Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

Tag: lexicography

  • A speeat o’ rain

    A speeat o’ rain

    In this month of showers, a spate — a heavy downpour in the Cleveland vernacular — situated somewhere in the vicinity of Great Broughton. I don’t suppose that ‘spate‘ found its place amidst the 40,000 entries of Dr Samuel Johnson’s seminal dictionary, published on this very day in 1755. The laborious compilation consumed nearly a…

  • Sunset from Cliff Rigg

    Sunset from Cliff Rigg

    A very wet run this morning over the Cleveland Hills. And after lunch, the sun came out. Blue skies. So I dragged the dog up to Cliff Rigg for the sunset. And she repaid me by thorough belching — I made that phrase up, inspired by the 18th-century expression of a ‘thorough-cough‘ which is coughing…