Slang & Its Analogues Vol. 3 (1893)

Below is the raw OCR of Slang and Its Analogues volume 3. If you would like to verify the text, please download the PDF of the scanned pages.

Slang and Its

Analogues

Past and Present.

A Dictionary, Historical and Comparative, of the Heterodox Speech of all Classes of Society for more than Three Hundred Years.

WITH SYNONYMS IN ENGLISH, FRENCH, GERMAN,

ITALIAN, ETC.

COMPILED AND EDITED BY

JOHN S. FARMER and W. E. HENLEY.

VOL. III.—Fla. to Hyps,

PRINTED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.

mdcccxciii.

hm • • lia * ^è&@pi9&*

LABBERGAST,

wr^. (colloquial). To astound ; to stagger, either physically or mentally. [O. E., flab = to frighten + gast = to scare. ] Fr., abalober; baba (from ébahi = astounded) ; épater ( = flatten out). Sp., quedarse de, or hecho, una pieza (— ' knocked all of a heap '). See Floored.

1772. Annua! Register, 'On New Words.' Now we are flabbergasted and bored from morning to night.

1823. Bee, Did. of the Turf, etc., p. 79. His colleagues were flabbergasted when they heard of Castlereagh's sudden death.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (' Brothers of Birchington'). He was quite flabbergasted to see the amount.

1841, Punch, vol. L. p. 261. We rather just imagine they will be not a little puzzled and flabbergasted to discover the meaning or wit of some of those elegant phrases.

1864. Derby Day, p, 67. You're sort of flabbergasted. It's taken all the

wind out of you like, and you feel like an old screw a blowing up Highgate Hill.

1889. Licensed Victuallers' Gazette* 18 Jan. Poor Clarke was completely flabbergasted.

1891. National Observer, 1 Aug. In no other sport is the laudator tetnporis actiso completely flabbergasted as here.

Flabberdegaz, subs, (theatrical). Words interpolated to dissemble a lapse of memory; gag (q.v.). Also, imperfect utterance or bad acting.

Flag, subs. (old).—i. A groat, or fourpenny piece. Also Flagg, and Flagge. For synonyms, see Joey.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65. Roge. But a flagge, a wyn, and a make. (But a groat, a penny, and a half-penny.)

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club's Rept. 1874) s.v.

17M. Memoirs of John Hall (4th ed.), p. 12, s.v.

1725. Jonathan Wn.n, Canting Diet., s.v.

1851-61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. mnd Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 269. A

Flag. ² Flag-flasher.

tremendous black doll bought for a flag (fourpence) of a retired rag-merchant.

2. (common). — An apron ; hence a badge of office or trade ; cf., Flag-flasher. Equivalents are Belly-cheat and Fig-leaf.

1851-61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 232 (List of patterer's words), s.v.

1872, Dundee Advertiser, 20 April] ' Report of Meeting of Domestic Servants. It was contended that they were compelled to wear what was generally known as a flag.

1887. W. E. Henley, Villon's Straight Tip. Suppose you try a different tack, And on the square you flash your

flag.

3. (obsolete).—A jade.

1539. David Lyndsay, Thrie Estaitis. Works [Ed. Laing, 1879], ii. 109. Ane fistand flag.

4. (common).—The menstrual cloth. Variants arc bandage ; clout ; danger-signal ; diaper ; double clout (Durfey) ; gentleman's pleasure garden padlock ; periodicity rag ; the red rag ; sanitary towel ; window-curtain.

The Flag (or Danger-Signal) is up="The Captain's at home "(Grose), i.e.,the menstrual flux is on.

English Synonyms. — To have domestic afflictions, or the D.A.'s; to have the flowers (q.v. ) ; to have one's grandmother, or little friend, or auntie, with one ; to have them (or it) on ; to be in a state of ' no thoroughfare ' ; to have the red rag on ; to be roadmaking ; to have the street up for repairs ; to be at Number One, London¹; to have 'the gate locked and the key lost.'

French Synonyms. — Avoir ses cardinales (literally, to have one's reds) ; avoir les histoires j

avoir les affaires (common) ; avoir ses anglais (in allusion to the scarlet of English soldiers) ; broyer des tomates ( = tomato-crushing); avoir son marquis (Cotgrave) ; avoir les fleurs rouges ; avoir sa chemise tachée (Cotgrave) ; voir Sophie ; avoir les ordinaires.

Italian Synonyms. — Marchese (Florio), marchesano ( = menses. Michel says, Art. marque = a month, a woman. "Ilnesaurait être douteux que ce nom ne soit venu à cette division de l'année, de l'infirmité périodique qu'ont les marques, ou femmes, lors que la Lune, pour tenir sa diette et vaquer à ses purifications menstruelles, fait marquer les logis féminins par son fourrier, lequel pour escusson n'a que son impression rouge ").

To Fly the Flag, verb. phr. (tailors').—To post a notice that ' hands ' are wanted. See also Fly the Flag, post.

Flag of Defiance, subs. phr. (old nautical).—A drunken roysterer. For synonyms,^ Elbow-crooker.

To hang out the flag of defiance (or bloody flag), verb, phr.—To be continuously drunk. [An allusion to the * crimson face' (Cotgrave] and the pugnacity of certain terms of inebriety.] For synonyms, see rinks.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew, s.v. The flag of defiance is out (among the Tarrs) the Fellow's Face is very Red, and he is Drunk.

1785. Grose, Diet. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Flag-flash er, subs, (common).— One sporting a badge or other ensign of office (cap, apron, uni

Flag-about. 3 Flam.

form, etc.) when off duty,—Cf., Flag, sense 2,

Flag-about, subs. (old).—A strumpet. [From Flag, a pavingstone]. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

Flag-Flying.—See Flag.

Flag of Distress, subs. phr. (common).—i, A card announcing 'lodgings,' or 'board and lodgings.' Hence, any overt sign of poverty.

2. (common).—A flying shirttail ; in America, a letter in the post-office (q.v.).

Flagger, subs, (common),—A street-walker. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1865. Daily Paper, ' Police Report.' She wasn't a low sort at all—she wasn't a Flagger, as we call it. So I replies, ' I am well, thankee ; and am happy to say I feel as such.'

Flags, subs, (common), — Linen drying and flying in the wind. For synonyms, see Snow.

Flag Unfurled, subs. phr. (rhyming).—A man of the world.

Flag-Wagging, subs, (military).— Flag-signal drill.

flam, subs, (colloquial). — Nonsense (for synonyms, see Gammon); humbug ; flattery ; or, a lie : as A regular flam (for synonyms, see Whopper). Cf. Flimflam.

159& Florio, A Worlde of Wördes, [Cf., Flim-flam.]

1647. Beaumont and Fletcher, Humourous Lieutenant^ iv., i. With some new flam or other, nothing to the matter.

1664. Butler, Hudibras, pt. II., ch. iii., p. 29. A flam more senseless than the roguery of old aruspicey and aug'ry.

1742-4. Roger North, Lives of the Norths, ch. i., p. 368. They must have known his Lordship better and not have ventured such flams at him.

1760. Foote, Minor, Act II. Had the flam been fact, your behaviour was natural enough.

1762. Foote, Liar, bk. IL, ch. ii. Can't you discern that this flam of Sir James Elliot's is a mere fetch to favour his retreat ?

1830. Sir E. B, Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 298 (ed. 1854). Harry .... told you as ow it was all a flam about the child in the bundle !

1837. Bakham, Ingoldsby Legends (ed. 1862), p. 325. No trick nor flam, but your real Schiedam.

1849. C. Kings ley, Alton Locke, ch. ii. And their pockets full they crams by their patriotic flams, And then swear 'tis for the good of the nation,

1850. D. Jerrold, TJie Catspaw, Act IL Though the story of that scoundrel Coolcaid, Augustus Coolcard—and I was never before deceived—never—is a flam— all a flam.

1870. London Figaro, 22 Sept. Is not your boasted power a flam ?

1887. W. E. Henley, Villon's Good Night. You flymy titters fond of flam.

2. (old),—A single stroke on the drum.—[Grose, 1785.]

Adj. (old).—False.

1692. Sprat, Relation of Young's Contrivance (Harl. Misc. vL 224). To amuse him the more in his search, she addeth a flam story that she had got his hand by corrupting one of the letter-carriers in London,

Verb (colloquial).—1. To take in ; to flatter ; to lie ; to foist or fob off. flamming = lying.

Flambustious.

4 Flanders Pieces.

1658. Rowley and Ford, &c, Witch of Edm., ii., 2. Was this your cunning? and then flam me off with an old witch, two wives, and Winnifride.

1688. Shadwell, So. of Alsatia, II. in wks. (1720) iv. 41. Does he think to flam me with a lye?

1830. S. Warren, Diary of a Late Physician, ch. v. But I'll show him whether or not I, for one of them, am to be jeered and flammed with impunity.

1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xxviii. How she did flam that poor old Domine.

(American University). — To affect, or prefer, female society ; to Grouse {q.v.). [A corruption of flame {q.v.) ]. See Molrowïng.

Flambustious, adj. (American).— Showy ; gaudy j pleasant.

1868. Putnam's Magazine. We will have % flambustious time. [Cf., Shaksfeare (1608), Antony and Cleopatra, in., ii* Let's have one other gaudy night.]

Flam doodle, subs. (American).— Nonsense ; vain boasting. Probably a variant of flapdoodle {q.v.).

1888. New York Sun. We wasn't gcin' to have any high falutin' flamdoodle business over him.

Flame, subs, (colloquial). — 1. A sweetheart ; a mistress in keeping. Old flame = an old lover; a cast-off mistress. Also (2) a venereal disease.

b. 1664. d. 1721. Mathew Prior [in Palgrave's "Golden Treasury of Songs and Lyrics," ed. 1885]. Euphelia serves to grace my measure, but Chloe is my real flame.

1757. Foote, Author, Act I. Let's see, Mr. and Mrs. Cadwallader, and your flame, the sister, as I live.

1846-8. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch. xiv. On this Rebecca instantly stated that Amelia was encaged to be married to a Lieutenant Osborne, a very old flame.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue's Lexicon, s.v.

flam er, subs, (colloquial).—A man, woman, thing, or incident above the common. [Literally conspicuous to flaming point, i.e., as a light in the dark]. For synonyms, see Stunner.

1840. H. Cockton, Valentine Vox, ch. ii. Concocting a criticism on the evening's performance, which certainly was, according to the signor's own acknowledgment, a regular flamer.

Flames, subs. (old).—A red-haired person. Cf., Carrots and Ginger.

1823. Jon Bee, Diet, of the Turf, etc., p. 79. Who should I fling my precious ogles upon but flames—she as lived at the ' Blue Posts.'

Flaming, j>pl. adj. (colloquial).— Conspicuous; ardent; stunning {q.v.). For synonyms, see A i and Fizzing.

1738. Swift, Polite Conv., Dialogue II. Lord Sparkish. My Lady Smart, your ladyship has a very fine scarf. Lady Smart. Yes, my lord, it will make a flaming figure in a country church.

1776. Rubrick, The Spleen, ii. I'l send a flaming paragraph of thei wedding to all the newspapers.

1872. Besant and Rice. Ready Money Mortiboy, ch. xxx. He called one of the children, and sent her for a bill. She presently returned with a flaming poster.

Flanderkin, subs. (old).—Seeop\<A.

1690. B; E., New Diet, of the Cantting Crew, s.v. A very large fat man or horse ; also natives of that country.

Flanders Fortunes, sues. phr. (old). — Of small substance. — B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew (1690).

Flanders Pieces, subs. phr. (old).

—See quot.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew. Flanders tieces, pictures that look fair at a distance, but coarser near at hand;

Flank. S Flapdoodle.

Flank, verb (common).—i. To crack a whip ; also, to hit a mark with the lash of one.

1830. Sir E. B. Lytton, Paul Clifford (ed. 1854), p. 18. He then, taking up a driving whip, flanked a fly from the opposite wall.

1833. ' An Anglo-sapphic Ode ' (Whibley, Cap and Gown, p. 136). Kicks up a row, gets drunk, or flanks a tandem whip out of window.

2. (colloquial).—To deliver— a blow or a retort ; to push ; to hustle ; to quoit (Shakspeare). Fr., flanquer : as in flanquer à la porte, and Je lui ai flanqué un fameux coup de pied au cul !

A Plate of Thin Flank, subs.phr. (common).-A 'sixpenny cut' off the joint. See N. Twill in Fancy Too Late for Dinner.

To Flank the whole bottle, verb. phr. (American soldiers').— To dodge, i.e., to outflank, to achieve by strategy. For synonyms, see Stick.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 286. When the men wished to escape the attention of pickets and guards by slipping past them, they said they flanked them ; drill, and detail, and every irksome duty was flanked, when it could be avoided by some cunning trick. Soon, however, honesty itself was thus treated, and the poor farmer was flanked out of his pig and his poultry, and not infrequently even the comrade out of his pipe and tobacco, if not his rations. The height of strategy was employed in these various flank manœuvres, when the Commissary could be made to surrender some of his whiskey, and thus it came about, in the South at least, that to flank the whole bottle was a phrase expressive of superlative cunning and brilliant success.

Flanker, subs, (common).—A blow ; a retort ; a kick. Cf., Flank, sense i.

Flan key, subs, (common).—The posteriors. For synonyms, see

Blind Cheeks and Monocular Eyeglass.

1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London,

s.v.

Flan n el. See Hot Flannel.

Flannels. To get one's flannels, verb. phr. (schools').—To get a place in the school football or cricket teams, or in the boats. Cf., 'to get one's colours,' or ' one's blue.'

Flap,subs,(thieves').—i. Sheet-lead used for roofing. Fr., doussin ; noir. Cf., Bluey.

2. (old).—A blow.

1539. David Lyndsay, Thrie Estaitis. Works [Laing, 187p], ii. 73. And to begin the play, tak thairane flap.

Verb (thieves')-—It To rob ; to swindle. For synonyms, see Prig and Stick.

2. (common).—To pay ; ' to fork out.' Cfl, Flap the Dimmock.

3. (venery). — To possess a woman. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

To Flap a Jay, verb. phr. (thieves').—To swindle a greenhorn ; to sell a pup (q.v.).

1885. Daily Telegraph, Aug. 18th, p. 3., col. i. He and three others of the ¹ division ' had ' cut up ' ^70 between them, obtained by flapping a jay, which, rendered into intelligible English, means plundering a simple-minded person.

To Flap the Dimmock, verb phr. (common).—To pay. [From Flap, a verb of motion + Dimmock = money]. Cf., Flap.

Flapdoodle, subs, (colloquial).— i. Transparent nonsense; "kid."

Flapdoodler. ⁶ Flap-sauce.

Also Flamdoodle and Flamsauce, or Flap-sauce. For synonyms, see Gammon.

1833. M a r r y a t, Peter Simple, ch. xxviii. ' It's my opinion, Peter, that the gentleman has eaten no small quantity of flapdoodle in his lifetime.' 'What's that, O'Brien,' replied I. ' Why, Peter, it's the stuff they feed fools on.'

1861. Hughes,7Vt« Brown at Oxford. I shall talk to our regimental doctors about it, and get put through a course of fools' diet—flapdoodle they call it, what fools are fed on.

1884. S. L. Clemens ('Mark Twain'), Huck. Finn, xxv., 247. A speech, all full of tears and flapdoodle about its being a sore trial for him and his poor brother to lose the diseased [deceased].

2. (venery). — The penis. (Urquhart). For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

To talk Flapdoodle, verb, phr. (American).—To brag ; to talk nonsense.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, Mar. 2. Possibly rich men will turn from sharp dealing, from debauchery, from flapdoodle fashion to a common-sense recognition of a situation, which clearly shows that wealth is no longer what it used to be —autocratic, absolute, the ruler of all else,

Flapdoodler, subs. (American). —A braggart agitator ; one that makes the eagle squeal. (q.v.).

Flap-dragon, subs. (old). — The pox or clap (q.v.). For synonyms, see Ladies' Fever.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew, s.v. Flapdragon, a clap or pox.

Verb. (old).—To gulp down hastily, as in the game of flapdragon.

1604. Shakspeare, Winter's Tale, Act III., Sc. 3. But, to make an end of the ship : to see how the sea flafdragoned it !

Flapman, subs. (prison). — A convict promoted for good behaviour to first or second class.

Flapper, subs, (common). — i. The hand ; also flappershaker. For synonyms, see Daddle and Mauley.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ch. vii. My Dear Mr. Simple, extend your flapper to me for I'm delighted to see you.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum or Rogues' Lexicon, s.v.

1866. London Miscellany, May 19, p. 235. 'There's my flapper on the strength of it.' Guy shook hands with the eccentric stranger heartily.

2. (common). — A little girl. [Also a fledgeling wild duck.]

3. (venery).—A very young prostitute ; cf., sense 2.

4. (common). —A dustman's or coal-heaver's hat ; a fantail (q.v.).

5. (in. pl.). — Very long-pointed shoes worn by ' nigger ' minstrels.

6. (venery).—The penis. (For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick).

7. (colloquial).—A parasite; a remembrancer. (Cf. Swift, Gulliver, ' Laputa.')

Flapper-shaking, subs. (common).—Hand -shaking.

1853. Bradley ('Cuthbert Bede'), Verdant Green, pt. II., ch. iv. Wondering whether ... if the joining palms in a circus was the customary flappershaking before ' toeing the scratch ' for business.

Flap-sauce. See Flapdoodle.

Flare. 7 Flare-up.

Flare, subs, (nautical).—I. Primarily a stylish craft ; hence, by implication, anything out of the common. For synonyms, see Stunner.

2. (colloquial). — A row ; a dispute ; a ' drunk ' ; or spree.

Cf., flare-up.

Verb, (thieves').— I. Specifically to whisk out ; hence, to steal actively, lightly, or delicately.

1850. Lloyds Weekly, 3 Feb. Low Lodging Houses of London. B. tried his pocket saying, 'I'll show you how to do a hankerchief ' ; but the baker looked round and B. stopped ; and just after that I flared it (whisked the handerchief out) ; and that's the first I did.'

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, I., 457. Just after that I flared it (a handerchief).

2. (common).—To swagger; to go with a bounce.

1841. Leman Rede, Sixteen-String Jack, ii., 3. Crissy Odsbuds, I'll on with my duds, And over the water we'll flare.)

All of a flare, adv. phr. (thieves' ). —Bunglingly.

1839. Brandon, Poverty, Mendicity, and Crime, p. 113. Some of the girls at Milberry's pick pockets at night : while one talks to the man, the other robs him ; but they are not dextrous, they pull it out all. of a flare.

Flaring, adj. and adv. (colloquial). — Excessive : e.g., a flaring lie ; flaring drunk ; a flaring whore ; see Flaming.

F la r eu P (or-O ut) , subs, (popular). An orgie ; a fight ; an outburst of temper. Also a spree.

1838. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 2 Ser. ch. x. Some of our young citizens . . . got into a flare-up with a party of boatmen that lives in the Mississippi ; a desperate row it was too.

1847. Punch, vol. XIII., p. 148,

Address at the Opening of a Casino. In for flare-up and frolic let us go, And polk it on the fast fantastic toe.

1851. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and IsOnd. Poor, I., p. 160. These (hot eel) dealers generally trade on their own capital ; but when some have been having a flare-up, and have 'broke down for stock ' to use the words of my informant, they borrow £1 and pay it back in a week or a fortnight.

1879. Justin M'Carthy, Donna Quixote, ch. xvii. Paulina had a hard struggle many a time to keep down her temper, and not to have what she would have called a flare-out.

English Synonyms.—Barney; batter; bean-feast ; beano; breakdown ; burst ; booze (specifically a drinking-bout); caper; devil's delight ; dust ; fanteague ; fight ; flare ; flats-yad (back slang) ; fly ; gig ; hay-bag ; hell's delight ; high jinks ; hooping up ; hop ; jagg ; jamboree ; jump ; junketting ; lark ; drive ; randan ; on the tiles ; on the fly ; painting the town (American) ; rampage ; razzle-dazzle ; reeraw ; ructions ; shake ; shine ; spree ; sky-wannocking ; tear ; tear up ; toot.

French Synonyms. — La nocerie (popular : une noce à tout casser ; or, une noce de bâtons de chaise = a grand jollification) ; faire des crêpes ( = to have a rare spree); badouiller (popular: especially applied to drinking bouts).

Italian Synonym. — Far festa alle campane.

Spanish Synonyms.—Trapisonda (a drunken revel); holgueta.

Verb (common).—To fly into a passion.

1849. Mahoney, Pel. FatherProut, I., 319. 'Vert-Vert, the Parrot.' Forth like a Congreave rocket burst, And storm'd and swore, flared up, and curs'd.

Flash.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xii. He was in the ' Cave of Harmony,' he says, that night you flared up about Captain Costigan.

1871. Daily Telegraph, 8 June, ⁴ Paris in Convalescence.' On this he flared up like a Commune conflagration, and cried out_; ' Shame, in the name of religion, art, and history ! '

Flash, subs. (old).—i. The vulgar tongue ; the lingo of thieves and their associates. To patter flash = to talk in thieves' lingo. [The derivation of Flash, like that of French argot, is entirely speculative. It has, however, been generally referred to a district called Flash (the primary signification as a place name is not clear), between Buxton Leek and Macclesfield : there lived many chapmen who, says Dr. Aiken ("Description of Country round Manchester"), 'were known as flash-men . . . using a sort of slang or cant dialect.']

1718. Hitchin. The Regulator of Thieves, etc., with Account of flash words, etc. (Title).

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 69. Jigger, being cant or flash lor door.

1819. Moore, Torn Crib's Memorial, p. 25. With respect to that peculiar language called flash, or St. Jiles' Greek, etc.

1830. Sir E. B. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. viii. Here a tall gentleman marched up to him, and addressed him in a certain language, which might be called the freemasonry of flash.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard (1889), p. 12, ' What does he say?' roared the long drover. 'He says he don't understand flash,' replied the lady in gentleman's attire,

1843-4. Hood, Miss Kilmansegg. His cheeks no longer drew the cash. Because,as his comrades explain'd in flash, He had overdrawn his badger.

1827. Maginn, Vidocq's Song. Pattered in flash like a covey knowing,

1864. Athenäum, 29 Oct. The northern village of ill-repute, and bearing that name (flash) gave to felonious highflying the term flash.

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 278. Why, when the late Lord Lytton wrote Pelham it was brought against him that ' his knowledge of flash was evidently purely superficial.' Flash, my sister, is merely recondite slang or thieves' argot.

English Analogues.—Back Slang or Kacab-Genals (the main principle consists in roughly pronouncing the word backwards, as er if for fire, dab for bad, etc. : the practice exists in most languages) ; Cant (q.v.)', Centre Slang (the central vowel is made the initial letter, vowels and consonants being added at pleasure) ; Gammy(North country : mainly composed of Gypsy words) ; Gibberish (formed by inserting a consonant between each syllable of a word, the result beinç the F, G, H, M or S gibberish, according to the letter used : thus, " goming mout tomdaym," or " gosings outs tosdays ? " = going out to-day ?) ; jargon ; the Green Lingo (French thieves') ; Marrowskying or Hospital Greek (manufactured by transferring the initial letters of words ; plenty of rain thus becomes renty of plain : the ' Gower St. dialect ' of Albert Smith, Mr. Ledbury) ; Pedlar's French (old cant : Florio, 1598 ; Cotgrave, 1612) ; Rhyming Slang (q.v.) Slang (q.v.); St. Giles' Greek (last century for Slang as distinguished from Cant) ; Thieves'Latin; the Vulgar Tongue ; Yob-gab (q.v. ) ; Notions (q.v.) ; Ziph (q.v.).

French and other Analogues.—Argot or arguche ; la langue verte (properly gamesters') ; le langage soudardant (soldiers'

Flash. 9 Flash.

lingo) ; le jars ; le jargon jobelin; (Cotgrave, Dictionaries 1611. /argon = ' Gibridge, fustian language, Pedlar's French, a barbarous jangling ') ; le langage Je Vartis ; langage en lern (formed by prefixing " 1 " and adding the syllable "em," preceded by the first letter of the word); thus "main" becomes " lainmem." A similar mode of dealing with words of more than one syllable is to replace the first consonant by the letter "1," the word be;ng followed by its first syllable preceded by "du"; thus, "jaquette" becomes "laquelle du jaq," or if " m " be used as a keyletter, " maquette du jaq" etc. ; le javanais — here the syllable " av " is interpolated ; e.g., "jave Pavai vavujaveudavi" = (je Vai vu jeudi). German. — Rothwalsch (from Roter = beggar or vagabond + walsch = foreign) ; Gaunersprache ( = thieves' lingo). Italian.—Lingua gerga (abbreviated into gerga; (Florio, 1598 ^lgergo = Pedlar's French, fustian, or roguish language, gibbrish ') ; lingua franca (Levantine : thé source of some English slang); lingua furbesca. D u tch. —Bargoens. Spanish.—Germania (the Gypsies were supposed to have come from Germany) ; jerigonza. Portuguese.—Calao (Zincali or Calo = Gypsy).

2. Hence, at one period, especially during the Regency days, the idiom of the man about town, of Tom and Jerrydom.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib's Memorial, p. xxix. To the cultivation in our times, of the Science of Pugilism, the flash language is indebted for a considerable addition to its treasures.

1823. Jon Bee, Diet, of the Turf, etc, They were invariably thieves and

gamblers who used flash formerly ; but other kinds of persons, now-a-day, who may be rippishly inclined, adopt similar terms and phrases, to evince their uppishness in the affairs of life. These gentlemen also consider all terms of art and of science as flash ; .... of course, those words and sayings which are approp: iate to the turf, the ring, and field sports, are equally considered as flash by them, and the word has been applied (too generally we allow), to all this species of quid pro quo lingo.

3. (old).—See quot. and cf., with a Shaksperian gloss of flash = a burst of wit or merriment.

1748. T. Dyche, Diet. (5th ed.), flash (s.), also a boast, brag, or great pretence made by a spendthrift, quack, or pretender to more art or knowledge than he really has.

4. (old).—A showy swindler. (e.g., the Sir Petronel Flash of quot.) ; a blustering vulgarian.

1605. Marston, Jonson, and Chapman, Eastward Hoe ! iv. 1. 'Sir Petronel Flash, I am sorry to see such flashes come from a gentleman of your quality.

1632. Shirley. Love in a Maze, i., 2. The town is full of these vainglorious flashes.

5. (old).—A peruke or perriwig,

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue. Rum flash, a fine long wig. Queer flash, a miserable weather-beaten caxon.

6. (common).—A portion ; a drink ; or go (q.v.). Cf., Flash of Lightning, sense 1.

Adj. (common).—1. Relating to thieves, their habits, customs, devices, lingo, etc.

1782. Geo. Parker, Humorous Sketches, p. 34. No more like a kiddy he'll roll the flash song.

Flash. ¹⁰ Flash.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ' Long Ned s Song.' And rarely have the gentry flash, In sprucer clothes been seen.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. via. I suppose you don't know what a beak is, my flash com-pan-i-on.

1852. Snowdon, Mag. Assistant' 3rd ed., p. 448. I have seen Cheeks (a flash name for an accomplice).

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cask, II., 244. He used some flash words, and they were shown into a public room.

1864. Cornhill Magazine, ii., 336. In the following verse, taken from a pet flash song, you have a comic specimen of this sort of guilty chivalry.

2. (thieves').—Knowing ; ex^pert ; showy. Cf, down, fly, wide-awake, etc. Hence (popularly), by a simple transition, vulgarly counterfeit, showily shoddy : possibly the best understood meanings of the word in latter-day English. To

put one flash to anything =

to put him on his guard ; to inform.

1819. Moore. Tom Crib's Memorial, p. 19. Another philosopher, Seneca, has shown himself equally flash on the subject.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 17. Laying aside the knowing look, and flash air, with which he had repeated the previous anecdote.

1836. Marryat, Japhet, etc., ch. lvii. He considered me as ... a flash pickpocket rusticating until some hue and cry was over.

1839. W. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, p. 138 (ed. 1840). 'Awake! tobe sure I am, my flash cove,' replied Sheppard.

1865. M. E. Braddon, Henry Dunbar, ch. v. He . . . took out the little packet of bank-notes. ' I suppose you can understand these,' he said. The languid youth .. . looked dubiously at his customer. ¹1 can understand as they might be flash uns,' he remarked, significantly.

1888. C. D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 157. The flash riders or horsebreakers, always called ' broncho busters,' can perform really marvellous feats.

3. (originally thieves', now general). — Vulgar, or blackguardly ; showy ; applied to one aping his betters. Hence (in Australia), vain glorious or swaggering. The idea conveyed is always one of vulgarity or showy blackguardism.

1830. Sir E. B. Lytton, Paul Clifford (ed. 1854), p. 21. A person of great notoriety among that portion of the élite which emphatically entitles itself flash.

1861. A. Trollope, Framley Parsonage, ch. ix. If the dear friendship of this flash Member of Parliament did not represent that value, what else did do so ?

1880. _# G. R. Sims, Three Brass Balls, Pledge xj. The speaker was one of the flash young gentlemen who haunt suburban billiard-rooms, who carry chalk in their pockets, and call the marker « Jack.'

4. (common),—In a set style. Also used substantively.

1819. Vaux, Flash Diet., p, 173. s.v. A person who affects any peculiar habit, as swearing, dressing in a particular manner, taking snuff, etc, merely to be taken notice of is said to do it out of

flash.

1828. The English Spy, vol. I., p. 189. The man upon that half-starved

nag Is an Ex S-ff, a strange wag, Half

flash and half a clown.

1851. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, i., p. 36. They all of them (coster lads) delight in dressing flash as they call it. . . . They try to dress like the men, with large pockets in their cord jackets, and plenty of them. Their trousers, too, must fit tight at the knee, and their boots they like as good as possible. A good ' kingsman,' a plush skull-cap, and a seam down the trousers are the great points of ambition with the coster boys.

[Hence, in combination, Fl.vsh-case,

crib, drum, house, ken, Or panny (see

Flash-ken) ; flash cove (q.v.) ; flash-dispensary (American=a boarding house), especially a swell brothel ; flash-gentry ( = the swell mob or higher class of thieves) ; flash-girl,

moll, -mollisher, "piece Or-woman ( = a

showy prostitute); flash-jig (costers'= a favourite dance); flash-kiddy f=a dandy); flash-lingo, or song ( *=

Flash.

F lash-Case.

¹ patter,' or a song interlarded with cant words and phrases) ; flash-man (q.v.) ; flash-note (= a spurious bank-note) ; flash-rider (American, see bronchobuster) ; flash toggery ( = smart clothes; flash vessel (=a gaudy looking, but undisciplined ship)].

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry, [1890,] p. 58. The rusticity of Jerry was fast wearing off . . . and he bid fair, etc. . . to chaff with the flash mollishers.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. Soon then I mounted in Swell St. High, And sported my flashiest toggery.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, I., p. 14. The other dances are jigs—flash jigs—hornpipes in fetters —a dance rendered popular by the success of the noted Jack Sheppard.

Verb (common).—1. To show ; to expose.

[Among combinations may be mentioned, to flash one s ivories = to show one's teeth, to grin (Grose) ; to flash the hash = to vomit (Grose)', to flash the dickey=to show the shirt front; to flash the dibs = to show or spend one's money; to flash a fawney=to wear a ring; to flash one's gab⁼to talk, to swagger, to brag ; to flash the bubs= to expose the paps ; to flash the muzzle (q-v.); to flash one's ticker = to air one's watch ; to flash the drag = to wear women's clothes for immoral purposes ; to flash the

white GRUi = see grin *, to flash it (q.V.), Or to flash one's meat (cf.,

meat-flasher) ; to flash a bit (q.v.) ; to flash the flag—to sport an apron ; to flash the wedge⁼to 'fence' the swag, etc.]

1812. Vaux, Flask Diet. Don't flash your sticks, don't expose your pistols.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib's Memorial, p. 2. His lordship, as usual, that very great dab At the flowers of rhet'ric, is flashing his gab.

1823. Jon Bee, Diet. 0/ the Turf, etc. He flashed the blunt, made a show of money to dazzle the spectators.

1825, E. Kent, Modern Flask Diet. Flashing his ivqry, shew his teeth.

1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, (ed. 1864), p. 176.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends. ' The Dead Drummer.' When traveling,

don't flash your notes or your cash Before other people—its foolish and rash.

1887. W. E. Henley, Villon's GoodNight. Likewise you molls that flash your bubs, For swells to spot and stand you sam.

1887. W. E. Henley, Straight Tip. Go crying croaks, or flash the drag.

To flash a bit, verbal phr. (venery).—To show up ; to permit examination; 'to spread' (q.v.); to behave indecently. Said of women only.

To flash it* or to flas*i one's meat.—To expose the person. [Hence meat-flasher] (q.v.). Said usually of men.

To flash the muzzle (old). —To produce a pistol.

c. 1823. Ballad (quoted in Don Juan xi.). On the high toby spice flash the muzzle In spite of each gallows old scout.

TO flash it about, or to cut a flash or dash, verbal phr. (common). — To make a display ; to live conspicuously and extravagantly.

1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 220. He flashed it about a good deal for a long time, going from one place to another. Sometimes he was a lord, at others an earl.

TO go flashing it, verb. phr. (venery).—To have sexual intercourse. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

Flash-Case (or -Crib, -House, -Drum, -Ken, -Panny, etc).—1. A house frequented by thieves, as a tavern, lodging-house, fence (q.v.).

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew Flash-ken, c., a house where thieves use, and are connived at.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, ' Glossary,' p. 172. Flash-kain, a house for receiving

Flash-Cove. ¹² Flash-M an.

stolen goods. [Haggart's spelling, being that of the respectable Edinburgh lawyer who took down his ' confessions ' is generally misleading and inaccurate.]

1828. Smeeton, Doings in London, p. 39. It is a game in very great vogue among the macers, who congregate nightly at the flash-houses.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 50 (ed. 1854). There is one Peggy Lobkins who keeps a public house, a sort of flashken called ' The Mug ' in Thames Court.

1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard (ed. 1840), p. 271. I've been to all the flash-cases in town, and can hear nothing of him or his wives. . . . Ibid, p. 135. ' The Black Lion ! ' echoed Terence, ' I know the house well ; by the same token that it's a flash-crib.'

2. (common).—A brothel; a haunt of loose women.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum (Flash song quoted under flash-panneys). Next for his favourite mot the kiddey looks about, And if she's in a flashpan n y he swears he'll have her out ; So he fences all his togs to buy her duds, and then He frisks his master's lob to take her from the bawdy ken.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. xvi. (ed. 1840). You know how little I frequent

flash-houses.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (ed. 1862), p. 380. Those troublesome swells, Who come from the play-houses, flash-kens, and hells.

1840. Macaulay, Essays : ' Lord Clive.' The lowest wretches that the company's crimps could pick up in the flash-houses of London.

1852. Bristed, Upber Ten Thousand, p. 34. That is Mary Black who keeps the greatest flash house in Leonard Street.

Flash-Cove (also Flash-Companion), subs, (common). — A thief; a sharper; a fence (q.v.).

1825. E. Kent, Modem Flash Diet. Flash-cove, the keeper of a place for the reception of stolen goods.

1839. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard (1889), p. 60.—' Awake ! To be sure I am, my flash-covb ! ' replied Sheppard.

Flash-Man, subs. (old). — Primarily a man talking flash (see quots., 1823 and 1802); hence, a rogue, a thief, the landlord of a flash-case (q.v.). Also a fancy-Joseph (for synonyms, see Fancy-man). In America, a person with no visible means of support, but living in style and * snowing up ' well.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life's Painter, p. 141. A flashman is one who lives on the hackneyed prostitution of an unfortunate woman of the town.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, II., 1. Soon one is floored upon the ground. While loud her flashman cries, ' Arise, my ladybird, arise ! '

1823. Jon Bee, Diet, of the Turf, etc., p. 80. Derived from his language, and this again has its appellation ('tis suggested) from the first flash-men being highwaymen, that then generally abounded (circa 1770). He is the favorite, or protector of a prostitute, whose flash-man he is ; and she is called inversely, his flashwoman.

c. 1833. Broadside Ballad. My flash-man has gone to sea.

1849. New South Wales, Past, Present, and Future, ch. i., p. 14. This man was known to Mr. Day to be what is termed a flash-man ; and, seeing his own imminent danger, he instantly spoke to him and called him a cowardly rascal, and offered to give him shot for shot, while he was re-loading.

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffrey Hamlyn, ch. v. You're playing a dangerous game, my flashman.

1862. Smiles, L ives of the Engineers, vol. I., pt. 5, ch. i., p. 307. Those articles were sold throughout the country by pedestrian hawkers, most of whom lived in the wild country called the flash, fiom a hamlet of that name situa'ed between Buxton, Leek, and Macclesfield .... Travelling about from fair to fair, and using a cant or slang dialect, they became generally known as flash-men, and the name still survives (to which may be added : They paid, at first, ready money, but when they had established a credit, paid in promissory notes which were rarely honored.

Flash of Lightning. ^l3

Flasher.

a. 1873. Lyra Flagitiosa. [Quoted in Hotten.] My flash man's in quod, And I'm the gal that's willin', So I'll turn out to-night, And earn an honest shillin'.

Flash of Lightning, subs. phr. (old).—i. A glass of gin ; a diam of neat spirit. See Go and Drinks. Latterly, an ' American drink.' See quot. 1862.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life's Painter, p. 164, s.v.

1821. P. Egan, Tom And Jerry (ed. 1890), p. 79. I have not exactly recovered from the severe effects of the lepeated flashes of lightning and strong claps of thunder, with which I had to encounter last night.

1823. Jon Bee, Diet, of the Turf (quoted in). But ere they homeward pik'd it, A flash of lightning was sarv'd round to every one as lik'd it.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, (ed. 1854), p. 141. The thunders of eloquence being hushed, flashes of lightning, or, as the vulgar say, ' glasses of gin ' gleamed about.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., p. 168. The stimulant of a flash of lightning . . . for so a dram of neat spirit was then called.

1862. E. MacDermott, Popular Guide to International Exhibition, 1862, p. 185. In the vestibule of each refreshment room there is an American bar, where visitors may indulge in . . . gum-ticklers, eye-openers, flashes of lightning . . . and a variety of similar beverages.

2. (nautical). The gold braid on an officer's cap.

Flash in the Pan, subs. phr.

(venery). — Connection without

emission. Cf. Dry-Bob (q.v.).

Also verbally.

1719. Durfey. Pills, v., 340. Still hawking, still baulking, You flash in the pan.

Flashy, adj., and Flashily, or

Flashly, adv. (old : now colloquial). Empty; showy; tawdry; insipid.

1637. Milton, Lycidas, 123. Their lean and flashy songs Grate on their «crannel pipes of wretched straw.

1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, Act I., sc. iv. It is oftentimes too late with some of you young, termagant, flashy sinners.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., ii., 12. A flj.shy town beau.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary, (5th ed.) Flashy (a), vain, bragging, boasting, foolish, empty ; also anything waterish and unsavoury.

1755. The World, No. 149. Whose melodious voices give every syllable (not of a lean and flashy, but of a fat and plump song) its just emphasis.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 13, (ed. 1854). Vy it be . . . the gemman vot payed you so flashly.

18Ô7. Song in Ducange Anglicus, The Vulgar Tongue, p. 42. Your fogle you must flashly tie.

1863. Speke, Journal of the Discovery of the Nile, p. 154. Flashily dressed in coloured cloths and a turban, he sat down in one of our chairs.

