1582. Stanyhurst, Virgil, etc., ‘Of Tyndarus’ (ed. Arber), p. 145.
Syth my nose owtpeaking, good syr, your liplabor hindreth, Hardlye
ye may kisse mee where no such gnomon appeareth.
Lip-salve (or -wash), subs. (common).—Flattery.
1594. Nashe, Unf. Traveller [Grosart (1885), v. 92]. What ist? what
ist for a mayde fayre and freshe to spend a little lip salue on a
hungrie louer.
1680. E. Fannant, Hist. Ed. II, 91. Spencer ... finds here a female
wit that ... taught him not to trust a woman’s lip-salve.
1891. Hermann, Scarlet Fortune, vi. Oily flattery ... termed in
Western phraseology, chin-music and lip-wash.
Liquid-fire, subs. (common).—Bad whiskey. For synonyms see Drinks and
Old Man’s Milk.
Liquor, subs. (common).—A drink.
1882. Punch, lxxxii. 193. 2. These nips and pegs and liquors at all
hours of the day were unknown to us.
Verb. (common).—To drink; to treat: generally to liquor up. Also
(old)—to liquor one’s boots (q.v.).
1607. W. S., Puritan. Oh, the musicians Master Edward, call ’em in,
and liquor them a little.
1682. Dryden, Absalom etc., ii. 461. Round as a globe, and liquored
every chink.
1699. London Spy, p. 15. When we had liquored our throats.
1838. Neal, Charcoal Sketches, i. 36. Come, boys, let’s
liquor—what’ll you have?
1847. Porter, Big Bear, p. 31. Jumping up, he asked all present to
liquor before going to bed.
1850. Tensas, Odd Leaves, p. 175. Doe, les licker, it’s a dry talk.
1852. Bristed, Upper Ten Thousand, p. 57. The very necessity of
liquoring so often in our warm weather obliges us to weaken our
liquor.
1853. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), Wise Saws, p. 34. Come in here to
the hotel, and let’s liquor, for I am nation dry.
1870. E. Hinton, Plutarch’s Morals, ‘Apothegms’ etc. i. 268. ‘If
the Athenians,’ said he, ‘deal severely with us, let them execute
thee snivelling and gutfoundered; I’ll die well liquored, and with
my dinner in my belly.’
1872. Daily Telegraph, 18 Sept. All five then went into the
refreshment bar, and—as a bonâ fide traveller has a right to
do—liquored up, clinking their glasses merrily together.
1872. Echo, 23 Aug. He joined them, and accepted the general
invitation given by De Castro to have a ‘shout,’ or, as the
Americans would say, a liquor-up, at the hotel on the opposite side
of the way.
1882. Daily Telegraph, 13 Nov., p. 5, col. 3. Who gobbled their
food, liquored up repeatedly, smoked or chewed to excess, and
expectorated incessantly.
1888. E. Eggleston, The Graysons, xix. Come boys, liquor up!
To liquor one’s boots, verb. phr. (old).—See quot.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Liquor, To liquor one’s boots, to
drink before a journey, among Roman Catholicks to administer the
extreme unction.
In liquor, phr. (colloquial).—The worse for drink. For synonyms see
Drinks and Screwed.
1756. The World, No. 186. It was her misfortune over-night to be a
little in liquor.
1766. Colman, Cland. Marriage, in Works (1777), i. 274. And now you
are a little in liquor, you fear nothing.
1883. James Payn, Thicker than Water, xv. For her reflection, when
all was said, had been similar to that indulged in by the gentleman
in liquor, ‘too much, yet not enough.’
Liquorpond Street. To come from Liquor-pond Street, verb. phr.
(common).—To be drunk.
1828. Buckstone, 23 John St., Adelphi, i. Snatch. I don’t know
where you are, sir; but you seem to have just come from Liquorpond
Street.
Lispers, subs. (old).—The teeth. For synonyms see Grinders.
1800. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 151, s.v.
List. See Add.
Listeners, subs. (common).—The ears.
1827. Egan, Anecdotes of the Turf, 7. Hooper planted another under
Wood’s listner.
Listman, subs. (turf).—A ready-money bookmaker, betting according to
prices on a list exhibited beside him.
