Adv.—All together, as ‘Let’s anchor altemal,’ i.e., ‘Let us come to a
stop altogether.’
Subs.—The sum total of a bill or story.
Intj.—An injunction to ‘cut it short.’
Altemal is said to be derived from the Dutch altemal, but Murray has it
as ‘altumal’ with a different derivation. [From L. altum, the deep,
i.e., the sea + al.] Grose leans to the former and quotes Dutch
reckoning as synonymous; from a verbal account without particulars,
such as was given in brothels and sponging houses—accounts which
allowed of no sort of verification. Cf., Flemish account and remarks
under Dutch.
1711. Medleys, 29 Jan. (1712), 186. His altumal cant, a mark of his
poor Traffick and Tar-Education.
1758. Chambers, Cycl. Supp. Altumal, a term used to denote the
mercantile style, or dialect. In this sense, we meet with altumal
cant, to denote the language of petty traders and tars.
Altering the Jeff’s Click.—See Jeff’s click.
Altham, subs. (old cant).—A wife; mistress.—See quotation.
1560. John Awdeley, Fraternitye of Vacabondes (1869. English
Dialect Society’s Reprint), p. 4. A curtall is much like to the
Vpright man, but hys authority is not fully so great. He vseth
commonly to go with a short cloke, like to grey Friers, and his
woman with him in like liuery, which he calleth his altham if she
be hys.
Altitudes. In his altitudes, phr. (old).—In an elevated mood, chiefly
from liquor; putting on airs and graces; using lofty phrases; in a
state of excitement; and, in a special slang sense, drunk. The phrase
has been incorrectly given as ‘out of his altitudes.’ The first trace
of it is to be found in Beaumont and Fletcher’s Laws of Candy, II.
[1616].
1630. Jonson, New Inn, I. I have talked somewhat above my share, at
large, and been in the altitudes, the extravagants.
1668. Dryden, An Evening’s Love, Act iii. If we men could but learn
to value ourselves, we should soon take down our mistresses from
all their altitudes, and make them dance after our pipes.
1705. Vanbrugh, Confederacy, Act v. Clar. ‘Who makes thee cry out
thus, poor Brass?’ Brass. ‘Why, your husband, madam; he’s in his
altitudes here.’
1785. Francis Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. The man is in
his altitudes, i.e., he is drunk.
Altocad, subs. (Win. Coll.).—A somewhat venerable paid member of the
choir who takes alto.
Alybbeg.—See Lybbege.
Alycompaine.—See Allacompain.
Ambassador, subs. (nautical).—A sailor’s practical joke upon ‘green’
hands, similar to the festivities formerly universally observed when
‘crossing the line.’ These tricks have been common to sailors of every
nation. Ambassador was thus managed:—A large tub was filled with water,
two stools being placed on either side of it; over the whole was thrown
a tarpaulin or old sail, kept tight by two persons, who represented the
king and queen of a foreign country, and who were seated on the stools.
To the victim was allotted the part of ambassador, who, after repeating
a ridiculous speech dictated to him, was led in great state up to the
throne, and seated between the king and queen. They rising suddenly, as
soon as the unsuspecting victim was seated, caused him to fall backward
into the tub of water.
Ambassador of Commerce, subs. (familiar).—A commercial traveller; a
bagman (q.v.).
Ambia, subs. (American).—A euphemism for the juice of tobacco, as
expectorated after chewing. Most frequently heard in the Southern and
Western States. Apparently a corruption of ‘amber’ (indeed it is
commonly spelt and pronounced ambeer)—presumably from a similarity in
colour between expectorated tobacco saliva and the mineralised resinous
product.
Ambidexter, also in 17th century, Ambodexter, subs. and adj. (old
slang).—[From ambo, both + dexter, the right hand, i.e., the faculty of
using both hands as right hands, or equally well.] Applied first in a
slang sense to a lawyer taking fees or bribes from both plaintiff and
defendant, ambidexter gradually became identified with double-dealing
of all kinds.
1532. Use of Dice Play (1850), 17. Any affinity with our men of
law? Never with those that be honest. Marry! with such as be
ambidexters, and used to play in both the hands. [M.]
1555. Ridley, Works, 27. They may be called neutrals, ambidexters,
or rather such as can shift on both sides. [M.]
1691. Blount, Law Dictionary. Ambidexter.... That Juror or
Embraceor who takes Money on both sides, for giving his Verdict.
1703. De Foe, Ref. Manners, 93. Those ambodexters in Religion, who
Can any thing dispute, yet any thing can do.