1864. Braddon, Henry Dunbar, ch. v. But he evinced no bad taste in the selection of a costume. He chose no gaudy colours, or flashily cut vestments.

1873. CasselFs Magazine, Jan., p. 246, col. 2. They are rather prone to dress flashily, and wear, when in full fig, no end of jewellery.

1874. Mortimer Collins, Frances, ch. xvii. That wild set of people Captain Heath picked up with—members of Parliament and flashy young women — all driving four horses, I don't know where.

1882. Century Magazine, xxvi., 295. As stones, they were cheap and flashyi

Flash-Tail, subs, (common).—A prostitute.—See Tail.

1868. Temple Bar, xxiv., p. 538-9. Picking-up Moll. ... a flashtail? a prostitute who goes about the streets at nights trying to pick up toffs.

Flasher, subs. (old).—A highflyer ; a fop ; a pretender to wit. For synonyms, see Dandy. Also (quct. 2), a Bonnet (q.v.).

1779. D'Arblay, Diary, etc. (1876). vol. L, p. 185. They are reckoned the flashers of the place, yet everybody laughs at them for their airs, affectations, and tonish graces and impertinences.

Flashery. h Flat.

1880. Derbyshire Gatherer, p. 128. Long before this date {circa 1800) the cant name of flasher was applied to the man who sat by the table in the gamblinghouse to swear how many times he had seen lucky gamesters break the bank.

Flash ery, subs. (old).—Inferior, or vulgar, elegance, dash, distinction, display.

Flash-yad, subs, (back-slang).—A day's enjoyment. For synonyms, see Flare-up.

Flashy Blade or Spark, subs, phr. (old).—A dandy (q.v. ) ; now a cheap and noisy swell, whether male or female j C/i, Flasher.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., vi., 104. In youth a nauseous flashy Fop, in elder days a bore.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib's Memorial, p. 40. For though all know that flashy spark, etc.

Flat, subs, (colloquial).-1. A greenhorn ; noddy ; gull. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbagehead; also Sammy-soft.

1762. Goldsmith, Life of Nash, in wks. p. 546 (Globe). Why, if you think me a dab I will get this strange gentleman, or this, pointing to the flat. Done 1 cries the sailor, but you shall not tell him.

1789. G. Parker, Life's Painter, p. 142. Who are continually looking out for flats, in order to do them upon the broads, that is, cards.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib's Memorial, p. 59. Poor Johnny Raw, what madness could impel, So rum a flat to face so prime a swell.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends. ' Misadventures at Margate.' He's been upon the mill, And cos he gammons all the flats we calls him Veepin Bill.

1841. Lytton, Night and Morning, bk. II., ch. ix. ' Did he pay you for her?' ' Why, to be sure, he gave me a cheque on Coutt's.' 'And you took it? My eyes? what a flat.'

1847. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch. xiv. I won two hundred of him at the Cocoa-tree. He play, the young flat !

1847. Punch, vol. XIII., p. 148. It

mayn't precisely please the moral flat. You won't find fault with it, kind friends, for that.

1848. Thackeray, The Book of Snobs, ch. x. When he does play ha always contrives to get hold of a good flat.

1857. Ducange Anglicus, The Vulgar Tongue, p. 39. Fawney-droppers gammon the flats and take the yokels in.

1866. Yates, Black Sheep, I., p. 70. The genius which had hitherto been confined to bridging a pack of cards, or ¹ securing ' a die, talking over a flat, or winning money of a greenhorn.

1880. Mortimer Collins, Thoughts in My Garden, vol. IL, p. 180. Their quack medicines that will cure everything, and their sales of invaluable articles at a loss, and a thousand other devices to catch flats.

1837. W. E. Henley, Villon s Goodnight. You flats and joskins great and small.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, Sect. 21, p. 3, col. i (In a London Gambling Hell). The flats who play faro (Cross-heading).

2. (American thieves').—An honest man.

3. (American). A lover's dismissal ; a jilting.

Âdj. (colloquial and literary). —Downright ; plain ; straightforward ; as in that's flat?

a flat lie, " flat burglary,"

etc.

1598. Shakspeare, i King Henry IV, Act I., Sc. 3. Wor.\ You start away, And lend no ear to my purposes. Those prisoners you shall keep. Hot. : Nay, I will ; that's flat.

1835-40. Ha Li burton, The Clockmaker, p. 6, preface (ed. 1862).

1848. Lowell, Fable for Critics, p. 19. (A fetch, I must say, most transparent and flat).

[There are other usages, more or less colloquial: e.g., Insipid; tame; dull: as in Macaulay's " flat as champagne in decanters." On the Stock Exchange, flat = without interest : Stock is borrowed flat when no interest is allowed by the lender as security for the due return of the scrip.]

Flat-back. ^l5 Flatch.

Verb (American). To jilt. Cf., subs., sense 3. For synonyms, see Mitten.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 602. To flat, in the West, means to jilt, and is probably derived from another slang phrase, ' to feel flat,' denoting the depression which is apt to follow such a disappointment.

To feel flat, verb. phr. (American). — 1. To be lowspirited; out of sorts ; off colour (q.v.).

1838. J. C. Neal, Charcoal Sketches. Not to hurt a gentleman's feelings and to make him feel flat afore the country.

2. (American).—-To fail ; to give way. Also used substantively.

Flat as a flounder (or Pancake),/^r. (colloquial).— Very flat indeed. Also flat as be blowed.

1882. Punch, vol. LXXXII, p. T77, col. I.

To brush up a flat. See Brusher.

To pick up a flat, verb, phr. (prostitutes'). To find a client. Fr., lever or faire un miche (miche = bread, from michon — money. Compare Breadwinner : under Monosyllable (q.v.)).

1869. Greenwood, Seven Curses of London. On the chance that she will, in the course of the evening, pick up a

flat.

To have (or do) a bit of flat, verb. phr. (venery).—To indulge in sexual intercourse. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

Flat-back, subs, (common).—A bed-bug. For synonyms, see Norfolk Howard.

Flat-broke, adj. (colloquial).— Utterly ruined ; dead-broke (q.v.).

Flat-catcher, subs, (common).— An impostor.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Î., 6. Co/e (speaking of a horse). Well, Master Gull'em, do you think we shall get the flat-catcher off to-day ?

1841. Blackwoods Ma?., 1., 202. Buttoners are those accomplices of thimble-riggers . . . whose duty it is :o act as flat-catchers or decoys, by personating flats.

1856. Mayhew, Great World of London, p. 46. And flat-catchers, or ' ring-droppers,' who cheat by pretending to find valuables in the street.

1864. London Review, June 18, p. 643. ' The Bobby¹ or chinked-back horse, is another favourite flat-catcher.

1869. Whyte-Melville, M. or N., p.iio. Rather a flat-catcher, Tom? said that nobleman, between the whiffs of a cigar.

Flat-catching, subs, (common). —Swindling.

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry, p. 118, The no-pinned hero, on being elevated, gave, as a toastj * Success to flat-catching,' which produced roars of laughter and shouts of approbation^

1869. Greenwoodj Seven Curses of London. To mark the many kinds of bait that are used in flat-catching, as the turf slang has it.

Flatch, adj. (back*slang).—A half. flatch-kennurd = half drunk ; flatch-yenork = half-a-crown ; flatch-yennep = a half-penny (see subs., sense 1).

Subs, i.—A half-penny. [An abbreviation of flatch-yennep. ] For synonyms, see Mag.

c. 1866. Vance, The Chickaleary Cove. I doesn't care a flatch as long as I've a tach.

2 (coiners'). — A counterfeit half-crown. For synonyms, see Madza.

Flat-cap.

Flats.

FLAT-CAP, subs. (old). —A nickname for a citizen of London. [In Henry the Eight's time flat round caps were the pink of fashion ; but when their date was out, they became ridiculous. The citizens continued to wear them long after they were generally disused, and were often satirized for their fidelity].

1596. Ben Jonson, Every Man in H., ch. ii., v. i. Mock me all over From my flat-cap unto my shining shoes.

1602. Dekker, Honest Whore. Old Plays, iii., 304. Come, Sirrah, you flatcap, where be those whites ?

1605. Marston, Dutch Court, ii., 1. Wealthy flat-caps that pay for their pleasure the best of any men in Europe.

1613. Beaumont and Fletcher, Hon. Man's Fort., v. 3. Trade? to the city, child : a flat-cap will become thee.

Flat-cock, subs. (old).—A female. [Grose, 17S5.] For synonyms, see Petticoat.

Flat-feet, subs, (common).—Specifically the Foot Guards, but also applied to other regiments of the line. Also (generally with some powerful adjective), applied to militia men to differentiate them from linesmen. For synonyms, see Mud-crusher.

Flat-fish, (generally, a regular flat-fish) subs, (common).— A dullard. [A play upon flat = stupid, and Fjsh = something to hook or catch.] For synonyms, see Buffle, CabbageHead, and Sammy-Soft. Cf, Fr., platpied = a contemptible fellow.

Flat-footed, adj. (American).— Downright ; resolute ; honest. [Western : the simile, common to most languages, is of a man

standing, his back to the wall, resolute to accomplish his purpose.]

1858. Harpers Magazine, Sept. His herculean frame, and bold, flat-footed way of saying things, had impressed his neighbours, and he held the rod in terrorism over them.

1871. Philadelphia Bulletin, Mar. 23. 'The row at St. Clement's Church.' Now the Committee of the vestry put their foot flatly down on auricular confessi on and priestly absolution.

1887. R. A. Proctor, Knowledge, June i. When, in America, General Grant said he had put his foot down and meant to advance in that line if it took him all the summer, he conveyed . . . the American meaning of the expression

flat-footed.

Flat-head, subs. (American).— A greenhorn ; a SAMMY-SOFT (q.v.).

Flat-iron, subs, (common).— A corner public house. [From the triangular shape. ]

Flattie or Flâtty, subs. (common).—A gull. [A diminutive of flat, sense 1.] Formerly cheap-jacks' = one in a new 'pitch.'

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 232. They betray to the flatties (natives) all their profits and proceedings.

Flat-move, subs. (old). — An attempt or project that miscarries ; folly and mismanagement generally.—Grose.

Flats, subs. (old), i. Playing cards. For synonyms, see King's Books.

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 56. We played at flats in a budging-crib.

2. (old). — False dice. For synonyms, see Fulhams.

Flats and Sharps.

Flax-wench.

3. (old).—Base money.

Mahogany flats, subs. phr. (common).—Bed-bugs. For synonyms, see Norfolk Howards.

Flats and Sharps, subs. phr. (old).—Weapons.

1818. Scott, Heart of Midlothian, cb. xxx. ' I have known many a pretty lad cut short in his first summer upon the road, because he was something hasty with

his flats and sharps.'

Flatten Out, verb, phr, (American). —To get the better of (in argument or fight). For synonyms, see Floor. Flattenedout = ruined ; beaten.

Flatter-trap, subs, (common).— The mouth. Fr., la menteuse, but for synonyms, see Potatotrap.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue's Lexicon, s.v.

Flatty-ken, subs, (thieves')—See ouot.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 261. Some take up their abode in what they call flattykens, that is, houses the landlord of which is not ' awake ' or ' fly ' to the ' moves ' and dodges of the trade.

Flawed, ppl. adj. (common).—1. Half drunk ; ' a little crooked ' ; quick-tempered.—Grose. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

2. (venery).—'Cracked in the ring ' ; i.e., deflowered.

Flay (or flay the fox), verb, phr. (old).—To vomit : 'from the subject to the effect,' says Cotgrave ; ' for the flaying of so stinking a beast is like enough to make them spue that feel it.'

Now, to shoot the cat. For synonyms, see Accounts and Cast up Accounts. Cf., Fox, verb, sense 1.

1653. Urquhart, Rabeluis, bk. I., ch. xi. He would flay the fox.

2. (American).—To clean out by unfair means.

To flay or skin a flint, verb. phr. (old).—To be mean or miserly. See Skinflint.

1690. B. E., New Diet, o/the Canting Crew, s.v. He'll flay or skinn a flint of a Meer Scrat or Miser.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, vol. II., p. 194 (ed. 1846). Report says she would skin a flint if she could.

Flaybottom or Flaybottomist,

subs. (common). — A schoolmaster, with a play on the word phlebotomist = a blood-letter. — Grose. Fr., fouette-cul; and (Cotgrave) " Fesse-cul, a pedantical whip-arse."

Flavour, to catch (or get) the flavour. verb. phr. (common). — 1. To be intoxicated. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

2. (venery). To be ' half-on ' for coition ; to wax proud [q.v.) : said of men and women both.

Flax, verb. (American).—To beat severely ; to give it hot [q.v.). For synonyms, see Tan.

Flax-wench, subs. (old).—A prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1604. Shakspeare, Winter's Tale, \., 2. My wife's a hobby-horse ; deserves a name As rank as any flax-wench.

Flea.

18 Fleece,

Flea. To send away with a flea in the ear. verb. phr. (common). — To dismiss with vigour and acerbity.

1854. Notes and Queries, 8 Apl., p. 322, col. 2. The luckless applicant is peremptorily dismissed with an imperative ' flee ! ... or, facetiously, with a flee

in his ear.

To have a flea in the ear = (1) to fail in an enterprise ; and (2) to receive a scolding, or annoying suggestion.

To sit on a bag of fleas. verb. phr. (common). — To sit uncomfortably ; on a bag of hen fleas = very uncomfortably ndeed.

To catch fleas for, verb, phr. (venery).—To be on terms of extreme intimacy : e.g., 'I catch her fleas for her ' = She has nothing to refuse me. Cf., Shakspeare (Tempest, IIL, 2.)-, ' Yet a tailor might scratch her wheree'er she did itchi'

In a flea's leap, adv. phr. (old). — In next to no time ; instanter (q.v.).

FLEA-AND-LOUSE, subs-, (rhyming slang). A house. For synonyms, see Ken.

Flea-bag, subs, (common). — A bed ; Fr. un pucier-. For synonyms, see Kip.

1839. Lever, Harry Lorrequer, eh. xl. 'Troth, and I think the gentleman would be better if he went off to his fleabag himself.'

LEA-BITE, subs-, (old).—A trifle.

1630. Taylor, Works. If they doe lose by pirates, tempests, rocks, 'Tis but a fleabtte to their wealthy stockes ; Whilst the poore cutpurse day and night doth

toile, Watches and wardes, and doth himselfe turmoile.

1785. Grose, Diet. Vulg. Tongue,

s.v.

Flea-biting, subs. (old).—A trifle.

1621. Burton, Anatomy of Melan choly. Their miseries are but flea bitings to thine.

Flea(or Flay-) Flint, subs. (old.)—A miser : Cf., Skin flint (q.v.).

1719. Dur fey, Pills, etc., i., 141 The flea-flints . . . strip me bare.

F lear, verb. (old).—To grin. A flearing fool = a grinning idiot.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew.

Fleece, subs. (old). —An act of theft. Cf., old proverb, * to go out to shear and come home shorn.' For synonyms, see Skin.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew. Fleece, to Rob, Plunder, or strip.

1703. Mrs. Centlivre, Beau's Duel, ii., 2. Had a fleece at his purse.

2. (venery). — The female pubic hair. Fr. toison (Baudelaire) ; It. ;barbiglioni (Florio). For foreign synonyms, see Mott.

English Synonyms. —Banner (Durfey) ; bandoliers (old) ; beard ; bearskin ; belly-bristles ; belly-thicket ; belly-whiskers ; Boskage of Venus ; broom ; brush ; bush ; cat-skin ; cloverfield ; cunny-skin (Durfey) ; « Cupid's Arbour ; cunt-curtain ; damber-, dilberry-, gooseberry-, furze-, quim-, or whin-bush ; down ; Downshire ; front-doormat ; feather (Prior and Moore); fluff; forest (Donne); fud (Burns) ; fur ; fur-beloW (old catch); 'grove of eglantine ' (Carew) ; hedge on

Fleece.

19 Fleet-S treetese.

the dyke ; lower-wig (Burton) ; moss ; mott-carpet ; mustardand-cress ; nether eye-brow (or -lashes); nether-whiskers; parsley (Durfey) ; plush; quim-whiskers ; quim-wig ; scut (Shakspeare) ; shaving-brush (cf., Lather); scrubbing-brush ; shrubbery ; sporran ; stubble (see Pointer) ; sweet-briar ; thatch ; tail-fea-thers ; ' toupee ; ' * tufted honours ' ; twat-rug.

Verb (now recognised). — To cheat ; to shear or be shorn (as a sheep).

1593. Nashe, Christ's Teares, in wks. (Grosart) IV. 140. Tell me (almost) what gentleman hath been cast away at sea, or disasterly souldiourizd it by lande, but they (usurers) have enforst him thereunto by their fleecing,

1598. Shakspeare, / King HenryIV., ii., 2. Down with them : fleece them !

1620. Dekker, His Dreame, in wks. (Grosart) III. 52. Catchpolles, and varlets, who did poore men fleece (To their undoing) for a twelve-peny peece.

1712. ArbuthNot, Hist, of John Bull, pt. IV., ch. ii. When a poor man has almost undone himself for thy sake, thou art for fleecing him.

_# 1822. Scott, Fort, of Nigel, ch. xxiii. He is now squeezed and fleeced by them on every pretence.

1836. M. Scott, Cruise of the Midge, p. 106. He was stabbed by the Ragamuffin he had fleeced.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch* xxxi. Bloundell is a professional blackleg, and travels the Continent, where he picks up young gentlemen of fashion and fleeces them.

1859. Times, 25 Oct. ' Review of Dean Ramsay's Reminiscences.' I don't know whether they are black or white sheep, but I know that if they are long there they are pretty certain to be fleeced.

1891. Licensed Victuallers' Gazette, 16 Jan. How you would be fleeced ! You've got a lot to learn yet.

Hence fleeced=ruined; deadbroke (q.v. for synonyms).

Fleecer, subs. (old).—A thief.

1600-69. Prynne, Breviatt. Not fleecers, but feeders.

Fleece-Hunter, or -Monger,

subs. phr. (venery).—A whoremaster. For synonyms, see Molrower.

Fleeter-Face, subs. (old).—A pale-face ; a coward. Cf., Shakspeare's 'cream-faced loon.'

1647. Beaumont and Fletcher, Queen of Corinth. You knc w where you are, you fleeter-face.

Fleet-Note, subs. (old).—A forged note.

1821. Real Lift in London.

Fleet of the Desert, subs. phr. (common). — A caravan ; cf._tship of the desert = camel.

Fleet-Street, subs. phr. (colloquial).—The estate of journalism, especially journalism of the baser sort.

Fleet-Str eeter, subs, (colloquial).—A journalist of the baser sort ; a spunging prophet (q.v.)', a sharking dramatic critic ; a spicy (q.v.) paragraphist ; and so on.

Fleet-Streetese, subs. phr. ( colloquial). — The so-called English, written to sell by the Fleet-Streeter (q.v.), or baser sort of journalist : a mixture of sesquipedalians and slang, of phrases worn threadbare and phrases sprung from the kennel ; of bad grammar and worse manners; the like of which is impossible outside Fleet-Street (q.v.y, but which in FleetStreet commands a price, and enables not a few to live.

Fleg.

20 Flesh-broker.

Fleg, verb. (old).—To whip. Bailey.

Flemish Account, subs. phr. (old).—A remittance less than was expected ; hence, an unsatisfactory account. [Among the Flemings (the merchants of Western Europe when commerce was young) accounts were kept in livres, sols, and pence ; but the livre or pound only = 12s., so that what the Antwerp merchant called one livre thirteen and fourpence would in English currency be only 20s. ]

1668. T. Brown, The Accurate Accomptant, etc. Quoted in N. and Q. 1. S. I., 286. London, August 10th, 1668. To Roger Pace, Factor, etc., for 10 pieces cont. 746 Ells Fl. at ios. Flem. per Ell is ^373 Flem. Exchange at 35s. makes Sterling Money ,£213 2s. iod.

1774-1826. Typ. Antic., p. 1773. A person resident in London is said to ha ve had most of Caxton's publications. He sent them to Amsterdam for inspection, and on writing for them was informed that they had been destroyed by accident. ' I am very much afraid,' says Herbert, ' my kind friend received but a flemish account of his Caxton's.

1785. Grosf.. Diet. Vulg. Tong. Flemish account, a losing or bad account.

Flesh, subs. (old).—Generic for the organs of generation, male or female. Also (of women) Fleshlypart.

1604. Shakspeare, Winters Tale, iv., 3. She would not exchange flesh with one that loved her.

1605. Cymbeline, i., 5. Tf you buy ladies' flesh at a million a dram you cannot preserve it from tainting.

1620. Percy. Folio MSS. [Hales & Furnivall, 1867J. 'As I was ridinge by the way.' Sweet hart, shall I put my flesh in thine ?

Flesh, verb., or, Flesh It ; or, to be fleshed in (venery).—To have carnal knowledge of—to be ' one flesh with ' — a woman. [For synonyms, see Greens and

Ride.] An equivalent in the

passive sense is to feel his

flesh in one's body (said by

women only).

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wördes, Andarin Camafau. To go a fleshing or a wenching: (Camafau = the brat-gettingplace ; the hole of content).

Flesh and Blood, subs. phr. (common).—Brandy and port in equal proportions. See Drinks.

Flesh-bag, subs, (common). — A shirt or chemise.

English Synonyms. — Biled rag (American) ; camesa; carrioncase ; commission ; dickey (formerly a worn-out shirt) ; gad (gipsv) ; lully ; mill tog; mish ; narp (Scots') ; shaker ; shimmy ( = a chemise, Marryat) ; smish.

French Synonyms. — Une liquette or limace (thieves' : from the Gypsy. The form also occurs also in the Italian lima) ; un panais (popular).

German Synonyms.—Kamis, Kamsel, Kemsel, or Gemsel (from med. Lât., Camisiale ; Fr. camisole) ; Kesones, Kusones, or Ksones (also = cotton and underclothing ) ; Staude or Stauden; Hanfstandt (Libtr Vagatorum : literally hempshrub).

Italian Synonym. — Lima

(see Fr., limace).

1820. London Magazine, 1., 29. They are often without a flesh-bag to their backs.

Flesh-broker, subs. (old).—1.

A match-maker.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew. Flesh-broker, a match-maker ; also a bawd ; between whom but little difference, for they both (usually) take money.

2. A procuress [Grose]. Cf., Flesh-fly, Flesh-monger,

Flesh-fly. ²¹ Flick.

and Flesh-market. For synonyms, see Mother.

Flesh-fly (also, Flesh-maggot), subs. (old). — A whoremaster. For synonyms, see Molrower.

1781. Cowper, Progress of Error, 323-324. Oh ! that a verse had power, and could command far, Far away, these fleshflies of the land.

Flesh-market, or Fleshshambles, subs, (common).— A brothel or flash-house {q.v.); also the pavement, in Piccadilly or Regent street, for instance, where whores do congregate. Cf., Meatmarket.

1608. John Day, Humour out of

Breath, II. I Asp.....She may bee

well discended ; if shee be, Shee's fit for love, and why not then for me. Boy. And you be not fitted in Venice 'tis straunge, for 'tis counted the best flesh-shambles in Italie.

Flesh-monger, subs. (old).—A procurer ; a whore-master. [From Eng. Flesh + monger]. For synonyms, see Mother and Molrower. Cf., Flesh-fly, Flesh-market, and Fleshbroker.

1603. Shakspeare, Measure for Measure, V., t. And was the duke a flesh-monger, a fool, and a coward, as you then reported him to be ?

Fleshmongering. Togofleshmongering, verb. phr. (venery). —To quest for women ; to go on the prowl (q.v.)., or after meat. See Greens and Ride.

Flesh-pot. Sighing for the flesh-pots of Egypt, phr. (common).—Hankering for good things no longer at command. [Biblical].

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 131. Do you think it is a hankering after the flesh-pots, and that the canon's cook reconciles me to the canon's opinions ?

Flesh-tailor, subs. (old).—A surgeon. For synonyms, see Sawbones.

1633. Ford, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, iii. Oh, help ! help ! help ! Oh, for a flesh-tailor quickly.

Fleshy, subs. (Winchester College).—See Cat's Head.

Fletch, subs, (prison). A spurious coin. Cf., Flatch.

Flick, or Flig, subs, (colloquial). —I. A cut with a whip-lash ; hence, a blow of any sort. A flicking is often administered by schoolboys with a damp towel or pocket-handkerchief. For synonyms, see tanning.

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. VI., ch. ii. ' I do know you are a woman,' cries the squire, ' and it's well for thee, that art one ; if had'st been a man, I promise thee I had lent thee a flick long ago.

1787. Grose, Provincial Glossary, s.v. vlick.

2. (common).—A jocular salutation ; usually old flick. Cf._tCodger and My Tulip.

1883. Punch, 28 July, p. 38, col. 1. Well, last night, They'd a feet in these gardens, old flick, as was something too awfully quite.

Verb, (thieves').—1. To cut.

1690. B.E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew. Flicking, c. , to cut, cutting.

1728. Bailey, Eng. Diet, (flick is given as a ' country word ').

1785. Grose, Diet. Vulg. TongueFlick me some pannam and cassan, cut me some bread and cheese ; flick the peter, cut off the cloak bag or portmanteau.

Flicker.

Flier.

1791. Carew, Life and Adventutes,

q.v.

1837. Disraeli, Venetia, ch. xiv. Flick the bread, cut the bread.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum or Rogue's Lexicon, s.v. Flick the Peter and rake the swag for I want to pad my beaters.

2. (colloquial). — To strike with, or as with, a whip.

1836. Dïckems, Pickwick, ch. xliïL. Near him, leaning listlessly against the wall, stood a strong-built countryman, flicking with a worn-out hunting whip the top-boot that adorned his right foot.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xxvii. Who . , . receives this compliment by flicking Mr. George in the face with a head of greens.

1854. Our Cruise in the Undine, p. 103. It appeared to us that one of the most frequent, and therefore we supposed the principal stroke aimed at (in a Heidelberg duel), was to strike your sword low down, perhaps four inches from the handle, upon your adversary's bandaged arm, so that the end of the weapon (the only part that is sharpened) should fljck itself against your opponent's face.

1863. Hon. Mrs. Norton, Lost and Saved_y p. 29. Drivers shouting, swearing, and flicking at the horses.

Flicker, subs. (Old Cant).—A drinking glass.

1690. B.E., New Diet.of the Canting Crew. Flicker, c., a drinking-glass. Flicker snapt, c., the glass is broken; Nim the flicker, c., steal the glass ; Rum flicker, c., a largeglass or rummer ; Queer flicker, c., a green or ordinary glass.

French Synonyms. — Une lampe (masons') ; un guindal (popular) ; un godet (very old) ; une gobette (thieves') ; un gobeson (thieves').

Verb. i. To drink.—Matsell.

2. (old).—To laugh wantonly ; also to kiss, or lewdly fondle a woman.—Palsgrave. For synonyms, see Firkytoodle.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew, s.v. Flicker, to grin or flout.

Also Flicking = (i) drinking, and (2) wanton laughter.

Let her flicker, phr. (American).—Said of any doubtful issue : ' let the matter take its chance.'

FLtCKET-A-FLACKET, adv. (old).

—Onomatopoetic for a noise of Sapping an-d flicking.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., ii., 20. Their bellies went flicket-a-flacket.

Flier or Flyer, subs, (sacing and yachting).—1. A horse or boat of great speed jalso (American railway) a fast train ; hence, by implication,any thing of excellence. Cf., Dasher, Daisy, etc. Also adj., = keen for.

1865. Braddon, Henry Dunbar, ch.. xxii. The mare's in splendid condition ; well, you saw her take her trial gallop the other morning, and you must know she's a flier, so I won't talk about her.

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post t? Finish, p. 156. Atalanta might be a flyer, but an artist like Pycroft, with a clever colt like Newsmonger under him, was quite likely ta outride whatever boy Mr. Pipes might now be able to pick up.

1888. St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 2 Mar. In spite of the strike passenger trains, what are known as the flyers, are running with reasonable regularity.

1890, Bird o' Freedom, 19 Mar., p. i, col. i. Clearly the G.O.M. is no flier over this course.

1891. Licensed Victuallers' Gazette, 20 Mar. Although he may doubtless be made a good deal better he may turn out to be no flier.

1891. Bury and Hillier. Cycling, p. 6. A moderate rider, not being an athlete or a flier . . . can . . . get over in an hour seven or eight miles of ground on a tricycle.

Flies.

Flim-flam.

1891. Anti-Jacobin, 23 May, p. 400. When Dangerous, Plenipotentiary, Bay Middleton, and other flyers ran.

1891. Morning Advertiser, 28 Mar. In any event, he was never a flyer at breakfast. But late at night, and when, perhaps, he tumbled across something equivalent to woodcock, tripe and onions, or a hot lobster, say, why then, take my word for it, he made up for previous abstinence.

1891. National Observer, 1 Aug. It remains to be seen whether large yachts constructed on the same principle will be equally invincible : that is, if the flyers we have are one and all to disappear.

2. (football).—A shot in the air. See Made-flyer.

3. (American).—A small handbill ; a Dodger (q.v.).

To take a flier (American trade).—1. To make a venture ; to invest against odds.

2. (venery). — To copulate in haste (Grose) ; to do a Fastfuck (q.v.).

Flies, subs, (rhyming). — Lies. Hence, nonsense; trickery ; deceit.

There are no flies on me, on him, etc., phr. (common).— ⁴1 am dealing honestly with you;' 'he is genuine, and is not humbugging.' In America, the expression is used of (1) a man of quick parts, a man who ' knows a thing without its being kicked into him by a mule ' ; and (2) a person of superior breeding or descent. Sometimes the phrase is corrupted into ' no fleas. ' See Gammon.

1868. DiPROSE, St. Clement Danes, Past and Present. To Deaf Burke, the celebrated pugilist, is attributed the old story of the ' flies and the gin and water ; " and hence the term ' no flies ' became prevalent. Burke had ordered .... some hot and strong and a dash of lemon. ' Thegoblet was brought . . . Burke raised . . . the nectar to his lips, and beheld some

dissipated flies lying at the bottom of the tumbler ; he placed the glass on the table, and deliberately removed the flies with the spoon, five or six in number, and laid them side by side before him, and then giving a hearty pull at the gin and water, he as deliberately replaced the flies .... and passed it to his friend. His companion stared angrily. ' Do you dare to insult me, and in the presence of company ? ' said the irate vis-à-vis. ' Pardon me,' replied Burke, quietly handing the glass a second time, 'though i don't drink flies myself, i didn't know but what others might.'

1888. Detroit Free Press, 25 Aug. There ain't no flies on him, signifies, that he is not quiet long enough for moss to grow on his heels, that he is wide awake.

1888. Missouri Republican, 24 Feb. People who are capable of descending to New York and Boston English are fully justified in saying that there are no flies on st. louis or the St. Louis delegation either.

Fligger (also Flicker), verb.(o\à). —To grin.

1720. Durfey Pills, etc., vi., 267. He FLiGGERED, and told me for all my brave alls He would have a stroke.

Flim.—See Flimsy.

Flim-flam, subs. (old).—An idle story; a sham; a robinhood tale (q.v.). A duplication of Flam (q.v.).

1589. Pappe with an Hatchet (ed. 1844) p. 39. Trusse up thy packet of flim-flams, and roage to some countrey faire, or read \t among boyes in the belfrie.

1630. Taylor, Workes. They with a courtly tricke, or a flim-flam, do nod at me, whilst i the noddy am.

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. xviii., ch. xii. i thought thou had'st been a lad of higher mettle than to give way to a parcel of maidenish tricks. I tell thee 'tis all flim-flam.

1780. Mrs. Cowley, The Belle's Stratagem, iii., 1. Mr. Curate, don't think to come over me with your flimflams, for a better man than ever trod in your shoes is coming over-sea to marry me.

Flimp.

24 Flimsy.

1805. Isaac Disraeli, Flim-flams; or the Life and Errors of my Uncle, and the Amours of my Aunt [title].

1825. C. Lamb, Munden (in London Magazine) Feb. I wonder you can put such flim-flams upon us, sir.

Adj. (old).—Idle ; worthless.

1589. T$ashk,Month's Minde, in wks. Vol. I., p. 174. But to leaue thy flimflam tales and loytering lies.

1598. Florio, A IVorlde of Wördes. Filastroccola, flim-flam tales, old wiues tales as they tell when they spinne, a tale without rime or reason, or head or foote.

1633. T. Newton, Lennies Touchstone of Complexions, p. 120. Reporting a flim-flam tale of Robin Hood.

1750. Ozell's Rabelais, vol. V«, p247. Glibly swallow down every flimflam story that's told them.

1853. Lytton, My Novel, bk. X., ch. xix. I wish you'd mind the child—it is crumpling up and playing almighty smash with that flim-flam book, which cost me one pound one.

Flimp, verb, (thieves')—i. To hustle or rob. To put on the flimp = to rob on the highway. For synonyms, see Crack and Prig.

1839. Brandon, Poverty, Mendicity, and Crime, p. in. To take a man's watch is to flimp him, it can only be done in a crowd, one gets behind and pushes him in the back, while the other in front is robbing him.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3rd ed., p. 445, s.v.

2. (venery). — To copulate. For synonyms, see Ride.

Flim ping, subs, (thieves').—Stealing from the person.

1857. Ducange Anglicus, The Vulgar Tongue, p. 38. He told me as Bill had flimped a yack.

1862. Cornhill Mag., vol. vi., p. 651. We are going a-* limping, buzzing, cracking, etc.

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. lx. Flim ping is a style of theft which I have never practised, and, consequently of which I know nothing.

Fli msy, or Flim , subs, (common).— i. A bank-note. [From the thinness of the paper. ] Soft-flimsy = a note drawn on 'The Bank of Elegance,' or ' The Bank of Engraving.' For synonyms, see Soft.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1818. P. Egan, Boxiana, iv., 443. Martin produced some flimsies and said he would fight on Tuesday next.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends ('Merchant of Venice'). Not 'kites, manufactured to cheat and inveigle, But the right sort of flimsy, all sign'd, by Monteagle.

1855. Punch, XXIX., 10. 'Will you take it in flimsies, or will you have it all in tin ? '

1870. Chambers Journal, 9 July, p. 448. ' What would it be worth ? ' 'A flim, Sam.'

1884. Daily Telegraph, 8 Apl., col. 3. One of the slang terms for a spurious bank-note is a soft-flimsy.

1891. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up ! p. 149. Next morning when I went to the bank to collect the swag, they stopped the flimsy, and had me arrested before I could look round.

2. (journalists').—News of all kinds ; points (q.v.). [From the thin prepared paper used by pressmen for making several copies at once]. First used at Lloyd's.

1861. Cornhill Magazine, iv., 199 'At Westminster,' my lord is neither a mumbling nor a short-tempered judge ; he will . . . read them a great deal of his notes, which are a thousand-fold clearer, fuller, and more accurate than the reporter's flimsy.

1865. Morning Star('The Flaneur'). A London correspondent, who, by the aid of flimsy misleads a vast number of provincial papers.

1870. London Figaro, 23 Sept. ' Special Lining.' We do not think it is

Flinders. 25 Flint.

altogether worthy of the high repute of the Pall Matt Gazette to publish flimsy as a special correspondence.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xviii. The sharpest of the reporters had his flimsy up in a minute, and took notes of the proceedings.

Flinders, subs. (common). — Pieces infinitesimally small.

1870. New York EveningSun, 24 May. Report of Speech of Mr. Chandler. Let us knock the British crown to flinders ; let us arrange for some one or two hundred thousand British graves forthwith, and cabbage the whole boundless continent without any further procrastination.

Fling, subs, (colloquial).—i. A fit of temper.

2. (common). — A jeer ; a jibe ; a personal allusion or attack.

1592. Shakspeare, / Henry VI., iii.,i. Then would I have a fling at Winchester.

1888. Star, 10 Oct. Those writers who had a fling at Iddesleigh after his poor running at Stockton will have to take their words back some day.

1890. Pall Mall Gazette, 24 July, p. 4. col. 2. As the disputants warmed up, little personal flings were of course introduced

Verb (old).—I. To cheat ; to get the best of ; to do (q.v. ) or diddle.—Grose.

183". Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. xxi. Flung the governor out of a guinea.

2. (Scots).—To dance.

1790. Burns, Tarn O' Shanter. To tell how Maggie lapt and flang (A souple jaud she was, and Strang).

3. (venery).—To move in the act; to back-up (q.v.). Fr., ' frizer la queue —to wriggle the tayle (in leachering). ' — Cotgrave.

1539. David Lyndsay, Three Estaitis, Works (Ed. Laing, Edinburgh, 1879). I traist sehe sal find you flinging your fill.

To Fling Out, verb. phr. (colloquial). — To depart in a hurry, and, especially, in a temper.

To fling (or flap) it in one's face, verb. phr. (prostitutes')— To expose the person.

In a fling, adv. phr. (colloquial).—In a spasm of temper.

To have one's fling, verb, phr. (colloquial).—To enjoy full liberty of action or conduct. Cf., High Old Time.

1624. Beaumont and Fletcher, Rule a Wife, &*c, iii., 5. I'll have a fling.

1846-8. Thackeray. Vanity Fair, ch. xiii.' Hang it ; the regiment's just back from the West Indies, I must have a little fling, and then when I'm married I'll reform.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, II., 118. I don't want to marry until I have had my fling, you know.

1880. Gilbert, Pirates of Penzance. Peers will be peers, And youth will have His flinq.

1891. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up! p. 253. If policy (police) show up, then you let me have my fling, eh ?

TO fling dirt.—See dirt.

Fling er, subs. (Scots).—A dancer.

1821. Scott, Pirate, ch. ix. That's as muckle as to say, that I suld hae minded you was a flinger and a fiddler yoursel', Maister Mordaunt.

Fling-Dust, subs. (old).—a streetwalker. For synonyms, see barrack-hack and tart.

Flint, subs, (workmen's). A man working for a 'Union' or 'fair' house; non-Unionists are dung (q.v.). Both terms occur in Foote's burlesque, The Tailors: a Tragedy for Warm Weather, and they received a fresh lease of popularity during the tailors'

Flip.

Flip-flap.

strike of 1832. See quots. Cf., Scab Soc, Snob, Snob-stick, and Knobstick.

1785. Grose, Diet. Vulg. Tongue, flints, journeyman taylors who, on a late occasion, refused to work for the wages settled by law. Those who submitted were by the mutineers stiled dungs, i.e., dunghills.

1832. P. Egan, Book of Sports, p. 34. Jack Reeve is without a rival ; the throne of the flints is decidedly freehold property to him.

1834. Nodes Amb., xxxiv., vol. IV., p. 83. (The company is discussing the tailors' strike). Tickler. The flints flash fire, and the day of the dungs is gone.

Old flint, subs. phr. (common). A miser : one who would 'skin a flint,' i.e., stoop to any meanness for a trifle.

1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ch. vii., p. 34. It's equally plain that the money which the old flint—rot him— first taught me to expect that I should share with her at his death, will all be hers.

To fix one's flint. See Fix.

To flint in, verb. phr. (American). To act with energy; not to stand on ceremony; to pitch into ; to tackle. A verb of action well-nigh as common as fix (q.v.).

Flip, subs, (common).—1. Hot beer, brandy, and sugar ; also, say sGrose, called S1 rC lo u des ley after Sir Cloudesley Shovel. See Drinks.

1690. B. E., New Did. of the Canting Crew. flip, Sea Drink, of small beer (chiefly) and brandy, sweetened and spiced upon occasion.

