dimmet

plural dimmets · alternative dimmit

1. UKWest CountrycountabledialectaluncountableTwilight; dusk; crepusculum.

   In this village the word twilight is almost unknown. It is the “dimmets ” that describes the evening hour.

   1887 November 19, Lymington, “Richard Jefferies, and the Open Air”, in Littell's Living Age, volume 175, number 2264, page 434, column 2

   5 more examples

   W.] How, huſſey! ya confounded traſh ! Diſt remember whan tha wenſt out in tha Vuzzey-Park, in the deſk o' tha yeaveling, jeſt in tha dimmet, wi' tha young Humphry Hoſegood,–and how ha mullad and ſoulad about tha? Ha bed tha zet down;—and tha zedſt tha wudſt net, nif ha ded net blow tha down. Zo ha blow'd, and down tha valſt. Who ſhud be hard by (vor 'twas in tha dimmet) but tha ſquare's bealy;—and vorewey ha cry'd out that oll windvalls belongad to's meaſter.

   1746 July 28, Peter Lock, “An Exmoor Scolding; in the Propriety and Decency of Exmoor Language, between Two Sisters, Wilmot Moreman and Thomasin Moreman, as They Were ſspinning”, in The Gentleman's Magazine, volume XVI, page 354, column 1

   AQUILA. Dewy dimmet!* silent hour! Welcome to our cottage bow'r ! […] BOTH. Dusky dimmet! dewy hour! Welcome to our lonely bow'r!

   1836, Gerald Griffin, chapter VIII, in The Duke of Monmouth, London: Richard Bentley, pages 108-109

   Rab. If I let thee go now, will meet me agen to morrow evening in the dimmet ? Bet. No. To-morrow morning at milking time I woll.

   1837, Mary Palmer, A Dialogue in the Devonshire Dialect, London: Rees, Orme, Brown, Green and Longman; P. Hannaford, page 23

   The ' dimmet ' was fast fading into dark night when the outbuildings of Watercombe were at length reached ; […]

   1876 January 28, Edward W. L. Davies, “Frank Raleigh of Watercombe”, in Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, volume XXVIII, number 191, Chapter XXII, page 73

   But, perhaps, reflecting that cowardice, in any form, is disgraceful to a soldier, he jumped off his horse, and rang the bell with an energy that startled Mrs. Trelawney and Maude, as they sat pretending to sleep by the fire, “in the dimmets,” between daylight and candle-light; and elicited a vigorous “Lawk a mussey !”

   1869, Frances Mary Oxenham, chapter XXII, in Not Yet: A Tale of the Present Day, London: Burns, Oates, & Co., page 271