BLACK AND WHITE. In writing. I have it in black and
white; I have written evidence.
BLACK ART. The art of picking a lock. Cant.
BLACK A-SE. A copper or kettle. The pot calls the kettle
black a-se. Cant.
BLACK BOOK. He is down in the black book, i.e. has a
stain in his character. A black book is keep in most regiments,
wherein the names of all persons sentenced to punishment
are recorded.
BLACK BOX. A lawyer. Cant.
BLACK EYE. We gave the bottle a black eye, i.e. drank it
almost up. He cannot say black is the white of my eye;
he cannot point out a blot in my character.
BLACK FLY. The greatest drawback on the farmer is the
black fly, i.e. the parson who takes tithe of the harvest.
BLACK GUARD. A shabby, mean fellow; a term said to be
derived from a number of dirty, tattered roguish boys, who
attended at the Horse Guards, and Parade in St. James's
Park, to black the boots and shoes of the soldiers, or to do
any other dirty offices. These, from their constant attendance
about the time of guard mounting, were nick-named
the black-guards.
BLACK JACK. A nick name given to the Recorder by the
Thieves.
BLACK JACK. A jug to drink out of, made of jacked leather.
BLACK JOKE. A popular tune to a song, having for the
burden, "Her black joke and belly so white:" figuratively
the black joke signifies the monosyllable. See MONOSYLLABLE.
BLACK INDIES. Newcastle upon Tyne, whose rich coal
mines prove an Indies to the proprietors.
BLACKLEGS. A gambler or sharper on the turf or in the cockpit:
so called, perhaps, from their appearing generally in
boots; or else from game-cocks whose legs are always black.
BLACK MONDAY. The first Monday after the school-boys
holidays, or breaking up, when they are to go to school,
and produce or repeat the tasks set them.
BLACK PSALM. To sing the black psalm; to cry: a saying
used to children.
BLACK SPICE RACKET. To rob chimney sweepers of
their soot, bag and soot.
BLACK SPY. The Devil.
BLACK STRAP. Bene Carlo wine; also port. A task of
labour imposed on soldiers at Gibraltar, as a punishment
for small offences.
BLANK. To look blank; to appear disappointed or confounded.
BLANKET HORNPIPE. The amorous congress.
BLARNEY. He has licked the blarney stone; he deals in the
wonderful, or tips us the traveller. The blarney stone is a
triangular stone on the very top of an ancient castle of that
name in the county of Cork in Ireland, extremely difficult
of access; so that to have ascended to it, was considered
as a proof of perseverance, courage, and agility, whereof
many are supposed to claim the honour, who never atchieved
the adventure: and to tip the blarney, is figuratively
used telling a marvellous story, or falsity; and also
sometimes to express flattery. Irish.
A BLASTED FELLOW or BRIMSTONE. An abandoned
rogue or prostitute. Cant.
To BLAST. To curse.
BLATER. A calf. Cant.
BLEACHED MORT. A fair-complexioned wench.
BLEATERS. Those cheated by Jack in a box. CANT.--See
JACK IN A BOX.
BLEATING CHEAT. A sheep. Cant.
BLEATING RIG. Sheep stealing. Cant.
BLEEDERS. Spurs. He clapped his bleeders to his prad;
be put spurs to his horse.
BLEEDING CULLY. One who parts easily with his money,
or bleeds freely.
BLEEDING NEW. A metaphor borrowed from fish, which
will not bleed when stale.
BLESSING. A small quantity over and above the measure,
usually given by hucksters dealing in peas, beans, and
other vegetables.
BLIND. A feint, pretence, or shift.
BLIND CHEEKS. The breech. Buss blind cheeks; kiss
mine a-se.
BLIND EXCUSE. A poor or insufficient excuse. A blind ale-house,
lane, or alley; an obscure, or little known or frequented
ale-house, lane, or alley.
BLIND HARPERS. Beggars counterfeiting blindness, playing
on fiddles, &c.
BLINDMAN'S BUFF. A play used by children, where one
being blinded by a handkerchief bound over his eyes,
attempts to seize any one of the company, who all endeavour
to avoid him; the person caught, must be blinded in
his stead.
BLIND CUPID. The backside.
BLINDMAN'S HOLIDAY. Night, darkness.
BLOCK HOUSES. Prisons, houses of correction, &c.
BLOCKED AT BOTH ENDS. Finished. The game is blocked
at both ends; the game is ended.
BLOOD. A riotous disorderly fellow.
BLOOD FOR BLOOD. A term used by tradesmen for bartering
the different commodities in which they deal. Thus a
hatter furnishing a hosier with a hat, and taking payment
in stockings, is said to deal blood for blood.
BLOOD MONEY. The reward given by the legislature on the
conviction of highwaymen, burglars, &c.
BLOODY BACK. A jeering appellation for a soldier, alluding
to his scarlet coat.
BLOODY. A favourite word used by the thieves in swearing,
as bloody eyes, bloody rascal.
BLOSS or BLOWEN. The pretended wife of a bully, or
shoplifter. Cant.
TO BLOT THE SKRIP AND JAR IT. To stand engaged or
bound for any one. Cant.
BLOW. He has bit the blow, i.e. he has stolen the goods.
Cant.
BLOWEN. A mistress or whore of a gentleman of the
scamp. The blowen kidded the swell into a snoozing
ken, and shook him of his dummee and thimble; the
girl inveigled the gentleman into a brothel and robbed him
of his pocket book and watch.
BLOWER. A pipe. How the swell funks his blower and
lushes red tape; what a smoke the gentleman makes
with his pipe, and drinks brandy.
TO BLOW THE GROUNSILS. To lie with a woman on the
floor. Cant.
TO BLOW THE GAB. To confess, or impeach a confederate.
Cant.
BLOW-UP. A discovery, or the confusion occasioned by one.
A BLOWSE, or BLOWSABELLA. A woman whose hair is
dishevelled, and hanging about her face; a slattern.
BLUBBER. The mouth.--I have stopped the cull's blubber;
I have stopped the fellow's mouth, meant either by gagging
or murdering him.
TO BLUBBER. To cry.
TO SPORT BLUBBER. Said of a large coarse woman, who
exposes her bosom.
BLUBBER CHEEKS. Large flaccid cheeks, hanging like
the fat or blubber of a whale.
BLUE, To look blue; to be confounded, terrified, or disappointed.
Blue as a razor; perhaps, blue as azure.
BLUE BOAR. A venereal bubo.
BLUE DEVILS. Low spirits.
BLUE FLAG. He has hoisted the blue flag; he has commenced
publican, or taken a public house, an allusion to
the blue aprons worn by publicans. See ADMIRAL OF
THE BLUE.
BLUE PIGEONS. Thieves who steal lead off houses and
churches. Cant. To fly a blue pigeon; to steal lead
off houses or churches.
BLUE PLUMB. A bullet.--Surfeited with a blue plumb;
wounded with a bullet. A sortment of George R--'s
blue plumbs; a volley of ball, shot from soldiers' firelocks.
BLUE SKIN. A person begotten on a black woman by a
white man. One of the blue squadron; any one having
a cross of the black breed, or, as it is termed, a lick of
the tar brush.
BLUE TAPE, or SKY BLUE. Gin.
BLUE RUIN. Gin. Blue ribband; gin.
BLUFF. Fierce, surly. He looked as bluff as bull beef.
BLUFFER. An inn-keeper. Cant.
BLUNDERBUSS. A short gun, with a wide bore, for carrying
slugs; also a stupid, blundering fellow.
BLUNT. Money. Cant.
TO BLUSTER. To talk big, to hector or bully.
BOARDING SCHOOL. Bridewell, Newgate, or any other
prison, or house of correction.
BOB. A shoplifter's assistant, or one that receives and carries
off stolen goods. All is bob; all is safe. Cant.
BOB. A shilling.
BOBBED. Cheated, tricked, disappointed.
BOBBISH. Smart, clever, spruce.
BOB STAY. A rope which holds the bowsprit to the stem or
cutwater. Figuratively, the frenum of a man's yard.
BOB TAIL. A lewd woman, or one that plays with her tail;
also an impotent man, or an eunuch. Tag, rag, and bobtail;
a mob of all sorts of low people. To shift one's bob;
to move off, or go away. To bear a bob; to join in chorus
with any singers. Also a term used by the sellers of game,
for a partridge.
BODY SNATCHERS. Bum bailiffs.
BODY OF DIVINITY BOUND IN BLACK CALF. A parson.
BOG LANDER. An Irishman; Ireland being famous for its
large bogs, which furnish the chief fuel in many parts
of that kingdom.
BOG TROTTER. The same.
BOG HOUSE. The necessary house. To go to bog; to go to
stool.
BOG LATIN. Barbarous Latin. Irish.--See DOG LATIN,
and APOTHECARIES LATIN.
BOGY. Ask bogy, i.e. ask mine a-se. Sea wit.
BOH. Said to be the name of a Danish general, who so terrified
his opponent Foh, that he caused him to bewray
himself. Whence, when we smell a stink, it is custom
to exclaim, Foh! i.e. I smell general Foh. He cannot say
Boh to a goose; i.e. he is a cowardly or sheepish fellow.
There is a story related of the celebrated Ben Jonson, who
always dressed very plain; that being introduced to the
presence of a nobleman, the peer, struck by his homely
appearance and awkward manner, exclaimed, as if in doubt,
"you Ben Johnson! why you look as if you could not say
Boh to a goose!" "Boh!" replied the wit.
