1 Demanders for Glimmer or Fire
2 Bawdy Baskets
3 Morts
4 Autem Morts
5 Walking Morts
6 Doxies
7 Delles
8 Kinching Morts
9 Kinching Coes
CRIB. A house. To crack a crib: to break open a house.
TO CRIB. To purloin, or appropriate to one's own use,
part of any thing intrusted to one's care.
TO FIGHT A CRIB. To make a sham fight. BEAR GARDEN
TERM.
CRIBBAGE-FACED. Marked with the small pox, the pits
bearing a kind of resemblance to the holes in a
cribbage-board.
CRIBBEYS, or CRIBBY ISLANDS. Blind alleys, courts, or
bye-ways; perhaps from the houses built there being cribbed
out of the common way or passage; and islands, from
the similarity of sound to the Caribbee Islands.
CRIM. CON. MONEY. Damages directed by a jury to be
paid by a convicted adulterer to the injured husband, for
criminal conversation with his wife.
CRIMP. A broker or factor, as a coal crimp, who disposes
of the cargoes of the Newcastle coal ships; also persons
employed to trapan or kidnap recruits for the East Indian
and African companies. To crimp, or play crimp; to
play foul or booty: also a cruel manner of cutting up fish
alive, practised by the London fishmongers, in order to
make it eat firm; cod, and other crimped fish, being a
favourite dish among voluptuaries and epicures.
CRINKUM CRANKUM. A woman's commodity. See SPECTATOR.
CRINKUMS. The foul or venereal disease.
CRIPPLE. Sixpence; that piece being commonly much bent
and distorted.
CRISPIN. A shoemaker: from a romance, wherein a prince
of that name is said to have exercised the art and mystery
of a shoemaker, thence called the gentle craft: or rather
from the saints Crispinus and Crispianus, who according
to the legend, were brethren born at Rome, from whence
they travelled to Soissons in France, about the year 303,
to propagate the Christian religion; but, because they
would not be chargeable to others for their maintenance,
they exercised the trade of shoemakers: the governor of
the town discovering them to be Christians, ordered them
to be beheaded, about the year 303; from which time they
have been the tutelar saints of the shoemakers.
CRISPIN'S HOLIDAY. Every Monday throughout the year,
but most particularly the 25th of October, being the
anniversary of Crispinus and Crispianus.
CRISPIN'S LANCE. An awl.
CROAKER. One who is always foretelling some accident
or misfortune: an allusion to the croaking of a raven,
supposed ominous.
CROAKUMSHIRE. Northumberland, from the particular
croaking the pronunciation of the people of that
county, especially about Newcastle and Morpeth, where
they are said to be born with a burr in their throats, which
prevents their pronouncing the letter r.
CROAKERS. Forestallers, called also Kidders and Tranters.
CROCODILE'S TEARS. The tears of a hypocrite. Crocodiles
are fabulously reported to shed tears over their prey before
they devour it.
CROCUS, or CROCUS METALLORUM. A nick name for a
surgeon of the army and navy.
CROKER. A groat, or four pence.
CRONE. An old ewe whose teeth are worn out; figuratively,
a toothless old beldam.
CRONY. An intimate companion, a comrade; also a confederate
in a robbery.
CROOK. Sixpence.
CROOK BACK. Sixpence; for the reason of this name, see
CRIPPLE.
CROOK YOUR ELBOW. To crook one's elbow, and wish it
may never come straight, if the fact then affirmed is not
true--according to the casuists of Bow-street and St.
Giles's, adds great weight and efficacy to an oath.
CROOK SHANKS. A nickname for a man with bandy legs.
He buys his boots in Crooked Lane, and his stockings
in Bandy-legged Walk; his legs grew in the night, therefore
could not see to grow straight; jeering sayings of men
with crooked legs.
CROP. A nick name for a presbyterian: from their cropping
their hair, which they trimmed close to a bowl-dish,
placed as a guide on their heads; whence they were likewise
called roundheads. See ROUNDHEADS.
CROP. To be knocked down for a crop; to be condemned
to be hanged. Cropped, hanged.
CROPPING DRUMS. Drummers of the foot guards, or Chelsea
hospital, who find out weddings, and beat a point of
war to serenade the new married couple, and thereby
obtain money.
