1883. G. A. Sala, Living London, p. 113. Mr. Benjamin Bunny (Mr. J.
L. Toole) is the good-natured husband of a pretty young wife (Miss
Winifred Emery). Mr. Bunny is, to use a Scotticism, ‘sair
owerhanded,’ not by a ‘bubbly jock,’ but by his wife’s aunt.
Bubby.—See Bub and Bubbies.
Bucco, subs. (American thieves’).—A dandy. [A corruption of buck
(q.v.).]
Buck, subs. (common).—1. In the first instance a man of spirit or
gaiety of conduct; later a fop, a dandy. [A transferred sense of buck,
the male of the fallow deer.] In the form ‘old buck’ it is merely a
familiar mode of address. The epithet, as applied to a man about town,
is somewhat obsolete; masher, dude, and swell having taken its place.
Cf., Blood.
1725. New Cant. Dict. Buck, as a bold buck, is sometimes used to
signify a forward daring Person of either Sex.
1752. Fielding, Amelia, bk. X., ch. ii. A large assembly of young
fellows, whom they call bucks.
1846–48. Thackeray, V. Fair, ch. vi. She had sate by him on the box
of his open carriage (a most tremendous buck he was, as he sat
there, serene, in state, driving his greys).
1889. Answers, Feb. 9. The ancient buck was last seen (at the age
of eighty-four) wearing a wig, a pair of stays, ‘plumpers,’ rouge,
and padding, and he daily anointed his face with a compound called
‘skin-tightener.’ ‘Skin-tightener’ removes wrinkles, and after the
face has been washed with ‘bloom of roses,’ the wearer can strut
forth with the consciousness that all the world takes him for a
quarter of a century younger than he is.
2. (common.)—An unlicensed cabdriver. Apparently also applied to a sham
fare.—See last quotation.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 362.
The long-day men are the parties who mostly employ the bucks ...
they are glad to avail themselves of the services of a buck for
some hours at the end of the day. Ibid. The bucks are unlicensed
cabdrivers, who are employed by those who have a license to take
charge of the cab while the regular drivers are at their meals or
enjoying themselves.
1865. Morning Star, 14 Sept. What is the prisoner? Constable: He is
a buck, who hangs about an omnibus stand. [M.]
1887. Daily News, 5 October, 5, 4. At Bow Street something was
further heard of the buck. This person ... is the sham fare whom a
cabby drives past the police in order to get up to the theatre
doors out of his proper turn, and so increase his chance of
securing a legitimate fare.
3. (old.)—A sixpence. [Thought to be a corruption of fyebuck (q.v.).]
The word is rarely used by itself, but generally denotes the sixpence
attached to shillings in reference to cost, as, ‘three and a buck,’
three shillings and sixpence. For synonyms, see Bender.
1885. Household Words, June 20, p. 155. ‘Buck’ is most likely a
corruption of ‘fyebuck,’ a slang name for sixpence, which is now
almost, if not altogether, obsolete.