Hot-tiger, subs. (Oxford Univ.).—Hot-spiced ale and sherry.—Hotten.
Hot-water. To be in hot-water, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be in
trouble, in difficulties, or worried.
1846. Punch’s Almanack, 29 Nov. The Times first printed by steam,
1814, and has kept the country in hot water ever since.
1864. Mark Lemon, Jest book, p. 238. Lord Allen, in conversation
with Rogers, the poet, observed: ‘I never put my razor into hot
water, as I find it injures the temper of the blade.’ ‘No doubt of
it,’ replied Rogers; ‘show me the blade that is not out of temper
when plunged into hot water.’
Hound, subs. (Cambridge Univ.).—1. See quot.
1879. E. Walford, in N. and Q., 5 S., xii., 88. In the Anecdotes of
Bowyer ... we are told that a hound of King’s College, Cambridge,
is an undergraduate not on the foundation, nearly the same as a
‘sizar.’
2. (colloquial). A mean, contemptible fellow; a scoundrel; a filthy
sneak.
Hounslow-heath, subs. (rhyming).—The teeth. For synonyms, see Grinders.
Also Hampstead-heath.
1887. Dagonet in Referee, 7 Nov., p. 7, c. 3. She’d a Grecian ‘I
suppose,’ And of Hampstead Heath two rows.
Houri of Fleet-street, subs. phr. (common).—A prostitute. For synonyms,
see Barrack-hack and Tart.
House, subs. (theatrical).—1. An audience. To bring down the house = to
elicit a general burst of applause. Fr., avoir sa côtelette; boire du
lait.
1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. House. With them (the players)
it means Covent-garden or Drury-lane, or indeed any other theatre.
‘A full-house’ and ‘half-a-house’ indicate the state of the
receipts or number of the audience.
1870. Athenæum, 13 Aug., p. 120. ‘Letter of J. O. Halliwell.’ It is
now certain that Shakespeare was never proprietor of either (the
Globe or Blackfriars) theatre. His sole interest in them consisted
in a participation, as an actor in the receipts of what is called
the house.
1873. Home News, 24 Jan. I exerted myself, not for praise of that
well-dressed mob they called the house, but for very love of the
congenial sport.
1892. Sydney Watson, Wops the Waif, ch. iii., p. 4. There was
tremendous enthusiasm this evening. Every scene was uproariously
applauded, and at the climax the whole house rose and cheered and
encored with tumultuous feeling.
The House (colloquial).—(1) The Stock Exchange; (2) The House of
Commons; (3) Christ Church, Oxford.
House under the hill, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. For
synonyms, see Monosyllable.
House (or apartments) to let, subs. phr. (common).—A widow.—Lex. Bal.
Also Bill-of-Sale and Man-trap.
Father of the House, subs. phr. (Parliamentary).—The oldest elected
member. See Babe.
House that Jack built, subs. phr. (common).—A prison. For synonyms, see
Cage.
Like a house on fire, adv. phr. (common).—Quickly; with energy. See
Like.
1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, ii., 85. I’m getting on
like a regler house on fire.
Safe as houses, adv. phr. (common).—Perfectly safe.
1864. E. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. xxxii., p. 361 (1873). I
have the means of doing that, as safe as houses.
1874. T. Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd, ch. lvii. ‘The clothes
will floor us as safe as houses,’ said Coggan.
1886. Grant Allen, In All Shades, ch. i. Why, of course, then,
that’s the explanation of it—as safe as houses, you may depend upon
it.
1890. Grant Allen, Tents of Shem, ch. xxviii. You may make your
forgery itself as safe as houses.
House-bit (or -keeper, or -piece), subs. (colloquial).—A
servant-mistress.
House-dove, subs. (old).—A stay-at-home.
Household-brigade. To join the Household Brigade, verb. phr.
(common).—To marry. For synonyms, see Splice.
1881. Home Tidings, April, p. 42, c. 1. Jem Ryan joined the
household brigade on Easter Monday, E. New acting as best man.
House of Civil Reception, subs. phr. (old).—A brothel. For synonyms,
see Nanny-shop.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
House of Commons (or House of Office), subs. phr. (old).—A W.C. For
synonyms, see Mrs. Jones.
