1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

Captain Grose et al.

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    1811 DICTIONARY OF THE VULGAR TONGUE.
    
                  A
              DICTIONARY
                 OF
    BUCKISH SLANG, UNIVERSITY WIT,
                AND
         PICKPOCKET ELOQUENCE.
    
    
    UNABRIDGED FROM THE ORIGINAL 1811 EDITION WITH A FOREWORD BY
    ROBERT CROMIE
    
    COMPILED ORIGINALLY BY CAPTAIN GROSE.
    
    AND NOW CONSIDERABLY ALTERED AND ENLARGED, WITH THE MODERN
    CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS, BY A MEMBER OF THE WHIP CLUB.
    
    ASSISTED BY HELL-FIRE DICK, AND JAMES GORDON, ESQRS. OF
    CAMBRIDGE; AND WILLIAM
    SOAMES, ESQ. OF THE HON. SOCIETY OF NEWMAN'S HOTEL.
    

    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.

    DICTIONARY OF THE VULGAR TONGUE.

    A

    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.

    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, Vide DUTCH RECKONING.

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

    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, 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.

    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.

    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,   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,
      for the dells. CANT. See DELLS.

    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.

    B

    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.

    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,

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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, 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.

    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.

    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.

    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, 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.

    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.

    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,

    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.

    BLIND CUPID. The backside.

    BLINDMAN'S HOLIDAY. Night, darkness.

    BLOCK HOUSES. Prisons, houses of correction,

    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,

    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.

    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.
      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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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, 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.

    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.

    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.

    C

    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.

    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. CANT. SPANISH.

    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.

    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,

    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.

    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,
      

    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, 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.

    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.

    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 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,

    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.

    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, 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, 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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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

    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,

    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
      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 formerly held in
      the Middle Temple on Childermas Day, where he had
      his officers, a marshal, constable, butler, 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,

    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.

    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.

    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.

    COMING! SO 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.

    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, 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, 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.

    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.

    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,

    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.

    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.

    CRIM. CON. MONEY. 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.

    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
      CRIM. COM. 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.

    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.

    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.

    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, 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.

    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, 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.

    D

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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,
      

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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, 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.

    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' TH' HICK. 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.

    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.

    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.

    E

    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.

    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.

    F

    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,

    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.

    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,   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.

    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.

    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.

    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).

              FLASH SONG.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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,

    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.

    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.

    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.

    G

    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.

    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.

    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,
      

    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, 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.

    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.

    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.

    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,

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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,
      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.

    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.

    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.

      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, 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.

      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.

    H

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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, 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.

    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.

    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, 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 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.

    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.

    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.

    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,

    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.

    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.

    I

    IDEA POT. The knowledge box, the head. See KNOWLEDGE
      BOX.

    J

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    K

    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,

    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:

          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,   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.

    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,

    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.

    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.

    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, 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.

    L

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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,

    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 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.

    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.

    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.

    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,

    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.

    M

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.e. MORISCO, 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.

    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.

    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,

    N

    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.

    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,

    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.

    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.e. SQUEEZER. 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.

    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.

    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

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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

    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.

    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,
      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.

    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, 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.

    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.

    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,

    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 spot of ground
      adjacent to any of the colleges, as Clare-hall Piece,   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, 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.

    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.

    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.

    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,

    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.

    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.

    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,

    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.

    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.

    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, 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.

    Q

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    R

    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.

    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, 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.

    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.

    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.

    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, 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.

    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, 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.

    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, 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.

    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.

    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 COLE. CANT.

    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.

    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,    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.

    S

    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.

    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, 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.

    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.

    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?

    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.

    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 CHAPEAU. CANT.

    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.

    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.

    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 THE: FIVE 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,

    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.

    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,
      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.

    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,

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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,

    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 KEN. CANT.

    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.

    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, or selling brooms, mops,
      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.

    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.

    T

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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,

    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, he is dressed like a gentleman Jehu.

    VAULTING SCHOOL. A bawdy-house; also an academy
      where vaulting and other manly exercises are taught.

    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.

    U

    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.

    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.

    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.

    W

    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,

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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.

    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,

    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.

    X

    XANTIPPE. The name of Socrates's wife: now used to
      signify a shrew or scolding wife.

    Y

    YAFFLING. Eating. CANT.

    TO YAM. To eat or stuff heartily.

    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.

    Z

    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,