1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue eBook

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Francis Grose

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Section Page

Start of eBook1
PREFACE.1
DICTIONARY OF THE VULGAR TONGUE.2

Page 1

PREFACE.

The merit of Captain Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue has been long and universally acknowledged.  But its circulation was confined almost exclusively to the lower orders of society:  he was not aware, at the time of its compilation, that our young men of fashion would at no very distant period be as distinguished for the vulgarity of their jargon as the inhabitants of Newgate; and he therefore conceived it superfluous to incorporate with his work the few examples of fashionable slang that might occur to his observation.

But our Jehus of rank have a phraseology not less peculiar to themselves, than the disciples of Barrington:  for the uninitiated to understand their modes of expression, is as impossible as for a Buxton to construe the Greek Testament.  To sport an Upper Benjamin, and to swear with a good grace, are qualifications easily attainable by their cockney imitators; but without the aid of our additional definitions, neither the cits of Fish-street, nor the boors of Brentford would be able to attain the language of whippism.  We trust, therefore, that the whole tribe of second-rate Bang Ups, will feel grateful for our endeavour to render this part of the work as complete as possible.  By an occasional reference to our pages, they may be initiated into all the peculiarities of language by which the man of spirit is distinguished from the man of worth.  They may now talk bawdy before their papas, without the fear of detection, and abuse their less spirited companions, who prefer a good dinner at home to a glorious up-shot in the highway, without the hazard of a cudgelling.

But we claim not merely the praise of gratifying curiosity, or affording assistance to the ambitious; we are very sure that the moral influence of the Lexicon Balatronicum will be more certain and extensive than that of any methodist sermon that has ever been delivered within the bills of mortality.  We need not descant on the dangerous impressions that are made on the female mind, by the remarks that fall incidentally from the lips of the brothers or servants of a family; and we have before observed, that improper topics can with our assistance be discussed, even before the ladies, without raising a blush on the cheek of modesty.  It is impossible that a female should understand the meaning of twiddle DIDDLES, or rise from table at the mention of BUCKINGER’S boot.  Besides, Pope assures us, that “Vice to be hated Needs but to be seen;” in this volume it cannot be denied, that she is seen very plainly; and a love of virtue is, therefore, the necessary result of perusing it.

The propriety of introducing the university slang will be readily admitted; it is not less curious than that of the College in the Old Bailey, and is less generally understood.  When the number and accuracy of our additions are compared with the price of the volume, we have no doubt that its editors will meet with the encouragement that is due to learning, modesty, and virtue.

Page 2

DICTIONARY OF THE VULGAR TONGUE.

Abbess, or lady abbess, A bawd, the mistress of a
  brothel.

Abel-wackets.  Blows given on the palm of the hand
  with a twisted handkerchief, instead of a ferula; a jocular
  punishment among seamen, who sometimes play at cards
  for wackets, the loser suffering as many strokes as he has
  lost games.

Abigail.  A lady’s waiting-maid.

Abram.  Naked.  Cant.

Abram cove.  A cant word among thieves, signifying a
  naked or poor man; also a lusty, strong rogue.

Abram men.  Pretended mad men.

To sham abram.  To pretend sickness.

Academy, or pushing school.  A brothel.  The Floating
  Academy; the lighters on board of which those persons
  are confined, who by a late regulation are condemned to
  hard labour, instead of transportation.—­Campbell’s
  Academy; the same, from a gentleman of that name, who had
  the contract for victualling the hulks or lighters.

Ace of Spades.  A widow.

Accounts.  To cast up one’s accounts; to vomit.

Acorn.  You will ride a horse foaled by an acorn, i.e. the
  gallows, called also the Wooden and Three-legged Mare. 
  You will be hanged.—­See three-legged mare.

Act of parliament.  A military term for small beer, five
  pints of which, by an act of parliament, a landlord was
  formerly obliged to give to each soldier gratis.

Acteon.  A cuckold, from the horns planted on the head
  of Acteon by Diana.

Active citizen.  A louse.

Adam’s ale.  Water.

Adam tiler.  A pickpocket’s associate, who receives the
  stolen goods, and runs off with them.  Cant.

Addle pate.  An inconsiderate foolish fellow.

Addle plot.  A spoil-sport, a mar-all.

Admiral of the blue, who carries his flag on the main-mast. 
  A landlord or publican wearing a blue apron, as
  was formerly the custom among gentlemen of that vocation.

Admiral of the narrow seas.  One who from drunkenness
  vomits into the lap of the person sitting opposite to
  him.  Sea phrase.

Adrift.  Loose, turned adrift, discharged.  Sea phrase.

Aegrotat, (Cambridge), A certificate from the apothecary
  that you are indisposed, (i. e.) to go to chapel.  He
  sports an Aegrotat, he is sick, and unable to attend Chapel.
  or Hall.  It does not follow, however, but that he can strum
  A piece, or sport a pair of oars.

Page 3

Affidavit men.  Knights of the post, or false witnesses,
  said to attend Westminster Hall, and other courts of
  justice, ready to swear any thing for hire.

After-clap.  A demand after the first given in has been
  discharged; a charge for pretended omissions; in short,
  any thing disagreeable happening after all consequences of
  the cause have been thought at an end.

Against the grain.  Unwilling.  It went much against
  the grain with him, i.e. it was much against his
  inclination, or against his pluck.

Agog, all-A-gog.  Anxious, eager, impatient:  from the
  Italian AGOGARE, to desire eagerly.

Aground.  Stuck fast, stopped, at a loss, ruined; like a
  boat or vessel aground.

Air and exercise.  He has had air and exercise, i.e. he
  has been whipped at the cart’s tail; or, as it is generally,
  though more vulgarly, expressed, at the cart’s a-se.

Alderman.  A roasted turkey garnished with sausages;
  the latter are supposed to represent the gold chain worn
  by those magistrates.

Aldgate.  A draught on the pump at Aldgate; a bad bill
  of exchange, drawn on persons who have no effects of the
  drawer.

Ale draper.  An alehouse keeper.

Ale post. A may-pole.

All-A-mort.  Struck dumb, confounded.  What, sweet
  one, all-a-mort?  Shakespeare.

All holiday.  It is all holiday at Peckham, or it is all holiday
  with him; a saying signifying that it is all over
  with the business or person spoken of or alluded to.

All hollow.  He was beat all hollow, i.e. he had no
  chance of conquering:  it was all hollow, or a hollow thing,
  it was a decided thing from the beginning.  See hollow.

All Nations.  A composition of all the different spirits
  sold in a dram-shop, collected in a vessel into which
  the drainings of the bottles and quartern pots are emptied.

Alls.  The five alls is a country sign, representing five human
  figures, each having a motto under him.  The first
  is a king in his regalia; his motto, I govern all:  the second,
  a bishop in pontificals; motto, I pray for all:  third,
  a lawyer in his gown; motto, I plead for all:  fourth:  a
  soldier in his regimentals, fully accoutred; motto, I
  fight for all:  fifth, a poor countryman with his scythe
  and rake; motto, I pay for all.

ALTAMEL.  A verbal or lump account, without particulars,
  such as is commonly produced at bawdy-houses,
  spunging-houses, &c.  Vide Dutch reckoning.

Altitudes.  The man is in his altitudes, i.e. he is drunk.

Page 4

Ambassador.  A trick to duck some ignorant fellow or
  landsman, frequently played on board ships in the warm
  latitudes.  It is thus managed:  A large tub is filled with
  water, and two stools placed on each side of it.  Over
  the whole is thrown a tarpaulin, or old sail:  this is
  kept tight by two persons, who are to represent the king
  and queen of a foreign country, and are seated on the
  stools.  The person intended to be ducked plays the Ambassador,
  and after repeating a ridiculous speech dictated
  to him, is led in great form up to the throne, and seated
  between the king and queen, who rising suddenly as soon
  as he is seated, he falls backwards into the tub of water.

Ambassador of Morocco.  A Shoemaker. (See Mrs.
  Clarke’s Examination.)

AMBIDEXTER.  A lawyer who takes fees from both plaintiff
  and defendant, or that goes snacks with both parties
  in gaming.

Amen curler.  A parish clerk.

Amen.  He said Yes and Amen to every thing; he agreed to
  every thing.

AMINADAB.  A jeering name for a Quaker.

Ames ace.  Within ames ace; nearly, very near.

To amuse.  To fling dust or snuff in the eyes of the person
  intended to be robbed; also to invent some plausible tale,
  to delude shop-keepers and others, thereby to put them
  off their guard.  Cant.

Amusers.  Rogues who carried snuff or dust in their pockets,
  which they threw into the eyes of any person they
  intended to rob; and running away, their accomplices
  (pretending to assist and pity the half-blinded person)
  took that opportunity of plundering him.

Anabaptist. A pickpocket caught in the fact, and punished
  with the discipline of the pump or horse-pond.

Anchor.  Bring your a-se to an anchor, i.e. sit down.  To let
  go an anchor to the windward of the law; to keep within
  the letter of the law.  Sea wit.

Anglers.  Pilferers, or petty thieves, who, with a stick
  having a hook at the end, steal goods out of shop-windows,
  grates, &c.; also those who draw in or entice unwary persons
  to prick at the belt, or such like devices.

Angling for FARTHINGS.  Begging out of a prison window
  with a cap, or box, let down at the end of a long
  string.

Ankle.  A girl who is got with child, is said to have sprained
  her ankle.

Anodyne necklace.  A halter.

Page 5

Anthony or tantony pig.  The favourite or smallest pig
  in the litter.—­To follow like a tantony pig, i.e.  St.
  Anthony’s pig; to follow close at one’s heels.  St. Anthony
  the hermit was a swineherd, and is always represented
  with a swine’s bell and a pig.  Some derive this saying
  from a privilege enjoyed by the friars of certain convents
  in England and France (sons of St. Anthony), whose swine
  were permitted to feed in the streets.  These swine would
  follow any one having greens or other provisions, till they
  obtained some of them; and it was in those days considered
  an act of charity and religion to feed them.

To knock Anthony.  Said of an in-kneed person, or one
  whose knees knock together; to cuff Jonas.  See Jonas.

Ape leader.  An old maid; their punishment after
  death, for neglecting increase and multiply, will be, it is
  said, leading apes in hell.

Apostles.  To manoeuvre the apostles, i.e. rob Peter to
  pay Paul; that is, to borrow money of one man to pay
  another.

Apostles. (Cambridge.) Men who are plucked, refused
  their degree.

Apothecary.  To talk like an apothecary; to use hard or
  gallipot words:  from the assumed gravity and affectation
  of knowledge generally put on by the gentlemen of this
  profession, who are commonly as superficial in their
  learning as they are pedantic in their language.

APOTHECARY’S bill.  A long bill.

APOTHECARY’S, or law Latin.  Barbarous Latin, vulgarly
  called Dog Latin, in Ireland Bog Latin.

Apple cart.  Down with his apple-cart; knock or throw
  him down.

Apple dumplin shop.  A woman’s bosom.

Apple-pye bed. A bed made apple-pye fashion, like what
  is called a turnover apple-pye, where the sheets are so
  doubled as to prevent any one from getting at his length
  between them:  a common trick played by frolicsome
  country lasses on their sweethearts, male relations, or
  visitors.

April fool.  Any one imposed on, or sent on a bootless
  errand, on the first of April; which day it is the custom
  among the lower people, children, and servants, by dropping
  empty papers carefully doubled up, sending persons
  on absurd messages, and such like contrivances, to impose
  on every one they can, and then to salute them with
  the title of April Fool.  This is also practised in
  Scotland under the title of Hunting the Gowke.

Apron string hold.  An estate held by a man during
  his wife’s life.

Aqua PUMPAGINIS.  Pump water.  APOTHECARIES Latin.

Arbor vitae.  A man’s penis.

Page 6

Arch Duke.  A comical or eccentric fellow.

Arch rogue, dimber damber upright man.  The
  chief of a gang of thieves or gypsies.

Arch dell, or arch doxy, signifies the same in rank
  among the female canters or gypsies.

Ard.  Hot.  Cant.

Armour.  In his armour, pot valiant:  to fight in armour;
  to make use of Mrs. Philips’s ware.  See C—­D—­M.

Ark.  A boat or wherry.  Let us take an ark and winns, let
  us take a sculler.  Cant.

Ark ruffians.  Rogues who, in conjunction with watermen,
  robbed, and sometimes murdered, on the water, by
  picking a quarrel with the passengers in a boat, boarding
  it, plundering, stripping, and throwing them overboard, &c. 
  A species of badger.  Cant.

Arrah now.  An unmeaning expletive, frequently used by
  the vulgar Irish.

ARS MUSICA.  A bum fiddlle.

Arse.  To hang an arse; to hang back, to be afraid to
  advance.  He would lend his a-e and sh-te through his ribs;
  a saying of any one who lends his money inconsiderately. 
  He would lose his a-e if it was loose; said of a careless
  person.  A-e about; turn round.

ARSY YARSEY.  To fall arsy varsey, i.e. head over heels.

Arthur, king Arthur, A game used at sea, when near
  the line, or in a hot latitude.  It is performed thus:  A man
  who is to represent king Arthur, ridiculously dressed,
  having a large wig made out of oakum, or some old swabs, is
  seated on the side, or over a large vessel of water.  Every
  person in his turn is to be ceremoniously introduced to
  him, and to pour a bucket of water over him, crying,
  hail, king Arthur! if during this ceremony the person
  introduced laughs or smiles (to which his majesty endeavours
  to excite him, by all sorts of ridiculous gesticulations), he
  changes place with, and then becomes, king Arthur, till
  relieved by some brother tar, who has as little command
  over his muscles as himself.

Articles.  Breeches; coat, waistcoat, and articles.

Article.  A wench.  A prime article.  A handsome girl. 
  She’s a prime article (whip slang), she’s a devilish good
  piece, a hell of a goer.

Ask, or Ax my A-E.  A common reply to any question;
  still deemed wit at sea, and formerly at court, under the
  denomination of selling bargains.  See bargain.

ASSIG.  An assignation.

Athanasian wench, or QUICUNQUE VULT.  A forward
  girl, ready to oblige every man that shall ask her.

Aunt.  Mine aunt; a bawd or procuress:  a title of eminence
  for the senior dells, who serve for instructresses, midwives,
  &c. for the dells.  Cant.  See dells.

Page 7

AVOIR Du POIS lay.  Stealing brass weights off the counters
  of shops.  Cant.

Autem.  A church.

Autem bawler.  A parson.  Cant.

Autem cacklers, autem PRICKEARS.  Dissenters of every
  denomination.  Cant.

Autem CACKLETUB.  A conventicle or meeting-house for
  dissenters.  Cant.

Autem dippers.  Anabaptists.  Cant.

Autem divers.  Pickpockets who practice in churches;
  also churchwardens and overseers of the poor.  Cant.

Autem GOGLERS.  Pretended French prophets.  Cant.

Autem mort.  A married woman; also a female beggar
  with several children hired or borrowed to excite charity. 
  Cant.

Autem quavers.  Quakers.

Autem quaver tub.  A Quakers’ meeting-house.  Cant.

Awake.  Acquainted with, knowing the business.  Stow the
  books, the culls are awake; hide the cards, the fellows
  know what we intended to do.

Babes in the wood.  Criminals in the stocks, or pillory.

Babble.  Confused, unintelligible talk, such as was used at
  the building the tower of Babel.

Back biter.  One who slanders another behind his back,
  i.e. in his absence.  His bosom friends are become his back
  biters, said of a lousy man.

Backed. Dead.  He wishes to have the senior, or old
  square-toes, backed; he longs to have his father on six
  men’s shoulders; that is, carrying to the grave.

Back up.  His back is up, i.e. he is offended or angry; an
  expression or idea taken from a cat; that animal, when
  angry, always raising its back.  An allusion also sometimes
  used to jeer a crooked man; as, So, Sir, I see somebody
  has offended you, for your back is up.

Bacon.  He has saved his bacon; he has escaped.  He has a
  good voice to beg bacon; a saying in ridicule of a bad voice.

Bacon-faced. Full-faced.

Bacon fed. Fat, greasy.

Back Gammon player.  A sodomite.

Back door (usher, or gentleman of the).  The same.

Bad bargain.  One of his majesty’s bad bargains; a
  worthless soldier, a malingeror.  See malingeror.

Badge.  A term used for one burned in the hand.  He has got
  his badge, and piked; he was burned in the hand, and is
  at liberty.  Cant.

Badge-coves.  Parish Pensioners.  Cant.

Badgers.  A crew of desperate villains who robbed near
  rivers, into which they threw the bodies of those they
  murdered.  Cant.

Page 8

Bag.  He gave them the bag, i.e. left them.

Bag of nails.  He squints like a bag of nails; i. e.
  his eyes are directed as many ways as the points of a bag
  of nails.  The old bag of nails at Pimlico; originally
  the BACCHANALS.

Baggage.  Heavy baggage; women and children.  Also a
  familiar epithet for a woman; as, cunning baggage,
  wanton baggage, &c.

Bakers dozen.  Fourteen; that number of rolls being allowed
  to the purchasers of a dozen.

Baker-KNEE’D.  One whose knees knock together in
  walking, as if kneading dough.

Balderdash.  Adulterated wine.

Ballocks.  The testicles of a man or beast; also a vulgar
  nick name for a parson.  His brains are in his ballocks,
  a cant saying to designate a fool.

BALUM RANCUM.  A hop or dance, where the women are
  all prostitutes.  N. B. The company dance in their
  birthday suits.

Balsam.  Money.

Bam.  A jocular imposition, the same as a humbug.  See
  humbug.

To bam.  To impose on any one by a falsity; also to
  jeer or make fun of any one.

To bamboozle.  To make a fool of any one, to humbug or
  impose on him.

Banaghan.  He beats Banaghan; an Irish saying of one
  who tells wonderful stories.  Perhaps Banaghan was a
  minstrel famous for dealing in the marvellous.

Bandbox.  Mine a-se on a bandbox; an answer to the
  offer of any thing inadequate to the purpose for which
  it is proffered, like offering a bandbox for a seat.

Banbury story of A cock and A bull.  A roundabout,
  nonsensical story.

BANDOG.  A bailiff or his follower; also a very fierce
  mastiff:  likewise, a bandbox.  Cant.

Bang up. (Whip.) Quite the thing, hellish fine.  Well
  done.  Compleat.  Dashing.  In a handsome stile. 
  A bang up cove; a dashing fellow who spends his money
  freely.  To bang up prime:  to bring your horses up in a
  dashing or fine style:  as the swell’s rattler and prads are
  bang up prime; the gentleman sports an elegant carriage
  and fine horses.

To bang.  To beat.

Banging.  Great; a fine banging boy.

Bang straw.  A nick name for a thresher, but applied
  to all the servants of a farmer.

Bankrupt cart.  A one-horse chaise, said to be so
  called by a Lord Chief Justice, from their being so
  frequently used on Sunday jaunts by extravagant
  shop-keepers and tradesmen.

BANKS’S horse.  A horse famous for playing tricks, the
  property of one Banks.  It is mentioned in Sir Walter
  Raleigh’s Hist. of the World, p. 178; also by Sir
  Kenelm Digby and Ben Jonson.

Page 9

Bantling.  A young child.

Banyan day.  A sea term for those days on which no
  meat is allowed to the sailors:  the term is borrowed
  from the Banyans in the East Indies, a cast that eat
  nothing that had life.

Baptized, or christened. Rum, brandy, or any other
  spirits, that have been lowered with water.

BARBER’S chair.  She is as common as a barber’s chair, in
  which a whole parish sit to be trimmed; said of a prostitute.

BARBER’S sign.  A standing pole and two wash balls.

Bargain.  To sell a bargain; a species of wit, much in
  vogue about the latter end of the reign of Queen Anne,
  and frequently alluded to by Dean Swift, who says the
  maids of honour often amused themselves with it.  It
  consisted in the seller naming his or her hinder parts, in
  answer to the question, What? which the buyer was
  artfully led to ask.  As a specimen, take the following
  instance:  A lady would come into a room full of company,
  apparently in a fright, crying out, It is white, and follows
  me!  On any of the company asking, What? she sold
  him the bargain, by saying, Mine a-e.

BARGEES. (Cambridge.) Barge-men on the river.

Barker.  The shopman of a bow-wow shop, or dealer in
  second hand clothes, particularly about Monmouth-Street,
  who walks before his master’s door, and deafens every
  passenger with his cries of—­Clothes, coats, or gowns—­what
  d’ye want, gemmen?—­what d’ye buy?  See bow-wow shop.

Barkshire.  A member or candidate for Barkshire, said of
  one troubled with a cough, vulgarly styled barking.

Barking irons.  Pistols, from their explosion resembling
  the bow-wow or barking of a dog.  Irish.

Barn.  A parson’s barn; never so full but there is still room,
  for more.  Bit by a barn mouse, tipsey, probably from an
  allusion to barley.

Barnaby.  An old dance to a quick movement.  See Cotton,
  in his Virgil Travesti; where, speaking of Eolus he has
  these lines,

      Bounce cry the port-holes, out they fly,
      And make the world dance Barnaby.

Barnacle.  A good job, or snack easily got:  also shellfish
  growing at the bottoms of ships; a bird of the goose
  kind; an instrument like a pair of pincers, to fix on the
  noses of vicious horses whilst shoeing; a nick name for
  spectacles, and also for the gratuity given to grooms by the
  buyers and sellers of horses.

Barrel fever.  He died of the barrel fever; he killed
  himself by drinking.

Barrow man.  A man under sentence of transportation;
  alluding to the convicts at Woolwich, who are principally
  employed in wheeling barrows full of brick or dirt.

Page 10

Bartholomew baby.  A person dressed up in a tawdry
  manner, like the dolls or babies sold at Bartholomew fair.

Basket.  An exclamation frequently made use of in cock-pits,
  at cock-fightings, where persons refusing or unable
  to pay their losings, are adjudged by that respectable
  assembly to be put into a basket suspended over the pit, there
  to remain during that day’s diversion:  on the least demur
  to pay a bet, Basket is vociferated in terrorem.  He grins
  like a basket of chips:  a saying of one who is on the broad
  grin.

Basket-making.  The good old trade of basket-making;
  copulation, or making feet for children’s stockings.

Bastard.  The child of an unmarried woman.

Bastardly Gullion.  A bastard’s bastard.

To baste. To beat.  I’ll give him his bastings, I’ll beat
  him heartily.

Basting.  A beating.

BASTONADING.  Beating any one with a stick; from baton,
  a stick, formerly spelt baston.

Bat.  A low whore:  so called from moving out like bats in
  the dusk of the evening.

Batch.  We had a pretty batch of it last night; we had a
  hearty dose of liquor.  Batch originally means the whole
  quantity of bread baked at one time in an oven.

BATTNER.  An ox:  beef being apt to batten or fatten those
  that eat it.  The cove has hushed the battner; i.e. has
  killed the ox.

BATCHELOR’S fare.  Bread and cheese and kisses.

BATCHELOR’S son.  A bastard.

Battle-royal.  A battle or bout at cudgels or fisty-cuffs,
  wherein more than two persons are engaged:  perhaps from
  its resemblance, in that particular, to more serious
  engagements fought to settle royal disputes.

Bawbee.  A halfpenny.  Scotch.

BAWBELS, or bawbles.  Trinkets; a man’s testicles.

Bawd.  A female procuress.

Bawdy basket.  The twenty-third rank of canters, who
  carry pins, tape, ballads, and obscene books to sell, but live
  mostly by stealing.  Cant.

Bawdy-house bottle.  A very small bottle; short measure
  being among the many means used by the keepers of those
  houses, to gain what they call an honest livelihood:  indeed
  this is one of the least reprehensible; the less they give a
  man of their infernal beverages for his money, the kinder
  they behave to him.

Bay fever.  A term of ridicule applied to convicts, who
  sham illness, to avoid being sent to Botany Bay.

Bayard of ten toes.  To ride bayard of ten toes, is to
  walk on foot.  Bayard was a horse famous in old romances,

Beak.  A justice of-peace, or magistrate.  Also a judge or
  chairman who presides in court.  I clapp’d my peepers
  full of tears, and so the old beak set me free; I began to
  weep, and the judge set me free.

Page 11

Bean.  A guinea.  Half bean; half a guinea.

Bear.  One who contracts to deliver a certain quantity of
  sum of stock in the public funds, on a future day, and at
  stated price; or, in other words, sells what he has not got,
  like the huntsman in the fable, who sold the bear’s skin
  before the bear was killed.  As the bear sells the stock he
  is not possessed of, so the bull purchases what he has not
  money to pay for; but in case of any alteration in the price
  agreed on, either party pays or receives the difference. 
  Exchange Alley.

Bear-garden jaw or discourse.  Rude, vulgar language,
  such as was used at the bear-gardens.

Bear leader.  A travelling tutor.

Beard splitter.  A man much given to wenching.

Bearings.  I’ll bring him to his bearings; I’ll bring him to
  reason.  Sea term.

Beast. To drink like a beast, i.e. only when thirsty.

Beast with two backs.  A man and woman in the act of
  copulation.  Shakespeare in Othello.

Beater cases.  Boots.  Cant.

Beau-nasty.  A slovenly fop; one finely dressed, but dirty.

Beau trap.  A loose stone in a pavement, under which
  water lodges, and on being trod upon, squirts it up, to the
  great damage of white stockings; also a sharper neatly
  dressed, lying in wait for raw country squires, or ignorant
  fops.

Becalmed. A piece of sea wit, sported in hot weather.  I
  am becalmed, the sail sticks to the mast; that is, my shirt
  sticks to my back.  His prad is becalmed; his horse knocked up.

Beck.  A beadle.  See HERMANBECK.

Bed. Put to bed with a mattock, and tucked up with a
  spade; said of one that is dead and buried.  You will go up
  a ladder to bed, i.e. you will be hanged.  In many country
  places, persons hanged are made to mount up a ladder,
  which is afterwards turned round or taken away, whence the
  term, “Turned off.”

Bedfordshire.  I am for Bedfordshire, i.e. for going to bed.

BEDIZENED. Dressed out, over-dressed, or awkwardly ornamented.

Bed-maker.  Women employed at Cambridge to attend
  on the Students, sweep his room, &c.  They will put their
  hands to any thing, and are generally blest with a pretty
  family of daughters:  who unmake the beds, as fast as they
  are made by their mothers.

Beef.  To cry beef; to give the alarm.  They have cried beef
  on us.  Cant.—­To be in a man’s beef; to wound him with
  a sword.  To be in a woman’s beef; to have carnal
  knowledge of her.  Say you bought your beef of me, a jocular
  request from a butcher to a fat man. implying that he
  credits the butcher who serves him.

Page 12

Beef eater.  A yeoman of the guards, instituted by Henry
  VII.  Their office was to stand near the bouffet, or
  cupboard, thence called Bouffetiers, since corrupted to Beef
  Eaters.  Others suppose they obtained this name from the
  size of their persons, and the easiness of their duty, as
  having scarce more to do than to eat the king’s beef.

Beetle-BROWED. One having thick projecting eyebrows.

Beetle-headed. Dull, stupid.

Beggar maker.  A publican, or ale-house keeper.

Beggar’s bullets.  Stones.  The beggar’s bullets began
  to fly, i.e. they began to throw stones.

Beilby’s ball.  He will dance at Beilby’s ball, where the
  sheriff pays the music; he will be hanged.  Who Mr.
  Beilby was, or why that ceremony was so called, remains
  with the quadrature of the circle, the discovery of the
  philosopher’s stone, and divers other desiderata yet
  undiscovered.

Belch.  All sorts of beer; that liquor being apt to cause
  eructation.

Belcher.  A red silk handkerchief, intermixed with yellow
  and a little black.  The kiddey flashes his belcher; the
  young fellow wears a silk handkerchief round his neck.

Bell, book, and candle.  They cursed him with bell,
  book, and candle; an allusion to the popish form of
  excommunicating and anathematizing persons who had
  offended the church.

To bear the bell.  To excel or surpass all competitors, to
  be the principal in a body or society; an allusion to the
  fore horse or leader of a team, whose harness is commonly
  ornamented with a bell or bells.  Some suppose it a term
  borrowed from an ancient tournament, where the victorious
  knights bore away the Belle or fair lady.  Others derive
  it from a horse-race, or other rural contentions, where bells
  were frequently given as prizes.

Bellows.  The lungs.

BELLOWER.  The town crier.

BELLOWSER.  Transportation for life:  i.e. as long.

Belly.  His eye was bigger than his belly; a saying of a
  person at a table, who takes more on his plate than he
  can eat.

Bellyfull.  A hearty beating, sufficient to make a man
  yield or give out.  A woman with child is also said to
  have got her belly full.

Belly cheat.  An apron.

Belly plea.  The plea of pregnancy, generally adduced by
  female felons capitally convicted, which they take care to
  provide for, previous to their trials; every gaol having, as
  the Beggar’s Opera informs us, one or more child getters,
  who qualify the ladies for that expedient to procure a respite.

Page 13

Belly timber.  Food of all sorts.

Bell swagger.  A noisy bullying fellow.

Bellwether.  The chief or leader of a mob; an idea
  taken from a flock of sheep, where the wether has a bell
  about his neck.

Bene.  Good—­BENAR.  Better.  Cant.

Bene bowse.  Good beer, or other strong liquor.  Cant.

Bene cove.  A good fellow.  Cant.

Bene darkmans.  Goodnight.  Cant.

Bene FEARERS.  Counterfeiters of bills.  Cant.

Bene FEAKERS of GYBES.  Counterfeiters of passes.  Cant.

BENESHIPLY.  Worshipfully.  Cant.

Ben.  A fool.  Cant.

Benish.  Foolish.

Benison.  The beggar’s benison:  May your ***** and
  purse never fail you.

BERMUDAS.  A cant name for certain places in London,
  privileged against arrests, like the Mint in Southwark,
  Ben.  Jonson.  These privileges are abolished.

Bess, or Betty.  A small instrument used by house-breakers
  to force open doors.  Bring bess and glym; bring the
  instrument to force the door, and the dark lantern.  Small
  flasks, like those for Florence wine, are also called betties.

Bess.  See brown bess.

Best. To the best in Christendom:  i.e. the best **** in
  Christendom; a health formerly much in vogue.

Bet.  A wager.—­To bet.  To lay a wager.

Betty Martin.  That’s my eye, Betty Martin; an answer
  to any one that attempts to impose or humbug.

BETWATTLED. Surprised, confounded, out of one’s senses;
  also bewrayed.

Bever.  An afternoon’s luncheon; also a fine hat; beaver’s
  fur making the best hats,

Beverage.  Garnish money, or money for drink, demanded
  of any one having a new suit of clothes.

Bible.  A boatswain’s great axe.  Sea term.

Bible oath.  Supposed by the vulgar to be more binding
  than an oath taken on the Testament only, as being the
  bigger book, and generally containing both the Old and New
  Testament.

Biddy, or chick-A-Biddy.  A chicken, and figuratively
  a young wench.

Bidet, commonly pronounced Biddy.  A kind of tub, contrived
  for ladies to wash themselves, for which purpose they
  bestride it like a French poney, or post-horse, called in
  French bidets.

BIENLY.  Excellently.  She wheedled so bienly; she coaxed
  or flattered so cleverly.  French.

Bill at sight.  To pay a bill at sight; to be ready at all
  times for the venereal act.

Bilboa.  A sword.  Bilboa in Spain was once famous for
  well-tempered blades:  these are quoted by Falstaff, where
  he describes the manner in which he lay in the buck-basket. 
  Bilboes, the stock; prison.  Cant.

Page 14

To bilk.  To cheat.  Let us bilk the rattling cove; let us
  cheat the hackney coachman of his fare.  Cant.  Bilking a
  coachman, a box-keeper, and a poor whore, were formerly,
  among men of the town, thought gallant actions.

Bill of sale.  A widow’s weeds.  See house to let.

Billingsgate language.  Foul language, or abuse.  Billingsgate is
  the market where the fishwomen assemble to
  purchase fish; and where, in their dealings and disputes,
  they are somewhat apt to leave decency and good manners
  a little on the left hand.

Bing.  To go.  Cant.  Bing avast; get you gone.  Binged
  avast in a darkmans; stole away in the night.  Bing we to
  Rumeville:  shall we go to London?

Bingo.  Brandy or other spirituous liquor.  Cant.

Bingo boy.  A dram drinker.  Cant.

Bingo mort.  A female dram drinker.  Cant.

Binnacle word.  A fine or affected word, which sailors
  jeeringly offer to chalk up on the binnacle.

Bird and baby.  The sign of the eagle and child.

Bird-witted. Inconsiderate, thoughtless, easily imposed
  on.

Birds of A feather.  Rogues of the same gang.

Birth-day suit.  He was in his birth-day suit, that is,
  stark naked.

Bishop.  A mixture of wine and water, into which is put a
  roasted orange.  Also one of the largest of Mrs. Philips’s
  purses, used to contain the others.

BISHOPED, or to bishop.  A term used among horse-dealers, for
  burning the mark into a horse’s tooth, after he has
  lost it by age; by bishoping, a horse is made to appear
  younger than he is.  It is a common saying of milk that is
  burnt too, that the bishop has set his foot in it.  Formerly,
  when a bishop passed through a village, all the inhabitants
  ran out of their houses to solicit his blessing, even leaving
  their milk, &c. on the fire, to take its chance:  which, went
  burnt to, was said to be bishoped.

To bishop the balls, a term used among printers, to water
  them.

Bit.  Money.  He grappled the cull’s bit; he seized the
  man’s money.  A bit is also the smallest coin in Jamaica,
  equal to about sixpence sterling.

Bitch.  A she dog, or doggess; the most offensive appellation
  that can be given to an English woman, even more
  provoking than that of whore, as may he gathered from the
  regular Billinsgate or St. Giles’s answer—­“I may be a
  whore, but can’t be a bitch.”

To bitch.  To yield, or give up an attempt through fear. 
  To stand bitch; to make tea, or do the honours of the tea-
  table, performing a female part:  bitch there standing for
  woman, species for genius.

Page 15

Bitch booby.  A country wench.  Military term.

Bite.  A cheat; also a woman’s privities.  The cull wapt
  the mort’s bite; the fellow enjoyed the wench heartily. 
  Cant.

To bite.  To over-reach, or impose; also to steal.—­Cant. 
  —­Biting was once esteemed a kind of wit, similar to the
  humbug.  An instance of it is given in the Spectator:  A
  man under sentence of death having sold his body to a surgeon
  rather below the market price, on receiving the money, cried, A
  bite!  I am to be hanged in chains.—­To bite
  the roger; to steal a portmanteau.  To bite the wiper, to
  steal a handkerchief.  To bite on the bridle; to be pinched
  or reduced to difficulties.  Hark ye, friend, whether do
  they bite in the collar or the cod-piece?  Water wit to
  anglers.

Biter.  A wench whose **** is ready to bite her a-se; a
  lascivious, rampant wench.

Blab.  A tell-tale, or one incapable of keeping a secret

Black and white.  In writing.  I have it in black and
  white; I have written evidence.

Black art.  The art of picking a lock.  Cant.

Black A-se.  A copper or kettle.  The pot calls the kettle
  black a-se.  Cant.

Black book.  He is down in the black book, i.e. has a
  stain in his character.  A black book is keep in most regiments,
  wherein the names of all persons sentenced to punishment
  are recorded.

Black box.  A lawyer.  Cant.

Black eye.  We gave the bottle a black eye, i.e. drank it
  almost up.  He cannot say black is the white of my eye;
  he cannot point out a blot in my character.

Black fly.  The greatest drawback on the farmer is the
  black fly, i.e. the parson who takes tithe of the harvest.

Black guard.  A shabby, mean fellow; a term said to be
  derived from a number of dirty, tattered roguish boys, who
  attended at the Horse Guards, and Parade in St. James’s
  Park, to black the boots and shoes of the soldiers, or to do
  any other dirty offices.  These, from their constant attendance
  about the time of guard mounting, were nick-named
  the black-guards.

Black jack.  A nick name given to the Recorder by the
  Thieves.

Black jack.  A jug to drink out of, made of jacked leather.

Black joke.  A popular tune to a song, having for the
  burden, “Her black joke and belly so white:”  figuratively
  the black joke signifies the monosyllable.  See monosyllable.

Black Indies.  Newcastle upon Tyne, whose rich coal
  mines prove an Indies to the proprietors.

BLACKLEGS.  A gambler or sharper on the turf or in the cockpit: 
  so called, perhaps, from their appearing generally in
  boots; or else from game-cocks whose legs are always black.

Page 16

Black monday.  The first Monday after the school-boys
  holidays, or breaking up, when they are to go to school,
  and produce or repeat the tasks set them.

Black psalm.  To sing the black psalm; to cry:  a saying
  used to children.

Black spice racket.  To rob chimney sweepers of
  their soot, bag and soot.

Black spy.  The Devil.

Black strap.  Bene Carlo wine; also port.  A task of
  labour imposed on soldiers at Gibraltar, as a punishment
  for small offences.

Blank.  To look blank; to appear disappointed or confounded.

Blanket hornpipe.  The amorous congress.

Blarney.  He has licked the blarney stone; he deals in the
  wonderful, or tips us the traveller.  The blarney stone is a
  triangular stone on the very top of an ancient castle of that
  name in the county of Cork in Ireland, extremely difficult
  of access; so that to have ascended to it, was considered
  as a proof of perseverance, courage, and agility, whereof
  many are supposed to claim the honour, who never atchieved
  the adventure:  and to tip the blarney, is figuratively
  used telling a marvellous story, or falsity; and also
  sometimes to express flattery.  Irish.

A blasted fellow or brimstone.  An abandoned
  rogue or prostitute.  Cant.

To blast. To curse.

BLATER.  A calf.  Cant.

Bleached mort.  A fair-complexioned wench.

BLEATERS.  Those cheated by Jack in a box.  Cant.—­See
  jack in A box.

Bleating cheat.  A sheep.  Cant.

Bleating rig.  Sheep stealing.  Cant.

Bleeders.  Spurs.  He clapped his bleeders to his prad;
  be put spurs to his horse.

Bleeding cully.  One who parts easily with his money,
  or bleeds freely.

Bleeding new.  A metaphor borrowed from fish, which
  will not bleed when stale.

Blessing.  A small quantity over and above the measure,
  usually given by hucksters dealing in peas, beans, and
  other vegetables.

Blind.  A feint, pretence, or shift.

Blind cheeks.  The breech.  Buss blind cheeks; kiss
  mine a-se.

Blind excuse.  A poor or insufficient excuse.  A blind ale-house,
  lane, or alley; an obscure, or little known or frequented
  ale-house, lane, or alley.

Blind harpers.  Beggars counterfeiting blindness, playing
  on fiddles, &c.

BLINDMAN’S buff.  A play used by children, where one
  being blinded by a handkerchief bound over his eyes,
  attempts to seize any one of the company, who all endeavour
  to avoid him; the person caught, must be blinded in
  his stead.

Page 17

Blind Cupid.  The backside.

BLINDMAN’S holiday.  Night, darkness.

Block houses.  Prisons, houses of correction, &c.

Blocked at both ends.  Finished.  The game is blocked
  at both ends; the game is ended.

Blood.  A riotous disorderly fellow.

Blood for blood.  A term used by tradesmen for bartering
  the different commodities in which they deal.  Thus a
  hatter furnishing a hosier with a hat, and taking payment
  in stockings, is said to deal blood for blood.

Blood money.  The reward given by the legislature on the
  conviction of highwaymen, burglars, &c.

Bloody back.  A jeering appellation for a soldier, alluding
  to his scarlet coat.

Bloody.  A favourite word used by the thieves in swearing,
  as bloody eyes, bloody rascal.

Bloss or blowen.  The pretended wife of a bully, or
  shoplifter.  Cant.

To blot the Skrip and Jar it.  To stand engaged or
  bound for any one.  Cant.

Blow.  He has bit the blow, i.e. he has stolen the goods. 
  Cant.

BLOWEN.  A mistress or whore of a gentleman of the
  scamp.  The blowen kidded the swell into a snoozing
  ken, and shook him of his dummee and thimble; the
  girl inveigled the gentleman into a brothel and robbed him
  of his pocket book and watch.

Blower.  A pipe.  How the swell funks his blower and
  lushes red tape; what a smoke the gentleman makes
  with his pipe, and drinks brandy.

To blow the GROUNSILS.  To lie with a woman on the
  floor.  Cant.

To blow the gab.  To confess, or impeach a confederate. 
  Cant.

Blow-up.  A discovery, or the confusion occasioned by one.

A BLOWSE, or BLOWSABELLA.  A woman whose hair is
  dishevelled, and hanging about her face; a slattern.

Blubber.  The mouth.—­I have stopped the cull’s blubber;
  I have stopped the fellow’s mouth, meant either by gagging
  or murdering him.

To blubber.  To cry.

To sport blubber.  Said of a large coarse woman, who
  exposes her bosom.

Blubber cheeks.  Large flaccid cheeks, hanging like
  the fat or blubber of a whale.

Blue, To look blue; to be confounded, terrified, or disappointed. 
  Blue as a razor; perhaps, blue as azure.

Blue boar.  A venereal bubo.

Blue devils.  Low spirits.

Blue flag.  He has hoisted the blue flag; he has commenced
  publican, or taken a public house, an allusion to
  the blue aprons worn by publicans.  See Admiral of
  the blue.

Page 18

Blue pigeons.  Thieves who steal lead off houses and
  churches.  Cant.  To fly a blue pigeon; to steal lead
  off houses or churches.

Blue plumb.  A bullet.—­Surfeited with a blue plumb;
  wounded with a bullet.  A sortment of George R—­’s
  blue plumbs; a volley of ball, shot from soldiers’ firelocks.

Blue skin.  A person begotten on a black woman by a
  white man.  One of the blue squadron; any one having
  a cross of the black breed, or, as it is termed, a lick of
  the tar brush.

Blue tape, or sky blue.  Gin.

Blue Ruin.  Gin.  Blue ribband; gin.

Bluff.  Fierce, surly.  He looked as bluff as bull beef.

Bluffer.  An inn-keeper.  Cant.

Blunderbuss.  A short gun, with a wide bore, for carrying
  slugs; also a stupid, blundering fellow.

Blunt.  Money.  Cant.

To bluster.  To talk big, to hector or bully.

Boarding school.  Bridewell, Newgate, or any other
  prison, or house of correction.

Bob.  A shoplifter’s assistant, or one that receives and carries
  off stolen goods.  All is bob; all is safe.  Cant.

Bob.  A shilling.

Bobbed. Cheated, tricked, disappointed.

BOBBISH.  Smart, clever, spruce.

Bob stay.  A rope which holds the bowsprit to the stem or
  cutwater.  Figuratively, the frenum of a man’s yard.

Bob tail.  A lewd woman, or one that plays with her tail;
  also an impotent man, or an eunuch.  Tag, rag, and bobtail;
  a mob of all sorts of low people.  To shift one’s bob;
  to move off, or go away.  To bear a bob; to join in chorus
  with any singers.  Also a term used by the sellers of game,
  for a partridge.

Body SNATCHERS.  Bum bailiffs.

Body of divinity bound in black calf.  A parson.

Bog Lander.  An Irishman; Ireland being famous for its
  large bogs, which furnish the chief fuel in many parts
  of that kingdom.

Bog Trotter.  The same.

Bog house.  The necessary house.  To go to bog; to go to
  stool.

Bog Latin.  Barbarous Latin.  Irish.—­See dog Latin,
  and apothecaries Latin.

Bogy.  Ask bogy, i.e. ask mine a-se.  Sea wit.

Boh.  Said to be the name of a Danish general, who so terrified
  his opponent Foh, that he caused him to bewray
  himself.  Whence, when we smell a stink, it is custom
  to exclaim, Foh! i.e.  I smell general Foh.  He cannot say
  Boh to a goose; i.e. he is a cowardly or sheepish fellow. 

Page 19

  There is a story related of the celebrated Ben Jonson, who
  always dressed very plain; that being introduced to the
  presence of a nobleman, the peer, struck by his homely
  appearance and awkward manner, exclaimed, as if in doubt,
  “you Ben Johnson! why you look as if you could not say
  Boh to a goose!” “Boh!” replied the wit.

Bold.  Bold as a miller’s shirt, which every day takes a
  rogue by the collar.

Bolt.  A blunt arrow.

Bolt upright.  As erect, or straight up, as an arrow
  set on its end.

To bolt.  To run suddenly out of one’s house, or hiding
  place, through fear; a term borrowed from a rabbit-warren,
  where the rabbits are made to bolt, by sending
  ferrets into their burrows:  we set the house on fire, and
  made him bolt.  To bolt, also means to swallow meat
  without chewing:  the farmer’s servants in Kent are
  famous for bolting large quantities of pickled pork.

Bones.  Dice.

Bone box.  The mouth.  Shut your bone box; shut your
  mouth.

Bone picker.  A footman.

Boned. Seized. apprehended, taken up by a constable.  Cant.

Bolus.  A nick name for an apothecary.

Bonesetter.  A hard-trotting horse.

Booby, or dog booby.  An awkward lout, clodhopper, or
  country fellow.  See clodhopper and lout.  A bitch
  booby; a country wench.

Booby Hutch.  A one-horse chaise, noddy, buggy, or
  leathern bottle.

Books.  Cards to play with.  To plant the books; to place
  the cards in the pack in an unfair manner.

Book-keeper.  One who never returns borrowed books. 
  Out of one’s books; out of one’s fevor.  Out of his books;
  out of debt.

Boot catcher.  The servant at an inn whose business
  it is to clean the boots of the guest.

Boots.  The youngest officer in a regimental mess, whose
  duty it is to skink, that is, to stir the fire, snuff the
  candles, and ring the bell.  See skink.—­To ride in any one’s
  old boots; to marry or keep his cast-off mistress.

Booty.  To play booty; cheating play, where the player
  purposely avoids winning.

Bo-peep.  One who sometimes hides himself, and sometimes
  appears publicly abroad, is said to-play at bo-peep. 
  Also one who lies perdue, or on the watch.

BORACHIO.  A skin for holding wine, commonly a goat’s;
  also a nick name for a drunkard.

Borde.  A shilling.  A half borde; a sixpence.

Bordello.  A bawdy house.

Bore.  A tedious, troublesome man or woman, one who
  bores the ears of his hearers with an uninteresting tale;
  a term much in fashion about the years 1780 and 1781.

Page 20

Born under A threepenny halfpenny Planet, never to be worth A
groat
  Said of any person remarkably unsuccessful in his attempts or
  profession.

Botch.  A nick name for a taylor.

Bothered or both-eared. Talked to at both ears by different
  persons at the same time, confounded, confused.  Irish
  phrase.

BOTHERAMS. A convivial society.

Bottle-headed. Void of wit.

Bottom.  A polite term for the posteriors.  Also, in the
  sporting sense, strength and spirits to support fatigue; as
  a bottomed horse.  Among bruisers it is used to express
  a hardy fellow, who will bear a good beating.

Bottomless pit.  The monosyllable.

Boughs.  Wide in the boughs; with large hips and posteriors.

Boughs.  He is up in the boughs; he is in a passion.

To bounce.  To brag or hector; also to tell an improbable
  story.  To bully a man out of any thing.  The kiddey
  bounced the swell of the blowen; the lad bullied the
  gentleman out of the girl.

Bouncer.  A large man or woman; also a great lie.

Bouncing cheat.  A bottle; from the explosion in
  drawing the cork.  Cant.

BOUNG.  A purse.  Cant.

BOUNG nipper.  A cut purse.  Cant.—­Formerly purses
  were worn at the girdle, from whence they were cut.

Boose, or Bouse.  Drink.

BOOSEY.  Drunk.

BOWSING ken.  An ale-house or gin-shop.

Bowsprit.  The nose, from its being the most projecting
  part of the human face, as the bowsprit is of a ship.

Bow-wow.  The childish name for a dog; also a jeering
  appellation for a man born at Boston in America.

Bow-wow mutton.  Dog’s flesh.

Bow-wow shop.  A salesman’s shop in Monmouth-street;
  so called because the servant barks, and the master bites. 
  See barker.

Bowyer.  One that draws a long bow, a dealer in the marvellous,
  a teller of improbable stories, a liar:  perhaps from
  the wonderful shots frequently boasted of by archers.

To box the compass.  To say or repeat the mariner’s
  compass, not only backwards or forwards, but also to
  be able to answer any and all questions respecting its
  divisions.  Sea term.

To box the Jesuit, and get cock Roaches.  A sea
  term for masturbation; a crime, it is said, much practised
  by the reverend fathers of that society.

Page 21

Brace.  The Brace tavern; a room in the S.E. corner of the
  King’s Bench, where, for the convenience of prisoners
  residing thereabouts, beer purchased at the tap-house was
  retailed at a halfpenny per pot advance.  It was kept by
  two brothers of the name of Partridge, and thence called
  the Brace.

Bracket-faced. Ugly, hard-featured.

BRAGGET.  Mead and ale sweetened with honey.

BRAGGADOCIA. vain-glorious fellow, a boaster.

Brains.  If you had as much brains as guts, what a clever
  fellow you would be! a saying to a stupid fat fellow.  To
  have some guts in his brains; to know something.

Bran-faced. Freckled.  He was christened by a baker,
  he carries the bran in his face.

Brandy-faced. Red-faced, as if from drinking brandy.

Brandy.  Brandy is Latin for a goose; a memento to
  prevent the animal from rising in the stomach by a
  glass of the good creature.

Brat.  A child or infant.

Bray.  A vicar of Bray; one who frequently changes his
  principles, always siding with the strongest party:  an
  allusion to a vicar of Bray, in Berkshire, commemorated
  in a well-known ballad for the pliability of his conscience.

Brazen-faced. Bold-faced, shameless, impudent.

Bread and butter fashion.  One slice upon the
  other.  John and his maid were caught lying bread and
  butter fashion.—­To quarrel with one’s bread and butter;
  to act contrary to one’s interest.  To know on which
  side one’s bread is buttered; to know one’s interest, or
  what is best for one.  It is no bread and butter of mine;
  I have no business with it; or rather, I won’t intermeddle,
  because I shall get nothing by it.

Break-teeth words.  Hard words, difficult to pronounce.

Breaking shins.  Borrowing money; perhaps from the
  figurative operation being, like the real one, extremely
  disagreeable to the patient.

Bread.  Employment.  Out of bread; out of employment. 
  In bad bread; in a disagreeable scrape, or situation.

Bread basket.  The stomach; a term used by boxers. 
  I took him a punch in his bread basket; i.e.  I gave him
  a blow in the stomach.

Breast fleet.  He or she belongs to the breast fleet; i.e. is
  a Roman catholic; an appellation derived from their custom
  of beating their breasts in the confession of their sins.

BREECHED. Money in the pocket:  the swell is well
  breeched, let’s draw him; the gentleman has plenty of
  money in his pocket, let us rob him.

Breeches.  To wear the breeches; a woman who governs
  her husband is said to wear the breeches.

Page 22

Breeches Bible.  An edition of the Bible printed in
  1598, wherein it is said that Adam and Eve sewed figleaves
  together, and made themselves breeches.

Breeze.  To raise a breeze; to kick up a dust or breed a
  disturbance.

Bridge.  To make a bridge of any one’s nose; to push the
  bottle past him, so as to deprive him of his turn of filling
  his glass; to pass one over.  Also to play booty, or
  purposely to avoid winning.

Brim. (Abbreviation of Brimstone.) An abandoned woman;
  perhaps originally only a passionate or irascible
  woman, compared to brimstone for its inflammability.

Brisket beater.  A Roman catholic.  See breast
  fleet, and Craw thumper.

Bristol milk.  A Spanish wine called sherry, much
  drunk at that place, particularly in the morning.

Bristol man.  The son of an Irish thief and a Welch
  whore.

British CHAMPAIGNE.  Porter.

BROGANIER.  One who has a strong Irish pronunciation or
  accent.

Brogue.  A particular kind of shoe without a heel,
  worn in Ireland, and figuratively used to signify the
  Irish accent.

Brother of the blade.  A soldier
          buskin.  A player. 
          Bung.  A brewer
          Quill.  An author. 
          String.  A fiddler. 
          Whip.  A coachman.

Brother Starling.  One who lies with the same woman,
  that is, builds in the same nest.

Broughtonian.  A boxer:  a disciple of Broughton,
  who was a beef-eater, and once the best boxer of his day.

Brown bess.  A soldier’s firelock.  To hug brown Bess; to
  carry a firelock, or serve as a private soldier.

Brown George.  An ammunition loaf, A wig without
  powder; similar to the undress wig worn by his majesty.

Brown madam, or miss brown.  The monosyllable.

Brown study.  Said of one absent, in a reverie, or
  thoughtful.

Bruiser.  A boxer; one skilled in the ar of boxing also
  an inferior workman among chasers.

BREWES, or BROWES.  The fat scum from the pot in
  which salted beef is boiled.

To brush.  To run away.  Let us buy a brush and lope;
  let us go away or off.  To have a brush with a woman; to
  lie with her.  To have a brush with a man; to fight with
  him.  The cove cracked the peter and bought a brush;
  the fellow broke open the trunk, and then ran away.

Brusher.  A bumper, a full glass.  See bumper.

Bub.  Strong beer.

BUBBER.  A drinking bowl; also a great drinker; a
  thief that steals plate from public houses.  Cant.

Page 23

The bubble.  The party cheated, perhaps from his
  being like an air bubble, filled with words, which are
  only wind, instead of real property.

To bubble.  To cheat.

To bar the bubble.  To except against the general
  rule, that he who lays the odds must always be adjudged
  the loser:  this is restricted to betts laid for liquor.

Bubbly Jock.  A turkey cock.  Scotch.

Bubble and squeak.  Beef and cabbage fried together. 
  It is so called from its bubbling up and squeaking whilst
  over the fire.

BUBE.  The venereal disease.

Buck.  A blind horse; also a gay debauchee.

To run A buck.  To poll a bad vote at an election.—­Irish
  term.

Buck bail.  Bail given by a sharper for one of the gang.

A buck of the first head.  One who in debauchery
  surpasses the rest of his companions, a blood or choice
  spirit.  There are in London divers lodges or societies of
  Bucks, formed in imitation of the Free Masons:  one was
  held at the Rose, in Monkwell-street, about the year
  1705.  The president is styled the Grand Buck.  A buck
  sometimes signifies a cuckold.

BUCK’S face.  A cuckold.

Buck Fitch.  A lecherous old fellow.

Buckeen.  A bully.  Irish.

Bucket.  To kick the bucket; to die.

BUCKINGER’S boot.  The monosyllable.  Matthew
  Buckinger was born without hands and legs; notwithstanding
  which he drew coats of arms very neatly, and
  could write the Lord’s Prayer within the compass of a
  shilling; he was married to a tall handsome woman,
  and traversed the country, shewing himself for money.

Buckles.  Fetters.

Budge, or sneaking budge.  One that slips into houses
  in the dark, to steal cloaks or other clothes.  Also
  lambs’ fur formerly used for doctors’ robes, whence they
  were called budge doctors.  Standing budge; a thief’s
  scout or spy.

To budge.  To move, or quit one’s station.  Don’t budge
  from hence; i.e. don’t move from hence, stay here.

Budget.  A wallet.  To open the budget; a term used
  to signify the notification of the taxes required by the
  minister for the expences of the ensuing year; as To-morrow
  the minister will go to the house, and open the
  budget.

BUFE.  A dog.  Bufe’s nob; a dog’s head.  Cant.

BUFE NABBER.  A dog stealer.  Cant.

Buff.  All in buff; stript to the skin, stark naked.

Buff.  To stand buff; to stand the brunt.  To swear as a
  witness.  He buffed it home; and I was served; he
  swore hard against me, and I was found guilty.

Page 24

Buffer.  One that steals and kills horses and dogs for
  their skins; also an inn-keeper:  in Ireland it signifies a
  boxer.

Buffer.  A man who takes an oath:  generally applied to
  Jew bail.

BUFFLE-headed. Confused, stupid.

Bug.  A nick name given by the Irish to Englishmen;
  bugs having, as it is said, been introduced into Ireland by
  the English.

To bug.  A cant word among journeymen hatters, signifying
  the exchanging some of the dearest materials of
  which a hat is made for others of less value.  Hats are
  composed of the furs and wool of divers animals among
  which is a small portion of beavers’ fur.  Bugging, is
  stealing the beaver, and substituting in lieu thereof an equal
  weight of some cheaper ingredient.—­Bailiffs who take
  money to postpone or refrain the serving of a writ, are
  said to bug the writ.

Bug-hunter.  An upholsterer.

BUGABOE.  A scare-babe, or bully-beggar.

BUGAROCH.  Comely, handsome.  Irish.

Buggy.  A one-horse chaise.

Bugger.  A blackguard, a rascal, a term of reproach.  Mill
  the bloody bugger; beat the damned rascal.

Bulk and file.  Two pickpockets; the bulk jostles the
  party to be robbed, and the file does the business.

BULKER.  One who lodges all night on a bulk or projection
  before old-fashioned shop windows.

Bull.  An Exchange Alley term for one who buys stock
  on speculation for time, i.e. agrees with the seller, called
  a Bear, to take a certain sum of stock at a future day, at a
  stated price:  if at that day stock fetches more than the
  price agreed on, he receives the difference; if it falls or is
  cheaper, he either pays it, or becomes a lame duck, and
  waddles out of the Alley.  See lame duck and bear.

Bull.  A blunder; from one Obadiah Bull, a blundering
  lawyer of London, who lived in the reign of Henery VII.
  by a bull is now always meant a blunder made by an Irishman. 
  A bull was also the name of false hair formerly
  much worn by women.  To look like bull beef, or as bluff
  as bull beef; to look fierce or surly.  Town bull, a great
  whore-master.

Bull.  A crown piece.  A half bull; half a crown.

Bull beggar, or bully beggar.  An imaginary
  being with which children are threatened by servants
  and nurses, like raw head and bloody bones.

Bull calf.  A great hulkey or clumsy fellow.  See
  hulkey.

Bull chin.  A fat chubby child.

Bull dogs.  Pistols.

Bull hankers.  Persons who over-drive bulls, or
  frequent bull baits.

Page 25

BULL’S eye.  A crown-piece.

BULL’S feather.  A horn:  he wears the bull’s feather; he
  is a cuckold.

To bullock.  To hector, bounce, or bully.

Bully.  A cowardly fellow, who gives himself airs of
  great bravery.  A bully huff cap; a hector.  See hector.

Bully back.  A bully to a bawdy-house; one who is
  kept in pay, to oblige the frequenters of the house to submit
  to the impositions of the mother abbess, or bawd; and
  who also sometimes pretends to be the husband of one of
  the ladies, and under that pretence extorts money from
  greenhorns, or ignorant young men, whom he finds with her. 
  See Greenhorn.

Bully cock.  One who foments quarrels in order to rob
  the persons quarrelling.

Bully ruffians.  Highwaymen who attack passengers
  with paths and imprecations.

Bully trap.  A brave man with a mild or effeminate
  appearance, by whom bullies are frequently taken in.

Bum. the breech, or backside.

To bum.  To arrest a debtor.  The gill bummed the
  swell for a thimble; the tradesman arrested the
  gentleman for a watch.

Bum trap.  A sheriff’s officer who arrests debtors. 
  Ware hawke! the bum traps are fly to our panney; keep a
  good look out, the bailiffs know where our house is
  situated.

Bum bailiff.  A sheriff’s officer, who arrests debtors; so
  called perhaps from following his prey, and being at their
  bums, or, as the vulgar phrase is, hard at their a-ses. 
  Blackstone says, it is a corruption of bound bailiff, from
  their being obliged to give bond for their good behaviour.

Bum brusher.  A schoolmaster.

Bum boat.  A boat attending ships to retail greens,
  drams, &c. commonly rowed by a woman; a kind of
  floating chandler’s shop,

Bum fodder.  Soft paper for the necessary house or
  torchecul.

BUMFIDDLE.  The backside, the breech.  See ARS MUSICA.

BUMBO.  Brandy, water, and sugar; also the negro name for
  the private parts of a woman.

Bumkin.  A raw country fellow.

Bummed. Arrested.

