RUM MORT. A queen, or great lady. CANT.
RUM NAB. A good hat.
RUM NANTZ. Good French brandy. CANT.
RUM NED. A very rich silly fellow. CANT.
RUM PAD. The highway. CANT.
RUM PADDERS. Highwaymen well mounted and armed.
CANT.
RUM PEEPERS. Fine looking-glasses. CANT.
RUM PRANCER. A fine horse. CANT.
RUM QUIDS. A great booty. CANT.
RUM RUFF PECK. Westphalia ham. CANT.
RUM SNITCH. A smart fillip on the nose.
RUM SQUEEZE. Much wine, or good liquor, given among
fiddlers. CANT.
RUM TILTER. See RUM DEGEN.
RUM TOL. See RUM DEGEN.
RUM TOPPING. A rich commode, or woman's head-dress.
RUM VILLE. See ROMEVILLE.
RUM WIPER. See RUM CLOUT.
RUMBO. Rum, water, and sugar; also a prison.
RUMBOYLE. A ward or watch.
RUMBUMTIOUS. Obstreperous.
RUMFORD. To ride to Rumford to have one's backside new
bottomed: i.e. to have a pair of new leather breeches.
Rumford was formerly a famous place for leather breeches.
A like saying is current in Norfolk and Suffolk, of Bungay,
and for the same reason.--Rumford lion; a calf.
See ESSEX LION.
RUMP. To rump any one; to turn the back to him: an
evolution sometimes used at court. Rump and a dozen;
a rump of beef and a dozen of claret; an Irish wager,
called also buttock and trimmings. Rump and kidney
men; fiddlers that play at feasts, fairs, weddings, &c.
and live chiefly on the remnants.
RUMPUS. A riot, quarrel, or confusion.
RUN GOODS. A maidenhead, being a commodity never entered.
RUNNING HORSE, or NAG. A clap, or gleet.
RUNNING SMOBBLE. Snatching goods off a counter, and
throwing them to an accomplice, who brushes off with
them.
RUNNING STATIONERS. Hawker of newspapers, trials, and
dying speeches.
RUNT. A short squat man or woman: from the small cattle
called Welsh runts.
RUSHERS. Thieves who knock at the doors of great houses
in London, in summer time, when the families are gone
out of town, and on the door being opened by a woman,
rush in and rob the house; also housebreakers who enter
lone houses by force.
RUSSIAN COFFEE-HOUSE. The Brown Bear in Bow-street,
Covent Garden, a house of call for thief-takers and runners
of the Bow street justices.
RUSTY. Out of use, To nab the rust; to be refractory;
properly applied to a restive horse, and figuratively
to the human species. To ride rusty; to be sullen; called
also to ride grub.
RUSTY GUTS. A blunt surly fellow: a jocular misnomer of
RESTICUS.
RUTTING. Copulating. Rutting time; the season, when
deer go to rut.
SACHEVEREL. The iron door, or blower, to the mouth
of a stove: from a divine of that name, who made himself
famous for blowing the coals of dissension in the latter
end of the reign of queen Ann.
SACK. A pocket. To buy the sack: to get drunk. To
dive into the sack; to pick a pocket. To break a bottle
in an empty sack; a bubble bet, a sack with a bottle in
it not being an empty sack.
SAD DOG. A wicked debauched fellow; one of the ancient
family of the sad dogs. Swift translates it into Latin by
the words TRISTIS CANIS.
SADDLE. To saddle the spit; to give a dinner or supper.
To saddle one's nose; to wear spectacles. To saddle a
place or pension; to oblige the holder to pay a certain
portion of his income to some one nominated by the donor.
Saddle sick: galled with riding, having lost leather.
SAINT. A piece of spoilt timber in a coach-maker's shop,
like a saint, devoted to the flames.
SAINT GEOFFREY'S DAY. Never, there being no saint of
that name: tomorrow-come-never, when two Sundays
come together.
SAINT LUKE'S BIRD. An ox; that Evangelist being always
represented with an ox.
SAINT MONDAY. A holiday most religiously observed by
journeymen shoemakers, and other inferior mechanics. A
profanation of that day, by working, is punishable by a
fine, particularly among the gentle craft. An Irishman
observed, that this saint's anniversary happened every
week.
SAL. An abbreviation of SALIVATION. In a high sal; in the
pickling tub, or under a salivation.
SALESMAN'S DOG. A barker. Vide BARKER.
SALMON-GUNDY. Apples, onions, veal or chicken, and
pickled herrings, minced fine, and eaten with oil and
vinegar; some derive the name of this mess from the
French words SELON MON GOUST, because the proportions of
the different ingredients are regulated by the palate of the
maker; others say it bears the name of the inventor, who
was a rich Dutch merchant; but the general and most
probable opinion is, that it was invented by the countess
of Salmagondi, one of the ladies of Mary de Medicis, wife
of King Henry IV. of France, and by her brought into
France.
SALMON or SALAMON. The beggars'sacrament or oath.
SALT. Lecherous. A salt bitch: a bitch at heat, or proud
bitch. Salt eel; a rope's end, used to correct boys, &c. at
sea: you shall have a salt eel for supper.
SAMMY. Foolish. Silly.
SANDWICH. Ham, dried tongue, or some other salted meat,
cut thin and put between two slices of bread and butter:
said to be a favourite morsel with the Earl of Sandwich.
SANDY PATE. A red haired man or woman.
SANGAREE. Rack punch was formerly so called in bagnios.
SANK, SANKY, or CENTIPEE'S. A taylor employed by
clothiers in making soldier's clothing.
SAPSCULL. A simple fellow. Sappy; foolish.
SATYR. A libidinous fellow: those imaginary things are
by poets reported to be extremely salacious.
SAUCE BOX. A term of familiar raillery, signifying a bold
or forward person.
SAVE-ALL. A kind of candlestick used by our frugal forefathers,
to burn snuffs and ends of candles. Figuratively,
boys running about gentlemen's houses in Ireland, who
are fed on broken meats that would otherwise be wasted,
also a miser.
SAUNTERER. An idle, lounging fellow; by some derived
from SANS TERRE; applied to persons, who, having no lands
or home, lingered and loitered about. Some derive it
from persons devoted to the Holy Land, SAINT TERRE, who
loitered about, as waiting for company.
SAW. An old saw; an ancient proverbial saying.
SAWNY or SANDY. A general nick-name for a Scotchman,
as Paddy is for an Irishman, or Taffy for a Welchman;
Sawny or Sandy being the familiar abbreviation or
diminution of Alexander, a very favourite name among the
Scottish nation.
SCAB. A worthless man or woman.
SCALD MISERABLES. A set of mock masons, who, A.D.
1744, made a ludicrous procession in ridicule of the
Free Masons.
SCALDER. A clap. The cull has napped a scalder; the
fellow has got a clap.
SCALY. Mean. Sordid. How scaly the cove is; how
mean the fellow is.
SCALY FISH. An honest, rough, blunt sailor.
SCAMP. A highwayman. Royal scamp: a highwayman
who robs civilly. Royal foot scamp; a footpad who
behaves in like manner.
TO SCAMPER. To run away hastily.
SCANDAL BROTH. Tea.
SCANDAL PROOF. One who has eaten shame and drank
after it, or would blush at being ashamed.
SCAPEGALLOWS. One who deserves and has narrowly escaped
the gallows, a slip-gibbet, one for whom the gallows
is said to groan.
SCAPEGRACE. A wild dissolute fellow.
SCARCE. To make one's self scarce; to steal away.
SCARLET HORSE. A high red, hired or hack horse: a pun
on the word HIRED.
SCAVEY. Sense, knowledge. "Massa, me no scavey;"
master, I don't know (NEGRO LANGUAGE) perhaps from the
French SCAVOIR.
SCHEME. A party of pleasure.
SCHISM MONGER. A dissenting teacher.
SCHISM SHOP. A dissenting meeting house.
A SCOLD'S CURE. A coffin. The blowen has napped the
scold's cure; the bitch is in her coffin.
SCHOOL OF VENUS. A bawdy-house.
SCHOOL BUTTER. Cobbing, whipping.
SCONCE. The head, probably as being the fort and citadel
of a man: from SCONCE, an old name for a fort, derived
from a Dutch word of the same signification; To build a
sconce: a military term for bilking one's quarters. To
sconce or skonce; to impose a fine. ACADEMICAL PHRASE.
SCOT. A young bull.
SCOTCH GREYS. Lice. The headquarters of the Scotch
greys: the head of a man full of large lice.
