Compare the word with the Italian cant “rabuino,” which has a like
signification.
RABOTER (popular), l’andosse, _to thrash one_, “to dust one’s jacket.”
Se ---- le sifflet, _to drink a glass of strong brandy_. A metaphor
which recalls the action of a plane on a piece of wood.
RABOTEUX. See RABATEUX.
RABOUILLÈRE, _f._ (familiar), _wretched looking house_, a “hole.”
RABOULER (popular and thieves’), _to return_. American thieves term
this, “to hare it; “---- à la cassine, _to return home_, “to speel to
the crib.”
RACCORD, _m._ (theatrical), _partial rehearsal of a play_.
RACCOURCIR (familiar and popular), _to guillotine_. The expression
dates from 1793. We find the following synonyms in _Le Père Duchêne_
of ’93, edited by Hébert: “cracher dans le sac,” an allusion to the
head falling into the basket and the blood spouting up; “mettre la tête
à la fenêtre,” shows the condemned one passing his head through the
aperture; “jouer à la main-chaude,” which alludes to his hands tied
behind his back, la main-chaude being literally _hot cockles_; “passer
sous le rasoir national,” which needs no explanation. After ’93 Louis
XVI. was called “Louis le raccourci.”
RACCOURCISSEUR, _m._ (popular), _the executioner_. Called also
“Charlot.” See MONSIEUR DE PARIS.
RACHEVAGE, _m._ (popular), _depraved individual_; _a foul-mouthed man_.
RACINE DE BUIS, _f._ (popular), _epithet applied to a humpback, to a_
“lord.” Also _long yellow tooth_.
RÂCLER (thieves’), _to breathe_. Tortille la vis au pante; il râcle
encore, _throttle him, he breathes still_. (Popular) Râcler du fromage,
_to play the violin_.
RÂCLETTE, _f._ (popular), _chimney-sweep_; (thieves’) _spy_, “nose;”
_detective_, “cop.”
RÂCLURE D’AUBERGINE, _f._ (familiar), _the ribbon of the decoration of
officier d’Académie_, which is violet.
Des hommes un peu plus âgés et portant à la boutonnière
la “râclure d’aubergine” (le ruban d’officier
d’Académie).--=DIDIER=, _Echo de Paris_, 1886.
RADE, RADEAU, _m._ (thieves’), _till_, or “lob;” _shop_, “chovey.”
Encasquer dans un rade, _to enter a shop_.
RADICAILLE, or RADICANAILLE, _f._ (familiar), _the Radical party_.
RADICAILLON, _m._ (familiar), _contemptuous epithet applied to a
Radical_.
RADICON, _m._ (thieves’), _priest_, “devil-dodger.” Termed also
“Bible-pounder, white choker.”
RADIN, _m._ (thieves’), _fob_. Friser le ----, _to pick a fob_. Un ----
fleuri, _a well-filled pocket_. Un ----, _a till_, or “lob.” Faire un
coup de ----, _to steal the contents of a till_. Termed by English
thieves, “lob sneaking,” or “to draw a damper.” Un ----, _a cap_,
or “tile.” Vol au ----, _robbery in a shop_. Two rogues pretend to
quarrel, and one of them, as if in anger, throws the other’s cap into
a shop, thus providing his accomplice with a pretext for entering the
place, and an excuse should he be detected. See VOL AU RADIN.
RADINER (thieves’), _to return_, “to hare it;” _to arrive_, “to tumble
up.” Rigaud says, “Radiner est sans doute une déformation du verbe
rabziner qui, dans le patois picard, a la même signification.”
RADIS (familiar and popular), _money_, “tin.” N’avoir pas un ----, _to
be penniless_, _to be_ “dead broke.” Ne pas foutre un ----, _not to
give a farthing_.
Qu’a pleur’, qu’a rigol’; c’est tout comme;
Sûr! J’y foutrai pas un radis.
“T’as qu’à turbiner, comme j’y dis,
J’travaill’ ben, moi qui suis un homme!”
