Sheets’-axe, A. An oak apple. _See_ chap. xvi. p. 183. Shelf, A. A bank of sand or pebbles, or shallow in a river, or even the ford itself. Milton uses the word in _Comus_:— “On the tawny sands and shelves.” Hence we got the adjective “shelvy,” also in common use, and employed by Falstaffe—“The shore was shelvy and shallow” (_The Merry Wives of Windsor_, Act iii., sc. 5). It is this latter word, which Mr. Halliwell and Mr. Wright must mean instead of “shelly,” and which they define as “an ait in a river.” The word is probably from the same Scandinavian root as shoal. Shim. Lean. “He’s a shim fellow,” that is, thin. It is used, I see from Mr. Cooper’s glossary, for a shadow, in the western division of Sussex; and I think I have somewhere met with it in the sense of a ghost. Shoak, Shock, Shuck, Off, To. To break off short. Thus gravel is said to shock off at any particular stratum, or “list,” or “scale,” as it would be called. _See_ the following word. Shock, A. Not applied merely to corn, but to anything else. “A shock of sand” means a line or band of sand, called also a “list,” or “lissen,” or “bond,” or “scale,” and sometimes “drive:” which last, however, has a more particular reference to the direction of the stratum. Size. Thickness, consistency. “The size of the gruel” means its consistency. Skimmer-Cake, A. A small pudding made up from the remnants of another, and cooked upon a “skimmer,” the dish with which the milk is skimmed. Nearly equivalent to the “girdle-cake,” north of England. Skrow. Shattered or battered. Slab, A. A thick slice, lump, used like squab, which see. Thus we hear of “a slab of bacon,” meaning a large piece. Opposed to “snoule,” which signifies a small bit.—“I have just had a snoule,” means I have only had a morsel. Slink, A. “A slink of a thing,” in which phrase the word is only found, is alike applied to objects animate or inanimate, and means either a poor, weak, starved creature, or anything which is small and not of good quality. Slut, A. A noise, sound. “A slut of thunder,” means a clap or peal of thunder. It is in this sense that the word is most generally used. Snake-Fern. The hard-fern (_Blechnum boreale_). _See_ “Adder’s-Fern.” Sniggle, To. To snarl. _See_ chap. xvi., p. 186. Sniggle, A. An eel peculiar to the Avon. _See_ chap. xii., pp. 125, 126. Spell, A. A fit, or start. Pain is said to come and go by “spells,” that is, by shocks at recurring intervals. Spene, A. In its first sense, like the Old-English _spana_, an udder of a cow. In its second, the rail of a gate or stile. Spine-Oak. The heart of oak. This phrase points to the true derivation of “heart of oak.” The common theory Mr. Wedgwood has rightly classed under the head of “_False Etymologies_.” _See_ _Transactions of the Philological Society_, 1855. No. 6, pp. 62, 63.