PASTE-HORN, the nose. Shoemakers nickname any shopmate with a large
nose “old PASTEHORN,” from the horn in which they keep their paste.
PATENT COAT, a coat with the pockets inside the skirts,—termed PATENT
from the difficulty of picking them.
PATTER, a speech or discourse, a pompous street oration, a judge’s
summing up, a trial. _Ancient_ word for muttering. Probably from the
_Latin_, PATER NOSTER, or Lord’s Prayer. This was said, before the
Reformation, in a _low voice_ by the priest, until he came to, “and
lead us not into temptation,” to which the choir responded, “but
deliver us from evil.” In our reformed Prayer Book this was altered,
and the Lord’s Prayer directed to be said “with a _loud voice_.”—_Dr.
Pusey_ takes this view of the derivation in his _Letter to the Bishop
of London_, p. 78, 1851. _Scott_ uses the word twice in _Ivanhoe_ and
the _Bride of Lammermoor_.
PATTER, to talk. PATTER FLASH, to speak the language of thieves, talk
cant.
PATTERERS, men who cry last dying speeches, &c., in the streets, and
those who help off their wares by _long harangues_ in the public
thoroughfares. These men, to use their own term “are the haristocracy
of the street sellers,” and despise the costermongers for their
ignorance, boasting that they live by their intellect. The public,
they say, do not expect to receive from them an equivalent for their
money—they pay to hear them talk.—_Mayhew._ PATTERERS were formerly
termed “mountebanks.”
PAWS, hands.
PAY, to beat a person, or “serve them out.” Originally a nautical term,
meaning to stop the seams of a vessel with pitch (_French_, POIX);
“here’s the d——l to PAY, and no pitch hot,” said when any catastrophe
occurs which there is no means of averting; “to PAY over face and
eyes, as the cat did the monkey;” “to PAY through the nose,” to give a
ridiculous price.—whence the origin? _Shakespere_ uses PAY in the sense
of to beat, or thrash.
PEACH, to inform against or betray. _Webster_ states that _impeach_
is now the modification mostly used, and that PEACH is confined
principally to the conversation of thieves and the lower orders.
PEACOCK HORSE, amongst undertakers, is one with a showy tail and mane,
and holds its head up well,—_che va favorreggiando_, &c., _Italian_.
PEAKING, remnants of cloth.
PECK, food; “PECK and booze,” meat and drink.—_Lincolnshire._ _Ancient
cant_, PEK, meat.
PECKER, “keep your PECKER up,” _i.e._, don’t get
down-hearted,—literally, keep your beak or head well up, “never say
die!”
PECKISH, hungry. _Old cant_, PECKIDGE, meat.