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.

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