Impale, verb. (venery).—To possess a woman: specifically to effect
intromission. For synonyms see Greens and Ride.
Imperance, subs. (vulgar).—Impertinence; impudence; cheek (q.v.). Also,
inferentially, an impudent person; e.g., ‘What’s your imperence about’?
1766. Colman, Cland. Marriage, v. in Works, (1777) i. 274. I wonder
at your impurence, Mr. Brush, to use me in this manner.
1821. Egan, Life in London, ii. 2. She is blowing up the fellow for
his imperance.
1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xiv. ‘Don’t go away, Mary,’ said the
black-eyed man. ‘Let me alone, imperence,’ said the young lady.
Imperial, subs. (colloquial).—A tuft of hair worn on the lower lip.
[From being introduced by the Emperor Napoleon III]. See Goatee.
1892. Tit Bits, 19 Mar., p. 421, col. 2. An imperial, or carefully
cultivated small tuft tapered down to a point from the lower lip to
the chin.
Implement, subs. (old).—See quot.
1690. B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v., Implement, a Tool, a Property or Fool
easily engag’d in any (tho’ difficult or Dangerous) Enterprise.
Importance, subs. (common).—A wife; a comfortable importance (q.v.).
1647–80. Rochester, Works (1718), ii. 29. Importance, thinks too,
tho’ she’d been no sinner To wash away some dregs he had spewed in
her.
Impost-Taker, subs. (old).—A gambler’s and black-leg’s money-lender; a
sixty-per-cent (q.v.).
1690. B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew. s.v.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Improvement, subs. (American).—That part of a sermon which enforces and
applies to every-day life the doctrine previously set forth; the
application.
1869. Putnam’s Magazine, August [quoted by De Vere]. Long sermons
running on to a tenthly, with a goodly number of improvements
appended.
Impure, subs. (common).—A harlot. For synonyms see Barrack-hack and
Tart.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue (3rd ed., Egan) s.v.
In, subs. (colloquial).—A person in, or holding an office;
specifically, (in politics) a member of the party in office. Cf. Out.
1768. Goldsmith, Good Natured Man, v. Was it for this I have been
dreaded both by ins and outs? Have I been libelled in the
Gazetteer, and praised in the St. James’s?
1770. Chatterton, Prophecy. And doomed a victim for the sins. Of
half the outs and all the ins.
1842. Dickens, American Notes, ch. ii. The ins rubbed their hands;
the outs shook their heads.
1857. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone (5th Ed.) p. 216. If he had backed
the in instead of the Out.
1884. Pall Mall Gazette, 20 March. p. 1, col. 2. When there shall
be no distinction in principle between Radicals and Tories, but a
mere scramble for office between ‘ins’ and ‘outs’.
1884. Pall Mall Gazette, 7 July. The pledges which the ins have to
contend with in their strife with the Outs.
1888. Boston Daily Globe. It is the civil service that turns out
all the ins and puts in the outs.
1890. Norton, Political Americanisms, s.v. ins and outs.
Adv. (colloquial).—Various: (cricketers’) = at the wickets; (general) =
in season; also, on an equality with, sharing, or intimate with, or
fashionable; (political) = in office; (thieves’) = in prison, or
quodded (q.v.)
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. & Lon. Poor, i, p. 85. During July
cherries are in as well as raspberries.
1877. Five Years Penal Servitude, iii, p. 147. It is the etiquette
among prisoners never to ask a man what he is in for. The badge
upon his left arm gives his sentence.
1883. Punch, 28 July, p. 38, col. 1. I was in it, old man, and no
kid.
1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 180. You are all in with me at
this.
1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 311. Jenkins has
been on a visit to us for the past two months, so that we are all
in it.
1894. George Moore, Esther Walters, xxx. Are the ’orses he backs
what you’d call well in?
To be in (or in it) with one, verb. phr. (common).—1. To be ‘even
with’; to be on guard against.
2. (colloquial).—To be on intimate terms, or in partnership with; to be
in the swim (q.v.) Cf., in, prep.
1845. Surtees, Hillingdon Hall, v. p. 22 (1888). He was in with the
players too, and had the entrée of most of the minor theatres.
1879. Justin McCarthy, Donna Quixote, xxxii. You have gone a great
deal too far to turn back now, let me tell you. You have been in
with me from the very first.
1888. J. McCarthy and Mrs. Campbell Praed, The Ladies Gallery,
xxii. The love of woman, the thirst for gold, the desire for drink,
the ambition of high command, are not in it with the love of
speech-making when once that has got its hold.
1892. Ally Sloper’s Half-holiday, 27 Feb., p. 71, col. 3. Peter was
fascinated all the time. Hypnotism was not in it as compared with
the effect of that ... umbrella.
To be in for it, verb. phr. (common).—1. To be in trouble; generally to
be certain to receive, suffer, or do (something).
1668. Dryden, An Evening’s Love, ii. I fear that I am in for a week
longer than I proposed.
1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, iv. I was in for a list of
blunders.