BOLD. Bold as a miller's shirt, which every day takes a
rogue by the collar.
BOLT. A blunt arrow.
BOLT UPRIGHT. As erect, or straight up, as an arrow
set on its end.
TO BOLT. To run suddenly out of one's house, or hiding
place, through fear; a term borrowed from a rabbit-warren,
where the rabbits are made to bolt, by sending
ferrets into their burrows: we set the house on fire, and
made him bolt. To bolt, also means to swallow meat
without chewing: the farmer's servants in Kent are
famous for bolting large quantities of pickled pork.
BONES. Dice.
BONE BOX. The mouth. Shut your bone box; shut your
mouth.
BONE PICKER. A footman.
BONED. Seized, apprehended, taken up by a constable. CANT.
BOLUS. A nick name for an apothecary.
BONESETTER. A hard-trotting horse.
BOOBY, or DOG BOOBY. An awkward lout, clodhopper, or
country fellow. See CLODHOPPER and LOUT. A bitch
booby; a country wench.
BOOBY HUTCH. A one-horse chaise, noddy, buggy, or
leathern bottle.
BOOKS. Cards to play with. To plant the books; to place
the cards in the pack in an unfair manner.
BOOK-KEEPER. One who never returns borrowed books.
Out of one's books; out of one's fevor. Out of his books;
out of debt.
BOOT CATCHER. The servant at an inn whose business
it is to clean the boots of the guest.
BOOTS. The youngest officer in a regimental mess, whose
duty it is to skink, that is, to stir the fire, snuff the
candles, and ring the bell. See SKINK.--To ride in any one's
old boots; to marry or keep his cast-off mistress.
BOOTY. To play booty; cheating play, where the player
purposely avoids winning.
BO-PEEP. One who sometimes hides himself, and sometimes
appears publicly abroad, is said to-play at bo-peep.
Also one who lies perdue, or on the watch.
BORACHIO. A skin for holding wine, commonly a goat's;
also a nick name for a drunkard.
BORDE. A shilling. A half borde; a sixpence.
BORDELLO. A bawdy house.
BORE. A tedious, troublesome man or woman, one who
bores the ears of his hearers with an uninteresting tale;
a term much in fashion about the years 1780 and 1781.
BORN UNDER A THREEPENNY HALFPENNY PLANET, NEVER TO BE WORTH A GROAT.
Said of any person remarkably unsuccessful in his attempts or
profession.
BOTCH. A nick name for a taylor.
BOTHERED or BOTH-EARED. Talked to at both ears by different
persons at the same time, confounded, confused. IRISH
PHRASE.
BOTHERAMS. A convivial society.
BOTTLE-HEADED. Void of wit.
BOTTOM. A polite term for the posteriors. Also, in the
sporting sense, strength and spirits to support fatigue; as
a bottomed horse. Among bruisers it is used to express
a hardy fellow, who will bear a good beating.
BOTTOMLESS PIT. The monosyllable.
BOUGHS. Wide in the boughs; with large hips and posteriors.
BOUGHS. He is up in the boughs; he is in a passion.
TO BOUNCE. To brag or hector; also to tell an improbable
story. To bully a man out of any thing. The kiddey
bounced the swell of the blowen; the lad bullied the
gentleman out of the girl.
BOUNCER. A large man or woman; also a great lie.
BOUNCING CHEAT. A bottle; from the explosion in
drawing the cork. CANT.
BOUNG. A purse. CANT.
BOUNG NIPPER. A cut purse. CANT.--Formerly purses
were worn at the girdle, from whence they were cut.
BOOSE, or BOUSE. Drink.
BOOSEY. Drunk.
BOWSING KEN. An ale-house or gin-shop.
BOWSPRIT. The nose, from its being the most projecting
part of the human face, as the bowsprit is of a ship.
BOW-WOW. The childish name for a dog; also a jeering
appellation for a man born at Boston in America.
BOW-WOW MUTTON. Dog's flesh.
BOW-WOW SHOP. A salesman's shop in Monmouth-street;
so called because the servant barks, and the master bites.
See BARKER.
BOWYER. One that draws a long bow, a dealer in the marvellous,
a teller of improbable stories, a liar: perhaps from
the wonderful shots frequently boasted of by archers.
TO BOX THE COMPASS. To say or repeat the mariner's
compass, not only backwards or forwards, but also to
be able to answer any and all questions respecting its
divisions. SEA TERM.
TO BOX THE JESUIT, AND GET COCK ROACHES. A sea
term for masturbation; a crime, it is said, much practised
by the reverend fathers of that society.
BRACE. The Brace tavern; a room in the S.E. corner of the
King's Bench, where, for the convenience of prisoners
residing thereabouts, beer purchased at the tap-house was
retailed at a halfpenny per pot advance. It was kept by
two brothers of the name of Partridge, and thence called
the Brace.
BRACKET-FACED. Ugly, hard-featured.
BRAGGET. Mead and ale sweetened with honey.
BRAGGADOCIA. vain-glorious fellow, a boaster.
BRAINS. If you had as much brains as guts, what a clever
fellow you would be! a saying to a stupid fat fellow. To
have some guts in his brains; to know something.
BRAN-FACED. Freckled. He was christened by a baker,
he carries the bran in his face.
BRANDY-FACED. Red-faced, as if from drinking brandy.
BRANDY. Brandy is Latin for a goose; a memento to
prevent the animal from rising in the stomach by a
glass of the good creature.
BRAT. A child or infant.
BRAY. A vicar of Bray; one who frequently changes his
principles, always siding with the strongest party: an
allusion to a vicar of Bray, in Berkshire, commemorated
in a well-known ballad for the pliability of his conscience.
BRAZEN-FACED. Bold-faced, shameless, impudent.
BREAD AND BUTTER FASHION. One slice upon the
other. John and his maid were caught lying bread and
butter fashion.--To quarrel with one's bread and butter;
to act contrary to one's interest. To know on which
side one's bread is buttered; to know one's interest, or
what is best for one. It is no bread and butter of mine;
I have no business with it; or rather, I won't intermeddle,
because I shall get nothing by it.
BREAK-TEETH WORDS. Hard words, difficult to pronounce.
BREAKING SHINS. Borrowing money; perhaps from the
figurative operation being, like the real one, extremely
disagreeable to the patient.
BREAD. Employment. Out of bread; out of employment.
In bad bread; in a disagreeable scrape, or situation.
BREAD BASKET. The stomach; a term used by boxers.
I took him a punch in his bread basket; i.e. I gave him
a blow in the stomach.
BREAST FLEET. He or she belongs to the breast fleet; i.e. is
a Roman catholic; an appellation derived from their custom
of beating their breasts in the confession of their sins.
BREECHED. Money in the pocket: the swell is well
breeched, let's draw him; the gentleman has plenty of
money in his pocket, let us rob him.
BREECHES. To wear the breeches; a woman who governs
her husband is said to wear the breeches.
BREECHES BIBLE. An edition of the Bible printed in
1598, wherein it is said that Adam and Eve sewed figleaves
together, and made themselves breeches.
BREEZE. To raise a breeze; to kick up a dust or breed a
disturbance.
BRIDGE. To make a bridge of any one's nose; to push the
bottle past him, so as to deprive him of his turn of filling
his glass; to pass one over. Also to play booty, or
purposely to avoid winning.
BRIM. (Abbreviation of Brimstone.) An abandoned woman;
perhaps originally only a passionate or irascible
woman, compared to brimstone for its inflammability.
BRISKET BEATER. A Roman catholic. SEE BREAST
FLEET, and CRAW THUMPER.
BRISTOL MILK. A Spanish wine called sherry, much
drunk at that place, particularly in the morning.
BRISTOL MAN. The son of an Irish thief and a Welch
whore.
BRITISH CHAMPAIGNE. Porter.
BROGANIER. One who has a strong Irish pronunciation or
accent.
BROGUE. A particular kind of shoe without a heel,
worn in Ireland, and figuratively used to signify the
Irish accent.
BROTHER OF THE BLADE. A soldier
BUSKIN. A player.
BUNG. A brewer
QUILL. An author.
STRING. A fiddler.
WHIP. A coachman.
BROTHER STARLING. One who lies with the same woman,
that is, builds in the same nest.
BROUGHTONIAN. A boxer: a disciple of Broughton,
who was a beef-eater, and once the best boxer of his day.
BROWN BESS. A soldier's firelock. To hug brown Bess; to
carry a firelock, or serve as a private soldier.
BROWN GEORGE. An ammunition loaf, A wig without
powder; similar to the undress wig worn by his majesty.
BROWN MADAM, or MISS BROWN. The monosyllable.
BROWN STUDY. Said of one absent, in a reverie, or
thoughtful.
BRUISER. A boxer; one skilled in the art of boxing also
an inferior workman among chasers.
BREWES, or BROWES. The fat scum from the pot in
which salted beef is boiled.
TO BRUSH. To run away. Let us buy a brush and lope;
let us go away or off. To have a brush with a woman; to
lie with her. To have a brush with a man; to fight with
him. The cove cracked the peter and bought a brush;
the fellow broke open the trunk, and then ran away.
BRUSHER. A bumper, a full glass. See BUMPER.
BUB. Strong beer.
BUBBER. A drinking bowl; also a great drinker; a
thief that steals plate from public houses. CANT.
THE BUBBLE. The party cheated, perhaps from his
being like an air bubble, filled with words, which are
only wind, instead of real property.
TO BUBBLE. To cheat.
