Heifer, subs. (common).—A woman; old heifer (in Western America) = a
term of endearment. For synonyms, see Petticoat.
18(?). In the Back Woods, p. 71. Now, git out, I says, or the ol’
heifer ’ll show you whar the carpenter left a hole for you to
mosey.
Heifer-paddock, subs. (Australian).—A ladies’ school.
1885. Mrs. Campbell-Praed, Australian Life. The cattle (women)
hereabouts are too scattered.... Next year I shall look over a
heifer-paddock in Sydney, and take my pick.
Heigh-ho, subs. (thieves’).—Stolen yarn. [From the expression used to
apprise the fence that the speaker had stolen yarn to sell.]
Heights. To scale the heights of connubial bliss, verb. phr.
(venery).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.
Helbat, subs. (back).—A table.
Hell, subs. (old).—1. Generic for a place of confinement, as in some
games (Sydney), or a cell in a prison: specifically, a place under the
Exchequer Chamber, where the king’s debtors were confined.
1593. Shakspeare, Comedy of Errors, iv., 2. A hound that runs
counter, and yet draws dry-foot well, One that before the
judgement, carries poor souls to hell.
1658. Counter-Rat. In Wood Street’s hole, or counter’s hell.
1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Secreta.... Also the name of a
place in Venice where all their secret records and ancient
evidences be kept, as hell is in Westminster Hall.
2. (old).—A workman’s receptacle for stolen or refuse pieces, as cloth,
type, etc.; one’s eye. Also Hell-hole and Hell-box. See Cabbage.
Hell-matter = (printers’) old and battered type.
(?). Newest Academy of Compliments. When taylors forget to throw
cabbage in hell, And shorten their bills, that all may be well.
1589. Nashe, Martins Months Minde (Grosart), i. 185. Remember the
shreddes that fall into the Tailors hell, neuer come backe to couer
your backe.
1592. Defence of Conny Catching, in Greene’s Wks., xi., 96. This
hel is a place that the tailors haue vnder their shopboord, wher al
their stolne shreds is thrust.
1606. Day, Ile of Gulls. That fellowes pocket is like a tailors
hell, it eats up part of every mans due; ’tis an executioner, and
makes away more innocent petitions in one yeere, than a red-headed
hangman cuts ropes in an age.
1625. Jonson, Staple of News, i., 1. That jest Has gain’d thy
pardon, thou hadst lived Condemn’d To thine own hell.
1663. T. Killegrew, Parson’s Wedding, iii., 5., in Dodsley, O.P.
(1780) xi., 452. Careless [addressing a tailor]. Why then, thou art
damned. Go, go home, and throw thyself into thine own hell; it is
the next way to the other.
1663–1712. King, Art of Cookery. In Covent Garden did a taylor
dwell, Who might deserve a place in his own hell.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hell, the Place where the
Taylers lay up their Cabbage, or Remnants, which are sometimes very
large.
1698. Money Masters All Things, p. 56. The Cheating Knave some of
the clues does throw Into his hell-hole; and then lets her know
That he her web cannot work out o’ th’ Loom.
1704. Swift, Tale of a Tub, Sec. iii. The tailor’s hell is the type
of a critic’s common-place book.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1814. C. Lamb, Melancholy of Tailors in Poems, etc. (Ed. Ainger),
p. 333. The tailor sitting over a cave or hollow place, in the
cabalistic language of his order, is said to have certain
melancholy regions always open under his feet.
1853. Notes and Queries, 1 S., viii., 315, c. 2. The term cabbage,
by which tailors designate the cribbed pieces of cloth, is said to
be derived from an old word ‘cablesh,’ i.e., wind-fallen wood. And
their hell where they store the cabbage, from helan, to hide.
3. (common).—A gambling house. [Whence Silver-hell = a gambling house
where only silver is played for; Dancing-hell = an unchartered hall;
and so forth.]
1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, ii., 4. Jerry. A hell, Tom? I’m at
fault again! Log. A gambling house, Jerry!
1841. Comic Almanack, p. 280. A man at a hell, Playing the part of
a Bonnetter well.
1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. xxxix. He plays still; he is in a
hell every night almost.
1890. Saturday Review, 1 Feb., p. 134, c. 2. These private hells
nevertheless exist, and as all money found on the premises is
seized by the police, the players have to resort to all kinds of
subterfuge when the three loud knocks are heard which indicate the
presence of the commissaire.
4. (venery).—The female pudendum; cf., Heaven. For synonyms, see
Monosyllable. [See Boccaccio, Decameron.]
Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, subs. phr. (old).—Three ale-houses formerly
situated near Westminster Hall.
1610. Jonson, Alchemist, v., 2. He must not break his fast In
Heaven or Hell.
Hell broke loose, subs. phr. (common).—Extreme disorder; anarchy.