1690. Ward, London Spy, part II., p. 41. After the drinking a Kan of Phlip or a Bowl of Punch.

1705. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. I., pt. 4, p. 8. So have I seen on board of ship, Some knawing beeff, some spewing flip.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch xxiv. He . . . sent for a can of beer, of which he made excellent flip to crown the banquet.

1810. Crabbe, The Borough, Letter 16. Nay, with the seamen working in the ship, At their request, he'd share the grog and flip.

1875. C. D. Warner, Backlog Studies, p. 18. It was thought best to heat the poker red-hot before plunging it into the mugs of flip.

2. (popular). — A bribe or douceur.

3. (common).—A light blow, or snatch.

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 23. Barney made a very unceremonious flip at the bit.

Verb (thieves').—To shoot. 1819. Vaux, Flash Diet., s.v.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood (ed 1864), p. 273. Flip him, Dick ; fire, or I'm taken.

To flip up verb. phr. (American).—To spin a coin.

1879. New York Tribune, 4 Oct. The two great men could flip up to see which should have the second place.

Flip-Flap, subs, i (old).—I. A flighty creature.

1702. Vanbrugh, False Friend. 1. The light airy flip-flap, she kills him with her motions.

2. (popular). A step-dance ; a cellar-flap (q.v.). Also (acrobats') ; a kind of somersault, in which the performer throws himself over on his hands and feet alternately.

1727. Gay, Fables, ' Two Monkies.' The tumbler whirls the flip-flap round. With sommersets he shakes the ground.

1872. Braddon, Dead Sea Fruit, ch. xiv. There ain't nothing you can't do, Morty, from Shylock to a flip-flap.

Flipper.

Floater.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 12 Nov., p. 6, col. 2. There were the clowns who danced, turned somersaults, flip-flaps, and contorted themselves.

3. (American). A kind of tea-cake.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly,^ ch. xviii. The first evening I took tea with Mrs. Scrimmager. 'It must be more than a mite lonely for you,' she said, as we sat over her dough-nuts and flipflaps.

4. (nautical). The arm. For synonyms, see Bender.

5. (venery). The penis.

1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, I., 20. I might have cleft her water-gap And joined it close with my flip-flap.

Flipper, subs. (nautical and common). 1. The hand. Tip us your flipper = give me your hand. [From the flipper or paddle of a turtle.] For synonyms, see Daddle and Mauley.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, 'Lay of St. Gengulphus.' _ With those great sugar-nippers they nipp'd off his flippers, As the clerk, very flippantly, termed his fists.

1884. Punch, 11 Oct. 'Arry at a Political Picnic' Old Bluebottle tipped me his flipper, and 'oped I'd ' refreshed,' and all that.

2. (common). See Flapper.

3. (theatrical). Part of z, scene, hinged and painted on both sides, used in trick changes.

Flirtatious, adj. (American)^— Flighty.

1881. W. D. Howells, D. Breen's Practice, ch,. i., "Oh, you needn't look after her. Mr. Libby ! There's nothing flirtatious about Grace," said Mrs. Maynard.

Flirt-gill, Flirtgillian, or Gill-flirt, subs. (old). A wanton ; a chopping girl {q.v. );

specifically a strumpet. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, ii., 4. Scurvy knave ! I am none of his flirt-gills.

1713. Guardian, No. 26. We are invested with a parcel of flirt-gills, who are not capable of being mothers of brave men.

1729. Gav, Polly, ii. 4. While a man is grappling with these gillflirts, pardon the expression, Captain, he runs his reason aground.

1822. Scott, Fort, of Nigel, ch. v. She is a dutiful girl to her god-father, though I sometimes call her a jill-flirt.

Flirtina Cop-all, subs. phr. (common). A wanton, young or old ; a men's woman (q.v.).

Float, subs, (theatrical).—The footlights : before the invention of gas they were oil-pans with floating wicks. Cf., Ark-floater.

1886. Saturday Review, 24 July, p. 108. To an actor the float is not what it is to a fisherman.

1889. Answers, 8 June, p. 24. He slapped me on the back, put me in a hansom, and cried, ' We'll have you behind the float (footlights) in a week.'

If that's the way the stick floats. See Stick.

Floater, subs_K (Stock Exchange). —An Exchequer bill ; applied also to other unfunded stock.

1871. Temple Bar, XXXI., 320. On the Stock Exchange, where slang abounds, floaters is a term which would puzzle outsiders. Floaters are Exchequer bills and their unfunded stock.

2. (common).—A suet dump^ ling in soup.

3. (political).—A vendible voter,

1883. Graphic, 17 Mar., p. 279, col. 3. 'How many voters are there?' asked candidate in one of these pure-blooded

Floating Academy.

Flog.

Yankee townships. ' Fourhundred.' 'And how many floaters, i.e., purchasable?' ' Four hundred.'

1888. New York Herald, 4 Nov. The Building Materials Exchange people were in line to the number of about 200, with a band, snd were followed by a sixteen-horse stage of the ' Long Tom ' shape containing a lot of floaters and some fifers and drummers.

4. (Western American). — A candidate representing several counties, and therefore not considered directly responsible to any one of them.

1853. Texas State Gazette, 16 July. J. W. Lawrence, Esq., requests us to withdraw his name as a candidate for floater in the district composed of the counties of Fayette, Bastrop, and Travis.

5. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Floating Academy, subs. phr. (old).—The hulks; also Campbell's academy {q.v.), and floating hell {q.v.). For synonyms, see Cage.

Floating Batteries, subs. phr. (military). — i. Broken bread in tea ; also slingers {q.v.).

2. (American). — The Confederate bread rations during the Secession.

Floating Coffin, subs. phr. (nautical).—A rotten ship.

Floating Hell,or HellAfloat, subs. phr. (nautical). —A ship commanded by (1) a brutal savage, or (2) a ruthless disciplinarian. See also Floating Academy.

Flock, subs, (colloquial).—A clergyman's congregation. Also any body of people with a common

haunt or interest : e.g., a family of children, a company of soldiers, a school of girls or boys, ' a cabful of molls,' and such like.

To fire into the wrong flock, verb. phr. (American pioneers'). — To blunder. A variant is to bark up the wrong tree.

1858. New York Herald, 9 Nov. When Mr. Saulsbury rose and called the Speaker's attention to the alleged blunder in the Secretary's report, his own friends jumped up in great excitement and pulled him down ; he soon found out that he had

fired into the wrong flock.

Flock of Sheep, subs. phr.—i. (gaming). A hand at dominoes set out on the table.

2. (colloquial).—White waves on the sea : White horses {q.v. ).

Flog, subs. (American thieves').— i. A whip. A contraction of Flogger {q.v.). To flog (now recognised), is cited by B. E. (1690), Grose, and the author of Bacchus and Venus as Cant.

To be flogged at the tumbler, verb, phr. (old). —To be whipped at the cart's tail. See Tumbler.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew.

TO flog the dead horse,

verb. phr. (common). — 1. To work up an interest in a bygone subject ; to try against heart ; to do with no will nor liking for the job. [Bright said that Earl Russell's Reform Bill was a dead horse {q.v.), and every attempt to create enthusiasm in its favour

was flogging the dead horse.]

2. (nautical).—To work off an advance of wages.

Flogger. ²9 Floor.

To flog a willing horse,

verb. phr. (common).—To urge on one who is already putting forth his best energies.

Flogger, subs. (old).—i. A whip; cf., Flog. Grose gives the word as Cant. Fr., un bouts.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life s Painter, p. 173, s.v.

2. (theatrical).—A mop (i.e., a bunch of slips of cloth on a handle) used in the painting room to whisk the charcoal dust from a sketch.

Flogging,///, adj. (old).—Careful; penurious.

Flogging-cove, subs. phr. (prison)—1. An official who administers the cat [q.v.).

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew. Flogging cove, c. the Beadle, or Whipper in Bridewell, or any such place.

1785. Grose, Diet. Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Flogging-cove, the beadle, or whipper, in Bridewell.

2. See Flogging Cully.

Flogging Cully, subs. phr. ( venery ). — A man addicted, whether from necessity or choice, to flagellation ; a whipster (q.v.).

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew. Flogging, c. a Naked Woman's whipping (with rods) an Old (usually) and (sometimes) a young Lecher.

Flogging Stake, subs. phr. (old). —A whipping post.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

Flogster, subs. (old). — One addicted to flogging. Specifically (naval), a nickname applied to

the Duke of Clarence (afterwards William IV).

Floor, verb, (colloquial).—1. To knock down. Hence to vanquish in argument ; to make an end of ; to defeat ; to confound. See Floored and Dead-beat.

1785. Grose, Diet. Vulg. Tongue. Floor the pig, knock down the officer.

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 15. That moment the farmer let fly at the drover, which floored him.

1857. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. xxi. ' When I saw him so floored as not to be able to come to time, I knew there had been some hard hitting going on thereabouts, so I kept clear.'

1821. Eg an, Tom and Jerry, p. 10. Then (apostrophising ' Maga ') floor me not. Ibid., p. 60, The Corinthian, being no novice in these matters, floored two or three in a twinkling.

1835. Coleridge, Table Talk (pub1 ished posthumously). The other day I was what you may called floored by a jew.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickiuick Papers p. 425 (Ed. 1857). Even Mr. Bob Sawyer . . . . was floored.

1862. Mrs. H. Wood, The Channings, ch. v. ' So if the master is directing his suspicions to the seniors, he'll get floored.'

1870. L. Oliphant, Piccadilly, Pt. V., p. 196. 'Whenever the mammas object to asking her on account of that horrid Lady Wylde,' I floor all opposition by saying, ' Oh, Lady Jane Heiter will bring her.'

1888. Sportsman, 28 Nov. Pope, who was the fresher, started at a terrific pace and drove his man all over the ring, ending by flooring him.

TO floor the odds.

(betting men's).—Said of a lowpriced horse that pulls off the event in face of the betting.

1882. Daily Telegrafh, 16 Nov. The odds were, nevertheless, floored from an unexpected quarter.

Floor.

Floored.

1889. Echo, 24 Jan. As the odds betted on Miss Jessie II. were easily floored by Marsden.

2. (drunkards'). — To finish ; to get outside of. E.g., ' I floored three half-pints and a nip before breakfast.'

1837. Punch, 31 Jan. Dear Bill, this stone jug. ... Is still the same snug, Free-and-easy old hole, Where Macheath met his blowens, and Wylde floored his bowl.

18(?). Macmillaris Magazine (quoted in Century Diet). I have a few bottles of old wine left : we may as well floor them.

3. (university). — To pluck ; to plough (q.v. ).

TO floor a paper, lesson, examination, examiner, etc.,

verb. phr. (university). — To answer every question ; to master ; to prove oneself superior to the otcasion.

1852. Bristed, Five Years in an English University, p. 12. Somehow I nearly floored the paper.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford. I've floored my Little Go.

To floor one's licks, verb, phr. (common). — To surpass one's self ; to cut-around (q.v.)

1844. Puck, p. 14. Now slowly rising, raised his pewter and floored his licks.

TO have, hold, or take

the floor, verb. phr. (colloquial). — To rise to address a public meeting ; in Ireland, to stand up 1o dance; and, in America, ' to be in possession of the House.'

1882. McCabe^ New York, xxi., p. 342. A member making a bid below or an offer above the one which has the floor.

1888. St. Louis Globe-Democrat. After a half hour's recess Mr. Glover

TOOK THE FLOOR.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 11 Nov., p. 6, col. i. The Duke of Rutland, however, who ' took the floor ' nonpolitically at the end of the evening, was really 'felicitous ' in his few remarks.

Floored, ppl. adj. (colloquial).— i. Vanquished ; brought under ; ruined. For synonyms, see Deadbeat and infra.

English Synonyms.—Basketted ; bitched ; bitched-up; bowled out ; broken up ; buggered up ; busted; caved in; choked-off; cornered ; cooked ; coopered up ; dead-beat ; done brown ; done for ; done on toast ; doubled up; flattened-out ; fluffed ; flummoxed ; frummagemmed ; gapped; gone through St. Peter's needle ; gone under ; gravelled ; gruelled ; hoofed out ; in the last of peatime, or last run of shad ; jackedup ; knocked out of time ; knocked silly; looed; mucked-out; petered out; pocketed ; potted ; put in his little bed ; queered in his pitch ; rantanned ; sat upon ; sewn up ; shut-up ; smashed to smithereens; snashed ; snuffed out ; spreadeagled ; struck of a heap ; stumped ; tied up ; timbered ; treed ; trumped ; up a tree.

French Synonyms. — Mon linge est lavé (pop. : = I have thrown up the sponge) ; coller sous bande ( = to put in a hole : at billiards, bande = cushion) ; avoir son affaire (pop : = to have got a 'settler'); aplatir (fam : = to flatten out) ; aplomber (thieves' : = to brazen down ; to bluff) ; être pris dans la balancine (pop. : =to be in a fix) ; se faire coller (familiar) ; envoyer quelqu'un s'asseoir, or s'asseoir sur quelqu'un (popular).

Italian Synonym.— Traboccare ( = to overturn).

Floorer. 3*

Flop.

Spanish Synonyms.—Pesado (doubled-up : from peso = weight) ; aculado (from acular=to corner) ; arrollar ( = to sweep away, as a torrent) ; aturrullar ( = to shut up) ; cogite ! ( = ¹ I've got you/ or, ' there I have you ! ')

2. (common). — Drunk ; in Shakspearean ' put down ' : as Sir Andrew Aguecheek, ' Never in your life, I think, unless you see Canary put me down. ' ( Twelfth Night, i., 3). For synonyms, see Screwed.

3. (painters').—Hung low at an exhibition ; in contradistinction to skyed (q.v.), and on the line (q.v.).

Floorer, subs. (common). — i. An auctioneer (q.v.) ; or knock-down blow; cf., Dig, Bang, and Wipe. Hence, sudden or unpleasant news ; a decisive argument ; an unanswerable retort; a decisive check. Sp., peso.

1819. T. Moore, torn Crib's Memorial, p. 20 For in these fancy times, 'tis your hits in the muns, And your choppers and floorers that govern the funds.

1839. Swinton, Trial of IVm. Humphreys, p. 297. It is a downright floorer to the Grown.

1856. Bradley ('Cuthbert Bede'), Adventures of Mr. Verdant Green. The Putney Pet stared . . . The inquiry for his college was, in the language of his profession, a ' regular floorer.'

1861. H. C. Pennell, Puck on Pegasus, p. 20. What a floorer to my hopes is this performance on the ropes ! Miss Marianne suspensa scalis—(Would twere sus. per coll instead).

1868. Casseiïs Magazine, 4 Jan., p. 213. ⁴ Ah, she hasn't told you of the strokes I have had, one arter the other— clean floorers, and left like a log of wood in my bed.'

2. (schools').—A question, or a paper, too hard to master.

3. (bowling alley).—A ball that brings down all the pins.

4. (thieves').—A thief who trips his man, and robs in picking him up ; a Ramper (q.v.).

1809. G. Andrews, Diet, of the Slang and Cant Languages, s.v.

floori n g, subs, (pugilists').— Knocking down. Hence, to vanquish in all senses.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib's Memorial, p. xii. Cross-buttocking . . . being as indispensable an ingredient, as nobbing, flooring, etc.

Floor-walker, subs. (American). —A shop-walker.

Flop, subs, and verb. (American university).—1. A bite (q.v.); a successful dodge.

1856. Hall, College Words and Customs. Any ' cute ' performance by which a man is sold is a good flop, and by a phrase borrowed from the base-ball ground is ' rightly played.' The discomfited individual declares that they ' are all on a side,' and gives up, or ' rolls over,' by giving his Opponent ' gowdy.' A man writes cards during examinations to ' feeze the profs ' ; said cards are 'gumming cards,' and he flops the examination if he gets a good mark by the means. One usually flops his marks by feigning sickness.

2. (common) —A sudden fall or ' flop ' down.

3. (common).—A collapse or breakdown.

4. (For flap or flip, old).— A light blow.

1662. Rump Songs, ii., 3. The good the Rump will do, when they prevail, Is to give us a flop with a fox's tail, Which nobody can deny.

Flop. 3² Flounder.

Verb, (colloquial).—I. To fall, or flap down suddenly. A variant of'flap.' Fr., prendre un billet de parterre.

1742. Fielding, Joseph Andrews, bk. iv. ch. v. She had flopped her hat over her eyes.

1859. Dickens, Tale of Two Cities bk. ii. ch. i. If you must go flopping yourself down.

1870. Public Opinion, 12 Feb. But even if they were more numerous and greater than they are, we should hold aloof from the crowd that flops in his presence with love and awe, as the dismal wife of Jerry Cruncher flopped in pious misery.

1883. The Theatre, Feb., p. 93. She is able to call in tumbling to the aid of tragedy, and bring the plastic arts to the portrayal of the passions ; to flop through four such acts as these night after night, and finish with a death-scene warranted correct, to the verv last kick and quiver.

1891. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up! p. 118. He cursed under his breath each time he rose to follow, and smothered a yell of pain and horror each time he flopped down.

2. (pugilists').—To knock down; to Floor {q.v.).

1888. Sporting Life, 15 Dec. 'E carnt flop a bloke.

Adv. (colloquial).—An onomatopoeia expressive of the noise of a sudden and sounding fall. Often used expletively, as slap (q.v.) is, and the American right (q.v.)

1726. Vanbrugh, Journey to London, Act I., Sc. 2. That down came I flop o' my feace all along in the channel

1860. Punch, v. 38, p. 255. 'Twixt two stools, flop, he let me drop, The fall it was my murther.

1881. Jas. Payn, Grape from a Thorn, ch. vi. ' She'll roll down, papa, and come flop.'

To flop over, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To turn heavily; hence (in America), to make a sudden change of sides, association, or allegiance.

Flop-Up, subs. (American).—A day's tramp, as opposed to a sotdown = half a day's travel.

1888. Detroit Free Press, 15 Sept. ' Stranger, did ye lope it?' (come on foot). 'Yes.' ' A mile or a sot down ? ' ' More'n that. About a dozen flop-ups.'

Flop-up-time = Bedtime.

[Flop, too, is something of a vocable of all-work. Thus to flop iN=(venery) to effect intromission ; to flop round = toloaf; to dangle; to flop a jUDY = to lay out, or ' spread' (q.v.), a girl ; to do a Fi-OP=(colloquial)to sit, or to fall, down, and (venery) to lie down to a man ; to flop out = to leave the water noisily and awkwardly ; belly-FLOPriNG = belly-bumping, coition ; a flop in the gills=a smack in the mouth. 1

Florence, subs, (old)—'A wench that has been touzed and ruffled.'

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew, and (1785) Grose, s.v.

Floster, subs, (common). — A mixed drink : sherry, noyau, peach-leaves, lemon, sugar, ice, and soda-water. Cf., Fleshand-blood.

Flouch. To fall (or go), flouch (or floush), verb. phr. (colloquial).—To come to pieces ; to sag suddenly on the removal of a restraining influence : as a pair of stays.

1819. MooREj Tom Crib, p. 13. Old Georgy went floush, and his backers look'd shy.

Flounce, verb, (colloquial).—To move with violence, and (generally) in anger. Said of women, for whom such motion is, or rather was, inseparable from a great flourishing of flounces.

flounder,i"«^. (riverside thieves'). —i. A drowned corpse. Cf., Dab, and for synonyms, see Stiff.

Flounder-and-Dab. 33 Flue.

2. {Stock Exchange).—To seil, and afterwards re-purchase a stock, or vice versa.

1889. Echo, i Feb. A third expedient offers itself—namely, to turn round and buy ; but this operation goes by the name of 'floundering' especially when the speculator loses both ways.

Flounder-and-Dab, subs, phr, (rhyming).—A cab. For synonyms, see Growler.

Flou-r, subs. (American).—Money, For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

Flourish, subs, (venery).—Coition in a hurry; flyer (q.v.) ; a fastfuck(^.z\). Also verbally. For synonyms "see Greens and Ride.

1796. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd ed.), s.v. To enjoyaAvoman with her clothes on or without going to bed.

Verb (colloquial.)—To be in luck : e.g., ' I flourish ' = ' I am well off ; ' Do you flourish,' or * Are you flourishing ?' = ' Have you got any money ?'

Flourishing,^', (colloquial). —A retort to the enquiry, ' How are you ?' The equivalent of ' Pretty well, thank you ?'

To flourish it, verb. phr. (venery).—To-expose the person.

Flower, subs, (venery).—1. The itmaXepudendum. Also Flowerpot. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

2. In pi. (conventional).—The menstrual flux. Cf., Flag, sense 3.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wördes. Biancure, the monthly flowers that 'women have.

161L Cotgrave, Dictionarie. Lt fourrier de la lune a marqué le logis, applicable to a woman that hath her flowers.

Flower-Fancier, subs. phr. (venery),—A whore-master.

Flowery, subs, (thieves').—Lodging ; entertainment ; ' square the omee for the flowery ' = pay the landlord for the lodging. [Lingua Franca.']

Flowery Language, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A euphemism for blasphemous and obscene speech.

Flower of Chivalry, subs. phr. (venery). — The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Flowing-hope, subs, (military).— A forlorn hope,

Flub-d\jb-and-Guff, subs. phr. (American). — Rhetorical embellishment; high-falutin' (q.v.).

1888. Detroit Free Press, August. Rev. Mr. Selah (to desk editor of the Daily Roarer) — ' Mr. Seezars, are you going to publish my prayer in full ?' Desk Editor-^ In full? Well, I guess not.' (Changing his tone)—' However, we'll do what we can for you. By swiping out

the flvb-dub-and-guff, I guess We'll

have room to put in the points.'

Flue, subs. (old). 1. The Recorder of London or any large town. Bamfylde Moore-Carew.

2. (colloquial). — The filth, part fluff, part hair, part dust, which collects under ill-kept beds, and at the junctures of sofas and chairs ; Beggar's Velvet (q. v. ).

I860. Dickens, Uncommercial Traveller. ' Arcadian London.¹ A power they possess of converting everything into flue. Such broken victuals as they take by stealth appear (whatever the nature

Flue-faker. 34 Flußness.

of the viands) to generate flue.....

Ibid. 'Refreshment for Travellers.' Take the old established Bull's Head . . . . with its old-established flue under its old established four-post bedsteads.

3. (common).—A contraction of 'influenza.'

Verb (common).—To put in pawn.

In (or up) the flue, phr. (common). — Pawned. For synonyms, see Pop.

1821. Real Life, etc., I., p. 366.

1851. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, II., p. 250. I've had sometimes to leave half my stock in flue with a deputy for a night's rest.

Up the flue (or spout), adj. phr. (colloquial). — Dead ; collapsed, mentally or physically.

To be up one's flue, verb, phr. (colloquial).—To be awkward for one. That's up your flue = That's a 'facer,' or that's up against you.

Flue-Faker (or Scraper), subs. (common).—A chimney-sweep. [From Flue + Faker (q.v.).] Minor clergy = young chimney sweeps. For synonyms, see Clergyman.

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry, p. 60. The ' office ' has been given to ' shove ¹ the poor flue-faker against Tom's light drab coat.

1859. Matsell. Vocabulum, or Rogue's Lexicon, s.v.

1882. Punch. LXXXIL.p. 185, col. 2.

Fluff (or Fluffings), subs, (railway clerks').—1. Short change given by booking-clerks. Thepracticeis known as Fluffing. Cf., Menavelings. Fr., des frtiges ( = more or less unlawful profits of any sort).

1890, Star, 27 Jan. Many porters on this line are but getting 15s. per week, and with regard to ' tips,' or, as we say, ' fluff '—well, would you not think it mean to tell your servant when you en

faged him that such were strictly foridden by punishment with dismissal, and then proclaim to the world that with good wages and tips your servant was well paid.

2. (theatrical).—'Lines' half learned and imperfectly delivered. Hence, To do a fluff = to forget one's part.

1891. WArcher, The World, p. 28, col. i, line 34. But even as seen through a cloud of fluff the burlesque is irresistibly amusing.

3. (venery).—The female pubic hair. For synonyms, see Fleece.

Verb, (railway clerks').—I. To give short change.

2. (common).—To disconcert, to Floor {q.v.). Cf., Fluff in the Pan = a failure.

3. (theatrical). — To forget one's part. Also To do a fluff.

Fluff it I Intj. (common).—An interjection of disapproval : 'Be off!' ' Take it away !'

Fluffer, subs, (common).—1. A drunkard. Cf., Fluffiness. •

2. (theatrical). — A player 'rocky on his lines'; i.e., given to forgetting his part.

3. (old).—A term of contempt.

Fluffiness, subs, (common).— i. Drunkenness. Cf., Fluffy and Fluffer.

1886. Fun, 4 August, p. 44. A sullen-faced, clerical-looking young man, charged with fluffiness in a public conveyance, said he was sober as a judge when taken into custody.

Fluffy. 35 Flummergasted.

2» (theatrical).—The trick, or habit, of forgetting words.

Fluffy, adj. (common and theatrical).—Unsteady ; of uncertain memory. Cfi, Fluffer(sense 2), and Fluffiness (sense 2).

1885. Referee, July 26, p. 3, col. 2. In the last act Groves and one or two others were either what actors call fluffy in their lines, or else Mr. Cross was guilty of irritating tautology.

Fluke, subs, (common). — In

billiards, an accidental winning

hazard ; in all games a result not

played for; a crow (q.v.). In

yachting an effect of chance ; a

result in which seamanship has

had no part. Hence, a stroke of

luck. Sp., bambarria.

1857. Notes and Queries, 2 S. IV., p. 208, col. i. In playing at billiards, if a player makes a hazard, etc., which he did not play for, it is often said that he made a crow. . . . Another term is, ' He made a flook (or fluke).

1869. Whvte Melville, M or N, p. 10a ' Only lost a pony on the whole meeting,' answered Dick triumphantly. ' And even that was a fluke, because Bearwarden's Bacchante filly was left at the post.

1873. Black. Princess of Thüle, ch. xix, ' These conditions are not often fulfilled—it is a happy fluke when they are.

1880, Hawley Smart, Social Sinners, ch. xxxii. ' I suppose, by your asking the question, you have become acquainted with Mr. Solamo's past.' ' That's just it, Mr. Prossiter; by an odd fluke I have.'

1891. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up!'p. 144. He was now being cured only to be hanged, most kely, unless by some happy fluke he got off with imprisonment for life.

Verb (common and billiards).— I. To effect by accident.

1888. Sportsman, 20 Dec Fortune once more assisted Mitchell, who, in trying to make a red loser, fluked a cannon, from which he got on the spot, and made forty-three winners in a break of 161*

2.—(schoolboys').—To shirk.

1864, Eton School Days, ch. xvi., p. 203. ' By Jove ! I think I shall fluke doing Verses ; I should like to see Paddy drive tandem through College,' said Butler Burke.

To cut flukes out, verb, phr. (nautical).—To mutiny ; to turn sulky and disobedient.

To turn flukes, verb. phr. (nautical).—To go to bed ; Le., to bunk (q.v. ), or turn in.

Fluky, or Flukey, adj. (common). —Of the nature of a fluke (q.v. ) ; i.e., achieved more by good luck than good guidance.

1882. Standard, 3 Sept. Bonnor got a Flukey three to square leg.

189L Licensed Vict. Gazette, 20 March. Now, Grady was a smart young Irishman who had thiashed Stevens twice in days gone by, and had won a somewhat flukey victory over Young Norley.

Hence Flukiness = abounding in flukes.

1886, ///. Sport, and Dratn. News, co Feb., p. 579. There is no flukiness about him : hé makes his runs because he is an excellent batsman, and takes his wickets because he is an excellent bowler.

Flummadiddle, subs. (American). —I. Nonsense ; flummery (q.v.).

2. (nautical).—A sea-dainty.

1884. G. A. Sala, in IlL London News, July 19, p. 51, col 2. I suppose that when the friendly skippers gam [q.v.], they feast on flummadiddle, a dish composed, I am given to understand, of stale bread, pork fat, molasses, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves.

Flummergasted, ppl. adj. (colloquial).—Astonished ; confounded. A variant of flabbergasted (q.v.).

Flummery. 3⁶ Flummut.

1849. New South Wales : Past and Present, ch. i., p. 14. This coolness so completely flummergasted the fellow, that he kept talking until Mr. Day shot him through the shoulder.

Flummery, subs, (colloquial), i. Nonsense; gammon [q.v.); flattery.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. Oatmeal and water boiled to a jelly ; also compliments : neither . . . over-nourishing.

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle's Log, ch. i. I shall . . . blow off as much of the froth as I can, in order to present the residuum free of flummery.

1846. Thackeray, Yellow Plush Papers. She swallowed Lord Crabs' flu m Ery just as she would so many musheruims.

1854. Whyte Melyille, General Bounce, ch. xii. None of the dubious, half-expressed, sentimental flummery.

2. (American nautical).—A kind of bread pudding. — Nordhoff.

3. (old).—Oatmeal and water boiled to a jelly.—Grose (1785).

Flummox, Flummocks, or Flummux, verb, (colloquial).—i. To perplex, dodge, abash, or silence ; to victimize ; to best (q.v.)', to disappoint. Also conflummox. To flummox (or conflummox)

by the lip = to outslang

(q.v.), or talk down; to flummox the coppers = to dodge the police; to flummox the old Dutch = to cheat one's wife, etc. For synonyms, see Flabbergast.

2. (theatrical).—To confuse, to queer (q.v.). Cf., Corpse.

3. (American).—Used ill the passive sense = to abandon a purpose ; to give in ; to die.

Subs. (American University). —A bad recitation ; a failure.

Flummoxed,///, adj. (thieves'and general).—1. Spoilt ; ruined ; drunk ; sent down (q. v.) ; boshed (q.v.); defeated; disappointed; silenced; floored (q.v.).

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxxiii., p. 283. ' And my 'pinion is, Sammy, that if your governor don't prove an alleybi, he'll be what the Italians call reg'larly flummoxed, and that's all about it '

1840. Whibley, Cap and Go?vn, p. 170. So many of the men I know Were flummoxed at the last great go.

1861. H. C. Pennell, Puck on Pegasus, p. 17. I felt flummox'd in a brown (study understood) old fellow.

1864. Cornhill Magazine, Dec, p. 742. ' I say, lorn.' 'Yes, mate.' ' If I should have a fit heave a bucket of water over me.' Tom was too astonished, or, as he expressed it, conflummoxed to make any reply.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 25 July, p. 2, col. i. I'll give Tom his due, and say of him that for flummoxing a cuss (Custom House Officer) or working the weed, I don't know any one he couldn't give a chalk to and beat 'em.

1890. Punch, 30 Aug.. p. 97. I'm fair flummoxed, and singing, ' Oh, what a surprise ! '

Flummocky, adj. (colloquial).— Out of place ; in bad taste.

1891. F. H. Groome. Blackwood's Mag, March, p. 319. ' It is a nice solemn dress,' she said, às she lifted a piece to examine it more closely ; ' there's nothing flummocky about it.'

Flummut, subs, (vagrants').—A month in prison. See FlumMOXEb. For synonyms, see Dose.

1889. Answers, 20th July, p. 121 col. 2. If you want to get rid of an importunate tramp tell him to ' stow his patter,' or you will get him a flummut.

1851-61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lao. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 232. He fpatterer] mostly chalks a signal on or near the door. I give one or two instances. Flummut/ sure of a month in

quod.

Flump » 37 Flurry Ones Milk.

Flump, verb, (colloquial).—To fall, put, or be set, down with violence or a thumping noise. Onomatopoeic. Also to come down with a Flump Cf., Plump and Cachunk.

1840. Thackeray, Paris Sketch Book, ch. v. Chairs were flumped down on the floor.

1865. H. Kingsley, The Hillyars and the Burtons_x ch. lxii. Before my mother had been a week in the partlyerected slab-house, the women began to come in, to flump down into a seat and tell her all about it.

Flunk, subs. (Americancolloquial). —i. An idler, a Loafer {q.v.) or Lawrence (q.v.).

2. (Also Flunk-out). — A failure, especially (at college) in recitations ; a backing out of undertakings.

1853. Songs of Yale. In moody meditation sunk, Reflecting on my future

flunk.

1877. Brunonian, 24th Feb. A flunk is a complete fizzle ; and a dead flunk is where one refuses to get out of his seat.

1888. Missouri Rept^blican, nth Feo. Riddleberger forced the presidential possibilities of the senate to a complete flunk.

Verb (American).—To retire through fear ; to fail (as in a lesson) ; to cause to fail. Cf., Funk.

1838. Neal, Charcoal Sketches, IV. Why, little 'un, you must be cracked, if you flunk out before we begin.

1847. The Yale Banger, 22 Oct. My dignity is outraged at beholding those who fizzle and flunk in my presence tower aboye me.

1853. Amherst Indicator, p. 253, They know that a man who has flunked. because too much of a genius to get his lesson, is not in a state to appreciate joking.

1871. John Hay, ' Jim Bludso of the Prairie Bell.' in New York Tribune, Jan. But he never flunked, and he never lied, I reckon he never know'd how.

Flunkey, subs, (nautical).—i. A ship's steward.

2. (American.)—An ignorant dabbler in stock ; an inexperienced jobber.

1862. A Week in Wall St., p. 90. A broker, who had met with heavy losses, exclaimed : 'I'm in a bear-trap, — this won't do. The dogs will come over me. I shall be mulct in a loss. But I've got time ; I'll turn the scale ; I'll help the bulls operate for a rise, and draw in the flunkies.

3. (American University. ) — One that makes a complete failure in a recitation ; one who flunks (q.v.).

1859. Yale Lit. Magazine. I bore him safe through Horace, Saved him from the flunkey's doom.

4. (colloquial).—A man-servant, especially one in livery. Hence, by implication, a parasite or Toady (q.v.). Fr., un larbin.

1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. v. You who have no toadies ; you whom no cringing flunkeys or shopmen bow out of doors.

Whence, Flunkeyism = Blind

worship of rank, birth, or riches.

Fr., la larbinerie.

1857. J. E. Ritchie, Night Side of London, p. 23. Our trading classes, becoming richer and more sunk in flunkeyism every day.

Flurry ment, subs, (common.)— Agitation ; bustle ; confusion ; nervous excitement. [Pleonastic, fiom Flurry.]

1848. Jones, Sketches oj Travel, p. II. Mafy and all on em was in a monstrous flurryment.

Flurry One's Milk, verb. phr. (common). —To be worried, angry, or upset; To fret ones kidneys (q.v.) ; To tear one's shirt, or one's hair (q.v.).

Flush. 38 Flush.

Flush, subs, (gamesters').—A hand of one suit.

Adj. (colloquial). — 1. With plenty of money ; the reverse of hard up (q.V.) ; warm (q.V.)», Also abounding in anything : e.g. flush of his pattern full of his talk ; flush of the lotion = liberal with the drink ; flush of his notions = prodigal of ideas ;

flush of her charms = lavish

of her person ; and so forth.

1603. Dekker, Batchelors Banquet, ch. viii. Some dames of the company, which are more flush in crowned than her good man.

1605. The Play of Stucley, 1. 538. They know he hath received His marriage money: they perceive he's flush And mean to share with him ere all be gone.

1663. Dryden, Wild Gallant, Act II. Con. Since you are so flush, sir, you shall give me a locket of diamonds, of three hundred pounds.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew. Flush in the pocket c. full of money. The cull is flush in the fob, the Spark's pocket is well lined with money.

1767. O'Hara, Two Misers, Act L What stops many au hopeful project ? lack of cash—[looking archly at him]. Areyou flush, Sir ?

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1846. Thackeray, V. F., vol. I. ch. xxviii. The expenses were borne by Jos and Osborne, who was flush of money and full of kind attentions to his wife.

1861. A. Trollope, Framley Parsonage, ch. viii. Allow me to draw on you for that amount at three months. Long before that time I shall be flush enough.

1864. Economist, 29 Oct. The world was then, if such a very colloquial expression could be pardoned, ⁴ flush of cash,' and it sent in that cash rapidly and at once.

2. ( common ). — Intoxicated (i.e., full to the brim); also flushed. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

3. (colloquial). — Level : e.g., flush with the top, with the water, with the road, with the boat's edge, etc.

Verb, (common).—1. To whip.

English Synonyms. — To bludgeon ; to bumbaste ; to breech (Cotgrave) ; to brush ; to club ; to curry ; to dress with an oaken towel ; to drub ; to drybeat ; to dry-bob ; to drum ; to fib ; to flap ; to flick ; to flop ; to jerk ; to give one ballast ; to hide ; to lamm ; to larrup ; to paste ; to punch ; to rub down ; to swinge ; to swish ; to switch ; to trounce ; to thump ; to tund (Winchester) ; to wallop. See also Tan.

French Synonyms.—Donner F avoine (pop. = to give a feed of hay) ; allumer (popular) ;bouiser (thieves' : un bonis = 2. whip).

Italian Synonyms.—Smanegrare ; cotillare ; corillare ; cerire.

%. (colloquial).—To clean by filling full, and emptying, of water : e.g., to flush a sewer ; to. wash, swill, or sluice away. Also to fill with water : e.g._x to flush a lock.

1884. Henley and Stevenson» • Admiral Guinea, i., 8. _ Pray for a new heart ; flush out your sins with tears.

3. (shooting).—To start or raise a bird from covert : e.g., to ' flush a snipe, or a covey of parl^ridges. Hence (venery) to flush a wild duck = to single out a woman for grousing (q.v.).

To come flush on one, verb, phr. (colloquial).—To come suddenly and unexpectedly (Marvell); to overwhelm (as by a suddeij rush of water).

Flushed on the Horse. 39 Flustration.

Flushed on the Horse, phr. (prison).—Privately whipped in gaol.

Flush-hit, subs. phr. (pugilistic). — A clean blow ; a hit full on the mark and straight from the shoulder. For synonyms, see Dig.

1891. Lie. Vict. Mirror, 30 Jan,, p. 7, col. 2. Landed a very heavy flush hit on the mouth.

Adv. ( colloquial ). — Full ; straight; right on (q.v.).

1888. _ Sporting Life, 15 Dec. Both cautious, Wilson with marked frequency leading off, and getting the left flush on the face.

Fluster, verb. (old).—To excite; to confuse, abash, or flummox (q.v. ) ; to upset, or be upset, with drink.

1602. Shakspeare, Othello, I., 3. The very elements of this warlike isle,— Have I to-night fluster'd with flowing cups.

1711. Spectator, No 87. It is very common for such as are too low in constitution to ogle the idol upon the strength of tea, to fluster themselves with warmer liquors.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., ii., 261. When I vext proud.Celia just come from ray glass, She tells me I'm flustered, and look like an ass.

1731. Fielding, Letter Writers. Act II., Sc. 5. Who hath taken me to the tavern, and, I protest, almost fluster'd me.

Flustered (or Flustrated),///.

adj. (old).—Excited by drink, ' circumstances, another person's impudence, etc; also mildly drunk. Cf., Flusticated. For synonyms, see Screwed.

1686. Common, oj Women, Piol. Another to cumpleat his daily task, fluster'd with claret, seizes on a mask.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew, flustered, drunk.

1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 3. I . . . therefore take this public occasion to admonish a young Nobleman, whocame flustered into the box last night.

1748. T. Dyche, Diet. (5th ed.) Flustered (a) . . . somewhat intoxiated with liquor.

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. XIV. ch. ix. This latter, though not drunk, began to be somewhat flustered.

1779. The Mirror, No. 57. All of them flustered, some of them perfectly intoxicated.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

Flusticated, or Flustrated,///.

adj. (old and colloquial).—Confused ; in a state of heat or excitement. Cf., Flustered.

