gurry-butt

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

gurry +‎ butt (“cart”)

Noun

gurry-butt (plural gurry-butts)

  1. (West Country, obsolete) A horse- or ox-drawn cart used for carrying dung.
    • 1796, William Marshall, “Agriculture”, in The Rural Economy of the West of England‎, volume 1 ("West Devonshire"), page 121:
      The "GURRY-BUTT," or DUNG-SLEDGE, of Devonshire, is a sort of sliding cart, or barrow; usually of a size proper to be drawn by one horse: sometimes it is made larger; I have seen four oxen drawing compost upon a fallow, in one of these little Implements; which might, anywhere, be made useful, on many occasions; especially in moving earth, stone, rubbish, or manure, a small distance. The sides and ends are about eighteen inches high, and are fixed; the load being discharged by overturning the carriage.
    • 1817, Charles Sandoe Gilbert, An Historical Survey of the County of Cornwall‎, page 352:
      The gurry-butt is similar to the slide-butt, next described, except that it has two wheels, nearly at its farther end, and an iron staple beneath its upper end, on a level with the wheels.
    • 2013, Eric Kerridge, The Agricultural Revolution, Routledge, →ISBN, page 154:
      All farm carriage was by pack-horse, except that oxen were sometimes yoked to harvest or dung-sledges ('gurry-buts').
  2. (obsolete) A large cask used for holding fish offal.
    • 1897, Rudyard Kipling, chapter 2, in Captains Courageous:
      "'Wouldn't hev your conscience fer a thousand quintal," said Dan. "Turn in, Penn. You've no call to do boy's work. Draw a bucket, Harvey. Oh, Penn, dump these in the gurry-butt 'fore you sleep. Kin you keep awake that long?"¶ Penn took up the heavy basket of fish-livers, emptied them into a cask with a hinged top lashed by the foc'sle; then he too dropped out of sight in the cabin.
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