Gomus, subs. (Irish).—A fool. For synonyms, see Buffle and
Cabbage-head.
Gondola, subs. (American).—1. A railway platform car, sideless or
low-sided. Also a flat-bottomed boat.
Gondola of London, subs. phr. (common).—A hansom cab; a shoful (q.v.).
[The description is Lord Beaconsfield’s.]
Gone, adj. (colloquial).—1. Ruined; totally undone. Also, adv., an
expression of completeness, e.g., Gone beaver, corbie, coon, gander, or
goose = a man or an event past praying for: Cf., Go up and Go down.
1604. Shakspeare, Winter’s Tale, iv., 3. He must know ’tis none of
your daughter nor my sister; we are gone else.
1843–4. Haliburton, Sam Slick in England, ch. xviii. If a bear
comes after you, Sam, you must be up and doin’, or it’s a gone
goose with you.
1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 40. From that moment he was
gone beaver; he felt queer, he said, all over.
1857. Notes and Queries, 2 S. iii., 519. To call a person a gone
corbie, is only to say in other words, it’s all up with him.
1862. Clough, Poems. He had been into the schools; plucked almost;
all but a gone-coon.
1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, I., 178. I shall meet her again next
week; will you come? Any friend of mine is welcome. Wish me joy,
old fellow; I’m a gone coon.
Gone on, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Enamoured of; infatuated with; mashed
on (q.v.); sweet on (q.v.). Generally in contempt. Fr., aimer comme ses
petits boyaux. For synonyms, see Sweet on.
1887. John Strange Winter, That Imp, p. 44. He was a fine fellow,
and no mistake. And was gone on Lady Lorrimor!
1890. Illustrated Bits, 29 Mar. p. 10, c. 3. He must have been
terribly gone on this woman.
1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 113. ‘Poor chap, he’s very far
gone,’ thought Jack.
1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 31. I’ll eat my old boots if she
isn’t dead gone on.
Goner, (or Gones, Gonus, or Goney), subs. (American).—1. A fool; a
simpleton. Also Gauney (q.v.). For synonyms, see Buffle or
Cabbage-head.
1857. Punch, 31 Jan. But the lark’s when a goney up with us they
shut, As ain’t up to our lurks, our flash patter, and smut.
1860. Haliburton, Sam Slick, ‘The Season Ticket,’ No. X. ‘It’s only
grief, Nabby dear, my heart is broke.’ ‘Is that all, you goney?’
says she, ‘it’s lucky your precious neck ain’t broke.’
a. 1871. The Dartmouth, vol. iv. One day I heard a Senior call a
fellow a gonus. ‘Gonus,’ echoed I, ‘what does that mean?’ ‘Oh,’
said he, ‘you’re a Freshman, and don’t understand. A stupid fellow,
a dolt, a boot-jack, an ignoramus, is here called a gonus. All
Freshmen,’ he continued gravely, ‘are gonuses.’
2. (colloquial).—A person past recovery, utterly ruined, or done for in
any way.
1876. S. L. Clemens (Mark Twain), Tom Sawyer, p. 99. ‘Yes, but she
ain’t dead; and, what’s more, she’s getting better too.’ ‘All
right, you wait and see. She’s a goner, just as dead sure as Muff
Potter’s a goner.’
1888. Cincinnati Enquirer. Fortunately, she did not see me, or else
I should have been a goner.
1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 261. ‘Make a noise or follow me,
and you’re a goner,’ said Smirk.
1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 212. A few more of
her meddlings and she’s a goner, that’s what she is.
Gong (or Gong-house), subs. (old).—A privy. For synonyms, see Mrs.
Jones.
1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales. ‘The Parsons Tale’ [Riverside Ed.
(1880)], ii., 241. Thise fool wommen, that mowe be likned to a
commune gong, whereas men purgen hire ordure.
Gong-farmer (or Gong-man), subs. (old).—An emptier of cesspools; a
gold-finder (q.v.).
1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Curadestri, a iakes, goong, or
doong farmer.
Gonof (or Gonnof or Gonoph or Gnof), subs. (thieves’).—1. A thief;
specifically a pick-pocket, and especially an adept. [From the Hebrew.
Ancient English; a legacy from the old time Jews. It came into use
again with the moderns who employ it commonly. Cf., gonov = thief in
Ex. xxii, 2 and 6, viz., ‘if the gonov be found.’] See Thieves.
1857. Dickens, On Duty with Inspector Field, in ‘Reprinted Pieces’
p. 256. If the smallest gonoph about town were crouching at the
bottom of a classic bath Inspector Field would nose him.
1849. Morning Chronicle, 2 Nov. A burglar would not condescend to
sit among pickpockets. My informant has known a housebreaker to say
with a sneer, when requested to sit down with the gonoffs, ‘No, no,
I may be a thief, but at least I’m a respectable one.’
1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. III., p. 325.
The gonaff (a Hebrew word signifying a young thief, probably learnt
from the Jew ‘fences’ in the neighbourhood).
1852. Judson, Myst., etc., of New York, ch. vii. He next assumed
his present profession, and became a gnof or pickpocket.
1876. Hindley, Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 146. Oh, you tief!
you cheat! you gonnof!
1889. Referee, 12 May. Gonophs ... were frequent in Tattersall’s on
Friday.
1889. C. T. Clarkson and J. Hall Richardson, Police, p. 321. Boys
who creep into houses.... Young gunneffs or gonophs.