1889. Murray, New English Dictionary. [Common since c. 1500: of
uncertain history. The Ger. equivalent blockhaus (‘einen steinen
Blockhaus’) is quoted by Grimm, 1557 and 1602; the Du. blokhuis is
in Kilian, 1599; Fr. blocus, generally considered to be the same
word, and orig. in same sense, is quoted by Littré in the 16th c.
(Cf., Bloccuz). So far as evidence goes, the Eng. is thus the
earliest; but we should expect it to be of Du. or Ger. origin. In
any case the sense was not originally (as in modern notion) a house
composed of blocks of wood, but one which blocks or obstructs a
passage. The history and age of the Ger. blockhaus and Fr. blocus
require more investigation.]
Block Island Turkey, subs. (American).—Salted cod-fish. Connecticut and
Rhode Island. Slang delights in naming fish as flesh. For some curious
examples, see Two-eyed steak.
Block Ornaments, or Blockers, subs. (common).—1. Small pieces of meat
of indifferent quality, trimmings from the joints, etc. Exposed for
sale on the blocks or counters of butcher’s shops in cheap
neighbourhoods.
1848. Fraser’s Mag., XXXVII., 396. Forced to substitute a blocker
of meat, with its cheap accompaniment of bread and vegetables ...
for poultry and rump steaks. [M.]
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 54. For
dinner ... they buy block ornaments, as they call the small,
dark-coloured pieces of meat exposed on the cheap butchers’ blocks
or counters. Ibid, p. 516. What they consider a good living is a
dinner daily off good block ornaments (small pieces of meat,
discoloured and dirty, but not tainted, usually set for sale on the
butcher’s block).
1884. Punch, No. 2063, p. 29. And eager-faced women must bargain
for tainted block ornaments still.
1887. Standard, Jan. 20, The Poor at Market. Watching a man who
stands with his wife and little girl before a butcher’s shop, let
us see what they have to choose from in buying for the next day’s
dinner. On the shelves set out in front of the shop meat scraps are
offered at 3½d. the lb.; better scraps (or block ornaments, as they
are termed) at 4d.; somewhat shapeless small joints of beef from
inferior parts at 5d., one coarse shoulder of mutton at the same;
tolerably good-looking meat at 6d.; mutton chops at 7d. and 8d.;
and rump steak at 10d.
2. Applied to individuals, a block ornament signifies a queer looking
man or woman—one odd in appearance.
Bloke or Bloak, subs. (common).—A man; a fellow. In saying ‘not
strictly “a man” as Hotten defines it, but a man in a contemptuous
sense,’ Barrère is himself wide of the mark. The word may sometimes be
used contemptuously; but, generally speaking, any idea of reproach or
praise is absent, and a bloke means a man pure and simple. In witness
whereof are the following examples of its use.
1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, III., p. 397. If we
met an old bloke (man) we propped him.
1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 446. A gentleman.—A bloak.
1860. Sala, The Baddington Peerage, II., p. 49. My old bloke!
1862. Kingsley, in Macmillan’s Mag., Dec, 96. Little better than
blokes and boodles after all. [M.]
1863. Ouida, Held in Bondage, bk. I., p. 245. The girl is stunning,
the blokes say, so we must forgive you.
1865. Miss Braddon, in Temple Bar, XIII., 483. The society of the
aged bloke is apt to pull upon the youthful intellect.
1869. J. Greenwood, Seven Curses of London. It came out in the
course of the evidence that the meaning of the word bloke was ‘a
man whom a woman might pick up in the street.’
1873. Robinson, Little Kate Kirby, I., p. 136. ‘Give us a horder
then, old bloke,’ shrieked another gamin.
c. 1875. Broadside Ballad, ‘Keep it Dark.’
I have heard though may be it isn’t a fact,
Keep it dark!
That the present Lord Chancellor’s going to be sacked,
Keep it dark!
