1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue eBook

Francis Grose
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 343 pages of information about 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue eBook

Francis Grose
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 343 pages of information about 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

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.

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1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.