1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary. Game-leg, a lame leg.
1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ch. i. Catching hold of the devil’s
game leg with his episcopal crook.
1851. G. Borrow, Lavengro, ch. lxvii., p. 204 (1888). Mr.
Platitude, having what is vulgarly called a game leg, came
shambling into the room.
1875. Jas. Payn, Walter’s Word, ch. i. Well, you see, old fellow,
with a game-arm (his left arm is in a sling), and a game-leg (he
has limped across the platform with the aid of his friend, and also
of a crutch), one feels a little helpless.
4. (thieves’).—Knowing; wide-awake; and (of women) Flash (q.v.), or
inclined to venery. E.g., Game-cove = an associate of thieves;
Game-woman = a prostitute: i.e., a woman who is game (sense 2);
Game-pullet (Grose) = a girl that will show sport, a female game-cock;
game-ship (old) = a ship whose commander and officers could be
corrupted by bribes to allow the cargo to be stolen (Clark Russell).
1676. Etheredge, Man of Mode, ii. Go on, be the game mistress of
the town and entice all our young fops as fast as they come from
travel.
Cock of the Game, subs. phr. (old).—A champion; an undoubted blood; a
star of magnitude (cock-pit).
1719. Durfey, Pills, iii., 329. Now all you tame gallants, you that
have the name, And would accounted be cocks of the game.
1822. Scott, Nigel, xiv. I have seen a dung-hill chicken that you
meant to have picked clean enough; it will be long ere his lordship
ruffles a feather with a cock of the game.
To make game of, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To turn into ridicule; to
delude; to humbug.
1671. Milton, Samson, 1331. Do they not seek occasion of new
quarrels, On my refusal, to distress me more; Or ake a game of my
calamities?
1690. B. E., New Dictionary. What you game me? c. do you jeer me,
or pretend to expose me to make a May-game of me?
1745. Hist. of Coldstream Guards, 25 Oct. If the militia are
reviewed to-morrow by his Majesty, the soldiers of the third
regiment of Guards are to behave civilly and not to laugh or to
make any game of them.
To die game, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To maintain a resolute attitude
to the last; to show no contrition.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. To die game, to suffer at the gallows
without showing any signs of fear or repentance.
1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. liv. The ruffian lay perfectly
still and silent. ‘He’s gaun to die game ony how,’ said Dinmont.
1836. Dickens, Pickwick (ed. 1857), p. 363. I say that the coachman
did not run away; but that he died game—game as pheasants; and I
won’t hear nothin’ said to the contrary.
1869. Spencer, Study of Sociology, ch. viii., p. 183 (9th ed.). Nor
should we forget the game-cock, supplying, as it does, a word of
eulogy to the mob of roughs who witness the hanging of a murderer,
and who half condone his crime if he dies game.
1871. Times, 30 Jan. Critique on London, etc. The principal was
acquitted, and though his accomplices were hung in Pall Mall at the
scene of their act, they died game.
To get against the game, verb. phr. (American).—To take a risk; to
chance it. [From the game of poker].
To play the game, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To do a thing properly; to
do what is right and proper.
1889. Geoffrey Drage, Cyril, ch. vii. I really think he is ... not
playing the game.
The first game ever played, subs. phr. (venery).—Copulation. For
synonyms, see Greens and Ride.
Gamecock, adj. (old).—Hectoring; angry; valiant out of place.
1838. Lever, Handy Andy. Smoke and fire is my desire, So blaze away
my gamecock squire.
Gameness, subs. (colloquial).—Pluck; endurance; the mixture of spirit
and bottom.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xxiv. There was no doubt
about his gameness.
1884. Referee, 23 March, p. 1, c. 4. Carter fought with great
gameness, but he never had a look in.
Gamester, subs. (old).—1. A prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack
and Tart.
1598. Shakspeare, All’s Well, v. 3. She’s impudent, my lord, and
was a common gamester to the camp.
1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, ii. 1. Ay, ay, gamesters, mocke a
plain soft wench of the suburbs, do.
1620. Percy, Folio MSS., p. 404. Be not att ffirst to nice nor coye
when gamsters you are courtinge.
2. (old).—A ruffler; a gallant; a wencher; a man fit and ready for
anything; also a player.
1639–61. Rump, i., 253, ‘A Medley.’ Room for a gamester that flies
at all he sees.
1676. Etheredge, Man of Mode, v., 1. Live it also like a frank
gamester, on the square.
Gamey, adj. (colloquial).—1. High-smelling; offensive to the nose;
half-rotten.