GILL, _La Muse à Bibi_.
Un ---- noir, _priest_, “white choker;” _police officer_, or “crusher.”
RADOUBER (popular), se ----, or passer au grand radoub, _to eat_, “to
yam.”
RADURER (thieves’), _to whet_.
RADUREUR, _m._ (thieves’), _grinder_.
RAFALE, _f._ (popular and thieves’), _poverty_. A poor man without a
farthing is said to be “dead broke, or a willow.”
Cela est assez étonnant, dit la brune, tous les “nierts”
qui sont venus pioncer “icigo” étaient dans la “rafale;”
c’est un vrai guignon.--=VIDOCQ.=
RAFALÉ, _m. and adj._ (popular and thieves’), _poor_, “willow;” _one
with squalid clothes_. (Familiar) Un visage ----, _face with worn
features_.
RAFALEMENT, _m._ (popular), _humiliation_; _squalid poverty_.
RAFALER (popular), _to humiliate_; _to make one wretched_. Se ----, _to
become poor or squalid_.
RAFFE, _f._ (popular and thieves’), _booty_, _spoil_, “swag.” “He
cracked a case and fenced the swag,” _he broke into a house and took
the booty to a receiver’s_.
RAFFILER LA MANQUESSE (thieves’), _to give one a bad character_.
RAFFINÉ, _m._, _name given to court gallants and to duellists under
Charles IX_.
Un raffiné est un ... homme qui se bat quand le manteau
d’un autre touche le sien, quand on crache à quatre pieds
de lui.--=P. MÉRIMÉE=, _Chronique du Règne de Charles IX_.
RAFFURER (thieves’), _to recover_; _to recoup_. From re and affurer,
_to procure money_. From the Latin fur.
RAFFUT, _m._ (popular), _uproar_; _row_, “shindy.”
RAFIAU, _m._ (popular), _servant at an hospital_; _hospital attendant_.
RAFIOT, _m._ (popular), _thing of small importance_, “no great shakes;”
_adulterated article of inferior quality_. Termed “surat” in the
English slang. This word affords a remarkable instance of the manner in
which slang phrases are coined. In the report of an action for libel
in the _Times_, some few years back, it was stated that since the
American Civil War it has been not unusual for manufacturers to mix
American cotton with Surat, and, the latter being an inferior article,
the people in Lancashire have begun to apply the term “surat” to any
article of inferior or adulterated quality.
RAFRAÎCHIR (military), se ----, _to fight with swords_. From
rafraîchir, _to trim_, the swords being the trimming instruments.
(Popular) Se ---- les barbes, _to drink_, “to wet one’s whistle.”
American thieves term this, “to sluice one’s gob.”
RAGE DE DENTS, _f._ (popular), _great hunger_.
RAGOT, _m._ (thieves’), _quarter of a crown_; (popular) _short fat
person_, “humpty-dumpty.” The famous Ragotin of Scarron’s _Roman
Comique_ is short and fat. Faire du ----, _to talk ill of one_, _to
slander_.
RAGOUGNASSE, _f._ (popular), _unsavoury stew_.
RAGOÛT, _m._ (painters’), _vigorous style of painting_.
Les mots dont ils se servaient pour apprécier le mérite de
certains tableaux étaient vraiment bizarres. Quelle superbe
chose!... comme c’est tripoté! comme c’est torché! Quel
ragoût!--=TH. GAUTIER.=
(Popular) Ragoût de poitrine, _breasts_, or “Charlies.”
T’as encore une belle nature pour parler d’z’autres! Est-ce
parceque j’nons pas d’ragoût d’poitrine sus l’estoma? J’ons
la place, plus blanche que la tienne, et j’n’y mettons pas
d’chiffons comme toi.--_Amusemens à la Grecque._
(Thieves’) Ragoût, _suspicion_. Faire du ----, _to awake suspicion_.
RAGOÛTER (thieves’), _to awake suspicion_.
RAGUSE. See COUP.
