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THE SLANG DICTIONAKY.
ran hah v
UNIVKHSITY OF|i
CALIFOKNIA. i
A OADQER'8 MAP OF A BEGQINQ DISTRICT.
/
EXPUNATION OF THE HIEROGLYPHICS.
X
V
n
O
NO GOOD ; too poor, and know too tauch.
BTOP,— if you have what they want» they will buy. They are pretty *'Xv,"
(knovriug.)
GO IN THIS DIKECTION, it is better than the other road. Nothing that
way.
SONS, (good.) Safe for a "cold tatur/' if for nothing else. **C7uae jfour
patter" (don't talk much) hero.
COOPER'Dt (spoilt,) by too many tramps calling there.
QAMMT, (unfavourable,) likely to have you taken up. Hind the dog.
FLUMMUXSD^ (dangeroua,) sure of a month in "d^iod," (prison.)
RBLIGIOUS, but tidy on the whole.
St paye yy
THE
SLANG DICTIONAEY,
OB,
THE VULGAR WORDS, STREET PHRASES,
AND "FAST" EXPRESSIONS OP
HIGH AND LOW *
SOCIETY.
MANY WITH THKIR ETYMOLOGY,
AND A FKMV WITH THEIR HISTORY TRACED.
*Babblti charminc words* which catry M much wUd-fln wrapt up In them."
— HuOTK
s
LIBRA n
UNIVKRSITV OF
CALIFOIfMA.
'^-
Ikj "Wcmb" «td Lba " Wooben Smun. —Smp. m
LONDON:
JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, PICCADILLT.
1869.
[100 copies printed on Lfirge Paper.^
Oopia of this vxrrh, interleaved with finely-ruled paper, for the UH of Oum
who desire to collect such Slang and colloquial words as may start into exist-
tnce from time to lime, can b'. obtained from the pvHishtr, price 9«. 6d.
/J' OS
renmcD by johh cakdci hottes. picoadillt, lonxm.
CAUFuuMa.
PREFACE.
With this work is incorporated The Dictionary of Modem
Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words, issued by "a London
Antiquary" in 1859. The first edition of that work con-
tained about 3000 words ; the second, issued twelve months
later, gave upwards of 5000. Both editions were reviewed
by the critical press with an approval seldom accorded to
smaU works of the kind. During the four years that have
elapsed, the compiler has gone over the field of unrecog-
nised English once more. The entire subject has been re-
surveyed, out-lying terms and phrases have been brought
in, new street-words have been added, and better illustra-
tions of old colloquial expressions given. The result is
the volume before the reader, which offers, for his amuse-
ment or instruction, nearly 10,000 words and phrases com-
monly deemed " vulgar," but which are used by the highest
and lowest, the best, the wisest, as well as the worst and
most ignorant of society.
Any apology for an inquiry like the present is believed
to be unnecessary. The philologist and the historian
usually find in such material the best evidences of a
people's progress or decline It may not be out of place
to say here — and I am sure he would not have objected —
vi PREFACE.
that the late Mr Buckle took the greatest interest in the
subject, and that in a few instances I am indebted to that
gentleman for the probable etymologies of some of the
terms given in the Dictionary. "Many of these words
and phrases," he used to say, "are but serving their
apprenticeship, and wUl eventually become the active
strength of our language."
The widespread interest taken in the subject of Eng-
lish vulgar speech has surprised me. From almost every
capital in Europe I have received communications asking
further particulars, or informing me that scraps of their lan-
guage have become mixed with our street-talk ; and from
India, China, the Cape, Australia, and North and South
America I have received letters of advice or inquiry upon
the subject. In German magazines numerous articles have
appeared upon my former book ; and, at Turin, Professor
Ascoli has published a lengthy work upon the Lingua
Franca words in the speech of our lower orders, which the
Dictionary of Modern Slang was the first to detect and
make known. The Professor looks to the Lombard mer-
chants, who flocked to London in the days of Elizabeth and
James I., as the source from whence we derive this curious
element in our vulgar speech. I am sorry to inform him
that we have to thank the less dignified organ-grinders,
I as they are termed, for the introduction of this Italian
peculiarity in our street-language.
PREFACE. Vll
The short history of Cant and Slang, which precedes the
Dictionary, was first published in 1859, and has not since
been re-written, although the Dictionary, which follows,
has been more than trebled in size, and consequently con-
tains many more illustrations of the different classes of
colloquial speech than are given in the introduction. For
the general style and aim of this preliminary performance,
the compiler feels it necessary to offer some apology.
The more vulgar and less known Cant or secret terms of
the London thieves are given in the Dictionary at the foot
of each page. The compiler scarcely knew what to do with
some of the more repulsive of these words — those explana-
tory of thieving, &c., and which continually occur in the
language of low life. Their very existence is a lamentable
fact ; and the dry, unpoetic way they explain criminal in-
tentions and actions is miserable in the extreme. Crime
is an awkward thing to deal with, and, as in the case of
our own Legislature, when trying successfully to regulate
the punishment, and at the same time provide for the
reformation of criminal offenders, he found the matter a
singularly difficult one to manage. Slang is generally
pithy and amusing, whereas Cant, like our lower orders in
their thoughts and actions, is unrelieved by any feeUng
approaching to the poetic or the refined.
A few Slang and Cant words wUl be observed in the
plural. The compiler endeavoured, as far as possible, to
Vlll PREFAGS.
give the singular number ; but in the case of some of the
terms he found this impossible, as he never heard them
used in any other form than the plural
The reader will please bear in mind that this is a Dic-
tionary of modem Slang, — a list of colloquial words and
phrases in present use, — whether of ancient or modem
formation. Whenever Ancient or Ancient English is ap-
pended to a Slang or Cant word, it is meant to signify-
that the expression was in respectable use in or previous
to the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Ancient Cant indicates
that the term was used as a Cant word in or previous
to the same reign. Old or Old English, affixed to a
vulgar word, signifies that it was in general use as a
proper expression in or previous to the reign of Charles
II. Old Cant indicates that the term was in use as a
Cant word during or before the same reign.
Obsolete Slang terms are not given ; no notice, therefore,
has been taken of the numerous expressions that occur in
the play-books and other popular literature of the past
three hundred years, which have served their day, and
now form no part of our tongue. Only the living language
of the time has been dealt with.
Not long since the compiler purchased The History of
a Manchester Cadger: Narrated in his own Language,
price id. He was certainly somewhat surprised on open-
ing the pamphlet to find that it consisted of eight pages
PREFACE. IX
of his own little book, reprinted with a few errors, and
without any acknowledgment of the source from whence
it was taken. He could from his heart recommend the
Manchester Cadger to reprint the Ten Commandments,
and study one of them, now that he has sonjewhat im-
proved his fortime by the first pilfer. It is said that
40,000 copies have been sold of tho History. H.I.ll.
the Prince Lucien Bonaparte very recently discovered
one of his privately-printed little books. The Song of
Solomon, in the Lancashire Dialect, being hawked around
the same city in the form of a twopenny edition.
The compiler will be thankful for any corrections,
additional examples, or words omitted. He has occupied
many spare hours in the formation of this Dictionary of
unrecognised English, and he wishes in future editions to
make it as perfect as possible.
Based upon the present performance, a work of a
similar but more extended character is in progress. It
will give an appropriate extract from books, serials,
broadsheets, or any other source which may afford
material illustrative of the actual employment of the
several Slang, Cant, and Vulgar terms in English printed
literature. It is believed that the work will be of con-
siderable value to the philologist. Further particulars
may be obtained of the publisher, who wiU also receive
subscribers' names.
X PREFACE.
In conclusion, the compiler begs to express his obliga-
tions to those correspondents who have from time to time
assisted him with their valuable suggestions.
J. C. H,
FICOADILLT, I«(vUae 1864.
%• The Prefaces to the compiler's previous work are
added, as it is believed that they mil not prove iminterest-
ing to tlie reader.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
DICTIONAEY OF MODERN SLANG, ETC.
If any gentleman of a studious turn of mind, who may
have acquired the hahit of carrying pencils and note-
books, would for one year reside in Monmouth Court,
Seven Dials ; six months in Orchard Street, Westmiaster ;
three months in Mint Street, Borough; and consent to
undergo another three months on the extremely popular
but very much disliked treadmill, (mlgo the " Everlasting
Staircase,") finishing, I will propose, by a six months'
tramp, in the character of a cadger and beggar, over Eng-
land, I have not the least doubt but that he would be able
t.0 write an interesting work on the languages, secret and
vulgar, of the lower orders.
In the matter of Slang, our studious friend would have
to divide his time betwixt observation and research. Con-
versations on the outsides of omnibuses, on steamboat
piers, or at railway termini, would demand his most atten-
tive hearing ; so would the knots of semi-decayed cabmen,
standing about in bundles of worn-out great coats and
haybands, betwixt wateriag-paUs, and conversiug in a
xil PREFACE.
dialect every third word of which is without home or
respectable relations. He would also have to station him-
seK for hours near gatherings of ragged boys playing or
fighting, but ever and anon contributing to the note-book
a pure street-term. He would have to "hang about"
lobbies, mark the refined word-droppings of magniloquent
flunkeys, " run after " all the popular preachers, go to the
Inns of Court, be up aU night and about all day — in fact,
be a ubiquitarian, with a note-book and pencil in hand.
As for research, he would have to turn over each page
of our popular literature, wander through all the weekly
serials, wade through the newspapers, fashionable and
unfashionable, and subscribe to Mudie's, and scour the
novels. This done, and if he has been an observant man,
I wUl engage to say that he has made a choice gathering,
and that we may reasonably expect an interesting little
book.
I give this outline of preparatory study to shew the
reason the task has never been undertaken before. People
in the present chase after respectability don't care to turn
blackguards, and exchange cards with the Whitechapel
Pecker, or the Sharp's-alley Chicken, for the sake of a few
vulgar, although curious words ; and we may rest assured
that it is quite impossible to write any account of vulgar
or low language, and remain seated on damask in one's
own drawing-room. But a fortunate circumstance attended
PREFACE. xm
the compiler of the present work, and he has neither been
required to reside in Seven Dials, visit the treadmill, nor
wander over the country in the character of a vagabond or
a cadger.
In collecting old ballads, penny mstories, and other
printed street narratives, as materials for a History of
Cheap or Popular Literature, he frequently had occasion
to purchase in Seven Dials and the Borough a few old
songs or dying speeches, from the chaimters and patterers
who abound in those neighbourhoods. With some of these
men (their names would not in the least interest the
reader, and would only serve the purpose of making this
Preface look like a vulgar page from the London Directory)
an arrangement was made that they should collect the
Cant and Slang words used by the different wandering tribes
of London and the country. Some of these chaunters are
men of respectable education, (although filling a vaga-
bond's calling,) and can write good hands, and express
themselves fluently, if not with orthographical correctness.
To prevent deception and mistakes, the words and phrases
sent in were checked off by other chaunters and tramps.
' Assistance was also sought and obtained, through an in-
telligent printer in Seven Dials, from the costermongers in
London, and the pedlars and hucksters who traverse the
country. In this manner the greater number of Cant
words were procured, very valuable help being continually
XIV PREFACE.
derived from Mayhew's London Labour and the London
Poor, a work which had gone over much of the same'
groimd. The Slang and vulgar expressions were gleaned
from every source which appeared to offer any materials ;
indeed the references attached to words in the Dictionary
frequently indicate the channels which afforded them.
Although in the Introduction I have divided Cant from
Slang, and treated the subjects separately, yet in the
Dictionary I have only, in a few instances, pointed out
which are Slang, or which are Cant terms. The task would
have been a difficult one. Many words which were once
Cant are Slang now. The words peig and cove are in-
stances in point. Once Cant and secret terms, they are
now only street vulgarisms.
The etymologies attempted are only given as contribu-
tions to the subject, and the derivation of no vidgax term
is guaranteed. The origin of many street-words will, per-
haps, never be discovered, having commenced with a knot
of illiterate persons, and spread amongst a public that
cared not a iig for the history of the word, so long as it
came to their tongues to give a vulgar piquancy to a joke,
or relish to an exceedingly familiar conversation. The
references and authorities given in italics frequently shew
only the direction or probable source of the etymology.
The author, to avoid tedious verbiage, was obliged, in so
small a work, to be curt in his notes and suggestions.
PREFACE. XV
He has to explain also that a few words will probably
be noticed ia the Slang and Cant Dictionary that are ques-
tionable as coming under either of those designations*
These have been admitted because they were originally
either vulgar terms, or the compiler had something novel
to say concerning them. The makers of our large diction-
aries have been exceedingly crotchety in their choice of
what they considered respectable words. It is amusiag to
know that Eichardson used the word HUMBUG to explain
the sense of other words, but omitted it in the alphabetical
arrangement as not sufficiently respectable and ancient.
The word Slang, too, he served in the same way.
Filthy and obscene words have been carefully excluded,
although street-talk, unlicensed and un\\Titten, abounds in
tliese.
" Immodest words admit of no defence.
For want of decency is want of sense."
It appears from the calculations of philologists, that there
are 38,000 words in the English language, including deri-
vations. I believe I have, for the first time, ia consecutive
order, added at least 3000 words to the previous stock, —
vulgar and often very objectionable, but stiU terms in every-
day use, and employed by thousands. It is not generally
known, that the polite Lord Chesterfield once desired Dr
Johnson to compile a Slang Dictionary; indeed, it was
Chesterfield, some say, who first used the word humbug.
XVI PREFACE.
Words, like pectiliar styles of dress, get into public favour,
and come and go in fashion. When great favourites and
universal they truly become " household words," although
generally considered Slang, when their origin or ante-
cedents are inquired into.
A few errors of the press, I am sorry to say, may be
noticed ; but, considering the novelty of the subject, and
the fact that no fixed orthography of vulgar speech exists,
it will, I hope, be deemed a not uninteresting essay on a
new and very singular branch of human inquiry ; for, as
Mayhew remarks, " the whole subject of Cant and Slang
is, to the philologist, replete with interest of the most pro-
found character."
The compiler wnii be mitch obliged by the receipt of
ANY CANT, SLANG, OR VULGAR WORDS NOT MENTIONED IN THE
DICTIONARY. ThE PROBABLE ORIGIN, OR ETYMOLOGY, OF ANY
FASHIONABLE OR UNFASHIONABLE VULGARISM, WILL ALSO BE
RECEIVED BY HIM WITH THANKS.
PIOCADILLT, June 30, 1859.
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
DICTIONAEY OF MODERN SLANG, ETC.
The First Edition of this work had a rapid sale, and within
a few weeks after it was published, the entire issue passed
from the publisher's shelves into the hands of the public.
A Second Edition, although urgently called for, was not
immediately attempted. The First had been foimd incom-
plete, and faulty in many respects, and the author deter-
mined thoroughly to revise and recast before again going
to press. The present Edition, therefore, will be found
much more complete than the First; indeed, I may say
that it has been entirely re-written, and that, whereas the
First contained but 3000 words, this gives nearly 5000,
with a mass of fresh illustrations, and extended articles on
the more important Slang terms — humbug, for instance.
The notices of a Lingua Franca element in the language
of London vagabonds are peculiar to this Edition.
My best thanks are due to several correspondents for
valuable hints and suggestions as to the probable etymo-
logies of various colloquial expressions.
b
XVIU PREFACE.
One Kterary journal of high repute recommended a
division of Cant from Slang; but the annoyance of two
indices in a small work appeared to me to more than coun-
terbalance the benefit of a stricter pliilological classification,
so I have for the present adhered to the old arrangement ;
indeed, to separate Cant from Slang would be almost im-
possible.
PlocADiLLV, Marclt 15, l86a
CONTENTS.
THK HISTORY OF CANT, OR THE SECRET LANGUAGE
OF VAGABONDS.
PAOX
Black and Coloured Vagabonds — Vagabonds all over Europe — Vaga-
bonds Universal, . . . . . -1-3
Etymology of Cant — Cant used in old times — Difference between
Cant and Slang, ...... 3-5
The Gipsies — Gipsies taught English Vagabonds — The Gipsy-
Vagabond alliance — The Origin of Cant — Vulgar words from
the Gipsy — Gipsy element in the English language — The
poet Moore on the origin of Cant — Borrow on the Gipsy lan-
guage — The inventor of Canting not hanged, . . 5 -I I
Old Cant words still used— Old Cant words with modem meanings
— The words " Rum " and " Queer " explained — Old Cant words
entirely obsolete, . . . . . .11-14
The Oldest " Rogue's Dictionakt," . . . . 14-20
"Jaw-breakers," or hard words, used as Cant — Were Highwaymen
educated men? — Vagabonds used Foreign words as Cant — The
Lingua Franca, or Bastard Italian — Cant derived from Jews and
Showmen — Classic words used as English Cant — Old English
words used as Cant — Old English words not fashionable now —
Our old Authors very vulgar persons — Was Shakspeare a pugi-
list? — Old Dramatists used Cant words — Curious systems of
Cant, ........ 20-26
ACCOUNT OF THE HIEROGLYPHICS USED BY
VAGABONDS.
Mendicant Fbeemasonbt — Hieroglyphics of Vagabonds — Maps
used by Beggars — Account of a Cadger's Map — Explanation of
the Hieroglyphics — Did the Gipsies invent them? — The Mur-
derer's Signal on the Gallows, . . . . 1 7-32
XX
CONTENTS.
A SHORT HISTORY OF SLANG, OR THE VULGAR LAN-
GUAGE OF FAST LII'F.
Slang at Babylon and Nineveh— Old English Slang— Slang in the
time of Cromwell, and in the Court of Charles II. — Swift and
Arbuthnot fond of Slang— The origin of " Cabbage"— "The
Real Simon Pure" — Tom Brown and Ned Ward — Did Dr
Johnson compile a Slang Dictionary ? — John Bee's absurd ety-
mology of Slang — The true origin of the term — Derived from
the Gipsies — Burns and his fat friend, Grose — Slang used by
all classes. High and Low— Slang in Parliament, and amongst
our friends — New words not so reprehensible as old words bur-
dened with strange meanings — The poor Foreigner's perplexity
— Long and windy Slang words — Vulgar corruptions, . 33-42
Fashionable Slanq, ...... 42
Parliamentary Slang, ...... 45
Military and Dandy Slang, ..... 47
University Slano, ...... 48
Religiods Slanq, ....... 49
Legal Slang, or Slang amongst the Lawyers, ... 52
LiTERABY Slanq — Punch on " Slang and Sanscrit," . . S3
Theatrical Slang, or Slang both before and behind the curtain, 56
Civio Slako, ....... 57
Slang Terms fob Money — Her Majesty's coin is insulted by one
hundred and thirty distinct Slang terms — Old Slang terms for
money — The classical origin of Slang money-terms — The terms
used by the Ancient Romans vulgarisms in the Nineteenth
Century, ... .... .«S-6i
Shopkeepers' Slang, . . . . . . f)i
Workmen's Slang, or Slang in the workshop— Many Slang terms for
money derived from operatives, .... 62
Slang Apologies for Oaths, or sham exclamations for passion and
temper — Slang swearing, ..... 63
Slang Terms fob DRnKKENNtss, and the graduated scale of fuddle-
ment and 'ntoxicatior, . ... 64
CONTENTS. XXi
pias
DIOTIONAUY OF MODERN SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR
WORDS; many with their etymologies traced, together mth
Uluslrations, and references to authorities, . . . 65-274
Some Account of tAb Back Slano, the secret language of Coster-
mongers — The principle of the Back Slang — Boys and girls
soon acquire it — The Back Slang unknown to the Police —
Costermongers' terms for money — Arithmetic amongst the
Costermongers, ...... 275-279
Glossary op the Back Slanq, ..... 280-284
Some Account op the Rhtmino Slang, the secret language of
Chaunters and Patterera — The origin of the Rhyming Slang
— Spoken principally by Vagabond Poets, Patterers, and
Cheap Jacks — Patterers " well up " in Street Slang — Curious
Slang Letter from a Chaunter, .... 285-288
Glossary of the Rhyming Slang, .... 289-292
The Bibliography op Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Language, or
a list of the books which have been consulted in the com-
pilation of this work, comprising nearly every known treatise
upon the subject, • • . . . 203 -305
THE SLANG DICTIONARY.
r t^i 15 u A N I
UNIVKIJ.sn V OF
OAl.lKOiiMA.
THE HISTORY OF CANT
OB
THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF VAGABONDS.
Cant and Slang are universal and world-wide.
Nearly every nation on the face of the globe, polite and bar-
barous, may be divided into two portions, the stationary and the
wandering, the civilised and the uncivilised, the respectable and
the scoundrel, — those who have fixed abodes and avaU themselves
of the refinements of civilisation, and those who go from place to
place picking up a precarious livelihood by petty sales, begging,
or theft. This peculiarity is to be observed amongst the heathen
tribes of the southern hemisphere, as well as in the oldest and
most refined countries of Europe. As Mayhew very pertinently '
remarks, " It would appear, that not only are all races divisible
into wanderers and settlers, but that each civilised or settled
tribe has generally some wandering horde intermingled with and
in a measure preying upon it." In South Africa, the naked and
miserable Hottentots are pestered by the still more abject Son-
quas; and it may be some satisfaction for us to know that our
old enemies at the Cape, the Kafiirs, are troubled with a tribe of
rascals called Fingoes, — the former term, we are informed by
travellers, signifying beggars, and the latter wanderers and out-
casts. In South America, and among the islands of the Pacific,
matters are pretty much the same. Sleek and fat rascals, with
not much inclination towards honesty, fatten, or rather fasten,
like body insects, upon other rascals, who would be equally sleek
and fat but for their vagabond dependents. Luckily for respect-
able persons, however, vagabonds, both at home and abroad,
shew certain outward peculiarities which distinguish them from
2 VA a A BONDS ALL OVER EUROPE.
the great mass of lawful people off whom they feed and fatten.
Personal observation, and a little research into books, enable me
to mark these external traits. The wandering races are remark-
able for the development of the bones of the face, as the jaws,
cheek-bones, <fec., high-crowned, stubborn-shaped heads, quick,
restless eyes,* and hands nervously itching to be doing ;t for
their love of gambling, — staking their very existence upon a
single cast ; for sensuality of all kinds ; and for their use of a
CANT language with which to conceal their designs and plunder-
ings.
The secret jargon, or rude speech, of the vagabonds who hang
upon the Hottentots is termed Guze-cat. In Finland, the fellows
who steal seal-skins, pick the pockets of bear-skin overcoats, and
talk Cant, are termed Lappes. In France, the secret language of
highwaymen, housebreakers, and pickpockets is named Argot.
The brigands and more romantic rascals of Spain term their
private tongue Germania,} or Bobbers' Language. Rothwalsch,§
or foreign-beggar-talk, is synonymous with Cant and thieves'
talk in Germany. The vulgar dialect of Malta, and the Scala
towns of the Levant — ^imported into this country and incorporated
with English cant — is known as the Lingua Franca, or bastard
Italian. And the crowds of lazy beggars that infest the streets
of Naples and Eome, and the brigands that Albert Smith used
to describe near Pompeii — stopping a railway train, and deliber-
ately rifling the pockets and baggage of the passengers — their
• "Swarms of vagabonds, whose eyes were so sharp as Lynx." — BuUein't Simptet
and Surgery, 1562.
t Mayhew has a curious idea upon the habitual restlessness of the nomadic tribes—
i.e.t " Whether it bo that in the mere act of wandering there is a greater determina-
tion of blood to the surface of the body, and, consequently, a less qxiantity sent to the
brain." — Lond/m Labour, vol. L, p. 2.
t Germania, probably from the Gipsies, who were supposed to come from Oermany
into Spain.
( RothwaUch, from Rater, beggar, vagabond, and wdhck, foreign. See Dictionary of
Gij>py lan)7uage in Pott't Ziffeuner in Europa und Asien, voL il, Halle, 1844. The
Italian cant i« called Fmnrbesqvt, and the Portuguese. OaJao. See Franeitgut-MKhtl,
Iheiionnaire fTArgot, Paris, 1856.
ETYMOLOGY OF CANT. 3
secret language is termed Gergo. In England, as we all know, it
is called Cant — often improperly Slang.
Most nations, then, may boast, or rather lament, a vulgar
tongue — formed principally from the national language — the
hereditary property of thieves, tramps, and beggars, — the pests
of civilised communities. The formation of these secret tongues
vary, of course, with the circumstances surrounding the speakers.
A writer in Notes and Queries * has well remarked, that " the
investigation of the origin and principles of Cant and Slang
language opens a curious field of inquiry, replete with consider-
able interest to the pliilologist and the philosopher. It affords a
remarkable instance of hng-ual contrivance, which, without the
introduction of much arbitrary matter, has developed a system of
communicating ideas, having all the advantages of a foreign
language."
An inquiry into the etymology of foreign vulgar secret tongues,
and their analogy with that spoken in England, would be curious
and interesting in the extreme ; but neither present space nor
personal acquirements permit of the task, and therefore the
writer confines himself to a short account of the origin of English
Cant.
The terms Cant and Canting were doubtless derived from
chaunt or chaunting, — ^the " whining tone, or modulation of voice
adopted by beggars, with intent to coax, wheedle, or cajole by
pretensions of wretchedness." t For the origin of the other
application of the word Cant, pulpit hypocrisy, we are indebted
to a pleasant page in the Spectator, (No. 147 :) — "Cant is by
some people derived from one Andrew Cant, who, they say, was
a Presbyterian minister in some illiterate part of Scotland, who,
by exercise and use, had obtained the faculty, alias gift, of
talking in the pulpit in such a dialect that 'tis said he was
• Vr Thos. Lawrence, woo promised nn Elt/mological Cant and Slang Dictionary
Where IS till) book 1 t Richardson' t Diclionary.
DIFFESENCB BETWEEN CANT AND SLANG.
4
understood by none but his own congregation,— and not by all of
them. Since Master Cant's time it has been understood in a
larger sense, and signifies all exclamations, -whinings, unusual
tones, and, in fine, all praying and preaching like the unlearned
of the Presbyterians." This anecdote is curious, if it is not cor-
rect. It was the custom in Addison's time to have a fling at the
true-blue Presbyterians, and the mention made by Whitelocke of
Andrew Cant, a fanatical Scotch preacher, and the squib upon
the same worthy, in Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence Displayed,
may probably have started the whimsical etymology. As far as
we are concerned, however, in the present inquiry. Cant was
derived from chaunt, a beggar's whine ; chaunting being the
recognised term amongst beggars to this day for begging orations
and street whinings ; and chauntee, a street talker and tramp,
the very term still used by strollers and patterers. The use of the
word Cant, amongst beggars, must certainly have commenced
at a very early date, for we find "to cante, to speake," in
Harman's list of Rogues' Words in the year 1566 ; and Harrison
about the same time,* in speaking of beggars and Gipsies, says,
"they have devised a language among themselves which they
name Canting, but others Pedlars' Frenche."
Now the word Cant in its old sense, and Si-ANGt in its modem
application, although used by good writers and persons of educa-
tion as synonymes, are in reality quite distinct and separate
terms. Cant, apart from religious hypocrisy, refers to the old
secret language, by allegory or distinct terms, of Gipsies, thieves,
tramps, and beggars. Slang represents that evanescent, vulgar
language, ever changing with fashion and taste, which has princi-
* Dacripiion of England^ prefixed to IhlinxhtiTs ChronieU.
t The word Slano, as will be seen in the chapter upon that siibject, is purely a
Gipsy terra, although now-o-daya it refers to low or vulgar language of any kind,
other than cant Sijino and Gibbekish in the Gipsy language are synonymous; but,
M English adoptions, have meanings very diffennt from that given to tnom in their
TEE GIPSIES. 5
pally come into vogue during the last seventy or eighty years,
spoken by persons in every grade of life, rich and poor, honest
and dishonest* Cant is old ^ Slang is always modem and
changing. To illustrate the difference : a thief in Cant language
would term a horse a prancek or a prad ; while in Slang, a man
of fashion would speak of it as a bit of blood, or a spanker, or
a neat tit. a handkerchief, too, would be a billy, a fogle, or
a KENT KAG, in the secret language of low characters ; whilst
amongst vulgar persons, or those who aped their speech, it would
be called a bag, a wipe, or a clout. Cant was formed for
purposes of secrecy. Slang is indulged in from a desire to
appear familiar with life, gaiety, town-humour, and with the
transient nicknames and street jokes of the day. Both Cant and
Slang, I am aware, are often huddled together as synonymes ;
but they are distinct terms, and as such should be used.
To the Gipsies beggars and thieves are undoubtedly indebted
for their Cant language. The Gipsies landed in this country
early in the reign of Henry VIII. They were at first treated as
conjurors and magicians, — indeed, they were hailed by the popu- *
lace with as much applause as a company of English theatricals
usually receive on arriving in a distant colony. They came here
with aU their old Eastern arts of palmistry, fortune - telling,
doubling money by incantation and burial, — shreds of pagan
idolatry; and they brought with them, also, the dishonesty
of the lower caste of Asiatics, and the vagabondism they had
acquired since leaving their ancient dwelling-places in the East
many centuries before. They possessed, also, a language quite
distinct from anything that had been heard in England, and they
claimed the title of Egyptians, and as such, when their thievish
wandering propensities became a public nuisance, were cautioned
• " The vulgar tongue consiata of two parts : the first is the Cant Lanjifuage; the
laecond, those burlesque phrases, quaint allusions, and nicknames for persons, things,
and places, which, from long uninterrupted usage, are made classical by presciiptiou."
— t»Vose"» IH'iiionary OJ' Oit Vulgar Tongue, ist edition, 178^.
6 THE GIPSY VAGABOND ALLIANCE.
and proscribed in a royal proclamation by Henry VIII.* The
Gipsies were not long in the country before they found native
imitators. Vagabondism is peculiarly catching. The idle, the
vagrant, and the criminal outcasts of society, caught an idea
fi-om the so-called Egyptians — soon corrupted to Gipsies. They
learned from them how to tramp, sleep under hedges and trees,
to tell fortunes, and find stolen property for a consideration —
frequently, as the saying runs, before it was lost They also
learned the value and application of a secret tongue; indeed, aU
the accompaniments of maunding and imposture, except thieving
and begging, which were well known in this country long before
the Gipsies paid it a visit, — perhaps the only negative good that
can be said in their favour.
Harman, in 1566, wrote a singular, not to say droll, book,
entitled, A Caveat for commen Cvrsetors, vulgarly called Vaga-
bones, newly augmented and inlarged, wherein the history and
various descriptions of rogues and vagabonds are given, together
with their canting tongue. This book, the earliest of the kind,
gives the singular fact that within a dozen years after the landing
of the Gipsies, companies of English vagrants were formed, places
of meeting appointed, districts for plunder and begging operations
marked out, and rules agreed to for their common management
In some cases Gipsies joined the English gangs ; in others,
English vagrants joined the Gipsies. The fellowship was found
convenient and profitable, as both parties were aliens to the laws
and customs of the country, living in a great measure in the open
air, apart from the lawful public, and often meeting each other
on the same by-path, or in the same retired valley ; — ^but seldom
intermarrying, or entirely adopting each other's habits. The
common people, too, soon began to consider them as of one
family, — all rogues, and from Egjrpt. The secret language
spoken by the Gipsies, principally Hindoo, and extremely bar-
* "Outlandish people calling themselves ^^^fta?i«." 1530.
THE ORIGIN OF CANT.
barous to English ears, was found incomprehensible and very
difficult to learn. The Gipsies, also, found the same difficulty
with the English language. A rude, rough, and most singular
compromise was made, and a mixture of Gipsy, Old English,
newly-coined words, and cribbings from any foreign, and there-
fcwe secret language, mixed and jumbled together, formed what
has ever since been known as the canting language, or ped-
LAEs' FRENCH ; or, during the past century, st Giles's geeek.
Such was the origin of Cant ; and in illustration of its blend-
ing with the Gipsy or Cingari tongue, dusky and Oriental from
the sunny plains of Central Asia, I am enabled to give the
accompanying list of Gipsy, and often Hindoo, words, with, in
many instances, their English adoptions : —
Gipty.
BAMBOOZLE, to perplex or mis-
lead by hiding. Modem Qipsy.
BOSH, rubbish, nonsense, offal.
Gipsy and Persian.
CHEESE, thing or article, "That's
the CHEESE," or thing. Qipsy and
Hindoo.
CHIVE, the tongxie. Gipiy.
CUTA, a gold coin. Danvhian
Gipsy.
DADE, or Dadi, a father. Gipsy.
DISTARABIN, a prison. Gipsy.
GAD, or Gadsi, a wife. Gip^.
English.
BAMBOOZLE, to delude, cheat, or
make a fool of any one.
BOSH, stupidity, fooUshness.
CHEESE, or cheesy, a first-rate or
very good article.
CHIVE, or CHIVET, a shout, orloud-
tongued.
COUTEB, a sovereign, twenty shil-
lings.
DADDY, nursery term for father.*
STUEABIN, a prison.
GAD, a female scold ; a woman wh«
tramps over the country with a
beggar or hawker.
GIBBERISH, rapid and unmeaning
GIBBERISH, the language of Gip-
sies, synonymous with Slanq.
Gipsy.
• In those instances, indicated by a *, it is impossible to say whether or not wo are
Indebted to the Gipsies for the terms. Dad, in Welsh, also signifies a father. Cur is
stated to be a mere term of reproach, like ** Dog," which in all European languages
has been applied in an abusive sense. Objections may also be raised against Gad and
8
VULGAR WORDS FROM THE OIPST.
Gipsy.
ISCHUR, SoHUR, or Chdh, a thief.
CHpsy and Hindoo.
LAB, a word. Gipsy.
LOWE, or LowR, money. Gipsy
and Wallachian.
MAM I, a grandmother. Gipsy.
MANQ, or Mauno, to beg. Gipsy
and Hindoo.
MORT, a fee woman, — one for
common use amongst the male
Gipsies, so appointed by Gipsy
custom. Gipsy,
MU, the mouth. Gipsy and Hindoo.
MULL, to spoil or destroy. Gipsy.
PAL, a brother. Gipsy.
PANE, water. Gipsy. Hindoo,
PAWNEE.
RIG, a performance. Gipsy.
ROMANY, speech or language.
Spanish Gipsy.
ROME, or RoMH, a man. Gipsy
and Coptic.
ROMEE, a woman. Gipsy.
SLANG, the language spoken by
Gipsies. Gipsy.
TAWNO, little. Gipsy.
TSCHIB, or JiBB, the tongue.
Gipsy and Hindoo.
English.
CUR, a mean or dishonest man.
LOBS, words.
LOWRE, money. Ancient Cant.
MAMMY, or Mamma, a mother,
formerly sometimes used for
grandmother.
MAUND, to beg.
MORT, or MoTT, a prostitute.
MOO, or Mtjn, the mouth.
MULL, to spoil, or bungle.
PAL, a partner, or relation.
PARNEY, rain.
RIG, a frolic, or " spree."
ROMANY, the Gipsy language.
RUM, a good man, or thing. In the
Robbers' language of Spain, (partly
Gipsy,) BUM signifies a harlot.
RUMY, a good woman or girl.
SLANG, low, vulgar, unauthorised
language.
TANNY, Teent, Uttle.
JIBB, the tongue ; Jabber,* quick-
tongued, or fast talk.
Here, then, we have the remarkable fact of several words of
pure Gipsy and Asiatic origin going the round of Europe, passing
into this country before the Reformation, and coming down to
ua through numerous generations purely in the mouths of the
people. They have seldom been written or used in books, and
simply as vulgarisms have they reached our time. Only a few
• jABBEa, I am reminded, may be only another form of gabber, gab, very common
In Old English, from the Anglo-S-'xon, o.ebban.
rULOAR WORDS FROM FHE GIPSY. g
are now Cant, and some are household words. The word jockey,
as applied to a dealer or rider of horses, came from the Gipsy,
and means in that language a whip. Our standard dictionaries
give, of course, none but conjectural etymologies. Another word,
BAMBOOZLE, has been a sore diflSculty with lexicographers. It is
not in the old dictionaries, although extensively used in familiar
or popular language for the last two centuries ; in fact, the very
word that Swift, Butler, L'Estrange, and Arbuthnot would pick
out at once as a telling and most serviceable term. It is, as we
have seen, from the Gipsy ; and here I must state that it was
Boucher who first drew attention to the fact, although in his
remarks on the dusky tongue he has made a ridiculous mistake
by concluding it to be identical with its offspring, Cant. Other
parallel instances, with but slight variations from the old Gipsy
meanings, could be mentioned ; but sufficient examples have
been adduced to shew that Marsden, the great Oriental scholar
in the last century, when he declared before the Society of Anti-
quaries that the Cant of English thieves and beggars had nothing
to do with the language spoken by the despised Gipsies, was in
error. Had the Gipsy tongue been analysed and committed to
writing three centuries ago, there is every probability that many
scores of words now in common use could be at once traced to its
source. Instances continually occur now-a-days of street vulgar-
isms ascending to the drawing-rooms of respectable society. Why,
then, may not the Gipsy-vagabond alliance three centuries ago
ha^e contributed its quota of common words to popular speech 1
I feel confident there is a Gipsy element in the English lan-
guage hitherto unrecognised ; slender it may be, but not, there-
fore, unimportant.
" Indeed," says Moore the poet, in a humorous little book,
Tom Crib's Memorial to Congress, 1819, "the Gipsy language,
with the exception of such terms as relate to their own pecuHar
customs, differs but little from the regular Flash or Cant ian-
lO BORROW ON THE OIPST LANOUAGB.
guage." But this was magnifying the importance of the alliance.
Moore knew nothing of the Gipsy tongue other than the few Cant
words put into the mouths of the beggars in Beaumont and
Fletcher's Comedy of the Beggar's Bush, and Ben Jonson's Masque
of the Gipsies Metamorphosed, — ^hence his confounding Cant with
Gipsy speech, and appealing to the Glossary of Cant for so-called
" Gipsy" words at the end of the Life of Bamfylde Moore Carew,
to bear him out in his assertioa Still his remark bears much
truth, and proof would have been found long ago if any scholar
had taken the trouble to examine the " barbarous jargon of Cant,"
and to have compared it with Gipsy speecL As George Borrow,
in his Account of the Gipsies in Spain, eloquently concludes his
second volume, speaking of the connexion of the Gipsies with
Europeans : — " Yet from this temporary association were pro-
duced two results : European fraud became sharpened by coming
into contact with Asiatic craft ; whilst European tongues, by im-
perceptible degrees, became recruited vnth various words, (some
of them wonderfully expressive ) many of which have long been
stumbling-blocks to the philologist, who, whilst stigmatising them
as words of mere vulgar invention, or of unknown origin, has
been far from dreaming that a little more research or reflection
would have proved their affinity to the Sclavonic, Persian, or
Eomaic, or perhaps to the mysterious object of his veneration,
the Sanscrit, the sacred tongue of the palm-covered regions of
Ind; words originally introduced into Europe by objects too
miserable to occupy for a moment his lettered attention, — the
despised denizens of the tents of Roma."
But the Gipsies, their speech, their character — bad enough, as
all the world testifies — their history, and their religious belief,
have been totally disregarded, and their poor persons buffeted and
jostled about until it is a wonder that any trace of origin or na-
tional speech exists in them. On the Continent they received
better attention at the hands of learned men. Their language
THE INVENTOR OF CANTING NOT HANGED. 1 1
was taken down, their history traced, and their extraordinary
customs and practice of living in the open air, and eating raw
or putrid meat, explained. They ate reptiles and told fortunes
because they had learnt to do so through their forefathers centu-
ries back in Hindostan ; and they devoured carrion because the
Hindoo proverb — " That which God kills is better than that hilled
hy man"* — was still in their remembrance. Grellman, a learned
German, was their principal historian, and to him we are almost
entirely indebted for the little we know of their language.t The
first European settlement of the Gipsies was in the provinces ad-
joining the Danube, Moldau and Theiss, where M. Cogalniceano,
in his Essai sur les Cigains de la Moldo- Valachie, estimates them
at 200,000. Not a few of our ancient and modem Cant and
Slang terms are WaUachian and Greek words, brought in by these
wanderers from the East. See Cotjtek, Deum, Boung, (Harman,)
hOWR, &c.
Gipsy, then, started, and partially merged into Cant ; and the
old story told by Harrison and others, that the first inventor of
canting was hanged for his pains, would seem to be a fable, for
jargon as it is, it was, doubtless, of gradual formation, like all
other languages or systems of speech. The Gipsies at the pres-
ent day all know the old Cant words, as well as their own tongue,
— or rather what remains of it. As Borrow states, " The dialect
of the English Gipsies is mixed with English words." { Those
of the tribe who frequent fairs, and mix with English tramps,
readily learn the new words, as they are adopted by what Har-
man calls " the fraternity of vagabonds." Indeed, the old Cant
is a common language to vagrants of all descriptions and origin
scattered over the British Isles.
* This very proverb was mentioned by a young Gipsy to Crabb, a few years ago. —
Qipsie!^ Advocate, p. 14.
+ I except, of course, the numerous writers who have followed Grellman, and based
their researches upon his labours.
t Gipsies in Sptmi, vol. i., p. 18.
12 OLD OANT WORDS STILL USED.
Ancient English cant has considerably altered since the first
dictionary was compiled by Harman in 1566. A great many
words are unknown in the present tramps' and thieves' vernacular.
Some of them, however, bear stiU their old definitions, while
others have adopted fresh meanings, — to escape detection, I sup-
pose. " Abraham-mak" is yet seen in our modem sham abka-
HAM, or PLAY THE OLD SOLDIEE — i. «., to feign sickness or dis-
tress. " Autum" is still a church or chapel amongst Gipsies; and
" BECK," a constable, is our modem Cant and Slang beek, a pohce-
man or magistrate. " Bene," or bone, stands for good in Seven
Dials and the back streets of Westminster; and "bowse" is our
modem booze, to drink or fuddle. A " bowsing ken " was the
old Cant term for a public-house ; and boozing ken, in modem
Cant, has precisely the same meaning. " Bufe " was then the
term for a dog, now it is buffer, — frequently applied to men.
" Cassan " is both old and modern Cant for cheese ; the same
may be said of " chattes " or chatts, the gallows. " Cofe," or
cove, is still the vulgar synonyme for a man. " Drawees " was
hose, or " hosen," — now applied to the lining for trousers.
" Dudes" was Cant for clothes ; we now say dudds. " Flag"
is stUl a fourpenny-piece ; and " fylche" means to rob. " Ken"
is a house, and " lick" means to thrash ; " peancer " is yet
known amongst rogues as a horse ; and " to peig," amongst
high and low, is to steal. Three centuries ago, if one beggar
said anything disagreeable to another, the person annoyed would
say, " STOW you," or hold your peace ; low people now say, stow
IT, equivalent to " be quiet" " Teine" is still to hang; " wyx"
yet stands for a penny. And many other words, as wiU be seen
in the Dictionary, still retain their ancient meaning.
As specimens of those words which have altered their original
Cant signification, I may instance " chete," now written cheat,
Chete was in ancient cant what chop is in the Canton-Chinese,
— an almost inseparable adjunct Everything was termed a
CHANGES IN MEANINGS OF OLD CANT WORDS. 1 3
CHETE, and qualified by a substantive-adjective, which shewed
■what kind of a chete was meant ; for instance, " ceashino-
CHETEs" were teeth ; a " moffling-chete," a napkin ; a " grunt-
INGS-CHETE," a pig, &c., (fec. Cheat now-a-days means to defraud
or swindle, and lexicographers have tortured etymology for an
original — but without success. Escheats and escheatours have
been named, but with great doubts; indeed, Stevens, the learned
commentator on Shakspeare, acknowledged that he " did not
recollect to have met with the word cheat in our ancient writers."*
Cheat, to defraud, then, is no other than an old Cant term some-
what altered in its meaning,+ and as such it should be described
in the next etymological dictionary. Another instance of a
change in the meaning of the old Cant, but the retention of the
word, is seen in " cly," formerly to take or steal, now a pocket ;
— ^remembering a certain class of low characters, a curious con-
nexion between the two meanings will be discovered. " Make "
was a halfpenny ; we now say mag, — make being modern Cant
for appropriating, — " convey the wise it call." " Milling" stood
for stealing, it is now a pugilistic term for fighting or beating.
" Nab" was a head, — low people now say nob, the former mean-
ing, in modern Cant, to steal or seize. " Pek" was meat, — we
still say peckish, when hungry. " Peygges, dronken Tinkers or
beastly people," as old Harman wrote, would scarcely be under-
stood now ; a PEIG, in the 19th century, is a pickpocket or thief
" Quiee," or QUEEE, like cheat, was a very common prefix, and
meant bad or wicked, — it now means odd, curious, or strangfe ;
but to the ancient Cant we are indebted for the word, which
etymologists should remember.J " Eome," or eum, formerly
*Shakfl. HentylV., part ii., act ii., 8cene4.
t It is easy to see how cheat became synonymous with **fraud," when we rememhor
that it was one of the most common words of the greatest class of cheats in the
country.
} I am 1-eminded by an eminent philologist that the origin of queer is seen in the
fft7?ian QUER, cro'iked, — hence "odd." I agree with this etymology, but still have
reason to believe that tlie word was first used in this country in a Cant sense. Is it
14 OJ^D CANT WORDS ENTIRELY OBSOLETE.
meant good, or of the first quality, and was extensively used like
cheat and queer, — indeed as an adjective it was the opposite of
the latter. Rum now means curious, and is synonymous with
queer; thus, — a " EUMMY old fellow," or a " queer old man."
Here again we see the origin of an every-day word, scouted by
lexicographers and snubbed by respectable persons, but still a
word of frequent and popular use. " Yannam" meant bread ;
PANNUM is the word now. Other instances could be pointed out.
but they will be observed in the Dictionary.
Several words are entirely obsolete. " Alybbeg " no longer
means a bed, nor " askew " a cup. " Booget,"* now-a-days,
would not be understood for a basket ; neither would " gan "
pass current for mouth. " Fullams" was the old Cant term for
false or loaded dice, and although used by Shakspeare in this
sense, is now unknown and obsolete. Indeed, as Tom Moore
somewhere remarks, the present Greeks of St Giles's, themselves,
would be thoroughly puzzled by many of the ancient canting
songs, — taking, for example, the first verse of an old favourite —
" Bing out, bien Morta, and toure and toure,
Bing out, bien Morts, and toure ;
For all your duds are bing'd awast ;
The bien cove hath the loure." +
But I think I cannot do better than present to the reader at
once an entire copy of the first Canting Dictionary ever compOed.
As before mentioned, it was the work of one Thomas Harman,
a gentleman who lived in the days of Queen Elizabeth. Some
noentioned anywhere as a respectable term before 1500? If not, it had a vulgar or Cant
introduction into this country.
* lioooET properly signifies a leathern wallet, and is probably derived from the loi*
Latin BU1.OA, A tinker's budget is from the same source.
t Which, litenilly translated, means —
" Go out, good girls, and look and see.
Go out, good girls, and see ;
For all your clothes are carried away.
And the srood man has the money."
THE ' OLDEST "SOO UES" DICTION A RY." 15
writers have remarked that Decker "■ was the first to compile a
Dictionary of the vagabonds' tongue; whilst Borrow, f and
Thomas Moore, the poet, stated that Eichard Head performed
that service in his Life of an English Rogue, published in the
year 1680. All these statements are equally incorrect, for the
first attempt was made more than a century before the latter
work was issued. The quaint spelling and old-fashioned phrase-
ology are preserved, and the reader will quickly detect many
vulgar street words, old acquaintances, dressed in antique garb. J
ABRAHAM-MEN be those that fayn themselves to have beene mad,
and have bene kept either in Bethelem, or in some other piyson a
good time.
ALYBBEG,a.heAA.e.
ASKEW, a cuppe.
AVTEM,&chmc\ia.
A UTEM MORTES, married women as chaste as a cowe.
BAUDTE BASKETS bee women who goe with baskets and capcases on
their armes, wherein they have laces, pinnes, nedles, whyte inkel, and
round sylke gyrdels of all colours.
BECK, [Beek,] a constable.
BELLY-CHETE, apron.
BENE, good. Benar, better.
BENSHIP, very good.
BLETINO CHETE, a calfe or sheepe.
BOOGET, a travelling tinker's baskete.
BORDE, a shilUng.
£0 WW, a purse. [Fncstc, pong ; Wallachian, 'pxva^; see note, page 11 .]
The oldest form of this word is in Ulphilas, FUQQS ; it exists also in
the Greek, Trovyyfj,
BOWSE, drink.
BOWSING-KEN, an alehouse.
BUFE, [buffer, a man,] a dogge. ,
BYNGE A WASTE, go you hence.
* Who wrote about the year 1610.
t Qipgiei in Spain, vol. i., p. i8. Borrow ftirther commits himself by remarking
that " Head's Vocabulary has always been accepted as the speech of the English
Gipsies." Nothing of the kind. Head professed to have lived with the Gipsies, but
in reality filched his words from Decker and Brome.
t Tile modem meanings of a few of the old Cai.t words are Eiven within br.inket«.
l6 THE OLDEST "SOOUEir DICTIONARY^
CACKLINGCHETE, a coke, [cock,] or capon.
CASS AN, [cassam,] cheese.
CASTERS, a cloake.
CATETH, " the vpright Cofe cateth to the Eoge," [probably a shortenuig
or misprint of Canteth.^
CHATTES, the gallowes.
CHETE, [see what has been previously said about this word.]
CL Y, [a pocket,] to take, receive, or have.
COFE, [cove,] a person.
COMMISSION, [mish,] a shirt.
COUNTERFET CRANKE, these that do counterfet the Cranke be yong
knaves and yonge harlots, that deeply dissemble the falling sickness.
CRANKE, [cranky, foolish,] falling evil, [or wasting sickness.]
CRASHINO-CHETES, teeth.
CUPFEN, a manne. [A cuif in Northumberland and Scotland signifies a
lout or awkward fellow.]
DARKEMANS, the night.
DELL, a yonge wench.
DEWSEA-VYLE, the countrey.
DOCK, to deflower.
BOXES, harlots.
DRA WERS, hosen.
DUDES, [or dudds,] clothes.
FAMBLES, handes.
FA MBLING-CHETE, a ring on one's hand.
FLAGG, a groat.
F RATER, a beggar wyth a false paper.
FRESHE-WATERMARINERS, these kind of caterpillers counterfet
great losses on the sea : — their shippes were drowned in the piayne
of Salisbury.
FYLCHE, to robbe ; Fylchman, [a robber.]
GAGE, a quart pot.
CAN, a mouth.
OtSNTRY COFE, a noble or gentle man.
GENTRY-COFES-KEN, a noble or gentle man's honse.
GENTRY MORT, a, nohleOT gentle woman..
GERRY, excrement.
GLASYERS, eyes.
GLYMMAR, fyer.
QRANNAM, come.
THE OLDEST "ROGUES' DICTION ARY." 1 7
GRUNTINO-CIIETE, a pygge.
6YB, a writing.
GYGER, [jigger,] a dore.
HEARING-CUETES, eares.
JARKE, a seale.
JARKEMAN, one who make writings and set sealea for [counterfeit]
licences and passports.
KEN, a house.
KYNCHEN CO, [or cove,'] a young boye trained up like a " Synching
Morte." [From the German diminutive Kindschen.l
KYNCHING MORTE, is a little gyrle, carried at their mothers' backe
in a slate, or sheete, who brings them up sauagely.
LAG, water.
LAG OF DUDES a bucke [or basket] of clothe*.
LAGE, to washe.
LAP, butter, mylke, or whej.
LIGHTMANS, the day.
LOWING-CHETE, a cowe.
LOWRE, money. [From the WallacMan Gipsy word LOWE, coined money.
See M. Cogalnioeano's Essai sur les Cigains de la Moldo- Valachie,]
LTJBBARES, — " sturdy LMarea," country bumpkins, or men of a low
degree.
L YB-BEG, a bed.
L YOKE, [lick,] to beate.
LYP, to lie down.
LYPKEN, a house to lye in.
MAKE, [mag,] a halfpenny.
MAROERI PRATER, a hen.
MILLING, to steale, [by sending a child in at a window.]
MOFFLING-CHETE, a napkin.
MORTES, [motts,] harlots.
MYLL, to robbe.
MYNT, gold.
NAB, [nob,] a heade.
NABCHET, a hat or cap.
NASE, dronken.
NOSEGENT, a nunne.
PALLYARD, a borne beggar, [who counterfeits sickness, or incurable
sores. They are mostly Welshmen, Harman says.]
PARAM, mylke.
t8 THE OLDEST "ROGUES' DICTIONARY.'
PAT RICO, a priest.
PATRICOS KINCHEN, a pygge, [a satirical hit at the church, Patrico
meaning a parson or priest, and Einchen his little boy or girl.]
PEK, [peckish,] meat
POPPELARS, porrage.
PRAT, a buttocke.
PRATLINOCHETE, a toung.
PRA UNCER, a horse.
PRIGGER OP PRA UNCERS be horse-stealers, for to prigge signifieth in
their language to steale, and a Prauncer is a horse, so being put
together, the matter was playn. [Thus writes old Thomas Harman,
who concludes his description of this order of " pryggers," by very
quietly saying, " I had the best gelding stolen out of my pasture, that
I had amongst others, whyle this book was first a printing."]
PR YGGES, dronken Tinkers, or beastly people.
Q.UACKING-CUETE, a drake or duck.
QUAROMES, a body.
QUIER, [queer,] badde. [See what has been previously said about this word.]
Q UTER CRA MPRINGES, boltes or fetters.
QUIER CUE FIN, the iustice of peace.
QUYER-KYN, a pryson house.
RED SHANKE, a drake or ducke.
ROGER, a goose.
ROME, goode, [now curious, noted, or remarkable in any way. Rum is the
modem orthography.]
ROME BOUSE, [rum booze,] wyne.
ROME MORT, the Queene, [Elizabeth.]
ROME VYLE, [or Rum-viUe,] London.
RUFF PECK, baken, [short bread, common in old times at farm-houses.]
RUFFMANS, the woods or bushes.
SALOMON, an alter or masse.
SKYPPER, a bame.
SLATE, a sheete or shetes.
SMELLING-OEETE, a nose.
SMELLINGCHETE, a garden or orchard.
SNOWT FA YRE, [said of a woman who has a pretty face or is comely.]
STALL, [to initiate a beggar or rogue into the rights and privileges of the
canting order. Harman relates that when an upright man, or initiated
first-class rogue, " mete any beggar, whether he be sturdy or impotent,
he will demand of him whether ever he was 'stalled to the roge' or no.
If he say he was, he will know of whom, and his name yt stalled him.
And if he be not learnedly able to shew him the whole circumstance
X
THE OLDEST "ROO UES" DICTION A RT." 1 9
thereof, he will spoyle him of his money, either of his best garment, if
it be worth any money, and haue him to the bowsingken : which is,
to some typplinghouse next adjoyninge, and layth there to gage the
best thing that he hath for twenty pence or two shillings : this man
obeyeth for feare of beatinge. Then dooth this upright man call for a
gage of bowse, which is a quarte potte of drink, and powres the same
vpon his peld pate, adding these words, — I, 0. P., do stalle thee, W. T.,
to the Roge, and that from henceforth it shall be lawf ull ioj thee to
cant, that is, to aske or begge for thi lining in al places." Something
like this treatment is the popular idea of freemasonry, and what
schoolboys term "freeing."]
ST AM PES, leggea.
STAMPERS, shoes.
STA VLINO-KEN, a house that will receyue stollen waretk
STAWLINGE-KENS, tipplmg-houses.
STOW YOU, [stow it,] hold your peace.
STRIKE, to steale.
STROMMELL, strawe.
SWADDER, or Pedler, [a man who hawks goods.]
THE HIGH PAD, the highway.
THE RUFFIAN CLT THEE, the devil take thee.
TOOEMANS, [togg,] a cloake.
TOQMAN, a, coate.
TO BOWSE, to Aiiaiie.
TO CANTE, to speake. -
TO CLT THE GERKE, to be whipped.
TO COUCH A HOGSHEAD, to lie down and slepe.
TO CUTTE, to say. \Cut it, cut it short, &c., are modem slang phrases.]
TO CUT BENE WHYDDES, to speake or give good words.
TO CUTTE QUYER WHYDDES, to giue euil words or euil language.
TO CUT BENLE, to speak gentle.
TO DUP YE OJGER, [jigger,] to open the dore.
TO FYLCHE, to robbe.
TO HEVE A BOUGH, to robbe or rifle a boweth, [booth.]
TO MA UNDE, to aske or require.
TO MILL A KEN, to robbe a house.
TO NYQLE, [coition.]
TO NYP A BOUNG, [nip, to steal,] to cut a purse.
TO SKOWER THE CRAMPRINOES, to weare boltes or fettew.
' TO STALL, to make or ordam.
TO THE RUFFIAN, to the Devih
20 "JAWBREAKERS" USED IN CANT.
TO TOWRE, to see.
TRYNINO, [trine,] hansing.
TYB OP THE BUTERY, a goose.
WALKING MORTE, womene, [who pa<i8 for widows.]
WAPPINQ [coition.]
WHYDDES, wordes.
W YN, a penny. [A correspondent of Notes and Querlet suggests tie con-
nexion of this word with the Welch gwtn, white — i. e., the white
silver penny. See other examples under Blunt, in the Dictionary ;
cf. also the Armmican, " owbnhek," a penny.]
YANNAM, bread.
Turning our attention more to the Cant of modem times, in
connexion with the old, we find that words have been drawn
into the thieves' vocabulary from every conceivable source. Hard
or infrequent words, vulgarly termed crack-jaw, or jaw-breakers,
were very often used and considered as Cant terms. And here it
should be mentioned that at the present day the most inconsistent
and far-fetched terms are often used for secret purposes, when
they are known to be caviare to the million. It is really laugh-
able to know that such words as incongruous, insipid, interloper,
intriguing, indecoi-um, forestall, equip, hush, grapple, &c., &c., were
current Cant words a century and a half ago ; but such was the
case, as any one may see in the Dictionary of Canting Words
at the end of Bacchus and Venus* 1737. They are inserted not
as jokes or squibs, but as selections from the veritable pocket
dictionaries of the Jack Sheppards and Dick Turpins of the day.
If they were safely used as unknown and cabalistic terms amongst
the commonalty, the fact would form a very curious illustration
of the ignorance of our poor ancestors. One piece of information
is conveyed to us — i.e., that the "knights" or "gentlemen of the
road," using these polite words in those days of highwaymen,
were really well-educated men, — which heretofore has always
* This is a curious volume, and is worth from one to two gumeas. The Canting
Dictionary was afterwards reprinted, word for word, with the title of Tlu. Scoundnlg
IHctionary, in 1751. It was originally published, without date, about the year 1710 by
Bw E., under the title of a Dictionary of the Canting Crew.
VAGABONDS USED FOREIGN WORDS AS CANT. 21
been a hard point of belief notwithstanding old novels and
operas.
Amongst those Cant words which have either 'altered their
meaning, or have become extinct, I may cite lady, formerly the
Cant for "a very crooked, deformed, and iU-shapen woman;"*
and HAEMAN, " a pair of stocks, or a constable." The former is
a pleasant piece of satire, whilst the latter indicates a singular
method of revenge. Haeman was the first author who specially
wrote against English vagabonds, and for his trouble his name
became synonymous with a pair of stocks, or a policeman of the
olden time.
Apart from the Gipsy element, we find that Cant abounds in
terms from foreign languages, and that it exhibits the growth of
most recognised and completely-formed tongues, — the gathering
of words from foreign sources. In the reign of Elizabeth and of
King James I., several Dutch, Spanish, and Flemish words were
introduced by soldiers who had served in the Low Countries, and
sailors who had returned from the Spanish Main, who, like " mine
ancient Pistol," were fond of garnishing their speech with out-
landish phrases. Many of these were soon picked up and adopted
by vagabonds and tramps in their Cant language. The Anglo-
Norman and the Anglo-Saxon, the Scotch, the French, the
Italian, and even the classic languages of ancient Italy and
Greece, have contributed to its list of words, besides the various
provincial dialects of England. Indeed, as Mayhew remarks,
English Cant seems to be formed on the same basis as the Argot
of the French and the Roih-Sprcec of the Germans, — partly meta-
phorical, and partly by the introduction of such corrupted foreign
terms as are likely to be unknown to the society amid which the
Cant speakers exist. Aegot is the London thieves' word for
their secret language; it is, of course, from the French, but that
matters not so long as it is incomprehensible to the police and
• Bacchus and Venus, 1737
22 THE LINOUA FRANCA, OR BASTARD ITALIAN.
the mob. Booze, or bouse, I am reminded by a friendly corre-
spondent, comes from the Dutch buysen. Domine, a parson, is
from the SpanisL Donna and feeles, a woman and children,
is from the Latin ; and don, a clever fellow, has been filched
from the Lingua Franca, or bastard Italian, although it sounds
like an odd mixture of Spanish and French ; whilst dudds, the
vulgar term for clothes, may have been pilfered either from the
Gaelic or the Dutch. Feele, a daughter, from the French ; and
FROW, a girl or wife, from the German — are common trampjf
terms. So are gent, silver, from the French Argent; and viai,
a country town, also from the French. Horeid-horn, a fool, is
believed to be from the Erse ; and gloak, a man, from the Scotch.
As stated before, the Dictionary will supply numerous other
instances.
The Celtic languages have contributed many Cant and vulgar
■words to our popular vocabulary. These have come to us through
the Gaelic or Irish languages, so closely allied in their material
as to be merely dialects of a primitive common tongue. This
element may be from the Celtic population, which, from its ancient
position as slaves or servants to the Anglo-Saxon conquerors, has
contributed so largely to the lowest class of our population, and
therefore to our Slang, provincial, or colloquial words ; or it may
be an importation from Irish immigrants, who have undoubtedly
contributed very largely to our criminal population.
There is one source, however, of secret street terms, which in
the first edition of this work was entirely overlooked, — indeed,
it was unknown to the editor until pointed out by a friendly
correspondent, — the Lingua Franca, or bastard Italian, spoken
at Genoa, Trieste, Malta, Constantinople, Smyrna, Alexandria,
and all Mediterranean seaport towns. The ingredients of this
imported Cant are many. Its foundation is Italian, with a mix-
ture of modern Greek, German, (from the Austrian ports,) Spanish,
Turkish, and French. It has been introduced to the notice of
CANT DERIVED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. 23
the London wandering tribes by the sailors, foreign and English,
who trade to and from the Mediterranean seaports, by the swarms
of organ-players from aU parts of Italy, and by the makers
of images from Eome and Florence, — all of whom, in dense
thoroughfares, mingle with our lower orders. It would occupy
too much space here to give a list of these words. They are all
noted in the Dictionary.
"There are several Hebrew terms in our Cant language,
obtained, it would appear, from the intercourse of the thieves
with the Jew fences, (receivers of stolen goods ;) many of the Cant
terms, again, are Sanscrit, got from the Gipsies ; many Latin, got
by the beggars from the Catholic prayers before the Eeformation ;
and many, again, Italian, got from the wandering musicians and
others ; indeed, the showmen have but lately introduced a
number of Italian phrases into their Cant language."* The
Hindostanee also contributes several words, and these have
been introduced by the Lascar sailors, who come over here in the
East Indiamen, and lodge during their stay in the low tramps'
lodging-houses at the east end of London. Speaking of the
learned tongues, I may mention that, precarious and abandoned
as the vagabond's existence is, many persons of classical or refined
education have from time to time joined the ranks, — occasionally
from inclination, as in the popular instance of Bamfylde Moore
Carew, but generally through indiscretion and loss of character, t
This wUl in some measure account for numerous classical and
learned words figuring as Cant terms in the vulgar Dictionary.
In the early part of the last century, when highwaymen were
by all accounts so plentiful, a great many new words were added
to the canting vocabulary, whilst several old terms fell into disuse.
■ Mayhew'9 London labour and the London Poor, vol. iii., No. 43, Oct. 4, 1851.
t Mayhew (vol. i., p. 217) speaks of a low lodging-house "in which there were at
one time five university men, three surgeons, and several sorts of broken-down
clerks." But old Barman's saying, that "a wylde Roge is he that is bortie a roge,"'
will perhaps explain this seeming anomaly.
24 OLD ENGLISH WORDS USED AS CANT.
Cant, for instance, as applied to thieves' talk, was supplanted by
the word flash. In the North of England, the Cant employed by
tramps and thieves is known as " the gammy." It is mainly
from the old Gipsy corrupted. In the large towns of Ireland
and Scotland this secret language is also spoken. All those
words derived from " the gammy " are inserted in the Dictionary
as from the " North Country."
A singular feature, however, in vulgar language, is the reten-
tion and the revival of sterling old English words, long since
laid up in ancient manuscripts, or the subject of dispute among
learned antiquaries. Disraeli somewhere says, " The purest
source of neology is in the revival of old words" —
" Words that wise Bacon or brave Rawleigh spake ; "
and Dr Latham honours our subject by remarking that "the
thieves of London are the conservators of Anglo-Saxonisms." May-
hew, too, in his interesting work, London Labour and the London
Poor, admits that many Cant and Slang phrases are merely old
English terms which have become obsolete through the caprices
of fashion. And the reader who looks into the Dictionary of the
vagabond's lingo, will see at a glance that these gentlemen were
quite correct, and that we are compelled to acknowledge the
singular truth that a great many old words, once respectable, and
in the mouths of kings and fine ladies, are now only so many
signals for shrugs and shudders amongst exceedingly polite
people. A young gentleman from Belgravia, who had lost his
watch or his pocket-handkerchief, would scarcely remark to his
mamma that it had been boned — yet bone, in old times, meant,
amongst high and low, to steal. And a young lady living in the
precincts of dingy but aristocratic May-Fair, although enraptured
with a Jenny Lind or a Eistori, would hardly think of turning
back in the box to inform papa that she (Ristori or Lind) " made
no BONES of it" — ^j'et the phrase was most respectable and well-
OLD ENGLISH W0BD8 NOT FASHIONABLE NOW. 25
to-do before ft met with a change of circumstances. " A crack
article," however first-rate, would, as far as speech is concerned,
have greatly displeased Dr Johnson and Mr Walker — yet both
CRACK, in the sense of excellent, and crack up, to boast or
praise, were not considered vulgarisms in the time of Henry
VIIL Dodge, a cunning trick, is from the Anglo-Saxon ; and
ancient nobles used to "get each other's dander up" before
appealing to their swords, — quite flabergasting (also a respect-
able old word) the half score of lookers-on with the thumps and
cuts of their heavy weapons. Gallavanting, waiting upon the
ladies, was as polite in expression as in action ; whilst a clergy-
man at Paule's Crosse thought nothing of bidding a noisy hearer
" hold his GAB," or " shut up his gob." Gadding, roaming about
in an idle and trapesing manner, was used in an old trans-
lation of the Bible ; and " to do anything gingerly" was to do
it with great care. Persons of modern tastes will be shocked to
know that the great Lord Bacon spoke of the lower part of a
man's face as his gills.
Shakspeare, or, as the French say, " the divine WUliam," also
used many words which are now counted as dreadfully vulgar.
"Clean gone," in the sense of out of sight, or entirely away;
" you took me all a-mort," or confounded me ; " it won't fadge,"
or suit, are phrases taken at random from the great dramatist's
works. A London costermonger, or inhabitant of the streets,
instead of saying, " 1 11 make him yield," or " give in," in a
fight or contest, would say, "I'U make him buckle under."
Shakspeare, in his Henry the Fourth, (Part ii., act i, scene i,) has
the word; and Mr Halliwell, one of the greatest and most indus-
trious of living antiquaries, informs us that " the commentators
do not supply another example." How strange, then, that the
Bard of Avon and the Cockney costermongers should be joint
partners and sole proprietors of the vulgarism 1 If Shakspeare
was not a pugilist, he certainly anticipated the terms of the prize
96 CURIOUS SYSTEMS OF CANT.
ring— or they were respectable words before the prize ring was
thought of — for he has pay, to beat or thrash, and pepper, with
a similar meaning ; also fancy, in the sense of pets and favourites,
— pugilists are often termed the fancy. The cant word prig,
from the Saxon, priccan, to filch, is also Shakspearian ; so indeed
is PIECE, a contemptuous term for a young woman. Shakspeare
was not the only vulgar dramatist of his time. Ben Jonson,
Beaumont and Fletcher, Brome, and other play-writers, occa-
sionally put Cant words into the mouths of their low characters,
or employed old words which have since degenerated into
vulgarisms. Crusty, poor tempered ; " two of a kidney," two
of a sort ; LARK, a piece of fun ; ltjg, to pull \ bung, to give or
pass ; PICKLE, a sad plight ; fetimp, to mock, are a few specimens
casually picked from the works of the old histrionic writers.
One old Enghsh mode of canting, simple and effective when
familiarised by practice, was the inserting a consonant betwixt
each syllable: thus, taking g, "How do you do?" would be
" How^f do^f youg dog 1" The name very properly given to this
disagreeable nonsense, we are informed by Grose, was Gibberish.
Another Cant has recently* been attempted by transposing the
initial letters of words, so that a mutton chop becomes a cutton
mop, a pint of stout a «tint of pout ; but it is satisfactory to
know that it has gained no ground. This is called Marrow-
skying, or Medical Greek, from its use by medical students at the
hospitals. Albert Smith terms it the Gower Street Dialect.
The Language of Ziph, I may add, is another rude mode of
disguising English, in use among the students at Winchester
College. Some notices of this method of conveying secret infor-
mation, with an extensive Glossary of the Words, Phrases, Customs,
&c., peculiar to the College, may be found in Mr Mansfield's
recently-published School Life at Winchester College.
* "Before 1848." a correspondent writes.
ACCOUNT
HIEROGLYPHICS USED BY VAGABONDS.
One of the most singular chapters in a History of Yagabondism
would certainly be " An Account of the Hieroglyphic Signs used
by Tramps and Thieves." The reader may be startled to know-
that, in addition to a sacred language, the wandering tribes of
this country have private marks and symbolic signs with which
to score their successes, failures, and advice to succeeding beggars ;
in fact, that the country is really dotted over with beggars' finger-
posts and guide-stones. The assertion, however strange it may
appear, is no fiction. The subject was not long since brought
under the attention of the Government by Mr Hawlinson.* " There
is," he says in his report, "a sort of blackguards' literature, and
the initiated understand each other by Slang [Cant] terms,, by pan-
tomimic signs, and by hieroglyphics. The vagrant's nark may
he seen in Uavant, on corners of streets, on door-posts, on house-steps.
Simple as these chalk-lines appear, they inform the succeeding va-
grants of all they require to know; and a few white scratches may
say, ' Be importunate,' or ' Pass on.' "
Another very curious account was taken from a provincial
newspaper, published in 1849, and fcrwarded to Notes and
Queries,-^ under the head of Mendicant Feeemasonry. " Per-
sons," remarks the writer, " indiscreet enough to open their
purses to the relief of the beggar tribe, would do well to take a
readily-learned lesson as to the foUy of that misguided bene-
• ifr Rawlinson'i KepoH to tht Generai Board of SeaUh, Paruh of Savant, Hamp-
thirt. t Vol. v., p. 3ia
28 HIEROQLYPHICS OF VAGABONDS.
volence which encourages and perpetuates vagabondism. Every
door or passage is pregnant with instruction as to the error com-
mitted by the patron of beggars ; as the beggar-marks shew that
a system of freemasonry is followed, by which a beggar knows
whether it will be worth his while to call into a passage or knock
at a door. Let any one examine the entrances to the passages in
any town, and there he will find chalk marks, unintelligible to
him, but significant enough to beggars. If a thousand towns
are examined, the same marks •will be found at every passage
entrance. The passage mark is a cypher with a twisted tail : in
some cases the tail projects into the passage, in others out-
wardly ; thus seeming to indicate whether the houses down the
passage are worth calling at or not. Almost every door has its
marks : these are varied. In some cases there is a cross on the
brick work, in others a cypher : the figures i, 2, 3, are also used.
Every person may for himself test the accuracy of these state-
ments by the examination of the brick-work near his own door-
way — thus demonstrating that mendicity is a regular trade,
carried out upon a system calculated to save time, and realise the
largest profits." These remarks refer mainly to provincial towns,
London being looked upon as the tramps' home, and therefore
too FLY, or experienced, to be duped by such means.
The only other notice of the hieroglyphics of vagabonds that I
have met with is in Mayhew's London Labour and the London
Poor* Mayhew obtained his information from two tramps, who
stated that hawkers employ these signs as well as beggars. One
tramp thus described the method of WOEKING+ a small town.
"Two hawkers (PALst) go together, but separate when they
enter a village, one taking one side of the road, and selling
different things; and so as to inform each other as to the
character of the people at whose houses they call, they clmlk ceiiain
marks on their door-posts." Another informant stated that " if
* Vol. i., pp. ai8 and 247. f See Dictioimry.
ACCOUNT OF A CADGERS MAP. 29
a PATTEEEE * has been crabbed (that is, offended) at any of the
CRIBS, (houses,) he mostly chalks a signal at or near the door."
Another use is also made of these hieroglyphics. Charts of
successful begging neighbourhoods are rudely drawn, and sym-
bolical signs attached to each house to shew whether benevolent
or adverse.t " In many cases there is over the kitchen mantel
piece " of a tramps' lodging-house " a map of the district, dotted
here and there with memorandums of failure or success." J A
correct facsimile of one of these singular maps has been placed as
a frontispiece. It was obtained from the patterers and tramps
who supplied a great many words for this work, and who have
been employed by me for some time in collecting Old Ballads,
Christmas Carols, Dying Speeches, and Last Lamentations, as
materials for a History of Popular Literature. The reader will
no doubt be amused with the drawing. The locality depicted is
near Maidstone, in Kent; and I am informed that it was prob-
ably sketched by a wandering scree ver§ in payment for a
night's lodging. The English practice of marking everything,
and scratching names on public property, extends itself to the
tribe of vagabonds. On the map, as may be seen in the left-
hand corner, some traveller § has drawn a favourite or noted
female, singularly nicknamed Three-quarter Sarah. What were
• See Dictionary.
t Soiuetimes, as appears from the following, the names of persons and houses are
written instead. ** In almost every one of the padding-kens, or low lodging-houses
in the country, there is a list of walks pasted up over the kitchen mantel-piece. Now
at St Albans, for instance, at the , and at other places, there is a paper stuck
up in ejich of the kitchens. This paper is headed * Walks out of this Town,' and
underneath it is set down the names of the villages in the neighbourhood at which a
beggar may call when out on his walk, and they are so arranged as to allow the cadger
to make a round of about six miles each duy, and return the same night. In many
of these papers there are sometimes twenty walks set down. No villages that are in
any way "gammy" [bad] are ever mentioned in these papers, and the cadger, if he
feels inclined to stop for a few days in the town, will be told by the lodging-house
keeper, or the other cadgers that he may meet there, what gentlemen's seats or
private houses are of any account on the walk that he means to take. Tlie names of
the good houses &re not set down in the jiaper fur fear of the police." — Mayhew. voL
L, p. 418. t Maylmw, vol. i., p, 218. ( See DicUoiiatj.
30 EXPLANATION OF THE HIEROQLTPHICS.
the peculiar accomplishments of this lady to demand so uncom-
mon a name, the reader will be at a loss to discover ; but a
patterer says it probably refers to a shuffling dance of that name,
common in tramps' lodging-houses, and in which "| Sarah"
may have been a proficient. Above her, three beggars or hawk-
ers have reckoned their day's earnings, amounting to 13s.; and
on the right a tolerably correct sketch of a low hawker, or coster-
monger, is drawn. "To Dover, the nigh way," is the exact
phraseology; and "hup here," a fair specimen of the self-
acquired education of the tribe of cadgers. No key or explana-
tion to the hieroglyphics was given in the original, because it would
have been superfluous, when every inmate of the lodging-house
knew the marks from their cradle — or rather their mother's back.
Should there be no map, in most lodging-houses there is an
old man who is guide to every " walk" in the vicinity, and who
can tell on every round each house that is "good for a cold
tatur." The hieroglyphics that are used are : —
X NO GOOD ; too poor, and know too much.
f^y. STOP, — If you have what they want, they will buy. They are
' "T pretty "fly," (knowing.)
-v GO IN THIS DIRECTION, it is better than the other road.
— ^ Nothing that way.
/\ BONE, (good.) Safe for a "cold tatur," if for nothing else.
^ " CJieese your patter " (don't talk much) here.
^7 COOPEKD, (spoilt,) by too many tramps calling there.
□ GAMMY (unfavourable,) like to have you taken up. Mind the
dog.
Q FLUMMUXED, (dangerous,) sure of a month in "quod" (prison. j
^ RELIGIOUS, but tidy on the whole.
Where did these signs come from, and when were they first
used ? are questions which I have asked myself again and again,
whilst endeavouring to discover their history. Knowing the
DID THE GIPSIES INVENT THEM? 3 1
character of the Gipsies, and ascertaining from a tramp that they
are well acquainted with the hieroglyphics, " and have been as
long ago as ever he could remember," I have little hesitation in
ascribing the invention to them. And strange it would be if
some modern Belzoni, or Champollion, discovered in these
beggars' marks fragments of ancient Egyptian or Hindoo hiero-
glyphical writing ! But this, of course, is a simple vagary of the
imagination.
That the Gipsies were in the habit of leaving memorials of the
road they had taken, and the successes that had befallen them,
there can be no doubt. In an old book, The Triumph of Wit,
1724, there is a passage which appears to have been copied from
some older work, and it runs thus : — " The Gipsies set out twice
a year, and scatter all over England, each parcel having their
appointed stages, that they may not interfere, nor hinder each
other ; and for that purpose, when they set forward in the
country, they stick up loughs in the way of divers kinds, according
as it is agreed among them, that one company may know which
way another is gone, and so take another road." The works of
Hoyland and Borrow supply other instances.
I cannot close this subject without dravring attention to the
extraordinary fact, that actually on the threshold of the gibbet
the sign of the vagabond is to be met with ! " The murderer's
signal is even exhibited from the gallows; as a red hand-
kerchief held in the hand of the felon about to be executed
is a token that he dies without having betrayed any professional
secrets."*
Since the first edition of this work was published, the author
has received from various parts of England numerous evidences
of the still active use of beggars' marks and mendicant hiero-
glyphics. One gentleman writes from Great Yarmouth to say
* ifr iawlintm't Report (0 the Oaieral Soard 0/ HeaUh, Parith of Hatant, Bamp-
thire.
32 HOW A CLEROTMAN EVADED BEQGASS.
that only a short time since, whilst residing in Norwich, he used
frequently to see them on the houses and street comers in the
suburbs. From another gentleman, a clergyman, I learn that he
has so far made himself acquainted with the meanings of the
signs employed, that by himself marking the characters □
{Gammy) and {Flummuxed) on the gate posts of his parson-
age, he enjoys a singular immunity from alms-seekers and cadgers
on the tramp.
In a popular constable's Guide, giving the practice of justices
in petty sessions, I have recently met with the f jUowing inter-
esting paragraph, corroborating what has just been said on the
hieroglyphics used by vagabonds : —
" Gipsiea follow their brethren by numerous marks, such as strewing
handf uls of grass in the day time at a four lane or cross roads ; the grass
being strewn down the road the gang have taken ; also, by a cross being
made on the ground with a stick or knife — the longest end of the cross de-
notes the route taken. In the night time a CLEFT stick is placed in the
fence at the cross roads, with an arm pointing down the road their com-
rades have taken. The marks are always placed on the left-hand side, so ,
that the stragglers can easily and readily find them." *
From the cleft stick here alluded to, we learn the origin and
use of ^-, the third hieroglyphic in the vagabond's private list
* Suuwdou's MogMraU't Auitlant, iSja, pi 444.
" AU ridiculont words make their first entry into a langiuige by familiar
phrases ; / dare not answer for these that they mil not in time be looked
upon at apart of our tongue." — Addison's Spectator.
A SHORT HISTORY OF SLANG,
OR
THE VULGAR LANGUAGE OF FAST LIFE.
Slang is the language of street humour, of fast, high, and low
life. Cant, as was stated in the chapter upon that subject, is
the vulgar language of secrecy. They are both universal and
ancient, and appear to have been the peculiar concomitants of
gay, vulgar, or worthless persons in every part of the world at
every period of time. Indeed, if we are to believe implicitly the
saying of the wise man, that " there is nothing new under the
sun," the "fast" men of buried Nineveh, with their knotty and
door-matty-looking beards, may have cracked Slang jokes on the
steps of Sennacherib's palace ; and the stocks and stones of
ancient Egypt, and the bricks of venerable and used-up Babylon,
may, for aught we know, be covered with Slang hieroglyphics, un-
known to modern antiquaries, which have long been stumbling-
blocks to the philologist ; so impossible is it at this day to say
what was then authorised, or what vulgar language. Slang is as
old as speech and the congregating together of people in cities.
It is the result of crowding, and excitement, and artificial life.
Even to the Classics it was not unknown, as witness the pages of
Aristophanes and Plautus, Terence and Athenaius. Martial, the
epigrammatist, is full of Slang. When an uninvited guest
34 OLD ENGLISH SLANG.
accompanied Lis friend, the Slang of the day styled him his
UMBRA ; when a man was trussed, neck and heels, it called him
jocosely quadeupus.
