signify initiation into the secrets of the yegg profession. A synonym
for yegg, adopted when the latter term acquired too much notoriety.
Example: “By way of the Hiram!” An exclamatory challenge or password
used for a “feeler” to probe the state of mind of the encountered one.
HOBO, Noun
General usage. A tramp, not necessarily of criminal tendencies.
HOIST, Noun
Current amongst shoplifters mainly. The profession of shoplifting. See
“BOOSTER”; “DERRICK.” Example: “What’s his grift? He’s on the hoist.”
HOOKS, Noun
Current amongst shoplifters. A set of steel hooks shaped like the
letter “U,” fastened through the cloth of a heavy “boosting ben” under
the armpits; concealed from the outside view by a pad of cloth similar
in pattern to the cloth of the coat and having the inner arm of the
hook filed to a needle-like sharpness; upon the hook merchandise may
be hung, or slung around the operator’s back and suspended from both
hooks. When not in use the hooks’ sharp points are sheathed in cork
to prevent injury to the person. They are instantaneously detachable
and may be “sloughed” by an expert without detection. “Hooks” also
signifies the worst of a bargain. “HOOK” means a thief; “HOOKY” is
larcenous.
HOOKER, Noun
General currency. A prostitute. See “DONY”; “FLUZIE.”
HOLLER, Noun
General currency. A protest; a vehement refutation. See “BELCH”;
“WOLF”; “SQUAWK.” Example: “Did the sucker make a holler? Sure he
rumbled the touch before we blowed the joint and made a roar.”
HOMBRE, Noun
Western usage. A man. From the Spanish for man.
HOPSCOTCH, Verb
General usage. To jump or travel about from place to place.
HOOP, Noun
General currency, though used most frequently by “short-odds” grafters
who practice merchandising by unlicensed solicitation. A finger
ring. A “phony hoop” is a gold-plated ring. Grafters of mediocre
intellectuality seek protection from apprehension for vagrancy by
carrying a stock of “hoops,” “glims” and “supers,” or “blocks”
(watches). Not to be confounded with the jovial exclamation, “Whoops!
my dear,” of fairies and theatrical characters.
HOP MERCHANT, Noun
Current amongst drug habitues. A dispenser of opium and opiates.
Usually applied to drug peddlers who have no established headquarters,
but are itinerant.
HUCKS, Noun
Current amongst “sure-thing” grafters. The walnut shells used in the
three shell game. See “HICKS”; “NUTS.” Example: “We’ll make the ball
game on Sunday and play the hucks.”
HUMP, Noun
Current amongst prison habitues. The middle of a term; the half-way
point in a prison sentence. Example: “How long have you got yet on your
bit? I’m just over the hump.”
HUNCH, Noun
General usage. An inspiration; an intuition; an “office.”
HUNDRED PER CENT, Noun
Used by sure-thing admen, by confidence grafters who maintain the
plausible appearance of giving value for moneys received, but who in
reality give nothing. Fake advertising is the principal hundred per
cent graft.
HUNKIE, Noun
Current in localities where North European laborers abound. A
corruption of Hungarian, but employed to signify a Continental European
who is unwashed and unnaturalized.
HUSTLER, Noun
General currency. A grafter; a pimp who steals betimes. The genteel
thief is designated a “hustler.”
HYPER, Noun
Current amongst money-changers. A flim-flammer; a layer of currency,
that is, one who makes a purchase and tenders a bank note and after
receiving proper change pretends to discover the exact amount of
change required to pay for the goods purchased and thereupon declares
his preference for the bank note rather than for the change. In the
exchange he strives to confuse the obliging changemaker for the
purpose of obtaining an excess of his proper due. Or, the “hyper”
requests a bank note for subsidiary coin and upon being accommodated
ostentatiously seals the bank note in an addressed envelope. The
merchant discovers that the subsidiary coin is less than the stated
amount and demands his bank note, whereupon a substitute envelope
is tendered by the “hyper” with a request that he hold it until the
“hyper” returns to his home and secures the additional small change.
