A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words

A 1, first rate, the very best; “she’s a prime girl she is; she is A 1.“—Sam Slick. The highest classification of ships at Lloyd’s; common term in the United States, also at Liverpool and other English seaports. Another, even more intensitive form, is “first-class, letter A, No. 1.”

ABOUT RIGHT, “to do the thing ABOUT RIGHT,” i.e., to do it properly, soundly, correctly; “he guv it ’im ABOUT RIGHT,” i.e., he beat him severely.

ABRAM-SHAM, or SHAM-ABRAHAM, to feign sickness or distress. From ABRAM MAN, the ancient cant term for a begging impostor, or one who pretended to have been mad.—Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy, part i., sec. 2, vol. i., p. 360. When Abraham Newland was Cashier of the Bank of England, and signed their notes, it was sung:—

ABSQUATULATE, to run away, or abscond; a hybrid American expression, from the Latin ab, and “squat,” to settle.

ADAM’S ALE, water.—English. The Scotch term is ADAM’S WINE.

AGGERAWATORS (corruption of Aggravators), the greasy locks of hair in vogue among costermongers and other street folk, worn twisted from the temple back towards the ear. They are also, from a supposed resemblance in form, termed NEWGATE KNOCKERS, which see.—Sala’s Gas-light, &c.

ALDERMAN, a half-crown—possibly from its rotundity.

ALDERMAN, a turkey.

ALDERMAN IN CHAINS, a turkey hung with sausages.

ALL OF A HUGH! all on one side, or with a thump; the word HUGH being pronounced with a grunt.—Suffolk.

ALL MY EYE, answer of astonishment to an improbable story; ALL MY EYE AND BETTY MARTIN, a vulgar phrase with similar meaning, said to be the commencement of a Popish prayer to St. Martin, “Oh mihi, beate Martine,” and fallen into discredit at the Reformation.

ALL-OVERISH, neither sick nor well, the premonitory symptoms of illness.

ALL-ROUNDERS, the fashionable shirt collars of the present time worn meeting in front.

ALL-SERENE, an ejaculation of acquiescence.

ALLS, tap-droppings, refuse spirits sold at a cheap rate in gin-palaces.—See LOVEAGE.

ALL-THERE, in strict fashion, first-rate, “up to the mark;” a vulgar person would speak of a spruce, showily-dressed female as being ALL-THERE. An artizan would use the same phrase to express the capabilities of a skilful fellow workman.

ALL TO PIECES, utterly, excessively; “he beat him ALL TO PIECES,” i.e., excelled or surpassed him exceedingly.

ALL TO SMASH, or GONE TO PIECES, bankrupt, or smashed to pieces.—Somersetshire.

ALMIGHTY DOLLAR, an American expression for the “power of money,” first introduced by Washington Irving in 1837.

AN’T, or AÏN’T, the vulgar abbreviation of “am not,” or “are not.”

ANOINTING, a good beating.

ANY HOW, in any way, or at any rate, bad; “he went on ANY HOW,” i.e., badly or indifferently.

APPLE CART, “down with his APPLE CART,” i.e., upset him.—North.

APPLE PIE ORDER, in exact or very nice order.

AREA-SNEAK, a boy thief who commits depredations upon kitchens and cellars.—See CROW.

ARGOT, a term used amongst London thieves for their secret or cant language. French term for slang.

ARTICLE, a man or boy, derisive term.

ARY, corruption of ever a, e’er a; ARY ONE, e’er a one.

ATTACK, to carve, or commence operations on; “ATTACK that beef, and oblige!”

ATTIC, the head; “queer in the ATTIC,” intoxicated.—Pugilistic.

AUNT-SALLY, a favourite game on race-courses and at fairs, consisting of a wooden head mounted on a stick, firmly fixed in the ground; in the nose of which, or rather in that part of the facial arrangement of AUNT SALLY which is generally considered incomplete without a nasal projection, a tobacco pipe is inserted. The fun consists in standing at a distance and demolishing AUNT SALLY’S pipe-clay projection with short bludgeons, very similar to the half of a broom-handle. The Duke of Beaufort is a “crack hand” at smashing pipe noses, and his performances two years ago on Brighton race-course are yet fresh in remembrance. The noble Duke, in the summer months, frequently drives the old London and Brighton four-horse mail coach, “Age”—a whim singular enough now, but common forty years ago.

AUTUMN, a slang term for an execution by hanging. When the drop was introduced instead of the old gallows, cart, and ladder, and a man was for the first time “turned-off” in the present fashion, the mob were so pleased with the invention that they spoke of the operation as at AUTUMN, or the FALL OF THE LEAF (sc. the drop), with the man about to be hung.

AVAST, a sailor’s phrase for stop, shut up, go away,—apparently connected with the old cant, BYNGE A WASTE.

AWAKE, or FLY, knowing, thoroughly understanding, not ignorant of. The phrase WIDE AWAKE carries the same meaning in ordinary conversation.

AWFUL (or, with the Cockneys, ORFUL), a senseless expletive, used to intensify a description of anything good or bad; “what an AWFUL fine woman!” i.e., how handsome, or showy!

AXE, to ask.—Saxon, ACSIAN.

BABES, the lowest order of KNOCK-OUTS (which see), who are prevailed upon not to give opposing biddings at auctions, in consideration of their receiving a small sum (from one shilling to half-a-crown), and a certain quantity of beer. Babes exist in Baltimore, U.S., where they are known as blackguards and “rowdies.”

BACK JUMP, a back window.

BACK SLANG IT, to go out the back way.

BACK OUT, to retreat from a difficulty; the reverse of GO AHEAD. Metaphor borrowed from the stables.

BACON, “to save one’s BACON,” to escape.

BAD, “to go to the BAD,” to deteriorate in character, be ruined. Virgil has an exactly similar phrase, in pejus ruere.

BAGMAN, a commercial traveller.

BAGS, trowsers. Trowsers of an extensive pattern, or exaggerated fashionable cut, have lately been termed HOWLING-BAGS, but only when the style has been very “loud.” The word is probably an abbreviation for b—mbags. “To have the BAGS off,” to be of age and one’s own master, to have plenty of money.

BAKE, “he’s only HALF BAKED,” i.e., soft, inexperienced.

BAKER’S DOZEN. This consists of thirteen or fourteen; the surplus number, called the inbread, being thrown in for fear of incurring the penalty for short weight. To “give a man a BAKER’S DOZEN,” in a slang sense, means to give him an extra good beating or pummelling.

BALAAM, printers’ slang for matter kept in type about monstrous productions of nature, &c., to fill up spaces in newspapers that would otherwise be vacant. The term BALAAM-BOX has long been used in Blackwood as the name of the depository for rejected articles.

BALL, prison allowance, viz., six ounces of meat.

BALLYRAG, to scold vehemently, to swindle one out of his money by intimidation and sheer abuse, as alleged in a late cab case (Evans v. Robinson).

BALMY, insane.

BAMBOOZLE, to deceive, make fun of, or cheat a person; abbreviated to BAM, which is used also as a substantive, a deception, a sham, a “sell.” Swift says BAMBOOZLE was invented by a nobleman in the reign of Charles II.; but this I conceive to be an error. The probability is that a nobleman first used it in polite society. The term is derived from the Gipseys.

BANDED, hungry.

BANDY, or CRIPPLE, a sixpence, so called from this coin being generally bent or crooked; old term for flimsy or bad cloth, temp. Q. Elizabeth.

BANG, to excel or surpass; BANGING, great or thumping.

BANG-UP, first-rate.

BANTLING, a child; stated in Bacchus and Venus, 1737, and by Grose, to be a cant term.

BANYAN-DAY, a day on which no meat is served out for rations; probably derived from the BANIANS, a Hindoo caste, who abstain from animal food.—Sea.

BAR, or BARRING, excepting; in common use in the betting-ring; “I bet against the field BAR two.” The Irish use of BARRIN’ is very similar.

BARKER, a man employed to cry at the doors of “gaffs,” shows, and puffing shops, to entice people inside.

BARKING IRONS, pistols.

BARNACLES, a pair of spectacles; corruption of BINOCULI?

BARNEY, a LARK, SPREE, rough enjoyment; “get up a BARNEY,” to have a “lark.”

BARNEY, a mob, a crowd.

BARN-STORMERS, theatrical performers who travel the country and act in barns, selecting short and frantic pieces to suit the rustic taste.—Theatrical.

BARRIKIN, jargon, speech, or discourse; “we can’t tumble to that BARRIKIN,” i.e., we don’t understand what he says. Miege calls it “a sort of stuff.”

BASH, to beat, thrash; “BASHING a donna,” beating a woman; originally a provincial word, and chiefly applied to the practice of beating walnut trees, when in bud, with long poles, to increase their productiveness. Hence the West country proverb—

BAT, “on his own BAT,” on his own account.—See HOOK.

BATS, a pair of bad boots.

BATTER, “on the BATTER,” literally “on the streets,” or given up to roistering and debauchery.

BATTLES, the students’ term at Oxford for rations. At Cambridge, COMMONS.

BAWDYKEN, a brothel.—See KEN.

BAZAAR, a shop or counter. Gipsey and Hindoo, a market.

BEAK, a magistrate, judge, or policeman; “baffling the BEAK,” to get remanded. Ancient cant, BECK. Saxon, BEAG, a necklace or gold collar—emblem of authority. Sir John Fielding was called the BLIND-BEAK in the last century Query, if connected with the Italian BECCO, which means a (bird’s) beak, and also a blockhead.

BEAKER-HUNTER, a stealer of poultry.

BEANS, money; “a haddock of BEANS,” a purse of money; formerly BEAN meant a guinea; French, BIENS, property; also used as a synonyme for BRICK, which see.

BEAR, one who contracts to deliver or sell a certain quantity of stock in the public funds on a forthcoming day at a stated place, but who does not possess it, trusting to a decline in public securities to enable him to fulfil the agreement and realise a profit.—See BULL. Both words are slang terms on the Stock Exchange, and are frequently used in the business columns of newspapers.

“He who sells that of which he is not possessed is proverbially said to sell the skin before he has caught the BEAR. It was the practice of stock-jobbers, in the year 1720, to enter into a contract for transferring South Sea Stock at a future time for a certain price; but he who contracted to sell had frequently no stock to transfer, nor did he who bought intend to receive any in consequence of his bargain; the seller was, therefore, called a BEAR, in allusion to the proverb, and the buyer a BULL, perhaps only as a similar distinction. The contract was merely a wager, to be determined by the rise or fall of stock; if it rose, the seller paid the difference to the buyer, proportioned to the sum determined by the same computation to the seller.”—Dr. Warton on Pope.

BEARGERED, to be drunk.

BEAT, or BEAT-HOLLOW, to surpass or excel.

BEAT, the allotted range traversed by a policeman on duty.

BEAT-OUT, DEAD-BEAT, tired or fagged.

BEATER-CASES, boots: Nearly obsolete.

BEAVER, old street term for a hat; GOSS is the modern word, BEAVER, except in the country, having fallen into disuse.

BE-BLOWED, a windy exclamation equivalent to an oath.—See BLOW-ME.

BED-POST, “in the twinkling of a BED-POST,” in a moment, or very quickly. Originally BED-STAFF, a stick placed vertically in the frame of a bed to keep the bedding in its place.—Shadwell’s Virtuoso, 1676, act i., scene 1. This was used sometimes as a defensive weapon.

BEE, “to have a BEE in one’s bonnet,” i.e., to be not exactly sane.

BEERY, intoxicated, or fuddled with beer.

BEESWAX, poor soft cheese.

BEETLE-CRUSHERS, or SQUASHERS, large flat feet.

BELCHER, a kind of handkerchief.—See BILLY.

BELL, a song.

BELLOWS, the lungs.

BELLOWSED, or LAGGED, transported.

BELLOWS-TO-MEND, out of breath.

BELLY-TIMBER, food, or “grub.”

BELLY-VENGEANCE, small sour beer, apt to cause gastralgia.

BEMUSE, to fuddle one’s self with drink, “BEMUSING himself with beer,” &c.—Sala’s Gas-light and Day-light, p. 308.

BEN, a benefit.—Theatrical.

BEND, “that’s above my BEND,” i.e., beyond my power, too expensive, or too difficult for me to perform.

BENDER, a sixpence,—from its liability to bend.

BENDER, the arm; “over the BENDER,” synonymous with “over the left.”—See OVER. Also an ironical exclamation similar to WALKER.

BENE, good.—Ancient cant; BENAR was the comparative.—See BONE. Latin.

BENJAMIN, a coat. Formerly termed a JOSEPH, in allusion, perhaps, to Joseph’s coat of many colours.—See UPPER-BENJAMIN.

BENJY, a waistcoat.

BEONG, a shilling.—See SALTEE.

BESTER, a low betting cheat.

BESTING, excelling, cheating. Bested, taken in, or defrauded.

BETTER, more; “how far is it to town?” “oh, BETTER ’n a mile.”—Saxon and Old English, now a vulgarism.

BETTY, a skeleton key, or picklock.—Old cant.

B. FLATS, bugs.

BIBLE CARRIER, a person who sells songs without singing them.

BIG, “to look BIG,” to assume an inflated dress, or manner; “to talk BIG,” i.e., boastingly, or with an “extensive” air.

BIG-HOUSE, the work-house.

BILBO, a sword; abbrev. of BILBOA blade. Spanish swords were anciently very celebrated, especially those of Toledo, Bilboa, &c.

BILK, a cheat, or a swindler. Formerly in frequent use, now confined to the streets, where it is very general. Gothic, BILAICAN.

BILK, to defraud, or obtain goods, &c. without paying for them; “to BILK the schoolmaster,” to get information or experience without paying for it.

BILLINGSGATE (when applied to speech), foul and coarse language. Not many years since, one of the London notorieties was to hear the fishwomen at Billingsgate abuse each other. The anecdote of Dr. Johnson and the Billingsgate virago is well known.

BILLY, a silk pocket handkerchief.—Scotch.—See WIPE.

⁂ A list of the slang terms descriptive of the various patterns of handkerchiefs, pocket and neck, is here subjoined:—

• Belcher, close striped pattern, yellow silk, and intermixed with white and a little black; named from the pugilist, Jim Belcher.
• Bird’s eye wipe, diamond spots.
• Blood-red fancy, red.
• Blue billy, blue ground with white spots.
• Cream fancy, any pattern on a white ground.
• Green king’s man, any pattern on a green ground.
• Randal’s man, green, with white spots; named after Jack Randal, pugilist.
• Water’s man, sky coloured.
• Yellow fancy, yellow, with white spots.
• Yellow man, all yellow.

BILLY-BARLOW, a street clown; sometimes termed a JIM CROW, or SALTIMBANCO,—so called from the hero of a slang song.—Bulwer’s Paul Clifford.

BILLY-HUNTING, buying old metal.

BIRD-CAGE, a four-wheeled cab.

BIT, fourpence; in America 12½ cents is called a BIT, and a defaced 20 cent piece is termed a LONG BIT. A BIT is the smallest coin in Jamaica, equal to 6d.

BIT, a purse, or any sum of money.

BIT-FAKER, or TURNER OUT, a coiner of bad money.

BITCH, tea; “a BITCH party,” a tea-drinking.—University.

BITE, a cheat; “a Yorkshire BITE,” a cheating fellow from that county.—North; also old slang, used by Pope. Swift says it originated with a nobleman in his day.

BITE, to cheat; “to be BITTEN,” to be taken in or imposed upon. Originally a Gipsey term.—See Bacchus and Venus.

BIVVY, or GATTER, beer; “shant of BIVVY,” a pot, or quart of beer. In Suffolk, the afternoon refreshment of reapers is called BEVER. It is also an old English term.

“He is none of those same ordinary eaters, that will devour three breakfasts, and as many dinners, without any prejudice to their BEVERS, drinkings, or suppers.”—Beaumont and Fletcher’s Woman Hater 1–3.

Both words are probably from the Italian, bevere, bere. Latin, bibere. English, beverage.

BLACK AND WHITE, handwriting.

BLACKBERRY-SWAGGER, a person who hawks tapes, boot laces, &c.

BLACK-LEG, a rascal, swindler, or card cheat.

BLACK-SHEEP, a “bad lot,” “mauvais sujet;” also a workman who refuses to join in a strike.

BLACK-STRAP, port wine.

BLADE, a man—in ancient times the term for a soldier; “knowing BLADE,” a wide awake, sharp, or cunning man.

BLACKGUARD, a low, or dirty fellow.

“A cant word amongst the vulgar, by which is implied a dirty fellow of the meanest kind, Dr. Johnson says, and he cites only the modern authority of Swift. But the introduction of this word into our language belongs not to the vulgar, and is more than a century prior to the time of Swift. Mr. Malone agrees with me in exhibiting the two first of the following examples. The black-guard is evidently designed to imply a fit attendant on the devil. Mr. Gifford, however, in his late edition of Ben Jonson’s works, assigns an origin of the name different from what the old examples which I have cited seem to countenance. It has been formed, he says, from those ‘mean and dirty dependants, in great houses, who were selected to carry coals to the kitchen, halls, &c. To this smutty regiment, who attended the progresses, and rode in the carts with the pots and kettles, which, with every other article of furniture, were then moved from palace to palace, the people, in derision, gave the name of black guards; a term since become sufficiently familiar, and never properly explained.’—Ben Jonson, ii. 169, vii. 250”—Todd’s Johnson’s Dictionary.

BLARNEY, flattery, exaggeration.—Hibernicism.

BLAST, to curse.

BLAZES, “like BLAZES,” furious or desperate, a low comparison.

BLEST, a vow; “BLEST if I’ll do it,” i.e., I am determined not to do it; euphemism for CURST.

BLEED, to victimise, or extract money from a person, to spunge on, to make suffer vindictively.

BLEW, or BLOW, to inform, or peach.

BLEWED, got rid of, disposed of, spent; “I BLEWED all my blunt last night,” I spent all my money.

BLIND, a pretence, or make believe.

BLIND-HOOKEY, a gambling game at cards.

BLINKER, a blackened eye.—Norwich slang.

BLINK FENCER, a person who sells spectacles.

BLOAK, or BLOKE, a man; “the BLOAK with a jasey,” the man with a wig, i.e., the Judge. Gipsey and Hindoo, LOKE. North, BLOACHER, any large animal.

BLOB (from BLAB), to talk. Beggars are of two kinds,—those who SCREEVE (introduce themselves with a FAKEMENT, or false document), and those who BLOB, or state their case in their own truly “unvarnished” language.

BLOCK, the head.

BLOCK ORNAMENTS, the small dark coloured pieces of meat exposed on the cheap butchers’ blocks or counters,—debateable points to all the sharp visaged argumentative old women in low neighbourhoods.

BLOOD, a fast or high-mettled man. Nearly obsolete in the sense in which it was used in George the Fourth’s time.

BLOOD-RED FANCY, a kind of handkerchief worn by pugilists and frequenters of prize fights.—See BILLY.

BLOODY-JEMMY, a sheep’s head.—See SANGUINARY JAMES.

BLOW, to expose, or inform; “BLOW the gaff,” to inform against a person. In America, to BLOW is slang for to taunt.

BLOW A CLOUD, to smoke a cigar or pipe—a phrase in use two centuries ago.

BLOW ME, or BLOW ME TIGHT, a vow, a ridiculous and unmeaning ejaculation, inferring an appeal to the ejaculator; “I’m BLOWED if you will” is a common expression among the lower orders; “BLOW ME UP” was the term a century ago.—See Parker’s Adventures, 1781.

BLOW OUT, or TUCK IN, a feast.

BLOW UP, to make a noise, or scold; formerly a cant expression used amongst thieves, now a recognised and respectable phrase. Blowing up, a jobation, a scolding.

BLOWEN, a showy or flaunting prostitute, a thief’s paramour. In Wilts, a BLOWEN is a blossom. Germ. BLUHEN, to bloom.

“O du blühende Mädchen viel schöne Willkomm!”—German Song.

Possibly, however, the street term BLOWEN may mean one whose reputation has been BLOWN UPON, or damaged.

BLOWER, a girl; a contemptuous name in opposition to JOMER.

BLUBBER, to cry in a childish manner.—Ancient.

BLUDGERS, low thieves, who use violence.

BLUE, a policeman; “disguised in BLUE and liquor.”—Boots at the Swan.

BLUE, or BLEW, to pawn or pledge.

BLUE, confounded or surprised; “to look BLUE,” to be astonished or disappointed.

BLUE BILLY, the handkerchief (blue ground with white spots) worn and used at prize fights. Before a SET TO, it is common to take it from the neck and tie it round the leg as a garter, or round the waist, to “keep in the wind.” Also, the refuse ammoniacal lime from gas factories.

BLUE BLANKET, a rough over coat made of coarse pilot cloth.

BLUE-BOTTLE, a policeman. It is singular that this well known slang term for a London constable should have been used by Shakespere. In part ii. of King Henry IV., act v., scene 4, Doll Tearsheet calls the beadle, who is dragging her in, a “thin man in a censer, a BLUE-BOTTLE rogue.”

BLUED, or BLEWED, tipsey or drunk.

BLUE DEVILS, the apparitions supposed to be seen by habitual drunkards.

BLUE MOON, an unlimited period.

BLUE MURDER, a desperate or alarming cry. French, MORT-BLEU.

BLUE RUIN, gin.

BLUE-PIGEON FLYERS, journeymen plumbers, glaziers, and others, who, under the plea of repairing houses, strip off the lead, and make way with it. Sometimes they get off with it by wrapping it round their bodies.

BLUES, a fit of despondency.—See BLUE DEVILS.

BLUEY, lead. German, BLEI.

BLUFF, an excuse.

BLUFF, to turn aside, stop, or excuse.

BLUNT, money. It has been said that this term is from the French BLOND, sandy or golden colour, and that a parallel may be found in BROWN or BROWNS, the slang for half-pence. The etymology seems far fetched, however.

BLURT OUT, to speak from impulse, and without reflection.—Shakespere.

BOB, a shilling. Formerly BOBSTICK, which may have been the original.

BOB, “s’help my BOB,” a street oath, equivalent to “so help me God.” Other words are used in street language for a similarly evasive purpose, i.e., CAT, GREENS, TATUR, &c., all equally profane and disgusting.

BOBBISH, very well, clever, spruce; “how are you doing?” “oh! pretty BOBBISH.”—Old.

BOBBY, a policeman. Both BOBBY and PEELER were nicknames given to the new police, in allusion to the christian and surnames of the late Sir Robert Peel, who was the prime mover in effecting their introduction and improvement. The term BOBBY is, however, older than the Saturday Reviewer, in his childish and petulant remarks, imagines. The official square-keeper, who is always armed with a cane to drive away idle and disorderly urchins, has, time out of mind, been called by the said urchins, BOBBY the Beadle. Bobby is also, I may remark, an old English word for striking or hitting, a quality not unknown to policemen.—See Halliwell’s Dictionary.

BODMINTON, blood.—Pugilistic.

BODY-SNATCHERS, bailiffs and runners: SNATCH, the trick by which the bailiff captures the delinquent.

BODY-SNATCHERS, cat stealers.

BOG or BOG-HOUSE, a water-closet.—School term. In the Inns of Court, I am informed, this term is very common.

BOG-TROTTER, satirical name for an Irishman.—Miege. Camden, however, speaking of the “debateable land” on the borders of England and Scotland, says “both these dales breed notable BOG-TROTTERS.”

BOILERS, the slang name given to the New Kensington Museum and School of Art, in allusion to the peculiar form of the buildings, and the fact of their being mainly composed of, and covered with, sheet iron.—See PEPPER-BOXES.

BOLT, to run away, decamp, or abscond.

BOLT, to swallow without chewing.

BONE, good, excellent. the vagabond’s hieroglyphic for BONE, or good, chalked by them on houses and street corners, as a hint to succeeding beggars. French, BON.

BONE, to steal or pilfer. Boned, seized, apprehended.—Old.

BONE-GRUBBERS, persons who hunt dust-holes, gutters, and all likely spots for refuse bones, which they sell at the rag-shops, or to the bone-grinders.

BONE-PICKER, a footman.

BONES, dice; also called ST. HUGH’S BONES.

BONES, “he made no BONES of it,” he did not hesitate, i.e., undertook and finished the work without difficulty, “found no BONES in the jelly.”—Ancient, vide Cotgrave.

BONNET, a gambling cheat. “A man who sits at a gaming-table, and appears to be playing against the table; when a stranger enters, the BONNET generally wins.”—Times, Nov. 17, 1856. Also, a pretence, or make-believe, a sham bidder at auctions.

BONNET, to strike a man’s cap or hat over his eyes and nose.

BONNETTER, one who induces another to gamble.

BOOK, an arrangement of bets for and against, chronicled in a pocket-book made for that purpose; “making a BOOK upon it,” common phrase to denote the general arrangement of a person’s bets on a race. “That does not suit my BOOK,” i.e., does not accord with my other arrangements. Shakespere uses BOOK in the sense of “a paper of conditions.”

BOOM, “to tip one’s BOOM off,” to be off, or start in a certain direction.—Sea.

BOOKED, caught, fixed, disposed of.—Term in Book-keeping.

BOOZE, drink. Ancient cant, BOWSE.

BOOZE, to drink, or more properly, to use another slang term, to “lush,” viz, to drink continually, until drunk, or nearly so. The term is an old one. Harman, in Queen Elizabeth’s days, speaks of “BOUSING (or boozing) and belly-cheere.” The term was good English in the fourteenth century, and comes from the Dutch, BUYZEN, to tipple.

BOOZE, or SUCK-CASA, a public-house.

BOOZING-KEN, a beer-shop, a low public house.—Ancient.

BOOZY, intoxicated or fuddled.

BORE, a troublesome friend or acquaintance, a nuisance, anything which wearies or annoys. The Gradus ad Cantabrigiam suggests the derivation of BORE from the Greek, Βαρος, a burden. Shakespere uses it, King Henry VIII., i., 1—

Grose speaks of this word as being much in fashion about the year 1780–81, and states that it vanished of a sudden, without leaving a trace behind. Not so, burly Grose, the term is still in favour, and is as piquant and expressive as ever. Of the modern sense of the word BORE, the Prince Consort made an amusing and effective use in his masterly address to the British Association, at Aberdeen, September 14, 1859. He said (as reported by the Times):—

“I will not weary you by further examples, with which most of you are better acquainted than I am myself but merely express my satisfaction that there should exist bodies of men who will bring the well-considered and understood wants of science before the public and the Government, who will even hand round the begging-box, and expose themselves to refusals and rebuffs, to which all beggars all liable, with the certainty besides of being considered great BORES. Please to recollect that this species of “bore” is a most useful animal, well adapted for the ends for which nature intended him. He alone, by constantly returning to the charge, and repeating the same truths and the same requests, succeeds in awakening attention to the cause which he advocates, and obtains that hearing which is granted him at last for self-protection, as the minor evil compared to his importunity, but which is requisite to make his cause understood.”

BOSH, nonsense, stupidity.—Gipsey and Persian. Also pure Turkish, BOSH LAKERDI, empty talk. A person, in the Saturday Review, has stated that BOSH is coeval with Morier’s novel, Hadji Babi, which was published in 1828; but this is a blunder. The term was used in this country as early as 1760, and may be found in the Student, vol. ii., p. 217.

BOSH, a fiddle.

BOSH-FAKER, a violin player.

BOS-KEN, a farm-house. Ancient.—See KEN.

BOSKY, inebriated—Household Words, No. 183.

BOSMAN, a farmer; “faking a BOSMAN on the main toby,” robbing a farmer on the highway. Boss, a master.—American. Both terms from the Dutch, BOSCH-MAN, one who lives in the woods; otherwise Boschjeman or Bushman.

BOSS-EYED, a person with one eye, or rather with one eye injured.

BOTHER, to teaze, to annoy.

BOTHER (from the Hibernicism POTHER), trouble, or annoyance. Grose has a singular derivation, BOTHER, or BOTH-EARED, from two persons talking at the same time, or to both ears. Blother, an old word, signifying to chatter idly.—See Halliwell.

BOTHERATION! trouble, annoyance; “BOTHERATION to it,” confound it, or deuce take it, an exclamation when irritated.

BOTTLE-HOLDER, an assistant to a “Second,”—Pugilistic; an abettor; also, the bridegroom’s man at a wedding.

BOTTY, conceited, swaggering.

BOUNCE, impudence.

BOUNCE, a showy swindler.

BOUNCE, to boast, cheat, or bully.—Old cant.

BOUNCER, a person who steals whilst bargaining with a tradesman; a lie.

BOUNDER, a four-wheel cab. Lucus a non lucendo?

BOUNETTER, a fortune-telling cheat.—Gipsey.

BOW-CATCHERS, or KISS-CURLS, small curls twisted on the cheeks or temples of young—and often old—girls, adhering to the face as if gummed or pasted. Evidently a corruption of BEAU-CATCHERS. In old times these were called love-locks, when they were the marks at which all the puritan and ranting preachers levelled their pulpit pop-guns, loaded with sharp and virulent abuse. Hall and Prynne looked upon all women as strumpets who dared to let the hair depart from a straight line upon their cheeks. The French prettily term them accroche-cœurs, whilst in the United States they are plainly and unpleasantly called SPIT-CURLS. Bartlett says:—“Spit Curl, a detached lock of hair curled upon the temple; probably from having been at first plastered into shape by the saliva. It is now understood that the mucilage of quince seed is used by the ladies for this purpose.”

When men twist the hair on each side of their faces into ropes they are sometimes called BELL-ROPES, as being wherewith to draw the belles. Whether BELL-ROPES or BOW-CATCHERS, it is singular they should form part of the prisoner’s paraphernalia, and that a jaunty little kiss-me quick curl should, of all things in the world, ornament a gaol dock; yet such was formerly the case. Hunt, the murderer of Weare, on his trial, we are informed by the Athenæum, appeared at the bar with a highly pomatumed love-lock sticking tight to his forehead. Young ladies, think of this!

BOWL-OUT, to put out of the game, to remove out of one’s way, to detect.—Cricketing term.

BOWLAS, round tarts made of sugar, apple, and bread, sold in the streets.

BOWLES, shoes.

BOX-HARRY, a term with bagmen or commercial travellers, implying dinner and tea at one meal; also dining with Humphrey, i.e., going without.—Lincolnshire.

BRACE UP, to pawn stolen goods.

BRACELETS, handcuffs.

BRADS, money. Properly, a small kind of nails used by cobblers.—Compare HORSE NAILS.

BRAD-FAKING, playing at cards.

BRAGGADOCIO, three months’ imprisonment as a reputed thief or old offender,—sometimes termed a DOSE, or a DOLLOP.—Household Words, vol. i., p. 579.

BRAN-NEW, quite new. Properly, Brent, BRAND, or Fire-new, i.e., fresh from the anvil.

BRASS, money.

BREAD-BASKET, DUMPLING DEPOT, VICTUALLING OFFICE, &c., are terms given by the “Fancy” to the digestive organ.

BREAK-DOWN, a jovial, social gathering, a FLARE UP; in Ireland, a wedding.

BREAKING SHINS, borrowing money.

BREAKY-LEG, a shilling.

BREAKY-LEG, strong drink; “he’s been to Bungay fair, and BROKE BOTH HIS LEGS,” i.e., got drunk. In the ancient Egyptian language the determinative character in the hieroglyphic verb “to be drunk,” has the significant form of the leg of a man being amputated.

BREECHED, or TO HAVE THE BAGS OFF, to have plenty of money; “to be well BREECHED,” to be in good circumstances.

BREECHES, “to wear the BREECHES,” said of a wife who usurps the husband’s prerogative.

BREEKS, breeches.—Scotch, now common.

BRICK, a “jolly good fellow;” “a regular BRICK,” a staunch fellow.

Said to be derived from an expression of Aristotle, τετραγωνος ἀνηρ.

BRIEF, a pawnbroker’s duplicate.

BRISKET BEATER, a Roman Catholic.

BROADS, cards. Broadsman, a card sharper.

BROAD AND SHALLOW, an epithet applied to the so-called “Broad Church,” in contradistinction to the “High” and “Low” Church.—See HIGH AND DRY.

BROAD-FENCER, card seller at races.

BROSIER, a bankrupt.—Cheshire. Brosier-my-dame, school term, implying a clearing of the housekeeper’s larder of provisions, in revenge for stinginess.—Eton.

BROTHER-CHIP, fellow carpenter. Also, BROTHER-WHIP, a fellow coachman; and BROTHER-BLADE, of the same occupation or calling—originally a fellow soldier.

BROWN, a halfpenny.—See BLUNT.

BROWN, “to do BROWN,” to do well or completely (in allusion to roasting); “doing it BROWN,” prolonging the frolic, or exceeding sober bounds; “DONE BROWN,” taken in, deceived, or surprised.

BROWN BESS, the old Government regulation musket.

BROWN PAPERMEN, low gamblers.

BROWN SALVE, a token of surprise at what is heard, and at the same time means “I understand you.”

BROWN-STUDY, a reverie. Very common even in educated society, but hardly admissible in writing, and therefore must be considered a vulgarism. It is derived, by a writer in Notes and Queries, from BROW study, from the old German BRAUN, or AUG-BRAUN, an eye-brow.—Ben Jonson.

BROWN-TO, to understand, to comprehend.—American.

BRUISER, a fighting man, a pugilist.—Pugilistic. Shakespere uses the word BRUISING in a similar sense.

BRUMS, counterfeit coins. Nearly obsolete. Corruption of Brummagem (Bromwicham), the ancient name of Birmingham, the great emporium of plated goods and imitation jewellery.

BRUSH, or BRUSH-OFF, to run away, or move on.—Old cant.

BUB, drink of any kind.—See GRUB. Middleton, the dramatist, mentions BUBBER, a great drinker.

BUB, a teat, woman’s breast.

BUCK, a gay or smart man, a cuckold.

BUCKHORSE, a smart blow or box on the ear; derived from the name of a celebrated “bruiser” of that name.

BUCKLE, to bend; “I can’t BUCKLE to that,” I don’t understand it; to yield or give in to a person. Shakespere uses the word in the latter sense, Henry IV., i. 1; and Halliwell says that “the commentators do not supply another example.” How strange that in our own streets the term should be used every day! Stop the first costermonger, and he will soon inform you the various meanings of BUCKLE.—See Notes and Queries, vols. vii., viii., and ix.

BUCKLE-TO, to bend to one’s work, to begin at once, and with great energy.

BUDGE, to move, to inform, to SPLIT, or tell tales.

BUFF, to swear to, or accuse; to SPLIT, or peach upon. Old word for boasting, 1582.

BUFF, the bare skin; “stripped to the BUFF.”

BUFFER, a dog. Their skins were formerly in great request—hence the term, BUFF meaning in old English to skin. It is still used in the ring, BUFFED meaning stripped to the skin. In Irish cant, BUFFER is a boxer. The BUFFER of a railway carriage doubtless received its very appropriate name from the old pugilistic application of this term.

BUFFER, a familiar expression for a jolly acquaintance, probably from the French, BOUFFARD, a fool or clown; a “jolly old BUFFER,” said of a good humoured or liberal old man. In 1737, a BUFFER was a “rogue that killed good sound horses for the sake of their skins, by running a long wire into them.”—Bacchus and Venus. The term was once applied to those who took false oaths for a consideration.

BUFFLE HEAD, a stupid or obtuse person.—Miege. German, BUFFEL-HAUPT, buffalo-headed.

BUFFY, intoxicated.—Household Words, No. 183.

BUGGY, a gig, or light chaise. Common term in America and in Ireland.

BUG-HUNTERS, low wretches who plunder drunken men.

BUILD, applied in fashionable slang to the make or style of dress, &c.; “it’s a tidy BUILD, who made it?”

BULGER, large; synonymous with BUSTER.

BULL, term amongst prisoners for the meat served to them in jail.

BULL, one who agrees to purchase stock at a future day, at a stated price, but who does not possess money to pay for it, trusting to a rise in public securities to render the transaction a profitable one. Should stocks fall, the bull is then called upon to pay the difference.—See BEAR, who is the opposite of a BULL, the former selling, the latter purchasing—the one operating for a fall or a pull down, whilst the other operates for a rise or toss up.

BULL, a crown piece; formerly, BULL’S EYE.

BULL-THE-CASK, to pour hot water into an empty rum puncheon, and let it stand until it extracts the spirit from the wood. The result is drunk by sailors in default of something stronger.—Sea.

BULLY, a braggart; but in the language of the streets, a man of the most degraded morals, who protects prostitutes, and lives off their miserable earnings.—Shakespere, Midsummer Night’s Dream, iii. 1; iv. 2.

BUM, the part on which we sit.—Shakespere. Bumbags, trowsers.

BUM-BAILIFF, a sheriff’s officer,—a term, some say, derived from the proximity which this gentleman generally maintains to his victims. Blackstone says it is a corruption of “bound bailiff.”

BUM-BOATS, shore boats which supply ships with provisions, and serve as means of communication between the sailors and the shore.

BUM-BRUSHER, a schoolmaster.

BUMMAREE. This term is given to a class of speculating salesmen at Billingsgate market, not recognised as such by the trade, but who get a living by buying large quantities of fish of the salesmen and re-selling it to smaller buyers. The word has been used in the statutes and bye-laws of the markets for upwards of 100 years. It has been variously derived, but is most probably from the French, BONNE MAREE, good fresh fish! “Marée signifie toute sorte de poisson de mer qûi n’est pas salé; bonne marée—marée fraiche, vendeur de marée.”—Dict. de l’Acad. Franc. The BUMMAREES are accused of many trade tricks. One of them is to blow up cod-fish with a pipe until they look double their actual size. Of course when the fish come to table they are flabby, sunken, and half dwindled away. In Norwich, TO BUMMAREE ONE is to run up a score at a public house just open, and is equivalent to “running into debt with one.”

BUNCH OF FIVES, the hand, or fist.

BUNDLE, “to BUNDLE a person off,” i.e., to pack him off, send him flying.

BUNG, the landlord of a public-house.

BUNG, to give, pass, hand over, drink, or indeed to perform any action; BUNG UP, to close up—Pugilistic; “BUNG over the rag,” hand over the money—Old, used by Beaumont and Fletcher, and Shakespere. Also, to deceive one by a lie, to CRAM, which see.

BUNKER, beer.

BUNTS, costermonger’s perquisites; the money obtained by giving light weight, &c.; costermongers’ goods sold by boys on commission. Probably a corruption of bonus, BONE being the slang for good. Bunce, Grose gives as the cant word for money.

BURDON’S HOTEL, Whitecross-street prison, of which the Governor is or was a Mr. Burdon.

BURERK, a lady. Grose gives BURICK, a prostitute.

BURKE, to kill, to murder, by pitch plaster or other foul means. From Burke, the notorious Whitechapel murderer, who with others used to waylay people, kill them, and sell their bodies for dissection at the hospitals.

BURYING A MOLL, running away from a mistress.

BUSKER, a man who sings or performs in a public house.—Scotch.

BUSK (or BUSKING), to sell obscene songs and books at the bars and in the tap rooms of public houses. Sometimes implies selling any articles.

BUSS, an abbreviation of “omnibus,” a public carriage. Also, a kiss.

BUST, or BURST, to tell tales, to SPLIT, to inform. Busting, informing against accomplices when in custody.

BUSTER (BURSTER), a small new loaf; “twopenny BUSTER,” a twopenny loaf. “A pennorth o’ BEES WAX (cheese) and a penny BUSTER,” a common snack at beershops.

BUSTER, an extra size; “what a BUSTER,” what a large one; “in for a BUSTER,” determined on an extensive frolic or spree. Scotch, BUSTUOUS; Icelandic, BOSTRA.

BUSTLE, money; “to draw the BUSTLE.”

BUTTER, or BATTER, praise or flattery. To BUTTER, to flatter, cajole.

BUTTER-FINGERED, apt to let things fall.

BUTTON, a decoy, sham purchaser, &c. At any mock or sham auction seedy specimens may be seen. Probably from the connection of buttons with Brummagem, which is often used as a synonyme for a sham.

