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.


