1887. W. P. Frith, Autobiog., i. 114. The work advanced rapidly and
I thought successfully, and in due time made its appearance in
Trafalgar Square, where it was amongst the fortunate liners.
Ling-grappling, subs. phr. (venery).—Groping a woman; bird’s-nesting
(q.v.). Cf. stink-finger.
Lingo, subs. (colloquial).—A foreign language; unintelligible speech.
1699. Congreve, Way of the World, iv. 4. I shall understand your
lingo one of these days, Cousin: in the mean while I must answer in
plain English.
1719. Durfey, Pills to Purge etc., iii. 100. We teach them their
lingua, to crave and to cant.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, Bk. vi. ch. ii. I have often warned you
not to talk the court gibberish to me. I tell you, I don’t
understand the lingo; but I can read a journal, or the ‘London
Evening Post.’
1775. Sheridan, St. Patrick’s Day, i. 1. He’s a gentleman of words;
he understands your foreign lingo.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, Pt. i. ch. 2. It’s plain he don’t
understand our lingo.
1846. Marryat, Peter Simple, xviii. Recollect that I cannot speak a
word of their lingo.
1857. Thackeray, Four Georges (George I). He recited a portion of
the Swedish Catechism to his Most Christian Majesty and his Court,
not one of whom understood his lingo.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
1883. Clark Russell, Sailor’s Language, s.v. Lingo.—Sailor’s name
for a language he does not understand.
1888. Rolf Boldrewood, Robbery Under Arms, viii. Droll lingo,
wasn’t it?
1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, 60. I can’t git the ’ang of his
lingo.
Lingua Franca, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Specifically the corrupt
Italian (dating from the period of the Genoese and Venetian supremacy)
employed as the language of commercial intercourse with the Levant.
[Other examples are Hindustani in India, Swahilli and Houssa in Africa,
Pidgin in China, and Chinook in America].
1619. Wilson, Belphegor, iii. 5. Mat. What kind of people are ye?
Rod. A hotch-potch of all tongues, nations, and languages. We speak
the Lingua Franca, keep open house, etc.
1675. Dryden, Kind Keeper, i. 1. English! away you fop! ’tis a kind
of lingua franca, as I have heard the merchants call it.
1684. E. Everard, Tr. Tavernier’s Japan, ii. 41. He spoke half
Portuguese, half Italian, which being a kind of lingua franca.
1755. Lord Chesterfield, Letters (1777), Bk. ii. No. xcviii, Misc.
Wks., Vol. ii. p. 431. How does my godson go on with his little
lingua franca, or jumble of different languages?
1787. Beckford, Italy, ii. (1834), 246. Talking a strange lingua
franca, composed of three or four different languages.
1825. Scott, Talisman, xiii. The lingua franca mutually understood
by Christians and Saracens.
1860. W. H. Russell, Diary in India, i. 28. Men ... talking in
lingua franca.
1877. F. Burnaby, Through Asia Minor (1878), vi. 34. ‘What do you
want’—he asked in lingua franca, that undefined mixture of Italian,
French, Greek and Spanish, which is spoken throughout the
Mediterranean.
Lining. See Inside Lining.
1632. W. Rowley, Woman Never Vext, iv. 1. This lean gentleman looks
as if he had no lining in’s guts.
To get within the lining of one’s smock, verb. phr. (venery). See quot.
1577. Stanihurst, Ireland, p. 26. The pretty poplet, his wife began
to be a fresh occupieing giglot at home, and by report fell so
farre acquainted with a religious cloisterer of the towne, as that
he gat within the lining of hir smocke.
Link, verb. (old).—To turn out a pocket.
1821. D. Haggart, Life Glossary, p. 172, s.v.
1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue (3rd ed.), s.v.
Linsey-woolsey, adj. (old).—Neither one thing nor the other.