BUTTONER, a man who entices another to play.—See BONNETTER.

BUTTONS, a page,—from the rows of gilt buttons which adorn his jacket.

BUTTONS, “not to have all one’s BUTTONS,” to be deficient in intellect.

BUZ, to pick pockets; BUZ-FAKING, robbing.

BUZ, to share equally the last of a bottle of wine, when there is not enough for a full glass for each of the party.

BUZZERS, pickpockets. Grose gives BUZ COVE and BUZ GLOAK, the latter is very ancient cant.

BUZ-BLOAK, a pickpocket, who principally confines his attention to purses and loose cash. Grose gives BUZ-GLOAK (or CLOAK?), an ancient cant word. Buz-napper, a young pickpocket.

BUZ-NAPPER’S ACADEMY, a school in which young thieves are trained. Figures are dressed up, and experienced tutors stand in various difficult attitudes for the boys to practice upon. When clever enough they are sent on the streets. It is reported that a house of this nature is situated in a court near Hatton Garden. The system is well explained in Dickens’ Oliver Twist.

BYE-BLOW, a bastard child.

BY GEORGE, an exclamation similar to BY JOVE. The term is older than is frequently imagined, vide Bacchus and Venus (p. 117), 1737. “Fore (or by) GEORGE, I’d knock him down.” A street compliment to Saint George, the patron Saint of England, or possibly to the House of Hanover.

BY GOLLY, an ejaculation, or oath; a compromise for “by God.” In the United States, small boys are permitted by their guardians to say GOL DARN anything, but they are on no account allowed to commit the profanity of G—d d——g anything. An effective ejaculation and moral waste pipe for interior passion or wrath is seen in the exclamation—BY THE-EVER-LIVING-JUMPING-MOSES—a harmless phrase, that from its length expends a considerable quantity of fiery anger.

CAB, in statutory language, “a hackney carriage drawn by one horse.” Abbreviated from CABRIOLET, French; originally meaning “a light low chaise.” The wags of Paris playing upon the word (quasi cabri au lait) used to call a superior turn-out of the kind a cabri au crême. Our abbreviation, which certainly smacks of slang, has been stamped with the authority of “George, Ranger.” See the notices affixed to the carriage entrances of St. James’s Park.

CAB, to stick together, to muck, or tumble up.—Devonshire.

CABBAGE, pieces of cloth said to be purloined by tailors.

CABBAGE, to pilfer or purloin. Termed by Johnson a cant word, but adopted by later lexicographers as a respectable term. Said to have been first used in this sense by Arbuthnot.

CABBY, the driver of a cab.

CAD, or CADGER (from which it is shortened), a mean or vulgar fellow; a beggar; one who would rather live on other people than work for himself; a man trying to worm something out of another, either money or information. Johnson uses the word, and gives huckster as the meaning, but I never heard it used in this sense. Cager, or GAGER, the old cant term for a man. The exclusives in the Universities apply the term CAD to all non-members.

CAD, an omnibus conductor.

CADGE, to beg in an artful or wheedling manner.—North.

CADGING, begging of the lowest degree.

CAG-MAG, bad food, scraps, odds and ends; or that which no one could relish. Grose gives CAGG MAGGS, old and tough Lincolnshire geese, sent to London to feast the poor cockneys.

CAGE, a minor kind of prison.—Shakespere, part ii. of Henry IV., iv. 2.

CAKE, a flat, a soft or doughy person, a fool.

CAKEY-PANNUM-FENCER, a man who sells street pastry.

CALL-A-GO, in street “patter,” is to remove to another spot, or address the public in different vein.

CAMESA, shirt or chemise.—Span. Ancient cant, COMMISSION.

CAMISTER, a preacher, clergyman, or master.

CANARY, a sovereign. This is stated by a correspondent to be a Norwich term, that city being famous for its breed of those birds.

CANISTER, the head.—Pugilistic.

CANISTER-CAP, a hat.—Pugilistic.

CANNIKEN, a small can, similar to PANNIKIN.—Shakespere.

CANT, a blow or toss; “a cant over the kisser,” a blow on the mouth.—Kentish.

CANT OF TOGS, a gift of clothes.

CARDINAL, a lady’s cloak. This, I am assured, is the Seven Dials cant term for a lady’s garment, but curiously enough the same name is given to the most fashionable patterns of the article by Regent-street drapers. A cloak with this name was in fashion in the year 1760. It received its title from its similarity in shape to one of the vestments of a cardinal.

CARNEY, soft talk, nonsense, gammon.—Hibernicism.

CAROON, five shillings. French, COURONNE; Gipsey, COURNA,—PANSH COURNA, half-a-crown.

CARPET, “upon the CARPET,” any subject or matter that is uppermost for discussion or conversation. Frequently quoted as sur le tapis, but it does not seem to be a correct Parisian phrase.

CARRIER PIGEONS, swindlers, who formerly used to cheat Lottery Office Keepers. Nearly obsolete.

CARROTS, the coarse and satirical term for red hair.

CARRY-ON, to joke a person to excess, to carry on a “spree” too far; “how we CARRIED ON, to be sure!” i.e., what fun we had.

CART, a race-course.

CARTS, a pair of shoes. In Norfolk the carapace of a crab is called a crab cart, hence CARTS would be synonymous with CRAB SHELLS, which see.

CART WHEEL, a five shilling piece.

CASA, or CASE, a house, respectable or otherwise. Probably from the Italian, CASA.—Old cant. The Dutch use the word KAST in a vulgar sense for a house, i.e., MOTTEKAST, a brothel. Case sometimes means a water-closet.

CASCADING, vomiting.

CASE, a bad crown piece. Half-a-case, a counterfeit half crown. There are two sources, either of which may have contributed this slang term. Caser is the Hebrew word for a crown; and silver coin is frequently counterfeited by coating or CASING pewter or iron imitations with silver.

CASE. A few years ago the term CASE was applied to persons and things; “what a CASE he is,” i.e., what a curious person; “a rum CASE that,” or “you are a CASE,” both synonymous with the phrase “odd fish,” common half-a-century ago. Among young ladies at boarding schools a CASE means a love affair.

CASK, fashionable slang for a brougham, or other private carriage.—Household Words, No. 183.

CASSAM, cheese—not CAFFAN, which Egan, in his edition of Grose, has ridiculously inserted.—Ancient cant. Latin, CASEUS.

CASTING UP ONE’S ACCOUNTS, vomiting.—Old.

CASTOR, a hat. Castor was once the ancient word for a BEAVER; and strange to add, BEAVER was the slang for CASTOR, or hat, thirty years ago, before gossamer came into fashion.

CAT, to vomit like a cat.—See SHOOT THE CAT.

CAT, a lady’s muff; “to free a CAT,” i.e., steal a muff.

CATARACT, a black satin scarf arranged for the display of jewellery, much in vogue among “commercial gents.”

CATCH ’EM ALIVE, a trap, also a small-tooth comb.

CATCHY (similar formation to touchy), inclined to take an undue advantage.

CATEVER, a queer, or singular affair; anything poor, or very bad. From the Lingua Franca, and Italian, CATTIVO, bad. Variously spelled by the lower orders.—See KERTEVER.

CATGUT-SCRAPER, a fiddler.

CAT-LAP, a contemptuous expression for weak drink.

CAT’S WATER, old Tom, or Gin.

CAT AND KITTEN SNEAKING, stealing pint and quart pots from public-houses.

CATCH-PENNY, any temporary contrivance to obtain money from the public, penny shows, or cheap exhibitions.

CAT-IN-THE-PAN, a traitor, a turn-coat—derived by some from the Greek, καταπαν, altogether; or from cake in pan, a pan cake, which is frequently turned from side to side.

CAUCUS, a private meeting held for the purpose of concerting measures, agreeing upon candidates for office before an election, &c.—See Pickering’s Vocabulary.

CAVAULTING, coition. Lingua Franca, CAVOLTA.

CAVE, or CAVE IN, to submit, shut up.—American. Metaphor taken from the sinking of an abandoned mining shaft.

CHAFF, to gammon, joke, quiz, or praise ironically. Chaff-bone, the jaw-bone.—Yorkshire. Chaff, jesting. In Anglo Saxon, CEAF is chaff; and CEAFL, bill, beak, or jaw. In the “Ancien Riwle,” A.D. 1221, ceafle is used in the sense of idle discourse.

CHALK-OUT, or CHALK DOWN, to mark out a line of conduct or action; to make a rule, order. Phrase derived from the Workshop.

CHALK UP, to credit, make entry in account books of indebtedness; “I can’t pay you now, but you can CHALK IT UP,” i.e., charge me with the article in your day-book. From the old practice of chalking one’s score for drink behind the bar-doors of public houses.

CHALKS, “to walk one’s CHALKS,” to move off, or run away. An ordeal for drunkenness used on board ship, to see whether the suspected person can walk on a chalked line without overstepping it on either side.

CHAP, a fellow, a boy; “a low CHAP,” a low fellow—abbreviation of CHAP-MAN, a huckster. Used by Byron in his Critical Remarks.

CHARIOT-BUZZING, picking pockets in an omnibus.

CHARLEY, a watchman, a beadle.

CHARLEY-PITCHERS, low, cheating gamblers.

CHATTER BASKET, common term for a prattling child amongst nurses.

CHATTER-BOX, an incessant talker or chatterer.

CHATTRY-FEEDER, a spoon.

CHATTS, dice,—formerly the gallows; a bunch of seals.

CHATTS, lice, or body vermin.

CHATTY, a filthy person, one whose clothes are not free from vermin; CHATTY DOSS, a lousy bed.

CHAUNTER-CULLS, a singular body of men who used to haunt certain well known public-houses, and write satirical or libellous ballads on any person, or body of persons, for a consideration. 7s. 6d. was the usual fee, and in three hours the ballad might be heard in St. Paul’s Churchyard, or other public spot. There are two men in London at the present day who gain their living in this way.

CHAUNTERS, those street sellers of ballads, last copies of verses, and other broadsheets, who sing or bawl the contents of their papers. They often term themselves PAPER WORKERS. A. N.—See HORSE CHAUNTERS.

CHAUNT, to sing the contents of any paper in the streets. Cant, as applied to vulgar language, was derived from CHAUNT.—See Introduction.

CHEAP, “doing it on the CHEAP,” living economically, or keeping up a showy appearance with very little means.

CHEAP JACKS, or JOHNS, oratorical hucksters and patterers of hardware, &c., at fairs and races. They put an article up at a high price, and then cheapen it by degrees, indulging in volleys of coarse wit, until it becomes to all appearance a bargain, and as such it is bought by one of the crowd. The popular idea is that the inverse method of auctioneering saves them paying for the auction license.

CHEEK, share or portion; “where’s my CHEEK?” where is my allowance?

CHEEK, impudence, assurance; CHEEKY, saucy or forward. Lincolnshire, CHEEK, to accuse.

CHEEK, to irritate by impudence.

CHEEK BY JOWL, side by side,—said often of persons in such close confabulation as almost to have their faces touch.

CHEESE, anything good, first-rate in quality, genuine, pleasant, or advantageous, is termed THE CHEESE. Mayhew thinks CHEESE, in this sense, is from the Saxon, CEOSAN, to choose, and quotes Chaucer, who uses CHESE in the sense of choice. The London Guide, 1818, says it was from some young fellows translating “c’est une autre CHOSE” into “that is another CHEESE.” CHEESE is also Gipsey and Hindoo (see Introduction); and Persian, CHIZ, a thing.—See STILTON.

CHEESE, or CHEESE IT (evidently a corruption of cease), leave off, or have done; “CHEESE your barrikin,” hold your noise.

CHEESY, fine or showy.

CHERUBS, or CHERUBIMS, the chorister boys who chaunt in the services at the abbeys.

CHESHIRE CAT, “to grin like a CHESHIRE CAT,” to display the teeth and gums when laughing. Formerly the phrase was “to grin like a CHESHIRE CAT eating CHEESE.” A hardly satisfactory explanation has been given of this phrase—that Cheshire is a county palatine, and the cats, when they think of it, are so tickled with the notion that they can’t help grinning.

CHICKEN, a young girl.

CHICKEN-HEARTED, cowardly, fearful.

CHI-IKE, a hurrah, a good word, or hearty praise.

CHINK, money.—Ancient.—See FLORIO.

CHINKERS, money.

CHIP OF THE OLD BLOCK, a child who resembles its father. Brother chip, one of the same trade or profession.

CHIPS, money.

CHISEL, to cheat.

CHITTERLINGS, the shirt frills worn still by ancient beaux; properly, the entrails of a pig, to which they are supposed to bear some resemblance. Belgian, SCHYTERLINGH.

CHIVARLY, coition. Probably a corruption from the Lingua Franca.

CHIVE, a knife; a sharp tool of any kind.—Old cant. This term is particularly applied to the tin knives used in gaols.

CHIVE, to cut, saw, or file.

CHIVE, or CHIVEY, a shout; a halloo, or cheer, loud tongued. From CHEVY-CHASE, a boy’s game, in which the word CHEVY is bawled aloud; or from the Gipsey?—See Introduction.

CHIVE-FENCER, a street hawker of cutlery.

CHIVEY, to chase round, or hunt about.

CHOCK-FULL, full till the scale comes down with a shock. French, CHOC. A correspondent suggests CHOKED-FULL.

CHOKE OFF, to get rid of. Bull dogs can only be made to loose their hold by choking them.

CHOKER, a cravat, a neckerchief. White-choker, the white neckerchief worn by mutes at a funeral, and waiters at a tavern. Clergymen are frequently termed WHITE-CHOKERS.

CHOKER, or WIND-STOPPER, a garrotter.

CHONKEYS, a kind of mince meat baked in a crust, and sold in the streets.

CHOP, to change.—Old.

CHOPS, properly CHAPS, the mouth, or cheeks; “down in the CHOPS,” or “down in the mouth,” i.e., sad or melancholy.

CHOUSE, to cheat out of one’s share or portion. Hackluyt, CHAUS; Massinger, CHIAUS. From the Turkish, in which language it signifies an interpreter. Gifford gives a curious story as to its origin:—

In the year 1609 there was attached to the Turkish embassy in England an interpreter, or CHIAOUS, who by cunning, aided by his official position, managed to cheat the Turkish and Persian merchants then in London out of the large sum of £1,000, then deemed an enormous amount. From the notoriety which attended the fraud, and the magnitude of the swindle, any one who cheated or defrauded was said to chiaous, or chause, or CHOUSE; to do, that is, as this Chiaous had done.—See Trench, Eng. Past and Present, p. 87.

CHOUT, an entertainment.

CHOVEY, a shop.

CHRISTENING, erasing the name of the maker from a stolen watch, and inserting a fictitious one in its place.

CHUBBY, round-faced, plump.

CHUCK, a schoolboy’s treat.—Westminster school. Food, provision for an entertainment.—Norwich.

CHUCK, to throw or pitch.

CHUCKING A JOLLY, when a costermonger praises the inferior article his mate or partner is trying to sell.

CHUCKING A STALL, where one rogue walks in front of a person while another picks his pockets.

CHUCKLE-HEAD, a fool.—Devonshire.

CHUFF IT, i.e., be off, or take it away, in answer to a street seller who is importuning you to purchase. Halliwell mentions CHUFF as a “term of reproach,” surly, &c.

CHUM, an acquaintance. A recognised term, but in such frequent use with the lower orders that it demanded a place in this glossary.

CHUM, to occupy a joint lodging with another person.

CHUMMING-UP, an old custom amongst prisoners when a fresh culprit is admitted to their number, consisting of a noisy welcome—rough music made with pokers, tongs, sticks, and saucepans. For this ovation the initiated prisoner has to pay, or FORK OVER, half a crown—or submit to a loss of coat and waistcoat. The practice is ancient.

CHUMMY, a chimney sweep; also a low-crowned felt hat.

CHUNK, a thick or dumpy piece of any substance.—Kentish.

CHURCH A YACK (or watch), to take the works of a watch from its original case and put them into another one, to avoid detection.—See CHRISTEN.

CHURCHWARDEN, a long pipe, “A YARD OF CLAY.”

CLAGGUM, boiled treacle in a hardened state, Hardbake.—See CLIGGY.

CLAP, to place; “do you think you can CLAP your hand on him?” i.e., find him out.

CLAPPER, the tongue.

CLAP-TRAP, high-sounding nonsense. An ancient Theatrical term for a “TRAP to catch a CLAP by way of applause from the spectators at a play.”—Bailey’s Dictionary.

CLARET, blood.—Pugilistic.

CLEAN, quite, or entirely; “CLEAN gone,” entirely out of sight, or away.—Old, see Cotgrave.—Shakespere.

CLEAN OUT, to thrash, or beat; to ruin, or bankrupt any one; to take all they have got, by purchase, or force. De Quincey, in his article on “Richard Bentley,” speaking of the lawsuit between that great scholar and Dr. Colbatch, remarks that the latter “must have been pretty well CLEANED OUT.”

CLICK, knock, or blow. Click-handed, left-handed.—Cornish.

CLICK, to snatch.

CLIFT, to steal.

CLIGGY, or CLIDGY, sticky.—Anglo Saxon, CLÆG, clay.—See CLAGGUM.

CLINCHER, that which rivets or confirms an argument, an incontrovertible position. Metaphor from the workshop.

CLINK-RIG, stealing tankards from public-houses, taverns, &c.

CLIPPING, excellent, very good.

CLOCK, “to know what’s O’CLOCK,” a definition of knowingness in general.—See TIME O’DAY.

CLOD-HOPPER, a country clown.

CLOUT, or RAG, a cotton pocket handkerchief.—Old cant.

CLOUT, a blow, or intentional strike.—Ancient.

CLOVER, happiness, or luck.

CLUMP, to strike.

CLY, a pocket.—Old cant for to steal. A correspondent derives this word from the Old English, CLEYES, claws; Anglo Saxon, CLEA. This pronunciation is still retained in Norfolk; thus, to CLY would mean to pounce upon, snatch.—See FRISK.

CLY-FAKER, a pickpocket.

COACH, a Cambridge term for a private tutor.

COACH WHEEL, or TUSHEROON, a crown piece, or five shillings.

COALS, “to call (or pull) over the COALS,” to take to task, to scold.

COCK, or more frequently now a days, COCK-E-E, a vulgar street salutation—corruption of COCK-EYE. The latter is frequently heard as a shout or street cry after a man or boy.

COCK AND A BULL STORY, a long, rambling anecdote.—See Notes and Queries, vol. iv., p. 313.

COCKCHAFER, the treadmill.

COCK-EYE, one that squints.

COCKLES, “to rejoice the COCKLES of one’s heart,” a vulgar phrase implying great pleasure.—See PLUCK.

COCKNEY, a native of London. Originally, a spoilt or effeminate boy, derived from COCKERING, or foolishly petting a person, rendering them of soft or luxurious manners. Halliwell states, in his admirable essay upon the word, that “some writers trace the word with much probability to the imaginary land of COCKAYGNE, the lubber land of the olden times.” Grose gives Minsheu’s absurd but comical derivation:—A citizen of London being in the country, and hearing a horse neigh, exclaimed, “Lord! how that horse laughs.” A bystander informed him that that noise was called neighing. The next morning, when the cock crowed, the citizen, to show that he had not forgotten what was told him, cried out, “do you hear how the COCK NEIGHS?”

COCK OF THE WALK, a master spirit, head of a party. Places where poultry are fed are called WALKS, and the barn-door cocks invariably fight for the supremacy till one has obtained it.

COCKS, fictitious narratives, in verse or prose, of murders, fires, and terrible accidents, sold in the streets as true accounts. The man who hawks them, a patterer, often changes the scene of the awful event to suit the taste of the neighbourhood he is trying to delude. Possibly a corruption of cook, a cooked statement, or, as a correspondent suggests, the COCK LANE Ghost may have given rise to the term. This had a great run, and was a rich harvest to the running stationers.

COCK ONE’S TOES, to die.

COCK ROBIN SHOP, a small printer’s office, where low wages are paid to journeymen who have never served a regular apprenticeship.

COCKSHY, a game at fairs and races, where trinkets are set upon sticks, and for one penny three throws at them are accorded, the thrower keeping whatever he knocks off. From the ancient game of throwing or “shying” at live cocks.

COCKSURE, certain.

COCKY, pert, saucy.

COCKYOLY BIRDS, little birds, frequently called “dickey birds.”—Kingsley’s Two Years Ago.

COCK, “to COCK your eye,” to shut or wink one eye.

COCUM, advantage, luck, cunning, or sly, “to fight COCUM,” to be wily and cautious.

CODDS, the “poor brethren” of the Charter house. At p. 133 of the Newcomes, Mr. Thackeray writes, “The Cistercian lads call these old gentlemen CODDS, I know not wherefore.” An abbreviation of CODGER.

CODGER, an old man; “a rum old CODGER,” a curious old fellow. Codger is sometimes used synonymous with CADGER, and then signifies a person who gets his living in a questionable manner. Cager, or GAGER, was the old cant term for a man.

COFFEE-SHOP, a water-closet, or house of office.

COG, to cheat at dice.—Shakespere. Also, to agree with, as one cog-wheel does with another.

COLD BLOOD, a house licensed for the sale of beer “NOT to be drunk on the premises.”

COLD COOK, an undertaker.

COLD MEAT, a corpse.

COLD SHOULDER, “to show or give any one the COLD SHOULDER,” to assume a distant manner towards them, to evince a desire to cease acquaintanceship. Sometimes it is termed “cold shoulder of mutton.”

COLLAR, “out of COLLAR,” i.e., out of place, no work.

COLLAR, to seize, to lay hold of.

COLLY-WOBBLES, a stomach ache, a person’s bowels,—supposed by many of the lower orders to be the seat of feeling and nutrition; an idea either borrowed from, or transmitted by, the ancients.—Devonshire.

COLT’S TOOTH, elderly persons of juvenile tastes are said to have a colt’s tooth.

COMB-CUT, mortified, disgraced, “down on one’s luck.”—See CUT.

COME, a slang verb used in many phrases; “A’nt he COMING IT?” i.e., is he not proceeding at a great rate? “Don’t COME TRICKS here,” “don’t COME THE OLD SOLDIER over me,” i.e., we are aware of your practices, and “twig” your manœuvre. Coming it strong, exaggerating, going a-head, the opposite of “drawing it mild.” Coming it also means informing or disclosing.

COME DOWN, to pay down.

COMMISSION, a shirt.—Ancient cant. Italian, CAMICIA.

COMMISTER, a chaplain or clergyman.

COMMON SEWER, a DRAIN, or drink.

COMMONS, rations, because eaten in common.—University. Short commons (derived from the University slang term), a scanty meal, a scarcity.

CONK, a nose; CONKY, having a projecting or remarkable nose. The Duke of Wellington was frequently termed “Old CONKY” in satirical papers and caricatures.

CONSTABLE, “to overrun the CONSTABLE,” to exceed one’s income, get deep in debt.

CONVEY, to steal; “CONVEY, the wise it call.”

CONVEYANCER, a pick-pocket. Shakespere uses the cant expression, CONVEYER, a thief. The same term is also French slang.

COOK, a term well known in the Bankruptcy Courts, referring to accounts that have been meddled with, or COOKED, by the bankrupt; also the forming a balance sheet from general trade inferences; stated by a correspondent to have been first used in reference to the celebrated alteration of the accounts of the Eastern Counties Railway, by George Hudson, the Railway King.

COOK ONE’S GOOSE, to kill or ruin any person.—North.

COOLIE, a soldier, in allusion to the Hindoo COOLIES, or day labourers.

COON, abbreviation of Racoon.—American. A GONE COON—ditto, one in an awful fix, past praying for. This expression is said to have originated in the American war with a spy, who dressed himself in a racoon skin, and ensconced himself in a tree. An English rifleman taking him for a veritable coon levelled his piece at him, upon which he exclaimed, “Don’t shoot, I’ll come down of myself, I know I’m a GONE COON.” The Yankees say the Britisher was so flummuxed, that he flung down his rifle and “made tracks” for home. The phrase is pretty usual in England.

COOPER, stout half-and-half, i.e., half stout and half porter.

COOPER, to destroy, spoil, settle, or finish. Cooper’d, spoilt, “done up,” synonymous with the Americanism, CAVED IN, fallen in and ruined. The vagabonds’ hieroglyphic , chalked by them on gate posts and houses, signifies that the place has been spoilt by too many tramps calling there.

COOPER, to forge, or imitate in writing; “COOPER a moneker,” to forge a signature.

COP, to seize or lay hold of anything unpleasant; used in a similar sense to catch in the phrase “to COP (or catch) a beating,” “to get COPT.”

COPER, properly HORSE-COUPER, a Scotch horse-dealer,—used to denote a dishonest one.

COPPER, a policeman, i.e., one who COPS, which see.

COPPER, a penny. Coppers, mixed pence.

COPUS, a Cambridge drink, consisting of ale combined with spices, and varied by spirits, wines, &c. Corruption of HIPPOCRAS.

CORINTHIANISM, a term derived from the classics, much in vogue some years ago, implying pugilism, high life, “sprees,” roistering, &c.—Shakespere. The immorality of Corinth was proverbial in Greece. Κορινθίαζ εσθαι, to Corinthianise, indulge in the company of courtesans, was a Greek slang expression. Hence the proverb—

Οὐ παντὸς ἀνδρὸς εἰς Κόρινθον ἔσθ' ὁ πλοῦς,

and Horace, Epist. lib. 1, xvii. 36—

Non cuivis homini contingit adire Corinthum,

in allusion to the spoliation practised by the “hetæræ” on those who visited them.

CORK, “to draw a CORK,” to give a bloody nose.—Pugilistic.

CORKS, money; “how are you off for corks?” a soldier’s term of a very expressive kind, denoting the means of “keeping afloat.”

CORNED, drunk or intoxicated. Possibly from soaking or pickling oneself like CORNED beef.

CORNERED, hemmed in a corner, placed in a position from which there is no escape.—American.

CORPORATION, the protuberant front of an obese person.

CORPSE, to confuse or put out the actors by making a mistake.—Theatrical.

COSSACK, a policeman.

COSTERMONGERS, street sellers of fish, fruit, vegetables, poultry, &c. The London costermongers number more than 30,000. They form a distinct class, occupying whole neighbourhoods, and are cut off from the rest of metropolitan society by their low habits, general improvidence, pugnacity, love of gambling, total want of education, disregard for lawful marriage ceremonies, and their use of a cant (or so-called back slang) language.

COSTER, the short and slang term for a costermonger, or costard-monger, who was originally an apple seller. Costering, i.e., costermongering.

COTTON, to like, adhere to, or agree with any person; “to cotton on to a man,” to attach yourself to him, or fancy him, literally, to stick to him as cotton would. Vide Bartlett, who claims it as an Americanism; and Halliwell, who terms it an Archaism; also Bacchus and Venus, 1737.

COUNCIL OF TEN, the toes of a man who turns his feet inward.

COUNTER JUMPER, a shopman, a draper’s assistant.

COUNTY-CROP (i.e., COUNTY-PRISON CROP), hair cut close and round, as if guided by a basin—an indication of having been in prison.

COUTER, a sovereign. Half-a-couter, half-a-sovereign.

COVE, or COVEY, a boy or man of any age or station. A term generally preceded by an expressive adjective, thus a “flash COVE,” a “rum COVE,” a “downy COVE,” &c. The feminine, COVESS, was once popular, but it has fallen into disuse. Ancient cant, originally (temp. Henry VIII.) COFE, or CUFFIN, altered in Decker’s time to COVE. Probably connected with CUIF, which, in the North of England, signifies a lout or awkward fellow. Amongst Negroes, CUFFEE.

COVENTRY, “to send a man to COVENTRY,” not to speak to or notice him. Coventry was one of those towns in which the privilege of practising most trades was anciently confined to certain privileged persons, as the freemen, &c. Hence a stranger stood little chance of custom, or countenance, and “to send a man to COVENTRY,” came to be equivalent to putting him out of the pale of society.

COVER-DOWN, a tossing coin with a false cover, enabling either head or tail to be shown, according as the cover is left on or taken off.

COWAN, a sneak, an inquisitive or prying person.—Masonic term. Greek, κύων, a dog.

COW’S GREASE, butter.

COW-LICK, the term given to the lock of hair which costermongers and thieves usually twist forward from the ear; a large greasy curl upon the cheek, seemingly licked into shape. The opposite of NEWGATE-KNOCKER, which see.

COXY-LOXY, good-tempered, drunk.—Norfolk.

CRAB, or GRAB, a disagreeable old person. Name of a wild and sour fruit. “To catch a CRAB,” to fall backwards by missing a stroke in rowing.

CRAB, to offend, or insult; to expose or defeat a robbery, to inform against.

CRABSHELLS, or TROTTING CASES, shoes.—See CARTS.

CRACK, first-rate, excellent; “a CRACK HAND,” an adept; a “CRACK article,” a good one.—Old.

CRACK, dry firewood.—Modern Gipsey.

CRACK, “in a CRACK (of the finger and thumb),” in a moment.

CRACK A BOTTLE, to drink. Shakespere uses CRUSH in the same slang sense.

CRACK A KIRK, to break into a church or chapel.

CRACK-FENCER, a man who sells nuts.

CRACK-UP, to boast or praise.—Ancient English.

CRACKED-UP, penniless, or ruined.

CRACKSMAN, a burglar.

CRAM, to lie or deceive, implying to fill up or CRAM a person with false stories; to acquire learning quickly, to “grind,” or prepare for an examination.

CRAMMER, a lie; or a person who commits a falsehood.

CRANKY, foolish, idiotic, ricketty, capricious, not confined to persons. Ancient cant, CRANKE, simulated sickness. German, KRANK, sickly.

CRAP, to ease oneself, to evacuate. Old word for refuse; also old cant, CROP.

CRAPPING CASE, or KEN, a privy, or water-closet.

CRAPPED, hanged.

CREAM OF THE VALLEY, gin.

CRIB, house, public or otherwise; lodgings, apartments.

CRIB, a situation.

CRIB, to steal or purloin.

CRIB, a literal translation of a classic author.—University.

CRIB-BITER, an inveterate grumbler; properly said of a horse which has this habit, a sign of its bad digestion.

CRIBBAGE-FACED, marked with the small pox, full of holes like a cribbage board.

CRIKEY, profane exclamation of astonishment; “Oh, CRIKEY, you don’t say so!” corruption of “Oh, Christ.”

CRIMPS, men who trepan others into the clutches of the recruiting sergeant. They generally pretend to give employment in the colonies, and in that manner cheat those mechanics who are half famished. Nearly obsolete.

CRIPPLE, a bent sixpence.

CROAK, to die—from the gurgling sound a person makes when the breath of life is departing.—Oxon.

CROAKER, one who takes a desponding view of everything; an alarmist. From the croaking of a raven.—Ben Jonson.

CROAKER, a beggar.

CROAKER, a corpse, or dying person beyond hope.

CROAKS, last dying speeches, and murderers’ confessions.

CROCODILES’ TEARS, the tears of a hypocrite. An ancient phrase, introduced into this country by Mandeville, or other early English traveller.—Othello, iv., 1.

CROCUS, or CROAKUS, a quack or travelling doctor; CROCUS-CHOVEY, a chemist’s shop.

CRONY, a termagant or malicious old woman; an intimate friend. Johnson calls it cant.

CROOKY, to hang on to, to lead, walk arm-in-arm; to court or pay addresses to a girl.

CROPPIE, a person who has had his hair cut, or CROPPED, in prison.

CROPPED, hanged.

CROSS, a general term amongst thieves expressive of their plundering profession, the opposite of SQUARE. “To get anything on the CROSS” is to obtain it surreptitiously. “Cross-fanning in a crowd,” robbing persons of their scarf pins.

CROSS COVE and MOLLISHER, a man and woman who live by thieving.

CROSS-CRIB, a house frequented by thieves.

CROW, one who watches whilst another commits a theft, a confederate in a robbery. The CROW looks to see that the way is clear, whilst the SNEAK, his partner, commits the depredation.

CROW, “a regular crow,” a success, a stroke of luck,—equivalent to a FLUKE.

CROW, “I have a CROW to pick with you,” i.e., an explanation to demand, a disagreeable matter to settle; “to COCK-CROW over a person,” to exalt over his abasement or misfortune.

CRUG, food.—Household Words, No. 183.

CRUMBS, “to pick up one’s CRUMBS,” to begin to have an appetite after an illness; to improve in health, circumstances, &c., after a loss thereof.

CRUMMY, fat, plump.—North.

CRUMMY-DOSS, a lousy or filthy bed.

CRUNCH, to crush. Corruption; or, perhaps from the sound of teeth grinding against each other.

CRUSHER, a policeman.

CRUSHING, excellent, first rate.

CRUSTY, ill tempered, petulant, morose.—Old.

CULL, a man or boy.—Old cant.

CULLING, or CULING, stealing from the carriages on race-courses.

CUPBOARD HEADED, an expressive designation of one whose head is both wooden and hollow.—Norfolk.

CURE, an odd person; a contemptuous term, abridged from CURIOSITY—which was formerly the favourite expression.—Compare STIPE.

CURSE OF SCOTLAND, the Nine of Diamonds. Various hypotheses have been set up as to this appellation—that it was the card on which the “Butcher Duke” wrote a cruel order with respect to the rebels after the battle of Culloden; that the diamonds are the nine lozenges in the arms of Dalrymple, Earl of Stair, detested for his share in the Massacre of Glencoe; that it is a corruption of Cross of Scotland, the nine diamonds being arranged somewhat after the fashion of a St. Andrew’s Cross; but the most probable explanation is, that in the game of Pope Joan the nine of diamonds is the POPE, of whom the Scotch have an especial horror.

CURTAIL, to cut off. Originally a cant word, vide Hudibras, and Bacchus and Venus, 1737.

CUSHION THUMPER, polite rendering of TUB THUMPER, a clergyman, a preacher.

CUSTOMER, synonymous with CHAP, a fellow; “a rum CUSTOMER,” i.e., an odd fish, or curious person.—Shakespere.

CUSTOMHOUSE OFFICER, an aperient pill.

CUT, to run away, move off quickly; to cease doing anything; CUT AND RUN, to quit work, or occupation, and start off at once; to CUT DIDOES, synonymous with to CUT CAPERS; CUT A DASH, make a show; CUT A CAPER, to dance or show off in a strange manner; CUT A FIGURE, to make either a good or bad appearance; CUT OUT, to excel, thus in affairs of gallantry one Adonis is said to “cut the other out” in the affections of the wished for lady; CUT THAT! be quiet, or stop; CUT OUT OF, done out of; CUT OF ONE’S GIB, the expression or cast of his countenance [see GIB]; TO CUT ONE’S COMB, to take down a conceited person, from the practice of cutting the combs of capons [see COMB-CUT]; CUT AND COME AGAIN, plenty, if one cut does not suffice, plenty remains to “come again;” CUT UP, mortified, to criticise severely, or expose; CUT UP SHINES, to play tricks; CUT ONE’S STICK, to be off quickly, i.e., be in readiness for a journey, further elaborated into AMPUTATE YOUR MAHOGANY [see STICK]; CUT IT FAT, to exaggerate or show off in an extensive manner; to CUT UP FAT, to die, leaving a large property; CUT UNDER, to undersell; CUT YOUR LUCKY, to run off; CUT ONE’S CART, to expose their tricks; CUT AN ACQUAINTANCE, to cease friendly intercourse with them—Cambridge. Old; CUTTE, to say.

CUT, in theatrical language, means to strike out portions of a dramatic piece, so as to render it shorter for representation. A late treasurer of one of the so called Patent Theatres, when asked his opinion of a new play, always gave utterance to the brief, but safe piece of criticism, “wants CUTTING.”

CUT, tipsey.—Household Words, No. 183.

CUT, to compete in business.

CUT-THROAT, a butcher, a cattle slaughterer; a ruffian.

CUTE, sharp, cunning. Abbreviation of ACUTE.

CUTTER, a ruffian, a cut purse. Of Robin Hood it was said—

This ancient cant word now survives in the phrase, “to swear like a CUTTER.”

CUTTY PIPE, a short clay pipe. Scotch, CUTTY, short. Cutty-sark, a scantily draped lady is so called by Burns.

DAB, or DABSTER, an expert person. Johnson says, “in low language, an artist.”

DAB, a bed.

DAB, street term for a flat fish of any kind.—Old.

DACHA-SALTEE, tenpence. Probably from the Lingua Franca. Modern Greek, δεκα; Italian, DIECI SOLDI, tenpence; Gipsey, DIK, ten. So also DACHA-ONE, i.e., dieci uno, elevenpence.—See SALTEE.

DADDLES, hands; “tip us your DADDLES,” i.e., shake hands.

DADDY, the stage manager.—Theatrical. Also the person who gives away the bride at weddings.

DAGS, feat or performance; “I’ll do your DAGS,” i.e., I will do something that you cannot do.

DAISY CUTTER, a horse which trots or gallops without lifting its feet much from the ground.

DAISY KICKERS, the name hostlers at large inns used to give each other, now nearly obsolete. Daisy-kicker, or GROGHAM, was likewise the cant term for a horse.

The DAISY-KICKERS were sad rogues in the old posting-days; frequently the landlords rented the stables to them, as the only plan to make them return a profit.

DAMPER, a shop till; to DRAW A DAMPER, i.e., rob a till.

DANCE UPON NOTHING, to be hanged.

DANCERS, stairs.—Old cant.

DANDER, passion, or temper; “to get one’s DANDER up,” to rouse his passion.—Old.

DANDY, a fop, or fashionable nondescript. This word, in the sense of a fop, is of modern origin. Egan says it was first used in 1820, and Bee in 1816. Johnson does not mention it, although it is to be found in all late dictionaries. Dandies wore stays, studied feminity, and tried to undo their manhood. Lord Petersham headed them. At the present day dandies of this stamp are fast disappearing. The feminine of DANDY was DANDIZETTE, but the term only lived for a short season.

DANDYPRAT, a funny little fellow, a mannikin; originally a half-farthing.

DANNA, excrement; DANNA DRAG, a nightman’s or dustman’s cart.

DARBIES, handcuffs.—Old cant.

DARBLE, the devil.—French, DIABLE.

DARK, “keep it DARK,” i.e., secret. Dark horse, in racing phraseology a horse whose chance of success is unknown, and whose capabilities have not been made the subject of comment.

DARKEY, twilight. Darkmans, the night.

DARN, vulgar corruption of d——n.—American.

DASHING, showy, fast.

DAVID’S SOW, “as drunk as DAVID’S SOW,” i.e., beastly drunk.—See origin of the phrase in Grose’s Dictionary.

DAVY, “on my DAVY,” on my affidavit, of which it is a vulgar corruption. Latterly DAVY has become synonymous in street language with the name of the Deity; “so help me DAVY,” slang rendering of the conclusion of the oath usually exacted of witnesses.

DAVY’S LOCKER, or DAVY JONES’ LOCKER, the sea, the common receptacle for all things thrown overboard;—a nautical phrase for death, the other world.

DAWDLE, to loiter, or fritter away time.

DAYLIGHTS, eyes; “to darken his DAYLIGHTS,” to give a person black eyes.

DEAD ALIVE, stupid, dull.

DEAD HORSE, “to draw the DEAD HORSE,” DEAD-HORSE work,—working for wages already paid; also any thankless or unassisted service.

DEAD-LURK, entering a dwelling-house during divine service.

DEAD MEN, the term for wine bottles after they are emptied of their contents.—Old.—See MARINES.

DEAD-SET, a pointed attack on a person.

DEANER, a shilling. Provincial Gipsey, DEANEE, a pound.

DEATH, “to dress to DEATH,” i.e., to the very extreme of fashion, perhaps so as to be KILLING.

DEATH-HUNTERS, running patterers, who vend last dying speeches and confessions.

DECK, a pack of cards.—Old. Used by Bulwer as a cant term. General in the United States.

DEE, a pocket book, term used by tramps.—Gipsey.