Old English Slang was coarser, and depended more upon
downright vulgarity than our modern Slang. It was a jesting
speech, or humorous indulgence for the thoughtless moment, or
the drunken hour, and it acted as a vent-peg for a fit of temper
or irritability ; but it did not interlard and permeate every de-
scription of conversation as now. It was confined to nicknames
and improper subjects, and encroached but to a very small extent
upon the domain of authorised speecL Indeed, it was exceed-
ingly limited when compared with the vast territory of Slang in such
general favour and complete circulation at the present day. StiU,
although not an alarming encumbrance, as in our time. Slang
certainly did exist in this country centuries ago, as we may see
if we look down the page of any respectable History of England.
Cromwell was familiarly called OLD NOix, — just the same as
Bonaparte was termed boney, and Wellington conkey, or
NOSEY, only a few years ago. His Legislature, too, was spoken
of in a high-flavoured way as the barebones, or rump Parlia-
ment, and his followers were nicknamed roundheads, and the
peculiar religious sects of his protectorate were styled puritans
and QUAKERS.* The Civil-War pamphlets, and the satirical hits
of the Cavaliers and the Commonwealth men, originated numer-
ous Slang words and vulgar similes in full use at the present
moment. Here is a field of inquiry for the Philological Society,
indeed I may say a territory, f )r there are thirty thousand of
these partisan tracta Later still, in the court of Charles II.,
the naughty ladies and the gay lords, with Rochester at their
head, talked Slang ; and very naughty Slang it was too ! Fops,
in those days, when "over head and ears" in debt, and in
' This tarm, with a singular literal downrightness, which would bo remarkable In
aiiy other people ttian the French, ie translated br them «• tlia «act of TrembUvx$.
SWIFT AND ARBUTHNOT FOND OF SLANO. 35
continual fear of arrest, termed their enemies, the bailiffs,
PHILISTINES* or MOABiTF.s. At a later period, when coUars were
worn detached from shirts, in order to save the expense of
washing — an object it would seem with needy "swells" in all
ages — they obtained the name of jacobites. One half of the
coarse wit in Butler's Hudibras lurks in the vulgar words and
phrases which he was so fond of employing. They were more
homely and forcible than the mild and elegant sentences of
Cowley, and the people, therefore, hurrahed them, and pronounced
Butler one of themselves, — or, as we should say, in a jojrful
moment, " a jolly good feUow." Orator Henley preached and
prayed in Slang, and first charmed and then swayed the dirty
mobs in Lincolu's-Inn-Fields by vulgarisms. Burly Grose men-
tions Henley, with the remark that we owe a great many Slang
phrases to him. Swift, and old Sir Eoger L'Estrange, and
Arbuthnot, were all fond of vulgar or Slang language ; indeed,
we may see from a Slang word used by the latter how curious is
the gradual adoption of vulgar terms in our standard dictionaries.
The worthy doctor, in order to annihilate (or, as we should say,
with a fitting respect to the subject under consideration, smash)
an opponent, thought proper on an occasion to use the word
CABBAGE, not in the ancient and esculentary sense of a flatulent
vegetable of the kitchen garden, but in the at once Slang sense of
purloining or cribbing. Johnson soon met with the word, looked
at it, examined it, weighed it, and shook his head, but out oi
respect to a brother doctor inserted it in his dictionary, labelling
it, however, prominently " Cant;" whilst Walker and Webster,
years after, when to cabbage was to pilfer all over England,
placed the term in their dictionaries as an ancient and very
respectable word. Another Slang term, gull, to cheat, or dektie,
sometimes varied to gully, is stated to be connected with Jie
Dean of St Patrick's. Gull, a dupe, or a fool, is often use' by
* Swift alludes to this term in his AH afPolitt Conversation, p. 14. 173S
,^6 THE REAL SIMON PURE.
our old dramatists, and is generally believed to have given rise to
tlie verb ; but a curious little edition of Bamfylde Moore Carew,
published in 1827, says that to gull, or gully, is derived from
the well-known Gulliver, the hero of the famous Travels. How
crammed with Slang are the dramatic works of the last century 1
The writers of the comedies and farces in those days must have
lived in the streets, and written their plays in the public-houses,
so filled are they with vulgarisms and unauthorised words. The
popular phrases, " I owe you one," " That 's one for his nob," and
" Keep moving, dad," arose in this way.* The second of these
sayings was, doubtless, taken from the card-table, for at cribbage
the player who holds the knave of the suit turned up counts " one
for his nob," and the dealer who turns up a knave counts " two
for his heels."
In Mrs Centlivre's admirable comedy of A Bold Stroke for a
Wife, we see the origin of that popular street phrase, the real
SIMON PUKE. Simon Pure is the Quaker name adopted by
Colonel Feignwell as a trick to obtain the hand of Mistress Anne
Lovely in marriage. The veritable Quaker, the "real Simon
Pure," recommended by Aminadab Holdfast, of Bristol, as a fit
sojourner with Obadiah Prim, arrives at last, to the discomfiture
of the Colonel, who, to maintain his position and gain time, con-
cocts a letter in which the real Quaker is spoken of as a house-
breaker who had travelled in the "leather conveniency" from
Bristol, and adopted the garb and name of the western Quaker
in order to pass off as the " real simon pure," but only for the
purpose of robbing the house and cutting the throat of the per-
plexed Obadiah. The scene in which the two Simon Pures, the
real and the counterfeit, meet, is one of the best in the comedy.
Tom Brown, of " facetious memory," as his friends were wont
to say, and Ned Ward, who wrote humorous books, and when
tired drew beer for his customers at his alehouse in Long
* S«e ifotes and Qutria, vol. L, p. 185. 185a
WAS DR JOHNSON WELL "UP" IN SLANG? 3^
Acre,* were both great producers of Slang in the last century,
and to them we owe many popular current phrases and house-
hold words.
Written Slang was checked, rather than advanced, by the pens
of Addison, Johnson, and Goldsmith; although John Bee, the
bottle-holder and historiographer of the pugilistic band of brothers
in the youthful days of flat-nosed Tom Crib, has gravely stated
that Johnson, when young and rakish, contributed to an early
volume of the Gentleman's Magazine a few pages, by way of speci-
men, of a Slang dictionary, the result, Mr Bee says, " of his mid-
night ramblings !"t And Goldsmith, I must not forget to re-
mark, certainly coined a few words, although, as a rule, his pen
was pure and graceful, and adverse to neologisms. The word
FUDGE, it has been stated, was first used by him in literary com-
position,J although it originated with one Captain Fudge, a
notorious fibber, nearly a century before. Street phrases, nick-
names, and vulgar words were continually being added to the
great stock of popular Slang up to the commencement of the
present century, when it received numerous additions from pugil-
ism, horse-racing, and " fast " life generally, which suddenly came
into great public favour, and was at its height when the Prince
Regent was in his rakish minority. Slang in those days was
generally termed flash language. So popular was it with the
" bloods" of high life, that it constituted the best paying literary
capital for certain authors and dramatists. Pierce Egan issued
■ Boxiana, and Life in London, six portly octavo volumes, crammed
with Slang ; and Moncrieff wrote the most popular farce of the
day, Tom and Jerry, (adapted from the latter work,) which, to
use newspaper Slang, " took the town by storm," and, with its
then fashionable vulgarisms, made the fortune of the old Adelphi
* He afterwards kept a tavern at Wapping, mentioned by Pope in the Ihinciad.
t Sportsman'! IHclionary, 1825, p. 15. I have searched the venerable magazine in
vaiti for this Slang glossary,
t This is incorrect See under Fuuge in the Dictionary.
o
8 WHERE DID THE WORD "SLANG" COMB FROMt
Theatre, and was, without exception, the most wonderful instance
of a continuous theatrical run in ancient or modern times. This,
also, was brimful of Slang. Other authors helped to popularise
and extend Slang down to our own time, when it has taken a
somewhat different turn, dropping many of the Cant and old
vulgar words, and assuming a certain quaint and fashionable
phraseology — Frenchy, familiar, utilitarian, and jovial There
can be no doubt but that common speech is greatly influenced
by fashion, fresh manners, and that general change of ideas which
steals over a people once in a generation. But before I proceed
further into the region of Slang, it will be well to say something
on the etymology of the word.
The word Slang is only mentioned by two lexicographers —
Webster and OgUvie.* Johnson, Walker, and the older compilers
of dictionaries, give slang the preterite of sling, but not a word
about Slang in the sense of low, vulgar, or unrecognised lan-
guage. The origin of the word has often been asked for in lite-
rary journals and books, but only one man, as far as I can learn,
has ever hazarded an etymology — Jonathan Bee, the vulgar
chronicler of the prize-ring.f With a recklessness peculiar to
pugilism, Bee stated that Slang was derived from " the slangs
or fetters worn by prisoners, having acquired that name from the
manner in which they were worn, as they required a sling of
string to keep them off the ground." Bee had just been nettled
at Pierce Egan producing a new edition of Grose's Dictionary of
the Vulgar Tongue, and was determined to excel him in a vulgar
dictionary of his own, which should be more racy, more pugilistic,
and more original. How far he succeeded in this latter particular,
bis ridiculous etymology of Slang wiU shew. Slang is not an
English word ; it is the Gipsy term for their secret language, and
• This introduction was written in 1859, before the now edition of Worcertw, and
Nuttall's recent work were published.
t Introduction to Boo'b Sportsman's Dictionary, 1825.
SLANG USED BY ALL CLASSES. 39
its synonjrme is gibbeeish — another word which was believed to
have had no distinct origin.* Grose — stout and burly Captain
Grose — whom we may characterise as the greatest antiquary,
joker, and porter-drinker of his day, was the first lexicographer to
recognise the word Slang. It occurs in his Classical Dictionary
of the Vulgar Tongue, of 1785, with the signification that it im-
plies " Cant or vulgar language." Grose, I may remark in pass-
ing, was a great favourite with the poet Bums, and so pleased
him by his extensive powers of story-telling and grog-imbibing,
that the companionable and humour-loving Scotch bard wrote for
his fat friend — or, to use his own Words, " the fine, fat, fodgel
wight" — the immortal poem of " Tam O'Shanter."
Without troubling the reader with a long account of the trans-
formation into an English term of the word Slang, I may remark
in passing that it is easily seen how we obtained it from the
Gipsies. Hucksters and beggars on tramp, or at fairs and races,
associate and frequently join in any rough enterprise with the
Gipsiest The word would be continually heard by them, and
would in this manner soon become Cant; J and, when carried by
" fast" or vulgar fashionables from the society of thieves and low
characters to their own drawing-rooms, would as quickly become
Slang, and the representative term for all vulgar or Slang lan-
guage.
• The Gipsies use the word Slang as the Anglican synonyme for Romany, the con-
tinental (or rather Spanish) term for the Cingari or Gipsy tongue. Crabb, who wrote
the QipHes' Advocate in 1831, thus mentions the word : — *' This language [Gipsy] called
by themsetvet Sijlno, or Gibbkrish, invented, as they think, b5 their forefathers for
secret purposes, is not merely the language of one or a few of these wandering tribes,
which are found in the European nations, but is adopted by the vast numbers who
inhabit the earth."
t See what the Druid says, in Silk and Scarlet, Pout and Paddock, and his other
sporting works, about the card-sellers, booth-men, horse-holders, cockshy-men, au^
other well-known frequenters of race-courses.
X The word Slano assumed various meanings amongst costermongers, beggars, and
vagalwnds of all orders. It was, and is still, used to express "cheating by false
weights," "araree ahow," "retiring by aback door," "a watch-chain," their "secret
language," Ac.
40 SLANG UNIVERSAL.
Arvy sudden excitement, peculiar circumstance, or popular lite-
rary production, is quite sufficient to originate and set agoing a
score of Slang words. Nearly every election or public agitation
throws out offshoots of the excitement, or scintillations of the
humour in the shape of Slang terms — ^vulgar at first, but at length
adopted as semi-respectable from the force of habit and custom.
There is scarcely a condition or calling in life that does not possess
its own peculiar Slang. The professions, legal and medical, have
each familiar and unauthorised terms for peculiar circumstances
and things, and I am quite certain that the clerical calling, or
" the cloth" is not entirely free from this peculiarity. Every
workshop, warehouse, factory, and mill throughout the country
has its Slang, and so have the public schools of Eton, Harrow, and
Westminster, and the great Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
Sea Slang constitutes the principal charm of a sailor's "yarn;"
and our soldiers and officers have each their peculiar nicknames
and terms for things and subjects proper and improper. A writer
in Household Woi-ds (No. 183) has gone so far as to remark, that
a person " shall not read one single parliamentary debate, as re-
ported in a first-class newspaper, without meeting scores of Slang
words;" and "that from Mr Speaker in his chair, to the Cabinet
Ministers whispering behind it — from mover to seconder, from
true-blue Protectionist to extremest Radical — Mr Barry's New
House echoes and re-echoes with Slang." Really it seems as if
our boasted English tongue were a very paltry and ill-provided
contrivance after all ; or can it be that we are the most vulgar
of people ?
The universality of Slang is extraordinary. Let any person
for a short time narrowly examine the conversation of their
dearest and nearest friends, ay, censor-like, even slice and ana-
lyse their own supposed correct talk, and they shall be amazed
at the numerous unauthorised, and what we can only call vulgar,
words they continually employ. It is not the number of new
THE POOR FOREWNERS PERPLEXITY. 4I
words that we are ever introducing that is so reprehensible, there
is not so much harm in this practice (frequently termed in books
"the licence of expression") if neologisms are really required, but
it is the continually encumbering of old words with fresh and
strange meanings. Look at those simple and useful verbs, do,
cut, go, and take, and see how they are hampered and overloaded,
and then let us ask ourselves how is it possible for a French or
German gentleman, be he ever so well educated, to avoid con-
tinually blundering and floundering amongst our little words
when trying to make himself understood in an ordinary conver-
sation? He may have studied our language the required time,
and have gone through the usual amount of " grinding," and
practised the common allotment of patience, but all to no pur-
pose as far as accuracy is concerned. I am aware that most new
words are generally regarded as Slang, although afterwards they
may become-aseful and resjjectable additions to our standard
dictionaries. Jabber and hoax were Slang and Cant terms in
Swift's time ; so indeed were mob and sham.* Words directly
from the Latin and Greek, and Carlyleisms, are allowed by an
indulgent public to pass and take their places in books. Sound
contributes many Slang words — a source t jat etymologists too fre-
quently overlook. Nothing pleases an ignorant person so much as
a high-sounding term " full of fury." How melodious and drum-
like are those vulgar coruscations kumbumptious, slantingdicu-
lar, SPLENDlFEEOtrS,t RUMBUSTIOUS, and FEREICADOUZEE. What
a " pull" the sharp-nosed lodging-house-keeper thinks she has
over her victims if she can but hurl such testimonies of a liberal
* North, in his Examen, p. 574, Bays, " I may note that the rabble first changed
their title, and were called the mob in the assemblies of this [Green Uibbon] club. It
was their beasts of burden, and called first mobile vulgus, but fell naturally into the
contraction of one syllable, and ever since is bLCOuie proper English." In the same
work, p. 231, the disgraceful origin of sham is given,
t It is somewhat singular that Drayton, the poet of Queen Elizabeth's time, should
have coined a similar word, Splendidious. The Latin, SpUndidus, however, wa»
probably what he meant to employ.
42 rULOAR CORRUPTIONS.
education at them when they are disputing her charges, and
threatening to absquatulate! In the United States the
vulgar-genteel even excel the poor " stuck-up" Cockneys in their
formation of a native fashionable language. How charming to a
refined ear are abskize, catawampously, exflunctify, ob-
SCUTE, KESLOSH, KESOUSE, KESWOLLOP, and KEWHOLLDX ! Vul-
gar words representing action and brisk movement often owe
tlieir origin to sound. Mispronunciation, too, is another great
source of vulgar or Slang words — ramshackle, shackly, nary-
one for neither or neither one, ottomy or atomy for anatomy,
BENCH for rinse, are specimens. The commonalty dislike fre-
quently-occurring words difficult of pronunciation, and so we
have the street abridgments of bimeby for by and by, caze for
because, gin for given, hankerchek for handkerchief, bumatiz
for rheumatism, backy for tobacco, and many others, not perhaps
Slang, but certainly all vulgarisms. Archbishop Whately, in his
interesting Remains of Bishop Copleston, has inserted a leaf from
the Bishop's note-book on the popular corruption of names, men-
tioning among others kickshaws, as from the French, quelques
ch(m»; beefeater, the lubberly guardian of royalty in a pro-
cession, and the supposed devourer of enormous beefsteaks, as
but a vulgar pronunciation of the French, huffetier ; and George
and CANNON, the sign of a public-house, as nothing but a
corruption (although so soon !) of the popular premier of
the last generation, George Canning. Literature has its Slang
terms ; and the desire on the part of writers to say funny and
startling things in a novel and curious way (the late Household
Words* for instance) contributes many unauthorised words to
the great stock of Slang.
Fashionable or Upper-class Slang is of several varieties. There
is the Belgravian, military and naval, parliamentary, dandy, and
• It is nther (ingular that this populAr journal should hare contained a Imig
article on Slang a short time a^o.
FASHIONABLE SLANG. 43
the reunion and visiting Slang. English officers, civilians, and
their families, who have resided long in India, have contributed
many terms from the Hindostanee to our language. Several of
these, such as chit, a letter, or tiffin, lunch, are fast losing
their Slang character, and becoming regularly-recognised English
words. Jungle, as a term for a forest or wilderness, is now an
English phrase ; a few years past, however, it was merely the
Hindostanee junkul. The extension of trade in China, and the
English settlement at Hong Kong, have introduced among us
several examples of Canton Jargon, that exceedingly curious
Anglo-Chinese dialect spoken in the seaports of the Celestial
Empire. While these words have been carried as it were into
the families of the upper and middle classes, persons in a hum-
bler rank of life, through the sailors, soldiers, Lascar and Chinese
beggars that haunt the metropolis, have also adopted many
Anglo-Indian and Anglo-Chinese phrases. As this Dictionary
would have been incomplete without them, they are all carefully
recorded in its columns. Concerning the Slang of the fashion-
able world, a writer in Household Words curiously, but not alto-
gether truthfully, remarks, that it is mostly imported from
France ; and that an unmeaning gibberish of Gallicisms runs
through English fashionable conversation, and fashionable novels,
and accounts of fashionable parties in the fashionable newspapers.
Yet, ludicrously enough, immediately the fashionable magnates
of England seize on any French idiom, the French themselves
not only universally abandon it to us, but positively repudiate
it altogether from their idiomatic vocabulary. If you were to
tell a well-bred Frenchman that such and such an aristocratic
marriage was on the tapis, he would stare with astonishment, and
look down on the carpet in the startled endeavour to find a mar-
riage in so unusual a place. If you were to talk to him of the
heau monde, he would imagine you meant the world which God
made, not half-ardozen streets and squares between Hyde Park
44 FASHIONABLE SLANG.
Comer and Chelsea Bun House. The tM dansante* would be
completely inexplicable to him. If you were to point out to him
the Dowager Lady Grimgriffin acting as chaperon to Lady Amanda
Creamville, he would imagine you were referring to the petit
Chaperon rouge — to little Red-Eiding Hood. He might just
understand what was meant by vis-drvis, entremets, and some
others of the flying horde of frivolous little foreign slangisms
hovering about fashionable cookery and fashionable furniture ;
but three-fourths of them would seem to him as barbarous
French provincialisms, or, at best, but as antiquated and obso-
lete expressions, picked out of the letters of Mademoiselle
Scuderi, or the tales of CrebUlon the " younger." Servants, too,
appropriate the scraps of French conversation which fall from
their masters' guests at the dinner table, and forthwith in the
world of flunkcydom the word " know" is disused, and the lady's-
maid, in doubt on a particular point, asks John whether or no he
SAVEYS it ?* What, too, can be more abominable than that
heartless piece of fashionable newspaper Slang, regularly em-
ployed when speaking of the successful courtship of young people
in the fashionable world : —
TITARRIAGE IN HIGH LIFE.— We understand that a marriage is
■Wi. ARRANQED (!) betwixt the Lady, &c. &c., and the Honourable,
Arranged ! Is that cold-blooded Smithfield or Mark-Lane term
for a sale or a purchase the proper word to express the hopeful,
joyous, golden union of young and trustful hearts? Which is
the proper way to pronounce the names of great people, and
what the correct authority ? Lord Cowper, we are often assured,
is Lord Cooper — on this principle Lord Cowley would certainly
be Lord Cooley — and Mr Carew, we are told, should be Mr
* The writer is quite coiTOCt in instancinp; this piece of fashionable twaddle. Tin
nionj^rel formation is exceedingly amusing to a polite Parisiim.
t Savez-vous cela?
PARLIAMENTARY SLANG. 45
Carey, Ponsonby should be Punsunhy, Eyre should be Aire,
Cholmondeley should be Ghumley, St John Singen, Majoribanks
Marshhariks, and PoweU should always be Poel. I don't know
that these lofty persons have as much cause to complain of the
illiberality of fate in giving them disagreeable names as did the
celebrated Psyche, (as she was termed by Tom Moore,) whose
original name, through her husband, was Teague, but which was
afterwards altered to Tighe. The pronunciation of proper names
has long been an anomaly in the conversation of the upper classes
of this country. Hodge and Podge, the clodhoppers of Shaks-
peare's time, talked in their mug-houses of the great Lords
Barbie, Barhelie, and Bartie. In Pall Mall and May Fair
these personages are spoken of in exactly the same manner at
the present day, whilst in the City, and amongst the middle
classes, we only hear of Derby, Berkley, <fec., — the correct
pronunciations, if the spelling is worth aught. A costermonger
is ignorant of such a place as Birmingham, but understands you
in a moment if you talk of Brummagem. Why do not Pall Mall
join with the costermongers in this pronunciation 1 It is the
ancient one.*
Parliamentary Slang, excepting a few peculiar terms connected
with "the House," (scarcely Slang, I suppose,) is mainly com-
posed of fashionable, literary, and learned Slang. When mem-
bers, however, get excited, and wish to be forcible, they are often
not very particular which of the street terms they select, pro-
viding it carries, as good old Dr South said, plenty of " wUd-fire "
in it. Sir Hugh Cairns very lately spoke of "that homely but
expressive phrase, dodge." Out of " the House," several Slang
terms are used in connexion with Parliament or members of
Parliament. If Lord Palmerston is known by name to the
* At page 24 of a curious old Civil- War tract, entitled, The Oxonian Antippodfs, by
I. B., Gent, 1644, the town is called Brummidgham, and this was the general render*
ing in the printed literature of the seventeenth century.
46 PARLIAMENTARY SLANG.
tribes of the Caucasus and Asia Minor as a great foreign diplo-
matist, wten the name of our Queen Victoria is an unknown
title to the inhabitants of those parts — as was stated in the
Times a short time ago — I have only to remark that amongst
the costers and the wild inhabitants of the streets he is better
known as pam. I have often heard the cabmen on the " ranks "
in Piccadilly remark of the late Chancellor of the Exchequer,
when he has been going from his residence at Grosvenor Gate to
Derby House in St James's Square, " Hollo, there ! de yer see
old DIZZY doing a stump ? " A plumper is a single vote at an
election — not a split-ticket ; and electors who have occupied a
house, no matter how small, and boiled a pot in it, thus qualify-
ing themselves for voting, are termed pot-wallopees. A quiet
WALK ovEB is a re-election without opposition and much cost.
A CAUCUS meeting refers to the private assembling of politicians
before an election, when candidates are chosen, and measures of
action agreed upon. The term comes from America. A job, in
political phraseology, is a government office or contract obtained
by secret influence or favouritism. Only the other day the Timei
spoke of " the patriotic member of Parliament potted out in a
dusty little lodging somewhere about Bury Street." The term
QUOCKEEWODGEE, although referring to a wooden toy figure
which jerks its limbs about when pulled by a string, has been
supplemented with a political meaning. A pseudo-politician,
one whose strings of action are puUed by somebody else, is now
\ often termed a quockeewodgee. The term eat, too, in allusion
to rats deserting vessels about to sink, has long been employed
towards those turncoat politicians who change their party for
interest. Who that occasionally passes near the Houses of
Parliament has not often noticed stout or careful M.P.s walk
briskly through the Hall, and on the curb-stone in front, with
umbrella or walking cane uplifted, shout to the cabmen on the
rank, foue-wheelee ! The term is a useful one, but I am afraid
MILITARY AND DANDY SLANO. 47
we must consider it Slang, until it is stamped with the mint
mark of lexicographical authority.*
Military, or Officers' Slang, is on a par, and of a character,
with Dandy Slang. Inconvenient friends, or elderly and lectur-
ing relatives, are pronounced deeadful bores. Four-wheeled
cabs are called boundeks ; and a member of the Four-in-hand
Club, driving to Epsom on the Derby Day, would, using fashion-
able phraseology, speak of it as tooling his drag down to the
DERBY. A vehicle, if not a drag (or dwag) is a trap, or a cask ;
and if the turn out happens to be in other than a trim condi-
tion, it is pronounced at once as not down the road. Your
City swell would say it is not up to the mark ; whUst the
costermonger would call it wery dickey. In the army a
barrack or military station is known as a lobster-box ; to
" cram " for an examination is to mug-up ; to reject from the
examination is to spin ; and that part of the barrack occupied
by subalterns is frequently spoken of as the rookery. In dandy
or sweU Slang, any celebrity, from Paul Bedford, to the Pope of
Rome, is a swell. Wrinkled-faced old professors, who hold
dress and fashionable tailors in abhorrence, are called awful
swells, — if they happen to be very learned or clever. I may
remark that in this upper-class Slang, a title is termed a handle;
trousers, inexpressibles ; or, when of a large pattern, or the
inflated Zouave cut, howling bags ; a superior appearance,
extensive ; a four-wheeled cab, a birdcage ; a dance, a hop ;
dining at another man's table, "sitting under his mahogany;"
anything flashy or showy, loud ; the peculiar make or cut of a
coat, its BUILD ; full dress, full-fig ; wearing clothes which re-
* From an early period politics and partyism have attracted unto themselves quaint
Slang terms. Horace Waipole quotes a party nickname of Februai-y 1742, as a Slang
word of the day: — "The Tories declare against any further prosecution, if Tories
there are, for now one hears of nothing but the broad-bottom ; it is the reigning Cant
word, and means the taking all parties and people, indifferently, into the Minifitry."
Thus BKOAS-BOTTOM in those days was Slang for coaiiticn.
\
48- UNIVERSITY SLANO.
present the very extreme of fashion, "dressing to death;" a
reunion, a spread ; a friend, (or a " good fellow,") a trump ; a
difficulty, a screw loose ; and everything that is unpleasant,
" from bad sherry to a writ from a tailor," jeuced infernal.
The military phrase, " to send a man to covENTRy," or permit
no person to speak to him, although an ancient saying, must still
be considered Slang.
The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and the great
public schools, are the hotbeds of fashionable Slang. Growing
boys and high-spirited young fellows detest restraint of all kinds,
and prefer making a dash at life in a Slang phraseology of their
own, to all the set forms and syntactical rules of Alma Mater.
Many of the most expressive words in a common chit-chat, or
free-and-easy conversation, are old university vulgarisms. Cut,
in the sense of dropping an acquaintance, was originally a Cam-
bridge form of speech ; and hoax, to deceive or ridicule, we are
informed by Grose, was many years since an Oxford term.
Among the words that fast society has borrowed from our great
scholastic (I was going to say establishments, but I remember the
Unen-drapers' horrid and habitual use of the word) institutions,
I find CRIB, a house or apartments; de.ad-men, empty wine
bottles ; drawing teeth,* wrenching off knockers ; fizzing,
first-rate, or splendid; goveenoe, or believing- officee, the
general term for a male parent ; plucked, defeated or turned
back ; quiz, to scrutinise, or a prying old fellow ; and Eow, a
noisy disturbance. The Slang words in use at Oxford and Cam-
bridge would alone fill a volume. As examples I may instance
scout, which at Oxford refers to an undergraduate's valet, whilst
the same menial at Cambridge is termed a oyp, — popularly
derived by the C.uitabs from the Greek, gyps, {yy-^^ a vulture ;
scull, the head, or master of a college ; battles, the Oxford
* TUs is more especially an amusement with medical students, and is oompantiTely
unknown out of London.
REL1QIOU8 SLANG. 49
term for rations, changed at Cambridge into commons. The
term dickey, a half shirt, I am told, originated with the students
of Trinity College, Dublin, who at first styled it a tommy, from
the Greek. ro,a^, a section. Crib, a literal translation, is now
universal ; grind refers to " working up " for an examination,
also, to a walk, or " constitutional ; " hivite is a student of St
Begh's (St Bee's) College, Cumberland ; to japan, in this Slang
speech, is to ordain ; mortar-boaed is a square college cap ; siM,
a student of a Methodistical turn — in allusion to the Rev. Charles
Simeon ; sloggees, at Cambridge, refers to the second division of
race boats, known at Oxford as torpids ; sport is to shew or
exhibit ; trotter is the jocose term for a tailor's man who goes
round for orders ; and tufts are wealthy students who dine with
the DONS, and are distinguished by golden tufts, or tassels, in
their caps. There are many terms in use at Oxford not known
at Cambridge ; and such Slang names as coach, gulf, harey-
SOPH, POKER, or POST-MORTEM, common enough at Cambridge,
are seldom or never heard at the great sister university. For
numerous other examples of college Slang the reader is referred
to the Dictionary.
Religious Slang, strange as the compound may appear, exists
with other descriptions of vulgar speech at the present day.
Punch, a short time since, in one of those halt-humorous, half-
serious articles in which he is so fond of lecturing any national
abuse or popular folly, remarked that Slang had "long since
penetrated into the Forum, and now we meet it in the Senate,
and even the pulpit itself is no longer free from its intrusion."
I would not, for one moment, wish to infer that the practice is
general On the contrary, and in justice to the clergy, it must
be said that the principal disseminators of pure English through-
out the country are the ministers of our Established ChurcL
Yet it cannot be denied but that a great deal of Slang phrase-
ology and disagreeable vulgarism have gradually crept into tha
50 RELiaiOUS SLANG.
very pulpits wliicli should give forth as pure speech as doc-
trine.
Dean Conybeare, in his able Essay on Church Parties,* has
noticed this wretched addition to our pulpit speech. As stated
in his Essay, the practice appears to confine itself mainly to the
exaggerated forms of the High and Low Church — the Tractarians
and the " Eecordites." + By way of illustration, the Dean cites
the evening parties, or social meetings, common amongst the
wealthier lay members of the Eecordite (exaggerated Evangelical)
Churches, where the principal topics discussed — one or more
favourite clergymen being present in a quasi-official manner —
are " the merits and demerits of different preachers, the approach-
ing restoration of the Jews, the date of the Millennium, the
progress of the ' Tractarian heresy,' and the anticipated ' perver-
sion ' of High-Church neighbours." These subjects are can-
vassed in a dialect differing considerably from common EnglisL
The words faithful, tainted, acceptable, decided, legal,
and many others, are used in a technical sense. We hear that Mr
A. has been more owned than Mr B. ; and that Mr C. has more
SEALS X than Mr D. Again, the word gracious is invested with
a meaning as extensive as that attached by young ladies to nice.
Thus, we hear of a " gracious sermon," a " gracious meeting,"
a "gracious child," and even a " gracious whipping." The word
DARK has also a new and peculiar usage. It is applied to every
person, book, or place, not impregnated with Eecordite principles.
We once were witnesses of a ludicrous misunderstanding result-
ing from this phraseology. " What did you mean," said A. to B.,
" by telling me that was such a very dark village ? I rode
over there to-day, and found the street particularly broad and
♦ Bdinlmrgh Revitw, October 1853.
t A term derived from the Record Newspaper, the exponent of this singular section
of the Low, or so-called Evangelical Cliurch.
t A preacher is said, in this phraiieology, to be owned when he m&kes many con-
verts, and his converts are called his reau}.
RELIGIOUS SLANG. 5 1
cheerful, and there is not a tree in the place." " The gospel it
not preached there," was B.'s laconic reply. The conclusion of
one of these singular evening parties is generally marked by an
"exposition" — an unseasonable sermon of nearly one hour's
duration, circumscribed by no text, and delivered from the table
by one of the clerical visitors with a view to " improve the
occasion." In the same Essay, the religious Slang terms for the
two great divisions of the Established Church receive some
explanation. The old-fashioned High-Church party — rich and
" stagnant," noted for its " sluggish mediocrity, hatred of zeal,
dread of innovation, abuse of Dissent, blundering and languid
utterance" — is called the high akd dry ; whilst the corresponding
division, known as the Low Church — equally stagnant with the
former, but poorer, and more lazUy inclined (from absence of edu-
cation) to Dissent — receives the nickname of the low and slow.
Already have these terms become so familiar that they are short-
ened, in ordinary conversation, to the dry and the slow. The
so-called " Broad Church," I should remark, is often spoken of
as the BEOAD and shallow.
What can be more objectionable than the irreverent and
offensive manner in which many of the Dissenting ministers
continually pronounce the names of the Deity — God and Lord ?
God, instead of pronouncing in the plain and beautiful simple
old English way, g-o-d, they drawl out into goede or gaude ;
and Lord, instead of speaking m the proper way, they desecrate
into LOABD or loeed, — lingering on the «, or the r, as the case
may be, until an honest hearer feels disgusted, and almost in-
clined to run the gantlet of beadles and deacons, and puU the
vulgar preacher from his pulpit. I have observed that many
young preachers strive hard to acquire this peculiar pronuncia-
tion, in imitation of the older ministers. What can more
properly, then, be called Slang, or, indeed, the most objectionable
of Slang, than this studious endeavour to pronounce the mast
52 8LANQ AMONGST THE LAWYERS.
sacred names in a uniformly vulgar and unbecoming manner
If the old-faahioned preacher whistled Cant through his nose, the
modern vulgar reverend whines Slang from the more natural
organ. These vagaries of speech will, perhaps, by an apologist,
be termed " pulpit peculiarities," and the writer dared to inter-
meddle with a subject that is or should be removed from his
criticisms. The terms used by the mob towards the Church,
however illiberal and satirically vulgar, are within his province
in such an inquiry as the present. A clergyman, in vulgar
language, is spoken of as a chokee, a cushion - thumper, a
DOMINIE, an EARWIG, a GOSPEL-GRINDER, a GRAY-COAT PAESON J
if he is a lessee of the great tithes, one in ten, padre ; if
spoken of by an Anglo-Indian, a rook, a spouter, a white-
choker, or a warming-pan rector, if he only holds the living
pro tempore, or is simply keeping the place warm for his succes-
sor. If a Tractarian, his outer garment is rudely spoken of as a
pygostole, or m.b. (mark of the beast) coat. His profession
is termed the cloth, and his practice tub-thumping. Should
he belong to the Dissenting body, he is probably styled a pan-
tiler, or a psalm-smiter, or, perhaps, a swaddler. His chapel,
too, is spoken of as a schism shop. A Eoman Catholic, I may
remark, is coarsely named a brisket-beateb.
Particular as lawyers generally are about the meaning of words,
they have not prevented an unauthorised phraseology from arising,
which we may term Legal Slang. So forcibly did this truth
impress a late writer, that he wrote in a popular journal, " You
may hear Slang every day in term from barristers in their robes,
at every mess-table, at every bar-mess, at every college commons,
and in every club dining-room." Swift, in his Art of Polite
Conversation, (p. 15,) published a century and a half ago, states
that VARDI was the Slang in his time for " verdict." A few of
the most common and well-known terms used out of doors, with
reference to legal matters, are cook, to hash or make up a bal-
LITERARY SLANG.
53
ance-sheet ; dipped, mortgaged ; ddn, to solicit payment ; ful-
LiED, to be "fully committed for trial ; " land-shark, a sailor's
definition of a lawyer ; limb op the law, a mUder term for the
same " professional ; " monkey with a long tail, a mortgage —
phrase used in the well-known case for libel. Smith v. Jones ;
MOUTHPIECE, the coster's term for his counsel ; " to go through
the RING," to take advantage of the Insolvency Act ; smash, to
become bankrupt ; snipe, an attorney with a long biU ; and
WHITEWASHED, said of any debtor who has taken the benefit of
the Insolvent Act. Lawyers, from their connexion with the
police courts, and transactions with persons in every grade of
society, have ample opportunities for acquiring street Slang,
which, in cross-questioning and wrangling, they frequently avail
themselves of.
It has been said there exists a Literary Slang, or " the Slang
of Criticism — dramatic, artistic, and scientific. Such words as
'aesthetic,' 'transcendental,' the 'harmonies,' the 'unities,' a
' mjrth : ' such phrases as ' an exquisite morceau on the big
drum,' a ' scholarlike rendering of John the Baptist's great toe,'
' keeping harmony,' ' middle distance,' ' aerial perspective,' ' deli-
cate handling,' ' nervous chiaroscuro,' and the like." More than
one literary journal that I could name are fond of employing
such terms in their art-criticisms; but it is questionable, after
all, whether they are not allowable as the generous inflections
and bendings of a bountiful language, for the purpose of express-
ing fresh phases of thought, and ideas not yet provided with
representative words.* The well-known and ever-acceptable
Punch, with his fresh and choice little pictorial bits by Leech,
often employs a Slang term to give point to a joke, or humour to a
• "All our newspapera contain more or less colloquial words ; in fact, there seems
no other way of expressiug certain ideas connected with passing events of every-day
life with the requisite force and piquancy. In the English newspapers the same
thing is ohservable, and certain of them contain more of the class denominated Slang
words than our own." — BartUtt's AmerUanUms, p. lo, i8«o.
54 "PUNCH" ON SLANO AND SANSCRIT.
line of satire. A short time since (4th May 1859) he gave an
original etymology of the schoolboy-ism slog. Slog, said the
classical and studious Punch, is derived from the Greek word
8LOGO, to baste, to wallop, to slaughter. And it was not long
ago that he amused his readers with two columns on Slang and
Sanscrit : —
" The allegory which pervadea the conversation of all Eastern nations,"
remarked the philosophical Punch, "is the foundation of Western Slang;
and the increased number of students of the Oriental languages, especially
since Sanscrit and Arabic have been made subjects for the Indian Civil Service
examinations, may have contributed to supply the English language with a
large portion of its new dialect. While, however, the spirit of allegory
comes from the East, there is so great a difference between the brevity of
Western expression and the more cumbrous diction of the Oriental, that
the origin of a phrase becomes difficult to trace. Thus, for instance, whilst
the Turkish merchant might address his friend somewhat as follows —
' That which seems good to my father is to his servant as the perfumed
breath of the west wind in the calm night of the Arabian summer;' the
Western negotiator observes more briefly, ' all sereke ! ' "
But the vulgar term, beick, Punch remarks, in Ulnstration,
" must be allowed to be an eiceptii/D, its Greek derivation being universally
admitted, corresponding so exactly as it does in its rectangular form and
compactness to the perfection of manhood, according to the views of Plato
and Simonides ; but any deviation from the simple expression, in which
locality is indicated, — as, for instance, 'a genuine Bath,' — decidedly breathes
the Oriental spirit."
It is singular that what Punch says unwittingly and in
humour respecting the Slang expression, bosh, should be quite
true. Bosh, remarks Punch, after speaking of it as belonging to
the stock of words pilfered from the Turks, " is one whose innate
force and beauty the slangographer is reluctantly compelled to
admit It is the only word which seems a proper appellation for
a great deal which we are obUged to hear and to read every day
of our life." Bosh, nonsense or stupidity, is derived from the
LITERARY 8LANQ.
55
Gipsy and the Persian. The universality of Slang, I may here
remark, is proved by its continual use in the pages of Punch.
Whoever thinks, unless belonging to a past generation, of asking
a friend to explain the stray vulgar words employed by the
London Charivari ?
The AthencBum, the most learned and censor-like of aU the
" weeklies," often indulges in a Slang word, when force of expres-
sion or a little humour is desired, or when the writer wishes to
say something which is better said in Slang, or so-called vulgar
speech, than in the autherised language of Dr Johnson or Lindley
Murray. It was but the other day that a writer in its pages
employed an old and favourite word, used always when we were
highly pleased with any article at school — stunning. Bartlett,
the compiler of the Dictionary of Americanisms, continually cites
\he Athenceum as using Slang and vulgar expressions; but the
magazine the American refers to is not the excellent literary
journal which is so esteemed at the present day — it was a smaller,
and now defunct "weekly." Many other highly respectable
journals often use Slang words and phrases. The Times (or, in
Slang, the thundeeer) frequently employs unauthorised terms ;
and, following a " leader " * of the purest and most eloquent com-
position, may sometimes be seen another " article " * on a totally
different subject, containing, perhaps, a score or more of exceed-
ingly questionable words. Among the words and phrases which
may be included under the head of Literary Slang are, Balaam,
matter kept constantly in type about monstrous productions of
nature, to fill up spaces in newspapers ; balaam-box, the term
given in Blackwood to the repository for rejected articles ; and
SLATE, to pelt with abuse, or cut up in a review. The Slang
names given to newspapers are curious; — thus, the Morning
* The terms leader and article can scarcely be called Slang, yet it would be desirable
to know upon what authority they were first employed in their present peculiar
sense.
56 THEATRICAL SLANO.
AdveHiser is known as the tap-tub, the tizee, and the gin and
GOSPEL GAZETTE. The Momitig Post has obtained the suggestive
sobriquet of jeames ; whilst the Morning Herald has long been
caricatured as mes haeeis, and the Standard as mes gamp.*
The Stage, of course, has its Slang — " both before and behind
the curtain," as a journalist remarks. The stage-manager is
familiarly termed daddy ; and an actor by profession, or a " pro-
fessional," is called a peg. A man who is occasionally hired at
a trifling remuneration to come upon the stage as one of a
crowd, or when a number of actors are wanted to give efifect,
is named a sup, — an abbreviation of " supernumerary." A suef
is a third-rate actor who frequently pursues another calling ; and
the band, or orchestra between the pit and the stage, is generally
spoken of as the menageey. A ben is a benefit : and sal is the
Slang abbreviation of " salary." Should no wages be forthcom-
ing on the Saturday night, it is said that the ghost doesn't
WALK. The travelling or provincial theatricals, who perform in
any large room that can be rented in a country village, are called
baen-stoemees. a length is forty-two lines of any dramatic
composition ; and a eun is the good or bad success of a per-
formance. A saddle is the additional charge made by a manager
to an actor or actress upon their benefit night To mug up is to
paint one's face, or arrange the person to represent a particular
character ; to coepse, or to stick, is to balk, or put the other
actors out in their parts by forgetting yours. A performance is
spoken of as either a goosee or a sceeamee, should it be a
failure or a great success ; — if the latter, it is not infrequently
termed a hit. To stae it is to perform as the centre of attrac-
tion, with none but subordinates and indifferent actors in the
same performance. The expressive term clap-teap, high-sound-
ing nonsense, is nothing but an ancient theatrical term, and
* For some accoimt of the origin of these niokoames see under Msa HAJiBis in the
Dictionary.
fflYIO 8LAN0. 57.
signified a trap to catch a clap by way of applause. "Up
amongst the gods," refers to being among the spectators in the
gallery, — termed in French Slang paradis.
There exists, too, in the great territory of vulgar speech what
may not inappropriately be termed Civic Slang. It consists of
mercantile and Stock-Exchange terms, and the Slang of good
living and wealth. A turkey hung with sausages is facetiously
styled AN ALDERMAN IN CHAINS J and a half-crown, perhaps
from its rotundity, is often termed an alderman. A bear is a
speculator on the Exchange ; and a bctll, although of another
order, follows a like profession There is something very humor-
ous and applicable in the Slang term lame dqck, a defaulter
in stock-jobbing speculations. The allusion to his " waddling out
of the Alley," as they say, is excellent. Breaking shins, in
City Slang, is borrowing money ; a rotten or unsound scheme is
spoken of as fishy ; " rigging the market" means playing tricks
with it ; and stag was a common term during the railway mania
for a speculator without capital, a seller of " scrip " in " Diddlesex
Junction" and other equally safe lines. In Lombard Street a
monkey is £500, a plum £100,000, and a marygold is one
milUon sterling. But before I proceed further in a sketch of the
different kinds of Slang, I cannot do better than speak here of
the extraordinary number of Cant and Slang terms in use to
represent money — from farthings to bank-notes the value of
fortimes. Her Majesti/s coin, collectively or in the piece, is in-
sulted by no lesi than one hundred and thirty distinct Slang
words, from the humble brown (a halfpenny) to flimsies, or
long-tailed ones, (bank-notes.)
" Money," it has been weU remarked, " the bare, simple word
itself, has a sonorous, significant ring in its sound," and might
have sufficed, one would have imagined, for all ordinary purposes.
But a vulgar or " fast" society has thought differently, and so we
have the Slang synonymes — beans, blunt, {i. e., specie, — not stif
58 8LAN0 TERMS FOB MONET.
or rags, bank-notes,) beads, brass, bustle, coppees, (copper
money, or mixed pence,) chink, chinkers, chips, corks, dibbs,
DiNAELY, DiMMOCK, DUST, FEATHERS, GENT, (silver, — from argent^
HADDOCK, (a purse of money,) horse nails, loavee, loue, (the
oldest Cant term for money,) mopussks, needful, nobbings,
(money collected in a hat by street-performers,) ochre, (gold,)
PEWTEE, palm oil, POSH, QUEEN 's PicTUEES, QUIDS, BAGS, (bank-
notes,) EEADY, or EEADY GILT, EEDGE, (gold,) EHINO, EOWDY,
SHiNEEs, (sovereigns,) skin, (a purse of money,) stiff, (paper, or
biU of acceptance,) stuff, stumpy, tin, (silver,) wedge, (silver,)
and yellow-boys, (sovereigns ;) — just forty-three vulgar equiva-
lents for the simple word money. So attentive is Slang speech to
financial matters, that there are seven terms for bad, or " bogus"
coin, (as our friends, the Americans, call it :) a case is a coun-
terfeit five-shUling piece ; half a case represents half that sum ;
GEAYS are halfpence made double for gambling purposes ; queee-
SOPT is counterfeit or lead coin ; schofel refers to coated or
spurious coin ; sheen is bad money of any description ; and
siNKEES bears the same and not inappropriate meaning. Flying
THE kite, or obtaining money on bills and promissory-notes, is
closely connected with the allegorical expression of eaisino the
wind, which is a well-known phrase for procuring money by
immediate sale, pledging, or by a forced loan. In winter or in
summer any elderly gentleman who may have prospered in Hfe is
pronounced warm ; whilst an equivalent is immediately at hand
in the phrase " his pockets are well lined." Each separate piece
of money has its own Slang term, and often half a score of
synonymes. To begin with that extremely humble coin, a
farthing: first we have fadge, then fiddlee, then gig, and
lastly quaeteeeen. A halfpenny is a beown or a madza
saltee, (Cant,) or a mag, or a posh, or a eap, — whence the
popular phrase, " I don't care a eap." The useful and universai
penny has for Slanj; equivalents a coppee, a saltee, (Cant,) and
SLANO TEEMS FOR MONET. 59
a 'WiNiT. Twopence is a deuce, and threepence is either a
THRUMS or a THEUPS. Fourpence, or a groat, may in vulgar
speech be termed a bit, a flag, or a joey. Sixpence is well repre-
sented in street talk, and some of the slangisms are very comical
— for instance, bandy, bender, cripple, and downer ; then we
have FYE-BUCK, half a hog, kick, (thus " two and a k^ck," or
2S. 6d.,) lord op the mange, pig, pot, (the price of a pot of beer
— thus a half-a-crown is a " five pot piece,") snid, spkat, sow's
BABY, TANNER, TESTER, TIZZY, — sixteen vulgax words to one coin.
Sevenpence being an uncommon amount has only one Slang
synonyme, setter. The same remark applies to eightpence and
ninepence, the former being only represented by otter, and the
latter by the Cant phrase nobba-saltee. Tenpence is dacha-
SALTEE, and elevenpence dacha-one, — both Cant expressions.
One shilling boasts eleven Slang equivalents ; thus we have
beong, bob, beeaky-leg, deanee, gen, (either from argent,
sUver, or the back Slang,) hog, levy, peg, stag, teviss, and:<^
twelver. One shilling and sixpence is a kt-bosh. Half-a-
crown is known as an aldeeman, half a bull, half a tushe-
ROON, and a madza caeoon ; whilst a crown piece, or five shil-
lings, may be called either a bull, or a caroon, or a cartwheel, or
a coACHWHEEL, or a thick-un, or a tusheroon. The next advance
in Slang money is ten shillings, or half-a-sovereign, which may be
either pronounced as half a bean, half a couter, a madza
POONA, or HALF A QUID. A Sovereign, or twenty shillings, is a
bean, canary, couter, FOONT, GOLDFINCH, JAMES, POONA, POR-
TRAIT, QUID, a THICK-UN, or a yellow-boy. Guineas are nearly
obsolete, yet the terms neds, and half neds, are still in use.
Bank-notes are flimsies, long-tailed ones, or soft. A finuf
is a five-pound note. One hundred pounds, (or any other " round
sum,") quietly handed over as payment for services performed, is
curiously termed "a cool hundred." Thus ends, with several
omissions, this long list of Slang terms for the coins of the realm.
6o CLASSICAL ORIGIN OF TERMS FOR MONET.
which for copiousness, I will engage to say, is not equalled by
any other vulgar or unauthorised language in Europe.
The antiquity of many of these Slang names is remarkable.
Winn was the vulgar term for a penny in the days of Queen
Elizabeth ; and testee, a sixpence, (formerly a shilling,) was the
correct name in the days of Henry VIII. The reader, too,
will have remarked the frequency of animals' names as Slang
terms for money. Little, as a modern writer has remarked, do
the persons using these phrases know of their remote and some-
what classical origin, which may, indeed, be traced to the period
antecedent to that when monarchs monopoUsed the surface of
coined money with their own image and superscriptions. They
are identical with the very name of money among the early
Romans, which was pecunia, from pecus, a flock. The collections
of coin-dealers amply shew that the figure of a hog was anciently
placed on a small silver coin ; and that that of a bull decorated
larger ones of the same metal. These coins were frequently
deeply crossed on the reverse; this was for the convenience of easily
breaking them into two or more pieces, should the bargain for
which they were employed require it, and the parties making it
had no smaller change handy to complete the transaction. Thus
we find that the half bull of the itinerant street-seller, or
" traveller,"* so far from being a phrase of modern invention, as
is generally supposed, is in point of fact referable to an era
extremely remote. We may learn from Erizzo, in his Discorso, a
further illustration of the proverb "that there is nothing new
under the sun ;" for he says that the Roman boys at the time of
Hadrian tossed up their coppers and cried, "Head or ship;" of
which tradition our "heads or tails" and "man or woman" is
certainly a less-refined version. We thence gather, however, that
the prow of a vessel would appear to have been the more ordinary
device of the reverse of the brass coin of that ancient period.
* Sco Dictionary.
BHOPKEEPERS' SLANG. 6 1
There are many other Cant words directly from a classic source,
as will be seen in the Dictionary.
Shopkeeper^ Slang is perhajis the most offensive of all Slang.
It is not a casual eyesore, as newspaper Slang, neither is it an
occasional discomfort to the ear, as in the case of some vulgar
byword of the street ; but it is a perpetual nuisance, an4 stares
you in the face on tradesmen's invoices, on labels in the shop-
windows, and placards on the hoardings, in posters against the
house next to your own door — if it happens to be empty for a
few weeks — and in bills thrust into your hand, as you peaceably
walk through the streets. Under your door, and down your
area. Slang hand-bUls are dropped by some pushing tradesman ;
and for the thousandth time you are called upon to learn that
an ALARMING SACRIFICE is taking place in the next street ; that
prices are down again ; that, in consequence of some other
tradesman not driving a eoaeing trade, being, in fact, sold
UP, and for the time being a resident in buedon's hotel,
(Whitecross-Street Prison,) the pushing tradesman wishes to
sell out at awfully low prices, "to the kind patrons, and
numerous customers," &a &c., " that have on every occasion,"
&c. (fee. In this Slang any occupation or calling is termed a
line, — thus, the " building link" A tailor usurps to himself
a good deal of Slang. Amongst operatives he is called a snip, or
a STEEL-BAR DRIVER ; by the world, a ninth part op a man ;
and by the young coUegian, or " fast" man, a sufferer. If he
takes army contracts, it is sank work ; if he is a slop tailor, he
is a springer up, and his garments are blown together. Per-
quisites with him are spiffs, and remnants of cloth peaking, or
CABBAGE. The per-centage he allows to his assistants (or counter
jumpers) on the sale of old-fashioned articles is termed tinge.
If he pays his workmen in goods, or gives them tickets upon
other tradesmen, with whom he shares the profit, he is soon
known as a tommy master. If his business succeeds, it takes;
62 SLANG IN THE WORKSHOP.
if neglected, it becomes shaky, and goes to pot ; if he is deceived
by a creditor, (a not by any means unusual circumstance,) he is
LET IN, or, as it is sometimes varied, taken in. I need scarcely
remark that any credit he may give is termed tick.
Operative^ or Worhmeris Slang, in quality, is but slightly
removed from tradesmen's Slang. When belonging to the same
^ shop or factory, they graft there, and are brother chips. They
generally dine at slap-bang shops, and are often paid at tommy
shops. At the nearest pub, or public-house, they generally have
a SCORE chalked rp against them, which has to be wiped off
regularly on the Saturday night. When out of work, they borrow
a word from the flunkey vocabulary, and describe themselves as
being out of collar. They term each other flints and dungs,
if they are "society" or "non-society" men. Their salary is a
screw, and to be discharged is to get the sack. When they
quit work, they knock off ; and when out of employ, they ask
if any hands are wanted. Fat is the vulgar synonyme for per-
quisites ; elbow-grease signifies labour ; and saint Monday is
the favourite day of the week. Names of animals figure plenti-
fully in the workman's vocabulary ; thus we have goose, a
tailor's smoothing-iron ; sheep's-foot, an iron hammer ; sow, a
receptacle for molten iron, whilst the metal poured from it is
termed pig. I have often thought that many of the Slang terms
for money originally came from the worshop, thus — brads, from
the ironmonger ; chips, from the carpenter ; dust, from the
goldsmith ; feathers, from the upholsterer ; horse-nails, from
the farrier; haddock, from the fishmonger; and tanner, from
the leather-dresser. The subject is curious. Allow me to call
the attention of numismatists to it.
There yet remain several distinct divisions of Slang to be
examined : — the Slang of the stable, or jockey Slang ; the Slang
of the prize ring ; the Slang of servitude, or Jlunkeydom ;
vulgar, or Ureet Slang ; the Slang of softened oai/ts ; and the
SLANO APOLOGIES FOR OATHS. 63
Slang of intoxication. I shall only examine the last two. If
society, as has been remarked, is a sham, from the vulgar
foundation of commonalty to the crowning summit of royalty,
especially do we perceive the justness of the remark in the
Slang makeshifts for oaths, and sham exclamations for passion
and temper. These apologies for feeling are a disgrace to our
vernacular, although it is some satisfaction to know that they
serve the purpose of reducing the stock of national profanity.
"You BE BLOWED," or "I'll BE BLOWED IF," &c., is an exclama-
tion often heard in the streets. Blazes, or " like blazes," came
probably from the army. Blast, too, although in general vulgar
use, may have had a like origin ; so may the phrase, " I wish I
may be shot, if," <fec. Blow me tight, is a very windy and
common exclamation. The same may be said of strike me
LUCKY, NEVER TRUST ME, and SO HELP ME DAVY ; the latter
derived from the truer old phrase, I 'll take my davy on 't — i. e.,
my affidavit, davy being a corruption of that word. By golly,
GOL DARN it, and so HELP ME BOB, are evident shams for profane
oaths. Nation is but a softening of damnation; and od, whether
used in od deat it, or od's blood, is but an apology for the
name of the Deity. Marry, a term of asseveration in common
use, was originally, in Popish times, a mode of swearing by the
Virgin Mary; q. d., hy Mary. — So also marrow-bones, for the
knees. I 'U bring him down upon his marrow-hones — i. e., I '11
make him bend his knees as he does to the Virgin Mary. The
Irish phrase, bad scran to yer ! is equivalent to wishing a
person bad food. "I'm sniggered if you will," and "I'm
jiggered," are other stupid forms of mild swearing, — fearful of
committing an open profanity, yet slily nibbling at the sin.
Both DEUCE and dickens are vulgar old synonymes for the
devil ; and zounds is an abbreviation of god's wounds, — a very
ancient Catholic oath.
In a casual survey of the territory of Slang, it is curious to
64 SLANO TERMS FOR DRUNKENNESS.
observe how well represented are the familiar wants and failings
of life. First, there is money, with one hundred and twenty
Slang terms and synonymes ; then comes drink, from small beer
to champagne ; and next, as a very natural sequence, intoxictUion,
and fuddlement generally, with some half a hundred vulgar terms,
graduating the scale of drunkenness from a slight inebriation, to
the soaky state of gutterdom and stretcherdom, — I pray the
reader to forgive the expressions. The Slang synonymes for mild
intoxication are certainly very choice, — they are beeey, bemused,
BOOZY, BOSKY, BUFFY, COENED, FOGGY, FOU, FEESH, HAZY, ELE-
VATED, KISKY, LUSHY, MOONY, MUGGY, MUZZY, ON, SCEEWED,
STEWED, TIGHT, and wiNEY. A higher or more intense state of
beastliness is represented by the expressions, podgy, beaegeeed,
BLUED, CUT, PEIMED, LUMPY, PLOUGHED, MUDDLED, OBFUSCATED,
8WIPEY, THEEE SHEETS IN THE WIND, and TOP-HEAVY. But the
climax of fuddlement is only obtained when the disguised indi-
vidual can't see a hole in a laddee, or when he is all mops
and" beooms, or off his nut, or with his main-beace well
SPUCED, or with the sun in his eyes, or when he has lapped
THE guttee, and got the geavel eash, or on the ean-tan, or
on the EE-EAW, or when he is sewed up, or regularly scammeeed,
— then, and not till then, is he entitled, in vulgar society, to the
title of LUSHiNGTON, Or recommended to put in the pin.
SLANO DEMVATIOHS.
Slang derivations are generally indirect, turning upon metaphor and fanciful
allusions, and other than direct etymological connexion. Such allusions
and fancies are essentially temporary or local; they rapidly pass out of
the public mind : the word remains, while the key to its origin is lost.
A DICTIONARY
or
MODERN SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR
WORDS;
MANY WITH THEIK ETYMOLOGIES TRACED.
A I, first-rate, the very beet ; " she's a prime girl, she ia ; she ig A I." —
Sam Slick. The highest classification of ships at Lloyd's; common
term in the United States ; also at Liverpool and other English sear
ports. Another, even more intensitive, form is, " first-class, letter A,
No. I. •
ABIGAIL, a lady's-maid; derived from old comedies.
ABOUT RIGHT, " to do the thing about right," i.e., to do it properly,
soundly, correctly ; " he guv it 'im about eight," i.e., he beat him
severely.
ABRAM-MAN, a vagabond, such as were driven to beg about the country
after the dissolution of the monasteries. — See Bess o' bedlam, infra.
They are well described under the title of Bedlam Beggars. — Shak-
speare's K. Lear ii. 3.
•' And these, what name or title e'er they bear,
Jarkman, or Patrico, Cranke, or Clapper-dudgeon,
Frater, or abram-man ; I speak to all
That stand in fair election lor the title
Of king of beggars." — Br^aamoint and Fletcher's Begg. Bush, it 1.
It appears to have been the practice in former days to allow certain
inmates of Bethlehem Hospital to have fixed days " to go begging ; "
hence impostors were said to " sham Abraham " (the Abraham Ward
in Bedlam having for its inmates these mendicant lunatics) when they
pretended they were licensed beggars in behalf of the hospital. — See
review of 2d edition of this work in The Bookseller, May 26, 1 860.
Abandannad, " an abandanjtad (abandoned) boy," is one who picks
pockets of bandanna handkerchiefs. — Westmini^ler.
LIBRARY
UN J y )■• '■ ^ ' ■'■ ^' ^*^'
O ALU uitxN 1 A.
\
66
A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
<u-^
ABRAM-SHAM, or sham Abraham, to feign sickness or distress. Prom
ABRAM-MAN, the ancient Cant term for a begging impostor, or one who
pretended to have been mad. — Burton's A natomy of Melancholy, vol
i. p. 560. When Abraham Newland was Cashier of the Bank of Eng-
land, and signed their notes, it was sung :—
** T have heard people say
That SHAU ABRAHAM yoii may.
But you mustn't sham Abraham Newland.*'
ABSQUATULATE, to run away, or abscond ; a hybrid American expre«
sion, from the Latin ab, and " squat," to settle.
ACRES, a coward.
ADAM'S ALE, water. — English. The Scotch term is adau's wine.
"ADMIRAL OF THE RED," a person whose very red face evinces a
fondness for strong potations.
AFFYGRAPHY. " It fits to an afftorapht," ».«., to a nicety — to a T.
AFTERNOON FARMER, one who wastes his best opportunity, and
drives off the large end of his work to the little end of his time.
AGGERAWATOR, (corruption of Aggravator,) the greasy lock 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 newoate knoceebs, which see. — Sola's
Gaslight, &c.
AKEYBO, a slang phrase used in the following manner : — "He beats
AKETBO, and AKEYBO beat the devil."
ALBERTOPOLIS, a facetious appellation given by the Londoners to the
Kensington Gore district.
ALDERMAN, a half crown — possibly from its rotundity.
ALDERMAN, a turkey; "alderman in chains," a turkey hung with
sausages.
ALL, equal, a term used in various games; thus, if both parties hav»
scored six points each, the marker cries, " Six all ! "
" ALL OF A HUGH ! " all on one side ; falling with a thump ; the word
HOOH being pronoimced with a grunt. — Suffolk.
" ALL MY EYE," answer of astonishment to an improbable story; "all
MT EYE AND BETIY MARTIN," a vulgar phrase with smiilar meaning,
said to be the commencement of a Popish prayer to at Martin, " Oh,
mihi, beate Martine," and fallen into discredit at the Reformation.
ALL OUT, " by far ; "— " he was all out the best of the lot." Old—
frequently used by Burton in his A natomy of Melancholy.
ALL-OVERISH, neither sick nor well, the premonitory symptoms of
illness.
ALL ROUNDER, the fashionable shirt collar of the present time worn
meeting in front.
ALL SERENE, an ejaculation of acquiescence.— <See serene.
ALLS, tap-droppings, refuse spirits sold at a cheap rate in gin-palaces. —
See loveaoe.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 67
ALL THERE, in strict fashion, first-rate, " up to the mark ; " a Tulgar
person would speak of a spruce, showily-dressed female as being all-
there. An artisan would use the same phrase to express the capa-
bilities of a skilful fellow-workman. Sometimes ALL tub way these.
A modem song has —
■• S;ivs little Tom Sayers, ' If the blues do not stay u»,
1 '11 lead Inm a dance for the Island ;
He shall see how we fi^ht here in niy land I
We're allthf. waythkre m me Island. •
Althou£rh he's so tall, he
Shall yet feel my mawley
Ere I give up the " Belt" ol" the Island.' "
"ALL TO PIECES," utterly, excessively; "he beat him all to fieces,"
».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.*
AMINADAB, a quaker; from old comedies.
ANDREW MILLAR, a ship of war.— Sea.
AN'T, or ain't, the vulgar abbreviation of " am not," or " are not."
ANOINTED, used in a bad sense, to express eminent rascality in any one ;
" an ANOINTED scoundrel," as if he were the king of scoundrels. — 7mA.
ANOINTING, a good beating.
ANONYMA, a lady of the demi-monde — or worse — a pretty horse-breaker.
— Times. Incognita was the term at first.
ANY HOW, in any way, or at any rate, bad • " he went on AMY HOW,"
i.e., badly or indifferently.
ANTISCRIPTURAL, oaths, foul languaen
"APARTMENTS TO LET," said of one who has a somewhat empty
head.
APOSTLE'S GROVE, the London distnet known as St John's Wood.
APOSTLES, The Twelve, ttie last twelve names on the Poll, or
" Ordinary Degree " List at the Cambridge Examinations, when it was
arranged in order of merit, and not alphabetically, and in classes, as at
present ; so called from there being post alies, after the others.f — See
FOLL.
• The trfftt of this phr.ise, at any rate, is far older than the time of L-ving. Ben
JOTUOii't Epistle to Elizabeth, CouiUess of Rutland, commences thus : —
" Whilst that for which all virtue now is sold,
And almost every vice, abnightit gold*'
t The last of all was called St Paul, (or Samt Poll,) as being the least of the apostles,
and " not meet to be called an apostle," {see 1 Cor. xv. 9.) As in the " Honour" list,
(«<Gulf,) students who had failed only slightly in one or more subjects were occasion-
ally allowed their degrees, and these were termed elegant extracts. — Camb. Univ.
Slang.
68 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
APPLE-PIE BED, a trick played at schools on new comers, or on any
boy disliked by the rest. One of the sheets is removed, and the other
is doubled in the middle, so that both edges are brought to the top,
and look as if both sheets were there ; but the unhappy occupant is
preventl^getting more than half way down, and his night's rest is in
all probability spoiled.
APPLE-CART, " down with his apple-cart," i.e., upset him. — North
APPLE-PIE ORDER, in exact or very nice order.
ARTICLE, derisive term for a weak specimen of humanity.
ARY, corruption of " ever a," " e'er a ;" art one, i.e., e'er a one.
" AS YOU WERE," a military phrase in drilling; used in a Slang sense to
one who is going on too fast in his assertions, and wants recalling to
moderation.
ATOMY, a diminutive or deformed person. From anatomy.
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
ADNT 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 a few years ago on Brighton race-course are yet fresh
in remembrance. Aunt Sally proprietors are indebted to the noble
duke for having brought the game into fashionable notoriety.
AVAST, a sailor's phrase for stop, shut up, go away, — apparently connected
with the old Cant, bynqe a waste ; or from the Italian, baSIA, hold !
enough.
AWAKE, or FLT, knowing, thoroughly understanding, not ignorant of. The
phrase wide awake carries the same meaning in ordinary conversation.
AWFUL, (or, with the Cockneys, orpdl,) a senseless expletive, used to in-
tensify a description of anything good or bad ; " what an awful fine
woman I" i.e., how handsome, or showy I
Area-sneak, a boy tliief who ccmmits depredations upon kitchens and
cellars. — See crow.
Argot, a term used amongst London thieves for their secret or Cant lan-
guage. French term for Slang.
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-ott" in the present fashion, the mob were
BO pleased with the invention that they spoke of the operation as at
AUTUMN, or the fall or the leaf, (hc., the drop,) with the man about
to be hanged.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 69
AXE, to ask. — Saxon, acsian.
AYAH, a lady's-maid or nurse. — Anglo-Indian.
BABES, the lowest order of knock-outs, (which tee,) 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, to support, or " lay " money on a particular horse in 's, race. The
terra is very generally used in the " ring," as well as on the " turf."
BACK OUT, to retreat from a difficulty ; the reverse of GO AHEAD. Meta-
phor borrowed from the stables.
" BACK SLANG IT," to go out the back way.
BACK-HANDER, a blow on the face with the back of the hand, a back
handed tip. Also a drink out of turn, as when a greedy person delays
the decanter to get a second glass.
BACKER, one who bets, or "lays" his money, on a favourite horse; a one-
sided supporter in a contest. Sporting, and very general.
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.
BADMINTON, blood, — properly a peculiar kind of claret-cup invented at
the Duke of Beaufort's seat of that name. Badminton proper is made
of claret, sugar, spice, and cucumber peel iced, and is used by the
Prize Ring as a synonyme for blood out of compliment to a well-known
patron.
BAFFATY, calico. Used in the drapery trade.
BAGMAN, a commercial traveller.
•BAGS, trousers. Trousers of an extensive pattern, or exaggerated fashion-
able cut, have lately been termed howlinq-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. " Bags of mystebt" is another phrase in
frequent use.
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 pro-
ductions 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. Evi-
dently from Numbers xxii. 30, and denoting the " speech of an ass,"
or any story difficult of deglutition, not contained in Scripture.
Back Jump, a back window. — Prison term.
^
7© A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
BALD-FACED STAG, a term of derision applied to a person with a bald
head. Also, still more coarsely, " bladder-of-lard." Another name
is " Marquis of Granby," which see.
BALE UP ! the Australian bushrangers' " Stand and deliver ! " now im-
ported into the streets of London as a synonyms for " Stop 1 "
B.iLLAMBANQJANG. The Straits of Ballambanojanq, though unno-
ticed by geographers, are frequently mentioned in sailors' yarns as
being so narrow, and the rooks on each side so crowded with trees
inhabited by monkeys, that the ship's yards cannot be squared, on
accouut of the monkeys' tails getting jammed into, and choking up,
the brace blocks. — Sea.
BALMY, insane.
BALMY, sleep; "have a dose of the balmy" — go to sleep.
BAMBOOING, a beating — from the instrument employed.
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 vaed it in polite society. The term is derived
from the Gipsies.
BANDED, hungry.
BANDY, or cripplk, 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; BANaiNQ, great or thumping.
BANG-UP, first-rate.
BANK, to put in a place of safety. " Bank the rag," i.e., secure the note.
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; prob-
ably 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 B.A.R two." The Irish use of baubin' is very similar.
BARBER'S CAT, said of a half-starved, sickly -looking person, in connexion
with an expression too coarse to print.
BARKER, a man employed to cry at the doors of " gaffs," shows, and
puffing shops, to entice people inside.
BARNACLES, a pair of spectacles; corruption of binoculi. Derived
by some from the barnacle,* a kind of conical shell adhering to
ships' bottoms. Hence a marine term for goggles, which they resemble
in shape, and for which they are used by sailors in case of ophthalmia
derangement.
* Lepat Anatifeya.
Ball, prison allowance, viz., six ounces of meat.
Barking-Iron, a pistol. Term used by footpads.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. Jl
BARNEY, a lakk, spree, rough enjoyment ; " get up a barney," to have
a " lark." Also, a deception, a " cross."
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
BAKRIKIN," i.e., we don't understand what he says. Miege calls it " a
sort of stuff; " Old French, baeacan.
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 —
*' A woman, a whelp, and a walnut tree,
The more you basu 'em, the better they be."
BASTE, to beat, properly to pour gravy on roasting meat to keep it from
burning. Also, a sewing term.
BASTILE, the workhouse. General name for " the Union " amongst the
lower orders of the North. Formerly used to denote a prison, or
"lock-up;" but its abbreviated form, steel, is now the favourite
expression with the lower orders.
BAT, " on his own bat," on his own account. — See hook.
BATS, a pair of bad boots.
BATTER, wear and tear ; " can't stand the batter," i.e., not equal to the
task ; " on the batter," literally " on the streets," or given up to
roistering and debauchery.
BATTLES, the students' term at Oxford for ra'tions. At Cambridge,
COMMONS. Qy. Battells.
BATTY, wages, perquisites. Derived from Batta, an extra pay given to
soldiers while serving in India.
BATTY-FANG, to beat; battt-fanqino, a beating; also batter-fano.
Used metaphorically as early as 1630.
*' So batter/anged and belabour'd with tongue mettle, that he was weary of his
life."— rayto/s Works, 1630.
BAS^AAR, a shop or counter. Gipsy and Hindoo, a market.
BEACH-COMBER, a fellow who prowls" about the sea-shore to plunder
W^ks, and pick up waifs and strays of any kind. — Sgsu_
BEAK, a magistrate, judge, or policeman; "to baffle the beak," to get re-
manded. Ancient Cant, beck. Saxon, beag, a necklace or gold col-
lar — 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) heak, and also a blockhead f See, however,
vmder walker ! for another derivation.
Beaker-Hunter, a stealer of poultry.
72 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
BEANS, tnoney; "a haddock of beans," a purae of money; formerly,
BEAN meant a guinea ; French, biens, property ; also used as a sync-
nyme 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.
'* Ho who sells that of which he is not possessed is proverbially saM to sell the
skin before he has caught tlie bear. It was the practice of stock-jobbers,
in the year 1720, to ent«r into a contract for transferring South Sea stock
at a future time for a certain price; but he who jontracted to sell bad fre-
quently no stock to transfer, nor did he who bought intend to receive any
in consequence of his barpain; the seller was, therefore, cidled a biar, in
allusion to tlie proverb, and the buyer a buli., perliaps only as a similar dis-
tinction. The contract was merely a wager, to be determined by the rise
or fall of stock ; if it rose, the seller paid the difiference to the buyer, pro-
portioned to the sum determined by the same computation to the seller."
Dr Wartini on Pope.
BEARGERED, to be dnmk.
BEAT, the allotted range traversed by a policeman on duty.
BEAT, or beat-hollow, to surpass or excel ; also " beat into fits."
BEAT, " dead-beat," wholly worn out, done for.
BEATER-CASES, boots. Nearly obsokte.
BEAVER, old street term for a hat ; GOSS is the modem word, beaveb,
except in the country, having fallen into disuse.
BE-BLOWED, a windy exclamation equivalent to an oath. — See BLOW-UE.
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. — ShadweU's Virtuoso, 1676, act i., scene I.
This was used sometimes as a defensive weapon.
BED-FAGOT, a contemptuous term for a bed-fellow. — See Fagot.
BEDFORDSHIRE, bed; when a person says, "I'm off for bedfobdshibb,"
he means that he is goiug to bed.
BEE, " to have a bee in one's bonnet," i.e., to be not exactly sane.
l|EEpGE, a lady. — Anglo-Indian.
BEEF-HEADED, stupid.
BEEFY, unduly thick or fat, commonly said of women's ancles. — See
mullingar.
BEEBY, intoxicated, or fuddled with beer.
BEESWAX, poor soft cheese.
BEETLE-CRUSHER, or SQUASHEB, a large flat foot. The expression wa»
first used in one of Mr Leech's caricatures in Punch.
BEGGAR'S VELVET, downy particles which accumulate under furniture
from the negligence of house-maids. Otherwise called slut's-wool.
BELCHER, a handkerchief.— /See under billt for description.
^7?^, /^^T^Jcc^ylu^ j^ifuj<^
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 73
BELL, a Bong. Tramps' term.
BELLOWS, the lungs. Bellowser, a blow in the " wind," or pit of the
stomach ; taking one's breath away.
" BELLOWS TO MEND," said of a person out of breath.
BELLY-TIMBER, food, oT"gmh."
BELLY-VENGEANCE, small sour beer, apt to cause gastralgia.
BEMUSE, to fuddle one's-self with drink, " bemusing himself with beer,"
&o. — Sala'a Gaslight and Daylight, p. 308.
BEN, a hene&t.— 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 !
BENDIGO, a rough fur cap worn in the midland counties, named after a
noted pugilist of that name.
BENE, good. — Ancient Cant; binab was the comparative. — See bonk.
Latin.
BENEDICT, a married man.
BENJAMIN, a coat. Formerly termed a Joseph, in aUusion, perhaps, to
Joseph's coat of many colours. — See upper-benjamin.
BEN JOLTRAM, brown bread and skimmed milk; a Norfolk term for a
ploughboy's breakfast.
BENJY, a waistcoat, — the diminutive of benjamin.
BEONG, a shilling. — See baltee. — Lingua Franca.
BESS.— Sec BROWN-BESS.
BESS-O'-BEDLAM, a lunatic vagrant.— iVor/oii.
BEST, to get the better or "beat" of a man in any way — not necessarily to
cheat — to have the best of a bargain. Bested, taken in, or defrauded.
Besteb, a low betting cheat.
BETTER, more ; " how far is it to town ? " " Oh, better 'n a nule." —
Saxon and Old English, now a vulgarism.
BETTING ROUND. See book, and book-makino.
B. FLATS, bugs. — Compare p. sharps.
BIBLE-CARRIER, a person who sells songs without singing them. — Seven
Dials.
BIG, "to look bio," to assume an inflated address, or manner; "to talk
BIO," i.e., boastingly, or with an "extensive" air.
" BIG-BIRD, TO GET THE," t.c, to be hissed, as actors occasionally are by
the " gods." — Theat. Slang.
Bellowsed, or lagged, transported.
Ben Cull, a friend, or " pal." — MiXlbank Penitentiary.
BiiiTy, a skeleton key, or picklock. — Old Prison Cant.
74 -4 DICTIONARY OF MODESN
BIG-HOtXSE, the wort house, — a phrase used by the very poor.
BIG-WIG, a person in authority or office.
BILBO, a sword; abbrev. of "bilboa blade." Spanish swords were an-
ciently very celebrated, especially those of Toledo, Bilboa, &c.
BILK, a cheat, or a swindler. Formerly in general use, now confined to
the streets, where it is very common. Gothic, bilaioan.
BILK, to defraud, or obtain goods, &c., without paying for them; "to
BILK the schoolmaster," to get information or experience without pay-
ing for it.
BILLINGSGATE, (when applied to speech,) foul and coarse language.
Kot many years since, one of the London notorieties was to heai 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 ot
handkerchiefs, pocket and neck, is here suVjjoined : —
BEtOHER, darkish blue ground, large round white spots, with a
spot in the centre of darker blue than the ground. This was
adopted by Jim Belcher, the pugilist, and soon became popu-
lar amongst " the fancy."
Bird's-ete wipe, same as preceding.
Bloodred fanct, red.
Blue billy, blue ground with white spots.
Cream fancy, any pattern on a white ground.
• Green kino's man, any pattern on a green ground.
Randal's man, green, with white spots; named after Jack Bandal,
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
saltimbanoo, — so called from the hero of a Slang song. — Buluxr's Paul
Clifford. — Billy was a real person, semi-idiotic, and, though in dirt and
rags, fancied himself a swell of the first water. Occasionally he came
out with real witticisms. He was a well-known street character about
the east end of London, and died in Whitechapel Workhouse. — (P.)
BILLY-COCK, a hat of the Jim Crow or " wide-awake " description, prin-
cipally worn by carters.
BINGY, a term largely used in the butter trade to denote bad ropy butter;
nearly equivalent to vinnied.
BINGO, brandy.— iJuijccr's Paul Clifford.
BIRD-CAGE, a four-wheeled cab.
BiLLT, a policeman's staff.
Billy, stolen metal of any kind.
Billy-huntino, buying old metal. — See billy-fbnoeb.
Billy-fenceb, a marine-store dealer.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 75
BIT, foiirpence; in America 12^ cents are 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, money. Charles Bannister, the witty singer and actor, one day meet-
ing a Bow -Street runner with a man in custody, asked what the
prisoner had done ; and being told that he had stolen a bridle, and
had been detected in the act of selling it, said, " Ah I then, he wanted
to touch the bet."
BITCH, tea; "a bitch party," a tea-drinking. — Oxford.
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. Origin-
ally a Gipsy term.* — See Bacchui and Venus.
BITTERS, "to do bitters," to drink heer.— Oxford.
BITTOCK, a distance of very undecided length. If a north countryman
be asked the distance to a place, he will most probably reply, " a mile
and a bittock; " and the latter may be considered any distance from
one hundred yards to ten miles !
B. K. S. Military officers in mufti, when out on a spree, and not wishing
their profession to be known, speak of their barracks as the B. K s.
BIVVY, or GATTEB, beer; "shant of BIVVY," a pot or quart of beer. In
Sufiblk, the afternoon refreshment of reapers is called bever. It is
also an old English term.
** He is none of those same ordinary eaters, tbat will devour three Isreakfasts,
and as many dinners, without any prejudice to their bkvers, driukings, or
suppers." — Beaumoiit and Fletchet-'s Woman Hater, i. 3.
Both words are probably from the Italian, bevere, bebe. Laiin,
BIBERE. English, bevekaqe.
"BLACK AND WHITE," handwriting, or print
BLACK-A-VISED, having a very dark complexion.
BLACKBIRD-CATCHING, sea Slang for the slave-trade.
BLACK DIAMONDS, coals; talented persons of dingy or unpolished ex-
terior ; rough jewels.
BLACK-LEG, a rascal, swindler, or card cheat. The derivation of this
term was solemnly argued before the full court of Queen's Bench,
upon a motion for a new trial for libel, but was not decided by the
learned tribunal. Probably it is from the custom of sporting and turf
men wearing black top-boots. Hence BLACK-IEQ came to be the phrase
for a professional sporting man.
• CROsa-BrPER, for a cheat, continually occurs In writers of the sixteenth century.
N. Bailey has cross- bite, a disappointment, probably tho primary sense; and bite is
very probably a contraction of this. — See Nares't Glossary, 8. v.
Bit, a purse, or any sum of money. — Prison Cant.
BlT-FAKEB, or turner OUT, a coiner of bad money.
BtACKBERBY-swAGGER, a person who hawks tapes, boot-laces, Ac
76
A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
BLACK-SHEEP, a "bad lot," "mauvaix lujet;" also a workman who re-
fuses to join in a strike.
BLACK-STRAP, port wine.
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 modem authority
of SwifL 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
Malono agrees with me in exhibiting the two first of the following ex-
amples : — The black-guard is evidently designed to imply a fit attendant on
the devil. Mr GifTord, 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, lie says, from those
• mean and dirty dependimts. 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 Jonton, ii. 169,
▼ii. 25a" — Todd's JohnsoiCs Dictionary.
BLADE, a man — in ancient times the term for a soldier; "knowing blade,"
a wide-awake, sharp, or cunning man.
BLADDER-OF-LARD, a coarse, satirical nickname for a bald-headed
person.
BLARNEY, flattery, exaggeration. A castle in the county of Cork. It v
said that whoever kisses a certain stool in this castle will be able to
persuade others of whatever he or she pleases. The name of the castla
is derived from bladh, a blossom, i.e., the flowery or fertile demesne.
Bladh is also flattery; hence the connexion. — Irish.
