DEFINITIONS: C-E
| WORD | DEFINITION | C | . | CAAL | Think [southwest England] | CAB DRIVER, CABBIE or CABMAN | Driver of a small horse drawn passenger vehicle | CABLE | Nautical length of one hundred fathoms | CACHERE | A Hunter [Anglo-Norman] | CACK-HANDED | Lefthanded [mid north England] | CAD | Person who fed and watered horses at coach stops | CADDIE | Boy who carried messages or who ran errands | CADDISH | On the boundary line | CADDY BUTCHER | Butcher that dealt in horse meat | CADGER | Beggar, packman or itinerant huckster | CAFENDER | Carpenter | CAFFLER | Rag and bone collector | CAGGY-HANDED OR CASS-HANDED | Left-handed [Midlands] | CAINER | Person who made walking sticks | CAIRD | Tinker [Northumberland] | CAKE-NIGHT | The eve of All-Saints, as called in Ripon, Yorkshire. At this time a cake is made for every family member. | CALCAR | An Astrologer | CALCINER | Person who made powdered line from burnt bones | CALENDER | Person who listed documents | CALENDERER | Person who operated a pressing machine which had two rollers [calender] to press and finish fabrics or paper | CALIMANCO-CAT | A tortoise-shell cat [Norfolk] | CALKINS | The parts of a horse-shoe which are turned up and sharpened to prevent slipping [North England] | CAMBIST | Banker, financier, dealer in bills of exchange | CAMBRIC MAKER | Person who made a fine linen or cotton fabric [Cambric] | CAMERIST | Lady's maid | CAMISTER | Minister of the cloth | CAMLET MERCHANT | Person who sold cloth used to make cloaks and petticoats [Camlet] | CAMMIT | Crooked [Wales] | CAMP | To chat [northwest England] | CANDLEMAS | 2nd February | CANDLER | Candlemaker | CANDY MAN | Bailiff [slang], or a seller of candy | CANER | Person who made chair seats of woven cane | CANNALLER | Canal boat worker | CANNY | Term of approval, [northeast England] | CANON | Portion of a deceased man's goods claimed by the priest | CANTABANQUI | Ballad-singers | CANTER | Beggar or vagrant, or a religious speaker | CANTING-CALLER | An Auctioneer [North England] | CANVASER | Canvas maker | CAPILLAIRE MAKER | Manufacturing of orange flavoured syrup | CAPPER or CAPER | A soft cap maker | CARD NAILER | Person who maintained the teeth on the carding machine used for teasing wool and cotton before weaving | CARDER | Person who worked a carding machine to remove tangles from wool and cotton before weaving | CARDMAKER | Person who made handheld instrument for carding wool and cotton, or one who made playing cards | CARDROOMER | Person who worked in the carding room of a mill | CARL-CAT | A tom-cat [North England] | CARLOT | Peasant | CARNIFEX | Butcher | CARPET-KNIGHTS | Knights dubbed at court, in contrast to those honoured on the field of battle or for military service. A term of contempt. | CART WHEELER | Maker of cart wheels | CARTER | Carrier, carman, wagoner | CARTOMANCER | Fortune teller who used cards | CARTWRIGHT | Person who made wagons and carts | CASHMARIE | Person who sold fish, usually at inland markets | CAST | To cast a horse: to throw him down by a rope, for any operation requiring confinement of the limbs | CASTER or CASTOR | Person who made small bottles for sprinkling condiments | CAT-MAG | A Gossip [Midlands] | CATAGMAN | Cottager | CATCH-ROGUE | A constable or bailiff [East England] | CATCHPOLE or CATCHPOLL | Bailiff or sheriff's officer | CATECHIST | Teacher of religion | CATTLE JOBBER | Cattle merchant | CAUCIOUR | A surveyor [Cumberland] | CAULKER | Person who made boats or casks watertight by caulking the seams with tar or oakum-hemp fibre | CAUSEWAYER | Person who made road repairs [Scotland c1800] | CAUTIONER | Surety, sponsor | CEILER | Roffing worker | CELERER | An officer in a monastery who was in charge of provisions | CELLARMAN | Worker in liquor warehouse or public house | CEMMER | Person who hand-combed yarn prior to weaving | CESS | Land tax [Scotland] | CHAB, CHABBY, CHAVVY | Child, baby [From Romany, mid north England] | CHADFARTHING | A farthing formerly paid among the Easter dues, to hallow the font for christenings | CHAFF CUTTER | Person who made chaff by cutting straw | CHAFFERER | Chaff dealer | CHAIN | 22 yards | CHAIR BODGER | Travelling repairer of chairs | CHAISE DRIVER | Driver of light two wheeled open carriage | CHAISE MAKER | Person who made light carriages or chairs from wicker | CHALDER | 96 bushels | CHALONER | Blanket maker, or dealer in shalloon, a material made in Chalons | CHAMBER MASTER | Shoemaker working from home | CHAMBERER | A chamber maid | CHAMBERLIN | An male or female attendant in an inn, like a present head-waiter or upper chambermaid, or both combined. | CHANDLER | Candlemaker/dealer, grocer, or provisioner of ships, or for other special purposes | CHANGERWIFE | An itinerant female huckster or hawker [North England] | CHANTY MAN | Leader of shanty singing on ships | CHAPCHURCH | A parish clerk | CHAPELER | Maker and seller of hats | CHAPMAN | Merchant, dealer or itinerant pedlar, or keeper of a booth or market stall, or a horse dealer | CHARCOAL BURNER | Woodland charcoal maker | CHARE-THURSDAY | Maundy Thursday | CHARLEY | Night-watchman | CHARTER-MASTER or CHARTMASTER | A man who employs miners under him to fulfill a contract to get coal or iron-stone for a set price | CHARTERER | A Freeholder [Cheshire] | CHARTISTS | Those involved in a political movementof working class beginnings, from 1838, who rallied for reforms concerning various voting and parliamentary matters. More than a million signed a petition in 1839, which was not acted upon | CHARWOMAN | Cleaning woman | CHASER | Engraver | CHATELAINE | Mistress of a house | CHAUNTER | Street entertainer and balladier | CHEESE FACTOR or CHEESE MONGER | Cheese merchant | CHEG OR CHORE | To steal [Scotland] | CHESTER | A person who embalms, or places corpses in coffins | CHIFFONIER | Ragpicker | CHILDBED LINEN KEEPER | Person who hired bedlinen for use in home births specially before the 20th century | CHIN | Break [northeast England] | CHINGLOR | Rooftiler who used wooden shingles | CHIP or CHIPPER | Shipwright or carpenter | CHIRUGION or CHIRURGEON | Apothecary or surgeon | CHOPIN | One quart [Scotland] | CHOWDER | Fish seller [Devon] | CHUCK | Term of endearment [northwest England] | CHUNTER | Mutter, mumble or grumble [Midlands] | CHURCH-MASTER | Church warden [North England] | CHURCH-REVE | Church warden [Anglo-Saxon] | CINDER WENCH | Women who collected cinders from gas works and sold them door to door | CLAKER | Magician or astrologer | CLANJAMFRIE | A crowd, odds and ends [Scotland] | CLAPMAN | Man who escorted a person to jail | CLARTS | Mid [northeast England] | CLARTY | Dirty, muddy [Scotland] | CLASSMAN | Unemployed labourer | CLAVIGER | Servant | CLAY CARRIER | Assistant to shot firer in a clay pit | CLAYMAN | Person in a clay pit who prepared the clay for brickmaking, or who coated the outside of buildings with clay to waterproof them | CLEMMED OR CLAMMED | Hungry [Midlands] | CLERK IN HOLY ORDERS | Clergyman or priest | CLERICUS | Clerk [Medieval] | CLICKER | Person in charge of the final stage of layout before printing | CLICKER | Salesman's assistant and usher | CLICKER | Cobbler, especially cutting the uppers of a shoe, or making the shoelace holes | CLICKY-HANDED | Left-handed [southwest England] | CLIPE | To tell on someone [Scotland] | CLIPPER | Sheep-shearer [North England] | CLIPPER or CLIPPER ON & OFF | Person in a coal mine who attached the carts to a wire or rope so as to move them | CLOD-HOPPER | Farmer's labourer or ploughman | CLOGGER | Clog-maker | CLOSE | Street or alley [Scotland] | CLOTH LAPPER | Person who readied cloth from the carding machine | CLOTH LINTER OR PICKER | Person who removed unwanted threads or lint from material | CLOTHIER or CLOTHESMAN or CLOTHMAN | Clothing merchant | CLOTTER | A Clothier | CLOUTIER | Nailmaker, also shoemaker | CLOVE | Seven pounds | CLOWER | Nailmaker | CLOY | To prick in shoeing a horse, or to nail or spike up in artillery | CLUNIAC | Benedictine monk | CLUSTERFIST | Clod-hopper, farm labourer or ploughman | COAL BACKER | Person who carried coal sacks from the barge to coal wagons | COAL BURNER | Charcoal maker | COAL DRAWER | Person who moved coal carts in the bottom of a mine pit | COAL HEAVER | Person who moved coal between boat and shore | COAL RUNNER | Person who attended coal carts underground | COAL WHIPPER | Person who unloaded coal from ships in baskets using a basic crane | COALMAN or COALHIGGLER | Coal merchant selling coal house to house | COALMETER | Measurer of coal | COALY | A Lamplighter [Newcastle] | COAST SURVEYOR or WAITER | Customs officer who oversaw delivery of goods to shore | COB | Bread roll [Midlands] | COB | Spanish coin, formerly current in Ireland, worth about 4s. 8d. | COB IT | Throw it away [Midlands] | COB ON | Annoyed [Northwest England] | COBLEMAN | Fisherman who used a flat bottomed boat | COCKLER | Seller of cockles | COCUS | Cook | COD | To joke [Midlands] | COD PLACER | Person who put the fire proof containers holding pottery into the kiln for firing | CODDER | Pea-gatherer [Middlesex] | COELEBS | Bachelor | COGNATE | Persons related through the mother | COHEN | Priest | COINER | Person who stamped out new coins at a mint | COLLIER | Coal miner, merchant or worker on a coal barge | COLLOP MONDAY | The day before Shrove Tuesday on which in some parts of England people ate collops, or slices of meat, sometimes coated with egg. Also `Merry Monday' | COLLOPS | Lots of [Northwest England] | COLONUS | Farmer/Husbandman [Latin] | COLOURMAN | Mixer of dyes in the textile industry, or seller of paints | COLOURATOR or COLORATOR | Dye worker | COLPORTEUR | Seller of books, especially religious books | COLT | A worker who hasn't served a regular apprenticeship | COLT | Apprentice [West England] | COLT | Women and child workers in knitting industry in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire during Luddit Disturbances 1811-1812 | COMB MAKER | Maker of wool combs for textile industry, or hair combs | COMBER | Person who operated a combing machine in the mills | COMBER/COMBERE | Comber of wool | COMMISSARIOT | Court mainly concerned with wills | COMMOTHER | Godmother [North England] | COMPOSITOR | Setter of printing type | CONDER | Person ashore who gave directions to inshore fishermen as to where the fish were to be found | CONEY CATCHER | Rabbit catcher | CONNER | Inspector or tester | CONSANGUINE | Siblings where there is a common father but different mothers | CONSUMPTION | Tuberculosis | CONTRIVER | Inventor or schemer | COOMB | Four bushels | COOPER/CUPER | Person who made or repaired wooden casks or barrels | COOPERY | Barrel production | COPEMAN | Dealer | COPER | Horse dealer | COPLAND | Angular piece of land | COPPER | Penny | COPPERBEATER or COPPERBETER | Coppersmith | CORACLE MAKER | Person who made coracles [small round fishing boats] | CORDWAINER or CORDINER or CORVEYSERA | Shoemaker, from Spanish `cordovan' [leather] | CORK CUTTER | Person who worked with cork | CORN CHANDLER | Corn merchant | CORN CUTTER | Podiatrist | CORN FACTOR | Middleman between corn merchants | CORN METER | Official who measured and weighed corn at market | CORNET | Commissioned officer in a cavalry regiment | CORNLAITERS | Newly married peasants begging corn to start their first crop | CORRETIER | A horse-dealer | CORSARY | Pirate | CORSERE | A horseman, war horse, and sometimes a horse-dealer | CORVER | Person who made baskets [corves] used in coal mining | CORVISOR | Shoemaker | CORYAR | A currier | COSIER | A cobbler | COSTER WIFE | Female street trader | COSTERMONGER | Street or market seller of fruit and vegetables | COTELER or COTYLER | Cutler, person who made