Booby Hutch, subs. (thieves’).—A police station; so called no doubt
from the light in which the criminal classes regard those who are
foolish enough or unfortunate enough to get ‘landed’ in such places.
[Booby = a fool + hutch, a box or confined space.]
Booby-Trap, subs. (schoolboys’).—An arrangement of books, wet sponges,
vessels of water, etc., so arranged on the top of a door set ajar that
when the intended victim enters the room, the whole falls upon him.
1850. Smedley, Frank Fairlegh, ch. iii., p. 28. He had devoted it
to the construction of what he called a ‘booby-trap,’ which
ingenious piece of mechanism was arranged in the following manner:
The victim’s room-door was placed ajar, and upon the top thereof a
Greek Lexicon, or any other equally ponderous volume, was carefully
balanced, and upon this was set in its turn a jug of water. If all
these were properly adjusted, the catastrophe above described was
certain to ensue when the door was opened.
1882. F. Anstey, Vice Versâ, ch. xiv. ‘I made a first-rate
booby-trap, though, one day for an old yellow buffer who came in to
see you.’
1883. Sat. Review, Nov. 3, p. 566, col. 2. On his way down to
dinner he is suddenly drenched from head to foot by a booby-trap—a
sponge soaked in water placed above a half-open door.
Boodle, subs. (American).—1. A crowd; a company; the ‘whole boiling’
(q.v.). With this meaning the form often appears as caboodle (q.v.).
[As regards derivation, which is obscure, Murray, speaking of both
senses as here treated, says the U.S. boodle, in sense 1, must be the
same as Markham’s ‘buddle’ (see quotation given below from New English
Dictionary); sense 2 (also only in U.S.) may be a different word.
Boodle suggests a Dutch origin from boedel pronounced boodle, and in
its primary sense means ‘household stuff,’ and refers to property left
by a testator. It is curious to note that bodle was a Scotch coin of
the value of one-sixth of a penny.]
1625. F. Markham, Bk. Honour, IV., ii. Men curiously and carefully
chosen out (from all the buddle and masse of great ones) for their
approoued wisedome. [M.]
1857. O. W. Holmes, Autocrat, p. 139. He would like to have the
whole boodle of them (I remonstrated against this word, but the
professor said it was a diabolish good word ...) with their wives
and children shipwrecked on a remote island.
1865. Bacon, Handbook of America, p. 361. Boodle, ‘the whole boodle
of them,’ i.e., all, the whole. [List of Americanisms.]
1884. E. E. Hale, Xmas. in Narragansett, ch. ix., p. 272. At eleven
o’clock the ‘whole boodle of them,’ as Uncle Nahum called the
caravan ... had to boot and spur for church. [M.]
2. (American.)—In its second signification this curious word seems to
have come into prominent use in politics during the past five years.
Its meaning and usage is thus explained in Americanisms—Old and New.
Some elections cannot be conducted without boodle first and last.
Boodle does not mean the capital or stock-in-trade, except the business
or trade be something secret, peculiar and illegal. Boodle always means
money; but money has not always been boodle (see sense 4). Money
honestly received and spent, money that circulates in regular and
honest channels, that appears in cash-book and ledger and expense
account, is never boodle; but when a sum—a thousand dollars, more or
less—is given to some one to use in influencing a third party, given
perhaps in silence and certainly without requiring any writing of
acknowledgment or obligation—that is boodle. Boodle is money used for
purposes of bribery and corruption; and the same word is employed to
indicate the money that comes as spoils, the result of some secret
deal, the profits of which are silently divided. The term is likewise
used to cover the ill-gotten gains of the bank robber, or the
absconding cashier. ‘He carried away so much boodle.’ In elections the
primaries have to be ‘fixed,’ a great many men have to be ‘seen’; in
short, the amount of money that it seems necessary in some cases to use
to elect a few honest public servants is a thing to wonder at. And when
these men are elected, it appears that they often lose the power of
distinguishing between ‘straight money’ and boodle. The word seems
destined to take its permanent place in the language.—See also
Boodlers.
1884. Boston (Mass.) Globe, Oct. 7. ‘Sinews of war,’ and ‘living
issues,’ ‘soap,’ and other synonyms for campaign boodle are
familiar. [M.]
