fart

From Middle English ferten, farten, from Old English feortan, from Proto-Germanic *fertaną, from Proto-Indo-European *perd-.
The noun is from Middle English fert, fart, from the verb.

(Maine) One who is inflexibly meticulous.


fart

fart (indefinite nominative singular)
farten (definite nominative singular)
farter (indefinite nominative plural)
farterna (definite nominative plural)
farts (genitive indefinite singular)
fartens (definite genitive singular)
farters (genitive indefinite plural)
farternas (definite genitive plural)

From Middle Low German vart, from Old Saxon fard. Cognate with Swedish färd, Dutch vaart, German Fahrt.

Snart kommer Moabs ofärd, och hans olycka hastar fram med fart.

Soon comes Moab’s calamity, and his misery hastes with speed.

Jag ropade åt körsvennen att sätta upp farten, han klatschade med piskan och vi for iväg.

1944, Pär Lagerkvist, Dvärgen; translated as Alexandra Dick, transl., The Dwarf, 1945:

I called to the driver to increase his pace; he cracked his whip and we rolled on.


Italian

en-noun

Italian (countable and uncountable, plural Italians)

From Middle English Italian, from Medieval Latin Italiānus, from Latin Italia (“Italy”).

Italian sandwich
Italian sandwich#English

(countable, Maine) Short for Italian sandwich.


bug

First attested in this form around 1620 (referring to a bedbug), from earlier bugge (“beetle”), a conflation of two words:
# Middle English bugge (“scarecrow, hobgoblin”), perhaps from obsolete Welsh bwg ("ghost, hobgoblin"; compare Welsh bwgwl ("threat", older "fear")) or from Proto-Germanic *bugja- (“swollen up, thick”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bu- (“to swell”) (compare Norwegian bugge (“big man”), dialectal Low German Bögge (“goblin”, “snot”)). Or, from a word related to buck and originally referring to a goat-shaped spectre.
# Middle English budde (“beetle”), from Old English budda (see sċearnbudda (“dung beetle”)), from Proto-Germanic *buddô, *buzdô, from the same ultimate source as above (compare Low German Budde (“louse, grub”), Norwegian budda (“newborn domestic animal”)). More at bud.
The term is used to refer to technical errors and problems at least as early as the 19th century, predating the commonly known story of a moth being caught in a computer.

cog

given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow


numb

en-adj

numb (comparative number, superlative numbest)

number (comparative)
numbest (superlative)

From the past participle of nim (“to take”). Compare German benommen (“dazed, numb”) and Old Norse numinn. The final ⟨b⟩ is a later addition; it was never pronounced, and did not appear in the original word.


pot

From Middle English pot, potte, from Old English pott (“pot”) and Old French pot (“pot”) (probably from Frankish *pott); both Old English and Frankish from Proto-Germanic *puttaz (“pot”), from Proto-Indo-European *budnós (“a type of vessel”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Pot (“pot”), Dutch pot (“pot”), German Low German Pott (“pot”), German Pott (“pot”), Swedish potta (“chamber pot”), Icelandic pottur (“tub, pot”), Old Armenian պոյտն (poytn, “pot, earthen pot”). Also, Old Norse pottr (“pot, tub, basin”).
The sense of ruin or deterioration was originally a general allusion to "being chopped up and tossed in a (normally fiery) pot, like a piece of meat" (i.e. to get wasted or done with (by someone)). The 'clean' slang term which was used in reference to toilet rooms and lavatories apparently derives from English chamberpots, although now usually encountered as potty in the context of children's toilet training.

pussitus

cue sports: act of causing a ball to fall into a pocket

not have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of

Various similar open-topped vessels, particularly

(Maine) A pot-shaped trap used for catching lobsters or other seafood: a lobster pot.


pot

en-verb

pot (third-person singular simple present pots, present participle potting, simple past and past participle potted)

pots (present singular third-person)
potting (participle present)
potted (participle past)
potted (past)

Ideally the best Ideally the best way of tackling the problem of toilet training, is to 'pot' your child at set intervals when he is at home, even though he may no longer be a baby, thus establishing a regular routine instead of one at odd intervals.