There are other systems of the “hyper” in vogue, but the principle is
the same in all.
IN DUTCH, Adverb
General usage. Mistaken; in trouble. See “JACKPOT.”
JAB, Noun
Current amongst morphine and cocaine fiends. A hypodermic injection.
JACKPOT, Noun
General currency. A dilemma; a difficult strait; a retribution;
trouble; an arrest. See “JINX”; “IN DUTCH.” Example: “Where’s Joe? He
pulled a raw-jaw stunt and made a jackpot.”
JAKE, Noun
General currency amongst cosmopolitan crooks. The state of knowing;
familiarity with a secret or a scheme or meaning. See “HEP”; “JOE.”
Example: “You’re making a boob out of yourself; he’s Jake to the whole
works.” As an adjective “jake” means good; satisfactory; acceptable;
all-right.
JAMB, Noun
Current chiefly amongst yeggs and prowlers. The state of being closed,
as a store or house; locked up; inaccessible. See “Sloughed,” not in
the sense of “sluffed” as the same word is sometimes used, though with
the latter pronunciation while retaining the former spelling. Example:
“The front’s in the jamb; try the rear.” Also used to signify trouble
in the sense of “JACK POT.”
JANE, Noun
General currency. A woman, though not in any opprobrious sense; the
sexual complement of the term “JOHN,” a man.
JERVE, Noun
Current amongst pickpockets. A vest pocket; the “tool”; the “wire”; the
“claw” in a gun mob. Examples: “Go after the left jerve for a bundle of
scratch.” “The jerve was nailed bang to rights coming through the tip.”
JESSIE, Noun
General currency. A bluff; a threat. Example: “He rang in a jessie and
got away with it.”
JIG, Noun
General currency. An affair; a misfortune; a mistake. Example: “He used
bad judgment and got into a jig.”
JIGGER, Noun
Current amongst yeggs and tramps. A fake wound, burn, scald, or other
crippled condition. See “BUG”; “P. P.” Example: “They’re all jigger
bums.”
JIGGER, Verb
Supra idem. An exclamation of warning; an injunction to cease; to mar;
to spoil; to deface or derange. Examples: “Jigger! The bull’s coming.”
“You’ve jiggered the lock.”
JIM, Noun
General currency. A cheap, inferior or worthless thing. Contraction of
“JIM CROW.” See “CROW.”
JIM, Verb
General currency. A synonym for “JIGGER.” Example: “Lay off! You’ll jim
the whole works.”
JIMMY, Noun
Used mainly by yeggs and prowlers. A burglar’s tool. A short, powerful
chisel or lever used by thieves for prying doors and windows open.
JIMMY, Verb
Supra idem. To pry or wrench loose with any instrument.
JINKS, JINX, Noun
General usage. In difficult straits. See “IN DUTCH.”
JITNEY, Noun
General currency. A nickel; a dime; a small coin; a picayune. Used
variously to signify an extremity in finance. Example: “Break away; he
hasn’t got a jitney.”
JOE, Noun
General currency in polite criminal circles. Wise; sophisticated. See
“Hep,” of which “JOE” and “JAKE” are subdivisions or contractions or
substitutions.
JOHN, Noun
General currency amongst the demi-monde. A “captain”; a “sucker”; an
amorous fool with money and free love proclivities. Also a man in a
contemptuous sense. Examples: “She’s got a John keeping her.” “Ask this
John what time the train starts.”
JOHN HANCOCK, Noun
Current amongst confidence men and paper grafters generally. A
signature. Derived from the common observation that John Hancock,
of Revolutionary fame, wrote a massive, extremely legible hand. See
“FINGER PRINT.”
JOINT, Noun
General currency. A business establishment; a hangout. Sometimes used
as a synonym of “DUMP,” though it does not necessarily imply meanness
or disrepute. Example: “Let’s drop in this joint and buy a suit of
clothes.”
JOLT, Noun
General usage. A prison sentence; a penalization; a blow; a physical or
moral jar. Example: “He did a jolt once before in Joliet.”