1864. Sir F. Palgrave, Norman and Eng. III., 278. An ambidexter,
owing fealty to both Counts, and not faithful to either.
Ambush, subs. (American thieves’).—Fraudulent weights and measures. A
punning allusion to the accepted meaning of the word—to lie in wait
(lying weight). In juxtaposition to this may be placed the Fourbesque
(Italian thieves’ argot); giusta, a pair of scales, a balance, which in
Italian literally means ‘correct.’ Cf., French thieves’ argot, juste
(an abbreviation of justice), for the assizes; also the Spanish
Germania justia, in a similar sense, the last-named being a shortened
form of the Spanish justicia.
Amen Curler, subs. (old slang).—The name formerly given to a parish
clerk. In the army the chaplain’s clerk is called an amen wallah
(q.v.).
Amener, subs. (old).—A nickname given to one who agrees to everything
said or done. [From that sense of amen = to ratify solemnly + er.]
Amen-Snorter, subs. (Australian).—A parson; from which it will be
observed that the fifth continent is evolving words and phrases as
peculiar to itself as America has already done. For synonyms, see Devil
dodger.
1888. Bulletin, Nov. 24. In Maori-land it is impossible to swing
any kind of cat without smiting some variety of amen-snorter. Still
the saints are not happy. They have just held at Wellington a
‘United Ker-ristian Conference’ to ruminate on the sinfulness of
things and the scarcity of the unsanctified threepenny. A Rev.
vessel, one Potter, opined that the meagre quantity and inferior
quality of family devotion accounted for the depleted condition of
the ‘treasury of the Loard,’ and suggested that steps should be
taken ‘to find out what families omit this important duty.’ Since
which all the dead-beats and suspected hen-snatchers plead when
before the Binch that they were ‘only mouching round to find out
whether the family neglected its religious dooties, yer washup.’
Amen Wallah, subs. (military).—A chaplain’s clerk; the allusion is
sufficiently obvious. ‘Wallah’ is Hindustani for ‘man’ or person. Cf.,
the old English slang, amen curler (q.v.).
Amerace, adv. (American thieves’).—Jargon signifying near at hand;
within call.
American Shoulders, subs. (tailors’).—A particular ‘cut,’ in which the
shoulders of a coat are so shaped as to give the wearer a broad and
burly appearance. This is usually done where a man’s shoulders are of
the champagne (q.v.) order, i.e., like the neck of a wine bottle, with
nothing upon which the garment in question can be hung.
American Tweezers, subs. (thieves’).—An ingenious instrument of
American invention, by means of which it is possible to turn a key in a
door and unlock it from the outside.
Ames Ace, Ambs-Ace, or Ambes-Ace. Within ames ace, subs. phr. (old).—1.
Nearly; very near; ambs-ace was the double ace, the lowest throw at
dice. Hence also
2. Bad luck; misfortune. The expression, according to Murray, dates
back to A.D. 1297.
Aminidab, subs. (old).—A jeering name for a Quaker.—Grose.
Ammunition, subs. (common).—Paper for use at the cabinet d’aisance.
Also called curl papers (q.v.).
Ammunition Leg, subs. (military).—A wooden leg. From the attributive
use of ‘ammunition’ as applied to stores supplied to soldiers for
equipment or rations. To show the length to which this application of
the word has been carried, it may be noted that Robertson, in 1693,
speaks of ‘an ammunition whore.’—scortum castrense.
Amort, adv. and pred. adj. (old).—Usually all amort, an antithetical
phrase to all alive (q.v.), and meaning half dead; in a state of
stupor; without spirit; sometimes used as a synonym of balmy, cracked,
dotty, all of which see. A-la-mort, from the French, is regarded as the
original form, though it is doubtful which took precedence in literary
English. At one time both forms were quite naturalised; they are now of
interest as affording an instance of words, gradually lapsing into
slang or vulgar usage, and then coming to be regarded as Anglo-French
phrases. American thieves still retain them, to signify struck dumb, or
confounded; in these senses they are given by Grose in his Dictionary
of the Vulgar Tongue [1787], which would seem to show they had already
commenced their downward career.
Ampersand, subs. (familiar).—The breech; or posteriors. [From Eng. and
+ Latin per se, by itself, + Eng. and; literally, ‘and by itself and’
used to distinguish the character ‘&,’ which in old nursery books came
at the end of the alphabet. Hence, employed to signify the hinder
parts.] The word in its slang sense is quite a recent introduction,
said to be of American origin. For synonyms, see Blind cheeks.
