3. (old.)—A man who sets other people by the ears, so that, while they
quarrel, he may rob them with impunity.
Bullyrag or Ballyrag, verb (colloquial).—To revile; abuse; scold
vehemently—usually in vulgar or obscene language; also to swindle by
means of intimidation. [The etymology is unknown.]
French Synonyms. Arranger aux petits oignons; monter une gamme
(popular: gamme = thrashing or ‘walloping’); habiller quelqu’un de
taffetas (popular: i.e., to clothe anyone with fear; Cf., ‘clothed with
shame’); agonir (popular: ‘to haul over the coals’; properly ‘to pull
to pieces’); secouer les puces à quel-qu’un (popular: secouer = to
shake; puces = fleas. Cf., ‘to send one away with a flea in the ear’).
1760. T. Warton, Oxford Newsman’s Verses.
On Minden’s plains, ye meek Mounseers!
Remember Kingsley’s grenadiers.
You vainly thought to ballarag us,
Like your fine squadron off Cape Lagos.
1861. Charles Lever, One of Them, p. 36. He bullyragged me.
1876. S. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Tom Sawyer, p. 118. I don’t want
nothing better ’n this; I don’t git enough to eat gin’ally,—and
here they can’t come and pick a feller and bullyrag him so.
1880. Jas. Greenwood, Maids in Waiting, in Odd People in Odd
Places, p. 143. You should have heard the bullyragging I got,
ma’am, from the mistress and the master as well, and I was turned
out in the shameful way I’ve already explained to you, for doing
what was no wrong at all, but only what me good-nature tempted me
to.
1884. Jas. Payn, Talk of the Town, ch. v. He had never been
‘bally-ragged’ in his own house for ‘nothing’—except by his
wife—before.
Bullyragging, verb, subs. (colloquial).—Scolding; abuse; and sometimes
swindling. [From bullyrag (q.v.) + ing.] For synonyms, see Wigging.
1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, ch. xviii. ‘It would be a good
thing for she ... if she could bully Miss Eleanor into marrying
Captain Hertford, and then that the pair on ’em should have the
bullying and bally-ragging of nine thousand a year.’
1880. Mrs. Parr, Adam and Eve, xxi., 292. There’ll be more set to
the score o’ my coaxin’ than ever ‘all be to Adam’s bully-ragging.’
[M.]
1882. Daily Telegraph, Oct. 19, p. 3, col. 1. ‘And you should have
heard the bully-ragging I got, ma’am, from the mistress and the
master as well.’
Bully-Rook or Bully-Rock, subs. (old).—Originally this term seems to
have been applied to a pleasant or boon-companion; later, however, to a
swaggerer, a bully, a bravo. [Thought by most etymologists to be a
combination of bully (q.v.) + rook (q.v.), a sharper.]
1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, Act i., Sc. 3. Why says
my bully-rook?
1633. Shirley, Wittie Faire One, Act iii., Sc. 4. Such in the
spirit of sack, till we be delphic, and prophesy, my bully-rook.
1697. Praise of Yorkshire Ale. My bully-rocks, I’ve been
experienced long In most of Liquors. [M.]
1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2 ed.). Bully, or bully-rock, 1. a
boisterous, hectoring fellow.
Bully Ruffian, subs. (old).—A footpad or highwayman, who, to the injury
of robbery, added the insult of coarse invective. Cf., Bridle-cull.
Bully Trap, subs. (old).—A man who, though of mild outside demeanour,
is a match for any ruffian who may attack him. Quoted by Grose [1785].
Bully Up (Uppingham School), verb.—To hurry up. Mostly used in the
imperative.
Bum, subs. (vulgar).—1. The posteriors; or, as Jamieson puts it, ‘the
part on which we sit.’ [Considerable doubt exists as to the origin of
this familiar term. Murray thinks the guess that bum is an abbreviation
of ‘bottom’ is at variance with the historical fact that the latter, in
this sense, is found only from the eighteenth century; besides which
there are phonetic difficulties. The origin is probably onomatopoetic.]