JOHN O’BRIEN, Noun
Current generally. A freight train, used in contradistinction to a
“RATTLER,” a passenger train. Example: “You can see by his clothes
that he has been riding John O’s.” Amongst “yeggs” it signifies also a
moneyless safe.
JUG, Noun
General currency. A prison; a bank; a secret receptacle for money or
compact valuables. Example: “Tail this mark to the jug and case what he
draws,” i. e., “observe what money he draws.”
JUNGLE, Noun
Current amongst yeggs. A loafing place or hang out beyond a city’s
limits, whether in the woods or not. An isolated or little frequented
spot.
JUNK, Noun
General currency. Inferior goods; any property of relative
worthlessness. Example: “Everything in his keister is junk.”
KALE, Noun
General currency. Bank notes; money of any kind. Evolved from the term
“GREEN GOODS,” the latter metaphor for money being derived from the
greenish aspect of currency. Example: “He’s got a bundle of kale that
would choke a cow.”
KEISTER, Noun
General currency. A satchel; a handbag; a small grip. Example: “What’s
his grift? He prowls the depots for keisters.”
KICK, Noun
Some general currency, but employed most effectively by pickpockets.
In common usage it signifies a pocket, any pocket; amongst “guns” it
is used exclusively to signify a front pants pocket. Also a protest, a
“squawk.”
KINK, Noun
General circulation. A crook; a larcenous criminal. See “HOOK”;
“HUSTLER.” Example: “Are there any kinks in the joint?” Also used by
yeggs to designate a non-criminal tramp, or one who is not initiated
into the particular craft of the speaker. In this latter sense the
term is derived from the epithet “gay-cat,” meaning a “working plug.”
Example: “Cut him out; he’s got forty-seven kinks in his tail.”
KIP, Noun
General usage. A bed; a place to sleep. See “PAD”; “DOSS”; “FLOP.” Used
also as a verb, to sleep, to go to bed, etc.
KISSER, Noun
General circulation. The countenance. See “MOOSH”; “MUG[9].” Example:
“You’ll recognize him by his hatchet kisser.”
[9] There is no entry for “MUG” in the text.
KITTY HOP, Noun
Current chiefly amongst gamblers. A heads-I-win-tails-you-lose
situation or proposition; a “double-cross”; a “frame-up,” in which
“both ends may be played against the middle.” Also used to indicate a
practical joke. Example: “We got the skirt to frame a kitty hop for him
and he fell for it.”
LACE, Verb
General currency. To slam; to punch; to beat unmercifully. Example:
“The three dicks laced him like a football and then squared it by
throwing an order of ham and eggs under his belt.”
LAG, Noun
Current amongst statutory criminals. A prison sentence of one year;
sometimes used to signify an indefinite term of years in prison. The
“STRETCH” better expresses the latter sentence of penal servitude.
Example: “He’s doing a lag in the little can.” Also used as a verb as
the equivalent of “RAILROADING” a criminal to prison.
LAM, Noun
General currency. A hasty get-away; a running escape. Example: “He
heeled to the door and made a lam.”
LAM, Verb
General usage. To run; to flee. Most frequently employed in the
imperative mood.
LAMISTER, Noun
Supra idem. A corruption of “LAM.” Also a fugitive from justice.
Example: “He’s a lamister out of Chicago.”
LAMOS, Adjective
General currency. Gold-plated; flimsy; unsubstantial. Derived from
the name of a firm of Chicago jewelers who supplied the cheap jewelry
trade with “PHONIES,” or fake jewelry. Example: “You can’t hock it for
two-bits; it’s lamos.” Also used to signify inferior personal qualities.
LAYING OUT, Verb, Present Part.
Current amongst prowlers and sneak thieves. To watch from ambush; to
spy upon a person or establishment. Example: “To get this dump right
we’ll have to lay out on it every night for a week and make the doings.”
LAYING (NOTES), Verb, Present Part.
Current amongst flim-flammers. To make fraudulent change; to cheat by
the ruse of substitution. The latter craft is denominated “LAYING THE
ENVELOPE.”
