1839. Brandon, Poverty, Mendicity, and Crime, 116. I have heard
them tell ... boys ... who have hooped it from home that they had
better go back whilst they had a home to go to.
Hooper’s Hide, subs. phr. (old venery).—Copulation. For synonyms, see
Greens.
1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 278. The while that his wife with
Willy Was playing at Hooper’s Hide.
Hoop-stick, subs. (common).—The arm. For synonyms, see Chalk Farm.
Hoosier, subs. (American).—A native of Indiana. [Perhaps the most
reasonable of several ingenious explanations is, that in the early days
the customary challenge or greeting in that region was, ‘Who’s yer?’
(who’s here?): pronounced hoosier.—Norton.]
1843. D. Corcoran, A Genuine Hoosier. An original character is your
genuine Hoosier. By genuine, we mean such a one as has all the
attributes that peculiarly belong to the back-woodsmen of the West.
1847. Darley, Drama in Pokerville, p. 197. None of them ‘cotton’d’
to him more kindly than an elderly hoosier from the innermost
depths of Indiana.
1848. Durivage, Stray Subjects, p. 79. There is a swarm of
‘suckers,’ ‘hoosiers,’ ‘buckeyes,’ ‘corn-crackers,’ and
‘wolverines’ eternally on the qui vive in those parts.
Hooter, subs. (American).—1. A steam-whistle; an American devil (q.v.).
2. (colloquial).—A wooden trumpet, so contrived as to make a horrible
noise.
3. (American).—A corruption of ‘iota’: e.g., ‘I don’t care a hooter for
him.’
Hooting-pudding, subs. (provincial).—A plum-pudding with such a paucity
of plums that you can hear them hooting after each other.—Slang,
Jargon, and Cant.
Hop, subs. (common).—A dance. [Generally informal, as a Cinderella
(q.v.).] Also, as in quot. 1579, the motions of dancing. For synonyms,
see Skip.
1579. Gosson, Schoole of Abuse, p. 33 (Arber’s Ed.). He gaue
Dauncers great stipends for selling their hopps.
1811. Jane Austen, Sense and S., ch. ix. At a little hop at the
park, he danced from eight o clock till four.
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v. Hop—a contra-dance of ordinary persons
and promiscuous company is ‘a hop’ and ‘a penny-hop’ from the price
formerly paid for admission.
1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, iv. He gave them from time to time a
very agreeable hop.
1847. Thackeray, Mrs. Perkins’s Ball (Mr. Larkins). To describe
this gentleman’s infatuation for dancing, let me say, in a word,
that he will even frequent boarding-house hops, rather than not go.
1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 189. The ‘temple’ was
generally cleared for a hop two or three times during the week.
1850. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, p. 121. You’ll be at old Coleman’s
hop to-night, I suppose; so bye! bye! for the present.
1852. Bristed, Upper Ten Thousand, p. 129. Two undress-balls—hops
they were.
1882. Daily Telegraph, 13 Nov., p. 5, c. 3. At all seasons there is
an immense amount of dancing; and at Washington there are continual
‘hotel hops’ in the winter.
1887. W. S. Gilbert, Patience, ii. Prefers suburban hops To all
your Monday Pops.
1889. Lippincott, Oct., p. 447. Hang me if she isn’t always on the
plain, or at a hop, with one of those twin kids!
1892. Kipling, Barrack Room Ballads. ‘Gentlemen Rankers.’ To dance
with blowzy housemaids at the regimental hops.
Hop-and-go-kick, subs. phr. (tailors’).—A lameter; a Hop-and-go-one.
Cf., Dot-and-carry-one.
To hop the wag, verb. phr. (common).—To play truant, or Charley-wag
(q.v.).
1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 207. They often
persuaded me to hop the wag, that is play truant from school.
To hop (or jump) over the broom (or broomstick), verb. phr.
(colloquial).—To live as husband and wife; to live (or go) tally
(q.v.).
1811. Poole, Hamlet Travestied, ii., 3. Jump o’er a broomstick, but
don’t make a farce on The marriage ceremonies of the parson.
