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A CADGERS MAP OP A BEGGING DISTRICT, 
 
 EXPLANATIOlf OF THE HIEROGLYPHICS 
 
 y NO GOOD ; too pQor, and know too much. 
 
 f\t STOP,— if you have what they want, they will bay. They are 
 ' T" pretty *'Jly" (knowing). 
 
 •^^ GO IN THIS DIRECTION, it is better than the oUier road. 
 
 ^ Nothing that way. 
 
 A. BONE (good). Safe for a "cold tatur," if for nothing else. 
 ^^ " Cheese your patter*' (don't talk much) here. 
 
 ^y COOPERED (spoilt), by too many tramps calling there. 
 
 jni GAMMY (unfavourable), likely to have you taken up. Mind the 
 dog. 
 
 ^\ FL UMMUXED (dangerous), sure of a month in " quod " (prison). 
 
 ^ RELIGIOUS, but tidy on the whole. 
 
 ^^ See page 87. 
 
A DICTIONAEY 
 
 OF . 
 
 MODERN SLANG, CANT. 
 VULGAR WORDS, 
 
 USED AT THE PRESENT DAY IN THE STREETS OF LONDON ; THE UNIVERSITIES OF OXFORD 
 
 AND CAMBRIDGE; THE EOUSBS OP PARLIAMENT: THE DENS OF ST. GILES J 
 
 AND THE PALACES OF ST. .JAMBS. 
 
 PRECEDED BY A 
 
 HISTORY OF CANT AND VULGAR LANGUAGE; 
 
 WITH 
 
 GLOSSARIES OF TWO SECRET LANGUAGES, 
 
 SPOKEN BY THE WANDERING TRIBES OF LONDON, TUB COSTEUMONGBRS, 
 AND THE PATTBRERS. 
 
 By a LONDON ANTIQUARY. 
 
 "Rabble-charming words, which carry so much wild-fire v.rapt up in them."— South. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, 
 
 REVISED, WITH TWO THOUSAND ADDITIONAL WORDS. 
 
 \0ND0N: 
 JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1860. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND GREENING, GRAYSTOKE-PLACE, 
 
 FETTER-LANE, E.C. 
 

 PEEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 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 found incomplete and faulty in many respects, 
 and the author determined to thoroughly 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 en- 
 tirely rewritten, and that, whereas the First contained 
 but 3,000 words, this gives nearly 5,000, 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 lan- 
 guage of London vagabonds is peculiar to this edition. 
 
 My best thanks are due to several correspondents 
 for valuable hints and suggestions as to the probable 
 etymologies of various colloquial expressions. 
 
 One literary journal of high repute recommended a 
 
 468 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 division of cant from slang; but the annoyance of 
 two indices in a small work appeared to me to more 
 than counterbalance the benefit of a stricter philo- 
 logical classification, so I have for the present adhered 
 to the old arrangement ; indeed, to separate cant from 
 slang would be almost impossible. 
 
 Eespecting the hierogltphics of vagabonds, I 
 have been unable to obtain further information ; but 
 the following extract from a popular manual which I 
 have just met with is worth recording, although, 
 perhaps, somewhat out of place in a Preface. 
 
 " Gipseys follow their brethren by numerous marks, such as 
 strewiug handfuls 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 denotes 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." — 
 Snowden's Magistrate's Assistant, 1852, p. 444. 
 
 Piccadilly, March 15th, 1860. 
 
PEEFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 If any gentleman of a studious turn of mind, who may 
 have acquired the habit of carrying pencils and note- 
 books, would for one year reside in Monmouth Court, 
 Seven Dials ; six months in Orchard Street, West- 
 minster ; three months in Mint Street, Borough ; and 
 consent to undergo another three months on the ex- 
 tremely popular, but very much disliked treadmill 
 {vulgo the "Everlasting Staircase"), finishing, I will 
 propose, by a six months' tramp, in the character of a 
 cadger and beggar, over England, I have not the least 
 doubt but that he would be able to 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 re- 
 search. Conversations on the outsides of omnibuses, 
 on steamboat piers, or at railway termini, would de- 
 mand his most attentive hearing, so would the knots of 
 semi-decayed cabmen, standing about in bundles of 
 
VUl PREFACE. 
 
 worn-out great-coats and haybands, betwixt watering 
 pails, and conversing in a dialect every third word of 
 which is without home or respectable relations. He 
 would also have to station himself 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 flunkies, 
 ^'run after" all the popular preachers, go to the Inns 
 of Court, be up all 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, fashion- 
 able and unfashionable, and subscribe to Mudie's, and 
 scour the novels. This done, and if he has been an 
 observant man, I will 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 show 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 
 AVhitechapel 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 
 
PllEFACE. IX 
 
 fortunate circumstance attended the compiler of the 
 present work, and he has neither been required to reside 
 in Seven Dials, visit the treadmill, or wander over the 
 country in the character of a vagabond or a cadger. 
 
 In collecting old ballads, penny histories, 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 chaunters and pat- 
 terers 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 re- 
 spectable education (although filling a vagabond's 
 calling), and can write good hands, and express them- 
 selves 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 intelligent printer in Seven Dials, from the 
 costermongers in London, and the pedlars and huck- 
 sters who traverse the country. In this manner the 
 greater number of cant words were procured, very 
 valuable help being continually derived from Mayheud's 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 London Labour and London Poor, a work wliicli had 
 gone over much of the same ground. The slang and 
 vulgar expressions were gleaned from every soui'ce 
 which appeared to offer any materials ; indeed the 
 references attached to words in the Dictionary fre- 
 quently 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 prig 
 and COVE are instances in point. Once cant and secret 
 terms, they are now only street vulgarisms. 
 
 The etymologies attempted are only given as contri- 
 butions to the subject, and the derivation of no vulgar 
 term is guaranteed. The origin of many street words 
 will, perhaps, never be discovered, having commenced 
 with a knot of illiterate persons, and spread amongst 
 a public that cared not a fig 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 show 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. 
 
 He has to explain also that a few words will, pro- 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 bably, be noticed in the Slang and Cant Dictionary that 
 are questionable as coming under either of those de- 
 signations. 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 dictionaries have been exceedingly 
 crotchety in their choice of what they considered re- 
 spectable words. It is amusing to know that Richard- 
 son used the word humbug to explain the sense of 
 other words, but omitted it in the alphabetical arrange- 
 ment as not sufficiently respectable and ancient. The 
 word SLANG, too, he served in the same way. 
 
 Filthy and obscene words have been carefully ex- 
 cluded, although street -talk, unlicensed and unwritten, 
 abounds in these. 
 
 " 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, in- 
 cluding derivations. I believe I have, for the first 
 time, in consecutive order, added at least 3,000 words 
 to the previous stock, — vulgar and often very objec- 
 tionable, but still 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 Chester- 
 field, some say, who first used the word humbug. 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 Words, like peculiar 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 antecedents are inquired into. 
 
 A few errors of the press, I am sorry to say, may 
 be noticed; but, considering the novelty of the sub- 
 ject, and the fact that no fixed orthography of vulgar 
 speech exists, it will, I hope, be deemed a not unin- 
 teresting 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 profound character." 
 
 The compiler will be much obliged by the re- 
 ceipt, THROUGH Mr. Camden Hotten, the publisher, 
 
 OP ANY CANT, SLANG, OR VULGAR WORDS NOT MEN- 
 TIONED IN THE DICTIONARY. ThE PROBABLE ORIGIN, 
 OR ETYMOLOGY, OF ANY FASHIONABLE OR UNFASHION- 
 ABLE VULGARISM, WILL ALSO BE RECEIVED BY HIM 
 WITH THANKS. 
 
 Piccadilly, June dOth, 1859. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF CANT, OR THE SECRET 
 LANGUAGE OF VAGABONDS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Black and Coloured Vagabonds —Vagabonds all over 
 
 Europe — Vagabonds Universal ... ... 1 — 5 
 
 Etymology of Cant — Cant used in old times — Differ- 
 ence between Cant and Slang ... ... ... 5 — 7 
 
 The GiPSEYS — Gipseys taught English Vagabonds — 
 The Gipsey- Vagabond alliance — The Origin of 
 Cant — Vulgar words from the Gipsey — Gipsey 
 element in the English language — The poet Moore 
 on the origin of Cant — Borrow on the Gipsey 
 language —The inventor of Canting not hanged ... 7 — 15 
 
 Old Cant words still used — Old Cant words with 
 modern meanings — The words " Eum" and 
 " Queer'' explained — Old Cant words entirely 
 obsolete ... ... ... ... ... 16 — 19 
 
 The Oldest "Rogue's Dictionary" ... ... 20—26 
 
 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 Shakespere a pugilist ? 
 — Old Dramatists used Cant words — Curious 
 systems of Cant ... ... ... ... 26 — 35 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 ACCOUNT OF THE HIEROGLYPHICS USED BY 
 VAGABOiN^DS. 
 
 Mendicant Freemasonry — Hieroglyphics of Vaga- 
 bonds — Maps used by Beggars — Account of a 
 Cadger's Map — Explanation of the Hieroglyphics 
 — Did the Gipseys invent them? -The Murderer's 
 Signal on the Gallows 
 
 THE HISTORY OF SLANG, OR THE VULGAR 
 LANGUAGE OF FAST LIFE. 
 
 Slang at Babylon and Nineveh — Old English Slang — 
 Slang in the time of Cromwell ; and in the Court 
 of Charles 11. — 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 etymology of Slang — The true 
 origin of the term — Derived from the Gipseys — 
 Burns and bis 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 burdened with strange 
 meanings — ■ The poor Foreigner's perplexity — 
 Long and windy Slang words — Vulgar cor- 
 ruptions 
 
 Fashionable Slang 
 
 Parliamentary Slang ... 
 
 IVIlLITARY AND DaNDY SlaNG 
 
 University Slang 
 
 Religious Slang :.. 
 
 Legal Slang, or Slang amongst the Lawyers 
 
 Literary Slang, Punch on "Slang and Sanscrit" ... 
 
 Theatrical Slang, or Slang both before and behind 
 the curtain 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Civic Slang ... ... .... ... ... 77 
 
 Slang Terms for 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 
 tei-ms used by the Ancient Romans vulgarisms 
 in the Nineteenth Century ... ... ... 78—82 
 
 Shopkeepers' Slanq ... .. ... ... 82 
 
 Workmen's Slang, or Slang in the workshop — Many 
 
 Slang terms for money derived from operatives ... 83 
 
 Slang Apologies for Oaths, or sham exclamations 
 
 for passion and temper — Slang swearing ... 85 
 
 Slang Terms for Drunkenness, and the graduated 
 
 scale of fuddlement and intoxication ... ... 86 
 
 DICTIONARY OF MODERN SLANG, CANT, 
 AND VULGAR WORDS; many with their 
 etymologies traced, together with illustrations^ 
 and references to authorities ... ,.. ... 89 — 249 
 
 Some Account of the Back Slang, the secret lan- 
 guage of Costermongers — The principle of the 
 Back Slang — Boys and girls soon acquire it — 
 The Back Slang unknowp to the Police — Coster- 
 mongers' terms for money — Arithmetic amongst 
 the Costermongers ... ... ... ... 251 — 255 
 
 Glossary of the Back Slang ... ... ... 257 — 262 
 
 Some Account of the Rhyming Slang, the secret 
 
 1 language of Chaunters and Patterers — The origin 
 
 of the Rhyming Slang — Spoken principally by 
 
 Vagabond Poets, Patterers, and Cheap Jacks— 
 
 I Patterers "well up" in Street Slang — Curious 
 
 Slang Letter from a Chaunter ... ... 263—268 
 
 Glossary of the Rhyming Slanq ... ... 269 — 273 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Bibliography of Slang, Cant, and Vulgar 
 Language, or a list of the books which have 
 been consulted in the compilation of this work, 
 comprising nearly every known treatise upon the 
 subject ,.. ... ... ... ... 275—290 
 
 List of Abbreviations ... ... ... 291 
 
 Opinions of the Press upon the First Edition of this 
 
 work— List of Il^ew Publications, &c. ... ... 293—300 
 
THE HISTORY OF CANT, 
 
 OR, THE 
 
 SECRET LANGUAGE OF VAGABONDS. 
 
 Cant and Slang are universal and world-wide. 
 
 Nearly every nation on the face of the globe, 
 polite and barbarous, 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 
 avail 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 the oldest and most refined countries of 
 Europe. As Mayhew very pertinently remarks, 
 ** it would appear, that not only are all races 
 
 B 
 
Y, BLACK AND COLOURED VAGABONDS. 
 
 divisible into wanderers and settlers, but tliat eacb 
 civilised or settled tribe has generally some wan- 
 dering horde intermingled with, and in a mea- 
 sure preying upon it." In South Africa, the 
 naked and miserable Hottentots are pestered by 
 the still more abject Sonquas ; and it may be 
 some satisfaction for us to know that our old 
 enemies at the Cape, the Kafirs, are troubled with 
 a tribe of rascals called Fingoes^ — the former term, 
 we are informed by travellers, signifying beggars, 
 and the latter wanderers and outcasts. 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 respectable persons, however, vagabonds, both 
 at home and abroad, show certain outward pecu- 
 liarities which distinguish them from 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 remarkable for the 
 development of the bones of the face, as the jaws, 
 cheek-bones, &c., high crowned, stubborn-shaped 
 heads, quick restless eyes,* and hands nervously 
 
 * " Swarms of vagabouds, whose eyes were so sharp as Lynx." 
 — BuUein's Simples and Surgery, 1562. 
 
VAGABONDS ALL OVER EUROPE. 6 
 
 itching to be doing;* for their love of gambling, 
 — staking their very existence upon a single cast ; 
 for sensuality of all kinds ; arid for their use of a 
 CANT language with which to conceal their designs 
 and plunderings. 
 
 The secret jargon, or rude speech, of the vagabonds 
 who hang upon the Hottentots is termed cuze-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 Ger- 
 mania^ or Robbers' Language. Rolhwalsch^ or Red 
 Italian, 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 Rome, and the brigands that 
 Albert Smith used to describe near Pompeii — stop- 
 ping a railway train, and deliberately rifling the 
 pockets and baggage of the passengers — their 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, 
 
 * Mayhew has a carious idea upon the habitual restlessness of 
 the nomadic tribes, i.e., " Whether it be that in the mere act 
 of wandering, there is a greater determination of blood to the 
 
 b2 
 
4 VAGABONDS UNIVERSAL. 
 
 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 enquiry, replete with considerable 
 interest to the philologist and the philosopher. It 
 affords a remarkable instance of lingual contriv- 
 ance, which, without the introduction of much 
 arbitrary matter, has developed a system of com- 
 municating ideas, having all the advantages of a 
 foreiojn lano;uao;e." 
 
 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 pre- 
 
 surface of the body, and consequently a less quantity sent to the 
 brain." — London Labour, vol. i., p. 2. 
 
 * Mr. Thos. Lawrence, who promised an Etymological^ Cant, 
 and Slang Dictionary. Where is the book ? 
 
ETYMOLOGY OF CANT. 5 
 
 tensions of wretchedness."* 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 understood by none but his own 
 congregation, — and not by all of them. Since 
 Master Canfs 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 Presby- 
 terians." This anecdote is curious, if it is not 
 correct. It was the custom in Addison's time 
 to have a fling at the 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 whim- 
 sical etymology. As far as we are concerned, 
 howcA^er, 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 
 CHAUNTER, a street talker and tramp, the very 
 term still used by strollers and patterers. The use 
 
 * Richardson's Dictionary, 
 
6 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CANT AND SLANG. 
 
 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 
 Gipseys, says, *Hhey have devised a language among 
 themselves which they name CANTING, but others 
 Pedlars' Frenche." 
 
 Now the word CANT in its old sense, and SLANGf 
 in its modern application, although used by good 
 writers and persons of education as synonym es, 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 
 Gipseys, thieves, tramps, and beggars. Slang 
 represents that evanescent, vulgar language, ever 
 changing with fashion and taste, which has prin- 
 cipally come into vogue during the last seventy or 
 eighty years, spoken by persons in every grade of 
 life, rich and poor, honest and dishonest. J Cant 
 
 * Description of England, prefixed to Holinshed's Chronicle. 
 
 t The word Slang, as will be seen in the chapter upon that 
 subject, is purely a Gipsey term, although now-a-days it refers to 
 low or vulgar language of any kind, — other than cant. Slang 
 and Gibberish in the Gipsey language are synonymous ; but, as 
 English adoptions, have meanings very diflferent from that given 
 to them in their original. 
 
 X The vulgar tongue consists of two parts : the first is the 
 Cant Language; the second, those burlesque phrases, quaint 
 allusions, and nick names for persons, things, and places, which, 
 from long uninterrupted usage, are made classical by prescrip- 
 tion. — Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1st edition, 1785. 
 
THE GIPSEYS. 7 
 
 is old ; Slang is always modern and clianging. To 
 illustrate the difference : a thief in Cant lanf^uao;e 
 would term a horse a prancer 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 roGLE, 
 or a KENT RAG, in the secret language of low 
 characters, — whilst amongst vulgar persons, or 
 those who aped their speech, it would be called a 
 RAG, a WIPE, or a clout. Cant w^as formed for 
 purposes of secrecy. Slang is indulged in from a 
 desire to appear familiar with life, gaiety, town- 
 humour, and with the transient nick names 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 Gipseys, beggars and thieves are undoubt- 
 edly indebted for their Cant language. The Gipseys 
 landed in this country early in the reign of Henry 
 the Eighth. They were at first treated as conjurors 
 and magicians, — indeed they were hailed by the 
 populace with as much applause as a company of 
 English theatricals usually receive on arriving in a 
 distant colony. They came here with all their old 
 Eastern arts of palmistry, for tune- 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 
 
« GIPSEYS TAUGHT ENGLISH VAGABONDS. 
 
 ancient dwelling places in tlie 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 pro- 
 pensities became a public nuisance, were cautioned 
 and proscribed in a royal proclamation by Henry 
 VIII.* The Gipseys 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 
 from the so called Egyptians — soon corrupted to 
 Gipseys. They learned from them how to tramjD, 
 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 all the accompaniments of maunding and 
 imposture, except thieving and begging, which 
 were well known in this country long before the 
 Gipseys paid it a visit, — perhaps the only negative 
 good that can be said in their favour. 
 
 Harman^ in the year 1566, wrote a singular, not 
 to say droll book, entitled, A Caveat for commen 
 Cvrsetors, vulgarley called Vagahones, newly aug- 
 mented and inlarged, wherein the history and various 
 descriptions of rogues and vagabonds are given, 
 together with their canting tongue. This book, 
 
 * " Outlandish people calling themselves Egyptians." 1530. 
 
THE GIPSEY- VAGABOND ALLIANCE. y 
 
 the earliest of the kind, gives the singular fact 
 that within a dozen years after the landing of 
 the Gipseys, 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 Gipseys joined the English gangs, in 
 others English vagrants joined the Gipseys. 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 bye-path, or in the same 
 retired valley ; — but seldom intermarrying, and 
 entirely adopting each other's habits. The common 
 people, too, soon began to consider them as of one 
 family, — all rogues, and from Egypt. The secret 
 language spoken by the Gipseys, principally Hindoo 
 and extremely barbarous to English ears, was 
 found incomprehensible and very difficult to learn. 
 The Gipseys, also, found the same difficulty with 
 the English language. A rude, rough, and most 
 singular compromise was made, and a mixture of 
 Gipsey, Old English, newly-coined words, and 
 cribbings from any foreign, and therefore secret 
 language, mixed and jumbled together, formed 
 what has ever since been known as the canting 
 LANGUAGE, or pedler's FRENCH ; or, during 
 the past century, ST. Giles' greek. 
 
10 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF CANT. 
 
 Such was the origin of cant ; and in illustra- 
 tion of its blending with the Gripsey or Cingari 
 tongue, dusky and Oriental from the sunny plains 
 of Central Asia, I am enabled to give the accom- 
 panying list of Gipsey, and often Hindoo words, 
 with, in many instances, their English adoptions. 
 
 Gipsey. 
 BAMBOOZLE, to perplex or 
 
 mislead by hiding. Mod Gip. 
 BOSH, rubbish, nonsense, offal. 
 
 Gipsey and Persian. 
 CHEESE, thing or article, 
 
 " that's the cheese," or thing. 
 
 Gipsey and Hindoo. 
 CHIVE, the tongue. Gipsey. 
 
 DADE, or Dadi, a father. Gip- 
 sey. 
 
 DISTARABIN, a prison. Gip- 
 sey. 
 
 GAD, or Gadsi, a wife. Gijc 
 
 GIBBERISH, the language of 
 Gipseys, synonymous with 
 Slang. Gipsey. 
 
 ISCHUR, ScHUR, or Chur, a 
 thief. Gipsey and Hindoo. 
 
 LAB, a word. Gipsey. 
 
 LOWE, or LowR, money. Gip- 
 sey and Wallachian. 
 
 English. 
 BAMBOOZLE, to delude, cheat, 
 
 or make a fool of any one. 
 BOSH, stupidity, foolishness. 
 
 CHEESE, or cheesy, a first- 
 rate or very good article. 
 
 CHIVE, or CHiVEY, a shout, or 
 
 loud-tongued. 
 DADDY, nursery term for 
 
 father,* 
 STURABIN", a prison. 
 
 GAD, a female scold ; a woman 
 who tramps over the country 
 with a beggar or hawker. 
 
 GIBBERISH, rapid and un- 
 meaning speech. 
 
 CUR, a mean or dishonest man. 
 
 LOBS, words. 
 
 LOWRE, money. Ancient Cant. 
 
 * In those instances, indicated by a *, it is impossible to say 
 whether or not we are indebted to the Gipseys 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 Maund. 
 
VULGAR WORDS FROM THE GIPSEY. 11 
 
 MAMI, a grandmother. Gipsey, MAMMY, or Mamma, a mother, 
 
 formerly sometimes used for 
 grandmother. 
 MANG, or Maung, to beg. MAUND,. to beg. 
 
 Gipsey and Hindoo. 
 MORT, a free woman, — one for MORT, or Mott, a prostitute. 
 
 common use amongst the 
 
 male Gipseys, so appointed 
 
 by Gipsey custom. Gipsey. 
 MU, the mouth. Gipsey and MOO, or MuN, the mouth. 
 
 Hindoo. 
 MULL, to spoil or destroy. MULL, to spoil, or bungle. 
 
 Gipsey. 
 PAL, a brother. Gipsey. PAL, a partner, or relation. 
 
 pane', water. Gipsey. Hindoo, PARNEY, rain, 
 
 PAWNEE. 
 
 RIG, a performance. Gipsey. RIG, a frolic, or " spree." 
 
 ROMANY, speech or language. ROMANY, the Gipsey lan- 
 
 Spanish Gipsey. guage. 
 
 ROME, or RoMM, a man. Gip- RUM, a good man, or thing. 
 
 sey and Coptick. In the Robbers' language of 
 
 Spain (partly Gipsey) RUM 
 
 signifies a harlot. 
 
 ROMEE, a woman. Gipsey, RUMY, a good woman or girl. 
 
 SLANG, the language spoken SLANG, low, vulgar, unautho- 
 
 by Gipseys. Gipsey. rised language. 
 
 TAWNO, little. Gipsey. TANNY, Teeny, little. 
 
 TSCHIB, or JiBB, the tongue. JIBB, the tongue; Jabber,* 
 
 Gipsey and Hindoo. quick-tongued, or fast talk. 
 
 Here then we have the remarkable fact of seve- 
 ral words of pure Gipsey and Asiatic origin going 
 the round of Europe, passing into this country 
 before the Reformation, and coming down to 
 
 * Jabber, I am reminded, may be only another form of 
 GABBER, gab, Very common in Old English, from the Anglo.. 
 
 Saxon, G^BBAN. 
 
12 VULGAR WORDS FROM THE GIPSEY. 
 
 US 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 are now 
 cant, and some are household words. The word 
 JOCKEY, as apphed to a dealer or rider of horses, 
 came from the Gipsey, and means in that language 
 a whip. Our standard dictionaries give, of course, 
 none but conjectural etymologies. Another word, 
 BAMBOOZLE, has been a sore difficulty with lexi- 
 cographers. 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 Gipsey ; 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 Gipsey meanings, could be mentioned, but 
 sufficient examples have been adduced to show 
 that Marsden, the great Oriental scholar in the 
 last century, when he declared before the Society 
 of Antiquaries that the Cant of English thieves 
 and beggars had nothing to do with the language 
 spoken by the despised Gipseys, was in error. Had 
 
GIPSEY ELEMENT JN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 13 
 
 the Gipsey tongue been analysed and committed to 
 writing three centuries ago, there is every proba- 
 bility 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 vulgarisms 
 ascending to the drawing-rooms of respectable 
 society. Why, then, may not the Gipsey-vagabond 
 alliance three centuries ago have contributed its 
 quota of common words to popular speech ? 
 
 I feel confident there is a Gipsey element in the 
 English language hitherto unrecognised; slender it 
 may be, but not, therefore, unimportant. 
 
 '' Indeed," says Moore the poet, in a humorous 
 little book, Tom Crih^s Memorial to Congress, 1819, 
 " the Gipsey language, with the exception of such 
 terms as relate to their own peculiar customs, dif- 
 fers but little from the regular Flash or Cant lan- 
 guage." But this was magnifying the importance 
 of the alliance. Moore knew nothing of the 
 Gipsey tongue other than the few Cant words put 
 into the mouths of the beggars, in Beaumont and 
 Fletchers Comedy of the Beggar^s Bush, and Ben 
 Jonson^s Masque of the Gipsey s Metamorphosed, — 
 hence his confounding Cant with Gipsey speech, 
 and appealing to the Glossary of Cant for so called 
 " Gipsey" words at the end of the Life of Bamfylde 
 Moore Carew, to bear him out in his assertion. 
 Still his remark bears much truth, and proof 
 would have been found long ago if any scholar 
 
14 BOEROW ON THE GIPSEY LANGUAGE. 
 
 had taken the trouble to examine the *' barbarous 
 jargon of Cant," and to have compared it with 
 Gipsey speech. As George Borrow, in his Account 
 of the Gipsey s in Spain ^ eloquently concludes his 
 second volume, speaking of the connection of the 
 Gipsey s with Europeans : — '' Yet from this tempo- 
 rary association were produced two results : Euro- 
 pean fraud became sharpened by coming into con- 
 tact with Asiatic craft ; whilst European tongues, 
 by imperceptible degrees, became recruited with 
 various words (some of them wonderfully expres- 
 sive), many of which have long been stumbhng- 
 blocks to the philologist, who, whilst stigmatising 
 them as words of mere vulgar invention, or of un- 
 known origin, has been far from dreaming that a 
 little more research or reflection would have proved 
 their affinity to the Sclavonic, Persian, or Romaic, 
 or perhaps to the mysterious object of his venera- 
 tion, 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 deni- 
 zens of the tents of Roma." 
 
 But the Gipsey s, their speech, their character — 
 bad enough as all the world testifies — their history 
 and their religious belief, have been totally disre- 
 garded, and their poor persons buffeted and jostled 
 about until it is a wonder that any trace of origin 
 or national speech exists in them. On the con- 
 
THE INVENTOR OF CANTING NOT HANGED. 15 
 
 tinent they received better attention at the hands 
 of learned men. Their lanojuao^e was taken 
 down, their history traced, and their extraordinary 
 customs and practice of hving in the open air, 
 and eating raw or putrid meat, explained. They 
 ate reptiles and told fortunes, because they had 
 learnt it through their forefathers centuries back 
 in Hindostan, and they devoured carrion because 
 the Hindoo proverb — " that which God kills is 
 better than that hilled by 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. f 
 
 GiPSEY 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 forma- 
 tion, like all other languages or systems of speech. 
 The Gipseys at the present 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 Gipseys is mixed with Eng- 
 lish words. "J Those of the tribe who frequent fairs, 
 
 * This very proverb was mentioned by a young Gipsey to 
 Crabh, -a few years ago. — Gipseys' Advocate, p. 14. 
 
 + I except, of course, the numerous writers who have followed 
 Grellman, and based their researches upon his labours. 
 
 % Gipseys of Spain, vol. i., p. 18. 
 
16 OLD CANT WORDS STILL USED. 
 
 and mix with English, tramps, readily learn the 
 new words, as they are adopted by what Harman 
 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. 
 
 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 still their old definitions, 
 while others have adopted fresh meanings, — to 
 escape detection, I suppose. '' Abraham man " is 
 yet seen in our modern sham Abraham, or play 
 THE OLD SOLDIER, i.e., to feign sickness or dis- 
 tress. *' Autum" is still a church or chapel 
 amongst Gipseys; and '* beck," a constable, is our 
 modern cant and slang beek, a policeman or ma- 
 gistrate. " Bene," or bone, stands for ^ood in 
 Seven Dials, and the back streets of Westminster; 
 and " bowse" is our modern booze, to drink or 
 fuddle. A '^bowsing ken" was the old cant 
 term for a public house, and boozing ken, in 
 modern 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 
 
OLD CANT WORDS WITH MODERN MEANINGS. 17 
 
 synonyme for a man. *' Drawers" was liose, or 
 ** hosen," — now applied to the lining for trousers. ^ 
 *' dudes" was cant for clothes, we now say m 
 DUDDS. *' Flag" is still a fourpenny piece; and ^ 
 *'fylche" means to rob. '*Ken" is a house, 
 and ''lick" means to thrash; *^prancer" is yet 
 known amongst rogues as a horse; and " to PRIG," 
 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." ''Trine" is 
 still to hang; " wyn" yet stands for a penny. 
 And many other words, as will be seen in the 
 glossary, 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 chete, and qualified by a sub- 
 stantive^ adjective, which showed what kind of a 
 CHETE was meant ; for instance, "CRASHING 
 CHETES" were teeth ; a " moffling chete," a 
 napkin; a "grunting chete," a pig, &c. &c. 
 Cheat now-a-days means to defraud or swindle, 
 and lexicographers have tortured etymology for an 
 original — but without success. Escheats and es- 
 cheatours have been named, but with great doubts; 
 
 c 
 
18 THE WORDS " RUM" AND " QUEER" EXPLAINED. 
 
 indeed, Stevens, the learned commentator on 
 Shakespere, acknowledged that he '' did not recol- 
 lect to have met with the word cJieat in our ancient 
 writers."* Cheat, to defraud, then, is no other 
 than an old Cant terra, somewhat altered in its 
 meaning,! and as such it should be described in 
 the next Etymological Dictionary. Another in- 
 stance 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; — remem- 
 bering a certain class of low characters, a curious 
 connection between the two meanings will be dis- 
 covered. " Make" was a halfpenny, we now say 
 MAG, — MAKE being modern Cant for appropriat- 
 ing, — " 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 meaning, in 
 modem Cant, to steal or seize. *'Pek" was 
 meat, — we still say peckish, when hungry. 
 '' Prygges, dronken Tinkers or beastly people ^'^ as 
 old Harman wrote, would scarcely be understood 
 now; a prig, in the 19th century, is a pick- 
 pocket or thief. " QuiER," or QUEER, like cheats 
 was a very common prefix, and meant bad or 
 
 * SfiaJces. Hen. IV., part 2, act ii, scene 4. 
 
 t It is easy to see how cheat became synonymous with " fraud," 
 when we remember that it was one of the most common words 
 of the greatest class of cheats in the country. 
 
OLD CANT WORDS ENTIRELY OBSOLETE. 19 
 
 wicked, — it now means odd, curious, or strange ; 
 but to tlie ancient cant we are indebted for 
 the word, which etymologists should remember.* 
 ** Rome," or rum, formerly meant good, or of the 
 first quality, and was extensively used like clieat 
 and queer ^ — indeed as an adjective it was the oppo- 
 site of the latter. Rum now means curious, and is 
 synonymous with queer, thus, — a " rummy 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, P annum 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,"t 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 Shake- 
 
 * I am reminded by an eminent philologist that the origin of 
 QUEER is seen in the German, quer, crooked, — hence "odd," 
 I agree with this etymology, but still have reason to believe that 
 the word w&s first used in this country in a cant sense. Is it 
 mentioned any where as a respectable term before 1500? If 
 not, it had a vulgar or cant introduction into this country. 
 
 t BooGET properly signifies a leathern wallet, and is probably 
 derived from the low Latin, bulga. A tinker's budget is from 
 the same source. 
 
 c2 
 
20 THE OLDEST " KOGUES' DICTJONAEY." 
 
 spere in this sense, is now unknown and obsolete. 
 Indeed, as Tom Moore somewhere remarks, the 
 present Greeks of St. Giles, themselves, would be 
 thoroughly pu:3zled by many of the ancient canting 
 songs, — taking for example, the first verse of an 
 old favourite : 
 
 Bing out, bien Morts, 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 compiled. As before 
 mentioned, it was the work of one Thos. Harman, 
 a gentleman who lived in the days of Queen 
 Elizabeth. Some writers have remarked that 
 Deckerf was the first to compile a Dictionary of 
 the vagabonds' tongue; whilst Borrow, J and Moore, 
 the poet, stated that Richard Head performed that 
 
 * Which, literally 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 good man has the money. 
 
 t Who wrote about the year 1610. 
 
 J Gipseys of Spain, vol. i., p. 18. Borrow further commits 
 himself by remarking that ** Head's Vocabulary has always 
 been accepted as the speech of the English Gipseys." Nothing 
 of the kind. Head professed to have lived with the Gipseys, but 
 in reality filched his words from DecJcer and Brome. 
 
THE OLDEST "ROGUES' DICTIONARY." 21 
 
 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 phraseology are 
 preserved, and the reader will quickly detect many 
 vulgar street words, old acquaintances, dressed in 
 antique garb* 
 
 ABRAHAM-MEN, be those that fayn themselves to have beene 
 mad, and have bene kept either in Bethelem, or in some 
 other pryson a good time. 
 
 ALYBBEG,^heMe. 
 
 ASKEW, a cuppe. 
 
 AUTEM, d. chMvche. 
 
 A UTEM MORTES, married wemen as chaste as a cowe. 
 
 BAUD YE 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 CRETE, a calfe or sheepe. 
 
 BOOGET, a travelling tinker's baskete. 
 
 BORBE, a shilling. 
 
 BOUNG, a purse [Friesic, pong]. 
 
 BOWSE, drink. 
 
 BO WSING-KEN, a alehouse. 
 
 BUFE [buffer, a man], a dogge. 
 
 BYNGE A WASTE, go you hence. 
 
 CACKLING-CHETE, a coke [cock], or capon. 
 
 CASS AN [cassam], cheese. 
 
 CASTERS, a cloake. 
 
 * The modern meanings of a few of the old cant words are 
 given in brackets. 
 
22 THE OLDEST " KOGUES' DICTIONARY" 
 
 CATETH, "the vpright Cofe cateth to the Koge" [probably a 
 
 shortening 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 youg knaves and yonge harlots, that deeply dissemble 
 
 the falling sicknes. 
 CRANKE [cranky, foolish], falling evil [or wasting sickness]. 
 CRASHING-CHETES, teeth. 
 CUFFEN, a manne [a cuif in Northumberland and Scotland 
 
 signifies a lout or awkward fellow]. 
 DARKEMANS, the night. 
 DELL, a yonge wench. 
 DEWSE-A - VYLE, the countrey. 
 DOCK, to deflower. 
 BOXES, harlots. 
 DRA WERS, hosen. 
 DUDES [or dudds], clothes. 
 F AMBLES, handes. 
 
 FAMBLING-CHETE, a ring on one's hand. 
 FLAGG, a groat. 
 
 FRATER, a beggar wyth a false paper. 
 FRESHE- WATER-MARINERS, these kind of caterpillers 
 
 counterfet great losses on the sea : — their shippes were 
 
 drowned in the playne of Salisbury. 
 FYLCHE, to robbe : Fylch-man [a robber]. 
 GA GE, a quart pot. 
 GAN, a mouth. 
 
 GENTRY COFE, a noble or gentle man. 
 GENTRY'COFES-KEN, a noble or gentle man's house. 
 GENTRY MORT, a noble or gentle woman. 
 GERRY, excrement. 
 GLASYERS, eyes. 
 GLYMMAR,i^Qi\ 
 GRAN NAM, corne. 
 
THE OLDEST "ROGUES' DICTIONARY." 23 
 
 GRUNTING- CHETE, a pygge. 
 
 GTB, a writing. 
 
 OYGER [jigger], a dore. 
 
 HEARING-CHETES, eares. 
 
 JARKE, a seale. 
 
 JARKEMAN, one who make writings and set scales for [coun- 
 terfeit] licences and pasports. 
 
 KEN, a house. 
 
 KYNCHEN CO [or cove], a young boye trained up like a 
 " Kynching MoHe^ [Froni the German diminutive Kind' 
 sc^ew.] 
 
 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 clothes. 
 
 LAGE, to washe. 
 
 LAP, butter, my Ike, or whey. 
 
 LIGHTMANS, the day. 
 
 LOWING-CHETE, a cowe. 
 
 LOWRE, money. 
 
 LUBBARES, — " sturdy ZwS 6 arcs," country bumpkins, or men 
 of a low degree. 
 
 LYB-BEG, d^hedi. 
 
 ZF(7ir^[lick], tobeate. 
 
 L YP, to lie down. 
 
 LYPKEN, a house to lye in. 
 
 MAKE [mag], a halfpenny. 
 
 MARGERI PRATER, a hen. 
 
 MILLING, to steale [by sending a child in at the window]. 
 
 MOFLING-CHETE, a napkin. 
 
 MORTES [motts], harlots. 
 
 MYLL, to robbe. 
 
 MYNT, gold. 
 
 NAB [nob], a heade. 
 
 NABCHET, a hat or cap. 
 
 NA8E, dronken. 
 
 NOSEGENT, a nunne. 
 
24 THE OLDEST "ROGUES' DICTIONARY." 
 
 PALLYARD, a borne beggar [who counterfeits sickness, or in- 
 curable sores. They are mostly Welshmen, Harman saysj. 
 
 PARAM, mylke. 
 
 P^ri2/(70, a priest. 
 
 PA TRIO OS K INC HEN, a pygge [a satirical hit at the church, 
 Patrico meaning a parson or priest, and Kinchen his little 
 boy or girl]. 
 
 PEK [peckish], meat. 
 
 POPPELARS, porrage. 
 
 PRAT, a buttocke. 
 
 PRATLING'CHETE, a toung. 
 
 PRA UNCER, a horse. 
 
 PRIG6ER OF PRAUNCERS, 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."] 
 
 PRTGGES, dronken Tinkers, or beastly people. 
 
 QUACKING-CHETE, a drake or duck. 
 
 QUAROMES, 3,hodij, 
 
 QUIER [queer], badde [see what has been previously said about 
 this word]. 
 
 QUYER CRAMP-RINGBS, boltes or fetters. 
 
 QUIER CUFFIN, the iustice of peace. 
 
 QUYER-KYN, a pryson house. 
 
 RED SEANKE, a drake or ducke. 
 
 ROGER, a goose. 
 
 ROME, goode [now curious, noted, or remarkable in any way. 
 Rum is the modern orthography]. 
 
 ROME BOUSE [rum booze] wyne. 
 
 ROME MORT, the Queene [Elizabeth]. 
 
 ROME VYLE [or Rum-ville], London. 
 
 RUFF PECK, baken [short bread, common in old times at farm 
 houses]. 
 
 RUFFMANS, the woods or bushes. 
 
 SALOMON, a alter or masse. 
 
 SKYPPER, a barne. 
 
THE OLDEST " KOGUES' DICTIONARY." 25 
 
 SLA TE, a sheete or shetes. 
 
 SMELLING CRETE, a nose. 
 
 SMELLING CRETE, 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 privi- 
 leges of the canting order. Harman relates, that when an 
 upright-man, or initiated, first-class rogue, '*mete any beggar, 
 whether he Ibe 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 show him the whole 
 circumstance thereof, he will spoyle him of his money, 
 either of his best garment, if it be worth any money, and 
 haue him to the bowsing ken : which is, to some typpling 
 house next adjoyninge, and layth there to gage the best 
 thing that he hath for twenty pence or two shillings : this 
 mail obeyeth for feareof 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, G. P. do stalle the, W. T. to the Roge, and 
 that from henceforth it shall be lawful! for thee to cant, 
 that is to aske or begge for thi lining in al places." Some- 
 thing like this treatment is the popular idea of Free- 
 masonry, and what schoolboys term " freeing." 
 
 STAMPES, legges. 
 
 STAMPERS, shoes. 
 
 ST A TILING KEN, a house that will receyue stollen wares. 
 
 STA WLINGE-KENS, tippling houses. 
 
 STOW YOU [stow it], hold your peace. 
 
 STRIKE, to steale. 
 
 STROMMELL, strawe. 
 
 SWABBER, or Pedler [a man who hawks goods], 
 
 TRE RIGR PAB, the highway. 
 
 TRE RUFFIAN CLY TREE, the devil take thee. 
 
 TOGEMANS [togg], a cloake. 
 
 TOGMAN, 8L coate. 
 
 TO BOWSE, to drinke. 
 
 TO CANTE, to speake. 
 
 TO CLY TRE GERKE, to be whipped. 
 
 TO COUCR A ROGSREAB, to lie dcwn and slepe. 
 
26 "JAW-BREAKERS," OR HARD WORDS, USED IN CANT. 
 
 TO CUTTE, to say [cut it is modem slang for " be quiet "]. 
 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 GYGER [jigger], to open the dore. 
 
 TO FYLCHE, to robbe. 
 
 TO HEUE A BOUGH, to robbe or rifle aboweth [booth]. 
 
 TO MA UNDE, to aske or require. 
 
 TO MILL A KEN, to robbe a house. 
 
 TO NYGLE [coition]. 
 
 TO NYP A BOUNG [nip, to steal], to cut a purse. 
 
 TO SKOWER THE CRAMPRINGES, to weare boltes or 
 
 fetters. 
 TO STALL, to make or ordain. 
 TO THE RUFFIAN, to the Devil. 
 TO TOWRE, to see, 
 TRYNING [trine], hanging. 
 TYB OF THE BUTERY, a goose. 
 WALKING MO RTF, womene [who pass for widows]. 
 WAP PING [coition]. 
 WHYDDES, wordes. 
 WYN, a penny. 
 YANNAM, bread. 
 
 Turning our attention more to the Cant of 
 modern times, in connection 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 ;BaillioTrr 
 
WERE HIGHWAYMEN EDUCATED MEN? 27 
 
 It is really laughable to know that such words as 
 incongruous, insipid^ interloper, intriguing, indeco- 
 rum, 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 Bac- 
 chus 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 i 
 illustration of the ignorance of our poor ancestors, j 
 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 highway- 
 men, were really well educated men, — which 
 heretofore has always 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 ill-shapen woman ;"t and 
 
 * This is a curious volume, and is worth from one to two 
 guineas. The Canting Dictionary was afterwards reprinted, 
 word for word, with the title of The ScoundreVs Dictionary, in 
 1751. It was originally published, without date, about the year 
 1710 by B. E., under the title of a Dictionary of the Canting 
 Crew, 
 
 t Bacchus and Venus, 1737. 
 
28 VAGABONDS USED FOREIGN WORDS AS CANT. 
 
 HARMAN, " a pair of stocks, or a constable.'* 
 The former is a pleasant piece of satire, whilst the 
 latter indicates a singular method of revenge. 
 Harman was the first author who specially wrote 
 against English vagabonds, and for his trouble his 
 name became synonymous with a pair of stocks, 
 and a policeman of the olden time. 
 
 Apart from the Gipsey 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 Eliza- 
 beth 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 outlandish 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 lan- 
 guages of ancient Italy and Greece, have contri- 
 buted to its list of words, — besides the various 
 provincial dialects of England. Indeed, as May- 
 hew remarks, English Cant seems to be formed on 
 the same basis as the Argot of the French, and 
 the Roth-Sprcec of the Germans, — partly meta- 
 phorical, and partly by the introduction of such 
 
THE LINGUA FRANCA, OR BASTARD ITALIAN. 29 
 
 corrupted foreign terms as are likely to be un- 
 known to the society amid which the Cant speakers 
 exist. Argot 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 incomprehen- 
 sible to the police and the mob. Booze, or bouse, 
 I am reminded by a friendly correspondent, comes 
 from the Dutch, BUYSEN. DoMiNE, a parson, is 
 from the Latin ; and l)ON, a clever fellow, has been 
 filched from the Spanish. DoNNA AND FEELES, 
 a woman and children, is 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 tramps' terms. 
 So are gent, silver, from the French, Argent ; 
 and VIAL, a country town, also from the French. 
 Horrid-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. 
 
 There is one source, however, of secret street 
 terms, which, in the first edition of this work, w^as 
 entirely overlooked, — indeed, it was unknown to 
 the editor until pointed out by a friendly corre- 
 spondent, — the Lingua Franca^ or bastard Italian, 
 spoken at Genoa, Trieste, Malta, Constantinople, 
 
30 CANT DERIVED FROM JEWS AND SHOWMEN. 
 
 Smyrna, Alexandria, and all Mediterranean sea- 
 port towns. The ingredients of this imported Cant 
 are many. Its foundation is Italian, with a mixture 
 of modern Greek, German (from the Austrian ports), 
 Spanish, Turkish, and French. It has been intro- 
 duced to the notice of 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 all parts of Italy, 
 and by the makers of images from Rome 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 Gipseys; 
 many Latin, got by the beggars from the Catholic 
 prayers before the Reformation; and many, again, 
 Italian, got from the wandering musicians and 
 others; indeed the showmen have but lately intro- 
 duced 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 
 
 * Mayhew's London Labour and London Poor, vol. iii,, 
 No. 43, Oct. 4tli, 1851. 
 
OLD ENGLISH WORDS USED AS CANT. 3) 
 
 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* This 
 will 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 high- 
 waymen were by all accounts so plentiful, a great 
 many new words were added to the canting voca- 
 bulary, whilst several old terms fell into disuse. 
 Cant, for instance, as applied to thieves' talk, was 
 supplanted by the word plash. 
 
 A singular feature, however, in vulgar language, 
 is the retention and the revival of sterling old 
 English words, long since laid up in ancient manu- 
 scripts, 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," 
 
 * Mayhew (vol. i., p. 217), speaks of a low lodging-house, " in 
 which there were at one time five university men, three sur- 
 geons, and several sorts of broken down clerks." But old Har- 
 man's saying, that " a wylde Roge is he that is horrie a roge," will 
 perhaps explain this seeming anomaly. 
 
t 
 
 ^ 
 
 32 OLD ENGLISH WORDS NOT FASHIONABLE NOW. 
 
 and Dr. Latham honours our subject by remarking 
 that '^ the thieves of London are the conservators 
 of Anglo- Saxonisms." May hew, too, in his in- 
 teresting work, London Labour and London Poor^ 
 admits that many Cant and Slang phrases are 
 merely old English terms, which have become ob- 
 solete through the caprices of fashion." And the 
 reader who looks into the Dictionary of the vaga- 
 bonds' lingo, will see at a glance that these gentle- 
 men 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 Belgravian gentleman 
 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 to 
 steal amongst high and low. And a young lady 
 living in the precincts of dingy, but aristocratic 
 May-Fair, although enraptured with a Jenny Lind 
 or a Ristori, would hardly think of turning back in 
 the box to inform papa that she, Ristori or Lind, 
 " made no bones of it " — yet the phrase was most 
 respectable and well-to-do, before it met with a 
 change of circumstances. " A CKACK article," 
 however first-rate, w^ould, as far as speech is con- 
 cerned, have greatly displeased Dr. Johnson and 
 Mr. Walker — yet both crack, in the sense of excel- 
 
OUE OLD AUTHOKS VERY VULGAR PERSONS. 33 
 
 lent, and crack up, to boast or praise, were not 
 considered vulgarisms in the time of Henry VIII. 
 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 respectable 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 clergyman at Panic's Crosse, 
 thought nothing of bidding a noisy hearer to " hold 
 his GAB," or *' shut up his GOB." Gadding, roam- 
 ing about in an idle and trapesing manner, was 
 used in an old translation 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. 
 
 Shakespere, or as the'^IPrench say, " the divine 
 William," 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, in- 
 stead of saying '' I'll make him yield," or '^give 
 in," in a fight or contest, would say, " I'll make 
 him BUCKLE under." Shakespere, in his Henry the 'iL^ 
 
 D 
 
 / 
 
34: SHAKESPERE A PUGILIST 1 
 
 Fourth (Part 2, Acti., Scene 1) has the word, and 
 Mr. Halliwell, one of the greatest and most indus- 
 trious of living antiquaries, informs us, that " the 
 f\ commentators do not supply another example." 
 jg^^Y||How strange, then, that the Bard of Avon, and 
 %P'' 11 f the Cockney costermongers, should be joint partners 
 f l| and sole proprietors of the vulgarism. If Shake- 
 spere was not a pugiUst, he certainly anticipated 
 the terms of the prize ring — or they were respect- 
 able 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 Shakesperian ; so indeed 
 is PIECE, a contemptuous term for a young woman. 
 Shakespere was not the only vulgar dramatist of 
 his time. Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, 
 Brome, and other play- writers, occasionally put 
 cant words into the mouths of their low characters, 
 or employed old words which have since degene- 
 rated into vulgarisms. Crusty, poor tempered ; 
 " two of a KIDNEY," two of a sort ; LARK, a piece 
 of fun ; LUG, to pull ; BUNG, to give or pass ; 
 PICKLE, a sad plight ; frump, to mock, are a few 
 specimens casually picked from the works of the 
 old histrionic writers. 
 
 One old English mode of canting, simple and 
 effective when familiarised by practice, was the 
 
CURIOUS SYSTEMS OF CANT. 35 
 
 inserting a consonant betwixt each syllable ; tbus, 
 taking^, "How do you do?" would be *'Hou^ 
 do^ you^ do^ ? 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 /wop, a pint of stout 
 a 5tint of joout ; but it is satisfactory to know that 
 it has gained no ground. This is called Marrow- 
 skying, or Medical Greeks 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. 
 
 d2 
 
ACCOUNT 
 
 HIEROGLYPHICS USED BY VAGABONDS. 
 
 One of the most singular cKapters in a History of 
 Vagabondism would certainly be an account of the 
 Hieroglyphic signs used by tramps and thieves. 
 The reader may be startled to know that, in addi- 
 tion to a secret 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. Rawlinson.* *^ There is," 
 he says in his report, " a sort of blackguards' litera- 
 ture, and the initiated understand each other by 
 
 * Mr, EawUnson's Report to the General Board of Health, 
 Parish of Havant, Hampshire. 
 
MENDICANT FREEMASONRY. 37 
 
 slang [cant] terms, by pantomimic signs, and by 
 HIEROGLYPHICS. The vagranfs mark may be seen 
 in Havant, on corners of streets^ on door posts, and 
 on house steps. Simple as these chalk lines appear^ 
 they inform the succeeding vagrants 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 for- 
 warded to Notes and Queries,"^ under the head of 
 Mendicant Feeemasonry. " Persons/' re- 
 marks the writer, " indiscreet enough to open their 
 purses to the rehef of the beggar tribe, would do 
 well to take a readily learned lesson as to the folly 
 of that misguided benevolence which encourages 
 and perpetuates vagabondism. Every door or 
 passage is pregnant with instruction as to the error 
 committed by the patron of beggars, as the beggar- 
 marks show that a system of freemasonry is fol- 
 lowed, 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 
 
 * Vol. v., p. 210. 
 
38 HIEROGLYPHICS OF VAGABONDS. 
 
 into the passage, in others outwardly ; thus seeming 
 to indicate whether the houses down the passage 
 are worth calHng 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 1, 2, 3, are also used. Every 
 person may for himself test the accuracy of these 
 statements by the examination of the brick work 
 near his own doorway — 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 expe- 
 rienced, to be duped by such means. 
 
 The only other notice of the hieroglyphics of 
 vagabonds that I have met with, is in May hew' s 
 London Labour and London Poor,^ May hew 
 obtained his information from two tramps, who 
 stated that hawkers employ these signs as well as 
 beggars. One tramp thus described the method of 
 WORKiNGt a small town. " Two hawkers (PALSf) 
 go together, but separate when they enter a village, 
 one taking one side of the road, and selhng dif- 
 ferent things ; and so as to inform each other as to 
 the character of the people at whose houses they 
 call, they chalk certain marks on their door posts T 
 Another informant stated that *' if a PATTERERf 
 * Vol. i., pages 218 and 247.] [f See Dictionary. 
 
ACCOUNT OF A CADGER'S MAP. 39 
 
 has been crabbed (that is, offended) at any of the 
 CRIBS (houses), he mostly chalks a signal at or 
 near the doorT 
 
 Another use is also made of these hieroglyphics. 
 Charts of successful begging neighbourhoods are 
 rudely drawn, and symbolical signs attached to each 
 house to show whether benevolent or adverse.* ** 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."-}- A correct facsimile of one of these 
 singular maps has been placed as a frontispiece. It 
 
 * Sometimes, 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 each 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 day, 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. The names of the good houses are not set down in the 
 paper for fear of the police." — Mayhew, vol. i., p. 418. 
 t Mayhew, vol. i., p. 218. 
 
40 ACCOUNT OF A CADGER'S MAP. 
 
 was obtained from the patterers and tramps who 
 supplied a great many words for tins 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 probably sketched by a wan- 
 dering SCEEEVER * in payment for a night's lodg- 
 ing. 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 travel- 
 ler* has drawn a favourite or noted female, sin- 
 gularly nick-named Three-quarter Sarah. What 
 were the peculiar accomplishments of this lady to 
 demand so uncommon 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 hawkers 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 
 * See Dictionary. 
 
EXPLANATION OF THE HIEROGLYPHICS. 41 
 
 of cadgers. No key or explanation to the hiero- 
 glyphics 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 each 
 house on every round, that is * good for a cold 
 tatur.' "* The hieroglyphics that are used are: — 
 
 X NO GOOD ; too poor, and know too much. 
 
 f%X. STOP, — If you have what they want, they will buy. 
 
 They are pretty "fly" (knowing). 
 ^. GO IN THIS DIRECTION, it is better than the other 
 
 road. Nothing that way. 
 
 A BONF (good). Safe for a " cold tatur," if for nothing 
 ^ else. " Cheese your patter" (don't talk much) here. 
 
 ^>7 COOPER D (spoilt), by too many tramps calling there. 
 pi QAM MY (unfavourable), likely to have you taken up. 
 Mind the dog. 
 
 OFLUMMUXED (dangerous), sure of a month in " quod " 
 (prison). 
 
 © 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 character 
 of the Gipseys, and ascertaining from a tramp that 
 they are well acquainted with the hieroglyphics, 
 
 heWf vol. i., p. 218. 
 
42 DID THE GTPSEYS INVENT THEM? 
 
 *' and have been as lono; agfo 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 hieroglyphical writing ! But 
 this, of course, is a simple vagary of the imagi- 
 nation. 
 
 That the Gipseys 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 Gipseys 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 boughs in the ivay of 
 divers kinds ^ according as it is agreed among them, 
 that one company may know which way another is 
 gone, and so take a different road.^^ The works of 
 Hoyland and Borrow supply other instances. 
 
 I cannot close this subject without drawing 
 attention to the extraordinary fact, that actually on 
 the threshold of the gibbet the sign of the vaga- 
 bond 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 
 
THE MURDERER'S SIGNAL ON THE GALLOWS. 43 
 
 executed is a token tliat 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 Eng- 
 land numerous evidences of the still active use of 
 beggars' marks, and mendicant hieroglyphics. One 
 gentleman writes from Great Yarmouth to say that 
 only a short time since, whilst residing in Norwich, 
 he used frequently to see them on the houses and 
 street corners. From another gentleman, a clergy- 
 man, I learn that he has so far made himself 
 acquainted with the meanings of the signs em- 
 ployed, that by himself marking the characters 
 D (Gammy) or Q (Flummuxed) on the gate posts 
 of his parsonage, he enjoys a singular immunity 
 from alms-seekers of all orders. 
 
 * Mr. RawlinsorCs Report to the General Board of Healthy — 
 Parish of Havant, Ham'pshire, 
 
THE 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 unknown to modern anti- 
 quarians, and which have long been stumbling- 
 blocks to the philologist ; so impossible is it at this 
 
OLD ENGLISH SLANG. 45 
 
 day to say what was then authorised, or what then 
 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 arti- 
 ficial life. Even to the classics it was not unknown, 
 as witness the pages of Aristophanes and Plautus, 
 Terence and Athenseus. Martial, the epigramma- 
 tist, is full of Slang. When an uninvited guest 
 accompanied his friend, the Slang of the day styled 
 him his UMBRA; when a man was trussed, neck 
 and heels, it called him jocosely quadrupus. 
 
 Old English Slang was coarser, and depended 
 more upon downright vulgarity than our modern 
 Slang. It was a jesting speech, or humorous indul- 
 gence 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 per- 
 meate every description of conversation as now. 
 It was confined to nick-names and improper sub- 
 jects, and encroached but to a very small extent 
 upon the domain of authorised speech. Indeed, it 
 was exceedingly hmited when compared with the 
 vast territory of Slang in such general favour and 
 complete circulation at the present day. Still, 
 although not an alarming encumbrance, as in our 
 time. Slang certainly did exist in this country cen- 
 turies ago, as we may see if we look down the page 
 of any respectable History of England. Cromwell 
 was famiUarly called OLD NOLL, — ^just the same 
 
 I 
 
46 OLD ENGLISH SLANG. 
 
 as Buonaparte 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 bare bones, or rump Parliament, 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 numerous Slang- 
 words and vulgar similes, in full use at the present 
 moment. Here is a field of inquiry for the Philo- 
 logical Society, indeed I may say a territory, for 
 there are thirty thousand of these partisan tracts. 
 Later still, in the court of Charles the Second, 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 
 I j^nd ears" in debt, and in continual fear of arrest, 
 y****^ termed their enemies, the bailiffs, PHlLiSTiNEst or 
 MOABITES. At a later period, when collars 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 
 
 * This term, with a singular literal downrightness, which 
 would be remarkable in any other people than the French, is 
 translated by them as the sect of Trembleurs. 
 
 t Swift alludes to this term in his Art of Polite Conversation, 
 p. 14. 1738. 
 
SWIFT AND ARBUTHNOT FOND OF SLANG. 47 
 
 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, hurrah'd them, and pronounced Butler 
 one of themselves, — or, as we should say, in a 
 joyful moment, a jolly good fellow. Orator Henley 
 preached and prayed in Slang, and first charmed 
 and then swayed the dirty mobs in Lincoln's Inn 
 Fields by vulgarisms. Burly Grose mentions Hen- 
 ley, with the remark that we owe a great many 
 Slang phrases to him. Swift, and old Sir Roger 
 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 diction- 
 aries. 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 of respect to a brother doctor inserted it in 
 his dictionary, labelling it, however, prominently 
 ^* Cant f whilst Walker and Webster, years after, 
 when to cabbage was to pilfer all over England, 
 
48 THE REAL SIMON PURE. 
 
 placed the term in their dictionaries as an ancient 
 and very respectable word. Another Slang term, 
 GULL, to cheat, or delude, sometimes varied to 
 GULLY, is stated to be connected with the Dean of 
 St. Patrick. Gull, a dupe, or a fool, is often used 
 by our old dramatists, and is generally believed to 
 have given rise to the 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 ! 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, '*Iowe 
 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 pure. 
 Simon Pure is the Quaker name adopted by 
 Colonel Feignwell as a trick to obtain the hand of 
 
 * See Notes and Queries^ vol. i., p. 185. 1850. 
 
TOM BROWN AND NED WARD. 49 
 
 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 discomr 
 fiture of the Colonel, who, to maintain his position 
 and gain time, concocts a letter in which the real 
 Quaker is spoken of as a housebreaker 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 rob- 
 bing 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 ale-house in Long Acre,* 
 were both great producers of Slang in the last cen- 
 tury, and to them w^e owe many popular current 
 phrases and household words. 
 
 Written Slang was checked rather than advanced 
 by the pens of Addison, Johnson, and Goldsmith, 
 although John Bee, the bottle-holder and historio- 
 grapher of the pugilistic band of brothers in the 
 youthful days of flat-nosed Tom Crib, has gravely 
 
 * He afterwards kept a tavern at Wapping, mentioned by- 
 Pope in the Bunciad, 
 
 £ 
 
50 WAS DR. JOHNSON WELL "UP" IN SLANG? 
 
 stated tliat Johnson, when young and rakish, con- 
 .tributed to an early volume of the Gentleman's 
 Magazine a few pages, by way of specimen, of a 
 Slang dictionary, the result, Mr. Bee says, " of his 
 midnight ramblings!"* And Goldsmith, I must 
 not forget to remark, 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, 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 popu- 
 lar Slang up to the commencement of the present 
 century, when it received numerous additions from 
 pugilism, 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 gene- 
 rally 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 
 
 * Sportsman's Dictionary, 1825, p. 15. I have searched the 
 venerable magazine in vain for this Slang glossary. 
 
WHERE DID THE WORD " SLANG " OOME FROM 1 51 
 
 the town by storm/' and, with its then fashionable 
 vulgarisms, made the fortune of the old Adelphi 
 Theatre, and was, without exception, the most 
 wonderful instance of a continuous theatrical RUN 
 in ancient or modern times. This, also, was brim- 
 ful 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 phrase- 
 ology — 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 Ogilvie. 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 un- 
 recognised language. The origin of the word has 
 often been asked for in literary 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.* With a recklessness 
 peculiar to pugilism, Bee stated that Slang was 
 * Introduction to Bee's Sportsman s Dictionary, 1825. 
 
02 CORRECT ETYMOLOGY OF SLANG. 
 
 derived from " tlie slants or fetters worn by pri- 
 soners, 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 dic- 
 tionary of his own, which should be more racy, 
 more pugilistic, and more original. How far he 
 succeeded in this latter particular his ridiculous 
 etymology of Slang will show. Slang is not an 
 English word, it is the Gipsey term for their secret 
 language, and its synonyme is gibberish — another 
 word which was believed to have had no distinct 
 origin.* Grose — stout and burly Captain Grose 
 — who we may characterise as the greatest anti- 
 quary, joker, and drinker of porter of his day, 
 was the first author who put the word Slang into 
 print. It occurs in his Classical Dictionary of the 
 Vulgar Tongue^ of 1785, with the signification that 
 it implies *^Cant or vulgar language." Grose, I 
 
 * The Gipseys use the word Slang as the A nglican synonyme 
 for Romany, the continental (or rather Spanish) term for the 
 Cingari or Gipsey tongue. Orahh, who wrote the Gipsies' Advo- 
 cate in 1831, thus mentions the word : — " This language [Gipsey] 
 ■calledhy themselves Slang, or Gibberish, invented, as they think, 
 by 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." 
 
SLANG USED BY ALL CLASSES, HIGH AND LOW. 53 
 
 may remark in passing, was a great favourite with 
 the poet Burns, and so pleased 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 transformation into an English term of the 
 word Slang, I may remark in passing that it is 
 easily seen how we obtained it from the Gipseys. 
 Hucksters and beggars on tramp, or at fairs and 
 races, associate and frequently join in any rough 
 enterprise with the Gipseys. The word would be 
 continually heard by them, and would in this 
 manner soon become Cant;* 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 re- 
 presentative term for all vulgar or Slang language. 
 
 Any sudden excitement, peculiar circumstance, 
 or popular literary production, is quite sufficient to 
 originate and set going a score of Slang words. 
 Nearly every election or public agitation throws out 
 offshoots of the excitement, or scintillations of the 
 
 * The word Slang assumed various meanings amongst coster- 
 mongers, beggars, and vagabonds of all orders. It was, and is 
 still, used to express cheating by false weights, a raree sho^v, for 
 retiring by a back door, for a watch-chain, and for their secret 
 
M SLANG UNIVERSAL. 
 
 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 unautho- 
 rised 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 West- 
 minster, 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 Words (No. 183) has gone 
 so far as to remark, that a person " shall not read 
 one single parliamentary debate, as reported 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 Protec- 
 tionist to extremest Radical-^-Mr. Barry's New 
 House echoes and re-echoes with Slang." Eeally it 
 seems as if our boasted English tongue was a very 
 paltry and ill-provided contrivance after all ; or can 
 it be that we are the most vulgar of people ? 
 
THE POOR FOKEIGNER'S PERPLEXITY. 55 
 
 The universality of Slang is extraordinary. Let 
 any person for a short time narrowly examine the 
 conversation of their dearest and nearest friends, 
 aye, censor-like, even slice and analyse 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 words that we are ever 
 introducing that is so reprehensible, there is not so 
 much harm in this practice (frequently termed in 
 books "the license of expression") if neologisms 
 are really required, but it is the continually- encum- 
 bering of old words with fresh and strange mean- 
 ings. 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 it is that a French or German 
 gentleman, be he ever so well educated, is con- 
 tinually . blundering and floundering amongst our 
 little words when trying to make himself under- 
 stood in an ordinary conversation. 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 purpose as far as accuracy is concerned. I 
 am aware that most new words are generally re- 
 garded as Slang, although afterwards they may 
 become useful and respectable additions to our 
 standard dictionaries. Jabber and iiOAX were 
 
56 LONG AND WINDY SLANG WORDS. 
 
 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 that etymologists too frequently 
 overlook. Nothing pleases an ignorant person 
 more than a high-sounding term ''full of fury." 
 How melodious and drum-like are those vulgar 
 coruscations rumbumptious, slantingdicular, 
 
 SPLENDIFEROUS, RUMBUSTIOUS, and FERRICA- 
 DOUZER. 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 education at them when they are dis- 
 puting her charges, and threatening to ABSQUA- 
 TULATE ! 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, catawam- 
 
 POUSLY, EXFLUNCTIFY, OBSCUTE, KESLOSH, 
 
 KESOUSE, KESWOLLOP, and KEWHOLLUX ! Vul- 
 gar words representing action and brisk movement 
 
 * North, in his Examen, p. 574, says, " I may note that the 
 rabble first chaoged their title, and were called the mob in the 
 assemblies of this [Green Ribbon] club. It was their beast of 
 burden, and called first mobile vulgus, but fell naturally into the 
 contraction of one syllable, and ever since is become proper 
 Enj^lish." In the same work, p. 231, the disgraceful origin of 
 SHAM is given. 
 
VULGAR CORRUPTIONS. 57 
 
 often owe tKelr origin to sound. Mispronunciation, 
 too, is another great source of vulgar or slang 
 words — RAMSHACKLE, SHACKLY, NARY- ONE for 
 neither, or neither one, ottomy for anatomy, 
 RENCH for rinse, are specimens. The commonalty 
 dislike frequently occurring words difficult of pro- 
 nunciation, and so we have the street abridgments 
 of BIMEBY for by and by, CAZE for because, GIN 
 for given, hankercher for handkerchief, RUMA- 
 Tiz for rheumatism, backy for tobacco, and many 
 others, not perhaps Slang, but certainly all vul- 
 garisms. Archbishop Whately, in his interesting 
 Remains of Bishop Copleston^ has inserted a leaf 
 from the Bishop's note-book on the popular corrup- 
 tion of names, mentioning among others KICK- 
 SHAWS, as from the French, quelques clioses ; 
 BEEFEATER, the lubberly guardian of royalty 
 in a procession, and the supposed devourer of 
 enormous beefsteaks, as but a vulgar pronunciation 
 of the French, hvffetier ; and GEORGE and CAN- 
 NON, 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 unautho- 
 rised words to the great stock of Slang. 
 