And Dr. Kenealy, that popular bloke,
That extremely warm member, the member for Stoke,
Is about to succeed him, the lawyers to choke—
But, keep it dark!
c. 1869. Broadside Ballad, ‘Shooting the Moon.’ Spoken—Yes, and I
used to do very well, until some ragged young urchin said to his
pal, don’t you varder, don’t you know that ere bloke, that’s the
bloke we saw the other day with a barrow.
1883. Daily News, May 15, p. 7, col. 2. ‘When you are coming out
into the yard ask the next bloke to change numbers with you.’
In each case the ‘face value’ of the word appears to be simply ‘a man,’
and in spite of Barrère’s assertion that ‘in the police newspapers
twenty-five years ago a bloke was a victim of sharps, a stupid person,
a greenhorn,’ the evidence is all the other way; in one instance,
indeed, the individual in question is reported to be ‘a gentleman.’ As
regards derivation, its origin is uncertain. Hotten and Ogilvie compare
it with the Hindustanee loke, a man; while Leland traces it to ‘the
Dutch blok, a log, a fool.’ For synonyms, see Cove.
Blood, subs. (old).—1. A fop; dandy; buck; or ‘fast’ man. Originally in
common use, but now obsolete. [From that legitimate sense of the word
which attributes the seat of the passions and emotions to the blood.
Hence, a man of spirit; one who is worth mention, and, in an inferior
sense, he who makes himself notorious, whether by dress or rowdyism.]
In the last century, especially during the regency of George IV., the
term was largely in vogue to denote a young man of good birth or social
standing about town; subsequently, it came to mean a riotous,
disorderly fellow.
1562. Bulleyn, Sicke Men, etc., 73a. A lustie blood, or a
pleasaunte brave young roister. [M.]
1606. John Day, Ile of Gulls, Act i., p. 9. Basil. Welcome
gallants, welcome honord bloods. Ibid. To which effect we have sent
a generall challenge to all the youthfull bloods of Africa.
1752. Adventurer, No. 15. Our heroes of liberty, whether Bucks or
Bloods, or of whatever other denomination, when by some creditor of
slavish principles they have been locked up in a prison, never yet
petitioned to be hanged.
1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 21. ‘Trenchard!’
he muttered—‘Aliva Trenchard. They were right, then, as to the
name. Well, if she survives the accident—as the blood who styles
himself Sir Cecil fancies she may do—this ring will make my fortune
by leading to the discovery of the chief parties concerned in this
strange affair.’
1846. Thackeray, V. Fair, ch. x. A perfect and celebrated blood, or
dandy about town, was this young officer.
1853. Thackeray, Barry Lyndon, ch. ii., p. 36. The modern bloods
have given up the respectful ceremonies which distinguished a
gentleman in my time.
2. (old.)—Money. [A comparison of blood, as the vital principle, to
money, as that upon which the sustenance of life depends—the ‘sinews of
war,’ the ‘needful,’ etc.] For all synonyms, see Actual.
1748. Dodsley, Collection of Poems, III., 199.
He sticks to gaming, as the surer trade;
Turns downright sharper, lives by sucking blood.
1872. M. E. Braddon, Dead Sea Fruit, ch. iv. ‘A man who ought to
consider himself uncommonly fortunate never to have known what it
was to be hard up, or to have a pack of extravagant sons sucking
his blood, like so many modern vampires.’
Verb (familiar).—To deplete of money; to victimise; a figurative usage
of ‘to bleed’; i.e., surgically, to let or draw blood by opening a
vein. Cf., subs., sense 2, and Bleed.
1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 187. ‘He is very likely
to want a thousand pounds at any moment. There’s a leaven of the
old squire in his composition, and I recollect hearing that he was
blooded over the Phaeton Leger.’ ‘You surely can’t mean that he has
taken to racing? Why, you must be aware that he has no money for
anything of that sort.’
Blood and Entrails, subs. (American).—The British ensign is so
nicknamed by Yankee sailors; English salts return the compliment by
jokingly speaking of the American flag as the gridiron and doughboys
(q.v.).