LEATHER, Noun
Some general currency, but used chiefly by pickpockets. A pocketbook; a
wallet; a billbook. See “POKE.” Example: “He has an inside leather.”
LEARY, Adjective
General usage. Afraid; anxious; anticipatory.
LEMON, Noun
Current chiefly amongst bunco men. A confidence game in which skill at
pool is the bait, though its successful negotiation is based upon the
dishonesty or avarice of the victim. See “WIRE”; “SPUD.” A lemon joint
is a crooked pool and billiard room. Lately evolved to comprehend the
general meaning of a disappointment, a commercial illusion. In this
regard “lemon” is used In the deprecating sense conveyed by the term
“gold mine.” Example: “Lemons are selling in the open market for thirty
cents a dozen, but this one cost me a hundred iron men.”
LIVE ONE, Noun
General currency. An informed individual; a prospectively profitable
victim; an ambitious or keenly alert person. Example: “If we put this
live one through the sprouts we throw our feet under the mahogany at
the big top all the rest of the winter.”
LOB, Noun
General currency amongst better informed crooks. An awkward craftsman;
a delinquent; an opprobrious character amongst thieves. Contracted
from “LOBSTER,” which in turn is a metaphor derived by suggestion from
“CRAB,” the latter symbolizing backward action or the propensity for
reluctant participation. “LOBBY GOW” is another form of the same term,
used principally by confidence and “flat-joint” grafters to signify a
minor confederate, or “booster.”
LOADING, Verb, Present Part.
Current amongst pickpockets. The act of following, escorting or
forcibly jamming passengers aboard a street or passenger car or up any
flight of steps, as the entrance to an elevated railroad station; the
purpose of “LOADING” is to take advantage of unsuspecting eagerness
on the part of passengers so that violent extraction of valuables from
pockets shall scarcely be heeded. Example: “We were loading ’em on for
two hours steady in the Sunday excursion pushes.”
LOCO, Adverb
Current chiefly in western circles, though not used exclusively by
criminals. Slightly erratic in mental processes. The Spanish value of
the term is “crazy,” but by American criminal adoption it has been
modified to comprehend just less than that. See “NUTS.”
LOSER, Noun
Current amongst prison habitues. An ex-convict. See “Con.” Examples:
“Three time losers cop life in some states.”
LUMP, Noun
Current chiefly amongst yeggs, hobos and the indigent. A donation of
victuals intended for consumption outside the house. But alas! lumps
are sometimes impaled on the fence pickets by fastidious beggars who
become offended at the failure of well meaning but non-intuitive
philanthropists to invite them in to eat at the table. This latter
operation is gratefully termed a “sit-down.”
MAC, Noun
General currency. A pimp; a lover of a lewd woman. A man who lives upon
the earnings of a prostitute. Derived from the French term “Macquereau.”
MAIN STEM, Noun
General currency. The main thoroughfare of a community. See “DRAG.”
MAKE, Verb
General currency. To recognize; to discern; to solve; to acquire in
an intellectual sense. See “RAP.” Example: “You had better ring up
(disguise) so he won’t make you.”
MARK, Noun
General circulation. A man; a prospective victim.
MATCH, Noun
Current amongst confidence men. A bunco game similar in nature to
the “LEMON,” but in which coins are matched; the fraud consisting in
treachery on the part of the confidence man who steers the victim with
the professed intention of betraying his de facto confederate.
MEAL TICKET, Noun
General currency. A female of the open market who supports a lover; any
gratuitous source of subsistence. Example: “The stiff won’t put up his
back so long as he’s got a meal ticket.”
MEIG, Noun
General currency amongst cosmopolitans. A nickel; a five-cent piece.
See “JITNEY.” Sometimes used to indicate the minimum basis of exchange
medium, the cent, as a hundred meigs, fifty meigs, etc. Example:
“What’s the tax for the scoffin’s? Twenty-five meigs.”
