5. (nautical).—Sometimes badger-bag. The fictitious individual
personating Neptune in the festivities incident to ‘crossing the
line.’—See Ambassador and Arthur.
6. (Wellington School).—A fellow who has got his ‘badge’ for play in
the 2nd XV. at football.
verb. (popular).—To tease; to annoy; to confound.
1798. O. Keefe, Wild Oats, I., i. At home, abroad, you will still
badger me.
1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxxiv., p. 299. Tracy Tupman, and
Augustus Snodgrass, were severally called into the box; both
corroborated the testimony of their unhappy friend; and each was
driven to the verge of desperation by excessive badgering.
1860. Dickens, Great Expectations, ch. xviii., p. 82. ‘Which I
meantersay,’ cried Joe, ‘that if you come into my place
bull-baiting and badgering me, come out!’
The popular French equivalent of to badger is aguigner.
To overdraw the badger, phr. (popular).—A figurative use of ‘drawing
the badger’; to overdraw one’s banking account.
1843–4. Hood, Miss Kilmansegg.
His cheeks no longer drew the cash,
Because, as his comrades explain’d in flash,
He had overdrawn his badger.
Badger State, subs. (American).—A popular name for the State of
Wisconsin, and so called because of the badgers which once abounded
there.
Bad Give-Away.—See Give away.
Bad-Halfpenny, subs. (popular).—A ne’er-do-weel; an allusion to the
frequency with which, like bad coins, they are always ‘turning up.’
Cf., Bad-egg.
(Australian).—A failing speculation; a risky venture.
Bad Hat, subs. (popular).—The same as bad egg (q.v.).
1883. Besant, They Were Married, p. II., ch. ix., in Captain’s
Room, etc. There may be one or two bad hats among eldest sons; but
there is not one, I am sure—there cannot be one—who would dare to
take his wife’s salary and deprive her of her son.
Bad Lot.—A term derived from auctioneering slang, and now generally
used to describe a man or woman of indifferent morals.
1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. lx. ‘He’s a bad’un, Mr. Lightfoot—a
bad lot, sir, and that you know.’
1868. Miss Braddon, Trail of the Serpent, bk. I., ch. ii. ‘I am
good for nothing,’ he said, ‘I am a bad lot. I wonder they don’t
hang such men as me.’
1872. M. E. Braddon, Dead Sea Fruit, ch. i. ‘The impracticable
Daniel has a certain kind of influence; and though he rarely cares
to use it on his own account—being so bad a lot that he dare not
give himself a decent character—he will employ it to the uttermost
for a spotless nephew.’
Bad Man, subs. (American).—A bad man, in the West, is a somewhat mixed
character. The term is generally understood to mean a professional
fighter or man-killer, but who, despite this drawback, is said by
Roosevelt, in Ranch Life in the Far West, to be sometimes, according to
his light, perfectly honest. These are the men who do most of the
killing in frontier communities; yet it is a noteworthy fact that the
men who are killed generally deserve their fate. These men are, of
course, used to brawling, and are not only sure shots, but, what is
equally important, able to ‘draw’ their weapon with marvellous
quickness. They think nothing whatever of murder, and are the dread and
terror of their associates; yet they are very chary of taking the life
of a man of good standing, and will often ‘weaken’ and ‘backdown’ at
once if confronted fearlessly. With many of them their courage arises
from confidence in their own powers and knowledge of the fear in which
they are held; and men of this type often show the white feather when
they get into a ‘tight place.’ Others, however, will face any odds
without flinching, and when mortally wounded, have been known to fight
with a cool ferocious despair that was terrible. During the last two or
three years, stockmen have united to put down these dangerous
characters, often by the most summary exercise of lynch law; and, as a
consequence, many localities once infested by bad men are now perfectly
law-abiding.
Bad Match Twist, subs. phr. (hairdressers’).—A man who has red, or
carotty hair and black whiskers is said to have a bad match twist.
Badminton, subs. (common).—1. A cooling drink; a kind of claret-cup, so
called because invented at the Duke of Beaufort’s seat of the same
name. Composed of claret, sugar, spice, soda-water, and ice.
1845. Disraeli, Sybil, bk. I., ch. i. ‘Waiter, bring me a tumbler
of Badminton.’
1853. Whyte Melville, Digby Grand, ch. ix. An enormous measure of
Badminton, that grateful compound of mingled claret, sugar, and
soda-water.
1868. Ouida, Under Two Flags, ch. ix. Looking up out of a great
silver flagon of Badminton, with which he was ending his breakfast.
2. (pugilistic).—Blood; from the similarity in colour to the summer
drink of the same name. Claret (q.v.), for a like reason, is also, in
the language of the prize-ring, synonymous with blood.
Bad Record.—See Record.
Bad Shot, subs. (popular).—An abortive attempt; a woman’s guess.
1844. Kinglake, Eothen, viii., 137. I secretly smiled at this last
prophecy as a bad shot.
1859. Rev. E. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’) in Notes and Queries, 2 S.,
viii., p. 492. A bad shot is one of the worst exposures of his
ignorance that a University man when up for examination can make.
See, however, Shot.
Bad Slang, subs. (circus and showmen’s).—Faked up monstrosities;
spurious curiosities.
1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 206.
Roderick Palsgrave was considered by all who knew him to be the
best showman of a bad slang that ever travelled. He would get hold
of any black girl or woman, dress her up, and then show her as one
of the greatest novelties ever seen.
Bag, subs. (old slang).—1. A woman when enceinte was said ‘to have a
bag.’ Cf., To bag. Sense 3.