BLAST, to curse. Originally a Military expression.
BLAZES, a low synonyme for the infernal regions. Also as applied to the
brilliant habiliments of flunkeys. — See Pickwick Papers.
BLEST, a vow ; " blest if I 'U do it," i.e., I ain determined not to do it ;
euphemism for CUKST.
BLEED, to victimise, or extract money from a person, to sponge on, to
make sufier vindictively.
BLEW, or BLOW, to inform, or peach.
BLEWED, got rid of, disposed of, spent ; " I slewed all my blunt last
night," I spent all my money.
BLIND, a pretence, or make-believe.
BLIND -HALF -HUNDRED, the fiftieth re^ment of foot; so called
through their great suflerings from ophthalmia, when serving in
Egypt.
BLIND-HOOKET, a gambling game at cards; called also wiltul mubdkb.
BLIND-MAN'S-HOLIDAY, night, darkness.
BLINKER, a blackened eye. — Norwich Slang. Blinkebs, spectacles.
BLGiK-rBMOEB, a person who sells spectacles.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. "JJ
BLOAK, or bloke, a man ; "the bloak with a jasey," the man with a wig,
i.e., the Judge. Qipsy and Hindoo, LOKB. North, bloaoheb, any
large animal.
BLOATER.— £'ee mild.
BLOCK, the head. " To BLOCK a hat," Is to knock a man's hat down orer
his eyes. — See bonnet.
BLOCK ORNAMENTS, the small dark-coloured pieces of meat exposed
on the cheap butchers' blocks or counters, — debateable poitits to all
the sharp-visaged argumentative old women in low neighbourhoods.
y 2- 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 particular kind of handkerchief worn by pugi-
lists and frequenters of prize fights. — See billy.
BLOODY-JEMMY, an uncooked sheep's head. — See sanguinary james.
"BLOW A CLOUD," to smoke a cigar or pipe — a phrase in use two cen-
turies ago.
BLOW ME, or blow me tight, a vow, a ridiculous and unmeaning ejacula-
tion, inferring an appeal to the ejaculator ; " I 'm slowed if you will "
is a common expression among the lower orders; "blow me up" was
the term a century ago. — See Parker's Adventures, 1 781. — The expres-
sion BE-BLOWED is now more general Tom Hood used to tell a
Btory : —
" I was once asked to contribute to a new ioumal, not exactly gratuitously, but
at a very t^malt advance upon nothing — and avowedly because the work had
been planned according to that estimate. However, I accepted the terms
conditionally — that is to say, provided the principle could be properly carried
out. Accordingly, I wrote to my butcher, baker, and other tradesmen, in-
forming them that it was necessary, for the sake of cheap literature and
the interest of the reading public, that they should furnish me with their
several commodities at a very trifling per-centage above cost price. It will
be sufficient to quote the answer of the butcher : — ' Sir, — Respectin* your
note. Cheap literuter be blowkdI Butchers must live as well as other pepel
' — and if so be you or the readin' publick wants to have meat at prime cost,
you must buy your own beastesses, and kill yourselves. — X remane, etc.,
"*JouN Stokes.'"
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.
Blob, (from blab,) to talk. Beggars are of two kinds, — those who
SCREEVB, (introduce themselves with a fakement, or false document,)
and those who blob, or state their case in their own truly " unvar-
nished " language.
Blow, to expose, or inform ; " blow the gaff," to inform against a person.
*" As for that,* says Will, * X could tell it well enough, if I had it, but I must
not be seen anywhere among my old acquaintiuices, for 1 am blown, and
they will all betray me.* " — HUtory 0/ CoUmel Jack, 1723,
In America, "to blow" is Slang for to taunt.
Blowek, a girl ; a contemptuous name in opposition to JOMER.
/iVKyf*^^
78 A DICTION ART OF MODERN
BLOWEN, a showy or flaunting female. In Wilts, a blowkn is a blossom.
Germ, bluhen, to bloom. In German, also, buhlen is to court, and
BUBLE, a sweetheart.
** O du blUhende Miidclien viel schone Willkomm ! " — Oerman Song.
Possibly, however, the street term blowen may mean one whose re-
putation has been blown upon, or damaged.
BLUBBER, to cry in a childish manner. — Ancient. A correspondent says,
"probably from hanging the lip."
BLUE, said of talk that is smutty or indecent. When the conversation
has assumed an entirely opposite character, it is then said to be
BROWN, or Quakerish.
BLUE, a policeman ; "disguised in BLUE and liquor." — Boots at the Swan.
" The gentleman in blue and white" — i.e., a policem.%n — was frequently
called upon for a song at the pleasant camp-fire meetings on Wimbledon
Common, during the volunteer encampment there in 1863.
BLUE, or blew, to pawn or pledge.
BLUE, confounded or surprised ; " to look blue," to be astonished or disap-
pointed.
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 overcoat 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 Skakspeare.
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-bottlb
rogue."
BLUED, or slewed, tipsy, 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, mortblect.
BLUE RUIN, gin.
BLUES, a fit of despondency. — See blue devils.
BLUFF, an excuse ; more frequently used as an adjective, in the sense of
rough, coarse, plain-spoken.
BLUFF, to turn aside, stop, or excuse.
Blodger, a low thief, who does not hesitate to use violence. — Prison Cant,
Bloe-pioeon-flter, a journeyman plumber, glazier, or other workman,
who, under the plea of repairing houses, strips off the lead, and
makes away with it. Sometimes they get off with it by wrapping it
round their bodies.
Rt.FKT, lead. — German, blki.
sfo W - V^y I i/^c/ rf-ro rnfhe n^<? rd hoi>c
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 79
BLUNT, money. It has been said that this terin is from the French blowd,
sandy or golden colour, and that a parallel may be found in brown or
BROWNS, the slang for halfpence. Far-fetched as this etymology may
be, it is doubtless correct, as it is borne out by the analogy of similar
expressions. Cf. blanquillo, a word used in Morocco and Southern
Spain for a small Moorish coin. The "asper" (asTTpav) of Constan-
tinople is called by the Turks akcueh, i.e., " little white." See also
Winn, (Harman,) above, p. 20.
BLURT OUT, to speak from impulse, and without reflection. — SKdkspeare,
j~B.OARD-OF-GREEN-CLOTH, a facetious synonyme for a card-table.
BOB, a shilling. Formerly bobstick, which may have been the original.
BoB-A-NOB, a shilling ahead. Query, if qonnected with Sir Eob.
Walpole, as Joet is with Joseph Hume ?
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,
».«., OAT, GREENS, TATUR, &c., all equally profane and disgusting.
BOB IT, drop it, give it up.
BOBBERY, a squabble, tumult. — Anglo-Indian.
BOBBISH, very well, clever, spruce. " How are you doing ? " "Oh I pretty
BOBBISH." — Old,
BOBBY, a policeman. Both BOBBT 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 bobbt is, however, older than the
Saturday Reviewer 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, bobbt t/ie Beadle. Bobby
is also, I may remark, an old English word for striking or hitting, a
quality not unknown to policemen. — See ffalliwell's Dictionary.
BODKIN, a small, or young person, sitting in the centre, between two
others, in a carriage, is said "to ride bodkin." Amongst sporting
men, applied to a person who takes his turn between the sheets on
alternate nights, when the hotel has twice as many visitors as it can
comfortably lodge.
BODY-SNATCHER, a bailiff or runner : snatch, the trick by which the
bailiff captures the delinquent.
BODY-SNATCHEK, a cat-stealer.
BOG-ORANGES, potatoes.
BOG, or Boa-HOUSE, a privy as distinguished from a water-closet. — School
term. In the Inns of Court, I am informed, the term is very common.
BOG-TROTTER, satirical name for an Irishman.— ilfie^e. Camden, how-
ever, speaking of the "debateable land" on the borders of England
and Scotland, says, " both these dales breed notable boo-trotters."
BOLUS, an apothecary.
BOILERS, or Brompton boilers, the Slang name given to the New Ken-
sington Museum and School of Art, in allusion to the peculiar form
^uJehicfUC-
80 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
of the buildings, and therfact of their being mainly composed of, and
covered with, sheet iron. — See peppek-boxes.
BOLT, to run away, decamp, or abscond.
BOLT, to swallow without chewing.
BOMBAY DUCKS ; in the East India Company's army the Bombay regi-
menta were so designated. The name is now given to a dried fish,
(bummelow,) much eaten by natives and Europeans in Western India.
—Anglo-Indian.
BONE, to steal or appropriate what does not belong to you. Boned, seized
apprehended. — Old.
BONE-PICKER, a footman.
BONES, TO BATTLE THE BONES, to play at dice ; also called ST mjan'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." —
Ancietit, vide Cotgrave.
BONIFACE, landlord of a tavern or inn.
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, one who metaphorically blinds
or BONNETS others. — See the following.
BONNET, to strike a man's cap or hat over his eyes.
BONNETER, one who induces another to gamble.
BOOBY-TRAP, a favourite amusement of boys at school. It oonsiBts in
placing a pitcher, of water on the top of a door set ajar for the pur-
pose ; the person whom they wish to drench is then enticed to pass
through the door, and receives the pitcher tmd its contents on his un-
lucky head. Books are sometimes used.
BOOK, an arrangement of bets for and against, chronicled in a pocket-book
made for that purpose; " making a book upon it," a commim 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 arrange-
ments. The principle of making a book, or bettino round, as it is
sometimes termed, is to lay out a previously-determined sum against
every horse in the race, or as many as possible ; and should the book-
maker GET bound, i.e., succeed in laying against as many horses as
will more than balance the odds laid, he is certain to be a winner. —
See Hedge.
BOOKED, caught, fixed, disposed of. — Term in Book-keeping.
Bone, good, excellent <[>, the vagabond's hieroglyphic for bone, or good,
chalked by them on houses aud street comers, as a hint to succeeding
beggars. French, BON.
Bone-grubber, a person who hunts dust-holes, gutters, and all likely spots
for refuse bones, which he sells at the rag-shops, or to the bone-
grinders.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULQAR WORDS. 8 1
BOOKS, a pack of cards. Term iised by professional card-players. — iS«e
Devil's Books.
BOOK-HOLDER, a prompter.— rAcaii-ica?.
BOOM, " to top one's BoOH off," to be off, or start in a certain direction. —
Sea.
BOOM-PASSENQER, a sailor's Slang term for a convict on board ship. — Sea.
BOO^E r-dia^ Ancient Cant, bowse. Booze, or suoe-casa, a public-house.
BQOiiii, to^rink, or more properly, to use another Slang term, to "lush,"
vifc, to drink continually, untU drunk, or nearly so. The term is an
old one. Hanman, in Queen Elizabeth's days, speaks of " bousinq (or
boozing) and belly-oheere." The term was good English in the four-
teenth century, and came from the Dutch, BUYZEN, to tipple.
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, so called from his unvaried and pertinacious push-
ing. The Gradus ad Cantdbrigiam suggests the derivation of bore
from the Greek Bdpos, a burden. Shahpeare uses it, King Henry VIII.
1.1—
" at this inBtant
Ho BORES me with some trick."
Orose 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, Septembei
14, 1869. 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 under-
stood wants of science before the public and the Government, who will even
hand round the becrging-box, and expose themselves to refusals and rebuffs,
to which all beggars all liable, with the certainty besides of being considered
great bobes. Please to recollect that this species of " bore *' is a most useful
animal, well adapted for the ends f jr 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-
protectiou, as the minor evil compared to his importunity, but which is
requisite to make his cause imderstood."
BORE, {Pugiliatic,) to press a man to the ropes of the ring by superior weight.
BOSH, nonsense, stupidity. — Oipsy and Persian. Also pure Turkish, bosh
LAKKRDi, empty talk. A person, in the Saturday Review, has stated
that bosh is coeval with Morier's novel, Hadji Babi, which was pub-
lished 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.
21 7. A correspondent asserts that this colloquial expression is from
the Qerman bosh, or bossch, answering to our word " swipes."
82 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
BOSKY, inebriated.— £roMScAo?<i Wvrdt, No. 183.
BOSS-EYED, a person with one eye, or ratlier with one eye injured.
BOTANY BAY, Worcester Coll. Oxon, so called from its remote situation.
BOTHER, (from the Hibemicism pother,) trouble, or annoyance. Grose haa
a singular derivation, bother, or both-eared, from two persons talking
at the same time, or to both ears. Bloibsb, an old word, signifying
to chatter idly. — See SalliweU.
BOTHER, to teaze, to annoy.
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. Slang term for Lord Pal-
merston, derived from a speech he made some years ago when foreign
Beci etary, in which he described himself as acting the part of a judicious
"bottle-holder" among the foreign powers. A lately-invented in-
strument to hold a bottle has thus received the name of a palmerston.
BOTTOM, stamina in a horse or man. Power to stand fatigue ; endurance
to receive a good beating, and still fight on. " A fellow of FLCOE,
sound WIND, and good bottom is fit to fight anything."
BOTTS, the colic or bellyache. — StahU Slang. Bums uses it. See Death
and Dr Harnhook.
BQTTY, conceited, swaggering. — Stable.
BOUNCE, impudence. A showy swindler.
BOUNCE, to boast, cheat, or bully. — Old Cant. Also to lie.
BOUNCEABLE, prone to bouncing or boasting.
BOUNCING-BEN, a learned man.
BOUNDER, a four-wheeled cab. Luevs a non lucendot Also a University
term for a trap.
"The man who drives has a well-appointed 'bouitoer' of his own, to the
splashboard of which is affixed a mysteriou-s box, containing clamps and
cords, sti-aps and bucldes, with a view to breaitages and other accidents."
— Hintx to Frakman, 1842.
BOW-CATCHER, or kiss-curl, a small curl 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-catcher. In
old times this was called a lovelock, when it was the mark at which all
the Puritan and ranting preachers levelled their pulpit pop-guns,
loaded with sharp and virulent abuse. Hall and Prynne looked upon
Bosh, a fiddle. Bosh-paker, a violin-player. Terms only used by the
lower orders.
Bos-ken, a farm-house. Ancient. — See ken.
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 Boschjenum,
or Bushman.
Bouncer, a person who steals whilst bargaining with a tradesman ; a lie
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 83
all women as strumpets who dared to let the hair depart from a straight
line upon their cheeks. The French prettily term them accroche-
cosurs, whilst in the United States they are plainly and unpleasantly
called SPIT-O0BLS. Bartlett says : — " Spit-curl, a detached lock of
hair curled upon the temple ; probably from having been at first plas-
tered into shape by the saliva. It is now understood that the muci-
lage of quince seed is used by the ladies for this purpose."
** You may prate of your lips, and your teeth of pearl.
And your eyes so brightly flashing ;
My Bong sliall be of that sauva curl
Which threatens my heart to smash In."
— Boston Trantcript, October 30, 1858.
When men twist the hair on each side of their faces into ropes they are
sometimes called bell-hopes, as being wherewith to draw the belles.
Whether bell-ropes or bow-oatchers, it is singular they should form
part of the prisoner's paraphernalia, and that a janty little kiss-me-
quick curl should, of all things in the world, ornament a jail dock ; yet
such was formerly the case. Hunt, " the accomplice after the fact and
king's evidence against" the murderer of Weare, on his trial, we are
informed by the Athenceum, appeared at the bar with a highly poma-
tumed love-look 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. — Criehetiru) 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 " Duke Humphrey," i.e.,
going without. — Lincolnshire.
BOX-OF-MINUTES, a watch, or watchmaker's shop.
" BOX THE COMPASS," to repeat the thirty -two points of the compass
either in succession or irregularly. The method used at sea to learn
boys the points of the mariner's compass. — Sea.
BRADS, money. Properly a small kind of nails used by cobblers. — Compare
horse nails.
BRAIN-PAN, the skulL ' - >-^
BRAIN-CANISTER, the h.eaA.—Pngaiaic.
BRAMBLE-GELDER, a derisive appellation for an agriculturist — Suffolk.
^f-wt- 1 )hjKu-<)
Brace up, to pawn stolen goods.
Bracelets, handcuffs.
Brad-fakikq, playing at cards. Probably from broads.
Bbaggadooio, three months' imprisonment as a reputed thief or old offen-
der, — sometimes termed a DOSE, or a dollop. — Household Words, voL
i-,p.579-
84
A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
BRANDY PAWNEE, brandy and via.tet.— Anglo-Indian.
BBAJf-NEW quite new. Properly, Bnvt, beajjd, or Fire-new, i.e., fresh
from the anvil,
BRASS, money.
BRASS, impudence. In 1803 some artillery-men stationed at Norwich
were directed to prove some brass ordnance belonging to the city. To
the report delivered to the corporation was appended this note : —
" N.B. — It is customary for the corporal to have the old metal when
any of the pieces burst." Answer. — " The corporation is of opinion
that the corporal does not want brass."
BRAZEN-FACED, impudent, shameless. See BRASS. Such a person is
said " to have rubbed his face with a brass candlestick."
BRAZIL, a hard red wood ; " hard as Brazil," a common expression.
Q,iMrU» in his Emblems says : —
" Thou know'st my brittle temper's prone to break.
Are my bones brazil or my flesh of oak ? "
BREAD-BAGS, a nickname given in the army and navy to any one con-
nected with the victualling department, as a purser, or purveyor in the
Commissariat.
BREAD-BASKET, dumpling-depot, viotuallino-office, &o., are terms
given by the " Fancy" to the digestive organ.
BREAK-DOWN, a noisy dance, and violent enough to break the floor
down ; a jovial, social gathering, a flare up; in Ireland, a wedding —
(Qy. American ?)
"BREAK ONE'S BACK," a figurative expression, implying bankruptcy,
or the crippling of a person's means.
" A story is current of a fashionable author answering a late and rather violent
knock at his door one evening. A coal-heaver wanted to know if the genllo-
man would like a cheap ton of coals ; he was sorry for troubling liim so
late, but ' the party as had a-ordered the two ton and a-half couldn't be
found,' although he had driven his * waggon for six blessed hours up and
down the neighbourhood. Five-and-twenty is the price, but yer shall have
them for 20s.' Our author was not to bo tempted, he had heard of the
trick before ; so bidding the man go away from his house, he shut the door.
The man, however, lingered there, expatiating on the quidity of his coala —
• Acterly givin 'em away, and the gent won't have 'em,' said he, addressing
the neighbourhood in a loud voice; and tlie last that waa heard of him w:is
his anything but sweet voice whistling through the key-hole, * WiU eighteen
bob BREAK YER BACK?' "
BREAK SHINS, to borrow money.
BREAK UP, the conclusion of a performance of any kind — originally a
school term.
BREAKY-LEG, a shilling.
BREAKY-LEG, strong drink ; " he 'a been to Bungay fair, and BROKE BOTH
HIS LEQ8," i.e., got drunk. In the ancient Egyptian language the
_-^. , determinative character in the hieroglyphic veib
) ra'^^Pv^d " ^ ^® drunk," has the significant form of the
{'~_^____^ leg of a man being amputated.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 85
BBEECHED, on to have the bags off, to have plenty of money ; " to be
well BREECHED," to be in good circumstances.
BREECHES, "to wear the bbbkoheb," said of a wife who usurps the
husband's prerogative.
BREEF, probably identical with brief, q. v., a plan of cheating at cards ;
thus described in an old book of games of about 1 720 : —
" Take a pack of cards and open them, then take out all the honours . . . and
cut a little from the edges of the rest all aUke, so as to make the honours
broader than the rest, so that when your adversary cuts to you, you are
certain of an honour. When you cut to your adversary cut at the ends, and
then it is a chance if you cut him an honour, because the cards at the ends
are all of a length. Thus you may make breefs end-ways, as well aa side-
. ways."
BREEKS, breeches. — Scotch, now common.
BRICK, a "jolly good fellow ;" " a regular BRICK," a staunch fellow. YK'^
*' I bonneted Whewell when we gave the Rads their gruel.
And taught them to eschew all their aiidresses to the Queen.
If again they try it on, why to floor them I'll make one.
Spite of Peeler or of Don, like a brick and a Bean." \^ _
— The Jolly Bachelors, Cambridge, 184a.
Said to be derived from an expression of Aristotle's — TeTpayavos avrfp.
A recently current story informs us that Lillywhite, the cricketer,
was originally a brickmaker, and that from him a " stumping bowl "
acquired the name of a "regular brick."
BRIDGE, a cheating trick at cards, by which any particular card is cut by
previously curving it by the pressure of the hand. Used in France as
well as in England, and termed in the Parisian Argot faire le font.
BRIEF, a pawnbroker's duplicate. Derived from the following : —
BRIEFS, cards constructed on a cheating principle. See bridge, concaves
and CONVEXES, longs and shorts, reflectors, &;c. From the German,
briefe, which Baron Heinecken says was the name given to the cards
manufactured at Ulm. Brief is also the synonyme for a card in the
German Rothwahch dialect, and briefen to play at cards. " Item —
beware of the Joners, (gamblers,) who practise Beseflery with the
BRIEF, (cheating at cards,) who deal falsely and cut one for the other,
cheat with Boglein and spies, pick one brief from the ground, and
another from a cupboard," &c. — Liber Yagatorum, ed. by Martin
Luther, in 1529. English translation, by J. C. Hotten, i860, p. 47.
See BREBF.
BRIM, a violent irascible woman, as inflammable and unpleasant as brim-
stone, from which the word is contracted.
BRINEY, the sea.
BRITT, the street shortening for the Britannia Theatre.
BRISKET-BEATER, a Roman Catholic.
BROAD - COOPER, a person employed by brewers to negotiate with
pubUcans.
BROADS, cards. Broadsman, a card-sharper.
86 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
'BROAD AND SHALLOW," an epithet applied to the so-caUed "Broad
Church," in contradistinction to the " High " and " Low " Churches.
See HIOH AND DRY.
BROAD-FENCER, card-seUer at races.
BROSIER, a bankrupt. — Cheshire. Bkosier-mt-DAME, Bchool term, imply-
ing a clearing of the housekeeper's larder of provisions, in revenge for
stinginess. — Eton.
BROTHER-CHIP, fellow carpenter. Also, brother- whip, a fellow coach-
man : and buoiuer-blade, of the same occupation or calling— originally
a fellow-soldier.
BROWN, a halfpenny.— Sec 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; a musket with a
browned barrel ; also black Bess. A suggestion has been made that
BESS may be from the German buschb, or bosohe, a barrel.
BROWN SALVE ! an exclamation 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 considered a vulgarism. It
is derived, by a writer in Notes and Queries, from brow study, and he
cites the old German braun, or aug-bkaun, an eye-brow. — Hen Jonson.
BROWN TALK, conversation of an exceedingly proper character, Quaker-
ish. Compare blue.
BROWN-TO, to understand, to comprehend. — American.
BRUISER, a fighting man, a pugilist. — Pugilistic. Shakspeare uses the
word bruising in a similar sense.
BRUSH, a fox's tail, a house-painter.
BRUSH, or bbush-ofp, to run away, or move on. — Old Cant.
BUB, drink of any kind. — See orub. Middleton, the dramatist, mentions
BUBBER, a great drinker.
BUB, a teat, woman's breast, plural BUBBLES; no doubt from bibb. Also
the preceding.
BUBBLE, to over-reach, deceive. — Old. (Acta Segia, ii. 248, 1726.)
BUBBLE-AND-SQUEAK, a dish composed of pieces of cold boiled meat
and greens, and afterwards fried, which have thus first bubbled in the
pot, and then squeaked or hissed in the pan.
BUBBLE-COMPANY, a swindling association.
Brown papebmen, low gamblers.
Brum, a counterfeit coin. Nearly obsolete. Corruption of Brummagem,
(Bromwicham,) the ancient name of Birmingham, me great emporium
for plated goods and imitation jewellery.
8LAN0, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 8/
BTTCK, a gay or smart man ; also an unlicensed cabman.
BUCKHORSE, a smart blow or box on the ear; derived from the name ol
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. Shalspeare uses the word in the latter
sense, Henry IV.,i.l\ and HalUwell 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 of the various meanings of buckle. — See Notes
and Queries, vols, vii., viii., ix.
BUCKLE-BEGGAR, a couple-beggab, which see.
BUCKLEY, " Who struck buoklet ? " a common phrase used to irritate
Irishmen.
BUCKLE-TO, to bend to one's work, to begin at once, and with great
energy — from buckling on one's armour before a combat.
BUCKRA, a white man. — West Indian Negro.
BUCKSHISH, a present of money. Over all India, and the East generally,
the natives lose no opportunity of asking for buokshish. The usage
is such a complete nuisance, that the word is sometimes answered
with a blow ; this is termed bamboo buckshish.
BUDGE, to move, to inform, to split, or tell tales.
BUFF, the bare skin ; " stripped to the BUFF."
BUFF, to swear to, or accuse; to split, or peach upon. — Old word foi
boasting, 1582.
BUFFER, a navy term for a boatswain's mate, part of whose duties is to
administer the " cat."
BUFFER, a familiar expression for a joUy acquaintance, probably from
the French bouffaed, a fool or clown; a "jolly old bdpfek," 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." — Bacchm 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, buftel-
HAUPT, buffalo-headed. Occurs in Plautui Comedies made English,
"^^JJ"''"^ I^BUFFS, the third regiment of foot in the British army.
BUFFY, intoxicated.— .ffouse/toZd Words, No. 183.
BUGGY, a gig, or light chaise. Common term in America and in India.
BUG- WALK, a coarse term for a bed.
Bubblet-jock, a turkey, or sUIy boasting fellow ; a prig. — Scottish. In the
north of England the bird is called a bobble-cock. Both names no
doubt from its cry.
Budge, strong drink; budgt, drunk; budging-ken, a public-house;
" cove of the budgino-ken," the landlord. Probably a corruption of
boozb. — North.
88 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
BUILD, applied in fashionable Slang to the make or style of dices, &c. ;
" it 's a tidy build, who made it ? "
BULGER, large ; synonymous with bdsteb.
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
BEAB, who is the opposite of a bull, the former selling, the latter pur-
chasing — the one operating for a fall or a pall down, whilst the other
operates for a rise or toss up.
BULL, a crown-piece, formerly bull's etk. See " WOKK THE BULLS."
BULL-BEEF, a term of contempt; "as ugly as bull-beep," "go to the
billy-fencer and sell yourself for bull-beef."
" 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.
BULLFINCH, a hunting term for a large, thick, quickset hedge, diflScult
alike to " top " or burst through. Query, corruption of bolefence ?
BULLY, a braggart; but in the language of the streets, a man of the most
degraded morals, who protects fallen females, and lives off their miser-
able earnings. — Skakspeare, Midsummer Night's Dream, iiL I : iv. 2.
This epithet is often applied in a commendable sense among the vul-
gar ; thus — a good fellow or a good horse will be termed " a bullt
fellow," " a BULLT horse ; " and " a bullt woman " signifies a rightj
good, motherly old soul.
ISULLYRAG, to abuse or scold vehemently ; to swindle one out of money
by intimidation and sheer abuse, as alleged in a late cab case, {Evans
V. Robinson.)
J J f5'<>t%i ^^ BUM, the part on which we sit. — Shahspeare. Bumbags, trousers; Gael.
•vCf/TS OJ^Tf\l«TLt »X^ and Fr., bun, a base or bottom ; Welsh, BON, the lowest or worst part
*! IAj -C. '^ ^ °* anything.
' BUM-BAILIFF, a sheriff's-officer, — a term, some say, derived from the
proximity which this gentleman generally maintains to his victims.
Blaehstone says it is a corruption of " bound baihff."
BUMBLE, to muffle. Bumble-footed, club-footed.
BUMBLES, coverings for the eyes of horses apt to shy in harness.
BUMBLE, a beadle. Adopted from Dickens's character in Oliver Twist.
This and "bumbledom " are now common.
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.
Buo-HUNTEK, a low wretch who plunders drunken men.
Bull, term amongst prisoners for the meat served to them in jail.
Bulkt, b constable. — North.
tXor
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 89
BUMBLE-PUPPY, a game played in public-houses on a large stone,
placed in a slanting direction, on the lower end of which holes are ex-
cayated, and numbered like the holes in a bagatelle-table. The player
rolls a stone ball from the higher end, and according to the number of
the hole it falls into the game is counted. It is undoubtedly the very
ancient game of Troule-in-madame.
BUM-BOAT, a shore boat which supplies ships with provisions, and serves
as means of communication between the sailors and the shore.
BUM-CURTAIN, an old name for an academical gown when they were
worn scant and short, especially those of the students of St John's
College. — Camb. Univ.
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 from the salesmen and re-sell-
ing them to smaller buyers. The word has been used in the statutes
and bye-laws of the market for upwards of 200 years. It has been
variously derived. Some persons think it may be from the French
BONNE iiAREE, good fresh fish ! " Mar^e signifie toute sorte de poisson
de mer que n'est pas sale; bonne mar^e— mar^e fraiche, vendeur de
mar^e." — Diet, de I'Acad. Franc. The bummakkes 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 bum-
MABEE ONE is to run up a score at a public-house just open, and is
equivalent to " running into debt with one." One of the advertise-
ments issued by Hy. Robinson's " Ofpioe," over against Threadneedle
Street, was this : —
"Touching Advice from the OFFICE, you are desired to give and take notice
as followeth ; —
F Monies to be taken up, or delivered on £otto-maria, commonly called
Bomarie.
F money to be put out or taken upon interest," &c.
— The Publick Inteliigeneer, numb. 17, asth June i66a
BUMPER, according to Johnson from "bump," but probably fromFreMh
BON-PEBE, the fixed toast in monastic life of old, now used for " full
measure." A match at quoits, bowls, &c., may end iu a "bumpee game,"
if the play and score be all on one side.
BUMPTIOUS, arrogant, self-sufficient.
BUNCH-OF-FIVES, the hand, or fist.
BUNDLE, " to BUNDLE a person off," i.e., to pack him off, send him flying.
BUNDLING, a custom in Wales, and now frequently in America, of men
and women sleeping, where the divisions of the house will not permit
of better or more decent accommodation, with all their clothes on.
BUNO, the landlord of a public-house.
BUNG, to give, pass, hand over, drink, or indeed to perform any action.
Bung up, to close up. — Pugilisiie. " Bung over the rag," hand over the
money. — Old, used by Beaumont and Fletcher, and Shahipeare. Also,
to deceive one by a lie, to cbam, which see.
"0
"0
90 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
BUNKER, beer.
BUNKUM, American importation, denoting false sentiments in speaking)
pretended enthusiasm, &c. The expression arose from a speech made
by a North Carolina Senator.
BUNTS, costermongers' perquisites ; the money obtained by giving light
weight, &o. ; costermongers' goods sold by boys on commission. Prob-
ably a corruption of boniis, bone, being the Slang for good. Bunoe,
Orose gives as the Cant word for money.
BUKDON'S HOTEL, Whitecross Street Prison, of which the Governor is
or was a Mr Burdon. Every prison has a nickname of this kind, either
from the name of the Governor, or from some local circumstance. The
Queen's Bench has also an immense number of names — SFIKE FABK,
&c. ; and every Chief-Justice stands godfather to it.
BURKE, to kill, to murder, secretly and without noise, by means of
strangulation. From Burke, the notorious Edinburgh murderer, who,
with an accomplice named Hare, used to decoy people into the den he
inhabited, kill them, and sell their bodies for dissection. The wretches
having been apprehended and tried, Burke was executed, while Hare,
having turned king's evidence, was released. Bishop was their London
imitator. The term burke is now usually applied to any project that
is quietly stopped or stifled — as " the question has been bukked." A
book suppressed before publication is said to be burked.
BURRAH, great; as burba saib, a great man; bukea. khanah, a great
dinner. — Anglo-Indian.
BUS or BUSS, abbrevation of " omnibus," a public carriage. Also, a kiss^
abbrev. of Fr. baiser. A Mr Shillibeer started the first BUS in London.
Why is Temple Bar like a lady's veil? Because it wants to be removed to make
way for tiie bosses.
BUS, business (of which it is a contraction) or action, on the stage. —
Theatrical.
BUST, or BURST, to tell tales, to split, to inform. BuSTlNa, 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 com-
mon snack at beershops.
BUSTER, an extra size ; " what a BUSTEK," i.e., what a large one ; "in for
a BUSTER," determined on an extensive frolic or spree. Scotch, BUS-
Tuous ; Icelandic, bostra.
BUSY-SACK, a carpet-bag.
BUTCHA, a Hindoo word in use among Englishmen for the young of any
Bunk, to decamp. " Bunk it I " t.e., be off.
BuRERK, a lady, a showily-dressed woman.
" Burt a Moll," to run away from a mistress.
Busker, a man who sings or performs in a public-house. — Scotch.
Busk, (or buseinq,) to sell obscene songs and books at the bars and in the
tap-rooms of public-houses. Sometimes implies selling any articles.
Bustle, (money ;) " to draw the bustle."
'WlJr
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 9 1
animal. In England we ask after the children ; in India the health of
the BUTCHAS is tenderly inquired for.
BUTCHER, the king in playing-cards.
BUTCHER'S MOURNING, a white hat with a Mack mourning hat-hand.
This meaning is given on the authority of Mr George Cruikshank.
BUTTER, or batter, praise or flattery. To butter, to flatter, cajole.
Punch defines flattery as " the milk of human kiudness.chumed into
BDTTER."
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 connexion of but-
torn with Srvmmagem, which is often used as a synonyme for a sham.
— See BONNET.
BUTTONER, a man who entices another to play. See bonketeb.
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.
BUTTY, a word used in the mining districts to denote a kind of overseer.
(2.) Also used by the Royal Marines in the sense of oonarade ; a police-
man's assistant, one of the staff in a miUe.
BUZ, to share jequally the last of a bottle of wine, when there is not
enough for a full glass to each of the party.
BUZ, a well-known flash game, played as follows : — The chairman com-
mences saying "one," the next on the left hand "two," the next
" three," and so on to semen, when " buz " must be said. Every seven
and multiple of 7, as 14, 17, 21, 27, 28, &o., must not be mentioned,
but "buz" instead. Whoever breaks the rule pays a fine, which is
thrown on the table, and the accumulation expended in drink for the
company. See " SNOOKS and walker " for more complicated varieties
of a similar game.
BY GEORGE, an exclamation similar to BT jove. The term is older than
is frequently imagined — vide Bacchm and Venus, (p. 1 1 7,) 1 737' " 'Fore
(or by) georqe, I 'd knock him down." A street compliment to Saint
Buz, to pick pockets ; buz-eaking, robbing.
Buz-MAN, an informer.
Buzzer, a pickpocket. Orose gives buz-cove and buz-qloak; the latter
is very ancient Cant.
Buz-Bloak, a pickpocket, who principally confines his attention to purses
and loose cash. Grose gives buz-qloak, (or CLOAK ?) an ancient Cant
word. Buz-NAPPEB, 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 diffi-
cult attitudes for the boys to practise 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 ex-
plained in Dickens's Oliver Twist. Also buz-knackeb.
ga A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
George, the patron Saint of England, or possibly to the House of
Hanover.
BY GOLLY, an ejaculation, or oath; a compromise for "by God." Bt
GUM, is another oblique oath. In the United States, small boys are
permitted by their guardians to say OOL darn anything, but they are
on no account allowed to commit the profanity of G— -<i d g any-
thing. An effective ejaculation and moral waste-pipe for interior pas-
sion or wrath is seen in the exclamation — by the EVER-LrviNG jumpinq-
lioSES — 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 cahri au ermine. Our
abbreviation, which certainly smacks of Slang, has been stamped with
the authority of "George, Ranger" See the notices afiSxed to the
carriage entrances of St James's Park.
CAB, to stick together, to muck, or tumble up. — Devatuhire.
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 the above sense by Arbuthnot,
CABBAGE-HEAD, a softheaded person.
CABOBBLE, to confuse.— Sa/oife
CABBY, the driver of a cab.
CACKLING-COVE, an actor. Also called a uumraBT-oovi. Theat.
CACKLE-TUB, a pulpit.
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 him-
self; a man who tries to worm something out of another, either
money or information. Johnson uses the word, and gives hxickster as
the meaning, but I never heard it used in this sense. Apparently
from CAGEB, or gager, the old Cant term for a man. The exclusives
at the English Universities apply the term cad to all non-members.
CAD, an omnibus conductor.
CADGE, to beg in an artful wheedling manner. — North. In Scotland
to CADGE is to wander, to go astray. See under codger.
CADGING, begging with an eye to pilfering when an opportunity occurs.
CAG, to irritate, affront, anger.
CAG-MAQ, bad food, scraps, odds and ends ; or that which no one could
relish. Qrote gives cagg maqgs, old and tough Lincolnshire geese,
sent to London to feast the poor cockneys. Qael., French, and Welsh,
oao, and magn. A correspondent at Trinity College, Dublin, con-
eiders this as originally a University Slang term for a bad cook, kokos
ftayftpos. There is also a Latin word used by Pliny, MAGMA, denoting
dregs or dross.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 93
CAGE, a minor kind of prison. — Shakspeare, Part ii Henry IV., iv. 4.
CAKE, a " flat ; " a soft or doughy person, a fool.
" CALL A GO," in street " patter," is to remove to another spot, or address
the public in different vein. Also to give in, yield, at any game or
business.
CALEB QUOTEM, a parish clerk; a jack of all trades.
CAL., an abbreviation for "Calcraft," the common hangman.
CALABOOSE, a prison. — Sea Slang, from the Spanish.
CALIFORNIA, money. Derivation very obvious.
CAMERONIANS, The, the Twenty-sixth Regiment of Foot in the British
Army.
CAMESA, shirt or chemise. — Span. See its abbreviated form, MISH, from
the ancient Cant, commission. Probably reintroduced by the remains
of De Lacy Evans's Spanish Legion on their return. See Somerville's
account of the Span. Leg., for the curious facility with which the lower
classes in England adopt foreign words as Slang and Cant terms.
Italian, CAUiciA.
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 hesA.— Pugilistic.
CANISTER-CAP, a ha.t.— Pugilistic. >.
CANNIBALS, the training boats for the Cambridge freshmen, i.e., " Can-
NOT-PULLS." The term is applied both to boats sad rowers. — See
SLOOGEBS.
CANNIKEN, a small can, similar to pannikin. — Shakspeare. ^^
CANT, a blow or toss ; " a cant over the kisser," a blow on the mouth. —
Kentish.
CANTAB, a student at Cambridge.
"CANT OF TOGS," a gift of clothes.
CANTANKEROUS, litigious, bad-tempered. An American corruption pro-
bably of contentious. A reviewer, however, of this book in the Book-
seller of May 26 derives it from the Anglo-Norman contek,* litigation
or strife. Another correspondent suggests " cankerous " as the origin.
CANVASSEENS, sailors' canvas trousers.
CAP, a false cover to a tossing coin. — See COVEK-down.
CAPER-MERCHANT, a dancing-master.
CAPERS, dancing, frolicking ; "to cut caper-sauce," i.e., to dance upon
nothing — be hanged, very coarse.
CAPPER-CLAWING, female encounter, where caps are torn, and nails
freely used. Sometimes it is pronounced clapperclaw. The word
occurs in Shakspeare. — Troilus and Cressida, v., 4.
•Bailey has conteke, contention, as a Spenserian word, and the O.B., cohtkkobs,
quarrelsome persons.
Caket-pann0m-fenceb, a man who sells street pastry.
v^
94 ^ DICTIONARY OF MODERN
CARAVAN, a raUway train.
CARAVANSERA, a railway station. A "tip" for the late pugilistic con-
test between King and Heenan was given in these words : — " The
SCRATCH must be toed at sharp five. The caravan starting at that
hour from the cabavansera," i.e., London Bridge.
CARBOY, a general term in most parts of the world for a very large glass
or earthenware bottle.
CARD, a character. " A queer card," t.c., an odd fish.
CARDINAL, a lady's cloak. This, I am assured, is the Seven DiaU 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.
CARPET, " upon the carpet," any subject or matter that is uppermost
for discussion or conversation. Frequently quoted as sur le tapisy but
it does not seem to be a correct Parisian phrase. Also servants Slang,
When a domestic is summoned by the master or mistress to receive a
warning or reprimand, he or she is said to be OAr.PETF:D. The corre-
sponding term in commercial establishments is a wigoino, which see.
CARNEY, 8., soft hypocritical language. Also, v., to flatter, wheedle, or
insinuate one's-self. — Prmt.
CARNISH, meat, from the Hal. cabne, flesh ; a Lingua Franca importa-
tion; CARNISH-KEN, a thieves' eating-house; "cove of the oarnish-ken,"
the keeper thereof. — North Country Cant.
CAROON, five shillings. French, conBONNE; Cfipsy coubna; Spanish
COURNA, half-a-crown.
CARROT. " Take a carrot ! " a vulgar insulting phrase.
CARROTS, the coarse and satirical term for red hair. An epigram gives
an illustration of the use of this term : —
•• Why scorn red hair? The Greeks, we know,
(I note it here in charity)
Had taste in beauty, and with them
The graces were all Xapirat I "
CARRIER-PIGEON, a swindler, one who formerly used to cheat lottery
office keepers. Nearly obsolete,
" CARRY ME OUT ! " a pretended exclamation of astonishment on hearing
news too good to be true, or a story too marvellous to be believed.
Sometimes varied by " Let me die," i.e., I can't survive that. Pro-
fanely derived from the Nunc dimittis, (Luke xi. 29.) The Irish say,
" oarrt me out, and bury me decently."
CARRY-ON, to joke a person to excess, to "carry on" a "spree" too far;
" how we CARRIED ON, to be sure I " i.e., what fun we had. Nautical
term — from carrying on sail.
CARRIWITCHET, a hoaxing, puzzling question, not admitting of a satis-
factory answer, as — " How far is it from the first of July to London
8LAN0, CANT, AND VULOAR WORDS. 95
Bridge ? " " K a bushel of apples cost ten shillings, how long will it
take for an oyster to eat its way through a barrel of soap ? "
CA.RT, a racecourse. Query, if a corruption of, or connected with, the
well-knowu "correct card" of Dorling, and other clerks of the racing
course ?
CAETS, a pair of shoes. In Norfolk the carapace of a crab is called a erdb
cart ; hence carts would be synonymous with crab shells, which »ee.
CART-WHEEL, a fiveshilUng piece.
(JA-SA, a writ of capias ad satisfaoikndam. — Legal Slang.
CASA, or case, a house, respectable or otherwise. Probably from the
Italian CASA. — Old Cant. The Dutch use the word east in a vulgar
sense for a house, i.e., motiekast, a brothel Case sometimes means
a water-closet.
CASCADE, to vomit.
CASE. A few years ago the term case was applied generally to persons
or 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. Tiiis would seem to have been
originaUy a " case " for the police-court ; drunkenness, &c. Among
young ladies at boarding-schools a case means a love affair.
CASK, fashionable Slang for a brougham, or other private carriage. —
Eousehold Words, No. 183.
CASSAM, cheese — not oapean, which Egan, in his edition of Qroae, has
ridiculously inserted. — Ancient Cant. Zatin, oabeus. Gael, and Irish
caise.
, « CAST UP ONE'S ACCOUNTS," to voviit.—Old.
CASTOR, a hat. Castor was once the ancient word for the animal com-
monly known as the beaver ; and, strange to add, beaver waa the
Slang for castor, or hat, thirty years ago, before gossamer came into
fashion.
CAT, to vomit like a cat. Perhaps from cataract ; but see shoot the cat.
CAT — cat o' nine tails, a whip with that number of lashes used to
punish refractory sailors. — Sea.
CAT-FACED, a vulgar and very common expression of contempt in the
North of England.
CATAMARAN, a disagreeable old woman. — Thackeray.
I 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.
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 casino pewter or iron imitation* with
silver.
Cat, a lady's muff; " to free a cat," i.e., steal a muffi
96 A DIGTIONART OF MODERN
CATCHY, (similar formation to touchy,) inclined to take an undue advantagei
CATERWAULING, applied derisively to inharmonious singing; ako love-
making, from the noise of cats similarly engaged — in both cases.
CATEVER, a queer, or singular affair ; anything poor, or very bad. From
the Lingua Franca, and Italian, OATTivo, bad. Variously spelled by
the lower orders. — See kertever.
CATGUT-SCRAPER, a fiddler.
CAT-LAP, a contemptuous expression for weak drink.
CAT'S-MEAT, a coarse term for the lungs — the "lights" or lungs of
animals being usually sold to feed cats.
CATS-WATER, " old Tom," or Gin.
CATCH-PENNY, any temporary contrivance to obtain money from the
public ; penny shows, or cheap exhibitions.
CAT -IX -THE -PAN, a traitor, a turn-coat — derived by some from the
Greek, Karawav, 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. This is an
American term, and a corruption of caulker's meeting, being derived
from an association of the shipping interest at Boston, previous to the
War of Independence, who were very active in getting up opposition
to England. — See Pickering'i Vocabulary.
CAULK, to take a surreptitious nap, sleep generally from the ordinary
meaning of the term ; stopping leaks, repairing damages, so as to come
out as good as new. — Sea term.
CAULKER, a dram. — Noctes Ambrodana.
CAULKER, a too marvellous story, a lie. Choker has the same sense.
CA VAULTING, a vulgar phrase equivalent to "horsing." The Italian
OAVALLINO, signifies a rake or debauchee. — Lingua Franca, c A volt A.
CAVE, or CAVE IN, to submit, shut up. — American. Metaphor taken from
the sinking of an abandoned mining shaft.
CA-VE ! Latin, beware ! used by school-boys to give warning of the ap-
proach of the master. — See nix.
CAVE - OP - HARMONY, the cider cellars, or Evans's singing saloon. —
Thackeray.
CHAFF, to gammon, joke, quiz, or praise ironically. CHAFF-bone, the jaw-
bone. — Yorkshire. Chaff, jesting. In Anglo-Saxon, ceaf is chaff;
and oeapl, bill, beak, or jaw. In the Ancren Biwle, aJ). 1221, ceaflb
is used in the sense of idle discourse.
CHAFFER, the mouth ; " moisten your chaffer," ».«., take something to
drink.
" Cat and Kitten Sneaxinq," stealing pint and quart pots bom public-
houses.
SLANO, CANT. AND VULOAR WORDS. 97
CHALK OUT, or chalk down, to mark out a line of conduct or action ; to
make a rule or order. Phrase derived from the Worlcshop.
CHALK UP, to credit, make entry in account books of indebtedness ; " I
can't pay you now, but you can chalk it cp," 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. — See the following.
CHALKS, degrees, marks ; so called from being made by a piece of chalk ;
" to beat by long chalks," i.e, to be superior by many degrees.
CHANCERY, " to get a man's head into chancery," i.e., to get an op-
ponent's head firmly under one's arm, where it can be pummelled with
immense power, and without any possibility of immediate extrication.
— Pugilistic term.
CHANGE, small money. The overplus returned after paying for a thing
in a round sum. Hence a Slang expression used when a person receives
a " settler " in the shape either of a repartee or a blow — " Take your
change out of that ! "
CHAP, a fellow, a boy ; " a low CHAP," a low fellow — abbreviation of CHAP
man, a huckster. Used by Byron in his Critical Remarks.
CHAPEL, a printer's assembly, held for the purpose of discussing differ-
ences between employer and workmen, trade regulations, &c. The
term is scarcely Slang, but some compos, ask its insertion in this work.
CHAPEL-OF-EASE. French, cabinet d'aisance, a house of office.
CHARLEY, a watchman, a beadle.
CHATTER-BASKET, common term for a prattling child amongst nurses.
CHATTER-BOX, an incessant talker or chatterer.
CHATTS, lice, or body vermin. Prov., any small things of the same kind.
CHATTY, a filthy person, one whose clothes are not free from vermin ;
chatty doss, a lousy bed.
CHAUNTER-CULLS, a siugiilar 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. As strange as it may appear, there
are actually two men in London at the present day who gain their living
in this way. Very recently they were singing before the establishment
of a fashionable tailor in Regent Street ; and not long since they were
bawling their doggerel rhymes outside the mansion of a Norfolk M.P.
in Belgravia.
Chakiot-buzzino, picking pockets in an omnibus.
Chakley-pitcher, a low, cheating gambler.
Chattry-feeder, a spoon.— Millbank Prison.
Chatts, dice, — formerly the gallows ; a hunch of seals.
U
98 -4 DICTIONARY OF MODERN
CHAUNTERS, those street selleni of ballads, last copies of verses, and .
other broadsheets, who sing or bawl the contents of their papers.
They often term themselves papeb workers. — See horsechaukters.
CHAUNT, to sing the contents of any paper in the streets. Cant, as ap-
plied to Tulgar language, was, in all probability, derived from chaunt.
— See Introduction, for origin of the term.
CHAW, to chew; chaw up, to get the better of one, finish him up;
chawed up, utterly done for.
CHAW OVER, to repeat one's words with a view to ridicule ; chaw-bacon
a rustic.
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,
&o., at fairs and races. They put an article up at a high price, and
then cheapen it by degrees, indulging all the time in vollies 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 licence. —
See dutch auction.
CHEECHEE, this word is used in a rather offensive manner to denote
Eurasians, or children by an English father and native mother. It
takes its origin in a very common expression of these half-caste females,
"Chee-chee," equivalent to our Oh, fie ! — Nonsense ! — For shame ! —
Anglo-Indian.
CHEEK, share or portion; " where 's my cheek?" where is my allowanceJ
CHEEK, impudence, assurance ; cheeky, saucy or forward.
CHEEK, to irritate by impudence, to accuse. — Lincolnshire.
" CHEEK BY JOWL," side by side — said often of persons in such close
confabulation as almost to have their faces touch.
CHEEKS ! a jeering and insulting exclamation, believed to be of Scotch
origin.
CHEESE, anything good, first-rate in quality, genuine, pleasant, or ad-
vantageous, is termed the cheesk Mayhew thinks cheese, in this
sense, is from the Scixon 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." But the expression cheese may be found
in the (ripsy vocabulary, and in the Hindostanee and Persian languages.
In the last OHiz means a thing. — See under Stilton ; also p. 7 Introd.
jj! CHEESE, or cheese it, (evidently a corruption of cease,) leave off, or have
done ; " cheese your barrikin," hold your nope. ^ ..
CHEESY, fine or showy.
Chaunt, " to chaunt the play," to explain the tricks and manoeuvres of
thieves.
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SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 99
<3HERRY-BUMS, or ohebubims, a nickname given to the 11th Hussars,
(Prince Albert's Own,) from their crimson overalls.
CHERRY-COLOUK, a term used in a cheating trick at cards. When the
cards are being dealt, a knowing one offers to bet that he will tell the
colour of the turn-up card. " Done ! " says Mr Green. The sum being
named, Mr Sharp affirms that it will be chekrt-coloub ; and as cherries
are either black or red, he wins, leaving his victim a wiser man, it is
to be hoped, and not a better for the future.
CHERRY-MERRY, a present of money. Cheert-mebrt-bamboo, a beat-
ing. — Anglo-Indian.
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
CHESHraE CAT eating cheese." A hardly latiffactory 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 term applied to anything young, small, or insignificant ;
CHICKEN STAKES; " she 's no chicken," said of an old maid.
CHICKEN-HEARTED, cowardly, fearful.
CHI-IKE, a hurrah ; a good word, or hearty praise ; term used by the
Costermongers, who assist the sale of each other's goods by a little
friendly although noisy commendation.
CHILDREN'S SHOES, to make, to be made naught of.— /See shoes.
CHIMNEY-SWEEPER, the aperient mixture commonly called a hlach dose.
CHINCHIN, a salutation, a compliment. — Anglo-Chinese.
CHINK, money. — Ancient. — See plorio.
t/HINK, money. — Ancient. — ^»ee PLORio. 1 ff- It '
CHINKERS, money. J ' iiji' ^ . V
CHIN-WAG, officious impertinence. {J/^l •' U- (^ •
tJ^f^ "^
-^
'CHIP OF THE OLD BLOCK," a child who resembles its father. j „ , AsP*^ \ '^^
Brother chip, one of the same trade or profession.
CHIPS, money ; also a nickname for a carpenter. — Sea.
CHIRP, to give information, "peach."
CHISEL, to cheat, to take a slice oiF anything.
CHIT, a letter; corruption of a Hindoo word. — Anglo-Indian.
CHITTERLINGS, the shirt frills worn still by ancient beaux; properly
the entrails of a pig, to which they are supposed to bear some resem-
blance. Belgian, sohyterlingh.
CHIVE, or CHITET, a shout, a halloo, or cheer; loud tongued. From
chevt-chase, a boy's game, in which the word CHEV¥ is bawled aloud ;
or from the Gipsy I — See Introduction.
CHIVE-FENCER, a street hawker of cutlery.
CHIVEY, to chase round, or hunt about. Apparently from CHIVET-OHASK
CHOAKEE, the black hole. — Military — Anglo-Indian.
lOO A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
CHOCK-FULL, full till the scale comes down with a shock.— J'mxJl, OHOO.
A correspondent suggests ohoked-fdll.
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-CHOKEB, the white neckerchief
worn by mutes at a funeral, and waiters at a tavern. Clergymen are
frequently termed white-chokeks.
CHOKER, or wiND-STOPPEK, a garotter.
CHONKEYS, a kind of mince-meat baked in a crust, and sold in the
streets.
CHOOPS, a corruption of chooprao, keep silence. — Anglo-Indian.
CHOOTAH, small, insignificant. — Anglo-Indian.
CHOP, in the Canton jargon of Anglo-Chinese, this word has several signi-
fications. It means an official seal, a permit, a boat-load of teas.
First chop signifies first quality ; and chop-chop, to make haste.
CHOP, to exchange, to "swop." — 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, ohaus; Mas-
singer, 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 iiunning, aided by his offioial position,
managed to cheat the Turlcish and Persian merchants, then in London, out
of the large sum of ;iJ4ooo, then deemed an enormous amount. From the
notoriety which attendeii the fraud, and the magnitude of the swindle, any
one who cheated or defrauded was said to chiaoiu, or chause, or chouse ;
to do, that is, as this Chiaous had done." — See Trench, Eng. Past and Present,
p. 87.
Chiaus, according to Sandys, {Travels, p. 48,) is "one who goes
on embassies, executes commandments," &c. The particular Chiaus
in question is alluded to in Ben Jonson's Alchymist, 1610.
*' J). What do you think of me?
That I am a chiaus!
Pace. What 's that ?
J). The Turk [who] was here.
As one would say, do you think I am a Turk J "
CHOUT, an entertainment. — East end of London.
CHOVEY, a shop. — Costermmger.
CHOW-CHOW, a mixture, food of any Mni.— Anglo-Chinese.
CHUBBY, round-faced, plump.
Chivalbt, coition. Probably a corruption from the Lingua Franea.
Chive, a knife; a sharp tool of any kind. — Old Cant This term ia
especially applied to the tin knives used in gaols.
Chive, to cut, saw, or file. — Prison.
Chbistenino, eraamg the name of the maker from a stolen watch, and in-
sertmg a fictitious one in its place.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULOAR WORDS. lOI
CHUCK, a schoolboy's treat. — Weitminster School. Pood, provision for an
entprtainment, — Norwich.
CHUCK, to throw or pitcli.
CHUCK IN, to challenge — from the pugilistic custom of throwing a hat
into the ring; a modern yersion of " throwing down the gauntlet."
" CHUCKING A JOLLY," when a costermonger praises the inferior
article his mate or partner is trying to sell. See CHI-IKE.
CHUCKLE-HEAD, much the same as "buffle-head," ''cabbage-head,"
" chowder-head," " cods-head," — all signifying that large abnormal form
of skull always supposed to accompany stupidity and weakness of in-
tellect ; as the Scotch proverb, " muckle head and little wit." — Devon-
shire.
CHUCK UP, to surrender, give in — from the custom of throwing up the
sponge at a prize fight in token of yielding.
CHUCKS ! Schoolboy's signal on the master's approach.
CHUFF IT, i.e., be off, or take it away, in answer to a street seller who ig
importuning you to purchase. Balliwdl mentions chuff as a " term
of reproach," surly, &c.
CHULL, make haste. An abbreviation of the Mindottanee cmjLto, signi-
fying " go along." Chull is very commonly used to accelerate the
motions of a servant, driver, or palanquin-bearer.
CHUM, an acquaintance. A recognised term, but in such frequent use
with the lower orders that it demanded a place in this glossary.
Stated to be from the Gad. caomh, a friend.
CHUM, to occupy a joint lodging with another person. Latin, cum.
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 ova-
tion 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 — probably connected with chimney; also a
low-crowned felt hat.
CHUMP, the head or face. ViJ.. N.rtl-i An%. Tvevie-NW, li^-J-Xtf/i.
CHUNK, a thick or dumpy piece of any substance. — Kentish.
CHURCHWARDEN, a long pipe, " a yard of clat ;" probably so called
from the long pipes which are usually placed before those function- ^-..^
aries as marks of respect when they honour the parlours of public- >, i/ryLe e,^-*-*''-^
houses with their company, (^^ T) C h ~~' ''■^^*' ^■'*^
CINDER, any liquor used in connexion with soda water, as to " take a -^r*?''''*^'
soda with a CINDER in it." The cinder may be sherry, brandy, or any V pf-re.
other liquor.
" Chuck a Stall," where one rogue walks in front of a person while another
picks his pockets.
" Church a Yack," (or watch,) to take the works of a watch from its ori-
ginal case and put them into another one, to avoid detection. — See
CHRISTEN.
I02 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
CIRCUMBENDIBUS, a round-about way, or atory.
CLACK-BOX, a garrulous person, so called from the rattle formerly used
by Tagranta to make a rattling noise and attract attention. — Norfolk.
*,* A common proverb in this county is, " your tongue goes like A
baker's clap-dish," which is evidently a modern corruption of beggars'
CLAP or CLACK DISH mentioned in Shakspeare's Meamrefor Measure, iii.
2. It was a wooden dish with a movable cover.
CLAGGUM, boiled treacle in a hardened state, Hardbake. — See cliqot.
CLAP, to place ; " do you think you can clap your hand on him ? " it,
iind 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. Said to have originated at Badminton.
CLASHT, a low fellow, a labourer. — Anglo-Indian.
CLEAN, quite, or entirely ; " clean gone," entirely out of sight, or away.
— Old, see Cotgrave. — Shakespeare. Clkah oohtbaet, quite different
opposite.
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, a knock, or blow. Click-handed, left-handed. — Cornish.
CLICK, to snatch, to puU away something that belongs to another.
CLICKER, a female touter at the bonnet shops in Cranbourn Alley. In
Northamptonshire, the cutter out in a shoemaking establishment. *
CLIGGY, or CLIDQT, sticky. — Anglo-Saxon, cl^g, clay. — See clagqdm.
CLINCHER, that which rivets or confirms an argument, an incontrovert-
ible position. Also a lie which cannot be surpassed, a stopper-up,
said to be derived as follows : — Two notorious liars were backed to out-
lie each other. " I drove a nail through the moon once," said the
first. " Right," said the other ; " I recollect the circumstance well, for
I went round to the back part of the moon and clinched it" — hence
clincher.
CLIPPING, excellent, very good. Clipper, anything showy or first-rate.
* In the Dictionary of the Terms, Ancitnt and Modem, of the Canting Creui, Land.
XL d. (but prior to 1700,) the cltckeb is described as '* the shoemaker's journeyman or
servant, that cutta out all the work, and stands at or walks before the door, and
sales — ' What d'ye lack, sir? what d'ye buy, madam? ' "
Clipt, to steal.
Clinch, to get the, to be locked up in jail.
Cling-rio, stealing tankards from public-bouses, &o.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 103
CLOCK. " to know what's o'clock," a definition of knowingnesa in general
— See TIME o' DAY.
CLOD-HOPPER, a country clown.
" CLOUD, TO BE UNDER A," to be in disgrace, or disrepute.
CLOUD, TO BLOW A, to smoke a pipe.
CLOUT, or RAO, a cotton pocket-handkerchief. — Old Cant,
CLOUT, a blow, or intentional strike. — Ancient.
CLOVER, happiness, luck, a delightful position — from the supposed hap-
piness which attends cattle when they suddenly find their quartern
changed from a barren field to a meadow of clover.
CLUMP, to strike, to beat.— Pro».
CLY, a pocket. — Old Cant for to steal. A correspondent derives this word
from the Old English cletes, claws ; Anglo-Saxon clea. This pro-
nunciation is still retained in Norfolk ; thus, to clt would mean to
pounce upon, snatch. — See frisk. Gael, cliah, (pronounced olee,) a
basket.
COACH, a Cambridge term for a private tutor, termed a rural coaob
when he is not connected with a college.
COACH-WHEEL, or tusheroon, a crown-piece, or five shillings.
COALS, " to haul (or pull) over the coals," to take to task, to scold. Sup-
posed by Jamieson to refer to the ordeal by fire,
COAL, money ; " post the coal," put down the money. The phrase was
used by Mr Buokstone at the Theatrical Fund Dinner of 1863. From
this is derived the theatrical term coaling, profitable, very good, which
an actor will use if his part is full of good and telling speeches — thus,
" my part is full of coaling lines."
COBBING, a punishment inflicted by sailors and soldiers among them-
selves. See Grose, and Captain Marryat't novels. A hand-saw is the
general instrument of punishment.
COCK, a familiar term of address ; "jolly old cock," a jovial fellow, "how
are you, old cock ? " Frequently rendered now-a-days, cock-e-e, a vul-
gar street salutation — corruption of cock-ete. The latter is frequently
heard as a shout or street cry after a man or boy.
COCK, a smoking term ; " cocking a Brosely," i.e., smoking a pipe.
Broseley in Staffordshire is famous for " churchwardens."
COCK-A-HOP, in high spirits.
COCK-A-WAX, an amplification of the simple term cock, sometimes
" Lad of wax" in S. S.
" COCK AND A BULL STORY," a long, rambling anecdote.— /See Nota
and Queries, vol. iv., p. 313.
COCK-AND-HEN-CLUB, a free and easy gathering, where females are
admitted as well as men.
Cly-faker, a pickpocket.
I04 ^ DICTIONARY OF MODERN
COCK-AND-PINCH, the old-faahioned beaver hat, affected by "gwells"
and "sporting gents" forty years ago — COCKED back and front, and
PINCHED up at the sides.
COCKER, "it is all right, according to Cocker," meaning that everythinghag
been done en riyle. The phrase refers to the celebrated writing-master
of Charles II.'s time, whose Arithmetic, Dictionary, &c., were long the
standard authorities. The Arithmetic, probably the work referred to,
was first published in 1677-8, and though it reached more than sixty
editions, is considered a very scarce book.* A curious fact may here
be mentioned in connexion with this saying. It has been stated, and
very well proved, that many words popular in Shak.9peare's time, and
now obsolete in this country, are still in every-day use in the older
English settlements of North America. The editor of this work waa
surprised, when travelling through Western Canada, to find that in-
stead of the renowned Cocker the people appealed to another and more
learned authority. " According to Gdnter," is a phrase in continual
Transatlantic use. This scientific worthy invented the sector in 1606;
and in 1623, about the time of the great Puritan exodus to North
America, he brought out his famous Rule of Proportion. This was
popularly known as Gunter's Proportion, or " Gunter's Line," and the
term soon became a vulgar standard of appeal in cases of doubt or dis-
pute.
COCK-EYE, one that squints.
COCKED-HAT-CLUB, the principal clique amongst the members of the
Society of Antiquaries, who virtually decide whether any person pro-
posed shall be admitted or not. The term comes from the " cocked-
hat" placed before the president at the sittings.
COCKLES, " to rejoice the cockles of one's heart," a vulgar phrase imply-
ing great pleasure. — iSee Pldck.
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. Halliwdl states, in his admirable essay
upon the word, that " some writers trace the word with much probabi-
lity 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 I hmc that horse laughs!" A bystander informed him
that that noise was called neighing. The next morning, when the
cock crowed, the citizen, to shew that he had not forgotten what wag
told him, cried out, " do you hear how the cock neighs ? "
• CocKKR. Professor de Morgan (Notes and Queries, Jan. 27, 1855) says that the
main goodness of Cocker's Tutor consists in his adopting the abbreviated system of
division ; and suggests that it became a proverbial representative of arithmetic from
Murphy's farce of The Apprentice, 1756, in which the strong point of the old merchant,
Wingate, is his extreme reverence for Cocker and his arithmetic.
CocKCHArsB, the treadmill.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 105
"COCK OP THE WALK," a master spirit, liead of a party. Places
where poultry are fed are called walks, and the barn-door cocks in-
Tariably fight for the supremacy till one has obtained it.
COCKS, fictitious narratives, in verse or prose, of murders, fires, and ter-
rible 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 sug-
gests, 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 BIRD, a Uttle bird, frequently called "a dickey bird."—
Kingslq/'s Two Years Ago. j, /^ ■,
COCK, "to COCK your eye," to shut or wink one eye. ^^^i'^^A) (1 )
COCUM, advantage, luck, resources ; " Jack 's got COCUM, he 's safe to get
on, he is," — viz., he starts under favourable circumstances. See the fol-
lowing.
COCUM, cunning, sly, "to fight cooOTt," to be wily and cautious. Allied
perhaps to the Scottish keek. Qerman, QUOKEN, to peep or pry into.
COD, to hoax, take a " rise " out of one.
CODDS, the "poor brethren" of the Charter House. At p. 133 of the
Newcomes, Mr Thackeray writes, " The Cistercian lads call these
old gentlemen oodds, I know not wherefore." An abbreviation of
CODGER.
CODDAM, a low public-house game, much affected by medical students
and cabmen, three on each side. The game is " simplicity itself," but
requires a great amount of low cunning, and peculiar mental ingenuity.
CODGER, or cooer, an old man ; " a rum old codger," a curious old fel-
low. CoDQER is sometimes used as synonymous with cadger, and then
signifies a person who gets his living in a questionable manner.
" CoGERS," the name of a debating society, formerly held in Bride
Court, Fleet Street, and still in existence. The term is probably a
corruption of coqitatorb.
COFFEE-SHOP, a water-closet, or house of office.
COG, to cheat at dice. — Shakipeare. Also, to agree with, u one cog-wheel
does with another.
COLD BLOOD, a house licensed for the sale of beer " mot to be drunk on
the premises."
io6
A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
COLD COFFEE, misfortune ; sometimea varied to cold qhuel. — Seo.
COLD COFFEE, an Oxford synonyme for a " SeU," which sea.
^OLD COOK, an undertaker.
Ml!OLD MEAT, a corpse. Cold meat box, a cofBn.
COLD SHOULDER, "to shew or give anyone the COLD SHOULDER," to
assume a distant manner towards them, to evince a desire to cease
acquaintanceship. Sometimes it is termed "cold shocldek of mutton."
COLFABIAS, a Latinised Irith phrase signifying the closet of decency,
applied as a Slang term to a place of resort in Trinity CoUege, Dublin.
COLLAR, "out of collar," i.e., out of place, no work. Probably a varia-
tion of the metaphorical expressions " in, or out of harness," i.e., in or
out of work — the horse being in collar when harnessed for his work.
COLLAR, to seize, to lay hold of. Thieves' Slang, i.e., to steal.
" COLLAR AND ELBOW," a term for a peculiar throw in wrestling.
COLLOGUE, to conspire, talk mysteriously together in low tones, plot
mischief. More connected with " colloquy " than " colleague." — East
coast.
COLLY-WOBBLES, the 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.
COLOUR, complexion, tint ; " I 've not seen the colour of his money," i.e.,
he has never paid me any. In fortune-telling by cards, a diarmmd
colour is the fairest ; heart-colour, fair, but not so fair as the last ; clvi
colour, rather swarthy ; spade colour, an extremely dark complexion.
COLT, a murderous weapon, formed by slinging a small shot to the end of
a rather stiff piece of rope. It is the original of the mis-named "life-
preserver."
COLT, a person who sits as juryman for the first time.
COLT, to fine a new juryman a sum to be spent in drink, by way of "wet-
ting " his ofiice.
COLT, to make a person free of a new place, which is done by his standing
treat, and submitting to be struck on the sole of the foot with a piece
of board. — Prov.
COLT'S TOOTH, elderly persons of juvenile tastes are said to have a
colt's tooth, t.e., a desire to shed their teeth once more, to see life
over again.
COMB-CUT, mortified, disgraced, "down on one's luck." — See cut.
COME, a Slang verb used in many phrases ; " an't 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 manoeuvre. Coming it strong, exaggerating, going
a-bead, the opposite of " drawing it miid." COMINO II also means in-
forming or disclosing.
COME DOWN, to pay down.
(T'K/JIj
f
SLANO, CANT, AND- VULGAR WORDS. IQ-J
COMMISSION, a shirt. — Ancient Cant. Italian, oamicu
•* As from our beds, we doe oft cast our eyes,
Cleaiie linnen yeelds a shirt before we rise,
Which is a garment shifting in condition ;
And in the canting tongue, is a commission.
In wealo or woe, in joy or dangerous drifts,
A shirt will put a man unto his shifts.'*
— Taylor's Works, 1630.
COMMISTER, a chaplain or clergyman. — Originally Old Cant.
COMMON SEWER, a drain, — vulgar equivalent for a drink.
COMMONS, rations, because eaten in common. — University. Short coh
MONS, (derived from the University Slang term,) a scanty meal, a
scarcity.
COMPRADOR, a purveyor. — Anglo-Chinese.
CONCAVES AND CONVEXES, a pack of cards con- HT^ r~rn
trived for cheating, by cutting all the cards from the I i I — ^-J
two to the seven concave, and all from the eight to the king convex.
Then by cutting the pack breadth-wise a convex card is cut, and by
cutting it length-wise a concave is secured. — See Longs and Shorti.
CONJEE, a kind of gruel made of rice. — Anglo-Indian.
CONK, a nose. Possibly, from the Latin concha, a shell. Qreek, Koyyri
hence anything hollow. Somewhat of a parallel may be found in the
Latin TESTA, an earthenware pot, a shell, (Cicero,) and in later Latin,
a scull, (Anson ;) from whence the French teste, or tete, head.
CoNKT, having a projecting or remarkable nose. The Duke of Welling-
ton was frequently termed " Old conky " in satirical papers and carica-
tures.
CONNAUGHT RANGERS, the Eighty-eighth Regiment of Foot in the
British Army.
CONSHUN'S PRICE, fair terms, without extortion.— Ajiglo-Chinese.
CONSUMAH, a hutlei.— Anglo-Indian.
CONSTABLE, " to overrun the constable," to exceed one's income, get
deep in debt.
CONTANGO, among stock-brokers and jobbers, is a certain sum paid for
accommodating a buyer or seller, by carrying the engagement to pay
money or deliver shares over to the next account day.
COOEY, the Australian bush-call, now not unfrequently heard in the
streets of London.
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.
Convey, to steal ; " convey, the wise it call."
Conveyanckb, a pickpocket. Shakspeare uses the Cant expression con-
veyer, a thief. The same term is also French Slang,
X08 A DWTIONAUT OF MODERN
"COOK ONE'S GOOSE," to kill or ruin a person.— iVoriA.
COOLER, a glass of porter as a wind up, after drinking spirits and water,
COOLIE, a soldier, in allusion to the Hindoo coolies, or day labourers.
COON, abbreviation of racoon. — American. A gone coon — ditto, one ia
an awful fix, past praying for. This expression is said to have origi-
nated 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 '11 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 homr The phrase is
pretty usual in England.
COOPER, stout "HALF-AND-HALF," 1.6., half stout and half porter. De-
rived from the coopers at breweries being allowed so much stout and
so much porter a day, which they have mixed sooner than drink the
porter after the stout.
COOPER, to destroy, spoil, settle or finish. Coopered, spoilt, " done up,"
synonymous with the Americanism caved in, fallen in, ruined. The
vagabonds' hieroglyphic V> chalked by them on gate posts and houses,
signifies that the place has been spoilt by too many tramps calling there.
COOTER, " a sovereign." — See couteb. Oipiy, cuta.
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," &c.
COP, beware, take care. A contraction of copbador. — Anglo-Indian.
COPER, properly hobse-oouper, a Scotch horse-dealer, — used to denote a
dishonest one.
COPPER, a policeman, i.e., one who coPS, which see.
COPPER, a halfpenny. 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. —
Shakspeare, I Men. IV., ii. 4. The immorality of Corinth was proverbial
in Greece. KopivOia^ faOai, to Corinthianise, indulge in the company
of courtesans, was a Greek Slang expression. Hence the proverb—
Ov TravTos dvdpiis fls Koptpdov eaff 6 nXoiif :
and Horace, Epist. lib. i, xviL 36 —
*',Non cuivls homini contlngit adire Corinth urn,**
in allusion to the spoliation practised by the " hetserse " on those who
visited them.
CORK, " to draw a CORK," to give a bloody nose — Pugilistic.
CORKED, said of wine which tastes of cork, from being badly decanted.
Cooper, to forge, or imitate in writing ; " coo pes a moneker," to forge a
signature.
/
SLAy-G, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 109
CORKER, " that'B a cobker," i.e., that settles the question, or closes the
discussion.
CORKS, a butler.
CORKS, money ; "how are you off for corks?" a soldier's term of a very
expressive kind, denoting the means of " keeping afloat." Cork is also
used in connexion with money when persons at a hotel provide their
own wine — sixpence being charged for each '^ cork " drawn.
CORNED, drunk or intoxicated. Possibly from soaking or pickling one'a-
self like corned beef.
CORNER, "the corner," Tattersall's famous hoise repository and betting
rooms, so called from the fact of its situation, which is at Hyde-Park
Comer.
CORNERED, hemmed in a comer, placed in a position from which there
is no escape. — American.
CORNER-MAN, the end singer of a corps of Ethiopian or nigger minstrels.
In a theatrical advertisement in the Era there was, " Wanted a good
corner-man Tambo, who can dance." A particularly clever man is
required for the corner station, and in this case he w as required to play
on the tambourine as well. We insert it as a specimen of Theat. Slang.
CORPORATION, the protuberant front of an obese person.
CORPSE, to confuse, or pui out the actors by making a mistake. — Theat.
COSSACK, a policeman.
COSTERMONGER, a street seller 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 improvi-
dence, pugnacity, love of gambling, total want of education, disregard
for lawful marriage ceremonies, and their use of a Cant (or so-called
bach Slang) language. Costermongeb aliter costardmonger, i.e., an
apple-seller. In Nam's Glossary (Ed. H. & W.) they are said to have
been frequently Irish. So, Ben Jonson —
'* Her father was an Irish cosTAirMONOER."
— Alchym.t iv. 1.
" In England, Sir, troth I ever laugh whwi I think on 't.
Why, sir, there all the coster-monoers are Irish."
—2 P. Ben. IY.,0. PI. ML 375.
Their noisy manners are alluded to in Beaumont and Fletcher's Scorn-
ful Lady, iv. I.
*' And then he'll rail like a rude costeb-mongeb
That school-boys had couponed of his apples.
As loud and senseless."
COSTER, the short and Slang rendering of " costermonger," or " costard-
monger," who was originally an apple-seller. Costerino, i.e., coster-
mongering, acting as a costermonger would.
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
no A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
him as cotton would. Tide BartUtt, who claims it as an Americanism ,
and HaUiwell, who terms it an Archaism; also Bacchm and Veniis, 1 737.
*' Her heart 's as hard as taxes, and as bad ;
She does not even cotton to her dad."
— Haliiday and Lawranctt Kenilworth Burlague,
COTTON LORD, a Manchester manufacturer.
COUNCIL-OF-TEN, the toes of a man who turns his feet inward.
COUNTER, to hit back, exchange blows. — Pugilistic term.
COUNTER-JUMPER, a shopman, a draper's assistant.
COUNTRY-SHIP, a ship belonging to the East Indies, and trading from
port to port in that country.
COUNTRY-CAPTAIN, a epatch-cocked fowl, sprinkled with curry-powder.
A favourite breakfast dish with the captains of oountkyships.
COUPLE-BEGGAR, a degraded person, who ofBciated as a clergyman in
performing marriages in the Fleet Prison.
COUTER, a sovereign. HALF-A-conxER, half-a-sovereigu. From the Danu-
hian-gip»y word cuta, a gold coin.
COTE, or COVET, 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," &o. The feminine, COVESS, was once popular,
but it has fallen into disuse. Ancient Cant, originally (temp. Henrti
VII.) COFE, or CUFFIX, altered in Decker's time to cove. See Witts'
Recreations, 1654; "there's a gentry-coYE here," i.e., a gentlemaa
Probably connected with cniF, which, in the North of England, signi-
fies a lout or awkward fellow. Amongst Negroes, cnFFEE.
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 coun-
tenance, 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 ofif. The
cover is more generally called a cap.
COW-COW, to be very angry, to scold or reprimand violently. — Anglo-
Chinese.
COWAN, a sneak, an inquisitive or prying person. Greek, kvu>v, a dog.
Term given by Freemasons to all uninitiated persons. Used in
Anderson's ConMitutions, edit. 1769, p. 97. If derived from Kvav,
its use was probably suggested by such passages in the N. T. as Matt,
vii. 6, and Phil. iii. 2. The Moslems apply dog in a similar manner.
It is probably Oriental. Other authorities say it is from cowan, or
KIRWAN, a Scottish word signifying a man who builds rough stone walls
without mortar — a man who, though he builds, is not a practical mason.
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.
iTl^
V-
•^
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 1 1 1
COWS GREASE, butter.
COW-LICK, the term given to the lock of hair which costermongers and
tramps usually twist forward from the ear ; a large greasy curl upon
the cheek, seemingly licked into shape. The opposite of kewgaxe-
KNOCKER, which see.
COXY-LOXY, good-tempered, drunk.— iVbr/ott.
CRAB, or GRAB, a disagreeable old person. Name of a wUd and sour fruit.
CRAB, " to catch a okab," to fall backwards by missing a stroke in rowing.
An allusion, of course, to fishing for crabs.
CRAB, to offend, or insult; to expose or defeat a robbery, to inform
against. Crab, in the sense of " to offend," is Old English,
*' If I think one thing and speak another,
I will both CRAB Christ and our Ladie His mother."
— Pachnan't Patemotttr.
CRABSHELLS, or tbottinq cases, shoes. — See carts.
CRACK, the favourite horse in a race.
CRACK, first-rate, excellent; "a CRACK HAND," an adept; a "crack
article," a good one. — Old.
CRACK, dry firewood. — Modem Gipsy.
CRACK, " in a crack (of the finger and thumb)," in a moment.
" CRACK A BOTTLE," to drink. Shahspeare uses crush in the same Slang
sense.
CRACK UP, to boast or praise. — Ancient English.
CRACKED-UP, penniless, or ruined.
CRACKLE, the scored rind on a roast leg of pork ; hence applied to the
velvet bars on the gowns of the students at St John's College, Cam-
bridge, long called " Hogs," and the covered bridge which connects one
of the courts with the grounds. Isthmus of Suez, (scis, Lat. sns, a
swine.)
CRAM, to lie or deceive, implying to fill up or CRAM a person with false
stories ; to impart or acquire learning quickly, to "grind " or prepare
for an examination.
CRAMMER, one skilled in rapidly preparing others for an examination.
(CRAMMER, a lie; or a person who commits a falsehood.
CRANKY, foolish, idiotic, rickety, capricious, not confined to persons.
Ancient Cant, okanke, simulated sickness. German, krank, sickly.
CRAPPING CASE, or ken, the closet of decency.
CRAWLY-MA WLY, in an ailing, weakly, or sickly state.
CRAW-THUMPER, a Roman Catholic. Compare brisket-beater.
Crack, to break into a house ; " crack a crib," to commit burglary.
Crack-fencer, a man who sells nuts.
Cracksman, a burglar.
Crapped, hanged.
(UNIVEESITl
112 A DICTION ART OF MODERN
•• CREAM OF THE VALLEY," gin.
CRIB, house, public or otherwise; lodgings, apartments; a situation.
Very general in, the latter sense.
CRIB, to steal or purloin; to appropriate small things.
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 crib-
bage board.
CRIKEY, profane exclamation of astonishment ; " Oh, CBIKET, you don't
say so !" corruption of " Christ."
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. — £en, Jonson.
CROAKER, a beggar.
CROAKER, a dying person beyond hope ; a corpse.
CROAKS, last dying speeches, and murderers' confessions.
CROCODILES' TEARS, the tears of a hypocrite. An ancient phrase,
introduced into this country by MandevUle, or other early English tra-
veller.— 0(Aeiio, iv., I.
CRONY, a termagant or malicious old woman ; an intimate friend. John-
son calls it Cant.
CROOKY, to hang on to, to lead, to walk arm-in-arm ; to court or pay
addresses to a girl.
CROPPER, " to go a ceopper," ».e., fail or fall.
CROSS, a deception — two persona pretending hostility or indifference to
each other, being all the while in concert for the purpose of deceiving
a third.
CROSS-BUTTOCK, an unexpected fling down or repulse ; from a peculiar
throw practised by wrestlers.
Crocus, or CEOAKUa, a quack or travelling doctor; CEOons-CHOVBT, a
chemist's shop.
CiiooKED, a term used among dog-stealers, and the " fancy " generally, to
denote anything stolen.
Cboppie, a person who has had his hair cut, or okopped, in prison.
Cropped, hanged.
Cross, a general term amongst thieves expressive of their plundering pro-
fession, the opposite of square. " To get anything on the cross " is
to obtain it surreptitiously. " Ceoss-fanninq in a crowd," robbing
persons of their scarf-pins. Obossman, a thief, or one who lives by
dishonest practictas.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 1 13
CROSSED, prohibited from taking food from the " Buttery." — University.
CROW, or COOK-CKOW, to exult over another's abasement, as a fighting-cock
does over his vanquished adversary.