Amputate. To amputate one’s mahogany or timber (familiar).—To be off;
to begone—the idea being that of quick or violent motion, often, though
not always, the result of moral or physical force. [Probably from that
sense of amputate equivalent to ‘cut off’ or ‘away.’ Cf., ‘cut,’ a
slang synonym.] A welcher is called a timber-merchant, because he
removes himself, or ‘cuts his stick’ with celerity as occasion
requires. Both the English and French have many synonymous words and
phrases to express the same idea. Among the more popular may be
mentioned:—
English Synonyms. To skedaddle (an American term); to cut one’s lucky;
to sling, or take one’s hook; to mizzle; to absquatulate; to pad the
hoof; to give leg bail; to bolt; to cut and run; to chivey; to walk the
trotters; to slip one’s cable; to step it; to leg it; to tip the
double; to make, or take tracks; to hook it; to make beef (thieves’
term); to slope; to cut the cable and run before the wind (obviously a
sailor’s phrase); to slip it; to abskize; to paddle; to guy (used by
thieves); to evaporate; to vamoose (American, from the Spanish
imperative vamos, let us go); to speele (used by thieves); to skip; to
tip one’s rags a gallop; to walk one’s chalks; to pike; to hop the
twig; to turn it up; to cap one’s lucky (a phrase mainly confined to
American thieves); to crush; to cut dirt; to bunk; to pike it; to stir
one’s stumps.
French. Faire or jouer la fille de l’air (lit. ‘to go like the wind,’
fille de l’air, daughter of air, being a poetical embodiment); faire le
lézard (a thief’s term, and meaning properly ‘to imitate a lizard,’ an
allusion to swiftness of motion); faire le jat-jat; faire la paire
(lit. ‘to go double,’ Cf., ‘to tip the double’); faire gille (a very
old French phrase; it means also to become bankrupt. The connection
between bankruptcy and decamping is obvious); se déguiser en cerf
(popular: lit. ‘to play the stag’); s’évanouir (popular: lit. ‘to
vanish’ or ‘fade away’); se cramper or tirer sa crampe (cramper is a
popular term for rapid flight, and contains an allusion to the cramp or
nervous contraction sometimes caused by violent motion. Old French had
the verb crampir in the sense of ‘to bend’ or ‘double up.’ Tirer sa
crampe is lit. ‘to get cramped’); se lâcher du ballon (popular: ‘to let
loose the balloon,’ an allusion to the rapidity with which a balloon
shoots up into the air when set free); se la couler (exactly equivalent
to the English slang ‘to slip it’); se donner de l’air (popular: Cf.,
faire la fille de l’air); se pousser du zeph (popular: properly ‘to
push forward with the wind.’ Zeph is a contraction of zephir); se
sylphider (popular: from sylphide, a sylph; a reference to what in
English racing terminology would be termed the ‘light-weight’ character
of such creatures enabling them to get over the ground quickly); se
faire la débinette; jouer des fourchettes (popular: ‘to put one’s forks
into play’); fourchettes (in French argot = legs or ‘pins’); se la
donner (Michel says la here refers to ‘la clef des champs,’ an
expression synonymous with ‘liberty’ or ‘freedom’); se la briser
(popular); ramasser un bidon (thieves’); se la casser (popular); se la
tirer; tirer ses granches; valser (lit. to dance); se tirer les
pincettes (popular: lit. ‘to pull along’ or to extricate ‘one’s tongs’
or ‘nippers.’ Cf., English ‘nip along’); se tirer les baladoires; se
tirer les pattes (lit. ‘to move one’s paws’); se tirer les trimoires
(thieves’: trimoires is a cant term for legs, and trimer signifies
painful progression, or doing most of a journey on foot); se tirer les
flûtes (popular: les flûtes = ‘shanks’ or ‘pegs’); jouer des guibes
(guibe is a popular term for the leg, chiefly employed in burlesque);
jouer des quilles (this expression is very old. Quilles properly
signifies ‘crutches,’ and is popularly employed for the legs); se
carapater (lit. ‘to run on one’s paws.’ Cf., ‘to take to one’s heels’);
se barrer (lit. ‘to dash over’); baudrouiller (thieves’: this has the
signification of ‘to whip up’); se cavaler (thieves’: cavaler was once
synonymous with chevaucher; therefore, se cavaler signifies in reality,
‘to go on horseback on oneself,’ in which connection it may be compared
with ‘shanks’ mare,’ the ‘marrow-bone stage’ [the Marylebone stage], or
the German Schuhster’s Rappen, the shoemaker’s black horses, i.e., the
