1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, iv, 14. Laudanum, therefore, being
unable to stop the health of our hero, which the fruit of hempseed,
and not the spirit of poppy-seed, was to overcome....
Verb (American).—To choke or strangle.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
To wag hemp in the wind, verb. phr. (old).—To be hanged. See Hempen
Fever and Ladder.
1532. Sir T. More, Wks. [1557], folio 715. Tindall calleth blessing
and crossynge but wagging of folkes fingers in the æyre, and
feareth not (like one yt would at length wagge hempe in the winde)
to mocke at all such miracles.
Hempen-bridle, subs. (old).—A ship’s rope or rigging. See Horse and
Tree.
Hempen Collar (candle, circle, cravat, croak, garter, necktie, or
habeas), subs. (old).—The hangman’s noose; a halter. Also Hemp, and the
Hearty-choke. Cf., Anodyne neck-lace. See quot. 1595.
1530–95. Turbervile, Of Two Desperate Men. A man in deepe despaire,
with hempe in hand, Went out in haste to ende his wretched dayes.
c. 1586. Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv., 4. When the hangman had put on
his hempen.
1594. Shakspeare, 2 Henry VI., iv., 7. Ye shall have a hempen
candle then, and the pap of a hatchet.
c. 1785. Wolcot [P. Pindar], Rights of Kings, Ode xviii. Your hemp
cravats, your pray’r, your Tyburn miser.
1819. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor, ch. xvi. I wad wager twa and a
plack that hemp plaits his cravat yet.
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Hempen Habeas. He will get over it by a
hempen habeas.
1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. iv. If ever I know as how you
makes a flat of my Paul, blow me tight, but I’ll weave you a hempen
collar: I’ll hang you, you dog, I will.
1886. Miss Braddon, Mohawks, ch. xxviii. A full confession were
perhaps too much to expect. Nothing but the immediate prospect of a
hempen necklace would extort that.
Hempen Fever. To die of a hempen fever, verb. phr. (old).—To be hanged.
For synonyms, see Ladder.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hempen Fever, a man who was hanged,
is said to have died of a hempen fever; and in Dorsetshire to have
been stabbed with a Bridport dagger; Bridport being a place famous
for manufacturing hemp into cords.
1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 76. She had been married
four times; three of her husbands died of hempen fevers.
Hempen-fortune, subs. (old).—Bad luck; a term for the gallows.
1705. Vanbrugh, The Confederacy, v., 1. If ever I see one glance of
your hempen fortune again, I’m off your partnership for ever.
Hempen-squincy, subs. (old).—Hanging. For synonyms, see Ladder.
1646. Randolph’s Jealous Lovers. Hear you, tutour, Shall not we be
suspected for the murder, And choke with a hempen squincy.
Hempen-widow, subs. (old).—A woman widowed by the gallows.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hempen Widow, One whose Husband
was Hanged.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th Ed.). Hempen-Widow (s.), a woman
whose husband was hanged.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1834. Harrison Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. 89. In a box of the
stone-jug I was born, Of a hempen-widow the kid forlorn Fake away.
Hen, subs. (common).—1. A woman. Specifically, a wife or mistress. For
synonyms, see Petticoat.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Hen. In Black-boy Alley I’ve a ken, A
tyke and fighting cock; A saucy tip-slang moon-eyed hen, Who is oft
mill-doll at block.