Select one or more, then press search
Select one or more, then press search
Clear
Milk which is diluted with water has a bluish white colour, and this word was used for a fabric of that colour.
dates 1558 1562

A place where cows were milked, in the fields rather than in one of the farm buildings.
dates 1695 1711

spellings milnestone
One of a pair of circular stones used for grinding corn in a mill.
dates 1538 1599 1610 1612 1636

spellings water milne
The regional word for ‘mill’, an element in numerous compound terms.
dates 1458-1459 1502 1539 1684

The bridge that gave access to the manorial mill, via the milnegate.
dates 1317 1360 1472

The way to the mill. There will have been such a way formerly within each manor.
dates 1315 1589 1630

A corn miller, the usual Yorkshire spelling.
dates 1297 1657

The millstones were quarried and shaped high above the valleys, along the grit-stone edges, and roads were made so that they might be more easily transported (HPP100-5). The occupational term occurs only occasionally.
places Rawdon
dates 1593

Both a carpenter and an engineer, responsible for all the intricate wooden parts that were required in mills and mill machinery.
dates 1386 1554 1585 1596 1678

min

To remember or bear in mind.
places Mitton
dates 1444

spellings mynshinge
A kitchen knife, used for chopping up meat.
places Healaugh
dates 1568

To take note, pay attention to, remember.
dates 1642 1669

This is an uncommon word, similar in form to ‘coalery’ and ‘stonery’.
dates 1561 1609

A kind of fur which was cheaper than ermine, and used as a lining or trimming, particularly in ceremonial dress (EMV220).
dates 1346 1388 1457

To ‘min’ was to remind, and the ‘minning’ was a reminder, a peal of bells rung to commemorate a departed soul.
places Penistone
dates 1524

These were pits in areas of marshy ground.
dates 1200-1299 1516 1570-1571 1578 1619-1621 1625 1657 1851

spellings murk
Dark of colour.
dates 1230 1445 1540-1547 1542 1544-1545 1558 1619-1621

An alternative spelling of maslin (1).

A shed for cattle, a cow-house, still a well-established word in Yorkshire.
dates 1657 1709 1731

Probably a spelling of maslin (2).
places York
dates 1452 1509

A composition of various ingredients in the form of an electuary, regarded as an antidote against poison and diseases.
places Ripley Selby
dates 1617 1663 1693

A type of cloth, made with two or more colours of wool, scribbled or mixed together before being spun.
dates 1758 1816

Raining in very fine drops, drizzling.
places Elmswell Sessay
dates 1642 1787

mo

An archaic form of ‘more’.
dates 1485 1541-1542 1550 1617

mob

A mob-cap, worn by women indoors in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
dates 1716 1755

A material used for clothing, hangings, etc, said to have first been made in Flanders.
dates 1543 1568 1579

This may be the dialect word ‘moise’ which means to improve, although evidence for its use in Yorkshire is otherwise lacking. Alternatively perhaps it was for ‘moite’; that is ‘burl’ or pick out the foreign matter.
places York
dates 1506

The word ‘brest’ could mean ‘damaged’ so perhaps this was a reference to ‘mould’, that is good land, which was deemed to be ‘spoilt’ because it lay uncultivated.
dates 1327 1338 1340 1346

An allowance given to miners on a Monday, as a bonus.
places Halifax

To remember, to bear in mind, to admonish.
dates 1438 1640

Used as a by-name which may not have been flattering.
dates 1253 1260 1274 1295-1296 1409-1410

Carrying out illicit actions in the night-time, whether it be distilling liquor or taking a second job (OED).
places York
dates 1307

A barn on the moor, away from the farm.
places Barnoldswick
dates 1689

Setting fire to sections of moorland has long been a practice in the north, burning off the ling early in the year in order to promote new growth which would be suitable for pasturage. It was an offence though between 11 April and 1 November.
dates 1610 1620

The male red or black grouse.
places York
dates 1463

The physical division between the cultivated lower areas and the unenclosed moorland in upland management.
dates 1315-1316 1399-1400 1457-1458 1521 1579

A collective term for grouse.
dates 1637

Could mean a 'gate' controlling access to land under cultivation and the moor beyond; or, the road to the moor from the village; or a right to pasturage.
dates 1300 1323 1341 1604 1666 1724 1734

A manorial office for which the first example is a by-name, possibly for one whose task it was to oversee grazing and rights of way on the town moor.
places Escrick Bowland
dates 1345 1393

Probably clouds on the peaks and sides of the moors, specific to West Yorkshire.
dates 1786 1864

An occasional spelling of ‘multure’.
places Ovenden
dates 1783

mop

spellings mope
The name of one of four horses owned by the provost of Beverley.
places Beverley
dates 1419

As a term of endearment for a child ‘mopsy’ is on record from 1582 (OED), almost fifty years later than it occurs as a name for an animal.
places Felixkirk
dates 1536

Of a horse, dark-coloured, and then a name.
places Reedness York
dates 1347 1358 1495

This term was used in contexts where a sum of money was advanced ahead of the full total due.
dates 1553 1595

A kind of helmet worn by soldiers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
places Healaugh Park
dates 1568

Wool taken from the skin of a dead sheep.
places York
dates 1524

It means ‘morning’ in some attributive uses, probably the early mass in these examples.
dates 1510 1529 1568-1569

The skin of a sheep or lamb that has died a natural death (OED).
dates 1457-1458 1532

A customary gift to the minister of a parish from the estate of a deceased person, usually the testator’s best animal.
dates 1347 1393 1444 1448

Photo by Kreuzschnabel CC BY-SA 3.0