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Newfoundland Dictionary
Not sure of what was said? Here's a list of words that appear on this site or can be heard in Great Big Sea's songs, as well as some other popular Newfoundland & Labrador terms. If you know of any others that you think should be here, send me an e-mail.
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banshee: A female spirit in Gaelic folklore believed to presage, by wailing, a death in a family.
bend (ferryland)
blow me (old brown)
blow me down
blinds (lukey)
boom: A long pole extending from a mast to hold or extend the foot of a sail.
bow: The front section of a ship or boat. (wave)
briny: Of, relating to, or resembling brine; of the sea. (jolly roving tar)
cajole: To urge with gentle and repeated appeals, teasing, or flattery (time)
calico: A plain white, heavy cotton cloth (beggarman)
caper: To leap or frisk about; frolic; to skip; to spring; to prance; to dance. (jack hinks)
carouse: To engage in boisterous, drunken merrymaking. (ferryland)
caustic: Causing a burning or stinging sensation, or eating away by chemical action. (process)
channel: The bed of a stream or river; The deeper part of a river or harbor, especially a deep navigable passage; A broad strait, especially one that connects two seas. (rant)
chink: To fill narrow openings in. (lukey)
chokey: British slang (dated) for a prison (rant)
CLB: Church Lad's Brigade; para-military group. See also Recruiting Sergeant history.
condemnation: an expression of strong disapproval; pronouncing as wrong or morally culpable (nothing)
cone
confederation: Refers to the union of Newfoundland and Labrador with Canada in 1949.
To Cut A Fine Figure - To dance a good jig or a lively dance
Demasuit: (person - also known as Mary March) She was a Beothuk Indian who was taken captive by the English in 1819 when they raided her village. There had been an on-going feud between the English fisherman and the Beothuk. On May 5th an English party, lead by John Peyton, raided the village for fishing supplies they believed to be stolen. Demasduit was taken captive, her husband and child murdered. She was taken to St. John's where she eventually met David Buchan, a sympathetic British explorer who attempted many times to return Demasduit to Red Indian Lake. Unfortunately, she died on one of these journeys and was never reunited with her people. (demeduit dream)
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DFO: Department of Fisheries and Oceans
Dipper: Big Dipper; A rum blended and bottled by the Newfoundland Liquor Corporation.
donkey: a small auxiliary engine not used for propelling, but for pumping water into the boilers, raising heavy weights, and like purposes.
doting: To show excessive fondness or love (time)
doubles (black rum)
dram: As much spirituous liquor as is usually drunk at once (ferryland, scolding wife)
eight bells: Ship's bells are a system to indicate the hour by means of bells, used aboard a ship to regulate the sailors' duty watches - one for each half-hour of a four-hour watch. Eight bells would be the equivalent of 4, 8, and 12 (a.m. and p.m.)
fathom: A unit of length equal to 6 feet (1.83 meters), used principally in the measurement and specification of marine depths.
figure (rant)
flake: A platform built on poles and spread with boughs for drying cod-fish on the foreshore.
flaxen: Having the pale grayish-yellow color of flax fiber
Florizel (Recruiting Sergeant)
flowing bowl (jolly roving tar)
fob: A small pocket at the front waistline of a man's trousers or in the front of a vest, used especially to hold a watch.
fore cutty: Located at or toward the front; forward. (lukey)
French Shore: That section of the coast of Newfoundland where, from 1713, the French possessed the right to fish in season.
frock: A woolen garment formerly worn by sailors; a jersey.
gulch
gaff: A stout pole, 5-8 feet long with an iron hook and spike fastened to one end, used to assist a sealer on the ice and to kill seals.
gingham: a cotton fabric, usually woven of two coloured yarns in a checked or striped design; -- distinguished from printed cotton or prints. (berry)
going up: to have a party or a "time"
golden core (paddy)
gout: A disturbance of uric-acid metabolism occurring chiefly in males, characterized by painful inflammation of the joints, especially of the feet and hands, and arthritic attacks resulting from elevated levels of uric acid in the blood and the deposition of urate crystals around the joints. The condition can become chronic and result in deformity.
Grand Banks: Shoal or banks in the Atlantic Ocean east and south of the island of Newfoundland which extends about 500 miles from west to east, and about 200 miles wide, with an average depth of 50 fathoms (or 300 ft). It is crossed by the Labrador Current from the north mingling with the Gulf Stream on its eastern edge. The waters in the area were formerly rich in cod, halibut, haddock, and other marine life, making it one of the world's most important fishing grounds until stocks were depleted in the early 1990s.
grog: An alcoholic liquor, especially rum diluted with water; After "Old Grog", nickname of Edward Vernon (1684-1757), British admiral who ordered that diluted rum be served to his sailors.
gypsum: A widespread colorless, white, or yellowish mineral, CaSO4·2H2O, used in the manufacture of plaster of Paris, various plaster products, and fertilizers.
hearken: To listen attentively; give heed.
heed: To pay attention to; listen to and consider
high-topped sails (lukey)
hold: A large compartment in the lower part of a vessel where the cargo is stored. In earlier days, the hold also housed the ships gear and any provisions which would be required on the voyage.
hove: (past participle of heave) To rise or become thrown or raised up.
hull: The frame of a seafaring vessel. It is the main body, essentially only the upper deck, sides and bottom. The hull does not include the vessel's masts, rigging, or internal fittings such as boilers and engines.
