English Synonyms.—Boss; captain of the waiters; captain; chief;
colonel; commander; chief bottle-washer; ganger; head-butler; head-cook
and bottle-washer; gorger; omee; rum-cull.
French Synonyms.—Le pantriot (popular and thieves’: also = a young
nincompoop); le, or la, pâte (popular: properly paste or dough); le
naïf (printers’: obsolete); le herz or hers (thieves’: obviously from
the German); le loncegué (thieves’: Fr., back-slang; = gonce, itself a
slang term for a man); le galeux (popular: = one with the itch); le
grêle (popular: specifically a master-tailor); le singe (= monkey); le
troploc; le nourisseur (= the grubber); l’ogre (specifically a fence);
le notaire (= publican); le patron (colloquial: = governor).
Italian Synonyms.—Chielmiero (vulgar).
Governor’s-stiff, subs. (American).—A pardon.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
Gower-street Dialect. See Medical Greek.
Gowk, subs. (prison).—A simpleton. (Scots’ gowk = a cuckoo). For
synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head. Also a countryman. For synonyms,
see Joskin.
1816. Scott, Antiquary, ch. x. ‘Hout awa’, ye auld gowk,’ said
Jenny Rintherout.
To hunt the gowk, verb. phr. (common).—To go on a fool’s errand.
Gowler, subs. (old).—A dog; specifically a howler.
Gown, subs. (Winchester College)—1. Coarse brown paper. (obsolete).
2. (University).—The schools as distinguished from the town (q.v.).,
e.g., Town and Gown.
1847. Thackeray, Punch’s Prize Novelists, ‘Codlingsby,’ p. 232.
From the Addenbrooke’s hospital to the Blenheim turnpike, all
Cambridge was in an uproar—the College gates closed—the shops
barricaded—the shop-boys away in support of their brother
townsmen—the battle raged, and the Gown had the worst of the fight.
1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, II., ch. iii. When Gown was absent,
Town was miserable.
1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 30 May, p. 4, c. 3. Town and Gown joined in
harmony.
Gownsman (also Gown), subs. (university).—A student.
1800. C. K. Sharpe, in Correspondence (1888), i., 96. A battle
between the gownsmen and townspeople ... in spite of the
Vice-Chancellor and Proctors.
1850. F. E. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, ch. xxv. The ancient town of
Cambridge, no longer animated by the countless throngs of gownsmen,
frowned in its unaccustomed solitude.
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford. The townsmen ... were met by the
gownsmen with settled steady pluck.
Grab, subs. (vulgar).—1. A sudden clutch.
1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1st S., ch. viii. He makes a grab at
me, and I shuts the door right to on his wrist.