1712. Spectator, No. 493. We were coming down Essex Street one night a little flustrated.

1766. Colman, Cland. Marriage V., in works (1777) i. 271. Your mind is too much flustrated, and you can neither eat nor drink.

1843. Maj. Jones' Courtship, I. Somehow I was so flustrated that I tuk the rong way.

1847. Porter, Big Bear, arc., p. 98. I sot down, being sorter flusticated like, thinkin' of that skrape, last time I was there.

Flustration, subs, (old and colloquial).—Heat; excitement; bustle; confusion; flurry (q.v.).

1771. Smollet, Humphrey Clinker, I., 126. Being 1 was in suc.h a flustration.

1843. Major Jones' Courtship, viii. The old woman's been in a monstrous flustration 'bout the comet,

1847. Porter, Quarter Race, etc., p. 177. My wife is in a delicut way, and the frite might cause a flustration.

1848. Jones, Studies of Travel, p. 21. The old woman was in such a flustration she didn't know her lips from anything else.

1872. Mortimer Collins, Two Plunges for a Pearl, vol. IL, ch. vii. Then was this pretty little actress whom he admired in a great state of flustration.

Flute,

Fly.

Flute, subs. (old).—1. The recorder of a corporation.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wördes. Tibia, a flute, a recorder, a pipe.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew. Flute, c. The recorder of London or of any other town.

1785. Gkose, Dût. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1825 Kent. Modern Flash Diet. Flute—the recorder of any town.

2. (venery).—The penis. Also

the one-holed, the living, Or the silent flute. to play a tune on the one-holed

flute = to have connection. Cf, Dry den (Sixth Juvenal,line 107). ' And stretch his quail-pipe till they crack his* voice.' For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

1720. Durfey, Pills, etc, vi., 31.. He took her by the middle, And, taught her by the flute.

1736. ^ Cupid, p. 563. The Flute is good that's made of Wood And is, I own, the neatest ; Yet ne'ertheless I must confess, The silent flute's the sweetest.

Flutter, subs, (common).—1. An attempt, or shy (q.v.), at anything; a venture in earnest; a spree ; a state of expectancy (as in betting). Hence gambling.

1883. Echo, 26 Feb. p. 4, col. 2. I have no stable tip, but I fancy the animal named will at any m te afford backers a flutter for their money.

1889. Licensed Vict. Gazette, 8 Feb. Of course he told her he only went in for a little flutter occasionally.

1890. Saturday Review, 1 Feb., p. 134, col. i. They find out the addresses of people whom thev see at the races — people whom they suspect to be fond of a flutter, and then an invitation is sent to a little soirée intime.

1887. Henley, Culture in the Slums, iii. I likes a merry little flutter, I keeps à Dado on the sly, In fact my form's the bjooming Utter.

2. (common). — The act of spinning a coin.

3. (venery).—Connection defloration. To have had a flutter = (i) to have been there (cf, greens) ; and (2) to have lost one's maidenhead.

Verb, (common).—1. To spin a coin (for drinks) ; also to gamble,

2. (common)..—To go in for a bout of pleasures

To flutter the ribbons, verb-, phr. (common)—To drive.

1864. Eton School Days,, chap.. 1, p.11. As I was going to be saying, I used to flutter the ribands of the London. Croydon and South Coast coacfo,

[Flutter,, if not a word of all-work, isa word with plenty to do. Thus,, to have. (or do) a flutter = to have a look in (q.z.), to go on the spree, and (of both sexes) tohave carnal connection ; to be on the flutters to be on the spree, and also (venery) to be all there (q.v.) or on

the spot (q.V.) ; to flutter a judy —

both to pursue and to possess a girl ; to flutter a brown = to spin a coin ; to

flutter (or fret) ones kidneys = tO

agitate, to exasperate'_T to flutter a skirt=to walk the streets ; and so forth.}

Flux, verb, (old),—1. To cheat ; to cozen ; to overreach. For syn« onyms, see Stick.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue^ s.v.

2. (old.)—To salivate. Grose* (1785).

Fly, subs. (old).—A familiar; hence, by implication, a parasite or sucker (q.v.). [In the sixteenth and seventeenth century it washeld that familiar spirits, in the guise of flies, lice, fleas, etc.^ attended witches, who for a price professed to dispose of the power for evil thus imparted.}

Fly. 41 Fty.

1596. Lodge, Incarnate Devils. This divel prefers an Ephimerides before a Bible ; and his Ptolemey and Hali before Ambrose, golden Chrisostome, or S. Augustine : promise him a familiar, and he will take a flie in a box for good paiment.

1610. Ben Jonson, Alchemist i. You are mistaken, doctor, Why he does ask one but for cups and horses, A rifling fly, none of your great familiars.

1622. Massinger, Virgin Martyr, ii., 2. Courtiers have flies That buzz all news unto them.

2. (old).—A printer's devil ; specifically a boy who lifted the printed sheets from the press. [Now the vibrating frame used for the same purpose.]

1688. R. Holme, Academy of Armory. These boys do in a printinghouse commonly black and bedaub themselves, when the workmen do jocosely call them devils, and sometimes spirits, and sometimes flies.

3. (trade)^—^A customer.

4. (common). — The act of spinning a coin. Cf., Flutter.

5. (old).—A public wagon : afterwards (colloquial) a fourwheel hackney coach. Fr., mouche (fly) = a public boat on the Seine.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall, s.v.

6. (common).—A policeman. For synonyms, see Beak and Copper,

1857. Snowden, Magistrates' Assistant, 3rd ed., p. 440. A policeman ; a fly.

Adj. (common).—1. Knowing ; artful {q.v.) ; up to every move ; cute. Also fly to,

a-fly, fly to the game, and fly to what's what. Cf.,

Awake, and, for synonyms, see Knowing ; fly dog {q.v.).

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, Cheese it, the coves are fly=be silent, the people mxdersçand our discourse.

1823 W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act IL, Sc. 2. Jerry. Charlies.' fiddhs?—I'm not fly, Doctor. Log. Rattles, Jerry, rattles Jerry rattles 1 you're fly now, I see.

1838. Glascock, Land Sharks and Sea Gulls,, II., 4. That's right ; I see you're fly to, every fakement.

1850. Lloyds Weekly, 3 Feb. ' Low Lodging Houses of London.' They say the fliest is easy to take in sometimes— that's the artfullest ; but I could do no good there.

1851-61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 260. ⁴We were too fly to send anybody to market but ourselves.'

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. xxxv. [Chas. Ravenshoe to Shoeblack\ ' On the cross ? ' said Charles. ' Ah,' the boy said, ¹ he goes out cly faking and such. He's a prig, and a smart one, too. He's fly, is Harry.

1876. Miss Braddon, Dead Men's Shoes, ch. Iii. 'Go and fetch the cleverest police officer in Liverpool, and let him wait outside this door till I want him.' ' I'm fly,' answers the youth, brightening at the prospect of excitement and remuneration. ' Case of 'bezzlement, I suppose, Sir ? '

1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, ch. ii., p. 125. A certain prisoner, who was what is termed a very fly man, i.e., a clever, scheming fellow . . . sounded him as to getting tobacco and other matters.

188(?)« ^ Jenny Hill Broadside Ballad. I've cut my wisdom teeth* some at top, some underneath. ... So you needn't try it on ; I'm fly.

1890. Punch, 30 Aug., p. 9. Briggs, Junior, a lobsculler called me ; I wasn't quite fly to his lay.

1891. Licensed Victuallers' Gazette, 9 Jan. If you get among a fly lot, why they'd skin you in less than no time.

2. (common).—Dextrous.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. No dummy hunter had forks

so fly.

1839. Reynolds, Pick-wick Abroad, p. 223. We'll knap afogle with fingers fly.

3. (venery). —Wanton. Flygirl, -woman, or -dame = a; prostitute.

Fly. 42 Fly.

1888. San Francisco News Letter, 4 Feb. ' I'm just gettin' sick'n tired o' the way 't them fly dames go on, 'n the way t the fellahs hang round 'em 'n dance with 'em 'n so forth.'

Verb, (thieves').—1. To toss ; to raise ; to fly the mags = to toss up half-pence (cf., subs., sense 4).

1857. Snowden, Magistrates' As» sistant, 3rd ed., p. 447. To lift a window, to fly a window.

2. (pugilistic). — To give way : as, china flies in the baking.

1865. G. F. Berkeley, My Life, II. 296. Heenan . . . told me his right hand was worth nothing to him, and we have since seen that his left flies, or, in other words, becomes puffed, softened, or severely damaged by the force of his own blows.

To fly around, verb. phr. (American).—To bestir oneself; to make haste. Also to fly

around and tear one's shirt.

1851. Hooper, Widow Rugby's Husband, p. 44, Old 'ooman, fly around, git somethin' for the Squire and Dick to eat.

To fly the flag, verb, phr. (colloquial). — 1. To walk the streets.

2. (vulgar). — To experience the menstrual flux.

See also Flag.

TO fly high (or rather

high).—I. verb. phr. (common), —To get, or be drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

2. (colloquial).—To keep the best company, maintain the best appearances, and affect the Lest aims : i.e., to be a High-flier (q.v). Also, to venture for the biggest stakes in the biggest way.

To fly low, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To make as little of oneself as possible ; to sing small (q.v. ) ; and (among thieves) to keep out of the way when wanted (q.V.).

TO fly off 1 he handle,

verb. phr. (American pioneer).— To lose temper ; to fail of a promise ; to jilt ; to die ; also

to slip off the handle (q.V.) ;

to disappoint in any way. [In

pioneer life for an axe to part

company with its handle is a

serious trial to temper and

patience.]

1843-4. Haliburton, The Attache. You never see such a crotchical old critter as he is. He flies right ok* the handle for nothing

1867. Home Jou?-nal (New York), 21 July (speaking of a man who had succeeded to a large fortune it says) he went off the handle in England rather unexpectedly.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 195 If a fair lady lo^es her temper, or worst of all, if she breaks the tender promise, she is said to fly off the handle, and the disappointment is as serious to the unlucky lover as a lost axe to many a settler.

1888. Pittsburg Chronicle. ' I can't say that I'am stuck on Sue Fitzpercy,' remarked Amy. ' She is liable to fly off the handle.'

To fly out, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To get angry ; to scold.

1612. Chapman, Widow's Tears, Act II., p. 317 (Plays, 1874). For wherefore rage wives at their husbands so when they fly out ? for zeal, against the sin ?

1665-6. Pepys, Diary, 17 Jan. It is to be feared that the Parliament will fly out against him and particular men, the next Session.

1712. Spectator, No. 479. He (Socrates) has said, My dear friend, you are beholden to Xantippe, that 1 bear so well your flying out in a dispute.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xx. 'And then the Colonel flies out about his boy, and says that my wife insulted him ! '

Fly. 43 Fly.

TO make the fur (or feathers) fly, verb. phr. (common).—-To attack effectively; to make a disturbance ; to quarrel noisily like two torn cats on the tiles, who are' said (in American) to pull fur, or to pull wool.

1847. Porter, Big Bear, etc., p. 132. Thar, they've got him agin, and now the fur flies.

1888. Denver Republican, 20 Feb. ¹ Wait until the National Committee assembles on February 22,' said the organizer, 'and you will see the fur fly from the Cleveland hide.'

TO take on the fly, verb, phr. (vagrants').—To beg in the streets ; a specific usage of adverbial sense.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, II., p. 59. The ' first move ' in his mendicant career was taking them on the fly, which means meeting the gentry on their walks, and beseeching or at times menacing them till something is given.

To fly a kite, verb phr. (common).—To raise money by means of accommodation bills ; to raise the wind(^.z\).

1812. From an old Dublin Jester. [The story, however, with slight variations, is told of other judges. See A^. and Q., 6 S. ix., 326-394.] In a case before the Lord Chancellor of Ireland Mr. Curran, on behalf of the suitor, prayed to be relieved from the payment of some bills for which he had not received consideration, but only lent his name as an accommodation. Mr. Curran, in the course of his pleadings, mentioned the terms kite and raising the wind several times, when his lordship requested to know the meaning of the words. ' My lord,' Mr. Curran replied, ' in your country (meaning England) the wind generally raises the kite, but with us, significantly looking at the gentlemen of the bar, the kite raises the wind.'

1848. Punch, XIV., p. 226. ' The Model Gentleman.' He never does 'a little discounting ' nor lends his hand to • flying a kite.'

1849. Perils of Pearl Street, p. 82. Flying the kite is rather a perilous adventure.

1880. G. R. Sims, Ballads of Babylon (Little Worries). You have a kite you cannot fly, and creditors are pressing.

1891. Licensed Victuallers' Gazette* 23 Jan. Prince Alexis SoltykotT, who has been flying kites, and getting into trouble thereby, is the only son of Prince SoltykorT, the steward of the Jockey Club.

2. (thieves')—To go out by the window.

3. ( lodging-house ). — To evacuate from a window.

4. (colloquial).—To attempt ; to set one's cap at.

1863. H. Kingsley, Aitstin Elliot, ch. xii. 'They say that you flew your, kite at that girl of George Cecil's who has married that prig, Lord Mewstone.'

TO fly the blue pigeon,

verb. phr. (thieves').—To steal lead from roofs. See Bluepigeon. Fr., faire la mastar au gras-double, or la faire au mastar.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1789. G. Parker, Life's Painter, Thieves who fly the blue pigeon, that is, who steal lead off houses, or cut pipes away . . . cut a hundredweight of lead, which they wrap round their bodies next to the skin. This they call a bible (q.v.), and what they steal and put in their pockets, they call a testament {q.v.).

1887. Judy, 27 April, p. 200. A burglar whose particular lay was flying the blue pigeon, i.e., stealing lead.

To let fly, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To hit out. [From cock-fighting.]

1859. Punch, vol. XXXVII., p. 54. ' Essence of Parliament.' Monday, 25 July. Lord Lyndhurst let fly and caught him what (if pugilistic terms be not out of place when one is alluding to so pacific a personage ; may be designated an extremely neat one on the conk.

not a feather to fly with,

adv. phr. (common).—Penniless and ruined ; dead-broke (q.v. for synonyms).

Fly-blow.

44 Fly-catcher.

TO break a fly on a wheel,

verb. phr. (colloquial). To make a mountain of a molehill. Cf., To crack a nut with a Nasmyth hammer = to lavish force or energy.

The fly on the wheel, subs. phr. (colloquial).—One who fancies himself of mighty importance. [From the fable.]

I don't rise to that fly, phr. (common) = I don't believe you ; you won't catch me with such bait as that. [From flyfishing. ]

Off the fly, adv. phr. (colloquial).—On the quiet ; laid up in dock ; doing nothing : said of a strumpet retired from business, or a man (or woman) who has given over the pursuit of pleasure.

On the fly, adv. phr. (popular). — i. Walking the streets ; out for a lark {q.v.) ; off work (q.v.); out on the spree (q.v.).

2. (thieves')—In motion : eg., '1 got in one on the fly ' = I landed a blow while I was running.

1868. Temple Bar, xxiv., p. 538. I prigged an old woman's poke on the fly.

Fly-blow, subs, (common). —A bastard ; cf, Bye-blow. A nonce word.

1875. Ouida, Signa, vol. I., ch. viii., p. 140. No doubt that little flyblow is his own.

Fly-blown, adj. (common).—1. Intoxicated. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

1877. Judy, 18 May, p. 236. The officer assisted the pastor out, and hinted that he was slightly ' fly-blown.'

2. (Australian). — CleanedQut ; without a rap ; Hard-up (q.v., for synonyms).

1889. Star, 3 Jan. Our diggers go into Castlemaine to get their hair cut, and once there, they get on the spree, and come back fly-blown.

3. (common).—Used, or done

Up ; washed-out (q.V.).

4. (venery).—Deflowered. Also stale (q.v.) ; 'known for a wanton.' Also suspected of disease.

Fly-by-Night, subs. (old). — 1. A sedan chair on wheels ; a usage of the Regency days.

2. (common).—A defaulting debtor ; one who shoots the moon (q.v. ). Also applied to the act.

3. (venery). — A prostitute. See Bat, and for synonyms, Barrack-hack and Tart.

4. (common).—A noctambulist for business or for pleasure : i.e.. a burglar or a common spreester (q.V.).

5. (obsolete). — A term of opprobrium.

1796. Grose, Diet. 0/ the Vulgar Tongue (3rd ed.), s.v. 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.

6. (venery). — The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Fly-cage, subs, (venery). — The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Fly-catcher, subs, (venery).—1. The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllaele.

Flycop.

Flying Covè.

2. (common). — An openmouthed ignoramus ; a Gapeseed [q.v.) — Sydney Smith. Fr., gobe-mouche.

Flycop, subs. (American). — A sharp officer ; one well broken in to the tricks of trade. [From fly = knowing + cop, a policeman.]

1859. Matsell. Vocabulum or Rogues Lexicon, s.v.

Fly-disperser Soup, sues. phr. (common).—Oxtail.

Flyer.

senses.

I. See Flier in all

2. (old). — A shoe. For synonyms, see Trotter-case.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of Terms, etc., s.v.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1791. Life and Adventures of Bamfylde Moore Carew, s.v.

1851. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. II., p. 34. There is another article called a flyer, that is, a shoe sold without being welted.

3. (Winchester).—A half-volley at football. A made-flyer is when the bound of the ball is gained from a previous kick, by the same side, aga nst canvas or any other obstacle, or is dropped, as in a ' drop-kick ' This is now confused with a ' kick-up. '

FLY-f LAPPED, adj. (obsolete).— Whipped in the stocks, Or at the cart's tail.—G rose.

Fly-Flapper, subs. heavy bludgeon.

(old). — A

fly-flat, subs. (turf).—A would-be connoisseur and authority. [From fly = knowing + flat = a fool.]

Flying. — To look as if the Devil had shit him (or her) flying (common and proverbial). —Said in derision of one oddlooking, filthy, or deformed.

Flying-angel.—See Angel.

Flying Bricklayers, subs. phr. (military).—The mounted Royal Engineers.

Flying Camps, subs. phr. (old).— Couples or gangs of beggars.

1699. B. E., Diet, of the Canting Crew. Beggars plying in flying camps. Beggars plying in bodies at funerals.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

Flying-caper,subs, (thieves')—An escape from prison ; leg-bail (q.v.).

1864. Daily Paper, ' Police Report.' The blues are always ready to spot â fellow who has tried on the flying-caper with them, and given them leg-bail.

Flying-cat.—See Cat.

Flying Country, subs. phr. (hunting)-—A country where the going (q.v.) is fast and good.

1856. Whyte Melville, Kate Coventry, ch. xii. The heavy-top hounds are an establishment such as, i am given to understand, is not usually kept in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, and other so-called ' flying counties.'

Flying Cove, subs. phr. (American thieves').—An impostor who gets, or tries to get, money from persons who have been robbed by pretending to give such information as will lead to recovery. Formerly, Flying-porter (Grose).

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum or Rogues" Lexicon, s.v.

Flying-dustman* 46

Fly-slicer.

Flying-dustman.—See Stiff-un.

Flying-Dutchman, subs, (com* mon).—The London and Exeter express (G.W.R. ). See also Flying Scotchman and Wild Irishman. Cf„ Dead-meat train and Larky subaltern's coach,

Flying-horse (or Mare), subs. (wrestling). —The throw by which an opponent is sent over the head. Introduced, says Bee, by Parkins.

1754. Foote, Knights, Act I. But vve don't wrestle after your fashion ; we ha' no tripping ; fath and soul ! we all go upon close hugs or the flying-mare.

1884. Referee, 23 March, p. r., col. 1» In the third and last bout, Klein brought his man clean over his headholding him by his own—with a sort of flying-mare, and elicited thunders of applause.

1886. Pall Mall Gazette, 5 July, p. 4. On a Mississippi steamer he astonished a rowdy who was shocked at his unnatural objection to whisky, by performing upon him the feat known to British wrestlers as

'the flying mare.'

Flying-jigger or Gygger, subs. (thieves'). — A turnpike gate. Jigger = a door or gate.]

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum or Rogue's Lexicon, s.v.

Flying-man, subs, (football).—A skirmisher good at taking, and running with, the ball.

1864. Eton School Days, ch. 23, p. 255. He possessed good wind, and was a very good 'kick-off,' and he could ' bully ' a ball as well as any one. He was a little too heavy for ' flying-man,' but he made a decent ' sidepost,' and now and then he officiated as ' corner.'

Flying-mare. See Flying-horse.

Flying Pasty, subs. phr. (obsolete). ■—Excrement wrapped in paper and thrown over a neighbour's wall. [Grose.]

Flying-porter. See Flying cove.

Flying-stationer, subs, (street) -—A hawker of street ballads ; a paperworker(^. v.), or running patterer (q.v.). Cf., Croak. 'Printed for the flying-station er' is the imprimatur on hundreds of broadsheets from the last century onwards.

1785i Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. Ballad singers and hawkers of penny histories.

1851-61. H. Mayhew, Lûnd. Lab. tind Lond. Poor, Vol. I , p. 228. That order or species of the pattering genus known as flying stationers, from the fact of their being continually on the move while describing the attractions of the papers ' they have to sell.

1886. Athenœum, 31 July, p. 139. Scores of tracts were issued in the Newgate region, from Giltspur Street to Blowbladder Street, whence numbers of flying stationers drew their supplies long before either of the Catnachs were born.

Flymy. Adj. (streets).—Knowing, fast (q.v.) ; roguish; sprightly. From Fly (q.v.).

1887. W. E. Henley, Villon's Good Night. You flymy titters fond of flam.

Fly-MY-kite, subs. phr. (rhyming). —A light.

flymy-mess, TO be in a flymymess, verb, phr, (military).—To be hungry and have nothing to eat. For synonyms, see peckish.

Fly-slicer, subs, (common).—A cavalry-man : cf., Mudcrusher. French lancers are allumeurs de gaz, their weapons being likened to a lamplighter's rod.

Fly the Garter. 47

Fob.

1785 Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. Fly-slicers : Life-guardmen, from their sitting on horseback, under an arch, where they are frequently observed to drive away flies with their swords.

Fly the Garter,suis.phr. (schoolboys').—Leap-frog.

1863. G. A. Sala, Breakfast in Bed, Essa} VIII. .p. 187 (1864). He has very probably been playing fl y-the-garter in the gutter instead of waiting his turn at the ofhee.

Fly-trap, subs, (common). — 1. The muuth. For synonyms, see Potato trap.

2. (venery).—The female pU' dendtim. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Foaled, adj. (hunting).—Thrown from a horse. Fr., faire parache.

Fob, or Fub, subs. (old).—1. A cheat ; a trick ; a swindle. To come the fob— to impose upon; to swindle ; cf., come over.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Canting Crew. Fob. c, a cheat trick.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar ' Tongue, fob, s.v.

1852. Judson, Mysteries of New York, ch. vii. He come ze fob on some of ze nobilitie, and zey invite him to go to Amérique.

2. (old : now recognised).—A breeches pocket ; a watch pocket.

1678. Butler, Hudibras, III., i., 107. Had rifled all his pokes and fobs Of gimcrack whims and gingumbobs.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Canting Crew. Fob, c, also a little pocket.

1703. Marvell, Poems on Affairs of State. ' Royal Revolutions.' When plate was in pawn and fob at an ebb. Ibid. 'Last Instructions,' etc. More gold in's fob, more lace upon his coat.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

3. (common).—A watch chain or ribbon, with buckle and seals, worn hanging from the fob.

Verb, (old).—I. To rob; to cheat ; to pocket ; also to fob off.

1700. Congreve, Way of the World, \., 9. There were items of such a treaty in embrio ; and if it shou'd come to life poor Mirabell wou'd be in some sort unfortunately fobb'd, i'faith.

1703. Mrs. CENTi,iVRE,Stolen Heiress, III., iv., wks. (1872), i., 358. I shall be fobbed of my mistress by and by. Why, Frank, why, thou wilt not fob me, wilt thou?

1731. Fielding, Grub Street Opera, ii, 5. While ev'ry one else he is fobbing, He still may be honest to me.

1789. Wolcot [P. Pinder], Rowland for an Oliver, in wks. (Dublin. 1795), Vol. II., p. 159. To use a cant phrase, we've been finely fobb'd, Indeed, have very dext'rously been robb'd.

1840. Howitt, Visits to Remarkable Places, p. 170. Very pretty sums he has fobbed now and then.

1842. Punch, III., p. 239, col. 2. The world turns its back on you, and neither by cards nor dice can you fob your brother mortal out of a single guinea.

2. (old).—To deceive ; trifle with ; disappoint ; to put off dishonestly or unfairly.

1598. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IP., ii., i. A hundred mark is along loan fora poor lone woman to bear, and I have borne, and borne, and borne, and have been

fubbed off and fubbed off.

1602. Shakspeare, Othello, IV., 2. I think it is seurvy> and begin to find myself fobbed in it.

1610. Shakspeare, Coriolanus, I., i. You must not think to fob off our disgrace with a tale.

1884. Fortnightly Review, XXXVI.,

E. 75. In nothing are amateur backers of orses fobbed off by professionals with less than the legitimate odds than in backing double and triple events..

Fàbus.

Fogey.

1864. The Tramp Exposed, p. 7. A miserable, a job lot of humanity as had ever been fobbed ofp on a defrauded universe.

To gut a fob, verb. phr. (old). — To pick pockets. Cf, Fob, verbal sense 1. For synonyms, see Prig.

1819. Moore, Tom CrWs Memorial, i. Diddling your subjects, and gutting their fobs.

Fobus, subs. (old). — An opprobrious epithet.

1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, II., i. Ay, you old fobus.

2. (venerv). — The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Fodder, subs, (common). — Paper for the closet, bum-fodder (q.v.).

Fœtus. To tap the fœtus, verb. phr (medical). — To procure abortion.

FOG, subs, (old) — Smoke.— Grose [1785]; Modern Flash Diet. [1823] ; Matsell [1859]. [Cf., Focus.]

In a Fog, subs. phr. (colloquial).—In a condition of perplexity, doubt, difficulty, or mystification : as, ' I'm quite in a fog as to wha you mean.'

Verb (old).—1. To smoke.

2. '(colloquial).—To mystify ; to perplex ; to obscure.

1836. W. H. Smith, / The Thieves Ckauni.' There's a nook in the boozingken, Where many a mug I fog.

1883. Punch, May, p. 210, col. t. So large a picture, treated so ideally— Not that that means stricture—Fogs tis to find room for rt.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 29 Sept. We turns what we say into tangle talk so as to fog them.

Fogey, or Fogy, Fogay, or Foggi,

subs. (old).—An invalid or garrison soldier Or sailot. Whence the present colloquial usages : (1) a person advanced in life, and (2) an old-fashioned or eccentric person ; generally old fogey. [Derivation doubtful ; suggestions are (1) from Su. G. fogde and (2) from Eng. folk. See Notes and Queries, 1 S. vii., 354, 559, 632 ; viii., 64, 154, 256, 455, 652; 6 S. ix., 10, 195.]

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1812. Letter quoted in Notes and Queries, 6 S., ix., 10;. My company is now forming into an invalid company. Tell your grandmother we will be like the Castle foggies.

1855. Thackeray, The Ballad of Bouillabaisse. When first I saw ye, cart luoghi, I'd scarce a beard upon my face, And now, a grizzled, grim old fogy, I sit and wait for Bouillabaisse.

1864. Tangled Talk, p. 104. An old fogey, who particularly hated being ' done.'

1867. Nesmith, ' Reminiscences of Dr. Anthon,' in The Galaxy, Sept., p. 611» The adherents of ' progress ' mostly regard classics as old fogey, and ' see no use ' in the laborious years which youth spend upon them.

1883. James Payn, The Canon's Ward, ch. xv. 'He would have preferred some bookish sneak like Adair, or some old fogey like Mavors.'

1888. Sporting Life, 10 Dec. So it is with the sister art of music, for I (myself something of an old fogey în such matters).

So also fogeyish = old-fashioned ; eccentric. Fogeydom = the state of fogeyishness ; and fogeyism = a characteristic of Fogeydom.

Foggage. 49 F ogle.

1877. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. i. They repaired arm-inarm to their club—the Renaissance, now past its prime, and a little fogyish.

1883. Saturday Review, 31 March, p. 403, col. i. Not the least among the pleasures of fogeydom, so ably depicted by Thackeray, is the confidence that it inspires in the hearts of the fairer sex.

Foggage, subs, (colloquial).—Fodder, especially green-meat.

1785. Burns, To a Mouse. And naething now to bigganewane o'foggage green.

Fogged, adj. (common).—1. Drunk. Cf., foggy. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

2. ( common ). — Perplexed ; bewildered ; at a loss. [From fog (q.v.), to perplex]. For synonyms, see Flabbergasted.

1883. Illust. London News, 6 Jan., p. 6, col. 3. They were all treading on one another's heels, trying to do their best, but hopelessly fogged.

1887. All the Year Round, 30 July, 30, p. 68. An Australian says that he is bushed just as an Englishman, equally characteristically, declares that he is

fogged.

Fogger, subs. (old). — i. A huckr ster ; a cringing, whining beggar ; a pettifogger.

1614. Terence in English, I shall be exclaimed upon to be a beggarly fogger, greedily hunting after heritage.

2. (old).—A farm servant whose duty is to feed the cattle ; i.e., to supply them with foggage {q.v.).

Foggy, adj. (common).—1. Drunk ; i.e., clinched or hazy (q.v.) For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

2. (colloquial). ■—Dull ; fatwitted; thick (q.v.).

Fog le, subs, (thieves').—A silk handkerchief ; also generic. [Cf., lta\.,foglia = a. pocket, a purse : Fr., fouille = a pocket]. A cotton handkerchief is called a clout.

English Synonyms. — Bandanna ; belcher ; billy ; clout ; conch-clout ; fam-cloth ; flag ; kent-rag ; madam ; muckender ; mucketer (Florio) ; nose-wipe ; pen-wiper ; rag ; sneezer ; snottinger or snot-rag ; stook ; wipe. See Billy.

French Synonyms. — Un cachemire (popular) ; un blave or blavin (thieves'; from O.F., blave = blue) ; une fassolette (thieves': It,, fazzoletto)', un chiffon or chiff"ot nion (popular = a rag) ; un moufion (popular) ; les mouchettes (popular = wipes).

German Synonyms.— Schneitzlingsschneiche (cf., Snotrag) ; Flammert or Flamme (also a neckerchief and an apron) ; Wisch ( = also clothing of any kind).

1785. Grose, Diet. 0/ the Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry (1890), p. 74, Jerry's sneezer was touched with some convulsive efforts so that his fogle was continually at work.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood bk. iii., ch. 5. Fogles and fawnies soon went their way.

1837, Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. xviii. ' If you don't take fogles and

tickers-' What's the good of talking in

that way?' interposed Master Bates : 'he don't know what you mean.' ' If you don't take pocket-handkerchiefs and watches,' said the Dodger

1841. Tait's Edinburgh Mag., viii., p. 220. Fawnies or fogles, onions gay, all were the same to me.

1849. Punch's A Imanack, ' The Swell Mobsman's Almanack.' Their fogles fetch next to nothing.

Fogle-hunter. 5°

Foist.

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. II., ch. i., p. 60. They're just made for hooking a fogle [handkerchief] out of a clye.

Fog le-h unter, subs, (thieves').— A thief whose speciality is fogles {q.v.) Fr. un blaviniste or un chiffonier, but for synonyms, see Stookhauler.

1827. Maginn, in Blackivoods Mag. . . . . the fogle hunters doing Their morning fake in the prigging lay.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. xvi. Who's here so base as would be a

fogle-hunter ?

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, p. 44. 'What's the matter now?' said the nian_fcarelessly. 'A young fogle-hunter,' re plied the man who had Oliver in charge.

1843. Punch, IV., p. 129. Rich charities the chapel throng. The swell mob they are there, The Bishop's sermon is not long, The fogle-hunter ware !

Fogle-hunting (or drawing),

subs. phr. (ihieves').—Stealing pocket-handkerchiefs; i.e., 'prigging of wipes. '

1823. Bee, Diet, of the Turf, etc., p. 82. Q. ' Where's Teddy?' A. 'He's out a fogi.e-hunting.' Sometimes 'tis said 'drawing fogles,' and ' fogi.e-drawing.'

Fog ram, or Fogrum, subs. (old). —A fussy old man. [Cf., colloquial sense of Fogey.]

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1793. Butt, Poems. We teach old maxims, neither less n<~r more, Than Locke, or humble Hooker taught before, Those fogrums, quizzes, treats, and bores, and gigs. Were held in some account with ancient prigs.

1798. O'Keefe, Fontainbleau, II., 3. Never mind, old fogrum, run away with me.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue's Lexicon, s.v.

Adj. (old).—Fogeyish ; stupid.

1777. Foote. Trip to Calais, i, Father and mother are but a couple of fogrum old fools.

Hence Fogramity = ( 1 ) Fogeyism (q.v.), and (2) the state of Fogeyishness.

1796. D'Arblay, Camilla, ii., 5. Nobody's civil now, you know, it is a fogramity quite out of date.

Fogue, adj. (American thieves')— Fierce ; fiery.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue's Lexicon, s.v.

Fogus, .rw/v. (old).—Tobacco. [Cf., Foous.] For synonyms, see Weed.

167L Head, English Rogue, I., v., p. 49 (1874), s.v. 1724. Coles, English Diet., s.v. 1785. Grose, Diet, cf the Vulg. Tongue. Tip me a gage of fogus.

1821. Haggavt, Life, p. 133. A hole in the roof of my cell, through which I handed her plenty of fogus.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. Troll us a stave, my antediluvian file, and in the meantime tip me a gage [pipe] of fogus, Jerry.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, &r Rogue's Lexicon, s.v.

Foiler, subs. (old).—A thief.

1669. Nicker Nicked, in Harl. Misc. [ed. Park], ii., 108. Given in list of names of thieves.

foin,verb.(obsolete).—To copulate, i.e., to thrust, to poke (q.v.). Also subs.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wördes. •

Scazzata : A thrust, a push, a foyne, or the serving to a woman of a man's pricke.

1598. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IV., ii., 4. Thou whoreson little tidy Bartholomew boar pig, when wilt thou leave fighting o'days, and foining o'nights, and begin to patch up thine old body for heaven ?

Foist, Foyst, or Fyst, subs. (old). — I. A cheat ; a swindler; a sharper.

1592. John Day, Blind Beggar (Bullen), p. 21. Your nipper, your foyst, your rogue, your cheat.

Foist. 5» Follower.

1596. Ben Jonson Every Man in His Humour iv., 7. Prate again, as you like this, you whoreson foist you.

1607. Dekker, Jests to Make you Merie'xnviVs,. (Grosart) II., 326. Now to our foysts, alias pickpocket, alias cutpurse.

1609. Dekker, Lanthorne and Candelight, in wks. (Grosart) III., 212. A foyst nor a Nip shall not walke into a Fayre or a Play-house.

1611. MiDDi.eton, Roaring Girl, O. Pl., vi., 113. This brave fellow is no better than a foist. Foist ! what is that ? A diver with two fingers ; a pickpocket ; all his train study the figging law, that's to say cutting of purses and foisting.

2. (old).—A trick ; a swindle ; an imposture. Also Foyster and Foister.

1605. Ben Jonson, Volpone or the Fox, iii., 9. Put not your foists upon me. I shall scent 'em.

3. (old).—A silent emission of wind through the anus (see quot., sense 2) ; a cheeser. See F art and Fousty. [Coles has to fyst, vissio ; which in his Latin part he renders to fizzle. Also fysting cur ; and in Sherwood's English Dictionary, subjoined to Cotgrave, fysting curs, and other offenders of the same class, are fully illustrated.]

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wördes. Loffa, a fizle, a fiste, a close fart.

1605. Jonson, Eastward Hoe, pi. iv., 270. Marry, fyst o' your Ruidess. I thought as much.

1662. Rump Songs, II., 3. That a reason be enacted (if there be not one), Why a fart hath a voice, and a fyst hath none, Which nobody can deny.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Canting Crew. Foyst . . . also a close strong stink, without noise or report.

1785. Grose. Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. Fice or Foyse.

Verb, (old).—I. To trick ; to

swindle ; to pick pockets.

1607. Dekker, Jests to Make You Merie, in wks. (Grosart) II., 332. But now to the manner of the foysting of a pocket, the sharing of the money, and how honest men may avoide them.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club's Rept., 1874). To foyst, to picke a pocket.

1653. Middleton, Spanish Gipsy* ii., i. I mean fitching, foisting, nimming.

2. (old).—To fart. Also to copulate (Urquhart).

1539. David Lyndsay, Thrie Estaitis (Works, Laing, 1879), ii., 109. Ane fistand flag.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wördes. L off are, s.v.

1611. Cotgrave, Dtctionnarie, Ves sir, s.v.

Foister, or Foyster, subs. (old). —A pick-pocket ; a cheat.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wördes. Barattiere, a härterer, a trucker, a marter, an exchanger, a briber, a cheater, a false gamester, a cousener, a broker, a fripper, a chaffrer, a cogger, a foyster, a deceiuer, a coni-catcher, a baréter, a prowler.

(V). Mirrour for Magistrates, p. 483, When facing foisters, fit for Tiburn. fraies, Are food-sick faint.

Follower, subs, (colloquial). —A maid-servant's sweetheart ; a beau. For synonyms, see Jomer.

1838. Dickens, Nicholas Nicklebv, ch. xv. Five servants kept. No man. No

followers.

1860. Chambers' Journal, XIII., p. 32. No followers allowed.

1870. Spectator, 15 Jan. It is safe", unkind as it may seem, to forbid the presence of a 'follower' in the house. A girl is less likely to get into mischief when she is walking with her friend in the street or talking with him over the area gate, than when she receives him alone in the kitchen.

1872 The Ladies, 29 June, p. 335. If you take into consideration that ' followers ' are in most houses strictly for

Follow-me-lads. S² Fool-monger.

bidden, what wonder is it that girls are now and then caught flirting with the butcher and the baker at the area railings ?

Follow-me-lads, subs. phr. (common). — Curls or ribands hanging over the shoulder ; cf., Fr., suivez-moijeune-homme = ribbons flying behind a lady's dress. Also Followers. 1872. Spectator. ' Follow-me-lads* are not in themselves very pretty, though, like any other fashion, they become the Princess, and they are exceedingly costly.

Follow on, subs. phr. and verb (cricket). — A team eighty runs behind the other in the first innings is obliged to follow on; i.e., to take to the wickets a second time. A run more, and it savfs the follow on.

1891. Pali Mall Gazette, 5 Aug. 'Notts, v. Surrey.' The game, with a possible prospect of the follow-on, being saved.

Follow your nose I intj. phr. (streets'). — A retort on asking the way. The full phrase is, ' Follow your nose, and you are sure to go straight.' 1620. Percy, Folio MSS., p. 462.

He went to the sea syde, and ffollowed

HfS nose.

1854. Notes and Queries, x., p. 66. In what collection of tales published in 1834 shall I find the tale entitled follow your

NOSE ?

Foo-foo, subs. (American). — A person of no account ; an insignificant idiot ; a poop {q.v.).

1837. A Glance at New York (in Bartlett). Don't know what a foo-foo is? Well, as you're a greenhorn, I'll enlighten you. A foo-foo, or an outsider, is a chap that can't come the big figure.

Fool, subs, (colloquial.)—A dish of

gooseberries, boiled with sugar

and milk. [Fr., groseilles en

foule.] Also, a gull (q.v.).

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., III., 9. ' Praise of the Dairy Maid.' A lady, I

heard tell, Not far off did dwell, Made her husband a fool, and it pleased him quite well.

