wa - Hamely Tongue
Source: The Hamely Tongue: A Personal Record of Ulster-Scots in County Antrim
Author: James Fenton
Comments: ‘The Hamely Tongue’ has been widely acclaimed as the authoritative record of contemporary (surviving) Ulster-Scots in its heartland of County Antrim where James Fenton faithfully recorded his dictionary items among a network of other native speakers over a 30-year period. This searchable online version of his book takes its text from ‘Part One’ of the fourth edition of 2014 and includes over 3000 word entries. The book preliminaries, supplementary word lists and end matter have been excluded.
wa ~ a wall. eat tae ye cannae see the wa (see eat). miss an hit the wa (see miss). wa-heids the space between the tops of walls and a sloping roof (howlin on bae the wa-heids just surviving in health, business, etc.- Br); fig. the skyline, the horizon (There’s a heap o blak cloods getherin roon the wa-heids - Br,K,T; also wa-rits - Ba,G,O; wa-roots - Ba.) wa-steads (see stead). (Also wal; waw - C.) [rit f. Sc. ruit, rit a root]