SCOTCH PINT. A bottle containing two quarts.
SCOTCH BAIT. A halt and a resting on a stick, as practised
by pedlars.
SCOTCH CHOCOLATE. Brimstone and milk.
SCOTCH FIDDLE. The itch.
SCOTCH MIST. A sober soaking rain; a Scotch mist will
wet an Englishman to the skin.
SCOTCH WARMING PAN. A wench; also a fart.
SCOUNDREL. A man void of every principle of honour.
SCOUR. To scour or score off; to run away: perhaps from
SCORE; i.e. full speed, or as fast as legs would carry one.
Also to wear: chiefly applied to irons, fetters, or
handcuffs, because wearing scours them. He will scour the
darbies; he will be in fetters. To scour the cramp ring;
to wear bolts or fetters, from which, as well as from
coffin hinges, rings supposed to prevent the cramp are
made.
SCOURERS. Riotous bucks, who amuse themselves with
breaking windows, beating the watch, and assaulting
every person they meet: called scouring the streets.
SCOUT. A college errand-boy at Oxford, called a gyp at
Cambridge. Also a watchman or a watch. CANT.
SCRAGGED. Hanged.
SCRAGGY. Lean, bony.
SCRAGG'EM FAIR. A public execution.
SCRAP. A villainous scheme or plan. He whiddles the
whole scrap; he discovers the whole plan or scheme.
SCRAPE. To get into a scrape; to be involved in a
disagreeable business.
SCRAPER. A fiddler; also one who scrapes plates for
mezzotinto prints.
SCRAPING. A mode of expressing dislike to a person, or
sermon, practised at Oxford by the students, in scraping
their feet against the ground during the preachment;
frequently done to testify their disapprobation of a proctor
who has been, as they think, too rigorous.
SCRATCH. Old Scratch; the Devil: probably from the
long and sharp claws with which he is frequently
delineated.
SCRATCH LAND. Scotland.
SCRATCH PLATTER, or TAYLOR'S RAGOUT. Bread sopt in
the oil and vinegar in which cucumbers have been sliced.
SCREEN. A bank note. Queer screens; forged bank notes.
The cove was twisted for smashing queer screens; the
fellow was hanged for uttering forged bank notes.
SCREW. A skeleton key used by housebreakers to open a
lock. To stand on the screw signifies that a door is not
bolted, but merely locked.
TO SCREW. To copulate. A female screw; a common
prostitute. To screw one up; to exact upon one in a
bargain or reckoning.
SCREW JAWS. A wry-mouthed man or woman.
SCRIP. A scrap or slip of paper. The cully freely blotted
the scrip, and tipt me forty hogs; the man freely signed
the bond, and gave me forty shillings.--Scrip is also a
Change Alley phrase for the last loan or subscription.
What does scrip go at for the next rescounters? what
does scrip sell for delivered at the next day of settling?
SCROBY. To be tipt the scroby; to be whipt before the
justices.
SCROPE. A farthing. CANT.
SCRUB. A low mean fellow, employed in all sorts of dirty
work.
SCRUBBADO. The itch.
SCULL. A head of a house, or master of a college, at the
universities.
SCULL, or SCULLER. A boat rowed by one man with a
light kind of oar, called a scull; also a one-horse chaise
or buggy.
SCULL THATCHER. A peruke-maker.
SCUM. The riff-raff, tag-rag, and bob-tail, or lowest order
of people.
SCUT. The tail of a hare or rabbit; also that of a woman.
SCUTTLE. To scuttle off; to run away. To scuttle a
ship; to make a hole in her bottom in order to sink her.
SEA CRAB. A sailor.
SEA LAWYER. A shark.
SEALER, or SQUEEZE WAX. One ready to give bond and
judgment for goods or money.
SECRET. He has been let into the secret: he has been
cheated at gaming or horse-racing. He or she is in the
grand secret, i.e. dead.
SEEDY. Poor, pennyless, stiver-cramped, exhausted.
SEES. The eyes. See DAYLIGHTS.
SERVED. Found guilty. Convicted. Ordered to be
punished or transported. To serve a cull out; to beat a
man soundly.
SERAGLIO. A bawdy-house; the name of that part of the
Great Turk's palace where the women are kept.
SEND. To drive or break in. Hand down the Jemmy and
send it in; apply the crow to the door, and drive it in.
SET. A dead set: a concerted scheme to defraud a person
by gaming.
SETTER. A bailiff's follower, who, like a setting dog
follows and points the game for his master. Also
sometimes an exciseman.
TO SETTLE. To knock down or stun any one. We settled
the cull by a stroke on his nob; we stunned the fellow
by a blow on the head.
SEVEN-SIDED ANIMAL. A one-eyed man or woman, each
having a right side and a left side, a fore side and a back
side, an outside, an inside, and a blind side.
SHABBAROON. An ill-dressed shabby fellow; also a mean-spirited person.
SHAFTSBURY. A gallon pot full of wine, with a cock.
To SHAG. To copulate. He is but bad shag; he is no able
woman's man.
SHAG-BAG, or SHAKE-BAG. A poor sneaking fellow; a man
of no spirit: a term borrowed from the cock-pit.
SHAKE. To shake one's elbow; to game with dice. To
shake a cloth in the wind; to be hanged in chains.
SHAKE. To draw any thing from the pocket. He shook
the swell of his fogle; he robbed the gentleman of his silk
handkerchief.
SHALLOW PATE. A simple fellow.
SHALLOW. A WHIP hat, so called from the want of depth
in the crown. LILLY SHALLOW, a WHITE Whip hat.
SHAM. A cheat, or trick. To cut a sham; to cheat or deceive.
Shams; false sleeves to put on over a dirty shirt, or
false sleeves with ruffles to put over a plain one. To sham
Abram; to counterfeit sickness.
TO SHAMBLE. To walk awkwardly. Shamble-legged:
one that walks wide, and shuffles about his feet.
SHANKER. A venereal wart.
SHANKS. Legs, or gams.
SHANKS NAGGY. To ride shanks naggy: to travel on foot.
SCOTCH.
SHANNON. A river in Ireland: persons dipped in that river
are perfectly and for ever cured of bashfulness.
SHAPES. To shew one's shapes; to be stript, or made peel,
at the whipping-post.
SHAPPO, or SHAP. A hat: corruption of CHAPEAU. CANT.
SHARK. A sharper: perhaps from his preying upon any
one he can lay hold of. Also a custom-house officer, or
tide-waiter. Sharks; the first order of pickpockets.
BOW-STREET TERM, A.D. 1785.
SHARP. Subtle, acute, quick-witted; also a sharper or
cheat, in opposition to a flat, dupe, or gull. Sharp's the
word and quick's the motion with him; said of any one
very attentive to his own interest, and apt to take all
advantages. Sharp set; hungry.
SHARPER. A cheat, one that lives by his wits. Sharpers
tools; a fool and false dice.
SHAVER. A cunning shaver; a subtle fellow, one who
trims close, an acute cheat. A young shaver; a boy.
SEA TERM.
SHAVINGS. The clippings of money.
SHE HOUSE. A house where the wife rules, or, as the term
is, wears the breeches.
SHE LION. A shilling.
SHE NAPPER. A woman thief-catcher; also a bawd or pimp.
SHEEP'S HEAD. Like a sheep's head, all jaw; saying of a
talkative man or woman.
SHEEPISH. Bashful. A sheepish fellow; a bashful or
shamefaced fellow. To cast a sheep's eye at any thing;
to look wishfully at it.
SHEEPSKIN FIDDLER. A drummer.
SHELF. On the shelf, i.e. pawned.
SHERIFF'S JOURNEYMAN. The hangman.
SHERIFF'S BALL. An execution. To dance at the sheriff's
ball, and loll out one's tongue at the company; to be
hanged, or go to rest in a horse's night-cap, i.e. a halter.
SHERIFF'S BRACELETS. Handcuffs.
SHERIFF'S HOTEL. A prison.
SHERIFF'S PICTURE FRAME. The gallows.
TO SHERK. To evade or disappoint: to sherk one's duty.
TO SHERRY. To run away: sherry off.
SHIFTING. Shuffling. Tricking. Shifting cove; i.e. a
person who lives by tricking.
SHIFTING BALLAST. A term used by sailors, to signify
soldiers, passengers, or any landsmen on board.
SHILLALEY. An oaken sapling, or cudgel: from a wood
of that name famous for its oaks. IRISH.
