VOKER, to talk; “can you VOKER Romany?” can you speak the canting
language.—_Latin_, VOCARE; _Spanish_, VOCEAR.
WABBLE, to move from side to side, to roll about. _Johnson_ terms it a
“low, barbarous word.”
WALKER! or HOOKEY WALKER! an ejaculation of incredulity, said when a
person is telling a story which you know to be all gammon, or false.
The _Saturday Reviewer’s_ explanation of the phrase is this:—“Years
ago, there was a person named _Walker_, an aquiline-nosed Jew,
who exhibited an orrery, which he called by the erudite name of
_Eidouranion_. He was also a popular lecturer on astronomy, and often
invited his pupils, telescope in hand, to _take a sight_ at the moon
and stars. The lecturer’s phrase struck his school-boy auditory, who
frequently “took a sight” with that gesture of outstretched arm, and
adjustment to nose and eye, which was the first garnish of the popular
saying. The next step was to assume phrase and gesture as the outward
and visible mode of knowingness in general.” A correspondent, however,
denies this, and states that HOOKEY WALKER was a magistrate of dreaded
acuteness and incredulity, whose hooked nose gave the title of BEAK to
all his successors; and, moreover, that the gesture of applying the
thumb to the nose and agitating the little finger, as an expression of
“Don’t you wish you may get it?” is considerably older than the story
in the _Saturday Review_ would seem to indicate. There is a third
explanation of HOOKEY WALKER in _Notes and Queries_, iv., 425.
WALK INTO, to overcome, to demolish; “I’ll WALK INTO his affections”
_i.e._, I will scold or thrash him. The word DRIVE (which see) is used
in an equally curious sense in slang speech.
WALK OVER, a re-election without opposition.—_Parliamentary_,
but derived from the _Turf_, where a horse—which has no rivals
entered—WALKS OVER the course, and wins without exertion.
WALK-THE-BARBER, to lead a girl astray.
WALK YOUR CHALKS, be off, or run away,—spoken sharply by any one who
wishes to get rid of you.—_See_ CHALKS.
WALL-FLOWER, a person who goes to a ball, and looks on without dancing,
either from choice or not being able to obtain a partner.
WALL-FLOWERS, left-off and “regenerated” clothes, exposed for sale in
Monmouth-street.
WALLOP, to beat, or thrash. Mr. John Gough Nichols derives this word
from an ancestor of the Earl of Portsmouth, one Sir John Wallop, Knight
of the Garter, who, in King Henry VIII.’s time, distinguished himself
by WALLOPING the French; but it is more probably connected with WEAL, a
livid swelling in the skin, after a blow.—_See_ POT WALLOPER.
WALLOPING, a beating or thrashing; sometimes in an adjective sense, as
big, or very large.
WAPPING, or WHOPPING, of a large size, great.
WARM, rich, or well off.
WARM, to thrash, or beat; “I’ll WARM your jacket.”
WASH, “it won’t WASH,” _i.e._, will not stand investigation, is not
genuine, can’t be believed.
WATCHMAKER, a pickpocket, or stealer of watches.
WATCH AND SEALS, a sheep’s head and pluck.
WATER-BEWITCHED, very weak tea, the third brew (or the first at some
houses), grog much diluted.
WATER OF LIFE, gin.
WATERMAN, a light blue silk handkerchief. The Oxford and Cambridge
boats’ crews always wear these—light blue for Cambridge, and a darker
shade for Oxford.
WATTLES, ears.
WAXY, cross, ill-tempered.