1632. Hausted, Rivall Friends, v., 10. Fye, fye, hell is broke
loose upon me.
1672. Marvell, Rehearsal (Grosart), iii, 212. War broke out, and
then to be sure hell’s broke loose.
1703. Farquhar, Inconstant, iv., 4. Hell broke loose upon me, and
all the furies fluttered about my ears.
1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 96. Tho’ hell’s broke loose, and the
Devils roar abroad.
Hell of a (lark, goer, row, and so forth), adj. phr. (common).—Very
much of a ——; a popular intensitive.
All to hell (or gone to hell), adj. phr. (colloquial).—Utterly ruined.
To hope (or wish) to hell, verb. phr. (common).—To desire intensely.
1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 229. I hope to h—— the horse will
break his neck and his rider’s too.
To play (or kick up) hell and tommy, verb. phr. (common).—To ruin
utterly. Also, to play hell and break things; to raise hell; to make
hell’s delight.
1837–40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 287 (Ed. 1862). And in the
mean time rob ’em, plunder ’em, and tax ’em; hang their priests,
seize their galls, and play hell and tommy with them, and all
because they speak French.
1859. De Quincey, Wks. (14 vol., ed. vi., 336). About a hundred
years earlier Lord Bacon played h—— and tommy when casually raised
to the supreme seat in the Council by the brief absence in
Edinburgh of the King and the Duke of Buckingham.
1867. Lahore Chronicle, 20 May. The Sepoys are burning down the
houses, and playing h—— and tommy with the station.
1879. Justin M’Carthy, Donna Quixote, ch. xxxii. We’ll have a fine
bit of fun, I tell you. I’ve played hell-and-tommy already with the
lot of them.
To lead apes in hell, verb. phr. (old).—To die an old maid. [From a
popular superstition.]
1599. Henry Porter, The Two Angry Women of Abingdon. (Dodsley, Old
Plays, 4th ed., 1875, vii., 294–5). For women that are wise will
not lead apes in hell.... Therefore, come husband: maidenhead
adieu.
1600. Shakspeare, Much Ado about Nothing, ii., 1. He that is more
than youth is not for me, and he that is less than man I am not for
him; therefore I will ... even lead his apes into hell.
1605. London Prodigal, ii. But ’tis an old proverb, and you know it
well, that women, dying maids, lead apes in hell.
1611. Chapman, May-day, v. 2. I am beholden to her; she was loth to
have me lead apes in hell.
1659. The London Chanticleers, i., 2. I’ll always live a virgin!
What! and lead apes in hell?
1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 179. Celladon at that began To talk
of apes in hell.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Bloudie Jacke.’ They say she is
now leading apes ... And mends Bachelors’ small clothes below.
To put the devil into hell, verb. phr. (old).—To copulate.—Boccaccio.
[Hell = female pudendum.] For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.
To give hell, verb. phr. (common).—To trounce; abuse; or punish
severely. Also (American), to make one smell hell (or a damn particular
smell).
Hell-for-leather, adv. phr. (common).—With the utmost energy and
desperation.
1892. R. Kipling, Barrack Room Ballads. When we rode
hell-for-leather, Both squadrons together, Not caring much whether
we lived or we died.
Like hell, adv. phr. (common).—Desperately; with all one’s might.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxix. I tried every place,
everything; went to Ems, to Wiesbaden, to Hombourg, and played like
hell.
Go to hell! phr. (Common).—An emphatic dismissal: the full phrase is,
‘Go to hell and help the devil to make your mother into a bitch pie.’
[A variant is, ‘Go to hell and pump thunder.’] For analogous phrases,
see Oaths.
1836. Michael Scott, Cruise of the Midge, p. 72. So, good men, go
to hell all of you—do—very mosh go to hell—do.
1889. Daily News, 21 Dec., p. 7, c. 1. He was asked to see somebody
about his evidence, and told him to go to hell.
1892. Kipling, Barrack Room Ballads. ‘Ford o’ Kabul River.’ Kabul
town’ll go to hell.
Hell and Scissors! intj. (American).—An ejaculation of surprise and
ridicule. In England, Scissors!
Hell-bender, subs. (American).—A drunken frolic; a tremendous row. Also
Hell-a-popping and Hell’s delight.
Hell-broth, subs. (common).—Bad liquor. For synonyms, see Drinks.
Hell-cat (-hag, -hound, -kite, etc.), subs. (old: now recognised).—A
man or woman of hellish disposition; a lewdster of either sex; cf.,
Hallion.
1606. Shakspeare, Macbeth, v., 7. Macd. Turn, hell-hound, turn!
Macb. Of all men else I have avoided thee.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Hell-driver, subs. (old).—A coachman.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
Hellite, subs. (gaming).—A professional gambler.—Ducange.
1838. Grant, Sketches in London. Prosecuting the hellites for
assault.