A Vocabulary; Or, Collection of Words and Phrases. Which Have Been Supposed to Be Peculiar to the United States of America. to Which Is Prefixed an ... States. Originally Published in the Memoir

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1816. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... still heard ift conversation, it is not often to be met with in writing. Sauce. A general term among the country people of New England, for all the common esculent vegetables. Hence those farmers, who supply the markets with vegetables, are sometimes called by their brethren, sauce-marketers. The term sauce is sometimes used " more strangely (to adopt the Words of an English friend) to signify impertinence." B. In some parts of England (as the same friend informs me) the term garden-stuff is used as a general name for vegetables, and Ash accordingly has that term; the other Exglish lexicographers have garden-ware. Scanty. This word is in common use in New England, and is to be found in all the dictionaries; but is noted by Mr. Pegge as provincial in England--" Scanty, short, in want of: This is a scanty pattern. We are rather scant of it at present. North." Pegge's Supplem. to Grose's Prov. Gloss. It is used here in conversation only. Scow. " A large flat-bottomed boat." Wehst. Diet. In some parts of the United States it is called a gondola (which see.) The word scow, says another American writer, is properly an American word, made from necessity to signify a small flat-bottomed boat, which is used only in America, and is just as good a word, as the track Schuyts of the Dutch. Port Folio, New Series, vol. vii. p. 328. A friend remarks, that" the word Scow is, perhaps, a corruption among the Dutch settlers in New York for Schuyt." A. Sea-bord or Sea-board. "Towards the sea." Bailey. Mr. Webster's definition agrees best with the scows or gondolas of the Northern states; which are strong-built, heavy boats, about 30 fleet long1 «nd 12 feet wide. This nautical term is often heard in conversation, and is sometimes used in writing. I do not find it in any of the...