1891. Referee, 8 Mar. I meet the folks who used to flee To Southern
France and Italy; In London now they gladly stay, In London spend
their l. s. d.—Where are the fogs of yesterday?
Lubber (or Lubbard), subs. (old: now recognised).—A hulking lout; a
lumpish oaf: specifically (nautical) a bad seaman.
1362. Langland, Piers Plowman (a), Prol. 1. 52. Gret lobres and
longe.
1534. N. Udall, Roister Doister, iii. 3, p. 44 (Arber). For the
veriest dolte that euer was borne, And veriest lubber sloven and
beast.
1537. Thersites [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), i. 404]. Come hither,
Cacus, thou lubber and false knave!
1567. Edwards, Damon & Pithias [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), iv. 63].
Beaten with a cudgel like a slave, a vacabone, or a lazy lubber.
1570. Wit & Science [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ii. 387]. These
great lubbers are neither active nor wise.
1573. Harman, Caveat. Sturdy Lubbares.
1580. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. 57, st. 22, p. 131 (E. D. S.). For
tempest and showers deceiueth a menie, And lingering lubbers loose
many a penie.
1590. Nashe, Pasquils Apologie [Grosart (1885), i. 241]. Will he
neuer leaue to play the lubber?
1590. Greene, Neuer too Late [Grosart (1881–6), viii. 199]. Leauing
this passionate lubber to the conceipt of his loues.
1600. Liberality & Prodigality [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), viii.
340]. Look forth and see: a lubber, fat, great, and tall. Ibid.
370. A luskish lubber, as fat as a log.
1605–6. Shakspeare, King Lear, i. 4. Kent. If you will measure your
lubber’s length again, tarry.
1621. Burton, Anatomy (ed. 1892), ii. 156. The rest of these great
Zanzummins, or gigantical Anakims, heavy, vast, barbarous lubbers.
1662. Rump Songs ii. 38. If he had but the life And spirit of his
Wife, He would not lye still like a lubber.
1671. Crowne, Juliana, iii. 1. Lo, blunderbuss, my lord, grand
lubber.
1684. Lacy, Sauny the Scot, v. 1. Go, swagger at your greasy lubber
there; your patient wife will make you no more sport.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Lubber, lubberly, a heavy, dull
Fellow.
1700. Congreve, Way of the World, iv. 7. How can you name that
superannuated lubber? foh!
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, xxiv. And called him ... swab, and
lubber.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1836. M. Scott, Cringle’s Log, x. Confound the lubbers! Boatswain’s
mate, call the watch.
1837. R. H. Barham, The Ingoldsby Legends (ed. 1862), p. 350. Of
course in the use of sea-terms you’ll not wonder If I now and then
should fall into a blunder For which Captain Chamier or Mr. T. P.
Cooke Would call me a lubber and son of a sea-cook.
Adj. (old: now recognised).—Clumsy; clownish. Also lubberly.
1580. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. 9, st. 16, p. 17 (E. D. S.). To raise
betimes the lubberlie, Both snorting Hob and Margerie.
1594. Greene, Frier Bacon [Grosart (1881–6), xiii. 45]. This
lubberly lurden, ill-shapte, and ill-faced.
1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, in Works, iii. 125. Lamely and
lubberly hee striues to imitate and bee another English Lipsius.
1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives, v. 5. I came yonder at Eton to marry
mistress Anne Page, and she’s a great lubberly boy.
1597–8. Haughton, A Woman will have her Will [Dodsley, Old Plays
(1874), x. 533]. What shall we do with this lubber-lover.
1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Homaccione, a great euill fauored
man, a lubbarly man, a loggarhead.
1606. Wily Beguiled [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ix. 241]. Your
lubberly legs would not carry your lobcock body.
1645. Milton, L’Allegro. Then lies him down, the lubbar fiend.
1673. Dryden, Amboyna, Epilogue, 14. Venetians do not more
uncouthly ride, Than did their lubber state mankind bestride.
1706. Farquhar, Recruiting Officer, v. 4. Me for a soldier! send
your own lazy, lubberly sons at home.
1759. Goldsmith, The Bee, No. 6, p. 395 (Globe ed.). Those modest
lubberly boys who seem to want spirit generally go through their
business with more ease to themselves and more satisfaction to
their instructors.
