Verb. (common).—1. To drink; and (2) to stand treat.
English synonyms. To barley-bree; to beer; to bend; to blink; to boose;
to bub; to budge; to cover; to crack (or crush) a bottle (a quart, or
cup); to crook; to crook (lift, or tip) the elbow (or little finger);
to damp; to damp one’s mug; to dip; to dip one’s beak (or nose); to
disguise oneself; to do a dram (or wet); to drown the shamrock; to
flicker; to flush; to fuddle; to gargle; to give a bottle a black eye;
to guttle; to guzzle; to go and see a man (or—of women—one’s pa); to
grog; to have, or get, or take an ante-lunch, a little anti-abstinence,
an appetiser, a ball, a bead, a bit of tape, a bosom friend, a bucket,
a bumper, a big reposer, a chit-chat, a cheerer, a cinder, a cobbler, a
corker, a cooler, some corn-juice, a damp, something damp, a damper, a
dannie, a drain, a dram, a doch-an-dorroch, a digester, an eye-opener,
an entr’acte, a fancy smile, a flash, a flip, a forenoon, a go, a hair
of the dog that bit one, a heeltap, an invigorator, a Johnny, a jorum,
a leaf of the old author, a morning rouser, a modicum, a nip, or
nipperkin, a night cap, a nut, one’s medicine, a pistol shot, a pony, a
pill, a quantum, a quencher, a refresher, a revelation, a rouser, a
reposer, a smile, a swig, a sleeve-button, a something, a slight
sensation, a shant, a shout, a sparkler, a settler, a shift, a
stimulant, a sneaker, a snifter, a soother, a thimbleful, a tift, a
taste, a toothful, a Timothy, a warmer, a willy-wacht; to huff; to
irrigate; to knock about the bub; to lap; to lap the gutter; to liquor;
to liquor up; to load in; to look thro’ a glass; to lower; to lug; to
make fun; to malt; to moisten (or soak) the chaffer (clay, or lips); to
mop; to mop-up; to mug; to peg; to potate; to prime oneself; to pull;
to put (or drive) another nail in one’s coffin; to read the maker’s
name; to revive; to rince; to rock; to save a life; to scamander; to
shed a tear; to shake a cloth; to sherry-fog; to shift; to shout; to
slosh; to sluice (or wet) the bolt, gob, or ivories; to soak; to splice
the mainbrace; to squiff; to stab; to suck the monkey; to swill; to
swig; to swipe; to swizzle; to take the pin out; to take a drop in the
eye; to take in some O-be-joyful; to tiff; to tipple; to toddy; to wet;
to wet one’s whistle; to wine.
French synonyms. Absorber (familiar); s’affûter le sifflet (common);
arroser ses galons (= to pay one’s footing); asphyxier (= to nip);
bidonner (= to swig: bidonner à la cambuse = to splice the mainbrace);
bocker (popular); boire une chifferlinde (= to take a nip); se rincer
le bocal (= to sluice one’s gob); boissonner (popular); se rafraîchir
les barres (popular); buvailler (popular); chauffer le four (= to
guzzle); se dessaler (specifically to take an eye-opener); écoper (= to
bale a boat); écraser une bouteille (= to crack a bottle; écraser un
grain = to drink a dram); s’enflaneller (= to take a night-cap);
s’éclairer le fanal (= to light-up); se machaber (popular); étouffer
une mitrailleuse (popular: cf. boire un canon); se mouiller (Rabelais);
se rincer le moule à blagues (= to moisten the chaffer); étouffer,
éreinter une, or éternuer sur, une negresse (= to crack a bottle); se
passer quelque chose sous le nez (= to crook the elbow); s’humecter le
pavillon (= to dip one’s flag: also pavillonner); s’en pousser dans le
battant, le cornet, le fusil, etc. (common); s’humecter le pectoral
(familiar); picter (cf. Gr. πιεῖν); pier (old); pitancher (popular); se
rincer or se gargariser l’avaloir, le bec, le bocal, la gargoine, la
corne, la cornemuse, le cornet, la dalle, la dalle du cou, la dent, le
fusil, le goulot, le gaviot, le sifflet, le tube, la trente-deuxième,
la gargarousse (popular); fioler (familiar); flûter (popular); s’en
fourrer dans le gilet (= to line one’s waistcoat); se rincer la
gargoine (thieves’); se gargariser le rossignolet (= to gargle one’s
nightingale); prendre un coup de gaz (common); se laver le gosier
(popular); s’emplir le gilet (popular); sucer un glace (= to take an
ice); glouglouter (popular); jouer du, or se rincer, le goulot (= to
wash one’s throat); se graisser les roues (= to grease one’s wheels);
siffler le guindal (common); pomper les huiles (huile = wine; huile
blonde = beer); s’humecter les amygdales (popular); s’imbiber le jabot
(popular); faire jambe de vin (old); se laver les yeux (= to take an
eye-opener); se laver le tuyau (popular); licher (familiar = to swill);
litronner (of wine only); renifler (popular); sabler (common = to
shift); sécher (popular); se calfater le bec (common); se blinder
(popular); se suiver; sucer (popular); siroter (common); soiffer
(popular = to load in); s’en taper; téter; zinguer (= to drink at a
bar).