shoes. Se cavaler likewise has reference to running away with the tail
between the legs when fright has seized hold of an animal, and as
employed by thieves conveys the idea of cowardice as well as that of
locomotion); faire une cavale or se payer une cavale (popular: Cf., se
cavaler); jouer des or se tirer les paturons (popular and thieves’:
this may be translated ‘to pad the hoof.’ Paturons is properly the
‘pasterns.’ The frequent use of se tirer in connection with the idea of
moving from place to place with a celerity which is oftentimes
accentuated by a fear of arrest or unwelcome obstruction is extremely
fitting. Se tirer means literally to extricate oneself; to get through;
to pull oneself forward—extra endeavour resulting in rapid
progression); happer le taillis (thieves’: lit. ‘to catch, lay hold of’
or ‘gain the copse’; i.e., a place of concealment); flasquer du poivre
à quelqu’un or la rousse (thieves’: Cf., Amuse; ‘to fly from the
police’; lit. ‘to shake the pepper box in the eyes of the police’;
rousse is a cant term for a guardian of the peace); décaniller
(thieves’: this word, derived from canille, a French provincialism for
chenille, a caterpillar, is an allusion to the metamorphosis of the
grub into a butterfly when it takes unto itself wings); décarrer
(thieves’: to leave prison; décarrer de belle, to be released from
prison without having been tried); exhiber son prussien (popular:
prussien is a common colloquialism for the posteriors, and the phrase
literally means ‘to show one’s behind,’ or ‘turn tail.’ It may be worth
while remarking that the term prussien as applied to the breech is no
vulgar expression of contempt towards the Prussians. The word is
derived, says Michel, from the gypsy prusiatiñi, which Borrow
translates by pistol. Formerly the French called ‘the behind’ by the
name of a Parisian church, Saint-Jean le Rond); démurger (thieves’: to
leave a place; to be set at liberty); désarrer (thieves’: ‘to guy’; to
make beef); gagner les gigoteaux (also gagner au trot, au pied, gagner
le camp, la colline, le taillis, la guérite, etc.); se faire une paire
de mains courantes à la mode (thieves’); fendre l’ergot (lit. ‘to split
the spur,’ an allusion to the toes being pressed to the ground, and
thus naturally parted); filer son nœud, or son cable (sailors’ and
popular: lit. ‘to cut the ropes’ or ‘cable’); se défiler (popular, but
derived from the military term, signifying to go off parade: might be
translated ‘to leg it’); s’écar-bouiller (popular: properly ‘to crush’;
compare with the English synonym ‘crush’); esballonner (popular); filer
son cable par le bout (sailors’); faire chibis (thieves’: ‘to escape
from prison’); déraper (common); fouiner (popular: this is, in reality,
no more slang than the English ‘to sneak away’); se la fracturer
(popular: properly a surgical term, meaning ‘to fracture’); jouer des
gambettes (popular: may be translated ‘to leg it’; ‘to stir one’s
stumps’; gambettes is from the old French gambe, a leg); s’esbigner
(popular: properly ‘to give the slip’); ramoner ses tuyaux (popular:
lit. ‘to sweep one’s chimney’; ramoner, in its primary cant
signification of ‘to mutter’ or ‘to mumble,’ is an allusion to the
rumbling noise produced by sweeping a chimney. Se faire ramoner is ‘to
go to confession,’ or ‘to take a purgative’—the one a moral, and the
other a physical cleansing. Hence ramoner ses tuyaux, ‘to run away,’ in
reference to the speedy locomotion consequent upon the process of
purging); foutre le camp (popular: equivalent to ‘hook it’; a coarse
expression); tirer le chausson (popular); se vanner (thieves: Michel
derives this from the Italian vannare, ‘to flap the wings,’ but another
authority refers it to the motions of the body and arms of a winnower;
the word in literary French signifying ‘to sift’ or ‘to winnow.’ Others
trace it to the old French vanoyer, ‘to disappear.’ In all cases,
however, it would seem to be equivalent to the English ‘come shake
yourself! be off!’); ambier (thieves’); chier du poivre (popular: ‘to
abscond,’ or ‘to fail to be at hand when needed’); se débiner, or se
débiner des fumerons (popular: ‘to stir one’s stumps’); caleter
(popular); attacher une gamelle (popular and thieves’); camper (low);
affuter ses pincettes (thieves’: lit. ‘to sharpen the pins’ or ‘to leg
it’); and many others.
