1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xv. He goes up, and finds
the remains of the supper, Tankards full of egg-flip and cardinal,
and a party playing at vingt-un.
3. in plural (street).—Shoeblacks. [In allusion to the red tunics of
some London brigades. That stationed in the City is now better known as
the City Reds.]
1889. T. Mackay [on ‘Shoeblacks’], in Time, Aug., p. 132. From that
hour the Shoeblack Brigade has been firmly established in London
... costermongers called them cardinals.
4. (American).—A lobster; from its colour when cooked. Jules Janin once
made a curious blunder and called the lobster le cardinal de la mer.
Cardinal hash = a lobster salad.