1774. Goldsmith, Retaliation. And by the same rule, Magnanimous Goldsmith's a gooseberry fool.

No Fool, subs. phr. (American colloquial).—A phrase laudatory, applied to neuter nouns. Cf., No Slouch.

1848. Jones, Sketches of Travel, p. 33. I tell you what, Charlston ain't no fool of a city.

To make a fool of, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To delude. Specifically (venery), to cuckold, or to seduce under promise of marriage.

TO fool about (or around),

verb. phr. (American). — To

dawdle ; to trifle with ; to be

infatuated with ; to hang about ;

to defraud.

1837. A Glance at New York. Mose —Now look a-here, Liz,—I go in for Bill Sykes, 'cause he runs wid our machine ; but he musn't come foolin' round my gal, or I'll give him fits.

1884. H aw ley Smart, Post to Finish, ch. xvii. From what I hear, you came to Riddleton, fooling after my daughter. Now, I'll have no caterwauling of that sort.

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 124. I should think you had too much ed-u-cash to fool about such a going on.

Fool-fin der, subs, (obsolete).—A bum-bailiff.—Grose.

Foolish, adj. (prostitutes')—Said of a man that pays. ' Is he flash (q.v.) or foolish = Is he the cully or the other.'—Grose.

Fool-monger, subs, (colloquial).— A person, male or female, living by their wits, e.g., a promoter (q.v.) ; a betting-man ; a swindler. Also Fool-catcher and Fool-trap (q.v.).

Foolometer. S3

Foot.

Foolometer, subs, (colloquial).— A standard, positive or neuter, whereby to gauge the public taste.

Fool's Father, subs. phr. (theatrical).—The pantaloon or old 'un. (q.v.)

Fool-sticker, subs. phr. (venery). —The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick. Also Fool-maker.

Fool's Wedding, subs. phr. (common).—A party of women. For synonyms, see Hen Party.

Fool-trap, subs, (colloquial).—i.

A fool-monger (q.V.).

2. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

3. (colloquial),—A high-class harlot.

Foont, subs, (thieves')—Asovereign [Probably a corruption of Ger. Pfund.] For synonyms, see Canary.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macnt. Mag-., XL., 502. The mob got me up a break (collection), and I got between five or six foont (sovereigns).

Foot, verb, (common). — 1. To acknowledge payment ; e.g., to foot a bill ; cf.. foot-up.

1848. Durivage, Stray Subjects, p. 183. If our plan succeeded the landlord was to foot the bill, and stand treat.

2. (football and colloquial).— To kick; to hoof \q.*v.). Cf., Merchant of Venue, I., 3, You, that did void your rheum upon my beard, And foot me, as you spurn a stranger cur.

1852. Bristed, Upper TenThousand, p. 223. Both teams were footing their very best.

To foot it, vei'b. phr. (colloquial).—To walk. For synonyms, see Pad the Hoof.

1892. Price, Frcm Arctic Ocean to Yellow Sea. The discomfort of having to foot it.

To foot-up, verb. phr. (American colloquial).—To sum up the total (of a bill); to TOT UP (q.v,). Hence, to pay ; to discharge one's obligations ; to reckon up (q.v. ) ; to summarize both merits and defects, and strike a balance. Footing-UP = the reckoning, the sum total. Fr., gomberget.

1865. Sala, A Trip to Barbary. The Arab abhors statistics. He won't be tabulated if he could help it, and were you to go to Algeria, Doctor Colenso, you would find a deeply rooted objection among the people to the reckoning, or footing-up, as the Americans call it, of anything animate or inanimate.

1871. De Vere Americanisms, p. 310. To foot a bill, by paying the amount at the bottom of the account, is a phrase equally well known abroad and with us.

1882. McCabe, Mew York, XXL, 333. The transactions of ' the Street' foot up an almost fabulous sum daily.

1884 G. A. S[ala], in ///. Lon. News, 29 March, p. 294, col. 3. They foot up (American English) to an almost alarming amount in thousands of dollars.

TO PUT ONE'S BEST FOOT (or

leg) foremost, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To use all possible despatch ; to exert oneself to the utmost.

1596. Shakspeare, King John, iv., 2. Nay, but make haste ; the better foot before.

TO PUT one's FOOT INTO ANYTHING, verb. phr. (colloquial).— To make a mess of it ; to get into a scrape. The bishop (i.e., the

Devil) HAS PUT his FOOT IN IT

(Old English proverb) is said of burned porridge or over-roasted meat.—Grose. Fr., faire une gaffe.

1823. Bee, Diet, of the Turf, s.v.

Footer.

Footlicker.

1888. Daily Telegraph, 7 May. Faire une gaße, in modern Parisian slang, may be best rendered as to put your foot in it.

TO have one foot (or leg)

in the grave, verb. phr. (common). — On one's last legs ;

measured for a funeral

sermon. Also as adj.

1825. English Spy, i., pp. 199-200. With one leg in the grave he'll laugh.

1890. Globe, 15 May, p. 5, col. 2. One-foot-in-the-grave paralytic sort of people.

To pull foot, verb. phr. (American). — To make haste. Variants are to take one's foot in one's hand, and to make tracks ; but for synonyms, see ABSQUATULATEand Skedaddle.

1825. Neal, Brother Jonathan, Bk. I., ch. iv., How they pulled foot when they seed us commin.

1836. Michael Scott. Tom Cringle s Log, ch. viii. ' Why, pull foot, captain,' promptly replied Paul.

1843-4. Haliburton,Sam Slick in England. I look'd up ; it was another shower, by gosh. I pulls foot for dear life.

To take Mr. Foot's horse, verb. phr. (old).—To walk ; to go by Shank's mare (q.v.) For synonyms, see Pad the hoof.

to know the length of

one's foot, verb. phr. (old).—

To be well acquainted with one's

character.

1581. Lilly, Euphues, etc. But you shall not know the length of my foot, untill by your cunning you get commendation.

1614. Terence in English. He measures an other man's foote by his owne last,. Hee considers an other mans meaning by his owne intent.

Footer, subs. (Harrow : once common).—1. Short for Mootball.'

2. (University). —A player of football according to Rugby rules.

Foot-hot, adv. (Old English).—In hot haste ; hot-foot (q.v.)

1848. Burton Waggeries, etc., p. 65. I'm darned if I don't streak it to the Squire's foot-hot.

Footing, subs, (common).—Money paid on entering upon new duties, or on being received into a workshop or society : as at sea when a comrade first goes aloft. Formerly foot-ale : cf., Garnish. Fr., arroser ses galons — to christen one's uniform.

1777. Howard, State of Prisons in England and Wales, quoted in J. Ashton's The Fleet, p. 295. A cruel custom obtains in most of our Gaols, which is that of the prisoners demanding of a new comer garnish, footing, or (as it is called in some London Gaols) chummage.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, I., 48: I must instantly pay down two shillings for my footing.

1788. G. A. Stevens, Adv. of a Speculist, i., 211. I was drove from street to street by women of my own profession, who swore I should not come in their beats until I had paid my footing.

1830. Carleton, Collegians Colleen Bawn, 94. ' Pay your footing now, Master Kyrie Daly, before you go farther,' Said one.

1840. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. iii. 'Waiter, half-a-dozen of iced champagne here, to pay for Mr. Slick's footin'.'

1891. Clark Russell, An Ocean Tragedy, p. 86. I was going aloft and wished to pay my footing.

Footle, verb., and Footling,

adj. (colloquial). — To dawdle, trifle, potter ; dawdling, trifling, pottering; messing about (q.v.).

Footlicker, subs. (old).—A servant : a lickspittle.

1609. Shakspeare, The Tempest, IV., i. Do that good mischief which may make this island Thine for ever, and 1, thy Calibanj For aye thy fööt-liCker.

Footlights.

55 Fop's Alley.

Footlights. To smell the footlights, verb. phr. (theatrical).— To acquire a taste for theatricals. [Footlights = the float (q.v. ) ; the row of burners in front of the stage.]

To smell of the footlights. To carry theatrical concerns and phraseology into private life ; to talk shop (q.V.).

Footman's Inn, subs. phr. (old).— A poor lodging ; a jail. Fr., Hôtel de la modestie = the Poor Man's Arms.

1608. Penniles Parliament of Threedbare Poets. Those that depend on destiny, and not on God, may chance look through a narrow lattice at Footman's Inn.

1612. Rowland, Knave of Hearts. Which at the heeles so hants his frighted ghost, That he at last in Footman's-inne must host, Some castle dolorous compos'd of stone, Like (let me see) Newgate is such a one.

Footman's Maund, subs. phr. (old).—An artificial sore, as from a horse's bite or kick. The fox's bite of schoolboys. Also the Scaldrum Dodge, cr Maund (q.v.). Maund = a cadger's salebasket. Cf, Masons' Maund.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Canting Crew, s.v. An artificial sore made with unslacked 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.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Foot-riding, subs, (cyclists').— Walking and wheeling one's machine instead of riding it.

1887. T. Stevens, Round the World on a Bicycle. Already I realise that there is going to be as much foot-riding as anything for the first part of my journey.

Foot-scamp, subs. (old).—A footpad.—G. Parker.

Footstool. See Angels' Footstool.

Foot-wobbler, subs, (old, soldier's').—An infantryman. For synonyms, see Mudcrusher.

1785. Grose, Diet, oj the Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Footy, adj. (old).—Contemptible ; worthless. Fr., foutu.—Grose.

1836. Michael Scott, Tom Cringle's Log, ch. v. My eye, Captain, no use to dodge from her ; it is onlydat footy little King's cutter on de Jamaica station.

Foozle, subs, (common and sporting).—i. A boggle ; a miss.

2. (common). — A bore ; a fogey ; and (in America) a fool ; a green 'un. For synonyms, see Buffle, Cabbage-head, and Sammy soft.

1867. Rhoda Broughton, Cometh up as a Flower, ch. xxvi. Frumps and foozles in Eaton Square.

Verb, (common).—To miss; to boggle ; to muff (q.v.).

1888. Field, 25 Feb. Park foozled his second stroke.

Foozled (or Foozley), adj. (colloquial).—Blurred in appearance and effect ; fuzzy ; muffed (q.v.). Often said of badly painted pictures, or parts of pictures.

Fop-doodle, subs. (old). — An insignificant man ; a fool.

1689. Shadwell, Bury Fair. Ccrre come, you brace of fop-doodle

Fop's Alley, subs. phr. (old).—See quot. 1883.

1782. D Arblay, Cecilia, bk. IL, < h iv. Sir Robert Floyer, sauntering down fop's alley.

Forakers. 5⁶ Forefoot.

1883. Sala, Echoes of the Year, p. 369. Fop's alley was the gangway running parallel to the footlights, between the last row of the stalls and the first row of the pit in Her Majesty's Theatre, and in its palmiest days it was always graced by the presence of a subaltern of the Guards in full uniform, daintily swinging his bearskin.

Forakers, subs. (Winchester College). — The water-closet. [Formerly spelt foricus and probably a corruption of fori as, an English plural cf the Latin forica.] For synonyms, see Mrs. Jones.

for a m 1 nate, verb (venery).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

Force, subs, (colloquial). — The police ; properly a body of men trained for action. For synonyms, see Beak and Copper.

1868. Braddon. Trailof the Serpent, bk. IV., eh. vi. 'I should like to . . . bring a child up from the very cradle to the police detective line, to see whether I couldn't make that 'ere child a ornament to the force.'

1883. Daily Telegraphy 5 April, p. 2, col. i. But in all my experience of the force, I think I never saw a policeman's eyes so expressive of gratitude.

TO force the voucher, verb.

phr. (turf).—It is customary for sporting tricksters to advertise selections and enclose vouchers (similar to thosesentoutbyrespectable commission agents)for double or treble the current odds. The correspondent is informed that, in consequence of early investments, the extra odds can be laid ; a remittance is requested ; the voucher is forced ; and then the firm 'dries up,' and changes its name and address.

Forcemeat Ball, subs. phr. (old). —Something endured from compulsion : as (1) a rape: (2) going to prison ; (3) transporta

tion ; (4) an affiliation order ; (5) abstention (from drink, pleasure, etc.) through impecuniosity.

Forceps, subs. (old).—The hands. [Properly a pair of surgeon's pincers.] — For synonyms, see Daddle.

Fore-AND-Aft, verb, (venery).— To copulate. See Greens and Ride.

Fore-AND-after, subs. phr. (American).—i. See quot.

1840. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xi. ' The way she walks her chalks ain't no matter. She is a regular

fore-and-after.'

2. (venery).—A double-barrelled (q.v.) harlot. [As in the song attributed to an eminent living man of letters : " Sing whore, sing whore, Behind and before, Her price is a shilling— She never gets more."]

Fore-buttocks, subs. (old).—The

paps.—For synonyms, see Dairy.

a. 1745. Swift, Pope, and Arbuthnot, Misc. iv., 222. Now her fore-buttocks to the navel bare.

Forecaster, subs, (venery). The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Fore-coach-wheel, subs, (common). — A half-crown. For synonyms, see Caroon.

Fore-court, subs. phr. (venery). —The female pudendum. Also Fore-hatch, Fore-castle, and Fore-room. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Forefoot, subs. (old).—The hand.

1599. Shakspeare, Henry V., II., 1. Give me thy fist ; thy forefoot to me give.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue.

Foregather. 57 Fork.

Foregather, verb. (old). — To share the sexual embrace. For synonyms, see Ride.

Fore hatch, subs, (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.. Also Forecastle.

Foreman, subs. (old).—i. The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick. [Cf., Forewoman.]

1647. Ladies' Parliament (.q.v.).

Foreman of the jury, subs. phr. (old).—A babbler ; one with the gift of the gab (q.V.).

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Canting Crew. Foreman of the jury, he that engrosses all the talk to himself.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

Foreskin Hunter, subs. phr. (venery). —A harlot. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

Forest, subs, (venery). — The female pubic hair. For synonyms, see Fleece.

1573-1631. Donne, Elegies, xviii. Yet ere thou be where thou would'st be embayed, Thou must upon another forest set, Where many shipwreck and no further get

1720. Durfey, Pills, etc., vi., 146. Give me the Country lass, That trips it o'er the field, And opes her forest to the first.

Fore-stall, subs, (thieves').—In garotting, a look-out in front of of the operator, or ugly-man (q.v.); the watch behind is the back-stall (q.v.). [From fore

+ stall (q.V.).]

Forewoman, subs. (old).—The female pudendum. For synonyms,^ Monosyllable.

Fork, subs. (old). 1. A pickpocket. Fr., 'Avoir les mains crochues = to be a light-fingered or lime-fingered filcher ; every finger of his hand as good as a lime-twig. '—Cotgrave.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Canting Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue.

2. (thieves').—A finger. The forks = the fore and middle fingers; also cf., (proverbial) ' Fingers were made before forks.'

E n g l i s h S y n o n yms.—

Claws ; cunt-hooks ( Grose ) ; daddies (also the hands) ; divers ; feelers; fives; flappers; grapplers; grappling irons ; gropers ; hooks ; nail-bearers ; pickers and stealers (Shakspeare); corn-stealers; Ten Commandments ; ticklers ; pinkies ; muck-forks.

French Synonyms. — Les apôtres (thieves' : = the ten Apostles) ; les fourchettes, or les fourchettes d'Adam (popular : = Adam's forks) ; le peigne d'allemand (thieves': Rabelais).

German Synonyms. — Ezba ( = the finger, especially the first or fore-finger. The names of the others are: 6W<?/=the thumb; Ammo = the middle-finger ; Kemizo = the ring-finger ; Seres, i.e., ' span' —the little finger); Grifft.11g ( = also the hand. From greifen = to seize).

Spanish Synonyms. — Mandamiento( = a commandment: cf., Ten Commandments) ; tiferas ( = the foreand middle fingers; Minsheu (i599)Dictionarie, tijeras — ' small sheares, seizers, snuffers.').

Fork.

Portuguese Synonym. — Medunhos.

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 121. My forks were equally long, and they never failed me.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookivood. ' Nix my Dolly.' No dummy hunter had forks so fly. Ibid. Jack Sheppard (1889), p. 20. I'll give him theedication of a prig—teach him the use of his forks betimes.

1841. Tail's Edinburgh Mag., VI 11., p. 220. My forks were light and fly, and lightly faked away.

1891. Licensed Victuallers' Gazette, 9 Feb. Up they came briskly with smiling mugs, shook hands, then stepped back a pace or two, put up their forks, and the spectators were hushed into silence, for they saw that the battle was about to begin.

3. In plural (common). — The hands.

4. (old).—A gibbet ; in the plural = the gallows. [fork is often applied to anything resembling a divarication (as of a tree, river, or road), etc. : Cf., sense 2. Cf., Cicero (de Div.^ i., 26). Ferens fur cam ductus est: a slave so punished was called furcifer.~\

5. (old).—A spendthrift. 1725, New Canting Diet., s.v.

6. (tailors' and venery).—The crutch (q.v.), nockandro(<?.z\ ), or Twist (q.v.). [Thus, a bit on a fork = the female pudendum; a grind (q.v.).] Fr., ' Fourcheure, that part of the bodie from whence the thighs depart.'—Cotgrave.

Verb (old). — 1. To steal ; specifically to pick a pocket by inserting the middle and forefinger. Also to put one's forks down : Fr., vol à la fourchette.

5⁸ Fork.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Canting Crew. Let's fork him, c. Let us pick that man's pocket, the newest and most dextrous way ; it is to thrust the fingers straight, stiff, open, and very quick into the pocket, and so closing them hook what can be held between them.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue. Let us fork him.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. xvi. Yet so keen was his appetite for the sport, that the veteran appropriator absolutely burst into tears at not having ' forked more.'

1878. C. Hindley, Life and Times of James Catnach. Frisk the Cly and fork the Rag, Draw the fogies plummy.

2. (venery).—To open up, or spread (q.v.).

to fork out, or over (sometimes abbreviated to fork). Verb, phr. (common).—To hand over; to pay ; to shell out (q.v.).

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. xxxi. The person forks him out ten shiners.

1836. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 84. His active mind at once perceived how much might be done in the way of. . . shoving the old and helpless into the wrong buss, and carrying them off. .. till they was rig'larly done over, and forked out the stumpy.

1837. Barham, I. L., The Execution. He Pulls up at the door of a gin-shop, and gaily Cries, ' What must I fork out to night, my trump, For the whole first-floor of the Magpie and Stump?'

1840. Comic Almanack. 'Tom the Devil,' p. 214. ' That's a nate way of doin' business, sure enough,' was the commentary ; ' ounly I can't lam the sinse of going to a private lodging, where, if you ordher a kidney for breakfast, you're expected to fork out to the butcher.

1852. H. B. Stowe, Uncle Toms Cabin, ch. viii. You've got to fork over fifty dollars, flat down, or this child don't start a peg.

1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, Bk. III., ch. i. 'Now,' said Fledgeby, ' for k out your balance in hand, and prove by figures how you make it out that it ain't more.'

Forker. 59 form.

1867. Albany Argus, 5 Sept. Now, sir, you will please fork over that money to me, and pay your bill, or I'll have the law out of you, as sure as you are born.

1887. Lippincott's Magazine, Aug., p. 199. Just calculate my percentage of our liabilities, and allow me to fork over.

1888. Detroit Free Press, 9 Sept. The dozen screw-drivers came up C. O. D. and he had to fork over for them.

To fork on, verb.phr. (American).—To appropriate. Cf., To

freeze on to.

To pitch the fork, verb. phr. (popular). — To tell a pitiful tale.

TO eat vinegar with a

fork, verb. phr. (common).—A person either over-shrewd or oversnappish is said to have eaten

vinegar with a fork. Fr.,

Avoir mangé de F oseille. See Nettle.

Forker, subs, (nautical).—A dockyard thief or fence (q.v.). [From fork = to steal + er. ]

Forking, subs, (thieves'). — 1. Thieving. See Fork.

2. (tailors'). — Hurrying and scamping (q.v.).

Forkless,«^'. (thieves').—Clumsy ; unworkmanlike; as without forks (q.v.).

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 40. I met George Bagrie, and William Paterson, alias old Hag, two very willing, but poor snibs, accompanying a lushy cove, and going to work in a very fokkless manner

forloper, subs. (South African).— A teamster guide.

Forlorn Hope, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A gamester's last stake. —Grose.

Form, subs, (turf.)—1. Condition; training ; fitness for a contest.

In or out of form = in or out of condition, i.e., fit or unfit for work. Better or Top form, etc. (incomparison). Cf.,Colour.

1861. Walsh, The Horse, ch. vi. If it be supposed that two three-year-olds, carrying the same weight, could run a mile and a-half, and come in abreast, it is said that the form of one is equal to that of the other.

1884. Hawley Smart, Post to Finish, ch. xxxv. When fillies, in racing parlance, lose their form at three years old, they are apt to never recover it.

1868. Whyte Melville, White Rose, ch. xxxiv. That mysterious property racing men call ' form '

2. (colloquial). — Behaviour (with a moral significance : as good form, bad form = agreeable to good manners, breeding, principles, taste, etc., or the opposite). This usage, popularised in racing circles, is good literary English, though the word is commonly printed in inverted commas (" ") : Shakspeare (Tuo Gentlemen of Verona, 4), says, ' Can no way change you to a milder form,' i.e., manner of behaviour.

1871. Orchestra, 13 Jan. This squabble at the Globe may most fitly, perhaps, be characterised by the words ' bad form.'

1871. The Drawing Room Gazette, Dec. 9, p. 5. It is an open question, whether snubbing be not, like cutting, in the worst possible 'form.'

1873. Belgravia, Feb. The demeanour and conduct which the 'golden youth ' of the period call ' good form ' was known to their fathers as bad manners.

1881. Jas. Payn, Grape from a Thorn, ch. xvii. It would be considered what they call ' bad form ' in my daughter Ella if she were known to be a contributor —for pay—to the columns of a magazine.

1890. Speaker, 22 Feb , p. 211, col 2 Still, after all, we doubt very much whether it be fair, or right, or even prudent —it certainly is not 'good form'—to publish to a world of Gallios a lot of irreverent bar-mess and circuit 'good stories,' worked up about living Lord Chancellors, Lord Justices, and other present occupants of the judicial bench.

Forney. ⁶⁰ Forty-foot.

3. (common).—Habit; game {q.v.) : e.g., 'That's my form = That's what I'm in the way of doing ' ; or ' That's the sort of man I am.'

1884. Punch, ii Oct. ¹ Arry at a Political Picnic' Athletics ain't hardly my form.

Forney, subs (thieves').—A ring ; a variant of fawney (q.v.).

1871. Egan, Finish of Tom and Jerry, p. 243. He sports a diamond Forney on his little finger.

Fornicating-engine (member, -Tool)» subs. phr. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Fornicator,subs, (venery). — t.The penis. For synomyns, see Creamstick and Prick.

2. In//, (obsolete),—The oldfashioned flap trousers.

Fornicator's Hall, sues. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Fort, subs, (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

1620. Percy, Folio MSS. [Hales & Furnivall, 1867 ]. ' Come, Wanton Wenches.' When they your ffort beleauger ; grant but a touch or a kisse ffor a tast.

Fortune-biter, subs, (obsolete). —A sharper.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., ii. ' Hey ! for Richmond Ball ' ! Fortune-biters, Hags, bum-fighters, Nymphs of the Woods, And stale City goods.

Fortune-teller, subs. (old).—A

magistrate,

1690. B E., Diet, of the Canting Crew. Fortune-tellers, c. the Judges of Life and Death, so-called by the Canting Crew.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulg. Tongue. Fortune-teller, or cunning man ; a judge who tells every prisoner his fortune, lot, or doom ; to go before the fortune-teller, lambskin man or conjuror, to be tried at an assize.

1871. Egan, Finish of Tom and Jerry, p. 242. He had been werry cruelly used by the fortune-tellers.

Forty. To talk forty (more commonly nineteen) to the dozen, verb. phr. (colloquial).— To chatter incessantly ; to gabble.

TO walk off forty to the

dozen = to decamp in quick time.

1891. Farjeon, Mystery of M. Felix, p. 107. He run agin me, he did, and I ased, ' Who are yer pushing of? ' He didn't say nothink, but walked off forty to the dozen.

Roaring forties, subs. phr. (nautical).—The Atlantic between the fortieth and fiftieth degrees of latitude ; also applied to the same region in southern latitudes.

Forty-faced, adj. (colloquial).— An arrant deceiver : e.g., a

forty-faced liar, a fortyfaced flirt, and so forth.

Forty-five, subs. (American).— A revolver. For synonyms, see Meat in the pot.

Forty-foot or Forty-guts, subs. (common).—A fat, dumpy man, or woman. In contempt.

English Synonyms. — 'All arse, and no body ' ; arse-andcorporation; all-belly (Cotgrave); all guts (idem); bacon-belly; barrel-bel ly ; belly-god; bladderfigured ; bosse-belly ; Bosse of Billingsgate(Florio = a fat woman) ; chuff (Shakspeare) ; Christmas beef ; double-guts ; double-tripe ; fat-cock ; fat-guts (Shakspeare and Cotgrave) ; fatico ; fattymus or

Forty-jawed.

Fossick.

fattyma ; fubsy ; fat Jack of the bonehouse ; fat-lips ; flanderkin ; fustiluggs ( Burton ) ; fussock ; gorbelly ; grampus ; gotch-guts ; grand-guts (Florio) ; gulche ( Florio ) ; gullyguts ; gundigutts ; guts ; guts-and-stomach ; guts-and-garbage ; guts-to-sell ; hoddy-doddy ; humpty-dumpty ; hogshead ; hop-: per-arse ; Jack Weight ; loppers ; lummox ; paunch ; pod ; porpoise ; pot-guts ; princod ; pudding-belly ; puff-guts ; ribs ; ' short-and-thicklike-a-Welshman's-cock'; slushbucket; sow (afat woman); spud; squab ; studgy-guts ; tailow-guts ; tallow-merchant ; thick-in-themiddle ; tripes ; tripes and trullibubs ; tubs ; waist ; water-butt ; walking ninepin ; whopper.

French Synonyms. Un gros bajaf (popular) ; un bout de cul (popular); un bas de plafond, or de cul (popular) ; un brasset ( — a tall, stout man) ; un berdouillard.

Spanish Synonym. Angelon de retablo (generally applied to a pot-bellied child).

Forty-jawed, adj. (colloquial).— Excessively talkative.

Forty-lung ed, adj. (colloquial). —Stentorian ; given to shouting ;

leather-lunged (q.V.),

Forty-rod or Forty-rod Lightning, subs. phr. (American).— Whiskey ; specifically, spirit of so fiery a nature that it is calculated to kill at Forty Rods' distance, i.e., on sight. Cf., Rotgut. For synonyms, see Drinks and Old man's milk. Cf., Florio (1598), Catoblepa, 'a serpent in India so venomous that with his looke he kils a man a mile off.'

1884. M. Twain, Huck. Finn, ch. v., p. 36. He got powerful thirsty and dumb out on to the porch-roof and slid down a stanchion, and traded his new coat for a

jug Of FORTY-ROD.

Forty-twa, subs. (Scots).—A common jakes, or Bogshop (q.v.).—in Edinburgh : ' so called from its accommodating that number of persons at once' (Hotten). [Long a thing of the past.]

Forty Winks, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A short sleep or nap. See Dog's Sleep.

1866. G. Eliot, Felix Holt, ch. xliii. She was prevented by the appearance of old Mr. Transome, who since his walk had been having ' forty-winks ' on the sofa in the library.

1871. Egan. Finish to Tom and Jerry, p. 87. On uncon<manly big gentlemen, told out, taking forty-winks.

[Forty is often used to signify an indefinite number ; cf., Shakspeare's usage, ' I could beat forty of them (Cot. iii., 1) ; ' O that the slave had forty thousand lives' (Othello iii., 1) ; 'forty thousand brothers ' (Hamlet, v., 1) ; 'The Humour of Forty Fancies ' ( Taming of the Shrew) ; and J onson ' Some forty boxes ' (Silent Woman).]

Fossed, ppl. adj. (American thieves').—Thrown; cf., [foss = a ditch].

Fossick, verb (Australian miners'). —To work an abandoned claim, or to wash old dirt ; hence to search persistently. [Halliwell : = to take trouble, but cf., fosse, a ditch or excavation.] Also fossicking = a living got as aforesaid ; fossicker = a man that works abandoned claims ; fossicking about = (American) shinning around, or in England ferreting (q.v.).

1870. Notes and Queries, 4 S., vi., p. 3.

Fou.

Four-and-nine.

1878. Fraser's Mag., Oct., p. 449, They are more suited . . . to plodding, fossicking, persevering industry, than for hard work.

1887. Sala, in III. Lond. News, 12 Mar., p. 282, col. 2. ' To fossick ' in the old digging days was to get a living by extracting gold from the refuse wash-dirt which previous diggers had abandoned as worthless.

1890. Illustrations, Jan., p. 158. After some ' fossiking ' we discover three or four huts within ' cooee,' all diggers, all ' hatters,'and mostly good fellows.

Fou, or Fow, adj. (old English and Scots' colloquial).—Drunk ; variants are bitch-fou; greetin'

fou ; piperfou; roaring

fou ; fou as barty (Burns) ;

pissiNG-fou ; and so forth. For

synonyms, see Drinks and

Screwed. Also (Scots') = full

of food or drink, as in quot.

under date 1815.

1697. Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, III., ii. (quoted in). Then sit ye awhile, and tipple a bit, For we's not very fou, but we're gayly yet.

1787. Burns, Death and Dr. Hornbook, st. 3. I was na fou, but just had plenty.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xlvi. ' Are ye fou or fasting ? ' ' Fasting from all but sin.'

1857. J. E. Ritchie, Night Side of London, p. 166. The time admits of a man getting fou between the commencement and the close of the entertainment.

FOUL, subs, (nautical and aquatic). —A running into ; a running down.

Verb. (idem).—To run against ; to run down. Also to come (or fall) foul of. [Foul, adj. and verb, is used in two senses : (1)=dirty, as a foul word, a foul shrew (Dickens), to foul the bed, &c. ; and (2) = unfair, as a foul (i.e., a felon) stroke, a foul blow, and so forth.]

1626. Captain John Smith, Accidence for Seamen, in wks. (Arber), p. 796. Boord and boord, or thwart the hawse, we are foule on each other.

1724. E. Coles, EngDiet. Foul, hindred or intangled with another ship's ropes, etc.

1754. Connoisseur, No. 3. Which sailed very heavy, were often a-ground, and continually ran foul on each other.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brozvn at Oxford, ch. xiii. Their coxswain . . . had to pull his left hand hard or they would have fouled the Oxfordshire corner.

1885 Illus. London News, March 28, p. 316, col. i. In 1849 there were two races in the course of the year ; Cambridge won the first, Oxford the second, on a foul (the only time the race has been so won).

1889. Licensed Victuallers Gaz., 18 Jan. Dick was done out of the stakes on an appeal of foul.

TO foul a plate with, Verbal phr. (old, colloquial). — To dine or sup with.—Grose.

Foulcher, subs, (thieves'). —A purse.

1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 243. 'A foulcher, with flimsies and couters for a score of quid in it.'

Foul-mouthed, adj. (colloquial). —Obscene or blasphemous in speech.

Found in a Parsley-bed. See

Parsley-bed and Gooseberrybush.

Fountain of Love, subs. phr. (venery).—The iema\e pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Four-and-nine (or Four-andninepenny), subs. phr. (old).— A hat. [So-called from the price at which an enterprising Bread Street hatter sold his hats, circa 1844, & which date London was hideous with posters displaying a large black hat and '4s. and 9d.' in white letters.]

1844. Advertisement Couplet. Whene'er to slumber you incline, Take a short pap at four-and-nine.

Four-bones. 63 Fourth.

1846. Thackeray, Yellow Plush Papers, p. 152 (ed. 1887). You may, for instance, call a coronet a coronal (an 'ancestral coronal,' p. 74) if you like, as you might call a hat a ' swart sombrero,' a 'glossy four-and-nine,' 'a silken helm to storm impermeable, and lightsome as the breezy gossamer ; ' but in the long run it is safer to call it a hat.

1847. Thackeray, Mrs. Perkins's Ball (The Mulligan). The Mulligan has withdrawn his custom from the ' infernal four-and-NiNE pen ny scoundthrel, ' as he calls him. The hatter has not shut up shop in consequence.

1849. Viator, Oxford G'tide. He then did raise his four-and-nine, And scratched his shaggy pate.

1867. Jas. Greenwood, Unsent. Journeys, xxx., 229. Because he wore a four-and-nine, and had a pencil stuck behind his ear.

Four-bon es, subs, (thieves'). —

The knees.

1857. Punch, 31 Jan. ' Dear Bill, This Stone-jug.' For them coves in Guildhall and that blessed Lord Mayor, Prigs on their four bones should chop whiners I swear.

Four-eyes, subs, (common).— A person in spectacles : 'a chap that can't believe his own eyes.'

Four-holed Middlings, subs, phr. (Winchester College). — Ordinary walking shoes ; cf. beeswaxers. Obsolete.

Four Kings. The history (or book) of the four kings. subs. phr. (old). -— A pack of cards ; otherwise, a child's best guide to the gallows, or the devil's picture books. Fr., Livre des quatre rois.

Four-legged burglar-alarm,

subs. phr. (common). — A watch dog.

Four-legged Frolic, subs. phr. (venery). — The act of kind : a reminiscence of the proverb, ' There goes more to a marriage than four bare legs in a bed.' Por synonyms, Greens and RlDE.

Four-poster, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A four-post bedstead.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xliv. ' Vill you allow me to en-quire vy you make up your bed under that ere deal table ?" said Sam. ' 'Cause I was alvays used to a four-poster afore I came here, and I find the legs of the table answer just as well,' replied the cobbler.

Four Seams and a Bit of Soap,

subs. phr. (tailors').—A pair of trousers. See Kicks.

Four—(more commonly Three)— Sheets in the Wind, adv. phr. (nautical).—Drunk; cf., half seas over. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

Fourteen Hundred, . . . phr. (Stock Exchange).—A warning cry that a stranger is in the * House.'

1887. Atkin, House Scraps. So, help me Got, Mo, who is he ? Instead of replying in a straightforward way, Mo raised his voice as loud as he could, and shouted with might and main, 'fourteen hundred new fives ! ' A hundred voices repeated the mysterious exclamation.

1890. CasselTs Saturday Journal, 26 April. The cry of ' fourteen hundred ' is said to have had its origin in the fact that for a long while the number of members never exceeded 1,399 < ^and ^lt ^was customarj to hail every new comer as the fourteen hundredth. It has, in its primary sense, long since lost significance, for there are now nearly three thousand members of the close corporation which has its home in Capel Court.

Fourteenth Amendment Persuasion, subs. phr. (American). —Negroes. [From the number of the clause amending the Constitution at the abolition of slavery.]

1888. Times Democrat, 5 Feb_; To take the law is one of the greatest privileges in the estimation of the colored folk that the fourteenth amendment conferred, and, whether offender or defendant, they take a pride in summonses beyond describing.

Fourth Estate. ⁶4

Fox.

Fourth, subs. (Cambridge University).—A rear (q.v. ) or jakes. [Origin uncertain ; said to have been first used at St. John's or Trinity, where the closets were situated in the Fourth Court. "Whatever its derivation, the term is now the only one in use at Cambridge, and is frequently heard outside the university.] The verbal phrase is to keep a fourth (see Keep).

On his fourth,^;-, (common). —Hopelessly drunk. For synonyms,^ DRiNKsand Screwed.

Fourth Estate, subs. phr. (literary).—The body of journalists ; the'Press.' [Literally the Fourth Estate of the realm, the other three being Queen, Lords, and Commons. ] 1855. Notes and Queries. I S. xi.,

p452

1857. J. E. Ritchie, Night Side of London, p. 202. Let me say a word about these exceedinglyseedy-looking individuals connected with the fourth estate.

Four-wheeler, subs, (common), —A steak.

2. (colloquial).—Afour-wheeled

cab ; a growler (q.v.).

1873. Black, Princess of Thüle, ch. 10. Having sent on all their luggage by a respectable old four-wheeler.

Fousty, adj. (colloquial).—Stinking [probably derived frorn foist, sense 3].

f outer,verb, and foutering, subs. (common).—To meddle, importune, waste time and tongue; the act of meddling, importunity, wasting time and tongue. E-g., ' Don't come foutering here ! ' [From the French, foutre : the sense of which is intensified in a vulgarism of still fuller flavour].

Fox, subs, (old).—A sword ; specifically, the old English broadsword.

[Derivation dubious. Suggesttions are : (1) from a maker's name ; (2) from the fox sometimes engraved on the blade ; (3) from the Latin falx.] For synonyms, see Cheese-toaster and Poker.

1598, Shakspeare, Henry V., 4. O signieur Dew, thou dy'st on point of

fox.

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, ii. A fellow that knows nothing but a basket-hilt, and an old fox in't.

c. 1640. [Shirley], Captain Underwit, in Bullen's Old Plays, ii., 321. Un. An old fox blade made at Hounsloe heath.

1667. Shirley, Love Tricks, Act II., Sc. i. They say your swqrds most commonly are foxes, and have notable metal in them,.

1700. Congreve, Way of the World, Act V., Sc. 10. Sir, I have an old fox by my thigh, shall hack your instrument of ram vellum to shreds, Sir.

1821. Scott, Kenilworth, ch. iv. ' Come, come, comrade,' said Lambourne, ' here is enough done, and more than enough, put up your fox, and let us be jogging.'

Verb (old). —I. To intoxicate. Foxed = drunk ; to catch a fox = to be very drunk ; while to flay the fox (Urquhart) = to vomit, to shed your liquor, i.e., to get rid of the beast.

1611. Barry, Ram Alley, Act IV. They will bib hard ; they will be fine sunburnt, Sufficient fox'd or coltimber'd now and then.

1633. Heywood. Eng. Travellers, IV., v., p. 266 (Mermaid Series), Rioter. Worthy Reginald. Reig. Will, if he now come off well, fox you all, Go, call for wine.

c. 1640. [Shirley], Captain Underwit, in Bullen s Old Plays, ii.. 375. Then to bee fox'd it is no crime, Since thickest and dull braines It makes sublime.

1661. T. Middleton, Mayor of Quinborough, V., i. Ah, blind as one that had been fox'd a sevennight.

1673. Shadwell, Epsom Wells, IV., in wks. (1720), ii., 248. But here's my cup. Come on. Udsooks, I begin, to be fox'd i

Fox,

Foxy.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 194. Come, let's trudge it to Kirkham Fair : There's stout liquor enough to fox me.

1738. Swift, Polite C.onvers., Dial. 2. Lady Sm. But, Sir John, your ale is terrible strong and heady. . . . Sir John. Why, indeed, it is apt to fox one.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Fox (v.) . . . also to make a person drunk or fuddled.

1891. Sporting Times, 11 April. And so to bed well nigh seven in the morning, and myself as near foxed as of old.

2. (old).—To cheat ; to trick ; to rob (colloquial at Eton). For synonyms, see Gammon.

1631. Mayne, City Match, iii., 1. Fore Jove, the captain foxed him rarely.

1866. Notes and Queries, 3, S. x., 123. Where the tramps . . . out of their gout are foxed.

3. (common). — To watch closely. Also to fox about. Cf., fox's sleep. For synonyms, see Nose.

1880. Greenwood, Odd People in Odd Places, p. 6t. ' You keep it going pretty loud here, with a couple of policemen foxing about just outside."

4. (colloquial).—To sham.