CROPPEN. The tail. The croppen of the rotan; the tail
of the cart. Croppen ken: the necessary-house. CANT.
CROPSICK. Sickness in the stomach, arising from drunkenness.
CROSS. To come home by weeping cross; to repent at the
conclusion.
CROSS DISHONEST. A cross cove; any person who lives by
stealing or in a dishonest manner.
CROSS BITE. One who combines with a sharper to draw in
a friend; also, to counteract or disappoint. CANT.--This
is peculiarly used to signify entrapping a man so as to obtain
CRIM. COM. money, in which the wife, real or supposed,
conspires with the husband.
CROSS BUTTOCK. A particular lock or fall in the Broughtonian
art, which, as Mr. Fielding observes, conveyed more
pleasant sensations to the spectators than the patient.
CROSS PATCH. A peevish boy or girl, or rather an unsocial
ill-tempered man or woman.
TO CROW. To brag, boast, or triumph. To crow over any
one; to keep him in subjection: an image drawn from a
cock, who crows over a vanquished enemy. To pluck a
crow; to reprove any one for a fault committed, to settle a
dispute. To strut like a crow in a gutter; to walk proudly,
or with an air of consequence.
CROWD. A fiddle: probably from CROOTH, the Welch name
for that instrument.
CROWDERO. A fiddler.
CROWDY. Oatmeal and water, or milk; a mess much eaten
in the north.
CROW FAIR. A visitation of the clergy. See REVIEW OF
THE BLACK CUIRASSIERS.
CROWN OFFICE. The head. I fired into her keel upwards;
my eyes and limbs Jack, the crown office was full; I s--k-d
a woman with her a-e upwards, she was so drunk, that her
head lay on the ground.
CRUISERS. Beggars, or highway spies, who traverse the
road, to give intelligence of a booty; also rogues ready to
snap up any booty that may offer, like privateers or pirates
on a cruise.
CRUMMY. Fat, fleshy. A fine crummy dame; a fat woman.
He has picked up his crumbs finely of late; he has
grown very fat, or rich, of late.
CRUMP. One who helps solicitors to affidavit men, or false
witnesses.--'I wish you had, Mrs. Crump;' a Gloucestershire
saying, in answer to a wish for any thing; implying,
you must not expect any assistance from the speaker. It
is said to have originated from the following incident:
One Mrs. Crump, the wife of a substantial farmer, dining
with the old Lady Coventry, who was extremely deaf, said
to one of the footmen, waiting at table, 'I wish I had a
draught of small beer,' her modesty not permitting her to
desire so fine a gentleman to bring it: the fellow, conscious
that his mistress could not hear either the request or
answer, replied, without moving, 'I wish you had, Mrs.
Crump.' These wishes being again repeated by both parties,
Mrs. Crump got up from the table to fetch it herself;
and being asked by my lady where she was going, related
what had passed. The story being told abroad, the expression
became proverbial.
CRUMP-BACKED. Hump-backed.
CRUSTY BEAU. One that uses paint and cosmetics, to obtain
a fine complexion.
CRUSTY FELLOW. A surly fellow.
CUB. An unlicked cub; an unformed, ill-educated young
man, a young nobleman or gentleman on his travels: an
allusion to the story of the bear, said to bring its cub into
form by licking. Also, a new gamester.
CUCKOLD. The husband of an incontinent wife: cuckolds,
however, are Christians, as we learn by the following story:
An old woman hearing a man call his dog Cuckold, reproved
him sharply, saying, 'Sirrah, are not you ashamed
to call a dog by a Christian's name?' To cuckold the
parson; to bed with one's wife before she has been churched.
CUCUMBERS. Taylors, who are jocularly said to subsist,
during the summer, chiefly on cucumbers.
CUFF. An old cuff; an old man. To cuff Jonas; said of one
who is knock-kneed, or who beats his sides to keep himself
warm in frosty weather; called also Beating the
booby.
CUFFIN. A man.
CULL. A man, honest or otherwise. A bob cull; a good-natured,
quiet fellow. CANT.
CULLABILITY. A disposition liable to be cheated, an
unsuspecting nature, open to imposition.
CULLY. A fog or fool: also, a dupe to women: from the
Italian word coglione, a blockhead.
CULP. A kick or blow: from the words mea culpa, being
that part of the popish liturgy at which the people beat their
breasts; or, as the vulgar term is, thump their craws.
