Hopeful (or Young Hopeful), subs. (colloquial).—A boy or young man; in
sarcasm or contempt.
1856. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Tales of College Life, 24. He’ll
be no end riled at seeing his hopeful play truant in this fashion.
Hop- (or Hap-) Harlot, subs. (old).—A coarse coverlet; Cf.,
Wrap-rascal.
1807–8. Hollinshed, Chronicles of England, ch. 12. Covered only
with a sheet, under coverlets made of dag-swain, or hop-harlots.
Hopkins (Hoppy, or Mr. Hopkins), subs. (old).—A lameter. For synonyms,
see Dot-and-go-one Giles.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Don’t Hurry, Hopkins! phr. (American).—Ironical to persons slow to move
or to meet an obligation.
Hop-merchant (or Hoppy), subs. (common).—A dancing master; a
caper-merchant (q.v.). Also, a fiddler.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf, s.v.
1892. Sydney Watson, Wops the Waif, ch. iii., p. 4. Who-ay, Cully,
here’s Hoppy with the rozin.
Hop-o-my-thumb, subs. (common).—A dwarf.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in Wks. v., 248. Though the greatnesse
of the redde herring be not small (as small a hoppe-on-my-thumbe as
hee seemeth).
1603. Dekker, etc., Patient Grissell, IV., ii., in Wks. (Grosart)
vi., 195. Bab. No; he shall not haue them [children]: knocke out
his braines, and saue the little hop-a-my-thombes.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xi. You pitiful hop-o’-my-thumb
coxcomb.
1764. O’Hara, Midas, i., 5. You Stump-o’-the-gutter, you
Hop-o’-my-thumb, A husband must for you from Lilliput come.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hop-o-my-Thumb. She was such a
hop-o-my-thumb that a pigeon, on sitting on her shoulder, might
pick a pea out of her a—se.
1821. Scott, Kenilworth, ch. xi. A mean-looking hop-o’-my-thumb
sort of person.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends. ‘Account of a New Play.’ A
hop-o’-my-thumb of a Page.
English Synonyms.—Go-by-the-ground; grub; grundy; Jack Sprat; little
breeches; shrimp; stump-of-the-gutter; tom-tit. See also, Forty-foot.
Hopper, subs. (colloquial).—The mouth. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.
To go a hopper, verb. phr. (sporting).—To go quickly.
Hopper-arsed (or Hipped), adj. (old).—Large in the breech. Also (as in
quot. 1529) snaggy-boned. Also as subs.
d. 1529. Dunbar, Poems, ‘Complaint to the King’ (1836, i., 144).
With hopper-hippis and hanches narrow.
1672. Wycherley, Love in a Wood, ii., 1. Moreover, she is
bow-legged, hopper-hipped, and, betwixt pomatum and Spanish red,
has a complexion like a Holland cheese.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hopper-arst, when the Breach
sticks out.
1704. King, Orpheus and Eurydice (Chalmers, English Poets), vol.
ix., p. 284. A lady of prodigious fame, Whose hollow eyes and
hopper breech Made common people call her witch.
1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., vi., 351. And there’ll be hopper-arsed
Nancy.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Hopper-docker, subs. (old).—A shoe. For synonyms, see Trotter-cases.
Hop-picker, subs. (common).—1. A prostitute; also Hopping-wife. For
synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.
1888. Indoor Paupers, p. 55. Numbers of them go regularly to the
hop-gardens; and each man must have a female companion—a hopping
wife as she is termed.