1880. One and All, 6 Nov , p. 296, ' Let us look at these vagabons ; maybe they're only foxin'.' The two men who had received such tangible mementos of the whip-handle and the blackthorn lay perfectly still.

5. (American). — To play truant.

6. (booksellers').—To stain ; to discolour with damp ; said of books and engravings. Foxed = stained or discoloured.

1881. C. M. I[ngleby] in Notes and Queries (6th S., iv., 96). Tissue paper harbours damp, and in a damp room will assuredly help to fox the plates which they face.

1885. Austin Dobson, At the Sign of the Lyre, 83. And the Rabelais foxed and flea'd.

7. (theatrical). — To criticise a ' brother pro's ' performance.

8. (common). — To mend a boot by ' capping ' it.

TO set a fox to keep

one's geese, phr. (common).— To entrust one's money, or one's circumstances, to the care of sharpers. Latin, Ovem lupo commisisti.

To make a fox paw, verb, phr. (common). — To make a mistake or a wrong move ; specifically (of women) to be seduced. [A corruption of the Fr. faux pas.~\

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue.

Fox's Sleep, subs.phr. (common). — A state of feigned yet very vigilant indifference to one's surroundings. [Foxes were supposed to sleep with one eye open.]

1830. Sir J. Barrington, Personal Sketches, Vol. III., p. 171 (ed. 1832). Mr. Fitzgerald, he supposed, was in a fox's sleep, and his bravo in another, who, instead of receding at all, on the contrary squeezed the attorney closer and closer.

Foxy, adj. (colloquial).—1. Redhaired ; cf., ca*rrotty.

1828. G. Griffin, Collegians, ch. ii. Dunat O'Leary, the hair-cutter, or Foxy Dunat, as he was named in allusion to his red head.

2. (colloquial). — Cunning ; vulpine in character and look. Once literary. Jonson ( 1605) calls his arch-foist volpone, the second title of his play being ' The Fox ;' and Florio (1598) defines Volpone as ' an old fox, an old reinard, an old, crafty, sly, subtle companion, sneaking, lurking, wilie deceiver.'

Foy.

Free.

d. 1536. Tyndale, Workes, p. 148. Oh, foxy Pharisay, that is thy leuen, of which Christ so diligently bad vs beware.

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. xlix., p. 429 Whatever his state of health may be his appearance is foxy, not to say diabolical.

3. (American cobblers'). — Repaired with new toe-caps. See Fox, verb, sense 8.

1877. M. Twain, Life on the Mississippi, ch. Ivii., p. 503. It was the scarecrow Dean—in foxy shoes, down at the heels ; socks of odd colours, also ' down.'

4. (bookselle^rs'). — A term applied to prints and books discoloured by damp ; see Fox, verb, sense 6.

5. (painters' : obsolete). —Inclined to reddishness.

d. 1792. Sir J. Reynolds, Notes on Dufresnoy. That (style) of Titian, which may be called the Golden manner, when unskilfully managed, becomes what the painters call foxy.

6. (common).— Strong-smelling. Said of a red-haired man or woman.

FOY, subs. (old). — A cheat ; a swindle.

1615. Greene, Thieves Falling Out. You be crossbites, foys, and nips.

Foyl-cloy, subs, (old).—A pickpocket; a rogue—B.E. [1690].

Foyst, subs, and verb. See Foist.

Foyster. See Foister.

Fraggle, verb. (Texas).—To rob.

Fragment, subs. (Winchester College). — A dinner for six (served in College Hall, after the ordinary dinner), ordered by a Fellow in favour of a particular boy, who was at liberty to invite five others to join him. Obs. A

fragment was supposed to consist of three dishes. — Winchester Word-book [1891].

Framer, subs. (American thieves').

—A shawl.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue's Lexicon, s.v.

Frater, subs. (old). — A beggar working with a false petition.

1567. Harman, Caveat, s.v. Frater, a beggar wyth a false paper.

1622. Fletcher, Beggar's Bush, ii., i. And these what name or title e'er they bear, Jarkman, or Patrico, Cranke, or Clapper-dudgeon, Frater, or Abramvian, I speak to all That stand in fair election for the title Of king of beggars.

1791. Life of Bamfylde Moore-Carew. ' Oath of Canting Crew.' Rogue or rascal, frater, maunderer, Irish toyle, or other wanderer.

Fraud, subs, (colloquial).—A failure ; anything or body disappointing expectation ; e.g., an acquaintance, a picture, a book, a play, a picture, a bottle of wine. Actual dishonesty is not necessarily implied.

1882. Punch, LXXXII., p. 177, col. 1.

A fraud, Charlie !

F raze. See Vessel.

Freak, subs. (American showmen's). A living curiosity : as the Siamese Twins, the Twoheaded Nightingale. [Short for ' freak of nature.']

Free, adj. (Oxford University).— Impudent ; self-possessed.

1864. Tennyson, Northern Fartner, (Old Style), line 25.—But parson a coomes an' a goos, an' a says it easy an' freeä.

Verb. (old). — To steal ; cf., annex and convey. For synonyms, see Prig.

Free-and-Easy. 67 Free Fight.

1857. Snowden, Magistrates Assistant, 3rd ed., p 444. To steal a muff. To free a cat.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue's Lexicon, s.v.

1882. McCabe, New York, ch. xxxiv., p. 509. (Given in list of slang terms.)

Free-fucking, subs, (venery). —General lewdness. Also the favour gratis. Also fidelity to the other sex at large.

Free of Fumbler's Hall, adv. phr. (venery).—Impotent; unable to do 'the trick.' [Fumbler's Hall = female pudendum. ]

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue s.v., A saying of one who cannot get his wife with child.

Free, gratis,—fornothing, phr. (common). — A pleonastic vulgarism. Cf., On the dead.

To make free with both ends of the busk, verb. phr. (venery).—To take liberties with a woman. Cf., Both ends of the busk.

Free of the house, adj. phr. (colloquial). — Intimate ; privileged to come and go at will.

Free of the bush, adj. phr. (venery).—On terms of extreme intimacy. See Bush.

[For the rest, the commonest sense of free is one of liberality : e.g., free of his foolishness = full of chaff ; freehanded = lavish in giving ; freehearted^ generously disposed; free of her favours = liberal of her person : free of his patter=full of talk.]

Free-and-Easy, subs, (common). —A social gathering where you smoke, drink, and sing ; generally held at a public house.

1796. (In Bee's Diet, of the Turf, published 1823, s.v.). Twenty seven years ago the cards of invitation to that (freeand-easy) at the ' Pied Horse,' in Moorfields, had the notable ⁴ N.B.—Fighting allowed.'

1810. Crabbe, The Borough, Letter 10. Clubs. Next is the club, where to their friends in town, Our country neighbours once a-month come down ; We term it free-and-easy, and yet we Find it no easy matter to be free.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Freeand-easy Johns. A society which meets at the Hole in the Wall, Fleet Street, to tipple porter, and sing bawdry.

1821. Egan, Torn and Jerry (ed. 1890), p 91. Blew a cloud at a free-andeasy.

1843. Macaulay. Essays : Gladstone on Church and State. Clubs of all ranks, from those which have lined PaliMall and St. James's Street with their palaces, down to the free-and-easy which meets in the shabby parlour of the village inn.

1869. Mrs. H. Wood, Roland Yorke, ch. xii. He tilted himself on to a high stool in the middle of the room, his legs dangling, just as though he had been at a free and-easy meeting.

1880. Jas. Greenwood, Odd People in Odd Places, p. 64. A roaring trade is done, for instance, on a Saturday evening at the ' Medley' in Hoxton, a combination of theatre and music-hall, and serves as a free-and-easy chiefly for boys and girls.

1891. Cassell's Saturday Journal, Sept., p. 1068, col. 3. The free and easy of to-day among us is a species of publichouse party, at which much indifferent liquor and tobacco are consumed, songs are sung, and speeches are got rid of.

Free book er, subs, (journalists'). —A ' pirate ' bookseller or publisher ; a play on the word freebooter.

Free fight, subs, (colloquial).— A general mellay.

1877. W. Mark, Green Past, and Pice., ch. xxx. That vehement German has been insisting on the Irish porters bringing up all our luggage at once ; and as there has been a sort of free fight below he comes fuming upstairs.

Free-fisJiery. ⁶⁸ Freezer.

Free-fishery, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see monosyllable.

Freeholder, subs, (venery).—i. A prostitute's lover or fancyman. Cf., Free-fishery, and for synonyms, see Joseph.

2. (old).—A man whose wife insists on accompanying him to a public house.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Canting Crew, s.v. 1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Free-lance, subs, (common). — An habitual adulteress.

el889. (Quoted from Spectator in ¹ Slang, Jargon, and Cant '). Sooner than be out of the fashion they will tolerate what should be most galling and shaming to them—the thought that by these they are put down among the free-lances.

Also said of a journalist attached to no particular paper.

Freeman, subs., (venery).—A married woman's lover.

Freeman of bucks, subs. phr. (old).—A cuckold. [In allusion to the horn.] Grose.

To freeman, or to make a freeman of, verb. phr. (schoolboys').—To spit on the penis of a new comer. Also To Freemason.

Freeman's Quay. To drink, or

lush, at freeman's quay, verb, phr. (old).—To drink at another's expense. [Freeman's Quay was a celebrated wharf near London Bridge, and the saying arose from the beer that was given to porters, carmen, and others going there on business.]

1811. Lexicon Balatronicinn, s.v.

Freeze, subs, (colloquial).—I. The act or state of freezing ; a frost.

2. (old). — Hard cider. — Grose.

Verb. (American).—To long for intensely ; e.g., ' to freeze to go back,' said of the home-sick ; ' to freeze for meat.'

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West (1887), p. 129. Threats of vengeance on every Redskin they met were loud and deep ; and the wild war songs round their nightly camp-fires, and grotesque scalpdances, borrowed from the Indians, proved to the initiated that they were, one and all, half-froze for hair.'

2. (thieves').—Hence, to appropriate ; to steal ; ' to stick to.'

3. (old).—To adulterate or balderdash (q.v.) wine with freeze (q.v. sense 2).—Grose.

To freeze to (or on to), verb phr. (American). — To take a strong fancy to ; to cling to ; to keep fast hold of ; and (of persons) to button-hole or shadow.

1883. Graphic, 17 March, p. 287, col. i. If there was one institution which the Anglo-Indian froze to more than another, it was his sit-down supper and— its consequences.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, 2 March. The competence of a juror was judged by his ability to shake ready-formed opinions and freeze on to new ones.

To Freeze Out, verb. phr. (American).—To compel to withdraw from society by cold and contemptuous treatment ; from business by competition or opposition ; from the market by depressing prices or rates of exchange.

Freezer, subs, (common).—1. A tailless Eton jacket ; cf., Bumperisher. For synonyms, see Monkey-jack et.

French-elixir. °9 French Gout.

2. (colloquial).—A very cold day. By analogy, a chilling look, address, or retort.

French-elixir (cream, lace, or article), subs, phr. (common).—Brandy. [The custom of taking of brandy with tea and coffee was originally French.— Whence French Cream. Laced tea = tea dashed with spirits].

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. ix. ' Get out the gallon punch-bowl, and plenty of lemons. i'll stand for the French article by the time i come back, and we'll drink the young Laird's health.'

1821. Real Life, i., p. 606. Not forgetting blue ruin and French lace.

English Synonyms. — Ballof-fire ; bingo ; cold tea ; cold nantz ; red ribbon.

French Synonyms.—Le parfait aniour du chiffonnier (i.e., ragman's happiness = coarse brandy) ; le troù-six (popular : = rot-gut) ; fil-en-quatre, fil-entmis, fil-en-six (specifically, old brandy, but applied to spirits generally); le dur ( = a drop of hard : common) ; le raide (popular = a drop of stiff): le chenique or chnic (popular : ) ; le rude (popular : =a drop of rough, i.e., coarse brandy) ; Peau daffe (thieves') ; le pissat dâne (popular : = donkey's piss ; sometimes applied to bad beer, which is likewise called pissat de vache) ; Vavoine (military = hay, as who should say ' a nose bag ' ) ; le blanc (popular = brandy or white wine) ; le possédé (thieves' : bingo) ; le raspail (popular : ) ; le cric (popular : also crik, crique, or eric que = rough brandy : ) ; le schnaps (popular) ; le schnick

(common : = bad brandy) ; le camphre (popular : = camphor ; applied to the coarsest spirit) ; le sacré-chien or sacré-chien tout pur (common : = the vilest sold) ; casse-poitrine (common : = brandy heightened with pepper ; cf., rot-gut) ; le jaune (ragpickers' : = a drop of yellow ) ; tord-boyaux (popular = twist-gut) ; la consolation (popular = a drop of comfort) ; requiqui (workmen's) ; eau de mort (common : = death-water) ; le Tripoli (rank brandy) ; casse-gueule ( = ' kill the-carter ' ; applied to all kinds of spirits).

French Fake. subs, phr, (nautical).—The fashion of coiling a rope by taking it backwards and forwards in parallel bands, so that it may run easily.

French Gout (or Disease, Fever, etc.), subs. phr. (common).—Sometimes clap (q.v.), but more generally and correctly syphilis, Morbus Gallicus, especially with older writers. For synonyms, see Ladies Fever. AIsoThe Frenchman. French Pox = a very bad variety of syphilis. The French themselves always refer to the ailment as the mal de Naples, for which see Marston (1598) and his 'Naples canker,' and Florio (1598) mal di Napoli= French pocks. Cf., Shakspeare, Henry V., v., i. News have I that my Nell is dead i' the spital Of malady of France.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wördes. Lue, a plague .... It is also used for the French poxe.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie, Mai de Naples, the French Pocks.

1690. B. E. Diet. 0/ the Canting Crew. (s.v.).

FrencJiified.

70 French Leave.

1740. Poor Robin. Some gallants will this month be so penurious that they will not part with a crack'd groat to a poor body, but on their cockatrice or punquetto will bestow half a dozen taffety gowns, who in requittal bestows on him the French pox.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. He suffered by a blow over the snout with a French faggot-stick ; i.e., he lost his nose by the pox.

Frenchified, adj. (old).— Clapped ; more generally and accurately poxed.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. Frenchified, infected with the venereal disease ; the mort is frenchified=the wench is infected.

French Leave, To take French leave, verb. phr. (colloquial).—

(1) To decamp without notice ;

(2) to do anything without permission ; (3) to purloin or steal ; (4) to run away (as from an enemy). [Derivation obscure ; French, probably traceable to the contempt engendered during the wars with France ; the compliment is returned in similar expressions {see Synonyms) + leave = departure or permission to depart. Sense 1 is probably the origin of senses 2, 3, and 4. See Notes and Queries, 1 S. i, 246 ; 3 S. vi, 17 ; 5 S. xii, 87; 6 S. v, 347, 496 ; viii, 514 ; ix, 133, 213, 279 ; 7 S. iii, 5, 109, 518.]

English Synonyms.—To retire up (one's fundament) ; to slope ; to smouge ; to do a sneak ; to take the Frenchman ; to vamoose.

French Synonyms.— S'escarpiner (popular : — to flash one's pumps ; escarpin = a dancing shoe; jouer de C escarpin = to ply one's pumps, (16th

century) ; s'échapper, s'esquiver, filer, disparaître, s'éclipser, se dérober, se retirer, and s'en aller à Vanglaise ( = to take English leave) ; pisser à P anglaise ( = to do an English piss, i.e., affect a visit to the urinal) ; prendre sa permission sous son coude (popular : literally to take one's leave under one's arm) ; ficher or foutre le camp.

German Synonyms. —

Französischen Abschied nehmen ( = to take French leave : from Gutzkow, R. 4, 88, etc, born 1811 ) ; französischer Abschied (Iffland, 1759-1814, 5, 3, 117); auf gut französisch sich empfehlen (Blumauer, 2, 72, ¹758-1798 : also Gutzkow, R., 4, 88) ; hinter der Thür urlaub (= to take leave behind [or outside] the door, i.e., after one has got outside it : quoted by Sanders, from Fischart, 15501589) ; hinter der Thiire Abschied nehmen ( = to say good-bye outside, to take French leave) ; also, er beurlattbte sich in aller Stille, explained as er stahl sich, schlich sich davon, and translated ' he took French leave ' ; also, sich aus einer Gesellschaft stehlen.— Hilpert's Diet., 1845.

Spanish Synonym. — Despedirse d la francesa ( = to take French leave).

1771. Smollett, Humphrey Clinker, p. 54. He stole away an Irishman's bride, and took a French leave of me and hi master.

1805. Newspaper (quoted in Notes and Queries, 5, S. xii., 2 Aug., 79, p. 87, col. 2). On Thursday last Monsieur J. F. Desgranche, one of the French prisoners of war on parole at Chesterfield, took French leave of that place, in defiance of his parole engagement.

1854. F. E. Smedley, Harry Coverdale, ch. lviii. ' I thought I would avoid

French Letter. 7*

Fresh Bit.

all the difficulties ... by taking French leave, and setting off in disguise and under a feigned name.'

1885 Stevenson, Treasure Island, ch. xxii., p. 178 (1886). My only plan was to take French leave, and slip out when nobody was watching.

1892. Globe, 25 Mar., p. 5, col. i. They finally resolved to go on French leave to the place.

French(also American, Spanish, and Italian) Letter,

sabs.phr. (colloquial). — A sheath —of india-rubber, gold beatei's skin, gutta-percha—worn by a man during coition to prevent infection or fruition. Usually described in print as specialities (q.v.). or circular protectors and (in U.S.A.) as safes (q.v.). See cundum. Fr., capote anglaise.

French Pigeon, subs. phr. (sportsman's). — A pheasant killed by mistake in the partridge season. Also moko and oriental (q.v.).

French Pig, subs. phr. (common). —A venereal bubo; a blue boar (q.v.), or Winchester goose (q.v.).

French Prints, subs, (colloquial). —Generic for indecent pictures.

1849-50. Thackeray, Pendennis IL, ch. xxxi. Young de Boots of the Blues recognised you as the man who came to barracks, and did business, one-third in money, one-third in eau-de-Cologne, and one third in French prints, you confounded, demure, old sinner.

French Vice, verb. phr. (venery). — A euphemism for all sexual malpractices; Larks (q.v.). First used (in print) in the case of Crawford v. Crawford and Dilke.

Frenchy, subs, (colloquial). — A Frenchman.

Fresh, adj. (University).—1. Said of an undergraduate in his first term.

1803. Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, s.v.

18(56. Trevelyan, Horace at Athens. When you and I were fresh.

2. (common). — Slightly intoxicated ; elevated. For synonymst Drinks and Screwed, (Scots' = sober).

1829. Marryat, Frank Mildmay, ch. xiii. Drinking was not among my vices. I could get fresh, as we call it, when in good company and excited by wit and mirth ; but I never went to the length of being drunk.

3. (Old English and modem American).—Inexperienced, but conceited and presumptuous ; hence, forward, impudent.

1596. Shakspeare, King John, iii., 4. How green you are and fresh in this old world.

1886. Francis, Saddle and Mocassin. ' Has Peggy been too fresh?' Her sunburnt cheeks flushed.

4. (common).—Fasting; opposed to eating or drinking.

Fresh as paint, as a rose, as a daisy, as a new-born turd, etc.,phr. (common).—Full of health, strength, and activity ; fit (q.v.).

1864. E. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. xix. This is his third day's rest, and the cob will be about as fresh as paint when I get across him again.

1880. Punch's Almanack, p. 12.

Fresh on the graft, adi.phr. (common).—New to the work. Cf, Fresh bit.

Fresh Bit, subs. phr. (venery).— A beginner ; also a new mistress. Cf, Bit of fresh = the sexual favour : meat, or mutton, or fish (q.v.), being understood.

Freshen Ones Way. 7 ² Freshivater Soldier.

Freshen One's Way. verb. phr. (nautical).—To hurry ; to quicken one's movements. [The wind freshens when it rises.]

Fresh en Up, verb. phr. (colloquial). To clean ; to vamp ; to revive ; to smarten.

Fresher, subs. (University).—An undergraduate in his first term.

Freshers. The Freshers, subs. (University).—That part of the Cam which lies between the Mill and Byron's Pool. So called because it is frequented by freshmen [q.v.).

Freshman (or Fresher), subs. (University).—A University man during his first year. In Dublin University he is a junior freshman during his first year, and a senior freshman the second year. At Oxford the title lasts for the first term. Ger., Fuchs.

1596. Nashe, Saffron Waiden, in wks. iii., 8. When he was but yet a freshman in Cambridge.

1611. Middleton, Roaring Girl, Act iii., Sc. 3. 6\ Alex. Then he's a graduate. S. Davy. Say they trust him not. S. Alex. Then is he held a freshman and a sot.

1767. Colman, Oxonian in Town, ii., 3. And now I find you as dull and melancholy as a freshman at college after a jobation.

1841. Lever, Charles O' M alley, ch. xiv. ' This is his third year,' said the Doctor, 'and he is only a freshman, having lost every examination.'

1891. Sporting Life, 20 Mar. The mile, bar accidents, will be a gift to B. C. Allen, of Corpus, who has more than maintained the reputation he gained as a fresher.

Adj. (University). — Of, or pertaining to, a freshman, or a first year student.

Freshmanship, szibs. (old).—Of the quality or state of being a freshman.

1605. Jonson, Volpone, or the Fox, iv., 3. Well, wise Sir Pol., since you have practised thus, Upon my freshmanship, I'll try your salt-head With what proof it is against a counter-plot.

Freshman's Bible, subs. phr. (University). — The University Calendar.

Freshman's Church, subs. phr. (University).—The Pitt Press at Cambridge. [From its ecclesiastical architecture.]

Fresh man's Lan dm wy., subs. phr. (University). — King's College Chapel, Cambridge. [From the situation.]

Freshwater Mariner (or Seaman), subs. phr. (old).—A beggar shamming sailor ; a turnpike sailor [q.v.).

1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), p. 48, These freshwater mariners, their shipes were drowned in the playne of Salisbury. These kynde . . .'counterfet great losses on the sea.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew. Freshwater seamen, that have never been on the Salt, or made any Voyage, meer Land-Men.

Freshwater Soldier, subs. phr. (old).—A raw recruit.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wördes, Biancone. A goodly, great milke-soppe, a fresh water soldier.

1603. Knolles, Hist, of the Turkes. The nobility, as freshwater soldiers, which had never seen but some slight skirmishes, made light account of the Turks.

1696. Nomenclator. Bachelier aux armes, nouveau ou jeune soudard. A freshwater souldier : a young souldier : a novice : one that is trayned up to serve in the field.

Fret.

Frig.

Fret, To fret one's gizzard, guts, giblets, kidneys, cream, etc., verb. phr. (common).—To get harassed and worried about trifles ; to tear one's shirt (q.v.).

Friar, subs, (printers').—A pale spot in a printed sheet. Fr., un moine ( = monk).

Frib, subs. (old).—A stick. For

synonyms, see Toko.

1754. Discoveries of John Poult er, p. 43. A Jacob and frib ; a ladder and stick.

Fribble, subs. (old).—A trifler ; a contemptible fop. [From the character in Garrick's Miss in her Teens (1747)].

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1860. Thackeray, Four Georges. George IV. That fribble, the leader of such men as Fox and Burke !

Friday-face, subs. (old).—A gloomy, dejected-looking man or woman. [Probably from Friday being, ecclesiastically, the banyan day of the week. ] Fr., figure de carême.

1592. Greene, Groatsnvorth of Wit, in wks. xii., 120. The Foxe made a Friday-face, counterfeiting sorrow.

1785. Grose, Diet, of tke Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1889. Gentlemans Mag., June, p. 593. Friday-face is a term still occasionally applied to a sour-visaged person ; it was formerly in very common use.

Friday-faced, adj. (old).—Mortified ; melancholy ; ' sour-featured' (Scott).

1592. John Day, Blind Beggar, Act iii., Sc. 2, p. 57. Can. No, you Fkiday-fac'd frying-pan, it was to save us all from whipping or a worse shame.

1606. Wily Beguiled (Hawkins Eng. Dr., iii., 356). Marry, out upon him !

What a Friday-kac'd slave it is ! I think in my conscience his face never keeps holiday.

Friend (or Little Friend), subs.— The menstrual flux or domestic afflictions (q.v.), whose appearance is sometimes announced by the formula ' My little friend has come.' Conventionalisms are queer ; poorly ; changes (Irish) ; ' the Captain's at home ' (Grose). See Flag.

TO go and see a sick

friend, verb. phr. (venery).— To go on the loose. See Greens.

Friend Charles. See Charles

his friend.

Friendly Lead, subs. phr. (thieves').—An entertainment (as a sing-song) got up to assist a companion in trouble (q.v.), or to raise money for the wife and children of a ' quodded pal.'

1871. Daily Telegraph, 4 Dec. This was the secret business, the tremendous conspiracy, to compass which it was deemed necessary to act with infinitely more caution than the friends of Bill Sikesfeel called on to exercise when they distribute tickets for a friendly lead for the benefit of Bill, who is 'just out of his trouble.'

1889. Cassell's Saturday Journal, 5 Jan. The men frequently club together in a friendly lead to help a brother in distress.

1892. Ally Sloper, 2 Apr., p. 106, col. 3, My father takes the chair at friendly leads.

Friends in Heed, subs.phr. (common).—Lice. For synonyms, see C hates.

Frig, verb trans, andrefi. (venery). — To masturbate. Also subs. — an act of masturbation. Known sometimes as keeping down the census. [Latin, fricare = to rub.]

English Synonyms. — To bob ; to box the Jesuit ['St. Omer's lewdness,' Marston,

Frigate.

Frills.

'Scourge* (1598)]; to chuff; to chuffer ; to claw (Florio) ; to digitate (of women) ; to eat (or get) cock-roaches ; to bring up (or off) by hand ; to fight one's turkey (Texan) ; to hnger or finger-flick (of women) ; to friggle (Florio) ; to fuck one's fist (of men) ; to fetch mettle (Grose) ; to handle ; to indorse ; to jerk, play, pump, toss, or work off ; to lark ; to milk ; to mount a corporal and four ; to mess, or pull about ; to play with (schoolboys'), to rub up ; to shag ; to tickle one's crack (of women) ; to dash one's doodle ; to touch up ; to play paw-paw tricks (Grose) ; to wriggle (old). For foreign synonyms, see Wriggle.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wördes Fricciare ... to frig, to wriggle, to tickle.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionaries Branler la pique, To Frig.

1728. Bailey, Diet., s.v. Frig, to

rub.

c. 1716-1746. Robertson of Struan. Poems, 83. So to a House of office . . .

a School-Boy does repair, To . . . fr

bis P-there.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue., s.v.

Frigate, subs, (common). — A woman.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew. Friggat well rigg'd, a woman well drest and gentile.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. A well-rigg'd frigate, a well-dressed wench.

Frigging, subs, (venery).—1. The act of masturbation ; the ' cynick friction' (Marston, Scourge); otherwise simple infanticide.

2. (old). — Trifling [GROSE, 1785.]

Adj. and adv. (vulgar).—An expletive of intensification. Thus, frigging bad = ' bloody ' bad ; a frigging idiot = an absolute fool. See also Foutering and Fucking.

Frightfully, adv. (colloquial). —Very. An expletive used as are awfully, beastly, bloody, etc. {q.v.).

Frig-pig, subs. (old).—Afinnicking trifler.

1785. Grose, Diet. Vulg. Tongue,

s.v.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Frigster (in fern. Frigstress)

subs, (venery).—A masturbator ; an indorser (q-v., also = a Sodomite).

Frillery, subs. (common). — Feminine underclothing. For synonyms, see Snowy. To explore one's frillery (venery) = to grope one's person.

Frills, subs. (American).— Swagger ; conceit ; also accomplishments (as music, languages, etc.); and culture; cf., Man

with no frills.

1870. Sacramento Paper (quoted in De Vere). ' I can't bear his talk, it's all frills.'

1884. Clemens f Mark Twain '), Adventures of Huck, Finn. 33. I never see such a son. I bet I'll take some of these frills out of you before I'm done with you.

to put on one's frills, verb, phr. (American).—To exaggerate ; to chant the poker ; to swagger ; to put on side (q.v.) ; to sing it (q.v.). Fr., segonßer le jabot, and faire son lard.

1890. Rudyard Kipling National Observer, March, 1890, p. 69. 'The Oont.' It's the commissariat camel putting on his blooming frills.

Fr int.

Frisk.

2. (venery).—To get wanton or prick-proud {q.v.); in a state of must (a.v.).

TO have been among one's

frills, verb. phr. (venery).—To have enjoyed the sexual favour. . For synonyms, see Greens.

Frint,stibs. (old).—A pawnbroker. For synonyms, see Uncle.

1821. Real Life in London, i., p. 5⁶⁶

Frisco, subs. (American).—Short for San Francisco.

1870. Bret Harte, Poems, ' Chiquita.' Busted hisself at White Pine, and blew out his brains down in Frisco.

1890. SfortingLife, 8 Nov. The battle . . . took place in the theatre, Market St., Frisco.

Frisk, subs. (old). — i. A frolic ; an outing; a lark (q.v.) ; mischief generally.

1697. Vanbrugh, Prozwked Wife, iii., i. If you have a mind to take a frisk with us, I have an interest with my lord ; I can easily introduce you.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1825. The English Spy, vi., p. 162. Dick's a trump, and no telegraph—up to every frisk, and down to every move of the domini, thoroughbred and no want of courage.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xx., p. 171. ' When you and I had the frisk down in Lincolnshire, Guppy, and drove over to see that house at Castle Wold.'

2. (old).—A dance.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 274. Let's have a neat frisk or so, And then rub on the law.

1782. Cowper, Table Talk, 237. Give him his lass, his fiddle, and his frisk, Is always happy, reign whoever may

1880. Ouida, Moths, ch. xiv. And her fancy-dress frisks, and her musical breakfasts, were great successes.

3. (venery).—The act of copulation. See Greens and Ride.

Verb ( thi eves' ).—1. To search ; to run the rule over (q.v.); Especially applied to the search made, after arrest, for evidence of character, antecedents, or identity. Hence, careful examination of any kind.

1781. G. Parker, Life's Painter, p. 179. They frisk him? That is search him. Ibid., p. 122. Puttting a lap-feeder in our sack, that you or your blowen had prig'd yourselves though we should stand the frisk for it.

1828. Jon. Bee, Pict. of London. p. 69. The arms are seized from behind by one, whilst the other frisks the pockets of their contents.

1852. Judson, Mysteries, etc. of Nero York, ch. vii. Vel sare, the offisare 'ave frisk me : he 'ave not found ze skin or ze dummy, eh?

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue's Lexicon, p. 21. ' The knuck was copped to rights, a skin full of honey was found in his kick's poke by the copper when he frisked him'; [i.e.] the pickpocket was arrested, and when searched by the officer a purse was found in his pantaloons pocket full of money..

2. ( thieves' ). — To pick pockets ; to rob. To frisk a cly = to empty a pocket.

1852. Judson, Mysteries, etc. of New York, ch. iv. You're as good a knuck as ever frisked a swell.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 13 June, p. 7, col. 3. The ragged little wretches who prowl in gangs about the suburbs, who crawl on their hands and knees into shops in order to ' frisk the till.'

3. (venery).—To 'have (q.v.) a woman.' For synonyms, see Ride.

to dance the paddington frisk, verb. phr. (old). — To dance on nothing ; i.e., to be hanged. [Tyburn Tree was in Paddington.] PV>r synonyms, see Ladder.

Frisker.

76 Frog's March.

Frisker, subs. (old).—A dancer.

1719. Dürfey, Pills, etc., ii., 20At no Whitsun Ale there e'er yet had been Such Fraysters and Friskers as these lads and lasses.

Frivol or Frivvle, verb, (colloquial). — To act frivolously ; to trifle. [A resuscitation of an old word used in another sense, viz., to annul, to set aside].

1883. W. Black, Yolande, ch. xx. ' Mind, I am assuming that you mean business—if you want to frivole, and pick pretty posies, I shut my door on you but, I say, if you mean business, I have told Mrs. Bell you are to have access to my herbarium, whether I am there or not.'

Frog, subs, (common). — I. A policeman. For synonyms, see J3eak and Copper.

1881. New York Slang Diet., ' On the Trail.' I must amputate like a goaway, or the frogs will nail me.

1886. Graphic, 30 Jan., p. 130, col. 1. A policeman is also called . . . a ' frog, the last-named because he is supposed to

jump, as it were, suddenly upon guilty

parties.

2. (common).—A Frenchman. Also froggy and frog-eater. [Formerly a Parisian ; the shield of whose city bore three toads, while the quaggy state of the streets gave point to a jest common at Versailles before 1791 : Qu'en disent les grenouilles? i.e., What do the frogs (the people of Paris) say ?]

1883. Referee, 15 July, p. 7, col. 3. While Ned from Boulogne says ' Oui mon brave,' The Froggies must answer for Tamatave.'

3. (popular).—Afoot. For synonyms, see Creepers.

To frog on, verb. phr. (American).—To get on ; to prosper frogging-on = success.

Frog-and-Toad, subs, (rhyming) —The main road.

Frog-AND-Toe, subs. (American thieves'). — The city of New York.

1^59. Matsell Vocabulum, or Rogue's Lexicon, p. 35. Coves, let us frog-and-toe, coves, let us go to New York.

Froglander, stibs. (old). — A Dutchman. Cf., frog, sense 2.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew, s.v.

1852. Judson, Mysteries, etc. of New York, ch. xiv. The funny swag which they raised out of the froglander coves.

Frog-salad, subs. (American).—A ballet ; i.e., a leg-piece (q.v.).

Frog's March. To give the frog's march, verb. phr. (common). — To carry a man face downwards to the station ; a device adopted with drunken or turbulent prisoners.

1871. Evening Standard, ' Clerkenwell Police Report,' 18 April. In crossexamination the police stated that they did not give the defendant the frog's march. The frog's march was described to be carrying the face downwards.

1884. Daily News, Oct. 4, p. 5, col. 2. They had to resort to a mode of carrying him, familiarly known in the force, we believe, as the ffog trot, or sometimes as the frog's march. . . . The prisoner is carried with his face downwards and his arms drawn behind him.

1888. Daily Telegraphy 22 Dec. Whether the ' bobbies ' ran the tipsyman in, treating him meanwhile to a taste of the frog's march, and whether he was fined or imprisoned tor assaulting the police, is not upon the record.

1890. Bird o' Freedom, 19 Mar., p. 1 col. i. And then he gets the frog's march to the nearest Tealeafs.

Frog's Wine.

Froudacious.

Frog's Wine, subs. phr. (old).— Gin. For synonyms, see Drinks and Satin.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Frolic, subs, (common).—A merrymaking.

1847. Robb. Squatter Life, p. 133. At all the frolicks round the country, Jess was hangin' onter that gal.

Frosty-face, subs. (old).—A poxpitted man. Grose (1785).

Front, verb (thieves').—To conceal the operations of a pickpocket ; to cover (q.v.).

1879. J. W. Horsley in Macmillan's Mag:, XL., 506. So my pal said, ' Front me (cover me), and I will do him for it.'

Front-attic (or -door, -garden,

-parlour, -room, Of-window).

subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable. To have (or

do) a bit of front-door work

= to copulate.

1823. Bee, Diet, of the Turf s.v. Mrs. Fubb's front-parlour (vide Tom Rees) is not to be mistaken for any part of any building.

Fro nt-door Mat, subs. phr. (venery). —The female pubic hair. For synonyms, see Fleece.

Front-gut, subs, (venery).—The female ptidendui?i. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Frontispiece, subs, (pugilists').— The face. For synonyms, see Dial.

1K1S. P. Egan, Boxiana, I., p. 221. Tyne put in right and left upon the Jew's frontispiece two such severe blows, that Crabbe's countenance underwent a trifling change.

1845. Buckstone, Green Bushes, i., 1. It's a marcy my switch didn't come in contract with your iligant frontispiece.

1860. Chambers Journal XIIL, p. 368. His forehead is his frontispiece.

1864. A. Trollope, Sm. Ho. at AUington (1884), ^vo'ⁿ-> ^criV., p. 47. He said that he had had an accident-or rather, a row—and that he had come out of it with considerable damage to his frontispiece.

1891. Sporting Life, 28 Mar. It must be confessed that the ludicrous was attained when Griffiths subsequently appeared with a short black pipe in his distorted and battered frontispiece.

Front-windows, subs, (common). —i. The eyes ; also the face.

2. In sing, (venery). — The female pudendum. Cf., frontATTic ; and for synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Frost, subs, (common).—A complete failure. Cf., Fr., un four noir. Also un temps noir = a blank interval; a prolonged silence (as when an actor's memory fails him).

1885. Saturday Review, 15 Aug., p. 218. He is an absolute and perfect

frost.

18*5. Bells Life, 3 Jan., p. 3, col. 6. We regret we cannot write favorably concerning this matter, the affair being almost as big a frost athletically as it was financially.

1889. Star, 17 Jan. The pantomime was a dead frost.

2. (common). —A dearth of work ; to have a frost = to be idle.

Froudacious, Froudacity, adj. and subs. See quots.

1888. Colonies and India, 14 Nov. The word ' Froudacity,'invented by Mr. Darnell Davis in his able review of The Bow of Ulysses, recently published, has reached the height of popularity in the Ausralasian Colonies, where it has come into everyday use. In the Melbourne Assembly the other day an hon. member observed—speaking of some remarks made by a previous speaker—that he never heard

Froust. 78 Frump.

such FROUDACious statements in his life. The colonial papers are beginning, also, to spell the word with a small 'f,' which is significant.

1889. Graphic, 16 Feb. By exposing some of Mr. Froude's manifold errors (the most dangerous is that which assumes the sour Waikato clays to be rich because they grow fern) he justifies the Australian adjective Froudacious.

Froust, subs. (Harrow Scnool).— i. Extra sleep allowed on Sunday mornings and whole holidays. Fr., faire du lard.

2. (common).—A stink ; stuffiness (in a room).

Frousty, adj. (common).—Stinking.

Frout,^'. (Winchester College).— Angry ; vexed.

F row (or F roe, or Vroe), subs. (old). —A woman ; a wife ; a mistress. [From the Dutch.]

1607. Dekker, Westward ho, Act.V.' Sc. i. Eat with 'em as hungerly as soldiers ; drink as if we were froes.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew, V. Brush to your froe and wheedle for crap, c. whip to your mistress and speak her fair to give or lend iyou some Money.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Diet. (2 ed.),

s.v.

1789. Parker, Life s Painter, p. 119 A flash of lightning next Bess tipt each cull and fkow.

Fruitful Vine,subs.phr. (venery). —The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Fruitful vine. A woman's private parts, i.e., that has flowers every month, and bears fruit in nine.

Fru m m ag em ed, adj. (old).— Choked ; strangled ; spoilt.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, Pt. I., ch. v., 49 (1874). Frummagem, Choakt.

1724. E. Coles, Eng. Diet. Frummigam, c. choaked.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Choaked, strangled, or hanged. Cant.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannerine:, ch. xxviii. ' If i had not helped you with these very fambles (holding up her hands), Jean Baillie would have frummagem'd you, ye feckless do-little ! '

1819. Moore, Tom Crib's Memorial, p. 21. There he Jay, almost frummagem'd.

Frump, subs. (old). — i. A contemptuous speech or piece of conduct ; a sneer ; a jest.

1553. Wilson, Art of Rhétorique, p. 137. (He) shall be able to abashe a right worthie man, and make him at his witte's ende, through the sodaine quicke and vnlooked frumpe giuen.

