The slang dictionary

Kite — See Fly the Kite

Kitmegur, an under-butler, a footman.—Anglo-Indian.

Kitna, how much?—Anglo-Indian.

Knacker, an old horse; a horse-slaughterer. Originally Gloucestershire, but now general.

Knap, i.q., nap, to break.—Old English, but nearly obsolete. See Ps. xlvi. 9 (Prayer-book version), “He breaketh the bow, and knappeth the spear in sunder;” probably sibilated into “snap.”

Knap, to receive, to take. Generally applied to the receipt of punishments; “oh, my! wont he just knap it when he gets home!”

Knap, to steal.—Prison Cant.

Knapping-jigger, a turnpike gate; “to dub at the knapping-jigger,” to pay money at the turnpike.

Knark, a hard-hearted or savage person. The word is now usually spelt nark, and is applied to the lowest class of informers.

Knife, “to knife a person,” to stab; an un-English custom, but a very common expression.

Knife-board, the seat running along the roof of an omnibus.

        “On ’busses’ knifeboards stretch’d,
The City clerks all tongue-protruded lay.”

A Summer Idyll, by Arthur Smith.

Knife it, “cut it,” cease, stop, don’t proceed.

Knight, a common and ironical prefix to a man’s calling—thus, “knight of the whip,” a coachman; “knight of the thimble,” a tailor.

Knobstick, a non-society workman. One who takes work under price.

Knock about the bub, to hand or pass about the drink. Bub is a very old cant term for drink.

Knock-down, or knock-me-down, strong ale.

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-’em-downs, the game of skittles.

Knocker, “up to the knocker,” means finely or showily dressed, in the height of fashion; proficient, equal to the task.

Knocker-face, an ugly face, i.e., like an old-fashioned door-knocker.

Knock-in, the game of loo.

Knocking-in, coming into college after time. A habit of knocking-in late generally leads to some unpleasantness.—Oxford University.

Knocking-out. All visitors, on leaving a college after time, have to state in whose rooms they have been, that his gate-bill may be scored up for them. When a rackety party takes place, the visitors, or “out college men,” are generally supplied with a list of the names of the quietest men in college, so that the whereabouts of the party may not be betrayed.—Oxford University.

Knock-it-down, to show, in the “free and easy” style, approval of a song or toast, by hammering with pot or glass on the table.

Knock off, to give over, or abandon. A saying used by workmen in reference to dinner or other meal times, for upwards of two centuries.

Knock out, in racing parlance, to drive out of the quotations; as a knocked-out favourite. Also to make bankrupt; as a knocked-out backer or bookmaker. When a man cannot meet his engagements on the turf, he is said to be knocked out.

Knock-outs, or knock-ins, disreputable persons who visit auction rooms and unite to purchase the articles at their own prices. One of their number is instructed to buy for the rest, and after a few small bids as blinds to the auctioneer and bystanders, the lot is knocked down to the knock-out bidders, at a nominal price—the competition to result from an auction being thus frustrated and set aside. At the conclusion of the sale the goods are paid for, and carried to a neighbouring public-house, where they are re-sold or knocked-out among the confederates, and the difference between the first purchase and the second—or tap-room knock-out—is divided amongst the gang. As generally happens with ill-gotten gains, the money soon finds its way to the landlord’s pocket, and the knock-out is rewarded with a red nose and a bloated face. Cunning tradesmen join the knock-outs when an opportunity for money-making presents itself. The lowest description of knock-outs, fellows with more tongue than capital, are termed babes. Within the past few years a few respectable auctioneers, assisted much by one or two just and admirable magisterial decisions, have succeeded in considerably limiting the efforts of the knock-out fraternity.

Knock-under, to submit.

Knowing, sharp, shrewd, artful; “a knowing codger,” or “a knowing blade,” one who can take you in, or cheat you, in any transaction you may have with him. It implies also deep cunning and foresight, and generally signifies dishonesty.

“Who, on a spree with black-eyed Sal, his blowen,
So swell, so prime, so nutty, and so knowing?”

—Don Juan.

Know, in this sense, enters into several slang phrases. “I know something,” expresses that I am not to be taken in by any shallow device. “He knows a thing or two,” i.e., he is a cunning fellow.

Knowledge-box, the head.—Pugilistic.

Knuckle, to fight with fists, to pommel.

Knuckle-duster, a large, heavy, or over-gaudy ring; a ring which attracts attention from its size.

Knuckle-duster, an iron or brass instrument which covers the knuckles so as to protect them from injury when striking a blow, adding force to it at the same time. Sometimes a knuckle-duster has knobs or points projecting, so as to mutilate and disfigure the person struck. This brutal invention is American, but has been made familiar here.

Knuckle to, or knuckle under, to yield or submit.

Knuller, old term for a chimney-sweep, who solicited jobs by ringing a bell. From the Saxon, cnyllan, to knell, or sound a bell. See querier.

Kootee, a house.—Anglo-Indian.

Kotoo, to bow down before, to cringe, to flatter. From a Chinese ceremony.

Kubber, news.—Anglo-Indian.

Kudos, praise; kudized, praised. Greek, κύδος.—University.

Kye, eighteenpence.

Kypsey, a basket. A term generally used by gipsies.

La! a euphuistic rendering of lord! common amongst females and very precise persons; imagined by many to be a corruption of look! but this is a mistake. Sometimes pronounced law, or lawks.

Lac, one hundred thousand.—Anglo-Indian.

Laced, strengthened with ardent spirits. Tea or coffee in which brandy is poured is said to be laced.

Lacing, a beating. From the phrase, “I’ll lace your jacket.”—L’Estrange. Perhaps to give a beating with a lace or lash. Perhaps, also, a figurative phrase for ornamenting the article in question with stripes.

Ladder, “can’t see a hole in a ladder,” said of any one who is intoxicated. It was once said that a man was never properly drunk until he could not lie down without holding, could not see a hole through a ladder, or went to the pump to light his pipe.

Ladies’ mile, that part of Hyde Park where the feminine beauty, rank, and fashion most do congregate during the airing hours of the London season.

Lag, a returned transport, or ticket-of-leave convict.

Lag, to void urine.—Ancient Cant. In modern slang to transport, as regards bearing witness, and not in reference to the action of judge or jury.

Lagged, imprisoned, apprehended, or transported for a crime. From the Old Norse, lagda, “laid,”—laid by the leg.

Lagger, a sailor. Also, one who gives evidence; an informer.

Lagging gage, a chamber-pot.—Ancient Cant.

Lambasting, a beating. Perhaps lumb-basting, from the lumbar-regions.

Lamb’s wool, spiced ale, of which the butler at Brasenose every Shrove Tuesday supplies as much as is required at Hall, with a copy of verses on the subject, generally written by a Brasenose man. One of these poems began:—

Antiquum et vetus est { Ale Æn Nas
alienas } dicere laudes.

Oxford University.

Lamb’s wool is also a hot drink, well known to the community for centuries. Supposed by some to be derived from Lammas, at which time it was drunk, and by others to be derived from the similarity between the foam of the drink and the white wool obtained from lambs.

Lame duck, a stockjobber 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. Not as Sir Walter Scott supposed, from one Dr. Lamb, but from the Old Norse, lam, the hand; also, Gaelic.

Lammy, a blanket.

Land-lubber, sea term for “a landsman.” See loafer.

Land-shark, a sailor’s definition of a lawyer.

Lane, a familiar term for Drury Lane Theatre, just as Covent Garden Theatre is constantly spoken of as “the Garden.”

Lap, liquor, drink. Lap is the term invariably used in the ballet girls’ dressing-room for gin.

Lap, one circuit of a pedestrian enclosure. In running a race of any distance one man is said to lap another when he is one entire circuit in front.

Lap. Lap the gutter, to get beastly and helplessly drunk. Lap means to drink. Lap the gatter, to drink up the beer; a “rare lapper,” a hard drinker.

Lark, a frolic, a joke; “let’s have a jolly good lark,” let us have a piece of fun.—Anglo-Saxon, lac, sport; but more probably from the nautical term skylarking, i.e., mounting to the highest yards and sliding down the ropes for amusement, which is allowed on certain occasions.

Lark, to sport boisterously, to show a disposition for “going on the spree.”

Larrence, an imaginary being, supposed by the Scottish peasantry to have power over indolent persons. Hence laziness is often called larrence.

Larrup, to beat or thrash.

Larruping, a good beating or hiding.—Irish.

Lashins, large quantities; as, “lashins of whisky.” An Irishism in common use.

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;” to be in pawn; to be out of the way for an especial purpose. From the practice among housewives of placing lavender in drawers in which linen and clothes are to be kept for any period.

Law, “to give law to an animal” is a sporting term signifying to give the hare or stag a chance of escaping, by not setting on the hounds till the quarry has run some distance. Also, used for giving any one a chance of succeeding in a difficult undertaking by allowing him so much grace or preliminary notice.

Lay, a pursuit or practice, a dodge. Term in this sense much used by thieves.

Lay, in wagering, to bet against a man or animal. Betters are divided in racing slang into layers and takers; they are otherwise known as bookmakers and backers.

Lay, some, a piece. “Tip me a lay of pannum,” i.e., give me a slice of bread.—North.

Lay, to watch; “on the lay,” on the look-out.—Shakspeare.

Lay down the knife and fork, to die. Compare pegging-out, hopping the twig, and similar flippancies.

Lead, or friendly lead, a gathering at a low public-house, for the purpose of assisting some one who is “in trouble” (in these cases trouble always means imprisonment), who has just “come out of trouble,” or who is in want of a “mouthpiece.” A lead is different from a raffle, inasmuch as no article is put up or thrown for, but in the course of the evening some friend of the troubled one leads off by putting a certain sum in a plate, and the remainder of the party follow the lead with whatever they can spare. Sometimes people pay as they enter the room, but this does not alter the title or character of the meeting. In every other respect a lead is similar to a raffle; songs, dances, drinking, and a general desire to increase the bastardy averages being the most conspicuous features of the entertainment. Irish leads and raffles are characterized by less vice and more quarrelling than those of the lower orders of English people.

Leary, flash, knowing, artful, sly.

Leary bloke, a clever or artful person.

Leather, to beat or thrash. Probably from allusion to the skin, which is often called leather. Some think the term is from the leather belts worn by soldiers, which are often used as weapons in street rows. Most likely from there being “nothing like leather” with which to administer a thrashing.

Leathern conveniency, a carriage. A Quaker being reprimanded by the Society of Friends for keeping a carriage, “contrary to the ancient testimonies,” said, “it is not a carriage I keep, but merely a leathern-conveniency.” See under Simon Pure, in the Introduction.

Leaving shop, or dolly shop, an unlicensed house where goods are taken into pawn at exorbitant rates of interest.

Led captain, a fashionable spunger, a “swell” who by artifice ingratiates himself into the favours of the master of the house, and lives at his table. Probably from the fact that a real captain leads, but that a sham one is led—to the dinner-table.

Leer, empty.—Oxfordshire. Pure German, as is nearly so the next word.

Leer, print, newspaper. German, lehren, to instruct; hence Old English, lere, “spelt in the leer.” See spell.—Old Cant.

Leg, a part of a game. In some old games there are so many legs to the chalk, and so many chalks to the game. Sometimes the legs are called chalks, and the chalks legs—one word is as good as another, provided an agreement is made beforehand.

Leg, or blackleg, a disreputable sporting character and racecourse habitué; that is, one who is disreputable among sporting men.

Leg-and-leg, the state of a game when each player has won a leg. In Ireland a leg is termed a horse, leg-and-leg being there termed “horse-and-horse.”

Leg bail, the bail or security given by absence. To give leg bail is to run away.

Leg it, to run; “to give a leg,” to assist, as when one mounts a horse; “making a leg,” a countryman’s bow,—projecting the leg from behind as a balance to the head bent forward.—Shakspeare.

Leg-of-mutton, humorous street term for a sheep’s trotter, or foot.

Leg of mutton fist, a large, muscular or bony hand.

Length, forty-two lines of a dramatic composition.—Theatrical.

Length, six months’ imprisonment. See stretch.

Let alone, an expression which signifies “much less” as used in comparative statement or argument. “I cannot afford five shillings, let alone five pounds.” Barham, in one of the Ingoldsby Legends, says:—

“I have not had, this livelong day, one drop to cheer my heart,
Nor brown to buy a bit of bread with—let alone a tart.”

Let drive, to strike at, or attack with vigour.

Let in, to cheat or victimize. “He let me in heavily.”

Let on, to give an intimation of having some knowledge of a subject. Ramsay employs the phrase in the Gentle Shepherd. Common in Scotland.

Let the cat out, or let the cat out of the bag, a common phrase, which implies that a secret is to be or has been let out.

Letty, a bed. Italian, letto.—Lingua Franca.

Levanter, a card-sharper, or defaulting gambler. It was formerly the custom to give out to the creditors, when a person was in pecuniary difficulties, and it was convenient for him to keep away, that he was gone to the East, or the Levant; hence, when one loses a bet, and decamps without settling, he is said to levant. The Levant was also a notorious place for queer customers, who would do anything rather than pay. Its reputation is not particularly odorous even now.

Levy, a shilling.—Liverpool. Among labourers a levy is a sum obtained before it is due, something to keep a man going till Saturday-night comes, or his task is finished.

Liberty, ground let in parts of Yorkshire for shooting purposes.

Lick, a blow; licking, a beating; “to put in big licks,” a curious and common phrase, meaning that great exertions are being made.—Dryden; North.

Lick, to excel, or overcome; “if you ain’t sharp, he’ll lick you,” i.e., be finished first. Signifies, also, to whip, chastise, or conquer. Ancient cant, lycke. Welsh, llachio, to strike.

Lickspittle, a coarse but singularly expressive term for a parasite, who puts up with indignities for the sake of advantages.

Lifer, a convict who is sentenced to imprisonment 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 Shakspeare. Shoplifter is a recognised term. Old Gothic, llifan, to steal; Lower Rhenish, löften.

Lig, a lie, a falsehood.—Lancashire. In old ballads the word “lie” is often spelt “lig.” In old Saxon, lig is to lie, but to lie as in a bed.

Light, credit, trust; “to get a light at a house” is to get credit. When a man’s credit is stopped, his light is said to be put out. Light also means life. “I’ll put your light out” is a murderous threat.

Light Bob, a light infantry soldier.—Military.

Light Feeder, a silver spoon.

Lightning, gin; “flash o’ lightning,” a glass of gin.

Lights, a worthless piece of meat; applied metaphorically to a fool, a soft or stupid person.

Lights, the eyes. Also, the lungs; animals’ lungs are always so called.

Lil, a book, generally a pocket-book.—Gipsy.

Lily Benjamin, a great white coat. See Benjamin.

Limb, a troublesome or precocious child.

Limb of the law, a lawyer, or clerk articled to that profession.

Limbo, a prison, from limbus or limbus patrum, a mediæval theological term for purgatory. The Catholic Church teaches that limbo was that part of hell where holy people who died before the Redemption were kept.

Line, a hoax, a fool-trap; as, “to get him in a line,” i.e., to get some sport out of him.

Line, calling, trade, profession; “what line are you in?” “the building line.”

Liner, a casual reporter, paid by the line. Diminutive of “penny-a-liner.”

Lingo, talk, or language. Slang is termed lingo amongst the lower orders. Italian, lingua.—Lingua Franca.

Lint-scraper, a young surgeon. Thackeray, in Lovel the Widower, uses the phrase, and gives, also, the words “Æsculapius,” “Pestle-grinder,” and “Vaccinator,” for the same character.

Lionesses, ladies visiting an Oxford man, especially at “Commemoration,” which is the chief time for receiving feminine visitors at the University.

Lion-hunter, one who hunts up, and has a devout veneration for, small celebrities. Mrs. Leo Hunter, in Pickwick, is a splendid specimen of this unpleasant creature.

Lionize, to make much of any visitor with small or moderate claims to distinction; to conduct a stranger round the principal objects of attraction in a place; to act as cicerone.

Lions, notabilities, either persons or sights worthy of inspection; an expression dating from the times when the royal lions at the Tower, before the existence of Zoological Gardens and travelling menageries, were a London wonder, to visit which country cousins and strangers of eminence were constantly taken. Visitors taken round at Cambridge to see the sights are, or were, called lions. The origin of the Tower collection was the three leopards sent by the Emperor Frederic to Henry III., as a living illustration of the royal arms of England. In the roll of John de Cravebeadell, constable of the Tower (B. M. Top. Collections, iii. p. 153), is a charge of 3d. per day “in support of the leopard of our lord the king.” Edward III., when Prince of Wales, appears to have taken great interest in the animals; and after he became king, there was not only the old leopard, but “one lion, one lioness, and two cat-lions,” says Stowe, “in the said Tower, committed to the custody of Robert, son of John Bowre.” The menagerie was only abolished in 1834; and the practice was to allow any person to enter gratis who brought with him a little dog to be thrown to the lions!—Dr. Doran’s Princes of Wales.

Lip, talk, bounce, impudence; “come, none o’ yer lip!”

Lip, to sing; “lip us a chant,” sing a song.

Liquor, or liquor up, to drink drams.—Americanism. In liquor, tipsy, or drunk.

Little go, the old term for the examination now called smalls.

Little snakes-man, a little thief, who is generally passed through a small aperture to open a door and let in the rest of the gang.

Liverpool Irishman, any man born in Liverpool of Irish parents. See Irish Cockney.

Liverpudlian, a native of Liverpool.

Live-stock, vermin of the insect kind, especially of that more than usually unpleasant kind found on tramps, &c.

Loafer, a lazy vagabond. Generally considered an Americanism. Loper, or loafer, however, was in general use as a cant term in the early part of the last century. Landloper was a vagabond who begged in the attire of a sailor; and the sea-phrase, land-lubber, was doubtless synonymous.

Loaver, money. See lour.—Lingua Franca.

Lob, a till, or money-drawer.

Lob-sneaking, stealing money from tills; occasionally stealing tills and all.

Lobb, the head.—Pugilistic.

Loblolly, gruel.—Old: used by Markham as a sea-term for grit gruel, or hasty pudding.

Loblolly boy, a derisive term for a surgeon’s mate in the navy.

“Lob-lolly-boy is a person who on board of a man-of-war attends the surgeon and his mates, and one who knows just as much of the business of a seaman as the author of this poem.”—The Patent, a Poem, 4to, 1776.

Lobs! schoolboys’ signal on the master’s approach. Also, an assistant watcher, an under gamekeeper.

Lobs, words, talk.—Gipsy.

Lobscouse, a dish made of potatoes, meat, and biscuits, boiled together.

Lobster, a soldier. A policeman, from the colour of his coat, is styled an unboiled, or raw lobster.

Lobster-box, a barrack, or military station.

Loggerheads, “to come to loggerheads,” to come to blows.

Logie, theatrical jewellery, made mostly of tin.

Loll, to lie about lazily. “He would loll upon the handle of the door,” said of an incorrigibly lazy fellow.

Lolly, the head. See lobb.—Pugilistic.

London ordinary, the beach at Brighton, where the “eight-hours-at-the-sea-side” excursionists dine in the open-air.

Long-bow. See draw the long bow.

Long firm, a gang of swindlers who obtain goods by false pretences. They generally advertise or answer advertisements. The word long is supposed to be from a playful allusion made by one of the firm to the length of their credit.

Long-ghost, a tall, thin, awkward person. Sometimes called “lamp-post.”

Long-headed, far-seeing, clever, calculating.

Long-hundred, a Billingsgate expression for 120 fresh herrings, or other small fish, the long-hundred being six score.

Long-odds, the odds which denote that the man or animal laid against has, or is supposed to have, little or no chance.

Long-shore butcher, a coast-guardsman.—Sea. All people who get their livings by the side of the Thames below bridge are called long-shore folk.

Long-tailed beggar, a cat. The tale that hangs thereby runs thus:—A boy, during his first very short voyage to sea, had become so entirely a seaman, that on his return he had forgotten the name of the cat, and was obliged, pointing to puss, to ask his mother “what she called that ’ere long-tailed beggar?” Accordingly, sailors, when they hear a freshwater tar discoursing too largely on nautical matters, are very apt to say, “But how, mate, about that ’ere long-tailed beggar?”

Long-tailed-one, a bank-note or “flimsy” for a large amount.

Long-tails, among shooters, are pheasants; among coursers and dog-fanciers they are greyhounds.

Longs, the latrine at Brasenose, so called because built by Lady Long.—Oxford University.

Longs-and-shorts, cards made for cheating.

Looking-glass, a facetious synonym for a pot de chambre. This is very old. The term arose from the fact that in ancient times this utensil was the object of very frequent examination by the medical fraternity. There is an old story of a lady who called at an inn, and called for a looking-glass to arrange her hair, and who was presented with a chamber utensil.

Loony, a silly fellow, a natural. Corruption of looney tick (lunatic). Sometimes corrupted to looby.

Loose. See on the loose.

Loose-box, a brougham or other vehicle kept for the use of a dame de compagnie. A more vulgar appellation is “mot-cart,” the contemptuous sobriquet applied by the envious mob to a one-horse covered carriage.

Loose-box, a stable in which a horse is not tethered, but remains loose.

Loot, swag or plunder; also used as a verb. The word came much into vogue during the latest Chinese campaign.

Lope, this old form of leap is often heard in the streets. To lope is also to steal. German, laufen.

Lop-sided, uneven, one side larger than the other. See Jacob Faithful.

Lord, a humpbacked man. See my lord.

Lord, “drunk as a lord,” a common saying, probably referring to the facilities a man of fortune has for such a gratification; perhaps a sly sarcasm at the supposed habits of the aristocracy. This phrase had its origin in the old hard drinking days, when it was almost compulsory on a man of fashion to get drunk regularly after dinner.

Lord-mayor’s-fool, an imaginary personage who likes everything that is good, and plenty of it.

Lothario, a “gay” deceiver; generally a heartless, brainless villain.

Loud, flashy, showy, as applied to dress or manner. See bags.

Lour, or lowr, money; “gammy lowr,” bad money. From the Wallachian Gipsy word, lowe, coined money. Possibly connected with the French, louer, to hire.—Ancient Cant and Gipsy.

Louse-trap, a small-tooth comb.—Old Cant. See catch-’em-alive.

Love, at billiards, rackets, and many other games, nothing: five points to none would be “five love,”—a love game being when one player does not score at all. The term is also used at whist, “six love,” “four love,” when one side has marked up six, four, or any other number, and the other none. A writer in the Gentleman’s Magazine for July, 1780, derives it either from luff, an old Scotch word for the hand, or from the Dutch, loef, the loof, weather-gauge (Sewell’s Dutch Dictionary, 4to, 1754); but it more probably, from the sense of the following, denotes something done without reciprocity.

Love, “to do a thing for love,” i.e., for nothing. A man is said to marry for love when he gets nothing with his wife; and an Irishman, with the bitterest animosity against his antagonist, will fight him for love, i.e., for the mere satisfaction of beating him, and not for a stake.

Loveage, tap droppings, a mixture of stale spirits, sweetened and sold to habitual dram-drinkers, principally females. Called also “alls.”

Low-water, but little money in pocket, when the finances are at a low ebb.

Lubber, a clown, or fool.—Ancient Cant, lubbare. Among seamen an awkward fellow, a landsman.

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 as a sea-term the lubber’s hole represents any cowardly way of evading duty.

Luck, “down on one’s luck,” wanting money, or in difficulty.

Lucky, “to cut one’s lucky,” to go away quickly. See strike.

Ludlam’s dog. An indolent, inactive person is often said to be “as lazy as Ludlam’s dog, which leaned its head against the wall to bark.” Sailors say “as lazy as Joe the Marine, who laid down his musket to sneeze.”

Lug, “my togs are in lug,” i.e., in pawn.

Lug, to pull, or slake thirst.—Old.

Lug chovey, a pawnbroker’s shop.

Luke, nothing.—North Country Cant.

Lully, a shirt.

Lully prigger, a rogue who steals wet clothes hung on lines to dry.

Lumber, to pawn or pledge. Probably from Lombard.

Lumbered, pawned; sometimes imprisoned.

Lummy, jolly, first-rate.

Lump, anything exceptionally large, “as a lump of a man,” “a great lump of a fellow,” &c.

Lump, the workhouse; also called the Pan.

Lump it, to dislike it; “if you don’t like it, you may lump it;” sometimes varied to, “if you don’t like it, you may do the other thing.” Probably from the fact that, in bulk or in lump, the good has to be taken with the bad. What you don’t like must be reckoned with the lump. To lump it is also to take off at a draught, as medicine or a dram. “He lumped it down at once.”

Lump the lighter, to be transported.

Lump work, work contracted for, or taken by the lump.

Lumper, a contractor. On the river more especially a person who contracts to deliver a ship laden with timber.

Lumper, a low thief who haunts wharves and docks, and robs vessels, also a person who sells old goods as new.

Lumpy, intoxicated. Also used to signify enceinte.

Lunan, a girl.—Gipsy.

Lurch, a term at the game of cribbage. A is said to lurch B when the former attains the end, or sixty-first hole, of the board before the latter has pegged his thirty-first hole; or, in more familiar words, before B has turned the corner. A lurch sometimes, and then only by agreement, counts as a double game or rub.

Lurk, a sham, swindle, or representation of feigned distress. An imposition of any kind is a lurk.

Lurker, an impostor who travels the country with false certificates of fires, shipwrecks, &c. Also, termed a silver beggar, which see.

Lush, intoxicating drinks of all kinds, but generally used for beer. It is generally allowed, as has been stated, that lush and its derivatives claim Lushington, the brewer, as sponsor.

Lush, to drink, or get drunk.

Lush-crib, a public-house.

Lushington, a drunkard, or one who continually soaks himself with lush. Some years since there was a Lushington Club in Bow Street, Covent Garden.

Lushy, intoxicated. Johnson says, “opposite to pale,” so red with drink. He must, however, have been wrong, as the foregoing derivation shows.

Lylo, come hither.—Anglo-Chinese.

Lynch-law, summary punishment. From an American judge famous for hanging first and trying afterwards.

Mab, a cab, or hackney-coach.

Mace, to sponge, 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.”

Mace, to welsh, to obtain money without any expectation of being able to pay or intention of paying.

Maceman, or macer, a welcher, magsman, or general swindler; a “street-mugger.”

Madza, half. Italian, mezza. This word enters into combination with various cant phrases, mainly taken from the Lingua Franca, as madza caroon, half-a-crown, two-and-sixpence; madza saltee, a halfpenny [see saltee]; madza poona, half-a-sovereign; madza round the bull, half a pound of steak, &c. This word is, in street phraseology, invariably pronounced medzer.

Mag, a halfpenny.—Ancient Cant, make. Megs were formerly guineas.—B. M. Carew. Make, the old form, is still used by schoolboys in Scotland. “Not a blessed mag!” would be the phrase of a cadger down on his luck to express his penniless state.

Mag, literary and printers’ slang for magazine.

Mag, to talk; hence magpie. To mag in thieves’ slang is to talk well and persuasively.

Maggoty, fanciful, fidgety. Whims and fancies were formerly termed maggots, from the popular belief that a maggot in the brain was the cause of any odd notion or caprice a person might exhibit. Deer are sometimes found to have maggots in their brains, which, perhaps, accounts for the origin of the term.

Magsman, a street swindler, who watches for countrymen and “gullible” persons, and persuades them out of their possessions. Magsmen are wonderful actors. Their work is done in broad daylight, without any stage accessories; and often a wink, a look, or a slip of the tongue would betray their confederacy. Their ability and perseverance are truly worthy of a better cause. Magsmen are very often men of superior education. Those who “work” the tidal trains and boats are often faultlessly dressed and highly accomplished.

Mahcheen, a merchant. Chinese pronunciation of the English word.—Anglo-Chinese.

Mahogany, “to have one’s feet under another man’s mahogany,” to sit at his table, be supported on other than one’s own resources; “amputate your mahogany,” i.e., go away, elaboration of “cut your stick.”

Mahogany flat, a bug.

Mail, to post a letter; “this screeve is mailed by a sure hand.”

Main-toby, the highway, or the main road. See toby.

Make, any one is said to be “on the make” who asks too high a price for his goods, or endeavours in any way to overreach.

Make, to steal, a successful theft or swindle. A man on the look-out for swindling opportunities is said to be “on the make.”

Make tracks, an Americanism synonymous with skedaddle; to make oneself scarce.

Make-up, personal appearance.—Theatrical.

Makings, materials. A man is often said to have the makings of a good politician (or whatever he may aspire to be) in him, if they were but properly applied.

Malapropism, an ignorant, vulgar misapplication of language, so named from Mrs. Malaprop, a character in Sheridan’s famous comedy of the Rivals. Mrs. Partington afterwards succeeded to the mantle of Mrs. Malaprop; but the phrase Partingtonism is as yet uncoined, for the simple reason that Mrs. Malaprop was the original, Mrs. Partington the imitation.

Malley, a gardener.—Anglo-Indian.

Manablins, broken victuals.

Man a-hanging, a man in difficulties. See hanging.

Mandozy, a term of endearment among East-end Jews; probably from the valiant fighter named Mendoza.

Mang, to talk.—Scotch.

Man-handle, to use a person roughly, as to take him prisoner, turn him out of a room, or give him a beating.

Man in the moon, the gentleman who is supposed to find the “pieces” to pay election expenditure and electors’ expenses, so long as the latter vote his way. See election inquiries.

Marbles, furniture, movables; “money and marbles,” cash and personal effects.

Marchioness, a little, dirty, old-fashioned maid-of-all-work; a title now in regular use, but derived from the remarkable character in the Old Curiosity Shop.

Mare’s nest, a supposed discovery of marvels, which turn out no marvels at all; from a story similar to that about the cock neighing. Three Cockneys, out ruralizing, had determined to find out something about nests. Accordingly, when they ultimately came upon a dungheap, they judged by the signs therein that it must be a mare’s nest, especially as they could see the mare close handy. An old preacher in Cornwall up to very lately employed a different simile, as, “It’s like a cow calving up in a tree.”

Marine, or marine recruit, an empty bottle. This expression having once been used in the presence of an officer of marines, he was at first inclined to take it as an insult, until some one adroitly appeased his wrath by remarking that no offence could be meant, as all that it could possibly imply was, “one who had done his duty, and was ready to do it again.”

Mark, to make one’s mark is to achieve a success literary, artistic, or otherwise. Men of eminence are said to leave their marks on the earth’s surface. An American poet has described this ambitious, albeit somewhat rare, proceeding as leaving “footprints on the sands of time.”

Marketeer, a betting man who devotes himself, by means of special information, to the study of favourites, and the diseases incident to that condition of equine life. The marketeer is the principal agent in all milking and knocking-out arrangements.

Market-horse, a horse simply kept in the betting-lists for the purpose of being betted against.

Marplot, an officious bungler, who spoils everything he interferes with.

Marriage lines, a marriage certificate.—Provincial.

Marrow, a mate, a fellow-workman, a pitman who works in a “shift” with another.—Northumberland and Durham.

Marrow-bones, the knees; “I’ll bring him down upon his marrow bones,” i.e., I’ll make him bend his knees as he does to the Virgin Mary. Supposed to be from Mary Bones, an objectionable term used by the first Protestants in reference to the supposed adoration of the Virgin Mary by Catholics.

Marrowskying. See Medical Greek.

Marry, a very old term of asseveration, originally (in Popish times) a mode of swearing by the Virgin Mary; q.d., by Mary.

Martingale, a gambling term, which means the doubling of a stake every time you lose; so that when you win once you win back all that you have lost. So called from the fact that, as in all fair games you must win once, you have a safe hold of fortune. The difficulty is to obtain a bank large enough to do this effectively, or having the bank to find any one who will follow you far enough, in a fair game.

Mary Ann, the title of the dea ex machinâ evolved from trades-unionism at Sheffield, to the utter destruction of recalcitrant grinders. She is supposed to do all the “blow-ups,” steal all the bands, and otherwise terrorize over victims of the union.

Marygold, one million sterling. See plum.

Maskee, never mind, no consequence.—Anglo-Chinese.

Massacre of the innocents, when the leader of the House of Commons goes through the doleful operation of devoting to extinction a number of useful measures at the end of the session, for want of time to pass them. Vide Times, 20th July, 1859: Mr. C. Foster, on altering the time of the legislative sessions.—Parliamentary Slang.

Master of the Mint, a gardener.

Master of the Rolls, a baker.

Mate, the term a coster or low person applies to a friend, partner, or companion; “me and my mate did so and so,” is a common phrase with a low Londoner. Originally a sea term.

Matey, a labourer in one of Her Majesty’s dockyards. Common elaboration of the word mate.

Maudlin, Magdalen College, Oxford. This is the old English pronunciation of the word.

Mauley, a fist, that with which one strikes as with a mall.—Pugilistic.

Mauley, a signature, from mauley, a fist; “put your fist to it,” is sometimes said by a tradesman when desiring a fellow-trader to put his signature to a bill or note.

Maund, to beg; “maundering on the fly,” begging of people in the streets.—Old Cant. Maung, to beg, is a term in use amongst the gipsies, and may also be found in the Hindoo vocabulary. Maund, however, is pure Anglo-Saxon, from mand, a basket. Compare beg, which is derived from bag—a curious parallel.

Maw, the mouth; “hold your maw,” cease talking.

Mawworm, a hypocrite of the most unpleasant kind. From Bickerstaff’s play of The Hypocrite. Originally a mawworm was a worm in the stomach, the thread worm.

Max, gin; max upon tick, gin obtained upon credit.

Mazarine, the platform beneath the stage in large theatres. Probably corruption of Italian, mezzanino.

M. B. coat, (i.e., Mark of the Beast,) a name given to the long surtout worn by some of the clergy,—a modern Puritan form of abuse, said to have been accidentally disclosed to a High Church customer by a tailor’s orders to his foreman.

Mealy-mouthed, soft-spoken, plausible, deceitful. A specious liar is said to be mealy-mouthed.

Mean white, a term of contempt among negroes, in the old slavery days, for white men without landed property. A white man in the Southern States had no locus standi unless he possessed property, and the blackest of niggers would have felt insulted at any “poor white trash” claiming to be “a man and brother.”

Measley, mean, miserable-looking, “seedy;” “what a measley-looking man!” i.e., what a wretched, unhappy fellow.

Medical Greek, the slang used by medical students at the hospitals. At the London University they have a way of disguising English, described by Albert Smith as the Gower Street Dialect, which consists in transposing the initials of words, e.g., “poke a smipe”—smoke a pipe; “flutter-by”—butterfly, &c. This disagreeable nonsense, which has not even the recommendation of a little ability in its composition, is often termed Marrowskying. See Greek, St. Giles’s Greek, or the “Ægidiac” dialect, Language of ziph, &c.

Meisensang, a missionary, Chinese pronunciation of the English word.—Anglo-Chinese.

Menagerie, the orchestra of a theatre.—Theatrical.

Menavelings, odd money remaining after the daily accounts are made up at a railway booking-office,—usually divided among the clerks. See overs and shorts.

Men of Kent, men born in that portion of the “garden of England” which lies east of the Medway, as distinguished from Kentish men born the other side. The men of kent are entitled to the benefit of the old laws of the county, that of gavelkind particularly.

Merkin, a term usually applied to a woman’s privities. Originally false hair for those parts.

Merry Dun of Dover, a large ship figuring in sailors’ yarns. She was so large that when passing through the Straits of Dover her flying jib-boom knocked down Calais steeple; while, at the same time, the fly of her ensign swept a flock of sheep off Dover cliffs. She was so lofty that a boy who attempted to go to her mast-head found himself a grey old man when he reached the deck again. This yarn is founded on a story in the Scandinavian mythology. There is also a legend among sailors of the gallant Thunderbomb, which had “ninety-nine decks and no bottom.”

Mesopotamia, a name given to Eaton Square and neighbourhood when first built. This part was also called Cubitopolis.—Fashionable slang.

Mess, to interfere unduly. Costermongers refer to police supervision as messing. Among sailors, a dead man is said to have lost the number of his mess.

Metallician, a racing bookmaker. Bookmakers use metallic books and pencils.

Middy, abbreviation of midshipman.—Naval.

Midge net, a lady’s veil.

Mike, an Irish hodman, or general labourer.

Mike, to loiter; or “lazy about.” The term probably originated in St. Giles’s, which is thronged with Irish labourers, who rarely or never labour (Mike being so common a term with them as to become a generic appellation for Irishmen), and who loiter and lean against the public-houses in the “Dials.” It has been said that the term is Old English, miche, to skulk, to loiter; Old Norse, mak, leisure, idleness.

“Shall the blessed sun of heaven prove a micher?”

Shakspeare’s Hen. IV., ii. 4.

Whatever may have been its origin, there can be now no doubt that the word is supposed to have particular reference to the habits of the Irish Mikes, or labourers, though now and again it is borrowed in the interests of others.

Mild, second-rate, inferior. See draw it mild. Also feeble, inefficient, as “a mild attempt.” Weak young men who keep bulldogs, and dress in a “loud” stable style, from a belief that it is very becoming, are sometimes called “mild bloaters.”

Milk, a term used in connexion with racing; when a horse is entered in a race for which his owner does not intend him to run, or at all events in which he does not intend him to win, and bets against him, the animal is said to “be milked.” Milking, is keeping a horse a favourite, at short odds, for a race in which he has no chance whatever, or in which he will not be allowed to try, for the purpose of laying against him.

Milky ones, white linen rags.

Mill, a fight, or set to. Ancient Cant, myll, to rob. Probably from the special opportunities afforded to pickpockets when the ring was a “national institution.”

Mill, to fight or beat.

Mill, the old Insolvent Debtors’ Court. “To go through the mill” was equivalent to being “whitewashed.”

Mill, the tread-mill.

