DEFINITIONS: F-K
| WORD | DEFINITION |
|---|---|
| F | . | FABER | Artisan or workman | FABRICATOR | Maker | FACTOR | A buyer/seller employed by a merchant | FACTOR | Steward of an estate responsible for rent-collecting [Scotland] | FACTOR | Commission salesperson | FAGETTER | Person wh o bundled faggots, sold firewood | FAIN | Glad, Northwest England | FAKER | Photographic assistant who added colour to photos by hand in days before colour film | FALLING SICKNESS | Epilepsy | FANCY MAN | Pimp | FANCY-PEARL WORKER | Person who made buttons or fancy goods from mother-of-pearl | FANGAST | A girl fit for marriage [Norfolk] | FANNER | Winnower of grain | FANWRIGHT | Person who made and repaired fans or winnowing baskets | FARANDMAN | Stranger or traveller, travelling merchant | FARCY or FARCION | The farcy, a disease in horses | FARNTICKLES | Freckles [North England] | FARREN | Half an acre [West England] | FARRIER | Non-Commissioned officer responsible for shoeing of horses in a cavalry regiment | FARRIER | Shoeing-smith, vet or horse doctor | FARTHING | Quarter penny | FARTHING | Thirty acres [Cornwall] | FASGUNTIDE | Shrove-tide [Norfolk] | FASTENS | Shrove Tuesday, or Fastens-Tuesday | FATHER-LAW | Father-in-law [West England] | FATHOM | Nautical measurement of depth: six feet | FAWKNER | Falcon trainer | FEAR-NOTHING MAKER | Weaver of special thick woollen cloth known as fear-nought, used for protective clothing, and for the lining of portholes or doors of powder magazines on ships | FEARLOT | The eighth part of a bushel | FEATHER-BEATER/FEATHER-DRIVER | Person who cleaned feathers | FEATHER-DRESSER | Person who cleaned and prepared feathers for sale | FEATHER-WIFE | Women who prepared feathers for use | FEATHERMAN | Dealer in feathers and plumes | FEEDER | Herdsman | FELL MONGER | Person who removed hair or wool from hides in leather-making process | FELL MONGER | Dealer in hides and skins, especially sheepskins | FELLER | Textile worker who laid or felled seams in material | FELLER | Tree or wood cutter | FELTER | Person in the hat industry | FERE | A companion or wife [North England] | FERMERERE | Officer who had charge of an infirmary | FERONER or FERRER | Ironmonger | FERRER | Farrier [North England] | FERRETER | Dealer or manufacturer of ferret [silk tape] | FERUR or FERATOR | Farrier or blacksmith | FESTITIAN | Physician | FETTLER | Machine cleaner in woollen mills | FETTLER | Sharpener of a fustian-cutter's knives | FETTLER | Needlemaker who filed a needle to a point | FEU DUTY | A perpetual lease, annual payment for use of ground [Scotland] | FEVER | Blacksmith | FEWILLER | Person who supplied fuel for fires | FEWSTER | Saddletree maker | FEWTERER | Hound-keeper, person who cared for greyhounds | FEYDUR BEATER | Feather beater | FIELD MASTER | Hayward | FILLER | Person who filled bobbins in mills | FINE DRAWER | Person employed in tailoring to invisibly repair tears in cloth | FINGERER | Thief | FINISHER | Person who completed the manufacture of an item | FIREBEATER | Person who tended boilers that powered machinery in a cotton mill | FIRKIN | Nine gallons | FIRST HAND | Silk weaver who owned his own loom, an outworker | FISCERE | Fisherman [Anglo-Saxon] | FISH-FAG | Fish selling woman [South England] | FISHER or FISHDRYVER | Victualler | FITTER | A joiner. By 19th century, a person who assembled pieces of machinery | FITTER | Coal broker | FITTLE | Food, Midlands | FITZ | Son of... | FIVES | Avives, a disease in horses | FLASHER | Skilled worker in the glass industry ] | FLATMAN | Navigated a broad flat-bottomed boat used for transport, often in shallow waters. Used in the salt trade | FLAUNER | Confectioner | FLAX-WIFE | Female