To draw on [a man], verb. phr. (common and American).—To use a
knife.—See Bead.
1885. Saturday Review, 7 Feb., p. 167. I’ll never draw a revolver
on a man again as long as I live.
To draw a bead on, verb. phr. (common and American).—To attack with
rifle or revolver.
1886. World, 11 August, p. 12. It is said that twice a bead was
drawn upon him, but fortunately the shots missed.
To draw a straight furrow, verbal phr. (American).—To live uprightly.
To draw one’s fireworks (or to draw one off), verb. phr. (venery).—To
cool one’s ardour by coition (said of men by women).
To draw plaster, verb. phr. (tailors’).—To ‘fish’ for a man’s
intentions.
To draw straws, verb. phr. (old).—See quot.
1738. Swift, Polite Conversation (conv. iii). Lady Ans. I’m sure
’tis time for all honest folks to go to bed. Miss. Indeed my eyes
draw straws (she’s almost asleep).... Col. I’m going to the Land of
Nod. Ner. Faith, I’m for Bedfordshire.
To draw teeth, verb. phr. (old).—To wrench knockers and handles from
street doors.
To draw the badger.—See Badger, verb.
To draw blanks, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To fail; to be disappointed.
[From drawing a blank in a lottery.]
To draw the bow up to the ear.—See Bow.
To draw or pull the long bow, verb. phr. (colloquial).—See Bow and
quots., infra.
1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. xxx. What is it makes him pull the
long bow in that wonderful manner?
1883. A. Dobson, Old World Idylls, p. 134. The great Gargilius,
then, behold! His long bow hunting tales of old Are now but duller.
To draw the cork, verb. phr. (pugilistic).—To make blood to flow; to
tap the claret (q.v.).
1860. Chambers’ Journal, vol. XIII., p. 348.
To draw the King’s or Queen’s picture, verb. phr. (common).—To
manufacture counterfeit coins.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
To draw wool or worsted, verb. phr. (tailors’).—To irritate; to foment
a quarrel. Cf., Comb one’s hair.
Draw it mild! phr. (common).—An interjection of (1) derision; (2)
incredulity; (3) supplication. Cf., Come it strong.
1837. R. H. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (ed. 1862), p. 322. It was
not so much for myself as for that vulgar child, And I said, ‘A
pint of double X, and please to draw it mild.’
1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 60, col. 2. Draw it mild! as the boy with
the decayed tooth said to the dentist.
1841. Comic Almanack, p. 271. Vehement cries of ‘bravo!’ and ‘draw
it mild!’ here interrupt the speaker; but he declares he cannot
draw it any milder.
1850. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, p. 10. Draw it mild, old fellow!
interrupted the young gentleman in question.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 154.
This caused angry words, and Nancy was solemnly requested to draw
it mild, like a good soul.
1854. Martin and Aytoun, Bon Gaultier Ballads. ‘The Biter Bit.’ And
if you’d please, my mother dear, your poor desponding child, Draw
me a pot of beer, mother, and mother! draw it mild.
Draw-boy, subs. (trade).—A superior article ticketed and offered at a
figure lower than its value. Cf., Draw, sense 2.
Drawer-on, subs. (colloquial).—An appetiser: used only of food as
puller-on (q.v.) of drink. Both are in Massinger.
Drawers, subs. (old).—Embroidered stockings. Fr., bas-de-tire; tirants
brodanchés. Spanish, demias; tirantes. German, Zehnling. It., tiranti.
1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65, s.v.
1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874),
s.v.
1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 48 (1874), s.v.
1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v.
Draw-fart (or Doctor Draw-fart), subs. (common).—A wandering quack.
Draw-latch, subs. (old).—A thief; also a loiterer.
1631. Chettle, Hoffman. Well, phisitian, attend in my chamber,
heere, till Stilt and I returne; and if I pepper him not, say I am
not worthy to be cald a duke, but a drawlatch.
1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Draw Latches, Roberdsmen, Night thieves.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
[Date uncertain]. Nursery Rhyme. Cross-patch, draw the latch, sit by
the fire and spin.