German synonyms. Ausschassjenen (Heb. schoso); bacheln (Fr. bocal; also
pecheln and picheln); bafen (from Lat. bibere); schasjenen (Heb.
schoso: also schaskenen); schöchem.
Italian synonyms. Tirar l’alzana; stibbiare; scabbiare; ventare;
chiarire.
Spanish synonyms. Echar una limpia (= to take a peg); champurrar;
churrupear; palabrar; remojar.
Portuguese synonym. Piar.
1819. Vaux, Memoirs, p. 188, s.v. Lush, to drink; speaking of a
person who is drunk they say, Alderman Lushington is concerned, or
he has been voting for the Alderman.
1821. Haggart, Life, 18. We had lushed the coachman so neatly that
Barney was obliged to drive.
1830. Sir E. B. Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 47, ed. 1854. ‘Vy, I had
been lushing heavy vet—’ ‘Till you grew light in the head, eh and
fell into the kennel.’ ‘Yes.’
1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, xxvi. The richest sort you ever
lushed.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. & Lon. Poor, i. 187. I was out of
work two or three weeks, and I certainly lushed too much.
1864. Eton School Days, viii. ‘Gents, will yer please to lush?’
inquired Bird’s-eye, with a suavity of manner peculiar to himself.
1888. J. Runciman, The Chequers, 80. Ain’t I lushed you?
1891. J. Newman, Scamping Tricks, 94. I had a lot of militia chaps,
and well paid and lushed them.
1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 17. A workman well lushed shies
his ’at for the Queen.
Lushborough, subs. (old).—See quots.
1362. Langland, Piers Plowman, xv. 342. In lussheborwes is a lyther
alay, and yet loketh he lyke a sterlynge.
1383. Chaucer, Cant. Tales [Skeat (1894), iv. 243, 3152]. God woot,
no lussheborghes payen ye!
1661. Blount, Nomolexicon, s.v. A brass coyn in the days of Edward
III.
1894. Skeat, Chaucer, v. 225. Note to line 3152. Lussheburghes,
light coins ... spurious coins imported into England from
Luxembourg, whence the name. The importation of this false money
was frequently forbidden, viz. in 1347, 1348, and 1351.
Lush-crib (or ken), subs. (common).—See quot. 1819.
English synonyms. Ale draper’s; black-house; boozer; budging-ken;
church; cold-blood house; confectionery; cross-dram; devil’s-house;
dive; diving-bell; drum; flash-case (-drum, -ken, or -panny);
flat-iron; flatty-ken; gargle-factory; gin-mill; grocery; groggery;
grog-shop; guzzle-crib; jerry-shop; hash-shop; hedge-house; kiddlywink;
little church round the corner; lush-house (-panny, or -ken); lushery;
mop-up; mughouse; O-be-joyful works; panny; patter-crib; piss-factory;
pot-house; pub (or public) red-lattice; roosting-ken; rum-mill; shanty;
shebeen; side-pocket; sluicery; suck-casa; tippling-shop;
Tom-and-Jerry-shop; whistling-shop; wobble-shop.
French synonyms. Un abreuvoir (= a watering-place); un assommoir (a
knock-me-down shop); une bibine (rag-pickers’); une bouffardière
(common: bouffard = pipe or weed [q.v.]); un bousin (also = shindy); un
bousingot (popular); une buverie (Old Fr.); un cabermon (thieves’: from
cabaret); un caboulot (popular); une cambuse (nautical = store-room);
une chapelle (popular: cf. church); une goguette (common); une guinche
(common); un malzingue (thieves’); une mine à poivre (poivre = brandy);
un mintzingue (popular); le notaire (= also taverner); une piolle (also
= ken [q.v.]); une filature à poivrots (= a manufactory of Lushingtons
[q.v.]); un rideau rouge (cf. red-lattice).