spinner | FLAXDRESSER | Prepared flax before spinning | FLEET MARRIAGES | Quiet, clandestine marriages which were taken by clergymen who were in the Fleet Prison, London, for a fee. Secret weddings to escape the attention of relatives, held from about 1613 until 1753 when they were banned by an act of Parliament | FLEM | A farrier's lancet. Flem-stick: a small stick to strike it into the vein | FLESHER | Butcher or tanner [Scotland] | FLESHEWER | Butcher | FLESHMONGER | Flesher | FLETCHER | Arrowsmith, maker of bows and arrows, especially the person who attached the feather | FLITTING | Moving house [Scotland] | FLOATER | Vagrant | FLOATMAN | Flatman | FLORENCE | Edward III gold florin | FLORIN | Silver coin, two shillings | FLOWER | Archer | FLUSHERMAN | Person who flushed out water pipes | FLUTTERGRUB | A field labourer [South England] | FLYCOACHMAN | Jobmaster. Driver of a one horse carriage hired by the day | FLYING STATIONER | Seller of broadsheets in the street | FLYMAN | Cabman, driver of a light vehicle hired out for carriage of passengers | FLYMAN | Theatre stage hand | FOAL | Assistant to the putters in a coalmine [North] | FOAR or FEUAR | Landholder, leaseholder [Scotland] | FOGGER | Huckster or hawker carrying wares from village to village [Suffolk] | FOGGER | Middleman in nail and chain trade | FOGGER | Groom or manservant [Wiltshire] | FOGGER | Agricultural worker who fed cattle | FOGGER | Pettifogger, low-class lawyer | FOGORNER | Person who expels people from their dwellings | FOISTER or FOISTERER | Joiner | FOOT | Twelve inches | FOOTBOY or FOOTMAN | Servant or attendant in livery | FOOTMAIDEN | Female servant, waiting maid | FOOTMAN | Servant who ran errands | FOOTPAD | A horseless highwayman | FOOT-POST | Letter carrier or messenger who travelled by foot | FOOT-RULE | Twelve inch measure | FOOT STRAIGHTENER | Person who assembled watch and clock dials | FOR-BURTHE | Birth-right, or the first born of a family | FORBYE | Also, Scotland | FORE-ELDERS | Ancestors [North England] | FOREMAN | An ancestor | FORESTER | Game warden, forest ranger | FORESTER-OF-THE-FEE | A person who had a perpetual right of hunting in a forest for some service to the Crown, and after payment of a crown in rent | FORGEMAN | Blacksmith or assistant | FORGEMAN | Coachsmith | FORKNER | Falconer | FORNPECKLES | Freckles [Lancashire] | FOSS or FOSSE | Ditch, especially moat around a fortification | FOSSETMAKER | Person who made faucets for ale-casks | FOSSICK | Root around for something, Southwest England | FOU | A bushel, Scotland | FOUD | Magistrate or bailiff [Orkney] | FOWER | Sweeper or street cleaner | FRAME SPINNER | Loom worker | FRAMER | Constructor of house frames | FRAMEWORKER KNITTER [FWK] | Machineworker who made hosiery. Earlier done with a handloom | FRANKELEIN | A large freeholder. Originally the son or descendant of a villein who had become rich, but came to refer to small farmers and country gentlemen of considerable means. | FRATCH | To argue, Northwest England | FREEDMAN | Person released from slavery | FREEHOLDER | Holder of land, including voting rights | FREEMAN | Full citizen free of various dues and obligations | FREEMAN | In London, a freeman of a city guild, who had applied for freedom of the city and could be addressed `citizen.' | FREEMASON | Stonecutter | FRESER | Friezemaker [rough plaster] | FRESHWATER MAN | Freshwater sailor | FRIMBLES | Nervous or uncertain, Northwest England | FRIPPERER | Buyer and seller of old clothing | FRISEUR | Hairdresser | FRIZOGGLED | Freezing cold, Midlands | FROBISHER | Furbisher | FRUITERER | Fruitseller | FRUITESTERE | Fruitseller [female] | FUGLEMAN | Person who leads the cheering of