CROW, "a regular OROW," 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. > '
CRUG, food. — Household Words, No. 183. Peculiar to the Christ's Hos-
pital boys, who apply it only to bread.
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, -pl-am^.— North.
CRUMMY-DOSSTa lousy or filthy bed.
CRUNCH, to crush. Corruption; or, perhaps from the sound of teeth
grinding against each other.
CRUSH, to run, decamp rapidly. Crush down sides, run to a place of
safety, or the appointed rendezvous. — North Country Cant.
CRUSHER, a policeman.
CRUSHING, excellent, first-rate.
CRUSTY, ill-tempered, petulant, morose. — Old, said to be a coriuption of
the AngloNorman coruseux.
CUB, a mannerless, uncouth lout. — See UHLIOKED.
CUBITOPOLIS, an appellation given by Londoners to the Warwick and
Eccleston Square districts. Another name for it is Mesopotamia.
CUE, properly the last word spoken by one actor, it being the CUB for tha
other to reply.
CULL, a man or boy. — Old Cant. Rum cull, the manager of a theatre.
CULLET, broken glass. French, cueillette, a gathering or collection.
CULLY GORGER, a companion, a brother actor. Theatrical. See gohobr.
CULVER-HEADED, weak and stupid.
CUMSHAW, a present or bribe. — Anglo-Chinese.
CUPBOARD-HEADED, an expressive designation of one whose head ia
both wooden and hollow. — Norfolk.
CUPBOARD-LOVE, affection arising from interested motives.
" A CUPBOARD LOVE ifi Seldom true ;
A love sincere is found in few." — Poor Robin,
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.
Cule, thieves' term. Abbreviation of Reticule.
CuLLlNO, or CUIJNO, stealing from the carriages on race-conrscB.
H
114 ^ DICTIONARY OF MODERN
CUP-TOSSER, a person who professes to tell fortunes by examining tha
grounds in tea or coffee cups. A cup or goblet, howeyer, is the old
mystic symbol of a juggler. French, jouEUR DE oobelbt.
CURE, an odd person; a contemptuous term, abridged from curiosity,
which was formerly the favourite expression. — Compare btipe. A
correspondent objects to this definition as insufficient and erroneous.
A CURE, according to him, is an exceedingly cunning, clever chaffer,
who does not vulgarly insult like the old chaffers, but keeps the person
he is chaffing in an alternate state of anger and complaisance. The
CURE is impertinent, but by his submissive manners, and the turns he
gives the conversation, cures the wounds as soon as he inflicts them.
CURIOS, a corruption of "curiosities;" any articles of virtu brought
from abroad. Used by naval and military travellers and others. — See
CURE.
CURRENCY, a person bom in Australia is there termed currency, while
natives of England are termed sterling. The allusion is to the differ-
ence between colonial and imperial money.
CURSE, anything worthless. Corruption of the Old English word kerse, a
small sour wild cherry ; French, CERISE ; Oerman, KlRSOH. Vision of
Piers Ploughman: —
" Wisdom and witt nowe is not worth a REftss,
But if it be carded with cootis aa clothers
Kembe their woole."
The expression *'not worth a curse," used frequently now-a-days, is
therefore not properly profane, though it is frequently intensified by a
still more profane expletive. Home Tooke says from kehse, or cress.
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 Venvs, 1737-
CUSHION, to hide or conceal
CUSHION - SMITER, polite rendering of tub-thumper, a clergyman, a
preacher.
• The first supposition is evidently erroreous, for in Dr ffoufioun'g ifemoir.t o/hi»
ovm Lifetime, 1747, p. 9s, the Jacobite ladies are stated to have nicknamed the Nine of
Diamonds " the Justice-Clerk," after the rebellion of 1715, in allusion to the Lord
Justice-Clerk Ormistone, who, for his severity in suppressing it, was called the Curse
of Scotland. Gules a cross of lozenges are also the arms of Colonel Packer, who at-
tended Charles L on the scaffold, and commanded in Scotland afier^r.ards witti gro:it
severity. — See Cltatio on the Origin and Biitory of Plavinp Cantt. n- 2f>7
^/...i.^yi^'^ J.^^A.-^:^^
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 1 1 5
CUSHMAWAUNEE, never mind. Sailors and soldiers who have been in
India frequently say —
•* Cdshmawadnee,
If we cannot get arrack,
We must drink pawnee."
— Anglo-Indian.
CUSTOMER, synonymous with chap, a fellow ; " a rum otrsTOMEK," i.e.,
a man likely to turn the tables on any one who attacked him, and
therefore better be let alone, or very warily proceeded with; an "odd
fish," or curious person. — Shakspeare.
CUSTOMHOUSE-OFFICER, an aperient piU.
CUT, to run away, move off quickly; to cease doing anything; cut and
BUN, to quit work, or occupation, and start off at once— .Seo phrase,
" CUT the cable, and run before the wind ; " to cut didoes, synony-
mous with to CUT CAPEBS ; cut a dash, make a show ; cut a capeb, to
dance or shew off in a strange manner ; CUT A FIOUKE, to make either
a good or bad appearance; CUT IT, desist, be quiet, go away, leave
what you are doing and run ; CUT it short, cease being prolix, " make
short work " of what you have in hand ; CUT OUT, to excel, thus in
affairs of gallantry one Adonis is said to "cut the other out" in the af-
fections of the wished for lady — Sea phrase, from cuttino out a ship
from the enemy's port. Cut that ! be quiet, or stop ; cut out op,
done out of ; cut of one's jib, the expression or cast of his counte-
nance, [see JIB ;] 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 comb again, plenty, if one cut does not suffice, plenty remains to
" come again ; " cut up, to mortify, to criticise severely, or expose ; cut
UP shines, to play tricks ; cut one's stick, to be off quickly, t.e., to be
in readiness for a journey, further elaborated into amputate toue maho-
GANT, [see STICK ;] CUT IT pat, to exaggerate or shew off in an extensive
manner; to cut up fat, to die, leaving a large property; cut under,
to undersell; CUT YOUB lucky, to run off; cut one's cart, to expose
their tricks; cut ah acquaintance, to cease friendly intercourse with
them; "out up rough," to become obstreperous and dangerous; to
have cut one's eye-teeth, «.e., to be wide awake, knowing ; to draw
cuts, to cast lots with papers of unequal lengths — See Comedy of
Errors, act v. scene l. — 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 criti-
cism, " wants cutting."
CUT, tiysy. — Household Words, No. 183.
CUT, to compete in business ; " a cuttino trade," one conducted on com-
petitive principles, where the profits are very closely shaved.
CUT-THROAT, a butcher, a cattle-slaughterer; a ruffian. >
CUTE, sharp, cunning. . Abbreviation of acute.
1 16 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN-
CUTTER, a rufiBan, a cut-purse. Of Robin Hood it was said —
*' So being outlaw'd. (as 'tis told,)
He with a crew went forth
Of lusty (UTTERS, bold and strong,
And robbed in the north."
Cutter, a swashbuckler — balaffreux, taiUebras fendeur de naieaux.—
Colgrave.
" He's out of cash, and thou know'st by cutter's law.
We are bound to relieve one another."
(N. H. W.) —Match at Midn. 0. PL, Vtl 553.
This ancient Cant word now survives in the phrase, " to swear like a
CUTTER."
CUTTING-SHOP, a place where cheap rough goods are sold.
CUTTY PIPE, a short clay pipe. Scotch, cutty, short.
CUTTT-SARK, a short chemise. — ScotcK A scantily-draped lady is so
called by Bums.
DAB, or DABSTER, an expert person. Most probably derived from tha
Latin adeptas.
DAB, a bed. Probably Back-Slang.
DAB, street term for a flat fish of any kind. — Old.
DACHA-SALTEE, tenpence. Probably from the Linf/ua Franca. Modem
Greet, texa; Italian, dieci soldi, tenpence; Gipsy, dik, ten. So also
DACHA-ONE, i.e., dieci uno, elevenpence. — See Saltee.
D ADDLE, the han*; "tip us your daddle," ie., shake hands.
DADDY, the staRe ms.ns.geT.-^theatrical. Also the person who gives
away the bride at a wedding.
DAFFY, gin. A term with monthly nurses, who are always extolling the
virtues of Daffy's Elixir, and who occasionally comfort themselves with
a stronger medicine under Daffy's name.
DAGS, feat or performance; "I'll do your daqs," i.e., I will do something
that you cannot do.
DAISY-CUTTER, a horse that trots or gallops without lifting its feet
much from the ground.
DAISY-KICKER, the name hostlers at large inns used to give each other,
now nearly obsolete. Daisy-kicker, or grooham, was likewise the
Cant term for a horse.
The DAI.SY-KICKERS were sad rogues in the old posting days ; fre-
quently the landlords rented the stables to them, as the only plan to
make them return a profit.
DAMAGE, in the sense of recompense; "what's the sauaqe?" i,e., what
is to pay ?
Daddt; at mock raffles, lotteries, &c., the DADDY is an accomplice, most
commonly the getter up of the swindle, and in all cases the person
that has been previously arranged to win the prize.
Damper, a shop till ; to draw a damper, i.e., rob a tilL
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. II7
"DANCE UPON NOTHING," to be hanged.
DANDO, a great eater, who cheats hotels, eating shops, oyster-cellars, &c.;
from a person of that name.
DANDER, passion, or temper; "to get one's dandbb up," to rruse his
passion. — Old.
DANDY, a fop, or fashionable nondescript. Tliis word, in the sense of a
fop, is of modern origin. Egan says it was first used in 1820, and Bee
in 1 81 6. 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 pres-
ent day dandies of this stamp are fast disappearing. The feminine of
DANBT was DANDIZETTE, but the term only lived for a short season.
DANDY, a small glass of whisky. — Irish. "Dimidium, cyathi vero apud
Metropolitanos Hibemicos dicitur dandy." — Father Tom and the Pope,
Blackwood's Magazine for May 1838.
DANDY, a boatman. — Anglo-Indian.
DANDYPRAT, a funny little fellow, a mannikin; originally a half-
farthing.
DANNA, human ordure ; BANNA dbaq, a nightman's or dustman's cart ;
hence dunnt-ken, which see.
DARBLE, the devil. — French, diable.
DARK, " keep it dark," i.e., secret. Dabk 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 ; also a negro. Darkmans, the night
DARN, vulgar corruption of d n. — American.
DASHING, showy, fast.
DAUB, in low language, an artist.
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 aS&davit, 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 con-
clusion of the oath usually exacted of witnesses.
Dancers, stairs. — Old Cant.
Dancer, or dancing-master, a thief who prowls about the roofs of houses,
and effects an entrance by attic windows, &c. Called also a Garreter.
Darbies, handcuffs. — Old Cant. — ^ee johny darbies. Sir Walter Scott
mentions these, in the sense of fetters, in his Peveril of the Peak —
"'Hark ye! Jem Clink will fetch you the darbies.' 'Derby I' interrupted
Julian, ' has the Earl or Countesa ' "
Had Sir Walter known of any connexion between them and this family
he would undoubtedly have mentioned it The mistake of the speaker
is corrected in the next paragraph.
iSL: As-C r*-^-^-^
ll8 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
DAVY'S LOCKER, or davt jones'-locker, the sea, the common recep-
tacle for all things thrown overboard ; —a nautical phrase for death,
the other world. — Sie DUFFY.
DAWDLE, to loiter, or fritter away time.
DAWK, the post. — Anglo-Indian.
DAYLIGHTS, eyes; "to darken his daylights," to give a person black
eyes. Also the spaces left in glasses between the liquor and the brim,
— not allowed when bumpers are drunk. The toast-master in such
cases cries, " no datlights or heeltaps ! "
DAZE, to confound or bewilder; an ancient form of dazzle used by iS!peM»er,
Drayton, &c.
DEAD-ALIVE, stupid, dull
DEAD-AMISS, said of a horse that from illness is utterly unable to win
a race.
DEAD-BEAT, utterly exhausted.
DEAD-HEAT, when two horses run in so exactly equal th.it the judge
cannot place one before the other ; consequently a dead-heat has to
be run over again. — See neck and neck.
DEAD HORSE, "to draw the dead horse;" dead-horse work — workingf
for wages already paid ; also any thankless or unassisted service.
DEAD-LETTER, an action of no value or weight ; an article, owing to
some mistake in its production, rendered utterly valueless, — often ap-
plied to any instrument in writing which, by some apparently trivial
omission, becomes useless. Term derived from the Post-Office.
DEAD-MAN, a baker. Properly speaking, it is an extra loaf smuggled into
the basket by the man who carries it out, to the loss of the master.
Sometimes the dead man is charged to a customer, but never de-
livered.
DEAD-MEN, the term for wine bottles after they are emptied of their
contents. — Old.— See marines.
DEAD-MEN'S SHOES, expectation of property after decease. "To wait
for a pair of dead man's bhoes," is considered a wearisome affair. It
ia used by Fletcher : —
*' And 'tis a general shrift, that most men use.
But yet 'tis tedious waiting dead uen's shoes."
— Fletcher** Poems, p. 256.
DEAD-SET, a pointed attack on a person.
DEANER, a shilling. Provincial Gipsy, deanee, a pound. Probably an-
other form of dinarly, or it may be the Turkiah word introduced by
s^ the Wallachian Gipsies.
^^EATH, " to dress to death," i.e., to the very extreme of fashion, perhaps
so as to be killing.
DEATH-HUNTER, a running patterer, who vends last dying speeches
and confessions.
Dsao-lurk, entering a dwelling-house during divine service.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. II9
DECK,* a pack of cards. — Old. Used by Bulwer as a Cant term. General
in the United States.
DECOMPOSITION ROW, Rotten Row, the equestrian promenade in
Hyde Park. — West-end Slang. — Lit. Gaz. April 13, 1862.
DEMIREP, (or bip,) a courtesan. Contraction of demireputation. — Grose.
DERRICK, an apparatus for raising sunken ships, &c. The term is curi-
ously derived from a hangman of that name frequently mentioned in
Old Plays, as in the Bellman of London, 16 16.
" He rides circuit with the devil, and Derrick must be hU host, and Tybome the
inn at which he will light."
DESPATCHERS, 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-DODGER, a clergyman; also a person who goes sometimes to
church and sometimes to meeting.
DEVIL'S-BED-POST, the four of clubs.— See Capt. Chamier'i novel of
The Arethusa.
DEVIL'S BOOKS, a pack of playing-cards; a phrase of Presbyterian
origin, used in contradistinction to kings' books. — See FOUB KiNoa
DEVIL'S DUNG, the fetid drug, asafoetida.
DEVIL'S DUST, a term used in the manufacturing districts of Yorkshire
to denote shreds of old cloth torn up to re-manufacture ; + also called
SHODDY.
DEVIL'S LIVERY, black and yellow.
DEVIL-MAY-CARE, reckless, rash.
DEVIL-SCOLDER, a clergyman.
DEVIL'S TEETH, dice.
DEVOTIONAL HABITS, horses weak in the knees and apt to Btumble
and fall are said to have these. — Stable.
DEW-BEATERS, feet; "hold out your dew-beateeb till I take off the
darbies." — Peveril of the Peak. Forby says the word is used in Nor-
folk for heavy shoes to resist wet.
DEW-DRINK, a morning draught, such as is served out to labourers in
harvest-time before commencing work.
DEWSKITCH, a good thrashing, perhaps from catching one's due.
• Used by ShaJapeare, 3 K. Hm. 71. v. 1.
t Mr Ferrand, in his speech in the House, Uarch 4, 184a, produced a piece of cloth
made chiefly from devil's dust, and tore it into shreds to prove its worthlessnesa.—
Ste HajuarcPg Parliamentary Debates, third series, vol. Ixi. p. 140.
Dee, a pocket-book, term used by tramps. — Gipsy.
Delicate, a false subscription book carried by a lubkbb.
I20 A DICTIONART OF MODERN
DIBBS, money; so called from the buckle bones of sbeep, wbich 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 dioket
when of a poor description; "it's all DIOEET 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,
Tofxr;, 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.— iVor/o?;ir.
DICKEY SAM, a native of Liverpool.
DICK, a riding whip ; gold-headed DICK, one so ornamented.
DICK, abbreviation of " Dictionary," but often euphemistically rendered
" Richard," — fine language, long words. — School.
DICKENS, synonymous with devil ; "what the dickens are you after?"
what the d 1 are you doing? Used by Shakapeare in the Merry
Wives of Windsor.
DIDOES, pranks or capers; "to cut up didoes," to make pranks
DIG, a hard blow.
/• 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 D AMBER, 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 dim mock?" diminutive of dime,
a small foreign silver coin, in the United States 10 cents.
DINARLY, money ; " nantee dikaely," I have no money, corrupted from
the Lingua Franca, " niente ddjabo," not a penny. Turkish, ddjam ;
Spanish, den'bro ; Latin, denarius.
Dick ; " look ! the bulky is diokinq," t.e, the constable has his eye on you.
— North Country Cant.
Diddle, old Cant word for geneva, or gin.
Diddle, to cheat, or defraud. — Old. In German, dudeln is to play on
the bagpipe ; and the ideas of piping and cheating seem to have been
much connected. "Do you think I am easier played on than a pipe?"
occurs in Hamlet.
DiDDLEB, or JEREMY DIDDLEB, an artful swindler.
Dies, last dying speeches, and criminal trials.
jU-^U^^^^^^ - 'i^t^xJ- ^ J„^u,^ ^c^ '^7)^ J^ey-,^ <St*c^^^ ^
J'.CLTioxvell.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 121
DING, to strike ; to throw away, or get rid of anything ; to pass to a con-
federate. Old, used in old plays.
" " The butcher's axe O'^e great Aleides* bat)
Diiigs deadly downe teu thousand thousand flat."
—Taylor't Wmkt, 1630.
DINGY, a small boat. — Anglo-Indian.
DIPPED, mortgaged.— //cmseAoW Wards, No. 183.
DIET, TO EjVT, an expression derived from the East, nearly equivalent
"to eat humble (Umble) pie," to put up with a mortification or insult.
DIRTY-SHIRT CLUB, the "Parthenon," in Regent Street, bo called
from the great unwashed who congregate there.
DISGUISED, intoxicated.— //oweAoW Wordi, No. 183.
" Some say drinking does DisauiSE men."
—Old Song
*' The saylers and the shipmen all,
Throiigh fiiule excesse of wiue,
Were so DISGUISED that at the sea
They shew'd themselves like swine."
— Thos. Ddoneyi Strange Histories, p. 14.
DISH, to stop, to do away with, to suppress; dished, done for, floored,
beaten, or silenced. A correspondent suggests that meat is usually
DONE BBOWN before being dished, and conceives that the latter term
may have arisen as the natural sequence of the former.
DISHABBILIjY, the ridiculous corruption of the French DisHABiLLfi,
amongst fashionably affected, but ignorant "stuck-up" people.
DITHERS, nervous or cold shiverings ; " it gave me the dithers."
DITTOES, A suit of, coat, waistcoat, and trousers of the same material.
— Tailor's term. <
DITTYBAG, the bug or huswife in which sailors keep needles, thread,
buttons, &o., for mending their clothes.
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-por.
To DO a person in pugilism is to excel him in fisticufis. 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. Hum-
phreys." Tourists use the expression, " I have done France and Italy,"
meaning I have completely explored those countries.
DOBIE, an Indian washerman ; and though women wash clothes in this
country, Anglo-Indians speak of a washerwoman as a dobie. — Anglo-
Indian.
DrvE, to pick pockets.
DlYEB, a pickpocket. Also applied to fingers, no doubt from a similar rea-
122 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
DOCTOR, to adulterate or dnig liquor; to poison, to hocus; also to fal-
sify accounts. On board ship the cook is always tenned "the doctor."
— See COOK.
DODDY, a term applied in Norfolk to any person of low stature. Some-
times HODMANDOD and " HODDTDODDT, all head and no body." Dodmak
in the same dialect denotes a garden snail.
DODGE, a cunning trick. "Dodge, that homely but expressive phrase."
— Sir Hugh Cairns on the Reform Bill, 2d March 1 859. Anglo-Saxon
DEOQIAN, to colour, to conceal. The tidy dodge, as it is called by
street-folk, consists in dressing up a family clean and tidy, and parad-
ing the streets to excite compassion and obtain alms. A correspond-
ent suggests that the verb dodge may have been formed (like icench
from wink) from DOG, i«, to double quickly and unexpectedly, as in
coursing.
DOGBERRY, a foolish constable.
DOG-IN-A-BLANKET, a kind of pudding, made of preserved fruit
spread on thin dough, and then rolled up and boiled.
DOGGERY, nonsense, transparent attempts to cheat,
DOGS, TO GO TO THE, to be commercially or socially ruined. Originally a
stable term applied to old or worthless horses, sold to feed hounds.
DOG'S BODY, a kind of pease padding.— Sea.
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-poolish, 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. — Bach-Slang.
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. Anglo-Saxon dalb, dole.
DOLLOP, to dole up, give up a share. — Ibid.
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.
SLANO, CANT, ANP VULOAR WORDS. 123
DOMINE, a parson.
DOMINO, a common ejaculation of soldiers and sailors when they receive
the last lash of a flogging. The allusion may be understood from tha
game of domino.
DOMINOS, the teeth.
DON, a clever fellow, the opposite of a muff; a person. of distinction in
his line or walk. At the English Universities, the Masters and Fel-
lows 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.
DON PEDRO, a low game at cards. It is a compound of AH Fours, and
the Irish game variously termed All Fives, Five and Ten, Fifteen,
Forty-five, &o. It was, uo doubt, invented by the mixed English and
Irish rabble who fought in Portugal in 1832-3.
DONE ! the expression used when a bet is accepted. — See also DO.
DONE UP, an equivalent expression to " dead beat."
DONKEY, " three more and up goes the donkey," a vulgar street phrase
for extracting as much money as possible before performing any tisk.
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 num-
ber of "browns" was first paid up, and " three more" was generally
the unfortunate deficit.
DONKEY. I am unable to explain the phrase, but any one wearing a
white hat, whether in town or country, is shouted after invariably by
the street urchins, " Who stole the donkey?" to which another in the
gang replies, " The man in the white hat," and they then disperse.
DONNA and FEELES, a woman and children. Italian or Lingua Franca,
DONNE E FIGLIE.
DOOKIN, fortune-telling. Oipty, DUKKEBIN,
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. Gad. dosal, slumber.
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, shufiling, noisy dance, common amongst cos-
termpngers.— &e flip-flaps.
DOUQHEY, a sufficiently obvious nickname for a baker.
DOUSE, to put out ; " douse that glim," put out that candle. In Norfolk
" Done fob a Ramp, ' convicted for thieving.
Dose, three months' imprisonment as a known thief. — Su bbagqadocio.
124 ^ DICTIONARY OF MODERN
this expression is dout, which is clearly for do out — ^variations prob-
ably of the same word. — Sea. Also to knock down.
DOVER COURT, a noisy assemblage ; " aU talkers and no hearers, like dovkr
couKT." At Dover Court in PIssex, a court is annually held ; and as
the members principally consist of rude fishermen, the irregularity
noticed in the proverbial saying frequently prevails. Branuton in his
Art of Politics says : —
" Those who would captivate the well-bred throng
Should not too often 8[>eak, nor speak too long ;
Church, nor church matters, ever turn to siwrt,
Nor make St Stephen's Chapel Dover ConBT."
DOWD, a woman's nightcap. — Devonshire; also an .4mcrtcon term; pos-
sibly from DOWDT, a slatternly woman.
DOWLAS, a linen-draper.
DOWN, to be aware of, or awake to, any move — in this meaning, synony-
mous with up; "down upon one's luck," unfortjjoate ; " down in the
mouth," disconsolate ; " to be down on one," to treat him harshly or
suspiciously, to pounce upon him, or detect his tricks.
DOWNER, a sixpence ; apparently the Gipsy word tawno, " little one,"
in course of metamorphosis into the more usual " tanner."
DOWNY, knowing or cunning ; " a downy govk," a knowing or experienced
sharper. In Norfolk, however, it means low-spirited.
" DOWN THE DOLLY," a favourite gambling contrivance, ofteii 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.
DOWRY, a lot, a great deal ; " dowry of pamy," lot of rain or water. — See
PARNY. Probably from the Gipsy.
DOXY, the female companion of a tramp or beggar. In the West of Eng-
land, 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 dozy. —
Ancient Cant.
DRAB, a vulgar, or low woman. — Shakspeare.
DRAG, a cart of any kind, a coach ; gentlemen drive to the races in DRAGS.
DRAG, a street, or road ; back-draq, back street.
DRAGGING-TIME, the evening of a country fair day, when the young
fellows begin pulling the wenches about.
Downs, Tothill Fields' Prison.
Draq, or THREE moon, three months In prison.
Draogino, robbing carts, &c.
Dragbmen, fellows who cut trunks from the backs of carriages. They
sometimes have a light cart, and " drop " behind the plundered vehicle.
8LAN0, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. I 25
DRAIN, a drink ; " to do a drain," to take a friendly drink—" do a wet; "
sometimes called a common seweb.
DRAW, used in several senses : — 1, of a theatre, new piece or exhibition,
when it attracts the public and succeeds ; 2, to induce — as " draw him
on;" 3, of pocket-picking — as "draw his wipe," " draw his ticker."
In sporting parlance it is used with an ellipsis of " trigger," " I drew
on it as it rose before me." " Come, draw it mild ! ',' i.e., don't exag-
gerate ; opposite of " come it strong," from the phraseology of the bar
(of a PUBLIC,) where customers desire the beer to be drawn mild.
DRAW-BOY, a cunning device used by puffing tradesmen. A really good
article is advertised or ticketed and exposed for sale in the shop win-
dow at a very low price, with a view of drawing in customers to pur-
chase other and inferior articles at high prices.
DRAWERS, formerly the ancient Cant name for very long stockings, now
a hosier's term.
DRAWING TEETH, wrenching off knockers.— ifedtcaZ Student Slang.
DRAWLATCH, a loiterer.
DRAW-OFF, to throw back the body to give impetus to a blow; "he
DREW off, and delivered on the left drum." — Pugilistic. A sailor would
say, " he hauled off and slipped in."
DRIPPING, a cook.
DRIVE, a term used by tradesmen in speaking of business ; " he's drivino
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. To let drive
at one, to strike out.
DRIVE AT, to aim at ; " what is he drivino 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.
DRIZ, lace. In a low lodging house this singular autograph inscription
and then drive off in an opposite direction with the booty. — Old Cant.
The Slang meaning is the drivers of drags.
Dress a Hat, to — a system of robbery very difficult of detection. It is
managed by two or more servants or shopmen of different employers,
exchanging their master's goods — as, for instance, a shoemaker's shop-
man receives shirts or other articles from a hosier's, in return for a pair
of boots. Another very ingenious method may be witnessed about
eleven o'clock in the forenoon in any of the suburban districts of
London. A butcher's boy, with a bit of steak filclied from his master's
shop, or from a customer, falls in with a neighbouring baker's man,
who has a loaf obtained in a similar manner. Their mutual friend,
the pot-boy, in full expectation of their visit, has the tap-room fire
bright and clear, and not only cooks the steak but " stands a shant of
oatter " as his share. So a capital luncheon is improvised for the
three, without the necessity of paying for it ; and this practical com<
munistic operation is styled DRESSINQ A hat.
126 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
appeared over the mantelpiece, "Scotch Mary, with DKiz, (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 a man," to knock him down ; " to drop nrao a person,"
to give him a thrashing. See 8LIP 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;
PLASH-DRUM, a house of ill-fame.
DRUM, the ear. — Pugilistic. An example of Slang synecdoche.
DRUM, as applied to the road, is doubtless from the Wallachian Gipsy
word " DRUMRI," derived from the Greek, Spofxoi. — See note on this
source of words, p. II.
DRUMSTICKS, legs ; drumstick cases, trousers.
DRYASDUST, an antiquary.
DRY-NURSE, when an inferior officer on board ship carries on the duty,
on account of the captain's ignorance of seamanship, the junior officer
is said to dry-nurse his captain. Majors and adjutants in the army
also not unfrequentiy dht-nurse the colonels of their regiments in a
similar manner.
DUB, to pay or give ; " DUB UP," pay up.
DUBASH, a general agent. — Anglo-Indian.
DUBBER, the moiith ; " mum your dubber," hold your tongue.
DUBLIN PACKET, to turn a corner; to '' take the DUBLIN packet," viz.,
run round the comer, — probably a pun on doubling a corner.
DUCATS, money.— Theatrical Slang.
DUCK, a bundle of bits of the " stickings " of beef gold for food to the
London poor. — See fagot.
DUCKS, trousers. — Sea • term. The expression most in use on land is
" white ducks," i.e., white pantaloons or trousers.
" 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 dbaees,
according to the number of skips they make.
DUDDER, or dcdsman, a person who formerly travelled the country as a
pedlar, selling gown-pieces, silk waistcoats, Ac, to countrymen. In
selling a waistcoat-piece for thirty shillings or two pounds, which cost
him perhaps five shillings, he would shew great fear of the revenue
officer, and beg of the purchasing clodhopper to kneel down in a puddle
Drummer, a robber who first makes his victims insensible by drugs or
violence, and tlien plunders them.
Dubs, a bunch of keys. Nearly obsolete.
UuBSMAN, or screw, a turnkey.
SLANQ, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. I 27
of water, erooh his arm, and twear that it might never become ttraight ij
he told an exciseman, or even hi» own wife. The term and practice are
nearly obsolete. In Liverpool, however, and at the east end of Lon-
don, men dressed up as sailors, with pretended silk handkerchiefs and
cigars " only just smuggled from the Indies," are still to be plentifully
DUDDS, clothes, or personal property. Oaehc, dud; Ancient Cant; also r^ ^1,4**-'^
Duuh. y _ ^ ''^
DUFF, pudding; vulgar pronunciation of DOUQH. — Sea.
DUFFER, a hawker of "Brummagem" or sham jewellery; a sham of any
kind; a fool, a worthless person. So Arthur Smith, in his Summer
Idyll.—
'• But Robinson, a thorough DnwER he,
TroU'd out Bome feeble song about King Cole.**
DuFFEB was formerly synonymous with duddek, 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 Qerman, ddbfen, to want f
DUFFING, false, counterfeit, worthless.
DUFFY, a term for a ghost or spirit among the West India negroes. In
all probability the davt jones of sailors.
DUKE, gin, a term amongst livery servants. — Household Words, No. 183.
DUMBFOUND, to perplex, to beat soundly till not able to speak. Ori-
ginally 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 the idea of an extensive stock.
DUMMY, in three-handed whist the person who holds two hands plays
DUMMY.
DUMPY, short and stout.
DUMPISH, sullen, or glummy.
DUN, to solicit payment. — Old Cant, from the French DONNEZ, give; or
from JOE DIN, the famous bailiff of Lincoln ; or simply a corruption of
DIN, from the Anglo-Saxon dunan, to clamour?
DUNDERHEAD, a blockhead.
DUNDREARY, an empty swell
DUNG, an operative who works for an employer who does not give full or
" society " wages.
Dummy, a pocket-book. In this word, as in the two preceding, {see dummy
and dummies,) the idea is connected with dumb, i.e., that which gives
no sign. As a thieves' term for a pocket-book, it is peculiarly ap-
plicable, for the contents of pocket-books, bank-notes, and papers make
no noise, while the money in a purse betrays its presen^-e by chinking.
Dump-Fencer, a man who sells buttons.
DuNAKEU, a stealer of cows or calves. Nearly obsolete.
?P^*i^C5*lW "WIUiyiT^HK
128 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
DUNGAREE, low, common, viilgar.— Anglo-Indian. DmoAREB is ths
name of a disreputable suburb of iiombay, and also of a coanse, blue
cloth, worn by sailors.
*' As smart a y^ i\mg fellow as ever you 'd see,
lu jacket and truusera of blue DuNOikREfc:."
DUNKHORNED, sneaking, shabby. Dunkhorn in Norfolk is the short,
blunt horn of a beast, and the adjective is applied to a cuckold w!«>
has not spirit to resist his disgrace.
DUNNAGE, baggage, clothes. Also, a Sea term for wood or loose fagota
laid at the bottom of ships, upon which is placed the cargo.
DUNNY-KEN, a water-closet. — From dahna and ken, which see.
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 ddst."
DUST, a disturbance, or noise, " to raise a dust," to make a row.
DUST, to beat; " ddst one's jacket," i.e., give him a beating.
DUSTY, a phrase used in answering a question where one expects appro-
bation. " What do you think of this 1" " Well, it 's not so DU8TT,"
i.e., not so bad; sometimes varied to " none so dusty."
DUST-HOLE, Sidney Sussex College at Cambridge. — Univ. Slung.
DUST-HOLE, the Queen's Theatre, Tottenham Court Road.— Theat. Siang^
DUSTOORIE, commission, doceur, bribe. — Anglo-Indian.
DUTCH AUCTION, a method of selling goods, adopted by " cheap Johns,"
to evade the penalties for selling without a licence. The article is offered
all round at a high price, which is then dropped till it is taken.
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 '11 talk to him like a dutch
UNCLE ! " conveys the notion of anything but a desirable relation.—
Afn^ricanisin.
DUTCH, or double dutch, gibberish, or any foreign tongue.
EARL-OFCORK, the ace of diamonds. — Hibemicism.
•' 'What do you mean by the E:irl of Cork?' asked Mr Squander. "The aoe of
diamonds, your honour. It's the worst ace, and the poorest ctird in the
pacK. and is Killed the earl of cork, because he 's the poorest uoblemau in
Ireland.'" — CarUton's Traits andSloru* ofthi Irish Ptaianiry.
EARWIG, a clergyman, also one who prompts another maliciously.
EAR WIGGING, a i ebuke in private ; a wigoinq is more public.
DurbtinaCKINg, ofTerinj, laco or any other article as an introduction to
fortune-telling ; generally pursued by women.
SLA NO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 1 29
EAVES-DROPPER, a listener. The name is derived from the punish-
ment which, according to Olirer, was directed in the Lectures, at the
revival of Masonry in 1 71 7, to be inflicted on a detected Cowan, [g. v.,]
and which was
"To be i>l:iced under the eaves of the house in rainy weather, till the water
runs in at bia shoulders and out at his heels."
— Uackejfi Lexicon 0/ Freemtuonry.
EFF, the vulgar abbreviation of KTrraoHAM saloon, a favourite music hall
at the east end of London.
EGG, or EGO on, to excite, stimulate, or provoke one person to quarrel
with another, &c. Corruptiun of edge, or edge on. — Ancient.
ELBOW, " to shake one's elbow," to play at cards.
ELBOW GREASE, labour, or industry. — See palm oil.
ELEGANT EXTRACTS, a Cambridge University title for those students
who, having unfortunately failed only slightly in some one subject,
and being "plucked" accordingly, were allowed their degrees. This ap-
plied to the "Poll" List, as the "Gulf" did to the "Honours."
ELEPHANT, "to have seen the elephant," to be "up to the latest _^
move," or " rfniim to the last new trick ; " to be knowing, and not (O''
"green," &c. Possibly a metaphor taken from the travelling menap"- < — ^
ries, where the elephant is the finale of the exhibition. — Originally '
an Americanwm. Bartlett gives conflicting examples. General now,
however.
ENEMY, time, a'clock, the ruthless enemy and telltale of idleness; "what
says the enemy ? " i.e., how goes the time ?
ENTIRE ANIMAL.— See Hoo.
ESSEX STILE, a ditch.
ESSEX LION, a calf.
EVAPORATE, to go, or run away.
EXES, expenses ; written thus — E X s.
EXTENSIVE, frequently applied in a Slang sense to a person's appear-
ance or talk; "rather extensive that ! " intimating that the person
alluded to is shewing off, or " CUTTINO it pat."
EXTRACTED, placed on the list of " bleqant extbacts." — Camh. Univ.
EYE- WATER, gin.
FACE, credit at a public-house, impudence, confidence, brass; thus a
BBAZEN FACE. " To run one's pace," is to obtain credit in a bounceable
manner.
Ease, to rob ; " easing a bloak," robbing a man.
Efteb, a thief who frequents theatres.
BvjtBLASTLNO STAIRCASE, the treadmill. Sometimes called "Colonel
Chesterton's bvkklastino staikcase," from the gallant inventor or
improver.
I
130 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
FACER, a tumbler of whisky punch.
" Cyathi dicti sunt faceras."
— Pathir Tom mid y«e Pop*.
FACER, a blow on the face. In Ireland, a dram.
FAD, a hobby, a favourite pursuit.
FADGE, a farthing.
FADGE, a flat \oa.l— North,.
FADGE, to suit or fit ; "it won't padge," it will not do. Used by Skaht •
peare, but now heard only in the streets.
FADGER, a glazier's frame.
FAG, a schoolboy who performs a servant's ofiBcea to a superior school-
mate. Probably from F. a g., the fifth problem of Euclid. Grose
thinks FAQQED OUT is derived from this.
FAG, to beat.
FAGGOT, a bundle of bits of the "atickings" (hence probably its name)
sold for food to the London poor. It is sometimes called a duck. In
appearance it resembles a Scotch " haggis." Fag-end of a thing, the
inferior or remaining part, the refuse.
FAGOT, a term of opprobrium used by low people to children and women ;
" you little pagot, 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 bum. — Compare the French expression for a heretic,
tentir le fagot.
FAKE ; " pake the rubber," i.e., stand treat.
FAL-LALS, trumpery ornaments, gewgaws. Farby suggests aa a deriva-
tion the Latin, phalee^, horse trappings.
FAMBLES, or paums, the hands. — Aticient Cant. German, fanqeit.
FAN, a waistcoat. — Houndsditch term.
FANCY, the favovu-ite sports, pets, or pastime of a person, the ton of low
life. Pugilists are sometimes termed the fancy. Shahpeare uses
the word in the sense of a favourite, or pet ; and the paramour of a
prostitute is still called her panot-man.
PANCY-BLOAK, a fancy or sporting man. ■
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. Alayhew says it is from the Latin, pacimentom. Gaelic, paioh,
to get, acquire, reach.
Fakement, a false begging petition, any act of rubbery, swindling, or d»
ception.
Fakement chablet, the owner's private marV
Fakeb, one who makes or fakes anything.
" Fake a cly," to pick a pocket.
Family men, or people, thieves, or burglars."
^ -v^^JJ-c^^
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 131
FANNING, a beating.
FAN-QUI, a European ; literally, foreign devil. — Anglo- Chinese.
FANTADLINS, pastry.
FAN-TAIL, a dustman's hat.
FARMER In Suffolk this terra is applied to the eldest son of the occupier
of the farm. In London it is used derisively of a countryman, and
denotes a farm-labourer, clodpole. Both senses are different from the
general acceptation. , .~V^fc5s>'
FAST, gay, spreeish, unsteady, thoughtless, — an Americanism that haa of - C\\ o>iA^V\ ' 1\
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 past, but a quick man would not convey
the meaning of a past 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 horse-
flesh. 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." Charles Dickens, in the
Christmas number of All the Year Sound for 1859, says that "fast,"
when applied to a young man, is only another word for loose, as he
understands the term; and the Saturday Review for July 18, i860,
defines a fast girl as a woman who has lost her respect for men, and
for whom men have lost their respect also.
FAST, embarrassed, wanting money, tied up. 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, &o. ; "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.
FAVOUBITE, the horse that has the lowest odds laid against it in the
betting Ust. When the favourite wins, the public generally are the
gainers When an outsider wins, the bino, that is to say, the persons
who make a business of betting, are generally the gainers.
Father, or fence, a buyer of stolen property.
Fawnet, a finger ring. Irish, faiker, a ring
132 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
FEATHERS, money, wealth; "in full feather," rich.
FEED, a meal, generally a dinner. — Stable Slang.
FEEDER, a spoon.— OW Cant.
FEELE, a daughter, or child. — Corrupted French.
FELLOW-COMMONER, uncomplimentary epithet used at Cambridge for
an empty bottle.
FELT, a hat. — Old term, in me in the tixteenth century.
FEN-NIGHTINGALES, toads and frogs, from their contmued croaking
at night.
FERINGEE, a European. — Anglo-Indian.
FERRICADOUZER, a knock-down blow, a good thrashing. Probably
derived, through the Lingua Franca, from the Italian, fak' cadeb'
MORTO, to knock down dead.
FEW, used in a Slang sense thus : — " Don't you call this considerably jolly ?"
" I believe you, my bo-ooy, a few." Another expression of the same
kind is rather, which see.
FIB, to beat, or strike. — Old Cant.
FIBBING, a series of blows delivered quickly, and at a short distance. —
j^'ugiliistic.
FIDDLE, a whip.
FIDDLE, "to play second FmDtB," to act aubordinately, or succumb to
another.
FIDDLE-FACE, a person with a wizened countenance.
FIDDLE-FADDLE, twaddle, or trifling discourse. — Old Cant.
FIDDLER, or fadoe, a farthing.
Fawney boon ino, selling rings for a wager. This practice is founded
upon the old tale of a gentleman laying a wager that if he were to otter
" real gold soverf igns " 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 on
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 rio, ring-dropping. A few years ago, this practice,
or RIO, 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 swaUower of the bait discovers the
trick too late.
Fence, or fencer, a purchaser or receiver of stolen goods; fence, the shop
or warehouse of a fencer. — Old Cant.
Kence, to sell or pawn stolen property to a FENCKE.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. I33
FIDDLER, a sixpence. — Household Words, No. 183.
FIDDLER, a sharper, a cheat; also one who dawdles over little matters,
and neglects great ones.
FIDDLERS' GREEN', the place where sailors go to when they die. It is
a place of fid<lling, dancing, rum, and tobacco, and is undoubtedly the
LAND OF COCAIQNE, mentioned in mediaeval manuscripts.
FIDDLERS' MONEY, a lot of sixpences; fid. was the remuneration to
fiddlers from each of the company in old times.
FIDDLE STICKS ! an exclamation signifying nonsense.
FIDDLING, doing any odd jobs in the streets, holding horses, carrying
parcels, &c., fnr a living. Among the middle classes, ftddlinq means
idling away time, or trifling; and amongst sharpers, it means gam-
bling.
FID FAD, a game similar to chequers, or drafts, played in the West of
England.
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 ClerkenweU. It was formerly the market for stolen
pocket-handkerchiefs.
FIERA-FACIAS, a red-faced man is often jocularly said to have been served
with a writ of pieri-facias.
FI-FA, a writ of FierorFacias. — Legal.
FI-FI, Mr Thackeray's term for Paul de Koch's novels, and similar modern
French literature.
FIG, "in full Fia," i.e., full-dress costume, "extensively got up." Possibly
an allusion to the primeval dress of our first parents, or else an abbre-
viation oi figure, in the references to plates in books of faahions.
FIG, " to pio a horse," to play improper tricks with one in order to make
him lively.
FIGARO, a barber.
FIGURE, "to cut a good or bad figure," to make, a good or indifferent
appe.-irance ; "what's the figuke?" how much is to pay! FlOUBK-
BEAD, 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 con-
sidered a Cant or Gipsy term up to the beginning of the last century.
Harman has " ftlche, to robbe."
FILE, a deep or artful man, a jocose name for a cunning person. Origin-
ally a term for a pickpocket, when TO file was to cheat or rob.
File, an artful man, was used in the thirteenth and fourteenth cen-
turies.
FILLIBRUSH, to flatter, praise ironically.
FIMBLE-FAMBLE, a lame, prevaricating excuse. — Scandinavian.
FiDLL'M BEN, thieves who take anythmg they can lay their hands upon.
134 ^ DICTIONARY OF MODERN
FIN, a hand; "come, tip us your PIN," viz., let us shake hands. — Sea.
FINUF, a five-pound note. Double PDtcnp, a ten-pound note. — German,
FUNF, five.
FIKE-EATER, a " swell " of any kind, a braggadocio or turbulent person
who is always ready to fight.
FISH, a person ; " a queer fish," " a loose fish," &c.
FISH y, 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.
FIVES, " bunch of fives," the fist.
FIVE FINGERS, the five of trumps, at the game of Five-cards, or Don.
FIX, a predicament, dilemma ; " an awful Fix," a terrible position ; " to
FIX one's flint for him," i.e., to " settle his hath," " put a spoke in his
wheel."
FIZ, champagne, wine.
FIZZING, first-rate, very good, excellent ; synonymous with STUNNING.
FLABERGAST, or flabbekqhast, 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 pro-
trudes through his trousers. — Seven Dials wit.
FLAM, nonsense, blarney, a lie. — Kentish ; Anglo-Saxon,
FLAME, a sweetheart.
FLANNEL, or hot flannel, the old term for gin and beer, drunk 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,
BTKETCH, SOEAQ, 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, per-
haps, is its general signification. " Flash, my young friend, or Slang,
as others call it, ia the classical language of the Holy Land ; in other
Finder, one who finds bacon and meat at the market before they are lost,
t.e., steals them.
Flam, a ring.
8LANQ, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 1 35
words, St GUes's Greek." — Tom and Jerry, by Moncrelff. Vulgar lan-
guage 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.
FLASH-0' -LIGHTNING, the gold band on an officer's cap.— 5ea.
FLAT, a fool, a silly or " soft " person, the opposite of sharp. The terms
appear to be shortenings for " sharp-witted " and " flat-witted."
" Oh, Messrs Tyler, Donelson, and the rest, what flats you are ! "
— Times, 5th September 1847.
FLATS, playing cards. Also called broads.
FLATTY, a rustic, or uninitiated person.
FLAT-FEET, the battalion companies in the Foot Guards
FLEMISH ACCOUNT.— OW. StiU used by saUors for a tangled and
unsatisfactory account or reckoning.
FLESH-AND-BLOOD, brandy and port in equal quantities.
FLESH-BAG, a shirt
FLICK, or OLD flick, a comical old chap or fellow.
FLICK, or FLio, to whip by striking, and drawing the laah back at the
same time, which causes a stinging blow.
FLIES, trickery, nonsense. " There are no flies about me, sir." Con-
nected with FLY, wide-awake, &o.
FLIM-FLAM, an idle story. — Beaumont and Fletcher.
FLIMSY, a bank-note. See the following.
FLIMSY, the thin prepared copying-paper used by newspaper reporters
and "penny-a-liners" for making several copies at once, thus ena-
bling them to supply different papers with the same article without
loss of time. — Printer's term.
FLINT, an operative who works for a "society" master, i.e., for full wages.
FLIP, corruption of fillip, a light blow.
FLIPPER, the hand ; "give us your flipper," give me your hand. — Sea.
Metaphor taken from the flipper or paddle of a turtle.
FLOATER, a small suet dumpling put into soup. — Whitechapel.
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.
Flattt-ken, a public-house, the landlord of which is ignorant of the
practices of the thieves and tramps who frequent it. '
Flimp, to hustle, or rob.
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. Originally a kind
of somersault, in which the performer throws himself over on his
bands and feet alternately. — Showman's Slang.
Floatiho Academt, the hulks.
136 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
KLOGGER, a whip. — Almost obsolete.
FLOOR, to knock down. — Pugilistic.
KLOORED, when a picture is hung on the lowest row at the Exhibition of
the Royal Academy, it is in artistic Slang said to be floored, in con-
tra-distinction to skyed, which tee.
FLOORER, a blow sufficiently strong to knock a man down.
FLOP, plump ; " to go flop down," to fall suddenly, and with violence and
noise.
FLOWERY, lodging, or house entertainment; "square the omee for
the FLOWERY," pay the master for the lodging. — Lingua Franca.
FLUE-FAKER, a chimneysweep ; also applied to low sporting characters,
who are so termed from their cliiefly 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.
FLUNKEY, a footman, servant. — Scotch.
FLUSH, the opposite of hard up, in possession of money, not poverty-
stricken . — Shakspeare.
FLUSH, to whip ; " flushed on the horse," to be privately whipped in
jail.
FLY, knowing, wide-awake, fully understanding another's meaning.
FLY, to lift, toss, or raise ; " PLY the mags," i.e., toss up the halfpence ;
"to FLY a .pindow," i.e., to lift one for the purpose of stealing.
" FLY THE KITE," or " raise the wind," to obtain money on bills,
whether good or bad, alluding to tossing paper about as children do
a kite.
" FLY THE KITE," to evacuate from a window, — term used in padding-
kens, or low lodging-houses.
FLYING-MARE, a throw in wrestling.
FLYING MESS, " to be in flying mess " is a soldier's phrase for being
hungry and having to mess where he can. — Military.
FLYING STATIONER, a paper-worker, hawker of penny ballads;
" Printed for the Flying Stationers " is the imprimatur on himdreds
of penny histories and sheet songs of the last and present centuries.
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 comer, to express to succeeding vagabonds that it is unsafe
for them to call there, is known as 0, or flummuxed, which signifies
that the only thing they would be likely to get upon applying for
relief would be a " month in Qi OD."^ — See QUOD.
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BLANG, OANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 137
FLYM Y, knowing, cunning, roguish. — Seteti Dials and Low Life.
FOALED, " thrown from a horse." — Hunting term. — See pdeled and sprtT.
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,
roL'RQEAUX, fierce or fiery, but it has lost this signification now.
FoGGER, old word for a huckster or servant.
FOGGY, tipsy.
FOGLE, a silk handkerchief — nota clout, which is of cotton. It has been
hinted that this may have come from the German, tooel, 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), foqlia,
a pocket, or purse ; or from the French Argot, roniLLE, also a pocket.
FOGUS, tobacco. — Ancient Cant. FoGO, old word for stench,
FOONT, a sovereign, or 20s.
FOOTING, " to pay rooTiNQ." — See shoe.
FORAKERS, the closet of decency, 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 was published on pur-
loining, and of course it had to give the latest modes. Forking was
the newest mode, and it consisted in thrusting the fingers stiff and
open into the pocket, and then quickly closing them and extracting
any article thus caught.
FORKS, or oRAPPLiNG-moNS, fingers.
FORTY-FOOT, a derisive appellation for a, very short person.
FORTY-GUTS, vrdgarterm for a fat man.
FORTY-TWA, the common place of retirement on a well-known French
plan at Edinburgh, so called from its accommodating that number of
persons at once.
FORTY WINKS, a short sleep or nap.
FOU, slightly intoxicated. — Scotch.
FOUR- AND NINE, or fouk-and-ninepenny goss, a cheap hat, so called
from 4s. 9d., the price at which a noted advertising hat-maker sold
his hats —
** Whene'er to slumber you incline,
Take a sliart nap at 4 and 9." — 1844.
" FOUR KINGS, HISTORY of the," an old name for a pack of playing
cards. See Sir Thomas Urquhart's Translation of Rabelais. In Argot,
LIVRE DES QUATRE KOIS.
FOUNTY, water,— from "fountain," probably.— iVortA.
FOURTH, or fourth court, the court appropriated to the water-dosets
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, in
138 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
algebraic notation, gone*, which expresses the Cambridge Slang phrase,
" gone to the fourth."
FOX, to cheat or rob. — Eton College.
FOXED, a term used by print and book collectors to denote the brown
spotted appearance produced by damp on paper.
FOXING, when one actor criticises another's performance. — Theatrical.
FOX'S SLEEP, or roxiNO, purposely assumed indifference to what \b
going on. A fox is said to sleop with one eye open.
FOXY, rank, tainted, from the odour of the animal. — Lincolnahire.
FOXY, said also of a red-haired person.
FRAl'PING, a beating. French frapper.
FREE-AND-EASY, a club held at most public-houses, the members of
which meet in the tap-room 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 quat," i.e., at another's
coat. 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.
FRESHMAN, a University man during his first year. The official appel-
lation for the students until they have passed the Previous or First
University Examination, otherwise called the Smalls or Little Go, is
Junior Sophi or Sophisters. After this they are Senior Sophs until
their last term, when they are Questionists, or preparing " ad reipoti-
dendum qucestioni."
FRIZZLE, champagne.
FliOG, a policeman.
FRONTISPIECE, the face.
FROW, a girl, or wife. German, frau ; Dutch, TROCW.
FRUMMAGEMMED, annihilated, strangled, garroted, or spoilt. — Old Cant.
FRUMP, a slatternly woman, a gossip. — Ancient.
FRUMP, to mock or insult. — Beaumont and Fletcher.
_^F SHARPS, fleas. Compare B plats.
'"FUDGE, nonsense, stupidity. Todd and Richardson only trace the wurd
to Goldsmith. Dixraeli, however, gives the origin to a Captain Fudge,
Fox, to watch in the streets for any occurrence which may be turned to a
profitable account. — See mooching.
Free, to steal — generally applied to horses.
Frisk, to search ; frisked, searched by a constable or other officer.
" Fbisk a cly," to empty a pocket.
'^AA^^-- ^6/Q^ -
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SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 139
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. At page 87 of A Collection of dOTne papers of William
Crouch, (8vo, 1 712,) the Quaker, we find a mention of this Captain.
Degory Marshall informed Crouch that —
'* lu the year 1664 wo were sentenced for banishment to Jamaica by Judges
Hyde and Twisden, and our number vas 55. We were put on board the
ship Black Kagle ; the master's uame was Fudge, by some called Lying
rVDOE."
A correspondent asserts that, in his belief, the word comes from the
Gaelic, FFUO, deception.
FUGGIES, hot rolls.— ScAooZ.
FULLAMS, false dice, which always turn up high. — Shahpeare.
FULLY, " to be fulued," to be committed for trial. From the Slang of
the penny-a-liner, " the prisoner was fully committed for triaL"
FUNK, trepidation, nervousness, cowardice. To fdnk, to be afraid or
nervous.
FUNK, to smoke out. — North.
" FUNKING THE COBBLER," a schoolboy's trick, performed with asa-
foetida and cotton stuffed into a hollow tube or cow's horn. The cot-
tiin being lighted, the smoke is blown in through the keyhole of a
door, or the crannies of a cobbler's stall.
FUNNY-BONE, the extremity of the elbow — or rather, the muscle which
passes round it between the two bones, a blow on which causes pain-
ful tingling in the fingers. Facetiously derived, from its being the ex-
tremity of the humerus, (humorous.)
t'YE-BUCK, a sixpence. — Nearly obsolete.
GAB, QABBEB, or GABBLE, talk; "gift of the gab," loquacity, or natural
talent for speech-making. — Anglo-Norman ; gab is also found in the
Danish and Old Norse.
GAD, a trapesing, slatternly woman. — Gipsy. Anglo-Saxon, 0.BDELII10.
" 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 play-house. — See penny oafit.
GAFFER, a master, or employer ; term used by " navvies," and general in
Lancashire and North of England. Early English for an old man.
See " blow the gaff."
GAFFING, tossing halfpence, or counters — North, where it means tossing
up three jjennies.
GAG, language introduced by an actor into his part. In certain pieces this
is allowed by custom, and these are called oao-pieoes. The Critic,
or a Tragedy Rehearsed, is one of these. Many actors, however, take
French leave in this respect with most pieces. — Theatrical Slang.
Mr Robsos at Bblfast.— We (Northern IPAij) susnicted a little bit of what il
prufewionally termed "OAO" in Mr Robson's Daddy Hardacre last nijfht
140 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
He had occasion to say that one of the characters in the piece " understands
me well enough," to which he added — *♦ I wish some other people did the
same," with an expressive glance at the pit ; which we interpreted as hav-
ing special reference to those appreciative persons in the audience whom
we have already mentioned, who think it absolutely needful to roar with
laughter at every sentence Mr Robson utters, without the least regaixl to
whether it be humorous or pathetic — only because Mr Robson has fame as
a comic actor. — Jan. 1863,
GAG, to hoax, " take a rise " out of one ; to cod.
GAGE, a small quantity of anything ; as " a gage of tobacco," meaning a
pipeful ; " a gage of gin," a glaaaful.
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,
QALLINA.
GALLAVANT, to wait upon the ladies.— Oid.
GALLIMAUFRY, a kind of stew made up of scraps of various kinds.
GALLIPOT, an apothecary.
GALLOWS, very, or exceedingly— a disgusting exclamation; "gallows
poor," very poor.
GALORE, abundance. Irish, 00 leor, in plenty.
GAMB, a leg. Still used as a heraldic term, as well as by thieves, who
probably get it from the Lingua Franca. Italian, qamba; French,
JAMBE, a leg.
GAME, a term variously applied ; " are you game ? " have you courage
enough? "what's your Uttle game?" what are you going to do?
" come, none of your games," be quiet, don't annoy me ; " on the
GAME," out thieving.
GAME LEG, a lame or wounded leg.
GAMMON, deceit, humbug, a false and ridiculous story. Anglo-Saxon,
GAMEN, game, sport.
GAMMON, to hoax, to deceive merrily, to laugh at a person, to tell an im-
true but plausible story, to make game of, or, in the provincial dialect,
to make game on ; " who 's thou makin' thy gam' ok ? " t.e., who are
you making a fool of! — Yorkshire.
GAMMY, bad, unfavourable, poor tempered. Those householders who are
known enemies to the street folk and tramps are pronounced by them
to be GAMMT. Gammt sometimes means forged, as " oammt-moneker,"
a forged signature ; gammy stuff, spurious medicine ; gammy lowb,
counterfeit coin. Hants, oamt, dirty. The hieroglyphic used by
begi;ars and cadgers to intimate to tliose of the tribe coming after that
tilings are not very favourable is known as Q], or gammt. Gaelic,
Welsh, and Irish, cam, (gam,) crooked, bad.
GANDER MONTH, the period when the monthly nurse is in the ascend-
ant, and the husband has to shift for himself.
Gag, a lie ; " a gag he told to the hesk."— Thieves' Cant
Gammy-vial, (Ville,) a town where the police will not let persons hawk.
a all
T
T.1 ^Tu'J^e-n Ci, ,^^"UL
(Vo
c ^ €e
/(/ ;&-
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 141
GANGER, the person who superintends the work of a gang, or a number
of navigators.
GAPE-SEED, something to look at ; a lazy fellow, unmindful of his work,
is said to be "looking for oape-seed."
GAR, euphuistic rendering of tke title of the Deity ; " be oak, you don't
say so I " — Franco-Engluh.
GARDEN, among tradesmen signifies Covent Garden Market ; among thea-
trical performers, Covent Garden Theatre.
GARDENER, an awkward coachman ; an insinuation that he is both coach-
man and gardener, and understands the latter branch of service better
than the first; "get on, qaedener," is a most insulting expression
from a cabby to a real coachman.
GARGLE, medical-student Slang for drinkables.
GARNISH, the douceur or fee which, before the time of Howard the phil-
anthropist, was exacted by the keepers of gaols from their unfortunate
prisoners for extra comforts.
GARNISH, footing-money. — Yorkshire.
GARRET, the head.
GARROTING, a mode of cheating practised amongst card-sharpers, by
concealing certain cards at the back of the neck.
GAS, " to give a person gas," to scold him or give him a good beating.
Synonymous with " to give him jessie."
GASSY, or gaseous, liable to " flare up " at any offence.
GATE, the, Bilingsgate.
GATE-RACE, among pedestrians a mock race, got up not so much for the
best runner to win, but for the money taken from spectators at the
gate.
GATTER, beer ; " shant of qatter," a pot of beer. A curious Slang street
melody, known in Seven Dials as £et, the Coaley'i Daughter, thus men-
tions the word in a favourite verse : —
" But when I strove my flame to tell.
Says she, * Come, gtovithat patter.
If you're a cove wot likes a Kal,
Vy don't you itand some OATTEBt
/n course I instantly complied —
Two brimminff quarts of porter.
With four goes of gin beside,
Drain'd Bet the Coaley's daughter."
GAWF, a cheap red-skinned apple, 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, oeac; Scotch,
GOWK.
GAY, loose, dissipated; " gat woman," a kept mistress or prostitute.
Gakreteb, a thief who crawls over the tops of houses and enters garret-
windows. Called also a dancer, or danoinq-masteb.
Garret, the fob pocket. — Praon term.
142 A DWTIOKASY OF MODERN
GAY-TYKE-BOY, a dog-fancier.
GEE, to agree with, or be congenial to a person.
GEELOOT, a recruit, or awkward soldier.
GEN, a shilling. Also, qent, silver. Abbreviation of the French, akoent.
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.
"GENTLEMAN OF FOUR OUTS;" in Ireland when a vulgar, bluster-
ing fellow asserts that he is a gentleman, the retort generally is,
" Yes, a GENTLEMAN OF FOUR OUTS — that is, without wit, without
money, without credit, and without manners."
"GENTLEMAN OF THREE INNS "—that is, in debt, in danger, and in
poverty.
GEORDIE, general term in Northumberland and Durham for a pitman, or
coal-miner. Origin not known ; the term has been in use more than a
century.
GERMAN DUCK, a sheep's-head stewed with onions ; a favourite dish
among the German sugar-bakers in the East End of London.
GERMAN DUCKS, bugs.— rorisAire.
, . GET-UP, a person's appearance, or general arrangements. Probably de
rived from the decorations of a play.
" There 's so much getting u ■ to please the town.
It takes a precious deal of coming down."
— Planch&'t Mr Buckttone'i Ascent of Pamatsits.
GHOST, " the ghost doesn't walk," t.e., the manager is too poor to pay
salaries as yet. — Theatrical ; Household Words, No. 1 83.
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 Gipsies, synonymous
with SLANG, another Oipay word. Somner says, " French, gabbkr ;
Dutch, GABBEREN ; and our own gab, gabber ; hence also, I take it,
our gibbebish, a kind of canting language used by a sort of rogues we
vulgarly call Gipsies, a gihble gabble understood only among them-
selves." — Gipsy. See Introduction. The gibberish of schoolboys is
formed by placing a consonant between each syllable of a word, and is
called the gibberish of the letter inserted. Thus, if F were the letter,
it would be termed the F gibberish ; if L, the L gibberish — as in
the sentence, " How do you do ? — JJowl dol youl dol." A gibberish
is sometimes formed by adding vis to each word, in which the previous
sentence would be — " Hmevisdovis youvis dovist" Schoolboys in France
form a gibberish, in a somewhat similar manner, by elongating their
words two syllables, in the first of which an r, in the second a g, predo-
minates. Thus the words votis Ues un fou are spoken, vousdregtit
etdregue undregue foudregue. Fast persons in Paris, of both sexes,
frequently adopt terminations of this kind, from some popular song,
Mtor, exhibition, or political event.. In 1830, the favourite termina-
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 1 43
tion was mar, saying epicemar for epicier, cafemar for cafe. In 1823,
when the diorama created a sensation in Paris, the people spoke in
rama (an parlait en rama.) In Balzac t beautiful tale, Le Pere Goriot,
the young painter at the boarding-house dinner-table mystifies the
landlady by saying, " what a beautiful soupeaiirama I " To which the
old woman replies, to the great laughter of the company, " I beg your
pardon, sir, it is une mupt d, chotuc."
GIFFLE-QAFFLE, nonsense. See chaff. Icelandic, gafla.
GIG, a farthing. Formerly ORIO.
GIG, fun, frolic, a spree. Old French, oigue, a jig, a romp.
" In search of lark, or some delicious gig,
Tue mind delights on, when 'tis in pri^iu ttcig."
— RandaWs Diary, 182a
" No hdrt have I," said mournful Matt ;
But Tom, still fond of Gio,
Cried out, ** No liairs T don't fret at that.
When you can buy a wig."
GIGLAMPS, spectacles. In my first edition I stated this to be a Univer-
gily term. Mr Cuthbert Bede, however, in a communication to Notet
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 par-
ticular." The term, however, has been adopted, and ia now in general
use.
GILL, a homely woman ; " Jack and gill," Ac. — 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, a shirt collar.
GILT, money. German, geld ; Dutch, gelt.
GIMCRACK, a bijou, a slim piece of mechanism. Old Slang for " a spruc«
v/ench." — New 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 oingek
under his tail.
GINGERLY, to do anything with great care. — Cotgrave.
GINGER HACKLED, having flaxen light yellow hair.— See hacklb.
GINGUMBOB, a bauble.
" GIRNIGO-GABY THE CATS COUSIN," a reproachful expression said
to a crying child.
GIVE, to strike, to scold ; " I '11 OIVB it to you," t.*, I will thrash you.
GLADSTONE, cheap claret, since that popular Chancellor of the Exchequer
has reduced the dutv on French wines.
Gift, any article which has been stolen, and afterwards sold at a low price
144 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
GLASGOW MAGISTRATE, a salt herring.— .'co/cA.
GLAZE, glass ; generally applied to windows.
GLIB, a tongue ; " slacken your OLIB," t.e., " loosen your tongue."
GLIM, a light, a lamp ; " dowse the glim," put out the candle. — Sea and
Old Cant. Glims, spectacles. Gaelic, glinn, light. German, (pro-
vincial,) GLIMM, a spark.
GLOAK, a man. — Scotch.
GLUM, sulky, stem; "to look QLCM," to appear annoyed or disconcerted.
GLUMP, to sulk.
GLUMPISH, of a stubborn, sulky temper.
GKOSTIC, a knowing one, or " sharper." — Nearly obsolete in this vulgar
sense.
GO, a GO of gin, a quartern of that liquor. (This word, as applied to a mea-
sure of liquor, is stated by a correspondent to have arisen from the
following circumstance : — Two well-known actors once met at the bar
of a tavern to have a " wet " together. " One more glass and then
we '11 GO " was repeated so often on either hand, that in the end go
was out of the question with both of them, and so the word passed
into a saying;) GO is also synonymous with circumstance or occur-
rence ; " a rummy 00," and " a great GO," signify curious and remark-
able occurrences; "no GO," no good; " here's a pretty go ! " here's a
trouble; oo, a term in the game of cribbage; "to GO the jump," to
enter a house by the window ; " all the oo," in fashion. — See uttlb
GO ; also CALL-A-GO.
*' Gemmen (says he,) you all well know
The joy there is whene'er we meet ;
It 'b what I call the primest GO,
And rightly named, 'tis — * quite a treat.'"
— Jack XandalVl Diary, i8».
" GO DUE NOBTH," to become bankrupt, to go to Whitecross Street.
GOB, the mouth; mucus, or saliva. — North. Sometimes used for gab,
talk—
*' There was a man called Job,
Dwelt in the land of Uz ;
He had a good gift of the ooB ;
The same case happen us."
Zach. Botd.
Oaelie — gab and aoB, a mouth. See gab.
GOB, a portion.
" GOD BLESS THE DUKE OF AEGYLE ! " a Scottish insinuation made
when one shrugs his shoulders, of its being caused by parasites or
cutaneous affections. — See scotch fiddlb, scotch gkeys. It is said to
have been originally the thankful exclamation of the Glasgow folks, at
finding a certain row of iron posts, erected by his grace in that city to
mark the division of his property, very convenient to rub against.
Qlim LnBK, a begging paper, giving a certified account of a dreadful fire
— which never happened.
Qo-ALONO, a thief. — Household Words, No. 183.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 145
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 00 IT, ye cripples ; said to have been a facetious render-
ing of the last line of Virgil'a Eclogxiea —
" Ibe domiun Satune, Venit Hesperus, He eapella: **
or, " GO IT, TB CRIPPLES, ORDTOHES ARE CHEAP."
GOLDFINCH, a sovereign.
GOLGOTHA, a hat, "place of a skulL" Hence the "Don's gallery," at
St Mary's, Cambridge. — Vide SKULL.
GOL-MOL, noise, commotion. — Anglo-Indian.
GOLOPSHUS, splendid, delicious, luscious. — Norwich.
GONNOF, or gun, a fool, a bungler, an amateur pickpocket. A corre-
spondent 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
Bung by the insurgents in which the term occurs : —
** The country onoffes. Hob, Dick, and Hick,
With dubbes and clouted shoon.
Shall fill up Dusayn dale
With slaughtered bodies soone."
GOOD-WOMAN, a not uncommon public-house sign, representing a woman
without a head,— the ungallant allusion is that she cannot scold. The
HONEST LAWYER, another sign, is depicted in the same manner.
GOOSE, a tailor's pressing iron. — Originally a Slang term, but now in
most dictionaries.
GOOSE ; " Paddy's GOOSE," t.e., the white swan.
GOOSE, "to cook his goose," to kill him ; the same aa "to give him his
GRUEL," or "settle his hash."
GOOSE, "to get the goose," "to be goosed," signifies to be hissed while
on the stage. The BIG-BIBD, the terror of actors. — See BIG-BIRD. —
Theatrieal.
GOOSE, to ruin, or spoil; to hiss a play. — Theatrieal.
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.
GO-OVER, in clerical Slang, signifies to join the Church of Rome.
GORMED, a Norfolk corruption of a profane oath. So used by Mr Peg-
gotty, one of Dickens's characters.
QORQER, a swell, a well-dressed, or gorgeout man — probably derived from
K
146 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
that word. Sometimes employed in the sense of an employer, or prin-
cipal, aa the manager of a theatre.
GOSPEL-GRINDER, a city missionary, or tract-distributor.
AT _0 - O •>£-< t GOSS, a hat — from the gossamer silk with which modern hats are made.
y 1 \ GOSS, " to give a man Goss," to requite for an injury, to beat, or kill him
'0^'*^ GOUROCK HAM, salt herrings. Gourock, on the Clyde, about twenty-
^>-< -''AULa.iv/CJ fi'® miles from Glasgow, was formerly a great fishing village. — Scotch.
GOVERNMENT SIGN-POST, the gaUows.
GOVERNOR, a father, a master or superior person, an elder; "which way,
guv'ner, to Cheapside 1 "
GOWLER, a dog. — North Country Cant. Query, growler.
GOWNSMAN, a student at one of the universities. A person of the town,
not connected with the college, would be termed a snob.
" GOWN AND TOWN ROW," a fight between the students and townsmen
at Cambridge.
GRAB, to clutch, or seize ; gbabbed, caught, apprehended.
GRABBER, the hand.
GRACE-CARD, the six of hearts, so termed in Ireland. A Kilkenny
gentleman, named Grace, being solicited, with promises of royal favour,
to espouse the cause of William III., gave the following answer, writ-
ten on the back of the six of hearts, to an emissary of Marshal Schom-
berg's, who had been commissioned to make the proposal to him : —
" Tell your master I despise his offer ; and that honour and conscience
are dearer to a gentleman than all the wealth and titles a prince can
bestow."
GRAFT, to work; "where are you qbaftino?" ».e., where do you live, or
workf
GRANNT, importance, knowledge, pride; "take the granny off them as
has white hands," viz., remove their self-conceit. — JfayA«o, vol. i., p. 364.
GRANNY, a knot which will not hold, from its being wrongly and clumsily
tied. — Sea.
GRANNY, to know, or recognise; "do ye ORANin Hie bloke?" do you
know the man 1
GRAPPLING IRONS, fingers.— 5ca.
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 coiu-se, a directly opposite fate.
GRASS-COMBER, a country fellow, a haymaker.
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 wife (termed in his absence a grass-
WIBOW) and his children to school during his absence.
GRAVEL, to confound, to bother ; " I 'm gravelled," i.e., perplexed or
confused. — Old. Also, to prostrate, beat to the ground.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. I47
GRAVEL-RASH, a scratched face,— telling its tale of a drunken fall. A
person subject to this is called a geatel-qbindeb.
GRAVESEND SWEETMEATS, shrimps.
GRAY-COAT PARSON, a lay impropriator, or lessee of great tithes.
GRAYS, or scotch qeats, lice. — Scotch.
GRAY, a halfpenny, with either two " heads " or two " tails " — both sides
alike. Low gamblers use grays. 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's greek, Slang or Cant language. Cot-
grave gives MERRIE OBEEK aa a definition for a roistering fellow, a
drunkard. The Greeks have always been regarded as a jolly, luxurious
race ; so much so, that the Latins employed the verb Orwcari (lit. to
play the qreek) to designate fine living and free potations, a sense in
which Horace frequently uses it ; while Shakspeare often mentions the
UERBT GREEKS; and "as merry as a onio" (or gbeek) was long a
favourite allusion in old English authors.— .Sec medical oeeek.
GREENWICH GOOSE, a pensioner of the Naval Hospital.
GREEN, ignorant, not wide-awake, inexperienced. — Shakspeare. " Do you
see any GBEEN in my eye ? " ironical question in a dispute.
GREEN-HORN, a fresh, simple, or uninitiated person.
GREENLANDER, an inexperienced person, a spoon.
GRIDDLER, a person who sings in the streets without a printed copy of
the words. — Seven Dials.
GRIDIRON, a County Court summons.
"GRIDIRON AND DOUGH-BOYS," the flag of the United States, in
allusion to the stars and stripes. — Sea.
GRIEF, " to come to gbiep," 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 um-
brella a GBIPFIN.
GRIND, "to take a geind," i.e., a walk, or constitutional — Vnicersity.
GRIND, to work up for an examination, to cram with a gexkdeb, or pri-
vate tutor. — Medical, but commencing to be generaL
GRINDER, a tooth.
GRINDOFF, a miller.
GRIPES, the stomach-ache. — See tbipes.
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, aoqboggyij
weighed down, oppressed — Prompt. Parvulorum. Or it may only
mean that uuBteadines& of gait consequent on imbibing too much
148 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
GROG-BLOSSOMS, pimples on the face, caused by hard drinking. ' Of
such a person it is often said, " He bears his blushing honours thick
upon him."
GROG-FIGHT, a drinking -paitj.— Military.
GRUB, meat or victuals of any kind, — grub signifying food, and BUBj
drink.
GRUBBING-KEIT, or SPiuiKrn, a workhouse ; a cook-shop.
GRUBBY, musty, or old-fashioned. — Devonshire.
GRUEL, " to give a person his qruel," to kill him. An expression in all
probability derived from the report of a trial for poisoning. Compare
"to settle his hash," and "cook his GOOSE."
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 exa-
minations. From the alteration of the arrangements, the term is now
obsolete. — Cambridge.
GULL, to cheat, deceive ; also, one easily cheated.
GULPIN, a weak, credulous fellow, who will gulp down anything.
GUMMY, thick, fat — generally applied to a woman's ankles, or to a man
whose flabby person betokens him a drunkard.
GUMPTION, or rumoumption, comprehension, capacity. From gaum, to
comprehend ; " I canna oadqe it, and I canna gauu it," as a Yorkshire
exciseman said of a hedgehog.
GUNNER'S DAUGHTER, a term facetiously applied to the method of
punishing boys in the Royal Navy by tying them securely to the
breech of a cannon, so as to present the proper part convenient for the
cat, and flogging them. This ia called " marrying " or " kissing the
gunner's daughter."
GUP, gossip. — Anglo-Indian.
GURRAWAUN, a coachman, a native Indian corruption of the English
word coachman. For another curious corruption of a similar kind,
tee eiUKVi.— Anglo-Indian.
GUT-SCRAPER, a fiddler.
GUTTER BLOOD, a low or vulgar mm.— 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.
♦ These men's names appeared in the list of *' Degrees Allowed." The name
" GuLT " for this list is said to have arisen from the boast of a former " wooden
spoon." ** I would have you to know there is a great gulf between me and the cap-
tain of the poll."
QuLLT-RAKERS, Cattle thieves in Australia, the cattle being stolen out of
almost inaccessible valleys, there termed oullles.
QuBBELL, a fob. — Wettminiter Slums.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 149
GYP, an undergraduate's valet at Cambridge. Corruption of gtpst joe,
(Saturday Review ;) popularly derived by Cantaba from the Oreek,
GYPS, {yi'^,) 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.
HACKSLAVER, to stammer in one's speech, like a dunce at his lesson.
HADDOCK, a purse.— 5ee BEANS.
HAKIM, a medical man. — Anglo-Indian.
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-QBUNTEB.
HALF-A-TUSHEROON, half-a-crown.
HALF-AND-HALF, a mixture of ale and porter, much affected by
medical students ; occasionally Latinised into squdium DiMioiaMCiDE.
— See cooPEB.
HALF-BAKED, soft, doughy, haJf-witted, silly. Half-eocked has a simi-
lar meaning.
HALF-FOOLISH, ridiculous ; means often wholly foolish.
HALF-JACK.— See jacks.
HALF-MOURNING, to have a black eye from a blow.
HALF-ROCKED, silly, half-witted. — Compare halp-baked.
HALF-SEAS-OVER, reeling drunk.— Sea. Used by Swift.
HALL, the Leadenhall Market; the same as "the gabden" refers to
Covent Garden.
HAND, a workman, or helper, a person. " A cool hand," explained by
Sii Thomas Overbury to be "one who accounts bashfulnesa the
wickedest thing in the world, and therefore studies impudence."
HANDER, a second, or assistant, in a prize fight.
HANDICAP. Handicapping, in racing affairs, now signifies the adjudg-
ment of various weights to horses differing in age, power, and speed,
to place them as much as possible on an equality, and thereby enable
one or all to have a fair chance of winning the race.
The old game of handicap (hand i' the cap) is a very different
affair ; and as it is now almost obsolete, being only played by gen-
tlemen in Ireland, after hunting and racing dinners, when the wine
has circulated pretty freely, merits a description here. It is played
by three persons, in the following manner : — A wishes to obtain some
article belonging to B, say a horse ; and offers to " challenge" his
watch against it. B agrees ; and C is chosen as handicapper to " make
the award" — that is, to name the sum of money that the owner of the
article of lesser value shall give with it, in exchange for the mora
Halfa-STBetch, six months in prison.
ISO
A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
valuable one. The three parties, A, B, and C, put down a certain
stake each, and then the handicapper makes his award. If A and B
are both satisfied with the award, the exchange is made between the
horse and watch, and the handicapper wins, and takes up the stakes.
Or if neither be satisfied with the award, the handicapper takes the
stakes ; but if A be satisfied and B not, or vice vena, the party who
declares himself satisfied gets the stakes. It is consequently the ob-
ject of the handicapper to make such award as will cause the chal-
lenger and challenged to be of the same mind ; and considerable in-
genuity is required and exhibited on his part. The challenge having
been made, as stated, between A's watch and B's horse, each party
puts his HAND into a cap or hat [or into his pocket] while C makes
the award, which he purposely does in as rapid and complex a man-
ner as possible. Thus, after humorously exaggerating the various
excellences of the articles, he may say—" The owner of the superior
gold lever watch shall give to the owner of the beautiful thorough-
bred bay horse, called Flyaway, the watch and fifteen half-crowns,
seven crowns, eighteen half-guineas, one hundred and forty groats,
thirteen sovereigns, fifty-nine pence, seventeen shillings and sixty-
three farthings. Draw, gentlemen I " A and B must instantly then
draw out and open their hands. If money appears in both, they are
agreed, and the award stands good ; if money be in neither hand, they
are also agreed, but the award is rejected. If money be only in one
hand, they are not agreed, the award is ofif, and the stakes go as
already stated. Very frequently, neither A nor B are sufficiently
quick in their mental calculations to follow the handicapper, and not
knowing on the instant the total of the various sums in the award,
prefer being "ofif," and "draw" no money. As in this event the
handicapper gets the stakes, the reason for the complex nature of his
award is obvious.
When handicapping has once commenced in a convivial party, it is
considered unsportsmanlike to refuse a challenge. So when the small
hours draw on, and the fun becomes fast and furious, coats, boots,
waistcoats, even shirts are challenged, handicapped, and exchanged,
amidst an almost indescribable scene of good-humoured jovialty and
stentorian laughter. This is the true handicap. The application of
the term to horse -racing has arisen from one or more persons being
chosen to make the award between persons, who put down equal
sums of money, on entering horses unequal in power and speed for
the same race.
HANDLE, a nose ; the title appended to a person's name ; also a term in
boxing, " to HANDLE one's fists," to use them against an adversary.
BLAlfDLING, a method of concealing certain cards in the. palm of the
hand, one of the many modes of cheating practised by sharpers.
HAND-SAW, or " chive-fencee," 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 hia customers, instead of waiting for his customers to
visit bin).
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 15 1
HANO OUT, to reside, — in allusion to the ancient custom of hanging out
HANGMAN'S WAGES, thirteenpence halfpenny.— OW- iph century.
" 'Sfoot, what a witty ro^e waa this to leave this fair thirteenpence lialfpenny,
and this old halter," intimating aptly —
'* Had the hangman met us tliere, by these presages
Here had been his worlt, and here hig wages."
— Match at Midnijjht. Old Plays, viL 357,
HANNAH, " that's the man as married Hannah," a Salopian phrase to
express a matter begun.
HANSEL, or handsale, the lucky money, or first money taVen in the
morning by a pedlar. — Cocher'a Dictwnary, 1724. " Legs of mutton
(street term for sheep's trotters, or feet) two for a penny ; who '11 give
me a hansel ? who '11 give me a hansel ? " — Cry at Cloth Fair at the
present day. Hence, earnest money, first fruits, &.O. In Norfolk, han-
selling a thing is using it for the first time, as wearing a new coat,
taking seizin of it, as it were. — Anglo-Saxon. Nich. Bailey.
" HA'PURTH 0' COPPERS," Habeas Corpus.— Legal Slang.
" HA'PURTH 0' LIVELINESS," the music at a low concert, or theatre.
HARAMZADEH, a very general Indian term of contempt, signifying base-
bom. — A nglo-Indian.
HARD LINES, hardship, difficulty. — Soldier's tern for hard duty on tha
lines in front of the enemy. The editor of Notes and Queries proves
Lines to have been formerly synonymous with Lots, from Ps. xvi. 6. —
Jiible version — "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places;"
Prayer- Book do. — " The lot is fallen unto me in a fair ground," — Vol.
xii., p. 287.
HARDY, a stone.— iVbrtA.
HARD-UP, in distress, poverty stricken. — Sea.
HARD-UP, a cigar-end finder, who collects the refuse pieces of smoked
cigars from the gutter, and having dried them, sells them as tobacco
to the very poor.
