Blunderbuss, subs. (old).—A stupid blundering fellow.—Grose.
Blunt, subs. (popular).—Money, especially ready money. For a long list
of synonyms, see Actual. [There are several suggested derivations; (1)
that it is from the French blond, sandy or golden colour, and that a
parallel may be found in brown or browns, the slang for halfpence.
Far-fetched as this etymology seems, say Hotten, it may be correct, as
it is borne out by the analogy of similar expressions. Cf., Blanquillo,
a word used in Morocco and Southern Spain for a small Moorish coin. The
‘asper’ (ἄσπρόν) of Constantinople is called by the Turks akcheh, i.e.,
‘little white’; (2) that it received its name in allusion to the blunt
rim of coins. A third is that it received the name from Mr. John Blunt,
the chairman of South Sea Bubble.]
1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.), p. 11. [List of cant words.]
Blunt, money.
1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 3. (Holding out
his right hand for the money, and keeping the porter away with the
other.) Bob. That’s your sort; give us hold on it. (Takes Mace’s
empty hand.) Vy, vhere? Mace. (Keeping the porter back.) Vy, here.
Bob. Oh, you are afeard of the blunt, are you? Mace. No, it ain’t
that; only I’m no schollard—so I alvays takes the blunt vith von
hand, and gives the pot vith t’other. It saves chalk and prewents
mistakes, you know.
1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. xxxix. ‘It’s all very well,’ said
Mr. Sikes; ‘but I must have some blunt from you to-night.’ ‘I
haven’t a piece of coin about me,’ replied the Jew.
1878. Notes and Queries, 5 S., x., p. 315. Blunt ... is also a
well-known slang term for money.
1882. Punch, vol. LXXXII., p. 147, col. 2. ‘The New Almacks.’ ‘It
appears, my dear Jerry,’ said the Corinthian, ‘that anybody can
enter here who chooses to “sport his blunt”’—that is, to pay.
Blunted, ppl. adj. (old).—Possessed of money.
18(?). English Spy, p. 255. Most noble cracks, and worthy cousin
trumps,—permit me to introduce a brother of the togati, fresh as a
new-blown rose, and innocent as the lilies of St. Clements. Be unto
him ever ready to promote his wishes, whether for spree or sport,
in term and out of term,—against the Inquisition and their
bull-dogs—the town-raff and the bargees—well-blunted or
stiver-cramped—against dun or don—nob or big wig—so may you never
want a bumper of bishop.
Blush like a Black or Blue Dog, verbal phr. (old).—Not to blush at all.
1579. Gosson, Apologie of School of Abuse, p. 75. If it bee my
fortune too meete with the learned woorkes of this London Sabinus,
that can not playe the part without a prompter, nor utter a wise
worde without a piper, you shall see we will make him to blush like
a blacke dogge, when he is graveled.
ed. 1634. Withal, Dictionary, p. 557. Faciem perfricuit. Hee
blusheth like a blacke dogge, hee hath a brazen face.
1738. Swift, Polite Conversation (conv. i.).
Lord Sp. (to the Maid). Mrs. Betty, how does your body politick?
Col. Fye, my lord, you’ll make Mrs. Betty blush.
Lady Sm. Blush! Ay, blush like a blue dog.
1828. C. K. Sharpe to a lady, in C. K. S.’s Correspondence (1888),
II., 421. I send you a pair of blue stockings of my own knitting. I
blush like a blue dog about the workmanship, for I fear they are
too short.
B.N.C., abbreviation (University).—For Brasenose; initials of Brasen
Nose College. In spite of the nose over the gate, the probability is
that the real name was Brasinium. It is still famous for its beer.
1885. Daily News, March 13, p. 5, col. 1. As when Corpus bumped
b.n.c. years ago, and went head of the river, whereon a spirit of
wrath entered into the b.n.c. men, and next night they bumped
Corpus back again.
Board, verb (military).—1. To borrow.
2. (nautical.)—To accost; ask of; make a demand; i.e., to come to close
quarters. The allusion is to boarding a ship for a hand-to-hand
conflict; originally in a forcible or hostile sense, but now used in a
modified form for to ‘make up to,’ to ‘make advances to.’ The figure of
speech is a very old one, as will be seen from the following examples.
1547. Earl Surrey, Æneid, IV., 395. At length her self bordeth
Aeneas thus. [M.]
1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, ii., 2. [Enter Hamlet, reading.] Queen.
But look, where sadly the poor wretch comes reading. Pol. ... I’ll
board him presently:—O, give me leave.
1672–1726. Vanbrugh, False Friend, I., i., 97. What do you expect
from boarding a woman ... already heart and soul engaged to
another.
1867. Smyth, Sailors’ Word Book. Board him, a colloquialism for
I’ll ask, demand, or accost him.