a crowd or mob | FULKER | Pawnbroker or usurer | FULLER | `Tucker and walker.' In Southeast England, a person who used fuller's earth [a type of clay] to thicken and cleanse cloth in water | FUNAMBULIST | Tightrope walker | FURBISHER | Person who polished and cleaned metal or armour | FURENDEL | The fourth part of a bushel of corn | FURER | An official who burnt false measures | FURLONG | 220 yards | FURNER | Baker | FURNOUR | Baker [Latin] Still used in Kent | FURRIER | Dealer, maker or dresser of furs | FUSTERER | Person who made pack-saddles | FUSTIAN WEAVER | Corduroy maker | FUYSTER | Foister | G | . | GABELER | Tax collector | GADGIE | An old man, sometimes an old woman, Northeast England | GAEL | Scottish Highlander [Scotland] | GAFFER | Foreman of workers, or an old man | GAFFMAN | Bailiff | GAGER | Tax collector of liquor taxes | GAIN | Handy/skilful, Midlands | GALLEY | To frighten, alarm. Southwest England | GALLON | Four quarts | GALLUS | Mischievous, Scotland | GALOPIN | Kitchen-boy [Scotland] | GALVANISER | Iron worker who coats metal with zinc to stop rusting | GAME KEEPER | Person who was attached to an estate to protect game and livestock from poachers | GAMESTER | Gambler | GANGER | Foreman, from 1850 | GANGSMAN | Foreman | GANNEKER | Tavern keeper | GANSEY or GANZIE | Woolly jumper, after Guernsey, Channel Islands, Northeast England | GAOLER | Jailer | GARTHMAN | Yardman or herdsman | GARTHMAN | Person charged with maintenance of a garth, a dam used to catch fish. Owner or worker of a fish trap | GATER | Watchman | GATHERER | Glassworker who prepared molten glass for the blower | GATHERER'S BOY | Person who sheltered gatherer's face from furnace's heat with a shovel | GATWARD | Goat keeper | GAUGER | Customs official who measured the capacity of imported barrels of liquor so as to calculate customs duty | GAUNTER | Glover | GAVEL | Mown corn raked into rows ready for carting | GAVELLER | Usurer | GAVELLER | A harvest worker [female], Suffolk | GEBUR | Tenant farmer | GEET | Very, Northeast England | GELDER | Animal/horse castrator | GEOMETER | Person skilled in geometry | GERUND GRINDER | Latin teacher | GEY | Very, Scotland | GIGGLE-GAGGLE, or GINNEL | Passage between houses, Northwest England | GILDER | Person who worked with application of gold leaf | GILL | Quarter pint | GILLIE or GHILLIE | Attendant/gamekeeper [Scotland] | GIMLER | Machinist who made gimp [a type of card] | GINOUR | Engineer | GIRDLER | Person who made girdles and belts of leather, mainly for the Army | GIRTHOXTER | Girthweaver | GIVE BACKWORD | Let down, go back on one's word, mid North England | GIVE OVER | Stop it, be quiet, Mid North England | GLAIKIT | Slow-witted, gauche, Scotland | GLAIR or GLAUR | Mud, Northeast England | GLAKY | Slow-witted, Northeast England | GLASS COACHMAN | Jobmaster. Driver of two horse carriage hired for the day | GLASSMAN | Dealers in glassware | GLAZIER | Glasscutter, or an installer of window glass | GLEN | Valley, Scotland | GNASH | To hurry, Scotland | GOAT CARRIAGE MAN | Driver of a small passenger carriage | GOLDSMITH | Gold worker, or a banker | GOB | Mouth, Mid North England | GOMBEEN | Usury [Ireland] | GOODMAN | Person who ranked between a freeman and a gentleman | GORZEMAN | Dealer in gorse or broom | GOSSIP | Godfather, godmother or close friend. Later a woman friend who attended a birth. | GOWK | Idiot, fool, Scotland | GRACE WIFE | Midwife | GRAFFER | Notary or scrivener | GRAIN | 1/24 Pennyweight | GRANGER | Farm bailiff | GRAVE'S DISEASE | Goitre. Also called Derbyshire Neck | GRAVER | Carver, sculptor or engraver of images | GRAVER | Dockside worker who cleaned ship bottoms by burning and tarring | GRAZIER | Person who pastures, raises cattle | GREAVE or GRIEVE | Bailiff, foreman, sheriff | GREENSMITH | Worker in copper or latten [an alloy or thin sheet of metal] | GREENWICH BARBER | Person who sold soil collected from Greenwich pits | GREET | To cry, Scotland | GRIEVE | Farm overseer [Scotland] | GRIFFIN | New European arrival in India, a newcomer | GRIMBRIBBER | Lawyer | GRINDER | Cutlery and knife sharpener. Also in metal, glass and toolmaking trades. | GRINDER | Worker using a carding machine [textile industry] | GRINDER | Private tutor | GRIPPE | Influenza | GROAT | Silver fourpence used from the 14th to 17th centuries | GROCKLE | Tourist or visitor, Southwest England | GROOVER | Miner | GROSS | Twelve dozen | GROUNDLINGS | Spectators in Elizabethan theatre who stood around the stage at ground level because they couldn't afford seats in the galleries. A few might even have sat on the edge of the stage. | GROUNDSEL & CHICKWEED SELLER | Person who sold common weeds for the feeding of song-birds | GRUBBISH | Hungry, Southwest England | GUARDIAN | Person appointed by the court who takes care of the rights of a minor | GUIDSIRE or GUDESIR | Grandfather [Scotland] | GUINEA | 21 Shillings | GUINEA PIG | Person whose services were used for the fee of a guinea | GUMMER | Person who maintained old saws | GUTCHER or GOWCHER | Grandfather, relation, cousin [Scotland] | GYP | College servant who served undergraduates | H | . | HAAR | Thick damp mist coming in off the sea, Scotland | HABERDASHER | Dealer in small articles such as ribbons, needles, etc | HABERDASHER | Dealer in hats, shirts, accessories, especially in mens' clothing | HACKER | Wood cutter, or a person who made or used hoes, axes or other cutting implements | HACKLER | Person who worked in the linen industry separating the course part of flax or hemp from the soft with an instrument called a hackle. | HACKNEY MAN | Renter of horses and carriages | HACKY, MANKY or LOPPY | Dirty, mid North England | HADAWAY | Go away, get lost. Also an expression of disbelief, Northeast England | HAIR SEATING MERCHANT | Person who dealt in horse-hair stuffing used in upholstery work | HAIRWEAVER or HAIRMAN | Person who weaved cloth made up of or containing horsehair | HALBERT CARRIER | Soldier or halberier armed with a halberd, a weapon combining a spear and a battleaxe, often for ceremonial purposes. | HALFMARK | Old coin, 6/8 pence | HALOGEN | Salt producer | HAMMERER | Hammersmith | HANDSELLER | Street vendor | HANDWOMAN | Female attendant or midwife | HANSTER | Guild freeman | HAPPENS | Maybe, Mid North England | HARLOT | Male servant, or attendant in the 14th century | HARMAN or HARMER BECK | Police constable | HATCHELER or HATCHLER | Person who cleaned, combed or carded flax | HATTER | Maker of hats, or a hat-seller | HAVER | To waffle, Scotland | HAWBUCK | Clown | HAWKER | Falconer, or pedlar, or streetseller | HAYMONGER | Hay dealer | HAYSEL | Hay harvest | HAYTIER | Hay bundler | HAYWARD | Person who produced a hay field | HAYWARD or HEDGELOOKER | Warden, a person who inspected hedges and fences of a parish and impounded stray animals | HEADSMAN | Executioner | HEADSWOMAN | Midwife | HEALD KNITTER | Person who operated a machine producing a jersey type fabric | HECK MAKER | Person who made part of a spinning machine which led the yarn to the reels | HECTARE | One hundred Ares, France | HEDGER | Person who trimmed hedges | HEELMAKER | Person who made shoe heels | HEIRS PORTIONERS | Women succeeding to heritage jointly where there are no male heirs | HELLIER or HILLIER | Person who slated or tiled roofs | HELPER-UP | In Durham mining industry, a boy who helped the adult workers | HEMLSMAN | Steersman of a vessel | HEMMER | Stitcher or sewer | HEMP HECKLER | Hackler or flax dresser | HENCHMAN | Horseman or groom, or a squire, or a chief attendant to a Highland Chief | HENSMAN | Horseman or groom | HENTER | Thief | HEWER | A miner who cut stone or coal, a face worker | HIDE | 120 acres | HIGGLER | Person who haggles or bargains for goods, like a cadger | HIGH SHERIFF | Senior to deputy sheriffs, the top official | HIND | Household servant or domestic, or a skilled farm labourer, in Scotland | HINNY | Term of endearment. Cf. `Honey,' Northeast England | HINXMAN | Henchman | HIRED MAN | Hired for garden, stable or farm work | HIVER | Apiarist/Beekeeper | HOASTMAN | Member of a guild | HOBBLER | Horse soldier | HOBBLER | Person employed to tow a boat on rivers or canals | HOCKTIDE | Part of Easter festivities from medieval England. The second Monday and Tuesday after Easter Sunday were set aside, on Monday, the women capturing men and releasing them on payment of a fine, and on Tuesday, the men capturing women. Fines were donated to the church. Possibly recalled victory over the Danes. Hence to `hock off' or pawn something. | HOD | Brickman's labourer | HODMAN | Mason's labourer | HOGGARD | Pig drover | HOGREEVE | Medieval parish officer | HOGSHEAD | A large cask, France | HOLLOWARE WORKER | Person who made ornaments or teapots in a pottery [not flatware], or someone making tin trunks or boxes | HOLLOWARE | A trade name for hollow articles of iron such as pots and kettles | HOOFER | Dancer | HOOKER | Reaper, 16th century, or a person who worked in the textile industry in the 19th century, operating a machine which flattened fabric in workable lengths | HOOPER | Person who made hoops for barrels or casks | HORKEY | Harvest frolic to celebrate the gathering of the harvest | HORNER | Person who made spoons or combs from horn, or musical horns | HORSE CAPPER | Dealer in worthless horses | HORSE COPER | Horse dealer | HORSE COURSER | Person who owned race horses | HORSE HAIR CURLER | Person who dressed horse hair used in upholstery | HORSE KNAVE | Groom | HORSE LEECH | Horse vet or farrier, also cowleech | HORSE MARINE | Person who handled barges on canals where horses weren't used | HOSEMAN | Fireman | HOSIER | Dealer in stockings, socks, gloves etc | HOSIER | Owner of frame-work knitting machines hired out for production of stockings | HOSTELLER | Innkeeper | HOSTLER | Groom or stableman, or a person who worked on railway locomotives | HOTPRESSER | Person who pressed paper or textile between glazed boards and hot metal plates | HOUSE JOINER | Person who built house frames | HOUSE WRIGHT | Builder | HOVELLER | Longshoreman | HOWDY, HOWDIE or HOWDY WIFE | Midwife [Scotland] | HOY | To throw, Northeast England | HOYMAN | Person who carried goods and passengers by small coastal vessel or sloop | HUCKSTER | A person, sometimes female, who sold ale in the street, or a seller or small goods in a shop or kiosk | HUISSHER | A door attendant or usher | HUMPER | Meat porter/carrier | HURDLEMAN or HURDLER | Person who made hedges of wattled framework fencing in the south of England | HURRIERS | Young girls, 5 to 18 years of age, employed as coal drawers in a mine | HUSBANDMAN | Tenant farmer | HUSH SHOP KEEPER | Person who brewed and sold unlicensed beer | HYEM | Home, Northeast England | I | . | ICEMAN | Person who sold or delivered ice | ISLESMAN | Inhabitant of the Hebrides | INCH | Unit of measurement | INDENTURED SERVANT | A person comitted to working for someone for a fixed number of years, most often between four and seven years, either of free will or not, in exchange for the chance to emigrate or similar. A position without any