TO BAR THE BUBBLE. To except against the general
rule, that he who lays the odds must always be adjudged
the loser: this is restricted to betts laid for liquor.
BUBBLY JOCK. A turkey cock. SCOTCH.
BUBBLE AND SQUEAK. Beef and cabbage fried together.
It is so called from its bubbling up and squeaking whilst
over the fire.
BUBE. The venereal disease.
BUCK. A blind horse; also a gay debauchee.
TO RUN A BUCK. To poll a bad vote at an election.--IRISH
TERM.
BUCK BAIL. Bail given by a sharper for one of the gang.
A BUCK OF THE FIRST HEAD. One who in debauchery
surpasses the rest of his companions, a blood or choice
spirit. There are in London divers lodges or societies of
Bucks, formed in imitation of the Free Masons: one was
held at the Rose, in Monkwell-street, about the year
1705. The president is styled the Grand Buck. A buck
sometimes signifies a cuckold.
BUCK'S FACE. A cuckold.
BUCK FITCH. A lecherous old fellow.
BUCKEEN. A bully. IRISH.
BUCKET. To kick the bucket; to die.
BUCKINGER'S BOOT. The monosyllable. Matthew
Buckinger was born without hands and legs; notwithstanding
which he drew coats of arms very neatly, and
could write the Lord's Prayer within the compass of a
shilling; he was married to a tall handsome woman,
and traversed the country, shewing himself for money.
BUCKLES. Fetters.
BUDGE, or SNEAKING BUDGE. One that slips into houses
in the dark, to steal cloaks or other clothes. Also
lambs' fur formerly used for doctors' robes, whence they
were called budge doctors. Standing budge; a thief's
scout or spy.
TO BUDGE. To move, or quit one's station. Don't budge
from hence; i.e. don't move from hence, stay here.
BUDGET. A wallet. To open the budget; a term used
to signify the notification of the taxes required by the
minister for the expences of the ensuing year; as To-morrow
the minister will go to the house, and open the
budget.
BUFE. A dog. Bufe's nob; a dog's head. CANT.
BUFE NABBER. A dog stealer. CANT.
BUFF. All in buff; stript to the skin, stark naked.
BUFF. To stand buff; to stand the brunt. To swear as a
witness. He buffed it home; and I was served; he
swore hard against me, and I was found guilty.
BUFFER. One that steals and kills horses and dogs for
their skins; also an inn-keeper: in Ireland it signifies a
boxer.
BUFFER. A man who takes an oath: generally applied to
Jew bail.
BUFFLE-HEADED. Confused, stupid.
BUG. A nick name given by the Irish to Englishmen;
bugs having, as it is said, been introduced into Ireland by
the English.
TO BUG. A cant word among journeymen hatters, signifying
the exchanging some of the dearest materials of
which a hat is made for others of less value. Hats are
composed of the furs and wool of divers animals among
which is a small portion of beavers' fur. Bugging, is
stealing the beaver, and substituting in lieu thereof an equal
weight of some cheaper ingredient.--Bailiffs who take
money to postpone or refrain the serving of a writ, are
said to bug the writ.
BUG-HUNTER. An upholsterer.
BUGABOE. A scare-babe, or bully-beggar.
BUGAROCH. Comely, handsome. IRISH.
BUGGY. A one-horse chaise.
BUGGER. A blackguard, a rascal, a term of reproach. Mill
the bloody bugger; beat the damned rascal.
BULK AND FILE. Two pickpockets; the bulk jostles the
party to be robbed, and the file does the business.
BULKER. One who lodges all night on a bulk or projection
before old-fashioned shop windows.
BULL. An Exchange Alley term for one who buys stock
on speculation for time, i.e. agrees with the seller, called
a Bear, to take a certain sum of stock at a future day, at a
stated price: if at that day stock fetches more than the
price agreed on, he receives the difference; if it falls or is
cheaper, he either pays it, or becomes a lame duck, and
waddles out of the Alley. See LAME DUCK and BEAR.
BULL. A blunder; from one Obadiah Bull, a blundering
lawyer of London, who lived in the reign of Henery VII.
by a bull is now always meant a blunder made by an Irishman.
A bull was also the name of false hair formerly
much worn by women. To look like bull beef, or as bluff
as bull beef; to look fierce or surly. Town bull, a great
whore-master.
BULL. A crown piece. A half bull; half a crown.
BULL BEGGAR, or BULLY BEGGAR. An imaginary
being with which children are threatened by servants
and nurses, like raw head and bloody bones.
BULL CALF. A great hulkey or clumsy fellow. See
HULKEY.
BULL CHIN. A fat chubby child.
BULL DOGS. Pistols.
BULL HANKERS. Persons who over-drive bulls, or
frequent bull baits.
BULL'S EYE. A crown-piece.
BULL'S FEATHER. A horn: he wears the bull's feather; he
is a cuckold.
TO BULLOCK. To hector, bounce, or bully.
BULLY. A cowardly fellow, who gives himself airs of
great bravery. A bully huff cap; a hector. See HECTOR.
BULLY BACK. A bully to a bawdy-house; one who is
kept in pay, to oblige the frequenters of the house to submit
to the impositions of the mother abbess, or bawd; and
who also sometimes pretends to be the husband of one of
the ladies, and under that pretence extorts money from
greenhorns, or ignorant young men, whom he finds with her.
See GREENHORN.
BULLY COCK. One who foments quarrels in order to rob
the persons quarrelling.
BULLY RUFFIANS. Highwaymen who attack passengers
with paths and imprecations.
BULLY TRAP. A brave man with a mild or effeminate
appearance, by whom bullies are frequently taken in.
BUM. the breech, or backside.
TO BUM. To arrest a debtor. The gill bummed the
swell for a thimble; the tradesman arrested the
gentleman for a watch.
BUM TRAP. A sheriff's officer who arrests debtors.
Ware hawke! the bum traps are fly to our panney; keep a
good look out, the bailiffs know where our house is
situated.
BUM BAILIFF. A sheriff's officer, who arrests debtors; so
called perhaps from following his prey, and being at their
bums, or, as the vulgar phrase is, hard at their a-ses.
Blackstone says, it is a corruption of bound bailiff, from
their being obliged to give bond for their good behaviour.
BUM BRUSHER. A schoolmaster.
BUM BOAT. A boat attending ships to retail greens,
drams, &c. commonly rowed by a woman; a kind of
floating chandler's shop,
BUM FODDER. Soft paper for the necessary house or
torchecul.
BUMFIDDLE. The backside, the breech. See ARS MUSICA.
BUMBO. Brandy, water, and sugar; also the negro name for
the private parts of a woman.
BUMKIN. A raw country fellow.
BUMMED. Arrested.
BUMPER. A full glass; in all likelihood from its convexity
or bump at the top: some derive it from a full glass
formerly drunk to the health of the pope--AU BON PERE.
BUMPING. A ceremony performed on boys perambulating
the bounds of the parish on Whit-monday, when they
have their posteriors bumped against the stones marking
the boundaries, in order to fix them in their memory.
BUN. A common name for a rabbit, also for the monosyllable.
To touch bun for luck; a practice observed among
sailors going on a cruize.
BUNDLING. A man and woman sleeping in the same bed, he
with his small clothes, and she with her petticoats on; an
expedient practised in America on a scarcity of beds, where,
on such an occasion, husbands and parents frequently
permitted travellers to bundle with their wives and daughters.
This custom is now abolished. See Duke of Rochefoucalt's
Travels in America,
BUNG UPWARDS. Said of a person lying on his face.
BUNG YOUR EYE. Drink a dram; strictly speaking, to
drink till one's eye is bunged up or closed.
BUNT. An apron.
BUNTER. A low dirty prostitute, half whore and half beggar.
BUNTLINGS. Petticoats. CANT.
BURN CRUST. A jocular name for a baker.
BURN THE KEN. Strollers living in an alehouse without paying
their quarters, are said to burn the ken. CANT.
BURNING SHAME. A lighted candle stuck into the parts of a
woman, certainly not intended by nature for a candlestick.
BURNER. A clap. The blowen tipped the swell a burner;
the girl gave the gentleman a clap.
BURNER. He is no burner of navigable rivers; i.e. he is no
conjuror, or man of extraordinary abilities; or rather,
he is, but a simple fellow. See THAMES.
BURNT. Poxed or clapped. He was sent out a sacrifice, and
came home a burnt offering; a saying of seamen who have
caught the venereal disease abroad. He has burnt his
fingers; he has suffered by meddling.
BURR. A hanger on, or dependant; an allusion to the field
burrs, which are not easily got rid of. Also the Northumbrian
pronunciation: the people of that country, but
chiefly about Newcastle and Morpeth, are said to have a
burr in their throats, particularly called the Newcastle
burr.
BUSHEL BUBBY. A full breasted woman.
BUSK. A piece of whalebone or ivory, formerly worn by
women, to stiffen the forepart of their stays: hence the
toast--Both ends of the busk.
BUSS BEGGAR. An old superannuated fumbler, whom none
but beggars will suffer to kiss them.
BUS-NAPPER. A constable. CANT.
BUS-NAPPER'S KENCHIN. A watchman. CANT.
BUSY. As busy is the devil in a high wind; as busy as a hen
with one chick.
BUTCHER'S DOG. To be like a butcher's dog, i.e. lie by the
beef without touching it; a simile often applicable to
married men.
BUTCHER'S HORSE. That must have been a butcher's
horse, by his carrying a calf so well; a vulgar joke on an
awkward rider.