1592. Greene, Greenes Vision [Grosart (1881–6), xii. 235]. Thou
hast writ no booke well but thy Nunquam fera est and that is
indifferent linsey woolsey.
1593. Harvey, Pierces Superer. [Grosart (1885), ii. 317]. A
linsey-woolsie wit.
1594. Nashe, Terrors of the Night [Grosart (1883), iii. 229]. A man
must not ... have his affections linsey wolsey, intermingled with
lust, and things worthy of liking.
1609. Dekker, Work for Arm. [Grosart (1886), iv. 158]. Iackes on
both sides ... a linsey-woolsey people, that took no part, but
stood indifferent between money and poverty.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage, 38. And Baalam’s wages doe moue many
still to make such linsey-woolsey marriages.
1647–80. Rochester, A Satire on Marriage. But if he must pay
nature’s debt in kind, To check his eager passion let him find Some
willing female out.... Tho’ she be linsey-woolsey, Bawd or Whore.
1653. Brome, City Wit, i. 1. Venerable Mr. Linsie-Woolsie; to weare
satin sleeves, and whip beggars.
1662. Rump Songs, ‘A Litany for the New-Year,’ ii. 94. From
linsy-woolsey Lords, from Town betrayers, From apron Preachers, and
extempore Prayers, Good Lord deliver us!
1664. Butler, Hudibras, i. c. 3. A lawless linsey-woolsey brother.
Lint-scraper, subs. (common).—A young surgeon. For synonyms see Crocus
and Squirt. Also lint.
1763. Foote, Mayor of Garratt, Dramatis Personæ, Lint, a surgeon.
1861. Thackeray, Lovel, vi. ‘If Miss Prior,’ thought I, ‘prefers
this lint-scraper to me, ought I to baulk her?... Take the
vaccinator, girl, if thou preferrest him!’
Lion, subs. (old).—1. See quots.
1713. The Guardian, No. 71. This town is, of late years, very much
infested with lions ... there are many of these beasts of prey who
walk our streets in broad day-light, beating about from coffeehouse
to coffeehouse, and seeking whom they may devour. To unriddle this
paradox, I must acquaint my rural reader, that we polite men of the
town give the name of a lion to any one that is a great man’s spy.
2. (colloquial).—An object (animate or inanimate) of interest. To see
the lions = to go sight-seeing.
1590. Greene, Never Too Late [Grosart, viii. 68]. This country
Francesco was no other but a meere nouice, and that so newly, that
to use the old proverb, he had scarce seene the lions.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Lion ... to show the lions and
tombs, to point out the particular curiosities of any place, an
allusion to Westminster Abbey and the Tower where the tombs and
lions are shown.... It is a standing joke among the city wits to
send boys and county-folks on the first of April to the Tower ditch
to see the lions washed.
1822. Lamb, Elia (Decay of Beggars). The Mendicants of this great
city were so many of her sights, her lions. I can no more spare
them than I could the Cries of London.
1837. Dickens, Pickwick, iv. But more than these, there were half a
dozen lions from London—authors, real authors, who had written
whole books, and printed them afterwards—and here you might see
’em, walking about, like ordinary men, smiling, and talking.
1839. Miss Martineau, ‘Literary Lionism,’ in London & Westm.
Review, April. In one crowded room are three lions,—a new musical
composer, an eminent divine who publishes, and a lady poet.
1849. Washington Irving, Goldsmith, xviii. He had suddenly risen to
literary fame, and become one of the lions.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, viii. Doctor McGuffog, Professor
Bodgers, Count Poski, and all the lions present at Mrs. Newcome’s
réunion that evening, were completely eclipsed by Colonel Newcome.
1864. Glasgow Herald, 23 April. They saw only the danger of losing
the lion that they hoped to show about the country in
leading-strings.
1888. Daily Telegraph, 6 Jan. The comic lion commenced, but hardly
were the first lines out of his mouth when a furious tempest of
hisses, cat-calls, and whistling arose.