1671. R. Head, English Rogue, part I., ch. v., p. 47 (1874). Abram,
naked.
3. Abram or Abram coloured (old).—Derivation uncertain, but supposed to
be a corruption of ‘auburn.’ In this connection it may be remarked that
it is to be found in Coriolanus, Act II., scene 3; but where the
original reads Abram the folio has ‘auburn.’ To sham Abram, verb
(old).—Also see Abraham sham.—The original signification of this word,
to feign sickness, led to its use to describe pretence of any kind;
this is specially the case amongst sailors, workmen, etc., who describe
malingering as doing Abram, the defaulter also being called by the same
name.
Abregoyns, Abergoins, Abrogans, subs. (American).—Vulgarisms for
‘aborigines.’
Abridgments, subs. (nonce word).—Knee breeches. This term for small
clothes appears in Bulwer Lytton’s comedy, Money.
1840. Bulwer Lytton, Money, iv. 4. Frantz (producing a pair of
small clothes, which Toke examines). Your master is von beggar,
etc. Toke. I accept the abridgements, but you’ve forgotten to line
the pockets.
Abroad, adv. (old).—1. Confused; staggered; perplexed. More generally
retained in this sense in America than in England.
2. (popular).—Generally all abroad; i.e., wide of the mark; wrong;
uncertain in one’s estimate; or, ‘all at sea.’ In this figurative sense
the expression is much older than is popularly supposed.—See Bedoozled.
1821. The Fancy, vol. I., p. 255. In the fourth round he came in
all abroad, and got a doubler in the bread-basket, which spoiled
him for the remainder of the fight.
1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ch. lxi. ‘My friend!’ repeated
Kit, ‘You’re all abroad, seemingly,’ returned the other man.
‘There’s his letter, take hold.’
1846. Thackeray, V. Fair, ch. v. At the twelfth round the latter
champion was all abroad, as the saying is, and had lost all
presence of mind, and power of attack or defence.
3. To be transported. The French have a similar circumlution, aller en
traverse, and the Italian Fourbesque has andar a traverso.
4. (Win. Coll.)—A boy returning to school work after being ill is said
to come abroad. When on the sick list he is continent (q.v.) i.e.,
continens cameram, vel lectum, keeping his room or bed. When recovered
he is allowed to go foris, out of doors, or more colloquially, abroad.
Adams, in Wykehamica, remarks that the use of this term shows the
antiquity of the school, dating as it does from the times of the
‘patrium sermonem fugito, Latinum exerceto, of the Tabula legum.’ To be
furked abroad is a less complimentary term implying that a ‘man’ has
been ‘shuffling’; it is specially applied to those who having ‘gone
continent’ in the morning are sent back to school by the doctor at 9
a.m.
Abroaded (society).—See quotation, and compare with abroad.
1876. H. O. Manton, Slangiana, p. 11 (See Bibliography).
Fashionable slang for a noble defaulter on the Continent (sic) to
avoid creditors. It is the police official slang for convicts sent
to a colonial or penal settlement, but it is applied by thieves to
transportation either at home or in the Colonies.
Abs (Win. Coll.)—1. An abbreviation of ‘absent’ placed against the name
of a boy when absent from the school.
2. v. tr., to take away. Formerly, circa, 1840, to abs a tolly
(candle), meant to put it out; now it would mean to take it away
whether lighted or unlighted, the modern ‘notion’ for putting it out
being to ‘dump’ it.
3. v. n. To get away; generally used in the imperative, as, ‘abs!’ ‘Oh!
do abs!’ Sometimes, however, a fellow is said to abs quickly, and mess
things (q.v.) are absed (trans.), or put away.
4. To have one’s wind absed is to have it taken away by a violent blow
in the stomach.
Abscotchalater, subs. (thieves’).—Quoted by H. O. Manton in Slangiana
as ‘one who is hiding away from the police.’ Cf., Absquatulate.
Absence, subs. (Eton).—Names-calling, which takes place at 3 p.m. and 6
p.m. on half-holidays; and at 11.30 a.m., 3 p.m., and 6 p.m. on whole
holidays; at 6 p.m. only in summer half.
Absent Without Leave, adv. phr. (thieves’).—Said of one who has broken
prison; or (popular) absconded.
Absit, subs. (Cambridge).—See quotation.
