Mr. D. »Belinda, your _vulgar_ expressions pain me.» (The Prude’s Progr.
37. 2.)
_To blue_ means here: to spend, to get rid of money quickly.
_Have you blued the lot?_ = have you spent all the money?
Cf. _to be blued_ = to be robbed.
boss-eyed
»You _boss-eyed_ old cow, you.» (Stage-Land. 58. 22.)
_Uneducated young man._
_Boss-eyed_ means _squint-eyed_ or _with one eye injured_. Here it is
probably the former, the expression alluding to a woman.
The term may be connected with the schoolboy slang word »boss» as
in »boss a shot» = make a bad shot—in which case it would refer to
imperfection of the vision, rather than to obliquity in the position of
the eye.
bullyrag
»They turn round and _bully-rag_ me for being argumentative.» (They And
I. 164. 14.)
_A cultivated man._
»It ain’t no use my taking her now, I’ll only get _bullyragged_ for
disturbing ’em.» (P. Kelver I. 242. 30.)
_Old woman of the working class._
_Bullyrag_ (or _Ballyrag_) = _to abuse_, _to scold vehemently_. (Swedish:
skälla ut.)
clout
»I do not blame the dog (contenting myself with merely _clouting_ his
head or throwing stones at him).» (Three Men In A Boat 162. 30.)
= _to strike_.
The word is originally a _provincialism_, but is used in vulgar language
also.
cockey
»Yer won’t tell?—Say, ‘I swear’.»
»I swear-»
»Good-bye, _cockey_.» (P. Kelver I. 75. 30.)
_Dialogue between two »street Arabs»._
The term has probably nothing to do with _cock-eye_ (squinting eye),
but is a vulgar mode of address and diminutive of _cock_ (cf. _sonny_,
_matey_, _slavey_, _chummy_ etc.), as in »a fine old cock», where the
word indicates a certain superiority.
cop, copper
»It’s only the fools as gets _copped_.» (T. T. T. 162. 15.)
_Uncultivated Londoner._
»I nearly got _copped_.» (Miss Hobbs 42. 18.)
_Easy conversation between gentlemen._
»I have seen her fling her petticoats about, when the _copper_ wasn’t
by.» (T. T. T. 132. 16.)
_A waiter._
= _to seize_, _to catch_.
The word is probably originally _thieves’ cant_, and has here the sense
of _arrest_.
A _cop_ or _copper_: a policeman.
The etymology of _cop_ is doubtful. It has been associated with the Gipsy
_kap_ or _cop_ = to take, with the root of the Latin _cap-io_, and with
the Hebrew _cop_ = a hand or palm. FARMER-HENLEY (Dict. of Slang and
Coll. Engl.) observes that low-class Jews employ the term, and understand
it to refer to the act of snatching.
cove
»I’m not cut for a respectable _cove_.» (T. T. T. 161. 20.)
_Uneducated young man._
»Her master seems to have been an odd sort of a _cove_.» (T. T. T. 172.
20.)
_A waiter._
»This _cove_ looks young.» (The Passing 12. 12.)
_A constable._
_Cove_ (also _covey_, _cofe_, _cuffing_, and, in the feminine, _covess_)
is a common vulgarism for _man_, _person_. The term is no doubt derived
from the old Gipsy word _cova_ = man.
It is, I should think, not quite as vulgar as the synonymous _bloke_.
curse