Blood and Thunder, subs. (common).—A beverage of port wine and brandy
mixed. Port is the blood, from its colour; brandy the thunder—the
combined effects being, it is held, provocative of ‘thundering’
head-aches.
Blood and Thunder Tales, subs. phr. (originally American, now
common).—Low class fiction, the term being generally applied to works
dealing with the exploits of desperadoes, cut-throats, and other
criminals. Also called Awfuls, Penny dreadfuls, Gutter literature,
Shilling shockers, etc., all of which see for further illustrations.
1876. Portland Transcript, May. Here let me say one word to the
Transcript mothers. Look carefully to your child’s reading matter.
Beware of the cheap, trashy romances, the blood and thunder tales
by Tom, Dick and Harry, which fill the counters of so many of our
bookstores.
1883. Daily News, March 26, p. 2, col. 3. The blood and thunder
tragedies generally associated with the transpontine drama.
Blood-an’-’Ouns, phr. (old).—An abbreviated form of an old and
blasphemous oath—‘God’s blood and wounds!’
1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 58. ‘Och! if
he’s a friend o’ yours, my dear joy, there’s no more to be said;
and right sorry am I I struck him. But, blood-an’-’ouns! man, if
ould Nick himself were to hit me a blow, I’d be afther givin’ him
another.’
Blood-Curdler or Blood-Freezer, subs. (common).—A narration or incident
which ‘makes the flesh creep’; that which stirs one’s feelings
strongly, and generally repulsively. Said of a sensational murder, a
thrilling ghost-story, etc. Cf., Blood and thunder tales.
Blood for Blood, phr. (trade).—When tradesmen exchange wares, setting
the cost of one kind off against another instead of making payment in
currency, they are said to give blood for blood. Cf., Blood. (1) the
vital fluid; (2) money—hence applied to that upon the sale of which a
man is dependent for a livelihood.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. A hatter furnishing a hosier with a
hat, and taking payment in stockings, is said to deal blood for
blood.
Blood-Freezer.—See Blood-curdler.
Blood-Red Fancy, subs. (pugilistic).—A particular kind of handkerchief
sometimes worn by pugilists and frequenters of prize fights.—See Billy.
1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3 ed., p. 446. Red silk
handkerchief. Blood-red fancy.
Blood Suckers, subs. (military).—The Sixty-third Regiment of Foot.
Blood-Tub, subs. (American).—A rowdy; a blustering bully; a rough. This
nickname was peculiar to Baltimore, which city, perhaps of all cities
in the Union, enjoyed, for a time, an unenviable reputation on account
of the rowdyism of a section of its inhabitants. More or less, however,
these turbulent gangs infest all the more important centres of
population, and answer in many respects to the English ‘roughs.’ They
are recruited largely from the labouring and commercial population;
they drink, and swear, but commit no crime, save an occasional deed of
violence in times when excitement runs unusually high, and are for the
most part affiliated with one or other of the two political parties,
the Republicans or Democrats. They are known as Dead Rabbits in New
York, Moyamensing Hounds in Philadelphia, Blood-tubs in Baltimore,
where at other times they have also been designated Babes, Plug-uglies,
and Ashlanders. The Blood-tubs are reported to have been mostly
butchers, and to have got their epithet from having, on an election
day, dipped an obnoxious German’s head in a tub of warm blood, and then
driven him running through the town.
18(?). Song of the Irish Legion.
Blood-tubs and plug-uglies, and others galore,
Are sick for a thrashing in sweet Baltimore;
Be jabers! that same I’d be proud to inform
Of the terrible force of an Irishman’s arm.
Bloody, adj. (low).—An epithet difficult to define, and used in a
multitude of vague and varying senses. Most frequently, however, as it
falls with wearisome reiteration every two or three seconds from the
mouths of London roughs of the lowest type, no special meaning, much
less a sanguinary one, can be attached to its use. In such a case it
forms a convenient intensitive, sufficiently important as regards sound
to satisfy those whose lack of language causes them to fall back upon a
frequent use of words of this type. Bloody occasionally carries with it
a suspicion of anger, resentment, or detestation. [For suggested
derivations, and some incidental illustrative examples, see adverbial
usage, which follows.]