1856. Miss Yonge, Daisy Chain, xxxvii. ‘Poor George had been so
spoiled by three aunts, and was so big, and so old that my mother
did not know what to make of him.’ ‘A great lubberly boy,’ Ethel
said, rather repenting the next moment.
Lubberland, subs. (old).—The Paradise of indolence.
1767. Ray, Proverbs [Bohn (1893), 56]. You’d do well in lubberland,
where they have half a crown a day for sleeping.
Lubber’s-hole, subs. (nautical).—An opening in the maintop, preferred
before the shrouds by raw hands and timid climbers.
b. 1794. Wolcot [‘P. Pindar’], Peter’s Prophecy, in Wks., vol. i.
p. 446. And yet, Sir Joseph, Fame reports, you stole To Fortune’s
topmast through the lubberhole.
1822. D. Jerrold, Black Ey’d Susan, ii. 2. Go up the
futtock-shrouds like a man—don’t creep through lubber’s-hole.
1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ch. vii. I was afraid to venture, and
then he proposed that I should go through lubber’s hole, which he
said had been made for people like me. I agreed to attempt it, as
it appeared more easy, and at last arrived, quite out of breath,
and very happy to find myself in the main-top.
1836. Michael Scott, Cruise of the Midge (ed. 18..), p. 363. Why,
captain, I have paid great attention since we embarked, and really
I have become a very capital sailor, sir. Do you know I have been
twice through the lubber’s hole?
Lubricate, verb. (common).—To drink.
Luck. Down on one’s luck, adj. phr. (common).—Unlucky; in trouble;
‘hard up’.
1846–8. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, lxiv. They say that when Mrs. C.
was particularly down on her luck, she gave concerts and lessons in
music here and there.
1885. Eng. Illustrated Mag., p. 638. A fellow who’s down on his
luck now.
1891. Fun, 25 Mar. Now, the real, genuine, unadulterated nob—be he
ever so down on his luck—always tends his nails to the last.
1892. St. James’s Gaz., 29 Oct., 5, 1. Sir Harry Golightly was down
on his luck. He confided his woes to Mrs. FitzHarris.
Greasy-luck, subs. (whalers’).—A full cargo of oil.
Fisherman’s luck, subs. phr. (common).—Wet, cold, hungry, and no fish.
Shitten luck, subs. phr. (old).—Good luck.
1670. Ray, Proverbs [Bohn (1893), 131], s.v.
Lucky, subs. (thieves’).—Plunder.
1852. Judson, Mysteries of New York, iv. Ve might as vel count up
the week’s earnins and divide the lucky.
Adj. (old colloquial).—Handy.
1703. Centlivre, Love’s Contrivance, i. ‘You used to be a lucky
rogue upon a pinch.’ ‘Ay, master, and I have not forgot it yet.’
To cut (or make) one’s lucky, verb. phr. (common).—To decamp. For
synonyms see Amputate and Skedaddle.
1834. M. C. Dowling, Othello Travestie, i. 2. You’d better cut your
lucky.
1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, 266. ‘Let me alone,’ replied Ikey,
‘and I’ll ha’ vound up, and made my lucky in five seconds.’
1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, l. ‘When was Fagin took then?’ ‘Just
at dinner-time—two o’clock this afternoon. Charley and I made our
lucky up the wash’us chimney.’
1839. Reynolds, Pickwick Abroad, p. 223. At dusk we’ll make our
lucky.
1882. McCabe, New York, xxxiv. 509. (In list of slang terms).
Lucky-bag, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see
Monosyllable.
Lucky-bone, subs. (thieves’).—See quot.
1883. G. A. S[ala], in Ill. L. News, Nov. 10, p. 451, col. 3. The
detective who took him into custody found upon him when searching
him ‘the small bone of a sheep’s head, which he understood, was
known among beggars as the lucky bone,’ as its possession was
supposed to bring good luck to the beggar during the day.
Ludby. See Loteby.
Ludlam’s dog, subs. (old).—A culmination of laziness. See quot. Sailors
say: ‘as lazy as Joe the Marine, who laid down his musket to sneeze.’
1824. T. Fielding, Select Proverbs, p. 154. As lazy as ludlam’s
dog, that leaned his head against a wall to bark.
Lud’s-bulwark, subs. (old).—Ludgate Prison.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.
1725. New Cant. Dict.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Luff, subs. (old).—1. Speech.
1821. Egan, Real Life, i. 454. ‘Poll,’ says I, ‘hold your luff,
give us no more patter about this here rum gig.’