1589. Greene, Menaphon, p. 45. For women's paines are more pinching if they be girded with a frumpe than if they be galled with a mischiefe.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wördes. Bichiacchia, jestes, toyes, frumps, flimflam tales, etc.

1606. T. Dekker, Seven Deadly Sinnes, p. 44 (ed. Arber). The courtiers gives you an open scoffe, ye clown a secret mock, the cittizen yat dwels at your threshald, a ieery frump.

1630. Taylor, Works. But yet, me thinkes, he gives thee but a frumpe, In telling how thee kist a wenches rumpe.

1662. Rump Songs, 'Arsy-Varsy, etc., ii., 47. As a preface of honor and not as a frump, First with a Sir reverence ushers the Rump.

1668. Dryden, An Evening's Love* Act IV. Sc. 3. Not to be behindhand with you in your frumps, I give you back your purse of gold.

2. (common). — A slattern ; more commonly a prim old lady ; the correlative of fogey (q.v.). Fr., un graillon.

1831. J. R. Planché, Olympic Revels, Sc. i. Cheat, you stingy frump! Who wants to cheat ?

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, I., p. 157. Get into the hands of the other

Old frumps.

Frumper.

1857. Thackeray, Virginians, ch. x.vxi. She is changed now, isn't she ? What an old Gorgon it is ! She is a great patroness of your book-men, and when that old frump was young they actually made verses about her.

3. (old).—A cheat ; a trick.

1602. Rowland, Greenes Ghost, 37. They come off with their . . . frumps

Verb (old).—To mock; to insult.

1589. Nashe, Month's Mind, in Works, Vol. I., p. 158. One of them . . . maketh a iest of Princes, and ' the troubling 0/ the State, and offending of her Maiestie,' hee turneth of with a frumping forsooth, as though it were a toie to think of it.

1593. G. Harvey, Pierces Süßer, in Works II., 107. That despiseth the graces of God, flowteth the constellations of heaven, frumpeth the operations of nature.

1609. Man in the Moone. Hee . . . frumpeth those his mistresse frownes on.

1757. Garrick, Irish Widow, I., i. Yes, he was frumped. and called me old blockhead.

Frumper, subs. (old).—A sturdy man ; a good blade.

1825. Kent, Modern Flash Diet.,

s.v.

Frumpish, adj. (colloquial). — Cross-grained ; old-fashioned and severe in dress, manners, morals, and notions ; ill-natured ; given to frumps. Also Frumpy.

1589. Greene, Tullies Love, in wks. vii., 131. Who were you but as fauourable, as you are frumpish, would soone censure by my talke, how deepe I am reade in loues principles.

1701. Farquhar, Sir Harry Wildair, Act. V., Sc. 5. She got, I don't know how, a crotchet of jealousy in her head. This made her frumpish, but we had ne'er an angry word.

1757. Foote, Author, Act II. And methought she looked very frumpish and jealous.

1764. O'Hara, Midas, I., 3. La! mother, why so frumpish ?

Fub.

1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, Bk. I., ch. xi. ' Don't fancy me a frumpy old married woman, my dear ; I was married but the other day, you know.'

1889. Modern Society, 12 Oct., p 1271, col. 2. Quite an elderly and superannuated look is given to the toilette which is finished off by a woollen cloud or silken shawl, and only invalids and sixty-year-old women should be allowed such frumpish privileges.

Frushee, subs. (Scots').—An open jam tart.

Fry, verb (common).—To translate into plain English. Cf., boil down.

1881. Jas. Payn, Grape from a Thorn, ch. xxx. ' I shall repose the greatest confidence in you, my dear girl, which one human being can entrust to another.' was one of its sentences, which, when it came 'to be fried,' meant that she should delegate to her the duties of combing Fido and cutting her canary's claws.

GO and fry your face, phr.

(common).—A retort expressive of incredulity, derision, or contempt.

Frying-pan. To jumpfrom the frying-pan into the fire, verb. phr. (common). — To go from bad to worse. Cf., ' from the smoke into the smother ' (As You Like it, i., 2.). Fr., tomber de la poêle dans la braise.

1684. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, Part II. Some, though they shun the Frying-pan, do leap into the fire.

To Fry the Pewter, verb phr. (thieves').—To melt down pewter measures.

F Sharp, subs. phr. (common). —A flea ; cf., B flat.

Fuant, subs. (old).—Excrement.— B. E., Diet, of the Canting Crew.

Fub, verb. (old).—To cheat ; to steal ; to put off with false excuses. Also Fubbery = cheating, stealing, deception.

Fubsey.

Fucking.

1598. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IV., IL, i. I have borne, and borne, and borne, and have been fubbed off, and fubbed off from this day to that day.

1604. Marston, Malcontent, i., 3. O no ; but dream the most fantastical. O heaven ! O fubbery ! fubbery !

1619. Fletcher, Möns. Thomas, ii., 2. My letter fubb'd too.

1647. Cartwright, Ordinary iv., 4. I won't be fubbed.

Fubsey or Fubsy, adj. (old).— Plump; fat; well-filled. Fubsy dummy = a well-filled pocket book ; fubsy wench = a plump girl.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1825. English Spy, I., p. 188. Old dowagers, their fubsy faces, Painted to eclipse the Graces.

1837. Marryat, Snarley-yow, I., ch. viii. Seated on the widow's little fubsy sofa.

Fubsiness, subs, (common). — Any sort of fatness.

Fuck, subs, (venery).—1. An act of coition. For synonyms, see Greens.

2. (venery). — The seminal fluid. For synonyms, see Cream.

Verb, (common).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

c. 1540. David Lyndsay, ^lF2yting with King James.' Aye fukkand like ane furious fornicator.

1568. Clerk, Bannatyne MSS., Hunterian Soc. Publication, p. 298. He clappit fast, he kist, he chukkit, As with the glaikkis he wer ourgane; Yit be his feiris he wald haif fukkit.

1568. Anonymous, Bannatyne MSS., Hunterian Soc. Publication, p. 399. 'In Somer when Flouris will Smell.' Allace ! said sch, my awin sweit thing, Your courtly fukking garis me fling, Ye wirk sae weill.

1598. Florio, A Worlde 0/ Wördes, Fottere. To jape ; to sarde, to fucke ; to swive ; to occupy.

1620. Percy, Folio MSS., p. 459[Hales and Furnivall, 1867.] A mighty mind to clipp, kisse, and to ffuck her.

1647-80. Rochester, ¹ Written under Nelly's Picture.' Her father fucked them right together.

1683. Earl of Dorset, 'A Faithful Catalogue.' From St. James's to the Land of Thüle, There's not a whore who f-s so like a mule.

c. 1716-1746. Robertson of Struan, Poems, 256. But she gave proof that she could f-k, Or she is damnably bely'd.

1728. Bailey, English Diet., s.v. Fuck . . . Feminam subigitare.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. F-k,

to copulate.

c. 1790(?). Burns, Merry Muses. And yet misca's a poor thing That fucks for its bread.

Fuckable, adj. (venery). — Desirable. Also Fucksome.

Fucker, subs, (common).—1. A lover; a fancy Joseph (q.v.).

2. (common). — A term of endearment, admiration, derision, etc.

Fuck-finger, subs. phr. (venery). ■—A fricatrix.

FUCK-fist, subs. phr. (venery).—A frigster (q.v.); a masturbator. For synonyms, see Milkman.

Fuck-hole, subs. phr. (venery).— The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Fucking, subs, (venery).—Generic for the ' act of kind.'

1568. Scott, Bannatyne MSS., Hunterian Soc. Publication, p. 363. ' To the Derisioun of Wantoun Wemen.' Thir foure, the suth to sane, Enforsis thame to fucking . . . Quod Scott.

Fuckish. ⁸¹ Fuddled.

1575. Satirical Poems, etc., Scottish Text Soc. Pub. (1889-90) i., 208. 'A Lewd Ballat.' To se forett the holy frere his fukking so deplore.

Adj. (common). — A qualification of extreme contumely.

Adv. (common).—1. Intensitive and expletive ; a more violent form of bloody (q.v.). See Foutering.

Fuckish, adj. (venery).—Wanton; proud (q.v.)', inclined for coition.

Fuckster, subs, (venery). — A good performer (q.v.); one specially addicted to the act. A woman-fucker (Florio), but in feminine fuckstress.

Fud, subs, (venery).—The pubic hair. For synonyms, see Fleece. Also the tail of a hare or rabbit.

1785. Burns, The Jolly Beggars. They scarcely left to co'er their fuds.

Fuddle, subs, (common). — 1. Drink. [Wedgwood : A corruption of fuzz.]

1621. Burton, Anatomy 0/Melancholy. The university troop dined with the Earl of Abingdon and came back well

fuzzed.

1690. B. E., New Diet. 0/the Canting Crew, s.v. fuddle, Drink. ' This is rum fuddle, c. this is excellent Tipple.'

1705. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, I., Pt. iv., p. 18. And so, said I, we sipp'd our fuddle, As women in the straw do caudle, 'Till every man had drown'd his noddle.

1733. Bailey, Erasmus, p. 125 fed. 1877J. Don't go away; they have had their dose of fuddle.

2. (common). — A drunken bout ; a drunk.

1864. Glasgow Citizen, 9 Dec. Turner is given to a fuddle at times.

Verb, (colloquial). — To be drunk.

1720. Durfey, Pills, etc., vi., 265. All day he will fuddle.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Diet. (2nd ed.). To fuddle, i. To make a person drunk. 2. To grow drunk.

1770. Foote. Lame Lover, iii. Come, Hob or Nob, Master Circuit—let us try if we can't fuddle the serjeant.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. x. He boxed the watch ; he fuddled himself at taverns ; he was no better than a Mohock.

1889. Echo, 15 Feb. If rich, you may fuddle with Bacchus all night, And be borne to your chamber remarkably tight.

Fuddlecap (or Fuddler), subs. (common).—A drunkard ; a boon companion. For synonyms, see Lushington.

1607. Dekker, Jests to make you Merie, in wks. (Grosart) ii., 299. And your perfect fuddlecap [is known] by his red nose.

d. 1682. T. Browne, Works, iii., 93. True Protestant fuddlecaps.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew, fuddlecap, a drunkard.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th-ed.) Fuddlecap (S.) one that loves tippling, an excessive drinker, or drunkard.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Fuddled, adj. (colloquial). — Stupid with drink. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

1661. Pepys, Diary, 8 March After dinner, to drink all the afternoon . . . at last come in Sir William Wale, almost fuddled. »

1713. Guardian, No. 145. It was my misfortune to call in at Tom's last night, a little fuddled.

1730. Thomson, Autumn, 537. The table floating round, And pavement faithless tO the fuddled foot.

1838. Dickens, Nich. Nickleby, ch. Ix., p. 485. You're a little fuddled to

Fudge. ⁸² Fudge.

night, and may not be able to see this as clearly as you would at another time.

1841. Punch, I., p. 74. The Sultan got very fuddled last night with forbidden juice in the harem, and tumbled down the ivory steps.

1864. Glasçoiv Citizen, 19 Nov. No other word has so many equivalents as 'drunk.' . . . One very common and old one has escaped Mr. Hotten —

fuddled.

1888. Daily Neius, 28 Nov. Music halls would soon decrease in numbers if drink were not sold in them, for sober people would not go to see spectacles only attractive to those who were half

fuddled.

Fudge, subs, (colloquial). — Nonsense ; humbug ; an exaggeration ; a falsehood. [Provincial French, fuche, feue he ; an exclamation of contempt from Low Ger. fulsch — begone ; see, however, quots. 1700 and 1712.] Also as an exclamation of contempt.

1700. Isaac Disraeli, Notes on the Navy. There was, in our time, one Captain Fudge, a commander of a merchant-man ; who, upon his return from a voyage, always brought home a good cargo of lies ; insomuch that now, aboard ship, the sailors, when they hear a great lie, cry out fudge.

1712. W. Crouch, A Collection of Papers. In the year 1664 we were sentenced for banishment to Jamaica by Judges Hyde and Twisden, and our number was 55. We were put on board the ship Black Eagle ; the master's name was Fudge, by some called Lying Fudge.

1766 Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield, ch. xi. Who . . . would cry out fudge! an expression which displeased us all, and, in some measure, damped the rising spirit of the conversation.

1841. Lytton, Night and Morning, Bk. IL, ch. vii. Very genteel young man—prepossessing appearance—(that's a fudge I) — highly educated; usher in a school—eh ?

1850. Thackeray, Rebecca and Roivena, ch. i. Her ladyship's proposition was what is called bosh ... or fudge in plain Saxon.

1861. Comhill Magazine, iv., 102. ' A Cumberland Mare's Nest.' ... Up jumped the worthy magistrate, And seizing ' Bum,' Of justices the oracle and badge, he straight Descended to' his ' lion's den ' (a. sobriquet in fudge meant) Where he, 'a second Daniel,' had often ' come to judgment.'

1864. Tangled Talk, p. 108. It is fudge to tell a child to ' love' every living creature—a tapeworm, for instance, such as is bottled up in chemists windows.

1865. Morning Star, 1 June. Old as I am and half woor out, I would lay (too bad, Mr. Henley, this) upon my back and hallo fudge !

1882. Daily Telegraph, 5 Oct., p. 2, cel. 2. Much that we hear concerning the ways and means of the working classes is sheer fudge.

Verb, (colloquial). — I. To fabricate ; to interpolate ; to contrive without proper materials.

1776. Foote, The Bankrupt, iii., 2. That last 'suppose ' is fudged in.

1836. Marryat, Midshipman Easy, ch. xviii. By the time that he did know something about navigation, he discovered that his antagonist knew nothing. Before they arrived at Malta, Jack could fudge a day's work.

1858. Shirley Brooks, Gordian Knot. Robert Spencer was hiding from his creditors, or fudging medical certificates.

1859. G. A. Sala, in John Bull, 21 May. I had provided myself with a good library of books of Russian travel, and so • fudged my Journey Due North.

2. (schoolboys') — To copy ; to crib ; to dodge or escape.

1877. Blanch, The Blue Coat Boys p. 97. Fudge, verb., trans, and intrans. To prompt a fellow in class, or prompt oneself in class artificially. Thence to tell ; e.g., 'fudge me what the time is.'

3. (common).—To botch; to bungle ; to muff (q.v.)

4. (schoolboys').—To advance the hand unfairly at marbles.

Fug. 83

Fug, verb (Shrewsbury School).— To stay in a stuffy room.

Fug el, verb, (venery).—To possess ; to have (q.v.).

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 126. Who fugelled the Parson's fine Maid.

Fuggy, subs, (schoolboys').—A hot roll.

Adj. (Shrewsbury School).— Stuffy.

Fugo, subs, (obsolete). — The rectum, or (Cotgrave) ' bunghole.'

1720. Durfey, Pills, etc., vi., 247. This maid, she like a beast turned her fugo to the East.

Fulhams or Fullams, subs. (old). —Loaded dice ; called ' high ' or ' low ' fulhams as they were intended to turn up high or low. Cf., gourds. [Conjecturally, because manufactured at Fulham, or because that village was a notorious resort of blacklegs.] For synonyms, see Uphills.

1594. Nashe, Unf. Traveller, in wks. v., 27. The dice of late are growen as melancholy as a dog, high men and low men both prosper alike, langrets, fullams, and all the whole fellowshippe of them will not affoord a man his dinner.

1596. Shakspeare. Merry Wives of Windsor, i., 3. Let vultures gripe thy guts ! for gourd, and fullam holds, And high and low beguile the rich and poor.

1599. Jonson, Every Man out of His Hum., iii., 1. Car.: Who! he serve? 'sblood, he keeps high men, and low men, he ! he has — fair living at Fullam. [Whalley's note in Gifford's Jonson, 'The dice were loaded to run high or low ; hence they were called high men or low men, and sometimes high and low fullams. Called fullams either because F. was the resort of sharpers, or because they were chiefly made there.]

1664. Butler, Hudibras, Part IL, C. i., 1. 642. But I do wonder you should chuse This way t' attack me with your muse, As one cut out to pass your tricks on, With fulhams of poetic fiction.

Full.

[Note in Dr. Nash's Ed., vol. I., p. 272 (Ed. 1835). ' That is, with cheats or impositions. Fulham was a cant word for a false die, many of them being made at that place.']

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxiii. Men talk of high and low dice, Fulhams and bristles . . . and a hundred ways of rooking besides.

2. (colloquial). — A sham ; a

make-believe (q.v.). [From

sense 1.]

1664. Butler, Hudibras, ii., i, Fulhams of poetic fiction.

Fulham Virgin, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A fast woman. Cf., Bankside lady; Covent Garden nun; St. John's Wood vestal, etc.

Fulk, verb (old schoolboys').—To use an unfair motion of the hand in plumping at taw.—Grose.

Fulke, verb (venery).—To copulate. [A euphemism suggested by Byron in Don Jtian, the first and last words of which, so adepts tell you, are ' i ' and ' fulke.']

Fulker, subs. (old).—A pawnbroker. For synonyms,^Uncle.

1566. Gascoignf, Supposes, ii., 3. The Fulker will not lend you a farthing upon it.

Full, adj. (colloquial).—1. Drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

1888. Detroit Free Press, 15 Dec. When he was full the police came and jugged.

2. (turf). Used by bookmakers to signify that they have laid all the money they wish against a particular horse.

Full-guts, subs. phr. (common).—A swag-bellied man or woman.

Full.

8₄

Full.

A Full hand, subs. phr. (American waiters'). Five large beers. For analogous expressions, see Go.

Full in the belly, subs. phr. (colloquial).—With child.

Full in the pasterns (or the hocks), subs. phr. (colloquial). Thick-ankled.

Full team, subs. phr. (American). An eulogium. A man is a full team when of consequence in the community. Variants are whole team, or

whole team and a horse to

spare. Cf., one-horse = mean, insignificant, or strikingly small.

Full in the waistcoat, adj. phr. (colloquial).—Swag-bellied.

Full of 'em, adj. phr. (common).— Lousy; nitty; full of fleas.

Full to the bung, adj. phr. (colloquial).—Very drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

To have (or wear) a full suit of mourning, verb. phr. (pugilists'). —To have two black eyes. Half-mourning = one black eye. For synonyms, see Mouse.

To come full bob, verb, phr. (old colloquial).—To come suddenly ; to come full tilt.

1672. Marvell, Rehearsal Transposed(in Grosart, iii., 414). The page and you meet full bob.

Full against, adv. phr. 1. Dead, or decidedly opposed to, a . person, thing, or place.

Full-bottomed (or

-breeched, Or -pooped), adv.

phr. (colloquial).—Broad in the behind; barge-arsed (q.v.)

Full-flavoured, adv. phr. (colloquial). — Peculiarly rank : as a story, an exhibition of profane swearing, an emission of wind, etc.

Full-fledged, adv. phr. (venery).—Ripe for defloration.

Full-gutted, adv.phr. (colloquial).—Stout ; swag-bellied.

Full of emptiness, adv. phr. (common).—Utterly void.

Full on, adv. phr. (colloquial). —Set strongly in a given direction, especially in an obscene sense : e.g., full on for it or full on for one = ready and willing au possible.

At full chisel, adv. phr. (American).—At full speed; with the greatest violence or impetuousity. Also full drive ;

full split. Cf., hickety split ; ripping ; staving along ; two-thikty, etc.

In full blast, swing, etc., adv. phr. (colloquial).—In the • height of success ; in hot pursuit.

1859. Sala, Twice Round the Clock, 5 a.m., Part I. At five a.m. the publication of the Times newspaper is, to use a north-country mining expression, in ' full blast.'

1884. Daily News, Feb. 9, p. 5, col. 2. If he visit New York in that most pleasant season, the autumn, he will find that the ' fall ' trade is ' in full blast.'

1888. Daily Telegraph, 17 Nov. By half-past ten o'clock the smoking-room

Was in full swing.

In full dig, adv. phr. (common).—On full pay.

Fuller's Earth. 85 Fumbler's Hall.

In full feather, see Feather.

In full fig.—1. See Fig (to which may be added the following illustrative quotations).

1836. M. Scott, Cruise of the Midge, p. 178. In front of this shed— full fig, in regular Highland costume, philabeg, short hose, green coatee, bonnet and feather, marched the bagpiper.

1836. M. Scott, Cringle's Log, ch. xi. Captain Transom, the other lieutenant, and myself in full puff, leading the van, followed by about fourteen seamen.

1838. Haliburton, Clockmaker, (2nd ed.), ch. viii. ' Lookin' as pleased as a peacock when it's in full fig with its head and tail up.'

1841. Punch, i., p. 26, col. 1. Dressed in full fig—sword very troublesome— getting continually between my legs.

1874. Mrs. H. Wood, Johnny Ludlow (ist ed.), No. IV., p. 62. When our church bells were going for service, Major Parrifer's carriage turned out with the ladies all in full fig.

2. adv. phr. (venery).—Said of an erection of the penis ; prick-proud (q.v.). For synonyms, see Horn.

Like a straw-yard bull : full of fuck and half starved, phr. (venery). A friendly retort to the question, ' How goes it?' i.e.. How are you?

Full of it, phr. (common). — With child.

Full of guts, phr. (colloquial).—Fullofvigour ; excellently inspired and done : as a picture, a novel, and so forth. See Guts.

Full of beans, see Beans. Full of bread, see Bread.

Fuller's Earth, subs. phr. (old). —Gin. For synonyms, see Sat> n.

1821. Real Life in London, i., 394. The swell covies and out-and-outers find nothing so refreshing, after a night's spree, when the victualling office is out of order, as a little fuller's earth, or dose of Daffv's.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, iii., 3. Bring me de kwarten of de fuller's earth.

Fullied. To be fullied, verb, phr. (thieves').—To be committed for trial. [From the newspaper expression, 'Fully committed.'] Fr., être mis sur la planche au pain.

1851-61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, Vol. iii., p. 397. He got acquitted for that there note after he had me ' pinched ' (arrested). I got fullied (fully committed).

1879. Horsley, ' Autobiography of a Thief,' in Macmillan s Magazine, xl., 506. I . . . was then fullied and got this stretch and a half.

188U. Answers, 13 April, p. 313. At the House of Detention I often noticed such announcements as ' Jack from Bradford fullied for smashing, and expects seven stretch,' i.e., fully committed for trial for pas-ing bad money, and expects seven years' penal servitude.

Fulness. There's not fulness enough in the sleeve top. phr. (tailors').—A derisive answer to a threat.

Fumbler, subs. (old). — An impotent man.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the. Canting Crew. Fumbler, c, an unperforming husband ; one that is insufficient ; a weak Brother.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., vi., 312. The old fumbler (title).

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

c 1790. Burns, ' David and Bathsheba,' p. 40. ' By Jove,' says she, ' what's this I see, my Lord the King's a fumbler.'

Fumbler's Hall, subs. phr. (venery). — The female pudendum. See, however, quot. 1690. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Fumbles. ⁸⁶ Funds.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew. Fumbler's hall, the place where such (fumblers, q.v.) are to be put for their non-performance.

Free of Fumbler's hall, phr.—Said of an impotent man.

Fumbles, subs, (thieves').—Gloves

1825. Kent, Modern Flash Diet

S.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue's Lexicon s.v.

1881. New York Slang Diet., s.v.

Fun, subs. (old).—i. A cheat ; a trick.

1690. B.E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew s.v.

2. (old). — The posteriors, or Western End (Marvell). Trobably an abbreviation of fundament. For synonyms, see Blind Cheeks and Monocular Eye-glass.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew. I'll kick your fun, c, I'll kick your arse.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Verb, (old).—I. To cheat; to trick. Also to put the fun on.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew. What do you fun me? Do you think to Sharp or Trick me ? Ibid. He put the fun upon the cull, c, he sharp'd the Fellow. Ibid. I fu n n'd him, c, I was too hard for him ; I outwitted or rook'd him.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1859 Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue's Lexicon, s.v.

To poke fun at, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To joke ; to ridicule ; to make a butt.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, i., p. 280. O fie! Mister Noakes,—for shame, Mr. Noakes ! To be poking your fun at us plain-dealing folks.

1855. Haliburton ('Sam Slick') Human Nature, p. 124. I thought you was pokin' fun at me; for I am a poor ignorant farmer, and these people are always making game of me.

1865. Neal, Charcoal Sketches (in Bartlett). Jeames, if you don't be quit poking fun at me, I'll break your mouth, as sure as you sit there.

To have been making fun, verb. phr. (common). — Intoxicated. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

To have (or do) a bit of fun, verb. phr. (venery).—To procure or enjoy the sexual favour. For synonyms, see Greens..

Functior or Functure, subs. (Winchester College).—An iron bracket candlestick, used for the nightlight in college chambers. [The word, says Winchester Notions, looks like fiilctura, an earlier form of fulture, meaning a prop or stay with phonetic change of / into n. ]

1870. Mansfield, School Life at Winchester, p. 68. Beside the window yawned the great fireplace, with its dogs, on which rested the faggots and bars for the reception of the array of boilers. Above it was a rushlight, fixed in a circular iron pan fastened to a staple in the wall ; it was called the functior.

Fundamental Features, subs, phr. (common).—The posteriors. For synonyms, see Blind Cheeks and Monocular Eyeglass.

1818. Moore, Fudge Family, ix., Aug. 21. O can we wonder, best of speechers, When Louis seated thus we see, That France's ' fundamental features' Are much the same they used to be ?

Funds, subs. (colloquial). — finances; e.g. 'my funds are very low. '

Funeral. 87 Funk.

Funeral. It's not my (or your)

funeral, verb. phr. (American).

—i.e., It is no business of mine,

or yours. Fr., nib dans mes blots

( = that is not my affair). Also

used affirmatively.

1867. Mrs. Whitney, A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite's Life, p. 183. ' It's none of my funeral, I know, Sin Saxon,' said Miss Craydocke. ' I'm only an eleventhhour helper ; but I'll come in for the holiday business . . . that's mere in my line.'

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p.

. This is none of your funeral is

heard quite frequently as an indirect rebuke for intermeddling, with the ludicrous undercurrent of thought, that the troublesome meddler has no right to be crying at a strange man's funeral.

1877. Hartford Times, 17 Oct. Senators Blaine and Barnum passed down to New York, en route to Washington, on Wednesday last, when Barnum asked Blaine how he liked the news from Ohio. 'Oh, that isn't my funeral, I want you to understand,¹ replied the plucky Maine Senator.

1888. Missouri Republican, 8 Apr. After a lot of slides had been exhibited the audience howled for Miss Debar. It got so noisy that Mr. Marsh reluctantly exclaimed—' Well, is this your funeral or mine ? '

Fungus, subs. (old).—An old man.

Funk, subs. (old).—I. Tobacco smoke ; also a powerful stink. Cf., Ger., funke; Walloon funki.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew. What a funk here is ! What a thick smoke. Smoak of Tobacco is here ! Ibid. Here's a damn'd funk, here's a great stink.

2. (vulgar). — A state of fear ; trepidation, nervousness, or cowardice ; a stew (q.v.). Generally, with an intensitive, e.g., a 'mortal,' ' awful,' 'bloody,' ' blue,'or ' pissing ' funk. Fr., la guenette ; le flubart (thieves') ; la frousse (also = diarrhoea). It., filo=thread.

1796. Wolcott, Pindarina, p. 59. If they find no brandy to get drunk, Their souls are in a miserable funk.

1819. Moore. Tom Crib's Memorial, p. 21. Up he rose in a funk.

1821. P. Eg an, Tom and Jerry (1&90), p. 91. I was in a complete funk.

1837. Barham, I. L., Look at the Clock, ed. 1862, p. 39. Pryce, usually brimful of valour when drunk, Now experienced what schoolboys denominate funk.

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 9. The mules, which was a-snorting with funk and running before the Injuns . . . followed her right into the corral, and thar they was safe.

1850. Literary World (New York), 30 Nov. So my friend's fault is timidity ... I grant, then, that the funk is sublime, which is a true and friendly admission.

1856. THOM&SÏI.UGHKS, Tom Brown's School-days, p. 196. If I was going to be .flogged next minute, I should be in a blue

funk.

1859. Whitty, Political Portraits, p. 30. Lord Clarendon did not get through the business without these failures, which result from the intellectual process termed freely funk.

1861. Macmillan's Magazine, p. 211. I was in a real blue funk.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xxxvi. 1 was in a real blue funk and no mistake.

1870. London Figaro, 19 Oct. After the Fire. He was in a mortal funk, no doubt.

1871. Maxwell, in Life (1882), xvi., 382. Certainly xÀ^PÔ" &k<>ç is the Homeric for a blue funk.

1888. Cassel!s Saturday Journal, 29 Dec, p. 305. You're always in a funk about nothing at all.

3. (schoolboys').—A coward.

1882. F. Anstey, Vice Versa, ch. v. Bosher said, ' Let's cut it,' and be and Peebles bolted. (They were neither of them funks, of course, but they lost their heads.)

Verb, (common). — I. To smoke out. See Funk the cobbler.

Fimk.

Funk.

1720. Durfey, Wit and Mirth, vi., 303. With a sober dose Of coffee funks his nose.

1578. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Funk, to smoke, figuratively to smoke or stink through fear.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, ii., 2. Tom. But, I say, only see how confoundedly the dustman's getting hold of Logic—we'll funk him. {Tom and Jerry smoke Logic), Log. Oh, hang your cigars, I don't like it; let's have no funking.

1841. Punch, I,, p. 172. Look here . . . isn't it considerable clear they're a all funking like burnt cayenne in a clay pipe, or couldn't they have made a raise somehow to get a ship of their own, or borrow one to send after that caged-up coon of a Macleod.

2. (common).—To terrify ; to shrink or quail through nervousness or cowardice.

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, Bk. III., ch. vi., p. 294. Perhaps we're only funking ourselves useless, and it mayn't be the farm chaps at all.

3. (colloquial).—To fear; to hesitate ; to shirk ; and (among pugilists) to come it [q.v.).

_ 1836. Smith, The Individual, ' The Thieves' Chaunt.' But dearer to me Sue's kisses far Than grunting peck or other grub are, And I never funk the lambskin men When I sits with her in the boozing ken.

1846. _< Punch, X., p. 163. But as yet

no nose is bleeding, As yet no man is down ; For the gownsmen funk the townsmen, And the townsmen funk the gown.

1848. J. R. Lowell, Biglcnv Papers. To funk right out o' p'lit'cal strife ain't thought to be the thing

1873. M. Collins, Squire SilChester's Whim, ch. xvii. Come along ! don't funk it, old fellow.

English Synonyms.—To come it ; to lose one's guts ; to shit one's breeches ; to get the needle (athletic).

French Synonyms. — Paniquer (thieves': Panique — sudden fright) ; blagtier (familiar : = to swagger : 77 avait Fair de blaguer mais il ri était pas à la 7ioce = he put on a lot of side, but he didn't like it) ; avec la cœur en gargousse (sailors' =* with sinking heart) ; avoir une fluxion (popular : fluxion = inflammation) ; avoir la flemme (popular : also = to be idle) ; avoir le trac or Irak (general) ; foirer (popular : foire — excrement) ; léziner (popular : also = to cheat).

Spanish Synonym. — Pajarear.

Italian Synonym.—Filare ( = to run : Fr., filer).

4. (colloquial).—To be nervous; to lose heart.

1827. 'Advice to Tommy,' Every Night Book (by the author of'The Cigar '). Do not go out of your depth, unless you have available assistance at hand, in case you should funk.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days, ii., p. 5. He's funking; go in Williams !

1857. Moncrieff, The Bashful Man, ii., 4. Ah ! Gyp, hope I sha'n't get % plucked ; funk confoundedly : no matter,

I must put a bold face on it.

1857. Hood, Pen and Pencil Pictures, p. 144. I have seen him out with the governor's hounds : he funked at the first hedge, and I never saw him again !

1863. Reade, Hard Cash, ii. ,p. 135 I told him i hadn't a notion of what he meant ! ' O yes I did,¹ he said, ' Captain Dodd's fourteen thousand pounds ! It had passed through my hands.' Then I began to funk again at his knowing that. ... I was flustered, ye see.

1865. H. Kingsley, The Hillyars and the Burtons, ch. xxxiii. The sound of the table falling was the signal for a

Funker.

Funnel.

rush of four men from the inner room, who had to use a vulgar expression, funked following the valiant scoundrel Sykes, but who now tried to make their escape, and found themselves hand to hand with the policemen.

1871. Morning Advertiser, 11 Sept. ' Holy Abr'ham ! ' mused he vauntingly, 'shall British sailors funk, While tracts refresh their spirits, tea washes down their junk?'

1890. Pall Mall Gazette, 17 Oct. p. 2, col. i. They wanted badly to get one steamer loaded and sent to New Zealand. The non-union men funked loading her on account of the union men.

1891. Licensed Vict. Gazette, 13 Feb. Smith's friends thought he was funking, and shouted to Tom to go in and punch him.

5. (schoolboys').—To move the hand forward unfairly in playing marbles ; to fudge (q.v.).

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Funk, to use an unfair motion of the hand in plumping at taw.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, \„ p. 144. I've noticed them, too, playing at ring-taw, and one of their exclamations is ' Knuckle down fair, and no funking.'

TO funk the cobbler, verb.

phr. (schoolboys').—To smoke out a schoolmate : a trick performed with asafcetida and cotton stuffed into a hollow tube or cow's horn ; the cotton being lighted, the smoke is blown through the keyhole.

1698-1700. Ward, London Spy, Pt. IX.,p. 197. Wesmoak'd the Beans almost as bad as unlucky schoolboys us'd to do the coblers, till they sneak'd off one by one, and left behind 'em more agreeable Company.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

See also Peter Funk.

Funker, subs. (old).—i. A pipe ; a cigar ; a fire. [From funk = to smoke + er.]

2. (thieves').—A low thief.

1848, Duncombe, Sinks of London, etc., s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue's Lexicon. Funkers, the very lowest order of thieves.

3. (colloquial).—A coward.

4. (prostitutes').—A girl that shirks her trade in bad weather.

Fun king-room, subs, (medical).— The room at the Royal College of Surgeons where the students collect on the last evening of their final during the addition of their marks, and whence each is summoned by an official announcing failure or success.

1841. Punch, I., p. 225, col. 2. On the top of a staircase he enters a room, wherein the partners of his misery are collected. It is a long, narrow apartment, commonly known as the funking-room.

Funkster, subs. (Winchester College).—A coward; one that funks (q.V.).

Funky, adj. (colloquial).—Nervous; frightened ; timid.

1845. Naylor, Reynard the Fox, 46. I do seem somewhat funky.

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, I., 143. On his retiring with twenty-five, scored in eight minutes, the remaining Barkingtonians were less funky, and made some fair scores.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheapjack, p. 237. The second round commences with a little cautious sparring on both sides, the bouncing Elias looking very funky.

1891. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up! p. 51. ' 111 noy funky,' returned the Chinaman impressively.

Funnel, subs, (common).—The throat. For synonyms, see Gutter Alley.

Ftinniment.

tiirioso.

1712. Blackmore, Creation, Bk. VI Some the long funnel's curious mouth extend, Through which the ingested meats with ease descend.

Fun ni ment, subs, (colloquial).— i. A joke, either practical or verbal.

2. (venery). — The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Funny,subs, (nautical).—A clinkerbuilt, narrow boat for sculls.

1837. Barham, I. L., Sir Rupert the Fearless. Sprang up through the waves, popped him into his funny, Which some others already had half-filled with money.

1882. Field, 28 Jan. The only obtainable craft, besides funnies, pair-oars, and randans, were a couple of six-oars.

To feel funny, verb. phr. (common). — To be overtaken with (1) emotion, or (2) diink: e.g., to wax amorous, or get the flavour ( q.v. ) ; to begin to be the worse for liquor.

Funny Bit, subs. phr. (venery).— The female pudendum.

Funny Bone,jw. (popular).—The elbow, with the passage of the ulnar nerve connecting the two bones : the extremity of the humerus.

1837. Barham, I. L. (Blondie Jacke). They have pull'd you down flat on your back ! And they smack, and they thwack, Till your funny bones crack, As if you were stretch'd on the rack.

1853. Thackeray, 'Shabby Genteel Story,' ch. ix. He had merely received a blow on that part which anatomists call

the funny bone.

1870. Lowell Courier. Thanks for your kind condolence ; I would write A merry rhyme in answer if I might ; But then—confound the fall !—the very stone That broke my humerus hurt my funny bone !

Funny-man, subs, (common).—A circus clown. Also a joker in private life.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor., III., p. 129. What I've earned as clown, or the funny man.

Fur, subs, (venery). —The pubic hair. For synonyms, see Fleece.

TO make the fur fly.—

See Fly.

TO have one's fur out,

verb. phr. (Winchester College). —To be angry. For synonyms, see Nab the rust.

Fur and Feathers, subs. phr. (sporting).—Generic for game.

Fur-below, subs, (venery).—The female pubic hair. For synonyms, see Fleece.

16(?). Old Catch. Adam caught Eve by the fur-below, And that's the oldest catch I know.

Furioso, subs. (old).—A blusterer; Ital., furioso = raving.

1692. Hacket. Life of Archbishop Williams, ii., p. 218. A violent man and a furioso was deaf to all this.

English Synonyms.-Barker ; blower ; bobadil ; bouncer ; bulldozer (American) ; cacafogo ; Captain Bounce ; Captain Bluff ; Captain Grand ; Captain Hackam; cutter; fire-eater; hector ; huff-cap ; humguffm ; gasser ; gasman ; mouth ; mouthalmighty ; pissfire ; pump-thunder ; ramper ; roarer ; ruffler ; shitefire ; slangwhanger ; spitfire ; swashbuckler; swasher; teazer ; Timothy Tearcat.

French Synonyms.—Un avale-tout-cru (popular : — an eatall-he-kills) ; unfendartor fendart

Furk.

Furze Bush.

(popular : = a cutter) ; un avaleur de charrettes fereés (popular) ; un mata (printers' : from matador = a bull-fighter) ; unbousineur (popular : bousin = uproar, shindy) ; un bourreau de crânes (military) : = a scull-destroyer ; un bœufier (popular : =an ugly customer) ; un mauvais gas (familiar : from garçon) ; un homme qui a Pair de vouloir tout avaler (familiar : a man who looks as though he'd swallow the world) ; un croquet (popular).

Spanish Synonyms. — Perdonavidas; fierabras( fiera = a wild beast) ; botarate ; macareno cacafuoco(=a. shitfire).

Furk, Ferk, Firk, verb. (Winchester College).—To expel ; to send (as on a message) ; to drive away. Also to furk up and furk down. [Old English fercian, High German ferken, Middle English to lead or send away.]

fur m en, subs. (old).—Aldermen. From their fur-trimmed robes.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

furmity-faced, adj. phr. (old).— White-faced (furmity is described by Grose as ' wheat boiled to a jelly '). To simper like a furmity kitten (Grose), see Simper.

Furnish, verb, (common).—To fill out ; to improve in strength and appearance.

Furniture Picture, subs. phr. (artists').—A ' picture ' sold not

as a piece of art but as a piece of upholstery, such things being turned out by the score, as pianos are, or three-legged stools ; the worst and cheapest kind of potboiler (q.v.).

Furrow, subs, (venery). Also Cupid's (or the One-ended) furrow, etc. —The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable. To draw a straight furrow. See Draw.

to fall in the furrow,

verb. phr. (venery).—To achieve emission.

TO fail (or die) in the

furrow, verb. phr. (venery).— To do a dry-bob (q.v.).

Furry Tail, subs. phr. (printers'). —A non-unionist; a rat (q.v.). Specifically, a workman accepting employment at less than ' Society' wages. Cf., Dung, Flint, etc.