1840. R. Dana, Bef. Mast, ii., 2. You’ll find me a bloody rascal.
Ibid, xx., 61. They’ve got a man for a mate of that ship, and not a
bloody sheep about decks. [M.]
1880. Ruskin, Fiction, Fair and F., § 29. The use of the word
bloody in modern low English is a deeper corruption, not altering
the form of the word, but defiling the thought in it. [M.]
Adv. (low).—Among the vulgar at the present day bloody, used
adverbially, says G. A. Sala [Notes and Queries, 4 S., i., Feb. 8,
1868], simply qualifies the superlative and excessive. Admiral Gambier,
who is said to have introduced ‘tea and piety’ into the navy, very
properly discountenanced the practice so long common to naval officers
of d——g the sailors’ eyes while they were reefing topsails. His tars,
scarcely grateful, nicknamed the admiral ‘Old Bloody Politeful.’ The
lower classes use bloody indifferently as a term of depreciation or
appreciation. Thus, it’s a bloody shame; and per contra in a flash
song, the poet (supposed to be languishing in prison) recounts that the
chaplain discoursed to the inmates—
‘How Jonah lived inside of a whale,
’Twas a bloody sight better than county gaol.’
As regards derivation, dual causes seem to have operated in the
evolution of bloody in its depraved sense. The various stages are
summarised by Murray, in so far as evidence will permit, as follows.
The origin is not quite certain; but there is good reason to think that
it was at first a reference to the habits of the ‘bloods’ or
aristocratic rowdies of the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th
c. The phrase ‘bloody drunk’ was apparently = ‘as drunk as a blood’
(Cf., ‘as drunk as a lord’); thence it was extended to kindred
expressions, and at length to others; probably in later times, its
associations with bloodshed and murder (Cf., a bloody battle, a bloody
butcher) have recommended it to the rough classes as a word that
appeals to their imagination. We may compare the prevalent craving for
impressive or graphic intensives, seen in the use of jolly, awfully,
terribly, devilish, deuced, damned, ripping, rattling, thumping,
stunning, thundering, etc. There is no ground for the notion that
bloody, offensive as from association it now is to ears polite,
contains any profane allusion, or has connection with the oath
‘’sblood!’ In this particular it may be noted that Mr. C. G. Leland is
in error when he says ‘Mr. Hotten thinks this is an expletive without
reference to any [italics not in original] meaning.’ Mr. Hotten neither
said nor implied anything of the kind, but just the reverse; and Mr.
Leland has hung his remarks upon a misquotation. Hotten’s exact words
are ‘bloody, an expletive used, without reference to meaning, as an
adjective and an adverb, simply for intensification’—a very different
thing; ergo as far as Hotten goes he is absolutely correct.
There seems little doubt, however, that the association of bloody with
bloodshed and murder has had a very large influence in determining its
present bad signification in the mouth of a cockney of the lower
classes. It is noteworthy, too, that the German blutig is sometimes
used, says H. Tiedeman [N. and Q., 4 S., i., Feb. 8, 1868], in the same
manner as the London bloody:—While living in Dresden, I heard many
times uttered such phrases as—
‘Ich habe keinen blutigen Heller mehr,’
[I have no bloody penny or ‘red cent’ more],
for ‘I have not a single penny left,’ etc. Was, then, the Dresden
blutig introduced to the London mob in the shape of bloody? The Dutch
bloedig may be used figuratively, just as the French sanglant. Une
injure sanglante might be translated by ‘een bloedige beleediging.’ It
might, and it is in fact, sometimes used to qualify an adjective. To
say ‘bloedig schoon’ (literally, ‘bloody beautiful’), would be
perfectly correct, but then it has not the sense of exceedingly; it
keeps its original meaning. ‘Bloedig schoon’ could not be rendered
otherwise than by sanguinary and beautiful.