1975, Nancie R. Finnie, Handling the Young Cerebral Palsied Child, →ISBN, page 75:

If you leave out this “catching" stage altogether and start proper toilet training at, say, eighteen months you will only have to pot your baby about 2000 times for the same effect.

1978, Penelope Leach, Your Baby & Child from Birth to Age Five, →ISBN, page 225:

Do not make the mistake of potting your baby as early as possible, but wait until she gives the signal that she is aware that puddles are somehow to do with her.

2004, Joan Gomez, Coping with Incontinence, →ISBN, page 33:

Of course, if at any stage your child takes a violent dislike to the pot, then I would put it away for a few weeks and then try again, but if the pot is very comfortable, your attitude is calm and you don't over-pot your child (put him on the pot too often or talk about the pot too much), this shouldn't happen.

2012, Nanny Smith, Nina Grunfeld, Nanny Knows Best: Successful Potty Training, →ISBN:

(transitive, British) To seat a person, usually a young child, on a potty or toilet, typically during toilet teaching.


frappe

(Massachusetts, Maine) A thick milkshake containing ice cream.


apiece

From Middle English a pece, equivalent to a + piece.


necessary

en-noun

necessary (plural necessaries or necessarys)

necessaries (plural)
necessarys (plural)

/ˈnɛsəˌsɛɹi/

/ˈnɛsəˌsɛɹi/

From Middle English necessarye, from Old French necessaire, from Latin necessārius (“unavoidable, inevitable, required”), variant of necesse (“unavoidable, inevitable”), probably from ne or non cessum, from the perfect passive participle of cēdō (“yield; avoid, withdraw”); see cede.
Older use as a noun in reference to an outhouse or lavatory under the influence of English and Latin necessārium, a medieval term for the place for monks’ “unavoidable” business, usually located behind or attached to monastic dormitories.

der

It soon became fashionable for even the poorest families to have a necessary not far from their cabin. […] The more affluent settlers painted their necessarys in bright colors and carved their names on the doors.

2009, Don Corbly, The Last Colonials, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 67:

(chiefly UK, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, archaic, euphemistic, usually with the definite article) A place to do the "necessary" business of urination and defecation: an outhouse or lavatory.

Rhode Island; Massachusetts; Rhode Island; Massachusetts


cunning

en-adj

cunning (comparative more cunning, superlative most cunning)

more cunning (comparative)
most cunning (superlative)

desc

→ Japanese: カンニング (kanningu, “cheating”)

From Middle English cunning, kunning, konnyng, alteration of earlier Middle English cunninde, kunnende, cunnand, from Old English cunnende, present participle of cunnan (“to know how to, be able to”), equivalent to con + -ing. Cognate with Scots cunnand (“cunning”), German könnend (“able to do”), Icelandic kunnandi (“cunning”). More at con, can.

everybody gives something to the cunning little boy; his eyes are large and soft, and he wears a pointed hat, and tight breeches, and jacket

1857, Barbara H. Channing, The Sisters Abroad, Or, an Italian Journey:

“I shan't mind that at all, I like the little house 'cause it's got a garden, and there's a cunning room with a three-cornered closet in it that I always wanted.[…]”

1869–1870, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, chapter XV, in An Old-Fashioned Girl, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1870, →OCLC:

(Maine, colloquial, dated) Cute, appealing.


