To die by the hedge, verb. phr. (common).—To die in poverty.
To hang in the hedge, verb. phr. (old).—See quot.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. It hangs in the hedge, of a Law-suit
or anything else Depending, Undetermined.
As common as the hedge (or highway), phr. (old).—Very common.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. As common as the hedge or
highway, said of a prostitute or Strumpet.
1725. New Cant. Dict. s.v.
By hedge or by crook. See Hook.
Hedge-bird, subs. (old).—See quot.
1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, ii., 1. Out, you rogue, you
hedge-bird, you pimp, you panier-man’s bastard, you.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Hedge-bird, a Scoundrel or sorry
Fellow.
1725. New Cant. Dict.
Hedge-bottom Attorney (or Solicitor), subs. phr. (legal).—A person who,
being not admitted or being uncertificated (or, it may be, admitted and
certificated both, but struck off the rolls for malpractice), sets up
in the name of a qualified man, and thus evades the penalties attaching
to those who act as solicitors without being duly qualified. [All the
business is done in another name, but the hedge-bottom is the real
principal, the partner being only a dummy.]—Sir Patrick Colquhoun in
Slang, Jargon and Cant.
Hedge-creeper, subs. (old).—A hedge-thief; a skulker under hedges; a
pitiful rascal.
1594. Nashe, Unfortunate Traveller p. 32 (Chiswick Press, 1892).
Call him a sneaking eavesdropper, a scraping hedge-creeper, and a
piperley pickthanke.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hedge-creeper; a pitiful
rascal.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Hedge-docked, adj. (venery).—Deflowered in the open.
Hedge-marriage (or wedding), subs. (old).—An irregular marriage
performed by a hedge-priest (q.v.); a marriage over the broom.
Hedge-note, subs. (old).—Low writing. [As Dryden: ‘They left these
hedge-notes for another sort of poem.’]
Hedge-popping, subs. (sporting).—Shooting small birds about hedges.
Whence Hedge-popper = a trumpery shooter; and Hedge-game = small birds,
as sparrows and tits.
Hedge-priest (or parson), subs. (old: now recognised).—A sham cleric; a
blackguard or vagabond parson; a couple beggar. [As Johnson notes, the
use of Hedge in a detrimental sense is common. As Hedge-begot;
Hedge-born; Hedge-brat; Hedge-found; Hedge-docked (q.v.); Hedge-tavern
(= a low alehouse); Hedge-square (q.v.); Hedge-reared; Hedge-mustard;
Hedge-writer (= a Grub-street author); Hedge-building, etc. Shakspeare
uses the phrase ‘Hedge-born’ as the very opposite of ‘gentle blooded’
(1 Henry VI., iv., 1).] Specifically, Hedge-priests = (in Ireland) a
cleric admitted to orders directly from a Hedge-school (q.v.) without
having studied theology. [Before Maynooth, men were admitted to
ordination ere they left for the continental colleges, so that they
might receive the stipend for saying mass.]
1588. Marprelate’s Epistle, p. 30 (Ed. Arber). Is it any maruaile
that we haue so many swine dumbe dogs nonresidents with their
iourneimen the hedge-priests ... in our ministry.
1594. Shakspeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost, v., 2. The pedant, the
braggart, the hedge-priest, the fool, and the boy.
1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes. Arlotto, the name of a merie
priest, a lack-latine, or hedge-priest.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hedge Priest. A sorry Hackney,
Underling, Illiterate, Vagabond, see Patrico.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. s.v.
1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvii. A hedge-parson, or
buckle-beggar, as that order of priesthood has been irreverently
termed.
Hedger. See Hedge, sense 2.
1828–45. Hood, Poems (Ed. 1846), p. 96. A black-leg saint, a
spiritual hedger.
Hedge-school, subs. (Irish).—A school in the country parts of Ireland
formerly conducted in the open air, pending the erection of a permanent
building to which the name was transferred. Hence, hedge-schoolmaster.
Hedge-square. To doss (or snooze) in Hedge-square (or street), verb.
phr. (vagrants’).—To sleep in the open air.
English Synonyms.—To skipper it; to doss with the daisies; to be under
the blue blanket; to put up at the Gutter Hotel; to do a star pitch.
French Synonyms.—Coucher à l’hotel de la belle étoile (pop. = to sleep
at the Star Hotel); manger une soupe aux herbes (popular); filer la
comète (popular = to nose the comet); coucher dans le lit aux pois
verts.
1877. Greenwood, Under the Blue Blanket. The vagrant brotherhood
have several slang terms for sleeping out in a field or meadow. It
is called ‘snoozing in Hedge Square,’ etc.
Hedge-tavern (or -ale-house), subs. (old).—See quot.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hedge Tavern or Alehouse, A
Jilting, Sharping Tavern, or Blind Alehouse.
1705. Farquhar, Twin-rivals, i., 1. That was ... in the days of
dirty linen, pit-masks, hedge-taverns, and beef-steaks.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Hedge-whore (or Hedge-bit), subs. (old: now recognised).—A filthy
harlot working in the open air.
1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, s.v., Zambracca, a common
hedge-whore, strumpet, a base harlot.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Hedging, subs. (racing).—See Hedge, verbal sense 2.
1867. A. Trollope, Claverings, ch. xxiv. He would be lessening the
odds against himself by a judicious hedging of his bets.
Heel. To bless the world with one’s heels, verb. phr. (old).—To be
hanged. For synonyms, see Ladder.
