...The lower head has occasionally strings of catgut stretched over its surface, and then it is called a snare drum.
yer - repr. a dial. or vulgar pronunc. of your
lug - ear
Thimble and Bodkin Army* - (Eng. Hist.): a nickname of the Parliamentary Army of the Civil War; bodkin - a small pointed instrument, of bone, ivory, or steel, used for piercing holes in cloth, etc.
Gael - a Scottish Highlander or Celt; also, an Irish Celt
Donegal* - the name of a county in the north-west of Ireland
ring - a ringing sound or noise
crum - to break down into crumbs or small fragments
gore - to pierce or stab deeply, with a sharp weapon, spike, spur, or the like (obs.)
gash - to cut, slash or wound (the body); to cut or tear asunder (nonce-use.)
gun - to assail or fight with guns (obs.), to shoot (a person); to look at closely, to examine.
to gloat on - to feast one's eyes upon, to contemplate, think of, or dwell upon with fierce or unholy joy.
yeoman - a volunteer cavalry force in the British army, originally formed at the time of the French revolution, and consisting chiefly of men of the yeomanry class or status; first embodied in 1794.
redshank - one of the Celtic inhabitants of the Scottish Highlands and of Ireland.
Lancastrian* - an adherent of the house of Lancaster; one of the Lancastrian faction in the Wars of the Roses (whose emblem was the Red Rose).
roedeer - deer, or a deer, of the roe kind
hind - the female of the deer, esp. of the red deer
slot - the track or trail of an animal, esp. a deer, as shown by the marks of the foot.
Freeman's Journal; freedman - a man who has been a slave and is manumitted, an emancipated slave.
slog - to hit or strike hard; to drive with blows; Also fig., to assail violently.
cloudy - fig. Darkened by misfortune, grief, anger, forebodings, etc.; full of gloom or trouble; gloomy, sullen, frowning.
unsure - not safe against attack or mishap; Of persons, etc.: Not to be trusted or relied upon, unreliable, untrustworthy.
erste (d) - first
fort - to defend or protect with a fortification, to fortify, to enclose in a fort.
through* - finished, at an end; defeated, 'done for'
tune in - to tune a radio or television to (a particular station or transmission, or a particular frequency).
forain - obs. form of foreign