mend - From Ulster to America
Source: From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English
Author: Michael Montgomery
Comments: From Ulster to America recounts the lasting impact eighteenth-century settlers from Ulster have made on the development of the English language of the United States. The book documents over 500 vocabulary items contributed to American English by these ‘Scotch-Irish’ settlers. Each ‘shared’ term with its meaning is authenticated by quotations from both sides of the Atlantic. This searchable online version of his book takes its text from the dictionary part of the second edition published by the Ullans Press in 2017.
mend vb, mend up vb phr To improve in health, recover one’s health after illness, regain weight. [oed mend 5b ‘to regain health, recover from sickness’; dost mend vb 7 ‘to restore to health, cure, heal; to be restored to health, be cured, to recover’ late 14th century→; dare mend vb 1 ‘to improve in health; to recover from illness’ chiefly South, South Midland]
Ulst.:
1817 Orr Posthumous Works Deceiv’d by hope, they thought till now to mend, / But he thought lang in death’s embrace to sleep.
1920 Doyle Ballygullion 77 I’ll dhrop over to the widow’s in the mornin’ an’ tell her you’re mendin’ fast.
1923 Lutton Montiaghisms 29 = to recover from sickness, to heal.
1933 MacNeill Reverence Listens 43 I put him to his bed, and gi’en him gruel and slops, and he mended bravely.
1953 Traynor Donegal Glossary 183 = (1) to cure, heal; to make better, improve; (2) to improve in health.
1981 Pepper Ulster-English Dict 50 Our bootmaker’s awful well mended for he was at death’s dure.
U.S.:
1834 Crockett Narrative 130 At the end of two weeks I began to mend without the help of a doctor, or of any doctor’s means.
1909 Payne Word-list East Alabama 348 = to improve in health; also in the phrase ‘on the mend’.
1974 Fink Bits Mt Speech 16 = improve physically: ‘He’s mending slowly’.