 * It is rather singular that this popular journal should have 
 contained a long article on Slang a short time ago. 
 
58 FASHIONABLE SLANG. 
 
 Fashionable, or Upper-class Slang^ is of several 
 varieties. There is the Belgravian, military and 
 naval, parliamentary, dandy , and the reunion and 
 visiting Slang. Concerning the Slang of the 
 fashionable world, a writer in Household Words 
 curiously, but not altogether truthfully, remarks, 
 that it is mostly imported from France; and that 
 an unmeaning gibberish of Gallicisms runs through 
 Enghsh 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 posi- 
 tively repudiate it altogether from their idiomatic 
 vocabulary. If you were to tell a well-bred French- 
 man 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 endea- 
 vour to find a marriage in so unusual a place. If 
 you were to talk to him of the beau monde, he 
 would imagine you meant the world which God 
 made, not half-a-dozen streets and squares between 
 Hyde Park Corner and Chelsea Bun House. The 
 the dansante^ would be completely inexplicable to 
 him. If you were to point out to him the Dow- 
 
 * The writer is quite correct in instaucing this piece of 
 fasbioDable twaddle. The mongrel formation is exceedingly 
 amusing to a polite Parisian. 
 
FASHIONABLE SLANG. 59 
 
 ager Lady GrimgufBn acting as chcqjeron to Lady 
 Amanda Creamville, he would imagine you were 
 referring to the petit Chaperon rouge — to little 
 Red Riding Hood. He might just understand 
 what was meant by vis-a-vis, 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 provin- 
 cialisms, or, at best, but as antiquated and obsolete 
 expressions, picked out of the letters of Made- 
 moiselle Sc]ideri, or the tales of Crebillon th(^ 
 ^'younger." Servants, too, appropriate the seraph 
 of French conversation which fall from their 
 masters' guests at the dinner table, and forthwith iri 
 the world of flunkeydom the word "know" is 
 disused, and the lady's maid, in doubt on a par- 
 ticular point, asks John whether or no he saveys 
 it ?* What, too, can be more abominable than 
 that heartless piece of fashionable newspaper Slang, 
 regularly employed when speaking of the success- 
 ful courtship of young people in the fashionable 
 world : — 
 
 MARRIAGE m HIGH LIFE. -We understand that a mar- 
 riage is ARRANGED (!) betwixt the Lady, &c. &c., and the 
 Honourable, &c. &c. 
 
 Arranged ! Is that cold-blooded Smithfield or 
 
 Mark-lane term for a sale or a purchase the proper 
 
 * Savez vous cela ? 
 
60 PARLIAMENTARY SLANG. 
 
 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. Carey ^ 
 Ponsonby should be Punsunhy^ Eyre should be 
 Aire^ Cholmondeley should be Chumley, St. John 
 Singen^ Majoribanks Marshbanks, Derby Darhy (its 
 ancient pronunciation), and Powell should always 
 be Peel. 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 cele- 
 brated Psyche (as she was termed by Tom Moore), 
 whose original name, through her husband, was 
 Teague, but which was afterwards altered to Tighe. 
 Parliamentary Slang^ excepting a few peculiar 
 terms connected with " the House" (scarcely Slang, 
 I suppose), is mainly composed of fashionable, 
 literary, and learned Slang. When members, how- 
 ever, get excited and wish to be forcible, they are 
 often not very particular which of the street terms 
 they select, providing it carries, as good old Dr. 
 South said, plenty of wild-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 connection with 
 Parliament or members of Parliament. If Lord 
 
PARLIAMENTARY SLANG. 61 
 
 Palmerston is known by name to the tribes of the 
 Caucasus and Asia Minor as a great foreign 
 diplomatist, when 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 elec- 
 tion, — not a SPLIT-TICKET; and electors who have 
 occupied a house, no matter how small, and boiled a 
 pot in it, thus qualifying themselves for voting, are 
 termed POT-WOLLOPERS. A quiet WALK OVER 
 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 Times spoke of " the patriotic 
 member of Parliament potted out in a dusty 
 little lodging somewhere about Bury-street." The 
 term QUOCKERWODGER, although referring to a 
 
G2 MILITARY AND DANDY SLANG. 
 
 wooden toy figure whicli jerks its limbs about 
 when pulled by a string, has been supplemented 
 with a political meaning. A pseudo-politician, 
 one >vhose strings of action are pulled by somebody 
 else, is now often termed a quockerwodger. The 
 term rat, 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, four-wheeler 1 The term is a useful one, 
 but I am afraid 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 lecturing relatives, are pronounced 
 DREADFUL BORES. Four-wheel cabs are called 
 BOUNDERS; and a member of the Four-in-hand 
 
 * From an early period politics and partyism have attracted 
 unto themselves quaint Slang terms. Horace Walpole quotes a 
 party nickname of February, 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 broa.d-bottom; 
 it is the reigning Cant word, and means the taking all parties 
 and people, indifferently, into the ministry." Thus broad- 
 bottom in those days was felang for coalition. 
 
MILITARY AND DANDY SLANG. 63 
 
 Club, driving to Epsom on tlie Derby day, would, 
 ,using fashionable slang 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 condition, it is pronounced at 
 once as not down the road. Your city swell 
 would say it is not UP TO THE MARK; whilst 
 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 swell Slang, any celebrity, from Rob- 
 son of the Olympic, 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 MA- 
 HOGANY;" anything flashy or showy, LOUD; the 
 peculiar make or cut of a coat, its BUILD; full 
 dress, full-fig ; wearing clothes which represent 
 
I 
 
 64 UNIVERSITY SLANG. 
 
 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 every- 
 thing that is unpleasant, ** from bad sherry to a 
 writ from a tailor," JEUCED infernal. The 
 military phrase, *' to send a man to COYENTRY," 
 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 fashion- 
 able 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 con- 
 versation, are old University vulgarisms. Cut, in 
 the sense of dropping an acquaintance, was origin- 
 ally a Cambridge 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 
 remembered the linen, drapers' horrid and habitual 
 use of the word] institutions, I find crib, a house 
 or apartments ; dead-men, empty wine bottles ; 
 DRAWING TEETH,* wrenching oflf knockers ; 
 
 * This is more especially an amusement with medical students, 
 and is comparatively unknown out of London. 
 
UNIVERSITY SLANG. 65 
 
 FIZZING, first-rate, or splendid; GOVERNOE, or 
 IIELIEYING OFFICER, the general term for a male 
 parent; plucked, defeated or turned back ; QUIZ, 
 to scrutinise, or a prying old fellow ; and ROW, a 
 noisy disturbance. The Slang words in use at Ox- 
 ford and Cambridge 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 GYP, — popularly 
 derived by the Cantabs from tlie Greek, GYPS 
 {yv\p), a vulture; scull, the head, or master of a 
 college; battles, the Oxford 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/xr;, a sec- 
 tion. Crib, a literal translation, is now universal; 
 GRIND refers to a walk, or ** constitutional;" 
 HiviTE is a student of St. Begh's (St. Bee's) Col- 
 lege, Cumberland; to JAPAN, in this Slang speech, is 
 to ordain ; mortar-board is a square college cap ; 
 SIM a student of a Methodistical turn, — in allusion 
 to the Rev. Charles Simeon; SLOGGERS, at Cam- 
 bridge, refers to the second division of race boats, 
 known at Oxford as torpids; sport is to show 
 or exhibit ; trotter is the jocose term for a tailor's 
 man who goes round for orders; and tufts are 
 w^ealthy students who dine with the dons, and are 
 distinguished by golden tufts, or tassels, in their 
 
 F 
 
66 RELIGIOUS SLANG. 
 
 caps. There are many terms in use at Oxford not 
 known at Cambridge ; and such Slang names as 
 
 COACH, GULF, HARRY-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 half-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 intrusiorL^ 
 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 throughout the 
 country are the ministers of our Established 
 Church. Yet it cannot be denied but that a great 
 deal of Slang phraseology and disagreeable vul- 
 garism have gradually crept into the very pulpits 
 which should give forth as pure speech as doctrine. 
 
 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 
 
 * Edinburgh Review, October, 1863. 
 
RELIGIOUS SLANG. 67 
 
 appears to confine itself mainly to the exaggerated 
 forms of the High and Low Church— the Tracta- 
 rians and the '' Recordites."* By way of illustra- 
 tion, the Dean cites the evening parties, or social 
 meetings, common amongst the wealthier lay mem- 
 bers of the Recordite (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 approaching restoration 
 of the Jews, the date of the Millennium, the pro- 
 gress of the * Tractarian heresy,' and the anticipated 
 ' perversion ' of High Church neighbours.'* These 
 subjects are canvassed in a dialect differing consider- 
 ably from common English. The words FAITHFUL, 
 TAINTED, ACCEPTABLE, DECIDED, LEGAL, and 
 
 many others, are used in a technical sense. We hear 
 that Mr. A. has been more oavned than Mr. B ; and 
 that Mr. C. has more SEALSf 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 
 
 * A term derived from the Record Neivspajper, the exponent 
 of this singular section of the Low, or so called Evangelical 
 Church. 
 
 + A preacher ia said, in this phraseology, to be owned, when 
 he makes many converts, and his converts are called his seals. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 RELIGIOUS SLANC. 
 
 has also a new and peculiar usage. It is applied to 
 every person, book, or place, not impregnated with 
 Recordite principles. We once were witnesses of a 
 ludicrous misunderstanding resulting from this phra- 
 seology. " What did you mean (said A. to B.) by 
 
 telling me that was such a very daek village ? 
 
 I rode over there to day, and found the street par- 
 ticularly broad and cheerful, and there is not a tree 
 in the place.*' " 27/6^ Gospel is not pleached there^^^ 
 was B.'s laconic reply. The conclusion of one of 
 these singular evening parties is generally marked 
 by an ^'' exjjosition'^^ — 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, re- 
 ceive some explanation. The old-fashioned High 
 Church party, rich and *' stagnant," noted for its 
 "sluggish mediocrity, hatred of zeal, dread of in- 
 novation, abuse of dissent, blundering and languid 
 utterance," is called the high and dey; whilst 
 the corresponding division, known as the Low 
 Church, equally stagnant with the former, but poorer, 
 and more lazily inclined (from absence of education), 
 to dissent, receives the nickname of the LOW AND 
 SLOW. Already have these terms become so familiar 
 that they are shortened, in ordinary conversation, to 
 the DRY and the SLOW. The so-called *' Broad 
 
RELIGIOUS SLANG. 69 
 
 Churcli/' I should remark, is often spoken of as tlie 
 15ROAD AND SHALLOW. 
 
 What can be more objectionable than the irreve- 
 rent 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 beautifully simple 
 old English way, G-o-D, they drawl out into 
 GORDE or GAUDE ; and Lord, instead of speaking 
 in the proper way, they desecrate into loard or 
 LOERD, — lingering on the w, or the r, as the case may 
 be, until an honest hearer feels disgusted, and almost 
 inclined to run the gauntlet of beadles and deacons, 
 and pull the vulgar preacher from his pulpit. I 
 have observed that many young preachers strive hard 
 to acquire this peculiar pronunciation, in imitation 
 of the older ministers. What can more properly, 
 then, be called Slang, or, indeed, the most objec- 
 tionable of Slang, than this studious endeavour to 
 pronounce the most sacred names in a uniformly 
 vulo^ar and unbecomino; manner. If the old- 
 fashioned 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 intermeddle 
 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 vulgat, 
 
70 SLANG AMONGST THE LAWYERS. 
 
 are within liis province in sucli an inquiry as the 
 present. A clergyman, in vulgar language, is 
 spoken of as a choker, a cushion thumper, a 
 
 DOMINE, an EARWIG, a GOSPEL GRINDER, a GRAY 
 COAT PARSON — 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 successor. If a Tractarian, his outer 
 garment is rudely spoken of as a pygostole, or 
 M.B. (mark or the beast) coat. His pro- 
 fession is termed the cloth, and his practice 
 TUB THUMPING. Should he belong to the dissent- 
 ing body, he is probably styled a pantileR, or a 
 PSALM SMiTER, or, perhaps, a swaddler. His 
 chapel, too, is spoken of as a schism shop. A 
 Roman Catholic, I may remark, is coarsely named 
 a brisket beater. 
 
 Particular as lawyers generally are about the 
 meaning of words, they have not prevented an un- 
 authorised phraseology from arising, which we may 
 term Legal Slang. So forcibly did this truth im- 
 press 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 
 
LTTEllARY SLANG. 71 
 
 a half ago, states that VAKDI was the Slang in his 
 time for " verdict." A few of the most common 
 and well-known terms used out of doors, with re- 
 ference to legal matters, are COOK, to hash or 
 make up a balance-sheet; dipped, mortgaged ; dun, 
 to solicit payment; FULLIED, to be '''fully com- 
 mitted for trial;" LAND-SHARK, a sailor's definition 
 of a lawyer ; limb of the law, a milder term for 
 the same ''professional;" MONKEY WITH ALONG 
 tail, a mortgage — phrase used in the w^ ell-known 
 case for libel. Smith v. Jones; MOUTHPIECE, the 
 coster's term for his counsel ; " to go through the 
 EiNa," to take advantage of the Insolvency Act; 
 SMASH, to become bankrupt; snipe, an attorney 
 with a long bill; and WHITEWASHED, said of any 
 debtor who has taken the benefit of the Insolvent 
 Act. Lawyers, from their connection with the 
 police courts, and transactions with persons in every 
 grade of society, have ample opportunities for ac- 
 quiring street Slang, which in cross -questioning and 
 wrangling they frequently avail themselves of. 
 
 It has been said there exists a Literary Slavg^ 
 or " the Slang of Criticism — dramatic, artistic, and 
 scientific. Such words as ' aesthetic,' * transcen- 
 dental,' the * harmonies,' the * unities,' a * myth :' 
 such phrases as ' an exquisite morceau on the big 
 drum,' a * scholarlike rendering of John the 
 Baptist's great toe,' ' keeping harmony,' ' mid- 
 dle distance,' ' aerial perspective/ ' delicate hand- 
 
72 "PUNCH" ON SLANG AND SANSCRIT. 
 
 ling,' ' nervous cliiaroscuro/ 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 bondings of a bountiful language, for the 
 purpose of expressing 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 line of satire. A short time since 
 r4th May, 1859) he gave an original etymology cf 
 the school-boy-ism slog. Slog, said the classical 
 and studious Punch, is derived from the Greek 
 word SLOGO, 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 pervades the conversation of all Eastern 
 nations," remarked the philosophical Punchy " is the fcmndation 
 of Western Slang ; and the increased number of students of the 
 Oriental languages, esjecially since Sanscrit and Arabic have 
 been made subjects for the- Indian Civil Service Examinations, 
 may have conti ibuted to supply the English language with a 
 
 * ** All our newspapers contain more or less colloquial words ; 
 in fact, there seems no other way of expressing certain ideas 
 connected with passing events of every-day life, with the requi- 
 site force and piquancy. In the English newspapers the same 
 thing is observable, and certain of them contain more of the 
 class denominated Slang words than our own." — Bartlett's 
 Americanisms, p. x., 1859. 
 
LITEEARY SLANG. 73 
 
 large portioD of its new dialect. Wbile, however, the siDiiit of 
 allegory comes from the East, there is so great a difference be- 
 tween the brevity of Western expression and the more cum- 
 brous diction of the Oriental, that the origin of a phrase becomes 
 diflBcult to trace. Thus, for instance, whilst the Turkish mer- 
 chant 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 negociator observes more briefly, *all 
 
 SERENE !' " 
 
 But the vulgar term, BRICK, Punch remarks in 
 illustration, 
 
 " must be allowed to be an exception, its Greek derivation 
 being universally admitted, corresponding so exactly as it does in 
 its rectangular form and compactness to the perfection of man- 
 hood, accoiding to the views of Plato and Simonides ; but any 
 deviation from the simple expression, in which locality is indi- 
 cated, — 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 Punchy 
 after speaking of it as belonging to the stock of 
 words pilfered from the Turks, '^ is one whose in- 
 nate force and beauty the slangographer is reluct- 
 antly compelled to admit. It is the only word 
 which seems a proper appellation for a great deal 
 which we are obliged to hear and to read every 
 day of our life." BoSH, nonsense or stupidity, is 
 derived from the Gipsey and the Persian. The 
 universality of Slang, I may here remark, is proved 
 
74 LITERARY SLANG. 
 
 by its continual use in the pages of Punch. Who- 
 ever 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 all the " weeklies," often indulofes in a Slano* 
 w^ord, when force of expression or a little humour 
 is desired, or when the writer wishes to say some- 
 thing which is better said in Slang, or so-called 
 vulgar speech, than in the authorised 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 w^hen we w^ere 
 highly pleased with any article at school, — stun- 
 ning. Bartlett. the compiler of the Dictionary of 
 Americanisms^ continually cites the AthencBum as- 
 using Slang and vulgar expressions ; — but the 
 magazine the American refers to is not the excel- 
 lent 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 Thunderer) frequently employs un- 
 authorised terms; and, following a *' leader"* of the 
 purest and most eloquent English composition, may 
 sometimes be seen another '^ article"* on a totally 
 
 * 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. 
 
THEATRICAL SLANG. 75 
 
 different subject, containing, perhaps, a score or 
 more of exceedingly questionable words. Among 
 tlie words and phrases which may be included under 
 the head of Literary Slang are, — BALAAM, matter 
 kept constantly in type about monstrous produc- 
 tions of nature, to fill up spaces in newspapers ; 
 BALAAM BOX, the term given in Blackwood to the 
 depository 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 Advertiser is known as the TAP-TUB, the 
 TIZER, and the GIN AND GOSPEL GAZETTE. The 
 
 Morning Po^^has obtained the suggestive soubriquet 
 of JEAMES; whilst the Morning Herald has long 
 been caricatured as MPtS. Harris, and the Standard 
 
 as MRS. GAMP.* 
 
 The Stage, of course, has its Slang — " both be- 
 fore and behind the curtain," as a journalist remarks. 
 The stage manager is familiarly termed DADDY; 
 and an actor by profession, or a " professional," is 
 called a PRO. 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 effect, is named a SUP, — an abbre- 
 viation of " supernumerary." A SURF is a third- 
 rate actor who frequently pursues another calling; 
 
 * For some account of the origin of these uickuames see under 
 Mrs. Harris in the Dictionary. 
 
76 SLANG ON THE STAGE. 
 
 and tlie band, or orchestra between the pit and the 
 stage, is generally spoken of as the menagery. A 
 BEN is a benefit; and SAL is the Slang abbrevia- 
 tion of " salary." Should no wages be forthcoming 
 on the Saturday night, it is said that the GHOST 
 doesn't walk. The travelling or provincial thea- 
 tricals, who perform in any large room that can 
 be rented in a country village, are called barn 
 STORMERS. A LENGTH is forty-two lines of any 
 dramatic composition; and a RUN is the good or 
 bad success of a performance. 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 repre^ 
 sent a particular character; to CORPSE, 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 gooser or a screamer, should it be a 
 failure or a great success; — if the latter, it is not 
 infrequently termed a HIT. To STAR IT is to per- 
 form as the centre of attraction, wdth none but 
 subordinates and indifferent actors in the same 
 performance. The expressive term clap-trap, 
 high-sounding nonsense, is nothing but an ancient 
 theatrical term, and 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 
 
CIVIC SLANG. 77 
 
 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; and a half- 
 crown, perhaps from its rotundity, is often termed 
 an ALDERMAN. A BEAR is a Speculator on the 
 Exchange; and a bull, although of another order, 
 follows a like profession. There is something very 
 humorous and applicable in the slang term LAME 
 DUCK, 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 un- 
 sound scheme is spoken of as riSHY; " 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 I^ombard-street a monkey is £500, a 
 PLUM £100,000, and a marygold is one milhon 
 sterling. But before I proceed further in a sketch 
 of the different kinds of Slang, I cannot do better 
 than to spe?ik here of the extraordinary number 
 of Cant and Slang terms in use to represent money, 
 — from farthings to bank notes the value of for- 
 tunes. Her Majesty s coin, collectively or in the 
 jnece^ is insulted by no less than one hundred and 
 thirty distifict Slang words ^ from the humble 
 
SLANG TERMS FOR MONEY. 
 
 EROWN (a halfpenny) to FLIMSIES, or LONG- 
 TAILED ONES (bank notes). 
 
 '' Money," it has been well 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 stiff ov rags^ bank notes), 
 BRADS, brass, BUSTLE, COPPERS (copper money, 
 or mixed pence), chink, chinkers, chips, corks, 
 
 DIBBS, DINARLY, DIMMOCK, DUST, FEATHERS, 
 
 GENT (silver, — from argent)^ HADDOCK (a purse of 
 money), horse nails, loaver, lour (the oldest 
 Cant term for money), mopusses, needful, nob- 
 BINGS (money collected in a hat by street per- 
 formers), OCHRE (gold), PEWTER, PALM OIL, 
 QUEEN'S PICTURES, QUIDS, RAGS (bank notes), 
 
 READY, or READY GILT, REDGE (gold), RHINO, 
 
 ROWDY, SHINERS (sovereigns), SKIN (a purse of 
 money), stiff (paper, or bill of acceptance), stuff, 
 STUMPY, TIN (silver), wedge (silver), and yellow- 
 boys (sovereigns); — just forty-two 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 Amej:icans, call it) : a case is a coun- 
 terfeit five-shilling piece ; half a case represents 
 half that sum ; GRAYS are halfpence made double 
 
SLANG TERMS FOR MONEY. id 
 
 for gambling purposes; QUEER-SOFT is counterfeit 
 or lead coin ; SCHOFEL refers to coated or spurious 
 coin ; SHEEN is bad money of any description ; and 
 SINKERS bears the same and not inappropriate 
 meaning. Flying the kite, or obtaining money 
 on bills and promissory notes, is a curious allusion 
 to children tossing about a paper kite ; and RAISING 
 THE WIND is a well-known phrase for procuring 
 money by immediate sale, pledging, or a forced 
 loan. In winter or in summer any elderly gentle- 
 man who may have prospered in life 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 fiddler, then gig, and lastly 
 quartereen. a halfpenny is a brown or a 
 MADZA saltee (Cant), or a mag, or a posh, or a 
 RAP, — wdience the popular phrase, " I don't care a 
 rap,''^ The useful and universal penny has for Slang 
 equivalents a copper, a saltee (Cant), and a 
 WINN. Two-pence is a deuce, and three-fence is 
 either a thrums or a thrups. Four -pence, or a 
 groat, may in vulgar speech be termed a bit, a 
 FLAG, or a JOEY. Six-pence is well represented 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 
 
80 OLD SLANG TERMS FOR MONEY. 
 
 HOG, KICK (thus "two and a kick," or 2s. 6cl.), 
 LORD OF THE MANOR, PIG, POT (the price of a 
 pot of beer), snid, sprat, sow's baby, tanner, 
 TESTER, Tizzr, — sixteen vulgar words to one coin. 
 Seven-pence being an uncommon amount has only 
 one Slang synonyme, setter. The same remark 
 applies to eight-pence and nine-pence, the former 
 being only represented by otter, and the latter 
 by the Cant phrase, NOBBA-saltee. Ten-pence is 
 DACHA-SALTEE, and eleveu-pence DACHA-ONE, — 
 both Cant expressions. One shilling boasts ten 
 Slang equivalents ; thus we have beong, bob, 
 BREAKY-LEG, DEANER, GEN (either from argent, 
 silver, or the back slang), hog, peg, stag, teviss, 
 and TVYELYER. Half-a-crown is known as an 
 
 ALDERMAN, HALF A BULL, HALF A TUSHEROON, 
 
 and a madza CAROON; whilst a crown piece, or 
 Jive shillings, may be called either a bull, or a 
 CAROON, or a cartwheel, or a coachwheel, 
 or a THICK-UN, or a tusheroon. The next ad- 
 vance 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, 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 
 
CLASSICAL ORIGIN OF SLANG TERMS FOR MONEY. 81 
 
 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, 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 tes- 
 tes, a sixpence (formerly a shilling), was the 
 correct name in the days of Henry the Eighth. 
 The reader, too, will have remarked the fre- 
 quency 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 somewhat classical origin, which may, 
 indeed, be traced to the period antecedent to that 
 when monarchs monopolised 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 show 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 
 
 G 
 
82 SHOPKEEPERS' SLANG. 
 
 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 hale 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. There 
 are many other Cant words directly from a classic 
 source, as will be seen in the Dictionary. 
 
 Shopkeepers' Slang is, perhaps, the most offensive 
 of all Slang. It is not a casual eyesore, as news- 
 paper Slang, neither is it an occasional discomfort 
 to the ear, as in the case of some vulgar byeword 
 of the street; but it is a perpetual nuisance, and 
 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 
 doors, and down your area. Slang hand -bills are 
 dropped by some PUSHING tradesman, and for the 
 thousandth time you are called upon to learn that 
 an ALAKMING SACRIFICE is taking place in the 
 next street, that prices are DOWN again, that in 
 consequence of some other tradesman not driving 
 a roaring trade, being in fact sold up, and for 
 the time being a resident in burdon's hotel 
 * See Dictionary. 
 
SLANG IN THE WORKSHOP. 83 
 
 (Whitecross-street Prison), tlie pushing tradesman 
 wishes to sell out at awfully low prices, " to 
 the kind patrons, and numerous customers," &c. &c., 
 "that have on every occasion," &c. &c. In this 
 Slang any occupation or calling is termed a LINE, — 
 thus the ''Building-LINE." 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 of a man; and by the 
 young collegian, 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. Perquisites with 
 him are spiffs, and remnants of cloth, peaking. 
 The percentage 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 ; 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. 
 
 Operatives' or Workmen^ s Slang , in quality, is but 
 slightly removed from tradesmen's Slang. When 
 belonging to the same shop or factory, they graft 
 
 g2 
 
84 SLANG m THE WORKSHOP. 
 
 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 up 
 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 
 perquisites; ELBOW-GREASE signifies labour; and 
 saint MONDAY IS the favourite day of the week. 
 Names of animals figure plentifully in the work- 
 man'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 workshop, thus— brads, 
 from the ironmonger; chips, from the carpenter; 
 DUST, from the goldsmith; feathers, from the 
 upholsterer; HORSE nails, from the farrier ; HAD- 
 DOCK, from the fishmonger ; and tanner, from the 
 leather-dresser. The subject is curious. Allow me 
 to call the attention of numismatists to it. 
 
SLANG APOLOGIES FOR OATHS. 85 
 
 There yet remain several distinct divisions of 
 Slang to be examined ; — the Slang of the stable, or 
 jockey Slang ; the Slang of the pri^e ring ; the Slang 
 of servitude, or flunk eydom ; vulgar, or street Slang; 
 the Slang of softened oaths; and the 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 crown- 
 ing 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 exclamation 
 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," &c. 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, dayy 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 
 
86 SLANG SWEARING. 
 
 used in OD drat it, or od's blood, is but an 
 apology for the name of the Deity. The Irish 
 phrase, bad SCKAN to yer! is equivalent to wish- 
 ing 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 slyly 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 observe how well represented are the 
 familiar w^ants and failings of life. First, there's 
 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, intoxication^ 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 beery, bemused^ 
 
 BOOZY, BOSKY, BUFEY, CORNED, FOGGY, FOU; 
 FRESH, HAZY, ELEVATED, KISKY, LUSHY, 
 MOONY, MUGGY, MUZZY, ON, SCREWED, STEWED, 
 
 TIGHT, and wiNEY. A higher or more intense 
 state of beastliness is represented by the expres- 
 sions, PODGY, BEARGERED, BLUED, CUT, PRIMED, 
 
SLANG TERMS FOR DRUNKENNESS. 87 
 
 LUMPY, PLOUGHED, MUDDLED, OBFUSCATED, 
 SWIPEY, THREE SHEETS IN THE WIND, and TOP- 
 HEAVY. But the climax of fuddlement is only 
 obtained when the disguised individual can't 
 SEE A HOLE IN A LADDER, or when he is all 
 MOPS AND BROOMS, or OFF HIS NUT, Or with his 
 MAIN-BRACE WELL SPLICED, Or with the SUN IN 
 
 HIS EYES, or wlien he has lapped the gutter, 
 and got the gravel rash, or on the ran-tan, or 
 on the RE-RAW, or when he is sewed up, or 
 regularly scammered, — then, and not till then, 
 is he entitled in vulgar society to the title of 
 LUSHINGTON, or recommended to put in the 
 PIN. 
 
DICTIONARY OF MODEEN 
 SLANG, CANT, & VULGAE WOEDS; 
 
 MANY WITH THEIR ETYMOLOGIES TRACED. 
 
 A 1, first rate, the very best ; " she's a prime girl she is ; she is 
 A 1." — Sam SUcTc. The highest classification of ships at 
 Lloyd's ; common term in the United States, also at Liver- 
 pool and other English seaports. Another, even more 
 intensitive form, is "first-class, letter A, No. 1." 
 
 ABOUT RIGHT, " to do the thing about right," i.e., to do it 
 properly, soundly, correctly ; " he guv it *im about right," 
 i.e.) he beat him severely. 
 
 ABRAM-SHAM, or sham-abraham, to feign sickness or distress. 
 From ABRAM MAN, the ancient cant term for a begging 
 impostor, or one who pretended to have been mad. — Bur- 
 ton's Anatomy of Melancholy, part i., sec. 2, vol. i., p. 360. 
 When Abraham Newiand was Cashier of the Bank of Eng- 
 land, and signed their notes, it was sung : — 
 
 "I have heard people say 
 That SHAM ABRAHAM you may, 
 But you mustn't sham Abraham Newland." 
 
 ABSQUATULATE, to run away, or abscond ; a hybrid American 
 expression, from the Latin ah, and "squat," to settle. 
 
 ADAM'S ALE, water. — English. The Scotch term is adam's wine. 
 
 AGGERAWATORS (corruption of Aggra.vators), the greasy 
 locks of hair in vogue among costermongers and other 
 street folk, worn twisted from the temple back towards 
 
90 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 the ear. They are also, from a supposed resemblance in 
 form, termed newgate knockers, which see. — Sola's Gas- 
 light, &c. 
 
 ALDERMAN, a half crown — possibly from its rotundity. 
 ALDERMAN, a turkey. 
 
 ALDERMAN IN CHAINS, a turkey hung with sausages. 
 ALL OF A HUGH ! all on one side, or with a thump ; the 
 word HUGH being pronounced with a grunt. — Suffolk. 
 
 ALL MY EYE, answer of astonishment to an improbable story; 
 ALL MY EYE AND BETTY MARTIN, a vulgar phrase with similar 
 meanincf, said to be the commencement of a Popish prayer 
 to St. Martin, " Oh mihi, beate Martine," and fallen into 
 discredit at the Reformation. 
 
 ALL-OVERISH, neither sick nor well, the premonitory symp- 
 toms of illness. 
 
 ALL-ROUNDERS, the fashionable shirt collars of the present 
 time worn meeting in front. 
 
 ALL-SERENE, an ejaculation of acquiescence. 
 
 ALLS, tap-droppings, refuse spirits sold at a cheap rate in gin- 
 palaces. — See LOVEAGE. 
 
 ALL-THERE, in strict fashion, first-rate, "up to the mark;" a 
 vulgar person would speak of a spruce, showily-dressed 
 female as being ALL- there. An artizan would use the 
 same phrase to express the capabilities of a skilful fellow 
 workman. 
 
 ALL TO PIECES, utterly, excessively; "he beat him all to 
 pieces," i.e., excelled or surpassed him exceedingly. 
 
 ALL TO SMASH, or gone to pieces, bankrupt, or smashed to 
 pieces. — Somersetshire. 
 
 ALMIGHTY DOLLAR, an American expression for the " power 
 of money," first introduced by Washington Irving in 1837- 
 
 AN'T, or AIN'T, the vulgar abbreviation of " am not/' or " are 
 not." 
 
 ANOINTING, a good beating. 
 
 ANY HOW, in any way, or at any rate, bad ; *' he went on any 
 
 HOW," i.e., badly or indifferently. 
 APPLE CART, " down with his apple cart," i.e., upset him. — 
 
 North. 
 APPLE PIE ORDER, in exact or very nice order. 
 AREA-SNEAK, a boy thief who commits depredations upon 
 
 kitchens and cellars. — See crow. 
 
MODEBN SLANG AND CANT WOKDS. 91 
 
 AIIGOT, a term used amongst London thieves for their secret 
 or cant language. French term for slang. 
 
 ARTICLE, a man or boy, derisive term. 
 
 ARY, corruption of ever a, e'er a; art one, e'er a one. 
 
 ATTACK, to carve, or commence operations on ; " attack that 
 beef, and oblige !" 
 
 ATTIC, the head ; " queer in the attic," intoxicated.— Pt^^z'Zts^tc. 
 
 AUNT-SALLY, a favourite game on race-courses and at fairs, 
 consisting of a wooden head mounted on a stick, firmly 
 fixed in the ground ; in the nose of which, or rather in that 
 part of the facial arrangement of aunt sally which is 
 generally considered incomplete without a nasal projection, a 
 tobacco pipe is inserted. The fun consists in standing at a 
 distance and demolishing aunt sally's pipe-clay projection 
 with short bludgeons, very similar to the half of a broom- 
 handle. The Duke of Beaufort is a " crack hand" at smash- 
 ing pipe noses, and his performances two years ago on 
 Brighton race-course are yet fresh in remembrance. The 
 noble Duke, in the summer months, frequently drives the 
 old London and Brighton four-horse mail coach, "Age" — a 
 whim singular enough now, but common forty years ago." 
 
 AUTUMN, a slang term for an execution by hanging. When 
 the drop was introduced instead of the old gallows, cart, and 
 ladder, and a man was for the first time "turned-off" in 
 the present fashion, the mob were so pleased with the 
 invention that they spoke of the operation as at autumn, 
 or the FALL OF THE LEAF {sc. the drop), with the man 
 about to be hung. 
 
 AVAST, a sailor's phrase for stop, shut up, go away, — appa- 
 rently connected with the old cant, bynge a waste. 
 
 AWAKE, or fly, knowing, thoroughly imderstanding, not 
 ignorant of. The phrase wide awake carries the same 
 meaning in ordinary conversation. 
 
 AWFUL (or, with the Cockneys, orful), a senseless expletive, 
 used to intensify a description of anything good or bad ; 
 **what an awtul fine woman!" i.e., how handsome, or 
 showy ! 
 
 AXE, to ask. — Saxon, acsian. 
 
 BABES, the lowest order of knock-outs (which see), who are 
 prevailed upon not to give opposing biddings at auctions, in 
 consideration of their receiving a small sum (from one 
 shilling to half-a-crown), and a certain quantity of beer. 
 Babes exist in Baltimore, U.S., where they are known as 
 blackguards and '* rowdies." 
 
92 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 BACK JUMP, a back window. 
 
 BACK SLANG IT, to go out the back way. 
 
 BACK OUT, to retreat from a difficulty ; the reverse of go 
 AHEAD. Metaphor borrowed from the stables. 
 
 BACON, " to save one's bacon," to escape. 
 
 BAD, " to go to the bad," to deteriorate in character, be ruined. 
 Virgil has an exactly similar phrase^ in pejus mere. 
 
 BAGMAN, a commercial traveller. 
 
 BAGS, trowsers. Trowsers of an extensive pattern, or exag- 
 gerated fashionable cut, have lately been termed howling- 
 bags, but only when the style has been very " loiid." The 
 word is probably an abbreviation for b-mbags. " To have 
 the BAGS off," to be of age and one's own master, to have 
 plenty of money. 
 
 BAKE, " he's only half baked," i.e., soft, inexperienced. 
 
 BAKER'S DOZEN. This consists of thirteen or fourteen ; the 
 surplus number, called the inbread, being thrown in for 
 fear of incurring the penalty for short weight. To " give a 
 man a baker's dozen," in a slang sense, means to give him 
 an extra good beating or pummelling. 
 
 BALAAM, printers* slang for matter kept in type about mon- 
 strous productions of nature, &c., to fill up spaces in news- 
 papers that would otherwise be vacant. The term balaam- 
 box has long been used in Blackwood as the name of the 
 depository for rejected articles. 
 
 BALL, prison allowance, viz., six ounces of meat. 
 
 BALLYRAG, to scold vehemently, to swindle one out of his 
 money by intimidation and sheer abuse, as alleged in a late 
 cab case {Evans v. Robinson). 
 
 BALMY, insane. 
 
 BAMBOOZLE, to deceive, make fun of, or cheat a person; 
 abbreviated to bam, which is used also as a substantive, 
 a deception, a sham, a " sell." Swift says bamboozle was 
 invented by a nobleman in the reign of Charles II.; but 
 this I conceive to be an error. The probability is that a 
 nobleman first used it in polite society. The term is de- 
 rived from the Gipseys. 
 
 BANDED, hungry. 
 
 BANDY, or cripple, a sixpence, so called from this coin being 
 generally bent or crooked; old term for flimsy or bad 
 cloth, temp. Q. Elizabeth. 
 
 BANG, to excel or surpass; banging, great or thumping. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 93 
 
 BANG-UP, first-rate. 
 
 BANTLING, a child ; sfated in Bacchus and Venus, 1737, and 
 
 by Grose, to be a cant term. 
 BANYAN-DAY, a day on which no meat is served out for 
 
 rations; probably derived from the banians, a Hindoo 
 
 caste, who abstain from animal food, — Sea. 
 BAR, or BARRING, excepting ; in common use in the betting- 
 ring; " I bet against the field bar two." The Irish use of 
 
 barrin' is very similar. 
 BARKER, a man employed to cry at the doors of ** gaffs," shows, 
 
 and puffing shops, to entice people inside. 
 BARKING IRONS, pistols. 
 
 BARNACLES, a pair of spectacles ; corruption of binoculi ? 
 BARNEY, a lark, spree, rough enjoyment ; " get up a barney," 
 
 to have a " lark." * 
 BARNEY, a mob, a crowd. 
 BARN-STORMERS, theatrical performers who travel the 
 
 country and act in barns, selecting short and frantic pieces 
 
 to suit the rustic taste. — Theatrical. 
 BARRIKIN, jargon, speech, or discourse; "we can't tumble to 
 
 that BARRIKIN," i.e., we don't understand what he says. 
 
 Miege calls it " a sort of stuff." 
 
 BASH, to beat, thrash; "bashing a donna," beating a woman; 
 originally a provincial word, and chiefly applied to the 
 practice of beating walnut trees, when in bud, with long 
 poles, to increase their productiveness. Hence the West 
 country proverb — 
 
 "A woman, a whelp, and a walnut tree, 
 The more you bash 'em, the better they be.'* 
 
 BAT, " on his own bat," on his own account. — See hook. 
 
 BATS, a pair of had boots. 
 
 BATTER, " on the batter," literally " on the streets," or given 
 up to roistering and debauchery. 
 
 BATTLES, the students' term at Oxford for rations. At Cam- 
 bridge, COMMONS. 
 
 BAWDYKEN, a brothel.— See ken. 
 
 BAZAAR, a shop or counter. Gipsey and Hindoo, a market. 
 
 BEAK, a magistrate, judge, or policeman ; " baffling the beak," 
 to get remanded. Ancient cant, beck. Saxon, beag, a 
 necklace or gold collar — emblem of authority. Sir John 
 Fielding was called the blind-beak in the last century 
 
94 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 Query, if counecfced with the Italian BECCO, which means a 
 (bird's) beak, and also a blockhead. 
 
 BEAKER-HUIS TER, a stealer of poultry. 
 
 BEANS, money ; " a haddock of beans," a purse of money ; 
 formerly BEAN meant a guinea; French, biens, property; 
 also used as a synonyme for brick, which see. 
 
 BEAR, one who contracts to deliver or sell a certain quantity of 
 stock in the public funds on a forthcoming day at a stated 
 place, but who does not possess it, trusting to a decline in 
 public securities to enable him to fulfil the agreement and 
 realise a profit. — /S'ee bull. Both words are slang terms on 
 the Stock Exchange, and are frequently used in the business 
 columns of newspapers. 
 
 "He who sells that of which he is not possessed is proverbially 
 said to sell the skin before lie has caught the beae. It was the 
 practice of stock-jobbers, in the year 1720, to enter into a contract 
 for transferring South Sea Stock at a future time for a certain 
 price ; but he who contracted to sell had frequently no stock to 
 transfer, nor did he who bought intend to receive any in consequence 
 of his bargain; the seller was, therefore, called a beak, in allusion 
 to the proverb, and the buyer a buljc, perhaps only as a similar 
 distinction. The contract was merely a wager, to be determined by 
 the rise or fall of stock ; if it rose, the seller paid the difference to 
 the buyer, proportioned to the sum determined by the same com- 
 putation to the seller." — Dr. Warton on Pope. 
 
 BEARGERED, to be drunk. 
 
 BEAT, or beat-hollow, to surpass or excel. 
 
 BEAT, the allotted range traversed by a policeman on duty. 
 
 BEAT-OUT, dead-beat, tired or fagged. 
 
 BEATER-CASES, boots : Nearly obsolete. 
 
 BEAVER, old street term for a hat; GOSS is the modern w^ord^ 
 BEAVER, except in the country, having fallen into disuse. 
 
 BE-BLOWED, a windy exclamation equivalent to an oath. — See 
 blow-me. 
 
 BED-POST, "in the twinkling of a bed-post," in a moment, or 
 very quickly. Originally bed-staff, a stick placed ver- 
 tically in the frame of a bed to keep the bedding in its 
 place. — ShadweU's Virtuoso, 1676, act i., scene 1. This was 
 used sometimes as a defensive weapon. 
 
 BEE, *'to have a bee in one's bonnet," i.e., to be not exactly 
 sane. 
 
 BEERY, intoxicated, or fuddled with beer. 
 
 BEESWAX, poor soft cheese. 
 
 BEETLE-CRUSHERS, or squashers, large flat feet. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 95 
 
 BELCHER, a kind of bandkerchief.— -See billy. 
 
 BELL, a song. 
 
 BELLOWS, the lungs. 
 
 BELLOWSED, or lagged, transported. 
 
 BELLOWS-TO-MEND, out of breath. 
 
 BELLY-TIMBER, food, or "grub." 
 
 BELLY- VENGEANCE, small sour beer, apt to cause gastralgia. 
 
 BEMUSE, to fuddle one's self with drink, *' bemusing himself 
 
 with beer," &c. — Sala's Gas -light and Day -light, p. 308. 
 BEN, a benefit. — Theatrical. 
 BEND, "that's above my bend," ^.e., beyond my power, too 
 
 expensive, or too difiicult for me to perform. 
 BENDER, a sixpence, — from its liability to bend. 
 BENDER, the arm ; " over the bender," synonymous with 
 
 "over the left." — /See over. Also an ironical exclamation 
 
 similar to walker. 
 BENE, good. — Ancient cant; benar was the comparative. — See 
 
 bone. Latin. 
 BENJAMIN, a coat. Formerly termed a Joseph, in allusion, 
 
 perhaps, to Joseph's coat of many colours. — See upper- 
 benjamin. 
 BENJY, a waistcoat. 
 BEONG, a shilling. — See saltee. 
 BESTER, a low betting cheat. 
 
 BESTING, excelling, cheating. Bested, taken in, or defrauded. 
 BETTER, more ; "how far is it to town?" "oh, better 'n a 
 
 mile. — Saxon and Old English, now a vulgarism. 
 BETTY, a skeleton key, or picklock. — Old c^nt. 
 B. FLATS, bugs. 
 BIBLE CARRIER, a person who sells songs without singing 
 
 them. 
 BIG, " to look big," to assume an inflated dress, or manner ; " to 
 
 talk big," i e., boastingly, or with an " extensive" air. 
 BIG-HOUSE, the work-house. 
 
 BILBO, a sword; abbrev. of bilboa blade. Spanish swords 
 were anciently very celebrated, especially those of Toledo, 
 
 Bilboa, &c. 
 BILK, a cheat, or a swindler. Formerly in frequent use, now 
 confined to the streets, where it is very general. Gothic, 
 bilaican. 
 
96 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 BILK, to defraud, or obtain goods, &c. without paying for 
 them; "to bilk the schoolmaster," to get information or 
 experience without paying for it. 
 
 BILLINGSGATE (when applied to speech), foul and coarse 
 language. Not many years since, one of the London noto- 
 rieties was to hear the fishwomen at Billingsgate abuse each 
 other. The anecdote of Dr. Johnson and the Billingsgate 
 virago is well known. 
 
 BILLY, a silk pocket handkerchief. — Scotch. — See wipe. 
 
 ♦^* A list of the slang terms descriptive of the various 
 patterns of handkerchiefs, pocket and neck, is here sub- 
 joined: — 
 
 Belcher, close striped pattern, yellow silk, and inter- 
 mixed with white and a little black ; named from 
 the pugilist, Jim Belcher. 
 Bird's eye wipe, diamond spots. 
 Blood- RED fancy, red. 
 Blue billy, blue ground with white spots. 
 Cream fancy, any pattern on a white ground. 
 Green king's man, any pattern on a green ground. 
 Randal's man, green, with white spots; named after 
 
 Jack Randal, pugilist. 
 Water's man, sky coloured. 
 Yellow fancy, yellow, with white spots. 
 Yellow man, all yellow. 
 BILLY-BARLOW, a street clown ; sometimes termed a jim 
 CROW, or SALTiMBANCO,— so called from the hero of a slang 
 song. — Bulwer's Paul Clifford. 
 BILLY-HUNTING, buying old metal. 
 BIRD-CAGE, a four-wheeled cab. 
 
 BIT, fourpence ; in America 12| cents is called a bit, and a 
 defaced 20 cent piece is termed a long bit. A bit is the 
 smallest coin in Jamaica, equal to 6d. 
 BIT, a purse, or any sum of money. 
 BIT-FAKER, or turner out, a coiner of bad money. 
 BITCH, tea; "a bitch party," a tea-drinking. — University. 
 BITE, a cheat ; " a Yorkshire bite," a cheating fellow from that 
 county. — North ; also old slang, used by Pope. Swift says 
 it originated with a nobleman in his day. 
 BITE, to cheat ; " to be bitten," to be taken in or imposed 
 
 upon. Originally a Gipsey term. — See Bacchus and Venus. 
 BIVVY, or gatter, beer ; '^ shant of bivvy," a pot, or quart of 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 97 
 
 beer. In Suffolk, the afternoon refreshment of reapers is 
 called BEVER. It is also an old English term. 
 •* He is none of those same ordinary eaters, that will devour three break- 
 fasts, and as many dinners, without any prejudice to their bevees, 
 drinkings, or suppers."— i?eawmowi and Fletcher's Woman HoXer 
 1—3. 
 
 Both words are probably from the Italian, hevere, here. Latin, 
 hibere. English, beverage. 
 BLACK AND WHITE, handwriting. 
 
 BLACKBERRY-SWAGGEK, a person who hawks tapes, boot 
 laces, &c. 
 
 BLACK-LEG, a rascal, swindler, or card cheat. 
 
 BLACK-SHEEP, a "bad lot," ^^ mauvais sujet ;" also a 
 
 workman who refuses to join in a strike. 
 BLACK-STRAP, port wine. 
 BLADE, a man — in ancient times the term for a soldier; 
 
 "knowing blade," a wide awake, sharp, or cunning man. 
 
 BLACKGUARD, a low, or dirty fellow. 
 
 "A cant word amongst the vulgar, by which is implied a dirty fellow 
 of the meanest kind. Dr. Johnson says, and he cites only the 
 modern authority of Swift. But the introduction of this word into 
 our language belongs not to the vulgar, and is more than a cen- 
 tury prior, to the time of Swift. Mr. Malone agrees with me in 
 exhibiting the two first of the following examples. The black-guard 
 is evidently designed to imply a fit attendant on the devil. Mr. 
 Gifford, however, in hi? late edition of Ben Jonson's works, as- 
 signs an origin of the name different from what the old examples 
 which I have cited seem to countenance. It has been formed, 
 he says, from those 'mean and dirty dependants, in great houses, 
 who were selected to carry coals to the kitchen, halls, &c. To this 
 smutty regiment, who attended the progresses, and rode in the 
 carts with the pots and kettles, which, with every other article of 
 furniture, were then moved fiom palace to palace, the people, iu 
 derision, gave the name of black guards; a term since become 
 sufficiently familiar, and never properly explained.' — Ben Jonson, 
 ii. 169, vii. 250." — Todd's Johnson's Dictionary. 
 
 BLARNEY, flattery, exaggeration. — Hibernicism. 
 
 BLAST, to curse. 
 
 BLAZES, *' like blazes," furious or desperate, a low comparison. 
 
 BLEST, a vow ; " blest if I'll do it," i.e., I am determined not 
 
 to do it ; euphemism for curst. 
 BLEED, to victimise, or extract money from a person, to spunge 
 
 on, to make suffer vindictively. 
 BLEW, or BLOW, to inform, or peach. 
 BLEWED, got rid of, disposed of, spent; "I blewed all my 
 
 blunt last night," I spent all my money. 
 
 H 
 
98 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 BLIND, a pretence, or make believe. 
 
 BLIND-HOOKEY, a gambling game at cards. 
 
 BLINKER, a blackened eye.— Norwich slang. 
 
 BLINK FENCER, a person who sells spectacles. 
 
 BLOAK, or bloke, a man ; ''the bloak with a jasey," the man 
 with a wig, i.e., the Judge. Gipsey and Hindoo, loke. 
 North, BLOACHER, any large animal. 
 
 BLOB (from blab), to talk. Beggars are of two kinds, — those 
 who SCREEVE (introduce themselves with a fakement, or 
 false document), and those who blob, or state their case in 
 their ov\n truly " unvarnished " language. 
 
 BLOCK, the head. 
 
 BLOCK ORNAMENTS, the small dark coloured pieces of meat 
 exposed on the cheap butchers' blocks or counters, — debate- 
 able points to all the sharp visaged argumentative old 
 women in low neighbourhoods. 
 
 BLOOD, a fast or high-mettled man. Nearly obsolete in the 
 sense in which it was used in George the Fourth's time. 
 
 BLOOD RED FANCY, a kind of handkerchief worn by pugilists 
 and frequenters of prize fights. — See billy. 
 
 BLOODY -JEMMY, a sheep's head. — See sanguinary james. 
 
 BLOW, to expose, or inform ; " blow the gaff," to inform 
 against a person. In America, to blow is slang for to taunt. 
 
 BLOW A CLOUD, to smoke a cigar or pipe — a phrase in use 
 two centuries ago. 
 
 BLOW ME, or blow me tight, a vow, a ridiculous and unmean- 
 ing ejaculation, inferring an appeal to the ejaculator; "I'm 
 BLOWED if you will " is a common expression among the 
 lower orders; "blow MB up" was the term a century ago. 
 — See Parlcers Adventures, 1781. 
 
 BLOW OUT, or tuck in, a feast. 
 
 BLOW UP, to make a noise, or scold ; formerly a cant expres- 
 sion used amongst thieves, now a recognised and respectable 
 phrase. Blowing up, a jobation, a scolding. 
 
 BLOWEN, a showy or flaunting prostitute, a thief's paramour. 
 In Wilts, a BLOWEN is a blossom. Gernfi. bluhen, to bloom. 
 
 " du biilhende Madchen viel schone Willkomm !" — German Song. 
 Possibly, however, the street term blowen may mean one 
 whose reputation has been blown upon, or damaged. 
 
 BLOWER, a girl ; a contemptuous name in opposition to jomeb. 
 
 BLUBBER, to cry in a childish manner. — Ancient. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 99 
 
 BLUDGERS, low thieves, who use violence. 
 
 BLUE, a policeman; "disguised in blue and liquor." — Boots at 
 the r 
 
 BLUE, or BLEW, to pawn or pledge. 
 
 BLUE, confounded or surprised ; '' to look blue," to be aston- 
 ished or disappointed. 
 
 BLUE BILLY, the handkerchief (blue ground with white spots) 
 worn and used at prize fights. Before a set to, it is common 
 to take it from the neck and tie it round the leg as a garter, 
 or round the waist, to " keep in the wind." Also^ the refuse 
 ammoniacal lime from gas factories. 
 
 BLUE BLANKET, a rough over coat made of coarse pilot cloth. 
 
 BLUE-BOTTLE, a policeman. It is singular that this well 
 known slang term for a London constable should have been 
 used by Shakespere. In part ii. of King Henry IV., act v., 
 scene 4, Doll Tearsheet calls the beadle, who is dragging 
 her in, a " thin man in a censer, a blue-bottle rogue." 
 
 BLUED, or blewed, tipsey or drunk. 
 
 BLUE DEVILS, the apparitions supposed to be seen by habitual 
 
 drunkards. 
 BLUE MOON, an unlimited period. 
 BLUE MURDER, a desperate or alarming cry. French, mort- 
 
 bleu. 
 BLUE RUIN, gin. 
 BLUE -PIGEON FLYERS, journeymen plumbers, glaziers, and 
 
 others, who, under the plea of repairing houses, strip off the 
 
 lead, and make way with it. Sometimes they get off with 
 
 it by wrapping it round their bodies. 
 BLUES, a fit of despondency.— aScc blue DEVtLS. 
 BLUEY, lead. German, blei. 
 BLUFF, an excuse. 
 
 BLUFF, to turn aside, stop, or excuse. 
 BLUNT, money. It has been said that this term is from the 
 
 French blond, sandy or golden colour, and that a parallel 
 
 may be found in brown or browns, the slaug for half-pence. 
 
 The etymology seems far fetched, however. 
 BLURT OUT, to speak from impulse, and without reflection. — 
 
 Shakespere. 
 BOB, a shilling. Formerly bobstick, which may have been the 
 
 original. 
 
 H 2 
 
100 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 BOB, " s'help my bob," a street oath, equivalent to "so help me 
 God." Other words are used in street language for a simi- 
 larly evasive purpose, i.e., cat, greens, tatur, &c., all 
 equally profane and disgusting. 
 
 BOBBISH, very well, clever, spruce; *' how are you doing?" 
 " oh ! pretty bobbish." — Old. 
 
 BOBBY, a policeman. Both bobby and peeler were nick- 
 names given to the new police, in allusion to the christian 
 and surnames of the late Sir Eobert Peel, who was the prime 
 mover in effecting their introduction and improvement. 
 The term bobby is, however, older than the Saturday 
 Reviewer, in his childish and petulant remarks, imagines. 
 The official square-keeper, who is always armed with a cane 
 to drive away idle and disorderly urchins, has, time out of 
 mind, been called by the said urchins, bobby the Beadle. 
 Bobby is also, I may remark, an old English word for strik- 
 ing or hitting, a quality not unknown to policemen. — See 
 HallivjelVs Dictionary. 
 
 BODMINTOif, hloodi.— Pugilistic. 
 
 BODY-SNATCHERS, bailiffs and runners : snatch, the trick 
 by which the bailiff captures the delinquent. 
 
 BODY-SNATCHERS, cat stealers. 
 
 BOG or BOG-HOUSE, a water-closet. — School term. In the luna 
 of Court, I am informed, this term is very common. 
 
 BOG-TROTTER, satirical name for an Irishman. — Miege. Cam- 
 den, however, speakiug of the ''debateable laud" on the 
 borders of England and Scotland, says "both these dales 
 breed notable bog-trotters." 
 
 BOILERS, the slang name given to the New Kensington Museum 
 and School of Art, in allusion to the peculiar form of the 
 buildings, and the fact of their being mainly composed of, 
 and covered with, sheet iron. — See pepper-boxes. 
 
 BOLT, to run away, decamp, or abscond. 
 
 BOLT, to swallow without chewing. 
 
 BONE, good, excellent. 0, the vagabond's hieroglyphic for 
 bone, or good, chalked by them on houses and street 
 corners, as a hint to succeeding beggars. French, bon. 
 
 BONE, to steal or pilfer. Boned, seized, apprehended.— 0/d. 
 
 BONE-GRUBBERS, persons who hunt dust-holes, gutters, and 
 all likely spots for refuse bones, which they sell at the rag- 
 shops, or to the bone-grinders. 
 
 BONE-PICKER, a footman. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 101 
 
 BONES, dice ; also called ST. Hugh's bones. 
 
 BONES, "he made no bones of it," he did not hesitate, ^.g., 
 underbook and finished the work without difficulty, " found 
 no BONES ia the jelly." — Ancient, vide Cotgrave. 
 
 BONNET, a gambling cheat. " A man who sits at a gaming- 
 table, and appears to be playing against the table ; when a 
 stranger enters, the bonnet generally wins." — Tmes, Nov. 
 17, 1856. Also, a pretence, or make-believe, a sham bidder 
 at auctions. 
 
 BONNET, to strike a man's cap or hat over his eyes and nose. 
 
 BONNETTER, one who induces another to gamble, 
 
 BOOK, an arrangement of bets for and against, chronicled in a 
 pocket-book made for that purpose; "making a book upon 
 it," common phrase to denote the general arrangement of a 
 person's bets on a race. " That does not suit my book," i.e., 
 does not accord with my other arrangements. Skakespere 
 uses book in the sense of " a paper of conditions." 
 
 BOOM, " to tip one's boom off," to be off, or start in a certain 
 direction. — Sea. 
 
 BOOKED, caught, fixed, disposed of. — Term m Book-keeping. 
 
 BOOZE, drink. Ancient cant, bowse. 
 
 BOOZE, to drink, or more properly, to use another slang term, 
 to "lush," viz., to drink continually, until drunk, or nearly 
 so. The term is an old one. Harman, in Queen Elizabeth's 
 days, speaks of " bousing (or boozing) and belly-cheere." 
 The term was good English in the fourteenth century, and 
 comes from the Dutch, buyzen, to tipple. 
 
 BOOZE, or sucK-CASA, a public-house. 
 
 BOOZING-KEN, a beer-shop, a low public house. — Ancient. 
 
 BOOZY, intoxicated or fuddled. 
 
 BORE, a troublesome friend or acquaintance', a nuisance, any- 
 thing which wearies or annoys. The Gradus ad Cantabrigiam 
 suggests the derivation of bore from the Greek, Bapos, a 
 burden. Skakespere uses it, King Henry VIII., i., 1 — 
 
 « at this instant 
 
 He 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 
 
102 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 Consort made an amusing and effective use in hia masterly 
 address to the British Association, at Aberdeen, September 
 14, 1859. He said (as reported by the Times) : — 
 
 ** I will not weary you by further examples, with which most of you 
 are better acquainted than I am myself, but merely express my 
 satisfaction that there should exist bodies of men who will bring 
 the well-considered and understood wants of science before the 
 public and the Government, who will even hand round the begging- 
 box, and expose themselves to refusals and rebuffs, to which all 
 beggars all liable, with the certainty besides of being considered 
 great bores. Please to recollect that this species of " bore " is a 
 most useful animal, well adapted for the ends for which nature 
 intended him. He alone, by constantly returning to the charge, 
 and repeating the same truths and the same requests, succeeds in 
 awakening attention to the cause which he advocates, and obtains 
 that hearing which is granted him at last for self-protection, as 
 the minor evil compared to his importunity, but which is requisite 
 to make his cause understood." 
 
 BOSH, nonsense, stupidity. — Gipsey and Persian, Also pure 
 TurJcish, bosh lakerdi, empty talk. A person, in the 
 Saturday Review, has stated that bosh is coeval vs^ith Morier's 
 novel, Hadji Babi, vt'hich was published in 1828 ; but this is 
 a blunder. The term was used in this country as early aa 
 1760, and may be found in the Student, vol. ii., p. 217. 
 
 BOSH, a fiddle. 
 
 BOSH-FAKER, a violin player. 
 
 BOS-KEN", a farm-house. Ancient.— See ken. 
 
 BOSKY, inebriated —Household Words, No. 183, 
 
 BOSMAN, a farmer; "faking a bosman on the main toby," rob- 
 bing a farmer on the highway. Boss, a master. — American, 
 Both terms from the Butch, bosch-man, one who lives in 
 the woods ; otherwise Boschjeman or Bushman. 
 
 BOSS-EYED, a person with one eye, or rather with one eye 
 injured. 
 
 BOTHER, to teaze, to annoy. 
 
 BOTHER (from the Hihernicism pother), trouble, or annoyance, 
 Grose has a singular derivation, bother, or both-eared, 
 from two persons talking at the same time, or to both ears. 
 Blother, an old word, signifying to chatter idly. — >See 
 Halliwell. 
 
 BOTHERATION ! trouble, annoyance ; " botheration to it,*' 
 confound it, or deuce take it, an exclamation when irritated. 
 
 BOTTLE-HOLDER, an assistant to a "Second," — Pugilistic; an 
 abettor; also, the bridegroom's man at a wedding. 
 
 BOTTY, conceited, swaggering. 
 
MODERN SLA15TG AND CANT WORDS. 103 
 
 BOUNCE, impudence. 
 BOUNCE, a showy swindler. 
 BOUNCE, to boast, cheat, or bully. — Old cant. 
 BOUNCER, a person who steals whilst bargaining with a trades- 
 man ; a lie. 
 BOUNDER, a four-wheel cab. Lucus a non lucendo ? 
 BOUNETTER, a fortune-telling cheat— Gipsey. 
 
 BOW-CATCHERS, or kiss curls, small curls twisted on the 
 cheeks or temples of young— and often old— girls, adhering 
 to the face as if gummed or pasted. Evidently a corruption 
 of BEAU-CATCHERS. In old times these were called love- 
 locJcs, when they were the maiks at which all the puritan 
 and ranting preachers levelled their pulpit pop-guns, loaded 
 with sharp and virulent abuse. Hall and Prynne looked 
 upon all women as strumpets who dared to let the hair 
 depart from a straight line upon their cheeks. The French 
 prettily term them accroche-coeurs, whilst in the United 
 States they are plainly and unpleasantly called spit- curls. 
 Bartlett says : — " Spit curl, a detached lock of hair curled 
 upon the temple; probably from having been at first 
 filastered into shape by the saliva. It is now understood 
 that the mucilage 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 song shall be of that saliva cuel 
 Which threatens my heart to smash in." 
 
 Boston Transcript, October 30, 1858. 
 
 When men twist the hair on each side of their faces into ropes 
 they are sometimes called bell-ropes, as being wherewith 
 to draw the belles. Whether bell- ropes or bow-catchers, 
 it is singular they should form part of the prisoner's para- 
 phernalia, and that a jaunty little kiss-mo quick curl should, 
 of all things in the world, ornament a gaol dock ; yet such 
 was formerly the case. Hunt, the murderer of Weare, on 
 his trial, we are informed by the Athenceum, appeared at the 
 bar with a hit:5hly pomatumed love lock sticking tight to his 
 forehead. Young ladies, think of this ! 
 
 BOWL-OUT, to put out of the game, to remove out of one's 
 way, to detect. — Cricketing term. 
 
 BOWLAS, round tarts made of sugar, apple, and bread, sold in 
 
 the streets. 
 BOWLES, shoes. 
 
104 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 BOX-HARRY, a term with bagmen or commercial travellers, 
 implying dinner and tea at one meal; also dining with 
 Humphrey, i.e., going without. — Lincolnshire. 
 
 BRACE UP, to pawn stolen goods. 
 
 BRACELETS, handcuffs. 
 
 BRADS, money. Properly, a small kind of nails used by cob- 
 blers.— Compare HORSE NAILS. 
 
 BRAD-FAKING, playing at cards. 
 
 BRAGGADOCIO, three months' imprisonment as a reputed 
 thief or old offender, — sometimes termed a dose, or a dollop. 
 — Household Words, vol. i,, p. 579. 
 
 BRAN-NEW, quite new. Properly, Brent, brand, or Fire-new, 
 i.e., fresh from the anvil. 
 
 BRASS, money. 
 
 BREAD-BASKET, dumpling depot, victualling office, &c., 
 are terms given by the "Fancy" to the digestive organ. 
 
 BREAK-DOWN, a jovial, social gathering, a flare trp ; in 
 Ireland, a wedding. 
 
 BREAKING SHINS, borrowing money. 
 
 BREAKY-LEG, a shilling. 
 
 BREAKY-LEG, strong drink ; " he's been to Bungay fair, and 
 BROKE BOTH HIS LEGS," i.e , got druuk. In the ancienb 
 Egyptian language the determinative character in the hiero- 
 glyphic verb " to be drunk," has the 
 significant form of the leg of a man 
 being amputated. 
 
 BREECHED, or to have the bags off, to have plenty of 
 money; "to be well breeched," to be in good circum- 
 stances. 
 
 BREECHES, " to wear the breeches," said of a wife who 
 
 usurps the husband's prerogative. 
 BREEKS, breeches. — Scotch, now common. 
 BRICK, a "jolly good fellow;" "a regular rrick," a staunch 
 
 fellow. 
 
 •* I bonnetted Whewell, when we gave the Rads their gruel, 
 And taught them to eschew all their addresses to the Quean. 
 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, 1840. 
 
 Said to be derived from an expression of Aristotle, nrga- 
 yu)vo9 dvrjp. 
 
 [jg^l 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 105 
 
 BRIEF, a pawnbroker's duplicate. 
 BRISKET BEATER, a Roman Catholic. 
 BROADS, cards. Broadsman, a card sharper. 
 
 BROAD AND SHALLOW, an epithet applied to the so-called 
 " Broad church," in contradistinction to the " High" and 
 " Low" Church. — See high and dry. 
 
 BROAD-FENCER, card seller at races. 
 
 BROSIER, a bankrupt. — ChesJiire. Brosier-my-dame, school 
 term, implying a clearing of the housekeeper's larder of pro- 
 visions, in revenge for stinginess. — Eton. 
 
 BROTHER- CHIP, fellow carpenter. Also, brother- whip, a 
 fellow coachman ; and brother-blade, of the same occupa- 
 tion or calling — originally a fellow soldier. 
 
 BROWN, a halfpenny. — See blunt. 
 
 BROWN, " to do BROWN," to do well or completely (in allusion 
 to roasting) ; "doing it brown," prolonging the frolic, or 
 exceeding sober bounds; "done brown," taken in, de- 
 ceived, or surprised. 
 
 BROWN BESS, the old Government regulation musket. 
 
 BROWN PAPERMEN, low gamblers. 
 
 BROWN SALVE, a token of surprise at what is heard, and at 
 the same time means " I understand you." 
 
 BROWN-STUDY, a reverie. Veiy common even in educated 
 society, but hardly admissible in writing, and therefore 
 must be considered a vulgarism. It is derived, by a writer 
 in Notes and Queries, from brow study, from the old. Ger- 
 man braun, or AUG-BRAUN, an eye-brow. — Ben Jonson. 
 
 BROWN- TO, to understand, to comprehend. — American, 
 
 BRUISER, a fighting man, a pugilist. — Pugilistic. Shakespere 
 uses the word bruising in a similar sense. 
 
 BRUMS, counterfeit coins. Nearly ohsolete. Corruption of 
 Brummagem (Bromwicham), the ancient name of Bir- 
 mingham, the great emporium of plated goods and imi- 
 tation jewellery. 
 
 BRUSH, or brush-off, to run away, or move on. — Old cant. 
 
 BUB, drink of any kind. — See grub. Middleton, the dramatist, 
 
 , mentions BujggfiBj a great drinker. 
 
 BUB, a teat, woman's breast. 
 
 BUCK, a gay or smart man, a 9uckold. 
 
 '^■-'-'^I.O'lWt^ 
 
106 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 BUCKHOIISE, a smart blow or box on the ear ; derived from 
 the name of a celebrated " bruiser" of that name. 
 
