Bambsquabbled.—This coined word, which is, however, rarely used except
in humorous writings, first saw the light in The Legend of the American
War. It signifies discomfiture and defeat, or stupefaction; sometimes
written bumsquabbled.
1835–40. T. C. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 2 S., ch.
ii. The judge said, ‘He had got too much already, cut him off the
other two-thirds, and make him pay all costs.’ If he didn’t look
bumsquabbled it’s a pity.
Banaghan. He beats Banaghan, phr. (old).—An Irish saying of one who
tells wonderful stories; Banaghan, thought Grose, was a minstrel famous
for dealing in the marvellous—a kind of prototype of Baron Munchausen.
Of this, deponent knowing nothing, says the same.
Banagher, verb. (old).—To bang.
Bananaland, Bananalander, subs. (Australian).—Queensland, and a native
of Queensland respectively. Apparently from a large portion of that
section of the fifth continent lying within the tropics, thus allowing
of the cultivation of the banana tree (Musa sapientum).
1886. Chamb. Journal, Feb. 20, p. 124. Booted and spurred
‘Cornstalks’ and Banana-men (natives of New South Wales and
Queensland respectively).
1887. Melbourne (Victoria) Sportsman, 23 March, p. 7, col. 2. Paddy
Slavin came from Queensland with the reputation of having beaten
all the Bananalanders.
1887. Sydney (N.S.W.) Bulletin, 26 Feb., p. 6. His friends rallied
up to congratulate him, and see him through, after the custom of
the simple Bananalander.
It may be interesting to note that a native of New South Wales is
nicknamed a ‘cornstalk’ because built somewhat tall and thin. Those
whose stature is shorter, with circumference of wider dimensions in
proportion to their height are said to be ‘nuggety.’ The gum trees of
Tasmania give the elegant nickname ‘gumsucker’ to its inhabitants. In
this practice antipodean colonists follow suit with their cousins
across the Atlantic.—See Nicknames.
Banco, subs. (Charterhouse School).—Evening preparation down at ‘house’
each day, superintended by a monitor. It answers to the Winchester
toy-time.
Banco-Steerer.—See Bunco-steerer.
Bandanna, subs. (common).—Formerly a silk handkerchief with white,
yellow, or other coloured spots on a dark ground. Now applied to
handkerchiefs of all kinds. The name is thought to come from the
Spanish bandano, a neckerchief.
1752. J. Long, Bengal (1870), 31. Plain taffaties, ordinary
bandannoes, and chappas.
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. iv. The Colonel was striding about
the room in his loose garments, puffing his cigar fiercely anon,
and then waving his yellow bandanna.
Banded, ppl. adj. (old).—Hungry. To mitigate the pangs of hunger,
starving men tighten the belt round the ‘middle.’ Bamfylde Moore Carew,
the king of the beggars, mentions the practice. Cf., Caffre’s tightener
and bands.
Bandero, subs. (American).—Widows’ weeds; a corruption of the now
obsolete ‘bandore,’ a widow’s head-dress. Bandore was itself a
corruption of the French bandeau, given by Littré as anciennement,
coiffure des veuves. The term was current about the beginning of the
last century, but in 1785 we find it quoted as slang. It appears,
however, to have survived in America whilst dropping entirely out of
use in the Mother Country. In the English drapery trade mourning goods
are sometimes called afflictions (q.v.).
Ban-Dog, subs. (old).—A bailiff, or his assistant. Originally, says
Murray, a dog tied or chained up either to guard a house, or on account
of its ferocity; hence generally a mastiff or bloodhound. The
transition from this point to the slang sense is clear.
1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 12. ‘But where
are the lurchers?’ ‘Who?’ asked Wood. ‘The traps!’ responded a
bystander. ‘The shoulder-clappers!’ added a lady, who, in her
anxiety to join the party, had unintentionally substituted her
husband’s nether habiliments for her own petticoats. ‘The
ban-dogs!’ thundered a tall man whose stature and former avocations
had procured him the nickname of ‘The long drover of the Borough
market.’ ‘Where are they?’ ‘Ay. where are they?’ chorused the mob,
flourishing their various weapons, and flashing their torches in
the air; ‘we’ll sarve ’em out.’
Bands, subs. To wear the bands (old cant).—To be hungry.—See Banded.
B. and S. (popular).—An everyday colloquialism, in the abbreviated
form, for brandy and soda.
1868. Whyte Melville, White Rose, ch. xiii. Before the b. and
s.—signifying a beaker of brandy and soda-water—could make its
appearance.
1881. W. Black, Beautiful Wretch, ch. v. ‘Come away, and I will get
you some tea, though what would be better for you still, would be
some b. and s.’
1882. Punch, vol. LXXXII., p. 69, col. 1.
I’ll sing you a fine new song, all about a fine young spark,
Who’s a fine young London gentleman, quite up to any lark,
Who takes supper very early, and breakfasts in the dark;
Who’s a real ‘dear old chappie,’ as I needn’t perhaps remark.
