3. (common.)—A shortened form of Benjamin (q.v.), a coat; also of benjy
(q.v.), a waistcoat.
1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 252.
Being at Hailsham, a small market town in Sussex, about the year
1846, I attended the club feast, which was held on the common. At
that time we used to buy men’s waistcoats of Michael Riley, of
Manchester, at £5 per gross, and sell them at 1s. 6d., 1s. 3d., and
the lowest price at a shilling each. I had a bale containing twelve
dozen arrive that morning, they were red ones; and in offering
these bens, the plan was to put them on to show how well they
fitted.
To stand ben (popular).—To stand treat.
Benar.—See Bene.
Benbouse, subs. (old cant).—Good beer. [From the Latin bene = good +
bouse or booze.]
1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), p. 85. The vpright cofe canteth to the
Roge: ‘I saye by the Salomon I will lage it of with a gage of
benebouse; then cut to my nose watch.’ [‘I sweare by the masse, I
wull washe it of with a quart of good drynke; then saye to me what
thou wylt.’]
1622. John Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush.
I crown thy nab with a gag of benbouse,
And stall thee by the salmon into clowes,
To maund on the pad and strike all the cheats,
To mill from the Ruffmans, and commission and slates.
Twang dell’s, i’ the stiromel, and let the quire cuffin
And Herman Beck strine and trine to the Ruffin!
i.e.,
I poure on thy pate a pot of good ale,
And by the Rogue’s oath, a Rogue the install,
To beg on the way and rob all thou meets,
To steal from the hedge both the shirt and the sheets,
And lie with thy wench in the straw till she twang,
Let the Constable, Justice, and Devil go hang!
Bencher, subs. (old).—A frequenter of taverns; one who hulks about
public houses; perhaps with an allusion to the Benchers of the Inns of
Court.
Ben Cull or Cove, subs. (thieves’).—A friend; a ‘pall’; a companion.
[From old cant bene or ben, good + cull, a man.] For synonyms, see
Cove.
Bend, verb (Scotch).—To tipple; to drink hard. Jamieson, the first
lexicographer to draw attention to the word in its slang sense,
illustrates his example by quotations from Alan Ramsay. Murray suggests
that it is derived from that sense of to bend, signifying ‘to pull,’
‘to strain,’ ‘to apply oneself.’
1758. A. Ramsay, Poems (1800), I., 215. Brawtippony ... which we
with greed bended, as fast as she could brew. Ibid, ii., 73. To
bend wi’ ye, and spend wi’ ye, an evening, and gaffaw. [1860.
Ramsay, Remin., Ser. 1 (ed. 7), 47. Bend weel to the Madeira at
dinner, for here ye’ll get little o’t after.]
Above one’s bend, phr. (common).—Above one’s ability, power or
capacity; or out of one’s reach. Probably a corruption of ‘above one’s
bent.’ Shakspeare puts the expression in the mouth of Hamlet, ‘to the
top of my bent’ (iii., 2). In the Southern States [U.S.A.], its place
is generally taken by above my huckleberry (q.v.). An English
equivalent is ‘above one’s hook.’
1848. J. F. Cooper, The Oak Openings. It would be above my bend to
attempt telling you all we saw among the red skins.
Grecian bend (popular).—A craze amongst women which had a vogue from
about 1872 to 1880. It consisted in walking with the body bent forward.
1876. Chambers’ Journal, No. 629. Your own advocacy for the Grecian
bend and the Alexandra limp—both positive and practical imitations
of physical affliction.
On the bend, phr. (common).—In an underhand, oblique, or crooked
way—not ‘on the square.’
1863. J. C. Jeaffreson, Live It Down, II., 152. I never have paid
anything yet on the square, and I never will. When I die, I’ll
order my executor to buy my coffin off the square. He shall get it
on the bend somehow or other.
Bender, subs. (popular).—1. A sixpence. Thought to be an allusion to
the ease with which these coins were liable to be bent in use. At one
time the currency was not of such good quality as now.
1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 178. Sixpence. A bender.
1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xlii., p. 367. ‘Will you take three
bob?’ ‘And a bender,’ suggested the clerical gentleman.... ‘What do
you say, now? We’ll pay you out for three-and-sixpence a week.
Come!’
1869. Whyte Melville, M. or N., p. 66. A ragged boy established, at
the crossing, who had indeed rendered himself conspicuous by his
endeavours to ferry Puckers over dry-shod, was accosted by a
shabby-genteel and remarkably good-looking man, in the following
vernacular—‘On this minnit, off at six, Buster; two bob an’ a
bender, and a three of eye-water, in?’ ‘Done for another joey,’
replied Buster, with the premature acuteness of youth foraging for
itself in the streets of London.
Among synonymous terms for this coin may be mentioned cripple; bandy;
crookback; downer; fyebuck; lord of the manor; tanner; sprat; kick;
half a borde; tizzy.
2. (Scotch.)—A hard and persistent drinker; a tippler. This should be
compared with bend.
1728. Ramsay, Poems (1848), III., 162. Now lend your lugs, ye
benders fine, wha ken the benefit of wine.
1810. Tannahill, Poems (1846), 53. Or benders, blest your wizzens
weetin’.
3. (public schools’.)—In public school phraseology a bender is a stroke
of the cane administered by the master while the culprit bends down his
back.
4. (common.)—The arm. In connection with this see the following, and
for synonyms, see Chalk Farm.
5. (American.)—A drinking bout or spree, in the course of which, to use
another slang expression, ‘the town is painted red,’ and the
participants decidedly unbent. This is possibly derived from any one of
the three following sources:—(1) from the Scotch usage; (2) from the
facetious name given to the arm, which becomes a bender from being so
frequently bent or ‘crooked’ to lift the glass to the mouth; (3) from
the Dutch bende, an assembly, party, or band.
1854. Putnam’s Monthly, Aug.
I met her at the Chinese room;
She wore a wreath of roses,
She walked in beauty like the night,
Her breath was like sweet posies.
I led her through the festal hall,
Her glance was soft and tender;
She whispered gently in my ear,
‘Say, Mose, ain’t this a bender?’
1864. Richmond Dispatch, 3 Jan. ‘Most of the owners of these names
had been tempted by the festivities of the day to go on a regular
bender, and had to pay the penalty for their New Year’s frolic by
appearing this morning in the police-court.’
1888. Detroit Free Press, 4 Aug. He was a character noted for going
on frequent benders until he came very near having the jimjams and
then sobering up.
6. (American.)—A euphemism employed by the squeamishly inclined for the
leg. A similar piece of prudishness is displayed in an analogous use of
‘limb.’ With a notorious mock-modesty American women decline to call a
leg a leg; they call it a limb instead. This tendency is the more
remarkable when the great freedom extended to American girls and women
is borne in mind; unless, indeed, it arises from guilty knowledge.
White, who, perhaps, was rather given to excessive incisiveness of
speech, remarked that perhaps such persons think that it is indelicate
for women to have legs, and that therefore they are concealed by
garments, and should be concealed in speech. Professor Geikie, during
one of his Canadian tours, also found out that both sexes had limbs of
some sort; the difficulty was to discover whether they were used to
stand on or to hold by. Sensible people everywhere, however, have
little part in such prudery.
1849. Longfellow, Kavanagh. Young ladies are not allowed to cross
their benders in school.