1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Lacing, Beating, Drubbing.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Lacing.
1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1. S. ch. xiv. ‘He would ... throw
all the blame on him and order him to have an everlastin’ lacin’
with the cowskin.’
Lach, verb. (American thieves’).—To let in.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Lach. ‘The cove is bene, shall we
lach him?’ ‘The man is good, shall we let him in.’
Lack-latin, subs. (old).—An ignoramus: specifically an unlettered
priest.
d. 1555. Latimer, Sermon, p. 304. Some will say our curate is
naught, an ass-head, a dodipole, a lack-latin.
1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes. Arlotto, the name of a merie
priest, a lack latine or hedge-priest.
1598. Servingman’s Comfort [Hazlitt: Roxburgh Library (1868),
Tracts, p. 103]. Hoe, syr John lack-lattin, you are out of the
text.
1626. Breton, Pasquil’s Madcappe [Grosart (1879), i. e 6/2. 24].
Sir John Lack latine with a face of brass.
1762. Foote, The Orators, i. I’ll step to the Bull and Gate, and
call upon Jerry Lack-latin.
Ladder, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see
Monosyllable.
To mount a ladder (to bed or to rest), verb. phr. (common).—To be
hanged.
1560. Nice Wanton [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ii. 172]. Thou boy,
by the mass, ye will climb the ladder.
1573. Harman, Caveat [E. E. T. S., 1869, p. 31]. Repentance is
never thought upon till they clyme three trees with a ladder.
1757. Rae, Proverbs (3rd. ed.), p. 199, s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. He mounted the ladder, he was hung.
English synonyms. To cut a caper upon nothing, or one’s last fling; to
catch, or nab, or be copped with, the stifles; to climb the stalk; to
climb, or leap from the leafless, or the triple tree; to be cramped,
crapped, or cropped; to cry cockles; to dance upon nothing, the
Paddington frisk, in a hempen cravat, or a Newgate hornpipe without
music; to fetch a Tyburn stretch; to die in one’s boots or shoes, or
with cotton in one’s ears; to die of hempen fever or squinsy; to have a
hearty choke with caper sauce for breakfast; to take a vegetable
breakfast; to marry the widow; to morris (Old Cant); to trine; to tuck
up; to swing; to trust; to be nubbed; to kick the wind; to kick the
wind with one’s heels; to kick the wind before the Hotel door; to kick
away the prop; to preach at Tyburn cross; to make (or have) a Tyburn
show; to wag hemp in the wind; to wear hemp, an anodyne necklace, a
hempen collar, a caudle, circle, cravat, croak, garter, necktie or
habeas; to wear neck-weed, or St. Andrew’s lace; to tie Sir Tristram’s
Knot; to wear a horse’s nightcap or a Tyburn tippet; to come to scratch
in a hanging or stretching match or bee; to ride the horse foaled of an
acorn, or the three-legged mare; to be stretched, topped, scragged, or
down for one’s scrag.
French synonyms (i.e. to suffer the death penalty, formerly by hanging,
now by the guillotine). Basculer (popular = to tip-off; to see-saw);
bénir des pieds (thieves’ = to bless with the feet, a gibbetted man
being un évêque des champs); être béquillé (thieves’); monter à la
bute, butte, or bute à regret (thieves’); tirer sa crampe avec la veuve
(popular); épouser la veuve (thieves’: to wed the widow: veuve =
guillotine); être fauché (thieves’ = to be scythed); être raccourci
(popular: raccourci = shortened); être buté (thieves’ = earthed up);
mettre la tête à la fenêtre (thieves’: in allusion to passing the head
through the lunette or aperture); éternuer dans le son or dans le sac
(thieves’ = to sneeze into the sawdust); jouer à la main-chaude
(popular: in allusion to the hands tied behind the back; literally: to
play hot cockles); embrasser Charlot (thieves’: Charlot = executioner):
moufionner son mufle dans le son (thieves’ = to snotter in the
sawdust); passer sa bille au glaive [common: bille = nut (q.v.); glaive
= knife]; aller à l’Abbaye de Monte-à-regret (common: to go to Mount
Sorrowful Church); passer à la voyante (thieves’); être mécanisé
(common = to be passed through the machine: mécanicien = executioner);
être glaivé (common = to be knifed); passer sous le rasoir national
(popular = to be passed under the national razor); être mis à la bise
(old = to be set in the wind); vendanger à l’éschelle (old = to go
vintaging on a ladder); avoir le collet rouge (old = to wear the red
neck-band); croître d’un demi-pied (old = to grow half a foot taller);
faire la longue lettre (old = to make the long letter, i.e. ‘I’—from
the Latin); tomber du haut mât (old); servir de bouchon (common = to
act as a cork); faire le saut (common = to take the leap); faire un
saut sur rien (old = to jump upon nothing); danser où il n’y a pas de
plancher (common = to dance where there isn’t a floor); donner un
soufflet à une potence (common = to cuff the gallows); donner le moine
par le cou (common); approcher du ciel à reculons (common = to go to
heaven backwards); danser un branle en l’air (old = to cut capers in
the air); avoir la chanterelle au cou (old: chanterelle = first string
of a violin); faire le guet à Mont-faucon (old = to do sentry go at
Mont-faucon, i.e., the public gibbet); faire le guet au clair de la
lune à la cour des Monnoyes (old = to stand sentinel by moonlight);
monter à la jambe en l’air (old = to mount the leg-in-air); tirer la
langue d’un demi-pied (old = to stick out one’s tongue).