 BUCKLE, to bend; "I can't buckle to that," I don't understand 
 it ; to yield or give in to a person. Skake^pere uses the 
 word in the latter sense, Henry IV., i. 1 ; and HaUiwell says 
 that "the commentators do not supply another example." 
 How strange that in our own streets the term should be 
 used every day ! Stop the first costermonger, and he will 
 soon inform you the various meanings of buckle. — See 
 Notes and Queries, vols, vii., viii., and ix. 
 
 BUCKLE-TO, to bend to one's work, to begin at once, and 
 with great energy. 
 
 BUDGE, to move, to inform, to split, or tell tales. 
 
 BUFF, to swear to, or accuse; to split, or peach upon. Old 
 
 word for boasting, 1582. 
 BUFF, the bare skin ; "stripped to the buff." 
 
 BUFFER, a dog. Their skins were formerly in great rec[uest — 
 hence the term, buff meaning in old English to shin. It is 
 still used in the ring, buffed meaniog stripped to the skin. 
 In Irish cant, buffer is a boxer. The buffer of a railway 
 carriage doubtless received its very approi^riate name from 
 the old pugilistic application of this term. 
 
 BUFFER, a familiar expression for a jolly acquaintance, pro- 
 bably from the French, bouffard, a fool or clown ; a "jolly 
 old BUFFER," said of a good humoured or liberal old man. 
 In 1737, a BUFFER was a " rogue that killed good sound 
 horses for the sake of their skins, by running a long wire 
 into them." — Bacchus and Venus. The term was once ap- 
 plied to those who took false oaths for a consideration. 
 
 BUFFLE HEAD, a stupid or obtuse person. — Mlege. German, 
 
 BUFFEL-HAUPT, buffalo-headed. 
 BUFFY, mto^iGQ.iGdL.— Household Words, No. 183. 
 BUGGY, a gig, or light chaise. Common term in America and 
 
 in Ireland. 
 BUG-HUNTERS, low wretches who plunder drunken men. 
 
 BUILD, applied in fashionable slang to the make or style of 
 dress, &c. ; " it's a tidy build, who made it ?" 
 
 BULGER, large ; synonymous with buster. 
 
 BULL, term amongst prisoners for the meat served to them in 
 
 jail. 
 BULL, one who agrees to purchase stock at a future day, at a 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS, 107 
 
 stated price, but who does not possess money to pay for it, 
 trusting to a rise in public securities to render the transac- 
 tion a profitable one. Should stocks fall, the bull is then 
 called upon to pay the diiference. — See bear, who is the 
 opposite of a bull, the former selling, the latter purchas- 
 ing — the one operating for d, fall or di. j^ull down, whilst the 
 other operates for a rise or toss up. 
 
 BULL, a crown piece ; formerly, bull's eye. 
 
 BULL-THE-CASK, to pour hot water into an empty rum 
 puncheon, and let it stand until it extracts the spirit from 
 the wood. The result is drunk by sailors in default of 
 something stronger. — Sea. 
 
 BULLY, a braggart ; but in the language of the streets, a man 
 of the most degraded morals, who protects prostitutes, and 
 lives off their miserable earnings.- Shakespere, Midsummer 
 Night's Dreani; iii. 1 ; iv. 2. 
 
 BUM, the part on which we sit. — Shalcespere. Bumbags, trowsers. 
 
 BUM-BAILIFF, a sheriff's officer, — a term, some say, derived 
 from the proximity which this gentleman generally main- 
 tains to his victims. JBlacJcstone says it is a corruption of 
 "bound bailiff." 
 
 BUM-BOATS, shore boats which supply ships with provisions, 
 and serve as means of communication between the sailors 
 and the shore. 
 
 BUM-BRUSHER, a schoolmaster. 
 
 BUMMAREE. This term is given to a class of speculating 
 salesmen at Billingsgate market, not recognised as such by 
 the trade, but who get a living by buying large quantities 
 of fish of the salesmen and re-selling it to smaller buyers. 
 The word has been used in the statutes and bye-laws of 
 the markets for upwards of 100 years. It has been variously 
 derived, but is most probably from the French, bonne 
 MAREE, good fresh fish ! " Maree signifie toute sorte de 
 poisson de mer qui n'est pas sale; bonne maree — maree 
 fraiche, vendeur de maree." — Diet, de VAcad. Franc. The 
 BUMMAREES are accused of many trade tricks. One of them 
 is to blow up cod-fish with a pipe until they look double 
 their actual size. Of course when the fish come to table 
 they are flabby, sunken, and half dwindled away. In Nor- 
 wich, TO BUMMAREE ONE is to run up a score at a public 
 house just open, and is equivalent to " running into debt 
 with one." 
 
 BUNCH OF FIVES, the hand, or fist. 
 
108 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 BUNDLE, "to BUNDLE a person off," i.e., to pack him off, send 
 him flying. 
 
 BUNG, the landlord of a public-house. 
 
 BUNG, to give, pass, hand over, drink, or indeed to perform 
 any action ; bung up, to close up — Pugilistic ; '' bung 
 over the rag," hand over the money — Old, used by Beau- 
 mont and Fletclier, and ShaJcespere. Also, to deceive one by 
 a lie, to CRAM, which see. 
 
 BUNKER, beer. 
 
 BUNTS, costermonger's perquisites ; the money obtained by 
 giving light weight, &c. ; costermongers' goods sold by 
 boys on commission. Probably a corruption of bonus, 
 BONE being the slang for good. Bunce, Grose gives as the 
 cant word for money. 
 
 BURDON'S HOTEL, Whitecross- street prison, of which the 
 Governor is or was a Mr. Burdon. 
 
 BURERK, a lady. Grose gives burick, a prostitute. 
 
 BURKE, to kill, to murder, by pitch plaster or other foul 
 means. From Burke, the notorious Whitechapel murderer, 
 who with others used to waylay people, kill them, and sell 
 their bodies for dissection at the hospitals. 
 
 BURYING A MOLL, running away from a mistress. 
 
 BUSKER, a man who sings or performs in a public house. — 
 
 Scotch. 
 BUSK (or busking), to sell obscene songs and books at the bars 
 
 and in the tap -rooms of public houses. Sometimes implies 
 
 selling any articles. 
 BUSS, an abbreviation of " omnibus," a public carriage. Also, 
 
 a kiss. 
 BUST, or BURST, to tell tales, to split, to inform. Busting, 
 
 informing against accomplices when in custody. 
 BUSTER (burster), a small new loaf; " twopenny buster," a 
 
 twopenny loaf. "Apennorth o' beeswax (cheese) and a 
 
 penny buster," a common snack at beershops. 
 BUSTER, an extra size ; " what a buster," what a large one ; 
 
 "in for a buster," determined on an extensive frolic or 
 
 spree. Scotch, bustuous ; Icelandic, bostra. 
 
 BUSTLE, money; " to draw the bustle." 
 
 BUTTER, or batter, praise or flattery. To butter, to flatter, 
 
 cajole. 
 BUTTER-FINGERED, apt to let things faU. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 109 
 
 BUTTON", a decoy, sham purchaser, &c. At any mock or sham 
 auction seedy specimens may be seen. Probably from the 
 connection of buttons with Brummagem, which is often used 
 as a synonyme for a sham. 
 
 BUTTONER, a man who entices another to play. — See bon- 
 
 NETTER. 
 
 BUTTONS, a page, — from the rows of gilt buttons which adorn 
 his jacket. 
 
 BUTTONS, " not to have all one's buttons," to be deficient in 
 intellect. 
 
 BUZ, to pick pockets ; buz- faking, robbing. 
 
 BUZ, to share equally the last of a bottle of wine, when there 
 is not enough for a full glass for each of the party. 
 
 BUZZERS, pickpockets. Grose gives buz cove and buz gloak, 
 the latter is very ancient cant. 
 
 BUZ-BLOAK, a pickpocket, who principally confines his atten- 
 tion to purses and loose cash. Grose gives buz-gloak (or 
 CLOAK ?), an ancient cant word. Buz-napper, a young pick- 
 pocket. 
 
 BUZ-NAPPER'S ACADEMY, a school in which young thieves 
 are trained. Figures are dressed up, and experienced tutors 
 stand in various difficult attitudes for the boys to practice 
 upon. When clever enough they are sent on the streets. 
 It is reported that a house of this nature is situated in a 
 court near Hatton Garden. The system is well explained 
 in Dichens* Oliver Twist. 
 
 BYE-BLOW, a bastard child. 
 
 BY GEORGE, an exclamation similar to by jove. The term is 
 older than is frequently imagined, vide Bacchus and Venus 
 (p. 117), 1737. " Fore (or by) george, I'd knock him 
 down." A street compliment to Saint George, the patron 
 Saint of England, or possibly to the House of Hanover. 
 
 BY GOLLY, an ejaculation, or oath ; a compromise for " by 
 God." In the United States, small boys are permitted by 
 their guardians to say gol darn anything, but they are on 
 
 no account allowed to commit the profanity of G — d d^^ g 
 
 anything. An effective ejaculation and moral waste-pipe 
 for interior passion or wrath is seen in the exclamation — 
 BY the-ever-living-jumping-moses — a harmless phrase, 
 that from its length expends a considerable quantity of 
 fiery anger. 
 
lid A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 CAB, in statutory language, "a hackney carriage drawn by one 
 horse." Abbreviated from cabriolet, French j originally 
 meaning " a light low chaise." The wags of Paris playing 
 upon the word (quasi cahri au lait) used to call a superior 
 turnout of the kind a cahri au creme. Our abbreviation, 
 which certainly smacks of slang, has been stamped with the 
 authority of " George, Ranger!' See the notices affixed 
 to the carriage entrances of St. James's Park. 
 
 CAB, to stick together, to muck, or tumble up. — Devonshire. 
 
 CABBAGE, pieces of cloth said to be purloined by tailors. 
 
 CABBAGE, to pilfer or purloin. Termed by Johnson a cant 
 word, but adopted by later lexicographers as a respectable 
 term. Said to have been first used in this sense by Arhuthnot. 
 
 CABBY, the driver of a cab. 
 
 CAD, or CADGER (from which it is shortened), a mean or vulgar 
 fellow ; a beggar ; one who would rather live on other 
 people than work for himself; a man trying to worm some- 
 thing out of another, either money or information. John- 
 son uses the word, and gives huckster as the meaning, but I 
 never heard it used in this sense. Cager, or gager, the 
 old cant term for a man. The exclusives in the Univer- 
 sities apply the term cad to all non-members. 
 
 CAD, an omnibus conductor. 
 
 CADGE, to beg in an artful or wheedling manner. — North. 
 
 CADGING, begging of the lowest degree. 
 
 CAG-MAG, bad food, scraps, odds and ends; or that which no 
 one could relish. Grose gives cagg maggs, old and tough 
 Lincolnshire geese, sent to London to feast the poor 
 cockneys. 
 
 CAGE, a minor kind of prison. — ShaJcespere, part ii. of 
 Henry IV., iv. 2. 
 
 CAKE, a flat, a soft or doughy person, a fool. 
 
 CAKEY-PANITUM- FENCER, a man who sells street pastry. 
 
 CALL-A-GO, in street ** patter," is to remove to another spot, 
 or address the public in different vein. 
 
 CAMESA, shirt or chemise. — Span. Ancient cant, commission. 
 
 CAMISTER, a preacher, clergyman, or master. 
 
 CANARY, a sovereign. This is stated by a correspondent to be 
 
 a Norwich term, that city being famous for its breed of 
 
 those birds. 
 CANISTER, the hesid.— Pugilistic. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. Ill 
 
 CANISTER-CAP, a hsit.— Pugilistic. 
 
 CANNIKEN, a small can, similar to f A-NNiKm .—ShaJcespere. 
 
 CANT, a blow or toss ; " a cant over the kisser," a blow on the 
 
 mouth. — Kentish. 
 CANT OF TOGS, a gift of clothes. 
 
 CARDINAL, a lady's cloak. This, I am assured, is the Seven 
 Dials cant term for a lady's garment, but curiously enough 
 the same name is given to the most fashionable patterns of 
 the article by Regent-street drapers. A cloak with this 
 name was in fashion in the year 1760. It received its title 
 from its similarity in shape to one of the vestments of a 
 cardinal. 
 
 CARNEY, soft talk, nonsense, gammon. — Hlhernicism. 
 
 C AROON, five shillings. French, couronne ; Gipsey, courna, 
 — PANSH COURNA, half-a-crown. 
 
 CARPET, "upon the carpet," any subject or matter that is 
 uppermost for discussion or conversation. Frequently 
 quoted as sur le tapis, but it does not seem to be a correct 
 Parisian phrase. 
 
 CARRIER PIGEONS, swindlers, who formerly used to cheat 
 Lottery Office Keepers. Nearly obsolete. 
 
 CARROTS, the coarse and satirical term for red hair. 
 
 CARRY-ON, to joke a person to excess, to carry on a 
 "spree" too far; " how we carried on, to be sure!" i.e., 
 what fun we had. 
 
 CART, a race-course. 
 
 CARTS, a pair of shoes. In Norfolk the carapace of a crab is 
 called a crab cart, hence carts would be synonymous with 
 
 CRAB SHELLS, which SCO. 
 
 CART WHEEL, a five shilling piece. 
 
 CAS A, or CASE, a house, respectable or otherwise. Probably 
 from the Italian, casa. — Old cant. The Dutch use the word 
 KAST in a vulgar sense for a house, i.e., mottekast, a brothel. 
 Case sometimes means a water-closet. 
 
 CASCADING, vomiting. 
 
 CASE, a bad crown piece. Hale-a-case, a counterfeit half 
 crown. There are two sources, either of which may have 
 contributed this slang term. Caser is the Hebrew word for 
 a crown; and silver coin is frequently counterfeited by 
 coating or casing pewter or iron imitations with silver. 
 
112 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 CASE. A few years ago the term case was applied to persons 
 and things ; " what a case he is," i.e., what a curious 
 person; '* a rum case that," or "you are a case," both 
 synonymous with the phrase "odd fish,'' common half-a- 
 century ago. Among young ladies at boarding schools a 
 CASE means a love affair. 
 
 CASK, fashionable slang for a brougham, or other private 
 carriage. — Household Words, No. 183. 
 
 CASSAM, cheese — not cafpan, which Egan, in his edition of 
 Grose, has ridiculously inserted. — Ancient cant. Latin, 
 
 CASEUS. 
 
 CASTING UP ONE'S ACCOUNTS, vomiting.— OZc^. 
 
 CASTOR, a hat. Castor was once the ancient word for a 
 
 BEAVER ; and strange to add, beaver was the slang for 
 
 CASTOR, or hat, thirty years ago, before gossamer came 
 
 into fashion. 
 CAT, to vomit like a cat. — See shoot the cat. 
 CAT, a lady's muff; " to free a cat," i.e., steal a muff. 
 CATARACT, a black satin scarf arranged for the display of 
 
 jewellery, much in vogue among " commercial gents." 
 CATCH EM ALIVE, a trap, also a small-tooth comb. 
 CATCHY (similar formation to touchy), inclined to take an 
 
 undue advantage. 
 CATEVER, a queer, or singular affair ; anything poor, or very 
 
 bad. From the Lingua Franca, and Italian, cattivo, bad. 
 
 Variously spelled by the lower orders. — See kertever. 
 
 CATGUT-SCRAPER, a fiddler. 
 
 CAT-LAP, a contemptuous expression for weak drink. 
 
 CAT S WATER, old Tom, or Gin. 
 
 CAT AND KITTEN SNEAKING, stealing pint and quart pots 
 
 from public-houses. 
 CATCH-PENNY, any temporary contrivance to obtain money 
 
 from the public, penny shows, or cheap exhibitions. 
 
 CAT-IN-THE-PAN, a traitor, a turn-coat — derived by some 
 from the Greek, Karairav, 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, &g. — See Plclcering's Vocabulary. 
 
 CAVAULTING, coition. Lingua Franca, cavolta. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 113 
 
 CAVE, or CAVE IN, to submit, shut up. — American. Metaphor 
 taken from the sinking of an abandoned mining shaft. 
 
 CHAFF, to gammpn, joke, quiz, or praise ironically. Chaff- 
 bone, the jaw-bone. — Yorkshire. Chaff, jestiog. In Anglo 
 Saxon, CEAF is chaff; and ceafl, bill, beak, or jaw. In the 
 " Ancien Eiwie,'* a.d. 1221, ceafle is used in the sense of 
 idle discourse. 
 
 CHALK- OUT, or chalk down, to mark out a line of conduct 
 or action ; to make a rule, order. Phrase derived from the 
 Workshop. 
 
 CHALK UP, to credit, make entry in account books of in- 
 debtedness ; " 1 can't pay you now, but you can chalk it 
 UP," i.e., charge me with the article in your day-book. 
 From the old practice of chalking one's score for drink 
 behind the bar- doors of public houses. 
 
 CHALKS, "to walk one's chalks,'* to move off, or run away. 
 An ordeal for drunkenness used on board ship, to see 
 whether the suspected person can walk on a chalked line 
 without overstepping it on either side. 
 
 CHAP, a fellow, a boy ; "alow chap," a low fellow — abbreviation 
 of chap- MAN, a huckster. Used by Byron in his Critical 
 Remarks. 
 
 CHARIOT-BUZZING, picking pockets in an omnibus. 
 
 CHARLEY", a watchman, a beadle. 
 
 CHARLEY-PITCHERS, low, cheating gamblers. 
 
 CHATTER BASKET, common term for a prattling child 
 amongst nurses. 
 
 CHATTER-BOX, an incessant talker or chatterer. 
 
 CHATTRY-FEEDER, a spoon. 
 
 CHATTS, dice, — formerly the gallows ; a bunch of seals. 
 
 CHATTS, lice, or body vermin. 
 
 CHATTY, a filthy person, one whose clothes are not free from 
 vermin ; chatty doss, a lousy bed. 
 
 CHAUNTER- CULLS, a singular body of men who used to 
 haunt certain well known public -houses, and write satirical 
 or libellous ballads on any person, or body of persons, for a 
 consideration. 7s. 6d. was the usual fee, and in three hours 
 the ballad might be heard in St. Paul's Churchyard, or other 
 public spot. There are two men in London at the present 
 day who gain their living in tjiis way. 
 
114 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 CHAUNTERS, those street sellers of ballads, last copies of 
 verses, and other broadsheets, who sing or bawl the contents 
 of their papers. They often term themselves paper 
 WORKERS. A. N. — Bee horse chaunters. 
 
 CHAUNT, to sing the contents of any paper in the streets. 
 Cant, as applied to vulgar language, was derived from 
 CHAUNT. — 8ee Introduction. 
 
 CHEAP, "doing it on the cheap," living economically, or 
 keeping up a showy appearance with very little means. 
 
 CHEAP JACKS, or johns, oratorical hucksters and patterers of 
 hardware, &c., at fairs and races. They put an article up 
 at a high price, and then cheapen it by degrees, indulging 
 in volleys of coarse wit, until it becomes to all appearance a 
 bargain, and as such it is bought by one of the crowd. The 
 popular idea is that the inverse method of auctioneering 
 saves them paying for the auction license. 
 
 CHEEK, share or portion ; " where's my cheek ?" where is my 
 
 allowance ? 
 CHEEK, impudence, assurance; cheeky, saucy or forward. 
 
 Lincolnshire, cheek, to accuse. 
 CHEEK, to irritate by impudence. 
 CHEEK BY JOWL, side by side, — said often of persons in such 
 
 close confabulation as almost to have their faces touch. 
 
 CHEESE, anything good, first-rate in quality, genuine, pleasant, 
 or advantageous, is termed the cheese. Mayhew thinks 
 cheese, in this sense, is from the Saxon^ ceosan, to choose, 
 and quotes Chaucer, who uses chese in the sense of choice. 
 The London Guide, 1818, says it was from some young 
 fellows translating " c'est une autre chose" into "that is 
 another cheese.'' Cheese is also Gi^jsey and Hindoo {see 
 Introduction) ; and Persian, chiz, a thing. — See stilton. 
 
 CHEESE, or cheese it (evidently a corruption of cease), leave 
 off, or have done; "cheese your barrikiu," hold your noise. 
 
 CHEESY, fine or showy. 
 
 CHERUBS, or cherubims, the chorister boys who chaunt in the 
 services at the abbeys, 
 
 CHESHIRE CAT, " to grin like a Cheshire cat," to display 
 the teeth and gums when laughing. Formerly the phiase 
 was " to grin like a Cheshire cat eating cheese." A 
 hardly satisfactory explanation has been given of this 
 phrase— that Cheshire is a county palatine, and the cats, 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 115 
 
 when they think of it, are so tickled with the notion that 
 
 they can't help grinning. 
 CHICKEN, a young girl. 
 CHICKEN-HEARTED, cowardly, fearful. 
 CHI-IKE, a hurrah, a good word, or hearty praise. 
 CHINK, money. — Ancient. — See florio. 
 CHINKERS, money. 
 CHIP OF THE OLD BLOCK, a child who resembles its father. 
 
 Brother chip, one of the same trade or profession. 
 CHIPS, money. 
 CHISEL, to cheat. 
 CHITTERLINGS, the shirt frills worn still by ancient beaux ; 
 
 properly, the entrails of a pig, to which they are supposed 
 
 to bear some resemblance. Belgian, schyterlingh. 
 
 CHIVARLY, coition. Probably a corruption from the Lingua 
 
 Franca. 
 CHIVE, a knife ; a sharp tool of any kind. — Old cant. This 
 
 term is particularly applied to the tin knives used in gaols. 
 
 CHIVE, to cut, saw, or file. 
 
 CHIVE, or CHIVEY, a shout ; a halloo, or cheer, loud tongued. 
 From chevy-chase, a boy's game, in which the word chevy 
 is bawled aloud ; or from the Glpsey ? — See Introduction. 
 
 CHIVE-FENCER, a street hawker of cutlery. 
 CHIVEY, to chase round, or hunt about. 
 
 CHOCK-FULL, full till the scale comes down with a shock. 
 French, choc. A correspondent suggests choked-full. 
 
 CHOKE OFF, to get rid of. Bull dogs can only be made to 
 loose their hold by choking them. 
 
 CHOKER, a cravat, a neckerchief. White- choker, the white 
 neckerchief worn by mutes at a funeral, and waiters at a 
 tavern. Clergymen are frequently termed white-chokers. 
 
 CHOKER, or wind-stopper, a garrotter. 
 
 CHONKEYS, a kind of mince meat baked in a crust, and sold 
 
 in the streets. 
 CHOP, to change.— OZc?. 
 CHOPS, properly chaps, the mouth, or cheeks ; " down in the 
 
 CHOPS," or " down in the mouth," i.e., sad or melancholy. 
 
 CHOUSE, to cheat out of one's share or portion. Hackluyt, 
 CHAUS; Massinger, chiaus. From the Turkish, in which 
 
 I 2 
 
1 1 6 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 language it signifies an interpreter. Gifford gives a curious 
 story as to its origin : — 
 
 In the year 1609 there was attached to the Turkish embassy in 
 England an interpreter, or chiaous, who by cunning, aided by his 
 official position, managed to cheat the Turkish and Persian 
 merchants then in London out of the large sum of £i,000, then 
 deemed an enormous amount. From the notoriety which attended 
 the fraud, and the magnitude of the swindle, any one who 
 cheated or defrauded was said to chiaous, or chcmse, or chouse ; 
 to do, that is, as this Chiaous had done.— ^Sse Trench, Eng. Fast 
 oMd Present, p. 87. 
 
 CHOUT, an entertainment. 
 
 CHOVEY, a shop. 
 
 CHRISTENING, erasing the name of the maker from a stolen 
 watch, and inserting a fictitious one in its place. 
 
 CHUBBY, round-faced, plump. 
 
 CHUCK, a schoolboy's treat. — Westminster school. Food, pro- 
 vision for an entertainment. — Norwich. 
 
 CHUCK, to throw or pitch. 
 
 CHUCKING A JOLLY, when a costermonger praises the 
 inferior article his mate or partner is trying to sell. 
 
 CHUCKING A STALL, where one rogue walks in front of a 
 person while another picks his pockets. 
 
 CHUCKLE-HEAD, a iool— Devonshire. 
 
 CHUFF IT, i.e., be off, or take it away, in answer to a street 
 seller who is importuning you to purchase. Halliwell 
 mentions chuff as a " term of reproach," surly, &c. 
 
 CHUM, an acquaintance. A recognised term, but in such fre- 
 quent use with the lower orders that it demanded a place 
 in this glossary. 
 
 CHUM, to occupy a joint lodging with another person. 
 
 CHUMMING-UP, an old custom amongst prisoners when a fresh 
 culprit is admitted to their number, consistiog of a noisy 
 welcome — rough music made with pokers, tongs, sticks, and 
 saucepans. For this ovation the initiated prisoner has to 
 pay, or fork over, half a crown— or submit to a loss of 
 coat and waistcoat. The practice is ancient. 
 
 CHUMMY, a chimney sweep ; also a low-crowned felt hat. 
 
 CHUNK, a thick or dumpy piece of any substance. — Kentish. 
 
 CHURCH A YACK (or watch), to take the works of a watch 
 from its original case and put them into another one, to 
 avoid detection. — See christen. 
 
 CHURCHWARDEN, a long pipe, " a yard op clay." 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 117 
 
 CLAGGUM, boiled treacle in a hardened state, Hardbake. — See 
 
 CLIGGY. 
 
 CLAP, to place ; " do you think you can clap your hand on 
 him ?" i.e., find him out. 
 
 CLAPPER, the tongue. 
 
 CLAP-TRAP, high-sounding nonsense. An ancient Theatrical 
 term for a ** trap to catch a clap by way of applause from 
 the spectators at a play." — Bailey's Dictionary. 
 
 CLARET, hloodi.— Pugilistic. 
 
 CLEAN, quite, or entirely ; " clean gone," entirely out of sight, 
 or away. — Old, see Cotgrave. — Shakespere. 
 
 CLEAN OUT, to thrash, or beat ; to ruin, or bankrupt any one ; 
 to take all they have got, by purchase, or force. De Quincey, 
 in his article on " Richard Bentley," speaking of the law- 
 suit between that great scholar and Dr. Colbatch, remarks 
 that the latter "must have been pretty well cleaned out." 
 
 CLICK, knock, or blow. Click- handed, left-handed. — Cornish. 
 
 CLICK, to snatch. 
 
 CLIFT, to steal. 
 
 CLIGGY, or clidgt, sticky. — Anglo Saxon, cl^g, clay. — See 
 
 CLAGGUM. 
 
 CLINCHER, that which rivets or confirms an argument, an 
 incontrovertible position. Metaphor from the workshop. 
 
 CLINK-RIG, stealing tankards from public-houses, taverns, &c. 
 
 CLIPPING, excellent, very good. 
 
 CLOCK, " to know what's o'clock," a definition of knowingness 
 
 in general. — See time o'day. 
 CLOD-HOPPER, a country clown. 
 
 CLOUT, or RAG, a cotton pocket handkerchief. — Old cant. 
 CLOUT, a blow, or intentional strike. — Ancient. 
 CLOVER, happiness, or luck. 
 CLUMP, to strike. 
 
 CLY, a pocket. — Old cant for to steal. A correspondent de- 
 rives this word from the Old English, cleyes, claws ; Anglo 
 Saxon, CLEA. This pronunciation is still retained in Nor- 
 folk ; thus, to CLY would mean to pounce upon, snatch. — 
 See FRISK. 
 
 CLY-FAKER, a pickpocket. 
 
 COACH, a Cambridge term for a private tutor. 
 
118 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 COACH WHEEL, or tusheeoon, a crown piece, or five shillings. 
 
 COALS, " to call (or pull) over the coals," to take to task, 
 to scold. 
 
 COCK, or more frequently now a days, cock-e-e, a vulgar 
 street salutation — corruption of cock-eye. The latter is 
 frequently heard as a shout or street cry after a man or boy. 
 
 COCK A:N"D a bull story, a long, rambling anecdote.— >See 
 
 Notes and Queries, vol. iv., p. 313. 
 COCKCHAFER, the treadmill. 
 COCK-EYE, one that squints. 
 
 COCKLES, " to rejoice the cockles of one's heart," a vulgar 
 phrase implying great pleasure. — See pluck. 
 
 COCKNEY, a native of London. Originally, a spoilt or effemi- 
 nate boy, derived from cockering, or foolishly petting a 
 person, rendering them of soft or luxurious manners. 
 Halliwell states, in his admirable essay upon the word, that 
 '' some writers trace the word with much probability to the 
 imaginary land of cockaygne, the lubber land of the olden 
 times." Qrose gives Minsheu's absurd but comical deriva- 
 tion : — A citizen of London being in the country, and 
 hearing a horse neigh, exclaimed, ^' Lord ! how that Iiorse 
 laughs." A bystander informed him that that noise was 
 called neighing. The next morning, when the cock crowed, 
 the citizen, to show that he had not forgotten what was 
 told him, cried out, "do you hear how the cock neighs? " 
 
 COCK OF THE WALK, a master spirit, head of a party. Places 
 where poultry are fed are called walks, and the barn-door 
 cocks invariably fight for the supremacy till one has 
 obtained it. 
 
 COCKS, fictitious narratives, inverse or prose, of murders, fires, 
 and terrible accidents, sold in the streets as true accounts. 
 The man who hawks them, a patterer, often changes the 
 scene of the awful event to suit the taste of the neighbour- 
 hood he is trying to delude. Possibly a corruption of cooh, 
 a cooked statement, or, as a correspondent suggests, the 
 COCK lane Ghost may have given rise to the term. This 
 had a great run, and was a rich harvest to the running 
 stationers. 
 
 COCK ONE'S TOES, to die. 
 
 COCK ROBIN SHOP, a small printer's office, where low wages 
 are paid to journeymen who have never served a regular 
 apprenticeship. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 119 
 
 COCKSHY, a game at; fairs and races, where trinkets are set 
 upon sticks, and for one penny three throws at them are 
 accorded, the thrower keeping whatever he knocks off. From 
 the ancient game of throwing or " shying " at live cocks. 
 
 COCKSURE, certain. 
 
 COCKY, pert, saucy. 
 
 COCKYOLY BIRDS, little birds, frequently called "dickey 
 birds." — Kingsley's Two Years Ago. 
 
 COCK, " to COCK your eye," to shut or wink one eye. 
 
 COCUM, advantage, luck, cunning, or sly, 'Ho fight cocuM," to 
 
 be wily and cautious. 
 CODDS, the "poor brethren " of the Charter house. At p. 133 
 
 of the Newcomes, Mr. Thackeray writes, " The Cistercian 
 
 lads call these old gentlemen codds,! know not wherefore." 
 
 An abbreviation of codger. 
 
 CODGER, an old man ; " a rum old codger," a curious old 
 fellow. Codger is sometimes used synonymous with cadger, 
 and then signifies a person who gets his living in a question- 
 able manner. Cager, or gager, was the old cant term for 
 a man. 
 
 COFFEE- SHOP, a water-closet, or house of office. 
 
 COG, to cheat at dice. — ShaJcespere. Also, to agree with, as one 
 cog-wheel does with another. 
 
 COLD BLOOD, a house licensed for the sale of beer " not to be 
 drunk on the premises." 
 
 COLD COOK, an undertaker. 
 
 COLD MEAT, a corpse. 
 
 COLD SHOULDER, "to show or give any one the cold 
 SHOULDER," to assume a distant manner towards them, 
 to evince a desire to cease acquaintanceship. Sometimes it 
 is termed " cold shoulder of mutton." 
 
 COLLAR, " out of COLLAR," i.e., out of place, no work. 
 
 COLLAR, to seize, to lay hold of 
 
 COLLY- WOBBLES, a stomach ache, a person's bowels, — sup- 
 posed by many of the lower orders to be the seat of feelins: 
 and nutrition ; an idea either borrowed from, or transmitted 
 by, the ancients. — Devonshire. 
 
 COLT'S TOOTH, elderly persons of juvenile tastes are said to 
 have a colt's tooth. 
 
 COMB-CUT, mortified, disgraced, *' down on one's luck." — See 
 
 CUT. 
 
120 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 COME, a slang verb used in many j^hrases ; "A'nt he coming 
 IT ?" i.e., is lie not proceeding at a great rate ? " Don't 
 COME TRICKS here," " don't come the old soldier over 
 me," i.e., we ave aware of your practices, and " twig " your 
 manoeuvre. Coming it strong, exaggerating, going a-head, 
 the opposite of '* drawing it mild." Coming it also means 
 informing or disclosing. 
 
 COME DOWN, to pay down. 
 
 COMMISSION, a shirt. — Ancient cant. Italian, camicia. 
 
 COMMISTER, a chaplain or clergyman. 
 
 COMMON SEWER, a drain, or drink. 
 
 COMMONS, rations, because eaten in common. — University. 
 Short commons (derived from the University slang term), a 
 scanty meal, a scarcity. 
 
 CONK, a nose ; conky, having a projecting or remarkable nose. 
 The Duke of Wellington was frequently termed " Old 
 CONKY " in satirical papers and caricatures. 
 
 CONSTABLE, " to overrun the constable," to exceed one'fj 
 income, get deep in debt. 
 
 CONVEY, to steal; "convey, the wise it call." 
 
 CONVEYANCER, a pick-pocket. Shakespere uses the cant ex- 
 pression, conveyer, a thief. The same term is also French 
 slang. 
 
 COOK, a term well known in the Bankruptcy Courts, referring to 
 accounts that have been meddled with, or cooked, by the 
 bankrupt ; also the forming a balance sheet from general 
 trade inferences ; stated by a correspondent to have been 
 first used in reference to the celebrated alteration of the 
 accounts of the Eastern Counties Railway, by George 
 Hudson, the Railway King. 
 
 COOK ONE'S GOOSE, to kill or ruin any person.— iV^or^A. 
 
 COOLIE, a soldier, in allusion to the Hindoo coolies, or day 
 labourers. 
 
 COON, abbreviation of Hb.cooti.— American. A gone coon — ditto, 
 one in an awful fix, past praying for. This expression ia 
 said to have originated in the American war with a spy, who 
 dressed himself in a racoon skin, and ensconced himself in a 
 tree. An English rifleman taking him for a veritable coon 
 levelled his piece at him, upon which he exclaimed, "Don't 
 shoot, I'll come down of myself, I know I'm a gone coon." 
 The Yankees say the Britisher was so flummuxed, that he 
 flung down his rifle and . " made tracks " for home. The 
 phrase is pretty usual in England. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 121 
 
 COOPER, stout half-aDd-half, i.e., half stout and half porter. 
 
 COOPER, to destroy, spoil, settle, or finish. Cooper'd, spoilt, 
 " done up," synonymous with the Americanism, caved in, 
 fallen in and ruined. The vagabonds' hieroglyphic V> 
 chalked by them on gate posts and houses, signifies that the 
 place has been spoilt by too many tramps calling there. 
 
 COOPER, to forge, or imitate in writing; '' cooper a moneker," 
 to forge a signature. 
 
 COP, to seize or lay hold of anything unpleasant ; used in a 
 similar sense to catch in the phrase " to COP (or catch) a 
 beating," " to get copt." 
 
 COPER, properly horse-couper, a Scotch horse- dealer, — used to 
 denote a dishonest one. 
 
 COPPER, a policeman, i.e., one who cops, which see. 
 
 COPPER, a penny. Coppers, mixed pence. 
 
 COPUS, a Cambridge drink, consisting of ale combined with 
 Bpices, and varied by spirits, wines, &c. Corruption of 
 
 .HIPPOCRAS. 
 
 CORINTHIANISM, a term derived from the classics, much in 
 vogue some years ago, implying pugilism, high life, ** sprees," 
 roistering, &c. — Shakespere. The immorality of Corinth was 
 proverbial in Greece. Ko{)ivQiaZ, eoQai, to Corinihianise, 
 indulge in the company of courtesans, was a Greek slang ex- 
 pression. Hence the proverb — 
 
 Ou Travrbs avdpbs els KopLvQov eaS' b ttXovSj 
 
 and Horace, Epist. lib. 1, xvii. 36 — 
 
 Non cuivis horaini contingit adire Corinthum, 
 
 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. 
 CORKS, money ; " how are you off for corks ?" a soldier's term 
 
 of a very expressive kind, denoting the means of "keeping 
 
 afloat." 
 CORNED, drunk or intoxicated. Possibly from soaking or pick- 
 ling oneself like corned beef. 
 CORNERED, hemmed in a corner, placed in a position from 
 
 which there is no escape. — American. 
 CORPORATION, the protuberant front of an obese person. 
 CORPSE, to confuse or put out the actors by making a mistake. 
 
 — Theatrical. 
 COSSACK, a policeman. 
 
122 
 
 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 COSTERMO:tTGEIlS, street sellers of fish, fruit, vegetables, 
 poultry, &c. The London costermongers number more than 
 30,000. They form a distinct class, occupying whole 
 neighbourhoods, and are cut off from the rest of metro- 
 politan society by their low habits, general improvidence, 
 pugnacity, love of gambling, total want of education, dis- 
 regard for lawful marriage ceremonies, and their use of a 
 cant (or so-called laclc slang) language. 
 
 COSTER, the short and slang term for a costermonger, or 
 costard- monger, who was originally an apple seller. Coster- 
 ING, i.e., costermongenng. 
 
 COTTON, to like, adhere to, or agree with any person ; "to 
 COTTON on to a man," to attach yourself to him, or fancy 
 him, literally, to stick to him as cotton would. Vide Bart- 
 lett, who claims it as an Americanism ; and Ealliwell, who 
 terms it an Archaism ; also Bacchus and Venus, 1737. 
 
 COUNCIL OF TEN, the toes of a man who turns his feet in- 
 ward. 
 
 COUNTER JUMPER, a shopman, a draper's assistant. 
 
 COUNTY-CROP {i.e., county-prison crop), hair cut close and 
 round, as if guided by a basin — an indication of having 
 been in prison. 
 
 COUTER, a sovereign. Half-a-couter, half-a-sovereign. 
 
 COVE, or 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," &c. The femi- 
 nine, COVESS, was once popular, but it has fallen into dis- 
 use. Ancient cant, originally (temp. Henry VIII.) cofe, or 
 CUFFIN, altered in Becher's time to cove. Probably con- 
 nected with cuiF, which, in the North of England, signifies 
 a lout or awkward fellow. Amongst Negroes, cuffee. 
 
 COVENTRY, " to send a man to Coventry," not to speak to or 
 notice him. Coventry was one of those towns in which the 
 privilege of practising most trades was anciently confined to 
 certain privileged persons, as the freemen, &c. Hence a 
 stranger stood little chance of custom, or countenance, and 
 "to send a man to Coventry," came to be equivalent to 
 putting him out of the pale of society. 
 
 COVER-DOWN, a tossing coin with a false cover, enabling 
 either head or tail to be shown, according as the cover is 
 left on or taken off. 
 
 COWAN, a sneak, an inquisitive or prying -^evBon.— Masonic 
 term. Greek, kvojv, a dog. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 123 
 
 COW'S GREASE, butter. 
 
 COW-LICK, the term given to the lock of hair whicTi coster- 
 mongers and thieves usually twist forward from the ear ; a 
 large greasy curl upon the cheek, seemingly licked into 
 shape. The opposite of newgate-knocker, which see. 
 
 COXY-LOXY, good-tempered, 6rnnk.— Norfolk, 
 
 CRAB, or GRAB, a disagreeable old person. Name of a wild 
 and sour fruit. " To catch a crab," to fall backwards by 
 missing a stroke in rowing. 
 
 CRAB, to offend, or insult ; to expose or defeat a robbery, to 
 inform against. 
 
 CRABSHELLS, or trotting cases, shoes.— /See carts. 
 
 CRACK, first rate, excellent; "a crack hand," an adept ; a 
 
 "crack article," a good one. — Old. 
 CRACK, dry firewood. — Modern Gipsey. 
 
 CRACK, "in a crack (of the finger and thumb)," in a moment. 
 CRACK A BOTTLE, to drink. Shakespere uses crush in the 
 
 same slang sense. 
 CRACK A KIRK, to break into a church or chapel. 
 CRACK- FENCER, a man who sells nuts. 
 CRACK- UP, to boast or ^vqa^q. —Ancient English. 
 CRACKED-UP, penniless, or ruined. 
 CRACKSMAN, a burglar. 
 CRAM, to lie or deceive, implying to fill up or CRAM a person 
 
 with false stories ; to acquire learning quickly, to ^^ grind" 
 
 or prepare for an examination. 
 CRAMMER, a lie ; or a person who commits a falsehood. 
 CRANKY, foolish, idiotic, ricketty, capricious^, not confined to 
 
 persons. -4 ^iciew^ caw^, cranke, simulated sickness. German^ 
 
 KRANK, sickly. 
 CRAP, to ease oneself, to evacuate. Old word for refuse ; also 
 
 old cant, crop. 
 CRAPPING CASE, or ken, a privy, or water-closet. 
 CRAPPED, hanged. 
 CREAM OF THE VALLEY, gin. 
 
 CRIB, house, public or otherwise ; lodgings, apartments. 
 CRIB, a situation. 
 CRIB, to steal or purloin. 
 CRIB, a literal translation of a classic author. — University. 
 
124 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 CRIB BITER, an inveterate grumbler ; properly said of a horse 
 which has this habit, a sign of its bad digestion. 
 
 CRIBBAGE FACED, marked with the small pox, full of holes 
 like a cribbage board. 
 
 CRIKEY, profane exclamation of astonishment ; " Oh, crikey, 
 you don't say so !" corruption of " Oh, Christ.'' 
 
 CRIMPS, men who trepan others into the clutches of the re- 
 cruiting sergeant. They generally pretend to give employ- 
 ment in the colonies, and in that manner cheat those 
 mechanics who are half famished. Nearly obsolete. 
 
 CRIPPLE, a bent sixpence. 
 
 CROAK, to die — from the gurgling sound a person makes when 
 the breath of life is departing. — Oxon. 
 
 CROAKER, one who takes a desponding view of everything ; 
 
 an alarmist. From the croaking of a raven. — Ben Jonson. 
 CKOAKER, a beggar. 
 
 CROAKER, a corpse, or dying person beyond hope. 
 CROAXS, last dying speeches, and murderers' confessions. 
 
 CROCOBILES' TEARS, the tears of a hypocrite. An ancient 
 phra.se, introduced into this country by Mandeville, or other 
 early English traveller. — Othello, iv., 1. 
 
 CROCUS, or CROAKUS, a quack or travelling doctor ; CROCUS- 
 CHOVEV, a chemist's shop. 
 
 CRONY, a termagant or malicious old woman; an intimate 
 friend. Johnson calls it cant. 
 
 CROOKY, to hang on to, to lead, walk arm-in-arm; to court or 
 pay addresses to a girl. 
 
 CROPPIE, a person who has had his hair cut, or cropped, in 
 prison,. 
 
 CROPPED, hanged. 
 
 CROSS, a general term amongst thieves expressive of their 
 plundering profession, the opposite of square. " To get 
 anything on the cross" is to obtain it surreptitiously. 
 ** Cross-fanning in a crowd," robbing persons of their scarf 
 pins. 
 
 CROSS COVE and MOLLISHER, a man and woman who live 
 by thieving. 
 
 CROSS-CRIB, a house frequented by thieves. 
 
 CROW, one who watches whilst another commits a theft, a con- 
 federate in a robbery. The crow looks to see that the way 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 125 
 
 is clear, whilst the sneak, his partner, commits the depre- 
 dation. 
 CROW, "a regular crow," a success, a stroke of luck, — equi- 
 valent to a FLUKE. 
 CROW, "I have a crow to pick with you," i.e., an explanation 
 to demand, a disagreeable matter to settle ; "to cock-crow 
 over a person," to exalt over his abasement or misfortune. 
 CRUG, iood.— Household Words, No. 183. 
 
 CRUMBS, *'to pick up one's crumbs," to begin to have an 
 appetite after an illness; to improve in health, circum- 
 stances, &c., after a loss thereof. 
 CRUMMY, fat, plump.— iV^or^^. 
 CRUMMY-DOSS, a lousy or filthy bed. 
 CRUNCH, to crush. Corruption ; or, perhaps from the sound 
 
 of teeth grinding againsc each other. 
 CRUSHER, a policeman. 
 CRUSHING, excellent, first rate. 
 CRUSTY, ill tempered, petulant, morose. — Old. 
 CULL, a man or boy. — Old cant. 
 CULLING, or cultng, stealing from the carriages on race. 
 
 courses. 
 CUPBOARD HEADED, an expressive designation of one whose 
 
 head is both wooden and hollow. — Norfolk. 
 CURE, an odd person ; a contemptuous term, abridged from 
 CURIOSITY — which was formerly the favourite expression. 
 — Compare stipe. 
 CURSE OF SCOTLAND, the Nine of Diamonds. Various 
 hypotheses have been set up as to this appellation— that it 
 was the card on which the " Butcher Duke" wrote a cruel 
 order with respect to the rebels after the battle of Culloden; 
 that the diamonds are the nine lozenges in the arms of 
 Dalrymple, Earl of Stair, devested 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 Hudihras, 
 
 and Bacchus and Venus, 1737. 
 CUSHION THUMPER, polite rendering of tub thumper, a 
 clergyman, a preacher. 
 
126 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 CUSTOMER, synonymous with chap, a fellow ; " a rum cus- 
 tomer," i. e., an odd fish, or curious person. — Shakespere. 
 
 CUSTOMHOUSE OFFICER, an aperient pill. 
 
 CUT, to run away, move off quickly ; to cease doing anything ; 
 CUT AND RUN, to quit woik, or occupation, and start off at 
 once ; to cut didoes, synonymous with to CUT capers ; cut 
 A DASH, make a show ; CUT a caper, to dance or show off 
 in a strange manner ; cut a figure, to make either a good 
 or bad appearance ; cut out, to excel, thus in affairs of 
 gallantry one Adonis is said to ^' cut the other out" in the 
 affections of the wished for lady; cut that ! be quiet, or 
 stop; CUT OUT op, done out of; cut op one's gib, the 
 expression or cast of his countenance [see gib] ; to cut 
 one's comb, to take down a conceited person, from the 
 practice of cutting the combs of capons [see comb-cut] ; 
 CUT AND come AGAIN, plenty, if one cut does not suffice, 
 plenty remains to " come again ;" cut up, mortified, to 
 criticise severely, or expose ; cut up shines, to play tricks ; 
 CUT one's stick, to be off quickly, i. e., be in readiness for a 
 journey, further elaborated into amputate your mahogany 
 [see Stick] ; cut it fat, to exaggerate or show off in an 
 extensive manner; to cut up fat, to die, leaving a large 
 property ; cut under, to undersell ; cut your lucky, to 
 run off; cut one's cart, to expose their tricks ; cut an 
 acquaintance, to cease friendly intercourse with them — 
 Cambridge. Old ; cutte, to say. 
 
 CUT, in theatrical language, means to strike out portions of a 
 dramatic piece, so as to render it shorter for representation, 
 A late treasurer of one of the so called Patent Theatres, 
 when asked his opinion of a new play, always gave utter- 
 ance to the brief, but safe piece of criticism, "wants 
 cutting." 
 
 CUT, ii^^Qj.— Household Words, No. 183. 
 
 CUT, to compete in business. 
 
 CUT-THROAT, a butcher, a cattle slaughterer ; a ruffian. 
 
 CUTE, sharp, cunning. Abbreviation of acute. 
 
 CUTTER, a ruffian, a cut purse. Of Rohin Hood it was said — 
 
 " So being- outlawed (as 'tis told), 
 He with a crew went forth 
 Of lusty CUTTERS, bold and strong, 
 And robbed in the north." 
 
 This ancient cant word now survives in the phrase, "to 
 swear like a cutter." 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 127 
 
 CUTTY PIPE, a short clay pipe. Scotch, cutty, short. Catty- 
 sarJc, a scantily draped lady is so called by Burns. 
 
 DAB, or DABSTER, an expert person. Johnson says, " in low 
 
 language, an artist." 
 DAB, a bed. 
 DAB, street term for a flat fish of any kind. — Old. 
 
 DACHA-SALTEE, tenpence. Probablyfrom the Lingua Franccb. 
 
 Modern Greek, dsKci ; Italian, dieci soldi, tenpence; Gipsey, 
 DiK, ten. So also dacha-one, i.e., dieci uno, elevenpence. — 
 
 See SALTEE, 
 
 DADDLES, hands ; " tip us your daddles, i. e., shake hands. 
 
 DADDY, the stage manager. — Theatrical. Also the person who 
 gives away the bride at weddings. 
 
 DAGS, feat or performance ; *' I'll do your dags," i.e , I will do 
 something that you cannot do. 
 
 DAISY CUTTER, a horse which trots or gallops without 
 lifting its feet much from the ground, 
 
 DAISY KICKERS, the name hostlers at large inns used to give 
 each other, now nearly obsolete. Daisy-kicker, or grog- 
 ham, was likewise the cant term for a horse. 
 
 The daisy-kickers were sad rogues in the old posting- 
 days; frequently the landlords rented the stables to them, 
 as the only plan to make them return a profit. 
 
 DAMPER, a shop till ; to draw a damper, i.e., rob a till. 
 
 DANCE UP0:N" NOTHING, to be hanged. 
 
 DANCERS, stairs.— OZcZ cant. 
 
 DANDER, passion, or temper; "to get one's dander up," to 
 rouse his passion. — Old. 
 
 DANDY, a fop, or fashionable nondescript. This word, in the 
 sense of a fop, is of modern origin. Bgan says it was first 
 used in 1820, and Bee in 1816. Johnson does not mention 
 it, although it is to be found in all late dictionaries. 
 Dandies wore stays, studied feminity, and tried to undo 
 their manhood. Lord Petersham headed them. At the 
 present day dandies of this stamp are fast disappearing. 
 The feminine of dandy was dandizette, but the term only 
 lived for a short season. 
 
 DANDYPRAT, a funny little fellow, a mannikin; originally a 
 half-farthing. 
 
 DANNA, excrement; danna drag, a nightman's or dustman's 
 cart. 
 
128 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 DARBIES, hmdou&Q.— Old cant. 
 
 DARBLE, the devil. — French, diable. 
 
 DARK, " keep it daek," i.e., secret. Dark horse, in racing 
 
 phraseology a horse whose chance of success is unknown, 
 
 and whose capabilities have not been made the subject of 
 
 comment. 
 DARKEY, twilight. Darkmans, the night. 
 
 DARN, vulgar corruption of d n. — AmeiHcan. 
 
 DASHING, showy, fast. 
 
 DAVID'S SOW, "as drunk as david's sow,'* *.e., beastly druuk. 
 
 — See origin of the phrase in Grose's Dictionary. 
 
 DAVY, " on my davt," on my affidavit, of which it is a vulgar 
 corruption. Latterly davy has become synonymous in 
 street language with the name of the Deity ; " so help 
 me DAVY," slang rendering of the conclusion of the oath 
 usually exacted of witnesses. 
 
 DAVY'S LOCKER, or davy jones' locker, the sea, the com- 
 mon receptacle for all things thrown overboard ; — a nautical 
 phrase for death, the other world. 
 
 DAWDLE, to loiter, or fritter away time. 
 
 DAYLIGHTS, eyes; "to darken his daylights," to give a 
 
 person black eyes. 
 DEAD ALIVE, stupid, dull. 
 DEAD HORSE, " to draw the dead horse," dbad-horse work, 
 
 — working for wages already paid ; also any thankless or 
 
 unassisted service. 
 DEAD-LURK, entering a dwelling-house during divine service. 
 DEAD MEN, the term for wine bottles after they are emptied 
 
 of their contents. — Old. — See marines. 
 DEAD- SET, a pointed attack on a person. 
 DEANER, a shilling. Provincial G'cpsey, deanee, a pound, 
 DEATH, " to dress to death," i.e., to tlie very extreme of 
 
 fashion, perhaps so as to be killing. 
 DEATH-HUNTERS, running patterers, who vend last dying 
 
 speeches and confessions. 
 DECK, a pack of cards. — Old. Used by Bulwer as a cant term. 
 
 General in the United States. 
 DEE, a pocket book, tsrm used by tramps. — Glpsey. 
 DEMIREP (or rip), a courtesan. Contraction of demi- 
 
 R EPU T ATION — Grose. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 129 
 
 DESPATCHES, false " dice with two sides, double four, double 
 five, and double six." — Times, 27th November, 1856. 
 
 DEUCE, the devil. — Old. Stated by Junius and others to be 
 from DEUS. 
 
 DEUCE, twopence ; deuce at cards or dice, one with two pips 
 or holes. 
 
 DEVIL, a printer's youngest apprentice, an errand boy. 
 
 DEVIL-DODGERS, clergymen ; also people who go sometimes 
 to church and sometimes to meeting. 
 
 DEVIL'S-TEETH, dice. 
 
 DEVOTIONAL HABITS, horses weak in the knees and apt to 
 ' stumble and fall are said to have these. — Stable. 
 
 DEWSKITCH, a good thrashing. 
 
 DIBBS, money ; so called from the buckle bones of sheep, which 
 have been used from the eai-liest times for gambling pur- 
 poses, being thrown up five at a time and caught on the 
 back of the hand like halfpence. 
 
 DICKEY, bad, sorry, or foolish ; food or lodging is pronounced 
 DICKEY when of a poor description; "it's all dickey with 
 him," i.e., all over with him. 
 
 DICKEY, formerly the cant for a worn out shirt, but means 
 now-a-days a front or half shirt. Dickey was originally 
 TOMMY (from the Greek, TOfir], a section), a name which I 
 understand was formerly used in Trinity College, Dublin. 
 The students are said to have invented the term, and the 
 Gyps changed it to dickey, in which dress it is supposed to 
 have been imported into England. 
 
 DICKEY, a donkey. 
 
 DICKENS, synonymous with devil ; " what the dickens are you 
 after ?" what the d — 1 are you doing ? Used by ShaJcespere 
 in the Merry Wives of Windsor. 
 
 DIDDLE, to cheat, or defraud.— OZcZ. 
 
 DIDDLE, old cant word for geneva, or gin. 
 
 DIDDLER, or jeremy diddler, an artful swindler 
 
 DIDOES, pranks or capers; " to cut up didoes," to make pranks. 
 
 DIES, last dying speeches, and criminal trials. 
 
 DIGS, hard blows. 
 
 DIGGERS, spurs ; also the spades on cards. 
 
 DIGGINGS, lodgings, apartments, residence; an expression 
 
 probably imported from California, or Australia, with 
 
 reference to the gold diggings. 
 
 K 
 
130 A DICTIONARY OP 
 
 DILLY DALLY, to trifle. 
 
 DIMBER, neat or pretty. — Worcestershire, but old cant. 
 
 DIMBER DAMBER, very pretty ; a clever rogue who excels his 
 fellows ; chief of a gang. Old cant in the latter sense. — 
 English Rogue. 
 
 DIMMOCK, money ; " how are you off for dimmock ?" diminutive 
 of DIME, a small foreign silver coin. 
 
 DINARLY, money; "nantee dinarly," I have no money, 
 corrupted from the Lingua Franca, " niente dinaro," not 
 a penny. Turkish, dinari ; Spanish, dinero ; Latin, de- 
 narius. 
 
 DING, to strike ; to throw away, or get rid of anything ; to pass 
 to a confederate. 
 
 DIPPED, mortgsiged.—ffousehold Words, No. 183. 
 
 DISGUISED, intoxicated.— ^o^e^oZc^ Words, No. 183. 
 
 DISH, to stop, to do away with, to suppress ; dished, done for, 
 floored, beaten, or silenced. A correspondent suggests that 
 meat is usually done brown before being dished, and 
 conceives that the latter term may have arisen as the 
 natural sequence of the former. 
 
 DISHABBILLY, the ridiculous corruption of the French, 
 DESHABILLE, amongst fashionably affected, but ignorant 
 "stuck-up" people. 
 
 DITHERS, nervous or cold shiverings. "It gave me the 
 
 DITHERS." 
 
 DIVE, to pick pockets, 
 
 DIVERS, pickpockets. 
 
 DO, this useful and industrious verb has for many years done 
 service as a slang term. To do a person is to cheat him. 
 Sometimes another tense is employed, such as " I done him," 
 meaning I cheated or "paid him out;" done brown, cheated 
 thoroughly, befooled ; done over, upset, cheated, knocked 
 down, ruined ; done up, used up, finished, or quieted. 
 Done also means convicted, or sentenced ; so does done- 
 FOE. To DO a person in pugilism is to excel him in fisticuffs. 
 Humphreys, who fought Mendoza, a Jew, wrote this laconic 
 note to his supporter — " Sir, — I have done the Jew, and am 
 in good health. Rich. Humphreys." Tourists use the ex- 
 pression " I have done France and Italy," meaning I have 
 completely explored those countries. 
 
 DOCTOR, to adulterate or drug liquor ; also to falsify accounts. 
 — See cook. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 131 
 
 DODGE, a cunning trick. *' Dodge, that homely but expressive 
 phrase." — Sir Hugh Cairns on the Reform Bill, 2nd. March, 
 1859. Anglo Saxon, deogian, to colour, to conceal. The 
 TIDY DODGE, as it is Called by street-folk, consists in dressing 
 up a family clean and tidy, and parading the streets to excite 
 compassion and obtain alms. A correspondent suggests 
 that the verb dodge may have been formed (like wench 
 from winh) from dog, i.e.y to double quickly and unex- 
 pectedly, as in coursing. 
 
 DODGER, a tricky person, or one who, to use the popular 
 phrase, "knows too much." — See devil-dodger. 
 
 DODGER, a dram. In Kent, a dodger signifies a nightcap; 
 which name is often given to the last dram at night. 
 
 DOG, to follow in one's footsteps on the sly, to track. 
 
 DOG-CHEAP, or dog-foolish, very, or singularly cheap, or 
 foolish. Latham, in his English Language, says: — "This 
 ■ has nothing to do with dogs. The first syllable is god = 
 good transposed, and the second, the ch — p, is chapman, 
 merchant : compare bastcheap." — Old term. 
 
 DOG-LATIN", barbarous Latin, such as was formerly used by 
 lawyers in their pleadings. 
 
 DOG-ON-IT, a form of mild swearing used by boys. It is just 
 worthy of mention that dogone, in Anglo-Norman, is 
 equivalent to a term of contempt. Friesic, dogeniet. 
 
 DOGSNOSE, gin and beer, so called from the mixture being 
 cold, like a dog's nose. 
 
 DOLDRUMS, difficulties, low spirits, dumps.— /Sea. 
 
 DOLLOP, a lump or portion. — Norfolk. Ang. Sax. dael, dole. 
 
 DOLLOP, to dole up, give up a share. — lb. 
 
 DOLLYMOP, a tawdrily- dressed maid servant, a street walker. 
 
 DOLLY SHOP, an illegal pawnshop, — where goods, or stolen 
 property, not good enough for the pawnbroker, are received, 
 and charged at so much per day. If not redeemed the third 
 day the goods are forfeited. Anglo Saxon, dael, a part, — to 
 dole "^—See nix. A correspondent thinks it may have been 
 derived from the black doll, the usual sign of a rag shop. 
 
 DOMINE, a parson. 
 
 DOMINOS, the teeth. 
 
 DON, a clever fellow, the opposite of a muff; a person of dis- 
 tinction in his line or walk. At the Universities, the Masters 
 and Fellows are the dons. Don is also used as an adjective, 
 " a DON hand at a knife and fork," i.e., a first-rate feeder at 
 a dinner table. — Spanish. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 DONE FOR A RAMP, convicted for thieving. 
 
 DONKEY, "three more and up goes the donkey," a vulgar 
 street phrase for extracting as much money as possible before 
 performing any task. The phrase had its origin with a 
 travelling showman, the finale of whose performance was 
 the hoisting of a donkey on a pole or ladder ; but this con- 
 summation was never arrived at unless the required number 
 of "browns" was first paid up, and "three more" was 
 generally the unfortunate deficit. 
 
 DONNA AND FEELES, a woman and children. Italian or 
 
 Lingua Franca, donne e eiglie. 
 DOOKIN, fortune telling. Gipsey, dukkerin. 
 DOSE, three months' imprisonment as a known thief. — See 
 
 BRAGGADOCIO. 
 
 DOSS, a bed. — NortJi, Probably from doze, Mayhew thinks it 
 is from the Norman, dossel, a hanging, or bed canopy. 
 
 DOSS, to sleep, formerly spelt dorse. Perhaps from the phrase 
 to lie on one's dorsum, back. 
 
 DOSS-KEN, a lodging house. 
 
 DOUBLE, " to tip (or give) the double," to run away from any 
 person ; to double back, turn short round upon one's pur- 
 suers and so escape, as a hare does. — Sporting. 
 
 DOUBLE -UP, to pair off, or "chum," with another man; to 
 beat severely. 
 
 DOUBLE-SHUFFLE, a low, shuffling, noisy dance, common 
 amongst costermongers. — See flip-flaps. 
 
 DOUSE, to put out; " douse that glim," put out that candle. — 
 Sea. 
 
 DOWD, a woman's nightcap. — Devonshire; also an American 
 term; possibly from dowdy, a slatternly woman. 
 
 DOWN, to be aware of, or awake to, any move — in this meaning, 
 synonymous with UP ; "down upon one's luck," unfortu- 
 nate; "down iu the mouth," disconsolate; "to be down 
 on one," to treat him harshly or suspiciously, to pounce 
 upon him, or detect his tricks. 
 
 DOWN THE DOLLY, a favourite gambling contrivance, often 
 seen in the tap rooms of public houses, at race-courses, and 
 fairs, coDsisting 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. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 133 
 
 DOWN THE ROAD, stylish, showy, after the fashion. 
 DOWJSTER, a sixpence; apparently the Gipsey word, tawno, 
 
 "little one," in course of metamorphosis into the more 
 
 usual 'Hanner'' 
 DOW]N"S, Tothill Fields' prison. 
 DOWNY, knowing or cunning; " a downy cove," a knowing or 
 
 experienced sharper. 
 DOWRY, a lot, a great deal ; " dowry of parny," lot of rain or 
 
 water. — See parny. Probably from the Gipsey. 
 
 DOXY, the female companion of a thief or beggar. In the West 
 of England, the women frequently call their little girla 
 doxies, in a familiar or endearing sense. A learned divine 
 once described orthodoxy as being a man's own doxy, and 
 heterodoxy another man's doxy. — Ancient cant. 
 
 DRAB, a vulgar or low woman. — Shalcespere, 
 
 DRAG, a cart of any kind, a coach; gentlemen drive to the 
 races in drags. 
 
 DRAG, a street, or road ; back-drag, back-street. 
 
 DRAG, or three moon, three months in prison. 
 
 DRAGGING, robbing carts, &c. 
 
 DRAGSMEN, fellows who cut trunks from the backs of car- 
 riages. They sometimes have a light cart, and "drop 
 behind" the plundered vehicle, and then drive off in an 
 opposite direction with the booty. 
 
 DRAIN, a drink ; " to do a drain," to take a friendly drink — 
 " do a wet ;" sometimes called a common sewer. 
 
 DRAW, "come, draw it mild!" i.e., don't exaggerate; oppo- 
 site of " come it strong." From the phraseology of the bar 
 (of a public), where customers desire the beer to be drawn 
 mild, 
 
 DRAWERS, formerly the ancient cant name for very long 
 stockings, now a hosier's term. 
 
 DRAWING TEETH, wrenching off knockers. 
 
 DRIVE- AT, to aim at; '"what is he driving AT ?" what does 
 he intend to imply ?" a phrase often used when a circuitous 
 line of argument is adopted by a barrister, or a strange set 
 of questions asked, the purpose of which is not very evident. 
 
 DRIVE, a term used by tradesmen in speaking of business 
 "he's driving a roaring trade," i.e., a very good one 
 hence, to succeed in a bargain, " I drove a good bargain,' 
 i.e., got the best end of it. 
 
134 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 DRIZ, lace. In a low lodging house this singular autograph 
 inscription appeared over the mantelpiece, " Scotch Mary, 
 with DRIZ (lace), bound to Dover and back, please God." 
 
 DRIZ FENCER, a person who sells lace. 
 
 DROP, to quit, go off, or turn aside; "drop the main Toby," 
 go off the main road. 
 
 DROP, "to DROP INTO a person," to give him a thrashing. — See 
 SLIP and WALK. "To drop on to a man," to accuse or 
 rebuke him suddenly. 
 
 DRUM, a house, a lodging, a street ; hazard-drum, a gambling 
 ' house ; flash-drum, a house of ill-fame. 
 
 DRUMMER, a robber who first makes his victims insensible by 
 drugs or violence, and then plunders them. 
 
 DUB, to pay or give ; " DUB up," pay up. 
 
 DUBBER, the mouth ; "mum your dubber," hold your tongue. 
 
 DUBLIN PACKET, to turn a corner ; to " take the Dublin 
 PACKET," viz., run round the corner. 
 
 DUBS, a bunch of keys. — Nearly obsolete. 
 
 DUBSMAN, or screw, a turnkey. 
 
 DUCKS AND DRAKES, " to make ducks and drakes of one's 
 money," to throw it away childishly, — derived from children 
 " shying" flat stones on the surface of a pool, which they 
 call DUCKS AND DRAKES, according to the number of skips 
 they make. 
 
 DUDDERS, or dudsmen, persons who formerly travelled the 
 country as pedlars, selling gown-pieces, silk waistcoats, &c., 
 to countrymen. In selling a waistcoat-piece for thirty 
 shillings or two pounds, which cost them perhaps five 
 shillings, they would show great fear of the revenue officer, 
 and beg of the purchasing clodhopper to Tcneel down in a 
 puddle of water, crook his arm, and swear that it might 
 never become straight if he told an exciseman, or even his 
 own wife. The term and practice are nearly obsolete. In 
 Liverpool, however, and at the east end of London, men 
 dressed up as sailors, with pretended silk handkerchiefs and 
 cigars "only just smuggled from the Indies," are still to be 
 plentifully found. 
 
 DUDDS, clothes, or personal property, Gaelic, dud; Ancient 
 
 cant; also Dutch, 
 DUFF, pudding; vulgar pronunciation of dough. — Sea. 
 DUFFER, a hawker of " Brummagem" or sham jewellery ; a 
 
 sham of any kind ; a fool, or worthless person. Duffer 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 135 
 
 was formerly synonymous with dudder, and was a general 
 
 term given to pedlars. It is mentioned in the Frauds of 
 
 London (1760), as a word in frequent use in the last 
 
 century to express cheats of all kinds. From the German, 
 
 DURFEN, to want ? 
 DUFFING, false, counterfeit, worthless. 
 DUKE, gm.~Household Words, No. 183. 
 DUMB-FOUND, to perplex, to beat soundly till not able to 
 
 speak. Originally a cant word. Johnson cites the Spectator 
 
 for the earliest use. Scotch, dumfounder. 
 DUMMACKER, a knowing or acute person. 
 DUMMIES, empty bottles and drawers in an apothecary's shop, 
 
 labelled so as to give an idea of an extensive stock. 
 DUMMY, in three-handed whist the person who holds two 
 
 hands plays dummy. 
 DUMMY, a pocket book. 
 DUMP FENCER, a man who sells buttons. 
 DUMPY, short and stout. 
 DUMPISH, sullen, or glumpy. 
 DUN, to solicit payment. — Old cant, from the French donnez, 
 
 give ; or from joe dun, the famous bailiff of Lincoln ; or 
 
 simply a corruption of din, from the Anglo Saxon dunan, 
 
 to clamour ? 
 DUNAKER, a stealer of cows or calves Nearly obsolete. 
 DUNDERHEAD, a blockhead. 
 DUNG, an operative who works for an employer who does not 
 
 give full or " society" wages. 
 DUNNAGE, baggage, clothes. Also, a Sea term for wood or 
 
 loose faggots laid at the bottom of ships, upon which is 
 
 placed the cargo. 
 DUNNY-KEN, a water-closet.— ^ee ken. 
 DURRYNACKING, offering lace or any other article as an 
 
 introduction to fortune-telling ; generally pursued by 
 
 women. 
 