BUTT. A dependant, poor relation, or simpleton, on whom
all kinds of practical jokes are played off; and who serves
as a butt for all the shafts of wit and ridicule.
BUTTER BOX. A Dutchman, from the great quantity of
butter eaten by the people of that country.
BUTTERED BUN. One lying with a woman that has just lain
with another man, is said to have a buttered bun.
BUTTER AND EGGS TROT. A kind of short jogg trot, such
as is used by women going to market, with butter and
eggs.--he looks as if butter would not melt in her mouth,
yet I warrant you cheese would not choak her; a saying
of a demure looking woman, of suspected character. Don't
make butter dear; a gird at the patient angler.
BUTTOCK. A whore. CANT.
BUTTOCK BROKER. A bawd, or match-maker. CANT.
BUTTOCK BALL. The amorous congress. CANT.
BUTTOCK AND FILE. A common whore and a pick-pocket.
Cant.
BUTTOCK AND TWANG, or DOWN BUTTOCK AND SHAM
FILE. A common whore, but no pickpocket.
BUTTOCK AND TONGUE. A scolding wife.
BUTTOCKING SHOP. A brothel.
BUTTON. A bad shilling, among coiners. His a-se makes
buttons; he is ready to bewray himself through fear. CANT.
BUZMAN. A pickpocket. CANT.
BUZZARD. A simple fellow. A blind buzzard: a
pur-blind man or woman.
BYE BLOW. A bastard.
CABBAGE. Cloth, stuff, or silk purloined by laylors from
their employers, which they deposit in a place called
HELL, or their EYE: from the first, when taxed, with their
knavery, they equivocally swear, that if they have taken
any, they wish they may find it in HELL; or, alluding to the
second, protest, that what they have over and above is
not more than they could put in their EYE.--When the scrotum
is relaxed or whiffled, it is said they will not cabbage.
CAB. A brothel. Mother: how many tails have you in
your cab? how many girls have you in your bawdy house?
CACAFEOGO. A sh-te-fire, a furious braggadocio or bully
huff.
CACKLE. To blab, or discover secrets. The cull is leaky,
and cackles; the rogue tells all. CANT. See LEAKY.
CACKLER. A hen.
CACKLER'S KEN. A hen roost. CANT.
CACKLING CHEATS. Fowls. CANT.
CACKLING FARTS. Eggs. CANT.
CADDEE. A helper. An under-strapper.
CADGE. To beg. Cadge the swells; beg of the gentlemen.
CAFFAN. Cheese. CANT.
CAGG. To cagg; a military term used by the private soldiers,
signifying a solemn vow or resolution not to get
drunk for a certain time; or, as the term is, till their cagg
is out: which vow is commonly observed with the strictest
exactness. Ex. I have cagg'd myself for six months.
Excuse me this time, and I will cagg myself for
a year. This term is also used in the same sense among
the common people of Scotland, where it is performed
with divers ceremonies.
CAG. To be cagged. To be sulky or out of humour. The
cove carries the cag; the man is vexed or sullen.
CAG MAGG. Bits and scraps of provisions. Bad meat.
CAGG MAGGS. Old Lincolnshire geese, which having been
plucked ten or twelve years, are sent up to London to
feast the cockneys.
CAKE, or CAKEY. A foolish fellow.
CALF-SKIN FIDDLE. A drum. To smack calf's skin; to
kiss the book in taking an oath. It is held by the St.
Giles's casuists, that by kissing one's thumb instead of
smacking calf's skin, the guilt of taking a false oath is
avoided.
CALVES. His calves are gone to grass; a saying of a man
with slender legs without calves. Veal will be cheap,
calves fall; said of a man whose calves fall away.
CALVES HEAD CLUB. A club instituted by the Independents
and Presbyterians, to commemorate the decapitation
of King Charles I. Their chief fare was calves heads; and
they drank their wine and ale out of calves skulls.
CALIBOGUS. Rum and spruce beer, American beverage.
CALLE. A cloak or gown. CANT.
CAMBRIDGE FORTUNE. A wind-mill and a water-mill,
used to signify a woman without any but personal endowments.
CAMBRIDGE OAK. A willow.
CAMBRADE. A chamber fellow; a Spanish military term.
Soldiers were in that country divided into chambers, five
men making a chamber, whence it was generally used to
signify companion.
CAMESA. A shirt or shift. CANT. SPANISH.
CAMP CANDLESTICK. A bottle, or soldier's bayonet.
CAMPBELL'S ACADEMY. The hulks or lighters, on
board of which felons are condemned to hard labour.
Mr. Campbell was the first director of them. See
ACADEMY and FLOATING ACADEMY.
CANARY BIRD. A jail bird, a person used to be kept in
a cage; also, in the canting sense, guineas.
CANDLESTICKS. Bad, small, or untunable bells. Hark!
how the candlesticks rattle.
CANDY. Drunk. IRISH.
CANE. To lay Cane upon Abel; to beat any one with a
cane or stick.
CANK. Dumb.
CANNISTER. The head. To mill his cannister; to break
his head.
CANNIKIN. A small can: also, in the canting sense,
the plague.
CANT. An hypocrite, a double-tongue palavering fellow.
See PALAVER.
CANT. To cant; to toss or throw: as, Cant a slug into
your bread room; drink a dram. SEA WIT.
CANTICLE. A parish clerk.
CANTING. Preaching with a whining, affected tone, perhaps
a corruption of chaunting; some derive it from Andrew
Cant, a famous Scotch preacher, who used that whining
manner of expression. Also a kind of gibberish used by
thieves and gypsies, called likewise pedlar's French, the
slang, &c. &c.
CANTERS, or THE CANTING CREW. Thieves, beggars, and
gypsies, or any others using the canting lingo. See LINGO.
CANTERBURY STORY. A long roundabout tale.
TO CAP. To take one's oath. I will cap downright; I will
swear home. CANT.
TO CAP. To take off one's hat or cap. To cap the quadrangle;
a lesson of humility, or rather servility, taught
undergraduates at the university, where they are obliged to
cross the area of the college cap in hand, in reverence to
the fellows who sometimes walk there. The same ceremony
is observed on coming on the quarter deck of ships of
war, although no officer should be on it.
TO CAP. To support another's assertion or tale. To assist
a man in cheating. The file kidded the joskin with sham
books, and his pall capped; the deep one cheated the
countryman with false cards, and his confederate assisted
in the fraud.
CAP ACQUAINTANCE. Persons slightly acquainted, or only
so far as mutually to salute with the hat on meeting. A
woman who endeavours to attract the notice of any particular
man, is said to set her cap at him.
CAPER MERCHANT. A dancing master, or hop merchant;
marchand des capriolles. FRENCH TERM.--To cut papers; to
leap or jump in dancing. See HOP MERCHANT.
CAPPING VERSES. Repeating Latin Verses in turn, beginning
with the letter with which the last speaker left off.
CAPON. A castrated cock, also an eunuch.
CAPRICORNIFIED. Cuckolded, hornified.
CAPSIZE. To overturn or reverse. He took his broth till
he capsized; he drank till he fell out of his chair. SEA
TERM.
CAPTAIN. Led captain; an humble dependant in a great
family, who for a precarious subsistence, and distant hopes
of preferment, suffers every kind of indignity, and is the
butt of every species of joke or ill-humour. The small
provision made for officers of the army and navy in time of
peace, obliges many in both services to occupy this wretched
station. The idea of the appellation is taken from a led horse,
many of which for magnificence appear in the retinues
of great personages on solemn occasions, such as processions,
&c.
CAPTAIN COPPERTHORNE'S CREW. All officers; a saying
of a company where everyone strives to rule.
CAPTAIN LIEUTENANT. Meat between veal and beef, the
flesh of an old calf; a military simile, drawn from the
officer of that denomination, who has only the pay of a
lieutenant, with the rank of captain; and so is not entirely
one or the other, but between both.
CAPTAIN PODD. A celebrated master of a puppet-shew, in
Ben Johnson's time, whose name became a common one
to signify any of that fraternity.
CAPTAIN QUEERNABS. A shabby ill-dressed fellow.
CAPTAIN SHARP. A cheating bully, or one in a set of
gamblers, whose office is to bully any pigeon, who, suspecting
roguery, refuses to pay what he has lost. CANT.
CAPTAIN TOM. The leader of a mob; also the mob itself.
CARAVAN. A large sum of money; also, a person cheated
of such sum. CANT.
CARBUNCLE FACE. A red face, full of pimples.
CARDINAL. A cloak in fashion about the year 1760.
To CAROUSE. To drink freely or deep: from the German
word expressing ALL OUT.
CARRIERS. A set of rogues who are employed to look out
and watch upon the roads, at inns, &c. in order to carry
information to their respective gangs, of a booty in
prospect.
CARRIERS. Pigeons which carry expresses.
CARRION HUNTER. An undertaker; called also a cold
cook, and death hunter. See COLD COOK and DEATH
HUNTER.
CARROTS. Red hair.
CARROTTY-PATED. Ginger-hackled, red-haired. See
GINGER-HACKLED.
CARRY WITCHET. A sort of conundrum, puzzlewit, or
riddle.
CART. To put the cart before the horse; to mention the
last part of a story first. To be flogged at the cart's a-se or
tail; persons guilty of petty larceny are frequently
sentenced to be tied to the tail of a cart, and whipped by the
common executioner, for a certain distance: the degree
of severity in the execution is left to the discretion of the
executioner, who, it is said, has cats of nine tails of all
prices.
