The marriage came off all the same; but the story went round the country like wildfire; and for many a long day Jack had to stand the jokes of his friends on the _potthalowng_. Used in Munster. The Irish is _patalong_, same sound and meaning; but I do not find it in the dictionaries.
Pottheen; illicit whiskey: always distilled in some remote lonely place, as far away as possible from the nose of a gauger. It is the Irish word _poitín_ { 306} [pottheen], little pot. We have partly the same term still; for everyone knows the celebrity of _pot_-still whiskey: but this is _Parliament_ whiskey, not _pottheen_, see p. 174.
Power; a large quantity, a great deal: Jack Hickey has a power of money: there was a _power of cattle in the fair yesterday_: there's a power of ivy on that old castle. Miss Grey, a small huckster who kept a little vegetable shop, was one day showing off her rings and bracelets to our servant. 'Oh Miss Grey,' says the girl, 'haven't you a terrible lot of them.' 'Well Ellen, you see I want them all, for I go into _a power of society_.' This is an old English usage as is shown by this extract from Spenser's 'View':--'Hee also [Robert Bruce] sent over his said brother Edward, with a power of Scottes and Red-Shankes into Ireland.' There is a corresponding Irish expression (_neart airgid_, a power of money), but I think this is translated from English rather than the reverse. The same idiom exists in Latin with the word _vis_ (power): but examples will not be quoted, as they would take up a power of space.
Powter [_t_ sounded like _th_ in _pith_]; to root the ground like a pig; to root up potatoes from the ground with the hands. (Derry.)
Prashagh, more commonly called prashagh-wee; wild cabbage with yellow blossoms, the rape plant. Irish _praiseach-bhuidhe_ [prashagh-wee], yellow cabbage. _Praiseach_ is borrowed from Latin _brassica_.
Prashameen; a little group all clustered together:--'The children sat in a prashameen on the floor.' I have heard this word a hundred times in Limerick { 307} among English speakers: its Irish form should be _praisimín_, but I do not find it in the dictionaries.
Prashkeen; an apron. Common all over Ireland. Irish _praiscín_, same sound and meaning.