Herefordshire-weed, subs. (old).—An oak.
Her Majesty’s Carriage, subs. phr. (common).—A prison van; the Queen’s
’bus. See Black Maria. Fr., l’omnibus à pègres.
Her Majesty’s Tobacco Pipe, subs. (common).—The furnace where the
forfeited tobacco from the Customs House is burnt. [Now a thing of the
past: the tobacco being distributed to workhouses, etc.]
1871. Echo, 27 Jan. All that was not sold will be burnt, according
to custom, in her majesty’s tobacco pipe. We cannot think such
waste justifiable.
Hermit (or Baldheaded Hermit), subs. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms,
see Creamstick and Prick.
Herod. To out-herod Herod, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To out-do;
specifically (theatrical) to excel in rant.
1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, iii., 2. Oh, it offends me to the soul to
hear a robustious, perriwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters,
to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings ... it
out-herods Herod.
Herring. Neither fish, flesh, fowl, nor good red herring, phr.
(old).—Neither one thing nor the other.
1682. Dryden, Duke of Guise, Epil. (6th line from end). Neuters in
their middleway of fleering, Are neither fish, nor flesh, nor good
red herring.
To throw a sprat to catch a herring (or whale), verb. phr. (old).—To
forego an advantage in the hope of greater profit.
1826. Buckstone, Luke the Labourer, i., 2. I give dat like throwing
away a sprat to catch a herring, though I hope on this occasion to
catch a bigger fish.
1890. Grant Allen, Tents of Shem, ch. xix. He’s casting a sprat to
catch a whale.
Dead as a herring (or shotten herring), adv. phr. (old).—Quite dead.
[Herrings die sooner on leaving the water than most fish.] See Dead.
1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, ii., 3. By gar de herring
is no dead as I vill kill him.
1785. Burns, Death and Dr. Hornbook. I’ll nail the self-conceited
sot As dead’s a herrin’.
1790. Rhodes, Bombastes Furioso, Sc. 4. Ay, dead as
herrings—herrings that are red.
Like herrings in a barrel, adv. phr. (common).—Very crowded.
1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 117. People jammed inside like
herrings in a barrel.
The devil a barrel the better herring, phr. (old).—All bad alike.—Lex.
Bal. In modern American, all alike; indistinguishable. Cf., Sardine.
Herring-gutted, adj. (old).—Lanky; thin.—Grose.
Herring-pond, subs. (common).—The sea; specifically, the North Atlantic
Ocean. See Briny and Puddle. To be sent across the herring-pond = to be
transported.
1722. England’s Path to Wealth. ’Tis odds but a finer country,
cheaper and better food and raiment, wholesomer air, easier rents
and taxes, will tempt many of your countrymen to cross the
herring-pond.
1729. Gay, Polly, i., 1. Bless us all! how little are our customs
known on this side the herring pond!
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, etc., s.v. Herring-pond—the sea, the
Atlantic; and he who is gone across it is said to be lagged, or
gone a Botanizing.
1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 256, ed. 1854. You’re too old a
hand for the herring-pond.
1864. M. E. Braddon, Henry Dunbar, ch. xxv. You’re not going to run
away? You’re not going to renounce the pomps and vanities of this
wicked world, and make an early expedition across the
herring-pond—eh?
1884. Phillipps-Woolley, Trottings of a Tenderfoot. Everyone
nowadays has read as much as he or she cares to about the voyage
across the herring-pond.
1889. Notes and Queries, 7 S., vii., p. 36, c. 2. Terms which have
lived in America, and again crossed the herring-pond with modern
traffic.
1890. Punch, 6 Feb. Saturday.—My connection with war ended.
Calculate I start to-morrow with the Show across the herring-pond,
to wake up the Crowned Heads of Europe!
1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody, ch. xvii. If so, I’ll—I’ll cut him, when
I cross the—er—herrin’ pond.
1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 119. I guess we have
ruined one or two well-known authors, on the other side of the
herring pond.
Hertfordshire-kindness, subs. (old).—An acknowledgment, or return, in
kind, of favours received. (But see quots., 1662, 1690, and 1738).
1662. Fuller, Worthies. This is generally taken in a good and
grateful sense, for the mutual return of favours received: it being
(belike) observed that the people in this county at entertainments
drink back to them who drank to them.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hertfordshire-kindness,
Drinking to the same Man again.
1717. Ned Ward, Wks., ii., 7. Then we were fain To use
Hertfordshire-kindness, Here’s to you again.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1738. Swift, Polite Conversations. Neverout. My Lord, this moment I
did myself the honour to drink to your Lordship. Lord Smart. Why
then that’s Hertfordshire Kindness. Neverout. Faith, my Lord, I
pledged myself: for I drank twice together without thinking.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hertfordshire Kindness, drinking
twice to the same person.