 DUST, money ; " down with the dust," put down the money. 
 — Ancient. Dean Swift once took for his text, " He who 
 giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord." His sermon was 
 short. *' Now, my brethren," said he, "if you are satisfied 
 with the security, down with the dust." 
 
 DUST, a disturbance, or noise, " to raise a dust," to make a row. 
 
 DUTCH CONSOLATION, "thank God it is no worse." 
 
136 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 DUTCH CONCERT, where each performer plays a differeot 
 
 tune, 
 DUTCH COURAGE, false courage, generally excited by drink, — 
 
 pot-valoiir. 
 DUTCH FEAST, where the host gets drunk before his guest. 
 DUTCH UNCLE, a personage often introduced in conversation, 
 
 but exceedingly difficult to describe ; " I'll talk to him like 
 
 a DUTCH UNCLE !" conveys the notion of anything but a 
 
 desirable relation. — Americanism. 
 
 DOUBLE DUTCH, gibberish, or any foreign tongue. 
 
 EARL OF CORK, the ace of diamonds. — Hihernicism. 
 
 "What do you mean by the Earl of Cork?" asked Mr. Squander. 
 "The ace of diamonds, your honour. It's the worst ace, and 
 the poorest card in the pack, and is called the Earl of Cork, be- 
 cause he's the poorest nobleman in Ireland." — Carleton's Traits 
 and Stories of the Irish Peasantry. 
 
 EARWIG, a clergyman, also one who prompts another ma- 
 liciously. 
 
 EARWIG GING, a rebuke in private ; a wigging is more public. 
 
 EASE, to rob ; " easing a bloak," robbing a man. 
 
 EGG, or EGG on, to excite, stimulate, or provoke one person to 
 quarrel with another, &c. Cor. of edge, or edge on. — Ancient. 
 
 ELBOW, " to shake one's elbow," to play at cards. 
 
 ELBOW GREASE, labour, or industry. 
 
 ELEPHANT, " to have seen the elephant," to be " up to the 
 latest move," or '^ down to the last new trick;" to be 
 knowing, and not " green," &c. Possibly a metaphor taken 
 from the travelling menageries, where the elephant is the 
 finale of the exhibition. — Originally an Americanism. 
 Bartlett gives conflicting examples. General now, however. 
 
 EVAPORATE, to go, or run away. 
 
 EVERLASTING STAIRCASE, the treadmill. Sometimes 
 called " Colonel Chesterton's everlasting staircase," from 
 the gallant inventor or improver. 
 
 EXTENSIVE, frequently applied in a slang sense to a person's 
 appearance or talk ; " rather extensive that !" intimating 
 that the person alluded to is showing off, or " cutting it fat.'* 
 
 EYE WATER, gin. 
 
 FAD, a hobby, a favourite pursuit. 
 
 FADGE, a farthing. 
 
 FADGE, to suit or fit; "it won't fadge," it will not do. Used 
 by Shahespere, but now heard only in the streets. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 137 
 
 FAG, to beat, also one boy working for another at scbool. 
 
 FAG, a schoolboy who performs a servant's offices to a superior 
 school-mate. Grose thinks fagged out is derived from this. 
 
 FAGOT, a term of opprobrium used by low people to children ; 
 ** you little fagot, you !" Fagot was orip;inally a term of 
 contempt for a dry, shrivelled old woman, whose bones were 
 like a bundle of sticks, only fit to burn. — Compare the 
 French expression for a heretic, sentir le fagot. 
 
 FAKE, to cheat, or swindle; to do anything; to go on, or con- 
 tinue; to make or construct; to steal, or rob, — a verb 
 variously used. Faked, done, or done for; "fake away, 
 there's no down," go on, there is nobody looking. Mayhew 
 says it is from the Latin, facimentum. 
 
 FAKEMENT, a false begging petition, any act of robbery, 
 swindling, or deception. 
 
 FAKEMENT CHARLEY, the owner's private mark. 
 
 FAKER, one who makes or fakes anything. 
 
 FAKING A CLY, picking a pocket. 
 
 FAMBLES, or famms, the hands. — Ancient cant. German, 
 
 FAUGEN. 
 
 FAMILY MEN, or people, thieves, or burglars. 
 
 FAN. a waistcoat. 
 
 FANCY, the favourite sports, pets, or pastime of a person, the 
 tan of low life. Pugilists are sometimes termed the fancy. 
 ShaJcespere uses the word in the sense of a favourite, or pet ; 
 and the paramour of a prostitute is still called her fancy- 
 man. 
 
 FANCY-BLOAK, a fancy or sporting man. 
 
 FAN-TAIL, a dustman's hat. 
 
 FAST, gay, spreeish, unsteady, thoughtless, — an Americanism 
 that has of late ascended from the streets to the drawing- 
 room. The word has certainly now a distinct meaning, 
 which it had not thirty years ago. Quick is the synonyme 
 for fast, but a quick man wotild not convey the meaning of 
 a FAST MAN, — a person who by late hours, gaiety, and con- 
 tinual 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 un- 
 feminine accomplishment, — talks slang, drives about in 
 London, smokes cigarettes, is knowing in dogs, horses, &c. 
 An amusing anecdote is told of a fast young lady, the 
 daughter of a right reverend prelate, who was an adept in 
 horseflesh. Being desirous of ascertaining the opinion of a 
 
138 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 candidate for ordination, who had the look of a bird of the 
 same feather, as to the merits of some cattle just brought 
 to her father's palace for her to select from, she was assured 
 by him they were utterly unfit for a lady's use. With a 
 knowing look at the horses' points, she gave her decision in 
 these choice words, '^ Well, I agree with you ; they are a 
 rum lot, as the Devil said of the ten commandments." 
 
 FAST, embarrassed, wanting money. Synonymous with hard 
 UP. — TorJcshire. 
 
 FAT, a printer's term signifying the void spaces on a page, for 
 which he is paid at the same rate as full or unbroken 
 pages. This work afforded much fat for the printers. 
 
 FAT, rich, abundant, &c. ; " a fat lot ;" " to cut it fat," to 
 exaggerate, to show off in an extensive or grand manner, 
 to assume undue importance ; cut up fat," see under cut. 
 As a Theatrical term, a part with plenty of fat in it, is one 
 which affords the actor an opportunity of effective display. 
 
 FATHER, or fence, a buyer of stolen property. 
 
 FAWNEY, a finger ring. 
 
 FAWNEY BOUNCING, selling rings for a wager. This practice 
 is founded upon the old tale of a gentleman laying a wager 
 that if he was to offer *' real gold sovereigns" at a penny a 
 piece at the foot of London Bridge, the English public would 
 be too incredulous to buy. The story states that the 
 gentleman stationed himself with sovereigns in a tea tray, 
 and sold only two within the hour, — winning the bet. 
 This tale the pawney bouncers tell the public, only offer- 
 ing brass, double gilt rings, instead of sovereigns. 
 
 FAWNEY, or fawney rig, ring dropping. A few years ago, 
 this practice, or rig, was very common. A fellow purposely 
 dropped a ring, or a pocket book with some little articles of 
 jewellery, &c., in it, and when he saw any person pick it 
 up, ran to claim half. The ring found, the question of 
 how the booty was to be divided had then to be decided. 
 The Fawney says, " if you will give me eight or nine shillings 
 for my share the things are yours." This the flat thinks 
 very fair. The ring of course is valueless, and the swallovver 
 of the bait discovers the trick too late. 
 
 FEATHERS, money, wealth ; " in full feather," rich. 
 
 FEEDER, a spoon. — OZcZ cant. 
 
 FEELE, a daughter, or child. — Corrupted French. 
 
 FELT, a hat. — Old term, in use in the sixteenth century. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANt WORDS. 139 
 
 FENCE, or fencer, a purchaser or receiver of stolen goods ; 
 PENCE, the shop or warehouse of a fencer. — Old cant. 
 
 FENCE, to sell or pawn stolen property to a fencer. 
 
 FERRICADOUZER, a knock down below, a good thrashing. 
 Probably derived through the Lingua Franca from the 
 Italian, far' cader' morto, to knock down dead. 
 
 FIB, to beat, or strike. — Old cant. 
 
 FIDDLE, a whip. 
 
 FIDDLE FADDLE, twaddle, or trifling discourse.— OZcZ cant. 
 
 FIDDLE STICKS ! nonsense. 
 
 FIDDLER, or fadge, a farthing. 
 
 FIDDLER, a sixpence. —^owse/ioZc^ Words, No. 183. 
 
 FIDDLER, a sharper, a cheat ; also one who dawdles over little 
 matters, and neglects great ones. 
 
 FIDDLERS' MONEY, a lot of sixpences ;— 6d. was the remu- 
 neration to fiddlers from each of the company in old times. 
 
 FIDDLING, doing any odd jobs in the streets, holding horses, 
 carrying parcels, &c., for a living. Among the middle 
 classes, FIDDLING means idling away time, or trifling; and 
 amongst sharpers, it means gambling. 
 
 FID FAD, a game similar to chequers, or drafts, played in the 
 West of England. 
 
 FIDLUM BEN, thieves who take anything they can lay their 
 hands upon. 
 
 FIELD-LANE-DUCK, a baked sheep's head. Field-lane is a 
 low London thoroughfare, leading from the foot of Holborn- 
 hill to the purlieus of Clerkenwell. It was formerly the 
 market for stolen pocket handkerchiefs. 
 
 FIG, "to FIG a horse," to play improper tricks with one in 
 
 order to make him lively. 
 FIG, " in full FIG," i.e., full dress costume, " extensively got up." 
 FIGURE, " to cut a good or bad figure," to make a good or 
 indifierent appearance ; " what's the figure ?" how much is 
 to pay ? Figure-head, a person's face. — Sea term. 
 
 FILCH, to steal, or purloin. Originally a cant word, derived 
 from the filches, or hooks, thieves used to carry, to hook 
 clothes, or any portable articles from open windows. — Vide 
 Decker. It was considered a cant or Gipsey term up to the 
 beginning of the last century. Harman has " fylche, to 
 robbe." 
 
 FILE, a deep, or artful man, a jocose name for a cunning person. 
 
140 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 Originally a terra for a pickpocket, when to file was to 
 cheat or rob. File, an artful man, was used in the thirteenth 
 and fourteenth centuries. 
 
 FILLIBRUSH, to flatter, praise ironically. 
 
 FIMBLE-FAMBLE, a lame prevaricating excuse. — Scand. 
 
 FIN", a hand; " come, tip us your fin," viz., let us shake hands. 
 —Sea. 
 
 FINDER, one who finds bacon and meat at the market before 
 they are lost, i.e., steals them, 
 
 FINUF, a five-pound note. Double finuf, a ten-pound note. 
 — German, funf, five. 
 
 FISHY, doubtful, unsound, rotten — a term used to denote a 
 suspicion of a " screw being loose," or "something rotten 
 in the state of Denmark/* in alluding to an unsafe specu- 
 lation. 
 
 FISH, a person ; " a queer fish," *' a loose fish," &c. 
 
 FIX, a predicament, dilemma; " an awful fix," a terrible posi- 
 tion ; " to fix one's flint for him," i.e., to " settle his 
 hash," " put a spoke in his wheel." 
 
 FIZZING, first-rate, very good, excellent; synonymous with 
 stunning. 
 
 FLABERGAST, or flabberghast, to astonish, or strike with 
 wonder. — Old. 
 
 FLAG, a groat, or 4d. — Aricient cant. 
 
 FLAG, an apron. 
 
 FLAG OF DISTRESS, poverty— when the end of a person's 
 shirt protrudes through his trousers. 
 
 FLAM, nonsense, blarney, a lie. — Kentish ; Anglo Saxon. 
 
 FLAME, a sweetheart. 
 
 FLANNEL, or hot flannel, the old term for gin and beer, 
 drank hot, with nutmeg, sugar, &c. Also called flip. There 
 is an anecdote told of Goldsmith helping to drink a quart of 
 flannel in a night house, in company with George Parker, 
 Ned Shuter, and a demure grave looking gentleman, who 
 continually introduced the words crap, stretch, scrag, 
 and SWING. Upon the Doctor's asking who this strange 
 person might be, and being told his profession, he rushed 
 from the place in a frenzy, exclaiming, *' Good God ! and 
 have I been sitting all this while with a hangman ?" 
 
 FLARE UP, a jovial social gathering, a "break down," a "row." 
 
 FLASH, showy, smart, knowing ; a word with various meanings. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 141 
 
 A person is said to be dressed flash when his garb ia 
 showy, and after a fashion, but without taste. A person is 
 said to be flash when he apes the ai)pearance or manners 
 of his betters, or when he is trying to be superior to hia 
 friends and relations. Flash also means " fast," roguish, 
 and sometimes infers counterfeit or deceptive, — and this, 
 perhaps, is its general signification. " Flash, my young 
 friend, or slang, as others call it, is the classical language 
 of the Holy Land; in other words, St. Giles' Greek."— Tom 
 and Jerry, by Moncreiff. Vulgar language was first termed 
 FLASH in the year 1718, by Hitchiu, author of " The Regu- 
 lator of Thieves, <fcc., with account of flash words." 
 
 FLASH IT, show it — said when any bargain is ofi'ered. 
 
 FLAT, a fool, a silly or "soft" person, the opposite of sharp. 
 The term appears to be shortenings for " sharp-witted " 
 and " flat-witted." " Oh ! Messrs. Tyler, Donelson, and the 
 rest, what flats you are."— Tmes, 6th September, 1847. 
 
 FLATTIES, rustic, or uninitiated people. 
 
 FLATTY-KEN", a public house, the landlord of which is igno- 
 rant of the practices of the thieves and tramps who fre- 
 quent it. 
 
 FLESH AND BLOOD, brandy and port in equal quantities. 
 
 FLESH-BAG, a shirt. 
 
 FLICK, or OLD flick, an old chap or fellow. 
 
 FLICK, or FLIG, to whip by striking, and drawing the lash back 
 at the same time, which causes a stinging blow. 
 
 FLIM FLAMS, idle stories. — Beaumont and Fletcher. 
 
 FLIMP, to hustle, or rob. 
 
 FLIMSIES, bank notes. 
 
 FLIMSY, the thin prepared copying paper used by newspaper 
 reporters and " penny-a-liners " for making several copies 
 at once, thus enabling them to supply difiereut papers with 
 the same article without loss of time. — Printers term. 
 
 FLINT, an operative who works for a "society" master, i.e., 
 for full wages. 
 
 FLIP, corruption of fillip, a light blow. 
 
 FLIP-FLAPS, a peculiar rollicking dance indulged in by coster- 
 mongers when merry or excit( d — better described, perhaps, 
 as the DOUBLE shuffle, danced with an air of extreme 
 abandon. 
 
 FLIPPER, the hand ; "give us your flipper," give me your 
 hand. — Sea. Metaphor taken from the flipper or paddle of 
 a turtle. 
 
142 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 FLOG, to whip. Cited both by Grose and the author of Bacchus 
 and Venus as a cant word. It would be curious to ascer- 
 tain the earliest use ; Richardson cites Lord Chesterfield. — 
 Latin. 
 
 FLOGGER, a whip.— OSsoZe^e. 
 FLOOR, to knock down.— Pugilistic. 
 
 FLOORER, a blow sufficiently strong to knock a man down. 
 FLOWERY, lodging, or house entertainment ; " square the omee 
 for the FLOWERY," pay the master for the lodging. 
 
 FLUE FAKERS, chimney sweeps ; also low sporting characters, 
 who are so termed from their chiefly betting on the Great 
 Sweeps. 
 
 FLUFF IT, a term of disapprobation, implying " take it away, 
 I don't want it." 
 
 FLUKE, at billiards, playing for one thing and getting another. 
 Hence, generally what one gets accidentally, an unexpected 
 advantage, " more by luck than wit." 
 
 FLUMMERY, flattery, gammon, genteel nonsense. 
 
 FLUMMUX, to perplex, hinder ; flummuxed, stopped, used up 
 
 FLUMMUXED, done up, sure of a month in quod, or prison. 
 In mendicant freemasonry, the sign chalked by rogues and 
 tramps upon a gate-post or house corner, to express to suc- 
 ceeding 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 quod." — See quod. 
 
 FLUNKEY, a footman, servant.— .S'co^cA. 
 
 FLUSH, the opposite of hard up, in possession of money, not 
 poverty stricken. — ShaJcespere. 
 
 FLY, to lift, toss, or raise; "fly the mags," ie., toss up the 
 halfpence; "to fly a window," i.e., to lift one for the 
 purpose of stealing. 
 
 FLY, knowing, wide awake, fully understanding another's 
 meaning. 
 
 FLY THE KITE, or raise the wind, to obtain money on 
 
 bills, whether good or bad, alluding to tossing paper 
 
 about like children do a kite. 
 FLY THE KITE, to evacuate from a window, — term used in 
 
 padding kens, or low lodging houses. 
 FLYING-MESS, " to be in flying mess" is a soldier's phrase for 
 
 being hungry and having to mess where he can. — Military. 
 FLYING STATIONERS, paper workers, hawkers of penny 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 143 
 
 ballads ; " Printed for the Flying Stationers " is the im- 
 primatur on hundreds of penny histories and sheet songs 
 of the last and present centuries. 
 
 FLYMY, knowing, cunning, roguish. 
 
 FOALED, " thrown from a horse." — Hunting term. — See purled, 
 and SPILT. 
 
 FOGEY, or old fogey, a dullard, an old-fashioned or singular 
 person. Grose says it is a nickname for an invalid soldier, 
 from the French, fourgea.ux, fierce or fiery, but it has lost 
 this signification now. Fogger, old word for a huckster or 
 servant. 
 
 FOGGY, tipsy. 
 
 FOGLE, a silk handkerchief— not a clout, which is of cotton. 
 It has been hinted that this may have come from the Ger- 
 man, vogel, a bird, from the bird's eye spots on some hand- 
 kerchiefs \see bird's-eye-wipe, under billy], but a more 
 probable derivation is the Italian slang (Fourhesque) foglia, 
 a pocket, or purse ; or from the French argot, fouille, also 
 a pocket. 
 
 FOGUS, tobacco. — Old cant, Fogo, old word for stench. 
 
 FOONT, a sovereign, or 20s. 
 
 FOOTING, " to pay footing."— /See shoe. 
 
 FORAKERS, a water closet, or house of office. — Term used by 
 the boys at Winchester school. 
 
 FORK OUT, to bring out one's money, to pay the bill, to stand 
 FOR or treat a friend ; to hand over what does not belong to 
 you. — Old cant term for picking pockets, and very curious 
 it is to trace its origin. In the early part of the last century, 
 a little book on purloining was published, and of course it 
 had to give the latest modes. Forking was the newest 
 method, and it consisted in thrusting the fingers stiff" and 
 open into the pocket, and then quickly closing them and 
 extracting any article. 
 
 FORKS, or grappling irons, fingers. 
 
 FORTY GUTS, vulgar term for a fat man. 
 
 FOUR AND NINE, or four and ninepenny goss, a cheap hat, 
 so called from 4s. dd., the price at which a noted advertising 
 hat maker sold his hats — 
 
 " Whene'er to slumber you incline, 
 Take a short nap at 4 and 9."— 1844. 
 
 FOU, slightly intoxicated.— *Sco^c/i. 
 
 FOURTH, or fourth court, the court appropriated to the 
 
144 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 water-closets at Cambridge ; from its really being No. 4 at 
 Trinity College. A man leaving his room to go to this 
 FOURTH COURT, Writes on his door " gone to the fourth," 
 or, in algebraic notation, "gone 4 " — the Cambridge slang 
 phrase. 
 
 FOX, to cheat or rob. — Eton College. 
 
 FOXING, watching in the streets for any occurrence which may 
 be turned to a profitable account. — See mooching. 
 
 FOXING, to pretend to be asleep like a fox, which is said to take 
 its rest with one eye open. 
 
 FOXY, rank, tainted. — Lincolnshire. 
 
 FUEE, to steal — generally applied to horses. 
 
 FREE AND EASY, a club held at most public houses, the mem- 
 bers of which meet in the taproom or parlour for the purpose 
 of drinking, smoking, and hearing each other sing and 
 "talk politics." The name indicates the character of the 
 proceedings. 
 
 FREEMAN'S QUAY, " drinking at freeman's quay," le., at 
 another's cost. This quay was formerly a celebrated 
 wharf near London Bridge, and the saying arose from the 
 beer which was given gratis to porters and carmen who 
 went there on business. 
 
 FRENCH CREAM, brandy. 
 
 FRENCH LEAVE, to leave or depart slyly, without saying 
 anything. 
 
 FRESH, said of a person slightly intoxicated. 
 FRISK, to search ; frisked, searched by a constable or other 
 ofiScer. 
 
 FRISK A CLY, to empty a pocket. 
 
 FRIZZLE, champagne. 
 
 FROG, a policeman. 
 
 FRONTISPIECE, the face. 
 
 FROW, a girl, or wife. German, frau ; Dutch, VROUW. 
 
 FRUMMAGEMMED, annihilated, strangled, garotted, or spoilt. 
 — Old cant. 
 
 FRUMP, a slatternly woman, a v-,o^&ii^.— Ancient. 
 
 FRUMP, to mock, or insult. — Beaumont and Fletcher, 
 
 FUDGE, nonsense, stupidity. Todd and Richardson only trace 
 the word to Gol'ismith. Disraeli, however, gives the origin 
 to a Captain Fudge, a great fibber, who told monstrous 
 stories, which made his crew say in answer to any impro- 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 145 
 
 bability, *'you FUDGE it !" — See Remarks on the Navy, 
 1700. 
 FULLAMS, false dice, which always turn up high. — Shakes. 
 
 FULLY, "to be fullied," to be committed for trial. From 
 the slang of the penny-a-liner, "the prisoner was fully 
 committed for trial." 
 
 FUNK, to smoke out. — Norjh. 
 
 FUNK, trepidation, nervousness, cowardice. To funk, to 
 afraid, or nervous. 
 
 FUNNY-BONE, the extremity of the elbow— or rather, the 
 muscle which passes round it between the two bonea, a 
 blow on which causes painful tingling in the fingers. Face- 
 tiously derived, from its being the extremity of the humerus 
 (humorous). 
 
 FYE-BUCK, a sixpence. Nearly obsolete. 
 
 GAB, GABBER, or GABBLE, talk ; " gift of the gab," loquacity, or 
 natural talent for speech-makiug. — Anglo Norman. 
 
 GAD, a trapesing, slatternly woman. — Gipsey. Anglo Saxon, 
 
 GADELTNG. 
 
 GADDING THE HOOF, going without shoes. Gadding, 
 roaming about, although used in an old translation of the 
 Bible, is now only heard amongst the lower orders. 
 
 GAFF, a fair, or penny-playhouse. — iS'ee penny gaff. 
 
 GAFFING, tossing halfpence, or counters. — North, where it 
 means tossing up three pennies. 
 
 GALENY, old cant term for a fowl of any kind; now a respect- 
 able word in the West of England, signifying a Guinea 
 fowl. ~ Vide Grose. Latin, gallina. 
 
 GALLAVANT, to wait upon the ladies. — Old. 
 
 GALORE, abundance. Irish, go leor, in plenty. 
 
 GALLOWS, very, or exceediugly - a disgusting exclamation; 
 " gallows poor," very poor. 
 
 GAME, a term variously applied ; " are you game ?" have you 
 courage enough ? " what's your little game ?" what are you 
 going to do ? " come, none of your games," be quiet, don't 
 annoy me ; " on the game," out thieving. 
 
 GAMMON, to hoax, to deceive merrily, to laugh at a person, to 
 tell an untrue but plausible story, to make game of, or in 
 the provincial dialect, to make game on; "who's thou 
 makin' thy gam' on ?" i. e., who are you making a fool of ? 
 — Yorkshire. 
 
 L 
 
146 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 GAMMON, deceit, humbug, a false and ridiculous story. Anglo 
 Saxon, GAMEN, game, sport. 
 
 GAMMY, bad, unfavourable, poor tempered. Those house- 
 holders who are known enemies to the street folk and 
 tramps, are pronounced by them to be gammy. Gammy 
 sometimes means forged, as "gammy-moneker," a forged 
 signature ; gammy stuff, spurious medicine ; gammy lowr, 
 counterfeit coin. Bants, gamy, dirty. The hieroglyphic 
 used by beggars and cadgers to intimate to those of the 
 tribe coming after that things are not very favourable, is 
 known as D , or gammy. 
 
 GAMMY- VIAL (Ville), a town where the police will not let 
 persons hawk. 
 
 GANDER MONTH, the period when the monthly nurse is in 
 the ascendant, and the husband has to shift for himself. 
 
 GAR, euphuistic corruption of the title of the Deity ; " be gar, 
 
 you don't say so !" — Franco-English. 
 GARRET, the head. 
 GARRET, the fob pocket. 
 GARGLE, medical student Slang for physic. 
 GAS, *' to give a person gas," to scold him or give hira a good 
 
 beating. Synonymous with "to give him jessie." 
 GASSY, liable to " flare up" at any offence. 
 
 GATTER, beer; "shantof gatter," a pot of beer. A curious 
 street melody, brimful and running over with slang, known 
 in Seven Dials as Bet, the Coaleys Daughter, thus mentions 
 the word in a favourite verse : — 
 
 ** But when I strove my flame to tell 
 
 Says she, * Come, stow that patter,' 
 If you're a cove wot likes a gal 
 
 Vy don't you statid some gatter ? 
 In course I instantly complied — 
 
 Two brimming quarts of porter, 
 With four goes of gin beside, 
 
 Drained Bet the Coaley's daughter." 
 
 GAWFS, cheap red-skinned apples, a favourite fruit with coster- 
 mongers, who rub them well with a piece of cloth, and 
 find ready purchasers. 
 
 GAWKY, a lanky, or awkward person ; a fool. Saxon, geac ; 
 
 Scotch, GOWK. 
 
 GAY, loose, dissipated ; " gay woman," a kept mistress, or 
 
 prostitute. 
 GEE, to agree with, or be congenial to a person. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 147 
 
 GEN, a shilling. Also, gent, silver. Abbreviation of the French, 
 
 ARGENT. 
 
 GENT, a contraction of "gentleman,"— in more senses than 
 one. A dressy, showy, foppish man, with a little mind, 
 who vulgarises the prevailing fashion. 
 
 GENT, silver. From the French, argent. 
 
 GET-UP, a person's appearance, or general arrangements. Pro- 
 bably derived from the decorations of a play. 
 
 " There's so much getting up to please the town. 
 It takes a precious deal of coming- down." 
 
 Planches Mr. Buckstone's Ascent of Parnassus. 
 
 GHOST, "the ghost does'nt walk," i e., the manager is too 
 poor to pay salaries as yet. — Theat. ; Ho. Words, No. 183. 
 
 GIB-FACE, properly the lower lip of a horse ; " to hang one's 
 GIB," to pout the lower lip, be angry or sullen. 
 
 GIBBERISH, unmeanin;? j^^rgoii ; the language of the Gipseys, 
 synonymous with slang, another Glpsey word. Somner 
 says, ^^ French, gabber ; Dutch, gabberen ; and our own 
 GAB, gabber ; hence also, I take it, our gibberish, a kind of 
 canting language used by a sort of rogues we vulgarly call 
 Gipseys, a gihhle gabble understood only among themselves." 
 — Glpsey. See Introduction. 
 
 GIFFLE GAFFLE, nonsense.— /See chaff. Icelandic, gafla. 
 
 GIFT, any article which has been stolen and afterwards sold at 
 a low price. 
 
 GIG, a farthing. Formerly, grig. 
 
 GIG, fun, frolic, a spree. 
 
 *' In search of lark, or some delicious gig. 
 The mind delights on, when 'tis in prime twig." 
 
 Randall's Diary, 1820. 
 
 GIGLAMPS, spectacles. In my first edition I stated this to be 
 a University term. Mr. Cuthbert Bede, however, in a com- 
 munication to Notes and Queries, of which I have availed 
 myself in the present edition, says — " If the compiler has 
 taken this epithet from Verdant Gi'een, I can only say that 
 I consider the word not to be a ' University' word in gene- 
 ral, but as only due to the inventive genius of Mr. Bouncer 
 in particular." The term, however, has been adopted, and 
 is now in general use. 
 
 GILL, a homely woman ; " Jack and gill," &c. — Ben Jonson. 
 
 GILLS, the lower part of the face. — Bacon. " To grease one's 
 GILLS," " to have a good feed," or make a hearty meal. 
 
 GILLS, shirt collars. 
 
 l2 
 
148 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 GILT, money. German, geld ; Dutch, gelt. 
 
 GIMCRACK, a bijou, a slim piece of mechanism. Old slang 
 
 for " a spruce wench." — N. Bailey. 
 GIN AKD GOSPEL GAZETTE, the Morning Advertiser, bo 
 
 called from its being the organ of the dissenting party, and 
 
 of the Licensed Victuallers' Association. Sometimes termed 
 
 the TAP TUB, or the 'tizer. 
 GINGER, a showy, fast horse— as if he had been figged with 
 
 GINGER under his tail. 
 GINGERLY, to do anything with great care. — Cotgrave. 
 GINGER HACKLED, having flaxen light yellow h&ir.-See 
 
 HACKLE. 
 
 GINGUMBOB. a bauble. 
 
 GIVE, to strike or scold ; "Fll give it to you," I will thrash 
 
 you. Formerly, to roh. 
 GLASGOW MAGISTRATES, salt herrings. -^co^c/i. 
 GLAZE, glass — generally applied to windows. 
 GLIM, a light, a lamp ; " dowse the glim," put the candle out. 
 
 — -Sea, and old cant. 
 GLIM LURK, a begging paper, giving a certified account of a 
 
 dreadful fire — which never happened. 
 GLOAK, a man. — Scotch. 
 GLUMP, to sulk. 
 
 GLUMPISH, of a stubborn, sulky temper. 
 GNOSTICS, knowing ones, or sharpers. Nearly obsolete in this 
 
 vulgar sense. 
 GO, a GO of gin a quartern of that liquor ; go is also synonymous 
 
 with circumsttrace or occurrence ; " a rummy go," and "a 
 
 great go," signify curious and remarkable occurrences ; 
 
 " no GO," no good ; " here's a pretty go !" here's a trouble ! 
 
 "to GO the jump," to enter a house by the window; "all 
 
 the GO," in fashion. — See little go. 
 
 "Gemmen (says he), you all well knovv 
 The joy there is whene'er we meet; 
 It's what I call the pri nest go, 
 And rightly named, 'tis— ' quite a treat.' " 
 
 Jack Randall's Diary, 1820 
 
 GO -ALONG, a thiel— Household Words, No. 183. 
 GOB, the mouth ; mucus, or saliva. — North. Sometimes used 
 for gab, talk — 
 
 *• There was a man called Job, 
 Dwelt ill tie l-ml of Uz; 
 He had a good gifi of the gob ; 
 The same case happ.'n us." 
 
 Zach. Boyd. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 149 
 
 GOB, a portion. 
 
 GODS, Ihe 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 impos- 
 ing stone, similar to the movement in casting dice. — 
 Printers' term. 
 
 GO IT, a term of encouragement, implying " keep it up !" 
 Sometimes amplified to go it, ye cripples ; said to have been 
 a facetious rendering of the last line of VirgiVs Eclogues — 
 
 " Ite domum Saturae, Venit Hesperus, ite capellce ;" 
 or, " GO IT, TE CRIPPLES, CRUTCHES ARE CHEAP." 
 
 GOLDFINCH, a sovereign. 
 GOLGOTHA, a hat, " place of a skull." 
 GOLOPSHUS, splendid, delicious, luscious. — Norwich, 
 GOOSE, to ruin, or spoil. Also, to hiss a play. — Theatrical. 
 GOOSE, a tailor's pressing iron. — Originally a slang term, but 
 
 now in most dictionaries. 
 GOOSEBERRY, to "play up old gooseberry" with anyone, 
 
 to defeat or silence a person in a quick or summary manner. 
 GOOSECAP, a booby, or noodle. — Devonshire. 
 GOOSER, a settler, or finishing blow. 
 
 GORMED, a Norfolk corruption of a profane oath. So used by 
 
 Mr. Peggotty, one of Dickens' characters. 
 GORGER, a swell, a well dressed, or gorgeous man — probably 
 
 derived from that word. 
 GOSPEL GRINDER, a city missionary, or tract distributor. 
 GOSS, a hat — from the gossamer silk with which modern hats 
 
 are made. 
 GONNOF, or gun, a fool, a bungler, an amateur pickpocket. A 
 correspondent thinks this may be a corruption of gone off, 
 on the analogy of go-along ; but the term is really as old 
 as Chaucer's time. During Kett's rebellion in Norfolk, in 
 the reign of Edward VL, a song was sung by the insurgents 
 in which the term occurs — 
 
 " The country gnoffes, Hob, Dick, and Hick, 
 With clubbes and clouted shoon, 
 Shall fill up Dussyn dale 
 
 With slaughtered bodies soone." 
 
 GOUROCK HAM, salt herrings. Gourock, on the Clyde, about 
 
150 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 twenty-five miles from Glasgow, was formerly a great fishing 
 
 village. — Scotch. 
 GOVERNMENT SIGNPOST, the gallows. 
 GOVERNOR, a father, a master or superior person, an elder ; 
 
 " which way, guv'ner, to Cheapside ?" 
 GRABB, to clutch, or seize. 
 GRABBED, caught, apprehended. 
 GRABBERS, the hands. 
 GRACE-CARD, the ace of hearts. 
 
 GRAFT, to work ; " where are you grafting ?" i.e , where do 
 
 you live, or work ? 
 GRANNY, to know, or recognise ; " de ye granny the bloke ?'* 
 
 do you know the man ? 
 GRANNY, importance, knowledge, pride ; " take the granny 
 
 off them as has white hands," viz., remove their self-conceit. 
 
 —Mayhew, vol. i., p. 364. 
 GRAPPLING IRONS, fingers.— ^Sm. 
 GRASS, " gone to grass," dead, — a coarse allusion to burial; 
 
 absconded, or disappeared suddenly ; " oh, go to grass," a 
 
 common answer to a troublesome or inquisitive person, — 
 
 possibly a corruption of "go to grace," meaning, of course, 
 
 a directly opposite fate. 
 
 GRASS- WIDOW, an unmarried mother ; a deserted mistress. 
 In the United States, during the gold fever in Califortiia, it 
 was common for an adventurer to put both his grass- WIDOW 
 and his children to school during his absence. 
 
 GRAVEL, to confound, to bother; "I'm gravelled," i.e , per- 
 plexed or confused.— Old. 
 
 GRAVEL- RASH, a scratched face, — telling its tale of a drunken 
 fall. 
 
 GRAY-COAT-PARSON, a lay impropriator, or lessee of great 
 tithes. 
 
 GRAYS, or scotch grays, lice. — Scotch. 
 
 GRAYS, halfpennies, with either two " heads" or two " tails," 
 — both sides alike. Low gamblers use grays, and they cost 
 from 2d. to 6d. each. 
 
 GREASE- SPOT, a minute remnant, the only distinguishable 
 remains of an antagonist after a terrific contest. 
 
 GREASING a man is bribing ; soaping is flattering him. 
 
 GREEKS, the low Irish. St. Giles' greek, slang or cant lan- 
 guage. Cotgrave gives merie greek as a definition for a 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WOEDS. 151 
 
 roystering fellow, a drunkard. — Sliakespere. — See medical 
 
 GREEK. 
 
 GREEN, ignorant, not wide awake, inexperienced. — ShaJcespere. 
 
 " Do you see any green in my eye ?" ironical question in 
 
 a dispute. 
 GREEN-HORN", a fresh, simple, or uninitiated person. 
 
 GillDDLER, a person who sings in the streets without a printed 
 copy of the words. 
 
 GRIEF, 'Ho come to grief," to meet with an accident, be ruined. 
 
 GPJFFIN, in India, a newly arrived cadet; general for an 
 inexperienced youngster. "Fast" young men in London 
 frequently term an umbrella a griffin. 
 
 GRIND, " to take a grind," i.e., a walk, or constitutional. — 
 
 GRIND, to work up for an examination, to cram with a grinder, 
 or private tutor.— Medical. 
 
 GRINDERS, teeth. 
 
 GROGGY, tipsy ; when a prize-fighter becomes " weak on his 
 pins," and nearly beaten, he is said to be groggy. — Pu- 
 gilistic. The same term is applied to horses in a similar 
 condition. Old English, aggroggtd, weighed down, op- 
 pressed. — Prompt. Parvulorum. 
 
 GRUB, meat, or food, of any kind, — grub signifying food, and 
 BUB, drink. 
 
 GRUBBING-KEN, or spinikin, a workhouse ; a cook-shop. 
 
 GRUBBY, musty, or old-fashioned. — Devonshire. 
 
 GULFED, a University term, denoting that a man is unable 
 to eater for the classical examination, from having failed in 
 the mathematical. Candidates for classical honours were 
 compelled to go in for both examinations. From the alter- 
 ation of the arrangements the term is now obsolete. — (7a »i6. 
 
 GULPIN, a weak, credulous fellow. 
 
 GUMMY, thick, fat — generally applied to a woman's ancles, or 
 to a man whose flabby person betokens him a drunkard. 
 
 GUMPTION, or rumgumption, comprehensioo, capacity. From 
 GAUM, to comprehend ; " I canna gauge it, and I canna 
 GAUM it," as a Yorkshire exciseman said of a hedgehog. 
 
 GURRELL, a fob. 
 
 GUTTER BLOOD, a low or vulgar ma.TX— Scotch, 
 
 GUTTER LANE, the throat. 
 
152 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 GUY, a fright, a dowdy, an ill- dressed person. Derived from 
 the effigy of Guy Fawkes carried about by boys on Nov. 5. 
 
 GYP, an undergraduate's valet at Cambridge. Corruption of 
 GYPSEY JOE {Saturday Review) ; popularly derived by Can- 
 tabs from the Oreek, gyps {yv-<\j), a vulture, from their dis- 
 honest rapacity. At Oxford they are called scouts. 
 
 HACKLE, "to show hackle," to be willing to fight. Hackies 
 are the long feathers on the back of a cock's neck, which he 
 erects when angry, — hence the metaphor. 
 
 HADDOCK, a purse. — See beans. 
 
 HALF A BEAISr, half a sovereign. I 
 
 HALF A BULL, two shillings and sixpence. 
 
 HALF A COUTER, half a sovereign. 
 
 HALF A HOG, sixpence ; sometimes termed half a GRUNfER. 
 
 HALF A STRETCH, six months in prison. 
 
 HALF A TUSHEROON, half a crown. 
 
 HALF AND HALF, a mixture of ale and porter, much affected 
 by medical students ; occasionally Latinized into dimidlum 
 dimidiumque. — See cooper. 
 
 HALF BAKED, soft, doughy, half-witted, silly. 
 
 HALF FOOLISH, ridiculous ; means often wholly foolish. 
 
 HALF JACK.-^ee jacks. 
 
 HALF ROCKED, silly, half-witted. — Compare half baked. 
 
 HALF SEAS OYER, reeling drunk.— ^ea. Used by Swiff. 
 
 HAND, a workman, or helper, a person. ** A cool hand," ex- 
 plained by Sir Thomas Overbuiy to be " one who accounts 
 bashfulness the wickedest thing in the worldl, and therefore 
 studies impudence." 
 
 HANDER, a second, or assistant, in a prize fight. 
 
 HANDLE, a nose ; the title appended to a person's name ; also 
 a term in boxing, "handling one's fists." 
 
 HAND-SAW, or chive fencer, a man who sells razors and 
 knives in the streets. 
 
 HANDSELLER, or cheap jack, a street or open air seller, a 
 man who carries goods to his customers, instead of waiting 
 for his customers to visit him, 
 HANG OUT, to reside,— in allusion to the ancient custom of 
 hanging out signs. 
 
 HANGMAN'S WAGES, thirteenpence halfpenny. 
 
 HANSEL, or handsale, the lucky money, or first money taken in 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 153 
 
 the morning by a pedlar. — Cocker's Dictionary, 1 724. " Legs 
 of mutton (street term for sheep's trotters, or feet) two for 
 a penny; who'll give me a hansel? who'll give me a 
 HANSEL?" — Cry a^ Cloth Fair at the present day. Hence, 
 earnest money, first fruits, &c. In Norfolk, hanselling a 
 thing, is using it for the first time, as wearing a new coat, 
 taking seizin of it, as it were. — Anglo Saxon. N. Bailey. 
 
 HA'PURTH OF LIVELINESS, the music at alow concert, or 
 theatre. 
 
 HARD LINES, hardship, difficulty.— >S^oZc:?zers' term for hard 
 duty on the lines in front of the enemy. 
 
 HARD UP, in distress, poverty stricken. — Sea. 
 
 HARD-UPS, cigar-end finders, who collect the refuse pieces of 
 smoked cigars from the gutter, and having dried them, sell 
 them as tobacco to the very poor. 
 
 HARRY, or old harry {i.e. Old Hairy f) the Devil ; " to play 
 old harry with one," i.e., ruin or annoy him. 
 
 HARRY-SOPH (kpicrotpos, very wise indeed), an undergraduate 
 in his last year of residence. — Cambridge. 
 
 HASH, a mess, confusion ; "a pretty hash he made of it ;" to 
 hash up, to jumble together without order or regularity. 
 
 HATCHET, "to throw the hatchet," to tell lies. 
 
 HAWSE- HOLES, the apertures in a ship's bows through which 
 the cables pass ; " he has crept in through the hawse- 
 holes," said of an officer who has risen from the grade of 
 an ordinary seaman. — Navy. 
 
 HAY BAG, a woman. 
 
 HAZY, iutoxicd^ted. ^Household Words, No. 183. 
 
 HEAD OR TAIL, " I can't make head or tail of it," i.e., cannot 
 make it out. 
 
 HEAP, "a heap of people," a crowd; " struck all of a heap," 
 suddenly astonished. 
 
 HEAVY WET, porter or beer, — because the more a man drinks 
 of it, the heavier he becomes. 
 
 HEDGE, to secure a doubtful bet by making others.— Turf . 
 
 HEEL-TAPS, small quantities of w'me or other beverage left in 
 the bottom of glasses, considered as a sign that the liquor 
 is not liked, and therefore unfriendly and unsocial to the 
 host and the company.. 
 
 HEIGH HO ! a cant term for stolen yarn, from the expression 
 used to ai^prize the dishonest manufacturer that the speaker 
 has stolen yarn to sell. — Norwich cant. 
 
154 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 HELL, a fashionable gambling house. In printing offices, the 
 term is generally applied to the old tin box in which is 
 thrown the broken or spoilt type, purchased by the founders 
 for re- casting. Nearly obsolete. 
 
 HEN AND CHICKENS, large and small pewter pots. 
 
 HEN-PECKED, said of one whose wife " wears the breeches." 
 
 HERRING POND, the sea ; " to be sent across the herring 
 POND," to be transported. 
 
 HIDING, a thrashing. Webster gives this word, but not its 
 root, HIDE, to beat, flay by whipping. 
 
 HIGGLEDY-PIGGLEDY, all together, -as hogs and pigs lie. 
 
 HIGH AND DRY, an epithet applied to the soi disant 
 " orthodox" clergy of the last century, for whom, while ill- 
 paid curates did the work, the comforts of the establishment 
 were its greatest charms. 
 
 " Wherein 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 modern High Church or Anglo- Catholic party. 
 Their equally uninteresting opponents deserved the corre- 
 sponding appellation of low and slow; while the so-called 
 " Broad Church" is defined with equal felicity as the broad 
 
 AND SHALLOW. 
 
 HIGH FLY, " on the high fly," on the begging or cadging 
 system. 
 
 HIGH JINKS, " ON THE high jinks," taking up an arrogant 
 position, assuming an undue superiority. 
 
 HIGH-FLYER, a genteel beggar, or swindler. 
 
 HIGH FLYERS, large swings, in frames, at fairs and races. 
 
 HIGH-LGWS, laced boots reaching a trifle higher than ancle- 
 jacks. 
 
 HIGHFALUTEN, showy, affected, tinselled, affecting certain 
 pompous or fashionable airs, stuck up; "come, none of 
 yer highfaluten games," i.e., you must not show off or 
 imitate the swell here. — American slang from the Dutch y 
 verlooten. 
 
 HIP INSIDE, inside coat pocket. 
 
 HIP OUTSIDE, outside coat pocket. 
 
 HIVITE, a student of St. Begh's College, Cumberland ; pro- 
 nounced ST. bee's. — University 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 155 
 
 HOAX, to deceive, or ridicule, — Grose says was originally a 
 University cant word. Corruption of hocus, to cheat. 
 
 HOCKS, the feet ; cueby hocks, round or clumsy feet. 
 
 HOCUS, to drug a person, and then rob him. The hocus 
 generally consists of snuff and beer. 
 
 HOCUS POCUS, Gipsey words of magic, similar to the modern 
 "presto fly." The Gipseys pronounce " Habeas CorpuSf* 
 HAWCUS PACCUS {see Crabb's Gipsey' s Advocate, p. 18); can 
 this have anything to do with the origin of hocus pocus ? 
 Turner gives ochus bochus, an old demon. Pegge, how- 
 ever, states that it is a burlesque rendering of the words of 
 the unreformed church service at the delivery of the host, 
 hoc est corpus, which the early Protestants considered as 
 a species of conjuring, and ridiculed acccrdiugly. 
 
 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 fVimilies of the name of 
 HODGE ; indeed, Giles and hodge appear to be the favourite 
 hobnail nomenclature. Not in any way writing disrespect- 
 fully, was the slang word taken from Hog — with the g 
 soft, which gives the dg pronunciation ? In old canting 
 dictionaries hoege stands for a country clown; so, indeed, 
 does ROGER, another favourite provincial name. — Vide ■ 
 Bacchus and Venus. 
 
 HOG, " to go the whole hog," to do anything with a person's 
 entire strength, not " by halves ;" realised by the phrase " in 
 for a penny in for a pound." Bartlett claims this to be a 
 pure Ainerican phrase; whilst Ker, of course, gives it a 
 Dutch origin. — Old. 
 
 HOG, a shilling. — Old cant 
 
 HOISTING, shoplifting. 
 
 HOLLOW, " to beat hollow," to excel. 
 
 HOLY LAND, Seven Dials,— where the St. Giles' Greek is 
 spoken. 
 
 HOOK, to steal or rob. — See the following. 
 
 HOOK OR BY CROOK, by fair means or foul— in allusion to 
 the hook which footpads used to carry to steal from open 
 windows, &c., and from which hook, to take or steal, has 
 been derived. Mentioned in Hudibras as a cant term. 
 
 HOOK IT, " get out of the way," or " be off about your business ;" 
 " TO HOOK IT," to run away, to decamp ; " on one s own 
 hook," dependant upou one's own exertions. — See the pre' 
 ceding for derivation. 
 
156 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 HOOKS, " dropped off the hooks," said of a deceased person — 
 derived from the ancient practice of suspending on Jiooks 
 the quarters of a traitor or felon sentenced by the old law 
 to be hung, drawn, and quartered, and which dropped off 
 the hooks as they decayed. 
 
 HOOKEY WALKER ! ejaculation of incredulity, usually 
 shortened to walker ! — which see. A correspondent 
 thinks HOOKEY walker may have been a certain Hugh K. 
 Walker. 
 
 HOOK-UM SNIYEY (formerly " hook and snivey"), a low ex- 
 pression meaning to cheat by feigning sickness or other 
 means. Also a piece of thick iron wire crooked at one end, 
 and fastened into a wooden handle, for the purpose of 
 undoing from the outside the wooden bolt of a door. 
 
 HOP, a dance. — Fashionable slang. 
 
 HOP THE TWia, to run away, or bolt, which see.— OZdJ. 
 
 HOP-MERCHANT, a dancing-master. 
 
 HOPPING GILES, a cripple. St. ^gidius or Giles, himself 
 similarly afflicted, was their patron saint. The ancient 
 lazar houses were dedicated to him. 
 
 HORRID HORN, term of reproach amongst the street Irish, 
 meaning a fool, or half-witted fellow. From the Erse 
 OMADHAUN, a brainless fellow. A correspondent suggests 
 HERRIDAN, a miserable old woman. 
 
 HORRORS, the low spirits, or " blue devils," which follow in- 
 toxication. 
 HORSE, contraction of Horsemonger-lane Gaol. 
 
 HORSE CHAUNTER, a dealer who takes worthless horses to 
 country fairs and disposes of them by artifice. He is 
 flexible in his ethics, and will put in a glass-eye, or perform 
 other tricks. — See coper. 
 
 HORSE NAILS, money. — Compare brads. 
 
 HORSE'S NIGHTCAP, a halter ; " to die in a horse's night- 
 cap," to be hung. 
 
 HORSE MARINE, an awkward person. In ancient times the 
 ''jollies '' or Royal Marines, were the butts of the sailors, 
 from their ignorance of seamanship. "Tell that to the 
 marines, the blue jackets won't believe it !" was a common 
 rejoinder to a *' stiff yarn." Now-a-^days they are deservedly 
 appreciated as the finest regiment in the service. A horse 
 MARINE (an impossibility) was used to denote one more 
 awkward still. 
 
MODERN SLAKG AND CANT WOKDS. 157 
 
 HOT COPPERS, the feverish sensations experienced next morn- 
 ing by those who have been drunk over night. 
 
 HOT TIGER, an Oxford mixture of hot-spiced ale and sherry. 
 
 HOUSE OF COMMONS, a water-closet. 
 
 H OXTER, an inside pocket. — Old English, oxter. 
 
 HUEY, a town or village. 
 
 HUFF, to vex, or offend ; a poor temper. 
 
 HUFF, a dodge or trick ; " don't try that HUPF on me," or " that 
 HUFF won't do." — Norwich. 
 
 HULK, to hang about in hopes of an invitation. — See mooch. 
 
 HULKY, extra sized. — Shropshire. 
 
 HUM AND HAW, to hesitate, raise objections. — Old English. 
 
 HUMBLE PIE, to " eat humble pie," to knock under, be sub- 
 missive. The UMBLES, or entrails of a deer, were anciently 
 made into a dish for servants, while their masters feasted 
 off the haunch. 
 
 HUMBUG, an imposition, or a person who imposes upon others. 
 A very expressive but slang word, synonymous at one time 
 with hum and haw. Lexicographers have fought shy at 
 adopting this word. Richardson uses it frequently to ex- 
 press the meaning of other words, but omits it in the alpha- 
 betical arrangement as unworthy of recognition ! In the 
 first edition of this work, 1785 was given as the earliest 
 date at which the word could be found in a printed book. 
 Since then I have traced humbug half a century farther 
 back,'on the title-page of a singular old jest-book — '^ The 
 Universal Jester ; or a pocket companion for the Wits : 
 being a choice collection of merry conceits, facetious 
 drolleries, &c., clenchers, closers, closures, bon-mots, and 
 humbugs," by Ferdinando Killigrew. London, about 
 1735 40. 
 
 I have also ascertained that the famous Orator Henley was 
 known to the mob as Orator Humbug. The fact may be 
 learnt from an illustration in that exceedingly curious little 
 collection of Caricatures, published in 1 757, many of which 
 were sketched by Lord Bolingbroka — Horace Walpole filling 
 in the names and explanations. HalUwell describes humbug 
 as " a person who hums," and cites Dean Miiles' MS., which 
 was wrirten about 1760. It has been stated that the word 
 is a corruption of Hamburgh, from which town so many 
 false bulletins and reports came during the war in the last 
 century. " Oh, that is Hamburgh [or humbug]," was the 
 answer to any fresh piece of news which smacked of im- 
 
158 A DICTIONAKY OF 
 
 probability. Grose mentions it in his Dictionary, 1785 ; and 
 in a little printed squib, published in 1808, entitled Bath 
 Characters, by T. Ooosequill, humbug is thus mentioned in a 
 comical couplet on the title page : — 
 
 "Wee Thre Bath Deities bee, 
 Humbug, Follie, and Varietee." 
 
 Gradually from this time the word began to assume a place 
 in periodical literature, and in novels not written by 
 squeamish or over-precise authors. In the preface to a flat, 
 and, 1 fear, unprofitable poem, entitled, The Reign o/humbug, 
 a Satire, 8vo., 1836, the author thus apologises for the use 
 of the word—" I have used the term humbug to designate 
 this principle [wretched sophistry of life generally], consider- 
 ing that it is now adopted into our language as much as 
 the words dunce, jockey, cheat, swindler, &c., which were 
 formerly only colloquial terms." A correspondent, who in 
 a late number of Adersaria ingeniously traced bombast to 
 the inflated Doctor Paracelsus Bombast, considers that 
 HUMBUG may, in like manner, be derived from Homberg, the 
 distinguished chemist of the court of the Duke of Orleans, 
 who, according to the following passage from Bishop 
 Berkeley's " Siris," was an ardent and successful seeker 
 after the philosopher's stone ! 
 
 " § I9i.— Of this there cannot be abetter proof than the experiment 
 of Monsieur Homberg, who made gold of mercuey bt in- 
 TEODUciNG LIGHT INTO ITS PORES, but at such trouble and ex- 
 pense, that, I suppose, nobody will try the experiment for profit. 
 B/ this injunction of light and mercury, both bodies became 
 fixed, and produced a third different to either, to wit, real gold. 
 For tlie truth of which fact I refer to the memoirs of the 
 French Aca iemy of Sciences." — Berkeley's Works, vol. ii., p. 366, 
 (Wright's edition). 
 
 The universal use of this term is remarkable ; in California 
 there is a town called Humbug Flat — a name which gives a 
 significant hint of the acuteness of the first settler. 
 
 HUM-DRUM, tedious, tiresome, boring ; '' a society of gentle- 
 men who used to meet near the Charter House, or at 
 the King's Head, St. John's street. They were charac- 
 terised by less mystery and more pleasantry than the Free- 
 masons." — Bacchus and Venus, 1737. In the West a low 
 cart. 
 
 HUMP, to botch, or spoil. 
 
 HUMP UP, " to have one's hump up," to be cross or ill-tempered 
 — like a cat with its back set up. — See monkey. 
 
 HUMPTY DUMPTY, short and thick. 
 
 HUNCH, to shove, or jostle. 
 
MODEKN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 159 
 
 HUNTER PITCHING, cockshies, or three throws a penny .—/See 
 
 COCKSHY. 
 
 HUNTING THE SQUIRREL, when hackney and stage coacb- 
 men try to upset each other's vehicles on the public roads. 
 Nearly obsolete. 
 
 HURDY-GURDY, a droning musical instrument shaped like a 
 large fiddle, and turned by a crank, used by Savoyards and 
 itinerant foreign musicians in England, now nearly super- 
 seded by the hand-organ. A correspondent suggests that 
 the name is derived from being girded on the hardies, loins 
 or buttocks.— /Sco^c^y Tarn o Shanter. In Italy the instru- 
 ment is called viola. 
 
 HUSH-MONEY, a sum given to quash a prosecution or 
 evidence. 
 
 HUSH -SHOP, or crib, a shop where beer or spirits is sold " on 
 the quiet" — no licence being paid, 
 
 HYPS, or HYPO, the blue devils. From Hypochondriasis. — Swift. 
 
 IN, *' to be IN with a person," to be even with, or up to him. 
 
 IN FOR IT, in trouble or difficulty of any kind. 
 
 IN FOR PATTER, waiting for trial. 
 
 INEXPRESSIBLES, unutterables, unwhisperables, or sit- 
 UPONS, trousers, the nether garments. 
 
 INNINGS, earnings, money coming in ; " he's had long 
 INNINGS," i.e., a good run of luck, plenty of cash flowing 
 in. 
 
 INSIDE LINING, dinner, &c. 
 
 INTERESTING, " to be in an interesting situation," applied 
 to females when enceinte. 
 
 INTO, " hold my hat, Jim, I'll be into him," ^^e., I will fight 
 him. In this sense equivalent to pitch into or slip into. 
 
 INVITE, an invitation— a corruption used by stuck-up people 
 of mushroom origin. 
 
 IPSAL DIXAL, Cockney corruption of ipse dixit — said of one's 
 simple uncorroborated assertion. 
 
 IT'S GOOD ON THE STAR, it's easy to open. 
 
 IVORIES, teeth ; " a box " or " cage of ivories," a set of teeth, 
 the mouth ; " wash your ivories/' i.e., " drink." The word 
 is also used to denote dice. 
 
 JABBER, to talk, or chatter. A cant word in Swift's time. 
 
 JACK, a low prostitute. 
 
 JACK KETCH, the public hangman. — See ketch. 
 
160 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 JACK SPRAT, a diminutive boy or man. 
 JACK TAR, a sailor. 
 
 JACK-AT-A PINCH, one whose assistance is only sought on an 
 emergency; jackin the water, an attendant at the 
 watermen's stairs on the river and sea-port towns, who 
 does not mind wetting his feet for a customer's conve- 
 nience, in consideration of a douceur. 
 JACKS, HALF JACKS, Card counters, resembling in size and 
 appearance sovereigns and half-sovereigns, for which they 
 are occasionally passed to simple persons. In laige gam- 
 bling establishments the "heaps of gold" are frequently 
 composed mainly of jacks. 
 JACKETING, a thrashing. 
 JACKET, gin. 
 
 JACOB, a ladder. Grose says from Jacob's dream. — Old cant. 
 JAGGER, a gentleman. — German, jager, a sportsman. 
 JAIL BIRD, a prisoner, one who has been in jail. 
 JAMES, a sovereign, or twenty shillings. 
 JANNOCK, sociable, fair dealing. — Norfolk. 
 JAPAN, to ordain — University. 
 J ARK, a seal, or watch ornament. — Ancient cant. 
 JARVEY, the driver of a hackney coach ; jarvey's upper 
 
 BENJAMIN, a coachman's over-coat. 
 JAW, speech, or talk ; " hold your jaw," don't speak any more ; 
 *' what are you jawing about?" i.e., what are you making a 
 noise about ? 
 JAW-BREAKERS, hard or many-syllabled words. 
 JAZEY, a wig. A corruption of Jersey, the nama for flax 
 prepared in a peculiar manner, and of which common 
 wigs were formerly made. 
 JEAMES, (a generic for "flunkies,") the 3f or ning Post newspaper 
 
 — the organ of Belgravia and the "Haristocracy." 
 JEHU, old slang term for a coachman, or one fond of driving. 
 JEMMY, a crowbar. 
 
 JEMMY, a sheep's head. — See sanguinary james. 
 JEMMY JESSAMY, a dandy. 
 JERRY, a beer house, 
 JERRY, a chamber utensil, abbreviation of JEROBOAM. — Swift. 
 
 Jerry-come-tumble, a water-closet. 
 JERRY, a fog. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 161 
 
 JERUSALEM. PONY, a donkey. 
 
 JESSIE, " to give a person jessie," to beat him soundly. — See 
 
 GAS. 
 
 JEWS EYE, a popular simile for anything valuable. Probably 
 a corruption of the Italian, geoje ; French, jouaille, a jewel. 
 In ancient times, when a kiug was short of cash, he 
 generally issued orders for so many Jew*8 eyes, or equi- 
 valent sums of money. The Jews preferred paying the 
 ransom, although often very heavy. We thus realise the 
 popularly believed origin of Jew's eye. Used by Shalces- 
 pere. 
 
 JEW -FENCER, a Jew street salesman. 
 
 JIB, the face, or a person's expression ; " the cut of his jib," i.e. 
 his peculiar appearance. The sail of a ship, which in posi- 
 tion and shape corresponds to the nose on a person's face. — 
 See GIB.— Sea. 
 
 JIB, or JIBBER, a horse that starts or shrinks, Shakespere uses 
 it in the sense of a worn out horse. 
 
 JIBB, the tongue. — Gipsey and Hindoo. 
 
 JIFFY, " in a jiffy," in a moment. 
 
 JIGGER, a secret still, illicit spirits. — Scotch. 
 
 JIGGER, " I'm JIGGERED if you will," a common form of mild 
 swearing. — See snigger, 
 
 JIGGER, a door ; " dub the jigger," shut the door. Ancient 
 cant, GYGER. In billiards the bridge on the table is often 
 termed the jigger. 
 
 JIGGER-^DUBBERS, term applied to jailors or turnkeys. 
 
 JILT, a crowbar or housebreaking implement. 
 
 JINGO, "by JINGO," a common form of oath, said to be a 
 corruption of St. Gingoidph. — Vide Halliwell, 
 
 JOB, a short piece of work, a prospect of employment. Johnson 
 describes JOB as a low word, without etymology. It is, and 
 was, however, a cant word, and a job, two centuries ago, 
 was an arranged robbery. Even at the present day it is 
 mainly confined to the streets, in the sense of employment 
 for a short time. Amongst undertakers a job signifies a 
 funeral ; " to do a job," conduct any one's funeral ; *' by 
 the job," i.e., piece-Yfork, as opposed to time-work. A job 
 in political phraseology is a Government office or contract, 
 obtained by secret influence or favouritism. 
 To JOE BLAKE THE BARTLEMY, to visit a low woman. 
 JOEY, a fourpenny piece. The term is derived (like bobbt from 
 
 M 
 
162 ' A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 Sir Robert Peel) from Joseph Hume, the late respected 
 M.P. The explanation is thus given in Hawhins' History of 
 the Silver Coinage of England. 
 
 " These pieces are said to have owed their existence to the pressing 
 instance of Mr. Hume, from whence they, for some time, bore 
 the nickname of joeys. As they were very convenient to pay 
 short cab fares, the Hon. M.P. was extremely unpopular wiih 
 the drivers, who frequently received only a groat where otherwise 
 they would have received a sixpence without any demand for 
 change." The term originated with the London cabmen, who 
 have invented many others. 
 
 JOG-TROT, a slow but regular trot, or pace. 
 
 JOGUL, to play up, at cards or other game. Spanish, jugar. 
 
 JOHN THOMAS, a generic for " flunkies," — footmen popularly 
 represented with large calves and bushy whiskers. 
 
 JOLLY, a word of praise, or favourable notice ; " chuck Harry a 
 JOLLY, Bill !" i.e., go and praise up his goods, or buy of him, 
 and speak well of the article, that the crowd standing around 
 his stall may think it a good opportunity to lay out their 
 money. " Chuck a jolly," literally translated, is to throw 
 a shout or a good word. 
 
 JOLLY, a Royal Marine. — See horse marine. 
 
 JOMER, a sweetheart, or favourite girl.— /See blower. 
 
 JORDAN, a chamber utensil. - Saxon. 
 
 JOSKIN", a countryman. 
 
 JUG, a prison, or jail. 
 
 JUMP, to seize, or rob ; "to jump a man," to pounce upon him, 
 and either rob or maltreat him; " to jump a house," to rob 
 it.— /See go. 
 
 JUNIPER, gin.— Household Words, No. 183. 
 
 JUNK, salt beef. — See old horse. 
 
 KEEL-HAULING, a good thrashing or mauling, rough treat- 
 ment, — from the old nautical custom of punishing offenders 
 by throwing them overboard with a rope attached and 
 hauling them up from under the ship's keel. 
 
 KEEP IT UP, to prolong a debauch, or the occasion of a re- 
 joicing — a metaphor drawn from the game of shuttlecock. — 
 Grose. 
 
 KEN, a house. — Ancietit cant. Khan, Oipsey and Oriental. 
 
 *^* All slang and cant words which end in ken, such as 
 spielken, spiniken, bawdyken, or BOOZINGKEN, refer to 
 houses, and are partly of Glpsey origin. 
 
 KEN-CRACKERS, housebreakers. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 163 
 
 KENNEDY, to strike or kill with a poker. A St. Giles' term, 
 so given from a man of that name being killed by a poker. 
 Frequently shortened to neddy. 
 KENT EAG, or clout, a cotton handkerchief. 
 KERTEVER-CARTZO, the venereal disease. From the Lingua 
 Franca, cattivo, bad, and cazzo, the male generative 
 organ. 
 KETCH, or jack ketch, the popular name for a public hang- 
 man — derived from a person of that name v^ho officiated in 
 the reign of Charles II. — See Macaulay's History of England, 
 p. 626. 
 KIBOSH, nonsense, stuff,humbug ; " it's all kibosh," i. e., palaver 
 or nonsense ; " to put on the kibosh," to run down, slander, 
 degrade, &c. — See bosh. 
 KICK, a moment ; " I'll be there in a kick," i. e., in a minute. 
 KICK, a sixpence ; " two and a kick," two shillings and six- 
 pence. 
 KICK, a pocket. 
 
 KICK THE BUCKET, to die. --Norfolk. According to Forby, 
 
 a metaphor taken from the descent of a well or mine, which 
 
 is of course absurd. The Rev. E. S. Taylor supplies me 
 
 . with the following note from his MS. additions to the woi-k 
 
 of the East -Anglian lexicographer : — 
 
 " The allusion is to the way in which a slaushtered pig is hung: up, 
 viz., by passing the ends of a bent piece of wood behind the 
 tendons of the hind legs, and so suspending it to a hook in a 
 beam above. This piece of wood is locally termed a bucket, and 
 so by a coarse metaphor tho phrase came to signify to die. 
 Compare the Norfolk phrase " as wrong as a bucket." 
 The natives of the West Indies have converted the expres- 
 sion into KICKERABOO. 
 
 KICK UP, a noise or disturbance. 
 
 KICK UP, "to KICK UP a row," to create a tumult. 
 
 KICKSHAWS, trifles; made, or French dishes— no". En^^lidi, or 
 
 substantial. Corruption of the French, quelques choses. 
 KICKSIES, trousers. 
 KICKSY, troublesome, disagreeable. 
 KID, an infant, or child. 
 KID, to joke, to quiz, to hoax anybody. 
 
 KID- ON, to entice, or incite a person on to the perpetration of 
 an act. 
 
 KID-RIG, cheating children in the streets sent on errands, or 
 entrusted with packages. Nearly obsolete. 
 
164 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 KIDDEIN", a low lodging house for boys. 
 KIDDIER, a pork-butcher. 
 
 KIDDILY, fashionably, or showily ; *' kiddily togg'd/' showily 
 dressed. 
 
 KIDDLEYWINK, a small shop where they retail the commo- 
 dities of a village store. Also, a loose woman. 
 KIDDY, a man or boy. Formerly a low thief. 
 KIDDYISH, frolicsome, jovial. 
 
 ** Think on the kiddtish spree we had on such a dav." 
 
 Randall's Biari/, 'lS20. 
 
 KIDMENT, a pocket-handkerchief fastened to the pocket, and 
 partially hung out to entrap thieves. 
 
 KIDNAPPER, one who steals children or adults. From kid, a 
 child, and nab (corrupted to nap), to steal, or seize. 
 
 KIDNEY, " of that kidney," of such a stamp : " strange 
 KIDNEY," odd humour; *'twoof a kidney," two persons 
 of a sort, or as like as two peas, i.e., resembling eacii other 
 like two kidneys in a bunch. — Old, "Attempt to put their 
 hair out of kidney." — Terrw Fllius, 1763. 
 