1887. Daily Telegraph, 12 March. M. Berthaudin would also extend to
the listmen the same rule which is in force among the brokers and
agents on the Paris Stock Exchange, all the members of which are
jointly and severally responsible for the debts of any one of their
number.
Lists-of-Love, subs. (literary).—Copulation. For synonyms see Greens
and Ride.
1593. Shakspeare, Venus and Adonis. Now are they in the very lists
of love.
1633. Ford, Loves’ Sacrifice, iv. 1. A prince whose eye is chooser
to his heart, Is seldom steady in the lists of love.
Litter, subs. (old: now recognised).—A muddle.—B. E. (1690); New Cant.
Dict. (1725).
Little, adj. (old: now colloquial).—Mean; paltry; contemptible.—B. E.
(1690); New Cant. Dict. (1725).
Little Alderman, subs. phr. (thieves’).—A jemmy (q.v.) made in
sections. See Alderman.
1889. Daily News, 19 Oct., p. 5, col. 1. The little alderman or
‘sectional jemmy,’ must be condemned by virtue of the word
sectional.
Little Barbary, subs. phr. (old).—Wapping.—B. E. (1690); New Cant.
Dict. (1725); Grose (1785).
Little Ben, subs. phr. (thieves’).—A waistcoat. See Benjamin.
Little Bird. See Bird.
Little Breeches, subs. (old).—See quot.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Little Breeches, a familiar
appellation used to a boy.
Little Church around the Corner, subs. phr. (America).—A drinking
saloon. For synonyms see Lush-crib.
Little Clergyman, subs. (old).—A young chimney-sweep.—Grose (1823).
Little Davy, subs. phr. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms see
Creamstick and Prick.
Little Devil. See Devil.
Little-ease, subs. (old).—The pillory, stocks, or any similar mode of
punishment; a prison-cell: see quots.
d. 1555. Latimer, Sermons, fol. 105, b. Was not this a seditious
fellow? was not this fellow’s preaching a cause of all the trouble
in Israel? was he not worthy to be cast in bocardo, or little-ease?
1586. Fleming, Nomencl., 196, b. Nervus—a kind of stockes for the
necke and the feete: the pillorie, or little-ease.
1688. Holme, Academy of Armory & Blazon, III. cvii. No. 91, p. 312.
‘Like to this [the Stocks of which he has just given a description]
there is another like place of Punishment in our House of
Correction in Chester (the like to it I have not heard in any other
place) it is called the little ease, a place cut into a Rock, with
a Grate Door before it; into this place are put Renegadoes,
Apprentices, &c. that disobey their Parents and Masters, Robbers of
Orchards, and such like Rebellious Youths; in which they can
neither Stand, Sit, Kneel, nor lie down, but be all in a ruck, or
knit together, so and in such a Lamentable Condition, that half an
hour will tame the Stoutest and Stubbornest Stomach, and will make
him have a desire to be freed from the place.’
1733. Abstract of the Sufferings of the People called Quakers
etc.... Footnote. ‘This little ease was a hole hewed out in a rock;
the breadth and cross from side to side is 17 inches, from the back
to the inside of the great door; at the top, 7 inches; at the
shoulders, 8 inches; and the breast, 9½ inches; from the top to the
bottom, 1 yard and a half, with a device to lessen the height as
they are minded to torment the person put in, by drawboards which
shoot over across the two sides, to a yard in height, or
thereabouts.’
1738. The Curiosity, p. 60. Little-ease ... a place of punishment
in Guildhall, London for unruly apprentices.
1796. Grose, Vulg. Tongue (2nd ed.), s.v.
1819–30. Lingard, Hist. of Eng., viii. note G. p. 424 (4th ed.). ‘A
fourth kind of torture was a cell called little ease. It was of so
small dimensions and so constructed that the prisoner could neither
stand, sit, nor lie in it at full length. He was compelled to draw
himself up in a squatting posture, and so remained during several
days.’
1871. Daily Telegraph, 25 Jan., p. 5, col. 2. We should see a
hideous dark den ... apparently capable of containing about
one-fourth of the prisoners with which it is commonly filled....
Every now and then one dies ... after a temporary sojourn in one of
these chapels of little-ease at the Acton Police Station.