1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 336. There was
always a broomstick wedding. Without that ceremony a couple weren’t
looked on as man and wife.
1860. Dickens, Great Expectations, xlviii., 227. This woman in
Gerrard Street, here, had been married very young, over the
broomstick (as we say), to a tramping man.
c. 18(79). Broadside Ballad, ‘David Dove that Fell in Love.’ By L.
M. Thornton. The girl that I had hoped to hear Pronounce my happy
doom, sir, Had bolted with a carpenter, In fact hopped o’er the
broom, sir.
To hop the twig, verb. phr. (common).—1. To leave; to run away; to
skedaddle (q.v.). For synonyms, see amputate.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 143. Hop the twig ... means
to depart suddenly.
1830. Egan, Finish to Life in London, p. 217. I have lost my
ticker; and all my toggery has been boned, I am nearly as naked as
when I was born—and the cause—the lady bird—has hopped the twig.
1884. Daily News, 31 Oct., p. 3, c. 1. They knocked the Liberals
down as fast as they could until they got too numerous and strong,
and then we hopped the twig.
1888. All the Year Round, 9 June 543. To hop the twig ... and the
like, are more flippant than humorous.
2. (common).—To die; to ‘kick the bucket’ (q.v.); to peg out (q.v.).
Also To hop off.
English Synonyms. To be content; to cock up one’s toes; to croak; to
cut (or let go) the painter; to cut one’s stick; to give in; to give
up; to go to Davy Jones’ locker; to go off the hooks; to go under; to
go up; to kick the bucket; kickeraboo (West Indian); to lay down one’s
knife and fork; to lose the member of one’s mess; to mizzle; to pass in
one’s checks; to peg out; to put on a wooden surtout; to be put to bed
with a shovel; to slip one’s cable; to stick one’s spoon in the wall;
to snuff it; to take an earth bath; to take a ground sweat.
French Synonyms.—Passer l’arme à gauche (pop.: = to ground arms);
casser sa pipe (= to break one’s pipe); dévisser or décoller son
billard (= to break one’s cue); graisser ses bottes (= to grease one’s
boots); avaler sa langue (= to swallow one’s tongue); avaler sa gaffe
(= to lower one’s boat-hook); avaler sa cuiller or sa fourchette (= to
swallow one’s spoon or one’s fork); avaler ses baguettes (military: =
to swallow one’s drumsticks); n’avoir plus mal aux dents (= to get rid
of the toothache: mal de dents, also = love); poser sa chique (pop.: =
to put down one’s quid); claquer (familiar: = to croak); saluer le
public (theat.: = to go before the curtain); recevoir son décompte
(military: = to get one’s quietus; décompte = also [military] a mortal
wound); cracher son embouchure (= to spit one’s mouthpiece); déteindre
(pop.: = to wash off one’s colour); donner son dernier bon à tirer
(familiar: in American = to pass in one’s checks; properly = to send
one’s last proof to press); lâcher la perche (pop.: = to hop the twig);
éteindre son gaz (pop.: = to turn off one’s gas. Cf., to snuff it);
épointer son foret (pop.: = to blunt one’s drill, as in boring); être
exproprié (pop.: = to be dispossessed); exproprier (= to take
possession of a debtor’s land); péter son lof (sailor’s); fumer ses
terres; fermer son parapluie (pop.: = to close one’s umbrella); perdre
son bâton (pop.: = to lose one’s walking stick); descendre la garde
(pop.: = to come off guard); défiler la parade (military: = to face
about); tortiller, or tourner de l’œil (pop.); perdre le goût du pain
(pop.: = to lose one’s appetite); lâcher la rampe (theat.: = to chuck
the footlights); faire ses petits paquets (pop.: = to pack up one’s
traps); casser son crachoir (pop.: = to break one’s spittoon);
remercier son boulanger (thieves’: = to thank the baker; boulanger =
the Devil); canner; dévider à l’estorgue (thieves’); baiser or épouser