CUNDUM. The dried gut of a sheep, worn by men in the
act of coition, to prevent venereal infection; said to have
been invented by one colonel Cundum. These machines
were long prepared and sold by a matron of the name of
Philips, at the Green Canister, in Half-moon-street, in the
Strand. That good lady having acquired a fortune, retired
from business; but learning that the town was not well
served by her successors, she, out of a patriotic zeal for the
public welfare, returned to her occupation; of which she
gave notice by divers hand-bills, in circulation in the year
1776. Also a false scabbard over a sword, and the oil-skin
case for holding the colours of a regiment.
CUNNINGHAM. A punning appellation for a simple fellow.
CUNNING MAN. A cheat, who pretends by his skill in
astrology to assist persons in recovering stolen goods: and
also to tell them their fortunes, and when, how often,
and to whom they shall be married; likewise answers all
lawful questions, both by sea and land. This profession
is frequently occupied by ladies.
CUNNING SHAVER. A sharp fellow, one that trims close,
i.e. cheats ingeniously.
CUNNY-THUMBED. To double one's fist with the thumb inwards,
like a woman.
C**T. The chonnos of the Greek, and the cunnus of the Latin
dictionaries; a nasty name for a nasty thing: un con Miege.
CUP OF THE CREATURE. A cup of good liquor.
CUP-SHOT. Drunk.
CUPBOARD LOVE. Pretended love to the cook, or any other
person, for the sake of a meal. My guts cry cupboard;
i.e. I am hungry
CUPID, BLIND CUPID. A jeering name for an ugly blind
man: Cupid, the god of love, being frequently painted
blind. See BLIND CUPID.
CUR. A cut or curtailed dog. According to the forest laws,
a man who had no right to the privilege of the chase, was
obliged to cut or law his dog: among other modes of
disabling him from disturbing the game, one was by depriving
him of his tail: a dog so cut was called a cut or
curtailed dog, and by contraction a cur. A cur is figuratively
used to signify a surly fellow.
CURBING LAW. The act of hooking goods out of windows:
the curber is the thief, the curb the hook. CANT.
CURE A-SE. A dyachilon plaister, applied to the parts galled
by riding.
CURLE. Clippings of money, which curls up in the operation. CANT.
CURMUDGEON. A covetous old fellow, derived, according
to some, from the French term coeur mechant.
CURRY. To curry favour; to obtain the favour of a person
be coaxing or servility. To curry any one's hide; to beat
him.
CURSE OF SCOTLAND. The nine of diamonds; diamonds, it
is said, imply royalty, being ornaments to the imperial
crown; and every ninth king of Scotland has been observed
for many ages, to be a tyrant and a curse to that country.
Others say it is from its similarity to the arms of Argyle;
the Duke of Argyle having been very instrumental in
bringing about the union, which, by some Scotch patriots,
has been considered as detrimental to their country.
CURSE OF GOD. A cockade.
CURSITORS. Broken petty-fogging attornies, or Newgate
solicitors. CANT.
CURTAILS. Thieves who cut off pieces of stuff hanging out
of shop windows, the tails of women's gowns, &c.; also,
thieves wearing short jackets.
CURTAIN LECTURE. A woman who scolds her husband
when in bed, is said to read him a curtain lecture.
CURTEZAN. A prostitute.
CUSHION. He has deserved the cushion; a saying of one
whose wife is brought to bed of a boy: implying, that
having done his business effectually, he may now indulge or
repose himself.
CUSHION THUMPER, or DUSTER. A parson; many of whom
in the fury of their eloquence, heartily belabour their
cushions.
CUSTARD CAP. The cap worn by the sword-bearer of the
city of London, made hollow at the top like a custard.
CUSTOM-HOUSE GOODS. The stock in trade of a prostitute,
because fairly entered.
CUT. Drunk. A little cut over the head; slightly
intoxicated. To cut; to leave a person or company. To cut
up well; to die rich.
TO CUT. (Cambridge.) To renounce acquaintance with any
one is to CUT him. There are several species of the CUT.