1676. Sir G. Etheredge, Man of Mode (Act i., Sc. 1), p. 186, ed.
1723.
Dor. Give him half-a-crown.
Med. Not without he will promise to be bloody drunk.
1684. Dryden, Prol. Southerne’s Disappointment, line 59. The
doughty bullies enter bloody drunk. [M.]
1706. Farquhar, Recruiting Officer, Act iv., Sc. 1. Plume. Thou art
a bloody impudent fellow. [There is no question of fighting in the
context.]
1711. Swift, Journal to Stella, 8 May, letter 22. It was bloody hot
walking to-day.
1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. ii. ‘I’ve a bloody great
mind to go down with him,’ stuttered another.
From the foregoing examples the word would appear to have been once in
literary use; it is not now customary to print it in full, but thus,
b——y. In passing it may be mentioned that there is no ground for
attributing its derivation to ‘By’r Our Lady.’
Bloody Back, subs. (old).—A soldier; a nickname alluding to the colour
of his coat. [From bloody = of the colour of blood, i.e., scarlet or
blood-red + back.]
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Bloody back. A jeering appellation for
a soldier.
Bloody Chasm. To bridge the bloody chasm, phr. (American).—A favourite
expression with orators who, during the years immediately succeeding
the Civil War, sought to obliterate the memory of the struggle. The
antithetical phrase is to wave the bloody shirt (q.v.).
Bloody Eleventh, subs. (military). The Eleventh Regiment of Foot. At
the battle of Salamanca, fought with the French, the corps was nearly
cut to pieces, whence its sanguinary sobriquet. At Fontenoy and Ostend
also, it was hard-pressed and nearly annihilated.
Bloody Jemmy, subs. (common).—An uncooked sheep’s head.—See Sanguinary
James for synonyms.
Bloody Shirt. To wave the bloody shirt.—A phrase which is only one of
many of a similar character, variants such as ‘to wave the crimson
banner,’ ‘the ensanguined under garment,’ etc., being quite frequently
met with in American journalism. Its origin and history is thus
explained in Americanisms, Old and New:—It is a political phrase used
in the States to signify the opening anew or keeping alive of factious
strife on party questions. Primarily it was the symbol of those who,
during the Reconstruction period at the close of the rebellion of the
Southern or Confederate States, would not suffer the Civil War to sink
into oblivion out of consideration for the feelings of the vanquished.
Perhaps a more odious term never crept into politics than the bloody
shirt; it is alike distasteful to the sense, brutal and vulgar, and
capable of misuse. There are still those who, in American politics, in
the thousand and one points of difference which continually and
inevitably must arise between institutions so diverse in origin,
tradition, and practice as those of the North and South, seek for party
purposes to estrange the one from the other by keeping alive the
exciting memories of the old bitter struggle. When a man is said to
have waved the bloody shirt it is known that he has gone back in spirit
and intent to the sorrowful days of the Republic, when the blue and the
grey, each confident of battling for the right, were slaying each other
in the valleys of the South. He ignores the peace which has settled
over the old fields of war, and does not assent to the hand clasp of
Federal with Confederate. He tries to open the strife anew, mocks the
spirit of forgiveness, and rakes the old ashes over in the hunt for a
burning coal. He scoffs at those who fought against the Union, and,
because they have come back to it, calls them insincere. He rebukes the
veteran who forgave them when together they laid down their arms. This
is called waving the bloody shirt, and to-day, when many of those now
in active life cannot remember the time when the Rebellion had closed,
and the boys were marching home, there are legislators and journalists
who devote their efforts to stirring up a sectional hatred which
without these efforts would be but a tradition. Many Southerners keenly
resent the spirit which thus traduces the now loyal South, and declares
it hypocritical. The bloody shirters, as they are called, rail at the
decency which forgives and forgets, and with venomous tongues revile
alike those who fell in the lost cause, those who lived to repent, and
those who would grant pardon. So long as men lost to honour will do
this the action must have a name—it will be called waving the bloody