Miller. To drown the miller is to put too much water in anything. The phrase was originally “to drown the miller’s thumb,” or go over the specified mark, i.e., the thumb-mark, in adding water to ardent spirits.

Miller. “To give the miller” is to engage a person in conversation of an apparently friendly character, when all at once the bystanders surround and pelt him with flour, grease, and filth of various kinds, flour predominating. This mode of punishing spies, informers, and other obnoxious individuals, is used by cabmen, omnibus conductors, et hoc genus omne. Eggs are useful missiles in an engagement of this description. If rotten eggs are not obtainable, ordinary ones will do.

Miller. This word is frequently called out when a person relates a stale joke. See Joe.

Milvader, to beat.

Mish, a shirt, or chemise. From commission, the ancient cant for a shirt, afterwards shortened to k’mish or smish, and then to mish. French, chemise; Italian, camicia.

“With his snowy camese and his shaggy capote.”

—Byron.

Mitey, a cheesemonger.

Mitten. “To get the mitten” is, in Canadian slang, to be jilted.

Mittens, the boxing gloves.

Mizzle, a frequentative form of mist in both senses; as applied to weather, it is used by John Gadbury in his Ephemeris in 1695—misty and mizzling—to come down as mist; while the other sense may be expressed as to fade away like a mist.

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.

Mizzler, or rum-mizzler, a person who is clever at effecting an escape, or getting out of a difficulty.

Moab, a name applied to the turban-shaped hat which was some few years back fashionable among ladies, and ladylike swells of the other sex. From the Scripture phrase, “Moab is my washpot” (Ps. lx. 8), which latter article the hat in question was supposed to resemble.—University.

Mob. Swift informs us, in his Art of Polite Conversation, that mob was, in his time, the slang abbreviation of “mobility,” just as nob is of “nobility,” at the present day. See school.

“It is perhaps this humour of speaking no more words than we needs must which has so miserably curtailed some of our words, that in familiar writings and conversation they often lose all but their first syllables, as in mob., red., pos., incog., and the like.”

—Addison’s Spectator.

Mob, a thief’s immediate companions, as,—“our own mob;” mobsman, a dressy swindler or pickpocket.

Mob, to hustle, crowd round, and annoy, necessarily the action of a large party against a smaller one, or an individual. Mobbing is generally a concomitant of street robbery.

Mobility, the populace; or, according to Burke, the “great unwashed.” Johnson calls it a cant term, although Swift notices it as a proper expression.

Mockered, holey, marked unpleasantly. A ragged handkerchief and a blotched or pitted face are both said to be mockered.

Modest quencher, a glass of spirits and water. Dick Swiveller was fond of a modest quencher.

Moey, the mouth.—Gipsy and Hindoo. Shakspeare has moe, to make mouths.

Mofussilite, an inhabitant of an up-country district.—Anglo-Indian.

Moisten your chaffer, a slang phrase equivalent to “take something to drink.” Also “moisten your clay,” originally applied to smokers, now general, and supposed to have reference to the human clay.

Moke, a donkey.—Gipsy, but now general to all the lower orders. A “coster” and his “moke” are almost inseparable terms. Probably derived originally from the Arabic al mocreve, a carrier.

Moko, a name given by sportsmen to pheasants killed by mistake during September, before the pheasant-shooting comes in. They pull out their tails, and roundly assert that they are no pheasants at all, but mokos.

Moll, a girl; nickname for Mary.—Old Cant.

Molled, followed, or accompanied by a woman. When a costermonger sees a friend walking with a woman he does not know, he says on the first opportunity afterwards, “I see yer the other night when yer was molled up and too proud to speak.”

Mollisher, a low girl or woman; generally a female cohabiting with a man who gets his living by thieving.

Mollsack, a reticule, or market basket.

Moll Thomson’s mark, that is, M. T.—empty; as, “Take away this bottle, it has Moll Thomson’s mark on it.” See M. T.

Moll-tooler, a female pickpocket.

Mollycoddle, an effeminate man; one who “coddles” amongst the women, or does their work.

Mollygrubs, or mulligrubs, stomach ache, or sorrow—which to the costermonger is much the same, as he believes, like the ancients, that the viscera is the seat of all feeling. Costermongers are not alone, even in the present day, in this belief.

Molrowing, “out on the spree,” in company with so-called “gay women.” In allusion to the amatory serenadings of the London cats. Another form of this is, “out on the tiles.”

Mondayish, or Mondayfied, disinclined for work. “St. Monday” is a great institution among artizans and small tradesmen.

Monk, a term of contempt; probably an abbreviation of monkey.

Monkey, spirit or ill temper; “to get one’s monkey up,” to rouse his passion. A man is said to have his monkey up or the monkey on his back, when he is “riled,” or out of temper; this is old, and was probably in allusion originally to the evil spirit which was supposed to be always present with a man; also under similar circumstances a man is said to have his back or hump up.

Monkey, the instrument which drives a rocket.—Army.

Monkey, 500l.--Sporting Slang.

Monkey, the vessel in which a mess receives its full allowance of grog.—Sea.

Monkey-board, the place or step attached to an omnibus, on which the conductor stands.

Monkey-boat, a peculiar, long, narrow, canal boat.

Monkey with a long tail, a mortgage.—Legal.

Monkey’s allowance, to get blows instead of alms, more kicks than halfpence.

Monkery, the country, or rural districts. Originally an old word for a quiet or monastic life.—Hall.

Monniker, a person’s name or signature.

Month of Sundays, an indefinite period, a long time.

Mooch, to sponge; to obtrude oneself 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, to mooch is to shuffle. See the following.

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, horses to hold, &c.; also scraps of food, drinks, old clothes, &c.

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 of four weeks. A calendar month is known as a “callingder” or long moon. A “lunar moon,” ridiculous as the phrase may seem, is of constant use among those who affect slang of this description.

Mooney, intoxicated, a name for a silly fellow.

Mooning, loitering, wandering about in a purposeless manner.

Moonlight, or moonshine, smuggled spirits. From the night-work of smugglers.

Moon-raker, a native of Wiltshire; because it is said that some men of that county, seeing the reflection of the moon in a pond, took it to be a cheese, and endeavoured to pull it out with a rake.

Moonshee, a learned man, professor, or teacher.—Anglo-Indian.

Moonshine, palaver, deception, humbug.

Mop, a hiring place (or fair) for servants. Steps are often “about to be taken” to put down these assemblies, which have been proved to be greatly detrimental to the morality of the poor. They are supposed to contribute largely to the bastardy percentages.

Mop, an habitual drunkard. Also a period of intoxication. “To be on the mop” is to be on the drink from day to day—to be perpetually “stale drunk.”

Mop up, to drink, or empty a glass.—Old Sea term.

Mops and brooms, intoxicated. Supposed by an imaginative person to be the appearance presented by the world to a very drunken man. Possibly the term was first used to express sea-sickness.

Mopusses, money; “mopusses ran taper,” money ran short.

Moral, a forthcoming result which appears certain—originally moral certainty. This is racing slang, as, “The race is a moral for Cremorne.” These morals are often, however, of very uncertain tenure.

More-ish. When there is scarcely enough of an eatable or drinkable, it is said to taste more-ish; as, “This wine is very good, but it has a slight more-ish flavour.”

Morris, to decamp, be off. Probably from the ancient moresco, of morris-dance. See Shakspeare.

Mortar-board, a square college cap.

Mortgage-deed, a pawnbroker’s duplicate.

Moskeneer, to pawn with a view to obtaining more than the actual value of an article. There are, in various parts of the country, men who make moskeneering a profession—that is, they buy jewellery which, though fairly good, is not so good as it seems, and pawn it as opportunity occurs. It is notorious that some men can obtain a much larger sum on a given article than others can; though the smallest of these professionals generally manage to get good livings, which does not say much for the judgment of those constant inspectors of personal property—pawnbrokers’ assistants.

Mot, a girl of indifferent character. Formerly, Mort. Dutch, mott-kast, a harlotry. Mot-cart, see loose-box.

Mouchey, a Jew.

Mouldy, grey-headed. Servants wearing hair-powder are usually termed mouldy-pates by street boys.

Mouldy-grubs, travelling showmen, mountebanks who perform in the open air without tent or covering. Doing this is called mouldy-grubbing.

Mount, a saddle-horse. According to quality, “a good mount,” or “a bad mount.”

Mount, in theatrical parlance, to prepare for production on the stage. “The piece was excellently mounted.”

Mounter, a false swearer. Derived from the borrowed clothes men used to mount, or dress in, when going to swear for a consideration.

Mountain-dew, whisky, advertised as from the Highlands.

Mountain-pecker, a sheep’s head. See jemmy.

Mourning, “a full suit of mourning,” two black eyes; half-mourning, one black eye.

Mouse, a black eye. By a façon de parler, any one with “a mouse” is supposed to have been to Blackwall.

Mouth-almighty, a noisy, talkative person.

Mouthpiece, a lawyer, or counsel. Thieves and their associates always speak of a counsel as a mouthpiece.

Move, a “dodge,” or cunning trick; “up to a move or two,” acquainted with tricks. Probably derived from the game of chess.

M.P., member of the police, one of the slang titles of the Force.

Mrs. Grundy, the representative of the censorious world, “What will Mrs. Grundy say?” Originally a character in the comedy of Speed the Plough.

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 Charles Dickens’s popular novel of Martin Chuzzlewit, who continually quoted an imaginary Mrs. Harris in attestation of the superiority of her qualifications, and the infallibility of her opinions; and thus afforded a parallel to the two newspapers, which appealed to each other as independent authorities, being all the while the production of the same editorial staff. See introductory article.

Mrs. Jones, the house of office, a water-closet.

M.T., railway slang used by porters and pointsmen for empties, or empty carriages. See Moll Thomson’s mark.

Much of a muchness, alike, very much the same thing.

Muck, to beat, or excel. “It’s no use, his luck’s dead in; he’d muck a thousand;” “he mucked me clean out,” &c. To run a muck, or go a mucker, to rush headlong into certain ruin. From a certain religious frenzy, or intoxication caused by bhang, which is common among the Malays, and which now and again causes an enthusiast, kreese in hand, to dash into a crowd and devote every one he meets to death until he is himself killed, or falls from exhaustion.—Malay, amok, slaughter.

Muckender, or muckenger, a pocket-handkerchief.—Old. Cf. snottinger. The original name of the “Neckinger” in Bermondsey was “the Devil’s Neck-handkerchief.” There is still a Neckinger Road and Messrs. Bevington and Sons’ tannery in Bermondsey bears the name of the Neckinger Mills.

Mucker, to go a, to go to grief, to ruin one’s prospects.—Oxford Univ.

Muck-out, to clean out; often applied to one utterly ruining an adversary in gambling.

Muck-snipe, one who has been “mucked out,” or beggared, at gambling. See muck.

Mud-crusher, a word of contempt, used by the cavalry in reference to the infantry.

Mudfog, “The British Association for the Advancement of Science.” Term first used by Charles Dickens in Bentley’s Miscellany, about 1836.

Mud-lark, a man or woman who, with clothes tucked above the knee, grovels through the mud on the banks of the Thames, when the tide is low, for silver or pewter spoons, old bottles, pieces of iron, coal, or any articles of the least value, deposited by the retiring tide, either from passing ships or the sewers. Occasionally applied to those men who cleanse the sewers, and who wear great boots and sou’-wester hats. Those who are employed in banks and counting-houses, in collecting and other out-door duties, have also this appellation.

Mud-student, a farming pupil. The name given to the students at the Agricultural College, Cirencester.

Muff, a silly or weak-minded person, a duffer; muff has been defined to be “a soft thing that holds a lady’s hand without squeezing it.”

Muffin-cap, a cap similar to that worn by a charity-boy.

Muffin-face, a white, soft, delicate, or whiskerless face.

Muffin-worry, an old lady’s tea party.

Mufti, the civilian dress of a naval or military officer when off duty.—Anglo-Indian. From an Eastern word signifying a clergyman or priest.

Mug, the mouth, or face.—Old.

“‘Goblet and mug.’—Topers should bear in mind that what they quaff from the goblet afterwards appears in the mug.”

Mug, to strike in the face, or fight. Also, to rob or swindle. Gaelic, muig, to suffocate, oppress; Irish, mugaim, to kill, destroy.

Mug, “to mug oneself,” to get tipsy.

Mugging, a thrashing,—synonymous with “slogging,” both terms of the “ring,” and frequently used by fighting men.

Muggy, drunk. Also, as applied to weather, stifling, oppressive.

Mug-up, to paint one’s face, or dress specially with a view to impersonation.—Theatrical. To “cram” for an examination.—Army.

Mull, “to make a mull of it,” to spoil anything, or make a fool of oneself.

Mulligrubs. Vide mollygrubs.

Mullingar heifer, a girl with thick ankles.—Irish. The story goes that a traveller, passing through Mullingar, was so struck with this local peculiarity in the women, that he determined to accost the next one he met. “May I ask,” said he, “if you wear hay in your shoes?” “Faith an’ I do,” said the girl; “and what then?” “Because,” says the traveller, “that accounts for the calves of your legs coming down to feed on it.”

Multee kertever, very bad. Italian, molto cattivo. Generally used with the affix of bloke when referring to a man. Phrase much used by circus riders.

Mum, “to keep mum,” to hold one’s peace. Hence “mum’s the word,”—a phrase which implies to all hearers that the matter to which it refers must remain secret.

Mummer, a performer at a travelling theatre.—Ancient. Rustic performers at Christmas in the West of England.

Mump, to beg. In Lincolnshire, Boxing-day is known as mumping day.

Mumper, a beggar. A collector of holiday tribute.

Mumps, the miserables. To feel mumpish is to be heavy, dull, and stupid.

Mundungus, trashy, coarse tobacco. Sometimes used to represent the half-soddened, half-calcined residuum at the bottom of an all-but-smoked-out pipe, which, when knocked out, is vulgarly called the topper, q.v. Spanish, mondongo, black pudding.

Mungarly, bread, food. Mung is an old word for mixed food, but mungarly is doubtless derived from the Lingua Franca, mangiar, to eat. See the following.

Mungarly casa, a baker’s shop; evidently a corruption of a Lingua Franca phrase for an eating-house. The well-known “Nix Mangiare” stairs at Malta derive their name from the endless beggars who lie there and shout, “Nix mangiare,” i.e., “Nothing to eat,” to excite the compassion of the English who land there,—an expression which exhibits remarkably the mongrel composition of the Lingua Franca, mangiare being Italian, and Nix (German, nichts), an evident importation from Trieste, or other Austrian seaport.

Munging, or mounging, whining, begging, muttering.—North.

Muns, the mouth. German, mund.—Old Cant.

Murerk, the mistress of the house. See burerk.

Murkarker, a monkey,—vulgar Cockney pronunciation of macauco, a species of monkey. Jacko Macauco, or Maccacco, as he was mostly called, was the name of a famous fighting monkey, who used nearly fifty years ago to display his prowess at the Westminster pit, where, after having killed many dogs, he was at last “chawed up” by a bull terrier.

Murphy, a potato. Probably from the Irish national liking for potatoes, murphy being a surname common amongst the Irish. Murphies (edible) are sometimes called donovans.

Murphy, “in the arms of Murphy,” i.e., fast asleep. Corruption of Morpheus.

Mush, an umbrella. Contraction of mushroom.

Mush (or mushroom) faker, an itinerant mender of umbrellas.

Mushroom, a hat, shaped like the fungus from which it takes its name, often worn by demure ladies.

Muslin, a woman or girl; “he picked up a bit of muslin.”

Musta, or muster, a pattern, one of a sort. Anglo-Indian term used in describing the make or pattern of anything. A sample of any kind of merchandize. This word is very generally used in commercial transactions all over the world.

Mutton, a contemptuous term for a woman of bad character; sometimes varied to laced mutton. The expression was used as a cant term for a “wild duck” in the reign of James I. As a slang term it was employed by Ben Jonson in his masque of Neptune’s Triumph, which was written for display at Court on Twelfth Night, 1623; “a fine laced mutton or two,” are the words applied to wantons. Shakspeare has the term. In that class of English society which does not lay any claim to refinement, a fond lover is often spoken of as being “fond of his mutton,” which, by the way, in this place does not mean the woman so much as something else.

Mutton chops, a sheep’s-head. A man who has dined off sheep’s-head dignifies his meal by calling it mutton chops (chaps).

Mutton-fist, an uncomplimentary title for any one having a large and muscular, bony, or coarse hand.

Mutton-walk, the saloon at Drury Lane Theatre. A vulgar appellation applied to this place early in the last century, still in use in the neighbourhood of Covent Garden, which was formerly the great resort for the gay and giddy of both sexes.

Muzzle, the mouth.

Muzzle, to fight or thrash; to throttle or garrotte.

Muzzler, a blow in the mouth; a dram of spirits.

Muzzy, intoxicated.

My aunt, Aunt Jones, or Mrs. Jones, the closet of decency, 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. It is worthy of remark that the French call this useful relative “ma tante,” my aunt.

Nab, to catch, to seize; “nab the rust,” to take offence.—Ancient, fourteenth century. See nap.

Nab the rust, to take offence.

Nabob, an Eastern prince, a retired Indian official,—hence a slang term for a capitalist. From Nawaub.

Nabs, self; my nabs, myself; his nabs, himself.—North Country Cant.

Nag, to persistently talk in a scolding manner, after the manner of Mrs. Caudle. Nagging is supposed to be persistent, persevering, passionless scolding.

Nail, to steal, or capture; “paid on the nail,” i.e., paid 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;” most possibly because of “apt alliteration.” Shakspeare has the expression in Henry IV.—

“Falstaff. What! is the old king dead?

Pistol. As nail in door.”

Dickens, in that marvellous little book, A Christmas Carol, says:—

“Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

“Mind! I don’t mean to say that I know of my own knowledge what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined myself to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile: and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the country’s done for. You will, therefore, permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.”

Nail in one’s coffin, a dram, “a drop o’ summat’ short,” a jocular, but disrespectful phrase, used by the lower orders to each other at the moment of lifting a glass of spirits to their lips. “Well, good luck! here’s another nail in my coffin.” This is probably in ridicule of teetotal or temperance preachers, and the arguments adduced by them. Another phrase with old topers is “shedding a tear,” also “wiping an eye.”

Namby-pamby, particular, over-nice, effeminate. This was possibly of Pope’s invention, and first applied by him to the affected short-lined verses addressed by Ambrose Phillips to Lord Carteret’s infant children. See Johnson’s Life of Pope.

Nammus, or namous, to be off, to get away; “let’s nammus, somebody’s coming.” See vamos.

Nanny-shop, a disreputable house.

Nantee, not any, or “I have none.” Nantee also means “shut up!” or “leave off!” Italian, niente, nothing. See dinarly.—Lingua Franca.

Nantee palaver, no conversation, i.e., hold your tongue. Very often in this sense also shortened to nantee only. Originally Lingua Franca, but now general.

Nap, or nab, to take, steal, or receive; “you’ll nap it,” i.e., you will catch a beating.—North; also Old Cant.

Nap, to break, or rap with a hammer. See knap.—North.

Nap, or napper, a hat. From “nab,” a hat, cap, or head.—Old Cant.

Nap nix, a person who works at his trade, and occasionally goes on the stage to act minor parts without receiving any pay. The derivation is obvious. See nap and nix, i.e., nichts.

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. Sometimes called a “nose.”

Nark, to watch, or look after; “nark the titter,” watch the girl.

Narp, a shirt.—Scotch.

Narrow, mean, sordid.—Scotch. In common slang, dull of comprehension, as distinguished from wide awake.

Nasty, ill-tempered, cross-grained. “He was very nasty,” i.e., he was ill-humoured.

Nation, or tarnation, very, or exceedingly. Corruption of damnation.

Natty, pretty, neat, tidy.—Old.

Natural, an idiot, a simpleton. Sometimes half-natural.

Navvy, an excavator employed in making railways, canals, &c. Originally slang, but now a recognised term. Short for navigator, a term humorously applied to excavators when their chief work was that of cutting and banking canals, making dykes to rivers, &c.

N. C., “enough said,” being the initials of nuf ced. A certain theatrical manager spells, it is said, in this style.

Near, mean and stingy.

Neardy, a person in authority over another; master, parent, or foreman.—North.

Neat, unmixed with water. “Two half goes of gin, one neat, the other cold,” meaning one as drawn, the other diluted with cold water. The Americans use the word “straight” instead of neat: “I’ll take mine straight.”

Neck, to swallow. Neck-oil, drink of any kind.

Neck and crop, entirely, completely; “he chuck’d him neck and crop out of window.”

Neck and neck. Horses run neck and neck in a race when they are so perfectly equal that one cannot be said to be before the other.

Neck or nothing, desperate. Originally a steeplechase phrase.

Neck beef, a synonym for coarseness. “As coarse as neck ends of beef.”

Neckinger, a cravat. See muckenger.

Ned, a guinea. Half-ned, half-a-guinea.

Neddy, a considerable quantity, as “a neddy of fruit,” “a neddy of fish,” &c.—Irish slang.

Neddy, a donkey. On Sunday, when a costermonger, if at all well to do, takes his family out for an airing in his “shallow,” the donkey is called “Eddard.”

Neddy, a life preserver. Possibly contraction of Kennedy, the name of the first man, it is said in St. Giles’s, who had his head broken by a poker.

Ned Stokes, the four of spades.—North Hants. See Gentleman’s Magazine for 1791, p. 141.

Needful, money, cash; the “one thing needful” for the accomplishment of most pet designs.

Needle, to annoy. To “cop the needle” is to become vexed or annoyed.

Needy mizzler, a shabby person; a tramp who runs away without paying for his lodging.

Never trust me, an ordinary phrase with low Londoners, and common in Shakspeare’s time, vide Twelfth Night. It is generally used instead of an oath, calling vengeance on the asseverator, if such-and-such does not come to pass.

Newgate fringe, or frill, the collar of beard worn under the chin; so called from its occupying the position of the rope when Jack Ketch operates. Another name for it is a Tyburn collar.

Newgate Knocker, the term given to the lock of hair which costermongers and thieves usually twist back towards the ear. The shape is supposed to resemble the knocker on the prisoners’ door at Newgate—a resemblance that carries a rather unpleasant suggestion to the wearer. Sometimes termed a cobbler’s knot, or cow-lick.

Newmarket, in tossing, when the game is “two out of three,” that is, when he who gains the first two tosses wins. When the first toss is decisive, the game is termed “sudden death.”

Nibble, to take, or steal. Nibbler, a petty thief.

Nib-cove, a gentleman. Nibsomest cribs, best or gentlemen’s houses.—Beggar’s Cant.

Nib-like, gentlemanly.

Nibs, self. His nibs, means any one who may be referred to. As, “I told his nibs,” or “stag his nibs.” “Your nibs,” yourself.

Nick, or Old Nick, the devil.—Scandinavian, Knickar, one of the names of Odin, as the destroying or evil principle.

Nick, to hit the mark; “he’s nicked it,” i.e., won his point. Also to steal. To be “out on the nick,” is to be out thieving. Sometimes described as being “on the pinch.”

Nick-nack, a trifle.—Originally Cant.

Niggling, trifling, or idling; taking short steps in walking.—North.

Nightcap, a glass of “warm with” taken the last thing at night.

Night-hunter, a poacher.—North. Also a London prostitute. Sometimes in the latter capacity varied to night-hawk.

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. Generally written now, willy-nilly.

Nimming, stealing. Old English, nim, to take. Motherwell, the Scotch poet, thought the old word nim (to snatch or pick up) was derived from nam, nam, the tiny words or cries of an infant, when eating anything which pleases its little palate. A negro proverb has the word:—

“Buckra man nam crab,
Cram nam buckra man.”

Or, in the buckra man’s language—

“White man eat [or steal] the crab,
And then crab eat the white man.”

Shakspeare evidently had the word nim in his head when he portrayed Nym.

Nincompoop, a fool, a hen-pecked husband, a “Jerry Sneak.”—Corruption of non compos mentis.

Nine corns, a pipeful of tobacco.

Ninepence, “nice as ninepence,” all right, right to a nicety. A correspondent says:—“This most undoubtedly should be nine-pins. For at the game of that name, in fairness to both parties, the nine pins must always be set up with great accuracy. There is no nicety in ninepence!” Evidently this correspondent does not know how nice it is to have ninepence, after being without money. At all events the phrase is “nice as ninepence.”

Nines, “dressed up to the nines,” in a showy or recherché manner. Up to the nines, up to the dodges and “wrinkles” of life.

Nine Shillings, cool audacity; most probably derived from the French, nonchalance.

Ning-nang, horse-coupers’ term for a worthless thoroughbred.

Ninnyhammer, a foolish, ignorant person. Generally shortened to ninny. Ninny is also short for nincompoop.

Nip, to steal, to take up quickly. See nap and nib.

Nipcheese, a purser.—Old Sea Slang.

Nipper, a sharp lad. Originally a superior grade among cut-purses.

Nix, nothing. German, nichts. See mungarly.

Nix! the signal word of schoolboys and workpeople to each other that the master, or other person in authority, is approaching.

Nix my dolly, once a very popular slang song, beginning—

“In a box of a stone jug I was born,
    Of a hempen widow all forlorn;
And my old dad, as I’ve heard say,
    Was a famous merchant in capers gay;
        Nix my dolly, pals, fake away!”

“Capers” of course here refers to the mode of the old gentleman’s decease.

Niz-priz, a writ of nisi-prius.—Legal.

Nizzie, a fool, a coxcomb.—Old Cant, vide Triumph of Wit.

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 Alinaunder (thirteenth century) for a head; originally, no doubt, the same as knob.

Nob, a person of high position, a “swell,” a nobleman,—of which word it may be an abbreviation, or of nobilis. See snob.

Nob. When the knave of trumps is held at the game of cribbage, the holder counts “one for his nob.”

Nobba, nine. Italian, nove; Spanish, nova,—the b and v being interchangeable, as in sabe and savvey. Slang introduced by the “organ-grinders” from Italy.

Nobba saltee, ninepence. Lingua Franca, nove soldi.

Nobbing cheat, the gallows.—Old Cant.

Nobbing, collecting money; “what nobbings?” i.e., how much have you got or collected from the crowd? This term is much used by “buskers.”

Nobble, to cheat, to overreach; to discover. In the racing world, to “nobble” a horse, is to “get at,” and lame or poison him.

Nobbler, a blow on the nob, a finishing stroke; “that’s a nobbler for him,” i.e., a settler.—Pugilistic.

Nobbler, a confederate of thimble-riggers and card-sharpers, who plays earnestly, as if a stranger to the “rig,” and thus draws unsuspecting persons into a game. The same as a “bonnet” or “bearer-up.” In the North of England, a low, cunning lawyer.

Nobby, or nobbish, fine or showy; nobbily, showily. See snob for derivation.

No flies, an emphatic addition made to an assertion for the purpose of giving it weight. It really means “no error” or “no mistake.” Both of them popular; as, “A jolly fine girl, and no flies!”

No-fly, artful, designing. Term much used among printers, who shorten it to “N.F.”

Noli-me-tangere, the Scotch fiddle, or other contagious disease.

Non-com, a non-commissioned officer in the army.

No odds, no matter, of no consequence.—Latimer’s Sermon before Edward VI.

Nooning, an interval for rest and refreshment, taken at midday by travellers in hot countries.

Norfolk-Howards, bugs; a person named Ephraim Bug some few years back advertised, that for the future he would call himself by the more aristocratic appellation of Norfolk Howard.

North, cunning. The inhabitants of Yorkshire and the Northern counties are supposed, like the canny Scots, to get the better of other people in dealing; hence the phrase, “He’s too far north for me,” i.e., too cunning for me to deal with.

North country compliment, to give or offer anything that is not wanted by either giver or receiver is to pass a north country compliment.

Norwicher, more than one’s share; said of a person who leaves less than half the contents of a tankard for his companion. In what way the term originated, or why Norwich was selected before any other city is not known. Most likely from the slanders which the inhabitants of one town are always inventing about their neighbours.

Nose, a thief who turns informer; a paid spy; generally called a policeman’s nose; “on the nose,” on the look-out.

Nose, to give information to the police, to turn approver.

Nose, “to pay through the nose,” to pay an extravagant price.

Nose-bag, a visitor at a watering-place, or house of refreshment, who carries his own victuals. Term applied by waiters.

Nose ’em, or fogus, tobacco. Nose ’em is but a contraction of the rhyming slang, which see.

Nose-ender, a straight blow delivered full on the nasal promontory.

Nose in the manger, to put one’s, to sit down to eat. To “put on the nose-bag” is to eat hurriedly, or to eat while continuing at work.

Nose out of joint, to put one’s; to supplant, supersede, or mortify a person by excelling him.

Noser, a hard blow, leading to a bloody or contused nose.—Pugilistic.

Notional, imaginative, full of ideas. Used in America to express a wife’s imaginations with regard to her husband’s doings.

Nouse, comprehension, perception.—Old, apparently from the Greek, νοῦς. Gaelic and Irish, nos, knowledge, perception.

Nowhere, horses not placed in a race—that are neither first, second, nor third—are said to be nowhere, especially when this lack of position happens to favourites.

Number of his mess, when a man dies in the army or navy, he is said to “lose the number of his mess.”

Nurse, a curious term applied to competition in omnibuses. Two omnibuses are placed on the road to nurse, or take care of, each opposition “bus,” one before, the other behind. Of course the central or nursed bus has very little chance, unless it happens to be a favourite with the public. Recent legislation and tramways have done much to do away with nursing. Nurse also means to cheat or swindle; trustees are sometimes said to nurse property, i.e., gradually eat it up themselves.

Nut, the head, in pugilistic slang. Used as an exclamation at a fight, it means to strike on the head. In tossing it is a direction to hide the head; to be “off one’s nut,” to be crazed or idiotic.

Nut-cut, roguish, mischievous. A good-natured term of reproach.—Anglo-Indian.

Nuts, to be nuts on anything or person is to be pleased with or fond of it or him; a self-satisfied man is said to be nuts on himself. Nutted, taken in by a man who professed to be nuts on you.

Nux, the “plant,” or object in view. “Stoll up to the nux?” “Do you fully comprehend what is wanted?”—North Country Cant.

Oak, the outer door of college rooms; to “sport one’s oak,” to be “not at home” to visitors. See sport.—University.

Oar, “to put in an oar,” to interfere.

“I put my oar in no man’s boat.”

—Thackeray.

Oat, an atom. Probable corruption of iota, or perhaps from the small size of an oat. “I never got an oat of it,” I never received the smallest portion.

Oat-stealer, an ostler.

Obfuscated, intoxicated.

Obliquitous, oblivious of distinction between right and wrong.—American.

Obstropolous, Cockney corruption of obstreperous.

Ochre, money, generally applied to gold, for a very obvious reason.

O’clock, “like one o’clock,” a favourite comparison with the lower orders, implying briskness; otherwise “like winkin’.” “To know what’s o’clock” is to be wide-awake, sharp, and experienced.

Odd man out, a street or public-house game at tossing. The number of players is three or more. Each tosses up a coin, and if two come down head, and one comes tail, or vice versâ, the odd man loses or wins, as may have been agreed upon. Frequently used to victimize a “flat.” If all be alike, then the toss goes for nothing, and the coppers are again “skied.” It is easy for two men to arrange matters beforehand at this game, and so swindle a third.

Odd man, a man who trains in company with a boat’s crew, so that in the event of any one falling ill the seat will be fairly occupied.

Odds, a phrase equivalent to “consequence;” “what’s the odds?” i.e., what is the expected result? “It’s no odds,” i.e., of no consequence. odds, in sporting phraseology, refers to the proportions or differences of a bet. One bookmaker will lay odds of “six to one” against such a horse winning; whilst another, more speculative, or in the receipt of a first-rate “tip” (information about the horse in question) will lay “eight,” or even “ten to one.”

Od rot it (Colman’s Broad Grins), drat it, od’s blood, and all other exclamations commencing with od, are nothing but softened or suppressed oaths. Od is a corruption of god, and drat of rot.

Off and on, vacillating; “an off and on kind of a chap,” one who is always undecided.

Off at the head, crazy.—Oxfordshire.

Off one’s chump. To be crazy is to be off one’s chump; this is varied by the word chumpy. A mild kind of lunatic is also said to be “off his head,” which means of course exactly the same as the first phrase.

Off one’s feed. To be unable to eat is to be off one’s feed. Originally stable slang.

Off the horn, a term used in reference to very hard steak, which is fancifully said to be off the horn.

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. Also in sporting phraseology to give any information worth having.

Offish, distant, not familiar. Corruption of stand-offish.

Ogle, to look, or reconnoitre.

Ogles, eyes.—Old Cant. French, œil.

Oil of palms, or palm oil, money.

Ointment, medical student slang for butter.

O. K., a matter to be O. K. (oll korrect, i.e., all correct), must be on the “square,” and perfectly in order. This is an Americanism, and is derived from the initials O. K., said to have been marked on a document by an official to signify that all was right and proper.

Old boots, a simile as general in its application as it is irrelevant. “Like old boots” means like anything. “As cheeky as old boots;” “As quick as old boots,” seem a little more reasonable, new boots being somewhat unfavourable to speedy locomotion.

Old dog, a knowing blade, an experienced person. Butler uses the phrase, Hudibras, part ii. canto iii. 208, where it was said of Sidrophel, “And was old dog at physiology.” An Irish proverb says, “old dog for hard road,” meaning that it requires an experienced person to execute a difficult undertaking.

Old gentleman, the devil. Also a card almost imperceptibly longer than the rest of the pack, used by sharpers for the purpose of cheating.

Old gooseberry (see gooseberry), Old Harry (Old Hairy), Old Scratch, all synonyms for the devil.

Old gown, smuggled tea.

Old horse, salt junk, or beef.—Sea.

Old hoss, a term of endearment, originally an Americanism, but now in common use here among friends.

Old Lady in Threadneedle Street, the Bank of England.

Old man, in American merchant ships, the master. The phrase is becoming common in English ships.

Old salt, a thorough sailor.

Old Tom, extra strong gin; sometimes termed cat’s water. Various reasons are given for the use of the words Old Tom. The distillers have the sign of a tom cat on their illuminated placards. The origin of the phrase is, however, in the fact that the managing clerk of a once celebrated “gin-spinning” firm, who was known as Old Tom, used to keep a special bottle of extra good stuff with which to regale customers when they settled their accounts. To get a drink of Old Tom’s was then a great favour. Gradually the title became popular as representing very good strong gin.

Oliver, the moon; “oliver don’t widdle,” i.e., the moon does not shine. Nearly obsolete.

Ollapod, a country apothecary. From George Coleman’s comedy of The Poor Gentleman.

Omee, a master or landlord; “the omee of the carsey’s a nark on the pitch,” the master of the house will not let us perform. Italian, uomo, a man; “uomo della casa,” the master of the house. Latin, homo.—Lingua Franca.

Omnium gatherum, an indiscriminate collection of articles; a numerous and by no means select assemblage.

On, “to be on,” in public-house or vulgar parlance, is synonymous with getting “tight” or tipsy; “it’s St. Monday with him, I see he’s on again,” i.e., drunk as usual, or on the road to it. “I’m on” also expresses a person’s acceptance of an offered bet. To get on a horse or a man is to make bets on it or him. “Try it on,” a defiant challenge to a person.

On the fly, getting one’s living by thieving or other illegitimate means; the phrase is applied to men the same as “on the loose” is to women. On the fly also means on the drink.

On the loose, obtaining a living by prostitution; in reality, on the streets. The term is applied to females only, excepting in the case of “sprees,” when men carousing are sometimes said to be on the loose.

On the nose, on the watch or look-out. See nose.

On the shelf, transported. With old maids it has another and very different meaning.

On the tiles, out all night “on the spree,” or carousing,—in allusion to the London cats on their amatory excursions. See caterwauling.

One-er, that which stands for one, a blow that requires no repeating. In The Old Curiosity Shop, the “Marchioness” tells Dick Swiveller that “her missus is a one-er”—there a variation of “stunner.”

One in ten, a parson. In allusion to the tithing system.

Onion, a watch-seal.

O. P. Publishers’ reply to an inquiry for a book or paper that is out of print.

Open the ball, to commence anything.

Oracle, “to work the oracle,” to plan, manœuvre, to succeed by a wily stratagem.

Orate, an Americanism, which means, to speak in public, or make an oration.

Organ-grinder, an itinerant who is supposed to “grind” music out of a barrel-organ.

Originator, an inventor of plans for the formation of joint-stock companies. The originator submits his schemes to the promoter, who accepts or rejects them.

Otter, eightpence. Italian, otto, eight.—Lingua Franca.

Ottomy, a thin man, a skeleton, a dwarf. Vulgar pronunciation of anatomy. Shakspeare has atomy.

Out, a dram glass. These glasses are two-out (half-quartern), three-out, and four-out. An habitué of a gin-shop, desirous of treating a brace of friends, calls for “a quartern of gin and three outs,” by which he means three glasses which will exactly contain the quartern. Really, the word glasses is understood. The man actually means, and one or more three-out glasses.

Out, in round games, where several play, and there can be but one loser, the winners in succession stand out, while the others play off.

Out and out, prime, excellent, of the first quality; beyond measure. Out-and-outer, one who is of an out-and-out description, “up” to anything.

An ancient MS. has this couplet, which shows the antiquity of the phrase:—

“The Kyng was good alle aboute,
And she was wycked oute and oute.”

Outcry, an auction.—Anglo-Indian.

Outing, a day’s holiday. The Oxford and Cambridge boatrace, the Derby, and other events of a like character, are each said to be simply excuses to the Cockneys for a day’s outing.

Out of collar, out of place,—in allusion to servants. When in place, the term is in collar. Most likely from “head in the collar,” said of horses when hard at work.

Out on the loose, “on the spree,” in search of adventures. See on the loose.