German synonyms. Aules (also = pitcher); Baisel (also = brothel and
pitcher); Chessenkitt, Chessenpenne, Chessenspiesse (thieves’); Finkel
(also = thieves’ kitchen); Kessefinkel (thieves’); Katschäume (from
gypsy tschemika); Molun or Maline (Heb. lun: Chessenmaline = common
lodging-house); Spiese (from Ospes = Lat. hospes); Penne (Heb. pono);
Plattpenne, Plattspiesse, Plattebajis, Plattbes (also = intercourse
with thieves’); Serafbajis (Heb. soraf); Schocherskitt (Heb. schechor
from schochar); Schlederhaus (from schlodern or schlottern = to
totter); Schwäche, Schwächaules, or Schwächkitt (Heb. sewach = to
sacrifice, to kill); Eintippel or Intippel (tippen or tippeln = to
dip).
Italian synonyms. Bruzza; calda; cerchiosa; scabbiosa.
Spanish synonyms. Alegria (= pleasure or joy); aduana (= custom-house);
percha (= perch or pole); puerto (= port).
1819. Vaux, Memoirs, 188, s.v. Lush-crib or lush-ken, a public
house, or gin-shop.
1820. Randall’s Diary, ‘Farewell to the King.’ Then blame me not
kids, swells, or lads of the fancy, For opening a lush-crib in
Chancery Lane.
Lushing-muzzle, subs. (pugilistic).—A blow on the mouth.—Grose (1823).
Lushington, subs. (common).—A sot. Also lushing man and lushy-cove.
English synonyms. Admiral of the Red; after-dinner man; ale-knight;
ale-wisp; artilleryman; bang-pitcher; beer-barrel; belch-guts; bencher;
bench-whistler; bezzle; bibber; blackpot; bloat; blomboll; boozer;
boozington; borachio; bottle-sucker; brandy-face; brewer’s-horse;
bubber (or bubster); budge (or budger); bung-eye; burster; common
sewer; coppernose; drainist; drainpipe; dramster; D-T-ist;
elbow-crooker; emperor; ensign-bearer; fish; flag-of-distress; fluffer;
fuddle-cap (or fuddler); full-blown angel; gargler; gin-crawler (or
-slinger); ginnums; gravel-grinder; grog-blossom; guttle (or
guttle-guts); guzzler (or guzzle-guts); high-goer; jolly-nose; lapper;
love-pot; lowerer; lug-pot; moist-’un; mooner; mop (or mopper-up);
nazie-cove (or -mort); nipster; O-be-Joyfuller (or
O-be-Joyful-merchant); pegger; piss-maker; potster; pot-walloper;
pub-ornament; sapper; shifter; sipster; soaker; sponge; swallower;
swill-pot (or -tub); swigsby; swigster; swipester; swizzle-guts;
Thirstington; tipple-arse; toddy-cask; toss-pot; tote; tun; wet-quaker;
wet-subject; wetster.
French synonyms. Un bec-salé; un louave (thieves’); un litronneur
(popular); une grosse culotte (popular = fat-arse); un gavé (thieves’:
gaver = to stuff); une lampe-à-mort (pop. lamper = to swill); un
zingueur (popular); un boyau rouge; un marquant (thieves’); un
canonneur (pop. = an artilleryman: canon = long glass); un camphrier
(popular); un fioleur (popular: fiole = phial: cf. toss-pot and
bottle-sucker); une éponge (popular = a soaker); un bibard (thieves’);
un buvard (popular = blotting book); un pochard (colloquial); un adroit
du coude (pop. = elbow-crooker); un artilleur (pop. cf. artilleryman);
un boissonneur (pop. = a boozer); un buvailleur or buvaillon (pop. =
Lushington); un chocaillon (pop. a female tippler); un poivrot
(familiar: also poivreau); un sac-à-vin (pop.); un pompier (popular);
un soiffeur (soiffeuse [fem.], or soiffard = thirstington); un
schniqueur (= nipster); un ventre d’osier; un siroteur (= a sipster);
un pion (Villon); un pilier de cabaret (= a pub-ornament); un
pictonneur (picton = wine); un mannezingueur; un marchand d’eau chaude
(= piss-maker); un marchand d’eau de javelle.
German synonym. Mattobolo (= a drunken pig: from the Gypsy matto =
drunk).
Italian synonyms. Fransoso (= a Frenchman); chiaritore; chiaristante.
Spanish synonyms. Cuero (= a goat-skin bottle); colodra (= a wooden
pail in which wine is measured and retailed); cuba (= a measure for
wine); difunto de taberna (lit., a public-house corpse); odre (= a
wine-skin); pellejo (= a wine-skin); peneque; potista; odrina (= an
ox-hide bottle).