German Synonyms. Abbaschen (from paschen, ‘to smuggle’); abbauen
(literally ‘to remove, or finish’ [a building]); abfocken; abhalchen
(from Hebrew holach, ‘to go’); schefften; abschnurren (a
beggar-musicians’ term; also to beg through a lane, town, or district.
[M.H.G., snurren, schnurren, schnurrant]); abtarchenen; abtippeln (to
run away secretly); alchen (from Hebrew holach, ‘to go’); aschween
(Hanoverian: according to Thiele hascheweine—probably corrupted from
schuw; heschiw, ‘to turn round’); blättern (corrupted from
plettern—Hebrew pleto); caball (from Latin caballus, ‘a horse’; hence,
to fly quickly as if on horseback); dippeln (a Viennese thieves’ term)
fucken or focken.
Italian Fourbesque. Sbignare or svignare (these words though given as
cant by the author of the Nuovo Modo are now received words); comprare
(lit. ‘to buy’); comprar viole; allungare il muro (lit. ‘to lengthen
the wall’); balzare (lit. ‘to caper,’ ‘to skip,’ ‘to bounce’); batter
la calcosa (lit. ‘to beat the earth.’ Cf., American ‘to cut dirt’);
dare a lata; scoscare.
Spanish Germania. Piñarse (an old and now obsolete term); alar; alarse;
alolargo (lit. ‘at large’); picar (lit. ‘to use the spurs’); safarse
(lit. ‘to escape’ or ‘save oneself’ [from arrest]).
Amuse, verb. (old cant).—To fling dust or snuff in the eyes of a person
intended to be robbed. Also, to invent some plausible tale, to delude
shop-keepers and others, thereby to put them off their guard, and so to
obtain an opportunity of robbing them.
Amusers, subs. (old cant and American thieves’).—A certain class of
thieves’ accomplices who throw snuff, pepper, and other noxious
substances in the eyes of the person they intend to rob, a confederate
then, while apparently coming to the rescue, completing the operation.
In this, as in much of the slang of the criminal classes, there runs a
vein of brutal cynicism. Though obsolete in England the term survives
in America amongst the criminal classes.
Anabaptist, subs. (old slang).—A pickpocket caught in the act, and
punished with the discipline of the pump or horse-pond.—Grose.
Anchor. To come to an anchor, verb. phr. (nautical and common).—To
stop; to sit down; to rest. [From the operation of bringing ships to a
standstill by casting anchor.]
Anchorage, subs. (common).—An abode; where one dwells. Of nautical
origin (see Anchor). For synonyms, see Diggings.
Ancient Mariners, subs. (Univ. Oxford).—A term applied to rowing dons.
And Don’t You Forget It, phr. (American).—A senseless string of words
employed indiscriminately in season and out of season. Like ‘Who’s your
hatter?’ ‘How’s your poor feet?’ ‘Not for Joe!’ ‘Does your mother know
you’re out?’ ‘What! again! so soon?’ and many others, which every now
and then have caught the ‘fancy’ of the streets of our large towns, the
phrase under consideration has run an almost riotous course through the
large centres of population in America. In most cases these strings of
words convey no special idea, and can only be described as utterly
vulgar, without the slightest scintillation of wit or humour of any
kind.
1888. Boston Weekly Globe, Feb. 29. There can be no two opposing
opinions in that respect. Great capital demands dividends.
Dividends can be had only from a prosperous business. A prosperous
business must recognise the law of supply and demand, and if the
public demand dirt the newspapers will furnish dirt—and don’t you
forget it.
1888. Detroit Free Press, Oct. 6. ‘Did you see any Quakers in
Philadelphia?’ was asked of a Detroiter who lately returned from
that city.
‘Only one that I was sure of.’
‘Did he ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ you?’
‘He did. He got down off his hack and said: ‘If thee don’t pay me
2 dols. I’ll knock thy blamed head off,’ and I paid, although I
knew the regular fare was twelve shillings. You don’t want to fool
with those Quakers any, and don’t you forget it.’
And He Didn’t, phr. (tailors’).—A phrase of the all my eye (q.v.)
stamp, i.e., ‘You tell me you have not; but for all that I think you
have’—the action referred to being generally of a discreditable
character.