SHILLY-SHALLY. Irresolute. To stand shilly-shally; to
hesitate, or stand in doubt.
SHINDY. A dance. SEA PHRASE.
SHINE. It shines like a shitten barn door.
SHIP SHAPE. Proper, as it ought to be. SEA PHRASE,
SH-T SACK. A dastardly fellow: also a non-conformist.
This appellation is said to have originated from the
following story:--After the restoration, the laws against
the non-conformists were extremely severe. They
sometimes met in very obscure places: and there is a tradition
that one of their congregations were assembled in a barn,
the rendezvous of beggars and other vagrants, where the
preacher, for want of a ladder or tub, was suspended in
a sack fixed to the beam. His discourse that day being
on the last judgment, he particularly attempted to describe
the terrors of the wicked at the sounding of the trumpet,
on which a trumpeter to a puppet-show, who had taken
refuge in that barn, and lay hid under the straw, sounded
a charge. The congregation, struck with the utmost
consternation, fled in an instant from the place, leaving
their affrighted teacher to shift for himself. The effects
of his terror are said to have appeared at the bottom of
the sack, and to have occasioned that opprobrious appellation
by which the non-conformists were vulgarly distinguished.
SH-T-NG THROUGH THE TEETH. Vomiting. Hark ye,
friend, have you got a padlock on your a-se, that you sh-te
through your teeth? Vulgar address to one vomiting.
SHOD ALL ROUND. A parson who attends a funeral is said
to be shod all round, when he receives a hat-band, gloves,
and scarf: many shoeings being only partial.
SHOEMAKER'S STOCKS. New, or strait shoes. I was in
the shoemaker's stocks; i.e. had on a new pair of shoes
that were too small for me.
TO SHOOLE. To go skulking about.
TO SHOOT THE CAT. To vomit from excess of liquor;
called also catting.
SHOP. A prison. Shopped; confined, imprisoned.
SHOPLIFTER. One that steals whilst pretending to purchase
goods in a shop.
SHORT-HEELED WENCH. A girl apt to fall on her back.
SHOT. To pay one's shot; to pay one's share of a reckoning.
Shot betwixt wind and water; poxed or clapped.
SHOTTEN HERRING. A thin meagre fellow.
To SHOVE THE TUMBLER. To be whipped at the cart's
tail.
SHOVE IN THE MOUTH. A dram.
SHOVEL. To be put to bed with a shovel; to be buried.
He or she was fed with a fire-shovel; a saying of a person
with a large mouth.
SHOULDER FEAST. A dinner given after a funeral, to
those who have carried the corpse.
SHOULDER CLAPPER. A bailiff, or member of the catch
club. Shoulder-clapped; arrested.
SHOULDER SHAM. A partner to a file. See FILE.
SHRED. A taylor.
SHRIMP. A little diminutive person.
TO SHUFFLE. To make use of false pretences, or unfair
shifts. A shuffling fellow; a slippery shifting fellow.
SHY COCK. One who keeps within doors for fear of bailiffs.
SICE. Sixpence.
SICK AS A HORSE. Horses are said to be extremely sick
at their stomachs, from being unable to relieve themselves
by vomiting. Bracken, indeed, in his Farriery, gives an
instance of that evacuation being procured, but by a
means which he says would make the Devil vomit. Such
as may have occasion to administer an emetic either to
the animal or the fiend, may consult his book for the
recipe.
SIDE POCKET. He has as much need of a wife as a dog of
a side pocket; said of a weak old debilitated man. He
wants it as much as a dog does a side pocket; a simile
used for one who desires any thing by no means necessary.
SIDLEDYWRY. Crooked.
SIGN OF A HOUSE TO LET. A widow's weeds.
SIGN OF THE: FIVE SHILLINGS. The crown.
TEN SHILLINGS. The two crowns.
FIFTEEN SHILLINGS. The three crowns.
SILENCE. To silence a man; to knock him down, or stun
him. Silence in the court, the cat is pissing; a gird upon
any one requiring silence unnecessarily.
SILENT FLUTE. See PEGO, SUGAR STICK, &c.
SILK SNATCHERS. Thieves who snatch hoods or bonnets
from persons walking in the streets.
SILVER LACED. Replete with lice. The cove's kickseys
are silver laced: the fellow's breeches are covered with
lice.
SIMEONITES, (at Cambridge,) the followers of the Rev.
Charles Simeon, fellow of King's College, author of
Skeletons of Sermons, and preacher at Trinity church; they
are in fact rank methodists.
SIMKIN. A foolish fellow.
SIMON. Sixpence. Simple Simon: a natural, a silly fellow;
Simon Suck-egg, sold his wife for an addle duck-egg.
TO SIMPER. To smile: to simper like a firmity kettle.
SIMPLETON. Abbreviation of simple Tony or Anthony, a
foolish fellow.
SIMPLES. Physical herbs; also follies. He must go to
Battersea, to be cut for the simples--Battersea is a place
famous for its garden grounds, some of which were formerly
appropriated to the growing of simples for apothecaries,
who at a certain season used to go down to select their
stock for the ensuing year, at which time the gardeners
were said to cut their simples; whence it became
a popular joke to advise young people to go to Battersea,
at that time, to have their simples cut, or to be cut for
the simples.
TO SING. To call out; the coves sing out beef; they call
out stop thief.
TO SING SMALL. To be humbled, confounded, or abashed,
to have little or nothing to say for one's-self.
SINGLE PEEPER. A person having but one eye.
SINGLETON. A very foolish fellow; also a particular kind
of nails.
SINGLETON. A corkscrew, made by a famous cutler of
that name, who lived in a place called Hell, in Dublin;
his screws are remarkable for their excellent temper.
SIR JOHN. The old title for a country parson: as Sir John
of Wrotham, mentioned by Shakespeare.
SIR JOHN BARLEYCORN. Strong beer.
SIR LOIN. The sur, or upper loin.
SIR REVERENCE. Human excrement, a t--d.
SIR TIMOTHY. One who, from a desire of being the head
of the company, pays the reckoning, or, as the term is,
stands squire. See SQUIRE.
SITTING BREECHES. One who stays late in company, is
said to have his sitting breeches on, or that he will sit
longer than a hen.
SIX AND EIGHT-PENCE. An attorney, whose fee on several
occasions is fixed at that sum.
SIX AND TIPS. Whisky and small beer. IRISH.
SIXES AND SEVENS. Left at sixes and sevens: i.e. in
confusion; commonly said of a room where the furniture,
&c. is scattered about; or of a business left unsettled.
SIZE OF ALE. Half a pint. Size of bread and cheese; a
certain quantity. Sizings: Cambridge term for the college
allowance from the buttery, called at Oxford battles.
To SIZE. (CAMBRIDGE) To sup at one's own expence. If a
MAN asks you to SUP, he treats you; if to SIZE, you pay
for what you eat--liquors ONLY being provided by the
inviter.
SIZAR (Cambridge). Formerly students who came to the
University for purposes of study and emolument.
But at present they are just as gay and dissipated as their
fellow collegians. About fifty years ago they were on a
footing with the servitors at Oxford, but by the exertions
of the present Bishop of Llandaff, who was himself a
sizar, they were absolved from all marks of inferiority
or of degradation. The chief difference at present between
them and the pensioners, consists in the less
amount of their college fees. The saving thus made induces
many extravagant fellows to become sizars, that
they may have more money to lavish on their dogs,
pieces, &c.
SKEW. A cup, or beggar's wooden dish.
SKEWVOW, or ALL ASKEW. Crooked, inclining to one side.
SKIN. In a bad skin; out of temper, in an ill humour.
Thin-skinned: touchy, peevish.
SKIN. A purse. Frisk the skin of the stephen; empty
the money out of the purse. Queer skin; an empty
purse.
SKIN FLINT. An avaricious man or woman,
SKINK. To skink, is to wait on the company, ring the bell,
stir the fire, and snuff the candles; the duty of the youngest
officer in the military mess. See BOOTS.
SKINS. A tanner.
SKIP JACKS. Youngsters that ride horses on sale, horse-dealers
boys. Also a plaything made for children with
the breast bone of a goose.
SKIP KENNEL. A footman.
SKIPPER. A barn. CANT.--Also the captain of a Dutch
vessel.
TO SKIT. To wheedle. CANT.
SKIT. A joke. A satirical hint.
SKRIP. See SCRIP.
SKULKER. A soldier who by feigned sickness, or other
pretences, evades his duty; a sailor who keeps below in
time of danger; in the civil line, one who keeps out of
the way, when any work is to be done. To skulk; to
hide one's self, to avoid labour or duty.