DEMIREP (or RIP), a courtesan. Contraction of DEMI-REPUTATION—Grose.

DESPATCHES, false “dice with two sides, double four, double five, and double six.”—Times, 27th November, 1856.

DEUCE, the devil.—Old. Stated by Junius and others to be from DEUS.

DEUCE, twopence; DEUCE at cards or dice, one with two pips or holes.

DEVIL, a printer’s youngest apprentice, an errand boy.

DEVIL-DODGERS, clergymen; also people who go sometimes to church and sometimes to meeting.

DEVIL’S-TEETH, dice.

DEVOTIONAL HABITS, horses weak in the knees and apt to stumble and fall are said to have these.—Stable.

DEWSKITCH, a good thrashing.

DIBBS, money; so called from the huckle bones of sheep, which have been used from the earliest times for gambling purposes, being thrown up five at a time and caught on the back of the hand like halfpence.

DICKEY, bad, sorry, or foolish; food or lodging is pronounced DICKEY when of a poor description; “it’s all DICKEY with him,” i.e., all over with him.

DICKEY, formerly the cant for a worn out shirt, but means now-a-days a front or half-shirt. Dickey was originally TOMMY (from the Greek, τομη, a section), a name which I understand was formerly used in Trinity College, Dublin. The students are said to have invented the term, and the Gyps changed it to DICKEY, in which dress it is supposed to have been imported into England.

DICKEY, a donkey.

DICKENS, synonymous with devil; “what the DICKENS are you after?” what the d—l are you doing? Used by Shakespere in the Merry Wives of Windsor.

DIDDLE, to cheat, or defraud.—Old.

DIDDLE, old cant word for geneva, or gin.

DIDDLER, or JEREMY DIDDLER, an artful swindler

DIDOES, pranks or capers; “to cut up DIDOES,” to make pranks.

DIES, last dying speeches, and criminal trials.

DIGS, hard blows.

DIGGERS, spurs; also the spades on cards.

DIGGINGS, lodgings, apartments, residence; an expression probably imported from California, or Australia, with reference to the gold diggings.

DILLY DALLY, to trifle.

DIMBER, neat or pretty.—Worcestershire, but old cant.

DIMBER DAMBER, very pretty; a clever rogue who excels his fellows; chief of a gang. Old cant in the latter sense.—English Rogue..

DIMMOCK, money; “how are you off for DIMMOCK?” diminutive of DIME, a small foreign silver coin.

DINARLY, money; “NANTEE DINARLY,” I have no money, corrupted from the Lingua Franca, “NIENTE DINARO,” not a penny. Turkish, DINARI; Spanish, DINERO; Latin, DENARIUS.

DING, to strike; to throw away, or get rid of anything; to pass to a confederate.

DIPPED, mortgaged.—Household Words, No. 183.

DISGUISED, intoxicated.—Household Words, No. 183.

DISH, to stop, to do away with, to suppress; DISHED, done for, floored, beaten, or silenced. A correspondent suggests that meat is usually DONE BROWN before being DISHED, and conceives that the latter term may have arisen as the natural sequence of the former.

DISHABBILLY, the ridiculous corruption of the French, DESHABILLE, amongst fashionably affected, but ignorant “stuck-up” people.

DITHERS, nervous or cold shiverings. “It gave me the DITHERS.”

DIVE, to pick pockets.

DIVERS, pickpockets.

DO, this useful and industrious verb has for many years done service as a slang term. To DO a person is to cheat him. Sometimes another tense is employed, such as “I DONE him,” meaning I cheated or “paid him out;” DONE BROWN, cheated thoroughly, befooled; DONE OVER, upset, cheated, knocked down, ruined; DONE UP, used up, finished, or quieted. Done also means convicted, or sentenced; so does DONE-FOR. To DO a person in pugilism is to excel him in fisticuffs. Humphreys, who fought Mendoza, a Jew, wrote this laconic note to his supporter—“Sir,—I have DONE the Jew, and am in good health. Rich. Humphreys.” Tourists use the expression “I have DONE France and Italy,” meaning I have completely explored those countries.

DOCTOR, to adulterate or drug liquor; also to falsify accounts.—See COOK.

DODGE, a cunning trick. “Dodge, that homely but expressive phrase.”—Sir Hugh Cairns on the Reform Bill, 2nd March, 1859. Anglo Saxon, DEOGIAN, to colour, to conceal. The TIDY DODGE, as it is called by street-folk, consists in dressing up a family clean and tidy, and parading the streets to excite compassion and obtain alms. A correspondent suggests that the verb DODGE may have been formed (like wench from wink) from DOG, i.e., to double quickly and unexpectedly, as in coursing.

DODGER, a tricky person, or one who, to use the popular phrase, “knows too much.”—See DEVIL-DODGER.

DODGER, a dram. In Kent, a DODGER signifies a nightcap; which name is often given to the last dram at night.

DOG, to follow in one’s footsteps on the sly, to track.

DOG-CHEAP, or DOG-FOOLISH, very, or singularly cheap, or foolish. Latham, in his English Language, says:—“This has nothing to do with dogs. The first syllable is god = good transposed, and the second, the ch—p, is chapman, merchant: compare EASTCHEAP.”—Old term.

DOG-LATIN, barbarous Latin, such as was formerly used by lawyers in their pleadings.

DOG-ON-IT, a form of mild swearing used by boys. It is just worthy of mention that DOGONE, in Anglo-Norman, is equivalent to a term of contempt. Friesic, DOGENIET.

DOGSNOSE, gin and beer, so called from the mixture being cold, like a dog’s nose.

DOLDRUMS, difficulties, low spirits, dumps.—Sea.

DOLLOP, a lump or portion.—Norfolk. Ang. Sax. DAEL, dole.

DOLLOP, to dole up, give up a share.—Ib.

DOLLYMOP, a tawdrily-dressed maid servant, a street walker.

DOLLY SHOP, an illegal pawnshop,—where goods, or stolen property, not good enough for the pawnbroker, are received, and charged at so much per day. If not redeemed the third day the goods are forfeited. Anglo Saxon, DAEL, a part,—to dole?—See NIX. A correspondent thinks it may have been derived from the black doll, the usual sign of a rag shop.

DOMINE, a parson.

DOMINOS, the teeth.

DON, a clever fellow, the opposite of a muff; a person of distinction in his line or walk. At the Universities, the Masters and Fellows are THE DONS. Don is also used as an adjective, “a DON hand at a knife and fork,” i.e., a first-rate feeder at a dinner table.—Spanish.

DONE FOR A RAMP, convicted for thieving.

DONKEY, “three more and up goes the DONKEY,” a vulgar street phrase for extracting as much money as possible before performing any task. The phrase had its origin with a travelling showman, the finale of whose performance was the hoisting of a DONKEY on a pole or ladder; but this consummation was never arrived at unless the required number of “browns” was first paid up, and “three more” was generally the unfortunate deficit.

DONNA AND FEELES, a woman and children. Italian or Lingua Franca, DONNE E FIGLIE.

DOOKIN, fortune telling. Gipsey, DUKKERIN.

DOSE, three months’ imprisonment as a known thief.—See BRAGGADOCIO.

DOSS, a bed.—North. Probably from DOZE. Mayhew thinks it is from the Norman, DOSSEL, a hanging, or bed canopy.

DOSS, to sleep, formerly spelt DORSE. Perhaps from the phrase to lie on one’s dorsum, back.

DOSS-KEN, a lodging house.

DOUBLE, “to tip (or give) the DOUBLE,” to run away from any person; to double back, turn short round upon one’s pursuers and so escape, as a hare does.—Sporting.

DOUBLE-UP, to pair off, or “chum,” with another man; to beat severely.

DOUBLE-SHUFFLE, a low, shuffling, noisy dance, common amongst costermongers.—See FLIP-FLAPS.

DOUSE, to put out; “DOUSE that glim,” put out that candle.—Sea.

DOWD, a woman’s nightcap.—Devonshire; also an American term; possibly from DOWDY, a slatternly woman.

DOWN, to be aware of, or awake to, any move—in this meaning, synonymous with UP; “DOWN upon one’s luck,” unfortunate; “DOWN in the mouth,” disconsolate; “to be DOWN on one,” to treat him harshly or suspiciously, to pounce upon him, or detect his tricks.

DOWN THE DOLLY, a favourite gambling contrivance, often seen in the tap rooms of public houses, at race-courses, and fairs, consisting of a round board and the figure of an old man or “doll,” down which is a spiral hole. A marble is dropped “down the dolly,” and stops in one of the small holes or pits (numbered) on the board. The bet is decided according as the marble stops on a high or low figure.

DOWN THE ROAD, stylish, showy, after the fashion.

DOWNER, a sixpence; apparently the Gipsey word, TAWNO, “little one,” in course of metamorphosis into the more usual “tanner.”

DOWNS, Tothill Fields’ prison.

DOWNY, knowing or cunning; “a DOWNY COVE,” a knowing or experienced sharper.

DOWRY, a lot, a great deal; “DOWRY of parny,” lot of rain or water.—See PARNY. Probably from the Gipsey.

DOXY, the female companion of a thief or beggar. In the West of England, the women frequently call their little girls DOXIES, in a familiar or endearing sense. A learned divine once described orthodoxy as being a man’s own DOXY, and heterodoxy another man’s DOXY.—Ancient cant.

DRAB, a vulgar or low woman.—Shakespere.

DRAG, a cart of any kind, a coach; gentlemen drive to the races in drags.

DRAG, a street, or road; BACK-DRAG, back-street.

DRAG, or THREE MOON, three months in prison.

DRAGGING, robbing carts, &c.

DRAGSMEN, fellows who cut trunks from the backs of carriages. They sometimes have a light cart, and “drop behind” the plundered vehicle, and then drive off in an opposite direction with the booty.

DRAIN, a drink; “to do a DRAIN,” to take a friendly drink—“do a wet;” sometimes called a COMMON SEWER.

DRAW, “come, DRAW it mild!” i.e., don’t exaggerate; opposite of “come it strong.” From the phraseology of the bar (of a PUBLIC), where customers desire the beer to be DRAWN mild.

DRAWERS, formerly the ancient cant name for very long stockings, now a hosier’s term.

DRAWING TEETH, wrenching off knockers.

DRIVE-AT, to aim at; “what is he DRIVING AT?” “what does he intend to imply?” a phrase often used when a circuitous line of argument is adopted by a barrister, or a strange set of questions asked, the purpose of which is not very evident.

DRIVE, a term used by tradesmen in speaking of business; “he’s DRIVING a roaring trade,” i.e., a very good one; hence, to succeed in a bargain, “I DROVE a good bargain,” i.e., got the best end of it.

DRIZ, lace. In a low lodging house this singular autograph inscription appeared over the mantelpiece, “Scotch Mary, with DRIZ (lace), bound to Dover and back, please God.”

DRIZ FENCER, a person who sells lace.

DROP, to quit, go off, or turn aside; “DROP the main Toby,” go off the main road.

DROP, “to DROP INTO a person,” to give him a thrashing.—See SLIP and WALK. “To DROP ON to a man,” to accuse or rebuke him suddenly.

DRUM, a house, a lodging, a street; HAZARD-DRUM, a gambling house; FLASH-DRUM, a house of ill-fame.

DRUMMER, a robber who first makes his victims insensible by drugs or violence, and then plunders them.

DUB, to pay or give; “DUB UP,” pay up.

DUBBER, the mouth; “mum your DUBBER,” hold your tongue.

DUBLIN PACKET, to turn a corner; to “take the DUBLIN PACKET,” viz., run round the corner.

DUBS, a bunch of keys.—Nearly obsolete.

DUBSMAN, or SCREW, a turnkey.

DUCKS AND DRAKES, “to make DUCKS AND DRAKES of one’s money,” to throw it away childishly,—derived from children “shying” flat stones on the surface of a pool, which they call DUCKS AND DRAKES, according to the number of skips they make.

DUDDERS, or DUDSMEN, persons who formerly travelled the country as pedlars, selling gown-pieces, silk waistcoats, &c., to countrymen. In selling a waistcoat-piece for thirty shillings or two pounds, which cost them perhaps five shillings, they would show great fear of the revenue officer, and beg of the purchasing clodhopper to kneel down in a puddle of water, crook his arm, and swear that it might never become straight if he told an exciseman, or even his own wife. The term and practice are nearly obsolete. In Liverpool, however, and at the east end of London, men dressed up as sailors, with pretended silk handkerchiefs and cigars “only just smuggled from the Indies,” are still to be plentifully found.

DUDDS, clothes, or personal property. Gaelic, DUD; Ancient cant; also Dutch.

DUFF, pudding; vulgar pronunciation of DOUGH.—Sea.

DUFFER, a hawker of “Brummagem” or sham jewellery; a sham of any kind; a fool, or worthless person. DUFFER was formerly synonymous with DUDDER, and was a general term given to pedlars. It is mentioned in the Frauds of London (1760), as a word in frequent use in the last century to express cheats of all kinds. From the German, DURFEN, to want?

DUFFING, false, counterfeit, worthless.

DUKE, gin.—Household Words, No. 183.

DUMB-FOUND, to perplex, to beat soundly till not able to speak. Originally a cant word. Johnson cites the Spectator for the earliest use. Scotch, DUMFOUNDER.

DUMMACKER, a knowing or acute person.

DUMMIES, empty bottles and drawers in an apothecary’s shop, labelled so as to give an idea of an extensive stock.

DUMMY, in three-handed whist the person who holds two hands plays DUMMY.

DUMMY, a pocket book.

DUMP FENCER, a man who sells buttons.

DUMPY, short and stout.

DUMPISH, sullen, or glumpy.

DUN, to solicit payment.—Old cant, from the French DONNEZ, give; or from JOE DUN, the famous bailiff of Lincoln; or simply a corruption of DIN, from the Anglo Saxon DUNAN, to clamour?

DUNAKER, a stealer of cows or calves. Nearly obsolete.

DUNDERHEAD, a blockhead.

DUNG, an operative who works for an employer who does not give full or “society” wages.

DUNNAGE, baggage, clothes. Also, a Sea term for wood or loose faggots laid at the bottom of ships, upon which is placed the cargo.

DUNNY-KEN, a water-closet.—See KEN.

DURRYNACKING, offering lace or any other article as an introduction to fortune-telling; generally pursued by women.

DUST, money; “down with the DUST,” put down the money.—Ancient. Dean Swift once took for his text, “He who giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord.” His sermon was short. “Now, my brethren,” said he, “if you are satisfied with the security, down with the DUST.”

DUST, a disturbance, or noise, “to raise a DUST,” to make a row.

DUTCH CONSOLATION, “thank God it is no worse.”

DUTCH CONCERT, where each performer plays a different tune.

DUTCH COURAGE, false courage, generally excited by drink,—pot-valour.

DUTCH FEAST, where the host gets drunk before his guest.

DUTCH UNCLE, a personage often introduced in conversation, but exceedingly difficult to describe; “I’ll talk to him like a DUTCH UNCLE!” conveys the notion of anything but a desirable relation.—Americanism.

DOUBLE DUTCH, gibberish, or any foreign tongue.

EARL OF CORK, the ace of diamonds.—Hibernicism.

“What do you mean by the Earl of Cork?” asked Mr. Squander. “The ace of diamonds, your honour. It’s the worst ace, and the poorest card in the pack, and is called the Earl of Cork, because he’s the poorest nobleman in Ireland.”—Carleton’s Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry.

EARWIG, a clergyman, also one who prompts another maliciously.

EARWIGGING, a rebuke in private; a WIGGING is more public.

EASE, to rob; “EASING a bloak,” robbing a man.

EGG, or EGG on, to excite, stimulate, or provoke one person to quarrel with another, &c. Cor. of edge, or edge on.—Ancient.

ELBOW, “to shake one’s ELBOW,” to play at cards.

ELBOW GREASE, labour, or industry.

ELEPHANT, “to have SEEN THE ELEPHANT,” to be “up to the latest move,” or “down to the last new trick;” to be knowing, and not “green,” &c. Possibly a metaphor taken from the travelling menageries, where the ELEPHANT is the finale of the exhibition.—Originally an Americanism. Bartlett gives conflicting examples. General now, however.

EVAPORATE, to go, or run away.

EVERLASTING STAIRCASE, the treadmill. Sometimes called “Colonel Chesterton’s everlasting staircase,” from the gallant inventor or improver.

EXTENSIVE, frequently applied in a slang sense to a person’s appearance or talk; “rather EXTENSIVE that!” intimating that the person alluded to is showing off, or “cutting it fat.”

EYE WATER, gin.

FAD, a hobby, a favourite pursuit.

FADGE, a farthing.

FADGE, to suit or fit; “it won’t FADGE,” it will not do. Used by Shakespere, but now heard only in the streets.

FAG, to beat, also one boy working for another at school.

FAG, a schoolboy who performs a servant’s offices to a superior school-mate. Grose thinks FAGGED OUT is derived from this.

FAGOT, a term of opprobrium used by low people to children; “you little FAGOT, you!” Fagot was originally a term of contempt for a dry, shrivelled old woman, whose bones were like a bundle of sticks, only fit to burn.—Compare the French expression for a heretic, sentir le fagot.

FAKE, to cheat, or swindle; to do anything; to go on, or continue; to make or construct; to steal, or rob,—a verb variously used. Faked, done, or done for; “FAKE away, there’s no down,” go on, there is nobody looking. Mayhew says it is from the Latin, FACIMENTUM.

FAKEMENT, a false begging petition, any act of robbery, swindling, or deception.

FAKEMENT CHARLEY, the owner’s private mark.

FAKER, one who makes or FAKES anything.

FAKING A CLY, picking a pocket.

FAMBLES, or FAMMS, the hands.—Ancient cant. German, FAUGEN.

FAMILY MEN, or PEOPLE, thieves, or burglars.

FAN, a waistcoat.

FANCY, the favourite sports, pets, or pastime of a person, the tan of low life. Pugilists are sometimes termed THE FANCY. Shakespere uses the word in the sense of a favourite, or pet; and the paramour of a prostitute is still called her FANCY-MAN.

FANCY-BLOAK, a fancy or sporting man.

FAN-TAIL, a dustman’s hat.

FAST, gay, spreeish, unsteady, thoughtless,—an Americanism that has of late ascended from the streets to the drawing-room. The word has certainly now a distinct meaning, which it had not thirty years ago. Quick is the synonyme for FAST, but a QUICK MAN would not convey the meaning of a FAST MAN,—a person who by late hours, gaiety, and continual rounds of pleasure, lives too fast and wears himself out. In polite society a FAST young lady is one who affects mannish habits, or makes herself conspicuous by some unfeminine accomplishment,—talks slang, drives about in London, smokes cigarettes, is knowing in dogs, horses, &c. An amusing anecdote is told of a FAST young lady, the daughter of a right reverend prelate, who was an adept in horseflesh. Being desirous of ascertaining the opinion of a candidate for ordination, who had the look of a bird of the same feather, as to the merits of some cattle just brought to her father’s palace for her to select from, she was assured by him they were utterly unfit for a lady’s use. With a knowing look at the horses’ points, she gave her decision in these choice words, “Well, I agree with you; they are a rum lot, as the Devil said of the ten commandments.”

FAST, embarrassed, wanting money. Synonymous with HARD UP.—Yorkshire.

FAT, a printer’s term signifying the void spaces on a page, for which he is paid at the same rate as full or unbroken pages. This work afforded much FAT for the printers.

FAT, rich, abundant, &c.; “a FAT lot;” “to cut it FAT,” to exaggerate, to show off in an extensive or grand manner, to assume undue importance; “cut up FAT,” see under CUT. As a Theatrical term, a part with plenty of FAT in it, is one which affords the actor an opportunity of effective display.

FATHER, or FENCE, a buyer of stolen property.

FAWNEY, a finger ring.

FAWNEY BOUNCING, selling rings for a wager. This practice is founded upon the old tale of a gentleman laying a wager that if he was to offer “real gold sovereigns” at a penny a piece at the foot of London Bridge, the English public would be too incredulous to buy. The story states that the gentleman stationed himself with sovereigns in a tea tray, and sold only two within the hour,—winning the bet. This tale the FAWNEY BOUNCERS tell the public, only offering brass, double gilt rings, instead of sovereigns.

FAWNEY, or FAWNEY RIG, ring dropping. A few years ago, this practice, or RIG, was very common. A fellow purposely dropped a ring, or a pocket book with some little articles of jewellery, &c., in it, and when he saw any person pick it up, ran to claim half. The ring found, the question of how the booty was to be divided had then to be decided. The Fawney says, “if you will give me eight or nine shillings for my share the things are yours.” This the FLAT thinks very fair. The ring of course is valueless, and the swallower of the bait discovers the trick too late.

FEATHERS, money, wealth; “in full FEATHER,” rich.

FEEDER, a spoon.—Old cant.

FEELE, a daughter, or child.—Corrupted French.

FELT, a hat.—Old term, in use in the sixteenth century.

FENCE, or FENCER, a purchaser or receiver of stolen goods; FENCE, the shop or warehouse of a FENCER.—Old cant.

FENCE, to sell or pawn stolen property to a FENCER.

FERRICADOUZER, a knock down below, a good thrashing. Probably derived through the Lingua Franca from the Italian, FAR’ CADER’ MORTO, to knock down dead.

FIB, to beat, or strike.—Old cant.

FIDDLE, a whip.

FIDDLE FADDLE, twaddle, or trifling discourse.—Old cant.

FIDDLE STICKS! nonsense.

FIDDLER, or FADGE, a farthing.

FIDDLER, a sixpence.—Household Words, No. 183.

FIDDLER, a sharper, a cheat; also one who dawdles over little matters, and neglects great ones.

FIDDLERS’ MONEY, a lot of sixpences;—6d. was the remuneration to fiddlers from each of the company in old times.

FIDDLING, doing any odd jobs in the streets, holding horses, carrying parcels, &c., for a living. Among the middle classes, FIDDLING means idling away time, or trifling; and amongst sharpers, it means gambling.

FID FAD, a game similar to chequers, or drafts, played in the West of England.

FIDLUM BEN, thieves who take anything they can lay their hands upon.

FIELD-LANE-DUCK, a baked sheep’s head. Field-lane is a low London thoroughfare, leading from the foot of Holborn-hill to the purlieus of Clerkenwell. It was formerly the market for stolen pocket handkerchiefs.

FIG, “to FIG a horse,” to play improper tricks with one in order to make him lively.

FIG, “in full FIG,” i.e., full dress costume, “extensively got up.”

FIGURE, “to cut a good or bad FIGURE,” to make a good or indifferent appearance; “what’s the FIGURE?” how much is to pay? Figure-head, a person’s face.—Sea term.

FILCH, to steal, or purloin. Originally a cant word, derived from the FILCHES, or hooks, thieves used to carry, to hook clothes, or any portable articles from open windows.—Vide Decker. It was considered a cant or Gipsey term up to the beginning of the last century. Harman has “FYLCHE, to robbe.”

FILE, a deep, or artful man, a jocose name for a cunning person. Originally a term for a pickpocket, when TO FILE was to cheat or rob. File, an artful man, was used in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

FILLIBRUSH, to flatter, praise ironically.

FIMBLE-FAMBLE, a lame prevaricating excuse.—Scand.

FIN, a hand; “come, tip us your FIN,” viz., let us shake hands.—Sea.

FINDER, one who FINDS bacon and meat at the market before they are lost, i.e., steals them.

FINUF, a five-pound note. Double Finuf, a ten-pound note.—German, FUNF, five.

FISHY, doubtful, unsound, rotten—a term used to denote a suspicion of a “screw being loose,” or “something rotten in the state of Denmark,” in alluding to an unsafe speculation.

FISH, a person; “a queer FISH,” “a loose FISH,” &c.

FIX, a predicament, dilemma; “an awful FIX,” a terrible position; “to FIX one’s flint for him,” i.e., to “settle his hash,” “put a spoke in his wheel.”

FIZZING, first-rate, very good, excellent; synonymous with STUNNING.

FLABERGAST, or FLABBERGHAST, to astonish, or strike with wonder.—Old.

FLAG, a groat, or 4d.—Ancient cant.

FLAG, an apron.

FLAG OF DISTRESS, poverty—when the end of a person’s shirt protrudes through his trousers.

FLAM, nonsense, blarney, a lie.—Kentish; Anglo Saxon.

FLAME, a sweetheart.

FLANNEL, or HOT FLANNEL, the old term for gin and beer, drank hot, with nutmeg, sugar, &c. Also called FLIP. There is an anecdote told of Goldsmith helping to drink a quart of FLANNEL in a night house, in company with George Parker, Ned Shuter, and a demure grave looking gentleman, who continually introduced the words CRAP, STRETCH, SCRAG, and SWING. Upon the Doctor’s asking who this strange person might be, and being told his profession, he rushed from the place in a frenzy, exclaiming, “Good God! and have I been sitting all this while with a hangman?”

FLARE UP, a jovial social gathering, a “break down,” a “row.”

FLASH, showy, smart, knowing; a word with various meanings. A person is said to be dressed FLASH when his garb is showy, and after a fashion, but without taste. A person is said to be FLASH when he apes the appearance or manners of his betters, or when he is trying to be superior to his friends and relations. Flash also means “fast,” roguish, and sometimes infers counterfeit or deceptive,—and this, perhaps, is its general signification. “Flash, my young friend, or slang, as others call it, is the classical language of the Holy Land; in other words, St. Giles’ Greek.”—Tom and Jerry, by Moncreiff. Vulgar language was first termed FLASH in the year 1718, by Hitchin, author of “The Regulator of Thieves, &c., with account of FLASH words.”

FLASH IT, show it—said when any bargain is offered.

FLAT, a fool, a silly or “soft” person, the opposite of SHARP. The term appears to be shortenings for “sharp-witted” and “flat-witted.” “Oh! Messrs. Tyler, Donelson, and the rest, what FLATS you are.”—Times, 5th September, 1847.

FLATTIES, rustic, or uninitiated people.

FLATTY-KEN, a public house, the landlord of which is ignorant of the practices of the thieves and tramps who frequent it.

FLESH AND BLOOD, brandy and port in equal quantities.

FLESH-BAG, a shirt.

FLICK, or OLD FLICK, an old chap or fellow.

FLICK, or FLIG, to whip by striking, and drawing the lash back at the same time, which causes a stinging blow.

FLIM FLAMS, idle stories.—Beaumont and Fletcher.

FLIMP, to hustle, or rob.

FLIMSIES, bank notes.

FLIMSY, the thin prepared copying paper used by newspaper reporters and “penny-a-liners” for making several copies at once, thus enabling them to supply different papers with the same article without loss of time.—Printers’ term.

FLINT, an operative who works for a “society” master, i.e., for full wages.

FLIP, corruption of FILLIP, a light blow.

FLIP-FLAPS, a peculiar rollicking dance indulged in by costermongers when merry or excited—better described, perhaps, as the DOUBLE SHUFFLE, danced with an air of extreme abandon.

FLIPPER, the hand; “give us your FLIPPER,” give me your hand.—Sea. Metaphor taken from the flipper or paddle of a turtle.

FLOG, to whip. Cited both by Grose and the author of Bacchus and Venus as a cant word. It would be curious to ascertain the earliest use; Richardson cites Lord Chesterfield.—Latin.

FLOGGER, a whip.—Obsolete.

FLOOR, to knock down.—Pugilistic.

FLOORER, a blow sufficiently strong to knock a man down.

FLOWERY, lodging, or house entertainment; “square the omee for the FLOWERY,” pay the master for the lodging.

FLUE FAKERS, chimney sweeps; also low sporting characters, who are so termed from their chiefly betting on the Great Sweeps.

FLUFF IT, a term of disapprobation, implying “take it away, I don’t want it.”

FLUKE, at billiards, playing for one thing and getting another. Hence, generally what one gets accidentally, an unexpected advantage, “more by luck than wit.”

FLUMMERY, flattery, gammon, genteel nonsense.

FLUMMUX, to perplex, hinder; FLUMMUXED, stopped, used up.

FLUMMUXED, done up, sure of a month in QUOD, or prison. In mendicant freemasonry, the sign chalked by rogues and tramps upon a gate-post or house corner, to express to succeeding vagabonds that it is unsafe for them to call there, is known as , or FLUMMUXED, which signifies that the only thing they would be likely to get upon applying for relief would be “a month in QUOD.”—See QUOD.

FLUNKEY, a footman, servant.—Scotch.

FLUSH, the opposite of HARD UP, in possession of money, not poverty stricken.—Shakespere.

FLY, to lift, toss, or raise; “FLY the mags,” i.e., toss up the halfpence; “to FLY a window,” i.e., to lift one for the purpose of stealing.

FLY, knowing, wide awake, fully understanding another’s meaning.

FLY THE KITE, or RAISE THE WIND, to obtain money on bills, whether good or bad, alluding to tossing paper about like children do a kite.

FLY THE KITE, to evacuate from a window,—term used in padding kens, or low lodging houses.

FLYING-MESS, “to be in FLYING MESS” is a soldier’s phrase for being hungry and having to mess where he can.—Military.

FLYING STATIONERS, paper workers, hawkers of penny ballads; “Printed for the Flying Stationers” is the imprimatur on hundreds of penny histories and sheet songs of the last and present centuries.

FLYMY, knowing, cunning, roguish.

FOALED, “thrown from a horse.”—Hunting term.—See PURLED, and SPILT.

FOGEY, or OLD FOGEY, a dullard, an old-fashioned or singular person. Grose says it is a nickname for an invalid soldier, from the French, FOURGEAUX, fierce or fiery, but it has lost this signification now. Fogger, old word for a huckster or servant.

FOGGY, tipsy.

FOGLE, a silk handkerchief—not a CLOUT, which is of cotton. It has been hinted that this may have come from the German, VOGEL, a bird, from the bird’s eye spots on some handkerchiefs [see BIRD’S-EYE-WIPE, under BILLY], but a more probable derivation is the Italian slang (Fourbesque) FOGLIA, a pocket, or purse; or from the French argot, FOUILLE, also a pocket.

FOGUS, tobacco.—Old cant. Fogo, old word for stench.

FOONT, a sovereign, or 20s.

FOOTING, “to pay FOOTING.”—See SHOE.

FORAKERS, a water-closet, or house of office.—Term used by the boys at Winchester school.

FORK OUT, to bring out one’s money, to pay the bill, to STAND FOR or treat a friend; to hand over what does not belong to you.—Old cant term for picking pockets, and very curious it is to trace its origin. In the early part of the last century, a little book on purloining was published, and of course it had to give the latest modes. Forking was the newest method, and it consisted in thrusting the fingers stiff and open into the pocket, and then quickly closing them and extracting any article.

FORKS, or GRAPPLING IRONS, fingers.

FORTY GUTS, vulgar term for a fat man.

FOUR AND NINE, or FOUR AND NINEPENNY GOSS, a cheap hat, so called from 4s. 9d., the price at which a noted advertising hat maker sold his hats—

FOU, slightly intoxicated.—Scotch.

FOURTH, or FOURTH COURT, the court appropriated to the water-closets at Cambridge; from its really being No. 4 at Trinity College. A man leaving his room to go to this FOURTH COURT, writes on his door “gone to the FOURTH,” or, in algebraic notation, “GONE 4”—the Cambridge slang phrase.

FOX, to cheat or rob.—Eton College.

FOXING, watching in the streets for any occurrence which may be turned to a profitable account.—See MOOCHING.

FOXING, to pretend to be asleep like a fox, which is said to take its rest with one eye open.

FOXY, rank, tainted.—Lincolnshire.

FREE, to steal—generally applied to horses.

FREE AND EASY, a club held at most public houses, the members of which meet in the taproom or parlour for the purpose of drinking, smoking, and hearing each other sing and “talk politics.” The name indicates the character of the proceedings.

FREEMAN’S QUAY, “drinking at FREEMAN’S QUAY,” i.e., at another’s cost. This quay was formerly a celebrated wharf near London Bridge, and the saying arose from the beer which was given gratis to porters and carmen who went there on business.

FRENCH CREAM, brandy.

FRENCH LEAVE, to leave or depart slyly, without saying anything.

FRESH, said of a person slightly intoxicated.

FRISK, to search; FRISKED, searched by a constable or other officer.

FRISK A CLY, to empty a pocket.

FRIZZLE, champagne.

FROG, a policeman.

FRONTISPIECE, the face.

FROW, a girl, or wife. German, FRAU; Dutch, VROUW.

FRUMMAGEMMED, annihilated, strangled, garotted, or spoilt.—Old cant.

FRUMP, a slatternly woman, a gossip.—Ancient.

FRUMP, to mock, or insult.—Beaumont and Fletcher.

FUDGE, nonsense, stupidity. Todd and Richardson only trace the word to Goldsmith. Disraeli, however, gives the origin to a Captain Fudge, a great fibber, who told monstrous stories, which made his crew say in answer to any improbability, “you FUDGE it!”—See Remarks on the Navy, 1700.

FULLAMS, false dice, which always turn up high.—Shakes.

FULLY, “to be FULLIED,” to be committed for trial. From the slang of the penny-a-liner, “the prisoner was fully committed for trial.”

FUNK, to smoke out.—North.

FUNK, trepidation, nervousness, cowardice. To FUNK, to be afraid, or nervous.

FUNNY-BONE, the extremity of the elbow—or rather, the muscle which passes round it between the two bones, a blow on which causes painful tingling in the fingers. Facetiously derived, from its being the extremity of the humerus (humorous).

FYE-BUCK, a sixpence. Nearly obsolete.

GAB, GABBER, or GABBLE, talk; “gift of the GAB,” loquacity, or natural talent for speech-making.—Anglo Norman.

GAD, a trapesing, slatternly woman.—Gipsey. Anglo Saxon, GADELYNG.

GADDING THE HOOF, going without shoes. Gadding, roaming about, although used in an old translation of the Bible, is now only heard amongst the lower orders.

GAFF, a fair, or penny-playhouse.—See PENNY GAFF.

GAFFING, tossing halfpence, or counters.—North, where it means tossing up three pennies.

GALENY, old cant term for a fowl of any kind; now a respectable word in the West of England, signifying a Guinea fowl.—Vide Grose. Latin, GALLINA.

GALLAVANT, to wait upon the ladies.—Old.

GALORE, abundance. Irish, GO LEOR, in plenty.

GALLOWS, very, or exceedingly—a disgusting exclamation; “GALLOWS poor,” very poor.

GAME, a term variously applied; “are you GAME?” have you courage enough? “what’s your little GAME?” what are you going to do? “come, none of your GAMES,” be quiet, don’t annoy me; “on the GAME,” out thieving.

GAMMON, to hoax, to deceive merrily, to laugh at a person, to tell an untrue but plausible story, to make game of, or in the provincial dialect, to make GAME ON; “who’s thou makin’ thy GAM’ ON?” i.e., who are you making a fool of?—Yorkshire.

GAMMON, deceit, humbug, a false and ridiculous story. Anglo Saxon, GAMEN, game, sport.

GAMMY, bad, unfavourable, poor tempered. Those householders who are known enemies to the street folk and tramps, are pronounced by them to be GAMMY. Gammy sometimes means forged, as “GAMMY-MONEKER,” a forged signature; GAMMY STUFF, spurious medicine; GAMMY LOWR, counterfeit coin. Hants, GAMY, dirty. The hieroglyphic used by beggars and cadgers to intimate to those of the tribe coming after that things are not very favourable, is known as , or GAMMY.

GAMMY-VIAL (Ville), a town where the police will not let persons hawk.

GANDER MONTH, the period when the monthly nurse is in the ascendant, and the husband has to shift for himself.

GAR, euphuistic corruption of the title of the Deity; “be GAR, you don’t say so!”—Franco-English.

GARRET, the head.

GARRET, the fob pocket.

GARGLE, medical student Slang for physic.

GAS, “to give a person GAS,” to scold him or give him a good beating. Synonymous with “to give him JESSIE.”

GASSY, liable to “flare up” at any offence.

GATTER, beer; “shant of GATTER,” a pot of beer. A curious street melody, brimful and running over with slang, known in Seven Dials as Bet, the Coaley’s Daughter, thus mentions the word in a favourite verse:—

GAWFS, cheap red-skinned apples, a favourite fruit with costermongers, who rub them well with a piece of cloth, and find ready purchasers.

GAWKY, a lanky, or awkward person; a fool. Saxon, GEAC; Scotch, GOWK.

GAY, loose, dissipated; “GAY woman,” a kept mistress, or prostitute.

GEE, to agree with, or be congenial to a person.

GEN, a shilling. Also, GENT, silver. Abbreviation of the French, ARGENT.

GENT, a contraction of “gentleman,”—in more senses than one. A dressy, showy, foppish man, with a little mind, who vulgarises the prevailing fashion.

GENT, silver. From the French, ARGENT.

GET-UP, a person’s appearance, or general arrangements. Probably derived from the decorations of a play.

GHOST, “the GHOST does’nt walk,” i.e., the manager is too poor to pay salaries as yet.—Theat.; Ho. Words, No. 183.

GIB-FACE, properly the lower lip of a horse; “TO HANG ONE’S GIB,” to pout the lower lip, be angry or sullen.

GIBBERISH, unmeaning jargon; the language of the Gipseys, synonymous with SLANG, another Gipsey word. Somner says, “French, GABBER; Dutch, GABBEREN; and our own GAB, GABBER; hence also, I take it, our GIBBERISH, a kind of canting language used by a sort of rogues we vulgarly call Gipseys, a gibble gabble understood only among themselves.”—Gipsey. See Introduction.

GIFFLE GAFFLE, nonsense.—See CHAFF. Icelandic, GAFLA.

GIFT, any article which has been stolen and afterwards sold at a low price.

GIG, a farthing. Formerly, GRIG.

GIG, fun, frolic, a spree.

GIGLAMPS, spectacles. In my first edition I stated this to be a University term. Mr. Cuthbert Bede, however, in a communication to Notes and Queries, of which I have availed myself in the present edition, says—“If the compiler has taken this epithet from Verdant Green, I can only say that I consider the word not to be a ‘University’ word in general, but as only due to the inventive genius of Mr. Bouncer in particular.” The term, however, has been adopted, and is now in general use.

GILL, a homely woman; “Jack and GILL,” &c.—Ben Jonson.

GILLS, the lower part of the face.—Bacon. “To grease one’s GILLS,” “to have a good feed,” or make a hearty meal.

GILLS, shirt collars.

GILT, money. German, GELD; Dutch, GELT.

GIMCRACK, a bijou, a slim piece of mechanism. Old slang for “a spruce wench.”—N. Bailey.

GIN AND GOSPEL GAZETTE, the Morning Advertiser, so called from its being the organ of the dissenting party, and of the Licensed Victuallers’ Association. Sometimes termed the TAP TUB, or the ’TIZER.

GINGER, a showy, fast horse—as if he had been FIGGED with GINGER under his tail.

GINGERLY, to do anything with great care.—Cotgrave.

GINGER HACKLED, having flaxen light yellow hair.—See HACKLE.

GINGUMBOB, a bauble.

GIVE, to strike or scold; “I’ll GIVE it to you,” I will thrash you. Formerly, to rob.

GLASGOW MAGISTRATES, salt herrings.—Scotch.

GLAZE, glass—generally applied to windows.

GLIM, a light, a lamp; “dowse the GLIM,” put the candle out.—Sea, and old cant.

GLIM LURK, a begging paper, giving a certified account of a dreadful fire—which never happened.

GLOAK, a man.—Scotch.

GLUMP, to sulk.

GLUMPISH, of a stubborn, sulky temper.

GNOSTICS, knowing ones, or sharpers. Nearly obsolete in this vulgar sense.

GO, a GO of gin, a quartern of that liquor; GO is also synonymous with circumstance or occurrence; “a rummy GO,” and “a great GO,” signify curious and remarkable occurrences; “no GO,” no good; “here’s a pretty GO!” here’s a trouble! “to GO the jump,” to enter a house by the window; “all the GO,” in fashion.—See LITTLE GO.