And No Mogue? phr. (tailors’).—Used in a variety of ways to signify
doubt and uncertainty. It is equivalent to the street gamin’s ‘no kid?’
when used interrogatively, i.e., ‘there’s no mistake, is there?’ ‘Now,
joking apart?’ Also used as a ‘set down’ to narrators claiming descent
from Baron Munchausen, in which case it is equivalent to the ‘You don’t
say so!’ of politer circles; in both cases the spokesman conveys the
idea that one’s credulity has been somewhat taxed.
And No Whistle, phr. (tailors’).—A kind of tu quoque; usually applied
to a man by a listener desiring to convey to the speaker the idea that
no matter what others may think to the contrary, he [the listener]
believes that what has been said refers to the person speaking.
Andrew Millar, subs. (nautical).—A curious cant name for a ship of war;
sometimes simply Andrew. Its origin is quite unknown; but it has been
pointed out that Antonio, in the Merchant of Venice, speaks of one of
his vessels as his ‘wealthy Andrew’; and it has been conjectured that
in this case the ship was named after the celebrated Admiral Andrea
Doria, who died in 1560. But to trace any connection between this
Andrew, however general the use of the name may have become, and the
Andrew Millar of modern sailors’ slang, would be difficult.
1598. Shakspeare, Merchant of Venice, i., i., 27.
But I should think of shallows and of flats,
And see my wealthy Andrew dock’d in sand.
Among Australian smugglers the term still survives for a revenue
cutter.
Angel or Flying Angel, subs. (common).—Explained by quotation.
1880. James Greenwood, Seaside Insanity in Odd People in Odd
Places, p. 45. It is at this point when the one day excursionist,
who, as well as his wife, has an olive-branch or two with him,
finds his fortitude suddenly collapse. With the youngest but one
(his good lady, of course, carries the baby) bestriding his
shoulder, he puts his best foot foremost from the beach to the town
so as to be in good time at the station. He is hot and fagged, and
his temper is not improved by the knowledge that the cherub to whom
he is giving a ‘flying angel’ is smearing his Sunday hat with the
seaweed with which its little fists are full.
Angelicas.—See Angelics.
Angelics, subs. (old).—Unmarried young ladies. Now Angelicas.
1821. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, p. 5. (Dicks’ ed., 1889.) Jerry.
You think the cut of my clothes rather too rustic—eh? Tom. Exactly;
dress is the order of the day. A man must have the look of a
gentleman, if he has nothing else. We must assume a style if we
have it not. This, what do you call it?—this cover-me-decently, was
all very well at Hawthorn Hall, I daresay; but here, among the
pinks in Rotten Row, the ladybirds in the Saloon, the angelics at
Almack’s, the top-of-the-tree heroes, the legs and levanters at
Tattersall’s, nay, even among the millers at the Fives, it would be
taken for nothing less than the index of a complete flat.
Angeliferous, adj. (American).—Angelic; also super-excellent; a
factitious word. It is interesting to note that ‘angelification,’
‘angelify,’ and ‘angelified,’ were in use in the seventeenth century,
but never to any great extent. [From angel + iferous, a spurious form
based on the model of ‘auriferous.’] It is said to have been first used
by Bird in his novel, entitled Nick of the Woods.
Angels Altogether, subs. phr. (West Indian).—A sobriquet applied to
habitual drunkards. It originated about the year 1876, and was, in the
first instance, a bon-mot of a well-known sugar planter on the East
Coast Demerara. A negro hand, notorious for his hard drinking, applied
for a holiday, and the manager having a suspicion that Quashie wanted
it simply to go ‘on the drink,’ bantered him as follows:—‘John! you
were drunk on Sunday?’ ‘Yes, massa!’ ‘Monday too?’ ‘Yes, massa!’ and on
the question being repeated as regards Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,
and Friday, it elicited similar responses, whereupon the ‘boss’
quietly, but pointedly said, ‘But John, you can’t be an angel
altogether, you know!’ The story got abroad, caught on, and in a short
time the whole colony rang with the expression.
Angel’s Footstool, subs. phr. (nautical).—Yankee skippers, given to
high falutin’, aver that their craft carry far more canvas than any
vessel afloat of ‘foreign’ origin (the term ‘foreign’ including British
bottoms, as well as those of nations other than Anglo-Saxon). Imaginary
sails are crowded on their craft, among these being one which they
jokingly call an angel’s footstool. It is pretended to be a square
sail, and is supposed to top the skyscrapers, moon-sails, and cloud
cleaners (q.v.).