HARRY, or old harry, (»'.«., Old Hairy!) the Devil; "to play old
HARRY with one," i.e., ruin or annoy him.
HARRY-SOPH, (ipl(ro(pos, very wise indeed,) a student of law or physio
at Cambridge, who being of the same standing as the students in arts
in his year, is allowed to wear a full-sleeved gown when they
assume their B.A. gowns, though he does not obtain his actual degree
so soon. An undergraduate in his last year is a Senior Soph, in his
last term, & Questionist. Vide Cambridge University Calendar for 18^2,
p. 38. — Cambridge.
HARUM-SCARUM, wild, dissipated, reckless ; four horses driven in a line.
This is also called stnciDE. See tandem, randem, unicorn, &c.
HASH, a mess, confusion ; " a pretty hash he made of it ; " to hash trp, to
jumble together without order or regularity. The term also occurs
in the phi'ase " to settle his hash," which is equivalent to " give him
his GRUEL," or " cook his goose," i.e., kill him.
HATCHET, " to throw the hatohkt," to tell lies.
152 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
HATCHET, "to sling the hatchet," to skulk.— &a.
HAWBUCK, a vulgar, ignorant, country fellow.
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.
HAZE, to confuse and annoy a subordinate by contradictory, unnecessary,
and perplexing orders.
HAZY, intoxicated. — Household Wards, No. 183.
HEADBEETLER, the bully of the workshop, who lords it over his fellow-
workmen by reason of superior strength, skill in fighting, &c. Some-
times applied to the foreman.
HEADER, a plunge head foremost into water, or a fall in the same pos-
ture from accident. Also a recently-adopted theatrical expression for
the daring jump of the hero or heroine in sensational dramas. See
newspaper reviews of the " Colleen Bawn."
" HEAD OR TAIL," " I can't make head oe tail of it," i.e,, cannot make
it out. Originally a betting phrase.
HEAD-RAILS, the teeth.— 5ca.
HEAD-SERAG, a master; from seranq, a boatswain. — Bengalee, andS'co.
HEAP, "a HEAP of people," a crowd; "struck all of a heap," suddenly
astonished.
HEAT, a bout, or turn, in horse-racing ; the gainer of two heats winning
the race.
HEAVY DRAGOONS, bugs, in contradistinction to fleat, which are light
INFANTRY. — Owfurd University,
HEAVY WET, porter and beer, — because the more a man drinks of it, the
heavier and more stupid he becomes.
HEDGE, to secure a doubtful bet by making others. — Turf. Hedging, as
a system of betting, is quite different from BOOKilAKiNa, and may be
explained as follows : — The bedgek, from information or good judg-
ment, selects, say, three horses. A, B, and C, likely to advance in the
betting, and takes 50 to I — say £iooo to £20 — against each of them.
As the race-day approaches the horse A may fall out of the betting,
from accident or other cause, and have to be written off as a dead loss
of £20. But the other two horses, as anticipated, improve in public
favour, and the hedgee succeeds in laying 5 to i — say £500 to £100
—against B, and 2 to I — say £500 to £250— against C. The account
then stands thus — A is a certain loss of £20; but if B wins, the
HEDGER will receive £1000 and pay £500 ; balance in favour, £500.
If B loses, the hedoer will receive £100 and pay £20; balance in fa-
vour, £80. If C wins, the hedger will receive £1000 and pay £500 ;
balance in favour, £500. If C loses, the hedger will receive £250
and pay £20 ; balance in favour, £230. Deducting, then, the loss of
£20 on A, the hedger's winnings will be considerable ; and he cannot
lose, providing his information or judgment lead to the required result,
which, in two cases out of three, may be conBidere4 a certainty. But it
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 1 53
must never be forgotten that however well Turf speculations may look
on paper, they are subject to the contingency of the bets being honour-
ably paid on settlinq-dat. " The Druid " in Post and Paddock
remarks : —
•' The term hedgino has been quite superseded by " laving off ; " and we
bad, in fact, quite forgotten it till we saw it stated in the papers lately, by
a cler^mau, who did not answer a question on docti-ine as the Bishop of
Exeter exactly liked, that his lordship addressed him to this effect : * You
are HEDQiNO, sir ; you are HEoaiNQ I * "
See BOOK and bookuaeino.
HEDGE-POPPING, shooting small birds about the hedges, as boys do;
unsportsmanlike kind of shooting.
HEEL-TAP, the small quantity of wine or other beverage left in the
bottom of a glass, considered as a sign that the liquor is not liked, and
therefore unfriendly and vmsocial to the host and the company. See
BAY-UQHT.
HEIGH-HO ! a Cant term for stolen yam, from the expression used to
apprise the dishonest manufacturer that the speaker had stolen yam
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 obaoleie.
" HELL AND TOMMY," utter destruction.
HEN- PECKED, said of one whose wife "wears the breeches."
HERRING-POND, the sea; " to be sent across the hebrino-pond," to be
transported.
HIDING, a thrashing. Webster gives this word, but not its rootj bidjs,
to beat, flay by whipping.
HIGGLEDY-PIGGLEDY, all together,— as hogs and pigs lie.
HIGH CHURCH, in contradistinction to low choech. See the following.
" HIGH AND DRY," an epithet applied to the soi-duant " orthodox " clergy
of the last century, for whom, while ill-paid curates did the work, the
comforts of the establishment were its greatest charms.
** Wlierein are various ranks, and due degrees.
The Bench for honour, and the Stall for ease.*
Though often confounded with, they are utterly dissimilar to, the
modem High Church or Anglo-Catholic party. Their equally unin-
teresting 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 HiaH-FLT," on the begging or cadging system.
HIGH JINKS, " ON THE HIGH JINKS," taking up an arrogant position, as-
suming an undue superiority. Scott explains this game in his Guy
ifannering.
" Hen and chickens," large and small pewter pots.
HioH-FLTEE, a genteel beggar or swindler.
154 ^ DICTIONARY OF MODERN
HIGH-FLYER, a large swing, in frames, at fairs and races.
HIGH-LOWS, laced boats reaching a trifle higher than ankle-jacts.
HIGHFALUTEN, showy, affected, tinselled, affecting certain pompous or
fashionable airs, stuck up ; " come, none of yer hiqhpaluten games,"
i.e., you must not show off or Imitate the swell here. — American Slang,
now common in Liverpool and the East End of London, from the Dutch,
VERLOOTEN. Used recently by the Timet in the sense of fustian, high-
sounding, unmeaning eloquence, bombast.
HIGH-STRIKES, corruption of Hysterica.
HIP INSIDE, inside coat pocket.
HIP OUTSIDE, outside coat pocket.
HIPPED, piqued, offended, crossed, Ac.
HITTITE, a facetious Sporting term for a prize-fighter.
HIVITE, a student of St Begh's College, Cumberland; pronounced St
bee's. — University.
HOAX, to deceive, or ridicule, — OroH says was originally a University
Cant word. Corruption of hocus, to cheat.
HOBBLED, committed for trial ; properly said of animals fed by the way-
side, with their forelegs fastened together.
HOB COLLINGWOOD, according to Brockett, a North Country term for
the four of hearts, considered an unlucky card.
HOBSON'S CHOICE, "this or none." Hobson was a carrier at Cam-
bridge, and also a letter out of horses for hire, and is said to have
always compelled his customers to take either the horse that stood in
the stall next the stable door or none at alL He was a benefactor to
the town, and Hohson's Conduit still stands as a memorial of him.
"HOB AND NOB," to act in concert with another; to "lay heads to-
gether;" to touch glasses in drinking; to fraternise in a convivial
meeting or merry-making.
HOCKS, the feet ; cdrbt hooks, round or clumsy feet
HOCK-DOCKIES, shoes.
HOCUS, to drug a person, and then rob him. The HOCUS generally con»
sists of snuff and beer.
HOCUS POCUS, Gipsy words of magic, similar to the modem "presto
fly." The Gipsies pronounce " Rabeat Corpus," hawcus paocob, {tee
Crabb's Gipsies' Advocate, p. l8 ;) can this have anything to do with the
origin of HOOtrs pocns ? Turner gives oonns 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 conjur-
ing, 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. Hodoe is said to be
simply an abbreviation of Roger.
'^trtfCUu^ - .^^?Ux)^^^«Vaj ^4^-
8LAN0, CANT, £ND VVLOAR WORDS. 1 55
HOG, a shilling.— OW Cant.
HOG, " to go the whole hoo ;" " the whole Hoo or none," to do anything with
a person's entire strength, not " by halves j " 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. " To 00
THE WHOLE HOo" is frequently altered into going the ehtikk animal, or
THK COMPLETE SWINE !
HOGA, do. " That won't hooa," i.e., that won't do, is one of the very
commonest of the Anglo-Indian Slang phrases. — Anglo-Indian.
HOLLOW, " to beat hollow," to excel.
HOLY LAND, Seven Dials, — where the St Giles's Greek is spoken.
HOMO, a man. Lingua Franca ; but «ee Omez, the more usual Cockney
pronunciation.
HONDEY, a Manchester name for an omnibus, and the abbreviation of
HONDEYBUSH, the Lancashire pronunciation of the word.
HOOK, an expression at Oxford, implying doubt, either connected with
Hookey Walker or with a note of interrogation (?) " Yes, with a
book at the end of it ! " i.e., with some reservation.
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, Ac, and from
which HOOK, to take or steal, haa been derived. Mentioned in Sudi-
hras 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 HOOKET 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. — Fashtonahle Slang.
"HOP THE TWIG," to run away; also a flippant expression for to die.
Many similar phrases are used by the thoughtless and jocose, as to
" LAY DOWN one's KNIFE AND FORK," " PIQQIHO OUT," " SNUFFING IT."
—Old.
HOP-MERCHANT, a dancing-master.
HoiSTiNQ, shoplifting.
f56
A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
HOPPINO GILES, a cripple. St ^Egidius or Giles, himself Bimilarly
afflicted, was their patron saint. The ancient lazar houses were dedi-
cated to him.
HOPPO, custom-house officer, or custom-house. Almost anything connected
with custom-house business. — Anglo-Chinese.
HORRID HORN, term of reproach amongst the street Irish, meaning a
fool, or half-witted fellow. From the Erse, omadhacn, a brainless
fellow. A correspondent suggests HERRIDAn, a miserable old woman.
HORNSWQGGLE, nonsense, humbug. Believed to be of American
origin.
HORRORS, the low spirits, or "blue devils," which follow intoxication.
HORSE, contraction of Horsemonger-Lane Gaol.
HORSE, a Slang term for a five-pound note.
HORSE-CHAUNTER, a dealer who takes worthless horses to country
fairs and disposes of them by artifice. He is generally an unprincipled
fellow, and will put in a glass eye, or perform other tricks. — See
COPER.
HORSE-NAILS, money. — Compare brads.
HORSE-NAILS. At the game of cribbage, when a player finds it his
policy to keep his antagonist back, rather than push himself forward,
and plays accordingly, he is said " to feed his opponent on hobse-nails."
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 "stifif yam." Now-a-
days they are deservedly appreciated as the finest regiment in the ser-
vice. 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 humorous term for the closet of decency.
HOUSES ; " safe as houses," an expression to satisfy a doubting person ;
" Oh ! it 's as safe as hodses," i.e., perfectly safe, apparently in allu-
sion to the paying character of house property as an investment.
HOW MUCH ? A facetious way of asking for an explanation of any
pedantic expression. " Why don't you cook your potatoes in an anhy-
drohepsaterion ? " A waggish listener might be excused for asking.
An anhydro — how much ?
" HOW CAME YOU SO ?" intoxicated.
HOXTER, an inside pocket. — Old English, oxter.
HUBBLE-BUBBLE, the Indian pipe termed a hookah is thus designated
by sailors. — Sea,
HUEY, a town or village. — Trampi' term.
Horse's Nightcap, a halter ; "to die in a horse's nightcap," to be hanged.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 157
HUFF, a dodge or trick ; " don't try that huff on me," or " that hxtff
won't do." — Nonmch.
HUFF, to vex, or oflfend ; a poor temper. Horrr, easily offended.
HUGGER-MUGGER, underhand, sneaking.
HULK, to hang about in hopes of an invitation. — See mooch.
HULKY, extra-sized. — Shropshire.
HUM-BOX, a pulpit.
" 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 term.
Richardson uses it frequently to express the meaning of other words,
but, strange to say, omits it in the alphabetical arrangement as un-
worthy 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 humbuqs," by Ferdinando KUligrew, London, about
J 735-40-
1 have also ascertained that the famous Orator Henley was known
to the mob as Oeator Humbuo. The fact may be learned from an
illustration in that excedingly curious little collection of Caricatures,
published in 1 75 7, many of which were sketched by Lord Bolingbroke
— Horace Walpole filling in the names and explanations. Malliwell
describes humbug as " a person who hums," and cites Dean MUles's
MS., which was written about 1760. In the last century, the game
now known as double-dummy was termed humbug. Lookup, a
notorious gambler, was struck down by apoplexy when playing at
this game. On the circumstance being reported to Foote, the wit
said — "Ah, I always thought he would be humbugged out of the
world at last ! " 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 hum-
bug,"] was the answer to any fresh piece of news which smacked of
improbability. Qroie mentions it in his Dictionary, 1 785 ; and in a
little printed squib, pubUshed in 1808, entitled Bath Characters, by T.
GoosequUl, humbug is thus mentioned in a comical couplet on the title-
page:—
" Wee Thre Bath Deities bee,
HCTMBCO, rollie, and Varietee."
Gradually from this time the word began to assume a place in periodi-
cal literature, and in novels not written by over-precise authors. In
the preface to a Cat, and, I fear, unprofitable poem, entitled. The Reign
158
A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
of HITMBUO, o Satire, 8vo., 1836, the author thtis apologises for the use
of the word — " I have used the term hcmbuo 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 corre-
spondent, who in a late number of Adersaria ingeniously traced bom-
bast to the inflated Doctor Paracelsus Bombast, considers that humbuo
may, in like manner, be derived iTom.Jfomberg, 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 !
" I 194. — Of this there cannot be a hotter proof than the experiment of Mon-
sieur Homberg, who uadb gold of mercury by introducino light into
ITU PORES, but at such trouble and expense, that, I suppose, nobody will
try the experiment for profit. By tliis injunction of light and mercury,
both bodies became fixed, and produced a tliird different to either, to wit,
real gold. For the truth of wliich fact I refer to the memoirs of the
French Academy of Sciences." — Bertdey') Work), vol ii., p. 366, (Wright's
edition.)
Another derivation suggested {see The Bookseller for May 26, i860)
is AMBAQE, a Latin word adopted into the English language temp.
Charles I., {see May's translation of Lucan's Pharsalia,) and meaning
conduct the reverse of straightforwardness. Again, in the (burlesque)
L<yves of Hero and Leander, (date 1642,) we find " Mum-bug, quoth he,
'twas known of yore," a Cant expressiou, no doubt, command-
ing a person to "shut up," or hold his tongue, and evidently de-
rived from the game of mum-budget or silence, upon which UaXliweU
(Diet. Arch.) has descanted.
Ahsage is also used in the sense of " clroumloention.'* " Without any long
studie or tedious ambaoe." — Pultmham. Art 0/ Foesie.
" Umh ! y' are full of ambage "— Decker" t Whore of BabyUm, 1607.
** Thus from her cell Cumajan Sibyl sings
Ambiguous ambages, the cloyater rings
With the shrill sound thereof. In most dark strains."
— Vicar' t Virffil, 163X
De Quincey thus discourses upon the word : —
•* The word humbug, for instance, rests upon a rich and comprehensive basis ;
it cannot be rendered adequately either by German or by Greek, the two
richest of human langu.if^es ; and without this expressive word wo should all
be disarmed for one great case, continually recurrent, of social enormity.
A vast mass of villany, that cannot otherwise be reached by legal penalties,
or brought within the rhetoric of !>com, would go at largo with absolute
impunity were it not through the steru Hhadamanlhean aid of this virtuous
and inexorable word." — Article on " Language."
Since these notes were penned, I purchased the coBection of essays
known as the Connoisseur, from the late Mr Thackeray's Ubrary. At
the end of vol. i. I found a memorandum in the great humorist's
handwriting — " p. 108, ' humbug,' a new-coined expression." On re-
ferring to that page, I note this paragraph : —
'* The same conduct of keeping close to their ranks was observed at table,
where the ladies seated themselves together. Their conversation was here
also confined wholly to themselves, and seemed like the mysteries of the
Bona Deo, in which men wera forbidden to have any share. It was a con-
^ ilj^ ! '- ^ J-^^ -n^^ ^CU^ ,
^^
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 159
tinned laugh and wbisper from tbe beginning to the end of dinner. A
whole sentence was scarce ever spoken aloud. Single words, indeed, now
and then broke forth ; such as odious, horrible, deteftabte, shocking, humuuo.
This last new-coined expression, which is only to be found in the nonsen-
Bicol vocabulary, sounds absurd and disagreeable whenever it is pro-
nounced ; but from the mouth of a lady it is * shocking,' * detestable,' * hor-
rible,' and * odious.' " — Front, the third edition, 1757.
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, and at the King's Head, St
John's Street, Clerkenwell. They were characterised by less mystery
and more pleasantry than the Freemasona" — Bacchuiand Fcnits, 1737-
In the West the term applies to a low cart
HUMP, to botch, or spoil
HUMP UP, " to have one's hump up," to be crofp or ill-tempered — like a
cat with its back set up. — See monkey,
HUMPTY-DUMPTY, short and thick.
HUNCH, to shove, or jostle.
HURKARU, a messenger. — Anglo-Indian.
HUNTER PITCHING, the game of cookshies— three throws a penny. —
See COCK8HT.
"HUNT 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 musi-
cians in England, now nearly superseded by the hand-organ. A corre-
spondent suggests that the name is derived from being girded on the
HURDiES, loins, or buttocks. — Scotch j Tarn 0' Shanter. In Italy the
instrument is called viola.
HUSH-MONEY, a sum given to quash a prosecution or evidence.
HUSH-SHOP, or chib, a shop where beer or spirits is sold " on the quiet "
— no licence being paid.
HYPS, or HYPO, the blue devils. From Hypochondriasis. — Swift.
HY-YAW I an interjectional exclamation of astonishment. — Anglo-Chinese.
INFANTRY, children ; light lnfantbt, fleas.
IN, "to be IN with a person," to be even with, or UP to him; also, to bo
on intimate terms with him.
"IN FOR IT," in trouble or difficulty of any kind.
NEXPRESSIBLES, unutterables, dnwhispebables, or sit-upohs,
trousers, the nether garments.
Iket, a Jew " fence." Corruption of Isaac, a common Hebrew name.
" Ik fob patter," waiting for trial, referring to the speeches of counsel,
the statements of witnesses, the summing up of the judge. &c. The
fuss of all which the prisoner sets down as " so much patteb."
l6o A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
INNINGS, earnings, money coming in ; " he 'b had long inningb," t.e., &
good run of luck, plenty of cash flowing in,
INSIDE LINING, dinner, &c.
INTERESTING, " to be in an interestino situation," applied to females
when enceinte.
INTO, "hold my hat, Jim, I '11 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 mush-
room origin.
IPSAL DIXAL, Cockney corruption of ipse dixit — said of one's simple un-
corroborated assertion.
IRISH APRICOTS, potatoes.
IRISH THEATRE, the temporary prison, guard-room, or lock-up in a
barracks. The fond fancy of the soldier supplies it with other figura-
tive appellations, as " the mill," " the jigger," " the HOUSE that jack
BUILT." In Edinburgh Castle it is termed " the dryboom."
" ISTHMUS OP SUEZ," the covered bridge at St John's College, Cam-
bridge, which connects the college with its grounds on the other side
of the river. — See okackle.
IVORIES, teeth; "a box" or "cage of ivoEiEa," a set of teeth, the
mouth ; " wash your itories," i.e., " drink." The word is also used to
denote dice.
JABBER, to talk, or chatter. A Cant word in Smffi time.
JACKED-UP, ruined, done for.
JACK KETCH, the public hangman. — See KETOH.
JACK NASTY-FACE, a sailor.— &a.
JACK SPRAT, a diminutive boy or man.
JACK TAR, a sailor.
JACK-AT-A-PINCH, one whose assistance is only sought on an emer-
gency; JACK IN-THB-WATEB, an attendant at the waterman'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.
JACK, HALF JACK, a card counter, resembling in size and appearance a
sovereign and a half-sovereign, for which it is occasionally passed to
simple persons. In large gambling establishments the " heaps of gold"
are frequently composed of jacks.
JACK, the knave of trumps, at the game of all-fours.
JACKETING, a thrashing. Similar term to leathering, cowhitino, &c.
JACKEY, gin. — Seven Dials originally.
JACOB, a ladder. Grose says from Jacob's dream.— OZ(i Cant.
■' It 's GOOD ON THE STAR," it 's easy to open.
■JlCK-iN-A-Box, a small but powerful kind of screw, used by burglars to
break open safes.
^ <rc 4 V'o^^^U ^ ^?^f>-vt'v^ ,
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 16I
JAGGER, a gentleman. German, jaoer, a sportsman.
JAIL-BIRD, a prisoner, one who has been in jail,
JAMES, a sovereign, or twenty sliilUngs.
JANNOCK, sociable, fair dealing. — Norfotk.
JAPAN, to ordain. — University.
JABK, a " safe-conduct " pass. — Oxford. Old Cant for a seal.
JARVEY, the driver of a hackney-coach; jabvey's uppkb BENjAMnr, a
coachman's over-coat.
JAW, speech, or talk ; " hold your jaw," don't speak any more ; " what
are you jawing about i " i.e., what are you making a noise about ?
JAWBONE, credit.
'* We have a few persons whose pockets are to let — men who have more com-
plainU than dollars — individuals who, in diner's parlance, live on jawbone,
(credit,) and are always to be found at saloons ; a clasH of men who, when
they are here, wish themselves yonder, and when yonder, wish themselves
back " — Tinus' Cm-rtipondent, San Francisco, Oct. 31, 1863.
JAW-BREAKER, a hard or many-syUabled word.
JAZEY, a wig. A corruption of jersey, the name for flax prepared in a
peculiar manner, and of which common wigs were formerly made;
" the cove with the jazey," i.e., the judge.
JEAMES, (a generic for " flunkeys,") the Morning Post newspaper — the
organ of Belgravia and the " Haristocracy."
JEHU, old Slang term for a coachman, or one fond of driving.
JEMINY-0 1 a vulgar expression of surprise.
JEMMY, a sheep's-head.— See sanquinakt james.
JEMMY-DUCKS, the man whose business it is to look after the poultry
_ on board a ship. — Sea. Pj''
JEMMY JESSAMY, a dandy. ^
JEMMY- JOHN, a jar for holding liquor; probably a corruption of demi- S^, C^
gallon.
JEREMIAD, a lament; derived, of course, from the Book of Lamentations,
written by the prophet Jeremiah.
JEREMY DIDDLER, an adept at raising the wind.
JERRY, a beer-house.
JERRY, a chamber utensil ; abbreviation of jeroboam. — Swift.
JERRY, a fog.
JERRY-GONIMBLE, the diarrhoea.
JERRY SNEAK, a hen-pecked husband, — a character in the Mayor of
Garret.
JERUSALEM PONY, a donkey.
JESSIE, " to give a person jessie," to beat him soundly. — See OAS.
Jeuhy, a crowbar. — Prison term.
Jabk, a seal, or watch ornament. — Ancient Cavt.
L
1 62 A DICTIONARY OP MODERN
JEW'S EYE, a popular simile for anything valuable. Probably a cormp-
tion of the Italian, GIOJE ; French, joaille, a jewel. In ancient
times, when a king was short of cash, he generally issued orders for so
many Jew'i eyes, or equivalent sums of money. The Jews preferred
paying the ransom, although often very heavy. This explanation ha;
been given of the origin of Jew's eye. Used by Shakspeare.
JEW-FENCER, a Jew street salesman.
JEZEBEL, a showily-dressed woman of suspected respectability ; de-
rived, of course, from 2 Kings ix. 30, but applied in this sense from
the time of the Puritans.
JIB, a firet-year man. — Dublin University.
JIB, the face, or a person's expression ; "the cut of his JIB," i.e., his pecu-
liar appearance. The sail of a ship, which in position and shape cor-
responds to the nose on a person's face. — Sea, A vessel is known by
the cut of the jib sail ; hence the popular phrase, " to know a man by
THE CUT OP HIS JIB."
JIB, or JIBBER, a horse that starts or shrinks. Shaktpeart iisea it in the
sense of a worn-out horse.
JIBB, the tongue. — Gipsy and Hindoo. (Tramps* term.)
JIFFY, " in a jipft," in a moment
JIGGER, a secret still, illicit spirits. — Scotch.
JIGGER, a door; "dub the jigger," shut the door. Ancient Cant, gtobr.
In billiards, the bridge on the table is often termed the jigger. Also,
the curtaitt of a theatre.
JIGGER, " I 'm jiggered if you will," a common form of mild swearing. —
See snigger.
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 waa, 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 tlie
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-v/ork, as opposed to (fmc-work. A job in political
phraseology is a Government office or contract, obtaini,d by secret in-
fluence or favouritism.
JOB, " a JOB lot," otherwise called a " sporting lot," any miscellaneous goods
purchased at a cheap rate, or to be sold a bargain. Frequently used
to conceal the fact of their being stolen, or otherwise dishonestly
obtained.
JOB'S COMFORT, reproof instead of consolation.
JOB'S COMFORTER, one who brings news of additional misfortunes.
Jioger-ddbber, a term applied to a jailor or turnkey.
Jilt, a crowbar or house-breaking implement.
SLAJiO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 163
JOB'S TURKEY, " as poor as job's tubket," as thin and as badly fed as
that ill-conditioned bird.
JOE, a too marvellous tale, a lie, or a stale joke. Abbreviated from " Joe
Miller." The full name ia occasionally used, as in the phrase " I don't
Bee the jOE milleb of it," i.e., I don't perceive the wit you intend.
JOEY, a fourpenuy piece. The term is derived (like bobby from Sir
Robert Peel) from Joseph Hume, the late respected M.P. The expla-
nation is thus given in Maickim'i 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 niclcname of joeys.
As tbey were very convenient to pay sliort 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, jdoab.
JOHNNY, half-a-glass of whisky. — Irish.
JOHN-THOMAS, a generic for " flunkeys," — more especially footmen
with large calves and fine bushy whiskers.
JOHNNY-DARBIES, a nickname for policemen, an evident corruption of
the French oekssabues. Also, a term applied to handcuffs. — See
DABBIES.
JOHN ORDERLY, the signal to shorten the performance at a show.
Whenever the master, who remains on the platform outside to take
the money and regulate the performance, desires to refill the booth,
he pokes his head inside and shouts, " Is JOHN orderly there ?" The
actors instantly cut the piece short, the curtain falls, and the specta-
tors are bundled out at the back, to make room for the fresh audience.
According to tradition, John Orderly was a noted showman, who
taught this move to the no less noted Richardson.
JOLLY, a word of praise, or favourable notice ; " chuck Harry a jollt-
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. This is also called jollying.
" Chuck a JOLLY," lit. translated, is " throw a shout" or "good word."
JOLLY, a Royal Marine. — See HORSE marine.
JOMER, a sweetheart, or favourite girl. — See blowee.
JOSKIN, a countryman.
JOW, be off, be gone immediately. K the word jehantjm be added, it
forms a peremptory order to go to the place unmentionable to ears
polite. Our word " Jericho," to go to, is probably derived from jeha-
vvu.—A nglo-Indian.
JUDAS, a deceitful person ; judas-haibed, red-haired, deceitful.
" Joe BLAKE THE BARTLEMY," to visit a low womsn.
1 64 -A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
JUNIPER, spa.—H(ymAold Wordt, No. 183.
JUNK, salt beef. — See old hoesk
JUWAUB, literally, in Hindoatanee, an answer; but in Anglo-Indian
Slang signifying a refusal. If an oiBcer asks for leave and is refused, he
is said to be juwaubed ; if a gentleman unsuccessfully proposes for
the hand of a lady, he is said to have got the jdwatjb. — Anglo-Indian.
KLAJIIBAT, food, literally rice and curry ; the staple dish of both natives
and Europeans in India. — Anglo-Indian.
KEEL-HAULING, a good thrashing or mauling, rough treatment, — from
the old nautical custom of punishing ofteuders by throwing them over-
board 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 shuttle-cook. — Grose.
KELTER, coin, money,
KEN, a house. — Ancient Cant. Khan, Gipsy and Oriental.
%* All Slang and Cant words which end in ken, such as spielken,
SPINIKBN, or BooziNGKEN, refer to houses, and are mainly of Gipsy
origin.
KENNEDY, a poker, also to strike or kill with a poker. A St Giles's term,
BO given from a man of that name being killed by a poker. Frequently
shortened to neddt.
KENT RAG, or clout, a cotton handkerchief.
KERTEVER CARTZO, the disease known as the morlo gaUico. From
the Lingua Franca, cattivo, bad, and CAZZO.
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 Macaiday's History of England, p. 626.
KIBOSH, nonsense, stuff, humbug ; " it 's all kibosh," i.e., palaver or non-
sense ; " to put on the kibosh," to run down, slander, degrade, &o.
— See BOSH. Kibosh also means one shilling and sixpence.
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 ; Gaelic, cuach, a bowl, a nest ; Scotch, quaigh.
KICKERABOO, dead. A West Indian negro's phrase. — See kick thb
BUCKET, of which phrase it is a corruption.
KICK THE BUCKET, to Am.— 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 hia
MS. additions to the work of the East- Anglian lexicographer : —
JUQ, 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.
KeN'Cbackeb, a housebreaker.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULOAR W0SD8. 105
"The allusion Is to the way in which a slaughtered pigf is hun^ up, — tIz., by
passing the ends of a bent piece of wood behind the tendons of the bind
legs, and po suspending it to a hook in a beam atxjve. 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 bdcket.' "
Another correspondent says the real signification of this phraae is to
commit suicide by hanging, from a method planned and carried out
by an ostler at an inu on the Great North Road. Standing on a
bucket, he tied himself up to a beam in the stable ; he then kicked
THE BUCKET away from under his feet, and in a few seconds was dead.
The natives of the West Indies have converted the expression into
KICEEBASOO.
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 substan-
tial. Corruption of the French, quelques ohoses.
KICKSIES, trousers.
KICKSY, troublesome, disagreeable. Genaan, keck, bold.
KID, an infant, or chUd.
KID, to joke, to quiz, to hoax anybody.
KIDON, to entice or incite a person to the perpetration of an act.
KIDDIER, a pork-butcher.
KIDDILY, fashionably or showily ; " kiddilt togg'd," showily dressed.
KIDDLEYWINK, a small shop where they retail the commodities of a
village store. Also, a woman of unsteady habits.
KIDDY, a man or boy. Formerly a low thief.
KIDDYISH, frolicsome, jovial.
** Think on the kiddtish spree we had on such a day.**
— KdndaU't Diary, i8ao.
KIDNA, how much? — Anglo-Indian.
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 ktdnet," 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." — Terrce Pilim, 1763.
KiDDEN, or KIDKEN, a low lodging-house for boys.
KiD-KiG, cheating children in the streets sent on errands, or intrusted with
packages. — Nearly obsolete.
KlDMENT, a pocket-handkerchief fastened to the pocket, and partially hung
out, to entrap thieves ; hence any inducement to dishonesty or crime.
Also, a fictitious story or written statement got up to deceive the un-
wary. A begging letter ; long rigmarole of any kind.
KlDSMAN, one who trains boys to thieve and pick pockets successfully.
1 66
A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
I'^^X-K^^Wv-i^ ivi
KILKENNY CAT, a popular simile for a yoracious 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."
JCIMBO, 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. Celtic, cam, crooked.
KINCHIN, a child. — Old Cant. From the German diminutive, kdjdchen,
a baby
KINCOB, uniform, fine clothes, rich embroidered dresses. — Anglo-Indian.
KINGSMAN, the favourite coloured neckerchief of the costerniongers.
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 kikqsuan is
tied either around his waist as a belt, or aa a garter around his leg.
This very singular partiality for a peculiar-coloured neckcloth was
doubtless derived from the Gipsies, and probably refers to an
Oriental taste or custom long forgotten by these vagabonds. A
strange similarity of taste for certain colours exists amongst the Hin-
doos, Gipsies, and London costermongers. Red and yellow (or orange)
are the great favourites, and in these hues the Hindoo selects his tur-
ban and his robe ; the Gipsy his breeches, and his wife her shawl or
gown ; and the costermonger. his plush waistcoat and favourite KiNoa-
MAN. Among either class, when a fight takes place, the greatest re-
gard is paid to the favourite coloured article of dress. The Hindoo
lays aside his turban, the Gipsy 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 pictitrbs,) money.
KISKY, drunk, fuddled.
KISSER, the uiovXh.— PugUiatic term.
KISS-CURL, a small curl twisted on the temple. — See bowcatcheb.
KISS-ME-QUICK, the name given to the very small bonnets worn by
females since 1850.
KiNCHra COVE, a man who robs children ; a little man. — Ancient Cant.
KiBK, a church or chapel; "crack a KIBK," «.e., to break into a church.—
Priion Cant.
8LAN0, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 1 67
KIT, a person's baggage. Also, a collection of anything, " the whole KIT of
'em," the entire lot. Anglo-Saxon, KYTH. — North.
KITE, see fly the kite.
KITMEGUR, an under-butler, a footman. — Anglo-Indian.
KNACKER, an old horse ; a horse-slaughterer. — Gloucestershire.
KNAP, to receive, to take ; " oh, my ! won't he just knap it when he can !"
i.e., won't he take anything if he gets a chance.
KNAP, i.q., NAP, to break. — Old English, hit nearly obsolete. See Ps.
xlvL 9, (Prayer-book versioH,) " He breaketh the bow, and kbappeth
the spear in sunder ; " probably sibilated into snap.
KNAPPING-JIGGER, a turnpike gate; "to dub at the KNAPPma-JiGGER,"
to pay money at the turnpike.
KNARK, a hardhearted or savage person.
KNIFE, " to KNiPE 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.
. . . . " On 'busses' knifeboards stretch'd.
The City clerks all tougue-protruded lay."
— A Summer Idyll, by Arthur Smith.
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 paas about the drink.
KNOCK-DOWN, or knock-me down, strong ale.
KNOCK-'EM-DOWNS, a pubHc-house game.
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.
KNOCKER, " up to the knockek," finely or showily dressed, the height
of fashion ; proficient, equal to the task.
KNOCK- IN, the game of loo.
KNOCK-OUTS, or knock-ins, disreputable persons who visit auction
rooms and unite to purchase 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 a neigh-
bouring public-house, where they are re-sold or knookkd-out, and the
difference between the first purchase and the second — or tap-room
knockout — is divided amongst the gang. As generally happens with
Knap, to steal — Frison CanL
1 68 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
ill-gotten gains, the money soon finds its way to the landlord's pocket,
and the knock-out is rewarded with a red nose and 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.
KNOWING, a Slang term for sharpness; "knowing codger," or "a
KNOWING blade," one who can take you in, or cheat you, in any trans-
action you may have with him. It implies also deep cunning and
foresight, and generally signifies dishonesty.
" Who, on a spree with black-eyed Sal, his blowen,
So swell, so prime, so nutty and so kkowino." — Don Juan.
Know, in this sense, enters into several Slang phrases. " I KNOW a trick
worth two of that," expresses that I am not to be taken in by such a
shallow device. " He knows a thing or two," t.e., a cunning fellow.
KNOWLEDGE-BOX, the heaA.—Pugaistic.
KNUCKLE-DUSTER, an iron instrument contrived to cover the knuckles
BO as to protect them from injury when striking a blow, adding force
to it at the same time, and with nobs or points projecting, so as to
mutilate and disfigure the person struck. This brutal invention is
American, but has been made too familiar here in the police cases
between the officers and sailors of American vessels.
KNUCKLE TO, or knuckle under, to yield or submit.
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.
KOOTEE, a house.— Anglo-Indian.
KOTOOING, misapplied flattery. — Illustrated London News, 7th January
i860. From a Chinese ceremony.
KUBBER, news. — Anglo-Indian.
KUDOS, praise ; kudized, praised. Greek, kvHos. — University.
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 I but
this is a mistake. Sometimes pronounced LAW, or lawks.
LAC, one hundred thousand. — Anglo-Indian.
LACING, a beating. From the phrase " I '11 lace your jacket." — V Estrange.
Perhaps to give a beating with a lace or Uuh.
LADDER, " can't see a hole in a ladder," said of any one who is intoxi-
cated.
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.
Knuckle, to pick pockets after the most approved method.
Knucklee, a pickpocket.
Lag, a returned transport, or ticket-of-leave convict.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WOBDS. 1 69
LAG, to void urine. — Ancitnt Cant.
LAGGER, a sailor.
LAMBASTING, a beating.— See LAjmnia.
LAME DUCK, a stockjobber who speculates beyond his capital, and can-
not 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 Seawmont and Fletcher.
Not, as Sir W. Scott supposed, from one Dr Lamb, but the Old None,
LAH, the hand ; also, Qaelic.
LAMMY, a blanket.
LAND-LUBBER, sea term for « a landsman."— &« U)APKR.
LAND- SHARK, a sailor's definition of a lawyer.
LANE, a familiar term for Drury Lane Theatre, just aa Coveat Garden
Theatre is constantly spoken of aa " the gakdbn."
LAP, liquor, drink.
" LAP THE GUTTER," to get drunk.
LARK, fun, a joke ; " let 's have a jolly good labk," let UB have a piece of
fua Mayhem calls it " a convenient word covering much mischief."
— Anglo-Saxon, LAO, sport; but more probably from the nautical term
SKYLARKINO, 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.— /risA.
LATCHPAN, the lower lip— properly a dripping-pan; "to hang one's
LATOHPAN," 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.
LAW, " to give LAW to an animal " is a sporting term signifying to give
the bare or stag a chance of escaping, by not setting on the hounds
till it has run some distance. Also, figuratively used for giving any
one a chance of succeeding in a difficult undertaking.
LAY, some, a piece. " Tip me a lat of pannum," t.e., give me a slice of
bread. — North.
LAY, to watch; "on the LAY," on the look-out. — Shakspeare.
" LAY DOWN THE KNIFE AND FORK," to die.— See " piooimq-oot,"
and " HOPPINO THE TWio," for similar flippancies.
" LAY THEM DOWN," to play at cards.
LEAF, the drop on which executions take place, which are defined aa the
" FALL OF THE LEAF" by the ribald spectators. — See autumn.
Laqged, imprisoned, apprehended, or transported for a crime. From tha
Old Norte, laqda, " laid," laid by the leg.
Leary, flash, or knowing.
Leary, to look, or be watchful ; shy. — Old Cant.
170 A DICTIONARY OF MODERK
LEATHER, to beat or thrash. From the leather belt worn by soldiers
and policemen, often used as a weapon in street rows.
LEATHERN-CONVENIENCT, a carriage. A Quaker being reprimanded
by the Society of Friends for keeping a carriage, "contrary to the
ancient testimonies," said, " it is not a carriage I keep, but merely a
LEATHERN-CONVENIENOT." — See under SIMON PUKE, in the Introduction.
LEAVING SHOP, an unlicensed house where goods are taken into pawn
at exorbitant rates of interest — Daily Telegraph, Ist August 1859.
LED CAPTAIN, a fashionable spunger, a " swell " who by artifice ingra-
tiates himself into the good graces of the master of the house, and
lives at his table.
LEEF, " I 'd as leep do it as not," i.e., I have no objection to do it. — Co:^
ruption of lief, or leave. Old EnglUh, liep, inclined to.
LEER, empty. — Oxfordihire. Pure German, as is nearly so the next word.
LEER, print, newspaper. Oerman, lehken, to instruct ; hence Old Eng-
lish, LEEE, " spelt in the leeb." — See spell. — Old Cant.
LEG, a part of a game. He who gains two leos, wins the game or rub.
LEG, or blaokleo, a disreputable sporting character, and racecourse
habitv4.
LEGANDLEG, the state of a game when each player has won a leo.
In Ireland a LEO is termed a HORSE, leq-and-LEO being there termed
HOBSE-AHD-EOBSE.
LEG IT, to run ; " to give a lbo," to assist, as when one mounts a horse ;
"making a LEO," a countryman's bow, — projecting the leg from be-
hind as a balance to the head bent forward. — Shakapeare.
LEG-OF-MUTTON, inflated street term for a sheep's trotter, or foot
LENGTH, forty-two lines of a dramatic composition. — Theatrical,
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 Qentle Shepherd. Common in
Scotland.
y'^LETTY, a bed. Italian, letto. — Lingua Franca.
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.
LEVY, a shilling. — Liverpool
Leart bloak, a person who dresses showily.
Leg bail, (to give,) to escape from prison or arrest.
Leoqed, a prisoner in irons.
Length, six months' imprisonment. — iStee stretch.
ieX ^ - /to -t^y ^ '"'^
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 171
LICK, a blow; lickhto, a beating; " to put in big licks," a curious and
common phrase meaning that great exertions are being wsde.-^Dni-
den ; North.
LICK, to excel, or overcome ; "if you ain't sharp he'll lick you," i,e., be
finished first. Signifies, also, to whip, chastise, or conquer. Ancient
Cant. LYCKE. Welsh, llachio, to strike.
LICKSPITTLE, a coarse term for a parasite, who puts up with indigni-
ties for the sake of advantages.
LIG, a lie, a falsehood. — Lancashire. In old ballads the word " lie" is often
spelt " LIG."
LIGHT, " to be able to get a light at a house " is to get credit.
LIGHTS, a worthless piece of meat, applied metaphorically to a fool, %
soft or stupid person.
LIGHTS, the eyes. Also, the lungs ; animals' lungs are always so called.
LIGHT BOB, a light infantry ioXAieT.— Military.
LIGHT FEEDER, a silver spoon.
LIGHTNING, gin ; " flash o' liohtnino," a glass of gin.
LIL, a book, a pocket-book. — Gipsy.
LILY-BENJAMIN, a white great-coat. — See benjamin.
LIMBO, a prison, from limbus or liubus fatbum, a mediseval theological
term for purgatory.
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, linqija. — Lingua Franca,
LINT-SCRAPER, a young surgeon. Thackeray, in Lovel the Widower,
uses the phrase, and gives, also, the words .Mteviapius, Pestle-grinder,
and Vaccinator, for the same character.
LIONS, notabilities, either persons or sights worthy of inspection ; an ex-
pression dating from the times when the royal lions at the Tower,* be-
fore the existence of Zoological Gardens and travelling menageries,
were a London wonder, to visit which country cousins and strangers of
eminence were constantly taken.
* Tho origin of the Tower collection was the three leopards sent by the Emperor
Frederic to Henry III., as a living illusti-ation of the royal arms of England. In the
roll of John ile Cravebeadell, constable of the Tower, B. M. Top. Collocticms, iii. p. 153,
is a charge of 3d. per day " in support of the leopard of our lord the king." Edwai-d
III, when Prince of Wales, appears to have taken great interest in the animals ; and
LiFEB, 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 jSAai-»p«a«. Shoplifter is a recognised term. Old Gothic,
LLIFAN, to steal; Lower Shenish, loften.
172 A DICTIONARY OF MODESN
LIONISE, to conduct a stranger round the principal objects of attraction
in a place ; to act as cicerone.
LIP, bounce, impudence ; " come, none o' yer lip I "
LIP, to sing ; " up us a chant," sing a song.
LIQUOR, or liquok xjp, to diink drams. — Americanism. In uquob, tipsy,
or drunk.
LITTLE GO, the " Previous Examination," at Cambridge the first Uni-
versity examination for undergraduates in their second year of matricii
lation. At Oxford, the corresponding term is THB bmalls.
LIVE-STOCK, vermin of the insect kind.
LIVERPUDLIN, a native of LiverpooL
LOAFER, a lazy vagabond. Generally considered an Am/ericanism. Loper,
or LOAFER, however, wag in general use as a Cant term in the early
part of the last century. Landloper was a vagabond who begged in
the attire of a sailor ; and the sea phrase, land-lubber was doubtless
synonymous. — See tht Times, 3d November 1859, for a reference to
LOATER.
LOAVER, money. — See lour. — Lingua Franca.
LOB, a till, or money-drawer.
LOBB, the head. — PugUistic.
LOBLOLLY, gruel. — Old ; used by Marhham as a sea term for grit gruel,
or hasty pudding.
LOBLOLLY BOY, a derisive term for a surgeon's mate in the navy.
** Lob-lolty-boy is a person, who on board of a man-of-war attends the surgeon
and his mates, and one who knows just as much of the business of a sea*
man as the author of tliis poem." — The Patent, a Poem, 4to, 1776.
LOBS I schoolboys' signal on the master's approach. Compare cave !
CHUCKS I Also, an assistant watcher, an under gamekeeper.
LOBS, words, talk. — Oipsy.
LOBSCOUSE, a dish made of potatoes, meat, and biscuits, boiled together.
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.
LOGGERHEADS, " to come to loqqerheads," to come to blows.
LOGIE, theatrical jewellery, made mostly of zinc.
LOLLY, the head. — <Sec lobb. — Pugilistic.
after he became king, there was not only the old leopard, but "one lion, one lioness,
and two caHions," says Stowe, **in the said Tower, committed to the custody of
Robert, son of John Bowre," The menagerie was only abolished in 1834, and the
practice was to allow any person to enter gratis who brought with him a little dog
to bo thrown to the lions I — Dr Doran'e Princes of Wales, p. 120.
LiMLE 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.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 1 73
LONDON-ORDINARY, the beach at Brighton, where the " eight-hours-at
the-sea-side " excursionists dine in the open-air.
LONDRIX, London. Probably from the French, lohdbes.
LONG^BOW, " to draw," or " shoot with the LONO-Bow," to exaggerate.
LONG-GHOST, a tall, awkward person.
LONG-ODDS, in a bet this means staking thff greater proportion against
the smaller. — See odds.
LONG-TAILED-ONE, a bank-note or flimst for a large amount.
LONGSAND-SHORTS, cards made for cheating.
LONG-TAILS, among shooters, are pheasants ; among coursers and dog-
fanciers they are greyhounds.
LONG-SHORE BUTCHER, a coast-guardsman.— Sea.
LONG-TAILED BEGGAR, a cat. The tale that hangs thereby runs
thus : — A boy, during his first, and a very short voyage, to sea, had be-
come so entirely a seaman, that on his return he had forgotten the
name of the cat, and was obliged, pointing to puss, to ask his mother
" what she called that 'ere long-tailed beqoar ? " Accordingly,
sailors, when they hear a freshwater tar discoursing too largely on
nautical matters, are very apt to say, " But how, mate, about that 'ero
LONG-TAILED BEGGAK f "
LOOF-FAKER, a chimney-sweep. — iSee flue-faker.
LOOKING-GLASS, a facetious synonyme for a pot de chambre. — Cfrose.
See the story of Father Tom and the Pope in Blackwood's Magazine, by
Maga, May 1843. In ancient times this utensil was the object of
very frequent examination by the medical fraternity.
LOOSE. — See on the loose.
LOOSE-BOX, a brougham or other vehicle kept for the use of a dame de
compagnie. A more vulgar appellation for one is mot-oabt, the con-
temptuous sobriquet applied by the envious mob to a one-horse
covered carriage.
LOOT, swag, or plunder. — Hindoo.
LOPE, this old form of leap is often heard in the streets.
LOP-SIDED, uneven, one side larger than the other. — Old.
LORD, " drunk as a lord," a common saying, probably referring to the
facilities a man o£ fortune has for such a gratification ; perhaps a sly
sarcasm at the supposed habits of the " haristocracy."
LORD, a hump-backed man. — See MT lord.
LORD-MAYOR'S-FOOL, a personage who likes everything that ia good,
and plenty of it.
LORDOF-THE-MANOR, a sixpence.
LOTHARIO, a gay deceiver.
LOUD, flashy, showy, as applied to dress or manner. — See bags.
LOUR, or LOWB, money ; " gammy lowb," bad money. From the Walla-
chian Oipiy word, lowe, coined money. — See note, supra, p. 11. — Old
French, lower, revenue, wages. — Ancient Cant, and Gipay.
174 ^ DICTIONARY OF MODERN
LOUSE-TRAP, a small-tooth comb. — Old Cant.^See oatoh-'em-alivis.
LOVAGE, an old-fashioned cordial made from the carminative herb of
that name, [Ligmticum Scoiicum, linn,] and sold in gin-shops.
LOVE, at billiards " five to none " would be " five LOVE," — a love being
the same as when one player does not score at all. The term is also
used at whist, " six love," " four love " when one of the parties has
marked up six, four, or any other number, and the other none. A
writer in the Gentleman's Magazine, for July 1 780, derives it either
from LUPP, an old Scotch word for the hand, or from the Dutch, loep,
the LOOF, weather-gauge, {Sewell's Dutch Dictionary, 4to, 1754;) but it
more probably, from the sense of the next word, denotes something
done without reciprocity. — Sea.
LOVE, " to do a thing for love," i.e., for nothing. A man is said to marry
for love when he gets nothing with his wife ; and an Irishman, with
the bitterest animosity against his antagonist, will fight him for love,
i.e., for the mere satisfaction of beating him, and not for a stake.
LOVEAGE, tap droppings, a mixture of spirits, sweetened and sold to
habitual dram-drinkers, principally females. Called also alls.
LOW CHURCHMAN. He has been defined by the Times as one "who
loves a Jew and hates the Pope."
LOW-WATER, but little money in pocket, when the finances are at a low
ebb
LUBBER, a clown, or fool. — Ancient Cant, hjbbaeb.
LUBBER'S HOLE, an aperture in the maintop of a ship, by which a timid
climber may avoid the difficulties of the " futtook shrouds; " hence, a
sea term for any cowardly way of evading duty.
LUCK, " down on one's LnCK," wanting money, or in difficulty.
LUCKY, " to cut one's lucky," to go away quickly. — See steike.
LUDLAM'S DOG, an indolent, inactive person is often said to be "as lazy
as ludlam's dog, which leaned its head against the wall to bark."
Sailors say as lazy as Joe the Marine, who laid down his musket to
sneeze.
LUG, " my togs are in Luo," t.«., in pawn.
LUG, the ear. — Scotch,
LUG, to pull, or slake thirst. — Old.
LUG CHOVET, a pawnbroker's shop.
LUKE, nothing. — North Country Cant.
LUMBER, to pawn or pledge. — Household Ward*, No. 183.
LUMMY, jolly, first-rate.
LUMPER, a contractor. On the river, more especially a person who con
tracts to deliver a ship laden with timber.
Ltjllt pbigger, a rogue who steals wet clothes hung on lines to dry.
LuLLT, a shirt.
Lumbered, imprisoned.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. I 75
LUMP IT, to dislike it ; "if you don't like it you may lump it; " some-
times varied to "if you don't like it you may do the other thing."
"LUMP THE LIGHTER," to be transported.
LUMP-WORK, work contracted for, or taken by the lump.
LUMPY, intoxicated.
LUNAN, a giri.— Gtp»y.
LURCH, a term at the game of cribbage. A. is said to lubch B. when
the former attains the end, or sixty-first hole of the board before the
latter has pegged his thirty-first hole; or, in more familiar words,
before B. has turned the corner. A lubch counts as a double game
or rub.
LUSH, intoxicating drinks of all kinds, but generally used for beer. The
Globe, 8th September 1859, says "lush and its derivatives claim
Imshington, the brewer, as sponsor."
LUSH, to drink, or get drunk.
LUSH-CRIB, a public-house.
LUSHINGTON, a dnmkard, or one who continually soaks himself vrith
drams and pints of beer. Some years since there was a " lushinqton
Club " in Bow Street, Covent Garden.
LUSHY, intoxicated. Johnson says "opposite to pale," so red with drink.
LYLO, come hither. — Anglo-Chinese.
LYMPS, the Olympic Theatre.— &e lams.
MAB, a cab, or hackney-coach.
MAC TURK, a Scotch duellist, from a character in St Ronan's Well.
MADZA, half. Italian, mezza. This word enters into combination with
various Cant phrases, mainly taken from the lAnguM Franca, as madza
CAROON, half-a-crown, two-and-sixpence ; madza raltee, a halfpenny,
[tee SALTEE ;] madza roouA, half-a-sovereign ; madza bouno the bull,
half a pound of steak, &c.
MAG, a halfpenny. — Ancient Cant, make. Meos were formerly guineas. —
B. M. Carew. Make, the old form, is still used by schoolboys in
Scotland.
MAG, " not a blessed Mao ! " would be the phrase of a cadger down on
his luck to express bis penniless state.
MAG, to talk. A variation of nag. — Old; hence magpie.
Lumper, a low thief who haunts wharves and docks, and robs vessels ; also
a person who sells old goods for new.
LuBK, a sham, swindle, or representation of feigned distress.
LuBKEB, an impostor who travels the country with false certificates of fires,
shipwrecks, &c. Also, termed a silver beggar, which see.
Mack, a dressy swindler who victimises tradesmen.
Mace, to spunge, swindle, or beg, in a polite way ; " give it him (a shop-
keeper) on the mace," i.e., obtain goods on credit and never pay for
them ; also termed '' striking the mace."
176 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
MAGGOTY, fanciful, fidgety. 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.
MAHCHEEN, a merchant. Chinese pronunciation of the English word.
— Anylo-Chineae.
MAHOGANY FLAT, a bug.
MAHOGANY ; " to have one's feet under another man's juhogant," to
sit at his table, be supported on other than one's own resources ; " am-
putate your MAHOGANY," i.e., go away, or "cut your stick."
MAIL, to post a letter; "this screeve is mailed by a sure hand."
MAKE-UP, personal appearance. — Theatrical.
MALAPROPISM, an ignorant, vulgar, misapplication of language, so
named from Mrs JIalaprop, a character in Sheridan's unrivalled
comedy of the Rivals. Mrs Partington has lately succeeded to the
mantle of Mrs Malaprop; but the phrase Partingtonism is as yet
uncoined.
MALLEY, a gardener. — Anglo-Indian.
MANABLINS, broken victuals.
MANDOZY, a term of endearment; probably from the valiant fighter
named Mendoza.
MANG, to talk.— 5co<c^.
MAN-HANDLE, to use a person roughly, as to take him prisoner, turn
him out of a room, give him a beating.
MARBLES, furniture, movables; "money and marbles," cash and per-
sonal effects.
MARCHIONESS, a maid-of-all-work ; a title now in regular use — ^but de-
rived from the nickname of a character in Charlet Dickent't Old Curi-
osity Shop.
MARE'S NEST, a Cockney discovery of marvels, which turn out no mar-
vels at all. An old preacher in Cornwall up to very lately employed
a different version — viz., " a cow calving up in a tree."
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.
MARPLOT, an officious bungler, who spoils everything he interferes with.
Maosman, a street swindler, who watches for countrymen and " gullible "
persons.
Main-tobt, the highway, or the main road.
Make, a successful theft, or swindle. '
Make, to steal.
Marinated, transported ; from the salt pickling fish undergo in Cornwall.
—Old Cant.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 177
MARRIAGE LINES, a marriage certificate. — Provincial.
MARROW, a mate, a fellow -workman, a pitman who works in a "shift"
with another. — Northumberland and Durham.
MARROW-BONES, the knees ; " I '11 bring him down upon his marrow-
bonks," t.e., I '11 make him bend his knees as he does to the Virgin
Mary.
MARROWSKTING.— 5ce medical oreek.
MARRY, a term of asseveration in common use, was originally (in Popish
times) a mode of swearing by the Virgin Mary ; q.d., " by mart."
MARTINGALE, a gambling term. To double the stake every time you
lose.
MARYGOLD, one million sterling. — See plum.
MASKEE, never mind, no consequence. — Anglo-CIiinese.
"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.
"MASTER OF THE ROLLS," a baker.
" MASTER OF THE MINT," a gardener.
MATE, the term a coster or low person applies to a friend, partner, or com-
panion; "me and my mate did so and so," is a common phrase with a
low Londoner. — Originally a Sea term.
MATEY, a labovu-er in one of her Majesty's dockyards.
MAULEY, a signature, from mauley, a fist ; " put your piST 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. Mauno, to beg, is a term in use amongst the
Gipsies, 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.
MAWWORM, a hypocrite.
MAX, gin ; max upon tick, gin obtained upon credit.
MAZARINE, the platform beneath the stage in large theatres. Probably
corruption of Italian, mezzanino.
M. B. COAT, i.e., Mark of the Beast, a name given to the long surtout worn
by the clergy, — a modem 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
MEASLEY, mean, miserable-looking, "seedy;" "what a MEASLBT-looking
man ! " i.e., what a. wretched, unhappy look he has.
M
178
A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
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, vfhich consists
in transposing the initials of words, e.g., *^poke a smipe^* — smoke a
pipe ; "flutter-hy " — butterfly, &c. This disagreeable nonsense is often
termed marrowsktinq. — See greek, St Giles' obeek, or the "^gidiac"
dialect. Language of zipn, &o.
MEISENSANG, a missionary, Chinese pronunciation of the English word.
— A nglo-Chinese.
MENAGEBY, the orchestra of a th.ea.tre.— Theatrical.
MENAVELINGS, odd money remaining after the daily accounts are made
up at a railway booking-office, — usually divided among the clerks.
— See OVERS and shorts.
" MERRY DUN OF DOVER," a large ship 6guring in sailors' yams. She
was so large that when passing through the Straits of Dover her flying
jib-boom knocked down Calais steeple ; while, at the same time, the
fly of her ensign swept a flock of sheep off Dover cliffs. She was so
lofty that a boy who attempted to go to her mast-head found him-
self a gray old man when he reached the deck again. This yam is
founded on a story in the Scandinavian Mythology.
MESOPOTAMIA, a name given to a district in London. — iSee oubitopolis.
— Fashionable Slang.
METAL, sweetmeats. — Anglo-Indian.
MIDDY, abbreviation of MiDsniPMAN. — 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's, which used to be thronged with
Irish labourers, (Mike being so common a term with them as to be-
come a generic appellation for Irishmen with the vulgar,) who used to
loiter about the Pound, and lean against the pubUc-houses in the
" Dials " waiting for hire. A correspondent objects to this explana-
tion, and says that the term is Old English, michk, to skulk, to loiter ;
Old Norse, mak, leisure, idleness.
*'6hall the blessed sun of heaven prove a uichbr?"
— Shatspear^s Hen. IV., li. 4.
MILD, second-rate, inferior. — See draw it mild. Also feeble, inefficient,
as "a MILD attempt." Weak young men who keep bulldogs, and
dress in a " loud " stable style, from a belief that it is very becoming,
are sometimes called mild bloaters.
MILK, a term used in connexion with racing ; when a horse is entered
for a race which his owner does not intend him to win, and beta
against him, the animal is said to " be milked." — See milkino.
MILKING, a turf operation, described in the Times as " keeping a horse
a favourite, at short odds, for a race in which he has no chance what-
ever, only to lay against him."
Milky ones, white linen rags.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 1 79
MILL, a fight, or set to. Ancient Cant, htll, to rob.
MILL, to figUt or beat.
MILL, the Insolvent Debtors' Court. To go through the Miu is equivalent
to being whitewashed.
MILLEK, to GIVE THE MILLER, 18 to engage a person in conversation of an
apparently friendly character, when aU at once the bystanders surround
and pelt him with flour, grease, and filth of various kinds, flour pre-
dominating. This mode of punishing spies, informers, and other ob-
noxious individuals, is used by cabmen, omnibus conductors, et hoc
genua omne.
MILLER, this word is frequently called out when a person relates a stale
joke. — See joe.
MILVADER, to beat.
MISH, a shirt, or chemise. From commission, the Ancient Cant for a
shirt, afterwards shortened to k'mish or smish, and then to hish.
French, chemise ; Italian, oamioia.
" With his snowy oamesi and his shaggy capote."— .Byron.
MITET, a cheesemonger.
MITTEN, the &at.— Pugilistic.
MIZZLE, a frequentative form of " mist " in both senses ; as applied to
weather, it is used by John Oadbnry in his Ephemeris in 1695 — " misty
and mizzling " — to come down as mist ; while the other sense may be
expressed as to fade away like a mist, vanish into thin air, like the
conclusion of the prayer of Aruns in the ^neid, lib. xi. 794 : —
" Audiit, et voti Phcebus succedere partem
Meote dedit ; partem volucres di->i>erait in auras."
MIZZLE, to run away, or decamp ; to disappear as in a mist. From
mizzle, a drizzling rain ; a Scotch mist.
** And then one mizzling Michaelmas night,
The Count he mizzled too." — Bood.
MIZZLER, or edm-mizzler, a person who is clever at effecting an escape,
or getting out of a difficulty.
MOAB, a name applied to the turban-shaped hat fashionable among ladies,
and ladylike swells of the other sex, in 1 858 9. From the Scripture
phrase, " Moab is my washpot," (Ps. Ix. 8,) which article the hat in
question is supposed to resemble. — University.
MOB. Swift informs us, in his Art of Polite Conversation, that MOB was,
in his time, the Slang abbreviation of Mobility, just as KOB is of No-
bility at the present day. — See school.
" It is perhaps this humour of speaking no more words than we needs must
which has so miserably curtailed some of our w()rds, that in familiar writ-
ings and conversation they often lose all but their first syllables, as in UOB.,
red., poa., incog., and the like." — Addison's Spectator.
M (LL, the tread -MILL, prison
MiU/-Toa, a shirt ; most likely the orison garment.
l8o A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
MOBILITY, the populace ; or, according to Bwrkt, the " great unwashed."
Johnson calls it a Cant term, although Swift notices it as a proper ex-
pression.
MODEST QUENCHER, a glass of gin and water.
"MOISTEN TOUR CHAFFER," a Slang phrase equivalent to "take some-
thing to drink."
MOKE, a donkey. — Gipsy.
M OKO, a name given by sportsmen to pheasants killed by mistake in par-
tridge-shooting during September, before the pheasant-shooting comes
in. They pull out their tails, and roundly assert that 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, who jointly get their living by thieving.
MOLLSACK, a reticule, or market basket.
" MOLL THOMSON'S MARK, that is, M. T.— empty ; as " take away this
bottle, it has mom. Thomson's makk on it." — See M. T.
MOLLYCODDLE, an eifeminate man; one who caudles amongst the
women, or does their work.
MOLLYGRUBS, or molliqrubs, 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 sprer" in company with so-called "gay
women." In allusion to the amatory serenadiuga of the London cats.
MONK, a term of contempt ; probably an abbreviation of monkey.
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, the instrument which drives a rocket. — Army.
MONKEY, £iOO.— Civic Slang.
MONKEY-BOARD, the place or step attached to an omnibus, on which
the conductor stands.
MONKEY-BOAT, a peculiar, long, narrow, canal boat.
"MONKEY "WITH A LONG TAIL," a mortgage. —Legal.
MONKEY'S ALLOWANCE, to get blows instead of alms, more kicks
than halfpence.
MONKERY, the country, or rural districts. Originally an old word for a
quiet or monastic life. — Hall.
Mob, a companion ; mobsman, a dressy swindler.
MoLL-TOOLEB, a female pickpocket.
MoNEKEER, a person's name or signature. — Tramp)' Cant.
Monkey, a padlock. — Pruon Cant,
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. l8l
MOOCH, to spunge ; to obtrude one's-self upon friends just when they are
about to sit down to dinner, or other lucky time — of course quite ac-
cidentally. — Compare HULK. To slink away, and allow your friend to
pay for the entertainment. In Wiltshire, ON THE MOUTCH is to shuffle.
— See the following.
MOOCHING, or on the mooch, on the look-out for any articles or circum-
stances which may be turned to a profitable account; watching in the
streets for odd jobs, horses to hold, &o. ; also, scraps of food, old
clothes, &o.
MOOE, the mouth. — Gipny and Hindoo. Shahspeare has llOE, to make
mouths.
^WOliEX, intoxicated.— .SrouseAo?^ Wm-ds, No. 183.
MOONLIGHT, or moonshine, smuggled gin.
MOON-RAKER, a native of Wiltshire ; because it is said that some men
of that county, seeing the reflection of the moon in a pond, took it to
be a cheese, and endeavoured to pull it out with a rake.
MOONSHEE, a learned man, professor, or teacher. — Anglo-Indian.
MOONSHINE, palaver, deception, humbug.
MOP, a hiring place (or fair) for servants. Steps are being taken to put
down these assemblies, which have been proved to be greatly detri-
mental to the morality of the poor.
MOP UP, to drink, or empty a glass. — Old Sea term.
"MOPS AND BROOMS," intoxicated.— Household Words, No. 183.
MOPUSSES, money ; " MOPnssES ran taper," money ran short.
MORE-ISH, when there is scarcely enough of an eatable or drinkable it is
said to taste more-ish ; as " this wine is very good, but it has a slight
MORS-ISH flavour."
MORRIS, to decamp, be oflT. Probably from the ancient mobesco, or
morris dance.
MORTAR-BOARD, the term given by the vulgar to the square college
caps.
LGE- DEED, a pawnbroker's duplicate.
MOTT.j girt of indifferent character. Formerly Mart. Dutch, MOTT-KAST,
a harlotry. Mott-oabt, see loose-box.
MOUCHEY, a Jew.
MOULDY, gray-headed. Servants wearing hair-powder are usually termed
mouldy-pates by street boys.
MOULDY-GRUBS, travelling showmen, mountebanks who perform in the
open air without tent or covering. Doing this is called "mouldi-
GRUBBINO."
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 DBAO. It is a curious fact that the Indians of America and the
roaming vagabonds of England should both calculate time by the
UOON.
182 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
MOUNTAIN-DEW, whisky, adrertised as from the Highlands.
MOUNTAIN-PECKER, a sheep's-head.— See jemmy.
MOURNING, "a full suit of moubninq," too black eyes; halfmouuninq,
one black eye.
MOUSE, a black eye.
MOUTH, a common expression of contempt, equivalent to mttfp ; " you
are a mouth, and you will die a Up," is a vulgar form of abuse.
MOUTH-ALMIGHTY, a superlative form of the former expression, ap-
plied to a noisy, talkative person.
j^ - ^ - MOUTHPIECE, a lawyer, or counsel.
ly^ OtCCt*.' »■<»-&- MOVE, a " dodge," or cunning trick ; " up to a MOVE or two," acquainted
j^ with tricks. Probably derived from the game of chess.
M.P., member of the police, one of the Slang titles of the force.
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
Dichens'e popular novel of Martin Chuzdemt, who continually quoted
an imaginary Mrs Harris in attestation of the superiority of her quali-
fications, and tho infallibility of her opinions; and thus afforded a
parallel to the two newspapers, which appealed to each other as inde-
pendent authorities, being all the while the production of the same
editorial staff.
M. T., railway Slang used by porters and pointsmen for empties, or empty
carriages. — -See MOLL Thomson's mark.
"MUCH OF A MUCHNESS," alike, very much the same thing.
MUCK, to beat, or excel ; " it 's no use, luck 's set in him ; he 'd muck a
thousand." — Mayhem, vol. i., p. i8. 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 adver-
sary in gambling.
MUCK-SNIPE, one who has been "mucked out," or beggared, at gambling.
— See MUCK.
MUCKENDER, or muckengeb, a pocket-handkerchief.— OW. Cf. snot-
TINGEB. The original name of the " neokinqeu " in Bermondsey was
the "devil's neck-handkei chief." See a review of this work in The
Boohseller, May 26, i860. This is the name of a locality. There is
still a " NECKINGER road ; " and Messrs Bevington & Sons' tannery in
Bermondsey bears the name of the " neckinger mills."
Mounter, a false swearer. Derived from the borrowed clothes men
used to MOUNT, or dress in, when going to swear for a consideration.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 1 83
MUDFOO, "The British Association for the Promotion of Science."—
University.
MTJD-LARK, a man or woman who, with clothes tucked above knee,
grovels 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 applied to those men who cleanse
the sewers, with great boots and sou' wester hats. Those who are
employed in banks and counting-houses, in collecting and other out-
door duties, have also this appellation.
MUD-STUDENT, a farming pupil. The name given to the students at
the Agricultural College, Cirencester.
MUFF, a silly, or weak-minded person ; MCPP 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. From an Eastern word signifying a clei^gyman or priest.
MUG, the mouth, or face. — Old.
** ' Goblet and muo.' — Topers should bear in mind that what they quaff from
the goblet afterwards appears in the muo."
MUG, to strike in the face, or fight. Also, to rob by the garrote. Gaelic,
liVio, to suffocate, oppress ; Irish, mcqaim, to kUl, destroy.
MUG, "to MTiQ one's-self," to get tipsy.
MUGGING, a thrashing, — synonymous with slogginq, 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 examina-
tion. — Army.
MULL, " to make a mull of it," to spoil anything, or make a fool of one's-
self. — Gipsy.
MULLIGRUBS.— Fide molltordbs.
MULLINGAR HEIFER, a girl with thick ankles.— 7raA. The story goes
that a traveller, passing through Mullingar, was so struck with this
local peculiarity in the women, that he determined to accost the first
he met next. " May I ask," said he, " if you wear hay in your shoes ! "
"Faith an' I do," said the girl, "and what then ?" "Because," says
the traveller, " that accounts for the calves of your legs coming down
to feed on it."
MULTEE KEUTEVER, very bad. Italian, molto oattivo.— Ztn^aa
Franca.
MUMMER, a performer at a travelling theatre. — Ancient. Rustic per-
formers at Christmas in the West of England.
MUMPER, a beggar. — Gipfg. Possibly a corruption of MDmfER.
MUNDUNGUS, trashy tobacco. Spanish, mondgnoo, black pudding. — See
the Gentleman's Magazine for 1821, vol. xxv. p. 137.
MUNGARLY, bread, food. MnKO is an old wont' for mixed food, but
x84
A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
MUNOARLY is doubtless derived from the Lingua Franca, majtqiab, to
eat. — See the following.
MUNOARLY 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 manqiare, f.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,
MANQIARE being Italian, and Nix an evident importation from Trieste,
or other Austrian seaport.
MDNGING, or "mounginq," whining, begging, muttering. — North.
MUNS, the mouth. German, MCND. — Old Cant.
MURERK, the mistress of the house. — See BURERE.
MURKARKER, a monkey, — vulgar Cockney pronunciation of macauco, a
species of monkey. Jachey Macauco was the name of a famous fight-
ing 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,
MUBPHT being a common surname amongst the Irish. See mike. Mur-
phies (edible) are sometimes called Donovans.
MURPHY, " in the arms of mubphy," t.e., fast saleep. Corruption of uoB-
PHEUS.
MUSH, an umbrella. Contraction of mushroom.
MUSH— (or mushroom)— FAKER, an itinerant mender of umbrellaa.
MUSHROOM, an inelegant round hat worn by demure ladies.
MUSLIN, a woman or girl; "he picked up a bit of muslin."
MUST A, or MUSTER, a pattern, one of a sort. Anglo-Indian term used in
describing the make or pattern of anything, from the cut of a coat to
the plan of a palace. A sample of any kind of merchandise. This
word is very generally used in commercial transactions aU over the
world.
MUTTON, a contemptuous term for a woman of bad character, sometimes
varied to laced mutton. The expression was used as a Cant term for
a " wild duck " in the reign of James I. As a Slang term it was em-
ployed by Fen Jonson in his masque of Neptune's Triumph, which was
written for disjilay at Court on Twelfth Night, 1623; "a fine laced
MUTTON or two," are the words applied to two wantons. Shalspeare
has the term. In that class of English society which does not lay any
claim to refinement, a fond lover is often spoken of as being " fond of
his MUTTON."
MUTTON-CHOPS, a sheep's-head.
MUTTON-FIST, an uncomplimentary title for any one having a large
coarse red hand.
MUTTON-WALK, the saloon at Drury Lane Theatre. A vulgar appella-
tion applied to this place early in the last century, still in use in the
8LANQ, CANT, AND VULOAR WORDS. 185
neighbourhood of Covent Garden, which was formerly the great resort
for the gay and giddy of both sexes.
MUZZLE, the mouth.
MUZZLE, to fight or thrash ; to throttle or garrota,
MUZZY, intoxicated.— 5o!McAoM Wwd», No. 183.
MY AUNT, the closet of decency, or house of office.
MY LORD, a nickname given to a hunchback.'
MY NABS, myself; in contradistinction to youb kibs, which tu.
MY TULIP, a term of endearment used by the lower orders to persons and
animals ; " kim up, MT 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 I only at MT dhole's " is
the reply. Up ihb spout has the same meaning. It is worthy of
remark that the French call this useful relative ma tante, " my aunt."
NAB, to catch, to seize ; " nab the rugti" to take offence. — Ancient, four-
teenth century. — See nap.
NABS, self; mt nabs, myself ; his nabs, himself. — North Country Cant.
NAB THE RUST, to take offence.
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 nailinq
bad money to the counter. We say " as dead as a doob-nail ;" —
why ? Shakspeare has the expression in Henry I Y.—
" FaUtaff. What I is the old king dead f
Putol. As NAIL in door."
A correspondent thinks the expression is only alliterative humour,
and compares as " flat as a flounder," " straight as a soldier," &c.
" NAIL IN ONE'S COFFIN," a dram, "a drop o' sumat' short," a jocular,
but disrespectful phrase, used by the lower orders to each other at the
moment of lifting a glass of spirits to their lips. " Well, good luck !
here's another kail in mt coffin." Another phrase with old topers
is " SHEDDINO A TEAR," also " WIPINQ AN ETE."
NAM, a policeman. Evidently Bach 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 chilJ-
ren. — Su Johnson's Life of Pope.
NAMUS, or namous, some one, i.e., "be off, somebody is coming." — Bach
Slang, but general — See vamos.
NANNY-SHOP, a disreputable house.
NANTEE, not any, or "I have none." Italian, mibmtb, nothing. — Set
DINAELT. — Lingua Franca.
1 86 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
NANTEE PALAVER, no conversation, i.e., hold your tongue. — Lingua
Franca. — See palaveb.
NAP, or NAB, to take, steal, or receive; " you '11 nap it," t.e., you will catch
a beating. — North ; also Old Cant. Btdwer'a Paul Clifford.
NAP, to break, or rap with a hammer. — See knap. — North.
NAP, or NAPPEB, a hat From nab, a hat, cap, or head. — Old Cant.
NAP NIX, a person who works at his trade, and occasionally goes on the
stage to act minor parts without receiving any pay. The derivation is
obvious. — <See nap and Nix, i.e., niohts.
" NAP ONE'S BIB," to cry, shed tears, or carry one's point.
NATIONAL EXHIBITION, an execution at the Old Bailey ; a term of
the late Douglas Jerrold's, but now usual
NARK, a person in the pay of the police ; a common informer ; one who
gets his Uving by laying traps for publicans, &c.
NARK, to watch, or look after; " naek the titter;" watch the girL
NARP, a shirt.— ScoicA.
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.— OW.
NATURAL, an idiot, a simpleton.
NAVVY, an excavator employed in making railways, canals, &c. Origi-
nally Slang, but now a recognised term.
N. C, " enough said," being the initials of nut ced. A certain manager,
it is said, spells in this style. — Theatrical.
NEARDY, a person in authority over another ; master, parent, or foreman.
—North.
"NECK AND CROP," entirely, completely; "he chuck'd him nbok and
CROP out of window."
NECKINGER, a cravat.— See muckenoer.
NEDDY, a considerable quantity, as " a NEDDT of fruit," "a neddt of
fish," &o. — Iriih Slang.
NECK, to swallow. Neok-oil, drink of any kind.
" NECK AND NECK," horses run neck and neck in a race when they
are so perfectly equal that one cannot be said to be before the other.
" NECK OR NOTHING," desperate.— iJocinsr phraie.
NEDDY, a life preserver. — Contraction of Kennedy, the name of the first
man, it is said in St Giles's, who had his head broken by a poker. —
Vide Mornings at Bow Street.
NEDDY, a donkey.
NED, a guinea. Half-ned, halfa-guinea.
" Nap the regulars," to divide the booty.
" Nap the teaze," to be privately whipped in prison.
SLANO, CANT, AND VfTLGAR WORDS. 1 87
NED STOKES, the four of spades. — North ffantt. — See Oentleman't Maga-
zine for 1791, p. 141.
NEEDFUL, money, cash; the "one thing nbbdful," for the accomplish-
ment of most pet designs,
" NEVER TRUST ME," an ordinary phrase with low Londoners, and
common in Shakspeare's time, vide Twelfth Night. It is generally
used instead of an oath, calling vengeanceon the asseverator, if such
and such does not come to pass.
NEWMARKET, in tossing halfpence, when the game is "two out of
three," that is, he who gains the first two tosses wins. When the first
toss is decisive, the game is termed sitdden death.
NIB-COVE, a gentleman. Nibsombst cribs, best or gentlemen's houses.
— Beggar's Cant.
NIB-LIKE, gentlemanly.
^l{yfr^/) i>X NIBS, the master, or chief person ; a man nith no means but high pre-
/ tensions, — a " shabby genteel."
NICK, or OLD NICK, the evil spftit. — Scandinavian, KNioaui^ one of the
names of Odin, as the destroying or evil principle.
NICK, to hit the mark ; " he 's nicked it,"t .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-WILLT, i.e, Nill ye, wUl ye, whether you will or no, a familiar
version of the Latin, nolens volens.
NIMMING, stealing. Immediately from the German, nehmbn. Mother-
well, 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 : —
*' Buckra man nam. crab,
Cnib nam buckra man."
Or, in the buckra man's language —
** White man eat [or steal] the crab.
And the crab eats the white man."
Needy, a nightly lodger, or tramp.
Needy Mizzleb, a shabby person ; a tramp who runs away without paying
for his lodging.
Newoate Fbinoe, or rsiLL, the collar of beard worn under the chin ; bo
called from its occupying the position of the rope when Jack Ketch
operates. Another name for it is a tybukn collar.
Newgate Knocker, the term given to the look of hair which coster-
mongers 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 carries a rather unpleasant suggestion to the
wearer. Sometimes termed a cobbler's knot, or COW-LICK, which see
Nibble, to take, or steal NrsBLER, a petty thief.
l88 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
NINCOMPOOP, a fool, a hen-pecked husband, a "Jerry Sneak."— Coi^
ruptiou of non compos mentis.
NINE CORNS, a pipeful of tobacco.
NINES, " dressed up to the nines," in a showy or recherche manner.
NINEPENCE, " right as ninepenoe," all right, right to a nicety. A cor-
respondent says : — " This most undoubtedly should be NiNE-PiNa. For
at the game of that name, in fairness to both parties, the nine pins must
always be set up, with great accuracy, in this form ,•*•, There is no
nicety in kinepence !" *•*
NINE SHILLINGS, cool audacity ; most probably derived from the French
NONCHALANCE.
NING-NANQ, horse-coupers' term for a worthless thorough-bred.
NINNYHAMMER, a foolish ignorant person. — Yorkshire.
NIPPER, a small boy. Old Cant for a boy cut-purse.
NIX, nothing ; " Nix my doU," synonymous with Hix. Qerraan, nights*
/< . " nothing. — See mdnqablt.
. KA/\jitX- fyO^ /tL-fiuc*- ^ NIX ! the signal word of school-boys to each other that the master, or
. „ other person in authority, is approachmg.
4*U. *' .-^V^-ItU, o^ « jf jx. MY DOLLY," once a very popular Slang song, beginning—
— ^ i I i- * " .Ul. ' *' In the box of a stone jug I Wiis bom,
•S>< oi-J*J'««' .t^C* < Of a hempen widow and a kid forlorn ;
And my noble father, as 1 have heard say.
Was a famous merchant of capers gay ;
Nix MT DOLLY, pals, fake away 1 "
NIZ-PRIZ, a writ of nisi-prius. — Legal.
NIZZIE, a fool, a coxcomb. — Old Cant,vtde 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 noWeman, — of which word it
may be an abbreviation. — See snob.
NOB, the knave of trumps, when turned up at the game of cribbage.
NOBBA, nine. Italian, NOVE ; Spanish, nova, — the 6 and v being inter-
changeable, as Se6a8t<5pol and SerastdpoL Slang introduced by the
" organ-grinders " from Italy.
NOBBA SALTEE, ninepence. Lingua Franca, novk soldi.
NOBBING, collecting money; "what NOBBINGS?" ic, how much have you
got or collected from the crowd ?
NOBBLE, to cheat, to overreach ; to discover.
NOBBLER, a blow on the nob, a finishing stroke ; " that 'a a nobbleb
for him," i.e. , a settler. — Pugilistic.
Nip, to steal, take up quickly. — See hap and nir
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 1 89
NOBBLEB, a confederate of thimble-rigs, who plays earnestly as if a
stranger to the " Bia," and thus draws unsuspecting persons into a
game. — In NORTH of England, a low, cunning lawyer.
NOBBY, or nobbish, fine or showy; nobbily, showily. — Set snob for
derivation.
NOLI-ME-TANGERE, the Scotch fiddle, or ojther contagious disease.
NOMMUS, be oS.—Su namus. Probably Back Slang.
NON-COM, a non-commissioned officer in the army.
NO ODDS, no matter, of no consequence. — Latimer's Sermon before Ed-
vxird VI.
NORFOLK-HOWARDS, bugs ; a person named Bug having lately adopted
the more aristocratic appellation of nobfolk Howard.
NORTH, cunning. The inhabitants of Yorkshire and the northern coun-
ties are supposed, like the canny Scots, to get the better of other peo-
ple in dealing ; hence the phrase " he 's too far NORTH for me," i.e., too
cunning for me to deal with.