MELT, Noun
Current amongst loothunters, but pennyweighters and other jewelry
thieves particularly. Precious metals that may be melted in a crucible
to make identity difficult or impossible. See “BREAK UP.” Example: “The
swag netted a melt of a thousand dollars.”
M’GIMP, MEGIMP, Noun
Current in western circles. A pimp; a lover in the vicious meaning. See
“MAC.”
MICHAEL, Noun
Current amongst bottle drinkers. A flask of liquor. Example: “Have you
got a michael on your hip?”
MICHIGAN, Noun
General currency. A spectacular ruse; a deceptive appearance, as a fake
bank roll; a hoax staged with sinister intent. Example: “They started a
michigan scrap and trimmed the sucker in the mix-up.”
MICKY, Noun
Current amongst bottle drinkers. A corruption of “MICHAEL.”
MILL, Verb
General currency, but of western origin. To amble around aimlessly; to
exercise by walking. Example: “We milled around town all day without
turning a trick.”
MITT, Noun
Current chiefly amongst gamblers when the sense is a hand of cards.
The “MITT” is a confidence game of the same nature as the “LEMON” or
the “MATCH,” involving a double cross. Also a card hand in any square
game. In general currency it means both the human hand and any scheme,
system or personal character. See “DUKE.” Amongst prison habitues the
“MITTS” signify handcuffs. Example: “If he spiels long enough he’ll
tip his mitt.” “They framed a strong mitt for him and beat him for
half a century.” A “MITT JOINT” is a gambling house where victims are
“steered” for fleecing by means of deceptively “sure thing” hands.
MOB, Noun
General currency. Two or more confederates joined together for
nefarious practices. Used most frequently to designate a gang of
pickpockets, a “GUN MOB.”
MOCHA, Noun
Current amongst shoplifters. Cloth; a suit pattern. Example: “I know a
derrick who’ll peddle a mocha for a finif.”
MOLL, Noun
General currency. A woman, regardless of character. See “JANE.”
MONACRE, MONACKER, Noun
Current amongst yeggs and registering itinerants. A nickname; a
professional cognomen. A corruption of the term “monogram,” devised to
meet the contingencies arising out of the oft requested information:
“What’s your handle?” Example: “You’ll have to look in the cook book to
find a fancy monacker, for all the ready ones are appropriated, judging
by the register on this tank.”
MONKEY, Noun
General currency. A man, used in the mildly indifferent sense of a
stranger. See “GEEZER,” “GAZABO,” etc. Sometimes used to signify a
“BOOB.”
MOOCH, Noun
Current amongst beggars. A mendicant; an alms solicitor.
MOOCH, Verb
General currency. To stroll; to move about. See “MILL.” Example: “Mooch
around the block and come back in ten minutes.” Also, to beg.
MOOSH, MOUSH, Noun
General circulation. The human face; the physiog. See “KISSER.” Also
the mouth. Probably from French bouche (mouth). Probably derived from
the French “mouchoir,” a handkerchief, suggested by its utilization as
a face mop. Example: “He’s got a harp moosh,” i. e., Irish.
M, or MORPH, Noun
Used by morphine fiends. Sulphate of morphia.
MOPE, Verb
General currency. To walk away; to remove one’s presence to another
locality or spot. See “BLOW,” “MOOCH,” “DUCK.”
MOUSER, Noun
Current in cosmopolitan circles. A “fairy;” a character obsessed by
lewd passions.
MOUTHPIECE, Noun
General currency. A lawyer; an advocate; a spokesman; a representative.
Example: “The fall dough is to be used exclusively for a mouthpiece and
nothing else.”
MUD FENCE, Noun
Current amongst yeggs, safecrackers. A soap lip, a trench of soap or
other plastic substance constructed to hold nitroglycerin in funnel
formation until it seeps through a joint in a safe.
MUSH, Noun
General usage. An umbrella. Example: “When you can’t do anything else
you can heel the hotels and depots for mushes and turkeys.”
NAILED, Verb, Past Part.
General currency. Apprehended. See “GRABBED,” “GLOMMED.”