Dutch synonyms. Buisbalk; buiskinne or buizerik.
1826. The Fancy, i. 31. He is reported not to take sufficient care
of himself: Lushington is evidently his master.
1840. Comic Almanack, 239. A blessed school of
physic—half-and-half! The lushington of each young Doctor’s
Commons.
1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., i. 68. They sell it at the public
houses to the lushingtons.
1859. Matsell, ‘A hundred stretches hence.’ With all the prigs and
lushing-men, A hundred stretches hence.
Lushy, adj. (common).—Drunk. For synonyms see Drinks and Screwed.
1819. Vaux, Memoirs, 188, s.v.
1821. Haggart, Life, 33. We met with a drover, quite lushy.
1821. The Fancy, 1, p. 303. At the Goat, as aforementioned, Ben
Burn and Randall being both a little lushy.
1828. Maginn, from Vidocq, The Pickpocket’s Chaunt. A regular swell
cove lushy lay. To his clies my hooks I throw in, Tol, lol, etc.
1836. Dickens, Pickwick, xx. I was so uncommon lushy, that I
couldn’t find the place where the latch-key went in, and was
obliged to knock up the old ’ooman.
1876. Hindley, Adventures of A Cheap Jack, 57. A lushy cove.
Lusk, subs. (old).—An idler. Also, luskish; as adj. = idle.
1531–47. Copland, Hye Way to the Spyttel Hous, l. 40. Boyes,
gyrles, and luskish strong knaues.
b. 1602. Lingua [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), ix. 462]. Up, with a
pox to you; up you lusk. [Note: lusk = idle, lazy, slothful.
Minshew derives it from the French lasche, desidiosus].
Lust-proud. See Prick-proud.
Lustres, subs. (American thieves’).—Diamonds.—Matsell (1859).
Lusty-Lawrence, subs. (old).—A good wencher; a performer (q.v.). Also
lusty-guts.
1599. Porter, Two Angry Women [Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), vii.
295]. Well, lusty-guts, I mean to make ye stay.
1603–37. Breton, Mad Letters, [Grosart (1869), h. 33, 7, 12]. While
lustie-guts and his best beloued were casting sheepes eyes at a
cods head.
1621. Burton, Anat. (ed. 1892), ii. 40. Well fed like Hercules,
Proculus ... and lusty laurence.
Lute, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms see
Monosyllable.
1719. Durfey, Pills to Purge, ii. 312. Her face like an angel,
fair, plump, and a Maid, Her lute well in Tune too, could he but
have plaid. Ibid. v. 4. Her white belly’d lute she set to his
flute.
Lux, subs. (Blue-coat School).—A good thing; ‘a splendid thing; e.g.,
My knife is wooston a lux. Probably short form of luxuriant. Hertford
word.’—Blanch.
Luxer, subs. (Winchester College).—See quot.
1878. Adams, Winchester College, s.v. Luxer. A handsome fellow, I
presume from luxuries, it being a pleasure to look at him?
Luxuries. See Bar.
Lyb-beg, subs. (old).—A bed.
Lyerby (or Lig-by), subs. (old).—A keep (q.v.).
Lyp, verb. (old).—To lie down.—Harman (1567).
Lypken. See Libken.
Lyribliring, subs. (Old Cant).—Warbling or singing.
1580. Philip Sidney, Arcadia, iii. p. 395. So may her ears be led,
Her ears where musike lives, To heare and not despise Thy
lyribliring cries.
M
M. To have an M under (or by) the girdle, verb. phr. (old).—To have a
courteous address. [By using the titles Mr., Mrs., Miss, etc.]. See
quot. 1850.
1597–8. Haughton, A Woman will have her Will [Dodsley, Old Plays
(1874), x. 531]. Hark ye ... methinks you might do well to have an
M under your girdle.
1605. Jonson, Chapman, etc., Eastward Hoe, iv. 1. You might carry
an M under your girdle.
1738. Swift, Polite Conversation, i. The devil take you
Neverout.... What plain Neverout! methinks you might have an M
under your girdle, Miss.
1850. Halliwell, Dict. Arch. & Prov. Words, s.v. M ... To keep the
term ‘Master’ out of sight, to be wanting in proper respect.
Mab, subs. (old).—1. See quot.
1823. Moncrieff, Tom & Jerry, i. 7. Tom. But if you dislike going
in a hack, we’ll get you a mab. Jerry. A mab? I’m at fault
again—never shall get properly broken in. Tom. A mab is a jingling
jarvy!—a cabriolet, Jerry.