NORWICHER, more than one's share; said of a person who leaves less
than half the contents of a tankard for his companion. In what way
the term originated, or why Norwich was selected before any other
city, I have not been able to discover. ^
NOSE, " to pay through the nose," to pay an extravagant price.
NOSEBAG, a visitor at a watering-place, or house of refreshment, who
carries his own victuals. — Term applied by waiters.
" NOSE OUT OF JOINT, to put one's " ; to supplant, supersede, or mortify
a person by excelling him.
NOSE EM, or Foaus, tobacco.
NOSER, a bloody or contused nose. — Pugilistic.
NOT MEANT, said of a horse the owner of which, for interested reasons,
does not intend that it shall win the race.
NOUSE, comprehension, perception. — Old, apparently from the Greek, vovs.
Gaelic and Irish, NOS ; knowledge, perception.
NO WHERE, the horses not placed in a race, that are neither first, second,
nor third, are said to be nowhere.
NUB, a husband.
NUDDIKIN, the head.
"NUMBER OF HIS MESS," when a man dies in tie army or navy, he ia
said to " lose the number of his mess."
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
Nose, a thief who turns informer, or Queen's evidence ; a spy or watch ;
" on the NOSE," on the look-out
I go
A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
KtJRSED buss has very little chance, unless it happens to be a favourite
with the pubUc. NtniSE, to cheat, or swindle; trustees are said to
KURSE property, i.e., gradually eat it up themselres.
NUT, the head, in Pugilistic Slang. Used as an exclamation at a fight, it
means strike him on the head. In tossing it is a direction to hide the
head; to be " oS 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 nttts upon himself. NuTTKD,
taken in by a man who professed to be nuts upon you.
NUT-CUT, roguish, mischievous. A good-natured term of reproach.
— Anglo-Indian.
" OH, BE JOYFUL," a bottle of rum.— Sea.
OAK, the outer door of college
rooms; to " sport one's oak,"
to be " not at home" to visi-
toi-s. — See SPORT. — University.
OAR, " to put in an oar," to in-
terfere.
•* I put my OAR in no man's boat."
— Thackeray.
OAT-STEALER, an ostler.
OBFUSCATED, intoxicated.
OBSTEOPOLOUS, Cockney cor-
ruption of obstreperous.
OCHRE, money, generally applied
to gold, for a very obvious
reason.
O'CLOCK, or a'clook, "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.
ODDS, a phrase used equivalent to "consequence;" "what's the ODDS,"
i.e., what is the expected result? " It's no odds," i.e., of no conse-
quence. Odds, in sporting phraseology, refers to the proportions or
dififerences of a bet. Thus, a " bookmaker " will lay " six to one "
against such a horse getting " a place," whilst another " turfite," more
speculative, or in the receipt of a first-rate " tip," (information about
the horse in question,) will lay " eight," or even "ten to one." This
latter would be termed the " LONO odds."
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 verm, 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."
Nux, the "plant," or object in view; "stollup to the NUX?" Do you
fully comprehend what is wanted ? — North Country Cant.
" Sporting Door,
7i
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 191
"OD DRAT IT," or babbit, (Colman's Broad Orins,) od's blood, and all
other exclamations commencing with OD, are nothing but softened or
suppressed oaths. Od is a corruption of QOD, and dbat of EOT —
— Shakspeare.
" OFF AND ON," vacillating; " an off ahd on kind of a chap," one who
is always undecided.
" OFF AT THE HEAD," crazy .—Oxfordshire:
"OFF ONE'S FEED," real or pretended want of appetite. — Originally
Stal)le 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. 1
OGLE, to look, or reconnoitre. M h •' 9 /n^S^^^" ■'('
OGLES, eyes.— 0?d Con*. frcncA, (Kil. "'^ i C/ ^ ,
" OIL OF PALMS," or palm oil, money.
OINTMENT, medical student Slang for butter.
0. K, a matter to be o. K., (oll korrect, t.c., all correct,) must be on the
" square," and all things done in order.
OLDBUCK, an antiquary, from Scold amusing noveL
OLD DOG, a knowing blade, an experienced person. Sutler uses the
phrase, Hudibras, part ii., canto iii., 208, where it was said of Sidrophel,
"And was old doq at physiology." The Irish proverb says, "old
DOO for hard road," meaning that it requires an experienced person to
execute a difficult undertaking.
OLD GENTLEMAN, the d — 1. Also, a card almost imperceptibly longer
than the rest of the pack, used by sharpers for the purpose of cheating.
OLD GOOSEBERRY (see ooosebeert), old hakkt (query. Old Hairey t),
old scratch, all synonymes for the devil.
OLD GOWN, smuggled tea.
OLD HORSE, salt junk, or beef.— Sea.
OLD MAN, in American merchant ships signifies the master. The phrase
is becoming common in English ships.
OLD SALT, a thorough sailor.
OLD TOM, gin; sometimes termed OAT'S wateb.
OLIVER, the moon ; " Oliver don't widdle," i.e., the moon does not shine.
Nearly obsolete. — Bxdwer's Paul Clifford.
OLLAPOD, a country apothecary.
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, 00110,
a man ; " UOMO della casa," the master of the house. Latin, homo.
— Lingua Franca.
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 lie 's otr
again,' i.e., drunk as usual, or on the road to it. "I 'm on " also ex-
192 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
presses a person's acceptance of an offered bet. To qet on a horse or
a man is to make bets on him. " Tbt it on," a defiant challenge to a
person to dare to attempt anything.
" ON THE LOOSE," obtaining a living by prostitution, in reality on the
str3et8. The term is applied to females only, excepting in the case of
8PBEES, when men carousing are sometimes said to be on the loose.
"Christmas Day is a veiy specific sort of festival. The man wlio does not
spend it at home, or at the house of his nearest of Icin, is in a very poor
plight He can hardly go OK the loose if he would : he seems to have no
choice between innocent pleasure and the misery of hopeless solitude." —
ifaming Star, 29th March 1864.
" ON THE NOSE," on the watch or look-out.— See nose.
" ON THE TILES," out all night " on the spree," or carousing, — in allu-
sion to the London cats on their amatory excursions.
" ONE IN TEN," a parson. In allusion to the tithing system.
ONE-ER, that which stands for one, a blow that requires no more. In
Dickens's amusing work, the " Marchioness " teUs Dick Swiveller that
"her missus is a ONE-EB at cai'ds,"
ONION, a watch-seal.
"OPEN THE BALL," to lead oS a. tacb.— Sporting.
•* Borneo opened the ball by getting away in advance, Thoma'^town lying se-
cond, followed by Medora, Arbury," &c — Times, Nov. so, 1863.
ORACLE, " to work the oeacle," to plan, manoeuvre, to succeed by a wily
stratagem.
O'TRIQGER, an Irish duellist, from a character in the Rivals.
OTTER, eightpence. — Italian, otto, eight. — Lingua Franca.
OTTOMY, a thin man, a skeleton, a dwarf. Vulgar pronunciation of
" Anatomy." Shakspeare has 'atomy.
OUT, a dram glass. A hahitul of a gin-shop, desirous of treating a brace
of friends, calls for a quartern of gin and three onis, by which he
means three glasses which will exactly contain the quartern.
OUT, in round games, where several play, and there can be but one loser,
the winners in succession stand out, while the others plat orF.
"OUT AND OUT," prime, excellent, of the first quality. OnT-AND-
OUTEE, " one who is of an out-and-out description," up to anything.
An ancient MS. has this couplet, which shews the antiquity of the
phrase —
"The Kyng was good alle aboute.
And she was wyoked oute and oute."
OUTCRY, an auction. — Anglo-Indian.
" OUT OF COLLAR," out of place, — in allusion to servants. When in
place, the term is collaked up. — Theatrical and general.
" 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 shelf," to be transported. With old maids it has another and
very different meaning.
lA^
a^ CV-^c.^^A^uZt ,
SLANG, CANT, AND VULOAR WORDS. 1 93
"OUT ON THE LOOSE," "on the spree," in search of adventures.— &«
ON THE LOOSE.
"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.
OUTSIDER, 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." — Sporting.
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 " OT£B THE LEFT," ».«., in the wrong direction,
less instead of gain.
OVER, generally used in connexion with COMB, as "be came it rather
strong over me," i.e., tried to intimidate or compel me. The same
phrase would also be used to imply that an excess of flattery or praise
was being employed for a similar purpose, but that the adulation was
being " laid on a little too thick " to be considered genuine. The
term is also used in connexion with a proper noun, as " he came Tom
Sayers over me," i.e., pummelled me into submission or acquiescence.
" Is it in Nature," writes a visitor to Cliarlecote Hall, near 8tratford-oil-Avon,
** to walk among open book-shelves covered with some of the rarest old
works of the highest importance in art and English social history, and not
feel inclined (not to steal, oh no !) to come the Shakspeare oveb one or two
of the dear books?" — Morning Star, April 28, 1864.
OVERS, the odd money remaining after the daily accounts are made up at
a banking-house, — usually divided amongst the clerks. — See mbnavel-
INQS and SHORTS.
OWNED, a Slang expression used by the ultra-Evangelicals when a popu-
lar 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 simil-
arity of p's and q's in the hornbook alphabet, and therefore the warn-
ing 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."
— Buret's Alvearie, 1580.
PACKETS, hoaxing lies. Sometimes used as an exclamation of incredulity.
— North.
PAD, "to stand pad," to beg with a small piece of paper pinned on the
breast, inscribed, " I 'm starving."
"PAD THE HOOF," to walk, not ride; "paddinq the hoof on the high
toby," tramping or walking on the high road.
** Trudge, plod away 0' the hoof." — Merry Wiva, i. 3.
Fad, the bixhway ; a tramp. — Lincolnshire.
N
194 ^ DICTIONARY OF MODERN
PADDING, the light articles in the monthly magazines, of which the
serial stories are the main attraction. — See an article on this in the
Saturday Review, Jan. 19, 1861.
PADDLE, to go or run away. — Bousehold Wordt, No. 183.
PADDY, PAT, or paddy whack, an Irishman.
"I'm PADDY WHACK, from Ballyhack,
Not long ago turn'd soldier ;
In storm and sack, in front attack.
None other can be boulder."
Iriih Song.
PADDrS GOOSE, the sign of the White Swan, a noted flash public-hoiist
in the east of London.
PADDY'S LAND, "ould" Ireland.
PADRE, a clergyman. — Anglo-Indian,
PAL, a partner, acquaintance, friend, an accomplice. Gipsy, a brother.
PALAMPO, a quilt or bedcover. Probably from palanpore, a town in
India, renowned for its manufacture of chintz counterpanes. — Anglo-
Indian.
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 <romps.— Derived from the French,
PARLER.
PALL, to stop ; " pall that," spoken authoritatively, means cease what you
are doing. From pall, a small instrument which is used to stop the
windlass or capstan at sea. When a man says " I am palled," he
means he cannot or dare not say any more. A sailor, on receiving any
extraordinary intelligence, will say, " you pall me," i.e., you confound
me.
PALMER, a beggar who visits shops under the pretence of collecting harp
halfpence. To induce shopkeepers to search for them, he offers
thirteenpence for one shilling's-worth, when many persons are silly
enough to empty a large quantity of copper on their counter. The
FALUER is a proficient with his fingers, and generally contrives to con-
ceal a certain number before he leaves the shop. Since the bronze
pence and halfpence have been introduced, the palmer has been un-
able to follow this branch of his profession.
PALM OIL, or palm soap, money ; also, a bribe.
Paddingken, or crib, tramps' and boys' lodging-house.
Pall, to detect.
Palmikq, 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 shewn
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 into the sho^v Boot after boot was
SLANG, CANT, AND VULOAR WORDS. 195
FAM, the knave of clubs at the game of loo ; or, in street phraseology.
Lord Palmerston.
PAKNAM, food, bread. — Lingua Franca, faniten; Latin, faKib; Ancient
Cant, TANNAM.
PANNAMBOUND, to stop the prison food or rations to a prisoner. Pan-
NAM-STRDCK, Very hungry.
PANNIKIN, a smaU pan.
PANTILE, a hat. The term PANTILB 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 modem Slang term tile has been derived. Halliwell gives pan-
tile SHOP, a meetinghouse. Pantile also means a flat cake with jam
on it, given to boys at boarding-schools instead of pudding.
PANTILER, a dissenting preacher. Probably from the practice of the
Quakers, and many Dissenters, of not removing the hat in a place of
worship. Another derivation is from the earthen tiles, technically
pantiles, (tiles hollowed in the middle, as distinguished from " pin-
tiles," the older sort, which are flat, smaller, and pinned or nailed to
the rafters,) with which meeting-houses of Dissenters are usually
covered ; hence the meeting-house came to be called a pantile, and
its frequenters fantilers.
PAPER-MAKIER, a rag-gatherer, or gutter-raker — similar to the chiffonnier
of Paris. Also a man "who tramps through the country, and collects
rags on the pretence that he is an agent to a paper mill.
PAPER-WORKER, a wandering vendor of street literature ; one who sells
ballads, dying speeches, and confessions, sometimes termed a bunninq
stationee.
PARACHUTE, a parasoL
PARADISE, French Slang for the gallery of a theatre, " up amongst thfc
GODS," which see.
PARISH LANTERN, the moon.
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 con-
certed trick, and that neither his boots nor the customer would ever
return. Palming sometimes refers to secreting money or rings in the
hand; also, bribing, bribery.
Pannt, a house — public or otherwise; "flash pannt," a public-house used
by thieves ; fanny-men, housebreakers. Panny in thieves' Cant also
signifies a burglary.
Parachute, a thief's word for a parasol or umbrella.
Pabish FRIO, or PARISH BULL, a parsoc— TVtfei'ci' Cant.
196 A DICTION A S Y OF MODERN
PAKNEY, rain; "dowry of parnet," a quantity of rain. Anglo-Indian
Slang from the Hindoo, pani, water; Gipsy, pane. Old Indian officers
always call brandy-and-water "brandy pawnee."
PARSON TRULLIBER, a rude, vulgar country clergyman; the race is
most probably now extinct.
PARSON'S NOSE, the hind part of a goose, — a savoury mouthful.
PART, to pay, restore, give up ; " he 's a right un, he is ; I know'd he 'd
PART," i.e., he is a liberal (or punctual) person, and pays his debts, or
bestows gratuities. The term is in general use in Sporting circles, and
is very commonly employed when speaking of the settlement of bets
after a race or a " mill." It is probably derived from the very com-
mon colloquialism applied to stingy people as not " liking to part with
their money."
PARTER, a free, liberal person.
PARTY, a person, — a generic in very general use, similar in application to
the Oerman pronoun, 3Ran, a person, people; " where 's the party as
'ad a' orter be lookin' arter this 'ere 'oss ? " policeman's inquiry of the
wrong cabman ; " old party," an elderly person. The term is said to
have arisen in our old justice courts, where, to save "his worship"
and the clerk of court any trouble in exercising their memories with
the names of the different plaintiffs, defendants, and witnesses, the
word PARTY was generally employed. Dean Alford remarks : —
" The word party for a man is especially offensive. Strange to say, the use is
not altogether modern. It occurs in the English version of the Apocryphal
book of Tobit, vi. 7. ' If an evil spirit trouble any, one must mal^e a smoke
thereof before the man or the woman, and the farty shall be no more
vexed.' "
In Shalcspeare we find the term : —
"Stephana. How now shall this be compassed? Canst thou bring mo to the
PAKTY?"— rempc!(, iii. 2.
" I once heard," says the Dean just quoted, " a venerable dignitary
pointed out by a railway porter as an old party in a shovel." The
last word is the vulgar term applied to the twisted hat worn by cleri-
cal dignitaries.
PASH, to strike ; now corrupted to bash, which see. — Shahspeare.
PASTEBOARD, a visiting card ; " to pasteboard a person," to drop a card
at an absent person's house.
PASTE-HORN, the nose. Shoemakers nickname any shopmate with a
large nose " old paste-horn," from the horn in which they keep their
paste.
PASTY, a bookbinder.
PATCH. This Old English term of reproach, long obsolete in polite lan-
guage, may yet occasionally be heard in sentences like these : — " Why,
he's not a patch upon him," i.e., he is not to be compared with him;
" one 's not a patch to the other," &c. Shahspeare uses the word in
the sense of a paltry fellow : —
"What a pied ninny's this? thou scurvy patch ]" *
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. igj
PATENT COAT, a coat with the pocketa inside the skirts, — termed patent
from the difficulty of picking them.
PATTER, a speech or discourse, a pompous street oration, a judge's sum-
ming up, a trial. Ancient word for muttering. Probably from the
Latin, pater-nosteb, 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 chpir 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 Puscp
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 plash, to speak the language of thieves, talk
Cant.
PATTERER, a man who cries last dying speeches, &c., in the streets ; ap-
plied also to those who help oflf 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."
PATTERN, a common vulgar phrase for " patent."
PAUL PRY, an inquisitive person. From the well-known comedy.
PAV., the Pavilion Theatre, — sometimes called the P. V., i.e., pe-ve.
PAW, the hand. Paw-cases, gloves.
PAY, to beat a person, or " serve him out." Originally a nautical term,
meaning to stop the seams of a vessel with pitch, (French, poix;)
" here 's the d 1 to pay, and no pitch hot," said when any catas-
trophe 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 1 Shakspeare uses pay in
the sense of to beat, or thrash.
PAY, to deliver. " Pay that letter to Mr So-and-So " is a very common
direction to a Chinese servant. — Anglo-Chinese.
PAY- AWAY, " go on with your story, or discourse." From the nautical
phrase pay-away, meaning to allow a rope to run out of the vessel.
When the hearer considers the story quite long enough, he, carrying
out the same metaphor, exclaims UOLO ON.
PEACH, an informer against omnibus conductors and drivers, one especi-
ally hired by the proprietors to count passengers and stoppages. The
term is in frequent use amongst omnibus-men.
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.
Patter-orib. a flash house.
198
A DICTIONARY OF MODKRIT
PEACOCK HORSE, amongst undertakeni, is one with a showy tail and
mane, and holds its head up well, — che va favor-reggiando, &c, Italian.
PEAEINQ, remnants of cloth. Term amongst drapers and cloth ware-
housemen.
PEC, a term used by the Eton boys for money, an abbreviation, of course,
of the Latin, peounia.
PECK, food; "peck and booze," meat and drink. — Lincolnshire. Ancient
Cant, FEE, meat.
PECK-ALLEY, the throat.
PECKER, " keep your peckee up," i.e., don't get down-hearted, — literally,
keep your beak or head well up, " never say die ! "
PECKHAM, a facetious meaning of the name of this district, implying a
dinner; "all holiday at peckham," i.e., nothing to eat.
PECKISH, hungry. Old Cant, peckidge, meat.
PECKSNIFF, a hypocritical rascal. From Dickenit Martin Ckualemi.
PEEL, to strip, or disrobe. — Pugilistic.
PEELER, a policeman ; so called from Sir Robert Peel, (see bobbt;) pro-
perly 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. — Pugilistic.
PEERY, suspicious, or inquisitive.
PEG, brandy-and-soda-water.
PEG, a shilling.— &o«cA..
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 arrogaut or conceited
person,— derived from the use of peg tankards. — See pin.
PEG-TOPS, the loose trousers recently in fashion, small at the ankle and
swelling upwards, in imitation of the Zouave costume.
PENANG-LAWYER, the long cane, now carried by footmen, though
formerly by gentlemen. — Anglo-Indian.
PENNY GAFF, a shop turned into a temporary theatre, (admission one
penny,) at which 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 nighttime coloured lamps and trans-
parencies 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 news-
paper; 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 stuffed with
fine words and long sentences.
PENNY STARVER, a penny roll.— &e buster.
Peniksulab, or moll tooleb, a female pickpocket
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 1 99
PENSIONER, a man of the most degraded morals who lives off the miser-
able earnings of a prostitute.
PEPPER, to thraah, or strike. — Pugilistie, but used by Shahpeaire. — Ea»t-
em Countiet.
PEPPERBOXES, 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, from their form and awkward appearance, at a dis-
tance suggest to the stranger the fact of their being enlarged pkppeb-
BOXES. — See boilers.
PERCH, or ROOST, a resting-place; "I'm off to pebch," ie, I am going to
bed.
" Nor yet a single perch, for which ray lucky stars to thank.
Except the p«rch I've taken on this damp rheumatic b-ink,"
The Lay of the Viuuccesiful Angler, by Arthur Smith.
PERKINS, beer. Dandy or affected shortening of the more widely-known
Slang phrase, baeolay and peekins.
PERSUADERS, spurs.
PESKY, an intenaitive expression, implying annoyance ; a peskt, trouble-
some fellow. Corruption of pestileht; or, Jriih, peasqach, rough,
rugged.
PETER, a partridge. — Poacher's term.
PETER, a bundle, or valise. — Bulwer't Paid Clifford. Also, a cash-box.
PETER, to run short, or give out.
PETTICOAT, a woman.
PEWTER, money, like tin, used generally to signify silver ; also a pewter-
pot. " Let me have my beer in the pkwteb," is a common request to
waiters, made by " City " men, and others who affect habits of rude
health.
PHILADELPHIA-LAWYER, this transatlantic limb of the law is con-
sidered to be the very acme of acuteness. Sailors relate many stories
of his artful abilities, none, however, short enough to find a place
here.
PHILISTINE, a policeman. The German students call all townspeople
not of their body phiusteb, as ours say cads. The departing student
Bays, mournfully, in one of the Burschenlieder —
" Muss selber nun philister seyn I"
t.e., " I must now myself Philistine be ! "
PHYSOG, or phiz, the face. Sidft uses the latter. Corruption of " phy-
siognomy."
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.
Philliper, a thiefs accomplice, one who stands by and looks out for
the police while the others commit the robbery. — Timet, 5th September
l86a
^V>
2CX) ^ DICTIONARY OF MODFMN
PIC, the Piccadilly Saloon. The earlier abbreviation was dillt. Fcryfast
men were wont (it is now " used up ") to call it " the SANoniNART
DOUBLES, from the fact of its being situated at No. 222 in Piccadilly.
PICCADILLY BUTCHERS, a satirical name applied by the crowd to the
regiment of Life Guards, known as the " Royal Blues," from their
savage onslaught upon the crowd on the occasion of the arrest of Sir
Francis Burdett at his house in Piccadilly, by order of the Speaker of
the House of Commons.
PICK, " to PICK one'sself up," to recover after a beating or illness, some-
times varied to " PICK up one's crumbs; " " to PICK a man up," " to
do," or cheat him.
PICKANINNY, a young child is thus styled by the West Indian negroes.
The word is now completely naturalised among sailors and water-side
people in England.
PICKERS, the hands. — Shakspeare.
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 picklb
herring," a comical fellow, a merry-andrew. — Old. Also, a mischie-
vous boy ; " what a pickle he is to be sure ! "
PICKLES I gammon ; also a jeering and insulting exclamation.
PIDGEON, business, simply the Chinese pronunciation of the English
word. — Anglo-Chinese.
PIECE, a contemptuous term for a woman ; a strumpet.— SAaforpcare.
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 lee. — Workmen's term.
"PIG AND TINDER-BOX," the vulgar rendering of the well-known
tavern sign, " Elephant and Cattle."
PIGEON, a gullible or soft person. The French Cant, or Argot, has the
word PIGEON, dupe — "pechon, peschon de bubt, apprenti gueux,
enfant, (sans doute d^rob^.)" The vagabonds and brigands of Spain
also used the word in their Qermania, or Robbers' Language, PAXOUO,
(pigeon,) ignorant, simple.
PIGEON'S MILK, boys are frequently sent, on the 1st of April, to "buy
a pennyworth of pigeon's milk."
PIG-HEADED, obstinate.
PIG'S EYE, the ace of diamonds in cards.
PIG'S WHISPER, a low or inaudible whisper ; also a short space of time,
synonymous with cockstkide, i.e., cock's tread.
PIKE, a turnpike ; " to bilk a pike," to cheat the keeper of the toll-gate.
*' No PIKE I *ve seen, the only one was that unpleasant wicket,
Where threepence I was forced to pay, and now I have lost the ticket I"
The Lay of tlu Unsuccetsful Angler, by Arthur Smith.
FiOKOK, or BLUBY CBACKINO, breaking into empty houses and stealing lead.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WOIiDS. 20I
PIKE, to nm, to be off with speed ; " PIKE it " is said as a hasty aud con-
temptuous, if not angry dismissal ; " if you don't like it, take a short
stick and pike it."
" Joe quickly his sand had sold, sir.
And Bess got a basket of rags ;
Then up to St Giles's they roll'd, sir ;
To every bunter Bess brags.
Then unto the gin-shop they pike it.
And Bess was admitted, we hear ;
For none of the crew dare but like it.
As Joey, her kiddy, was there."
The Sand-man's Wedding, a Cantata.
"*Twaa not our fault, dear Jack; we saw the watch going into the house
the moment we came there, aud we thought it proper to pike off." — The
Prison Breaker, a Farce.
PILL, a doctor. — Military. PiLL-DRlTEB, a peddling apothecary.
PILL-BOX, a doctor's carriage.
PIN, " to put in the TVS," to refrain from drinking. From the ancient
peg tankard, which was furnished with a row of pcjs, or pegs, to regu-
late the amount which each person was to drink. A correspondent
gives a different explanation. " When an Irishman makes a vow or
promise to abstain from drinking for a time, he puts a PIN in the right-
hand cuff of his coat. So that, in case he shoijd ever forget his pro-
mise, he will see the pin, like an accusing angel, when lifting the glass
to his mouth." A MEBRY pin, a roisterer. — See peg.
PINCHBECK, inferior, deteriorated.
"Where, in these pinchbeck days, can we hope to find the old agricultural
virtue in all its purity ? " — Framley Parsonage.
Pinchbeck was an inferior metal, compounded of copper and zinc, to
resemble gold. It was very fashionable in the last century, and derived
its name from a Mr Pinchbeck, a well-known London tradesman, who
manufactured watches, buckles, and other articles out of it. Pinch-
beck first obtained his notoriety by the invention of an ingenious
candle-snuffers, which the author of The Beroic Epistle to Sir William
Chambers made the vehicle of a facetious Ode that went through eight
editions. The title of this jeu cC esprit ran thus : —
** Ode to Mr Pinchbeck, upon his Newly-invented CandU-Snv^ers, by Halooijc
M'GBiiaoR, Esq., 1776.
*' Illustrious PINCHBECK 1 condescend,
Thou well-beloved, and best king's friend.
These lyric lines to view ;
Oh may they prompt thee, e'er too late.
To snuff the candle of the State,
That bums a little blue I "
Pinchbeck published a poetical reply, and the two pamphlets were
for a long time the talk of town.
PINDAKIC HEIGHTS, studying the odes of Pindar.— Ox/ord.
PINK, the acme of perfection. — Shaispeare.
PINK, to stab, or pierce.
Pin, to catch, apprehend. Also, to steal rapidly.
Pinch, to sieal, or cheat ; also, to catch, or apprehend.
202 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
PINNER-UP, a Beller of old songs, pinned against a wall or framed can-
vass. Formerly many of these street salesmen carried on their little
" paper trade " in London ; now they are rarely seen.
PINS, legs.
PIPE, to follow or dog a person. Term used by detectiva.
PIPE, to shed tears, or bewail; " pipe one's eye." — Sea term.
" He first began to eye his pipe.
And tlien to pipe his eve. '— Oid Song.
Metaphor from the boatswain's pipe, which calls to duty,
PIPE, " to put one's PIPE out," to traverse his plans, " to take a rise "
out of him.
PIPER, a person employed by an omnibus proprietor to act as a spy on
the conductor.
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 multi-
tude 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 teU a pitiful tale.
" PITCH THE NOB," pkick the qabteb, which He.
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 quick-
ness of hand, a coster can make the toss tell favourably for his wager-
ing 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. In the sense of conceal, there is aBimilar word in Argot,
PLANQUER.
.11 ^ PLEBS, a term used to stigmatise a tradesman's son at Westminster
^ ■^rv-»*>ywv>^ — School. Latin, plebs, the vulgar.
^ PLOUGHED, drunk.— //oiweAoW H^ord», No. 183. Also a Cnt»erm«3> term
equivalent to pldoked.
PLUCK, the heart, liver, and lungs of an animal,— all that is plucked
away in connexion with the windpipe, from the chest of a sheep or
hog ; among low persons, covu^ge, valour, and a stout heart. — See
MOLLTGBUBS.
PLUCK'D-'UN, a stout or brave fellow ; " he 's a rare pldck'd-'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 ladiea
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 203
An eminent critic, however, who had heen bred a butcher, having in-
formed the fashionable world that in his native town the theep's head
always went with the PLUCK, the tenu has been gradually falling into
discredit at the West End.
It has been said that a brave soldier is flucet in attack, and gaub
when wounded. Women are more oaue than PLUCKY.
PLUCKED, turned back at an examination. — University. A correspondent
says that " in ancient times it was the University practice of pulling
(or plucking) the sleeve — by the proctor, if I recollect aright — of
those whose degrees were refused."
PLUM, £100,000, usually appUed to the dowry of a rich heiress, or a
legacy. — Civic Slang.
PLUM-CASH, prime cost. — Anglo-Chinese.
PLUMMY, round, sleek, jolly, or fat ; excellent, very good, first rate.
PLUMPER, a single vote at an election, not a " split ticket."
PLUNDER, a common word in the horse trade to express profit. AIbo an
American term for baggage, luggage.
PLUNGER, a cavalry-man. — Military Slang,
POCKET-PISTOL, a dram-flask.
PODGY, drunk ; dumpy, short, and fat.
POGRAM, a Dissenter, a fanatic, formalist, or humbug. So called from a
well-known dissenting minister of this name.
POKE, a bag, or sack ; " to buy a pig in a POKE," to purchase anything
without seeing it. — Saxon.
POKE, a Slang word for booty or plunder. — Times, Nov. 29, i860.
POKE, "come, none of your pokino fun at me," i.e., you must not laugh
at me.
POKER, "by the holy POKEB and the tumbling Tom I " an Irish oath.
POKERS, the Cambridge Slang term for the Esquire Bedels, who carry
the silver maces (also called pokees) before the Vice-Chancellor.
" Around, around, all, all around.
On seats with velvet lined,
fiat Heads of Houses in a row.
And Deans, and College Dons below,
With a POKEB or two behind."
Rimt 0/ tht NmMaie Baecaltre, 1841.
POKY, confined or cramped ; " that comer is poky and narrow." — Times
article, 21st July 1859. Saxon, poke, a sack.
POLE-AXE, vulgar rendering of the word "police."
POLICEMAN, a fly — more especially the earlier kind known as "blue
bottles."
POLISH OFF, to finish off anything quickly — a dinner for instance ; also
to finish off an adversary. — Pugilistic.
Poll, or polijnq, one thief robbing another of part of the booty. In use
in ancient times, vide HaWt Union, 1548.
204 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
POLL, the " ordinary degree " candidates for the B. A. Examination, who
do not aspire to the " Honours " list. From the Greek, ot ttoXXoi,
"the many." Some years ago, at Cambridge, Mr Hopkins being the
most celebrated " honour coach," or private tutor for the wranglers,
and Mr Potta the principal " crammer " of the non-honour men, the
latter was facetiously termed the " POLLY Hopkins " by the under-
graduates.
POLL, a female of unsteady character ; " polled tJP," living with a woman
in a state of unmarried impropriety. '
POLONY, Cockney shortening and vulgar pronunciation of a Bologna
sausage.
POMPADOURS, the Fifty-sixth Regiment of Foot in the British army.
POND, or HERRING-POND, the sea; so called by those who are sent
across it at the national expense.
PONGE, or PONGELOW, beer, half-and-half ; the term is also used as a verb,
as in the Cockney phrase, " let 's pongelow, shall we ? "
PONY, twenty-five pounds. — Sporting.
POONA, a sovereign. — Corruption of " pound ; " or from the Lingua
Franca.
POP, to pawn or pledge ; "to pop up the spout," to pledge at the pawn-
broker'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.
POPE'S NOSE, the extremity of the rump of a roast fowl, devilled as a
dainty for epicures.
POPS, pocket-pistols.
PORTRAIT, a sovereign, or twenty shillings.
POSA, a treasurer. A corruption of " purser," the name given to the
treasurer in the large Anglo-Chinese mercantile establishments. —
Anglo-Chinese.
POSH, a halfpenny, or trifling coin. Also a generic term for money.
POST, to pay down ; " POST the post " signifies to place thfl stakes played
for on the table.
POST-HORN, the nose.— See paste-horn.
POST-MORTEM, at Cambridge, the second examination which men who
have been " plucked " have to undergo. — University.
POSTBOYS, THREE JOLLY, a method of tossing.
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.
POSTED UP, well acquainted with the subject in question, " up to the
mark," — metaphor drawn from the counting-house.
POT, a sixpence, i.e., the price of a pot or quart of half-and-halt. A Ualf-
crown, in medical student Slang, is a fite-fot piece.
SLANO, CANT. AND VULGAR WORDS. 205
POT, " to 00 TO POT," to die ; from the classic custom of putting the ashes
of the dead in an um ; also, to be ruined, or broken up, — often applied
to tradesmen who fail In business. Go TO POT ! i.e., go and hang your-
self, shut up and be quiet. V Estrange, to put the pot on, to over-
charge, or exaggerate. A correspondent, however, prefers looking to
the refiner's shop for the origin of the expression, where refuse metal
and worn-out plate are daily condemned " to go to pot."
POT, to finish ; " don't POT me," term used at billiards, when a player
holes his adversary's ball — generally considered shabby play. 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 the
visitor is welcome to.
POT-WALLOPER, an elector in certain boroughs before the passing of the
Reform Bill, whose qualification consisted in being a housekeeper, —
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 he was able to provide for himself, and not necessitated to apply
for parochial relief. Koniton, Tregoney, Ilchester, Old Sarum, &c.,
had this privilege before the passing of the Reform Bill. — See Gentle-
man's Magazine for June 1852. Wallop, a word of Anglo-Saxon
derivation, from the same root as well.
POTATO-TRAP, the mouth.— Originally a ffibemicism.
POTEEN, whisky made in an illicit still, once a favourite drink in Ireland,
now almost unattainable.
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,
— a gardening allusion.
POTTY, indifferent, bad looking, — said of a rotten or unsound scheme.
POWER, a large quantity ; " a power of money." — Especially Irish, but
now general. Deriv. poeb. Old French or Norman, large resources;
also an army.
P. P., in Turf Slang a contraction of "plat OR pay;" that is, the money
must be paid whether the horse runs or not.
PEANCER, a horse. — Ancient Cant.
PRECIOUS, used in a Slang sense like very or exceeding; "a PRECIOUS
little of that," i.e., a very little indeed ; a precious humbug, rascal
&c., t «., an eminent one.
Prad, a horse.
Pkad-nafping, horse-stealing.
206 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
PRETTY HORSE-BEEAKEB, a phrase of recent adoption, applied to tlie
ladies of the demi-monde by the Times and other newspapers. It is
said that the livery stable-keepers of the West End find it to their
advantage to provide horses and "traps" for these pbettt horsk-
BBEAK£R8 to display.
PRIAL, a corruption of paih-rotai, a term at the game of cribbage, jnean-
ing three cards of a similar description. Often used metaphorically
for three persons or things of a kind. DonBLE-PRiAL, a corruption of
DOUBLE PAIR-ROYAL, means four persons or things of a similar descrip-
tion.
" PRICK THE GARTER," or " pitch the kob," 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 one of the false folds has been pricked. The
owner of the garter, I should state, holds the ends tightly with one
hand. This was, doubtless, originally a Gipsy game, and we are in-
formed by Brand that it was much practised by the Gipsies in the
time of Shakspeare, In those days it was termed prickino at ths
BELT, or fast and LOOSE.
PRIG, a thief. Used by .4 dfiison in the sense of a coxcomb. Ancient Cant,
probably from the Saxon, prico-an, to filch, &c. — Shalcspeare. Prio,
to steal, or rob. Priqqing, thieving. In Scotland the term prig is
used in a diflferent sense from what it is in England. In Glasgow, or
at Aberdeen, " to prio a salmon " would be to cheapen it, or seek for
an abatement in the price. A story is told of two Scotchmen, visitors
to Loudon, 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.
PRIG, a conceited, stuck up person, and contemptible withal ; one who ap
propriates or adopts a manner or costume not suited to him.
PRIGGISH, conceited.
PRIMED, said of a person in that state of incipient intoxication that if ha
takes more drink it will become evident.
PRO, a professional. — Theatrical.
PROG, meat, food, &c. Johnson calls it " a low word."
PROP, a blow, the upper cct.
PROPS, crutches.
PROPS, stage properties. — Theatrical.
Prime Plant, a good subject for plunder. — See plant.
Prop, a gold scarf pin.
Pbop-nailer, a man who steals, or rather snatches, pins from gentlemen's
scarfs.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 207
PBOPER, very, exceedingly, sometimes ironically; "you are a pkopeb
nice fellow," meaning a great scamp.
PROS, a water-closet. Abbreviated form of TrpAr Ttva roTrov. — Oxford
University.
PROSS, to break in or instruct a stage-infatuated youth. Also, to
" sponge " upon a comrade or stranger for drink.
PSALM-SMITER, a " Ranter," one who sings at a conventicle.— See bbiskkt-
BEATER.
PUB, or PUBLIC, a public-house ; "what pub do you use ?" t.e., which inn
or public-house do you frequent ?
PUCKER, poor temper, difficulty, diHuMUi. Pookeb up, to get in a poor
temper.
PUCKERING, talking privately.
PUCKEROW, to seize, to take hold of. From the Hindostanee, puckekna.
— Anglo-Indian,
PUFF, to blow up, swell with praise ; 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,
Ac., to increase the reputation and sale of a book, and is an excellent sti-ata-
gem to excite the curiosity of gentle readers.**
Lord Bacon, however, used the word in a similar sense a century be-
fore.
PUG, abbreviation of " pugilist." Sayers and Heenan would speak fami-
liarly of themselves as " brother puos."
PULL, an advantage, or hold upon another ; " I 've the pull over you,"
t.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 -...,vM, ..c -^^^rL. yf^^i^ /jC'^-tA/TZ'
PULL, to drink ; " come, take a Pull at it," ».«., drink up, ' ''^'
PULLET, a young girl.
PUMMEL, to thrash,— from POMMEL.
PUMP, to extract information by roundabout questioning.
PUNDIT, a person who assumes to be very grave and learned. — Anglo-
Indian.
PUNKAH, a fan. — Anglo-Indian.
PUNT, to gamble ; i*untinq-shop, a gambling-house. Common in ancient
writers, but now disused. The word seems confined to playing for .
" chicken stakes."
Public Patterers, swell mobites who pretend to be dissenting preachers,
and harangue in the open air to attract a crowd for their confederates
to rob.
PoDDniO-SNAMMBB, one who robs a cook-shop.
PotLBT, a confederate thief, — generally a woman.
-L
208 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
PUP AND RINGER, i.e., the " Dog and Bell," the sign of a flash public-
house. '
PURDAH, a curtwn. — Anglo-Indian.
PURL, hunting term for a fall, aTnonymous with foaled, or spilt ; " he 11
get PORLED at the rails."
PURL, a mixture of hot ale and sugar, with wormwood infused in it, a
favourite morning drink to produce an appetite ; Bometimes with gin
and spice added : —
*• Two penn'orth o' PDBL —
Good * early purl,'
'Gin all the world
To put your hair into a curl,
■When you feel yourself queer of a momin*.*
PUSH, a crowd.— OM Cant.
PUSSEY-CATS, corruption of Puseyites, a name constantly, but impro-
perly, 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 THAT IN YOUR PIPE AND SMOKE IT," said of a blow or repar-
tee, and equivalent to " take that and profit by it," i,e., let it be a
warning to you.
« PUT THE POT ON," to bet too much upon one hovBe.— 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 a hotel or tavern for entertainment.
PUT UPON, cheated, victimised, oppressed.
PUTTUN, regiment. — Anglo-Indian.
PYAH, weak, useless, paltry. This word, much in use among sailors, is
evidently derived from the Indian term pariah, signifying the lowest
caste of Hindoos. Thus the Pariah dogs in India are termed pyah
dogs ; and the Pariah descendants of the old Portuguese settlers are
called PTAH PORTUGUESE. Sailors term the natives of St Helena, —
a wretched-looking set of individuals, — pyah engushmen.
PYGOSTOLE, the least irreverent of names for the peculiar " M.-B." coats
worn by Tractarian curates : —
" It is true that the wicked make sport
Of our PYoosTOLES, as we go by ;
And one gownsman, in Trinity Court,
Went so far as to call me a ' Guy.' "
See MB.
PYJANDS, a kind of drawers or loose TpaatalooiiB.— Anglo-Indian.
QUAD. See quod. t
QUAKER, an unlawful sir reverence, ^ ^'jli^HLA.
QUALITY, gentry, high life.
Pure Finders, street-collectors of dogs' dung.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULOAR WORDS. 209
QUANDARY, described in the dictionaries as a " low word," may fittingly
be given here. It illustrates, like HOCDS POCUS, and other compound
colloquialisms, the singular origin of Slang expressions. Quandabt,
a dilemma, a doubt, a difficulty, is from the French, (Jd'en dibai-je ?
— Skinner.
QUARTEREEN, a farthing.— Giiro^tor term. Italian, quattbino.
QUAVER, a musician.
QUEEN BESS, the Queen of Clubs, — perhaps because that queen, history
says, was of a swarthy complexion. — North Banti. — See Gentleman'i
Magazine for 1791, p. I4I.
QUEER, an old Cant word, once in continual use as a prefix, signifying
base, roguish, or worthless, — the opposite of BUM, which signified good
and genuine. Queeu, in all probability, is immediately derived from
the Cant language. It has been mooted that it came into use from a
gutere (?) being set before a man's name ; but it is more than probable
that it was brought into this country by the Gipsies from Germany,
where qdeb signifies "cross," or "crooked." At all events it is be-
lieved to have been first used in England as a Cant word.
QUEER, " to QUEER a flat," to puzzle or confound a " gull " or silly fellow.
*' Who in a row like Tom could lead the van,
Boox in the ken, or at the spdlken hustle?
Who quEEB a flat," Ac.
— Von Juan, canto xi. 19.
QUEER BAIL, worthless persons who for a consideration formerly stood
bail for any one in court. Insolvent Jews generally performed this
office, which gave rise to the term jew-bail. — See mountees : both
nearly obsolete.
QUEER STREET, " in qoeeb sibeet," in difficulty or in want.
QUEER CUFFEN, a justice of the peace, or magistrate — a very ancient
term, mentioned in the earliest Slang dictionary.
QUERXEE, a chimney-sweep who calls from house to house soliciting
employment — formerly termed knulleb, which see.
QUI-HI, an English resident at Calcutta. — Anglo-Indian.
QUICK STICKS, in a hurry, rapidly ; " to cut qdiok sticks," to start off
hurriedly, or without more ado. — See out one's stick.
QUID, or THICK UN, a sovereign; "half a QUID," half a sovereign; quids.
money generally ; " quid for a quod," one good turn for another. Tht
word is used by Old French writers : —
*' Dea testamens qu'on dit le tnaistre
De mon fait n'aura quid ne quod."
—Oiand TettamaU dt ViOon.
QUID, a small piece of tobacco — one mouthful. Quid est hoc t asked one,
tapping the swelled cheek of another ; hoc est quid, promptly replied
Quean, (not queen,) a strumpet. Saxon, cwean, a barren old cow.
Queeb-bitmakers, coiners.
QOEEBSOFT, bad money.
2IO A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
the other, exhibiting at the same time " a chaw " of the weed. Cud
is probably a corruption. Derivation, 0. P., or Norman, (Juidbb, to
ruminate.
QUID-NUNC, an inquisitive person, always seeking for news. The words
translated simply signify " What now ? "
QUIET, " on the quiet," clandestinely, so as to avoid observation, " under
the rose."
QUILL-DRIVEB, a scrivener, a clerk, — satirical phrase similar to steel
BAK-DBIVEB, a tailor.
QUILLER, a parasite, a person who sucks neatly through a quilL — Su
BUCK UP.
QUILT, to thrash, or beat.
QUISBT, bankrupt, poverty-stricken. — Eomehold Words, No. 183.
QUISI, roguish, low, obscene. — Anglo-Chinese.
QUI-TAM, a solicitor. It properly means " who so," and is the title ^ven
to an action in the nature of an information on a penal suit.
QUIZ, a prying person, an odd fellow. Oxford Slang; lately admitted
into the dictionaries. Not noticed by Johnson.
QUIZ, to pry, or joke; to hoax.
QUIZZICAL, jocose, humorous.
QUIZZING-GLASS, an eye-glass.
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 Brovm's Schooldays, (Macmillan's Maga-
zine, January I860,) 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 enclosure 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 fodb walls," or prison, is
the frequent Slang lamentation of unlucky vagabonds,
"Breakfast was done, white tie put on.
Wearily did we plod ;
Past Balliol. past Trinity,
Into the grtat-go quod."
— The Rimi of the Neto-Madt BaccaXere, Oxford, 1841.
QUODGEB, a contraction, or corruption rather, of the Latin law phrase,
QUO JURE, by what law. — Legal.
RABBIT, when a person gets the worst of a bargain, he is said " to have
bought the babbit."
RACKET, a dodge, manoeuvre, exhibition ; a disturbance.
RACKETY, wild or noisy.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 211
BACKS, the bones of a dead horse. Term used by horae-slaughterere.
EACLAN, a married woman. — Originally Gipsy, but now a term with
English tramps.
EAFE, or ralph, a pawnbroker's duplicate. — Norwich.
RAG, to divide or share ; " let 'b bag it," or " go baqs," i.e., share it equally
between us. — Norwich.
RAGAMUFFIN, an ill-clad vagabond, a tatterdemalion.
RAG SPLAWGER, a rich man.
RAG, a bank-note.
RAG-SHOP, a bank.
RAIN NAPPER, an umbrella.
" RAISE THE WIND," to obtain credit, or money, — ^generally by pawn-
ing or selling property. Sometimes varied to "whistle up thb
BhEjEiZEh
RAMSHACKLE, to shatter as with a battering ram; rambhackled,
knocked about, as standing com is after a high wind. Corrupted
from ram-shatter, or possibly from ramach.
RANCHO, originally a Spanish-American word, signifying a himting-lodge,
or cattle-station, in a wood or desert far from the haunts of men. A
hunting or fishing station in the Highlands or elsewhere. In Wash-
ington, with their accustomed ingenuity in corrupting words and
meanings, the Americans use the appellation for a place of evil report,
RANDALSMAN.— Sec billy.
RANDAN, a boat impelled by three rowers, using four oars; the mid-
ship rower having two sculls, the bowman and strokesman one oar
each.
RANDOM, three horses driven in line. — See tandem, sctdien death,
HARUM-SCARUM.
RANDY, rampant, violent, warm. — North, bandt-bbgoae, a Gipsy tinker.
RANK, to cheat.
RAN-TAN, " on the ban-tan," Amrik.— Household Wm-ds, No. 183.
RANTIPOLL, a noisy rude girl, a " mad-cap."
RAP, a halfpenny; frequently used generically for money, thus : — I haven't
a BAP," i.e., I have no money whatever ; "I don't care a bap," &c.
Originally a species of counterfeit coin used for small change in Ire-
land, against the use of which a proclamation was issued, 5th May
•737- Small copper or base metal coins are still called happen in the
Swiss cantons. Irish robbers were formerly termed bapparees.
RAP, to utter; "he bappeo out a volley of oaths."
RAPPING, enormous; "a BAPPiNa big lie."
RAPSCALLION, a low tattered wretch — not wortu a RAP.
Ramp, to thieve or rob with violence.
Eamfsuait, a highway robber who uses violence when necessary.
212 A DIOTIONART OF MODERN
RAT, a Bneak, an informer, a turncoat, one who changes his party for fa'
terest. The late Sir Robert Peel was called the bat, or the tamwobth
KATOATOHBB, for altering his views on the Roman Catholic question.
From rats deserting vessels about to sink. The term is often used
amongst printers to denote one who works under price. Old Cant for
a clergyman.
RAT, TO SMELL A, to Buspect something, guess that there ia something
amiss.
RATHER! a ridicvJons street exclamation synonymous with yes; "do
you like fried chickens ?" " rather ! " " are you going out of town ?"
" BATHER !" Very often pronounced batther !
"BATHER OF THE RATHEREST," a phrase applied to anything
slightly in excess or defect.
RATTLECAP, an unsteady, volatile person. Generally applied to girls.
RATTLER, a cab, coach, or cart.— OW Cant.
RATTLERS, a railway ; " on the battlkbs to the stretchers," ie., going
to the races by railway.
RAW, a tender point, or foible ; " to touch a man upon the eaw " is to
irritate one by alluding to, or joking him on, anything on which he is
peculiarly susceptible or " thin-skinned." — Originally StaUe Slang.
** Liver and bacon, kidneys, ten pounds one !
iTe thinks me BAW. /tliink I'm ratherDoNE."
— Phantom Barber.
RAW, uninitiated; a novice. — Old. Frequently "johnny eaw."
READY, or ready gilt, (properly gelt,) money. Used by Arbuthnot, —
" Lord Strut was not very flush in ready."
READY-RECKONERS, the Highland regiments of the British army.
RECENT INCISION, the busy thoroughfare on the Surrey side of the
Thames, known by sober people as tiie new cui.
REDGE, gold.
RED HERRING, a soldier.
RED LANE, the throat
RED LINER, an officer of the Mendicity Society.
RED RAG, the tongue.
RELIEVING OFFICER, a significant term for a ia.theT.—Univmity.
RENAGE, to revoke, a word used in Ireland at the game of five-card.
Rasping-gano, the mob of roughs and thieves who attend prize-fights.
Reader, a pocket-book ; " give it him for his beadeb," i.e., rob him of his
pocket-book. — Old Cant.
Ream, good or genuine. From the Old Cant, bum.
Ream-bloak, a good man.
Reddino, a gold watch, probably red 'un.
Regulars, a thief s share of the plunder. " They were quarrelling about
the BKQULABa" — Times, 8th January 1856.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 213
RENCH, vulgar pronunciation of binse. " Wrench your mouth out," said
a fashionable dentist one day. — North.
RE-RAW, "on the be-raw," tipsy or drunk. — Eouuhold Words, TSo. 183.
RESURRECTION PIE, a school phrase, to denote a Saturday dish, made
of the scraps and leavings of meat that have appeared before.
EHINO, ready money. — Old.
" Some as I know.
Have parted with their eradt rino."
— TheStamaWs Adieu, Old Ballad, 1670.
** Travelling forms a man ; but it at the same time forms a very large hole in
his finances. In Switzerland it is pleasant to run up hills, but the wanderer
must simultaneously run up bills ; and no Englishman can see the Rhine
who does not possess the rhino." — Morning Star, Aug. 31, 1863.
RHINOCERAL, rich, wealthy, abounding in BHINO.
RIB, a wife.— iVbr^A.
RIBBON, gin, or other Bpirita — Servants' term. — See satin.
RIBBONS, the lems.— Middlesex.
RIBROAST, to beat tUl the ribs are sore. — Old; but still in use : —
** And be departs, not meanly boasting
Of his magnificent ribroastinq." — Hwdibrcu.
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.
RICHARD, a dictionary. — See DICK.
RIDE, " to BIDE THE HIGH HORSE," Or RIDE E0U0H-8H0D Over One, to be
overbearing or oppressive ; to BIDE 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.
RIFF-RAFF, low, vulgar rabble.
RIQ, or trick, " spree," or performance ; " run a RIO," to play a trick. —
Qipsy. " Rio the market," in reality to play tricks with it, — a mer-
cantile Slang phrase often used in the newspapers.
RIGGED, "well rigged," well dressed. — Old Slang, in use 1736. — See
Bailey'i Dictionary. — Sea.
"RIGHT AS NINEPENCE," (corruption of nikb-pins,) quite right,
exactly right. — See ninepence.
"RIGHT YOU ARE !" a phrase implying entire acquiescence in what
has been said or done. The expression is siDgiUarly frequent and
general amongst the lower and middle classes of the metropolis.
RIGHTS, " to have one TO EiaHTS," 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.
214 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
RING, to change; " einqino oastobs," changing hats; "to mho the
changes," in low life means to change bad money for good; in respect-
able society the phrase is sometimes employed to denote that the
aggressor has been paid back in his own coin, as in practical joking,
when the laugh is turned against the jester. The expression origin-
ally came from the belfry.
EING, a generic term given to horse-racing and pugilism, — the latter is
sometimes termed the prize-bino. From the practice of forming the
crowd into a ring around the combatants, or outside the race course.
EING, " to go through the king," to take advantage of the Insolvency
Act, or be "whitewashed."
EIP, a rake : " an old kip," 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 I well, he was an old Bip, and no mistake." — Cuthbert Bede.
RIPPER, a first-rate man or article. — Provincial.
RIPPING, excellent, very good.
RISE, "to take a risk out of a person." A metaphor from fly-fishing,
the silly fish Risnio to be caught by an artificial fly ; to mortify, out-
wit, or cheat him, by superior cunning.
" There is olJy one thing, unfortunately, of which Oxford men are economical,
and that is their. University experience. They not only think it fair that
Freshmen should go through their ordecil unaided, but many have a sweet
Batisfactioa in their distresses, and even busy themselves in obtaining
elevations, or, as it is vulgarly termed, in getting rises ' out of them.' " —
2Iint8 to Freshmieriy Oxford, X843.
RISE (or raise) A BARNEY, to collect a mob ; term used by patterers,
and " schwassle-box " (Punch and Judy) men.
ROARER, a broken-winded horse ; or, in the more polite speech of the
stable, " A HIGH BLOWER." Roaring, as applied to horses, la often
, termed " talking " by " turf-men."
ROARING TRADE, a very successful business. — Shopkeepers' Slang.
ROAST, to expose a person to a running fire of jokes at his expense
from a whole company. Quizzinq is done by a single person only.
ROCK-A-LOW, an overcoat. Corruption of the French koquelaube.
ROCKED, "he's only half-booked," i.e., half-witted.
ROGUE'S YARN, a thread of red or blue worsted, worked into the ropes
manufactured in the Government dockyards, to identify them if stolen.
Also a blue thread worked into canvas, for the same purpose.
ROMANY, a Gipsy, or the Gipsy language ; the speech of the Roma or
Zincali. — Spanish Gipsy. " Can you patter Romany S " i.e., can you talk
"black," or Gipsy lingo 1
ROOK, a cheat, or tricky gambler ; the opposite of pigeon. — Old.
Ring-dropping, see fawney.
" Roll of SnoW," a piece of Irish linen. — Priion term.
Kn^ III- r l^r
'-t
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 21$
ROOK, a clergyman, not only from his black attire, but also, perhaps,
from the old nursery favourite, the BUtory of Cock Robin.
*' I, says the rook.
With my little book,
I '11 be the paraon."
ROOKERY, a low neighbourhood inhabited by dirty Irish and thieves —
aa ST Giles's rookery. — Old. In Military Slang that part of the bar-
racks occupied by subalterns, often by no means a pattern of good
order.
KOOKY, rasceJly, rakish, scampish.
ROOST, synonymous with perch, which see.
ROOTER, anything good, or of a prime quality ; " that is a bootbe," ».«.,
a first-rate one of the sort.
ROPER, Mistress, "to marry hbb iiOPEB"is to enlist in the Royal
Marines.
ROPING, the act of pulling or restraining a horse, by its rider, to prevent
it winning a race — a trick not unfrequently practised on the turf.
ROSE, an orange.
ROSE, "imder. the rose" (frequently used in its Latin form, mb road,)
i.e., under the obligation of silence and secrecy, 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's
amours. It was commonly sculptured on the ceilings of banqueting
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 au
emblem of the Pretender, whose health, as king, his secret adherents
used to drink "under the ROSE."
ROSIN, beer or other drink given to musicians at a dancing party.
ROSIN-THE-BOW, a fiddler.
ROT, nonsense, anything bad, disagreeable, or useless.
ROT-GUT, bad small beer, — in America, cheap whisky.
BOUGH, bad ; " bough fish," bad or stinking fish. — Billingsgate.
EODGH-IT, to put up with chance entertainment, to take pot luck, and
what accommodation " turns up," without sighing for better. " Rough-
ing 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 rouitd on a man," to
swear to him as being the person, &c. Synonymous with " BtJFF,"
which see. Shakspeare has bounding, whispering.
BOUND, " ROUND dealing," honest trading ; " round sum," a largo sum.
Synonymous also in a Slang sense with square, which set.
2l6 A DICTIONARY OF MODE EN
EOUNDEM, a button.
ROUNDS, shirt collars — apparently a mere shortening of " All Rounds," or
" AU Rounders," names of fashionable collars.
ROUND, (in the language of the street,) the beat or usual walk of the cos-
tennonger to sell his stock. A term used by street folk generally.
*' Watchmen, sometimes they made their sallies,
And walk'd their rodnds through streets and allies.**
— Ned WartTs Vulgui Sritannicus, 1710.
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.
ROUNDABOUT, a large swing with 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
these swings. The frames take to pieces, and are carried in vans from
fair to fair by miserable horses.
ROW, "the ROW," i.e.. Paternoster Row. The notorious Holywell Street
is now called by its denizens " Bookseller's Row ! "
ROW, a noisy disturbance, tumult, or trouble. Originally Cambridge, now
universal. Seventy years ago it was written KonE, which would in-
dicate a French origin from r(me, 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, a " rough."
ROWDY-DOW, low, vulgar ; " not the cheese,*' or thing.
RUB, a quarrel or impediment; "there's the EUB," i.e., that is the diffi-
culty. — Shalcspeare and L' Estrange.
RUBBED OUT, dead, — a melancholy expression, of late frequently used
in fashionable novels.
RUBBER, a term at whist, &c., two games out of three. — Old, 1677.
RUCK, the undistinguished crowd ; " to come in with the buck," to arrive
at the winning-post among the non-winning horses. — Racing term.
RUGGY, fusty, frowsy.
RUM, like its opposite, QUEEK, was formerly a much-used prefix, signify-
ing 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 sin-
gular 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 lexico-
grapher has deigned to notice it.
*' Thus RUMLY floor'd, the kind Acestes ran.
And pitying, raised from earth the game old man."
— VirgU'i JEneid, book v.. Translation oy Utomat Moore,
RUMBOWLING, anything inferior or adulterated. — Sea.
RtJMBUMPTIOUS, haughty, pugilistic.
8LAN0, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 21 7
RUMBUSTIOUS, or RnMBUSTlCAL, pompous, haughty, boisterous, careless
of the comfort of others.
RUMBLER, a four-wheeled cab. Kot so common as boundeb.
RUM CULL, the manager of a theatre. — Travelling Theatre.
RUMGUMPTION, or gumption, knowledge, capacity, capability, — hence,
RUMOUMPTIOUS, knowing, wide-awake, forward, positive, pert, blunt.
RUM-MIZZLER, the Seven Dials' Cant for a person who is clever at mak-
ing his escape, or getting out of a difficulty.
RUMPUS, a noise, disturbance, a " row."
RUM-SLIM, rum punch.
RUMY, a good woman, or girl. — Gipsy Cant. In the continental Gipsy,
BOMi, a woman, a wife, is the feminine of RO, a man.
RUN, (good or bad,) the success of a performance. — Theatrical
RUN, to comprehend, Ac. ; " I don't bun to it," t.e., I can't do it, 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 any one;
to "lord it," or "drive over" them. Originally Stable Slang.
RUNNING PATTERER, a street seller who runs or moves briskly along,
calling aloud his wares.
RUNNING STATIONER, a hawker of books, ballads, dying speeches,
and newspapers. Persons of this class formerly used to run with
newspapers, blowing a horn, when they were sometimes termed fly-
ing STATIONERS. Now-a-days, in the event of any political or social
disturbance, the miserable relics of these peripatetic newsmen bawl
the heads of the telegram or information in quiet London thorough-
fares, to the disturbance of the residents.
RUSH, "doing it on the rush," running away, or making off.
RUST, "to nab the rust," to take offence. RnsTT, 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 r0STictjs.
SACK, to " get the sack," to be discharged by an employer. Varied in
the north of England to " get the bag." In London it is sometimes
spoken of as " getting the empty."
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.
SAILS, the sail-maker on board ship.
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. — I'htatriaU.
2l8 A DICTIONARY Off MODERN
SALAAM, a compliment or aalutation. — Anglo-Indian.
SALAMANDER, a street acrobat, and juggler who eats fire,
SALOOP, SALBP, or SALOP, a greasy-looking beverage, formerly sold on
stalls at early morning, prepared from a powder made of the root of
the Orchis mascvla, 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, " it 's rather too SALT," said of an extravagant hotel bill. Also, a
sort of black mail or tribute levied on visitors or travellers by the
Eton boys, at their triennial festival called the " Montem," by ancient
custom and privileges. It is now abolished. A periodical published
at Eton many years ago for circulation amongst the boys was called
" The B<-box." When a person about to sell a business connexion
makes iictitious entries in the books of accounts, to simulate that a
much more profitable trade is carried on than there really is, he ia
said to SALT the books — saltino and cooking being somewhat similar
operations. At the gold diggings of Australia, miners sometimes salt
an unproductive hole by sprinkling a few grains of gold dust over it,
and thus obtain a good price from a " green hand." Unpromising
speculations are frequently thus salted to entrap the unwary, the
wildest ideas being rendered palatable, cum grano salis. And though
old birds are not readily caught by chafT, the efficacy of salt in bird-
catching is equally as proverbiaL
SALTEE, a penny. Pence, &c., are thus reckoned : —
Onet SALTEE, a penny, from the Italian, UNO soldo.
Doge saltee, twopence, . . due soldi.
Trat SALTEE, threepence,
Qdaktebeb SALTEE, fourpence,
CmNKKE SALTEE, fivepence.
Say SALTEE, sixpence.
Sat onet salteb, or setter saltee,
sevenpence, ....
Sat doge saltee, or otteb sai/iee,
eightpence, ....
Sat that saltee, or nobba salteb,
ninepence, ....
Sat quaetbker saltee, or saoha
saltee, tenpence.
Sat chinker saltee, or dacha onb
SALTEE, elevenpence ,
Onet beong, one shilling.
A BEONO SAT SALTEE, one shilling and sixpence.
DooE regno sat SALTEE, or MADZA OABOOH, half-a-crown, or two
shillings and sixpence.
Salt-box, the condemned cell in Newgate.
TRE SOLDI.
QUATTBO SGLDL
CINQUE SOLDI.
SEI SOLDI.
BETTB SOLDI.
OTTO SOLDI.
NOTE SOLDI,
DIECI SOLDI.
DKOI UNO SOLDI, &0.
l^c^^f^
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 219
*,* This curious list of numerals in use among the London street
folk is, strange as it may seem, derived from the Lingua Franta, or
bastard Italian, of the Mediterranean seaports, of which other ex-
amples may be found in the pages of this Dictionary. Saltee, the
Cant term ^sed by the costermongers and others for a penny, is no
other than the Italian, soldo, (plural, SOLDI,) and the numerals — aa
may be seen by the Italian equivalents — are a tolerably close imita-
tion of the originals. After the number six, a curious variation
occurs, which ia peculiar to the London Cant, seven being reckoned as
SAT ONEY, tix-ane, sat doge, six-two = 8, and so on. Dacha, I may
remark, is perhaps from the Greet:, Deka, (8eKa,) ten, which, in the
Constantinopolitan lAngita Franca, is likely enough to have been
substituted for the Italian. Madza is clearly the Italian mezza.
The origin of beonq 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. I'roviding the terms are unknown to the police and the
public generally, they care not a rush whether the polite French, tha
gay Spaniards, or the cloudy Germans help to sweU their vocabulary.
The numbers of low foreigners, however, (fragging out a miserable ex-
istence in our crowded neighbourhoods, organ grinders and image
sellers, foreign seamen from the vessels in the river, and our own
connexion 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. Professor Ascoli, in his Studj Critici, absurdly
enough derives these words from the ancient commercial importance
of Italian settlers in England, when they gave a name to Lombard
Street ! !
SALT JUNK, navy salt beef.— See old hobsb.
SALVE, praise, flattery, chaff.
SAM, i.e., dickt-sam, a native of liverpooL
SAM, to " stand sam," to pay for refreshment or drink, to stand pajrmaster
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.
SAMPAN, a small boat. — Anglo-Chinese.
SAMSHOO, a fiery, noxious spirit, distilled from rice. Spirits generally.
. — Anglo-Chinese.
Q^ SANDWICH, a human advertising medium, placed between two boards
' strapped over his shoulder. A " toad in the hole" is the term ap-
plied to the same individual when his person is confined by a fom>
sided box.
SANGUINARY JAMES, a raw sheep's-head. — Set bloody jemmt.
SANK WORK, making soldiers' clothes. Mayhew says from the Norman,
BANC, blood, — in allusion either to the soldier's calling, or the colour
of his coat.
220 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
SAP, or SAPSCULL, a poor green simpleton, with no heart for work.
SATIN, gin ; " a yard of satin," a glass of gin. Term used by females
on make-believe errands, when the real object of their departure from
home is to replenish the private bottle. With servants the words
TAPE and RIBBON are more common, the purchase of these feminine
requirements being the general excuse for asking to " run out for a
little while." — See white satin.
SAUCEBOX, a pert young person. In low life it also signifies the mouth.
SAVELOY, a sausage of bread and chopped beef smoked, a minor kind of
POLONY, which see.
SAVEY, to know ; " do you savet that ? "—French, savez-vous Cela ?
In the nigger and Anglo-Chinese patois, this is sabbt, " me no sabbt."
It is a general word among the lower classes all over the world. It
also means aouteness or cleverness ; aa " that feUow has plenty of
BAVEY."
SAW, a term at whist. A saw is established when two partners alter-
nately trump a suit, played to each other for the express purpose.
" SAW YOUR TIMBER," " be off ! " equivalent to cut your stick. Occa-
sionally varied with mock refinement, to amputate youb mahoqany.
— See CUT.
SAWBONES, a surgeon.
SAWNEY, or sandy, a Scotchman, Corruption of Alexander.
SAWNEY, a simpleton; a gaping, awkward lout.
SCAB, a worthless person. — Old. Shakspeare uses scald in a similar sensei
SCABBY-NECK, a native of Denmark.— &a.
SCAB-RAISER, a drummer in the army, so called from one of the duties
pertaining to that office, viz., inflicting corporal punishment on the
soldiers. — Militury.
SCABBY-SHEEP, epithet applied by the vulgar to a person who has been
in questionable society, or under unholy influence, and become tainted.
SCALY, shabby, or mean. Perhaps anything which betokens the presence
of the " Old Serpent," or it may be a variation on " fishy." Shaka-
peare 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 plunder-
ing 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 jut
ex campo exit, viz., one who leaves the field, a deserter.
Sawney, bacon. Sawney hunter, one who steals bacon.
ScAIiDBUM DoDQB, burning the body with a mixture of acids and gun-
powder, so as to suit the hues and complexions of the accident to be
deplored.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 221
SCAMP, to give short measure or quantity ; applied to dishonest contrao-
tors. Probably the same as skimp and scrimp.
SCANDAL-WATER, tea ; from old maids' tea-parties being generally a
focus for scandal
SCARAMOUCH, properly a tumbler, or saltimbanco.
SCARCE, TO MAKE one's-self; to be off; decamp.
SCARLET-TOWN, Reading, in Berkshire. As the name of this place is
pronounced Redding, scaBLET-town is probably a rude pun upon it.
SCARBOROUGH-WARNINa, a warning too shortly given to be taken
advantage of. When a person is driven over, and then told to keep
out of the way, he receives scABBOBOuan-WARNiNo. Fuller says the
proverb alludes to an event, which happened at that place in 1557,
when Thomas Stafford seized upon Scarborough castle before the
townsmen had the least notice of his approach.
SCARPER, to run away. — Spanish, escafar, to escape, make off ; Italian,
BCAFPARE. " Scarper with the feele of the donna of the cassey," to
run away with the daughter of the landlady of the house ; almost
pure Italian, " scappabe colla piqlia Bella donna della casa."
— Seven Dials and Prison Cant, from the Lingua Franca.
SCHISM-SHOP, a Dissenters' meeting-house. — University.
SCHROFF, a banker, treasurer, or confidential clerk. — Anglo-Indian.
SCHWASSLE BOX, the street performance of Punch and Judy. — Home-
hold Wm-ds, No. 183. — See swatchel-cove.
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.
From the old practice of scoring a tippler's indebtedness on the inside
of a public-house door.
SCORF, to eat voraciously.
SCOT, a quantity of anything, a lot, a share. — Anglo-Saxon, sceat, pro-
nounced SHOT.
SCOT, temper, or passion, — from the irascible temperament of that nation ;
" oh ! what a SCOT he was in," i.e., what temper he shewed, — especi-
ally 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 Scotchman in the
highest degree, it implying that he is afflicted with the itch.
SCOTCH GRAYS, lice. Our northern neighbours are calumniously re-
ported, from their living on oatmeal, to be peculiarly liable to cutane-
ous eruptions and parasites.
SCOTCH-COFFEE, biscuits toasted and boiled in water.— &a.
ScHOFEL, bad money. — See show-full.
School, or mob, two or more " patterers " working together in the streets.
ScHOOLiNO, a low gambling party.
222 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
SCOTCHES, the legs ; also synonymous with notohbs.
SCOUT, a college valet, or waiter. — Oxford. — See gtp.
SCRAG, the neck.— OW Cant. Scotch, craio. Still used by butchera.
Hence, scrag, to hang by the neck, and scbagqino, an execution,—
also Old Cant.
SCRAN, pieces of meat, broken victuals. Formerly the reckoning at a
public-house. Sorannino, or " out on the scran," begging for broken
victuals. Also, an /m& malediction of a mild sort, " Bad scbah to
yer!"
SCRANBAG, a soldier's haversack. — Military Slang,
SCRAPE, a difficulty ; scrape, low wit for a shave.
SCRAPE, cheap butter ; " bread and scrape," the bread and butter issued
to schoolboys — 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. According to
the rules of the prize ring, the toe must be placed at the scratch, so
the phrase often is TOEINO.
SCRATCH, " no great scratch," of Httle worth.
SCRATCH, to strike a horse's name out of the list of runners in a par-
ticular 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. One of Jioz'a
characters asks whether horses are "really made more lively by
being scratched."
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 screamiko farce," one calculated to make the
audience scream with laughter. Now a general expression.
Screen, a bank-note; queer screen, a forged bank-note.
Screbve, a letter, a begging petition.
ScEEEVE, to write, or devise; "to SCBEEVE a fakement," to concoct, or
write, a begging letter, or other impostor's documents. From the
Dutch, SOHKTVEN ; German, scheeiben ; French, eceitakt, (old form,)
to write.
Soreever, 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 pave-
ment chalkings, and receive halfpence and sixpences from the admirers
of street art, are not always the draughtsmen. The artist or screever
draws, perhaps, in half-a-dozen places in the course of the morning,
and rents the spots out to as many cadaverous-looking men.
d^ ,& Cyi-c^'-t-i'' ' I (?■■
I :
'> •vtnr^'f a^ '3'\j£<lM<a^ ■
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 223
SCREW, an unsound, or broken-down horse, that requires both whip and
spur to get him along.
To 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 ; " to put under the screw; " to compel, to coerce, to in-
fluence by strong pressure.
SCREW LOOSE, when friends become cold and distant towards each other,
it is said there is a SCREW loose betwixt them; the same phrase is
also used when anything goes wrong with a person's credit or reputar
tion.
SCREW, a small packet of tobacco.— A " tvnsst " of the " weed."
SCREWED, intoxicated or drunk.
SCRIMMAGE, or scrummaqb, a disturbance or tow.— Ancient. Corrup-
tion of skirmuh t
SCRIMSHAW ; anything made by sailors for themselves in their leisure
hours at sea, is termed scrimshaw-wokk.
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 3KUIX, 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 under-graduates.
SCURF, a mean fellow.
SEA-CONNIE, the steersman of an Indian ship. By the insurance lavirs
he must be either a ptah Portuguese, a European, or a Manilla man, —
Lascars not being allowed to be helmsmen.
SEA-COOK, " son of a sea-cook," an opprobrious phrase used on board
ship, equivalent to " son op a GUN," and other more vulgar expletives.
SEALS, a religious Slang term for converts. — See owned.
SEE. Like "00" and "do," this useful verb has long been supplemented
with a Slang or unauthorised meaning. In street parlance, "to see"
is to know or believe ; " I don't see that," i.e., " I don't put faith in
what you offer, or I know what you say to be untrue."
SEEDY, worn-out, poverty-stricken, used-up, shabby. Metaphorical ex-
pression 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 seedt he looks," said of any man whose clothes
are worn threadbare, with greasy facings, and hat brightened up by
Screw, a key — skeleton, or otherwise.
Screw, a turnkey.
80ROBY, " to get scRTBT," to be whipped in prison before the jusiioeai
224 ^ DICTIONARY OF MODERN
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
Te&Ay ior 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.
* * Oh, let my hat be e'er sae brown.
My coat be e'er sae seedy, O 1
My whole turn-out scarce worth a crown.
Like gents well-bred, but needy, O I"
— F'ishei's Garland for rgss.
SELL, a deception, disappointment; also a lying joke.
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 cos-
termonger cries after having successfully deceived somebody. Shaks-
peare uses selling in a similar sense, viz., blinding or deceiving.
SENSATION, a quartern of gin.
SERENE, all right; "it's all serene," a street phrase of very modem
adoption, the burden of a song. Serene, all serene! from the
Spanish SBEENO, equivalent to the English " all 's well," a counter-
sign of sentinels, supposed to have been acquired by some filibusters
who were imprisoned in Cuba, and liberated by the intercession of
the British ambassador.
SERGEANT KITE, a recruiting sergeant. Sehqeant snap has a like
meaning.
SERVE OUT, to punish, or be revenged on any one.
SETTER, sevenpence. Italian, bettb. — See Si-hiEE.— 'Lingua Franca.
SETTER, a person employed by the vendor at an auction to run the
biddings up; to bid against bond-fide bidders.
SETTLE, to kiU, ruin, or effectually quiet a person.
SET TO, a sparring match, a fight; "a dead set," a determined stand, in
argument or in movement.
SEWED-UP, done-up, used-up, intoxicated. Dutch, seedwt, sick.
SHACK, a "chevalier d'industrie." A scamp, a blackguard. — Nottingham.
SHACKLY, loose, rickety. — Devonshire.
SEVENDIBLE, a very curious word, used only in the north of Ireland, to
denote something particularly severe, strong, or sound. It is no doubt
derived from seven-double, — that is, seven-fold, — and is applied to linen
cloth, a beating, a reprimand, &c.
SEVEN-SIDED-ANIMAL, a one-eyed man, aj he has an inside, outside,
left side, right side, foreside, backside, and a blind side.
SEVEN-UP, the game of All-fours, when played for seven chalks, — that is,
when seven points or chalks have to be made to win the game.
Settled, transported; sometimes spoken of as winded -settled.
Sbvbn-peknorih, transportation for seven years.
slaa^g, cant, and vulgar words. 225
SHACK-PER-SWAW, eveTy one for himself, — a phrase in use amongst
the lower orders at the east end of London, derived apparently from
the French, CHAonN poub soi.
SHADY, an expression implying decadence. On "the shady side of forty"
implies that a person is considerably older. Shady also means inferi-
ority in other senses. A shady trick is either a shabby one, mean or
trumpery, or else it is one contemptible from the want of ability dis-
played. ' /r> / y -r
SHAKE, a disreputable man or woman.— A^wtA. ^^ ,a^,n4<t-^ ■ — 'til C^-r-jH^ T* i
SHAKE, or shakes, a bad bargain is said to be "no great shakes;" ' ■'■ '
"pretty fair shakes" is anything good or favourable.— iyron. In
America, a fair shake is a fair trade or a good bargain.
SHAKEDOWN, an impromptu bed.
SHAKER, a shirt.
SHAKES ; " in a brace of shakes," ie., in an instant.
SHAKESTER, or shiokster, a female. Amongst costermongers this term
is invariably applied to ladies, or the wives of tradesmen and females,
generally of the classes immediately above them.
" SHAKE THE ELBOW," to, a roundabout expression for dice-playing.
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. Corrupt form of Gaelic, caille, a young woman.
SHALLOW, a flat basket used by costers.
SHALLOW, a weak-minded country justice of the peace.
SHAM ABRAHAM, to feign sickness. — See Abraham.
SHANDY-GAFF, ale and gingerbeer ; perhaps sanq db ooff, the favour-
ite mixture of one goff, a blacksmith.
SHANKS, legs.
SHANKS' NAG, " to ride shanks' naq," to go on foot.
SHANT, a pot or quart ; " shant of bivvy," a quart of beer.
Shake, to take away, to steal, or run off with anything; "what ."shakes,
Bill ? " " None," i.e., no chance of committing a robbery. — See under
shake, above.
Shake-lurk, a false paper carried by an impostor, giving an account of a
" dreadful shipwreck."
Shallows, " to go on the shallows," to go half naked.
Shallow-cove, a begging raacal 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-
lOVE.
Shallow-soreeveb, a roan who sketches and draws on the pavement. — 5e#
8CBEEVER.
t
226 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
SHANTY, a nide, temporary habitation. The word is principally em-
ployed to designate the huts inhabited by navigators, when construct-
ing large lines of railway far distant from towns. It is derived from
the Fnnch, chantier, used by the Canadians for a log hut, and has
travelled from thence, by way of the United States, to England.
SHAPES, " to cut up " or " shew shapes," to exhibit pranks, or flightiness.
SHARK, a sharper, a swindler. Bow-Street term in 1785, now in most
dictionaries.^J'riesie and Danish, schurk. — See land-shark.
SHARP, or sharper, a cunning cheat, a rogue, — the opposite of flat.
SHARP, a similar expression to "two puk' ten," (which see,) used by as-
sistants in shops to signify that a customer of suspected honesty is
amongst them. The shopman in this case would ask one of the as-
sistants, in a voice loud enough to be generally heard, " has Mr sharp
come in yet i " " No," would probably be the reply ; " but he is
expected every minute." The signal is at once understood, and a
general look-out kept upon the suspected party.
SHARP'S-ALLEY BLOOD-WORMS, beef sausages and black puddings.
Sharp's Alley was very recently a noted slaughtering-place near Smith-
field.
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 SHAVmo through," or
" making a shave," is just escaping a " pluck " by coming out at the
bottom of the list.
'* My terms are anything but dear,
Then read with me, and never fear;
The examiners we 're sure to queer.
And get through, if you make a shave on 't"
The Privait Tutor.
SHAVE ; " to shave a customer," charge him more for an article than the
marked price. Used in the drapery trade. When the master sees an
opportunity of doing this, he strokes his chin, as a signal to his assist-
ant who is serving the customer.
SHAVER, a sharp fellow ; " a young " or " old shaver," a boy or man.
— Sea.
" SHED A TEAR," to take a dram, or glass of neat spirits ; jocular phrase
used, with a sort of grim earnestness, by old topers to each other. " Now
then, old fellow, come and shed a tear ! " an invitation to take
'■ summat short." The origin may have been that ardent spirits, taken
neat by younger persons, usually brings water to their eyes. With
confirmed drinkers, however, the phrase is used with an air of mingled
humour and regret at their own position. A still more pathetic phrase
is — " putting a nail in one's coffin," which sec.
SHEEBEEN, an unlicensed place where spirituous liquors are illegally sold.
SHEEN, bad monej.— Scotch.
SHARPDta-OMEE, a policeman. Partly Livrpia Franca.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 227
SHEEP'S EYES, " to make sheep's etes at a person," to cast amorous
glances towards one on the sly.
** But he, the beast, was casting sheep's eyes at her
Out of hifl bullock head."
— Colman, Broad Grint, p. 57.
SHELF, " on the shelf," not yet disposed of ; young ladies are said to bo
80 situated when they cannot meet with a husband. " On the SHELF "
also means pawned, or laid by in trust.
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. Orose gives the
phrase ohioe-am-a-trice, which haa a synonymous meaning. Spanish,
CHico, little; Anglo-Saxon, CHICHB, niggardly.
SHICER, a mean man, a humbug, a "duffer," — a worthless person, one
who will not work.
SHICKERY, shabby, bad.
SHICKSTER, a " gay " lady.— &e bhakesteb.
SHICKSTER-CRABS, ladies' shoes.— Tramps' term.
SHIGS, money, silver. — East London.
SHIKARI, a hunter, a sportsman. — Anglo-India. An English sportsman
who has seen many ups and downs in the jungles of the East styles
himself " the old shekakt." — Anglo-Indian.
BHILLY SHALLY, to trifle or fritter away time; irresolute. Corruption
of "Shall I, shaUI?"
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. — East London.
SHINERS, sovereigns, or money.
SHINEY RAG, " to win the shinet RAa," to be ruined, — said in gambling,
when any one continues betting after " luck has set in against him."
SHIN-PLASTER, a bank-note. Originally an Americanism.
SHINS, "to BREAK one's shins," figurative expression meaning to borrow
money.
SHIPSHAPE, 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-saturdat,) the Saturday
between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, when our Lord's body was
enclosed in the tomb. — School and Provincial.
SHIVERING-JEMMY, the name given by street-folk to any cadger who
exposes himself, half naked, on a cold day, to obtain alms. The
" game " is unpleasant but exceedingly lucrative.