Bumper.  A full glass; in all likelihood from its convexity
  or bump at the top:  some derive it from a full glass
  formerly drunk to the health of the pope—­Au Bon Pere.

Bumping.  A ceremony performed on boys perambulating
  the bounds of the parish on Whit-monday, when they
  have their posteriors bumped against the stones marking
  the boundaries, in order to fix them in their memory.

Bun.  A common name for a rabbit, also for the monosyllable. 
  To touch bun for luck; a practice observed among
  sailors going on a cruize.

Page 26

Bundling.  A man and woman sleeping in the same bed, he
  with his small clothes, and she with her petticoats on; an
  expedient practised in America on a scarcity of beds, where,
  on such an occasion, husbands and parents frequently
  permitted travellers to bundle with their wives and daughters. 
  This custom is now abolished.  See Duke of Rochefoucalt’s
  Travels in America,

Bung upwards.  Said of a person lying on his face.

Bung your eye.  Drink a dram; strictly speaking, to
  drink till one’s eye is bunged up or closed.

Bunt.  An apron.

Bunter.  A low dirty prostitute, half whore and half beggar.

BUNTLINGS.  Petticoats.  Cant.

Burn crust. A jocular name for a baker.

Burn the ken.  Strollers living in an alehouse without paying
  their quarters, are said to burn the ken.  Cant.

Burning shame.  A lighted candle stuck into the parts of a
  woman, certainly not intended by nature for a candlestick.

Burner.  A clap.  The blowen tipped the swell a burner;
  the girl gave the gentleman a clap.

Burner.  He is no burner of navigable rivers; i.e. he is no
  conjuror, or man of extraordinary abilities; or rather,
  he is, but a simple fellow.  See Thames.

Burnt.  Poxed or clapped.  He was sent out a sacrifice, and
  came home a burnt offering; a saying of seamen who have
  caught the venereal disease abroad.  He has burnt his
  fingers; he has suffered by meddling.

Burr.  A hanger on, or dependant; an allusion to the field
  burrs, which are not easily got rid of.  Also the Northumbrian
  pronunciation:  the people of that country, but
  chiefly about Newcastle and Morpeth, are said to have a
  burr in their throats, particularly called the Newcastle
  burr.

Bushel bubby.  A full breasted woman.

Busk.  A piece of whalebone or ivory, formerly worn by
  women, to stiffen the forepart of their stays:  hence the
  toast—­Both ends of the busk.

Buss beggar.  An old superannuated fumbler, whom none
  but beggars will suffer to kiss them.

Bus-napper.  A constable.  Cant.

Bus-NAPPER’S kenchin.  A watchman.  Cant.

Busy.  As busy is the devil in a high wind; as busy as a hen
  with one chick.

Butcher’s dog.  To be like a butcher’s dog, i.e. lie by the
  beef without touching it; a simile often applicable to
  married men.

Butcher’s horse.  That must have been a butcher’s
  horse, by his carrying a calf so well; a vulgar joke on an
  awkward rider.

Page 27

Butt.  A dependant, poor relation, or simpleton, on whom
  all kinds of practical jokes are played off; and who serves
  as a butt for all the shafts of wit and ridicule.

Butter box.  A Dutchman, from the great quantity of
  butter eaten by the people of that country.

Buttered bun.  One lying with a woman that has just lain
  with another man, is said to have a buttered bun.

Butter and eggs trot.  A kind of short jogg trot, such
  as is used by women going to market, with butter and
  eggs.—­he looks as if butter would not melt in her mouth,
  yet I warrant you cheese would not choak her; a saying
  of a demure looking woman, of suspected character.  Don’t
  make butter dear; a gird at the patient angler.

Buttock.  A whore.  Cant.

Buttock broker.  A bawd, or match-maker.  Cant.

Buttock ball.  The amorous congress.  Cant.

Buttock and file.  A common whore and a pick-pocket. 
  Cant.

Buttock and twang, or down buttock and sham
  file.  A common whore, but no pickpocket.

Buttock and tongue.  A scolding wife.

BUTTOCKING shop.  A brothel.

Button.  A bad shilling, among coiners.  His a-se makes
  buttons; he is ready to bewray himself through fear.  Cant.

BUZMAN.  A pickpocket.  Cant.

Buzzard.  A simple fellow.  A blind buzzard:  a
  pur-blind man or woman.

Bye blow.  A bastard.

Cabbage.  Cloth, stuff, or silkpurloined by laylors from
  their employers, which they deposit in a place called
  hell, or their eye:  from the first, when taxed, with their
  knavery, they equivocally swear, that if they have taken
  any, they wish they may find it in hell; or, alluding to the
  second, protest, that what they have over and above is
  not more than they could put in their eye.—­When the scrotum
  is relaxed or whiffled, it is said they will not cabbage.

Cab.  A brothel.  Mother:  how many tails have you in
  your cab? how many girls have you in your bawdy house?

CACAFEOGO.  A sh-te-fire, a furious braggadocio or bully
  huff.

Cackle.  To blab, or discover secrets.  The cull is leaky,
  and cackles; the rogue tells all.  Cant.  See leaky.

Cackler.  A hen.

CACKLER’S ken.  A hen roost.  Cant.

Cackling cheats.  Fowls.  Cant.

Cackling farts.  Eggs.  Cant.

CADDEE.  A helper.  An under-strapper.

Cadge.  To beg.  Cadge the swells; beg of the gentlemen.

Page 28

CAFFAN.  Cheese.  Cant.

CAGG.  To cagg; a military term used by the private soldiers,
  signifying a solemn vow or resolution not to get
  drunk for a certain time; or, as the term is, till their cagg
  is out:  which vow is commonly observed with the strictest
  exactness.  Ex.  I have cagg’d myself for six months. 
  Excuse me this time, and I will cagg myself for
  a year.  This term is also used in the same sense among
  the common people of Scotland, where it is performed
  with divers ceremonies.

CAG.  To be cagged.  To be sulky or out of humour.  The
  cove carries the cag; the man is vexed or sullen.

CAG Magg.  Bits and scraps of provisions.  Bad meat.

CAGG Maggs.  Old Lincolnshire geese, which having been
  plucked ten or twelve years, are sent up to London to
  feast the cockneys.

Cake, or CAKEY.  A foolish fellow.

Calf-skin fiddle.  A drum.  To smack calf’s skin; to
  kiss the book in taking an oath.  It is held by the St.
  Giles’s casuists, that by kissing one’s thumb instead of
  smacking calf’s skin, the guilt of taking a false oath is
  avoided.

Calves.  His calves are gone to grass; a saying of a man
  with slender legs without calves.  Veal will be cheap,
  calves fall; said of a man whose calves fall away.

Calves head club.  A club instituted by the Independents
  and Presbyterians, to commemorate the decapitation
  of King Charles I. Their chief fare was calves heads; and
  they drank their wine and ale out of calves skulls.

CALIBOGUS.  Rum and spruce beer, American beverage.

Calle.  A cloak or gown.  Cant.

Cambridge fortune.  A wind-mill and a water-mill,
  used to signify a woman without any but personal endowments.

Cambridge oak.  A willow.

CAMBRADE.  A chamber fellow; a Spanish military term. 
  Soldiers were in that country divided into chambers, five
  men making a chamber, whence it was generally used to
  signify companion.

CAMESA.  A shirt or shift.  CantSpanish.

Camp candlestick.  A bottle, or soldier’s bayonet.

Campbell’s academy.  The hulks or lighters, on
  board of which felons are condemned to hard labour. 
  Mr. Campbell was the first director of them.  See
  academy and floating academy.

Canary bird.  A jail bird, a person used to be kept in
  a cage; also, in the canting sense, guineas.

Candlesticks.  Bad, small, or untunable bells.  Hark!
  how the candlesticks rattle.

Candy.  Drunk.  Irish.

Cane.  To lay Cane upon Abel; to beat any one with a
  cane or stick.

Page 29

CANK.  Dumb.

Cannister.  The head.  To mill his cannister; to break
  his head.

CANNIKIN.  A small can:  also, in the canting sense,
  the plague.

Cant.  An hypocrite, a double-tongue palavering fellow. 
  See palaver.

Cant.  To cant; to toss or throw:  as, Cant a slug into
  your bread room; drink a dram.  Sea wit.

Canticle.  A parish clerk.

Canting.  Preaching with a whining, affected tone, perhaps
  a corruption of chaunting; some derive it from Andrew
  Cant, a famous Scotch preacher, who used that whining
  manner of expression.  Also a kind of gibberish used by
  thieves and gypsies, called likewise pedlar’s French, the
  slang, &c. &c.

CANTERS, or the canting crew.  Thieves, beggars, and
  gypsies, or any others using the canting lingo.  See lingo.

Canterbury story.  A long roundabout tale.

To cap.  To take one’s oath.  I will cap downright; I will
  swear home.  Cant.

To cap.  To take off one’s hat or cap.  To cap the quadrangle;
  a lesson of humility, or rather servility, taught
  undergraduates at the university, where they are obliged to
  cross the area of the college cap in hand, in reverence to
  the fellows who sometimes walk there.  The same ceremony
  is observed on coming on the quarter deck of ships of
  war, although no officer should be on it.

To cap.  To support another’s assertion or tale.  To assist
  a man in cheating.  The file kidded the joskin with sham
  books, and his pall capped; the deep one cheated the
  countryman with false cards, and his confederate assisted
  in the fraud.

Cap acquaintance.  Persons slightly acquainted, or only
  so far as mutually to salute with the hat on meeting.  A
  woman who endeavours to attract the notice of any particular
  man, is said to set her cap at him.

Caper merchant.  A dancing master, or hop mercbant;
  marchand des capriolles.  French term.—­To cut papers; to
  leap or jump in dancing.  See hop merchant.

Capping verses.  Repeating Latin Verses in turn, beginning
  with the letter with which the last speaker left off.

Capon.  A castrated cock, also an eunuch.

CAPRICORNIFIED. Cuckolded, hornified.

Capsize.  To overturn or reverse.  He took his broth till
  he capsized; he drank till he fell out of his chair.  Sea
  term.

Page 30

Captain.  Led captain; an humble dependant in a great
  family, who for a precarious subsistence, and distant hopes
  of preferment, suffers every kind of indignity, and is the
  butt of every species of joke or ill-humour.  The small
  provision made for officers of the army and navy in time of
  peace, obliges many in both services to occupy this wretched
  station.  The idea of the appellation is taken from a led horse,
  many of which for magnificence appear in the retinues
  of great personages on solemn occasions, such as processions,
  &c.

Captain COPPERTHORNE’S crew.  All officers; a saying
  of a company where everyone strives to rule.

Captain lieutenant.  Meat between veal and beef, the
  flesh of an old calf; a military simile, drawn from the
  officer of that denomination, who has only the pay of a
  lieutenant, with the rank of captain; and so is not entirely
  one or the other, but between both.

Captain PODD.  A celebrated master of a puppet-shew, in
  Ben Johnson’s time, whose name became a common one
  to signify any of that fraternity.

Captain QUEERNABS.  A shabby ill-dressed fellow.

Captain sharp.  A cheating bully, or one in a set of
  gamblers, whose office is to bully any pigeon, who, suspecting
  roguery, refuses to pay what he has lost.  Cant.

Captain tom.  The leader of a mob; also the mob itself.

Caravan.  A large sum of money; also, a person cheated
  of such sum.  Cant.

Carbuncle face.  A red face, full of pimples.

Cardinal.  A cloak in fashion about the year 1760.

To carouse.  To drink freely or deep:  from the German
  word expressing all out.

Carriers.  A set of rogues who are employed to look out
  and watch upon the roads, at inns, &c. in order to carry
  information to their respective gangs, of a booty in
  prospect.

Carriers.  Pigeons which carry expresses.

Carrion hunter.  An undertaker; called also a cold
  cook, and death hunter.  See cold cook and death
  hunter.

Carrots.  Red hair.

CARROTTY-pated. Ginger-hackled, red-haired.  See
  ginger-hackled.

Carry WITCHET.  A sort of conundrum, puzzlewit, or
  riddle.

Cart.  To put the cart before the horse; to mention the
  last part of a story first.  To be flogged at the cart’s a-se or
  tail; persons guilty of petty larceny are frequently
  sentenced to be tied to the tail of a cart, and whipped by the
  common executioner, for a certain distance:  the degree
  of severity in the execution is left to the discretion of the
  executioner, who, it is said, has cats of nine tails of all
  prices.

Page 31

Carting.  The punishment formerly inflicted on bawds,
  who were placed in a tumbrel or cart, and led through
  a town, that their persons might be known.

CARVEL’S ring.  The private parts of a woman.  Ham
  Carvel, a jealous old doctor, being in bed with his wife,
  dreamed that the Devil gave him a ring, which, so long as
  he had it on his finger, would prevent his being made a
  cuckold:  waking he found he had got his finger the Lord
  knows where.  See Rabelais, and Prior’s versification of
  the story.

To Cascade.  To vomit.

Case.  A house; perhaps from the Italian Casa.  In the canting
  lingo it meant store or ware house, as well as a dwelling
  house.  Tout that case; mark or observe that house. 
  It is all bob, now let’s dub the gig of the case; now the
  coast is clear, let us break open the door of the house.

Case VROW.  A prostitute attached to a particular bawdy
  house.

Cash, or caffan.  Cheese; cant.  See caffan.

Caster.  A cloak.  Cant.

Castor.  A hat.  To prig a castor; to steal a hat.

Casting up one’s accounts.  Vomiting.

Cat.  A common prostitute.  An old cat; a cross old woman.

Cat-heads.  A Woman’s breasts.  Sea phrase.

To cat, or shoot the cat.  To vomit from drunkenness.

Cat and BAGPIPEAN society.  A society which met at
  their office in the great western road:  in their summons,
  published in the daily papers, it was added, that the kittens
  might come with the old cats without being scratched.

Cat call.  A kind of whistle, chiefly used at theatres, to
  interrupt the actors, and damn a new piece.  It derives
  its name from one of its sounds, which greatly resembles
  the modulation of an intriguing boar cat.

Cat harping fashion.  Drinking cross-ways, and not, as
  usual, over the left thumb.  Sea term.

Cat in pan.  To turn cat in pan, to change sides or
  parties; supposed originally to have been to turn Cate or cake
  in pan.

Cat’s foot.  To live under the cat’s foot; to be under the
  dominion of a wife hen-pecked.  To live like dog and cat;
  spoken of married persons who live unhappily together. 
  As many lives as a cat; cats, according to vulgar
  naturalists, have nine lives, that is one less than a woman. 
  No more chance than a cat in hell without claws; said of
  one who enters into a dispute or quarrel with one greatly
  above his match.

Cat lap.  Tea, called also scandal broth.  See scandal
  broth.

Page 32

Cat match.  When a rook or cully is engaged amongst
  bad bowlers.

Cat of nine tails.  A scourge composed of nine strings
  of whip-cord, each string having nine knots.

Cat’s paw.  To be made a cat’s paw of; to be made a tool
  or instrument to accomplish the purpose of another:  an
  allusion to the story of a monkey, who made use of a cat’s
  paw to scratch a roasted chesnut out of the fire.

Cat’s sleep.  Counterfeit sleep:  cats often counterfeiting
  sleep, to decoy their prey near them, and then suddenly
  spring on them.

Cat sticks.  Thin legs, compared to sticks with which
  boys play at cat.  See TRAPSTICKS.

Cat whipping, or whipping the cat.  A trick often
  practised on ignorant country fellows, vain of their strength,
  by laying a wager with them that they may be pulled
  through a pond by a cat.  The bet being made, a rope is
  fixed round the waist of the party to be catted, and the
  end thrown across the pond, to which the cat is also
  fastened by a packthread, and three or four sturdy fellows
  are appointed to lead and whip the cat; these on a signal
  given, seize the end of the cord, and pretending to whip
  the cat, haul the astonished booby through the water. 
  —­To whip the cat, is also a term among tailors for working
  jobs at private houses, as practised in the country.

Catamaran.  An old scraggy woman; from a kind of float
  made of spars and yards lashed together, for saving
  ship-wrecked persons.

Catch club.  A member of the patch club; a bum bailiff.

Catch fart.  A footboy; so called from such servants
  commonly following close behind their master or mistress.

Catch penny.  Any temporary contrivance to raise a
  contribution on the public.

Catch pole.  A bum bailiff, or sheriff’s officer.

Catching harvest. A dangerous time for a robbery,
  when many persons are on the road, on account of a
  horse-race, fair, or some other public meeting.

Cater cousins.  Good friends.  He and I are not cater
  cousins, i.e. we are not even cousins in the fourth degree,
  or four times removed; that is, we have not the least
  friendly connexion.

Caterpillar.  A nick name for a soldier.  In the year
  1745, a soldier quartered at a house near Derby, was desired
  by his landlord to call upon him, whenever he came
  that way; for, added he, soldiers are the pillars of the
  nation.  The rebellion being finished, it happened the same
  regiment was quartered in Derbyshire, when the soldier
  resolved to accept of his landlord’s

Page 33

invitation, and
  accordingly obtained leave to go to him:  but, on his arrival,
  he was greatly surprised to find a very cold reception;
  whereupon expostulating with his landlord, he reminded him of
  his invitation, and the circumstance of his having said,
  soldiers were the pillars of the nation.  If I did, answered the
  host, I meant CATERpiliars.

CATERWAULING.  Going out in the night in search of
  intrigues, like a cat in the gutters.

Cathedral.  Old-fashioned.  An old cathedral-bedstead,
  chair, &c.

Cattle.  Sad cattle:  whores or gypsies.  Black cattle,
  bugs.  Cant.

CAVAULTING school.  A Bawdy-house.

CAUDGE-pawed. Left-handed.

Cauliflower.  A large white wig, such as is commonly
  worn by the dignified clergy, and was formerly by physicians. 
  Also the private parts of a woman; the reason for
  which appellation is given in the following story:  A
  woman, who was giving evidence in a cause wherein it was
  necessary to express those parts, made use of the term
  cauliflower; for which the judge on the bench, a peevish
  old fellow, reproved her, saying she might as well call it
  artichoke.  Not so, my lord, replied she; for an artichoke
  has a bottom, but a **** and a cauliflower have none.

Cautions.  The four cautions:  I. Beware of a woman
  before.—­II.  Beware of a horse behind.—­III.  Beware of a cart
  side-ways.—­IV.  Beware of a priest every way.

Caw-handed, or caw-pawed. Awkward, not dextrous,
  ready, or nimble.

CAXON.  An old weather-beaten wig.

Cent per cent.  An usurer.

CHAFED. Well beaten; from Chauffe, warmed.

CHALKERS.  Men of wit, in Ireland, who in the night amuse
  themselves with cutting inoffensive passengers across the
  face with a knife.  They are somewhat like those facetious
  gentlemen some time ago known in England by the title
  of Sweaters and Mohocks.

Chalking.  The amusement above described.

Chap.  A fellow; An odd chap; A strange fellow.

Chaperon.  The cicisbeo, or gentleman usher to a lady;
  from the French.

CHAPT.  Dry or thirsty.

Charactered, or lettered. Burnt in the hand.  They
  have palmed the character upon him; they have burned
  him in the hand, cant.—­See lettered.

Charm.  A picklock.  Cant.

Charren.  The smoke of Charren.—­His eyes water from
  the smoke of Charren; a man of that place coming out
  of his house weeping, because his wife had beat him, told
  his neighbours the smoke had made his eyes water.

Chatter box.  One whose tongue runs twelve score to the
  dozen, a chattering man or woman.

Page 34

Chatter broth.  Tea.  See cat lap and scandal broth.

CHATTS.  Lice:  perhaps an abbreviation of chattels, lice
  being the chief live stock of chattels of beggars, gypsies,
  and the rest of the canting crew.  Cant.—­Also, according
  to the canting academy, the gallows.

CHATES.  The gallows.  Cant.

CHAUNTER culls.  Grub-street writers, who compose
  songs, carrols, &c. for ballad-singers.  Cant.

Chaunt.  A song.

To chaunt.  To sing.  To publish an account in the newspapers. 
  The kiddey was chaunted for a toby; his examination
  concerning a highway robbery was published in
  the papers.

Chaw bacon.  A countryman.  A stupid fellow.

Cheapside.  He came at it by way of Cheapside; he gave
  little or nothing for it, he bought it cheap.

Cheats.  Sham sleeves to put over a dirty shift or shirt. 
  See Shams.

Cheek by jowl.  Side by side, hand to fist.

Cheeks.  Ask cheeks near cunnyborough; the repartee of a
  St. Gilse’s fair one, who bids you ask her backside, anglice
  her a-se.  A like answer is current in France:  any one
  asking the road or distance to Macon, a city near Lyons,
  would be answered by a French lady of easy virtue,
  ’Mettez votre nez dans mon cul, & vous serrez dans les
  Fauxbourgs.’

Cheese-toaster.  A sword.

Cheese it; Be silent, be quiet, don’t do it.  Cheese it, the
  coves are fly; be silent, the people understand our discourse.

CHEESER.  A strong smelling fart.

Chelsea.  A village near London, famous for the military
  hospital.  To get Chelsea; to obtain the benefit of that
  hospital.  Dead Chelsea, by G-d! an exclamation uttered by
  a grenadier at Fontenoy, on having his leg carried away by
  a cannon-ball.

Chest of tools.  A shoe-black’s brush and wig, &c.  Irish.

Cherry-coloured cat.  A black cat, there being black
  cherries as well as red.

CHERUBIMS. Peevish children, becausecherubimsand seraphims
  continually do cry.

Cheshire cat.  He grins like a Cheshire cat; said of anyone
  who shews his teeth and gums in laughing.

Chick-A-Biddy.  A chicken, so called to and by little children.

Chicken-breasted. Said of a woman with scarce any breasts.

Chicken butcher.  A poulterer.

Chicken-Hammed. Persons whose legs and thighs are bent
  or archward outwards.

Chicken-hearted. Fearful, cowardly.

Chicken nabob.  One returned from the East Indies with but
  a moderate fortune of fifty or sixty thousand pounds, a
  diminutive nabob:  a term borrowed from the chicken turtle.

Page 35

Child.  To eat a child; to partake of a treat given to the
  parish officers, in part of commutation for a bastard child
  the common price was formerly ten pounds and a greasy
  chiu.  See greasy chin.

Chimney chops.  An abusive appellation for a negro.

Chink.  Money.

Chip.  A child.  A chip of the old block; a child who either
  in person or sentiments resembles its father or mother.

Chip.  A brother chip; a person of the same trade or calling.

Chips, A nick name for a carpenter.

CHIMPING merry.  Exhilarated with liquor.  Chirping glass,
  a cheerful glass, that makes the company chirp like birds
  in spring.

Chit.  An infant or baby.

CHITTERLINS.  The bowels.  There is a rumpus among my
  bowels, i.e.  I have the colic.  The frill of a shirt.

Chitty-faced. Baby-faced; said of one who has a childish
  look.

Chive, or CHIFF.  A knife, file:  or saw.  To chive the
  darbies; to file off the irons or fetters.  To chive the bouhgs
  of the frows; to cut off women’s pockets.

CHIVEY.  I gave him a good chivey; I gave him, a hearty
Scolding.

CHIVING lay.  Cutting the braces of coaches behind, on
  which the coachman quitting the box, an accomplice robs
  the boot; also, formerly, cutting the back of the coach to
  steal the fine large wigs then worn.

Choak.  Choak away, the churchyard’s near; a jocular saying
  to a person taken with a violent fit of coughing, or who
  has swallowed any thing, as it is called the wrong way;
  Choak, chicken, more are hatching:  a like consolation.

Choak pear.  Figuratively, an unanswerable objection:  also
  a machine formerly used in Holland by robbers; it was of
  iron, shaped like a pear; this they forced into the mouths
  of persons from whom they intended to extort money; and
  on turning a key, certain interior springs thrust forth a
  number of points, in all directions, which so enlarged it,
  that it could not be taken out of the mouth:  and the iron,
  being case-hardened, could not be filed:  the only methods
  of getting rid of it, were either by cutting the mouth, or
  advertizing a reward for the key, These pears were also
  called pears of agony.

CHOAKING pye, or cold pye, A punishment inflicted
  on any person sleeping in company:  it consists in wrapping
  up cotton in a case or tube of paper, setting it on
  fire, and directing the smoke up the nostrils of the sleeper. 
  See HOWELL’S COTGRAVE.

Chocolate.  To give chocolate without sugar; to reprove. 
  Military term.

Choice spirit.  A thoughtless, laughing, singing, drunken fellow.

Page 36

Chop.  A blow.  Boxing term.

To chop and change.  To exchange backwards and forwards. 
  To chop, in the canting sense, means making
  dispatch, or hurrying over any business:  ex.  The autem
  bawler will soon quit the hums, for he chops up the WHINERS;
  the parson will soon quit the pulpit, for he hurries over
  the prayers.  See autem bawler, hums, and WHINERS,

Chop churches.  Simoniacal dealers in livings, or other
  ecclesiastical preferments.

Chopping, lusty.  A chopping boy or girl; a lusty
  child.

Chops.  The mouth.  I gave him a wherrit, or a souse,
  across the chops; I gave him a blow over the mouth,
  See wherrit.

Chop-stick.  A fork.

CHOUDER.  A sea-dish, composed of fresh fish, salt pork,
  herbs, and sea-biscuits, laid in different layers, and stewed
  together.

To Chouse.  To cheat or trick:  he choused me out of it. 
  Chouse is also the term for a game like chuck-farthing.

Christ-cross row.  The alphabet in a horn-book:  called
  Christ-cross Row, from having, as an Irishman observed,
  Christ’s cross prefixed before and after the twenty-four
  letters.

Christening.  Erasing the name of the true maker from
  a stolen watch, and engraving a fictitious one in its place.

Christian poney.  A chairman.

Christian.  A tradesman who has faith, i.e. will give credit.

Christmas compliments.  A cough, kibed heels, and a snotty nose.

Chub.  He is a young chub, or a mere chub; i.e. a foolish
  fellow, easily imposed on:  an illusion to a fish of that
  name, easily taken.

Chubby.  Round-faced, plump.

Chuck.  My chuck; a term of endearment.

Chuck farthing.  A parish clerk.

Chuckle-headed. Stupid, thick-headed.

Chuffy.  Round-faced, chubby.

Chum.  A chamber-fellow, particularly at the universities
  and in prison.

CHUMMAGE.  Money paid by the richer sort of prisoners
  in the Fleet and King’s Bench, to the poorer, for their
  share of a room.  When prisons are very full, which is
  too often the case, particularly on the eve of an insolvent
  act, two or three persons are obliged to sleep in a room.  A
  prisoner who can pay for being alone, chuses two poor
  chums, who for a stipulated price, called chummage,
  give up their share of the room, and sleep on the stairs,
  or, as the term is, ruff it.

Chunk.  Among printers, a journeyman who refuses to
  work for legal wages; the same as the flint among taylors. 
  See flint.

Page 37

Church warden.  A Sussex name fora shag, or cormorant, probably
  from its voracity.

Church work.  Said of any work that advances slowly.

Churchyard cough.  A cough that is likely to terminate
  in death.

CHURK.  The udder.

Churl.  Originally, a labourer or husbandman:  figuratively
  a rude, surly, boorish fellow.  To put a churl upon a gentleman;
  to drink malt liquor immediately after having drunk wine.

Cinder garbler.  A servant maid, from her business of
  sifting the ashes from the cinders.  Custom-house wit.

Circumbendibus.  A roundabout way, or story.  He
  took such a circumbendibus; he took such a circuit.

Cit.  A citizen of London.

City college.  Newgate.

Civility money.  A reward claimed by bailiffs for executing
  their office with civility.

Civil reception.  A house of civil reception; a bawdy-house,
  or nanny-house.  See nanny-house.

Clack.  A tongue, chiefly applied to women; a simile drawn
  from the clack of a water-mill.

Clack-Loft.  A pulpit, so called by orator Henley.

CLAMMED. Starved.

Clan.  A family’s tribe or brotherhood; a word much used
  in Scotland.  The head of the clan; the chief:  an allusion
  to a story of a Scotchman, who, when a very large
  louse crept down his arm, put him back again, saying he
  was the head of the clan, and that, if injured, all the rest
  would resent it.

Clank.  A silver tankard.  Cant.

Clank napper.  A silver tankard stealer.  See rum bubber.

CLANKER.  A great lie.

Clap.  A venereal taint.  He went out by Had’em, and came
  round by Clapham home; i.e. he went out a wenching,
  and got a clap.

Clap on the shoulder.  An arrest for debt; whence a
  bum bailiff is called a shoulder-clapper.

Clapper.  The tongue of a bell, and figuratively of a man
  or woman.

Clapper claw.  To scold, to abuse, or claw off with the
  tongue.

CLAPPERDOGEON.  A beggar born.  Cant.

Claret.  French red wine; figuratively, blood.  I tapped
  his claret; I broke his head, and made the blood run. 
  Claret-faced; red-faced.

Clawed off.  Severely beaten or whipped; also smartly
  poxed or clapped.

Clear.  Very drunk.  The cull is clear, let’s bite him; the
  fellow is very drunk, let’s cheat him.  Cant.

Cleaver.  One that will cleave; used of a forward or
  wanton woman.

Clean.  Expert; clever.  Amongst the knuckling coves he
  is reckoned very clean; he is considered very expert as
  a pickpocket.

Page 38

Clerked. Soothed, funned, imposed on.  The cull will
  not be clerked; i.e. the fellow will not be imposed on by
  fair words.

CLEYMES.  Artificial sores, made by beggars to excite
  charity.

Click.  A blow.  A click in the muns; a blow or knock
  in the face.  Cant.

To click.  To snatch.  To click a nab; to snatch a hat. 
  Cant.

Clicker.  A salesman’s servant; also, one who proportions
  out the different shares of the booty among thieves.

CLICKET.  Copulation of foxes; and thence used, in a
  canting sense, for that of men and women:  as, The cull
  and the mort are at clicket in the dyke; the man and
  woman are copulating in the ditch.

Climb.  To climb the three trees with a ladder; to ascend
  the gallows.

Clinch.  A pun or quibble.  To clinch, or to clinch the
  nail; to confirm an improbable story by another:  as, A
  man swore he drove a tenpenny nail through the moon;
  a bystander said it was true, for he was on the other side
  and clinched it.

Clink.  A place in the Borough of Southwark, formerly
  privileged from arrests; and inhabited by lawless vagabonds
  of every denomination, called, from the place of
  their residence, clinkers.  Also a gaol, from the clinking
  of the prisoners’ chains or fetters:  he is gone to clink.

Clinkers.  A kind of small Dutch bricks; also irons worn
  by prisoners; a crafty fellow.

To clip.  To hug or embrace:  to clip and cling.  To clip
  the coin; to diminish the current coin.  To clip the king’s
  English; to be unable to speak plain through drunkenness.

Cloak TWITCHERS.  Rogues who lurk about the entrances
  into dark alleys, and bye-lanes, to snatch cloaks from the
  shoulders of passengers.

Clod hopper.  A country farmer, or ploughman.

Clod pate.  A dull, heavy booby.

Clod pole.  The same.

Close.  As close as God’s curse to a whore’s a-se:  close as
  shirt and shitten a-se.

Close-fisted. Covetous or stingy.

CLOSH.  A general name given by the mobility to Dutch
  seamen, being a corruption of Claus, the abbreviation of
  Nicholas, a name very common among the men of that
  nation.

Cloth market.  He is just come from the cloth market,
  i.e. from between the sheets, he is just risen from bed.

Cloud.  Tobacco.  Under a cloud; in adversity.

Cloven, cleave, or Cleft.  A term used for a woman
  who passes for a maid, but is not one.

Cloven foot.  To spy the cloven foot in any business; to
  discover some roguery or something bad in it:  a saying
  that alludes to a piece of vulgar superstition, which is,
  that, let the Devil transform himself into what shape he
  will, he cannot hide his cloven foot

Page 39

To chuck.  To shew a propensity for a man.  The mors
  chucks; the wench wants to be doing.

Clout.  A blow.  I’ll give you a clout on your jolly nob;
  I’ll give you a blow on your head.  It also means a
  handkerchief.  Cant.  Any pocket handkerchief except
  a silk one.

CLOUTED shoon.  Shoes tipped with iron.

CLOUTING lay.  Picking pockets of handkerchiefs.

Clover.  To be, or live, in clover; to live luxuriously. 
  Clover is the most desirable food for cattle.

Clowes.  Rogues.

Cloy.  To steal.  To cloy the clout; to steal the handkerchief. 
  To cloy the lour; to steal money.  Cant.

Cloves.  Thieves, robbers, &c.

Club.  A meeting or association, where each man is to spend
  an equal and stated sum, called his club.

Club law.  Argumentum bacculinum, in which an oaken
  stick is a better plea than an act of parliament.

Clump.  A lump.  Clumpish; lumpish, stupid.

CLUNCH.  An awkward clownish fellow.

To clutch the fist. To clench or shut the hand.  Clutch
  fisted; covetous, stingy.  See close-fisted.

Clutches.  Hands, gripe, power.

Clutter.  A stir, noise, or racket:  what a confounded
  clutter here is!

Cly.  Money; also a pocket.  He has filed the cly; he
  has picked a pocket.  Cant.

Cly the jerk:  To be whipped.  Cant.

Clyster pipe.  A nick name for an apothecary.

Coach wheel.  A half crown piece is a fore coach wheel,
  and a crown piece a hind coach wheel; the fore wheels of
  a coach being less than the hind ones.

To coax.  To fondle, or wheedle.  To coax a pair of stockings;
  to pull down the part soiled into the shoes, so as to
  give a dirty pair of stockings the appearance of clean ones. 
  Coaxing is also used, instead of darning, to hide the holes
  about the ancles.

Cob.  A Spanish dollar.

Cob, or cobbing.  A punishment used by the seamen for
  petty offences, or irregularities, among themselves:  it
  consists in bastonadoing the offender on the posteriors with
  a cobbing stick, or pipe staff; the number usually inflicted
  is a dozen.  At the first stroke the executioner repeats
  the word watch, on which all persons present are to take
  off their hats, on pain of like punishment:  the last stroke
  is always given as hard as possible, and is called the purse
  Ashore, among soldiers, where this punishment is sometimes
  adopted, watch and the purse are not included in the

Page 40

  number, but given over and above, or, in the vulgar phrase,
  free gratis for nothing.  This piece of discipline is also
  inflicted in Ireland, by the school-boys, on persons coming
  into the school without taking off their hats; it is there
  called school butter.

Cobble.  A kind of boat.

To Cobble.  To mend, or patch; likewise to do a thing in
  a bungling manner.

Cobble Colter.  A turkey.

Cobbler.  A mender of shoes, an improver of the understandings of
  his customers; a translator.

Cobblers punch.  Treacle, vinegar, gin, and water.

Cock, or chief cock of the walk.  The leading man
  in any society or body; the best boxer in a village or
  district.

Cock ale.  A provocative drink.

Cock alley or cock lane.  The private parts of a woman.

Cock and A bull story.  A roundabout story, without
  head or tail, i.e. beginning or ending.

Cock of the company.  A weak man, who from the desire of being the
  head of the company associates with low
  people, and pays all the reckoning.

Cock-A-whoop.  Elevated, in high-spirits, transported with joy.

Cock bawd.  A male keeper of a bawdy-house.

Cock hoist. A cross buttock.

COCKISH.  Wanton, forward.  A cockish wench; a forward
  coming girl.

COCKLES.  To cry cockles; to be hanged:  perhaps from the
  noise made whilst strangling.  Cant.—­This will rejoice
  the cockles of one’s heart; a saying in praise of wine, ale,
  or spirituous liquors.

Cock pimp.  The supposed husband of a bawd.

Cock robin.  A soft, easy fellow.

Cock-sure.  Certain:  a metaphor borrowed front the cock
  of a firelock, as being much more certain to fire than the
  match.

Cock your eye.  Shut one eye:  thus translated into apothecaries
  Latin.—­Gallus tuus ego.

Cocker.  One fond of the diversion of cock-fighting.

Cockney:  A nick name given to the citizens of London,
  or persons born within the sound of Bow bell, derived
  from the following story:  A citizen of London, being in
  the country, and hearing a horse neigh, exclaimed,
  Lord! how that horse laughs!  A by-stander telling him
  that noise was called NEIGHING, the next morning, when
  the cock crowed, the citizen to shew he had not forgot
  what was told him, cried out, Do you hear how the cock
  NEIGHS?  The king of the cockneys is mentioned among
  the regulations for the sports and shows

Page 41

formerly held in
  the Middle Temple on Childermas Day, where he had
  his officers, a marshal, constable, butler, &c.  See DUGDALE’S
  ORIGINES JURIDICIALES, p. 247.—­Ray says, the interpretation of
  the word Cockney, is, a young person coaxed or conquered, made
  wanton; or a nestle cock, delicately bred and brought up, so
  as, when arrived a man’s estate, to be unable to bear the least
  hardship.  Whatever may be the origin of this appellation, we
  learn from the following verses, attributed to Hugh Bigot, Earl
  of Norfolk, that it was in use. in the time of king Henry ii.

  Was I in my castle at Bungay,
  Fast by the river Waveney,
  I would not care for the king of Cockney;

  i.e. the king of London.

COCKSHUT time.  The evening, when fowls go to roost.

Cod.  A cod of money:  a good sum of money.

CODDERS.  Persons employed by the gardeners to gather
  peas.

Codger.  An old codger:  an old fellow.

Cod piece.  The fore flap of a man’s breeches.  Do they
  bite, master? where, in the cod piece or collar?—­a jocular
  attack on a patient angler by watermen, &c.

Cods.  The scrotum.  Also a nick name for a curate:  a rude
  fellow meeting a curate, mistook him for the rector, and
  accosted him with the vulgar appellation of Bol—­ks the
  rector, No, Sir, answered he; only Cods the curate, at
  your service.

COD’S head.  A stupid fellow.

Coffee house.  A necessary house.  To make a coffee-house
  of a woman’s ****; to go in and out and spend
  nothing.

Cog.  The money, or whatsoever the sweeteners drop to
  draw in a bubble.

Cog.  A tooth.  A queer cog; a rotten tooth.  How the
  cull flashes his queer cogs; how the fool shews his rotten
  teeth.

To cog.  To cheat with dice; also to coax or wheedle, To
  cog a die; to conceal or secure a die.  To cog a dinner;
  to wheedle one out of a dinner.

COGUE.  A dram of any spirituous liquor.

Coker.  A lie.

Cokes.  The fool in the play of Bartholomew Fair:  perhaps
  a contraction of the word coxcomb.

Colcannon.  Potatoes and cabbage pounded together in a
  mortar, and then stewed with butter:  an Irish dish.

Cold.  You will catch cold at that; a vulgar threat or
  advice to desist from an attempt.  He caught cold by
  lying in bed barefoot; a saying of any one extremely tender
  or careful of himself.

Page 42

Cold burning.  A punishment inflicted by private soldiers
  on their comrades for trifling offences, or breach of their
  mess laws; it is administered in the following manner: 
  The prisoner is set against the wall, with the arm which is
  to be burned tied as high above his head as possible.  The
  executioner then ascends a stool, and having a bottle of
  cold water, pours it slowly down the sleeve of the delinquent,
  patting him, and leading the water gently down his
  body, till it runs out at his breeches knees:  this is repeated
  to the other arm, if he is sentenced to be burned in both.

Cold cook.  An undertaker of funerals, or carrion hunter. 
  See carrion hunter.

Cold iron.  A sword, or any other weapon for cutting or
  stabbing.  I gave him two inches of cold iron into his beef.

Cold meat.  A dead wife is the beat cold meat in a man’s
  house.

Cold pig.  To give cold pig is a punishment inflicted on
  sluggards who lie too long in bed:  it consists in pulling off
  all the bed clothes from them, and throwing cold water
  upon them.

Cold pudding.  This is said to settle one’s love.

Cole.  Money.  Post the cole:  pay down the money.

COLIANDER, or coriander Seeds.  Money.

Collar day.  Execution day.

College.  Newgate or any other prison.  New College: 
  the Royal Exchange.  King’s College:  the King’s Bench
  prison.  He has been educated at the steel, and took his
  last degree at college; he has received his education at
  the house of correction, and was hanged at Newgate.

College cove.  The College cove has numbered him, and if he
  is knocked down he’ll be twisted; the turnkey of Newgate
  has told the judge how many times the prisoner has been
  tried before and therefore if he is found guilty, he certainly
  will be hanged.  It is said to be the custom of the Old Bailey
  for one of the turnkeys of Newgate to give information to
  the judge how many times an old offender has been tried,
  by holding up as many fingers as the number of times the
  prisoner has been before arraigned at that bar.

COLLEGIATES.  Prisoners of the one, and shopkeepers of
  the other of those places.

Collector.  A highwayman.

To collogue.  To wheedle or coax.

Cook ruffian, who roasted the devil in his feathers.  A
  bad cook.

Cool Crape.  A shroud.

Cooler.  A woman.

Cooler.  The backside.  Kiss my cooler.  Kiss my a-se. 
  It is principally used to signify a woman’s posteriors.

Cool lady.  A female follower of the camp, who sells
  brandy.

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Cool NANTS.  Brandy.

Cool tankard.  Wine and water, with lemon, sugar, and
  burrage.

COLQUARRON.  A man’s neck.  His colquarron is just about
  to be twisted; he is just going to be hanged.  Cant.

Colt.  One who lets horses to highwaymen; also a boy newly
  initiated into roguery; a grand or petty juryman on his
  first assize.  Cant.

COLTAGE.  A fine or beverage paid by colts on their first
  entering into their offices.

Colt bowl.  Laid short of the jack by a colt bowler, i.e.
  a person raw or unexperienced in the art of bowling.

Colt’s tooth.  An old fellow who marries or keeps a young
  girl, is said to have a colt’s tooth in his head.

Colt veal.  Coarse red veal, more like the flesh of a colt
  than that of a calf.

Comb.  To comb one’s head; to clapperclaw, or scold any
  one:  a woman who lectures her husband, is said to comb
  his head.  She combed his head with a joint stool; she
  threw a stool at him.

Come.  To come; to lend.  Has he come it; has he lent it? 
  To come over any one; to cheat or over reach him. 
  Coming wench; a forward wench, also a breeding woman.

ComingSo is christmas.  Said of a person who has long
  been called, and at length answers, Coming!

Comfortable importance.  A wife.

Commission.  A shirt.  Cant.

Commode.  A woman’s head dress.

Commodity.  A woman’s commodity; the private parts of
  a modest woman, and the public parts of a prostitute.

Commons. The house of commons; the necessary house.

Company.  To see company; to enter into a course of prostitution.

Compliment.  See christmas.

COMUS’S court.  A social meeting formerly held at the
  Half Moon tavern Cheapside.

Confect.  Counterfeited.

Conger.  To conger; the agreement of a set or knot of
  booksellers of London, that whosoever of them shall buy
  a good copy, the rest shall take off such a particular number,
  in quires, at a stated price; also booksellers joining to
  buy either a considerable or dangerous copy.

Congo.  Will you lap your congo with me? will you drink
  tea with me?

CONNY wabble.  Eggs and brandy beat up together.  Irish.

Conscience keeper.  A superior, who by his influence
  makes his dependants act as he pleases.

Content.  The cull’s content; the man is past complaining: 
  a saying of a person murdered for resisting the robbers.  Cant.

Content.  A thick liquor, in imitation of chocolate, made
  of milk and gingerbread.

Page 44

Contra dance.  A dance where the dancers of the different
  sexes stand opposite each other, instead of side by side, as
  in the minuet, rigadoon, louvre, &c. and now corruptly called a
  country dance.

Conundrums. Enigmatical conceits.

Convenient.  A mistress.  Cant.

Conveniency.  A necessary.  A leathern conveniency, a coach.

Cooped up.  Imprisoned, confined like a fowl in a coop.

Coquet.  A jilt.

Corinth.  A bawdy-house.  Cant.

Corinthians:  Frequenters of brothels.  Also an impudent,
  brazen-faced fellow, perhaps from the Corinthian
  brass.

Cork-brained. Light-headed, foolish.

Corned. Drunk.

Cornish hug.  A particular lock in wrestling, peculiar to
  the people of that county.

Corny-faced. A very red pimpled face.

Corporal.  To mount a corporal and four; to be guilty
  of onanism:  the thumb is the corporal, the four fingers
  the privates.

Corporation.  A large belly.  He has a glorious corporation;
  he has a very prominent belly.

Corporation.  The magistrates, &c. of a corporate
  town.  Corpus sine ratione.  Freemen of a corporation’s
  work; neither strong nor handsome.

Cosset.  A foundling.  Cosset colt or lamb; a colt or
  lamb brought up by hand.

Costard.  The head.  I’ll smite your costard; I’ll give
  you a knock on the head.

Costard monger.  A dealer in fruit, particularly apples.

Cot, or quot.  A man who meddles with women’s household
  business, particularly in the kitchen.  The punishment
  commonly inflicted on a quot, is pinning a greasy
  dishclout to the skirts of his coat.

Cove.  A man, a fellow, a rogue.  The cove was bit; the
  rogue was outwitted.  The cove has bit the cole; the
  rogue has got the money.  Cant.

Covent, or Convent garden, vulgarly called common
  garden.  Anciently, the garden belonging to a
  dissolved monastery; now famous for being the chief
  market in London for fruit, flowers, and herbs.  The
  theatres are situated near it.  In its environs are
  many brothels, and not long ago, the lodgings of the
  second order of ladies of easy virtue were either there, or
  in the purlieus of Drury Lane.

Covent garden abbess.  A bawd.

Covent garden ague.  The venereal disease.  He broke
  his shins against Covent Garden rails; he caught the
  venereal disorder.

Covent garden nun.  A prostitute.

Page 45

Coventry.  To send one to Coventry; a punishment inflicted
  by officers of the army on such of their brethren
  as are testy, or have been guilty of improper behaviour,
  not worthy the cognizance of a court martial.  The person
  sent to Coventry is considered as absent; no one must
  speak to or answer any question he asks, except relative
  to duty, under penalty of being also sent to the same place. 
  On a proper submission, the penitent is recalled, and
  welcomed by the mess, as just returned from a journey to
  Coventry.

Covey.  A collection of whores.  What a fine covey here
  is, if the Devil would but throw his net!

To couch A hogshead.  To lie down to sleep.  Cant.

Counterfeit Crank.  A general cheat, assuming all sorts
  of characters; one conterfeiting the falling sickness.

Country Harry.  A waggoner.  Cant.

Country put.  An ignorant country fellow.

County work.  Said of any work that advances slowly.

Court card.  A gay fluttering coxcomb.

Court holy water, court promises.  Fair speeches and promises,
  without performance.

Court of assistants.  A court often applied to by young
  women who marry old men.

Cow.  To sleep like a cow, with a **** at one’s a-se; said
  of a married man; married men being supposed to sleep
  with their backs towards their wives, according to the
  following proclamation: 

      All you that in your beds do lie,
      Turn to your wives, and occupy: 
      And when that you have done your best,
      Turn a-se to a-se, and take your rest.

Cow juice.  Milk.

COW’S baby.  A calf.

COW’S COURANT.  Gallop and sh—–­e.

Cow-handed. Awkward.

Cow-hearted. Fearful.

Cow itch.  The product of a sort of bean, which excites an
  insufferable itching, used chiefly for playing tricks.

COW’S spouse.  A bull.

COW’S thumb.  Done to a cow’s thumb; done exactly.

Coxcomb.  Anciently, a fool.  Fools, in great families,
  wore a cap with bells, on the top of which was a piece of
  red cloth, in the shape of a cock’s comb.  At present,
  coxcomb signifies a fop, or vain self-conceited fellow.

Crab.  To catch a crab; to fall backwards by missing one’s
  stroke in rowing.

Crab lanthorn.  A peevish fellow.

Crab louse.  A species of louse peculiar to the human body;
  the male is denominated a cock, the female a hen.

Crab shells.  Shoes.  Irish.

Page 46

Crabs.  A losing throw to the main at hazard.

Crabbed. Sour, ill-tempered, difficult.

Crack.  A whore.

To crack.  To boast or brag; also to break.  I cracked his
  napper; I broke his head.

The crack, or all the crack.  The fashionable theme,
  the go.  The Crack Lay, of late is used, in the cant
  language, to signify the art and mystery of house-breaking.

Cracker.  Crust, sea biscuit, or ammunition loaf; also the
  backside.  Farting crackers; breeches.

CRACKISH.  Whorish.

Cracking tools.  Implements of house-breaking, such as
  a crow, a center bit, false keys, &c.

CRACKMANS.  Hedges.  The cull thought to have loped by
  breaking through the crackmans, but we fetched him back
  by a nope on the costard, which stopped his jaw; the man
  thought to have escaped by breaking through the hedge,
  but we brought him back by a great blow on the head,
  which laid him speechless.

Cracksman.  A house-breaker.  The kiddy is a clever
  cracksman; the young fellow is a very expert house-breaker.

Crag.  The neck.

Cramp rings.  Bolts, shackles, or fetters.  Cant.

Cramp words.  Sentence of death passed on a criminal by
  a judge.  He has just undergone the cramp word; sentence
  has just been passed on him.  Cant.

Crank.  Gin and water; also, brisk, pert.

Crank.  The falling sickness.  Cant.

To crash.  To kill.  Crash that cull; kill that fellow.  Cant.

Crashing cheats.  Teeth.

Craw THUMPERS.  Roman catholics, so called from their
  beating their breasts in the confession of their sins.  See
  brisket beater, and breast fleet.

Cream-pot love.  Such as young fellows pretend to
  dairymaids, to get cream and other good things from them.

To CREEME.  To slip or slide any thing into the hands of
  another.  Cant.

Creepers.  Gentlemen’s companions, lice.

Crew.  A knot or gang; also a boat or ship’s company.  The
  canting crew are thus divided into twenty-three orders,
  which see under the different words: 

  Men.

1 Rufflers 2 Upright Men 3 Hookers or Anglers 4 Rogues 5 Wild Rogues 6 Priggers of Prancers 7 Palliardes 8 Fraters 9 Jarkmen, or Patricoes 10 Fresh Water Mariners, or Whip Jackets 11 Drummerers 12 Drunken Tinkers 13 Swadders, or Pedlars 14 Abrams.

  Women.

1 Demanders for Glimmer or Fire 2 Bawdy Baskets 3 Morts 4 Autem Morts 5 Walking Morts 6 Doxies 7 Delles 8 Kinching Morts 9 Kinching Coes

Crib.  A house.  To crack a crib:  to break open a house.

Page 47

To crib.  To purloin, or appropriate to one’s own use,
  part of any thing intrusted to one’s care.

To fight A crib.  To make a sham fight.  Bear garden
  term.

Cribbage-faced. Marked with the small pox, the pits
  bearing a kind of resemblance to the holes in a
  cribbage-board.

CRIBBEYS, or CRIBBY islands.  Blind alleys, courts, or
  bye-ways; perhaps from the houses built there being cribbed
  out of the common way or passage; and islands, from
  the similarity of sound to the Caribbee Islands.

CrimConMoney.  Damages directed by a jury to be
  paid by a convicted adulterer to the injured husband, for
  criminal conversation with his wife.

Crimp.  A broker or factor, as a coal crimp, who disposes
  of the cargoes of the Newcastle coal ships; also persons
  employed to trapan or kidnap recruits for the East Indian
  and African companies.  To crimp, or play crimp; to
  play foul or booty:  also a cruel manner of cutting up fish
  alive, practised by the London fishmongers, in order to
  make it eat firm; cod, and other crimped fish, being a
  favourite dish among voluptuaries and epicures.

CRINKUM CRANKUM.  A woman’s commodity.  See spectator.

CRINKUMS. The foul or venereal disease.

Cripple.  Sixpence; that piece being commonly much bent
  and distorted.

Crispin.  A shoemaker:  from a romance, wherein a prince
  of that name is said to have exercised the art and mystery
  of a shoemaker, thence called the gentle craft:  or rather
  from the saints Crispinus and Crispianus, who according
  to the legend, were brethren born at Rome, from whence
  they travelled to Soissons in France, about the year 303,
  to propagate the Christian religion; but, because they
  would not be chargeable to others for their maintenance,
  they exercised the trade of shoemakers:  the governor of
  the town discovering them to be Christians, ordered them
  to be beheaded, about the year 303; from which time they
  have been the tutelar saints of the shoemakers.

Crispin’s holiday.  Every Monday throughout the year,
  but most particularly the 25th of October, being the
  anniversary of Crispinus and Crispianus.

Crispin’s lance.  An awl.

Croaker.  One who is always foretelling some accident
  or misfortune:  an allusion to the croaking of a raven,
  supposed ominous.

CROAKUMSHIRE.  Northumberland, from the particular
  croaking the pronunciation of the people of that
  county, especially about Newcastle and Morpeth, where
  they are said to be born with a burr in their throats, which
  prevents their pronouncing the letter r.

Page 48

Croakers.  Forestallers, called also Kidders and Tranters.

CROCODILE’S tears.  The tears of a hypocrite.  Crocodiles
  are fabulously reported to shed tears over their prey before
  they devour it.

Crocus, or Crocus METALLORUM.  A nick name for a
  surgeon of the army and navy.

Croker.  A groat, or four pence.

Crone.  An old ewe whose teeth are worn out; figuratively,
  a toothless old beldam.

Crony.  An intimate companion, a comrade; also a confederate
  in a robbery.

Crook.  Sixpence.

Crook back.  Sixpence; for the reason of this name, see
  cripple.

Crook your elbow.  To crook one’s elbow, and wish it
  may never come straight, if the fact then affirmed is not
  true—­according to the casuists of Bow-street and St.
  Giles’s, adds great weight and efficacy to an oath.

Crook shanks.  A nickname for a man with bandy legs. 
  He buys his boots in Crooked Lane, and his stockings
  in Bandy-legged Walk; his legs grew in the night, therefore
  could not see to grow straight; jeering sayings of men
  with crooked legs.

Crop.  A nick name for a presbyterian:  from their cropping
  their hair, which they trimmed close to a bowl-dish,
  placed as a guide on their heads; whence they were likewise
  called roundheads.  See roundheads.

Crop.  To be knocked down for a crop; to be condemned
  to be hanged.  Cropped, hanged.

Cropping drums. Drummers of the foot guards, or Chelsea
  hospital, who find out weddings, and beat a point of
  war to serenade the new married couple, and thereby
  obtain money.

Croppen.  The tail.  The croppen of the rotan; the tail
  of the cart.  Croppen ken:  the necessary-house.  Cant.

CROPSICK.  Sickness in the stomach, arising from drunkenness.

Cross.  To come home by weeping cross; to repent at the
  conclusion.

Cross dishonest. A cross cove; any person who lives by
  stealing or in a dishonest manner.

Cross bite.  One who combines with a sharper to draw in
  a friend; also, to counteract or disappoint.  Cant.—­This
  is peculiarly used to signify entrapping a man so as to obtain
  CrimCom. money, in which the wife, real or supposed,
  conspires with the husband.

Cross buttock.  A particular lock or fall in the Broughtonian
  art, which, as Mr. Fielding observes, conveyed more
  pleasant sensations to the spectators than the patient.

Cross patch.  A peevish boy or girl, or rather an unsocial
  ill-tempered man or woman.

Page 49

To crow.  To brag, boast, or triumph.  To crow over any
  one; to keep him in subjection:  an image drawn from a
  cock, who crows over a vanquished enemy.  To pluck a
  crow; to reprove any one for a fault committed, to settle a
  dispute.  To strut like a crow in a gutter; to walk proudly,
  or with an air of consequence.

Crowd.  A fiddle:  probably from CROOTH, the Welch name
  for that instrument.

CROWDERO.  A fiddler.

CROWDY.  Oatmeal and water, or milk; a mess much eaten
  in the north.

Crow fair.  A visitation of the clergy.  See review of
  the black CUIRASSIERS.

Crown office.  The head.  I fired into her keel upwards;
  my eyes and limbs Jack, the crown office was full; I s—­k-d
  a woman with her a-e upwards, she was so drunk, that her
  head lay on the ground.

Cruisers.  Beggars, or highway spies, who traverse the
  road, to give intelligence of a booty; also rogues ready to
  snap up any booty that may offer, like privateers or pirates
  on a cruise.

Crummy.  Fat, fleshy.  A fine crummy dame; a fat woman. 
  He has picked up his crumbs finely of late; he has
  grown very fat, or rich, of late.

Crump.  One who helps solicitors to affidavit men, or false
  witnesses.—­’I wish you had, Mrs. Crump;’ a Gloucestershire
  saying, in answer to a wish for any thing; implying,
  you must not expect any assistance from the speaker.  It
  is said to have originated from the following incident: 
  One Mrs. Crump, the wife of a substantial farmer, dining
  with the old Lady Coventry, who was extremely deaf, said
  to one of the footmen, waiting at table, ’I wish I had a
  draught of small beer,’ her modesty not permitting her to
  desire so fine a gentleman to bring it:  the fellow, conscious
  that his mistress could not hear either the request or
  answer, replied, without moving, ’I wish you had, Mrs.
  Crump.’  These wishes being again repeated by both parties,
  Mrs. Crump got up from the table to fetch it herself;
  and being asked by my lady where she was going, related
  what had passed.  The story being told abroad, the expression
  became proverbial.

Crump-backed. Hump-backed.

Crusty beau.  One that uses paint and cosmetics, to obtain
  a fine complexion.

Crusty fellow.  A surly fellow.

Cub.  An unlicked cub; an unformed, ill-educated young
  man, a young nobleman or gentleman on his travels:  an
  allusion to the story of the bear, said to bring its cub into
  form by licking.  Also, a new gamester.

Page 50

Cuckold.  The husband of an incontinent wife:  cuckolds,
  however, are Christians, as we learn by the following story: 
  An old woman hearing a man call his dog Cuckold, reproved
  him sharply, saying, ’Sirrah, are not you ashamed
  to call a dog by a Christian’s name ?’ To cuckold the
  parson; to bed with one’s wife before she has been churched.

Cucumbers.  Taylors, who are jocularly said to subsist,
  during the summer, chiefly on cucumbers.

Cuff.  An old cuff; an old man.  To cuff Jonas; said of one
  who is knock-kneed, or who beats his sides to keep himself
  warm in frosty weather; called also Beating the
  booby.

Cuffin.  A man.

Cull.  A man, honest or otherwise.  A bob cull; a good-
  natured, quiet fellow.  Cant.

CULLABILITY.  A disposition liable to be cheated, an
  unsuspecting nature, open to imposition.

Cully.  A fog or fool:  also, a dupe to women:  from the
  Italian word coglione, a blockhead.

Culp.  A kick or blow:  from the words mea culpa, being
  that part of the popish liturgy at which the people beat their
  breasts; or, as the vulgar term is, thump their craws.

Cundum.  The dried gut of a sheep, worn by men in the
  act of coition, to prevent venereal infection; said to have
  been invented by one colonel Cundum.  These machines
  were long prepared and sold by a matron of the name of
  Philips, at the Green Canister, in Half-moon-street, in the
  Strand.  That good lady having acquired a fortune, retired
  from business; but learning that the town was not well
  served by her successors, she, out of a patriotic zeal for the
  public welfare, returned to her occupation; of which she
  gave notice by divers hand-bills, in circulation in the year
  1776.  Also a false scabbard over a sword, and the oil-skin
  case for holding the colours of a regiment.

Cunningham.  A punning appellation for a simple fellow.

Cunning man.  A cheat, who pretends by his skill in
  astrology to assist persons in recovering stolen goods:  and
  also to tell them their fortunes, and when, how often,
  and to whom they shall be married; likewise answers all
  lawful questions, both by sea and land.  This profession
  is frequently occupied by ladies.

Cunning shaver.  A sharp fellow, one that trims close,
  i.e. cheats ingeniously.

Cunny-thumbed. To double one’s fist with the thumb inwards,
  like a woman.

C**T.  The chonnos of the Greek, and the cunnus of the Latin
  dictionaries; a nasty name for a nasty thing:  un con Miege.

Cup of the creature.  A cup of good liquor.

Cup-shot.  Drunk.