Draw-off, verb (pugilistic).—To throw back the body to strike; ‘he drew
off, and delivered on the left peeper.’ A sailor would say, ‘he hauled
off and slipped in.’
Dreadful, subs. (common).—A ‘sensational’ story, newspaper, or print.
For variants, see Awful, and Shilling Shocker.
1890. Academy, 1 Feb., p. 78, col. 1. Mr. George Manville Fenn is
an old hand at a story with an alarming title, and he seldoms fails
to live up to it. The only thing we can say against his last
‘dreadful’ is that it is a little deficient in ‘body.’
Dredgerman, subs. (common).—Explained in quot.
1857. Dickens, Down with the Tide, in Reprinted Pieces, p. 269.
Besides these, there were the dredgermen, who, under pretence of
dredging up coals and such like from the bottom of the river, hung
about barges and other undecked craft, and when they saw an
opportunity, threw any property they could lay their hands on
overboard: in order, slyly, to dredge it up when the vessel was
gone. Sometimes, they dexterously used their dredges to whip away
anything that might lie within reach. Some of them were mighty neat
at this, and the accomplishment was called dry dredging.
Dress, subs. (Winchester College).—The players who come next in order
after Six or Fifteen. [So called because they come down to the matches
ready dressed to act as substitutes if required.]
Dress a Hat, verb. phr. (common).—To exchange pilferings: e.g., to swap
pickings from a hosier’s stock with a shoemaker’s assistant for boots
or shoes.
Dress Down, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To beat; also to scold.—See Tan
and Wig respectively for synonyms. Cf., Dressing.
1715. Mrs. Centlivre, Gotham Election, Sc. v. I’ll dress her down,
I warrant her, and she be for fighting.
Dressed Like Xmas Beef.—See Beef.
Dress-house, subs. (common).—A brothel. Cf., Dress-lodger.
Dressing, or Dressing-down, subs. (colloquial).—Correction, whether
manual or verbal; also defeat. Cf., Baste. For synonyms, see Tanning.
1811. Jane Austen, Sense and S., ch. xxx. If ever I meet him again
I will give him such a dressing as he has not had this many a day.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxviii. The Scourge flogged him
heartily ... and the Penny Voice of Freedom gave him an awful
dressing.
Dress-lodger, subs. (common).—A woman boarded, fed, and clothed by
another, and paying by prostitution.
1836. Kidd, London and all its Dangers, p. 32. Dress ladies are a
class of Cyprians who deserve no pity. They are voluntarily the
property of an old hag who clothes them elegantly for the wages of
their prostitution, and their only aim is to enjoy themselves, and
cheat her of half her perquisites.
1869. Greenwood, Seven Curses of London. You would never dream of
the deplorable depth of her destitution if you met her in her gay
attire.... She is absolutely poorer than the meanest beggar that
ever whined for a crust. These women are known as Dress lodgers.
Dress to Death, Dress Within an Inch of One’s Life, or Dress to Kill,
verb. phr. (colloquial). To dress in the extreme of fashion.
1859. Notes and Queries, S. 2, viii., 490. ‘He was got up very
extensively,’ said of a man who is dressed within an inch of his
life or dressed to death.
Dressy, adj. (colloquial).—Fond of dress.
Drilled, ppl. adj. (old).—Shot through the body.
1833. Marryat, Peter Simple [ed. 1846], I., iv., 17. And what is
winged and drilled? enquired I.
Drinks.—The subjoined lists will be of interest.
Invitations to Drink.—What’ll you have? Nominate your pizen! Will you
irrigate? Will you tod? Wet your whistle? How’ll you have it? Let us
stimulate! Let’s drive another nail! What’s your medicine? Willst du
trinken? Try a little anti-abstinence? Twy (zwei) lager! Your whiskey’s
waiting. Will you try a smile? Will you take a nip? Let’s get there.
Try a little Indian? Come and see your pa? Suck some corn juice? Let’s
liquor up. Let’s go and see the baby.
Responses to Invitations to Drink.—Here’s into your face! Here’s how!
Here’s at you! Don’t care if I do. Well, I will. I’m thar! Accepted,
unconditionally. Well, I don’t mind. Sir, your most. Sir, your utmost.