GO-ALONG, a thief.—Household Words, No. 183.

GOB, the mouth; mucus, or saliva.—North. Sometimes used for GAB, talk—

GOB, a portion.

GODS, the people in the upper gallery of a theatre; “up amongst the GODS,” a seat amongst the low persons in the gallery—so named from the high position of the gallery, and the blue sky generally painted on the ceiling of the theatre; termed by the French, PARADIS.

GODS, the quadrats used by printers in throwing on the imposing stone, similar to the movement in casting dice.—Printers’ term.

GO IT, a term of encouragement, implying “keep it up!” Sometimes amplified to GO IT, YE CRIPPLES; said to have been a facetious rendering of the last line of Virgil’s Eclogues—

“Ite domum Saturæ, Venit Hesperus, ite capellæ;”

or, “GO IT, YE CRIPPLES, CRUTCHES ARE CHEAP.”

GOLDFINCH, a sovereign.

GOLGOTHA, a hat, “place of a skull.”

GOLOPSHUS, splendid, delicious, luscious.—Norwich.

GOOSE, to ruin, or spoil. Also, to hiss a play.—Theatrical.

GOOSE, a tailor’s pressing iron.—Originally a slang term, but now in most dictionaries.

GOOSEBERRY, to “play up old GOOSEBERRY” with any one, to defeat or silence a person in a quick or summary manner.

GOOSECAP, a booby, or noodle.—Devonshire.

GOOSER, a settler, or finishing blow.

GORMED, a Norfolk corruption of a profane oath. So used by Mr. Peggotty, one of Dickens’ characters.

GORGER, a swell, a well dressed, or gorgeous man—probably derived from that word.

GOSPEL GRINDER, a city missionary, or tract distributor.

GOSS, a hat—from the gossamer silk with which modern hats are made.

GONNOF, or GUN, a fool, a bungler, an amateur pickpocket. A correspondent thinks this may be a corruption of gone off, on the analogy of GO-ALONG; but the term is really as old as Chaucer’s time. During Kett’s rebellion in Norfolk, in the reign of Edward VI., a song was sung by the insurgents in which the term occurs—

GOUROCK HAM, salt herrings. Gourock, on the Clyde, about twenty-five miles from Glasgow, was formerly a great fishing village.—Scotch.

GOVERNMENT SIGNPOST, the gallows.

GOVERNOR, a father, a master or superior person, an elder; “which way, GUV’NER, to Cheapside?”

GRABB, to clutch, or seize.

GRABBED, caught, apprehended.

GRABBERS, the hands.

GRACE-CARD, the ace of hearts.

GRAFT, to work; “where are you GRAFTING?” i.e., where do you live, or work?

GRANNY, to know, or recognise; “de ye GRANNY the bloke?” do you know the man?

GRANNY, importance, knowledge, pride; “take the GRANNY off them as has white hands,” viz., remove their self-conceit.—Mayhew, vol. i., p. 364.

GRAPPLING IRONS, fingers.—Sea.

GRASS, “gone to GRASS,” dead,—a coarse allusion to burial; absconded, or disappeared suddenly; “oh, go to GRASS,” a common answer to a troublesome or inquisitive person,—possibly a corruption of “go to GRACE,” meaning, of course, a directly opposite fate.

GRASS-WIDOW, an unmarried mother; a deserted mistress. In the United States, during the gold fever in California, it was common for an adventurer to put both his GRASS-WIDOW and his children to school during his absence.

GRAVEL, to confound, to bother; “I’m GRAVELLED,” i.e., perplexed or confused.—Old.

GRAVEL-RASH, a scratched face,—telling its tale of a drunken fall.

GRAY-COAT-PARSON, a lay impropriator, or lessee of great tithes.

GRAYS, or SCOTCH GRAYS, lice.—Scotch.

GRAYS, halfpennies, with either two “heads” or two “tails,”—both sides alike. Low gamblers use GRAYS, and they cost from 2d. to 6d. each.

GREASE-SPOT, a minute remnant, the only distinguishable remains of an antagonist after a terrific contest.

GREASING a man is bribing; SOAPING is flattering him.

GREEKS, the low Irish. St. giles’ greek, slang or cant language. Cotgrave gives MERIE GREEK as a definition for a roystering fellow, a drunkard.—Shakespere.—See MEDICAL GREEK.

GREEN, ignorant, not wide awake, inexperienced.—Shakespere. “Do you see any GREEN in my eye?” ironical question in a dispute.

GREEN-HORN, a fresh, simple, or uninitiated person.

GRIDDLER, a person who sings in the streets without a printed copy of the words.

GRIEF, “to come to GRIEF,” to meet with an accident, be ruined.

GRIFFIN, in India, a newly arrived cadet; general for an inexperienced youngster. “Fast” young men in London frequently term an umbrella a GRIFFIN.

GRIND, “to take a GRIND,” i.e., a walk, or constitutional.—University.

GRIND, to work up for an examination, to cram with a GRINDER, or private tutor.—Medical.

GRINDERS, teeth.

GROGGY, tipsy; when a prize-fighter becomes “weak on his pins,” and nearly beaten, he is said to be GROGGY.—Pugilistic. The same term is applied to horses in a similar condition. Old English, AGGROGGYD, weighed down, oppressed.—Prompt. Parvulorum.

GRUB, meat, or food, of any kind,—GRUB signifying food, and BUB, drink.

GRUBBING-KEN, or SPINIKIN, a workhouse; a cook-shop.

GRUBBY, musty, or old-fashioned.—Devonshire.

GULFED, a University term, denoting that a man is unable to enter for the classical examination, from having failed in the mathematical. Candidates for classical honours were compelled to go in for both examinations. From the alteration of the arrangements the term is now obsolete.—Camb.

GULPIN, a weak, credulous fellow.

GUMMY, thick, fat—generally applied to a woman’s ancles, or to a man whose flabby person betokens him a drunkard.

GUMPTION, or RUMGUMPTION, comprehension, capacity. From GAUM, to comprehend; “I canna GAUGE it, and I canna GAUM it,” as a Yorkshire exciseman said of a hedgehog.

GURRELL, a fob.

GUTTER BLOOD, a low or vulgar man—Scotch.

GUTTER LANE, the throat.

GUY, a fright, a dowdy, an ill-dressed person. Derived from the effigy of Guy Fawkes carried about by boys on Nov. 5.

GYP, an undergraduate’s valet at Cambridge. Corruption of GYPSEY JOE (Saturday Review); popularly derived by Cantabs from the Greek, GYPS (γύπς), a vulture, from their dishonest rapacity. At Oxford they are called SCOUTS.

HACKLE, “to show HACKLE,” to be willing to fight. Hackles are the long feathers on the back of a cock’s neck, which he erects when angry,—hence the metaphor.

HADDOCK, a purse.—See BEANS.

HALF A BEAN, half a sovereign.

HALF A BULL, two shillings and sixpence.

HALF A COUTER, half a sovereign.

HALF A HOG, sixpence; sometimes termed HALF A GRUNTER.

HALF A STRETCH, six months in prison.

HALF A TUSHEROON, half a crown.

HALF AND HALF, a mixture of ale and porter, much affected by medical students; occasionally Latinized into DIMIDIUM DIMIDIUMQUE.—See COOPER.

HALF BAKED, soft, doughy, half-witted, silly.

HALF FOOLISH, ridiculous; means often wholly foolish.

HALF JACK.—See JACKS.

HALF ROCKED, silly, half-witted.—Compare HALF BAKED.

HALF SEAS OVER, reeling drunk.—Sea. Used by Swift.

HAND, a workman, or helper, a person. “A cool HAND,” explained by Sir Thomas Overbury to be “one who accounts bashfulness the wickedest thing in the world, and therefore studies impudence.”

HANDER, a second, or assistant, in a prize fight.

HANDLE, a nose; the title appended to a person’s name; also a term in boxing, “HANDLING one’s fists.”

HAND-SAW, or CHIVE FENCER, a man who sells razors and knives in the streets.

HANDSELLER, or CHEAP JACK, a street or open air seller, a man who carries goods to his customers, instead of waiting for his customers to visit him.

HANG OUT, to reside,—in allusion to the ancient custom of hanging out signs.

HANGMAN’S WAGES, thirteenpence halfpenny.

HANSEL, or HANDSALE, the lucky money, or first money taken in the morning by a pedlar.—Cocker’s Dictionary, 1724. “Legs of mutton (street term for sheep’s trotters, or feet) two for a penny; who’ll give me a HANSEL? who’ll give me a HANSEL?”—Cry at Cloth Fair at the present day. Hence, earnest money, first fruits, &c. In Norfolk, HANSELLING a thing, is using it for the first time, as wearing a new coat, taking seizin of it, as it were.—Anglo Saxon. N. Bailey.

HA’PURTH OF LIVELINESS, the music at a low concert, or theatre.

HARD LINES, hardship, difficulty.—Soldiers’ term for hard duty on the lines in front of the enemy.

HARD UP, in distress, poverty stricken.—Sea.

HARD-UPS, cigar-end finders, who collect the refuse pieces of smoked cigars from the gutter, and having dried them, sell them as tobacco to the very poor.

HARRY, or OLD HARRY (i.e. Old Hairy?) the Devil; “to play OLD HARRY with one,” i.e., ruin or annoy him.

HARRY-SOPH (ἐρίσοφος, very wise indeed), an undergraduate in his last year of residence.—Cambridge.

HASH, a mess, confusion; “a pretty HASH he made of it;” to HASH UP, to jumble together without order or regularity.

HATCHET, “to throw the HATCHET,” to tell lies.

HAWSE HOLES, the apertures in a ship’s bows through which the cables pass; “he has crept in through the HAWSE-HOLES,” said of an officer who has risen from the grade of an ordinary seaman.—Navy.

HAY BAG, a woman.

HAZY, intoxicated.—Household Words, No. 183.

HEAD OR TAIL, “I can’t make HEAD OR TAIL of it,” i.e., cannot make it out.

HEAP, “a HEAP of people,” a crowd; “struck all of a HEAP,” suddenly astonished.

HEAVY WET, porter or beer,—because the more a man drinks of it, the heavier he becomes.

HEDGE, to secure a doubtful bet by making others.—Turf.

HEEL-TAPS, small quantities of wine or other beverage left in the bottom of glasses, considered as a sign that the liquor is not liked, and therefore unfriendly and unsocial to the host and the company.

HEIGH HO! a cant term for stolen yarn, from the expression used to apprize the dishonest manufacturer that the speaker has stolen yarn to sell.—Norwich cant.

HELL, a fashionable gambling house. In printing offices, the term is generally applied to the old tin box in which is thrown the broken or spoilt type, purchased by the founders for re-casting. Nearly obsolete.

HEN AND CHICKENS, large and small pewter pots.

HEN-PECKED, said of one whose wife “wears the breeches.”

HERRING POND, the sea; “to be sent across the HERRING POND,” to be transported.

HIDING, a thrashing. Webster gives this word, but not its root, HIDE, to beat, flay by whipping.

HIGGLEDY-PIGGLEDY, all together,—as hogs and pigs lie.

HIGH AND DRY, an epithet applied to the soi disant “orthodox” clergy of the last century, for whom, while ill-paid curates did the work, the comforts of the establishment were its greatest charms.

Though often confounded with, they are utterly dissimilar to, the modern High Church or Anglo-Catholic party. Their equally uninteresting opponents deserved the corresponding appellation of LOW AND SLOW; while the so-called “Broad Church” is defined with equal felicity as the BROAD AND SHALLOW.

HIGH FLY, “ON THE HIGH FLY,” on the begging or cadging system.

HIGH JINKS, “ON THE HIGH JINKS,” taking up an arrogant position, assuming an undue superiority.

HIGH-FLYER, a genteel beggar, or swindler.

HIGH FLYERS, large swings, in frames, at fairs and races.

HIGH-LOWS, laced boots reaching a trifle higher than ancle-jacks.

HIGHFALUTEN, showy, affected, tinselled, affecting certain pompous or fashionable airs, stuck up; “come, none of yer HIGHFALUTEN games,” i.e., you must not show off or imitate the swell here.—American slang from the Dutch, VERLOOTEN.

HIP INSIDE, inside coat pocket.

HIP OUTSIDE, outside coat pocket.

HIVITE, a student of St. Begh’s College, Cumberland; pronounced ST. BEE’S.—University.

HOAX, to deceive, or ridicule,—Grose says was originally a University cant word. Corruption of HOCUS, to cheat.

HOCKS, the feet; CURBY HOCKS, round or clumsy feet.

HOCUS, to drug a person, and then rob him. The HOCUS generally consists of snuff and beer.

HOCUS POCUS, Gipsey words of magic, similar to the modern “presto fly.” The Gipseys pronounce “Habeas Corpus,” HAWCUS PACCUS (see Crabb’s Gipsey’s Advocate, p. 18); can this have anything to do with the origin of HOCUS POCUS? Turner gives OCHUS BOCHUS, an old demon. Pegge, however, states that it is a burlesque rendering of the words of the unreformed church service at the delivery of the host, HOC EST CORPUS, which the early Protestants considered as a species of conjuring, and ridiculed accordingly.

HODGE, a countryman or provincial clown. I don’t know that it has been elsewhere remarked, but most country districts in England have one or more families of the name of HODGE; indeed, GILES and HODGE appear to be the favourite hobnail nomenclature. Not in any way writing disrespectfully, was the slang word taken from Hog—with the g soft, which gives the dg pronunciation? In old canting dictionaries HODGE stands for a country clown; so, indeed, does ROGER, another favourite provincial name.—Vide Bacchus and Venus.

HOG, “to go the whole HOG,” to do anything with a person’s entire strength, not “by halves;” realised by the phrase “in for a penny in for a pound.” Bartlett claims this to be a pure American phrase; whilst Ker, of course, gives it a Dutch origin.—Old.

HOG, a shilling.—Old cant.

HOISTING, shoplifting.

HOLLOW, “to beat HOLLOW,” to excel.

HOLY LAND, Seven Dials,—where the St. Giles’ Greek is spoken.

HOOK, to steal or rob.—See the following.

HOOK OR BY CROOK, by fair means or foul—in allusion to the hook which footpads used to carry to steal from open windows, &c., and from which HOOK, to take or steal, has been derived. Mentioned in Hudibras as a cant term.

HOOK IT, “get out of the way,” or “be off about your business;” “TO HOOK IT,” to run away, to decamp; “on one’s own HOOK,” dependant upon one’s own exertions.—See the preceding for derivation.

HOOKS, “dropped off the HOOKS,” said of a deceased person—derived from the ancient practice of suspending on hooks the quarters of a traitor or felon sentenced by the old law to be hung, drawn, and quartered, and which dropped off the hooks as they decayed.

HOOKEY WALKER! ejaculation of incredulity, usually shortened to WALKER!—which see. A correspondent thinks HOOKEY WALKER may have been a certain Hugh K. Walker.

HOOK-UM SNIVEY (formerly “hook and snivey”), a low expression meaning to cheat by feigning sickness or other means. Also a piece of thick iron wire crooked at one end, and fastened into a wooden handle, for the purpose of undoing from the outside the wooden bolt of a door.

HOP, a dance.—Fashionable slang.

HOP THE TWIG, to run away, or BOLT, which see.—Old.

HOP-MERCHANT, a dancing-master.

HOPPING GILES, a cripple. St. Ægidius or Giles, himself similarly afflicted, was their patron saint. The ancient lazar houses were dedicated to him.

HORRID HORN, term of reproach amongst the street Irish, meaning a fool, or half-witted fellow. From the Erse OMADHAUN, a brainless fellow. A correspondent suggests HERRIDAN, a miserable old woman.

HORRORS, the low spirits, or “blue devils,” which follow intoxication.

HORSE, contraction of Horsemonger-lane Gaol.

HORSE CHAUNTER, a dealer who takes worthless horses to country fairs and disposes of them by artifice. He is flexible in his ethics, and will put in a glass-eye, or perform other tricks.—See COPER.

HORSE NAILS, money.—Compare BRADS.

HORSE’S NIGHTCAP, a halter; “to die in a HORSE’S NIGHTCAP,” to be hung.

HORSE MARINE, an awkward person. In ancient times the “JOLLIES” or Royal Marines, were the butts of the sailors, from their ignorance of seamanship. “Tell that to the MARINES, the blue jackets won’t believe it!” was a common rejoinder to a “stiff yarn.” Now-a-days they are deservedly appreciated as the finest regiment in the service. A HORSE MARINE (an impossibility) was used to denote one more awkward still.

HOT COPPERS, the feverish sensations experienced next morning by those who have been drunk over night.

HOT TIGER, an Oxford mixture of hot-spiced ale and sherry.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, a water-closet.

HOXTER, an inside pocket.—Old English, OXTER.

HUEY, a town or village.

HUFF, to vex, or offend; a poor temper.

HUFF, a dodge or trick; “don’t try that HUFF on me,” or “that HUFF won’t do.”—Norwich.

HULK, to hang about in hopes of an invitation.—See MOOCH.

HULKY, extra sized.—Shropshire.

HUM AND HAW, to hesitate, raise objections.—Old English.

HUMBLE PIE, to “eat HUMBLE PIE,” to knock under, be submissive. The UMBLES, or entrails of a deer, were anciently made into a dish for servants, while their masters feasted off the haunch.

HUMBUG, an imposition, or a person who imposes upon others. A very expressive but slang word, synonymous at one time with HUM AND HAW. Lexicographers have fought shy at adopting this word. Richardson uses it frequently to express the meaning of other words, but omits it in the alphabetical arrangement as unworthy of recognition! In the first edition of this work, 1785 was given as the earliest date at which the word could be found in a printed book. Since then I have traced HUMBUG half a century farther back, on the title-page of a singular old jest-book—“The Universal Jester; or a pocket companion for the Wits: being a choice collection of merry conceits, facetious drolleries, &c., clenchers, closers, closures, bon-mots, and HUMBUGS,” by Ferdinando Killigrew. London, about 1735–40.

I have also ascertained that the famous Orator Henley was known to the mob as Orator Humbug. The fact may be learnt from an illustration in that exceedingly curious little collection of Caricatures, published in 1757, many of which were sketched by Lord Bolingbroke—Horace Walpole filling in the names and explanations. Halliwell describes HUMBUG as “a person who hums,” and cites Dean Milles’ MS., which was written about 1760. It has been stated that the word is a corruption of Hamburgh, from which town so many false bulletins and reports came during the war in the last century. “Oh, that is Hamburgh [or HUMBUG],” was the answer to any fresh piece of news which smacked of improbability. Grose mentions it in his Dictionary, 1785; and in a little printed squib, published in 1808, entitled Bath Characters, by T. Goosequill, HUMBUG is thus mentioned in a comical couplet on the title page:—

Gradually from this time the word began to assume a place in periodical literature, and in novels not written by squeamish or over-precise authors. In the preface to a flat, and, I fear, unprofitable poem, entitled, The Reign of HUMBUG, a Satire, 8vo., 1836, the author thus apologises for the use of the word—“I have used the term HUMBUG to designate this principle [wretched sophistry of life generally], considering that it is now adopted into our language as much as the words dunce, jockey, cheat, swindler, &c., which were formerly only colloquial terms.” A correspondent, who in a late number of Adersaria ingeniously traced bombast to the inflated Doctor Paracelsus Bombast, considers that HUMBUG may, in like manner, be derived from Homberg, the distinguished chemist of the court of the Duke of Orleans, who, according to the following passage from Bishop Berkeley’s “Siris,” was an ardent and successful seeker after the philosopher’s stone!

“§ 194.—Of this there cannot be a better proof than the experiment of Monsieur Homberg, WHO MADE GOLD OF MERCURY BY INTRODUCING LIGHT INTO ITS PORES, but at such trouble and expense, that, I suppose, nobody will try the experiment for profit. By this injunction of light and mercury, both bodies became fixed, and produced a third different to either, to wit, real gold. For the truth of which FACT I refer to the memoirs of the French Academy of Sciences.”—Berkeley’s Works, vol. ii., p. 366, (Wright’s edition).

The universal use of this term is remarkable; in California there is a town called Humbug Flat—a name which gives a significant hint of the acuteness of the first settler.

HUM-DRUM, tedious, tiresome, boring; “a society of gentlemen who used to meet near the Charter House, or at the King’s Head, St. John’s street. They were characterised by less mystery and more pleasantry than the Freemasons.”—Bacchus and Venus, 1737. In the West a low cart.

HUMP, to botch, or spoil.

HUMP UP, “to have one’s HUMP UP,” to be cross or ill-tempered—like a cat with its back set up.—See MONKEY.

HUMPTY DUMPTY, short and thick.

HUNCH, to shove, or jostle.

HUNTER PITCHING, cockshies, or three throws a penny.—See COCKSHY.

HUNTING THE SQUIRREL, when hackney and stage coachmen try to upset each other’s vehicles on the public roads. Nearly obsolete.

HURDY-GURDY, a droning musical instrument shaped like a large fiddle, and turned by a crank, used by Savoyards and itinerant foreign musicians in England, now nearly superseded by the hand-organ. A correspondent suggests that the name is derived from being girded on the HARDIES, loins or buttocks.—Scotch; Tam o’Shanter. In Italy the instrument is called VIOLA.

HUSH-MONEY, a sum given to quash a prosecution or evidence.

HUSH-SHOP, or CRIB, a shop where beer or spirits is sold “on the quiet”—no licence being paid.

HYPS, or HYPO, the blue devils. From Hypochondriasis.—Swift.

IN, “to be IN with a person,” to be even with, or UP to him.

IN FOR IT, in trouble or difficulty of any kind.

IN FOR PATTER, waiting for trial.

INEXPRESSIBLES, UNUTTERABLES, UNWHISPERABLES, or SIT-UPONS, trousers, the nether garments.

INNINGS, earnings, money coming in; “he’s had long INNINGS,” i.e., a good run of luck, plenty of cash flowing in.

INSIDE LINING, dinner, &c.

INTERESTING, “to be in an INTERESTING situation,” applied to females when enceinte.

INTO, “hold my hat, Jim, I’ll be INTO him,” i.e., I will fight him. In this sense equivalent to PITCH INTO or SLIP INTO.

INVITE, an invitation—a corruption used by stuck-up people of mushroom origin.

IPSAL DIXAL, Cockney corruption of ipse dixit—said of one’s simple uncorroborated assertion.

IT’S GOOD ON THE STAR, it’s easy to open.

IVORIES, teeth; “a box” or “cage of IVORIES,” a set of teeth, the mouth; “wash your IVORIES,” i.e., “drink.” The word is also used to denote DICE.

JABBER, to talk, or chatter. A cant word in Swift’s time.

JACK, a low prostitute.

JACK KETCH, the public hangman.—See KETCH.

JACK SPRAT, a diminutive boy or man.

JACK TAR, a sailor.

JACK-AT-A-PINCH, one whose assistance is only sought on an emergency; JACK-IN-THE-WATER, an attendant at the watermen’s stairs on the river and sea-port towns, who does not mind wetting his feet for a customer’s convenience, in consideration of a douceur.

JACKS, HALF JACKS, card counters, resembling in size and appearance sovereigns and half-sovereigns, for which they are occasionally passed to simple persons. In large gambling establishments the “heaps of gold” are frequently composed mainly of JACKS.

JACKETING, a thrashing.

JACKEY, gin.

JACOB, a ladder. Grose says from Jacob’s dream.—Old cant.

JAGGER, a gentleman.—German, JAGER, a sportsman.

JAIL-BIRD, a prisoner, one who has been in jail.

JAMES, a sovereign, or twenty shillings.

JANNOCK, sociable, fair dealing.—Norfolk.

JAPAN, to ordain.—University.

JARK, a seal, or watch ornament.—Ancient cant.

JARVEY, the driver of a hackney coach; JARVEY’S UPPER BENJAMIN, a coachman’s over-coat.

JAW, speech, or talk; “hold your JAW,” don’t speak any more; “what are you JAWING about?” i.e., what are you making a noise about?

JAW-BREAKERS, hard or many-syllabled words.

JAZEY, a wig. A corruption of Jersey, the name for flax prepared in a peculiar manner, and of which common wigs were formerly made.

JEAMES, (a generic for “flunkies,”) the Morning Post newspaper—the organ of Belgravia and the “Haristocracy.”

JEHU, old slang term for a coachman, or one fond of driving.

JEMMY, a crowbar.

JEMMY, a sheep’s head.—See SANGUINARY JAMES.

JEMMY JESSAMY, a dandy.

JERRY, a beer house.

JERRY, a chamber utensil, abbreviation of JEROBOAM.—Swift. JERRY-COME-TUMBLE, a water-closet.

JERRY, a fog.

JERUSALEM PONY, a donkey.

JESSIE, “to give a person JESSIE,” to beat him soundly.—See GAS.

JEW’S EYE, a popular simile for anything valuable. Probably a corruption of the Italian, GIOJE; French, JOUAILLE, a jewel. In ancient times, when a king was short of cash, he generally issued orders for so many Jew’s eyes, or equivalent sums of money. The Jews preferred paying the ransom, although often very heavy. We thus realise the popularly believed origin of JEW’S EYE. Used by Shakespere.

JEW-FENCER, a Jew street salesman.

JIB, the face, or a person’s expression; “the cut of his JIB,” i.e. his peculiar appearance. The sail of a ship, which in position and shape corresponds to the nose on a person’s face.—See GIB.—Sea.

JIB, or JIBBER, a horse that starts or shrinks. Shakespere uses it in the sense of a worn out horse.

JIBB, the tongue.—Gipsey and Hindoo.

JIFFY, “in a JIFFY,” in a moment.

JIGGER, a secret still, illicit spirits.—Scotch.

JIGGER, “I’m JIGGERED if you will,” a common form of mild swearing.—See SNIGGER.

JIGGER, a door; “dub the JIGGER,” shut the door. Ancient cant, GYGER. In billiards the bridge on the table is often termed the JIGGER.

JIGGER-DUBBERS, term applied to jailors or turnkeys.

JILT, a crowbar or housebreaking implement.

JINGO, “by JINGO,” a common form of oath, said to be a corruption of St. Gingoulph.—Vide Halliwell.

JOB, a short piece of work, a prospect of employment. Johnson describes JOB as a low word, without etymology. It is, and was, however, a cant word, and a JOB, two centuries ago, was an arranged robbery. Even at the present day it is mainly confined to the streets, in the sense of employment for a short time. Amongst undertakers a JOB signifies a funeral; “to do a JOB,” conduct any one’s funeral; “by the JOB,” i.e., piece-work, as opposed to time-work. A JOB in political phraseology is a Government office or contract, obtained by secret influence or favouritism.

To JOE BLAKE THE BARTLEMY, to visit a low woman.

JOEY, a fourpenny piece. The term is derived (like BOBBY from Sir Robert Peel) from Joseph Hume, the late respected M.P. The explanation is thus given in Hawkins’ History of the Silver Coinage of England.

“These pieces are said to have owed their existence to the pressing instance of Mr. Hume, from whence they, for some time, bore the nickname of JOEYS. As they were very convenient to pay short cab fares, the Hon. M.P. was extremely unpopular with the drivers, who frequently received only a groat where otherwise they would have received a sixpence without any demand for change.” The term originated with the London cabmen, who have invented many others.

JOG-TROT, a slow but regular trot, or pace.

JOGUL, to play up, at cards or other game. Spanish, JUGAR.

JOHN THOMAS, a generic for “flunkies,”—footmen popularly represented with large calves and bushy whiskers.

JOLLY, a word of praise, or favourable notice; “chuck Harry a JOLLY, Bill!” i.e., go and praise up his goods, or buy of him, and speak well of the article, that the crowd standing around his stall may think it a good opportunity to lay out their money. “Chuck a JOLLY,” literally translated, is to throw a shout or a good word.

JOLLY, a Royal Marine.—See HORSE MARINE.

JOMER, a sweetheart, or favourite girl.—See BLOWER.

JORDAN, a chamber utensil.—Saxon.

JOSKIN, a countryman.

JUG, a prison, or jail.

JUMP, to seize, or rob; “to JUMP a man,” to pounce upon him, and either rob or maltreat him; “to JUMP a house,” to rob it.—See GO.

JUNIPER, gin.—Household Words, No. 183.

JUNK, salt beef.—See OLD HORSE.

KEEL-HAULING, a good thrashing or mauling, rough treatment,—from the old nautical custom of punishing offenders by throwing them overboard with a rope attached and hauling them up from under the ship’s keel.

KEEP IT UP, to prolong a debauch, or the occasion of a rejoicing—a metaphor drawn from the game of shuttlecock.—Grose.

KEN, a house.—Ancient cant. Khan, Gipsey and Oriental.

⁂ All slang and cant words which end in KEN, such as SPIELKEN, SPINIKEN, BAWDYKEN, or BOOZINGKEN, refer to houses, and are partly of Gipsey origin.

KEN-CRACKERS, housebreakers.

KENNEDY, to strike or kill with a poker. A St. Giles’ term, so given from a man of that name being killed by a poker. Frequently shortened to NEDDY.

KENT RAG, or CLOUT, a cotton handkerchief.

KERTEVER-CARTZO, the venereal disease. From the Lingua Franca, CATTIVO, bad, and CAZZO, the male generative organ.

KETCH, or JACK KETCH, the popular name for a public hangman—derived from a person of that name who officiated in the reign of Charles II.—See Macaulay’s History of England, p. 626.

KIBOSH, nonsense, stuff, humbug; “it’s all KIBOSH,” i.e., palaver or nonsense; “to put on the KIBOSH,” to run down, slander, degrade, &c.—See BOSH.

KICK, a moment; “I’ll be there in a KICK,” i.e., in a minute.

KICK, a sixpence; “two and a KICK,” two shillings and sixpence.

KICK, a pocket.

KICK THE BUCKET, to die.—Norfolk. According to Forby, a metaphor taken from the descent of a well or mine, which is of course absurd. The Rev. E. S. Taylor supplies me with the following note from his MS. additions to the work of the East-Anglian lexicographer:—

“The allusion is to the way in which a slaughtered pig is hung up, viz., by passing the ends of a bent piece of wood behind the tendons of the hind legs, and so suspending it to a hook in a beam above. This piece of wood is locally termed a bucket, and so by a coarse metaphor the phrase came to signify to die. Compare the Norfolk phrase “as wrong as a bucket.”

The natives of the West Indies have converted the expression into KICKERABOO.

KICK-UP, a noise or disturbance.

KICK UP, “to KICK UP a row,” to create a tumult.

KICKSHAWS, trifles; made, or French dishes—not English, or substantial. Corruption of the French, QUELQUES CHOSES.

KICKSIES, trousers.

KICKSY, troublesome, disagreeable.

KID, an infant, or child.

KID, to joke, to quiz, to hoax anybody.

KID-ON, to entice, or incite a person on to the perpetration of an act.

KID-RIG, cheating children in the streets sent on errands, or entrusted with packages. Nearly obsolete.

KIDDEN, a low lodging house for boys.

KIDDIER, a pork-butcher.

KIDDILY, fashionably, or showily; “KIDDILY togg’d,” showily dressed.

KIDDLEYWINK, a small shop where they retail the commodities of a village store. Also, a loose woman.

KIDDY, a man or boy. Formerly a low thief.

KIDDYISH, frolicsome, jovial.

KIDMENT, a pocket-handkerchief fastened to the pocket, and partially hung out to entrap thieves.

KIDNAPPER, one who steals children or adults. From KID, a child, and NAB (corrupted to NAP), to steal, or seize.

KIDNEY, “of that KIDNEY,” of such a stamp: “strange KIDNEY,” odd humour; “two of a KIDNEY,” two persons of a sort, or as like as two peas, i.e., resembling each other like two kidneys in a bunch.—Old. “Attempt to put their hair out of KIDNEY.”—Terræ Filius, 1763.

KIDSMAN, one who trains boys to thieve and pick pockets successfully.

KILKENNY CAT, a popular simile for a voracious or desperate animal or person, from the story of the two cats in that county, who are said to have fought and bitten each other until a small portion of the tail of one of them alone remained.

KILLING, bewitching, fascinating. The term is akin to the phrase “dressing to DEATH.”

KIMBO, or A-KIMBO, holding the arms in a bent position from the body, and resting the hands upon the hips, in a bullying attitude. Said to be from A SCHEMBO, Italian; but more probably from KIMBAW, the old cant for beating, or bullying.—See Grose.

KINCHIN, a child.—Old cant. From the German diminutive, KINDCHEN, a baby.

KINCHIN COVE, a man who robs children; a little man.—Ancient cant.

KINGSMAN, the favourite coloured neckerchief of the costermongers. The women wear them thrown over their shoulders. With both sexes they are more valued than any other article of clothing. A coster’s caste, or position, is at stake, he imagines, if his KINGSMAN is not of the most approved pattern. When he fights, his KINGSMAN is tied either around his waist as a belt, or as a garter around his leg. This very singular partiality for a peculiar coloured neckcloth was doubtless derived from the Gipseys, and probably refers to an Oriental taste or custom long forgotten by these vagabonds. A singular similarity of taste for certain colours exists amongst the Hindoos, Gipseys, and London costermongers. Red and yellow (or orange) are the great favourites, and in these hues the Hindoo selects his turban and his robe; the Gipsey his breeches, and his wife her shawl or gown; and the costermonger his plush waistcoat and favourite KINGSMAN. Amongst either class, when a fight takes place, the greatest regard is paid to the favourite coloured article of dress. The Hindoo lays aside his turban, the Gipsey folds up his scarlet breeches or coat, whilst the pugilistic costermonger of Covent Garden or Billingsgate, as we have just seen, removes his favourite neckerchief to a part of his body, by the rules of the “ring,” comparatively out of danger. Amongst the various patterns of kerchiefs worn by the wandering tribes of London, red and yellow are the oldest and most in fashion. Blue, intermixed with spots, is a late importation, probably from the Navy, through sporting characters.

KING’S PICTURES (now, of course, QUEEN’S PICTURES), money.

KISKY, drunk, fuddled.

KISS CURL, a small curl twisted on the temple.—See BOW-CATCHER.

KISS-ME-QUICK, the name given to the very small bonnets worn by females since 1850.

KITE, see FLY THE KITE.

KNACKER, an old horse; a horse slaughterer.—Gloucestershire.

KNAP, to receive, to take, to steal.

KNAPPING-JIGGER, a turnpike-gate; “to dub at the KNAPPING-JIGGER,” to pay money at the turnpike.

KNARK, a hard-hearted or savage person.

KNIFE, “to KNIFE a person,” to stab, an un-English but now-a-days a very common expression.

KNIFE IT, “cut it,” cease, stop, don’t proceed.

KNIFE-BOARD, the seat running along the roof of an omnibus.

KNIGHT, a common and ironical prefix to a man’s calling,—thus, “KNIGHT of the whip,” a coachman; “KNIGHT of the thimble,” a tailor.

KNOCK ABOUT THE BUB, to hand or pass about the drink.

KNOCK DOWN, or KNOCK ME DOWN, strong ale.

KNOCK OFF, to give over, or abandon. A saying used by workmen about dinner, or other meal times, for upwards of two centuries.

KNOCKED UP, tired, jaded, used up, done for. In the United States, amongst females, the phrase is equivalent to being enceinte, so that Englishmen often unconsciously commit themselves when amongst our Yankee cousins.

KNOCK-IN, the game of loo.

KNOCK-OUTS, or KNOCK-INS, disreputable persons who visit auction rooms and unite to buy the articles at their own prices. One of their number is instructed to buy for the rest, and after a few small bids as blinds to the auctioneer and bystanders, the lot is knocked down to the KNOCK-OUT bidders, at a nominal price—the competition to result from an auction being thus frustrated and set aside. At the conclusion of the sale the goods are paid for, and carried to some neighbouring public house, where they are re-sold or KNOCKED-OUT, and the difference between the first purchase and the second—or tap-room KNOCK-OUT—is divided amongst the gang. As generally happens with ill-gotten gains, the money soon finds its way to the landlord’s pocket, and the KNOCK-OUT is rewarded with a red nose or a bloated face. Cunning tradesmen join the KNOCK-OUTS when an opportunity for money making presents itself. The lowest description of KNOCK-OUTS, fellows with more tongue than capital, are termed BABES,—which see.

KNOCKING-SHOP, a brothel, or disreputable house frequented by prostitutes.

KNOWING, a slang term for sharpness; “KNOWING codger,” or “a KNOWING blade,” one who can take you in, or cheat you, in any transaction you may have with him. It implies also deep cunning and foresight, and generally signifies dishonesty.

KNOWLEDGE-BOX, the head.—Pugilistic.

KNUCKLE, to pick pockets after the most approved method.

KNUCKLE TO, or KNUCKLE UNDER, to yield or submit.

KNUCKLER, a pickpocket.

KNULLER, old term for a chimney-sweep, who solicited jobs by ringing a bell. From the Saxon, CNYLLAN, to knell, or sound a bell.—See QUERIER.

KOTOOING, misapplied flattery.—Illustrated London News, 7th January, 1860.

KYPSEY, a basket.

LA! a euphuistic rendering of LORD, common amongst females and very precise persons; imagined by many to be a corruption of LOOK! but this is a mistake. Sometimes pronounced LAW, or LAWKS.

LACING, a beating. From the phrase “I’ll LACE your jacket.”—L’Estrange. Perhaps to give a beating with a lace or lash.

LADDER, “can’t see a hole in a LADDER,” said of any one who is intoxicated.

LADDLE, a lady. Term with chimney-sweeps on the 1st of May. A correspondent suggests that the term may come from the brass ladles for collecting money, always carried by the sweeps’ ladies.

LAG, a returned transport, or ticket-of-leave convict.

LAG, to void urine.—Ancient cant.

LAGGED, transported for a crime.

LAGGER, a sailor.

LAME DUCK, a stock jobber who speculates beyond his capital and cannot pay his losses. Upon retiring from the Exchange he is said to “waddle out of the Alley.”

LAMMING, a beating.—Old English, LAM; used by Beaumont and Fletcher.

LAND LUBBER, sea term for a “landsman.”—See LOAFER.

LAND-SHARK, a sailor’s definition of a lawyer.

LAP THE GUTTER, to get drunk.

LARK, fun, a joke; “let’s have a jolly good LARK,” let us have a piece of fun. Mayhew calls it “a convenient word covering much mischief.”—Anglo Saxon, LAC, sport; but more probably from the nautical term SKYLARKING, i.e., mounting to the highest yards and sliding down the ropes for amusement, which is allowed on certain occasions.

LARRUP, to beat, or thrash.

LARRUPING, a good beating or “hiding.”—Irish.

LATCHPAN, the lower lip—properly a dripping pan; “to hang one’s LATCHPAN,” to pout, be sulky.—Norfolk.

LAVENDER, “to be laid up in LAVENDER,” in pawn; or, when a person is out of the way for an especial purpose.—Old.

LAY, to watch; “on the LAY,” on the look out—Shakespere.

LED CAPTAIN, a fashionable spunger, a swell who, by artifice ingratiates himself into the good graces of the master of the house, and lives at his table.

LEARY, to look, or be watchful; shy.—Old cant.

LEARY, flash, or knowing.

LEARY BLOAK, a person who dresses showily.

LEATHER, to beat or thrash. From the leather belt worn by soldiers and policemen, often used as a weapon in street rows.

LEAVING SHOP, an unlicensed house where goods are taken in to pawn at exorbitant rates of interest.—Daily Telegraph, 1st August, 1859.

LEEF, “I’d as LEEF do it as not,” i.e., I have no objection to do it.—Corruption of LIEF, or LEAVE. Old English, LIEF, inclined to.

LEG IT, to run; LEG BAIL, to run off; “to give a LEG,” to assist, as when one mounts a horse; “making a LEG,” a countryman’s bow,—projecting the leg from behind as a balance to the head bent forward.—Shakespere.

LEGGED, in irons.

LEGS, or BLACKLEGS, disreputable sporting characters, and race-course habitués.

LEGS OF MUTTON, inflated street term for sheeps’ trotters, or feet.