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Cupboard love.  Pretended love to the cook, or any other
  person, for the sake of a meal.  My guts cry cupboard;
  i.e.  I am hungry

Cupid, blind Cupid.  A jeering name for an ugly blind
  man:  Cupid, the god of love, being frequently painted
  blind.  See blind Cupid.

Cur.  A cut or curtailed dog.  According to the forest laws,
  a man who had no right to the privilege of the chase, was
  obliged to cut or law his dog:  among other modes of
  disabling him from disturbing the game, one was by depriving
  him of his tail:  a dog so cut was called a cut or
  curtailed dog, and by contraction a cur.  A cur is figuratively
  used to signify a surly fellow.

Curbing law.  The act of hooking goods out of windows: 
  the curber is the thief, the curb the hook.  Cant.

Cure A-se.  A dyachilon plaister, applied to the parts galled
  by riding.

Curle.  Clippings of money, which curls up in the operation.  Cant.

Curmudgeon.  A covetous old fellow, derived, according
  to some, from the French term coeur mechant.

Curry.  To curry favour; to obtain the favour of a person
  be coaxing or servility.  To curry any one’s hide; to beat
  him.

Curse of Scotland.  The nine of diamonds; diamonds, it
  is said, imply royalty, being ornaments to the imperial
  crown; and every ninth king of Scotland has been observed
  for many ages, to be a tyrant and a curse to that country. 
  Others say it is from its similarity to the arms of Argyle;
  the Duke of Argyle having been very instrumental in
  bringing about the union, which, by some Scotch patriots,
  has been considered as detrimental to their country.

Curse of god.  A cockade.

CURSITORS.  Broken petty-fogging attornies, or Newgate
  solicitors.  Cant.

Curtails.  Thieves who cut off pieces of stuff hanging out
  of shop windows, the tails of women’s gowns, &c.; also,
  thieves wearing short jackets.

Curtain lecture.  A woman who scolds her husband
  when in bed, is said to read him a curtain lecture.

CURTEZAN.  A prostitute.

Cushion.  He has deserved the cushion; a saying of one
  whose wife is brought to bed of a boy:  implying, that
  having done his business effectually, he may now indulge or
  repose himself.

Cushion thumper, or Duster.  A parson; many of whom
  in the fury of their eloquence, heartily belabour their cushions.

Custard cap.  The cap worn by the sword-bearer of the
  city of London, made hollow at the top like a custard.

Custom-house goods.  The stock in trade of a prostitute,
  because fairly entered.

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Cut.  Drunk.  A little cut over the head; slightly
  intoxicated.  To cut; to leave a person or company.  To cut
  up well; to die rich.

To cut. (Cambridge.) To renounce acquaintance with any
  one is to cut him.  There are several species of the cut
  Such as the cut direct, the cut indirect, the cut sublime,
  the cut infernal, &c.  The cut direct, is to start across the
  street, at the approach of the obnoxious person in order to
  avoid him.  The cut indirect, is to look another way, and
  pass without appearing to observe him.  The cut sublime,
  is to admire the top of King’s College Chapel, or the beauty
  of the passing clouds, till he is out of sight.  The cut
  infernal, is to analyze the arrangement of your shoe-strings,
  for the same purpose.

To cut bene.  To speak gently.  To cut bene whiddes;
  to give good words.  To cut queer whiddes; to give foul
  language.  To cut a bosh, or a flash; to make a figure. 
  Cant.

To cutty-eye.  To look out of the corners of one’s eyes,
  to leer, to look askance.  The cull cutty-eyed at us; the
  fellow looked suspicious at us.

Dab.  An adept; a dab at any feat or exercise.  Dab,
  quoth Dawkins, when he hit his wife on the a-se with a
  pound of butter.

Dace.  Two pence.  Tip me a dace; lend me two pence. 
  Cant.

DADDLES.  Hands.  Tip us your daddle; give me your hand. 
  Cant.

Daddy.  Father.  Old daddy; a familiar address to an old
  man.  To beat daddy mammy; the first rudiments of
  drum beating, being the elements of the roll.

Daggers.  They are at daggers drawing; i.e. at enmity,
  ready to fight.

Dairy.  A woman’s breasts, particularly one that gives
  suck.  She sported her dairy; she pulled out her breast.

Daisy Cutter.  A jockey term for a horse that does not
  lift up his legs sufficiently, or goes too near the ground,
  and is therefore apt to stumble.

Daisy kickers.  Ostlers at great inns.

Dam.  A small Indian coin, mentioned in the Gentoo code
  of laws:  hence etymologists may, if they please, derive
  the common expression, I do not care a dam, i.e.  I do
  not care half a farthing for it.

DAMBER.  A rascal.  See dimber.

Damme boy.  A roaring, mad, blustering fellow, a scourer
  of the streets, or kicker up of a breeze.

Damned soul.  A clerk in a counting house, whose sole
  business it is to clear or swear off merchandise at the
  custom-house; and who, it is said, guards against the crime
  of perjury, by taking a previous oath, never to swear truly
  on those occasions.

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Damper.  A luncheon, or snap before dinner:  so called
  from its damping, or allaying, the appetite; eating and
  drinking, being, as the proverb wisely observes, apt to take
  away the appetite.

Dance upon nothing.  To be hanged.

Dancers.  Stairs.

Dandy.  That’s the dandy; i.e. the ton, the clever thing;
  an expression of similar import to “That’s the barber.” 
  See barber.

Dandy grey russet.  A dirty brown.  His coat’s dandy
  grey russet, the colour of the Devil’s nutting bag.

Dandy Prat.  An insignificant or trifling fellow.

To dangle.  To follow a woman without asking the question. 
  Also, to be hanged:  I shall see you dangle in the
  sheriff’s picture frame; I shall see you hanging on the
  gallows.

Dangler.  One who follows women in general, without
  any particular attachment

Dapper fellow.  A smart, well-made, little man.

Darbies.  Fetters.  Cant.

Darby.  Ready money.  Cant.

Dark cully.  A married man that keeps a mistress, whom
  he visits only at night, for fear of discovery.

DARKEE.  A dark lanthorn used by housebreakers.  Stow
  the darkee, and bolt, the cove of the crib is fly; hide the
  dark lanthorn, and run away, the master of the house
  knows that we are here.

DARKMANS.  The night.  Cant.

DARKMAN’S budge.  One that slides into a house in the
  dark of the evening, and hides himself, in order to let some
  of the gang in at night to rob it.

Dart.  A straight-armed blow in boxing.

Dash.  A tavern drawer.  To cut a dash:  to make a figure.

David Jones.  The devil, the spirit of the sea:  called
  Necken in the north countries, such as Norway, Denmark,
  and Sweden.

David JONES’S Locker.  The sea.

David’s sow.  As drunk as David’s sow; a common
  saying, which took its rise from the following circumstance: 
  One David Lloyd, a Welchman, who kept an alehouse at
  Hereford, had a living sow with six legs, which was greatly
  resorted to by the curious; he had also a wife much
  addicted to drunkenness, for which he used sometimes
  to give her due correction.  One day David’s wife having
  taken a cup too much, and being fearful of the
  consequences, turned out the sow, and lay down to sleep herself
  sober in the stye.  A company coming in to see the sow,
  David ushered them into the stye, exclaiming, there is a
  sow for you! did any of you ever see such another? all
  the while supposing the sow had really been there; to
  which some of the company, seeing the state the woman
  was in, replied, it was the drunkenest sow they had ever
  beheld; whence the woman was ever after called David’s
  sow.

Page 54

Davy.  I’ll take my davy of it; vulgar abbreviation of affidavit.

To dawb.  To bribe.  The cull was scragged because he
  could not dawb; the rogue was hanged because he could
  not bribe.  All bedawbed with lace; all over lace.

Day lights.  Eyes.  To darken his day lights, or sow up
  his sees; to close up a man’s eyes in boxing.

Dead Cargo.  A term used by thieves, when they are
  disappointed in the value of their booty.

Dead horse.  To work for the dead horse; to work for
  wages already paid.

Dead-louse.  Vulgar pronunciation of the Dedalus ship of
  war.

Dead men.  A cant word among journeymen bakers, for
  loaves falsely charged to their masters’ customers; also
  empty bottles.

Deadly NEVERGREEN, that bears fruit all the year round. 
  The gallows, or three-legged mare.  See three-LEGGEB
  mare.

Dear joys.  Irishmen:  from their frequently making use
  of that expression.

Death hunter.  An undertaker, one who furnishes the
  necessary articles for funerals.  See carrion hunter.

DEATH’S head upon A mop-stick.  A poor miserable,
  emaciated fellow; one quite an otomy.  See otomy.—­
  He looked as pleasant as the pains of death.

Deep-one.  A thorough-paced rogue, a sly designing
  fellow:  in opposition to a shallow or foolish one.

Deft fellow.  A neat little man.

Degen, or Dagen.  A sword.  Nim the degen; steal the
  sword.  Dagen is Dutch for a sword.  Cant.

Dells.  Young buxom wenches, ripe and prone to venery,
  but who have not lost their virginity, which the upright
  man claims by virtue of his prerogative; after which they
  become free for any of the fraternity.  Also a common
  strumpet.  Cant.

Demure.  As demure as an old whore at a christening.

Demy-rep.  An abbreviation of demy-reputation; a woman
  of doubtful character.

Derby.  To come down with the derbies; to pay the money.

Derrick.  The name of the finisher of the law, or hangman
  about the year 1608.—­’For he rides his circuit with
  the Devil, and Derrick must be his host, and Tiburne
  the inne at which he will lighte.’  Vide Bellman of
  London, in art.  PRIGGIN law.—­’At the gallows,
  where I leave them, as to the haven at which they must
  all cast anchor, if Derrick’s cables do but hold.’  Ibid.

Page 55

Devil.  A printer’s errand-boy.  Also a small thread in
  the king’s ropes and cables, whereby they may be
  distinguished from all others.  The Devil himself; a small
  streak of blue thread in the king’s sails.  The Devil may
  dance in his pocket; i.e. he has no money:  the cross on
  our ancient coins being jocularly supposed to prevent him
  from visiting that place, for fear, as it is said, of breaking
  his shins against it.  To hold a candle to the Devil; to
  be civil to any one out of fear:  in allusion to the story of
  the old woman, who set a wax taper before the image of
  St. Michael, and another before the Devil, whom that
  saint is commonly represented as trampling under his feet: 
  being reproved for paying such honour to Satan, she answered,
  as it was uncertain which place she should go
  to, heaven or hell, she chose to secure a friend in both
  places.  That will be when the Devil is blind, and he has
  not got sore eyes yet; said of any thing unlikely to happen. 
  It rains whilst the sun shines, the Devil is beating
  his wife with a shoulder of mutton:  this phenomenon is
  also said to denote that cuckolds are going to heaven; on
  being informed of this, a loving wife cried out with great
  vehemence, ‘Run, husband, run!’

  The Devil was sick, the Devil a monk would be;
  The Devil was well, the Devil a monk was he.

a proverb signifying that we are apt to forget promises made in time of distress.  To pull the Devil by the tail, to be reduced to one’s shifts.  The Devil go with you and sixpence, and then you will have both money and company.

Devil.  The gizzard of a turkey or fowl, scored, peppered,
  salted and broiled:  it derives its appellation from being hot
  in the mouth.

Devil’s books.  Cards.

Devil catcher, or devil driver.  A parson.  See
  snub devil.

Devil’s daughter.  It is said of one who has a termagant
  for his wife, that he has married the Devil’s daughter, and
  lives with the old folks.

Devil’s daughter’s portion

  Deal, Dover, and Harwich,
  The Devil gave with his daughter in marriage;
  And, by a codicil to his will,
  He added Helvoet and the Brill;

  a saying occasioned by the shameful impositions practised
  by the inhabitants of those places, on sailors and travellers.

Devil drawer.  A miserable painter.

Devil’s dung.  Assafoetida.

Devil’s guts.  A surveyor’s chain:  so called by farmers,
  who do not like their land should be measured by their
  landlords.

Devilish.  Very:  an epithet which in the English vulgar
  language is made to agree with every quality or thing;
  as, devilish bad, devilish good; devilish sick, devilish well;
  devilish sweet, devilish sour; devilish hot, devilish cold,
  &c. &c.

Page 56

DEUSEA Ville.  The country.  Cant.

DEUSEA Ville Stampers.  Country carriers.  Cant.

Dew beaters.  Feet.  Cant.

Dews Wins, or DEUX Wins.  Two-pence.  Cant.

DEWITTED. Torn to pieces by a mob, as that great statesman
  John de Wit was in Holland, anno 1672.

Dial plate.  The face.  To alter his dial plate; to
  disfigure his face.

Dice.  The names of false dice: 
  A bale of bard cinque deuces
  A bale of flat cinque deuces
  A bale of flat sice aces
  A bale of bard cater traes
  A bale of flat cater traes
  A bale of fulhams
  A bale of light graniers
  A bale of langrets contrary to the ventage
  A bale of gordes, with as many highmen as lowmen,
   for passage
  A bale of demies
  A bale of long dice for even and odd
  A bale of bristles
  A bale of direct contraries.

Dick.  That happened in the reign of queen Dick, i. e.
  never:  said of any absurd old story.  I am as queer as
  Dick’s hatband; that is, out of spirits, or don’t know what
  ails me.

Dicky.  A woman’s under-petticoat.  It’s all Dicky with
  him; i.e. it’s all over with him.

DICKED in the nob.  Silly.  Crazed.

Dickey.  A sham shirt.

Dickey.  An ass.  Roll your dickey; drive your ass.  Also
  a seat for servants to sit behind a carriage, when their
  master drives.

To Diddle.  To cheat.  To defraud.  The cull diddled
  me out of my dearee; the fellow robbed me of my sweetheart. 
  See Jeremy Diddler In Raising The Wind.

DIDDEYS.  A woman’s breasts or bubbies.

Diddle.  Gin.

Diggers.  Spurs.  Cant.

DILBERRIES.  Small pieces of excrement adhering to the
  hairs near the fundament.

DILBERRY maker.  The fundament.

Dildo. [From the Italian DILETTO, q. d. a woman’s delight;
  or from our word Dally, q. d. a thing to play withal.]
  Penis-succedaneus, called in Lombardy Passo Tempo.  Bailey.

Diligent.  Double diligent, like the Devil’s apothecary;
  said of one affectedly diligent.

Dilly. (An abbreviation of the word diligence.) A public
  voiture or stage, commonly a post chaise, carrying
  three persons; the name is taken from the public stage
  vehicles in France and Flanders.  The dillies first began
  to run in England about the year 1779.

Dimber.  Pretty.  A dimber cove; a pretty fellow.  Dimber
  mort; a pretty wench.  Cant.

Dimber damber.  A top man, or prince, among the canting
  crew:  also the chief rogue of the gang, or the completest
  cheat.  Cant.

Page 57

Ding.  To knock down.  To ding it in one’s ears; to
  reproach or tell one something one is not desirous of hearing. 
  Also to throw away or hide:  thus a highwayman who
  throws away or hides any thing with which he robbed, to
  prevent being known or detected, is, in the canting lingo,
  styled a Dinger.

Ding boy.  A rogue, a hector, a bully, or sharper.  Cant.

Ding Dong.  Helter skelter, in a hasty disorderly manner.

DINGEY christian.  A mulatto; or any one who has, as the
  West-Indian term is, a lick of the tar-brush, that is, some
  negro blood in him.

Dining room post. A mode of stealing in houses that
  let lodgings, by rogues pretending to be postmen, who
  send up sham letters to the lodgers, and, whilst waiting
  in the entry for the postage, go into the first room they see
  open, and rob it.

Dip.  To dip for a wig.  Formerly, in Middle Row, Holborn,
  wigs of different sorts were, it is said, put into a
  close-stool box, into which, for three-pence, any one
  might dip, or thrust in his hand, and take out the first
  wig he laid hold of; if he was dissatisfied with his prize,
  he might, on paying three halfpence, return it and dip
  again.

The dip.  A cook’s shop, under Furnival’s Inn, where many
  attornies clerks, and other inferior limbs of the law, take
  out the wrinkles from their bellies.  Dip is also a punning
  name for a tallow-chandler.

Dippers.  Anabaptists.

DIPT.  Pawned or mortgaged.

Dirty puzzle.  A nasty slut.

Disguised. Drunk.

Disgruntled. Offended, disobliged.

Dished up.  He is completely dished up; he is totally ruined. 
  To throw a thing in one’s dish; to reproach or twit one with
  any particular matter.

DISHCLOUT.  A dirty, greasy woman.  He has made a napkin
  of his dishclout; a saying of one who has married his
  cook maid.  To pin a dishclout to a man’s tail; a punishment
  often threatened by the female servants in a kitchen,
  to a man who pries too minutely into the secrets of that
  place.

Dismal Ditty.  The psalm sung by the felons at the gallows,
  just before they are turned off.

Dispatches.  A mittimus, or justice of the peace’s warrant,
  for the commitment of a rogue.

Ditto.  A suit of ditto; coat, waistcoat, and breeches, all
  of one colour.

Dispatchers.  Loaded or false dice.

Distracted division.  Husband and wife fighting.

Dive.  To dive; to pick a pocket.  To dive for a dinner;
  to go down into a cellar to dinner.  A dive, is a thief who
  stands ready to receive goods thrown out to him by a little
  boy put in at a window.  Cant.

Page 58

Diver.  A pickpocket; also one who lives in a cellar.

Divide.  To divide the house with one’s wife; to give her
  the outside, and to keep all the inside to one’s self, i.e. to
  turn her into the street.

Do.  To do any one; to rob and cheat him.  I have done
  him; I have robbed him.  Also to overcome in a boxing
  match:  witness those laconic lines written on the field of
  battle, by Humphreys to his patron.—­’Sir, I have done
  the Jew.’

To do over.  Carries the same meaning, but is not so briefly
  expressed:  the former having received the polish of the
  present times.

DOASH.  A cloak.  Cant.

Dobin rig.  Stealing ribbands from haberdashers early in
  the morning or late at night; generally practised by women
  in the disguise of maid servants.

To dock.  To lie with a woman.  The cull docked the dell
  all the darkmans; the fellow laid with the wench all night. 
  Docked smack smooth; one who has suffered an amputation
  of his penis from a venereal complaint.  He must
  go into dock; a sea phrase, signifying that the person spoken
  of must undergo a salivation.  Docking is also a punishment
  inflicted by sailors on the prostitutes who have
  infected them with the venereal disease; it consists in cutting
  off all their clothes, petticoats, shift and all, close to
  their stays, and then turning them into the street.

Doctor.  Milk and water, with a little rum, and some nutmeg;
  also the name of a composition used by distillers,
  to make spirits appear stronger than they really are, or,
  in their phrase, better proof.

Doctors.  Loaded dice, that will run but two or three
  chances.  They put the doctors upon him; they cheated
  him with loaded dice.

DODSEY.  A woman:  perhaps a corruption of Doxey.  Cant.

Dog buffers.  Dog stealers, who kill those dogs not
  advertised for, sell their skins, and feed the remaining dogs
  with their flesh.

Dog in A doublet.  A daring, resolute fellow.  In
  Germany and Flanders the boldest dogs used to hunt the boar,
  having a kind of buff doublet buttoned on their bodies,
  Rubens has represented several so equipped, so has Sneyders.

Dog.  An old dog at it; expert or accustomed to any thing. 
  Dog in a manger; one who would prevent another from
  enjoying what he himself does not want:  an allusion to
  the well-known fable.  The dogs have not dined; a
  common saying to any one whose shirt hangs out behind.  To
  dog, or dodge; to follow at a distance.  To blush like a
  blue dog, i.e. not at all.  To walk the black dog on any
  one; a punishment inflicted in the night on a fresh prisoner,
  by his comrades, in case of his refusal to pay the usual
  footing or garnish.

Page 59

Dog Latin.  Barbarous Latin, such as was formerly used
  by the lawyers in their pleadings.

Dog’s portion.  A lick and a smell.  He comes in for only
  a dog’s portion; a saying of one who is a distant admirer
  or dangler after women.  See dangler.

Dog’s rig.  To copulate till you are tired, and then turn
  tail to it.

Dog’s soup.  Rain water.

Dog vane.  A cockade.  Sea term.

Dogged. Surly.

DOGGESS, dog’s wife or lady, puppy’s mamma
  Jocular ways of calling a woman a bitch.

Doll.  Bartholomew doll; a tawdry, over-drest woman,
  like one of the children’s dolls at Bartholomew fair.  To
  mill doll; to beat hemp at Bridewell, or any other house
  of correction.

Dolly.  A Yorkshire dolly; a contrivance for washing, by
  means of a kind of wheel fixed in a tub, which being turned
  about, agitates and cleanses the linen put into it, with
  soap and water.

Domine do little.  An impotent old fellow.

Domineer.  To reprove or command in an insolent or
  haughty manner.  Don’t think as how you shall domineer
  here.

DOMMERER.  A beggar pretending that his tongue has been
  cutout by the Algerines, or cruel and blood-thirsty Turks,
  or else that he yas born deaf and dumb.  Cant.

Done, or done over.  Robbed:  also, convicted or hanged. 
  Cant.—­See do.

Done up.  Ruined by gaming and extravagances.  Modern
  Term.

Donkey, donkey Dick.  A he, or jack ass:  called donkey,
  perhaps, from the Spanish or don-like gravity of
  that animal, intitled also the king of Spain’s trumpeter.

Doodle.  A silly fellow, or noodle:  see noodle.  Also a
  child’s penis.  Doodle doo, or Cock a doodle doo; a
  childish appellation for a cock, in imitation of its note
  when crowing.

Doodle sack.  A bagpipe.  Dutch.—­Also the private parts
  of a woman.

Dopey.  A beggar’s trull.

Dot and go one.  To waddle:  generally applied to persons
  who have one leg shorter than the other, and who, as the
  sea phrase is, go upon an uneven keel.  Also a jeering
  appellation for an inferior writing-master, or teacher of
  arithmetic.

Double.  To tip any one the double; to run away in his or
  her debt.

Double jugg.  A man’s backside.  Cotton’s Virgil.

Dove-tail.  A species of regular answer, which fits into
  the subject, like the contrivance whence it takes its name: 
  Ex.  Who owns this?  The dovetail is, Not you by your
  asking.

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Douglas.  Roby Douglas, with one eye and a stinking
  breath; the breech.  Sea wit.

Dowdy.  A coarse, vulgar-looking woman.

Down Hills.  Dice that run low.

Down.  Aware of a thing.  Knowing it.  There is no down
  A cant phrase used by house-breakers to signify that the
  persons belonging to any house are not on their guard,
  or that they are fast asleep, and have not heard any noise
  to alarm them.

To Dowse.  To take down:  as, Dowse the pendant.  Dowse
  your dog vane; take the cockade out of your hat.  Dowse
  the glim; put out the candle.

Dowse on the chops.  A blow in the face.

Dowser.  Vulgar pronunciation of douceur.

Doxies.  She beggars, wenches, whores.

Drab.  A nasty, sluttish whore.

Drag.  To go on the drag; to follow a cart or waggon, in
  order to rob it.  Cant.

Drag lay.  Waiting in the streets to rob carts or waggons.

DRAGGLETAIL or DAGGLETAIL.  One whose garments are
  bespattered with dag or dew:  generally applied to the
  female sex, to signify a slattern.

DRAGOONING it.  A man who occupies two branches of
  one profession, is said to dragoon it; because, like the
  soldier of that denomination, he serves in a double capacity. 
  Such is a physician who furnishes the medicines, and
  compounds his own prescriptions.

Drain.  Gin:  so called from the diuretic qualities imputed
  to that liquor.

Dram.  A glass or small measure of any spirituous liquors,
  which, being originally sold by apothecaries, were estimated
  by drams, ounces, &c.  Dog’s dram; to spit in
  his mouth, and clap his back.

Dram-A-Tick.  A dram served upon credit.

Draper.  An ale draper; an alehouse keeper.

Draught, or bill, on the pump at Aldgate.  A bad
  or false bill of exchange.  See Aldgate.

Draw latches.  Robbers of houses whose doors are
  only fastened with latches.  Cant.

To draw.  To take any thing from a pocket.  To draw a
  swell of a clout.  To pick a gentleman’s pocket of a
  handkerchief.  To draw the long bow; to tell lies.

Drawers.  Stockings.  Cant.

Drawing the king’s picture.  Coining.  Cant.

To dress.  To beat.  I’ll dress his hide neatly; I’ll beat him
  soundly.

Dribble.  A method of pouring out, as it were, the dice
  from the box, gently, by which an old practitioner is
  enabled to cog one of them with his fore-finger.

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Dripper.  A gleet.

Dromedary.  A heavy, bungling thief or rogue.  A purple
  dromedary; a bungler in the art and mystery of thieving. 
  Cant.

DROMMERARS.  See DOMMERER.

Drop.  The new drop; a contrivance for executing felons at
  Newgate, by means of a platform, which drops from
  under them:  this is also called the last drop.  See leaf
  See morning drop.

Drop A cog.  To let fall, with design, a piece of gold or
  silver, in order to draw in and cheat the person who sees
  it picked up; the piece so dropped is called a dropt cog.

Drop in the eye.  Almost drunk.

Dropping member.  A man’s yard with a gonorrhoea.

Drop coves.  Persons who practice the fraud of dropping
  a ring or other article, and picking it up before the
  person intended to be defrauded, they pretend that the
  thing is very valuable to induce their gull to lend them
  money, or to purchase the article.  See fawny rig,
  and money droppers.

To drop down.  To be dispirited.  This expression is
  used by thieves to signify that their companion did not
  die game, as the kiddy dropped down when he went to
  be twisted; the young fellow was very low spirited when
  he walked out to be hanged.

To drub.  To beat any one with a stick, or rope’s end: 
  perhaps a contraction of dry rub.  It is also used to signify
  a good beating with any instrument.

Drummer.  A jockey term for a horse that throws about
  his fore legs irregularly:  the idea is taken from a kettle
  drummer, who in beating makes many flourishes with
  his drumsticks.

Drunk.  Drunk as a wheel-barrow.  Drunk as David’s
  sow.  See David’s sow.

Drury lane ague.  The venereal disorder.

Drury lane Vestal.  A woman of the town, or prostitute;
  Drury-lane and its environs were formerly the residence
  of many of those ladies.

Dry bob.  A smart repartee:  also copulation without
  emission; in law Latin, siccus robertulus.

Dry boots.  A sly humorous fellow.

Dub.  A picklock, or master-key.  Cant.

Dub lay.  Robbing houses by picking the locks.

Dub the Jigger.  Open the door.  Cant.

Dub O’ thhick.  A lick on the head.

Dubber.  A picker of locks.  Cant.

Duce.  Two-pence.

Duck.  A lame duck; an Exchange-alley phrase for a
  stock-jobber, who either cannot or will not pay his losses,
  or, differences, in which case he is said to waddle out of
  the alley, as he cannot appear there again till his debts
  are settled and paid; should he attempt it, he would be
  hustled out by the fraternity.

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Ducks and drakes.  To make ducks and drakes:  a
  school-boy’s amusement, practised with pieces of tile,
  oyster-shells, or flattish stones, which being skimmed
  along the surface of a pond, or still river, rebound many
  times.  To make ducks and drakes of one’s money; to
  throw it idly away.

Duck F-CK-R.  The man who has the care of the poultry
  on board a ship of war.

Duck legs.  Short legs.

DUDDERS, or whispering DUDDERS.  Cheats who travel
  the country, pretending to sell smuggled goods:  they
  accost their intended dupes in a whisper.  The goods
  they have for sale are old shop-keepers, or damaged;
  purchased by them of large manufactories.  See Duffer.

DUDDERING rake.  A thundering rake, a buck of the
  first head, one extremely lewd.

Dudgeon.  Anger.

Duds.  Clothes.

Duffers.  Cheats who ply in different parts of the town,
  particularly about Water-lane, opposite St. Clement’s
  church, in the Strand, and pretend to deal in smuggled
  goods, stopping all country people, or such as they think
  they can impose on; which they frequently do, by selling
  them Spital-fields goods at double their current price.

DUGS.  A woman’s breasts,

Duke, or rum Duke.  A queer unaccountable fellow.

Duke of limbs.  A tall, awkward, ill-made fellow.

Duke Humphrey.  To dine with Duke Humphrey; to
  fast.  In old St. Paul’s church was an aisle called Duke
  Humphrey’s walk (from a tomb vulgarly called his, but
  in reality belonging to John of Gaunt), and persons who
  walked there, while others were at dinner, were said to
  dine with Duke Humphrey.

Dull Swift.  A stupid, sluggish fellow, one long going on
  an errand.

Dumb arm.  A lame arm.

Dumb-founded. Silenced, also soundly beaten.

Dumb glutton.  A woman’s privities.

Dumb watch.  A venereal bubo in the groin.

DUMMEE.  A pocket book.  A dummee hunter.  A pick-pocket,
  who lurks about to steal pocket books out of
  gentlemen’s pockets.  Frisk the dummee of the screens; take
  all the bank notes out of the pocket book, ding the dummee,
  and bolt, they sing out beef.  Throw away the pocket
  book, and run off, as they call out “stop thief.”

Dumplin.  A short thick man or woman.  Norfolk dumplin;
  a jeering appellation of a Norfolk man, dumplins being
  a favourite kind of food in that county.

Dumps.  Down in the dumps; low-spirited, melancholy: 
  jocularly said to be derived from Dumpos, a king of Egypt,
  who died of melancholy.  Dumps are also small pieces of
  lead, cast by schoolboys in the shape of money.

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Dun.  An importunate creditor.  Dunny, in the provincial
  dialect of several counties, signifies deaf; to dun, then,
  perhaps may mean to deafen with importunate demands: 
  some derive it from the word DONNEZ, which signifies give
  But the true original meaning of the word, owes its birth
  to one Joe Dun, a famous bailiff of the town of Lincoln, so
  extremely active, and so dexterous in his business, that it
  became a proverb, when a man refused to pay, Why do not
  you dun him? that is, Why do not you set Dun to attest
  him?  Hence it became a cant word, and is now as old as
  since the days of Henry VII.  Dun was also the general
  name for the hangman, before that of Jack Ketch.

      And presently a halter got,
      Made of the best strong hempen teer,
      And ere a cat could lick her ear,
      Had tied it up with as much art,
      As dun himself could do for’s heart.

      Cotton’s Virgil Trav. book iv.

DUNAKER.  A stealer of cows and calves.

Dunegan.  A privy.  A water closet.

Dunghill.  A coward:  a cockpit phrase, all but gamecocks
  being styled dunghills.  To die dunghill; to repent, or shew
  any signs of contrition at the gallows.  Moving dunghill;
  a dirty, filthy man or woman.  Dung, an abbreviation of
  dunghill, also means a journeyman taylor who submits to
  the law for regulating journeymen taylors’ wages, therefore
  deemed by the flints a coward.  See flints.

Dunnock.  A cow.  Cunt.

To dup.  To open a door:  a contraction of do ope or open
  See dub.

Durham man.  Knocker kneed, he grinds mustard with
  his knees:  Durham is famous for its mustard.

Dust. Money.  Down with your dust; deposit the money. 
  To raise or kick up a dust; to make a disturbance or riot: 
  see breeze.  Dust it away; drink about.

Dustman.  A dead man:  your father is a dustman.

Dutch Comfort.  Thank God it is no worse.

Dutch concert.  Where every one plays or signs a
  different tune.

Dutch feast. Where the entertainer gets drunk before
  his guest.

Dutch reckoning, or ALLE-mal.  A verbal or lump
  account, without particulars, as brought at spungiug or
  bawdy houses.

Dutchess.  A woman enjoyed with her pattens on, or by a
  man-in boots, is said to be made a dutchess.

Die hard, or game.  To die hard, is to shew no signs of
  fear or contrition at the gallows; not to whiddle or squeak. 
  This advice is frequently given to felons going to suffer the
  law, by their old comrades, anxious for the honour of the
  gang.

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Earnest. A deposit in part of payment, to bind a bargain.

Earth bath.  A Grave.

Easy.  Make the cull easy or quiet; gag or kill him.  As
  easy as pissing the bed.

Easy virtue.  A lady of easy virtue:  an impure or prostitute.

Eat.  To eat like a beggar man, and wag his under jaw; a
  jocular reproach to a proud man.  To eat one’s words; to
  retract what one has said.

To edge.  To excite, stimulate, or provoke; or as it is
  vulgarly called, to egg a man on.  Fall back, fall edge; i.e.
  let what will happen.  Some derive to egg on, from the
  Latin word, age, age.

Eight eyes.  I will knock out two of your eight eyes; a
  common Billingsgate threat from one fish nymph to
  another:  every woman, according to the naturalists of that
  society, having eight eyes; viz. two seeing eyes, two
  bub-eyes, a bell-eye, two pope’s eyes, and a ***-eye.  He has
  fallen down and trod upon his eye; said of one who has a
  black eye.

Elbow grease.  Labour.  Elbow grease will make an oak
  table shine.

Elbow room.  Sufficient space to act in.  Out at elbows;
  said of an estate that is mortgaged.

Elbow Shaker.  A gamester, one who rattles Saint Hugh’s
  bones, i.e. the dice.

Ellenborough lodge.  The King’s Bench Prison.  Lord
  Ellenborough’s teeth; the chevaux de frize round the top
  of the wall of that prison.

Elf.  A fairy or hobgoblin, a little man or woman.

Emperor.  Drunk as an emperor, i.e. ten times as drunk as
  a lord.

English Burgundy.  Porter.

Ensign bearer.  A drunken man, who looks red in the
  face, or hoists his colours in his drink.

EQUIPT.  Rich; also, having new clothes.  Well equipt;
  full of money, or well dressed.  The cull equipped me
  with a brace of meggs; the gentleman furnished me with.
  a couple of guineas.

Essex lion.  A calf; Essex being famous for calves, and
  chiefly supplying the London markets.

Essex stile.  A ditch; a great part of Essex is low marshy
  ground, in which there are more ditches than Stiles.

Eternity Box.  A coffin.

Eves.  Hen roosts.

EVE’S custom-house, where Adam made his first entry. 
  The monosyllable.

Eves dropper.  One that lurks about to rob hen-roosts;
  also a listener at doors and windows, to hear private
  conversation.

Evil.  A halter.  Cant, Also a wife.

Ewe.  A white ewe; a beautiful woman.  An old ewe, drest
  lamb fashion; an old woman, drest like a young girl.

Page 65

Execution day.  Washing day.

Expended. Killed:  alluding to the gunner’s accounts,
  wherein the articles consumed are charged under the title
  of expended.  Sea phrase.

Eye.  It’s all my eye and Betty Martin.  It’s all nonsense, all
  mere stuff.

Eye-sore.  A disagreeable object.  It will be an eye-sore as
  long as she lives, said by a limn whose wife was cut for a
  fistula in ano.

Face-making.  Begetting children.  To face it out; to
  persist in a falsity.  No face but his own:  a saying of one
  who has no money in his pocket or no court cards in his
  hand.

Facer.  A bumper, a glass filled so full as to leave no room
  for the lip.  Also a violent blow on the face.

Fadge.  It won’t fadge; it won’t do.  A farthing.

To fag.  To beat.  Fag the bloss; beat the wench; Cant. 
  A fag also means a boy of an inferior form or class, who
  acts as a servant to one of a superior, who is said to fag him,
  he is my fag; whence, perhaps, fagged out, for jaded or tired. 
  To stand a good fag; not to be soon tired.

FAGGER.  A little boy put in at a window to rob the house.

Faggot.  A man hired at a muster to appear as a soldier. 
  To faggot in the canting sense, means to bind:  an allusion
  to the faggots made up by the woodmen, which are
  all bound.  Faggot the culls; bind the men.

Faithful.  One of the faithful; a taylor who gives long
  credit.  His faith has made him unwhole; i.e. trusting
  too much, broke him.

Fair.  A set of subterraneous rooms in the Fleet Prison.

FAKEMENT.  A counterfeit signature.  A forgery.  Tell
  the macers to mind their fakements; desire the swindlers
  to be careful not to forge another person’s signature.

FALLALLS.  Ornaments, chiefly women’s, such as ribands,
  necklaces, &c.

Fallen away from A horse load to A cart load
  A saying on one grown fat.

Family man.  A thief or receiver of stolen goods.

Fam lay.  Going into a goldsmith’s shop, under pretence
  of buying a wedding ring, and palming one or two, by
  daubing the hand with some viscous matter.

FAMS, or FAMBLES.  Hands.  Famble cheats; rings or
  gloves.  Cant.

To Famgrasp.  To shake bands:  figuratively, to agree
  or make up a difference.  Famgrasp the cove; shake hands
  with the fellow.  Cant.

Family of love.  Lewd women; also, a religious sect.

Fancy man.  A man kept by a lady for secret services.

To Fan.  To beat any one.  I fanned him sweetly; I beat
  him heartily.

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Fantastically dressed, with more rags than ribands.

Fart.  He has let a brewer’s fart, grains and all; said of
  one who has bewrayed his breeches.

      Piss and fart. 
      Sound at heart. 
      Mingere cum bumbis,
      Res saluberrima est lumbis.

  I dare not trust my a-se with a fart:  said by a person troubled
  with a looseness.

Fart catcher.  A valet or footman from his walking
  behind his master or mistress.

Farting crackers.  Breeches.

FARTLEBERRIES.  Excrement hanging about the anus.

FASTNER.  A warrant.

FASTNESSES.  Bogs.

Fat.  The last landed, inned, or stowed, of any sort of
  merchandise:  so called by the water-side porters, carmen, &c. 
  All the fat is in the fire; that is, it is all over with us:  a
  saying used in case of any miscarriage or disappointment
  in an undertaking; an allusion to overturning the
  frying pan into the fire.  Fat, among printers, means void
  spaces.

As fat as A hen in the forehead.  A saying of a meagre person.

Fat cull.  A rich fellow.

Fat headed. Stupid.

Faulkner.  A tumbler, juggler, or shewer of tricks; perhaps
  because they lure the people, as a faulconer does his
  hawks.  Cant.

FAYTORS, or FATORS.  Fortune tellers.

FAWNEY rig.  A common fraud, thus practised:  A fellow
  drops a brass ring, double gilt, which he picks up before
  the party meant to be cheated, and to whom he disposes
  of it for less than its supposed, and ten times more than
  its real, value.  See money dropper.

FAWNEY.  A ring.

Feague.  To feague a horse; to put ginger up a horse’s
  fundament, and formerly, as it is said, a live eel, to make
  him lively and carry his tail well; it is said, a forfeit is
  incurred by any horse-dealer’s servant, who shall shew a
  horse without first feaguing him.  Feague is used,
  figuratively, for encouraging or spiriting one up.

FEAK.  The fundament.

To feather one’s nest. To enrich one’s self.

Feather-bed lane.  A rough or stony lane.

Fee, faw, fum.  Nonsensical words, supposed in childish
  story-books to be spoken by giants.  I am not to be frighted
  by fee, faw, fum; I am not to be scared by nonsense.

Feeder.  A spoon.  To nab the feeder; to steal a spoon.

Feet.  To make feet for children’s stockings; to beget
  children.  An officer of feet; a jocular title for an officer
  of infantry.

Feint.  A sham attack on one part, when a real one is meant
  at another.

Page 67

Fellow commoner.  An empty bottle:  so called at the
  university of Cambridge, where fellow commoners are
  not in general considered as over full of learning.  At
  Oxford an empty bottle is called a gentleman commoner
  for the same reason.  They pay at Cambridge 250 l. a year
  for the privilege of wearing a gold or silver tassel to their
  caps.  The younger branches of the nobility have the
  privilege of wearing a hat, and from thence are denominated hat
  fellow commoners.

Fen.  A bawd, or common prostitute.  Cant.

To fence.  To pawn or sell to a receiver of stolen goods. 
  The kiddey fenced his thimble for three quids; the young
  fellow pawned his watch for three guineas.  To fence
  invariably means to pawn or sell goods to a receiver.

Fencing ken.  The magazine, or warehouse, where
  stolen goods are secreted.

FERME.  A hole.  Cant.

FERMERDY beggars.  All those who have not the sham
  sores or clymes.

Ferrara.  Andrea Ferrara; the name of a famous sword-
  cutler:  most of the Highland broad-swords are marked
  with his name; whence an Andrea Ferrara has become
  the common name for the glaymore or Highland broad-
  sword.  See glaymore.

Ferret.  A tradesman who sells goods to youug unthrift
  heirs, at excessive rates, and then continually duns them
  for the debt.  To ferret; to search out or expel any one
  from his hiding-place, as a ferret drives out rabbits; also
  to cheat.  Ferret-eyed; red-eyed:  ferrets have red eyes.

Fetch.  A trick, wheedle, or invention to deceive.

FEUTERER.  A dog-keeper:  from the French vautrier, or
  vaultrier, one that leads a lime hound for the chase.

To fib.  To beat.  Fib the cove’s quarron in the rumpad
  for the lour in his bung; beat the fellow in the highway
  for the money in his purse.  Cant.—­A fib is also a tiny lie.

FICE, or FOYSE.  A small windy escape backwards, more
  obvious to the nose than ears; frequently by old ladies
  charged on their lap-dogs.  See fizzle.

Fid of tobacco.  A quid, from the small pieces of tow
  with which the vent or touch hole of a cannon is stopped. 
  Sea term.

Fiddle faddle.  Trifling discourse, nonsense.  A mere
  fiddle faddle fellow; a trifier.

FIDDLESTICK’S end.  Nothing; the end of the ancient
  fiddlesticks ending in a point; hence metaphorically used
  to express a thing terminating in nothing.

Fidgets.  He has got the fidgets; said of one that cannot
  sit long in a place.

FIDLAM Ben.  General thieves; called also St. Peter’s sons,
  having every finger a fish-hook.  Cant.

Page 68

FIDDLERS money.  All sixpences:  sixpence being the
  usual sum paid by each couple, for music at country
  wakes and hops.  Fiddler’s fare; meat, drink, and money. 
  Fiddler’s pay; thanks and wine.

Field lane duck.  A baked sheep’s head.

Fieri facias.  A red-faced man is said to have been served
  with a writ of fieri facias.

FIGDEAN.  To kill.

FIGGER.  A little boy put in at a window to hand out
  goods to the diver.  See diver.

FIGGING law.  The art of picking pockets.  Cant.

Figure dancer.  One who alters figures on bank notes,
  converting tens to hundreds.

Filch, or FILEL.  A beggar’s staff, with an iron hook at
  the end, to pluck clothes from an hedge, or any thing out
  of a casement.  Filcher; the same as angler.  Filching
  cove; a man thief.  Filching mort; a woman thief.

File, file cloy, or bungnipper.  A pick pocket.  To
  file; to rob or cheat.  The file, or bungnipper, goes
  generally in company with two assistants, the adam tiler, and
  another called the bulk or bulker, Whose business it is to
  jostle the person they intend to rob, and push him against
  the wall, while the file picks his pocket, and gives’the booty
  to the adam tiler, who scours off with it.  Cant.

Fin.  An arm.  A one finned fellow; a man who has lost
  an arm.  Sea phrase.

Fine.  Fine as five pence.  Fine as a cow-t—­d stuck with
  primroses.

Fine.  A man imprisoned for any offence.  A fine of eighty-
  four months; a transportation for seven years.

Finger in eye.  To put finger in eye; to weep:  commonly
  applied to women.  The more you cry the less
  you’ll p-ss; a consolatory speech used by sailors to their
  doxies.  It is as great a pity to see a woman cry, as to
  see a goose walk barefoot; another of the same kind.

Finger post. A parson:  so called, because he points out
  a way to others which he never goes himself.  Like the
  finger post, he points out a way he has never been, and
  probably will never go, i.e. the way to heaven.

Finish.  The finish; a small coffee-house in Coven Garden,
  market, opposite Russel-street, open very early in the
  morning, and therefore resorted to by debauchees shut out
  of every other house:  it is also called Carpenter’s coffee-
  house.

Firing A gun.  Introducing a story by head and shoulders. 
  A man wanting to tell a particular story, said to the
  company, Hark! did you not hear a gun?—­but now we are
  talking of a gun, I will tell you the story of one.

To fire A slug.  To drink a dram.

Page 69

Fire Priggers.  Villains who rob at fires under pretence
  of assisting in removing the goods.

Fire ship.  A wench who has the venereal disease.

Fire shovel.  He or she when young, was fed with a fire
  shovel; a saying of persons with wide mouths.

Fish.  A seaman.  A scaly fish; a rough, blunt tar.  To
  have other fish to fry; to have other matters to mind,
  something else to do.

Fit.  Suitable.  It won’t fit; It will not suit or do.

Five shillings.  The sign of five shillings, i.e. the crown. 
  Fifteen shillings; the sign of the three crowns.

Fizzle.  An escape backward,

FLABAGASTED. Confounded.

Flabby.  Relaxed, flaccid, not firm or solid.

Flag.  A groat.  Cant.—­The flag of defiance, or bloody flag
  is out; signifying the man is drunk, and alluding to the
  redness of his face.  Sea phrase.

Flam.  A lie, or sham story:  also a single stroke on a drum. 
  To flam; to hum, to amuse, to deceive.  Flim flams; idle
  stories.

Flap dragon.  A clap, or pox.

To flare.  To blaze, shine or glare.

Flash.  Knowing.  Understanding another’s meaning.  The
  swell was flash, so I could not draw his fogle.  The
  gentleman saw what I was about, and therefore I could not
  pick his pocket of his silk handkerchief.  To patter flash,
  to speak the slang language.  See patter.

Flash PANNEYS.  Houses to which thieves and prostitutes
  resort.

  Next for his favourite Mot (Girl) the kiddey (Youth) looks
     about,
  And if she’s in a flash panney (Brothel) he swears he’ll have
     her out;
  So he fences (Pawns) all his togs (Cloathes) to buy her duds,
     (Wearing Apparel) and then
  He frisks (Robs) his master’s lob (Till) to take her from the
     bawdy ken (House).

          Flashsong.

Flash.  A periwig.  Rum flash; a fine long wig.  Queer
  flash; a miserable weather-beaten caxon.

To flash.  To shew ostentatiously.  To flash one’s ivory;
  to laugh and shew one’s teeth.  Don’t flash your ivory, but
  shut your potatoe trap, and keep your guts warm; the
  Devil loves hot tripes.

To flash the hash.  To vomit.  Cant.

Flash ken.  A house that harbours thieves.

Flash lingo.  The canting or slang language.

Flash man.  A bully to a bawdy house.  A whore’s bully.

Flat.  A bubble, gull, or silly fellow.

Flat cock.  A female.

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FLAWD.  Drunk.

FLAYBOTTOMIST. A bum-brusher, or schoolmaster.

To Flay, or flea, the fox.  To vomit.

Flea bite.  A trifling injury.  To send any one away with
  a flea in his ear; to give any one a hearty scolding.

To Fleece.  To rob, cheat, or plunder.

Flemish account.  A losing, or bad account.

Flesh broker.  A match-maker, a bawd.

Flicker.  A drinking glass.  Cant.

Flickering.  Grinning or laughing in a man’s face.

Flicking.  Cutting.  Flick me some panam and caffan;
  cut me some bread and cheese.  Flick the peter; cut off
  the cloak-bag, or portmanteau.

To fling.  To trick or cheat.  He flung me fairly out of it: 
  he cheated me out of it.

Flints.  Journeymen taylors, who on a late occasion refused
  to work for the wages settled by law.  Those who submitted,
  were by the mutineers styled dungs, i.e. dunghills.

Flip.  Small beer, brandy, and sugar:  this mixture, with
  the addition of a lemon, was by sailors, formerly called Sir
  Cloudsly, in memory of Sir Cloudsly Shovel, who used
  frequently to regale himself with it.

Floating academy.  See Campbell’s academy.

Floating hell.  The hulks.

To flog.  To whip.

Flogger.  A horsewhip.  Cant.

Flogging cully.  A debilitated lecher, commonly an old
  one.

Flogging cove.  The beadle, or whipper, in Bridewell.

Flogging stake.  The whipping-post.

To floor.  To knock down.  Floor the pig; knock down
  the officer.

Flourish.  To take a flourish; to enjoy a woman in a hasty
  manner, to take a flyer.  See flyer.

To flout.  To jeer, to ridicule.

Flummery.  Oatmeal and water boiled to a jelly; also
  compliments, neither of which are over-nourishing.

Flush in the pocket.  Full of money.  The cull is
  flush in the fob.  The fellow is full of money.

Flustered. Drunk.

Flute.  The recorder of a corporation; a recorder was an
  antient musical instrument.

To flux.  To cheat, cozen, or over-reach; also to salivate. 
  To flux a wig; to put it up in curl, and bake it.

Fly.  Knowing.  Acquainted with another’s meaning or
  proceeding.  The rattling cove is fly; the coachman
  knows what we are about.

Fly.  A waggon.  Cant.

Fly-by-night.  You old fly-by-night; an ancient term of
  reproach to an old woman, signifying that she was a witch,
  and alluding to the nocturnal excursions attributed to
  witches, who were supposed to fly abroad to their
  meetings, mounted on brooms.

Page 71

Fly slicers.  Life-guard men, from their sitting on
  horseback, under an arch, where they are frequently observed
  to drive away flies with their swords.

Flyer.  To take a flyer; to enjoy a woman with her
  clothes on, or without going to bed.

Flyers.  Shoes.

Fly-flapped. Whipt in the stocks, or at the cart’s tail.

Flying Camps.  Beggars plying in a body at funerals.

Flying GIGGERS.  Turnpike gates.

Flying house.  A lock in wrestling, by which he who
  uses it throws his adversary over his head.

Flying Pasty.  Sirreverence wrapped in paper and
  thrown over a neighbour’s wall.

Flying porters.  Cheats who obtain money by pretending
  to persons who have been lately robbed, that they
  may come from a place or party where, and from whom,
  they may receive information respecting the goods stolen
  from them, and demand payment as porters.

Flying STATIONERS.  Ballad-singers and hawkers of penny
  histories.

FLYMSEY.  A bank note.

Fob.  A cheat, trick, or contrivance, I will not be fobbed off
  so; I will not be thus deceived with false pretences.  The
  fob is also a small breeches pocket for holding a watch.

Fog.  Smoke.  Cant.

Fogey.  Old Fogey.  A nickname for an invalid soldier: 
  derived from the French word fougeux, fierce or fiery.

Fogle.  A silk handkerchief,

FOGRAM.  An old fogram; a fusty old fellow.

Fogus.  Tobacco.  Tip me a gage of fogus; give me a
  pipe of tobacco.  Cant.

Fool.  A fool at the end of a stick; a fool at one end, and
  a maggot at the other; gibes on an angler.

Fool Finder.  A bailiff.

Foolish.  An expression among impures, signifying the
  cully who pays, in opposition to a flash man.  Is he
  foolish or flash?

Foot pads, or low pads.  Rogues who rob on foot.

Foot WABBLER.  A contemptuous appellation for a foot
  soldier, commonly used by the cavalry.

FOOTMAN’S MAWND.  An artificial sore made with unslaked
  lime, soap, and the rust of old iron, on the back
  of a beggar’s hand, as if hurt by the bite or kick of a horse.

Footy despicable.  A footy fellow, a despicable fellow;
  from the French foutue.

Forefoot, or paw.  Give us your fore foot; give us your hand.

Foreman of the jury.  One who engrosses all the talk
  to himself, or speaks for the rest of the company.

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Fork.  A pickpocket.  Let us fork him; let us pick his
  pocket.—­’The newest and most dexterous way, which is,
  to thrust the fingers strait, stiff, open, and very quick,
  into the pocket, and so closing them, hook what can
  be held between them.’  N.B.  This was taken from a
  book written many years ago:  doubtless the art of picking
  pockets, like all others, must have been much improved
  since that time.

Forlorn Hope.  A gamester’s last stake.

Fortune hunters.  Indigent men, seeking to enrich
  themselves by marrying a woman of fortune.

Fortune teller, or cunning man.  A judge, who tells
  every prisoner his fortune, lot or doom.  To go before the
  fortune teller, lambskin men, or conjuror; to be tried at
  an assize.  See lambskin men.

Foul.  To foul a plate with a man, to take a dinner with him.

Foul-mouthed. Abusive.

Foundling.  A child dropped in the streets, and found, and
  educated at the parish expence.

FOUSIL.  The name of a public house, where the
  Eccentrics assemble in May’s Buildings, St. Martin’s Lane.

Fox.  A sharp, cunning fellow.  Also an old term for a
  sword, probably a rusty one, or else from its being dyed red
  with blood; some say this name alluded to certain swords
  of remarkable good temper, or metal, marked with the
  figure of a fox, probably the sign, or rebus, of the maker.

Fox’s paw.  The vulgar pronunciation of the French
  words faux pas.  He made a confounded fox’s paw.

Foxed. Intoxicated.

FOXEY.  Rank.  Stinking.

Foxing A boot.  Mending the foot by capping it.

FOYST. A pickpocket, cheat, or rogue.  See WOTTON’S gang.

To FOYST. To pick a pocket.

FOYSTED in.  Words or passages surreptitiously interpolated
  or inserted into a book or writing.

Fraters.  Vagabonds who beg with sham patents, or briefs,
  for hospitals, fires, inundations, &c.

Free.  Free of fumblers hall; a saying of one who cannot
  get his wife with child.

Free and easy Johns.  A society which meet at the Hole
  in the Wall, Fleet-street, to tipple porter, and sing bawdry.

Free BOOTERS.  Lawless robbers and plunderers:  originally
  soldiers who served without pay, for the privilege of
  plundering the enemy.

Freeholder.  He whose wife accompanies him to the alehouse.

Freeman’s Quay.  Free of expence.  To lush at Freeman’s
  Quay; to drink at another’s cost.

Freeze.  A thin, small, hard cider, much used by vintners
  and coopers in parting their wines, to lower the price of
  them, and to advance their gain.  A freezing vintner; a
  vintner who balderdashes his wine.

Page 73

French cream.  Brandy; so called by the old tabbies
  and dowagers when drank in their tea.

French disease.  The venereal disease, said to have been
  imported from France.  French gout; the same.  He suffered
  by a blow over the snout with a French faggot-stick;
  i.e. he lost his nose by the pox.

French leave.  To take French leave; to go off without
  taking leave of the company:  a saying frequently applied
  to persons who have run away from their creditors.

Frenchified. Infected with the venereal disease.  The
  mort is Frenchified:  the wench is infected.

Fresh milk.  Cambridge new comers to the university.

Freshman.  One just entered a member of the university.

Fribble.  An effeminate fop; a name borrowed from a
  celebrated character of that kind, in the farce of Miss in her
  Teens, written by Mr. Garrick.

Friday-face.  A dismal countenance.  Before, and even
  long after the Reformation, Friday was a day of abstinence,
  or jour maigre.  Immediately after the restoration of king
  Charles ii. a proclamation was issued, prohibiting all
  publicans from dressing any suppers on a Friday.

To frig.  Figuratively used for trifling.

Frig pig.  A trifling, fiddle-faddle fellow.

Frigate.  A well-rigged frigate; a well-dressed wench.

Frisk.  To dance the Paddington frisk; to be hanged.

To frisk.  Used by thieves to signify searching a person whom they have robbed.  Blast his eyes! frisk him.

Froe, or VROE, A woman, wife, or mistress.  Brush to your
  froe, or bloss, and wheedle for crop; run to your mistress,
  and sooth and coax her out of some money.  Dutch.

FROGLANDER.  A Dutchman.

Frosty face.  One pitted with the small pox.

Frog’s wine.  Gin.

Fruitful Vine.  A woman’s private parts, i.e. that has
  flowers every month, and bears fruit in nine months.

FRUMMAGEMMED. Choaked, strangled, suffocated, or
  hanged.  Cant.

FUBSEY.  Plump.  A fubsey wench; a plump, healthy
  wench.

Fuddle.  Drunk.  This is rum fuddle; this is excellent
  tipple, or drink.  Fuddle; drunk.  Fuddle cap; a drunkard.

Fudge.  Nonsense.

FULHAMS. Loaded dice are called high and lowmen, or
  high and low fulhams, by Ben Jonson and other writers of
  his time; either because they were made at Fulham, or from
  that place being the resort of sharpers.

Full of emptiness.  Jocular term for empty.

Full march.  The Scotch greys are in full march by the
  crown office; the lice are crawling down his head.

Page 74

Fumbler.  An old or impotent man.  To fumble, also
  means to go awkwardly about any work, or manual
  operation.

Fun.  A cheat, or trick.  Do you think to fun me out of
  it?  Do you think to cheat me?—­Also the breech, perhaps
  from being the abbreviation of fundament.  I’ll kick your
  fun.  Cant.

To funk.  To use an unfair motion of the hand in plumping
  at taw.  Schoolboy’s term.

Funk.  To smoke; figuratively, to smoke or stink through
  fear.  I was in a cursed funk.  To funk the cobler; a
  schoolboy’s trick, performed with assafoettida and cotton,
which
  are stuffed into a pipe:  the cotton being lighted, and the
  bowl of the pipe covered with a coarse handkerchief, the
  smoke is blown out at the small end, through the crannies
  of a cobler’s stall.

FURMEN.  Aldermen.

Furmity, or fromenty.  Wheat boiled up to a jelly.  To
  simper like a furmity kettle:  to smile, or look merry about
  the gills.

Fuss.  A confusion, a hurry, an unnecessary to do about
  trifles.

FUSSOCK.  A lazy fat woman.  An old fussock; a frowsy
  old woman.

Fustian.  Bombast language.  Red fustian; port wine.

Fusty LUGGS.  A beastly, sluttish woman.

To fuzz.  To shuffle cards minutely:  also, to change the
  pack.

Gab, or gob.  The mouth.  Gift of the gab; a facility
  of speech, nimble tongued eloquence.  To blow the gab;
  to confess, or peach.

Gab, or gob, string.  A bridle.

Gabby.  A foolish fellow.

Gad-so.  An exclamation said to be derived from the
  Italian word cazzo.

Gaff.  A fair.  The drop coves maced the joskins at the
  gaff; the ring-droppers cheated the countryman at the fair.

To gaff.  To game by tossing up halfpence.

Gag.  An instrument used chiefly by housebreakers and
  thieves, for propping open the mouth of a person robbed,
  thereby to prevent his calling out for assistance.

Gage.  A quart pot, or a pint; also a pipe.  Cant.

Gage, or fogus.  A pipe of tobacco.

GAGGERS.  High and Low.  Cheats, who by sham
  pretences, and wonderful stories of their sufferings, impose on
  the credulity of well meaning people.  See rum gagger.

GALIMAUFREY.  A hodgepodge made up of the remnants
  and scraps of the larder.

Gall.  His gall is not yet broken; a saying used in prisons
  of a man just brought in, who appears dejected.

Page 75

Galley.  Building the galley; a game formerly used at
  sea, in order to put a trick upon a landsman, or fresh-
  water sailor.  It being agreed to play at that game, one
  sailor personates the builder, and another the merchant or
  contractor:  the builder first begins by laying the keel,
  which consists of a number of men laid all along on their
  backs, one after another, that is, head to foot; he next
  puts in the ribs or knees, by making a number of men sit
  feet to feet, at right angles to, and on each side of, the
  keel:  he now fixing on the person intended to be the object
  of the joke, observes he is a fierce-looking fellow,
  and fit for the lion; he accordingly places him at the head,
  his arms being held or locked in by the two persons next
  to him, representing the ribs.  After several other
  dispositions, the builder delivers over the galley to the
  contractor as complete:  but he, among other faults and
  objections, observes the lion is not gilt, on which the builder
  or one of his assistants, runs to the head, and dipping a
  mop in the excrement, thrusts it into the face of the lion.

Galley foist. A city barge, used formerly on the lord
  mayor’s day, when he was sworn in at Westminster.

Gallied. Hurried, vexed, over-fatigued, perhaps like a
  galley slave.

Galligaskins.  Breeches.

Gallipot.  A nick namefor an apothecary,

GALLORE, or GOLORE.  Plenty.

Galloper.  A blood horse.  A hunter.  The toby gill clapped his
  bleeders to his galloper and tipped the straps the
  double.  The highwayman spurred his horse and got
  away from the officers.