Such as the cut direct, the cut indirect, the cut sublime,
the cut infernal, &c. The cut direct, is to start across the
street, at the approach of the obnoxious person in order to
avoid him. The cut indirect, is to look another way, and
pass without appearing to observe him. The cut sublime,
is to admire the top of King's College Chapel, or the beauty
of the passing clouds, till he is out of sight. The cut
infernal, is to analyze the arrangement of your shoe-strings,
for the same purpose.
TO CUT BENE. To speak gently. To cut bene whiddes;
to give good words. To cut queer whiddes; to give foul
language. To cut a bosh, or a flash; to make a figure.
CANT.
TO CUTTY-EYE. To look out of the corners of one's eyes,
to leer, to look askance. The cull cutty-eyed at us; the
fellow looked suspicious at us.
DAB. An adept; a dab at any feat or exercise. Dab,
quoth Dawkins, when he hit his wife on the a-se with a
pound of butter.
DACE. Two pence. Tip me a dace; lend me two pence.
CANT.
DADDLES. Hands. Tip us your daddle; give me your hand.
CANT.
DADDY. Father. Old daddy; a familiar address to an old
man. To beat daddy mammy; the first rudiments of
drum beating, being the elements of the roll.
DAGGERS. They are at daggers drawing; i.e. at enmity,
ready to fight.
DAIRY. A woman's breasts, particularly one that gives
suck. She sported her dairy; she pulled out her breast.
DAISY CUTTER. A jockey term for a horse that does not
lift up his legs sufficiently, or goes too near the ground,
and is therefore apt to stumble.
DAISY KICKERS. Ostlers at great inns.
DAM. A small Indian coin, mentioned in the Gentoo code
of laws: hence etymologists may, if they please, derive
the common expression, I do not care a dam, i.e. I do
not care half a farthing for it.
DAMBER. A rascal. See DIMBER.
DAMME BOY. A roaring, mad, blustering fellow, a scourer
of the streets, or kicker up of a breeze.
DAMNED SOUL. A clerk in a counting house, whose sole
business it is to clear or swear off merchandise at the
custom-house; and who, it is said, guards against the crime
of perjury, by taking a previous oath, never to swear truly
on those occasions.
DAMPER. A luncheon, or snap before dinner: so called
from its damping, or allaying, the appetite; eating and
drinking, being, as the proverb wisely observes, apt to take
away the appetite.
DANCE UPON NOTHING. To be hanged.
DANCERS. Stairs.
DANDY. That's the dandy; i.e. the ton, the clever thing;
an expression of similar import to "That's the barber."
See BARBER.
DANDY GREY RUSSET. A dirty brown. His coat's dandy
grey russet, the colour of the Devil's nutting bag.
DANDY PRAT. An insignificant or trifling fellow.
To DANGLE. To follow a woman without asking the question.
Also, to be hanged: I shall see you dangle in the
sheriff's picture frame; I shall see you hanging on the
gallows.
DANGLER. One who follows women in general, without
any particular attachment
DAPPER FELLOW. A smart, well-made, little man.
DARBIES. Fetters. CANT.
DARBY. Ready money. CANT.
DARK CULLY. A married man that keeps a mistress, whom
he visits only at night, for fear of discovery.
DARKEE. A dark lanthorn used by housebreakers. Stow
the darkee, and bolt, the cove of the crib is fly; hide the
dark lanthorn, and run away, the master of the house
knows that we are here.
DARKMANS. The night. CANT.
DARKMAN'S BUDGE. One that slides into a house in the
dark of the evening, and hides himself, in order to let some
of the gang in at night to rob it.
DART. A straight-armed blow in boxing.
DASH. A tavern drawer. To cut a dash: to make a figure.
DAVID JONES. The devil, the spirit of the sea: called
Necken in the north countries, such as Norway, Denmark,
and Sweden.
DAVID JONES'S LOCKER. The sea.
DAVID'S SOW. As drunk as David's sow; a common
saying, which took its rise from the following circumstance:
One David Lloyd, a Welchman, who kept an alehouse at
Hereford, had a living sow with six legs, which was greatly
resorted to by the curious; he had also a wife much
addicted to drunkenness, for which he used sometimes
to give her due correction. One day David's wife having
taken a cup too much, and being fearful of the
consequences, turned out the sow, and lay down to sleep herself
sober in the stye. A company coming in to see the sow,
David ushered them into the stye, exclaiming, there is a
sow for you! did any of you ever see such another? all
the while supposing the sow had really been there; to
which some of the company, seeing the state the woman
was in, replied, it was the drunkenest sow they had ever
beheld; whence the woman was ever after called David's
sow.