1566–7. Painter, Palace of Pleasure, sign R., 8. And the next daye,
the three theves were conveied forth to blesse the worlde with
their heeles.
To cool (or kick) the heels, verb. phr. (common).—To wait a long while
at an appointed place.
1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair. Who forthwith comitted my little
hot furie to the stockes, where we will leave him to coole his
heeles, whilst we take a further view of the faire.
1673. Wycherley, Gentleman Dancing Master, iv., 1. They ne’er think
of the poor watchful chambermaid, who sits knocking her heels in
the cold, for want of better exercise, in some melancholy lobby or
entry.
1752. Fielding, Amelia. In this parlour Amelia cooled her heels, as
the phrase is, near a quarter of an hour.
1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford [Ed. 1854], p. 22. He expected all who
kicked their heels at his house would behave decent and polite to
young Mr. Dot.
1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ch. xiii. Tell him that I’ll trouble
him to forget to go to sleep again as he did last time, and leave
me here kicking my heels contrary to the rules of the service.
1879. Sala, Paris Herself Again, i. We cooled our heels during the
ordinary an intolerable half hour.
1888. Lynch, Mountain Mystery, ch. xlvi. That young gentleman, who
had been cooling his heels for what seemed like half the night.
To lay by the heels, verb. phr. (common).—To confine; to fetter; to
jail.
1601. Shakspeare, Henry VIII., v., 4. If the king blame me for it,
I’ll lay ye all By the heels, and suddenly.
1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, iii. Sir, if you be not quiet the
quicklier, I’ll have you clapp’d fairly by the heels, for
disturbing the Fair.
1663–1678. Butler, Hudibras, i., 3. Th’ one half of man, his mind,
Is, sui juris, unconfined, And cannot be laid by the heels.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
1886. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 184. If they lay me by the
heels, Alan, it’s then that you’ll be needing the money.
To lift one’s heels, verb. phr. (venery).—To lie down for copulation;
to spread (q.v.).
To turn (or topple) up the heels (or toes), verb. phr. (old).—To die.
For synonyms, see Aloft.
1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse [Grosart], ii., 77. Our trust is ...
you will tourne up their heeles one of these yeares together, and
prouide them of such vnthrifts to their heires, as shall spend in
one weeke ... what they got ... all their lifetime.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe. Leaven thousand and fifty people
toppled up their heels.
To take to (or show) a pair of heels, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To take
to flight; to run away. For synonyms, see Amputate.
1593. Shakspeare, Comedy of Errors. Nay ... Sir, I’ll take my
heels.
1864. Chambers’ Journal, Dec. Once before he had ‘found meanes yet
at length to deceive his keepers, and took him to his heels’ to the
sea coast.
His heels, verb. phr. (gaming).—The knave of trumps at cribbage or
all-fours. Hence ‘two for his heels’ = two points scored (at cribbage)
for turning up this card.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
To tread upon (or to be at or upon) the heels, verb. phr.
(colloquial).—To follow close or hard after; to pursue.
1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, iv., 7. One woe doth tread upon another’s
heels.
To go heels over head, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To turn a somersault;
to be hasty; to fall violently. Also Top over Tail.
1540. Lyndsay, Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis, 3744. This fals warld
is turnit top ouir taill.
To have (or get) the heels of, verb. phr. (old).—To outrun; to get an
advantage.
1748. Smollett, Roderick Random. Thou hast got the heels of me
already.
Down (or out) at heel, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Slipshod; shabby; in
decay.
1605. Shakspeare, King Lear, ii., 2. A good man’s future may grow
out at heels.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
1851–6. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 122. He was a
little down at heel.
Heeled, adj. (American).—Armed. [From the steel spur used in
cock-fighting.]
Heeler, subs. (American).—1. Followers or henchmen of a politician or a
party.
1888. Denver Republican, 29 Feb. The heelers and strikers, bummers
and stuffers, otherwise known as practical politicians, who do the
work at the Democratic polls, and manipulate the primaries and
local conventions.
1888. New York Herald, 4 Nov. A band succeeded them and preceded a
lot of ward heelers and floaters.
2. (American).—A bar, or other loafer; anyone on the look-out for shady
work.
3. (American thieves’)—An accomplice in the pocket-book racket (q.v.).
[The Heeler draws attention, by touching the victim’s heels, to a
pocket-book containing counterfeit money which has been let drop by a
companion, with a view to inducing the victim to part with genuine coin
for a division of the find.]
4. (Winchester College).—A plunge, feet foremost, into water. Fr., une
chandelle.
Heel-taps, subs. (common).—1. Liquor in the bottom of a glass. Bumpers
round and no heel taps = Fill full, and drain dry! See Daylight. Fr.,
la musique.
1795. Gent. Mag., p. 118. Briskly pushed towards me the decanter
containing a tolerable bumper, and exclaimed, ‘Sir, I’ll buzz you:
come, no heel-taps!’
1836. Dickens, Pickwick (Ed. 1857), p. 10. No heel-taps, and he
emptied the glass.
1838. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, ch. xxxii. There was a proper
objection to drinking her in heeltaps.
1841. Punch, i., 117. Empty them heeltaps, Jack, and fill out with
a fresh jug.
1844. Buckstone, The Maid with the Milking Pail. Added to which,
she’s a termagant, and imbibes all the heeltaps.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xiv. The relics of yesterday’s
feast—the emptied bottles ... the wretched heel-taps that have been
lying exposed all night to the air.