Gallows bird.  A grief, or pickpocket; also one that
  associates with them.

Games.  Thin, ill-shapped legs:  a corruption of the French
  word jambes.  Fancy gambs; sore or swelled legs.

GAMBADOES.  Leathern cases of stiff leather, used in
  Devonshire instead of boots; they are fastened to the saddle,
  and admit the leg, shoe and all:  the .name was at first
  jocularly given.

Gambler.  A sharper, of tricking, gamester.

Game.  Any mode of robbing.  The toby is now a queer
  game; to rob on the highway is now a bad mode of
  acting.  This observation is frequently made by thieves;
  the roads being now so well guarded by the horse patrole;
  and gentlemen travel with little cash in their pockets.

Game.  Bubbles or pigeons drawn in to be cheated.  Also,
  at bawdy-houses, lewd women.  Mother have you any
  game; mother, have you any girls?  To die game; to
  suffer at the gallows without shewing any signs of fear or
  repentance.  Game pullet; a young whore, or forward
  girl in the way of becoming one.

Page 76

Gamon.  To humbug.  To deceive, To tell lies.  What
  rum gamon the old file pitched to the flat; how finely the
  knowing old fellow humbugged the fool.

Gamon and patter.  Common place talk of any
  profession; as the gamon and patter of a horse-dealer, sailor,
  &c.

Gan.  The mouth or lips.  Cant.

Gander month.  That month in which a man’s wife-lies
  in:  wherefore, during that time, husbands plead a sort of
  indulgence in matters of gallantry.

Gang.  A company of men, a body of sailors, a knot of
  thieves, pickpockets, &c.  A gang of sheep trotters; the
  four feet of a sheep.

GAOLER’S coach.  A hurdle:  traitors being usually
  conveyed from the gaol, to the place of execution, on a
  hurdle or sledge.

Gap stopper.  A whoremaster.

GAPESEED. Sights; any thing to feed the eye.  I am come
  abroad for a little gapeseed.

Garnish.  An entrance fee demanded by the old prisoners
  of one just committed to gaol.

Garret, or upper story.  The head.  His garret, or
  upper story, is empty, or unfurnished; i.e. he has no
  brains, he is a fool.

Garret election.  A ludicrous ceremony, practised every
  new parliament:  it consists of a mock election of two
  members to represent the borough of Garret (a few
  straggling cottages near Wandsworth in Surry); the
  qualification of a voter is, having enjoyed a woman in the open
  air within that district:  the candidates are commonly fellows
  of low humour, who dress themselves up in a ridiculous
  manner.  As this brings a prodigious concourse of
  people to Wandsworth, the publicans of that place jointly
  contribute to the expence, which is sometimes considerable.

GAWKEY.  A tall, thin, awkward young man or woman.

GAYING instrument.  The penis.

Gazebo.  An elevated observatory or summer-house.

Gee.  It won’t gee; it won’t hit or do, it does not suit or
  fit.

Gelding.  An eunuch.

Gelt.  Money, German.—­Also, castrated.

Gentle craft.  The art of shoeniaking.  One of the gentle
  craft:  a shoemaker:  so called because once practised
  by St. Crispin.

Gentleman commoner.  An empty bottle; an university
  joke, gentlemen commoners not being deemed over full
  of learning.

GENTLEMAN’S companion.  A louse.

GENTLEMAN’S master.  A highway robber, because he
  makes a gentleman obey his commands, i.e. stand and deliver.

Gentleman of three ins.  In debt, in gaol, and in danger
  of remaining there for life:  or, in gaol, indicted, and
  in danger of being hanged in chains.

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Gentleman of three outs.  That is, without money,
  without wit, and without manners:  some add another
  out, i.e. without credit.

Gentry cove.  A gentleman.  Cant.

Gentry cove ken.  A gentleman’s house.  Cant.

Gentry mort.  A gentlewoman.

George.  Yellow George; a guinea.  Brown George:  an
  ammunition loaf.

German duck.  Haifa sheep’s head boiled with onions.

Get.  One of his get; one of his offspring, or begetting.

Gib cat.  A northern name for a he cat, there commonly
  called Gilbert.  As melancholy as a gib cat; as melancholy
  as a he cat who has been caterwauling, whence they
  always return scratched, hungry, and out of spirits. 
  Aristotle says, Omne animal post coitum est triste; to which an
  anonymous author has given the following exception,
  preter gallum gallinaceum, et sucerdotem gratis fornicantem.

Gibberish.  The cant language of thieves and gypsies,
  called Pedlars’ French, and St. Giles’s Greek:  see st.
  Giles’s Greek.  Also the mystic language of Geber,
  used by chymists.  Gibberish likewise means a sort of
  disguised language, formed by inserting any consonant
  between each syllable of an English word; in which case it
  is called the gibberish of the letter inserted:  if F, it is the
  F gibberish; if G, the G gibberish; as in the sentence
  How do you do?  Howg dog youg dog.

GIBBE.  A horse that shrinks from the collar and will not
  draw.

Giblets.  To join giblets; said of a man and woman who
  cohabit as husband and wife, without being married;
  also to copulate.

Gibson, or sir John Gibbon, A two-legged stool, used to
  support the body of a coach whilst finishing.

Gifts.  Small white specks under the finger nails, said to
  portend gifts or presents.  A stingy man is said to be
  as full of gifts as a brazen horse of his farts.

Gift of the gab.  A facility of speech.

Gigg.  A nose.  Snitchel his gigg; fillip his nose.  Grunter’s
  gigg; a hog’s snout.  Gigg is also a high one-horse
  chaise, and a woman’s privities.  To gigg a Smithfield
  hank; to hamstring an over-drove ox, vulgarly called a
  mad bullock.

Gigger.  A latch, or door.  Dub the gigger; open the
  door.  Gigger dubber; the turnkey of a jaol.

To giggle.  To suppress a laugh.  Gigglers; wanton women.

Giles’s or st. Giles’s breed. Fat, ragged, and saucy;
  Newton and Dyot streets, the grand head-quarters-of most
  of the thieves and pickpockets about London, are in St. Giles’s
  Giles’s parish.  St. Giles’s Greek; the cant language,
  called also Slang, Pedlars’ French, and Flash.

Page 78

GILFLURT.  A proud minks, a vain capricious woman,

Gill.  The abbreviation of Gillian, figuratively used for
  woman.  Every jack has his gill; i.e. every jack has his
  gillian, or female mate.

Gills.  The cheeks.  To look rosy about the gills; to have
  a fresh complexion.  To look merry about the gills:  to
  appear cheerful.

Gilly GAUPUS.  A Scotch term for a tall awkward
  fellow.

Gilt, or rum dubber.  A thief who picks locks, so called
  from the gilt or picklock key:  many of them are so
  expert, that, from the lock of a church door to that of
  the smallest cabinet, they will find means to open it;
  these go into reputable public houses, where, pretending
  business, they contrive to get into private rooms, up
  stairs, where they open any bureaus or trunks they happen
  to find there.

GIMBLET-eyed. Squinting, either in man or woman.

Gimcrack, or JIMCRACK.  A spruce wench; a gimcrack
  also means a person who has a turn for mechanical
  contrivances.

Gin Spinner.  A distiller.

GINGAMBOBS.  Toys, bawbles; also a man’s privities.  See
  THINGAMBOBS.

Ginger-pated, or ginger-hackled. Red haired:  a
  term borrowed from the cockpit, where red cocks are
  called gingers,

Gingerbread.  A cake made of treacle, flour, and grated
  ginger; also money.  He has the gingerbread; he is
  rich.

Gingerbread work.  Gilding and carving:  these terms
  are particularly applied by seamen on board Newcastle
  colliers, to the decorations of the sterns and quarters of
  West-Indiamen, which they have the greatest joy in defacing.

Gingerly.  Softly, gently, tenderly.  To go gingerly to
  work:  to attempt a thing gently, or cautiously.

Ginny.  An instrument to lift up a great, in order to steal
  what is in the window.  Cant.

Gip from gups a wolf.  A servant at college.

Girds.  Quips, taunts, severe or biting reflections.

Gizzard.  To grumble in the gizzard; to be secretly
  displeased.

Glass eyes.  A nick name for one wearing spectacles.

GLAYMORE.  A Highland broad-sword; from the Erse
 Glay, or glaive, a sword; and more, great.

Glaze.  A window.

Glazier.  One who breaks windows and shew-glasses, to
  steal goods exposed for sale.  Glaziers; eyes.  Cant.—­
  Is your father a glazier; a question asked of a lad or young
  man, who stands between the speaker and the candle, or
  fire.  If it is answered in the negative, the rejoinder is—­
  I wish he was, that he might make a window through
  your body, to enable us to see the fire or light.

Page 79

Glib.  Smooth, slippery.  Glib tongued; talkative.

Glim.  A candle, or dark lantern, used in housebreaking;
  also fire.  To glim; to burn in the hand.  Cant.

GLIMFENDERS.  Andirons.  Cant.

GLIMFLASHY.  Angry, or in a passion.  Cant.

Glim jack.  A link-boy.  Cant.

Glimmer.  Fire.  Cant.

GLIMMERERS.  Persons begging with sham licences,
  pretending losses by fire.

GLIMMS. Eyes.

GLIMSTICK.  A candlestick.  Cant.

Globe.  Pewter.  Cant.

Gloves.  To give any one a pair of gloves; to make them
  a present or bribe.  To win a pair of gloves; to kiss a man
  whilst he sleeps:  for this a pair of gloves is due to any lady
  who will thus earn them.

GLUEPOT.  A parson:  from joining men and women together
  in matrimony.

Glum.  Sullen.

Glutton.  A term used by bruisers to signify a man who
  will bear a great deal of beating.

GNARLER.  A little dog that by his barking alarms the
  family when any person is breaking into the house.

Go, the.  The dash.  The mode.  He is quite the go, he
  is quite varment, he is prime, he is bang up, are
  synonimous expressions.

GLYBE.  A writing.  Cant.

Go between.  A pimp or bawd.

Go by the ground.  A little short person, man or woman.

Go shop.  The Queen’s Head in Duke’s court, Bow street,
  Covent Garden; frequented by the under players:  where
  gin and water was sold in three-halfpenny bowls, called
  Goes; the gin was called Arrack.  The go, the fashion;
  as, large hats are all the go.

Goads.  Those who wheedle in chapmen for horse-dealers.

Goat.  A lascivious person.  Goats jigg; making the beast
  with two backs, copulation.

Gob.  The mouth; also a bit or morsel:  whence gobbets. 
  Gift of the gob; wide-mouthed, or one who speaks fluently,
  or sings well.

Gob string.  A bridle.

Gobbler.  A turkey cock.

Godfather.  He who pays the reckoning, or answers for
  the rest of thecompany:  as, Will you stand godfather, and
  we will take care of the brat; i.e. repay you another
  time.  Jurymen are also called godfathers, because they
  name the crime the prisoner before them has been guilty
  of, whether felony, petit larceny, &c.

Gog.  All-a-gog; impatient, anxious, or desirous of a thing.

Gog and Magog.  Two giants, whose effigies stand on
  each side of the clock in Guildhall, London; of whom
  there is a tradition, that, when they hear the clock strike
  one, on the first of April, they will walk down from their
  places.

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Goggles.  Eyes:  see ogles.  Goggle eyes; large prominent eyes.  To
  goggle; to stare.

Going upon the dub.  Going out to break open, or pick
  the locks of, houses.

Gold droppers.  Sharpers who drop a piece of gold,
  which they pick up in the presence of some unexperienced
  person, for whom the trap is laid, this they pretend to
  have found, and, as he saw them pick it up, they invite
  him to a public house to partake of it:  when there, two
  or three of their comrades drop in, as if by accident, and
  propose cards, or some other game, when they seldom fail
  of stripping their prey.

Gold Finder.  One whose employment is to empty necessary
  houses; called also a tom-turd-man, and night-man: 
  the latter, from that business being always performed in
  the night.

Goldfinch.  One who has commonly a purse full of gold. 
  Goldfinches; guineas.

Golgotha or the place of sculls.  Part of the Theatre
  at Oxford, where the heads of houses sit; those
  gentlemen being by the wits of the university called sculls.

GOLLUMPUS.  A large, clumsy fellow.

Goloshes, i.e.  Goliah’s shoes.  Large leathern clogs, worn
  by invalids over their ordinary shoes.

Good man.  A word of various imports, according to the
  place where it is spoken:  in the city it means a rich man;
  at Hockley in the Hole, or St. Giles’s, an expert boxer;
  at a bagnio in Covent Garden, a vigorous fornicator; at
  an alehouse or tavern, one who loves his pot or bottle;
  and sometimes, though but rarely, a virtuous man

Good woman.  A nondescript, represented on a famous
  sign in St. Giles’s, in the form of a common woman. but
  without a head.

Goodyer’s pig.  Like Goodyer’s pig; never well but when
  in mischief.

Goose.  A taylor’s goose; a smoothing iron used to press
  down the seams, for which purpose it must be heated: 
  hence it is a jocular saying, that a taylor, be he ever so
  poor, is always sure to have a goose at his fire.  He cannot
  say boh to a goose; a saying of a bashful or sheepish
  fellow.

Goose riding.  A goose, whose neck is greased, being suspended
  by the legs to a cord tied to two trees or high posts,
  a number of men on horseback, riding full speed, attempt
  to pull off the head:  which if they effect, the goose is
  their prize.  This has been practised in Derbyshire within
  the memory of persons now living.

Gooseberry.  He played up old gooseberry among them;
  said of a person who. by force or threats, suddenly puts an
  end to a riot or disturbance.

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Gooseberry-eyed. One with dull grey eyes, like boiled
  gooseberries.

Gooseberry wig.  A large frizzled wig:  perhaps from a
  supposed likeness to a gooseberry bush.

GOOSECAP.  A silly fellow or woman.

Gorger.  A gentleman.  A well dressed man.  Mung
  kiddey.  Mung the gorger; beg child beg, of the gentleman.

Gospel shop.  A church.

Goree.  Money, chiefly gold:  perhaps from the traffic
  carried on at that place, which is chiefly for gold dust. 
  Cant.

GORMAGON.  A monster with six eyes, three mouths, four
  arms, eight legs, live on one side and three on the other,
  three arses, two tarses, and a *** upon its back; a man on
  horseback, with a woman behind him.

Gotch-gutted. Pot bellied:  a gotch in Norfolk signifying
  a pitcher, or large round jug.

To Gouge.  To squeeze out a man’s eye with the thumb: 
  a cruel practice used by the Bostonians in America.

To grabble.  To seize.  To grabble the bit; to seize any
  one’s money.  Cant.

Grafted. Cuckolded, i.e. having horns grafted on his
  head.

To Grab.  To seize a man.  The pigs grabbed the kiddey
  for a crack:  the officers, seized the youth for a burglary.

GRANNAM.  Corn.

GRANNUM’S gold.  Hoarded money:  supposed to have
  belonged to the grandmother of the possessor.

Granny.  An abbreviation of grandmother; also the name
  of an idiot, famous for licking, her eye, who died Nov. 14,
  1719.  Go teach your granny to suck eggs; said to such
  as would instruct any one in a matter he knows better than
  themselves.

Grapple the rails.  A cant name used in Ireland for
  whiskey.

Grappling irons.  Handcuffs.

Grave digger.  Like a grave digger; up to the a-se in
  business, and don’t know which way to turn.

Gravy-eyed. Blear-eyed, one whose eyes have a running
  humour.

To grease.  To bribe.  To grease a man in the fist; to
  bribe him.  To grease a fat sow in the a-se; to give to a
  rich man.  Greasy chin; a treat given to parish officers in
  part of commutation for a bastard:  called also, Eating a
  child.

Great intimate.  As great as shirt and shitten a-se.

Great Joseph.  A surtout.  Cant.

Greedy guts.  A covetous or voracious person.

Greek.  St. Giles’s Greek; the slang lingo, cant, or gibberish.

Green.  Doctor Green; i.e. grass:  a physician, or rather
  medicine, found very successful in curing most disorders
  to which horses are liable.  My horse is not well, I shall
  send him to Doctor Green.

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Green.  Young, inexperienced, unacquainted; ignorant.  How
  green the cull was not to stag how the old file planted the
  books.  How ignorant the booby was not to perceive
  how the old sharper placed the cards in such a manner
  as to insure the game.

Green bag.  An attorney:  those gentlemen carry their
  clients’ deeds in a green bag; and, it is said, when they
  have no deeds to carry, frequently fill them with an old
  pair of breeches, or any other trumpery, to give themselves
  the appearance of business.

Green gown.  To give a girl a green gown; to tumble her
  on the grass.

Green sickness.  The disease of maids occasioned by celibacy.

Greenhead.  An inexperienced young man.

Greenhorn.  A novice on the town, an undebauched young
  fellow, just initiated into the society of bucks and bloods.

Greenwich barbers.  Retailers of sand from the pits at
  and about Greenwich, in Kent:  perhaps they are styled
  barbers, from their constant shaving the sandbanks.

Greenwich goose.  A pensioner of Greenwich Hospital.

Gregorian tree.  The gallows:  so named from Gregory
  Brandon, a famous finisher of the law; to whom Sir William
  Segar, garter king of arms (being imposed on by
  Brooke, a herald), granted a coat of arms.

Grey beard.  Earthen jugs formerly used in public house
  for drawing ale:  they had the figure of a man with a large
  beard stamped on them; whence probably they took
  the name:  see Ben JONSON’S plays, Bartholomew fair,
  &c. &c.  Dutch earthen jugs, used for smuggling gin on
  the coasts of Essex and Suffolk, are at this time called
  grey beards.

Grey mare.  The grey mare is the better horse; said of
  a woman who governs her husband.

Grey parson.  A farmer who rents the tithes of the rector
  or vicar.

Grig.  A farthing.  A merry grig; a fellow as merry as a
  grig:  an allusion to the apparent liveliness of a grig, or
  young eel.

Grim.  Old Mr. Grim; death.

Grimalkin.  A cat:  mawkin signifies a hare in Scotland.

Grin.  To grin in a glass case; to be anatomized for murder: 
  the skeletons of many criminals are preserved in glass
  cases, at Surgeons’ hall.

GRINAGOG, the cat’s uncle.  A foolish grinning fellow,
  one who grins without reason.

Grinders.  Teeth.  Gooseberry grinder; the breech.  Ask
  bogey, the gooseberry grinder; ask mine a-se.

To grind.  To have carnal knowledge of a woman.

Groats.  To save his groats; to come off handsomely:  at
  the universities, nine groats are deposited in the hands of an
  academic officer, by every person standing for a degree;
  which if the depositor obtains with honour, the groats are
  returned to him.

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Grog.  Rum and water.  Grog was first introduced into the
  navy about the year 1740, by Admiral Vernon, to prevent
  the sailors intoxicating themselves with their allowance of
  rum, or spirits.  Groggy, or groggified; drunk.

Grog-Blossom.  A carbuncle, or pimple in the face, caused
  by drinking.

GROGGED. A grogged horse; a foundered horse.

GROGHAM.  A horse.  Cant.

GROPERS.  Blind men; also midwives.

Ground Sweat.  A grave.

Ground squirrel.  A hog, or pig.  Sea term.

Grub.  Victuals.  To grub; to dine.

Grub street.  A street near Moorfields, formerly the supposed
  habitation of many persons who wrote for the booksellers: 
  hence a Grub-street writer means a hackney author,
  who manufactures booss for the booksellers.

Grub street news.  Lying intelligence.

To GRUBSHITE.  To make foul or dirty.

Grumble.  To grumble in the gizzard; to murmur or repine. 
  He grumbled like a bear with a sore head.

GRUMBLETONIAN.  A discontented person; one who is always
  railing at the times or ministry.

Grunter.  A hog; to grunt; to groan, or complain of sickness.

Grunter’s gig.  A smoaked hog’s face.

Grunting peck.  Pork, bacon, or any kind of hog’s flesh.

GRUTS.  Tea.

Gudgeon.  One easily imposed on.  To gudgeon; to swallow
  the bait, or fall into a trap:  from the fish of that name,
  which is easily taken.

Gull.  A simple credulous fellow, easily cheated.

Gulled. Deceived, cheated, imposed on.

GULLGROPERS.  Usurers who lend money to the gamesters.

Gum.  Abusive language.  Come, let us have no more of
  your gum.

Gummy.  Clumsy:  particularly applied to the ancles of
  men or women, and the legs of horses.

Gumption, or rum gumption.  Docility, comprehension,
  capacity.

Gun.  He is in the gun; he is drunk:  perhaps from an allusion
  to a vessel called a gun, used for ale in the universities.

GUNDIGUTS.  A fat, pursy fellow.

Gunner’s daughter.  To kiss the gunner’s daughter; to
  be tied to a gun and flogged on the posteriors; a mode of
  punishing boys on board a ship of war.

Gunpowder.  An old Woman.  Cant.

Guts.  My great guts are ready to eat my little ones; my
  guts begin to think my throat’s cut; my guts curse my
  teeth:  all expressions signifying the party is extremely
  hungry.

Guts and garbage.  A very fat man or woman.  More
  guts than brains; a silly fellow.  He has plenty of guts, but
  no bowels:  said of a hard, merciless, unfeeling person.

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GUTFOUNDERED. Exceeding hungry.

Gut Scraper, or tormentor of catgut.  A fiddler.

Gutter lane.  The throat, the swallow, the red lane. 
  See red lane.

Gutting A quart pot.  Taking out the lining of it:  i. e.
  drinking it off.  Gutting an oyster; eating it.  Gutting a
  house; clearing it of its furniture.  See poulterer.

Guy.  A dark lanthorn:  an allusion to Guy Faux, the principal
  actor in the gunpowder plot.  Stow the guy:  conceal the
  lanthorn.

Guzzle.  Liquor.  To guzzle; to drink greedily.

Guzzle guts.  One greedy of liquor.

Gybe, or JYBE.  Any writing or pass with a seal.

GYBING.  Jeering or ridiculing.

Gyles, or Giles.  Hopping Giles; a nick name for a lame
  person:  St. Giles was the tutelar saint of cripples.

Gyp.  A college runner or errand-boy at Cambridge, called
  at Oxford a scout.  See scout.

Gypsies.  A set of vagrants, who, to the great disgrace of
  our police, are suffered to wander about the country. 
  They pretend that they derive their origin from the
  ancient Egyptians, who were famous for their knowledge
  in astronomy and other sciences; and, under the pretence
  of fortune-telling, find means to rob or defraud the ignorant
  and superstitious.  To colour their impostures, they
  artificially discolour their faces, and speak a kind of
  gibberish peculiar to themselves.  They rove up and down the
  country in large companies, to the great terror of the
  farmers, from whose geese, turkeys, and fowls, they take very
  considerable contributions.

  When a fresh recruit is admitted into the fraternity, he is to
   take the following oath, administered by the principal
   maunder, after going through the annexed forms: 

  First, a new name is given him by which he is ever after to
   be called; then standing up in the middle of the assembly,
   and directing his face to the dimber damber, or principal
   man of the gang, he repeats the following oath, which is
   dictated to him by some experienced member of the fraternity: 

  I, Crank Cuffin, do swear to be a true brother, and that I will
   in all things obey the commands of the great tawney
   prince, and keep his counsel and not divulge the secrets of
   my brethren.

  I will never leave nor forsake the company, but observe and
   keep all the times of appointment, either by day or by
   night, in every place whatever.

  I will not teach any one to cant, nor will I disclose any of
   our mysteries to them.

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  I will take my prince’s part against all that shall oppose him,
   or any of us, according to the utmost of my ability; nor
   will I suffer him, or any one belongiug to us, to be abused
   by any strange abrams, rufflers, hookers, pailliards,
   swaddlers, Irish toyles, swigmen, whip jacks, jarkmen,
   bawdy baskets, dommerars, clapper dogeons, patricoes,
   or curtals; but will defend him, or them, as much as I
   can, against all other outliers whatever.  I will not conceal
   aught I win out of libkins or from the ruffmans, but
   will preserve it for the use of the company.  Lastly, I
   will cleave to my doxy wap stiffly, and will bring her
   duds, marjery praters, goblers, grunting cheats, or tibs
   of the buttery, or any thing else I can come at, as
   winnings for her weppings.

  The canters have, it seems, a tradition, that from the three
   first articles of this oath, the first founders of a certain
   boastful, worshipful fraternity (who pretend to derive their
   origin from the earliest times) borrowed both the hint and
   form of their establishment; and that their pretended
   derivation from the first Adam is a forgery, it being only
   from the first Adam Tiler:  see adam tiler.  At the
   admission of a new brother, a general stock is raised for
   booze, or drink, to make themselves merry on the occasion. 
   As for peckage or eatables, they can procure without
   money; for while some are sent to break the ruffmans,
   or woods and bushes, for firing, others are detached to
   filch geese, chickens, hens, ducks (or mallards), and pigs. 
   Their morts are their butchers, who presently make
   bloody work with what living things are brought them; and
   having made holes in the ground under some remote hedge
   in an obscure place, they make a fire and boil or broil their
   food; and when it is enough, fall to work tooth and nail: 
   and having eaten more like beasts than men, they drink
   more like swine than human creatures, entertaining one
   another all the time with songs in the canting dialect.

  As they live, so they lie, together promiscuously, and know
   not how to claim a property either in their goods or children: 
   and this general interest ties them more firmly together
   than if all their rags were twisted into ropes, to bind
   them indissolubly from a separation; which detestable
   union is farther consolidated by the above oath.

  They stroll up and down all summer-time in droves, and
   Dexterously pick pockets, while they are telling of fortunes;
   and the money, rings, silver thirribles, &c. which they
   get, are instantly conveyed from one hand to another,
   till the remotest person of the gang (who is not suspected
   because they come not near the person robbed) gets possession
   of it; so that, in the strictest search, it is impossible to
   recover it; while the wretches with imprecations,
   oaths, and protestations, disclaim the thievery.

Page 86

  That by which they are said to get the most money, is,
   when young gentlewomen of good families and reputation
   have happened to be with child before marriage, a round
   sum is often bestowed among the gypsies, for some one
   mort to take the child; and as that is never heard of
   more by the true mother and family, so the disgrace is
   kept concealed from the world; and, if the child lives, it
   never knows its parents.

Haberdasher of pronouns.  A schoolmaster, or
  usher.

Hackney writer.  One who writes for attornies or
  booksellers.

Hackum.  Captain Hackum; a bravo, a slasher.

Had’em.  He has been at Had’em, and came home by Clapham;
  said of one who has caught the venereal disease.

Hair splitter.  A man’s yard.

Halbert.  A weapon carried by a serjeant of foot.  To get
  a halbert; to be appointed a serjeant.  To be brought to
  the halberts; to be flogged a la militaire:  soldiers of the
  infantry, when flogged, being commonly tied to three halberts,
  set up in a triangle, with a fourth fastened across
  them.  He carries the halbert in his face; a saying of one
  promoted from a serjeant to a commission officer.

Half A hog.  Sixpence.

Half seas over.  Almost drunk.

Hamlet.  A high constable.  Cant.

Hams, or HAMCASES Breeches.

Hand.  A sailor.  We lost a hand; we lost a sailor.  Bear a
  hand; make haste.  Hand to fist; opposite:  the same as
  tete-a-tete, or cheek by joul.

Hand and pocket shop.  An eating house, where ready
  money is paid for what is called for.

Hand basket portion.  A woman whose husband receives
  frequent presents from her father, or family, is
  said to have a hand-basket portion.

Handle.  To know how to handle one’s fists; to be skilful
  in the art of boxing.  The cove flashes a rare handle to
  his physog; the fellow has a large nose.

Handsome.  He is a handsome-bodied man in the face; a
  jeering commendation of an ugly fellow.  Handsome is that
  handsome does:  a proverb frequently cited by ugly women.

Handsome reward.  This, in advertisements, means a
  horse-whipping.

To hang an arse.  To hang back, to hesitate.

Hang gallows look.  A thievish, or villainous appearance.

Hang in chains.  A vile, desperate fellow.  Persons
  guilty of murder, or other atrocious crimes, are frequently,
  after execution, hanged on a gibbet, to which
  they are fastened by iron bandages; the gibbet is commonly
  placed on or near the place where the crime was committed.

Page 87

Hang it up.  Score it up:  speaking of a reckoning.

Hang out.  The traps scavey where we hang out; the officers
  know where we live.

Hanger on.  A dependant.

Hangman’s wages.  Thirteen pence halfpenny; which,
  according to the vulgar tradition, was thus allotted:  one
  shilling for the executioner, and three halfpence for the rope,
  —­N.  B. This refers to former times; the hangmen of the
  present day having, like other artificers, raised their prices. 
  The true state of this matter is, that a Scottish mark was
  the fee allowed for an execution, and the value of that
  piece was settled by a proclamation of James I. at thirteen
  pence halfpenny.

Hank.  He has a hank on him; i.e. an ascendancy over
  him, or a hold upon him.  A Smithfield hank; an ox,
  rendered furious by overdriving and barbarous treatment. 
  See bull hank.

Hanker.  To hanker after any thing; to have a longing
  after or for it.

Hans in Kelder.  Jack in the cellar, i.e. the child in the
  womb:  a health frequently drank to breeding women or
  their husbands.

Hard.  Stale beer, nearly sour, is said to be hard.  Hard
  also means severe:  as, hard fate, a hard master.

Hard at his A-se.  Close after him.

Hare.  He has swallowed a hare; he is drunk; more probably
  a hair, which requires washing down,

Hark-ye-Ing.  Whispering on one side to borrow money.

Harman.  A constable.  Cant.

Harman Beck.  A beadle.  Cant.

Harmans.  The stocks.  Cant.

Harp.  To harp upon; to dwell upon a subject.  Have
  among you, my blind harpers; an expression used in throwing
  or shooting at random among the crowd.  Harp is also
  the Irish expression for woman, or tail, used in tossing
  up in Ireland:  from Hibernia, being represented with a
  harp on the reverse of the copper coins of that country;
  for which it is, in hoisting the copper, i.e. tossing up,
  sometimes likewise called music.

Harridan.  A hagged old woman; a miserable, scraggy,
  worn-out harlot, fit to take her bawd’s degree:  derived
  from the French word HARIDELLE, a worn-out jade of a horse
  or mare.

Harry.  A country fellow.  Cant.—­Old Harry; the Devil.

HARUM scarum.  He was running harum scarum; said of
  any one running or walking hastily, and in a hurry, after
  they know not what.

Hash.  To flash the hash; to vomit.  Cant.

Hasty.  Precipitate, passionate.  He is none of the Hastings
  sort; a saying of a slow, loitering fellow:  an allusion to the
  Hastings pea, which is the first in season.

Page 88

Hasty pudding.  Oatmeal and milk boiled to a moderate
  thickness, and eaten with sugar and butter.  Figuratively,
  a wet, muddy road:  as, The way through Wandsworth is
  quite a hasty pudding.  To eat hot hasty pudding for a
  laced hat, or some other prize, is a common feat at wakes
  and fairs.

Hat.  Old hat; a woman’s privities:  because frequently
  felt.

Hatches.  Under the hatches; in trouble, distress, or debt.

Hatchet face.  A long thin face.

HAVIL.  A sheep.  Cant.

HAVY cavy.  Wavering, doubtful, shilly shally.

Hawk.  Ware hawk; the word to look sharp, a bye-word
  when a bailiff passes.  Hawk also signifies a sharper, in
  opposition to pigeon.  See pigeon.  See ware hawk.

Hawkers.  Licensed itinerant retailers of different commodities,
  called also pedlars; likewise the sellers of news-papers. 
  Hawking; an effort to spit up the thick phlegm, called
  oysters:  whence it is wit upon record, to ask the person
  so doing whether he has a licence; a punning allusion to the
  Act of hawkers and pedlars.

To hazel gild.  To beat any one with a hazel stick.

Head cully of the pass, or passage bank.  The top
  tilter of that gang throughout the whole army, who
  demands and receives contribution from all the pass banks in
  the camp.

Head rails.  Teeth.  Sea phrase.

Hearing cheats.  Ears.  Cant.

Heart’s ease.  Gin.

Hearty choak.  He will have a hearty choak and caper
  sauce for breakfast; i.e. he will be hanged.

Heathen philosopher.  One whose breech may be seen
  through his pocket-hole:  this saying arose from the old
  philosophers, many of whom depised the vanity of dress to
  such a point, as often to fall into the opposite extreme.

To heave.  To rob.  To heave a case; to rob a house. 
  To heave a bough; to rob a booth.  Cant.

Heaver.  The breast.  Cant.

Heavers.  Thieves who make it their business to steal
  tradesmen’s shop-books.  Cant.

Hector. bully, a swaggering coward.  To hector; to
  bully, probably from such persons affecting the valour of
  Hector, the Trojan hero.

Hedge.  To make a hedge; to secure a bet, or wager, laid
  on one side, by taking the odds on the other, so that, let
  what will happen, a certain gain is secured, or hedged in,
  by the person who takes this precaution; who is then said
  to be on velvet.

Hedge alehouse.  A small obscure alehouse.

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Hedge creeper.  A robber of hedges.

Hedge priest. An illiterate unbeneficed curate, a patrico.

Hedge whore.  An itinerant harlot, who bilks the bagnios
  and bawdy-houses, by disposing of her favours on the
  wayside, under a hedge; a low beggarly prostitute.

Heels.  To he laid by the heels; to be confined, or put in
  prison.  Out at heels; worn, or diminished:  his estate or
  affairs are out at heels.  To turn up his heels; to turn up
  the knave of trumps at the game of all-fours.

Heel tap.  A peg in the heel of a shoe, taken out when it
  is finished.  A person leaving any liquor in his glass, is
  frequently called upon by the toast-master to take off his
  heel-tap.

Hell.  A taylor’s repository for his stolen goods, called
  cabbage:  see cabbage.  Little hell; a small dark covered
  passage, leading from London-wall to Bell-alley.

Hell-born babe.  A lewd graceless youth, one naturally
  of a wicked disposition.

Hell cat.  A termagant, a vixen, a furious scolding woman. 
  See termagant and vixen.

Hell hound.  A wicked abandoned fellow.

Hell fire Dick.  The Cambridge driver of the Telegraph. 
  The favorite companion of the University fashionables,
  and the only tutor to whose precepts they attend.

Helter skelter.  To run helter skelter, hand over head,
  in defiance of order.

Hemp.  Young hemp; an appellation for a graceless boy.

Hempen fever.  A man who was hanged is said to have
  died of a hempen fever; and, in Dorsetshire, to have been
  stabbed with a Bridport dagger; Bridport being a place
  famous for manufacturing hemp into cords.

Hempen widow.  One whose husband was hanged.

Hen-hearted. Cowardly.

Hen house.  A house where the woman rules; called also
  a she house, and hen frigate:  the latter a sea phrase,
  originally applied to a ship, the captain of which had his
  wife on board, supposed to command him.

Henpecked. A husband governed by his wife, is said to
  be henpecked.

Hen.  A woman.  A cock and hen club; a club composed
  of men and women.

Here and THEREIAN.  One who has no settled place of
  residence.

Herring.  The devil a barrel the better herring; all equally
  bad.

Herring gutted. Thin, as a shotten hering.

Herring pond.  The sea.  To cross the herring pond at
  the king’s expence; to be transported.

Hertfordshire kindness.  Drinking twice to the same
  person.

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Hick.  A country hick; an ignorant clown.  Cant.

Hickenbothom.  Mr. Hickenbothom; a ludicrous name
  for an unknown person, similar to that of Mr. Thingambob. 
  Hickenbothom, i.e. a corruption of the German
  word ickenbaum, i.e. oak tree.

Hickey.  Tipsey; quasi, hickupping.

Hide and seek.  A childish game.  He plays at hide and
  seek; a saying of one who is in fear of being arrested for
  debt, or apprehended for some crime, and therefore does
  not chuse to appear in public, but secretly skulks up and
  down.  See skulk.

Hidebound.  Stingy, hard of delivery; a poet poor in invention,
  is said to have a hidebound muse.

HIGGLEDY piggledy.  Confusedly mixed.

High eating.  To eat skylarks in a garret.

High flyers.  Tories, Jacobites.

High Jinks.  A gambler at dice, who, having a strong
  head, drinks to intoxicate his adversary, or pigeon.

High living.  To lodge in a garret, or cockloft

High pad.  A highwayman.  Cant.

High ropes.  To be on the high ropes; to be in a passion.

High shoon, or clouted shoon.  A country clown.

High water.  It is high water, with him; he is full of
  money.

Highgate.  Sworn at Highgate—­a ridiculous custom formerly
  prevailed at the public-houses in Highgate, to administer
  a ludicrous oath to all travellers of the middling
  rank who stopped there.  The party was sworn on a pair
  of horns, fastened on a stick:  the substance of the oath
  was, never to kiss the maid when he could kiss the mistress,
  never to drink small beer when he could get strong, with
  many other injunctions of the like kind; to all which was
  added the saving cause of “unless you like it best.”  The
  person administering the oath was always to be called
  father by the juror; and he, in return, was to style him
  son, under the penalty of a bottle.

Hike.  To hike off; to run away.  Cant.

Hind leg.  To kick out a hind leg; to make a rustic bow.

HINNEY, my honey.  A north country hinney, particularly
  a Northumbrian:  in that county, hinney is the general
  term of endearment.

History of the four kings, or child’s best guide to
  the gallows.  A pack of cards.  He studies the history
  of the four kings assiduously; he plays much at cards.

Hoaxing.  Bantering, ridiculing.  Hoaxing a quiz; joking
  an odd fellow.  University wit.

Hob, or HOBBINOL, a clown.

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Hob or nob.  Will you hob or nob with me? a question
  formerly in fashion at polite tables, signifying a request or
  challenge to drink a glass of wine with the proposer:  if the
  party challenged answered Nob, they were to chuse whether
  white or red.  This foolish custom is said to have
  originated in the days of good queen Bess, thus:  when
  great chimnies were in fashion, there was at each corner
  of the hearth, or grate, a small elevated projection, called
  the hob; and behind it a seat.  In winter time the beer
  was placed on the hob to warm:  and the cold beer was
  set on a small table, said to have been called the nob; so
  that the question, Will you have hob or nob? seems only
  to have meant, Will you have warm or cold beer? i.e.
  beer from the hob, or beer from the nob.

HOBBERDEHOY.  Half a man and half a boy, a lad between
  both.

Hobbled. Impeded, interrupted, puzzled.  To hobble;
  to walk lamely.

HOBBLEDYGEE.  A pace between a walk and a run, a dog-trot.

Hobby.  Sir Posthumous’s hobby; one nice or whimsical
  in his clothes.

Hobby horse.  A man’s favourite amusement, or study,
  is called his hobby horse.  It also means a particular kind
  of small Irish horse:  and also a wooden one, such as is
  given to children.

Hobby HORSICAL.  A man who is a great keeper or rider
  of hobby horses; one that is apt to be strongly attached
  to his systems of amusement.

Hobnail.  A country clodhopper:  from the shoes of country
  farmers and ploughmen being commonly stuck full of
  hob-nails, and even often clouted, or tipped with iron. 
  The Devil ran over his face with hobnails in his shoes;
  said of one pitted With the small pox.

HOBSON’S choice.  That or none; from old Hobson, a
  famous carrier of Cambridge, who used to let horses to the
  students; but never permitted them to chuse, always
  allotting each man the horse he thought properest for his
  manner of riding and treatment.

Hocks. vulgar appellation for the feet.  You have left
  the marks of your dirty hocks on my clean stairs; a frequent
  complaint from a mop squeezer to a footman.

Hockey.  Drunk with strong stale beer, called old hock. 
  See Hickey.

Hocking, or HOUGHING.  A piece of cruelty practised by
  the butchers of Dublin, on soldiers, by cutting the tendon
  of Achilles; this has been by law made felony.

Hocus pocus.  Nonsensical words used by jugglers, previous
  to their deceptions, as a kind of charm, or incantation.  A
  celebrated writer supposes it to be a ludicrous corruption
  of the words hoc est corpus, used by the popish priests m
  consecrating the host.  Also Hell Hocus is used to express
  drunkenness:  as, he is quite hocus; he is quite drunk.

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Hod.  Brother Hod; a familiar name for a bricklayer’s
  labourer:  from the hod which is used for carrying bricks and
  mortar.

HODDY DODDY, all A-se and no body.  A short clumsy
  person, either male or female.

Hodge.  An abbreviation of Roger:  a general name for a
  country booby.

Hodge podge.  An irregular mixture of numerous things.

HODMANDODS.  Snails in their shells.

Hog.  A shilling.  To drive one’s hogs; to snore:  the noise
  made by some persons in snoring, being not much unlike
  the notes of that animal.  He has brought his hogs to a
  fine market; a saying of any one who has been remarkably
  successful in his affairs, and is spoken ironically to signify
  the contrary.  A hog in armour; an awkward or mean
  looking man or woman, finely dressed, is said to look like
  a hog in armour.  To hog a horse’s mane; to cut it short,
  so that the ends of the hair stick up like hog’s bristles. 
  Jonian hogs; an appellation given to the members of St.
  John’s College, Cambridge.

Hog grubber.  A mean stingy fellow.

Hoggish.  Rude, unmannerly, filthy.

HOGO.  Corruption of haut goust, high taste, or flavour;
  commonly said of flesh somewhat tainted.  It has a
  confounded hogo; it stinks confoundedly.

Hoist. To go upon the hoist; to get into windows
  accidentally left open:  this is done by the assistance of a
  confederate, called the hoist, who leans his head against the
  wall, making his back a kind of step or ascent.

Hoisting.  A ludicrous ceremony formerly performed on
  every soldier, the first time he appeared in the field after
  being married; it was thus managed:  As soon as the
  regiment, or company, had grounded their arms to rest a
  while, three or four men of the same company to which
  the bridegroom belonged, seized upon him, and putting a
  couple of bayonets out of the two corners of his hat, to
  represent horns, it was placed on his head, the back part
  foremost.  He was then hoisted on the shoulders of two
  strong fellows, and carried round the arms, a drum and fife
  beating and playing the pioneers call, named Round Heads
  and Cuckolds, but on this occasion styled the Cuckold’s
  March; in passing the colours, he was to take off his hat: 
  this, in some regiments, was practised by the officers on
  their brethren, Hoisting, among pickpockets, is, setting
  a man on his head, that his money, watch, &c. may fall
  out of his pockets; these they pick up, and hold to be
  no robbery.  See reversed.

HOITY-toity.  A hoity-toity wench; a giddy, thoughtless,
  romping girl.

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Holborn hill.  To ride backwards up Holborn hill; to
  go to the gallows:  the way to Tyburn, the place of
  execution for criminals condemned in London, was up that
  hill.  Criminals going to suffer, always ride backwards,
  as some conceive to increase the ignominy, but more
  probably to prevent them being shocked with a distant view
  of the gallows; as, in amputations, surgeons conceal the
  instruments with which they are going to operate.  The
  last execution at Tyburn, and consequently of this
  procession, was in the year 1784, since which the criminals
  have been executed near Newgate

Holiday.  A holiday bowler; a bad bowler.  Blind man’s
  holiday; darkness, night.  A holiday is any part of a
  ship’s bottom, left uncovered in paying it.  Sea term.  It
  is all holiday; See all holiday.

Holy father.  A butcher’s boy of St. Patrick’s Market,
  Dublin, or other Irish blackguard; among whom
  the exclamation, or oath, by the Holy Father (meaning
  the Pope), is common.

Holy lamb.  A thorough-paced villain.  Irish.

Holy water.  He loves him as the Devil loves holy water,
  i.e. hates him mortally.  Holy water, according to the
  Roman Catholics, having the virtue to chase away the Devil
  and his imps.

Hollow.  It was quiet a hollow thing; i.e. a certainty, or
  decided business.

Honest man.  A term frequently used by superiors to inferiors. 
  As honest a man as any in the cards when all the
  kings are out; i.e. a knave.  I dare not call thee rogue for
  fear of the law, said a quaker to an attorney; but I wil
  give thee five pounds, if thou canst find any creditable
  person who wilt say thou art an honest man.

Honest woman.  To marry a woman with whom one has
  cohabitated as a mistress, is termed, making an honest
  woman of her.

Honey moon.  The first month after marriage.  A poor
  honey; a harmless, foolish, goodnatured fellow.  It is all
  honey or a t—­d with them; said of persons who are
  either in the extremity of friendship or enmity, either
  kissing or fighting.

Hood-winked. Blindfolded by a handkerchief, or other
  ligature, bound over the eyes.

Hoof.  To beat the hoof; to travel on foot.  He hoofed it
  or beat the hoof, every step of the way from Chester to
  London.

Hook and SNIVEY, with Nix the buffer.  This rig
  consists in feeding a man and a dog for nothing, and is
  carried on thus:  Three men, one of who pretends to be
  sick and unable to eat, go to a public house:  the two well
  men make a bargain with the landlord for their dinner,
  and when he is out of sight, feed their pretended sick
  companion and dog gratis.

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HOOKEE Walker.  An expression signifying that the story
  is not true, or that the thing will not occour.

Hooked. Over-reached, tricked, caught:  a simile taken
  from fishing. **** hooks; fingers.

Hookers.  See anglers.

Hoop.  To run the hoop; an ancient marine custom.  Four
  or more boys having their left hands tied fast to an iron
  hoop, and each of them a rope, called a nettle, in their
  right, being naked to the waist, wait the signal to begin: 
  this being made by a stroke with a cat of nine tails, given
  by the boatswain to one of the boys, he strikes the boy before
  him, and every one does the same:  at first the blows are
  but gently administered; but each irritated by the strokes
  from the boy behind him, at length lays it on in earnest. 
  This was anciently practised when a ship was wind-bound.

To hoop.  To beat.  I’ll well hoop his or her barrel, I’ll
  beat him or her soundly.

To hop the twig.  To run away.  Cant.

Hop merchant.  A dancing master.  See caper merchant.

Hop-O-my-thumb.  A diminutive person, man or woman. 
  She was such a-hop-o-my thumb, that a pigeon, sitting
  on her shoulder, might pick a pea out of her a-se.

Hopkins.  Mr. Hopkins; a ludicrous address to a lame or
  limping man, being a pun on the word hop.

Hopping Giles.  A jeering appellation given to any person
  who limps, or is lame; St. Giles was the patron of
  cripples, lepers, &c.  Churches dedicated to that saint
  commonly stand out of town, many of them having been
  chapels to hospitals.  See Gyles.

Hopper-ARSED. Having large projecting buttocks:  from
  their resemblance to a small basket, called a hopper or
  hoppet, worn by husbandmen for containing seed corn,
  when they sow the land.

Horns.  To draw in one’s horns; to retract an assertion
  through fear:  metaphor borrowed from a snail, who on the
  apprehension of danger, draws in his horns, and retires to
  his shell.

Horn colic.  A temporary priapism.

Horn fair.  An annual fair held at Charlton, in Kent, on St.
  Luke’s day, the 18th of October.  It consists of a riotous
  mob, who after a printed summons dispersed through the
  adjacent towns, meet at Cuckold’s Point, near Deptford,
  and march from thence in procession, through that town
  and Greenwich, to Charlton, with horns of different kinds
  upon their heads; and at the fair there are sold rams
  horns, and every sort of toy made of horn; even the gingerbread
  figures have horns, The vulgar tradition gives the
  following history of the origin of this

Page 95

fair; King John,
  or some other of our ancient kings, being at the palace of
  Eltham, in this neighbourhood, and having been out a
  hunting one day, rambled from his company to this place,
  then a mean hamlet; when entering a cottage to inquire
  his way, he was struck with the beauty of the mistress,
  whom he found alone; and having prevailed over her
  modesty, the husband returning suddenly, surprised them
  together; and threatening to kill them both, the king was
  obliged to discover himself, and to compound for his safety
  by a purse of gold, and a grant of the land from this
  place to Cuckold’s Point, besides making the husband
  master of the hamlet.  It is added that, in memory of this
  grant, and the occasion of it, this fair was established, for
  the sale of horns, and all sorts of goods made with that
  material.  A sermon is preached at Charlton church on
  the fair day.

Horn mad.  A person extremely jealous of his wife, is
  said to be horn mad.  Also a cuckold, who does not cut
  or breed his horns easily.

Horn work.  Cuckold-making.

HORNIFIED. Cuckolded.

Horse Buss.  A kiss with a loud smack; also a bite.

Horse COSER.  A dealer in horses:  vulgarly and corruptly
  pronounced horse Courser.  The verb to Cose was used by
  the Scots, in the sense of bartering or exchanging.

Horse godmother.  A large masculine woman, a
  gentlemanlike kind of a lady.

Horse ladder.  A piece of Wiltshire wit, which consists
  in sending some raw lad, or simpleton, to a neighbouring
  farm house, to borrow a horse ladder, in order to get up
  the horses, to finish a hay-mow.

Horse’s meal.  A meal without drinking.

Hosteler, i.e. oat stealer.  Hosteler was originally the
  name for an inn-keeper; inns being in old English styled
  hostels, from the French signifying the same.

Hot pot.  Ale and brandy made hot.

Hot stomach.  He has so hot a stomach, that he burns
  all the clothes off his back; said of one who pawns his
  clothes to purchase liquor.

House, or tenement, to let.  A widow’s weeds; also
  an atchievement marking the death of a husband, set up
  on the outside of a mansion:  both supposed to indicate
  that the dolorous widow wants a male comforter.

HOYDON.  A romping girl.

Hubble-bubble.  Confusion.  A hubble-bubble fellow;
  a man of confused ideas, or one thick of speech, whose
  words sound like water bubbling out of a bottle.  Also an
  instrument used for smoaking through water in the East
  Indies, called likewise a caloon, and hooker.

Page 96

Hubble de shuff.  Confusedly.  To fire hubble de shuff,
  to fire quick and irregularly.  Old military term.

Hubbub.  A noise, riot, or disturbance.

Huckle my buff.  Beer, egg, and brandy, made hot.

Hucksters.  Itinerant retailers of provisions.  He is in
  hucksters hands; he is in a bad way.

To Hue.  To lash.  The cove was hued in the naskin;
  the rogue was soundly lashed in bridewell.  Cant.

To huff.  To reprove, or scold at any one; also to bluster,
  bounce, ding, or swagger.  A captain huff; a noted bully. 
  To stand the huff; to be answerable for the reckoning in
  a public house.

Hug.  To hug brown bess; to carry a firelock, or serve as a
  private soldier.  He hugs it as the Devil hugs a witch: 
  said of one who holds any thing as if he was afraid of losing
  it.

Hugger mugger.  By stealth, privately, without making
  an appearance.  They spent their money in a hugger
  mugger way.

HUGOTONTHEONBIQUIFFINARIANS.  A society existing in
  1748.

HULKY, or hulking.  A great hulky fellow; an over-grown
  clumsy lout, or fellow.

Hulver-headed. Having a hard impenetrable head; hulver,
  in the Norfolk dialect, signifying holly, a hard and
  solid wood.

To hum, or humbug.  To deceive, or impose on one by
  some story or device.  A humbug; a jocular imposition,
  or deception.  To hum and haw; to hesitate in speech,
  also to delay, or be with difficulty brought to consent to
  any matter or business,

Hums. Persons at church.  There is a great number of hums
  in the autem; there is a great congregation in the church.

Hum box.  A pulpit.

Hum cap.  Very old and strong beer, called also stingo. 
  See stingo.

Hum drum.  A hum drum fellow; a dull tedious narrator,
  a bore; also a set of gentlemen, who (Bailey says) used to
  meet near the Charter House, or at the King’s Head in St.
  John’s-street, who had more of pleasantry, and less of mystery,
  than the free masons.

Hum DURGEON.  An imaginary illness.  He has got the
  humdurgeon, the thickest part of his thigh is nearest his a-se;
  i.e. nothing ails him except low spirits.

HUMBUGS.  The brethren of the venerable society of humbugs
  was held at brother Hallam’s, in Goodman’s Fields.

Hummer.  A great lye, a rapper.  See rapper.

Humming liquor.  Double ale, stout pharaoh.  See pharaoh.

HUMMUMS. A bagnio, or bathing house.

Page 97

Hum TRUM.  A musical instrument made of a mopstick, a
  bladder, and some packthread, thence also called a bladder
  and string, and hurdy gurdy; it is played on like a violin,
  which is sometimes ludicrously called a humstrum; sometimes,
  instead of a bladder, a tin canister is used.

Hump.  To hump; once a fashionable word for copulation.

Humpty dumpty.  A little humpty dumpty man or woman;
  a short clumsy person of either sex:  also ale boiled
  with brandy.

To hunch.  To jostle, or thrust.

Hunch-backed. Hump-backed.

Hung beef.  A dried bull’s pizzle.  How the dubber
  served the cull with hung beef; how the turnkey beat the
  fellow with a bull’s pizzle.

Hunks.  A covetous miserable fellow, a miser; also the
  name of a famous bear mentioned by Ben Jonson.

Hunt’s dog.  He is like Hunt’s dog, will neither go to
  church nor stay at home.  One Hunt, a labouring man at
  a small town in Shropshire, kept a mastiff, who on being
  shut up on Sundays, whilst his master went to church,
  howled so terribly as to disturb the whole village; wherefore
  his master resolved to take him to church with him: 
  but when he came to the church door, the dog having perhaps
  formerly been whipped out by the sexton, refused to
  enter; whereupon Hunt exclaimed loudly against his dog’s
  obstinacy, who would neither go to church nor stay at
  home.  This shortly became a bye-word for discontented
  and whimsical persons.

Hunting.  Drawing in unwary persons to play or game. 
  Cant.

Hunting the squirrel.  An amusement practised by
  postboys and stage-coachmen, which consists in following
  a one-horse chaise, anddriving it before them, passing close
  to it, so as to brush the wheel, and by other means terrifying
  any woman or person that may be in it.  A man whose
  turn comes for him to drink, before he has emptied his former
  glass, is said to be hunted.

HUNTSUP.  The reveillier of huntsmen, sounded on the
  French horn, or other instrument.

HURDY gurdy.  A kind of fiddle, originally made perhaps
  out of a gourd.  See humstrum.

Hurly Burly.  A rout, riot, bustle or confusion.

Hush.  Hush the cull; murder the fellow.

Hush money.  Money given to hush up or conceal a robbery, theft,
  or any other offence, or to take off the evidence
  from appearing against a criminal.

HUSKYLOUR.  A guinea, or job.  Cant.

Hussy.  An abbreviation of housewife, but now always
  used as a term of reproach; as, How now, hussy? or She
  is a light hussy.

HUZZA.  Said to have been originally the cry of the huzzars
  or Hungarian light horse; but now the national shout of
  the English, both civil and military, in the sea phrase
  termed a cheer; to give three cheers being to huzza thrice.

Page 98

HYP, or hip.  A mode of calling to one passing by.  Hip,
  Michael, your head’s on fire; a piece of vulgar wit to a
  red haired man.

HYP.  The hypochondriac:  low spirits.  He is hypped; he
  has got the blue devils, &c.

Jabber.  To talk thick and fast, as great praters usually
  do, to chatter like a magpye; also to speak a foreign
  language.  He jabbered to rne in his damned outlandish
  parlez vous, but I could not understand him; he chattered
  to me in French, or some other foreign language, but
  I could not understand him.

Jack.  A farthing, a small bowl serving as the mark for
  bowlers.  An instrument for pulling off boots.

Jack Adams. A fool.  Jack Adams’s parish; Clerkenwell.

Jack at A pinch, A poor hackney parson.

Jack in A box, A sharper, or cheat.  A child in the mother’s
  womb.

Jack in an office, An insolent fellow in authority.

Jack Ketch.  The hangman; vide Derrick and Ketch.

Jack nasty face.  A sea term, signifying a common
  sailor.

Jack of legs.  A tall long-legged man; also a giant, said
  to be buried in Weston church, near Baldock, in Hertfordshire,
  where there are two stones fourteen feet distant,
  said to be the head and feet stones of his grave.  This
  giant, says Salmon, as fame goes, lived in a wood here, and
  was a great robber, but a generous one; for he plundered
  the rich to feed the poor:  he frequently took bread for
  this purpose from the Baldock bakers, who catching him
  at an advantage, put out his eyes, and afterwards hanged
  him upon a knoll in Baldock field.  At his death he made
  one request, which was, that he might have his bow and
  arrow put into his hand, and on shooting it off, where the
  arrow fell, they would bury him; which being granted,
  the arrow fell in Weston churchyard.  Above seventy
  years ago, a very large thigh bone was taken out of the
  church chest, where it had lain many years for a show,
  and was sold by the clerk to Sir John Tradescant, who,
  it is said, put it among the rarities of Oxford.

Jack pudding.  The merry andrew, zany, or jester to a
  mountebank.

Jack Robinson.  Before one could say Jack Robinson; a
  saying to express a very short time, originating from a
  very volatile gentleman of that appellation, who would call
  on his neighbours, and be gone before his name could
  be announced.

Jack sprat.  A dwarf, or diminutive fellow.

Jack tar.  A sailor.

Jack weight.  A fat man.

Jack whore.  A large masculine overgrown wench.

Page 99

Jackanapes.  An ape; a pert, ugly, little fellow.

Jacked. Spavined.  A jacked horse.

JACKMEN.  See jarkmen.

JACKEY.  Gin.

Jacob.  A soft fellow.  A fool.

Jacob.  A ladder:  perhaps from Jacob’s dream.  Cant.  Also
  the common name for a jay, jays being usually taught to
  say, Poor Jacob! a cup of sack for Jacob.

Jacobites.  Sham or collar shirts.  Also partizans for the
  Stuart family:  from the name of the abdicated king, i.e
  James or Jacobus.  It is said by the whigs, that God
  changed Jacob’s name to Israel, lest the descendants of
  that patriarch should be called Jacobites.

Jade.  A term of reproach to women.

JAGUE.  A ditch:  perhaps from jakes.

Jail birds.  Prisoners.

Jakes.  A house of office, a cacatorium.

Jammed. Hanged.  Cant.

JANIZARIES.  The mob, sometimes so called; also bailiffs,
  their setters, and followers.

Japanned. Ordained.  To be japanned; to enter into holy
  orders, to become a clergyman, to put on the black cloth: 
  from the colour of the japan ware, which is black.

JARK.  A seal.

Jarkmen.  Those, who fabricate counterfeit passes, licences,
  and certificates for beggars.

Jarvis.  A hackney coachman.

JASON’S Fleece.  A citizen cheated of his gold.

Jaw.  Speech, discourse.  Give us none of your jaw; let us
  have none of your discourse.  A jaw-me-dead; a talkative
  fellow.  Jaw work; a cry used in fairs by the sellers of
  nuts.

JAZEY.  A bob wig.

Idea pot.  The knowledge box, the head.  See knowledge
  box.

JEFFY.  It will be done in a jeffy; it will be done in a short
  space of time, in an instant.

Jehu.  To drive jehu-like; to drive furiously:  from a king
  of Israel of that name, who was a famous charioteer, and
  mentioned as such in the Bible.

JEM.  A gold ring.  Cant.

Jemmy fellow.  A smart spruce fellow.

Jemmy.  A crow.  This instrument is much used by housebreakers. 
Sometimes called Jemmy Rook.

Jenny.  An instrument for lifting up the grate or top of a
  show-glass, in order to rob it.  Cant.

JERRYCUMMUMBLE.  To shake, towzle, or tumble about.

Jerry sneak.  A henpecked husband:  from a celebrated
  character in one of Mr. Foote’s plays, representing a man
  governed by his wife.

Jessamy.  A smart jemmy fellow, a fopling.

JESIUT.  See to box the Jesuit.

Jesuitical.  Sly, evasive, equivocal.  A jesuitical answer;
  an equivocal answer.

Page 100

Jet.  A lawyer.  Autem jet; a parson.

Jew.  An over-reaching dealer, or hard, sharp fellow; an
  extortioner:  the brokers formerly behind St. Clement’s
  church in the Strand were called Jews by their brethren
  the taylors.

Jew.  A tradesman who has no faith, i.e. will not give credit.

Jew bail.  Insufficient bail:  commonly Jews, who for a
  sum of money will bail any action whatsoever, and justify,
  that is, swear to their sufficiency; but, when called on, are
  not to be found.

