Essex Stile (Grose 1811 Dictionary)

Essex Stile

A ditch; a great part of Essex is low marshy ground, in which there are more ditches than stiles.

Definition taken from The 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, originally by Francis Grose.

Essex Lion * Eternity Box

Nearby

Nathan Bailey's 1736 Dictionary of canting and thieving slang

John S. Farmer's collection of canting songs and slang rhymes

Buy a modern reprint of this book from Amazon CA; US;

About

Francis Grose was independently wealthy, having inherited money from his father, a jeweller. Finding himself overspending, he published a number of books; his Provincial Glossary seems to have been the starting-point for the Vulgar Tongue reproduced here.