CARTING. The punishment formerly inflicted on bawds,
who were placed in a tumbrel or cart, and led through
a town, that their persons might be known.
CARVEL'S RING. The private parts of a woman. Ham
Carvel, a jealous old doctor, being in bed with his wife,
dreamed that the Devil gave him a ring, which, so long as
he had it on his finger, would prevent his being made a
cuckold: waking he found he had got his finger the Lord
knows where. See Rabelais, and Prior's versification of
the story.
TO CASCADE. To vomit.
CASE. A house; perhaps from the Italian CASA. In the canting
lingo it meant store or ware house, as well as a dwelling
house. Tout that case; mark or observe that house.
It is all bob, now let's dub the gig of the case; now the
coast is clear, let us break open the door of the house.
CASE VROW. A prostitute attached to a particular bawdy
house.
CASH, or CAFFAN. Cheese; CANT. See CAFFAN.
CASTER. A cloak. CANT.
CASTOR. A hat. To prig a castor; to steal a hat.
CASTING UP ONE'S ACCOUNTS. Vomiting.
CAT. A common prostitute. An old cat; a cross old woman.
CAT-HEADS. A Woman's breasts. SEA PHRASE.
TO CAT, or SHOOT THE CAT. To vomit from drunkenness.
CAT AND BAGPIPEAN SOCIETY. A society which met at
their office in the great western road: in their summons,
published in the daily papers, it was added, that the kittens
might come with the old cats without being scratched.
CAT CALL. A kind of whistle, chiefly used at theatres, to
interrupt the actors, and damn a new piece. It derives
its name from one of its sounds, which greatly resembles
the modulation of an intriguing boar cat.
CAT HARPING FASHION. Drinking cross-ways, and not, as
usual, over the left thumb. SEA TERM.
CAT IN PAN. To turn cat in pan, to change sides or
parties; supposed originally to have been to turn CATE or CAKE
in pan.
CAT'S FOOT. To live under the cat's foot; to be under the
dominion of a wife hen-pecked. To live like dog and cat;
spoken of married persons who live unhappily together.
As many lives as a cat; cats, according to vulgar
naturalists, have nine lives, that is one less than a woman.
No more chance than a cat in hell without claws; said of
one who enters into a dispute or quarrel with one greatly
above his match.
CAT LAP. Tea, called also scandal broth. See SCANDAL
BROTH.
CAT MATCH. When a rook or cully is engaged amongst
bad bowlers.
CAT OF NINE TAILS. A scourge composed of nine strings
of whip-cord, each string having nine knots.
CAT'S PAW. To be made a cat's paw of; to be made a tool
or instrument to accomplish the purpose of another: an
allusion to the story of a monkey, who made use of a cat's
paw to scratch a roasted chesnut out of the fire.
CAT'S SLEEP. Counterfeit sleep: cats often counterfeiting
sleep, to decoy their prey near them, and then suddenly
spring on them.
CAT STICKS. Thin legs, compared to sticks with which
boys play at cat. See TRAPSTICKS.
CAT WHIPPING, or WHIPPING THE CAT. A trick often
practised on ignorant country fellows, vain of their strength,
by laying a wager with them that they may be pulled
through a pond by a cat. The bet being made, a rope is
fixed round the waist of the party to be catted, and the
end thrown across the pond, to which the cat is also
fastened by a packthread, and three or four sturdy fellows
are appointed to lead and whip the cat; these on a signal
given, seize the end of the cord, and pretending to whip
the cat, haul the astonished booby through the water.--To
whip the cat, is also a term among tailors for working
jobs at private houses, as practised in the country.
CATAMARAN. An old scraggy woman; from a kind of float
made of spars and yards lashed together, for saving
ship-wrecked persons.
CATCH CLUB. A member of the patch club; a bum bailiff.
CATCH FART. A footboy; so called from such servants
commonly following close behind their master or mistress.
CATCH PENNY. Any temporary contrivance to raise a
contribution on the public.
CATCH POLE. A bum bailiff, or sheriff's officer.
CATCHING HARVEST. A dangerous time for a robbery,
when many persons are on the road, on account of a
horse-race, fair, or some other public meeting.
CATER COUSINS. Good friends. He and I are not cater
cousins, i.e. we are not even cousins in the fourth degree,
or four times removed; that is, we have not the least
friendly connexion.
CATERPILLAR. A nick name for a soldier. In the year
1745, a soldier quartered at a house near Derby, was desired
by his landlord to call upon him, whenever he came
that way; for, added he, soldiers are the pillars of the
nation. The rebellion being finished, it happened the same
regiment was quartered in Derbyshire, when the soldier
resolved to accept of his landlord's invitation, and
accordingly obtained leave to go to him: but, on his arrival,
he was greatly surprised to find a very cold reception;
whereupon expostulating with his landlord, he reminded him of
his invitation, and the circumstance of his having said,
soldiers were the pillars of the nation. If I did, answered the
host, I meant CATERpiliars.
CATERWAULING. Going out in the night in search of
intrigues, like a cat in the gutters.
CATHEDRAL. Old-fashioned. An old cathedral-bedstead,
chair, &c.
CATTLE. Sad cattle: whores or gypsies. Black cattle,
bugs. CANT.
CAVAULTING SCHOOL. A Bawdy-house.
CAUDGE-PAWED. Left-handed.
CAULIFLOWER. A large white wig, such as is commonly
worn by the dignified clergy, and was formerly by physicians.
Also the private parts of a woman; the reason for
which appellation is given in the following story: A
woman, who was giving evidence in a cause wherein it was
necessary to express those parts, made use of the term
cauliflower; for which the judge on the bench, a peevish
old fellow, reproved her, saying she might as well call it
artichoke. Not so, my lord, replied she; for an artichoke
has a bottom, but a **** and a cauliflower have none.
CAUTIONS. The four cautions: I. Beware of a woman
before.--II. Beware of a horse behind.--III. Beware of a cart
side-ways.--IV. Beware of a priest every way.
CAW-HANDED, or CAW-PAWED. Awkward, not dextrous,
ready, or nimble.
CAXON. An old weather-beaten wig.
CENT PER CENT. An usurer.
CHAFED. Well beaten; from CHAUFFE, warmed.
CHALKERS. Men of wit, in Ireland, who in the night amuse
themselves with cutting inoffensive passengers across the
face with a knife. They are somewhat like those facetious
gentlemen some time ago known in England by the title
of Sweaters and Mohocks.
CHALKING. The amusement above described.
CHAP. A fellow; An odd chap; A strange fellow.
CHAPERON. The cicisbeo, or gentleman usher to a lady;
from the French.
CHAPT. Dry or thirsty.
CHARACTERED, or LETTERED. Burnt in the hand. They
have palmed the character upon him; they have burned
him in the hand, CANT.--See LETTERED.
CHARM. A picklock. CANT.
CHARREN. The smoke of Charren.--His eyes water from
the smoke of Charren; a man of that place coming out
of his house weeping, because his wife had beat him, told
his neighbours the smoke had made his eyes water.
CHATTER BOX. One whose tongue runs twelve score to the
dozen, a chattering man or woman.
CHATTER BROTH. Tea. See CAT LAP and SCANDAL BROTH.
CHATTS. Lice: perhaps an abbreviation of chattels, lice
being the chief live stock of chattels of beggars, gypsies,
and the rest of the canting crew. CANT.--Also, according
to the canting academy, the gallows.
CHATES. The gallows. CANT.
CHAUNTER CULLS. Grub-street writers, who compose
songs, carrols, &c. for ballad-singers. CANT.
CHAUNT. A song.
TO CHAUNT. To sing. To publish an account in the newspapers.
The kiddey was chaunted for a toby; his examination
concerning a highway robbery was published in
the papers.
CHAW BACON. A countryman. A stupid fellow.
CHEAPSIDE. He came at it by way of Cheapside; he gave
little or nothing for it, he bought it cheap.
CHEATS. Sham sleeves to put over a dirty shift or shirt.
See SHAMS.
CHEEK BY JOWL. Side by side, hand to fist.
CHEEKS. Ask cheeks near cunnyborough; the repartee of a
St. Gilse's fair one, who bids you ask her backside, anglice
her a-se. A like answer is current in France: any one
asking the road or distance to Macon, a city near Lyons,
would be answered by a French lady of easy virtue,
'Mettez votre nez dans mon cul, & vous serrez dans les
Fauxbourgs.'
CHEESE-TOASTER. A sword.
CHEESE IT; Be silent, be quiet, don't do it. Cheese it, the
coves are fly; be silent, the people understand our discourse.
CHEESER. A strong smelling fart.
CHELSEA. A village near London, famous for the military
hospital. To get Chelsea; to obtain the benefit of that
hospital. Dead Chelsea, by G-d! an exclamation uttered by
a grenadier at Fontenoy, on having his leg carried away by
a cannon-ball.
CHEST OF TOOLS. A shoe-black's brush and wig, &c. Irish.
CHERRY-COLOURED CAT. A black cat, there being black
cherries as well as red.
CHERUBIMS. Peevish children, because cherubims and seraphims
continually do cry.
CHESHIRE CAT. He grins like a Cheshire cat; said of anyone
who shews his teeth and gums in laughing.
CHICK-A-BIDDY. A chicken, so called to and by little children.
CHICKEN-BREASTED. Said of a woman with scarce any breasts.
CHICKEN BUTCHER. A poulterer.
CHICKEN-HAMMED. Persons whose legs and thighs are bent
or archward outwards.