1611. Chapman, May-Day, iv., 2. No room save you turn out my wife’s
coal-house, and her other house of office attached to it, reserved
for her and me sometimes, and will you use it being a stranger?
1748. Smollett, Roderick Random, c. xiii. Taking the candle in his
hand, which he had left burning for the purpose, he went down to
the house of office.
d. 1780. Robertson of Struan, Poems, 83. So to a House of Office
straight a school-boy does repair, To ease his postern of its
weight.
House-tailor, subs. (old).—An upholsterer.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. House-tailers, Upholsterers.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
Housewife (or Huswife, or Hussy), subs. (colloquial).—1. Primarily, a
house-keeper. Hence (a) a domestic servant; (b) a wanton or a gad-about
wench; and (c) a comic endearment. Hence, too, housewifery, subs., and
housewife’s tricks = the habit of wantonness, the practice of men.
1508. Gawain and Gologras, ‘Ballade,’ (Pinkerton, Scottish Poems,
1792, iii.). A gude husy-wife ay rinning in the toun.
1589. Puttenham, English Poesie, 1589, ii., 16 (ed. Arber, p. 148).
Half lost for lack of a good huswife’s looking to.
1600. Look about You, sc. 28 (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875,
vii., 476). Huswife, I’ll have you whipped for slandering me.
1602. Shakspeare, Twelfth Night, i., 2. I hope to see some
housewife take thee between her legs and spin it off.
1659. Lady Alimony, iii., 3 (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875,
xiv., 331). And if the hussy challenge more, Charm the maundering
gossip with your roar. Idem. iii., 6. (p. 340). If I make not these
haxters as hateful to our hussies as ever they were to us, their
husbands, set me up for a Jack-a-Lent.
1672. Ray, Proverbs, s.v., Cat. Cats eat what hussies spare.
1673. Wycherly, Gentleman Dancing Master, iv., 1. What, hussy,
would you not do as he’d have you?
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v.
1694. Congreve, Double Dealer, iv., 3. When I was of your age,
hussy, I would have held fifty to one I could have drawn my own
picture.
1697. Vanbrugh, Æsop, i., 1. Hark you hussy. You can give yourself
airs sometimes, you know you can.
1708. Mrs. Centlivre, The Busy-Body, iv., 2. I’ll charm you,
housewife. Here lies the charm that conjured this fellow in.
1708. Prior, Poems (Aldine ed. ii., 270), ‘The Insatiable Priest.’
To suppress all his carnal desires in their birth At all hours a
lusty young hussy is near.
1720. Swift, Poems, ‘A Portrait’ (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810,
xi., 448). A housewife in bed, at table a slattern.
1728. Swift, Poems, ‘My Lady’s Lamentations’ (Chalmers, English
Poets, 1810, xi., 460). Consider before You come to threescore, How
the hussies will fleer Whene’er you appear.
1731. C. Coffey, The Devil to Pay, i. Don’t you know, hussy, that I
am king in my own house.
1732. Henry Fielding, The Mock Doctor, i. Ay, hussy, a regular
education; first at the charity-school where I learned to read.
1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, c. xviii. He supposed the object
of his love was some paltry hussy, whom he had picked up when he
was a boy at school.
d. 1764. Lloyd, Poems (1774), ‘Chit-Chat.’ Lud! I could beat the
hussey down, She’s poured it all upon my gown.
1768. Goldsmith, Good Natured Man, ii. And you have but too well
succeeded, you little hussy, you.
1771. Smollett, Humphrey Clinker (ed. 1800, p. 43). And I have been
twice in the bath with mistress and na’r a smock upon our backs,
hussy.
1782. Cowley, Bold Stroke for a Husband, i., 2. Don C. Now, hussy,
what do you expect?
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1786. Burns, The Inventory. Frae this time forth I do declare, I’se
ne’er ride horse nor hizzie mair.
1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxii. Say nothing of that,
housewife, ... or I will beat thee—beat thee with my staff.
1829. C. A. Somerset, The Day After the Fair, i. Oh, you hussy! so
you were Madame Maypole!
1893. R. le Gallienne, Intro. Liber Amoris, p. xliv. To think of
poor Hazlitt gravely lavishing his choice Elizabethan quotations on
the hussey.