Besides the synonyms mentioned under Blind cheeks, the following may be
cited:
English Synonyms. Bum-fiddle; bumpkin.
French Synonyms. Le foiron (popular: from foire = diarrhœa); le tal
(popular); le garde-manger (popular: Michel says this expression is an
old one and is to be found in ‘Curiositez françoises’ in the sense of
‘a necessary house’); le naze (equivalent to ‘smeller,’ or ‘smelling
cheat’); le soufflet (popular: literally ‘a pair of bellows’); le
prouas (the same as le prose, of nautical origin); la contre-basse
(popular: the ‘double bass.’ Cf., Ars musica); le schaffouse (popular:
a play of words, the town of that name being situated on the Lower
Rhine—chute du Rhein, and chute du rein, the lower part of the back);
le gingin (popular); la tabatière (popular: literally ‘the snuff-box’);
la tire-lire (popular: Rigaud says this term is in allusion to the
means of subsistence [daily bread] of prostitutes); la giberne
(literally ‘cartridge-box’); le proye (an old canting term); le cadet
(popular); la figure (i.e., ‘the face.’ Cf., ‘cheeks’); la canonnière
(literally ‘a drain pipe’ or ‘pop-gun’); l’oignon (literally ‘the
onion’); la machine à moulures; le département du bas Rhin (‘the
department of the Lower Rhine’; rein = back—a play upon words); le
démoc; le schelingophone; le Prussien (from the Gypsy prusiatin̆i,
translated by Borrow as ‘pistol’); le panier aux crottes (panier =
basket; crottes = dung); le visage de campagne; le fignard (i.e., ‘a
one-eyed cheek’); le visage sans nez (i.e., ‘the face without a nose’);
le pétrouskin; le face du grand Turc; le tortillon; le fleurant
(popular: also ‘a nose-gay’); le pedzouille (familiar: ‘a peasant’ or
‘clod’); le cadran or le cadran lunaise (cadran = dial); le piffe
(thieves’); le médaillon (popular: literally ‘a medallion’ or
‘locket’); l’arrière-train (familiar: lit. ‘after-carriage’); le trèfle
(popular: this also signifies ‘tobacco’); messire Luc (familiar: ‘Mr.
Luke,’ sometimes also ‘Nancy.’ Cf., Mrs. Jones); le moulin à vent (lit.
the ‘windmill’); le ponant (popular); la lune (popular: lune in slang
means a large full face); le bienséant (popular); le pétard (popular
and thieves’: it also stands for sou; in the Normandy patois pétra is
used interchangeably with pétard); le ballon (popular: ballon =
balloon; the analogy is obvious); le moutardier (i.e., the
mustard-pot); le baril de moutarde (cads’: the mustard barrel);
l’obusier (lit. the howitzer).
German Synonyms. Tochas; Toges; Doges.
Italian Synonym. Rioppo.
1387. Trevisa, Higden Rolls, 6 S., 357. It semeth that his bom is
oute that hath that euel [ficus, i.e., piles]. [M.]
1592. Shakspeare, Mids. Night’s Dream, ii., 1, l. 51.
The wisest aunt telling the saddest tale,
Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me;
Then slip I from her bum, down topples she,
And tailor cries, and falls into a couch;
And then the whole quire hold their hips, and loffe.
1600. Dekker, Shoemaker’s Holiday, in wks. (1873) I., 39. Art thou
acquainted with neuer a fardingale-maker, nor a French-hood maker,
I must enlarge my bumme.
1609. Shakspeare, Timon of Athens, Act i., Sc. 2.
What a coil’s here!
Serving of becks, and jutting out of bums!
1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, iv., 4. Your breeches sit close
enough to your bum.
1729. Swift, Intelligencer, No. 8, p. 83 (2 ed.).
And first his bum you see him clap
Upon the Queen of Sheba’s lap.
1742. Shenstone, Schoolmistress, st. 18.
All, but the wight of bum y-galled, he
Abhors both bench, and stool, and fourm, and chair.
1782. Wolcot, Lyric Odes, No. i., in wks. (1809) I., 12. That lazy
bum-delighting thing, Ridly the Chancellor.