4. (common.)—A vulgar though well-dressed man; a superior kind of
‘’Arry’; one whose dress and personal appearance are correct, but whose
manners are of a questionable character. The term is very often used in
connection with bally (q.v.). a bally-bounder is one of the most
objectionable of the genus. A synonymous term is snide (q.v.), and
French equivalents are un mufe and un espèce de cafouilleux. A curious
instance of French back-slang is found in another name—un lof, loff,
loffard, loffe; lof here is fol reversed, i.e., mad, senseless,
foolish.
Bound To Be Had, Bound To Shine, etc., ppl. adj. (colloquial).—This
expression enters into many slang phrases; for instance, when it seems
certain that a man will be out-witted, cheated, or ‘bested,’ it is said
of him that he is bound to be had; similarly, a man fated or resolved
to distinguish himself is bound to shine. The colloquial use of bound
dates back as far as 1360, but the peculiar expressions which bring it
within the category of slang, are of much later origin. The following
quotation will illustrate the usage in question, and further examples
will be found under had, shine, etc.
1864. Hartford Post, July 14. When the public have an opportunity
of examining this beautiful steamer, they will pronounce her the
finest and most comfortable boat they have ever visited, and be
satisfied that she is bound to shine.
Boung.—See Bung.
Boung-Nipper.—See Bung-nipper.
Bounty-Jumper, subs. (American).—A term applied to men who, receiving a
bounty when enlisting, desert, re-enlist, and receive a second bounty.
[From bounty, a gratuity given to recruits on joining the army or navy,
+ jumper, a slang term for one who decamps surreptitiously.] The War of
the Rebellion is responsible for this, as for many other
colloquialisms. As the conflict lengthened out, men became in great
request, and large bounties were offered by the North for volunteers.
This bounty was found in many cases to be a direct incitement with
unprincipled men to bad faith and unfair dealing. Such would enlist,
receive their bounty, join their regiment, and then decamp, to reappear
in another State, to go through the same performance. Cases were known
where this was done many times over, and the practice was called
bounty-jumping.—See Jumping.
1875. Higginson, History of United States, p. 306. Bringing into
the service many bounty-jumpers, who enlisted merely for money, and
soon deserted to enlist again.
ante 1880. Song of the Bounty-Jumper (quoted in Bartlett).
My song is of a fast young man whose name was Billy Wires;
He used to run with the machine, and go to all the fires:
But as he lov’d a soldier’s life, and wished strange things to
see,
So the thought struck him that he would go and jump the
bounti-e.
Bounty-Jumping, subs. (American).—Obtaining a bounty by enlisting and
then deserting. Cf., Bounty-jumper.
1887. Illus. Lon. News, May 14, 552, 1. In the Civil War in America
between the Northern and Southern States, bounty-jumping, or
enlisting, and obtaining the bounty in several regiments, and then
deserting, rose to the dignity of a fine art.
Bourbon, subs. (American).—1. A Democrat of the straitest sect; a
fire-eater. Applied, for the most part, to the Southern Democrats of
the old school. This use of the word probably ante-dates the Civil War,
but no instance of such use has been found in print. Bourbon County,
Kentucky, is popularly associated with this kind of Democrat, but we
must look to the old Bourbon party in France—uncompromising adherents
of political tradition—for its true paternity.
2. A superior kind of whiskey; originally applied to that manufactured
in Bourbon, Kentucky. For synonyms, see Drinks.
Bouse, Bowse, Booze, subs. (old).—1. Applied to drink or liquor of any
kind. In the sixteenth century bouse formed part of the cant of beggars
and thieves; latterly the word, whether as substantive or verb, has
become colloquial. [Thought to be derived from the Dutch busen, to
drink to excess.] For synonyms, see Drinks.
1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65. Bowse, drinke.
1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874).
Bowse, drinke.
1633. Massinger, New Way to Pay Old Debts, I., i. Well. No bouse?
nor no tobacco?
1785. Grose, Dictionary Vulgar Tongue. Bouze, etc., drink.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. As above.
2. (old.)—A drinking bout; a carouse. This sense is more frequently
current than sense 1.
Verb.—To drink to excess; to tipple; to ‘swill.’ Both this and the
substantive seem to have been known as early as 1300, but neither came
into general use until the sixteenth century, from which period both
forms have become more and more colloquial. For synonyms, see Lush.
1567. Harman, Caveat, p. 32. They bowle and bowse one to another,
and for the tyme bousing belly chere.
1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse. Who surmise, if there were no
playes, they should have all the companie that resort to them bye
bowzing and beere-bathing in their houses everie afternoone.
1615. Harington, Epigrams.
Yet such the fashion is of Bacchus crue
To quaffe and bowze, until they belch and spue.
Well, leave it, Marcus, else thy drinking health.
Will prove an eating to thy wit and wealth.