Out on the pickaroon. Picarone is Spanish for a thief, but this phrase does not necessarily mean anything dishonest, but is often used to mean readiness for anything in the way of excitement. It also means to be in search of anything profitable, without much care as to honesty or otherwise.

Outsider, a person who does not habitually bet, or is not admitted to the “ring,” a duffer or good-for-nothing fellow. Also, a horse whose name does not appear among the “favourites.”—Sporting.

Over! or over the left, i.e., the left shoulder—a common exclamation of disbelief in what is being narrated,—sometimes implying that the results of a proposed plan will be over the left, i.e., in the wrong direction, loss instead of gain.

Over, generally used in connexion with come, as, “He came it rather strong over me,” i.e., tried to intimidate or compel me. The same phrase would also be used to imply that an excess of flattery or praise was being employed for a similar purpose, but that the adulation was being “laid on a little too thick” to be considered genuine. Also used thus sometimes: “You mustn’t come Shakspeare over me,” i.e., “you mustn’t assume an air of immeasurable literary superiority over me.” “You mustn’t come Rothschild over me,” &c.

Over, in cricket, four balls delivered from one end to another. After an over has been bowled, the fielders, wicket-keepers, &c., change ends, and the bowling goes on from the recent batting wicket. A maiden-over is an over from which no runs are obtained. Four balls is the regulation number to an over in all important matches; but little clubs and practice elevens suit their own convenience.

Overs, the odd money remaining after the daily accounts are made up at a banking-house,—usually divided amongst the clerks. See menavelings and shorts.

Owned, a slang expression used by the ultra-Evangelicals when a popular preacher makes many converts. The converts themselves are called his “seals.”

P. P., an expression much in use among racing men, which means play or pay, i.e., either go on with the arrangement or forfeit the money. The following is a law of the turf on the subject:—

The following races shall be considered “play or pay”:—The Derby and Oaks at Epsom, the St. Leger at Doncaster, the Two Thousand Guineas, the One Thousand Guineas, the Cesarewitch and Cambridgeshire, at Newmarket, the Ascot, Goodwood, and Doncaster Cups, and all handicaps above 200 sovs. value with two forfeits, the minor of which shall not be less than 5 sovs.; and the Committees of Tattersall’s, and of the Subscription Room at Newmarket, will take no cognisance of any disputes respecting “play or pay” bets on any other races, or of any bets made upon handicap races before the weights are published.

This is the exact law on the subject, but as a rule all bets on horse-racing are considered P. P. unless otherwise arranged. In all matches, though, whether turf, pedestrian, aquatic, or otherwise, a run is given for the money in ordinary betting transactions.

P’s and q’s, particular points, precise behaviour; “mind your P’S and Q’S,” be very careful. Originating, according to some, from the similarity of P’S and Q’S in the hornbook alphabet, and therefore the warning of an old dame to her pupils, or, according to others, of a French dancing-master to his pupils, to mind their pieds (feet) and queues (wigs) when bowing.

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 awaie.”—Baret’s Alvearie, 1580. Contraction of “pack up and be off.” Sometimes the term “sent packing” is used to indicate a sudden discharge, as of a servant or mistress.

Packets, hoaxing lies. Sometimes used as an exclamation of incredulity.—North.

Pad, “to stand pad,” to beg with a small piece of paper pinned on the breast, inscribed, “I am starving.”

Pad, the highway; also a tramp or itinerant musician.

Pad the hoof, to walk; “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, the light articles in the monthly magazines, of which the serial stories are the main attraction. Publishers of magazines seem to think that if they get a serial story from a popular novelist they can pack any amount of rubbish into the remaining pages. This is not so in America, as magazines like the Atlantic Monthly and the Overland Monthly show.

Padding-ken, or crib, tramps’ and boys’ lodging-house.

Paddle, to go or run away.—American.

Paddy, Pat, or Paddy Whack, an Irishman. A nickname of Patrick.

“I’m Paddy Whack, from Ballyhack,
  Not long ago turn’d soldier;
In storm and sack, in front attack,
  None other can be boulder.”

—Irish Song.

Paddy’s goose, the sign of the White Swan, a noted flash public-house in the east of London, supposed to be Paddy’s idea of a goose.

Paddy’s land, “ould Ireland.”

Padre, a clergyman. From the Portuguese.

Pal, a partner, acquaintance, friend, an accomplice. Gipsy, a brother.

Palampo, a quilt or bed-cover. Probably from Palanpore, a town in India, renowned for its manufacture of chintz counterpanes.—Anglo-Indian.

Palaver, to ask, or talk—deceitfully or otherwise, as occasion requires; “palaver to his nibs for a shant of bivvy,” ask the master for a pot of beer. Nantee palaver (pronounced perlarver), cease talking. In this sense used by tramps. Derived from the Portuguese.

Pall, to stop; “pall that,” spoken authoritatively, means, cease what you are doing. From pall, a small instrument which is used to stop the windlass or capstan at sea. When a man says, “I am palled,” he means he cannot or dare not say any more. A sailor, on receiving any extraordinary intelligence, will say, “You pall me,” i.e., you confound me. Most likely from the order frequently given on board ship, “Ease and pall.”

Palm, to impose upon. “You can’t palm that off upon me,” is said when an intending purchaser is suspicious of the quality of the article offered.

Palm oil, or palm soap, money; also, a bribe.

Palmer, a swindler who used to visit shops under the pretence of collecting harp halfpence. To induce shopkeepers to search for them, he offered thirteenpence for one shilling’s-worth, when many persons were silly enough to empty a large quantity of copper on their counters. The palmer, a proficient with his fingers, generally contrived to conceal some before he left the shop.

Palming, robbing shops by pairs—one thief bargaining with apparent intent to purchase, whilst the other watches his opportunity to steal. The following anecdote will give an idea of their modus operandi. A man once entered a “ready-made” boot and shoe shop, and desired to be shown a pair of boots—his companion staying outside and amusing himself by looking in at the window. The one who required to be fresh shod was apparently of a humble and deferential turn, for he placed his hat on the floor directly he stepped into the shop. Boot after boot was tried on until at last a fit was obtained, when in rushed a man, snatched up the customer’s hat left near the door, and ran down the street as fast as his legs could carry him. Away went the customer after his hat, and Crispin, standing at the door, clapped his hands, and shouted, “Go it, you’ll catch him!”—little thinking that it was a concerted trick, and that neither his boots nor the customer would ever return. Instances of this kind of work frequently occur. palming sometimes refers to secreting money or rings in the hand, as well as to bribing. Palming is also the generic term for all that kind of conjuring which depends on manual dexterity, and which is totally distinct from the mechanical-contrivance department.

Pam, the knave of clubs at the game of loo; or, in street phraseology, while the “Judicious Bottleholder” was alive, Lord Palmerston.

Pannikin, a small pan.

Pannum, food, bread.—Lingua Franca, pannen; Latin, panis; Ancient Cant, yannam.

Pannum-bound, said of a pauper or prisoner when his food is stopped. Pannum-struck, very hungry, starving.

Panny, a house—public or otherwise; “flash panny,” a public-house used by thieves; panny-men, housebreakers. Panny, in thieves’ cant, also signifies a burglary.

Pantalettes, the drawers worn in America by little girls.

Pantile, a hat. The term pantile is properly applied to the mould into which the sugar is poured which is afterwards known as “loaf sugar.” Thus, pantile, from whence comes the phrase, “a sugar-loaf hat,” originally signified a tall, conical hat, in shape similar to that usually represented as the head-gear of a bandit. From pantile the more modern slang term tile has been derived. Halliwell gives pantile shop, a meeting-house, from the steeple-crowned or pantile hats of its frequenters. Pantile also means a flat cake with jam on it, given to boys at boarding-schools instead of pudding.

Pantiler, a Dissenting preacher. Probably from the practice of the Quakers, and many Dissenters, of not removing their hats in a place of worship; or from the sugar-loaf hats originally worn by Puritans. Another derivation is from the earthen tiles, technically pantiles (tiles hollowed in the middle, as distinguished from “pintiles,” the older sort, which are flat, smaller, and pinned or nailed to the rafters), with which meeting-houses of Dissenters are usually covered; hence the meeting-house came to be called a pantile, and its frequenters pantilers.

Pants, American term for trousers. Here used to represent the long drawers worn underneath.

Panupetaston, a loose overcoat with wide sleeves, now out of fashion.—Oxford University.

Paper-maker, a rag-gatherer, or gutter-raker—similar to the chiffonnier of Paris. Also, a man who tramps through the country, and collects rags on the pretence that he is an agent to a paper mill.

Paper-Worker, a wandering vendor of street literature; one who sells ballads, dying speeches, and confessions, sometimes termed a “running stationer.”

Parachute, a parasol.

Paradise, French slang for the gallery of a theatre, “up amongst the gods,” which see.

Parish lantern, the moon.

Parish prig, or parish bull, a parson.—Thieves’ cant.

Parney, rain; “dowry of parney,” a quantity of rain. Anglo-Indian slang from the Hindoo, pani, water; Gipsy, pane. Old Indian officers always call brandy-and-water “brandy pawnee.”

Parson, a signpost. Common term in the north, where they say that the parson points, but does not lead. This is given, as the lawyers say, “without prejudice.”

Parson Trulliber, a rude, vulgar, country clergyman, devoted to agricultural pursuits; the race is most probably now extinct. From the pig-feeding and pig-headed parson in Joseph Andrews.

Parson’s nose, the hind part of a goose—a savoury mouthful. Sometimes called the Pope’s nose.

Part, to pay, restore, or give up; “he’s a right un, he is; I know’d he’d part,” i.e., he is a liberal (or punctual) person, and pays his debts, or bestows gratuities. The term is in general use in sporting circles, and is very commonly employed when speaking of the settlement of bets after a race. It is probably derived from the very common reference to stingy people, who are described as not liking to part with their money.

Parter, a free, liberal person. Sometimes called a “good parter.” Any one who looks twice at his money, or who doesn’t pay it at all, is called a “bad parter.”

Party, a person—term in very general use, similar in application to the German pronoun, man, a person, people; “where’s the party as ’ad a’ orter be lookin’ after this ’ere ’oss?” policeman’s inquiry of the wrong cabman; “old party,” an elderly person. The term is said to have arisen in our old justice courts, where, to save “his worship” and the clerk of the court any trouble in exercising their memories with the names of the different plaintiffs, defendants, and witnesses, the word party was generally employed. Dean Alford remarked:—

“The word party for a man is especially offensive. Strange to say, the use is not altogether modern. It occurs in the English version of the Apocryphal book of Tobit, vi. 7. ‘If an evil spirit trouble any, one must make a smoke thereof before the man or the woman, and the party shall be no more vexed.’”

In Shakspeare we find the term:—

“Stephano. How now shall this be compassed? Canst thou bring me to the party?”—Tempest, iii. 2.

This is not the only instance of the word being used by the immortal bard. “I once heard,” said the Dean just quoted, “a venerable dignitary pointed out by a railway porter as an old party in a shovel.” The last word is the vulgar term applied to the peculiar hat worn by clerical dignitaries.

Pash, to strike; now corrupted to bash, which see.—Shakspeare.

Paste, to beat, to thrash vigorously.

Pasteboard, a visiting card; “to pasteboard a person,” to drop a card at an absent person’s house.

Paste-horn, the nose. Shoemakers nickname any shopmate with a large nose “old paste-horn,” from the shape of the horn in which they keep their paste.

Pasty, a bookbinder.

Patch. This old English term of reproach, long obsolete in polite language, may yet occasionally be heard in sentences like these:—“Why, he’s not a patch upon him,” i.e., he is not to be compared with him; “one’s not a patch on the other,” &c. Shakspeare uses the word in the sense of a paltry fellow:—

“What a pied ninny’s this? thou scurvy patch!”

In old English patch meant a fool, a wearer of patched clothes of motley.

Patent coats, the first coat, with the pockets inside the skirt, were so termed.

Patter, a speech or discourse, a pompous street oration, a judge’s summing up, a trial. Ancient word for muttering. Probably from the Latin, paternoster, or Lord’s Prayer. This was said, before the Reformation, in a “low voice” by the priest, until he came to “and lead us not into temptation,” to which the choir responded, “but deliver us from evil.” In the 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.

Patteran, a gipsy trail, made by throwing down a handful of grass occasionally, especially where they have turned off from the main road.

Patter-crib, a flash house.

Patterer, one of a race now nearly defunct, who cried last dying speeches, &c., in the streets. The term is also applied to those who help off their wares by long harangues in the public thoroughfares. These men, to use their own term, “are the aristocracy of the street sellers,” and despise the costermongers for their ignorance, boasting that they live by their intellect, which, as they do not live wonderfully well, is no particularly wise boast.

Pattern, a common vulgar phrase for “patent.”

Paul Pry, an inquisitive person. From the well-known comedy.

Paw, the hand. Paw-cases, gloves. Boots are in some parts of Ireland called “gloves for the feet.”

Pay, to beat a person, or “serve him out.” Originally a nautical term, meaning to stop the seams of a vessel with pitch (French, poix); “here’s the d‑‑‑‑l to pay, and no pitch hot,” said when any catastrophe occurs which there is no means of averting; “to pay over face and eyes, as the cat did the monkey;” “to pay through the nose,” to give a ridiculous price,—an expressive phrase of which no one seems to know the origin. Shakspeare uses pay in the sense of to beat or thrash.

Pay, to deliver. “Pay that letter to Mr. So-and-so” is a very common direction to a Chinese servant.—Anglo-Chinese.

Pay-away, “go on with your story, or discourse.” From the nautical phrase pay-away, meaning to allow a rope to run out of a vessel. When the hearer considers the story quite long enough, he, carrying out the same metaphor, exclaims “hold on.”

Peach, an informer against omnibus conductors and drivers, one especially hired by the proprietors to count passengers and stoppages. The term is in frequent use amongst omnibus-men. This is about the only instance known of the verb being used as a substantive.

Peach, to inform against or betray. Webster states that the word “impeach” is now mostly used, and that peach is confined principally to the conversation of thieves and the lower orders. The word was originally “impeach,” though it was never until lately used in the same way as its abridgment.

Peacock horse, amongst undertakers, is one with a showy tail and mane, which holds its head up well. Peacocky refers to an objectionable high action among racehorses.

Peaking, remnants of cloth. Term amongst drapers and cloth warehousemen.

Peaky, sickly, delicate.

Pec, a term used by the Eton boys for money, an abbreviation, of course, of the Latin pecunia.

Peck, food; “peck and boose,” meat and drink.—Lincolnshire. Ancient Cant, pek, meat.

Peck, to eat voraciously. A hearty eater is generally called “a rare pecker.” Originally peck was to eat delicately, “but we have changed all that now.”

Peck-alley, the throat.

Pecker, “keep your pecker up,” i.e., don’t get down in the mouth,—literally, keep your beak or head well up, “never say die!”

Peckham, a facetious usage of the name of this district, implying a dinner; “all holiday at Peckham,” i.e., nothing to eat.

Peckish, hungry. Old Cant, peckidge, meat.

Peel, to strip, or disrobe.—Sporting.

Peeler, a policeman; so called from Sir Robert Peel (see bobby); properly applied to the Irish Constabulary rather than the Metropolitan Police, the former force having been established by Sir Robert Peel.

Peepers, eyes; “painted peepers,” eyes bruised or blackened from a blow.—Pugilistic.

Peery, suspicious, or inquisitive.

Peg, brandy and soda-water. A peg by which to pull oneself up again. Also, a shilling.—Scotch.

Peg, “to peg away,” to strike, run, or drive away; “peg a hack,” to drive a cab; “to take him down a peg or two,” to check an arrogant or conceited person,—possibly derived from the use of peg tankards. See pin.

Peg, to drink frequently; generally used in reference to devotees of “S. and B.”

Peggers, people who constantly stimulate themselves by means of brandy and soda-water.

Pegtops, the loose trousers in fashion some years back, small at the ankle and swelling upwards, in imitation of the Zouave costume.

Penang-lawyer, a long cane, sometimes carried by a footman. Penang-lawyers are also bludgeons which are carried by all classes in Singapore.

Pencil-fever, a supposititious disease among racehorses, the preliminary symptoms of which show that an animal has been pretty considerably “milked.” Pencil-fever sets in when, despite the efforts of the “marketeers,” a horse can no longer be kept at a short price in the lists, through his actual condition being discovered, and when every layer of odds is anxious to write his name down. This disorder is also called “milk-fever,” “market-fever,” and other suggestive names.

Penny-a-liner, a contributor of local news, accidents, fires, and scandals to a newspaper; a man not regularly “on the paper;” one who is popularly believed to be paid for each contribution at the rate of a penny a line, and whose interest is, therefore, that his articles should be stuffed with fine words and long sentences. This wonderful person, to whom so much is daily attributed, is now generally called a liner.

Penny dreadfuls, an expressive term for those penny publications which depend more upon sensationalism than upon merit, artistic or literary, for success.

Penny gaff, a shop turned into a temporary theatre (admission one penny), at which dancing and singing take place every night. Sometimes 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. Zest is given to these entertainments by the fact that now and again the police make raids upon the houses, and carry off both actors and spectators. These places are also called “dukeys,” for no reason that can be discovered. See gaff.

Penny starver, a penny roll. See buster.

Pen’orth, value for money; as, “I’ll have my pen’orth,”—given irrespective of the actual amount.

Pensioner, a man of the most degraded condition who lives off the miserable earnings of a prostitute. There is an unmentionable prefix to the word Pensioner. See Ponce.

Pepper, to thrash, or strike.—Pugilistic, but used by Shakspeare.—Eastern Counties.

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, which, from their form and awkward appearance, at a distance suggest to the stranger the fact of their being enlarged pepper-boxes. See boilers.

Perch, or roost, a resting-place; “I’m off to perch,” i.e., I am going to bed.

“Nor yet a single perch, for which my lucky stars to thank,
Except the perch I’ve taken on this damp rheumatic bank.”

Lay of the Unsuccessful Angler.

Perform, to carry out a design, generally a dishonest one. To “perform on a flat” is to cozen a fool.

Perkin, beer. Dandy or affected shortening of the widely-known firm, Barclay and Perkins.

Perpendicular, a lunch taken standing-up at a tavern bar. It is usual to call it lunch, often as the perpendicular may take the place of dinner.

Persuaders, spurs.

Pesky, an intensitive expression, implying annoyance; as, “A pesky, troublesome fellow.” Corruption of pestilent; or, Irish, peasgach, rough, rugged. Pesky has now become more American than English. Pesky Ike is the name of a popular American drama.

Peter, a partridge.—Poacher’s term.

Peter, a bundle, or valise. Also, a cash-box.

Peter, to run short, or give out.—American.

Peter Funk, an American term for a spurious auction or “knock-out.”

Peter Grievous, a miserable, melancholy fellow; a croaker.

Petticoat, a woman.

Pewter, money, like “tin,” used generally to signify silver; also a tankard. “Let me have my beer in the pewter,” is a common request to waiters, made by “City” men, and others who affect habits of rude health. The pots for which rowing men contend are often called pewters.

Philadelphia-lawyer, a Transatlantic limb of the law considered to be the very acme of acuteness. Sailors relate many stories of his artful abilities, none, however, short enough to find a place here. The phrase, “Enough to puzzle a Philadelphia-lawyer,” means, enough to puzzle the sharpest man in the world.

Philander, to ramble on incoherently; to write discursively and weakly.

Philip, a policeman. The word is loudly given as a signal that the police are approaching.

Philiper, a thief’s accomplice, one who stands by and looks out for the police while the others commit a robbery, and who calls out “Philip!” when any one approaches.

Philistine, a policeman. The German students call all townspeople not of their body “Philister,” as ours say “cads.” The departing student says, mournfully, in one of the Burschenlieder—

“Muss selber nun Philister sein!”

i.e., “I must now myself Philistine be!” Also, a man who is of a set opposed to one’s own. Society is supposed to regard all outside its bounds as belonging to the Philistine world. Bohemians regard all cleanly, orderly people who conform to conventionality as Philistines.

Physog, or phiz, the face. Swift uses the latter word. Corruption of physiognomy.

Picaroon, a pirate or buccaneer originally; now an ordinary thief.

Piccadilly butchers, a satirical name applied by the crowd to the regiment of Horse Guards, known as the “Royal Blues,” from their savage onslaught upon the crowd on the occasion of the arrest of Sir Francis Burdett at his house in Piccadilly, by order of the Speaker of the House of Commons. See Cheesemongers.

Piccadilly weepers, long carefully combed-out whiskers of the Dundreary fashion.

Pick, “to pick oneself up,” to recover after a beating or illness, sometimes varied to “pick up one’s crumbs;” “to pick a man up,” “to do,” or cheat him.

Pickaninny, a young child is thus styled by the West Indian negroes. The word is now completely naturalized among sailors and water-side people in England.

Pickers, the hands.—Shakspeare.

Pickle, a miserable or comical position; “he is in a sad pickle,” said of any one who has fallen into the gutter, or got besmeared. “A pickle herring,” a comical fellow, a merry-andrew.—Old. Also, a mischievous boy; “what a pickle he is, to be sure!” Derived from his always getting into a pickle, or mess.

Pickles! gammon; also a jeering and insulting exclamation.

Pick-me-up, a revivifying drink taken after a debauch; a tonic.

Piece, a contemptuous term for a woman; a strumpet.—Shakspeare. Not always objectionable nowadays. A “barber’s clerk” does not object to hear his sweetheart or wife called “a nice piece;” and gentlemen of the counter-jumping fraternity describe their “young ladies” as “nice pieces of goods.”

Pieman. In tossing, the man who cries is called the pieman. In the old days when the itinerant pieman’s duty was to toss or sell, and his call was, “Hot pies, toss or buy, toss or buy,” he was always supposed to be entitled to the cry, the intending eater “skying the copper.” An active and efficient police have, however, improved tossing—so far, at all events, as piemen and poor people are concerned—off the face of the earth, and gaming of all descriptions is now a luxury confined to the rich.

Pig, a mass of metal,—so called from its being poured in a fluid state from a sow, which see.—Workman’s term.

Pig, a policeman; an informer. The word is now almost exclusively applied by London thieves to a plain-clothes man, or a “nose.”

Pig, a pressman in a printing office. See donkey.

Pig, or sow’s baby, a sixpence.

Pig, to live in a crowded, filthy manner. The lower orders of Irish are said to pig together. A suggestive, if not elegant, expression.

Pig and Tinder-box, the vulgar rendering of the well-known tavern sign, “Elephant and Castle.”

Pigeon, a gullible or soft person. The French cant, or Argot, has the word pigeon, dupe—“pechon, peschon de ruby, apprenti gueux, enfant (sans doute dérobé)”. The vagabonds and brigands of Spain also used the word in their Germania, or robbers’ language, palomo (pigeon), ignorant, simple. In the sporting world sharps and flats are often called “rooks and pigeons” respectively—sometimes “spiders and flies.”

Pigeon, business, simply the Chinese pronunciation of the English word.—Anglo-Chinese.

Pigeon-English, the English spoken by the natives of Canton and other parts of China.

Pigeon-flying, or bluey cracking, breaking into empty houses and stealing lead.

Pigeon’s milk, an imaginary fluid for which boys and simpletons are frequently sent on the 1st of April.

Pig-headed, obstinate.

Pig’s eye, the ace of diamonds in cards.

Pig’s whisper, a low or inaudible whisper; also a short space of time, synonymous with “cockstride,” i.e., cock’s tread.

Pike, a turnpike; “to bilk a pike,” to cheat the keeper of the toll-gate. Mr. Tony Weller makes many amusing remarks on pikes and pike-keepers. Since the first edition of this work was published, pikes and pike-keepers have departed from amongst us, so far as London and its immediate vicinity are concerned.

Pike, to run, to be off with speed.

Pike it, is said as a hasty and contemptuous, if not angry, dismissal, “if you don’t like it, take a short stick and pike it.” This is but a form of the attempts at rhyming smartness common in London.

“Joe quickly his sand had sold, sir,
  And Bess got a basket of rags;
Then up to St. Giles’s they roll’d, sir;
  To every bunter Bess brags.
Then unto the gin-shop they pike it,
  And Bess was admitted, we hear;
For none of the crew dare but like it,
  As Joey, her kiddy, was there,”

The Sand-man’s Wedding, a Cantata.

“’Twas not our fault, dear Jack; we saw the watch going into the house the moment we came there, and we thought it proper to pike off.”—The Prison Breaker, a Farce.

Pikey, a tramp or gipsy. A pikey-cart is in various parts of the country one of those habitable vehicles suggestive of a wandering life. Possibly the term has reference to one who constantly uses the pike, or turnpike road.

Pile, a sum of money; generally the whole of a man’s private means. A term originally peculiar to Californian miners, in reference to their accumulated dust and nuggets. American gamblers speak of “putting all the pile on” when they fancy anything very much. “To go the whole pile” runs level with our sporting phrase, “To go a raker.”

Pill, a doctor.—Military. Pill-driver, a peddling apothecary.

Pill, to blackball a man at a club. Sometimes a man who is blackballed is described as having received too much medicine.

Pill-box, a doctor’s carriage.

Pin, “to put in the pin,” to refrain from drinking. From the ancient peg tankard, which was furnished with a row of pins, or pegs, to regulate the amount which each person was to drink. Drunken people are often requested to “put in the pin,” from some remote connexion between their unsteadiness and that of a carriage wheel which has lost its linch-pin. The popular cry, “Put in the pin,” can have no connexion with the drinking pin or peg now, whatever it may originally have had. A merry pin, a roysterer. See peg.

Pinch, to steal or cheat; also, to catch, or apprehend.

Pinchbeck, inferior, deteriorated. Anything pretending to more than its proper value is said to be pinchbeck.

“Where, in these pinchbeck days, can we hope to find the old agricultural virtue in all its purity?”

—Framley Parsonage.

Pinchbeck was an inferior metal, compounded of copper and zinc, to resemble gold. It was very fashionable in the last century, and derived its name from a Mr. Pinchbeck, a well-known London tradesman, who manufactured watches, buckles, and other articles out of it. Pinchbeck first obtained his notoriety by the invention of an ingenious candle-snuffers, which the author of The Heroic Epistle to Sir William Chambers made the vehicle of a facetious Ode that went through eight editions. The title of this jeu d’esprit ran thus:—

“Ode to Mr. Pinchbeck, upon his Newly-invented Candle-Snuffers, by Malcolm M’Gregor, Esq., 1776.

“Illustrious Pinchbeck! condescend,
Thou well-beloved, and best king’s friend,
These lyric lines to view;
Oh, may they prompt thee, ere too late,
To snuff the candle of the State,
That burns a little blue!”

Pinchbeck published a poetical reply, and the two pamphlets were for a long time the talk of the town.

Pink, the acme of perfection. The scarlet garb worn in the hunting-field.

Pink, to stab, or pierce. In the days of rapier-wearing a professed duellist was said to be “a regular pinker and driller.”

Pinnel, or pennel,—corruption of penal servitude. As, “four-year pinnel.”

Pinner-up, a seller of old songs, pinned against a wall or framed canvas. Formerly many of these street salesmen carried on their little “paper trade” in London. There are but one or two now left.

Pins, legs.

Pipe, to follow or dog a person; to watch, to notice.

Pipe, to shed tears, or bewail; “pipe one’s eye.”—Sea term.

“He first began to eye his pipe.
And then to pipe his eye.”

—Hood.

Metaphor from the boatswain’s pipe, which calls to duty.

Pipe, “to put one’s pipe out,” to traverse his plans, “to take a rise” out of him. When any one meets with a rebuff or a sharp answer, he is often told to “put that in his pipe and smoke it,” i.e., to digest it carefully.

Piper, a person employed by an omnibus proprietor to act as a spy on the conductor.

Piper, a broken-winded hack horse.

Pipkin, the stomach,—properly, an earthen round-bottomed pot—Norwich.

Pips, the marks, no matter of what suit, on playing cards. The ace is often called “single pip.”

Pit, a breast-pocket.

Pitch, a fixed locality where a patterer can hold forth to a gaping multitude for at least some few minutes continuously; “to do a pitch in the drag,” to perform in the street. An itinerant is said to “make a pitch” whenever he attempts to do any business.

Pitch, to utter base coin. Smashers are known to themselves and their friends, the rest of the dangerous classes, as “snide pitchers.” The confederacy is divided into makers, buyers, holders, and pitchers. The maker probably never sees the actual passers of base money, the buyer being generally the intercommunicating medium. The holder is generally a man who carries the bulk of the “snides,” and waits about; while the pitcher, often a woman—indeed, more often than not—runs the actual risk.

Pitch, to go to bed for less than the ordinary period. Journeymen bakers, and others whose work is disjointed, call any short interval of sleep a pitch. Probably from the action.

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.

Place, to name the first three horses in a race. This is the duty of the judge, who sees nothing of the race but the finish. Sometimes an official will place more than the first three, but this in no way interferes with the meaning of the word as generally received. To run “nowhere” is to be unplaced.

Place, first, second, or third position in a race. Sometimes a place is called a “situation” or a “shop.”

Plant, a dodge, a preconcerted swindle; a position in the street to sell from. All bearings-up, bonnetings, and such like arrangements, are the results of preconcerted schemes or plants.

Plant, to mark a person out for plunder or robbery; to conceal or hide money, &c.—Old Cant. In the sense of conceal, there is a similar word in Argot, planquer.

Plant, a hidden store of money or variables. To “spring a plant” is to unearth another person’s hoard.

Platform, a standpoint in an argument, a statement of political or general opinion. “Home rule’s my platform!” Originally American, but now general.

Play, to strike for higher wages, to be out of work.—North.

Plebs, a term used to stigmatize a tradesman’s son at Westminster School. Latin, plebs, the vulgar.

Plough. To be ploughed is to fail to pass an examination. About twenty years ago “pluck,” the word then used, began to be superseded by plough. It is said to have arisen from a man who could not supply the examiner with any quotation from Scripture, until at last he blurted out, “And the ploughers ploughed on my back, and made long furrows.”—University.

Ploughed, drunk.

Pluck, the heart, liver, and lungs of an animal,—all that is plucked away in connexion with the windpipe, from the chest of a sheep or hog.

Pluck, to turn back at a University examination. The supposed origin of pluck is, that when, on degree day, the proctor, after having read the name of a candidate for a degree, walks down the hall and back, it is to give any creditor the opportunity of plucking his sleeve, and informing him of the candidate’s being in debt.

Pluck, courage, valour, stoutness. See following.

Plucked un, a stout or brave fellow; “he’s a rare plucked un,” i.e., he dares face anything.

During the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny plucky, signifying courageous, became a favourite term even among ladies; and the term British pluck will probably live—slangy as is its origin—as long as the language into which it has been adopted, for the history of the deeds with which it is associated can never die, while, indeed, a history remains to this country. The word met with great disfavour at first from the “genteel,” but of course they followed when aristocracy deigned to use it.

Plum, £100,000, usually applied to the dowry of a rich heiress, to a legacy, or to a sum made in business or by a lucky speculation.

Plum-cash, prime cost.—Anglo-Chinese.

Plummy, round, sleek, jolly, or fat; excellent, very good, first-rate.

Plumper, a single vote at an election, not a “split ticket.”

Plunder, a common word in the horse trade to express profit. Also an American term for baggage, luggage. In Lower Canada the French packmen call luggage “butin.”

Plunger, a heavy cavalry-man.—Military slang.

Plutocracy, the wealthy classes. The Manchester merchants are often termed a millocracy, and words of a similar character are mobocracy and moneyocracy.

Pocket, to put up with. A man who does not resent an affront is said to pocket it.

Pocket-pistol, a dram-flask.

Podgy, drunk; dumpy, short, and fat.

Pogram, a Dissenter, a fanatic, formalist, or humbug. So called from a well-known enthusiast of this name.

Poke, a bag, or sack; “to buy a pig in a poke,” to purchase anything without seeing it. Poke was originally a pocket. Shakspeare says—

“And then he pulled a dial from his poke.”

Poke. “Come, none of your poking fun at me,” i.e., you must not laugh at me.

Poker. “By the holy poker and the tumbling Tom!” an Irish oath.

Pokers, or silver pokers, the Bedels of the Vice-Chancellor, who carry silver maces, and accompany him through the streets. They are also officers of his court.—University.

“Around, around, all, all around.
  On seats with velvet lined,
Sat Heads of Houses in a row,
  And Deans and College Dons below,
With a poker or two behind.”

Rime of the New-made Baccalere, 1841.

Poky, confined or cramped; “that corner is poky and narrow.” Housewives describe a small uncomfortable room as “a poky hole.” Saxon, poke, a sack.

Policeman, a fly—more especially the kind known as “blue bottle.” Also, among the dangerous classes, a man who is unworthy of confidence, a sneak or mean fellow.

Polish off, to finish off anything quickly—a dinner, for instance; also to finish off an adversary.—Pugilistic.

Poll, at Cambridge, the “ordinary degree” candidates for the B.A. Examination, who do not aspire to the “Honours” list. From the Greek, οἱ πόλλοι, “the many.”

Poll, to beat or distance, as in a race; to utterly vanquish in competition. Term much used by printers.

Poll, a female of unsteady character; “polled up,” means living with a woman in a state of unmarried impropriety. Also, if a costermonger sees one of his friends walking with a strange woman, he will say to him on the earliest opportunity, “I saw yer when yer was polled up.”

Poll, or polling, one thief robbing another of part of the booty. In use in ancient times, vide Hall’s Union, 1548.

Poll parrot, a talkative, gossiping woman. A term much used about Ratcliff Highway.

Polony, Cockney shortening and vulgar pronunciation of Bologna (sausage). The sausages which are sold under the name of polonies have, however, no nearer connexion with Bologna sausages than that of the word’s derivation.

Pompadours, the Fifty-sixth Regiment of Foot in the British army.

Ponce, a degraded man who lives upon a woman’s prostitution. Low-class East-end thieves even will “draw the line” at ponces, and object to their presence in the boozing-kens.

Pond, or herring-pond, the sea; so called by those who were sent across it at the national expense.

Ponge, or pongelow, beer, half-and-half; the term is also used as a verb, as in the Cockney phrase, “let’s pongelow, shall we?”

Pony, twenty-five pounds.—Sporting.

Poona, a sovereign. Corruption of “pound;” or from the Lingua Franca.

Pop, to pawn or pledge; “to pop up the spout,” to pledge at the 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. Ginger-beer is also known as pop.

Pop the question, to make an offer of marriage.

Pope’s-eye, a peculiar little part in a leg of mutton, much esteemed by lovers of that joint.

Pope’s nose, the extremity of the rump of a roast fowl, sometimes devilled as a dainty for epicures. Also known as “the parson’s nose.”

Pops, pocket-pistols.

Porterhouse steak, an American term for a steak which contains a small bone. In the States, tender-loin steaks are much eaten. These are from what we call the undercut of the sirloin.

Posa, a treasurer. A corruption of “purser,” the name given to the treasurer in the large Anglo-Chinese mercantile establishments.—Anglo-Chinese.

Posh, a halfpenny, or trifling coin. Also a generic term for money.

Post, to pay down; “post the pony” signifies to place the stakes played for on the table.

Post-horn, the nose. See paste-horn.

Post-mortem, at Cambridge, the second examination which men who have been “plucked” have to undergo.—University.

Posted up, well acquainted with the subject in question, “up to the mark,”—metaphor drawn from the counting-house.

Pot, a favourite in the betting for a race. Probably so called because it is usual to say that a heavily-backed horse carries “a pot of money.” When a favourite is beaten the pot is said to be upset.

Pot, a sixpence, i.e., the price of a pot or quart of half-and-half. A half-crown, in medical student slang, is a five-pot piece.

Pot, to go to pot, to die; from the classic custom of putting the ashes of the dead in an urn; also, to be ruined or broken up,—often applied to tradesmen who fail in business. “Go to pot!” i.e., go and hang yourself, shut up and be quiet.—L’Estrange. “To put the pot on,” to overcharge or exaggerate. “To go to pot” most probably means to go out of all shape, as metal in the melting-pot.

Pot, to finish; “don’t pot me,” term used at billiards, when a player holes his adversary’s ball—generally considered shabby play. This word was much used by our soldiers in the Crimea in reference to shots from a hole or ambush. These were called pot-shots. The term is still used to denote a shot taken sitting or at ease.

Pot-boiler, a picture hurriedly painted for the purpose of “keeping the pot boiling.”—Artistic slang.

Pot-faker, a hawker of crockery and general earthenware.

Pot-hat, a low-crowned hat, as distinguished from the soft wideawake and the stove-pipe.

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. A man who fires at anything, regardless of the rules which govern true sportsmen.

Pot-hunter, a man who gives his time up to rowing or punting, or any sort of match in order to win the “pewters” which are given as prizes.—University. The term is now much used in aquatic and athletic circles; and is applied, in a derogatory sense, to men of good quality who enter themselves in small races they are almost sure to win, and thus deprive the juniors of small trophies which should be above the attention of champions, though valuable to beginners. Also an unwelcome guest, who manages to be just in time for dinner.

Pot-luck, just as it comes; to take pot-luck, i.e., one’s chance of a dinner, or of what there is for dinner. A hearty term, used to signify that whatever the pot contains the visitor is welcome to.

Pot-valiant, courageous through application to the bottle. Possessed of Dutch courage.

Pot-walloper, an elector in certain boroughs before the passing of the first Reform Bill, whose qualification consisted in being a housekeeper,—to establish which it was only necessary to boil a pot within the limits of the borough, by the aid of any temporary erection. This implied that he was able to provide for himself, and not necessitated to apply for parochial relief. Honiton, Tregoney, Ilchester, Old Sarum, &c., had this privilege before the passing of the first Reform Bill. Also, a scullion.

Potato-trap, the mouth.—Originally a Hibernicism.

