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.


