Dictionary of Newfoundland English

american man: a marker, usually a pile of rocks placed as a guide in coastal navigation.

artic steak: marketing name for whale steak.

baccalo: cod fish, especially dried and slated cod.

baccalieu bird:– name given to several common seabirds, Atlantic common murre or Turr and the Atlantic common puffin.

bank fishery: Cod fishery prosecuted in vessels, or in dories carried by vessels, on the offshore fishing grounds.

bay girl: young women of the "outports".

bay hospital: small cottage hospital serving a rural district.

beothuk: member of a tribe of Indians, now extinct.

berth: assigned a lot to a vessel, boat, crew or family.

betty: nickname for a kettle.

bobber: used to mark the position of a net or other type of fishing gear.

breast mark: land features or objects lined up by a fishermen to mark the place of a fishing ground.

bush born: resident of Newfoundland born and bred on the island.

caplin or capelin: a small deep water fish, appears inshore during June or July to spawn on the beaches.

caplin season: June-July, when caplin appear inshore.

captain: captain of the head ‘man appointed to keep ship’s head clean’.

caribou: the species of deer native to Newfoundland.

cast: throw forth…a net.’ In fishing for caplin, to secure a catch.

catch: a number of fish caught.

cobby house: a little house built by children, to play.

cod fishery: principal commercial fishery.

cruiser: crewmen of a vessel engaged in coastal trade.

dark angel harp: type of harp seal with black fur.

devils birthday: day on which pea soup is served; Saturday.

dribble: small trickling and barely continuous stream.

droke: a valley with steep sides, sometimes wooden and with a stream.

drung: a narrow lane or passage between houses or fenced gardens.

duff: a blow, kick in the backside.

establishment: place of business.

faggot: a stack of spilt and salted cod-fish at various stages of the drying process.

fall fishery: the cod-fishery prosecuted between the end of the spring and summer fishery and Christmas.

fig duff : boiled pudding containing raisins.

fish dog: a skilled experienced fishermen.

fishing season: a period of the fishery for cod from spring to early autumn.

fishing plantation: area of foreshore and buildings upon it for the landing and curing fish.

fishing voyage: enterprise or period of fishing.

flake: a platform built on poles and spread with boughs for drying cod-fish on the foreshore.

flog: to carry dried cod in a barrow on a merchant's premises as an occupation.

foreigner: a vessel engaged in carrying dried cod overseas.

frostburn: an injury to the flesh caused by the exposure.

furring voyage: a period of hunting or trapping animals for their fur pelts.

gaff: a type of boat-hook with a wooden handle

galley: makeshift stove used in cooking in a boat

garden-party: social gathering held each summer on grounds around the local church

ghost net: fish net lost in storms or from neglect.

grand bank: large area of shoal water southeast of Newfoundland forming a rich fishing ground.

gully: a small pond or series of linked ponds forming the head waters of a stream.

handy: almost, nearby, or just about.

harbour seal: common seal inhabiting Atlantic waters.

harp: migratory seal of northern waters, hunted for its fur and oil.

hood seal: large migratory seal.

inshore fishery: all the branches of the fishery, but especially the cod fishery, conducted in small boats and coastal waters.

janney: to dress in a disguise and costume of a Christmas mummer.

jersey man: Channel Islands migratory fishermen or settler.

jig: to fish by jerking an unbaited, weighted hook sharply upwards through the water where cod, squid, etc are swarming.

jinny (ginny, jenny) : seal believed to act as a sentinel for the herd.

keg: a small wooden cask used as a ‘buoy’ or float for fish net, cod trap, etc.

klondike: a period of good income; a time of plenty.

Labrador fishery: a branch of the inshore cod fishery, especially that prosecuted from early summer to fall by migratory Newfoundland fishermen in schooners.

Labrador voyage: the period of fishing by Newfoundland migratory cod fishermen in Labrador waters.

laddio: a boy or fellow, or a young harp seal.

lobster factory: building or plant for the commercial processing of lobster.

lumber: lumber woods.

lunch: a snack or light meal taken between any main meals.

maid: a women, a young unmarried girl or daughter.

maggoty: "full of maggots".

mainland: provinces of Canada, not including Newfoundland and Labrador.

merchant: an entrepreneur engaged in the Newfoundland trade fish.

missus: term of respect or affection for a mature women.

molasses (lassy) : thick dark or light brown syrup produced in the manufacture of sugar.

mosquito: a small biting, winged insect.

mudtrout: eastern brook trout.

mummer: to participate in various activities of disguised persons during Christmas.

nan (nanny): Sheep, to call sheep ( come nan, nan, nan); childrens name for grandmother or granny.

Newfoundland fishery: the marine fishing industry in Newfoundland waters.

Newfoundland dialect: any of the varieties of English spoken by native Newfoundlanders.

Newfoundlander: a permanent inhabitant or native of Newfoundland.

Newfoundlandiana: materials relating to the culture, history and life of Newfoundland.

nipper: a large biting mosquito.

old fellow: a husband; father; or the devil.

old Christmas: twelfth day, or epiphany, as reckoned by the old style.

pelt: Skin of a sheep or goat; a skin of a seal with the blubber or fat attached.

plantation: the houses, structures and ground on or adjacent to the foreshore of a cove, bay, or harbour.

prosecuting: to engage in the pursuit of fishing and sealing.

puffin: Atlantic common puffin / local nickname for a resident of Ramea / harbour porpoise

quintal: measure of dried and salted cod-fish ready for the market (112 lbs or 50.8 kg).

rock cod: variety of cod-fish.

saddler: a mature harp seal blubber from a harp or hooded seal; flense.

seal dog: iron hook used with rope or chain to hoist seal pelts and carcasses aboard vessel.

seastick: herring salted at sea immediately after being caught.

sea-ox: walrus.

sealing voyage: enterprise or period of prosecuting the seal hunt among the ice-floes; trip.

sealing vessel: sailing craft or engine driven ship of varying size engaged in the seal hunt among the ice-floes.

seine: a large vertical net placed in position around a school of fish.

shack: a simple dwelling built by a pond or in another location away from a town.

shallops: A large, partly-decked boat, rigged with lugsails and used in the cod ans seal fisheries.

ship fishery: English migratory fishery in Newfoundland.

Shore fishery: fishery, especially for cod, prosecuted in inshore or coastal waters in small boats.

skipper: master of a fishing boat, vessel or crew.

station: place where men are stationed and set up for some type of work.

summer fishery: principal cod-fishery.

sword fish: killer whale.

synagogue: a sealers bunk or berth; bed.

tabby: small floating ice pan in boys’ sport of jumping across the ice.

tea fish: caplin for domestic consumption.

tilt: tent, a temporary shelter covered with canvas, skins, bark and boughs.

tounge boot: fishermen’s leather boot reaching above the knee.

tom cod: young codfish.

trap fish: codfish, especially of a smaller size, taken in a cod trap.

trouting: a pastime of angling for freshwater trout, especially brook trout.

vamp: a walk or tramp; to add water to a kettle; to mend, especially to knit soles in socks.

voyage: period of fishing, sealing or whaling.

white coat: young ‘harp seal’ with white fur.

winter ice: sea-ice formed in a single season.

winter seal: variety of non-migratory seal.

woods-work: the cutting of timber for household use; pulp-wood operations.

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