SKY BLUE. Gin.
SKY FARMERS. Cheats who pretend they were farmers
in the isle of Sky, or some other remote place, and were
ruined by a flood, hurricane, or some such public calamity:
or else called sky farmers from their farms being IN
NUBIBUS, 'in the clouds.'
SKY PARLOUR. The garret, or upper story.
SLABBERING BIB. A parson or lawyer's band.
SLAG. A slack-mettled fellow, one not ready to resent an
affront.
SLAM. A trick; also a game at whist lost without scoring
one. To slam to a door; to shut it with violence.
SLAMKIN. A female sloven, one whose clothes seem hung
on with a pitch-fork, a careless trapes.
SLANG. A fetter. Double slanged; double ironed. Now
double slanged into the cells for a crop he is knocked
down; he is double ironed in the condemned cells, and
ordered to be hanged.
SLANG. Cant language.
SLAP-BANG SHOP. A petty cook's shop, where there is
no credit given, but what is had must be paid DOWN
WITH THE READY SLAP-BANG, i.e. immediately. This is a
common appellation for a night cellar frequented by
thieves, and sometimes for a stage coach or caravan.
SLAPDASH. Immediately, instantly, suddenly.
SLASHER. A bullying, riotous fellow. IRISH.
SLAT. Half a crown. CANT.
SLATE. A sheet. CANT.
SLATER'S PAN. The gaol at Kingston in Jamaica: Slater
is the deputy Provost-marshal.
SLATTERN. A woman sluttishly negligent in her dress.
SLEEPING PARTNER. A partner in a trade, or shop, who
lends his name and money, for which he receives a share
of the profit, without doing any part of the business.
SLEEPY. Much worn: the cloth of your coat must be extremely
sleepy, for it has not had a nap this long time.
SLEEVELESS ERRAND. A fool's errand, in search of what
it is impossible to find.
SLICE. To take a slice; to intrigue, particularly with a
married woman, because a slice off a cut loaf is not missed.
SLIPGIBBET. See SCAPEGALLOWS.
SLIPPERY CHAP. One on whom there can be no dependance,
a shuffling fellow.
SLIPSLOPS. Tea, water-gruel, or any innocent beverage
taken medicinally.
SLIPSLOPPING. Misnaming and misapplying any hard
word; from the character of Mrs. Slipslop, in Fielding's
Joseph Andrews.
SLOP. Tea. How the blowens lush the slop. How the
wenches drink tea!
SLOPS. Wearing apparel and bedding used by seamen.
SLOP SELLER. A dealer in those articles, who keeps a
slop shop.
SLOUCH. A stooping gait, a negligent slovenly fellow.
To slouch; to hang down one's head. A slouched hat:
a hat whose brims are let down.
SLUBBER DE GULLION. A dirty nasty fellow.
SLUG. A piece of lead of any shape, to be fired from a
blunderbuss. To fire a slug; to drink a dram.
SLUG-A-BED. A drone, one that cannot rise in the morning.
SLUICE YOUR GOB. Take a hearty drink.
SLUR. To slur, is a method of cheating at dice: also to
cast a reflection on any one's character, to scandalize.
SLUSH. Greasy dish-water, or the skimmings of a pot
where fat meat has been boiled.
SLUSH BUCKET. A foul feeder, one that eats much greasy food.
SLY BOOTS. A cunning fellow, under the mask of simplicity.
SMABBLED, or SNABBLED. Killed in battle.
TO SMACK. To kiss. I had a smack at her muns: I kissed
her mouth. To smack calves skin; to kiss the book, i.e.
to take an oath. The queer cuffin bid me smack calves
skin, but I only bussed my thumb; the justice bid me
kiss the book, but I only kissed my thumb.
SMACKSMOOTH. Level with the surface, every thing cut away.
SMACKING COVE. A coachman.
SMALL CLOTHES. Breeches: a gird at the affected delicacy
of the present age; a suit being called coat, waistcoat,
and articles, or small clothes.
SMART. Spruce, fine: as smart as a carrot new scraped.
SMART MONEY. Money allowed to soldiers or sailors for
the loss of a limb, or other hurt received in the service.
SMASHER. A person who lives by passing base coin. The
cove was fined in the steel for smashing; the fellow was
ordered to be imprisoned in the house of correction for
uttering base coin.
SMASH. Leg of mutton and smash: a leg of mutton and
mashed turnips. SEA TERM.
TO SMASH. To break; also to kick down stairs. CANT.
To smash. To pass counterfeit money.
SMEAR. A plasterer.
SMEAR GELT. A bribe. GERMAN.
SMELLER. A nose. Smellers: a cat's whiskers.
SMELLING CHEAT. An orchard, or garden; also a nosegay.
CANT.
SMELTS. Half guineas. CANT.
SMICKET. A smock, or woman's shift.
SMIRK. A finical spruce fellow. To smirk; to smile, or
look pleasantly.
SMITER. An arm. To smite one's tutor; to get money
from him. ACADEMIC TERM.
SMITHFIELD BARGAIN. A bargain whereby the purchaser
is taken in. This is likewise frequently used to express
matches or marriages contracted solely on the score of
interest, on one or both sides, where the fair sex are bought
and sold like cattle in Smithfield.
SMOCK-FACED. Fair faced.
TO SMOKE. To observe, to suspect.
SMOKER. A tobacconist.
SMOKY. Curious, suspicious, inquisitive.
SMOUCH. Dried leaves of the ash tree, used by the smugglers
for adulterating the black or bohea teas.
SMOUS. A German Jew.
SMUG. A nick name for a blacksmith; also neat and spruce.
SMUG LAY. Persons who pretend to be smugglers of lace
and valuable articles; these men borrow money of
publicans by depositing these goods in their hands; they
shortly decamp, and the publican discovers too late that he has
been duped; and on opening the pretended treasure, he
finds trifling articles of no value.
SMUGGLING KEN. A bawdy-house.
TO SMUSH. To snatch, or seize suddenly.
SMUT. Bawdy. Smutty story; an indecent story.
SMUT. A copper. A grate. Old iron. The cove was lagged
for a smut: the fellow was transported for stealing a
copper.
SNACK. A share. To go snacks; to be partners.
TO SNABBLE. To rifle or plunder; also to kill.
SNAFFLER. A highwayman. Snaffler of prances; a horse
stealer.
TO SNAFFLE. To steal. To snaffle any ones poll; to
steal his wig.
SNAGGS. Large teeth; also snails.
SNAKESMAN. See LITTLE SNAKESMAN.
SNAP DRAGON. A Christmas gambol: raisins and almonds
being put into a bowl of brandy, and the candles
extinguished, the spirit is set on fire, and the company
scramble for the raisins.
TO SNAP THE GLAZE. To break shop windows or show
glasses.
SNAPPERS. Pistols.
SNAPT. Taken, caught.
SNATCH CLY. A thief who snatches women's pockets.
SNEAK. A pilferer. Morning sneak; one who pilfers early
in the morning, before it is light. Evening sneak; an
evening pilferer. Upright sneak: one who steals pewter
pots from the alehouse boys employed to collect them.
To go upon the sneak; to steal into houses whose doors
are carelessly left open. CANT.
SNEAKER. A small bowl.
SNEAKING BUDGE. One that robs alone.
SNEAKSBY. A mean-spirited fellow, a sneaking cur.
SNEERING. Jeering, flickering, laughing in scorn.
SNICKER. A glandered horse.
TO SNICKER, or SNIGGER. To laugh privately, or in one's
sleeve.
TO SNILCH. To eye, or look at any thing attentively: the
cull snilches. CANT.
SNIP. A taylor.
SNITCH. To turn snitch, or snitcher; to turn informer.
TO SNITE. To wipe, or slap. Snite his snitch; wipe his
nose, i.e. give him a good knock.
TO SNIVEL. To cry, to throw the snot or snivel about.
Snivelling; crying. A snivelling fellow; one that whines
or complains.
TO SNOACH. To speak through the nose, to snuffle.
SNOB. A nick name for a shoemaker.
TO SNOOZE, or SNOODGE. To sleep. To snooze with a
mort; to sleep with a wench. CANT.
SNOOZING KEN. A brothel. The swell was spiced in a
snoozing ken of his screens; the gentleman was robbed of
his bank notes in a brothel.
SNOW. Linen hung out to dry or bleach. Spice the snow;
to steal the linen.