Italian Synonyms. Agguinzare (= to swing); allungar la vita (= to
lengthen life); andar or mandar in piccardia (Florio = to go, or be
sent to Picardy; also andare a Longone or Fuligno); dar de’ calci al
vento, or a Rouiao (Florio = to kick the wind); ballare in campo azzuro
(= to dance upon nothing); sperlungare (perlunga = lengthened); aver la
fune al guindo (= to wear a hempen collar).
To be unable to see a hole in a ladder, verb. phr. (common).—To be
hopelessly drunk. For synonyms see Drinks and Screwed.
Laddle, subs. (chimney-sweeps’).—A lady.
Ladies’ Cage, subs. phr. (parliamentary).—That portion of the gallery
in the Commons which is set apart for ladies. See Cage, subs., sense 4.
1870. Times, 27 May, ‘Leader’. The female opponents of the
Contagious Diseases Act ... filled the Ladies’ Cage on Tuesday
night.
Ladies’ Fever, subs. phr. (common).—Syphilis; French Gout (q.v.).
English synonyms. Bad (or foul) disease (or disorder); Barnwell ague;
the clap (sometimes but erroneously): coals (or winter coals); Covent
Garden ague; the crinkums; fire; the Frenchman or French gout; the
glim; the Glue (q.v.); the Garden gout; goodyears (Shakspeare);
grandgore (Old Scots’); knock with a French faggot (q.v.); malady of
France (Shakspeare); the marbles; the stick; the Scotch fiddle; Venus’
curse.
French synonyms. La baude (thieves’); un coup de pied de jument or de
Venus (common = a mare’s kick or a kick from Venus); la goutte
militaire (military = soldiers’ gout); un gros lot (common = a prize);
le lazzi-lof (thieves’); le mal de Naples or le mal frances; le naze
(thieves’).
Italian synonyms. Galicar; galicodo; picado; potro.
German synonyms. Der Kleiner Franzose (= the little French girl);
Laufer (= running); Türkische-musik (= Turkish-delight).
Ladies’ Finger (or Wish), subs. phr. (common).—A tapering glass of
spirits, especially gin.
Ladies’ Grog, subs. phr. (common).—Grog: hot, strong, sweet, and plenty
of it.—Dickens.
Ladies’ Mile, subs. phr. (general).—Rotten Row in Hyde Park—the
principal airing ground during the London season.
1871. Daily News, 10 May. Why should not a handsome young
Englishwoman, he may ask himself, as she canters along the Ladies’
Mile, be as good to look at as a cow?
1885. J. Coleman, in Longman’s Mag., v. 494. The fashionable mob in
the Ladies’ Mile.
Ladies’ Tailoring, subs. phr. (venery).—Copulation. Cf. Stitch. For
synonyms see Greens and Ride.
Ladies’ Treasure (Delight, or Plaything), subs. phr. (venery).—The
penis.
Ladle, verb. (theatrical).—To enunciate pretentiously; to mouth (q.v.).
Lad of (or ON) the Cross, subs. phr. See Cross.
Lad o’ Wax, subs. phr. (old).—1. A cobbler; a Cock o’ wax (q.v.). For
synonyms see Snob.