1888. Philadelphia Bulletin, 24 Feb. The best man in the world
cannot make an honest living by being a City Councilman. The office
is an unsalaried one, and any money that is made out of it is
boodle. This is the new term for plunder, fraud and every form of
stealing that can be practised by office-holders, who, in the
practice, add the crime of perjury. It is an easy business for men
of easy virtue.
1888. Puck’s Library, May, p. 3.
In the evening, up the street,
As you see him passing by,
You’re convinced his mind’s replete
With the legal science high;
That he ponders of divorce,
Or, of boodle cases great;
That he spends all day, of course,
Fighting counsel for the State.
3. (American thieves’.)—Amongst the thieving fraternity boodle is used
to denote money that is actually spurious or counterfeit, and not
merely money used for nefarious purposes, but which as currency is
genuine enough.
4. (American general.)—Money. This is the latest sense imported into
the word. The transition by which it has come to be synonymous with
‘dust,’ ‘pieces,’ ‘rhino,’ ‘oof,’ etc., is an easy one.—See Actual.
1888. Puck’s Library, Jan., p. 4.
Shakey, take a fader’s plessing,
Take it, for you ket it sheap;
Go in hot for making money,
Go in for to make a heap.
Don’ you do no dings vot’s grooked,
Don’ you do no dings vot’s mean—
Aber rake right in dot boodle,
Qviet, calm, and all serene.
To carry boodle is to utter base coinage.—See Boodler.
Fake-boodle, subs. (American thieves’).—A roll of paper over which,
after folding, a dollar bill is pasted, and another bill being loosely
wrapped round this it looks as if the whole roll is made up of a large
sum of money in bills.
Boodler, subs. (American political).—1. One who bribes or corrupts.—See
Boodle, sense 2.
1888. Omaha World. American. ‘As you are a native of Canada I
suppose you think that country is all right, but for my part I
should hate most awfully to be a subject of a queen.’ Canadian.
‘The queen is a mere figure-head; there is no difference at all
between Canada and the United States.’ ‘Come to think, I believe
you do have elections there.’ ‘I should say we did. We have
elections and campaigns, and political parties, and bosses, and
ringsters, and boodlers, and——.’ ‘Boodlers?’ ‘Plenty of ’em.’
‘Well, well! Why, you are freemen just like us.’
2. (American thieves’.)—Boodlers and shovers are the men who issue
false money (see Boodle, sense 3). Swindlers of this type generally
hunt in couples; one carrying the bulk of the counterfeit money, and
receiving the good change as obtained by his companion, who utters the
boodle piece by piece. The game is generally worked so that at the
slightest alarm the boodle carrier vanishes and leaves nothing to
criminate his confederate.
Booget, subs. (old cant).—A travelling tinker’s basket. Quoted by
Harman [1567].
Book, subs. (sporting).—1. In betting, more especially in connection
with horse racing, an arrangement of bets made against certain horses,
and so calculated that the bookmaker (q.v.) has a strong chance of
winning something whatever the result.
1836. Dickens, Pickwick, I., p. 400. And Wilkins Flasher, Esquire,
entered it (the bet) in a little book with a gold pencil-case; and
the other gentleman entered it also, in another little book with
another gold pencil-case.
1837. Disraeli, Henrietta Temple, p. 260. Am I to be branded
because I have made half a million by a good book?
1852. F. E. Smedley, Lewis Arundel, ch. liii. ‘He has backed the
Dodona colt for the Derby, and has got a heavier book on the race
than he likes.’
1869. Gent. Mag., July, p. 231. He wins your money with a smile,
will accommodate his book to suit what bets you may choose to make.
1879. Jas. Payn, High Spirits (Change of Views). He had a
knowledge, too, of practical mathematics, which enabled him to make
a book upon every great racing event of the year.
1889. Pall Mall Gazette, Oct. 21, p. 6, col. 1. Every sporting man
is flattered if termed a sportsman, but it would be almost an
insult to speak to a sportsman as a sporting man. Wherein does the
distinction lie? it may be asked. The one is a lover of sport for
the sake of the thing itself. The other is a lover of it for what
he can get out of the business. The former may bet, but he does not
look at sport through the glasses of a book; the latter always
bets, and in fact would not care about it at all if he could not
take or give odds.