To board in the smoke, phr. (nautical).—To take one unawares, or by
surprise. In the midst of a naval fight boarding operations were often
successfully carried out under cover of the smoke from a broadside.
On the board, phr. (tailors’).—Enjoying all the privileges and
emoluments of a competent workman. When an apprentice becomes a regular
journeyman he goes ‘on the board.’ Tailors usually work squatting on a
low raised platform—hence possibly the expression.
1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 146. During the
term of his imprisonment he became an excellent working tailor, and
was on the board, as it is termed, among those who are efficient
hands.
To keep one’s name on the board, phr. (Cambridge Univ.).—To remain a
member of a College.
Boarding House or School, subs. (old).—A nickname given by thieves in
London to Newgate, but it is equally applicable to any gaol. New York
thieves apply it to the Tombs. [From that sense of Boarding School = an
establishment where persons are boarded and taught, convicts being
likened to scholars.] French thieves call such an institution un
collège. For synonyms, see Cage.
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Boarding School.
Bridewell, Newgate, or any other prison or house of correction.
Boardman, subs. (vagrants’).—A standing patterer; explained by
quotation. Sometimes called a ‘sandwich man.’
1851. H. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 251. I have
no doubt that there are always at least twenty standing
patterers—sometimes they are called boardmen—at work in London.
Ibid, p. 248. They endeavour to attract attention to their papers,
or, more commonly, pamphlets ... by means of a board with coloured
pictures upon it, illustrative of the contents of what they
sell.... (This) is what is usually denominated in street technology
‘board work.’
Board of Green Cloth, subs. (familiar).—A card or billiard table. [From
board, a table, + green cloth, from the colour of the cloth with which
the table is covered.]
1771. P. Parsons, New Newmarket, II., 24. That board of green
cloth, the billiard table.
1850. Smedley, Frank Fairlegh, p. 23. ‘I am going down to F——’ ‘As
usual, the board of green cloth, eh? you will go there once too
often, if you don’t mind, old fellow.’ ‘That’s my look out,’
replied Cumberland.
1853. Whyte Melville, Digby Grand, ch. vi. Often have I seen him
rise from the board of green cloth, and turning his chair thrice,
from right to left, reseat himself at the play-table, confident
that success would follow the mystical manœuvre.
1886. Miss Braddon, Mohawks, ch. viii. The soft seductive sound of
the dice sliding gently on to the board of green cloth.
Boat, subs. (old).—Formerly applied to the hulks; latterly to any
prison. [The derivation is obvious, old dismasted ships having long
served as places of detention for convicts.] For synonyms, see Cage.
1856. H. Mayhew, Great World of London, p. 82, note. [List of
thieves’ names of prisons.] The Hulks, or any Public Works—The
Boat.
Verb (old).—1. Originally to transport; the term is now applied to
penal servitude. To ‘get the boat,’ or to ‘be boated,’ is to be
sentenced to a long term of imprisonment, equivalent to transportation
under the old system. Cf., Boat, subs., and for synonyms, see Cop.
2. (American thieves’.)—To join as partner; evidently a corruption of
‘to be in the same boat,’ i.e., to be in the same position or
circumstances.
To bail one’s own boat, phr. (American).—To be self-reliant. A variant
is ‘to paddle one’s own canoe.’—See Canoe.
Bob, subs. (popular).—1. A shilling. [The derivation is obscure, but
there are several suggested explanations. Murray points out that there
was an old French coin called a bobe, but he thinks its survival in
English slang is very unlikely. Others think it a corruption of
‘baubee’ or ‘bawbee,’ a debased Scotch coin, issued in the reign of
James VI. of Scotland, equal in value to a halfpenny. A more likely
origin than either of the foregoing is from bob, a grub used as bait
for fish, the allusion being to money as a bribe.] The old cant had
bobstick (q.v.) as a synonym, and a spurious plural is sometimes formed
of bob, thus bobber—two bobber = a two-shilling piece. Cf., Blow for
synonyms.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dictionary. Bob or bobstick, a shilling.
1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act iii., Sc. 3. Tom. Now
then, what’s to pay, landlord? Mace. All out, vill be fourteen bob
and a kick, your honour. Tom. Well, there’s a flimsy for you; serve
the change out in max to the covies. (Gives money.)
1837. Barham, I. L. (Misadventures at Margate). I changed a
shilling—(which in town the people call a bob).
1882. Punch, vol. LXXXII., p. 74, col. 1. Accommodation. Swell.
‘Haw—no small change about me.’ Minstrel. ‘Oh, don’t mention ’t
sar. A bob will do sar, and if you’ll call at my club tomorrow,
sar, the hall portar will give you sixpence back, sar. My kyard,
sar, etc.!!’
2. (old.)—A shoplifter’s assistant; one who receives and carries off
stolen goods. In French he is called un nonne or un noune.