SHODDY, old cloth worked up into new ; made from soldiers' and police-
men's coats. The old cloth is pulled to pieces, the yam unravelled
228 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
and carded over again. This produces shoddy, which is very short in
the fibre, and from it are produced, on again twisting and weaving,
the finest of cloth fabrics, used for ladies' mantles, &c. 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 SBOD.
SHOES, " to die in one's shoes," to be hanged.
"SHOES, CHILDREN'S, TO MAKE," to suffer one's-self to be made
sport of, or depreciated. Commonly used in Norfolk. — Cf. Mrs Bchn'i
comedy. The Roundheads.
Eews. " Who, pox 1 shall we stand uakiko children's shoes all the year? No ;
let's begin to settle the nation, I say, and go through-stitch with our work."*
SHOLL, to bonnet one, or crush a person's hat over his eyes. — North.
SHOOL, to saunter idly, become a vagabond, beg rather than work. —
Smollett's Roderick Random, voL i., p. 262.
SHOP, the House of Commons. The only instance we have met with of
the use of this word in literature occurs in Mr Trollope'a Frandey
Parsonage ; —
•' * If we are merely to do as we are bid, and have no voice of our own, I don't
see what's the good of our going to the shop at all,' said Mr Sowerby."
SHOP, to discharge a shopman. In Military Slang, to SHOP an officer, is
to put him under arrest in the guard-room.
SHOP- WALKER, a person employed to walk up and down a shop, to hand
8e.ats to customers, and see that they are properly served. Contracted
also to " WALKER."
SHOPPING, purchasing at shops. Termed by Todd a Slang word, but
used by Cowper and Byron.
SHOPPY, to be full of nothing but one's own calling or profession; "to
talk SHOP," to converse of nothing but professional subjects.
" 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 teU lies, to exaggerate. Synony-
. f^y- mous with theowino the hatchet.
n / a ^ **'^^_^il— -Tl-SHORT, when spirit is drunk without any admixture of water, it is said to
^""""^^^i J^ " betaken "short;" " summat short," a dram. A similar phrase is
^y,,^2jC- C 1^ I used at the counters of banks ; upon presenting a cheque, the clerk asks,
j 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 tise
them in making bis escape.
Snop-BonNOEB, or SHOP-LDfTER, a person generally respectably attired, who,
while being served with a small article at a shop, steals one of more
value. Shakspeare haa the word lifter, a thief.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 229
" 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, a conductor of an omnibus, or any other servant, is said to be
SHOET, when he does not give all the money he receives to his master,
SHORT COMMONS, short allowance of food.— .See commons.
SHORTER, one who makes a dishonest profit by reducing the coin of the
realm by clipping and filing. From a crown-piece a shorter could
gain 5d. Another way was by chemical means : a guinea laid in aqua-
fortis would, in twelve hours, precipitate gd.-worth of sediment; in
twenty-four, Is. 6d.-worth. — Rommany Rye.
SHOT, from the modem sense of the word to shoot, — a guess, a random
conjecture; " to make a bad SHOT," to expose one's ignorance by mak-
ing 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 sub-
scribe, contribute in fair proportion; — a share, the same as scot, both
being from t\ie Anglo-Saxon word, SOBAt; "to pay one's shot," %£.,
share of the reckoning, &c.
" Yet still while I have got
Enough to pay the shot
Of Boniface, both gruff and greedy O ! "
— Fuller's Garland for 1835.
SHOT, " I wish I may be SHOT, if," &o., a common form of mild swearing.
" SHOT IN THE LOCKER," money in pocket, or the having a resource
of any kind in store. — Navy.
" SHOVE IN THE MOUTH," a glass of spirits.
SHOVEL, a term appled by the vulgar crowd to the inelegant twisted hats
worn by the dignitaries of the Church. Dean Alford says, " I once
heard a venerable dignitary pointed out by a railway porter as " an old
party in a shovel." — Queen's English, p. 228.
SHOWFULL, or schofell, a Hansom cab. This favourite carriage was
the invention of a Mr Hansom, afterwards connected with the Builder
newspaper. It has been asserted that the term showfull was derived
from " shovel," the earliest Slang term applied to Hansoms by other
cab-drivers, who conceived their shape to be after the fashion of a
scoop or shovel.
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;) shephkl,
in that language, signifying a low or debased estate. Chaldee, shaphal.
— See Psalm cxxxvi. 23, " in our Icrw estate." A correspondent suggests
another very probable derivation, from the German, schofel, trash,
rubbish, — the German adjective, schofelio, being the nearest possible
translation of our shabby. Also, mock jewellery.
Shoulder, when a servant embezzles his master's money, he is said to
SHOULDEB his employer.
Shove-halfpenny, a gambling pot-house game, played on a table.
230 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
SHOWFULL PULLET, a "gay" or unsteady woman.
SHRIMP, a diminutive person. — Chaucer.
SHUNT, to throw, or turn aside. — Railway term.
SHUT OP, or SHOT op, i.e., rid of. A very common expression amongst
the London lower orders. One oostermonger will say to another:
" Well, Ike, did yer get SHCT o' them there gawfs [apples] ? " i.e., did
you sell them all ?
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 o£ a preacher who, speaking of the scene with the doctors in the
Temple, remarked that the Divine disputant completely shut them
TJF ! " — Athen. 30th July 1859. Shut up, utterly exhausted, done for.
SHY, a throw. — See the following :—
^^.^v-»^*-»^^ SHY, to fling; cook-shy, a game at fairs, consisting of throwing short
sticks at trinkets set upon other sticks, — both name and practice de-
rived from the old game of throwing or sutinq at live cocks.
SHY, " to fight BHT of a person," to avoid his society either from dislike,
fear, or other reason. Sht has also the sense of flighty, imsteady, un-
trustworthy.
SICES, or sizes, a throw of sixes at dice.
" SICK AS A HORSE," popular simile, — curious, because a horse nevet
vomits.
SICKNER, or sickener, a dose too much of anything.
SIDE-BOARDS, or stick-ups, shirt collars. Name applied ten or fifteen
years ago, before the "all-rounders" and "turn-downs" came into
fashion.
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 Churchman ; originally
a follower of the late Rev. Charles Simeon. — Cambridge.
SIMON, a sixpenny-piece.
SIMON, or SIMPLE SIMON, a credulous gullible person. A character in a
song, but now common.
Showfull-pitcheb, a passer of counterfeit money.
Showpull-pitchino, passing bad money.
Side, an affirmative expression in the Cant language of the northern towns.
"Do you stoU the Gammy?" (Do you understand Cant?) An-
swer, side. Cove, (yes, mate.)
Sift, the same meaning as shouldeb. The man having sifted the money
and kept the larger pieces, that did not readily pass through the sieve"!
SiLVEK Beqqar, or lurkek, a vagabond who travels through the country
with " briefs " containing false statements of losses by fire, shipwreck.'^,
accidents, fte. Foiled documents are exhibited with signatures of
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDh. 23 1
SIMON PURE, " the real simon pure," the genuine article. Those who
have witnessed Mr C. Mathews's performance in Mrs Centlivre'a ad-
mirable comedy of A Bold Stroke for a Wife, and the laughable cool-
ness with which he, the false SIMON puke, assuming the Quaker dress
and character of the real one, elbowed that worthy out of his ex-
pected entertainment, will at once perceive the origin of this phrase.
— See act v., scene i.
SIMPKIN, or SIMKIN, champagne. — Anglo- Indian. Derived from the
manner in which native servants pronounce champagne.
SING OUT, to caU aloud.— Sea.
SING SMALL, to lessen one's boasting, and turn arrogance into humility.
SINGSONG, a choral meeting at a pot-house, which then not unfrequently
receives the name of " the Cave of Harmony."
SINKERS, bad money, — affording a man but little assistance in " keeping
afloat." — l^ o-^- ^.',v '•v.A.tj - -, t^/^-vy
SINKS, a throw of fives at dice. French, cinqs. **
SI QUIS, a candidate for "orders." From the notification commencing
SI QUIS — if any one.
SIR-HARRY, a close stooL
SIR-REVERENCE, a corruption of the old phrase save tour reverence,
a sort of apology for alluding to anything likely to shock one's sense
of decency. Latin, balva beverentia. Shakspeare'a Romeo and Juliet
act i., scene iv., from this it came to mean the thing itself — human
ordure generally, but sometimes other indecencies.
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 bard usage.
SIT UNDER, a term employed in Dissenters' meeting-houses, to denote
attendance on the ministry of any particular preacher;
SIT-UPON, to overcome or rebuke, to express contempt for a man in a,
marked manner.
SIT-UPONS, trousers. — See inexpressibles.
SIVVY, '' 'pon my sivvT," i.e., upon my soul or honour. Corruption of
asseveration, like davt, 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," ie., set or appointed everything in seven
days. A similar phrase at this early date implied confusion and dis-
order, and from these, Halliwell thinks, has been derived the phrase
" to be at SIXES and sbvkns." A Scotch correspondent, however,
states that the phrase probably came from the workshop, and th,it
amongst needle-makers, when the points and eyes are " heads and
magistrates and clergymen. Accompanying these are sham sub-
scription-books. The former, in beggar parlance, is termed " a gHAM,'
whilst the latter is denominated " a delicate."
SimNQ-FAD, sitting on the pavement in a begging position.
232 .1 DICTIONARY OF MODERN
taUs," ("heeds and tliraws,") or in confiiaion, they are said to he
SIXES AND SEVENS, because thoae numbers are the sizes most generally
used, and in the course of manufacture have frequently to be distin-
guished.
SIXTY, "to go along like sixtt," i.e., at a good rate, briskly.
SIXTY-PERCENT, a biUdisoounter.
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 «."
SIZERS, or siZAlis, 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.— &c SIZE.
SKEDADDLE. The American war has introduced a new and amusing
word. A Northerner who retreats " retires upon his supports," but a
Southerner is said to " skedaddle." The Times remarked on the word,
and Lord Hill wrote to prove that it was excellent Scotch. The
Americans only misapply the word, which means, in Dumfries, " to
spill" — milkmaids, for example, saying, you are "skedaddling" all
that mUk. The Times and Lord Hill are both wrong, for the word is
neither new nor in any way misapplied. The word is very fair Greek,
the root being that of " skedannumi," to disperse, to " retire tumultu-
ously," and it was probably set afloat by some professor at_gjciai^
SKID, a sovereign. Fashionable Slang. Occasionally SKiv.
SKIE, or SKY, to throw upwards, to toss " coppers." — See odd man.
SKILLIGOLEE, prison gruel. Also sailors' soup of many ingredients.
The term is occasionally used in London workhouses.
SKIN, a purse.
SKIN, to abate, or lower the value of anything ; "thin skinned," sensitive,
touchy, liable to be RAW on certain subjects.
SKINFLINT, an old popular simile for a "close-fisted," stingy person.
Sternberg, in his Northamptonshire Glossary, says the Eastern languages
have the same expression. Abdul-Malek, one of the Ommeyade Kha-
liphs, noted for his extreme avarice, was sumamed BASCHAL-HEQiAltAH,
literally, " the skinner of a flint"
SKIN-THE-LAMB, a game at cards, a very expressive corruption of the
term lansquenet, also a racing term. When a non-favourite wins a race,
Skates-LURK, a begging impostor dressed as a sailor.
Skilly, broth served on board the hulks to convicts. — Lincolnshire. Ab-
breviation of SKILLIGOLEE.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 233
" bookmakers " are said to " SKIN the lamb," under the supposition
that they win all their bets, no person having backed the winner.
SKIPPER, the master of a vessel. Dutch, schiffek, from tckiff, a ship;
sometimes used as synonymous with " governor."
SKIPPER, a bam. — Ancient Cant. From the Welsh, TSOUBOB, pronounced
SCYBOR, or sciBOR, the proper word in that language for a barn.
SKIPPER-BIRDS, or keyhole-whistlers, persons who sleep in bams or
outhouses in preference to lodging-houses.
SKIPPER-IT, to sleep in the open air, or in a rough way.
SKIT, a joke, a squib.
SKITTLES, a game similar to Ten Pins, which, when interdicted by the
Government, was altered to Nin Pins, or skittles. They are set up
in an alley, and are throvm at (not bowled) with a round piece of hard
wood, shaped like a small flat cheese. The costers consider them-'
selves the best players in London.
SKOW-BANKER, a fellow who loiters about the premises of any one
willing to support him without the necessity of working for his living ;
a rogue, a rascal. Common at Melbourne, Australia.
SKROUGE, to push or squeeze. — North.
SKULL-THATCHER, a straw-bonnet-maker, — sometimes called " a bon-
net-BDILDER."
SKY, a disagreeable person, an enemy. — Westminster School.
SKY, to toss up towards the sky. Term used in tossing with halfpence ;
" it 's all right, Jim skted the browns," i.e., threw them up.
SKY-BLUE, London milk much diluted with water, or from which the '
cream has been too closely skimmed.
•' Hence, Suffolk dairy wives run mad for cream.
And leave their milk with nothing but the name ;
Its name derision and reproach pursue,
And strangers tell of three times-skimm'd — sky-blde.**
— BLoomJUld't Farmer't Boy.
Sky-blub formerly meant gin.
SKYED, artists say that a picture is skted when it is hung on the upper
line at the Exhibition of the Royal Academy. — See floored.
SKY-LARK.— See under iabk.
SKY-PARLOUR, the garret.
SKY-SCRAPER, a tall man; "are you cold up there, old Skt-scbapkr?"
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.— m)/oZi.
SLACK, " to hold on the slack," to skulk ; a slack rope not requiring to
be held. — Sea.
SLAM, a term at the game of whist. When two partners gain the whole
thirteen tricks, they win a slam, which is considered equal to a mbber.
SLAMMOCK, a slattern or awkward person. — West, and Norfolk.
234 ^ DICTIONARY OF MODERN
SLANG, low, vulgar, unwritten, or unauthorised language. Oipsy, StAiro,
the secret language of the Gipsies, synonymous with gibberish,
another Gipsy word. The word is only to be found in the Diction-
aries of Webster and Ogilvie. It is given, however, by Grose, in hia
IHcticmary 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. The earliest instance of the use of
the word that we can find, is the following ; —
" Let proper Nurses be assi^jned to take care of these Babes of Grace, [yountr
thieves,] . . . the Master who teaches them should be a man well
versed in the Cant Language commonly called the Slang Patter, io which
they should by all means exaeL^— Jonathan WUd't Advice to hU Suceeuor,
London, J. Scott, 1758.
SLANG, a travelling show.
SLANG, to cheat, to abuse in foul language.
SLANGWHANGER, a long-winded speaker. — Parliamentary.
SLANGY, flashy, vulgar ; loud in dress, manner, and conversation.
SLANTINGDICULAR, oblique, awry, — as opposed to perpendicular.
Originally an Americanism, now a part of the vocabulary of Loudon
" high life below stairs."
SLAP, paint for the face, rouge.
SLAP, exactly, precisely; " slap in the wind's eye," i.e., exactly to wini
ward.
SLAP-BANG, suddenly, violently. From the strike of a ball being felt
before the report reaches the ear, — the slap first, the bang afterwards.
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. — See slap-banq.
SLAP-UP, first-rate, excellent, very good.
SLASH, a pocket in an overcoat.
SLASHER, a powerful roisterer, a pugilist; "the TIPTON SLASHBE."
SLASHERS, the Twenty-eighth Regiment of Foot in the British army.
SLATE, " he has a slate loose," i.e., he is slightly crazy.
SLATE, to pelt with abuse, to beat, to " liok ; " or, in the language of the
reviewei s, to " cut up."
SLATE, to knock the hat over one's eyes, to bonnet. — North.
SLAVEY, a maid-servant.
SLAWMINEYEUX, a Dutchman. Probably a corruption of the Dutch,
ja mynheer; or German, ja mein Herr. — Sea^
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 to street
salesmen. The term is used principally by costermongers.
Slano, a watch-chain. — Weatminster.
Slang, " out on the slang," ie., to travel with a hawker's licence.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULOAR WORDS. 235
SLEEPLESS-HATS, those of a napless character, better known as vidb-
AWAKES.
SLENDER, a simple country gentleman.
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 sup-
posed 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.
SLING, to pass from one person to another.
SLIP, " to give the BLIP," to run away, or elude pursuit. ShaTcspeare haa
" 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 blip infers to leave it in
quietness.
SLIP, or LET blip; "to slip into a man," to give him a sound beating;
" to LET blip at a cove," to rush violently upon him, and assault with
vigour.
SLIPPING, a trick of card-sharpers, in performance of which, by dex-
terous manipulation, they place the cut card on the top, instead of at
the bottom of the pack. It is the faire sauter la coupe of the French.
SLOG, or BLOOQEB, (its original form,) to beat, baste, or wallop. Oermtm,
SOHLAQEN ; Or, perhaps a vulgar corruption of slauohter. The pre-
tended Qreek derivation from oKoya, 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-ooebs, the second division of race-boats at Cam-
hridge. At Oxford they are called loEPiDS. — University/. A hard
hitter at cricket is termed a BLOQOEB.
SLOGGING, a good beating.
SLOP, a policeman. Probably at first bach Slang, but now general.
SLOP, cheap, or ready made, as applied to clothing, is generally supposed
to be a modem appropriation; but it was used in this sense in 1 691,
by Maydman, in his Naval Speculations; and by Chaucer two centuries
before that. Slops properly signify sailors' working clothes, which
are of a very cheap or unexpensive character.
SLOPE, to decamp, to run, or rather slip away. Originally from LOPE, to
make off; the t probably became affixed as a portion of the preceding
Slick-a-dee, a pocket-book.
236 ^ DICTIONARY OF MODERN
word, as in the case of "let's lope," let us run. — Americanism. A
correspondent says that Tennyson is decidedly partial to Slang, and
instances amongst other proofs a passage from the laureate's famous
Lockdey Hall: —
« Many a night, from yonder Ivied casement, ere I went to resb,
Did I look ou great Orion sloping slowly to the west."
SLOPS, chests or packages of tea; " he shook a slum of slops," i.e., stole a
chest of tea.
SLOUR'D buttoned up ; blour'd hoxtek, an inside pocket buttoned up.
SLUBBERDEGULLION, a paltry, dirty, sorry wretch.
"Quoth she, although thou hast deserved,
Brtfie SLDBBKKDEGULLION, to be served
As thou didst vow to deal with me,
If thou hadst got the victory."
— Uuiibrat.
SLUICERT, a gin-shop or public-house.
"SLUICING ONE'S BOLT," drinking.
SLUM, a chest, or package. — See slops.
SLUM, an insinuation, a discreditable inuendo.
SLUM, gammon, " up to slum," wide awake, knowing
" And this, without more slum began,
Over a flowing Pot-house can.
To settle, without botheration.
The rigs of tliis here tip-top nation.
— Jack RandaU't Diary, 1830.
SLUM, or BACK SLUM, a dark retreat, low neighbourhood; " the Westmin-
ster SLUMS," favourite haunts for thieves.
SLUM, to saunter about, with a suspicion, perhaps, of immoral pursuits
— Cambridge University Slang.
" SLUM THE GORGER," to cheat on the sly, to be an eye-servant. Slum
in this sense is Old Cant.
SLUSH, the grease obtained from boiling the salt pork eaten by seamen,
and generally the cook's perquisite.
SLUSHY, a ship's cook.
SLUTER, butter.— iVortA.
SMACK SMOOTH, even, level with the surface, quickly.
SMALL-BEER; "he doesn'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.
SMALL HOURS, the early hours after midnight.
SMALLS, a University term for the first general examination of the stu-
Sloub, to lock, or fasten. — Prison Cant.
Slowed, to be locked up — in prison.
Slum, a letter.— Prison Cant.
Slumming, passing bad money.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 237
dents. It is used at Cambridge, but properly belongs to Oxford. The
Cambridge term is little oo.
SMASH, to become bankrupt, or worthless ; " to go all to smash," to break,
" go to the dogs," to fall in pieces.
SMASH, to pass counterfeit money.
SMASHER, one who passes bad coin, or forged notes.
SMASHFEEDER, a Britannia-metal spoon,-:i-the best imitation shilling
are made from this metal.
SMASH-MAN-GEORDIE, a pitman's oa,t\i^— Durham, and Northumber-
land. — See OEORDiB.
SMELLER, a blow on the nose, or " a noseb."
SMIFF-BOX, the nose. — Pugilistic term.
SMISH, a shirt, or chemise. Corruption of the Spantth comhibsion. — See
MISH.
SMITHERS, or smithereens; "all to smithereens," all to smash.
Smitheb, is a Lincolnshire word for a fragment.
SMOKE, London. Country-people when going to the metropolis frequently
say, they are on their way to the smoke; and Londoners when leaving
for the country say, they are going out of the smoke.
SMOKE, to detect, or penetrate an artifice. Common term with London
detectives.
SMUDGE, to smear, obliterate, daub. Corruption of smutch. Timet.
10th August 1859.
SMUQ, smuggling. — Anglo-Chinese.
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 fuU speed.
" Tops are in ; spin 'em agin.
Tops are out ; suuooino about.**
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 Oipsy term.
SNAFFLE, conversation on professional or private subjects which the rest
of the company cannot appreciate. In East Anglia, to snaffle is to
talk foolishly.
SNAGGLE TEETH, those that are uneven, and unpleasant looking. — Wat.
Snags, (Americanism,) ends of sunken drift-wood sticking out of the
water, on which river steamers are often wrecked.
Smiogins, soup served to convicts on board the hulki
Snaffled, arrested, " pulled up," — so termed from a kind of hoise's bW^
called a snaffle.
238
A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
SNAGGLING, angling after geese with a hook and line, the bait being *
worm or snail. The goose swallows the bait, and is quietly landed and
SNAGGY, cross, crotchety, 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.
SNAPPS, Hollands gin. — Dutch, schnapps.
SNEEZER, a snuff-box ; a pocket-handkerchief.
SNICK- A-SNEE, a knife. — Sea. Thackeray uses the term in his humour-
ous ballad of the Boy-Billie.
SNICKER, a drinking-cup. A horn-skickbk, a drinking-horn.
SNID, a sixpence. — Scotch.
SNIGGER, " I 'm sniggered if you will," a mild form of swearing. An-
other form of this is jiggered.
SNIGGERING, laughing to one's-self.— ^'asJ.
SNIP, a tailor, — apparently from snipes, a pair of scissors.
SNIPE, a long bill or account ; also a term for attorneys, — a race remark-
able 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.
SNOB, a low, vulgar, or affected person. Supposed to be from the nick-
name usually applied to Crispin, a maker of shoes; but believed by a
writer in Notes and Queries to be a contraction of the Latin, SINJ
OBOLO. A more probable derivation, however, has just been forwarded
by an ingenious correspondent. He supposes that KOBS, 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 NOBILITATB, without marks of gentility, — thus reversing its mean-
ing. Another " word-twister " remarks that, as at college sons of
noblemen wrote after their names in the admission lists, Jll 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 quasinobt,
" like a nob," which by a process of contraction would be shortened to '
tirnob, 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 streeta, and found respectable quarters in the
standard dictionaries.
Sneaksman, a shoplifter ; a petty, cowardly thief.
Sneeze-lurkeb, a thief who throws snuff in a person's face, and then robs
him.
Snitohers, persons who turn Queen's evidence, or who tell tales. In Scot-
land, snitchers signify handcuffs.
,s>..J-^-^^— ^- ^--'^^^^
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 239
SNOBBISH, stuck up, proud, make believe.
SNOB-STICK, a workman who refuses to join in strikes, or trade unions.
Query, properly nobstick.
I3N00KS, an imaginary pensonage often brought forward as the answer to
an idle question, or as the perpetrator of a senseless joke. Said to be
simply a shortening or abbreviation of " Sevenoaks," the Kentish village.
SNOOKS -AND -WALKER, a game resembling buz, but more compli-
cated. Every three and multiple of three must be termed snooks,
and every five and multiple of five, walkek; thus — One, two,
SNOOKS ; four, walker-snooks ; seven, eight, snooks-walkek ; eleven,
SNOOKS-SNOOKS ; fourteen, bnqoks-walkeb, the last being a multiple
of both three and five. — See buz.
SNOOZE, or snoodge, (vulgar pronunciation,) to deep or doze.
SNOOZE-CASE, a piUow-sUp.
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 mean-
ing is the glandular mucus discharged through the nose.
SNOT, a small bream, a slimy kind of flat fish. — Noncich.
SNOTTINGER, a coarse word for a pocket-handkerchief. The German
schnupftuch is, however, nearly as plain. A handkerchief was also
anciently called a MUCKiNaEE, or mdokendee.
SNOW, wet linen. — Prison, term and Old Cant.
SNUFF, " up to SNUFF," knowing and sharp ; " to take BNtrrF," to be
offended. Shakspeare uses snuff in the sense of anger, or passion.
SNUFF OUT, to die ; a flippant expression, similar to " LAYlHa DOWN
one's KNIPB and fork," " HOPPINQ THB TWIO," &0.
SNUFFY, tipsy, drunk.
SNYDER, a tailor. German, schneidee.
SOAP, flattery. — See soft soap.
SOCIAL EVIL, a name beginning to be applied to street-walkers in con-
sequence of the articles in the newspapers being so headed, which
treat on the evils of prostitution. A good story is told in the Saturday
Review ioT July 28, i860. "A well-known divine and philanthropist
was walking in a crowded street at night in order to distribute tracts
to promising subjects. A young woman was walking up and down,
and he accosted her. He pointed out to her the error of her ways,
emplored her to reform, and tendered her a tract with fervent en-
treaties to go home and read it. The girl stared at him for a moment
or two in sheer bewOderment ; at last it dawned on her what he meant,
and for what he took her, and looking up with simple amazement in
his face, she exclaimed, " Lor' bless you, sir, I ain't a social evil ;
I *m waitin' for the 'bus ! '*
Snotteb, or wipe-hauleb, a pickpocket who commits great depredations
upon gentlemen's pocket-handkerchiefa — North.
Snow-gatheeeb, or snow-dboppeb, a rogue who steals linen from hedges
and drying-grounds.
240 A DICTION ART OF MODERN
SOCK, the Eton-College term for a +reat, synonymous with chuck used at
Westminster and other schools. Believed to be derived from the
monkish word soke. An old writer speaks of a pious man " who did
not SOKE for three days," meaning he fasted. A correspondent informs
me that the word is still used by the boys of Heriot's Hospital School
at Edinburgh, and signifies a sweetmeat; being derived from the
same source as sugar, such, Sucre, &c.
" SOCK INTO HIM," i.e., give him a good drubbing; " give him sock," i.e.,
thrash him well.
SOCKET-MONEY, money extorted by threats of exposure.
SOFT, foolish, inexperienced. An old term for bank-notes.
SOFT-HORN, a simpleton, a donkey, whose ears, the substitutes of horns,
are soft.
SOFT-SAWDER, flattery easily laid on, or received. Probably intro-
duced by Sam Slick.
SOFT-SOAP, or soft-sawdeb, flattery, ironical praise.
SOFT-TACK, bread.— Sea.
SOFT-TOMMY, loaf-bread, in contradistinction to hard biscuit.
SOLD, " SOLD again I and the money taken," guUed, deceived. — Vide BELL,
SOLD UP, or OUT, broken down, bankrupt.
SOLDIER, a red herring. Common term in seaport towns.
SOMETHING DAMP, a dram, a drink.
" SON OF A GUN," a contemptuous title for a man. In the army it is
sometimes applied to an artilleryman.
SOOR, an abusive term. Sindostanee, a pig. — Anglo-Indian.
SOOT-BAG, a reticule.
^ , SOP, a soft or foolish man. Abbreviation of milksop.
rt£_X ' ' SOPH, (abbreviation of sophisteb,) a title peculiar to the University of
^,,0^ ^ ^-/T3^ Gambridije. Undergraduates are junior sophs before passing their
/': ^ xy"^ " Little Go" or first University examination, — senior sophs after that.
iS-SL/^Y^ SORT, used in a Slang sense thus — " That 'a your sort," as a term of ap-
'.' -^ / probation. Pitch it into him, that 's your SOBT, i.e., that is the proper
'^ ' kind of plan to adopt.
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 ia termed PIG. — Workmen's terms.
SOW'S BABY, a pig ; sixpence.
v^PANK, a smack, or hard slap.
1 . -iy L I A n ^oPANK, to move along quickly; hence a fast horse or vessel is aaid to be
oWOAvv 5 AJ-VT ^o^V (f "a spanker to go."
IT SPANKING, large, fine, or strong; e.g., a spankinq pace, a spanking
(fj^ OJuTVyW juiliAjti.. t!tt. breeze, a 8PAKKIN0 fellow.
SPECKS, damaged oranges. — Costermonger's term.
t\\i
J>xo.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 24 1
SPECIALTY, any one's peculiar forte or weakness. From the French,
SFicuuTft.
SPELL, a turn of. work, an interval of time. " Take a SPELt at the cap-
stem." — Sea. " He took a long SPELL at that tankard" "After a long
SPELL."
SPELL, " to SPELL for a thing," hanker after it, intimate a desire to po»
seas it.
SPELL, to advertise, to put into print. " Spelt in the leer," i.e., adver-
tised in the newspaper.
SPELLKEN, or speelken, a playhouse. German, spielen. — See ken. —
Don Juan.
SPICK AND SPAN, applied to anything that is quite new and fresh.—
Hudibrat.
SPIDIREEN, the name of an imaginary ship, sometimes mentioned by
sailors. If a sailor be asked what ship he belongs to, and does not
wish to tell, he will most probably reply — " The spidireen frigate,
with nine decks, and ne'er a bottom."
SPIFFED, slightly intoxicated.— &o«cA Slang.
SPIFFS, the percentage allowed by drapers to their young men when they
eS'ect a sale of old-fashioned or undesirable stock.
SPIFFY, spruce, well-dressed, tout d, la mode.
SPIFLICATE, to confound, silence, annihilate, or stifle. A corruption of
the last word, or of " suffocate."
SPILL, to throw from a horse or chase. — See publ.
SPIN, to reject from an examination. — Army.
SPINDLESHANKS, a nickname for any one who has thin legs.
SPIN-'EM ROUNDS, a street game consisting of a piece of brass, wood,
or iron, balanced on a pin, and turned quickly round 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 com-
pass, and was formerly the gambling accompaniment of London pie-
men. The apparatus then was erected on the tin lids of their pie-cans,
and the bets were ostensibly for pies, but more frequently for " cop-
pers," when no policemen frowned upon the scene, and when two or
three apprentices or porters happened to meet.
SPINIKEN, St Giles's Workhouse. Lump, Marylebone do. Pan, St
Pancras.
SPIRT, or SPURT, " to put on a spirt," to make an increased exertion for
Speel, to run away, make off; " speel the drum," to go off with stolen
property. — North.
Spell, contracted from spellken. " Precious rum squeeze at the spell,"
i.e, a good evening's work at the theatre, would be the remark of a
successful pickpocket I
Spike Park, the Queen's-Bench prison. — See bdbdon's hotel.
242 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
a brief space, to attain one's end ; a nervous effort. Abbreviation or
Bhortening of spiRrr.— OW.
"So here for a man to run well for a spurt, and then to give over,
is enough to annul all his former proceedings, and to make him in no better
estate then if he had never set foot into the good waies of God." — QataJcei't
BpirUuaU Weirh, 4to, 1619. p. 10.
SPITALFIELDS' BREAKFAST. At the East end of London this is
understood as consisting of a tight necktie and a short pipe. Amongst
workmen it is usual, I understand, to tighten the apron string when
no dinner is at hand.
SPITFIRE, a passionate person.
SPLASH, complexion powder used by ladies to whiten their necks and
faces. The finest rice flour, termed in France, pmuhre de riz, is gene-
rally employed. — See slap.
SPLENDIFEROUS, sumptuous, first-rate. Splendacious, sometimes
used with similar meanings.
SPLICE, to marry; "and the two shall become oneflesh." — Sea. AlBo,awiFE.
'' SPLICE THE MAIN BRACE," to take a drink.— Sea.
SPLIT, to inform against one's companions, to tell tales. " To BFUT with
a person," to cease acquaintanceship, to quarreL
SPLODGER, a lout, an awkward countryman.
SPOFFY, a bustling busybody is said to be SPOPPT.
SPONGE, " to throw up the sponge," to submit, give over the struggle, —
from the practice of throwing up the sponge used to cleanse the com-
batants' 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.
SPOONS, a method of designating large sums of money, disclosed at the
Bankruptcy Court during the examination of the gre^t leather failures
of Streatfield & Laurence in 1860-61. The origin of the phrase was
stated to be the reply of the bankrupt Laurence to an offer of accom-
modating him with .j£^500o, — " Oh, you are feeding me with a tea-
spoon." Hence ;^5ooo came to be known in the firm, as a tea-spoon,
;£'io,ooo, a DESSERTSPOON ; ;f 15,000, a table-spoon ; and ;f 20,000, as
a GBAVY-SPOON. The public were amused at this tea-spoon phrase-
ology, but were disgusted that such levity should cover a gigantic
swindle of the kind. It came out in evidence, however, that it was
not the ordinary Slang of the discount world, but it may not improb-
ably become so.
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 Oradits ad
Cantubriqiam. " To sport a new tile ; " "to sport an jEgrotat," (i.e.,
a permission from the "Dons" to abstain from lectures &c., on ac-
'iklxt-toLxX -»,w<»Tna-n.
¥
A'Vee'X
SLANQ, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 243
count of illneBS ;) " 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, 2d series,
vol. viii., p. 492, and Gentleman's Magazine, December 1794.
SPORTING DOOR, the outer door of chambers, also called the oak. — Sa
under SPOBT. — University.
SPOUT, " up the spout," at the pawnbroker's ; spouting, pawning. — See
pop for origin.
Spout, to preach, or make speeches ; SPOUTEE, a preacher or lecturer.
SPRAT, sixpence.
SPREIA.D, butter. Term with workmen and schoolboys.
SPREAD, a lady's shawl. Spread, at the East end of London, a feast, or
a tightener; at the West end a fashionable re-union, an entertain-
ment, 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, spheeuw 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 spruno-up, or " blown together."
SPRY, active, strong, manly. — OriginaZly an 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.
SPUN, when a man has failed in his examination at Woolwich, he is said
to be SPUN ; as at the Universities he is said to be plucked.
SPUNGING-HOUSE, the sheriffs 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.
*' In that snug room, where any man of spunk
Would find it a hard mattt^r to get dnmk."
— Peter Pindar, L, 245.
Common in America. For derivation see the following : —
SPUNKS, lucifer-matches. — Herefordshire; Scotland. Spunk, says Urry,
in his MS. notes to Ray, " is the excresceney of some tree, of which
they make a sort of tinder to light their pipes with."
SPUNK-FENCER, a lucifer-match seller.
SPURT.— 0M.—5ce spirt.
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. The expression is, in all probability, derived
from the well-known masonic emblem the "square," the symbol of
evenness and rectitude.
"You must keep within the compass, and act upon the square with all man-
Spotted, to be known or marked by the police.
244 ^ DICTIONARY OF MODERN
kind ; for your masonry is but a dead letter if you do not habitually per-
form its reiterated injunctions." — Olivet's Lectures on Signs and Symbols^
p. 190.
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. ShaJc-
speare uses square in the sense of to quarreL
SQUARE RIGGED, well dressed.— Sea.
SQUARUM, a cobbler's lapstone.
SQUASH, to crush ; " to go squash," to collapse.
SQUEAL, to inform, peach. A north country variation of sqtuaJc; s. t.
squealer, an informer, also an illegitimate baby.
SQUIB, a temporary j'e« desprit, which, like the firework of that denomi-
nation, sparkles, bounces, stinks, and vanishes. — Grose.
SQUIBS, paint-brushes.
SQUINNY-EYED, said of one given to squinting. — Shakgpeare.
SQUIRT, a doctor, or chemist.
"STAB YOURSELF AND PASS THK DAOQEB," help yourself and pasg the
bottle. — Theatrical Slang.
STAB, " on the stab," ».«., on the establishment, of which word it ia an
abridgment. — Printer't term.
STAB-RAG, a regimental tailor. — Military Slang.
STAFF-NAKED, gin.
STAG, a shUling.
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 see, discover, or watch, — like a stag at gaze; "stag the push,"
look at the crowd. Also, to dun, or demand payment.
STAGE-WHISPER, one loud enough to bo heard.
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.
STALL, to lodge, or put up at a public house. Also, to act a part.—
Theatrical.
Square Cove, an honest man.
Square Moll, an honest woman.
" Squaring his Nms," giving a policeman money.
" Squeak on a person," to inform against, peach.
Squeeze, silk ; also, by a very significant figure, a thief s term for the ntek.
Stag, to demand money, to " cadge."
Stagger, one who looks out, or watches.
Stall, or stall off, a dodge, a blind, an excuse. Stall is ancient Cant
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 245
"STALL YOUR MUG," go away; epoken sharply by any one who wishes
to get rid of a troublesome or inconvenient person.
STALKING-HORSE, originally a horse covered with loose trappings,
under which the mediaeval sportsman concealed himself with his bow,
BO as to approach his game unobserved. Subsequently a canvas figure,
made light, so as to be easily moved with one hand.
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 ^1000," i.e., cost that sum, (a correspondent queries the Latin
CONSTAT, it cost me ;) " to stand pad," to beg on the curb with a
small piece of paper pinned on the breast, inscribed, "I'm starving."
STAND IN, to make one of a party in a bet or other speculation ; to take
a side in a dispute.
STANDING, the position at a street comer, 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 pattbreb.
STANGEY, a tailor ; a person under petticoat government, — derived from
the custom of " riding the stanq," mentioned in Hvdtbras : —
"It is a custom used of course
Where the gray mare is the better horse."
STAR, a common abbreviation of the name of the well-known " Star and
Garter" Inn at Richmond.
STARCHY, stuck-up, high-notioned, showily dressed, stiff and unbending
in demeanour.
STARK-NAKED, (originally stbip-me-naked, vide RandaU'i Diary, 1820,)
raw gin. — Bulwer'a Paul Clifford.
STAR IT, to perform as the centre of attraction, with inferior subordinates
to set off one's abilities. — Theatrical.
START, " the stabt," London, — the great starting point for beggars and
tramps.
START, a proceeding of any kind; a "rum stabt," an odd circumstance;
" to get the STABT of a person," to anticipate him, overreach him.
STARVE 'EM, ROB 'EM, and CHEAT 'EM, the adjoining towns of Stroud,
Rochester, and Chatham are so designated by soldiers and sailors ; prob-
ably not without reason.
Stall off, to blind, exovise, hide, to screen a robbery during the perpetra-
tion of it by an accomplice.
Stallsman, an accomplice.
" Stab the qlaze," 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.
246 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
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.
STEAM-EKGINE, potato-pie at Manchester is so termed.
STEEL-BAR-DRIVERS, or flingers, journeymen tailors.
STEMS, the legs.
STEP IT, to run away, or make ofE
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 com by cuts in a
stick, reckoning by the score. Cut toue 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 connexion," and suggests a possible origin in the pro-
phet's breaking the staves of " Beauty " and " Bands," — vide Zech. xi.
10, 14.
STICK, to cheat ; "he got stuck," he was taken in ; I 'm stuck, a common
phrase to express that the speaker has spent or lost all his money, and
can neither play nor pay any longer ; stick, to forget one's part in a
performance — Theatrical; stick up, to place in an account ; " stick it
UP to MB," i.e , give me credit for it; stick on, to overcharge or de-
fraud; stick up for, to defend a person, especially when slandered in
his absence ; stick up to, to persevere in courting or attacking, whe-
ther 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, — to cotton to him.
STICKS, furniture, or household chattels; " pick up your sticks and cut! "
summary advice to a person to take himself and furniture away. —
Cumberland.
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, &o.; "how did you get it, STIFF or
hard?" i.e., did he pay you cash or give a bill? Stiff, "to do a bit
of STIFF," to accept a biU.— &c kite.
STIFF-FENCER, a street-seUer of writing paper.
STIFF 'UN, a corpse. — Term used by undertakers.
Steel, the house of correction in London, formerly named the Bastile, but
since shortened to steel. — Sec bastile.
Sticks, \Aaio\a.— Nearly obsolete.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 247
STILLS, the undertaker's Slang term for STILL-BORN children. The fee
paid by nurses and others is usually 2s. 6d. A separate coffin is neyer
given ; the stills are quietly introduced into one containing an adult
about to be buried. Stills are allowed to accumulate at the under-
taker's until they sometimes number as many as a dozen.
STILTON, "that's the stilton," or "it is not the stiltok," t.«., 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.
STINKOMALEB, 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 Universi-
ties, who regard it with disfavour from its admitting all denominations.
STIPE, a stipendiary magistrate. — Provincial.
STIR-UP SUNDAY, the Sunday next before Advent, the collect for
that day commencing with the words " Stir up." School-boys, growing
excited at the prospect of the vacation, irreverently commemorate it
by stirring up — p>ishing and poking each other. Crib-crust mondat
and tug-button Tuesday are distinguished by similar tricks ; while oij
PAT-OFF WEDNESDAY they retaliate small gnidges 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.
STOCK; "to STOCK cards" is to arrange cards in a certain manner for
cheating purposes.
STOCK, " to take stock of one," to scrutinise narrowly one whom you have
reason to suspect; taken from the tradesmen's term for the annual
examination and valuation of their stock of goods.
STOCKDOLAGER, a heavy blow, a " finisher." Italian, btocoado, a fen-
cing term. Also (in a general sense) a disastrous event. — Americanism,
STODGE, to surfeit, gorge, or clog with food.
STOLL, to understand. — North Country Cant.
STORY, a falsehood, — the soft synonyme for a lie, allowed in family circles
and boarding-schools. A Puritanism that came into fashion with the
tirade against romances, all novels and stories being considered as
dangerous and false.
STOT, a young bullock. In Northumherland the term stot means to re-
bound.
Stir, a prison, a lock-up; "in stie," in jaiL Anglo-Saxon, styb, correc-
tion, punishment.
Stone-JUO, a prison.
Stook, a pocket-handkerchief.
Stook-hauler, or buzzer, a thief who takes pocket-handkerchiefs.
Stop, a detective policeman.
248 A DICTION AST OF MODERN
STOTOR, a heavy blow, a settler.— OW Cant.
STOW, to leave off, or have done; "stow it, the gorger's leary," leave o£f,
the person is looking. — See stash, with which it is Bynonymous. —
Ancient Cant.
STOW FAKING ! leave off there, be quiet ! FAKINQ implying anything
that may be going on.
STRAP, a barber.
STRAW. Married ladies are said to be "nf THE stuaw" at their accouche-
merits. 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
gii'ing the purchaser a p.iper (indecent or political) or a gold (!) ring, —
neither of which, the patterer states, he is allowed by Act of Parlia-
ment 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 persona who make a stand in the streets, and sell
articles for their living.
STRETCH, a waXTi.— University.
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.
" STRIKE ME LUCKY ! " an expression used by the lower orders when
making a bargain, derived from the old custom of striking hands to-
gether, leaving in that of the seller a LtrcK 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. — Uudibras. Anciently this was called a ood's penny.
"With that he cast him a God's penny." — Eeir 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.
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.
Strbtchinq match, an execution. — See stretch.
" Strike a jigger," to pick a lock, or break open a door.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 249
STRILLS, cheating lies. — North Country Cant.
STROKE, a companion in a rowing boat who times his oar with yovirs. —
University.
** He [the man who rows] looks round at a wine-party to see if his * stroke ' be
present, and, descrymg him not, cannot see how a few glasses of wine, and
a plate or so of ice, can possibly interfere with his training." — HinU to
Frethmen, 1847.
STROMMEL, straw. —A ncient Cant. Halliwell says that in Norfolk stbum-
MKL is a name for hair.
STRONG, " to come it strong."— See come.
STUCK, moneyless. — See stick.
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 Eiatory of stuck-up People.
STUFF, money.
STUFF, to make false but plausible statements, to praise ironically, to
make game of a person, — literally, to STurJC or CRAM him with gam-
mon or falsehood.
STUMP, to go on foot.
STUMPED, bowled out, done for, bankrupt, poverty-stricken.— CHcJetinjr
term.
STUMPS, legs, or feet.
STUMPY, money.
STUMP UP, to give 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 siumkbbs on
me," i.e., it confounded me.
STUNNING, first-rate, very good. "SiUNurao pears," shouts the coster,
"only eight a penny. — Vide Athenaum, 26th March 1859. Some-
times amplified to stunning joe banks ! when the expression is sup-
posed to be in its most intense form. Job Banks was a noted
character in the last generation. He was the proprietor of a public-
house iu Dyott Street, Seven Dials, and afterwards, on the demolition
of the Rookery, of another in Cranboume 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 pay-
ment to Joe, a watch or a snufT-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
SxBiP-BrSH, a fellow who steals clothes put out to dry after washing.
250 A DICTIONARY OF MODERK
showy pin, and a remarkably stunning necTc-tie. It was this peculi-
arity 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 stonnino 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 adnaittance to the clubs or more aristo-
cratic establishments.
SUB, a subaltern officer in the army.
SUB, all — Anglo-Indian.
SUBLIME RASCAL, a lawyer.
SUCK, a parasite, flatterer of the "nobs." — Univemty.
SUCK, to pump, or draw information from a person.
SUCK-CASA, a public-house. — Lingua Franca.
" SUCK THE MONKEY," to rob a cask of liquor by inserting a straw
through a gimlet hole, and sucking a portion of the contents. Captain
Marryatt, however, describes this as rum inserted into cocoa nuts, in
place of the milk, for the private use of the sailors. — See tap -the-
ADMIBAL.
SUCK UP, "to SUOK UP to a person," to insinuate one's-self into his good
graces.
SUDDEN DEATH, the first toss in a bet, to be decided by SKTmo a
copper.
SUFFERER, a tailor; the loser at any game.
SUGAR, money.
SUICIDE, four horses driven in a line. — See harum-scarum.
SUIT, a watch and seals.
SULKY, a one-horse chaise, having only room for one person.
SUMSY, an action of assumpsit. — Legal Slang.
"SUN IN THE EYES," to have too much drink.— Dtcjfec?!*.
SUP, abbreviation of " supernumerary." — Theatrical.
SURAT, an adulterated article of inferior quality. This word affords a
remarkable instance of the manner in which Slang phrases are coined.
In the report of an action for libel in the Times, May 8, 1863, it is
stated " that, since the American civil war, it has been not unusual for
manufacturers to mix American cotton with Surat, and, the latter
being an inferior article, the people in Lancashire have begun to apply
the term surat to any article of inferior or adulterated quality. The
plaintiffs were brewers, and the action was brought to recover special
damages resulting from the publication of an advertisement in these
"Stunned on Skilly," to be sent to prison and compelled to eat sbullt,
or skillioolee.
Sturaban, a prison. Oipsy, bistarabin.
Super, a watchi supeb-scbewino, stealing watches.
8LAN0, CANT, AND VULQAR WORDS. 25 1
words : — ' All in want of beerhouses must beware of Beaumont &
White, the subat brewers.' "
SURF, an actor who frequently pursues another calling. — Theatrical.
SWAB, an epaulet. — Sea.
SWACK-UP, a falsehood.
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 swaddlbr ! " as
if the whole story were the preacher's invention. — Southey't Life of
Wesley, vol. ii., p. 109.
SWADDY, or coolib, a soldier. The former was originally applied to a
discharged soldier, and perhaps came from shoddt, which is made
from soldiers' and worn-out policemen's coats. — See that term.
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. Scotch,
swEO, or swaok; Qtmum, sweiq, a flock. Old Cant for a shop.
SWAG-SHOP, a warehouse where "Brummagem" and general wares are
sold, fancy trinkets, plated goods, &c. Jews are the general pro-
prietors, and the goods are very low-priced, trashy, and showy. SwAO-
SHOPS were formerly plunder depots. — Old Cant.
SWANKEY, cheap heer.—West.
SWAP, to exchange. Grose says it is Irish Cant, but the term is now in-
cluded in most dictionaries as an allowed vulgarisn^
SWATCHEL-COVE, the master of a Punch-and-Judy exhibition who
" fakes the slum," and does the necessary squeak for the amusement of
the bystanders. — See Schwassle box. The orthography of many of
these colloquial expressions differs. It was thought best to give the
various renderings as collected.
SWEAT, to extract money from a person, to " bleed." Also, to squander
riches. — Bulwer.
SWEATER, common term for a "cutting" or "grinding" employer, — one
who SWEATS his work-people.
SWEEP, a contemptuous term for 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
SWEETENER, a person who runs up the prices of articles at an auction.
— See JOLLYING, BONNET, &C.
SWELL, a man of importance ; a person with a showy, jaunty exterior ,
"a rank SWELL," a very "flashy" dressed person, a man who by
excessive dress apes a higher position than he actually occupies.
Swag, booty, or plundered property ; " coUar the swao," seize the booty.
SwAGSMAN, one who carries the booty after a burglary.
252 A DICTIONARY OF MOBERIT
Anything is said to be swell or bwellish that looks showy, or ig
many coloured, or is of a desirable quality. Dickens and Wilkie
Collins are termed great swells in literature ; so indeed are the first
persons in the learned professions.
SWELL-FENCEE, a street salesman of needles.
"SWELL HUNG IN CHAINS," said of a showy man in the habit of
wearing much jewellery.
SWELL STREET, the West end of London.
SWIG, a hearty drink.
SWIG, to drink. Saxon, swiOAN.
SWILL, to drink. Swill, hog-wash. — NorfoVc.
SWINDLER, although a recognised word in standard dictionaries, com-
menced 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 ; " if you don't accede to my desires, I'll swing for
you," i.e., take your life — a common threat in low neighbourhoods.
SWINGING, large, huge.
SWIPES, sour or small beer. Swipe, to drink. — Sta.
SWIPEY, (from swipes,) intoxicated.
SWISH, to flog, derived no doubt from the sound.
SWISHED, or Switohed, married.
SWIVEL-EYE, a squint.
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 pronuncia-
tion of Dr Wallace, one of the Professors, of the word sweat. — Su
Notes and Queries, voL i., p. 369.
SYCE, a groom. — Anglo-Indian.
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.
TABOOED, forbidden. This word, now very common, is derived from a
custom of the South-Sea Islanders, first noticed in " Cook's Voyages."
TACK, a taste foreign to what was intended ; a barrel may get a tack
upon it, either permanently mouldy, sour, or otherwise.
TACKLE, clothes. — Sea. Also to encounter a person in argument.
Swim, " a good swim," a good run of luck, a long time out of the police"
man's clutches. — Thieves' term. A correspondent says this is really a
piscatorial term— "a good swim" is a good pitch for a part where fish
are plentiful. Thus one who is in luck, or doing a good business, is
said to be in a good swim.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 253
TAFFY, (corruption of David,) a Wekhman. Compare sawnet, (from
A hxander,) a Scotchman. ^
TAG, an actor.
TAG-RAG-AND-BOBTAIL, a mixed crowd of low people, mobility.
TAIL-BCOCK, a watch.— &a.
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; Shakspeare 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 fob," — an engagement which is as
frequently performed in a bad as a good sense ; "to take the field,"
when said cf 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," Shahtpeare has take in in the sense of conquering.
To BE HAD, or to be spoken to, were formerly synonymous phrases
with to be taken in.
TALKING, a stable term, of a milder kind, applied to those horses which
are addicted to hoabino. — See the latter expremon.
TALL, extensive, exaggerated, — generally appUed to conversation, as LOUD
is to dress, or personal appearance ; " tall talk that," i.e., conversation
too boastful or high-flown to be true.
TALLY, five dozen bunches of turnips. — Costermongers' term,
TALLY, "to live tally," to live in a state of unmarried impropriety;
" tally- WIFE," a woman who cohabits with a man to whom she is not
married; a "tallyman" is an accommodating salesman who takes
payment by instalments to suit the convenience of the purchaser.
TAN, to beat or thrash; " I '11 tan your hide," t.e., give you a good beating.
TAN, an order to puU. — Anglo-Indian.
TANNER, a sixpence. Gipsy, tawno, little, or Latin, teneb, slender!
TANNY, or teeny, little. Oipsy, tawno, little.
TANTREMS, pranks, capers, frolicking; "from the Tarantula dance. — See
account of the involuntary frenzy and motions caused by the bite
of the tarantula in Italy. — Penny Cyclopccdia.
TAPE, gin, — term with female servants. Also, a military term used ia
barracks when no spirits are allowed. — See ribbon.
TAPER, to give over gradually, to run short.
"TAP THE ADMIRAL," to suck liquor from a cask by means of a straw,
Tailbuzzeb, a thief who picks coat pockets.
254 ^ DICTIONARY OF MODERN
said to have teen first done with the rum-cask in which Lord Nelson's
body was brought to England, to such an extent as to leave the gallant
Admiral high and dry.
TAP-TUB, the Morning Advertiser, — so called by vulgar people from the
fact that this daily newspaper is the principal organ of the London
brewers and publicans. Sometimes termed the gim and gospel
GAZETTE.
TARADIDDLE, a falsehood.
TAR-BRUSH, a person, whose complexion indicates a mixture of Negro
blood, is said to have had a lick of the tar-brush.
TAR OUT, to punish, to serve out.
TARPAULIN, a sailor.
TART. My old servant, " Jim the Patterer," (one of the collectors of
Seven Dials' terms for the first edition of this work,) whose unfor-
tunate habit for contracting small loans induced me at length to lend
him a whole half-crown at once, in the hope that he might not pay,
and thus not trouble me again, has recently sent me some words from
Birmingham, where he says he is doing well with " a sohwassle box,
having learnt the squeak." Amongst them is the following, given in
Mr Jim's own words : —
"Tart, a term of approval applied by the London lower orders to a young
■woman for whom some affection is felt. The expression is not generally
employed by the young men, unless the female is in * lier best,' with a
coloured gown, red or blue shawl, and plenty of ribbons in her bonnet — in
fact, made pretty all over, like the jam tarta in the swell bakei-s' shops."*
TARTAR, a savage feUow, an " ugly customer." CATCnma a tartau.
TAT-BOX, a dice-box.
TATER, "s'elp my tateb," another street eTasion of a profane oath, soma
times varied by " s'elp my greens."
TATS, dice.
TATS, old rags; MILKY tats, white rags.
TATTING, gathering old rags.
TATTOO, a ^ony .—Anglo-Indian.
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.
TEA-FIGHT, an evening party, alms a MtjPFlN-woEBT.
TEA-SPOON, five thousand pounds. — See spoons.
TEETH, " he has cut his eye teeth," i.e., is old and 'cute enough.
TEETH-DRAWING, wrenching off Ts.Xioc]s.eva.— Medical Students' term.
* The Language used by Mr Jim la certainly far above his position in life. This
evidence of education existing amonijst certain persona of the tramping fraternity
has been alluded to at page 23.
TaTI/ER, a watch; "nimmiiig a TATLER," stealing a watch.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULOAS WORDS. 255
TEETOTALLER, a total abstainer from alcoholic drinks.
TEETOTALLY, amplification of totally.
TE-HE, to titter, " Upon this I te-he'd;" Madame (TArUatj. As an inter-
jection it is as old aa Chaitcer. — See Miller' i Tale " — " ib-he, quod she,
and clapt the window to."
Tell on, to tell about, to talk of.
TEN COMMANDMENTS, a virago's fingers, <5r nails. Often heard in a
female street disturbance.
" TENPENCE TO THE SHILLING," a vulgar phrase denoting a defi-
ciency in intellect.
TESTER, sixpence. From testone, a shilling in the reign of Henry VIII.,
but a sixpence in the time of Queen Elizabeth. — Shakspeare. French,
teste, or TfeiE, the head of the monarch on the coin.
TEVISS, a shilling. — Cmtermonger and Tramps' term,
THICK, intimate, familiar. Scotch, cbt&f ; " the two are very chief now,"
t.e., friendly.
THICK ; " to lay it on thick," to flatter unduly, to surfeit with praise or
adulation.
THICK-UN, a sovereign ; a crown piece, or five shillings.
THIMBLE-RIG, a noted cheating game played at fairs and places of great
public thronging, consisting of two or three thimbles rapidly and dex-
terously placed over a pea, when the thimblb-biqoer, suddenly ceas-
ing, 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.
THINGUMY, THINGUMBOB, expressions used for the name of a thing
which cannot be recollected at the instant.
THINSKINNED, over nice, petulant, apt to get a raw. — See that term.
THREE-CORNERED-SCRAPER, a cocked hat.— Sea.
" THREE SHEETS IN THE WIND," unsteady from drink.— &o.
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.
THRUMMER, a threepenny bit.
Tench, the Penitentiary, of which it is a contraction. — See steel.
Theatre, a police court ; a place for acting, or assuming a part which ia
not natural to the performer.
Thimble, or tack, a watch. — Prison Cant.
Thimble-twisters, thieves who rob persons of their watches.
256 A DICTIONARY OF MODKRif
THRUMS, threepence.
THRUPS, threepence. — See the preceding.
THUMPING, large, fine, or strong.
THUNDERER, the Times newspaper, Bometimes termed " the thunbebeb
of Printing-House Square," from the locality where it is printed,
THUNDERING, large, extra sized.
TIB'S EVE, " neither before Christmas nor after," an indefinite period ;
like the Greek Kalends, tie's evb has a future application ; an indefi-
nite period of past time is sometimes said to be " when Adam was
an oakum-boy in Chatham dockyard."
TIBBING OUT, going out of bounds.— CAartcrAorac.
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 in 1668. Cuthbert Bede,
in Notes and Queries, supplies me with an earlier date, from the ffra-
dit« ad Cantabrigiam.
" No matter upon landing whether you have money or no— yon may swim In
twentie of their boats over the river upon ticket." — Decker's CfiUU' Hornbook,
1609.
TICKER, a watch. Formerly Cant, now street Slang.
TICKET, "that's the ticket," i,e., what was wanted, or what is best.
Corruption of " that is not etiquette," by adding, in vulgar pronuncia-
tion, 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 roE SOUP," in allusion to the card given to beggars for imme-
diate relief at soup kitchens. — See tick.
TIDY, tolerably, or pretty well ; " how did you gel on to-day ? " — " Oh,
tidy." — Saxon.
TIDDLYWINK, slim, puny; sometimes tilltwink.
TIED UP, given over, finished ; also married, in allusion to the hymeneal
knot, unless a jocose allusion be intended to the halter, (altar. )
TIFF, a pet, a fit of ill humour.
TIFFIN, a breakfast, dijeHner & la fourchette. — Anglo-Indian Slang.
TIFFY, easily offended, apt to be annoyed.
TIGER, a parasite ; also a term for a ferocious woman.
TIGER, a boy employed to wait on gentlemen ; one who waits on ladies L
a page.
TIGHT, close, stingy ; hard up, short of cash ; TIOHT, spruce, strong, active;
" a TIGHT lad," a smart, active young fellow ; tight, drunk, or nearly
BO ; " 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.— See spitalpields' breakfast.
Tike, or bupfeb-luhkinq, dog-stealing. — See gat tikebot.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 257
TILE, a hat; a covering for the head.
" I 'm a gent, I 'm a gent.
In the Regent-Street style, —
Examine my vest.
And look at my tile." — Popular Song.
Sometimes used in another sense, " having a tile loose," ».«., being
slightly crazy. — See paktile.
TIMBER MERCHANT, or spunk fencer, a lucifer-match seller.
TIME 0' DAY, a dodge, the latest aspect of affairs ; " that 's your TIMB 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.
TIME, cabman's Slang for money. If they wish to express 93. gd. they
say that " it is a quarter to ten ; " if 33. 6d., half -past three ; if lis. gd,
a quarter to twelve. Cab drivers exultingly say the police cannot com-
prehend the system,
TIN, money,^ — generally applied to silver.
TINGE, the per-centage 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. In the
Contea d' Eutrapel, a French officer at the siege of ChatUlon is ridicu-
lously spoken of as Captain tin-pot — Capitaine du, Pot d'Etain. —
Billiards.
TIP, advice or information respecting a horse-race, so that the person tip-
ped may know how to bet to the best advantage. Notice when and
where a prize-fight is to come off. Private information of any kind —
See tipster.
TIP, a douceur ; " a good tip," a piece likely to be set in an Addisoombe
or Sandhurst examination, hence, "that's the tip," i.e., that's the
proper thing to do. " To miss one's tip," to fail in a scheme. — Old Cant.
TIP, 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.
TIPPER, a kind of ale brewed at Brighton.
TIPSTER, a " tout," or " turf " agent who collects early information of
the condition and racing capabilities of horses in the training districts,
and posts the same to his subscribers to guide their betting.
"The racing tipsters have much less patronage than formerly, before "Geof-
frey Greentioni " laid a trap for them, and pablished the tips he received in
The L\fe. Professor Ingledue, M.A., the mesmerist, is silent; and if their
subscribers, ' for whose interests I have collected my old and able staff, with
many additional ones, who are already at work in the training districts,'
could only get a sight of the * old and able staff,' they would find it consist-
ing of a man and a boy, ' at work ' in the back room of a London public-
house, and scndiiig dincient winners for every race to their subscribers."—
Poti and Paddock, by the Druid.
TiLL-BOY, an apprentice or shopman who makes free with the cash in his
master's till
258 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
" TIP THE DOUBLE," to " bolt," or run away from a creditor or o£Scer.
Sometimes tip the double to shebbt, i.e., to the sheriff.
TIP-TOP, first-rate, o£ the best kind.
TIP-TOPPER, a " swell," or dressy man, a " Oorger."
IT, a favourite name for a horse.
TIT FOR TAT, an equivalent.
f> . j2 TITIVATE, to put in order, or dress up.
JV^^.OiAy^^.oJ>Jflf"'^ — TITLEY, drink, generally applied to intoxicating beverages.
-, I, 1 . I 1 TITTER, a girl ;" nark the TITTER," i.e., look at the girl. — Trampt' term,
U/*^<asA. a-ir**- *V -'"r''W^-'.TIzER, the Moming Advertiser.— See tap tub.
> . I J TIZZY, a sixpence. Corruption of tester.
-'JlXjt^ ~ ^ TOAD-IN-THE-HOLE, a kind of pudding, consisting of a piece of meat
surrounded with batter, and baked. Also, a term applied to advertis-
(X\-*'i}J^yJUj^ ing mediums. — See sandwich.
TOASTING-FORK, a regulation sword, indicative of the general useless-
ness of that weapon.
TODDLE, to walk as a child.
TODO, (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 AFP aire (d faire). — See Forby's Vocabu-
lary of Eait Anglia.
TOFF, a dandy, a swell of rank. Corruption probably of lurx. — iSee Torx.
TOFFER, a well-dressed " gay " woman.
TOFFICKY, dressy, showy.
TOFT, a showy individual, a SWELL, a person who, in a Yorkshireman's
vocabulary, would be termed uppish. — See TUPT.
TOG, a coat. Zatin, toga. — Ancient Cant.
TOG, to dress, or equip with an outfit ; " togoed out to the nines," dressed
in the first style.
TOGGERY, clothBs, harness, domestic paraphernalia of any kind.
TOGS, clothes ; " Sunday togs," best clothes. One of the oldest Cant
words — in use in the time of Henry VIII. — See cakt.
TOKE, dry bread.
TOL-LOL, or tol-lollish, tolerable, or tolerably.
TOLL-SHOP, a Yorkshire correspondent gives this word as denoting in
that county a prison, and also the following verse of a song, popular
at fairs in the East Riding : —
•* But if ivver he get out agean.
And can but raise a frind.
Oh 1 the divel may tak' toll shop.
At Beverley town-end !"
Toby Consarn, a highway expedition. Toby is Old Cant.
Toby, a road; "highiOBT,' the turnpike road. " High toby spice," rob-
bery on horseback. — Don Juan, canto xi., 19.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 259
TOM AND JERRY, a low drinking shop. Probably Bome allusion to
Pierce Egan's famous characters in his Life in London.
TOMBSTONE, a pawnticket — "In memory of," &c., a well known Slang
expression with those Londoners who are in the habit of following
" My Uncle."
TOM-FOOL'S COLOURS, scarlet and yellow, the ancient motley. Occa-
sionally as a rhyme,
*' Bed and yellow,
Tom pool's colour."
A proposition is said to be tom fool when it is too ridiculous to be
entertained or discussed.
TOMMY.— See dickey.
TOMMY, bread, — generally a penny rolL Sometimes applied by workmen
to the supply of food which they cany in a handkerchief as their daily
allowance.
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 DODD, in tossing when the odd man g:oes out. A phrase in
frequent use at the London Music Halls. Origin not known.
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 kind of small drum beaten with the
fingers, somewhat like the ancient tabor ; a performer on this instru-
ment. It was imported, doubtless, with the Nigger melodies, tom-
toms being a favourite instrument with the " darkies."
TOM TOPPER, a waterman, from a popular song, entitled, " Overboard lie
vent."
TOM TUO, a waterman.
TONGUE, " to tongue a person," i.e., talk him down. Tonqued, talkative.
TONY LUMPKIN, a young, clownish country fellow.
TOOL, " a poor tool," a bad hand at anything.
TOOL, to drive a mail coach, or any other vehicle.
TOOTH, " he has cut his eye tooth," i.e., he is sharp enough, or old
enough, to do so ; " up in the tooth," far advanced in age,— said
often of old maids. Staile term for aged horses which have lost the
distinguishing mark in their teeth.
TOOTSIES, feet, those of ladies and children in particular. In married
Tool, to pick pockets.
Tool, a very little boy employed by burglars to put in at small apertures,
so as to open a door for the larger thieves outside.
TooLER, a pickpocket. Moll-tooleb, a female pickpocket.
26o A DICTIONARY OF MODEBy
life it is said the husband uses this expression for the first six montha,
after that he terms them hoofs.
TOOZLE, to Tom^.— Scotch.
TOP, the signal among tailors and seamstresses for snuffing the candle ;
one cries top, and all the others follow, he who last pronounces th»
word has to snuff the candle.
TOP-HEAVY, drunk.
TOPPER, anything or person above the ordinary.
TOPPER, a blow on the head; " give him a topper and chance it," "let
him have a topper for \nc\ii."^PugUietic Slang.
TOP-SAWYER, the principal of a party, or profession. " A top-sawtkr
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." — Sandal's IHary, 1820.
TOPSY-TURVY, the bottom upwards. Orose gives an ingenious ety-
mology of this once Cant term, viz., " top-aide turf-waya," — turf being
always laid the wrong side upwards.
TO-RIGHTS, exceUent, very well, or good.
TORMENTORS, the large iron flesh-forks used by cooks at sen.— Sea.
TORPIDS, the second-class race-boats at Oxford, answering to the Cam-
bridge SLOGGEUS.
TOSS, a measure of sprats. — Billingsgate and Costermonger.
TOT, a small glass; a "tot o' whiskt" is the smallest quantity sold.
TOUCH, a slang expression in common use in phrases which express the
extent to which a person is interested or affected as "a fourpenny
TOUCH," i.e., costing that amount.— 5ee an example in Mr, afterwards
Sir Erasmus, Philipp's Diary, at Oxford, in 1 720. (Notes and Queries,
2d series, p. 365.)
Sept. 22. " At night went to the ball at the Angel, A Guinea Touch."
It is also used at Eton in the sense of a " tip," or present of money.
TOUCHED, slightly intoxicated ; also said of a consumptive person.
TOUCHER, " as near as a todcher," as near as possible without actually
touching. — Coaching term. The old jarveys, to shew 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, in sporting phraseology a tout signifies an agent in the training
districts, on the look-out for information as to the condition and
capabilities of those horses entered for a coming race. — See tipster.
TOUT, to look out, or watch.— OW Cant.
Topped, hanged, or executed.
Tops, dying speeches and gallows' broadsides.
T08HEB8, men who steal copper from ships' bottoms in the Thames.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 26 1
TOtJTER, a looker out, one who watches for customers, a hotel runner.
A term in general use, derived from the old Cant word.
TOWEL, to beat or whip. In Warwichshire an oaken stick is termed a
TOWEL — whence, perhaps, the yulgar verb.
TOWELLING, a rubbing down with' an oaken towel, a beating.
TOWN-LOUT, a derogatory title at Rugby School for those pupils who
reside with their parents in the town, in' contradistinction to those
who live in the boarding-houses.
TOW-POWS, grenadiers.
TRACKS, " to make tkacks," 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
TRAK8LAT0BS.
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, SWAO.
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. — Nor(h.
Generally applied to girls and women in low neighbourhoods whose
clothes are carelessly fastened, causing them to trail on the ground.
TREE, " up a tree," in temporary difficulties, — out of the way. American
expression, derived from raccoon or bear-huntino. 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, of Backwoods' celebrity.
In Scotland the phrase is " up a close," i.e., a passage out of the usual
track, or removed from observation.
TRIANGLES, a Slang term for delirium tremens, during a fit of which
everything appears out of the square.
TRIMMINGS, the necessary adjuncts to a cooked leg of mutton, as turnips'
bread, beer, salt, &c. Bets are frequently made for a leg of mutton
and TRiMMiNas. Or one person will forfeit the mutton if another will
"stand the trimmings." It is generally a supper feast, held In a
public house, and the rule is for the landlord to charge as trimminqs
everything, except the mutton, placed on the table previous to the
removal of the cloth.
Traveller, name given by one tramp to another. " A travellke at her
Majesty's expense," i.e., a transported felon, a convict.
Trihje, to hang. — Ancient Cant.
262 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
TRIPES, the bowels.
" Next mominff Mlaa Dolly complained of her trifes,
Drinking cold water had given her the gripes."
TROLLING, sauntering or idling, hence teoll and tbollooks, an idia
slut, a MOLL, which see.
TROLLY, or trollt-carts, term given by costennongers to a species of
narrow cart, which can either be drawn by a donkey, or driven by hand.
TROT, to "run up," to oppose, to bid against at an auction. Private
buyers at auctions know from experience how general is the opposition
against them from dealers, " knock-outs," and other habitues of sales,
who regard the rooms as their own peculiar domain ; " we trotted
him up nicely, didn't we?" i.e., we made him (the private buyer) pay
dearly for what he bought.
TROTTER, a tailor's man who goes round for orders. — University.
TROTTER CASES, shoes.
TROTTERS, feet. Sheep's teottebs, boiled sheep's feet, a favourite street
delicacy.
TRUCK, a hat — from the cap on the extremity of a mast. — Sea,
TRUCK, to exchange or barter.
TRUCK- GUTTED, pot-beUied, corpulent.— 5^ea.
TRUCKS, trousers.
TRUMP, a good fellow; "a regular trump," a jolly or good-natured person,
— in allusion to a tkump card ; " tbdmps may turn up," i.e., fortime
may yet favour me.
TRUNKS, trousers— rtetricoi.
TUBS, a butterman.
TUB-THUMPING, preaching or speech-making, from the old Puritan
fashion of " holding forth " from a tub, or beer barrel, as a mark of
their contempt for decorated pulpits.
TUCK, a schoolboy's term for fruit, pastry, &c. TuCK IN, or TUCK OUT, a
good meal.
TUFTS, fellow-commoners, i.e., students at the University, generally the
sons of noblemen, 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 — one who
seeks the society of wealthy students. Originally University Slang,
but now general. — 5ee preceding.
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."
Teuff, to steal. — North Country Cant.
TuOK-up-FAiR, the gallows. The notion of tucking up in connexion with
hanging is derived from tucking up the bedclothes before going to
aleep — the last preparation.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULOAR WORDS. 263
"TUNE THE OLD COW DIED OF," an epithet for any ill-played or dis-
cordant piece of music. Originally the name of an old ballad, alluded
to in the dramatists of Shakspeare's time.
TUP, a young bullock. Smithfield, and drovers' term.
TURF, horse-racing, and betting thereon j " on the turf," one who occu-
pies himself with race-course business; said also of a street-walker,
nymph of the pav^.
TURKEY MERCHANTS, dealers in plundered or contraband silk. Poiil-
terers are sometimes termed torkbt merchants in remembrance of
Home Tooke's answer to the boys at Eton, who wished in an aristo-
cratic way to know who Aw father was : a turket merchant, replied
Tooke — his father was a poulterer. Turkey merchant, also, was
formerly Slang for a driver of turkeys or geese to market.
TURNIP, an old-fashioned watch, so called from its thickness.
TURN OUT, personal show or appearance ; a man with a showy carriage
and horses is said to have a good TURN OUT.
TURN-OVER, an apprentice who finishes with a second master the inden-
tures he commenced with the first.
TURNPIKE SAILORS, beggars who go about dressed as sailors.
TURN UP, a street fight; a sudden leaving, or making o£E
TURN UP, to appear unexpectedly.
TURN UP, to quit, change, abscond, or abandon; "Ned has turned up,"
i.e., run away; "I intend turning it dp," 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. Johiuon and Welster call it - ^ /. ^
a vulgar word. Oh' .. j/, .. rL U^ ~ ^ VT^ '
TUSSLE, to struggle, or argue. ■> i/4^>«'*<*' ^'^ /-p Iv 'Vv
TWELVER, a shilling. ^''^ . ^^tf-**- T
TWICE-LAID, a dish made out of cold fish and potatoes. — Sta. Compare " C/
BUBBLE AND SQUEAK and RESURRECTION PIE. '^
TWIG, style, d la mode; "get your strummel faked in twig," i.e., have
your hair dressed in style; FRBIB TWIG, in good order and high spudts.
— Pugilistic.
TWIG, " to hop the twig," to decamp, "cut one's stick," to die.
Turned up, to be stopped and searched by the police.
Turned over, remanded by the magistrate or judge for want of evidence.
Turner out, a coiner of bad money.
Twelve Godfathers, a jury, because they give a name to the crime
the prisoner before them has been guilty of ; whether murder or man-
slaughter, felony or misdemeanour. Consequently it is a vulgar taunt
to say, " You will be christened by twelve godfathebs some day
before long."
264 ^ DICTIONARY OF MODERN
TWIG, to understand, detect, or observe.
TWIST, brandy and gin mixed.
TWIST, capacity for eating, appetite; "Will's got a capital twist. "
TWITCHETY, nervous, fidgety.
TWITTER, " all in a twitter," in a fright or fidgety state.
TWO-FISTED, expert at fisticuffs.
TWO-HANDED, awkward, a singular reversing of meaning.
TWOPENNY, the head; "tuck in your twopenny," bend down yoar
head.
TWOPENNY-HALFPENNY, paltry, insignificant. A twopenkt-ham'-
PENNT fellow, a not uncommon expression of contempt.
TWOPENNY-HOPS, low dancing rooms, the price of admission to which
was formerly — and not infrequently now — twopence. The clog horn-
pipe, the pipe dance, flash jigs, and hornpipes in fetters, a la Jack
Sheppard, are the favourite movements, all entered into with great
spirit and "joyous, laborious capering." — Mayhew.
" TWO UPON TEN," or " two pon* ten," an expression used by assistants
to each other, in shops, when a customer of suspected honesty makes
his appearance. The phrase refers to "two eyes upon ten fingers,"
shortened as a money term to " two pun' ten." When a supposed
thief is present, one shopman asks the other if that TWO pun' (pound)
TEN matter was ever settled. The man knows at once what is meant,
and keeps a careful watch upon the person being served. If it is not
convenient to speak, a piece of paper is handed to the same assistant,
bearing the to him very significant amoimt of
.^ .- /a .■ a
— Compare Sharp, John Orderly.
TYBURNIA, the Portman and Grosvenor Square districts. It is facetiously
divided by the Londoners into tyburnia pelix, tyburnia desebta,
and tyburnia snobbica. The old gallows at Tyburn stood near the
N.E. comer of Hyde Park, at the angle formed by the Edgware Road
and the top of Oxford Street, In 1 778 this was two miles out of
London.
TYE, or TIB, a neckerchief. Proper hosier's term now, but Slang thirty
yeara ago, and as early as 1 7 18. Called also squeeze.
TYKE, a clownish Yorkshireman.
TYPO, a printer.
UNBLEACHED AMERICAN, the new Yankee term for coloured natives
of the United States, the word nigger being now voted low.
■[TNCLE, the pawnbroker. — See my uncle.
Tybukn collar, the fringe of beard worn under the chin. — Ste kewoatb
COLLAR.
Unbsity, to unlock. — See bettt.
SLANG, CANT, AND VDLOAS WORDS. 265
"UNDER THE ROSE."— &e rose.
UNICORN, a style of driving with two wheelers abreast and one leader —
termed in the United States s'spike team. Tandem is one wheeler
and one leader. Random, three horses in line. — See harum-scarum.
UNLICKED, ill-trained, uncouth, rude, and rough; an unlicked cub is a
loutish youth who has never been taught manners ; from the tradition
that a bear's cub, when brought into the world, has no shape or sym-
metry until its dam licks it into form with her tongue.
UNUTTEKABLES, or UNWHISPERABLES, trousers.— 5ee inexpres-
sibles.
UP, " to be UP to a thing or two," to be knowing, or understanding ; " to
put a man dp to a move," to teach him a trick ; " it 's all up with him,"
t.e., it is all over with him, often pronounced U.P., naming the two
letters separately ; "upatree," — s«eTREE; "UPtoTRAP," "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 ; so
also, "what's UP?" i.e., what is the matter? what is the news?
U. P., United Presbyterian. — Scotch clerical Slang,
UPPER BENJAMIN, or bbnjy, a great coat.
UPPER STORY, or upper loft, a person's head; "his upper story is
unfurnished," i.e., he does not know very much.
UPPISH, proud, arrogant. — Yorkshire.
USED UP, broken-hearted, bankrupt, fatigued, vanquished.
VAKEEL, a barrister. — Anglo-Indian.
VAMOS, VAMOOS, or vamoosh, 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.
VAMP, to spout, to leave in pawn.
VAMPS, old stockings. From vamp, to piece.
VARDO, to look ; " vardo the cassey," look at the house. Vardo formerly
was Old Cant for a waggon.
VARDY, verdict, vulgarly used as opinion, thus, " My vabdt on the matter
is the same as youm."
VARMENT, " you young varment, you I " you bad, or naughty boy. Cor-
ruption of vermin.
VELVET, the tongue.
VERTICAL CARE-GRINDER, a Slang term for the treadmiU.
Vampers, fellows who frequent public-houses and pick quarrels with the
wearers of rings and watches, in hopes of getting up a fight, and so
enabling their " pals" to steal the articles.
" Under the screw," to be in prison.
Uptucker, the hangman, Jack Ketch. — See tuck-u».
Varnisueb. an utterer of false sovereif^us.
266 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
VIC, the Victoria Theatre, London, — patronised principally by coster-
mongers and low people ; also the street abbreviation of the Christian
name of her Majesty the Queen.
VILLAGE, or the villaoe, i.e., London. — Sporting. Also a Cambridge
term for a disreputable subvu-b of that town, viz., Barnwell, generally
styled " the village."
VILLE, or TILE, a town or village — pronounced phial, or vial. — French.
VINNIED, mildewed, or sour. — Devonshire.
VOKER, to talk ; " can you vokeb Romany ? " can you speak the canting
language ! — Latin, vocake ; Spanish, voceab.
VOWEL, "to VOWEL a debt" Is to pay with an I U.
WABBLE, to move from side to side, to roll about. Johmon terms it a
" low, barbarous word." — See the following.
WABLER, a foot soldier, a term of contempt used by a cavalryman.
WALKER, a letter-carrier or postman.
WALKER ! or hookey walker ! an ejaculation of incredulity, Baid 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 WaXker, an aquiline-nosed Jew, who
exhibited an orrery, which he called by the erudite name of Eidoura-
niwi. He was also a popular lectiu-er 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 hooket 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 ex-
planation of hooket walker in Notes and Queries, iv., 425.
"WALKING THE PEGS," a method of cheating at the game of cribbage,
by a species of legerdemain, the sharper either moving his own pegs
forward, or those of his antagonist backward, according to the state
of the game.
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 into also means
to get into the debt of any one, as, " he walked into the afeeotions
of all the tradesmen in the neighbourhood."
WALK OVER, a re-election without opposition. — Parliamentary, but de-
rived from the Turf, where a horse which has no rivals entered walks
over the course, and wins without exertion.
" Walk the barbeb," to lead a sirl astray.
^ a^^^^ , Dm.^ y ^^', -^ ^ ^^^^ ~
L..._
SLANG, CANT. AND VULGAR WORDS. 267
" WALK YOUR CHALKS," be off, or run away,— spoken sharply by any
one who wishes to get rid of a troublesome person. — See chalks.
WALL-FLOWER, a person who goes to a ball, and looks on without dan-
cing, either from choice or not being able to obtain a partner.
WALL-FLOWERS, left-off and " regenerated " clothes exposed for sale on
the bunks and ghop-boards of Monmouth Street.
WALLOP, to beat, or thrash. Mr John Gough Nichols derives this word
from an ancestor of the Earl of Portsmouth's, one Sir John Wallop,
Knight of the Garter, who in King Henry VIII.'s time distinguished
himself by wallopinq the French ; but it is more probably connected
with WBAL, a livid swelling in the skin after a blow. — See poi-wallopkb.
WALLOPING, a beating or thrashing; sometimes used in an adjective
sense, as big, or very large.
WAPPING, or WHOPpnio, of a large size, great.
WARM, rich, or well off.
WARM, to thrash, or beat; "I'll WARM your jacket." To wakm the wax v, .
of one's ear is to give a severe blow on the side of the head. — C—n-C^ -t-/^,..-!,^-
WABMINQ-PAN, a large old-fashioned watch. A person placed in an /y
oflSce to hold it for another.— See W. P. ^^^ ■
WAR PAINT, military uniform.