You do me proud! Yes, sir-ree! With you—yes! Anything to oblige. On
time. I’m with you. Count me in. I subscribe.
Synonyms for a Drink [i.e., a portion], generally, or when taken at
specified times.—Anti-lunch; appetiser; ball; bullock’s eye (a glass of
port); bead; bosom friend; bucket; bumper; big-reposer; chit-chat;
cheerer; cinder; corker; cobbler; damper, or something damp; dannie;
drain; dram; deoch-an-doras; digester; eye-opener; entr’acte; fancy
smile; flash; flip; facer; forenoon; go; gill; heeltap; invigorator;
Johnny; joram; morning rouser; modicum; nip, or nipperkin; night cap;
nut; pistol shot; pony; pill; quantum; refresher; rouser; reposer;
shout; smile; swig; sleeve-button; something; slight sensation; shant;
sparkler; settler; stimulant; soother; thimble-full; tift; taste;
toothful; Timothy. For other synonyms, see Go.
General Synonyms for Drink.—Breaky-leg; bub; crater (also = whiskey);
fuddle; gargle; grog; guzzle; lap; lush; neck-oil; nectar; poison;
slum-gullion; swizzle; stingo; tipple; tittey; toddy. For other
synonyms, see Tipple.
Synonyms for Beer (including stout).—Act of Parliament; artesian;
barley; belch; belly-vengeance; bevy or bevvy; brownstone; bum-clink;
bung-juice; bunker; cold-blood; down (see up); English burgundy
(porter); gatter; half-and-half; heavy-wet; John Barleycorn; knock down
or knock-me-down; oil of barley; perkin; ponge, pongelow, or ponjello;
rosin; rot-gut; sherbert; stingo; swankey; swipes; swizzle; up (bottled
ale or stout). For other synonyms, see Swipes.
Synonyms for Brandy.—Ball of fire; bingo; cold-tea; cold-nantz; French
elixir or cream. For other synonyms, see French Elixir.
Synonyms for Whiskey.—Aqua vitæ; bald-face; barley-bree; breaky-leg;
bottled-earthquake; bum-clink; caper-juice; cappie; curse of Scotland;
family-disturbance; farintosh; forty-rod lightning; grapple-the-rails;
hard stuff; hell-broth; infernal compound; kill-the-beggar; lightning;
liquid fire; moonlight; moonshine; mountain-dew; old man’s milk;
pine-top; railroad; red-eye; rotgut; screech; Simon pure; sit-on-a-rock
(rye whiskey); soul-destroyer; square-face; stone-fence; tangle-foot;
the real thing; the sma’ still; white-eye. For other synonyms, see Old
Man’s Milk.
Synonyms for Gin.—Blue ruin; blue-tape; Brian O’Lynn (rhyming);
cat-water; cream of the valley; daffy; diddle; drain; duke; eye-water;
frog’s wine; juniper; jackey; lap; max; misery; old Tom; ribbon; satin;
soothing-syrup; stark-naked; strip-me-naked; tape; white satin, tape,
or wine. For other synonyms, see Satin.
Synonyms for Champagne.—Cham or chammy; boy; fiz; dry; bitches’ wine.
Synonyms for Port.—Red fustian (q.v.).
Synonyms for Sherry.—Bristol milk; white wash.