spa

The term is derived from the name of the Belgian town of Spa, where since medieval times illnesses caused by iron deficiency were treated by drinking chalybeate (iron-bearing) spring water. In 16ᵗʰ century England the old Roman ideas of medicinal bathing were revived at towns like Bath, and in 1571 William Slingsby who had been to the Belgian town (which he called Spaw) discovered a chalybeate spring in Yorkshire. He built an enclosed well at what became known as Harrogate, the first resort in England for drinking medicinal waters, then in 1596 Dr. Timothy Bright called the resort The English Spaw, beginning the use of the word Spa as a generic description rather than as the place name of the Belgian town. At first this term referred specifically to resorts for water drinking rather than bathing, but this distinction was gradually lost and many spas offer external remedies.
There are various stories about the origin of the name. A Belgian spring of iron-bearing water was called Espa from the Walloon term for "fountain", and was used in 1326 as a cure by an iron master with such success that he founded a health resort that developed into the town, though it has been suggested that this term may be derived from the name of the resort. Some have suggested that the town's name can be ultimately sourced from Latin spargere (“to scatter, sprinkle, or moisten”), though this derivation is problematic.

der

(Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine) A convenience store.


cutter

From Middle English cutter, cuttere, kutter. By surface analysis, cut + -er.

Late night, take a flow, tryna find the rats
Twelve inch cutter in and out, then Imma ride them back

2017 July 25, Farley (lyrics and music), “Out Here”, 0:42–0:47:

Hop out the ride with things and stuff
Back the longest cutter, watch him cut him, [grate their neek trips?] up

2021 August 16, (Mali Strip) Killa Kurse x AR x Rondo (lyrics and music), “Buck aii LGR diss”, 1:23–1:28:

[…] swing my cutter
Get man down if he is on my brother

2021 November 29, KMulla (lyrics and music), “Mutual Feeling”, 1:24–1:27:


cutter

cuttere (plural)
cutter (accusative indefinite nominative singular)
un cutter (accusative indefinite nominative singular)
cutterul (accusative definite nominative singular)
cuttere (accusative indefinite nominative plural)
niște cuttere (accusative indefinite nominative plural)
cutterele (accusative definite nominative plural)
cutter (dative genitive indefinite singular)
unui cutter (dative genitive indefinite singular)
cutterului (dative definite genitive singular)
cuttere (dative genitive indefinite plural)
unor cuttere (dative genitive indefinite plural)
cutterelor (dative definite genitive plural)
cutterule (singular vocative)
cutterelor (plural vocative)


corner

→ German: Corner

→ Japanese: コーナー (kōnā)

From Middle English corner, from Anglo-Norman cornere (compare Old French cornier, corniere (“corner”)), from Old French corne (“corner, angle”, literally “a horn, projecting point”), from Vulgar Latin *corna (“horn”), from Latin cornua, plural of cornū (“projecting point, end, horn”). The sense of "angle, corner" in Old French is not found in Latin or other Romance languages. It was possibly calqued from Frankish *hurnijā (“corner, angle”), which is similar to, and derived from *hurn, the Frankish word for "horn". Displaced native cognate Middle English hirn, herne, from Old English hyrne, from Proto-Germanic *hurnijǭ (“little horn, hook, angle, corner”), whence modern English hirn (“nook, corner”), itself related to horn.

nurkka

business: interest that is sufficient for price manipulation

The point where two converging lines meet; an angle, either external or internal.

(Maine) The neighborhood surrounding an intersection of rural roads.


bulkhead

(Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine) A cellar hatchway.


dressing

en-noun

dressing (countable and uncountable, plural dressings)

→ German: Dressing

From Middle English dressing, dressinge, dressynge, equivalent to dress + -ing.

(Maine) Manure that's applied to one's garden.


jimmy

*
* (chocolate sprinkles): Unknown. There is much speculation that they were named after Jim Crow, but there is little, if any, evidence to support this theory.

chocolate jimmies

rainbow jimmies

“What kind of sissy eats strawberry-frosted donuts?” I said. ¶ “With jimmies,” Belson said. ¶ “I had too much respect for you,” I said, “even to mention the jimmies.”