So also bouser, a toper; bousing, hard drinking; and bousy, intoxicated
or ‘screwed.’
Bouse the jib, verbal phr. (nautical).—To tipple; to drink heavily.—See
Lush.
Bousing Ken, subs. (old).—A tavern; inn; or drinking den; now applied
to a low public house. For synonyms, see Lush crib.
1567. Harman, Caveat. Man. What, stowe your bene, cofe, and cut
benat whydds, and byng we to rome vyle, to nyp a bong; so shall we
haue lowre for the bousing ken, and when we byng back to the
deuseauyel, we wyll fylche some duddes of the Ruffemans, or myll
the ken for a bagge of dudes.
1652. Brome, Jovial Crew, II., wks. (1873) III., 390 ... As Tom or
Tib When they at bowsing ken do swill.
1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 27. But
notwithstanding the Protean nature of the Flash or Cant language,
the greater part of its vocabulary has remained unchanged for
centuries, and many of the words used by the Canting Beggars in
Beaumont and Fletcher, and the Gipsies in Ben Jonson’s Masque, are
still to be heard among the Gnostics of Dyot-street and
Tothill-fields. To prig is still to steal; to fib, to beat; lour,
money; duds, clothes; prancers, horses; bouzing-ken, an alehouse;
cove, a fellow; a sou’s baby, a pig, etc., etc.
Bouzy.—See Boozy.
Bow. Two (or many) strings to one’s bow, phr. (colloquial).—To have an
alternative; more resources than one. The phrase sometimes formerly ran
to have many strings to the bow. Numerous figurative expressions in all
languages indicate the dominant pursuits of the respective nations; the
English abounds in habitual phrases testifying to the engrossing
avocations in all times. It is in this manner that to have two strings
to one’s bow has passed into proverbial usage. In the fourteenth
century—a Frenchman, Gaston de Foix, said of our ancestors, ‘Of bows I
know not much, but who would know more, let him go to England, for that
is truly their business.’ In the olden time, archery, as the dominant
pursuit, gave figures of speech to the language—with the very pith of
wisdom or Saxon sarcasm. If you made an enemy’s machinations recoil
upon himself, you ‘outshot a man in his own bow.’ If you are a cautious
man, ‘Always have two strings to your bow,’ and ‘Get the shaft-hand of
your adversaries,’ or ‘Draw not thy bow before thy arrow be fixed.’ Of
course, if you can ‘Kill two birds with one shaft,’ so much the better.
Never ‘shoot wide of the mark’—that is, don’t make a foolish guess on a
subject you know nothing about. Of useless, silly conversation, our
ancestors said—‘The fool’s bolt is soon shot’; and if a man evidently
exaggerated, he was said to ‘draw a long bow.’ If a man’s pretensions
were not in accordance with the facts of his case—in other words, if he
came under the category of ‘false pretences’—it was said that he ‘had a
famous bow, but it was up at the Castle.’ Vain military and other
boasters were the many who ‘talked of Robin Hood, but who never shot
his bow.’ ‘An archer is known by his aim, and not by his arrows’; that
is, if you are not answerable for your materials, at least show your
skill in the modus operandi; or at all events, don’t depend entirely
upon your tool.
1562. Heywood, Prov. and Epigr. (1867), 30. Ye have many stryngis
to the bowe. [M.]
1588. Marprelate’s Epistle, p. 18 (ed. Arber). Doe you not thinke
that I haue two strings to my bow.
1606. John Day, Isle of Gulls, Act ii., Sc. 2, p. 39. A wise man’s
bow goes with a two-fold string.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xvii. He was resolved to have two
strings to his bow, that in case the one failed, he might use the
other.
(?) T. Brown, wks. IV., 115, ed. 1760. A man in Amsterdam is suffer’d
to have but one religion, whereas in London he may have two strings to
his bow.
1886. Mrs. Riddell, For Dick’s Sake, ch. iv., p. 11 (S.P.C.K.). She
had a second string to her bow, which suited her far better; and
she sent Dick back his letters and his presents, and a note
beginning, ‘Dear sir,’ and ending ‘Yours truly.’
To draw the long bow, phr. (colloquial).—To exaggerate; to ‘gas’; to
‘talk up.’
1819–24. Byron, Don Juan, xvi., 1. They ... draw the long bow
better now than ever.
To draw the bow up to the ear, phr. (colloquial).—To do a thing with
alacrity; ‘to put on full steam’; to exert oneself to the utmost.
1860. Macmillan’s Mag., Feb., p. 258. So Miller, the coxswain, took
to drawing the bow up to the ear at once.
Bow-Catcher, subs. (common).—A kiss-curl. For synonyms, see
Aggerawator. [A corruption of ‘beau-catcher.’ Cf., Bell-rope.]
Bowdlerize, verb (colloquial).—To expurgate by removing offensive or
questionable words from a book or writing. [From Dr. T. Bowdler’s
method in editing an edition of Shakspeare, in which, to use his own
words, ‘Those ... expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety
be read aloud in a family.’]