RAIDE, _adj. and m._ (popular), _drunk_, “tight.” See POMPETTE. Raide
comme balle, _with the utmost rapidity_. Filer ---- comme balle, _to
disappear rapidly_, “like winkin’,” or, as American thieves say,
“to amputate like a go-away.” “This panny’s all on fire (_house is
dangerous_). I must amputate like a go-away, or the frogs (_police_)
will nail me.” La trouver ----, _to be dissatisfied or offended_. Je
la trouve raide, _it is coming it rather too strong_. Raide comme la
justice, _completely drunk_, or “drunk as a lord.”
Ces noceurs-là étaient raides comme la justice et
tendres comme des agneaux. Le vin leur sortait par les
yeux.--=ZOLA=, _L’Assommoir_.
Du ----, _brandy_, “French cream.” Termed “bingo” in old English cant.
Siffler un verre de ----, _to have a dram_, “a drop o’ summat’ short,
or a nail in one’s coffin.” The lower orders say to each other at the
moment of lifting a glass of spirits to their lips, “Well, good luck!
here’s another nail in my coffin.” Other phrases are “shedding a tear,
or wiping an eye.”
RAIDEUR, _f._ (popular), la faire à la ----, _to give oneself
dignified, “noli me tangere” airs_.
RAIDIR (popular), or ---- l’ergot, _to die_, “to snuff it.” See PIPE.
To express that one is dead English and American thieves say that he
has been “put to bed with a shovel.”
Played out they lay, it will be said
A hundred stretches (years) hence;
With shovels they were put to bed
A hundred stretches hence!
_Thieves’ Song._
RAIE. See GUEULE.
RAILLE, _f. and m._ (thieves’), la ----, _the police_, the “reelers.”
Etre ----, _to be in the employ of the police_, a “nose.”
C’est vrai, mais vous ne m’avez pas dit que vous étiez
raille (mouchard).--=VIDOCQ.=
Un ----, or railleux, _police officer_, or “copper;” _a detective_, _or
police spy_.
Ils parlaient aussi des railles (mouchards). A propos
de railles, vous n’êtes pas sans avoir entendu
parler d’un fameux coquin, qui s’est fait cuisinier
(mouchard).--=VIDOCQ.=
Victor Hugo says the word comes from the English “rascal,” but Michel
derives it with more reason from “raillon,” a kind of javelin with
which the archers or police were armed formerly.
Ci gist et dort en ce sollier,
Qu’Amour occist de son raillon,
Ung pouvre petit escollier
Jadis nommé François Villon.
_Le Grand Testament de François Villon._
RAISINÉ, _m._ (thieves’), _blood_. Properly _jam made of grapes_. Faire
couler le ----, _to shed blood_.
Je suis sûr que tu es marqué. Qu’avons-nous fait?
Avons-nous tué notre mère ou forcé la caisse à papa?
Avons-nous fait suer le chêne et couler le raisiné?
--=TH. GAUTIER.=
(Popular) Faire du ----, _to bleed from one’s nose_.
RAISINS, _m. pl._ (popular), huile de ----, _wine_; “red tape,” in the
jargon of English thieves.
Auguste, un peintre en bâtiment,
Qui travaillait en face,
Entre, et nous dit comm’ ça m’z’enfans
J’ai l’gosier qui s’encrasse.
Faut y mettr’ de l’huil’ de raisin.
=H. P. DENNEVILLE=
RAISONS, _f. pl._ (familiar and popular), avoir des ---- avec
quelqu’un, _to have a quarrel with one_.
RÂLER (popular), _to deceive_, “to best;” _to cheapen_.
RÂLEUR, _m._ (second-hand booksellers’), _person who handles the books
without buying any_, and generally _one who bargains for a long time
and buys nothing_. Also _liar_.
RÂLEUSE, _f._ (shop-keepers’), _female who cheapens many articles and
leaves without having made a purchase_. Also _liar_.
RALLIE-PAPIER, _m._ (familiar), _paper chase on horseback_.
