land, and means a low place; and shade, in opposition to sunshine.Forby's Vocabulary.

To SWAMP. To plunge into inextricable difficulties. — Webster. This use of the word is not in the English dictionaries. It is common in the United States, though not elegant. Ex. "He invested a large sum of money in land speculations, which swamped him;" i. e. ruined him.

I SWAMP IT! A euphemistic form of oath.

Had that darn'd old vessel, that frigate there, bin a stone's throw farder off from land, I should never have swimmed to shore, dead or alive, to all eternity, I swamp it!-D. Humphreys, The Yankee in England.

SWAMP HONEYSUCKLE. (Azalea nudiflora.)

A plant flowering in April and May, which grows in the swamps from Massachusetts to Virginia. It is also called May-Apple and Pinxter Blumachy.

SWAMP PINK. (Azalea viscosa.) A popular name for the Swamp-Honeysuckle.

SWAMPING. Very large; huge. The word swapping is used in the same sense in the west of England.

And there we saw a swamping gun,

Large as a log of maple,

Upon a deuced little cart,

A load for father's cattle. Song, Yankee Doodle.

I SWAN, or SWON! A New England euphemism for "I swear!" Iswan to man! is a heightened form of the same.

"Well, I swan!" exclaimed the mamma, giving a round box on the ear to a dirty little urchin; "what made you let the little huzzy have your specs?"-Mrs. Clavers's Forest Life, Vol. I. p. 29.

I took a turn round Halifax, and I swan if it aint the thunderinest, drearyest place I ever seen, and the people they call Blue-noses. — Hiram Bigelow's Lett. in Family Companion.

I was dressed tarnation slick. I guess I rubbed two tallow candles or thereabouts into my hair, trying to make it curl; but I swan to man there warn't no curl to it, for it stuck out for all sense like porcupine quills. - Hill's Yankee Stories.

Well, I've jest come to New York, and its the darndest place, I swan to man, that you'd wish to see. — Story of Uncle Ben, recited by Hackett.

SWANGA. An African word used among the negroes in some parts of the South in connection with buckra, white man; as swanga buckra, meaning a dandy white man, or literally, a dandy devil. A friend in South Carolina informs me that the negroes there apply the term to persons who carry themselves conceitedly. Thus of one who is strutting about in a new suit of clothes, they will say, "He kin' o' swanga now."

To SWANT. To wash, as "to swant the decks." A seaman's word.

SWAP, or SWOP. An exchange; a barter. Mr. Pickering's remark applies to the noun as well as to the verb.

I'm for a short talk in a horse-swap, and always tell a gentlemen what I wish to do. ·Georgia Scenes, p. 28.

To SWAP, or SwOP. To exchange; to barter. — Johnson.

This word has often been noticed by English travellers in this country, and may perhaps be more common here than in England; but it is also used by the vulgar in that country. Pickering.

Clocks, nutmegs, and whatever else,

You call a Yankee crop,

If you have cash, he 's glad to sell;
If not, he'll always swap!

For he was born a merchant, sir,

A Yankee trader bold,

Who swapped his whistle for a knife

When only four years old. - Allin, Yankee Ballad.

SWASH, or SWOSH. In the Southern States of America, a name given to a narrow sound or channel of water lying within a sand bank, or between that and the shore. Many such are found on the shores of the Carolinas.

Webster.

After noon I crossed the swash at the east end of the bay, and in the evening got into good quarters. - Bartram's Florida, p. 472.

SWAT, or SwOT. A knock; a blow. Vulgar. A North of England

word.

To SWAT, or Swot. To strike, smite. A low word.

Tell me that again, and I'll swot you over the mug. - Report of the Hunker Meeting in Albany, June, 1848.

SWEET HEPPER BUSH. See Alder.

SWEET-SOP. (Annona squamosa.) An evergreen shrub, which bears a greenish colored fruit. It is also called Custard Apple and Sugar Apple. West Indies.

SWEET-SCENTED SHRUB. See Allspice.

SWELL-HEAD. See Bighead, No. 2.

SWILL-BOYS. A gang of New York rowdies.

SWILL-MILK. The milk of cows fed on the refuse of distilleries.

TO SWINGE. To singe. Provincial in various parts of England. - Halliwell.

The weather has been monstrous hot here, and I don't think I ever did see things jest sprawled out and swinged up so with the sun before. — Maj. Jones's Courtship, p.

185.

SWINGLE-TAIL. (Alopius vulpes.) The popular name for the Thresher Shark, from the use it makes of its long, flexible tail, "with which," says Dr. De Kay, "it literally threshes its enemies." Nat. Hist. of New York.

SWITCH. The movable rails and appendages for turning the cars on a railroad from one track to another. The term is now getting into use in England.

Now Tom, you skunk, this is the third time you forgot to set on that switch, and the last time there was twenty people went under, and the balance was bruized; so mind what you're about, and don't forget the switch again, or I'm darned if I don't tell the boss (station master).. - Notes on Canada and the U. S., Blackwood, Sept.,

1855.

SWITCHEL.

Molasses and water, to which, sometimes, a little vinegar is added. A common beverage in New England.

SWOT. See Swat.

To Swoт. See To Swat.

I Swow! A New England euphemism for I swear!

SYCAMORE. See Button-Wood.

