d. 1626. Middleton [works, II., 422]. O, for a bowl of fat canary,
Rich Aristippus, sparkling sherry! Some nectar else from Juno’s
dairy, O, these draughts would make us merry.
1890. Speaker, 22 Feb., p. 212, col. 2. As ‘good’ in English is fat
in Australian, the story is probably true about the missionary—not
a story of Dr. Lumholtz’s. After many years of work in the field,
this good missionary was taken apart by some anxious but meagre
inquirers in his flock. Sir, said they, must a man be very fat to
enter the Kingdom of Heaven? He was able to reassure them.
Cut it fat.—See Cut.
Cut up fat.—See Cut up.
Bit of fat, subs. phr. (popular).—See subs., senses 2 and 3; also adj.
in both senses: and (venery) connection with a stout woman.
All the fat’s in the fire, phr. (common).—Said of failures and of the
results of sudden and unexpected revelation; disappointments: i.e., it
is all ‘over’ or ‘up’ with a person or thing. A late equivalent is,
‘And then the band played.’
Fat as a hen’s forehead, adv. phr. (old).—Meagre; skinny (q.v.).
Fat- (also Barge-, Broad- and Heavy-) Arsed, adj. phr. (common).—Broad
in the breech; and, by implication, in Richard Baxter’s Shove to Heavy
Arsed Christians, thick-witted and slow to move.
Fat- (also Thick-) Chops, subs. (common).—A contumelious epithet.
Fat-Cock, subs. (common).—An epithet rather jocular than derisive for a
stout and elderly man; also (venery) a double-sucker (q.v.).
Fater, Faytor, or Fator, subs. (old).—A fortune-teller. Lexicon
Balatronicum [1811]. In Spencer = a doer; in Bailey = an idle fellow; a
vagabond. [From Fr. faiteur.]
Fat-Fancier, (or -Monger,) subs. (venery).—An amateur of stout women.
Fat-flab, subs. (Winchester School).—A cut off the fat part of a breast
of mutton.—See Cat’s Head.
Fat- (or Full-) Guts, subs. (common).—An opprobrious epithet for a fat
man or woman.
Fat-head, subs. (common).—A dolt.
Fat-headed, -skulled, -thoughted, -pated, -brained, and -witted
(colloquial) = dull; stupid; slow.
1885. Mrs. J. H. Riddell, Mitre Court, ch. xix. He is a fathead—a
great blundering John Bull.
Father, subs. (thieves’).—1. A receiver of stolen property; a fence
(q.v.).
2. (general).—A chief in authority; an elder: e.g., the father of the
house = the oldest member of the House of Commons (cf., Babe); among
printers, the chairman of the chapel, the intermediary between master
and men; in naval circles, the builder of a man-of-war or Government
‘bottom.’
Father Derbies’ Bands.—See Darbies.
Father’s Brother, subs. phr. (common).—A pawnbroker; my uncle (q.v.).
Fat Jack of the Bone-house, subs. phr. (common).—A contumelious epithet
for a very stout man.
Fat-mutton, subs. (venery).—A fat bit (see Bit of Fat), i.e., a stout
bed-fellow.
Fatness, subs. (common).—Wealth. Cf., Fat = rich.
Fatten-up, verb (theatrical).—To write fat (subs., sense 3) into a
part.
Fat-un, subs. (common).—An emission of wind from the anus of peculiar
rankness; a ‘roarer’ (Swift).
Fatty (or Fatymus, or Fattyma), subs. (colloquial).—A jocular epithet
for a fat man; a comic endearment for a fat woman.
Faugh-a-Ballagh Boys, subs. phr. (military).—The Eighty-Seventh Foot;
also known as the eagle-takers (q.v.), and the old fogs (q.v.). [From
Fag an bealac = ‘Clear the Way,’ the name of the regimental march.]
Faulkner, subs. (old).—A tumbler; juggler. Lex. Balat. [1811] and
Duncombe’s Sinks of London [1848].
Fawney, or Fauney, subs. (common).—1. A ring; Fr., une brobuante; une
broquille; un chason; Fourbesque, cerchiosa.
2. A swindle (also called Fawney-dropping, or rig), worked as
follows:—A ring (snide) is let drop in front of a passer-by, who picks
it up, and is confronted by the dropper, who claims to share. In
consideration of immediate settlement he offers to accept something
less than the apparent value in cash. Also done with pocket-books,
meerschaum pipes, etc. Fawney-dropper = one that practices the
ring-dropping trick; Fawney-bouncing = selling rings for a pretended
wager; Fawnied = ringed.
1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 174. Fawny. An old, stale
trick, called ring-dropping.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 471. He
wears a stunning fawny (ring) on his finger.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 389. I
do a little in the fawney dropping line; (fawneys are rings).
1857. Ducange Anglicus, The Vulgar Tongue, p. 39. Fawney-droppers
gammon the flats and take the yokels in.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, p. 124. And where ...
The Chips, the fawneys, Chatty-feeders, The bugs, the boungs, and
well-filled readers.
Feager, subs. (old).—See quot. and cf., Feaker.
1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). A
Feager of Loges, one that beggeth with counterfeit writings.
Feague, verb (old).—To send packing; to whiff away.
1826. Scott, Journal [pub. 1890], I., 205. Though this be Monday, I
am not able to feague it away, as Bayes says—[The reference, as
furnished by Dr. Murray to Mr. David Douglas, editor of the Journal
(1890), is to certain editions of Buckingham’s farce, The
Rehearsal: ‘I lay my head close to it with a snuff-box in my hand,
and feague it away.’]
Feak, subs. (old).—The fundament. Lex. Balat. [1811].
Feather, subs. (colloquial).—1. Kind; species; company; cf., Birds of a
feather. For synonyms, see Kidney.
1608. Dekker, Belman of London, in wks. (Grosart), III., 140. And
he delivers it either to a Broker or some Bawd (for they all are of
one feather).
1609. Shakspeare, Timon of Athens, Act i., Sc. 1. I am not of that
feather, to shake off My friend when he must need me.
2. in pl. (common).—Money; wealth.—[See Feather one’s nest.] For
synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.
3. (venery).—The female pubic hair (Prior and T. Moore). For synonyms,
see Fleece.