack ~ A shed used by drudge horn ~ A cow’s horn used drivers on the log drive. to administer medicine to a cow driving works See carrying-on or other large animal. droch, droke, drogue, drook ~ A drug, drag, drogue ~ Anything dense growth of trees. A valley that causes something to slow with steep sides that are heavily down. For example, a drag or wooded. shoe under a wheel, or a dog’s drogue, drug ~ Two-by-four clog.

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