Potheen, whisky made in an illicit still, once a favourite drink in Ireland, now almost unattainable. People resident in England who read of the charms of potheen would be rather astonished if they were to taste it. It is real “fire-water” flavoured with peat-smoke.

Potted, or potted out, cabined, confined, figurative of crammed into a garden-pot. Also applied to burial,—a horticultural allusion.

Potter, to meddle without much judgment. Application various. A gentleman may describe himself as “pottering about in his garden,” and think the phrase pleasant. The gardener, who has to do the work all over again, may, however, use the word in quite a different sense.

Power, a large quantity; “a power of money.”—Irish at first, but now general.

Pow-wow, a conference. Originally an Indian term.

Prad, a horse. Prad-napping was horse-stealing. Both these terms are old cant.

Prancer, a horse.—Ancient Cant. In modern slang an officer of cavalry.

Praties, potatoes.—Irish.

Precious, used, in a slang sense, like very or exceeding; “a precious little of that,” i.e., a very little indeed; a precious humbug, rascal, &c., i.e., an eminent one.

Pretty horsebreakers, a phrase adopted some years back, in deference to common squeamishness, to denote the demi-monde, who dress so well and ride so daintily. Really, pretty heartbreakers.

Prial, a corruption of pair-royal, a term at the game of cribbage, meaning three cards of a similar description. Often used metaphorically for three persons or things of a kind. Double-prial, a corruption of double pair-royal, means four cards, persons, or things of a similar description.

Prick the garter, or pitch the nob, a gambling and cheating game common at fairs, and generally practised by thimble-riggers. It consists of a garter or a piece of list doubled, and then folded up tight. The bet is made upon your asserting that you can, with a pin, prick the point at which the garter is doubled. The garter is then unfolded, and nine times out of ten you will find that you have been deceived, and that one of the false folds has been pricked. The owner of the garter holds the ends tightly with one hand, and there is little doubt that he can make the “flat” lose and the “bonnet” win at pleasure. This was, doubtless, originally a gipsy game, and we are informed by Brand that it was much practised by the gipsies in the time of Shakspeare. 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.—Shakspeare. Prig, to steal or rob. Prigging, thieving. In Scotland the term prig is used in a different sense from what it is in England. In Glasgow, or at Aberdeen, “to prig a salmon” would be to cheapen it, or seek for an abatement in the price. A story is told of two Scotchmen, visitors to London, who got into sad trouble a few years ago by announcing their intention of “prigging a hat” which they had espied in a fashionable manufacturer’s window, and which one of them thought he would like to possess.

Prig, a conceited, stuck-up, over-knowing person; one who appropriates or adopts a manner or costume not suited to him.

Priggish, conceited.

Primed, said of a person in that state of incipient intoxication that if he took more drink it would become evident. Also, crammed for an examination.

Pro, a professional.—Theatrical.

Pro, the proproctor, or second in command in the proctorial police. The two proctors generally appoint a certain number of proproctors each.—Oxford University.

Proctorized, to be, to be stopped by the Proctor, and told to call on him.—University.

Prog, meat, food, &c. Johnson calls it “a low word.” He was fond of “prog,” however.

Proof, the best ale at Magdalen College, Oxford.

Prop, a blow. As, “a prop on the nose,”—more street slang than pugilistic.

Prop, a scarf pin.

Prop-nailer, a man who “sneaks,” or rather snatches, pins from gentlemen’s scarves.

Proper, very, exceedingly, sometimes used ironically; “you are a proper nice fellow,” meaning a great scamp. A “proper man” generally means a perfect man, as far as can be known.

Props, crutches.

Props, stage properties.—Theatrical.

Pros, a water-closet. Abbreviated form of πρὸς τινα τόπον. Some say, πρὸς τον τόπον.—Oxford University.

Pross, to break in or instruct a stage-infatuated youth. Also, to spunge upon a comrade or stranger for drink. In this latter capacity the word is in connexion with prostitute, a prosser being considered a most degraded being, and the word being supposed by many to represent a man who lives on a woman’s prostitution.

Psalm-smiter, a “Ranter,” one who sings at a conventicle. See brisket-beater.

Pub, or public, a public-house; “what pub do you use?” i.e., which inn or public-house do you frequent?

Public patterers, swell mobsmen who pretend to be Dissenting preachers, and harangue in the open air to attract a crowd for their confederates to rob.

Pucker, poor or bad temper, difficulty, déshabillé. Pucker up, to get in a bad temper.

Puckering, talking privately.

Puckerow, to seize, to take hold of. From the Hindostanee, puckerna.—Anglo-Indian.

Pudding-snammer, one who robs a cook-shop.

Puff, to blow up, or swell with praise; declared by a writer in the Weekly Register, as far back as 1732, to be illegitimate.

“Puff has become a cant word, signifying the applause set forth by writers, &c. to increase the reputation and sale of a book, and is an excellent stratagem to excite the curiosity of gentle readers.”

Lord Bacon, however, used the word in a similar sense a century before. Sheridan also seems to have remembered the use of the word, vide Mr. Puff.

Pug, a fighting man’s idea of the contracted word to be produced from pugilist.

Pull, an advantage, or hold upon another; “I’ve the pull over (or of) you,” i.e., you are in my power—perhaps an oblique allusion to the judicial sense. See the following.

Pull, to have one apprehended; “to be pulled up,” or more recently “to be pulled” only, to be taken before a magistrate. The police are constantly “pulling” loitering, furiously driving, or drunken cabmen.

Pull, to drink; “come, take a pull at it,” i.e., drink up.

Pull, to prevent a horse from winning, that is, so far as the rider’s action is concerned.

Pullet, a young girl. Filly is an exchangeable term.

Pummel, to thrash,—from pommel.

Pump, to extract information by roundabout questioning.

Pundit, a person who assumes to be very grave and learned.—Anglo-Indian.

Punkah, a fan, usually a fan of very large size, worked with a string, and used to ventilate rooms.—Anglo-Indian.

Punt, to gamble; punting-shop, a gambling-house. Common in ancient writers, but now disused. The word seems confined to playing for “chicken stakes.” Punt means now in the sporting world to back horses for small stakes.

Punter, a small professional backer of horses.

Pup and ringer, i.e., the “Dog and Bell,” the sign of a flash public-house.

Purdah, a curtain.—Anglo-Indian.

Pure finders, street-collectors of dogs’ dung.—Humorous.

Purl, to spill; purled is a hunting and steeplechasing term synonymous with “foaled,” or “spilt” (thrown); “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 purl,’
’Gin all the world
To put your hair into a curl,
When you feel yourself queer of a mornin’.”

Purler, a heavy fall from a horse in the hunting or steeplechasing field.

Push, a robbery or swindle. “I’m in this push,” the notice given by one magsman to another that he means to “stand in.”

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 Romanizing tendencies of some of its leaders. The name still sticks, however, to this day.

Put, a game at cards, once fashionable, but now played among thieves and costermongers only.

Put, an obsolete slang term representing the modern “bloke” or “cove.” It was generally applied to elderly persons.

Put on, to promise another money or valuables in the event of an anticipated success. “You’re on a quid if Kaiser wins,” might often have been heard before last St. Leger. Many hangers-on of the turf live almost entirely by what they are put on, by bookmakers and backers for whom they do odd work.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, said of a blow or repartee, and equivalent to take that and think over it, or digest it, or let it be a warning to you.

Put the pot on, to put too much money upon one horse.—Sporting.

Put up, to suggest, to incite, “he put me up to it;” he prompted me to do it. Put up, to stop at an hotel or a tavern for entertainment.

Put up, to inspect or plan out with a view of robbery. To obtain full particulars with regard to a house and its occupants, so that danger shall be reduced to a minimum, and the chances of success enlarged.

Put upon, cheated, victimized, oppressed.

Putter up, a man who travels about for the purpose of obtaining information useful to professional burglars. A man of this description will assume many characters, sometimes ingratiating himself with the master of a house, sometimes with the servants, but all to one end, that of robbery. He rarely or never joins in the actual burglary, his work being simply to obtain full particulars as to how, when, and where, for which he receives his full share of the “swag.”

Puttun, regiment.—Anglo-Indian.

Pyah, weak, useless, paltry. This word, much in use among sailors, is evidently derived from the Indian term pariah, signifying the lowest caste of Hindoos. Thus the Pariah dogs in India are termed pyah dogs; and the Pariah descendants of the old Portuguese settlers are called pyah Portuguese. Sailors term the natives of St. Helena—a wretched-looking set of individuals—pyah Englishmen.

Pygostole, the least irreverent of names for the peculiar M. B. coats worn by Tractarian curates:—

“It is true that the wicked make sport
  Of our pygostoles, as we go by;
And one gownsman, in Trinity Court,
  Went so far as to call me a ‘Guy.’”

See M.B.

Pyjands, a kind of drawers or loose pantaloons.—Anglo-Indian.

Quad. See quod.

Quaker, a lump of excrement.

Quality, gentry, the upper classes.

Quandary, described in the dictionaries as a “low word,” may fittingly be given here. It illustrates, like “hocus-pocus,” and other compound colloquialisms, the singular origin of slang expressions. Quandary, a dilemma, a doubt, a difficulty, is from the French, qu’en dirai-je?—Skinner.

Quartereen, a farthing.—Gibraltar term. Italian, quattrino.

Quaver, a musician.

Quean, a strumpet. In Scotland, a lower-class woman. Saxon, cwean, a barren old cow.

Queen Bess, the Queen of Clubs,—perhaps because that queen, history says, was of a swarthy complexion.—North Hants. See Gentleman’s Magazine for 1791, p. 141.

Queen’s tobacco-pipe, the kiln in which all contraband tobacco seized by the Custom-house officers is burned.

Queer, an old cant word, once in continual use as a prefix, signifying base, roguish, or worthless,—the opposite of rum, which signified good and genuine. Queer, in all probability, is immediately derived from the cant language. It has been mooted that it came into use from a quære (?) being set before a man’s name; but it is more than probable that it was brought into this country, by the gipsies, from Germany, where quer signifies “cross” or “crooked.” At all events it is believed to have been first used in England as a cant word.

Queer, “to queer a flat,” to puzzle or confound a “gull,” or silly fellow.

“Who in a row like Tom could lead the van,
  Booze in the ken, or at the spellken hustle?
Who queer a flat,” &c.—Don Juan, xi. 19.

Queer bail, worthless persons who for a consideration formerly stood bail for any one in court. Insolvent Jews generally performed this office, which gave rise to the term Jew-bail, otherwise straw bail.

Queer-bit-makers, coiners.

Queer cuffen, a justice of the peace, or magistrate,—a very ancient term, mentioned in the earliest slang dictionary. In this sense, as well as in that of the verb just given, the term is evidently derived from quæro, to inquire, to question. Quiz and quis? have also an undoubted connexion.

Queer-soft, bad notes.

Queer-street, “in queer street,” in difficulty or in want.

Querier, a chimney-sweep who calls from house to house soliciting employment,—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 start off hurriedly, or without more ado. See cut one’s stick.

Quid, or thick un, a sovereign; “half a quid,” half a sovereign; quids, money generally; “quid for a quod,” one good turn for another. The word is used by old French writers:—

“Des testamens qu’on dit le maistre
De mon fait n’aura 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 quid, promptly replied the other, exhibiting at the same time a “chaw” of the weed. Cud is probably a corruption. Derivation, O. F., or Norman, quider, to ruminate.

Quid-nunc, an inquisitive person, always seeking for news. The words translated simply signify, “What now?”

Quiet, “on the quiet,” clandestinely, so as to avoid observation, “under the rose.”

Quill-driver, a scrivener, a clerk,—satirical phrase similar to “steel bar driver,” a tailor.

Quiller, a parasite, a person who sucks neatly through a quill. See suck up.

Quilt, to thrash, or beat.

Quisby, bankrupt, poverty-stricken. Amplification of queer.

Quisi, roguish, low, obscene.—Anglo-Chinese.

Qui-tam, a solicitor. He who, i.e., “he who, as much for himself as for the King,” seeks a conviction, the penalty for which goes half to the informer and half to the Crown. The term would, therefore, with greater propriety, be applied to a spy than to a solicitor.

Quiz, a prying person, an odd fellow. Originally Oxford slang, but now general, and lately admitted into some dictionaries. See queer cuffen.

Quiz, to pry, or joke; to hoax.

Quizzical, jocose, humorous.

Quizzing-glass, an eyeglass. This was applied to the old single eyeglass, which was not stuck in the eye, as now, but was held in the hand.

Quockerwodger, a wooden toy figure which, when pulled by a string, jerks its limbs about. The term is used in a slang sense, to signify a pseudo-politician, one whose strings of action are pulled by somebody else.

Quod, a prison, a lock-up; quodded, put in prison. Quod is really a shortening of quadrangle; so to be quodded is to be within four walls. The expression is, however, seldom used now except to mean in prison. At Oxford, where it is spelt quad, the word has its original signification.

Quodger, a contraction, or corruption rather, of the Latin law phrase, quo jure? by what law?—Legal.

R. M. D., cash down, immediate payment. The initial letters of ready money down. Another version of this is P. Y. C. (pay your cash), often seen in the market quotations,—as, “Meat fetched 6s. 4d. a stone, P. Y. C., and 6s. 6d. for the account.”

Rabbit, when a person gets the worst of a bargain, he is said “to have bought the rabbit.” From an old story about a man selling a cat to a foreigner for a rabbit.

Racket, a dodge, manœuvre, exhibition; a disturbance.

Rackety, wild or noisy.

Racks, the bones of a dead horse. Term used by horse-slaughterers.

Raclan, a married woman. Originally Gipsy, but now a term with English tramps.

Rafe, or ralph, a pawnbroker’s duplicate.—Norwich.

Raff, a dirty, dissipated fellow; raffish, looking like a raff.

Rag, to divide or share; “let’s rag it,” or “go rags,” i.e., share it equally between us.—Norwich.

Rag, a bank-note.

Rag and Famish, the Army and Navy Club. From Ensign rag and Captain famish, imaginary characters, out of whom Leech some years back obtained much amusement.

Rag-shop, a bank.

Rag-splawger, a rich man.

Ragamuffin, an ill-clad vagabond, a tatterdemalion.

Rain napper, an umbrella.

Raise the wind, to obtain credit, or money,—generally by pawning or selling property, but not unusually by borrowing. Sometimes varied to whistle up the breeze.

Raker, to go a, is, in racing parlance, to put more money than usual on a certain horse. “Going a raker” often leads to “coming a cropper.”

Ramp, to hustle, to rob with violence, to levy blackmail in a ferocious manner; to extort by means of threats. Ramping is generally done in gangs.

Rampage, to be on the, on the drink, on the loose. Dickens, in Great Expectations, refers to Mrs. Jo as being on the rampage when she is worse tempered than usual.

Ramper, a ruffian of the most brutal description, who infests racecourses and similar places on welching expeditions during summer, and finds pleasure and profit in garrotte robberies during winter.

Ramshackle, queer, rickety, knocked about, as standing corn is after a high wind. Corrupted from ram-shatter, or possibly from ransack.

Rancho, originally a Spanish-American word, signifying a hunting-lodge, or cattle-station, in a wood or desert far from the haunts of men. A hunting or fishing station in the Highlands or elsewhere. In Washington, with their accustomed ingenuity in corrupting words and meanings, the Americans use the appellation for a place of evil report. The word is generally pronounced ranch now.

Randals-man. See billy.

Randan, a boat impelled by three rowers, the midship man sculling, and the bowman and strokesman rowing with oars.

Random, three horses driven in line. See tandem, sudden death, harum-scarum.

Randy, rampant, violent, warm.—North. randy-beggar, a gipsy tinker.

Rank, to cheat. Modification of ramp.

Ranker, a commissioned officer in the army who has risen from the ranks. Usually employed in a disparaging sense. Purely military. Also, among street folk, a corruption of rank duffer.

Ran-tan, “on the ran-tan,” drunk.

Rantipoll, a noisy rude girl, a madcap.

Rap, a halfpenny; frequently used generically for money, thus:—“I haven’t 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 were formerly termed rapparees.

Rap, to utter rapidly and vehemently; “he rapped out a volley of oaths.”

Rapping, enormous; “a rapping big lie.”

Rapscallion, a low tattered wretch—not worth a rap.

Raree-show, a collection of curiosities.

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. The term is often used amongst printers to denote one who works under price. Old cant for a clergyman.

Rat, to smell a, to suspect something, to guess that there is something amiss.

Rather! a ridiculous street exclamation synonymous with yes; “Do you like fried chickens?” “rather!” “Are you going out of town?” “rather!” Very often pronounced “rayther!”

Rattening, the punishment inflicted on non-unionists by Sheffield grinders, through the instrumentality of “Mary Ann.” See Parliamentary Inquiry Report on the subject.

Rattlecap, an unsteady, volatile person. Generally applied to girls.

Rattler, a cab, coach, or cart.—Old Cant.

Rattletrap, the mouth. Anything shaky and mean, but pretentious and vulgar, is said to belong to the rattletrap order of things.

Rattling, jolly, pleasant, well-appointed. “A rattling good spread” means an excellent repast, while a true friend is said to be a “rattling good fellow.”

Raw, a tender point, or foible; “to touch a man upon the raw,” is to irritate one by alluding to, or joking him on, anything on which he is peculiarly susceptible or “thin-skinned.” Originally stable slang.

“Liver and bacon, kidneys, ten pounds one!
He thinks me raw. I think I’m rather done.”

Phantom Barber.

Raw, uninitiated; a novice.—Old. Frequently Johnny Raw.

Reach me downs, or hand me downs, clothes bought at secondhand shops. From “Reach me down that, and let’s see if it fits.” In Houndsditch and other celebrated old clothes’ marts, the goods are kept hanging on pegs so as to be well within view of intending buyers.

Reader, a pocket-book; “Touch him for his reader,” i.e., rob him of his pocket-book.

Ready, or ready gilt (maybe gelt), money. Used by Arbuthnot—“Lord Strut was not very flush in ready.”

Ready-reckoners, the Highland regiments of the British army.

Real jam, a sporting phrase, meaning anything exceptionally good. It is said to be real jam for those who back a horse at a long price, when the animal wins, or comes to a short figure.

Recent incision, the busy thoroughfare on the Surrey side of the Thames, known to sober people as the New Cut. Even this latter name has now been changed—if indeed the place ever was so called properly. Although to the general public the street which runs from opposite Rowland Hill’s Chapel to Westminster Bridge Road is known as the New Cut, its name to the Board of Works is Lower Marsh.

Redge, gold.

Red herring, a soldier. The terms are exchangeable, the fish being often called a “soldier.”

Red lane, the throat.

Red liner, an officer of the Mendicity Society.

Red rag, the tongue.

Red un, a gold watch.

Redtape, official routine. A term which was much in vogue during the Crimean campaign, so famous for War Office blunderings.

Regulars, a thief’s fair share of plunder.

Reliever, a coat worn in turn by any party of poor devils whose wardrobes are in pawn.

Relieving Officer, a significant term for a father.—University.

Renage, to revoke, a word used in Ireland at the game of five-card.

Rench, vulgar pronunciation of rinse. “(W)rench your mouth out,” said a fashionable dentist one day.

Re-raw, “on the re-raw,” tipsy or drunk.

Resurrection pie, once a school but now a common phrase, used in reference to a pie supposed to be made of the scraps and leavings that have appeared before.

Ret, an abbreviation of the word reiteration, used to denote the forme which, in a printing-office, backs or perfects paper already printed on one side.

Rhino, ready money.—Old.

        “Some as I know,
Have parted with their ready rino.”

The Seaman’s Adieu, Old Ballad, 1670.

Rhinoceral, rich, wealthy, abounding in rhino. At first sound it would seem as though it meant a man abounding in rhinoceroses.

Rib, a wife. Derivation, of course, Biblical.

Ribbon, gin, or other spirits. Modification of white satin.

Ribbons, the reins. “To handle the ribbons,” to drive.

Ribroast, to beat till the ribs are sore.—Old; but still in use:—

“And he departs, not meanly boasting
Of his magnificent ribroasting.”

—Hudibras.

Rich, spicy; also used in the sense of “too much of a good thing;” “a rich idea,” one too absurd or unreasonable to be adopted.

Richard, a dictionary. See dick.

Ride, “to ride the high horse,” or “ride roughshod 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.

Rider, a supplementary clause in a document.

Riff-raff, low, vulgar rabble.

Rig, or trick, “spree,” or performance; “run a rig,” to play a trick.—See John Gilpin. “rig the market,” in reality to play tricks with it,—a mercantile slang phrase often used in the newspapers.

Rigged, “well rigged,” well dressed.—Old Slang, in use in 1736. See Bailey’s Dictionary.—Sea.

Rigging, a process well known in connexion with sales by auction, by which articles are secured at prices considerably below their real value. See knock-outs. To rig the market is to do similar business on a larger scale for the purpose of affecting the supplies, and thereby increasing the profits on an original purchase of the goods thus made scarce.

Right as ninepence, or nice as ninepence (possible corruption of nine-pins), quite right, exactly right, comfortable. See ninepence.

Right you are, a phrase implying entire acquiescence in what has been said or done. The expression is singularly frequent and general amongst the lower and middle classes of the metropolis.

Rights, “to have one to rights,” to be even with him, to serve him out properly. “To rights” is also an ejaculation signifying satisfaction of the highest order.

Rigmarole, a prolix story.

Rile, to offend, to render very cross, irritated, or vexed. Properly, to render liquor turbid.

Ring, to change; “ringing castors,” changing hats; “to ring the changes,” in low life means to change bad money for good; in respectable society the phrase is sometimes employed to denote that the aggressor has been paid back in his own coin, as in practical joking, when the laugh is turned against the jester. The expression originally came from the belfry.

Ring, a generic term given to horse-racing and pugilism,—the latter was sometimes termed the prize-ring. From the rings used for betting and fighting in, respectively.

Ring, formerly “to go through the ring,” to take advantage of the Insolvency Act, or be “whitewashed.” Now obsolete.

Ring, the open space in front of a racecourse stand, which is used for betting purposes. Betting men are nowadays known as members of the ring, especially if they are in the habit of attending race-meetings. Ring, in America, is a combination of speculators whose object is to force the market for their own especial benefit without any regard to order or decency. We have similar arrangements here, but hitherto no one word has fairly described them.

Ringdropping, is a pursuit to which London “magsmen” and “street-muggers” are prone. A ring or other spurious article is supposed to be found just in front of a “soft-looking party,” and he or she is tempted to buy it at less than half its supposed value.

Rip, a rake, “an old rip,” an old libertine, or a debauchee. Corruption of reprobate.

Rip, to go at a rare pace. This is an American term, and often means to burst up. “Let her rip, I’m insured.”

Ripper, a first-rate man or article.—Provincial.

Ripping, excellent, very good. Equivalent to “stunning.”

Rise, “to take a rise out of a person.” A metaphor from fly-fishing, the silly fish rising to be caught by an artificial fly; to mortify, outwit, or cheat him, by superior cunning.

“There is only one thing, unfortunately, of which Oxford men are economical, and that is, their University experience. They not only think it fair that Freshmen should go through their ordeal unaided, but many have a sweet satisfaction in their distresses, and even busy themselves in obtaining elevations, or, as it is vulgarly termed, in ‘getting rises out of them.’”—Hints to Freshmen, Oxford, 1843.

Rise, or raise, a Barney, to collect a mob; term used by patterers and “schwassle-box” (Punch and Judy) men.

Roarer, a broken-winded horse; or, in the more polite speech of the stable, “a high blower.” Roaring, as applied to horses, is often termed “talking” by turf-men. It is often said delicately by sporting writers, when speaking of a broken-winded racehorse, that “he makes a noise.”

Roaring trade, a very successful business.—Shopkeepers’ Slang.

Roast, to expose a person to a running fire of jokes for the amusement and with the assistance of a whole company. A performance not indulged in by gentlemen. Quizzing is done by a single person only.

Robin redbreast, the ancient Bow Street runner. So called from the colour of his waistcoat.

Rock-a-low, an overcoat. Corruption of the French, roquelaure.

Rocked, “he’s only half-rocked,” i.e., half-witted. See half-rocked.

Rogue’s yarn, a thread of red or blue worsted, worked into the ropes manufactured in the Government dockyards, to identify them if stolen. Also a blue thread worked into canvas, for the same purpose.

Roll of snow, a piece of linen, or bundle of underclothing.

Romany, a gipsy, or the gipsy language; the speech of the Roma or Zincali.—Spanish Gipsy. “Can you patter romany?” i.e., can you talk “black,” or gipsy lingo?

Rook, a cheat, or tricky gambler; the opposite of “pigeon.”

Rook, to cheat, to play “rook” to another’s “pigeon.”

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 rook,
With my little book,
I’ll be the parson.”

Rookery, a low neighbourhood inhabited by dirty Irish and thieves—as St. Giles’s 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.

Rooster, a cock, whether bantam, game, barndoor, or of any other kind. This is an Americanism which obtains full currency on the other side of the Atlantic, though its use would infer that hens do not roost. As the outcome of transpontine delicacy it must, however, be respected.

Rooter, anything good, or of a prime quality; “that is a rooter,” i.e., a first-rate one of the sort.

Rope, to lose a race of any kind purposely, to swindle one’s backers or the public by means of a “cross” or pre-arranged race, in which the best man or best horse is made to rope, or run behind.

Roper, Mistress, “to marry Mrs. Roper” is to enlist in the Royal Marines.

Ropes, the ways of London lower life. “To know the ropes,” is to be conversant with the minutiæ of metropolitan dodges, as regards both the streets and the sporting world.

Roping, the act of pulling or restraining a horse, by its rider, to prevent its winning a race—a trick not unfrequently practised on the turf. Also when a pedestrian or other athlete loses where he should have won, according to his backer’s calculations, he is accused of roping.

Rose, “under the rose” (frequently used in its Latin form, sub rosâ), i.e., under the obligation of silence and secrecy, of which the rose was anciently an emblem, perhaps, as Sir Thomas Browne remarks, from the closeness with which its petals are enfolded in the bud. The Rose of Venus was given, says the classic legend, to Harpocrates, the God of Silence, by Cupid, as a bribe to keep silent about the goddess’s amours. It was commonly sculptured on the ceilings of banqueting rooms, as a sign that what was said in free conversation there was not afterwards to be divulged; and about 1526 was placed over the Roman confessionals as an emblem of secrecy. The White Rose was also an emblem of the Pretender, whose health, as king, his secret adherents used to drink “under the rose.”

Rosin, beer or other drink given to musicians at a dancing party.

Rosin-the-bow, a fiddler. From a famous old song of that name.

Rot, nonsense, anything bad, disagreeable, or useless.

Rot-gut, bad, small beer. See bumclink. In America, cheap whisky.

Rough, bad; “rough fish,” bad or stinking fish.—Billingsgate.

Rough-it, to put up with chance entertainment, to take pot-luck and what accommodation “turns up,” without sighing for better.

Roughs, coarse, or vulgar men. By many thought to be ruff, corruption of ruffian.

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. Also to turn round upon and abuse or rate. Shakspeare has rounding, whispering.

Round, “round dealing,” honest trading; “round sum,” a large sum. Synonymous also, in a slang sense, with square, which see.

Round (in the language of the street), the beat or usual walk of a costermonger to sell his stock. A term used by street folk generally.

“Watchmen, sometimes they made their sallies,
And walk’d their rounds through streets and allies.”

Ned Ward’s Vulgus Britannicus, 1710.

The word “beat” has, so far as our modern guardians are concerned, deposed “round.”

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.

Round un, an unblushingly given and well-proportioned lie. Sometimes known as a “whacker.”

Roundabout, a large swing with four compartments, each the size, and very much the shape, of the body of a cart, capable of seating six or eight boys and girls, erected in a high frame, and turned round by men at a windlass. Fairs and merry-makings generally abound with these swings. The frames take to pieces, and are carried in vans from fair to fair by miserable horses.

Roundem, a button.

Row, “the Row,” i.e., Paternoster Row. The notorious Holywell Street is now called by its denizens “Bookseller’s Row.”

Row, a noisy disturbance, tumult, or trouble. Originally Cambridge, now universal. Seventy years ago it was written roue, which would almost indicate a French origin, from roué, a profligate or disturber of the peace.—Vide George Parker’s Life’s Painter, 1789, p. 122. This is, however, very unlikely, as the derivation of the French word shows.

Rowdy, money. In America, a ruffian, a brawler, a “rough.” Rowdyism is the state of being of New York roughs and loafers.

Rowdy-dow, low, vulgar “not the cheese,” or thing.

Rub, a quarrel or impediment; “there’s the rub,” i.e., that is the difficulty.—Shakspeare and L’Estrange.

Rubbed out, dead,—a melancholy expression, of late frequently used in fashionable novels. Rubbed out is synonymous with wiped out, which see.

Rubber, a term at whist, &c., the best of three games.

Ruck, the undistinguished crowd; “to come in with the ruck,” to arrive at the winning-post among the thick of the unplaced horses.—Racing term.

Ruction, an Irish row. A faction fight.

Ruggy, fusty, frowsy.

Rule. “To run the rule over,” is, among thieves, to try all a person’s pockets quietly, as done by themselves, or to search any one thoroughly, as at the police-station.

Rule the roast, to be at the head of affairs, to be “cock of the walk.”

Rum, like its opposite, queer, was formerly a much-used prefix, signifying fine, good, gallant, or valuable; perhaps in some way connected with Rome. Nowadays 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.

“Thus rumly floor’d, the kind Acestes ran,
And pitying, raised from earth the game old man.”

Virgil’s Æneid, book v., Translation by Thomas Moore.

Rum cull, the manager of a theatre, generally the master of a travelling troop.

Rumbler, a four-wheeled cab. Not so common as bounder. See growler.

Rumbowling, anything inferior or adulterated.—Sea.

Rumbumptious, haughty, pugilistic.

Rumbustious, or rumbustical, pompous, haughty, boisterous, careless of the comfort of others.

Rumgumption, or gumption, knowledge, capacity, capability,—hence, rumgumptious, knowing, wide-awake, forward, positive, pert, blunt.

Rum-mizzler, Seven Dials cant for a person who is clever at making his escape, or getting out of a difficulty.

Rump, to turn the back upon any one. A still more decided “cut direct” than the “cold shoulder.”

Rumpus, a noise, disturbance, a “row.”

Rum-slim, or rum sling, rum punch.

Rumy, a good woman or girl.—Gipsy Cant. In the Continental Gipsy, romi, a woman, a wife, is the feminine of ro, a man.

Run (good or bad), the success or duration of a piece’s performance.—Theatrical.

Run, to comprehend, &c.; “I don’t run to it,” i.e., I can’t do it, I don’t understand; also not money enough, as, “I should like to, but it wont run to it.”

Run, “to get the run upon any person,” to have the upper hand, or be able to laugh at him. Run down, to abuse or backbite any one; to “lord it,” or “drive over” him. Originally stable slang.

Run for the money, to have a, to have a start given in with a bet. As 20 to 1 against Doncaster, with a run given. See P.P. To have a run for one’s money is also to have a good determined struggle for anything.

Run-in, to lock up in the station-house. The police are very fond of threatening to run-in any person to whom they may take exception, and, as recent revelations have shown, are by no means averse from putting their threats into execution.

Running patterer, a street seller who runs or moves briskly along, calling aloud his wares.

Running stationer, a hawker of books, ballads, dying speeches, and newspapers. Persons of this class formerly used to run with newspapers, blowing a horn, when they were sometimes termed flying stationers. Nowadays, in the event of any political or social disturbance, the miserable relics of these peripatetic newsmen bawl the heads of the telegram or information in quiet London thoroughfares, to the disturbance of the residents. The race is very nearly extinct, the evening-paper boys having run them to earth.

Rush, to come upon suddenly, generally for the purpose of borrowing. To “give a man the rush,” is to spunge upon him all day, and then borrow money at the finish, or pursue some such similar mode of procedure.

Rush, “doing it on the rush,” running away, or making off.

Rust, “to nab the rust,” to take offence. Rusty, cross, ill-tempered, morose; not able to go through life like a person of easy and “polished” manners.

Rustication, the sending of an offender from the University for one term or more, thus hindering his qualifying for a degree.

Rusty guts, a blunt, rough, old fellow. Corruption of rusticus.

Rye. Gipsy term for a young man. In the same parlance “rawnie” is a young woman.

Sack, to “get the sack,” to be discharged by an employer. Varied in the North of England to “get the bag.” In London it is sometimes spoken of as “getting the empty.” It is common now to speak of “getting the bullet,” an evident play on the word discharge.

Sad dog, a merry fellow, a joker, a “gay” or “fast” man.

Saddle, an additional charge made by the manager to a performer upon his benefit night.—Theatrical.

Safe, trusty, worthy of confidence. A safe card is a man who knows “what’s o’clock.” A safe man among betters is one who is sure to fulfil his engagements.

Safe un, a horse which will not run, or will not try, in a race. The bookmakers in London have the information sent them by the touts in their pay, and lay against the safe un, who is also called a “stiff un,” a “dead un,” or a “shtumer,” as often as they can, irrespective of the state of their books. Sometimes a safe un will win, owing to the owner or trainer having, for various reasons, altered his mind. Such a result then goes to prove the “glorious uncertainty of the turf,” a phrase in very common use among sporting writers whenever a favourite is beaten, or whenever a horse runs slow one day and loses, and very fast the next day and wins.

Sails, nickname for the sail-maker on board ship.

St. Martin’s lace, imitation gold lace; stage tinsel.

Saint Monday, a holiday most religiously observed by journeymen shoemakers and other mechanics. An Irishman observed that this saint’s anniversary happened every week. In some parts of the country Monday is termed Cobblers’ Sunday.

Sal, a salary.—Theatrical.

Salaam, a compliment or salutation.—Anglo-Indian.

Salamander, a street acrobat and juggler who eats fire.

Saloop, salep, or salop, a greasy-looking beverage, formerly sold on stalls at early morning, prepared from a powder made of the root of the Orchis mascula, or Red-handed Orchis. Coffee-stands have superseded saloop stalls; but, in addition to other writers, 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. The present generation has no knowledge of this drink, except that derived from books. The word “slops”—as applied to weak, warm drink—is very likely derived from the Cockney pronunciation of saloop.

Salt, a sailor.

Salt, “it’s rather too salt,” said of an extravagant hotel bill. Also, a sort of black mail or tribute levied on visitors or travellers by the Eton boys, at their triennial festival called the “Montem,” by ancient custom and privileges. It is now abolished. A periodical published at Eton many years ago for circulation amongst the boys was called “The Salt-box.” When a person about to sell a business connexion makes fictitious entries in the books of accounts, to simulate that a much more profitable trade is carried on than there really is, he is said to salt the books—salting and cooking being somewhat similar operations. At the gold diggings of Australia, miners sometimes salt an unproductive hole by sprinkling a few grains of gold-dust over it, and thus obtain a good price from a “green hand.” Unpromising speculations are frequently thus salted to entrap the unwary, the wildest ideas being rendered palatable cum grano salis. And though old birds are not readily caught by chaff, the efficacy of salt in bird-catching, so far as the young are concerned, is proverbial.

Salt-box, the condemned cell in Newgate.

Salt junk, navy salt beef. See old horse.

Saltee, a penny. Pence, &c., are thus reckoned:—

Oney saltee, a penny, from the Italian,	uno soldo.
Dooe saltee, twopence	due soldi.
Tray saltee, threepence	tre soldi.
Quarterer saltee, fourpence	quattro soldi.
Chinker saltee, fivepence	cinque soldi.
Say saltee, sixpence	sei soldi.
Say oney saltee, or setter saltee,
sevenpence	sette soldi.
Say dooe saltee, or otter saltee,
eightpence	otto soldi.
Say tray saltee, or nobba saltee,
ninepence	nove soldi.
Say quarterer saltee, or dacha
saltee, tenpence	dieci soldi.
Say chinker saltee, or dacha
oney saltee, elevenpence	dieci uno soldi, &c.
Oney beong, one shilling.
A beong say saltee, one shilling and sixpence.
Dooe beong say saltee, or madza caroon, half-a-crown, or two shillings and sixpence.

⁂ This curious list of numerals in use among the London street folk is, strange as it may seem, derived from the Lingua Franca, or bastard Italian, of the Mediterranean seaports, of which other examples may be found in the pages of this Dictionary. Saltee, the cant term used by the costermongers and others for a penny, is no other than the Italian, soldo (plural, soldi), and the numerals—as may be seen by the Italian equivalents—are a tolerably close imitation of the originals. After the number six, a curious variation occurs, which is peculiar to the London cant, seven being reckoned as say oney, six-one, say dooe, six-two = 8, and so on. Dacha is perhaps from the Greek δέκα, ten, which, in the Constantinopolitan Lingua Franca, is likely enough to have been substituted for the Italian. Madza is clearly the Italian mezza. The origin of beong has not yet been discovered, 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 rush whether the polite French, the gay Spaniards, or the cloudy Germans help to swell their vocabulary. The numbers of low foreigners, however, dragging out a miserable existence in our crowded neighbourhoods, organ grinders and image sellers, foreign seamen from the vessels in the river, and our own connexion with Malta and the Ionian Isles, may explain, to a certain extent, the phenomenon of these Southern phrases in the mouths of costers and tramps. Professor Ascoli, in his Studj Critici, absurdly enough derives these words from the ancient commercial importance of Italian settlers in England, when they gave a name to Lombard Street!

Salve, praise, flattery, chaff.

Sam, i.e., Dicky-Sam, a native of Liverpool.

Sam, to “stand Sam,” to pay for refreshment or drink, to stand paymaster for anything. An Americanism, originating in the letters U.S. on the knapsacks of the United States’ soldiers, which letters were jocularly said to be the initials of Uncle Sam (the Government), who pays for all. In use in this country as early as 1827.

Sammy, a stupid fellow.