shirt. From this special meaning it is now passing into general use to
indicate similar tactics in regard to any cause. It has recently been
introduced into English journalism in connection with the Irish
struggle, and the ‘Unionist Party’ has been accused of waving the
bloody shirt—with how much truth or the reverse there is here no
concern. The origin of the expression is to be sought in a Corsican
custom now nearly, if not quite, obsolete. In the days of the fierce
vendette—the feuds which divided the Corsicans, family from family,
bloodshed was a common occurrence. Before the burial of a murdered man,
the gridata was celebrated. This word, which literally means a crying
aloud, may be translated ‘a wake.’ The body of the victim was laid upon
a plank; his useless firearms were placed near his hand, and his
blood-stained shirt was hung above his head. Around the rude bier sat a
circle of women, wrapped in their black mantles, who rocked themselves
to and fro with strange wailings. The men, relatives and friends of the
murdered man, fully armed stood around the room, mad with thirst for
revenge. Then one of the women—the wife or mother or sister of the dead
man—with a sharp scream would snatch the bloody shirt, and waving it
aloft begin the vocero—the lamentation. This rhythmic discourse was
made up of alternate expressions of love for the dead, and hatred of
his enemies; and its startling images and tremendous curses were echoed
in the faces and amidst the mutterings of the armed mourners. Its
application to American politics is credited to Mr. Oliver P. Morton,
who, elected United States senator in 1867, and again in 1873, took a
prominent part as a leader of the more radical Republicans, favouring a
stern policy of coercion in the reconstruction of the Southern States.
He was one of the Presidential Candidates at the Cincinnati Convention
of 1876, his name standing second on the first ballot. Happily,
however, his opinions were too pronounced to unite the factions of his
party, and the ultimate choice fell upon Mr. Hayes.
1888. Coldwater (Mich.) Sun, Jan. The bloody shirt is gradually
fading away. The white-winged dove of peace spreads her wings here
and there, patriotism forgets and forgives old differences,
sectionalism is gradually giving way to love of country—the whole
country. In fact the ill-feeling between the North and South would
have died out years ago among the veterans of both sections, had
they been left to themselves, and the politicians been as patriotic
as they.
1888. New York Weekly Times, Mar. 21. It is reprehensible to the
last degree for the Bourbons of the South to continue to play on
the colour line—the Southern bloody shirt—and then denounce
Republican extremists for doing the same thing at the North.
Bloomer, subs. (Australian prison slang).—A mistake. Said to be an
abbreviated form of ‘blooming error.’—See Blooming.
Blooming, often Bloomin’, ppl. adj. (common).—This word, similar in
type to ‘blessed,’ ‘blamed,’ and other words of the kind, is, as used
by the lower classes, a euphemism for bloody (q.v.), but it is also
frequently employed as a mere meaningless intensitive. Like the
last-named word, little count is taken of its exact primary meaning.
Its slang use may be traced to that figurative sense of the orthodox
word, which signifies ‘in the bloom of health and beauty,’ ‘in the
prime,’ ‘flourishing,’ etc. Some uncertainty exists as to the origin of
this not over-ornamental addition to our expletive vocabulary. If the
word is used by Granvil (see quot.) in its modern sense, then the
phrase is very much older than has hitherto been imagined. Barring
this, it would seem that we are indebted for it to the Californian
coast, although there is little doubt that the chief instrument in its
acclimatization in England was Mr. Alfred G. Vance, the comic singer,
well-known in connection with ‘Jolly dogs,’ and other extensively
popular music-hall songs. As before stated, it has very largely
supplanted ‘bloody’; bally (q.v.) is also used in the same manner. Its
applications are manifold. One is requested not to make any blooming
mistake or error; another ‘showing off,’ or ‘putting on side,’ is told
not to be so blooming flash; an excessively stupid man is spoken of as
a blooming idiot; and an inquisitive individual is told more forcibly
than politely, perhaps, ‘you asks me no bloomin’ imper’int questions,
an’ I tells yer no bloomin’ lies.’