* * * * *
He will say that port and sherry his nice palate always cloy;
He’ll nothing drink but ‘b. and s.’ and big magnums of ‘the
boy’;
He’s the darling of the barmaid and the honest waiter’s joy,
As he quaffs his Pommery, ‘Extra Sec,’ his ‘Giesler,’ or
‘Ivroy.’
Bandy, subs. (thieves’).—A sixpence; so called, in the first instance,
from these coins being often thin, worn, and bent. Also called a
cripple and bender, but, for synonyms, see the latter. The term appears
in Grose [1785].
1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 25, n. A bandy or cripple,
a sixpence.
1885. Household Words, June 20, p. 155. The sixpence is a coin more
liable to bend than most others, so it is not surprising to find
that several of its popular names have reference to this weakness.
It is called a bandy, a ‘bender,’ a ‘cripple.’
Bang, subs. (colloquial).—1. A blow; Old Norse, bang, a hammering.
Though a dictionary word, bang has not yet succeeded in passing from
the limbo of vulgarism in many of its uses. For example, a ‘bang of the
door’ sounds legitimate enough, and is an expression to which even the
most pronounced stickler for linguistic purity would scarcely object;
yet, a ‘bang on the nose’ or ‘jaw’ would, doubtless, be looked upon as
low and vulgar. Only to illustrate such variations, can the word find a
fitting entry into these pages. Amongst pugilists and the vulgar, bang
is, without doubt, closely identified with personal castigation; and,
in this connection.
English Synonyms are not rare. To bang one in the jaw; to spoil one’s
picture; to give a wipe on the nose; to fetch one a stinger, etc. The
blow itself is designated a whopper; wipe; clout; prop; cant; dig;
corker; shooting stars (in allusion to the dazed condition of a person
so struck, stars being seen dancing before one’s eyes).
French Synonyms. Un gnon (popular); un écopage (familiar); une dandine
(popular); un cabochon (common); un estaffion (popular: may be rendered
‘a bang on the nut’); un coup de gilquin (popular); un renfoncement
(colloquial: ‘a blow with the fist’; lit. ‘an indentation’); une beugne
(common); une beigne (popular); une dariole (familiar: properly a kind
of pastry); un coup de tampon (popular: ‘a hard shove’; tampon, ‘a
buffer’); une balle de coton (popular); une baffre (popular: ‘a blow in
the face with the fist’); un pétard (familiar: either ‘a box on the
ear’ or ‘a cant on the gills’); une paraphe (popular: paraphe is
properly the flourish added to one’s signature); dégrader le portrait à
quelqu’un (popular: ‘to fetch one a bang in the mug.’ Cf., ‘to spoil
one’s picture’); détacher un coup de pinceau sur la frimousse (popular:
‘to make pencil marks upon the face’; i.e., ‘to spoil one’s
physiognomy,’—the allusion presumably being to the face as the work of
the Divine Artist). For other synonyms, see Wipe.
2. A style adopted by women in dressing the hair upon the forehead,
generally curled and frizzed, the process being thus described. To make
the bang, one must begin by dividing the front hair at half-inch
distances from ear to ear, combing the rest back. This is repeated
until the whole front hair has been successfully banged. In England
these fringes are also called toffs (q.v.).
1880. W. D. Howell, The Undiscovered Country, ch. viii. When one
lifted his hat to wipe his forehead, he showed his hair cut in
front like a young lady’s bang.
1883. Pall Mall Gazette, Dec. 19, p. 4, col. 1. It was no doubt
unfortunate that when the Empress Eugenie cut her hair across her
forehead from sorrow of heart, the women of five continents should
imitate her until the bang became universal.
Verb.—1. To deliver a blow as described under bang (subs. 1);
generally, to thump or strike violently; to thrash.
1588. Marprelate’s Epistle, p. 4 (ed. Arber). His grace will cary
to his grave I warrant you the blowes which M. Cartwright gave him
in this cause: and, therefore, no marvell though he was loth to
have any other so banged as he himselfe was to his woe.
1592. John Day, Blind Beggar, Act ii., Sc. 2, p. 37. I am sure my
cloak cannot go without hands; and I’ll have it again, or I’ll bang
it out of the coxcombs of some of them.
b. 1719. H. Carey, Sally in our Alley, st. 3.
My master comes, like any Turk,
And bangs me most severely.
1731. Fielding, The Lottery, Sc. 2. Ah, think, my lord! how I
should grieve to see your lordship bang’d.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. II., p. 47. ‘It
was good stuff and good make at first, and hasn’t been abused, and
that’s the reason why it always bangs a slop, because it was good
to begin with.’
1884. Cornhill Mag., April, p. 442. ‘Davis,’ said Toddy, ‘you
haven’t had a banging this term, and you’re getting cocky.’
2. To dress the hair with a fringe on the forehead, cut squarely
across, so that it ends abruptly.
1882. Century Mag., XXV., 192. He was bareheaded, his hair banged
even with his eyebrows in front.
1888. Detroit Free Press.
Bang, Sister, bang with care;
If your poker’s too hot you’ll lose your hair.