Sampan, a small boat.—Anglo-Chinese.

Samshoo, a fiery, noxious spirit, distilled from rice. Spirits generally.—Anglo-Chinese.

Samson and Abel, a group of wrestlers in the centre of Brasenose quadrangle. Some said it represented Samson killing a Philistine; others Cain killing Abel. So the matter was compromised as above.—Oxford University.

Sandwich, a human advertising medium, placed between two boards strapped, one on his breast the other on his shoulders. A “toad in the hole” is the term applied to the same individual when his person is confined by a four-sided box. A gentleman with a lady on each arm is sometimes called a sandwich. The French phrase for this kind of sandwich, l’âne à deux pannières, is expressive.

Sanguinary James, a raw sheep’s-head. See bloody Jemmy.

Sank work, tailors’ phrase for soldiers’ clothes. Perhaps from the Norman sanc, blood,—in allusion either to the soldier’s calling, or the colour of his coat.

Sap, or sapscull, a poor green simpleton, with no heart for work.

Sappy, soft, foolish, namby-pamby, milk-and-watery. “It’s such a sappy book.”

Satin, gin; “a yard of satin,” a glass of gin. Term used by females on make-believe errands, when the real object of their departure from home is to replenish the private bottle. With servants the words “tape” and “ribbon” are more common, the purchase of these feminine requirements being the general excuse for asking to “run out for a little while.” See white satin.

Saucebox, a pert young person. In low life it also signifies the mouth.

Save, to give part of one bet for part of another. A. and B. have backed different horses, and they agree that in the event of either one winning he shall give the other, say, £5. This is called “saving a fiver,” and generally is done when scratchings and knockings-out have left the field so that one of the two speculators must be a winner. The practice also obtains much in competitions decided in heats or rounds, in the course of which backers and layers comparing their prospects often “save a bit” with each other. Saving is, therefore, a form of hedging.

Saveloy, a sausage of bread and chopped beef smoked, a minor kind of polony, which see.

Savvey, to know; “do you savvey that?” Spanish, sabe. In the nigger and Anglo-Chinese patois, this is sabby, “me no sabby.” It is a general word among the lower classes all over the world. It also means acuteness or cleverness; as, “That fellow has plenty of savvey.”

Saw, a term at whist. A saw is established when two partners alternately trump a suit, played to each other for the express purpose.

Saw your timber, “be off!” equivalent to “cut your stick.” Occasionally varied, with mock refinement, to “amputate your mahogany.” See cut.

Sawbones, a surgeon.

Sawney, or sandy, a Scotchman. Corruption of Alexander.

Sawney, a simpleton; a gaping, awkward lout.

Sawney, bacon. Sawney Hunter, one who steals bacon.

Scab, a worthless person.—Old. Shakspeare uses “scald” in a similar sense.

Scab-raiser, a drummer in the army, so called from one of the duties formerly pertaining to that office, viz., inflicting corporal punishment on the soldiers.—Military.

Scabby neck, a native of Denmark.—Sea.

Scabby-sheep, epithet applied by the vulgar to a person who has been in questionable society, or under unholy influence, and become tainted. Also a mean disreputable fellow.

Scaldrum dodge, a dodge in use among begging impostors of burning the body with a mixture of acids and gunpowder, so as to suit the hues and complexions of any accident to be deplored by a confiding public.

Scaly, shabby, or mean. Perhaps anything which betokens the presence of the “Old Serpent,” or it may be a variation of “fishy.”

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; a wandering vagabond; scamping was formerly the cant term for plundering and thieving. A royal-scamp was a highwayman, whilst a foot-scamp was an ordinary thief with nothing but his legs to trust to in case of an attempt at capture. Some have derived scamp from qui ex campo exit, one who leaves the field, a deserter.

Scamp, to give short measure or quantity; applied to dishonest contractors. Also to hurry through a task in a way which precludes the possibility of its being done well. Probably the same as skimp and scrimp.

Scandal-water, tea; from old maids’ tea-parties being generally a focus for scandal.

Scaramouch, properly a tumbler, or saltimbanco. Also a disreputable fellow.

Scarborough-warning, a warning given too late to be taken advantage of. When a person is driven over, and then told to keep out of the way, he receives Scarborough-warning. Fuller says the proverb alludes to an event which happened at that place in 1557, when Thomas Stafford seized upon Scarborough Castle before the townsmen had the least notice of his approach.

Scarce, to make oneself; to be off; to decamp.

Scarlet fever, the desire felt by young ladies to flirt with officers in preference to civilians.

Scarlet-town, Reading, in Berkshire. As the name of this place is pronounced Redding, scarlet-town is probably a rude pun upon it.

Scarper, to run away; Spanish, escapar, to escape, make off; Italian, scappare. “Scarper with the feeley of the donna of the carzey,” to run away with the daughter of the landlady of the house; almost pure Italian, “scappare colla figlia della donna della casa.”—Seven Dials and Prison Cant, from the Lingua Franca.

Schism-shop, a Dissenters’ meeting-house.—University.

Schofel, bad money. See shoful.

School, a knot of men or boys; generally a body of idlers or street gamblers. Also, two or more “patterers” working together in the streets.

Schroff, a banker, treasurer, or confidential clerk.—Anglo-Indian.

Schwassle box, the street arrangement for Punch and Judy. See swatchel-cove.

Sconce, the head; judgment, sense.—Dutch.

Sconce, to fine. Used by Dons as well as undergrads. The Dons fined or sconced for small offences; e.g., five shillings for wearing a coloured coat in hall at dinner-time. Among undergrads a pun, or an oath, or an indecent remark, was sconced by the head of the table. If the offender could, however, floor the tankard of beer which he was sconced, he could retort on his sconcer to the extent of twice the amount he was sconced in.—Oxford University.

Score, a reckoning, “to run up a score at a public-house,” to obtain credit there until pay-day, or a fixed time, when the debt must be “wiped off.” From the old practice of scoring a tippler’s indebtedness on the inside of a public-house door.

Scorf, to eat voraciously.

Scot, a quantity of anything, a lot, a share.—Anglo-Saxon, sceat, pronounced shot.

Scot, temper, or passion,—from the irascible temperament of the Scotch; “Oh! what a scot he was in,” i.e., what temper he showed.

Scotch coffee, biscuits toasted and boiled in water. A gross calumny on the much-enduring Scotians; a supposed joke on their parsimony.—Sea.

Scotch fiddle, the itch; “to play the Scotch fiddle,” to work the index finger of the right hand like a fiddlestick between the index and middle finger of the left. This provokes a Scotchman in the highest degree, as it implies that he is afflicted with the itch. It is supposed that a continuous oatmeal diet is productive of cutaneous affection.

Scotch greys, lice. Our northern neighbours were calumniously reported, in the “good old times” of ignorance and prejudice, 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.

Scout, the male servant, who generally has a staircase under his charge, and waits on the men in each set of rooms. The female servant (not unfrequently his wife or daughter) is the bedmaker.—University.

Scrag, the neck.—Old Cant. Scotch, craig. Still used by butchers. Hence, scrag, to hang by the neck, and scragging, an execution,—also Old Cant.

Scran, pieces of meat, broken victuals. Formerly the reckoning at a public-house. Scranning, or “out on the scran,” begging for broken victuals. Also, an Irish malediction of a mild sort, “Bad scran to yer!” i.e., bad food to you.

Scran-bag, a soldier’s haversack.—Military Slang.

Scrap, to fight. Also used as a substantive. Prize-fighters are often known as scrappers.

Scrape, a difficulty; scrape, low wit for a shave.

Scrape, cheap butter; also butter laid on bread in the thinnest possible manner, as though it had been laid on and scraped off again. “Bread and scrape,” the bread and butter issued to schoolboys,—so called from the manner in which the butter is laid on.

Scratch, an imaginary meeting-point in a fight, or verbal contest; “coming up to the scratch,” preparing to fight—literally approaching the line which used to be chalked on the ground to divide the ring. According to the rules of the prize ring, the toe should be placed at the scratch, so the phrase often is “toeing the scratch.”

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 are void.” See P.P.—Turf. One of Boz’s characters asks whether horses are “really made more lively by being scratched.”

Scratch-race (on the turf), a race at which the horses run at catch weights, a race without restrictions. In boating, a race in which the crew are picked up anyhow. A scratch crew is a crew of all sorts.

Screaming, first-rate, splendid. Believed to have been first used in the Adelphi play-bills; “a screaming farce,” one calculated to make the audience scream with laughter. Now a general expression.

Screed, an illogical or badly-written article or paper upon any subject.

Screeve, a letter, a begging petition.

Screeve, to write, or devise; “to screeve a fakement,” to concoct, or write, a begging letter, or other impostor’s document. From the Dutch, schryven; German, schreiben, 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 draws, perhaps, in half-a-dozen places in the course of a morning, and rents the spots out to as many cadaverous-looking men, who, when any one looks hard at them, will commence to dabble clumsily with the short pieces of chalks they always keep at hand. There are impostors of this kind in higher walks of art.

Screw, an unsound or broken-down horse, that requires both whip and spur to get him along. So called from the screw-like manner in which his ribs generally show through the skin.

Screw, a mean or stingy person.

Screw, salary, or wages.

Screw, “to put on the screw,” to limit one’s credit, to be more exact and precise; “to put under the screw;” to compel, to coerce, to influence by strong pressure.

Screw, a small packet of tobacco. A “twist” of the “weed.”

Screw, a key—skeleton, or otherwise.

Screw, a turnkey.

Screw loose. When friends become cold and distant towards each other, it is said there is a screw loose betwixt them; the same phrase is also used when anything goes wrong with a person’s credit or reputation.

Screwed, intoxicated or drunk.

Scrimmage, or scrummage, a disturbance or row.—Ancient. Probably a corruption of skirmish.

Scrimshaw. Anything made by sailors for themselves in their leisure hours at sea is termed scrimshaw-work.

Scrouge, to crowd or squeeze.—Wiltshire.

Scruff, the back part of the neck seized by the adversary in an encounter. “I seized him by the scruff of the neck, and chucked him out.” Originally scurf.

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 Oxford University church), where the “Heads of Houses” sit in solemn state, is still nicknamed the “Golgotha” by the undergraduates.

Scurf, a mean fellow. Literally a scurvy fellow.

Sea-connie, the steersman of an Indian ship. By the insurance laws he must be either a pyah Portuguese, a European, or a Manilla man,—Lascars not being allowed to be helmsmen.

Sea-cook, “son of a sea-cook,” an opprobrious phrase used on board ship, differing from “son of a gun,” which is generally used admiringly or approvingly.

Seals, a religious slang term for converts. Also a Mormon term for wives. See owned.

See. Like “go” and “do,” this useful verb has long been supplemented with a slang or unauthorized meaning. In street parlance, “to see” is to know or believe; “I don’t see that,” i.e., “I don’t put faith in what you offer, or I know what you say to be untrue.”

See it out, to stay out late or early, and see the gas put out. Also to complete an undertaking.

See the king. See elephant.

Seedy, worn-out, poverty-stricken, used-up, shabby. Metaphorical expression from the appearance of flowers when off bloom and running to seed; hence said of one who wears clothes until they crack and become shabby. “How seedy he looks,” said of any man whose clothes are worn threadbare, with greasy facings, and hat brightened up by perspiration and continual polishing and wetting. When a man’s coat begins to look worn-out and shabby he is said to look seedy and ready for cutting. This term has been in common use for nearly two centuries, and latterly has found its way into most dictionaries. Formerly slang, it is now a recognised word, and one of the most expressive in the English language. The French are always amused with it, they having no similar term.

“Oh, let my hat be e’er sae brown,
  My coat be e’er sae seedy, O!
My whole turn-out scarce worth a crown,
  Like gents well-bred, but needy, O!”

Fisher’s Garland for 1835.

Seeley’s pigs, blocks of iron in Government dockyards. Mr. Seeley, M.P., was the first to call attention in the House of Commons to the scandalous waste of pig-iron in the dockyards. Some of the yards were found to be half paved with blocks of metal, which were thence called “Seeley’s pigs.”

Sell, a deception, or disappointment; also a lying joke.

Sell, to deceive, swindle, or play a practical joke upon a person. A sham is a sell in street parlance. “Sold again, and got the money,” a patterer cries after having successfully deceived somebody. Shakspeare uses selling in a similar sense, viz., blinding or deceiving.

Sensation, a quartern of gin.

Serene, all right; “it’s all serene,” a street phrase of very modern adoption, the burden of a song. Serene, all serene! from the Spanish sereno, equivalent to the English “all’s well;” a countersign of sentinels, supposed to have been acquired by some filibusters who were imprisoned in Cuba, and liberated by the intercession of the British ambassador. The Sereno, the Spanish night watchman, cries out, with the hour, the state of the atmosphere. He was called the Sereno (clear), from his announcing the usual fine (sereno) night—quite different from the work of our old “Charlies,” whose usual call was one of foul weather.

Serve out, to punish, or be revenged on any one.

Setter, sevenpence. Italian, sette. See saltee.—Lingua Franca.

Setter, a person employed by the vendor at an auction to run the bidding up; to bid against bona-fide bidders. Also the man who takes the box at hazard, and “sets a go.”

Setting jewels, taking the best portions of a clever book not much known to the general public, and incorporating them quietly with a new work by a thoroughly original author. The credit of this term belongs to Mr. Charles Reade, who explained that the process is accountable for the presence of some writing by one Jonathan Swift, in a story published at Christmas, 1872, and called The Wandering Heir.

Settle, to kill, ruin, or effectually quiet a person.

Settled, transported, or sent to penal servitude for life; sometimes spoken of as winded-settled.

Set-to, a sparring match, a fight; “a dead set” is a determined opposition in argument, or in movement.

Sevendible, a very curious word, used only in the North of Ireland, to denote something particularly severe, strong, or sound. It is, no doubt, derived from sevendouble—that is, sevenfold—and is applied to linen cloth, a heavy beating, a harsh reprimand, &c.

Seven-pennorth, transportation for seven years.

Seven-sided animal, a one-eyed man, as he has an inside, outside, left side, right side, foreside, backside, and blind side.

Seven-up, the game of all-fours, when played for seven chalks—that is, when seven points or chalks have to be made to win the game.

Sewed-up, done up, used up, intoxicated. Dutch, seeuwt, sick.

Sewn-up, quite worn-out, or “dead beat.”

Shack, a “chevalier d’industrie.” A scamp, a blackguard.—Nottingham.

Shack-per-swaw, every one for himself,—a phrase in use amongst the lower orders at the East-end of London, derived apparently from the French, chacun pour soi.

Shackly, loose, rickety.—Devonshire.

Shady, an expression implying decadence. On “the shady side of forty” implies that a person is considerably older than forty. Shady also means inferiority in other senses. A “shady trick” is either a shabby one, mean or trumpery, or else it is one contemptible from the want of ability displayed. The shady side of a question is, and fairly enough too, that which has no brightness to recommend it.

Shake, a disreputable man or woman.—North. In London a shake is a prostitute.

Shake-down, an improvised bed.

Shake-lurk, a false paper carried by an impostor, giving an account of a “dreadful shipwreck.”

Shake the elbow, to, a roundabout expression for dice-playing. To “crook the elbow” is an Americanism for “to drink.”

Shaker, a shirt.

Shakers, a Puritanical sect, almost peculiar to America, and not similar to our Quakers, as is generally believed. They have very strange notions on things in general, and especially on marriage and the connexion of the sexes.

Shakes, a bad bargain is said to be “no great shakes;” “pretty fair shakes” is anything good or favourable.—Byron. In America, a fair shake is a fair trade or a good bargain.

Shakes, “in a brace of shakes,” i.e., in an instant.

Shakester, or shickster, a female. Amongst costermongers this term is invariably applied to ladies, or the wives of tradesmen, and females generally, of the classes immediately above them. Amongst Jews the word signifies a woman of shady antecedents. Supposed to be derived from the Hebrew, shiktza. It is generally pronounced “shickser.”

Shaky, said of a person of questionable health, integrity, or solvency; at the Universities, of one not likely to pass his examination.

Shaler, a girl. Corrupt form of Gaelic, caille, a young woman.

Shalley-gonahey, a smock-frock.—Cornish.

Shallow, the peculiar barrow used by costermongers.

Shallow, a weak-minded country justice of the peace.—Shakspeare.

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.

Shallows, “to go on the shallows,” to go half naked.

Sham, contraction of champagne. In general use among the lower class of sporting men. Sometimes extended to shammy.

Sham Abraham, to feign sickness. See Abraham.

Shandrydan, an old-fashioned or rickety conveyance of the “shay” order.

Shandy-gaff, ale and gingerbeer. Origin unknown, but use very common.

Shanks, legs.

Shanks’s mare, “to ride shank’s mare,” to go on foot.

Shant, a pot or quart; “shant of bivvy,” a quart of beer.

Shanty, a rude, temporary habitation. The word is principally employed to designate the huts inhabited by navigators, when constructing large lines of railway far distant from towns. It is derived from the French chantier, used by the Canadians for a log hut, and has travelled from thence, by way of the United States, to England.

Shanty, a song. A term in use among sailors. From chanter.

Shapes, “to cut up” or “show shapes,” to exhibit pranks, or flightiness.

Shark, a sharper, a swindler. Bow Street term in 1785, now in most dictionaries.—Friesic and Danish, schurk. See land-shark.

Sharp, or sharper, a cunning cheat, a rogue,—the opposite of flat.

Sharp, a similar expression to “two pun’ ten” (which see), used by assistants in shops to signify that a customer of suspected honesty is amongst them. The shopman in this case would ask one of the assistants, in a voice loud enough to be generally heard, “Has Mr. Sharp come in yet?” “No,” would probably be the reply; “but he is expected every minute.” The signal is at once understood, and a general look-out kept upon the suspected party.

Sharp’s-alley blood-worms, beef sausages and black puddings. Sharp’s Alley was, until City improvements caused it to be destroyed, a noted slaughtering-place near Smithfield.

Shave, a false alarm, a hoax, a sell. This term was much in vogue in the Crimea during the Russian campaign,—that is, though much used by the military before then, the term did not, until that period, become known to the general public.

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;
The examiners we’re sure to queer,
And get through, if you make a shave on’t.”

The Private Tutor.

Shave; “to shave a customer,” charge him more for an article than the marked price. Used in the drapery trade. When the master sees an opportunity of doing this, he strokes his chin, as a signal to his assistant who is serving the customer.

Shaver, a sharp fellow; there are young and old shavers.—Sea.

Shebeen, an unlicensed place where spirituous liquors are illegally sold. A word almost peculiar to Ireland.

Shed a tear, to take a dram, or glass of neat spirits; jocular phrase used, with a sort of grim earnestness, by old topers to each other. “Now then, old fellow, come and shed a tear!” an invitation to take “summat short.” The origin may have been that ardent spirits, taken neat by younger persons, usually bring water to their eyes. With confirmed drinkers, however, the phrase is used with an air of mingled humour and regret at their own position. A still more pathetic phrase is—“putting a nail in one’s coffin,” which see. The term shed a tear is probably derived from “eye-water.”

Sheen, bad money.—Scotch.

Sheeny, a Jew. This word is used by both Jew and Gentile at the East-end of London, and is not considered objectionable on either side.

Sheep’s eyes, loving looks, “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.

Shelf, “on the shelf,” not yet disposed of; young ladies are said to be so situated when they cannot meet with husbands. “On the shelf” also means pawned, or laid by in trust.

Shell out, to pay or count out money. Also a game played on a billiard table, a variation of pool.

Shepherd, to look after carefully, to place under police surveillance.

Shice, nothing; “to do anything for shice,” to get no payment. The term was first used by the Jews in the last century. Grose gives the phrase chice-am-a-trice, which has a synonymous meaning. Spanish, chico, little; Anglo-Saxon, chiche, niggardly; or perhaps connected with the German, scheissen.

Shicer, a mean man, a humbug, a “duffer,”—a worthless person, one who will not work. This is the worst term one Jew can use to another. At the diggings it means a hole which yields nothing.

Shickery, shabby, bad. From shaky, shakery.

Shickster, a lady. See shakester.

Shickster-crabs, ladies’ shoes.—Tramps’ term.

Shigs, money, silver.—East London.

Shikaree, a hunter, a sportsman.—Anglo-Indian. An English sportsman who has seen many ups and downs in jungles of the East styles himself “an old shikaree.”—Anglo-Indian. Also spelt shekarry.

Shilly-shally, to trifle or fritter away time; to be irresolute. Corruption of “Shall I, shall I?”

Shin, an Americanism for walking. “I’m tired of shinning around.”

Shindy, a row, or noise. A shindy generally means a regular mêlée.

Shine, a row, or disturbance.

Shine, “to take the shine out of a person,” to surpass or excel him.

Shiners, sovereigns, or money.

Shiney rag, “to win the shiney rag,” to be ruined,—said in gambling, when any one continues betting after “luck has set in against him.”

Shin-plaster, a bank-note. Originally an Americanism.

Shins. “To break one’s shins,” figurative expression meaning to borrow money.

Ship-shape, proper, in good order; sometimes the phrase is varied to “ship-shape and Bristol fashion.”—Sea. The latter portion of the expression went out with Bristol’s fame as a seaport.

Shirty, ill-tempered, or cross. When one person makes another in an ill-humour he is said to have “got his shirt out.”

Shivering Jemmy, the name given by street-folk to any cadger who exposes himself, half naked, on a cold day, to obtain alms. The “game” is unpleasant, but was, before exposure of a different kind spoilt it, exceedingly lucrative.

Shockhead, a head of long, unkempt, and rough hair.

Shoddy, old cloth worked up into new; made from soldiers’ and policemen’s coats. The old cloth is pulled to pieces, the yarn unravelled and carded over again. This produces shoddy, which is very short in the fibre, and from it are produced, on again twisting and weaving, cloth fabrics used for ladies’ mantles, &c. Also, a term of derision applied to workmen in woollen factories.—Yorkshire.

Shoddy, the plutocracy created out of bogus contracts during the civil war in the United States. The shoddyites enriched themselves at the expense of their country in the most shameless manner, having most likely studied under those contractors who should have supplied our soldiers with necessaries during the Crimean War.

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 liquor, which is drunk by the older hands. The cans emptied, and the bill paid, the stranger is considered properly shod. Shoeing is a variation of “paying one’s footing.”

Shoe leather! a thief’s warning cry when he hears footsteps. This exclamation is used in the spirit which animated the friend who, when he suspected treachery towards Bruce at King Edward’s court, in 1306, sent him a purse and a pair of spurs, as a sign that he should use them in making his escape.

Shoes, “to die in one’s shoes,” to be hanged. In the old hanging days a highwayman would often kick off his shoes when the rope was round his neck, so as—oh, vain and impotent attempt!—to defeat the prophecy that had foreshadowed his present position.

Shoes, children’s, to make, to suffer oneself to be made sport of, or depreciated. Commonly used in Norfolk.—Cf. Mrs. Behn’s comedy, The Roundheads.

Hews. “Who, pox! shall we stand making children’s shoes all the year? No: let’s begin to settle the nation, I say, and go through-stitch with our work.”

Shoful, a Hansom cab. This favourite carriage was the invention of a Mr. Hansom, afterwards connected with the Builder newspaper. It has been asserted that the term shoful was derived from “shovel,” the earliest slang term applied to Hansoms by other cab-drivers, who conceived their shape to be after the fashion of a scoop or shovel. A logical friend of the present Editor’s argues thus:—Shoful, full of show, ergo, beautiful—handsome—Hansom. This is clever, but it certainly never entered into the heads of those who gave the name of shoful to the Hansom cabs.

Shoful, bad or counterfeit money. Perhaps, as some think, from the Danish, skuffe, to shove, to deceive, cheat; Saxon, scufan,—whence the English, shove. The term, however, is possibly one of the many street words from the Hebrew (through the low Jews); shephel, in that language, signifying a low or debased estate. Chaldee, shaphal.—See Psalm cxxxvi. 23, “in our low estate.” A correspondent suggests a very probable derivation, from the German, schofel, trash, rubbish,—the German adjective, schofelig, being the nearest possible translation of our shabby. Shoful means anything mock, as shoful jewellery. A shoful is also a humbug, an impostor.

Shoful-pitcher, a passer of bad money. Shoful-pitching, passing bad money. “Snide-pitcher” and “Snide-pitching” are terms exchangeable with the preceding.

Shoful pullet, a “gay” or unsteady woman, especially a young woman.

Sholl, to bonnet one, or crush a person’s hat over his eyes.—North.

Shool, to saunter idly, to become a vagabond, to beg rather than work.—Smollett’s Roderick Random, vol. i., p. 262.

Shool, Jews’ term for their synagogue.

Shoot the cat, to vomit. From a story of a man being sick in the back yard, and suffocating a cat and all her kittens.

Shoot the moon, to remove furniture from a house in the night without paying the landlord.

Shop. In racing slang, to secure first, second, or third position in a race, is to get a shop. This is also known as a place, and as a situation. See place.

Shop, a house. “How are they all at your shop?” is a common question among small tradesmen.

Shop, the House of Commons. The only instance we have met with of the use of this word in literature occurs in Mr. Trollope’s Framley Parsonage:—

“‘If we are merely to do as we are bid, and have no voice of our own, I don’t see what’s the good of our going to the shop at all,’ said Mr. Sowerby.”

Shop, to discharge a shopman. In military slang, to shop an officer is to put him under arrest in the guard-room. In pugilistic slang, to punish a man severely is “to knock him all over the shop,” i.e., the ring, the place in which the work is done.

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. Shakspeare has the word lifter, a thief.

Shop-walker, a person employed to walk up and down a shop, to hand seats to customers, and see that they are properly served. Contracted also to walker.

Shopping, purchasing at shops. Termed by Todd a slang word, but used by Cowper and Byron.

Shoppy, to be full of nothing but one’s own calling or profession; “to talk shop,” to converse of nothing but professional subjects.

Short, when spirit is drunk without any admixture of water, it is said to be taken “short;” “summat short,” a dram. A similar phrase is used at the counters of banks; upon presenting a cheque, the clerk asks, “How will you take it?” i.e., in gold, or notes. If in notes, long or short? Should it be desired to receive it in notes for the largest possible amount, the answer is, short. A conductor of an omnibus, or any other servant, is said to be short when he does not give all the money he receives to his master.

Short, hard-up; a polite term for impecuniosity used in clubs and among military men.

Short commons, short allowance of food. See commons.

Shorter, one who makes a dishonest profit by reducing the coin of the realm by clipping and filing. From a crown-piece a shorter could gain 5d. Another way was by chemical means: a guinea laid in aquafortis would, in twelve hours, precipitate 9d.-worth of sediment; in twenty-four, 1s. 6d.-worth.—Rommany Rye.

Shot, from the modern sense of the word to shoot,—a guess, a random conjecture; “to make a bad shot,” to expose one’s ignorance by making a wrong guess, or random answer, without knowing whether it is right or wrong.

Shot, from the once general, but now provincial word, to shoot, to subscribe, contribute in fair proportion;—a share, from the Anglo-Saxon word, sceat; “to pay one’s shot,” i.e., share of the reckoning, &c.

“Yet still while I have got
Enough to pay the shot
Of Boniface, both gruff and greedy O!”

Fisher’s Garland for 1835.

Shot, “I wish I may be shot, if,” &c., a common form of mild swearing.

Shot, a term used among horse chaunters. To shot a horse, is to give him a lot of small shot, which will for a short time effectually “open his pipes,” and make him appear sound in wind.

Shot in the locker, money in pocket, resource of any kind in store.—Navy.

Shoulder, when a servant embezzles his master’s money, he is said to shoulder his employer.

Shout, to pay for drink round. “It’s my shout,” says he who pays. Possibly because the payer originally shouted to the bar-keeper of an hotel to score the drink to him.—Australian, but now general.

Shove-halfpenny, a gambling pot-house pastime, played on a table. A very old game, originally called push-penny.

Shove in the mouth, a glass of spirits, which is taken off quickly and at once.

Shovel, a term applied by the vulgar crowd to the inelegant twisted hats worn by the dignitaries of the Church. Dean Alford says, “I once heard a venerable dignitary pointed out by a railway porter as “an old party in a shovel.”—Queen’s English.

Shrimp, a diminutive person.—Chaucer.

Shtumer, a horse against which money may be laid without risk. See safe un.

Shunt, to avoid, to turn aside from. From the railway term.

Shut of, or shot of, i.e., rid of. A very common expression amongst the London lower orders. One costermonger will say to another:—“Well, Ike, did yer get shut o’ them there gawfs [apples]?” i.e., did you sell them all?

Shut up! be quiet, don’t make a noise; to stop short, to cease in a summary manner, to silence effectually. The following is from a literary paper:—“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!” Shut up, utterly exhausted, done for.

Shy, a throw. See the following:—

Shy, to fling; cock-shy, a game at fairs, consisting of throwing short sticks at trinkets or cocoanuts set upon other sticks,—both name and practice derived from the old game of throwing or shying at live cocks. This game is best known to the London public as “three shies a penny.”

Shy. “To fight shy of a person,” to avoid his society either from dislike, fear, or other reason. Shy has also the sense of flighty, unsteady, untrustworthy.

Shy, to stop suddenly, or turn off, as a horse does when frightened.

Shyster, a duffer, a vagabond. Variation of “shicer.”

Sices, or sizes, a throw of sixes at dice.

Sick as a horse, a popular simile,—curious, because a horse never vomits.

Sickener, a dose too much of anything. Too much of even a good thing will make a man sick.

Side, an affirmative expression in the cant language of the northern towns. “Do you stoll the gammy?” (Do you understand cant?) “Side, cove” (yes, mate).

Side-boards, or stick-ups, shirt collars. Name applied some years ago, before the present style of collars came into fashion.

Sift, to embezzle small coins, those which might pass through a sieve—as threepennies and fourpennies—and which are, therefore, not likely to be missed.

Sight, “to take a sight at a person,” a vulgar action employed by boys and others to denote incredulity, or contempt for authority, by placing the thumb against the nose and extending the fingers, which are agitated in token of derision.

“The sacristan he says no word that indicates a doubt,
But he puts his finger to his nose, and spreads his fingers out.”

Nell Cook.

Silly season, the period when nobody is supposed to be in London, when there are no parliamentary debates to publish, and when editors are at their wits’-ends to fill their papers with readable matter. All kinds of crazes on political and social subjects are then ventilated, gigantic gooseberries, monstrous births, and strange showers then become plentiful, columns are devoted to matters which would not at any other time receive consideration, and, so far as the newspapers are concerned, silliness is at a premium.

Silver beggar, or lurker, a vagabond who travels through the country with “briefs” containing false statements of losses by fire, shipwrecks, accidents, &c. Forged documents are exhibited with signatures of magistrates and clergymen. Accompanying these are sham subscription books. The former, in beggar parlance, is termed “a sham,” whilst the latter is denominated “a delicate.”

Sim, one of a Methodistical turn in religion; a Low Churchman; originally a follower of the late Rev. Charles Simeon.—Cambridge.

Simon, a sixpenny-piece.

Simon, or simple simon, a credulous, gullible person. A character in a song, but now common.

Simon Pure, “the real Simon Pure,” the genuine article. Those who have witnessed Mr. Charles Mathews’s 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, elbows that worthy out of his expected entertainment, will at once perceive the origin of this phrase.—See act v. scene i.

Simpkin, or simkin, champagne.—Anglo-Indian. Derived from the manner in which native servants pronounce champagne.

Simpson, water used in the dilution of milk. Term in use among cow-keepers. From this the parish pump has been called Mrs. Simpson.

Sing out, to call aloud.—Sea.

Sing small, to lessen one’s boasting, and turn arrogance into humility.

Sing-song, a harmonic meeting at a pot-house, a free-and-easy.

Sinkers, bad money,—affording a man but little assistance in “keeping afloat.”

Sinks, a throw of fives at dice. French, cinq.

Si quis, a candidate for “orders.” From the notification commencing si quis—if any one.

Sir Harry, a close stool.

Sir Reverence, a corruption of the old phrase, save your reverence, a sort of apology for alluding to anything likely to shock one’s sense of decency. Latin, salvâ reverentiâ. See Shakspeare’s Romeo and Juliet, act i. scene iv. From this it came to mean the thing itself—human ordure generally, but sometimes other indecencies.

Siserara, a hard blow.—Suffolk. Many derive this term from the story of Sisera in the Old Testament, but it is probably a corruption of certiorari, a Chancery writ reciting a complaint of hard usage.

Sit under, a term employed in Dissenters’ meeting-houses, to denote attendance on the ministry of any particular preacher.

Sit upon, to overcome or rebuke, to express contempt for a man in a marked manner. Also, to chaff or “roast” a man consumedly.

Sit-upons, trousers. See inexpressibles.

Sivvy, “’pon my sivvy,” i.e., upon my soul or honour. Corruption of “asseveration,” like davy, which is an abridgment of “affidavit.”

Sixes and sevens, articles in confusion are said to be all sixes and sevens. The Deity is mentioned in the Towneley Mysteries as He that “set all on seven,” i.e., set or appointed everything in seven days. A similar phrase at this early date implied confusion and disorder, and from these, Halliwell thinks, has been derived the phrase “to be at sixes and sevens.” A Scotch correspondent, however, states that the phrase probably came from the workshop, and that amongst needle-makers, when the points and eyes are “heads and tails” (“heeds and thraws”), or in confusion, they are said to be sixes and sevens, because those numbers are the sizes most generally used, and in the course of manufacture have frequently to be distinguished.

Sixty, “to go along like sixty,” i.e., at a good rate, briskly.

Sixty-per-cent, a bill-discounter. From the rate of interest generally charged. If bill-discounters profess to do the business for less, they generally make up the level sixty by extras.

Six-water grog, a sea-term for the weakest grog possible—six portions of water to one of rum—hardly enough spirit to “swear by.”

Size, to order extras over and above the usual commons at the dinner in college halls. Soup, pastry, &c., are sizings, and are paid for at a certain specified rate per size, or portion, to the college cook. Peculiar to Cambridge. Minsheu says, “size, a farthing which schollers in Cambridge have at the buttery, noted with the letter s.”

Sizers, or sizars, certain poor scholars at Cambridge, annually elected, who got their dinners (including “sizings”) from what was left at the upper, or Fellows’ table, free, or nearly so. They paid rent of rooms, and some other fees, on a lower scale than the “Pensioners” or ordinary students, and were equal with the “battlers” and “servitors” at Oxford.

Sizings. See size.

Skedaddle, to go off in a hurry. The American war introduced this new and amusing word. A Northerner who retreated “retired upon his supports,” but a Southerner was said to skedaddle. The Times remarked on the word, and Lord Hill wrote to prove that it was excellent Scotch. The Americans only misapply the word, which means, in Dumfries, “to spill”—milkmaids, for example, saying, “You are skedaddling all that milk.” The Yankees therefore adopted the term, and altered the application.

Skid, a sovereign. Fashionable slang. Occasionally skiv.

Skid, or skidpan, an instrument for locking the wheel of a coach when going down hill. It is often said that a talkative person might put the skid on, with advantage to his listeners, if not to himself.

Skied, or skyed, thrown upwards, as “coppers” in tossing.

Skied. Artists say that a picture is skied when it is hung on the upper line at the Exhibition of the Royal Academy. See floored.

Skilligolee, prison gruel. Also sailors’ soup of many ingredients. The term is occasionally used in London workhouses.

Skilly, abbreviation of skilligolee.

Skimmery, St. Mary Hall, Oxford.—University.

Skin, a purse. This term is mostly in use among thieves.

Skin, to abate, or lower the value of anything; “thin-skinned,” sensitive, touchy, liable to be “raw” on certain subjects.

Skin-the-lamb, a game at cards, a very expressive corruption of the term “lansquenet,” also a racing term. When a non-favourite wins a race, bookmakers are said to skin the lamb, under the supposition that they win all their bets, no person having backed the winner. This has been corrupted into skinner.

Skinflint, an old and popular simile for a “close-fisted,” stingy person. Sternberg, in his Northamptonshire Glossary, says the Eastern languages have the same expression. Abdul-Malek, one of the Ommeyade Khaliphs, noted for his extreme avarice, was surnamed Raschal-Hegiarah, literally, “the skinner of a flint.”

Skinner, a term among bookmakers. “May we have a skinner,” i.e., may we skin the lamb, which see.

Skipper, the master of a vessel. Germ., schiffer, from schiff, a ship; sometimes used as synonymous with “governor.”

Skipper, a barn.—Ancient Cant. From the Welsh, ysgubor, pronounced scybor, or scibor, the proper word in that language for a barn.

Skipper-birds, or keyhole-whistlers, persons who sleep in barns or outhouses from necessity or in preference to sleeping in lodging-houses.

Skipper-it, to sleep in the open air, or in a rough way.

Skit, a joke, a squib. Term generally used in reference to any pungent or pointed political allusion.

Skittles, a game similar to that of Ten Pins, which, when interdicted by the Government, was altered to Nine Pins, or skittles. The pins are set up in an alley, and thrown (not bowled) at with a round piece of hard wood, shaped like a small flat cheese. The costers used to consider themselves the best players in London, but they have been frequently undeceived. Skittles has within the past few years received an awful blow—quite a floorer—from “the powers that be.”

Skow-banker, a fellow who loiters about the premises of any one willing to support him, and who objects to the necessity of working for his living; a rogue, a rascal. Common in Melbourne, Australia.

Skrouge, to push or squeeze.—North.

Skull-thatcher, a straw-bonnet-maker,—sometimes called “a bonnet-builder.”

Skunk, a mean or paltry fellow, one whose name stinks.

Sky, a disagreeable person, an enemy.—Westminster School. The word derived its origin from a corruption of the last syllable of the word “volsci:” Westminster boys being of course understood to be the Romans.