CHICKEN-HEARTED. Fearful, cowardly.
CHICKEN NABOB. One returned from the East Indies with but
a moderate fortune of fifty or sixty thousand pounds, a
diminutive nabob: a term borrowed from the chicken turtle.
CHILD. To eat a child; to partake of a treat given to the
parish officers, in part of commutation for a bastard child
the common price was formerly ten pounds and a greasy
chin. See GREASY CHIN.
CHIMNEY CHOPS. An abusive appellation for a negro.
CHINK. Money.
CHIP. A child. A chip of the old block; a child who either
in person or sentiments resembles its father or mother.
CHIP. A brother chip; a person of the same trade or calling.
CHIPS, A nick name for a carpenter.
CHIRPING MERRY. Exhilarated with liquor. Chirping glass,
a cheerful glass, that makes the company chirp like birds
in spring.
CHIT. An infant or baby.
CHITTERLINS. The bowels. There is a rumpus among my
bowels, i.e. I have the colic. The frill of a shirt.
CHITTY-FACED. Baby-faced; said of one who has a childish
look.
CHIVE, or CHIFF. A knife, file: or saw. To chive the
darbies; to file off the irons or fetters. To chive the bouhgs
of the frows; to cut off women's pockets.
CHIVEY. I gave him a good chivey; I gave him, a hearty
Scolding.
CHIVING LAY. Cutting the braces of coaches behind, on
which the coachman quitting the box, an accomplice robs
the boot; also, formerly, cutting the back of the coach to
steal the fine large wigs then worn.
CHOAK. Choak away, the churchyard's near; a jocular saying
to a person taken with a violent fit of coughing, or who
has swallowed any thing, as it is called the wrong way;
Choak, chicken, more are hatching: a like consolation.
CHOAK PEAR. Figuratively, an unanswerable objection: also
a machine formerly used in Holland by robbers; it was of
iron, shaped like a pear; this they forced into the mouths
of persons from whom they intended to extort money; and
on turning a key, certain interior springs thrust forth a
number of points, in all directions, which so enlarged it,
that it could not be taken out of the mouth: and the iron,
being case-hardened, could not be filed: the only methods
of getting rid of it, were either by cutting the mouth, or
advertizing a reward for the key, These pears were also
called pears of agony.
CHOAKING PYE, or COLD PYE, A punishment inflicted
on any person sleeping in company: it consists in wrapping
up cotton in a case or tube of paper, setting it on
fire, and directing the smoke up the nostrils of the sleeper.
See HOWELL'S COTGRAVE.
CHOCOLATE. To give chocolate without sugar; to reprove.
MILITARY TERM.
CHOICE SPIRIT. A thoughtless, laughing, singing, drunken fellow.
CHOP. A blow. Boxing term.
TO CHOP AND CHANGE. To exchange backwards and forwards.
To chop, in the canting sense, means making
dispatch, or hurrying over any business: ex. The AUTEM
BAWLER will soon quit the HUMS, for he CHOPS UP the WHINERS;
the parson will soon quit the pulpit, for he hurries over
the prayers. See AUTEM BAWLER, HUMS, and WHINERS,
CHOP CHURCHES. Simoniacal dealers in livings, or other
ecclesiastical preferments.
CHOPPING, LUSTY. A chopping boy or girl; a lusty
child.
CHOPS. The mouth. I gave him a wherrit, or a souse,
across the chops; I gave him a blow over the mouth,
See WHERRIT.
CHOP-STICK. A fork.
CHOUDER. A sea-dish, composed of fresh fish, salt pork,
herbs, and sea-biscuits, laid in different layers, and stewed
together.
TO CHOUSE. To cheat or trick: he choused me out of it.
Chouse is also the term for a game like chuck-farthing.
CHRIST-CROSS ROW. The alphabet in a horn-book: called
Christ-cross Row, from having, as an Irishman observed,
Christ's cross PREFIXED before and AFTER the twenty-four
letters.
CHRISTENING. Erasing the name of the true maker from
a stolen watch, and engraving a fictitious one in its place.
CHRISTIAN PONEY. A chairman.
CHRISTIAN. A tradesman who has faith, i.e. will give credit.
CHRISTMAS COMPLIMENTS. A cough, kibed heels, and a snotty nose.
CHUB. He is a young chub, or a mere chub; i.e. a foolish
fellow, easily imposed on: an illusion to a fish of that
name, easily taken.
CHUBBY. Round-faced, plump.
CHUCK. My chuck; a term of endearment.
CHUCK FARTHING. A parish clerk.
CHUCKLE-HEADED. Stupid, thick-headed.
CHUFFY. Round-faced, chubby.
CHUM. A chamber-fellow, particularly at the universities
and in prison.
CHUMMAGE. Money paid by the richer sort of prisoners
in the Fleet and King's Bench, to the poorer, for their
share of a room. When prisons are very full, which is
too often the case, particularly on the eve of an insolvent
act, two or three persons are obliged to sleep in a room. A
prisoner who can pay for being alone, chuses two poor
chums, who for a stipulated price, called chummage,
give up their share of the room, and sleep on the stairs,
or, as the term is, ruff it.
CHUNK. Among printers, a journeyman who refuses to
work for legal wages; the same as the flint among taylors.
See FLINT.
CHURCH WARDEN. A Sussex name for a shag, or cormorant, probably
from its voracity.
CHURCH WORK. Said of any work that advances slowly.
CHURCHYARD COUGH. A cough that is likely to terminate
in death.
CHURK. The udder.
CHURL. Originally, a labourer or husbandman: figuratively
a rude, surly, boorish fellow. To put a churl upon a gentleman;
to drink malt liquor immediately after having drunk wine.
CINDER GARBLER. A servant maid, from her business of
sifting the ashes from the cinders. CUSTOM-HOUSE WIT.
CIRCUMBENDIBUS. A roundabout way, or story. He
took such a circumbendibus; he took such a circuit.
CIT. A citizen of London.
CITY COLLEGE. Newgate.
CIVILITY MONEY. A reward claimed by bailiffs for executing
their office with civility.
CIVIL RECEPTION. A house of civil reception; a bawdy-house,
or nanny-house. See NANNY-HOUSE.
CLACK. A tongue, chiefly applied to women; a simile drawn
from the clack of a water-mill.
CLACK-LOFT. A pulpit, so called by orator Henley.
CLAMMED. Starved.
CLAN. A family's tribe or brotherhood; a word much used
in Scotland. The head of the clan; the chief: an allusion
to a story of a Scotchman, who, when a very large
louse crept down his arm, put him back again, saying he
was the head of the clan, and that, if injured, all the rest
would resent it.
CLANK. A silver tankard. CANT.
CLANK NAPPER. A silver tankard stealer. See RUM BUBBER.
CLANKER. A great lie.
CLAP. A venereal taint. He went out by Had'em, and came
round by Clapham home; i.e. he went out a wenching,
and got a clap.
CLAP ON THE SHOULDER. An arrest for debt; whence a
bum bailiff is called a shoulder-clapper.
CLAPPER. The tongue of a bell, and figuratively of a man
or woman.
CLAPPER CLAW. To scold, to abuse, or claw off with the
tongue.
CLAPPERDOGEON. A beggar born. CANT.
CLARET. French red wine; figuratively, blood. I tapped
his claret; I broke his head, and made the blood run.
Claret-faced; red-faced.
CLAWED OFF. Severely beaten or whipped; also smartly
poxed or clapped.
CLEAR. Very drunk. The cull is clear, let's bite him; the
fellow is very drunk, let's cheat him. CANT.
CLEAVER. One that will cleave; used of a forward or
wanton woman.
CLEAN. Expert; clever. Amongst the knuckling coves he
is reckoned very clean; he is considered very expert as
a pickpocket.
CLERKED. Soothed, funned, imposed on. The cull will
not be clerked; i.e. the fellow will not be imposed on by
fair words.
CLEYMES. Artificial sores, made by beggars to excite
charity.
CLICK. A blow. A click in the muns; a blow or knock
in the face. CANT.
TO CLICK. To snatch. To click a nab; to snatch a hat.
CANT.
CLICKER. A salesman's servant; also, one who proportions
out the different shares of the booty among thieves.
CLICKET. Copulation of foxes; and thence used, in a
canting sense, for that of men and women: as, The cull
and the mort are at clicket in the dyke; the man and
woman are copulating in the ditch.
CLIMB. To climb the three trees with a ladder; to ascend
the gallows.
CLINCH. A pun or quibble. To clinch, or to clinch the
nail; to confirm an improbable story by another: as, A
man swore he drove a tenpenny nail through the moon;
a bystander said it was true, for he was on the other side
and clinched it.
CLINK. A place in the Borough of Southwark, formerly
privileged from arrests; and inhabited by lawless vagabonds
of every denomination, called, from the place of
their residence, clinkers. Also a gaol, from the clinking
of the prisoners' chains or fetters: he is gone to clink.
CLINKERS. A kind of small Dutch bricks; also irons worn
by prisoners; a crafty fellow.
TO CLIP. To hug or embrace: to clip and cling. To clip
the coin; to diminish the current coin. To clip the king's
English; to be unable to speak plain through drunkenness.
CLOAK TWITCHERS. Rogues who lurk about the entrances
into dark alleys, and bye-lanes, to snatch cloaks from the
shoulders of passengers.
CLOD HOPPER. A country farmer, or ploughman.
CLOD PATE. A dull, heavy booby.