Angel’s Gear, subs. phr. (nautical).—It is thus that ‘jolly tars’
sometimes speak of female attire. Jack is notoriously most susceptible
where a petticoat is concerned.
Angel’s-Oil, subs. (old).—A seventeenth century colloquialism for money
used for bribery; sometimes oil of angels. For synonyms, see Actual,
and Boodle.
Angel’s Suit, subs. phr. (tailors’).—A ‘combination’ garment for males.
The coat and waistcoat were made in one, and the ‘unmentionables’
buttoned on to it. Neither garment nor name was extensively adopted.
Angel’s Whisper, subs. phr. (military).—A name given to the call to
defaulter’s drill. Needless to say it is, as Artemus Ward would express
it, ‘wrote sarcastic.’
Anglers, Hookers, or Starrers, subs. (old).—Pilferers or petty thieves,
who, with a stick having a hook at the end, steal goods from shop
windows, etc. So far Grose; but Duncombe adds that starrers are an
order of thieves who break show glasses in jewellers’ windows and, in
the consequent confusion steal the goods. The term is a very ancient
one. Dekker in English Villanies [1632], thus describes an ‘angler for
duds’:—‘He carries a short staff in his hand, which is called a filch,
having in the nab or head of it a ferme (that is to say a hole) into
which, upon any piece of service, when he goes a filching, he putteth a
hooke of iron, with which hook he angles at a window in the dead of
night for shirts, smockes, or any other linen or woollen.’ It would
appear from this that modern thieves are both much more daring and
expert. It is not an uncommon thing for a crack thief, in the broad
daylight, in the most crowded streets of London, to break a jeweller’s
window, snatch some valuables, and make off with them. An iron
instrument is used for the purpose which is concealed by the coat
sleeve.—See Area sneak.
Angling Cove, subs. (thieves’).—A receiver of stolen goods.—See Fence.
Angling for Farthings, verb. phr. (old thieves’).—Begging out of a
prison window with a cap or box, let down at the end of a long
string.—Grose. Such a practice, it is needless to say, would be
impossible nowadays.—See Hooker.
Anglomaniacs, subs. phr. (American).—A club in Boston is thus
self-styled. Its members are opposed to anything British in every shape
and form. The term is of course a contradiction, and should, to express
the policy of its members, be Anglophobists.
Angry Boys.—See Bloods.
Angular Party, subs. phr. (common).—A term given to any gathering of
people of which the number is odd; say three, seven, thirteen, etc.
Animal, subs. (American).—A new arrival at the United States Military
Academy at West Point. Cf., Snooker.
To go the whole animal (American).—A variant of ‘to go the whole hog.’
In the West Indies it is varied by ‘to go the whole dog.’—See Hog.
1838. C. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, p.... Opposing all half
measures, and preferring to go the extreme animal.
1859. G. A. Sala, Twice Round the Clock, p. 62.... that they had
much better pay first-class, and go the entire animal.
Animules, subs. (American).—This expression is very generally used in
the South-western territories, and in California, as a substitute for
‘mules.’ A witty play upon ‘animals’ and ‘mules.’
1834(?) Centre-Pole Bill, in Overland Monthly. ‘Ten miles to town!
Waal, stranger, I guess I’ll stake out here to-night. Them animules
is too beat to do that. Where’s yer water?’ ‘It’s all around you
to-night; but you can turn your mules into the corral.’
Ankle. To sprain one’s ankle, verb. phr. (old).—When a girl has been
seduced she is said to have sprained her ankle. Both French and German
slang have analogous expressions; in the former, elle a mal aux genoux
is said of a woman who is pregnant, i.e., ‘she has a bad knee.’ In
German, ladies so placed ‘lose a shoe’; but of synonyms there are
plenty.—See Leg.
Ankle-Beaters, subs. phr. (old).—A class of boys who attended cattle
markets for the purpose of driving to the slaughter-house the animals
purchased by the butcher. They were called ankle-beaters from their
driving the animals with long wattles, and beating them on the legs to
avoid spoiling or bruising the flesh. Also called penny-boys (q.v.),
because they received one penny per head as remuneration.
Anne’s Fan, properly Queen Anne’s Fan, subs. phr. (common).—Putting the
tip of the thumb of either hand to the nose, and then spreading the
fingers in the shape of a fan. A gesture of contempt often intensified
either by twiddling the digits when in the position named, or by
similarly placing the other hand in an extended line. It is also called
taking a sight (q.v.), and biting the thumb (q.v.).
Annex, verb. (American).—To steal; in England the wise it call
‘convey.’—See Bone.