RAMA, parler en ----, formerly _mode of using the word as a suffix to
other words_. The invention of the Diorama had brought in the fashion
of using the word rama as stated above. It was much in vogue in
Balzac’s time, and had been first used in the studios.
“Eh bien, Monsieur Poiret,” dit l’employé, “comment va
cette petite santérama?”--=BALZAC.=
(Convicts’) Mettre au ----, _to place in irons_.
Le soir, après la soupe, on nous mit au rama; nous étions
étonnés. Ce n’était pas l’habitude de nous enchaîner
sitôt.--=HUMBERT=, _Mon Bagne_.
RAMAMICHAGE, _m._ (familiar), _reconciliation_.
RAMAMICHER (popular), _to bring about a reconciliation_.
RAMASSER (military), de la boîte, _to be locked up_.
J’ai mon truc à matriculer pour à c’soir; si c’est pas
fait, j’ ramasserai de la boîte.--=G. COURTELINE.=
Ramasser les fourreaux de bayonnette, _to come up after the battle has
been fought_; (thieves’ and roughs’) ---- les pattes, or filer une
ratisse à un gas, _to thrash one_. See VOIE. Ramasser un bidon, _to
make off_, “to make beef.” See PATATROT. (Popular) Ramasser ses outils,
_to die_, “to snuff it;” ---- quelqu’un, _to apprehend_, “to nail”
_one_; _to thrash one_. Se faire ----, _to be locked up by the police_,
_to be_ “run in;” _to get a thrashing_.
Si le patron m’embête, je te le ramasse et je te l’asseois
sur sa bourgeoise, tu sais, collés comme une paire de
soles!--=ZOLA=, _L’Assommoir_.
RAMASSE-TOI (popular), _words addressed to a person who is talking
incoherently_.
RAMASTIQUER (thieves’), _to pick up_; _to do the ring-dropping trick_,
or “fawney rig.” See RAMASTIQUEUR.
RAMASTIQUEUR, or RAMASTIQUÉ, _variety of thief_, “money-dropper.” The
rogue scrapes up an acquaintance with a dupe by inquiring about a coin
or article of sham jewellery which he pretends to have just picked up
in the street, and offers for sale, or otherwise fleeces the pigeon.
Many of these rogues are rascally Jews. This kind of swindle is varied
by dropping a pocket-book, the accomplice being termed in this case
“heeler.” The heeler stoops behind the victim and strikes one of his
heels as if by mistake, so as to draw his attention to the pocket-book.
Also _beggar who picks up halfpence in courts thrown to him from
windows_.
Les arcassineurs sont les mendiants à domicile. Les
ramastiqueurs les mendiants de cours qui ramassent les
sous. Les tendeurs de demi-aune, les mendiants des
rues.--_Mémoires de Monsieur Claude._
(Popular) Ramastiqueur d’orphelins, _poor wretch who goes about picking
up cigar and cigarette ends_, a “hard up.”
RAMBINER (popular), _to patch up old shoes_.
Tout le monde sait que son père rambinait les
croknaux.--_Le Tam-Tam._
RAMBUTEAU, _m._ (familiar and popular), _urinals on the boulevards_.
From the name of a prefect of police who caused them to be set up.
RAMENER (familiar), _to brush the hair forward to conceal one’s
baldness_. Il ramène, _he is getting bald_. Termed also “emprunter un
qui vaut dix.”
RAMENEUR, _m._ (gamesters’), _man of gentlemanly appearance, whose
functions are to induce people to attend a gaming-house or gaming
club_.
Un personnel de rameneurs qui, membres réguliers du cercle,
gentlemen en apparence ... ont pour mission de racoler
... ceux qui bien nourris à la table d’hôte, seront une
heure après dévorés à celle du baccara.--=HECTOR MALOT=,
_Baccara_.
