Lean, adj. (printers’).—Unremunerative; the reverse of fat (q.v.). Also
as subs. = unprofitable work.
Lean-and-fat, subs. (rhyming).—A hat. For synonyms see Golgotha.
Lean-and-lurch, subs. (rhyming).—A church.
Lean-away, subs. (Australian).—A drunkard. For synonyms see Lushington.
Leap, verb. (venery).—To copulate. For synonyms see Greens and Ride.
Hence leap in the dark (or up a ladder) = the act of copulating;
copulation. Also to do a leap.
1599. Shakspeare, King Henry V, v. ii. 145. If I could win a lady
... by vaulting into my saddle ... I should quickly leap into a
wife.
1600. Shakspeare, Much Ado etc., v. 4. l. Bull Jove, Sir, had an
amiable low, And some such strange bull leaped your father’s cow,
And got a calf.
1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, iv. iii. (Cunningham, ii. 191). How
now, Whit! close vapours! stealing your leaps! covering in a
corner. Idem, idem, idem. Sayst thou so, filly? Thou shalt have a
leap presently, I’ll horse thee myself else.
1623. Webster, Duchess of Malfi, ii. 5. Till I know who leaps my
sister, I’ll not stir.
1662. Rump Songs, i. 289. And to their children’s credits and their
wives, Be it still said, they leap fair for their lives.
1662. Wilson, The Cheats, v. 5. Your daughter has married a
gentleman. It this not better than a Smithfield bargain—give me so
much money, and my horse shall leap your mare.
1694. Dryden, Virgil, Georgic iii. 328. Whether the bull or courser
be thy care, Let him not leap the cow, nor mount the mare.
Adv. (old).—All safe.—New Cant. Dict. (1725).
To take a leap at Tyburn (or in the dark), verb. phr. (old).—To be
hanged.
c. 1600–62. Common Cries of London [Collier, Roxburghe Ballads
(1847), 215]. For many a proper man, ... Doth leap a leap at Tyburn
which makes his neck to crack.
1720. Durfey, Pills to Purge, vi. 327. All you that must take a
leap in the dark, Pity the fate of Lawson and Clark.
To leap (or jump) the book (or broomstick, broom, besom, or sword),
verb. phr. (common).—See quots.; to dab it up (q.v.); to live tally.
Cf. Rush-ring.
1811. Poole, Hamlet Travestied, ii. 3. Jump o’er a broomstick, but
don’t make a farce on The marriage ceremonies of the parson.
1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, 3rd ed. s.v. Leaping over the Sword, an
ancient ceremonial, said to constitute a military marriage. A sword
being laid down on the ground, the parties to be married join hands
when the corporal or sergeant of the company repeated these words:
Leap rogue, and jump whore, And then you are married for ever more.
1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. p. 336. The old
woman when any female, old or young, who had no tin, came into the
kitchen, made up a match for her with some men. Fellows half-drunk
had the old women. There was always a broomstick wedding. Without
that ceremony a couple weren’t looked on as man and wife.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Leap the Book. A false marriage.
1860. Dickens, Great Expectations, ch. xlviii. p. 227. ‘They both
led tramping lives, and this woman in Gerrard St. here, had been
married very young, over the broomstick (as we say), to a tramping
man, and was a perfect fury in point of jealousy.’
1868. Cassell’s Mag., 4. Jan., p. 222. I dare say that most ...
have laughed at the old joke about getting married by jumping over
a broomstick, and have always thought that it was a sheer joke, and
nothing else; but this is a great mistake: the ceremony—so to
dignify it—of the couple leaping over a broomstick, held by the
man’s mates a little way from the ground, was the essential and
generally recognised rite of most navvy marriages, and was held to
be binding so long as both parties were agreed—a very important
qualification. There is reason to believe that this grotesque
ceremony is of very ancient date.
c. 18(79). Broadside Ballad, ‘David Dove that Fell in Love.’ The
girl that I had hoped to hear Pronounce my happy doom, sir, Had
bolted with a carpenter, In fact hopped o’er the broom, sir.
Let the best dog leap the stile first, phr. (old).—Let the worthiest
take precedence.
To leap over the hedge before you come at the stile, verb. phr.
(old).—To be in a violent hurry.
1670. Ray, Proverbs [Bohn (1893), 168], s.v.
To be ready to leap over nine hedges, verb. phr. (old).—Exceeding
ready.
1767. Ray, Proverbs [Bohn (1893), 168], s.v.
Leaping-house, subs. (old).—A brothel.
1598. Shakspeare, I Hen. IV, i. 2. What a devil hast thou to do
with the time of the day? unless hours were cups of sack, and
minutes capons, and clocks the tongues of bawds, and dials the
signs of leaping houses.
Lea-rigs, subs. (Scots’).—The female pudendum: generic. For synonyms
see Monosyllable.
Leary (or Leery), adj. (common).—1. Artful; downy (q.v.).
1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, 3rd ed. s.v.
1841. Leman Rede, Sixteen String Jack, i. 3. The dashy, splashy,
leary little stringer.
1857. Ducange Anglicus, Vulgar Tongue. For blokes to see That
you’re a leary man.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. leery. On guard; look out; wide
awake.
1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, iii. p. 146. A leary look, in
which fear, defiance, and cunning are mixed up together.
1888. J. Runciman, The Chequers, 85. The bastard gipsy smiled in
leary fashion.