Sky, to toss up towards the sky. Term used in tossing with halfpence; “It’s all right, Jim skied the browns,” i.e., threw them up, a proof that there could have been no collusion or cheating.

Sky-blue, London milk much diluted with water, or from which the cream has been too closely skimmed.

“Hence, Suffolk dairy wives run mad for cream,
And leave their milk with nothing but the name;
Its name derision and reproach pursue,
And strangers tell of three-times-skimm’d—sky-blue.”

Bloomfield’s Farmer’s Boy.

The recent Adulteration Act has done away with sky-blue, and made Simpson a relic of the past. Sky-blue formerly meant gin.

Sky-lark. See under lark.

Sky-parlour, the garret.

Sky-scraper, a tall man; “Are you cold up there, old sky-scraper?” Properly a sea-term. The light sails, which some adventurous skippers set above the royals in calm latitudes, are termed sky-scrapers and moon-rakers.

Sky-wannocking, unsteady frolicking.—Norfolk.

Slab, thick, as gruel, porridge, &c.

Slack, “to hold on the slack,” to skulk; a slack rope not requiring to be held.—Sea.

Slam, a term at the game of whist. When two partners gain the whole thirteen tricks, they win a slam, which is considered equal to a rubber.

Slam, to talk fluently. “He’s the bloke to slam.” From a term in use among birdsingers at the East-end, by which they denote a certain style of note in chaffinches.

Slammock, a slattern or awkward person.—West, and Norfolk.

Slang, low, vulgar, unwritten, or unauthorized language. Gipsy, Slang, the secret language of the gipsies, synonymous with Gibberish, another gipsy word. The word is only to be found in the dictionaries of Webster and Ogilvie. It is given, however, by Grose, in his Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1785. Slang, since it has been adopted as an English word, generally implies vulgar language not known or recognised as cant; and latterly, when applied to speech, it has superseded the word flash. Latterly, however, slang has become the generic term for all unauthorized language. The earliest instance of the use of the word that can be found, is the following:—

“Let proper nurses be assigned, to take care of these babes of grace, [young thieves].... The master who teaches them should be a man well versed in the cant language commonly called the slang patter, in which they should by all means excel.”—Jonathan Wild’s Advice to his Successor. London, J. Scott, 1758.

Slang, a travelling show.

Slang, to cheat, to abuse in foul language.

Slang, counterfeit or short weights and measures. A slang quart is a pint and a half. Slang measures are lent out at 2d. per day to street salesmen. The term is used principally by costermongers.

Slang, a watch-chain. Super and slang, a watch and chain.

Slang, “out on the slang,” i.e., to travel with a hawker’s licence.

Slang-whanger, a long-winded speaker.—Parliamentary.

Slangy, flashy, vulgar; loud in dress, manner, and conversation.

Slantingdicular, oblique, awry,—as opposed to perpendicular. Originally an Americanism, now a part of the vocabulary of London “high life below stairs.”

Slap, paint for the face, rouge.

Slap, exactly, precisely; “slap in the wind’s eye,” i.e., exactly to windward.

Slap-bang, suddenly, violently. From the strike of a ball being felt before the report reaches the ear,—the slap first, the bang afterwards.

Slap-bang-shops, originally low eating-houses where the ready-money was paid down with a slap-bang.—Grose. A slap-bang-shop is now a very pretentious eating-house.

Slap-dash, immediately, or quickly; at a great rate.

Slap-up, first-rate, excellent, very good.

Slasher, a powerful roysterer, a game and clever pugilist.

Slashers, the Twenty-eighth Regiment of Foot in the British army.

Slate, “he has a slate loose,” i.e., he is slightly crazy.

Slate, to pelt with abuse, to beat, to “lick;” or, in the language of the reviewers, to “cut up.” Also, among bettors, to lay heavily against a particular man or animal in a race.

Slate, to knock the hat over one’s eyes, to bonnet.—North.

Slavey, a maid-servant.

Slawmineyeux, a Dutchman. Probably a corruption of the Dutch, ja, mynheer; or German, ja, mein Herr.—Sea.

Sleepless-hats, those of a napless character, better known as wide-awakes.

Slender, a simple country gentleman.—Shakspeare.

Slewed, drunk, or intoxicated.—Sea term. When a vessel changes the tack, she, as it were, staggers, the sails flap, she gradually heels over, and the wind catching the waiting canvas, she glides off at another angle. The course pursued by an intoxicated, or slewed, man, is supposed to be analogous to that of the ship.

Slick, an Americanism, very prevalent in England since the publication of Judge Haliburton’s facetious stories, which means rapidly, effectually, utterly.

Slick, smooth, unctuous; abbreviation of sleek.

Sling, a drink peculiar to Americans, generally composed of gin, soda-water, ice, and slices of lemon. At some houses in London gin-slings may be obtained.

Sling, to pass from one person to another. To blow the nose with the naked fingers.

Sling your hook, a polite invitation to move-on. “Sling your Daniel” has the same meaning. The pronouns may be altered to suit the context.

Slip, “to give the slip,” to run away, or elude pursuit. Shakspeare has, “You gave me the counterfeit,” in Romeo and Juliet. Giving the slip, however, is a sea phrase, and refers to fastening an anchor and chain cable to a floating buoy, or water-cask, until a time arrives when it is convenient to return and take them on board. In fastening the cable, the home end is slipped through the hawse-pipe. Weighing anchor is a noisy task, so that giving the slip infers leaving quietly.

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.

Slipping, a trick of card-sharpers, in the performance of which, by dexterous manipulation, they place the cut card on the top, instead of at the bottom of the pack. It is the faire sauter la coupe of the French. In pugilistic parlance, “to slip a man,” is to “duck and get away” with great dexterity.

Slips, the sides of the gallery in a theatre are generally so called.

Slog, to beat or baste, to fight. German, schlachten; or perhaps from some connexion with the Gaelic slogan. The pretended Greek derivation from σλογω is humbug, there being no such word in the language.

Slogdollager, an Americanism, meaning the same as our stockdollager, which see.

Sloggers, i.e., slow-goers, the second division of race-boats at Cambridge. At Oxford they are called torpids.—University. A hard hitter at cricket is termed a slogger; so is a pugilist.

Slogging, a good beating.

Slop, a policeman. At first back slang, but now modified for general use.

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, which are of a very cheap and inexpensive character.

Slope, to decamp, to run, or rather slip away. Some persons think it came originally from lope, to make off; and that the s probably became affixed as a portion of the preceding word, as in the case of “Let’s lope,” let us run. It is purely an Americanism, and is possibly but an emendation of our own word elope. Lope, leap, and elope are kindred. A humorous correspondent says that Tennyson is decidedly partial to slang, and instances amongst other proofs a passage from the laureate’s famous Locksley Hall:—

“Many a night, from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to rest,
Did I look on great Orion sloping slowly to the west.”

Though this correspondent may not have intended it, his joke has given the key to the situation, and has shown how our cousins most probably came to use the word in its present sense. “The sun is sloping fast.”

Slops, any weak, wet, and warm mixture. Hard drinkers regard all effeminate beverages as slops.

Slops, chests or packages of tea; “he shook a slum of slops,” i.e., stole a chest of tea. Also ready-made clothes—the substantive of slop.

Slops, liquid house-refuse.

Slopshop, a tailor’s shop where inferior work is done, and where cheap goods are sold.

Slour, to lock, or fasten.—Prison Cant.

Sloured, buttoned up; sloured hoxter, an inside pocket buttoned up.

Slowcoach, a lumbering, dull person; one slow of comprehension.

Slowed, to be locked up (in prison).

Slubberdegullion, a paltry, dirty, sorry wretch.

“Quoth she, although thou hast deserved,
Base slubberdegullion, to be served
As thou didst vow to deal with me,
If thou hadst got the victory”——

Hudibras.

Sluicery, a gin-shop or public-house.

Sluicing one’s bolt, drinking.

Slum, a chest, or package. See slops.

Slum, a letter.—Prison Cant.

Slum, an insinuation, a discreditable innuendo.

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 tip-top nation.”

Jack Randall’s Diary, 1820.

Slum, or back slum, a dark retreat, a low neighbourhood; as Westminster and East-end slums, favourite haunts for thieves.

Slum, to hide, to pass to a confederate.

Slum, to saunter about, with a suspicion, perhaps, of immoral pursuits.—Cambridge University Slang.

Slum the gorger, to cheat on the sly, to be an eye-servant. Slum in this sense is old cant.

Slumgullion, any cheap, nasty, washy beverage. An Americanism best known in the Pacific States.

Slumming, passing bad money.

Slush, the grease obtained from boiling the salt pork eaten by seamen, and generally the cook’s perquisite.

Slushy, a ship’s cook.

Sluter, butter.—North.

Smack smooth, even, level with the surface, quickly.

Small-beer; “he doesn’t think small-beer of himself,” i.e., he has a great opinion of his own importance. Small coals is also used in the same sense.

Small hours, the early hours after midnight.

Small potatoes, a term of contempt. “He’s very small potatoes,” he’s a nobody. Yet no one thinks of calling an important personage “large potatoes.”

Smalls, a University term for the first general examination of the student. It is used at Cambridge, but properly belongs to Oxford. The Cambridge term is “little go.”

Smash, to become bankrupt, or worthless; “to go all to smash,” to break, “go to the dogs,” or fall in pieces.

Smash, to pass counterfeit money.

Smasher, one who passes bad coin, or forged notes.

Smashfeeder, a Britannia-metal spoon,—the best imitation shillings are made from this metal.

Smash-man-Geordie, a pitman’s oath.—Durham and Northumberland. See Geordie.

Smeller, the nose; “a blow on the smeller” is often to be found in pugilistic records. Otherwise a nose-ender.

Smish, a shirt, or chemise.

Smithers, or smithereens; “all to smithereens,” all to smash, smither is a Lincolnshire word for a fragment.

Smock-face, a white delicate face,—a face without whiskers.

Smoke, London. From the peculiar dense cloud which overhangs London. The metropolis is by no means so smoky as Sheffield, Birmingham, &c.; yet country-people, when going to London, frequently say they are on their way to the smoke; and Londoners, when leaving for the country, say they are going out of the smoke.

Smoke, to detect, or penetrate an artifice. Originally used by London detectives, probably on account of their clouded intellects.

Smudge, to smear, obliterate, daub. Corruption of smutch.

Smug, smuggling.—Anglo-Chinese.

Smug, extremely neat, after the fashion, in order.

Smug, sleek, comfortable. Term often applied to a seemingly pious humbug, more of the Chadband than the Stiggins.

Smuggings, snatchings, or purloinings,—shouted out by boys, when snatching the tops, or small play property, of other lads, and then running off at full speed.

“Tops are in; spin ’em agin.
Tops are out; smugging’s about.”

Smut, a copper boiler. Also, the “blacks” from a furnace.

Smutty, obscene,—vulgar as applied to conversation. Variation of dirty.

Snack, a share or division of plunder. To “go snacks,” to divide equally. Also, a light repast.—Old Cant and Gipsy term.

Snack, to quiz or chaff with regard to a particular weakness or recent transaction. As a substantive in this sense snack means an innuendo.

Snaffle, conversation on professional or private subjects which the rest of the company cannot appreciate. In East Anglia, to snaffle is to talk foolishly.

Snaffled, arrested, “pulled up,”—so termed from a kind of horse’s bit called a snaffle.

Snaggle teeth, those that are uneven, and unpleasant looking.—West.

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. See Seymour’s Sketches.

Snaggy, cross, crotchety, malicious.

Snam, to snatch, or rob from the person. Mostly used to describe that kind of theft which consists in picking up anything lying about, and making off with it rapidly.

Snaps, share, portion; any articles or circumstances out of which money may be made; “looking out for snaps,” waiting for windfalls, or odd jobs.—Old. Scotch, chits, term also used for “coppers,” or halfpence.

Snapps, spirits. Dutch, schnapps. The word, as originally pronounced, is used by East-end Jews to describe any kind of spirits, and the Gentiles get as near as they can.

Sneaksman, a shoplifter; a petty, cowardly thief.

Sneeze-lurker, a thief who throws snuff in a person’s face, and then robs him.

Sneezer, a snuff-box; a pocket-handkerchief.

Snell-fencer, a street salesman of needles. Snells are needles.

Snick-ersnee, a knife.—Sea. Thackeray uses the term in his humorous ballad of Little Billee.

Snicker, a drinking-cup. A horn-snicker, a drinking-horn.

Snid, a sixpence.—Scotch.

Snide, bad, spurious, contemptible. As, “a snide fellow,” “snide coin,” &c. Also used as a substantive, as, “He’s a snide,” though this seems but a contraction of snide ’un.

Snigger, to laugh in a covert manner. Also a mild form of swearing,—“I’m sniggered if you will.” Another form of this latter is jiggered.

Sniggering, laughing to oneself.—East.

Snip, a tailor,—apparently from snipes, a pair of scissors, or from the snipping sound made by scissors in cutting up anything.

Snipe, a long bill or account; also a term for attorneys,—a race with a remarkable propensity for long bills.

Snipes, “a pair of snipes,” a pair of scissors. They are occasionally made in the form of a snipe.

Snitch, to give information to the police, to turn approver. Snitching is synonymous in thieves’ slang with “nosing” and “peaching.”

Snitchers, persons who turn Queen’s evidence, or who tell tales. In Scotland, snitchers signify handcuffs.

Snob, a low, vulgar, or affected person. Supposed to be from the nickname usually applied to a cobbler or maker of shoes; but believed by many in its later sense to be a contraction of the Latin, sine obolo. Others go to work for an etymology thus:—They assume that nobs, i.e., nobiles, was appended in lists to the names of persons of gentle birth, whilst those who had not that distinction were marked down as s nob, i.e., sine nobilitate, without marks of gentility,—thus, by a simple transposition, quite reversing the meaning. Others, again, remark that, as at college sons of noblemen wrote after their names in the admission lists, fil. nob., son of a lord, and hence all young noblemen were called nobs, and what they did nobby, so those who imitated them would be called quasi-nobs, “like a nob,” which by a process of contraction would be shortened to si-nob, and then snob, one who pretends to be what he is not, and apes his betters. The short and expressive terms which many think fitly represent the three great estates of the realm—nob, snob, and mob—were all originally slang words. The last has safely passed through the vulgar ordeal of the streets, and found respectable quarters in the standard dictionaries. For fuller particulars of the genus snob, in all its ramifications, the reader cannot do better than apply to the general works of that great master of the subject, William Makepeace Thackeray, though it may be as well to remark that the snob for whom the novelist had such an aversion is now very widely known as “cad.”

Snobbish, stuck up, proud, make-believe.

Snob-Stick, a workman who refuses to join in strikes, or trade-unions. Amplification of knob-stick.

Snooks, an imaginary personage often brought forward as the answer to an idle question, or as the perpetrator of a senseless joke. Said to be simply a shortening or abbreviation of “Sevenoaks,” the Kentish village.

Snooze, or snoodge (vulgar pronunciation), to sleep or doze.

Snooze-case, a pillow-slip.

Snorter, a blow on the nose. A hurry is sometimes called a “reg’lar snorter.”

Snot, a term of reproach applied to persons by the vulgar when vexed or annoyed, meaning really a person of the vilest description and meanest capacity. In a Westminster school vocabulary for boys, published in the last century, the term is curiously applied. Its proper meaning is the glandular mucus discharged through the nose.

Snot, a small bream, a slimy kind of flat fish.—Norwich.

Snotter, or wipe-hauler, a pickpocket whose chief fancy is for gentlemen’s pocket-handkerchiefs.—North.

Snottinger, a coarse word for a pocket-handkerchief. The German Schnupftuch is, however, nearly as plain. A handkerchief was also anciently called a “muckinger” or “muckender,” and from that a neckerchief was called a “neckinger.”

Snow, wet linen, or linen hung out to dry.—Old Cant.

Snow-gatherer, or snow-dropper, a rogue who steals linen from hedges and drying-grounds.

Snuff, “up to snuff,” knowing and sharp; “to take snuff,” to be offended. Shakspeare uses snuff in the sense of anger, or passion.

Snuff it, to die. Term very common among the lower orders of London. A fanciful variation of “putting one’s light out,” and used simply in reference to the action of the person dying. Thus any one threatening to murder another says, “I’ll put your light out,” or any one committing suicide is said to “put his own light out;” but to “snuff it” is always to die from disease or accident. To “lay down one’s knife and fork,” to “peg out,” or “give up,” are variations of this form of euphemism.

Snuffy, tipsy, drunk.

Snuggle, to lie closely and cosily.

Snyder, a tailor. German, schneider.

Soaker, an habitual drunkard.

Soap, flattery. See soft soap.

Sober-water, a jocular allusion to the uses of soda-water.

Social evil, a name for some years applied to our street-walking system, in consequence of the articles in the newspapers which treat on the evils of prostitution being so headed. A good story has been often told on this subject, which will bear repeating:—“A well-known divine and philanthropist was walking in a crowded street at night in order to distribute tracts to promising subjects. A young woman was walking up and down, and he accosted her. He pointed out to her the error of her ways, implored her to reform, and tendered her a tract with fervent entreaties to go home and read it. The girl stared at him for a moment or two in sheer bewilderment; at last it dawned on her what he meant, and for what he took her, and looking up in his face with simple amazement, she exclaimed, ‘Lor’ bless you, sir, I ain’t a social evil; I’m waitin’ for the ’bus!’” The enthusiasm which was felt in this direction a few years back has received considerable modification, as it has been proved that the efforts of the promoters of midnight meetings and other arrangements of a similar nature, praiseworthy though they are, have little or no effect; and that the early-closing movement in the Haymarket has done more to stamp out the social evil than years of preaching, even when accompanied by tea and buns, could ever have done.

Sock, the Eton College term for a treat, synonymous with “chuck” used at Westminster and other schools. Believed to be derived from the monkish word soke. An old writer speaks of a pious man “who did not soke for three days,” meaning that he fasted. The word is still used by the boys of Heriot’s Hospital School at Edinburgh, and signifies a sweetmeat; being derived from the same source as sugar, suck, sucre, &c.

Sock, credit. As, “He gets his goods on sock, while I pay ready.”

Sock into him, i.e., give him a good drubbing; “give him sock,” i.e., thrash him well.

Sockdolager. See stockdollager.

Socket-money, money extorted by threats of exposure. To be applied to for socket-money is perhaps one of the most terrible inflictions that can befall a respectable man. Socketers, as the applicants are called, should be punished with the utmost possible severity.

Sodom, a nickname for Wadham, due to the similarity of the sounds.—Oxford University.

Soft, foolish, inexperienced. A term for bank-notes.

Soft-horn, a simpleton; literally a donkey, whose ears, the substitutes of horns, are soft.

Soft-sawder, flattery easily laid on or received. Probably introduced by Sam Slick.

Soft-soap, or soft-sawder, flattery, ironical praise.

Soft-tack, bread.—Sea.

Soft-tommy, loaf-bread, in contradistinction to hard biscuit.

Soiled doves, the “Midnight Meeting” term for prostitutes and “gay” ladies generally.

Sold, “sold again! and got the money,” gulled, deceived. Vide sell.

Sold up, or out, broken down, bankrupt.

Soldier, a red herring. Common term in seaport towns, where exchange is made, a soldier being called by the fishy title.

Something damp, a dram, a drink.

Son of a gun, a familiar term for a man. Sometimes applied eulogistically, never contemptuously. Generally said of an artful person, and perhaps, originally, son of a “gun,” (or “gonnof”). In the army it is sometimes applied to an artilleryman.

Sonkey, a clumsy, awkward fellow.

Soor, an abusive term. Hindostanee, a pig.—Anglo-Indian.

Soot-bag, a reticule.

Sop, a soft or foolish man. Abbreviation of milksop.

Soph (abbreviation of “sophister”), a title peculiar to the University of Cambridge. Undergraduates are junior sophs before passing their “Little Go,” or first University examination,—senior sophs after that.

Sort, used in a slang sense thus—“That’s your sort,” as a term of approbation. “Pitch it into him, that’s your sort,” i.e., that is the proper kind of plan to adopt.

So-so, not particularly reputable. “A very so-so sort of a person,” a person whom it is no advantage to know. “It was very so-so” (said of a piece of work or an entertainment), it was neither good nor bad.

Sound, to pump, or draw information from a person in an artful manner.

Souper, an Irish Roman Catholic who pretends conversion—or perversion—so as to obtain a share of the soup and blankets provided for Protestants only by Christian missionaries. These recalcitrants are also called “swaddlers.”

Sou’-wester, a hat with a projection behind. Much worn at sea in “dirty” weather. A hat similar to that of a dustman or coalheaver, which is called a “fantail.”

Sov, contraction of sovereign; much used in sporting parlance to denote the amount of entrance money, forfeit, and added coin in connexion with a race. In the published conditions of a race the word sovs is almost invariably used in preference to pounds, though in reckoning the net value of a big stake, after its decision, the common £ is used.

Sow, the receptacle into which the liquid iron is poured in a gun-foundry. The melted metal poured from it is termed pig.

Sow’s baby, a pig; sixpence.

Spanish, money. Probably a relic of buccaneering days.

“Save its synonyms Spanish, blunt, stumpy, and rowdy.”

—Barham.

Spank, a smack, or hard slap.

Spank, to move along quickly; hence a fast horse or vessel is said to be “a spanker to go.”

Spanking, large, fine, or strong; e.g., a spanking pace, a spanking breeze, a spanking fellow.

Sparks, diamonds. Term much in use among the lower orders, and generally applied to stones in rings and pins.

Specklebellies, Dissenters. A term used in Worcester and the North, though the etymology seems unknown in either place.

Specks, damaged oranges.—Costermonger’s term.

Speech, a tip or wrinkle on any subject. On the turf a man will wait before investing on a horse until he “gets the speech,” as to whether it is going to try, or whether it has a good chance. To “give the speech,” is to communicate any special information of a private nature.

Speel, to run away, make off; “speel the drum,” to go off with stolen property.—North.

Spell, a turn of work, an interval of time. “Take a spell at the capstern.”—Sea. “He took a long spell at that tankard.” “After a long spell.”

Spell, “to spell for a thing,” to hanker after it, to desire possession.

Spell, to advertise, to put into print. “Spelt in the leer,” i.e., advertised in the newspaper.

Spell, contracted from spellken. “Precious rum squeeze at the spell,” i.e., a good evening’s work at the theatre, might be the remark of a successful pickpocket.

Spellken, or speelken, a playhouse. German, spielen. See ken.—Don Juan.

Spick and span, applied to anything that is quite new and fresh.—Hudibras.

Spidireen, the name of an imaginary ship, sometimes mentioned by sailors. If a sailor be asked what ship he belongs to, and does not wish to tell, he will most probably reply—“The spidireen frigate, with nine decks, and ne’er a bottom.” See merry dun of Dover.

Spierized, to have your hair cut and shampooed, from the shop of Spiers in High Street.—Oxford University.

Spiff, a well-dressed man, a “swell.”

Spiffed, slightly intoxicated.—Scotch Slang.

Spiffs, the per-centages allowed by drapers to their young men when they effect a sale of old-fashioned or undesirable stock.

Spiffy, spruce, well-dressed, tout à la mode.

Spifflicate, to confound, silence, annihilate, or stifle. A corruption of the last word, or of “suffocate.”

Spike Park, the Queen’s Bench Prison. See Burdon’s Hotel.

Spill, to throw from a horse or chaise. See purl.

Spin, to reject from an examination.—Army.

Spindleshanks, a nickname for any one who has thin legs.

Spin-’em rounds, a street game consisting of a piece of brass, wood, or iron, balanced on a pin, and turned quickly round on a board, when the point, arrow-shaped, stops at a number, and decides the bet one way or the other. The contrivance very much resembles a sea compass, and was formerly the gambling accompaniment of London piemen. The apparatus then was placed on the tin lids of their pie-cans, and the bets were ostensibly for pies, but were frequently for “coppers,” or for beer when two or three apprentices or porters happened to meet. An active and efficient police have, however, changed all that now.

Spiniken, St. Giles’s Workhouse. “Lump,” Marylebone Workhouse. “Pan,” St. Pancras. “Pan” and “Lump” are now terms applied to all workhouses by tramps and costers.

Spinning-house, the place in Cambridge where street-walkers are locked up, if found out after a certain time at night.

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. Abbreviation or shortening of spirit, or allusion to a spirt of water, which dies away as suddenly as it rises.

“So here for a man to run well for a spurt, and then to give over... is enough to annul all his former proceedings, and to make him in no better estate than if he had never set foot into the good waies of God.”—Gataker’s Spirituall Watch, 4to. 1619, p. 10.

Spitalfields’ breakfast. At the East-end of London this is understood as consisting of a tight necktie and a short pipe. Amongst workmen it is usual to tighten the apron string when no dinner is at hand. Hunters and trappers always take in their belts when supplies are short. “An Irishman’s dinner” is a low East-end term, and means a smoke and a visit to the urinal. Sometimes the phrase is, “I’ll go out and count the railings,” i.e., the park or area railings, mental instead of maxillary exercise.

Spitfire, a passionate person.

Splash, complexion powder used by ladies to whiten their necks and faces. The finest rice flour, termed in France poudre de riz, is generally employed. See slap.

Splendiferous, sumptuous, first-rate. Splendacious sometimes used with similar meanings.

Splice, to marry; “and the two shall become one flesh.”—Sea. Also, a wife.

Splice the main brace, to take a drink.—Sea.

Split, to inform against one’s companions, to tell tales. “To split with a person,” to cease acquaintanceship; to quarrel. Also to divide a bottle of aërated water; as, “two brandies and a soda split;” in which case “to split with” a person has a very different meaning from that just given.

Split up, long in the legs. Among athletes, a man with good length of limb is said to be “well split up.”

Splodger, a lout, an awkward countryman.

Spoffy, a bustling busybody is said to be spoffy.

Sponge, “to throw up the sponge,” to submit, to give over the struggle,—from the practice of throwing up the sponge used to cleanse a combatant’s face at a prize-fight, as a signal that the side on which that particular sponge has been used has had enough—that the sponge is no longer required.

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, the condition of two persons who spoon on each other, who are deeply in love. “I see, it’s a case of spoons with them,” is a common phrase when lovers are mentioned.

Spoons, a method of designating large sums of money, disclosed at the Bankruptcy Court during the examination of the great leather failures of Streatfield and Laurence in 1860-61. The origin of the phrase was stated to be the reply of the bankrupt Laurence to an offer of accommodating him with £5000,—“Oh, you are feeding me with a tea-spoon.” Hence, £5000 came to be known in the firm as a tea-spoon; £10,000, a dessert-spoon; £15,000, a table-spoon; and £20,000, as a gravy-spoon. The public were amused at this tea-spoon phraseology, but were disgusted that such levity should cover a gigantic swindle of the kind. It came out in evidence, however, that it was not the ordinary slang of the discount world, but it may not improbably become so. To “take it with a spoon,” is to take anything in small quantities. The counsel for the defence in the Tichborne perjury case was reminded a short time back by one of the judges that he was using a tea-spoon instead of a shovel, to clear through the evidence.

Sport, to exhibit, to wear, &c.,—a word which is made to do duty in a variety of senses, especially at the Universities.—See the Gradus ad Cantabrigiam. “To sport a new tile;” “to sport an Ægrotat” (i.e., a permission from the Dons to abstain from lectures, &c., on account of illness); “to sport one’s oak,” to shut the outer door and exclude the public,—especially duns and boring acquaintances. Common also in the Inns of Court. See Notes and Queries, 2nd series, vol. viii. p. 492, and Gentleman’s Magazine, December, 1794.

Sport, an American term for a gambler or turfite—more akin to our sporting man than to our sportsman.

Sporting door, the outer door of chambers, also called the oak. See under sport.—University.

Spot, to mark, to recognise. Originally an Americanism, but now general. “I spotted him (or it) at once.”

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. Term with workmen and schoolboys. See scrape.

Spread, a lady’s shawl, an entertainment, a display of good things.

Spread, a meal. Sporting term for a dinner. A sporting man often challenges another to compete with him at any athletic pursuit or pastime, for so much wine and a spread of large or small proportions.

Spree, a boisterous piece of merriment; “going on the spree,” starting out with intent to have a frolic. French, esprit. In the Dutch language, spreeuw is a jester.

Springer-up, a tailor who sells low-priced ready-made clothing, and gives starvation wages to the poor men and women who “make up” for him. The clothes are said to be sprung-up, or “blown together.”

Sprint race, a short-distance race, ran at the topmost speed throughout. Sprint is in the North synonymous with spurt, and hence the name.

Sprung, inebriated sufficiently to become boisterous.

Spry, active, strong, manly. Much used in America, but originally English.

Spuddy, a seller of bad potatoes. In lower life, a spud is a raw potato; and roasted spuds are those cooked in the cinders with their skins on.

Spun, when a man has failed in his examination at Woolwich, he is said to be spun; as at the Universities he is said to be “plucked” or “ploughed.”

Spunge, a mean, paltry fellow, sometimes called a spunger.

Spunge, to live at another’s expense in a mean and paltry manner.

Spunging-house, the sheriff’s officer’s house, where prisoners, when arrested for debt, used to be taken. As extortionate charges were made there for accommodation, the name was far from inappropriate.

Spunk, spirit, fire, courage, mettle, good humour.

“In that snug room, where any man of spunk
Would find it a hard matter to get drunk.”

Peter Pindar, i. 245.

Common in America, and much used in some parts of Scotland.

Spunk-fencer, a lucifer-match seller.

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.”

Spurt.—Old. See spirt.

Squabby, flat, short and thick. From squab, a sofa.

Square, honest; “on the square,” i.e., fair and strictly honest; “to turn square,” to reform, and get one’s living in an honest manner,—the opposite of “cross.” The expression is, in all probability, derived from the well-known masonic emblem the square, the symbol of evenness and rectitude.

“You must keep within the compass, and act upon the square with all mankind, for your masonry is but a dead letter if you do not habitually perform its reiterated injunctions.”—Oliver’s Lectures on Signs and Symbols, p. 190.

Square, “to be square with a man,” to be even with him, or to be revenged; “to square up to a man,” to offer to fight him. Shakspeare uses square in the sense of to quarrel.

Square cove, an honest man, as distinguished from “cross cove.”

Square moll, an honest woman, one who does not “batter.”

Squaring his nibs, giving a policeman, or any official, money for an immoral or unlawful purpose. The term his nibs has no reference to any functionary, as the words mean simply “him,” and may be applied to any one.

Square rigged, well dressed.—Sea.

Square up, to settle, to pay a debt.

Squarum, a cobbler’s lapstone.

Squash, to crush; “to go squash,” to collapse.

Squeak, an escape. Generally used with regard to the avoidance of casualties. Among thieves, too, a prisoner acquitted after a hard trial is said to have had “a narrow squeak for it.”

Squeak on a person, to inform against, to peach.

Squeal, to inform, to peach. A North country variation of squeak; squealer, an informer, also an illegitimate baby.

Squeeze, silk; also, by a very significant figure, a thief’s term for the neck.

Squib, a jeu d’esprit, which, like the firework of that denomination, sparkles, bounces, stinks, and vanishes.—Grose. Generally used in reference to political and electioneering attacks of a smart kind, which sting for a moment and are then forgotten.

Squibs, paint-brushes.

Squiffy, slightly inebriated.

Squinny-eyed, said of one given to squinting.—Shakspeare.

Squirt, a doctor, or chemist.

Squish, common term among University men for marmalade.

Stab, “Stab yourself and pass the dagger,” help yourself and pass the bottle.—Theatrical Slang.

Stab, “on the stab,” i.e., paid by regular weekly wages on the “establishment,” of which word stab is an abridgment.—Printer’s term.

Stab-rag, a regimental tailor.—Military Slang.

Stag, a shilling.

Stag, a term applied during the railway mania to a speculator without capital, who took “scrip” in proposed lines, got the shares up to a premium, and then sold out. Caricaturists represented the house of Hudson, “the Railway King,” at Albert Gate, with a stag on it, in allusion to this term.

Stag, to see, discover, or watch,—like a stag at gaze; “stag the push,” look at the crowd. Also, to dun, or demand payment; to beg.

Stage-whisper, one loud enough to be heard. From the stage “asides.”

Stagger, to surprise. “He quite staggered me with the information.”

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. Also a newly-born calf.

Stale drunk, unevaporated fumes of liquor. A man is said to be stale drunk when he has been drunk overnight, and has doctored himself with stimulants a little too much in the morning—when he has tried too many of the “hairs of the dog that bit him.” If this state of things is long continued, it is often called “same old drunk,” from a well-known nigger story. The nigger was cautioned by his master for being too often drunk within a given period, when the “cullud pusson” replied, “Same old drunk, massa—same old drunk.”

Stalking-horse, originally a horse covered with loose trappings, under which the mediæval sportsman concealed himself with his bow, so as to approach his game unobserved. Subsequently a canvas figure, made light, so as to be easily moved with one hand. Now used to represent any bugbear persistently paraded; any constant and unpleasant reference to the possible consequences of an act.

Stall, to lodge, or put up at a public-house. Also, to act a part.—Theatrical.

Stall, to frighten or discourage. In the days of dog-fighting and pugilism, a dog or man who had originally shown great pluck would, after a hard battle or two, show signs of cowardice. In such case he was said to have been stalled by his previous encounters. A stall is a spurious excuse or an imposition, a dodge, &c.

Stall-off, to put off by means of a device, to misdirect purposely.

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, sometimes stall, 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, as, “Will you stand that?” a question often asked when a man has been struck or insulted. Also in the sense of aggregate cost, as, “This house stood me in £1000;” i.e., cost that sum; “to stand pad,” to beg on the kerb with a small piece of paper pinned on the breast, inscribed, “I am starving.”

Stand in, to make one of a party in a bet or other speculation; to take a side in a dispute.

Standing, the position at a street corner, or on the kerb of a market street, regularly occupied by a costermonger, or street seller.

Standing patterers, men who take a stand on the kerb of a public thoroughfare, and deliver prepared speeches to effect a sale of any articles they have to vend. See patterer.

Stangey, a tailor, a person under petticoat government,—derived from the custom of “riding the stang,” mentioned in Hudibras:—

“It is a custom used of course
Where the grey mare is the better horse.”

Star, a common abbreviation of the name of the well-known Star and Garter Inn at Richmond. Clever people, who delight in altering names, call this hostelry the “Gar and Starter.”

Star it, to perform as the centre of attraction, with inferior subordinates to set off one’s abilities.—Theatrical.

Star the glaze, to break a window. Among thieves it means to break the window or show-glass of a jeweller or other tradesman, 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.

Starchy, stuck-up, high-notioned, showily dressed, stiff and unbending in demeanour.

Stark-naked, originally strip-me-naked, vide Randall’s Diary, 1820, raw gin.

Start, “the start,” London,—the great starting-point for beggars and tramps. This is a term also used by many of superior station to those mentioned.

Start, a proceeding of any kind; “a rum start,” an odd circumstance; “to get the start of a person,” to anticipate or overreach him.

Starvation, though now a recognised word, was originally slang. Its derivation is composite, and it was first introduced into the English language by Mr. Dundas, in a debate in the House of Commons on American affairs, in 1775. “I shall not,” he said, “wait for the advent of starvation from Edinburgh to settle my judgment.” From this he was always afterwards called Starvation Dundas.—Horace Walpole’s Letters.

Starve’em, Rob’em, and Cheat’em, the adjoining towns of Stroud, Rochester, and Chatham are so designated by soldiers and sailors; from some fancied peculiarities of the inhabitants.

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 to stash it.

Stay, to exhibit powers of endurance at walking, running, rowing, &c.

Stayer, one likely to persevere, one not easily discouraged. It is usual for laudatores temporis acti connected with the turf to deplore the want of staying power which, according to their statements, characterizes the modern British racehorse; while others, connected and disconnected with sport, make similar remarks with reference to the modern British man. So far, however, both descriptions of old gentlemen have failed signally in endeavouring to make out a good case.

Steam-engine, potato-pie at Manchester is so termed.

Steel, the House of Correction in London, formerly named the Bastile, but since shortened to steel. See bastile.

Steel-bar drivers, or flingers, journeymen tailors.

Stems, the legs.

Step it, to run away, or make off.

Stepper, the treadmill; the “everlasting staircase.”

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 realize the meaning of the phrase, “in the nick (or notch) of time.” Sir J. Emerson Tennent considers the phrase equivalent to “cutting the connexion,” and suggests a possible origin in the prophet’s breaking the staves of “Beauty” and “Bands,”—vide Zech. xi. 10, 14.

Stick, to cheat; “he got stuck,” he was taken in; “I’m stuck,” a common phrase to express that the speaker has spent or lost all his money, and can neither play nor pay any longer. Stick, to forget one’s part in a performance.—Theatrical. Stick up, to place in an account; “stick it up to me,” i.e., give me credit for it; stick on, to overcharge or defraud; stick up for, to defend a person, especially when slandered in his absence; stick up to, to persevere in courting or attacking, whether in fisticuffs or argument; “to stick in one’s gizzard,” to rankle in one’s heart; “to stick to a person,” to adhere to one, to be his friend through adverse circumstances,—to “cotton” to him; “to stick one’s spoon in the wall,” to die.

Stick-up, to keep any one waiting at an appointed place or time. To leave a friend or acquaintance to pay the whole or an undue share of a tavern bill.

Stick-ups, or gills, shirt collars.

Sticker, one not likely to be easily shaken off, a stayer.

Stickings, coarse, bruised, or damaged meat sold to sausage-makers and penny pie-shops.

Sticks, furniture, or household chattels; “pick up your sticks and cut!” summary advice to a person to take himself and furniture away.

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? “To do a bit of stiff,” to accept a bill. See kite.

Stiff-fencer, a street-seller of writing paper.

Stiff un, a corpse. Term used by undertakers.