Jew’s eye.  That’s worth a Jew’s eye; a pleasant or agreeable
  sight:  a saying taken from Shakespeare.

Jibber the KIBBER.  A method of deceiving seamen, by
  fixing a candle and lanthorn round the neck of a horse,
  one of whose fore feet is tied up; this at night has the
  appearance of a ship’s light.  Ships bearing towards it, run
  on shore, and being wrecked, are plundered by the inhabitants. 
  This diabolical device is, it is said, practised by the
  inhabitants of our western coasts.

Jig.  A trick.  A pleasant jig; a witty arch trick.  Also a
  lock or door.  The feather-bed jig; copulation.

Jigger.  A whipping-post.  Cant.

Jilt.  A tricking woman, who encourages the addresses of
  a man whom she means to deceive and abandon.

Jilted. Rejected by a woman who has encouraged one’s
  advances.

Jingle boxes.  Leathern jacks tipped with silver, and
  hung with bells, formerly in use among fuddle caps. 
  Cant.

Jingle brains.  A wild, thoughtless, rattling fellow.

JINGLERS.  Horse cosers, frequenting country fairs.

Impost takers.  Usurers who attend the gaming-tables,
  and lend money at great premiums.

Impudent stealing.  Cutting out the backs of coaches,
  and robbing the seats.

Impure.  A modern term for a lady of easy virtue.

Inching.  Encroaching.

Indies.  Black Indies; Newcastle.

India wipe.  A silk handkerchief.

INDORSER.  A sodomite.  To indorse with a cudgel; to drub
  or beat a man over the back with a stick, to lay cane upon
  Abel.

INEXPRESSIBLES.  Breeches.

Inkle weavers.  Supposed to be a very brotherly set of
  people; ‘as great as two inkle weavers’ being a proverbial
  saying.

Inlaid.  Well inlaid; in easy circumstances, rich or well
  to pass.

Innocents.  One of the innocents; a weak or simple person,
  man or woman.

Inside and outside.  The inside of a **** and the outside
  of a gaol.

Job.  A guinea.

Page 101

Job’s Comfort.  Reproof instead of consolation.

Job’s comforter.  One who brings news of some
  additional misfortune.

Job’s dock.  He is laid up in Job’s dock; i.e. in a salivation. 
  The apartments for the foul or venereal patients in St.
  Bartholomew’s hospital, are called Job’s ward.

JOBATION.  A reproof.

JOBBERNOLE.  The head.

To job.  To reprove or reprehend.  Cambridge term.

Job.  Any robbery.  To do a job; to commit some kind of
  robbery.

Jock, or crowdy-headed Jock.  A jeering appellation for
  a north country seaman, particularly a collier; Jock being
  a common name, and crowdy the chief food, of the lower
  order of the people in Northumberland.

To Jock, or JOCKUM cloy.  To enjoy a woman.

JOCKUM gage.  A chamber-pot, jordan, looking-glass, or
  member-mug.  Cant.

JOGG-trot.  To keep on a jogg-trot; to get on with a slow
  but regular pace.

Johnny bum.  A he or jack ass:  so called by a lady that
  affected to be extremely polite and modest, who would
  not say Jack because it was vulgar, nor ass because it
  was indecent.

Joint.  To hit a joint in carving, the operator must think
  of a cuckold.  To put one’s nose out of joint; to rival one
  in the favour of a patron or mistress.

Jolly, or jolly nob.  The head.  I’ll lump your jolly
  nob for you; I’ll give you a knock on the head.

Jolly dog.  A merry facetious fellow; a Bon VIVANT, who
  never flinches from his glass, nor cries to go home to
  bed.

Jolter head.  A large head; metaphorically a stupid fellow.

JORDAIN.  A great blow, or staff.  I’ll tip him a jordain if
  I transnear; i.e.  I’ll give him a blow with my staff, if I
  come near him.  Cant.

Jordan.  A chamber-pot.

Jorum.  A jugg, or large pitcher.

Joseph.  A woman’s great coat.  Also, a sheepish bashful
  young fellow:  an allusion to Joseph who fled from Potiphar’s
  wife.  You are Josephus rex; you are jo-king, i. e.
  joking.

Joskin.  A countryman.  The dropcove maced the Joskin
  of twenty quid; The ring dropper cheated the
  countryman of twenty guineas.

Jowl.  The cheek.  Cheek by jowl; close together, or cheek
  to cheek.  My eyes how the cull sucked the blowen’s
  jowl; he kissed the wench handsomely.

Page 102

Irish apricots.  Potatoes.  It is a common joke against
  the Irish vessels, to say they are loaded with fruit and
  timber, that is, potatoes and broomsticks.  Irish assurance;
  a bold forward behaviour:  as being dipt in the river Styx
  was formerly supposed to render persons invulnerable,
  so it is said that a dipping in the river Shannon totally
  annihilates bashfulness; whence arises the saying of an
  impudent Irishman, that he has been dipt in the Shannon.

Irish beauty.  A woman with two black eyes.

Irish evidence.  A false witness.

Irish legs.  Thick legs, jocularly styled the Irish arms. 
  It is said of the Irish women, that they have a dispensation
  from the pope to wear the thick end of their legs downwards.

Irish toyles.  Thieves who carry about pins, laces, and
  other pedlars wares, and under the pretence of offering
  their goods to sale, rob houses, or pilfer any thing they
  can lay hold of.

Iron.  Money in general.  To polish the king’s iron with
  one’s eyebrows; to look out of grated or prison windows,
  or, as the Irishman expresses them, the iron glass
  windows.  Iron doublet; a prison.  See stone doublet.

IRONMONGER’S shop.  To keep an ironmonger’s shop by
  the side of a common, where the sheriff sets one up; to be
  hanged in chains.  Iron-bound; laced.  An iron-bound
  hat; a silver-laced hat.

Island.  He drank out of the bottle till he saw the island;
  the island is the rising bottom of a wine bottle, which
  appears like an island in the centre, before the bottle is
  quite empty.

Ivories.  Teeth.  How the swell flashed his ivories; how
  the gentleman shewed his teeth.

ITCHLAND, or SCRATCHLAND.  Scotland.

Jug.  See double jug.

JUGGLER’S box.  The engine for burning culprits in the
  hand.  Cant.

JUKRUM.  A licence.

JUMBLEGUT lane.  A rough road or lane.

Jump.  The jump, or dining-room jump; a species of robbery
  effected by ascending a ladder placed by a sham lamp-
  lighter, against the house intended to be robbed.  It is so
  called, because, should the lamp-lighter be put to flight,
  the thief who ascended the ladder has no means of escaping
  but that of jumping down.

Jumpers.  Persons who rob houses by getting in at the windows. 
  Also a set of Methodists established in South
  Wales.

Juniper lecture.  A round scolding bout.

Jury leg.  A wooden leg:  allusion to a jury mast, which
  is a temporary substitute for a mast carried away by a
  storm, or any other accident.  Sea phrase.

Page 103

Jury mast. A JOURNIERE mast; i.e. a mast for the day or
  occasion.

Just-ass.  A punning appellation for a justice.

Ivy bush.  Like an owl in an ivy bush; a simile for a
  meagre or weasel-faced man, with a large wig, or very
  bushy hair.

Kate.  A picklock.  ’Tis a rum kate; it is a clever picklock. 
  Cant.

Keel bullies.  Men employed to load and unload the coal
  vessels.

KEELHAULING.  A punishment in use among the Dutch
  seamen, in which, for certain offences, the delinquent is
  drawn once, or oftener, under the ship’s keel:  ludicrously
  defined, undergoing a great hard-ship.

To keep.  To inhabit.  Lord, where do you keep? i.e.
  where are your rooms?  Academical phrase.  Mother, your
  tit won’t keep; your daughter will not preserve her virginity.

To keep it up.  To prolong a debauch.  We kept it up
  finely last night; metaphor drawn from the game of shuttle-
  cock.

Keeping cully.  One who keeps a mistress, as he supposes,
  for his own use, but really for that of the public.

KEFFEL.  A horse.  Welsh.

Kelter.  Condition, order.  Out of kelter; out of order.

Kelter.  Money.

Kemp’s morris.  William Kemp, said to have been the original
  Dogberry in Much ado about Nothing, danced a morris
  from London to Norwich in nine days:  of which he
  printed the account, A. D. 1600, intitled, Kemp’s Nine
  Days Wonder, &c.

Kemp’s shoes.  Would I had Kemp’s shoes to throw after
  you.  Ben Jonson.  Perhaps Kemp was a man remarkable
  for his good luck or fortune; throwing an old shoe, or shoes,
  after any one going on an important business, being by the
  vulgar deemed lucky.

Ken.  A house.  A bob ken, or a bowman ken; a well-furnished
  house, also a house that harbours thieves.  Biting
  the ken; robbing the house.  Cant.

Ken miller, or ken Cracker.  A housebreaker.  Cant.

Kent-street ejectment.  To take away the street door: 
  a method practised by the landlords in Kent-street, Southwark,
  when their tenants are above a fortnight’s rent in
  arrear.

Kerry security.  Bond, pledge, oath, and keep the
  money.

Ketch.  Jack Ketch; a general name for the finishers of the
  law, or hangmen, ever since the year 1682, when the office
  was filled by a famous practitioner of that name, of whom
  his wife said, that any bungler might put a man to death,
  but only her husband knew how to make a gentleman die
  sweetly.  This officer is mentioned in Butler’s Ghost, page
  54, published about the year 1682, in the following lines: 

Page 104

      Till Ketch observing he was chous’d,
      And in his profits much abus’d. 
      In open hall the tribute dunn’d,
      To do his office, or refund.

  Mr. Ketch had not long been elevated to his office, for the
  name of his predecessor Dun occurs in the former part of
  this poem, page 29: 

      For you yourself to act squire Dun,
      Such ignominy ne’er saw the sun.

The addition of ‘squire,’ with which Mr. Dun is here dignified, is a mark that he had beheaded some state criminal for high treason; an operation which, according to custom for time out of mind, has always entitled the operator to that distinction.  The predecessor of Dun was Gregory Brandon, from whom the gallows was called the Gregorian tree, by which name it is mentioned in the prologue to Mercurius Pragmaticus, tragi-comedy acted at Paris, &c. 1641: 

      This trembles under the black rod, and he
      Doth fear his fate from the Gregorian tree.

  Gregory Brandon succeeded Derrick.  See Derrick.

KETTLEDRUMS. Cupid’s kettle drums; a woman’s breasts,
  called by sailors chest and bedding.

Kettle of fish.  When a person has perplexed his affairs
  in general, or any particular business, he is said to have
  made a fine kettle of fish of it.

Kicks.  Breeches.  A high kick; the top of the fashion.  It
  is all the kick; it is the present mode.  Tip us your kicks,
  we’ll have them as well as your lour; pull off your breeches,
  for we must have them as well as your money.  A kick;
  sixpence.  Two and a kick; half-a-crown.  A kick in the
  guts; a dram of gin, or any other spirituous liquor.  A
  kick up; a disturbance, also a hop or dance.  An odd kick
  in one’s gallop; a strange whim or peculiarity.

To kick the bucket.  To die.  He kicked the bucket
  one day:  he died one day.  To kick the clouds before the
  hotel door; i.e. to be hanged.

KICKERAPOO.  Dead.  Negro word.

KICKSEYS.  Breeches.

Kickshaws.  French dishes:  corruption of quelque chose.

Kid.  A little dapper fellow.  A child.  The blowen has
  napped the kid.  The girl is with child.

To kid.  To coax or wheedle.  To inveigle.  To amuse a
  man or divert his attention while another robs him.  The
  sneaksman kidded the cove of the ken, while his pall
  frisked the panney; the thief amused the master of the house,
  while his companion robbed the house.

Kid lay.  Rogues who make it their business to defraud
  young apprentices, or errand-boys, of goods committed to
  their charge, by prevailing on them to execute some trifling
  message, pretending to take care of their parcels till they
  come back; these are, in cant terms, said to be on the
  kid lay.

Page 105

Kidder.  A forestaller:  see Crocker.  Kidders are also
  persons employed by the gardeners to gather peas.

KIDDEYS.  Young thieves.

Kiddy nippers.  Taylors out of work, who cut off the
  waistcoat pockets of their brethren, when cross-legged on
  their board, thereby grabbling their bit.  Cant.

Kidnapper.  Originally one who stole or decoyed children
  or apprentices from their parents or masters, to send
  them to the colonies; called also spiriting:  but now used
  for all recruiting crimps for the king’s troops, or those of
  the East India company, and agents for indenting servants
  for the plantations, &c.

Kidney.  Disposition, principles, humour.  Of a strange
  kidney; of an odd or unaccountable humour.  A man of
  a different kidney; a man of different principles.

Kilkenny.  An old frize coat.

Kill care club.  The members of this club, styled also
  the Sons of Sound Sense and Satisfaction, met at their
  fortress, the Castle-tavern, in Paternoster-row.

Kill devil.  New still-burnt rum.

Kill priest. Port wine.

To kimbaw.  To trick, cheat or cozen; also to beat or to
  bully.  Let’s kimbaw the cull; let’s bully the fellow. 
  To set one’s arms a-kimbaw, vulgarly pronounced a-kimbo,
  is to rest one’s hands on the hips, keeping the elbows
  square, and sticking out from the body; an insolent
  bullying attitude.  Cant.

Kinchin.  A little child.  Kinchin coes; orphan beggar
  boys, educated in thieving.  Kinchin morts; young girls
  under the like circumstances and training.  Kinchin
  morts, or coes in slates; beggars’ children carried at their
  mother’s backs in sheets.  Kinchin cove; a little man.  Cant.

King’s plate.  Fetters.

King’s wood lion.  An Ass.  Kingswood is famous for
  the great number of asses kept by the colliers who inhabit
  that place.

King’s bad bargain.  One of the king’s bad bargains; a
  malingeror, or soldier who shirks his duty.

King’s head inn, or chequer inn, in Newgate
  street.  The prison of Newgate.

King john’s men.  He is one of king John’s men, eight
  score to the hundred:  a saying of a little undersized man.

King of the gypsies.  The captain, chief, or ringleader
  of the gang of misrule:  in the cant language called also the
  upright man.

King’s pictures.  Coin, money.

Kingdom come.  He is gone to kingdom come, he is dead.

Kip.  The skin of a large calf, in the language of the
  Excise-office.

Page 106

Kiss mine A-se.  An offer, as Fielding observes, very
  frequently made, but never, as he could learn, literally
  accepted.  A kiss mine a-se fellow; a sycophant.

Kissing crust. That part where the loaves have touched
  the oven.

Kit.  A dancing-master, so called from his kit or cittern, a
  small fiddle, which dancing-masters always carry about
  with them, to play to their scholars.  The kit is likewise
  the whole of a soldier’s necessaries, the contents of his
  knapsack:  and is used also to express the whole of different
  commodities:  as, Here, take the whole kit; i.e. take
  all.

Kit-cat club.  A society of gentlemen, eminent for wit
  and learning, who in the reign of queen Anne and George
  I. met at a house kept by one Christopher Cat.  The
  portraits of most of the members of this society were painted
  by Sir Godfrey Kneller, of one size; thence still called the
  kit-cat size.

Kitchen physic.  Food, good meat roasted or boiled.  A
  little kitchen physic will set him up; he has more need of
  a cook than a doctor.

Kittle pitchering.  A jocular method of hobbling or
  bothering a troublesome teller of long stories:  this is done
  by contradicting some very immaterial circumstance at
  the beginning of the narration, the objections to which
  being settled, others are immediately started to some new
  particular of like consequence; thus impeding, or rather
  not suffering him to enter into, the main story.  Kittle
  pitchering is often practised in confederacy, one relieving
  the other, by which the design is rendered less obvious.

KITTYS.  Effects, furniture; stock in trade.  To seize one’s
  kittys; to take his sticks.

Knack shop.  A toy-shop, a nick-nack-atory.

KNAPPERS poll.  A sheep’s head.  Cant.

Knave in grain.  A knave of the first rate:  a phrase
  borrowed from the dyehouse, where certain colours are said to
  be in grain, to denote their superiority, as being dyed with
  cochineal, called grain.  Knave in grain is likewise a pun
  applied to a cornfactor or miller.

Knight of the blade.  A bully.

Knight of the post. A false evidence, one that is ready
  to swear any thing for hire.

Knight of the rainbow.  A footman:  from the variety
  of colours in the liveries and trimming of gentlemen of
  that cloth.

Knight of the road.  A highwayman.

Knight of the sheers.  A taylor.

Knight of the thimble, or needle.  A taylor or stay-maker.

Page 107

Knight of the whip.  A coachman.

Knight of the trencher.  A great eater.

Knight and barrow pig, more hog than gentleman.  A
  saying of any low pretender to precedency.

Knob.  The head.  See nob.

Knock.  To knock a woman; to have carnal knowledge of
  her.  To knock off; to conclude:  phrase borrowed from
  the blacksmith.  To knock under; to submit.

Knock me down.  Strong ale or beer, stingo.

Knot.  A crew, gang, or fraternity.  He has tied a knot
  with his tongue, that he cannot untie with his teeth:  i.e.
  he is married.

Knowing ones.  Sportsmen on the turf, who from
  experience and an acquaintance with the jockies, are supposed
  to be in the secret, that is, to know the true merits or
  powers of each horse; notwithstanding which it often happens
  that the knowing ones are taken in.

Knowledge box.  The head.

Knuckles.  Pickpockets who attend the avenues to public
  places to steal pocket-books, watches, &c. a superior kind
  of pickpockets.  To knuckle to, to submit.

To knuckle one’s wipe.  To steal his handkerchief.

Knuckle-dabs, or knuckle-CONFOUNDERS.  Ruffles.

KONOBLIN rig.  Stealing large pieces of coal from coalsheds.

Laced mutton.  A prostitute.

Lacing.  Beating.  I’ll lace your jacket handsomely.

Ladder.  To go up the ladder to rest; to be hanged.

Lady.  A crooked or hump-backed woman.

Lady of easy virtue.  A woman of the town, an impure,
  a prostitute.

Ladybirds.  Light or lewd women.

Lady DACRE’S wine.  Gin.

Lag.  A man transported.  The cove was lagged for a drag. 
  The man was transported for stealing something out of a
  waggon.

Lag fever.  A term of ridicule applied to men who being
  under sentence of transportation, pretend illness, to avoid
  being sent from gaol to the hulks.

To lag.  To drop behind, to keep back.  Lag last; the
  last of a company.

Lage.  Water.  Cant.

Lage of duds.  A buck of linen.

Laid on the shelf, or laid up in lavender.  Pawned.

To lamb, or lambaste. To beat.  Lamb pye; a beating: 
  from lambo.

Lamb’s wool.  Apples roasted and put into strong ale.

Lambskin men.  The judges:  from their robes lined and
  bordered with ermine.

Page 108

Lamp.  An eye.  The cove has a queer lamp.  The man
  has a blind or squinting eye.

Land.  How lies the land?  How stands the reckoning? 
  Who has any land in Appleby? a question asked the man
  at whose door the glass stands long, or who does not
  ciculate it in due time.

Land LOPERS, or land Lubbers.  Vagabonds lurking
  about the country who subsist by pilfering.

Land pirates.  Highwaymen.

Lank sleeve.  The empty sleeve of a one armed man. 
  A fellow with a lank sleeve; a man who has lost an arm.

LANSPRISADO.  One who has only two-pence in his pocket. 
  Also a lance, or deputy corporal; that is, one doing the
  duty without the pay of a corporal.  Formerly a lancier, or
  horseman, who being dismounted by the death of his
  horse, served in the foot, by the title of lansprisado, or
  lancepesato, a broken lance.

Lanthorn-jawed. Thin-visaged:  from their cheeksbeing almost
  transparent.  Or else, lenten jawed; i.e. having
  the jaws of one emaciated by a too rigid observation of
  Lent.  Dark lanthorn; a servant or agent at court, who
  receives a bribe for his principal or master.

Lap.  Butter-milk or whey.  Cant.

Lark.  A boat.

Lark.  A piece of merriment.  People playing together jocosely.

Larry Dugan’s eye water.  Blacking:  Larry Dugan
  was a famous shoe-black at Dublin.

Latch.  Let in.

Lathy.  Thin, slender.  A lathy wench; a girl almost as
  slender as a lath.

LATITAT.  A nick-name for an attorney; from the name of
  a writ.

Lavender.  Laid up in lavender; pawned.

Laugh.  To laugh on the wrong side of the mouth; to cry. 
  I’ll make him laugh on the wrong (or t’other) side of his
  mouth.

Launch.  The delivery, or labour, of a pregnant woman;
  a crying out or groaning.

Law.  To give law to a hare; a sporting term, signifying to
  give the animal a chance of escaping, by not setting on
  the dogs till the hare is at some distance; it is also more
  figuratively used for giving any one a chance of succeeding
  in a scheme or project.

Lawful blanket.  A wife.

Lay.  Enterprize, pursuit, or attempt:  to be sick of the
  lay.  It also means a hazard or chance:  he stands a queer
  lay; i.e. he is in danger.  Cant.

LAYSTALL.  A dunghill about London, on which the soil
  brought from necessary houses is emptied; or, in more
  technical terms, where the old gold collected at weddings
  by the Tom t—­d man, is stored.

Lazy.  As lazy as Ludman’s dog, who leaned against the
  wall to bark.  As lazy as the tinker, who laid down his
  budget to f—­t.

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Lazy man’s load.  Lazy people frequently take up more
  than they can safely carry, to save the trouble of coming
  a second time.

Lazybones.  An instrument like a pair of tongs, for old or
  very fat people to take any thing from the ground without
  stooping.

Leaf.  To go off with the fall of the leaf; to be hanged: 
  criminals in Dublin being turned off from the outside of
  the prison by the falling of a board, propped up, and moving
  on a hinge, like the leaf of a table.  Irish term.

To Leak.  To make water.

Leaky.  Apt to blab; one who cannot keep a secret is said
  to be leaky.

Leaping over the sword.  An ancient ceremonial said to
  constitute a military marriage.  A sword being laid down
  on the ground, the parties to be married joined hands,
  when the corporal or serjeant of the, company repeated
  these words: 

      Leap rogue, and jump whore,
      And then you are married for evermore.

  Whereupon the happy couple jumped hand in hand over
  the sword, the drum beating a ruffle; and the parties were
  ever after considered as man and wife.

Least in sight.  To play least in sight; to hide, keep
  out of the way, or make one’s self scarce.

Leather.  To lose leather; to be galled with riding on
  horseback, or, as the Scotch express it, to be saddle sick. 
  To leather also meant to beat, perhaps originally with a
  strap:  I’ll leather you to your heart’s content.  Leather-
  headed; stupid.  Leathern conveniency; term used by
  quakers for a stage-coach.

Leery.  On one’s guard.  See peery.

Left-handed wife.  A concubine; an allusion to an
  ancient German custom, according to which, when a man
  married his concubine, or a woman greatly his inferior,
  he gave her his left hand.

Leg.  To make a leg; to bow.  To give leg-bail and land
  security; to run away.  To fight at the leg; to take
  unfair advantages:  it being held unfair by back-sword
  players to strike at the leg.  To break a leg; a woman who has
  had a bastard, is said to have broken a leg.

LEGGERS.  Sham leggers; cheats who pretend to sell smuggled
  goods, but in reality only deal in old shop-keepers or
  damaged goods.

Lenten fare.  Spare diet.

Letch.  A whim of the amorous kind, out of the common
  way.

Levite.  A priest or parson.

To Lib.  To lie together.  Cant.

LIBBEGE.  A bed.  Cant.

LIBBEN.  A private dwelling-house.  Cant.

LIBKEN.  A house to lie in.  Cant.

Page 110

To lick.  To beat; also to wash, or to paint slightly over. 
  I’ll give you a good lick o’ the chops; I’ll give you a good
  stroke or blow on the face.  Jack tumbled into a cow
  t—­d, and nastied his best clothes, for which his father stept
  up, and licked him neatly.—­I’ll lick you! the dovetail to
  which is, If you lick me all over, you won’t miss—.

Lickspittle.  A parasite, or talebearer.

Lift.  To give one a lift; to assist.  A good hand at a
  dead lift; a good hand upon an emergency.  To lift
  one’s hand to one’s head; to drink to excess, or to drink
  drams.  To lift or raise one’s elbow; the same.

Lift.  See shoplifter, &c.

Lifter.  A crutch.

LIG.  A bed.  See Lib.

Light bob.  A soldier of the light infantry company.

Light-fingered. Thievish, apt to pilfer.

Light-heeled. Swift in running.  A light-heeled wench;
  one who is apt, by the flying up of her heels, to fall flat on
  her back, a willing wench.

Light house.  A man with a red fiery nose.

Light troops.  Lice; the light troops are in full march;
  the lice are crawling about.

LTGHTMANS.  The day.  Cant.

Lightning.  Gin.  A flash of lightning; a glass of gin.

Likeness.  A phrase used by thieves when the officers
  or turnkeys are examining their countenance.  As the
  traps are taking our likeness; the officers are attentively
  observing us.

LILIPUTIAN.  A diminutive man or woman:  from Gulliver’s
  Travels, written by Dean Swift, where an imaginary
  kingdom of dwarfs of that name is described.

Lily white.  A chimney-sweeper.

Lily shallow. (Whip slang) A white driving hat.

Limbs.  Duke of limbs; a tall awkward fellow.

Limb of the law.  An inferior or pettyfogging attorney.

Limbo.  A prison, confinement.

To line.  A term for the act of coition between dog and
  bitch.

Line of the old author.  A dram of brandy.

Line.  To get a man into a line, i.e. to divert his attention
  by a ridiculous or absurd story.  To humbug.

Lingo.  Language.  An outlandish lingo; a foreign tongue. 
  The parlezvous lingo; the French language.

Linen armourers.  Taylors.

Lion.  To tip the lion; to squeeze the nose of the party
  tipped, flat to his face with the thumb.  To shew the
  lions and tombs; to point out the particular curiosities of
  any place, to act the ciceroni:  an allusion to Westminster
  Abbey, and the Tower, where the tombs

Page 111

and lions are
  shewn.  A lion is also a name given by the gownsmen of
  Oxford to an inhabitant or visitor.  It is a standing joke
  among the city wits to send boys and country folks, on
  the first of April, to the Tower-ditch, to see the lions
  washed.

Liquor.  To liquor one’s boots; to drink before a journey: 
  among Roman Catholics, to administer the extreme unction.

Little Barbary.  Wapping.

Little breeches.  A familiar appellation used to a little
  boy.

Little clergyman.  A young chimney-sweeper.

Little ease.  A small dark cell in Guildhall, London,
  where disorderly apprentices are confined by the city
  chamberlain:  it is called Little Ease from its being so low
  that a lad cannot stand upright in it.

Little SNAKESMAN.  A little boy who gets into a house
  through the sink-hole, and then opens the door for his
  accomplices:  he is so called, from writhing and twisting
  like a snake, in order to work himself through the narrow
  passage.

Live lumber.  A term used by sailors, to signify all landsmen
  on board their ships.

Live stock.  Lice or fleas.

Loaf.  To be in bad loaf, to be in a disagreeable situation,
  or in trouble.

Lob.  A till in a tradesman’s shop.  To frisk a lob; to rob
  a till.  See flash panney.

Lob.  Going on the lob; going into a shop to get change
  for gold, and secreting some of the change.

Lob’s pound.  A prison.  Dr. Grey, in his notes on Hudibras,
  explains it to allude to one Doctor Lob, a dissenting
  preacher, who used to hold forth when conventicles were
  prohibited, and had made himself a retreat by means of a
  trap door at the bottom of his pulpit.  Once being pursued
  by the officers of justice, they followed him through
  divers subterraneous passages, till they got into a dark
  cell, from whence they could not find their way out, but
  calling to some of their companions, swore they had got
  into Lob’s Pound.

LOBCOCK.  A large relaxed penis:  also a dull inanimate
  fellow.

LOBKIN.  A house to lie in:  also a lodging.

LOBLOLLEY boy.  A nick name for the surgeon’s servant
  on board a man of war, sometimes for the surgeon himself: 
  from the water gruel prescribed to the sick, which is
  called loblolley.

LOBONIAN society.  A society which met at Lob Hall, at
  the King and Queen, Norton Falgate, by order of Lob the
  great.

Lobscouse.  A dish much eaten at sea, composed of salt
  beef, biscuit and onions, well peppered, and stewed
  together.

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Lobster.  A nick name for a soldier, from the colour of his
  clothes.  To boil one’s lobster, for a churchman to
  become a soldier:  lobsters, which are of a bluish black,
  being made red by boiling.  I will not make a lobster
  kettle of my ****, a reply frequently made by the nymphs
  of the Point at Portsmouth, when requested by a soldier
  to grant him a favour.

Lock.  A scheme, a mode.  I must fight that lock; I must
  try that scheme.

Lock.  Character.  He stood a queer lock; he bore but an
  indifferent character.  A lock is also a buyer of stolen
  goods, as well as the receptacle for them.

Lock hospital.  An hospital for venereal patients.

Lock up house.  A spunging house; a public house kept
  by sheriff’s officers, to which they convey the persons they
  have arrested, where they practise every species of
  imposition and extortion with impunity.  Also houses kept
  by agents or crimps, who enlist, or rather trepan, men to
  serve the East India or African company as soldiers.

LOCKERAM-jawed. Thin-faced, or lanthorn-jawed.  See
  lanthorn jawed.

LOCKSMITH’S daughter.  A key.

Loggerhead.  A blockhead, or stupid fellow.  We three
  loggerheads be:  a sentence frequently written under two
  heads, and the reader by repeating it makes himself the
  third.  A loggerhead is also a double-headed, or bar shot
  of iron.  To go to loggerheads; to fall to fighting.

Loll.  Mother’s loll; a favourite child, the mother’s darling,

Loll tongue.  He has been playing a game at loll tongue;
  he has been salivated.

LOLLIPOPS.  Sweet lozenges purchased by children.

To lollop.  To lean with one’s elbows on a table.

LOLLPOOP.  A lazy, idle drone.

Lombard fever.  Sick of the lombard fever; i.e. of the
  idles.

Long one.  A hare; a term used by poachers.

Long.  Great.  A long price; a great price.

Long Gallery.  Throwing, or rather trundling, the dice
  the whole length of the board.

Long Meg.  A jeering name for a very tall woman:  from
  one famous in story, called Long Meg of Westminster.

Long shanks.  A long-legged person.

Long stomach.  A voracious appetite.

Long tongued. Loquacious, not able to keep a secret. 
  He is as long-tongued as Granny:  Granny was an idiot
  who could lick her own eye.  See granny.

Long-winded. A long-winded parson; one who preached
  long, tedious sermons.  A long-winded paymaster; one
  who takes long credit.

Page 113

Loo.  For the good of the loo; for the benefit of the company
  or community.

Looby.  An awkward, ignorant fellow.

Looking as if one could not help it.  Looking like a
  simpleton, or as if one could not say boh! to a goose.

Looking-glass.  A chamber pot, jordan, or member mug.

Loon, or lout.  A country bumkin, or clown.

LOONSLATE.  Thirteen pence halfpenny.

Loophole.  An opening, or means of escape.  To find a
  loophole in an act of parliament; i.e. a method of
  evading it,

Lop-sided. Uneven, having one side larger or heavier than
  the other:  boys’ paper kites are often said to be lop-sided.

To lope.  To leap, to run away.  He loped down the dancers;
  he ran down stairs.

Lord.  A crooked or hump-backed man.  These unhappy
  people afford great scope for vulgar raillery; such as, ’Did
  you come straight from home? if so, you have got confoundedly
  bent by the way.’  ‘Don’t abuse the gemman,’
  adds a by-stander, ’he has been grossly insulted already;
  don’t you see his back’s up?’ Or someone asks him if the
  show is behind; ‘because I see,’ adds he, ’you have the
  drum at your back.’  Another piece of vulgar wit is let
  loose on a deformed person:  If met by a party of soldiers
  on their march, one of them observes that that gentleman
  is on his march too, for he has got his knapsack at his back. 
  It is said in the British Apollo, that the title of lord was
  first given to deformed persons in the reign of Richard III.
  from several persons labouring under that misfortune being
  created peers by him; but it is more probably derived
  from the Greek word [Greek:  lordos], crooked.

Louse.  A gentleman’s companion.  He will never louse a
  grey head of his own; he will never live to be old.

Love begotten child.  A bastard.

Lounge.  A loitering place, or gossiping shop.

Louse bag.  A black bag worn to the hair or wig.

Louse house.  The round house, cage, or any other place of confinement.

Louse ladder.  A stitch fallen in a stocking.

Louse land.  Scotland.

Louse trap.  A small toothed comb.

Lout.  A clumsy stupid fellow.

Lowing rig.  Stealing oxen or cows.

Low pad.  A footpad.

Low tide, or low water.  When there is no money in
  a man’s pocket.

LOWRE.  Money.  Cant.

Lubber.  An awkward fellow:  a name given by sailors to
  landsmen.

Page 114

Luck, or good luck.  To tread in a surreverence, to be
  bewrayed:  an allusion to the proverb, Sh-tt-n luck is good
  luck.

LUD’S bulwark.  Ludgate prison.

Lugs.  Ears or wattles.  See wattles.

Lullaby cheat.  An infant.  Cant.

LULLIES.  Wet linen.  Cant.

LULLY triggers.  Thieves who steal wet linen.  Cant.

Lumb.  Too much.

Lumber.  Live lumber; soldiers or passengers on board a
  ship are so called by the sailors.

Lumber Troop.  A club or society of citizens of London.

Lumber house.  A house appropriated by thieves for the
  reception of their stolen property.

To lump.  To beat; also to include a number of articles
  under one head.

To lump the lighter.  To be transported.

LUMPERS.  Persons who contract to unload ships; also
  thieves who lurk about wharfs to pilfer goods from ships,
  lighters, &c.

Lumping.  Great.  A lumping penny worth; a great quantity
  for the money, a bargain.  He has’got a lumping penny-worth;
  frequently said of a man who marries a fat woman.

LUN.  Harlequin.

Lurch.  To be left in the lurch; to be abandoned by one’s
  confederates or party, to be left in a scrape.

Lurched. Those who lose a game of whist, without scoring five,
  are said to be lurched.

Lurcher.  A lurcher of the law; a bum bailiff, or his setter.

LURRIES.  Money, watches, rings, or other moveablcs.

Lush.  Strong beer.

To lush.  To drink.

LUSHEY.  Drunk.  The rolling kiddeys hud a spree, and got
  bloody lushey; the dashing lads went on a party of pleasure,
  and got very drunk.

Lye.  Chamber lye; urine.

Maccaroni.  An Italian paste made of flour and eggs. 
  Also a fop:  which name arose from a club, called the
  Maccaroni Club, instituted by some of the most dressy
  travelled gentlemen about town, who led the fashions; whence
  a man foppishly dressed, was supposed a member of that
  club, and by contraction styled a Maccaroni.

Mace cove.  A swindler, a sharper, a cheat.  On the
  mace; to live by swindling.

Machines.  Mrs. Phillips’s ware.  See Cundum.

Mackerel.  A bawd:  from the French maquerel.  Mackerel-
  backed; long-backed.

Mad tom, or tom of bedlam, otherwise an Abram
  Man.  A rogue that counterfeits madness.  Cant.

Madam.  A kept madam; a kept mistress.

Madam ran.  A whore.  Cant.

Made.  Stolen.  Cant.

Page 115

Madge.  The private parts of a woman.

Madge culls.  Sodomites.  Cant.

Magg.  A halfpenny.

Maggot boiler.  A tallow-chandler.

MAGGOTTY.  Whimsical, capricious.

Magnum BONUM.  A bottle containing two quarts of wine. 
  See scotch pint.

Mahometan gruel.  Coffee:  because formerly used
  chiefly by the Turks.

Maiden sessions.  A sessions where none of the prisoners
  are capitally convicted.

Make.  A halfpenny.  Cant.

Make weight.  A small candle:  a term applied to a little
  slender man.

MALINGEROR.  A military term for one who, under pretence
  of sickness, evades his duty.

Malkin, or MAULKIN.  A general name for a cat; also a
  parcel of rags fastened to the end of a stick, to clean an
  oven; also a figure set up in a garden to scare the birds;
  likewise an awkward woman.  The cove’s so scaly, he’d
  spice a malkin of his jazey:  the fellow is so mean, that he
  would rob a scare-crow of his old wig.

MALKINTRASH.  One in a dismal garb.

Malmsey nose.  A red pimpled snout, rich in carbuncles
  and rubies.

Man of the town.  A rake, a debauchee.

Man of the turf.  A horse racer, or jockey.

Manoeuvring the apostles.  Robbing Peter to pay
  Paul, i.e. borrowing of one man to pay another.

Man trap.  A woman’s commodity.

Man of the world.  A knowing man.

Man, (Cambridge.) Any undergraduate from fifteen to thirty. 
  As a man of Emanuel—­a young member of Emanuel.

Manufacture.  Liquors prepared from materials of English
  growth.

Mare’s nest. He has found a mare’s nest, and is laughing
  at the eggs; said of one who laughs without any
  apparent cause.

Margery Prater.  A hen.  Cant.

Marine officer.  An empty bottle:  marine officers being
  held useless by the seamen.  Sea wit.

Marplot.  A spoil sport.

Marriage music.  The squalling and crying of children.

Married. Persons chained or handcuffed together, in order
  to be conveyed to gaol, or on board the lighters for
  transportation, are in the cant language said to be married
  together.

Marrowbones.  The knees.  To bring any one down on
  his marrow bones; to make him beg pardon on his knees: 
  some derive this from Mary’s bones, i.e. the bones bent in
  honour of the Virgin Mary; but this seems rather far-
  fetched.  Marrow bones and cleavers; principal instruments
  in the band of rough music:  these are generally
  performed on by butchers, on marriages, elections, riding
  skimmington, and other public or joyous occasions.

Page 116

Martinet.  A military term for a strict disciplinarian: 
  from the name of a French general, famous for restoring
  military discipline to the French army.  He first disciplined
  the French infantry, and regulated their method of
  encampment:  he was killed at the siege of Doesbourg in the
  year 1672.

Mason’s maund.  A sham sore above the elbow, to counterfeit
  a broken arm by a fall from a scaffold.

Master of the mint.  A gardener.

Master of the rolls.  A baker.

Master of the wardrobe.  One who pawns his clothes
  to purchase liquor.

Matrimonial peace-maker.  The sugar-stick, or
  arbor vitae.

Maudlin drunk.  Crying drunk:  perhaps from Mary
  Magdalene, called Maudlin, who is always painted in
  tears.

MAULED. Extremely drunk, or soundly beaten.

MAUNDERING broth.  Scolding.

MAUNDING.  Asking or begging.  Cant

MAWKES.  A vulgar slattern.

MAWLEY.  A hand.  Tip us your mawley; shake hands.
  with me.  Fam the mawley; shake hands.

Maw-wallop.  A filthy composition, sufficient to provoke
  vomiting.

Max.  Gin.

May bees.  May bees don’t fly all the year long; an answer
  to any one who prefaces a proposition with, It may be.

Mealy-mouthed. Over-modest or backward in speech.

Medlar.  A fruit, vulgarly called an open a-se; of which
  it is more truly than delicately said, that it is never ripe
  till it is as rotten as a t—­d, and then it is not worth a
  f—­t.

Mellow.  Almost drunk.

Melting moments.  A fat man and woman in the amorous congress.

To melt.  To spend.  Will you melt a borde? will you
  spend a shilling?  The cull melted a couple of decusses
  upon us; the gentleman spent a couple of crowns upon us. 
  Cant.

Member mug.  A chamber pot.

Men of straw.  Hired bail, so called from having straw
  stuck in their shoes to distinguish them.

Men of Kent.  Men born east of the river Medway, who
  are said to have met the Conqueror in a body, each carrying
  a green bough in his hand, the whole appearing like
  a moving wood; and thereby obtaining a confirmation of
  their ancient privileges.  The inhabitants of Kent are divided
  into Kentish men and men of Kent.  Also a society held
  at the Fountain Tavern, Bartholomew Lane, A.D. 1743.

Merkin.  Counterfeit hair for women’s privy parts.  See
  BAILEY’S DICT.

Merry andrew, or Mr. Merryman.  The jack pudding,
  jester, or zany of a mountebank, usually dressed in a
  party-coloured coat.

Page 117

Merry A-se christian.  A whore.

Merry-begotten.  A bastard.

Man of the world.  A knowing man.

Mess John.  A Scotch presbyterian teacher or parson.

Messmate.  One who eats at the same mess, companion or
  comrade.

Mettle.  The semen.  To fetch mettle; the act of self pollution. 
  Mettle is also figuratively used for courage.

Mettlesome.  Bold, courageous.

Michael.  Hip, Michael, your head’s on fire.  See HYP.

MIDSHIPMAN’S watch and chain.  A sheep’s heart and
  pluck.

Milch cow.  One who is easily tricked out of his property;
  a term used by gaolers, for prisoners who have money and
  bleed freely.

Milk and water.  Both ends of the busk.

To milk the pigeon.  To endeavour at impossibilities.

Milling cove.  A boxer.  How the milling cove served
  the cull out; how the boxer beat the fellow.

Mill.  A chisel.

To mill.  To rob; also to break, beat out, or kill.  I’ll
  mill your glaze; I’ll beat out your eye.  To mill a bleating
  cheat; to kill a sheep.  To mill a ken; to rob a house. 
  To mill doll; to beat hemp in bridewell.  Cant.

Mill lay.  To force open the doors of houses in order to
  rob them.

Miller.  A murderer.

Mine A-se on A bandbox.  An answer to the offer of any
  thing inadequate to the purpose for which it is wanted, just
  as a bandbox would be if used for a seat.

Mine uncle’s.  A pawnbroker’s shop; also a necessary
  house.  Carried to my uncle’s; pawned.  New-married
  men are also said to go to their uncle’s, when they leave
  their wives soon after the honey moon.

Minikin.  A little man or woman:  also the smallest sort
  of pin.

Minor clergy.  Young chimney sweepers.

Mint.  Gold.  A mint of money; common phrase for a
  large sum.

Mischief.  A man loaded with mischief, i.e. a man with
  his wife on his back.

Mish.  A shirt, smock, or sheet.  Cant.

Mish Topper.  A coat, or petticoat.

Miss.  A miss or kept mistress; a harlot.

Miss Laycock.  The monosyllable.

Mite.  A nick name for a cheesemonger:  from the small
  insect of that name found in cheese.

MIX metal.  A silversmith.

MOABITES.  Bailiffs, or Philistines.

Mob; or Mab.  A wench, or harlot.

Mobility.  The mob:  a sort of opposite to nobility.

Page 118

Mohair.  A man in the civil line, a townsman, or tradesman: 
  a military term, from the mohair buttons worn by persons
  of those descriptions, or any others not in the army, the
  buttons of military men being always of metal:  this is
  generally used as a term of contempt, meaning a bourgeois,
  tradesman, or mechanic.

Moiety.  Half, but vulgarly used to signify a share or portion: 
  as, He will come in for a small moiety.

Moll.  A whore.

Moll PEATLY’S gig.  A rogering bout.

Moll Thompson’s mark.  M. T. i.e. empty:  as, Take
  away this bottle, it has Moll Thompson’s mark upon it.

Molly.  A Miss Molly; an effeminate fellow, a sodomite.

Monday.  Saint Monday.  See saint.

Money.  A girl’s private parts, commonly applied to little
  children:  as, Take care, Miss, or you will shew your
  money.

Money droppers.  Cheats who drop money, which they
  pretend to find just before some country lad; and by way
  of giving him a share of their good luck, entice him into a
  public house, where they and their confederates cheat or
  rob him of what money he has about him.

Mongrel.  A hanger on among cheats, a spunger; also a
  child whose father and mother are of different countries.

Monks and friars.  Terms used by printers:  monks are
  sheets where the letters are blotted, or printed too black;
  friars, those letters where the ink has failed touching the
  type, which are therefore white or faint.

Monkey.  To suck the monkey; to suck or draw wine, or
  any other liquor, privately out of a cask, by means of a
  straw, or small tube.  Monkey’s allowance; more kicks
  than halfpence.  Who put that monkey on horseback without
  tying his legs? vulgar wit on a bad horseman.

Monosyllable.  A woman’s commodity.

MOONCURSER.  A link-boy:  link-boys are said to curse the
  moon, because it renders their assistance unnecessary;
  these gentry frequently, under colour of lighting passengers
  over kennels, or through dark passages, assist in robbing
  them.  Cant.

Moon-eyed hen.  A squinting wench.

Moon men.  Gypsies.

Moon Rakers.  Wiltshire men:  because it is said that
  some men of that county, seeing the reflection of the
  moon in a pond, endeavoured to pull it out with a rake.

Moonshine.  A matter or mouthful of moonshine; a trifle,
  nothing.  The white brandy smuggled on the coasts of
  Kent and Sussex, and the gin in the north of Yorkshire,
  are also called moonshine.

Mop.  A kind of annual fair in the west of England, where
  farmers usually hire their servants.

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To mop up.  To drink up.  To empty a glass or pot.

Moped. Stupid, melancholy for want of society.

MOPSEY.  A dowdy, or homely woman.

MOPSQUEEZER.  A maid servant, particularly a housemaid.

MOPUSSES.  Money.

MORGLAG.  A brown bill, or kind of halbert, formerly
  carried by watchmen; corruption of more, great or broad,
  and Glave, blade.

Morning drop.  The gallows.  He napped the king’s pardon
  and escaped the morning drop; he was pardoned, and
  was not hanged.

Morris.  Come, morris off; dance off, or get you gone.
  allusion to morris, i.eMorisco, or Moorish dancing.

Mort.  A woman or wench; also a yeoman’s daughter.  To
  be taken all-a mort; to be confounded, surprised, or motionless
  through fear.

Moses.  To stand Moses:  a man is said to stand Moses
  when he has another man’s bastard child fathered upon
  him, and he is obliged by the parish to maintain it.

Moss.  A cant term for lead, because both are found on the
  tops of buildings.

Mossy face.  The mother of all saints.

Mot.  A girl, or wench.  See mort.

Mother, or the mother.  A bawd.  Mother abbess: 
  the same.  Mother midnight; a midwife.  Mother in
  law’s bit; a small piece, mothers in law being supposed
  not apt to overload the stomachs of their husband’s children.

Mother of all saints.  The Monosyllable.

Mother of all souls.  The same.  Irish.

Mother of st. Patrick.  The same.  Irish.

Mother of the maids.  A bawd.

MOUCHETS.  Small patches worn by ladies:  from the French
  word mouches.

MOVEABLES.  Rings, watches, or any toys of value.

Mouse.  To speak like a mouse in a cheese; i.e. faintly or
  indistinctly.

Mousetrap.  The parson’s mousetrap; the state of matrimony.

Mouth.  A noisy fellow.  Mouth half cocked; one gaping
  and staring at every thing he sees.  To make any one
  laugh on the wrong, or t’other side of his mouth; to make
  him cry or grieve.

Mouth.  A silly fellow.  A dupe.  To stand mouth; i.e.
  to be duped.

To mow.  A Scotch word for the act of copulation.

Mow Heater.  A drover:  from their frequent sleeping on
  hay mows.  Cant.

Mower.  A cow.

Muck.  Money; also dung.

Muckworm.  A miser.

MUCKINDER.  A child’s handkerchief tied to the side.

Mud.  A fool, or thick-sculled fellow; also, among printers
  the same as dung among journeymen taylors.  See
  dung.

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Mud Lark.  A fellow who goes about by the water side
  picking up coals, nails, or other articles in the mud.  Also
  a duck.

Muff.  The private parts of a woman.  To the well wearing
  of your muff, mort; to the happy consummation of
  your marriage, girl; a health.

Muffling cheat.  A napkin.

MUGGLETONIANS.  The sect or disciples of Lodowick
  Muggleton.

MULLIGRUBS.  Sick of the mulligrubs with eating chopped
  hay:  low-spirited, having an imaginary sickness.

Mum.  An interjection directing silence.  Mum for that; I
  shall be silent as to that.  As mute as Mumchance, who
  was hanged for saying nothing; a friendly reproach to any
  one who seems low-spirited and silent.

Mumchance.  An ancient game like hazard, played with
  dice:  probably so named from the silence observed in playing
  at it.

Mum glass.  The monument erected on Fish-street Hill,
  London, in memory of the great fire in 1666.

Mumble A sparrow.  A cruel sport practised at wakes
  and fairs, in the following manner:  A cock sparrow
  whose wings are clipped, is put into the crown of a hat; a
  man having his arms tied behind him, attempts to bite off
  the sparrow’s head, but is generally obliged to desist, by
  the many pecks and pinches he receives from the enraged
  bird.

Mummer.  The mouth.

MUMPERS.  Originally beggars of the genteel kind, but
  since used for beggars in general.

MUMPERS hall.  An alehouse where beggars are harboured.

MUNDUNGUS.  Bad or rank tobacco:  from mondongo, a
  Spanish word signifying tripes, or the uncleaned entrails
  of a beast, full of filth.

Mung.  To beg.

Muns.  The face, or rather the mouth:  from the German
  word Mund, the mouth.  Toute his muns; look at his face.

Munster plums. Potatoes.  Irish.

Munster heifer.  An Irish woman.  A woman with
  thick legs is said to be like a Munster heifer; i.e. beef to
  the heels.

Murder.  He looked like God’s revenge against murder;
  he looked angrily.

MURPHIES.  Potatoes.

Mushroom.  A person or family suddenly raised to riches
  and eminence:  an allusion to that fungus, which starts up
  in a night.

Music.  The watch-word among highwaymen, signifying
  the person is a friend, and must pass unmolested.  Music
  is also an Irish term, in tossing up, to express the harp side,
  or reverse, of a farthing or halfpenny, opposed to the head.

Mute.  An undertaker’s servant, who stands at the door of
  a person lying in state:  so named from being supposed
  mute with grief.

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Mutton-headed. Stupid.

Mutton monger.  A man addicted to wenching.

Mutton.  In her mutton, i.e. having carnal knowledge of a
  woman.

Muzzle.  A beard.

Muzzler.  A violent blow on the mouth.  The milling
  cove tipped the cull a muzzler; the boxer gave the fellow
  a blow on the mouth.

MYNT.  See mint.

MYRMIDONS.  The constable’s assistants, watchmen, &c.

Nab, or nab cheat.  A hat.  Penthouse nab; a large
  hat.

To nab.  To seize, or catch unawares.  To nab the teaze;
  to be privately whipped.  To nab the stoop; to stand in
  the pillory.  To nab the rust; a jockey term for a horse
  that becomes restive.  To nab the snow:  to steal linen
  left out to bleach or dry.  Cant.

To nab girder, or nob girder.  A bridle.

Nack.  To have a nack; to be ready at any thing, to have
  a turn-for it.

NACKY.  Ingenious.

Nailed. Secured, fixed.  He offered me a decus, and I
  nailed him; he offered me a crown, and I struck or fixed
  him.

Nanny house.  A brothel.

To nap.  To cheat at dice by securing one chance.  Also
  to catch the venereal disease.  You’ve napt it; you are
  infected.

Napping.  To take any one napping; i.e. to come upon
  him unexpectedly, to find him asleep:  as, He caught him
  napping, as Morse caught his mare.

Napper.  The head; also a cheat or thief.

Napper of naps.  A sheep stealer.  Cant.

Nappy ale.  Strong ale.

NASK, or naskin.  A prison or bridewell.  The new nask;
  Clerkenwell bridewell.  Tothil-fields nask; the bridewell
  at Tothil-fields.  Cant.

Nation.  An abbreviation of damnation:  a vulgar term used
  in Kent, Sussex, and the adjacent counties, for very. 
  Nation good; very good.  A nation long way; a very long
  way.

Natty lads.  Young thieves or pickpockets.  Cant.

Natural.  A mistress, a child; also an idiot.  A natural
  son or daughter; a love or merry-begotten child, a bastard.

Navy office.  The Fleet prison.  Commander of the
  Fleet; the warden of the Fleet prison.

Nay word.  A bye-word, proverb.

NAZAKENE foretop.  The foretop of a wig made in imi-
  tation of Christ’s head of hair, as represented by the
painters and sculptors.

Nazy.  Drunken.  Nazy cove or mort; a drunken rogue
  or harlot.  Nazy nabs; drunken coxcombs.

Neb, or nib.  The bill of a bird, and the slit of a pen. 
  Figuratively, the face and mouth of a woman; as, She holds
  up her neb:  she holds up her mouth to be kissed.

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Neck Stamper.  The boy who collects the pots belonging
  to an alehouse, sent out with beer to private houses.

Neck verse.  Formerly the persons claiming the benefit
  of clergy were obliged to read a verse in a Latin
  manuscript psalter:  this saving them from the gallows, was
  termed their neck verse:  it was the first verse of the
  fiftyfirst psalm, Miserere mei,&c.

Neck Weed. Hemp.

Needle point.  A sharper.

Negligee.  A woman’s undressed gown, Vulgarly termed a
  neggledigee.

NEGROE.  A black-a-moor:  figuratively used for a slave. 
  I’ll be no man’s negro; I will be no man’s slave.

NEGROE’S heads.  Brown leaves delivered to the ships in
  ordinary.

Nescio.  He sports a Nescio; he pretends not to understand
  any thing.  After the senate house examination for
  degrees, the students proceed to the schools, to be
  questioned by the proctor.  According to custom
  immemorial the answers must be Nescio.  The following is
  a translated specimen: 

    Ques.  What is your name?—­Ans.  I do not know. 
    Ques.  What is the name of this university?—­Ans.  I do not
     know. 
    Ques.  Who was your father?-Ans.  I do not know. 
     This last is probably the only true answer of the three!

Nettled. Teized, provoked, out of temper.  He or she has
  pissed on a nettle; said of one who is peevish or out of
  temper.

New college students.  Golden scholars, silver bachelors,
  and leaden masters.

New drop.  The scaffold used at Newgate for hanging
  of criminals; which dropping down, leaves them
  suspended.  By this improvement, the use of that vulgar
  vehicle, a cart, is entirely left off.

New light.  One of the new light; a methodist.

Newgate bird.  A thief or sharper, frequently caged in
  Newgate.

Newgate solicitor.  A petty fogging and roguish attorney,
  who attends the gaols to assist villains in evading justice.

NEWMAN’S lift.  The gallows.

NEWMAN’S tea gardens.  Newgate.

NEWMAN’S hotel.  Newgate.

To nick.  To win at dice, to hit the mark just in the nick
  of time, or at the critical moment.

Nick.  Old nick; the Devil.

Nickname.  A name given in ridicule or contempt:  from
  the French nom de niqne.  Niqne is a movement of the head
  to mark a contempt for any person or thing.

Nick ninny.  A simpleton.

NICKIN, NIKEY or NIZEY.  A soft simple fellow; also a
  diminutive of Isaac.

NICKNACKS.  Toys, baubles, or curiosities.

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NlCKNACKATORY.  A toyshop.

NICKUMPOOP, or NINCUMPOOP.  A foolish fellow; also
  one who never saw his wife’s ****.

NIFFYNAFFY fellow.  A trifler.

NIG.  The clippings of money.  Nigging; clipping.  Nigler,
  a clipper.  Cant.

Niggling.  Cutting awkwardly, trifling; also accompanying
  with a woman.

Night magistrate.  A constable.

Nightingale.  A soldier who, as the term is, sings out
  at the halberts.  It is a point of honour in some
  regiments, among the grenadiers, never to cry out,
  become nightingales, whilst under the discipline of the
  cat of nine tails; to avoid which, they chew a bullet.

NIGHTMAN.  One whose business it is to empty necessary
  houses in London, which is always done in the night; the
  operation is called a wedding.  See wedding.

NIGMENOG.  A very silly fellow.

To Nim.  To steal or pilfer:  from the German nemen, to
  take.  Nim a togeman; steal a cloak.

NIMGIMMER.  A physician or surgeon, particularly those
  who cure the venereal disease.

Nine lives.  Cats are said to have nine lives, and women
  ten cats lives.

Ninny, or ninnyhammer.  A simpleton.

Nip.  A cheat.  Bung nipper; a cutpurse.

Nip cheese.  A nick name for the purser of a ship:  from
  those gentlemen being supposed sometimes to nip, or
  diminish, the allowance of the seamen, in that and every
  other article.  It is also applied to stingy persons in
  general.

NIPPERKIN.  A small measure.

Nipps.  The sheers used in clipping money.

Nit SQUEEGER, i.esqueezer.  A hair-dresser.

Nix.  Nothing.

No catchy no HAVY.  If I am not caught, I cannot be hurt. 
  Negro saying.

Nob.  A king.  A man of rank.

Nob.  The head.

NOBTHATCHER.  A peruke-maker.

Nock.  The breech; from Nock, a notch.

NOCKY boy.  A dull simple fellow.

Nod.  He is gone to the land of nod; he is asleep.

Noddle.  The head.

Noddy.  A simpleton or fool.  Also a kind of low cart,
  with a seat before it for the driver, used in and about
  Dublin, in the manner of a hackney coach:  the fare is
  just half that of a coach, for the same distance; so
  that for sixpence one may have a set down, as it is
  called, of a mile and half, and frequently a tumble
  down into the bargain:  it is called a noddy from the
  nutation of its head.  Knave noddy; the old-fashioned
  name for the knave of trumps.

Noisy dog racket.  Stealing brass knockers from doors.

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Nokes.  A ninny, or fool.  John-a-Nokes and Tom-a-Stiles;
  two honest peaceable gentlemen, repeatedly set together
  by the ears by lawyers of different denominations:  two
  fictitious names formerly used in law proceedings, but
  now very seldom, having for several years past been
  supplanted by two other honest peaceable gentlemen,
  namely, John Doe and Richard Roe.

Noll.  Old Noll; Oliver Cromwell.

Non-con.  A nonconformist, presbyterian, or any other
  dissenter.

None-such.  One that is unequalled:  frequently applied
  ironically.

Nonsense.  Melting butter in a wig.

NOOZED. Married, hanged.

Nope.  A blow:  as, I took him a nope on the costard.

Norfolk capon.  A red herring.

Norfolk dumpling.  A nick name, or term of jocular
  reproach to a Norfolk man; dumplings being a favourite
  food in that county.

North ALLERTONS.  Spurs; that place, like Rippon,
  being famous for making them.

Northumberland.  Lord Northumberland’s arms; a black
  eye:  so called in the last century.

Norway neckcloth.  The pillory, usually made of Norway
  fir.

Nose.  As plain as the nose on your face; evidently to be
  seen.  He is led by the nose; he is governed.  To follow
  one’s nose; to go strait forward.  To put one’s nose
  out of joint; to rival one in the favour of any person. 
  To make a bridge of any one’s nose; to pass by him in
  drinking.  To nose a stink; to smell it.  He cut off his
  nose to be revenged of his face; said of one who, to be
  revenged on his neighbour, has materially injured
  himself.

Nose.  A man who informs or turns king’s evidence.

To nose.  To give evidence.  To inform.  His pall nosed and
  he was twisted for a crack; his confederate turned
  king’s evidence, and he was hanged for burglary.

To nose.  To bully.

Nose bag.  A bag fastened to the horse’s head, in which
  the soldiers of the cavalry put the oats given to their
  horses:  whence the saying, I see the hose bag in his
  face; i.e. he has been a private man, or rode private.

Nose Gent.  A nun.

Nostrum.  A medicine prepared by particular persons
  only, a quack medicine.

Notch.  The private parts of awoman.

Note.  He changed his note; he told another sort of a
  story.

Nous-box.  The head.

Nozzle.  The nose of a man or woman.

Nub.  The neck; also coition.

Nubbing.  Hanging.  Nubbing cheat:  the gallows.  Nubbing
  cove; the hangman.  Nubbing ken; the sessions
  house.

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NUG.  An endearing word:  as, My dear nug; my dear love.

NUGGING dress.  An out-of-the-way old-fashioned dress,
  or rather a loose kind of dress, denoting a courtesan.

NUGGING-house.  A brothel.

