AT, _conj._ that. O.N. _at_, Norse, Dan. _at_, to be regarded as a Scand. word. Might in some places be due to Celtic influence, but its early presence, and general distribution in Scand. settlements in England, Scotland, Shetland, etc., indicates that it is Scand. AWEBAND, _sb._ "a band used for tying cattle to the stake." Jamieson, Lothian. O.N. _há-band_, "vinculum nervos poplitis adstringens" (Haldorson). Norse _habbenda_, "to tie cattle with a rope between the knees to keep them from running away." Cp. O. Sw. _haband_, Sw. dial. _haband_, "a rope that unites the oar with the oarlock." AWKWART, _prep._ athwart, across. Wallace, III, 175; II, 109. Same as the Eng. adj. "awkward" which was originally an adv. Etymologically it is the O.N. _afugr_ (O. Ic. _öfugr_) + Eng. _ward_ (Skeat), cp. the Norse vb. _afvige_, to turn off. I have not found the prepositional use of the word in Eng. Cp. "toward." AWSOME, _adj._ terrible, deriv. from _awe_ (O.N. _ági_). The ending _some_ is Eng. O.N. _ágasamr_, Norse _aggsam_, means "turbulent, restless." AYND (ēnd), _sb._ O.N. _andi_, breath, O. Sw. _ande_, Norse _ande_, Dan. _aande_. AYNDING, _sb._ breathing, deriv. See _aynd_. AYNDLESS, _adj._ breathless. Bruce, X, 609. See _aynd_. BAIT, _vb._ to incite. Dunbar, 21127. O.N. _bæita_, O. Ic. _beita_. See B-S. BAITH, BATH (bēth), _pron._ both. M.E. _bōþe_, _bāþe_, Cu. _beatth_, Eng. _both_, O.N. _bāðir_, O. Dan. _bāðe_. Skeat. BAITTENIN, _pr. p._ thriving. Jamieson. O.N. _batna_, Eng. _batten_. See Skeat, and Kluge and Lutz. BAITTLE (bētl), _sb._ a pasture, a lea which has thick sward of grass. Jamieson, Dumfries. O.N. _bæita_, "to feed," _bæiti_, pasturage. Cp. Norse _fjellbæite_, a mountain pasture. BAN, _vb._ to swear, curse. Dunbar, 13, 47; Rolland, II, 680. O.N. _banna_, to swear, to curse, _banna_, a curse, Norse _banna_, to swear, _banning_, swearing, W. Sw. dial. _bænn_ id., Dan. _bande_, to swear, to wish one bad luck, O.S. _banna_ id. M. Du. _bannen_ means to excommunicate. This is the L.G. meaning. The Sco. usage is distinctly Scand. It is also a Northern word in Eng. diall. Cp. Shetland _to ban_, to swear. BANG, _vb._ to beat. Sat. P. 39, 150. O.N. _banga_, O. Sw. _banka_, Norse, _banke_, to beat, to strike. Cp. Shetland _bonga_, in "open de door dat's a bonga," somebody is knocking, literally "it knocks" Norse _det banka_. _Bang_ is very frequently used in the sense of rushing off, cp. Dalrymple's translation of Leslie, I, 324, 7. BANGSTER, _sb._ a wrangler. Sat. P. 44, 257. Evidently Norse _bang_ + Eng. suffix _ster_. See _bang_ vb. Cp. _camstarrie_, where the second syllable corresponds to that in Germ. _halsstarrig_.