Stills, undertakers’ slang term for still-born children. The fee paid by nurses and others for their disposal is usually 2s. 6d. A separate coffin is never given; the stills are quietly introduced into one containing an adult about to be buried. Stills are allowed to accumulate at an undertaker’s until they sometimes number as many as a dozen. Some little time back a very bulky coffin was opened, and found to contain a large quantity of small corpses packed carefully round a large corpse. This caused a little excitement, but nothing was done in the matter.

Stilton, “that’s the stilton,” or “it’s not the stilton,” i.e., that is quite the thing, or that is not quite the thing;—affected rendering of “that is not the cheese,” which see.

Stingo, strong liquor.—Yorkshire.

Stink, a disagreeable exposure. “To stir up a stink” is to make a disclosure which is generally unpleasant in its effect.

Stinkomalee, a name given to the then New London University by Theodore Hook. Probably because some cow-houses and dunghills stood on the original site. Some question about Trincomalee was agitated at the same time. It is still applied by the students of the old Universities, who regard it with disfavour from its admitting all denominations.

Stipe, a stipendiary magistrate.—Provincial.

Stir, a prison, a lock-up; “in stir,” in gaol. 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.

Stock. “To stock cards” is to arrange cards in a certain manner for cheating purposes.

Stock, “to take stock of one,” to scrutinize narrowly one whom you have reason to suspect, or one with whom you are likely to have business transactions; taken from the tradesmen’s term for the annual examination and valuation of their stock of goods.

Stockdollager, a heavy blow, a “finisher.” Italian, stoccado, a fencing term. Also (in a general sense), a disastrous event.—Americanism.

Stodge, to surfeit, gorge, or clog with food. Stodge is in some places bread and milk.

Stoll, to understand.—North Country Cant.

Stomach, to bear with, to be partial to. Mostly used in a negative character,—as, “I can’t stomach that.”

Stone-jug, a prison.

“In a box of the stone-jug I was born.”

Stook, a pocket-handkerchief. A stook-hauler, or “buzzer,” is a thief who takes pocket-handkerchiefs.

Story, a falsehood,—the soft synonym for a lie, allowed in family circles and boarding-schools. A Puritanism that came into fashion with the tirade against romances, all novels and stories being considered as dangerous and false.

Stot, a young bullock. In Northumberland the term stot means to rebound.

Stotor, a heavy blow, a settler.—Old Cant.

Stow, to leave off, or have done; “stow it, the gorger’s leary.” Leave off, the person is looking. See stash, with which it is synonymous.—Ancient Cant.

Stow, to put away, to hide. A hungry man is said to stow his food rapidly. He is also said to hide it.

Stow faking! leave off there, be quiet! faking means anything that may be going on.

Straight, an American phrase peculiar to dram-drinkers; similar to our word neat, which see.

Strap, a barber. From Roderick Random.

Straw. Married ladies are said to be “in the straw” at their accouchements. The phrase is a coarse metaphor, and has reference to farmyard animals in a similar condition. It may have originally been suggested to the inquiring mind by the Nativity.

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 by Act of Parliament to sell.

Streak, to decamp, run away.—Saxon. In America the phrase is “to make streaks,” or “make tracks.”

Streaky, irritated, ill-tempered. Said of a short-tempered man who has his good and bad times in streak.

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—i.e., a pitch—in the streets, and sell articles or contribute entertainments for a living.

Stretch, a walk.—University.

Stretch, abbreviation of “stretch one’s neck,” to hang, to be executed as a malefactor. As, “The night before Larry was stretched.”

Stretch, twelve months,—generally used to intimate the time any one has been sentenced by the judge or magistrate. One stretch is twelve months’ imprisonment, two stretch is two years, three stretch is three years, and so on.

Stretcher, a falsehood; one that requires a stretch of imagination or comprehension.

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. Often called a “hanging match.”

Strike a jigger, to pick a lock, or break open a door.

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 penny.”

—Heir of Linne.

The origin of the phrase being lost sight of, like that of many others, it is often used as a modification of “Strike me blind!” and is now and again corrupted into “Strike me silly!” A foolish variation of this is “Strike me up a gum-tree!”

Strills, cheating lies.—North Country Cant.

String, to hoax, to “get in a line.”

Stroke, the captain of a crew, the man who sets the pace, and is generally the leading spirit in the boat. The coxswain usually looks after University men when they are in training, so that they may not fall into excesses, the stroke having quite enough to do to attend to his own training. Of late years University crews have placed themselves under the guidance and tuition of “coaches,” generally ex-University men of great ability and experience.

Strommel, straw.—Ancient Cant. Halliwell says that in Norfolk strummel is a name for hair.

Strong, “to come it strong.” See come.

Stuck, moneyless. See stick.

Stuck-up, purse-proud—a form of snobbishness very common in those who have risen in the world, especially among those who have risen rather suddenly. Albert Smith wrote some amusing papers on the Natural History of stuck-up People.

Stuff, money.

Stuff, to make false but plausible statements, to praise ironically, to make game of a person,—literally, to stuff or cram him with gammon or falsehood.

Stump, to go on foot.

Stump, to go about speechmaking on politics or other subjects. Originally an Americanism applied to the lowest class of candidates for legislatorial honours, probably because they stood on a stump to address their audiences. Maybe, also, because their utterances were short and pithy. This latter reason would, however, hardly apply to our representatives of the stump class, “the Leaguers,” who are, as a rule, as long-winded as they are illogical.

Stump up, to give one’s share, to pay the reckoning, to bring forth the money reluctantly.

Stumped, bowled out, done for, bankrupt, poverty-stricken. From the cricketing term.

Stumps, legs, or feet.

Stumpy, money.

Stun, to astonish.

Stunner, a first-rate person or article.

Stunners, feelings of great astonishment; “it put the stunners on me,” i.e., it confounded me.

Stunning, first-rate, very good, really, astonishing. Costermongers call anything extra good, stunning. 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 Cranbourn Alley. His houses became well-known from their being the resort of the worst characters, while at the same time the strictest decorum was always maintained in them. Joe Banks also acquired a remarkable notoriety by acting as a medium betwixt thieves and their victims. Upon the proper payment to Joe, a watch or a snuff-box would at any time be restored to its lawful owner—“no questions in any case being asked.” The most daring depredators in London placed the fullest confidence in Joe, and it is believed (although the Biographie Universelle is quiet upon this point) that he never, in any instance, “sold” them. He was of the middle height, stout, and strongly made, and was always noted for a showy pin and a remarkably stunning neck-tie. It was this peculiarity in the costume of Mr. Banks, coupled with those true and tried qualities as a friend for which he was famous, that led his customers to proclaim him as stunningJoe Banks! The Marquis of Douro, Colonel Chatterley, and men of their stamp, were accustomed to resort to a private-room at his house, when too late (or too early) to gain admittance to the clubs or more aristocratic establishments.

Sub, a subaltern officer in the army.

Sub, all.—Anglo-Indian.

Sub, to draw money in advance; a term in use among workmen generally, and those with casual employment in particular. Most likely from subsidize.

Sublime rascal, a lawyer.

Suck, a parasite, a flatterer of the “nobs.”—University.

Suck, to pump, or draw information from a person.

Suck-casa, a public-house.—Lingua Franca.

Suck the mop, to be the victim of an omnibus nursing exploit. When an omnibus is being nursed, the driver of the hindmost vehicle keeps so close to his opponent that the horses get their heads almost into the doorway. The nursed omnibus is then said to suck the mop. Nursing is, thanks to tramways and the Metropolis Streets Act, almost a thing of the past. At the East-end, however, it still goes merrily on.

Suck the monkey, to rob a cask of liquor by inserting a straw through a gimlet-hole, and sucking a portion of the contents. Originally, as Captain Marryatt states, to suck the monkey, was to suck rum from cocoa-nuts, which spirit had been inserted in place of the milk, for the private use of the sailors. See tap the admiral.

Suck up, “to suck up to a person,” to insinuate oneself into his good graces.

Sudden death. In tossing, to be decided by the first call is to “go sudden death,” as distinguished from the longer forms of “best two out of three,” and “first three.” At the Universities a crumpet, or Sally Lunn, is so called.

Sufferer, a tailor; the loser at any game.

Sugar, money.

Suicide, four horses driven in a line. See harum-scarum.

Sulky, a one-horse chaise, having only room for one person. Used nowadays only in trotting matches.

Sumsy, an action of assumpsit.—Legal Slang.

Sun in the eyes, too much drink. A person who is tipsy is said to have the sun in his eyes. He is also said to have been “standing too long in the sun.”

Supe, or super, abbreviation of supernumerary.—Theatrical.

Super, a watch; super-screwing, stealing watches.

Surat, an adulterated article of inferior quality. This word affords a remarkable instance of the manner in which slang phrases are coined. In the report of an action for libel in the Times, some few years back, it was stated “that, since the American civil war, it has been not unusual for manufacturers to mix American cotton with surat, and, the latter being an inferior article, the people in Lancashire have begun to apply the term surat to any article of inferior or adulterated quality. The plaintiffs were brewers, and the action was brought to recover special damages resulting from the publication of an advertisement in these words:—‘All in want of beerhouses must beware of Beaumont and White, the surat brewers.’”

Surf, an actor who frequently pursues another calling.—Theatrical. Surf, or serf, is also a term much in use among the lower orders to denote a crawling or sycophantic wretch.

Suspicion, a scarcely perceptible flavour; as, “There was just a suspicion of oil in the mixture.” French, soupçon.

Swab, an epaulet.—Sea.

Swack-up, a falsehood.

Swaddler, a Wesleyan Methodist; a name originally given to members of that body by the Irish mob; said to have originated with an ignorant Romanist, to whom the words of the English Bible were a novelty, and who, hearing one of John Wesley’s preachers mention the swaddling clothes of the Holy Infant, in a sermon on Christmas-day at Dublin, shouted out in derision, “A swaddler! a swaddler!” as if the whole story were the preacher’s invention.—Southey’s Life of Wesley, vol. ii. p. 109. See introductory article.

Swaddler, see souper.

Swaddy, or coolie, a soldier. The former was originally applied to a discharged soldier, and perhaps came from shoddy, which is made from soldiers’ and policemen’s worn-out coats. The term was one of opprobrium, and was probably the result of a long peace, for it became obsolete as soon as the Crimean War commenced.

Swag, a lot or plenty of anything, a portion or division of property. In Australia the term is used for the luggage carried by diggers. Scotch, sweg, or swack; German, sweig, a flock. Old cant for a shop.

Swag-shop, a warehouse where “Brummagem” and general wares, fancy trinkets, plated goods, &c., are sold. Jews are the general proprietors; and the goods are very low-priced, trashy, and showy. Swag-shops were formerly plunder depôts.—Old Cant.

Swagsman, one who carries the booty after a burglary.

Swank, to boast or “gas” unduly.

Swankey, cheap or small beer. Any weak fermented beverage.

Swap, to exchange. Grose says it is Irish cant, but the term is now included in most dictionaries as an allowed vulgarism.

Swarry, a boiled leg of mutton and trimmings. Sam Weller’s adventure with the Bath footmen originated the term. See trimmings.

Swatchel-cove, the master of a Punch-and-Judy exhibition who “fakes the slum,” and does the necessary squeak for the amusement of the bystanders. See Schwassle box. The orthography of many of these colloquial expressions differs. It was thought best to give the various renderings as collected.

Sweat, to extract money from a person, to “bleed.” Also, to squander riches.—Bulwer.

Sweat, to violently shake up a lot of guineas or sovereigns in a leathern bag for the purpose of benefiting by the perspiration.

Sweater, common term for a “cutting” or “grinding” employer,—one who sweats his workpeople. A cheap tailor, who pays starvation wages.

Sweep, a contemptuous term for a low or shabby man.

Sweet, loving or fond; “how sweet he was upon the moll,” i.e., what marked attention he paid the girl.

Sweetener, a person who runs up the prices of articles at an auction. See jollying, bonnet, &c.

Swell, a man of importance; a person with a showy, jaunty exterior, “a rank swell,” a very flashily dressed person, a man who by excessive dress apes a higher position than he actually occupies. Any one occupying a superior position in society is by the mob called a swell. Anything is said to be swell or swellish that looks showy, or is many coloured, or is of a desirable quality. Dickens and Thackeray were termed great swells in literature, and so are the first persons in the learned professions swells in their way.

Swell hung in chains, said of a showy man in the habit of wearing much jewellery.

Swell street, the West-end of London.

Swig, a hearty drink.

Swig, to drink. Saxon, swigan.

Swill, to drink inordinately. Swill, hog-wash. From which the verb has possibly been derived.—Norfolk.

Swim, “a good swim,” a good run of luck, a long time out of the policeman’s clutches.—Thieves’ term. Among anglers “a good swim” is a good pitch for a part where fish are plentiful—that is, because a lot of fish keeping together are called a swim. Thus one who is in luck, is well connected, or is doing a good business, is said to be in a good swim.

Swindler, although a recognised word in standard dictionaries, commenced service as a slang term. It was used as such by the poor Londoners against the German Jews who set up in London about the year 1762, also by our soldiers in the German war about that time. Schwindeln, in German, signifies to cheat.

Swing. To have one’s swing is to have a full turn at anything.

Swing, to be hanged; “if you don’t do what’s right, I’ll swing for you,” i.e., take your life,—a common threat in low neighbourhoods.

Swingeing, large, huge, powerful. As a swingeing blow, swingeing damages, &c.

Swipe, at cricket, to hit hard with a full swing of the bat. Most probably a condensation of “wipe swingeing” or “swinging wipe.”

Swipes, sour or small beer. Swipe, to drink.—Sea.

Swipey (from swipes), intoxicated.

Swish, to flog, derived perhaps from the sound. Maybe, a corruption of switch.

Swished, or switched, married.

Swivel-eye, a squinting eye.

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 by Dr. Wallace, one of the Professors, of the word sweat. It has since become fashionable at the Universities.

Syce, a groom.—Anglo-Indian.

T, “to suit to a T,” to fit to a nicety.—Old. Perhaps from the T-square of carpenters, by which the accuracy of work is tested.

Tabby party, a party consisting entirely of women, a tea and tattle gathering. In America, a gathering of men only is called a “stag party.”

Tabooed, forbidden. This word, now very common, is derived from a custom of the South-Sea islanders, first noticed in Cook’s Voyages.

Tack, a taste foreign to what was intended; a barrel may get a tack upon it, either permanently mouldy, sour, or otherwise.

Tacked, tied down. When a man has another vanquished, or for certain reasons bound to his service, he is said to have “got him tacked.”

Tackle, clothes.—Sea. Also to encounter a person in argument.

Taffy (corruption of David), a Welshman. Compare Sawney (from Alexander), a Scotchman; Paddy (from Patrick), an Irishman; and Johnny (from John Bull), an Englishman.

Tag-rag-and-bobtail, a mixed crowd of low people, the lower orders generally.

Tail-block, a watch.—Sea.

Tail-buzzer, a thief who picks coat-pockets.

Tail-down, “to get the tail down,” generally means to lose courage. When a professional at any game loses heart in a match he is said to get his tail down. “His tail was quite down, and it was all over.” The origin is obvious.

Take, to succeed, or be patronized. “Do you think the new opera will take?” “No, because the same company took so badly under the old management.” “To take on,” to grieve; Shakspeare uses the word taking in this sense. To “take up for any one,” to protect or defend a person; “to take off,” to mimic; “to take heart,” to have courage; “to take down a peg or two,” to humiliate, or tame; “to take up,” to reprove; “to take after,” to resemble; “to take in,” to cheat or defraud, probably from the lower class 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; in reference to this performance, Scripture is often quoted: “I was a stranger and ye took me in.” “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, that is, he takes the chances of the field against the chance of one horse.

Take beef, to run away.

Take in, a cheating or swindling transaction,—sometimes termed “a dead take in.” Shakspeare has take in in the sense of conquering. To be “had,” or to be “spoken to,” were formerly synonymous phrases with to be taken in.

Take it out, to obtain value for money, labour, &c. A rich man is said to “take it (i.e., his money) out in fine footmen, fine feeding,” &c. A poor man “takes it (i.e., his trouble) out in drink.”

Talking, a stable term, of a milder kind, applied to those horses which are addicted to roaring. See the latter expression.

Talk shop, to intrude oneself or one’s private business too freely into conversation. Any one who does this is said to be shoppy.

Tall, extensive, exaggerated,—generally applied to conversation, as “loud” is to dress, or personal appearance; “tall talk that,” i.e., conversation too boastful or high-flown to be true. Among pedestrians a great rate of speed is spoken of as tall.

Tally, five dozen bunches of turnips.—Costermongers’ term.

Tally, “to live tally,” to live in a state of unmarried impropriety; tally-wife, a woman who cohabits with a man to whom she is not married.

Tallyman, an accommodating salesman who takes payment by instalments to suit the convenience of the purchaser, but who is anything but accommodating when payments are irregular. Tallymen are the cause of much misfortune to the working classes, from their high and exorbitant rates, and the temptations they offer to weak-minded women, who purchase in haste and repent at leisure.

Tan, to beat or thrash; “I’ll tan your hide,” i.e., I’ll give you a good beating.

Tan, an order to pull.—Anglo-Indian.

Tanner, a sixpence. Perhaps Gipsy, tawno, little, or Latin, tener, slender.

Tanny, or teeny, little. Gipsy, tawno, little.

Tantrems, pranks, capers, frolicking; from the Tarantula dance. See account of the involuntary frenzy and motions caused by the bite of the tarantula in Italy.—Penny Cyclopædia.

Tantrums, ill-tempers. “He’s in his tantrums this morning,” is often said of a peevish, querulous man. They are not peculiar to the one sex, however.

Tap the Admiral, to suck liquor from a cask by means of a straw, said to have been done with the rum-cask in which Lord Nelson’s body was brought to England, to such an extent as to leave the gallant Admiral dry.

Tap-tub, the Morning Advertiser,—so called by vulgar people from the fact that this daily newspaper is the principal organ of the London brewers and publicans. Sometimes termed the Gin and Gospel Gazette, though this title is fast fading out since the paper has been in the hands of its present editor.

Tape, gin,—term with female servants. Also, a military term used in barracks when no spirits are allowed. See ribbon.

Taper, to give over gradually, to run short.

Taradiddle, a falsehood.

Tar-brush, a person whose complexion indicates a mixture of negro blood, is said to have had a lick of the tar-brush. Sometimes a man of this description is said to have been dipped in the black-pot, and he is often reminded that “another dip would have done it,” i.e., another dip would have made a negro of him.

Tar-out, to punish, to serve out.

Tarpaulin, a sailor.

Tartar, a savage fellow, an “ugly customer.” To “catch a Tartar,” is to discover somewhat unpleasantly that a person is by no means so mild or good-tempered as he or she at first appeared.

Tat-box, a dice-box.

Tater, “s’elp my tater,” an 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.

Tatterdemalion, a ragged fellow.

Tatting, gathering old rags.

Tattoo, a pony.—Anglo-Indian.

Taw, a large or principal marble; “I’ll be one on your taw,” I will pay you out, or be even with you,—a simile taken from boys aiming always at winning the taw when playing at marbles.

Tea-fight, an evening party, alias a “muffin-worry.”

Tea-spoon, five thousand pounds. See spoons.

Teagueland, Ireland. From the national character of the name Teague.

Teeth, “he has cut his eye teeth,” i.e., is old and ’cute enough.

Teeth-drawing, wrenching off knockers. Medical students’ term.

Teddy Hall, St. Edmund Hall.—Oxford University.

Teetotaller, a total abstainer from alcoholic drinks. The origin of this term is not known. It is said to be from the expression of a fanatical and stuttering enthusiast in the cause of total abstinence. It has nothing to do with tea.

Teetotally, amplification of totally.

Te-he, to titter, “Upon this I te-he’d.”—Madame d’Arblay. As an interjection it is as old as Chaucer. See Miller’s Tale:—

“Te-he, quod she, and clapt the window to.”

Tell on, to tell about, to talk of, to inform against. (This is formed by a simple misuse of the preposition.)

Ten commandments, a virago’s fingers, or nails. Often heard in a female street disturbance. “I’ll leave the ten commandments marked on his chump,” shows that the term may be applied to either the fingers or the scratchings. It would be a strange hand, however, that, with the best opportunity, could made five marks simultaneously.

Tench, the Penitentiary, of which it is a contraction. See steel.

Tenpence to the shilling, a vulgar phrase denoting a deficiency in intellect.

Testamur, the slip of paper on which the examiners testify (testari) to the fact that the candidate has satisfied their requirements.—University.

Tester, sixpence. From testone, a shilling in the reign of Henry VIII., but a sixpence in the time of Queen Elizabeth.—Shakspeare. French, teste, or tête, the head of the monarch on the coin.

Teviss, a shilling. Costermongers’ and tramps’ term.

Thatch, the human hair. “He’s well thatched,” is said of a man with a good head of hair.

The Tavern, New Inn Hall.—Oxford University.

The thing, the style, the proper proportion. Application varied. A good appearance, a decent dinner, or a fair bottle of wine, is said to be “the thing,” sometimes “the correct thing.”

Thick, intimate, familiar. The Scotch use the word “chief” in this sense, as, “the two are very chief now.”

Thick; “to lay it on thick,” to flatter unduly, to surfeit with praise or adulation.

Thick un, a sovereign; originally a crown piece, or five shillings.

Thimble, or yack, a watch.—Prison Cant.

Thimble-rig, a noted cheating game some years back, played at fairs and places of great public thronging, consisting of two or three thimbles rapidly and dexterously placed over a pea. The thimble-rigger, suddenly ceasing, asks under which thimble the pea is to be found. Any one not a practised hand would lose nine times out of ten any bet he might happen to make with him. The pea is generally concealed under his nail. Thimble-rigging has of late years given way to “broad-working.”

Thimble-twisters, thieves who rob persons of their watches.

Thingumy, thingumbob, expressions used for the name of a thing which cannot be recollected at the instant.

Thin-skinned, over-nice, petulant, apt to get a “raw.” See that term.

Three-cornered scraper, a cocked hat.—Sea.

Three sheets in the wind, unsteady from drink.—Sea.

Three-up, a gambling game played by costers and others of like grade. Three halfpennies are thrown up by one man to the call of another. If they do not come all alike, the cry is void, and the calling and tossing are resumed. When the three coins are all alike they are said to “come off,” and then all bets are decided according to the success or failure of the caller. When two men toss, they play “up for up,” i.e., they toss and cry alternately. When three or more join in, the gathering is named a school, and one man, who is called a pieman, cries to the halfpence of the others until he loses, when the winner of the toss becomes pieman in turn.

Through, finished. In America, where this word is most used in the sense now given, a guest who has had enough will, when asked to take more, say, “I’m through,” which is certainly preferable to the other Americanism, “crammed.”

Thrummer, a threepenny bit.

Thrums, threepence. Also, in Coventry, remnants and waste pieces of silk.

Thrups, threepence. See the preceding, which is more general.

Thud, the dull, dead sound made by the fall of a heavy body, or the striking of a bullet against any soft, fleshy substance.

Thumper, a magnificently constructed lie, a lie about which there is no stint of imaginative power.

Thumping, large, fine, or strong.

Thunderbomb, an imaginary ship of vast size. See Merry Dun of Dover.

Thunderer, the Times newspaper, sometimes termed “the Thunderer of Printing House Square,” from the locality where it is printed.

Thundering, large, extra-sized.

Tibbing out, going out of bounds.—Charterhouse.

Tibby, the head. Street slang, with no known etymology. To drop on one’s tibby is to frighten or startle any one, to take one unawares.

Tib’s eve, “neither before Christmas nor after,” an indefinite period; like the Greek Kalends, Tib’s eve has a future application; an indefinite period of past time is sometimes said to be “when Adam was an oakum-boy in Chatham Dockyard.” “The reign of Queen Dick” is another form of this kind of expression, and is used to indicate either past time or future.

Tick, credit, trust. Johnson says it is a corruption of “ticket,”—tradesmen’s bills being formerly written on tickets or cards. On tick, therefore, is equivalent to on ticket, or on trust. In use in 1668, and before, as follows:—

“No matter upon landing whether you have money or no—you may swim in twentie of their boats over the river upon ticket.”—Decker’s Gulls’ Hornbook, 1609.

Ticker, a watch. Formerly cant, now street slang.

Ticket, “that’s the ticket,” i.e., that’s what is wanted, or what is best. Probable corruption of “that’s etiquette,” or, perhaps, from ticket, a bill or invoice. This phrase is sometimes extended into “that’s the ticket for soup,” in allusion to the card given to beggars for immediate relief at soup kitchens. See tick.

Tickle, to puzzle; “a reg’lar tickler” is a poser.

Tiddlywink, slim, puny; sometimes tillywink.

Tidy, tolerably, or pretty well; “How did you get on to-day?”—“Oh, tidy.”—Saxon.

Tie, a dead heat. A game of any kind, in which the possibility exists, is said to end in a tie, if the markings are level on each side at the finish. In racing parlance, all level finishes are called dead-heats.

Tied up, given over, finished; also married, in allusion to the hymeneal knot, unless a jocose allusion be intended to the “halter” (altar). See buckled, term in use among costermongers and street folk generally.

Tiff, a pet, a fit of ill humour.

Tiffin, a breakfast, déjeûner à la fourchette.—Anglo-Indian Slang.

Tiffy, easily offended, apt to be annoyed.

Tiger, a parasite; also a term for a ferocious woman; a boy employed to wait on gentlemen—one who waits on ladies is a page.

Tiger, a superlative yell. “Three cheers, and the last in tigers.”—American. To “fight the tiger” is also American, and refers to gambling with professionals—dangerous pastime.

Tight, close, stingy; hard up, short of cash; tight, spruce, strong, active; “a tight lad,” a smart, active young fellow; tight, drunk, or nearly so, generally the result of “going on the loose;” “tight-laced,” puritanical, over-precise. Money is said to be tight when the public, from want of confidence in the aspect of affairs, are not inclined to speculate.

Tightener, a dinner, or hearty meal. See Spitalfields’ breakfast.

Tike-, or buffer-lurking, dog-stealing.

Tile, a hat, a covering for the head.

“I’m a gent, I’m a gent,
  In the Regent-Street style,—
Examine my costume,
  And look at my tile.”

—Popular Song.

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.

Timber-toes, a wooden-legged man. Also at the East-end one who wears clogs, i.e., wooden soled boots.

Time, cabman’s slang for money. If they wish to express 9s. 9d. they say that “it is a quarter to ten;” if 3s. 6d., half-past three; if 11s. 9d. a quarter to twelve. Cab-drivers can hardly have originated a system which has been in existence as long as the adage, “Time is money.” They have, however, the full use of the arrangement, which is perhaps the simplest on record.

Time, to do, to work out a sentence of imprisonment. Time is the generic term for all quantities of incarceration, whether short or long. Sometimes stir-time (imprisonment in the House of Correction) is distinguished from the more extended system of punishment which is called “pinnel (penal) time.”

Time o’ day, a dodge, the latest aspect of affairs; “that’s your time o’ day,” i.e., that’s well done; to put a person up to the time o’ day, or let him know “what’s o’clock,” is to instruct him in the knowledge needful for him.

Tin, money,—generally applied to silver.

Tinge, the per-centage allowed by drapers and clothiers to their assistants upon the sale of old-fashioned articles. See spiffs.

Tinkler, a bell. “Jerk the tinkler,” ring the bell. Refined or affected slangists sometimes say, “Agitate the communicator,” which, though it represents “ring the bell,” should more properly mean “pull the cord.”

Tin-pot, “he plays a tin-pot game,” i.e., a low, mean, or shabby game. In the Contes d’Eutrapel, a French officer at the siege of Chatillon is ridiculously spoken of as Captain Tin-pot—Capitaine du Pot d’Etain. Tin-pot, as generally used, means worthless. As applied to billiards and kindred games, it means pretentious and inferior play.

Tip, advice or information respecting anything, but mostly used in reference to horse-racing, so that the person tipped may know how to bet to the best advantage. The “straight tip” is the tip which comes direct from the owner or trainer of a horse. Of late years a “straight tip” means a direct hint on any subject.

Tip, a douceur; “that’s the tip,” i.e., that’s the proper thing to do. “To miss one’s tip,” to fail in a scheme.—Old Cant.

Tip, to give, lend, or hand over anything to another person; “come, tip up the tin,” i.e., hand up the money; “tip the wink,” to inform by winking; “tip us your fin,” i.e., give me your hand; “tip one’s boom off,” to make off, or depart. From the seafaring phrase.

Tip the double, to “bolt,” or run away from any one.

Tip-top, first-rate, of the best kind.

Tip-topper, a “swell,” or dressy man, a “Gorger.”

Tipper, a kind of ale brewed at Brighton. Mrs. Gamp preferred the “Brighton tipper.”

Tipster, a “turf” agent who collects early and generally special information of the condition and racing capabilities of horses in the training districts, and posts the same to his subscribers to guide their betting.

“The racing tipsters have much less patronage than formerly, before “Geoffry Greenhorn” laid a trap for them, and published the tips he received in The Life. Professor Ingledue, M.A., the mesmerist, is silent; and if their subscribers, ‘for whose interests I have collected my old and able staff, with many additional ones, who are already at work in the training districts,’ could only get a sight of the ‘old and able staff,’ they would find it consisting of a man and a boy, at work in the back room of a London public-house, and sending different winners for every race to their subscribers.”—Post and Paddock, by the “Druid.”

There are, however, whatever non-racing men may think, many “touts” whose information is valuable to even the “best informed” writers.

Tit, a favourite name for a horse.

“They scorned the coach, they scorned the rails,
Two spanking tits with streaming tails,
Them swiftly onward drew.”

—End of All Things.

Tit for tat, an equivalent.

Titivate, to put in order, or dress up. Originally tidy-vate.

Titley, drink, generally applied to intoxicating beverages.

Titter, a girl; “nark the titter,” i.e., look at the girl.—Tramp’s term.

Tizzy, a sixpence. Corruption of tester.

Toad-in-the-hole, a kind of pudding, consisting of small pieces of meat immersed in batter, and baked. Also, a term applied to perambulating advertising mediums. See sandwich.

Toasting-fork, a regulation sword, indicative of the general uselessness of that weapon.

Toby, the road. The highwayman or swell robber was in old days said to be on the high toby, from the high or main road, while those meaner fellows, the footpad and the cutpurse, were but “low toby-men,” from their frequenting the by-ways.

To-do (pronounced quickly, and as one word), a disturbance, trouble; “here’s a pretty to-do,” here is an unpleasant difficulty. This exactly tallies with the French, affaire (à faire).—See Forby’s Vocabulary of East Anglia.

To the nines, to the dodges of the day. “He’s up to the nines,” means he’s up to everything. “Dressed to the nines,” means dressed loudly, or, as it is more generally known now, “dressed to death.”

Toddle, to walk as a child.

Toe, to kick. “I’ll toe your backside.” Common in London.

Toff, a dandy, a swell of rank. Corruption probably of tuft. See toft.

Toffer, a well-dressed “gay” woman. One who deals with toffs.

Tofficky, dressy, showy.

Toft, a showy individual, a swell, a person who, in a Yorkshireman’s vocabulary, would be termed “uppish.” See tuft.

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.

Toggery, clothes, harness, domestic paraphernalia of any kind.

Togs, clothes; “Sunday togs,” best clothes. One of the oldest cant words—in use in the time of Henry VIII. See cant.

Toke, dry bread. Sometimes used to denote a lump of anything.

Toko for yam, a Roland for an Oliver. Possibly from a system of barter carried on between sailors and aborigines.

Tol-lol, or tol-lollish, tolerable, or tolerably.

Toll-shop, a Yorkshire correspondent gives this word as denoting in that county a prison, and also the following verse of a song, popular at fairs in the East Riding:—

“But if ivver he get out agean,
And can but raise a frind,
Oh! the divel may tak’ toll-shop,
At Beverley town-end!”

This is but a variation of the Scottish Tolbooth.

Tom, e.g., “after Tom,” after the hour at which Big Tom of Christchurch rings. At its last stroke the gates are closed, and undergrads entering after have to pay an increasing sum for each hour up to twelve. To be out after that involves an interview with the Master.—Oxford University.

Tom and Jerry shop, a low drinking shop. Probably some allusion to Pierce Egan’s famous characters in his Life in London. Generally contracted to Jerry shop.

Tom Toppers, a waterman, from a popular song, entitled, Overboard he vent.

Tom Tug, a waterman. From the small stage-play. Also rhyming slang for a flat, or rather a “mug.”

Tomboy, a hoyden, a rude romping girl.

Tombstone, a pawn-ticket—“In memory of” whatever has been pawned,—a well-known slang expression with those Londoners who are in the habit of following “my uncle.”

Tomfoolery, nonsense; trashy, mild, and innocuous literature.

Tom-fool’s colours, scarlet and yellow, the ancient motley. Occasionally, as a rhyme of quality suitable to the subject,

“Red and yellow,
Tom fool’s colour.”

A proposition is said to be tom fool when it is too ridiculous to be entertained or discussed.

Tom-tom, a street instrument, a kind of small drum beaten with the fingers, somewhat like the ancient tabor; a performer on this instrument. “Hark! ’tis the Indian drum.”

Tommy, See dickey.

Tommy, bread,—food generally. Sometimes applied by workmen to the supply of food which they carry in a bag or handkerchief as their daily allowance. Tommy-bag is the term for the bag or handkerchief in which the “daily bread” is carried.

Tommy, truck, barter, the exchange of labour for goods, not money. Both term and practice, general among English operatives for half-a-century, are by a current fiction supposed to have been abolished by Act of Parliament.

Tommy Dodd, in tossing when the odd man either wins or loses, as per agreement. A phrase in frequent use in London. A music-hall song has been given with this title and on this subject.

Tommy-master, one who pays his workmen in goods, or gives them tickets upon tradesmen, with whom he shares the profit.

Tommy-shop, a shop where wages are paid to mechanics or others, who are expected to “take out” a portion of the money in goods. Also, a baker’s shop.

Tongue, “to tongue a person,” i.e., to talk him down. Tongued, talkative.

Tony Lumpkin, a young, clownish country fellow. From She Stoops to Conquer.

Tool, as “a poor tool,” a bad hand at anything.

Tool, to drive a coach, or any other vehicle. To “handle the ribbons” in fine style.

Tool, a very little boy employed by burglars to enter at small apertures, and open doors for the larger thieves outside.

Tooler, a pickpocket. Moll-tooler, a female pickpocket.

Tooley Street tailor, a self-conceited, vainglorious man. The “three tailors of Tooley Street” are said to have immortalized themselves by preparing a petition for Parliament—and some say, presenting it—with only their own signatures thereto, which commenced, “We, the people of England.”

Tooth, “he has cut his eye tooth,” i.e., he is sharp enough, or old enough, to do so; “old in the tooth,” far advanced in age,—said often of old maids. From the stable term for aged horses which have lost the distinguishing marks in their teeth.

Tootsies, feet, those of ladies and children in particular. In married life it is said the husband uses this expression for the first six months; after that he terms them “hoofs.”

Top, the signal among tailors and sempstresses for snuffing the candle; one cries top, and all the others follow; he who last pronounces the word has to snuff the candle.

Top-dressing, in journalism, is the large-type introduction to a report, generally written by a man of higher literary attainments than the ordinary reporter who follows with the details.

Top-heavy, drunk.

Top-sawyer, the principal of a party, or profession. “A top-sawyer signifies a man that is a master-genius in any profession. It is a piece of Norfolk slang, and took its rise from Norfolk being a great timber county, where the top sawyers get double the wages of those beneath them.”—Randall’s Diary, 1820.

Top up, a finishing drink. “He drank two bottles of claret and one of port, which he topped up with half a bottle of brandy.”

Topped, hanged, or executed.

Topper, anything or person above the ordinary; a blow on the head. “Give him a topper and chance it,” “Let him have a topper for luck.”

Topper, the tobacco which is left in the bottom of a pipe-bowl—lucus a non lucendo; or the stump of a smoked cigar. Topper-hunters are men who pick up cigar ends and odd pieces of stale tobacco, which they mix and chop up for home consumption or sale.

Topsy-turvy, the bottom upwards. Grose gives an ingenious etymology of this once cant term, viz., “top-side turf-ways,”—turf being always laid the wrong side upwards. This is so far ingenious that it creates a fact for the purpose of arguing from it. Turfs are laid with the grass part together during carriage; so, anyhow, the definition could be only half right. In fact, topsy-turvy is but short for “top-side t’other way.”

To-rights, excellent, very well, or good.—Low London slang.

Tormentors, the large iron flesh-forks used by cooks at sea.

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.—Billingsgate.

Tot, a small glass; a “tot o’ whisky” is the smallest quantity sold.

Tot-up, to add together,—as columns of figures, £ s. d. From total-up, through the vulgarism tottle.

Totting, bone-picking, either peripatetically or at the dust-heaps. “Tot” is a bone, but chiffoniers and cinder-hunters generally are called tot-pickers nowadays. Totting also has its votaries on the banks of the Thames, where all kinds of flotsam and jetsam, from coals to carrion, are known as tots.

Touch, a slang expression in common use in phrases which express the extent to which a person is interested or affected, “as a fourpenny touch,” i.e., a thing costing fourpence. See an example in Mr., afterwards Sir Erasmus, Philipps’s Diary, at Oxford, in 1720. “Sept. 22.—At night went to the ball at the Angel, a guinea touch.” It is also used at Eton in the sense of a “tip,” or present of money; and is sometimes said of a woman to imply her worthlessness, as, “Only a half-crown touch.”

Touch-and-go, an expression often applied to men with whom business arrangements should be of the lightest possible character. Thus, “He’s a touch-and-go sort of fellow. Be careful of him.”

