Like old boots—beans—bricks—blazes, etc., phr. (common).—Thoroughly;
vigorously. A simile as general in its application as it is irrelevant.
It may mean anything, everything, and nothing. Why old boots and not
new boots is beyond comprehension.
1868. Miss Braddon, Sir Jasper, ch. xxvii., p. 282. I’ll stick to
you like old boots.
1874. Saturday Review, Jan., p. 55. An Oxford man, nay even a
Balliol man ... introduced in the story a pleasing change by such a
phrase as jawing away like old boots.
To buy old boots, phr. (old).—To marry or keep the cast-off mistress of
another man.
To die in one’s boots (q.v.).
Boots and Leathers.—See Commoner peal.
Booty. To play booty, phr. (old).—To play falsely; dishonestly; or
unfairly; this with the object of not winning, a previous arrangement
having been made with a confederate to share the spoils resulting from
the bogus play. Sometimes it takes the form of permitting the victim to
win small stakes in order to encourage him to hazard larger sums which,
naturally, he is not allowed to win.—See quotation from Dyche.
1575. Frat. of Vacabondes, p. 13. They wil make as much as they
can, and consent as though they wil play booty againt him.
1608. Dekker, Belman of London, in wks. (Grosart) III., 133. They
... haue still an eare how the layes [bets] are made, and according
to that leuell doe they throw their bowles, so that be sure the
bowlers play booty.
1742. Fielding, Joseph Andrews, bk. I., ch. ii. The best gamesters,
before they laid their money, always inquired which horse little
Joey was to ride; and the bets were rather proportioned by the
rider than by the horse himself; especially after he had scornfully
refused a considerable bribe to play booty on such an occasion.
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Booty (s.), plunder, spoil,
prize; also a cant word signifying a pretence to one thing, and at
the same time intends and does the contrary, in order to cheat,
impose upon, and draw in a person to lay wagers, play at some game,
etc.
1776. Colman, The Spleen, in wks. (1777) IV., 276. Jubilee started
and stumbled but, by-the-bye, I believe his rider played
booty—Duenna won the stakes, and the knowing ones were all taken
in.
1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. vii. ‘Were he caught playing booty, he
would be disarmed, and probably dismounted.’
1831. Disraeli, Young Duke. One thing remained to be lost—what he
called his honour, which was already on the scent to play booty.
So also booty = playing booty, and booty-fellow, a sharer in the
plunder.
Booze, subs. (popular).—1. Drink; a draught. The older forms are bouse
or bouze (q.v.), but booze in its present form appears as early as
1714. For synonyms, see Drinks.
1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.), p. 11. Booze, Drink. [List of
cant words.]
1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 6. Jemmy.
Gemmen, have you ordered the peck and booze for the evening? Sold.
Suke. Aye, aye, I’ve taken care of that—shoulder of veal and
garnish—Turkey and appendleges—Parmesan—Filberds—Port and Madery.
1889. Sporting Times, 6 July. Kid. The Music Hall Sports are at
Alexandra Park on the 23rd, and there will be rare doings on that
occasion. Master and Shifter both give prizes, and there will be
booze in our drag.
2. A drinking bout; a tipsy frolic. Murray’s first quote for this form
and sense is dated 1864; but, from the following, it will be seen to be
at least thirty years older. For synonyms, see Jamboree.
1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. ‘We’ll have a jolly
boose when all’s over.’
1884. St. James’s Gazette, 19 Dec., p. 4, col. 1. There was a great
booze on board.
Verb (common).—To drink heavily; to tipple; to guzzle. An old term
employed in some sense of ‘to drink’ as early as 1300. Also booze
(q.v.). For synonyms, see Swill.
1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 5. The buriall was tourned to
bousing and belly cheere.
1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, in wks. II., 91. They should haue
all the companie that resort to them, bye bowzing and beere-bathing
in their bouses every after-noone.
1777. Colman, Epilogue to Sheridan’s School for Scandal. While good
Sir Peter boozes with the squire.
1853. Thackeray, Barry Lyndon, ch. xiii., p. 173. ‘I wonder, Sir
Charles Lyndon, a gentleman who has been the King’s ambassador, can
demean himself by gambling and boozing with low Irish black-legs!’
So also boozed (ppl. adj.), drunk, fuddled; boozy (adj.), drunken,
‘screwed’; boozing (verbal subs.), the act of drinking hard; and boozer
(subs.), a drunkard, a tippler—examples of which respectively will be
found hereunder in sections.
b. 1529. Skelton, Elynoor Rommin, in Hart. Misc. (ed. Park), I.,
416.
Droupy and drowsie,
Scurvy and lousie
Her face all bowsie.
1592. Greene, Quip, in wks. XI., 253. To marke the bowsie drunkard
to dye of the dropsy.
1611. Cotgrave, Piailleur: m ... a tipler, bowser.
1616. Jonson, Devil’s an Ass, V., 4. And in the meantime, to be
greasy, and bouzy.
1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. iv., p. 36 (1874). Most
part of the night we spent in boozing, pecking rumly ... that is
drinking, eating.
1693. Dryden, Juvenal, x., 288. Which in his cups the bowsy poet
sings.
1705. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. II., pt. IV., p. 14. Amongst a
Crowd of Sots, half boozy.
c. 1819. Wolcot, P. Pindar, p. 303, ed. 1830.
This landlord was a boozer stout,
A snuff-taker and smoker. [d.]
1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. xxiii. The boozy unshorn wretch
is seen hovering round quays as packets arrive, and tippling drams
in inn bars where he gets credit.