notable rights. | INDWELLER | Inhabitant, resident | INFANTILE PARALYSIS | Polio | INFEFTMENT | A man was infeft when put into possession of heritable property | INFIRMARIAN | Person who managed an infirmary | INFLAMATION OF THE LUNGS | Pneumonia | INTENDENT | Person who directed public or government business | INTERFACTOR | A murderer | IRON FOUNDER | Person who founds or casts iron | IRON MASTER | An owner or manager of an iron foundry | IRON MONGER | Or feroner, a dealer in ironwares | IRON SMITH | Blacksmith | IRONSIDES | Cavalrymen under Oliver Cromwell, because of their armour, and strict discipline | ITCH | Scabies | IVORY WORKERS | Makers of ivory objects such as piano keys, billiard balls, combs and ornaments | J | . | JACK | A young male assistant, a sailor or lumberjack | JACK-FRAME TENTER | Person who operated a jack-frame in the cotton industry ued to twist the thread | JACK-SMITH | Maker of lifting machinery | JACOBITES | Supporters of the House of Stuart in line for the throne of Britain, after James II fled to France in 1688. | JACOBUS | Gold coin, James I | JAGGER | Carrier or pedlar of fish | JAGGER | In Derbyshire in the 19th century, a young lad put in charge of a train of trucks [a jag] in a coal mine | JAGGER | Person in charge of a horse lugging iron ore to a smelter | JAGGER | A uniformed message boy employed by London businesses from 1899 | JAKES-FARMER | Person who emptied cesspools | JANNOCK | Reasonably good, Northwest England | JAPANNER | Varnisher who used a lacquering process invented in Japan | JARVEY | Cab driver | JED | Dead, Midlands | JETH | Death, Midlands | JERQUER | Custom house officer responsible for inspecting ships | JERSEY COMBER | Person who worked in woollen manufacturing, jersey being wool which has been combed, but not spun | JOB MASTER or JOB COACHMAN | Or job master, a driver of a coach hired longterm to the gentry or nobility | JOBBER | Pieceworker. Bought in quantity to sell on to others | JOBLING GARDENER | Person employed casually | JOE or JOYEY | A small silver coin, fourpence, from 1836 | JOINER | Skilled carpenter | JOINTURE | Estate settled on wife for time she survives husband | JONGLEUR | Travelling minstrel | JOURNEYMAN | Craftsman who had served an apprenticeship. A master in a trade | JOUSTER | Female fish hawker, usually travelled by foot from town to town | K | . | KAILWIFE | Cabbage seller. In Scotland, a scold | KAKY | Sticky, Southwest England | KEAWER | Sit, Northwest England | KEDGER | Fisherman | KEEKER | Person responsible for quality control in a coal mine. In Scotland, a mine inspector | KEELER OR KEELMAN | Bargemen, from `keel,' a flat bottomed boat | KEMPSTER | Person who combed wool | KEN | Know, Scotland | KERNE | Irish foot soldier | KIDDIER | Person who dealt in young goats, or who dealt in skins | KILNER | A limeburner, person in charge of a kiln | KIRKTON | Village, Scotland | KISSER | Person who made cuishes/cuisses [plate armour which protected the thigh] and high armour | KNACKER | Person who dealt in old horses or dead animals. Also maker of harnesses and saddles | KNAPPERS | Person who dressed and shaped flints, mainly to make flintlocks for British Army weaponry | KNELLER OR KNULLER | Chimney sweep who touted for business door to door | KNIFE BOY | Scullery lad | KNIGHT | A lord's retainer who owes military service in exchange for his estate | KNOCKER-UP | Person who went round a town awaking the early shift of mill and factory workers by knocking on their windows. Northern England | KNOCKKNOBBLER | Person who caught dogs | KNOLLER | Person who rang bells | KNOT | 6080 feet |
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Updated February 12th 2004