 KlDSMAN, one who trains boys to thieve and pick pockets suc- 
 cessfully. 
 
 KILKENNY CAT, a popular simile for a voracious or desperate 
 animal or person, from the story of the two cats in that 
 county, who are said to have fought and bitten each other 
 until a small portion of the tail of one of them alone 
 remained. 
 
 KILLING, bewitching, fascinating. The term is akin to the 
 phrase " dressing to death." 
 
 KIMBO, or A kimbo, holding the arms in a bent position from 
 the body, and resting the hands upon the hips, in a bullying 
 attitude. Said to be from a sguembo, Italian ; but more 
 probably from kimbaw, the old cant for beating, or bully- 
 ing. — See Grose. 
 
 KINCHIN, a child. — Old cant. From the German diminutive* 
 ktndchen, a baby. 
 
 KINCHIN COVE, a man who robs children ; a little man. — 
 Ancient cant. 
 
 KINGSMAN, the favourite coloured neckerchief of the coster- 
 mongers. The women wear them thrown over their 
 shoulders. With both sexes they are more valued than any 
 other article of clothing. A coster's caste, or position, is at 
 stake, he imagines, if his kingsman is not of the most 
 approved pattern. When he fights, his kingsman is tied 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 165 
 
 either around his waist as a beU-, or as a garter around his 
 leg. This very singular partiality for a peculiar coloured 
 neckcloth was doubtless derived from the Gipseys, and 
 probably refers to an Oriental taste or custom long forgotten 
 by these vagabonds. A singular similarity of taste for 
 certain colours exists amongst the Hindoos, Gipseys, and 
 London costermongers. Red and yellow (or orange) are the 
 great favourites, and in these hues the Hindoo selects his 
 turban and his robe ; the Gipsey his breeches, and his wife 
 her shawl or gown ; and the costermonger his plush waist- 
 coat and favourite kingsman. Amongst either class, when 
 a fight takes place, the greatest regard is paid to the 
 favourite coloured article of dress. The Hindoo lays aside 
 his turban, the Gipsey folds up his scarlet breeches or coat, 
 whilst the pugilistic costermonger of Covent Garden or 
 Billingsgate, as we have just seen, removes his favourite 
 neckerchief to a part of his body, by the rules of the " ring," 
 comparatively out of danger. Amongst the various patterns 
 of kerchiefs worn by the wandering tribes of London, red 
 and yellow are the oldest and most in fashion. Blue, inter- 
 mixed with spots, is a late importation, probably from the 
 Navy, through sporting characters. 
 
 KING'S PICTURES (now, of course, queen s pictures), money. 
 
 KISKY, drunk, fuddled. 
 
 KISS CURL, a small curl twisted on the temple. — See Bow- 
 
 CATCHBR. 
 
 KISS-ME-QUICK, the name given to the very small bonnets 
 
 worn by females since 1850. 
 KITE, see fly the kite. 
 
 KNACKER, an old horse; a horse ^IdLU^ievev.— Gloucestershire, 
 KNAP, to receive, to take, to steal. 
 
 KNAPPING- JIGGER, a turnpike-gate ; " to d ub at the knapp- 
 
 ING- JIGGER," to pay money at the turnpike. 
 KNARK, a hard-hearted or savage person. 
 KNIFE, " to KNIFE a person," to stab, an un-English but now- 
 
 a-days a very common expression. 
 KNIFE IT, " cut it," cease, stop, don't proceed. 
 KNIFE-BOARD, the seat running along the roof of an omnibus. 
 KNIGHT, a common and ironical prefix to a man's calling, — 
 
 thus, ''KNIGHT of the whip," a coachman; "knight of 
 
 the thimble," a tailor. 
 KNOCK ABOUT THE BUB, to hand or pass about the drink. 
 
166 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 KNOCK DOWN", or knock me down, strong ale. 
 
 KNOCK OFF, to give over, or abandon. A saying used by 
 workmen about dinner, or other meal times, for upwards of 
 two centuries. 
 
 KNOCKED UP, tired, jaded, used up, done for. In the United 
 States, amongst females, the phrase is equivalent to being 
 enceinte, so that Englishmen often unconsciously commit 
 themselves when amongst our Yankee cousins. 
 
 KNOCK-IN, the game of loo, 
 
 KNOCK-OUTS, or knock- ins, disreputable persons who visit 
 auction rooms and unite to buy the articles at their own 
 prices. One of their number is instructed to buy for the 
 rest, and after a few small bids as blinds to the auctioneer 
 and bystanders, the lot is knocked down to the knock-out 
 bidders, at a nominal price — the competition to result from 
 an auction being thus frustrated and set aside. At the con- 
 clusion of the sale the goods are paid for, and carried to 
 some neighbouring public house, where they are re-sold or 
 KNOCKED-OUT, and the difference between the first purchase 
 and the second — or tap room knock-out — is divided 
 amonsrst the gang. As generally happens with il] -gotten 
 gains, the money soon finds its way to the landlord's pocket, 
 and the knock-out is rewarded with a red nose or a bloated 
 face. Cunning tradesmen join the knock-outs when an 
 opportunity for money making presents itself. The lowest 
 description of knock-outs, fellows with more tongue than 
 capital, are termed babes, — which see. 
 
 KNOCKING-SHOP, a brothel, or disreputable house frequented 
 by prostitutes. 
 
 KNOWING, a slang term for sharpness ; ** knowing codger," or 
 " a KNOWING blade," one who can take you in, or cheat you, 
 in any transaction you may have with him. It implies also 
 deep cunning and foresight, and generally signifies dis- 
 honesty. 
 
 ** Who, on a spree with black eyed Sal, his blowen. 
 So swell, so prime, so nutty and so knowing." 
 
 Don Juan. 
 
 KNOWLEDQEBOX, the hesid,— Pugilistic. 
 
 KNUCKLE, to pick pockets after the most approved method. 
 KNUCKLE TO, or knuckle under, to yield or submit. 
 KNUCKLER, a pickpocket. 
 KNULLER, old term for a chimney-sweep, who solicited jobs 
 
 by ringing a bell. From the Saxon, cnyllan, to knell, or 
 
 sound a bell.— ^ee querier. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS, 167 
 
 KOTOOING, misapplied flattery. — Illustrated London News, 
 7th January, 1860. 
 
 KYPSEY, a basket. 
 
 LA ! a euphuistic rendering of lord, common amongst females 
 and very precise persons ; imagined by many to be a cor- 
 ruption of LOOK ! but this is a mistake. Sometimes pro- 
 nounced LAW, or LAWKS. 
 
 LACING, a beating. From the phrase " I'll lace your jacket." 
 — U Estrange. Perhaps to give a beating with a lace or lash. 
 
 LADDER, " can't see a hole in a ladder," said of any one who 
 is intoxicated. 
 
 LADDLE, a lady. Term with chimney-sweeps on the 1st of 
 May. A correspondent suggests that the term may come 
 from the brass ladles for collecting money, always carried by 
 the sweeps' ladies. 
 
 LAG, a returned transport, or ticket-of- leave convict. 
 
 LAG, to void urine. — Ancient cant, 
 
 LAGGED, transported for a crime. 
 
 LAGGER, a sailor. 
 
 LAME DUCK, a stock jobber who speculates beyond his capital 
 and cannot pay his losses. Upon retiring from the Exchange 
 he is said to ** waddle out of the Alley." 
 
 LAMMING, a beating. — Old English, lam ; used by Beaumont 
 and Fletcher. 
 
 LAND LUBBER, sea term for a landsman." — See loafer. 
 
 LAND-SHARK, a sailor's definition of a lawyer. 
 
 LAP THE GUTTER, to get drunk. 
 
 LARK, fun, a joke ; " let's have a jolly good lark," let us have 
 a piece of fan. Mayhew calls it " a convenient word cover- 
 ing much mischief." — Anglo Saxon, lac, sport ; but more 
 probably from the nautical term skylarking, i.e., mounting 
 to the highest yards and sliding down the ropes for amuse- 
 ment, which is allowed on certain occasions. 
 
 LARRUP, to beat, or thrash. 
 
 LARRUPING, a good beating or " hiding."— /rwA. 
 
 LATCHPAN, the lower lip — properly a dripping pan ; " to hang 
 one's LATCHPAN," to pout, be sulky. — Norfolk. 
 
 LAVENDER, "to be laid up in lavender," in pawn ; or, when 
 a person is out of the way for an especial purpose. — Old. 
 
 LAY, to watch ; " on the lay," on the look out — ShaA-espere. 
 
 LED CAPTAIN, a fashionable spunger, a swell who, by artifice 
 
1.68. , A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 ingratiates himself into fke good graces of the master of the 
 
 house, and lives at his table. 
 LEAKY, to look, or be watchful; shy. — Old cant. 
 LEARY, flash, or knowing. 
 
 LEARY BLOAK, a person who dresses showily. 
 LEATHER, to beat or thrash. From the leather belt worn by 
 
 soldiers and policemen, often used as a weapon in street 
 
 rows. 
 LEAVING SHOP, an unlicensed house where goods are taken. 
 
 in to pawn at exorbitant rates of interest. — Daily Telegraph, 
 
 1st August, 1859. 
 
 LEEF, " I'd as leef do it as not," i.e., I have no objection to 
 do it. — Corruption of lief, or leave. Old English, lief, 
 inclined to. 
 
 LEG IT, to run; leg bail, to run off; "to give a leg,'* ta- 
 assist, as when one mounts a horse ; " making a leg,'* a 
 countryman's bow, — projecting the leg from behind as a 
 balance to the head bent forward. — ShaJcespere. 
 
 LEGGED, in irons. 
 
 LEGS, or blacklegs, disreputable sporting characters, and race-* 
 course habitues. 
 
 LEGS OF MUTTON, inflated street term for sheeps' trotters, or 
 feet. 
 
 LENGTH, forty-two lines of a dramatic composition. — Theat, 
 
 LENGTH, six months' imprisonment. — See stretch. 
 
 LET DRIVE, to strike, or attack with vigour. 
 
 LET IN, to cheat or victimise. 
 
 LET ON, to give an intimation of having some knowledge of a 
 subject. Ramsay employs the phrase in the Gentle Shepherd. 
 Common in Scotland. 
 
 LETTY, a bed. Italian, letto. 
 
 LEVANTER, a card sharper, or defaulting gambler. A cor- 
 respondent states that it was formerly the custom to give- 
 out to the creditors, when a person was in pecuniary diffi- 
 culties, and it was convenient for him to keep away, that he 
 was gone to the East, or the levant; hence, when one 
 loses a bet, and decamps without settling, he is said to levant. 
 
 LICK, a blow; licking, a beating; "to put jn big licks," a 
 curious and common phrase meaning that great exertions 
 are being made. — Dry den ; North. 
 
 LICK, to excel, or overcome; "if you aint sharp he'll HCK 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 169 
 
 you," i.e., be finished first. Signifies, also, to whip, 
 
 chastise, or conquer. Ancient cant, lycke. 
 LIFER, a convict who is sentenced to transportation for life. 
 LIFT, to steal, pick pockets; "there's a clock been lifted,'* 
 
 said when a watch has been stolen. The word is as old as 
 
 the Border forays, and is used by Shakespere^ Shoplifter 
 
 is a recognised term. 
 LIGHT, " to be able to get a light at a house" is to get credit. 
 LIGHT- FEEDERS, silver spoons. 
 LIGHTS, a "cake," a fool, a soft or "doughy" person. 
 LIGHTS, the eyes. 
 
 LIGHTNING, gin ; " flash o' lightning," a glass of gin. 
 LIMB OF THE LAW, a lawyer, or clerk articled to that 
 
 profession. 
 LINE^ calling, trade, profession ; " what line are you in ?" 
 
 " the building line." 
 
 LINGO, talk, or language. Slang is termed lingo amongst the 
 
 lower orders. Italian, lingua. 
 LIP, bounce, impudence ; " come, none o' yer lip !" 
 
 LIQUOR, or liquor up, to drink drams. — Americanism. In 
 LIQUOR, tipsy, or drunk. 
 
 LITTLE GO, the " Previous Examination," at Cambridge the 
 first University examination for undergraduates in their 
 second year of matriculation. At Oxford, the corresponding 
 term is the smalls. 
 
 LITTLE SNAKES-MAN, a little thief, who is generally passed 
 through a small aperture to open any door to let in the 
 rest of the gang. 
 
 LIVE-STOCK, vermin of the insect kind. 
 
 LOAFER, a lazy Vagabond. Generally considered an Ame- 
 ricanism. LoPER, or loafer, however, was in general use 
 as a cant term in the early part of the last century. Land- 
 LOPER, was a vagabond who begged in the attire of a sailor; 
 and the sea phrase, land lubber, was doubtless synony- 
 mous.— ^ee the Times, 3rd November, 1859, for a reference 
 
 to LOAFER. 
 
 LOAVER, money. — See lour. ' 
 
 LOB, a till, or money drawer. 
 LOBB, the head. — Pugilistic. 
 
 LOBLOLLY, gruel. — Old : used by Marlcham as a sea term for 
 grit gruel, or hasty pudding. 
 
170 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 LOBLOLLY BOY, a derisive term for a surgeon's mate in the 
 
 navy. 
 LOBS, words. — Gipsey. 
 LOBSTER, a soldier. A policeman from the colour of his coat 
 
 is styled an unboiled, or raw lobster. 
 LOBSTER-BOX, a barrack, or military station. 
 LOLLY, the head. — See lobb.— Pugilistic. 
 LONG-BOW, "to draw," or "shoot with the long bow,'' to 
 
 exaggerate. 
 LONG-TAILED-ONES, bank notes, or flimsies, for a large 
 
 amount. 
 LOOF FAKER, a chimney-sweep. — See flue faker. 
 LOOSE. — See on the loose. 
 LOOT, swag, or plunder. — Hindoo. 
 
 LOP-SIDED, uneven, one side larger than the other.— Old, 
 LOPE, this old form of leap is often heard in the streets. 
 LORD, *' drunk as a lord," a common saying, probably referring 
 
 to the facilities a man of fortune has for such a grati- 
 fication ; perhaps a sly sarcasm at the supposed habits of 
 
 the " h aristocracy." 
 LORD, a hump- backed man. — See my lord. 
 LORD OF THE MANOR, a sixpence. 
 
 LOUD, flashy, showy, as applied to dress or manner. — See bags. 
 LOUR, or LOWR, money ; " gammy lowr," bad money. — 
 
 Ancient cant, and Gipsey. 
 LOUSE-TRAP, a small tooth comb. — Old cant. — See catch 'em 
 
 alive. 
 LOVE, at billiards " five to none " would be " five love," — a 
 
 LOVE being the same as when one player does not score at all. 
 LOVEAGE, tap droppings, a mixture of spirits, sweetened and 
 
 sold to habitual dram-drinkers, principally females. Called 
 
 also ALLS. 
 LUBBER, a clown, or fool. — Ancient cant, lubbare. 
 LUBBER'S HOLE, an aperture in the maintop of a ship, by 
 
 which a timid climber may avoid the difficulties of the 
 
 " futtock shrouds " — hence, a sea term for any cowardly way 
 
 of evading duty. 
 LUCK, " down on one's luck," wanting money, or in difficulty. 
 LUCKY, " to cut one's lucky," to go away quickly.— /S^ee strike. 
 LUG, " my togs are in lug," i.e., in pawn. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 171 
 
 LUG, the ear. — Scotch. 
 
 LUG, to pull, or slake thiv^t.—Old. 
 
 LUG CHOVEY, a pawnbroker's shop. 
 
 LULLY PKIGGEllS, rogues who steal wet clothes hung on lines 
 
 to dry. 
 LUMBER, to pawn or pledge. — Household Words, No. 183. 
 LUMMY, jolly, first-rate. 
 LUMPER, a contractor. On the river, more especially a person 
 
 who contracts to deliver a ship laden with timber. 
 LUMP THE LIGHTER, to be transported. 
 LUMP WORK, work contracted for, or taken by the lump. 
 LUMPERS, low thieves who haunt wharves and docks, and rob 
 
 vessels ; persons who sell old goods for new. 
 LUMPY, intoxicated. 
 LUNAN", a g\v\. — Gipsey, 
 LURK, a sham, swindle, or representation of feigned distress. 
 
 LURKER, an impostor who travels the country with false certi- 
 ficates of fires, shipwrecks, &c. 
 
 LUSH, intoxicating drinks of all kinds, but generally used for 
 beer. The (7Zo5e, 8th September, 1859, says " lush and 
 its derivatives claim Lushington, the brewer, as sponsor." 
 
 LUSH, to drink, or get drunk. 
 
 LUSH-CRIB, a public house. 
 
 LUSHINGTON, a drunkard, or one who continually soaks him- 
 self with drams, and pints of beer. Some years since there 
 was a " Lushington Club " in Bow-street, Covent Garden. 
 
 LUSHY, intoxicated. Johnson says " opposite to pale," so red 
 with diink. 
 
 MAB, a cab, or hackney coach. 
 
 MACE, a dressy swindler who victimizes tradesmen. 
 
 MACE, to spunge, swindle, or beg, in a polite way ; " give it him 
 (a shopkeeper) on the mace," i.e., obtain goods on credit and 
 never pay for them; also termed " striking the mace." 
 
 MADZA, half. Italian, mezza. This word enters into combi- 
 nation with various cant phrases, mainly taken from the 
 Lingua Franca, as madza caroon, half-a-crown, two-and- 
 sixpence ; madza saltee, a halfpenny [see saltee] ; madza 
 POONA, half-a-sovereign; madza round the bull, half- 
 a pound of steak, &c. 
 
172 A DICTIONARY OP 
 
 MAG, a halfpenny. — Ancient cant, make. Meggs were formerly"' 
 guineas. — B. M. Carew. 
 
 MAG, to talk. A corruption of nag, — Old ; hence magpie. 
 
 MAGGOTTY, fanciful, fidgetty. Whims and fancies were 
 formerly termed maggots, from the popular belief that a 
 maggot in the brain was the cause of any odd notion or. 
 caprice a person might exhibit. 
 
 MAGSMAN", a street swindler, who watches for countrymen and 
 " gullable" persons. 
 
 MAHOGANY, "to have one's feet under another man's maho- 
 gany," to sit at his table, be supported on other than one's 
 own resources ; " amputate your mahogany," i.e., go away, 
 or " cut your stick." 
 
 MAIN-TOBY, the highway, or the main road, 
 
 MAKE, a successful theft, or swindle. 
 
 MAKE, to steal. 
 
 MAKE UP, personal appearance. — Theatrical. 
 
 MANG, to talk.— >S^co^c^. 
 
 MARE'S NEST, a Cockney discovery of marvels, which turn 
 out no marvels at all. An old preacher in Cornwall, up to 
 very lately employed a different version, viz. : " a cow 
 calving up in a tree." 
 
 MARINATED, transported ; — from the salt- pickling fish under- 
 go in Cornwall. — Old cant. 
 
 MARINE, or marine recruit, an empty bottle. This expres- 
 " sion having once been used in the presence of an ofl&cer 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."— >S^ee horse marine. — Naval. 
 
 MARRIAGE LINES, a marriage certificate. — Provincial. 
 
 MARROWSKYING.— /S'ee medical greek. 
 
 MARYGOLD, one million sterling. — ^ee plum. 
 
 MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS, when the leader of the 
 House of Commons goes through the doleful operation of 
 devoting to extinction a number of useful measures at the 
 end of the session, for want of time to pass them. — Vide 
 Times, 20th July, 1859: Mr. C. Foster, on altering the 
 time of the legislative sessions. — Parliamentary slang. 
 
 MATE, the term a coster or low person applies to a friend, 
 partner, or companion ; " me and my mate did so and so," 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 173 
 
 is a common phrase with a low Londoner. — Originally a 
 Sea term. 
 
 MAULEY, a signature, from mauley, a fist; " put your fist to 
 it," is sometimes said by a low tradesman when desiring a 
 fellow trader to put his signature to a bill or note. 
 
 MAULEY, a fist, that with which one strikes as with a mall. — 
 Pugilistic. 
 
 M AUND, to beg ; " maundering on the fly," begging of people 
 in the streets. — Old cant. Maung, to beg, is a term in use 
 amongst the Gipseys, and may also be found in the Hindoo 
 Vocabulary. Maund, however, is pure Anglo Saxon, from 
 MAND, a basket. Compare " beg," which is derived from 
 BAG, a curious parallel. 
 
 MAW, the mouth ; " hold your maw," cease talking. 
 
 MAX, gin ; max-upon tick, gin obtained upon credit. 
 
 M. B.-,COAT, i.e.f Marie of the Beast, a name given to the long 
 surtout worn by the clergy, — a modern Puritan form of 
 abuse, said to have been accidentally disclosed to a Trac- 
 tarian customer by a tailor's orders to his foreman. 
 
 MEALY-MOUTHED, plausible, deceitful. 
 
 MEDICAL GREEK, the slang used by medical students at the 
 hospitals. At the London University they have a way of 
 disguising English, described by Albert Smith as the Gower- 
 street Dialect, which consists in transposing the initials of 
 words, e.g., '*poke a smipe" — smoke a pipe, " flutter bi/" — 
 butterfly, &c. This disagreeable nonsense is often termed 
 MARROWSKTiNG. — See GREEK, St. Giles' Greek, or the 
 ** ^gidiac" dialect, Language of ziph, &c. 
 
 MENAGERY, the orchestra of a theatre, — Theatrical. 
 
 MIDDY, abbreviation of midshipman.— iV^avaZ. 
 
 MIDGE NET, a lady's veil. 
 
 MIKE, to loiter; or, as a costermonger defined it, to "lazy 
 about." The term probably originated at St. Giles', which 
 used to be thronged with Irish labourers (Mike being so 
 common a term with them as to become a generic appella- 
 tion for Irishmen with the vulgar) who used to loiter about 
 the Pound, and lean against the pubhc-houses in the 
 " Dials" waiting for hire. 
 
 MILKY ONES, white linen rags. 
 
 MILL, a fight, or set to. Ancient cant, myll, to rob. 
 
 MILL, to fight or beat. 
 
 MILL, the tvediAmill, prison. • . 
 
174 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 MILL-TOG, a shirt — most likely tlie prison garment. 
 MISH, a shirt, or chemise. From commission, the Ancient cant 
 for a shirt, afterwards shortened to k'mish or smish, and 
 then to MISH. French, chemise ; Italian, camicia. 
 " With his snowy camese and his shaggy capote." — Byron. 
 MITTENS, fiat&.— Pugilistic. 
 
 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." — Hood. 
 MOB. Swift informs us, in his Ai^t of Polite Conversation, that 
 mob was, in his time, the slang abbreviation of Mobility, 
 just as NOB is of Nobility at the present day. — See school. 
 
 MOBILITY, the populace ; or, according to Burhe, the " great 
 unwashed." Johnson calls it a cant term, although Sioift 
 notices it as a proper expression. 
 
 MOBS, companions ; mobsmen, dressy swindlers. 
 
 MOKE, a donkey. — Gijpsey, 
 
 MOKO, a name given by sportsmen to pheasants killed by mis- 
 take in partridge shooting during September, before the 
 pheasant shooting comes in. They pull out their tails, and 
 roundly assert they are no pheasants at all, but mokos. 
 
 MOLL, a girl; nickname for Mary. — Old cant. 
 
 MOLL'D, followed, or accompanied by a woman. 
 
 MOLLISHER, a low girl or woman; generally a female cohabit- 
 ing with a man, and jointly getting their living by thieving. 
 
 MOLLSACK, a reticule, or market basket. 
 
 MOLL-TOOLER, a female pickpocket. 
 
 MOLLYCODDLE, an effeminate man ; one who caudles amongst 
 the women, or does their work. 
 
 MOLLYGRUBS, or mulligrubs, stomach-ache, or sorrow — 
 which to the costermonger is much the same, as he be- 
 lieves, like the ancients, that the viscera is the seat of all 
 feeling. 
 
 MOLROWING, " out on the spree,'' in company with so-called 
 gay women." In allusion to the amatory serenadings of the 
 Loudon cats. 
 
 MONEKEER, a person's name or signature. 
 
 MONKEY, spirit, or ill temper ; " to get one's monkey up," to 
 rouse his passion. A man is said to have his monkey up, 
 or the monkey on his back, when he is " riled" or out of 
 temper ; also to have his back or hump up. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 175 
 
 MONKEY, a padlock. 
 
 MONKEY, the instrument which drives a rocket. — Army. 
 
 MONKEY, £500. 
 
 MONKEY WITH A LONG TAIL, a mortgage.— Ze^aZ. 
 
 MONKEY'S ALLOWANCE, to get blows instead of alms, more 
 kicks than half-pence. 
 
 MONKERY, the country, or rural districts. Old word for a 
 quiet, or monastic life. — Hall. 
 
 MOOCH, to sponge ; to obtrude yourself upon friends just when 
 they are about to sit down to dinner, or other lucky time — 
 of course quite accidentally. — Compare hulk. To slink 
 away, and allow your friend to pay for the entertainment. 
 In Wiltshire^ ON the moutch is to shuffle. 
 
 MOOCHING, or on the mooch, on the look out for any articles 
 or circumstances which may be turned to a profitable 
 account; watching in the streets for odd jobs, scraps, 
 horses to hold, &c. 
 
 MOOE, the mouth; the female generative organ. — Gijpsey BHidi 
 Hindoo. Shakespere has moe, to make mouths. 
 
 MOON", a month — generally used to express the length of time 
 a person has been sentenced by the magistrate ; thus " one 
 MOON " is one month. — See drag. It is a curious fact that 
 the Indians of America and the roaming vagabonds of 
 England should both calculate time by the moon. 
 
 MOONEY, intoxicated.— ^ow5e/ioZcZ Words, No. 183. 
 
 MOONLIGHT, or moonshine, smuggled gin. 
 
 MOONSHINE, palaver, deception, humbug. 
 
 MOP, a hiring place (or fair) for servants. Steps are being taken 
 to put down these assemblages, which have been proved to 
 be greatly detrimental to the morality of the poor. 
 
 MOP UP, to drink, or empty a glass. — Old. 
 
 MOPS AND BROOMS, intoxicated.— ZTo. Words, No. 183. 
 
 MOPUSSES, money ; '* mopusses ran taper," money ran short. 
 
 MORRIS, to decamp, be off. Probably from the ancient moresco, 
 or morris dance. 
 
 MORTAR-BOARD, the term given by the vulgar to the square 
 college caps. 
 
 MOTT, a girl of indifferent character. Formerly Mort. Dutch, 
 MOTT-KAST, a harlotry. 
 
 MOUNTAIN-DEW, whisky, advertised as from the Highlands. 
 
 MOUNTAIN PECKER, a sheep's head.— /See jemmy. 
 
176 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 MOUNTER, a false swearer. Derived from the borrowed clothes 
 men used to MOUNT, or dress iu, when going to swear for a 
 consideration . 
 
 MOUTHPIECE, a lawyer, or couusel. 
 
 MOVE, a " dodge/' or cunning trick ; " up to a move or two," 
 acquainted with tricks. 
 
 MRS. JONES, the house of office, a water-closet. 
 
 MRS. HARRIS and MRS. GAMP, nicknames of the Morning 
 Herald and Standard newspapers, while united under the 
 proprietorship of Mr. Baldwin. Mrs. Gamp, a monthly 
 nurse, was a character in Mr. Charles Dickens' popular novel 
 of Martin Chuzzlewit, who continually quoted an imaginary 
 Mrs. Harris in attestation of the superiority of her qualifi- 
 cations, and the infallibility of her opinions ; and thus 
 afforded a parallel to the two newspapers, who appealed to 
 each other as independent authorities, being all the while 
 the production of the same editorial staff. 
 
 MUCK, to beat, or excel ; "it's no use, luck's set in him ; he'd 
 MUCK a thousand." — Mayhem, vol. i, p. 18. To run a muck, 
 or GO A MUCKER, to rush headlong into certain ruin. From 
 a certain religious phrenzy, which is common among the 
 Malays, causing one of them, kreese in hand, to dash into 
 a crowd and devote every one to death he meets with, until 
 he is himself killed, or falls from exhaustion — Malay, amok, 
 slaughter. 
 
 MUCK OUT, to clean out, —often applied to one utterly ruining 
 an adversary in gambling. From the Provincial muck, dirt. 
 
 MUCK-SNIPE, one who has been " mucked out," or beggared, 
 
 at gambling. 
 MUCKENDE tl, or MUCKENGER, a pocket handkerchief.— Old, 
 
 MUDFOG, "The British Association for the Promotion of 
 Science." — University. 
 
 MUD-LARKS, men and women who, with their clothes tucked 
 above knee, grovel through the mud on the banks of the 
 Thames, when the tide is low, for silver spoons, old bottles, 
 pieces of iron, coal, or any articles of the least value, depo- 
 sited by the retiring tide, either f lom passing ships or the 
 sewers. Occasionally those men who cleanse the sewers, 
 with great boots and sou' wester hats. 
 
 MUFF, a silly, or weak-minded psrson ; muff has been defined 
 to be "a soft thing that holds a lady's hand without 
 squeezing it." 
 
 MUFFIN- WORRY, an old ladies' tea party. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 177 
 
 MUFTI, tlie civilian dress of a naval or military officer when off 
 
 duty. — Anglo Indian. 
 MUG, to fight, or chastise. . 
 MUG, " to MUG oneself," to get tipsy. 
 MUG, the mouth, or face. — Old. 
 MUGGING, a thrashing,— synonymous with slogging, both 
 
 terms of the " ring," and frequently used by fighting men. 
 MUGGY, drunk. 
 MUG-UP, to paint one's face. — Theatrical. To "cram" for an 
 
 examination. — A rmy. 
 MULL, " to make a mull of it," to spoil anything, or make a 
 
 fool of oneself. — Gipsey. 
 MULLIGRUBS.— Vide molltgrubs. 
 
 MULTEE KERTEVER, very had. -Italian, molto cattivo. 
 MUMMER, a performer at a travelling theatre —Ancient. 
 
 Rustic performerti at Christmas in the West of England. 
 MUMPER, a beggar. — Gipsey. Possibly a corruption of mummer. 
 MUNDUNGUS, trashy tobacco. Spanish, mondongo, black 
 
 pudding. 
 
 MUNGARLY, bread, food. Mung is an old word for mixed 
 food, but MUNGARLY is doub^css derived from the Lingua 
 Franca, mangiar, to eat. — See the following. 
 
 MUNGARLY CASA, a baker's shop ; evidently a corruption of 
 some Lingua Franca phrase for an eating house. The well 
 known "Nix mangiare" stairs at Malfa derive their name 
 from the endless beggars who lie there and shout nix 
 MANGIARE, i.e., "nothing to eat," to excite the compassion 
 of the English who land there, — an expression which ex- 
 hibits remarkably the mongrel composition of the Lingua, 
 Franca, mangiare being Italian, and 'Nix an evident im- 
 portation from. Trieste, or other Austrian seaport. 
 
 MUNGING, or " MOUNGING," whining, begging, muttering. — 
 North. 
 
 MUNS, the mouth. German, mund. — Old cant. 
 
 MURERK, the mistress of the house.— ;S^ee burerk. 
 
 MURKARKER, a monkey, — vulgar cockney pronunciation of 
 macauco, a species of monkey. Jacfcey Macauco was the 
 name of a f imous fighting monkey, which used about thirty 
 years ago to display his prowess at the Westminster pit, 
 where, after having killed many dugs, he was at last 
 "chawed up" by a buil terrier. 
 
 N 
 
178 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 MURPHY, a potato. Probably from the Irish national likii^g 
 for potatoes, murphy being a common surname amongst the 
 Irish. — See mike. Murphies (edible) are sometimes called 
 
 DUNNAMANS. 
 
 MURPHY, " in the arms of murphy," i.e., fast asleep. Cor- 
 ruption of MORPHEUS. 
 
 MUSH, an umbrella. Cju traction of mushroom. 
 
 MUSH, (or mushroom) FAKER, an itinerant mender of um- 
 brellas. 
 
 MUSLIN, a woman or girl ; " he picked up a bit of muslin. 
 
 MUTTON, a lewd woman.— Shalespere. 
 
 MUTTON- WALK, the saloon at Drury Lane Theatre. 
 
 MUZZLE, to fight or thrash. 
 
 MUZZLE, the mouth. 
 
 MUZZY, mtoxicated.— Household Words, No. 183. 
 
 MY AUNT, a water-closet, or house of office. 
 
 MY LORD, a nickname given to a hunchback. 
 
 MY TULIP, a term of endearment used by the lower orders to 
 persons and animals; "kim up, my tulip,'" as the coster said 
 to his donkey when thrashing him with an ash stick. 
 
 MY UNCLE, the pawnbroker, — generally used when any person 
 questions the whereabouts of a domestic article, " Oh ! only 
 at MY uncle's" is the reply. Up the spout has the same 
 meaning. 
 
 NAB, to catch, to seize; "nab the rust," to take offence. — 
 Ancient, fourteenth century. 
 
 NABOB, an Eastern prince, a retired Indian official, — hence a 
 slang term for a capitalist. 
 
 NAIL, to steal, or capture; "paid on the nail," i.e., ready 
 money; nailed, taken up, or caught — probably in allusion 
 to the practice of nailing bad money to the counter. We 
 say "as dead as a door-nail;" — why? ShaJcespere has 
 the expression in Henry IV. — 
 
 "Fahtoff. What! is the old king dead? 
 Pistol. 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. 
 NAM, a policeman. Evidently hacTc slang. 
 NAMBY PAMBY, particular, over nice, effeminate This, I 
 
 think, was of Pope's invention, and first applied by him to 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 179 
 
 the affected short-lined verses addressed by Ambrose 
 Phillips to Lord Carteret's infant children. — See Johnsons 
 Life of Pope. 
 
 NAMUS, or namoos, some one, i.e., "be off, somebody is com- 
 ing." — Bach slang, but general. — /S'ee vamos. 
 
 NANNY-SHOP, a disreputable house. 
 
 NANTEE, not any, or " I have none." Italian, niente, nothing. 
 
 — See DINARLY. 
 
 NANTEE PALAVER, no converi^ation, ^.e., hold your tongue. 
 — Lingua Franca. — See palaver. 
 
 NAP, or NAB, to take, steal, or receive ; " you'll nap it," i.e., 
 you will catch a beating ! — North; also old cant. — Bulwer's 
 Paul Clifford. 
 
 NAP, or NAPPER, a hat. From nab, a hat, cap, or head. — Old 
 
 cant. 
 NAP ONE'S BIB, to cry, shed tears, or carry one's point. 
 NAP THE REGULARS, to divide the booty. 
 NAP THE TEAZE, to be privately whipped in prison. 
 
 NARK, a person in the pay of the police ,• a common informer ; 
 one who gets his living by laying traps for publicans, &c. 
 
 NARK, to watch, or look after, " nark the titter ;" watch the 
 girl. 
 
 NARP, a ^hivLScotch. 
 
 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.-^OZcZ. 
 
 NATURAL, an idiot, a simpleton. 
 
 NECK, to swallow. Neck-oil, drink of any kind. 
 
 NECK OR NOTHING, desperate.— i?aciwr/ phrase. 
 
 NEDDY, a life preserver. — Contraction of Kennedy, the name 
 of the first man, it is said in St. Giles', who had his head 
 broken by a poker. — Vide Mornings at Bow Street. 
 
 NEDDY, a donkey. 
 
 NEDS, guineas. Half-neds, half-guineas. 
 
 NED STOKES, the four of spades.— iVw^^ Hants. -See Gentle- 
 man's Magazine for 1791, p. 141. 
 
 NEEDFUL, money, cash. 
 
 NEEDY, a nightly lodger, or tramp. 
 
 N 2 
 
180 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 NEEDY MIZZLER, a shabby person ; a tramp who runs away 
 without paying for his lodging. 
 
 NESTS, varieties.— OZ(Z 
 
 NEVER-TRUST-ME, an ordinary phrase with low Londoners, 
 and common in Shakespere's time, vide Twelfth Night. It 
 is generally used instead of an oath, calling vengeance on 
 the asseverator, if such and such does not come to pass. 
 
 NEWGATE FRINGE, or frill, the collar of beard worn under 
 the chin ; so called from its occupying the position of the 
 rope when Jack Ketch operates. Another name for it is a 
 
 TYBURN COLLAR. 
 
 NEWGATE KNiOCKER, the term given to the lock of hair 
 which costermongers and thieves usually twist back towards 
 the ear. The shape is supposed to resemble the knocker on 
 the prisoners' door at Newgate — a resemblance that would 
 appear to carry a rather unpleasant suggestion to the wearer. 
 Sometimes termed a cobbler's knot, or cow-lick, which see. 
 
 NEWMARKET, in tossing halfpence, when it is agreed that the 
 first toss shall be decisive, the play is said to be newmarket. 
 
 NIBBLE, to take, or steal. Nibbler, a petty thief 
 
 NIBS, the master, or chief person; a man with no means but 
 high pretensions, — a " shabby genteel." 
 
 NICK, or OLD nick, the evil spirit. — Scandinavian. 
 
 NICK, to hit the mark ; " he's nicked it," i.e.y won his point. 
 
 NICK-KNACK, a trifle.— Originally cant. 
 
 NIGGLING, trifling, or idling; taking short steps in walking. — 
 North. 
 
 NIL, half; half profits, &c. 
 
 NILLY-WILLY, i.e., Nill ye, will ye, whether you will or no, a 
 familiar version of the Latin, nolens volens. 
 
 NIMMING, stealing. Immediately from the German, nehmen. 
 Motherwell, the Scotch poet, thought the old word nim (to 
 snatch or pick up) was derived from nam, nam, the tiuy 
 words or cries of an infant, when eating anything which 
 pleases its little palate. A negro proverb has the word : — 
 
 ** Buckra man nam crab, 
 Crab nam buckra man." 
 
 Or, in the buckra man's language — 
 
 ** White man eat [or steal] the crab, 
 And the crab eats the white man." 
 
 NINCOMPOOP, a fool, a hen pecked husband, a "Jerry Sneak." 
 — Corruption of non compos mentis. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WOEDS. 181 
 
 NINE CORNS, a pipeful of tobacco. 
 
 NINES, "dressed up to the -nines," in a showy or recherche 
 manner. 
 
 NINEPENCE, "right as ninepence," all right, right to a 
 
 nicety. 
 NIP, to steal, take up quickly. 
 
 NIPPER, a small boy. Old cant for a hoy cut- purse. 
 NIX, nothing, *' nix my doll," synonymous with nix. German, 
 
 NIGHTS, nothing. — See mungarly. 
 NIX ! the signal word of school boys to each other that the 
 
 master, or other person in authority, is approaching. 
 NIZZIE, a fool, a coxcomb. — Old cant, vide Triumph of Wit. 
 NOAH'S ARK, a long closely buttoned overcoat, recently in 
 
 fashion. So named by Punch from the similarity which it 
 
 exhibits to the figure of Noah and his sons in children's toy 
 
 arks. 
 NOB, the head — Pugilistic; " bob A nob," a shilling a head. 
 
 Ancient cant, neb. Nob is an early English word, and is 
 
 used in the Romance of Kynge Alisaunder (thirteenth 
 
 century) for a head; originally, no doubt, the same as Tcnoh. 
 NOB, a person of high position, a " swell," a ^loSleman, — of 
 
 which word it may be an abbreviation. — See snob. 
 NOBBA, nine. Italian, nove ; Spanish, nova, — the h and v 
 
 being interchangeable, as Sevastopol and Serastdpol. 
 NOBBA SALTEE, ninepence. Lingua F^^anca, nove soldi. 
 NOBBING, collecting money; "what nobbings ?" i.e., how 
 
 much have you got ? 
 NOBBLE, to cheat, to overreach ; to discover. 
 NOBBLERS, confederates of thimble-rigs, who play earnestly 
 
 as if strangers to the " eig," and thus draw unsuspecting 
 
 persons into a game. 
 NOBBY, or nobbish, fine or showy; nobbilt, showily. — See 
 
 SNOB for derivation. 
 NOMMUS, be off.— ^ee namus. 
 NO ODDS, no matter, of no consequence. — Latimer's sermon 
 
 hefore Edward VI. 
 NOSE, a thief who turns informer, or Queen's evidence ; a spy 
 
 or watch ; " on the nose," on the look out. 
 NOSE, " to pay through the nose," to pay an extravagant price. 
 NOSE-BAGS, visitors at watering places, and houses of refresh- 
 ment, who carry their own victuals. — Term applied hywaiters. 
 
182 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 NOSE EM, or fogus, tobacco. 
 
 NOSER, a bloody or contused nose. — Pugilistic. 
 
 NOUSE, comprehension, perception. — Old, apparently from the 
 Qreek, vov9. 
 
 NUB, a husband. 
 
 NUDDIKIN, the head. 
 
 For Cant Nuraerals, see under saltee. 
 
 NURSE, a curious term lately applied to competition in omni- 
 buses. Two omnibuses are placed on the road to nurse, 
 or oppose, each oppo^^ition " buss," one before, the other 
 behind. Of course the central or nursed buss has very little 
 chance, unless it happens to be a favourite with the public. 
 Nurse, to cheat, or swindle; trustees are said to nurse 
 property, i.e., gradually eat it up tliemselves. 
 
 NUT, to be " off one's nut," to be in liquor, or *' all mops and 
 
 BROOMS." 
 
 NUTS, to be nuts upon anything or person is to be pleased 
 with or fond of it ; a self-satisfied man is said to be nuts 
 upon himself. Nutted, taken in by a man who professed 
 to be nuts upon you. 
 
 NUTTY, amorous. 
 
 NYMPH OF THE PAVE {French, pave), a street-walker, a 
 girl of the town. 
 
 OAK, the outer door of college rooms; to "sport one's oak," 
 to be "not at home" to visitors. — See sport. — University. 
 
 OBFUSCATED, intoxicated. 
 
 OBSTROPOLOUS, Cockney corruption of ohstreperous. 
 
 OCHRE, money, generally applied to gold, iov a very obvious 
 reason. 
 
 O'CLOCK, or a'clock, "like one o'clock," a favourite com- 
 parison with the lower orders, implying briskness; "to 
 know what o'clock it is," to be wide awake, sharp, and 
 experienced. 
 
 ODD MAN, a street or public- house game at tossing. The 
 number of players is three. Each tosses up a coin, and if 
 two come down head, and one tail, or vice versa, the last is 
 ODD MAN, and loses or wins as may have been agreed upon. 
 Frequently used to victimise a " flat." If all three be alike, 
 then the toss goes for nothing, and the coppers are again 
 " skied." 
 
 OD DRAT IT, OD rabbit {Colman's Broad Grins), od's blood, 
 and all other exclamations commencing with od, are nothing 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 1S3 
 
 but softened or suppressed oaflis. Od is a corriiption of 
 GOD, and DRAT of ROT. — SliaJcespere. 
 
 OFF AND ON, vacillating; "an off and on kind of a chap," 
 one who is always undecided. 
 
 OFF ONE'S FEED, real or pretended want of appetite.— 
 Stable slang. 
 
 OFFISH, distant, not familiar. 
 
 OFFICE, " to give the office," to give a hint dishonestly to a 
 confederate, thereby enabling him to win a game or bet, 
 the profits being shared. 
 
 OGLE, to look, or reconnoitre. 
 
 OGLES, eyes.— OZc? cant. French, (Etl. 
 
 OIL OF PALMS, or palm oil, money. 
 
 OINTMENT, medical student slang for butter. 
 
 OLD GOOSEBERRY {see gooseberry), old harry (query, Old 
 Hairy 'i), old scratch, all synonymes for the devil. 
 
 OLD GOWN, smuggled tea. 
 
 OLD HORSE, salt junk, or heet—Sea. 
 
 OLD TOM, gin. 
 
 OLIVER, the moon; " Oliver don't widdle," i.e., the moon 
 does not shine. Nearly ohsolcte. — Bulwers Paul Clifford. 
 
 OMEE, a master or landlord ; " the omee of the cassey's a nark 
 on the pitch," the master of the house will not let us per- 
 form. Italian, uomo, a man; "uomo della casa," the 
 master of the house. 
 
 ON, "to be OxNT," in public-house or vulgar parlance, is synony- 
 mous with getting " tight," or tipsy ; " it's Saint Monday 
 with him, I see he's on again," i.e., drunk as usual, or on 
 the road to it. 
 
 ON THE FLY, getting one's living by thieving or other illegi- 
 timat-e means; the phrase is applied to men the same as on 
 THE loose is to women. 
 
 ON THE LOOSE, obtaining a living by prostitution, in reality, 
 on the streets. The term is applied to females only, ex- 
 cepting in the case of sprees, when men carousing are 
 sometimes said to be on the loose. 
 
 ON THE NOSE, on the watch or look out.— ^ee nose. 
 
 ON THE SHELF, to be transported. With old maids it has 
 another and very different meaning. 
 
 ON THE TILES, out all night " on the spree," or caroasing, — 
 in allusion to the London cats on their amatory excursions. 
 
184 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 ONE IN TEN, a parson. 
 
 ONE-ER, that which stands for one, a blow that requires no 
 more. In Dickens' amusing work, the " Marchioness" tells 
 Dick Swiveller that " her missus is a one-er at cards." 
 
 ORACLE, " to work the oracle," to plan, manoeuvre, to succeed 
 by a wily stratagem. 
 
 OTTER, eightpence. — Italian, otto, eight. 
 
 OTTOMY, a thin man, a skeleton, a dwarf. V'^ulgar pronuncia- 
 tion oi Anatomy. ShaJcespere has 'atomy. 
 
 OUT, a dram glass. The kahitue of a gin-shop, desirous of 
 treating a brace of friends, calls for a quartern of gin and 
 three outs, by which he means three glasses which will 
 exactly contain the quartern. 
 
 OUT AND OUT, prime, excellent, of the first quality. Out 
 AND OUTER, "one who is of an OUT AND OUT description," 
 UP to anything. 
 
 An ancient MS. has this couplet, which shows the anti- 
 quity of the phrase — 
 
 *' The Kyng was good alle aboute. 
 And she was wycked oute and oute." 
 
 OUT OF COIjLAR, out of place, — in allusion to servants. 
 When in place, the term is collared up. — Theatrical and 
 
 OUT ON THE LOOSE, "on the spree," in search of adven- 
 tures. 
 
 OUT ON THE PICKAROON. Picarone is Spanish for a 
 thief, but this phrase does not necessarily mean anything 
 dishonest, but ready for anything in the way of excitement 
 to turn up; also to be in search of anything profitable. 
 
 OUT-SIDER, a person who does not habitually bet, or is not 
 admitted to the " Ring." Also, a horse whose name does 
 not appear among the " favourites." 
 
 OVER ! or over the left, i.e., the left shoulder — a common 
 exclamation of disbelief in what is being narrated, — im- 
 plying that the results of a proposed plan will be " over 
 the left," i.e., in the wrong direction, loss instead of gain. 
 
 OWNED, a canting expressi<m used by the ultra-Evangelicals 
 when a popular preacher makes many converts. The con- 
 verts themselves are called his " seals." 
 
 P s AND Q's, particular points, precise behaviour; "mind 
 your p's AND q's," be very careful. Originating, according to 
 some, from the similarity of p's and q's in the hornbook 
 alphabet, and therefore the warning of an old dame to her 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 185 
 
 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." — Barefs Alvearie, 1580. 
 
 PAD, "to stand pad," to beg with a small piece of paper pinned 
 
 on the breast, inscribed "I'm starving." 
 PAD, the highway ; a tramp. — Lincolnshire. 
 PAD THE HOOF, to walk, not ride; " padding the hoof on 
 
 the high toby," tramping or walking on the high road. 
 
 " Trudge, plod away o' the hoof." 
 
 Merry Wives, i., 3. 
 
 PADDING KENS, or ceibs, tramps' and boys' lodging houses. 
 
 PADDLE, to go or run away. — Household Words, No. 183. 
 
 PADDY, PAT, or paddy whack, an Irishman. 
 
 " rm PADDY WHACK, from Bally hack, 
 Not long ago turned soldier ; 
 In storm and sack, in front attack, 
 None other can be boulder." 
 
 Irisli Song. 
 
 PADRE, a clergyman. — Anglo Indian, 
 
 PAL, a partner, acquaintance, friend, an accomplice. Glpsey, a 
 
 brother. 
 PALAVER, to ask, or talk, — not deceitfully, as the term usually 
 
 signifies; " palaver to the nibs for a shant of bivvy," ask 
 
 the master for a quart of beer. In this sense used by 
 
 tramps. — Derived from French, parler. 
 PALL, to detect. 
 PALM OIL, or PALM SOAP, money. 
 
 PALMING, robbing shops by pairs, — one thief bargaining with 
 apparent intent to purchase, whilst the other watches his 
 opportunity to steal. An amusing example of palming 
 can?e off some time since. A man entered a "ready made" 
 boot and shoe shop and desired to be shown a pair of boots, 
 • — his companion staying outside and s^musing himself by 
 looking in at the window. The one who required to be 
 fresh shod was apparently of a humble and deferential turn, 
 for he placed his hat on the floor directly he stepped in the 
 shop. Boot after boot was tried on until at last a fit was 
 obtained, — when lo, forth came a man, snatched up the 
 customer's hat left near the door, and down the street he 
 ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Away went the 
 
186 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 customer after his hat, and Crispin, standing at the door, 
 clapped his hands and shouted " go it, you'll catch him," 
 — little thinking that it was a concerted trick, and that 
 neither his boots nor the customer would ever return. 
 Palming sometimes refers to secreting money or rings in 
 the hand. 
 
 PAM, the knave of clubs ; or, in street phraseology, Lord Pal- 
 
 raerston. 
 P ANN AM, food, bread. — Lingua Franca, pannen ; Za^m,PANis; 
 
 Ancient cant, yannam. 
 PANNAM-BOUND, stopping the prison food or rations to a 
 
 prisoner, pan nam- struck, very hungry. 
 PANNIKIN, a small pan. 
 PANNY, a house — pubHc or otherwise ; " flash panny," a 
 
 public-house used by thieves ; panny men, housebreakers. 
 
 PANTILE, a hat. The term pantile is properly applied to the 
 mould into which the sugar is poured which is afterwards 
 known as "loaf sugar." Thus, pantile, from whence comes 
 the phrase "a sugar-loaf hat," originally signified a tall, 
 conical hat, in shape similar to that usually represented as 
 the head gear of a bandit. From pantile, the more 
 modern slang term tile has been derived. HalUwell gives 
 pantile shop, a meeting-house. 
 
 PANTILER, a dissenting preacher. Probably from the practice 
 of the Quakers, and many dissenters, of not removing the 
 hat in a place of worship. 
 
 PAPER MAKERS, rag gatherers and gutter rakers — similar to 
 the chiffonuiers of Paris. Also, those men who tramp 
 through the country, and collect rags on the pretence that 
 they are agents to a paper mill. 
 
 PAPER WORKERS, the wandering vendors of street literature ; 
 street folk who sell ballads, dying speeches and confessions, 
 sometimes termed running stationers. 
 
 PAR ADIS, French slang for the gallery of a theatre, " up amongst 
 the gods," which see. 
 
 PARISH LANTERN, the moon. 
 
 PARNEY, rain; " dowry of parney," a quantity of rain. Anglo- 
 Indian slang from the Hindoo, pani, water ; Gipsey, pane. 
 Old Indian ofi&cers always call brandy and water brandy 
 
 PAWNEE. 
 
 PASH, to strike ; now corrupted to bash, which see.— SJiahes, 
 PASTE-HORN, the nose. Shoemakers nickname any shopmate 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 187 
 
 with a large nose "old pastehorn," from the horn in 
 which they keep their paste. 
 
 PATENT COAT, a coat with the pockets inside the skirts,— 
 termed patent from the difficulty of picking them. 
 
 PATTER, a speech or discourse, a pompous street oration, a 
 judge's summing up, a trial. Ancient word for muttering. 
 Probably from the Latin, pater noster, or Lord's Prayer. 
 This was said, before the Reformation, in a loto voice by <be 
 priest, until he came to, "and lead us not into temp- 
 tation," to which the choir responded, "but deliver us 
 from evil." In our reformed Prayer Book this was altered, 
 and the Lord's Prayer directed to be said *^with a loud 
 voice." — Dr. Pusey takes this view of the derivation in his 
 Letter to the Bishop of London, p. 78, 1851. Scott uses the 
 word twice in Ivanhoe and the Bride of Lammermoor. 
 
 PATTER, to talk. Patter flash, to speak the language of 
 thieves, talk cant. 
 
 PATTERERS, men who cry last dying speeches, &c., in the 
 streets, and those who help off their wares by long 
 harangues in the public thoroughfares. These men, to use 
 their own term " are the haristocracy of the street sellers," 
 and despise the costermougers for their ignorance, boasting 
 that they live by their intellect. The public, they say, do not 
 expect to receive from them an equivalent for their money 
 —they pay to hear them talk. — Mayhew. Patterers were 
 formerly termed " mountebanks." 
 
 PAWS, hands. 
 
 PAY, to beat a person, or "serve them out." Originally a 
 nautical term, meaning to stop the seams of a vessel with 
 
 pitch {French, poix) ; "here's the d 1 to pay, and no 
 
 pitch hot," said when any catastrophe occurs which there is 
 no means of averting; "to pay over face and eyes, as the 
 cat did the monkey ;" "to pay through the nose," to give 
 a ridiculous price, — whence the origin? ShaJcespere uses 
 PAY in the sense of to beat, or thrash. 
 
 PEACH, to inform against or betray. Webster states that im- 
 peach is now the modification mostly used, and that peach 
 is confined principally to the conversation of thieves and the 
 lower orders. 
 
 PEACOCK HORSE, amongst undertakers, is one with a showy 
 tail and mane, and holds its bead up well, — che va favor- 
 reggiando, kc, Italian. 
 
 PEAKING, remnants of cloth. 
 
188 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 PECK, food ; " peck and booze/' meat and drink. — Lincolnshire. 
 Ancient cant, pek, meat. 
 
 PECKER, "keep your pecker up," i.e., don't get down -hearted, 
 — literally, keep your beak or head well up, "never say die !" 
 PECKISH, hungry. Old cant, peckidge, meat. 
 PEEL, to strip, or d'srobe. — Pugilistic. 
 
 PEELER, a policeman ; so called from Sir Robert Peel {see 
 bobby) ; properly applied to the Irish constabulary ratlier 
 than the City police, the former force having been esta- 
 blished by Sir Robert Peel. 
 
 PEEPERS, eyes ; " painted peepers," eyes bruised or blackened 
 from a blow. 
 
 PEERY, suspicious, or inquisitive. 
 
 PEG, brandy and soda water. 
 
 PEG, "to PEG away," to strike, run, or drive away; ''peg a 
 hack," to drive a cab ; " take down a PEG or two," to check 
 an arrogant or conceited person. 
 
 PEG, a BhiWmg.— Scotch. 
 
 PEG-TOPS, the loose trousers now in fashion, small at the ankle 
 and swelling upwards, in imitation of the Zouave costume. 
 
 PENNY GAFFS, shops turned into temporary theatres (admis- 
 sion one penny), where dancing and singing take place every 
 night. Rude pictures of the performers are arranged outside 
 to give the front a gaudy and attractive look, and at night- 
 time coloured lamps and transparencies are displayed to 
 draw an audience. 
 
 PENNY A-LINER, a contributor of local news, accidents, fires, 
 scandal, political and fashionable gossip, club jokes, and 
 anecdotes, to a newspaper ; not regularly " on the paper ;" 
 one who is popularly believed to be paid for each contri- 
 bution at the rate of a penny a line, and whose interest is, 
 therefore, that his article should be horribly stuffed with 
 epithets. 
 
 PENISULAR, or moll tooler, a female pickpocket. 
 
 PENSIONER, a man of the lowest morals who lives off the 
 miserable earnings of a prostitute. 
 
 PEPPER, to thrash, or strike. — Ftigilistic, but used by Shakes- 
 pere. — East. 
 
 PERCH, or roost, a resting place ; " I'm off to perch," i.e., I 
 am going to bed. 
 
 PERSUADERS, spurs. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 189 
 
 PESKY, au intensitive expression, implying annoyance ; a 
 PESKY, troublesome fellow. Corruption of pestilent ? 
 
 PETER, a partridge. — Poacher's term. 
 
 PETER, a bundle, or YuM^ti.—Bulwer s Paul Clifford, 
 
 PETER, to run short, or give out. 
 
 PETERER, or peterman, one who follows hackney and stage 
 coaches, and cuts off the portmanteaus and trunks from be- 
 hind. — Nearly obsolete. Ancient term for a fisherman, still 
 used at Gravesend. 
 
 PETTICOAT, a woman. 
 
 PEWTER, money, like tin, used generally to signify silver ; also, 
 a pewter-pot. 
 
 PHYSOG, or phiz, the face, Sioift uses the latter. Corruption 
 of physiogiioray. 
 
 PIC, the Piccadilly Saloon. 
 
 PICK, " to PICK oneself up," to recover after a beating or illness ; 
 " to PICK a man up," " to do," or cheat him. 
 
 PICKERS, the hixndB.—Shalcespere. 
 
 PICKLE, a miserable or comical position ; " he is in a sad pickle," 
 said of any one who has fallen into the gutter, or got be- 
 smeared. " A PICKLE herring," a comical fellow, a merry 
 Andrew.— Old. 
 
 PICKLES! gammon. 
 
 PIECE, a contemptuous term for a woman ; a strumpet. — 
 
 PIG, or sow's BABY, a sixpence. 
 
 PIG, a mass of metal, — so called from its being poured in a fluid 
 state from a sow, which see. — Worhnen's term. 
 
 PIG AND TINDER-BOX, the vulgar rendering of the well- 
 known tavern sign, '^ Ehphant and CastUJ' 
 
 PEPPER-BOXES, the buildings of the Royal Academy and 
 National Gallery, in Trafalgar-square. The name was first 
 given by a wag, in allusion to the cupolas erected by Wilkins, 
 the architect, upon the roof, and which at a distance 
 sugge-^t to the stranger the fact of their being enlarged 
 PEPPER-BOXES, from their form and awkward appearance. 
 — See BOILERS. 
 
 PIGEON, a gullible or soft person. The French slang, or argot, 
 has the word piueon, dupe — " pechon, peschon de ruby, 
 apprenti gueux, enfant (sans doute derobe)." The vaga- 
 bonds and brigands of Spain also use the word in their 
 
190 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 Germania, or JRohbers' Language, palomo (pigeon), ignorant, 
 simple. 
 
 PIGEON, or BLUEY cracking, breaking into empty houses and 
 stealing lead. 
 
 PIG-HEADED, obstinate. 
 
 PIG'S WHISPER, a low or inaudible whisper; also a short 
 
 space of time, synonymous with cockstride, i.e , cock's 
 
 tread. 
 PIKE, to run away. 
 PIKE, a turnpike ; " to bilk a pike," to cheat the keeper of the 
 
 toll-gate. 
 
 PILL, a doctor — Military. Pill-driver, a peddling apothecary. 
 
 PIN, " to put in the pin," to refrain from drinking. From the 
 ancient peg tankard, which was furnished with a row of 
 pins, or pegs, to regulate the amount which each person was 
 to diink. A merry pin, a roisterer. 
 
 PINCH, to steal, or cheat; also, to catch, or apprehend. 
 
 PINDAPtIC HEIGHTS, studying the odes of Pindar.— 0:r/or(^. 
 
 PINK, to stab, or pierce. 
 
 PINK, the acm^ of perfection. — Shakespere. 
 
 PINNERS -UP, sellers of old songs pinned against a wall, or 
 framed canvas. 
 
 PINS, legs. 
 
 PIPE, to shed tears, or bewail ; " pipe one's eye, — Sea term. 
 
 fHe first began to eye his pipe. 
 And then to pipe his eye," 
 Old Song. 
 
 Metaphor from the boatswain's pipe, which calls to duty. 
 PIPE, "to put one's pipe out," to. traverse his plans, "take a 
 
 rise" out of him. 
 PIPKIN, the stomach, — properly, an eartPxen round-bottomed 
 
 pot. — Norwich. 
 PIT, a breast pocket. 
 PITCH, a fixed locality where a patfcerer can hold forth to a 
 
 gaping multitude for at least some few minutes continuously; 
 
 "■ to do a pitch in the drag," to perform in the street. 
 PITCH INTO, to fight ; " pitch into him, Bill," i.e., give him 
 
 a thrashing. 
 PITCH THE FORK, to tell a pitiful tale. 
 PITCH THE NOB, prick the garter, which see. 
 
MODEEN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 191 
 
 PLANT, a dodge, a preconcerted swindle; a position in the 
 street to sell from. Plant, a swindle, may be thus de- 
 scribed : a coster will join a party of narabliug costers that 
 he never saw before, and commence tossing. When suffi- 
 cient time has elapsed to remove all suspicions of com- 
 panionship, his mate will come up and commence betting 
 on each of his pal's throws with those standini^ around. 
 By a curious quickness of hand, a coster can make the toss 
 tell favourably for his wagering friend, who meets him in 
 the evening after the play is over and shares the spoil. 
 
 PLANT, to mark a person out for plunder or robbery, to con- 
 ceal, or place. — Old cant. 
 
 PLEBS, a term used to stigmatise a tradesman's son at West- 
 minster School. Latin, plebs, the vulgar. 
 
 PLOUGHED, drnnk.- Household Words, No. 183. Also a 
 University term equivalent to plucked. 
 
 PLUCK, the heart, liver, and lungs of an animal, — all that is 
 PLUCKED away in connection with the windpipe, from the 
 chest of a sheep or hog ; among low persons, courage, valour, 
 and a stout heart. — See mollygrubs. 
 
 PLUCK'D-'UN, a stout or brave fellow ; " he's a rare plucked- 
 'UN," i.e , dares face anything. 
 
 During the Crimean war, plucky, signifying courageous, 
 seemed likely to become a favourite term in May -Fair, even 
 among the ladies. An eminent critic, however, who had 
 been bred a butcher, having informed the fashionable world 
 that in his native town the sheep's head always went with 
 the PLUCK, the term has been gradually falling into dis- 
 credit at the West End. 
 
 It has been said that a brave soldier is plucky in attack, 
 and GAME when wounded. Women are more game than 
 plucky. 
 
 PLUCKED, turned back at an examination. — University. 
 
 PLUNDER, a common word in the horse trade to express profit. 
 
 Also an American term for baggage, luggage. 
 PLUM, £100,000, usually applied to the dowry of a rich heiress, 
 
 or a legacy. 
 
 PLUMMY, round, sleek, jolly, or fat ; excellent, very good, first 
 rate. 
 
 PLUMPER, a single vote at an election, not a " split ticket." 
 
 PODGY, drunk ; dumpy, short and fat. 
 
 POGRAM, a dissenter, a fanatic, formalist, or humbug. 
 
192 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 POKE, "come, none of your poking fun at me," i.e., you must 
 not laugh at me. 
 
 POKE, a bag, or s?ack ; " to buy a pig in a poke," to purchase 
 anything without seeing it. — Saxon. 
 
 POKER, "by the holy poker and the tumbling Tom !" an 
 Irish oath. 
 
 POKERS, the Cambridge slang term for the Esquire Bedels, who 
 carry the silver maces (also called pokers) before the Vice- 
 Chancellor. 
 
 POKY, confined or cramped ; " that corner is poky and narrow." 
 — T'mes article, 21st July, 1859. 
 
 POLE-AXE, vulgar corruption of policeman. 
 
 POLICEMAN, a fly. 
 
 POLISH OFF, to finish off anything quickly — a dinner for in- 
 stance ; also to finish off an adversary. — Pugilistic. 
 
 POLL, or POLLING, one thief robbing another of part of their 
 hootj.—HalVs Union, 1548. 
 
 POLL, the "ordinary degree" candidates for the B.A. Examina- 
 tion, who do not aspire to the " Honours " list. From the 
 Greek, oi ttoWoi, " the many." Some years ago, at Cam- 
 bridge, Mr. Hopkins being the most celebrated " honour 
 coach," or private tutor for the wranglers, and Mr. Potts 
 the principal " crammer" of the non-honour men, the latter 
 was faceiiously termed the "polly Hopkins" by the under- 
 graduates. 
 
 POLL, a prostitute ; polled up, living with a woman without 
 being married to her. 
 
 POLONY, a Bologna sausage. 
 
 POOInA, a sovereign. — Corruption of pound; or from the 
 Lingua Franca ? 
 
 PONY, twenty-five pounds. — Sporting. 
 
 POPS, pocket pistols. 
 
 POP, to pawn or pledge ; " to pop up the spout," to pledge at 
 the pawnbroker's, — an allusion to the spout up which the 
 brokers send the ticketed articles until such times as they 
 shall be redeemed. The spout runs from the ground floor 
 to the wareroom at the top of the house. 
 
 POSH, a halfpenny, or trifling coin. Also a generic term for 
 money. 
 
 POSTERIORS, a correspondent insists that the vulgar sense of 
 this word is undoubtedly slang (Swift, I believe, first 
 applied it as such), and remarks that it is curious the word 
 anterior has not been so abused. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 193 
 
 POST- HORN, the nose.— /See paste-horn. 
 
 POST-MORTEM, at Cambridge, the second examination which 
 men who have been " plucked " have to undergo. — 
 University. 
 
 POT, a sixpence, i.e., the price of a pot or quart of half-and- 
 half. A half crown, in medical student slang, is a five-pot 
 
 PIECE. 
 
 POT, "to GO TO POT," to die; from the classic custom of 
 
 puttiog the ashi-s of the dead in an urn ; also, to be ruined, or 
 
 broken up,— often applied to tradesmen who fail in business. 
 
 Go TO POT ! i.e., go aud hang yourself, shut up and be quiet. 
 
 L'Estranye, to put the pot on, to overcharge, or exaggerate. 
 POT, to finish ; " don't pot me," term used at billiards. This 
 
 word was much used by our soldiers in the Crimea, for 
 
 firing at the enemy from a hole or ambush. These were 
 
 called POT-SHOTS. 
 POT-HUNTER, a sportsman who shoots anything he comes 
 
 across, having more regard to filling his bag than to the rules 
 
 which regulate the sport. 
 POT-LUCK, just as it comes ; to take pot-luck, i.e., one's chance 
 
 of a dinner,— a hearty term used to signify whatever the 
 
 pot contains you are welcome to. 
 
 POT-WALLOPERS, electors in certain boroughs before the 
 passing of the Reform Bill, whose qualification consisted in 
 being housekeepers, — to establish which, it was only neces- 
 sary to boil a pot vvithin the limits of the borough, by the 
 aid of any temporary erection. This implied that they 
 were able to provide for themselves, and not necessitated to 
 apply for parochial relief. Wallop, a word of Anglo Saxon 
 derivation, from the same root as wall. 
 
 POTTED, or potted out, cabined, confined ; " the patriotic 
 member of Parliament potted out in a dusty little lodging 
 somewhere about Bury-street." — Times article, 21st July, 
 1859. Also applied to burial. 
 
 POTTY, indifierent, bad looking. 
 
 POTATO TRAP, the mouth. A humorous Hihernicism. 
 
 POWER, a large quantity. — Formerly /risA, but now general; 
 " a power of money." 
 
 PRAD, a horse. 
 
 PRAD NAPPING, horse stealing. 
 
 PRANCER, a horse. — Ancient cant. 
 