icon (jakey)
jam: An impenetrable, tightly-packed field of salt-water floe-ice
jig: Lively, springy dances in triple rhythm
jigger: Unbaited, weighted hook(s) used with a line to catch cod (or squid) by giving a sharp, upward jerk
jingo: Used for emphasis or to express surprise (old brown)
John Cabot: Cabot, John, fl. 1461-98, English explorer; probably b. Genoa, Italy. Under a patent granted by Henry VII, he sailed W from Bristol in 1497, probably seeking the riches of E Asia and the Indies, and touched the North American coast. His second expedition (1498) disappeared. English claims in North America were based on his discovery. His son, Sebastian Cabot, b. 1483-86?, d. 1557, was an explorer in English and Spanish service. In 1509 he was part of an expedition in search of the Northwest Passage and may have reached Hudson Bay. Later he explored (1526-30) the Rio de la Plata region of Brazil for the Spanish. In 1548 he became governor of a joint-stock company in England (later the Muscovy Company), which negotiated a commercial treaty with Russia.
Ken: To have knowledge or an understanding (wave)
Kitchen Party: a Newfoundland traditional gathering that occurs in the kitchen of the home. There are usually musically-minded people in attendance, and they can be persuaded to entertain on a acoustic guitar, fiddle, accordion; with the vocal participation of the attendees. Food is often the form of bread and soup, but is not required.
Labrador Current: Ocean current flowing south along West Greenland and Labrador coasts and east of Newfoundland uniting with the Gulf Stream in the area of the Grand Banks. Its cold waters meeting with the warm waters of the Gulf Stream cause the frequent fogs of this part of the North Atlantic.
landwash: The sea - shore between high and low tide marks, washed by the sea.
marquis: A nobleman ranking below a duke and above an earl or a count. (old brown)
memorandum: A document recording the terms of a contract or other legal details.
moonshine: Illegally distilled alcohol
Mountie: A member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
Mummering, mumming: Also known in many outport communities throughout Newfoundland as jennying or jannying. It involved a group of people, disguised in ridiculous attire, who called on local homes during the Christmas season. These Mummers of Jennies, as they called themselves, dressed in bright coloured clothing and wore masks when available or painted their faces black. They also distorted their voices to avoid being easily recognized. After being invited inside a house, festivities ensued where food and drink were offered to the visitors who acted the fool and sang and danced while the hosts attempted to identify them. Once a person's identity was correctly determined, it was customary for the mummer to remove his or her mask. The traditional custom of mummering still occurs in many regions of the province today.
nigh on: slightly short of or not quite accomplished; almost, nearly.
old rigadoo (beggarman)
parlour: A room for business or social conversation, for the reception of guests (old brown)
petticoat: A woman's slip or underskirt that is often full and trimmed with ruffles or lace. (i'se, scolding wife, greenspond)
pinkie: Cheap port wine; wine mixed with other spirits.
planched: To make or cover with planks or boards; to plank.
privateer: An armed vessel owned and officered by private individuals holding a government commission and authorized for war service.
puttee: A piece of cloth that goes around a soliders thigh. See also Recruiting Sergeant history.
reef: A strip or ridge of rocks, sand, or coral that rises to or near the surface of a body of water.
reel: a lively Scottish-Highland dance and the music for such a dance
Representative Government: The constitutional arrangement prevalent in British North American colonies until the 1840s and 1850s. There was an elected House of Assembly, but the executive government was appointed by the Crown, to whom it was responsible.
Responsible Government: The constitutional arrangement in which the executive government consisted of elected members of the House of Assembly, usually belonging to the majority political party. The government had to maintain a majority in the Assembly, to which body it was responsible.
rigged (ferryland)
rover (boston)
rind: A length of bark removed in one piece from a standing spruce or fir and used for various fisheries and building purposes.
roved (jolly butcher)
sculp: To cut the skin and attached blubber from a harp or hooded seal
schooner: A typically 2-masted fore-and-aft rigged vessel with a foremast and a mainmast stepped nearly amidships. (ferryland, wave)
score: 20 years (beggarman)
Screech: Imported from Jamaica, Newfoundland Screech is one of the largest selling dark rums in Canada. Long before any liquor board was created, salt fish was shipped to the west Indies in exchange for rum. The fish became the national dish of Jamaicans and the rum became the traditional drink of Newfoundlanders. See also Newfoundland Screech Story.
screeches (excursion)
seam (lukey)
shareman: Member of a fishing crew who receives a stipulated proportion of the profits of a vovage rather than wages.
sheet (lukey)
shillelagh: a short heavy club
sloop: a fore-and-aft rigged boat with one mast and a single jib. (ferryland)
sods (i'se)
scouse: a stew of meat and vegetables and hardtack that is eaten by sailors.
sovereign: old currency from England
spar: A wooden or metal pole, such as a boom, yard, or bowsprit, used to support sails and rigging.
spitters (process)
stalwart bow: (description) the forward part of a ship marked by outstanding strength and vigor (gideon)
standing room (rant)
strand: The land bordering a body of water; a beach.
sunkers: A dangerous rock or shoal having only a few feet of water on it at high tide. A submerged rock over which the sea breaks.
swilin': sealing; The taking of seals, esp harp and hooded seals, by net, gun or 'gaff' near the shore, or the hunt for them from a vessel on the ice-floes.
ten pound tub (lukey)
trader: Vessel engaged in collecting fish from fishermen and in carrying supplies.
Union Jack: The Union Flag, commonly known as the Union Jack. See also Flags of Newfoundland
wall with the hole in (rant)
What are you at? (waya)
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