1540. Lindsay, Thrie Estaits, line 1016. Wee have gart bind him
with ane poill, And send him to the theifis hoill.
1607. Miseries of Enforced Marriage, iii., I. (Dodsley, Old Plays,
4th ed., 1875. ix., 514). If you shall think ... it shall accord
with the state of gentry to submit myself from the feather-bed in
the master’s side, or the flock-bed in the knight’s ward, to the
straw-bed in the hole.
1607. Wentworth Smith, The Puritan, iii. But if e’er we clutch him
again the Counter shall charm him. Rav. The hole shall rot him.
1657. Walks of Hogsdon. Next from the stocks, the hole, and
little-ease.
1663. Killigrew, The Parson’s Wedding, iv., 2 (Dodsley, Old Plays,
4th ed., 1875, xiv., 482). Make his mittymus to the hole at
Newgate.
3. (old).—A private printing office where unlicensed books were made; a
cock-robin shop (q.v.).—Moxon, 1683.
4. (colloquial).—A difficulty; a fix; on the turf, to be in a hole = to
lose (a bet) or be defeated (of horses).
1760–61. Smollett, Sir L. Greaves, ch. xvi. I should be in a deadly
hole myself if all my customers should take it into their heads to
drink nothing but water-gruel.
1868. Ouida, Under Two Flags, ch. i. ‘I am in a hole—no end of a
hole.’
5. (common).—A place of abode; specifically, a mean habitation; a dirty
lodging. For synonyms, see Diggings.
6. (common).—The rectum: short for arse-hole. E.g., suck his hole = a
derisive retort upon an affirmative answer to the question, ‘Do you
know So-and-So?’ For synonyms, see Monocular Eyeglass.
1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, ‘The Miller’s Tale.’ And at the
window she put out hir hole.
1540. Lindsay, Thrie Estaits, line 2174. Lift vp hir clais: Kis hir
hoill with your hart.
1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, v., 3. A pox o’ your manners, kiss
my hole here, and smell.
1649. Drummond, Madrigals and Epigrams, ‘A Jest’ (Chalmers, English
Poets, 1810, x., 667). She turned, and turning up her hole beneath,
Said, ‘Sir, kiss here.’
d. 1732. Gay, Tales ‘In Imitation of Chaucer’s Style’ (Chalmers,
English Poets, 1810, x., 504). Thou didst forget to guard thy
postern, There is an hole which hath not crossed been.
Verb (venery).—To effect intromission; to put in (q.v.). Hence, Holed,
adj. = in (q.v.).
A hole in one’s coat, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A flaw in one’s fame; a
weak spot in one’s character. To pick a hole in one’s coat = to find a
cause for censure.
1789. Burns, Verses on Capt. Grose. If there’s a hole in a’ your
coats, I rede you tent it.
To make (or burn) a hole in one’s pocket, verb. phr. (colloquial).—Said
of money recklessly spent.
To make a hole in anything, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To use up largely.
1663. Killigrew, The Parson’s Wedding, iii., 5 (Dodsley, Old Plays,
4th ed., 1875, xiv., 456). Do it then, and make a hole in this
angel.
To make a hole in the water, verb. phr. (common).—To commit suicide by
drowning.
1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 76. I should just make a hole in
the water, if ’tworn’t for the wife and the kids.
To make a hole, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To break; to spoil; to upset;
to interrupt. Thus to make a hole in one’s manners = to be rude; to
make a hole in one’s reputation = to betray, to seduce; to make a hole
in the silence = to make a noise, to raise cain (q.v.).
Too drunk to see a hole in a ladder, phr. (common).—Excessively
intoxicated. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.
Hole-and-corner, adj. (colloquial).—Secret; underhand; out of the way:
e.g., hole-and-corner work = shady business. Also (venery) =
copulation. [Cf., Hole, subs. sense 1.]
Holer (also Holemonger), subs. (colloquial).—A whoremaster (cf., Hole,
subs., sense 1). Also (old), a harlot; a light woman (cf., Hole,
verb.). Hence, Holing = whoring.
Holiday, adj. (old).—Unskilled; indifferent; careless.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Holiday, a holiday bowler, a bad
bowler.
Blind Man’s Holiday. See ante.
To have a holiday at Peckham, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To go
dinnerless. All holiday at Peckham = no work and nothing to eat. [A
play upon words.] See Peckish.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. All holiday at Peckham ... a saying
signifying that it is all over with the business or person spoken
of or alluded to.
1848. Forster, Oliver Goldsmith, bk. I., ch. vi., p. 55 (5th Ed.).
‘Oh, that is all a holiday at Peckham,’ said an old friend very
innocently one day.
To take a holiday, verb. phr. (common).—To be dismissed; to get the bag
(q.v.) or sack (q.v.)