 PRICK THE GARTER, or pitch the nob, a gambling and cheat- 
 
 O 
 
194 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 ing 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 un- 
 folded, and nine times out of ten you will find that you have 
 been deceived, and that you pricked one of the false folds. 
 The owner of the garter, I should state, holds the ends 
 tightly with one hand. This was, doubtless, originally a 
 Gipsey game, and we are informed by Brand that it was 
 much practised by the Gipseys in the time of Shakespere. 
 In those days, it was termed pricking at the belt, or fast 
 
 AND LOOSE. 
 
 PRIG, a thief Used by Addison in the sense of a coxcomb. 
 Ancient cant, probably from the Saxon, PRicc-AN,to filch, &c. 
 — Shakespere. Prig, to steal, or rob. Prigging, thieving. 
 In Scotland the term prig is used in a different sense from 
 what it is in England. In Glasgow, or at Aberdeen, " to 
 PRIG a salmon," would be to cheapen it, or seek for an 
 abatement in the price. A story is told of two Scotchmen, 
 visitors to London, who got into sad trouble a few years 
 ago by announcing their intention of "prigging a hat" 
 which they had espied in a fashionable manufacturer's 
 window, and which one of them thought he would like to 
 
 PRIME PLANT, a good subject for plunder. — See plant. 
 PRIMED, said of a person in that state of incipient intoxication 
 
 that if he takes more drink it will become evident. 
 PRO, a professional. — Theatrical. 
 
 PROG, meat, food, &c, Johnson calls it " a low word." 
 PROP, a gold scarf pin. 
 PROP-NAILER, a man who steals, or rather snatches, pins from 
 
 gentlemen's scarfs. 
 PROPS, crutches. 
 PROPER, very, exceedingly, sometimes ironically ; " you are a 
 
 PROPER nice fellow," meaning a great scamp. 
 PROS, a water-^closet. Abbreviated form of irphs riva tottov. — 
 
 Oxford University. 
 PROSS, breaking in, or instructing, a stage-infatuated youth. — 
 
 Theatrical. 
 PSALM-SMITER, a *' Ranter," one who sings at a conventicle. 
 
 — See BRISKET beater. 
 •PUB, or public, a public-house 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 195 
 
 PUCKER, poor temper, difficulty, deshabille. 
 PUCKER, or pucker up, to get in a poor temper, 
 PUCKERING, talking privately. 
 PUDDING SNAMMER, one who robs a cook shop. 
 PUFF, to blow up, swell with praise, "was declared by a writer 
 in the Weekly Register, as far back as 1732, to be illegitimate. 
 
 " Puff lias become a cant word, signifying the applause set forth by . 
 
 writers, &c., to increase the reputation and sale of a book, and m 
 
 is an excellent stratagem to excite the curiosity of gentle readers." f 
 
 L o r d Bacon , however, used the word in a similar sense a W ^ , 
 cUfury before. fP^^^M. 
 
 PULL, an advantage, or hold upon another ; " I've the pull "^f^rTt 
 over you," i.e., you are in my power — perhaps an oblique if^jii 
 allusion to the judicial sense. — 8ee the following. 
 PULL, to have one apprehended ; " to be pulled up," to be 
 
 taken before a magistrate. 
 PULL, to drink ; "come, take a pull at it," i.e., drink up. 
 PULLEY, a confederate thief, — generally a woman. 
 PUMMEL, to thrash, — from pommel, 
 PUMP SHIP, to evacuate urine.— AS'ea. 
 PURE FINDERS, street collectors of dogs' dung. 
 PURL, hunting term for a fall, synonymous with foaled, or 
 
 SPILT ; " he'll get purled at the rails." 
 PURL, a mixture of hot ale and sugar, with wormwood infused 
 in it, a favourite morning drink to produce an appetite ; 
 sometimes with gin and spice added : — 
 *' Two penn'orth o' purl— 
 Good ' early ptthl,' 
 'Gin all the world 
 To put your hair into a curl, 
 When you feel yourself queer of a mornin'.'* 
 PUSH, a crowd. — Old cant. 
 
 PUSSEY-CATS, corruption of Puseyites, a name constantly, but 
 improperly, given to the "Tractarian" party in the Church, 
 from the Oxford Regius Professor of Hebrew, who by no 
 means approved of the Romanising tendencies of some of 
 its leaders. 
 PUT, a game at cards. 
 
 PUT THE POT ON, to bet too much upon one hoYBe.—Sporting. 
 PUT UP, to suggest, to incite, " he put me UP to it ;" to have 
 done with ; put it up, is a vulgar answer often heard in the 
 streets. Put up, to stop at an hotel or tavern for entertain- 
 ment. 
 
 O 2 
 
 K 
 
196 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 PUT UPON", cheated, deluded, oppressed. 
 
 PYiJOSTOLE, 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 PYGOSTOLES, as we go by ; 
 And one gownsman, in Trinity Court, 
 Went so far as to call me a ' Guy,' " 
 
 QUARTEREEN, a farthing. — Gibraltar term. Ital., quattrino. 
 
 QUEAN" (not queen), a strumpet. 
 
 QUEER, an old cant word, once in continual use as a prefix, sig- 
 nifying base, roguish, or worthless, — the opposite of rum, 
 which signified good and genuine. Queer, in all probability, 
 is immediately derived from the cant language. It has been 
 mooted that it came into use from a qucere (?) being set before 
 a man's name ; but it is more than probable that it was 
 brought into this country by the Gipseys from Germany, 
 where quer signifies " cross,'' or ^' croolced." At all events, 
 it is believed to have been first used in England as a cant 
 word. 
 
 QUEEN" BESS, the Queen of Clubs, — perhaps because that 
 queen, history says, was of a swarthy complexion.— iVor^A 
 Hants. — See Gentleman's Magazine for 1791, p. 141. 
 
 QUEER, "to QUEER a flat," to puzzle or confound a "gull" or 
 silly fellow. 
 
 " Who in a rmo like Tom could lead the van, 
 Booze in the ken, or at the spellken hustle ? 
 Who QUEEE a flat," &e. 
 
 Bon Jiiccn, canto xi., 19. 
 
 QUEER BAIL, worthless persons who for a consideration would 
 stand bail for any one in court. lusolvent Jews generally 
 performed this oflace, which gave rise to the term jew-bail. 
 — See MOUNTERS : both nearly obsolete. 
 
 QUEER BIT-MAKERS, coiners. 
 
 QUEER SCREENS, forged bank notes. 
 
 QUEER SOFT, bad money. 
 
 QUEER STREET, " in queer street," in difficulty or in want. 
 
 QUEER CUFFEN, a justice of the peace, or magistrate — a very 
 ancient term, mentioned in the earliest slang dictionaiy. 
 
 QUERIER, a chimney-sweep who calls from house to house, — 
 formerly termed knuller, which see. 
 
 QUI- HI, an English resident at Calcutta. — Anglo Indian. 
 
 QUICK STICKS, in a hurry, rapidly ; " to cut quick sticks," 
 to be in a great hurry. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 197 
 
 QUID, or THICK UN, a sovereign ; " half a quid," half a sovereign ; 
 QUIDS, money o:enerally ; "quid for a quod," one good turn 
 for another. The word is used by Old French writers : — 
 
 " Des testamens qu'on dit le maistre 
 De mon fait n'aara quid ne quod." 
 
 Grand Testament de Villon. 
 
 QUID, a small piece of tobacco— one mouthful. Quid est hoc ? 
 asked one, tapping the swelled cheek of another; hoc est 
 quidf promptly replied the other, exhibiting at the same 
 time "a chaw" of the weed. Probably a corruption of 
 
 CUD. 
 
 QUIET, "on the quiet," clandestinely, so as to avoid obser- 
 vation, "under the rose." 
 QUILL-DRIVER, a scrivener, a clerk - satirical phrase similar 
 
 to STEEL- BAR-DRIVER, a tailor. 
 
 QUILT, to thrash, or beat. 
 
 QUISBY, bankrupt, poverty stricken. — Ho. Words, No. 183. 
 
 QUIZ, a prying person, an odd fellow. Oxford slang ; lately 
 admitted into dictionaries. Not noticed by Johnson. 
 
 QUIZ, to pry, or joke. 
 
 QUIZZICAL, jocose, humorous. 
 
 QUQCKEIPWOp(^ER, a wooden toy figure, which, when pulled 
 i """""iDyastring, jerks its limbs about. The term is used in a 
 slang sense to signify a pseudo- politician, one whose strings 
 of action are pulled by somebody else. — West. 
 
 QUOD, a prison, or lock up ; quodded, put in prison. A slang; 
 expression used by Mr. Hughes, in Tom Brown's Schooldays 
 (Macmillan's Magazine, January, 1860), throws some light 
 upon the origin of this now very common street term : — 
 " Flogged or whipped in quad," says the delineator of 
 student life, in allusion to chastisement inflicted within the 
 Quadrangle of a college. Quadrangle is the term given to 
 the prison inclosure within whiclf culprits are allowed to 
 walk, and where whippings were formerly inflicted. Quad- 
 rangle also represents a building of four sides ; and to be 
 " within FOUR walls," or prison, is the frequent slang 
 lamentation of unlucky vagabonds. 
 
 RABBIT, when a person gets the worst of a bargain he is said 
 " to have bought the rabbit." 
 
 RACKET, a dodge, manoeuvre, exhibition ; a disturbance. 
 
 RACKETY, wild or noisy. 
 
 RACKS, the bones of a dead horse. Term used by horse ' 
 slaughterers. 
 
198 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 RACLAN", a married woman. — Gipsey. 
 
 RAFE, or RALPH, a pawnbroker's duplicate.~iVbr^(;^c^. 
 
 RAG, to divide or share; "let's rag it^" or go rags, i.e., share 
 it equally between us. — Norwich. 
 
 RAGAMUFFIN, a tattered vagabond, a tatterdemalion. 
 
 RAG SPLAWGER, a rich man. 
 
 RAGS, bank notes. 
 
 RAG-SHOP, a bank. 
 
 RAIN NAPPER, umbrella. 
 
 RAISE THE WIND, to obtain credit, or money — ^generally by 
 pawning or selling off property. 
 
 RAMP, to thieve or rob with violence. 
 
 RAMPSMAN, a highway robber who uses violence when neces- 
 sary. 
 I RAMSHACKLE, to shatter as with a battering ram; ram- 
 i SHACKLED, knocked about, as standing corn is after a high 
 
 I wind. Corrupted from ram-shatter, or possibly from ran- 
 
 I sack. 
 
 RANDOM, three horses driven in line, a very appropriate term. 
 
 — See TANDEM. 
 
 RANDY, rampant, violent, warm, amorous. North, randy- 
 beggar, a gipsey tinker. 
 
 RAN-TAN, "on the ran-tan,*' drunk.— iTo. Words, No. 183. 
 
 RANTIPOLE, a wild noisy fellow. 
 
 RAP, a halfpenny ; frequently used generically for money, thus : 
 " I hav'nt a rap," i.e., I have no money whatever ; " I 
 don't care a rap," &c. Originally a species of counterfeit 
 coin used for small change in Ireland, against the use of 
 which a proclamation was issued, 5th May, 1737. Small 
 copper or base metal coins are still called Rappen in the 
 Swiss cantons. Irish robbers are called rapparees. 
 
 RAP, to utter ; " he rapped out a volley of oaths." 
 
 RAPPING, enormous ; " a rapping big lie." 
 
 RAPSCALLION, a low tattered wretch. 
 
 RAT, a sneak, an informer, a turn-coat, one who changes his 
 party for interest. The late Sir Robert Peel was called the 
 RAT, or the TAMWORTH RATCATCHER, for altering his views 
 on the Roman Catholic question. From rats deserting 
 vessels about to sink. 
 
 RAT, term amongst printers to denote one who works under 
 price. Old cant for a clergyman. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 199 
 
 RATHER ! a ridiculous street exclamation synonymous with 
 yes; " do you like fried chickens ?" "rather!" "are you 
 going out of town ?" " rather !" 
 
 RATHER OF THE RATHEREST, a phrase applied to any- 
 thing slightly in excess or defect. 
 
 RATTLECAP, an unsteady, volatile person. 
 
 RATTLER, a cab, coach, or cart. — Old cant. 
 
 RATTLERS, a railway ; " on the rattlers to the stretchers," 
 i.e., going to the races by railway. 
 
 RAW, uninitiated ; a novice. — Old. Frequently a johnny raw. 
 
 RAW, a tender point, a foible ; " to touch a man up on the raw ** 
 is to irritate one by alluding to, or joking him on, anything 
 on which he is peculiarly susceptible or "thin-skinned." 
 
 READER, a pocket-book ; " give it him for his reader/' i.e., 
 rob him of his pocket-book. — Old cant. 
 
 READY, or ready gilt (properly gelt), money. Used by 
 Arbuthnot, "Lord Strut was not yevy flush in ready. 
 
 REAM, good or genuine. From the Old cant, rum. 
 
 REAM-BLOAK, a good man. 
 
 R£X:iEIOUNCISI0N, the busy thoroughfare on the Surrey side 
 of the TKamesP^nown by sober people as the new cut. 
 
 REDGE, gold. „.— — ~ 
 
 RED HERRING, a soldier. 
 
 RED LANE, the throat. 
 
 RED LINER, an officer of the Mendicity Society. 
 
 RED RAG, the tongue. 
 
 REGULARS, a thief's share of the plunder. " They were quar- 
 relling about the regulars." — Times, 8th January, 1856. 
 
 RELIEVING OFFICER, a significant term for a fythev.— Univ. 
 
 RENCH, vulgar pronunciation of rinse. " Wrench your mouth 
 out," said a fashionable dentist one day. — North. 
 
 RE-RAW, " on the re-raw," tipsy or drunk. — Household Wordst 
 No. 183. 
 
 RHINO, ready money. 
 
 RHINOCERAL, rich, wealthy, abounding in rhino. 
 
 RIB, a wiie.— North. 
 
 RIBBONS, the reins. — Middlesex. 
 
 RIBROAST, to beat till the ribs are sore,— Old; but still in 
 use : — 
 
 " And he departs, not meanly boasting 
 Of his magnificent eibeoasxing." — Hudibras. 
 
 X 
 
200 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 RICH, spicy; also used in the sense of "too much of a good 
 thing ;" " a rich idea," one too absurd or unreasonable to be 
 adopted. 
 
 RIDE, "to RIDE THE HIGH HORSE," or RIDE ROUGH-SHOD OVer 
 
 one, to be overbearing or oppressive ; to RIDE the black 
 DONKEY, to be in an ill humour. 
 
 RIDER, in a University examination, a problem or question 
 appended to another, as directly arising from or dependent 
 on it; — beginning to be generally used for any corollary, or 
 position which naturally arises from any previous statement 
 or evidence. 
 
 RIG, a trick, "spree," or performance; "run a rig," to play a 
 trick — Gipsey ; "rig the market," in reality to play tricks 
 with it, — a mercantile slang phrase often used in the news- 
 papers. 
 
 RIGGED, " well rigged," well dressed. — Old slang, in use 1736. 
 — See Bailey's Dictionary. — Sea. 
 
 RIGHT AS NINEPENCE, quite right, exactly right. 
 
 RIGHTS, "to have one to rights," to be even with him, to 
 serve him out. 
 
 RIGMAROLE, a prolix story. 
 
 RILE, to offend, to render very cross, irritated, or vexed. Pro- 
 perly, to render liquor turbid. — Norfolk. 
 
 RING, a generic term given to horse-racing and pugilism, — the 
 latter is sometimes termed the prize-ring. From the 
 practice of forming the crowd into a ring around the com- 
 batants, or outside the race-course. 
 
 RING, "to go through the ring," to take advantage of the In- 
 solvency Act, or be whitewashed. 
 
 RING DROPPING, see fawney. 
 
 RINGING CASTORS, changing hats. 
 
 RINGING THE CHANGES, changing bad money for good. 
 
 RIP, a rake ; " an old rip," an old libertine, or .debauchee. 
 Corruption of Reprohate. A "person reading the letters 
 R. I. P. {Requiescat in Pace) on the top of a tombstone as one 
 word, said, soliloquising, "Rip! well, \iQwas an old rip, and 
 no mistake. — Cuthhert Bede. 
 |« I RIPPER, a firs t-rate man or article. — Provincial. 
 * RIPPING, excellent, very'good. 
 
 RISE, "to take a rise out of a person," to mortify, outwit, or 
 cheat him, by superior cunning. 
 
 ,\\ 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 201 
 
 RISE (or RAISE) A BARNEY, to collect a mob. 
 
 ROARER, a broken- winded liorse. 
 
 ROARING TRADE, a very successful business. 
 
 ROAST, to expose a person to a running fire of jokes at his 
 
 expense from a whole company, in his presence. Quizzing 
 
 is done by a single person only. 
 ROCK A LOW, an overcoat. Corruption of the French roque- 
 
 LA.URE. 
 
 ROCKED, "he's only HALF- ROCKED," i.e., half witted. 
 ROLL OF SNOW, a piece of Irish linen. 
 
 ROMANY, a Gipsey, or the Gipsey language; the speech of the 
 
 Roma or Zincali. — Sjoanish Gipsey. 
 ROOK, a clergyman, not only from his black attire, but also, 
 perhaps, from the old nursery favourite, the History of 
 Cock Robin. 
 
 " I, says the kook, k 
 With my little book, f 
 ril be the parson." ^ 
 
 ROOK, a cheat, or tricky gambler ; the opposite of pigeon. — Old. 
 
 ROOKERY, a low neighbourhood inhabited by dirty Irish and 
 thieves — as ST. giles' rookery. — Old. In Military slang 
 that part of the barracks occupied by subalterns, often by 
 no means a pattern of good order. 
 
 ROOKY, rascally, rakish, scampish. 
 
 ROOST, synonymous with perch, which see. 
 
 ROOTER, anything good, or of a prime quality; "that is a 
 ROOTER," i.e., a first-rate one of the sort. 
 
 ROSE, an orange. 
 
 ROSE, " under the rose" (frequently used in its Latin form, 
 Sub 7'osd), i.e., under the obligation of silence and secresy, 
 of which the rose was anciently an emblem, perhaps, as 
 Sir Thomas Browne remarks, from the closeness with which 
 its petals are enfolded in the bud. The Rose of Venus was 
 given, says the classic legend, to Harpocrates, the God of 
 Silence, by Cupid, as a bribe not to "peach" about the 
 Goddess' amours. It was commonly sculptured on the 
 ceilings of banquetting rooms, as a sign that what was said 
 in free conversation there was not afterwards to be divulged 
 and about 1526 was placed over the Roman confessionals as 
 an emblem of secrecy. The White Rose was also an 
 emblem of the Pretender, whose health, as king, his secret 
 adherents used to drink " under the rose.' ' 
 
202 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 EOT, nonsense, anything bad, disagreeable, or useless. 
 
 ROT GUT, bad small beer, — in America, cheap whisky. 
 
 ROUGH, bad ; " rough fish," bad or stinking fish. 
 
 ROUGH IT, to put up with chance entertainment, to take pot 
 luck, and what accommodation " turns up," without sighing 
 for better. Roughing it in the Busk" is the title of an 
 interesting work on Backwoods life. 
 
 ROUGHS, coarse, or vulgar men. 
 
 ROULEAU, a packet of sovereigns. — Gaming. 
 
 ROUND, to tell tales, to 'split," which see ; "to round on a 
 man," to swear to him as being the person, &c. Synonymous 
 with " BUFF," which see. Shakespere has rounding, whis- 
 pering. 
 
 ROUND, '* ROUND dealing," honest trading ; *' round sum," a 
 large sum. Synonymous also in a slang sense with square, 
 which see. 
 
 ROUNDS, shirt collars — apparently a mere shortening of "All 
 Rounds," or " All Rounders," names of fashionable collars. 
 
 ROUNDS (in the language of the street), the beats or usual 
 walks of the costermonger to sell his stock. A term used 
 by street folk generally. 
 
 " Watchmen, sometimes they made their sallies, 
 And walk'd their eoujjjds through streets and allies.'* 
 
 JS^ed Ward's Vulgus £ritamiicus, 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. 
 
 ROUNDABOUTS, large swings of four compartments, each the 
 size, and very much the shape, of the body of a cart, 
 capable of seating six or eight boys and girls, erected in a 
 high frame, and turned round by men at a windlass. Fairs 
 and merry-makings generally abound with them. The 
 frames take to pieces, and are carried in vans by miserable 
 horses, from fair to fair, &c. 
 
 ROW, a noisy disturbance, tumult, or trouble. Originally 
 
 Cambridge, now universal. Seventy years ago it was written 
 
 ROUE, which would indicate a French origin from roue, a 
 
 profligate, or disturber of the peace. — Vide George Parker's 
 
 . Lifes Painter, 1789, p. 122. 
 
 ROWDY, money. In America, a rufiSan, a brawler, "rough." 
 
 ROWDY-DOW, low, vulgar ; " not the cheese," or thing. 
 
 RUB, a quarrel, or impediment; "there's the rub," i.e., that is 
 the difficulty. — Shakesj^ere and L' Estrange. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 203 
 
 KUBBER, a term at whist, &c,, two games out of three.— Old, 
 1677. 
 
 RUCK, the undistinguished crowd ; " to come in with the ruck,'* 
 to arrive at the winning post among the non-winniug horses. 
 — Racing term. 
 
 RUGGY, fusty, frowsy. 
 
 RUM, like its opposite, queer, was formerly a much used prefix, 
 signifying, fine, good, gallant, or valuable, perhaps in some 
 way connected with rome. Now-a-days it means indifferent, 
 bad, or questionable, and we often hear even persons in 
 polite society use such a phrase as " what a rum fellow he 
 is, to be sure," in speaking of a man of singular habits or 
 appearance. The term, from its frequent use, long since 
 claimed a place in our dictionaries ; but, with the exception 
 of Johnson, who says rum, a cant word for a clergyman (?), 
 no lexicographer has deigned to notice it. 
 *' ThusEUMLTfloor'd, the kind Acestes ran, 
 And pitying, rais'dfrom earth the game old man." 
 
 ViEGiii's ^ifEiD, book v., Translation by Thomas Moore. 
 
 RUMBUMPTIOUS, haughty, pugilistic. 
 
 RUMBUSTIOUS, or rumbustical, pompous, haughty, boiste- 
 rous, careless of the comfort of others. 
 RUMGUMPTION", or gumption, knowledge, capacity, capability, 
 
 — hence, rumgumptious, knowing, wide-awake, forward, 
 
 positive, pert, blunt. 
 RUM MIZZLERS, persons who are clever at making their escape, 
 
 or getting out of a difficulty. 
 RUMPUS, a noise, disturbance, a " row." 
 RUMY, a good woman, or gir\.~ Oipsey slang. In the regular 
 
 Gipsey language, romi, a woman, a wife, is the feminine of 
 
 RO, a man ; and in the Rohher's Language of Spain (partly 
 
 Gipsey), RUMI signifies a harlot. 
 RUN (good or bad), the success of a performance — Theatrical. 
 RUN, to comprehend, &c. ; " I don't run, to it," i.e., I can't do 
 
 it, or I don't understand, or I have not money enough. — 
 
 North. 
 RUN, " to get the run upon any person," to have the upper 
 
 hand, or be able to laugh at them. Run down, to abuse or 
 
 backbite anyone. 
 RUNNING PATTERER, a street seller who runs or moves 
 
 briskly along, calling aloud his wares. 
 RUNNING STATIONERS, hawkers of books, ballads, dying 
 
 speeches, and newspapers. They formerly used to run with 
 
204 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 newspapers, blowing a horn, when they were also termed 
 
 FLYING STATIONERS. 
 
 RUSH, " doing it on the rush," running away, or making off. 
 
 RUST, " to nab the rust," to take offence. Rusty, cross, ill- 
 tempered, morose, one who cannob go through life like a 
 person of easy and polished manners. 
 
 RUSTY GUTS, a blunt, rough old fellow. Corruption of rus- 
 
 TICUS. 
 
 SACK, " to get the sack," to be discharged by an employer. 
 
 SADDLE, an additional charge made by the manager to a per- 
 former upon his benefit night. — Theatrical. 
 
 SAD DOG, a merry fellow, a joker, a gay or *' fast" man. 
 
 SAINT MONDAY, a holiday most religiously observed by 
 journeymen shoemakers, and other mechanics. An Irishman 
 observed that this saint's anniversary happened every week. 
 — North, where it is termed cobblers' Monday. 
 
 SAL, a salary. — Theatrical. 
 
 SALAMANDERS, street acrobats, and jugglers who eat fire. 
 
 SAL OOP, SALEP, or salop, a greasy, looking beverage, formerly 
 sold on stalls at early morning, prepared from a powder 
 made of the root of the Orchis mascula, or Red-handed 
 Orchis. Within a few years coffee stands have superseded 
 saloop stalls, but Charles Lamb, in one of his papers, has 
 left some account of this drinkable, which he says was of 
 all preparations the most grateful to the stomachs of young 
 chimney sweeps. 
 
 SALT, " its rather too salt," said of an extravagant hotel bill. 
 
 SALT BOX, the condemned cell in Newgate. 
 
 SALTEE, a penny. Pence, &c., are thus reckoned : — 
 ONEYSALTEE,apenny, from the /^aZ., uno soldo. 
 
 DooE SALTEE, twopence due soldi. 
 
 Tray saltee, threepence tre soldl 
 
 QUARTERER SALTEE, fourpCUCe ... QUATTRO SOLDI. 
 
 Chinker saltee, fivepence cinque soldl 
 
 Say SALTEE, sixpence sei soldi. 
 
 Say oney saltee, or setter saltee, 
 
 sevenpence sette soldi. 
 
 Say dooe saltee, or otter saltee, 
 
 eightpence otto soldi. 
 
 Say tray saltee, or nobba saltee, 
 
 ninepence nove soldi 
 
 Say QUARTERER SALTEE, or DACHA 
 
 saltee, tenpence dieci soldi. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 205 
 
 Say CHINKER SALTEE, Of DACHA ONE 
 
 SALTEE, elevenpence DIECI UNO soldi, &c. 
 
 Oney beong, one shilling. 
 
 A BEONG SAY SALTEE, One shillinaf and sixpence. 
 
 DOOE BEONG SAY SALTEE, OF MADZA CAROON, half-a-CrOWn, 
 
 or two shillings and sixpence. 
 
 *** This curious list of numerals in use among the Lon- 
 don street folk is, strange as it may seem, derived from the 
 Lingua Fvmica^ or bastard Italian, of the Mediterranean 
 seaports, of which other examples may be found in the pages 
 of this Dictionary. Saltee, the cant term used by the 
 costermongers and others for a penny, is no other than the 
 Italian, soldo (plural, soldi), and the numerals — as may be 
 seen by the Italian equivalents — are a tolerably close imita- 
 tion of the originals. After the number six, a curious vari- 
 ation occurs, which is peculiar to the London cant, seven 
 being reckoned as say oney, six-one, say dooe, six-two = 8, 
 and so on. Dacha, I may remark, is perhaps from the 
 Greek, deka (^gfca), ten, which, in the Consrantinopolitan 
 Lingua Franca, is likely enou'^h to have been substituted 
 for the Italian. Madza, is clearly the Italian mezza. The 
 origin of beong I have not been so fortunate as to discover, 
 unless it be the French, bien, the application of which to a 
 shilling is not so evident ; but amongst costermongers and 
 other street folk, it is quite immaterial what foreign tongue 
 contributes to their secret language. Providing the terms 
 are unknown to the police and the public generally, they 
 care not a rushlight whether the polite French, the gay 
 Spaniards, or the cloudy Germans helped to swell their 
 vocabulary. The numbers of low foreigners, howeveij 
 dragging out a miserable existence in our crowded neigh- 
 bourhoods, organ grinders and image sellers, foreign seamen 
 from the vessels in the river, and our own connection with 
 Malta and the Ionian Isles, may explain, to a certain extent, 
 the phenomenon of the&e Southern phrases in the mouths 
 of costers and tramps. 
 
 SALT JUNK, navy salt beef. — See OLD horse. 
 
 SALVE, praise, flattery, chaff. 
 
 SAM, to " stand sam," to pay for refreshment, or drink, to stand 
 paymaster for anything. An Americanism, originating in 
 the letters U.S. on the knapsacks of the United States sol- 
 diers, which letters were jocularly said to be the initials of 
 Uncle Sain (the Government), who pays for all. In use in 
 this country as early as 1827. 
 
206 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 SANGUINARY JAMES, a sheep's head. — See bloody jemmy. 
 
 SANK WORK, making soldiers' clothes. Mayhew says from the 
 Norman, sang, blood, — in allusion either to the soldier's 
 calling, or the colour of his coat. 
 
 SAP, or SAPSCULL, a poor green simpleton, with no heart for 
 work. 
 
 SAUCEBOX, a mouth, also a pert young person. 
 
 SAVELOY, a sausage of chopped beef smoked, a minor kind of 
 
 POLONY. 
 
 SAVEY, to know; " do you savey that ?" — French, savez vous 
 OELA ? In the nigger and Anglo Chinese patois, this Issabby, 
 " me no sabby." The Whampoa slang of this description is 
 very extraordinary ; from it we have got our word cash ! 
 
 SA31XQnR„TIMBER, "be off!" equivalent to ciit^j/oy^t^Mie^- 
 — /See CUT. **'~ ""'■"' 
 
 SAWBONES, a surgeon. 
 
 SAWNEY, or sandy, a Scotchman. Corruption of Alexander. 
 
 SAWNEY, a simpleton. 
 
 SAWNEY, bacon. Sawney hunter, one who steals bacon. 
 
 SCAB, a worthless person. — Old, ShaJcespere uses scald in a 
 similar sense. 
 
 SCALDRUM DODGE, burning the body with a mixture of acids 
 and gunpowder, so as to suit the hues and complexions of 
 the accident to be deplored. 
 
 SCALY, shabby, or mean. Shakespere uses scald, an old word 
 of reproach. 
 
 SCAMANDER, to wander about without a settled purpose ; — 
 possibly in allusion to the winding course of the Homeric 
 river of that name. 
 
 SCAMMERED, drunk. 
 
 SCAMP, a graceless fellow, a rascal ; formerly the cant term for 
 plundering and thieving. A royal-scamp was a highway- 
 man, whilst a foot -SCAMP was an ordinary thief with nothing 
 but his legs to trust to in case of an attempt at capture. 
 Some have derived scamp from qui ex campo exit, viz., one 
 who leaves the field, a deserter. 
 
 SCARPER, to run away. — Spanish, escapar, to escape, make off; 
 Italian, scappare. *' {Scarper with the feele of the donna 
 of the cassey," to run away with the daughter of the land- 
 lady of the house ; almost pure Italian, " scappare colla 
 figlia della donna della cam." 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 207 
 
 SCHISM-SHOP, a dissenters'- meeting-house. — University. 
 
 SCHOFEL, bad money. — See show full. 
 
 SCHOOL, or MOB, two or more "patterers" working together in 
 
 the streets. 
 SCHOOLING, a low gambling party. 
 SCHWASSLE BOX, the street performance of Punch and Judy. 
 
 —Household Words, No. 183. 
 
 SCONCE, the head, judgment, sense.— Z>wicA. 
 
 SCORE, "to run iip a score at a public house," to obtain credit 
 there until pay day, or a fixed time, when the debt must be 
 
 WIPED OFF. 
 
 SCOT, a quantity of anything, a lot, a share. — Anglo Saxon, 
 SCEAT, pronounced shot. 
 
 SCOT, temper, or passion, — from the irascible temperament of 
 that nation ; " oh ! what a scot he was in," i.e., what temper 
 he showed, — especially if you allude to the following. 
 
 SCOTCH FIDDLE, the itch ; " to play the scotch fiddle," to 
 work the index finger of the right hand like a fiddlestick 
 between the index and middle finger of the left. This pro- 
 vokes a Scotchmen in the highest degree, it implying that 
 he is afflicted with the itch. 
 
 SCOTCH GRAYS, lice. Our northern neighbours are calum- 
 niously reported, from their living on oatmeal, to be " 
 peculiarly liable to cutaneous eruptions and parasites. 
 
 SCOTCHES, the legs ; also synonymous with notches. 
 
 SCOUT, a college valet, or waiter. — Oxford. — See gyp. 
 
 SCRAG, the neck.— OZc? cant. Scotch, craig. Still used by 
 butchers. Hence, scrag, to hang by the neck, and scragging, 
 an execution, — also old cant. 
 
 SCRAN, pieces of meat, broken victuals. Formerly the reckon- 
 ing at a public-house. Scranning, begging for broken 
 victuals. Also, an Irish malediction of a mild sort, " Bad 
 scran to yer !" 
 
 SCRAPE, a difficulty ; scrape, low wit for a shave. 
 
 SCRAPE, cheap butter ; " bread and scrape," the bread and 
 butter issued to school-boys — so called from the butter 
 being laid on, and then scraped ofi* 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, ap- 
 
208 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 proacliing the line usually chalked on the ground to divide 
 the ring. — Pugilistic. 
 
 SCRATCH, " no great scratch," of little worth. 
 
 SCRATCH, to strike a horse's name out of the list of runners in 
 a particular race. " Tomboy was scratched for the Derby, 
 at 10, a.m., on Wednesday," from which period all bets 
 made in reference to him (with one exception) are void. — See 
 V.V.—Turf. 
 
 SCRATCH-RACE (on the Turf), a race where any horse, aged, 
 winner, or loser, can run with any weights ; in fact, a race 
 without restrictions. At Cambridge a boat-race, where the 
 crews are drawn by lot. 
 
 SCREAMING, first-rate, splendid. Believed to have been first 
 used in the Adelphi iDlay-bills; " a screaming farce," one 
 calculated to make the audience scream with laughter. Now 
 a general expression. 
 
 SCREEVE, a letter, a begging petition. 
 
 SCREE VE, to write, or devise; " to screeve a fakement," to 
 concoct, or write, a begging letter, or other impostor's docu- 
 ment. From the Dutch, schryven ; German, schreiben ; 
 French, ecrivant (old form), to write. 
 
 SCREEVER, a man who draws with coloured chalks on the 
 pavement figures of our Saviour crowned with thorns, 
 specimens of elaborate writing, thunderstorms, ships on fire, 
 &c. The men who attend these pavement chalkings, and 
 receive halfpence and sixpences from the admirers of street 
 art, are not always the draughtsmen. The artist, or 
 SCREEVER, drew, perhaps, in half-a-dozen places that very 
 morning, and rented the spots out to as many cadaverous 
 looking men. 
 
 SCREW, an unsound, or broken-down horse, that requires both 
 whip and spur to get him along. 
 
 SCREW, a key, — skeleton, or otherwise. 
 
 SCREW, a turnkey. 
 
 SCREW, a mean or stingy person. 
 
 SCREW, salary or wages. 
 
 SCREW, "to put on the screw," to limit one's credit, to be 
 more exact and precise. 
 
 SCREW LOOSE, when friends become cold and distant towards 
 each other, it is said there is a screw loose betwixt them ; 
 said also when anything goes wrong with a person's credit 
 or reputation. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 209 
 
 SCREW, a small packet of tobacco. 
 SCREWED, intoxicated or drunk. 
 
 SCRIMMAGE, or scrummage, a disturbance 'or row. — Ancient. 
 Corruption of slcirmish ? 
 
 SCROBY, " to get scrobi," to be whipped in prison before the 
 justices. 
 
 SCROUGE, to crowd or squeeze. — WiltsJiire. 
 
 SCRUFF, the back part of the neck seized by the adversary in 
 an encounter. 
 
 SCRUMPTIOUS, nice, particular, beautiful. 
 
 SCUFTER, a policeman. — North country. 
 
 SCULL, or SKULL, the head or master of a college. — University, 
 but nearly obsolete ; the gallery, however, in St. Mary's (the 
 University church), where the '' Heads of Houses " sit in 
 solemn state, is still nicknamed the golgotha by the under- 
 graduates. 
 
 SCURF, a mean fellow. 
 
 SEALS, a religious slang term for converts.— ^ee owned. 
 
 SEEDY, worn out, poverty stricken, used up, shabby. Meta- 
 phorical expression from the appearance of flowers when off 
 bloom and running to seed ; hence said of one who wears 
 clothes until they crack and become shabby ; " how seedy 
 he looks," said of any man whose clothes are worn thread- 
 bare, with greasy facings, and hat brightened up by per- 
 spiration and continual polishing and wetting. When a 
 man's coat begins to look worn out and shabby he is said 
 to look SEEDY and ready for cutting. This term has been 
 " on the streets " for nearly two centuries, and latterly has 
 found its way into most dictionaries. Formerly slang, it is 
 now a recognised woru, and one of the most expressive in 
 the English language. The French are always amused with 
 it, they having no similar term. 
 
 SELL, to deceive, swindle, or play a practical joke upon a person- 
 A sham is a sell in street parlance. "Sold again, and got 
 the money," a costermonger cries after having successfully 
 deceived somebody. Shahespere uses selling in a similar 
 sense, viz., blinding or deceiving. 
 
 SELL, a deception, disappointment; also a lying joke. 
 
 SENSATION, a q^iartern of gin. 
 
 SERENE, all right ; " it's all serene," a street phrase of very 
 modern adoption, the burden of a song, 
 
 SERVE OUT, to punish, or be revenged on any one. 
 
 P 
 
210 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 SETTER, sevenpence. Italian, sette. — See saltee. 
 
 SETTER, a person employed by the vendor at an auction to run 
 the biddings up ; to bid against hond fide bidders. 
 
 SETTLE, to kill, ruin, or effectually quiet a person. 
 
 SETTLED, transported. 
 
 SET TO, a sparring match, a fight ; " a dead set," a determined 
 stand, in argument or in movement. 
 
 SEVEN" PENNORTH, transported for seven years. 
 
 SEWED- UP, done up, used up, intoxicated. Butch, seeuwt, 
 sick. 
 
 SHACK, a "chevalier d'industrie." 
 
 SHACKLY, loose, rickety. — Devonshire. 
 
 SHAKE, a prostitute, a disreputable man or woman. — North. 
 
 SHAKE, to take away, to steal, or run off with anything ; " what 
 shakes. Bill ?" " None," i.e., no chance of committing a 
 robbery. — See the following. 
 
 SHAKE, or shakes, a bad bargain is said to be "no great 
 SHAKES ;" " pretty fair shakes " is anything good or favour- 
 able. — Byron. In America^ a fair shake is a fair trade or a 
 good bargain. 
 
 SHAKE LURK, a false paper carried by an impostor, giving an 
 account of a " dreadful shipwreck." 
 
 SHAKER, a shirt. 
 
 SHAKESTER, or shickster, a prostitute. Amongst coster- 
 mongers this term is invariably applied to ladies, or the 
 wives of tradesmen, and females generally of the classes 
 immediately above them. 
 
 SHAKY, said of a person of questionable health, integrity, or 
 solvency ; at the University, of one not likely to pass his 
 examination. 
 
 SHALER, a girl. 
 
 SHALLOW, a flat basket used by costers. 
 
 SHALLOWS, " to go on the shallows," to go half naked. 
 
 SHALLOW-COVE, a begging rascal who goes about the country 
 half naked, — with the most limited amount of rags upon his 
 person, wearing neither shoes, stockings, nor hat. 
 
 SHALLOW-MOT, a ragged woman, — the frequent companion of 
 the shallow-cove. 
 
 SHALLOW- SCREE VER, a man who sketches and draws on the 
 pavement.— /S'ee screever. 
 
 SHAM ABRAHAM, to feign sickness. — See Abraham. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 211 
 
 SHANDY- GAFF, ale and ginger beer; perhaps sang de goff, 
 the favourite mixture of one goff, a blacksmith. 
 
 SHANKS, legs. 
 
 SHANKS' NAG, " to ride shanks' nag," to go on foot. 
 
 SHANT, a pot or quart; " shant of bivvy," a quart of beer. 
 
 SHAPES, "to cut up" or "show shapes," to exhibit pranks, or 
 flightiness. 
 
 SHARP, or SHARPER, a cunning cheat, a rogue, — the op|>osite of 
 
 FLAT, 
 
 SHARP'S-ALLEY BLOOD WORMS, beef sausages and black 
 puddings. Sharp's-alley was very recently a noted slaughter- 
 ing place near Smithfield. 
 
 SHARPING-OMEE, a policeman. 
 
 SHARK, a sharper, a swindler. Bow-street term in 1785, now 
 in most dictionaries.^ — Friesic and Danish, schurk. — See 
 
 LAND- SHARK. 
 
 SHAVE, a false alarm, a hoax, a sell. This was much used ia 
 the Crimea during the Russian campaign. 
 
 SHAVE, a narrow escape. At Cambridge, "just shaving 
 through," or "making a shave," is just escaping a " pluck'' 
 by coming out at the bottom of the list. 
 
 " My terms are anything- but dear, 
 Then read with me, and never fear j 
 The examiners we're sure to queer, 
 And get through, if you make a shave on't." 
 
 The Private Tutor. 
 
 SHAVER, a sharp fellow ; " a young" or " old shaver/' a boy or 
 
 man. — Sea. 
 SHEEN, bad monej.— Scotch. 
 SHEEP'S EYES, " to make sheep's eyes 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 his bullock head." 
 
 Colman, Broad Grins, p. 57. 
 
 SHEEP'S FOOT, an iron hammer used in a printing office, the 
 end of the handle being made like a sheep's foot. 
 
 SHELF, " on the shelf," not yet disposed of ; young ladies are 
 said to be so situated when they cannot meet with a 
 husband ; " on the shelf," pawned. 
 
 SHELL OUT, to pay or count out money. 
 
 SHICE, nothing; "to do anything for shice," to get no pay- 
 ment. The term was first used by the Jews in the last 
 
 P 2 
 
212 A DICTION AEY OF 
 
 century. Grose gives tlie phrase chice-am-a-trice, which 
 has a synonymous meaning. ^SpamsA, cmco, little ; Anglo 
 Saxon, CHICHE, niggardly. 
 
 SHICER, a mean man, a humbug, a " duflfer/' — a person who 
 
 is either worthless or will not work. 
 SHICKERY, shabby, bad. 
 SHICKSTER ; a prostitute, a lady. — See shakester. 
 
 SHILLY SHALLY, to trifle or fritter away time ; irresolute. 
 
 Corruption of Shall I, shall I ? 
 SHINDY, a row, or noise. 
 SHINE, a row, or disturbance. 
 SHINE, "to take the shine out of a person," to surpass or 
 
 excel him. 
 SHINER, a looking-glass. 
 SHINERS, sovereigns, or money. 
 SHINEY RAG, "to wintheSHiNET rag," to be ruined, — said 
 
 in gambling, when any one continues betting after "luck 
 
 has set in against him." 
 SHIP-SHAPE, proper, in good order; sometimes the phrase is 
 
 varied to " ship-shape and Bristol fashion." — Sea. 
 
 SHIRTY, ill-tempered, or cross. When one person makes 
 
 another in an ill humour he is said to have " got his shirt 
 
 out." 
 SHITTEN-SATURDAY (corruption of shut-in-saturday), the 
 
 Saturday between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, when 
 
 our Lord's body was enclosed in the tomb. 
 
 SHIVERING JEMMY, the name given by street folk to any 
 cadger who exposes himself, half naked, on a cold day, to 
 excite pity and procure alms. The " game " is unpleasant, 
 but exceedingly lucrative. 
 
 SHODDY, old cloth worked up into new; also, a terra of derision 
 applied to workmen in woollen factories. — YorJcshire. 
 
 SHOE, to free, or initiate a person, — a practice common in most 
 trades to a new comer. The shoeing consists in paying for 
 beer, or other drink, which is drunk by the older hands. 
 The cans emptied, and the bill paid, the stranger is considered 
 properly shod. 
 
 SHOE LEATHER ! a thief's warning cry, when he hears foot- 
 steps. 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 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 213 
 
 of spurs, as a sign that lie should use thetn in making bis 
 escape. 
 
 SHOES, " to die in one's shoes," to be hung. 
 
 SHOOL, to saunter idly, become a vagabond, beg rather than 
 work. — Smollett's Eoderich Random, vol. L, p. 262. 
 
 SHOOT THE CAT, to vomit. 
 
 SHOOT THE MOON, to remove furniture from a house in the 
 night, without paying the landlord. 
 
 SHOOT WITH THE LONG BOW, to tell lies, to exaggerate. 
 Synonymous with throwing the hatchet. 
 
 SHOP BOUNCER, or shop lifter, a person generally respectably 
 attired, who, while being served with a small article at a 
 shop, steals one of more value. Shakespere has the word 
 LIFTER, a thief. 
 
 SHOPPING, purchasing at shops. Termed by Todd a slang 
 word, but used by Qowper and Byron. 
 
 SHORT, when spirit is drunk without any admixture of water, 
 it is said to be taken " short ;" " summab short," a dram. A 
 similar phrase is used at the counters of banks ; upon pre- 
 senting a cheque, the clerk asks, " how will you take it?" 
 i.e.f in gold, or in notes ? Should it be desired to receive it 
 in as small a compass as possible, the answer is, '* short." 
 
 SHORT COMMONS, short allowance of food.— ^ee commons. 
 
 SHOT, from the modern sense of the word to shoot, —a guess, 
 a random conjecture ; " to make a bad shot," to exoose one s 
 ignorance by making a wrong guess, or random answer 
 without knowing whether it is right or wrong. 
 
 SHOT, from the once English, but now provincial word, to 
 shoot, to subscribe, contribute in fair proportion ; — a 
 share, the same as scot, both being from the Anglo 
 Saxon word, sceat ; " to pay one's shot," i.e., share of the 
 reckoning, &c. 
 
 SHOT, "I wish I may be shot, if," &c., a common form of mild 
 swearing. 
 
 SHOVE-HALFPENNY, a gambling street game. 
 
 SHOWFULL, or schofell, a Hansom cab, — said to have been 
 from the name of the inventor. — Led de hor qu. 
 
 SHOW-FULL, or schoful, bad money. Mayhew thinks this 
 word is from the Danish, skuffe, to shove, to deceive, cheat ; 
 Saxon, scuPAN, — whence the English, shove. The term, 
 however, is possibly one of the many street words from the 
 Hehrew (through the low Jews) ; shephel, in that language, 
 
214 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 signifying a low or debased estate. Clialdee^ shaphal. — ^ee 
 Psalm cxxxvi. 23, " in our low estate^ A correspondent 
 suggests another very probable derivation, from the German^ 
 SCHOPEL, trash, rubbish, — the German adjective, schofelig, 
 being the nearest possible translation of our shabby. 
 
 SHOWFULL-PITCHER, a passer of counterfeit money. 
 
 SHOWFULL PITCHING, passing bad money. 
 
 SHOWFULL PULLET, a "gay" woman. 
 
 SHRIMP, a diminutive person. — Chaucer, 
 
 SHUNT, to throw or turn aside. — Railway term. 
 
 SHUT OF, or shot of, rid of. 
 
 SHUT UP ! be quiet, don't make a noise ; to stop short, to 
 make cease in a summary manner, to silence effectually. 
 '' Only the other day we heard of a preacher who, speaking 
 of the scene with the doctors in the Temple, remarked that 
 the Divine disputant completely shut them up!" — Athen. 
 30th July, 1859. Shut up, utterly exhausted, done for. 
 
 SHY, a throw. 
 
 SHY, " to fight SHY of a person," to avoid his society either 
 
 from dislike, fear, or any other reason. Shy has also the 
 
 sense of flighty, unsteady, untrustworthy. 
 
 SHY, to fling ; cock-shy, a game at fairs, consisting of throwing 
 short sticks at trinkets set upon other sticks, — both name 
 and practice derived from the old game of throwing or 
 SHYING at live cocks. 
 
 SICES, or SIZES, a throw of sixes at dice. 
 
 SICK AS A HORSE, popular simile, — curious, because a horse 
 never vomits. 
 
 SICKNER, or sickenee, a dose too much of anything. 
 
 SIDE BOARDS, or stick-ups, shirt collars. 
 
 SIGHT, "to take a sight at a person," a vulgar action em- 
 ployed 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 ; alow-church-man ; 
 originally a follower of the late Rev. Charles Simeon. — 
 Cambridge. 
 
 SIMON, a sixpenny piece. 
 
 SIMON PURE, "the real simon pure,'* the genuine article. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 215 
 
 Those who have witnessed Mr. C. Mathews' performance in 
 Mrs. Centlivre's admirable comedy of A Bold Stroke for a 
 Wife, and the laughable coolness with which he, the false 
 SIMON PURE, assuming the quaker dress and character of 
 the REAL ONE, elbowed that worthy out of his expected 
 entertainment, will at once perceive the origin of this phrase. 
 — See act v., scene 1. 
 
 SING OUT, to call aloud.— Sea. 
 
 SING SMALL, to lessen one's boasting, and turn arrogance into 
 humility. 
 
 SINKERS, bad money. 
 
 SINKS, a throw of fives at dice. French, cinqs. 
 
 SIR HARRY, a close stool. 
 
 SISERARA, a hard blow. — Suffolk. Moor derives it from the 
 story of Sisera in the Old Testament, but it is more pro- 
 bably a corruption of certiorari, a Chancery writ reciting 
 a complaint of hard usage. 
 
 SIT UNDER, a term employed in Dissenters' meeting houses, to 
 denote attendance on the ministry of any particular 
 preacher. 
 
 SITTING PAD, sitting on the pavement in a begging position. 
 
 SIT-UPONS, trousers. — See inexpressibles. 
 
 SIVVY, " 'pon my srvvT," i.e., upon my soul or honour. Cor- 
 ruption of asseveration, like davy, which is an abridgment 
 of affidavit. 
 
 SIXES AND SEVENS, articles in confusion are said to be all 
 SIXES and sevens. The Deity is mentioned in the Towne- 
 ley Mysteries as He that " sett all on seven," i.e., set or 
 appointed everything in seven days. A similar phrase at 
 this early date implied confusion and disorder, and from 
 these, Halliwell thinks, has been derived the phrase '* to be 
 at SIXES AND SEVENS." A Scotch Correspondent, however, 
 states that the phrase probably came from the workshop, 
 and that amongst needle makers when the points and eyes 
 are " heads and tails" (" heeds and thraws"), or in con- 
 fusion, they are said to be sixes and sevens, because those 
 numbers are the sizes most generally used, and in the course 
 of manufacture have frequently to be distinguished. 
 
 SIXTY, "to go along like sixty," i.e., at a good rate, briskly. 
 
 SIZE, to order extras over and above the usual commons at the 
 dinner in college halls. Soup, pastry, &c., are sizings, and are 
 
216 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 paid for at a certain specified rate jier size, or portion, to 
 the college cook. — Peculiar to Cambridge. Minsheu says, 
 " SIZE, a farthing which schollers in Cambridge have at the 
 buttery, noted with the letter s." 
 
 SIZERS, or SIZARS, are certain poor scholars at Cambridge, annu- 
 ally elected, who get their dinners (including sizings) from 
 what is left at the upper, or Fellows' table, free, or nearly 
 so. Thej^ pay rent of rooms, and some other fees, on a 
 lower scale than the *' Pensioners" or ordinary students, 
 and answer to the " battlers" and " servitors" at Oxford. 
 
 SIZINGS, see SIZE. 
 
 SKATES LURK, a begging impostor dressed as a sailor. 
 
 SKID, a sovereign. Fashionable slang. 
 
 SKIE, to throw upwards, to toss "coppers." — See odd man. 
 
 SKILLY, broth served on board the hulks to convicts. — Line. 
 
 SKILLIGOLEE, prison gruel, also sailors' soup of many in- 
 gredients. 
 
 SKIN, a purse. 
 
 SKIN, to abate, or loWer the value of anything ; " thin skinned," 
 sensitive, touchy. 
 
 SKIN-FLINT, an old popular simile for a " close-fisted," stingy 
 person. 
 
 SKIPPER, the master of a vessel. Dutch, schiffer, from schiff 
 a ship ; sometimes used synonymous with " Governor." 
 
 SKIPPER, a barn. — Ancient cant. 
 
 SKIPPER IT, to sleep in the open air, or in a rough way. 
 SKIPPER-BIRDS, or keyhole whistlers, persons who sleep 
 in barns or outhouses in preference to lodging-houses. 
 
 SKIT, a joke, a squib. 
 
 SKITTLES, a game similar to Ten Pins, which, when inter- 
 dicted by the Government was altered to Nine Pins, or 
 skittles. They are set up in an alley and are thrown at 
 (not bowled) with a round piece of hard wood, shaped like 
 a small flat cheese. The costers consider themselves the 
 best players in London. 
 
 SKROUGE, to push or squeeze. — North. 
 SKULL-THATCHERS, straw bonnet makers,— sometimes 
 
 called " bonnet-BUiLDERS." 
 SKY, a disagreeable person, an enemy. — Westminster School. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 217 
 
 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 nothino: but the name; 
 Its name derision and reproach pursue, 
 And strangers tell of three times skimmed — sky-blue " 
 
 Bloomfieid's Farmer's Boy. 
 Sky-blue formerly meant gin. 
 
 SKY-LARK.— A^je lark. 
 
 SKY PARLOUR, the garret. 
 
 SKY SCRAPER, a tall man ; " are you cold up there, old sky 
 SCRAPER ?" Properly a sea term ; the light sails which 
 some adventurous skippers set above the royals in calm 
 latitudes are termed sky-SCRAPErs and moon-rakers. 
 
 SKY WANNOCKII^G, unsteady, frolicking.— iVor/oZyb. 
 
 SLAMMOCK, a slattern or awkward person, — West; and Norf. 
 
 SLAiSTG, low, vulgar, unwritten, or unauthorised language. 
 Glpsey, SLANG, the secret language of the Gipseys, synony- 
 mous with GIBBERISH, another Gipsey word. This word is 
 only to be found in the Dictionaries of Webster and Ogilvie. 
 It was, perhaps, first recorded by Grose, in his Dictionary 
 of the Vulgar Tongue, 1785. Slang, since it has been 
 adopted as an English word, generally implies vulgar lan- 
 guage not known or recognised as cant ; and latterly, 
 when applied to speech, has superseded the word flash. 
 
 SLANG, counterfeit or short weights and measures. A slang 
 quart is a pint and a half Slang measures are lent out at 
 2d. per day. The term is used principally by coster - 
 mongers. 
 
 SLANG, to cheat, to abuse in foul language. 
 
 SLANG, a travelling show. 
 
 SLANG, a watch chain. 
 
 SLANGY, flashy, vulgar; loud in dress, manner, and con- 
 versation. 
 
 SLANTINGDICULAR, oblique, awry, — as opposed to per- 
 pendicular. 
 
 SLAP, paint for the face, rouge. 
 
 SLAP, exactly, precisely; "slap in the wiqd's eye," i.e., exactly 
 to windward. 
 
 SLAP-UP, first-rate, excellent, very good. 
 
 SLAP-BANG, suddenly, violently. 
 
 SLAP-BANG SHOPS, low eating houses, where you have to pay 
 down the ready money with a slap-bang. — Grose. 
 
218 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 SLAP-DASH, immediately, or quickly. 
 
 SLASH, a pocket in an overcoat. 
 
 SLASHER, a powerful roisterer, a pugilist; "the tipton 
 
 SLASHEB." 
 
 SLATE, to pelt with abuse, to beat, to "lick;" or, in the 
 language of the reviewers, to "cut up." 
 
 SLATE, " he has a slate loose," ^.e., he is slightly crazy. 
 
 SLAVEY, a maid servant. 
 
 SLEWED, drunk, or intoxicated, — Sea term. "When a vessel 
 changes the tack she, as it were, staggers, the sails flap, she 
 gradually heels over, and the wind catching the waiting 
 canvas, she glides off at another angle. The course pursued 
 by an intoxicated, or slewed man, is supposed to be anala- 
 gous to that of the ship. 
 
 SLICK, an Americanism, very prevalent in England since the 
 publication of Judge Haliburton's facetious stories. As an 
 adjective, slick means rapidly, effectually, utterly; as a 
 verb, it has the force of " to despatch rapidly'-," turn off, get 
 done with a thing. 
 
 SLICK A DEE, a pocket book. 
 
 SLIlSfG, to pass from one person to another. 
 
 SLIP, " to give the slip," to run away, or elude pursuit. ShaTces- 
 pere has " you gave me the counterfeit," in Romeo and 
 Juliet. Giving the slip, however, is a Sea phrase, and re- 
 fers to fastening an anchor and chain cable to a floating 
 buoy, or water cask, until such a time arrives that is con- 
 venient to return and take them on board. In fastening the 
 cable, the home end is slipped through the hawse pipe. 
 Weighing anchor is a noisy task, so that giving it the slip 
 infers to leave it in quietness. 
 
 SLIP, or LET SLIP ; " to slip into a man," to give him a sound 
 beating; " to let slip at a cove," to rush violently upon 
 him, and assault with vigour. 
 
 SLOG, or SLOGGER (its original form), to beat, baste, or wallop. 
 German, schlagen; or, perhaps a vulgar corruption of 
 SLAUGHTER. The pretended GreeJc derivation from cXoyw, 
 which Punch puts in the mouth of the schoolboy, in his 
 impression of 4th May, 1859, is of course only intended to 
 mystify grandmamma, there being no such word in the 
 language. 
 
 SLOGGERS, i.e., slow-goers, the second division of race-boats 
 at Cambridge. At Oxford they are called torpids. — Univ. 
 
 SLOGGING, a good beating. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 219 
 
 SLOP, cheap, or ready made, as applied to clothing, is generally- 
 supposed to be a modern appropriation ; but it was used in 
 this sense in 1691, by Maydman, in his Naval Speculations ; 
 and by Chaucer two centuries before that. Slops properly 
 signify sailors' working clothes. 
 
 SLOP, a policeman. Probably at first hack slangj but now 
 general. 
 
 SLOPE, to decamp, to run, or rather slip away. Originally from 
 LOPE, to make off; the s probably became affixed as a portion 
 of the preceding word, as in the case of " let's lo-pe*' let ua 
 run. — A niencanism. 
 
 SLOPS, chests or packages of tea; "he shook a slum of slops," 
 i.e., stole a chest of tea. 
 
 SLOUR, to lock, or fasten. 
 
 SLOUR'D, buttoned up; slour'd hoxter, an inside pocket 
 buttoned up. 
 
 SLOWED, to be locked up — in prison, 
 
 SLUICERY, a gin shop or public house. 
 
 SLUM, a letter. 
 
 SLUM, a chest, or package. — See slops. 
 
 SLUM, gammon ; " up to slum," wide awake, knowing, 
 "And this, without more slum, began, 
 Over a flowing Pot-house can, 
 To settle, without botheration, 
 The rigs of this here dp-top nation." 
 
 Jack Randall's Diary, 1820. 
 
 SLUM THE GORGER, to cheat on the sly, to be an eye servant. 
 
 Slum in this sense is old cant. 
 SLUMMING, passing bad money. 
 SLUMS, or BACK SLUMS, dark retreats, low neighbourhoods; 
 
 *' the Westminster slums," favourite haunts for thieves. 
 SLUSHY, a ship's cook. 
 
 SMACK SMOOTH, even, level with the surface, quickly. 
 SMALL BEER, " he does't think small beer of himself," i.e., 
 
 he has a great opinion of his own importance. Small coals 
 
 is also used in the same sense. 
 SMASH, to become bankrupt, or worthless ; " to go all to 
 
 SMASH ;" to break, or " go to the dogs." 
 SMASH, to pass counterfeit money. 
 SMASHER, one who passes bad coin. 
 SMASHFEEDER, a Britannia metal spoon, — the best imitation 
 
 shillings are made from this metal. 
 
220 A DICTIONARY OP 
 
 SMELLER, a blow on the nose, or a noser. 
 SMIGGINS, soup served to convicts on board the hulks. 
 SMISH, a shirt, or chemise. Corruption of the Span.— See mish. 
 SMITHERS, or smithereens, "all to smithereens," all to 
 
 smash. Smither, is a Lincolnshire word for a fragment. 
 SMOKE, to detect, or penetrate an artifice. 
 SMUDGE, to smear, obliterate, daub. Corruption of smutch. — 
 
 Times, 10th August, 1859. 
 SMUG, extremely neat, after the fashion, in order. 
 SMUG, to snatch another's property and run. 
 SMUGGHSTGS, snatchings, or purloinings, — shouted out by boys, 
 
 when snatching the tops, or small play property, of other 
 
 lads, and then running off at full speed. 
 
 ** Tops are in ; spin 'em agrin. 
 Tops are out ; smugging 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 
 
 Gipsey term, 
 SNAFFLED, arrested, " pulled up," — so termed from a kind of 
 
 horse's bit, called a snaffle. In East Anglia, to snaffle 
 
 is to talk foolishly. 
 SNAGGLE TEETH, uneven, and unpleasant looking dental 
 
 operators. — West, Snags {Americanism), ends of sunken 
 
 drift-wood sticking out of the water, on which river steamers 
 
 are often wrecked. 
 SNAGGLING, angling after geese with a hook and line, the bait 
 
 being a worm or snail. The goose swallows the bait, and is 
 
 quietly landed and bagged. 
 SNAGGY, cross, crotchetty, malicious. 
 SNAM, to snatch, or rob from the person. 
 SNAPPS, share, portion ; any articles or circumstances out of 
 
 which money may be made ; " looking out for snapps," 
 
 waiting for windfalls, or odd jobs. — O^c?. Scotch, CBiT^y — 
 
 term also used for " coppers/' or halfpence. 
 SNEAKSMAN, a shoplifter ; a petty, cowardly thief. 
 SNEEZER, a snuffbox ; a pocket-handkerchief. 
 SNEEZE LURKER, a thief who throws snuff in a person's face 
 
 and then robs him. 
 SNID, a sixpence. — Scotclu 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 221 
 
 SNIGGER, **rm sniggered if you will," a mild form of swear- 
 ing. Another form of this is jiggered. 
 
 SNIGGERING, laughing to oneself,— ^as^ 
 
 SNIP, a tailor. 
 
 SNIPE, a long bill ; 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 occa- 
 sionally made in the form of that bird. 
 
 SNITCHERS, persons who turn queen's evidence, or who tell 
 tales. In Scotland, snitghers signify handcuffs. 
 
 SNOB, a low, vulgar, or affected person. Supposed to be from 
 the nickname usually applied to a Crispin, or a maker of 
 shoes; but believed by a writer in Notes and Queries to be 
 a contraction of the ia^m, sine obolo. A more probable 
 derivation, however, has just been forwarded by an ingenious 
 correspondent. He supposes that nobs, i.e., Nobites, was 
 appended in lists to the names of persons of gentle birth, 
 whilst those who had not that distinction were marked 
 down as s. nob., i.e., sine nobilitate, without marks of gen- 
 tility, — thus reversing its meaning. Another "word-twister" 
 remarks that, as at college sons of nobleman wrote after 
 their names in the admission lists, Jil nob., son of a lord, and 
 hence all young noblemen were called nobs, and what they 
 did nobby, so those who imitated them would be called 
 quasi-nobs, " like a nob," which by a process of contraction 
 would be shortened to si-nob, and then snob, one who pre- 
 tends to be what he is not, and apes his betters. The siiort 
 and expressive terms which many think fitly represent the 
 three great estates of the realm, nob, snob, and mob, 
 were all originally slang words. Tho last has safely passed 
 through the vulgar ordeal of the streets, and found respect- 
 able quarters in the standard dictionaries. 
 
 SNOBBISH, stuck up, proud, make believe. 
 
 SNOB- STICK, a workman who refuses to join in strikes, or 
 trade unions. Query, properly knob-stick. 
 
 SNOOKS, an imaginary personage often brought forward as the 
 answer to an idle question, or as the perpetrator of a sense- 
 less joke. 
 
 SNOOZE, or snoodge (vulgar pronunciation), to sleep or doze. 
 
 SNOT, a term of reproach applied tj persons by the vulgar 
 when vexed or annoyed. In a Westminster school voca- 
 bulary for boys, published in the last century, the term is 
 
222 A DICTION AKY OF 
 
 curiously applied. Its proper meaning is the glandular 
 mucus discharged through the nose. 
 SNOTTER, or wipe-hauler, a pickpocket who commits great 
 depredations upon gentlemen's pocket-handkerchiefs.-— 
 
 North. 
 
 SNOTTINGER, a coarse word for a pocket-handkerchief. The 
 German sclmuioftuch is, however, nearly as plain. A' hand- 
 kerchief was also anciently called a muckingsr, or 
 
 MUCKENDER. 
 
 SNOTS, small bream, a slimy kind of flat fish. — Norwich, 
 SNOW, wet linen. 
 
 SNOW GATHERERS, or snow-droppers, rogues who steal 
 linen from hedges and drying grounds. 
 
 SNUFF, " up to SNUFF," knowing and sharp ; " to take snuff," 
 to be offended. ShaJcespere uses snuff in the sense of 
 anger, or passion. Snufft, tipsy. 
 
 SNYDER, a tailor. German, Schneider. 
 
 SOAP, flattery. — See soft soap. 
 
 SOFT, foolish, inexperienced. An old term for bank notes. 
 
 SOFT-SOAP, or soft- sawder, flattery, ironical praise. 
 
 SOFT TACK, bread.-;Sea. 
 
 SOLD, "sold again ! and the money taken," gulled, deceived. — 
 Vide sell. 
 
 SOLD UP, or out, broken down, bankrupt. 
 
 SOLDIER, a red herring. 
 
 SON OF A GUN, a contemptuous title for a man. In the army 
 it is sometimes applied to an artilleryman. 
 
 SOOT BAG, a reticule. 
 
 SOP, a soft or foolish man. Abbreviation of milksop. 
 
 SOPH (abbreviation of sophister), a title peculiar to the Uni- 
 versity of Cambridge. Undergraduates are juyiior sophs 
 before passing their " Little Go,'' or first University exami- 
 nation, — senior sophs after that. 
 
 SOUND, to pump, or draw information from a person in an art- 
 ful manner. 
 
 SOW, the receptacle into which the liquid iron is poured in a 
 gun-foundry. The melted metal poured from it is termed 
 pig. — Workmen's terms. 
 
 SOW'S BABY, a pig ; sixpence. 
 
 SPANK, a smack, or hard slap. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 223 
 
 SPANK, to move along quickly ; hence a fast horse or vessel is 
 said to be " a spanker to go." 
 
 SPANKING, large, fine, or strong ; e.g., a spanking pace, a 
 SPANKING breeze, a spanking fellow. 
 
 SPECKS, damaged oranges. 
 
 SPEEL, to run away, make off"; " speel the drum," to gooff 
 with stolen property. — North. 
 
 SPELL, " to SPELL for a thing," hanker after it, intimate a desire 
 to possess it, 
 
 SPELLKEN, or speelken, a playhouse. Germany spielen. 
 — See KEN. — Don Juan. 
 
 SPICK AND SPAN, applied to anything that is quite new and 
 fresh . — Hudibras. 
 
 SPIFFED, slightly intoxicated. — Scotch slang. 
 
 SPIFFS, the percentage allowed by drapers to their young men 
 when they effect a sale of old-fashioned or undesirable 
 stock. 
 
 SPIFFY, spruce, well-dressed, tout a la mode. 
 
 SPIFLICATE, to confound, silence, or thrash. 
 
 SPILT, thrown from a horse or chaise. — See purl. 
 
 SPIN, to reject from an examination. — Army. 
 
