Also 6–7 ersh. [Dialectal variant of EDDISH. (Cf. OE. ersc-hen = edisc-hen quail.) The retracted r and d of s. w. dialects are scarcely separable.] (See quot.)
1597. Gerard, Herbal (1633), 1018. The wheat ershes about Mapledurham.
1674. Ray, S. & E. Countr. Wds., 65. Ersh, the same that Edish. Sussex.
1813. Vancouver, Agric. Devon, 152. The wheat arish, or stubbles, are in these cases found less to abound with coarse grass, and other unprofitable rubbish.
1851. N. & Q., Ser. I. III. 252/1. In Devon a cornfield which has been cut and cleared, is called an ‘arrish.’
1856. Capern, Poems, 72. To bid the skylark o’er the arrish roam.