NECKING, Noun
General circulation. A scrutiny; an impertinent staring. See “GANDER,”
“RUBBER[10].” Example: “The guinea on the end is giving you a necking
through the glass.” Also used as a verb, to “neck,” to peer, to watch.
[10] There is no entry for “RUBBER” in the text.
NEXT, Adverb
General usage. Conventionally wise. A synonym for “JAKE,” “JOE,” “HEP.”
Example: “You can’t spring anything he isn’t next to.”
NICK, Verb
Current mainly amongst pickpockets. To surreptitiously extract
something from the person; to “touch” in the criminal sense; to purloin
by stealth in personal presence of a victim. Example: “This lob
couldn’t nick a handful of air out of a flour barrel without scratching
his mitt.”
NINES, Noun
Current amongst roues and cosmopolitans. The limit possible; the
maximum extent. Example: “He’s soused to the nines;” “That dony is made
up to the nines,” i. e., artificially beautified.
NOODLE, Noun
General currency. The human head; brains; savoir faire; mentality.
Example: “He’s got a noodle like a Santa Claus,” i. e., intuition,
perspicacity.
NUT, Noun
Commonly current in all circles when the meaning is “LOCO.” Used by
grafters whose operations involve an investment to signify an expense
incurred in connection with a venture. Example: “The grift was punk; we
were framed five strong and never got the nut off.” “We went on the nut
for two fifty.”
NUTS, Noun
Current amongst “flat joint” grafters, though comprehended in general.
The three shells. See “HICKS.” Example: “If we can’t beat the crap game
we will play the nuts for the winners.” As an adjective and adverb it
signifies daft, mentally deranged.
OFFICE, Noun
General currency. A signal; a sign; a warning conveyed by facial
expression, by physical motion, by sound or other nonchalant prompting.
Example: “When I give you the office, blow.” Used also as a verb in the
same sense.
ON, Adverb
General currency. Wise. A synonym for “NEXT,” “JAKE.” Also used to
indicate an acceptance, as of a proposition. Example: “You’re on for
five hundred.”
OPEN AIR, Noun
Current amongst “flat joint” men and circus grafters generally. Used
both as adjective and noun. County fair, street carnival, popular sport
gathering and other out-of-door grafting.
OVER ISSUE, Noun
Current amongst confidence men of the “green goods” type. A bunco
scheme involving the use of crisp, new legitimate bank notes which
are purported to have been clandestinely issued by employees of the
Bureau of Engraving and Printing. One or two of the notes are given the
victim who is then steered to a confederate who poses as a detective.
The latter professes to recognize the principal in the bunco as an
ex-convict and counterfeiter. The upshot of the scheme is the “shaking
down” of the victim for all he possesses and is successfully carried
out through the victim’s fear induced by consciousness of criminal
complicity.
PAD, Noun
General circulation. A bed; a place to sleep. See “KIP;” “DOSS.”
PADDED, Verb, Past Part.
Current amongst shoplifters. To have swag concealed about the person
in a neat, compact order so as to enable the thief to pass inspection.
Example: “He moped out of the joint padded to the nines.”
PAN, Verb
General currency. To scandalize; to defame. Example: “They panned
everybody to a whisper.” “ON THE PAN” signifies a subject on the carpet
for discussion.
PAPER HANGER, Noun
Current principally amongst forgers and utterers of false paper.
Example: “There’s a bunch of paper hangers plastering the town from A
to Izzard.”
PETE, PETER, Noun
Current amongst yeggs. A safe; a strong box; a “GOPHER.” Example:
“The pete in the pig is a single H. H. with a drop,” i. e., “The safe
in the hardware store is a single door, Herring-Hall with a drop
handle.” Amongst gamblers and badgers a “peter” is a sleeping potion, a
“knockout,” such as hydrate of chloral.
PIG, Noun
Current amongst yeggs and prowlers. A hardware store; the merchandise
sold by hardware stores, preferably the more valuable assortments.
Deduced: “Hardware”: steel tools, steel, iron, pig iron. Example:
“He’s gone out to drop a swag of pig.”
PINCH, Noun