 SPIN-EM -ROUNDS, a street game consisting of a piece of brass, 
 wood, or iron, balanced on a pin, and turned quickly around 
 on a board, when the point, arrow shaped, stops at a number 
 and decides the bet one way or the other. The contrivance 
 very much resembles a sea compass, and was formerly the 
 gambling accompaniment of London piemen. The appara- 
 tus then was erected on the tin lids of their pie cans, and 
 the bets were ostensibly for pies, but more frequently for 
 "coppers," when no policeman frowned upon the scene, 
 and when two or three apprentices or porters happened to 
 meet. 
 
 SPINIKEN, a workhouse. 
 
 SPIRT, or SPURT, " to put on a spirt," to make an increased 
 exertion for a brief space, to attain one's end ; a nervous 
 effort. 
 
 SPITFIRE, a passionate person. 
 
 SPLENDIFEROUS, sumptuous, first-rate. 
 
 SPLICE, to marry ; "and the two shall become one flesh." — 
 Sea. 
 
 SPLICE THE MAIN BRACE, to take a drink. -5ea. 
 
224 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 SPLIT, to inform against one's conapanions, to tell tales. "To 
 
 SPLIT with a person," to cease acquaintanceship, to quarrel. 
 SPLODGER, a lout, an awkward countryman. 
 SPOFFY, a bustling busy-body is said to be spofft. 
 SPONGE, " to throw up the sponge," to submit, give over the 
 
 struggle, — from the practice of throwing up the sponge 
 
 used to cleanse the combatants' faces, at a prize fight, as a 
 
 signal that the " mill " is concluded. 
 SPOON, synonymous with spooney. A spoon has been defined 
 
 to be " a thing that touches a lady's lips without kissing 
 
 them." 
 SPOONEY, a weak-minded and foolish person, effeminate or 
 
 fond ; " to be spooney on a girl," to be foolishly attached 
 
 to one. 
 
 SPOONS, "when I was spoons with you," i.e., when young, and 
 in our courting days before marriage.^ — Charles Mathews, in 
 the farce of Everybody's Friend, 
 
 SPORT, to exhibit, to wear, &c.,— a word which is made to do 
 duty in a variety of senses, especially at the University. 
 See the Gradus ad Cantahrigiam. "To sport a new tile;" 
 " to SPORT an jEgrotaf* {i.e., a permission from the " Dons" 
 to abstain from lectures, &c., on account of illness); "to sport 
 one's oak," to shut the outer door and exclude the public, 
 — especially duns, and boring acquaintances. Common also 
 in the Inns of Court. — >See Notes and Queries, 2nd series, 
 vol. viii., p. 492, and Gentleman's Magazine, December, 1794. 
 
 SPORTING DOOR, the outer door of chambers, also called the 
 
 oak. — See under sport. — University. 
 SPOTTED, to be known or marked by the police. 
 
 SPOUT, "up the spout,'* at the pawnbroker's; spouting, 
 pawning. — See pop for origin. 
 
 SPOUT, to preach, or make speeches ; spouter, a preacher or 
 lecturer. 
 
 SPRAT, sixpence, 
 
 SPREAD, butter. 
 
 SPREAD, a lady's shawl. Spread, at the Fast end of London, 
 a feast, or a tightener ; at the West end a fashionable re- 
 union, an entertainment, display of good things. 
 
 SPREE, a boisterous piece of merriment ; " going on the spree,'* 
 starting out with intent to have a frolic. French, esprit. 
 In the Dutch language, spreeuw is a jester. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 225 
 
 SPEINGER-UP, a tailor wlio sells low-priced ready made 
 clothing, and gives starvation wages to the poor men and 
 women who " make up" for him. The clothes are said to 
 be SPRUNG -UP, or "blown together." 
 
 SPRY, active, strong, manly. — Americanism. 
 
 SPUDDY, a seller of bad potatoes. In Scotland, a spud is a raw 
 potato ; and roasted spuds are those cooked in the cinders 
 with their jackets on. 
 
 SPUNGING-HOUSE, the sheriff's officer's house, where pri- 
 soners, when arrested for debt, are sometimes taken. As 
 extortionate charges are made there for accommodation, 
 the name is far from inappropriate. 
 
 SPUNK, spirit, /re, courage, mettle. 
 
 " In that snu^ room, where any man of spunk 
 Would find it a hard matter to get drunk." 
 
 Peter Pindar, i., 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 excrescency of 
 some tree, of which they make a sort of tinder to light 
 their pipes with.'* 
 
 SPUNK-FENCER, a lucifer match seller. 
 
 SQUABBY, flat, short and thick. 
 
 SQUARE, honest; *' on the square," i.e., fair and strictly 
 honest ; " to turn square," to reform, and get one's living 
 in an honest manner, — the opposite of cross. 
 
 SQUARE, " to be square with a man," to be even with him, or 
 to be revenged ; " to square up to a man," to offer to fight 
 him. ShaJcespere uses square in the sense of to quarrel. 
 
 SQUARE COVE, an honest man. 
 
 SQUARE MOLL, an honest woman. 
 
 SQUARE RIGGED, well dressed.— Sea. 
 
 SQUARING HIS NIBS, giving a policeman money. 
 
 SQUEEZE, silk. 
 
 SQUIB, a temporary jeu d' esprit, which, like the firework of 
 that denomination, sparkles, bounces, stinks, and vanishes. — 
 Grose. 
 
 SQUINNY-EYED, sqmnimg.—Shalcespere. 
 
 SQUIRT, a doctor, or chemist. 
 
 STAFF NAKED, gin. . 
 
 STAG, a shilling. 
 
 Q 
 
226 A DICTION AKY OF 
 
 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 pre- 
 mium, and then sold out. Punch represented the house of 
 Hudson, " the Kailway King," at Albert Gate, with a stag 
 on it, in allusion to this term. 
 
 STAG, to demand money, to '' cadge." 
 
 STAG, to see, discover, or watch, — like a stag at gaze ; " stag 
 the push," look at the crowd. Also, to dun, or demand 
 payment. 
 
 STAGGER, one who looks out, or watches. 
 
 STAGGERING BOB, an animal to whom the knife only just 
 anticipates death from natural disease or accident, — said of 
 meat on that account unfit for human food. 
 
 STALE, to evacuate urine. — Stable term, 
 
 STALL, to lodge, or put up at a public house. Also, to act a 
 part. — Theatrical. 
 
 STALL, or stall off, a dodge, a blind, or an excuse. Stall is 
 
 ancient cant. 
 STALL OFF, to blind, excuse, hide, to screen a robbery during 
 
 the perpetration of it by an accomplice. 
 STALL YOUR MUG, go away ; spoken sharply by any one who 
 
 wishes to get rid of a troublesome or inconvenient person. 
 STALLSMAN", an accomplice. 
 STAMPERS, shoes.— Ancient cant. 
 STAND, " to stand treat," to pay for a friend's entertainment ; 
 
 to bear expense; to put up with treatment, good or ill; 
 
 "this house stood me in £1,000," i.e., cost that sum ; " to 
 
 stand PAD," to beg on the curb with a small piece of j)aper 
 
 pinned on the breast, inscribed " I'm starving.'' 
 STANDING, the position at a street corner, or on the curb of a 
 
 market street, regularly occupied by a costermonger, or 
 
 street seller. 
 STANDING BATTERERS, men who take a stand on the curb 
 
 of a public thoroughfare, and deliver prepared speeches to 
 
 eflPect a sale of any articles they have to vend. — See pat- 
 
 TERER. 
 
 STANGEY, a tailor ; a person under petticoat government, — 
 derived from the custom of " riding the stang," mentioned 
 in Hudibras : — 
 
 " It is a custom used of course 
 Where the grey mare is the better horse." 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 2^7 
 
 STARK-NAKED (originally strip-me naked, vide RandalVs 
 Diary, 1820), raw gin. — Bulwer's Paul Clifford. 
 
 STARCHY, stuck-up, high-notioned, showily dressed, disdain- 
 ful, cross. 
 
 STAR IT, to perform as the centre of attraction, with inferior 
 subordinates to set off one's abilities. — Theatrical. 
 
 STAR THE GLAZE, to break the window or show glass of a 
 jeweller or other tradesman, and take any valuable articles, 
 and run away. Sometimes the glass is cut with a diamond, 
 and a strip of leather fastened to the piece of glass cut out 
 to keep it from falling in and making a noise. Another plan 
 is to cut the sash. 
 
 START, " THE START," Loudou, — the great starting point for 
 beggars and tramps. 
 
 START, a proceeding of any kind ; a rum start," an odd cir- 
 cumstance ; " to get the start of a person," to anticipate, 
 him, overreach him. 
 
 STASH, to cease doing anything, to refrain, be quiet, leave off; 
 "stash it, there, you sir !" i.e., be quiet, sir ; to give over a 
 lewd or intemperate course of life is termed stashing it. 
 
 STEEL, the house of correction in London, formerly named the 
 Bastile, but since shortened to steel. 
 
 STEEL BAR DRIVERS, or flingers, journeymen tailors. 
 
 STEMS, the legs. 
 
 !^TEP IT, to run away, or make off. 
 
 STICK, a derogatory expression for a person ; " a rum " or " odd 
 STICK,'' a curious man. More generally a " poor stick." — 
 Provincial. 
 
 STICK, " cut your stick," be off, or go away ; either simply 
 equivalent to a recommendation to prepare a walking staff 
 in readiness for a journey — in allusion to the Eastern 
 custom of cutting a stick before setting out-^or from the 
 ancient mode of reckoning by notches or tallies on a stick. 
 In Cornwall the peasantry tally sheaves of corn by cuts in 
 a stick, reckoning by the score. Cut your stick in this 
 sense may mean to make your mark and pass on — and so 
 realise the meaning of the phrase " in the nick (or notch) 
 OF TIME." Sir J. Emerson Tennent, in Notes and Queries 
 (December, 1859), considers the phrase equivalent to 
 "cutting the connection," and suggests a possible origin 
 in the prophets breaking the staves of "Beauty" and 
 "Bands," — vide Zech., xi., 10, 14. 
 
 STICK, to cheat ; "he got stuck," he was taken in ; stick, to 
 
 Q2 
 
228 A DICTIONAEY OF 
 
 forget one's part in a performance — Theatrical ; stick on, 
 to overcharge or defraud ; stick up for, to defend Ok 
 person, especially when slandered in his absence ; stick up 
 TO, to persevere in courting or attacking, whether in fisty- 
 cuffs or argument ; " to stick in one's gizzard," to rankle 
 in one's heart ; " to stick to a person," to adhere to one, be 
 his friend through adverse circumstances. 
 
 STICKS, furniture, or household chattels ; " pick up your sticks 
 and cut !" summary advice to a person to take himself and 
 furniture away. — Cumberland. 
 
 STICKS, pistols.— iViearZ?/ obsolete. 
 
 STICK-UPS, or gills, shirt collars. 
 
 STICKINGS, bruised or damaged meat sold to sausage makers 
 and penny pie shops. — North. 
 
 STICKY, wax. 
 
 STIFF, paper, a bill of acceptance, &c. ; " how did you get it, 
 stiff or hard ?*' i.e., did he pay you cash or give a bill ? 
 
 STIFF FENCER, a street seller of writing paper. 
 
 STIFF 'UN, a corpse. — Term used by undertakers. 
 
 STILTON, *' that's the stilton," or " it is not the stilton," 
 i.e., that is quite the thing, or that is not quite the thing ; 
 — polite rendering of " that is not the cheese," which see. 
 
 STINGO, strong liquor. — YorTcshire. 
 
 STINK, a disagreeable exposure. 
 
 STINKOMALEE, a name given to the then New London Uni- 
 versity by Theodore Hook. Some question about Trinco- 
 malee was agitated at the same time. It is still applied by 
 the students of the old Universities, who regard it with dis- 
 favour from its admitting all denominations. 
 
 STIPE, a stipendiary magistrate. — Provincial. 
 
 STIR, a prison, a lock-up ; *' in stir," in jail. Anglo Saxon, styr, 
 correction, punishment. 
 
 STIR UP SUNDAY, the Sunday next before Advent, the 
 collect for that day commencing with the words " Stir up." 
 Schoolboys, growing excited at the prospect of the vacation, 
 irreverently commemorate it by stirring up — pushing and 
 poking each other. Crib crust Monday and tug button 
 TUESDAY are distinguished by similar tricks ; while on 
 PAY-OFF WEDNESDAY they retaliate small grudges in a playful 
 facetious way. Forby says, good housewives in Norfolk 
 consider themselves reminded by the name to mix the 
 ingredients for their Christmas mince pies. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 229 
 
 STOCKDOLAGER, a heavy blow, a " finisher." Italian, 
 STOCCADO, a fencing term. 
 
 STODGE, to surfeit, gorge, or clog with food. 
 
 StONE JUG, a prison. 
 
 STOOK, a pocket-handkerchief. 
 
 STOCK HAULER, or buzzer, a thief who takes pocket-hand- 
 kerchiefs. 
 
 STOP, a detective policeman. 
 
 STORY, a falsehood,- — the soft synonyme for a lie, allowed in 
 family circles and boarding-schools. A Puritanism that 
 came in fashion with the tirade against romances, all novels 
 and stories being considered as dangerous and false. 
 
 STOTOR, a heavy blow, a settler. — Old cant. 
 
 STOW, to leave oflf, or have done ; *' stow it, the gorger's leary," 
 leave off, the person is looking. See stash, with which it is 
 synonymous. — Ancient cant, 
 
 STOW FAKING ! leave off there, be quiet ! faking implying 
 anything that may be going on. 
 
 STRAW. Married ladies are said to be " in the straw " at 
 their accouchements. The phrase is a coarse allusion to 
 farm-yard animals in a similar condition. 
 
 STRAWING, selling straws in the streets (generally for a 
 penny) and giving the purchaser a paper (indecent or 
 political), or a gold (!) ring, — neither of which the patterer 
 states he is allowed to sell. 
 
 STREAK, to decamp, run away. — Saxon. In America the 
 phrase is "to make streaks," or " make tracks." 
 
 STREAKY, irritated, ill-tempered. 
 
 STREET PITCHERS, negro minstrels, ballad singers, long song 
 men, men " working a board " on which have been painted 
 various exciting scenes in some terrible drama, the details of 
 which the street pitcher is bawling out, and selling in a 
 little book or broadsheet (price one penny) ; or any persons 
 who make a stand in the streets, and sell articles for their 
 living. 
 
 STRETCH, a})breviation of " stretch one's neck," to hang, be 
 executed as a malefactor. — Bulwers Paul Clifford. 
 
 STRETCH, twelve months, — generally used to intimate the 
 time any one has been sentenced by the judge or magistrate. 
 One stretch is to be imprisoned twelve months, two 
 stretch is two years, three stretch is three years, and so on. 
 
 STRETCHER, a falsehood. 
 
230 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 STRETCHER, a contrivance with handles, used by the police to 
 carry off persons who are violent or drunk, 
 
 STRETCHER FENCER, one who sells braces. 
 
 STRETCHING MATCH, an execution.— A^ee stretch. 
 
 STRIKE ME LUCKY ! an expression used by the lower orders 
 when making a bargain, derived from the old custom of 
 striking hands together, leaving in that of the seller a luck 
 PENNY as an earnest that the bargain is concluded. In 
 Ireland, at cattle markets, &c., a penny, or other small coin, 
 is always given by the buyer to the seller to ratify the 
 bargain. — Hudibras. Anciently this was called a god's 
 
 PENNY. 
 
 " With that he cast him a God's peny." — Heir of Linne. 
 The origin of the phrase being lost sight of, like that of 
 many others, it is often corrupted now-a-days into strike 
 
 ME SILLY. 
 
 STRIKE THE JIGGER, to pick the lock, or break open the door. 
 
 STROMMEL, straw. — Ancient cant. Halliwell says that in 
 Norfolk STRUMMEL is a name for hair. 
 
 STRONG, " to come it strong." — See come. 
 
 STUCK-UP, " purse-proud "—a form of snobbishness very 
 common in those who have risen in the world. Mr. Albert 
 Smith has written some amusing papers on the Natwal 
 History of stuck-up P toggle, 
 
 STUFF, money. 
 
 STUFF, to make false but plausible statements, to praise ironi- 
 cally, to make game of a person, — literally, to stuff or cram 
 him with gammon or falsehood. 
 
 STUMP, to go on foot. 
 
 STUMPED, bowled out, done for, bankrupt, poverty stricken.— 
 Cricketing term. 
 
 STUMPS, legs, or feet. 
 
 STUMPY, money. 
 
 STUMP UP, to pay one's share, to pay the reckoning, to bring 
 forth the money reluctantly. 
 
 STUN, to astonish. 
 
 STUNNER, a first-rate person or article. 
 
 STUNNERS, feelings of great astonishment ; " it put the stun- 
 ners on me," it confounded me. 
 
 STUNNING, first-rate, very good. " Stunning pears," shouts 
 the coster, "only eight a penny." — Yide AthencLum^ 26th 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 231 
 
 March, 1859. Sometimes amplified to stunning joe 
 BANKS ! when the expression is supposed to be in its most 
 intense form. Joe Banks was a noted character in the last 
 generation. He was the proprietor of a public-house in 
 Dyott-street, Seven Dials, and afterwards, on the demolition 
 of the Rookery, of another in Cranbourne-alley. His 
 houses became well-known from their being the resort of 
 the worst characters, at the same time that the strictest 
 decorum was always maintained in them. JoE Banks also 
 acquired a remarkable notoriety by acting as a medium 
 betwixt thieves and their victims. Upon the proper 
 payment to Joe, a watch or a snuflf box would at any time 
 be restored to its lawful owner — " no questions in any case 
 being asked.'' The most daring depredators in London 
 placed the fullest confidence in Joe, and it is believed 
 (although the Biographie Universelle is quiet upon this 
 point) that he never, in any instance, "sold" them. He 
 was of the middle height, stout, and strongly made, and 
 was always noted for a showy pin, and a remarkably 
 STUNNING neck-tie. It was this peculiarity in the costume 
 of Mr. Banks, coupled with those true and tried qualities 
 as a friend, for which, as I have just remarked, he was 
 famous, that led his customers to proclaim him as stunning 
 JOE banks ! The Marquis of Douro, Colonel Cbatterley, and 
 men of their stamp, were accustomed to resort to a private 
 room at his house, when too late or too early to gain 
 admittance to the clubs or more aristocratic establishments. 
 
 STUNNED ON SKILLY, to be sent to prison and compelled 
 to eat SKILLY, or skilligolee. 
 
 STURABAN, a prison. Gipsey, distarabin. 
 
 SUCK, a parasite, flatterer of the "nobs." — University. 
 
 SUCK, to pump, or draw information from a person. 
 
 SUCK-CASSA, a public-house. 
 
 SUCK THE MONKEY, to rob a cask of liquor by insertinsj a 
 straw through a gimlet hole, and sucking a portion of the 
 contents. 
 
 SUCK UP, "to SUCK UP to a person," to insinuate oneself into 
 his good graces. 
 
 SUFFERER, a tailor. 
 
 SUIT, a watch and seals. 
 
 SULKY, a one-horse chaise, having only room for 'one person. 
 
 SUN IN THE EYES, to have too much drink.— DicJcens. 
 
 SUP, abbreviation of supernumerary. — Theatrical. 
 
232 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 SUPEE, a watch ; super-screwing, stealing watches. 
 
 SURF, an actor who frequently pursues another calling. — Theat. 
 
 SWADDLER, a Wesley an 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, " ud swaddler ! a swaddler T' as if 
 the whole story were the preacher's invention. — Southey's 
 Life of Wesley, vol. ii., p. 109. 
 
 SWADDY, or coolie, a soldier. The former was originally 
 applied to a discharged soldier, and perhaps came from 
 SHODDY, of which soldiers' coats are made. 
 
 SWAG, a lot or plenty of anything, a portion or division of 
 property. In Australia the term is used for the luggage 
 carried by diggers : in India the word loot is used. Scotch^ 
 SWEG, or SWACK ; German, sweig, a flock. Old cant for a 
 shop. 
 
 SWAG, booty, or plundered property; ''collar the swag," seize 
 the booty. 
 
 SWAG-SHOP, a warehouse where " Brummagem" and general 
 wares are sold,— fancy trinkets, plated goods, &c. Jews are 
 the general proprietors, and the goods are excessively low 
 priced, trashy, and showy. Swag- shops were formerly 
 plunder depots. — Old cant. 
 
 SWAGSMAN, one who carries the booty after a burglary. 
 
 SWANKEY, cheap beer.— TFes^. 
 
 SWAP, to exchange. Grose says it is Irish cant, but the term 
 is now included in most dictionaries as an allowed vul^ 
 garism. 
 
 SWEAT, to extract money from a person, to "bleed," to 
 squander riches. — Bulwer. 
 
 SWEATER, common term for a "cutting" or "grinding" em- 
 ployer. 
 
 SWEEP, a low or shabby man. 
 
 SWEET, loving or fond ; " how sweet he was upon the moll," 
 i.e., what marked attention he paid the girl. 
 
 SWELL, a man of importance ; a person with a showy, jaunty 
 exterior; " a rank swell," a very "flashly" dressed person, 
 a man who by excessive dress apes a higher position than 
 he actually occupies. Anything is said to be swell or 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 233 
 
 SWELLISH that looks showy, or is many coloured, or is of a 
 desirable quality. Dickens and Thackeray are termed great 
 SWELLS in literature ; so indeed are the first persons in the 
 learned professions. 
 
 SWELL FENCER, a street salesman of needles. 
 
 SWELL HUNG IN CHAINS, said of a showy man in the 
 habit of wearing much jewellery. 
 
 SWIG, to drink. Saxon, swigan. 
 
 SWIG, a hearty drink. 
 
 SWIM, " a good SWIM," a good run of luck, a long time out of 
 the policeman's clutches. — Thieves' term. 
 
 SWINDLER, although a recognised word in respectable dic- 
 tionaries, commenced service as a slang term. It was used 
 as such by the poor Londoners against the German Jews 
 who set up in London about the year 1762, also by our 
 soldiers in the German War about that time. Schwindel, 
 in German, signifies to cheat. 
 
 SWING, to be hanged. 
 
 SWINGING, large, huge. 
 
 SWIPES, sour or small beer. Swipe, to drink— Sea. 
 
 SWIPEY (from swipes), intoxicated. 
 
 SWISHED, married. 
 
 SWIZZLE, small beer, drink. 
 
 SWOT, mathematics ; also a mathematician ; as a verb, to work 
 hard for an examination, to be diligent in one's studies. — 
 Army. 
 
 This word originated at the great slang manufactory for 
 the army, the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in the 
 broad Scotch pronunciation of Dr. Wallace, one of the 
 Professors, of the word sweat, — See Notes and Queries, vol. i., 
 p. 369. 
 
 T, " to suit to a T," to fit to a nicety. — Old. Perhaps from the 
 T-square of carpenters, by which the accuracy of work is 
 tested. 
 
 TACKLE, clothes.— /S^ea. 
 
 TAFFY (corruption of David), a Welshman. Compare sawnet 
 (from Alexander), a Scotchman. 
 
 TAG-RAG-AND-BOBTAIL, a mixed crowd of low people, 
 mobility. 
 
 TAIL BUZZER, a thief who picks coat pockets. 
 
 TAKE, to succeed, or be patronised ; " do you think the new 
 
234 A DICTION AHY OF 
 
 opera will take ?" " No, because the same company took 
 so badly under the old management ;" " to take on," to 
 grieve; /S'Aa^espere 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; 'Ho take after," to resemble; "to 
 TAKE IN," to cheat or defraud, from the lodging-house 
 keepers' advertisements, " single men taken in and done 
 FOR," — an engagement which is as frequently performed in 
 a bad as a good sense ; " to take the field, when said of 
 a General, to commence operations against the enemy ; 
 when a racing man takes the field he stakes his money 
 against the favourite. 
 
 TAKE BEEF, to run away. 
 
 TAKE IN, a cheating or swindling transaction, — sometimes 
 termed " a dead take in." Shahespere has take in in the 
 sense of conquering. To be had, or to be spoke to, were 
 formerly synonymous phrases with TO be taken in. 
 
 TALLY, five dozen bunches of turnips. 
 
 TAN, to beat or thrash ; I'll tan your hide, i.e.f give you a good 
 
 TANNER, a sixpence. Gipsey, tawno, little, or Latin, tener, 
 slender ? 
 
 TANNY, or teeny, little. Gipsey, tawno, little. 
 
 TAN TEEMS, pranks, capers, or frolicking ; from the Tarantula 
 dance ? See account of the involuntary phrensy and 
 motions caused by the bite of the tarantula in Italy. — 
 Penny GyclopcEdia. 
 
 TAPE, gin, — term with female servants. 
 
 TAPER, to gradually give over, to run short. 
 
 TAP TUB, the Morning Advertiser. 
 
 TAT BOX, a dice box. 
 
 TATER, " s'elp my tater," another street evasion of a profane 
 oath, sometimes varied by ** s'elp my greens." 
 
 TATLER, a watch ; ^'nimming a tatler," stealing a watch. 
 
 TATS, dice. 
 
 TATS, old rags ; milky tats, white rags. 
 
 TATTING, gathering old rags. 
 
 TAW, a large or principal marble ; " I'll be one on your taw," 
 I will pay you out, or be even with you, — a simile taken 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 235 
 
 from boys aiming always at winning the taw when playing 
 at marbles. 
 
 TEAGUELAND, Ireland. 
 
 TEETH, " lie has cut his eye teeth," i.e., is old and cute enough. 
 
 TEETH-DKAWING, wrenching off knockers. 
 
 TEETOTALLER, a total abstainer from alcoholic drinks. 
 
 TEETOTALLY, amplification of totally. 
 
 TELL-ON, to tell about. 
 
 TENPENCE TO THE SHILLING, a vulgar phrase denoting 
 a deficiency in intellect. 
 
 TESTER, sixpence. From testone, a shilling in the reign of 
 5^enry VIII., but a sixpence in the time of Q. Elizabeth. — • 
 Shakespere. French, teste, or tete, the head of the 
 monarch on the coin. 
 
 TEVISS, a shilling. 
 
 THEATRE, a police court. 
 
 THICK, intimate, familiar. Scotch, c^ief -, "the two are very 
 CHIEF now," i.e., friendly. 
 
 THICK-UN, a sovereign ; a crown piece, or five shillings. 
 
 THIMBLE, or tack, a watch. 
 
 THIMBLE-RIG, a noted cheating game played at fairs and places 
 of great public thronging, consisting of two or three thim- 
 bles rapidly and dexterously placed over a pea, when the 
 THIMBLE-RIGGER, suddenly ceasing, asks you under which 
 thimble the pea is to be found. If you are not a practised 
 hand you will lose nine times out of ten any bet you may 
 happen to make with him. The pea is sometimes concealed 
 under his nail. 
 
 THIMBLE TWISTERS, thieves who rob persons of their 
 watches. 
 
 THINSKINNED, over nice, petulant, apt to get a " raw." 
 
 THREE SHEETS IN THE WIND, unsteady from drink.— i^ca. 
 
 THREE-UP, a gambling game played by costers. Three half- 
 pennies are thrown up, and when they fall all " heads," or 
 all "tails," it is a mark ; and the man who gets the greatest 
 number of marks out of a given amount — three, five, or 
 more — wins. The costers are very quick and skilful at this 
 game, and play fairly at it amongst themselves ; but should 
 a stranger join in they invariably unite to cheat him. 
 
 THRUMS, threepence. 
 
 THRUMMER, a threepenny bit. 
 
236 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 THRUPS, threepence. 
 THUMPING, large, fine, or strong. 
 THUNDERER, the Times newspaper. 
 THUNDERING, large, extra-sized. 
 TIBBING OUT, going out of bounds. — Charterhouse. 
 TICK, credit, trust. Johnso7h says it is a corruption of ticJcet,' — 
 tradesmen's bills being formerly written on tickets or cards. 
 On tick, therefore, is equivalent to on ticJcet, or on trust. 
 In use 1668. Cuthbert Bede, in Notes and Queries, supplies 
 me with an earlier date, from the Gradus ad Cantahrigiam. 
 "No matter upon landinj? whether you have money or no — you may 
 swim in twentie of their boats over the river upon ticket. — 
 Decker's Gul's Honibook, 1609. 4 
 
 TICKER, a watch. 
 
 TICKET, " that's the ticket," i.e., what was wanted, or what is 
 best. Corruption of " that is not etiquette," by adding, in 
 vulgar pronunciation, th to the first e of etiquette ; or, per- 
 haps, from TICKET, a bill or invoice. This phrase is some- 
 times extended into "that's the ticket for soup," in 
 allusion to the card given to beggars for immediate relief at 
 soup kitchens. — See tick. 
 
 TIDY, tolerably, or pretty well ; " how did you get on to-day ?" 
 — " Oh, TIDY." — Saxon. 
 
 TIED UP, given over, finished ; also married, in allusion to the 
 Hy menial knot, unless a jocose allusion be intended to the 
 halter (altar). 
 
 TIFFIN, a breakfast, dejeuner a la fourchette. — Anglo Indian 
 slang. 
 
 TIGER, a boy employed to wait on gentlemen ; one who waits 
 on ladies is a page. 
 
 TIGHT, close, stingy; hard up, short of cash ; tight, spruce, 
 strong, active; "a tight lad," a smart, active young fel- 
 low ; tight, drunk, or nearly so ; " tight laced," puri- 
 tanical, over- precise. Money is said to be tight, when the 
 public, from want of confidence in the aspect of affairs, 
 are not inclined to speculate. 
 
 TIGHTNER, a dinner, or hearty meal. 
 
 TIKE, or BUFFER lurking, dog stealing. 
 
 TILE, a hat ; a covering for the head. 
 
 " I'm a gent, I'm a gent, 
 
 In the Kegent-street style, — 
 Examine my vest, 
 And look at my iilb."— Popular Song. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 237 
 
 Sometimes used in another sense, "having a tile loose," i.e., 
 being slightly crazy. — See pantile. 
 
 TIMBER MERCHANT, or spunk fencer, a lucifer match seller. 
 
 TIME 0' DAY, a dodge, the latest aspect of afifairs ; " that's your 
 
 TIME o' DAY," i.e., Euge, well done ; to put a person up to the 
 
 TIME o' DAY, let him know what is o' clock, — to instruct him 
 
 in the knowledge needful for him. 
 TIN, money, — generally applied to silver, 
 TINGE, the percentage allowed by drapers and clothiers to their 
 
 assistants, upon the sale of old-fashioned articles. — See 
 
 SPIFFS. 
 
 TIN-POT, "he plays a tin-pot game," i.e., a low or shabby one. 
 
 TIP, a douceur ; also to give, lend, or band over anything to 
 another person ; *' come, tip up the tin," i.e., hand up the 
 money ; " tip the wink," to inform by winking ; " tip us 
 your fin," i.e., give me your hand ; " tip one's boom off," to 
 make off, depart. — Sea. " To miss one's tip," to fail in a 
 scheme. — Old cant. 
 
 TIP THE DOUBLE, to " bolt," or run away from a creditor or 
 officer. Sometimes tip the double to sherry, i.e.^ to the 
 sheriff. 
 
 TIP- TOP, first-rate, of the best kind. 
 
 TIPTOPPER, a " swell," or dressy man, a '* Gorger." 
 
 TIT, favourite name for a horse. 
 
 TIT FOR TAT, an equivalent. 
 
 TITIVATE, to put in order, or dress up. 
 
 TITLEY, drink. 
 
 TITTER, a girl. 
 
 'TIZER, the Morning Advertiser. 
 
 TIZZY, a sixpence. Corruption of tester. 
 
 TOASTING FORK, derisive term for a sword. 
 
 TOBY CONSARN, a highway expedition. 
 
 TOBY, a road ; ''' high toby," the turnpike road. " High toby 
 spice," robbery on horse-back. — Don Juan, canto xi., 19. 
 
 TODDLE, to walk as a child. 
 
 TO-DO (pronounced quickly, and as one word), a disturbance, 
 trouble ; " here's a pretty to-do," here is an unpleasant 
 diflaculty. This exactly tallies with the French word 
 affaire (a faire). — See Forhy's Vocabulary of East Anglia. 
 
238 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 TOFFER, a well dressed, "gay " woman. 
 
 TOFFICKY, dressy, showy. 
 
 TOFT, a showy individual, a swell, a person who, according to 
 
 a Yorkshireman's vocabulary, is up-ish. 
 TOG, a coat. Latin, toga. — Ancient cant. 
 TOG, to dress, or equip with an outfit; "TOGGED out to the 
 
 nines," dressed in the first style. 
 TOGS, clothes ; " Sunday togs," best clothes. One of the oldest 
 
 cant words, in use in the time of Henry VIII. 
 TOGERY, clothes, harness, domestic paraphernalia of any kind. 
 TOKE, dry bread. 
 
 TOL-LOL, or tol-lolish, tolerable, or tolerably. 
 TOMMY.— /See dickey. 
 TOMMY, bread, — generally a penny roll. 
 TOMMY, a truck, barter, the exchange of labour for goods, not 
 
 money. Both term and practice general among English 
 
 operatives for half-a century. 
 
 TOMMY-MASTER, one who pays his workmen in goods, or 
 
 gives them tickets upon tradesmen, with whom he shares 
 
 the profit. 
 TOMMY SHOP, where wages are generally paid to mechanics or 
 
 others, who are expected to " take out " a portion of the 
 
 money in goods. 
 
 TOM-TOM, a street instrument, a small kind of drum beaten 
 with the fingers, somewhat like the ancient tabor ; a per- 
 former on this instrument. It was imported, doubtless, 
 with the Nigger melodies, — tom-toms being a favourite in- 
 strument with the darkies. 
 
 TONGUED, talkative; "to tongue a person," i.e., talk him 
 down. 
 
 TOOL, "a poor tool," a bad hand at anything. 
 
 TOOL, to drive a mail coach. 
 
 TOOL, to pick pockets. 
 
 TOOLER, a pickpocket. Moll-tooler, a female pickpocket. 
 
 TOOTH, " he has cut his eye tooth," i.e., he is sharp enough, or 
 old enough, to be so ; "up in the tooth," far advanced in 
 age,— said often of old maids. Stable term for aged horses 
 which have lost the distinguishing mark in their teeth. 
 
 TOPHEAVY, drunk. 
 
 TOPPED, hung or executed. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 239 
 
 TOP-SAWYER, the principal of a party, or profession. "A top- 
 sawyer, signifies a man that is a master genius in any pro- 
 fession. It is a piece of Norfolk slang, and took its rise from 
 Norfolk being a great timber county, where the top sawyers 
 get double the wages of those beneath them." — Randall's 
 Diary, 1820. 
 
 TOPS, dying speeches and gallows broadsides. 
 
 TOPSY-TURVY, the bottom upwards. Grose gives an ingenious 
 etymology of this once cant term, viz., ^Hop-side tmf-ways" 
 — turf being always laid the wrong side upwards. 
 
 TO-RIGHTS, excellent, very well, or good. 
 
 TORPIDS, the second-class race-boats at Oxford, answering to 
 the Cambridge sloggers. 
 
 TOSHERS, men who steal copper from ships' bottoms in the 
 Thames. 
 
 TOSS, a measure of sprats. 
 
 TOUCHED, slightly intoxicated, 
 
 TOUCHER, "as near as a toucher," as near as possible without 
 actually touching. — Coaching term. The old jaiveys, to show 
 their skill, used to drive against things so close as absolutely 
 to touch, yet without injury. This they called a toucher, 
 or, TOUCH AND GO, which was hence applied to anything which 
 was within an ace of ruin. 
 
 TOUCHY, peevish, irritable. Johnson terms it a low word. 
 
 TOUT, to look out, or watch. — Old cant. 
 
 TOUTER, a looker out, one who watches for customers, a hotel 
 runner. 
 
 TOWEL, to beat or whip. In Warwlchshire an oaken stick is 
 termed a towel — whence, perhaps, the vulgar verb. 
 
 TOWELLING, a rubbing down with an oahen towel, a beating. 
 
 TRACKS, '''to make tracks," to run away.^ — See streak. 
 
 TRANSLATOR, a man who deals in old shoes or clothes, and 
 refits them for cheap wear. 
 
 TRANSLATORS, second-hand boots mended and polished, and 
 sold at a low price. Monmouth-street, Seven Dials, is a great 
 market for translators. 
 
 TRANSMOGRIPHY, to alter or change. 
 
 TRAP, a "fast " term for a carriage of any kind. Traps, goods 
 and chattels of any kind, but especially luggage and per- 
 sonal effects ; in Australia, swag. 
 
 TRAP, " up to trap," knowing, wide awake, — synonymous with 
 
 " up to SNUEF." 
 
240 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 TRAP, a sheriff's officer. 
 
 TRAPESING, gadding or gossiping about in a slatternly way. 
 — North. 
 
 TRAVELLER, name given by one tramp to another. "A 
 TRAVELLER at her Majesty's expense," i.e., a transported 
 felon, a convict. 
 
 TREE, " up a tree," in temporary difficulties, — out of the 
 way. American expression, derived from raccoon or bear- 
 hunting. When Bruin is treed, or is forced up a tree 
 by the dogs, it means that then the tug of war begins. — See 
 'coon. Hence when an opponent is fairly run to bay, and 
 can by no evasion get off, he is said to be treed. These 
 expressions originated with Colonel Crockett. In Scotland 
 the phrase is " up a close," i.e., a passage, out of the usual 
 track, or removed from observation. 
 
 TRINE, to hang. — Ancient cant. 
 
 TROLLING, sauntering or idling. 
 
 TROLLY, or trolly-carts, term given by costermongers to a 
 species of narrow cart, which can either be drawn by a 
 donkey, or driven by hand. 
 
 TROTTER, a tailor's man who goes round for orders. — Uni- 
 
 TROTTER CASES, shoes. 
 
 TROTTERS, feet. Sheep's trotters, boiled sheep's feet, a 
 favourite street delicacy, 
 
 TRUCK, to exchange or barter. 
 
 TRUCK-GUTTED, pot-bellied, corpulent.— ^ec». 
 
 TRUCKS, trowsers. 
 
 TRUMP, a good fellow; "a regular trump," a jolly or good 
 natured person, — in allusion to a trump card ; " trumps 
 may turn up," i.e., fortune may yet favour me. 
 
 TUB THUMPING, preaching or speech making. 
 
 TUCK, a schoolboy's term for fruit, pastry, &c. Tuck in, or 
 tuck out, a good meal. 
 
 TUFTS, fellow commoners, i.e., wealthy students at the Uni- 
 versity, who pay higher fees, dine with the Dons, and are 
 distinguished by golden tufts, or tassels, in their caps. 
 
 TUFT-HUNTER, a hanger on to persons of quality or wealth. 
 Originally University slang, but now general. 
 
 TUMBLE, to comprehend or understand. A coster was asked 
 what he thought of Macheth, — " the witches and the fighting 
 was all very well, but the other moves I couldn't tumble to 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 241 
 
 exactly; few on us can tumble to the jaw-breakers; they 
 licks us, they do." 
 
 TURF, horse racing, and betting thereon ; " on the turf," one 
 who occupies himself with race course business ; said also 
 of a street- walker, nymph of the pav^. 
 
 TURKEY-MERCHANTS, dealers in plundered or contraband 
 silk. Poulterers are sometimes termed turkey merchants, 
 lu remembrance of Home Tooke's altswer to the boys at 
 Eton, who wished in an aristocratic way to know who his 
 father was, — a turkey merchant, replied Tooke; — his father 
 was a poultei-er. Turkey merchant, also, was formerly 
 slang for a driver of turkeys or geese to market. 
 
 TURNED OVER, to be stopped and searched by the police. 
 
 TURNED UP, acquitted by the magistrate or judge for want of 
 evidence, 
 
 TURNER OUT, a coiner of bad money. 
 
 TURN OUT, personal show or appearance; a man with a showy 
 carriage and horses is said to have a good turn out. 
 
 TURNOVER, an apprentice who finishes wirh a second master 
 the iudentiu^es he commenced with the first. 
 
 TURNPIKE SAILORS, beggars who go about dressed as sailors. 
 
 TURN UP, a street fight ; a sudden leaving, or makiag off. 
 
 TURN UP, to quit, change, abscond, or abandon ; " Ned has 
 turned up," i.e. run away ; "I intend turning it up," i.e. 
 leaving my present abode or altering my course of life. 
 Also to happen ; let's wait, and see what will turn up. 
 
 TU3HER00N, a crown piece, five shillings. 
 
 TUSSLE, a pull, struggle, fight, or argument. Johnson and 
 
 Webster call it a vulgar word. 
 TUSSLE, to struggle, or argue. 
 TWELVER, a shilling. 
 TWIG, style, a-la-mode ; "get your struramel faked in twig," i.e.^ 
 
 have your hair dressed in style ; prime twig, in good order 
 
 and high spirits. — Pugilistic. 
 TWIG, " to hop the twig," to decamp, "cut one's stick," to die. 
 TWIG, to understand, detect, or observe. 
 TWIST, brandy and gin mixed. 
 TVVIST, appetir.e ; " Will 's got a capital twist," 
 TWITCHETTY, nervous, fidgetty. 
 
 TWITTER, " all in a twitter," in a fright, or fidgetty state. 
 
 R 
 
242 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 TWO-HANDED, awkward. 
 
 TWOPENNY, the head; *• tuck in your twopenny." bend down 
 your head. 
 
 TWOPENNY-HOPS, low dancing rooms, the price of admission 
 to which was formerly — and not infrequently now— two 
 pence. The clog hornpipe the pipe dance, flash jigs, and 
 hornpipes in fetters, a la Jack Sheppard are the favourite 
 movements, all tntered into with great spirit and "joyous, 
 laborious capering." — Mayhew, 
 
 TYBURN COLLAR, the fringe of beard worn under the chin.— 
 
 See NEWGATE COLLAR. 
 
 TYE, or TIE, a neckerchief. Proper hosier's term now, but slang 
 thirty years ago, and as early as 1718. Called also, squeeze. 
 
 UNBETTY, to unlock.— /See betty. 
 
 UNCLE, the pawnbroker. — See my uncle. 
 
 UNDER THE ROSE.— >Sce rose. 
 
 UNICORN, a style of driving with two wheelers abreast, and 
 
 one leader — termed in the United States, a spike team. 
 
 Tandem is one wheeler and one leader. Random, three 
 
 horses in line. 
 
 UNUTTERABLES, trousers — See inexpressibles. 
 
 UNWHISPERABLES, trousers. 
 
 UP, " to be UP to a thing or two," to be knowing, or under- 
 standing ; " to put a man up to a move," to teach him a 
 trick; " it's all up with him," i.e., it is all over with him, 
 often pronounced U.P., naming the two letters separately; 
 " UP a tree," see tree; "up to trap," "up to snuff," 
 wide awake acquainted with the last new move ; '' up to 
 one's gossip," to be a match for one who is trying to take 
 you in; — * up to slum." proficient in roguery, capable of 
 committing a theft successfully. 
 
 UPPER BENJAMIN, a great coat. 
 
 UPPER STOREY, or upper loft, a person's head ; ** his upper 
 storey is unfurnished," i.e., he does not know very muck. 
 UPPISH, proud, arrogant. 
 USED UP, brokenhearted, bankrupt, fatigued. 
 
 VAMOS, or VAMOUS, to go, or be off. Spanish, vamos, " let us 
 go !" Probably namus or namous the costermonger's 
 word, was from this, although it is generally considered back 
 slang. 
 
 VAMPS, old stockings. From vamp, to piece. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 243 
 
 VARDO, to look; *' vakdo the cassey," look at the house. 
 Vardo formerly was old cant for a wagon. 
 
 VARMENT, " you young varment, you !" you bad, or naughty 
 boy. Corruption of vermin. 
 
 VELVET, the tongue. 
 
 VERTICAL-CARE-GRINDER, the treadmill. 
 
 VIC.,the Victoria Theatre, London, — patronised principally by 
 costermongers and low people ; also the street abbreviation 
 of the Christian name of her Majesty the Queen. 
 
 VILLAGE, or the village, i.e., London. — Sporting. 
 
 VILLE, or VILE, a town or village, — ^rononnced phial, ovvial. — 
 
 French. 
 VINNIED, mildewed, or sour — Devonshire. 
 
 VOKER, to talk; "can you voker Romany ?" can you speak 
 the canting language. — Latin, vocare ; Spanish, vocear. 
 
 "WABBLE, to move from side to side, to roll about. Johnson 
 terms it a " low, barbarous word." 
 
 WALKER! or HOOKEY walker! an ejaculation of incredulity, 
 said when a person is telling a story which you know to be 
 all gammon, or false. The Saturday Reviewer s explanation 
 of the phrase is this : — *' Years ago, there was a person 
 named Walker, an aquiline-nosed Jew, who exhibited an 
 orrery, which he called by the erudite name of Eidoura- 
 nion. He was also a popular lecturer on astronomy, and 
 often invited his pupils, telescope in hand, to take a sight 
 at the moon and stars. The lecturer s phrase struck bis 
 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 sayiug. 
 The next step was to assume phrase and gesture as the out- 
 ward and visible mode of knowingness in general." A cor- 
 respondent, however, denies this, and states that hookey 
 walker was a magistrate of dreaded acuteness and incre- 
 dulity, 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 ex- 
 pression of "Don't you wish you may get it ?" is consi- 
 derably older than the story in the Saturday Review would 
 seem to indicate. There is a third explanation of hookey 
 WALKER in Notes and Queries, iv. 425, 
 
 WALK INTO, to overcome to demolish ; "111 walk into his 
 affections " ie., I will scold or thrash him. The word 
 
 K 2 
 
244 A DICTION AEY OF 
 
 DRIVE (which see) is used in an equally curious sense in- 
 slang speech. 
 
 WALK OVER, a re-election without opposition. — Parliamentary ^ 
 but derived from the Turf, where a horse — which has no 
 rivals entered — walks over the course, and wins without 
 exertion. 
 
 WALK-THE BARBER, to lead a girl astray. 
 
 WALK YOUR CHALKS, be off, or run away,— spoken sharply 
 by any one who wishes to get rid of you. — See chalks. 
 
 WALL -FLOWER a person who goes to a ball, and looks on 
 without dancing, either from choice or not being able to 
 obtain a partner. 
 
 WALL-FLOWERS, left-off and ''■ regenerated" clothes, exposed 
 for sale in Monmouth-street. 
 
 WALLOP, to beat, or thrash. Mr. John Gough Nichols derives 
 this word from an ancestor of the Earl of Portsmouth one 
 Sir John Wallop, Knight of the Garter, who, in King 
 Henry VIII.'s time, distinguished himself by walloping 
 the French ; but it is more probably connected with weal, 
 a livid swelling in the skin, after a blow. — See pot walloper. 
 
 WALLOPING, a beating or thrashing; sometimes in an adjec- 
 tive sense, as big, or very large. 
 
 WAPPING, or WHOPPING, of a large size, great. 
 
 WARM, rich, or well off. 
 
 WARM, to thrash, or beat ; " I'll warm your jacket." 
 
 WASH, "it won't wash," i.e., will not stand investigation, is 
 not genuine, can't be believed. 
 
 WATCHMAKER, a pickpocket, or stealer of watches. 
 
 WATCH AND SEALS, a sheep's head and pluck. 
 
 AYATER-BEWITCHED. very weak tea, the third brew (or the 
 first at some houses), grog much diluted. 
 
 AVATER OF LIFE, gin. 
 
 WATERMAN, a light blue silk handkerchief. The Oxford and 
 Cambridge boats' crews always v^^ear these — light blue for 
 Cambridge, and a darker shade for Oxford. 
 
 WATTLES, ears. 
 
 WAXY, cross, ill-tempered. 
 
 WEDGE, silver.— OZcZ cant. 
 
 WEDGE-FEEDER, silver spoon. 
 
 WEED, a cigar ; the weed, tobacco generally. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WOKDS. 245 
 
 WELL, to pocket, or place as in a well. 
 
 WENCH, provincial and old-fashioned term for a girl, derived 
 from WINK. In Americay negro girls only are termed 
 
 WENCHES. 
 
 WEST CENTRAL, a water-closet, the initials being the same 
 as those of the London Postal District. It is said that for 
 this reason very delicate people refuse to obey Rowland 
 Hill's instructions in this particular. 
 WET, a drink, a " drain." 
 
 WET, to drink. Low people generally ask an acquaintance to 
 
 WET any recently purchased article, i.e., to stand treat on 
 
 the occasion ; " wet your whistle," i.e., take a drink ; " wet 
 
 the other eye," i.e., take another glass. 
 
 WET QUAKER, a drunkard of that sect ; a man who pretends 
 
 to be religious, and is a dram drinker on the sly. 
 WHACK, a share or lot; "give me my whack," give me my 
 
 share. Scotch, sweg, or swack. 
 WHACK, to beat ; whack, or whacking, a blow or thrashing. 
 WHACKING, large, fine, or strong. 
 
 WHALE, " very like a whale in a teacup," said of anything 
 
 that is very improbable ; taken from a speech of Polonius 
 
 in Hamlet. 
 
 WHEEDLE, to entice by soft words. "This word cannot be 
 
 found to derive itself from any other, and therefore is 
 
 looked upon as wholly invented by the canters." — Triumph 
 
 of Wit, 1705. 
 
 WHERRET, or WORRIT, to scold, trouble, or annoy. — Old English. 
 
 WHIDDLE, to enter into a parley, or hesitate with many 
 
 words, &c. ; to inform, or discover. 
 WHIDS, words. — Old Gipsey cant. 
 
 WHIM-WAM, an alliterative term, synonymous with fiddle- 
 faddle, riff-raff, &c., denoting nonsense, rubbish, &c. 
 WHIP, to "whip anything up," to take it up quickly; from 
 the method of hoisting heavy goods or horses on board 
 ship by a whip, or running tackle, from the yard-arm. 
 Generally used to express anything dishonestly taken — 
 L' Estrange and Johnson. 
 WHIP JACK, a sham shipwrecked sailor, called also a turnpike 
 
 SAILOR. 
 
 WHIPPER-SNAPPER, a waspish, diminutive person. 
 WHIPPING THE CAT, when an operative works at a private 
 house by the day. Term used amongst tailors and carpenters. 
 
246 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 WHISKER. There is a curious slang phrase conuected with 
 this word. When an improbable story is told, the remark 
 is, " the mother of that was a whisker," meaning it is a lie. 
 
 WHISTLE, "as clean as a whistle," neatly, or "slickly done," 
 as an American would say; "to wet one's whistle," to 
 take a drink. This is a very old term. Chaucer says of 
 the Miller of Trumpington's wife (Canterbury Tales, 4153) — 
 
 " So was hir joly whistal well y-wet;'* 
 *'to WHISTLE FOR ANYTHING," to Stand small chance of 
 getting it, from the nautical custom of whistling for a wind 
 in a calm, which of course comes none the sooner for it. 
 
 WHITE FEATHER, " to show the white feather," to evince 
 cowardice. In the times when great attention was paid to 
 the breeding of game-cocks, a white feather in the tail was 
 considered a proof of cross-breeding. 
 
 WHITE LIE, a harmless lie, one told to reconcile people at 
 variance; "mistress is not at home, sir," is a -white lie 
 often told by servants. 
 
 WHITE LIVER'D, or liver faced, cowardly, much afraid, 
 very mean. 
 
 WHITE PROP, a diamond pin. 
 
 WHITE SATIN", gin, —term amongst women. 
 
 WHITE TAPE, gin, — term used principally by female servants. 
 
 WHITE WINE, the fashionable term for gin. 
 
 " Jack Randall then impatient rose, 
 
 And said, 'Tom's speech were just as fine 
 If he would call that first of go's 
 By that genteeler name — white wiifE.' " 
 
 RandalVs Diary, 1820. 
 
 WHITECHAPEL, or Westminster brougham, a costermonger'a 
 
 donkey -barrow. 
 WHITECHAPEL, the " upper-cut," or strike.— Pugilistic. 
 WHITEWASH, when a person has taken the benefit of the 
 
 Insolvent Act he is said to have been whitewashed. 
 WHOP, to beat, or hide. Corruption of whip; sometimes 
 
 spelled WAP. 
 WHOP- STRAW, cant name for a countryman ; Johnny Whop- 
 
 STRAW, in allusion to threshing. 
 WHOPPER, a big one, a lie. 
 WIDDLE, to shine —^ee Oliver. 
 WIDE-AWAKE, a broad-brimmed felt, or stuff" hat,— so called 
 
 because it never had a nap, and never wants one. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 247 
 
 WIDO, wide awake, no fool. 
 
 WIFE, a fetter fixed to one leg. — Prison. 
 
 WIFFLE-WOPTLES, in the dumps, sorrow, stomach ache. 
 
 WIGGING, a rebuke before comrades. If the head of a firm 
 calls a clerk into the parlour, and rebukes him, it is an 
 earwigging ; if done before the other clerks, it is a wigging. 
 
 WILD, a village. — Tramjps' term. — See vile. 
 
 WILD, vexed, cross, passionate. In the United States the 
 word mad is supplemented with a vulgar meaning similar to 
 our Cockneyism, wild; and to make a man mad on the 
 other side of the Atlantic is to vex him, or "rile" his temper 
 — not to render him a raving maniac, or a fit subject for 
 Bedlam. 
 
 WILD OATS, youthful pranks. 
 
 WIND, " to raise the wind," to procure money ; " to slip one's 
 wind," coarse expression meaning to die. 
 
 WIND, " I'll wind your cotton," i.e., I will give you some trouble. 
 The Byzantine General, Narses, used the same kind of threat 
 to the Greek Empress, — "I will spin such a thread that 
 tbey shall not be able to unravel." 
 
 WINDED-SETTLED, transported for life. 
 
 WINDOWS, the eyes, or "peepers." 
 
 WINEY, intoxicated. 
 
 WINKIN, "he went off like winkin," i.e., very quickly. 
 
 WINKS, periwinkles. 
 
 WINN, a penny. — Ancient cant, 
 
 WIPE, a pocket handkerchief.— OZcZ cant, 
 
 WIPE, a blow. 
 
 WIPE, to strike ; " he fetcht me a wipe over the knuckles," he 
 struck me on the knuckles; " to wipe a person down," to 
 flatter or pacify a person ; to wipe off a score, to pay one's 
 debts, in allusion to the slate or chalk methods of account 
 keeping ; " to wipe a person's eye," to shoot game which he 
 has missed — Sporting term; hence to obtain an advantage 
 by superior activity. 
 
 WIRE, a thief with long fingers, expert at picking ladies' pockets. 
 
 WOBBLESHOP, where beer is sold without a license. 
 
 WOODEN SPOON, the last junior optime who takes a University 
 degree ; denoting one who is only fit to stay at home, and 
 stir porridge. — Cambridge. 
 
 WOODEN WEDGE, the last name in the classical honours list 
 
24:8 A DICTIONARY OF 
 
 at Cambridge. The last in mathematical honours had long 
 been known as the wooden spoon; but when the classical 
 Tripos was instituted, in 1824, it was debated among the 
 tindergraduates 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 distin- 
 guished Wrangler). Hence the title. 
 WOOL, courage, pluck ; " you are not half-woOLLED," term of 
 
 reproach from one thief to another. 
 WOOLBIRD, a lamb; "wing of a woolbird," a shoulder of 
 
 lamb. 
 WOOL-GATHERING, said of any person's wits when they are 
 
 wandering, or in a reverie. — Florio. 
 WOOL-HOLE, the workhouse. 
 
 WORK, to plan, or lay down and execute any course of action, 
 to perform anything; *'to work the bulls," i.e., to get rid 
 of false crown pieces ; " to woek the oracle," to succeed 
 by manoeuvriug, to concert a wily plan, to victimise, — a 
 possible reference to the stratagems and bribes used to 
 corrupt the Bel'phic oracle, and cause it to deliver a favour- 
 able 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 th jroughuess ; to 
 " work a street well" is a common saying with a coster. 
 WORM, see pump. 
 
 WORMING, removing the beard of an oyster or muscle. 
 
 W. P., or WARMING PAN. A clergyman who holds a living pro 
 
 tempore, under a bond of resignation, is sryJed a w. P., or 
 
 WARMING PAN rector, because he keeps the place warm for 
 
 his successor. — Clerical slang. 
 
 WRINKLE, an idea, or fancy ; an additional piece of knowledge 
 
 which is supposed to be made by a wrinkle d posteriori. 
 WRITE, " to WRITE one's name on a joint," to have the first 
 cut at anything, — leaving sensible traces of one's presence 
 on it. 
 YACK, a watch; to "church a tack," to take it out of its case 
 
 to avoid detection. 
 YARD OF CLAY, a long, old-fashioned tobacco pipe, also called 
 
 a churchwarden. 
 YARMOUTH CAPON, a bloater, or red \iQvim^.—Old —Bay i 
 Proverbs. 
 
MODERN SLANG AND CANT WORDS. 249 
 
 YARN", a long story, or tale ; " a tough YAElf," a tale hard to 
 be believed; "spiu a yarn," tell a tale. — Sea. 
 
 YAY-NAY, "a poor tay-nay" fellow, one who has no conver- 
 sational power, and can only answer yen 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 weh-footed. 
 
 YELLOW- BOY, a sovereign, or any gold coin. 
 
 YELLOW-GLOAK, a jealous man. 
 
 YELLOW- JACK, the yellow fever prevalent in the West Indies. 
 
 YELLOW-MAN, a yellow silk handkerchief. 
 
 YOKEL, a countryman. — West. 
 
 YOKUFF, a chest, or large box. 
 
 YORKSHIRE, " to Yorkshire," or " come Yorkshire over any 
 person," is to cheat or bite them. — North. 
 
 YORKSHIRE ESTATES, " I will do it when I come into my 
 YORKSHIRE ESTATES," — meaning if I ever have the money 
 or the means. The phrase is said to have originated with 
 Dr. Johnson. 
 
 YOUNKER, in street language, a lad or a boy. Term in general 
 use amongst costermougers, cabmen, and old-fashioned 
 people. Barnefield's Affectionate Shepherd, 1594, has the 
 phrase, "a seemelie younker." Danish and Frieslc, JONKER. 
 In the Navy, a naval cadet is usually termed a younker. 
 
 YOUR- NIBS, yourself. 
 
 ZIPH, LANGUAGE OF, a way of disguising English in use among 
 the students at Winchester College. Compare medical 
 
 GREEK. 
 
 ZOUNDS, a sudden exclamation, — abbreviation of God's wounds. 
 
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 BACK SLANG, 
 
 THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF COSTERMONGERS. 
 
 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, as Mayhew 
 remarks, offers no new fact, or approach to a fact, 
 for philologists ; it is not very remarkable for origi- 
 nality 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 hachwardsy — or rather^ pronouncing them 
 rudely backwards. Sometimes, for the sake of har- 
 mony, an extra syllable is prefixed, or annexed; 
 and, occasionally, the word is given quite a diffe- 
 
252 THE PRINCIPLE OF THE BACK SLANG. 
 
 rent turn in rendering it backwards, from what an 
 uninitiated person would have expected. One coster 
 told May hew that he often gave the end of a word 
 ** a new turn, just as if he chorussed 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 con- 
 vinced but by an overwhelming show of learning, 
 — and frequently not then, for he is a very head- 
 strong fellow. 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 etymologist could unravel. 
 The word generalise, for instance, is considered 
 to be " shilling" spelt backwards. Sometimes Slang 
 and Cant words are introduced, and even these, 
 when imagined to be tolerably well known, are pro- 
 nounced backwards. Other terms, such as GEN, a 
 shilling, and ELATCH, a halfpenny, help to confuse 
 the outsider. 
 
 After a time, this back language, or back- 
 SLANG, as it is called by the costermongers them- 
 selves, comes to be regarded by the rising genera- 
 tion of street sellers as a distinct and regular mode 
 of speech. They never refer words, by inverting 
 them, to their originals; and the yeneps and ES- 
 CLOPS, and namows, are looked upon as proper, 
 but secret terms. *' But it is a curious fact, that 
 lads who become costermongers' boys, without pre- 
 vious association with the class, acquire a very ready 
 
BOYS AND GIRLS SOON ACQUIRE IT. 253 
 
 command of the language, and this though thej 
 are not only unable to spell, but * don't know a 
 letter in a book.*' " They soon obtain a conside- 
 rable 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 evenin^f, 
 especially if any " flatties" are present whom they 
 wish to astonish or confuse. The women use it 
 sparingly, but the girls are^generally well acquainted 
 with it. 
 
 The addition of an 5, 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 pounds 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 Jevfs' ''old clo ! old 
 do r instead of old clothes^ old clothes^ which would 
 tire even the patience of a Jew to repeat all day. 
 
 * Mayhew, vol. i., p. 24. 
 
25i THE BACK SLANG UNKNOWN TO THE POLICE. 
 
 This singular back tongue lias been in vogue 
 about twenty-five years. It is, as before stated, 
 soon acquired, and is principally used by the coster- 
 mongers (as the specimen Glossary will show), 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 
 amongst them, when one of the constabulary makes 
 his appearance. 
 
 Perhaps on no subject is the costermonger so par- 
 ticular as on money matters. 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-YENEPS, threepence. 
 
 ROUF-YENEPS, fourpence. 
 
 EVIF, or EWIF-YENEPS, fivepence. 
 
 EXISYENEPS, sixpence. 
 
 NEYIS-YENEPS, sevenpence. 
 
 TEAICH, or THEG-YENEPS, eightpence. 
 
 ENIN-YENEPS, ninepence. 
 
 NET-YENEPS tenpence. 
 
 NEVELE-YENEPS, elevenpence. 
 
 EVLENETYENNEPS, twelvepence. 
 
 GEN, or GENERALIZE, one shilling, or twelvepence. 
 
 YENEP-FLATCH, three halfpence. 
 
THE COSTERMONGERS' TERMS FOR MONEY. 255 
 
 OWT-YENEP-FLATCH, twopence halfpenny. 
 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 GEN", or ENO-GEN, one shilling. 
 OWT-GENS, two shillings. 
 ERTH-GENS, three shillings. 
 
 The GENS continue in tlie same sequence as the 
 YENEPS above, excepting theg-GENS, 8s., which is 
 usually rendered theg-GUY, — a deviation with 
 ample precedents in all civilised tongues. 
 
 YENORK, a crown piece, or five shillings. 
 FLATCH-YENORK, half a-crown. 
 
 Beyond this amount the costermonger reckons 
 after an intricate and complicated mode. Fifteen 
 shilHngs would be erth-evif-gens, or, literally, 
 three times 5s.; seventeen shillings would be erth- 
 yenork-flatch, or three crowns and a half; or, 
 by another mode of reckoning, erth-evif-gens 
 FLATCH-YENORK, 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 principally use, — the 
 terms connected with street traffic, the names of the 
 dijQferent coins, vegetables, fruit and fish, techni- 
 calities of police courts, &c. 
 
256 W£IY A GLOSSARY IS FORMED. 
 
 The reader miglit naturally think that a system 
 of speech so simple as the back-slang would re- 
 quire 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. 
 
GLOSSARY 
 
 BACK SLANG. 
 
 BIRK, a "crib,"— house. 
 
 COOL, to look. 
 
 COOL HIM, look at him. A phrase frequently used when one 
 costermonger warns another of the approach of a policeman. 
 
 DAB, 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. 
 
 DLOG, gold. 
 
 DOOG, good. 
 
 DOOGHENO, literally "one-good," or ''good- one," but imply- 
 ing generally a good market. 
 
 DOOGHENO HIT, one good hit. A coster remarks to a 
 "mate," Jach made a doogheno hit this morning,'' imply- 
 ing that he did well at market, or sold out with good profit. 
 
 DUNOP, a pound. 
 
 ERTH, three. 
 
 EARTH * GENS, three shillings. 
 
 EARTH SITH-NOMS, three months. 
 
 EARTH YANNOPS, or teneps, threepence/ 
 
 EDGABAC, cabbage. 
 
 * My informant preferred eabth to eeth,— for the reason, he said, " that 
 it looked more sensible 1" 
 
258 GLOSSARY OP 
 
 EDGENARO, an orauge. 
 
 E-FINK, knife. 
 
 EKAME, a "make," or swindle. 
 
 EKOM, a "moke," or donkey. 
 
 ELRIG, a girl. 
 
 ENIF, fine. 
 
 ENIN GENS, nine shillings. 
 
 ENIN" YENEP, ninepence. 
 
 ENIN YANNOPS, or yeneps, ninepence. 
 
 ENO, one. 
 
 ERIE, fire. 
 
 ERTH GENS, three shillings. 
 
 ERTH-PU, three-np, a street game. 
 
 ERTH SITH-NOMS, three months,— a term of imprisonment 
 
 unfortunately very familiar to the lower orders. 
 ERTH- YENEPS, threepence. 
 ESCLOP, the police. 
 ES-ROPH, or es-roch, a horse. 
 EVIF- YENEPS, five pence. 
 EVLENET-GENS, twelve shillings. 
 EVLENET SITH-NOMS, twelve months. 
 EWIF-GENS, a crown, or five shillings. 
 EWIF- YENEPS, fivepence. 
 EXIS GENS, six shillings. 
 EXIS-EWIF-GENS, six times five shillings, i.e., 80s. All moneys 
 
 may be reckoned in this manner, either with yeneps or 
 
 GENS. 
 
 EXIS-EVIF YENEPS, elevenpence,— literally, "sixpence and 
 fivepence = elevenpence." This mode of reckoning, distinct 
 from the preceding, is also common amongst those who use 
 the back slang. 
 
 EXIS SITH-NOMS, six 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. 
 
THE BACK SLANG. 259 
 
 GEN", twelvepence, or one shilling. Possibly an abbreviation of 
 
 ARGENT, cant term for silver. — See following. 
 GENERALIZE, a shilling, generally shortened to gen. 
 GEN- NET, or net gens, ten shillings. 
 HEL-BAT, a table. 
 HELPA, an apple. 
 KEKNETSEENO, stinking. 
 KENNURD, dnink. 
 KEW, a week. 
 KEWS, or skew, weeks. 
 KIRB, a brick. 
 KOOL, to look. 
 LAWT, tall. 
 LEVEN, in back slang, is sometimes allowed to stand for eleven , 
 
 for the reason that it is a number which seldom occurs. An 
 
 article is either lOd. or Is. 
 LUR-AC-HAM, mackarel. 
 MOTTAB, bottom. 
 MUR, rum. 
 NALE, or nael, lean. 
 NAM, a man. 
 
 NAMESCLOP, a policeman. 
 
 NAMOW, a woman ; dillo namow, an old woman. 
 NEERGS, greens. 
 
 NETENIN GENS, nineteen shillings. 
 NEETEWIF GENS, fifteen shillings. 
 NEETEXIS, or netexis gens, sixteen shillings. 
 NETNEVIS GENS, seventeen shillings. 
 NET-THEG GENS, eighteen shillings. 
 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 leven yenifs. 
 NEVIS GENS, seven shillings. 
 NEVIS STRETCH, seven years' transportation, or imprison 
 
 meat. — See stretch, in the Slang Dictionary. 
 
 S 2 
 
260 GLOSSARY OF 
 
 NEVIS YENEPS, sevenpence. 
 
 NIRE, rain. 
 
 NIG, gin. 
 
 NI-OG OT TAKRAM, going to market. 
 
 NITRAPH, a farthing. 
 
 NOL, long. 
 
 NOOM, the moon. 
 
 NOS-RAP, a parson. 
 
 OCCABOT, tobacco ; " tib of occabot," bit of tobacco. 
 
 ON, no. 
 
 ON DOOG, no good. 
 