Terms Implying Various Degrees of Intoxication.—All mops and brooms; at
rest; Bacchi plenus; battered; be-argured; beery; been at a ploughing
match, crooking the elbow, drowning the shamrock, having a cooler or
warmer, having the eyes opened, in the sun, looking through a glass,
lifting the little finger, making fun, on sentry, talking to Jamie
Moore or trying Taylor’s best; bemused; been bit by a barn mouse;
blued; boosed or boosy; bosky; bright in the eye; buffy; canon; can’t
see a hole in a ladder; can’t say National Intelligencer;
chirping-merry; clear; corned; croaked; crooked; cup-shot; cut;
damaged; dipped rather deep; disguised; doing the lord or emperor; done
over; down with barrel fever; dry; electrified; elevated;
elephant’s-trunk (rhyming); far-gone; feeling right royal; flushed;
flustered; flawed; been flying rather high; foggy; fou’, or fou’ as a
piper; fuddled; full; foxed; glorious; got a drop in the eye; got the
back teeth well afloat; greetin’ fu’; groggy; got the gravel rash;
half-cut; half-seas-over; hard-up; hazy; hearty; helpless; in a
difficulty; in liquor; in the altitudes; in one’s cups; inspired; in
the blues, shakes, or horrors; jolly; kisky; been lapping the gutter;
loose; looking lively; lumpy; lushy; mellow; miraculous; mortal; moony;
muggy; muddled; muzzy; nappy; obfuscated; on; on his fourth; on the
batter, beer, bend, fuddle, loose, muddle, ramble, ran-tan, ree-raw,
rampage, skyte, or spree; off his nut; out of funds; overcome;
overtaken; paralysed; peckish; ploughed; podgy; pruned; pushed;
raddled; rather touched; reeling; roaring; salubrious; screwed;
scammered; sewed-up; shaky; slewed; smeekit; smelling of the cork;
soaked; spiffed; spreeish; sprung; stolling; starchery; swipey;
tavered; taking it easy; thirsty; three-sheets-in-the-wind; tight;
tipsy; top-heavy; unco’ happy; under the influence; up a tree; waving a
flag of defiance; with the mainbrace well spliced; got the sun in the
eyes; whittled; wet; winey; yaupish, yappy, or yaupy. For other
synonyms, see Screwed, and cf., Drunk as Davy’s sow.
See also lists under Elbow-crooker; Drunk; Lush; Gallon Distemper;
Gladstone; Pistol; Flesh and Blood; and Razors.
Dripper, subs. (old).—A gleet.
Dripping, subs. (common).—A cook; especially an indifferent one. Fr.,
un fripier and une daube. Cf., doctor and slushy (q.v.) = a ship’s
cook.
Drive, subs. (common).—A blow. Cf., ‘let drive’ = to aim a blow; to
strike. ‘Four rogues in buckram let drive at me.’—Shakspeare. For
synonyms, see Dig.
1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, ch. xix. Lord Charles, after
three or four attempts, had managed to give him a violent ‘drive’
on the shins under the table.
Verb (cricket).—To send a ball off the bat with full force
horizontally.
To drive at, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To aim at: e.g., What are you
driving at? = What do you mean?
1697. Vanbrugh, Relapse, Act iii., Sc. 2. I can’t imagine what you
drive at, Pray tell me what you mean.
1730. Jas. Miller, Humours of Oxford, Act iii., p. 41 (2 ed.). Tru.
What does the coxcomb drive at?
1752. Fielding, Amelia, bk. IX., ch. iii. ‘O, your servant, sir,’
said the Colonel, ‘I see what you are driving at.’
1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. xii. Howld yer impudence, ye
young heretic doggrel-writer; can’t I see what ye are driving at?
To drive a bargain, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To conduct a negotiation;
to make the best terms you can; to dispute a condition or a price; to
succeed in a ‘deal.’ Cf., to drive a humming trade.
1580. Sidney, Arcadia. My true love hath my heart, and I have his,
There never was a better bargain driven.
1638. Ford, Lady’s Trial, V., ii. Love drove the bargain, and the
truth of love confirmed it.
1668. Etherege, She Would if She Could, V., in wks. (1704), p. 172.
How ... goes the business between you and these ladies? Are you
like to drive a bargain?
1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia, ii., in wks. (1720), iv., 43. He
never ... drinks hard, but upon design, as driving a bargain, or
so.
1697. Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, II., i. Why, madam, to drive a
Quaker’s bargain, and make but one word with you, if I do part with
it, you must lay down your affectation.
1712. Spectator, No. 450. I do not remember I was ever overtaken in
drink, save ... five times at driving of bargains.
1837. Lytton, Ernest Maltravers, wks. IV., ch. vii. You’ll drive a
much better bargain with me than with her.
1855. Mrs. Gaskell, North and South, ch. xxvii. As it affected his
branch of the trade he took advantage of it, and drove hard
bargains.