Hewgag. The Hewgag, subs. (American).—A name for an undeterminate,
unknown, mythical creature.—Slang, Jargon, and Cant.
Hey-gammer-cook. To play at Hey-gammer-cook, verb. phr. (venery).—To
copulate. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.
1720. C. Johnson, Highwaymen and Pyrates, ‘Margaret Simpson’
(q.v.).
Hiccius Doccius, subs. phr. (Old Cant).—A juggler; also a shifty fellow
or trickster.
1676. Shadwell, Virtuoso, ii., p. 19. I shall stand here till one
of them has whipt away my Mistris about business, with a Hixius
Doxius, with the force of Repartee, and this, and that, and
Everything in the world.
1678. Butler, Hudibras, iii., 3, 579. At Westminster, and
Hickses-Hall, And Hiccius Dockius play’d in all.
1688. Wycherley, Country Wife, iii. That burlesque is a Hocus-pocus
trick they have got, which by the virtue of Hictius doctius,
topsey-turvey, etc.
1812. Johnson, Eng. Dict., s.v. Hiccius doccius ... a cant word for
a juggler; one that plays fast and loose.
Adj. (old).—Drunk; slovenly. Also, Hickey (q.v.). For synonyms, see
Drinks and Screwed.
1733. North, Examen, i., 3, 137 (1740). The author with his
Hiccius-doxius delivery.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hicksius Doxius, Drunk.
Hic Jacet, subs. phr. (common).—A tombstone; also a memorial
inscription. [From the opening words.]
1598. Shakspeare, All’s Well, etc., iii., 6. The merit of service
is seldom attributed to the true ... performer. I would have that
drum ... or hic jacet.
1858–59. Tennyson, Idylls of the King (‘Vivien’). Among the cold
hic jacets of the dead.
Hick, subs. (Old Cant).—I. A man; specifically a countryman; a booby.
Also (American thieves’) Hickjop and Hicksam. For synonyms, see Joskin.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hick, any Person of whom any
Prey can be made, or Booty taken from; also a silly Country Fellow.
1720. Smith, Lives of Highwaymen and Pyrates, ii., 39. Among whom
was a country farmer ... which was not missed at all by the Country
Hick.
1725. New Cant. Dict. Song 3. ‘The Thief-catcher’s Prophesy.’ The
Eighth is a Bulk, that can bulk any Hick.
1754. Scoundrel’s Dict. The fourteenth, a gamester, if he sees the
Hick sweet He presently drops down a cog in the street.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Hickety-split, adj. (American).—With all one’s might; at top speed;
hammer and tongs (q.v.); full chisel (q.v.).
Hickey, adj. (old).—See quot.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Hickey, Tipsy; not quite drunk;
elated.
Hickory-shirt, subs. (American).—A checked shirt, cotton or woollen.
Hide, subs. (common).—The human skin. Once literary; now colloquial and
vulgar.
1568. Bannatyne MSS., ‘When Flora, etc.’ (Hunterian Club, 1879–88).
Sche is so brycht of hyd and hew, I lufe bot hir allane I wene.
1607. Marston, What You Will, ii., I. A skubbing railer, whose
course harden’d fortune, Grating his hide, gauling his starued
ribs, Sittes hauling at Deserts more battle fate.
1731. C. Coffey, The Devil to Pay, Sc. 5. Come, and spin, you drab,
or I’ll tan your hide for you.
1892. Kipling, Barrack-Room Ballads. ‘Gunga-Din.’ An’ for all ’is
dirty ’ide ’e was white, clear white, inside.
Verb (common).—To flog. For synonyms, see Tan.
1868. Cassell’s Mag., May, p. 80. This was carried across the yard
to Jacky as a regular challenge, and some said that Kavanagh and
his friends were coming over to hide Jacky after dinner.
1885. Punch, 29 Aug. p. 98. And the silver-topped rattan with which
the boys I used to hide.
Hidebound, adj. (old: now recognised).—Barren; intractable; niggardly;
pedantic; utterly immovable.
1606. Return from Parnassus, ii., 4 (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed.,
1875, ix., 125). Any of the hidebound brethren of Oxford or
Cambridge.
1672. Wycherley, Love in a Wood, i., 2. I am as barren and
hidebound as one of your scribbling poets, who are sots in company
for all their wit.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hidebound Horse, whose Skin
sticks very close, and tite like a Pudding Bag, usually when very
Fat. Ibid. Hidebound Muse, Stiff, hard of Delivery, Sir J. Suckling
call’d Ben Johnson’s so.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1893. Pall Mall Gaz., 24 Feb. ‘High Time to Get Up.’ The most
dragging inertness and the most hide-bound celerity.
Hiding, subs. (common).—A thrashing. For synonyms, see Tanning.
1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, ii., p. 23. May the Gown give the
Town a jolly good hiding.
