As full of gifts as a brazen horse of farts, phr. (old).—Mean; miserly;
disinclined to part (q.v.).
1811 Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
Gift of the Gab.—See Gab.
Gift-house (or Gift), subs. (printers’).—A club; a house of call;
specifically for the purpose of finding employment, or providing
allowances for members.
Gig (Gigg, Gigge), subs. (old).—1. a wanton; a mistress; a flighty
girl. Cf., Giglet.
1373. Chaucer, House of Fame, iii. 851. This house was also ful of
gygges.
1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew. A young gig, a wanton lass.
1780. D’Arbley, Diary, etc., (1876), i., 286. Charlotte L—— called,
and the little gig told ... of the domestic life she led in her
family, and made them all ridiculous, without meaning to make
herself so.
1825. Planché, Success in Extravaganzas (1879) I., 26. He! he! What
a gig you look in that hat and feather!
1832. Macaulay in Life, by Trevelyan (1884), ch. v., p. 188. Be you
Foxes, be you Pitts, You must write to silly chits, Be you Tories,
be you Whigs, You must write to sad young gigs.
2. (old).—A jest; a piece of nonsense; anything fanciful or frivolous.
Hence, generally, in contempt.
1590. Nashe, Pasquil’s Apologie, in wks. Vol. I., p. 234. A right
cutte of the worde, withoute gigges or fancies of haereticall and
newe opinions.
1793. Butt, Poems.... Fograms, quizzes, treats, and bores, and
gigs, Were held in some account with ancient prigs.
1856. Whyte Melville, Kate Coventry, ch. xiv. Such a set of gigs,
my dear, I never saw in my life; large underbred horses, and not a
good-looking man amongst them.
3. (old).—The nose. For synonyms, see Conk. To snitchell the gig = to
pull the nose. Grunter’s gig = a hog’s snout.
1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
4. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.
[Possibly from gig = a top, i.e., a toy; possibly, too, from It. giga =
a fiddle (q.v.); but see post sense 8.]
1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
5. (old: now recognised).—A light two-wheeled vehicle drawn by one
horse.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1809. Windham, Speech, 25 May. Let the former riders in gigs and
whiskeys, and one horsed carriages continue to ride in them.