The American “picker-up” somewhat corresponds to the “rameneur.” The
picker-up takes his man to a gambling saloon, and leaves him there
to be enticed into playing. The picker-up is always a gentleman in
manners, dress, and appearance. He first sees the man’s name on the
hotel register and where he is from. Many of the servants of hotels are
in the pay of pickers-up, and furnish them with information concerning
guests. (Familiar) Rameneur, _old beau who seeks to conceal his
baldness by brushing forward the scanty hair from the back of his head_.
RAMENEUSE, _f._ (popular), _girl who makes it a practice to wait for
clients at the doors of cafés at closing time_.
RAMICHER, or RAMAMICHER (popular), _to bring about a reconciliation_.
Se ----, _to be friends again_.
RAMIJOTER (popular), _to effect a reconciliation_. Se ----, _to make it
up_.
Ils se sont ramijotés (réconciliés); et d’après des mots de
leur conversation, je répondrais bien qu’il a couché avec
Félicité.--=VIDOCQ.=
RAMOLLOT, _m._ (familiar and popular), _stupid old soldier_. From a
character delineated by Charles Leroy.
RAMONAGE, _m._ (popular), _muttering nonsense_.
RAMONER (popular), _to mutter_, _to mumble_. An allusion to the
rumbling noise produced by sweeping a chimney. Se faire ----, _to go to
confession_; _to take a purgative_. Also _to get thrashed or scolded_.
Ramoner ses tuyaux, _to run away_. For synonyms see PATATROT.
RAMOR, _m._ (Jewish tradespeople’s), _fool_, “flat.”
RAMPANT, _m._ (popular), _priest_, or “white choker;” _Jesuit_;
_steeple_. Probably from the old signification of ramper, _to climb_,
_to ascend_.
RAMPANTE, _f._ (popular), _church_.
RAMPE, _f._ (familiar), princesse de la ----, _actress_. Une pomme de
----, _a bald head_, or “bladder of lard.” (Theatrical) Se brûler à la
----, _to approach close to the footlights, and play as if no other
actors were present_. Lâcher la ----, _to die_. See PIPE.
RAMPONNER (popular), _to drink_, “to lush;” _to get drunk_, or
“screwed.”
RANCART, _m._ (familiar), _object of little value_, “no great shakes.”
(Thieves’) Faire un ----, _to procure information_.
RANCKÉ, _m._ (thieves’), _two-franc coin_.
RANGÉ DES VOITURES, _adj._ (thieves’), _is said of one who has become
honest_.
A vingt et un ans rangé des voitures.--_From a thief’s
letter._
RANGER (popular), se ---- des voitures, _to become honest_. Is said
also of a man who, after having sown his wild oats, leads a quiet life.
RAPAPIOTAGE, _m._ (popular), _reconciliation_.
RAPAPIOTER (popular), _to effect a reconciliation_.
RAPAPIOTEUR, _m._ (popular), _one by whose kind efforts a
reconciliation is effected_.
RAPATU, _m._ (thieves’), _body-louse_.
RÂPE, _f._ (thieves’), _back_. Used more in reference to a humpback.
RÂPÉ, _m. and adj._ (military), _officer without any private means_;
(popular) ---- comme la Hollande, _very poor_, “quisby.” An allusion to
râper, _to rasp_, and Dutch cheese.
RÂPER (popular), _to sing_, “to lip.” Also _to sing in a monotonous
fashion_.
RAPIAT, _subst. and adj._ (familiar and popular), _stingy_,
“close-fisted, or near.” Termed “brum” at Winchester School. Une ----,
_a miserly woman_.
C’est égal, t’es une jolie fille; ça faisait mal de te
voir chez cette mauvaise rapiat de bonapartiste de mère
Lefèvre.--=HECTOR FRANCE.=
Un ----, _a native of Auvergne_. The natives of each province of France
are credited with some particular characteristics; thus, as seen above,
the Auvergnats are said to be thrifty, stingy, miserly; the Normans
thievish, fond of going to law; the Picards are hot-headed, of an irate
disposition; the Bretons have a reputation for being pig-headed; the
Gascons for possessing a mind fertile in resource, and for being great
story-tellers--also for bragging; the Champenois is supposed to be
stupid; the Parisians are “artful dodgers;” the Lorrains are, it is
alleged, treacherous; and the natives of Cambrai are all mad. Hence the
proverbial sayings: avare comme un Auvergnat; voleur comme un Normand;
entêté comme un Breton; 99 moutons et un Champenois font cent bêtes,
&c. Again, among soldiers “un Parisien” is synonymous with a soldier
who seeks to shirk his duty; sailors apply the epithet to a bad sailor,
horsedealers to a “screw,” &c., &c.