LENGTH, forty-two lines of a dramatic composition.—Theat.

LENGTH, six months’ imprisonment.—See STRETCH.

LET DRIVE, to strike, or attack with vigour.

LET IN, to cheat or victimise.

LET ON, to give an intimation of having some knowledge of a subject. Ramsay employs the phrase in the Gentle Shepherd. Common in Scotland.

LETTY, a bed. Italian, LETTO.

LEVANTER, a card sharper, or defaulting gambler. A correspondent states that it was formerly the custom to give out to the creditors, when a person was in pecuniary difficulties, and it was convenient for him to keep away, that he was gone to the East, or the LEVANT; hence, when one loses a bet, and decamps without settling, he is said to LEVANT.

LICK, a blow; LICKING, a beating; “to put in big LICKS,” a curious and common phrase meaning that great exertions are being made.—Dryden; North.

LICK, to excel, or overcome; “if you aint sharp he’ll LICK you,” i.e., be finished first. Signifies, also, to whip, chastise, or conquer. Ancient cant, LYCKE.

LIFER, a convict who is sentenced to transportation for life.

LIFT, to steal, pick pockets; “there’s a clock been LIFTED,” said when a watch has been stolen. The word is as old as the Border forays, and is used by Shakespere. Shoplifter is a recognised term.

LIGHT, “to be able to get a LIGHT at a house” is to get credit.

LIGHT-FEEDERS, silver spoons.

LIGHTS, a “cake,” a fool, a soft or “doughy” person.

LIGHTS, the eyes.

LIGHTNING, gin; “FLASH O’ LIGHTNING,” a glass of gin.

LIMB OF THE LAW, a lawyer, or clerk articled to that profession.

LINE, calling, trade, profession; “what LINE are you in?” “the building LINE.”

LINGO, talk, or language. Slang is termed LINGO amongst the lower orders. Italian, LINGUA.

LIP, bounce, impudence; “come, none o’ yer LIP!”

LIQUOR, or LIQUOR UP, to drink drams.—Americanism. In liquor, tipsy, or drunk.

LITTLE GO, the “Previous Examination,” at Cambridge the first University examination for undergraduates in their second year of matriculation. At Oxford, the corresponding term is THE SMALLS.

LITTLE SNAKES-MAN, a little thief, who is generally passed through a small aperture to open any door to let in the rest of the gang.

LIVE-STOCK, vermin of the insect kind.

LOAFER, a lazy vagabond. Generally considered an Americanism. Loper, or LOAFER, however, was in general use as a cant term in the early part of the last century. Land-loper, was a vagabond who begged in the attire of a sailor; and the sea phrase, LAND-LUBBER, was doubtless synonymous.—See the Times, 3rd November, 1859, for a reference to LOAFER.

LOAVER, money.—See LOUR.

LOB, a till, or money drawer.

LOBB, the head.—Pugilistic.

LOBLOLLY, gruel.—Old: used by Markham as a sea term for grit gruel, or hasty pudding.

LOBLOLLY BOY, a derisive term for a surgeon’s mate in the navy.

LOBS, words.—Gipsey.

LOBSTER, a soldier. A policeman from the colour of his coat is styled an unboiled, or raw LOBSTER.

LOBSTER-BOX, a barrack, or military station.

LOLLY, the head.—See LOBB.—Pugilistic.

LONG-BOW, “to draw,” or “shoot with the LONG BOW,” to exaggerate.

LONG-TAILED-ONES, bank notes, or FLIMSIES, for a large amount.

LOOF FAKER, a chimney-sweep.—See FLUE FAKER.

LOOSE.—See ON THE LOOSE.

LOOT, swag, or plunder.—Hindoo.

LOP-SIDED, uneven, one side larger than the other.—Old.

LOPE, this old form of leap is often heard in the streets.

LORD, “drunk as a LORD,” a common saying, probably referring to the facilities a man of fortune has for such a gratification; perhaps a sly sarcasm at the supposed habits of the “haristocracy.”

LORD, a hump-backed man.—See MY LORD.

LORD OF THE MANOR, a sixpence.

LOUD, flashy, showy, as applied to dress or manner.—See BAGS.

LOUR, or LOWR, money; “gammy LOWR,” bad money.—Ancient cant, and Gipsey.

LOUSE-TRAP, a small tooth comb.—Old cant.—See CATCH ’EM ALIVE.

LOVE, at billiards “five to none” would be “five LOVE,”—a LOVE being the same as when one player does not score at all.

LOVEAGE, tap droppings, a mixture of spirits, sweetened and sold to habitual dram-drinkers, principally females. Called also ALLS.

LUBBER, a clown, or fool.—Ancient cant, LUBBARE.

LUBBER’S HOLE, an aperture in the maintop of a ship, by which a timid climber may avoid the difficulties of the “futtock shrouds”—hence, a sea term for any cowardly way of evading duty.

LUCK, “down on one’s LUCK,” wanting money, or in difficulty.

LUCKY, “to cut one’s LUCKY,” to go away quickly.—See STRIKE.

LUG, “my togs are in LUG,” i.e., in pawn.

LUG, the ear.—Scotch.

LUG, to pull, or slake thirst.—Old.

LUG CHOVEY, a pawnbroker’s shop.

LULLY PRIGGERS, rogues who steal wet clothes hung on lines to dry.

LUMBER, to pawn or pledge.—Household Words, No. 183.

LUMMY, jolly, first-rate.

LUMPER, a contractor. On the river, more especially a person who contracts to deliver a ship laden with timber.

LUMP THE LIGHTER, to be transported.

LUMP WORK, work contracted for, or taken by the lump.

LUMPERS, low thieves who haunt wharves and docks, and rob vessels; persons who sell old goods for new.

LUMPY, intoxicated.

LUNAN, a girl.—Gipsey.

LURK, a sham, swindle, or representation of feigned distress.

LURKER, an impostor who travels the country with false certificates of fires, shipwrecks, &c.

LUSH, intoxicating drinks of all kinds, but generally used for beer. The Globe, 8th September, 1859, says “LUSH and its derivatives claim Lushington, the brewer, as sponsor.”

LUSH, to drink, or get drunk.

LUSH-CRIB, a public house.

LUSHINGTON, a drunkard, or one who continually soaks himself with drams, and pints of beer. Some years since there was a “Lushington Club” in Bow-street, Covent Garden.

LUSHY, intoxicated. Johnson says “opposite to pale,” so red with drink.

MAB, a cab, or hackney coach.

MACE, a dressy swindler who victimizes tradesmen.

MACE, to spunge, swindle, or beg, in a polite way; “give it him (a shopkeeper) on the MACE,” i.e., obtain goods on credit and never pay for them; also termed “striking the MACE.”

MADZA, half. Italian, MEZZA. This word enters into combination with various cant phrases, mainly taken from the Lingua Franca, as MADZA CAROON, half-a-crown, two-and-sixpence; MADZA SALTEE, a halfpenny [see SALTEE]; MADZA POONA, half-a-sovereign; MADZA ROUND THE BULL, half-a-pound of steak, &c.

MAG, a halfpenny.—Ancient cant, MAKE. Meggs were formerly guineas.—B. M. Carew.

MAG, to talk. A corruption of NAG.—Old; hence MAGPIE.

MAGGOTTY, fanciful, fidgetty. Whims and fancies were formerly termed MAGGOTS, from the popular belief that a maggot in the brain was the cause of any odd notion or caprice a person might exhibit.

MAGSMAN, a street swindler, who watches for countrymen and “gullable” persons.

MAHOGANY, “to have one’s feet under another man’s MAHOGANY,” to sit at his table, be supported on other than one’s own resources; “amputate your MAHOGANY,” i.e., go away, or “cut your stick.”

MAIN-TOBY, the highway, or the main road.

MAKE, a successful theft, or swindle.

MAKE, to steal.

MAKE UP, personal appearance.—Theatrical.

MANG, to talk.—Scotch.

MARE’S NEST, a Cockney discovery of marvels, which turn out no marvels at all. An old preacher in Cornwall, up to very lately employed a different version, viz.: “a cow calving up in a tree.”

MARINATED, transported;—from the salt-pickling fish undergo in Cornwall.—Old cant.

MARINE, or MARINE RECRUIT, an empty bottle. This expression having once been used in the presence of an officer of marines, he was at first inclined to take it as an insult, until some one adroitly appeased his wrath by remarking that no offence could be meant, as all that it could possibly imply was, “one who had done his duty, and was ready to do it again.”—See HORSE MARINE.—Naval.

MARRIAGE LINES, a marriage certificate.—Provincial.

MARROWSKYING.—See MEDICAL GREEK.

MARYGOLD, one million sterling.—See PLUM.

MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS, when the leader of the House of Commons goes through the doleful operation of devoting to extinction a number of useful measures at the end of the session, for want of time to pass them.—Vide Times, 20th July, 1859: Mr. C. Foster, on altering the time of the legislative sessions.—Parliamentary slang.

MATE, the term a coster or low person applies to a friend, partner, or companion; “me and my MATE did so and so,” is a common phrase with a low Londoner.—Originally a Sea term.

MAULEY, a signature, from MAULEY, a fist; “put your FIST to it,” is sometimes said by a low tradesman when desiring a fellow trader to put his signature to a bill or note.

MAULEY, a fist, that with which one strikes as with a MALL.—Pugilistic.

MAUND, to beg; “MAUNDERING on the fly,” begging of people in the streets.—Old cant. Maung, to beg, is a term in use amongst the Gipseys, and may also be found in the Hindoo Vocabulary. Maund, however, is pure Anglo Saxon, from MAND, a basket. Compare “beg,” which is derived from BAG, a curious parallel.

MAW, the mouth; “hold your MAW,” cease talking.

MAX, gin; MAX-UPON TICK, gin obtained upon credit.

M. B. COAT, i.e., Mark of the Beast, a name given to the long surtout worn by the clergy,—a modern Puritan form of abuse, said to have been accidentally disclosed to a Tractarian customer by a tailor’s orders to his foreman.

MEALY-MOUTHED, plausible, deceitful.

MEDICAL GREEK, the slang used by medical students at the hospitals. At the London University they have a way of disguising English, described by Albert Smith as the Gower-street Dialect, which consists in transposing the initials of words, e.g., “poke a smipe”—smoke a pipe, “flutter-by”—butterfly, &c. This disagreeable nonsense is often termed MARROWSKYING.—See GREEK, St. Giles’ Greek, or the “Ægidiac” dialect, Language of ZIPH, &c.

MENAGERY, the orchestra of a theatre.—Theatrical.

MIDDY, abbreviation of MIDSHIPMAN.—Naval.

MIDGE NET, a lady’s veil.

MIKE, to loiter; or, as a costermonger defined it, to “lazy about.” The term probably originated at St. Giles’, which used to be thronged with Irish labourers (Mike being so common a term with them as to become a generic appellation for Irishmen with the vulgar) who used to loiter about the Pound, and lean against the public-houses in the “Dials” waiting for hire.

MILKY ONES, white linen rags.

MILL, a fight, or SET TO. Ancient cant, MYLL, to rob.

MILL, to fight or beat.

MILL, the treadmill, prison.

MILL-TOG, a shirt—most likely the prison garment.

MISH, a shirt, or chemise. From COMMISSION, the Ancient cant for a shirt, afterwards shortened to K’MISH or SMISH, and then to MISH. French, CHEMISE; Italian, CAMICIA.

“With his snowy CAMESE and his shaggy capote.”—Byron.

MITTENS, fists.—Pugilistic.

MIZZLE, to run away, or decamp; to disappear as in a mist. From MIZZLE, a drizzling rain; a Scotch mist.

MOB. Swift informs us, in his Art of Polite Conversation, that MOB was, in his time, the slang abbreviation of Mobility, just as NOB is of Nobility at the present day.—See SCHOOL.

MOBILITY, the populace; or, according to Burke, the “great unwashed.” Johnson calls it a cant term, although Swift notices it as a proper expression.

MOBS, companions; MOBSMEN, dressy swindlers.

MOKE, a donkey.—Gipsey.

MOKO, a name given by sportsmen to pheasants killed by mistake in partridge shooting during September, before the pheasant shooting comes in. They pull out their tails, and roundly assert they are no pheasants at all, but MOKOS.

MOLL, a girl; nickname for Mary.—Old cant.

MOLL’D, followed, or accompanied by a woman.

MOLLISHER, a low girl or woman; generally a female cohabiting with a man, and jointly getting their living by thieving.

MOLLSACK, a reticule, or market basket.

MOLL-TOOLER, a female pickpocket.

MOLLYCODDLE, an effeminate man; one who caudles amongst the women, or does their work.

MOLLYGRUBS, or MULLIGRUBS, stomach-ache, or sorrow—which to the costermonger is much the same, as he believes, like the ancients, that the viscera is the seat of all feeling.

MOLROWING, “out on the spree,” in company with so-called “gay women.” In allusion to the amatory serenadings of the London cats.

MONEKEER, a person’s name or signature.

MONKEY, spirit, or ill temper; “to get one’s MONKEY up,” to rouse his passion. A man is said to have his MONKEY up, or the MONKEY on his back, when he is “riled,” or out of temper; also to have his BACK or HUMP up.

MONKEY, a padlock.

MONKEY, the instrument which drives a rocket.—Army.

MONKEY, £500.

MONKEY WITH A LONG TAIL, a mortgage.—Legal.

MONKEY’S ALLOWANCE, to get blows instead of alms, more kicks than half-pence.

MONKERY, the country, or rural districts. Old word for a quiet, or monastic life.—Hall.

MOOCH, to sponge; to obtrude yourself upon friends just when they are about to sit down to dinner, or other lucky time—of course quite accidentally.—Compare HULK. To slink away, and allow your friend to pay for the entertainment. In Wiltshire, ON THE MOUTCH is to shuffle.

MOOCHING, or ON THE MOOCH, on the look out for any articles or circumstances which may be turned to a profitable account; watching in the streets for odd jobs, scraps, horses to hold, &c.

MOOE, the mouth; the female generative organ.—Gipsey and Hindoo. Shakespere has MOE, to make mouths.

MOON, a month—generally used to express the length of time a person has been sentenced by the magistrate; thus “ONE MOON” is one month.—See DRAG. It is a curious fact that the Indians of America and the roaming vagabonds of England should both calculate time by the MOON.

MOONEY, intoxicated.—Household Words, No. 183.

MOONLIGHT, or MOONSHINE, smuggled gin.

MOONSHINE, palaver, deception, humbug.

MOP, a hiring place (or fair) for servants. Steps are being taken to put down these assemblages, which have been proved to be greatly detrimental to the morality of the poor.

MOP UP, to drink, or empty a glass.—Old.

MOPS AND BROOMS, intoxicated.—Ho. Words, No. 183.

MOPUSSES, money; “MOPUSSES ran taper,” money ran short.

MORRIS, to decamp, be off. Probably from the ancient MORESCO, or MORRIS DANCE.

MORTAR-BOARD, the term given by the vulgar to the square college caps.

MOTT, a girl of indifferent character. Formerly Mort. Dutch, MOTT-KAST, a harlotry.

MOUNTAIN-DEW, whisky, advertised as from the Highlands.

MOUNTAIN PECKER, a sheep’s head.—See JEMMY.

MOUNTER, a false swearer. Derived from the borrowed clothes men used to MOUNT, or dress in, when going to swear for a consideration.

MOUTHPIECE, a lawyer, or counsel.

MOVE, a “dodge,” or cunning trick; “up to a move or two,” acquainted with tricks.

MRS. JONES, the house of office, a water-closet.

MRS. HARRIS and MRS. GAMP, nicknames of the Morning Herald and Standard newspapers, while united under the proprietorship of Mr. Baldwin. Mrs. Gamp, a monthly nurse, was a character in Mr. Charles Dickens’ popular novel of Martin Chuzzlewit, who continually quoted an imaginary Mrs. Harris in attestation of the superiority of her qualifications, and the infallibility of her opinions; and thus afforded a parallel to the two newspapers, who appealed to each other as independent authorities, being all the while the production of the same editorial staff.

MUCK, to beat, or excel; “it’s no use, luck’s set in him; he’d MUCK a thousand.”—Mayhew, vol. i, p. 18. To run a muck, or GO A MUCKER, to rush headlong into certain ruin. From a certain religious phrenzy, which is common among the Malays, causing one of them, kreese in hand, to dash into a crowd and devote every one to death he meets with, until he is himself killed, or falls from exhaustion—Malay, AMOK, slaughter.

MUCK OUT, to clean out,—often applied to one utterly ruining an adversary in gambling. From the Provincial MUCK, dirt.

MUCK-SNIPE, one who has been “MUCKED OUT,” or beggared, at gambling.

MUCKENDER, or MUCKENGER, a pocket handkerchief.—Old.

MUDFOG, “The British Association for the Promotion of Science.”—University.

MUD-LARKS, men and women who, with their clothes tucked above knee, grovel through the mud on the banks of the Thames, when the tide is low, for silver spoons, old bottles, pieces of iron, coal, or any articles of the least value, deposited by the retiring tide, either from passing ships or the sewers. Occasionally those men who cleanse the sewers, with great boots and sou’ wester hats.

MUFF, a silly, or weak-minded person; MUFF has been defined to be “a soft thing that holds a lady’s hand without squeezing it.”

MUFFIN-WORRY, an old ladies’ tea party.

MUFTI, the civilian dress of a naval or military officer when off duty.—Anglo Indian.

MUG, to fight, or chastise.

MUG, “to MUG oneself,” to get tipsy.

MUG, the mouth, or face.—Old.

MUGGING, a thrashing,—synonymous with slogging, both terms of the “ring,” and frequently used by fighting men.

MUGGY, drunk.

MUG-UP, to paint one’s face.—Theatrical. To “cram” for an examination.—Army.

MULL, “to make a MULL of it,” to spoil anything, or make a fool of oneself.—Gipsey.

MULLIGRUBS.—Vide MOLLYGRUBS.

MULTEE KERTEVER, very bad.—Italian, MOLTO CATTIVO.

MUMMER, a performer at a travelling theatre.—Ancient. Rustic performers at Christmas in the West of England.

MUMPER, a beggar.—Gipsey. Possibly a corruption of MUMMER.

MUNDUNGUS, trashy tobacco. Spanish, MONDONGO, black pudding.

MUNGARLY, bread, food. Mung is an old word for mixed food, but MUNGARLY is doubtless derived from the Lingua Franca, MANGIAR, to eat.—See the following.

MUNGARLY CASA, a baker’s shop; evidently a corruption of some Lingua Franca phrase for an eating house. The well known “Nix mangiare” stairs at Malta derive their name from the endless beggars who lie there and shout NIX MANGIARE, i.e., “nothing to eat,” to excite the compassion of the English who land there,—an expression which exhibits remarkably the mongrel composition of the Lingua Franca, MANGIARE being Italian, and Nix an evident importation from Trieste, or other Austrian seaport.

MUNGING, or “MOUNGING,” whining, begging, muttering.—North.

MUNS, the mouth. German, MUND.—Old cant.

MURERK, the mistress of the house.—See BURERK.

MURKARKER, a monkey,—vulgar cockney pronunciation of MACAUCO, a species of monkey. Jackey Macauco was the name of a famous fighting monkey, which used about thirty years ago to display his prowess at the Westminster pit, where, after having killed many dogs, he was at last “chawed up” by a bull terrier.

MURPHY, a potato. Probably from the Irish national liking for potatoes, MURPHY being a common surname amongst the Irish.—See MIKE. Murphies (edible) are sometimes called DUNNAMANS.

MURPHY, “in the arms of MURPHY,” i.e., fast asleep. Corruption of MORPHEUS.

MUSH, an umbrella. Contraction of mushroom.

MUSH, (or MUSHROOM) FAKER, an itinerant mender of umbrellas.

MUSLIN, a woman or girl; “he picked up a bit of MUSLIN.”

MUTTON, a lewd woman.—Shakespere.

MUTTON-WALK, the saloon at Drury Lane Theatre.

MUZZLE, to fight or thrash.

MUZZLE, the mouth.

MUZZY, intoxicated.—Household Words, No. 183.

MY AUNT, a water-closet, or house of office.

MY LORD, a nickname given to a hunchback.

MY TULIP, a term of endearment used by the lower orders to persons and animals; “kim up, MY TULIP,” as the coster said to his donkey when thrashing him with an ash stick.

MY UNCLE, the pawnbroker,—generally used when any person questions the whereabouts of a domestic article, “Oh! only at MY UNCLE’S” is the reply. Up the spout has the same meaning.

NAB, to catch, to seize; “NAB the rust,” to take offence.—Ancient, fourteenth century.

NABOB, an Eastern prince, a retired Indian official,—hence a slang term for a capitalist.

NAIL, to steal, or capture; “paid on the NAIL,” i.e., ready money; NAILED, taken up, or caught—probably in allusion to the practice of NAILING bad money to the counter. We say “as dead as a DOOR-NAIL;”—why? Shakespere has the expression in Henry IV.—

A correspondent thinks the expression is only alliterative humour, and compares as “Flat as a Flounder,” “straight as a soldier,” &c.

NAM, a policeman. Evidently back slang.

NAMBY PAMBY, particular, over nice, effeminate. This, I think, was of Pope’s invention, and first applied by him to the affected short-lined verses addressed by Ambrose Phillips to Lord Carteret’s infant children.—See Johnson’s Life of Pope.

NAMUS, or NAMOUS, some one, i.e., “be off, somebody is coming.”—Back slang, but general.—See VAMOS.

NANNY-SHOP, a disreputable house.

NANTEE, not any, or “I have none.” Italian, NIENTE, nothing.—See DINARLY.

NANTEE PALAVER, no conversation, i.e., hold your tongue.—Lingua Franca.—See PALAVER.

NAP, or NAB, to take, steal, or receive; “you’ll NAP it,” i.e., you will catch a beating!—North; also old cant.—Bulwer’s Paul Clifford.

NAP, or NAPPER, a hat. From NAB, a hat, cap, or head.—Old cant.

NAP ONE’S BIB, to cry, shed tears, or carry one’s point.

NAP THE REGULARS, to divide the booty.

NAP THE TEAZE, to be privately whipped in prison.

NARK, a person in the pay of the police; a common informer; one who gets his living by laying traps for publicans, &c.

NARK, to watch, or look after, “NARK the titter;” watch the girl.

NARP, a shirt.—Scotch.

NARY ONE, provincial for NE’ER A ONE, neither.

NASTY, ill-tempered, cross-grained.

NATION, very, or exceedingly. Corruption of DAMNATION.

NATTY, pretty, neat, tidy.—Old.

NATURAL, an idiot, a simpleton.

NECK, to swallow. Neck-oil, drink of any kind.

NECK OR NOTHING, desperate.—Racing phrase.

NEDDY, a life preserver.—Contraction of KENNEDY, the name of the first man, it is said in St. Giles’, who had his head broken by a poker.—Vide Mornings at Bow Street.

NEDDY, a donkey.

NEDS, guineas. Half-neds, half-guineas.

NED STOKES, the four of spades.—North Hants.—See Gentleman’s Magazine for 1791, p. 141.

NEEDFUL, money, cash.

NEEDY, a nightly lodger, or tramp.

NEEDY MIZZLER, a shabby person; a tramp who runs away without paying for his lodging.

NESTS, varieties.—Old.

NEVER-TRUST-ME, an ordinary phrase with low Londoners, and common in Shakespere’s time, vide Twelfth Night. It is generally used instead of an oath, calling vengeance on the asseverator, if such and such does not come to pass.

NEWGATE FRINGE, or FRILL, the collar of beard worn under the chin; so called from its occupying the position of the rope when Jack Ketch operates. Another name for it is a TYBURN COLLAR.

NEWGATE KNOCKER, the term given to the lock of hair which costermongers and thieves usually twist back towards the ear. The shape is supposed to resemble the knocker on the prisoners’ door at Newgate—a resemblance that would appear to carry a rather unpleasant suggestion to the wearer. Sometimes termed a COBBLER’S KNOT, or cow-lick, which see.

NEWMARKET, in tossing halfpence, when it is agreed that the first toss shall be decisive, the play is said to be NEWMARKET.

NIBBLE, to take, or steal. Nibbler, a petty thief.

NIBS, the master, or chief person; a man with no means but high pretensions,—a “shabby genteel.”

NICK, or OLD NICK, the evil spirit.—Scandinavian.

NICK, to hit the mark; “he’s NICKED it,” i.e., won his point.

NICK-KNACK, a trifle.—Originally cant.

NIGGLING, trifling, or idling; taking short steps in walking.—North.

NIL, half; half profits, &c.

NILLY-WILLY, i.e., Nill ye, will ye, whether you will or no, a familiar version of the Latin, NOLENS VOLENS.

NIMMING, stealing. Immediately from the German, NEHMEN. Motherwell, the Scotch poet, thought the old word NIM (to snatch or pick up) was derived from nam, nam, the tiny words or cries of an infant, when eating anything which pleases its little palate. A negro proverb has the word:—

Or, in the buckra man’s language—

NINCOMPOOP, a fool, a hen pecked husband, a “Jerry Sneak.”—Corruption of non compos mentis.

NINE CORNS, a pipeful of tobacco.

NINES, “dressed up to the NINES,” in a showy or recherché manner.

NINEPENCE, “right as NINEPENCE,” all right, right to a nicety.

NIP, to steal, take up quickly.

NIPPER, a small boy. Old cant for a boy cut-purse.

NIX, nothing, “NIX my doll,” synonymous with NIX. German, NICHTS, nothing.—See MUNGARLY.

NIX! the signal word of school boys to each other that the master, or other person in authority, is approaching.

NIZZIE, a fool, a coxcomb.—Old cant, vide Triumph of Wit.

NOAH’S ARK, a long closely buttoned overcoat, recently in fashion. So named by Punch from the similarity which it exhibits to the figure of Noah and his sons in children’s toy arks.

NOB, the head—Pugilistic; “BOB A NOB,” a shilling a head. Ancient cant, NEB. Nob is an early English word, and is used in the Romance of Kynge Alisaunder (thirteenth century) for a head; originally, no doubt, the same as knob.

NOB, a person of high position, a “swell,” a nobleman,—of which word it may be an abbreviation.—See SNOB.

NOBBA, nine. Italian, NOVE; Spanish, NOVA,—the b and v being interchangeable, as Sebastópol and Sevastópol.

NOBBA SALTEE, ninepence. Lingua Franca, NOVE SOLDI.

NOBBING, collecting money; “what NOBBINGS?” i.e., how much have you got?

NOBBLE, to cheat, to overreach; to discover.

NOBBLERS, confederates of thimble-rigs, who play earnestly as if strangers to the “RIG,” and thus draw unsuspecting persons into a game.

NOBBY, or NOBBISH, fine or showy; NOBBILY, showily.—See SNOB for derivation.

NOMMUS, be off.—See NAMUS.

NO ODDS, no matter, of no consequence.—Latimer’s sermon before Edward VI.

NOSE, a thief who turns informer, or Queen’s evidence; a spy or watch; “on the NOSE,” on the look out.

NOSE, “to pay through the NOSE,” to pay an extravagant price.

NOSE-BAGS, visitors at watering places, and houses of refreshment, who carry their own victuals.—Term applied by waiters.

NOSE EM, or FOGUS, tobacco.

NOSER, a bloody or contused nose.—Pugilistic.

NOUSE, comprehension, perception.—Old, apparently from the Greek, νοῦς.

NUB, a husband.

NUDDIKIN, the head.

For Cant Numerals, see under SALTEE.

NURSE, a curious term lately applied to competition in omnibuses. Two omnibuses are placed on the road to NURSE, or oppose, each opposition “buss,” one before, the other behind. Of course the central or NURSED buss has very little chance, unless it happens to be a favourite with the public. Nurse, to cheat, or swindle; trustees are said to NURSE property, i.e., gradually eat it up themselves.

NUT, to be “off one’s NUT,” to be in liquor, or “ALL MOPS AND BROOMS.”

NUTS, to be NUTS upon anything or person is to be pleased with or fond of it; a self-satisfied man is said to be NUTS upon himself. Nutted, taken in by a man who professed to be NUTS upon you.

NUTTY, amorous.

NYMPH OF THE PAVE (French, PAVÉ), a street-walker, a girl of the town.

OAK, the outer door of college rooms; to “sport one’s OAK,” to be “not at home” to visitors.—See SPORT.—University.

OBFUSCATED, intoxicated.

OBSTROPOLOUS, Cockney corruption of obstreperous.

OCHRE, money, generally applied to gold, for a very obvious reason.

O’CLOCK, or A’CLOCK, “like ONE O’CLOCK,” a favourite comparison with the lower orders, implying briskness; “to know what O’CLOCK it is,” to be wide awake, sharp, and experienced.

ODD MAN, a street or public-house game at tossing. The number of players is three. Each tosses up a coin, and if two come down head, and one tail, or vice versâ, the last is ODD MAN, and loses or wins as may have been agreed upon. Frequently used to victimise a “flat.” If all three be alike, then the toss goes for nothing, and the coppers are again “skied.”

OD DRAT IT, OD RABBIT (Colman’s Broad Grins), OD’S BLOOD, and all other exclamations commencing with OD, are nothing but softened or suppressed oaths. Od is a corruption of GOD, and DRAT of ROT.—Shakespere.

OFF AND ON, vacillating; “an OFF AND ON kind of a chap,” one who is always undecided.

OFF ONE’S FEED, real or pretended want of appetite.—Stable slang.

OFFISH, distant, not familiar.

OFFICE, “to give the OFFICE,” to give a hint dishonestly to a confederate, thereby enabling him to win a game or bet, the profits being shared.

OGLE, to look, or reconnoitre.

OGLES, eyes.—Old cant. French, ŒIL.

OIL OF PALMS, or PALM OIL, money.

OINTMENT, medical student slang for butter.

OLD GOOSEBERRY (see GOOSEBERRY), OLD HARRY (query, Old Hairy?), OLD SCRATCH, all synonymes for the devil.

OLD GOWN, smuggled tea.

OLD HORSE, salt junk, or beef.—Sea.

OLD TOM, gin.

OLIVER, the moon; “OLIVER don’t widdle,” i.e., the moon does not shine. Nearly obsolete.—Bulwer’s Paul Clifford.

OMEE, a master or landlord; “the OMEE of the cassey’s a nark on the pitch,” the master of the house will not let us perform. Italian, UOMO, a man; “UOMO DELLA CASA,” the master of the house.

ON, “to be ON,” in public-house or vulgar parlance, is synonymous with getting “tight,” or tipsy; “it’s Saint Monday with him, I see he’s ON again,” i.e., drunk as usual, or ON the road to it.

ON THE FLY, getting one’s living by thieving or other illegitimate means; the phrase is applied to men the same as ON THE LOOSE is to women.

ON THE LOOSE, obtaining a living by prostitution, in reality, on the streets. The term is applied to females only, excepting in the case of SPREES, when men carousing are sometimes said to be ON THE LOOSE.

ON THE NOSE, on the watch or look out.—See NOSE.

ON THE SHELF, to be transported. With old maids it has another and very different meaning.

ON THE TILES, out all night “on the spree,” or carousing,—in allusion to the London cats on their amatory excursions.

ONE IN TEN, a parson.

ONE-ER, that which stands for ONE, a blow that requires no more. In Dickens’ amusing work, the “Marchioness” tells Dick Swiveller that “her missus is a ONE-ER at cards.”

ORACLE, “to work the ORACLE,” to plan, manœuvre, to succeed by a wily stratagem.

OTTER, eightpence.—Italian, OTTO, eight.

OTTOMY, a thin man, a skeleton, a dwarf. Vulgar pronunciation of Anatomy. Shakespere has ’ATOMY.

OUT, a dram glass. The habitué of a gin-shop, desirous of treating a brace of friends, calls for a quartern of gin and three OUTS, by which he means three glasses which will exactly contain the quartern.

OUT AND OUT, prime, excellent, of the first quality. Out and outer, “one who is of an OUT AND OUT description,” UP to anything.

An ancient MS. has this couplet, which shows the antiquity of the phrase—

OUT OF COLLAR, out of place,—in allusion to servants. When in place, the term is COLLARED UP.—Theatrical and general.

OUT ON THE LOOSE, “on the spree,” in search of adventures.

OUT ON THE PICKAROON. Picarone is Spanish for a thief, but this phrase does not necessarily mean anything dishonest, but ready for anything in the way of excitement to turn up; also to be in search of anything profitable.

OUT-SIDER, a person who does not habitually bet, or is not admitted to the “Ring.” Also, a horse whose name does not appear among the “favourites.”

OVER! or OVER THE LEFT, i.e., the left shoulder—a common exclamation of disbelief in what is being narrated,—implying that the results of a proposed plan will be “over the left,” i.e., in the wrong direction, loss instead of gain.

OWNED, a canting expression used by the ultra-Evangelicals when a popular preacher makes many converts. The converts themselves are called his “SEALS.”

P’s AND Q’s, particular points, precise behaviour; “mind your P’S AND Q’S,” be very careful. Originating, according to some, from the similarity of p’s and q’s in the hornbook alphabet, and therefore the warning of an old dame to her pupils; or, according to others, of a French dancing master to his pupils, to mind their pieds (feet) and queues (wigs) when making a bow.

PACK, to go away; “now, then, PACK off there,” i.e., be off, don’t stop here any longer. Old, “Make speede to flee, be PACKING and awaie.”—Baret’s Alvearie, 1580.

PAD, “to stand PAD,” to beg with a small piece of paper pinned on the breast, inscribed “I’m starving.”

PAD, the highway; a tramp.—Lincolnshire.

PAD THE HOOF, to walk, not ride; “PADDING THE HOOF on the high toby,” tramping or walking on the high road.

PADDING KENS, or CRIBS, tramps’ and boys’ lodging houses.

PADDLE, to go or run away.—Household Words, No. 183.

PADDY, PAT, or PADDY WHACK, an Irishman.

PADRE, a clergyman.—Anglo Indian.

PAL, a partner, acquaintance, friend, an accomplice. Gipsey, a brother.

PALAVER, to ask, or talk,—not deceitfully, as the term usually signifies; “PALAVER to the nibs for a shant of bivvy,” ask the master for a quart of beer. In this sense used by tramps.—Derived from French, PARLER.

PALL, to detect.

PALM OIL, or PALM SOAP, money.

PALMING, robbing shops by pairs,—one thief bargaining with apparent intent to purchase, whilst the other watches his opportunity to steal. An amusing example of PALMING came off some time since. A man entered a “ready made” boot and shoe shop and desired to be shown a pair of boots,—his companion staying outside and amusing himself by looking in at the window. The one who required to be fresh shod was apparently of a humble and deferential turn, for he placed his hat on the floor directly he stepped in the shop. Boot after boot was tried on until at last a fit was obtained,—when lo, forth came a man, snatched up the customer’s hat left near the door, and down the street he ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Away went the customer after his hat, and Crispin, standing at the door, clapped his hands and shouted “go it, you’ll catch him,”—little thinking that it was a concerted trick, and that neither his boots nor the customer would ever return. Palming sometimes refers to secreting money or rings in the hand.

PAM, the knave of clubs; or, in street phraseology, Lord Palmerston.

PANNAM, food, bread.—Lingua Franca, PANNEN; Latin, PANIS; Ancient cant, YANNAM.

PANNAM-BOUND, stopping the prison food or rations to a prisoner. PANNAM-STRUCK, very hungry.

PANNIKIN, a small pan.

PANNY, a house—public or otherwise; “flash PANNY,” a public-house used by thieves; PANNY MEN, housebreakers.

PANTILE, a hat. The term PANTILE is properly applied to the mould into which the sugar is poured which is afterwards known as “loaf sugar.” Thus, PANTILE, from whence comes the phrase “a sugar-loaf hat,” originally signified a tall, conical hat, in shape similar to that usually represented as the head gear of a bandit. From PANTILE, the more modern slang term TILE has been derived. Halliwell gives PANTILE SHOP, a meeting-house.

PANTILER, a dissenting preacher. Probably from the practice of the Quakers, and many dissenters, of not removing the hat in a place of worship.

PAPER MAKERS, rag gatherers and gutter rakers—similar to the chiffonniers of Paris. Also, those men who tramp through the country, and collect rags on the pretence that they are agents to a paper mill.

PAPER WORKERS, the wandering vendors of street literature; street folk who sell ballads, dying speeches and confessions, sometimes termed RUNNING STATIONERS.

PARADIS, French slang for the gallery of a theatre, “up amongst the GODS,” which see.

PARISH LANTERN, the moon.

PARNEY, rain; “dowry of PARNEY,” a quantity of rain. Anglo-Indian slang from the Hindoo, PÃNI, water; Gipsey, PANÉ. Old Indian officers always call brandy and water BRANDY PAWNEE.

PASH, to strike; now corrupted to BASH, which see.—Shakes.

PASTE-HORN, the nose. Shoemakers nickname any shopmate with a large nose “old PASTEHORN,” from the horn in which they keep their paste.

PATENT COAT, a coat with the pockets inside the skirts,—termed PATENT from the difficulty of picking them.

PATTER, a speech or discourse, a pompous street oration, a judge’s summing up, a trial. Ancient word for muttering. Probably from the Latin, PATER NOSTER, or Lord’s Prayer. This was said, before the Reformation, in a low voice by the priest, until he came to, “and lead us not into temptation,” to which the choir responded, “but deliver us from evil.” In our reformed Prayer Book this was altered, and the Lord’s Prayer directed to be said “with a loud voice.”—Dr. Pusey takes this view of the derivation in his Letter to the Bishop of London, p. 78, 1851. Scott uses the word twice in Ivanhoe and the Bride of Lammermoor.

PATTER, to talk. Patter flash, to speak the language of thieves, talk cant.

PATTERERS, men who cry last dying speeches, &c., in the streets, and those who help off their wares by long harangues in the public thoroughfares. These men, to use their own term “are the haristocracy of the street sellers,” and despise the costermongers for their ignorance, boasting that they live by their intellect. The public, they say, do not expect to receive from them an equivalent for their money—they pay to hear them talk.—Mayhew. Patterers were formerly termed “mountebanks.”

PAWS, hands.

PAY, to beat a person, or “serve them out.” Originally a nautical term, meaning to stop the seams of a vessel with pitch (French, POIX); “here’s the d——l to PAY, and no pitch hot,” said when any catastrophe occurs which there is no means of averting; “to PAY over face and eyes, as the cat did the monkey;” “to PAY through the nose,” to give a ridiculous price.—whence the origin? Shakespere uses PAY in the sense of to beat, or thrash.

PEACH, to inform against or betray. Webster states that impeach is now the modification mostly used, and that PEACH is confined principally to the conversation of thieves and the lower orders.

PEACOCK HORSE, amongst undertakers, is one with a showy tail and mane, and holds its head up well,—che va favorreggiando, &c., Italian.

PEAKING, remnants of cloth.

PECK, food; “PECK and booze,” meat and drink.—Lincolnshire. Ancient cant, PEK, meat.

PECKER, “keep your PECKER up,” i.e., don’t get down-hearted,—literally, keep your beak or head well up, “never say die!”

PECKISH, hungry. Old cant, PECKIDGE, meat.

PEEL, to strip, or disrobe.—Pugilistic.

PEELER, a policeman; so called from Sir Robert Peel (see BOBBY); properly applied to the Irish constabulary rather than the City police, the former force having been established by Sir Robert Peel.

PEEPERS, eyes; “painted PEEPERS,” eyes bruised or blackened from a blow.

PEERY, suspicious, or inquisitive.

PEG, brandy and soda water.

PEG, “to PEG away,” to strike, run, or drive away; “PEG a hack,” to drive a cab; “take down a PEG or two,” to check an arrogant or conceited person.

PEG, a shilling.—Scotch.

PEG-TOPS, the loose trousers now in fashion, small at the ankle and swelling upwards, in imitation of the Zouave costume.