1864. Mark Lemon, Jest Book, p. 236. Some people have a notion that
villany ought to be exposed, though we must confess we think it a
thing that deserves a hiding.
1871. All the Year Round, 18 Feb. p. 288. Served me right if I’d
got a hiding.
1883. Pall Mall Gaz., 16 Apr., p. 7, c. 2. They should stone all
boys they met who were not members of the society, or in default
themselves receive a good hiding.
1888. Sportsman, 22 Dec. The chairman told Deakin he could scarcely
expect anything but a hiding for being connected with such a
scurrilous publication.
1891. Licensed Vict. Mirror, 30 Jan., p. 7, c. 1. Before Paddock
could claim the victory, which cost the Redditch fighter one of the
severest hidings he ever had to put up with.
Higgledy-piggledy, adj. (Old Cant: now recognised).—In confusion;
topsy-turvy; at sixes and sevens.
1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Alla rappa, snatchingly,
higledi-pigledie, shiftingly, rap and run.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Higglede-piggledy, all
together, as Hoggs and Piggs lie Nose in Arse.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1758. A. Murphy, The Upholsterer, ii. Ambassadors and Hair-Cutters,
all higgledy-piggledy together.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1812. Johnson, Eng. Dict., s.v. Higgledy-piggledy, a cant word,
corrupted from higgle, which denotes any confused mass, as higglers
carry a huddle of provisions together.
1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. xxii., p. 199. His name’s got
all the letters in it, higgledy-piggledy.
1873. Miss Broughton, Nancy, ch. ii. We are all
higgledy-piggledy—at sixes and sevens!
1876. M. E. Braddon, Joshua Haggard, ch. xvi. ‘If some of you will
sit down,’ remonstrated Judith, ‘I’ll pour out the tea. But I don’t
feel as if anybody wanted it while you’re standing about
higgledy-piggledy.’
Higgler, subs. (old).—A hawker.
High, adj. (American).—Drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.
2. (colloquial).—Stinking; gamey (q.v.).; whence, by implication,
diseased (as a prostitute); obscene in intention and effect.
The high and dry, subs. phr. (clerical).—The High Church or
Anglo-Catholic party in the Establishment, as opposed to the low and
slow (q.v.), or Evangelical section. Cf., Broad and Shallow.
1854. Conybeare, Church Parties, 74. Its adherents [of the High
Church] are fallen from their high estate, and are contemptuously
denominated the high and dry, just as the parallel development of
the Low Church is nicknamed ‘low and slow.’
1857. Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers, ch. liii. Who belongs to
the high and dry church, the High Church as it was some fifty years
since, before tracts were written and young clergymen took upon
themselves the highly meritorious duty of cleaning churches?
1886. Graphic, 10 Apr., 399. In the Church have we not the three
schools of High and Dry, Low and Slow, and Broad and Shallow?
High and dry, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Stranded; abandoned;
irrecoverable.
1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 18 Oct., 6, 1. It seems to me that Mr.
Chamberlain must really look out or he will find himself, as the
result of that insidious ‘mellowing process’ to which Mr. Matthews
has testified, landed high and dry in a Toryism compared to which
Sir Walter Barttelot will show in Radical colours.
High and mighty, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Arrogant; imperious; proud;
‘on the high horse,’ or the ‘high ropes’ (q.v.); full of side (q.v.).
1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 121. None of your high and mighty
games with me.
1892. Henley and Stevenson, Deacon Brodie, i., 2. Ye need na be sae
high and mighty onyway.
1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 49. ‘Mighty high
some people are, ain’t they?’ the man observed loudly,
straightening himself, and ordering a nobbler for himself.
Too high for one’s nut, adv. phr. (American).—Out of one’s reach;
beyond one’s capacity; over one’s bend (q.v.).
You can’t get high enough, verb. phr. (common).—A derisive comment on
any kind of failure. [Probably obscene in origin.]
How is that for high? phr. (American).—‘What do you think of it?’ [Once
a tag universal; common wear now.]
1860. Bartlett, Americanisms, s.v. High. For when he slapped my
broad-brim off, and asked, How’s that for high? It roused the Adam
in me, and I smote him hip and thigh!
1872. Clemens (Mark Twain), Roughing It, 334. We are going to get
it up regardless of expense. [He] was always nifty himself, and so
you bet his funeral ain’t going to be no slouch,—solid silver
door-plate on his coffin, six plumes on the hearse, and a nigger on
the box in a biled shirt and a plug hat,—how’s that for high?
1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 23 Sep., p. 2, c. 1. ‘Cricket’ stories are
the thing just now. How is this for high?
High-bellied (or High in the Belly), adj. phr. (colloquial).—Far gone
in pregnancy. Also High-waisted.
Highbinder, subs. (American).—1. A Chinese blackmailer.