RAPIOT, _m._ (popular), _patch on a coat or shoe_; (thieves’)
_searching on the person_, “frisking, or ruling over.” Formerly the
term referred to the searching of convicts about to be taken to the
hulks. Le grand ----, _was the general searching of convicts_. Michel
says, “Il est à croire que ce mot n’est autre chose que le substantif
_rappel_ qui faisait autrefois _rappiaus_ au singulier; mais le rapport
entre une visite et un rappel? C’est que sans doute cette opération
était annoncés par une batterie de tambour.”
RAPIOTER (popular), _to patch up_.
Monsieur, faites donc rapioter les trous de votre
habit.--=MORNAND.=
(Thieves’) _To search_, “to frisk.”
Butons les rupins d’abord, nous refroidirons après la
fourgate et nous rapioterons partout. Il y a gros dans la
taule.--=VIDOCQ.=
RAPIOTEUR, _m._, RAPIOTEUSE, _f._ (popular), _one who patches up old
clothes_.
Georges Cadoudal, avant son arrestation, avait trouvé asile
chez une jeune rapioteuse du Temple.--=F. MORNAND=, _La Vie
de Paris_.
RAPOINTI, _m._ (popular), _clumsy, awkward workman_.
RAPPLIQUER (popular and thieves’), _to return_, “to hare it;” ---- à la
niche, or à la taule, _to return home_.
Tout est tranquille ... la sorgue est noire, les largues
ne sont pas rappliquées à la taule, la fourgate roupille
dans son rade.--=VIDOCQ.= (_All_ “serene” ... _the night is
dark, the women have not returned home, the receiver sleeps
inside his counter_.)
RASÉ, or RAZI, _m._ (thieves’), _priest_. From his shaven crown.
RASER (familiar), _to annoy_, _to bore one_.
Nous avons été voir les Mauresques. Dieu! les avons-nous
rasées avec nos plaisanteries.--=LORIOT.=
Also _to ruin one_.
Elle s’est essayée sur le sieur Hulot qu’elle a plumé net,
oh! plumé, ce qui s’appelle rasé.--=BALZAC.=
(Shopmen’s) Raser, _to swindle a fellow shop-assistant out of his
sale_; (sailors’) _to tell_ “fibs;” _to humbug_.
RASE-TAPIS, _m._ (familiar), _a horse that trots or gallops without
lifting its feet much from the ground_, “daisy-cutter.”
RASEUR, _m._ (familiar), _a bore_.
Ce type est en même temps un “raseur” de l’espèce spéciale
dite “des déboutonneurs à histoires bien bonnes.” Vous
savez bien ces braves gens à qui vous ne pouvez pas
adresser la parole sans qu’ils vous répondent par: “Je vais
vous raconter une bien bonne histoire” et qui commencent
immédiatement par vous arracher, un à un, les boutons de
votre redingote.--_Gil Blas._
(Shopmen’s) Raseur, _one who swindles a fellow shop-assistant out of
his sale_.
RASIBUS, _m._ (popular), le père ----, _the executioner_. A play on the
word raser, _to shave_.
Et le coup de la bagnole au père Rasibus, quand il
fouette les cadors au galop et que les cognes font un
blaire.--=RICHEPIN.=
RASOIR, _m. and adj._ (familiar and popular), _bore_; _boring_.
