Huff-snuff, subs. (old).—A person apt to take offence.
1592. Nashe, Strange News, etc. (Grosart, Works, ii., 184). Gabriel
Huffe-Snuffe Knowne to the world for a foole, and clapt in the
Fleete for a poet.
1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Risentito.... Also a huffe
snuffe, one that will soone take pepper in the nose, that will
revenge euerie small matter.
1750. Ozell, Rabelais, iv., pref. xxiii. Freebooters, desperadoes,
and bullying huff-snuffs.
Huftie-tuftie, adj. (old).—Swaggering; gallant.
1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden (Grosart, Works, iii., 106). Came a
ruffling it out, huftie-tuftie, in his velvet suit.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, (Grosart, Works, v., 250).
Huftie-tuftie youthful ruffling comrades, wearing every one three
yards of feathers in his cap for his mistres’ favour.
Hug, subs. (thieves’).—Garrotting (q.v.). Also verbally, and to put on
the hug.
1864. Home Magazine, 16 Mar. Hoax upon hoax about the putting on
the hug was played off upon a credulous and bugbear-loving
community.
2. (old).—The sexual embrace. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride. Also
the close hug.
1659. Lady Alimony, ii., ‘Prologue’ (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed.,
1875, xiv., 288). Apt for a spousal hug.
1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., iv., 163. They’ve a new drug Which is
called the close hug.
Verb. (colloquial).—Properly to grapple with and hold the body, as a
bear with his fore-paws. Hence (1) to cuddle; and (2) to perform the
sexual embrace (see subs., sense 2). Hence, also, to hug brown bess
(q.v.); to hug the gunner’s daughter = to cuddle a gun for punishment;
to hug the ground = to fall, or be hit off one’s legs; to give the hug
(pugilists) = to close with and grapple the body; to hug the shore (or
bank, or wall) to keep close to; cornish hug = a hold in wrestling; to
hug a belief (or delusion, or thought) = to cherish; to hug one’s
chains = to delight in captivity.
1696. Landsdowne, Poems, ‘Prologue to The She-Gallants’ (Chalmers,
English Poets, 1810, xi., p. 36). Then, like some pensive
statesman, treads demure, And smiles and hugs to make distinction
sure.
1602. Campion, English Poesy (Buller, Works, 1889, p. 249). Changed
is Helen. Helen hugs the stranger.
1631. Drayton, The Mooncalf (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810, iv.,
133). Hug him, and swear he was her only joy.
1637. Beaumont and Fletcher, Elder Brother, iv., 1. This night I’ll
hug my Lilly in my arms.
d. 1649. Drummond, Posthumous Poems, ‘Of a Kiss.’ Nor her who had
the fate Ravis’d to be and hugged on Ganges’ shore.
1659. Lady Alimony, iv. (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, xiv.,
288a). Shall we hug none of our own, But such as drop from the
frigid zone.
c. 1708. W. King, The Art of Love, Pt. iv. (Chalmers, English
Poets, 1810, ix., 266). Then hugging her in brawny arm.
d. 1710. R. Duke, Poems, ‘A Song’ (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810,
ix., 224). Close hugs the charmer, and ashamed to yield, Though he
has lost the day yet keeps the field. Idem. She hugs the dart that
wounded her, and dies.
d. 1742. Somerville, Occasional Poems, etc., ‘The Fortune-Hunter,’
canto iii. (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810, xi., 221). Drinks double
bub with all his might And hugs his doxy every night.
1746. Smollett, Advice, line 4. We’ll hug the curse that not one
joy can boast.
d. 1764. Lloyd, Poems (1774), ‘The Cit’s County Box.’ Hugging
themselves in ease and clover.
d. 1773. G. Cunningham, Poems, ‘Holiday-Gown’ (Chalmers, English
Poets, 1810, xiv., 441). He hugs me so close, and he kisses so
sweet.
1791. Antient and Modern Scottish Songs, ‘My Jockey is a Bonnie
Lad,’ ii., 325. And then he fa’s a kissing, clasping, hugging,
squeezing, tousling, pressing, winna let me be.
d. 1796. Burns, The Jolly Beggars. And at night in barn or stable,
hugs our doxies on the hay.
Hugger-mugger, subs. (colloquial).—Muddle; confusion.
1868. C. Reade, Foul Play, ch. vii. Why didn’t you tell me, and I’d
have tidied the room: it is all hugger-mugger, with miss a leaving.
1885. T. E. Brown, The Doctor, p. 36. And every place as neat as a
pin, And couldn’t stand no hugger-mugger.
1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 28 Oct., p. 2, c. 2. He wrote some lampoons
in the papers at the time, in which he ridiculed the hugger-mugger
of the prosecution.
Adv. (old).—See quots.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hugger-Mugger, Closely or by
Stealth, Underboard: To eat so, that is, to Eat by one’s self.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hugger-Mugger, by stealth,
privately, without making an appearance; they spent their money in
a hugger-mugger way.
Adj. (common).—Confused; disorderly; hap-hazard; hand-to-mouth (q.v.).
1882. Daily Telegraph, 5 Oct., p. 2, c. 2. Nor, can they be very
severely blamed for this hugger-mugger, slipshod way of life.
Verb. (common).—To meet by stealth; to lay heads together.