1836. Gen. P. Thompson, Let. in Exerc. (1842), IV., 124. Among the
names ... are many, like Hermes, Nereus, ... which modern
ultra-christians would have thought formidably heathenish; while
Epaphroditus and Narcissus they would probably have bowdlerized.
1870. Notes and Queries, 4 S., vi., p. 47. No profane hand shall
dare, for me, to curtail my Chaucer, to bowdlerise my Shakspeare,
or to mutilate my Milton.
1874. E. L. Linton, Patricia Kemball, ch. iii. Her uncle had not
made her read much beside the Bible and Shakspeare, which last he
had bowdlerised on his own account with a broad pen and very thick
ink.
From this comes bowdlerization, squeamish emasculation of a work; also
bowdlerizer, etc.
1882. Westm. Review, April, p. 583. The bowdlerization which the
Editor has thought necessary is done in an exceedingly awkward and
clumsy fashion.
Bower, subs. (American thieves’).—A prison—a transferred usage of the
orthodox word. For synonyms, see Cage.
Bowery Boy, Bowery Girl, subs. (American).—The ’Arry and ’Arriet of New
York of some years ago. The Bowery is a well known thoroughfare in the
American metropolis. [Formerly spelt bouwerij, and derived from bouw,
tillage, or bouwen, to till, to cultivate, being equivalent to the
modern Dutch word boerderij, a farm, or the business of farming. The
Bowery was the farm of Governor Stuyvesant.] Cf., Blood tub.
Bowlas, subs. (common).—Explained by quotation.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 208.
Bowlas, or round tarts made of sugar, apple, and bread.
Bowled, ppl. adj. (Winchester).—Croppled (q.v.).
Bowler.—See Boler.
Bowles, subs. (common).—Shoes. For synonyms, see Trotter-cases.
Bowl Out, verb (popular).—To overcome; to get the better of; to defeat.
[Formerly a cricketing term—to bowl a man out by displacing the bails.]
Cf., Bowl over. Among thieves it signifies, in a transitive form, to be
arrested or ‘lagged.’
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dictionary. Bowled out, when he [a thief]
is ultimately taken, tried, and convicted [he] is said to be bowled
out at last.
1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. iii. The polite and accomplished
adventurer, who nicked you out of your money at White’s, or bowled
you out of it at Marybone.
1852. F. E. Smedley, Lewis Arundel, ch. xxiv. ‘He’s handsomer than
you are; if you don’t mind your play, he’ll bowl you out.’
1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. ii., p. 121. Now and again a
warder does get bowled out, and comes to grief. At the very least
he loses his situation.
Bowl Over, verb (popular).—To defeat; to worst. Cf., Bowl out.
1862. Cornhill Mag., p. 729. You have bowled me over, and I know I
can’t get up again.
1878. Stanley, Through the Dark Continent, II., p. 291. I sent in a
zinc bullet close to the ear, which bowled it [the rhinoceros]
over, dead.
1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, ch. xlvii. He confessed to
himself that he was completely bowled over,—‘knocked off his pins!’
Bowl the Hoop, subs. (rhyming slang).—Soup.
Bowman, adv. (old).—See quotation.
1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 11. Help!
ejaculated Wood, renewing his cries. Arrest! Jigger closed! shouted
a hoarse voice in reply. All’s bowman, my covey. Fear nothing.
We’ll be upon the ban-dogs before they can shake their trotters!
Bowse.—See Booze.
Bowsing Ken.—See Bousing ken.
Bowsprit, subs. (popular).—The nose.—See Boltsprit.
To have one’s bowsprit in parenthesis is to have it pulled. ‘To have
one’s head in Coventry’ will occur to mind as another English slang
phrase very similar in character.
Bow-Window, subs. (common).—A stomach of large proportions. [A bay or
bow-window is properly a curved window, hence the transference of the
term to a big belly.] Also bow-windowed, i.e., big-bellied.
1840. Marryat, Poor Jack, ch. i. He was a very large man ... with
what is termed a considerable bow-window in front.
1849–50. Thackeray, Pendennis, xxxiv. (1884), 334. Look at that
very bow-windowed man. [M.]
1889. Daily Telegraph, May 6. She was what is vulgarly called
bow-windowed.
Bow-Wow, subs. (common).—1. A childish name for a dog.
1800. Cowper, Beau’s Reply.
Let my obedience then excuse
My disobedience now,
Nor some reproof yourself refuse
From your aggrieved bow-wow.
18(?82). Broadside Ballad, ‘I haven’t for a long time now.’
I used to have a sweetheart, once,
A precious little pearl!
Indeed she was—she really was,
A very charming girl.
I sang outside her door each night
Till her father bought a big bow-wow,
But I haven’t—haven’t—
I haven’t for a long time now!