Itch. To have an itch in the belly, verb. phr. (venery).—To be sexually
excited; to have a must (q.v.). Also to itch.
1675. Cotton, Scoffer, Scoffed, 4th ed. 1725, p. 173. Why then to
cure thy itching, Jove, thou art now going a bitching.
1720. Durfey, Pills to Purge etc., vi., 324. Each has an itch in
her belly. To play with the scarlet hue.
Itcher (or Itching Jenny), subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For
synonyms see Monosyllable.
Itch-Buttocks. To play at Itch-Buttocks, verb. phr. (venery).—To
copulate. For synonyms see Greens and Ride.
1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Giocar’aleua culo, to play at
leuell coile or itch buttockes.
Itchland (or Scratchland), subs. (old).—1. Wales (b. e. 1690); 2.
Scotland (New Cant. Dict. and Grose 1785). Itchlander = a Scot.
Itching-palm. See Palm.
Item, subs. (common).—A hint; a piece of news: (in gaming) a signal
from a confederate; (American journalist) a paragraph of news;
(thieves’) a warning.
d. 1680. Glanvil, (quoted in Enc. Dict.). If this discourse have
not concluded our weakness, I have one more item of mine.
1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. Item. It was I that gave the
item that the traps were a coming.
1893. Russell, Current Americanisms, s.v. Item. ‘To give an item’,
is to signal information to a confederate unfairly.
1864. Kimball, Was He Successful? 129. Otis is item-man and
reporter for the Clarion.
b. 1877. New York Spirit of the Times (quoted in Bartlett). Keep
your eyes skinned and your rifles clean, and the minit yer get item
that I’m back, set off for the cross roads.
Ivories, subs. (common).—1. The teeth. For synonyms see Grinders.
1782. Mrs. Cowley, Bold Stroke for a Husband, ii. 2 Gas. What, Don
Sancho, who, with two-thirds of a century in his face, affects ...
to make you believe that the two rows of ivory he carries in his
head grew there.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Ivories. How the swell flashed his ivories:
how the gentleman shewed his teeth.
1818–24. Egan, Boxiana, iii. 253. So severe a blow on his mouth as
to dislodge some of his ivory.
1819. Moore, Tom Crib, 22. The Adonis would ne’er flash his ivory
again.
1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, lxvii. Chatter your old ivories at me,
do you, you grinning old baboon.
1868. Orchestra, 20 Oct. Mr. Buckstone might let us off with what
Bell’s Life would designate a rattling on the ivories.
1882. Punch, lxxxii, 185, 2. I never heard of him sluicing his
ivories with what you call S. & B.
1889. Notes and Queries, 7, S. vii. 13 April, p. 292. I sometimes
think that the attrition in which we so joyously indulge when we
‘sharpen’ our ivories may be easily overdone.