SYMPATHIZERS. A name given to those persons who, during the Canadian rebellion in 1836-37, sympathized with the malcontents, and wished to invade the country.

TO SYSTEMIZE. To systematize. A word rarely used by good writers. Worcester. Dr. Webster, however, gives it the preference over systematize, which he denounces as "ill formed." What would he have thought of dogmize and stigmize, by way of " improving" the language?

T.

TO TABLE. To lay on the table.

"The bill for distributing the public

lands among the States was tabled by a large majority."

TACAMAHAC. Another name for the Balsam Poplar, which see.

TO TACKLE. 1. To harness; as, to tackle a horse into a gig, sleigh, coach,

or wagon. Webster. Local in England and colloquial in the United States.

2. To seize, to lay hold of; as, a wrestler tackles his antagonist, a dog

tackles the game. Webster. Colloquial in England and the United

States.

Well, I tell you what, it tuck a feller mighty wide between the eyes to tackle that tree, for it was a whopper. - Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 53.

I shook the two fellows off my trunks monstrous quick, and was going to tackle the chaps what had my carpet bag. Maj. Jones's Travels.

The people are no ways backward about discussing the subject of Mormonism, over-confident in their ability to demolish every Gentile against polygamy. One of the gentry tackled Gov. Powell the other day, determined to make a convert. — N. Y. Times, Aug. 9, 1858.

TAFFY. A common coarse sweet-meat, made with treacle thickened by boiling. Almonds are often stuck into it. Various dialects. — Halli

well.

Both the word and the thing are well known among us.

TAG. A slight touch. A boy, touched by one who is in the first instance fixed upon to commence the game, is in his turn obliged to overtake and touch another of the party, when he cries, Tag! and so the game proceeds. According to Mr. Halliwell, the same game is played in Warwickshire, where it is called tick.

TAILOR. A fish resembling the shad, but inferior to it in size and flavor. In the towns on the Potomac, the Blue fish is called a Salt-water tailor.

'TAINT. A corrupt abbreviation for it is not.

"Wonder what time it is?" said Miss Mary. "Oh, taint late," says he. "Is there going to be any preaching here to-morrow?"-Maj. Jones's Courtship, p. 69.

TO TAKE TO Do. To take to task; to reprove.

and in New England.

Colloquial in England

The Life Boat, a weekly sheet in this city, takes the Bee to do, for its course in relation to the Liquor Law. Boston Bee, July 29, 1852.

TO TAKE THE BACK TRACK. To recede from one's position.

The first law of self-preservation has admonished Mr. Douglass that he has gone as far in his slavery concessions to the South as he can possibly go, and that, if he would save himself at home, he must take the back track. - N. Y. Herald, Dec. 26, 1857.

TO TAKE THE RAG OFF. To surpass.

How often I have laughed over the fun of the forecastle. I would back it for wit against any bar-room in New York or New Orleans, and I believe they take the rag off all creation.-S. Slick, Nature and Human Nature, p. 28.

TO TAKE THE SHINE OFF. See Shine, No 1.

TO TAKE A SHUTE. In the West, a person running away, or leaving in a hurry, is said to have "taken a shute."

TO TAKE ON. To grieve; to mourn, lament. Colloquial in England and the United States.

"Why, Polly, what's the matter, gal," inquired he; "what in thunder makes you Come, out with the cause, or I shall get a blubberin' too.” — Robb,

take on so?

Squatter Life.

ТО ТАКЕ СР. 1. To take up animals is a common phrase in the language of the prairies, and means to bring them in and prepare them for a journey or the day's march, either by saddling them, or harnessing them to a

wagon.

2. To put up, as a traveller at an inn.

Southern.

TO TAKE WATER. To run away, make off. doubtless borrowed from sportsmen.

A Western expression,

He quitted the wheel [of the steam-boat] and made for his state-room, where he stayed till the boat reached Natchez, when he took water, and they do say moved to the North. Maj. Bunkum, N. Y. Sp. Times.

TALENTED. Furnished with talents; possessing skill or talents. — Webster. This, says Todd, is "an old word, long disused, but lately revived." It is as correctly formed as moneyed or landed, which are regarded as unexceptionable; yet it is pretty generally condemned, and on each side of the water the responsibility of coining it is cast upon the other, as will be seen from what follows:

The London Monthly Magazine (Sept. 1831) blames Mr. Stanley for using this word. "Sir Robert Peel referred it to his American associations, and prayed him never to employ it again, with all the strenuousness of Oxonian adjuration." The Philadelphia National Gazette, in speaking of the above, adds: "Sir Robert was right in protesting against the word, but wrong in his reference. It is of London cockney derivation, and still more employed in Great Britain than in America."

Coleridge says, "I regret to see that vile and barbarous vocable, talented, stealing out of the newspapers into the leading reviews and most respectable publications of the day. Why not shillinged, farthinged, tenpenced, etc. The formation of a participle passive from a noun is a license that nothing but a very peculiar facility can excuse. Most of these pieces of slang come from America.” — Table Talk, July 8, 1832. Mr. Bulwer is not yet "talented," a pseudo-particle, which no one will use who is not ripe for any atrocity; but he "progresses' at a fearful rate. — Edinburgh Rev., Vol. LXV. p. 240.

TALK. Among the Indians of North America, a public conference, as re