In the United States we use the phrase, to tuck on, in two different senses or applications. It means in the first place to lay on; as, 'having caught the thief, he tucked it on to him without mercy.' 'How you tuck the price on these goods,' i. e. how dear they are. It also means, to force a bad article on a person in buying or exchanging; as, ' We swapped horses, and I got this miserable old animal tucked on to me.'

TUCKAHOE. (Lucoperdon solidu. Clayton, Flora Virginica.) The Virginia truffle. A curious vegetable, sometimes called by the name of Indian Bread, or Indian Loaf, found in the Southern States, bordering on the Atlantic. It is a natural production, the origin of which has greatly perplexed naturalists, as it is commonly found several feet under the surface, and, like the truffle of Europe, has apparently no stem or leafy appendage connecting it with the external atmosphere. They are generally found through the instrumentality of hogs, whose acute sense of smelling enables them to fix upon the spot where they lie buried. They are usually of a globular or flattened oval shape, and rather regular surface, the large ones resembling somewhat a brown loaf of coarse bread. The size varies from an acorn to the bigness of a man's head. Its name tuckahoe is Indian, and is said to designate bread. When examined with a microscope, it exhibits no fibres or pores, or any other indications of organization, so easily detected in roots and other vegetable productions of ordinary growth. The Southern botanists regard the tuckahoe as a fungus.-Farmer's Encyclopedia.

The term tuckahoe is often applied to an inhabitant of Lower Virginia, and to the poor land in that section of the State.

TUCKERED OUT. Tired out; fatigued. Used in New York and New England.

I guess the Queen don't do her eating very airly; for we sot and sot, and waited for her, till we got eenamost tuckered out.-N. Y. Family Comp.

TO TUMP. Probably an Indian word. It means to draw a deer or other animal home through the woods, after he has

been killed. Ex. 'We tumped the deer to our cabin.' Used in Maine.

TUMPLINE. A strap placed across the forehead to assist a

man in carrying a pack on his back. Used in Maine, where the custom was borrowed from the Indians.

TUM-TUM. A favorite dish in the West Indies, made by beating the boiled plantain quite soft in a wooden mortar. It is eaten like a potato pudding, or made into round cakes and fried.-Carmichael's West Indies, Vol. I. p. 183.

TO TURN IN. To go to bed. Originally a seaman's phrase, but now common on land.

TUSSLE. The verb to touse is given by both Johnson and

Webster, to pull; to tear; to haul. Both have also the word tussle, a struggle; a conflict, which they call a vulgar word.

Thus Envy, the vile hag, attacks my rhymes,

Swearing they shall not peep on distant times;

But violent indeed shall be the tussel.--P. Pindar, Royal Tour, Proem. In New York the tussle is all about the price of rents; the landlords want to get them up higher, and the tenants want to get them down lower. -Maj. Downing, May-day in New York, p. 30.

I'll give the old dog a tussel when it comes to my turn.--Simon Suggs. 'TWA'N'T, for it was not. New England.

TO TWIG. To observe. and the United States.

A flash word common to England

Your responsibility men want no endorsers, do you twig?--Sam Slick. I'm a regular patriot--look at my coat. I'm all for the public good-twig the holes in my trowsers.--Neal's Sketches.

TWISTICAL. Tortuous; unfair; not quite moral. Used in New England.

He may be straight going, farzino, manwards; but in his dealings with t'other sex, he is a leetle twistical, according to their tell. I wouldn't make a town talk of it.-D. Humphreys, The Yankee in England.

TO TWITCH. To draw timber along the ground by a chain. Used by lumbermen in Maine.

TYKE. In Scotland and the North of England, a dog; and hence a contemptible person.

Base tyke, call'st me host? now

By this hand, I swear I scorn the term.-Shakspeare.

I never had but six months' schooling in all my life, and I confess, I consider myself but a poor tyke to be here addressing the most intelligent people in the world.-Crockett's Speech, Tour, p. 82.

U.

UGLY. Ill-tempered; bad. New England. Ex.

'He is an ugly fellow,' i. e. of a bad disposition; wicked. The compound ugly-tempered is also used. They are both heard only among the illiterate.-Pickering.

UGLY CUSTOMER. A disagreeable or troublesome companion.

Capt. H―, whom we met at St. Francisco, carried a number of horses, rather ugly customers, for the occasion, in an undecked vessel, from California to Woahoo.-Simpson's Overland Journey, Vol. I. p. 224. UMBRELLA TREE. (Lat. magnolia tripetala.) The popular name of this tree in the Southern States.

