English Synonyms. A mouth almighty; poll parrot; babble-merchant;
slammer.
French Synonyms. Un parlotteur (familiar); un dévideur or une dévideuse
(popular: literally ‘a winder’); un bagoulard (popular: c’est un fameux
bagoulard = he is the bloke to slam); un chambert: abuser du crachoir
(said of a chatterbox who does too much with the ‘spitter’).
Spanish Synonyms. Hablatista (m; jocular); hablantin or hablanchin (m;
colloquial); ladrador (m; properly ‘a barker’); prosador (m; properly
‘a sarcastic and malicious babbler’); gazetilla (f; ‘a farthing
newspaper’); garlador; fuelle (m; properly ‘a pair of bellows’); ya
escampa (it is importunate babbling; escampar signifies literally ‘to
clean or clear out a place’); cotorrera (= a gossip; cotorreria =
loquacity; a term specially applied to women); comadre (f; juéves de
comadres = Cummers’ Thursday, the last before Shrove Tuesday); una
chicharra (a prattler; chicharra = ‘a froth worm’ or ‘harvest fly’);
charlantin.
Clack-Loft, subs. (popular).—A pulpit. [From clack, verb, + loft, an
elevated room or place.] For synonyms, see Hum-box.
Claim, verb (thieves’).—To steal. (A locution similar in character to
‘annex,’ ‘convey,’ etc., and derived from a sense of the legitimate
word signifying ‘to demand on the ground of right.’) For synonyms, see
Prig.
1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macmillan’s Mag., XL., 501. So I claimed
(stole) them.
To jump a claim, phr. (American and colonial).—To take forcible
possession; to defraud; specifically to seize land which has been taken
up and occupied by another settler, or squatter. The first occupant is,
by squatter law and custom, entitled to the first claim on the
land.—See Jump.
1846. E. H. Smith, Hist. of Black Hawk. When I hunted claims, I
went far and near, Resolved from all others to keep myself clear;
And if, through mistake, I jumped a man’s claim, As soon as I knew
it I jumped off again.
18(?). F. Marryat, Mountains and Molehills, p. 217. If a man jumped my
claim, and encroached on my boundaries, and I didn’t knock him on the
head with a pickaxe, I appealed to the crowd, and, my claim being
carefully measured and found correct, the jumper would be ordered to
confine himself to his own territory.
1883. R. L. Stevenson, The Silverado Squatters, p. 221. The claim
was jumped; a track of mountain-side, fifteen hundred feet long by
six hundred wide ... had passed from Ronalds to Hanson, and in the
passage changed its name from the ‘Mammoth’ to the ‘Calistoga.’
Clam, subs. (American).—1. A blockhead. Anglicé, ‘as stupid as an
oyster.’ Shakspeare (Much Ado About Nothing, ii. 3) has ‘Love may
transform me to an oyster; but I’ll take my oath on it, till he hath
made an oyster of me, he shall never make me such a fool.’—See
Chowder-headed; chowder is a favourite form of serving clams.
1871. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Sketches, I., 46. A fine stroke
of sarcasm, that, but it will be lost on such an intellectual clam
as you.
2. The mouth or lips. Also clam-shell. ‘Shut your clam-shell’ = ‘Shut
your mouth.’ The padlock now used on the United States mail-bags is
called the ‘Clam-shell padlock.’ For synonyms, see Potato-trap.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, I., 143. Shet your clam, our David.
1848. J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers, II., p. 19. You don’t feel much
like speakin’, When if you let your clam-shells gape, a quart of
tar will leak in.
1848. Bartlett, Dict. Americanisms. Shut up your clam-shells. Close
your lips together; be silent. Common along the shores of
Connecticut and Rhode Island, where clams abound. Same as ‘shut
your head.’
Clam-Butcher, subs. (American).—A man who opens clams; the attendant at
an oyster bar is an ‘oyster-butcher.’
Clank, subs. (thieves’).—A pewter tankard; formerly a silver one.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue Clank: a silver tankard.
1837. Disraeli, Venetia, ch. xiv. Tip me the clank like a dimber
mort as you are.
Clanker, subs. (old).—1. A great lie.—Grose. Cf., Clinker. For
synonyms, see Whopper.