1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. xxxiii. The quantity of
brandy-and-water that Jack took showed what a regular boozer he
was.
1850. P. Crook, War of Hats, 50. Boozed in their tavern dens, The
scurril press drove all their dirty pens.
1866. G. Eliot, Felix Holt, ch. xi. ‘Till they can show there’s
something they love better than swilling themselves with ale,
entension of the suffrage can never mean anything for them but
entension of boozing.’
1889. Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday, Aug. 24, p. 267, col. 2.
In Canton gardens I have boozed;
Beneath the palm-trees I have snoozed;
I’ve seen the alligator smile,
And peppered at the crocodile.
Boozing Cheat, subs. (thieves’).—A bottle. [From booze (q.v.), drink, +
cheat, from A.S. ceat, a thing.]
Boozing-Ken, subs. (old).—A drinking den. [From booze (q.v.), drink, +
ken, a place.] A term of long standing. A French equivalent is une
bibine, but for general synonyms, see Lush crib.
1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65. A bowsing-ken, a ale house.
1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874).
Bowsing-ken, an Ale-house.
1622. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, II., i.
When last in conference at the boozing-ken,
This other day we sat about our dead prince.
1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.), p. 11. Boozing-ken, an
Ale-house. [List of cant words in.]
1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. The hovel which they
termed their boozing-ken.
Boozington, subs. (Australian thieves’).—A drunkard. [Apparently a
formation from booze (q.v.), to drink, on the model of lushington
(q.v.), an English equivalent.] For synonyms, see Elbow crooker.
Borachio, subs. (old).—A nickname for a drunkard; formerly a skin for
holding wine. For synonyms, see Elbow crooker.
Borak. To poke borak, verbal phr. (colonial).—To pour fictitious news
into credulous ears; to ‘stuff’; to ‘kid.’
1587. Notes and Queries, 7 S., iii., 476. Poke borak, applied in
Colonial conversation to the operations of a person who pours
fictitious information into the ears of a credulous listener.
Bord, Borde, Boorde, subs. (old cant).—A shilling. The origin is
unknown. For synonyms, see Blow.
1567. Harman, Caveat, p. 85. Roge, but bouse there a bord, i.e.,
but drink there a shilling.
1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874).
Boord, a shilling; Halfe a Boord, sixepence.
1611. Dekker, Roaring Girle, wks. (1873) III., 219. My Lord Noland
... bestowes vpon you two, two boordes and a half.
1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 47 (1874). Borde,
a shilling.
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. [The same
definition.]
Bordeaux, subs. (pugilistic).—Blood [an allusion to the colour of the
wine. Cf. Claret and Badminton]. For synonyms, see Claret.
Bord You! phr. (nautical).—An expression used to claim the next turn in
drinking.
Bore, subs. and verb (old slang, but now recognised).—Anybody or
anything wearisome or annoying; to weary or to be wearied. [The
derivation is unknown, and the word does not appear in English
literature prior to 1750. Hotten’s reference to Shakspeare, King Henry
VIII., i., 1,
At this instant
He bores me with some trick,
is a misreading, ‘bore’ in this instance signifying ‘to stab,’ as the
context clearly shows.]
Verb (sporting).—To push or thrust out of the course; and boring,
subs., the practice of ‘boring.’ Amongst pugilists it signifies to
drive an opponent on to the ropes of the ring by sheer weight, whilst
amongst rowing men it denotes the action of a coxswain in so steering a
boat as to force his opponent into the shore, or into still water, thus
obtaining an unfair advantage; also analogously applied to
horse-racing. The term, as so used, is a very old one, and is derived
from the persistency of motion of a boring tool.
1672. Vanbrugh, Lover’s Quarrels, 317 in Hazl. E. P., pt. II., 266.
He bor’d him out of the saddle fair.
1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress. M—rl—y, that very
great Count, stood deploring, He hadn’t taught Georgy his new modes
of boring.
1821. The Fancy, vol. I., p. 255. Evans bored in, and upset his man
in the first round.
1870. Dickens, Edwin Drood, ch. xvii., p. 129. Their fighting code
stood in great need of revision, as empowering them not only to
bore their man to the ropes, but ... also to hit him when he was
down.
Born Days. All One’s Born Days, phr. (colloquial).—One’s lifetime.
1740. Richarsdon, Pamela, III., 383. He never was so delighted in
his born days.
1758. Richardson, Grandison, I., 103. There was one Miss Byron, a
Northamptonshire lady, whom I never saw before in my born days.
1809. Miss Edgeworth, Ennui, ch. ix. Craiglethorpe will know just
as much of the lower Irish as the Cockney who has never been out of
London, and who has never in all his born days seen an Irishman but
on the English stage.
Born Weak, phr. (nautical).—Said of a vessel feebly built.—Clark
Russell’s Sailors’ Language.
Bosh, subs. (common).—Nonsense; rubbish; ‘stuff’; ‘rot’—anything
beneath contempt. [The derivation is uncertain. Murray says the word
became current in England from its frequent occurrence in Morier’s
Persian novels, Ayesha [1834], etc., most of them extremely popular
productions. Its source has been suggested in the Turkish bosh lakerdi,
‘empty talk’; in the German bosh or bossch, an equivalent of ‘swipes’;
and in the Gypsy bosh, ‘a noise,’ ‘a fiddle,’ from which latter it has
been thought that there may be some connection between the exclamation
bosh! and fiddle-de-dee (q.v.).]