1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Bubber, a drinking Bowl; also a
great Drinker, and he that used to steal Plate from Publick-houses.
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bubber, a drinking
bowl, etc.
3. (old.)—A public house thief.—See quotation 1690, sense 2; also
mentioned by Grose [1785].
4. (American.)—A nickname for an old woman with large pendulous
breasts. Rarely heard.
1848. Bartlett, Americanisms. Bubber. A stout or stoutly mammalated
old woman. Used in Salem, Mass., in 1820, and since. ‘Bubber
Jones.’ (Fr. poitron, old woman; Old Fr. pect. poitron; Lat.
pectus, the breast.)
Bubbies, subs. (common).—A woman’s breasts. An old term of which the
derivation is somewhat doubtful, though it may be noted that the
ancient cant has bub in the sense of ‘to drink,’ and also as an
abbreviated form of bubby. Arber says that ‘bu bu’ is the cry of a
child needing its mother’s milk.—For synonyms, see Dairies.
1686. D’Urfey, New Poems (1690), 206.
The Ladies here may without Scandal shew,
Face or white bubbies, to each ogling Beau.
1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, Act v., Sc. 7. Did not her eyes
twinkle, and her mouth water? Did not she pull up her little
bubbies?
1712. Arbuthnot, Hist. of John Bull, pt. III., ch. viii. ‘To see a
handsome, brisk, genteel, young fellow so much governed by a
doating old woman! Why don’t you go and suck the bubby?’
1715. Vanbrugh, Country House, II., v. He talked to me of you, and
said you had the charmingest bubbies.
1748. Dodsley, Collection of Poems, III., 191. And snowy bubbies
pull’d above the stays.
1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2 ed. Bubbys, a woman’s breasts.
Bubbing, subs. (old).—Drinking; tippling.
1678. Poor Robin’s Char. of Scold, 6. She clamours at him so long
... which makes him seek Bubbing-schools to hide himself in from
her fury. [M.]
Bubble, subs. (old).—A dupe; gull; also caravan (q.v.); and rook
(q.v.). Grose thinks from the party cheated being like an air-bubble
filled with words which are only wind instead of real property. Also
apparently used of anything not genuine. Applied to persons, it is
older than appears from Murray.
1598. Shakspeare, All’s Well, iii., vi., 5. Sec. Lord. On my life,
my lord, a bubble. Ber. Do you think I am so far deceived in him?
1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia, III., in wks. (1720) IV., 62. This
kinsman a most silly bubble first, and afterwards a betrayer of
young heirs.
1697. Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, V., iii. If her conduct has put a
trick upon her virtue, her virtue’s the bubble, but her husband’s
the loser.
1711. Swift, Conduct of the Allies. We are thus become the dupes
and bubbles of Europe.
1712. Arbuthnot, History of John Bull, pt. II., ch. iii. He has
been my bubble [tool] these twenty years; and to my certain
knowledge, understands no more of his own affairs than a child in
swaddling clothes.
1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. I., ch. vii. ‘This would be to own
herself the meer tool and bubble of the man.’
1788. G. A. Stevens, Adv. of a Speculist, I., 69. He persuades his
bubble, that he will insure him a certain safe way of getting a sum
of money.
1795. R. Cumberland, The Jew, Act iii., Sc. 2. If he attempts to
raise money upon expectancies, be at their peril who are fools
enough to trust him: No prudent man will be his bubble.
1805. G. Barrington, New London Spy (4 ed.), p. 24. The shame of
being thought a bubble, and exposed to the town, frequently
prevents gentlemen from making use of the statute provided in such
cases.
Verb (old).—To cheat; humbug; delude as with bubbles; to overreach.
Cf., substantive sense.
1664. Etheridge, Comical Revenge, II., iii., in wks. (1704), 24. I
believe he’s gone down to Receive money; ’twere an excellent design
to bubble him.
1685. Dryden, Prol. to Albion and Albanius, 23.
Freedom and zeal have choused you o’er and o’er;
Pray give us leave to bubble you once more.
1711. Spectator, No 89. That she has bubbled him out of his youth
... and that he verily believes she will drop him in his old age,
if she can find her account in another.
1752. Fielding, Amelia, bk. XI., ch. iv. He ... actually bubbled
several of their money by undertaking to do them services, which,
in reality, were not within his power.
1777. Sheridan, Trip to Scarborough, Act ii. Help the gentleman
with a chair, and carry him to my house presently—that’s the
properest place—[aside]—to bubble him out of his money.
1788. G. A. Stevens, Adv. of a Speculist, I., 75. And this was the
language which the pretenders to the Philosopher’s Stone used to
bubble their pigeons with.
1880. McCarthy, Own Times, III., xli., 235. Some critics declared
... that the French Emperor had bubbled him [Mr. Cobden].
Bubbleable, adj. (old).—That can be duped; gullible. [A very rare form
from bubble, to cheat, + able.]
1669. Nicker Nicked, in Hart. Misc. (ed. Park), II., 109. If the
winner be bubbleable, they will insinuate themselves into his
acquaintance, and civilly invite him to drink a glass of wine;
wheedle him into play, and win all his money.
Bubble and Squeak, subs. phr. (common).—A compound of cold meat fried
up with potatoes and greens. [From the hissing sound produced by the
frying; originally nautical.]
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bubble and squeak,
beef and cabbage fried together; it is so called from its bubbling
up and squeaking whilst over the fire.
1786–89. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’), Lousiad, ch. i., line 366.
Such is the sound (the simile’s not weak)
Form’d by what mortals bubble call, and squeak,
When ’midst the frying-pan, in accents savage,
The beef so sorely quarrels with the cabbage.
1853. Lytton, My Novel, bk. VIII., ch. viii. ‘Rank and title!
bubble and squeak! No, not half so good as bubble and squeak.
English beef and good cabbage.’
Bubble Buff, subs. (old).—A bailiff.
Bubble Company, subs. (common).—A swindling association, enterprise or
project. [From bubble, to cheat, + company.] The South Sea Bubble will
occur to mind in this connection.
1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2 ed.). Bubble ... 5 (in Commerce), a
cant name given to certain projects for raising money on imaginary
grounds.
1880. Hawley Smart, Social Sinners, ch. xix. ‘My inheritance
disappears as if it had been invested in a bubble company.’
Bubbled, ppl. adj. (old).—Gulled; deceived; befooled. [From bubble, to
cheat, + ed.]
a. 1683. Oldham, Wks. and Rem. (1686), 66. Bubled Monarchs are at
first beguil’d ... at last depos’d, and kill’d. [M.]
1701. Defoe, True Born Englishman, Introd.
Who shall this bubbled nation disabuse,
While they, their own felicities refuse?
1889. Gentleman’s Mag., June, p. 598. Towards the end of the
century [xvii] a person easily gulled, or bubbled was known as a
‘caravan,’ but earlier the term ‘rook,’ which is now restricted to
a cheat or sharper, appears to have been applied to the person
cheated.
Bubbling Squeak, subs. (army).—Hot soup.
Bubbly Jock, subs. (old Scotch).—1. A turkey-cock; a ‘gobbler.’
[Probably in allusion to the cry of the bird.]
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bubbly jock, a
turkey-cock.
1843. Thackeray, Irish Sketch Book, ch. xv. He took but one glass
of water to that intolerable deal of bubbly jock.... Three
turkey-wings and a glass of water.
1877. Besant and Rice, Son of Vulcan, pt. II., ch. xviii. Puffing
his cheeks like some infuriated bubbly jock in a stable-yard.