PENNY GAFFS, shops turned into temporary theatres (admission one penny), where dancing and singing take place every night. Rude pictures of the performers are arranged outside to give the front a gaudy and attractive look, and at night-time coloured lamps and transparencies are displayed to draw an audience.

PENNY-A-LINER, a contributor of local news, accidents, fires, scandal, political and fashionable gossip, club jokes, and anecdotes, to a newspaper; not regularly “on the paper;” one who is popularly believed to be paid for each contribution at the rate of a penny a line, and whose interest is, therefore, that his article should be horribly stuffed with epithets.

PENISULAR, or MOLL TOOLER, a female pickpocket.

PENSIONER, a man of the lowest morals who lives off the miserable earnings of a prostitute.

PEPPER, to thrash, or strike.—Pugilistic, but used by Shakespere.—East.

PERCH, or ROOST, a resting place; “I’m off to PERCH,” i.e., I am going to bed.

PERSUADERS, spurs.

PESKY, an intensitive expression, implying annoyance; a PESKY, troublesome fellow. Corruption of PESTILENT?

PETER, a partridge.—Poacher’s term.

PETER, a bundle, or valise.—Bulwer’s Paul Clifford.

PETER, to run short, or give out.

PETERER, or PETERMAN, one who follows hackney and stage coaches, and cuts off the portmanteaus and trunks from behind.—Nearly obsolete. Ancient term for a fisherman, still used at Gravesend.

PETTICOAT, a woman.

PEWTER, money, like TIN, used generally to signify silver; also, a pewter-pot.

PHYSOG, or PHIZ, the face. Swift uses the latter. Corruption of physiognomy.

PIC., the Piccadilly Saloon.

PICK, “to PICK oneself up,” to recover after a beating or illness; “to PICK a man up,” “to do,” or cheat him.

PICKERS, the hands.—Shakespere.

PICKLE, a miserable or comical position; “he is in a sad PICKLE,” said of any one who has fallen into the gutter, or got besmeared. “A PICKLE herring,” a comical fellow, a merry Andrew.—Old.

PICKLES! gammon.

PIECE, a contemptuous term for a woman; a strumpet.—Shakespere.

PIG, or SOW’S BABY, a sixpence.

PIG, a mass of metal,—so called from its being poured in a fluid state from a sow, which see.—Workmen’s term.

PIG AND TINDER-BOX, the vulgar rendering of the well-known tavern sign, “Elephant and Castle.”

PEPPER-BOXES, the buildings of the Royal Academy and National Gallery, in Trafalgar-square. The name was first given by a wag, in allusion to the cupolas erected by Wilkins, the architect, upon the roof, and which at a distance suggest to the stranger the fact of their being enlarged PEPPER-BOXES, from their form and awkward appearance.—See BOILERS.

PIGEON, a gullible or soft person. The French slang, or argot, has the word PIGEON, dupe—“PECHON, PESCHON DE RUBY, apprenti gueux, enfant (sans doute dérobé).” The vagabonds and brigands of Spain also use the word in their Germania, or Robbers’ Language, PALOMO (pigeon), ignorant, simple.

PIGEON, or BLUEY CRACKING, breaking into empty houses and stealing lead.

PIG-HEADED, obstinate.

PIG’S WHISPER, a low or inaudible whisper; also a short space of time, synonymous with COCKSTRIDE, i.e., cock’s tread.

PIKE, to run away.

PIKE, a turnpike; “to bilk a PIKE,” to cheat the keeper of the toll-gate.

PILL, a doctor—Military. Pill-driver, a peddling apothecary.

PIN, “to put in the PIN,” to refrain from drinking. From the ancient peg tankard, which was furnished with a row of PINS, or pegs, to regulate the amount which each person was to drink. A MERRY PIN, a roisterer.

PINCH, to steal, or cheat; also, to catch, or apprehend.

PINDARIC HEIGHTS, studying the odes of Pindar.—Oxford.

PINK, to stab, or pierce.

PINK, the acmé of perfection.—Shakespere.

PINNERS-UP, sellers of old songs pinned against a wall, or framed canvas.

PINS, legs.

PIPE, to shed tears, or bewail; “PIPE one’s eye.”—Sea term.

Metaphor from the boatswain’s pipe, which calls to duty.

PIPE, “to put one’s PIPE out,” to traverse his plans, “take a rise” out of him.

PIPKIN, the stomach,—properly, an earthen round-bottomed pot.—Norwich.

PIT, a breast pocket.

PITCH, a fixed locality where a patterer can hold forth to a gaping multitude for at least some few minutes continuously; “to do a PITCH in the drag,” to perform in the street.

PITCH INTO, to fight; “PITCH INTO him, Bill,” i.e., give him a thrashing.

PITCH THE FORK, to tell a pitiful tale.

PITCH THE NOB, PRICK THE GARTER, which see.

PLANT, a dodge, a preconcerted swindle; a position in the street to sell from. Plant, a swindle, may be thus described: a coster will join a party of gambling costers that he never saw before, and commence tossing. When sufficient time has elapsed to remove all suspicions of companionship, his mate will come up and commence betting on each of his PAL’S throws with those standing around. By a curious quickness of hand, a coster can make the toss tell favourably for his wagering friend, who meets him in the evening after the play is over and shares the spoil.

PLANT, to mark a person out for plunder or robbery, to conceal, or place.—Old cant.

PLEBS, a term used to stigmatise a tradesman’s son at Westminster School. Latin, PLEBS, the vulgar.

PLOUGHED, drunk.—Household Words, No. 183. Also a University term equivalent to PLUCKED.

PLUCK, the heart, liver, and lungs of an animal,—all that is PLUCKED away in connection with the windpipe, from the chest of a sheep or hog; among low persons, courage, valour, and a stout heart.—See MOLLYGRUBS.

PLUCK’D-’UN, a stout or brave fellow; “he’s a rare PLUCKED-’UN,” i.e., dares face anything.

During the Crimean war, PLUCKY, signifying courageous, seemed likely to become a favourite term in May-Fair, even among the ladies. An eminent critic, however, who had been bred a butcher, having informed the fashionable world that in his native town the sheep’s head always went with the PLUCK, the term has been gradually falling into discredit at the West End.

It has been said that a brave soldier is PLUCKY in attack, and GAME when wounded. Women are more GAME than PLUCKY.

PLUCKED, turned back at an examination.—University.

PLUNDER, a common word in the horse trade to express profit. Also an American term for baggage, luggage.

PLUM, £100,000, usually applied to the dowry of a rich heiress, or a legacy.

PLUMMY, round, sleek, jolly, or fat; excellent, very good, first rate.

PLUMPER, a single vote at an election, not a “split ticket.”

PODGY, drunk; dumpy, short and fat.

POGRAM, a dissenter, a fanatic, formalist, or humbug.

POKE, “come, none of your POKING fun at me,” i.e., you must not laugh at me.

POKE, a bag, or sack; “to buy a pig in a POKE,” to purchase anything without seeing it.—Saxon.

POKER, “by the holy POKER and the tumbling Tom!” an Irish oath.

POKERS, the Cambridge slang term for the Esquire Bedels, who carry the silver maces (also called POKERS) before the Vice-Chancellor.

POKY, confined or cramped; “that corner is POKY and narrow.”—Times article, 21st July, 1859.

POLE-AXE, vulgar corruption of policeman.

POLICEMAN, a fly.

POLISH OFF, to finish off anything quickly—a dinner for instance; also to finish off an adversary.—Pugilistic.

POLL, or POLLING, one thief robbing another of part of their booty.—Hall’s Union, 1548.

POLL, the “ordinary degree” candidates for the B.A. Examination, who do not aspire to the “Honours” list. From the Greek, ὁι πόλλοι, “the many.” Some years ago, at Cambridge, Mr. Hopkins being the most celebrated “honour coach,” or private tutor for the wranglers, and Mr. Potts the principal “crammer” of the non-honour men, the latter was facetiously termed the “POLLY HOPKINS” by the undergraduates.

POLL, a prostitute; POLLED UP, living with a woman without being married to her.

POLONY, a Bologna sausage.

POONA, a sovereign.—Corruption of pound; or from the Lingua Franca?

PONY, twenty-five pounds.—Sporting.

POPS, pocket pistols.

POP, to pawn or pledge; “to POP up the spout,” to pledge at the pawnbroker’s,—an allusion to the spout up which the brokers send the ticketed articles until such times as they shall be redeemed. The spout runs from the ground floor to the wareroom at the top of the house.

POSH, a halfpenny, or trifling coin. Also a generic term for money.

POSTERIORS, a correspondent insists that the vulgar sense of this word is undoubtedly slang (Swift, I believe, first applied it as such), and remarks that it is curious the word anterior has not been so abused.

POST-HORN, the nose.—See PASTE-HORN.

POST-MORTEM, at Cambridge, the second examination which men who have been “plucked” have to undergo.—University.

POT, a sixpence, i.e., the price of a pot or quart of half-and-half. A half crown, in medical student slang, is a FIVE-POT PIECE.

POT, “to GO TO POT,” to die; from the classic custom of putting the ashes of the dead in an urn; also, to be ruined, or broken up,—often applied to tradesmen who fail in business. Go to pot! i.e., go and hang yourself, shut up and be quiet. L’Estrange, to PUT THE POT ON, to overcharge, or exaggerate.

POT, to finish; “don’t POT me,” term used at billiards. This word was much used by our soldiers in the Crimea, for firing at the enemy from a hole or ambush. These were called POT-SHOTS.

POT-HUNTER, a sportsman who shoots anything he comes across, having more regard to filling his bag than to the rules which regulate the sport.

POT-LUCK, just as it comes; to take POT-LUCK, i.e., one’s chance of a dinner,—a hearty term used to signify whatever the pot contains you are welcome to.

POT-WALLOPERS, electors in certain boroughs before the passing of the Reform Bill, whose qualification consisted in being housekeepers,—to establish which, it was only necessary to boil a pot within the limits of the borough, by the aid of any temporary erection. This implied that they were able to provide for themselves, and not necessitated to apply for parochial relief. Wallop, a word of Anglo Saxon derivation, from the same root as wall.

POTTED, or POTTED OUT, cabined, confined; “the patriotic member of Parliament POTTED OUT in a dusty little lodging somewhere about Bury-street.”—Times article, 21st July, 1859. Also applied to burial.

POTTY, indifferent, bad looking.

POTATO TRAP, the mouth. A humorous Hibernicism.

POWER, a large quantity.—Formerly Irish, but now general; “a POWER of money.”

PRAD, a horse.

PRAD NAPPING, horse stealing.

PRANCER, a horse.—Ancient cant.

PRICK THE GARTER, or PITCH THE NOB, a gambling and cheating game common at fairs, and generally practised by thimble riggers. It consists of a “garter” or a piece of list doubled, and then folded up tight. The bet is made upon your asserting that you can, with a pin, “prick” the point at which the garter is doubled. The garter is then unfolded, and nine times out of ten you will find that you have been deceived, and that you pricked one of the false folds. The owner of the garter, I should state, holds the ends tightly with one hand. This was, doubtless, originally a Gipsey game, and we are informed by Brand that it was much practised by the Gipseys in the time of Shakespere. In those days, it was termed PRICKING AT THE BELT, or FAST AND LOOSE.

PRIG, a thief. Used by Addison in the sense of a coxcomb. Ancient cant, probably from the Saxon, PRICC-AN, to filch, &c.—Shakespere. Prig, to steal, or rob. Prigging, thieving. In Scotland the term PRIG is used in a different sense from what it is in England. In Glasgow, or at Aberdeen, “to PRIG a salmon,” would be to cheapen it, or seek for an abatement in the price. A story is told of two Scotchmen, visitors to London, who got into sad trouble a few years ago by announcing their intention of “PRIGGING a hat” which they had espied in a fashionable manufacturer’s window, and which one of them thought he would like to possess.

PRIME PLANT, a good subject for plunder.—See PLANT.

PRIMED, said of a person in that state of incipient intoxication that if he takes more drink it will become evident.

PRO, a professional.—Theatrical.

PROG, meat, food, &c. Johnson calls it “a low word.”

PROP, a gold scarf pin.

PROP-NAILER, a man who steals, or rather snatches, pins from gentlemen’s scarfs.

PROPS, crutches.

PROPER, very, exceedingly, sometimes ironically; “you are a PROPER nice fellow,” meaning a great scamp.

PROS, a water-closet. Abbreviated form of πρὸς τινα τόπον.—Oxford University.

PROSS, breaking in, or instructing, a stage-infatuated youth.—Theatrical.

PSALM-SMITER, a “Ranter,” one who sings at a conventicle.—See BRISKET BEATER.

PUB, or PUBLIC, a public-house.

PUCKER, poor temper, difficulty, déshabillé.

PUCKER, or PUCKER UP, to get in a poor temper.

PUCKERING, talking privately.

PUDDING SNAMMER, one who robs a cook shop.

PUFF, to blow up, swell with praise, was declared by a writer in the Weekly Register, as far back as 1732, to be illegitimate.

“Puff has become a cant word, signifying the applause set forth by writers, &c., to increase the reputation and sale of a book, and is an excellent stratagem to excite the curiosity of gentle readers.”

Lord Bacon, however, used the word in a similar sense a century before.

PULL, an advantage, or hold upon another; “I’ve the PULL over you,” i.e., you are in my power—perhaps an oblique allusion to the judicial sense.—See the following.

PULL, to have one apprehended; “to be PULLED up,” to be taken before a magistrate.

PULL, to drink; “come, take a PULL at it,” i.e., drink up.

PULLEY, a confederate thief,—generally a woman.

PUMMEL, to thrash,—from POMMEL.

PUMP SHIP, to evacuate urine.—Sea.

PURE FINDERS, street collectors of dogs’ dung.

PURL, hunting term for a fall, synonymous with FOALED, or SPILT; “he’ll get PURLED at the rails.”

PURL, a mixture of hot ale and sugar, with wormwood infused in it, a favourite morning drink to produce an appetite; sometimes with gin and spice added:—

PUSH, a crowd.—Old cant.

PUSSEY CATS, corruption of Puseyites, a name constantly, but improperly, given to the “Tractarian” party in the Church, from the Oxford Regius Professor of Hebrew, who by no means approved of the Romanising tendencies of some of its leaders.

PUT, a game at cards.

PUT THE POT ON, to bet too much upon one horse.—Sporting.

PUT UP, to suggest, to incite, “he PUT me UP to it;” to have done with; PUT IT UP, is a vulgar answer often heard in the streets. Put Up, to stop at an hotel or tavern for entertainment.

PUT UPON, cheated, deluded, oppressed.

PYGOSTOLE, the least irreverent of names for the peculiar “M.B.” coats worn by Tractarian curates.—

QUARTEREEN, a farthing.—Gibraltar term. Ital., QUATTRINO.

QUEAN (not QUEEN), a strumpet.

QUEER, an old cant word, once in continual use as a prefix, signifying base, roguish, or worthless,—the opposite of RUM, which signified good and genuine. Queer, in all probability, is immediately derived from the cant language. It has been mooted that it came into use from a quære (?) being set before a man’s name; but it is more than probable that it was brought into this country by the Gipseys from Germany, where QUER signifies “cross,” or “crooked.” At all events, it is believed to have been first used in England as a cant word.

QUEEN BESS, the Queen of Clubs,—perhaps because that queen, history says, was of a swarthy complexion.—North Hants.—See Gentleman’s Magazine for 1791, p. 141.

QUEER, “to QUEER a flat,” to puzzle or confound a “gull” or silly fellow.

QUEER BAIL, worthless persons who for a consideration would stand bail for any one in court. Insolvent Jews generally performed this office, which gave rise to the term JEW-BAIL.—See MOUNTERS: both nearly obsolete.

QUEER BIT-MAKERS, coiners.

QUEER SCREENS, forged bank notes.

QUEER SOFT, bad money.

QUEER STREET, “in QUEER STREET,” in difficulty or in want.

QUEER CUFFEN, a justice of the peace, or magistrate—a very ancient term, mentioned in the earliest slang dictionary.

QUERIER, a chimney-sweep who calls from house to house,—formerly termed KNULLER, which see.

QUI-HI, an English resident at Calcutta.—Anglo Indian.

QUICK STICKS, in a hurry, rapidly; “to cut QUICK STICKS,” to be in a great hurry.

QUID, or THICK UN, a sovereign; “half a QUID,” half a sovereign; QUIDS, money generally; “QUID for a QUOD,” one good turn for another. The word is used by Old French writers:—

QUID, a small piece of tobacco—one mouthful. Quid est hoc? asked one, tapping the swelled cheek of another; hoc est quid, promptly replied the other, exhibiting at the same time “a chaw” of the weed. Probably a corruption of CUD.

QUIET, “on the QUIET,” clandestinely, so as to avoid observation, “under the rose.”

QUILL-DRIVER, a scrivener, a clerk—satirical phrase similar to STEEL BAR-DRIVER, a tailor.

QUILT, to thrash, or beat.

QUISBY, bankrupt, poverty stricken.—Ho. Words, No. 183.

QUIZ, a prying person, an odd fellow. Oxford slang; lately admitted into dictionaries. Not noticed by Johnson.

QUIZ, to pry, or joke.

QUIZZICAL, jocose, humorous.

QUOCKERWODGER, a wooden toy figure, which, when pulled by a string, jerks its limbs about. The term is used in a slang sense to signify a pseudo-politician, one whose strings of action are pulled by somebody else.—West.

QUOD, a prison, or lock up; QUODDED, put in prison. A slang expression used by Mr. Hughes, in Tom Brown’s Schooldays (Macmillan’s Magazine, January, 1860), throws some light upon the origin of this now very common street term:—“Flogged or whipped in QUAD,” says the delineator of student life, in allusion to chastisement inflicted within the Quadrangle of a college. Quadrangle is the term given to the prison inclosure within which culprits are allowed to walk, and where whippings were formerly inflicted. Quadrangle also represents a building of four sides; and to be “within FOUR WALLS,” or prison, is the frequent slang lamentation of unlucky vagabonds.

RABBIT, when a person gets the worst of a bargain he is said “to have bought the RABBIT.”

RACKET, a dodge, manœuvre, exhibition; a disturbance.

RACKETY, wild or noisy.

RACKS, the bones of a dead horse. Term used by horse slaughterers.

RACLAN, a married woman.—Gipsey.

RAFE, or RALPH, a pawnbroker’s duplicate.—Norwich.

RAG, to divide or share; “let’s RAG IT,” or GO RAGS, i.e., share it equally between us.—Norwich.

RAGAMUFFIN, a tattered vagabond, a tatterdemalion.

RAG SPLAWGER, a rich man.

RAGS, bank notes.

RAG-SHOP, a bank.

RAIN NAPPER, umbrella.

RAISE THE WIND, to obtain credit, or money—generally by pawning or selling off property.

RAMP, to thieve or rob with violence.

RAMPSMAN, a highway robber who uses violence when necessary.

RAMSHACKLE, to shatter as with a battering ram; RAMSHACKLED, knocked about, as standing corn is after a high wind. Corrupted from ram-shatter, or possibly from ransack.

RANDOM, three horses driven in line, a very appropriate term.—See TANDEM.

RANDY, rampant, violent, warm, amorous. North, RANDY-BEGGAR, a gipsey tinker.

RAN-TAN, “on the RAN-TAN,” drunk.—Ho. Words, No. 183.

RANTIPOLE, a wild noisy fellow.

RAP, a halfpenny; frequently used generically for money, thus: “I hav’nt a RAP,” i.e., I have no money whatever; “I don’t care a RAP,” &c. Originally a species of counterfeit coin used for small change in Ireland, against the use of which a proclamation was issued, 5th May, 1737. Small copper or base metal coins are still called RAPPEN in the Swiss cantons. Irish robbers are called RAPPAREES.

RAP, to utter; “he RAPPED out a volley of oaths.”

RAPPING, enormous; “a RAPPING big lie.”

RAPSCALLION, a low tattered wretch.

RAT, a sneak, an informer, a turn-coat, one who changes his party for interest. The late Sir Robert Peel was called the RAT, or the TAMWORTH RATCATCHER, for altering his views on the Roman Catholic question. From rats deserting vessels about to sink.

RAT, term amongst printers to denote one who works under price. Old cant for a clergyman.

RATHER! a ridiculous street exclamation synonymous with yes; “do you like fried chickens?” “RATHER!” “are you going out of town?” “RATHER!”

RATHER OF THE RATHEREST, a phrase applied to anything slightly in excess or defect.

RATTLECAP, an unsteady, volatile person.

RATTLER, a cab, coach, or cart.—Old cant.

RATTLERS, a railway; “on the RATTLERS to the stretchers,” i.e., going to the races by railway.

RAW, uninitiated; a novice.—Old. Frequently a JOHNNY RAW.

RAW, a tender point, a foible; “to touch a man up on the RAW” is to irritate one by alluding to, or joking him on, anything on which he is peculiarly susceptible or “thin-skinned.”

READER, a pocket-book; “give it him for his READER,” i.e., rob him of his pocket-book.—Old cant.

READY, or READY GILT (properly GELT), money. Used by Arbuthnot, “Lord Strut was not very flush in READY.”

REAM, good or genuine. From the Old cant, RUM.

REAM-BLOAK, a good man.

RECENT INCISION, the busy thoroughfare on the Surrey side of the Thames, known by sober people as the NEW CUT.

REDGE, gold.

RED HERRING, a soldier.

RED LANE, the throat.

RED LINER, an officer of the Mendicity Society.

RED RAG, the tongue.

REGULARS, a thief’s share of the plunder. “They were quarrelling about the REGULARS.”—Times, 8th January, 1856.

RELIEVING OFFICER, a significant term for a father.—Univ.

RENCH, vulgar pronunciation of RINSE. “Wrench your mouth out,” said a fashionable dentist one day.—North.

RE-RAW, “on the RE-RAW,” tipsy or drunk.—Household Words, No. 183.

RHINO, ready money.

RHINOCERAL, rich, wealthy, abounding in RHINO.

RIB, a wife.—North.

RIBBONS, the reins.—Middlesex.

RIBROAST, to beat till the ribs are sore.—Old; but still in use:—

RICH, spicy; also used in the sense of “too much of a good thing;” “a RICH idea,” one too absurd or unreasonable to be adopted.

RIDE, “to RIDE THE HIGH HORSE,” or RIDE ROUGH-SHOD over one, to be overbearing or oppressive; to RIDE THE BLACK DONKEY, to be in an ill humour.

RIDER, in a University examination, a problem or question appended to another, as directly arising from or dependent on it;—beginning to be generally used for any corollary or position which naturally arises from any previous statement or evidence.

RIG, a trick, “spree,” or performance; “run a RIG,” to play a trick—Gipsey; “RIG the market,” in reality to play tricks with it,—a mercantile slang phrase often used in the newspapers.

RIGGED, “well RIGGED,” well dressed.—Old slang, in use 1736.—See Bailey’s Dictionary.—Sea.

RIGHT AS NINEPENCE, quite right, exactly right.

RIGHTS, “to have one to RIGHTS,” to be even with him, to serve him out.

RIGMAROLE, a prolix story.

RILE, to offend, to render very cross, irritated, or vexed. Properly, to render liquor turbid.—Norfolk.

RING, a generic term given to horse-racing and pugilism,—the latter is sometimes termed the PRIZE-RING. From the practice of forming the crowd into a ring around the combatants, or outside the race-course.

RING, “to go through the RING,” to take advantage of the Insolvency Act, or be whitewashed.

RING DROPPING, see FAWNEY.

RINGING CASTORS, changing hats.

RINGING THE CHANGES, changing bad money for good.

RIP, a rake; “an old RIP,” an old libertine, or debauchee. Corruption of Reprobate. A person reading the letters R. I. P. (Requiescat in Pace) on the top of a tombstone as one word, said, soliloquising, “Rip! well, he was an old RIP, and no mistake.”—Cuthbert Bede.

RIPPER, a first-rate man or article.—Provincial.

RIPPING, excellent, very good.

RISE, “to take a RISE out of a person,” to mortify, outwit, or cheat him, by superior cunning.

RISE (or RAISE) A BARNEY, to collect a mob.

ROARER, a broken-winded horse.

ROARING TRADE, a very successful business.

ROAST, to expose a person to a running fire of jokes at his expense from a whole company, in his presence. Quizzing is done by a single person only.

ROCK A LOW, an overcoat. Corruption of the French ROQUELAURE.

ROCKED, “he’s only HALF-ROCKED,” i.e., half witted.

ROLL OF SNOW, a piece of Irish linen.

ROMANY, a Gipsey, or the Gipsey language; the speech of the Roma or Zincali.—Spanish Gipsey.

ROOK, a clergyman, not only from his black attire, but also, perhaps, from the old nursery favourite, the History of Cock Robin.

ROOK, a cheat, or tricky gambler; the opposite of PIGEON.—Old.

ROOKERY, a low neighbourhood inhabited by dirty Irish and thieves—as ST. GILES’ ROOKERY.—Old. In Military slang that part of the barracks occupied by subalterns, often by no means a pattern of good order.

ROOKY, rascally, rakish, scampish.

ROOST, synonymous with PERCH, which see.

ROOTER, anything good or of a prime quality; “that is a ROOTER,” i.e., a first-rate one of the sort.

ROSE, an orange.

ROSE, “under the ROSE” (frequently used in its Latin form, Sub rosâ), i.e., under the obligation of silence and secresy, of which the rose was anciently an emblem, perhaps, as Sir Thomas Browne remarks, from the closeness with which its petals are enfolded in the bud. The Rose of Venus was given, says the classic legend, to Harpocrates, the God of Silence, by Cupid, as a bribe not to “peach” about the Goddess’ amours. It was commonly sculptured on the ceilings of banquetting rooms, as a sign that what was said in free conversation there was not afterwards to be divulged and about 1526 was placed over the Roman confessionals as an emblem of secrecy. The White Rose was also an emblem of the Pretender, whose health, as king, his secret adherents used to drink “under the ROSE.”

ROT, nonsense, anything bad, disagreeable, or useless.

ROT GUT, bad small beer,—in America, cheap whisky.

ROUGH, bad; “ROUGH fish,” bad or stinking fish.

ROUGH IT, to put up with chance entertainment, to take pot luck, and what accommodation “turns up,” without sighing for better. “Roughing it in the Bush” is the title of an interesting work on Backwoods life.

ROUGHS, coarse, or vulgar men.

ROULEAU, a packet of sovereigns.—Gaming.

ROUND, to tell tales, to “SPLIT,” which see; “to ROUND on a man,” to swear to him as being the person, &c. Synonymous with “BUFF,” which see. Shakespere has ROUNDING, whispering.

ROUND, “ROUND dealing,” honest trading; “ROUND sum,” a large sum. Synonymous also in a slang sense with SQUARE, which see.

ROUNDS, shirt collars—apparently a mere shortening of “All Rounds,” or “All Rounders,” names of fashionable collars.

ROUNDS (in the language of the street), the BEATS or usual walks of the costermonger to sell his stock. A term used by street folk generally.

ROUND ROBIN, a petition, or paper of remonstrance, with the signatures written in a circle,—to prevent the first signer, or ringleader, from being discovered.

ROUNDABOUTS, large swings of four compartments, each the size, and very much the shape, of the body of a cart, capable of seating six or eight boys and girls, erected in a high frame, and turned round by men at a windlass. Fairs and merry-makings generally abound with them. The frames take to pieces, and are carried in vans by miserable horses, from fair to fair, &c.

ROW, a noisy disturbance, tumult, or trouble. Originally Cambridge, now universal. Seventy years ago it was written ROUE, which would indicate a French origin from roué, a profligate, or disturber of the peace.—Vide George Parker’s Life’s Painter, 1789, p. 122.

ROWDY, money. In America, a ruffian, a brawler, “rough.”

ROWDY-DOW, low, vulgar; “not the CHEESE,” or thing.

RUB, a quarrel, or impediment: “there’s the RUB,” i.e., that is the difficulty.—Shakespere and L’Estrange.

RUBBER, a term at whist, &c., two games out of three.—Old, 1677.

RUCK, the undistinguished crowd; “to come in with the RUCK,” to arrive at the winning post among the non-winning horses.—Racing term.

RUGGY, fusty, frowsy.

RUM, like its opposite, QUEER, was formerly a much used prefix, signifying, fine, good, gallant, or valuable, perhaps in some way connected with ROME. Now-a-days it means indifferent, bad, or questionable, and we often hear even persons in polite society use such a phrase as “what a RUM fellow he is, to be sure,” in speaking of a man of singular habits or appearance. The term, from its frequent use, long since claimed a place in our dictionaries; but, with the exception of Johnson, who says RUM, a cant word for a clergyman (?), no lexicographer has deigned to notice it.

RUMBUMPTIOUS, haughty, pugilistic.

RUMBUSTIOUS, or RUMBUSTICAL, pompous, haughty, boisterous, careless of the comfort of others.

RUMGUMPTION, or GUMPTION, knowledge, capacity, capability,—hence, RUMGUMPTIOUS, knowing, wide-awake, forward, positive, pert, blunt.

RUM MIZZLERS, persons who are clever at making their escape, or getting out of a difficulty.

RUMPUS, a noise, disturbance, a “row.”

RUMY, a good woman, or girl.—Gipsey slang. In the regular Gipsey language, ROMI, a woman, a wife, is the feminine of RO, a man; and in the Robber’s Language of Spain (partly Gipsey), RUMI signifies a harlot.

RUN (good or bad), the success of a performance—Theatrical.

RUN, to comprehend, &c.; “I don’t RUN, to it,” i.e., I can’t do it, or I don’t understand, or I have not money enough.—North.

RUN, “to get the RUN upon any person,” to have the upper hand, or be able to laugh at them. Run down, to abuse or backbite anyone.

RUNNING PATTERER, a street seller who runs or moves briskly along, calling aloud his wares.

RUNNING STATIONERS, hawkers of books, ballads, dying speeches, and newspapers. They formerly used to run with newspapers, blowing a horn, when they were also termed FLYING STATIONERS.

RUSH, “doing it on the RUSH,” running away, or making off.

RUST, “to nab the RUST,” to take offence. Rusty, cross, ill-tempered, morose, one who cannot go through life like a person of easy and polished manners.

RUSTY GUTS, a blunt, rough old fellow. Corruption of RUSTICUS.

SACK, “to get the SACK,” to be discharged by an employer.

SADDLE, an additional charge made by the manager to a performer upon his benefit night.—Theatrical.

SAD DOG, a merry fellow, a joker, a gay or “fast” man.

SAINT MONDAY, a holiday most religiously observed by journeymen shoemakers, and other mechanics. An Irishman observed that this saint’s anniversary happened every week.—North, where it is termed COBBLERS’ MONDAY.

SAL, a salary.—Theatrical.

SALAMANDERS, street acrobats, and jugglers who eat fire.

SALOOP, SALEP, or SALOP, a greasy looking beverage, formerly sold on stalls at early morning, prepared from a powder made of the root of the Orchis mascula, or Red-handed Orchis. Within a few years coffee stands have superseded SALOOP stalls, but Charles Lamb, in one of his papers, has left some account of this drinkable, which he says was of all preparations the most grateful to the stomachs of young chimney sweeps.

SALT, “its rather too SALT,” said of an extravagant hotel bill.

SALT BOX, the condemned cell in Newgate.

SALTEE, a penny. Pence, &c., are thus reckoned:—

Oney saltee, a penny, from the Ital.,	UNO SOLDO.
Dooe saltee, twopence	DUE SOLDI.
Tray saltee, threepence	TRE SOLDI.
Quarterer saltee, fourpence	QUATTRO SOLDI.
Chinker saltee, fivepence	CINQUE SOLDI.
Say saltee, sixpence	SEI SOLDI.
Say oney saltee, or SETTER SALTEE, sevenpence	SETTE SOLDI.
Say dooe saltee, or OTTER SALTEE, eightpence	OTTO SOLDI.
Say tray saltee, or NOBBA SALTEE, ninepence	NOVE SOLDI.
Say quarterer saltee, or DACHA SALTEE, tenpence	DIECI SOLDI.
Say chinker saltee, or DACHA ONE SALTEE, elevenpence	DIECI UNO SOLDI, &c.
Oney beong, one shilling.
A beong say saltee, one shilling and sixpence.
Dooe beong say saltee, or MADZA CAROON, half-a-crown, or two shillings and sixpence.

⁂ This curious list of numerals in use among the London street folk is, strange as it may seem, derived from the Lingua Franca, or bastard Italian, of the Mediterranean seaports, of which other examples may be found in the pages of this Dictionary. Saltee, the cant term used by the costermongers and others for a penny, is no other than the Italian, SOLDO (plural, SOLDI), and the numerals—as may be seen by the Italian equivalents—are a tolerably close imitation of the originals. After the number SIX, a curious variation occurs, which is peculiar to the London cant, seven being reckoned as SAY ONEY, six-one, SAY DOOE, six-two = 8, and so on. Dacha, I may remark, is perhaps from the Greek, DEKA (δέκα), ten, which, in the Constantinopolitan Lingua Franca, is likely enough to have been substituted for the Italian. Madza, is clearly the Italian MEZZA. The origin of BEONG I have not been so fortunate as to discover, unless it be the French, BIEN, the application of which to a shilling is not so evident; but amongst costermongers and other street folk, it is quite immaterial what foreign tongue contributes to their secret language. Providing the terms are unknown to the police and the public generally, they care not a rushlight whether the polite French, the gay Spaniards, or the cloudy Germans helped to swell their vocabulary. The numbers of low foreigners, however, dragging out a miserable existence in our crowded neighbourhoods, organ grinders and image sellers, foreign seamen from the vessels in the river, and our own connection with Malta and the Ionian Isles, may explain, to a certain extent, the phenomenon of these Southern phrases in the mouths of costers and tramps.

SALT JUNK, navy salt beef.—See OLD HORSE.

SALVE, praise, flattery, chaff.

SAM, to “stand SAM,” to pay for refreshment, or drink, to stand paymaster for anything. An Americanism, originating in the letters U.S. on the knapsacks of the United States soldiers, which letters were jocularly said to be the initials of Uncle Sam (the Government), who pays for all. In use in this country as early as 1827.

SANGUINARY JAMES, a sheep’s head.—See BLOODY JEMMY.

SANK WORK, making soldiers’ clothes. Mayhew says from the Norman, SANC, blood,—in allusion either to the soldier’s calling, or the colour of his coat.

SAP, or SAPSCULL, a poor green simpleton, with no heart for work.

SAUCEBOX, a mouth, also a pert young person.

SAVELOY, a sausage of chopped beef smoked, a minor kind of POLONY.

SAVEY, to know; “do you SAVEY that?”—French, SAVEZ VOUS CELA? In the nigger and Anglo Chinese patois, this is SABBY, “me no SABBY.” The Whampoa slang of this description is very extraordinary; from it we have got our word CASH!

SAW YOUR TIMBER, “be off!” equivalent to cut your stick.—See CUT.

SAWBONES, a surgeon.

SAWNEY, or SANDY, a Scotchman. Corruption of Alexander.

SAWNEY, a simpleton.

SAWNEY, bacon. Sawney hunter, one who steals bacon.

SCAB, a worthless person.—Old. Shakespere uses SCALD in a similar sense.

SCALDRUM DODGE, burning the body with a mixture of acids and gunpowder, so as to suit the hues and complexions of the accident to be deplored.

SCALY, shabby, or mean. Shakespere uses SCALD, an old word of reproach.

SCAMANDER, to wander about without a settled purpose;—possibly in allusion to the winding course of the Homeric river of that name.

SCAMMERED, drunk.

SCAMP, a graceless fellow, a rascal; formerly the cant term for plundering and thieving. A ROYAL-SCAMP was a highwayman, whilst a FOOT-SCAMP was an ordinary thief with nothing but his legs to trust to in case of an attempt at capture. Some have derived SCAMP from qui ex campo exit, viz., one who leaves the field, a deserter.

SCARPER, to run away.—Spanish, ESCAPAR, to escape, make off; Italian, SCAPPARE. “Scarper with the feele of the donna of the cassey,” to run away with the daughter of the land-lady of the house; almost pure Italian, “scappare colla figlia della donna della casa.”

SCHISM-SHOP, a dissenters’ meeting-house.—University.

SCHOFEL, bad money.—See SHOW FULL.

SCHOOL, or MOB, two or more “patterers” working together in the streets.

SCHOOLING, a low gambling party.

SCHWASSLE BOX, the street performance of Punch and Judy.—Household Words, No. 183.

SCONCE, the head, judgment, sense.—Dutch.

SCORE, “to run up a SCORE at a public house,” to obtain credit there until pay day, or a fixed time, when the debt must be WIPED OFF.

SCOT, a quantity of anything, a lot, a share.—Anglo Saxon, SCEAT, pronounced SHOT.

SCOT, temper, or passion,—from the irascible temperament of that nation; “oh! what a SCOT he was in,” i.e., what temper he showed,—especially if you allude to the following.

SCOTCH FIDDLE, the itch; “to play the SCOTCH FIDDLE,” to work the index finger of the right hand like a fiddlestick between the index and middle finger of the left. This provokes a Scotchmen in the highest degree, it implying that he is afflicted with the itch.

SCOTCH GRAYS, lice. Our northern neighbours are calumniously reported, from their living on oatmeal, to be peculiarly liable to cutaneous eruptions and parasites.

SCOTCHES, the legs; also synonymous with NOTCHES.

SCOUT, a college valet, or waiter.—Oxford.—See GYP.

SCRAG, the neck.—Old cant. Scotch, CRAIG. Still used by butchers. Hence, SCRAG, to hang by the neck, and SCRAGGING, an execution,—also old cant.

SCRAN, pieces of meat, broken victuals. Formerly the reckoning at a public-house. Scranning, begging for broken victuals. Also, an Irish malediction of a mild sort, “Bad SCRAN to yer!”

SCRAPE, a difficulty; SCRAPE, low wit for a shave.

SCRAPE, cheap butter; “bread and SCRAPE,” the bread and butter issued to school-boys—so called from the butter being laid on, and then scraped off again, for economy’s sake.

SCRAPING CASTLE, a water-closet.

SCRATCH, a fight, contest, point in dispute; “coming up to the SCRATCH,” going or preparing to fight—in reality, approaching the line usually chalked on the ground to divide the ring.—Pugilistic.

SCRATCH, “no great SCRATCH,” of little worth.

SCRATCH, to strike a horse’s name out of the list of runners in a particular race. “Tomboy was SCRATCHED for the Derby, at 10, a.m., on Wednesday,” from which period all bets made in reference to him (with one exception) are void.—See P.P.—Turf.

SCRATCH-RACE (on the Turf), a race where any horse, aged, winner, or loser, can run with any weights; in fact, a race without restrictions. At Cambridge a boat-race, where the crews are drawn by lot.

SCREAMING, first-rate, splendid. Believed to have been first used in the Adelphi play-bills; “a SCREAMING farce,” one calculated to make the audience scream with laughter. Now a general expression.

SCREEVE, a letter, a begging petition.

SCREEVE, to write, or devise; “to SCREEVE a fakement,” to concoct, or write, a begging letter, or other impostor’s document. From the Dutch, SCHRYVEN; German, SCHREIBEN; French, ECRIVANT (old form), to write.

SCREEVER, a man who draws with coloured chalks on the pavement figures of our Saviour crowned with thorns, specimens of elaborate writing, thunderstorms, ships on fire, &c. The men who attend these pavement chalkings, and receive halfpence and sixpences from the admirers of street art, are not always the draughtsmen. The artist, or SCREEVER, drew, perhaps, in half-a-dozen places that very morning, and rented the spots out to as many cadaverous looking men.

SCREW, an unsound, or broken-down horse, that requires both whip and spur to get him along.

SCREW, a key,—skeleton, or otherwise.

SCREW, a turnkey.

SCREW, a mean or stingy person.

SCREW, salary or wages.

SCREW, “to put on the SCREW,” to limit one’s credit, to be more exact and precise.

SCREW LOOSE, when friends become cold and distant towards each other, it is said there is a SCREW LOOSE betwixt them; said also when anything goes wrong with a person’s credit or reputation.