2009, Robert B. Parker, The Professional, Berkley Books, published 2010, →ISBN, page 232:

The crispy pastry tube was overflowing with sweetened, whipped ricotta and dotted with chocolate jimmies.

2017 September 22, Suzanne Loudermilk, “Dining review: At Giovanni's, hearty Italian fare and an old-fashioned feel”, in The Baltimore Sun, archived from the original on 2018-11-18:

(plural only, dialectal, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, Mid-Atlantic US) Sprinkles used as a topping for ice cream, cookies, or cupcakes.


muckle

en-verb

muckle (third-person singular simple present muckles, present participle muckling, simple past and past participle muckled)

muckles (present singular third-person)
muckling (participle present)
muckled (participle past)
muckled (past)

From Middle English mukel, muchel, from the same source as (perhaps a variant of) mickle.

And how'd she get such a holt on you, Terence Campion, let alone the way she's muckled onto those Bennetts?

1954, Elizabeth Ogilvie, The Dawning of the Day, page 199:

Another technique for the baby who is having trouble muckling on involves a breast or nipple shield.

2002, William G. Wilkoff, The Maternity Leave Breastfeeding Plan, →ISBN, page 87:

When an exhausted sucker is hauled to the top of The Wall, usually its muckling circle of a mouth goes into a frenzied sucking spasm.

2004, William J. Vande Kopple, The Catch: Families, Fishing, and Faith, →ISBN, page 18:

(Vermont, Maine) To latch onto something with the mouth.


johnny

Alternative letter-case form of Johnny, diminutive of John.

toilet

place or device for urination and defecation

Willie Cox said they found him in the barn, shot bang through the head, and the young English johnny who'd been on the station learning farming - disappeared.

(New Zealand, derogatory) An inexperienced new worker, usually an immigrant.

His hand shook. A little water spilled down the front of the hospital johnny Sean wore.

(New England) A hospital gown: a gown with a back opening closed with snaps or ties, worn by hospital patients.

The women's toilet (as distinguished from the ladies' room in a speakeasy, the johnny at school, the little girls' room at a party in an apartment, and the wash-my-hands on a train) was clean enough.

1935, John O'Hara, BUtterfield 8, Ch. ix, page 279

Kitty Hofman came in the johnny.

1935, John O'Hara, chapter IV, in Appointment in Samarra, page 98:

(US, slang, dated) Synonym of john: a toilet, lavatory, outhouse, or chamber pot.

john

[H]e declared, like a real Irishman, that 'if he were a living man when he died, he would not give a single johnny of whisky either at his wake or his funeral.'

1867, William Dool Killen, Memoir of John Edgar, page 108:

(Ireland, slang, archaic) A half-glass of whisky.


steamer

From steam + -er. The steamer duck or steamer (sense 6.2) is apparently named for its resemblance to a paddle steamer when swimming rapidly.

(Maine) The soft-shell clam, sand gaper, or long-neck clam (Mya arenaria), an edible saltwater clam; specifically the clam when steamed for eating.


steamer

steamere (plural)
steamer (accusative indefinite nominative singular)
un steamer (accusative indefinite nominative singular)
steamerul (accusative definite nominative singular)
steamere (accusative indefinite nominative plural)
niște steamere (accusative indefinite nominative plural)
steamerele (accusative definite nominative plural)
steamer (dative genitive indefinite singular)
unui steamer (dative genitive indefinite singular)
steamerului (dative definite genitive singular)
steamere (dative genitive indefinite plural)
unor steamere (dative genitive indefinite plural)
steamerelor (dative definite genitive plural)
steamerule (singular vocative)
steamerelor (plural vocative)


notional

en-adj

notional (comparative more notional, superlative most notional)

more notional (comparative)
most notional (superlative)


dooryard

In the dooryard fronting an old farm-house near the white-wash’d palings, / Stands the lilac-bush tall-growing with heart-shaped leaves of rich green, […]

1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and other poems:

"You're soft, Jane," said Miranda once; "you allers was soft, and you allers will be. If 't wa'n't for me keeping you stiffened up, I b'lieve you 'd leak out o' the house into the dooryard."