1726. Rev. J. Granvil, Sadducismus triumphatus [under the head of
‘The Demon of Tedworth’ (1661). Granvil makes mention that on one
occasion the spirit came into a room panting like a dog, and]
company coming up, the room was presently filled with a blooming
noisome smell.
18(?). Colonel John Hay, Ballad, ‘The Mystery of Gilgal.’
He went for his ’leven inch bowie knife:
I tries to foller a Christian life,
But I’ll drop a slice of liver or two,
My bloomin’ shrub, with you.
1887. G. R. Sims, Dagonet Ballads (Told to the Missionary). ‘I
feels like a bloomin’ babby—I gets so infernal weak.’
1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 222. ‘Afore that I
worked in the galleries, a making the casemates for the guns, and
blooming hard work it was.’
1882. Punch’s Almanac, p. 4. The Steam Launch in Venice (‘Sic
Transit Gloria Mundi’)—’Andsome ’Arriet: ‘Ow my! If it ’yn’t that
bloomin’ old Temple Bar, as they did aw’y with out o’ Fleet
Street!’ Mr. Belleville (referring to guide book): ‘Now it ’yn’t.
It’s the fymous Bridge o’ Sighs, as Byron went and stood on; ’im as
wrote ‘Our Boys,’ yer know!’ ’Andsome ’Arriet: ‘Well, I never!’
1880. Jas. Greenwood, Flyfaker’s Hotel, in Odd People in Odd
Places, p. 59. ‘Who’s got any music?’ presently exclaimed the dirty
scoundrel who had been mending the boxing-glove; ‘—— me, let’s have
a bloomin’ lark! Let’s have a tune and a song. Who’s got any
bloomin’ music?’
1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. xxxviii. ‘And if there’s
fire there ought to be nothen to stop us from cooking a bloomin’
old goat.’
1889. Ally Sloper, July 6. Injured Innocence: Indignant Son of
Labour. Well, I’m blowed! If that ’ere bloomin’ swell ain’t
a-himitatin’ me!
Bloss, subs. (old, and American thieves’).—A generic name for a woman,
whether girl, wife, or mistress. Probably from an attributive sense of
‘blossom.’ For example, Shakspeare, in Titus Andronicus [1588, iv., 2,
72], employs it in the sense of one lovely and full of promise. ‘Sweet
blowse you are a beautious blossome sure.’ Tennyson also [1847] in the
Princess [v., 79] uses the expression, ‘My babe, my blossom, ah, my
child!’ Cf., Blowen.
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bloss (cant), the
pretended wife of a bully or shop-lifter.
1881. New York Slang Dictionary, ‘Slang Stories,’ p. 42. ‘Why,
Bell, is it yourself? Tip us your daddle, my bene mort. May I dance
at my death, and grin in a class-case, if I didn’t think you had
been put to bed with a shovel....’ ‘No, Jim, I only piked into
Grassville with a dimber-damber, who couldn’t pad the hoof for a
single darkman’s without his bloss to keep him from getting pogy.’
Blot the Scrip, verbal phr. (old).—To put an undertaking into writing;
the modern phrase is ‘to put it in black and white.’ Hence
To blot the scrip and jark it (old), i.e., to stand engaged, or bound
for anyone.—Grose. Jark means a seal, and in Oxford slang, a safe
conduct pass; in the former sense it is retained in the patter of
modern American thieves, a synonym being jasker. Jarkman is the name
given in America to a begging letter writer, whose accomplishments in
this respect are varied by the production of false characters for
servants, and other documents of a kindred nature. This is a case, like
many others, in which old English cant terms have, across the Atlantic,
been invested with a new meaning. Formerly a jarkman was equivalent to
an ‘Abram-man,’ i.e., a licensed beggar.