UNBEKNOWN. Unknown. Various dialects of England.-Halliwell. This is a very common word in familiar language in New England. It is regularly formed from the Ang. Sax. be-knowen, to know; to recognise; to acknowledge; pret. bi-knewe; past part. bi-known; all of which are used by Piers Ploughman.

And though it hadde costned me catel

Bi-knowen it I nolde.-Piers Ploughman, Vision, 1. 407.

For I am bi-knowen,

Ther konnynge clerkes

Shul clokke bi-hynde.-Ibid. l. 1422.

The sooty wretches [chimney sweeps] stole four good flitches of bacon, as was up the kitchen chimbly, quite unbeknown to me.—T. Hood, The Pagsley Paper.

UNCLE SAM. The cant or vulgar name of the United States Government; sometimes called Brother Jonathan. It is used as John Bull is in England. Mr. Frost, in his Naval History of the United States, gives the following account of the origin of the name:

"Immediately after the last declaration of war with England, Elbert Anderson of New York, then a contractor, visited Troy, on the Hudson; where was concentrated, and where he purchased, a large quantity of provisions, beef, pork, &c. The inspectors of these articles at that place were Messrs. Ebenezer and Samuel Wilson. The latter gentleman (invariably known as Uncle Sam') generally superintended in person a large number of workmen, who, on this occasion, were employed in overhauling the provisions purchased by the contractor for the army. The casks were marked 'E. A.-U.S.' This work fell to the lot of a facetious fellow in the employ of the Messrs. Wilson, who, on being asked by some of his fellow-workmen the meaning of the mark (for the letters U. S. for United States, were then almost entirely new to them), said,' he did not know, unless it meant Elbert Anderson and Uncle Sam'-alluding exclusively, then, to the said Uncle Sam' Wilson. The joke took among the workmen, and passed currently; and Uncle Sam' himself being present, was occasionally rallied by them on the increasing extent of his possessions." P. 297.

"Many of these workmen, being of a character denominated food for powder,' were found, shortly after, following the recruiting drum, and pushing toward the frontier lines, for the double purpose of meeting the enemy, and of eating the provisions they had lately labored to put in good order. Their old jokes accompanied them, and before the first campaign ended, this identical one first appeared in print; it gained favor rapidly, till it penetrated and was recognised in every part of the country, and will, no doubt, continue so while the United States remain a nation." Ibid. UNCOMMON. Exceedingly; very.

It struck me with astonishment to hear people huzzaing for me; and took me so uncommon unexpected, as I had no idea of attracting attention.-Crockett, Tour down East, p. 17.

UNCONSCIONABLE.

Enormous; vast. A low word.Johnson. Used adverbially at the West, as in the following example:

"That's an unconscionable slick gal of your'n," says I; and it did tickle

his fancy to have her cracked up, 'cause he thought her creation's finishin' touch-so did I!-Robb's Squatter Life.

UNDERDONE. Cooked rare. A very common word with

us. Used in the London Quarterly Review, but not noticed by Johnson or Todd.

TO UNDERPIN. To place something for support or foundation; to prop; to support.-Worcester.

UNDERPINNING. Act of supporting something placed under; stone-work or masonry on which a building rests.— Worcester.

TO UNIFY. To form into one; to reduce to unity.

Supposing, which requires some confidence, the reader to be able to collect and unify these discursive remarks, we will refer to the previous question.-Am. Review, Vol. I. N. S. p. 583.

UP-A-DAY. A fondling expression of a nurse to a child, when she takes it up in her arms, or lifts it over some obstacle. The author is informed by a friend, that he heard it used on the same occasions, by nurse-maids in Normandy. It may come from the Anglo-Saxon up-adon, to lift up; but is more probably a mere contraction for the equally common phrase up-a-daisy.

UPPISH. Proud; insolent.-Halliwell. Colloquial in England and the United States.

You pretend to think everybody alike; but when it comes to the pint, you're a sight more uppish than the ra'al quality at home.-Mrs. Clavers's Western Clearings.

UPPER CRUST. The aristocracy; the higher circles.

I want you to see Peel, Stanley, Graham, Shiel, Russell, Macauley, old Joe, and so on. They are all upper crust here.-Sam Slick in England. THE UPPER TEN THOUSAND, and contracted, THE UPPER TEN. The aristocracy; the upper circles of our large cities. A phrase invented by N. P. Willis.

The Biscaccianti troupe commence their season of Italian Opera at the Chestnut to-morrow night. The seats for the first night are already many of them engaged; and engaged, too, by the very cream of our upper ten;" while the moderate democratic prices of admission which have been wisely adopted, will invite large slices of the honest and hearty masses.-Letter from Philad. N. Y. Herald.

UPPER STORY. The brain; as, 'He's not right in his