or repaired knives | COTTAGER, COTTAR, COTTER or COTTIER | Agricultural labourer | COTTON FEEDER | Person in a cotton mill who fed cotton into the loom | COUCHER | Person working in paper making trade | COUNTOUR | Rate collector | COUPER | Cattle and horse dealer | COUPLE BEGGAR | Itinerant priest who performed marriages without banns or license | COUPLER | Person who coupled coal tubs together in a mine | COURANTEER | Journalist | COURSEY | Pavement [Mid North England] | COURSER-MAN | A groom | COURT FACTOR | Merchant in courts [small carts] | COURT-MAN | Courtier [Anglo-Norman] | COURT-ROLLER | The writer or keeper of the rolls of a court of law | COURT TOOLMAKER | Maker of tools used to make courts [carts] | COURTESY | Life-rent enjoyed by a widower of the heritage of his late wife | COURTIER | Owner/driver of a court [horse and cart] | COUVADE | A curious custom | COVENANTERS | Scottish Presbyterians who were against the restoration of the Episcopalian Church and upheld the National Covenant of 1638. They were outlawed in 1662, and thereafter persecuted | COW HERD | Cow-keeper | COW JOCKEY | Beast-dealer [North England] | COW LEECH | Animal doctor | COWHERD, COWKEEPER or COWMAN | Person responsible for cows | COZIER or COSIER | Tramp | CRABBIT | Bad-tempered, sullen [Scotland] | CRAMER | A tinker | CRANKIES | Pitmen [North England] | CREAMER | One who runs a stall in a market or fair | CREEK | Servant [Suffolk] | CREEP-HEDGE | Vagrant [East England] | CRICKER | A man who carries heavy loads on a horse [West England]. More often refers to a collier's horse | CRIER | Law court officer, auctioneer or town announcer | CRIMPER | Member of a Navy press gang | CROAKUM-SHIRE | Northumberland | CROFT | Smallholding | CROFTER | Small tenant farmer | CROGGIN' IN | Jumping the queue [Midlands] | CROPPER | Tenant paid with a share of crop | CROPPER | Skilled worker in weaving trade who sheared the nap from cloth [Yorkshire] | CROUP | Diptheria etc | CROWDER | Fiddler [Wales] | CROWKEEPER | Boy employed to scare crows from fields, in early times armed with a bow [East England] | CROWN | Five shillings | CROWNER | Coroner | CRUSADO | Portuguese coin | CUBIT | Eighteen inches | CUE | Half a farthing | CUE | A horse-shoe or ox-shoe: The tip of a shoe made in that form [West England] | CUE-FELLOWS | Actors who play a scene together | CUFFINQUIRE | Justice of the Peace | CUHREUR or CUNRUER | A currier | CURATOR | Person appointed to administer the estate of another as in the case of a minor | CURBER | A thief who used a hook to take goods out a window | CURER | Person who cures tobacco | CURNOCK | Four bushels of corn | CURRETTER | Broker | CURRIER | Person who cures or tans hides | CURSTY | Christopher [North England] | CUSHION-THUMPER | Methodist preacher | CUSTOMER | Customs tax collector | CUSTRELL | One who carries the arms of a night | CUT | Canal [Midlands] | CUT-PURSE | Thief | CUT-THROAT | Highway robber or evil-looking fellow | CUTLER | Dealer and sharpener of knives | CUTTER | Tailor | CUTTER | Engraver [North England] | CUTTER | Robber or ruffian | CWM [COOM] | Valley [Wales] | CWT | One hundredweight | CYPRUS CAT | In East Anglia, a tabby cat | D | . | DAFT | Stupid, mid North England | DAFTER | Daughter [East England] | DAGUERREOTYPE ARTIST | Early photographer | DAIRIER | A dairy-man [North England] | DAIRYMAN | A person who rents cows from a farmer | DALE | Valley, mid North England | DALRIAD | An Ulster Scot | DANDIPRAT | A small 16th century coin, also meaning a small boy or urchin | DANE | Red-haired man, Southwest England | DANTER | Overseer [female] of winding in a silk mill | DARBYITES | Followers of John Nelson Darby 1800-1882, a founder of the Plymouth brethren | DATER | Daughter [North England] | DAUGHTER-IN-BASE | A bastard-daughter | DAUGHTER-LAW | Daughter-in-law [West England] | DAY-MAID | Dairy maid | DAY-MAN, DATALLER, DATELER