1903, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm:

(Vermont, Maine, Atlantic Canada) the yard near the front or back door of a house


kife

en-verb

kife (third-person singular simple present kifes, present participle kifing, simple past and past participle kifed)

kifes (present singular third-person)
kifing (participle present)
kifed (participle past)
kifed (past)


dite

A “dite” is a Maine measurement, somewhere between a smidge and a bit.

Two carpenters were moving a small building onto a new foundation, and one of them says, “Shove it my way a dite!” The other shoved, but shoved a little too hard. “Nope — too much! I said a dite!”

2019, John Gould, This Trifling Distinction: Reminiscences from Down East, Down East Books, →ISBN, page 95:

“Set your calipers a dite bigger’n the hole so’s they’ll fit good and snug.”

1993, Ralph Moody, The Fields of Home, U of Nebraska Press, →ISBN, page 80:

(US, Maine) A trifling quantity or amount.


grayslick

(US, dialect, Maine, nautical, rare) Glassy, calm seawater.


culch

(US, Maine) An accumulation of small items of little current value -- materials, broken items, miscellaneous fasteners -- for possible future use.


culch

(US, Maine) Location where potentially useful junk items are collected: culch corner, culch drawer, culch pile.


flatlander

ridge-runner

antonym(s) of “person who was born or raised by someone outside low altitude mountainous regions”

[…] Abenaki resistance in the eighteenth century than with the westward migration of New Englanders in the nineteenth century, but the Abenakis initiated that now time-honored Vermont tradition of discouraging flatlanders from settling here.

1992, Michael Sherman, Jennie G. Versteeg, We Vermonters: Perspectives on the Past:

[…] southern New Englanders still generally consider their northern brethren to be quaint country bumpkins, and northern New Englanders are still regularly heard referring to their southern brethren, with unmistakable derision, as "flatlanders."

2001, Dave Preble, The Fishes of the Sea: Commercial and Sport Fishing in New England, Sheridan House, Inc., →ISBN, page 30:

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without” is a phrase often used to sum up the philosophy of New Englanders to material goods. Small towns are often accused of being cool to outsiders, particularly “flatlanders” moving in from anywhere— particularly anywhere outside New England.

2012, Insight Guides, Insight Guides: New England, Apa Publications (UK) Limited

[…] the “Flatlanders,” coined by native New Englanders who were threatened by unknowns or unwanted invaders from the East. These New Englanders, with a long lineage of family in the area, were not pleased with these strangers, who boldly ...

2020, Helena C. Farrell, No Trick or Treats: A Novel, AuthorHouse, →ISBN:

(chiefly derogatory) A person who lives at, lived at, or was raised by someone at a low altitude or from any city. A person not raised in or by someone directly from high mountain areas. (used by those who were born, raised, and are still living in higher altitude non-city or city like areas).

(Vermont, Maine) Any non-native, but particularly one from southern New England (including Massachusetts), downstate New York, or New Jersey.


whiffle

1662, in sense “flutter as blown by wind”, as whiff + -le (“(frequentative)”) and (onomatopoeia) sound of wind, particularly a leaf fluttering in unsteady wind; compare whiff. Sense “something small or insignificant” is from 1680.

(Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine) A male haircut done with electric clippers.


ayuh

Most likely from the insertion of an empty syllable at the beginning of yeah.