SCREW, a small packet of tobacco.

SCREWED, intoxicated or drunk.

SCRIMMAGE, or SCRUMMAGE, a disturbance or row.—Ancient. Corruption of skirmish?

SCROBY, “to get SCROBY,” to be whipped in prison before the justices.

SCROUGE, to crowd or squeeze.—Wiltshire.

SCRUFF, the back part of the neck seized by the adversary in an encounter.

SCRUMPTIOUS, nice, particular, beautiful.

SCUFTER, a policeman.—North country.

SCULL, or SKULL, the head or master of a college.—University, but nearly obsolete; the gallery, however, in St. Mary’s (the University church), where the “Heads of Houses” sit in solemn state, is still nicknamed the GOLGOTHA by the undergraduates.

SCURF, a mean fellow.

SEALS, a religious slang term for converts.—See OWNED.

SEEDY, worn out, poverty stricken, used up, shabby. Metaphorical expression from the appearance of flowers when off bloom and running to seed; hence said of one who wears clothes until they crack and become shabby; “how SEEDY he looks,” said of any man whose clothes are worn threadbare, with greasy facings, and hat brightened up by perspiration and continual polishing and wetting. When a man’s coat begins to look worn out and shabby he is said to look SEEDY and ready for cutting. This term has been “on the streets” for nearly two centuries, and latterly has found its way into most dictionaries. Formerly slang, it is now a recognised word, and one of the most expressive in the English language. The French are always amused with it, they having no similar term.

SELL, to deceive, swindle, or play a practical joke upon a person. A sham is a SELL in street parlance. “Sold again, and got the money,” a costermonger cries after having successfully deceived somebody. Shakespere uses SELLING in a similar sense, viz., blinding or deceiving.

SELL, a deception, disappointment; also a lying joke.

SENSATION, a quartern of gin.

SERENE, all right; “it’s all SERENE,” a street phrase of very modern adoption, the burden of a song.

SERVE OUT, to punish, or be revenged on any one.

SETTER, sevenpence. Italian, SETTE.—See SALTEE.

SETTER, a person employed by the vendor at an auction to run the biddings up; to bid against bonâ fide bidders.

SETTLE, to kill, ruin, or effectually quiet a person.

SETTLED, transported.

SET TO, a sparring match, a fight; “a dead set,” a determined stand, in argument or in movement.

SEVEN PENNORTH, transported for seven years.

SEWED-UP, done up, used up, intoxicated. Dutch, SEEUWT, sick.

SHACK, a “chevalier d’industrie.”

SHACKLY, loose, rickety.—Devonshire.

SHAKE, a prostitute, a disreputable man or woman.—North.

SHAKE, to take away, to steal, or run off with anything; “what SHAKES, Bill?” “None,” i.e., no chance of committing a robbery.—See the following.

SHAKE, or SHAKES, a bad bargain is said to be “no great SHAKES;” “pretty fair SHAKES” is anything good or favourable.—Byron. In America, a fair SHAKE is a fair trade or a good bargain.

SHAKE LURK, a false paper carried by an impostor, giving an account of a “dreadful shipwreck.”

SHAKER, a shirt.

SHAKESTER, or SHICKSTER, a prostitute. Amongst costermongers this term is invariably applied to ladies, or the wives of tradesmen, and females generally of the classes immediately above them.

SHAKY, said of a person of questionable health, integrity, or solvency; at the University, of one not likely to pass his examination.

SHALER, a girl.

SHALLOW, a flat basket used by costers.

SHALLOWS, “to go on the SHALLOWS,” to go half naked.

SHALLOW-COVE, a begging rascal who goes about the country half naked,—with the most limited amount of rags upon his person, wearing neither shoes, stockings, nor hat.

SHALLOW-MOT, a ragged woman,—the frequent companion of the SHALLOW-COVE.

SHALLOW-SCREEVER, a man who sketches and draws on the pavement.—See SCREEVER.

SHAM ABRAHAM, to feign sickness.—See ABRAHAM.

SHANDY-GAFF, ale and ginger beer; perhaps SANG DE GOFF, the favourite mixture of one GOFF, a blacksmith.

SHANKS, legs.

SHANKS’ NAG, “to ride SHANKS’ NAG,” to go on foot.

SHANT, a pot or quart; “SHANT of bivvy,” a quart of beer.

SHAPES, “to cut up” or “show SHAPES,” to exhibit pranks, or flightiness.

SHARP, or SHARPER, a cunning cheat, a rogue,—the opposite of FLAT.

SHARP’S-ALLEY BLOOD WORMS, beef sausages and black puddings. Sharp’s-alley was very recently a noted slaughtering place near Smithfield.

SHARPING-OMEE, a policeman.

SHARK, a sharper, a swindler. Bow-street term in 1785, now in most dictionaries.—Friesic and Danish, SCHURK.—See LAND-SHARK.

SHAVE, a false alarm, a hoax, a sell. This was much used in the Crimea during the Russian campaign.

SHAVE, a narrow escape. At Cambridge, “just SHAVING through,” or “making a SHAVE,” is just escaping a “pluck” by coming out at the bottom of the list.

SHAVER, a sharp fellow; “a young” or “old SHAVER,” a boy or man.—Sea.

SHEEN, bad money.—Scotch.

SHEEP’S EYES, “to make SHEEP’S EYES at a person,” to cast amorous glances towards one on the sly:—

SHEEP’S FOOT, an iron hammer used in a printing office, the end of the handle being made like a sheep’s foot.

SHELF, “on the SHELF,” not yet disposed of; young ladies are said to be so situated when they cannot meet with a husband; “on the SHELF,” pawned.

SHELL OUT, to pay or count out money.

SHICE, nothing; “to do anything for SHICE,” to get no payment. The term was first used by the Jews in the last century. Grose gives the phrase CHICE-AM-A-TRICE, which has a synonymous meaning. Spanish, CHICO, little; Anglo Saxon, CHICHE, niggardly.

SHICER, a mean man, a humbug, a “duffer,”—a person who is either worthless or will not work.

SHICKERY, shabby, bad.

SHICKSTER; a prostitute, a lady.—See SHAKESTER.

SHILLY SHALLY, to trifle or fritter away time; irresolute. Corruption of Shall I, shall I?

SHINDY, a row, or noise.

SHINE, a row, or disturbance.

SHINE, “to take the SHINE out of a person,” to surpass or excel him.

SHINER, a looking-glass.

SHINERS, sovereigns, or money.

SHINEY RAG, “to win the SHINEY RAG,” to be ruined,—said in gambling, when any one continues betting after “luck has set in against him.”

SHIP-SHAPE, proper, in good order; sometimes the phrase is varied to “SHIP-SHAPE and Bristol fashion.”—Sea.

SHIRTY, ill-tempered, or cross. When one person makes another in an ill humour he is said to have “got his SHIRT out.”

SHITTEN-SATURDAY (corruption of SHUT-IN-SATURDAY), the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, when our Lord’s body was enclosed in the tomb.

SHIVERING JEMMY, the name given by street folk to any cadger who exposes himself, half naked, on a cold day, to excite pity and procure alms. The “game” is unpleasant, but exceedingly lucrative.

SHODDY, old cloth worked up into new; also, a term of derision applied to workmen in woollen factories.—Yorkshire.

SHOE, to free, or initiate a person,—a practice common in most trades to a new comer. The SHOEING consists in paying for beer, or other drink, which is drunk by the older hands. The cans emptied, and the bill paid, the stranger is considered properly SHOD.

SHOE LEATHER! a thief’s warning cry, when he hears footsteps. This exclamation is used in the same spirit as Bruce’s friend, who, when he suspected treachery towards him at King Edward’s court, in 1306, sent him a purse and a pair of spurs, as a sign that he should use them in making his escape.

SHOES, “to die in one’s SHOES,” to be hung.

SHOOL, to saunter idly, become a vagabond, beg rather than work.—Smollett’s Roderick Random, vol. i., p. 262.

SHOOT THE CAT, to vomit.

SHOOT THE MOON, to remove furniture from a house in the night, without paying the landlord.

SHOOT WITH THE LONG BOW, to tell lies, to exaggerate. Synonymous with THROWING THE HATCHET.

SHOP BOUNCER, or SHOP LIFTER, a person generally respectably attired, who, while being served with a small article at a shop, steals one of more value. Shakespere has the word LIFTER, a thief.

SHOPPING, purchasing at shops. Termed by Todd a slang word, but used by Cowper and Byron.

SHORT, when spirit is drunk without any admixture of water, it is said to be taken “short;” “summat SHORT,” a dram. A similar phrase is used at the counters of banks; upon presenting a cheque, the clerk asks, “how will you take it?” i.e., in gold, or in notes? Should it be desired to receive it in as small a compass as possible, the answer is, “SHORT.”

SHORT COMMONS, short allowance of food.—See COMMONS.

SHOT, from the modern sense of the word to SHOOT,—a guess, a random conjecture; “to make a bad SHOT,” to expose one’s ignorance by making a wrong guess, or random answer without knowing whether it is right or wrong.

SHOT, from the once English, but now provincial word, to SHOOT, to subscribe, contribute in fair proportion;—a share, the same as SCOT, both being from the Anglo Saxon word, SCEAT; “to pay one’s SHOT,” i.e., share of the reckoning, &c.

SHOT, “I wish I may be SHOT, if,” &c., a common form of mild swearing.

SHOVE-HALFPENNY, a gambling street game.

SHOWFULL, or SCHOFELL, a Hansom cab,—said to have been from the name of the inventor.—Led de hor qu.

SHOW-FULL, or SCHOFUL, bad money. Mayhew thinks this word is from the Danish, SKUFFE, to shove, to deceive, cheat; Saxon, SCUFAN,—whence the English, SHOVE. The term, however, is possibly one of the many street words from the Hebrew (through the low Jews); SHEPHEL, in that language, signifying a low or debased estate. Chaldee, SHAPHAL.—See Psalm cxxxvi. 23, “in our low estate.” A correspondent suggests another very probable derivation, from the German, SCHOFEL, trash, rubbish,—the German adjective, SCHOFELIG, being the nearest possible translation of our shabby.

SHOWFULL-PITCHER, a passer of counterfeit money.

SHOWFULL PITCHING, passing bad money.

SHOWFULL PULLET, a “gay” woman.

SHRIMP, a diminutive person.—Chaucer.

SHUNT, to throw or turn aside.—Railway term.

SHUT OF, or SHOT OF, rid of.

SHUT UP! be quiet, don’t make a noise; to stop short, to make cease in a summary manner, to silence effectually. “Only the other day we heard of a preacher who, speaking of the scene with the doctors in the Temple, remarked that the Divine disputant completely SHUT THEM UP!”—Athen. 30th July, 1859. Shut up, utterly exhausted, done for.

SHY, a throw.

SHY, “to fight SHY of a person,” to avoid his society either from dislike, fear, or any other reason. SHY has also the sense of flighty, unsteady, untrustworthy.

SHY, to fling; COCK-SHY, a game at fairs, consisting of throwing short sticks at trinkets set upon other sticks,—both name and practice derived from the old game of throwing or SHYING at live cocks.

SICES, or SIZES, a throw of sixes at dice.

SICK AS A HORSE, popular simile,—curious, because a horse never vomits.

SICKNER, or SICKENER, a dose too much of anything.

SIDE BOARDS, or STICK-UPS, shirt collars.

SIGHT, “to take a SIGHT at a person,” a vulgar action employed by street boys to denote incredulity, or contempt for authority, by placing the thumb against the nose and closing all the fingers except the little one, which is agitated in token of derision.—See WALKER.

SIM, one of a Methodistical turn in religion; a low-church-man; originally a follower of the late Rev. Charles Simeon.—Cambridge.

SIMON, a sixpenny piece.

SIMON PURE, “the real SIMON PURE,” the genuine article. Those who have witnessed Mr. C. Mathews’ performance in Mrs. Centlivre’s admirable comedy of A Bold Stroke for a Wife, and the laughable coolness with which he, the false SIMON PURE, assuming the quaker dress and character of the REAL ONE, elbowed that worthy out of his expected entertainment, will at once perceive the origin of this phrase.—See act v., scene 1.

SING OUT, to call aloud.—Sea.

SING SMALL, to lessen one’s boasting, and turn arrogance into humility.

SINKERS, bad money.

SINKS, a throw of fives at dice. French, CINQS.

SIR HARRY, a close stool.

SISERARA, a hard blow.—Suffolk. Moor derives it from the story of Sisera in the Old Testament, but it is more probably a corruption of CERTIORARI, a Chancery writ reciting a complaint of hard usage.

SIT UNDER, a term employed in Dissenters’ meeting houses, to denote attendance on the ministry of any particular preacher.

SITTING PAD, sitting on the pavement in a begging position.

SIT-UPONS, trousers.—See INEXPRESSIBLES.

SIVVY, “’pon my SIVVY,” i.e., upon my soul or honour. Corruption of asseveration, like DAVY, which is an abridgment of affidavit.

SIXES AND SEVENS, articles in confusion are said to be all SIXES and SEVENS. The Deity is mentioned in the Towneley Mysteries as He that “sett all on seven,” i.e., set or appointed everything in seven days. A similar phrase at this early date implied confusion and disorder, and from these, Halliwell thinks, has been derived the phrase “to be at SIXES AND SEVENS.” A Scotch correspondent, however, states that the phrase probably came from the workshop, and that amongst needle makers when the points and eyes are “heads and tails” (“heeds and thraws”), or in confusion, they are said to be SIXES AND SEVENS, because those numbers are the sizes most generally used, and in the course of manufacture have frequently to be distinguished.

SIXTY, “to go along like SIXTY,” i.e., at a good rate, briskly.

SIZE, to order extras over and above the usual commons at the dinner in college halls. Soup, pastry, &c., are SIZINGS, and are paid for at a certain specified rate per SIZE, or portion, to the college cook.—Peculiar to Cambridge. Minsheu says, “SIZE, a farthing which schollers in Cambridge have at the buttery, noted with the letter s.”

SIZERS, or SIZARS, are certain poor scholars at Cambridge, annually elected, who get their dinners (including sizings) from what is left at the upper, or Fellows’ table, free, or nearly so. They pay rent of rooms, and some other fees, on a lower scale than the “Pensioners” or ordinary students, and answer to the “battlers” and “servitors” at Oxford.

SIZINGS, see SIZE.

SKATES LURK, a begging impostor dressed as a sailor.

SKID, a sovereign. Fashionable slang.

SKIE, to throw upwards, to toss “coppers.”—See ODD MAN.

SKILLY, broth served on board the hulks to convicts.—Linc.

SKILLIGOLEE, prison gruel, also sailors’ soup of many ingredients.

SKIN, a purse.

SKIN, to abate, or lower the value of anything; “thin SKINNED,” sensitive, touchy.

SKIN-FLINT, an old popular simile for a “close-fisted,” stingy person.

SKIPPER, the master of a vessel. Dutch, SCHIFFER, from schiff a ship; sometimes used synonymous with “Governor.”

SKIPPER, a barn.—Ancient cant.

SKIPPER IT, to sleep in the open air, or in a rough way.

SKIPPER-BIRDS, or KEYHOLE WHISTLERS, persons who sleep in barns or outhouses in preference to lodging-houses.

SKIT, a joke, a squib.

SKITTLES, a game similar to Ten Pins, which, when interdicted by the Government was altered to Nine Pins, or SKITTLES. They are set up in an alley and are thrown at (not bowled) with a round piece of hard wood, shaped like a small flat cheese. The costers consider themselves the best players in London.

SKROUGE, to push or squeeze.—North.

SKULL-THATCHERS, straw bonnet makers,—sometimes called “bonnet-BUILDERS.”

SKY, a disagreeable person, an enemy.—Westminster School.

SKY-BLUE, London milk much diluted with water, or from which the cream has been too closely skimmed.

Sky-blue formerly meant gin.

SKY-LARK.—See LARK.

SKY PARLOUR, the garret.

SKY SCRAPER, a tall man; “are you cold up there, old SKY SCRAPER?” Properly a sea term; the light sails which some adventurous skippers set above the royals in calm latitudes are termed SKY-SCRAPERS and MOON-RAKERS.

SKY WANNOCKING, unsteady, frolicking.—Norfolk.

SLAMMOCK, a slattern or awkward person.—West; and Norf.

SLANG, low, vulgar, unwritten, or unauthorised language. Gipsey, SLANG, the secret language of the Gipseys, synonymous with GIBBERISH, another Gipsey word. This word is only to be found in the Dictionaries of Webster and Ogilvie. It was, perhaps, first recorded by Grose, in his Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1785. Slang, since it has been adopted as an English word, generally implies vulgar language not known or recognised as CANT; and latterly, when applied to speech, has superseded the word FLASH.

SLANG, counterfeit or short weights and measures. A SLANG quart is a pint and a half. Slang measures are lent out at 2d. per day. The term is used principally by costermongers.

SLANG, to cheat, to abuse in foul language.

SLANG, a travelling show.

SLANG, a watch chain.

SLANGY, flashy, vulgar; loud in dress, manner, and conversation.

SLANTINGDICULAR, oblique, awry,—as opposed to PERPENDICULAR.

SLAP, paint for the face, rouge.

SLAP, exactly, precisely; “SLAP in the wind’s eye,” i.e., exactly to windward.

SLAP-UP, first-rate, excellent, very good.

SLAP-BANG, suddenly, violently.

SLAP-BANG SHOPS, low eating houses, where you have to pay down the ready money with a SLAP-BANG.—Grose.

SLAP-DASH, immediately, or quickly.

SLASH, a pocket in an overcoat.

SLASHER, a powerful roisterer, a pugilist; “the TIPTON SLASHER.”

SLATE, to pelt with abuse, to beat, to “LICK;” or, in the language of the reviewers, to “cut up.”

SLATE, “he has a SLATE loose,” i.e., he is slightly crazy.

SLAVEY, a maid servant.

SLEWED, drunk, or intoxicated.—Sea term. When a vessel changes the tack she, as it were, staggers, the sails flap, she gradually heels over, and the wind catching the waiting canvas, she glides off at another angle. The course pursued by an intoxicated, or SLEWED man, is supposed to be analogous to that of the ship.

SLICK, an Americanism, very prevalent in England since the publication of Judge Haliburton’s facetious stories. As an adjective, SLICK means rapidly, effectually, utterly; as a verb, it has the force of “to despatch rapidly,” turn off, get done with a thing.

SLICK A DEE, a pocket book.

SLING, to pass from one person to another.

SLIP, “to give the SLIP,” to run away, or elude pursuit. Shakespere has “you gave me the counterfeit,” in Romeo and Juliet. Giving the slip, however, is a Sea phrase, and refers to fastening an anchor and chain cable to a floating buoy, or water cask, until such a time arrives that is convenient to return and take them on board. In fastening the cable, the home end is slipped through the hawse pipe. Weighing anchor is a noisy task, so that giving it the SLIP infers to leave it in quietness.

SLIP, or LET SLIP; “to SLIP into a man,” to give him a sound beating; “to LET SLIP at a cove,” to rush violently upon him, and assault with vigour.

SLOG, or SLOGGER (its original form), to beat, baste, or wallop. German, SCHLAGEN; or, perhaps a vulgar corruption of SLAUGHTER. The pretended Greek derivation from σλογω, which Punch puts in the mouth of the schoolboy, in his impression of 4th May, 1859, is of course only intended to mystify grandmamma, there being no such word in the language.

SLOGGERS, i.e., SLOW-GOERS, the second division of race-boats at Cambridge. At Oxford they are called TORPIDS.—Univ.

SLOGGING, a good beating.

SLOP, cheap, or ready made, as applied to clothing, is generally supposed to be a modern appropriation; but it was used in this sense in 1691, by Maydman, in his Naval Speculations; and by Chaucer two centuries before that. Slops properly signify sailors’ working clothes.

SLOP, a policeman. Probably at first back slang, but now general.

SLOPE, to decamp, to run, or rather slip away. Originally from LOPE, to make off; the s probably became affixed as a portion of the preceding word, as in the case of “let’s lope,” let us run.—Americanism.

SLOPS, chests or packages of tea; “he shook a slum of SLOPS,” i.e., stole a chest of tea.

SLOUR, to lock, or fasten.

SLOUR’D, buttoned up; SLOUR’D HOXTER, an inside pocket buttoned up.

SLOWED, to be locked up—in prison.

SLUICERY, a gin shop or public house.

SLUM, a letter.

SLUM, a chest, or package.—See SLOPS.

SLUM, gammon; “up to SLUM,” wide awake, knowing,

SLUM THE GORGER, to cheat on the sly, to be an eye servant. Slum in this sense is old cant.

SLUMMING, passing bad money.

SLUMS, or BACK SLUMS, dark retreats, low neighbourhoods; “the Westminster SLUMS,” favourite haunts for thieves.

SLUSHY, a ship’s cook.

SMACK SMOOTH, even, level with the surface, quickly.

SMALL BEER, “he does’t think SMALL BEER of himself,” i.e., he has a great opinion of his own importance. Small coals is also used in the same sense.

SMASH, to become bankrupt, or worthless; “to go all to SMASH;” to break, or “go to the dogs.”

SMASH, to pass counterfeit money.

SMASHER, one who passes bad coin.

SMASHFEEDER, a Britannia metal spoon,—the best imitation shillings are made from this metal.

SMELLER, a blow on the nose, or a NOSER.

SMIGGINS, soup served to convicts on board the hulks.

SMISH, a shirt, or chemise. Corruption of the Span.—See MISH.

SMITHERS, or SMITHEREENS, “all to SMITHEREENS,” all to smash. Smither, is a Lincolnshire word for a fragment.

SMOKE, to detect, or penetrate an artifice.

SMUDGE, to smear, obliterate, daub. Corruption of SMUTCH.—Times, 10th August, 1859.

SMUG, extremely neat, after the fashion, in order.

SMUG, to snatch another’s property and run.

SMUGGINGS, snatchings, or purloinings,—shouted out by boys, when snatching the tops, or small play property, of other lads, and then running off at full speed.

SMUT, a copper boiler. Also, the “blacks” from a furnace.

SMUTTY, obscene,—vulgar as applied to conversation.

SNACK, booty, or share. Also, a light repast.—Old cant and Gipsey term.

SNAFFLED, arrested, “pulled up,”—so termed from a kind of horse’s bit, called a SNAFFLE. In East Anglia, to SNAFFLE is to talk foolishly.

SNAGGLE TEETH, uneven, and unpleasant looking dental operators.—West. Snags (Americanism), ends of sunken drift-wood sticking out of the water, on which river steamers are often wrecked.

SNAGGLING, angling after geese with a hook and line, the bait being a worm or snail. The goose swallows the bait, and is quietly landed and bagged.

SNAGGY, cross, crotchetty, malicious.

SNAM, to snatch, or rob from the person.

SNAPPS, share, portion; any articles or circumstances out of which money may be made; “looking out for SNAPPS,” waiting for windfalls, or odd jobs.—Old. Scotch, CHITS,—term also used for “coppers,” or halfpence.

SNEAKSMAN, a shoplifter; a petty, cowardly thief.

SNEEZER, a snuff box; a pocket-handkerchief.

SNEEZE LURKER, a thief who throws snuff in a person’s face and then robs him.

SNID, a sixpence.—Scotch.

SNIGGER, “I’m SNIGGERED if you will,” a mild form of swearing. Another form of this is JIGGERED.

SNIGGERING, laughing to oneself.—East.

SNIP, a tailor.

SNIPE, a long bill; also a term for attorneys,—a race remarkable for their propensity to long bills.

SNIPES, “a pair of SNIPES,” a pair of scissors. They are occasionally made in the form of that bird.

SNITCHERS, persons who turn queen’s evidence, or who tell tales. In Scotland, SNITCHERS signify handcuffs.

SNOB, a low, vulgar, or affected person. Supposed to be from the nickname usually applied to a Crispin, or a maker of shoes; but believed by a writer in Notes and Queries to be a contraction of the Latin, SINE OBOLO. A more probable derivation, however, has just been forwarded by an ingenious correspondent. He supposes that NOBS, i.e., Nobiles, was appended in lists to the names of persons of gentle birth, whilst those who had not that distinction were marked down as S. NOB., i.e., sine nobilitate, without marks of gentility,—thus reversing its meaning. Another “word-twister” remarks that, as at college sons of nobleman wrote after their names in the admission lists, fil nob., son of a lord, and hence all young noblemen were called NOBS, and what they did NOBBY, so those who imitated them would be called quasi-nobs, “like a nob,” which by a process of contraction would be shortened to si-nob, and then SNOB, one who pretends to be what he is not, and apes his betters. The short and expressive terms which many think fitly represent the three great estates of the realm, NOB, SNOB, and MOB, were all originally slang words. The last has safely passed through the vulgar ordeal of the streets, and found respectable quarters in the standard dictionaries.

SNOBBISH, stuck up, proud, make believe.

SNOB-STICK, a workman who refuses to join in strikes, or trade unions. Query, properly KNOB-STICK.

SNOOKS, an imaginary personage often brought forward as the answer to an idle question, or as the perpetrator of a senseless joke.

SNOOZE, or SNOODGE (vulgar pronunciation), to sleep or doze.

SNOT, a term of reproach applied to persons by the vulgar when vexed or annoyed. In a Westminster school vocabulary for boys, published in the last century, the term is curiously applied. Its proper meaning is the glandular mucus discharged through the nose.

SNOTTER, or WIPE-HAULER, a pickpocket who commits great depredations upon gentlemen’s pocket-handkerchiefs.—North.

SNOTTINGER, a coarse word for a pocket-handkerchief. The German schnupftuch is, however, nearly as plain. A handkerchief was also anciently called a MUCKINGER, or MUCKENDER.

SNOTS, small bream, a slimy kind of flat fish.—Norwich.

SNOW, wet linen.

SNOW GATHERERS, or SNOW-DROPPERS, rogues who steal linen from hedges and drying grounds.

SNUFF, “up to SNUFF,” knowing and sharp; “to take SNUFF,” to be offended. Shakespere uses SNUFF in the sense of anger, or passion. Snuffy, tipsy.

SNYDER, a tailor. German, SCHNEIDER.

SOAP, flattery.—See SOFT SOAP.

SOFT, foolish, inexperienced. An old term for bank notes.

SOFT-SOAP, or SOFT-SAWDER, flattery, ironical praise.

SOFT TACK, bread.—Sea.

SOLD, “SOLD again! and the money taken,” gulled, deceived.—Vide SELL.

SOLD UP, or OUT, broken down, bankrupt.

SOLDIER, a red herring.

SON OF A GUN, a contemptuous title for a man. In the army it is sometimes applied to an artilleryman.

SOOT BAG, a reticule.

SOP, a soft or foolish man. Abbreviation of MILKSOP.

SOPH (abbreviation of SOPHISTER), a title peculiar to the University of Cambridge. Undergraduates are junior SOPHS before passing their “Little Go,” or first University examination,—senior SOPHS after that.

SOUND, to pump, or draw information from a person in an artful manner.

SOW, the receptacle into which the liquid iron is poured in a gun-foundry. The melted metal poured from it is termed PIG.—Workmen’s terms.

SOW’S BABY, a pig; sixpence.

SPANK, a smack, or hard slap.

SPANK, to move along quickly; hence a fast horse or vessel is said to be “a SPANKER to go.”

SPANKING, large, fine, or strong; e.g., a SPANKING pace, a SPANKING breeze, a SPANKING fellow.

SPECKS, damaged oranges.

SPEEL, to run away, make off; “SPEEL the drum,” to go off with stolen property.—North.

SPELL, “to SPELL for a thing,” hanker after it, intimate a desire to possess it.

SPELLKEN, or SPEELKEN, a playhouse. German, SPIELEN.—See KEN.—Don Juan.

SPICK AND SPAN, applied to anything that is quite new and fresh.—Hudibras.

SPIFFED, slightly intoxicated.—Scotch slang.

SPIFFS, the percentage allowed by drapers to their young men when they effect a sale of old-fashioned or undesirable stock.

SPIFFY, spruce, well-dressed, tout à la mode.

SPIFLICATE, to confound, silence, or thrash.

SPILT, thrown from a horse or chaise.—See PURL.

SPIN, to reject from an examination.—Army.

SPIN-EM-ROUNDS, a street game consisting of a piece of brass, wood, or iron, balanced on a pin, and turned quickly around on a board, when the point, arrow shaped, stops at a number and decides the bet one way or the other. The contrivance very much resembles a sea compass, and was formerly the gambling accompaniment of London piemen. The apparatus then was erected on the tin lids of their pie cans, and the bets were ostensibly for pies, but more frequently for “coppers,” when no policeman frowned upon the scene, and when two or three apprentices or porters happened to meet.

SPINIKEN, a workhouse.

SPIRT, or SPURT, “to put on a SPIRT,” to make an increased exertion for a brief space, to attain one’s end; a nervous effort.

SPITFIRE, a passionate person.

SPLENDIFEROUS, sumptuous, first-rate.

SPLICE, to marry; “and the two shall become one flesh.”—Sea.

SPLICE THE MAIN BRACE, to take a drink.—Sea.

SPLIT, to inform against one’s companions, to tell tales. “To SPLIT with a person,” to cease acquaintanceship, to quarrel.

SPLODGER, a lout, an awkward countryman.

SPOFFY, a bustling busy-body is said to be SPOFFY.

SPONGE, “to throw up the SPONGE,” to submit, give over the struggle,—from the practice of throwing up the SPONGE used to cleanse the combatants’ faces, at a prize fight, as a signal that the “mill” is concluded.

SPOON, synonymous with SPOONEY. A SPOON has been defined to be “a thing that touches a lady’s lips without kissing them.”

SPOONEY, a weak-minded and foolish person, effeminate or fond; “to be SPOONEY on a girl,” to be foolishly attached to one.

SPOONS, “when I was SPOONS with you,” i.e., when young, and in our courting days before marriage.—Charles Mathews, in the farce of Everybody’s Friend.

SPORT, to exhibit, to wear, &c.,—a word which is made to do duty in a variety of senses, especially at the University. See the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam. “To SPORT a new tile;” “to SPORT an Ægrotat” (i.e., a permission from the “Dons” to abstain from lectures, &c., on account of illness); “to SPORT ONE’S OAK,” to shut the outer door and exclude the public,—especially duns, and boring acquaintances. Common also in the Inns of Court.—See Notes and Queries, 2nd series, vol. viii., p. 492, and Gentleman’s Magazine, December, 1794.

SPORTING DOOR, the outer door of chambers, also called the OAK.—See under SPORT.—University.

SPOTTED, to be known or marked by the police.

SPOUT, “up the SPOUT,” at the pawnbroker’s; SPOUTING, pawning.—See POP for origin.

SPOUT, to preach, or make speeches; SPOUTER, a preacher or lecturer.

SPRAT, sixpence.

SPREAD, butter.

SPREAD, a lady’s shawl. Spread, at the East end of London, a feast, or a TIGHTENER; at the West end a fashionable reunion, an entertainment, display of good things.

SPREE, a boisterous piece of merriment; “going on the SPREE,” starting out with intent to have a frolic. French, ESPRIT. In the Dutch language, SPREEUW is a jester.

SPRINGER-UP, a tailor who sells low-priced ready made clothing, and gives starvation wages to the poor men and women who “make up” for him. The clothes are said to be SPRUNG-UP, or “blown together.”

SPRY, active, strong, manly.—Americanism.

SPUDDY, a seller of bad potatoes. In Scotland, a SPUD is a raw potato; and roasted SPUDS are those cooked in the cinders with their jackets on.

SPUNGING-HOUSE, the sheriff’s officer’s house, where prisoners, when arrested for debt, are sometimes taken. As extortionate charges are made there for accommodation, the name is far from inappropriate.

SPUNK, spirit, fire, courage, mettle.

Common in America. For derivation see the following.

SPUNKS, lucifer matches.—Herefordshire; Scotland. Spunk, says Urry, in his MS. notes to Ray, “is the excrescency of some tree, of which they make a sort of tinder to light their pipes with.”

SPUNK-FENCER, a lucifer match seller.

SQUABBY, flat, short and thick.

SQUARE, honest; “on the SQUARE,” i.e., fair and strictly honest; “to turn SQUARE,” to reform, and get one’s living in an honest manner,—the opposite of CROSS.

SQUARE, “to be SQUARE with a man,” to be even with him, or to be revenged; “to SQUARE up to a man,” to offer to fight him. Shakespere uses SQUARE in the sense of to quarrel.

SQUARE COVE, an honest man.

SQUARE MOLL, an honest woman.

SQUARE RIGGED, well dressed.—Sea.

SQUARING HIS NIBS, giving a policeman money.

SQUEEZE, silk.

SQUIB, a temporary jeu d’esprit, which, like the firework of that denomination, sparkles, bounces, stinks, and vanishes.—Grose.

SQUINNY-EYED, squinting.—Shakespere.

SQUIRT, a doctor, or chemist.

STAFF NAKED, gin.

STAG, a shilling.

STAG, a term applied during the railway mania to a speculator without capital, who took “scrip” in “Diddlesex Junction,” and other lines, ejus et sui generis, got the shares up to a premium, and then sold out. Punch represented the house of Hudson, “the Railway King,” at Albert Gate, with a STAG on it, in allusion to this term.

STAG, to demand money, to “cadge.”

STAG, to see, discover, or watch,—like a STAG at gaze; “STAG the push,” look at the crowd. Also, to dun, or demand payment.

STAGGER, one who looks out, or watches.

STAGGERING BOB, an animal to whom the knife only just anticipates death from natural disease or accident,—said of meat on that account unfit for human food.

STALE, to evacuate urine.—Stable term.

STALL, to lodge, or put up at a public house. Also, to act a part.—Theatrical.

STALL, or STALL OFF, a dodge, a blind, or an excuse. Stall is ancient cant.

STALL OFF, to blind, excuse, hide, to screen a robbery during the perpetration of it by an accomplice.

STALL YOUR MUG, go away; spoken sharply by any one who wishes to get rid of a troublesome or inconvenient person.

STALLSMAN, an accomplice.

STAMPERS, shoes.—Ancient cant.

STAND, “to STAND treat,” to pay for a friend’s entertainment; to bear expense; to put up with treatment, good or ill; “this house STOOD me in £1,000,” i.e., cost that sum; “to STAND PAD,” to beg on the curb with a small piece of paper pinned on the breast, inscribed “I’m starving.”

STANDING, the position at a street corner, or on the curb of a market street, regularly occupied by a costermonger, or street seller.

STANDING PATTERERS, men who take a stand on the curb of a public thoroughfare, and deliver prepared speeches to effect a sale of any articles they have to vend.—See PATTERER.

STANGEY, a tailor; a person under petticoat government,—derived from the custom of “riding the STANG,” mentioned in Hudibras:—

STARK-NAKED (originally STRIP-ME-NAKED, vide Randall’s Diary, 1820), raw gin.—Bulwer’s Paul Clifford.

STARCHY, stuck-up, high-notioned, showily dressed, disdainful, cross.

STAR IT, to perform as the centre of attraction, with inferior subordinates to set off one’s abilities.—Theatrical.

STAR THE GLAZE, to break the window or show glass of a jeweller or other tradesman, and take any valuable articles, and run away. Sometimes the glass is cut with a diamond, and a strip of leather fastened to the piece of glass cut out to keep it from falling in and making a noise. Another plan is to cut the sash.

START, “THE START,” London,—the great starting point for beggars and tramps.

START, a proceeding of any kind; “a rum START,” an odd circumstance; “to get the START of a person,” to anticipate him, overreach him.

STASH, to cease doing anything, to refrain, be quiet, leave off; “STASH IT, there, you sir!” i.e., be quiet, sir; to give over a lewd or intemperate course of life is termed STASHING IT.

STEEL, the house of correction in London, formerly named the Bastile, but since shortened to STEEL.

STEEL BAR DRIVERS, or FLINGERS, journeymen tailors.

STEMS, the legs.

STEP IT, to run away, or make off.

STICK, a derogatory expression for a person; “a rum” or “odd STICK,” a curious man. More generally a “poor STICK.”—Provincial.

STICK, “cut your STICK,” be off, or go away; either simply equivalent to a recommendation to prepare a walking staff in readiness for a journey—in allusion to the Eastern custom of cutting a stick before setting out—or from the ancient mode of reckoning by notches or tallies on a stick. In Cornwall the peasantry tally sheaves of corn by cuts in a stick, reckoning by the score. Cut your stick in this sense may mean to make your mark and pass on—and so realise the meaning of the phrase “IN THE NICK (or notch) OF TIME.” Sir J. Emerson Tennent, in Notes and Queries (December, 1859), considers the phrase equivalent to “cutting the connection,” and suggests a possible origin in the prophets breaking the staves of “Beauty” and “Bands,”—vide Zech., xi., 10, 14.

STICK, to cheat; “he got STUCK,” he was taken in; STICK, to forget one’s part in a performance—Theatrical; STICK ON, to overcharge or defraud; STICK UP FOR, to defend a person, especially when slandered in his absence; STICK UP TO, to persevere in courting or attacking, whether in fisty-cuffs or argument; “to STICK in one’s gizzard,” to rankle in one’s heart; “to STICK TO a person,” to adhere to one, be his friend through adverse circumstances.

STICKS, furniture, or household chattels; “pick up your STICKS and cut!” summary advice to a person to take himself and furniture away.—Cumberland.

STICKS, pistols.—Nearly obsolete.

STICK-UPS, or GILLS, shirt collars.

STICKINGS, bruised or damaged meat sold to sausage makers and penny pie shops.—North.

STICKY, wax.

STIFF, paper, a bill of acceptance, &c.; “how did you get it, STIFF or hard?” i.e., did he pay you cash or give a bill?

STIFF FENCER, a street seller of writing paper.

STIFF ’UN, a corpse.—Term used by undertakers.

STILTON, “that’s the STILTON,” or “it is not the STILTON,” i.e., that is quite the thing, or that is not quite the thing;—polite rendering of “that is not the CHEESE,” which see.

STINGO, strong liquor.—Yorkshire.

STINK, a disagreeable exposure.

STINKOMALEE, a name given to the then New London University by Theodore Hook. Some question about Trincomalee was agitated at the same time. It is still applied by the students of the old Universities, who regard it with disfavour from its admitting all denominations.

STIPE, a stipendiary magistrate.—Provincial.

STIR, a prison, a lock-up; “IN STIR,” in jail. Anglo Saxon, STYR, correction, punishment.

STIR UP SUNDAY, the Sunday next before Advent, the collect for that day commencing with the words “Stir up.” Schoolboys, growing excited at the prospect of the vacation, irreverently commemorate it by stirring up—pushing and poking each other. Crib crust monday and TUG BUTTON TUESDAY are distinguished by similar tricks; while on PAY-OFF WEDNESDAY they retaliate small grudges in a playful facetious way. Forby says, good housewives in Norfolk consider themselves reminded by the name to mix the ingredients for their Christmas mince pies.

STOCKDOLAGER, a heavy blow, a “finisher.” Italian, STOCCADO, a fencing term.

STODGE, to surfeit, gorge, or clog with food.

STONE JUG, a prison.

STOOK, a pocket-handkerchief.

STOOK HAULER, or BUZZER, a thief who takes pocket-handkerchiefs.

STOP, a detective policeman.

STORY, a falsehood,—the soft synonyme for a lie, allowed in family circles and boarding-schools. A Puritanism that came in fashion with the tirade against romances, all novels and stories being considered as dangerous and false.

STOTOR, a heavy blow, a SETTLER.—Old cant.

STOW, to leave off, or have done; “STOW IT, the gorger’s leary,” leave off, the person is looking. See STASH, with which it is synonymous.—Ancient cant.

STOW FAKING! leave off there, be quiet! FAKING implying anything that may be going on.

STRAW. Married ladies are said to be “in THE STRAW” at their accouchements. The phrase is a coarse allusion to farm-yard animals in a similar condition.