SNOUT. A hogshead. CANT.
SNOWBALL. A jeering appellation for a negro.
TO SNUB. To check, or rebuke.
SNUB DEVIL. A parson.
SNUB NOSE. A short nose turned up at the end.
SNUDGE. A thief who hides himself under a bed, in Order
to rob the house.
SNUFF. To take snuff; to be offended.
TO SNUFFLE. To speak through the nose.
SNUFFLES. A cold in the head, attended with a running at
the nose.
SNUG. All's snug; all's quiet.
TO SOAK. To drink. An old soaker; a drunkard, one that
moistens his clay to make it stick together.
SOCKET MONEY. A whore's fee, or hire: also money paid
for a treat, by a married man caught in an intrigue.
SOLDIER'S BOTTLE. A large one.
SOLDIER'S MAWND. A pretended soldier, begging with a
counterfeit wound, which he pretends to have received at
some famous siege or battle.
SOLDIER'S POMATUM. A piece of tallow candle.
SOLDIER. A red herring.
SOLFA. A parish clerk.
SOLO PLAYER. A miserable performer on any instrument,
who always plays alone, because no one will stay in the
room to hear him.
SOLOMON. The mass. CANT.
SON OF PRATTLEMENT. A lawyer.
SONG. He changed his song; he altered his account or
evidence. It was bought for an old song, i.e. very cheap.
His morning and his evening song do not agree; he tells a
different story.
SOOTERKIN. A joke upon the Dutch women, supposing
that, by their constant use of stoves, which they place
under their petticoats, they breed a kind of small animal in
their bodies, called a sooterkin, of the size of a mouse,
which when mature slips out.
SOP. A bribe. A sop for Cerberus; a bribe for a porter,
turnkey, or gaoler.
SOPH. (Cambridge) An undergraduate in his second year.
SORREL. A yellowish red. Sorrel pate; one having red
hair.
SORROW SHALL BE HIS SOPS. He shall repent this. Sorrow
go by me; a common expletive used by presbyterians
in Ireland.
SORRY. Vile, mean, worthless. A sorry fellow, or hussy;
a worthless man or woman.
SOT WEED. Tobacco.
SOUL CASE. The body. He made a hole in his soul
case; he wounded him.
SOUL DOCTOR, or DRIVER. A parson.
SOUNDERS. A herd of swine.
SOUSE. Not a souse; not a penny. FRENCH.
SOW. A fat woman. He has got the wrong sow by the ear,
he mistakes his man. Drunk as David's sow; see DAVID'S
SOW.
SOW'S BABY. A sucking pig.
SOW CHILD. A female child.
SPADO. A sword. SPANISH.
SPANGLE. A seven shilling piece.
SPANK. (WHIP) To run neatly along, beteen a trot and
gallop. The tits spanked it to town; the horses went
merrily along all the way to town.
SPANISH. The spanish; ready money.
SPANISH COIN. Fair words and compliments.
SPANISH FAGGOT. The sun.
SPANISH GOUT. The pox.
SPANISH PADLOCK. A kind of girdle contrived by jealous
husbands of that nation, to secure the chastity of their
wives.
SPANISH, or KING OF SPAIN'S TRUMPETER. An ass
when braying.
SPANISH WORM. A nail: so called by carpenters when they
meet with one in a board they are sawing.
SPANKS, or SPANKERS. Money; also blows with the open
hand.
SPANKING. Large.
SPARK. A spruce, trim, or smart fellow. A man that is
always thirsty, is said to have a spark in his throat.
SPARKISH. Fine, gay.
SPARKING BLOWS. Blows given by cocks before they close,
or, as the term is, mouth it: used figuratively for words
previous to a quarrel.
SPARROW. Mumbling a sparrow; a cruel sport frequently
practised at wakes and fairs: for a small premium, a booby
having his hands tied behind him, has the wing of a cock
sparrow put into his mouth: with this hold, without any
other assistance than the motion of his lips, he is to get the
sparrow's head into his mouth: on attempting to do it, the
bird defends itself surprisingly, frequently pecking the
mumbler till his lips are covered with blood, and he is
obliged to desist: to prevent the bird from getting away, he
is fastened by a string to a button of the booby's coat.
SPARROW-MOUTHED. Wide-mouthed, like the mouth of a
sparrow: it is said of such persons, that they do not hold
their mouths by lease, but have it from year to year; i.e.
from ear to ear. One whose mouth cannot be enlarged
without removing their ears, and who when they yawn
have their heads half off.
SPATCH COCK. [Abbreviation of DISPATCH COCK.] A hen just
killed from the roost, or yard, and immediately skinned,
split, and broiled: an Irish dish upon any sudden occasion.
TO SPEAK WITH. To rob. I spoke with the cull on the
cherry-coloured prancer; I robbed the man on the black
horse. CANT.
SPEAK. Any thing stolen. He has made a good speak; he
has stolen something considerable.
SPECKED WHIPER. A coloured hankerchief. CANT.
SPICE. To rob. Spice the swell; rob the gentleman.
SPICE ISLANDS. A privy. Stink-hole bay or dilberry creek.
The fundament.
SPIDER-SHANKED. Thin-legged.
TO SPIFLICATE. To confound, silence, or dumbfound.
SPILT. A small reward or gift.
SPILT. Thrown from a horse, or overturned in a carriage;
pray, coachee, don't spill us.
SPINDLE SHANKS. Slender legs.
TO SPIRIT AWAY. To kidnap, or inveigle away.
SPIRITUAL FLESH BROKER. A parson.
SPIT. He is as like his father as if he was spit out of his
mouth; said of a child much resembling his father.
SPIT. A sword.
SPIT FIRE. A violent, pettish, or passionate person.
SPLICED. Married: an allusion to joining two ropes ends by
splicing. SEA TERM.
SPLIT CROW. The sign of the spread eagle, which being
represented with two heads on one neck, gives it somewhat
the appearance of being split.
SPLIT CAUSE. A lawyer.
SPLIT FIG. A grocer.
SPLIT IRON. The nick-name for a smith.
SPOONEY. (WHIP) Thin, haggard, like the shank of a spoon;
also delicate, craving for something, longing for sweets.
Avaricious. That tit is damned spooney. She's a spooney
piece of goods. He's a spooney old fellow.
SPOIL PUDDING. A parson who preaches long sermons,
keeping his congregation in church till the puddings are
overdone.
TO SPORT. To exhibit: as, Jack Jehu sported a new gig
yesterday: I shall sport a new suit next week. To sport
or flash one's ivory; to shew one's teeth. To sport timber;
to keep one's outside door shut; this term is used in the
inns of court to signify denying one's self. N.B. The
word SPORT was in great vogue ann. 1783 and 1784.
SPUNGE. A thirsty fellow, a great drinker. To spunge; to
eat and drink at another's cost. Spunging-house: a bailiff's
lock-up-house, or repository, to which persons arrested are
taken, till they find bail, or have spent all their money: a
house where every species of fraud and extortion is practised
under the protection of the law.
SPUNK. Rotten touchwood, or a kind of fungus prepared
for tinder; figuratively, spirit, courage.
SPOON HAND. The right hand.
TO SPOUT. To rehearse theatrically.
SPOUTING CLUB. A meeting of apprentices and mechanics
to rehearse different characters in plays: thus forming
recruits for the strolling companies.
SPOUTING. Theatrical declamation.
SPOUTED. Pawned.
SPREAD. Butter.
SPREAD EAGLE. A soldier tied to the halberts in order to
be whipped; his attitude bearing some likeness to that
figure, as painted on signs.
SPREE. A frolic. Fun. A drinking bout. A party of
pleasure.
SPRING-ANKLE WAREHOUSE. Newgate, or any other gaol:
IRISH.
SQUAB. A fat man or woman: from their likeness to a
well-stuffed couch, called also a squab. A new-hatched
chicken.
SQUARE. Honest, not roguish. A square cove, i.e. a
man who does not steal, or get his living by dishonest
means.
SQUARE TOES. An old man: square toed shoes were
anciently worn in common, and long retained by old
men.
SQUEAK. A narrow escape, a chance: he had a squeak for
his life. To squeak; to confess, peach, or turn stag.
They squeak beef upon us; they cry out thieves after
us. CANT.
SQUEAKER. A bar-boy; also a bastard or any other child.
To stifle the squeaker; to murder a bastard, or throw It
into the necessary house.--Organ pipes are likewise called
squeakers. The squeakers are meltable; the small
pipes are silver. CANT.