To Null.  To beat:  as, He nulled him heartily.

Numbers.  To consult the book of numbers:  a term used
  in the House of Commons, when, instead of answering or
  confuting a pressing argument, the minister calls for a
  division, i.e. puts the matter to the vote.

NUMBSCULL.  A stupid fellow.

NUMMS. A sham collar, to be worn over a dirty shirt.

Nunnery.  A bawdy house.

To nurse.  To cheat:  as, they nursed him out of it.  An
  estate in the hands of trustees, for the payment of
  bdebts, is said to be at nurse.

Nuts.  It was nuts for them; i.e. it was very agreeable to
  them.

Nuts.  Fond; pleased.  She’s nuts upon her cull; she’s
  pleased with her cully.  The cove’s nutting the blowen;
  the man is trying to please the girl.

NUTCRACKERS.  The pillory:  as, The cull peeped through
  the nutcrackers.

NUTMEGS.  Testicles.

NYP, or nip.  A half pint, a nip of ale:  whence the
  nipperkin, a small vessel.

NYP shop.  The Peacock in Gray’s Inn Lane, where
  Burton ale is sold in nyps.

NYPPER.  A cut-purse:  so called by one Wotton, who in
  the year 1585 kept an academy for the education and
  perfection of pickpockets and cut-purses:  his school was
  near Billingsgate, London.  As in the dress of ancient
  times many people wore their purses at their girdles,
  cutting them was a branch of the light-fingered art,
  which is now lost, though the name remains.  Maitland,
  from Stow, gives the following account of this Wotton: 
  This man was a gentleman born, and sometime a merchant
  of good credit, but fallen by time into decay:  he kept
  an alehouse near Smart’s Key, near Billingsgate,
  afterwards for some misdemeanor put down.  He reared up a
  new trade of life, and in the same house he procured all
  the cut-purses about the city, to repair to his house;
  there was a school-house set up to learn young boys to
  cut purses:  two devices were hung up; one was a pocket,
  and another was a purse; the pocket had in it certain
  counters, and was hung about with hawks bells, and over
  the top did hang a little sacring bell.  The purse had
  silver in it; and he that could take out a counter,
  without noise of any of the bells, was adjudged a
  judicial NYPPER:  according to their terms of art, a
  FOYSTER was a pick-pocket; a NYPPER was a pick purse,
  or cut-purse.

O be joyful.  I’ll make you sing O be joyful on the
  other side of your mouth; a threat, implying the party
  threatened will be made to cry.  To sing O be easy; to
  appear contented when one has cause to complain, and
  dare not.

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Oaf.  A silly fellow.

Oafish.  Simple.

Oak.  A rich maa, a man of good substance and credit. 
  To sport oak; to shut the outward door of a student’s
  room at college.  An oaken towel; an oaken cudgel.  To
  rub a man down with an oaken towel; to beat him.

Oats.  He has sowed his wild oats; he is staid, or sober,
  having left off his wild tricks.

Oaths.  The favourite oaths of the thieves of the present
  day are, “God strike me blind!” “I wish my bloody eyes
  may drop out if it is not true!” “So help me God!”
  “Bloody end to me!”

Oar.  To put in one’s oar; to intermeddle, or give an
  opinion unasked:  as, To be sure, you must put in your
  oar!

OBSTROPULOUS.  Vulgar misnomer of obstreperous:  as, I
  was going my rounds, and found this here gemman very
  obstropulous, whereof I comprehended him as an
  auspicious parson.

Occupy.  To occupy a woman; to have carnal knowledge
  of her.

ODDFELLOWS.  A convivial society; the introduction to
  the most noble grand, arrayed in royal robes, is well worth
  seeing at the price of becoming a member.

Odds PLUT and her nails.  A Welch oath, frequently
  mentioned in a jocular manner by persons, it is hoped,
  ignorant of its meaning; which is, By God’s blood, and
  the nails with which he was nailed to the cross.

Odd-come-SHORTLYS.  I’ll do it one of these odd-come-shortly’s;
  I will do it some time or another.

Office.  To give the office; to give information, or make
  signs to the officers to take a thief.

Ogles.  Eyes.  Rum ogles; fine eyes.

Oil of barley, or barley broth.  Strong beer.

Oil of gladness.  I will anoint you with the oil of gladness;
  ironically spoken for, I will beat you.

Oil of Stirrup.  A dose the cobler gives his wife whenever
  she is obstropulous.

OI POAAOI (Proofreaders Note:  Greek Letters). 
  (Cambridge.) The many; the multitude;
  who take degrees without being entitled for an honor. 
  All that is required, are three books of Euclid, and as far
  as Quadratic Equation’s in Algebra.  See plucked.

Old.  Ugly.  Cant.

Old dog at it.  Expert, accustomed.

Old hand.  Knowing or expert in any business.

Old Harry.  A composition used by vintners to adulterate
  their wines; also the nick-name for the devil.

Old ding.  See old hat.

Old Mr. Gory.  A piece of gold.

Old nick.  The Devil:  from Neken, the evil spirit of the
  north.

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Old one.  The Devil.  Likewise an expression of quizzical
  familiarity, as “how d’ye do, old one?”

Old Pegg.  Poor Yorkshire cheese, made of skimmed
  milk.

Old POGER.  The Devil.

Old Stager.  One accustomed to business, one who knows
  mankind.

Old toast. A brisk old fellow.  Cant.

Old Doss.  Bridewell.

Oliver’s scull.  A chamber pot.

Olli COMPOLLI.  The name of one of the principal rogues
  of the canting crew.  Cant.

OMNIUM GATHERUM.  The whole together:  jocular imitation
  of law Latin.

One in ten.  A parson:  an allusion to his tithes.

One of us, or one of my cousins.  A woman of the
  town, a harlot.

Onion.  A seal.  Onion hunters, a class of young thieves
  who are on the look out for gentlemen who wear their
  seals suspended on a ribbon, which they cut, and thus
  secure the seals or other trinkets suspended to the watch.

Open arse.  A medlar.  See medlar.

OPTIME.  The senior and junior optimes are the second
  and last classes of Cambridge honors conferred on taking
  a degree.  That of wranglers is the first.  The last
  junior optime is called the Wooden Spoon.

Organ.  A pipe.  Will you cock your organ? will you
  smoke your pipe?

Orthodoxy and heterodoxy.  Somebody explained these
  terms by saying, the first was a man who had a doxy of
  his own, the second a person who made use of the doxy
  of another man.

OSCHIVES.  Bone-handled knives.  Cant.

Ostler.  Oatstealer.

OTTOMY.  The vulgar word for a skeleton.

OTTOMISED. To be ottomised; to be dissected.  You’ll be
  scragged, ottomised, and grin in a glass case:  you’ll be
  hanged, anatomised, and your skeleton kept in a glass
  case at Surgeons’ Hall.

Oven.  A great mouth; the old woman would never have
  looked for her daughter in the oven, had she not been there
  herself.

Overseer.  A man standing in the pillory, is, from his
  elevated situation, said to be made an overseer.

Out at heels, or out at elbows.  In declining circumstances.

Outrun the constable.  A man who has lived above his
  means, or income, is said to have outrun the constable.

Outs.  A gentleman of three outs.  See gentleman.

Owl.  To catch the; a trick practised upon ignorant country
  boobies, who are decoyed into a barn under pretence
  of catching an owl, where, after divers preliminaries, the
  joke ends in their having a pail of water poured upon their
  heads.

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Owl in an ivy bush.  He looks like an owl in an ivy
  bush; frequently said of a person with a large frizzled wig,
  or a woman whose hair is dressed a-la-blowze.

OWLERS.  Those who smuggle wool over to France.

Ox house.  He must go through the ox house to bed; a saying
  of an old fellow who marries a young girl.

OYES.  Corruption of oyez, proclaimed by the crier of all
  courts of justice.

Oyster.  A gob of thick phlegm, spit by a consumptive
  man; in law Latin, UNUM VIRIDUM GOBBUM

P’s.  To mind one’s P’s and Q’s; to be attentive to the
  main chance.

P.P.C.  An inscription on the visiting cards of our modern
  fine gentleman, signifying that they have called pour
  PRENDRE CONGE, i.e. ‘to take leave,’ This has of late been
  ridiculed by cards inscribed D.I.O. i.e.  ‘Damme, I’m off.’

Packet.  A false report.

Packthread.  To talk packthread; to use indecent language
  well wrapt up.

Pad.  The highway, or a robber thereon; also a bed.  Footpads;
  foot robbers.  To go out upon the pad; to go out
  in order to commit a robbery.

Pad borrowers.  Horse stealers.

To pad the hoof.  See To beat the hoof.

Paddington fair day.  An execution day, Tyburn being
  in the parish or neighbourhood of Paddington.  To dance
  the Paddington frisk; to be hanged.

Paddy.  The general name for an Irishman:  being the
  abbreviation of Patrick, the name of the tutelar saint of that
  island.

Painter.  I’ll cut your painter for you; I’ll send you off;
  the painter being the ropfe that holds the boat fast to the
  ship.  Sea term.

Pair of wings.  Oars.  Cant.

To palaver.  To flatter:  originally an African word for a
  treaty, talk, or conference.

PALLIARDS.  Those whose fathers were clapperdogens, or
  beggars born, and who themselves follow the same trade: 
  the female sort beg with a number of children, borrowing
  them, if they have not a sufficient number of their own,
  and making them cry by pinching in order to excite
  charity; the males make artificial sores on different parts of
  their bodies, to move compassion.

Pall.  A companion.  One who generally accompanies
  another, or who commit robberies together.

Pam.  The knave of clubs.

PANNAM.  Bread.

Pannier man.  A servant belonging to the Temple and
  Gray’s Inn, whose office is to announce the dinner.  This
  in the Temple, is done by blowing a horn; and in Gray’s
  Inn proclaiming the word Manger, Manger, Manger, in
  each of the three courts.

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Panny.  A house.  To do a panny:  to rob a house.  See
  the Sessions Papers.  Probably, panny originally meant
  the butler’s pantry, where the knives and forks, spoons,
  &c. are usually kept The pigs frisked my panney, and
  nailed my screws; the officers searched my house, and
  seized my picklock keys.  Cant.

Panter.  A hart:  that animal is, in the Psalms, said to
  pant after the fresh water-brooks.  Also the human
  heart, which frequently pants in time of danger.  Cant.

Pantile shop.  A presbyterian, or other dissenting meeting
  house, frequently covered with pantiles:  called also
  a cock-pit.

PANTLER.  A butler.

Pap.  Bread sauce; also the food of infants.  His mouth is
  full of pap; he is still a baby.

Paper scull.  A thin-scull’d foolish fellow.

PAPLER.  Milk pottage.

PARELL.  Whites of eggs, bay salt, milk, and pump water,
  beat together, and poured into a vessel of wine to prevent
  its fretting.

Parenthesis.  To put a man’s nose into a parenthesis:  to
  pull it, the fingers and thumb answering the hooks or
  crochets.  A wooden parenthesis; the pillory.  An iron
  parenthesis; a prison.

Parings.  The chippings of money.  Cant.

Parish bull.  A parson.

Parish.  His stockings are of two parishes; i.e. they are
  not fellows.

Parish soldier.  A jeering name for a militiaman:  from
  substitutes being frequently hired by the parish from
  which one of its inhabitants is drawn.

Park PAILING.  Teeth.

Parson.  A guide post, hand or finger post by the road
  side for directing travellers:  compared to a parson,
  because, like him, it sets people in the right way.  See
  guide post. He that would have luck in horse-flesh,
  must kiss a parson’s wife.

Parson’s journeyman.  A curate.

Parson Palmer.  A jocular name, or term of reproach,
  to one who stops the circulation of the glass by preaching
  over his liquor; as it is said was done by a parson of that
  name whose cellar was under his pulpit.

Partial.  Inclining more to one side than the other,
  crooked, all o’ one hugh.

Pass bank.  The place for playing at passage, cut into
  the ground almost like a cock-pit.  Also the stock or
  fund.

Passage.  A camp game with three dice:  doublets, making
  up ten or more, to pass or win; any other chances
  lose.

Pat.  Apposite, or to the purpose.

Pate.  The head.  Carroty-pated; red-haired.

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PATRICO, or Pater-cove.  The fifteenth rank of the canting
  tribe; strolling priests that marry people under a
  hedge, without gospel or common prayer book:  the
  couple standing on each side of a dead beast, are bid to live
  together till death them does part; so shaking hands, the
  wedding is ended.  Also any minister or parson.

Pattering.  The maundering or pert replies of servants;
  also talk or palaver in order to amuse one intended to be
  cheated.  Pattering of prayers; the confused sound of a
  number of persons praying together.

To patter.  To talk.  To patter flash; to speak flash, or
  the language used by thieves.  How the blowen lushes
  jackey, and patters flash; how the wench drinks gin, and
  talks flash.

PAVIOUR’S workshop.  The street.

To paum.  To conceal in the hand.  To paum a die:  to
  hide a die in the palm of the hand.  He paums; he cheats. 
  Don’t pretend to paum that upon me.

Paunch.  The belly.  Some think paunch was the original
  name of that facetious prince of puppets, now called
  Mr. Punch, as he is always represented with a very
  prominent belly:  though the common opinion is, that both
  the name and character were taken from a celebrated Italian
  comedian, called Polichenello.

Paw.  A hand or foot; look at his dirty paws.  Fore paw;
  the hand.  Hind paw; the foot.  To paw; to touch or
  handle clumsily.

Paw paw tricks.  Naughty tricks:  an expression used
  by nurses, &c. to children.

To pay.  To smear over.  To pay the bottom of a ship or
  boat; to smear it over with pitch:  The devil to pay, and
  no pitch hot or ready.  Sea term.—­Also to beat:  as, I will
  pay you as Paul paid the Ephesians, over the face and eyes,
  and all your d—–­d jaws.  To pay away; to fight manfully,
  also to eat voraciously.  To pay through the nose:  to pay
  an extravagant price.

To peach.  To impeach:  called also to blow the gab, squeak,
  or turn stag.

Peak.  Any kind of lace.

Peal.  To ring a peal in a man’s ears; to scold at him:  his
  wife rang him such a peal!

Pear making.  Taking bounties from several regiments
  and immediately deserting.  The cove was fined in the
  steel for pear making; the fellow was imprisoned in the
  house of correction for taking bounties from different
  regiments.

Peccavi.  To cry peccavi; to acknowledge one’s self in an
  error, to own a fault:  from the Latin peccavi, I have sinned.

Peck.  Victuals.  Peck and booze; victuals and drink.

Peckish.  Hungry.

Peculiar.  A mistress.

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Ped. A basket.  Cant.

Pedlar’s French.  The cant language.  Pedlar’s pony;
  a walking-stick.

To peel.  To strip:  allusion to the taking off the coat or
  rind of an orange or apple.

Peeper.  A spying glass; also a looking-glass.  Track up
  the dancers, and pike with the peeper; whip up stairs,
  and run off with the looking-glass.  Cant.

Peepers.  Eyes.  Single peeper, a one-eyed man.

Peeping tom.  A nick name for a curious prying fellow;
  derived from an old legendary tale, told of a taylor of
  Coventry, who, when Godiva countess of Chester rode at
  noon quite naked through that town, in order to procure
  certain immunities for the inhabitants, (notwithstanding
  the rest of the people shut up their houses) shly peeped
  out of his window, for which he was miraculously struck
  blind.  His figure, peeping out of a window, is still kept
  up in remembrance of the transaction.

Peepy.  Drowsy.

To peer.  To look about, to be circumspect.

Peery.  Inquisitive, suspicious.  The cull’s peery; that
  fellow suspects something.  There’s a peery, tis snitch
  we are observed, there’s nothing to be done.

Peg.  Old Peg; poor hard Suffolk or Yorkshire cheese.  A
  peg is also a blow with a straightarm:  a term used by the
  professors of gymnastic arts.  A peg in the day-light,
  the victualling office, or the haltering-place; a blow in the
  eye, stomach, or under the ear.

Peg Trantum’s.  Gone to Peg Trantum’s; dead.

PEGO.  The penis of man or beast.

Pell-Mell.  Tumultuously, helter skelter, jumbled together.

Pelt.  A heat, chafe, or passion; as, What a pelt he was
  in!  Pelt is also the skin of several beasts.

Penance board.  The pillory.

Penny-wise and pound foolish.  Saving in small matters,
  and extravagant in great.

Pennyworth.  An equivalent.  A good pennyworth;
  cheap bargain.

Penthouse nab.  A broad brimmed hat.

Peppered. Infected with the venereal disease.

Peppery.  Warm, passionate.

Perkin.  Water cyder.

PERRIWINKLE.  A wig.

Persuaders.  Spurs.  The kiddey clapped his persuaders
  to his prad but the traps boned him; the highwayman
  spurred his horse hard, but the officers seized him.

Pet.  In a pet; in a passion or miff.

Peter.  A portmanteau or cloke-bag.  Biter of peters; one
  that makes it a trade to steal boxes and trunks from behind
  stage coaches or out of waggons.  To rob Peter to
  pay Paul; to borrow of one man to pay another:  styled
  also manoeuvring the apostles.

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Peter Gunner, will kill all the birds that died last summer. 
  A piece of wit commonly thrown out at a person
  walking through a street or village near London, with a
  gun in his hand.

Peter lay.  The department of stealing portmanteaus,
  trunks, &c.

Peter lug.  Who is Peter Lug? who lets the glass stand
  at his door, or before him.

Petticoat hold.  One who has an estate during his wife’s
  life, called the apron-string hold.

Petticoat pensioner.  One kept by a woman forsecret
  services.

Pettish.  Passionate.

Petty fogger.  A little dirty attorney, ready to undertake
  any litigious or bad cause:  it is derived from the French
  words petit vogue, of small credit, or little reputation.

Pharaoh.  Strong malt liquor.

Philistines.  Bailiffs, or officers of justice; also drunkards.

Phoenix-men.  Firemen belonging to an insurance office,
  which gave a badge charged with a phoenix:  these men
  were called likewise firedrakes.

PHOS bottle.  A. bottle of phosphorus:  used by housebreakers
  to light their lanthorns.  Ding the phos; throw
  away the bottle of phosphorus.

Phrase of paper.  Half a quarter of a sheet.  See vessel, physog.

PHYSOG.  The face.  A vulgar abbreviation of physiognomy.

PHYZ.  The face.  Rum phyz; an odd face or countenance.

Picaroon.  A pirate; also a sharper.

PICKANINY.  A young child, an infant.  Negro term.

Picking.  Pilfering, petty larceny.

Pickle.  An arch waggish fellow.  In pickle, or in the
  pickling tub; in a salivation.  There are rods in brine, or
  pickle, for him; a punishment awaits him, or is prepared
  for him.  Pickle herring; the zany or merry andrew
  of a mountebank.  See jack pudding.

PICKT hatch.  To go to the manor of pickt hatch, a
  cant name for some part of the town noted for bawdy
  houses in Shakespeare’s time, and used by him in that
  sense.

Pickthank.  A tale-bearer or mischief maker.

Picture frame.  The sheriff’s picture frame; the gallows
  or pillory.

To piddle.  To make water:  a childish expression; as,
  Mammy, I want to piddle.  Piddling also means trifling,
  or doing any thing in a small degree:  perhaps from peddling.

Piece.  A wench.  A damned good or bad piece; a girl
  who is more or less active and skilful in the amorous congress. 
  Hence the (Cambridge) toast, May we never have
  a piece (peace) that will injure the constitution.  Piece
  likewise means at Cambridge a close or

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spot of ground
  adjacent to any of the colleges, as Clare-hall Piece, &c. 
  The spot of ground before King’s College formerly belonged
  to Clare-hall.  While Clare Piece belonged to King’s,
  the master of Clare-hall proposed a swop, which being
  refused by the provost of King’s, he erected before their
  gates a temple of CLOACINA.  It will be unnecessary to say
  that his arguments were soon acceded to.

Pig.  A police officer.  A China street pig; a Bow-street
  officer.  Floor the pig and bolt; knock down the officer
  and run away.

Pig.  Sixpence, a sow’s baby.  Pig-widgeon; a simpleton. 
  To pig together; to lie or sleep together, two or more in
  a bed.  Cold pig; a jocular punishment inflicted by the
  maid seryants, or other females of the house, on persons
  lying over long in bed:  it consists in pulling off all the
  bed clothes, and leaving them to pig or lie in the cold.  To
  buy a pig in a poke; to purchase any thing without seeing. 
  Pig’s eyes; small eyes.  Pigsnyes; the same:  a vulgar
  term of endearment to a woman.  He can have boiled
  pig at home; a mark of being master of his own house: 
  an allusion to a well known poem and story.  Brandy is
  Latin for pig and goose; an apology for drinking a dram
  after either.

Pig-headed. Obstinate.

Pig running.  A piece of game frequently practised at
  fairs, wakes, &c.  A large pig, whose tail is cut short, and
  both soaped and greased, being turned out, is hunted by
  the young men and boys, and becomes the property of him
  who can catch and hold him by the tail, abpve the height
  of his head.

Pigeon.  A weak silly fellow easily imposed on.  To pigeon;
  to cheat.  To milk the pigeon; to attempt impossibilities,
  to be put to shifts for want of money.  To
  fly a blue pigeon; to steal lead off a church.

Pigeons.  Sharpers, who, during the drawing of the lottery,
  wait ready mounted near Guildhall, and, as soon as
  the first two or three numbers are drawn, which they receive
  from a confederate on a card, ride with them full
  speed to some distant insurance office, before fixed on,
  where there is another of the gang, commonly a decent
  looking woman, who takes care to be at the office before
  the hour of drawing:  to her he secretly gives the number,
  which she insures for a considerable sum:  thus biting
  the biter.

Pigeon’s milk.  Boys and novices are frequently sent on
  the first of April to buy pigeons milk.

To pike.  To run away.  Pike off; run away.

Pilgrim’s salve.  A sirreverence, human excrement.

Pill, or Peele garlick.  Said originally to mean one
  whose skin or hair had fallen off from some disease, chiefly
  the venereal one; but now commonly used by persons
  speaking of themselves:  as, there stood poor pill garlick: 
  i.e. there stood I.

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PILLALOO.  The Irish cry or howl at funerals.

Pimp.  A male procurer, or cock bawd; also a small faggot
  used about London for lighting fires, named from introducing
  the fire to the coals.

Pimp WHISKIN.  A top trader in pimping.

Pimple.  The head.

Pin.  In or to a merry pin; almost drunk:  an allusion to
  a sort of tankard, formerly used in the north, having silver
  pegs or pins set at equal distances from the top to the
  bottom:  by the rules of good fellowship, every person
  drinking out of one of these tankards, was to swallow
  the quantity contained between two pins; if he drank
  more or less, he was to continue drinking till he ended at
  a pin:  by this means persons unaccustomed to measure
  their draughts were obliged to drink the whole tankard. 
  Hence when a person was a little elevated with liquor,
  he was said to have drunk to a merry pin.

Pin basket.  The youngest child.

Pin money.  An allowance settled on a married woman
  for her pocket expences.

Pinch.  At a pinch; on an exigency.

Pinch.  To go into a tradesman’s shop under the pretence
  of purchasing rings or other light articles, and while
  examining them to shift some up the sleeve of the coat. 
  Also to ask for change for a guinea, and when the silver
  is received, to change some of the good shillings for bad
  ones; then suddenly pretending to recollect that you had
  sufficient silver to pay the bill, ask for the guinea again,
  and return the change, by which means several bad shillings
  are passed.

To pinch on the parson’s side.  To defraud the parson
  of his tithe.

PINCHERS.  Rogues who, in changing money, by dexterity
  of hand frequently secrete two or three shillings out of
  the change of a guinea.  This species of roguery is called
  the pinch, or pinching lay.

To pink.  To stab or wound with a small sword:  probably
  derived from the holes formerly cut in both men and women’s
  clothes, called pinking.  Pink of the fashion; the
  top of the mode.  To pink and wink; frequently winking
  the eyes through a weakness in them.

Pinking-DINDEE.  A sweater or mohawk.  Irish.

Pins.  Legs.  Queer pins; ill shapen legs.

Piper.  A broken winded horse.

PISCINARIANS.  A club or brotherhood, A.D. 1743.

Piss.  He will piss when he can’t whistle; he will be hanged. 
  He shall not piss my money against the wall; he shall not
  have my money to spend in liquor.

      He who once a good name gets,
      May piss a bed, and say he sweats.

Piss-burned. Discoloured:  commonly applied to a discoloured
  grey wig.

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Piss maker.  A great drinker, one much given to liquor.

Piss pot hall.  A house at Clapton, near Hackney, built
  by a potter chiefly out of the profits of chamber pots, in the
  bottom of which the portrait of Dr. Sacheverel was depicted.

Piss prophet.  A physician who judges of the diseases of
  his patients solely by the inspection of their urine.

Piss-proud.  Having a false erection.  That old fellow
  thought he had an erection, but his—­was only piss-
  proud; said of any old fellow who marries a young wife.

Pissing down any one’s back.  Flattering him.

Pissing pins and needles.  To have a gonorrhea.

Pit.  A watch fob.  He drew a rare thimble from the swell’s
  pit.  He took a handsome watch from the gentleman’s
  fob.

Pit.  To lay pit and boxes into one; an operation in midwifery
  or copulation, whereby the division between the
  anus and vagina is cut through, broken, and demolished: 
  a simile borrowed from the playhouse, when, for the benefit
  of some favourite player, the pit and boxes are laid together. 
  The pit is also the hole under the gallows, where
  poor rogues unable to pay the fees are buried.

PITT’S picture.  A window stopt up on the inside, to save
  the tax imposed in that gentleman’s administration.  Party wit

Pit-A-pat.  The palpitation of the heart:  as, my heart
  went pit-a-pat.  Pintledy-pantledy; the same.

Pitch-KETTLED. Stuck fast, confounded.

Pitcher.  The miraculous pitcher, that holds water with
  the mouth downwards:  a woman’s commodity.  She has
  crack’d her pitcher or pipkin; she has lost her maidenhead.

PIZZY club.  A society held, A. D, 1744, at the sign of
  the Tower, on Tower Hill:  president, Don Pizzaro.

Plaister of warm guts.  One warm belly’dapped to another;
  a receipt frequently prescribed for different disorders.

Plant.  The place in the house of the fence where stolen
  goods are secreted.  Any place where stolen goods are concealed.

To plant.  To lay, place, or hide.  Plant your wids and
  stow them; be careful what you say, or let slip.  Also to
  bury, as, he was planted by the parson.

Plate.  Money, silver, prize.  He is in for the plate; he
  has won the Keat, i.e. is infected with the venereal disorder: 
  a simile drawn from hofse-racing.  When the plate
  fleet comes in; when money comes to hand.

Platter-faced. Broad-faced.

Play.  To play booty; to play with an intention to lose.  To
  play the whole game; to cheat.  To play least in sight;
  to hide, or keep out of the way.  To play the devil; to be
  guilty of some great irregularity or mismanagement.

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Pluck.  Courage.  He wants pluck:  he is a coward. 
  Against the pluck; against the inclination.  Pluck the
  Ribbon; ring the bell.  To pluck a crow with one; to
  settle a dispute, to reprove one for some past transgression. 
  To pluck a rose; an expression said to be used by women
  for going to the necessary house, which in the country usually
  stands in the garden.  To pluck also signifies to deny a
  degree to a candidate at one of the universities, on account
  of insufficiency.  The three first books of Euclid, and as
  far as Quadratic Equations in Algebra, will save a man
  from being plucked.  These unfortunate fellows are designated by
  many opprobrious appellations, such as the twelve
  apostles, the legion of honor, wise men of the East, &c.

Plug tail.  A man’s penis.

Plumb.  An hundred thousand pounds.

Plummy.  It is all plummy; i.e. all is right, or as it ought
  to be.

Plump.  Fat, full, fleshy.  Plump in the pocket; full in
  the pocket.  To plump; to strike, or shoot.  I’ll give
  you a plump in the bread basket, or the victualling office: 
  I’ll give you a blow in the stomach.  Plump his peepers,
  or day-lights; give him a blow in the eyes.  He pulled out
  his pops and plumped him; he drew out his pistols and
  shot him.  A plumper; a single vote at an election.  Plump
  also means directly, or exactly; as, it fell plump upon
  him:  it fell directly upon him.

Plump currant.  I am not plump currant; I am out of
  sorts.

PLUMPERS.  Contrivances said to be formerly worn by old
  maids, for filling out a pair of shrivelled cheeks.

Plyer.  A crutch; also a trader.

Pogy.  Drunk.

Point.  To stretch a point; to exceed some usual limit, to
  take a great stride.  Breeches were usually tied up with
  points, a kind of short laces, formerly given away by the
  churchwardens at Whitsuntide, under the denomination
  of tags:  by taking a great stride these were stretched.

Poisoned. Big with child:  that wench is poisoned, see
  how her belly is swelled.  Poison-pated:  red-haired.

Poke.  A blow with the fist:  I’ll lend you a poke.  A poke
  likewise means a sack:  whence, to buy a pig in a poke,
  i.e. to buy any thing without seeing or properly examining it.

Poker.  A sword.  Fore pokers; aces and kings at cards. 
  To burn your poker; to catch the venereal disease.

Pole.  He is like a rope-dancer’s polo, lead at both ends;
  a saying of a stupid sluggish fellow.

Polish.  To polish the king’s iron with one’s eyebrows; to be
  in gaol, and look through the iron grated windows.  To
  polish a bone; to eat a meal.  Come and polish a bone
  with me; come and eat a dinner or supper with me.

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Poll.  The head, jolly nob, napper, or knowledge box;
  also a wig.

POLT.  A blow.  Lend him a polt in the muns; give him a
  knock in the face.

To pommel.  To beat:  originally confined to beating with
  the hilt of a sword, the knob being, from its similarity to
  a small apple, called pomelle; in Spanish it is still called
  the apple of the sword.  As the clenched fist likewise
  somewhat resembles an apple, perhaps that might occasion the
  term pommelling to be applied to fisty-cuffs.

Pomp.  To save one’s pomp at whist, is to score five before
  the adversaries are up, or win the game:  originally derived
  from pimp, which is Welsh for five; and should be, I
  have saved my pimp.

POMPAGINIS.  Aqua pompaginis; pump water.  See
  aqua.

POMPKIN.  A man or woman of Boston in America:  from,
  the number of pompkins raised and eaten by the people
  of that country.  Pompkinshire; Boston and its dependencies.

PONEY.  Money.  Post the poney; lay down the money.

Pontius Pilate.  A pawnbroker.  Pontius Pilate’s guards,
  the first regiment of foot, or Royal Scots:  so intitled from
  their supposed great antiquity.  Pontius Pilate’s counsellor;
  one who like him can say, Non invenio causam, I can find
  no cause.  Also (Cambridge) a Mr. Shepherd of Trinity
  College; who disputing with a brother parson on the comparative
  rapidity with which they read the liturgy, offered
  to give him as far as Pontius Pilate in the Belief.

Pope.  A figure burned annually every fifth of November,
  in memory of the gunpowder plot, which is said to have
  been carried on by the papists.

Pope’s nose.  The rump of a turkey.

Pops.  Pistols.  Popshop:  a pawnbroker’s shop.  To pop;
  to pawn:  also to shoot.  I popped my tatler; I pawned my
  watch.  I popt the cull; I shot the man.  His means are
  two pops and a galloper; that is, he is a highwayman.

POPLERS.  Pottage.  Cant.

Pork.  To cry pork; to give intelligence to the undertaker
  of a funeral; metaphor borrowed from the raven, whose
  note sounds like the word pork.  Ravens are said to smell
  carrion at a distance.

Porker.  A hog:  also a Jew.

Porridge.  Keep your breath to cool your porridge; i. e.
  held your tongue.

Porridge island.  An alley leading from St. Martin’s
  church-yard to Round-court, chiefly inhabited by cooks,
  who cut off ready-dressed meat of all sorts, and also sell
  soup.

Posey, or poesy.  A nosegay.  I shall see you ride backwards
  up Holborn-hill, with a book in one hand, and a
  posey in t’other; i.e.  I shall see you go to be hanged. 
  Malefactors who piqued themselves on being properly
  equipped for that occasion, had always a nosegay to smell
  to, and a prayer book, although they could not read.

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Posse MOBILITATIS.  The mob.

Post master general.  The prime minister, who has
  the patronage of all posts and places.

Post NOINTER.  A house painter, who occasionally paints
  or anoints posts.  Knight of the post; a false evidence,
  one ready to swear any thing for hire.  From post to
  pillar; backwards and forwards.

Postilion of the gospel.  A parson who hurries over the
  service.

Pot.  The pot calls the kettle black a-se; one rogue
  exclaims against another.

Pot.  On the pot; i.e. at stool.

Pot converts.  Proselytes to the Romish church, made
  by the distribution of victuals and money.

Pot hunter.  One who hunts more tor the sake of the
  prey than the sport.  Pot valiant; courageous from drink. 
  Potwallopers:  persons entitled to vote in certain
  boroughs by having boiled a pot there.

Potatoe trap.  The mouth.  Shut your potatoe trap and
  give your tongue a holiday; i.e. be silent.  Irish wit.

POTHOOKS and HANGEKS.  A scrawl, bad writing.

Pot-WABBLERS.  Persons entitled to vote for members of
  parliament in certain boroughs, from having boiled their
  pots therein.  These boroughs are called pot-wabbling
  boroughs.

POULAIN.  A bubo.  French.

Poulterer.  A person that guts letters; i.e. opens them
  and secretes the money.  The kiddey was topped for the
  poultry rig; the young fellow was hanged for secreting
  a letter and taking out the contents.

Pound.  To beat.  How the milling cove pounded the cull
  for being nuts on his blowen; how the boxer beat the fellow
  for taking liberties with his mistress.

Pound.  A prison.  See Lob’s pound.  Pounded; imprisoned. 
  Shut up in the parson’s pound; married.  Powder

Powder monkey.  A boy on board a ship of war, whose
  business is to fetch powder from the magazine.

Powdering tub.  The same as pickling tub.  See
  pickling tub.

PRAD lay.  Cutting bags from behind horses.  Cant.

PRAD.  A horse.  The swell flashes a rum prad:  the
  e gentleman sports a fine horse.

Prancer.  A horse.  Prancer’s nab.; a horse’s head, used
  as a seal to a counterfeit pass.  At the sign of the prancer’s
  poll, i.e. the nag’s head.

Prate roast. A talkative boy.

Prating cheat.  The tongue.

Pratts.  Buttocks; also a tinder box.  Cant.

Prattle broth.  Tea.  See chatter broth, scandal
 broth, &c.

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Prattling box.  The pulpit.

Pray.  She prays with her knees upwards; said of a woman
  much given to gallantry and intrigue.  At her last prayers;
  saying of an old maid.

Preadamite QUACABITES.  This great and laudable society
  (as they termed themselves) held their grand chapter
  at the Coal-hole.

P—–­K.  The virile member.

Prick-eared. A prick-eared fellow; one whose ears are
  longer than his hair:  an appellation frequently given to
  puritans, who considered long hair as the mark of the
  whore of Babylon.

PRICKLOUSE.  A taylor.

Priest-craft.  The art of awing the laity, managing their
  consciences, and diving into their pockets.

Priest-linked. Married.

Priest-ridden.  Governed by a priest, or priests.

Prig.  A thief, a cheat:  also a conceited coxcomical
  fellow.

Prig napper.  A thief taker.

Priggers.  Thieves in general.  Priggers of prancers;
  horse stealers.  Priggers of cacklers:  robbers of hen-
  roosts.

PRIGGING.  Riding; also lying with a woman.

PRIGSTAR.  A rival in love.

Prime.  Bang up.  Quite the thing.  Excellent.  Well
  done.  She’s a prime piece; she is very skilful in the
  venereal act.  Prime post.  She’s a prime article.

PRIMINAKY.  I had like to be brought into a priminary;
  i.e. into trouble; from PREMUNIRE.

Prince prig.  A king of the gypsies; also the head thief
  or receiver general.

Princes.  When the majesty of the people was a favourite
  terra in the House of Commons, a celebrated wit, seeing
  chimney sweepers dancing on a May-day, styled them the
  young princes.

PRINCOD.  A pincushion.  Scotch—­Also a round plump
  man or woman.

Princox.  A pert, lively, forward fellow.

Princum Prancum.  Mrs. Princum Prancum; a nice,
  precise, formal madam.

PRINKING.  Dressing over nicely:  prinked up as if he
  came out of a bandbox, or fit to sit upon a cupboard’s
  head.

Print.  All in print, quite neat or exact, set, screwed up. 
  Quite in print; set in a formal manner.

Priscian.  To break Priscian’s head; to write or speak
  false grammar.  Priscian was a famous grammarian, who
  flourished at Constantinople in the year 525; and who
  was so devoted to his favourite study, that to speak false
  Latin in his company, was as disagreeable to him as to
  break his head.

PRITTLE prattle.  Insignificant talk:  generally applied
  to women and children.

Prog.  Provision.  Rum prog; choice provision.  To prog;
  to be on the hunt for provision:  called in the military
  term to forage.

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Props.  Crutches.

Property.  To make a property of any one; to make
  him a conveniency, tool, or cat’s paw; to use him as one’s
  own.

Proud.  Desirous of copulation.  A proud bitch; a bitch
  at heat, or desirous of a dog.

Provender.  He from whom any money is taken on the
  highway:  perhaps provider, or provider.  Cant.

Prophet.  The prophet; the Cock at Temple Bar:  so
  called, in 1788, by the bucks of the town of the inferior
  order.

Prunella.  Mr. Prunella; a parson:  parson’s gowns being
  frequently made of prunella.

To Pry.  To examine minutely into a matter or business. 
  A prying fellow; a man of impertinent curiosity, apt to
  peep and inquire into other men’s secrets.

Public man.  A bankrupt.

Public Ledger.  A prostitute:  because, like that paper,
  she is open to all parties.

Pucker.  All in a pucker; in a dishabille.  Also in a
  fright; as, she was in a terrible pucker.

Pucker water.  Water impregnated with alum, or other
  astringents, used by old experienced traders to
  counterfeit virginity.

Puddings.  The guts:  I’ll let out your puddings.

Pudding-headed fellow.  A stupid fellow, one whose
  brains are all in confusion.

Pudding sleeves.  A parson.

Pudding time.  In good time, or at the beginning of a
  meal:  pudding formerly making the first dish.  To give
  the crows a pudding; to die.  You must eat some cold
  pudding, to settle your love.

Puff, or Puffer.  One who bids at auctions, not with an
  intent to buy, but only to raise the price of the lot; for
  which purpose many are hired by the proprietor of the
  goods on sale.

Puff guts.  A fat man.

Puffing.  Bidding at an auction, as above; also praising
  any thing above its merits, from interested motives.  The
  art of puffing is at present greatly practised, and essentially
  necessary in all trades, professions, and callings. 
  To puff and blow; to be out of breath.

Pug.  A Dutch pug; a kind of lap-dog, formerly much in
  vogue; also a general name for a monkey.

Pug CARPENTETER.  An inferior carpenter, one employed
  only in small jobs.

Pug drink.  Watered cyder.

PUGNOSED, or PUGIFIED. A person with a snub or turned
  up nose.

Pully hawly.  To have a game at pully hawly; to romp with women.

Pull.  To be pulled; to be arrested by a police officer. 
  To have a pull is to have an advantage; generally where
  a person has some superiority at a game of chance or
  skill.

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Pump.  A thin shoe.  To pump; to endeavour to draw a
  secret from any one without his perceiving it.  Your
  pump is good, but your sucker is dry; said by one to a
  person who is attempting to pump him.  Pumping was
  also a punishment for bailiffs who attempted to act in
  privileged places, such as the Mint, Temple, &c.  It is also
  a piece of discipline administered to a pickpocket caught
  in the fact, when there is no pond at hand.  To pump
  ship; to make water, and sometimes to vomit.  Sea phrase.

Pump water.  He was christened in pump water; commonly
  said of a person that has a red face.

Punch.  A liquor called by foreigners Contradiction, from
  its being composed of spirits to make it strong, water to
  make it weak, lemon juice to make it sour, and sugar to
  make it sweet.  Punch is also the name of the prince of
  puppets, the chief wit and support of a puppet-show. 
  To punch it, is a cant term for running away.  Punchable;
  old passable money, anno 1695.  A girl that is ripe for
  man is called a punchable wench.  Cobler’s Punch. 
  Urine with a cinder in it.

Punk.  A whore; also a soldier’s trull.  See trull.

Puny.  Weak.  A puny child; a weak little child.  A
  puny stomach; a weak stomach.  Puny, or puisne judge;
  the last made judge.

Pupil mongers.  Persons at the universities who make it
  their business to instruct and superintend a number of
  pupils.

Puppy.  An affected or conceited coxcomb.

Purblind.  Dim-sighted.

Purl.  Ale in which wormwood has been infused, or ale
  and bitters drunk warm.

Purl royal.  Canary wine; with a dash of tincture of
  wormwood.

Purse proud.  One that is vain of his riches.

PURSENETS.  Goods taken up at thrice their value, by young
  spendthrifts, upon trust.

Purser’s pump.  A bassoon:  from its likeness to a syphon,
  called a purser’s pump.

Pursy, or PURSIVE.  Short-breathed, or foggy, from being
  over fat.

Pushing school.  A fencing school; also a brothel.

Put.  A country put; an ignorant awkward clown.  To
  put upon any one; to attempt to impose on him, or to
  make him the but of the company.

Puzzle-cause.  A lawyer who has a confused understanding.

Puzzle-text.  An ignorant blundering parson.

Quack.  An ungraduated ignorant pretender to skill in
  physic, a vender of nostrums.

Quack-salver.  A mountebank:  a seller of salves.

Quacking cheat.  A duck.

Quag.  Abbreviation of quagmire; marshy moorish around.

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Quail-pipe.  A woman’s tongue; also a device to take
  birds of that name by imitating their call.  Quail pipe
  boots; boots resembling a quail pipe, from the number of
  plaits; they were much worn in the reign of Charles ii.

Quakers.  A religious sect so called from their agitations
  in preaching.

Quaking cheat.  A calf or sheep.

Quandary.  To be in a quandary:  to be puzzled.  Also
  one so over-gorged, as to be doubtful which he should do
  first, sh—­e or spew.  Some derive the term quandary from
  the French phrase qu’en dirai je? what shall I say of it?
  others from an Italian word signifying a conjuror’s circle.

Quarrel-picker.  A glazier:  from the small squares in
  casements, called CARREUX, vulgarly quarrels.

QUARROMES, or quarron.  A body.  Cant.

Quartered. Divided into four parts; to be hanged, drawn,
  and quartered, is the sentence on traitors and rebels. 
  Persons receiving part of the salary of an office from the
  holder of it, by virtue of an agreement with the donor, are
  said to be quartered on him.  Soldiers billetted on a publican
  are likewise said to be quartered on him.

To quash.  To suppress, annul or overthrow; vulgarly pronounced
  squash:  they squashed the indictment.

Quean.  A slut, or worthless woman, a strumpet.

Queen Dick.  To the tune of the life and death of Queen
  Dick.  That happened in the reign of Queen Dick; i.e.,
  never.

Queen street.  A mart governed by his wife, is said to
  live in Queen street, or at the sign of the Queen’s Head.

Queer, or Quire.  Base, roguish, bad, naught or worthless. 
  How queerly the cull touts; how roguishly the fellow looks.  It also means odd, uncommon.  Cant.

Queer as Dick’s hatband.  Out of order, without knowing
  one’s disease.

To queer.  To puzzle or confound.  I have queered the
  old full bottom; i.e.  I have puzzled the judge.  To queer
  one’s ogles among bruisers; to darken one’s day lights.

Queer wedges.  Large buckles.

Queer bail.  Insolvent sharpers, who make a profession of
  bailing persons arrested:  they are generally styled Jew bail,
  from that branch of business being chiefly carried on by
  the sons of Judah.  The lowest sort of these, who borrow
  or hire clothes to appear in, are called Mounters, from
  their mounting particular dresses suitable to the occasion. 
  Cant.

Queer birds.  Rogues relieved from prison, and returned
  to their old trade.

Queer bit-makers.  Coiners.  Cant.

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Queer bitch.  An odd, out-of-the-way fellow.

Queer bluffer.  The master of a public-house the resort
  of rogues and sharpers, a cut-throat inn or alehouse
  keeper.

Queer bung.  An empty purse.

Queer checkers.  Among strolling players, door-keepers
  who defraud the company, by falsely checking the number
  of people in the house.

Queer cole fencer.  A putter off, or utterer, of bad
  money.

Queer cole maker.  A maker of bad money.

Queer cove.  A rogue.  Cant.

Queer cuffin.  A justice of the peace; also a churl.

Queer degen.  An ordinary sword, brass or iron hilted.

Queer ken.  A prison.  Cant.

Queer kicks.  A bad pair of breeches.

Queer mort.  A diseased strumpet.  Cant.

Queer nab.  A felt hat, or other bad hat.

Queer plungers.  Cheats who throw themselves into the
  water, in order that they may be taken up by their accomplices,
  who carry them to one of the houses appointed
  by the Humane Society for the recovery of drowned
  persons, where they are rewarded by the society with a
  guinea each; and the supposed drowned persons, pretending
  he was driven to that extremity by great necessity,
  also frequently sent away with a contribution in his
  pocket.

Queer prancer.  A bad, worn-out, foundered horse; also
  a cowardly or faint-hearted horse-stealer.

Queer rooster.  An informer that pretends to be sleeping,
  and thereby overhears the conversation of thieves in
  night cellars.

Queer street.  Wrong.  Improper.  Contrary to one’s
  wish.  It is queer street, a cant phrase, to signify
  that it is wrong or different to our wish.

QUITAM.  Aquitam horse; one that will both carry and
  draw.  Law wit.

To quibble.  To make subtle distinctions; also to play
  upon words.

Quick and nimble.  More like a bear than a squirrel. 
  Jeeringly said to any one moving sluggishly on a business
  or errand that requires dispatch.

Quid.  The quantity of tobacco put into the mouth at one
  time.  To quid tobacco; to chew tobacco.  Quid est
  hoc? hoc est quid; a guinea.  Half a quid; half a guinea. 
  The swell tipped me fifty quid for the prad; the gentleman
  gave fifty pounds for the horse.

Quids.  Cash, money.  Can you tip me any quids? can
  you lend me some money?

QUIFFING.  Rogering.  See to roger.

Quidnunc.  A politician:  from a character of that name
  in the farce of the Upholsterer.

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Quill driver.  A clerk, scribe, or hackney writer.

Quim.  The private parts of a woman:  perhaps from the
  Spanish quemar, to burn. (Cambridge) A piece’s furbelow.

Quinsey.  Choked by a hempen quinsey; hanged.

QUIPPS.  Girds, taunts, jests.

Quire, or choir bird.  A complete rogue, one that has
  sung in different choirs or cages, i.e. gaols.  Cant.

Quirks and QUILLETS.  Tricks and devices.  Quirks in
  law; subtle distinctions and evasions.

Quiz.  A strange-looking fellow, an odd dog.  Oxford.

Quod.  Newgate, or any other prison.  The dab’s in quod;
  the poor rogue is in prison.

Quota.  Snack, share, part, proportion, or dividend.  Tip
  me my quota; give me part of the winnings, booty, or
  plunder.  Cant.

Rabbit.  A Welch rabbit; bread and cheese toasted, i.e.
  a Welch rare bit.  Rabbits were also a sort of wooden
  canns to drink out of, now out of use.

Rabbit catcher.  A midwife.

Rabbit suckers.  Young spendthrifts taking up goods on
  trust at great prices.

Rack rent.  Rent strained to the utmost value.  To
  lie at rack and manger; to be in great disorder.

RACKABACK.  A gormagon.  See gormagon.

RAFFS.  An appellation given by the gownsmen of the university
  of Oxford to the inhabitants of that place.

Rag.  Bank notes.  Money in general.  The cove has no
  rag; the fellow has no money.

Rag.  A farthing.

To rag.  To abuse, and tear to rags the characters of the
  persons abused.  She gave him a good ragging, or ragged
  him off heartily.

Rag carrier.  An ensign.

Rag fair.  An inspection of the linen and necessaries of a
  company of soldiers, commonly made by their officers on
  Mondays or Saturdays.

Rag water.  Gin, or any other common dram:  these
  liquors seldom failing to reduce those that drink them to
  rags.

Ragamuffin.  A ragged fellow, one all in tatters, a
tatterdemallion.

Rails.  See head rails.  A dish of rails; a lecture, jobation,
  or scolding from a married woman to her husband.

Rainbow.  Knight of the rainbow; a footman:  from being
  commonly clothed in garments of different colours.  A
  meeting of gentlemen, styled of the most ancient order of
  the rainbow, was advertised to be held at the Foppington’s
  Head, Moorfields.

Rainy day.  To lay up something for a rainy day; to
  provide against a time of necessity or distress.

Rake, rakehell, or RAKESHAME.  A lewd, debauched
  fellow.

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Ralph Spooner.  A fool.

Ram cat.  A he cat.

Rammish.  Rank.  Rammish woman; a sturdy virago.

Rammer.  The arm.  The busnapper’s kenchin seized my
  rammer; i.e. the watchman laid hold of my arm.  Cant.

To Ramp.  To snatch, or tear any thing forcibly from the
  person.

RAMSHACKLED. Out of repair.  A ramshackled house;
  perhaps a corruption of ransacked, i.e. plundered.

Randle.  A set of nonsensical verses, repeated in Ireland
  by schoolboys, and young people, who have been guilty
  of breaking wind backwards before any of their compa-
  nions; if they neglect this apology, they are liable to certain
  kicks, pinches, and fillips, which are accompanied with
  divers admonitory couplets.

Randy.  Obstreperous, unruly, rampant.

RANGLING.  Intriguing with a variety of women.

Rank.  Stinking, rammish, ill-flavoured; also strong, great. 
  A rank knave; a rank coward:  perhaps the latter may
  allude to an ill savour caused by fear.

Rank rider.  A highwayman.

RANTALLION.  One whose scrotum is so relaxed as to be
  longer than his penis, i.e. whose shot pouch is longer
  that the barrel of his piece.

RANTIPOLE.  A rude romping boy or girl; also a gadabout
  dissipated woman.  To ride rantipole; the same as riding
  St. George.  See st. George.

RANTUM scantum.  Playing at rantum scantum; making
  the beast with two backs.

To rap To take a false oath; also to curse.  He rapped
  out a volley; i.e. he swore a whole volley of oaths.  To
  rap, means also to exchange or barter:  a rap is likewise an
  Irish halfpenny.  Rap on the knuckles; a reprimand.

RAPPAREES.  Irish robbers, or outlaws, who in the time of
  Oliver Cromwell were armed with short weapons, called
  in Irish RAPIERS, used for ripping persons up.

Rapper.  A swinging great lie.

Raree shew men.  Poor Savoyards, who subsist by shewing
  the magic lantern and marmots about London.

Rascal.  A rogue or villain:  a term borrowed from the
  chase; a rascal originally meaning a lean shabby deer, at
  the time of changing his horns, penis, &c. whence, in the
  vulgar acceptation, rascal is conceived to signify a man
  without genitals:  the regular vulgar answer to this reproach,
  if uttered by a woman, is the offer of an ocular demonstration
  of the virility of the party so defamed.  Some derive
  it from RASCAGLIONE, an Italian word signifying a man.
  without testicles, or an eunuch.

Rat.  A drunken man or woman taken up by the watch,
  and confined in the, watch-house.  Cant.  To smell a rat;
  to suspect some intended trick, or unfair design.

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Rats.  Of these there are the following kinds:  a black rat
  and a grey rat, a py-rat and a cu-rat.

Rattle.  A dice-box.  To rattle; to talk without consideration,
  also to move off or go away.  To rattle one off;
  to rate or scold him.

Rattle-pate.  A volatile, unsteady, or whimsical man or
  woman.

Rattle-traps.  A contemptuous name for any curious
  portable piece of machinery, or philosophical apparatus.

Rattler.  A coach.  Rattle and prad; a coach and horses.

Rattling cove.  A coachman.  Cant.

Rattling MUMPERS.  Beggars who ply coaches.  Cant.

RAWHEAD and bloody bones.  A bull beggar, or scarechild,
  with which foolish nurses terrify crying brats.

Reader.  A pocket-book.  Cant.

Reader merchants.  Pickpockets, chiefly young Jews,
  who ply about the Bank to steal the pocket-books of
  persons who have just received their dividends there.

Ready.  The ready rhino; money.  Cant.

Rebus.  A riddle or pun on a man’s name, expressed in
  sculpture or painting, thus:  a bolt or arrow, and a tun,
  for Bolton; death’s head, and a ton, for Morton.

Receiver general.  A prostitute.

Reckon.  To reckon with one’s host; to make an erroneous
  judgment in one’s own favour.  To cast-up one’s reckoning
  or accounts; to vomit.

To recruit.  To get a fresh supply of money.

Recruiting service.  Robbing on the highway.

Red fustian.  Port wine.

Red lane.  The throat.  Gone down the red lane; swallowed.

Red ribbin.  Brandy.

Red lattice.  A public house.

Red letter day.  A saint’s day or holiday, marked in
  the calendars with red letters.  Red letter men; Roman
  Catholics:  from their observation of the saint days
  marked in red letters.

Red rag.  The tongue.  Shut your potatoe trap, and
  give your red rag a holiday; i.e. shut your mouth, and
  let your tongue rest.  Too much of the red rag (too much
  tongue).

Red sail-yard DOCKERS.  Buyers of stores stolen out of
  the royal yards and docks.

Red shank.  A Scotch Highlander.

Regulars.  Share of the booty.  The coves cracked the
  swell’s crib, fenced the swag, and each cracksman napped
  his regular; some fellows broke open a gentleman’s house,
  and after selling the property which they had stolen,
  they divided the money between them.

Religious horse.  One much given to prayer, or apt to
  be down upon his knees.

Page 147

Religious painter.  One who does not break the commandment
  which prohibits the making of the likeness of
  any thing in heaven or earth, or in the waters under the
  earth.

The relish.  The sign of the Cheshire cheese.

Relish.  Carnal connection with a woman.

Remedy CRITCH.  A chamber pot, or member mug.

Remember parson Melham.  Drink about:  a Norfolk
  phrase.

Rendezvous.  A place of meeting.  The rendezvous of
  the beggars were, about the year 1638, according to the
  Bellman, St, Quinton’s, the Three Crowns in the Vintry,
  St. Tybs, and at Knapsbury:  there were four barns within
  a mile of London.  In Middlesex were four other harbours,
  called Draw the Pudding out of the Fire, the Cross
  Keys in Craneford parish, St. Julian’s in Isleworth parish,
  and the house of Pettie in Northall parish.  In Kent, the
  King’s Barn near Dartford, and Ketbrooke near Blackheath.

Rep.  A woman of reputation.

Repository.  A lock-up or spunging-house, a gaol.  Also
  livery stables where horses and carriages are sold by
  auction.

RESCOUNTERS.  The time of settlement between the bulls
  and bears of Exchange-alley, when the losers must pay
  their differences, or become lame ducks, and waddle out
  of the Alley.

Resurrection men.  Persons employed by the students
  in anatomy to steal dead bodies out of church-yards.

Reverence.  An ancient custom, which obliges any person
  easing himself near the highway or foot-path, on the
  word reverence being given him by a passenger, to take off
  his hat with his teeth, and without moving from his station
  to throw it over his head, by which it frequently falls
  into the excrement; this was considered as a punishment
  for the breach of delicacy, A person refusing to obey this
  law, might be pushed backwards.  Hence, perhaps, the
  term, sir-reverence.

Reversed. A man set by bullies on his head, that his
  money may fall out of his breeches, which they afterwards
  by accident pick up.  See hoisting.

Review of the black CUIRASSIERS.  A visitation of the
  clergy.  See crow fair.

Rhino.  Money.  Cant.

Rib.  A wife:  an allusion to our common mother Eve,
  made out of Adam’s rib.  A crooked rib:  a cross-grained
  wife.

Ribaldry.  Vulgar abusive language, such as was spoken
  by ribalds.  Ribalds were originally mercenary soldiers
  who travelled about, serving any master far pay, but
  afterwards degenerated into a mere banditti.

RIBBIN.  Money.  The ribbin runs thick; i.e. there is
  plenty of money.  Cant.  Blue ribbin.  Gin.  The cull
  lushes the blue ribbin; the silly fellow drinks common
  gin.

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To ribroast. To beat:  I’ll ribroast him to his heart’s
  content.

Rich face, or nose.  A red pimpled, face.

RICHAUD Snary.  A dictionary.  A country lad, having
  been reproved for calling persons by their christian names,
  being sent by his master to borrow a dictionary, thought
  to shew his breeding by asking for a Richard Snary.

Rider.  A person who receives part of the salary of a place
  or appointment from the ostensible occupier, by virtue
  of an agreement with the donor, or great man appointing. 
  The rider is said to be quartered upon the possessor, who
  often has one or more persons thus riding behind him.  See
  quartered.

Ridge.  A guinea.  Ridge cully; a goldsmith.  Cant.

Riding st. George.  The woman uppermost in the amorous
  congress, that is, the dragon upon St. George.  This
  is said to be the way to get a bishop.

Riding skimmington.  A ludicrous cavalcade, in ridicule
  of a man beaten by his wife.  It consists of a man riding
  behind a woman, with his face to the horse’s tail, holding
  a distaff in his hand, at which he seems to work, the woman
  all the while beating him with a ladle; a smock displayed
  on a staff is carried before them as an emblematical standard,
  denoting female superiority:  they are accompanied
  by what is called the rough music, that is, frying-pans, bulls
  horns, marrow-bones and cleavers, &c.  A procession of
  this kind is admirably described by Butler in his Hudibras. 
  He rode private, i.e. was a private trooper.

Riff raff.  Low vulgar persons, mob, tag-rag and bob-tail.

Rig.  Fun, game, diversion, or trick.  To run one’s rig
  upon any particular person; to make him a butt. l am
  up to your rig; I am a match for your tricks.

Rigging.  Clothing.  I’ll unrig the bloss; I’ll strip the
  wench.  Rum Rigging; fine clothes.  The cull has rum
  rigging, let’s ding him and mill him, and pike; the
  fellow has good clothes, let’s knock him down, rob him,
  and scour off, i.e. run away.

Right.  All right!  A favourite expression among thieves,
  to signify that all is as they wish, or proper for their
  purpose.  All right, hand down the jemmy; every thing is
  in proper order, give me the crow.

Rigmarole.  Roundabout, nonsensical.  He told a long
  rigmarole story.

Ring.  Money procured by begging:  beggars so called it
  from its ringing when thrown to them.  Also a circle formed
  for boxers, wrestlers, and cudgel-players, by a man
  styled Vinegar; who, with his hat before his eyes, goes
  round the circle, striking at random with his whip to
  prevent the populace from crowding in.

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To ring A peal.  To scold; chiefly applied to women. 
  His wife rung him a fine peal!

Ring the changes.  When a person receives silver in
  change to shift some good shillings and put bad ones in
  their place.  The person who gave the change is then
  requested to give good shillings for these bad ones.

Rip.  A miserable rip; a poor, lean, worn-out horse.  A
  shabby mean fellow.

RIPPONS.  Spurs:  Rippon is famous for a manufactory of
  spurs both for men and fighting cocks.

ROARATORIOS and UPROARS.  Oratorios and operas.

Roaring boy.  A noisy, riotous fellow.

Roarer.  A broken-winded horse.

Roaring trade.  A quick trade.

To roast. To arrest.  I’ll roast the dab; I’ll arrest the
  rascal.—­Also to jeer, ridicule, or banter.  He stood the
  roast; he was the butt.—­Roast meat clothes; Sunday or
  holiday-clothes.  To cry roast meat; to boast of one’s
  situation.  To rule the roast; to be master or paramount.

Roast and boiled. A nick name for the Life Guards,
  who are mostly substantial house-keepers; and eat daily
  of roast and boiled.

Robert’s men.  The third old rank of the canting crew,
  mighty thieves, like Robin Hood.