la Camarde or camarder (pop: = to hug, or go to church with, Mother
Bones [Camarde = Death]); fuir (thieves’: = to flee or escape); casser
son câble (pop.: = to slip one’s cable); casser son fouet (pop.: = to
break one’s whip); faire sa crêvaison (pop.: crêver = to burst up);
déralinguer (sailors’: = to loose from the bolt-rope); virer de bord
(sailors’: = to tack about); déchirer son faux-col (pop.: = to break
one’s collar); dégeler (= to thaw); couper sa mèche (coachman’s: = to
cut off one’s lash); piquer sa plaqu (sailors’); mettre la table pour
les asticots (pop.: = to lay the cloth for the worms); aller manger les
pissenlits par la racine (pop.: = to go grubbing off dandelion roots);
laisser fuir son tonneau (familiar); calancher (vagrants’); laisser ses
bottes quelque part (familiar: = to leave one’s boots about); déchirer
son habit (pop.: = to tear one’s coat); déchirer son tablier (pop.: =
to tear one’s apron); souffler sa veilleuse (pop.: = to blow out one’s
candle: cf., to snuff it); pousser le boum du cygne (pop.); avoir son
coke (familiar: = to get one’s cargo); rendre sa secousse (pop.);
rendre sa bûche (tailors’); rendre sa canne au ministre (military: = to
resign one’s commission); rendre sa clef (gipsy: = to give in one’s
key); rendre son livret (pop.: = to pass in one’s checks); passer au
dixième régiment (military); s’ennuyer (pop.: = to be at death’s door);
chasser les mouches (pop.: to go fly-catching); ingurgiter son bilan
(popular); resserrer son linge (pop.); faire sa malle (pop.: = to pack
one’s trunk); avaler le goujon (pop.); s’habiller de sapin (pop.: = to
put on a wooden surtout); avoir son compte (pop.); battre de l’œil
(thieves’); s’évanouir (pop.: to mizzle); machaber (pop.: machabre =
the Dance of Death); glisser (pop.); s’en aller dans le pays des
marmottes (pop.: marmotte = puppet); déménager (pop.: = to move house).
German Synonyms.—Krachen gehen; niftern; pegern or peigern; schochern
or verschochern (= to get black); verschwarzen.
Italian Synonyms. Sbasire (= to faint); sbasire su le funi (= to faint
on the rope).
Spanish Synonyms.—Hacer bodoques (= to take an earth bath); liarlas (=
also to run away); obispar; corvado (= bent, curved); cierto (=
certain).
1839. Dance, Alive and Merry, i., 1. Couldn’t you wait a bit till
she’s hopped off, and then you and I could marry, and be ladies and
gentlemen?
1841. Punch, I., 2, 2. Clare pines in secret—Hops the twig and goes
to glory in white muslin.
1842. Punch, vol. II., p. 20, c. 2. Yet henceforth—dash my wig!
I’ll live with thee, with thee I’ll hop the twig!
1863. Fun, vol. IV., p. 188. The night when Cromwell died a storm
tore up many of the trees [of St. James’s Park]—though what
connexion there may be between the destruction of their branches
and the hopping the twig of the Protector, we leave to our
philosophical readers to decide.
1870. Chambers’s Miscellany, No. 87, p. 26. That her disease was
mortal, was past a doubt, and a month or two more or less could
make no difference, provided she hopped off ... before the year was
expired.
On the hop, adv. phr. (common).—1. Unawares; at the nick of time; in
flagrante delicto. Also On the h. o. p.
1868. Broadside Ballad, ‘The Chickaleary Cove.’ For to catch me on
the hop.... You must wake up very early in the morning.
1870. London Figaro, 26 Aug. If to catch any of the more ordinary
folk on the hop is to secure a laugh, what must it be to catch the
Tycoon ‘on the—top?’
1872. Daily Telegraph, 3 Sept. Goodbye, Johnny: before I leave you,
One more kiss before I go. For to catch me on the hop.
1892. Anstey, Model Music Hall, 32. I never saw a smarter hand at
serving in a shop, For every likely customer she caught upon the
’op.