Anodyne, subs. (American thieves’).—A euphemism for death. From the
figurative sense of the word—anything that soothes wounded or excited
feelings, or that lessens the sense of misfortunes. Cf., Old English
slang term for a halter, Anodyne necklace.
Verb. (American thieves’).—To kill. Cf., foregoing; also To cook one’s
goose.
Anodyne Necklace, subs. phr. (old).—A halter. An anodyne is that which
allays or extinguishes pain, and the hangman’s rope may indeed be
regarded, from one point of view, as a cure for all pains. The
expression is old, being traced back to 1639. During the period when
the death penalty was inflicted for all kinds of comparatively trivial
offences—for sheep stealing, and even highway robberies of not more
than forty shillings value—synonyms equally grim and sententious were
numerous. According to Wilyam Bullein, an anodyne necklace was that
which ‘light fellows merrily will call ... neckweede, or Sir Tristam’s
knot, or St. Andrew’s lace (q.v.).’ Other terms for the hangman’s noose
were hempen cravat, horse’s nightcap, Tyburn tippet (q.v.).
1639. F. Beaumont, Bloody Brother, Act iii., Sc. 2. [Speaks of the
hangman’s halter as a ‘necklace.’]
1766. Oliver Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield [works, Globe ed., chap.
xx., p. 43.] [George Primrose’s cousin exclaims] ‘May I die by an
anodyne necklace, but I’d rather be an under-turnkey in Newgate
[than an usher in a boarding-school]’.
The water poet (John Taylor, a Thames waterman, 1580–1654), explaining
the virtue of hemp, says:—
Some call it neck-weed, for it hath a tricke
To cure the necke that’s troubled with the crick.
An anodyne necklace was also the name of a quack amulet, which, for a
long period, was a household word. This famous remedy occupied as
prominent a position in the advertising columns of the journals of the
middle of the eighteenth as Holloway’s pills in the latter part of the
nineteenth century. This necklace was of beads artificially prepared,
small, like barleycorns, and cost five shillings. For foreign synonyms,
see Horse’s nightcap.
Anoint, verb. (familiar).—To beat soundly; to thrash; humorously
derived from the proper meaning of the word, ‘to smear’ or ‘rub over
with oil or other unctuous substances.’ In the North of England the
saying is somewhat more analogous—‘to anoint with the sap of a hazel
rod.’
1175. Rom. of Partenay (Skeat), 5653.
Then thay put hym hout, the kyng away fly,
Which so well was anoynted indede,
That no slene ne pane had he hole of brede.
1703. Fuller’s Trip to Bridewell, quoted in Ashton’s The Fleet, p.
211. The whipper began to noint me with his instrument, that had, I
believe, about a dozen strings notted at the end.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. v. ‘I’ll bring him to the gangway,
and anoint him with a cat-and-nine-tails.’
1824. W. Irving, Tales of a Trav., II., 287. Seize a trusty staff
and anoint the back of the aggressor.
There seems to be some connection, too, between this sense of to
anoint, and the depraved use of anointed (q.v.) to signify great
rascality. Cf., Strap oil.
Anoint or Grease the Palm, verb. phr. (common).—To bribe. The Scotch
say ‘to creesh the luif.’ The expression is very old.
1584. Knox, Hist. of Reformation, works [1846] I., 102. Yea, the
handis of our Lordis so liberallie were anoynted.
See Grease the palm.
Anointed, ppl. adj. (old).—1. Used in a depraved sense to signify
eminence in rascality. The most probable derivation appears to be that
suggested by Prof. Skeat [N. and Q., 3 S., ix., 422]. In a French MS.,
Romance of Melusine, is an account of a man who had received a thorough
and severe beating, which is thus referred to:—Qui anoit este si bien
oignt. The English version [Early English Text Society] translates
this, ‘which so well was anoynted indeed.’ From this it is clear that
to anoint a man was to give him a sound drubbing, and that the word was
so used in the fifteenth century. Thus, an anointed rogue means either
one who has been well thrashed or who has deserved to be. Cf., To
anoint.
1769. Robertson, Hist. of Reign of Charles V. Many assumed the
clerical character for no other reason than that it might screen
them from the punishment which their actions deserved. The German
nobles complained loudly that their anointed malefactors, as they
called them, seldom suffered capitally even for the most enormous
crimes.
1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ch. xxxvii. ‘But, not being Lord
Etherington, and an anointed scoundrel into the bargain, I will
content myself with cudgelling him to death.’