SQUEEZE CRAB. A sour-looking, shrivelled, diminutive
fellow.
SQUEEZE WAX. A good-natured foolish fellow, ready to
become security for another, under hand and seal.
SQUELCH. A fall. Formerly a bailiff caught in a barrack-yard
in Ireland, was liable by custom to have three tosses
in a blanket, and a squelch; the squelch was given by letting
go the corners of the blanket, and suffering him to
fall to the ground. Squelch-gutted; fat, having a prominent
belly.
SQUIB. A small satirical or political temporary jeu d'esprit,
which, like the firework of that denomination, sparkles,
bounces, stinks, and vanishes.
SQUINT-A-PIPES. A squinting man or woman; said to
be born in the middle of the week, and looking both
ways for Sunday; or born in a hackney coach, and looking
out of both windows; fit for a cook, one eye in the
pot, and the other up the chimney; looking nine ways at
once.
SQUIRE OF ALSATIA. A weak profligate spendthrift, the
squire of the company; one who pays the whole reckoning,
or treats the company, called standing squire.
SQUIRISH. Foolish.
SQUIRREL. A prostitute: because she like that animal, covers
her back with her tail. Meretrix corpore corpus alit.
Menagiana, ii. 128.
SQUIRREL HUNTING. See HUNTING.
STAG. To turn stag; to impeach one's confederates: from
a herd of deer, who are said to turn their horns against
any of their number who is hunted.
TO STAG. To find, discover, or observe.
STAGGERING BOB, WITH HIS YELLOW PUMPS. A calf
just dropped, and unable to stand, killed for veal in Scotland:
the hoofs of a young calf are yellow.
STALL WHIMPER. A bastard. CANT.
STALLING. Making or ordaining. Stalling to the rogue;
an ancient ceremony of instituting a candidate into the
society of rogues, somewhat similar to the creation of a
herald at arms. It is thus described by Harman: the upright
man taking a gage of bowse, i.e. a pot of strong drink,
pours it on the head of the rogue to be admitted; saying,--I,
A.B. do stall thee B.C. to the rogue; and from henceforth
it shall be lawful for thee to cant for thy living in all
places.
STALLING KEN. A broker's shop, or that of a receiver of
stolen goods.
STALLION. A man kept by an old lady for secret services.
STAM FLESH. To cant. CANT.
STAMMEL, or STRAMMEL. A coarse brawny wench.
STAMP. A particular manner of throwing the dice out of
the box, by striking it with violence against the table.
STAMPS. Legs.
STAMPERS. Shoes.
STAND-STILL. He was run to a stand-still; i.e. till he could
no longer move.
STAR GAZER. A horse who throws up his head; also a
hedge whore.
TO STAR THE GLAZE. To break and rob a jeweller's show
glass. CANT.
STARCHED. Stiff, prim, formal, affected.
STARING QUARTER. An ox cheek.
START, or THE OLD START. Newgate: he is gone to the
start, or the old start. CANT.
STARTER. One who leaves a jolly company, a milksop; he
is no starter, he will sit longer than a hen.
STARVE'EM, ROB'EM, AND CHEAT'EM. Stroud, Rochester,
and Chatham; so called by soldiers and sailors, and not
without good reason.
STAR LAG. Breaking shop-windows, and stealing some article
thereout.
STASH. To stop. To finish. To end. The cove tipped
the prosecutor fifty quid to stash the business; he gave
the prosecutor fifty guineas to stop the prosecution.
STATE. To lie in state; to be in bed with three harlots.
STAY. A cuckold.
STAYTAPE. A taylor; from that article, and its coadjutor
buckram, which make no small figure in the bills of those
knights of the needle.
STEAMER. A pipe. A swell steamer; a long pipe, such
as is used by gentlemen to smoke.
STEEL. The house of correction.
STEEL BAR. A needle. A steel bar flinger; a taylor, stay-maker,
or any other person using a needle.
STEENKIRK. A muslin neckcloth carelessly put on, from
the manner in which the French officers wore their cravats
when they returned from the battle of Steenkirk.
STEEPLE HOUSE. A name given to the church by Dissenters.
STEPHEN. Money. Stephen's at home; i.e. has money.
STEPNEY. A decoction of raisins of the sun and lemons in
conduit water, sweetened with sugar, and bottled up.
STEWED QUAKER. Burnt rum, with a piece of butter: an
American remedy for a cold.
STICKS. Household furniture.
STICKS. Pops or pistols. Stow your sticks; hide your
pistols. CANT. See POPS.
STICK FLAMS. A pair of gloves.
STIFF-RUMPED. Proud, stately.
STINGRUM. A niggard.
STINGO. Strong beer, or other liquor.
STIRRUP CUP. A parting cup or glass, drank on horseback
by the person taking leave.
STITCH. A nick name for a taylor: also a term for lying
with a woman.
STITCHBACK. Strong ale.
STIVER-CRAMPED. Needy, wanting money. A stiver is a
Dutch coin, worth somewhat more than a penny sterling.
STOCK. A good stock; i.e. of impudence. Stock and
block; the whole: he has lost stock and block.
STOCK DRAWERS. Stockings.
STOCK JOBBERS. Persons who gamble in Exchange Alley,
by pretending to buy and sell the public funds, but in
reality only betting that they will be at a certain price, at
a particular time; possessing neither the stock pretended
to be sold, nor money sufficient to make good the payments
for which they contract: these gentlemen are known
under the different appellations of bulls, bears, and lame
ducks.
STOMACH WORM. The stomach worm gnaws; I am hungry.
STONE. Two stone under weight, or wanting; an eunuch.
Stone doublet; a prison. Stone dead; dead as a stone.
STONE JUG. Newgate, or any other prison.
STONE TAVERN. Ditto.
STOOP-NAPPERS, or OVERSEERS OF THE NEW PAVEMENT.
Persons set in the pillory. CANT.
STOOP. The pillory. The cull was served for macing and
napp'd the stoop; he was convicted of swindling, and
put in the pillory.
STOP HOLE ABBEY. The nick name of the chief rendzvous
of the canting crew of beggars, gypsies, cheats,
thieves, &c. &c.
STOTER. A great blow. Tip him a stoter in the haltering
place; give him a blow under the left ear.
STOUP. A vessel to hold liquor: a vessel containing a size
or half a pint, is so called at Cambridge.
STOW. Stow you; be silent, or hold your peace. Stow
your whidds and plant'em, for the cove of the ken can
cant'em; you have said enough, the man of the house
understands you.
STRAIT-LACED. Precise, over nice, puritanical.
STRAIT WAISTCOAT. A tight waistcoat, with long sleeves
coming over the hand, having strings for binding them
behind the back of the wearer: these waistcoats are used in
madhouses for the management of lunatics when outrageous.
STRAMMEL. See STAMMEL.
STRANGER. A guinea.
STRANGLE GOOSE. A poulterer.
To STRAP. To work. The kiddy would not strap, so he
went on the scamp: the lad would not work, and therefore
robbed on the highway.
STRAPPER. A large man or woman.
STRAPPING. Lying with a woman. CANT.
STRAW. A good woman in the straw; a lying-in woman.
His eyes draw straw; his eyes are almost shut, or he is
almost asleep: one eye draws straw, and t'other serves the
thatcher.
STRETCH. A yard. The cove was lagged for prigging a
peter with several stretch of dobbin from a drag; the
fellow was transported for stealing a trunk, containing
several yards of ribband, from a waggon.
STRETCHING. Hanging. He'll stretch for it; he will be
hanged for it. Also telling a great lie: he stretched stoutly.
STRIKE. Twenty shillings. CANT.
STRIP ME NAKED. Gin.
STROKE. To take a stroke: to take a bout with a woman.
STROLLERS. Itinerants of different kinds. Strolling morts;
beggars or pedlars pretending to be widows.
STROMMEL. Straw. CANT.
STRONG MAN. To play the part of the strong man, i.e.
to push the cart and horses too; to be whipt at the cart's
tail.
STRUM. A perriwig. Rum strum: a fine large wig.
(CAMBRIDGE) To do a piece. Foeminam subagitare. CANT.
To STRUM. To have carnal knowledge of a woman; also to
play badly on the harpsichord; or any other stringed
instrument. A strummer of wire, a player on any instrument
strung with wire.
STRUMPET. A harlot.
STUB-FACED. Pitted with the smallpox: the devil ran
over his face with horse stabs (horse nails) in his shoes.
STUBBLE IT. Hold your tongue. CANT.