1886. Dickens’s Dictionary of the University of Cambridge, p. 3.
Every undergraduate wishing to leave Cambridge for a whole day, not
including a night, must obtain an ‘absit’ from his tutor.
Permission to go away for a longer period, either at the end of the
term or in the middle, is called an ‘exeat,’ and no undergraduate
should go down without obtaining his ‘exeat.’
Abskize, Abschize, v. (American).—To depart; go away. Said to be of
Western origin, and to have been in use about 1883. Of rare and
probably local usage. It has been derived from the Dutch afscheyden;
Ger. abscheiden of similar meaning; a not unlikely origin, bearing in
mind the large Dutch and German element in the U.S.A.
Absquatulate, also Absquotilate, v. (American).—To run away; to decamp;
with the more or less forcible idea of absconding in disgrace. A
factitious word, of American origin and jocular use, simulating a Latin
form, perhaps from Latin ab and squat, i.e., to settle on land,
especially public or new lands, without any title or right whether of
purchase or permission, though in Australia the term is employed in a
more restricted sense for a sub-lessee of the government at a nominal
rent. It was first used by Mr. Hackett, as Nimrod Wildfire, a Kentucky
character, in a play called ‘The Kentuckian,’ by Bernard, produced in
1833. It is now less often heard than formerly, having been replaced in
some degree by the word skedaddle (q.v.). For synonyms, see Amputate
one’s mahogany.
1835–1840. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xiv. ‘What’s the use
of legs but to absquotilate with ... when traps are sot for you.’
1879. Punch, Jan. 18, p. 23, col. 1. The Reward of Merit. Mrs. Lyon
Hunter, ‘How do you do, Mr. Brown? Let me present you to the
Duchess of Stilton! Your Grace, permit me to present to you Mr.
Brown, the distinguished scholar!’ Her Grace (affably). ‘Charmed to
make your acquaintance—er—Mr. Brown!’ Mr. Brown (with effusion).
‘Your Grace is really too kind. This is the ninth time I’ve enjoyed
the distinction of being presented to your Grace within the last
twelve months; but it’s a distinction I value so highly, that
without trespassing too much on your Grace’s indulgence, I hope I
may be occasionally permitted to enjoy it again.’ [Bows, and
absquatulates.]
1884. Daily Telegraph, August 20, p. 6, col. 1. Yet who knows but
that some day an accident may happen to the Aberdeenshire works of
art ... the sense of the cartoons be totally subverted—in
Rabelaisian phrase, ‘absquashed and absquatulated.’
Academician, subs. (old).—The inmate of a brothel.
Academy, subs. (old).—1. A disorderly house; a brothel; a bagnio. Grose
remarks that these establishments were also called pushing schools. The
old brothels have of late years rapidly disappeared, their places being
taken by what are known as bed houses (q.v.). These vary in character
as regards style, equipment, and cost, but of whatever grade, rooms may
be had for longer or shorter periods as required. The French call them
maisons de societé; maisons de passe; foutoirs, and gros numéros, the
last from the fact, that these semi-private brothels bear a number of
large dimensions over the entrance. The French have also a somewhat
analogous term for the mistress of an académie in l’institutrice, the
teacher. In the finishing academy (q.v.) the inmates are young
prostitutes, the next stage in whose downward career is taken on the
streets.
2. According to the N.Y. Slang Dictionary, a penitentiary or prison for
minor offences.
3. A thieves’ school; also a band of thieves. There are establishments
of similar character bearing more distinctive names, e.g.:
4. Buzzing Academy (thieves’).—A school for thieves, chiefly boys.
Fagan, the old Jew in Oliver Twist, will occur to mind, as also the
devices by which he taught his gang to pick pockets and pilfer
adroitly.
5. Canting Academy (vagrants’).—A house of call or common lodging
house, frequented by the fraternity; a cadger’s dossing ken. The term
is also applied to any house where application for food or money is
likely to be successful. At the regular ‘beggar’s house’—establishments
which abound more or less in every town—information can be obtained so
that the district can be thoroughly and systematically ‘worked.’
6. Character Academy.—At these places false characters are drawn up, to
say nothing of the concoction of schemes of robbery.
7. Floating Academy (thieves’).—The hulks or prison ships were formerly
so-called. When the regulations as regards transportation were relaxed,
convicts condemned to hard labour were sent on board these vessels.