1879. Justin McCarthy, Donna Quixote, ch. xxxii. I can see already
that she won’t stand much more of you and me hugger-muggering
together.
In hugger-mugger, adv. phr. (old).—1. In secret.
1565. Stapleton, Fort. of the Faith, fol. 88. They should not have
lurked all this while in hucker-mucker.
1588. J. Udall, Demonstration of Discipline, p. 30. (ed. Arber).
The Byshop without any lawfull election, is chosen in huggermuger
of the canons, or prebendaries onely, without the knowledge of the
people.
1594. Nashe, Unfortunate Traveller (Grosart, Works, v., 19). Myself
that am but a poore childish wel-willer of yours, with the vain
thought that a man of your desert and state by a number of pesants
and varlets should be so incuriously abused in hugger-mugger haue
wept al my vrine upward.
1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden (Grosart, Works, iii., 181). Hee sent
her 18 pence in hugger-mugger, to pay the fiddlers.
1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, iv., 5. King. ... We have done but
greenly, In hugger-mugger to inter him.
1602. Dekker, Satiromastix, iii., 133 (Dodsley, Old Plays, viii.,
48). One word, sir Quintilian, in hugger-mugger.
1607. Tourneur, Revenger’s Trag. (Dodsley, Old Plays, 4th ed.,
1875), v., i. And how quaintly he died, like a politician, in
hugger-mugger.
1611. Coryat, Crud., ii., p. 251, repr. So these perhaps might
sometimes have some furtive conversation in hugger mugger.
1633. Ford, ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore, ii., 1. There is no way but to
clap up a marriage in hugger-mugger.
1639–61. Rump Songs, i. [1662], 54. They brought me Gold and Plate
in Huggar-Muggar.
1663. Butler, Hudibras, i., 3. Where’er th’ in hugger-mugger lurk,
I’ll make them rue their handy-work.
1762. Churchill, The Ghost, bk. iii., line 27. It must not, as the
Vulgar say, Be done in Hugger Mugger way.
1815. Mirror for Mag., p. 457. For most that most things knew, in
hugger-mugger utter’d what they durst.
Hugging, subs. (common).—Garotting (q.v.).
Hugsome, adj. (colloquial).—Carnally attractive; Fuckable (q.v.).
Hulk (Hulky, or Hulking Fellow), subs. (colloquial).—A fat person; a
big lout. Generally, ‘great hulk of a fellow.’
d. 1631. Drayton, The Mooncalf (Chalmers, English Poets, 1810, iv.,
126). Wallowing she lay, like to a boist’rous hulk Dropsied with
humours.
1698. Ward, London Spy, Pt. xiv., p. 324. Up in the Chimney Corner
sat a great hulking Fellow.
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th Ed.). Hulk (s.) ... also a lazy,
dronish fellow.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hulkey, or Hulking, a great hulkey
fellow, an overgrown clumsy lout, or fellow.
1858. G. Eliot, Mr. Gilfil’s Love-Story, ch. ii. When you’ve got
... some great hulky fellow for a husband, who swears at you and
kicks your children.
1870. Chambers’s Journal, 9 July, p 447. He sees a slouching,
shambling, hulk of a fellow standing listlessly in a doorway.
1871. G. Eliot, Middlemarch, ch. lvi. I want to go first and have a
round with that hulky fellow who turned to challenge me.
1883. A. Dobson, Old-World Idylls, p. 164. I’d like to give that
hulking brute a hit—Beating his horse in such a shameful way!
1893. National Observer, 29 July, p. 267, col. 2. The absolute
ascendancy exercised by a small but brilliant member ... over a
hulking Junior.
Verb (colloquial).—To hang about; to mooch (q.v.).
Hull between Wind and Water, verb. phr. (venery).—To possess a woman.
For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.
Hull-cheese, subs. (Old Cant).—See quot. For synonyms, see Swipes.
1622. Taylor, A Very Merry Wherry-Ferry (Hindley, Works, 1872), 19.
Give me hull-cheese, and welcome and good cheer. Ibid. Hull-cheese,
is much like a loafe out of a brewers basket, it is composed of two
simples, mault and water, in one compound, and is cousin germane to
the mightiest ale in England.
Hulverhead, subs., and Hulver-headed, adj. (old).—See quots. For
synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hulver-head, a silly Foolish
fellow.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Hulver Headed, silly, puzzle-pated.
Hum, subs. (Old Cant).—1. A kind of strong liquor: probably a mixture
of beer and spirits, but see quot. 1690. Also hum-cap.
1616. Ben Jonson, Devil’s an Ass, i., 1. Carmen Are got into the
yellow starch, and chimney sweepers To their tobacco, and strong
waters, hum, Meath, and Obarni.
1619. Fletcher, Wild Goose Chase, ii., 3. Lord, what should I ail?
What a cold I have over my stomach; would I’d some hum.
1622. Fletcher, Beggars’ Bush, ii., 1. Except you do provide me hum
enough, And lour to bouze with.
d. 1645. Heywood, Drunkard, p. 48 [Gifford]. Notwithstanding the
multiplicity of wines, yet there be stills and limbecks going,
swetting out aqua vitæ and strong waters, deriving their names from
cinnamon, balm, and aniseed, such as stomach-water, humm, etc.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hum-cap, old, mellow and very
strong Beer.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.