(rustic Maine, Vermont) Yes; an expression of affirmation.

rustic Maine; Vermont; rustic Maine; Vermont


spleeny

en-adj

spleeny (comparative more spleeny, superlative most spleeny)

more spleeny (comparative)
most spleeny (superlative)


squaretail

Salvelinus fontinalis
Salvelinus fontinalis#Translingual

(Maine) The brook trout, a fish of the species Salvelinus fontinalis, found in North America.


wangan

From Abenaki waniigan (“pit trap, container for sundries”); liken klahigan (“wooden trap”), Ojibwe waanikaan (“pit, excavated hole”).

cog

Wanigan or wangan was the Indian name for boathouse or houseboat, and the wanigans, carrying the cook shacks and supplies, floated down the rivers when the pioneer log drives were underway.

1942 August, “They Play Jackstraws with Trees”, in Popular Mechanics, page 88:

(US, Maine, lumber trade) A boat for conveying provisions, tools, and so forth.

I should explain "wangan." It is an Indian word, and can mean almost anything, like the Latin res. It can mean a camp or building. Pond-in-the-River wangan—or Pondy wangan, as the drivers call it—is a long, low shack a third of a mile above us, where the Rapid River crew lives during the drive. There is a sign in the bunk-house that reads, "Wangan open an hour after supper." That refers to the store where the cook sells candy, tobacco, snuff, and clothing. (It really is a big box in the kitchen [...].) The cook may say, "I lost my wangan when the work boat swamped," and that means that his dishes are at the bottom of the lake. Or he may complain, "The wangan's runnin' low," meaning this time that he's short of food. Or a man may take his wangan and fly—leave the job with his little bundle of personal belongings. You can tell only by the context what the word means, and it's a very convenient word to know."

1942, Louise Dickinson Rich, We Took to the Woods, JB Lippincott Co, →LCCN, →OCLC, pages 183–184:

(US, Maine, lumber trade) Any location or cache of equipment, such as a camp, building, or chest of supplies or tools.

(US, Maine, lumber trade) The company store debt of a lumberman.


sannup

From Penobscot senabe (“man”); compare Abenaki sanôba (“man”).

(US, Maine, colloquial) A mischievous male child.


pokelogan

Unknown. Perhaps from a Native American word, related to pocosin.


whoopie pie

One theory regarding the origin of the name whoopie pie is that it arose from a production of the musical play Whoopee! in Boston in the late 1920s in which chocolate pies were thrown out to the audience during the song "Makin' Whoopee". Alternatively, the pie (which is believed to have originated in Pennsylvania Dutch Country) is said to have gotten its name from how when Amish women made them for their husbands and children, they were so delighted that they exclaimed, "Whoopie!"

(Pennsylvania, Maine) A baked good consisting of two round, mound-shaped pieces of cake (typically chocolate cake) with a sweet, creamy filling or frosting sandwiched in between.


yessah

Pronunciation spelling
pronunciation spelling

Pronunciation spelling of yes sir, representing New England English.


galamander

/ˈɡæləmændə/

/ˈɡæləˌmændəɹ/

Unknown; said to have been coined by an American blacksmith Elder Littlefield, and possibly from galley (“type of boat”) + meander (“to turn or wind in a course or passage”).

coinage

Down at Vinalhaven, Me., which has just been celebrating its sesquicentennial, they used to use what they called a "galamander" to carry heavy stones from the granite quarries. The "galamander" is a combination stone-boat on wheels and a derrick.

1939 July 10, “Odd items from everywhere”, in The Boston Globe, volume CXXXVI, number 10, Boston, Mass.: The Globe Newspaper Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 16, column 2:

Galamanders, drawn by oxen or horses, transported the blocks to the cutting sheds, which were usually located near the wharfs. Galamanders were elongated four-wheeled wagons equipped with derricks and the wheels of these locally made wagons were eight or nine feet in diameter. Maine galamanders are few today.