WASH, " it won't wash," i.e., will not stand investigation, will not " bear
the rub," is not genuine, can't be believed.
WATCH AND SEALS, a sheep's head and pluck.
WATER-BEWITCHED, very weak tea, the third brew, (or the first at soma
houses ; ) grog much diluted.
WATER-DOGS, Norfolk dumplings.
WATER OF LIFE, gin. Apparently from eau de vie.
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.
" WATER THE DRAGON," " watkb ONB'b kaq," hints for retiring.
WATTLES, ears.
WAXY, cross, ill-tempered.
WEATHER-HEADED, so written by Sir WcUter Scott in his Peveril of
the Peat, but it is more probably wetheb-headed, as applied to a
person having a "sheepish" look.
WEAVING, a notorious card-sharping trick, done by keeping certain cards
on the kuee, or between the knee and the underside of the table, and
using them when required by changing them for the cards held in
the hand.
"WEAVING LEATHERN APRONS." When a knowing blade is asked
what he has been doing lately, and does not choose to tell, his reply
is, that he has been very busy weaving leathern aprons.— (.Sec news-
WAlciUUKEB, a pickpocket or stealer of watches.
268 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
paper reports of the trial for the gold robberies on the South-Western
Eailway.) Other similar replies, " I have been making a trundle fob
A goose's eye," or "a whim-wham to bridle a goose."
WEDGE, silver.— OW Cant.
WEDGE-FEEDER, a silver spoon.
WEED, a cigar ; the weed, tobacco generally.
WEED, a hatband
WEJEE, a chimney-pot. Often applied to any clever invention, as "that's
a regular wejee."
WELCHER, a person who makes a bet without the remotest chance of
being able to pay, and, losing it, absconds, or " makes himself scarce."
In the betting ring a weloher is often very severely handled upon his
swindUng practices being discovered. The Catterick " Clerk of the
Course," once provided some stout labourers and a tar-barrel for the
special benefit of the welohers who might visit that neighbourhood.
The word is modem, but the practice is ancient.
"One Moore, tbe unworthy incumbent of the 'Suffolk Curacy,' dedicated a
book to 'Duke Humphrey,' and was then entirely lost sight of by his old
college friends, till one of them espied him slung up in 'the basket,* for
not paying his bets at a cock-pit." — Fott and Paddock,
WELL, to pocket, or place as in a welL
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.
An old maid, who lived in this district, was particularly shocked at
having w.o. marked on all her letters, and informed the letter-carrier
that she could not think of submitting to such an indecent fashion.
On being informed that the letters would not be forwarded without
the obnoxious initials, she remarked that she would have them left at
the Post-Office. " Then, marm,' ' said the fellow, with a grin, " they will
put P.O. on them, which will be more ' ondacenter than the tother.' "
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. — See shed a tear.
WET QUAKER, a drunkard of that sect; a man who pretends to be re-
ligious, and is a dram-drinker on the sly.
WET 'UN, a diseased cow, unfit for human food, but nevertheless sold to
make into sausages. — Compare staggering-bob.
WHACK, a share or lot ; " give me my whack," give me my share. — Scotch,
SWEG, or SWACK.
WHACK, or whacking, a blow, or a thrashing.
WHACK, to beat.
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's in Hamlet.
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 269
"WHAT D'YE CALL 'EM, a similar expression to thkoumt.
WHEEDLE, to entice by soft words. " This word cannot be found to
derive itself from any other, and is therefore looked upon as wholly
invented by the oantebs." — Triumph of Wit, 1 705.
WHERRET, or worrit, to scold, trouble, or annoy. — Old English.
WHID, a word.— OM Gipsy Cant.
WHID, a fib, a falsehood, a word too much. — Modem Slang from the
Ancient Cant.
WHIDDLE, to enter into a parley, or hesitate with many words, &c. ; to
inform, or discover. — See wheedle.
WHIM-WHAM, an alliterative term, synonymous with fiddlk-faddlb,
RIFF-RAFF, &c., denoting nonsense, rubbish, &c.
WHIP, after the usual allowance of wine is drunk at mess, those who wish
for more put a shilling each into a glass handed round to procure a
further supply. — Naval and Military.
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 \ised to express anything dis-
honestly taken. — L'Estrange and Johnson.
WHIP JACK, a sham shipwrecked sailor, called also a turnpike sailor.
"WHIP THE CAT," when an operative works at a private house by the
day. Term used amongst tailors and carpenters.
WHIPPER-IN, the member of the House of Commons whose duty it is to
collect and keep together his party to vote at divisions. To give him
greater influence, the ministerial whipper-in holds, or is supposed to
hold, the minor patronage of the Treasury. — See wooden spoon.
WHIPPER-SNAPPER, a waspish, diminutive person.
WHISKER. There is a curious Slang phrase cotmected 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
last is a very old expression. Chaucer says of the Miller of Trumping
ton's wife {Canterbury Tales, 41 53) —
" So washir joly whistal well y-wet ;"
" to WHISTLE FOR ANYTHING," to stand small chance of getting it, from
the nautical custom of whistlinq for a wind in a calm, which of
course comes none the sooner for it.
WHITECHAPEL, or westminsteb brougham, a costermonger's donkey-
barrow.
WHITECHAPEL, the "upper-cut," or strike.— PM^aweic.
WHITECHAPEL, in tossing, two out of three wins. — See sudden death.
WHITECHAPEL FORTUNE, a clean gown and a pair of pattens.
V
270 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
WHITE FEATHER, " to shew the white feather," to evince cowardice.
In times when great attention was paid to the breeding of game-cocks,
a white feather in the tail was considered a proof of orosa-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-LIVERED, or liveh-faoed, cowardly, much afraid, very mean.
WHITE PROP, a diamond pin. — East London.
WHITE SATIN, gin,— term amongst women. — See satin.
WHITE SERJEANT, a man's superior officer in the person of his better-
half.
WHITE TAPE, gin, — term used principally by female servants. — See
BIBBON.
WHITEWASH, when a person has taken the benefit of the Insolvent Act
he is said to have been whitewashed.
WHITEWASH, a glass of sherry as a finale, after drinking port and claret.
WHITE WINE, the fashionable terra for gin.
** Jack Randall then impatient rose.
And said, *Tom'a speech were just as fine
If he would call that fii-at of go's
By that genteeler name — white wwe."
RandaU'g Diary, 1820.
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.
WIFFLE-WOFFLES, in the dumps, sorrow, stomach ache.
WIG, move off, go away. — North Country Cant.
WIGGING, a rebuke before comrades. If the head of a firm calls a clerk
into the parlour, and rebukes him, it is an eabwivJQIMO; if done before
the other clerks, it is a wigging.
WILD, a village. — Tramps' term. — See vile.
WILD, vexed, cross, passionate, — said to be from willed (self-willed)
in opposition to " tamed " or " subdued." 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.
WILLIAM, a bill. The derivation is obvious.
WuTE, a fetter fixed to one leg. — Prison.
SLANO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 2/1
WIKD, "to raise the wind," to procure money; "to slip one's wind,"
coarse expression meaning to die. — Ste HAI8E.
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"
WINDOWS, the eyes, or " peepers."
WINEY, intoxicated.
WINKIN, " he went off like WINKIN," i.t., very quickly. Probably con-
nected with WINK, to shut the eye quickly.
WINKS, periwinkles.
WINN, a penny. — Ancient Cant. — See ante, page 20.
WIPE, a pocket-handkerchief. — Old Cant.
WIPE, a blow. Frequently sibilated to SWIPE, a cricket term.
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 ; 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. With old topers " WIPINO one's eye," is equi-
valent to giving or taking another drink.
WIRE-IN, a London street phrase in general use at the present time, the
meaning of which I have not been able to discover.
WOBBLE-SHOP, where beer is sold without a licence.
WOODEN SPOON, the last jvmior optime who takes a University degree ;
denoting one who is only fit to stay at home, and stir porridge. —
Cambridge. The expression is also Parliamentary Slang. — See the
following : —
" Wooden Spoon. — We have said that a rigorous account is kept of all the divi-
sions, and that every vote of every member of the Government is posted.
We will now tell our readers what is done with this Ust. Every year at the
close of the session, as our readers know, the Ministers dine together at the
Trafalgar. Well, after dinner, the chief whip produces his account and
reads It aloud ; and it is said that the man whose name appears in the
division-list the smallest number of times has a wooden spoon presented to
him. When the Derbyites were in power last. Sir John Pukington, it is
asserted, was the successful candidate for the spoon, Mr Whiteside presenting
it to the right honourable Baronet witli infinite humour and fun. Why a
wooden spoon is used we cannot tell. Perhaps in ancient times the poor
man got that and nothing else. If :iny of our readers should be curious to
know what is really symbolised by this ceremony, let them understand that
we cannot help them. We refer them to the editor of Notu and Queries."
—lUuttraUd Timet.
WOODEN SURTOUT, a cofBn, generally spoken of aa a wooden surtout
with nails for buttons.
WiNDED-SETTLED, transported for life.
Wire, a thief with long fingers, expert at picking ladies' pockets
272 A DICTIONARY OF MODERN
WOODEN' WEDGE, the last name in the classical honours list at Cam-
bridge. 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 under-
graduates 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.
WOOLBIRD, a lamb; "wing of a woolbibd," '"'•"W'^'m""'^ th."Spoon."
a shoulder of lamb.
WOOLGATHERING, said of any person's wits when they are wandering,
or in a reverie. — Florio.
WOOL- HOLE, the workhouse.
WOOLLY, out of temper.
WOOLLY, a blanket.
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 manoeuvring, 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.
WORM, the latest Slang term for a policeman.
WORMING, removing the beard of an oyster or muscle.
W. P., or WARMINQ-PAN, a clergyman who holds a living pro tempore,
under a bond of resignation, is styled a w. P., or warmino-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 d posteriori.
WRITE, " to WRITE one's name on a joint," to have the first out at any-
thing; leaving sensible traces of one's presence on it.
WYLO, be off. — Anglo-Chinese.
Wool, courage, pluck; "you are not half-wooLED," term of reproach from
one thief to another.
X, LETTER X, a method of arrest used by policemen with desperate ruffians,
— by getting a firm grasp on the collar, and drawing the captive's hand
over the holding arm, and pressing the fingers down in a peculiar way
— the captured person's arm in this way can be more easily broken
than extricated
SLA2iO, CANT, AND VULGAR WORDS. 273
YAFFLE, to eat.— Old EnglitK.
YAM, to eat. This word is used by the lowest class all over the world ;
by the Wapping sailor, West India negro, or Chinese coolie. When
the fort, called the Dutch Folly, near Canton, was in course of erection
by the Hollanders, under the pretence of being intended for an
hospital, the Chinese observed a box containing muskets among the
alleged hospital stores. " Hy-aw ! " exclaimed John Chinaman, " how
can sick man tah gun !" The Dutch were surprised and massacred
the same night.
"YARD OF CLAY," a long, old-fashioned tobacco pipe, also called a
CHURCH-WARDEN.
YARMOUTH CAPON, a bloater, or red herring.— 0W.—i2ay'» Proverbs.
YARMOUTH MITTENS, bruised hands.— ^<?ea.
YARN, a long story, or tale ; " a tough taen," a tale hard to be believed ;
" spin a YARN," tell a tale. — Sea.
YAY-NAY, "a poor tatnat" 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. — Pugilktic and Sporting,
YOKEL, a countryman. — West.
YOKUFF, a chest, or large box.
YORKSHIRE, "to Yorkshire," or " come YOBKsnraE over any person,"
to cheat or BITE them. — Nortlu The proverbial overreaching of the
rustics of this county has given rise to this phrase, which is some-
times pronounced yorshab. " Yorshak, to put yorkshirb to a man,
is to trick or deceive him." — Lancashire Dialect, 1 75 7.
YORKSHIRE COMPLIMENT, a gift of something of no manner of use
to the giver.
YORKSHIRE ESTATES ; " I will do it when I come into my yobkshikb
ESTATES," — meaning if I ever have the money or the means. The
phrase is said to have originated with Dr Johnson.
YORKSHIRE, YOEKSHinE reckoninq, where every one pays his own.
YOUNKER, in street language, a lad or a boy. Term in general use
amongst costermongers, cabmen, and old-fashioned people. Same-
field's Affectionate Shepherd, 1594, has the phrase, "a seemelie
YO0HKER." Danish and Friesic, jonkeb. In the Navy, a naval cadet
is usually termed a yocnkek.
YOUR NIBS, yourself.
Yack, a watch ; to " church a yack," to take it out of its case to avoic)
detection.
2 74 ^ DICTIONARY OF MODERN SLANO. ETC.
ZIPH, LANQUAQB OP, a way of disguising English in use among the students
at Winchester College. Compare medical gkeek. De Quincey, in his
Autobiographic Sketches, (Edin. 1853, p. 209,) says that he acquired
this language as a boy, from a Dr Mapleton, who had three sons at
Winchester who had imported it from thence as their sole accomplish-
ment, and that after the lapse of fifty years he could, and did with
Lord Westport, converse in it with ease and rapidity. It was com-
municated at Winchester to new-comers for a fixed fee of half a
guinea. The secret is this, — repeat the vowel or diphthong of every
syllable, prefixing to the vowel so repeated the letter G, and placing
the accent on the intercalated syllable. Thus, for example, " Shall
we go away in an hour?" " Shaoall weoe oooo aoawaoat ioin
HOUGOUK?" "Three hours we have already staid," ''Thbeeoeb
HOUQODiis weoe hagave agalreageadtot staqaid." Evidently any
consonant will answer the purpose, F or L would be softer and so far
better. — See gibberish. A correspondent says this system is not con-
fined to Winchester College, and has much the appearance of a bequest
of ancient times. It is recorded and accurately described amongst
many other modes of cryptical communication, oral and visual, spoken,
written, and symbolic, in an " Essay towards a Real Character and a
Philosophic Language," (founded on or suggested by a treatise pub-
lished just before, by Geo. Dalgame,) by John Wilkins, BUhop of
Chester, published by order of the Royal Society, foL i668, and as the
bishop does not speak of it as a recent invention, it may probably at
that time have been regarded as an antique device for conducting a
conversation in secrecy amongst bystanders.
ZOUNDS ! a sudden exclamation — abbreviation of GocTs wounds.
Yoxter, a convict returned from transportation before his time.
ZiFF, a juvenile thiel
SOME ACCOUNT
OF
THE BACK SLANG,
THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF COSTEEMONGERS.
The costermongers of London number between thirty and forty
thousand. Like other low tribes, they boast a language, or
secret tongue, in which they hide their earnings, movements, and
other private affairs. This costers' speech offers no new fact, or
approach to a fact, for philologists ; it is not very remarkable for
originality of construction ; neither is it spiced with low humour,
as other Cant. But the costermongers boast that it is known only
to themselves; that it is far beyond the Irish, and puzzles the
Jews.
The main principle of this language is spelling the words hack-
wards, — or rather, pronouncing them rudely backwards. Some-
times, for the sake of harmony, an extra syllable is prefixed or
annexed ; and occasionally the word is given quite a different
turn in rendering it backwards, to what an uninitiated person
would have expected. One coster told Mayhew that he often
gave the end of a word "a new turn, just as if he chorused it
with a tol-de-rol." Besides, the coster has his own idea of the
proper way of spelling words, and is not to be convinced but by
an overwhelming show of learning, — and frequently not then, for
he is a very headstrong feUow. By the time a coster has spelt
an ordinary word of two or three syllables in the proper way, and
then spelt it backwards, it has become a tangled knot that no
etymologi.=t could unravel. The word generalise, for instance,
276 BOYS AND GIRLS SOON ACQUIRE IT.
is considered to be "shilling" spelt backwarda Sometimes
Slang and Cant words are introduced, and even these, when
imagined to be tolerably well known, are pronounced backwards.
Other terms, such as gen, a shilling, and flatch, a halfpenny,
help to confuse the outsider.
After a time, this back language, or Back Slang, as it is called
by the costermongers themselves, comes to be regarded by the
rising generation of street-sellers as a distinct and regular mode
of speech. They never refer words, by inverting them, to their
originals; and the yeneps, esclops, and namows, are looked
upon as proper, but secret terms. " But it is a curious fact, that
lads who become costermongers* boys, without previous associa-
tion with the class, acquire a very ready command of the language,
and this though they are not only unable to spell, but ' don't
know a letter in a booL'"* They soon obtain a considerable
stock vocabulary, so that they converse rather from the memory
than the understanding. Amongst the senior costermongers, and
those who pride themselves on their proficiency in Back Slang,
a conversation is often sustained for a whole evening, especially
if any " flatties" are present whom they wish to astonish or con-
fuse. The women use it sparingly, but the girls are generally
well acquainted with it.
The addition of an s, I should state, always forms the plural, so
that this is another source of complication. For instance, woman
in the Back Slang is namow, and namus, or namows, is women,
not NEMOW. The explorer, then, in undoing the Back Slang,
and turning the word namus once more into English, would have
suman, — a novel and very extraordinary rendering of women.
Where a word is refractory in submitting to a back rendering, as
in the case of pound, letters are made to change positions for the
sake of harmony ; thus, we have dunop, a pound, instead of
dnuop, which nobody could pleasantly pronounce. This will
remind the reader of the Jews' " old do' I old clo7" instead of old
• Mayhew, vol. i , p. 24.
BACK SLANG UNKNOWN TO THE POLICE. 277
clothes, old clothes, which would tire even the patience of a Jew to
repeat all day.
This singular Back tongue has been in vogue about twenty-
five years. It is, as before stated, soon acquired, and is princi-
pally used by the costennongers (as the specimen Glossary will
shew) for communicating the secrets of their street tradings, the
cost and profit of the goods, and for keeping their natural enemies,
the police, in the dark. Cool the esclop (look at the police) is
often said among them, when one of the constabulary makes his
appearance.
Perhaps on no subject is the costermonger so silent as on his
money affairs. All costs and profits, he thinks, should be kept
profoundly secret. The Back Slang, therefore, gives the various
small amounts very minutely : —
FLATCH, halfpenny.
YENEP, penny.
OWT-YENEPS, twopence.
ERTH-TENEPS, threepence.
BOUF-YENEPS, fourpence.
EVIF, or EWIF-YENEPS, fivepencs.
EXIS-YENEPS, sixpence.
NEVIS-YENEPS, sevenpence.
TEAICH, or T^EG-YENEPS, eightpence.
ENIN-YENEPS, ninepence.
NET-YENEPS, tenpence.
NEVEL1&-YENEPS, elevenpence.
EVLfiNET-YENEPS, twelvepence.
GEN, or GENERALISE, one shilling, or twelvepence.
YENEP-FLATCH, three halfpence.
OWT-YENEP-FLATCH, twopence halfpenny.
&c. &c. &c.
GEN, or ENO-GEN, one shilling.
OWT-GENS, two shilUngs.
ERTH-GENS, three shilHngs.
The GENS continue in the same sequence as the yeneps
above, excepting theo-gens, 8s., which is usually rendered
278 THE COSTERMONGERS' TERMS FOR MONET.
THUG-GUY, — a deviation with ample precedents in all civilised
tongues.
YENORK, a crown piece, or five shillinga.
FLATCH-TENORK, half-a-crown.
Beyond this amount the costermonger reckons after an intricate
and complicated mode. Fifteen shillings would be erth-evif-
GENS, or, literally, three times 5s. ; seventeen shillings would be
EETH-YENOEK-FLATCH, or three crowns and a half ; or, by another
mode of reckoning, eeth-evif-gens flatch-yenoek, i.e., three
times 5s., and half-a-crown.
DUNOP, a pound.
Further than which the costermonger seldom goes in money
reckoning.
In the following Glossary only those words are given which
costermongers continually use, — the terms connected with street
traffic, the names of the different coins, vegetables, fruit, and
fish, technicalities of police courts, (fee.
The reader might naturally think that a system of speech so
simple as the Back Slang would require no Glossary; but he
will quickly perceive, from the specimens given, that a great
many words in frequent use in a Back sense, have become so
twisted as to require a little glossarial explanation.
This kind of Slang, formed by reversing and transposing the
letters of a word, is not peculiar to the London costermongers.
Instances of an exactly similar secret dialect are found in the
Spanish Geemania and French Aeqot. Thus : —
%
Spanish.
Plato.
Demia.
Qermania.
Taplo.
Media.
English.
Plate.
Stockings.
PrencK
F'OL.
LOROEFR.
Argot.
LOFPE.
La Fobok.
English.
Foolish.
La Force, the prison
of that name.
INDIAN BACK SLANO. 2'jg
The Bazeegars, a wandering tribe of jugglers in India, form a
Back Slano, on the basis of the Hindustanee, in the following
manner : —
Jlindmtanee.
Bazeegwr.
English,
Ao.
Qa.
FmB.
Lamba.
Balum.
LONO.
DUM.
MddD;
BllBAtB.
GLOSSARY OF THE BACK SLANG.
BIRK, a " crib,"— house.
COOL, to look.
COOL HIM, look at him. A phrase frequently used when one coster-
monger warns another o{ the approach of a pcliceman.
DAB, bad. Also, a bed, pronounced " bad."
DABHENO, one bad, or a bad market. — See doogheno.
DAB TROS, a bad sort.
DA-ERB, bread.
DEB, or DAB, a bed ; " I 'm on to the DEB," I 'm going to bed.
DILLO NAMO, an old woman.
DLOa, gold.
DOOG, good.
DOOGHENO, literally " one good," or " good-one," but implying gene-
rally a good market.
DOOGHENO HIT, one good hit. A coster remarks to a "mate," " Jach
made a doogheno bit this morning," implying that he did well at
market, or sold out with good profit
DUNOP, a pound.
ERTH, three.
EARTH* GENS, three shillings.
EAKTH SITH-NOMS, three months.
EARTH YANNOPS, or yessbb, threepence.
EDGABAC, cabbage.
EDGENARO, an orange.
E-FINK, knife.
EKAME, a " make," or swindla.
EKOM, a " moke," or donkey.
ELRIG, a girl.
ENIF, fine.
ENIN GENS, nine shillings.
ENIN YENEP, ninepence.
ENIN YANNOPS, or yeneps, ninepence.
ENO, one.
ERIP, fire.
EBTH GENS, three shillings.
* My informant preferred eabth to ntTH,— fbr the reason, he said, " that it looked
more seusible I "
GLOSSARY OF THE BACK SLANO. 281
ERTH-PU, Hiree-up, a street game.
EETH SITH-NOMS, three months, — a term of imprisonment unfortu-
nately very familiar to the lower ordsrs.
EBTH-YENEPS, threepence.
ESCLOP, the police.
ES-ROPH, or es-roch, a horse.
EVIF-YENEPS, fivepence.
EVLENET-GENS, twelve shillings.
EVLENET SITPI-NOMS, twelve months.
EWIF-QENS, a crown, or five shillings.
EWIF-YENEPS, fivepence.
EXIS GENS, six shillings.
EXIS-EWIFQENS, six times five shillings, i.e., 30a. All moneys may bo
reckoned in this manner, either with teneps or oens.
EXIS-EVIP YENEPS, elevenpence, — literally, "sixpence and fivepence
= elevenpence." This mode of reckoning, distinct from the preced-
ing, is also common amongst those who use the Back Slang.
EXIS SITH-NOMS, sixth months,
EXIS- YENEPS, sixpence.
FI-HEATH, a thief.
FLATCH, a half, or halfpenny.
FLATCH KEN-NURD, half drunk,
FLATCH YENEP, a halfpenny.
FLATCH-YENORK, half-a-crown.
GEN, twelvepence, or one shilling. Possibly an abbreviation of arqsnt.
Cant term for silver. — See following.
GENERALISE, a shilling, generally shortened to OBii.
GEN-NET, or net qens, ten shillings.
HEL-BAT, a table.
HELPA, an apple,
KENNETSEENO, stinking,
KENNURD, drunk.
KEW, a week.
KEWS, or SKEW, weeka,
KIRB, a brick.
KOOL, to look.
LAWT, tall.
LEVEN, in Back Slang, is sometimes allowed to stand for tleven, for the
reason that it is a number which seldom occurs. An article is either
lod. or IS.
LUR-ACHAM. mackerel.
282 GLOSSARY OF THE BACK SLANO.
MOTTAB, bottom,
MUE, rum,
NALE, or nael, lean.
NAM, a man.
NAMESCLOP, a policeman. — See ksolop.
NAMOW, a woman ; dilo namow, an old woman,
NEERGS, greens.
NETENIN GENS, nineteen shillings.
NEETEWIF GENS, fifteen shillings.
NEETEXIS, or netexis oens, sixteen shillings.
NETNEVIS GENS, seventeen shillings.
NET-THEG GENS, eighteen shiUings.
NEETRITH GENS, thirteen shillings.
NEETROUF GENS, fourteen shillings.
NET-GEN, ten shillings, or half a sovereign.
NET-YENEPS, tenpence.
NEVELE GENS, eleven shillings.
NEVELE YENEPS, elevenpence, — generally levbh tekbps.
NEVIS GENS, seven shillings.
NEVIS STRETCH, seven years' transportation, or imprisonment. — Set
STRETCH, in the Slang Dictionary.
NEVIS YENEPS, sevenpenoe.
HIRE, rain.
NIG, gin.
NI-OG OT TAKRAM, going to market.
NITBAPH, a farthing.
NOL, long.
NOOM, the moon.
NOS-RAP, a parson.
OCCABOT, tobacco ; " tib of OOOABOT," bit of tobaooo.
ON, no.
ON DOOG, no good.
OWT GENS, two shillings.
OWT YENEPS, twopence.
PAC, a cap.
PINURT POTS, turnip tops.
POT, top.
RAPE, a pear.
EEEB, beer.
REV-LIS, silver.
OLOSSART OF TEE BACK SLANG. 283
ROUF-EFIL, for life, — sentence of punishment,
ROUF-GENS, four shUlings.
ROUF-YENEPS, fourpence.
RUTAT, or kattat, a " tatur," or potato.
SAY, yes.
SEE-0, shoes.
SELOPAS, apples.
SHIF, fish.
SIR-ETCH, cherries.
SITH-NOM, a month.
SLAOC, coals.
SLOP, a policeman. — See under this term in the Dictionary of Slang and
Cant Words.
SNEERG, greens.
SOUSH, a house.
SPINSRAP, parsnips.
SRES-WORT, trousers.
STARPS, sprata
STOOB, boots.
STORRAC, carrota.
STUN, nuts.
STUNLAWS, walnuts.
SWRET-SIO, oysters.
TACH, a hat.
TAF, or TAFFY, fat.
THEG, or teaich qens, eight shillings.
TEAICH-GUY, eight shillings, — a slight deviation from the numerical
arrangement of OEKS.
TENIP, a pint.
THEG YENEPS, eightpence.
TIB, a bit, or piece.
TOAC, or TOO, a coat. Toa is the Old Cant term. — See the Dictionarp
of Slang, &c.
TOAC-TISAW, a waistcoat.
TOL, lot, stock, or share.
TOP 0' REEB, a pot of beer.
TOP-YOB, a pot-boy.
TORRAC, a carrot.
TRACK, (or tbao,) a quart.
TROSSENO, literally, " one sort," but the costermongers use it to imply
anything that is bad.
284 0L08SART OF THE BACK SLANG.
WAR-RAB, a barrow.
WEDGE, a Jew.
TAD, a day; tads, day^
YADNAB, brandy.
YENEP, a penny.
YENEP-A-TIME, penny each time,— t^rm in betting.
YENEP-FLATCH, three halfpence,— all the halfpence and pennien con-
tinue in the same sequence.
YAP-POO, pay up.
YEKNOD, or jerk-nod, a donkey.
YENORK, a crovvn.
YOB, a boy,
7JEB, best
SOME ACCOUNT
THE RHYMINGSLANG,
THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF CHAUNTERS AND
PATTERERS.
There exists in London a singular tribe of men, known amongst
the " fraternity of vagabonds" as chaunters and patterers. Both
classes are great talkers. The first sing or chaunt through the
public thoroughfares ballads — political and humorous — carols,
dying speeches, and the various other kinds of gallows and street
literature. The second deliver street orations on grease-removing
compounds, plating powders, high -polishing blacking, and the
thousand-and-one wonderful pennyworths that are retailed to
gaping mobs from a London kerb-stone.
They are quite a distinct tribe from the costermongers ; indeed,
amongst tramps, they term themselves the " harristocrats of the
streets," and boast that they live by their intellects. Like the
costermongers, however, they have a secret tongue or Cant
speech known only to each other. This Cant, which has nothing
to do with that spoken by the costermongers, is known in Seven
Dials and elsewhere as the Rhyming Slang, or the suhstitution of
words and sentences which rhyme viith other words intended to he
kept secret. The chaunter's Cant, therefore, partakes of his call-
ing, and he transforms and uses up into a rough speech the various
odds and ends of old songs, ballads, and street nick-names, which
are found suitable to his purpose. Unlike nearly all other
systems of Cant, the Rhyming Slang is not founded upon aUe-
286 THE ORIGIN OF THE RHYMING SLANG.
gory; unless we except a few rude similes, thus — i'm afloat is
the Ehyming Cant for " boat," soeeowful tale is equivalent to
"three months in jaU," aetful dodgee signifies a "lodger,"
and a snake in the geass stands for a "looking-glass" — a
meaning that would delight a fat Chinaman, or a collector of
Oriental proverbs. But, as in the case of the costers' speech and
the old gipsy- vagabond Cant, the chaunters and patterers so
interlard this " Rhyming Slang" with their general remarks,
while their ordinary language is so smothered and subdued,
that, unless when they are professionally engaged, and talking of
their wares, they might almost pass for foreigners.
From the inquiries I have made of various patterers and
" paper-workers," I learn that the Rhyming Slang was introduced
about twelve or iifteen years ago.* Numbering this class of ora-
torical and bawling wanderers at twenty thousand, scattered over
Great Britain, including London and the large provincial towns,
we thus see the number of English vagabonds who converse in
rhyme and talk poetry, although their habitations and mode of
life constitute a very unpleasant Arcadia. These nomadic poets,
like the other talkers of Cant or secret languages, are stamped
with the vagabond's mark, and are continually on the move.
The married men mostly have lodgings in London, and come and
go as occasion may require. A few never quit London streets,
but the greater number tramp to aU the kirge provincial fairs,
and prefer the monkeey (country) to town life. Some transact
their business in a systematic way, sending a post-office order to
the Seven Dials printer, for a fresh supply of ballads or penny
books, or to the swag shop, as the case may be, for trinkets and
gewgaws, to be sent on by rail to a given town by the time they
shall arrive there.
When any dreadful murder, colliery explosion, or frightful rail-
way accident has happened in a country district, three or four
chaunters are generally on the spot in a day or two after the
• This was written in 1858.
PATTEBBSS AND CHEAP JACKS. 287
occurrence, vending and bawling "A True and Faithful Account,"
&c., which "true and faithful account" was concocted purely in
the imaginations of the successors of Catnach and Tommy Pitts *
behind the counters of their printing shops in Seven Dials. And
but few fairs are held in any part of. England without the
patterer being punctually at his post, with his nostrums, or real
gold rings, (with the story of the wager laid by the gentleman —
see FAWNEY-BOUNCINO, in the Dictionary,) or save-alls for candle-
sticks, or paste which, when applied to the strop, makes the dullest
razor keen enough to hack broom handles and sticks, and after
that to have quite enough sharpness left for splitting hairs, or
shaving them off the back of one of the hands of a clodhopper,
looking on in amazement. And cheap john, too, with his coarse
jokes, and no end of six-bladed knives, and pocket-books, con-
taining information for everybody, with pockets to hold money,
and a pencil to write with into the bargain, and a van stuffed with
the cheap productions of Sheffield and " Brummagem," — he, too,
is a patterer of the highest order, and visits fairs, and can hold a
conversation in the Ehyming Slang.
Such is a rough description of the men who speak this jargon ;
and simple and ridiculous as the vulgar scheme of a Rhyming
Slang may appear, it must always be regarded as a curious fact
in linguistic history. In order that the reader's patience may not
be too much taxed, only a selection of rhyming words has been
given in the Glossary, — and these for the most part, as in the
case of the Back Slang, are the terms of every-day life, as used by
this order of tramps and hucksters.
It must not be supposed, however, that the chaunter or patterer
confines himself entirely to this Slang when conveying secret in-
telligence. On the contrary, although he speaks not a " leash of
languages," yet is he master of the beggars' Cant, and is thoroughly
* up"' in street Slang. The following letter, written by a chaunter
• The famous printers and publta'-er* of sheet aoQgs and last dying speeches thirty
years ago.
288 CURIOUS LETTER FROM A CHAUNTER.
to a gentleman who took an interest in his welfare, will shew his
capabilities in this line : —
Dear Friend,*
Excuse the liberty, since i saw you last i have not
earned a thickun, we have had such a Dowry of Pamy that it
completely Stumped or Coopered Drory the Bossman's Patter
therefore i am broke up and not having another friend but you
i wish to know if you would lend me the price of 2 Gross of
Tops, Dies, or Croaks, which is 7 shillings, of the above-men-
tioned worthy and Sarah Chesham the Essex Burick for the
Poisoning job, they are both to be topped at Springfield Stura-
ban on Tuesday next, i hope you wUl oblige me if you can for
it will be the means of putting a Quid or a James in my Clye.
i will call at your Carser on Sunday Evening next for an answer,
for i want a Speel on the Drum as soon as possible, hoping you
and the family are All Square,
I remain Your obedient Servant,
The numerous allusions in the Glossary to well-known places in
London, shew that this rude speech was mainly concocted in the
metropolis. The police have made themselves partially ac-
quainted with the Back Slang, but they are still profoundly
ignorant of the Khyming Slang.
* The writer, a street chaunter of ballads and List dying 6peeche3, alludes in his
letter to two celebrated criminals— Thos. Drory, the murderer of Jael Denny, and
Siirah Chesham, who poisoned her husband, accounts of whose trials and "horrid
deeds" ho had lieen selling. I give a glossary of the Cant words : —
Thiclciin, a crown-piece.
Dowry if Pamy, a lot of rain.
Stumped, bankrupt,
Ci'fpered, spoilt.
Bossman, a farmer.
*,* Drory was a farmer.
Fatter, trial
Tops, last dying speeches.
Diet, ib.
Croala, A.
Burick, a woman.
Topped, hung.
Sturaban, a pri.son.
Quid, a sovereign.
James, ib.
Clye. a pocket
Carser, a house or residence.
Speel on the Drum, to be off to the
country.
All Square, all right, or quite well.
GLOSSARY OF THE RHYMING SLANG.
ABRAHAM'S WILLING, a shilHng.
ALACOMPAIN, rain.
ALL AFLOAT, a coat.
ANY RACKET, a penny faggot.
APPLES AND PEARS, stairs.
ARTFUL DODGER, a lodger.
ARTICHOKE RIPE, smoke a pipe.
BABY PAPS, caps.
BARNET FAIR, Iiair.
BATTLE OF THE NILE, a tUe— vulgar term for a hat
BEN FLAKE, a steak.
BILLY BUTTON, mutton.
BIRCH BROOM, a room.
BIRD-LIME, time.
BOB, MY PAL, a gal,— vulgar pronunciation of ffirU
BONNETS SO BLUE, Irish stew.
BOTTLE OF SPRUCE, a deuce,-Slang for twopence
BOWL THE HOOP, soup.
BRIAN O'LINN, gin.
BROWN BESS, yes— the affirmative.
BROWN JOE, no— the negative.
BULL AND COW, a row.
BUSHY PARK, a lark
BUTTER FLAP, a cap.
CAIN AND ABEL, a table.
CAMDEN TOWN, a brown,- vulgar term for a halfpenny.
CASTLE RAG, a flag, — Cant term for fouipence.
CAT AND MOUSE, a house.
CHALK FARM, the arm.
CHARING CROSS, a horse.
CHARLEY LANCASTER, a handkeroher,— vulgar pronunciation of
handkerchief.
CHARLEY PRESCOTT, waistcoat.
CHERRY RIPE, a pipe.
CHEVY CHASE, the face.
CHUMP (or chunk) OF WOOD, no good.
COW AND CALF, to laugh.
X
290 0L0S8ART OF THE RHTMINO SLANG.
COVENT GAEDEN', a farden, — Cockney pronunciation of farthing.
COWS AND KISSES, mistress or missus — referring to the ladies.
CURRANTS AND PLUMS, thrums,— Slang for threepence.
DAISY RECROOTS, (so spelt by my informant of Seven Dials; he
means, doubtless, recruit!,) a pair of boots
DAN TUCKER, butter.
DING DONG, a song.
DRY LAND, you understand.
DUKE OP YORK, take a walk.
EAST AND SOUTH, the mouth.
EAT A FIG, to " crack a crib," to break into a housa or oommit a bur-
glary.
EGYPTIAN HALL, a ball.
ELEPHANT'S TRUNK, drunk.
EPSOM RACES, a pair of braces.
EVERTON TOFFEE, coffee.
FANNY BLAIR, the hair.
FILLET OF VEAL, the treadwheel, house of correction.
FINGER AND THUMB, rum.
FLAG UNFURLED, a man of the world.
FLEA AND LOUSE, a bad house.
FLOUNDER AND DAB, (two kinds of flat fish,) a cab.
FLY MY KITE, a light.
FROG AND TOAD, the main road.
GARDEN GATE, a magistrate.
GERMAN FLUTES, a pair of boots.
GIRL AND BOY, a saveloy, — a peimy sausage.
GLORIOUS SINNER, a dinner.
GODDESS DIANA, (pronounced dianer,) a tanner,— sixpence,
GOOSEBERRY PUDDING, (vtdgo tddden,) a woman.
HANG BLUFF, snuff.
HOD OF MORTAR, a pot of porter.
HOUNSLOW HEATH, teeth.
I DESIRE, a fire.
I 'M AFLOAT, a boat.
ISLE OF FRANCE, a dance.
ISABELLER, (vulgar pronunciation of Isabella,) an umbrella.
I SUPPOSE, the nose.
JACK DANDY, brandy.
JACK RANDALL, (a noted pugilist,) a candle.
JENNY LINDER, a winder, — vulgar pronunciation of winuow.
OLOSSART OF THE RHYMINO SLANO. 29 1
JOE SAVAGE, a cabbage.
LATH AND PLASTER, a master
LEAN AND LURCH, a church.
LEAN AND FAT, a hat
LINENDRAPER, paper.
LIVE EELS, fields.
LOAD OF HAY, a day.
LONG ACRE, a baker.
LONG ACRE, a newspaper. — See the preceding,
LORD JOHN RUSSELL, a bustle.
LORD LOVEL, a shovel.
LUMP OF COKE, a bloak,— vulgar term for a man.
LUMP OF LEAD, the head.
MACARONI, a pony.
MAIDS A DAWNING, (I suppose my informant means matJs rtrforntnjr,)
the morning.
MAIDSTONE JAILOR, a taUor.
MINCE PIES, the eyes.
MOTHER AND DARTER, (daughter,) water.
MUFFIN BAKER, a Quaker, — an unlawful sir-reverence.
NAVIGATORS, taturs, — vulgar pronunciation of potatoes
NAVIGATOR SCOT, baked potatoes aU hot.
NEEDLE AND THREAD, bread.
NEVER FEAR, a pint of beer.
NIGHT AND DAT, go to the play.
NOSE AND CHIN, a winn, — ancient Cant for a penny.
NOSE-MY, backy, — vulgar pronunciation of tobacco.
OATS AND BARLEY, Charley.
OATS AND CHAFF, a footpath.
ORINOKO, (pronounced oeinoker,) a poker.
OVER THE STILE, sent for trial
PADDY QUICK, thick; or, a stick.
PEN AND INK, a stink.
PITCH AND FILL, Bill,— vulgar Bhortening for ■Vraiiam.
PLATE OF MEAT, a street.
PLOUGH THE DEEP, to go to sleep.
PUDDINGS AND PIES, the eyes.
BEAD OF TRIPE, (?) transported for life.
READ AND WRITE, to fight.
READ AND WRITE, flight.— See preceding.
292 GLOSSARY OF THE RHYMING SLANG.
RIVER LEA, tea.
ROGUE AND VILLAIN, a shiUin, — common pronunciation of shilling.
RORY O'MORE, the floor.
ROUND THE HOUSES, trouses, — vulgar pronunciation of trousers.
SALMON TROUT, the mouth.
SCOTCH PEG, a leg.
SHIP IN FULL SAIL, a pot of ale.
SIR WALTER SCOTT, a pot,— of beer
SLOOP OF WAR, a whore.
SNAKE IN THE GRASS, a looking-glass.
SORROWFUL TALE, three months in jaiL
SPLIT ASUNDER, a costermonger.
SPLIT PEA, tea.
SPORT AND WIN, Jim.
STEAM-PACKET, a jacket.
ST MARTINS-LE-GRAND, the hand.
STOP THIEF, beef.
SUGAR AND HONEY, money.
SUGAR-CANDY, brandy.
TAKE A FRIGHT, night.
THREE-QUARTERS OF A PECK, the neck,— in writing, expressed by
the simple " }. "
THROW ME IN THE DIRT, a shirt
TOMMY O'RANN, scran,— vulgar term for food.
TOM TRIPE, a pipe.
TOM RIGHT, night
TOP JINT, (vulgar pronunciation of joint,) a pint, — of beer.
TOP OF ROME, home.
TURTLE DOVES, a pair of gloves.
TWO-FOOT RULE, a fool.
WIND DO TWIRL, a fine girl.
THE BIBLIOGRAPHY
OF
SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR LANGUAGE;
OB,
A LIST OF THE BOOKS WHICH HAVE BEEN CONSULTED
IN COMPILING THIS WORK,
COMPRISING NEARLY EVERY KNOWN TREATISE UPON THE SUBJECT.
Slang has a literary history, the same as authorised language.
More than one hundred works have treated upon the subject in
one form or other, — a few devoting but a chapter, whilst many
have given up their entire pages to expounding its history and
use. Old Harman, a worthy man, who interested himself in
suppressing and exposing vagabondism in the days of good
Queen Bess, was the first to write upon the subject. Decker
followed fifty years afterwards, but helped himself, evidently, to
his predecessor's labours. Shakspeare, Beaumont and Fletcher,
Ben Jonson, and Brome, each employed beggars' Cant as part of
the machinery of their plays. Then came Head (who wrote The
English Rogue, in 1680) with a glossary of Cant words "used
by the Gipsies." But it was only a reprint of what Decker had
given sixty years before. About this time authorised dictionaries
began to insert vulgar words, labelling them " Cant." The Jack
Sheppards and Dick Turpins of the early and middle part of the
last century made Cant popular, and many small works were
published upon the subject. But it was Grose, burly, facetious
Grose, who, in the year 1785, collected the scattered glossaries of
Cant and secret words, and formed one large work, adding to it
all the vulgar words and Slang terms used in his own day. I
am aware that the indelicacy and extreme vulgarity of the work
294 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SLANG AND CANT.
renders it a disgrace to its compUer, still we must admit that it
is by far the most important work which has ever appeared on
street or popular language ; indeed, from its pages every succeed-
ing work has, up to the present time, drawn its contents. The
great fault of Grose's book consists in the author not contenting
himself with Slang and Cant terms, but inserting every " smutty"
and ofiFensive word that could be raked out of the gutters of the
streets. However, Harman and Grose are, after all, the only
authors who have as yet treated the subject in an original
manner, or have written on it from personal inquiry.
AINSWORTH'S (William Harrison) I'Jovels and Ballads. London, v. D.
Some of this author's novels, such as Eookwood anfi Jack Sheppard, abound
in Cant words, placed in the mouths of the liighwaymen. The author's
ballads (especially "Nix my dolly, pals, fake away") have long been
popular favoui-ites.
ANDREWS' (George) Dictionary of the Slang and Cant Languages, An-
cient and Modern, i2mo. London, 1809.
A sixpenny pamphlet, with a coloured frontispiece representing a beggai-'fl
carnival.
A NEW DICTIONARY OF THE JAUNTING CREW, i2mo. N. d.
Mentioned by John Bee in the Introduction to his Sporttman't Stang Dic-
tionary.
ASH'S (John, LL.D.) New and Complete Dictionary of the English Lan-
guage, 2 vols. 8vo. 1775.
Contains a great number of Cant words and phrases.
BACCHUS AND VENUS ; or, A Select Collection of near Two Hundred
of the most Witty and Diverting Songs and Catches in Love and
Gallantry, with Songs in the Canting Dialect, with a Dictionart,
explaining all Burlesque and Canting Terms, i2mo. 1 738.
Prefixed is a curious woodcut frontispiece "t a Boozing-Km. This work is
scarce, and much prized by colleet<irs. The Canting Dictionary appearid
before, about 1710, with the initials IS. E. on the title. It lUso Ciune out
afterwards, in the year 1751, under the title of the ScoundreVt Dictionary,
— a mere reprint of the two former impressions.
BAILEY'S (Nath.) Etymological English Diction.ary, 2 vols. 8vo. 1 73 7.
Contains a great many Cant and Vulgar words ;— indeed, B;iiley does not
appear to have been very particular what words he inserted, so long as
they were actually in use. A Collection of Ancimt and Modem Cant Words
appears as an appendix to vol. ii of tiiis edition, (third.)
BANG-UP DICTIONARY ; or. The Lounger and Sportsman's V.ade Meoum,
containing a copious and correct Glossary of the Language of the
BIBLIOOEAPHY OF SLANG AND CANT. 295
Whips, illustrated by a great variety of original and curious Anec-
dotes, 8vo. 1812.
A vulgar performance, consisting of pilferings from Grose, and made-iip
Affords with meanings of a degraded character.
BARTLETT'S Dictionary or Americanisms; a Glossary of Worrls and
Phrases colloquially used in the United States, Svo. New YorlCj 1859
It la a curio!is fact connected with Slang that a great nvimber of vulgar W'>r(l«
common in England are equally common in the United States ; and who-
we remember that America began to people two centuries ago, and that
thest; colloquialisms must have crossed the sea with the fi.rst emigrants,
we can form some idea of tlie antiquity of popular or street langunge.
Many words, owing to the caprices of fashion or society, have whoUy
disappeared in the parent country, whilst in the colonies they are yet
heard. The words skink, to serve drink in comjiany, and the old teim
MiCHiNQ or MKECHiso, skuIklng or playing truant, for instjince, are still
in use in the United States, although nearly, if not quite, obsolete here.
BEAUMONT and FLETCHER'S Comedy of The Beggar't Bush, 4to,
1661, or any edition.
Contains numerous Cant worda
BEES (Jon.) Dictionary of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, the Pit, the
Bon Ton, and the Varieties of Life, forming the completest and most
authentic Lexicon Balatronicum hitherto offered to the notice of the
Sporting World, by John Bee, [i.e., John Badcock,] Esq., Editor of
the Fancyj Fancy OazetUf Living Picture of London, and the like of
that, i2mo. 1823.
This author published books on Stable Economy under the name of Hinds.
He was the sporting rival of Pierce Egan. Professor Wilson, in an amus-
ing article in Blackwood's Magazine, reviewed this work.
BEE'S (Jon.) Living Picture of London for 1828, and Stranger's Guide
through the Streets of the Metropolis ; shewing the Frauds, the Arts,
Snares, and Wiles of all descriptions of Rogues that everywhere
abound, i2mo. 1828,
Professes to be a guide to society, high and low, in London, and to give an
insight into the langua^'e of the streets.
BEE'S (Jon.) Sportsman's Slang; a New Dictionary of Terms used in the
Affairs of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, and the Cockpit; with those
of Bon Ton and the Varieties of Life, forming a Lexicon Balatronicum
et Macaronicum, cfcc, iimo, plate. For the Author, 1825.
The same as the prece-^ling, only with an altered title. Both wretched per-
formances, filled with miserable attempts at wit.
BLACKGUARDIANA ; or, Dictionary of Rogues, Bawds, &c., Svo, with
K)ETBAiTs, [by James Caulfield.] I795-
This work, with a long and very vulgar title, is nothing but a reprint of Orosty
with a few anecdotes of pirates, odd persons, &c., and some curious por-
traits inserted. It was concocted by Caulfield as a speculation, and pub-
lished at on« guinea per copy; and, owing to the remarkable title, an!
the notification at the bottom tliat *'only a few copies wore printed,"
soon became scarce. For philological purposes it is not worth bo much
as any t^tiou <if Qruse.
296 BIBLIOORAPHY OF SLANO AND CANT.
BOOK OF VAGABONDS.— vSce under Libek Vaoatorcm.
BOX I ANA; or, Sketches of Modem Pugiliam, by Pierce Egan, (an ac-
count of the prize-ring,) 3 vols. 8vo. 1 820.
Gives more particularly the Cant terms of pugilism, but contains numerous
(what were then styled) '* flash " words.
BRANDON. Poverty, Mendicity, and Crime; or, The Facts, Examina-
tions, &o., upon which the Report was founded, presented to the
House of Lords by W. A. Miles, Esq., to which is added a Dictionary
of the Flash or Cant Language, known to every Thief and Beggar, edited
by H. Brandon, Esq., 8vo. 1839.
A very wretched performance.
BROME'S (Rich.) Joviall Crew; or, The Merry Beggars. Presented in a
Comedie at the Cockpit, in Drury Lane, in the Year (4to) 1653.
Contains many Cant words similar to those given by Decker, — ^from whose
worl£s they were doubtless obtained.
BROWN'S (Rev. Hugh Stowell) Lecture on Manliness, i2mo. 1857.
Contains a few modoru Slang words.
BRYDGES' (Sir Egerton) British Bibliographer, 4 vols. 8vo. 1810-14.
VoL ii., p. 52t, gives a list of Cant words.
BULWER'S (Sir Edward Lytton) Paul CUfford. v. D.
Contains numerous Cant worda.
BULWER'S (Sir Edward Lytton) Pelham. ' v. D.
Contains a few Cant terms.
BUTLER'S Hudibras, with Dr Grey's Annotations, 3 vols. 8vo. 1S19.
Abounding in colloquial terms and phrases.
CAMBRIDGE. Qradus ad Cantabrigiam ; or, A Dictionary of Terms,
Academical and Colloquial, or Cant, which are used at the University,
with Illustrations, l2mo. Camb., 1803.
CANTING ACADEMY ; or, ViUanies Discovered, wherein are shewn the
Mysterious and Villanous Practices of that Wicked Crew— Hectors,
Trapanners, Gilts, &c., with several new Catches and Songs; also
Compleat Canting Dictionary, i2mo, frontispiece. 1674.
Compiled by Richard Head.
CANTING : a Poem, interspersed with Tales and Additional Scraps, post
8vo. 1814.
A few street words may be gleaned from this rather dull poem.
CANTING DICTIONARY; comprehending all the Terms, Antient and
Modem, used in the several Tribes of Gypsies, Beggars, Shoplifters,
Highwaymen, Foot- Pads, and all other Clans of Cheats and Villains,
with Proverbs, Phrases, Figurative Speeches, &c., to which is added a
complete Collection of Songs in the Canting Dialect, l2mo. 1725.
The title is by far the most interesting part of the work. A mere maJcc-up
of earlier attempts.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SLANG AND CANT, 297
CAREW. Life and Adventures of Bamfylde Moore Carew, the King of
the Beggars, toith Canting Dictionary, portrait, 8vo. I79i»
There are numerous editions of this singular biography. The Canting Dic-
tionary is nothing more than a filch from earlier lM)okB.
CHARACTERISMS, or the Modern Age Displayed ; being an Attempt to
Expose the Pretended Virtues of Both Sexes, l2mo, (part i, Ladies;
part ii., Gentlemen,) E. Ovxn, ' i750-
An anonymous work, from which some curious matter may be obtained.
CONYBEARE'S (Dean) Essay on Church Parties, reprmted from the
Edinburgh Review^ No. CC, October 1853, i2mo. 1858.
Several curious instances of religious or pulpit Slang are given in this ex-
ceedingly interesting little volume.
CORCORON, (Peter.) The Fancy, a Poem, i2mo. 182-.
Abounding in Slang words and the terms of the prize-ring. Written in imi-
tation of Moore's T<na. Crib't Metnorial, by one of the authors of The
Rejected Addresses.
COTTON'S (Charles) Genuine Poetical Works, lamo. 1771.
**8carronide8, or Virgil Travestie, being the first and fourth Books of Virgil's
.^neis, in English burlesque," 8vo, 1672, and other works by this author,
contain numerous vulgar words now known as Slang.
DECKER'S (Thomas) The Bellman of London ; bringing to light the most
notorious villanies that are now practised in the Kingdom, 4to, blncll
U'Ctcr. London^ 1608.
Watt says this is the first book which professes to give an account of the
Canting language of thieves and vagabonds. But this is wrong-, as will
have been seen from tlie remarks on Harman, who collected the words
of the vagabond crew half a century before.
DECKER'S (Thomas) Lanthome and Candle-light, or the Bellman's Second
Night's Walke, in which he brings to light a brood of more strange
villanies than ever were to this year discovered, 4to. London, 160S-9.
This is a continuation of the former work, and contains the Canter^s Diction-
ary, and has a frontispiece of the London Watchman with his staff broken.
DECKER'S (Thomas) Gulls' Hornbook, 4to. 1609.
** This work affords a greater insight into the fashionable follies and vulgar
habits of Quecu Elizabeth's day tliau perhaps any other extant."
DECKER'S (Thomas) per se 0, or a new Cryer of Lanthome and
Candle-light, an Addition of the Bellman's Second Night's Walke, 4to,
filach Jetrer. 1612.
A lively description of London. Contains a Canter's Dictionary, every word
in which a)>pcars to have been taken from Hiuinan without acknowledg-
ment. This is the first work that gives the Canting Song, a verse of
which is insetted at page 20 of the Introduction. This Canting Song has
since been inserted in nearly ali Dictionaries of Cant.
DECKER'S (Thomas) Villanies discovered by Lanthome and Candle-light,
and the Helpo of a new Cryer called per se 0, 4to. 1616.
'* With Canting Songs never before printed."
298 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SLANG AND CANT.
DECKER'S (Thomas) English Tillanies, eight several times prest to Death
by the Printers, but still reviving again, are now the eighth time (as
at the first) discovered by Lanthome and Candle-light, &c., 4to. 1648.
The eighth edition of the '* Lanthome and Candle-light^
DICTIONARY of all the Cant and Flash Languages, both Ancient and
Modern, l8mo. Bailey, 1790.
DICTIONARY of all the Cant and Flash Languages, i2mo. London, 1 797.
DICTIONARY of the Canting Crew, (Ancient eind Modem,) of Gypsies,
Beggars, Thieves, &c., I2mo. N. D. [1700.]
DICTIONNAIRE des Halle, i2mo. Bmxelles, 1696.
This curious Slang Dictionary sold in the Stanley sale for jC^, i6s.
DUCANGE ANGLICUS.— The Vulgar Tongue: comprising Two Glos-
saries of Slang, Cant, and Flash Words and Phrases used in London
at the present day, 1 2 mo. 1 85 7.
A silly and childish preformance, fUll of blunders and contradictions A
second edition appeared during the past year.
DUNCOMBE'S Flash Dictionary of the Cant Words, Queer Sayings, and
Crack Terms now in use in Flash Cribb Society, 32mo, coloured print.
1820.
DUNTON'S Ladies' Dictionary, 8vo. London, 1694.
Contains a few Cant and vulgar words.
EGAN. Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, with the
addition of numerous Slang Phrases, edited by Pierce Egan, 8vo. 1 823.
The best edition of Grose, with many additions, including a Life of this cele-
brated antiquary.
EGAN'S (Pierce) Life in London, 2 vols, thick 8vo, vdth coloured plates hy
Geo. Cruiksliank, represetiting high and low life. 18 — .
Contains numerous Cant, Slang, sportintr, and vulgar words, supposed by the
author to form the basis of conversation in lite, high and low, in London.
ELWYN'S (Alfred L.) Glossary of supposed Americanisnu — Vulgar and
Slang Words used in the United States, small Svo. 1859.
GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, Svo. N. d.
*' In a very early volume of this parent magazine were given a few pages, by
way of sample, of a SUmg Vocabulary, then termed Cant. If, as we
suspect, this port of the Magazine fell to the share of Dr Johnson, who
was tiien its editor, we have to lament that he did not proceed with the
design " — John See, in the Introduction to hU Slang JHctionary, 1825.
GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, vol. xcii., p. 520.
Mention made of Siaug.
GLOSSARIES of County Dialects. v. D.
Many of these will rcpny examination, as they contain Cant and Slang words,
v;rciiigly inserted as provincial or old terms.
GOLDEN CABINET (The) of Secrets opened for Youth's delightful Pas-
time, in 7 parts, the last being the " City and Country Jester;" with
a Canting Dictionary, by Dr Surman, l2mo. London, N. u. (1 730.)
Contains some curious woodcuts.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SLANO AND CANT. 299
GREENE'S (Robert) Notable Discovery of Coosn^e, now daily {practised
by sundry lewd persona called Conie-catchers and Crosse - biters.
Plainly laying open tliose pernitious sleights that hath brought many
ignorant men to confusion. Written for the general benefit of all
Gentlemen, Citizens, Apprentices, Country Farmers, and Yeomen,
that may hap to fall into the company of such coosening companions.
With a delightful discourse of the coosnage of Colliers, 4to, with wood-
cuts. Printed by John Wolfe, l^gi,
ThefirH edition. A copy of another edition, supposed to be uniqtu, is dated
1593. It was Boid at the Heber sale.
GREENE'S (Robert) Groundworke of Conny-Catching, the manner of their
PEDLEBS' FRENCH, and the meanes to understand the same, with the
cunning sleights of the Conterfeit Cranke. Done by a Justice of the
Peace of great Authoritie, 4to, with woodcutt. I593-
Usually enumerated among Greene's works, but it is only a reprint^ with
Tariations, of Harman'i Cavtat, and of which Rowland complains in hi»
Martin Harlcall. The second and third parts of this curious work w( ro
published in the same year. Two other very rare volumes by Greene
were published — The .Defence of Cony-Catching, 4to, in 1592, and Turt
Black Booices Mkssekoer, in 1595. They both treat on the same sub-
jects.
GROSE'S (Francis, generally styled Ca^ptain) Classical Dictionary of the
Vulgar Tongue, 8vo. 1 78-.
The tnuch-souffht-aftcr First Edition, but containing nothing, as far as I
have examined, wliich is not to be found in the second and third editions.
As respects indecency, I find all the editions equally disgniceful. The
Museum copy of the First Edition is, 1 suspect, (Jrose's own copy, as it
contains num'erous manuscript additions which afterwards went to form
the second edition. Excepting the obscenities, it is really an extra-
ordinary book, and displays great industry, if we cannot speak much of
its morality. It is the well from wiiich all the other authors — Duncoinbe,
Cautiield, Clarke, Egan, &c. Ac— drew tiieir vulgar outpourings, witliuut
in the least purifying what they had stolen.
HAGGART. Life of Dayid Haggart, alias John Wilson, alias Barney
M'Coul, written by himself while under sentence of Death, curum»
frontispiece of the Prisoner in Irons, intermixed with all tlie Slang and
Cant Words of the Day, to which is added a Glossary of the same,
l2mo. 1821.
HALL'S (B. H.) Collection of College Words and Customs, i2mo.
Cambridge, (U. S.,) 1 856.
Very complete. The illustrative examples are excellent.
HALLIWELL'S Archaic Dictionary, 2 vols. 8vo. 1855.
An invaluable work, giving the Cant words used by Decker, Brome, and a few
of those mentioned by Grose.
HARLEQUIN Jack Shepherd, with a Night Scene in Grotesque Charac-
ters, 8vo. (About 1736.)
Contains Songs in the Canting dialect
HARMAN'S (Thomas, Esq.) Caveat or Warening for Common Cursetors,
vulgarly called Vagabones, set forth for the utilitie and profit of his
aaturall countrey , augmented and iniargcd by the first author thereof ;
300 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SLANG AND CANT.
whereunto is added the tale of the second taking of the counterfeit
Crank, with the true report of his behaviour and also his punishment
for his 80 dissembling, most marvellous to the hearer or reader thereof,
newly imprinted, 4to. Imprinted at London, by H. Middleton, 1573.
Contains the earliest Dictionary of the Cant language. Four editions were
printed— William Griffith, 1566
1567
1567
Henry Middleton, 1573
What Qrot^s Dietioruiry of tht Vulgar Tungut was to the authors of the
earlier part of the present century, Harman's was to the Deckers, and
Bromea, and Heads of the seventeenth.
HARRISON'S (William) Description of the Island of Britain, (prefixed to
Molin»hed'i Chronicle,) 2 vols, folio. 1S77-
Contains an account of English vagabonds.
HAZLITT'S (William) Table Talk, i2mo, (vol. ii. contains a chapter on
Familiar Style, with a notice on Slang Terms.) v. D.
HEAD'S (Richard) English Rogue, described in the Life of Meriton
Latroon, a Witty Extravagant, 4 vols. I2mo.
Frant. Kirhman, 1671-80.
Contains a list of Cant words, evidently copied from Decker.
HELL UPON EARTH, or the most pleasant and delectable History of
Whittington's CoUedge, otherwise vulgarly called Newgate, l2mo.
1703-
HENLEY'S (John, letter known as oeatoe henlet) Various Sermons and
Orations. 1 719-53-
Contains numerous vulgarisms and Slang phrases.
[HITCHING'S (Charles, formerly City Marshal, now a Prisoner in Netvgaie)]
Regulator ; or, a Discovery of the Thieves, Thief-Takers, and Locks,
alias Receivers of Stolen Goods in and about the City of London, also
an Account of all the flash words now in vogue amongst the Thieves,
<tc., 8vo., VERY RABE, with a citrious woodcut. 17 18.
A violent attack upon Jouatlum Wild.
HOUSEHOLD WORDS, No. 183, September 24.
Gives an interesting but badly-digested article on Slang ; many of the ex-
amples are wrong.
JOHNSON'S (Dr Samuel) Dictionary, (the earlier editions.) V. D.
Contains a great number of words italicised as Cant, low, or barbarous.
JONSON'S (Ben.) Bartholomew Fau-, ii., 6.
Several Cant words arc placed in the mouths of the characters.
JONSON'S (Ben.) Masque of the Gipsies Metamorphosed, 4to. 16 — .
Contains numerous Cant words.
KENT'S (E.) Modem Hash Dictionary, containing all the Cant Words,
Slang Terms, and Flash Phrases now in Vogue, iSmo, coloured frontis-
piece. 1825.
L'ESTRANGE'S (Sir Roger) 'Works, (principally translations.) V. D.
Abound in vxilgar and Slang phrases.
BIBLIOORAPHY OF SLANG AND CANT. 30I
LEXICON Balatronicum ; a Dictionary of Buckieh Slang, University Wit,
and Pickpocket Eloquence, by a Member of the Whip Club, assisted by
Hell-fire Dick, 8vo. 18x1.
One of the many reprints of Orose'a second edition, put forth under a fresh,
and what was then considered a more attractive title. It was given out
in advei-tisemeiits. &c., as a piece of puff, that it was edited by a Dr H,
Clarke, but it contains scarcely a line more than Grose.
LTBER VAGATORUM: Der Betler Orden, 4to. Recently translated:
The Book of Vagabonds and Beggars, (Liber Vagatorum : Der Betler
Orden,) with a vocabulary of their hB.ng\iAge, {Rotwehche Sprach ;)
edited, with preface, by Martin Luther, in the year 1528. Now first
Translated into English, with Notes, by John Camden Hotten ; 4to,
icitk woodcuts. 1859.
The first edition of this book appears to have been printed at Ang-abursr, by
Erhard Oglin, or Ocellus, about 1514, — a small quarto of twelve leaves. It
was frequently reprinted at other places in Germany; and in 1528 there
appeared an edition at Wirtemberg, with a preface by Martin Luther,
who says thjit the " Rotwelsche Sprach," the Cant language of the beg-
gars, comes from the Jews, as it contains many Hebrew words, as any one
who understands that language may perceive. This book is divided into
three parts, or sections ; the first gives a special accoxmt of the several
orders of the ''Fraternity of Vagabonds; " the second, sundry "notabilia'*
relating to the different classes of beggars previously described ; and the
third consists of a "Rotwelsche Vocabulary,'* or "Cantincr Dictionary."
Tliere is a long notice of the " Liber Vagatorum " in the *' Wiemarisches
Jahrbuch," lote, Bajid, 1856. Mayhew, in his London Labour, states
that many of our Cant words are derived from the Jew fences It is
singular that a similar statement should have been made by MartSl
Luther more than three centuries before.
LIFE IN ST GEORGE'S FIELDS; or, The Rambles and Adventures oC
Disconsolate William, Esq., and his Surrey Friend, Flash Dick, with
Songs and a flash dictionary, 8vo. 182 i.
MAGINN (Dr.,) wrote Slang Songs in Blackwood's Magazine. 1827,
MAYHEW'S (Henry) London Labour and the London Poor, 4 vols.
1851-61.
An invaluable work to the inquirer into popular or street language.
MATHEWS (Henry) Great World of London, 8vo. 1857.
An unfinished work, but containing several examples of the use and applica-
tion of Cant and Slang words.
MIDDLETON (Thomas) and DECKER'S (Thomas) Roaring Girlj or Moll
Cut Purse, 4to. 1611,
The conver-ation in one scene is entirely in the so-called Pedlar's French. It
is given in Dodiley's Old Plays.
MODERN FLASH DICTIONARY, 48mo. 1825.
The smallest 81aug Dictionary ever printed; intended for the waistcoat-
pockets of the ** BLOODS " of the Prince Regent's time.
MONCRIEFF'S Tom and Jerry, or Life in London, a Farce in Three Acts,
i2mo. 1820.
An excellent exponent of the false and forced " high life " which was so x>opu-
lar during the minority of George IV. The fiirce had a i-un of a hundred
XLights, or more, and was a general favourite for years. It abounds in
Cult, and the language of " gig/' as it was then often termed.
302 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SLANO AND CANT.
MORNINGS AT BOW STREET, by T. Wright, lamo, mth Ittuttra-
turns hy George Cruikshunh. Tegg, 1838.
In this work a few etymologies of Slang words are attempted.
NEW CANTING DICTIONARY, l2mo. ». D.
A copy of this work is described in Rodd't Catalogue 0/ Elegant Literature, 1845,
part iv.. No. 2128, with manuscript notes and additions in the autograph
of Isaac Reed, price jCh ^^^
NEW DICTIONARY of the Terms, Ancient and Modem, of the Canting
Crew in its several tribes of Gypsies, Beggars, Thieves, Cheats, &c.,
with an addition of some Proverhs, Phrases, Pigurative /Speeches, <fcc.,
by B. E., Gent., i2mo. N. D. [1710.]
Afterwards issued under the title of Bacchus and Fenus, 1737, and in 1754 as
the Scoundrel's Dictionary,
NEW DICTIONARY of all the Cant and Flash Languages used by every
clasa of offenders, from a Lully Prigger to a High Tober Gloak, small
8vo., pp. 62. 1 79 — .
Mentioned by John Bee.
NOTES AND QUERIES. The invaluable . Index to this most useful
periodical may be consulted with advantage by the seeker after ety-
mologies of Slang and Cant words.
PARKER. High and Low Life, A View of Society in, being the Adven-
tures in England, Ireland, &0., of Mr G. Parker, a iStar/e Itinerant, 2
vols, in I, thick l2mo. Printed for the Author, 1781.
A curious work, containing many Cant words, with 100 orders of rogues and
swindlers.
PARKER'S (Geo.) Life's Painter of Variegated Characters, with a Diction-
ary of Cant Language and Flash Songs, to which is added a Disserta-
tion on Freemasonry, portrait, 8vo. 1 789.
PEGGE'S (Samuel) Anecdotes of the English Language, chiefly regarding
the Local Dialect of London and Environs, 8vo. 1803-41.
PERRY'S (William) London Guide and Stranger's Safeguard, against
Cheats, Swindlers, and Pickpockets, by a Gentleman who has made
the Police of the Metropolis an object of inquiry twenty-two years,
(no wonder when the author was in prison a good portion of that time !)
1818.
Contains a dictionary of Slang and Caut words.
PHILLIP'S New World of Words, folio. 1696.
PICKERING'S (F.) Vocabulary, or Collection of Words and Phrases which
have been supposed to be peculiar to the United States of America,
to which is prefixed an Essay on the present state of the English
Language in the United States, 8vo. Boston, 1 816.
The remark made upon Sartlett's Americanisms applies equally to this work.
PICTURE OF THE FANCY, i2mo. 18—.
Contains numerous Slang terms.
POTTER'S (H. T., of Clay, Worcestershire) New Dictionary of all the Cant
and Flash Languages, both ancient and modern, 8vo., pp. 62. 1790.
BIBLIOORAPHT OF SLANG AND CANT. 305
POULTER. The Discoveries of John Poulter, alias Baxter, 8vo, 48 pages.
(1770?)
At pages ^a, ij, there, is an explanation of tlie " Language of Thieves, cum-
monly calTod Cant."
PRISON-BREAKER, The, or the Adventures of John Shepherd, a Faroe,
8to. London, 1725.
Contains a Canting song, tm.
PUNCH, or the London Charivari,
Of .en points out Slim^, vulgar, or abused words. It also, occasionally, em-
ploys them in jokes, or sketches of character.
QUARTERLY REVIEW, vol. x., p. 528.
Gives a paper on Americanisms and Slang phrases.
RANDALL'S (Jack, the Pugilist, formerly of the " Role in the Wall,"
Chancery Lane) Diary of Proceedings at the House of Call for Genius,
edited by Mr Breakwindow, to which are added several of Mr B.'s
minor pieces, 1 2mo. 1820.
Believed to have been written by Thomas Moore. The verses are mostly paro-
dies of popular authors, and abound in the Slang of pugilisui, and the
phraseology of the fast life of the period.
RANDALL (Jack) a Few Selections from his Scrap Book ; to which are
added Poems on the late Fight for the Championship, l2mo. 1822.
Frequently quoted by Mo' ire in Tom Crii/s MemoriaL
SCOUNDREL'S DICTIONARY, or an Explanation of the Cant Words
used by Thieves, Housebreakers, Street-robbers, and Pickpockets about
Town, with some curious dissertations on the Art of Wheedling, &o.,
the whole printed from a copy taken on one of their gang, in the late
Kuffle between the watchman and a party of them on Clerkemvell green,
6vo. 1754.
A reprint of Bacchus and Venus, 1737.
SHARP (Jeremy) The Life of an English Rogue, l2mo. 1740.
Includes a '* Vocabulary of the Gypsies' Cant.**
SHERWOOD'S Gazetteer of Georgia, U.S., 8vo.
Contains a glossary of words. Slang and vulgar, peculiar to the Southern
States.
SMITH'S (Oapt.) Compleat History of the Lives and Robberies of the
most Notorious Highwaymen, Foot-pads, Shop-lifters, and Cheats, of
both Sexes, in and about London and Westminster, 1 2mo, vol. i. 1719.
This volume contains " Thk Thieves* New Caiitino Dictiovart of the
Words, Proverbs, &c., used by THiKVfa.'*
SMITH (Capt. Alexander) The Thieves' Grammar, i2mo., p. 28. 17 — »
A copy of this work is in the collection formed by Prince Lucieu Bonaparte
SMITH'S (Capt.) Thieves' Dictionary, l2mo. 1 724.
SNOWDEN'S Magistrate's Assistant, and Constable's Guide, thick small
Svo. 1852.
Gives a description of the various orders of cadgers, beggars, and swindlers,
together with a Olossary o/the Flush LanywLgt.
304 BIBLIOORAPHY OF SLANO AND CANT.
SPOBTMAN'S DICTIONARY, 4to. 17—.
By an anonymouB author. Contains some low sporting terms.
STANLEY'S Remedy, or the Way how to Reform Wandring Beggars,
Thieves, &c., wherein is shewed that Sodomes Sin of Idleness is the
Poverty and the Misery of this Kingdome, 4to. 1646.
This work has an engraving on wood wliich is said to be the veritable original
of Jim Crow.
SWIFT'S coarser pieces abound in Vulgarities and Slang expressions.
THE TRIUMPH OF WIT, or Ingenuity displayed in its Perfection, be-
ing tlie Newest and most Useful Academy, Songs, Art of Love, and
the Mystery and Art of Canting, with Poems, Songs, dec, in the Cant-
ing Language, i6mo. /. Clarice, 1735.
What is generally termed a shilling Chap Book.
THE TRIUMPH OF WIT, or the Canting Dictionary, being the Newest
and most Useful Academy, containing the Mystery and Art of Cant-
ing, with the original and present management thereof, and the ends
to which it serves and is employed, illustrated with Poems, Songs, and
various Intrigues in the Canting Language, with the Explanations, &c.,
I2mo. Dublin, N. D.
A Chap Book of 32 pages, circa 176a
THOMAS (L) My Thought Book, 8vo. 1825.
Contains a chapter on Slang.
THE WHOLE ART OP THIEVING and Defrauding Discovered : being
a Caution to all Housekeepers, Shopkeepers, Salesmen, and others, to
guard against Robbers of both Sexes, and the best Methods to pre-
vent their Villanies ; to which is added an Explanation of most of the
Cant terms in the Thieving Language, 8vo, pp. 46. 1786.
TOM CRIB'S Memorial to Congress, with a Preface, Notes, and Appendix
by one of the Fancy [Tom Moore, the poet,] i2mo. 1819.
A humorous poem, abounding in Slang and pugilistic terms, with a burlesque
essay on the classic origin of Slang.
VACABONDES, the Fratematye of, as well of ruflyng Vacabones, as of
beggerly, of Women as of Men, of Gyrles as of Boyes, with their pro-
per Names and QuaUties, with a Description of the Crafty Company
of Cousoners and Sliifters, also the XXV. Orders of Knaves ; other-
wyse called a Quartern of Knaves, confirmed by Cocke Lorell, 8vo.
Imprinted at London by John Awdeley, dwellyng in little Britayne streete
y/ithout Aldersgate. 1575-
It is stilted in Ames* Typog. Atitiq., vol ii., p 885, that an edition bearing the
date 1565 is in existence, and that the compiler was no other than old
John Audley, the printer, himself. This conjecture, however, is very
doubtful. As stated by Watt, it is more than probable that it was writ-
ten by Harman, or was* taken from his works, iu MS. or print.
VAUX'S (Count de, a svnndler and piclrpochet) Life, written by himself,
2 vols., l2mo, to which is added a Canting Dictionary. 1819.
These Memoirs were suppressed on accoxint of the scandalous passages con
taiued in tbutu
BIBLWQRAPHT OF SLANO AND CANT. 305
WEBSTER'S (Noah) Letter to the Hon. John Pickering, on the Subject
of his Vocabulary, or Collection of Words and Phrases supposed to be
peculiar to the United States, 8vo, pp. 69. Boston, 1817.
WILD (Jonathan) — History of the Lives and Actions of Jonathan Wild,
Thieftaker, Joseph Blake, alias Blueskin, Footpad, and John Shep-
pard. Housebreaker ; together with A Caniinq Dictionart by Jona-
than Wild, woodcuts, i2mo. i75o-
WILSON (Professor) contributed various Slang pieces to SlachpoocCs
Magazine; including a Re . .ew of Bee's Dictionary.
WITHERSPOON'S (Dr of America) Essays on Americanisms, Perversions
of Language in the United States, Cant phrases, &o., 8vo., in the 4th
ToL of his Works. Philaddphia, 1801.
The earliest work on American vulgarisms. Originally published as a series
of Essays, entitled the Drvid, which appeared in a periodical in 1761.
THE EVDl.
JOnS CAMDEN HOmtN, PRm-BR, PIOCAniLLT, LONDOS.
U
l00hs an fmxQUKQt
Preparing, in 2 Vols. 8vo,
A DICTIONARY OF COLLOQUIAL ENGLISH:
THE WORDS AND PHEASES IN CUEEENT USE COMMONLY
CALLED "SLANG" AND "VULGAR."
Their Origin and Etymology traced, and their Use Illustrated hy Examples
dravm from, the genteelest Authors.
The notorious incompleteness of even the best of our English
dictionaries can only be attributed to the manifest impossibility
of any one man's registering and authenticating by an apposite
example every word which is even common and current in
printed literature. This difiBculty is immeasurably increased
when the words sought to be recorded are, in many instances,
at present purely coUoqmal, and, ii printed at all, imbedded in
literature which is essentially fugitive, — such as the bulk of ovu:
plays and novels and the columns of our newspapers. Johnson-
ianism, if much at a discount in our literature, has certainly de-
parted altogether from our daily speech, which every year seems
to become more and more idiomatical, nay — with reverence be it
spoken — slangy; and the Editor believes that unless the colloquial-
isms of this generation be registered, our descendants will have a
very colourless picture of the conversation and manners of their
fathers, of all ranks of society. There is surely nothing trivial in
an attempt to do this thoroughly and systematically, — a like work
being done for our county dialects and obsolete literature by
the first philologists in Europe, necessarily in an imperfect manner
and with immense labour. And the Editor hopes that those into
whose hands this falls will kindly render him assistance in filling
up the deficiencies of this third edition, and in illustrating the
newer and more uncommon words by extracts from our literature.
It will be endeavoured to select such illustrations as shall be not
only valuable as such, but interesting in themselves. All contri-
butions in aid of this work, — suggestions on origin and etymo-
logy, unregistered words, definitions, and illustrative examples,—
will be thankfully received and acknowledged by the publisherj
Mr Camden Hotten, Piccadilly, London.
Jdmb 4, 1864.
It is the Editor's intention, also, to give in this work the
Feench Slang equivalents for our own vulgar terms and
neologisms. As the task is a difficult one — the emery -day speech
of Paris being much more changeable than that of London—
the Editor will he thankful for any assistance rendered.
3
BY PEEMISSION OF H.LH. PRINCE LUCIKN BONAPABTK
Preparing, in i small voL, sq. 24ino, exquisitely printed.
The Song of Solomon in the North-Derhyshire Dialect
Edited, with Notes, &o., by THOMAS HALLAM, Esq.
*,* Uniform with the other small books on Dialect issued by H.I.H,
the Prince Lucien Bonaparte. This is the first time the Nokth-
Debbyshikb Dialect has been specially treated of.
BY PERMISSION OP H.LH. PRINCE LUCIEN BONAPARTE.
Preparing, in i small voL, sq. 24mo, exquisitely printed.
The Gipsy Vocahulary ; or, List of Words taken down from
the Mouths of Gipsies in Somersetshire, by a Clergyman resident,
there in 1780. Edited, with Notes, Introduction, &c., by W.
PINKERTON, Esq., F.L.S.
*,* Uniform with the other small books on Language issued by
H.I.H, Prince Lucien Bonaparte. The value of this Vocabulary con-
sists in the fact that the words were written down on occasions oi
ACTUAL coxvEESATiONS WITH GiPSiES, and that it was not compiled
from Grellman or any of the Continental works.
WINCHESTER WORDS AND PHRASES.
In preparation, 8vo,
Glossary of all the Words, Phrases, Customs, peculiar to
Winchester College.
*#* See School Life at WvnektgUr College, which will be slioitly
published.
4
In preparation, i voL , small 8vo,
The School and College Slang of England ; or, Glossaries of
tho Words and Phrases peculiar to the Six great Educational
Establishments of the Country.
DICTIONARY OF AMERICANISMS.
Thick 8vo, published at^l, 5s., only 12s. 6d.,
Glossary of Words and Phrases usually regarded as
peculiar to the United States. By JOHN RUSSELL BAET-
LETT. Third and best Edition.
*^* The work extends to 560 pages, and presents to the English
reader a body of admirably -selected extracts from the humorous and
dialectical literature of the United States. The worh is offered at the
lowest cash price, and must be applied for dieect, as no discount can be
allowed to any agent.
It is a curious fact connected with Slang that a great number of
vulgar words common in England are equally common in the United
States ; and when we remember that America began to people tw(i
centuries ago, and that these colloquialisms must have crossed the sea
with the first emigrants, we can form some idea of the antiquity of
popular or street language. Many words, owing to the caprices of
fashion or society, have wholly disappeared in the parent country,
whilst in the colonies they are yet heard. The words skink, to serve
drink in company, and the old term MICHIKG or MEECHING, skulking
or playing truant, for instance, are still in use in the United States,
although nearly, if not quite, obsolete here.
Kow ready, only a few Copies for sale, original price 51.,
now offered at 28. 6d.,
A Dictionary of the Oldest Words in the English Lan-
guage, from the Semi-Saxon Period of a.d. 1250 to 130O; con-
sisting of an Alphabetical Inventory of every Word found in the
printed English Literature of the Thirteenth Century. By the
late HERBERT COLERIDGE, Secretary to the PhUological So-
ciety. 8vo, neat.
An invaluable work to historical students and those interested in
/inguistio pursuits. " The present publication may be considered as
the foundation-stone of the Historical and Literary Portion" of the
great English Dictionaby now in preparation by the Philological
Society. "Explanatory and etymological matter has been added,
which, it is hoped, may render the work more generally interesting
and useful than could otherwise have been the case."
The Publisher will he glad to receive the names of gentle-
men who Tnay desire to secure Copies of any of the above works.
Of three of them only a very limited number will be printed.
«-css.<5SSik9'?>«-^>-j
/
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE
STAMPED BELOW
AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS
WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN
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OVERDUE.
NOV 20 !w,k
DEC 9 2007
APR 11*^9315*
AUG 3 1943
WAR ?p t'^"'^^
FEB 2 1948
REC CIR. JUL 2 CS
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OCT 4 1956
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