Bit of Jam.—See Jam.
Bit of Leaf, subs. (thieves’).—Tobacco.
Bit of Muslin, subs. (common).—A young girl; generally applied only to
prostitutes. Also bit of stuff. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack.
Bit of Mutton, subs. (familiar).—A woman; generally, a prostitute is
meant. Cf., Laced mutton, and for synonyms, see Barrack-hack.
Bit of Sticks, subs. phr. (sporting).—A corpse. For synonyms, see Dead
meat.
Bit of Stiff, subs. (common).—A bank-note, or other paper money; the
equivalent of money when not in specie, i.e., a draft or bill of
exchange.
1854. Lever, Dodd Family Abroad, I., 313. I’m sorry that bit of
stiff, meaning the bill, wasn’t for five thousand francs.
1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 234. He
liked to have the party’s name written across a piece of paper with
a stamp attached, commonly called a bit of stiff.
To do a bit of stiff, phr. (common).—To accept a bill.
Bit of Stuff, subs. (familiar).—An overdressed man; a man with full
confidence in his appearance and abilities; a young woman; also called
a bit of muslin.
1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xxiii. ‘One night he says to me,
“Will, come up and I’ll show you a devilish fine piece of stuff.”
So I walks with him, and he takes me to a shop where they dealed in
marine stores, and we goes and finds your mother in the back
parlour.’
Bit On.—See On.
Bitter, subs. (popular).—A glass of beer.
To do a bitter.—To drink a glass of bitter. Originally, says Hotten, an
Oxford term varied by to do a beer.
1853. Rev. E. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Verdant Green, 1st., III.,
ch. x. Mr. Verdant Green and Mr. Bouncer ... turned into the
coffee-room of ‘The Mitre’ to do bitters, as Mr. Bouncer phrased
the act of drinking bitter beer.
c. 1882. Comic Song, ‘The West End Boys,’ verse 3.
Let fortune frown and friends betray,
There’s a class of men that’s ever gay,
Where some make troubles, they make joys,
And are known by the title of the West End Boys.
They commence their evening with cigars,
And ‘How-d’ye-do, dear,’ at the bars,
‘Another bitter, I really can’t go,
There’s something about you that charms me so.’
Oh, don’t they like, etc.
Bittock, subs. (originally provincial; now common).—A distance of very
undecided length. If a North countryman be asked the distance to a
place, he will most probably reply, ‘a mile and a bittock.’ The latter
may be considered any distance from one hundred yards to ten miles.
Also of time. [From bit + ock, a diminutive suffix.]
1802. J. Wilson (‘Congleton’), M.S. Let. to F. Boucher. Bittock, a
small Piece or small Bit; Cheshire. [M.]
1816. Scott, Old Mortality, ch. x. ‘To Chamwood, madam? It’s unco
late, and its sax miles an’ a bittock down the water.’
1884. Daily News, April 15, p. 4, col. 7. Edinburgh University is
three hundred years old, or rather, three hundred years and a
bittock.
Bit You.—A hair of the dog that bit you.—See Hair.
Bivvy or Gatter, subs. (provincial).—Beer; ‘shant of bivvy,’ a pot or
quart of beer; probably from the Italian, bevere, bere. Latin, bibere.
English, beverage.
Biz, subs. (originally American, now general).—A vulgar corruption for
business, employment, or occupation. ‘Good biz’ is profitable business.
1882. Democracy, ch. vii. A number of gentlemen were waiting for
interviews with the President, and among them was the whole
Pennsylvania delegation, ready for biz, as Mr. Tom Lord remarked,
with a wink.
1884. Saturday Review, Jan. 5, p. 13, col. 2. It is satisfactory to
learn from the conductor of the circus that biz is very fair.
1889. Ally Sloper, Aug. 17, p. 262, col. 1. We understand, though
we cannot vouch for the truth of the statement, that a New York
lady, moving in the best society, while twisting some worsted, hit
upon the idea of applying a little system of her own to a larger
field than mere yarn, so she invented a machine for twisting wire
rope, and has sold the patent for £10,000 and a royalty upon future
sales. Very good biz, this, eh!
B. K. S., subs. (military).—An abbreviation of ‘barracks’; its usage is
explained by quotation.
1887. Standard, 10 Feb., p. 5, col. 2. B. k. s., used by officers
‘in mufti,’ who do not wish to give their address.
Blab, subs. (vulgar).—A revealer of that which should be kept secret; a
betrayer; a babbler. A depraved word; once in common use, but rarely
employed now, except colloquially. Grose [1785] includes it in his
Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue as forming part of the slang of his
time. These remarks apply with more or less cogency to blab when used,
to signify loose talk or chatter, when employed as a verb, and to the
various derivative compounds and allied forms, such as ‘blabber,’
‘blabbing,’ ‘blabbing-book,’ etc.—a taint of vulgarism now rests upon
them all.
Black Act, subs. (American).—A corrupted form of black art (q.v.).
Blackamoor’s Teeth, subs. (old).—Cowrie shells—the currency of some
savage tribes.
1700. W. King, Transactioneer, p. 36. He has shells called
Blackmoore’s Teeth, I suppose ... from their Whiteness. [M.]
1719. W. Wood, Surv. Trade, p. 334. Known by the Name of Cowries
amongst Merchants, or of Blackamores’ Teeth among other Persons.
[M.]
Black-and-Tan, subs. (vagrants’).—Porter or stout and ale, mixed in
equal quantities. [From black, in allusion to the dark colour of porter
and stout, + and + tan, i.e., of the yellowish brown colour of ale.]
Black-and-Tan Country, subs. phr. (American).—The Southern States of
North America. [From black, a sobriquet for a negro, + and + tan, a pun
and an allusion to the slang verb ‘to tan,’ to thrash or beat +
country; i.e., the country where the negroes were tanned or beaten.]
Black and White, subs. phr. (colloquial).—The black characters of print
or writing on white paper. Therefore, to put a thing down in black and
white is to preserve it in writing or in print. Black on white is a
variant.
1596. Jonson, Every Man in His Humour, IV., ii. I have it here in
black and white. [Pulls out the warrant.]
1667. Shirley, Love Tricks, Act ii., Sc. 2. Gov. [with a letter]
... Alas, poor gentleman! Little does he think what black and white
is here.
1712. Spectator, No. 286. My desire is, Sir, that you will be
pleased to give us, in black and white, your opinion in the matter
of dispute between us.
1714. Spectator, No. 616. They had like to have dumfounded the
justice; but his clerk came in to his assistance, and took them all
down in black and white.
1837. Carlyle, French Revolution, pt. III., bk. II., ch. viii. His
accounts lie all ready, correct in black and white to the uttermost
farthing.
1874. Mrs. H. Wood, Johnny Ludlow, 1 S., No. xii., p. 202. ‘A man
can’t so much as put on a pair of clean stockings in the morning,
but its laid before high quarters in black and white at mid-day by
the secret police!’
Black-Arse, subs. (old).—A kettle; a pot. [From black, from its colour,
+ arse, the posterior, hinder, or ‘bottom’ part.]
Black Art, subs. (old).—1. Picking of locks; burglary. For synonyms,
see Crack.
1591. Greene, Conny-Catch., wks., 1883, II., x., 72. I can set down
the subtiltie of the blacke art, which is picking of lockes.
1608. Dekker, Belman of Lond., wks., 1884–5, III., 137. This blacke
art ... is called in English, Picking of Lockes.
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Black art, the art of
picking a lock.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. [The definition given is the same as
that of Grose, as above-mentioned.]