Roby Douglass, with one eye and a stinking breath.  The
  breech.

Rochester portion.  Two torn smocks, and what nature gave.

Rocked. He was rocked in a stone kitchen; a saying
  meant to convey the idea that the person spoken of is a
  fool, his brains having been disordered by the jumbling of
  his cradle.

Roger.  A portmanteau; also a man’s yard.  Cant.

Roger, or TIB of the buttery.  A goose.  Cant.  Jolly
  Roger; a flag hoisted by pirates.

To roger.  To bull, or lie with a woman; from the name
  of Roger being frequently given to a bull.

Rogues.  The fourth order of canters.  A rogue in grain;
  a great rogue, also a corn chandler.  A rogue in spirit; a
  distiller or brandy merchant.

ROGUM POGUM, or DRAGRUM POGRAM.  Goat’s beard,
  eaten for asparagus; so called by the ladies who gather
  cresses, &c. who also deal in this plant.

ROMBOYLES.  Watch and ward.  Romboyled; sought after
  with a warrant.

Rome mort.  A queen.

Romeville.  London.  Cant.

Romp.  A forward wanton girl, a tomrig.  Grey, in his
  notes to Shakespeare, derives it from arompo, an animal
  found in South Guinea, that is a man eater.  See hoyden.

Rook.  A cheat:  probably from the thievish disposition of
  the birds of that name.  Also the cant name for a crow
  used in house-breaking.  To rook; to cheat, particularly
  at play.

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Room.  She lets out her fore room and lies backwards: 
  saying of a woman suspected of prostitution.

Roost lay.  Stealing poultry.

Ropes.  Upon the high ropes; elated, in high spirits,
  cock-a-hoop.

Rose.  Under the rose:  privately or secretly.  The rose
  was, it is said, sacred to Harpocrates, the God of silence,
  and therefore frequently placed in the ceilings of rooms
  destined for the receiving of guests; implying, that
  whatever was transacted there, should not be made public.

Rosy gills.  One with a sanguine or fresh-coloured countenance.

Rotan.  A coach, cart, or other wheeled carriage.

Rot gut.  Small beer; called beer-a-bumble—­will burst
  one’s guts before it will make one tumble.

ROVERS.  Pirates, vagabonds.

Rough.  To lie rough; to lie all night in one’s clothes: 
  called also roughing it.  Likewise to sleep on the bare
  deck of a ship, when the person is commonly advised to
  chuse the softest plank.

Rough music.  Saucepans, frying-paps, poker and tongs,
  marrow-bones and cleavers, bulls horns, &c. beaten upon
  and sounded in ludicrous processions.

Rouleau.  A number of guineas, from twenty to fifty or
  more, wrapped up in paper, for the more ready circulation
  at gaming-tables:  sometimes they are inclosed in ivory boxes,
  made to hold exactly 20, 50, or 100 guineas.

Round dealing.  Plain, honest dealing.

ROUNDHEADS.  A term of reproach to the puritans and
  partizans of Oliver Cromwell, and the Rump Parliament,
  who it is said made use of a bowl as a guide to trim their
  hair.

Round robin.  A mode of signing remonstrances practised
  by sailors on board the king’s ships, wherein their
  names are written in a circle, so that it cannot be
  discovered who first signed it, or was, in other words, the
  ringleader.

Round sum.  A considerable sum.

Round about.  An instrument used in housebreaking. 
  This instrument has not been long in use.  It will cut a
  round piece about five inches in diameter out of a shutter
  or door.

Round mouth.  The fundament.  Brother round mouth,
  speaks; he has let a fart.

Rout.  A modern card meeting at a private house; also an
  order from the Secretary at War, directing the march
  and quartering of soldiers.

Row.  A disturbance; a term used by the students at
  Cambridge.

Row.  To row in the same boat; to be embarked in the
  same scheme.

Rowland.  To give a Rowland for an Oliver; to give an
  equivalent.  Rowland and Oliver were two knights famous
  in romance:  the wonderful achievements of the
  one could only be equalled by those of the other.

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Royal scamps.  Highwaymen who never rob any but
  rich persons, and that without ill treating them.  See
  scamp.

Royal stag society.  Was held every Monday evening,
  at seven o’clock, at the Three tuns, near the Hospital
  Gate, Newgate-street.

Royster.  A rude boisterous fellow; also a hound that
  opens on a false scent.

To rub.  To run away.  Don’t rub us to the whit; don’t
  send us to Newgate.  Cant.—­To rub up; to refresh:  to
  rub up one’s memory.  A rub:  an impediment.  A rubber;
  the best two out of three.  To win a rubber:  to
  win two games out of three.

Ruby faced. Red-faced.

Ruff.  An ornament formerly worn by men and women
  round their necks.  Wooden ruff; the pillory.

Ruffian.  The devil.  Cant.—­May the ruffian nab the
  cuffin queer, and let the harmanbeck trine with his kinchins
  about his colquarren; may the Devil take the justice,
  and let the constable be hanged with his children about
  his neck.  The ruffian cly thee; the Devil take thee. 
  Ruffian cook ruffian, who scalded the Devil in his feathers;
  a saying of a bad cook.  Ruffian sometimes also means,
  a justice.

Ruffles.  Handcuffs.  Cant.

Rufflers.  The first rank of canters; also notorious rogues
  pretending to be maimed soldiers or sailors.

RUFFMANS.  The woods, hedges, or bushes.  Cant.

Rug.  It is all rug; it is all right and safe, the game is
  secure.  Cant.

Rug.  Asleep.  The whole gill is safe at rug; the people
  of the house are fast asleep.

Rum.  Fine, good, valuable.

Rum Beck.  A justice of the peace.  Cant.

Rum bite.  A clever cheat, a clean trick.

Rum bleating cheat.  A fat wether sheep.  Cant.

Rum blowen.  A handsome wench.  Cant.

Rum bluffer.  A jolly host.  Cant.

Rum bob.  A young apprentice; also a sharp trick.

Rum booze.  Wine, or any other good liquor.  Rum boozing
  welts; bunches of grapes.  Cant.

Rum bubber.  A dexterous fellow at stealing silver tankards
  from inns and taverns.

Rum BUGHER.  A valuable dog.  Cant.

Rum bung.  A full purse.  Cant.

Rum chub.  Among butchers, a customer easily imposed
  on, as to the quality and price of meat.  Cant.

Rum Chant.  A song.

Rum clout.  A fine silk, cambric, or holland handkerchief. 
  Cant.

Rum cod.  A good purse of gold.  Cant.

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Rum cole.  New money, or medals.

Rum cove.  A dexterous or clever rogue.

Rum cull.  A rich fool, easily cheated, particularly by
  his mistress.

Rum degen.  A handsome sword.  Cant.

Rum dell.  See rum doxy.

Rum diver.  A dextrous pickpocket.  Cant.

Rum doxy.  A fine wench.  Cant.

Rum drawers.  Silk, or other fine stockings.  Cant.

Rum dropper.  A vintner.  Cant.

Rum dubber.  An expert picklock.

Rum Duke.  A jolly handsome fellow; also an odd eccentric
  fellow; likewise the boldest and stoutest fellows lately
  among the Alsatians, Minters, Savoyards, and other
  inhabitants of privileged districts, sent to remove and guard
  the goods of such bankrupts as intended to take sanctuary
  in those places.  Cant.

Rum file.  See rum diver.

Rum fun.  A sharp trick.  Cant.

Rum GAGGERS.  Cheats who tell wonderful stories of
  their sufferings at sea, or when taken by the Algerines,
  cant.

Rum GHELT.  See rum coleCant.

Rum GLYMMER.  King or chief of the link-boys.  Cant.

Rum kicks.  Breeches of gold or silver brocade, or richly
  laced with gold or silver.  Cant.

Rum MAWND.  One that counterfeits a fool.  Cant

Rum mort.  A queen, or great lady.  Cant.

Rum nab.  A good hat.

Rum Nantz.  Good French brandy.  Cant.

Rum Ned. A very rich silly fellow.  Cant.

Rum pad.  The highway.  Cant.

Rum padders.  Highwaymen well mounted and armed. 
  Cant.

Rum peepers.  Fine looking-glasses.  Cant.

Rum prancer.  A fine horse.  Cant.

Rum quids.  A great booty.  Cant.

Rum ruff peck.  Westphalia ham.  Cant.

Rum snitch.  A smart fillip on the nose.

Rum squeeze.  Much wine, or good liquor, given among
  fiddlers.  Cant.

Rum tilter.  See rum degen.

Rum Tol.  See rum degen.

Rum Topping.  A rich commode, or woman’s head-dress.

Rum Ville.  See Romeville.

Rum wiper.  See rum clout.

Rumbo.  Rum, water, and sugar; also a prison.

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RUMBOYLE.  A ward or watch.

RUMBUMTIOUS.  Obstreperous.

Rumford.  To ride to Rumford to have one’s backside new
  bottomed:  i.e. to have a pair of new leather breeches. 
  Rumford was formerly a famous place for leather breeches. 
  A like saying is current in Norfolk and Suffolk, of Bungay,
  and for the same reason.—­Rumford lion; a calf. 
  See Essex lion.

Rump.  To rump any one; to turn the back to him:  an
  evolution sometimes used at court.  Rump and a dozen;
  a rump of beef and a dozen of claret; an Irish wager,
  called also buttock and trimmings.  Rump and kidney
  men; fiddlers that play at feasts, fairs, weddings, &c.
   and live chiefly on the remnants.

Rumpus.  A riot, quarrel, or confusion.

Run goods.  A maidenhead, being a commodity never entered.

Running horse, or nag.  A clap, or gleet.

Running SMOBBLE.  Snatching goods off a counter, and
  throwing them to an accomplice, who brushes off with
  them.

Running STATIONERS.  Hawker of newspapers, trials, and
  dying speeches.

Runt.  A short squat man or woman:  from the small cattle
  called Welsh runts.

RUSHERS.  Thieves who knock at the doors of great houses
  in London, in summer time, when the families are gone
  out of town, and on the door being opened by a woman,
  rush in and rob the house; also housebreakers who enter
  lone houses by force.

Russian coffee-house.  The Brown Bear in Bow-street,
  Covent Garden, a house of call for thief-takers and runners
  of the Bow street justices.

Rusty.  Out of use, To nab the rust; to be refractory;
  properly applied to a restive horse, and figuratively
  to the human species.  To ride rusty; to be sullen; called
  also to ride grub.

Rusty guts.  A blunt surly fellow:  a jocular misnomer of
  RESTICUS.

Rutting.  Copulating.  Rutting time; the season, when
  deer go to rut.

Sacheverel.  The iron door, or blower, to the mouth
  of a stove:  from a divine of that name, who made himself
  famous for blowing the coals of dissension in the latter
  end of the reign of queen Ann.

Sack.  A pocket.  To buy the sack:  to get drunk.  To
  dive into the sack; to pick a pocket.  To break a bottle
  in an empty sack; a bubble bet, a sack with a bottle in
  it not being an empty sack.

Sad dog.  A wicked debauched fellow; one of the ancient
  family of the sad dogs.  Swift translates it into Latin by
  the words TRISTIS Canis.

Saddle.  To saddle the spit; to give a dinner or supper. 
  To saddle one’s nose; to wear spectacles.  To saddle a
  place or pension; to oblige the holder to pay a certain
  portion of his income to some one nominated by the donor. 
  Saddle sick:  galled with riding, having lost leather.

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Saint.  A piece of spoilt timber in a coach-maker’s shop,
  like a saint, devoted to the flames.

Saint Geoffrey’s day.  Never, there being no saint of
  that name:  tomorrow-come-never, when two Sundays
  come together.

Saint Luke’s bird.  An ox; that Evangelist being always
  represented with an ox.

Saint monday.  A holiday most religiously observed by
  journeymen shoemakers, and other inferior mechanics. a
  profanation of that day, by working, is punishable by a
  line, particularly among the gentle craft.  An Irishman
  observed, that this saint’s anniversary happened every
  week.

Sal.  An abbreviation of salivation.  In a high sal; in the
  pickling tub, or under a salivation.

SALESMAN’S dog.  A barker.  Vide barker.

Salmon-Gundy.  Apples, onions, veal or chicken, and
  pickled herrings, minced fine, and eaten with oil and
  vinegar; some derive the name of this mess from the
  French words SELON mon goust, because the proportions of
  the different ingredients are regulated by the palate of the
  maker; others say it bears the name of the inventor, who
  was a rich Dutch merchant; but the general and most
  probable opinion is, that it was invented by the countess
  of Salmagondi, one of the ladies of Mary de Medicis, wife
  of King Henry iv. of France, and by her brought into
  France.

Salmon or Salamon.  The beggars’sacrament or oath.

Salt.  Lecherous.  A salt bitch:  a bitch at heat, or proud
  bitch.  Salt eel; a rope’s end, used to correct boys, &c. at
  sea:  you shall have a salt eel for supper.

Sammy.  Foolish.  Silly.

Sandwich.  Ham, dried tongue, or some other salted meat,
  cut thin and put between two slices of bread and butter: 
  said to be a favourite morsel with the Earl of Sandwich.

Sandy pate.  A red haired man or woman.

Sangaree.  Rack punch was formerly so called in bagnios.

Sank, SANKY, or CENTIPEE’S.  A taylor employed by
  clothiers in making soldier’s clothing.

SAPSCULL.  A simple fellow.  Sappy; foolish.

Satyr.  A libidinous fellow:  those imaginary things are
  by poets reported to be extremely salacious.

Sauce box.  A term of familiar raillery, signifying a bold
  or forward person.

Save-all.  A kind of candlestick used by our frugal forefathers,
  to burn snuffs and ends of candles.  Figuratively,
  boys running about gentlemen’s houses in Ireland, who
  are fed on broken meats that would otherwise be wasted,
  also a miser.

Saunterer.  An idle, lounging fellow; by some derived
  from Sans Terre; applied to persons, who, having no lands
  or home, lingered and loitered about.  Some derive it
  from persons devoted to the Holy Land, saint Terre, who
  loitered about, as waiting for company.

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Saw.  An old saw; an ancient proverbial saying.

Sawny or Sandy.  A general nick-name for a Scotchman,
  as Paddy is for an Irishman, or Taffy for a Welchman;
  Sawny or Sandy being the familiar abbreviation or
  diminution of Alexander, a very favourite name among the
  Scottish nation.

Scab.  A worthless man or woman.

Scald MISERABLES.  A set of mock masons, who, A.D.
  1744, made a ludicrous procession in ridicule of the
  Free Masons.

SCALDER.  A clap.  The cull has napped a scalder; the
  fellow has got a clap.

Scaly.  Mean.  Sordid.  How scaly the cove is; how
  mean the fellow is.

Scaly fish.  An honest, rough, blunt sailor.

Scamp.  A highwayman.  Royal scamp:  a highwayman
  who robs civilly.  Royal foot scamp; a footpad who
  behaves in like manner.

To scamper.  To run away hastily.

Scandal broth.  Tea.

Scandal proof.  One who has eaten shame and drank
  after it, or would blush at being ashamed.

SCAPEGALLOWS.  One who deserves and has narrowly escaped
  the gallows, a slip-gibbet, one for whom the gallows
  is said to groan.

Scapegrace.  A wild dissolute fellow.

Scarce.  To make one’s self scarce; to steal away.

Scarlet horse.  A high red, hired or hack horse:  a pun
  on the word hired.

SCAVEY.  Sense, knowledge.  “Massa, me no scavey;”
  master, I don’t know (negro language) perhaps from the
  French SCAVOIR.

Scheme.  A party of pleasure.

Schism monger.  A dissenting teacher.

Schism shop.  A dissenting meeting house.

A scold’s cure.  A coffin.  The blowen has napped the
  scold’s cure; the bitch is in her coffin.

School of Venus.  A bawdy-house.

School butter.  Cobbing, whipping.

Sconce.  The head, probably as being the fort and citadel
  of a man:  from sconce, an old name for a fort, derived
  from a Dutch word of the same signification; To build a
  sconce:  a military term for bilking one’s quarters.  To
  sconce or skonce; to impose a fine.  Academical phrase.

Scot.  A young bull.

Scotch greys.  Lice.  The headquarters of the Scotch
  greys:  the head of a man full of large lice.

Scotch pint.  A bottle containing two quarts.

Scotch bait.  A halt and a resting on a stick, as practised
  by pedlars.

Scotch chocolate.  Brimstone and milk.

Scotch fiddle.  The itch.

Scotch mist. A sober soaking rain; a Scotch mist will
  wet an Englishman to the skin.

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Scotch warming pan.  A wench; also a fart.

Scoundrel.  A man void of every principle of honour.

Scour.  To scour or score off; to run away:  perhaps from
  score; i.e. full speed, or as fast as legs would carry one. 
  Also to wear:  chiefly applied to irons, fetters, or
  handcuffs, because wearing scours them.  He will scour the
  darbies; he will be in fetters.  To scour the cramp ring;
  to wear bolts or fetters, from which, as well as from
  coffin hinges, rings supposed to prevent the cramp are
  made.

SCOURERS.  Riotous bucks, who amuse themselves with
  breaking windows, beating the watch, and assaulting
  every person they meet:  called scouring the streets.

Scout.  A college errand-boy at Oxford, called a gyp at
  Cambridge.  Also a watchman or a watch.  Cant.

SCRAGGED. Hanged.

Scraggy.  Lean, bony.

SCRAGG’EM fair.  A public execution.

Scrap.  A villainous scheme or plan.  He whiddles the
  whole scrap; he discovers the whole plan or scheme.

Scrape.  To get into a scrape; to be involved in a
  disagreeable business.

Scraper.  A fiddler; also one who scrapes plates for
  mezzotinto prints.

Scraping.  A mode of expressing dislike to a person, or
  sermon, practised at Oxford by the students, in scraping
  their feet against the ground during the preachment;
  frequently done to testify their disapprobation of a proctor
  who has been, as they think, too rigorous.

Scratch.  Old Scratch; the Devil:  probably from the
  long and sharp claws with which he is frequently
  delineated.

Scratch land.  Scotland.

Scratch Platter, or taylor’s ragout.  Bread sopt in
  the oil and vinegar in which cucumbers have been sliced.

Screen.  A bank note.  Queer screens; forged bank notes. 
  The cove was twisted for smashing queer screens; the
  fellow was hanged for uttering forged bank notes.

Screw.  A skeleton key used by housebreakers to open a
  lock.  To stand on the screw signifies that a door is not
  bolted, but merely locked.

To screw.  To copulate.  A female screw; a common
  prostitute.  To screw one up; to exact upon one in a
  bargain or reckoning.

Screw jaws.  A wry-mouthed man or woman.

Scrip.  A scrap or slip of paper.  The cully freely blotted
  the scrip, and tipt me forty hogs; the man freely signed
  the bond, and gave me forty shillings.—­Scrip is also a
  Change Alley phrase for the last loan or subscription. 
  What does scrip go at for the next rescounters? what
  does scrip sell for delivered at the next day of settling?

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SCROBY.  To be tipt the scroby; to be whipt before the
  justices.

SCROPE.  A farthing.  Cant.

Scrub.  A low mean fellow, employed in all sorts of dirty
  work.

SCRUBBADO.  The itch.

Scull.  A head of a house, or master of a college, at the
  universities.

Scull, or sculler.  A boat rowed by one man with a
  light kind of oar, called a scull; also a one-horse chaise
  or buggy.

Scull thatcher.  A peruke-maker.

Scum.  The riff-raff, tag-rag, and bob-tail, or lowest order
  of people.

Scut.  The tail of a hare or rabbit; also that of a woman.

Scuttle.  To scuttle off; to run away.  To scuttle a
  ship; to make a hole in her bottom in order to sink her.

Sea crab.  A sailor.

Sea lawyer.  A shark.

Sealer, or squeeze wax.  One ready to give bond and
  judgment for goods or money.

Secret.  He has been let into the secret:  he has been
  cheated at gaming or horse-racing.  He or she is in the
  grand secret, i.e. dead.

Seedy.  Poor, pennyless, stiver-cramped, exhausted.

Sees.  The eyes.  See daylights.

Served. Found guilty.  Convicted.  Ordered to be
  punished or transported.  To serve a cull out; to beat a
  man soundly.

Seraglio.  A bawdy-house; the name of that part of the
  Great Turk’s palace where the women are kept.

Send.  To drive or break in.  Hand down the Jemmy and
  send it in; apply the crow to the door, and drive it in.

Set.  A dead set:  a concerted scheme to defraud a person
  by gaming.

Setter.  A bailiff’s follower, who, like a setting dog
  follows and points the game for his master.  Also
  sometimes an exciseman.

To settle.  To knock down or stun any one.  We settled
  the cull by a stroke on his nob; we stunned the fellow
  by a blow on the head.

Seven-sided animal.  A one-eyed man or woman, each
  having a right side and a left side, a fore side and a back
  side, an outside, an inside, and a blind side.

SHABBAROON.  An ill-dressed shabby fellow; also a mean-
  spirited person.

Shaftsbury.  A gallon pot full of wine, with a cock.

To shag.  To copulate.  He is but bad shag; he is no able
  woman’s man.

Shag-bag, or shake-bag.  A poor sneaking fellow; a man
  of no spirit:  a term borrowed from the cock-pit.

Shake.  To shake one’s elbow; to game with dice.  To
  shake a cloth in the wind; to be hanged in chains.

Shake.  To draw any thing from the pocket.  He shook
  the swell of his fogle; he robbed the gentleman of his silk
  handkerchief.

Page 158

Shallow pate.  A simple fellow.

Shallow.  A whip hat, so called from the want of depth
  in the crown.  Lilly shallow, a white Whip hat.

Sham.  A cheat, or trick.  To cut a sham; to cheat or deceive. 
  Shams; false sleeves to put on over a dirty shirt, or
  false sleeves with ruffles to put over a plain one.  To sham
  Abram; to counterfeit sickness.

To shamble.  To walk awkwardly.  Shamble-legged: 
  one that walks wide, and shuffles about his feet.

Shanker.  A venereal wart.

Shanks.  Legs, or gams.

Shanks naggy.  To ride shanks naggy:  to travel on foot. 
  Scotch.

Shannon.  A river in Ireland:  persons dipped in that river
  are perfectly and for ever cured of bashfulness.

Shapes.  To shew one’s shapes; to be stript, or made peel,
  at the whipping-post.

SHAPPO, or SHAP.  A hat:  corruption of chapeauCant.

Shark.  A sharper:  perhaps from his preying upon any
  one he can lay hold of.  Also a custom-house officer, or
  tide-waiter.  Sharks; the first order of pickpockets.  Bow-
  street term, A.D. 1785.

Sharp.  Subtle, acute, quick-witted; also a sharper or
  cheat, in opposition to a flat, dupe, or gull.  Sharp’s the
  word and quick’s the motion with him; said of any one
  very attentive to his own interest, and apt to take all
  advantages.  Sharp set; hungry.

Sharper.  A cheat, one that lives by his wits.  Sharpers
  tools; a fool and false dice.

Shaver.  A cunning shaver; a subtle fellow, one who
  trims close, an acute cheat.  A young shaver; a boy. 
  Sea term.

Shavings.  The clippings of money.

She house.  A house where the wife rules, or, as the term
  is, wears the breeches.

She lion.  A shilling.

She napper.  A woman thief-catcher; also a bawd or pimp.

SHEEP’S head.  Like a sheep’s head, all jaw; saying of a
  talkative man or woman.

Sheepish.  Bashful.  A sheepish fellow; a bashful or
  shamefaced fellow.  To cast a sheep’s eye at any thing;
  to look wishfully at it.

Sheepskin fiddler.  A drummer.

Shelf.  On the shelf, i.e. pawned.

Sheriff’s journeyman.  The hangman.

Sheriff’s ball.  An execution.  To dance at the sheriff’s
  ball, and loll out one’s tongue at the company; to be
  hanged, or go to rest in a horse’s night-cap, i.e. a halter.

Sheriff’s bracelets.  Handcuffs.

Sheriff’s hotel.  A prison.

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Sheriff’s picture frame.  The gallows.

To sherk.  To evade or disappoint:  to sherk one’s duty.

To sherry.  To run away:  sherry off.

Shifting.  Shuffling.  Tricking.  Shifting cove; i.e. a
  person who lives by tricking.

Shifting ballast. A term used by sailors, to signify
  soldiers, passengers, or any landsmen on board.

SHILLALEY.  An oaken sapling, or cudgel:  from a wood
  of that name famous for its oaks.  Irish.

SHILLY-shally.  Irresolute.  To stand shilly-shally; to
  hesitate, or stand in doubt.

Shindy.  A dance.  Sea phrase.

Shine.  It shines like a shitten barn door.

Ship shape.  Proper, as it ought to be.  Sea phrase,

Sh-T sack.  A dastardly fellow:  also a non-conformist. 
  This appellation is said to have originated from the
  following story:—­After the restoration, the laws against
  the non-conformists were extremely severe.  They
  sometimes met in very obscure places:  and there is a tradition
  that one of their congregations were assembled in a barn,
  the rendezvous of beggars and other vagrants, where the
  preacher, for want of a ladder or tub, was suspended in
  a sack fixed to the beam.  His discourse that day being
  on the last judgment, he particularly attempted to describe
  the terrors of the wicked at the sounding of the trumpet,
  on which a trumpeter to a puppet-show, who had taken
  refuge in that barn, and lay hid under the straw, sounded
  a charge.  The congregation, struck with the utmost
  consternation, fled in an instant from the place, leaving
  their affrighted teacher to shift for himself.  The effects
  of his terror are said to have appeared at the bottom of
  the sack, and to have occasioned that opprobrious appellation
  by which the non-conformists were vulgarly distinguished.

Sh-T-Ng through the teeth.  Vomiting.  Hark ye,
  friend, have you got a padlock on your a-se, that you sh-te
  through your teeth?  Vulgar address to one vomiting.

Shod all round.  A parson who attends a funeral is said
  to be shod all round, when he receives a hat-band, gloves,
  and scarf:  many shoeings being only partial.

SHOEMAKER’S stocks.  New, or strait shoes.  I was in
  the shoemaker’s stocks; i.e. had on a new pair of shoes
  that were too small for me.

To SHOOLE.  To go skulking about.

To shoot the cat.  To vomit from excess of liquor;
  called also catting.

Shop.  A prison.  Shopped; confined, imprisoned.

Shoplifter.  One that steals whilst pretending to purchase
  goods in a shop.

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Short-heeled wench.  A girl apt to fall on her back.

Shot.  To pay one’s shot; to pay one’s share of a reckoning. 
  Shot betwixt wind and water; poxed or clapped.

Shotten herring.  A thin meagre fellow.

To shove the tumbler.  To be whipped at the cart’s
  tail.

Shove in the mouth.  A dram.

Shovel.  To be put to bed with a shovel; to be buried. 
  He or she was fed with a fire-shovel; a saying of a person
  with a large mouth.

Shoulder feast. A dinner given after a funeral, to
  those who have carried the corpse.

Shoulder clapper.  A bailiff, or member of the catch
  club.  Shoulder-clapped; arrested.

Shoulder sham.  A partner to a file.  See file.

Shred. A taylor.

Shrimp.  A little diminutive person.

To shuffle.  To make use of false pretences, or unfair
  shifts.  A shuffling fellow; a slippery shifting fellow.

Shy cock.  One who keeps within doors for fear of bailiffs.

SICE.  Sixpence.

Sick as A horse.  Horses are said to be extremely sick
  at their stomachs, from being unable to relieve themselves
  by vomiting.  Bracken, indeed, in his Farriery, gives an
  instance of that evacuation being procured, but by a
  means which he says would make the Devil vomit.  Such
  as may have occasion to administer an emetic either to
  the animal or the fiend, may consult his book for the
  recipe.

Side pocket.  He has as much need of a wife as a dog of
  a side pocket; said of a weak old debilitated man.  He
  wants it as much as a dog does a side pocket; a simile
  used for one who desires any thing by no means necessary.

SIDLEDYWRY.  Crooked.

Sign of A house to let.  A widow’s weeds.

Sign of theFive shillings.  The crown. 
         Ten shillings.  The two crowns. 
         Fifteen shillings.  The three crowns.

Silence.  To silence a man; to knock him down, or stun
  him.  Silence in the court, the cat is pissing; a gird upon
  any one requiring silence unnecessarily.

Silent flute.  See PEGO, sugar stick, &c.

Silk SNATCHERS.  Thieves who snatch hoods or bonnets
  from persons walking in the streets.

Silver laced. Replete with lice.  The cove’s kickseys
  are silver laced:  the fellow’s breeches are covered with
  lice.

SIMEONITES, (at Cambridge,) the followers of the Rev.
  Charles Simeon, fellow of King’s College, author of
  Skeletons of Sermons, and preacher at Trinity church; they
  are in fact rank methodists.

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Simkin.  A foolish fellow.

Simon.  Sixpence.  Simple Simon:  a natural, a silly fellow;
  Simon Suck-egg, sold his wife for an addle duck-egg.

To simper.  To smile:  to simper like a firmity kettle.

Simpleton.  Abbreviation of simple Tony or Anthony, a
  foolish fellow.

Simples.  Physical herbs; also follies.  He must go to
  Battersea, to be cut for the simples—­Battersea is a place
  famous for its garden grounds, some of which were formerly
  appropriated to the growing of simples for apothecaries,
  who at a certain season used to go down to select their
  stock for the ensuing year, at which time the gardeners
  were said to cut their simples; whence it became
  a popular joke to advise young people to go to Battersea,
  at that time, to have their simples cut, or to be cut for
  the simples.

To sing.  To call out; the coves sing out beef; they call
  out stop thief.

To sing small.  To be humbled, confounded, or abashed,
  to have little or nothing to say for one’s-self.

Single peeper.  A person having but one eye.

Singleton.  A very foolish fellow; also a particular kind
  of nails.

Singleton.  A corkscrew, made by a famous cutler of
  that name, who lived in a place called Hell, in Dublin;
  his screws are remarkable for their excellent temper.

Sir John.  The old title for a country parson:  as Sir John
  of Wrotham, mentioned by Shakespeare.

Sir John barleycorn.  Strong beer.

Sir loin.  The sur, or upper loin.

Sir reverence.  Human excrement, a t—­d.

Sir Timothy.  One who, from a desire of being the head
  of the company, pays the reckoning, or, as the term is,
  stands squire.  See squire.

Sitting breeches.  One who stays late in company, is
  said to have his sitting breeches on, or that he will sit
  longer than a hen.

Six and eight-pence.  An attorney, whose fee on several
  occasions is fixed at that sum.

Six and tips.  Whisky and small beer.  Irish.

Sixes and sevens.  Left at sixes and sevens:  i.e. in
  confusion; commonly said of a room where the furniture,
  &c. is scattered about; or of a business left unsettled.

Size of ale.  Half a pint.  Size of bread and cheese; a
  certain quantity.  Sizings:  Cambridge term for the college
  allowance from the buttery, called at Oxford battles.

To size. (Cambridge) To sup at one’s own expence.  If a
  man asks you to sup, he treats you; if to size, you pay
  for what you eat—­liquors only being provided by the
  inviter.

Page 162

Sizar (Cambridge).  Formerly students who came to the
  University for purposes of study and emolument. 
  But at present they are just as gay and dissipated as their
  fellow collegians.  About fifty years ago they were on a
  footing with the servitors at Oxford, but by the exertions
  of the present Bishop of Llandaff, who was himself a
  sizar, they were absolved from all marks of inferiority
  or of degradation.  The chief difference at present between
  them and the pensioners, consists in the less
  amount of their college fees.  The saving thus made induces
  many extravagant fellows to become sizars, that
  they may have more money to lavish on their dogs,
  pieces, &c.

Skew.  A cup, or beggar’s wooden dish.

SKEWVOW, or all Askew.  Crooked, inclining to one side.

Skin.  In a bad skin; out of temper, in an ill humour. 
  Thin-skinned:  touchy, peevish.

Skin.  A purse.  Frisk the skin of the stephen; empty
  the money out of the purse.  Queer skin; an empty
  purse.

Skin flint.  An avaricious man or woman,

Skink.  To skink, is to wait on the company, ring the bell,
  stir the fire, and snuff the candles; the duty of the youngest
  officer in the military mess.  See boots.

Skins.  A tanner.

Skip jacks.  Youngsters that ride horses on sale, horse-
  dealers boys.  Also a plaything made for children with
  the breast bone of a goose.

Skip Kennel.  A footman.

Skipper.  A barn.  Cant.—­Also the captain of a Dutch
  vessel.

To Skit.  To wheedle.  Cant.

Skit.  A joke.  A satirical hint.

Skrip.  See scrip.

Skulker.  A soldier who by feigned sickness, or other
  pretences, evades his duty; a sailor who keeps below in
  time of danger; in the civil line, one who keeps out of
  the way, when any work is to be done.  To skulk; to
  hide one’s self, to avoid labour or duty.

Sky blue.  Gin.

Sky farmers.  Cheats who pretend they were farmers
  in the isle of Sky, or some other remote place, and were
  ruined by a flood, hurricane, or some such public calamity: 
  or else called sky farmers from their farms being in
  NUBIBUS, ‘in the clouds.’

Sky parlour.  The garret, or upper story.

Slabbering bib.  A parson or lawyer’s band.

Slag.  A slack-mettled fellow, one not ready to resent an
  affront.

Slam.  A trick; also a game at whist lost without scoring
  one.  To slam to a door; to shut it with violence.

SLAMKIN.  A female sloven, one whose clothes seem hung
  on with a pitch-fork, a careless trapes.

Page 163

Slang.  A fetter.  Double slanged; double ironed.  Now
  double slanged into the cells for a crop he is knocked
  down; he is double ironed in the condemned cells, and
  ordered to be hanged.

Slang.  Cant language.

Slap-bang shop.  A petty cook’s shop, where there is
  no credit given, but what is had must be paid down
  with the ready slap-bang, i.e. immediately.  This is a
  common appellation for a night cellar frequented by
  thieves, and sometimes for a stage coach or caravan.

Slapdash.  Immediately, instantly, suddenly.

Slasher.  A bullying, riotous fellow.  Irish.

Slat.  Half a crown.  Cant.

Slate.  A sheet.  Cant.

SLATER’S pan.  The gaol at Kingston in Jamaica:  Slater
  is the deputy Provost-marshal.

Slattern.  A woman sluttishly negligent in her dress.

Sleeping partner.  A partner in a trade, or shop, who
  lends his name and money, for which he receives a share
  of the profit, without doing any part of the business.

Sleepy.  Much worn:  the cloth of your coat must be extremely
  sleepy, for it has not had a nap this long time.

Sleeveless errand.  A fool’s errand, in search of what
  it is impossible to find.

Slice.  To take a slice; to intrigue, particularly with a
  married woman, because a slice off a cut loaf is not missed.

SLIPGIBBET.  See SCAPEGALLOWS.

Slippery chap.  One on whom there can be no dependance,
  a shuffling fellow.

SLIPSLOPS.  Tea, water-gruel, or any innocent beverage
  taken medicinally.

SLIPSLOPPING.  Misnaming and misapplying any hard
  word; from the character of Mrs. Slipslop, in Fielding’s
  Joseph Andrews.

Slop.  Tea.  How the blowens lush the slop.  How the
  wenches drink tea!

Slops.  Wearing apparel and bedding used by seamen.

Slop seller.  A dealer in those articles, who keeps a
  slop shop.

Slouch.  A stooping gait, a negligent slovenly fellow. 
  To slouch; to hang down one’s head.  A slouched hat: 
  a hat whose brims are let down.

Slubber de Gullion.  A dirty nasty fellow.

Slug.  A piece of lead of any shape, to be fired from a
  blunderbuss.  To fire a slug; to drink a dram.

Slug-A-bed. A drone, one that cannot rise in the morning.

Sluice your gob.  Take a hearty drink.

Slur.  To slur, is a method of cheating at dice:  also to
  cast a reflection on any one’s character, to scandalize.

Slush.  Greasy dish-water, or the skimmings of a pot
  where fat meat has been boiled.

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Slush bucket.  A foul feeder, one that eats much greasy food.

Sly boots.  A cunning fellow, under the mask of simplicity.

SMABBLED, or SNABBLED. Killed in battle.

To smack.  To kiss.  I had a smack at her muns:  I kissed
  her mouth.  To smack calves skin; to kiss the book, i.e.
  to take an oath.  The queer cuffin bid me smack calves
  skin, but I only bussed my thumb; the justice bid me
  kiss the book, but I only kissed my thumb.

SMACKSMOOTH.  Level with the surface, every thing cut away.

Smacking cove.  A coachman.

Small clothes.  Breeches:  a gird at the affected delicacy
  of the present age; a suit being called coat, waistcoat,
  and articles, or small clothes.

Smart.  Spruce, fine:  as smart as a carrot new scraped.

Smart money.  Money allowed to soldiers or sailors for
  the loss of a limb, or other hurt received in the service.

Smasher.  A person who lives by passing base coin.  The
  cove was fined in the steel for smashing; the fellow was
  ordered to be imprisoned in the house of correction for
  uttering base coin.

Smash.  Leg of mutton and smash:  a leg of mutton and
  mashed turnips.  Sea term.

To smash.  To break; also to kick down stairs.  Cant
  To smash.  To pass counterfeit money.

Smear.  A plasterer.

Smear gelt.  A bribe.  German.

Smeller.  A nose.  Smellers:  a cat’s whiskers.

Smelling cheat.  An orchard, or garden; also a nosegay. 
  Cant.

Smelts.  Half guineas.  Cant.

SMICKET.  A smock, or woman’s shift.

Smirk.  A finical spruce fellow.  To smirk; to smile, or
  look pleasantly.

Smiter.  An arm.  To smite one’s tutor; to get money
  from him.  Academic term.

Smithfield bargain.  A bargain whereby the purchaser
  is taken in.  This is likewise frequently used to express
  matches or marriages contracted solely on the score of
  interest, on one or both sides, where the fair sex are bought
  and sold like cattle in Smithfield.

Smock-faced. Fair faced.

To smoke.  To observe, to suspect.

Smoker.  A tobacconist.

Smoky.  Curious, suspicious, inquisitive.

SMOUCH.  Dried leaves of the ash tree, used by the smugglers
  for adulterating the black or bohea teas.

SMOUS.  A German Jew.

Smug.  A nick name for a blacksmith; also neat and spruce.

Smug lay.  Persons who pretend to be smugglers of lace
  and valuable articles; these men borrow money of
  publicans by depositing these goods in their hands; they
  shortly decamp, and the publican discovers too late that he has
  been duped; and on opening the pretended treasure, he
  finds trifling articles of no value.

Page 165

Smuggling ken.  A bawdy-house.

To SMUSH.  To snatch, or seize suddenly.

Smut.  Bawdy.  Smutty story; an indecent story.

Smut.  A copper.  A grate.  Old iron.  The cove was lagged
  for a smut:  the fellow was transported for stealing a
  copper.

Snack.  A share.  To go snacks; to be partners.

To SNABBLE.  To rifle or plunder; also to kill.

Snaffler.  A highwayman.  Snaffler of prances; a horse
  stealer.

To snaffle.  To steal.  To snaffle any ones poll; to
  steal his wig.

SNAGGS.  Large teeth; also snails.

SNAKESMAN.  See little SNAKESMAN.

Snap dragon.  A Christmas gambol:  raisins and almonds
  being put into a bowl of brandy, and the candles
  extinguished, the spirit is set on fire, and the company
  scramble for the raisins.

To snap the glaze.  To break shop windows or show
  glasses.

Snappers.  Pistols.

SNAPT.  Taken, caught.

Snatch cly.  A thief who snatches women’s pockets.

Sneak.  A pilferer.  Morning sneak; one who pilfers early
  in the morning, before it is light.  Evening sneak; an
  evening pilferer.  Upright sneak:  one who steals pewter
  pots from the alehouse boys employed to collect them. 
  To go upon the sneak; to steal into houses whose doors
  are carelessly left open.  Cant.

Sneaker.  A small bowl.

Sneaking budge.  One that robs alone.

SNEAKSBY.  A mean-spirited fellow, a sneaking cur.

Sneering.  Jeering, flickering, laughing in scorn.

Snicker.  A glandered horse.

To snicker, or snigger.  To laugh privately, or in one’s
  sleeve.

To SNILCH.  To eye, or look at any thing attentively:  the
  cull snilches.  Cant.

Snip.  A taylor.

Snitch.  To turn snitch, or snitcher; to turn informer.

To Snite.  To wipe, or slap.  Snite his snitch; wipe his
  nose, i.e. give him a good knock.

To snivel.  To cry, to throw the snot or snivel about. 
  Snivelling; crying.  A snivelling fellow; one that whines
  or complains.

To SNOACH.  To speak through the nose, to snuffle.

Snob.  A nick name for a shoemaker.

To snooze, or SNOODGE.  To sleep.  To snooze with a
  mort; to sleep with a wench.  Cant.

Snoozing ken.  A brothel.  The swell was spiced in a
  snoozing ken of his screens; the gentleman was robbed of
  his bank notes in a brothel.

Snow.  Linen hung out to dry or bleach.  Spice the snow;
  to steal the linen.

Page 166

Snout.  A hogshead.  Cant.

Snowball.  A jeering appellation for a negro.

To snub.  To check, or rebuke.

Snub devil.  A parson.

Snub nose.  A short nose turned up at the end.

SNUDGE.  A thief who hides himself under a bed, in Order
  to rob the house.

Snuff.  To take snuff; to be offended.

To snuffle.  To speak through the nose.

SNUFFLES.  A cold in the head, attended with a running at
  the nose.

Snug.  All’s snug; all’s quiet.

To soak.  To drink.  An old soaker; a drunkard, one that
  moistens his clay to make it stick together.

Socket money.  A whore’s fee, or hire:  also money paid
  for a treat, by a married man caught in an intrigue.

SOLDIER’S bottle.  A large one.

SOLDIER’S MAWND.  A pretended soldier, begging with a
  counterfeit wound, which he pretends to have received at
  some famous siege or battle.

SOLDIER’S pomatum.  A piece of tallow candle.

Soldier.  A red herring.

SOLFA.  A parish clerk.

Solo player.  A miserable performer on any instrument,
  who always plays alone, because no one will stay in the
  room to hear him.

Solomon.  The mass.  Cant.

Son of PRATTLEMENT.  A lawyer.

Song.  He changed his song; he altered his account or
  evidence.  It was bought for an old song, i.e. very cheap. 
  His morning and his evening song do not agree; he tells a
  different story.

SOOTERKIN.  A joke upon the Dutch women, supposing
  that, by their constant use of stoves, which they place
  under their petticoats, they breed a kind of small animal in
  their bodies, called a sooterkin, of the size of a mouse,
  which when mature slips out.

Sop.  A bribe.  A sop for Cerberus; a bribe for a porter,
  turnkey, or gaoler.

SOPH. (Cambridge) An undergraduate in his second year.

Sorrel.  A yellowish red.  Sorrel pate; one having red
  hair.

Sorrow shall be his sops.  He shall repent this.  Sorrow
  go by me; a common expletive used by presbyterians
  in Ireland.

Sorry.  Vile, mean, worthless.  A sorry fellow, or hussy;
  a worthless man or woman.

Sot Weed. Tobacco.

Soul case.  The body.  He made a hole in his soul
  case; he wounded him.

Soul doctor, or driver.  A parson.

SOUNDERS.  A herd of swine.

Souse.  Not a souse; not a penny.  French.

Sow.  A fat woman.  He has got the wrong sow by the ear,
  he mistakes his man.  Drunk as David’s sow; see David’s
  sow.

Page 167

SOW’S baby.  A sucking pig.

Sow child.  A female child.

SPADO.  A sword.  Spanish.

Spangle.  A seven shilling piece.

Spank. (Whip) To run neatly along, beteeen a trot and
  gallop.  The tits spanked it to town; the horses went
  merrily along all the way to town.

Spanish.  The spanish; ready money.

Spanish coin.  Fair words and compliments.

Spanish faggot.  The sun.

Spanish gout.  The pox.

Spanish padlock.  A kind of girdle contrived by jealous
  husbands of that nation, to secure the chastity of their
  wives.

Spanish, or king of Spain’s trumpeter.  An ass
  when braying.

Spanish worm.  A nail:  so called by carpenters when they
  meet with one in a board they are sawing.

Spanks, or SPANKERS.  Money; also blows with the open
  hand.

Spanking.  Large.

Spark.  A spruce, trim, or smart fellow.  A man that is
  always thirsty, is said to have a spark in his throat.

Sparkish.  Fine, gay.

Sparking blows.  Blows given by cocks before they close,
  or, as the term is, mouth it:  used figuratively for words
  previous to a quarrel.

Sparrow.  Mumbling a sparrow; a cruel sport frequently
  practised at wakes and fairs:  for a small premium, a booby
  having his hands tied behind him, has the wing of a cock
  sparrow put into his mouth:  with this hold, without any
  other assistance than the motion of his lips, he is to get the
  sparrow’s head into his mouth:  on attempting to do it, the
  bird defends itself surprisingly, frequently pecking the
  mumbler till his lips are covered with blood, and he is
  obliged to desist:  to prevent the bird from getting away, he
  is fastened by a string to a button of the booby’s coat.

Sparrow-mouthed. Wide-mouthed, like the mouth of a
  sparrow:  it is said of such persons, that they do not hold
  their mouths by lease, but have it from year to year; i.e.
  from ear to ear.  One whose mouth cannot be enlarged
  without removing their ears, and who when they yawn
  have their heads half off.

SPATCH cock. [Abbreviation of dispatch cock.] A hen just
  killed from the roost, or yard, and immediately skinned,
  split, and broiled:  an Irish dish upon any sudden occasion.

To speak with.  To rob.  I spoke with the cull on the
  cherry-coloured prancer; I robbed the man on the black
  horse.  Cant.

Speak.  Any thing stolen.  He has made a good speak; he
  has stolen something considerable.

Page 168

SPECKED WHIPER.  A coloured hankerchief.  Cant.

Spice.  To rob.  Spice the swell; rob the gentleman.

Spice islands.  A privy.  Stink-hole bay or dilberry creek. 
  The fundament.

Spider-shanked. Thin-legged.

To spiflicate.  To confound, silence, or dumbfound.

Spilt.  A small reward or gift.

Spilt.  Thrown from a horse, or overturned in a carriage;
  pray, coachee, don’t spill us.

Spindle shanks.  Slender legs.

To spirit away.  To kidnap, or inveigle away.

Spiritual flesh broker.  A parson.

Spit.  He is as like his father as if he was spit out of his
  mouth; said of a child much resembling his father.

Spit.  A sword.

Spit fire.  A violent, pettish, or passionate person.

Spliced. Married:  an allusion to joining two ropes ends by
  splicing.  Sea term.

Split crow.  The sign of the spread eagle, which being
  represented with two heads on one neck, gives it somewhat
  the appearance of being split.

Split cause.  A lawyer.

Split Fig.  A grocer.

Split iron.  The nick-name for a smith.

Spooney. (Whip) Thin, haggard, like the shank of a spoon;
  also delicate, craving for something, longing for sweets. 
  Avaricious.  That tit is damned spooney.  She’s a spooney
  piece of goods.  He’s a spooney old fellow.

Spoil pudding.  A parson who preaches long sermons,
  keeping his congregation in church till the puddings are
  overdone.

To sport.  To exhibit:  as, Jack Jehu sported a new gig
  yesterday:  I shall sport a new suit next week.  To sport
  or flash one’s ivory; to shew one’s teeth.  To sport timber;
  to keep one’s outside door shut; this term is used in the
  inns of court to signify denying one’s self.  N.B.  The
  word sport was in great vogue ann. 1783 and 1784.

SPUNGE.  A thirsty fellow, a great drinker.  To spunge; to
  eat and drink at another’s cost.  Spunging-house:  a bailiff’s
  lock-up-house, or repository, to which persons arrested are
  taken, till they find bail, or have spent all their money:  a
  house where every species of fraud and extortion is practised
  under the protection of the law.

Spunk.  Rotten touchwood, or a kind of fungus prepared
  for tinder; figuratively, spirit, courage.

Spoon hand.  The right hand.

To spout.  To rehearse theatrically.

Spouting club.  A meeting of apprentices and mechanics
  to rehearse different characters in plays:  thus forming
  recruits for the strolling companies.

Page 169

Spouting.  Theatrical declamation.

Spouted. Pawned.

Spread.  Butter.

Spread eagle.  A soldier tied to the halberts in order to
  be whipped; his attitude bearing some likeness to that
  figure, as painted on signs.

Spree.  A frolic.  Fun.  A drinking bout.  A party of
  pleasure.

Spring-ankle warehouse.  Newgate, or any other gaol: 
  Irish.

Squab.  A fat man or woman:  from their likeness to a
  well-stuffed couch, called also a squab.  A new-hatched
  chicken.

Square.  Honest, not roguish.  A square cove, i.e. a
  man who does not steal, or get his living by dishonest
  means.

Square toes.  An old man:  square toed shoes were
  anciently worn in common, and long retained by old
  men.

Squeak.  A narrow escape, a chance:  he had a squeak for
  his life.  To squeak; to confess, peach, or turn stag. 
  They squeak beef upon us; they cry out thieves after
  us.  Cant.

Squeaker.  A bar-boy; also a bastard or any other child. 
  To stifle the squeaker; to murder a bastard, or throw It
  into the necessary house.—­Organ pipes are likewise called
  squeakers.  The squeakers are meltable; the small
  pipes are silver.  Cant.

Squeeze crab.  A sour-looking, shrivelled, diminutive
  fellow.

Squeeze wax.  A good-natured foolish fellow, ready to
  become security for another, under hand and seal.

Squelch.  A fall.  Formerly a bailiff caught in a barrack-
  yard in Ireland, was liable by custom to have three tosses
  in a blanket, and a squelch; the squelch was given by letting
  go the corners of the blanket, and suffering him to
  fall to the ground.  Squelch-gutted; fat, having a prominent
  belly.

Squib.  A small satirical or political temporary jeu d’esprit,
  which, like the firework of that denomination, sparkles,
  bounces, stinks, and vanishes.

Squint-A-pipes.  A squinting man or woman; said to
  be born in the middle of the week, and looking both
  ways for Sunday; or born in a hackney coach, and looking
  out of both windows; fit for a cook, one eye in the
  pot, and the other up the chimney; looking nine ways at
  once.

Squire of Alsatia.  A weak profligate spendthrift, the
  squire of the company; one who pays the whole reckoning,
  or treats the company, called standing squire.

Squirish.  Foolish.

Squirrel.  A prostitute:  because she like that animal, covers
  her back with her tail.  Meretrix corpore corpus alit. 
  Menagiana, ii. 128.

Squirrel hunting.  See hunting.

Page 170

Stag.  To turn stag; to impeach one’s confederates:  from
  a herd of deer, who are said to turn their horns against
  any of their number who is hunted.

To stag.  To find, discover, or observe.

Staggering bob, with his yellow pumps.  A calf
  just dropped, and unable to stand, killed for veal in Scotland: 
  the hoofs of a young calf are yellow.

Stall whimper.  A bastard.  Cant.

Stalling.  Making or ordaining.  Stalling to the rogue;
  an ancient ceremony of instituting a candidate into the
  society of rogues, somewhat similar to the creation of a
  herald at arms.  It is thus described by Harman:  the upright
  man taking a gage of bowse, i.e. a pot of strong drink,
  pours it on the head of the rogue to be admitted; saying,
  —­I, A.B. do stall thee B.C. to the rogue; and from henceforth
  it shall be lawful for thee to cant for thy living in all
  places.

Stalling ken.  A broker’s shop, or that of a receiver of
  stolen goods.

Stallion.  A man kept by an old lady for secret services.

Stam flesh.  To cant.  Cant.

Stammel, or STRAMMEL.  A coarse brawny wench.

Stamp.  A particular manner of throwing the dice out of
  the box, by striking it with violence against the table.

Stamps.  Legs.

Stampers.  Shoes.

Stand-still.  He was run to a stand-still; i.e. till he could
  no longer move.

Star gazer.  A horse who throws up his head; also a
  hedge whore.

To Star the glaze.  To break and rob a jeweller’s show
  glass.  Cant.

Starched. Stiff, prim, formal, affected.

Staring quarter.  An ox cheek.

Start, or the old start.  Newgate:  he is gone to the
  start, or the old start.  Cant.

Starter.  One who leaves a jolly company, a milksop; he
  is no starter, he will sit longer than a hen.

STARVE’EM, ROB’EM, and CHEAT’EM.  Stroud, Rochester,
  and Chatham; so called by soldiers and sailors, and not
  without good reason.

Star lag.  Breaking shop-windows, and stealing some article
  thereout.

Stash.  To stop.  To finish.  To end.  The cove tipped
  the prosecutor fifty quid to stash the business; he gave
  the prosecutor fifty guineas to stop the prosecution.

State.  To lie in state; to be in bed with three harlots.

Stay.  A cuckold.

STAYTAPE.  A taylor; from that article, and its coadjutor
  buckram, which make no small figure in the bills of those
  knights of the needle.

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Steamer.  A pipe.  A swell steamer; a long pipe, such
  as is used by gentlemen to smoke.

Steel.  The house of correction.

Steel bar.  A needle.  A steel bar flinger; a taylor, stay-
  maker, or any other person using a needle.

Steenkirk.  A muslin neckcloth carelessly put on, from
  the manner in which the French officers wore their cravats
  when they returned from the battle of Steenkirk.

Steeple house.  A name given to the church by Dissenters.

Stephen.  Money.  Stephen’s at home; i.e. has money.

Stepney.  A decoction of raisins of the sun and lemons in
  conduit water, sweetened with sugar, and bottled up.

Stewed quaker.  Burnt rum, with a piece of butter:  an
  American remedy for a cold.

Sticks.  Household furniture.

Sticks.  Pops or pistols.  Stow your sticks; hide your
  pistols.  Cant.  See pops.

Stick flams. A pair of gloves.

Stiff-RUMPED. Proud, stately.

STINGRUM.  A niggard.

Stingo.  Strong beer, or other liquor.

Stirrup cup.  A parting cup or glass, drank on horseback
  by the person taking leave.

Stitch.  A nick name for a taylor:  also a term for lying
  with a woman.

STITCHBACK.  Strong ale.

Stiver-cramped. Needy, wanting money.  A stiver is a
  Dutch coin, worth somewhat more than a penny sterling.

Stock.  A good stock; i.e. of impudence.  Stock and
  block; the whole:  he has lost stock and block.

Stock drawers.  Stockings.

Stock jobbers.  Persons who gamble in Exchange Alley,
  by pretending to buy and sell the public funds, but in
  reality only betting that they will be at a certain price, at
  a particular time; possessing neither the stock pretended
  to be sold, nor money sufficient to make good the payments
  for which they contract:  these gentlemen are known
  under the different appellations of bulls, bears, and lame
  ducks.

Stomach worm.  The stomach worm gnaws; I am hungry.

Stone.  Two stone under weight, or wanting; an eunuch. 
  Stone doublet; a prison.  Stone dead; dead as a stone.

Stone jug.  Newgate, or any other prison.

Stone tavern.  Ditto.

Stoop-NAPPERS, or overseers of the new pavement
  Persons set in the pillory.  Cant.

Stoop.  The pillory.  The cull was served for macing and
  napp’d the stoop; he was convicted of swindling, and
  put in the pillory.

Stop hole Abbey.  The nick name of the chief rendzvous
  of the canting crew of beggars, gypsies, cheats,
  thieves, &c. &c.

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STOTER.  A great blow.  Tip him a stoter in the haltering
  place; give him a blow under the left ear.

Stoup.  A vessel to hold liquor:  a vessel containing a size
  or half a pint, is so called at Cambridge.

Stow.  Stow you; be silent, or hold your peace.  Stow
  your whidds and plant’em, for the cove of the ken can
  cant’em; you have said enough, the man of the house
  understands you.

Strait-laced. Precise, over nice, puritanical.

Strait waistcoat.  A tight waistcoat, with long sleeves
  coming over the hand, having strings for binding them
  behind the back of the wearer:  these waistcoats are used in
  madhouses for the management of lunatics when outrageous.

STRAMMEL.  See Stammel.

Stranger.  A guinea.

Strangle goose.  A poulterer.

To strap.  To work.  The kiddy would not strap, so he
  went on the scamp:  the lad would not work, and therefore
  robbed on the highway.

Strapper.  A large man or woman.

Strapping.  Lying with a woman.  Cant.

Straw.  A good woman in the straw; a lying-in woman. 
  His eyes draw straw; his eyes are almost shut, or he is
  almost asleep:  one eye draws straw, and t’other serves the
  thatcher.

Stretch.  A yard.  The cove was lagged for prigging a
  peter with several stretch of dobbin from a drag; the
  fellow was transported for stealing a trunk, containing
  several yards of ribband, from a waggon.

Stretching.  Hanging.  He’ll stretch for it; he will be
  hanged for it.  Also telling a great lie:  he stretched stoutly.

Strike.  Twenty shillings.  Cant.

Strip me naked. Gin.

Stroke.  To take a stroke:  to take a bout with a woman.

Strollers.  Itinerants of different kinds.  Strolling morts;
  beggars or pedlars pretending to be widows.

STROMMEL.  Straw.  Cant.

Strong man.  To play the part of the strong man, i.e.
  to push the cart and horses too; to be whipt at the cart’s
  tail.

Strum.  A perriwig.  Rum strum:  a fine large wig. 
  (Cambridge) To do a piece.  Foeminam subagitare.  Cant.

To strum.  To have carnal knowledge of a woman; also to
  play badly on the harpsichord; or any other stringed
  instrument.  A strummer of wire, a player on any instrument
  strung with wire.

Strumpet.  A harlot.

Stub-faced. Pitted with the smallpox:  the devil ran
  over his face with horse stabs (horse nails) in his shoes.

Stubble it.  Hold your tongue.  Cant.

STULING ken.  See stalling kenCant.

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Stum.  The flower of fermenting wine, used by vintners to
  adulterate their wines.

Stumps.  Legs.  To stir one’s stumps; to walk fast.

Sturdy beggars.  The fifth and last of the most ancient
  order of canters, beggars that rather demand than ask
  cant.

Successfully.  Used by the vulgar for successively:  as
  three or four landlords of this house have been ruined
  successfully by the number of soldiers quartered on them. 
  Irish.

Such A reason PIST my goose, or my goose PIST. Said
  when any one offers an absurd reason.

Suck.  Strong liquor of any sort.  To suck the monkey;
  see monkey.  Sucky; drunk.

To suck.  To pump.  To draw from a man all be knows. 
  The file sucked the noodle’s brains:  the deep one drew
  out of the fool all he knew.

Sucking chicken.  A young chicken.

Suds.  In the suds; in trouble, in a disagreeable situation,
  or involved in some difficulty.

Sugar stick.  The virile member.

Sugar sops.  Toasted bread soked in ale, sweetened with
  sugar, and grated nutmeg:  it is eaten with cheese.

Sulky.  A one-horse chaise or carriage, capable of holding
  but one person:  called by the French a DESOBLIGEANT.

Sun.  To have been in the sun; said of one that is drunk.

Sunburnt.  Clapped; also haying many male children.

Sunday man.  One who goes abroad on that day only, for
  fear of arrests.

Sunny bank.  A good fire in winter.

Sunshine.  Prosperity.

SUPERNACOLUM.  Good liquor, of which there is not even
  a drop left sufficient to wet one’s nail.

SUPOUCH.  A landlady of an inn, or hostess.

Surveyor of the highways.  One reeling drunk.

Surveyor of the pavement.  One standing in the pillory.

Sus per Coll.  Hanged:  persons who have been hanged
  are thus entered into the jailor’s books.

SUSPENCE.  One in a deadly suspence; a man just turned
  off at the gallows.

SUTRER.  A camp publican:  also one that pilfers gloves,
  tobacco boxes, and such small moveables.

SWABBERS.  The ace of hearts, knave of clubs, ace and
  duce of trumps, at whist:  also the lubberly seamen, put
  to swab, and clean the ship.

SWAD, or SWADKIN.  A soldier.  Cant.

To swaddle.  To beat with a stick.