CLOD POLE. The same.
CLOSE. As close as God's curse to a whore's a-se: close as
shirt and shitten a-se.
CLOSE-FISTED. Covetous or stingy.
CLOSH. A general name given by the mobility to Dutch
seamen, being a corruption of CLAUS, the abbreviation of
Nicholas, a name very common among the men of that
nation.
CLOTH MARKET. He is just come from the cloth market,
i.e. from between the sheets, he is just risen from bed.
CLOUD. Tobacco. Under a cloud; in adversity.
CLOVEN, CLEAVE, or CLEFT. A term used for a woman
who passes for a maid, but is not one.
CLOVEN FOOT. To spy the cloven foot in any business; to
discover some roguery or something bad in it: a saying
that alludes to a piece of vulgar superstition, which is,
that, let the Devil transform himself into what shape he
will, he cannot hide his cloven foot
TO CHUCK. To shew a propensity for a man. The mors
chucks; the wench wants to be doing.
CLOUT. A blow. I'll give you a clout on your jolly nob;
I'll give you a blow on your head. It also means a
handkerchief. CANT. Any pocket handkerchief except
a silk one.
CLOUTED SHOON. Shoes tipped with iron.
CLOUTING LAY. Picking pockets of handkerchiefs.
CLOVER. To be, or live, in clover; to live luxuriously.
Clover is the most desirable food for cattle.
CLOWES. Rogues.
CLOY. To steal. To cloy the clout; to steal the handkerchief.
To cloy the lour; to steal money. CANT.
CLOVES. Thieves, robbers, &c.
CLUB. A meeting or association, where each man is to spend
an equal and stated sum, called his club.
CLUB LAW. Argumentum bacculinum, in which an oaken
stick is a better plea than an act of parliament.
CLUMP. A lump. Clumpish; lumpish, stupid.
CLUNCH. An awkward clownish fellow.
TO CLUTCH THE FIST. To clench or shut the hand. Clutch
fisted; covetous, stingy. See CLOSE-FISTED.
CLUTCHES. Hands, gripe, power.
CLUTTER. A stir, noise, or racket: what a confounded
clutter here is!
CLY. Money; also a pocket. He has filed the cly; he
has picked a pocket. CANT.
CLY THE JERK: To be whipped. CANT.
CLYSTER PIPE. A nick name for an apothecary.
COACH WHEEL. A half crown piece is a fore coach wheel,
and a crown piece a hind coach wheel; the fore wheels of
a coach being less than the hind ones.
TO COAX. To fondle, or wheedle. To coax a pair of stockings;
to pull down the part soiled into the shoes, so as to
give a dirty pair of stockings the appearance of clean ones.
Coaxing is also used, instead of darning, to hide the holes
about the ancles.
COB. A Spanish dollar.
COB, or COBBING. A punishment used by the seamen for
petty offences, or irregularities, among themselves: it
consists in bastonadoing the offender on the posteriors with
a cobbing stick, or pipe staff; the number usually inflicted
is a dozen. At the first stroke the executioner repeats
the word WATCH, on which all persons present are to take
off their hats, on pain of like punishment: the last stroke
is always given as hard as possible, and is called THE PURSE.
Ashore, among soldiers, where this punishment is sometimes
adopted, WATCH and THE PURSE are not included in the
number, but given over and above, or, in the vulgar phrase,
free gratis for nothing. This piece of discipline is also
inflicted in Ireland, by the school-boys, on persons coming
into the school without taking off their hats; it is there
called school butter.
COBBLE. A kind of boat.
TO COBBLE. To mend, or patch; likewise to do a thing in
a bungling manner.
COBBLE COLTER. A turkey.
COBBLER. A mender of shoes, an improver of the understandings of
his customers; a translator.
COBBLERS PUNCH. Treacle, vinegar, gin, and water.
COCK, or CHIEF COCK OF THE WALK. The leading man
in any society or body; the best boxer in a village or
district.
COCK ALE. A provocative drink.
COCK ALLEY or COCK LANE. The private parts of a woman.
COCK AND A BULL STORY. A roundabout story, without
head or tail, i.e. beginning or ending.
COCK OF THE COMPANY. A weak man, who from the desire of being the
head of the company associates with low
people, and pays all the reckoning.
COCK-A-WHOOP. Elevated, in high-spirits, transported with joy.
COCK BAWD. A male keeper of a bawdy-house.
COCK HOIST. A cross buttock.
COCKISH. Wanton, forward. A cockish wench; a forward
coming girl.
COCKLES. To cry cockles; to be hanged: perhaps from the
noise made whilst strangling. CANT.--This will rejoice
the cockles of one's heart; a saying in praise of wine, ale,
or spirituous liquors.
COCK PIMP. The supposed husband of a bawd.
COCK ROBIN. A soft, easy fellow.
COCK-SURE. Certain: a metaphor borrowed front the cock
of a firelock, as being much more certain to fire than the
match.
COCK YOUR EYE. Shut one eye: thus translated into apothecaries
Latin.--Gallus tuus ego.
COCKER. One fond of the diversion of cock-fighting.
COCKNEY: A nick name given to the citizens of London,
or persons born within the sound of Bow bell, derived
from the following story: A citizen of London, being in
the country, and hearing a horse neigh, exclaimed,
Lord! how that horse laughs! A by-stander telling him
that noise was called NEIGHING, the next morning, when
the cock crowed, the citizen to shew he had not forgot
what was told him, cried out, Do you hear how the COCK
NEIGHS? The king of the cockneys is mentioned among
the regulations for the sports and shows formerly held in
the Middle Temple on Childermas Day, where he had
his officers, a marshal, constable, butler, &c. See DUGDALE'S
ORIGINES JURIDICIALES, p. 247.--Ray says, the interpretation of
the word Cockney, is, a young person coaxed or conquered, made
wanton; or a nestle cock, delicately bred and brought up, so
as, when arrived a man's estate, to be unable to bear the least
hardship. Whatever may be the origin of this appellation, we
learn from the following verses, attributed to Hugh Bigot, Earl
of Norfolk, that it was in use, in the time of king Henry II.
Was I in my castle at Bungay,
Fast by the river Waveney,
I would not care for the king of Cockney;
i.e. the king of London.
COCKSHUT TIME. The evening, when fowls go to roost.
COD. A cod of money: a good sum of money.
CODDERS. Persons employed by the gardeners to gather
peas.
CODGER. An old codger: an old fellow.
COD PIECE. The fore flap of a man's breeches. Do they
bite, master? where, in the cod piece or collar?--a jocular
attack on a patient angler by watermen, &c.
CODS. The scrotum. Also a nick name for a curate: a rude
fellow meeting a curate, mistook him for the rector, and
accosted him with the vulgar appellation of Bol--ks the
rector, No, Sir, answered he; only Cods the curate, at
your service.
COD'S HEAD. A stupid fellow.
COFFEE HOUSE. A necessary house. To make a coffee-house
of a woman's ****; to go in and out and spend
nothing.
COG. The money, or whatsoever the sweeteners drop to
draw in a bubble.
COG. A tooth. A queer cog; a rotten tooth. How the
cull flashes his queer cogs; how the fool shews his rotten
teeth.
TO COG. To cheat with dice; also to coax or wheedle, To
cog a die; to conceal or secure a die. To cog a dinner;
to wheedle one out of a dinner.
COGUE. A dram of any spirituous liquor.
COKER. A lie.
COKES. The fool in the play of Bartholomew Fair: perhaps
a contraction of the word COXCOMB.
COLCANNON. Potatoes and cabbage pounded together in a
mortar, and then stewed with butter: an Irish dish.
COLD. You will catch cold at that; a vulgar threat or
advice to desist from an attempt. He caught cold by
lying in bed barefoot; a saying of any one extremely tender
or careful of himself.
COLD BURNING. A punishment inflicted by private soldiers
on their comrades for trifling offences, or breach of their
mess laws; it is administered in the following manner:
The prisoner is set against the wall, with the arm which is
to be burned tied as high above his head as possible. The
executioner then ascends a stool, and having a bottle of
cold water, pours it slowly down the sleeve of the delinquent,
patting him, and leading the water gently down his
body, till it runs out at his breeches knees: this is repeated
to the other arm, if he is sentenced to be burned in both.
COLD COOK. An undertaker of funerals, or carrion hunter.
See CARRION HUNTER.
COLD IRON. A sword, or any other weapon for cutting or
stabbing. I gave him two inches of cold iron into his beef.
COLD MEAT. A dead wife is the beat cold meat in a man's
house.
COLD PIG. To give cold pig is a punishment inflicted on
sluggards who lie too long in bed: it consists in pulling off
all the bed clothes from them, and throwing cold water
upon them.
COLD PUDDING. This is said to settle one's love.
COLE. Money. Post the cole: pay down the money.
COLIANDER, or CORIANDER SEEDS. Money.
COLLAR DAY. Execution day.
COLLEGE. Newgate or any other prison. New College:
the Royal Exchange. King's College: the King's Bench
prison. He has been educated at the steel, and took his
last degree at college; he has received his education at
the house of correction, and was hanged at Newgate.
COLLEGE COVE. The College cove has numbered him, and if he
is knocked down he'll be twisted; the turnkey of Newgate
has told the judge how many times the prisoner has been
tried before and therefore if he is found guilty, he certainly
will be hanged. It is said to be the custom of the Old Bailey
for one of the turnkeys of Newgate to give information to
the judge how many times an old offender has been tried,
by holding up as many fingers as the number of times the
prisoner has been before arraigned at that bar.