STRAWING, selling straws in the streets (generally for a penny) and giving the purchaser a paper (indecent or political), or a gold (!) ring,—neither of which the patterer states he is allowed to sell.

STREAK, to decamp, run away.—Saxon. In America the phrase is “to make STREAKS,” or “make TRACKS.”

STREAKY, irritated, ill-tempered.

STREET PITCHERS, negro minstrels, ballad singers, long song men, men “working a board” on which have been painted various exciting scenes in some terrible drama, the details of which the STREET PITCHER is bawling out, and selling in a little book or broadsheet (price one penny); or any persons who make a stand in the streets, and sell articles for their living.

STRETCH, abbreviation of “STRETCH one’s neck,” to hang, be executed as a malefactor.—Bulwer’s Paul Clifford.

STRETCH, twelve months,—generally used to intimate the time any one has been sentenced by the judge or magistrate. One stretch is to be imprisoned twelve months, TWO STRETCH is two years, THREE STRETCH is three years, and so on.

STRETCHER, a falsehood.

STRETCHER, a contrivance with handles, used by the police to carry off persons who are violent or drunk.

STRETCHER FENCER, one who sells braces.

STRETCHING MATCH, an execution.—See STRETCH.

STRIKE ME LUCKY! an expression used by the lower orders when making a bargain, derived from the old custom of striking hands together, leaving in that of the seller a LUCK PENNY as an earnest that the bargain is concluded. In Ireland, at cattle markets, &c., a penny, or other small coin, is always given by the buyer to the seller to ratify the bargain.—Hudibras. Anciently this was called a GOD’S PENNY.

“With that he cast him a God’s peny.”—Heir of Linne.

The origin of the phrase being lost sight of, like that of many others, it is often corrupted now-a-days into STRIKE ME SILLY.

STRIKE THE JIGGER, to pick the lock, or break open the door.

STROMMEL, straw.—Ancient cant. Halliwell says that in Norfolk STRUMMEL is a name for hair.

STRONG, “to come it STRONG.”—See COME.

STUCK-UP, “purse-proud”—a form of snobbishness very common in those who have risen in the world. Mr. Albert Smith has written some amusing papers on the Natural History of STUCK-UP People.

STUFF, money.

STUFF, to make false but plausible statements, to praise ironically, to make game of a person,—literally, to STUFF or CRAM him with gammon or falsehood.

STUMP, to go on foot.

STUMPED, bowled out, done for, bankrupt, poverty stricken.—Cricketing term.

STUMPS, legs, or feet.

STUMPY, money.

STUMP UP, to pay one’s share, to pay the reckoning, to bring forth the money reluctantly.

STUN, to astonish.

STUNNER, a first-rate person or article.

STUNNERS, feelings of great astonishment; “it put the STUNNERS on me,” it confounded me.

STUNNING, first-rate, very good. “Stunning pears,” shouts the coster, “only eight a penny.”—Vide Athenæum, 26th March, 1859. Sometimes amplified to STUNNING JOE BANKS! when the expression is supposed to be in its most intense form. Joe Banks was a noted character in the last generation. He was the proprietor of a public-house in Dyott-street, Seven Dials, and afterwards, on the demolition of the Rookery, of another in Cranbourne-alley. His houses became well-known from their being the resort of the worst characters, at the same time that the strictest decorum was always maintained in them. Joe Banks also acquired a remarkable notoriety by acting as a medium betwixt thieves and their victims. Upon the proper payment to Joe, a watch or a snuff box would at any time be restored to its lawful owner—“no questions in any case being asked.” The most daring depredators in London placed the fullest confidence in Joe, and it is believed (although the Biographie Universelle is quiet upon this point) that he never, in any instance, “sold” them. He was of the middle height, stout, and strongly made, and was always noted for a showy pin, and a remarkably STUNNING neck-tie. It was this peculiarity in the costume of Mr. Banks, coupled with those true and tried qualities as a friend, for which, as I have just remarked, he was famous, that led his customers to proclaim him as STUNNING JOE BANKS! The Marquis of Douro, Colonel Chatterley, and men of their stamp, were accustomed to resort to a private room at his house, when too late or too early to gain admittance to the clubs or more aristocratic establishments.

STUNNED ON SKILLY, to be sent to prison and compelled to eat SKILLY, or SKILLIGOLEE.

STURABAN, a prison. Gipsey, DISTARABIN.

SUCK, a parasite, flatterer of the “nobs.”—University.

SUCK, to pump, or draw information from a person.

SUCK-CASSA, a public-house.

SUCK THE MONKEY, to rob a cask of liquor by inserting a straw through a gimlet hole, and sucking a portion of the contents.

SUCK UP, “to SUCK UP to a person,” to insinuate oneself into his good graces.

SUFFERER, a tailor.

SUIT, a watch and seals.

SULKY, a one-horse chaise, having only room for one person.

SUN IN THE EYES, to have too much drink.—Dickens.

SUP, abbreviation of supernumerary.—Theatrical.

SUPER, a watch; SUPER-SCREWING, stealing watches.

SURF, an actor who frequently pursues another calling.—Theat.

SWADDLER, a Wesleyan Methodist; a name originally given to members of that body by the Irish mob; said to have originated with an ignorant Romanist, to whom the words of the English Bible were a novelty, and who, hearing one of John Wesley’s preachers mention the swaddling clothes of the Holy Infant, in a sermon on Christmas-day at Dublin, shouted out in derision, “A swaddler! a swaddler!” as if the whole story were the preacher’s invention.—Southey’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 109.

SWADDY, or COOLIE, a soldier. The former was originally applied to a discharged soldier, and perhaps came from shoddy, of which soldiers’ coats are made.

SWAG, a lot or plenty of anything, a portion or division of property. In Australia the term is used for the luggage carried by diggers: in India the word LOOT is used. Scotch, SWEG, or SWACK; German, SWEIG, a flock. Old cant for a shop.

SWAG, booty, or plundered property; “collar the SWAG,” seize the booty.

SWAG-SHOP, a warehouse where “Brummagem” and general wares are sold,—fancy trinkets, plated goods, &c. Jews are the general proprietors, and the goods are excessively low priced, trashy, and showy. Swag-shops were formerly plunder depôts.—Old cant.

SWAGSMAN, one who carries the booty after a burglary.

SWANKEY, cheap beer.—West.

SWAP, to exchange. Grose says it is Irish cant, but the term is now included in most dictionaries as an allowed vulgarism.

SWEAT, to extract money from a person, to “bleed,” to squander riches.—Bulwer.

SWEATER, common term for a “cutting” or “grinding” employer.

SWEEP, a low or shabby man.

SWEET, loving or fond; “how SWEET he was upon the moll,” i.e., what marked attention he paid the girl.

SWELL, a man of importance; a person with a showy, jaunty exterior; “a rank SWELL,” a very “flashly” dressed person, a man who by excessive dress apes a higher position than he actually occupies. Anything is said to be SWELL or SWELLISH that looks showy, or is many coloured, or is of a desirable quality. Dickens and Thackeray are termed great SWELLS in literature; so indeed are the first persons in the learned professions.

SWELL FENCER, a street salesman of needles.

SWELL HUNG IN CHAINS, said of a showy man in the habit of wearing much jewellery.

SWIG, to drink. Saxon, SWIGAN.

SWIG, a hearty drink.

SWIM, “a good SWIM,” a good run of luck, a long time out of the policeman’s clutches.—Thieves’ term.

SWINDLER, although a recognised word in respectable dictionaries, commenced service as a slang term. It was used as such by the poor Londoners against the German Jews who set up in London about the year 1762, also by our soldiers in the German War about that time. Schwindel, in German, signifies to cheat.

SWING, to be hanged.

SWINGING, large, huge.

SWIPES, sour or small beer. Swipe, to drink.—Sea.

SWIPEY (from SWIPES), intoxicated.

SWISHED, married.

SWIZZLE, small beer, drink.

SWOT, mathematics; also a mathematician; as a verb, to work hard for an examination, to be diligent in one’s studies.—Army.

This word originated at the great slang manufactory for the army, the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in the broad Scotch pronunciation of Dr. Wallace, one of the Professors, of the word sweat.—See Notes and Queries, vol. i., p. 369.

T, “to suit to a T,” to fit to a nicety.—Old. Perhaps from the T-square of carpenters, by which the accuracy of work is tested.

TACKLE, clothes.—Sea.

TAFFY (corruption of David), a Welshman. Compare SAWNEY (from Alexander), a Scotchman.

TAG-RAG-AND-BOBTAIL, a mixed crowd of low people, mobility.

TAIL BUZZER, a thief who picks coat pockets.

TAKE, to succeed, or be patronised; “do you think the new opera will TAKE?” “No, because the same company TOOK so badly under the old management;” “to TAKE ON,” to grieve; Shakespere uses the word TAKING in this sense. To “TAKE UP for any one,” to protect or defend a person; “to TAKE OFF,” to mimic; “to TAKE heart,” to have courage; “to TAKE down a peg or two,” to humiliate, or tame; “to TAKE UP,” to reprove; “to TAKE AFTER,” to resemble; “to TAKE IN,” to cheat or defraud, from the lodging-house keepers’ advertisements, “single men TAKEN IN AND DONE FOR,”—an engagement which is as frequently performed in a bad as a good sense; “to TAKE THE FIELD,” when said of a General, to commence operations against the enemy; when a racing man TAKES THE FIELD he stakes his money against the favourite.

TAKE BEEF, to run away.

TAKE IN, a cheating or swindling transaction,—sometimes termed “a DEAD TAKE IN.” Shakespere has TAKE IN in the sense of conquering. To be had, or TO BE SPOKE TO, were formerly synonymous phrases with TO BE TAKEN IN.

TALLY, five dozen bunches of turnips.

TAN, to beat or thrash; I’ll TAN your hide, i.e., give you a good beating.

TANNER, a sixpence. Gipsey, TAWNO, little, or Latin, TENER, slender?

TANNY, or TEENY, little. Gipsey, TAWNO, little.

TANTREMS, pranks, capers, or frolicking; from the Tarantula dance? See account of the involuntary phrensy and motions caused by the bite of the tarantula in Italy.—Penny Cyclopædia.

TAPE, gin,—term with female servants.

TAPER, to gradually give over, to run short.

TAP TUB, the Morning Advertiser.

TAT BOX, a dice box.

TATER, “s’elp my TATER,” another street evasion of a profane oath, sometimes varied by “s’elp my GREENS.”

TATLER, a watch; “nimming a TATLER,” stealing a watch.

TATS, dice.

TATS, old rags; MILKY TATS, white rags.

TATTING, gathering old rags.

TAW, a large or principal marble; “I’ll be one on your TAW,” I will pay you out, or be even with you,—a simile taken from boys aiming always at winning the TAW when playing at marbles.

TEAGUELAND, Ireland.

TEETH, “he has cut his eye TEETH,” i.e., is old and cute enough.

TEETH-DRAWING, wrenching off knockers.

TEETOTALLER, a total abstainer from alcoholic drinks.

TEETOTALLY, amplification of TOTALLY.

TELL-ON, to tell about.

TENPENCE TO THE SHILLING, a vulgar phrase denoting a deficiency in intellect.

TESTER, sixpence. From TESTONE, a shilling in the reign of Henry VIII., but a sixpence in the time of Q. Elizabeth.—Shakespere. French, TESTE, or TETE, the head of the monarch on the coin.

TEVISS, a shilling.

THEATRE, a police court.

THICK, intimate, familiar. Scotch, CHIEF; “the two are very CHIEF now,” i.e., friendly.

THICK-UN, a sovereign; a crown piece, or five shillings.

THIMBLE, or YACK, a watch.

THIMBLE-RIG, a noted cheating game played at fairs and places of great public thronging, consisting of two or three thimbles rapidly and dexterously placed over a pea, when the THIMBLE-RIGGER, suddenly ceasing, asks you under which thimble the pea is to be found. If you are not a practised hand you will lose nine times out of ten any bet you may happen to make with him. The pea is sometimes concealed under his nail.

THIMBLE TWISTERS, thieves who rob persons of their watches.

THINSKINNED, over nice, petulant, apt to get a “raw.”

THREE SHEETS IN THE WIND, unsteady from drink.—Sea.

THREE-UP, a gambling game played by costers. Three halfpennies are thrown up, and when they fall all “heads,” or all “tails,” it is a mark; and the man who gets the greatest number of marks out of a given amount—three, five, or more—wins. The costers are very quick and skilful at this game, and play fairly at it amongst themselves; but should a stranger join in they invariably unite to cheat him.

THRUMS, threepence.

THRUMMER, a threepenny bit.

THRUPS, threepence.

THUMPING, large, fine, or strong.

THUNDERER, the Times newspaper.

THUNDERING, large, extra-sized.

TIBBING OUT, going out of bounds.—Charterhouse.

TICK, credit, trust. Johnson says it is a corruption of ticket,—tradesmen’s bills being formerly written on tickets or cards. On tick, therefore, is equivalent to on ticket, or on trust. In use 1668. Cuthbert Bede, in Notes and Queries, supplies me with an earlier date, from the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam.

“No matter upon landing whether you have money or no—you may swim in twentie of their boats over the river UPON TICKET.”—Decker’s Gul’s Hornbook, 1609.

TICKER, a watch.

TICKET, “that’s the TICKET,” i.e., what was wanted, or what is best. Corruption of “that is not etiquette,” by adding, in vulgar pronunciation, th to the first e of etiquette; or, perhaps, from TICKET, a bill or invoice. This phrase is sometimes extended into “that’s the TICKET FOR SOUP,” in allusion to the card given to beggars for immediate relief at soup kitchens.—See TICK.

TIDY, tolerably, or pretty well; “how did you get on to-day”—“Oh, TIDY.”—Saxon.

TIED UP, given over, finished; also married, in allusion to the Hymenial knot, unless a jocose allusion be intended to the halter (altar).

TIFFIN, a breakfast, dejeuner a la fourchette.—Anglo Indian slang.

TIGER, a boy employed to wait on gentlemen; one who waits on ladies is a page.

TIGHT, close, stingy; hard up, short of cash; TIGHT, spruce, strong, active; “a TIGHT lad,” a smart, active young fellow; TIGHT, drunk, or nearly so; “TIGHT laced,” puritanical, over-precise. Money is said to be TIGHT, when the public, from want of confidence in the aspect of affairs, are not inclined to speculate.

TIGHTNER, a dinner, or hearty meal.

TIKE, or BUFFER LURKING, dog stealing.

TILE, a hat; a covering for the head.

Sometimes used in another sense, “having a TILE loose,” i.e., being slightly crazy.—See PANTILE.

TIMBER MERCHANT, or SPUNK FENCER, a lucifer match seller.

TIME O’ DAY, a dodge, the latest aspect of affairs; “that’s your TIME O’ DAY,” i.e., Euge, well done; to PUT A PERSON UP TO THE TIME O’ DAY, let him know what is o’clock,—to instruct him in the knowledge needful for him.

TIN, money,—generally applied to silver.

TINGE, the percentage allowed by drapers and clothiers to their assistants, upon the sale of old-fashioned articles.—See SPIFFS.

TIN-POT, “he plays a TIN-POT game,” i.e., a low or shabby one.—Billiards.

TIP, a douceur; also to give, lend, or hand over anything to another person; “come, TIP up the tin,” i.e., hand up the money; “TIP the wink,” to inform by winking; “TIP us your fin,” i.e., give me your hand; “TIP one’s boom off,” to make off, depart.—Sea. “To miss one’s TIP,” to fail in a scheme.—Old cant.

TIP THE DOUBLE, to “bolt,” or run away from a creditor or officer. Sometimes TIP THE DOUBLE TO SHERRY, i.e., to the sheriff.

TIP-TOP, first-rate, of the best kind.

TIPTOPPER, a “swell,” or dressy man, a “Gorger.”

TIT, favourite name for a horse.

TIT FOR TAT, an equivalent.

TITIVATE, to put in order, or dress up.

TITLEY, drink.

TITTER, a girl.

’TIZER, the Morning Advertiser.

TIZZY, a sixpence. Corruption of TESTER.

TOASTING FORK, derisive term for a sword.

TOBY CONSARN, a highway expedition.

TOBY, a road; “high TOBY,” the turnpike road. “High TOBY spice,” robbery on horse-back.—Don Juan, canto xi., 19.

TODDLE, to walk as a child.

TO-DO (pronounced quickly, and as one word), a disturbance, trouble; “here’s a pretty TO-DO,” here is an unpleasant difficulty. This exactly tallies with the French word AFFAIRE (a faire).—See Forby’s Vocabulary of East Anglia.

TOFFER, a well dressed, “gay” woman.

TOFFICKY, dressy, showy.

TOFT, a showy individual, a SWELL, a person who, according to a Yorkshireman’s vocabulary, is UP-ISH.

TOG, a coat. Latin, TOGA.—Ancient cant.

TOG, to dress, or equip with an outfit; “TOGGED out to the nines,” dressed in the first style.

TOGS, clothes; “Sunday TOGS,” best clothes. One of the oldest cant words, in use in the time of Henry VIII.

TOGERY, clothes, harness, domestic paraphernalia of any kind.

TOKE, dry bread.

TOL-LOL, or TOL-LOLISH, tolerable, or tolerably.

TOMMY.—See DICKEY.

TOMMY, bread,—generally a penny roll.

TOMMY, a truck, barter, the exchange of labour for goods, not money. Both term and practice general among English operatives for half-a century.

TOMMY-MASTER, one who pays his workmen in goods, or gives them tickets upon tradesmen, with whom he shares the profit.

TOMMY SHOP, where wages are generally paid to mechanics or others, who are expected to “take out” a portion of the money in goods.

TOM-TOM, a street instrument, a small kind of drum beaten with the fingers, somewhat like the ancient tabor; a performer on this instrument. It was imported, doubtless, with the Nigger melodies,—TOM-TOMS being a favourite instrument with the darkies.

TONGUED, talkative; “to TONGUE a person,” i.e., talk him down.

TOOL, “a poor TOOL,” a bad hand at anything.

TOOL, to drive a mail coach.

TOOL, to pick pockets.

TOOLER, a pickpocket. Moll-tooler, a female pickpocket.

TOOTH, “he has cut his eye TOOTH,” i.e., he is sharp enough, or old enough, to be so; “up in the TOOTH,” far advanced in age,—said often of old maids. Stable term for aged horses which have lost the distinguishing mark in their teeth.

TOPHEAVY, drunk.

TOPPED, hung or executed.

TOP-SAWYER, the principal of a party, or profession. “A TOP-SAWYER, signifies a man that is a master genius in any profession. It is a piece of Norfolk slang, and took its rise from Norfolk being a great timber county, where the top sawyers get double the wages of those beneath them.”—Randall’s Diary, 1820.

TOPS, dying speeches and gallows broadsides.

TOPSY-TURVY, the bottom upwards. Grose gives an ingenious etymology of this once cant term, viz., “top-side turf-ways,”—turf being always laid the wrong side upwards.

TO-RIGHTS, excellent, very well, or good.

TORPIDS, the second-class race-boats at Oxford, answering to the Cambridge SLOGGERS.

TOSHERS, men who steal copper from ships’ bottoms in the Thames.

TOSS, a measure of sprats.

TOUCHED, slightly intoxicated.

TOUCHER, “as near as a TOUCHER,” as near as possible without actually touching.—Coaching term. The old jarveys, to show their skill, used to drive against things so close as absolutely to touch, yet without injury. This they called a TOUCHER, or, TOUCH AND GO, which was hence applied to anything which was within an ace of ruin.

TOUCHY, peevish, irritable. Johnson terms it a low word.

TOUT, to look out, or watch.—Old cant.

TOUTER, a looker out, one who watches for customers, a hotel runner.

TOWEL, to beat or whip. In Warwickshire an oaken stick is termed a TOWEL—whence, perhaps, the vulgar verb.

TOWELLING, a rubbing down with an oaken TOWEL, a beating.

TRACKS, “to make TRACKS,” to run away.—See STREAK.

TRANSLATOR, a man who deals in old shoes or clothes, and refits them for cheap wear.

TRANSLATORS, second-hand boots mended and polished, and sold at a low price. Monmouth-street, Seven Dials, is a great market for TRANSLATORS.

TRANSMOGRIPHY, to alter or change.

TRAP, a “fast” term for a carriage of any kind. Traps, goods and chattels of any kind, but especially luggage and personal effects; in Australia, SWAG.

TRAP, “up to TRAP,” knowing, wide awake,—synonymous with “up to SNUFF.”

TRAP, a sheriff’s officer.

TRAPESING, gadding or gossiping about in a slatternly way.—North.

TRAVELLER, name given by one tramp to another. “A TRAVELLER at her Majesty’s expense,” i.e., a transported felon, a convict.

TREE, “up a TREE,” in temporary difficulties,—out of the way. American expression, derived from RACCOON or BEAR-HUNTING. When Bruin is TREED, or is forced UP A TREE by the dogs, it means that then the tug of war begins.—See ’COON. Hence when an opponent is fairly run to bay, and can by no evasion get off, he is said to be TREED. These expressions originated with Colonel Crockett. In Scotland the phrase is “up a CLOSE,” i.e., a passage, out of the usual track, or removed from observation.

TRINE, to hang.—Ancient cant.

TROLLING, sauntering or idling.

TROLLY, or TROLLY-CARTS, term given by costermongers to a species of narrow cart, which can either be drawn by a donkey, or driven by hand.

TROTTER, a tailor’s man who goes round for orders.—University.

TROTTER CASES, shoes.

TROTTERS, feet. Sheep’s TROTTERS, boiled sheep’s feet, a favourite street delicacy.

TRUCK, to exchange or barter.

TRUCK-GUTTED, pot-bellied, corpulent.—Sea.

TRUCKS, trowsers.

TRUMP, a good fellow; “a regular TRUMP,” a jolly or good natured person,—in allusion to a TRUMP card; “TRUMPS may turn up,” i.e., fortune may yet favour me.

TUB THUMPING, preaching or speech making.

TUCK, a schoolboy’s term for fruit, pastry, &c. Tuck in, or TUCK OUT, a good meal.

TUFTS, fellow commoners, i.e., wealthy students at the University, who pay higher fees, dine with the Dons, and are distinguished by golden TUFTS, or tassels, in their caps.

TUFT-HUNTER, a hanger on to persons of quality or wealth. Originally University slang, but now general.

TUMBLE, to comprehend or understand. A coster was asked what he thought of Macbeth,—“the witches and the fighting was all very well, but the other moves I couldn’t TUMBLE to exactly; few on us can TUMBLE to the jaw-breakers; they licks us, they do.”

TURF, horse racing, and betting thereon; “on the TURF,” one who occupies himself with race course business; said also of a street-walker, nymph of the pavé.

TURKEY-MERCHANTS, dealers in plundered or contraband silk. Poulterers are sometimes termed TURKEY MERCHANTS, in remembrance of Horne Tooke’s answer to the boys at Eton, who wished in an aristocratic way to know who his father was,—a TURKEY MERCHANT, replied Tooke;—his father was a poulterer. Turkey merchant, also, was formerly slang for a driver of turkeys or geese to market.

TURNED OVER, to be stopped and searched by the police.

TURNED UP, acquitted by the magistrate or judge for want of evidence.

TURNER OUT, a coiner of bad money.

TURN OUT, personal show or appearance; a man with a showy carriage and horses is said to have a good TURN OUT.

TURNOVER, an apprentice who finishes with a second master the indentures he commenced with the first.

TURNPIKE-SAILORS, beggars who go about dressed as sailors.

TURN UP, a street fight; a sudden leaving, or making off.

TURN UP, to quit, change, abscond, or abandon; “Ned has TURNED UP,” i.e. run away; “I intend TURNING IT UP,” i.e. leaving my present abode or altering my course of life. Also to happen; let’s wait, and see what will TURN UP.

TUSHEROON, a crown piece, five shillings.

TUSSLE, a pull, struggle, fight, or argument. Johnson and Webster call it a vulgar word.

TUSSLE, to struggle, or argue.

TWELVER, a shilling.

TWIG, style, à-la-mode; “get your strummel faked in TWIG,” i.e., have your hair dressed in style; PRIME TWIG, in good order, and high spirits.—Pugilistic.

TWIG, “to hop the TWIG,” to decamp, “cut one’s stick,” to die.

TWIG, to understand, detect, or observe.

TWIST, brandy and gin mixed.

TWIST, appetite; “Will’s got a capital TWIST.”

TWITCHETTY, nervous, fidgetty.

TWITTER, “all in a TWITTER,” in a fright, or fidgetty state.

TWO-HANDED, awkward.

TWOPENNY, the head; “tuck in your TWOPENNY,” bend down your head.

TWOPENNY-HOPS, low dancing rooms, the price of admission to which was formerly—and not infrequently now—two pence. The clog hornpipe, the pipe dance, flash jigs, and hornpipes in fetters, à la Jack Sheppard, are the favourite movements, all entered into with great spirit and “joyous, laborious capering.”—Mayhew.

TYBURN COLLAR, the fringe of beard worn under the chin.—See NEWGATE COLLAR.

TYE, or TIE, a neckerchief. Proper hosier’s term now, but slang thirty years ago, and as early as 1718. Called also, SQUEEZE.

UNBETTY, to unlock.—See BETTY.

UNCLE, the pawnbroker.—See MY UNCLE.

UNDER THE ROSE.—See ROSE.

UNICORN, a style of driving with two wheelers abreast, and one leader,—termed in the United States, a SPIKE TEAM. Tandem is one wheeler and one leader. Random, three horses in line.

UNUTTERABLES, trousers—See INEXPRESSIBLES.

UNWHISPERABLES, trousers.

UP, “to be UP to a thing or two,” to be knowing, or understanding; “to put a man UP to a move,” to teach him a trick; “it’s all UP with him,” i.e., it is all over with him, often pronounced U.P., naming the two letters separately; “UP a tree,” see TREE; “UP to TRAP,” “UP to SNUFF,” wide awake, acquainted with the last new move; “UP to one’s GOSSIP,” to be a match for one who is trying to take you in;—“UP to SLUM,” proficient in roguery, capable of committing a theft successfully.

UPPER BENJAMIN, a great coat.

UPPER STOREY, or UPPER LOFT, a person’s head; “his UPPER STOREY is unfurnished,” i.e., he does not know very much.

UPPISH, proud, arrogant.

USED UP, broken-hearted, bankrupt, fatigued.

VAMOS, or VAMOUS, to go, or be off. Spanish, VAMOS, “let us go!” Probably NAMUS or NAMOUS the costermonger’s word, was from this, although it is generally considered back slang.

VAMPS, old stockings. From VAMP, to piece.

VARDO, to look; “VARDO the cassey,” look at the house. Vardo formerly was old cant for a wagon.

VARMENT, “you young VARMENT, you!” you bad, or naughty boy. Corruption of vermin.

VELVET, the tongue.

VERTICAL-CARE-GRINDER, the treadmill.

VIC., the Victoria Theatre, London,—patronised principally by costermongers and low people; also the street abbreviation of the Christian name of her Majesty the Queen.

VILLAGE, or THE VILLAGE, i.e., London.—Sporting.

VILLE, or VILE, a town or village.—pronounced phial, or vial.—French.

VINNIED, mildewed, or sour.—Devonshire.

VOKER, to talk; “can you VOKER Romany?” can you speak the canting language.—Latin, VOCARE; Spanish, VOCEAR.

WABBLE, to move from side to side, to roll about. Johnson terms it a “low, barbarous word.”

WALKER! or HOOKEY WALKER! an ejaculation of incredulity, said when a person is telling a story which you know to be all gammon, or false. The Saturday Reviewer’s explanation of the phrase is this:—“Years ago, there was a person named Walker, an aquiline-nosed Jew, who exhibited an orrery, which he called by the erudite name of Eidouranion. He was also a popular lecturer on astronomy, and often invited his pupils, telescope in hand, to take a sight at the moon and stars. The lecturer’s phrase struck his school-boy auditory, who frequently “took a sight” with that gesture of outstretched arm, and adjustment to nose and eye, which was the first garnish of the popular saying. The next step was to assume phrase and gesture as the outward and visible mode of knowingness in general.” A correspondent, however, denies this, and states that HOOKEY WALKER was a magistrate of dreaded acuteness and incredulity, whose hooked nose gave the title of BEAK to all his successors; and, moreover, that the gesture of applying the thumb to the nose and agitating the little finger, as an expression of “Don’t you wish you may get it?” is considerably older than the story in the Saturday Review would seem to indicate. There is a third explanation of HOOKEY WALKER in Notes and Queries, iv., 425.

WALK INTO, to overcome, to demolish; “I’ll WALK INTO his affections” i.e., I will scold or thrash him. The word DRIVE (which see) is used in an equally curious sense in slang speech.

WALK OVER, a re-election without opposition.—Parliamentary, but derived from the Turf, where a horse—which has no rivals entered—WALKS OVER the course, and wins without exertion.

WALK-THE-BARBER, to lead a girl astray.

WALK YOUR CHALKS, be off, or run away,—spoken sharply by any one who wishes to get rid of you.—See CHALKS.

WALL-FLOWER, a person who goes to a ball, and looks on without dancing, either from choice or not being able to obtain a partner.

WALL-FLOWERS, left-off and “regenerated” clothes, exposed for sale in Monmouth-street.

WALLOP, to beat, or thrash. Mr. John Gough Nichols derives this word from an ancestor of the Earl of Portsmouth, one Sir John Wallop, Knight of the Garter, who, in King Henry VIII.’s time, distinguished himself by WALLOPING the French; but it is more probably connected with WEAL, a livid swelling in the skin, after a blow.—See POT WALLOPER.

WALLOPING, a beating or thrashing; sometimes in an adjective sense, as big, or very large.

WAPPING, or WHOPPING, of a large size, great.

WARM, rich, or well off.

WARM, to thrash, or beat; “I’ll WARM your jacket.”

WASH, “it won’t WASH,” i.e., will not stand investigation, is not genuine, can’t be believed.

WATCHMAKER, a pickpocket, or stealer of watches.

WATCH AND SEALS, a sheep’s head and pluck.

WATER-BEWITCHED, very weak tea, the third brew (or the first at some houses), grog much diluted.

WATER OF LIFE, gin.

WATERMAN, a light blue silk handkerchief. The Oxford and Cambridge boats’ crews always wear these—light blue for Cambridge, and a darker shade for Oxford.

WATTLES, ears.

WAXY, cross, ill-tempered.

WEDGE, silver.—Old cant.

WEDGE-FEEDER, silver spoon.

WEED, a cigar; the WEED, tobacco generally.

WELL, to pocket, or place as in a well.

WENCH, provincial and old-fashioned term for a girl, derived from WINK. In America, negro girls only are termed WENCHES.

WEST CENTRAL, a water-closet, the initials being the same as those of the London Postal District. It is said that for this reason very delicate people refuse to obey Rowland Hill’s instructions in this particular.

WET, a drink, a “drain.”

WET, to drink. Low people generally ask an acquaintance to WET any recently purchased article, i.e., to stand treat on the occasion; “WET your whistle,” i.e., take a drink; “WET the other eye,” i.e., take another glass.

WET QUAKER, a drunkard of that sect; a man who pretends to be religious, and is a dram drinker on the sly.

WHACK, a share or lot; “give me my WHACK,” give me my share. Scotch, SWEG, or SWACK.

WHACK, to beat; WHACK, or WHACKING, a blow or thrashing.

WHACKING, large, fine, or strong.

WHALE, “very like a WHALE in a teacup,” said of anything that is very improbable; taken from a speech of Polonius in Hamlet.

WHEEDLE, to entice by soft words. “This word cannot be found to derive itself from any other, and therefore is looked upon as wholly invented by the CANTERS.”—Triumph of Wit, 1705.

WHERRET, or WORRIT, to scold, trouble, or annoy.—Old English.

WHIDDLE, to enter into a parley, or hesitate with many words, &c.; to inform, or discover.

WHIDS, words.—Old Gipsey cant.

WHIM-WAM, an alliterative term, synonymous with fiddle-faddle, riff-raff, &c., denoting nonsense, rubbish, &c.

WHIP, to “WHIP anything up,” to take it up quickly; from the method of hoisting heavy goods or horses on board ship by a WHIP, or running tackle, from the yard-arm. Generally used to express anything dishonestly taken.—L’Estrange and Johnson.

WHIP JACK, a sham shipwrecked sailor, called also a TURNPIKE sailor.

WHIPPER-SNAPPER, a waspish, diminutive person.

WHIPPING THE CAT, when an operative works at a private house by the day. Term used amongst tailors and carpenters.

WHISKER. There is a curious slang phrase connected with this word. When an improbable story is told, the remark is, “the mother of that was a WHISKER,” meaning it is a lie.

WHISTLE, “as clean as a WHISTLE,” neatly, or “SLICKLY done,” as an American would say; “to WET ONE’S WHISTLE,” to take a drink. This is a very old term. Chaucer says of the Miller of Trumpington’s wife (Canterbury Tales, 4153)—

“So was hir joly WHISTAL well Y-WET;”

“to WHISTLE FOR ANYTHING,” to stand small chance of getting it, from the nautical custom of whistling for a wind in a calm, which of course comes none the sooner for it.

WHITE FEATHER, “to show the WHITE FEATHER,” to evince cowardice. In the times when great attention was paid to the breeding of game-cocks, a white feather in the tail was considered a proof of cross-breeding.

WHITE LIE, a harmless lie, one told to reconcile people at variance; “mistress is not at home, sir,” is a WHITE LIE often told by servants.

WHITE LIVER’D, or LIVER FACED, cowardly, much afraid, very mean.

WHITE PROP, a diamond pin.

WHITE SATIN, gin,—term amongst women.

WHITE TAPE, gin,—term used principally by female servants.

WHITE WINE, the fashionable term for gin.

WHITECHAPEL, or WESTMINSTER BROUGHAM, a costermonger’s donkey-barrow.

WHITECHAPEL, the “upper-cut,” or strike.—Pugilistic.

WHITEWASH, when a person has taken the benefit of the Insolvent Act he is said to have been WHITEWASHED.

WHOP, to beat, or hide. Corruption of WHIP sometimes spelled WAP.

WHOP-STRAW, cant name for a countryman; Johnny Whop-straw, in allusion to threshing.

WHOPPER, a big one, a lie.

WIDDLE, to shine.—See OLIVER.

WIDE-AWAKE, a broad-brimmed felt, or stuff hat,—so called because it never had a nap, and never wants one.

WIDO, wide awake, no fool.

WIFE, a fetter fixed to one leg.—Prison.

WIFFLE-WOFFLES, in the dumps, sorrow, stomach ache.

WIGGING, a rebuke before comrades. If the head of a firm calls a clerk into the parlour, and rebukes him, it is an earwigging; if done before the other clerks, it is a WIGGING.

WILD, a village.—Tramps’ term.—See VILE.

WILD, vexed, cross, passionate. In the United States the word mad is supplemented with a vulgar meaning similar to our Cockneyism, WILD; and to make a man MAD on the other side of the Atlantic is to vex him, or “rile” his temper—not to render him a raving maniac, or a fit subject for Bedlam.

WILD OATS, youthful pranks.

WIND, “to raise the WIND,” to procure money; “to slip one’s WIND,” coarse expression meaning to die.

WIND, “I’ll WIND your cotton,” i.e., I will give you some trouble. The Byzantine General, Narses, used the same kind of threat to the Greek Empress,—“I will spin such a thread that they shall not be able to unravel.”

WINDED-SETTLED, transported for life.

WINDOWS, the eyes, or “peepers.”

WINEY, intoxicated.

WINKIN, “he went off like WINKIN,” i.e., very quickly.

WINKS, periwinkles.

WINN, a penny.—Ancient cant.

WIPE, a pocket handkerchief.—Old cant.

WIPE, a blow.

WIPE, to strike; “he fetcht me a WIPE over the knuckles,” he struck me on the knuckles; “to WIPE a person down,” to flatter or pacify a person; to WIPE off a score, to pay one’s debts, in allusion to the slate or chalk methods of account keeping; “to WIPE a person’s eye,” to shoot game which he has missed—Sporting term; hence to obtain an advantage by superior activity.

WIRE, a thief with long fingers, expert at picking ladies’ pockets.

WOBBLESHOP, where beer is sold without a license.

WOODEN SPOON, the last junior optime who takes a University degree; denoting one who is only fit to stay at home, and stir porridge.—Cambridge.

WOODEN WEDGE, the last name in the classical honours list at Cambridge. The last in mathematical honours had long been known as the WOODEN SPOON; but when the classical Tripos was instituted, in 1824, it was debated among the undergraduates what sobriquet should be given to the last on the examination list. Curiously enough, the name that year which happened to be last was WEDGEWOOD (a distinguished Wrangler). Hence the title.

WOOL, courage, pluck; “you are not half-WOOLLED,” term of reproach from one thief to another.

WOOLBIRD, a lamb; “wing of a WOOLBIRD,” a shoulder of lamb.

WOOL-GATHERING, said of any person’s wits when they are wandering, or in a reverie.—Florio.

WOOL-HOLE, the workhouse.

WORK, to plan, or lay down and execute any course of action, to perform anything; “to WORK the BULLS,” i.e., to get rid of false crown pieces; “to WORK the ORACLE,” to succeed by manœuvring, to concert a wily plan, to victimise,—a possible reference to the stratagems and bribes used to corrupt the Delphic oracle, and cause it to deliver a favourable response. “To WORK a street or neighbourhood,” trying at each house to sell all one can, or so bawling that every housewife may know what you have to sell. The general plan is to drive a donkey barrow a short distance, and then stop and cry. The term implies thoroughness; to “WORK a street well” is a common saying with a coster.

WORM, see PUMP.

WORMING, removing the beard of an oyster or muscle.

W.P., or WARMING PAN. A clergyman who holds a living pro tempore, under a bond of resignation, is styled a W.P., or WARMING PAN rector, because he keeps the place warm for his successor.—Clerical slang.

WRINKLE, an idea, or fancy; an additional piece of knowledge which is supposed to be made by a WRINKLE à posteriori.

WRITE, “to WRITE ONE’S NAME on a joint,” to have the first cut at anything,—leaving sensible traces of one’s presence on it.

YACK, a watch; to “church a YACK,” to take it out of its case to avoid detection.

YARD OF CLAY, a long, old-fashioned tobacco pipe, also called a churchwarden.

YARMOUTH CAPON, a bloater, or red herring.—Old—Ray’s Proverbs.

YARN, a long story, or tale; “a tough YARN,” a tale hard to be believed; “spin a YARN,” tell a tale.—Sea.

YAY-NAY, “a poor YAY-NAY” fellow, one who has no conversational power, and can only answer yea or nay to a question.

YELLOW BELLY, a native of the Fens of Lincolnshire, or the Isle of Ely,—in allusion to the frogs and a yellow-bellied eel caught there; they are also said to be web-footed.

YELLOW-BOY, a sovereign, or any gold coin.

YELLOW-GLOAK, a jealous man.

YELLOW-JACK, the yellow fever prevalent in the West Indies.

YELLOW-MAN, a yellow silk handkerchief.

YOKEL, a countryman.—West.

YOKUFF, a chest, or large box.

YORKSHIRE, “to YORKSHIRE,” or “come YORKSHIRE over any person,” is to cheat or BITE them.—North.

YORKSHIRE ESTATES, “I will do it when I come into my YORKSHIRE ESTATES,”—meaning if I ever have the money or the means. The phrase is said to have originated with Dr. Johnson.

YOUNKER, in street language, a lad or a boy. Term in general use amongst costermongers, cabmen, and old-fashioned people. Barnefield’s Affectionate Shepherd, 1594, has the phrase, “a seemelie YOUNKER.” Danish and Friesic, JONKER. In the Navy, a naval cadet is usually termed a YOUNKER.

YOUR-NIBS, yourself.

ZIPH, LANGUAGE OF, a way of disguising English in use among the students at Winchester College. Compare MEDICAL GREEK.

ZOUNDS, a sudden exclamation,—abbreviation of God’s wounds.