Intj. (colloquial).—Nonsense; Skittles! (q.v.).
1827. R. B. Peake, Comfortable Lodgings, i., 3. Sir H. (aside).
Gammon!
1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. vii. Gammon, tell that to
the marines: you’re a spy, messmate.
1854. Thackeray, The Rose and the Ring, p. 100. Ha! said the king,
you dare to say gammon to your sovereign.
1861. A. Trollope, Framley Parsonage, ch. iv. Gammon, said Mr.
Gowerby; and as he said it he looked with a kind of derisive smile
into the clergyman’s face.
Gammon and Patter, subs. phr. (thieves’).—1. (old).—The language used
by thieves; 2. (modern).—A meeting; a palaver. (q.v.). 3. Commonplace
talk of any kind.
1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 150. Gammon and Patter is the
language of cant, spoke among themselves: when one of them speaks
well, another says he gammons well.
1811. Lex. Bal. s.v. Gammon and Patter. Commonplace talk of any
kind.
To give (or keep) in gammon. verb. phr. (thieves’).—To engage a
person’s attention while a confederate is robbing him.
1719. Capt. Alex. Smith, Thieves’ Grammar, s.v.
1821. Haggart, Life, p. 51. Bagrie called the woman of the house,
kept her in gammon in the back room, while I returned and brought
off the till. Ibid., p. 68. I whidded to the Doctor and he gave me
gammon.
To Gammon Lushy (or queer, etc.). verb. phr. (thieves’).—To feign
drunkenness, sickness, etc.
To Gammon the Twelve. verb. phr. (thieves’).—To deceive the jury.
1819. Vaux, Life. A man who has been tried by a criminal court and
by a plausible defence has induced the jury to acquit him, or to
banish the capital part of the charge and so to save his life, is
said by his associates to have gammoned the twelve in prime twig,
alluding to the number of jurymen.
Gammoner, subs. (old).—1. One who gammons (q.v.); a nonsense-monger.
Fr., bonisseur de loffitudes; blagueur; mangeur de frimes.
1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry i. Fly to the gammoners, and awake
to everything that’s going on.
2. (thieves’).—A confederate who covers the action of his chief; a
bonnet, a cover, a stall, all which see.
1821. Haggart, Life, p. 66. The Doctor played the part of the
gammoner so well that I made my escape without being observed.
Gammy, subs. (tramps’).—1. Cant.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Do you stoll the gammy? Do you
understand cant?