STULING KEN. See STALLING KEN. CANT.
STUM. The flower of fermenting wine, used by vintners to
adulterate their wines.
STUMPS. Legs. To stir one's stumps; to walk fast.
STURDY BEGGARS. The fifth and last of the most ancient
order of canters, beggars that rather demand than ask
CANT.
SUCCESSFULLY. Used by the vulgar for SUCCESSIVELY: as
three or four landlords of this house have been ruined
successfully by the number of soldiers quartered on them.
IRISH.
SUCH A REASON PIST MY GOOSE, or MY GOOSE PIST. Said
when any one offers an absurd reason.
SUCK. Strong liquor of any sort. To suck the monkey;
see MONKEY. Sucky; drunk.
To SUCK. To pump. To draw from a man all be knows.
The file sucked the noodle's brains: the deep one drew
out of the fool all he knew.
SUCKING CHICKEN. A young chicken.
SUDS. In the suds; in trouble, in a disagreeable situation,
or involved in some difficulty.
SUGAR STICK. The virile member.
SUGAR SOPS. Toasted bread soked in ale, sweetened with
sugar, and grated nutmeg: it is eaten with cheese.
SULKY. A one-horse chaise or carriage, capable of holding
but one person: called by the French a DESOBLIGEANT.
SUN. To have been in the sun; said of one that is drunk.
SUNBURNT. Clapped; also haying many male children.
SUNDAY MAN. One who goes abroad on that day only, for
fear of arrests.
SUNNY BANK. A good fire in winter.
SUNSHINE. Prosperity.
SUPERNACOLUM. Good liquor, of which there is not even
a drop left sufficient to wet one's nail.
SUPOUCH. A landlady of an inn, or hostess.
SURVEYOR OF THE HIGHWAYS. One reeling drunk.
SURVEYOR OF THE PAVEMENT. One standing in the pillory.
SUS PER COLL. Hanged: persons who have been hanged
are thus entered into the jailor's books.
SUSPENCE. One in a deadly suspence; a man just turned
off at the gallows.
SUTRER. A camp publican: also one that pilfers gloves,
tobacco boxes, and such small moveables.
SWABBERS. The ace of hearts, knave of clubs, ace and
duce of trumps, at whist: also the lubberly seamen, put
to swab, and clean the ship.
SWAD, or SWADKIN. A soldier. CANT.
To SWADDLE. To beat with a stick.
SWADDLERS. The tenth order of the canting tribe, who not
only rob, but beat, and often murder passenges. CANT.
Swaddlers is also the Irish name for methodist.
SWAG. A shop. Any quantity of goods. As, plant the swag;
conceal the goods. Rum swag; a shop full of rich goods.
CANT.
SWAGGER. To bully, brag, or boast, also to strut.
SWANNERY. He keeps a swannery; i.e. all his geese are
swans.
SWEATING. A mode of diminishing the gold coin, practiced
chiefly by the Jews, who corrode it with aqua regia. Sweating
was also a diversion practised by the bloods of the last
century, who styled themselves Mohocks: these gentlemen
lay in wait to surprise some person late in the night, when
surrounding him, they with their swords pricked him in
the posteriors, which obliged him to be constantly turning
round; this they continued till they thought him sufficiently
sweated.
SWEET. Easy to be imposed on, or taken in; also expert,
dexterous clever. Sweet's your hand; said of one dexterous
at stealing.
SWEET HEART. A term applicable to either the masculine
or feminine gender, signifying a girl's lover, or a man's
mistress: derived from a sweet cake in the shape of a
heart.
SWEETNESS. Guinea droppers, cheats, sharpers. To sweeten
to decoy, or draw in. To be sweet upon; to coax, wheedle,
court, or allure. He seemed sweet upon that wench; he seemed to
court that girl.
SWELL. A gentleman. A well-dressed map. The flashman
bounced the swell of all his blunt; the girl's bully frightened
the gentleman out of all his money.
SWELLED HEAD. A disorder to which horses are extremely
liable, particularly those of the subalterns of the army.
This disorder is generally occasioned by remaining too
long in one livery-stable or inn, and often arises to that
height that it prevents their coming out at the stable door.
The most certain cure is the unguentum aureum--not
applied to the horse, but to the palm of the master of the inn
or stable. N. B. Neither this disorder, nor its remedy,
is mentioned by either Bracken, Bartlet, or any of the
modern writers on farriery.
SWIG. A hearty draught of liquor.
SWIGMEN. Thieves who travel the country under colour of
buying old shoes, old clothes, &c. or selling brooms, mops,
&c. CANT.
TO SWILL. To drink greedily.
SWILL TUB. A drunkard, a sot.
SWIMMER. A counterfeit old coin.
SWIMMER. A ship. I shall have a swimmer; a cant phrase
used by thieves to signify that they will be sent on board
the tender.
TO SWING. To be hanged. He will swing for it; he will
be hanged for it.
SWING TAIL. A hog.
TO SWINGE. To beat stoutly.
SWINGING. A great swinging fellow; a great stout fellow.
A swinging lie; a lusty lie.
SWINDLER. One who obtains goods on credit by false pretences,
and sells them for ready money at any price, in order
to make up a purse. This name is derived from the German
word SCHWINDLIN, to totter, to be ready to fall; these
arts being generally practised by persons on the totter, or
just ready to break. The term SWINDLER has since been
used to signify cheats of every kind.
SWIPES. Purser's swipes; small beer: so termed on board
the king's ships, where it is furnished by the purser.
SWISH TAIL. A pheasant; so called by the persons who
sell game for the poachers.
TO SWIVE. To copulate.
SWIVEL-EYED. Squinting.
SWIZZLE. Drink, or any brisk or windy liquor. In North
America, a mixture of spruce beer, rum, and sugar, was so
called. The 17th regiment had a society called the Swizzle
Club, at Ticonderoga, A. D. 1760.
SWORD RACKET. To enlist in different regiments, and on
receiving the bounty to desert immediately.
SWOP. An exchange.
SYEBUCK. Sixpence.
SYNTAX. A schoolmaster.
TABBY. An old maid; either from Tabitha, a formal
antiquated name; or else from a tabby cat, old maids being
often compared to cats. To drive Tab; to go out on a
party of pleasure with a wife and family.
TACE. Silence, hold your tongue. TACE is Latin for a
candle; a jocular admonition to be silent on any subject.
TACKLE. A mistress; also good clothes. The cull has
tipt his tackle rum gigging; the fellow has given his
mistress good clothes. A man's tackle: the genitals.
TAFFY, i.e. Davy. A general name for a Welchman, St.
David being the tutelar saint of Wales. Taffy's day; the
first of March, St. David's day.
TAG-RAG AND BOBTAIL. An expression meaning an assemblage
of low people, the mobility of all sorts. To tag
after one like a tantony pig: to follow one wherever one
goes, just as St. Anthony is followed by his pig.
TAIL. A prostitute. Also, a sword.
TAKEN IN. Imposed on, cheated.
TALE TELLERS. Persons said to have been formerly hired
to tell wonderful stories of giants and fairies, to lull their
hearers to sleep. Talesman; the author of a story or
report: I'll tell you my tale, and my talesman. Tale bearers;
mischief makers, incendiaries in families.
TALL BOY. A bottle, or two-quart pot.
TALLY MEN. Brokers that let out clothes to the women of
the town. See RABBIT SUCKERS.
TALLYWAGS, or TARRYWAGS. A man's testicles.
TAME. To run tame about a house; to live familiarly in a
family with which one is upon a visit. Tame army; the
city trained bands.
TANDEM. A two-wheeled chaise, buggy, or noddy, drawn
by two horses, one before the other: that is, AT LENGTH.
TANGIER. A room in Newgate, where debtors were confined,
hence called Tangerines.
TANNER. A sixpence. The kiddey tipped the rattling cove
a tanner for luck; the lad gave the coachman sixpence for
drink.
TANTADLIN TART. A sirreverence, human excrement.
TANTRUMS. Pet, or passion: madam was in her tantrums.
TANTWIVY. Away they went tantwivy; away they went
full speed. Tantwivy was the sound of the hunting horn
in full cry, or that of a post horn.
TAP. A gentle blow. A tap on the shoulder;-an-arrest.
To tap a girl; to be the first seducer: in allusion to a beer
barrel. To tap a guinea; to get it changed.
TAPPERS. Shoulder tappers: bailiffs.
TAPE. Red tape; brandy. Blue or white tape; gin.
