Dub-Cove.—See Dubsman.
Dub-lay, subs. (old).—Using picklocks. [From Dub (q.v.), a key + lay
(q.v.).]—Grose, 1785.
Dublin-dissector, subs. (medical students’).—A cudgel.
1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 154. At first he perpetually carries a
Dublin dissector under his arm.
Dubs, adj. (Winchester College).—Double.
Dubsman, or Dubs, subs. (old).—A turnkey or gaoler. [From dub (q.v.) =
key + man.]
1812. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v.
1887. Henley, Villon’s Good Night. For you, you coppers’ narks, and
dubs, What pinched me when upon the snam.
English Synonyms. Jigger-dubber; screw.
French Synonyms.—Un gaffier (thieves’); un gaffe (thieves’ = boat
hook); un oncle (thieves’ = uncle); un boye (thieves’: also an
executioner at Cayenne or New Caledonia); le Duc de Guiche (thieves’:
from guichettier = jailer); un artoupan (thieves’); un barbeaudier
(thieves’); le Comte de Castue (thieves’: Castue = prison); un chat
(thieves’ = a cat); le Comte de Canton (thieves’: Canton = prison or
‘stir’); le Comte de la Caruche (thieves’).
Spanish Synonyms.—Banastero (= basket-maker); banquero (= banker).
1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], 30. Quoth a
dubsman, who gazed on the shattered wall, ‘You have carved your
epitaph, Claude du Val, With your chisel so fine, tra la!’
Dub up, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To hand over; pay; fork out. [Cf.,
provincial dubs = money.] Fr., foncer; abouler. Formerly, to lock up or
secure; to button one’s pocket.
1840. Comic Almanack, p. 237. Come, dub up! roars a third: and I
don’t mind telling you, in confidence, that I was so frightened
that I took out the sovereign and gave it.
Ducats, subs. (theatrical).—1. Money. [Probably from Shylock and The
Merchant of Venice.] For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.
1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. vi. The Jews have always
appeared to me a calumniated race. From spendthrift King John
downwards, the Christian has ever pocketed the ducats, and abused
the donor.
2. (thieves’).—Specifically a railway ticket; also pawnbroker’s
duplicate; raffle-card, or brief (q.v.). Also ducket.
1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., xl., 501. So I took a ducat
(ticket) for Sutton in Surrey.