Bloviate, verb (American).—To talk aimlessly and boastingly; to indulge
in ‘high falutin’. [A factitious word probably founded on the verb
blow, sense 1, on the model of ‘deviate.’] Said to have been in use
since 1850.
Blow, subs. (common).—1. A shilling.
Amongst Synonyms for this coin are beong; borde; button; deaner or
deener; bob; bobstick (old slang); breaky-leg; gen (this forms part of
the so-called back slang); hog; levy; peg; stag; teviss; twelver;
touch-me (this is an abbreviated form of touch-me-on-the-nob, rhyming
slang for bob or shilling); Abraham’s willing (also rhyming slang for a
shilling).
1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., XL., 501. But afterwards I got
3s. 9d., and then four blow. Ibid. I went to the Steel
(Bastile—Coldbath Fields Prison), having a new suit of clobber on
me and about fifty blow in my brigh (pocket).
1885. Daily Telegraph, Feb. 5, p. 2, col. 6. They said they could
sell some for five blows (shillings), and that he could easily make
£158 of the stuff.
2. (Old University.)—A drunken frolic; a spree. Cf., Blow-out, subs.
For synonyms, see Jamboree.
Verb.—1. To boast; to brag; to ‘gas’—generally to talk boastfully or
self-assertingly of oneself or one’s affairs. In this sense to blow,
long dialectically current, is now regarded as slang. It is also
associated with the idea of angry speech, ‘storming,’ ‘fuming.’ Cf.,
Blow up, and for synonyms, see Gas.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 97. Blouing veynly wip fleschli wit. [M.]
1519. Four Elements, in Hazl. Dodsley, I., 41. Why, man, what
aileth thee so to blow? [M.]
1785. Burns, Epistle to J. Lapraik, st. 16. I winna blaw about
mysel; As ill I like my fauts to tell.
1883. Graphic, Jan. 27, p. 79, col. i. The whole team has taught
Australia not to blow (as they say)—a not unneeded lesson.
1883. Mrs. Campbell Praed, Sketches of Australian Life, p. 45. ‘He
was famous for his coolness and daring, and for blowing, in
Australian parlance, both of his exploits and of his “bonnes
fortunes.”’
2. (general.)—To inform; to expose; to betray; to peach. Cf., also Blow
upon and Blow the gab. [This is a transferred sense of blow = to
breathe out; to give forth by breathing; hence, to sound a signal on an
instrument; to blaze abroad as by a trumpet.] For synonyms, see Peach.
1575. Appius and Virg., in Hazl. Dodsley, IV., 136. Was all well
agreed? did nobody blow ye? [M.]
1721. Defoe, History of Colonel Jack. ‘As for that,’ says Will, ‘I
could tell it well enough, if I had it, but I must not be seen
anywhere among my old acquaintances, for I am blown, and they will
all betray me.’
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Blow (v.) ... also to discover
the secrets of another; also when a person undervalues or slights a
person or thing, he is said to blow upon it.
a. 1859. L. Hunt, Country Lodgings, in Casquet Lit. (1877), I., p.
42, col. 1. D—n me, if I don’t blow ... I’ll tell Tom Neville, [M.]
3. (American.)—To lie; and in a slightly less opprobrious sense to
‘gas’ so much as to be perilously near the border-line which separates
boasting exaggeration from absolute untruth.
4. (general.)—Frequently employed euphemistically for ‘to
damn’—generally in the imperative.—Blow it! i.e., ‘hang it’! or damn
it! Cf., Blowed, with which it is closely allied in all senses.
1849. C. Kingsley, Alton Locke, ch. ii. ‘Well, if you won’t stand a
pot,’ quoth the tall man, ‘I will, that’s all, and blow
temperance.’
1883. Miss Braddon, Golden Calf, ch. xxvi. ‘Blow his station in
life! If he was a duke I shouldn’t want him.’