 OWT GENS, two shillings. 
 
 OWT YENEPS, twopence. 
 
 PAG, a cap. 
 
 PINURT POTS, turnip tops. 
 
 POT, top. 
 
 RAPE, a pear. 
 
 REEB, beer. ' 
 
 REV-LIS, silver. 
 
 ROUF-EFIL, for life, — sentence of punishment. 
 
 ROUF-GENS, four shillings. 
 
 ROUF- YENEPS, fourpence. 
 
 RUTAT, or eattat, a "tatur," or potato. 
 
 SAY, yes. 
 
 SEE-O, shoes. 
 
 SELOPAS, apples. 
 
 SHIP, fish. 
 
 SIR-ETCH, cherries. 
 
 SITH-NOM, a month. 
 
 SLAOC, coals. 
 
 SLOP, a policeman.— /Sfe6 Dictionary of Slang and Cant Words. 
 
 SNEERG, greens. 
 
 SOUSH, a house. 
 
 SPINSRAP, parsnips. 
 
 SRES-WORT, trowsera. 
 
 STARPS, sprats. 
 
 STOOB, boots. 
 
THE BACK SLANG. 261 
 
 STORRAC, carrots. 
 
 STUN", nuts. 
 
 STUNLAWS, walnuts. 
 
 SWRET-SIO, oysters. 
 
 TACH, a hat. 
 
 TAF, or TAFFT, fat. 
 
 THEG, or teaich gens, eight shillings. 
 
 TEAIGH-GUY, eight shillings,— a slight deviation from the 
 
 numerical arrangement of gens. 
 TENIP, a pint 
 THEG YENEPS, eightpence. 
 TIB, a bit, or piece. 
 
 TO AC, or TOG, a coat. Tog is the old cant term. — See Dictionary 
 
 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 trag), a quart. 
 TROSSENO, literally, "oneeort,*' but the costermongers use it 
 
 to imply anything that is bad. 
 WAR-RAB, a barrow. 
 WEDGE, a Jew. 
 YAD, a day ; tads, days. 
 YADNAB, brandy. 
 YENEP, a penny. 
 
 YENEP-A-TIME, penny each time, — term in betting. 
 YENEP-FLATCH, three halfpence,— all the halfpence and 
 
 pennies continue in the same sequence. 
 YAP-POO, pay up. 
 YEKNOD, or jerk-nod, a donkey. 
 YENORK, a crown. 
 YOB, a boy. 
 ZEB, best. 
 
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE 
 
 RHYMING SLANG, 
 
 THE SECRET LA.NGUAGE 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 de- 
 liver street orations on grease-removing compounds, 
 plating powders, high polishing blacking, and the 
 thousand and one w^onderful pennyworths that are 
 retailed to gaping mobs from a London kerb stone. 
 They are quite a distinct tribe from the coster- 
 mongers ; indeed, amongst tramps, they terra them- 
 selves the " harristocrats of the streets," and boast 
 that they live by their intellects. Like the coster- 
 
264 THE ORIGIN OF THE RHYMING SLANG. 
 
 mongers, 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 else- 
 where as the RHYMING SLANG, or the substitution 
 of words and sentences tvhich rhyme with other 
 words intended to be hept secret. The chauntsr's 
 Cant, therefore, partakes of his calling, 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 "nis 
 purpose. Unlike nearly all other systems of Cant, 
 the rhyming Slang is not founded upon allegorj; 
 unless we except a few rude similes, thus — i'm 
 AFLOAT is the rhyming Cant for boat^ SORROWFUL ; 
 TALE is equivalent to three 7nonths in jail, artful 
 DODGER signifies a lodger^ and a snake in the ; 
 GRASS 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 gipsey-vagabond Cant, 
 the chaunters and patterers so interlard this rhyming 
 Slang with their general remarks, while their or- 
 dinary 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 
 
SPOKEN PEINCflPALLY BY VAGABOND POETS. 265 
 
 rhyming Slang was introduced about twelve or 
 fifteen years ago. Numbering tliis 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 all the large provincial 
 fairs, and prefer the monkeky (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, colhery explosion, 
 or frightful railway accident has happened in a 
 country district, three or four chaunters are gene- 
 rally on the spot in a day or two after the occur- 
 rence, vending and bawling ^^A True and Faithful 
 Account^'' &c., which "true and faithful account'* 
 was concocted purely in the imaginations of the 
 
266 PATTERERS AND CHEAP JACKS. 
 
 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 
 BOUNCING, in the Dictionary), or save-alls for 
 candlesticks, 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 clod- 
 hoppers' hands, 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 in the 
 bargain, and a van stuffed with the cheap produc- 
 tions of Sheffield and ** Brummagem," — he, too, is 
 a patterer of the highest order, and visits fairs, and 
 can hold a conversation in the rhyming 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 
 
 * The famous printers and publishers of sheet songs and last 
 dying speeches thirty years ago. 
 
PATTERERS "WELL UP" IN STREET SLANG. 267 
 
 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 everyday 
 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 intelligence. 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 fol- 
 lowing letter, written by a chaunter to a gentleman 
 who took an interest in his welfare, will show his 
 capabilities in this Hne. 
 
 Dear Friend,* 
 
 Excuse the liberty, since i saw you last i 
 
 * The writer, a street chaunter of ballads and last dying 
 speeches, alludes in his letter to two celebrated criminals, Thos 
 Drory, the murderer of Jael Denny, and Sarah Chesham, who 
 poisoned her husband, accounts of whose Trials and "Horrid 
 Deeds" he had been selling. I give a glossary of the cant words : 
 
 Tkichun, a crownpiece. 
 Dowry of P amy, a lot of rain. 
 Stumped, bankrupt. 
 Coopered, spoilt. 
 Bossman, a farmer. 
 
 *it* Drory was a farmer. 
 Patter, trial. 
 
 To'ps, last dying speeches. 
 Dies, ih. 
 
 CroaJcs, ih. 
 
 BuricJc, a woman. 
 
 Topped, hung. 
 
 Sturdban, a prison. 
 
 Quid, a sovereign. 
 
 James, ib. 
 
 Clye, a pocket. 
 
 Carser, a house or residence. 
 
 Speel on the Drum, to be oflf to 
 
 the country. 
 All Square, all right, or quite 
 
 well. 
 
268 CDRIOUS LETTER FROM A CHAUNTER. 
 
 have not earned a tliickun, we Have had such a 
 Dowry of Parny that it completely stumped or 
 Coopered Drory the Bossmans 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 mentioned worthy and 
 Sarah Chesham the Essex Burick for the Poisoning 
 job, they are both to be topped at Springfield 
 Sturaban on Tuesday next, i hope you will 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 to Speel on the Drum as soon as possible, 
 hoping you and the family are All Square, 
 
 I remain Your obedient Servant, 
 
GLOSSARY 
 
 EHTMING SLANG. 
 
 ABRAHAM'S WILLING, a shiUing. 
 
 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, Lair. 
 
 BATTLE OP THE NILE, a tile— vulgar term for a bat. 
 
 BEN FLAKE, a steak. 
 
 BILLY BUTTON, mutton. 
 
 BIRCH BROOM, a room. 
 
 BIRD LIME, time. 
 
 BOB, MY PAL, a gal, — vulgar pronunciation of girl. 
 
 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. 
 
270 GLOSSARY OP 
 
 CAIN AND ABEL, a table. 
 
 CAMDEN TOWN, a brown, — vulgar term for a halfpenny. 
 CASTLE RAG, a flag, — slang term for fourpence. 
 CAT AND MOUSE, a house. 
 CHALK FARM, the arm. 
 CHARING CROSS, a horse. 
 
 CHARLEY LANCASTER, a handkercher,— vulgar pronuncia- 
 tion 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. 
 
 COVENT GARDEN, 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, recruits), a pair of boots. 
 
 DAN TUCKER, butter. 
 
 DING DONG, a song. 
 
 DRY LAND, you understand. 
 
 DUKE OF YORK, take a walk. 
 
 EAST AND SOUTH, a mouth. 
 
 EAT A FIG, to " crack a crib," to break into a house, or com- 
 mit a burglary. 
 
 EGYPTIAN HALL, a ball. 
 
 ELEPHANT'S TRUNK, drunk. 
 
 EPSOM RACES, a pair of braces. 
 
 EYERTON 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. 
 
THE RHYMING SLANG. 571 
 
 FROG AND TOAD, the main road. 
 
 GARDEN GATE, a magistrate. 
 
 GERMAN FLUTES, a pair of boots. 
 
 GIRL AND BOY, a saveloy, — a penny sausage. 
 
 GLORIOUS SINNER, a dinner. 
 
 GODDESS DIANA (pronounced dianer), a tanner, — sixpence. 
 
 GOOSEBERRY PUDDING {vulgo pudden), 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. 
 
 ISABELLA (vulgar pronunciation, isabeller), an umbrella. 
 
 I SUPPOSE, the nose. 
 
 JACK DANDY, brandy. 
 
 JACK RANDALL (a noted pugilist), a candle. 
 
 JENNY LINDER, a winder, — vulgar pronunciation of window. 
 
 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,— slang term for a man. 
 
 LUMP OF LEAD, the head. 
 
 MACARONI, a pony. 
 
 MAIDS A DAWNING (I suppose my informant means maids 
 
 adorning), the morning. 
 MAIDSTONE JAILOR, a tailor. 
 MINCE PIES, the eyes. 
 MOTHER AND DAUGHTER, water. 
 
272 GLOSSARY OF 
 
 MUFFIN BAKER, a Quaker. 
 
 NAVIGATORS, taturs, — vulgar pronunciation of potatoes. 
 
 NAVIGATOR SCOT, baked potatoes all hot. 
 
 NEEDLE AND THREAD, bread. 
 
 NEVER FEAR, a pint of beer. 
 
 NIGHT AND DAY, go to the play. 
 
 NOSE AND CHIN, a winn, — ancient cant for a penn3\ 
 
 NOSE-MY, backy, — vulgar pronunciation of tobacco. 
 
 OATS AND BARLEY, Charley. 
 
 OATS AND CHAFF, a footpath. 
 
 ORINOKO (pronounced orinoker), a poker. 
 
 OVER THE STILE, sent for trial. 
 
 PADDY QUICK, thick ; or, a stick. 
 
 PEN AND INK, a stink. 
 
 PITCH AND FILL, Bill,— vulgar shortening for William. 
 
 PLATE OF MEAT, a street. 
 
 PLOUGH THE DEEP, to go to sleep. 
 
 PUDDINGS AND PIES, the eyes. 
 
 READ OF TRIPE (?), transported for life. 
 
 READ AND WRITE, to fight. 
 
 READ AND WRITE, flight.— See preceding. 
 
 RIVER LEA, tea. 
 
 ROGUE AND VILLAIN, a shilHn, — 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 costcrmonger. 
 SPLIT PEA, tea. 
 SPORT AND WIN, Jim. 
 STEAM PACKET, a jacket. 
 i 
 
THE RHYMING SLANG. 273 
 
 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, ex- 
 pressed 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 
 
 BIBLIOGEAPHY 
 
 OF 
 
 SLANG, CANT, AND VULGAR LANGUAGE; 
 
 LIST OF THE BOOKS WHICH HAVE BEEN CONSULTED IN COM- 
 PILING 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 another, — 
 a few devoting but a chapter, whilst many have 
 given up their entire pages to expounding its his- 
 tory 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 fol- 
 lowed fifty years afterwards, but helped himself, 
 evidently, to his predecessor's labours. Shakespere, 
 Beaumont and Fletcher, Ben Jonson, and Brome, 
 each employed beggars' Cant as part of the ma- 
 chinery of their plays. Then came Head (who 
 wrote *'The English Eogue," in 1680) with a 
 
 T 2 
 
276 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SLANG AND CANT. 
 
 glossary of Cant words "used by the Gipseys." 
 But it was only a reprint of what Decker had 
 given sixty years before. About this time author- 
 ised dictionaries began to insert vulgar words, 
 labeUing 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 renders it a dis- 
 grace to its compiler, 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 succeeding 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 
 the inserting of every " smutty" and offensive 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. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SLANG AND CANT. 277 
 
 AINSWORTH'S (William Harrison) Novels and Ballads. 
 
 London f v. D. 
 
 Some of this author's novels, such as Eookwood and Jack Sheppard, 
 abound in cant words, placed in the mouths of the highwaymen. 
 The author's ballads (especially "Nix my dolly pals fake away,") 
 have long been popular favourites. 
 
 ANDREWS' (George) Dictionary of the Slang and Cant Lan- 
 guages, Ancient and Modern, 12mo. London, 1809 
 
 A sixpenny pamphlet, with a coloured frontispiece representing a 
 beggar's carnival. 
 
 A NEW DICTIONARY OF THE JAUNTING CREW, 12mo. 
 
 N. D. 
 Mentioned by John Bee in the Introduction to his Sportsman's Slang 
 Dictionary. 
 
 ASH'S (John, LL.D.) New and Complete Dictionary of the 
 English Language, 2 vols, 8vo. 1775 
 
 Contains a great number of cant words and phrases. 
 
 BACCHUS AND VENUS ; or, a Select Collection of near 200 
 
 of the most Witty and Diverting Songs and Catches in Love 
 
 and Gallantry, with Songs in the Canting Dialect, with a 
 
 Dictionary, explaining all Burlesque and Canting Terms, 
 
 12mo. 1738 
 
 Prefixed is a curious woodcut frontispiece of a Boozing Ken. This 
 
 work is scarce, and much prized by collectors. The Canting 
 
 Dictionary appeared before, about 1710, with the initials R. E. on 
 
 the title. It also came out afterwards, in the year 1751, under the 
 
 title of the ScGundreL's Dictionary/, — a mere reprint of the two 
 
 former impressions. 
 
 BAILEY'S (Nath.) Etymological English Dictionary, 2 vols, 8vo 
 
 1737 
 Contains a great many cant and vulgar words ;— indeed, Bailey dees 
 not appear to have been very particular what words he inserted, so 
 long as they were actually in use. A Collection of Ancient and 
 Modern Cant Words appears as an appendix to vol. ii. of this 
 edition (3rd). 
 
 BANG-UP DICTIONARY, or the Lounger and Sportsman's 
 
 Vade Mecum, containing a copious and correct Glossary of 
 
 the Language of the Whips, illustrated by a great variety of 
 
 original and curious Anecdotes, 8vo. 1812 
 
 A vulgar performance, consisting of pilferings from Grose, and 
 
 made-up words with meanings of a degraded character. 
 
 BARTLETT'S Dictionary of Americanisms ; a Glossary of 
 
 Words and Phrases colloquially used in the United States, 
 
 8vo. New TorJc, 1859 
 
 It is a curious fact connected with slang that a great number of 
 
 vulgar words common in England are equally common in the 
 
278 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SLANG AND CANT. 
 
 United States ; and when we rem ember that America began to 
 people two 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 mich- 
 ING or MEECHiNG, skulking or playing truant, for instance, are 
 still in use in the United States, although nearly, if not quite, 
 obsolete here. 
 
 BEAUMONT and FLETCBER'S Comedy of The Beggar's Bush, 
 4 to, 1661, or any edition. 
 
 Contains numerous cant words. 
 
 BEE'S (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 Balatrouicum 
 hitherto offered to the notice of the Sporting World, by 
 Jon. Bee [i.e. John Badcock], Esq., Editor of the Fanc}'', 
 Fancy Gazette, Living Picture of London, and the like of 
 that, 12mo. 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 amusing 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, 12mo. 1828 
 
 Professes to be a guide to society, high and low, in London, and to 
 give an insight into the language 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 Balatronicuni et Macaronicum, tfcc, 12mo, 
 plate. ' For the Author, 1825 
 
 The same as the preccdin":, only with an altered title. Both wretched 
 performances, filled with forced and low wit- 
 
 BLACKGUARDIANA ; or, Dictionary of Rogues, Bawds, &c., 
 8vo, WITH PORTRAITS [by James Cauljield]. 1795 
 
 This work, with a long and very vulgar title, is nothing but a reprint 
 of Grose, with a few anecdotes of pirates, odd persons, &c.. and some 
 curious portraits inserted. It was concocted by Caulfield as a 
 speculation, and pubhshed at one guinea per copy ; and, owing to 
 the remarkabb title, and the notification at the bottom, that "only 
 a few copies were printed," soon became scarce. For philological 
 purposes it is not worth so much as any edition of Grose. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SLANG AND CANT. 279 
 
 BOXIANA, or Sketches of Modein Pu2:i1ism, by Pierce Egan (an 
 accoant of the prize ring), 3 vols, 8vo. 1820 
 
 Gives more particularly the cant terras of pugilism, but contains nu- 
 merous (what were thon styled) "flash" words. 
 
 BPtANDOK Poverty, Mendicity, and Crime; or, the Facta, 
 Examinations, &c., 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 Begga^', edited by H. Brandon, 
 Esq., 8vo. 1839 
 
 A very wretched performance. 
 
 BROME'S (Rich.) Joviall Crew; or the Merry Beggars. Pre- 
 sented in a Comedie at the Cockpit, in Drury Lane, in the 
 Year (4 to.) 1652 
 
 Contains many cant words similar to those given by Decker, — from 
 whose works they were doubtless obtained. 
 
 BROWN'S (Rev. Hugh Stowell) Lecture on Manliness, 12mo. 
 
 1857 
 Contains a few modern slang words. 
 
 BRYDGES' (Sir Egerton) British Bibliographer, 4 vols, 8vo. 
 
 1810—14 
 Vol ii., page 521, gives a list of cant words. 
 
 BULWER'S (Sir Edward Lytton) Paul Clifford. v. D. 
 
 Contains numerous cant words. 
 
 BULWER'S (Sir Edward Lytton) Pelham. v. D. 
 
 Contains a few cant terras. 
 
 BUTLER*S Hudibras, with Dr. Grey's Annotations, 3 vols, 8vo. 
 
 1819 
 Abounding in coUoqxual terms and phrases. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE. Gradus ad Cantabrigiam ; or a Dictionary of 
 Terms, Academical and Colloquial, or Cant, which are used 
 at the Univert-ity, with Illustrations, 12mo. Camh., 1803 
 
 CANTING ACADEMY ; or Villanies Discovered, wherein are 
 shewn the Mysterious and Villanous Practices of that 
 Wicked Crew — Hectors, Trapanners, Gilts, &c., with several 
 new Catches and Songs j also Compleat Canting Dictionary, 
 12mo.f frontispiece. 1674 
 
 Compiled by Richard Head. 
 
 CANTING; a Poem, interspersed with Tales and additional 
 Scraps, post 8vo. 1814 
 
 A few words may be gleaned from this rather dull poem. 
 
280 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SLANG AND CANT. 
 
 CANTING DICTIONARY; comprehending all the Terms, 
 Antient and Modern, used in the several Tribes of Gypsies, 
 Beggars, Shoplifters, Highwaymen, Foot Pads, and all other 
 Clans of Cheats and Villains, with Proverbs, Phrases, Figu- 
 rative Speeches, &c., to which is added a complete Collection 
 of Songs in the Canting Dialect, 12mo. 1725 
 
 The title is by far the most interesting part of the work. A mere 
 make-up of earlier atteuipts. 
 
 CAREW. Life and Adventures of Bamfylde Moore Carew, the 
 King of the Beggars, with Canting Dictionary, portrait, 8vo. 
 
 1791 
 
 There are numerous editions of this singular biography. The Canting 
 Dictionary is nothing more than a filch from earlier books. 
 
 CHARACTERISMS, or the Modern A^e Displayed; being an 
 attempt to expose the Pretended Virtues of Both Sexes, 
 12mo (part i., Ladies ; part ii., Gentlemen), E. Owen. 1750 
 
 An anonymous work, from which some curious matter may be 
 obtained. 
 
 CONYBE ARE'S (Dean) Essay on Church Parties, reprinted from 
 the Edinburgh Review, No. CC, October, 1853, 12mo. 1858 
 
 Several curious instances of religious or pulpit slang are given in 
 this exceedingly interesting little volume. 
 
 COTTON'S (Charles) Genuine Poetical Works, 12mo. 1771 
 
 Scarronides, or Virgil Travestie, being the first and fourth Books of 
 
 Virgil's iEneis, 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 Kingdome, 4to, ilacfe letter. London, 1608 
 
 Watt says this is the first book which professes to give an accomit 
 of the canting language of thieves and vaa-a'oonds. But this is 
 wrong, as will have been seen from the remarks on Harman, who 
 collected the words of the vagabond crew half a century before. 
 
 DECKER'S (Thomas) Lanthorne and Candle-light, or the Bell- 
 man'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, 1608 9 
 
 This is a continuation of the former work, and contains the Canter's 
 Dictionary, and has a frontispiece of the London Watchman with 
 his staff broken. 
 
 DECKER'S (Thomas) Gulls Hornbook, 4to. 1600 
 
 "This work affords a greater insight into the fashionable follies and 
 
 vulgar habits ofQ Elizabeth's day than perhaps any other extant." 
 
BIBLIOGKAPHY OF SLANG AND CANT. 281 
 
 DECKER'S (Thomas) per se O, or a uew Cryer of Lanfchorue 
 
 aud Candle-light, au Addition of the Bellman's Second 
 
 ISlght's Walke, 4to, tjlark letter. 1612 
 
 A lively description of London. Contains a Canter's Dictionary, 
 
 every word in wliich appears to liave been taken from Harman 
 
 without acknowledgment. This is the first work that gives the 
 
 Canting Song, a veise of whicli is inserted at page 20 of the 
 
 Introduction. This Canting Song was afterwards inserted iu 
 
 nearly all Dictionaries of Cant. 
 
 DECKEIl'S (Tliomas) Villanies discovered by Lan thorn e and 
 Candle-light, and the Helpe of a new Cryer called per se 
 0, 4to. 1616 
 
 " With Canting Songs neuer before printed." 
 
 DECKER'S (Thomas) English Villanies, eight several times 
 
 prest to Death by the Printers, but still reviving again, are 
 
 nov7 the eighth time (as at the first) discovered by Lanthorne 
 
 and Candle-light, &c., 4to. 1648 
 
 The eighth edition of the " Lanthorne and Candle-light." 
 
 DICTIONARY of all the Cant and Flash Languages, both An- 
 cient and Modern, 18mo. Bailey, 1790 
 
 DICTIONARY of all the Cant aud Flash Languages, 12mo. 
 
 London, 1797 
 
 DICTIONARY of the Canting Crew (Ancient and Modern), of 
 Gypsies, Beggars, Thieves, &c., 12mo. n.d. [1700] 
 
 DICTIONNAIRE des Halle, 12mo. Bruxelles, 1696 
 
 This curious Slang Dictionary sold in the Stanley sale for £4 IBs. 
 
 DUCANGE ANGLICUS.— The Vulgar Tongue: comprising 
 Two Glossaries of Slang, Cant, and Flash Words aud Phrases 
 used in London at the present day, 12mo. 1857 
 
 A silly and childish performance, full of blunders and contradictions. 
 A second edition appeared during the past year. 
 
 DUNCOMBS'S Flash Dictionary of the Cant Words, Queer 
 Sayings, and Crack Terms now iu use in Flash Cribb So- 
 ciety, S2mo, coloured print. 1820 
 
 DUNTON'S Ladies Dictionary, 8vo. London, 1694 
 
 Contains a few cant words. 
 
 EGAN. Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 
 with the addition of numerous Slang Phrases, edited by 
 Pierce Egan, 8vo. 1823 
 
 The best edition of Grose, with many additions, including a Life of 
 this celebrated antiquaiian. 
 
282 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SLANG AfiD CANT. 
 
 EGANT'S (Pierce) Life in London, 2 vols, thick 8vo, with coloured 
 plateshy Qeo.Gruil'slianh, representing high and low life. 18 — 
 
 Contains nuraarous cant, slang sporting, and vulgar words, supposed 
 by the author to form the basis of conversation in life, high and 
 low, in London. 
 
 ELWYN'S (Alfred L) Glossary of suppossd Americanisms — 
 Vulgar and Slang Words used in the United States, small 
 8vo. 1859 
 
 GENTLEMAN^S MAGAZINE, 8vo. n.d. 
 
 " In a very early volume of this parent magazine were given a few 
 pages, by way of sample, of a Slang Vocabulary, then termed Cant. 
 If, as we suspect, this part of the Magazine fell to the share of Dr. 
 Johnson, who was then its editor, we have to lament that he did 
 not proceed with the design." — John Bee, in the latroduccion to his 
 Slang Dictionary, 1825. 
 
 GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, vol. xcii., p. 620. 
 
 Mention made of slang. 
 
 GLOSSARIES of County Dialects. v. D. 
 
 Many of these will repay examination, as they contain cant and slang 
 words, wrongly inserted as provincial or old terms. 
 
 GOLDEN CABINET (The) of Secrets opened for Youth's de- 
 lightful Pastime, in 7 parts, the last being the " City and 
 Country Jester;" with a Canting Dictionary, by Dr. Sur- 
 man, 12mo. London, n.d. (1730) 
 
 Contains some curious woodcuts. 
 
 GREENE'S (Robert) Notable Discovery of Coosnage, now daily 
 practised by sundry lewd persons called Conie- catchers and 
 Crosse biters. Plainly laying open thos^ pernitious sleightB 
 that hath brought many ignorant men to couf asion. Writen 
 for the general benefit of all Gentlemen, Citizens, Apreutices, 
 Country Farmers, and Yeomen, that may hap to fall into 
 the company of such coosening companions. With a de- 
 lightful discourse of the coosnage of Colliers, 4to, loith 
 woodcuts. Printed hy John Wolfe, 1591 
 
 The first edition. A copy of another edition, supposed to be unique, 
 is dated 1592. It was sold at the Heber sale. 
 
 GREENES (Robert) Groundworke of Conny- Catching, the 
 manner of their pedlers' French, and the meanes to im- 
 derstand the same, with the canning slights of the Conter- 
 feit Cranke. Done by a Justice of the Peace of great 
 Authoritie, 4to, with woodcuts. 1592 
 
 Usually enumerated among Greene's work?, but it is only a reprint, 
 with variations, of Harma/c's Caveat, and of which Rowland com- 
 plains in his Martin Markall. The second and third parts of this 
 
BIBLIOGKAPHY OF SLANG AND CANT. 283 
 
 curious work were published in the same year. Two othei* very- 
 rare volumes by Greene were published— TAe Defence of Cony- 
 Catchinri, 4to, in 1593, and The B:.ack Bookes Messenger, in 
 1595. They both treat on the same subjects. 
 
 GROSE'S (Francis, generally styled Captain) Classical Dic- 
 tionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 8 vo. 178 
 The much sought after First Edition, but containing nothing, as 
 far as I have examined, which is not to be found in the ae-on-l and 
 tliird editions. As respects indecency, I find all the editions 
 equally disgraceful. The Museum copy of the First Edition is, I 
 suspect, Grose's own copy, as it contains numerous manuscript 
 additions which afterwards went to form the second edition. Ex- 
 cepting the obscenities, it is really an extraordinary book, and 
 displays great industry, if we cannot speak much of its morality. 
 It is the well from which all the other authors— Duncomb 3, Caul- 
 field, Clarke, Egan, &c, &c.— drew their vulgar outpourings, with- 
 out in the least purifying what they had stolen. 
 
 HAG G ART. Life of David Haggart, alias Jolin Wilson, alias 
 Barney M'Coul, written by himself wliile under sentence of 
 Death, curious frontispiece of the Prisoner in Irons, inter- 
 mixed with all the Slang and Cant Words of the Day, to 
 which is added a Glossary of the same, 12 mo. 1821 
 
 HALL'S (B. H.) Collection of College Words and Customs, 
 12mo. Cambridge {U. S.), 1856 
 
 Very complete. The illustrations are excellent. 
 HALLIWELL'S Archaic Dictionary, 2 vols, 8vo. 1855 
 
 An invaluable work, giving the cant words used by Decker, Brome, 
 and a fow of those mentioned by Grose. 
 
 HARLEQUIN" Jack Shepherd, with a Night Scene in Gro- 
 tesque Characters, 8vo. {About 1736) 
 Contains Songs in the Canting dialect. 
 
 BARMAN'S (Thomas, Esq.) Caveat or Warening for Common 
 Cursetors, vulgarely called Vagabones, set forth for the 
 ntilitie and protit of his naturall couutrey, augmented and 
 inlarged by the first author thereof; whereunto is added 
 the tale of the second taking of the counterfeit Crank, wi h 
 the true report of his behaviour and also his punishment 
 for his so 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.. 1.566 
 
 1567 
 
 1567 
 
 Henry Middleton, 1573 
 What Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was to the authors 
 of the earlier part of the present century, Barman's was to the 
 Deckers, and Bromes, and Heads of the seventeenth. 
 
284 BIBLIOGKAPHY OF SLANG AND CANT. 
 
 HAJ^RTSON'S (William) Description of the Island of Brifain 
 (prefixed to Holinshed's Chronicle, 2 vols, folio. 1577 
 
 Contains an account of English vagabonds. 
 
 HAZLITT'S (William) Table Talk, 12mo (vol. ii. contains a chap- 
 ter on Familiar Style, with a notice on Slang Terms.) v. D. 
 
 HEAD'S (Kichard) English Rogue, described in the Life of 
 Meriton Latroon, a Witty Extravagant, 4 vols., 12mo. 
 
 Frans. KirJcman, 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 Colledge, otherwise vulgarly called 
 Newgate, 12mo. 1703 
 
 HENLEY'S (John, better known as orator henlet) Various 
 Sermons and Orations. 1719-53 
 
 Contain numerous vulgarisms and slang phrases. 
 
 [HITCHING' S (Charles, formerly City Marshal, now a Prisoner 
 in Newgate)] 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 
 ELASH WORDS oiow in vogue amongst the Thieves, <&c., 8vo., 
 VERT BARE, With a curious woodcut. 1718 
 
 A violent attack upon Jonathan Wild. 
 
 HOUSEHOLD WORDS, No. 183, September 24. 
 
 Gives an interesting but badly digested article on slang ; many of 
 the examples 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 Fair, ii., 6. 
 
 Several cant words are placed in the mouths of the characters. 
 
 JONSON'S (Ben.) Masque of the Gipsies Metamorphosed, 4to. 
 
 16— 
 Contains numerous cant words. 
 
 KENT'S (E.) Modern Flash Dictionary, containing all the Cant 
 Words, Slang Terms, and Flash Phrases now in Vogue, 
 18mo., coloured frontispiece. 1825 
 
 L'ESTRANGE'S (Sir Roger) Works (principally translations). 
 
 V. D. 
 
 Abound in vulgar and slang phrases. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SLANG AND CANT. 285 
 
 LEXICON" Balatronicum ; a Dictionary of Buckish Slang, Uni- 
 versity Wit, and Pickpocket Eioqueuce, by a Member of 
 the Whip Club, assisted by Hell-fire Dick, 8vo. 1811 
 
 One of the many reprints of Grose's second edition, put forth under a 
 fresh, and what was then considered more attractive title. It was 
 given out in advertisements, &c., as a piece of puff, that it was 
 edited by a Dr. H. Clarke, but it contains Bcarcely a line more 
 than Grose. 
 
 LIBER VAGATORUM : Der Betler Orden, 4to. 
 
 The first edition of this book appears to have been printed at 
 Augsburg, by Erhard Oglin, or Ocellus, about 1514, — a small 
 quarto of twelve leaves. It was frequently reprinted at otner 
 places in Germany; and in 1528 there appeared an edition at 
 Wittemberg, with a preface by Martin Luther, who says that the 
 "Rotwelsche Sprach," the cant langunge of the beggars, comea 
 from the Jews, as it contains niiuy Hebrew words, as anyone who 
 understands that language may perceive. This book is divided 
 into three parts, or sections ; the first gives a special account of 
 the several orders of the " Fraternity of Vagabonds j" the second, 
 sundry " 7iotabilia" relating to the ditferent classes of beggars 
 previously described ; and the third consists of a " Rotwelsche 
 Vocabulary," or "Canting Dictionary." There is a long notice of 
 the "Liber Vagatorum" in the " Wiemarisches Jahrbueh," lO'e, 
 Band, 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 Martm Luther 
 more than three centuries before. 
 
 LIFE IN ST. GEORGE'S FIELDS, or the Rambles and Ad- 
 ventures of Di>consolate William, Esq., and his Surrey 
 Friend, Flush Dick, with Songs and a flash dictionary, 
 Svo. 1821 
 
 MAGINN (Dr.) wrote Slang Songs in Blackwood's Magazine. 
 
 1827 
 
 MAYHEWS (Henry) London Labour and London Poor, 3 vols, 
 Svo. 1851 
 
 An invaluable work to the inquirer into popular or street language. 
 
 MAYHEWS (Henry) Great World of London, Svo. 1857 
 
 An unfinished work, but containing several examples of the use and 
 applieation of caut and slang words. 
 
 MIDDLETON (Thomas) and DECKER'S (Thomas) Roaring 
 Girl ; or Moll Cut Purse, 4to. 1611 
 
 The conversation in one scene is entirely in the so-called Pedlar's 
 French. It is given in Dodsley's Old Ftays. 
 
 MODERN FLASH DICTIONARY, 48mo. 1825 
 
 The smallest slang dictionary ever printed. 
 
286 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SLANG AND CANT. 
 
 MONCRIEFFS Tom and Jerry, or Life in Londou, a Farce in 
 Three Acts, 12mo. 1820 
 
 An excellent exponent of the false and forced "high life" which 
 was so popular during the minority of George IV. The farce had 
 a run of a hundred rdghts, or more, and was a general favourite 
 for years. It abounds in cant, and the language of " gig," as it 
 was then often termed. 
 
 MORNINGS AT BOW STREET, by T. Wright, 12mo, wiih 
 Illustrations by George CruiksfiarJc. Tegg, 1838 
 
 In this v/ork a few etymologies of slang words are attempted. 
 
 NEW CANTING DICTIONARY, 12mo. n. d. 
 
 A copy of tliis work is described in Rodd's Catalogue of EUgant Lite- 
 rature, 1815, part iv-, No. 2128, with manuscript notes and addi- 
 tions in the autograi^h of Isaac Reed, price £1 8s. 
 
 NEW DICTIONARY of the Terms, Ancient and Modern, of 
 the Cantiug Crew in its several tribes of Gypsies, Beggars, 
 Thieves, Cheats, &c., with an addition of some Proverbs, 
 Phrases, Figurative Speeches, &c., by B. E. Gent, 12mo. 
 
 N. D. [1710] 
 
 Afterwards issued under the title of Bacchus and Venus, 1737, and in 
 1764 as the ScoumdreCs Dictionary. 
 
 NEW DICTIONARY of all the Cant and Flash Languages 
 used by every class of offenders, from a LuUy Prigger to a 
 High Tober Gloak, small 8vo., pp. 62. 179-— 
 
 Meniioned by John Bee. 
 
 NOTES AND QUERIES. The invaluable Index to this most 
 useful periodical may be consulted with advantage by the 
 seeker after etymologies of slang and cant words. 
 
 PARKER. High and Low Life, A View of Society in, being the 
 Adventures in England, Ireland, &c., of Mr. G. Paiker, a 
 Stage Itinerant, 2 vols in 1, thick 12mo. 
 
 Printed for the Author, 1781 
 
 A curious work, containing many cant words, with 100 orders of 
 rogues and swindlers. 
 
 PARKER'S (Geo.) Lifers Painter of Variegated Charactei s, with 
 a Dictionary of Cant Language and Flash Son. s, to which 
 is added a Dissertation on Freemasonry, portrait, Svo. 1789 
 
 PEGGE'S (Samuel) Anecdotes of the English Language, chiefly 
 regarding the Local Dialect of London and Environs, 8vo. 
 
 1803—41 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SLANG AND CANT. 2S7 
 
 PERRY'S (William) London Guide and Stranger's Safeguard, 
 against Cheats, Swindlers, and Pickpockets, by a Gendeman 
 who has made the Police of the Metropolis an object of 
 enquiry twenty -two years (no wonder when the author was 
 in prison a good portion of that time !) 1818 
 
 Contains a dictionary of slang and cant words. 
 
 PHILLIPS' 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, 1816 
 
 The remark made upon BartletVs Americanisms applies equally to 
 this work. 
 
 PICTURE OF THE FANCY, 12mo. 18— 
 
 Contains numerous slang terms. 
 
 POTTER'S (H. T., of Claij, Worcestershire) New Dictionary of 
 all the Cant and Flash Languages, both ancient and modern, 
 8vo, pp. 62. 1790 
 
 POULTER. The Discoveries of John Poult er, alias Baxter, 8vo, 
 48 pages. (1770?) 
 
 At pages 42, 43, there is an explanation of the " Language of 
 Thieves, commonly called Cant." 
 
 PRISON BREAKER, The, or the Adventures of John Shep- 
 heid, a Farce, 8vo. London, 1725 
 
 Contains a canting song, &c. 
 
 PUNCH, or the London Charivari, 
 
 Often points out slang, vulgar, or abused words. It also, occa- 
 sionally, employs 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 " Hole in the 
 Wall," Chancery lane) Diary of Proceedings at the House 
 of Call for Genius, edited by Mr. Bieakwindow, to which 
 are added several of Mr. B.'s minor pieces, 12mo. 1820 
 
 Believed to have been written ly Thomas Moore. The verses are 
 mostly parodies of popular author?, and abound in the slang of 
 pugilism, and the phi aseology of the fast life of the period. 
 
2SS BTBLTOGrw\PHY OF SLANG AND CANT. 
 
 IIANDALL (Jack) A Few Selections from his Scrap Book ; to 
 which are added Poems on the late Fight for the Champion- 
 Bhip, 12rao. 1822 
 
 Frequently quoted by Moore in Tom Crib's Memoi-iaL 
 
 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, &c., the whole printed from a copy 
 taken on one of their gang, in the late scuffle between the , 
 watchmen and a party of them on Clerlcenwell green, %vo. 
 
 1754 
 A reprint oi Bacchus avd Venus, 1737. 
 
 SHARP (Jeremy) The Life of an Englisli Rogue, 12rao. 1740 
 Includes a " Vocabulary of the Gypsies' Cant." 
 
 SHERWOOD'S Gazetteer of Georgia, U.S., 8vo, 
 
 Contains a glossary of words, slaug and vulgar, peculiar to the 
 Southern States. 
 
 SMITH'S (Capt.) Compleat History of the Tiives and Robberies 
 of the most Notorious Highwaymen, Foot pads, Shop-lifts, 
 and Cheats, of both Sexes, in and about London and West- 
 minster, 12mo, vol. i. 1719 
 This volume contains "The Thieves New Catttinq Dictio]S"aey 
 
 OF THE WOKDS, PbOVEEBS, &C., USED BY ThIEVES." 
 
 SMITH (Capi Alexander) The Thieves Grammar, 12mo., 
 p. 28. 17— 
 
 A copy of this work is in the collection formed by Prince Lucien 
 Bonaparte, 
 
 SMITH'S (Capt.) Thieves Dictionary, 12mo. 1724 
 
 SNOWDEN'S Magistrate's Assistant, and Constable's Guide, 
 thick small 8vo. 1852 
 
 Gives a doscription of the various orders of cadgers, beggars, and 
 swindlers, together with a Glossary of the Flash Language. 
 
 SPORTSMAN'S DICTIONARY, 4to. 17— 
 
 By an anonymous author. Contains some low sporting terms. 
 
 STANLEYE'S Remedy, or the Way how to Reform Wandriug 
 Beggera, Thieves, etc., wherein is shewed that Sodomes Sin 
 of Idlenes is the Poverty and the Misery of this Kingdome, 
 4to. 1646 
 
 This wo^k has an engraving on wood which is said to be the veri- 
 table original of Jim Crow. 
 
BIBLIOGKAPHY OP SLANG AND CANT. 289 
 
 SWIFT'S coarser pieces abound in vulgarities and slang ex- 
 pressions. 
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF WIT, or Ingenuity display'd in its Per- 
 fection, being the Newest and most Useful Academy, Songs, 
 Art of Love, and the Mystery and Art of Canting, with 
 Poems, Songs, &c., in the Cantivg Language, 16mo. 
 
 /. 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 Canting, with the original and present manage- 
 ment thereof, and the ends to which it serves and is em- 
 ployed, illustrated with Poems, Songs, and various Intrigues 
 in the Canting Language, with the Explanations, &c., 12mo. 
 
 Dublin, N. D. 
 A Chap Book of 32 pages, circa 1760. 
 
 THOMAS (I.) My Thought Book, 8vo. 1825 
 
 Contains a chapter on slang. 
 
 THE WHOLE ART OF THIEVING and Defrauding Dis- 
 covered : being a Caution to all Housekeepers, Shop- 
 keepers, Salesmen, and others, to guard against Robbers of 
 both Sexes, and the best Methods to prevent their Vil- 
 lanies ; to which is added an Explanation of most of the 
 cant terms in the Thieving Language, Svo, pp. 46. 1786 
 
 TOM CRIB'S Memorial to Congress, with a Preface, Notes, and 
 Appendix by one of the Fancy [Tom Moore, the poet], 12mo. 
 
 1819 
 A humorous poem, abounding in slang and pugilistic terms, with a 
 burlesque essay on the classic origin of slang. 
 
 VACABONDES, The Fraternatye of, as well of ruflyng Vaca- 
 bones, as of beggerly, of Women as of Men, of Gyrles as of 
 Boyes, with their proper Names and Qualities, with a De- 
 scription of the Crafty Company of Cousoners and Shifters, 
 also the XXV. Orders of Knaves ; otherwyse called a Quar- 
 tern of Knaves, confirmed by Cocke Lorell, Svo. Imprinted 
 at London by John Awdeley, dwellyng in little Britayne 
 streete without Aldersgate. 1575 
 
 It is stated in Ames* Typog, Antiq., 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 written by Harman, or was taken from his 
 works, in MS. or print. 
 
 U 
 
290 BIBLIOGEAPHY OF SLANG AND CANT. 
 
 VAUX'S (Count de, a swindler and a 'pickpocket) Life, written 
 by himself, 2 vols., 12mo, to which is added a Canting 
 Dictionary, 1819 
 
 These Memoirs were suppressed on account of the scandalous pas- 
 sages contained in them. 
 
 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 Blue skin. Footpad, 
 and John Sheppard, Housebreaker ; together with a Cant- 
 ing Dictionary by Jonathan Wild, woodcuts, 12mo. 
 
 1750 
 
 WILSON (Professor) contributed various Slang pieces to Black- 
 wood's Magazine ; including a Review of Bee's Dictionary. 
 
 WITHERSPOON'S (Dr., of America) Essays on Americanisms, 
 
 Perversions of Language in the United States, Cant phrases, 
 
 &c., Svo., in the 4th vol. of his Works. Philadelphia, 1801 
 
 The earliest work on American vulgarisms. Originally published in 
 
 a series of Essays, entitled the Brv.id, which appeared in a 
 
 periodical in 1761. 
 
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, &c. 
 
 A . N. —Anglo-Norman. 
 
 Ancient, or Ancient English— Whenever these terms are employed, it 
 
 is meant to signify that the words to which they are attached were 
 
 in respectable use in or previous to the reign of Elizabeth.— See Old. 
 Ancient Cant— In use as a cant word in or previous to the reign of 
 
 Elizabeth. 
 ^./S.— Anglo-Saxon. 
 J?tfcfc.— Bedfordshire. 
 Cor. — A corruption. 
 Bast.— Used in the Eastern Counties. 
 Eng. — English. 
 Fren. — French. 
 6^er,— German. 
 Glouc. — Glo ucestershire. 
 fianfs.— Hampshire. 
 Ital. — Italian. 
 
 Z. J?.— Lingua Franca, or Bastard Italian. 
 Zai.— Latin. 
 Line. —Lincolnshire. 
 Midx. — Middlesex. 
 iV. D.— Nodate. 
 JVor/. —Norfolk. 
 Old, or Old English— In general use as a respectable word in or previous 
 
 to the reign of Charles the Second.— See Ancient. 
 Old Cant— In use as a cant word in or previous to the reign of Charles II. 
 Oo!on. — Oxfordshire . 
 Prov. — Provincial. 
 Pug. — Pugilistic. 
 Sal., or /Saioi)— Shropshu-e. 
 (Sax.— Saxon, or Anglo-Saxon. 
 £lcoJ.— Scotch. 
 
 Sea— Used principally by Sailors. 
 (STiafcs.- Shakspeare. 
 jSom.- Somerset. 
 Span.— Spanish. 
 Sw/.— Suffolk. 
 Theat. —Theatrical. 
 Teut— Teutonic, 
 V. i).— Various dates. 
 West.— Used in the Western Counties. 
 Wilts.— Wiltshire. 
 Wore. — ^Worcestershire. 
 Yorks. —Yorkshire. 
 
New Books Published by 
 JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN, 
 
 15lB, PICCADILLY. 
 
 Now ready, Second EoiTioif, beautifully printed, Fcap. 8vo, pp. 316, 
 cloth extra, 4s. 6d., 
 
 A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, 
 
 and VULVAR WORDS, used at the present day in the Streets of London ; 
 the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge ; the Houses of Parliament ; 
 the Dens of St, Giles ; and the Palaces of St. James : preceded by a 
 HiSTOET OF Cant and Vttlgae Language /rom the time of Henry VIII., 
 showing its connection xcith the Gipsey Tongue ; with Glossaeies of 
 Two Secbet Languages, spoken hy the Wandering Tribes of London, the 
 Costermoagers, and the Patterers. Br a London Antiquaey. Fcp. 8vo. 
 extra cloth. With A cueious Woodcut, "A Cadg^er's Map of a 
 Beggar's District," and Explanation, of the Hieboglyphics 
 USED BY Vagabonds. 
 
 " Rabble-charming words, which carry so much wild-fire wrapt up in them.'* 
 South, 
 
 ^^ The Second Edition, entirely rewritten, with more than two 
 THOUSAND additional words, and a mass of fresh information not included in 
 
 the ^rs^ issue. 
 
 This interesting work is an important contribution to popular philology, as 
 it chronicles for the first time nearly Five Thousand Woeds used by persons 
 of every denomination in common conversation, most oe which aee con- 
 tained IN no English Dictionaey whatever. The origin of many cant 
 and slang words is also traced. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 ** The author has spared no pains to make his little volume perfect, both by 
 collecting original and unused material from costerraongers, vagabonds, and 
 tramps, and by consulting nearly all writers who have gone before. * * * 
 The author divides Slang into historical, fashionable, parliamentary, mili- 
 tary and dandy, university, religious, legal, literary, theatrical, civic, money y 
 shopheepers^ and loorkmen's slang, — the slan^ apologies for oaths, and the slang 
 of drunkenness. The Freemasonry of tramps and beggars, and the hiero- 
 glyphics they use, is an interesting part of vagabond history that requires, if 
 possible, further investigation. « * * His work is carefully and honestly 
 performed, and we hope that the writer will read our remarks [five full 
 columns] in a proper spirit, and, in the latest slang of the present hour, will 
 " take them on his head like a bied." — Athenceum. 
 
 ** Extremely interesting. This little volume is evidently the result of a 
 great deal of labour, as all works must be that are, in the chief part, collected 
 directly by the observation and care of the author : and this we believe is the 
 case in the present instance. The author we suspect to be identical with the 
 publisher, and if so, he has had great opportunity by his possession of a large 
 amount of scarce tracts, ballads, and street publications, of informing him- 
 self of the language of the vagabond portion of our population."--Xeaciej'. 
 
294 JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN's LIST. 
 
 *' There is a certain amount of interest in preserving the origin of slang 
 ■words as a record of existing manners, and of those strange popular sayings 
 which have a rapid and almost universal popularity, and then fade away as 
 rapidly. The combinations of language in cant are often curious. The 
 London Antiquary informs us that the cant for a public house at the present 
 day is suck cassa, — pure Saxon and pure Spsinish,"— Saturday Review. 
 
 " This is by far the most complete work upon a curious subject which has 
 yet been compiled — a dictionary of more than three thousand words in cur- 
 rent use in our streets and alleys, lanes and by-ways, from which the learned 
 lexicographers have turned aside with contempt." — Critic. 
 
 "This new Dictionary of our English cant and slang is full, and may be 
 received as an amusing and suggestive little book of common knowledge into 
 any household. Indecency has been omitted from its pages." — Examiner. 
 
 " The 'London Antiquary' has certainly taken up a very curious and in- 
 teresting branch of linguistic research." — Notes and Qaeries. 
 
 " An instructive as well as amusing work. The author may be congratu- 
 lated upon the successful issue of his labours in the field of vagabond and 
 unrecognised speech." — Titan in an article of ten pages. 
 
 " An amusing work, and a most useful and valuable contribution to the 
 study of words. It is absolutely necessary to all tliose who in fast life would 
 "mind their P's and Q's," as well as to the readers of our newspaper and 
 periodical Uter&tuve."— Mo rdrose Review. 
 
 " We do not wonder that of so quaint and entertaining a compilation a new 
 edition should so soon have been demanded." — Globe. 
 
 " Contains a good deal of curious historical and anecdotical information, 
 and is altogether a well got up, well edited, and amusing little volume." — 
 Shipping Gazette. 
 
 *' Evinces a great amount of industry."— Jfomiw^' Star. 
 
 Beautifully printed, 12mo., cloth, 3s. 6d., 
 THE CHOICEST HUMOROUS POETRY OF THE AGE. 
 
 The Biglow Papers. By James Russell 
 
 LOWELL. (Alluded to by John Bright in the House of Commons.) 
 WITH AN ILLUSTRATION BY GEORGE CRUIKSHANK. 
 
 *^* This Edition has been Edited loith additional Notes explanatory of the 
 persons and subjects mentioned therein. 
 
 ** The rhymes are as startling and felicitous as any in * Hudibras.* * Sam 
 Slick is a mere pretender in comparison." — Blackwood's Magazine. 
 
 " The fun of the ' Biglow Papers ' is quite equal to the fun of the * In- 
 goldsby Legends.* This is the real doggerel, the Rabelaiesque of poetry."— 
 Eraser. 
 
 |^=" There is an edition of this work extant, hastily got up after my own 
 was announced, edited by Mr. Hughes, the author of To7u Broion's School Bays. 
 It gives an introduction, long and occasionally amusing, but of not the least 
 value in explaining to the English reader the peculiarities of the work. The 
 Globe pointed out this sad defect in reviewing the present edition :—" The 
 copy beside us," remarks the writer, " is apparently edited and published by 
 Mr. Hotten, who gives a preface— which has the rare merit of explaining 
 exactly what the ordinary English reader requires to know of satirical political 
 poems, written in the Yankee dialect, touching the Mexican war, and the 
 extension of the slave states— and of attempting to explain nothing else."— 
 Globe, Dec. 8, 1859. 
 
JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN'S LIST. 295 
 
 Now ready, Second Edition, fcap. 8vo, neatly printed, price Is., 
 
 Macaulay; the Historian, Statesman, 
 
 and ESSAYIST : Anecdotes of his Life and Literary Labours, with some 
 
 Account of his Early and Unknown Writings. 
 
 *** Also, a fine paper Edition, cloth, neat, with a Photographic Portrait 
 
 (the only one known to have been taken) by Maull and Polyblank, price 2s. 6d. 
 
 1^^ Includes Anecdotes of Sydney Smith, Mooee, Rogers, and Lord 
 
 Jeffrey ; and gives numerous examples of Lord Macaulay's extraordinary 
 
 memory and great powers of conversation. 
 
 ** A brilliant sketch of the great historian, containing particulars of his 
 youthful compositions, which are new and deeply interesting."— ifem?d. 
 
 ** "We regard the little work before us as a very opportune publication. 
 The author has broaebt together such a mass of facts, sketches, and anec- 
 dotes, illustrative of the character and mind of Lord Macaulay, that the 
 book is very valuable as supplying, in a small compass, a faithful and vivid 
 account of the great historian." — Bradford Review. 
 
 " An interesting account of a man who was an ornament to our nation. Of 
 the extraordinary capacity and availability of his memory many wonderful 
 stories are told.— Evangelical Repository. 
 
 " This work is well timed. Here we really have all that is known con- 
 cerning the great man. The little book brings together with much dexterity 
 and success very various and very scattered materials. We have been 
 peculiarly interested in the details of the late illustrious Baron's youthful 
 productions. Never before has Wordswcth's famous couplet, " The boy is 
 father of the man," received so vivid illustration. It is earnestly to be hoped 
 that the whole of these early papers, and his inedited speeches and addresses 
 written and spoken in the flush of his powers, and with all the wealth of 
 illustration that so distinguished him, shall be collected. Why not at once 
 by the writer of the present brilliant sketch? We know not who he is, but 
 he is a man of no common powers. He has evidently, too, put his heart into 
 his book. It thrills and throbs with reverent love towards the man. We 
 like exceedingly his fresh, generous, glowing style ; and not less his genial, 
 gossipy way of telling the many anecdotes with which his pages sparkle." — 
 Advertiser. 
 
 "Valuable from the original matter and anecdotes it gives concerning 
 Macaulay's youthful productions." — Leader. 
 
 " We hear Mr. Hotten's little book on Macaulay is a success. Ten thousand 
 copies sold within a few days !" — Critic. 
 
 Now ready, New and Popular Edition, neatly printed, fcap. 8vo, pp. 336, 
 price 2s. 6d., 
 
 Anecdotes of the Green Room and 
 
 STAGE ; or Leaves from an Actor's Note-Book, at Home and Abroad. 
 
 by GEORGE VANDENHOFF. 
 |^= Mr. Vandenhoff, who earned for himself, both in the Old and New 
 World?, the title of The Classic Actor, has retired from the Stage. His 
 reminiscences are extremely interesting, and include Original Anecdotes of 
 the Keans (father and son), the two Kembles, Macready, Cooke, Listen, 
 Farren, Elliston, Braham and his Sons, Phelps, Buekstone, Webster, Chas. 
 Mathews : Siddons, Vestris, Helen Faucit, JMrs. Nisbett, Miss Cushmjm, 
 Miss O'Neil, Mrs. Glover, Mrs. Chas. Kean, Rachel, Ristori, and many 
 other dramatic celebrities. 
 
JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN'S LIST. 
 
 Now ready, post 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d., 
 
 Rubbing the Gilt Off: a West End Book 
 
 for All Eeaders. By JOHN HOLLTNGSHEAD, Author of «* Under 
 Bow Bells, a City Book for All Headers." 
 
 WITH A HUMOROUS ILLUSTRATION. 
 Contents. 
 
 The Humiliation of Fogmoor. 
 
 A Pet of the Law. 
 
 Navy Dry Rot. 
 
 How to Make a Madman. 
 
 Nine Kings. 
 
 An Official Scarecrow. 
 
 A Model Theatre. 
 
 The Suffering Sinecurist. 
 A National Christmas Bill. 
 The Social Reformer. 
 Mudfog on Colonies. 
 Diplomatic World. 
 The Man behind ray Chair. 
 Wanted, a Court Guide. 
 
 " Clever and sagacious writing." — Athencmm. 
 
 " As a collection of papers which, through all their whimsical fancies, 
 develope a political system with an earnestness and a consistency that are 
 rare, we can cordially recommend Mr. Hollingshead's hook."— Leader and 
 Saturday Analyst, 
 
 *'Mr. HoUingshead has lost nothing of his dramatic power."— Criiic. 
 
 "The stories are no less interesting and amusing than instructive." — 
 Morning Star. 
 
 "Mr. HoUingshead has considerably widened his range of humorous 
 illustration, still keeping, however, to the field of political economy."— Daily 
 
 News. 
 
 Now ready, fcap. 8vo, cloth, price 3s. 6d., beautifiilly printed, 
 
 Gog and Magog ; or, the History of the 
 
 Guildhall Giants. With Some Account of the Giants which Guard 
 English and Continental Cities. By P. W. FAIRHOLT, P.S.A. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS ON WOOD BY THE AUTHOR, COLOURED 
 AND PLAIN. 
 
 *♦* The critiques which have appeared upon this amusing little work have 
 been uniformly favourable. The Athenceum pronounces it a perfect model of 
 successfal antiquarian exposition, readable from the first line to the last. The 
 Art Journal devotes a considerable space to the little work, and congratulates 
 the author upon his success. The Leader contributes two full columns of 
 eulogy. The Builder directs its readers to purchase it. The Critic says, in a 
 long article, that it thoroughly explains who these old Giants were, the posi- 
 tion they occupied in popular mythology, the origin of their names, and a 
 score of other matters, all of much interest in throwing a light upon fabulous 
 portions of our history. 
 
JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN S LIST. 
 
 297 
 
 Now ready, in 8vo, 4s., blue cloth and gold. 
 
 Photographic Pleasures : Popularly 
 
 pourtrayed with Pen and Pencil. By CUTHBEKT BEDE, B.A., Author 
 of "Verdant Green," &c. 
 
 WITH SEVENTY HUMOROUS DESIGNS BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 *' The ludicrous side of Photography is fair game for the caricaturist. 
 With much cleverness Mr. Bede has seized the salient points of the new 
 art." — Athenaum. 
 
 " The work is full of illustrations, radiant with the raciness of Cruikshank, 
 the broad and round humour of Rowlandson, knowledge of the world of 
 Doyle, and quick apprehension of Leech." — Herald. 
 
 NEW WORK BY THE LATE DOUGLAS JERROLD. 
 Nearly ready, in Two Vols. 8vo, cloth, extra. 
 
 Old Wine in New Bottles : Tales and 
 
 Sketches of Life and Character, by DOUGLAS JERROLD, edited, with 
 an Introduction, by his son, Blanchard Jerrold. With Illustrations by 
 John Leech. 
 
 *it* This work will contain some of the most characteristic pieces from the 
 pen of the master wit— tales hitherto unknown and untold. Amongst others 
 may be enumerated : — 
 
 Some Account of a Stage Devil. 
 
 Baron von Botts, a Tale of Blood. 
 
 A Chapter on Black Dogs. 
 
 The Actress at the Duke's. 
 
 Papers of a Gentleman-at-Arms. 
 
 Bully Bottom's Babes. 
 
 The Rocking Horse. 
 
 My Husband's Winnings: a Housa- 
 hold Incident. 
 
 The Lamp-post: a Household Nar- 
 rative. 
 
 Midnight at Madame T.'s. • 
 
 The Old Boatman. 
 
 Solomon's Ape. 
 
 Patty Larkspur's Watch. 
 
 The Tutor Fiend, and his Three 
 
 Pupils. 
 Lizzy's Back Hair. 
 Christopher Snub, who was Born'd to 
 
 be Hang'd- 
 Recollections of Guy Fawkes, &^. 
 
 &c. 
 
 Nearly ready, in fcap. 8vo, cloth extra, 
 
 A Pedlar's Wallet : Pilled from House- 
 hold Words, by DUDLEY COSTELLO. 
 
 This work will comprise some of the best papers contributed to Charles 
 Dickens' famous periodical. 
 
298 JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN'S LIST. 
 
 Nearly ready, beautifully printed, feap. 8vo, price 3s. 6d. 
 
 The Choicest Jests of English Wits; 
 
 from the Eude Jokes of the Aincient Jesters, to the refined and im- 
 promptu Witticisms of Theodore Hook and Douglas Jerrold. Including 
 the Cream of Joe Miller : comprising the best Saying-s, Facetious and 
 Merry, which have contributed to give to our country the name of Merry 
 England. 
 
 Nearly ready, beautifully printed, on fine paper, feap. 8vo, pp. 350, price 53., 
 
 The History of Playing Cards, and the 
 
 VARIOUS GAMES connected with them, from the Earliest Ages; 
 with some Account of Card Conjuring, and Old-Fashioned Tricks. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH FORTY CURIOUS WOODCUTS ON TINTED 
 PAPER. 
 
 This most amusing work, introducing the reader to a curious chapter of 
 our social history, gives an interesting recount, replete with anecdotes, of 
 the most popular and widely known pastime which has ever been invented 
 by man for his amusement. A morel nsti active and entertaining book could 
 not be taken in hand for a pleasant hour's reading. 
 
 Two Vols, royal 8vo, handsomely printed, £2 8s. 
 
 Ancient Songs, Ballads, and Dance 
 
 TUNES of the Olden Time, illustrative of the National Music of 
 England, with Introductions to the different Reigns, and Notices of the 
 Airs from Writers of the Sixteenth Century ; also a Short Account of 
 the Minstrels, by W. CHAPPELL, F.S.A. 
 
 This interesting work forms the largest and most complete collection of 
 Ancient British Ballads and Songs ever published. The words are from the 
 original old copies, and the addition of the Old Tunes to which they were 
 formerly sung is an interesting and most curious feature. Several fac- 
 similes adorn the work. 
 
 Preparing for publication, feap. Svo, beautifully printed, 
 
 Old English Ballads, relating to New 
 
 England, the Plantations, and other Parts of North America; with 
 Ancient Poetical Squibs on the Puritans and the Quakers who emigrated 
 there ; now first collected from the original excessively rare Broadsides 
 sold in the streets at the time, and edited with Explanatory Notes. Illus- 
 trated with facsimiles of the very singular woodcuts which adorn the 
 original Songs and Ballads. 
 
JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN'S LIST. 
 
 Preparing for publication, beautifully printed, post 8vo, half morocco, 
 Roxburghe style, 
 
 Garland of Pepy sian Ballads^ Historical, 
 
 EOM ANTIC, and HUMOROUS, some iUustrating Shakespere, edited by 
 EDWARD P. RIMBAULT, Esq., LL.D. 
 
 It is well known that the unfortunate regulation imposed by Pepys, the 
 celebrated diarist, that his Manuscripts and I3ooks should never be examined 
 save in the presence of a Fellow of the College at Cambridge where they are 
 preserved, has hitherto alone prevented the collectina: and publishing some 
 of the more interesting of these world-renowned Ballads and Songs. The 
 difficulty, however, has been surmounted by Dr. Rimbault, aided by the 
 authorities of Magdalene College ; and the lovers of our charming old popular 
 poetry will be glad to know that a Garland of these Balladian ditties is in 
 course of publication. The work will be preceded by an Introduction on 
 Ballad Lore, Ballad Writers, and Ballad Printers, giving some new and in- 
 teresting particulars gathered from " old bookes," and other sources, hitherto 
 tmexplored The publisher would state that the work will be beautifully 
 printed by Whittingham, and that it will be adorned by a curious woodcut 
 facsimile frontispiece. 
 
 Nearly ready, in small 4to, half morocco, very neat. 
 
 An hitherto unknown Poem, written by John Bunyan, whilst confined in 
 
 Bedford Jail, for the Support of his Family, entitled. 
 
 Profitable Meditations, Fitted to Man's 
 
 DIFFERENT CONDITION ; in a Conference between Christ and a 
 Sinner. By JOHN BUNYAN, Servant to the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 London : Printed for Francis Smith at the Sign of the Elephant and CastU 
 
 without Temple Bar, 1661 
 This very interesting, though melancholy literary memorial of the Author 
 of the celebrated Pilgrim's Progress, will be choicely reprinted by Whitting- 
 ham, from the only known copy lately discovered by the publisher. It will be 
 edited, with an Introduction by George Offor, Esq. The impression will be 
 limited. 
 
 Now ready, price Ss. 
 
 Magna Charta. An Exact Facsimile of 
 
 the Original Document, preserved in the British Museum, very carefully 
 drawn, and printed on fine plate paper, nearly 3 feet long by 2 feet wide, 
 with the Aems and Seals of thb Babgits elaboeatbly emblazonbd 
 
 nr GOLD AND COLOUES. A.D. 1215 
 
 COPIED BY EXPRESS PERMISSION, and the only correct drawing of 
 the Great Charter ever taken. This important memorial of the liberties and 
 rights of Englishmen is admirably adapted for framing, and would hang with 
 propriety from the walls of every house in the country. As a guarantee to 
 the purchaser that the facsimile is exact, the publisher need only state that 
 Sir Frederick Madden has permitted copies to hang for public inspection upon 
 the walls of the Manuscript Department in the British Museum. It was 
 executed by Mr. Harrison, under whose auspices the splendid work on the 
 Knights of the Garter was produced some years ago. 
 
300 JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN'S LIST. 
 
 A LITERARY AND PHILOLOGICAL CURIOSITY. 
 Shortly will be published, in square 12mo, beautifully printed, price 3s. 6d., 
 
 The Book of Vagabonds and Beggars, 
 
 (LiBEB Vagatoeitm ! I)er Better Onhn), with a Vocabulary of their Lan- 
 guage {Rotwdsche Sprach) ; edited, with Preface, by MARTIN LUTHER, 
 in the year 152S. Now fiest Teanslated infTO English, with Notes, 
 by JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN. 
 *»* This very singular work is comparatively unknown in this country. 
 The first edition appears to have been printed at Augsburg, by Erhard Oglin, 
 or Ocellus, as early as 1514 — a small quarto of twelve leaves. It was frequently 
 reprinted at other places in Germany ; and in 1528 there appeared an edition 
 at Wittemberg, with a Preface by Martin Luther, from which the present 
 translation has been made. The work is divided into three parts or sections ; 
 the first gives a special account 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 Canting Dic- 
 TioNAET. It is singular that more than three centuries ago Martin Luther 
 should have declared that the cant language of beggars comes from the 
 Hebrews, and that in our own time a similar statement should be made by 
 Mayhew in his London Labour. Maybew says that many of the most expressive 
 street terms in every day use by London and provincial vagabonds are derived 
 from the Jew Fences. 
 
 Now ready, fcap. 8vo, beautifully printed by Whittingham, price 2s., 
 
 Letters of the Marchioness Broglio Solari, 
 
 one of the Maids of Honour to the Princess Lamballe, &c ; with a Sketch 
 of her Life, and Recollections of Celebrated Characters (intended to have 
 been sold at 53.) 
 The Marchioness Broglia Solari was the natural grand- daughter of Lord 
 Hyde Clarendon, and consequently one of the collateral branches of the 
 Queens Mary and Ann, and their grand-father, the great Chancellor of 
 England. She played an Important part in the French Revolution ; was the 
 friend of Emperors and Princes ; was intimately acquainted with George the 
 Fourth, Burke, Sheridan, Madame de Stael, the Duke of Wellington, Sir 
 Robert Peel, Sir H. Davy, Paganini, &c., of most of whom she gives charac- 
 teristic anecdotes. The Marchioness endured many troubles, was robbed of 
 her fortune, and for some time obtained her living as an actress at the theatres 
 of London and Dublin. This work was published by an intimate friend, and 
 the entire impression (with the exception of a few copies) passed into the 
 hands of the family. It is believed that only 150 copies were printed. The 
 book (by those who know of its existence) has always been considered as a 
 sujypressed work. 
 
 4. 
 
 [In preparation.] 
 
 The History of English Popular Litera- 
 ture, WITH SOME Account of Cheap ob Chap-Books, Penny and Six- 
 penny Histories, Old Romances, Fairy Tales, Books of Wonder, Garlands 
 and Penny Collections of Ballads, Books of Recipes and Instruction, 
 Jest Books, «&c.; also the Histoey oe the Rise of Cheap Seeial 
 
 LiTEEATUEE. SVO. 
 
 This very important work will range with Nisard's History of French Popula 
 Literature, 2 vols., Paris, 1854. It will be illustrated with numerous exceed- 
 ingly curious woodcuts, many by Faieholt, and several from the original 
 blocks used by the old London Bridge and Aldermary Church Yard publishers. 
 
 Printed by Tatloe & Gbbbnin&, Graystoke-place, Fetter-lane, London, E.G. 
 
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