Ginger, subs. (common).—1. A fast, showy horse; a beast that looks
figged (q.v.).
1859. Notes and Queries, 17 Dec. p. 493. A ginger is a showy fast
horse.
2. (common).—A red-haired person; carrots (q.v.). [Whence the phrase
(venery) ‘Black for beauty, ginger for pluck.’]
1885. Miss Tennant in Eng. Illustrated Magazine, June, p. 605. The
policemen are well known to the boys, and appropriately named by
them. There is ‘Jumbo,’ too stout to run; ginger, the red-haired.
3. (common).—Spirit; dash; go (q.v.). To want ginger = to lack energy
and pluck (q.v.).
1888. The World, 13 May. You will remark that your spinal column is
requiring a hinge, and that considerable ginger is departing from
your resolution to bear up and enjoy yourself.
1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 124. If father objects
send him to me, I’ll take the ginger out of him in short order.
1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker; p. 207. Give
her ginger, boys.
Adj. (common).—Red-haired; foxy (q.v.); judas-haired (q.v.). Also
ginger-pated, ginger-hackled, and gingery.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Red-haired; a term borrowed from
the cock-pit, where red cocks are called gingers.
1839. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, ch. xii. Somebody may be on the
watch—perhaps that old ginger-hackled Jew.
1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xix., p. 160. The very learned
gentleman who has cooled the natural heat of his gingery complexion
in pools and fountains of law, until he has become great in knotty
arguments for term-time.
1878. M. E. Braddon, Cloven Foot, ch. iv. The landlady was a
lean-looking widow, with a false front of gingery curls.
Gingerbread, subs. (old).—1. Money: e.g., ‘He has the gingerbread’ = he
is rich.
1690. B. E. Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood. Your old dad had the gingerbread.
1864. Standard, 13 Dec. We do not find ... the word gingerbread
used for money, as we have heard it both before and within the last
six months. The origin of the use of the word may probably be the
old fairy legends wherein the coin obtained over night from the
elves was usually found in the morning to have turned into little
gingerbread cakes.