Swaddlers.  The tenth order of the canting tribe, who not
  only rob, but beat, and often murder passenges.  Cant
  Swaddlers is also the Irish name for methodist.

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Swag.  A shop.  Any quantity of goods.  As, plant the swag;
  conceal the goods.  Rum swag; a shop full of rich goods. 
  Cant.

Swagger.  To bully, brag, or boast, also to strut.

Swannery.  He keeps a swannery; i.e. all his geese are
  swans.

Sweating.  A mode of diminishing the gold coin, practiced
  chiefly by the Jews, who corrode it with aqua regia.  Sweating
  was also a diversion practised by the bloods of the last
  century, who styled themselves Mohocks:  these gentlemen
  lay in wait to surprise some person late in the night, when
  surrouding him, they with their swords pricked him in
  the posteriors, which obliged him to be constantly turning
  round; this they continued till they thought him sufficiently
  sweated.

Sweet.  Easy to be imposed on, or taken in; also expert,
  dexterous clever.  Sweet’s your hand; said of one dexterous
  at stealing.

Sweet heart.  A term applicable to either the masculine
  or feminine gender, signifying a girl’s lover, or a man’s
  mistress:  derived from a sweet cake in the shape of a
  heart.

Sweetness.  Guinea droppers, cheats, sharpers.  To sweeten
  to decoy, or draw in.  To be sweet upon; to coax, wheedle,
  court, or allure.  He seemed sweet upon that wench; he seemed to
  court that girl.

Swell.  A gentleman.  A well-dressed map.  The flashman
  bounced the swell of all his blunt; the girl’s bully frightened
  the gentleman out of all his money.

Swelled head.  A disorder to which horses are extremely
  liable, particularly those of the subalterns of the army. 
  This disorder is generally occasioned by remaining too
  long in one livery-stable or inn, and often arises to that
  height that it prevents their coming out at the stable door. 
  The most certain cure is the unguentum aureum—­not
  applied to the horse, but to the palm of the master of the inn
  or stable.  N. B. Neither this disorder, nor its remedy,
  is mentioned by either Bracken, Bartlet, or any of the
  modern writers on farriery.

Swig.  A hearty draught of liquor.

SWIGMEN.  Thieves who travel the country under colour of
  buying old shoes, old clothes, &c. or selling brooms, mops,
  &c.  Cant.

To swill.  To drink greedily.

Swill tub.  A drunkard, a sot.

Swimmer.  A counterfeit old coin.

Swimmer.  A ship.  I shall have a swimmer; a cant phrase
  used by thieves to signify that they will be sent on board
  the tender.

To swing.  To be hanged.  He will swing for it; he will
  be hanged for it.

Swing tail.  A hog.

To swinge.  To beat stoutly.

Page 175

Swinging.  A great swinging fellow; a great stout fellow. 
  A swinging lie; a lusty lie.

Swindler.  One who obtains goods on credit by false pretences,
  and sells them for ready money at any price, in order
  to make up a purse.  This name is derived from the German
  word SCHWINDLIN, to totter, to be ready to fall; these
  arts being generally practised by persons on the totter, or
  just ready to break.  The term swindler has since been
  used to signify cheats of every kind.

Swipes.  Purser’s swipes; small beer:  so termed on board
  the king’s ships, where it is furnished by the purser.

Swish tail.  A pheasant; so called by the persons who
  sell game for the poachers.

To SWIVE.  To copulate.

Swivel-eyed. Squinting.

Swizzle.  Drink, or any brisk or windy liquor.  In North
  America, a mixture of spruce beer, rum, and sugar, was so
  called.  The 17th regiment had a society called the Swizzle
  Club, at Ticonderoga, A. D. 1760.

Sword racket.  To enlist in different regiments, and on
  receiving the bounty to desert immediately.

Swop.  An exchange.

SYEBUCK.  Sixpence.

Syntax.  A schoolmaster.

Tabby.  An old maid; either from Tabitha, a formal
  antiquated name; or else from a tabby cat, old maids being
  often compared to cats.  To drive Tab; to go out on a
  party of pleasure with a wife and family.

Tace.  Silence, hold your tongue.  Tace is Latin for a
  candle; a jocular admonition to be silent on any subject.

Tackle.  A mistress; also good clothes.  The cull has
  tipt his tackle rum gigging; the fellow has given his
  mistress good clothes.  A man’s tackle:  the genitals.

Taffy, i.e.  Davy.  A general name for a Welchman, St.
  David being the tutelar saint of Wales.  Taffy’s day; the
  first of March, St. David’s day.

Tag-rag and bobtail.  An expression meaning an assemblage
  of low people, the mobility of all sorts.  To tag
  after one like a tantony pig:  to follow one wherever one
  goes, just as St. Anthony is followed by his pig.

Tail.  A prostitute.  Also, a sword.

Taken in.  Imposed on, cheated.

Tale tellers.  Persons said to have been formerly hired
  to tell wonderful stories of giants and fairies, to lull their
  hearers to sleep.  Talesman; the author of a story or
  report:  I’ll tell you my tale, and my talesman.  Tale bearers;
  mischief makers, incendiaries in families.

Tall boy.  A bottle, or two-quart pot.

Tally men.  Brokers that let out clothes to the women of
  the town.  See rabbit suckers.

Page 176

TALLYWAGS, or TARRYWAGS.  A man’s testicles.

Tame.  To run tame about a house; to live familiarly in a
  family with which one is upon a visit.  Tame army; the
  city trained bands.

Tandem.  A two-wheeled chaise, buggy, or noddy, drawn
  by two horses, one before the other:  that is, at length.

Tangier.  A room in Newgate, where debtors were confined,
  hence called Tangerines.

Tanner.  A sixpence.  The kiddey tipped the rattling cove
  a tanner for luck; the lad gave the coachman sixpence for
  drink.

TANTADLIN Tart.  A sirreverence, human excrement.

Tantrums. Pet, or passion:  madam was in her tantrums.

Tantwivy.  Away they went tantwivy; away they went
  full speed.  Tantwivy was the sound of the hunting horn
  in full cry, or that of a post horn.

Tap.  A gentle blow.  A tap on the shoulder;-an-arrest. 
  To tap a girl; to be the first seducer:  in allusion to a beer
  barrel.  To tap a guinea; to get it changed.

Tappers.  Shoulder tappers:  bailiffs.

Tape.  Red tape; brandy.  Blue or white tape; gin.

TAPLASH.  Thick and bad beer.

Tar.  Don’t lose a sheep for a halfpennyworth of tar:  tar is
  used to mark sheep.  A jack tar; a sailor.

Taradiddle.  A fib, or falsity.

TARPAWLIN.  A coarse cloth tarred over:  also, figuratively,
  a sailor.

Tarring and feathering.  A punishment lately infliced
  by the good people of Boston on any person convicted,
  or suspected, of loyalty:  such delinquents being “stripped
  naked”, were daubed all over wilh tar, and afterwards put
  into a hogshead of feathers.

Tart.  Sour, sharp, quick, pert.

Tartar.  To catch a Tartar; to attack one of superior
  strength or abilities.  This saying originated from a story
  of an Irish-soldier in the Imperial service, who, in a battle
  against the Turks, called out to his comrade that he had
  caught a Tartar.  ‘Bring him along then,’ said he.  ’He
  won’t come,’ answered Paddy.  ‘Then come along yourself,’
  replied his comrade.  ‘Arrah,’ cried he, ’but he
  won’t let me.’—­A Tartar is also an adept at any feat, or
  game:  he is quite a Tartar at cricket, or billiards.

Tat.  Tit for tat; an equivalent.

TATS.  False dice.

Tatler.  A watch.  To flash a tatler:  to wear a watch.

Tat monger.  One that uses false dice.

Tatterdemalion.  A ragged fellow, whose clothes hang
  all in tatters.

Tattoo.  A beat of the drum, of signal for soldiers to go
  to their quarters, and a direction to the sutlers to close the
  tap, anddtew nomore liquor for them; it is generally
  beat at nine in summer and eight in winter.  The devil’s
  tattoo; beating with one’s foot against the ground, as done
  by persons in low spirits.

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Taw.  A schoolboy’s game, played with small round balls
  made of stone dust, catted marbles.  I’ll be one upon your
  taw presently; a species of threat.

Tawdry.  Garish, gawdy, with lace or staring and discordant
  colours:  a term said to be derived from the shrine
  and altar of St. Audrey (an Isle of Ely saintess), which
  for finery exceeded all others thereabouts, so as to
  become proverbial; whence any fine dressed man or woman
  said to be all St Audrey, and by contraction, all
  tawdry.

TAWED. Beaten,

TAYLE.  See tail.

TAYLE drawers.  Thieves who snatch gentlemens swords
  from their sides.  He drew the cull’s tayle rumly; he
  snatched away the gentleman’s sword cleverly.

Taylor.  Nine taylors make a man; an ancient and
  common saying, originating from the effeminacy of their
  employment; or, as some have it, from nine taylors having
  been robbed by one man; according to others, from the
  speech of a woollendraper, meaning that the custom of
  nine, taylors would make or enrich one man—­A London
  taylor, rated to furnish half a man to the Trained Bands,
  asking how that could possibly be done? was answered,
  By sending four, journeymen and and apprentice.—­Puta
  taylor, a weaver, and a miller into a sack, shake them
  well, And the first that, puts out his head is certainly a
  thief.—­A taylor is frequently styled pricklouse,
  assaults on those vermin with their needles.

Taylors goose.  An iron with which, when heated,
  press down the seams of clothes.

Tea voider.  A chamber pot.

Tea GUELAND.  Ireland.  Teaguelanders; Irishmen.

Tears of the tankard.  The drippings of liquor on a
  man’s waistcoat.

Teddy my Godson.  An address to a supposed simple
  fellow, or nysey,

TEIZE.  To-nap the teize; to receive a whipping.  Cant.

Temple pickling.  Pumping a bailiff; a punishment
  formerly administered to any of that fraternity caught
  exercising their functions within the limits of Temple.

Ten toes.  See bayard of ten toes.

Ten in the hundred. An usurer; more than five in
  the hundred being deemed usurious interest.

Tenant at will, One whose wife usually fetches him
  from the alehouse.

Tenant for life.  A married man; i.e. possessed of a
  woman for life.

Tender Parnell.  A tender creature, fearful of the least
  puff of wind or drop of rain.  As tender as Parnell, who
  broke her finger in a posset drink.

Termagant.  An outrageous scold from Termagantes, a
  cruel Pagan, formerly represented in diners shows and
  entertainments, where being dressed a la Turque, in long
  clothes, he was mistaken for a furious woman.

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Terra Firma.  An estate in land.

Tester.  A sixpence:  from Teston, a coin with a head on it.

TETBURY portion.  A **** and a clap.

Thames.  He will not find out a way to set the Thames
  on fire; he will not make any wonderful discoveries, he is
  no conjuror.

Thatch-gallows.  A rogue, or man of bad character.

Thick.  Intimate.  They are as thick as two inkle-weavers.

Thief.  You are a thief and a murderer, you have killed a
  baboon and stole his face; vulgar abuse.

Thief in A candle.  Part of the wick or snuff, which falling
  on the tallow, burns and melts it, and causing it to
  gutter, thus steals it away.

Thief takers.  Fellows who associate with all kinds of
  villains, in order to betray them, when they have committed
  any of those crimes which entitle the persons taking
  them to a handsome reward, called blood money.  It is
  the business of these thief takers to furnish subjects for a
  handsome execution, at the end of every sessions.

Thimble.  A watch.  The swell flashes a rum thimble;
  the gentleman sports a fine watch.

Thingstable.  Mr. Thingstable; Mr. Constable:  a ludicrous
  affectation of delicacy in avoiding the pronunciation
  of the first syllable in the title of that officer, which in
  sound has some similarity to an indecent monosyllable.

Thingumbob.  Mr. Thingumbob; a vulgar address or nomination
  to any person whose name is unknown, the same
  as Mr. What-d’ye-cal’em.  Thingumbobs; testicles.

THIRDING.  A custom practised at the universities, where
  two thirds of the original price is allowed by the upholsterers
  to the students for household goods returned to them
  within the year.

THIRTEENER.  A shilling in Ireland, which there passes for
  thirteen pence.

THOMOND.  Like Lord Thomond’s cocks, all on one side. 
  Lord Thomond’s cock-feeder, an Irishman, being entrusted
  with some cocks which were matched for a considerable
  sum, the night before the battle shut them all together in
  one room, concluding that as they were all on the same
  side, they would not disagree:  the consequence was, they
  were most of them either killed or lamed before the morning.

Thomas.  Man Thomas; a man’s penis.

Thorns.  To be or sit upon thorns; to be uneasy, impatient,
  anxious for an event.

Thornback.  An old maid.

Thorough churchman.  A person who goes in at one door
  of a church, and out at the other, without stopping.

Thorough-good-natured wench.  One who being asked
  to sit down, will lie down.

Page 179

Thorough go nimble.  A looseness, a violent purging.

Thorough cough.  Coughing and breaking wind backwards
  at the same time.

Thorough stitch.  To go thorough stitch; to stick at nothing;
  over shoes, over boots.

Thought.  What did thought do? lay’in bed and beshat
  himself, and thought he was up; reproof to any one who
  excuses himself for any breach of positive orders, by
  pleading that he thought to the contrary.

Three to one.  He is playing three to one, though sure to
  lose; said of one engaged in the amorous congress.

Three-penny upright.  A retailer of love, who, for the
  sum mentioned, dispenses her favours standing against a
  wall.

Three-legged mare, or stool.  The gallows, formerly
  consisting of three posts, over which were laid three
  transverse beams.  This clumsy machine has lately given place
  to an elegant contrivance, called the new drop, by which
  the use of that vulgar vehicle a cart, or mechanical
  instrument a ladder, is also avoided; the patients being left
  suspended by the dropping down of that part of the floor on
  which they stand.  This invention was first made use of for
  a peer.  See drop.

Three threads.  Half common ale, mixed with stale and
  double beer.

THREPS.  Threepence.

To throttle.  To strangle.

Throttle.  The throat, or gullet.

To thrum.  To play on any instrument sttfnged with wire. 
  A thrummer of wire; a player on the spinet, harpsichord,
  of guitar.

THRUMS. Threepence.

Thumb.  By rule of thumb:  to do any thing by dint of
  practice.  To kiss one’s thumb instead of the book; a vulgar
  expedient to avoid perjury in taking a false oath.

THCMMIKINS.  An instrument formerly used in Scotland,
  like a vice, to pinch the thumbs of persons accused of
  different crimes, in order to extort confession.

Thump.  A blow.  This is better than a thump on the back
  with a stone; said on giving any one a drink of good liquor
  on a cold morning.  Thatch, thistle, thunder, and thump;
  words to the Irish, like the Shibboleth of the Hebrews.

Thumping.  Great! a thumping boy.

Thwack.  A great blow with a stick across the shoulders.

TIB.  A young lass

TIBBY.  A cat.

TIB of the buttery.  A goose.  Cant.  Saint Tibb’s
  evening; the evening of the last day, or day of judgment: 
  he will pay you on St. Tibb’s eve.  Irish.

Tick.  To run o’tick; take up goods upon trust, to run in
  debt.  Tick; a watch.  See sessions papers.

Page 180

Tickle text.  A parson.

Tickle PITCKEB.  A thirsty fellow, a sot.

Tickle tail.  A rod, or schoolmaster.  A man’s penis.

TICKRUM.  A licence.

Tidy.  Neat.

TIFFING.  Eating or drinking out of meal time, disputing
  or falling out; also lying with a wench, A tiff of punch,
  a small bowl of punch.

TILBUKY.  Sixpence; so called from its formerly being the
  fare for Crossing over from Gravesend to Tilbury Fort.

Tilt.  To tilt; to fight with a sword.  To run full tilt
  against one; allusion to the ancient tilling with the lance.

Tilter.  A sword.

Tim whisky.  A light one—­horse chaise without a head.

Timber toe.  A man with a wooden leg.

Tiny.  Little.

To tip.  To give or lend.  Tip me your daddle; give me
  your hand.  Tip me a hog; give me a shilling.  To tip
  the lion; to flatten a man’s nose with the thumb, and, at
  the same time to extend his mouth, with the fingers, thereby
  giving him a sort of lion-like countenauce.  To tip the
  velvet; tonguing woman.  To tip all nine; to knock
  down all the nine pins at once, at the game of bows or
  skittles:  tipping, at these gaines, is slightly touching the
  tops of the pins with the bowl.  Tip; a draught; don’t
  spoil his tip.

Tip-top.  The best:  perhaps from fruit, that growing at
  the top of the tree being generally the best, as partaking
  most of the sun.  A tip-top workman; the best, or most
  excellent Workman.

Tipperary fortune.  Two town lands, stream’s town,
  and ballinocack; said of Irish women without fortune.

Tipple.  Liquor.

TIPPLERS.  Sots who are continually sipping.

Tipsey.  Almost drunk.

Tiring.  Dressing:  perhaps abbreviation of attiring.  Tiring
  women, or tire women:  women that used to cut ladies
  hair, and dress them.

Tit.  A horse; a pretty little tit; a smart little girl.
  a *** or tid bit; a delicate morsel.  Tommy tit; a smart lively
  little fellow.

Tit for tat.  An equivalent.

To titter.  To suppress a laugh.

Titter tatter.  One reeling, and ready to fall at the least
  touch; also the childish amusement of riding upon the
  two ends of a plank, poised upon the prop underneath its
  centre, called also see-saw.  Perhaps tatter is a rustic
  pronunciation of totter.

Tittle-tattle.  Idle discourse, scandal, women’s talk,
  or small talk.

Tittup.  A gentle hand gallop, or canter.

Tizzy.  Sixpence.

Page 181

Toad eater.  A poor female relation, and humble companion,
  or reduced gentlewoman, in a great family, the standing
  butt, on whom all kinds of practical jokes are played
  off, and all ill humours vented.  This appellation is derived
  from a mountebank’s servant, on whom all experiments
  used to be made in public by the doctor, his master; among
  which was the eating of toads, formerly supposed poisonous. 
  Swallowing toads is here figuratively meant for swallowing
  or putting up with insults, as disagreeable to a person
  of feeling as toads to the stomach.

Toad.  Toad in a hole; meat baked or boiled in pye-crust. 
  He or she sits like a toad on a chopping-block; a saying
  of any who sits ill on horseback.  As much need of it
  as a toad of a side-pocket; said of a person who desires
  any thing for which he has no real occasion.  As full of
  money as a toad is of feathers.

Toast. A health; also a beautiful woman whose health is
  often drank by men.  The origin of this term (as it is said)
  was this:  a beautiful lady bathing in a cold bath, one of
  her admirers out of gallantry drank some of the water: 
  whereupon another of her lovers observed, he never drank
  in the morning, but he would kiss the toast, and immediately
  saluted the lady.

Toasting iron, or cheese toaster.  A sword.

Toby lay.  The highway.  High toby man; a highway-man. 
  Low toby man; a footpad.

Tobacco.  A plant, once in great estimation as a medicine: 

       Tobacco hic
  Will make you well if you be sick. 
       Tobacco hic
  If you be well will make you sick.

Toddy.  Originally the juice of the cocoa tree, and afterwards
  rum, water, sugar, and nutmeg.

Toddle.  To walk away.  The cove was touting, but
  stagging the traps he toddled; be was looking out, and
  feeing the officers he walked away.

TODGE.  Beat all to a todge:  said of anything beat to mash.

TOGE.  A coat.  Cant.

TOGEMANS.  The same.  Cant.

Togs.  Clothes.  The swell is rum-togged.  The gentleman
  is handsomely dressed.

Token.  The plague:  also the venereal disease.  She tipped
  him the token; she gave him a clap or pox.

Tol, or Toledo.  A sword:  from Spanish swords made at
  Toledo, which place was famous for sword blades of an
  extraordinary temper.

TOLLIBAN rig.  A species of cheat carried on by a woman,
  assuming the character of a dumb and deaf conjuror.

Tom T—­DMAN.  A night man, one who empties necessary
  houses.

Tomboy.  A romping girl, who prefers the amusement used
  by boys to those of her own sex.

Page 182

Tom of bedlam.  The same as Abram man.

Tom cony.  A simple fellow.

Tom long.  A tiresome story teller.  It is coming by Tom
  Long, the carrier; said of any thing that has been long
  expected.

Tom thumb.  A dwarf, a little hop-o’my-thumb.

Tommy.  Soft Tommy, or white Tommy; bread is so called
  by sailors, to distinguish it from biscuit.  Brown Tommy: 
  ammunition bread for soldiers; or brown bread given to
  convicts at the hulks.

To-morrow come never.  When two Sundays come
  together; never.

Tongue.  Tongue enough for two sets of teeth:  said of
  a talkative person.  As old as my tongue, and a little older
  than my teeth; a dovetail in answer to the question, How
  old are you?  Tongue pad; a scold, or nimble-tongued
  person.

Tony.  A silly fellow, or ninny.  A mere tony:  a simpleton.

Tools.  The private parts of a man.

Tool.  The instrument of any person or faction, a cat’s
  paw.  See cats paw.

Tooth Music.  Chewing.

Tooth-pick.  A large stick.  An ironical expression.

Topper.  A violent blow on the head.

Top ropes.  To sway away on all top ropes; to live
  riotously or extravagantly.

To top.  To cheat, or trick:  also to insult:  he thought to
  have topped upon me.  Top; the signal among taylors
  for snuffing the candles:  he who last pronounces that word
  word, is obliged to get up and perform the operation.—­
  to be topped; to be hanged.  The cove was topped for
  smashing queerscreens; he was hanged for uttering forged
  bank notes.

Top diver.  A lover of women.  An old top diver; one
  who has loved old hat in his time.

Top heavy.  Drunk.

Top lights.  The eyes.  Blast your top lights.  See curse.

Top sail.  He paid his debts at Portsmouth with the topsail;
  i.e. he went to. sea and left them unpaid.  SCT soldiers
  are said to pay off their scores with the drum; that
  is, by marching away.

Toper.  One that loves his bottle, a soaker.  See to soak.

Topping fellow.  One at the top or head of his profession.

Topping cheat.  The gallows.  Cant.

Topping cove.  The hangman.  Cant.

Topping man.  A rich man.

TOFSY-turvy.  The top side the other way; i.e. the
  wrong side upwards; some explain it, the top side turf
  ways, turf being always laid the wrong side upwards.

TORCHECUL.  Bumfodder.

Page 183

Tormenter of sheep skin.  A drummer.

Tormenter of catgut.  A fiddler.

Tory.  An advocate for absolute monarchy and church
  power; also an Irish vagabond, robber, Or rapparee.

Toss pot.  A drunkard.

Toss off.  Manual pollution.

Totty-headed. Giddy, hare-brained.

Touch.  To touch; to get money from any one; also
  to arrest.  Touched in the wind; broken winded. 
  Touched in the head; insane, crazy.  To touch up a
  woman; to have carnal knowledge of her.  Touch bone
  and whistle; any one having broken wind backwards,
  according to the vulgar law, may be pinched by any of
  the company till he has touched bone (i.e. his teeth) and
  whistled.

Touch bun for luck.  See bun.

TOVT.  A look-out house, or eminence.

Touting. (From TUERI, to look about) Publicans
  fore-stalling guests, or meeting them on the road, and begging
  their custom; also thieves or smugglers looking out to see
  that the coast is clear.  Touting ken; the bar of a public
  house.

Tow row.  A grenadier.  The tow row club; a club or
  society of the grenadier officers of the line.

Towel.  An oaken towel, a cudgel.  To rub one down
  with an oaken towel; to beat or cudgel him.

Tower.  Clipped money:  they have been round the tower
  with it.  Cant.

To tower.  To overlook, to rise aloft as in a high tower.

Tower hill play.  A slap on the face, and a kick on the
  breech.

Town.  A woman of the town; a prostitute.  To be on
  the town:  to live by prostitution.

Town bull.  A common whoremaster.  To roar like a
  town bull; to cry or bellow aloud.

To track.  To go.  Track up the dancers; go up stairs. 
  Cant.

Trading justices.  Broken mechanics, discharged footmen,
  and other low fellows, smuggled into the commission
  of the peace, who subsist by fomenting disputes, granting
  warrants, and otherwise retailing justice; to the honour
  of the present times, these nuisances are by no means, so
  common as formerly.

Tradesmen.  Thieves.  Clever tradesmen; good thieves.

Translators.  Sellers of old mended shoes and boots,
  between coblers and shoemakers.

To TRANSMOGRAPHY, or TRANSMIGRIFY.  To patch up
  vamp, or alter.

T0 transnear.  To come up with any body.

Tranter.  See Crocker.

Trap.  To understand trap; to know one’s own interest.

Trap sticks.  Thin legs, gambs:  from the sticks with
  which boys play at trap-ball.

Page 184

Traps.  Constables and thief-takers.  Cant.

To trapan.  To inveigle, or ensnare.

Trapes.  A slatternly woman, a careless sluttish woman.

Traveller.  To tip the traveller; to tell wonderful
  stories, to romance.

Travelling piquet.  A mode of amusing themselves,
  practised by two persons riding in a carriage, each
  reckoning towards his game the persons or animals that pass
  by on the side next them, according to the following
  estimation: 

  A parson riding a grey horse, witholue furniture; game. 
  An old woman under a hedge; ditto. 
  A cat looking out of a window; 60. 
  A man, woman, and child, in a buggy; 40. 
  A man with a woman behind him; 30. 
  A flock of sheep; 20. 
  A flock of geese; 10. 
  A post chaise; 5. 
  A horseman; 2. 
  A man or woman walking; 1.

Tray trip.  An ancient game like Scotch hop, played on
  a pavement marked out with chalk into different
  compartments.

Trencher cap.  The square cap worn by the collegians.
  at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

Trencher man.  A stout trencher man; one who has a
  good appetite, or, as the term is, plays a good knife and
  fork.

TRESWINS.  Threepence.

Trib.  A prison:  perhaps from tribulation.

Trickum legis.  A quirk or quibble in the law.

Trig.  The point at which schoolboys stand to shoot their
  marbles at taw; also the spot whence bowlers deliver the
  bowl.

To trig it.  To play truant.  To lay a man trigging; to
  knock him down.

TRIGRYMATE.  An idle female companion.

Trim.  State, dress.  In a sad trim; dirty.—­Also spruce or
  fine:  a trim fellow.

Trim Tram.  Like master, like man.

Trimming.  Cheating, changing side, or beating.  I’ll
  trim his jacket; I’ll thresh him.  To be trimmed; to be
  shaved; I’ll just step and get trimmed.

Trine.  To hang; also Tyburn.

TRINGUM TRANGUM.  A whim, or maggot.

TRINING.  Hanging.

Trinkets.  Toys, bawbles, or nicknacks.

Trip.  A short voyage or journey, a false step or stumble,
  an error in the tongue, a bastard.  She has made a trip;
  she has had a bastard.

Tripe.  The belly, or guts.  Mr. Double Tripe; a fat
  man.  Tripes and trullibubs; the entrails:  also a jeering
  appellation for a fat man.

To Troll.  To loiter or saunter about.

Trolly lolly.  Coarse lace once much in fashion.

Trollop.  A lusty coarse sluttish woman.

Trooper.  You will die the death of a trooper’s horse,
  that is, with your shoes-on; a jocular method of telling
  any one he will be hanged.

Page 185

Trot.  An old trot; a decrepit old woman.  A dog trot; a
  gentle pace.

Trotters.  Feet.  To shake one’s trotters at Bilby’s ball,
  where the sheriff pays the fiddlers; perhaps the Bilboes
  ball, i.e. the ball of fetters:  fetters and stocks were
  anciently called the bilboes.

To trounce.  To punish by course of law.

Truck.  To exchange, swop, or barter; also a wheel
  such as ship’s guns are placed upon.

Trull.  A soldier or a tinker’s trull; a soldier or tinker’s
  female companion.—­Guteli, or trulli, are spirits like women,
  which shew great kindness to men, and hereof it is
  that we call light women trulls.  Randle Holm’s
  academy of armory.

Trumpery.  An old whore, or goods of no value; rubbish.

Trumpet.  To sound one’s own trumpet; to praise one’s
  self.

Trumpeter.  The king of Spain’s trumpeter; a braying
  ass.  His trumpeter is dead, he is therefore forced to
  sound his own trumpet.  He would make an excellent
  trumpeter, for he has a strong breath; said of one having
  a foetid breath.

Trumps.  To be put to one’s trumps:  to be in difficulties,
  or put to one’s shifts.  Something may turn up trumps;
  something lucky may happen.  All his cards are trumps: 
  he is extremely fortunate.

TRUNDLERS.  Peas.

Trunk.  A nose.  How fares your old trunk? does your
  nose still stand fast? an allusion to the proboscis or trunk
  of an elephant.  To shove a trunk:  to introduce one’s
  self unasked into any place or company.  Trunk-maker
  like; more noise than work.

Trusty Trojan, or Trusty Trout.  A true friend.

Try on.  To endeavour.  To live by thieving.  Coves who
  try it on; professed thieves.

TRYNING.  See TRINING.

Tu QUOQUE.  The mother of all saints.

Tub thumper.  A presbyterian parson.

Tucked up.  Hanged.  A tucker up to an old bachelor or
  widower; a supposed mistress.

Tuft hunter.  A it anniversary parasite, one who courts
  the acquaintance of nobility, whose caps are adorned with
  a gold tuft.

Tumbler.  A cart; also a sharper employed to draw in
  pigeons to game; likewise a posture-master, or rope-dancer. 
  To shove the tumbler, or perhaps tumbril; to-be
  whipt at the cart’s tail.

To tune.  To beat:  his father tuned him delightfully: 
  perhaps from fetching a tune out of the person beaten, or
  from a comparison with the disagreeable sounds of instruments
  when tuning.

To tup.  To have carnal knowledge of a woman.

Page 186

Tup.  A ram:  figuratively, a cuckold.

Tup running.  A rural sport practised at wakes and fairs
  in Derbyshire; a ram, whose tail is well soaped and
  greased, is turned out to the multitude; any one that can
  take him by the tail, and hold him fast, is to have him for
  his own.

T—­D.  There were four t—­ds for dinner:  stir t—­d, hold
  t—­d, tread t—­d, and mus-t—­d:  to wit, a hog’s face, feet
  and chitterlings, with mustard.  He will never sh—­e a
  seaman’s t—­d; i.e. he will never make a good seaman.

Turf.  On the turf; persons who keep running horses, or
  attend and bet at horse-races, are said to be on the turf.

Turk.  A cruel, hard-hearted man.  Turkish treatment;
  barbarous usage.  Turkish shore; Lambeth, Southwark,
  and Rotherhithe side of the Thames.

Turkey merchant.  A poulterer.

Turncoat.  One who has changed his party from interested
  motives.

Turned up.  Acquitted; discharged.

Turnip-pated. White or fair-haired.

Turnpike man.  A parson; because the clergy collect
  their tolls at our entrance into and exit from the world.

TUZZY-Muzzy.  The monosyllable.

Twaddle.  Perplexity, confusion, or any thing else:  a
  fashionable term that for a while succeeded that of bore.  See
  bore.

TWANGEY, or STANGEY.  A north country name for a taylor.

TWEAGUE.  In a great tweague:  in a great passion.  Tweaguey;
  peevish, passionate.

To tweak.  To pull:  to tweak any one’s nose.

TWELVER.  A shilling.

Twiddle-DIDDLES.  Testicles.

Twiddle poop.  An effeminate looking fellow.

In twig.  Handsome; stilish.  The cove is togged in
  twig; the fellow is dressed in the fashion.

To twig.  To observe.  Twig the cull, he is peery;
  observe the fellow, he is watching us.  Also to disengage,
  snap asunder, or break off.  To twig the darbies; to knock
  off the irons.

Twiss. (Irish) A Jordan, or pot de chambre.  A Mr. Richard
  Twiss having in his “Travels” given a very unfavourable
  description of the Irish character, the inhabitants of
  Dublin, byway of revenge, thought proper to christen this
  utensil by his name—­suffice it to say that the baptismal
  rites were not wanting at the ceremony.  On a nephew of
  this gentleman the following epigram was made by
  a friend of ouis: 

      Perish the country, yet my name
       Shall ne’er in story be forgot,
      But still the more increase in fame,
       The more the country goes to pot.

Twist. A mixture of half tea and half coffee; likewise
  brandy, beer, and eggs.  A good twist; a good appetite. 
  To twist it down apace; to eat heartily.

Page 187

Twisted. Executed, hanged.

To twit.  To reproach a person, or remind him of favours
  conferred.

Twitter.  All in a twitter; in a fright.  Twittering is
  also the note of some small birds, such as the robin, &c.

TWITTOC.  Two.  Cant.

Two handed put.  The amorous congress.

Two thieves beating A rogue.  A man beating his
  hands against his sides to warm himself in cold weather;
  called also beating the booby, and cuffing Jonas.

Two to one shop.  A pawnbroker’s:  alluding to the
  three blue balls, the sign of that trade:  or perhaps to its
  being two to one that the goods pledged are never redeemed.

Two-handed. Great.  A two-handed fellow or wench;
  a great strapping man orwoman,

Tye.  A neckcloth.

Tyburn Blossom.  A young thief or pickpocket, who in
  time will ripen into fruit borne by the deadly never-green.

Tyburn Tippet.  A halter; see Latimer’s sermon before. 
  Edward VI.  A. D. 1549.

Tyburn top, or foretop.  A wig with the foretop
  combed over the eyes in a knowing style; such being
  much worn by the gentlemen pads, scamps, divers, and
  other knowing hands.

Tyke.  A dog, also a clown; a Yorkshire tyke-

TYNEY.  See TINEY.

Vagaries.  Frolics, wild rambles.

Vain-glorious, or ostentatious man.  One who
  boasts without reason, or, as the canters say, pisses more
  than he drinks.

Valentine.  The first woman seen by a man, or man seen
  by a woman, on St. Valentine’s day, the 14th of February,
  when it is said every bird chuses his mate for the ensuing
  year.

To vamp.  To pawn any thing.  I’ll vamp it, and tip you
  the cole:  I’ll pawn it, and give you the money.  Also to
  refit, new dress, or rub up old hats, shoes or other wearing
  apparel; likewise to put new feet to old boots.  Applied
  more particularly to a quack bookseller.

Vamper.  Stockings.

Van.  Madam Van; see madam.

Van-neck.  Miss or Mrs. Van-Neck; a woman with large
  breasts; a bushel bubby.

Vardy.  To give one’s vardy; i.e. verdict or opinion.

VARLETS.  Now rogues and rascals, formerly yeoman’s servants.

VARMENT. (Whip and Cambridge.) Natty, dashing.  He is
  quite varment, he is quite the go.  He sports a varment
  hat, coat, &c.; he is dressed like a gentleman Jehu.

Vaulting school.  A bawdy-house; also an academy
  where vaulting and other manly exercises are taught.

Page 188

Velvet.  To tip the velvet; to put one’s tongue into a
  woman’s mouth.  To be upon velvet; to have the best
  of a bet or match.  To the little gentleman in velvet, i. e.
  the mole that threw up the hill that caused Crop (King
  William’s horse) to stumble; a toast frequently drank by
  the tories and catholics in Ireland.

Venerable monosyllable.  Pudendum muliebre.

VENUS’S curse.  The venereal disease.

Vessels of paper.  Half a quarter of a sheet.

Vicar of Bray.  See Bray.

Vice Admiral of the narrow seas.  A drunken man
  that pisses under the table into his companions’ shoes.

Victualling office.  The stomach.

Vincent’s law.  The art of cheating at cards, composed of
  the following associates:  bankers, those who play booty;
  the gripe, he that betteth; and the person cheated, who
  is styled the vincent; the gains acquired, termage.

Vinegar.  A name given to the person who with a whip
  in his hand, and a hat held before his eye, keeps the
  ring clear, at boxing-matches and cudgel-playing; also,
  in cant terms, a cloak.

Vixen.  A termagant; also a she fox, who, when she has
  cubs, is remarkably fierce.

To vowel.  A gamester who does not immediately pay
  his losings, is said to vowel the winner, by repeating the
  vowels I. O. U. or perhaps from giving his note for the
  money according to the Irish form, where the acknowledgment
  of the debt is expressed by the letters I. O. U. which,
  the sum and name of the debtor being added, is deemed a
  sufficient security among gentlemen.

Uncle.  Mine uncle’s; a necessary house.  He is gone to
  visit his uncle; saying of one who leaves his wife soon after
  marriage.  It likewise means a pawnbroker’s:  goods pawned
  are frequently said to be at mine uncle’s, or laid up in
  lavender.

Understrapper.  An inferior in any office, or department.

Under dubber.  A turnkey.

Unfortunate gentlemen.  The horse guards, who thus
  named themselves in Germany, where a general officer
  seeing them very awkward in bundling up their forage,
  asked what the devil they were; to which some of them
  answered, unfortunate gentlemen.

Unfortunate women.  Prostitutes:  so termed by the
  virtuous and compassionate of their own sex.

Ungrateful man.  A parson, who at least once a week
  abuses his best benefactor, i.e. the devil.

UNGUENTUM aureum.  A bribe.

Unicorn.  A coach drawn by three horses.

Unlicked cub.  A rude uncouth young fellow.

Page 189

UNRIGGED. Undressed, or stripped.  Unrig the drab; strip
  the wench.

Untruss.  To untruss a point; to let down one’s breeches
  in order to ease one’s self.  Breeches were formerly tied
  with points, which till lately were distributed to the boys
  every Whit Monday by the churchwardens of most of the
  parishes in London, under the denomination of tags:  these
  tags were worsteds of different colours twisted up to a size
  somewhat thicker than packthread, and tagged at both
  ends with tin.  Laces were at the same given to the
  girls.

Untwisted. Undone, ruined, done up.

Unwashed bawdry.  Rank bawdry.

Up to their gossip.  To be a match for one who attempts
  to cheat or deceive; to be on a footing, or in the secret. 
  I’ll be up with him; I will repay him in kind.

UPHILLS.  False dice that run high.

Upper Benjamin.  A great coat.  Cant.

Upper story, or garret.  Figuratively used to signify the
  head.  His upper story or garrets are unfurnished; i.e.
  he is an empty or foolish fellow.

Upping block. [Called in some counties a leaping stock,
  in others a jossing block.] Steps for mounting a horse. 
  He sits like a toad on a jossing block; said of one who
  sits ungracefully on horseback.

Uppish.  Testy, apt to take offence.

Upright.  Go upright; a word used by shoemakers, taylors
  and their servants, when any money is given to
  make them drink, and signifies, Bring it all out in liquor,
  though the donor intended less, and expects change, or
  some of his money, to be returned.  Three-penny upright. 
  See threepenny upright,

Upright man.  An upright man signifies the chief or
  principal of a crew.  The vilest, stoutest rogue in the
  pack is generally chosen to this post, and has the sole
  right to the first night’s lodging with the dells, who
afterwards
  are used in common among the whole fraternity. 
  He carries a short truncheon in his hand, which he calls
  his filchman, and has a larger share than ordinary in
  whatsoever is gotten in the society.  He often travels in
  company with thirty or forty males and females, abram
  men, and others, over whom he presides arbitrarily.  Sometimes
  the women and children who are unable to travel,
  or fatigued, are by turns carried in panniers by an ass, or
  two, or by some poor jades procured for that purpose.

UPSTARTS.  Persons lately raised to honours and riches
  from mean stations.

Urchin.  A child, a little fellow; also a hedgehog.

Urinal of the planets.  Ireland:  so called from the
  frequent rains in that island.

Page 190

Used up.  Killed:  a military saying, originating from a
  message sent by the late General Guise, on the expedition
  at Carthagena, where he desired the commander in chief
  to order him some more grenadiers, for those he had were
  all used up.

WABLER.  Footwabler; a contemptuous term for a
  foot soldier, frequently used by those of the cavalry.

To waddle.  To go like a duck.  To waddle out of
  Change alley as a lame duck; a term for one who has not
  been able to pay his gaming debts, called his differences,
  on the Stock Exchange, and therefore absents himself
  from it.

Wag.  An arch-frolicsome fellow.

Waggish.  Arch, gamesome, frolicsome.

Wagtail.  A lewd woman.

Waits.  Musicians of the lower order, who in most towns
  play under the windows of the chief inhabitants at midnight,
  a short time before Christmas, for which they collect
  a christmas-box from house to house.  They are said
  to derive their name of waits from being always in waiting
  to celebrate weddings and other joyous events happening
  within their district.

Wake.  A country feast, commonly on the anniversary of
  the tutelar saint of the village, that is, the saint to whom
  the parish church is dedicated.  Also a custom of watching
  the dead, called Late Wake, in use both in Ireland and
  Wales, where the corpse being deposited under a table,
  with a plate of salt on its breast, the table is covered with
  liquor of all sorts; and the guests, particularly, the younger
  part of them, amuse themselves with all kinds of
  pastimes and recreations:  the consequence is generally
  more than replacing the departed friend.

Walking Cornet.  An ensign of foot.

Walking poulterer.  One who steals fowls, and hawks
  them from door to door.

Walking stationer.  A hawker of pamphlets, &c.

Walking the plank.  A mode of destroying devoted
  persons or officers in a mutiny or ship-board, by blindfolding
  them, and obliging them to walk on a plank laid
  over the ship’s side; by this means, as the mutineers suppose,
  avoiding the penalty of murder.

Walking up against the wall.  To run up a score,
  which in alehouses is commonly recorded with chalk on
  the walls of the bar.

Wall.  To walk or crawl up the wall; to be scored up at a
  public-nouse.  Wall-eyed, having an eye with little or
  no sight, all white like a plaistered wall.

To wap.  To copulate, to beat.  If she wont wap for a
  winne, let her trine for a make; if she won’t lie with a
  man for a penny, let her hang for a halfpenny.  Mort
  wap-apace; a woman of experience, or very expert at the
  sport.

Page 191

WAPPER-eyed. Sore-eyed.

Ware.  A woman’s ware; her commodity.

Ware hawk.  An exclamation used by thieves to inform
  their confederates that some police officers are at hand.

Warm.  Rich, in good circumstances.  To warm, or give
  a man a warming; to beat him.  See CHAFED.

Warming-pan.  A large old-fashioned watch.  A Scotch
  warming-pan; a female bedfellow.

Warren.  One that is security for goods taken up on credit
  by extravagant young gentlemen.  Cunny warren;
  a girl’s boarding-school, also a bawdy-house.

Wash.  Paint for the face, or cosmetic water.  Hog-wash;
  thick and bad beer.

Wasp.  An infected prostitute, who like a wasp carries a
  sting in her tail.

Waspish.  Peevish, spiteful.

Waste. House of waste; a tavern or alehouse, where idle
  people waste both their time and money.

Watch, chain, and seals.  A sheep’s head And pluck.

Water-mill.  A woman’s private parts.

Water sneaksman.  A man who steals from ships or
  craft on the river.

Water.  His chops watered at it; he longed earnestly for it. 
  To watch his waters; to keep a strict watch on any one’s
  actions.  In hot water:  in trouble, engaged in disputes.

Water bewitched. Very weak punch or beer.

WATERPAD.  One that robs ships in the river Thames.

Watery-headed. Apt to shed tears.

Water SCRIGER, A doctor who prescribes from inspecting
  the water of his patients.  See piss prophet.

Wattles.  Ears.  Cant.

Wear A—­E.  A one-horse chaise.

Weasel-faced. Thin, meagre-faced.  Weasel-gutted;
  thin-bodied; a weasel is a thin long slender animal with a
  sharp face.

Wedding.  The emptying of a neoessary-hovise, particularly
  in London.  You have been at an Irish wedding,
  where black eyes are given instead of favours; saying to
  one who has a black eye.

Wedge.  Silver plate, because melted by the receivers of
  stolen goods into wedges.  Cant.

To Weed. To take a part.  The kiddey weeded the swell’s
  screens; the youth took some of the gentleman’s bank
  notes.

Weeping cross.  To come home by weeping cross; to
  repent.

Welch comb.  The thumb and four fingers.

Welch fiddle.  The itch.  See scotch fiddle.

Welch mile.  Like a Welch mile, long and narrow.  His
  story is like a Welch mile, long and tedious.

Page 192

Welch rabbit, [i. e. a Welch rare-bit] Bread and cheese
  toasted.  See rabbit.—­The Welch are said to be so
  remarkably fond of cheese, that in cases of difficulty their
  midwives apply a piece of toasted cheese to the janua vita
  to attract and entice the young Taffy, who on smelling it
  makes most vigorous efforts to come forth.

Welch ejectment.  To unroof the house, a method
  practised by landlords in Wales to eject a bad tenant.

To well.  To divide unfairly.  To conceal part.  A cant
  phrase used by thieves, where one of the party conceals
  some of the booty, instead of dividing it fairly amongst
  his confederates.

Well-hung.  The blowen was nutts upon the kiddey because
  he is well-hung; the girl is pleased with the youth
  because his genitals are large.

Westminster wedding.  A match between a whore
  and a rogue.

Wet parson.  One who moistens his clay freely, in order
  to make it stick together.

Wet quaker.  One of that sect who has no objection to
  the spirit derived from wine.

Whack.  A share of a booty obtained by fraud.  A paddy
  whack; a stout brawney Irishman.

WHAPPER.  A large man or woman.

Wheedle.  A sharper.  To cut a wheedle; to decoy by
  fawning or insinuation.  Cant.

WHEELBAND in the nick.  Regular drinking over the
  left thumb.

Whelp.  An impudent whelp; a saucy boy.

Whereas.  To follow a whereas; to become a bankrupt,
  to figure among princes and potentates:  the notice given
  in the Gazette that a commission of bankruptcy is issued
  out against any trader, always beginning with the word
  whereas.  He will soon march in the rear of a whereas.

Whet.  A morning’s draught, commonly white wine, supposed
  to whet or sharpen the appetite.

WHETSTONE’S Park.  A lane between Holborn and Lincoln’s-inn
  Fields, formerly famed for being the resort of
  women of the town.

WHIDS.  Words.  Cant.

To whiddle.  To tell or discover.  He whiddles; he
  peaches.  He whiddles the whole scrap; he discovers all
  he knows.  The cull whiddled because they would not
  tip him a snack:  the fellow peached because they would
  not give him a share, They whiddle beef, and we must
  brush; they cry out thieves, and we must make off.  Cant.

WHIDDLER.  An informer, or one that betrays the secrets
  of the gang.

Whiffles.  A relaxation of the scrotum.

WHIFFLERS.  Ancient name for fifers; also persons at the
  universities who examine candidates for degrees.  A whiffling
  cur, a small yelping cur.

Page 193

Whimper, or WHINDLE.  A low cry.

To whine.  To complain.

WHINYARD.  A sword.

To whip the cock.  A piece of sport practised at wakes,
  horse-races, and fairs in Leicestershire:  a cock being tied
  or fastened into a hat or basket, half a dozen carters
  blindfolded, and armed with their cart whips, are placed
  round it, who, after being turned thrice about, begin to
  whip the cock, which if any one strikes so as to make it
  cry out, it becomes his property; the joke is, that instead
  of whipping the cock they flog each other heartily.

Whip jacks.  The tenth order of the canting crew, rogues
  who having learned a few sea terms, beg with counterfeit
  passes, pretending to be sailors shipwrecked on the
  neighbouring coast, and on their way to the port from whence
  they sailed.

To whip off.  To run away, to drink off greedily, to
  snatch.  He whipped away from home, went to the alehouse,
  where he whipped off a full tankard, and coming
  back whipped off a fellow’s hat from his head.

Whip-belly vengeance, or pinch-gut vengeance, of
  which he that gets the most has the worst share.  Weak
  or sour beer.

Whipper-snapper.  A diminutive fellow.

WHIPSHIRE.  Yorkshire.

WHIPSTER.  A sharp or subtle fellow.

Whipt syllabub.  A flimsy, frothy discourse or treatise,
  without solidity.

WHIRLYGIGS.  Testicles.

Whisker.  A great lie.

Whisker splitter.  A man of intrigue.

WHISKIN.  A shallow brown drinking bowl.

Whisky.  A malt spirit much drank in Ireland and Scotland;
  also a one-horse chaise.  See Tim whisky.

Whistle.  The throat.  To wet one’s whistle; to drink.

Whistling shop.  Rooms in the King’s Bench and Fleet
  prison where drams are privately sold.

Whit. [i. e.  Whittington’s.] Newgate.  Cant.—­Five rum-padders
  are rubbed in the darkmans out of the whit, and
  are piked into the deuseaville; five highwaymen broke out
  of Newgate in the night, and are gone into the country.

White ribbin.  Gin.

White feather.  He has a white feather; he is a coward;
  an allusion to a game cock, where having a white leather
  is a proof he is not of the true game breed.

White-LIVERED. Cowardly, malicious.

White lie.  A harmless lie, one not told with a malicious
  intent, a lie told to reconcile people at variance.

White serjeant.  A man fetched from the tavern or ale-house
  by his wife, is said to be arrested by the white serjeant.

Page 194

White swelling.  A woman big with child is said to have
  a white swelling.

White tape.  Geneva.

White wool.  Geneva.

Whitechapel.  Whitechapel portion; two smocks, and
  what nature gave.  Whitechapel breed; fat, ragged, and
  saucy:  see st. Giles’s breed. Whitechapel beau;
  one who dresses with a needle and thread, and undresses
  with a knife.  To play at whist Whitechapel fashion;
  i.e. aces and kings first.

Whitewashed. One who has taken the benefit of an act
  of insolvency, to defraud his creditors, is said to have been
  whitewashed.

WHITFIELITE.  A follower of George Whitfield, a Methodist.

Whither-go-ye.  A wife:  wives being sometimes apt to
  question their husbands whither they are going.

Whittington’s college.  Newgate; built or repaired by
  the famous lord mayor of that name.

Whore’s bird.  A debauched fellow, the largest of all birds. 
  He sings more like a whore’s bird than a canary bird; said
  of one who has a strong manly voice.

Whore’s curse.  A piece of gold coin, value five shillings
  and three pence, frequently given to women of the town by
  such as professed always to give gold, and who before the
  introduction of those pieces always gave half a guinea.

WHOHE’S KITLING, or whore’s son.  A bastard.

Whore-monger.  A man that keeps more than one mistress. 
  A country gentleman, who kept a female friend, being reproved
  by the parson of the parish, and styled a whore-monger,
  asked the parson whether he had a cheese in his
  house; and being answered in the affirmative, ‘Pray,’
  says he, ‘does that one cheese make you a cheese-monger?’

Whore pipe.  The penis.

WHOW ball.  A milk-maid:  from their frequent use of the
  word whow, to make the cow stand still in milking.  Ball
  is the supposed name of the cow.

WIBBLE.  Bad drink.

WIBLING’S witch.  The four of clubs:  from one James
  Wibling, who in the reign of King James I. grew rich by
  private gaming, and was commonly observed to have that
  card, and never to lose a game but when he had it not.

Wicket.  A casement; also a little door.

WIDOW’S weeds.  Mourning clothes of a peculiar fashion,
  denoting her state.  A grass widow; a discarded mistress.
  a widow bewitched; a woman whose husband is abroad,
  and said, but not certainly known, to be dead.

Wife.  A fetter fixed to one leg.

Wife in water colours.  A mistress, or concubine;
  water colours being, like their engagements, easily effaced,
  or dissolved.

Page 195

WIGANNOWNS.  A man wearing a large wig.

Wigsby.  Wigsby; a man wearing a wig.

Wild rogues.  Rogues trained up to stealing from their
  cradles.

Wild squirt.  A looseness.

Wild-goose chase.  A tedious uncertain pursuit, like the
  following a flock of wild geese, who are remarkably shy.

Willing tit.  A free horse, or a coming girl.

Willow.  Poor, and of no reputation.  To wear the willow;
  to be abandoned by a lover or mistress.

Win.  A penny,

To win.  To steal.  The cull has won a couple of rum
  glimsticks; the fellow has stolen a pair of fine candlesticks.

Wind.  To raise the wind; to procure mony.

Winder.  Transportation for life.  The blowen has napped
  a winder for a lift; the wench is transported for life for
  stealing in a shop.

Wind-mill.  The fundament.  She has no fortune but
  her mills; i.e. she has nothing but her **** and a*se.

Windfall.  A legacy, or any accidental accession of property.

Windmills in the head.  Foolish projects.

Window peeper.  A collector of the window tax.

Windward passage.  One who uses or navigates the
  windward passage; a sodomite.

Windy.  Foolish.  A windy fellow; a simple fellow.

Wink.  To tip one the wink; to give a signal by winking
  the eye.

Winnings.  Plunder, goods, or money acquired by theft.

Winter cricket.  A taylor.

WINTER’S day.  He is like a winter’s day, short and dirty.

Wipe.  A blow, or reproach.  I’ll give you a wipe on the
  chops.  That story gave him a fine wipe.  Also a handkerchief.

Wiper.  A handkerchief.  Cant.

Wiper drawer.  A pickpocket, one who steals handkerchiefs. 
  He drew a broad, narrow, cam, or specked wiper;
  he picked a pocket of a broad, narrow, cambrick, or coloured
  handkerchief.

To wiredraw.  To lengthen out or extend any book, letter,
  or discourse.

Wise.  As wise as Waltham’s calf, that ran nine miles to
  suck a bull.

Wise men of Gotham.  Gotham is a village in Nottinghamshire;
  its magistrates are said to have attempted to
  hedge in a cuckow; a bush, called the cuckow’s bush, is
  still shewn in support of the tradition.  A thousand other
  ridiculous stories are told of the men of Gotham.

Wiseacre.  A foolish conceited fellow.

WISEACRE’S hall.  Gresham college.

Wit.  He has as much wit as three folks, two fools and a
  madman.

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Witches.  Silver.  Witcher bubber; a silver bowl.  Witcher
  tilter; a silver-hilted sword.  Witcher cully; a silversmith.

To wobble.  To boil.  Pot wobbler; one who boils a
  pot.

Wolf in the breast. An extraordinary mode of imposition,
  sometimes practised in the country by strolling
  women, who have the knack of counterfeiting extreme
  pain, pretending to have a small animal called a wolf in
  their breasts, which is continually gnawing them.

Wolf in the stomach.  A monstrous or canine appetite.

Wood.  In a wood; bewildered, in a maze, in a peck of
  troubles, puzzled, or at a loss what course to take in any
  business.  To look over the wood; to ascend the pulpit,
  to preach:  I shall look over the wood at St. James’s on
  Sunday next.  To look through the wood; to stand in the
  pillory.  Up to the arms in wood; in the pillory.

Wood pecker.  A bystander, who bets whilst another
  plays.

Woodcock.  A taylor with a long bill.

Wooden habeas.  A coffin.  A man who dies in prison is
  said to go out with a wooden habeas.  He went out with
  a wooden habeas; i.e. his coffin.

Wooden spoon. (Cambridge.) The last junior optime. 
  See wrangler, optime.

Wooden horse.  To fide the wooden horse was a military
  punishment formerly in use.  This horse consisted of two
  or more planks about eight feet long, fixed together so as
  to form a sharp ridge or angle, which answered to the
  body of the horse.  It was supported by four posts, about
  six feet long, for legs.  A head, neck, and tail, rudely cut
  in wood, were added, which completed the appearance of
  a horse.  On this sharp ridge delinquents were mounted,
  with their hands tied behind them; and to steady them
  (as it was said), and lest the horse should kick them off,
  one or more firelocks were tied to each leg.  In this situation
  they were sometimes condemned to sit an hour or
  two; but at length it having been found to injure the
  soldiers materially, and sometimes to rupture them, it was
  left off about the time of the accession of King George I.
  A wooden horse was standing in the Parade at Portsmouth
  as late as the year 1750.

Wooden ruff.  The pillory.  See Norway neckcloth.

Wooden surtout.  A coilin.

Woman of the town, or woman of pleasure.  A
  prostitute.

Woman and her husband.  A married couple, where
  the woman is bigger than her husband.

Woman’s conscience.  Never satisfied.

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Woman of all work.  Sometimes applied to a female
  servant, who refuses none of her master’s commands.

WOOLBIRD.  A sheep.  Cant.

Wool gathering.  Your wits are gone a woolgathering;
  saying to an absent man, one in a reverie, or absorbed
  in thought.

Woolley crown.  A soft-headed fellow.

Word GRUBBERS.  Verbal critics, and also persons who
  use hard words in common discourse.

Word pecker.  A punster, one who plays upon words.

Word of mouth.  To drink by word of mouth, i.e. out
  of the bowl or bottle instead, of a glass.

World.  All the world and his wife; every body, a great
  company.

Worm.  To worm out; to obtain the knowledge of a secret
  by craft, also to undermine or supplant.  He is gone to
  the diet of worms; he is dead and buried, or gone to
  Rothisbone.

Wranglers.  At Cambridge the first class (generally of
  twelve) at the annual examination for a degree.  There
  are three classes of honours, wranglers, senior optimes,
  and junior optimes.  Wranglers are said to be born with
  golden spoons in their mouths, the senior optimes with
  silver, and the junior with leaden ones.  The last junior
  optime is called the wooden spoon.  Those who are not
  qualified for honors are either in the Gulf (that is,
  meritorious, but not deserving of being in the three first
  classes) or among the pollot [Proofreaders Note:  Greek Letters]
  the many.  See pluck, apostles, &C.

Wrap rascal.  A red cloak, called also a roquelaire.

WRAPT up in warm flannel.  Drunk with spirituous
  liquors.  He was wrapt up in the tail of his mother’s
  smock; saying of any one remarkable for his success with
  the ladies.  To be wrapt up in any one:  to have a good
  opinion of him, or to be under his influence.

Wrinkle.  A wrinkle-bellied whore; one who has had
  a number of bastards:  child-bearing leaves wrinkles in a
  woman’s belly.  To take the wrinkles out of any one’s
  belly; to fill it out by a hearty meal.  You have one
  wrinkle more in your a-se; i.e. you have one piece of
  knowledge more than you had, every fresh piece of
  knowledge being supposed by the vulgar naturalists to add a
  wrinkle to that part.

Wry mouth and A PISSEN pair of breeches.  Hanging.

Wry neck day.  Hanging day.

WYN.  See win.

XANTIPPE.  The name of Socrates’s wife:  now used to
  signify a shrew or scolding wife.

YAFFLING.  Eating.  Cant.

To Yam.  To eat or stuff heartily.

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Yankey, or Yankey doodle.  A booby, or country
  lout:  a name given to the New England men in North
  America.  A general appellation for an American.

Yarmouth capon.  A red herring:  Yarmouth is a
  famous place for curing herrings.

Yarmouth coach.  A kind of low two-wheeled cart
  drawn by one horse, not much unlike an Irish car.

Yarmouth pye.  A pye made of herrings highly spiced,
  which the city of Norwich is by charter bound to present
  annually to the king.

YARUM.  Milk.  Cant.

Yea and Nay man.  A quaker, a simple fellow, one who
  can only answer yes, or no.

Yellow.  To look yellow; to be jealous.  I happened to
  call on Mr. Green, who was out:  on coming home, and
  finding me with his wife, he began to look confounded
  blue, and was, I thought, a little yellow.

Yellow belly.  A native of the Fens of Licoinshire; an
  allusion to the eels caught there.

Yellow boys.  Guineas.

To yelp.  To cry out.  Yelper; a town cryer, also one
  apt to make great complaints on trifling occasions.

YEST. A contraction of yesterday.

YOKED. Married.  A yoke; the quantum of labour performed
  at one spell by husbandmen, the day’s work being
  divided in summer into three yokes.  Kentish term.

Yorkshire tyke.  A Yorkshire clown.  To come Yorkshire
  over any one; to cheat him.

Young one.  A familiar expression of contempt for another’s
  ignorance, as “ah!  I see you’re a young one.”  How
  d’ye do, young one?

To yowl.  To cry aloud, or howl.

ZAD.  Crooked like the letter Z. He is a mere zad, or
  perhaps zed; a description of a very crooked or deformed
  person.

Zany.  The jester, jack pudding, or merry andrew, to a
  mountebank.

ZEDLAND.  Great part of the west country, where the
  letter Z is substituted for S; as zee for see, zun for sun,