DAVY. I'll take my davy of it; vulgar abbreviation of affidavit.
TO DAWB. To bribe. The cull was scragged because he
could not dawb; the rogue was hanged because he could
not bribe. All bedawbed with lace; all over lace.
DAY LIGHTS. Eyes. To darken his day lights, or sow up
his sees; to close up a man's eyes in boxing.
DEAD CARGO. A term used by thieves, when they are
disappointed in the value of their booty.
DEAD HORSE. To work for the dead horse; to work for
wages already paid.
DEAD-LOUSE. Vulgar pronunciation of the Dedalus ship of
war.
DEAD MEN. A cant word among journeymen bakers, for
loaves falsely charged to their masters' customers; also
empty bottles.
DEADLY NEVERGREEN, that bears fruit all the year round.
The gallows, or three-legged mare. See THREE-LEGGED
MARE.
DEAR JOYS. Irishmen: from their frequently making use
of that expression.
DEATH HUNTER. An undertaker, one who furnishes the
necessary articles for funerals. See CARRION HUNTER.
DEATH'S HEAD UPON A MOP-STICK. A poor miserable,
emaciated fellow; one quite an otomy. See OTOMY.--He
looked as pleasant as the pains of death.
DEEP-ONE. A thorough-paced rogue, a sly designing
fellow: in opposition to a shallow or foolish one.
DEFT FELLOW. A neat little man.
DEGEN, or DAGEN. A sword. Nim the degen; steal the
sword. Dagen is Dutch for a sword. CANT.
DELLS. Young buxom wenches, ripe and prone to venery,
but who have not lost their virginity, which the UPRIGHT
MAN claims by virtue of his prerogative; after which they
become free for any of the fraternity. Also a common
strumpet. CANT.
DEMURE. As demure as an old whore at a christening.
DEMY-REP. An abbreviation of demy-reputation; a woman
of doubtful character.
DERBY. To come down with the derbies; to pay the money.
DERRICK. The name of the finisher of the law, or hangman
about the year 1608.--'For he rides his circuit with
the Devil, and Derrick must be his host, and Tiburne
the inne at which he will lighte.' Vide Bellman of
London, in art. PRIGGIN LAW.--'At the gallows,
where I leave them, as to the haven at which they must
all cast anchor, if Derrick's cables do but hold.' Ibid.
DEVIL. A printer's errand-boy. Also a small thread in
the king's ropes and cables, whereby they may be
distinguished from all others. The Devil himself; a small
streak of blue thread in the king's sails. The Devil may
dance in his pocket; i.e. he has no money: the cross on
our ancient coins being jocularly supposed to prevent him
from visiting that place, for fear, as it is said, of breaking
his shins against it. To hold a candle to the Devil; to
be civil to any one out of fear: in allusion to the story of
the old woman, who set a wax taper before the image of
St. Michael, and another before the Devil, whom that
saint is commonly represented as trampling under his feet:
being reproved for paying such honour to Satan, she answered,
as it was uncertain which place she should go
to, heaven or hell, she chose to secure a friend in both
places. That will be when the Devil is blind, and he has
not got sore eyes yet; said of any thing unlikely to happen.
It rains whilst the sun shines, the Devil is beating
his wife with a shoulder of mutton: this phenomenon is
also said to denote that cuckolds are going to heaven; on
being informed of this, a loving wife cried out with great
vehemence, 'Run, husband, run!'
The Devil was sick, the Devil a monk would be;
The Devil was well, the Devil a monk was he.
a proverb signifying that we are apt to forget promises
made in time of distress. To pull the Devil by the tail,
to be reduced to one's shifts. The Devil go with you and
sixpence, and then you will have both money and company.
DEVIL. The gizzard of a turkey or fowl, scored, peppered,
salted and broiled: it derives its appellation from being hot
in the mouth.
DEVIL'S BOOKS. Cards.
DEVIL CATCHER, or DEVIL DRIVER. A parson. See
SNUB DEVIL.
DEVIL'S DAUGHTER. It is said of one who has a termagant
for his wife, that he has married the Devil's daughter, and
lives with the old folks.