Toucher, “as near as a toucher,” as near as possible without actually touching.—Coaching term. The old Jarveys, to show their skill, used to drive against things so closely as absolutely to touch, yet without injury. This they called a toucher, or touch-and-go, which was hence applied to anything which was within an ace of ruin.

Touchy, peevish, irritable. Johnson terms it a low word.

Tout. In sporting phraseology a tout signifies an agent in the training districts, on the look-out for information as to the condition and capabilities of those horses entering for a coming race. Touts often get into trouble through entering private training-grounds. They, however, are very highly paid, some making 40l. or 50l. a week during the season. Now frequently called horse-watchers.

Tout, to look out, or watch.

Touter, a looker out, one who waits at railway stations and steamboat piers, and touts for customers; a hotel runner. Term in general use.

Touzle, to romp with or rumple.—Scotch.

Towel, to beat or whip. In old English phraseology a cudgel was termed an oaken towel—whence, perhaps, the verb.

Towelling, a rubbing down with an oaken towel, a beating.

Town and Gown. The fight which used to come off every 5th of November between the undergrads and the “cads.” The sides used to shout respectively “town!” and “gown!” as war-cries.—Oxford University.

Town-lout, a derogatory title at Rugby School for those pupils who reside with their parents in the town, in contradistinction from those who live in the boarding-houses.

Tow-pows, grenadiers. From the bearskins, most likely, unless it was originally tall-pows, the grenadiers being the tallest men in the company.

Towzery gang, swindlers who hire sale-rooms, usually in the suburbs, for mock auction sales of cheap and worthless goods, and who advertise their ventures as “Alarming Sacrifices,” “Important Sales of Bankrupts’ Stock,” &c. The American name for a mock auctioneer is a “Peter Funk.”

Tracks, “to make tracks,” to run away. See streak.

Tradesman, one who thoroughly understands his business, whatever it may be. No better compliment can be passed on an individual, whether his profession be housebreaking, prizefighting, or that of a handicraftsman, than the significant “He’s a regular tradesman.”

Translator, a man who deals in old shoes or clothes, and refits them for cheap wear. These people generally live in or about Dudley Street, Seven Dials.

Translators, second-hand boots mended and polished, and sold at a low price.

Trap, a “fast” term for a carriage of any kind. Traps, goods and chattels of any kind, but especially luggage and personal effects; in Australia, “swag.”

Trapesing, gadding or gossiping about in a slatternly way. Generally applied to girls and women in low neighbourhoods, who wander from public-house to public-house, and whose clothes are carelessly fastened, causing them to trail on the ground.

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 racoon 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, of backwoods celebrity. In Scotland the phrase is “up a close,” i.e., up a passage with no outlet, a cul-de-sac, therefore suggestive of an unpleasant predicament.

Triangles, a slang term for delirium tremens, during a fit of which everything appears out of the square.

Trimmings, the necessary adjuncts to anything cooked, but specially applied to a boiled leg of mutton, as turnips, potatoes, bread, beer, salt, &c. Bets are frequently made for a leg of mutton and trimmings. Or one person will forfeit the mutton if another will “stand the trimmings.” It is generally a supper feast, held in a public-house, and the rule is for the landlord to charge as trimmings everything, except the mutton, placed on the table previous to the removal of the cloth. A boiled leg o’ mutton and trimmings will be always known as a “swarry” to admirers of Sam Weller.

Tripes, the bowels.

“Next morning Miss Dolly complained of her tripes,
Drinking cold water had given her gripes.”

Trollies, or trolly-carts, term given by costermongers to a species of narrow carts, which can either be drawn by a donkey or driven by hand.

Trolling, sauntering or idling, hence troll and trollocks, an idle slut, a “moll,” which see.

Trollop, a slatternly woman, a prostitute.

Trot, to “run up,” to oppose, to bid against at an auction. Private buyers at auctions know from experience how general is the opposition against them from dealers, “knock-outs,” and other habitués of sales, who regard the rooms as their own peculiar domain. “We trotted him up nicely, didn’t we?” i.e., we made him (the private buyer) pay dearly for what he bought.

Trot out, to draw out or exploit, to show off the abilities of a companion; sometimes to roast for the amusement and with the assistance of an assembled company.

Trotter, a tailor’s man who goes round for orders.—University.

Trotter cases, shoes.

Trotters, feet. Sheep’s trotters, boiled sheep’s feet, a favourite street delicacy.

Truck, a hat—from the cap on the extremity of a mast.—Sea.

Truck, to exchange or barter.

Trucks, trousers.

Trull, corruption of “troll” or “trollop,” a dirty, slatternly woman, a prostitute of the lowest class.

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.

Trunks, short trousers worn above hose or tights.—Theatrical.

Try it on, to make attempt, generally applied to an effort at imposition. An extortionate charge or a begging-letter is frequently described as “a regular try-on.”

Tub, the morning bath. To tub has now become a regular verb, so far as colloquialism is concerned, though no one uses a tub as the word was originally understood.

Tub-thumping, preaching or speech-making, from the old Puritan fashion of “holding forth” from a tub, or beer barrel, as a mark of their contempt for decorated pulpits.

Tubs, nickname for a butterman.

Tuck, a schoolboy’s term for fruit, pastry, &c. Tuck in, or tuck out, a good meal.

Tuft-hunter, a hanger on to persons of quality or wealth—one who seeks the society of wealthy people. Originally University slang, but now general.

Tufts, at the University, noblemen, who pay high fees and are distinguished by golden tufts, or tassels, in their caps.

Tumble, to comprehend or understand. A coster was asked what he thought of Macbeth, and he replied, “The witches and the fighting was all very well, but the other moves I couldn’t tumble to exactly; few on us can tumble to the jaw-breakers; they licks us, they do.”

Tumble to pieces, to be safely delivered, as in childbirth.

Tune the old cow died of, an epithet for any ill-played or discordant piece of music. Originally the name of an old ballad, referred to by dramatists of Shakspeare’s time.

Tuns, a name at Pembroke College, Oxford, for small silver cups, each containing half a pint. Sometimes a tun had a handle with a whistle, which could not be blown till the cup was empty.

Turf, horse-racing, and betting thereon; “on the turf,” one who occupies himself with race-horse business; said also of a street-walker, or nymph of the pavé.

Turkey merchants, dealers in plundered or contraband silk. Poulterers are sometimes termed turkey merchants in remembrance of Horne Tooke’s answer to the boys at Eton, who wished in an aristocratic way to know what his father was: “A turkey merchant,” replied Tooke—his father was a poulterer. Turkey merchant, also, was formerly slang for a driver of turkeys or geese to market.

Turnip, an old-fashioned watch, so called from its general appearance, if of silver. Also called “a frying-pan.” Old-fashioned gold watches are called “warming-pans.”

Turn it up, to quit, change, abscond, or abandon; “Ned has turned it up,” i.e., run away; “I intend turning it up,” i.e., leaving my present abode or employment, or altering my course of life.

Turn-out, personal show or appearance; a man with a showy carriage and horses is said to have a good turn-out.

Turn-over, an apprentice who finishes with a second master the indentures he commenced with another, who has died or become bankrupt.

Turn up, a street fight; a sudden leaving, or making off. An unexpected slice of luck. Among sporting men bookmakers are said to have a turn up when an unbacked horse wins.

Turn up, to appear unexpectedly. Also to happen; “Let’s wait, and see what will turn up.”

Turn up, to make sick. People are said to be turned up by sea-sickness, or when they are made ill by excessive smoking or drinking.

Turned over, remanded by the magistrate or judge for want of evidence.

Turned up, to be stopped and searched by the police. To be discharged from a police-court or sessions-house; to be acquitted.

Turnpike sailors, beggars who go about dressed as sailors. A sarcastic reference to the scene of their chief voyages.

Tusheroon, a crown piece, five shillings. Otherwise a bull or cartwheel.

Tussle, a row, struggle, fight, or argument.

Tussle, to struggle, or argue.

Twelve godfathers, a jury, because they give a name to the crime the prisoner before them has been guilty of, whether murder or manslaughter, felony or misdemeanor. Consequently it is a vulgar taunt to say, “You will be christened by twelve godfathers some day before long.”

Twelver, a shilling.

Twice-laid, a dish made out of cold fish and potatoes.—Sea. Compare bubble and squeak, and resurrection pie.

Twig, style. Prime twig, in good order and high spirits.

Twig, to comprehend, as, “Do you twig?” Also, “Hop the twig,” to decamp.

Twist, brandy and gin mixed.

Twist, capacity for eating, appetite; “He’s got a capital twist.”

Twitchety, nervous, fidgety.

Twitter, “all in a twitter,” in a fright or fidgety state.

Two eighteener, an Americanism for a man or woman of the fastest kind—two minutes eighteen seconds, or close thereabouts, being the fastest time for a mile recorded in connexion with the Transatlantic national sport, trotting. “Two forty on a plank road,” a once favourite expression with a similar meaning, derived from a feat of the famous trotting mare Flora Temple, has died out since trotting has become faster, and courses have been prepared on a different principle.

Two-eyed-steak, a red-herring or bloater. Otherwise “Billingsgate pheasant.”

Two-handed, expert at fisticuffs. Ambidextrous generally.

Two-handed game, a game or proposal in which the chances are fairly even; as, “I’ll punch your head;” “Ah, that’s a two-handed game—you’ll get no good at that.”

Two to one, the pawnbroker’s sign of three balls. So called because it is supposed by calculating humourists to be two to one against the redemption of a pledged article.

Two upon ten, or two pun’ ten, an expression used by assistants to each other, in shops, when a customer of suspected honesty makes his appearance. The phrase refers to “two eyes upon ten fingers,” shortened as a money term to two pun’ ten. When a supposed thief is present, one shopman asks the other if that two pun’ (pound) ten matter was ever settled. The man knows at once what is meant, and keeps a careful watch upon the person being served. If it is not convenient to speak, a piece of paper is handed to the same assistant, bearing the, to him, very significant amount of

£2: 10: 0

Compare Sharp, John Orderly.

Twopenny, the head; “tuck in your twopenny,” bend down your head.

Twopenny-halfpenny, paltry, insignificant. A twopenny-halfpenny fellow, a not uncommon expression of contempt.

Twopenny-hops, low dancing rooms, the price of admission to which was formerly twopence. The clog hornpipe, the pipe dance, flash jigs, and hornpipes in fetters, à la Jack Sheppard, were the favourite movements, all entered into with great spirit.

Twopenny rope, a lodging-house of the lowest kind, where tramps and cadgers sleep on sacking stretched by means of ropes. Sleeping at these places is called having “twopenn’orth of rope.”

Tyburnia, the Portman and Grosvenor Square district. It is facetiously divided by the Londoners into “Tyburnia Felix,” “Tyburnia Deserta,” and “Tyburnia Snobbica.” The old gallows at Tyburn stood near the N.E. corner of Hyde Park, at the angle formed by the Edgware Road and the top of Oxford Street. In 1778 this was two miles out of London.

Tyburn tippet, in the old hanging days, Jack Ketch’s rope.

Tye, or tie, a neckerchief. Proper hosiers’ term now, but slang thirty years ago, and as early as 1718.

Tyke, a Yorkshireman. Term used by themselves, as well as by Southerners, in reference to them.

Typo, a printer.

Ugly, wicked, malicious, resentful.—American.

Ullages, the wine of all sorts left in the bottoms of glasses at a public dinner. This is emptied into a measure, and drunk behind the screen or in any convenient place by the waiters, which accounts for their stony glare and fishy appearance late in the evening. Maybe from Lat. ullus, any.

Unbleached American, Yankee term, since the war, for coloured natives of the United States.

Uncle, the pawnbroker. See my uncle.

Under a cloud, in difficulties. An evident reference to shady circumstances.

Under the rose. See rose.

Understandings, the feet or boots. Men who wear exceptionally large or thick boots, are said to possess good understandings.

Understudy, to study a part for the stage, not with the view of playing it at once, but so as to be ready in the event of anything happening to its present representative. Some actors of position, who suffer from delicate health, or mental weakness, have always other and inferior, but more robust, artists understudying their parts.

Unfortunate, a modern euphuism for a prostitute, derived from Thomas Hood’s beautiful poem of The Bridge of Sighs:—

“One more unfortunate,
Weary of breath,
Rashly importunate,
Gone to her death.”

It is almost needless to remark that the poet had no intention of using the word in any but its widest and most general sense.

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. “Manchester” means three horses abreast. See harum-scarum.

Unlicked, ill-trained, uncouth, rude, and rough; an “unlicked cub” is a loutish youth who has never been taught manners; from the tradition that a bear’s cub, when brought into the world, has no shape or symmetry until its dam licks it into form with her tongue. Possibly said of a boy who has been petted, i.e., who has been insufficiently thrashed or licked. Case of spared rod and spoilt child.

Unparliamentary, or unscriptural, language, words unfit for use in ordinary conversation.

Unutterables, or unwhisperables, trousers. See inexpressibles.

Up, “to be up to a thing or two,” to be knowing, or understanding; “to put a man up to a move,” to teach him a trick; “it’s all up with him,” i.e., it is all over with him; when pronounced U.P., naming the two letters separately, means settled, or done up. “Up a tree,” see tree. “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; “what’s up?” what is the matter? what is the news?

U.P., United Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

Upper Benjamin, or Benjy, a great coat; originally “Joseph,” but, because of the preponderance of tailors named Benjamin, altered in deference to them.

Upper storey, or upper loft, a person’s head; “his upper storey is unfurnished,” i.e., he does not know very much. “Wrong in his upper storey,” crazy. See chump.

Uppish, proud, arrogant.

Used up, broken-hearted, bankrupt, fatigued, vanquished.

Vakeel, a barrister.—Anglo-Indian.

Vamos, vamous, or vamoosh, to go, or be off. Spanish, vamos, “Let us go!” Probably namus, or namous, the costermonger’s word, was from this.

Vamp, to spout, to leave in pawn. Also to cobble, as, “a vamped play,” and “a vamped accompaniment,” both terms reflecting discredit on the work, but not necessarily upon the musician.

Vamps, old, or refooted stockings. From vamp, to piece.

Vardo, to look; “vardo the carsey,” look at the house. Vardo formerly was old cant for a waggon. This is by low Cockneys generally pronounced vardy.

Vardy, verdict, vulgarly used as opinion, thus, “My vardy on the matter is the same as yourn.”

Varmint. “You young varmint, you!” you bad, or naughty boy. Corruption of vermin.

Varnisher, an utterer of false sovereigns. Generally “snide-pitcher.”

’Varsity, either university—more rarely University College, Oxford.

Velvet, the tongue; especially the tongue of a magsman. Also, men who have succeeded in their speculations, especially on the turf, are said to stand on velvet.

Veneer, the artificiality of society, conventionality. Dickens expressed his dislike for certain forms of veneer repeatedly, and especially by means of his Veneerings in Our Mutual Friend.

Vet, colloquial term for veterinarian.

Vic, the Victoria Theatre, London. Also the street abbreviation of the Christian name of her Majesty the Queen.

Village, or the village, i.e., London. Birmingham is called “the hardware village.” Also a Cambridge term for a disreputable suburb of that town, viz., Barnwell, generally styled “the village.”

Ville, or vile, a town or village—pronounced phial, or vial.—French.

Vinnied, mildewed, or sour.—Devonshire.

Voker, to talk; “can you voker Romany?” can you speak the canting language?—Latin, vocare; Spanish, vocear.

Vowel. “To vowel a debt” is to acknowledge with an I O U.

Vulpecide, one who shoots or traps foxes, or destroys them in any way other than that of hunting. A foxhunter regards a vulpecide as rather worse than an ordinary murderer.

Wabble, or wobble, to move from side to side, to roll about. Johnson terms it “a low, barbarous word.”

Walk into, to overcome, to demolish; “I’ll walk into his affections,” i.e., I will scold or thrash him. “He walked into the grub,” i.e., he demolished it. Walk into also means to get into the debt of any one, as “He walked into the affections of all the tradesmen in the neighbourhood.”

Walk-over, a re-election without opposition.—Parliamentary, but derived from the turf, where a horse which has no rivals walks over the course. See dead heat.

Walk your chalks, be off, or run away,—spoken sharply by any one who wishes to get rid of a troublesome person. See chalks.

Walker, a letter-carrier or postman. From an old song, called, “Walker, the twopenny postman.”

Walker! or Hookey Walker! an ejaculation of incredulity, used when a person is telling a story which you know to be all gammon, or worse. One explanation of the phrase is this:—“Years ago there was a person named Walker, an aquiline-nosed Jew, who exhibited an orrery, which he called by the erudite name of ‘Eidouranion.’ He was also a popular lecturer on astronomy, and often, telescope in hand, invited his pupils to ’take a sight’ at the moon and stars. The lecturer’s phrase struck his schoolboy auditory, who frequently ’took a sight’ with that gesture of outstretched arm and adjustment to nose and eye which was the first garnish of the popular saying. The next step was to assume phrase and gesture as the outward and visible mode of knowingness in general.” This has been denied, however, and a statement made that Hookey Walker was a magistrate of dreaded acuteness and incredulity, whose hooked nose gave the title of “beak” to all his successors; it is also said, moreover, that the gesture of applying the thumb to the nose and agitating the little finger, as an expression of “Don’t you wish you may get it?” is considerably older than the first story would seem to indicate. There are many and various explanations of the term, given according to the development of fancy.—Notes and Queries, iv. 425.

Walking the pegs, a method of cheating at the game of cribbage, by a species of legerdemain, the sharper either moving his own pegs forward, or those of his antagonist backward, according to the state of the game.

Wallflower, a person who goes to a ball and looks on without dancing, either from choice or through not being able to obtain a partner. From the position.

Wallflowers, left-off and “regenerated” clothes exposed for sale on the bunks and shop-boards of Seven Dials. See reach-me-downs.

Wallabee-track, Colonial slang for the tramp. When a man in Australia is “on the road” looking for employment, he is said to be on the wallabee-track.

Wallop, to beat, or thrash. 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 wheal, a livid swelling in the skin after a blow. See pot-walloper.

Walloping, a beating or thrashing; sometimes used in an adjective sense, as big, or very large.

Wapping, or whopping, of a large size, great.

Warm, rich, or well off.

Warm, to thrash or beat; “I’ll warm your jacket.” To warm the wax of one’s ear is to give a severe blow on the side of the head. To warm is also to rate or abuse roundly. Also varied, as, “to make it hot” for any one.

Warming-pan, a large old-fashioned gold watch. A person placed in an office to hold it for another. See W.P.

War-paint, evening dress. When people go out in full costume they are often said to have their war-paint on. Also, military “full-fig.”

Wash, “It wont wash,” i.e., will not stand investigation, will not “bear the rub,” is not genuine, can’t be believed.

Waster, a useless, clumsy, or ill-made person.

Watch and seals, a sheep’s head and pluck.

Watchmaker, a pickpocket or stealer of watches. Often called “a watchmaker in a crowd.”

Water-bewitched, very weak tea, the third brew (or the first at some houses). Sometimes very weak tea is called “husband’s tea,” in allusion to the wife taking the first brew, and leaving the rest for her husband. Also grog much diluted.

Water-dogs, Norfolk dumplings.

Water gunner, a marine artilleryman.

Water the dragon, or water one’s nag, a hint for retiring.

Waterman, a blue silk handkerchief. The friends of the Oxford and Cambridge boats’ crews always wear these—light blue for Cambridge, and a darker shade for Oxford.

Wattles, ears.

Wax, a rage. “Let’s get him in a wax.” Waxy, cross, ill-tempered.

Wayz-goose, a printers’ annual dinner, the funds for which are collected by stewards regularly appointed by “the chapel.”

Weather eye, the cautious eye. Any one who is supposed to have an extra good knowledge of things in general, or to be hard to impose on or cheat, is said to have his weather eye well open.

Weather-headed, so written by Sir Walter Scott in his Peveril of the Peak, but it is more probably wether-headed, as applied to a person having a “sheepish” look.

Weaving, a notorious card-sharping trick, done by keeping certain cards on the knee, or between the knee and the under side of the table, and using them when required by changing them for the cards held in the hand.

Weaving leather aprons. When a knowing blade is asked what he has been doing lately, and does not choose to tell, his reply is, that he has been very busy weaving leather aprons. (From the reports of a celebrated trial for gold robbery on the South-Western Railway.) Other similar replies are, “I have been making a trundle for a goose’s eye,” or a “whim-wham to bridle a goose.” Sometimes a man will describe himself as “a doll’s-eye weaver.”

Wedge, silver.—Old Cant.

Wedge-feeder, a silver spoon.

Weed, a cigar; the weed, tobacco generally.

Weed, a hatband.

Weight-for-age, a sporting phrase which, applied to a race, distinguishes it from a handicap or catch-weight event, and informs all interested that the animals which run carry according to their ages, and not their abilities. Winners of certain great races generally carry penalties in addition to weight-for-age, for the purpose of equalizing matters somewhat; but as a rule the results are fairly foreshadowed as soon as in these races the horses are at the post, or as soon as the starters are positively known.

Wejee, a chimney-pot. Often applied to any clever invention, as, “That’s a regular wejee.”

Welcher, a person who makes a bet without the remotest chance of being able to pay, and, losing it, absconds, or “makes himself scarce.” In the betting ring a welcher is often very severely handled upon his swindling practices being discovered. The Catterick “Clerk of the Course” once provided some stout labourers and a tar-barrel for the special benefit of the welchers who might visit that neighbourhood. The word is modern, but the practice is ancient.

“One Moore, the unworthy incumbent of the ‘Suffolk curacy,’ dedicated a book to ‘Duke Humphrey,’ and was then entirely lost sight of by his old college friends, till one of them espied him slung up in ‘the basket,’ for not paying his bets at a cock-pit.”

—Post and Paddock.

One writer says the term “arose from a fellow who took deposits on account of Welsh ponies, which he said he was importing, and never delivered them.” It is not unfrequently suggested by irreverent persons that the word was suggested by the dislike his gracious Majesty George the Fourth had, when a young man, for settling. Others derive it from the nursery rhyme,

“Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief.”

There can be no doubt that, from the days when the stout Earl of Chester and others were constantly employed in checking and cutting off the expeditions of their neighbours till comparatively recently, the term “Welshman” has been hardly one of kindness. It is not hard, therefore, to imagine its use on the Roodee, and its subsequent corruption into welcher. The spelling of the word, welcher or welsher, is optional.

Well, to pocket, to save money. Any one of fair income and miserly habits is said to “well it.”

Welt, to thrash with a strap or stick. Probably meaning to raise wheals.

West central, a water-closet, the initials being the same as those of the London Postal District. It is said that for this reason very delicate people refuse to obey Rowland Hill’s instructions in this particular. An old maid, who lived in this district, was particularly shocked at having W.C. marked on all her letters, and informed the letter-carrier that she could not think of submitting to such an indecent fashion. On being informed that the letters would not be forwarded without the obnoxious initials, she remarked that she would have them left at the Post-Office. “Then, marm,” said the fellow, with a grin, “they will put P.O. on them, which will be more ondacenter than the tother.”

Wet, a drink, a drain.

Wet, to drink. Low people generally ask an acquaintance to wet any recently purchased article, i.e., to stand treat on the occasion. “Wet (originally whet, to sharpen,) your whistle,” i.e., take a drink; “wet the other eye,” i.e., take another glass. See shed a tear.

Wet Quaker, a man who pretends to be religious, and is a dram-drinker on the sly.

Wet un, a diseased cow, unfit for human food, but nevertheless sold to make into sausages. Compare staggering-Bob.

Whack, a share or lot. “Give me my whack,” give me my share.—Scotch, sweg, or swack.

Whack, or whacking, a blow, or a thrashing.

Whack, to beat.

Whacker, a lie of unusual dimensions, sometimes called a “round un.”

Whacking, large, fine, or strong.

Whacks, to go whacks, to divide equally; to enter into partnership.

Whale, “very like a whale,” said of anything that is very improbable. A speech of Polonius’s in Hamlet.

What d’yecall’em, a similar expression to “thingumy.”

Wheeze, a joke, an anecdote, or dialogue, not strictly connected with a piece that is being played, but introduced by an actor, sometimes with the assistance and for the benefit of others. The dialogues which take place between the songs at nigger entertainments are also known as wheezes. The word actually means a new notion as applied to dialogue.

Wherret, or worrit, to scold, trouble, or annoy.—Old English.

Whid, a word. Sometimes, a fib, a falsehood, a word too much.—Modern Slang, from the ancient cant.

Whiddle, to enter into a parley, or hesitate with many words, &c.; to inform, or discover. See wheedle.

Whim-wham, an alliterative term, synonymous with fiddle-faddle, riff-raff, &c., denoting nonsense, rubbish, &c.

Whip, after the usual allowance of wine is drunk at mess, those who wish for more put a shilling each into a glass handed round to procure a further supply. Whip-round is now a common term for a subscription of a similar kind to that described.

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.

Whip, the member of the House of Commons whose duty it is to collect and keep together his party to vote at divisions. To give him greater influence, the ministerial whip holds, or is supposed to hold, the minor patronage of the Treasury.

Whipjack, a sham shipwrecked sailor, called also a turnpike-sailor.

Whip the cat, when an operative works at a private house by the day. Term used amongst tailors and carpenters.

Whipper-snapper, a waspish, diminutive person.

Whisper, a tip given in secret, a rumour which is spread under the pretence of its being a secret. To “give the whisper,” is to give a quick tip to any one. An owner’s final instruction to his jockey is called “the whisper at the post.”

Whisper, to borrow money—generally small sums—as, “He whispered me for a tanner.”

Whisperer, a constant borrower.

Whistle, “as clean as a whistle,” neatly, or “slickly done,” as an American would say; “To whet (or more vulgarly wet) one’s whistle,” to take a drink. This last is a very old expression. 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. “To pay for one’s whistle,” to pay extravagantly for any fancy.

Whistling-Billy, or puffing-Billy, a locomotive engine.

Whistling-shop, a place in which spirits are sold without a licence.

Whitechapel or Westminster brougham, a costermonger’s donkey-barrow.

Whitechapel, anything mean or paltry. Potting one’s opponent at billiards is often known as “Whitechapel play.”

Whitechapel, in tossing, when “two out of three wins.” See sudden death.

Whitechapel fortune, a clean gown and a pair of pattens.

White eye, military slang for a very strong and deleterious kind of whisky, so called because its potency is believed to turn the eyes round in the sockets, leaving the whites only visible.

White feather, “to show the white feather,” to evince cowardice. In times when great attention was paid to the breeding of game-cocks, a white feather in the tail was considered a proof of cross-breeding.

White horses, the foam on the crests of waves, seen before or after a storm.

“Now the wild white horses play.
Champ and chafe and toss in the spray.
  Children, dear, let us away,
  This way, this way.”

—Matthew Arnold.

White lie, a harmless lie, one told to reconcile people at variance. “Mistress is not at home, sir,” is a white lie often told by servants.

White-livered, or liver-faced, cowardly, much afraid, very mean.

White prop, a diamond pin.—East London.

White satin, gin,—term amongst women. See satin.

White serjeant, a man’s superior officer in the person of his better half.

White tape, gin,—term used principally by female servants. See ribbon.

White un, a silver watch.

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 goes
  By that genteeler name—white wine.’”

Randall’s Diary, 1820.

Whitewash, to rehabilitate. A person who took the benefit of the Insolvent Act was said to have been whitewashed. Now said of a person who compromises with his creditors.

Whitewash, a glass of sherry as a finale, after drinking port and claret.

Whittle, to nose or peach.—Old Cant. To cut and hack as with a pocket-knife.—American.

Whop, to beat, or hide. Corruption of whip; sometimes spelt wap.

Whop-straw, cant name for a countryman; Johnny Whop-straw, in allusion to threshing.

Whopper, a big one, a lie. A lie not easily swallowed.

Widdle, to shine. See oliver.

Wide-awake, a broad-brimmed felt or stuff hat,—so called because it never had a nap, and never wants one.

Wido, wide awake, no fool.

Wife, a fetter fixed to one leg.—Prison.

Wiffle-woffles, in the dumps, sorrow, stomach-ache.

Wig, move off, go away.—North Country Cant.

Wigging, a rebuke before comrades. If the head of a firm calls a clerk into the parlour, and rebukes him, it is an earwigging; if done before the other clerks, it is a wigging.

Wild, a village.—Tramps’ term. See vile.

Wild, vexed, cross, passionate,—said to be from willed (self-willed), in opposition to “tamed” or “subdued.” In the United States the word “mad” is supplemented with a vulgar meaning similar to our Cockneyism wild; and to make a man mad on the other side of the Atlantic is to vex him, or “rile” his temper—not to render him a raving maniac, or a fit subject for Bedlam.

Wild Irishman, the train between Euston and Holyhead, in connection with the Kingstown mail-boats.

Wild oats, youthful pranks. A fast young man is said to be “sowing his wild oats.”

William, a bill. The derivation is obvious.

Willow, a cricket-bat. From the material of which it is made. The great batsman, W. G. Grace, is often called “champion of the willow.”

Wind, “to raise the wind,” to procure money; “to slip one’s wind,” a coarse expression, meaning to die. See raise.

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 a thread that they shall not be able to unravel.”

Windows, the eyes, or “peepers.”

Winey, intoxicated.

Winged, hurt, but not dangerously, by a bullet. Originally to be shot in the arm or shoulder. To slightly wound birds is to wing them.

Winkin, “he went off like winkin,” i.e., very quickly. From wink, to shut the eye quickly.

Winks, periwinkles.

Winn, a penny—Ancient Cant. See introductory chapter.

Wipe, a pocket-handkerchief.—Old Cant.

Wipe, a blow. Frequently sibilated to swipe, a cricket-term.

Wipe, to strike; “he fetcht me a wipe over the knuckles,” he struck me on the knuckles; “to wipe a person down,” to flatter or pacify; “to wipe off a score,” to pay one’s debts, in allusion to the slate or chalk methods of account-keeping; “to wipe a person’s eye,” to shoot game which he has missed; hence to obtain an advantage by superior activity. With old topers “wiping one’s eye,” is equivalent to giving or taking another drink.

Wipe-out, to kill or utterly destroy. This is an Americanism, but is in pretty general use here.

Wire-in, a London street phrase in general use, which means to go in with a will. In its original form of “wire-in, and get your name up,” it was very popular among London professional athletes. The phrase is now general, and any one who has a hard task before him, knows he must wire-in to bring matters to a successful issue.

Wire-pullers, powerful political partisans, who do their work from “behind the scenes.”

With and without, words by themselves, supposed to denote the existence or non-existence of sugar in grog. Generally “warm with” and “cold without.”

Wobble-shop, a shop where beer is sold without a licence.

Wobbler, a foot soldier, a term of contempt used by cavalrymen.

Wobbly, rickety, unsteady, ill-fitting.

Wolf, to eat greedily.

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. The expression is also parliamentary slang, and is applied to the member of the ministry whose name appears in the division lists least frequently. At the ministerial dinner annually held at Greenwich, such member sometimes has a wooden spoon presented to him.

Wooden surtout, a coffin, generally spoken of as a wooden surtout with nails for buttons.

Wooden wedge, the last name in the classical honours’ list at Cambridge. The last in mathematical honours had long been known as the wooden spoon; but when the classical Tripos was instituted in 1824, it was debated among the undergraduates what sobriquet should be given to the last on the examination list. Curiously enough, the name that year which happened to be last was Wedgewood (a distinguished Wrangler). Hence the title.

Wool, courage, pluck; “you are not half-wooled,” term of reproach from one thief to another.

Wool, bravery, pluck. Term much in use among pugilists and their admirers. The highest praise that can be bestowed on a man of courage in lower-class circles is that which characterizes him as being “a reg’lar wooled un,” or “a rare wool-topped un.” Derived from the great pluck and perseverance shown by many pugilists of whole or partial colour, from Molyneux down to Bob Travers.

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.

Wool-hole, the workhouse.

Woolly, out of temper.

Woolly, a blanket.

Work, to plan, or lay down and execute any course of action, to perform anything; “to work the bulls,” i.e., to get rid of false crown pieces; “to work the oracle,” to succeed by manœuvring, to concert a wily plan, to victimize,—a possible reference to the stratagems and bribes used to corrupt the Delphic oracle, and cause it to deliver a favourable response. “To work a street or neighbourhood,” to try at each house to sell all one can, or to bawl so that every housewife may know what is to be sold. The general plan is to drive a donkey-barrow a short distance, and then stop and cry. The term implies thoroughness; to “work a street well” is a common saying with a coster. “To work a benefit” is to canvass among one’s friends and acquaintances.

Worm. See pump.

Worm, a policeman.

Worming, removing the beard of an oyster or mussel.

W. P., or warming-pan. A clergyman who holds a living pro tempore, under a bond of resignation, is styled a W. P., or warming-pan rector, because he keeps the place warm for his successor. Warming-pan was a term first popularly applied to a substitute in the reign of James II.

Wrinkle, an idea, or a fancy; an additional piece of knowledge.

Write, as “to write one’s name on a joint,” to leave the impression of one’s handiwork thereon, to have the first cut at anything; to leave visible traces of one’s presence anywhere.

Wylo, be off.—Anglo-Chinese.

X., or letter x, a method of arrest used by policemen with desperate ruffians,—by getting a firm grasp on the collar, and drawing the captive’s hand over the holding arm, and pressing the fingers down in a peculiar way—the captured person’s arm in this way can be more easily broken than extricated.

Yack, a watch; to “church a yack,” to take it out of its case to avoid detection, otherwise to “christen a yack.”

Yaffle, to eat.—Old English.

Yahoo, a person of coarse or degraded habits. Derived from the use of the word by Swift.

Yam, to eat. This word is used by the lowest class all over the world; by the Wapping sailor, West Indian negro, or Chinese coolie. When the fort, called the Dutch Folly, near Canton, was in course of erection by the Hollanders, under the pretence of being intended for an hospital, the Chinese observed a box containing muskets among the alleged hospital stores. “Hy-aw!” exclaimed John Chinaman, “How can sick man yam gun?” The Dutch were surprised and massacred the same night.

Yappy, soft, foolish; mostly applied to an over-generous person, from the fact that it originally meant one who paid for everything. Yap is back slang for pay, and often when a man is asked to pay more than he considers correct, he says, “Do you think I’m yappy?” do you think I’m paying mad? Thus slang begets slang.

Yard of clay, a long, old-fashioned tobacco pipe; also called a churchwarden.

Yarmouth capon, a bloater, or red herring.

Yarmouth mittens, bruised hands.—Sea.

Yarn, a long story, or tale; “a tough yarn,” a tale hard to be believed; “spin a yarn,” to tell a tale.—Sea.

Yay-nay, “a poor yay-nay” fellow, one who has no conversational power, and can only answer yea or nay to a question.

Yellow-belly, a native of the fens of Lincolnshire, or the Isle of Ely—in allusion to the frogs and yellow-bellied eels caught there.

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.

Yellows, a term of reproach applied to Bluecoat and other charity school boys.

Yid, or yit, a Jew. Yidden, the Jewish people. The Jews use these terms very frequently.

Yokel, a countryman. Probably from yoke, representative of his occupation. Some fancy, however, that the word was originally yowkel, in imitation of the broad tones of country labourers.

Yokuff, a chest, or large box.

Yorkshire, “to Yorkshire,” or “come Yorkshire over any person,” to cheat or cozen him. The proverbial over-reaching of the rustics of this county has given rise to the phrase, which is sometimes pronounced Yorshar. To put Yorshar to a man, is to trick or deceive him. This latter is from a work in the Lancashire dialect, 1757.

Yorkshire compliment, a gift of something useless to the giver. Sometimes called a North-country compliment.

Yorkshire estates; “I will do it when I come into my Yorkshire estates,”—meaning if I ever have the money or the means.

Yorkshire reckoning, a reckoning in which every one pays his own share.

Younker, in street language, a lad or a boy. Term in general use amongst costermongers, cabmen, and old-fashioned people. Barnefield’s Affectionate Shepherd, 1594, has the phrase, “a seemelie younker.” Danish and Friesic, jonker. In the navy, a naval cadet is usually termed a younker.

Your nibs, yourself. See nibs.

Yoxter, a convict returned from transportation before his time.

Ziff, a juvenile thief.

Ziph, language of, a way of disguising English in use among the students at Winchester College. Compare medical Greek. De Quincey, in his Autobiographic Sketches, says that he acquired this language as a boy, from a Dr. Mapleton, who had three sons at Winchester who had imported it from thence as their sole accomplishment, and that after the lapse of fifty years he could, and did with Lord Westport, converse in it with ease and rapidity. It was communicated at Winchester to new-comers for a fixed fee of half a guinea. The secret is this,—repeat the vowel or diphthong of every syllable, prefixing to the vowel so repeated the letter G, and placing the accent on the intercalated syllable. Thus, for example, “Shall we go away in an hour?” “Shagall wege gogo agawagay igin agan hougour?” “Three hours we have already stayed,” “Threegee hougours wege hagave agalreageadygy stagayed.” De Quincey could hardly have been considered complimentary to his own memory if he supposed that he, or for the matter of that any one possessed of brains, could forget anything so simple; or that, if forgotten until suddenly recalled, it could not be mastered by any sensible person in a minute. The language of ziph is far inferior to any of the slangs manufactured by the lower classes. Evidently any consonant will answer the purpose; F or L would be softer, and so far better. This ziph system is not confined to Winchester College, as it is recorded and described amongst many other modes of cryptical communication, oral and visual, spoken, written, and symbolic, in an Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophic Language (founded on or suggested by a treatise published just before, by Geo. Dalgarne), by John Wilkins, Bishop of Chester, published by order of the Royal Society, fol. 1668, and as the bishop does not speak of it as a recent invention, it may probably at that time have been regarded as an antique device for conducting a conversation in secrecy amongst bystanders—which says very little for either the designers or the bystanders.

Zounds! a sudden exclamation—abbreviation of “God’s wounds!”