COLLEGIATES. Prisoners of the one, and shopkeepers of
the other of those places.
COLLECTOR. A highwayman.
TO COLLOGUE. To wheedle or coax.
COOK RUFFIAN, who roasted the devil in his feathers. A
bad cook.
COOL CRAPE. A shroud.
COOLER. A woman.
COOLER. The backside. Kiss my cooler. Kiss my a-se.
It is principally used to signify a woman's posteriors.
COOL LADY. A female follower of the camp, who sells
brandy.
COOL NANTS. Brandy.
COOL TANKARD. Wine and water, with lemon, sugar, and
burrage.
COLQUARRON. A man's neck. His colquarron is just about
to be twisted; he is just going to be hanged. CANT.
COLT. One who lets horses to highwaymen; also a boy newly
initiated into roguery; a grand or petty juryman on his
first assize. CANT.
COLTAGE. A fine or beverage paid by colts on their first
entering into their offices.
COLT BOWL. Laid short of the jack by a colt bowler, i.e.
a person raw or unexperienced in the art of bowling.
COLT'S TOOTH. An old fellow who marries or keeps a young
girl, is said to have a colt's tooth in his head.
COLT VEAL. Coarse red veal, more like the flesh of a colt
than that of a calf.
COMB. To comb one's head; to clapperclaw, or scold any
one: a woman who lectures her husband, is said to comb
his head. She combed his head with a joint stool; she
threw a stool at him.
COME. To come; to lend. Has he come it; has he lent it?
To come over any one; to cheat or over reach him.
Coming wench; a forward wench, also a breeding woman.
COMING! SO IS CHRISTMAS. Said of a person who has long
been called, and at length answers, Coming!
COMFORTABLE IMPORTANCE. A wife.
COMMISSION. A shirt. CANT.
COMMODE. A woman's head dress.
COMMODITY. A woman's commodity; the private parts of
a modest woman, and the public parts of a prostitute.
COMMONS. The house of commons; the necessary house.
COMPANY. To see company; to enter into a course of prostitution.
COMPLIMENT. See CHRISTMAS.
COMUS'S COURT. A social meeting formerly held at the
Half Moon tavern Cheapside.
CONFECT. Counterfeited.
CONGER. To conger; the agreement of a set or knot of
booksellers of London, that whosoever of them shall buy
a good copy, the rest shall take off such a particular number,
in quires, at a stated price; also booksellers joining to
buy either a considerable or dangerous copy.
CONGO. Will you lap your congo with me? will you drink
tea with me?
CONNY WABBLE. Eggs and brandy beat up together. IRISH.
CONSCIENCE KEEPER. A superior, who by his influence
makes his dependants act as he pleases.
CONTENT. The cull's content; the man is past complaining:
a saying of a person murdered for resisting the robbers. CANT.
CONTENT. A thick liquor, in imitation of chocolate, made
of milk and gingerbread.
CONTRA DANCE. A dance where the dancers of the different
sexes stand opposite each other, instead of side by side, as
in the minuet, rigadoon, louvre, &c. and now corruptly called a
country dance.
CONUNDRUMS. Enigmatical conceits.
CONVENIENT. A mistress. CANT.
CONVENIENCY. A necessary. A leathern conveniency, a coach.
COOPED UP. Imprisoned, confined like a fowl in a coop.
COQUET. A jilt.
CORINTH. A bawdy-house. CANT.
CORINTHIANS: Frequenters of brothels. Also an impudent,
brazen-faced fellow, perhaps from the Corinthian
brass.
CORK-BRAINED. Light-headed, foolish.
CORNED. Drunk.
CORNISH HUG. A particular lock in wrestling, peculiar to
the people of that county.
CORNY-FACED. A very red pimpled face.
CORPORAL. To mount a corporal and four; to be guilty
of onanism: the thumb is the corporal, the four fingers
the privates.
CORPORATION. A large belly. He has a glorious corporation;
he has a very prominent belly.
CORPORATION. The magistrates, &c. of a corporate
town. Corpus sine ratione. Freemen of a corporation's
work; neither strong nor handsome.
COSSET. A foundling. Cosset colt or lamb; a colt or
lamb brought up by hand.
COSTARD. The head. I'll smite your costard; I'll give
you a knock on the head.
COSTARD MONGER. A dealer in fruit, particularly apples.
COT, or QUOT. A man who meddles with women's household
business, particularly in the kitchen. The punishment
commonly inflicted on a quot, is pinning a greasy
dishclout to the skirts of his coat.
COVE. A man, a fellow, a rogue. The cove was bit; the
rogue was outwitted. The cove has bit the cole; the
rogue has got the money. CANT.
COVENT, or CONVENT GARDEN, vulgarly called COMMON
GARDEN. Anciently, the garden belonging to a
dissolved monastery; now famous for being the chief
market in London for fruit, flowers, and herbs. The
theatres are situated near it. In its environs are
many brothels, and not long ago, the lodgings of the
second order of ladies of easy virtue were either there, or
in the purlieus of Drury Lane.
COVENT GARDEN ABBESS. A bawd.
COVENT GARDEN AGUE. The venereal disease. He broke
his shins against Covent Garden rails; he caught the
venereal disorder.
COVENT GARDEN NUN. A prostitute.
COVENTRY. To send one to Coventry; a punishment inflicted
by officers of the army on such of their brethren
as are testy, or have been guilty of improper behaviour,
not worthy the cognizance of a court martial. The person
sent to Coventry is considered as absent; no one must
speak to or answer any question he asks, except relative
to duty, under penalty of being also sent to the same place.
On a proper submission, the penitent is recalled, and
welcomed by the mess, as just returned from a journey to
Coventry.
COVEY. A collection of whores. What a fine covey here
is, if the Devil would but throw his net!
TO COUCH A HOGSHEAD. To lie down to sleep. CANT.
COUNTERFEIT CRANK. A general cheat, assuming all sorts
of characters; one counterfeiting the falling sickness.
COUNTRY HARRY. A waggoner. CANT.
COUNTRY PUT. An ignorant country fellow.
COUNTY WORK. Said of any work that advances slowly.
COURT CARD. A gay fluttering coxcomb.
COURT HOLY WATER, COURT PROMISES. Fair speeches and promises,
without performance.
COURT OF ASSISTANTS. A court often applied to by young
women who marry old men.
COW. To sleep like a cow, with a **** at one's a-se; said
of a married man; married men being supposed to sleep
with their backs towards their wives, according to the
following proclamation:
All you that in your beds do lie,
Turn to your wives, and occupy:
And when that you have done your best,
Turn a-se to a-se, and take your rest.
COW JUICE. Milk.
COW'S BABY. A calf.
COW'S COURANT. Gallop and sh---e.
COW-HANDED. Awkward.
COW-HEARTED. Fearful.
COW ITCH. The product of a sort of bean, which excites an
insufferable itching, used chiefly for playing tricks.
COW'S SPOUSE. A bull.
COW'S THUMB. Done to a cow's thumb; done exactly.
COXCOMB. Anciently, a fool. Fools, in great families,
wore a cap with bells, on the top of which was a piece of
red cloth, in the shape of a cock's comb. At present,
coxcomb signifies a fop, or vain self-conceited fellow.
CRAB. To catch a crab; to fall backwards by missing one's
stroke in rowing.
CRAB LANTHORN. A peevish fellow.
CRAB LOUSE. A species of louse peculiar to the human body;
the male is denominated a cock, the female a hen.
CRAB SHELLS. Shoes. IRISH.
CRABS. A losing throw to the main at hazard.
CRABBED. Sour, ill-tempered, difficult.
CRACK. A whore.
TO CRACK. To boast or brag; also to break. I cracked his
napper; I broke his head.
THE CRACK, or ALL THE CRACK. The fashionable theme,
the go. The Crack Lay, of late is used, in the cant
language, to signify the art and mystery of house-breaking.
CRACKER. Crust, sea biscuit, or ammunition loaf; also the
backside. Farting crackers; breeches.
CRACKISH. Whorish.
CRACKING TOOLS. Implements of house-breaking, such as
a crow, a center bit, false keys, &c.
CRACKMANS. Hedges. The cull thought to have loped by
breaking through the crackmans, but we fetched him back
by a nope on the costard, which stopped his jaw; the man
thought to have escaped by breaking through the hedge,
but we brought him back by a great blow on the head,
which laid him speechless.
CRACKSMAN. A house-breaker. The kiddy is a clever
cracksman; the young fellow is a very expert house-breaker.
CRAG. The neck.
CRAMP RINGS. Bolts, shackles, or fetters. CANT.
CRAMP WORDS. Sentence of death passed on a criminal by
a judge. He has just undergone the cramp word; sentence
has just been passed on him. CANT.
CRANK. Gin and water; also, brisk, pert.
CRANK. The falling sickness. CANT.
TO CRASH. To kill. Crash that cull; kill that fellow. CANT.
CRASHING CHEATS. Teeth.
CRAW THUMPERS. Roman catholics, so called from their
beating their breasts in the confession of their sins. See
BRISKET BEATER, and BREAST FLEET.
CREAM-POT LOVE. Such as young fellows pretend to
dairymaids, to get cream and other good things from them.
TO CREEME. To slip or slide any thing into the hands of
another. CANT.
CREEPERS. Gentlemen's companions, lice.
CREW. A knot or gang; also a boat or ship's company. The
canting crew are thus divided into twenty-three orders,
which see under the different words: