POPS, pocket pistols.
POP, to pawn or pledge; “to POP up the spout,” to pledge at the
pawnbroker’s,—an allusion to the spout up which the brokers send the
ticketed articles until such times as they shall be redeemed. The spout
runs from the ground floor to the wareroom at the top of the house.
POSH, a halfpenny, or trifling coin. Also a generic term for money.
POSTERIORS, a correspondent insists that the vulgar sense of this word
is undoubtedly slang (Swift, I believe, first applied it as such), and
remarks that it is curious the word _anterior_ has not been so abused.
POST-HORN, the nose.—_See_ PASTE-HORN.
POST-MORTEM, at Cambridge, the second examination which men who have
been “plucked” have to undergo.—_University._
POT, a sixpence, _i.e._, the price of a pot or quart of half-and-half.
A half crown, in medical student slang, is a FIVE-POT PIECE.
POT, “to GO TO POT,” to die; from the classic custom of putting the
ashes of the dead in an urn; also, to be ruined, or broken up,—often
applied to tradesmen who fail in business. GO TO POT! _i.e._, go and
hang yourself, shut up and be quiet. _L’Estrange_, to PUT THE POT ON,
to overcharge, or exaggerate.
POT, to finish; “don’t POT me,” term used at billiards. This word was
much used by our soldiers in the Crimea, for firing at the enemy from a
hole or ambush. These were called POT-SHOTS.
POT-HUNTER, a sportsman who shoots anything he comes across, having
more regard to filling his bag than to the rules which regulate the
sport.
POT-LUCK, just as it comes; to take POT-LUCK, _i.e._, one’s chance of a
dinner,—a hearty term used to signify whatever the pot contains you are
welcome to.
POT-WALLOPERS, electors in certain boroughs before the passing of the
Reform Bill, whose qualification consisted in being housekeepers,—to
establish which, it was only necessary to boil a pot within the limits
of the borough, by the aid of any temporary erection. This implied that
they were able to provide for themselves, and not necessitated to apply
for parochial relief. WALLOP, a word of _Anglo Saxon_ derivation, from
the same root as _wall_.
POTTED, or POTTED OUT, cabined, confined; “the patriotic member of
Parliament POTTED OUT in a dusty little lodging somewhere about
Bury-street.”—_Times_ article, 21st July, 1859. Also applied to burial.
POTTY, indifferent, bad looking.
POTATO TRAP, the mouth. A humorous _Hibernicism_.
POWER, a large quantity.—Formerly _Irish_, but now general; “a POWER of
money.”
PRAD, a horse.
PRAD NAPPING, horse stealing.