or DAYTALEMAN | Casual worker, employed by the day | DAYS-MAN | An arbitrator or umpire. Still used in North England | DAYS-MATH | An acre. The quantity mown by a man in one day [West England] | DEAD-PAY | The pay of dead soldiers, illegally taken by officers | DEAD'S PART OF GEAR | The part of his moveable estate that a man can leave in his will [Scotland] | DEATHSMEAR | A rapid and fatal disease suffered by children, now obsolete | DEBTEE | The lender | DEBTOR | The borrower | DECIBEL | Unit of noise | DECIMER | Elected by householders to represent them at a borough's court leet | DECOYMAN | Person who decoyed wild animals and wildfowl into traps or hunting areas | DECRETAL | A decree, particularly in Roman Catholic Church | DEEMSTER, DEMPSTER or DEEMER | A judge [Channel Islands or Isle of Man] | DELVER | Ditch-digger | DEMANDANT | Plaintiff | DEMESNE | Feudal lord's farming land | DENIZEN | Foreigner granted certain rights, an alien inhabitant | DEPARTER | Person who refined precious metals | DEPUTY | The safety officer for the pit crew in a mine | DERRICKMAN | Person who handled tubes and rods used for drilling on an oil well | DEUSEWYNS | Twopence | DEVIL | Printer's errand boy | DEVILLER | Person who worked the machine [the devil], that tore rags in the textile industry | DEXTER | A dyer | DEY or DEY WIFE | A female servant in charge of a dairy | DICKON | Nickname for Richard | DIGGER | Worker at the coal face, or a day labourer in a stone/slate quarry. | DIGGERS | A splinter group from the Levellers who urged the distribution of land among the people during the Commonwealth [Interregnum] | DIKE-REVE | A person in charge of dikes and drains in marshes | DIKEMAN | A hedger or ditcher | DINDERS | Small coins of the lower empire found at Wroxeter | DIPPER | Person who glazed pieces in a pottery shop | DISH THROWER | Person who made clay bowls or dishes | DISH TURNER | Person who made wooden bowls or dishes | DISHER | Person who made dishes and bowls | DISHWASHER | Scullery maid | DISSENTERS | Various religious bodies/sects which dissented from the Church of England, 17th century. Later referred to as Non-Conformists | DISTAFF DAY | 7th January, when women returned to spinning [to the distaff] following the Christmas break. Spinning was traditionally work done by unmarried daughters, hence `Spinster.' The female members of a family were known as the `distaff side.' | DISTILLER OR RECTIFIER | Person who distilled spirits | DISTRIBUTOR | Parish official who took care of secular needs of the poor, on behalf of a workhouse | DIURNAL-WOMEN | Women who cried the daily papers in the streets | DOCK WALLOPER | Dock worker or longshoreman | DODKIN | A very small coin, an eighth part of a stiver | DODY | George [North England] | DOER | Agent, manager or factor | DOG BREAKER | Dog trainer | DOG LEECH | A veterinarian | DOG-WHIPPER | Church beadle [North England] | DOGNOPER | The parish beadle [Yorkshire] | DOIT | A small Dutch coin worth about half a farthing | DOMESMAN | A judge [nickname] | DOMINIE | Schoolmaster, Scotland | DOMMERARS | Beggars, often Welshmen, who pretended to be dumb. | DONKEY BOY/DONKEY MAN | Person who drove a passenger carriage | DONNIES | Hands, Midlands | DOOR KEEPER | A guard, janitor or porter | DORCAS | Seamstress | DOUBLER | Person who used a machine to twist strands of fibre together | DOWAGER | Widow with a jointure | DOWSER OR DIVINER | Water-finder | DOZENER | Also decimer | DRAGMAN | Net fisherman | DRAGOON | Cavalryman | DRAGSMAN | Driver of a small stagecoach or carriage for public use or private hire | DRAINER | Drainmaker | DRAM | 1/16 ounces, measure of spirits, Scotland | DRAPERY PAINTER | Mediocre painter who usually completed an artist's work by painting the clothes on a subject | DRAWBOY | Assisted weavers in shawl-making mills by sitting on top of the loom and lifting the wool | DRAWER | A wiremaker in the metal industry, drawing metal through a die | DRAWER | Person who raised coal to the surface up the shaft in a mine | DRAWER | Barman, bartender | DRAWLATCH | A thief, house-breaker | DRAYMAN | Person who drove a dray, a heavy cart which carried beer kegs | DREDGERMAN | On the Thames, collected debris from other vessels which had fallen in the river | DREDGERMAN | Oyster fisherman | DREGISTER | A druggist [Suffolk] | DREICH | Miserable wet gloomy weather, Scotland | DRENGES | A class of men who held a rank between baron and thayn | DRESSER | Assisted wealthy people to dress or prepared their food | DRESSER | Assisted actors or actresses to dress in the theatre | DRESSER | Person who dressed wounds in an operation | DRESSER | Operator of a machine that prepared threads in a mill | DRESTALL | Scarecrow [Devon] | DREVIL | A drudge, servant | DRIFT MAKER | Maker of drift nets for fishing | DRIPPING MAN | Fat/lard dealer | DRIVER | Slave overseer | DROFMAN | Herdsman | DROPSY | Ascites, accumulation of fluids in the body | DROVER | Cattle driver | DRUGGER | Pharmacist | DRUM BATTLEDORE MAKER | Person who made galvanised metal drums fitted with paddles used as agitators in washing machines | DRUMBLEDRANE | Bumble bee, Southwest England | DRUMMER | Travelling salesman | DRY SALTER | Dealer in pickles, dried meats and sauces | DRY STANE DYKER | Dry stone waller [Scotland] | DRY STONE WALLER | Built walls of uncut stones without cement or mortar | DRYSALTER | Dealer in salted meats, or a dealer in dyes and colours, or someone who made or dealt in salt | DUBBER | Bookbinder and trimmer | DUBBERE | A person who raised the nap of cloth | DUFFER | A pedlar of womens' clothes [South England] | DUNNER | Debt-collector | DUSTYPOLL | Nickname for a miller | DWT | One pennyweight | DYER | Person in a mill who coloured fabric before weaving | DYKEMAN | Hedger or ditcher | DYKER | Stonemason [Scotland] | E | . | EALDORMAN | Official of the shire courts who acted as the King's deputy | EAM or EME | Uncle, or in Yorkshire, a friend or neighbour [North England] | EARER | Ploughman | EAST INDIA MAN | Person employed by the East India Company, either in the commercial or military sphere | EBONITE TURNER | Person who made combs or ornaments from ebonite or vulcanite | EDGE TOOLMAKER | Blacksmith who made knives and farming implements like scythes | EGG DEALER OR FACTOR | Egg or poultry dealer | EGGLER | Egg or poultry dealer | EIK | In addition [Scotland] | ELD-FATHER | Grandfather [North England] | ELD-MOTHER or ELMOTHER | Step-mother [North England] | ELLERMAN, ELLIMAN or OILMAN | Person who sold lamp oil | ELYMAKER | Oilmaker | EMBOSSER | Person who moulded or carved embossed designs | EMMET | Ant, Southwest England | EMPRESARIO | Landbroker or showman, person who promoted settlement schemes | ENGINE TENTER | Person who used a machine in a woollen mill to stretch the cloth as it dried | ENGINE TURNER | Craftsman or engraver who designed and made geometric patterns on metal objects | ENGINEMAN | Person in a mine in charge of the winding machine | ENSIGN | Commisssioned officer in the Navy | ENUMERATOR | Census information recorder | EODEM DIE | Same day | EQUERRY | Officer of the royal household, responsible for the royal horses | ENTERIC FEVER | Typhoid | EREMITE | Hermit | ERITE | Heretic | ESQUIRE | Person who attended a knight, carrying his helmet, shield and spear. Later a title for a gentleman or landowner | ESTAFETTE | A mounted courier | ETCHER | Person who cuts/carves designs/lettering in metal or stone | ETCHER | Person who made plates for printing patterns on cloth, or for paper money | EWE HERD | Shepherd | EXACTOR | Tax collector | EXCHEQUER | Tax collector | EXCISEMAN | Excise tax collector | EYER/HOLER | Person who made eyes in sewing needles | EXEQUY | Funeral rites |
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Updated February 12th 2004