1895. H. B. Marriott Watson, in New Review, July, p. 47. ‘I think,’
he says, ‘my good highwayman, that the little-ease in Dartford
Compter is the place for you,’ and chuckled as if he had made a
jest.
Little England, subs. phr. (West Indian).—Barbadoes: see Bim.
Little Englander, subs. phr. (political).—An anti-jingo (q.v.); an
opponent of the Imperial idea.
Little Fighting Fours, subs. phr. (military).—The Forty-fourth Foot.
[From the prowess of its men, who are of small stature].
Little-finger. To cock one’s little finger, verb. phr. (common).—To
drink much and often. For synonyms see Drinks and Screwed.
Little-go, subs. (University).—The public examination which students at
the English Universities have to pass in the second year of residence:
also called the ‘previous examination’ (as preceding the final one for
a degree), and, at Oxford, smalls (q.v.).
1841. Thackeray, King of Brentford’s Testament, 86, 7. At college,
though not fast, Yet his little-go and great-go He creditably
pass’d.
1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, iii. A tutor, don’t you see old boy?
He’s coaching me, and some other men, for the little-go.
Little-go-vale, subs. (old).—Orderly step to the first
examination.—Grose (1823).
Little-guid, subs. (Scots’).—The devil. For synonyms see Skipper.
Little-joker, subs. (sharpers’).—The pea under the thimble in the
thimble-rigging game. See also Joker, sense 3.
Little Man, subs. (Eton College).—See quot.
c. 1880. Sketchy Memoirs of Eton, p. 16. He called the footman (or
little man ...) and bade him reach down the obnoxious placard.
Little man in the boat. See Boat.
Little-side, subs. (Rugby).—A term applied to all games, organised
between houses only.
Little-sister, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see
Monosyllable. Ger. Schwesterlein.
Little-snakesman, subs. (thieves’).—A young thief passed into a house
through a window so that he may open the door to the gang.
1781. G. Parker, View of Society, ii. 82, s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Little spot. See Spot.
Little William, subs. phr. (American).—A bill.
Live, adj. (American).—Energetic; active; intelligent.
1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 1 Nov., p. 6, col. 1. At a private muster the
other night they came up in good force, decided to organize the
party by wards, to maintain a live association, and to find the
money to keep it going.
To live under the cat’s-paw. See Cat’s-paw.
To live to the door, verb. phr. (common).—To live up to one’s means.
Live-eels, subs. (rhyming).—The fields.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Live eels. Bell has gone to live
eels, to ‘read’ and write with Joe.
Live-horse, subs. (workmen’s).—Work done over and above that included
in the week’s bill: cf. Dead-horse.
Live-lumber, subs. (nautical).—Landsmen on board ship.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Livener, subs. (common).—A morning dram; a pick-me-up (q.v.). For
synonyms see Go.
Liver. See Curl.
Liverpool-button, subs. (nautical).—A kind of toggle used by sailors
when they lose a button.
Liverpool blues, subs. phr. (military).—The Seventy-ninth Foot.
Liverpool tailor, subs. phr. (tailors’).—A tramping workman; one who
sits with his coat and hat on, ready for the road.
Liverpudlian, subs. (colloquial).—A native or inhabitant of Liverpool.
1884. Graphic, 12 April, p. 346, col. 3. Its last match was with
Liverpool and it had to accept defeat at the hands of the
liverpudlians.
Live-sausage. See Sausage.
Live-stock, subs. (common).—Fleas, bugs and lice,—all body vermin.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Living fountain, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum.
1648. Herrick, Hesperides, 404. Show me that hill where smiling
love doth sit, Having a living fountain under it.
Liza. Outside Liza! phr. (common).—Be off!
Load, subs. (colloquial).—1. An excess of food or drink. Cf. Jag.
Loaded = drunk: also loaded for bears, or to the gunwales.
1767. Ray, Proverbs [Bohn (1893), 63]. He has a jag or load, drunk.
Verb. (horse-copers’).—1. To introduce well-greased shot into the
throat of a ‘roaring’ or broken-winded horse. This conceals the defect
for a few hours, during which a sale is effected.
1890. Answers, 6 July, p. 81, col. 1. The process of loading a
horse, as it is called, is one adopted by ‘horse-copers’—gentry who
make a living by selling patched-up horses.