Carrion Case, subs. (common).—A shirt or chemise. [From carrion, the
human body, + case, a covering.] For synonyms, see Flesh bag.
Carrion Hunter, subs. (old).—An undertaker. [Carrion was formerly
general to signify a corpse]. For synonyms, see Cold cook.
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Carrion Hunter: an
undertaker, etc.
Carrots, subs. (popular).—Red hair. Used attributively, and also as a
proper name. The adjectival form is carrotty. An analogous
colloquialism is Ginger-hackled, which see for synonyms.
1685. S. Wesley, Maggots, 57. The Ancients ... Pure carrots call’d
pure threads of beaten gold. [m.]
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Carrots: Red hair’d People.
1703. T. Baker, Tunbridge Walks, quoted in Ashton’s Social Life in
Reign of Q. Anne, I., 129. Jenny Trapes! What that Carrot-pated
Jade.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xiv. Not to appear before Mr.
Cringer till I had parted with my carroty locks.
1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. vii. ‘Blanche, with her radish
of a nose, and her carrots of ringlets.’
1855. Newcomes, ch. xxii. ‘Tom is here with a fine carroty beard.’
1864. Mark Lemon, Jest Book, p. 205. Carrots Classically
Considered. Why scorn red hair? The Greeks, we know (I note it here
in charity) Had taste in beauty, and with them The graces were all
Χαριται.
1882. Daily Telegraph, Oct. 6, p. 2, col. 1. The two elder of the
party were a boy and a girl of unmistakably Irish parentage, and
with unkempt and carrotty heads of hair.
Take a carrot! (common).—A vulgar insult; equivalent to calling one a
fool, or telling one to ‘go to hell.’ The phrase was originally obscene
[Cf., Et ta sœur! aime-t-elle les radis?] and applied to women only.
Carry Boodle, verbal phr. (American).—See Boodle.
Carry Coals, verbal phr. (obsolete).—To put up with insults; to endure
an affront or injury.
1593. G. Harvey, Pierces Supererog., in wks. II., 32. Because
Silence may seeme suspicious to many: Patience contemptible to some
... a knowne forbearer of Libellers, a continuall bearer of coales.
1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, i., 1. Gregory o’ my word,
we’ll not carry coals.
1638. H. Shirley, Martyr’d Souldier, Act ii., Sc. 1. Hub. I can
carry anything but Blowes, Coles, my Drink, and—the tongue of a
Scould.
Carry Corn, verbal phr. (common).—To bear success well and equably. It
is said of a man who breaks down under a sudden access of wealth—as
successful racing men and unexpected legatees often do—or who becomes
affected and intolerant, that ‘he doesn’t carry corn well.’
Carryings On, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Frolicsome or questionable
proceedings; a course of conduct that attracts attention.—See Carry on.
1663. Butler, Hudibras, I., ii., 556. Is this the end to which
these carryings on did tend?
1859. Sala, Gaslight and Daylight, ch. xxi. Many have heard her
stern demands for rent, and her shrill denunciation of the
carryings on of her tenants.
1876. M. S. Braddon, Joshua Haggard, ch., iv. ‘And what about the
rest of the time when he wasn’t with you? Fine carryings on indeed
for a grocer’s daughter!’
Carry-Knave, subs. (old).—A common prostitute. For synonyms, see
Barrack-hack and Tart.
1630. Taylor’s Workes. And I doe wish with all my heart that the
superflous number of all our hyreling hackney carry-knaves, and
hurry-whores, with their makers and maintainers were there.
Carry Me Out and Bury Me Decently, phr. (general).—An exclamation or
objurgation generally called forth by an incredible story, or by
something displeasing to the auditor; varied by ‘let me die!’ ‘good
night!’ etc., as also by ‘carry me home!’ ‘carry me upstairs!’ ‘carry
me out and leave me in the gutter!’ A writer in Notes and Queries [2
S., iii., 387] states it to have been in use circa 1780. [The origin is
obscure, but some derive it from the Nunc dimittis (Luke ii. 29).]
1857. Notes and Queries, 16 May, p. 387, col. 2. Carry me out and
bury me decently. Do any of your correspondents recollect to have
heard this phrase?
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xlv. And so the president
comes out to see the St. Ambrose boat row? Seldom misses two nights
running. Then ‘carry me out, and bury me decently’ ... Don’t be
afraid. I am ready for anything you like to tell me.
1864. The Reader, Nov. 12. Mr. Hotten has carry me out. Well the
equivalent ‘Federal’ is ‘D’you tell?’
Carry On, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To make oneself conspicuous by a
certain line of behaviour; to conduct oneself wildly or recklessly; to
joke or frolic; also in a special sense applied to open flirtation on
the part of both sexes.
French equivalents are canarder (based on canard = a ‘take in,’ an
extravagant or absurd story); faire du jardin (popular).
1856. Whyte Melville, Kate Coventry, ch. iii. With lynx-eyes she
notes how Lady Carmine’s eldest girl is carrying on with young
Thriftless.
1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xxxv. ‘She and I
carried on for a whole season. People talked.’
1884. M. Twain, Huckleberry Finn, ch. xxii., 222. And all the time
that clown carried on so it most killed the people.
Carry one’s real estate about one, verbal phr. (American).—To neglect
the finger nails till they show a black rim; to go so unwashed as to
display a considerable amount of what Palmerston called ‘matter in the
wrong place.’
1877. Joseph Hatton, in Belgravia, April, p. 221. We looked at the
hands of several of the gamblers, and found that they carried their
real estate with them.
Carry Out One’s Bat.—See Bat.
Carry the Stick, verbal phr. (Scotch thieves’).—To rob in the manner
described in quotation.—See also Tripping up.
1870. Times. 21 Sept [Marlborough Street Police Court Report.]
Police Sergeant Cole said the prisoner’s plan was for the woman to
go up to well-dressed elderly or drunken men, to get them into
conversation, and rob them. The male prisoner would then come up,
and, pretending to be a detective, make a disturbance, so as to
enable the woman to escape. The practice was called in London
‘tripping up,’ and in Scotland, where it is also practised,
carrying the stick.
Carsey, subs. (thieves’).—A house, den, or crib. [From the Lingua
Franca casa = a house.] For synonyms, see Ken.
Cart, verb (University).—To defeat: in a match, a fight, an
examination, a race, &c. We carted them home = we gave them an awful
licking.
In the cart, or carted, phr. (racing).—1. An employee is said to put an
owner in the cart when, by some trick or fraud, his horse is prevented
from winning. Also in the box.
1889. Evening Standard, 25 June. [Sir Chas. Russell’s speech in
Durham-Chetwynd case.] It was alleged that in two races run by
Fullerton in 1887, Sir George Chetwynd—to use a vulgarism—had been
put in the cart by his Jockey.