Gone for a holiday, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Said of a flaw, lapse, or
imperfection of any kind (as dropped stitches, lost buttons, slurred
painting, and so forth). See also quots.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Holiday ... a holiday is any part
of a ship’s bottom, left uncovered in painting it.
1883. Clark Russell, Sailors’ Language, p. 69, s.v. Holidays.
Places left untarred on shrouds, backstays, etc., during the
operation of tarring them.
Holler, verb. (American).—To cry enough; to give in; to cave in (q.v.).
1847. Porter, Quarter Race, etc., p. 89. The truth must come, he
warped me nice, So jist to save his time I hollered.
Hollis, subs. (Winchester College).—A small pebble. [Said to be derived
from a boy.—Notions.]
Hollow, adj. (colloquial).—Complete; certain; decided. As adv.
completely; utterly. E.g., to beat or lick hollow. See Beat and
Creation.
1759. Townley, High Life Below Stairs, i., 2. Crab was beat hollow.
1761. Colman, Jealous Wife, V., in Wks. (1777), i., 134. So, my
lord, you and I are both distanced: a hollow thing, damme.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Hollow. It was quite a hollow
thing, i.e., a certainty, or decided business.
1814. Edgworth, Patronage, ch. iii. Squire Burton won the match
hollow.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends. ‘Bloudie Jack.’ His lines to
Apollo Beat all the rest hollow And gained him the Newdegate Prize.
1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. lxiv., p. 529. I have therefore
taken a ’ouse in that locality, which, in the opinion of my
friends, is a hollow bargain (taxes ridiculous, and use of fixtures
included in the rent).
1871. Durham County Advertiser, 10 Nov. ‘It licks me hollow, sir,
as I may say,’ put in the silent member.
1892. Punch, 9 July, p. 3. Booby-traps were beaten hollow.
Holloway, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see
Monosyllable.
Holloway, Middlesex (common).—The lower bowel; the arse-gut (q.v.).
Holt, verb. (American).—To take; to take hold of.
Holus-bolus, subs. (nautical).—The head. Also the neck.
Adv. (colloquial).—Helter skelter; altogether; first come, first
served.
1868. Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone, 1st Period, ch. xv. And,
making a sudden snatch at the heap of silver, put it back,
holus-bolus, in her pocket.
Holy. More holy than righteous, adv. phr. (common).—Said of a person in
rags, or of a tattered garment.
Holy-boys, subs. (military).—The Ninth Foot. [From a trick of selling
bibles for drink in the Peninsula.] Also, Fighting Ninth.
1886. Tinsley’s Magazine, Apr., 322. The 9th having bartered their
Bibles in Spain for wine, and having there gained a reputation for
sacking monasteries, were long known as the Holy Boys.
Holy-father, subs. (Irish).—See quot.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Holy Father, A butcher’s boy of St.
Patrick’s Market, Dublin, or other Irish blackguard; among whom the
exclamation, or oath, by the Holy Father (meaning the Pope), is
common.
Holy Iron. See Holy Poker.
Holy Joe, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A pious person, whether hypocritical
or sincere. Also (nautical), a parson.
Holy Jumping Mother of Moses. See Moses.
Holy-lamb, subs. (old).—A thorough-paced villain.—Grose.
Holy-land (or ground), subs. (old).—1. St. Giles’s; Palestine (q.v.).
1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 7. For we are the
boys of the holy ground, And we’ll dance upon nothing and turn us
round.
1821. The Fancy, i., p. 250. The Holy-land, as St. Giles’s has been
termed, in compliment to the superior purity of its Irish
population.
1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry, ch. ii. At Mammy O’Shaughnessy’s in the
back Settlements of the Holy Land.
1823. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, ii., 5. Let’s have a dive
among the cadgers in the back slums, in the Holy Land.
1843. Punch’s Almanack, 1 Sept. St. Giles. The Marquis of Waterford
makes a pilgrimage to his shrine in the Holy Land.
1859. Sala, Twice Round the Clock, one a.m., par. 28. Unfaithful
topographers may have told you that the Holy Land being swept away
and Buckeridge Street being pulled down, St. Giles’s exists no
more.
1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 3 Apr. p. 215, col. 1. It would be hard
to say whether the Irishmen of the Holy Land or the Hebrew scum of
Petticoat Lane showed the finest specimens of ‘looped and windowed
raggedness.’
2. (common).—Generic for any neighbourhood affected by Jews;
specifically, Bayswater, and Brighton. Cf., New Jerusalem, and Holy of
Holies.
Holy Moses. See Moses.
Holy of Holies, subs. phr. (common).—1. The Grand Hotel at Brighton.
[Which is largely tenanted by Jews: cf., Holy Land (sense 2), and New
Jerusalem.]