TAPLASH. Thick and bad beer.
TAR. Don't lose a sheep for a halfpennyworth of tar: tar is
used to mark sheep. A jack tar; a sailor.
TARADIDDLE. A fib, or falsity.
TARPAWLIN. A coarse cloth tarred over: also, figuratively,
a sailor.
TARRING AND FEATHERING. A punishment lately inflicted
by the good people of Boston on any person convicted,
or suspected, of loyalty: such delinquents being "stripped
naked", were daubed all over wilh tar, and afterwards put
into a hogshead of feathers.
TART. Sour, sharp, quick, pert.
TARTAR. To catch a Tartar; to attack one of superior
strength or abilities. This saying originated from a story
of an Irish-soldier in the Imperial service, who, in a battle
against the Turks, called out to his comrade that he had
caught a Tartar. 'Bring him along then,' said he. 'He
won't come,' answered Paddy. 'Then come along yourself,'
replied his comrade. 'Arrah,' cried he, 'but he
won't let me.'--A Tartar is also an adept at any feat, or
game: he is quite a Tartar at cricket, or billiards.
TAT. Tit for tat; an equivalent.
TATS. False dice.
TATLER. A watch. To flash a tatler: to wear a watch.
TAT MONGER. One that uses false dice.
TATTERDEMALION. A ragged fellow, whose clothes hang
all in tatters.
TATTOO. A beat of the drum, of signal for soldiers to go
to their quarters, and a direction to the sutlers to close the
tap, and draw no more liquor for them; it is generally
beat at nine in summer and eight in winter. The devil's
tattoo; beating with one's foot against the ground, as done
by persons in low spirits.
TAW. A schoolboy's game, played with small round balls
made of stone dust, catted marbles. I'll be one upon your
taw presently; a species of threat.
TAWDRY. Garish, gawdy, with lace or staring and discordant
colours: a term said to be derived from the shrine
and altar of St. Audrey (an Isle of Ely saintess), which
for finery exceeded all others thereabouts, so as to
become proverbial; whence any fine dressed man or woman
said to be all St Audrey, and by contraction, all
tawdry.
TAWED. Beaten,
TAYLE. See TAIL.
TAYLE DRAWERS. Thieves who snatch gentlemens swords
from their sides. He drew the cull's tayle rumly; he
snatched away the gentleman's sword cleverly.
TAYLOR. Nine taylors make a man; an ancient and
common saying, originating from the effeminacy of their
employment; or, as some have it, from nine taylors having
been robbed by one man; according to others, from the
speech of a woollendraper, meaning that the custom of
nine, taylors would make or enrich one man--A London
taylor, rated to furnish half a man to the Trained Bands,
asking how that could possibly be done? was answered,
By sending four, journeymen and and apprentice.--Puta
taylor, a weaver, and a miller into a sack, shake them
well, And the first that, puts out his head is certainly a
thief.--A taylor is frequently styled pricklouse,
assaults on those vermin with their needles.
TAYLORS GOOSE. An iron with which, when heated,
press down the seams of clothes.
TEA VOIDER. A chamber pot.
TEA GUELAND. Ireland. Teaguelanders; Irishmen.
TEARS OF THE TANKARD. The drippings of liquor on a
man's waistcoat.
TEDDY MY GODSON. An address to a supposed simple
fellow, or nysey,
TEIZE. To-nap the teize; to receive a whipping. CANT.
TEMPLE PICKLING. Pumping a bailiff; a punishment
formerly administered to any of that fraternity caught
exercising their functions within the limits of Temple.
TEN TOES. See BAYARD OF TEN TOES.
TEN IN THE HUNDRED. An usurer; more than five in
the hundred being deemed usurious interest.
TENANT AT WILL, One whose wife usually fetches him
from the alehouse.
TENANT FOR LIFE. A married man; i.e. possessed of a
woman for life.
TENDER PARNELL. A tender creature, fearful of the least
puff of wind or drop of rain. As tender as Parnell, who
broke her finger in a posset drink.
TERMAGANT. An outrageous scold from Termagantes, a
cruel Pagan, formerly represented in diners shows and
entertainments, where being dressed a la Turque, in long
clothes, he was mistaken for a furious woman.
TERRA FIRMA. An estate in land.
TESTER. A sixpence: from TESTON, a coin with a head on it.
TETBURY PORTION. A **** and a clap.
THAMES. He will not find out a way to set the Thames
on fire; he will not make any wonderful discoveries, he is
no conjuror.
THATCH-GALLOWS. A rogue, or man of bad character.
THICK. Intimate. They are as thick as two inkle-weavers.
THIEF. You are a thief and a murderer, you have killed a
baboon and stole his face; vulgar abuse.
THIEF IN A CANDLE. Part of the wick or snuff, which falling
on the tallow, burns and melts it, and causing it to
gutter, thus steals it away.
THIEF TAKERS. Fellows who associate with all kinds of
villains, in order to betray them, when they have committed
any of those crimes which entitle the persons taking
them to a handsome reward, called blood money. It is
the business of these thief takers to furnish subjects for a
handsome execution, at the end of every sessions.
THIMBLE. A watch. The swell flashes a rum thimble;
the gentleman sports a fine watch.
THINGSTABLE. Mr. Thingstable; Mr. Constable: a ludicrous
affectation of delicacy in avoiding the pronunciation
of the first syllable in the title of that officer, which in
sound has some similarity to an indecent monosyllable.
THINGUMBOB. Mr. Thingumbob; a vulgar address or nomination
to any person whose name is unknown, the same
as Mr. What-d'ye-cal'em. Thingumbobs; testicles.
THIRDING. A custom practised at the universities, where
two thirds of the original price is allowed by the upholsterers
to the students for household goods returned to them
within the year.
THIRTEENER. A shilling in Ireland, which there passes for
thirteen pence.
THOMOND. Like Lord Thomond's cocks, all on one side.
Lord Thomond's cock-feeder, an Irishman, being entrusted
with some cocks which were matched for a considerable
sum, the night before the battle shut them all together in
one room, concluding that as they were all on the same
side, they would not disagree: the consequence was, they
were most of them either killed or lamed before the morning.
THOMAS. Man Thomas; a man's penis.
THORNS. To be or sit upon thorns; to be uneasy, impatient,
anxious for an event.
THORNBACK. An old maid.
THOROUGH CHURCHMAN. A person who goes in at one door
of a church, and out at the other, without stopping.
THOROUGH-GOOD-NATURED WENCH. One who being asked
to sit down, will lie down.
THOROUGH GO NIMBLE. A looseness, a violent purging.
THOROUGH COUGH. Coughing and breaking wind backwards
at the same time.
THOROUGH STITCH. To go thorough stitch; to stick at nothing;
over shoes, over boots.
THOUGHT. What did thought do? lay'in bed and beshat
himself, and thought he was up; reproof to any one who
excuses himself for any breach of positive orders, by
pleading that he thought to the contrary.
THREE TO ONE. He is playing three to one, though sure to
lose; said of one engaged in the amorous congress.
THREE-PENNY UPRIGHT. A retailer of love, who, for the
sum mentioned, dispenses her favours standing against a
wall.
THREE-LEGGED MARE, or STOOL. The gallows, formerly
consisting of three posts, over which were laid three
transverse beams. This clumsy machine has lately given place
to an elegant contrivance, called the NEW DROP, by which
the use of that vulgar vehicle a cart, or mechanical
instrument a ladder, is also avoided; the patients being left
suspended by the dropping down of that part of the floor on
which they stand. This invention was first made use of for
a peer. See DROP.
THREE THREADS. Half common ale, mixed with stale and
double beer.
THREPS. Threepence.
TO THROTTLE. To strangle.
THROTTLE. The throat, or gullet.
TO THRUM. To play on any instrument stringed with wire.
A thrummer of wire; a player on the spinet, harpsichord,
of guitar.
THRUMS. Threepence.
THUMB. By rule of thumb: to do any thing by dint of
practice. To kiss one's thumb instead of the book; a vulgar
expedient to avoid perjury in taking a false oath.
THUMMIKINS. An instrument formerly used in Scotland,
like a vice, to pinch the thumbs of persons accused of
different crimes, in order to extort confession.
THUMP. A blow. This is better than a thump on the back
with a stone; said on giving any one a drink of good liquor
on a cold morning. Thatch, thistle, thunder, and thump;
words to the Irish, like the Shibboleth of the Hebrews.
THUMPING. Great! a thumping boy.
THWACK. A great blow with a stick across the shoulders.