To drive a humming or roaring trade, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To do
well in business.
1625. Jonson, Staple of News, II. And as you say, drive a quick
pretty trade still.
1736. Fielding, Don Quixote, III., iv. You are to drive a humming
trade here.
1883. Hawley Smart, Hard Lines, ch. vii. The vendors of apples,
oranges, and gingerbread ... were driving a roaring trade.
1883. A. Dobson, Hogarth, p. 71. The gentleman at the sign of the
‘Three Balls’ is driving a roaring trade.
To drive oneself to the wash, verb. phr. (common).—To drive in a
basket-chaise.
To drive pigs to market, verb. phr. (common).—To snore.—See quot. Fr.,
jouer à la ronfle or de l’orgue; also fumer.
1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary, &c., p. 64 (1811). He is driving his
hogs over Swarston-bridge. This is a saying used in Derbyshire,
when a man snores in his sleep. Swarston-bridge (or bridges, for
there are several of them, one after another) is very long, and not
very wide, which causes the hogs to be crowded together, in which
situation they always make a loud grunting noise.
To drive turkeys to market, verb. phr. (common).—To reel and wobble in
drink.
To drive French horses, verb. phr. (common).—To vomit. [From the ‘Hue
donc’ of French carters to their teams.] For synonyms, see Accounts.
Driver’s pint, subs. phr. (military).—A gallon.
Driz, subs. (thieves’).—Lace. Fr., la miche (pop., in allusion to the
holes in a loaf of bread); la gratouse (thieves’: gratousé = adorned
with lace); la paille (thieves’: also, straw, or chaff); la galuche
(thieves’); le rayon de miel (thieves’).
1812. De Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v.
1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. [see Camesa].
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 233.
Scotch Mary, with ‘driz’ (lace), bound to Dover and back.
Driz-Fencer, subs. (thieves’).—A seller of lace; also a receiver of
stolen material. [From Driz + Fence.]
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 429.
Among street-people the lace is called driz, and the sellers of it
driz-fencers.
Dr. Johnson, subs. phr. (old).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick.
Droddum, subs. (Scots’).—The posteriors. For synonyms, see Blind
cheeks, Bum, and Monocular eyeglass.
1786. Burns, To a Louse.—O for some rank mercurial rozet, Some
fell, red smeddum, I’d gie ye sic a hearty doze o’t, Wad dress your
droddum!
Dromaky, subs. (provincial).—A prostitute: north of England,
particularly N. and S. Shields. [From a strolling actress who
personated Andromache.]
Dromedary, subs. (old).—A bungler; specifically, a bungling thief. Also
purple dromedary (q.v.).
Drop, subs. (old).—See Drop-game.
Verb (common).—1. To lose, give, or part with.
1812. Vaux, Flash Dict. He dropped me a quid, He gave me a guinea.
1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. xliii. That rascal Blackland got
the bones out, and we played hazard on the dining-table. And I
dropped all the money I had from you in the morning.
1870. London Figaro, 7 June. The money dropped by the turf prophets
in the investment of advertisments, postage-stamps, and ‘an office
for the transaction of the increasing business of their numerous
clients,’ is quickly returned to them.
1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xxxi. Ladds is hard at
work at ecarté with a villainous-looking stranger. And I should
think, from the way Tommy is sticking at it, that Tommy is dropping
pretty heavily.
1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, ch. lxiii. Nobody could
have been more sorry than me that your Lordship dropped your money.
2. (colloquial).—To relinquish; abandon; leave: e.g., to drop an
acquaintance = to gradually withdraw from intercourse. Cf., Cut, verb,
sense 2. To drop the main Toby = to turn out of the main road.
1711. Spectator, No. 89. He verily believes she will drop him in
his old age, if she can find her account in another.
1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. lxxxi. They attempted to make
a proselyte of me; but finding the task impracticable on both
sides, we very wisely dropped each other.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxiv. What do these people mean by
asking a fellow to dinner in August, and taking me up after
dropping me for two years?
1872. Dr. Doran, A Lady of the Last Century. ‘Mrs. Montague, sir,’
said Dr. Johnson, ‘has dropt me.’