On commence à nous embêter avec les bleus. Tout le temps
les bleus, ça devient rasoir à la fin; on nous prend trop
pour de bonnes têtes.--=G. COURTELINE.=
Rasoir de Birmingham, _superlative of bore_. (Popular) Rasoir!
_expression of contemptuous refusal_; may be rendered by the
Americanism, “yes, in a horn.” Faire ----, _to be penniless_.
(Gamesters’) Banque ----, _gaming_ “banque” _which has a run of luck,
and in consequence leaves the players penniless_. Faire ----, _to lose
all one’s money_, “to blew” _it_. Ça fait ----, _nothing is left_.
Mangeux de tout; excepté l’tien,
Car tu n’as rien; ça fait rasoir.
_Riche-en-gueule._
(Thieves’) Rasoir à Roch, or ---- de la Cigogne, _guillotine_. M. Roch
was formerly the executioner, and la Cigogne is the epithet applied to
the Préfecture de Police. The knife of the guillotine was termed in
’93, “rasoir national.”
RASPAIL, _m._ (popular), _brandy_, “French cream,” and “bingo” in
old English cant. Termed also “troix-six, fil-en-quatre, dur, raide,
chenique, rude, crik, eau d’aff, schnapps, camphre, sacré chien,
goutte, casse-poitrine, jaune, tord-boyaux, consolation, riquiqui, eau
de mort.”
RASSEMBLER (military), se faire ----, _to get reprimanded or punished_.
RASTACOUÈRE, or RASTAQUOUÈRE, _foreign adventurer or swindler,
generally hailing from the sunny south, or from South America, who
lives in high style, of course at somebody or other’s expense_.
La petite Raymonde D..., sa chère adorée, qu’on avait
surnommée, je ne sais pourquoi, sa “chair à saucisses,” l’a
lâché comme un vulgaire rastaquouère, pour se mettre avec
un jockey.--_Gil Blas._
RAT, _m._ (thieves’), _young thief who is generally passed through
a small aperture to open a door and let in the rest of the gang, or
else conceals himself under the counter of a shop before the doors are
closed_, “little snakesman, or tool.”
He kept him small on purpose, and let him out by the job.
But the father gets lagged.--=CH. DICKENS=, _Oliver Twist_.
Also _thief who exercises his skill at inns or wine-shops_. Courir
le ----, _to steal at night in lodgings, or at lodging-houses_. Rat,
_thief who steals bread_; ---- de prison, _barrister_, or “mouthpiece.”
Prendre des rats par la queue meant formerly _to steal purses_, when
persons wore their purses at their girdles. A cut-purse was formerly
called a “nypper.” A man named Wotton, in 1585, kept in London an
academy for the education of pickpockets. Cutting them was a branch
of the light-fingered art. Instruction in the practice was given as
follows: a purse and a pocket were separately suspended, attached to
which, both around and above them, were small bells; each contained
counters, and he who could withdraw a counter without causing any of
the bells to ring was adjudged to be a “nypper.” The old English cant
termed cutting a purse, “to nyp a bunge.” Dickens, in _Oliver Twist_,
shows Fagin educating the Dodger and Charley Bates by impersonating
an old gentleman walking about the streets, the two boys following
him and seeking to pick his pockets. (Popular) Rat de cave, _excise
officer_, _gauger_; ---- d’égout, _scavenger_. (Ecole Polytechnique)
Rat, _student who is late_; ---- de pont, _student whose total of marks
at the final examination does not entitle him to an appointment in the
corps of government civil engineers of the Ponts et Chaussées_; ---- de
soupe, _one late for dinner_. From rater, _to miss_. (Familiar) Rat,
or ---- d’opéra, _young ballet dancer between the ages of seven and
fourteen_. (Sailors’) Rat de quai, _man who looks out for odd jobs in
harbours_.
Le grand-père est un rat de quai,
Le petit-fils mousse embarqué.
La grand’ mère, aux jours les meilleurs,
Porte la hotte aux mareyeurs.
=RICHEPIN=, _La Mer_.
Etre ----, _to be stingy_, “close-fisted.”