1956 August 12, Esther E[lizabeth] Wood, “Granite quarries brought prosperity to Maine coastal areas”, in Portland Sunday Telegram and Sunday Press Herald, volume 70, number 13, Portland, Me.: Guy Gannett Publishing Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 47, column 4:

One hundred years ago, when Granite Hill was being mined, Peter Cain imagines a galamander was used to haul the stone blocks to the docks in Hallowell. The galamander – no one's quite sure where the name came from – was a cart-like contraption made of wood and wrought iron that could transport a block of granite weighing 20 tons. […] [T]here were two abandoned galamanders in the island's quarries at one time.

1979 May 17, Martha Durrance, “Galamanders: Restoring a forgotten tool”, in Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Me.: Jean Gannett Hawley, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 23, column 1:

"I think so too. And this is a galamander. You know this is the Galamander District?" / "So that's a galamander. Why it's just a cart, and I thought a galamander was some kind of animal, you know like a salamander."

1993, Elizabeth Richman, chapter 3, in Be Jubilant, My Heart! […], Nashville, Tenn.: Star Song Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 30:

A relic of the island's quarrying days, the galamander was a massive oak and iron wagon with nine-foot rear wheels. It had once been used to carry slabs of granite from the quarries to the cutting sheds. […] Since then, the galamander had been set up as a memorial to the industry―long since gone―and had doubled as a kind of jungle gym for generations of island kids.

1999, David A[rthur] Crossman, “Something Spooky”, in The Secret of the Missing Grave, Camden, Me.: Down East Books, →ISBN, page 104:

Until the use of railroad cars, teams of oxen and horses hauled stones, often in a special wagon equipped with a derrick or crane called a "galamander." […] It is reported that well into the twentieth century there were as many as six galamanders working in the Sands Quarry on Vinalhaven during an average day. Four teams of horses drew the largest galamander, named Jumbo. Today, a restored galamander sits on Vinalhaven's village green, a symbol of an era when granite was king.

2009, Harry Gratwick, “Heavy Freight: When Vinalhaven Granite Traveled the Country”, in Penobscot Bay: People, Ports & Pastimes (American Chronicles), Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, published 2011, →ISBN, part V (Penobscot Bay and beyond):

(Maine, mining, historical) A customized horse- or ox-drawn stoneboat or wagon once used for hauling stone from quarries, with smaller front wheels and larger rear ones, and a derrick to lift blocks of stone on and off the vehicle.

Kennebec Journal
Robertson Quarry Galamander


mud season

(especially Vermont, Maine) The part of spring season in cold climates when dirt roads turn impassable due to heavy rains, melting snow and/or thawing ground frost.


hot top

(Maine, Massachusetts) asphalt; pavement


Patriot's Day

(Maine) Alternative form of Patriots' Day


rafter snapper

Originates from the state of Maine, in which the planks and woodbeams of a residential dwelling produce "snapping" sounds during very cold nights.

When the rafter-snapper roared through here in March, there wasn't so much as a wet basement.

2001 April 18, Ben Goodridge, “Earth Year”, in alt.horror.werewolves (Usenet):

When I was a kid the old timers called long, sub-zero nights "rafter snappers," a phrase I never understood until I moved inland to a little cabin surrounded by acres of tall trees.

2015, Tim Sample, Answers to Questions Nobody Was Askin' And Other Revelations, page 65:

"'S what the old-timers call a real 'rafter snapper'", Frank said. He was sitting in his wheelchair by the kitchen table, making conversation with Bri while she worked. "Jus' listen to that wind."


right out straight

The common Maine phrase “right out straight,” for example, was correctly identified as meaning “very busy” by only 5% of those asked nationally.

2023 October 8, Jim Witherell, “In a word: Maine is just so misunderstood”, in Sun Journal:


from away

Those people from away are making housing unaffordable.

It was the most From Away thing I could have done; it was also the most Maine thing I could have done.

2024 July 15, Heidi Julavits, “I Put Up a Fence in Maine. Why Did It Cause Such a Fuss?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(Maine, derogatory, idiomatic) Someone who is not a native Mainer, especially one that has moved to Maine and is trying to change things or has romantic ideas about the state