RATTLERS, a railway; “on the RATTLERS to the stretchers,” _i.e._, going
to the races by railway.
RAW, uninitiated; a novice.—_Old._ Frequently a JOHNNY RAW.
RAW, a tender point, a foible; “to touch a man up on the RAW” is to
irritate one by alluding to, or joking him on, anything on which he is
peculiarly susceptible or “thin-skinned.”
READER, a pocket-book; “give it him for his READER,” _i.e._, rob him of
his pocket-book.—_Old cant._
READY, or READY GILT (properly GELT), money. Used by _Arbuthnot_, “Lord
Strut was not very _flush_ in READY.”
REAM, good or genuine. From the _Old cant_, RUM.
REAM-BLOAK, a good man.
RECENT INCISION, the busy thoroughfare on the Surrey side of the
Thames, known by sober people as the NEW CUT.
REDGE, gold.
RED HERRING, a soldier.
RED LANE, the throat.
RED LINER, an officer of the Mendicity Society.
RED RAG, the tongue.
REGULARS, a thief’s share of the plunder. “They were quarrelling about
the REGULARS.”—_Times_, 8th January, 1856.