Further. I'll see you further first, phr. (colloquial). — A denial. I'll sooner die first (q.v.).

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., p. 29. I gave a country lad 2d. to mind him (the donkey) in a green lane there. I wanted my own boy to do so, but he said, I'll see you further first. A London boy hates being by himself in a lone country part. He's afraid of being burked.

Fur Trade, subs. phr. (old).— Barristers.

1839. Reynolds, Pickwick Abroad, ch. xxvi. Let nobs in the fur tradb hold their jaw, And let the jug be free.

Furze-Bush, subs. phr. (venery). The female pubic hair. For synonyms, see Fleece.

Fussock. 92 Fuzz,

Fussock, and Fussocks, subs. (old).—Opprobrious for a fat woman.

1690. B. E., New Diet. of the Canting Crew. Fussocks, a meer fussocks, a Lazy Fat-Arsed Wench, a fat fussocks, a Flusom, Fat, Strapping Woman.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the VulgTongue, s.v.

Fust (or Fust out), verb. (American). —To end in smoke ; to go to waste ; to end in nothing. Cf., fizzle.

Fustian, subs, and adj. (old).—1. Bombast ; bad rhetoric ; sound without sense : bombastic ; ranting. Now accepted.

1598. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IV, II., 4. Thrust him downstairs; I cannot endure such a fustian rascal.

1602. Shakspeare, Twelfth Night II., 5. A fustian riddle.

1602. Shakspeare, Othello, II., 3. And discourse fustian with one's own shadow.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew. FusTiAN-verse, verse in words of lofty sound and humble sense.

1828-45. Hood, Poems, i., p. 105 (ed. 1846). The saints! — the bigots that in public spout, Spread phosphorous of zeal on scraps of fustian, And go like walking ' Lucifers' about These living bundles of combustion.

2. (common).—Wine ; white fustian = champagne ; red fustian = port.

1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwoodp. 51 (ed. 1864). I'm as dry as a sandbedFamous wine this—beautiful tipple—better than all your red fustian. Ah, how poor Sir Piers used to like it !

Fustilarian , subs. (old).—A low

fellow ; a common scoundrel.

1598. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IV., II., i. Away, you scullion! yon ram

pallian ! you fustilarian ! I'll tickle your catastrophe.

Fustilug (or Fustilugs), subs. (old).—Apiece ofgrossness, male or female ; a coarse and dirty Blowzalinda ; a foul slut ; a fat stinkard.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew. Fustiluggs, a Fulsom, Beastly, Nasty Woman.

1739. Junius (quoted in Encly. Diet.). You may daily see such fustilugs walking in the streets, like so many tuns.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue.

Futter, verb, (venery). — To copulate. Fr., foutre. [A coinage of Sir. R. Burton's, who makes continual use of it in the Thousand Nights and a Night.~\ For synonyms, see Greens and Ride. Also to do a futter.

1885. Burton, Thousand Nights, II., 332. Eating and drinking and futtering for a year of full twelve months.

1890. Burton, Priapeia, Ep. xii. Thee, my girl, I shalt futter.

Future, to deal in futures, verb phr. (Stock Exchange).—To speculate for a rise or fall. •

1862. Globe, 1 Dec. He deals in futures, i.e., speculates in cotton with Stock Exchange folks, or speculates in securities.

Fuzz, verb. (old).—I. ⁴ To shuffle cards minutely ; also to change the pack.' [Grose.]

2. (old).—To be, or to make, drunk.

1685. Life of Amb. Wood, 14 July. Came home well fuzd.

Fuzziness.

Fyst.

Fuzziness, subs. (old).—The condition of being in drink. Hence blurredness ; incoherence ; bewilderment.

Fuzzy, adj. (common).—i. Drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed. Hence blurred (as a picture) ; tangled ; incoherent or inconsequent.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 324. Her husband or any other man might have drunk six glasses, with no more hurt than just making him a little fuzzy.

2. (popular).—Rough ; as in a fuzzy head; a fuzzy cloth; a fuzzy bit (= a full-grown wench) ; a fuzzy carpet ; etc.

1890. Rudyard Kipling, National Observer, 8 Mar., p. 438, col. 1. So 'ere's to you Fuzzy-wuzzy And your 'ome in the Soudan, You're a pore benighted 'eathen but a first-class fighting man ; And 'ere's to you Fuzzy-wuzzy with your 'ay-rick 'ead of 'air, You big, black bouncing beggar, for you bruk a British square.

Fye-buck, subs. (old).—A sixpence. For synonyms, see Bender.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 56. You give a shilling to buy a comb, for which he gives sixpence, so works you for another fye-buck.

1885. Household Words, 20 June, p. 155. ' Buck ' is most likely a corruption of fye-buck, a slang name for sixpence, which is now almost, if not altogether, obsolete.

Fylche.—See Filch.

Fuzzy-wuzzy, subs, (military). A Soudanese tribesman.

Fyst.— See Foist.

AB, subs, (vulgar). —I. Themouth; also Gob. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1785. Burns, Jolly Beggars. And aye he gies the touzie drab The tither skelpin kiss, While she held up her greedy gab, Just like an aumos dish.

1820. Scott, The Abbot, ch. xiv. ¹ And now, my mates,' said the Abbot of Unreason, ' once again digut your gabs and be hushed—let us see if the Cock of Kennaguhair will fight or flee the pit.'

1890. Rare Bits, 12 Apr., p. 347. ' Clap a stopper on your gab and whack up, or I'll let 'er speak !'

2. (vulgar).—Talk; idle babble. Also Gabb,Gabber, and Gabble.

1712. Spectator, No. 389. Having no language among them but a confused gabble, which is neither well understood by themselves or others.

1811. Poole, Hamlet Travestied, I., 3. Then hold your gab, and hear what I've to tell.

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, ch. xxxiv. ' Hush your gab,' said Mr. Green, roughly.

1887. Punch, 10 Sept., p. in. Gladstone's gab about ' masses and classes ' is all tommy rot.

Verb (vulgar : O. E., and now preserved in Gabble).—To talk fluently ; to talk brilliantly ; to lie.

1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales 1652. I gabbe nought, so have I joye or blis.

1402. [? T. Occleve], Letter of Cupid, in Arber's Gamer, vol. IV., p. 59. A foul vice it is, of tongue to be light, For whoso mochil clappeth, gabbeth oft.

1601. Shakspeare, Twelfth Night, Act II., Sc. iii. Mai. . . . Have you no wit, manners, nor honesty, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night.

1663. Butler, Hudibras, pt. I., ch. i., p. 5. Which made some think when he did gabble Th' had h> ard three Labourers of Babel.

1786. Burns, Earnest Cry and Prayer, st. 10. But could I like Montgomeries fight, Or gab like Bcswell.

1880. G. R. Sims, Zeph, ch. vii. An elderly clergyman . . . gabbled the funeral service as though he were calling back an invoice at a draper's entering desk.

1887. Punch, 10 Sept., p. in. Gals do like a chap as can gab.

Gift of the Gab (or Gob), subs. phr. (colloquial).—The gift of conversation ; the talent for speech. Fr., n'avoir pas sa langue dans sa poche.

d. 1653. Z. Boyd, Book of Job, quoted in Brewer's Phrase and Fable, s.v., ' gab. There was a good man named Job, Who lived in the land of Uz, He had a good gift of the gob.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Canting Crew. Gift of the gob, a wide, open Mouth ; also a good Songster, or Singing-master.

1785. Grose, Diet, of the Vulgat Tongue, s.v.

1820. Shelley, Œdipus Tyrannus, Act I. You, Purganax, who have the gift o' the gab, Make them a solemn speech.

Gabble. 95

Gad.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. xliii. And we'll have a big-wig, Charley : one that's got the greatest gift of the gab : to carry on his defence.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, I., 250. People reckon me one of the best patterers in the trade. I'm reckoned to have the gift — that is, the

gift of the gab.

1869. Whyte-Melville, M. or N.,

p. 29. I've got the gift of the gab, I

know, and I stick at nothing.

1870. Lond. Figaro, 18 Sept. 'Of all gifts possessed by man,' said George Stephenson, the engineer, to Sir William Follett, ' there is none like the gift of

the gab.'

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 193. Others, although they have the gift of the gab when they are on the ground, as soon as they mount the cart are dumbfounded.

TO blow the gab, verb. phr. (vulgar).—To inform ; to peach

(q.V.). Also to blow the gaff \q.V ).

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1834. Ainsworth Rookwood, bk. III., ch. 5. Never blow the gab or squeak.

TO flash the gab, verb. phr. (common).—To show off (q.v.) in talk ; cf., Air one's vocabulary.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib's Memorial, p. 2. While his Lordship . . . that very great dab At the flowers of rhet'ric is flashing his gab.

Gabble, subs, (colloquial).—1. A gossip. Also Gabbler, Gabblegrinder, Garble-merchant, and Gabble-monger.

2. (colloquial). — A voluble talker.

Gabble-mill, subs. (American).— i. The United States Congress. Also Gabble-manufactory.

2. (common).—A pulpit. For synonyms, see Humbox.

3. (common). —The mouth. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

Gable, subs, (common).—The head. Also Gable-end. For synonyms, see Crumpet.

Gabst er, subs, (common). — A voluble talker, whether eloquent or vain ; one having the gift of the gab (q.v.).

Gab-string.—See Gob-string.

Gaby (also Gabbey and Gabby), subs, (common).—A fool ; a babbler; a boor. Ici. gafii=& foolish person, from gapa = to gape. 1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Browns School Days, pt. 1, ch. iii. Two boys, who stopped close by him, and one of whom, a fat gaby of a fellow, pointed at him and called him young ' mammy-sick.'

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffrey Hamlyn, ch. ix. Don't stand laughing there like a great gaby.

1875. Ouida, Signa, vol. I., ch. iv., p. 47. ' You have never dried your clothes, Bruno,' said his sister-in-law, ' What a gaby a man is without a wife ! '

Gad, subs, (common).—An idle slattern. An abbreviation of gad-about (q.v.).

Intj. (common).—An abbreviation of by Gad ! Cf. Agad, Egad—themselves corruptions of by God, Lit.

On the gad, adv. phr. (old). —i. On the spur of the moment.

1605. Shakspeare, Lear, i., 2. All this is done upon the gad.

2. (colloquial).—On the move, on the gossip.

1818. Austen, Persuasion. I have no very good opinion of Mrs. Charles' nursery maid. . . . She is always upon the gad.

Gadabout.

Gaff.

3. (colloquial).—On the spree (especially of women) ; and, by implication, on the town.

To gad the hoof, verb. phr. (common).—To walk or go without shoes ; to pad the hoof (q.v.). Also, more loosely, to walk or roam about.

1852. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3rd ed., p. 447. Going without shoes,

gadding the hoof.

Gadabout, subs, (colloquial).—A trapesing gossip ; as a housewife seldom seen at home, but very often at her neighbours' doors [From Gad = to wander, to stray (Cf., Lycidas: 'the gadding vine') + About.] Used also as an adjective; e.g., 'a Gad-about hussey.'

Gadso, subs, (old) —The penis. Italian cazzo. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Intj. (old: still literary and colloquial).—An interjeciion. [A relic of phallicism with which many popular oaths and exclamations have a direct connection, especially in Neo-Latin dialects. A Spaniard cries out, Carajo! ( — the member), or Cojones ! ( — the testicles) ; an Italian says Cazzo (the penis) ; while'a Frenchman exclaims by the act itself, Foutre! The female equivalent, (cotfo with the Spaniard, con no with the Italian, con with the Frenchman, and cunt with ourselves), was, and is, more generally used as an expression of contempt, which is also the case with the testicles. (Cf., ante, All Balls !) Germanic oaths are profane rather than obscene ; except, perhaps, in Potz ! and Potztaufend ! and the English

equivalent Pox ! which last is obsolete. See Catso. [In Florio (A Worlde of Wördes, 1598), Cazzo — ' a man's privie member,' and cazzo di mare = a pintle fish ; while cazzica = 'an interjection of admiration and affirming. What ? Gad's me, Gad forfend, tush.']

1697. Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, iii., i. Sir ? Gadso! we are to consult about playing the devil to night.

1770. Foote, Lame Lover, i. Gadso ! a little unlucky.

1838. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. iv. ' Gadso ! ' said the undertaker . . . ' that's just the very thing I wanted to speak to you about.'

Gadzooks 1 intj. (old and colloquial).—A corruption of Gadzo (q.v.).

Gaff, subs. (old).—1. A fair. '

1754. Discoveries of John Poulter, p. 32. The first thing they do at a gaff is to look for a room clear of company.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. The drop coves maced the joskins at the gaff ; the ring-droppers cheated the countryman at the fair.

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 22. We stopped at this place two days, waiting to attend the gaff.

1823. Jon. Bee, Diet, of the Turf, etc., s.v. A fair is a gaff as well as all the transactions enacted there.

2. (common).—A cheap, low • music-hall or theatre ; frequently

penny-gaff, Cf., quot. 1823,

sense 1. Also dookie. Fr., un beuglant ( = a low music-hall ; beugler = to bellow) ; un bouisbouis (botii = brothel) ; une guinche (popular). See also quot. 1889.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, I., p. 46. They court for a time, going to raffles and gaffs together, and then the affair is arranged.

1869. Greenwood, Seven Curses oj London, p. 68. A gaff is a place where stage plays, according to the strict interpre

Gaff.

Gaffer.

tation of the term, may not be represented. The actors of a drama may not correspond in colloquy, only in pantomime ; but the pieces brought out at the gaff are seldom of an intricate character, and the not overfastidious auditory are well content with an exhibition of dumb-show and gesture.

1870. Orchestra, 18 Feb. The absolute harm done by these gaffs does not consist in the subjects represented.

1889. Notes and Queries, 7 S. vii., p. 395. I have often heard the British soldier make use of the word when speaking of the entertainment got up for his benefit in barracks.

3. (prison).—A hoax ; an imposture. Cf., Fr., gaffe=]oYt, deceit.

1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, ch. iv., p. 312. I also saw that Jemmy's blowing up of me wos all gaff. He knew as well as I did the things left the shop all right.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushrangers Sweetheart, p. 227. Can you put me up to this other gaff.

4. (old sharpers'). — A ring worn by the dealer. [From gaffe = a hook.]

5. (American cock-pit). — A steel spur.

6. ( anglers' ) — A landing spear, barbed in the iron.

Verb. (old). — 1. To toss for liquor. See gaffing.

1823. Jon Bee, Diet, of the Turf, s.v.

2, (theatrical).—To play in a gaff (q.v. sense 2).

TO blow the gaff, Or gab

(q.v.), verb. phr. (common). To give information ; to let out a secret, For synonyms, see Peach.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. To blow the gab (cant;, to confess, or impeach a confederate.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ch. xliii. One of the French officers, after he was taken prisoner, axed me how we

had managed to get the gun up there ; but I wasn't going to blow the gaff.

1877. Five Years Penal Servitude, ch. ii., p. 122. The prisoner, burning for revenge, quietly bides his time till the chief warder comes round, then asks to speak to him, and blows the gaff.

1891. Referee, 8 Mar. Under sacred promise not to blow the gaff I was put up to the method.

Gaffer, subs. (old). — i. An old man ; the masculine of Gammer (q.v.). Also a title of address: e.g., 'Good day, gaffer!' Cf., Uncle and Daddy. Also (see quot. 1710), a husband.

1710. Dame Hurdle s Letter (quoted by Nares). My gaffer only said he would inform himself as well as he could against next election, and keep a good conscience.

1714. Gay, Shepherds Week. For Gaffer Treadwell told us, by-the-bye, Excessive sorrow is exceeding dry.

1842. Tennyson, The Goose. Ran Gaffer, stumbled Gammer.

2. (common).—A master; an employer; a boss (q.v.); (athletic) a pedestrian trainer and 'farmer'; and (navvies') a gang-master or ganger (q.v.).

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., iv., 123. In comes our gaffer Underwood, And sits him on the bench.

1748. T. Dyche, Diet. (5th ed.) Gaffer (S.) a familiar word mostly used in the country for master.

1885. Daily News, 24 Jan., p. 3, c. i. They go and work at fivepence, and some on 'em as low as threepence halfpenny, an hour ; that's just half what we get, and the gaffers keep 'em on and sack us.

1888. Sportsman, 20 Dec. Comic enough were some of the stories ' Jemmy ' told of his relations with ' the gaffer.'

1889. Broadside Ballad, ' The Gaffers of the Gang.' We are the boys that can do the excavations, We are the lads for the 'atin' and the dhrinkin', With the ladies we are so fascinatin', Because we are the gaffers of the gang.

Gaffing. 98

Gag.

3. (old).—A toss-penny; a gambler with coins. From gaffing (q.v.).

1828. Jon Bee, Living Picture of London, p. 241. If the person calling for ' man ' or ' woman ' is not right or wrong at five guesses, neither of the gaffers win or lose, but go again.

Verb, (venery).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

Gaffing, subs. (old).—See quot.

1821. Pierce Egan, Life in London, p. 279. Gaffing was unfortunately for him introduced. Ibid. Note.—A mode of tossing for drinks, etc., in which three coins are placed in a hat, shaken up, and then thrown on the table. If the party to ' call ' calls ' heads ' (or ' tails ') and all three coins are as he calls them, he wins ; if not, he pays a settled amount towards drinks.

1839. Brandon, Poverty, Mendicity, and Crime, s.v.

Gag, subs, (common).—1. A joke ; an invention ; a hoax.

1823. Jon Bee, Diet, of the Turf, s.v. Gag—a grand imposition upon the public ; as a mountebank's professions, his cures, and his lottery-bags, are so many broad gags.

1871. All the Year Round, 18 Feb., p. 288. You won't bear malice now, will you ? All gag of mine, you know, about old Miss Ponsonby.

1885. Daily Neius, 16 May, p. 5, c. 2. ' The Mahdi sends you lies from Khartoum, and laughs when you believe them,' said a native, lately. We need not gratify the Mahdi by believing any bazaar-gag he may circulate.

2. (theatrical). — Expressions interpolated by an actor in his part : especially such as can be repeated again and again in the course of performance. Certain plays, as The Critic, are recognised 'gag-pieces,' and in these the practice is accounted legitimate. Cf., Hamlet, iii,, 2 :

' And let those, that play your clowns, say no more than is set down for them.' Cf., Wheeze. Yx.,lacocotte (specifically additions to vocal scores). A typical example is the ' I believe you, my boy ! ' of the late Paul Bedford. In the quot. under 1851-61, it is probable that gag = patter (q.v. )

1841. Punch, i., p. 105. I shall do the liberal in the way of terms, and get up the gag properly.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., p. 148. When I go out I always do my own gag, and I try to knock out something new.

1866. W. D. Howells, Venetian Life, ch. v. . . . I have heard some very passable gags at the Marionette, but the real commedia a braccio no longer exists.

1889. Globe, 12 Oct., p. 4, c. 4. In a high-class music hall it is a rule that no song must be sung till it is read and signed by the manager, and this applies even to the gag.

1890. Pall Mall Gazette, 5 Mar., p. 4, c. 3. Mr. Augustus Harris pointed out that if the clause were carried the penalty would, in many cases, be incurred twenty times in one scene, for actors and singers were continually introducing gag into their business.

3. (American).—A commonwealth of players in which the profits are shared round. Cf., Conscience. •

1847. Darley, Drama in Pokerville, p. 124. The artist .... merely remarking that he had thought of a gag which would bring them through, mounted a ladder, and disappeared.

4. (American).—A fool ; i.e., a thing to laugh at. For synonyms, see Cabbageand Buffle-head and Sammy Soft.

1838-40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 46. ' Sam,' says he, ' they tell me you broke down the other day in the House of Representatives and made a proper gag of yourself.'

Gag. 99

Gage.

5. (Christ's Hospital).—Boiled fat beef. Gag-eater = a term of reproach.

1813. Lamb, Christ's Hospital, in wks., p. 324 (ed. 1852). L. has recorded the repugnance of the school to gags, or the fat of fresh beef boiled ; and sets it down to some superstition. ... A gageater in our time was equivalent to a ghoul . . . and held in equal estimation.

6. (Winchester College).—An exercise (said to have been invented by Dr. Gabell) which consists in writing Latin criticisms on some celebrated piece, in a book sent in about once a month. In the Parts below Sixth Book and Senior Part, the gags consisted in historical analysis. [An abbreviation of ' gathering. ']

1870. Mansfield, School-life at Winchester College, p. 108. From time to time, also, they had to write ... an analysis of some historical work ; these productions were called gatherings (or gags).

Verb, trs. and intrs. (theatrical). — I. To speak gags (q.v.), sense 2. Fr., cascader.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, III., 149. He has to gag, that is, to make up words.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xxxix. The same vocalist gags in the regular business like a man inspired.

1883. Referee, 15 April, p. 3, c. 1. Toole . . . cannot repress a tendency to gag and to introduce more than is set down for him by the author.

2. (old).—To hoax ; to puff.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 154. Having discovered the weak side of him he means to gag.

1823. Jon Bee, Diet, of the Turf, etc., s.v. A showman cries 'Walk in, ladies and gentlemen, they're all alive,' but the spectators soon perceive 'tis all stuf, reproach Mr. Merryman, and he, in excuse, swears he said ' they were ' and not ' are alive.' He thus gags the public.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 325. Then they gag the thing up, and send their bills out about the immense cost of scenery and dresses, and other expenses they are at, etc.

3. (thieves').—To inform ; to round on (q.v.) ; also to blow

the gag. Cf., Gaff, Gab, etc. For synonyms, see Peach.

1891. Morning Advertiser, 28 Mar. She . . . besought them with (crocodile) tears not to gag on them, in other words not to give information to the police.

On the high gag., adv. phr. (old).—On the whisper ; telling secrets ; cf., verb, sense 3.

1823. Kent, The Modern Flash Diet., s.v.

1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London, etc., s.v.

On the low gag, adv. phr. (old).—On the last rungs of beggary, ill-luck, or despair.

1823. Kent, The Modem Flash Diet., s.v.

1848. Duncombe, The Sinks of London, etc., s.v.

TO strike the gag, verb, phr. (old).—To cease from chaffing.

1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard (ed. 1889), p. 43. 'A clever device,' replied Jonathan ; ' but it won't serve your turn. Let us pass, sir. Strike the gag, Blueskin.'

Gage (Gauge or Gag), subs. (old). —i. A quart pot (i.e., a measure). Also a drink or go (q.v.).

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65. A gage, a quart pot.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club's Rept., 1874). Gage, a quart pot.

1622. J. Fletcher, Beggar's Bush. I crown thy nab with a gage of benbouse.

Gagers.

ioo

Gail.

1656. Broome, Jovial Crew, Act ii., I bowse no läge, but a whole gage Of this i bowse to you.

1690. B. E. New Diet of the Cant. Crew. Gage, c. A pot or pipe. Tip me a gage, c. give me a pot, or pipe.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4th ed.), p. 12. Gage, a pot.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Gage, a quart pot, also a pint (cant).

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 40. We drank our gauge and parted good friends.

2. ( 18th century).—A chamberpot.

3. (old).—A pipe.

1690. B. E., New Diet, of the Cant. Crew (See quot. 1690 under sense 1).

1796. Grose, Vulg. Tongue (3rd Ed.), s.v.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, Bk. III., ch. v. In the mean time, tip me a gage of fogus, Jerry.

4. (American).—A man. For synonyms, see Cove.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum or Rogues Lexicon. Deck the gage, see the man.

Gage rs, subs. (American).—The eyes. For synonyms, see Glims.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Gagga, subs. (old).—See quot.

1796. Grose, Vulg. Tongue (3rd Ed). Cheats who by sham pretences and wonderful stories of their sufferings impose on the credulity of good people.

gagger, subs, (theatrical). — A player who deals in gags (q.v.), sense 2. Also Gaggist, Gagmaster, and Gagster.

1841. Punch, Vol. I., p. 169. Men with ' swallows ' like Thames tunnels, in fact accomplished gaggers and unrivalled ⁴ wiry watchers.'

1887. Burnand and a'Beckett in Fortn. Review, April, p. 548. Robson . . . was an inveterate gagger.

1890. Globe, 3 March, p. 1, c. 4. The low comedy was much toned down ... In other words, the gaggers were gagged.

Gaggery, subs, (theatrical).—The practice of Gagging (q.v.), sense 3

Gagging, subs. (old).—i. Bluff (q.v.); specifically, bunco-steering (q.v.), the art of talking over and persuading a stranger that he is an old acquaintance. Cf., Gag, verb, sense 2.

1828. G. S m eaton, Doings in London, p. 28. One of the modes of raising money, well known in town by the flash name of gagging, has been practised of late to a considerable extent on simple countrymen, who are strangers to the ' ways of town.'

2. (cabmen's).—Loitering about for ' fares' ; ' crawling.'

1851-61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. III., p. 366. The means used are gagging, that is to say, driving about and loitering in the thoroughfares for jobs.

3. (theatrical). — Dealing in gags (q.v.), sense I. Also as ppl. adj.

1883. The Echo, 5 Jan., p. 2, c. 3. A protest, by no means unneeded, against • the insolence or ignorance of some playwrights, and gagging actors.

1889. Answers, 27 July, p. 143, c. 2. Gagging is a thing about which the public know little.

Gaggler's Coach, subs.phr. (old). —A hurdle.

1823. Kent, Modern Flash Diet.,

s.v.

1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London

s.v.

Gail, subs. (old).—A horse. For

synonyms, see Prad.

Gaily-like.

gaily-like, adj. (American). — Showy ; expensive : bang-up (q.v.).

1872. Clemens (Mark Twain), Undertaker's Chat. Now, you know how difficult it is to roust out such a gaily-like thing as that in a little one-horse town like this.

Gain-pain, subs, (old).—A sword; specifically, in the Middle Ages, that of a hired soldier. [From Fr., gagner = to gain + pain = bread. Cf., Breadwinner (prostitutes') and Potboiler (artists').] For synonyms, see Cheese-toaster and Poker.

Gait, subs, (colloquial).—Walk in life ; profession ; mode of making a living ; game (q.v.).

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum. 'Isay, Tim, what's your gait now ? ' ' Why, you see, I'm on the crack' (burglary).

Gaiters, subs. (American colloquial).—Half boots; shoes.

GAL, subs, (common).—I. A girl ; a servant-maid ; a sweetheart. Best girl = favourite flame.

2. (common). — A prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrackhack and Tart.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, I., p. 535. Upon the most trivial offence in this respect, or on the suspicion of an offence, the gals are sure to be beaten cruelly and savagely by their ' chaps. '

3. (American). — A female rough.

Galaney. See Galeny.

Galanty (Gallanty or Galantee) Show, subs. phr. (common). —A shadow pantomime : silhouettes shown on a transparency or thrown on a white sheet by a magic lantern. Specifi

cally, the former. See Punch and Judy.

1851-61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. Ill,, p. 81. The

galantee show don't answer, because magic lanterns are so cheap in the shops.

1884. Cassells Technical Educator, pt. 10, p. 244. That reminiscence of the nursery, the galanty show.

1888. Notes and Q uenes, 7 b. v., p. 265. A flourish on the panpipes and a rumble on the drum was followed by the cry, galanty-show !

gal-boy, subs. (American).—A romp ; a tom-boy (q.v.).

Galen, subs, (common). — An apothecary. For synonyms, see Gallipot.

Galena, subs. (American).—Salt pork. [From Galen, 111., a chief hog-raising and pork-packing centre].

Galeny (or Galany), subs. (old).— The domestic hen ; now (West of England) a Guinea fowl. [Latin, gallind]. For synonyms, see Cackling-cheat.

1887. Temple Bar, Mar., p. 333 It's a sin to think of the money you'd be spending on girls and things as don't know a hen's egg from a galeeny's.

Galimaufrey, subs. (old).—i. A medley ; a jumble ; a chaos of differences. [Fr., gallimaufrêe=* a hash].

1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, in wks., ii., 93. Coblers, Tinkers, Fencers, none escapt them, but they mingled them all on one gallimafrey of glory.

1592. John Day, Blind Beggar, Act iv., Sc. i, p. 75. Can. Let me be torn into mammocks with wilde Bears if I make not a gallemaufry of thy heart and keep thy Skull for my quaffing bowl.

1604. Shakspeare, Winter's Tale, Act iv., Sc. 4. And they have a dance which the wenches say is a gallimaufry of gambols, because they are not in't.

1690. Durfey, Collins Walk, ch. ii., p. 58. But, like thy Tribe of canting Widgeons, A gallimaufry of Religions.

Gall.

Gallantry.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, i., 207. A compound of Player, Soldier, Stroller, Sailor, and Tinker! An odd gallimaufry !

1860. Haliburton (Sam Slick), The Season Ticket, No. 7. This portion of my journa', which includes a variety ot topics and anecdotes, some substantial like solid meat, some savoury as spicy vegetable ingredients, and some fragments to swell the bulk, which, though not valuable as materials, help to compound

the gallimaufry.

2. (old).—A hodge-podge of scraps and leavings.

1724. Coles, Eng. Diet.; 1728. Bailey, Eng. Diet. ; 1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue ; 1811. Lexicon Balatronicum.

3. A mistress.

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives, ii., i. He loves thy gallymawfry ; Ford, perpend.

4. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Gall, subs.(common).—Effrontery; cheek [q.V.); brass (q.V.) ; e.g., 'Ain't he got a gall on him ?'

1789. Grose, Vulg. Tongue (3rd Ed.), s.v. His gall is not yet broken, a saying used in prisons of a man just brought in who appears melancholy and dejected, [i.e.,¹ He is not yet embittered enough to care for nothing, and meet everything with a front of brass.']

1811. Lexicon Balatronicu-m, s.v.

a 1891. New York Sun (quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant, s.v.). 'What do you think he had the gall to do to-day?' Brown: 'He has the gall to do anything.' Dumley : ⁴ He asked me to drink with him ; but he'll never repeat the impudence.'

Gallant, subs. (old).—A dandy

(q.v.); a ladies' man; a lover ;

a cuckold-maker, whether in

fosse or in esse (Shakspeare).

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives, ii. One that is well-nigh worn to pieces with age to show himself a young gallant î

1598. Shakspeare, i Henry IV., ii., 4. Gallants, lads, boys, hearts of gold, all the titles of good fellowship come to you.

1663. Dryden, The Wild Gallant [Title.]

1690. B.E., A New Diet. Gallant a very fine man ; also a Man of Metal, or a brave Fellow ; also one that Courts, or keeps, or is Kept by, a Mistress.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., iv., no There's never a gallant but sat at her hand.

1751-4. JoRTiN, Eccles. Hist, (quoted in Encyclopaedic Diet.). As to Theodora, they who had been her gallants when she was an actress, related that daemons, or nocturnal spirits, had often driven them away to lie with her themselves.

Adj. (old). — (1). Valiant (2) showy ; (3) amorous.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 40. O London is a fine town, and a gallant city;

Verb. (old).—To sweetheart; to squire ; to escort ; to pursue or to enjoy.

To Gallant a Fan. verb, phr. (old). — To break with design, to afford an opportunity of presenting a better. — B. E.

Gallant Fiftieth, subs. phr. (military).—The Fiftieth Foot. [For its share in Vimiera, 1808.]

Also, blind half hundred (q.v.); and dirty half hundred (q.V.).

Gallantry, subs. (i). Sparkisil] ness (q.v.) ; dandyism; (2) the habit, or pursuit, of the sexual favour. A life of gallantry = a life devoted to _kthe other sex.

Gallery. ^io3 Galley-yam.

Gallery, suds. (Winchester College).—A commoner bedroom. [From a tradition of galleries in Commoners.] See GalleryNymphs.

To play to the Gallery, vera. phr. (colloquial).—To act so as to win the applause of the vulgar : i.e., to abandon distinction and art for coarseness of means and cheapness of effect. Said indifferently of anyone in any profession who exerts himself to win the suffrages of the mob ; as a political demagogue, a * popular ' preacher, a ' fashionable ' painter, and so on.

1872. Standard, 23 Oct. ' New York Correspondence.' His dispatches were, indeed, too long and too swelling in phrase ; for herein he was always playing to

the galleries.

Hence, Gallery-hit, shot, stroke, etc. = a touch designed for, and exclusively addressed to, the non-critical.

To play the Gallery, verb.

phr. (colloquial).—To make an

audience ; to applaud.

1870. Echo, 23 July, p. 5, c. 4. He seemed altogether ajovial, amusing sort of fellow, and as we were close by him, and constantly called in to play the gallery to his witty remarks, we asked him, when his friends left him, to join our party.

Gallery Nymph, subs. phr-. (Winchester College).—A housemaid. See Gallery.

Galley—put a brass galley down your back, verb. phr.. (printers').—An admonition to appear before a principal ; implying that the galley will serve as a screen.

Galley-foist, subs. (old).—The state barge, used by the Lord

Mayor when he was sworn in at

Westminster.

1609. Ben Jonson, Silent Woman, iv., 2. Out of my doores, you sons of noise and tumult, begot on an ill May day, or when the galleyfoist is afloate to Westminster.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. 1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Galley-growler or -stoker,

subs, (nautical). — A loafer ; a malingerer (q.V. ) ; a grumbleguts (q.v.).

Galley-halfpen ny, subs. (old). —A base coin, tempus Henry IV. [So called because it was commonly imported in the Genoese galleys. See Leake, English Money, p. 129; Ruding, Annals of Coinage, i., 250 ; and Stow, Survey (ed. 1842) p. 50.]

Galley-Slave, subs, (printers').— A compositor. [From the oblong tray whereon the matter from the composing stick is arranged in column or page.] For synonyms, see Donkey.

1683. Moxon, s.v.

Galleywest, adj. or adv* (American).—An indefinite superlative. Cf., About-east.

1881. Clemens, (M. Twain) Huck. Finn, xxxvii., 382. Then she grabbed up the basket and slammed it across the house, and knocked the cat galleywest.

1887. Francis, Saddle and Mocassin (quoted in Slam, Jargon, and Cant). I'll be darned if this establishment of yours, Hunse, don'tknock anyone of themGALLEY. west !—galleywest, sir, that's what it does.

Galley-yarn (or news), subs.

phr. (nautical).—A lying story ;

a swindle or take-in (q.v.).

Frequently abbreviated to ' G.Y.' 1884. Henley and Stevenson, Admiral Guinea, iii., 4. What? lantern and cutlass yours ; you the one that knew the house ; you the one that saw ; you the one overtaken and denounced ; and you spin me a galley-yarn like that.

Gallied.

104

Gallivant.

Gallied, ///. adj. (old). — ' Harried ; vexed ; over-fatigued ; perhaps like a galley-slave ' (Grose, Vulg. Tongue,s.v.). In Australia, frightened.

Gallinipper, sztbs. (West Indian). —A large mosquito.

1847. Porter, Big Bear, etc., p. 119. In the summer time the lakes and snakes . . . musketoes and gallinippers, buffalo gnats and sandflies . . . prevented

he Injins from gwine through the country.

1888. Lippincotfs Magazine. I thought the gallinippers would fly away with me before the seed ticks had sucked all my blood.

Gallipot, subs, (common).—An apothecary.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v

1836. M. Scott, cringle's Log, ch. xiv. In truth, sir, I thought our surgeon would be of more use than any outlandish gallipot that you could carry back.

1848. Thackeray, Book oj Snobs, ch. xxvii. ' Half a-dozen little gallipots,' interposed Miss Wirt.

English Synonyms.—Bolus; bum-tender ; clyster-giver ; cl) ster-pipe ; croaker ; crocus ; drugs ; Ollapod (from a creation of the Younger Coleman's) ; gagemonger ; Galen (from the great physician) ; jakes-provider ; pillbox; pill-merchant ; pills; squirt; salts-and-senna ; squire of the pot.

French Synonyms. — Un miraneu (obsolete : a play on mire en cul, respecting which cf., Béralde, in Molière, Malade Imaginaire : ' On voit bien qtie vous n 'avezpas'accoutumé'deparier à des visages ') ; tm limonadier de postérieurs (popular : cf., 'bumtender ' ; un flûtenctd (common) ; un insinuant (popular : one who ' insinuates ' the clyster-pipe).

German Synonyms.—Rokeach, Raukeach, or Raukack (from the Hebrew).

Gallivant, verb, (colloquial).—1. To gad about with, or after, one of the other sex ; to play the gallant ; to ' do the agreeable.'

1838. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, ch. lxiv. You were out all day yesterday, and gallivanting somewhere, I know.

1862. H. Beecher Stowe, in The Independent, 27 Feb. What business had he to flirt and gallivant all summer with Sally Kittridge?

1886. Hawley Smart, Struck Down, xi. The ramparts is a great place for gallivanting.

1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, i., 112. It's them gals, Mr. Austin. Come in afore she sees you, else she'll not be at home. She is gallivanting in the paddock with Captain Hertford.

2. (colloquial).—To trapes (q.v.) ; to fuss ; to bustle about.

1859. Boston Post, 10 Dec. Senator Seward is gallivanting gaily about Europe. Now at Compiègnè, saying soft things to the Empress and studying despotism, now treading the battle-field of Wateiloo, then back at Paris, and so on.

1871. C. D. Warner, My Summer in a Garden. More than half the Lima beans, though on the most attractive sort of poles, which budded like Aaron's rod, went galivahting off to the neighboring grape trellis.

1848. Ruxton, Far West, p. 145. The three remaining brothers were absent from the Mission . . . Fray Jose, gallivanting at Pueblo de los Angeles.

1863. Norton, Lost andSaved, p. 255. A pretty story, if, when her services were most wanted by the person who paid for them, she was to be gadding and gallivanting after friends of her own.

1865. M. E. Braddon, Henry Dunbar, ch. x. A pretty thing it would have been if your pa had come all the way from India to find his only daughter gallivanting at a theaytre.

1870. London Figaro, 6 Dec. You're never content but when you're galavanting about somewhere or other.

Gallivate.

^I05 Galloivs.

Gallivate, verb (American).—To frisk ; to ' figure about ' ; cf., Gallivant.

Gallon. What's a gallon of rum among one ? phr. (American). —The retort sarcastic ; applied, eg., to those with 'eyes too big for their stomach ' ; to disproportionate ideas of the fitness of things, and so forth.

Gallon Distemper, sufis. phr. (common).—i. Delirium tremens; (2.) the lighter after-effects of drinking.

English Synonyms.—(i) For the former, barrel-fever ; blackdog ; blue-devils ; blue Johnnies (Australian); B. J's. (idem.); blues ; bottle-ache ; D. T. ; horrors; jim-jams; jumps; pinkspiders ; quart-mania ; rams ; rats ; shakes ; snakes in the boots ; trembles ; triangles ; uglies.

2. P'or the latter : a head ; hotcoppers ; a mouth ; a touch of the brewer ; a sore heid (Scots).

French Synonyms. —Avoir mal aux cheveux (familiar = the hair-ache); les papillons noirs (Cf., pink spiders ; also = hypochondria) ; avoir fumé dans une pipe neuve ( = sick of a new clay).

Galloper, subs. (old).—i. A blood

horse ; a hunter.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. The toby gill clapped his bleeders to his galloper and tipped the straps the double.

2. (military). — An aide-decamp.

gallow-grass, subs.phr. (old).—

Hemp, {i.e., halters in the rough.]

1578. Lyte, Trans, of Dodoens History of Plantes, fol. 72. Hempe is called in ... . English, Neckweede, and gallowgrass.

Gallows, subs. (old). — i. A rascal ; a wretch deserving the rope.

1594. Shakspeare, Lcrz>e's Labout Lost, v., 2. A shrewd unhappy gallows too.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Diet. (2nd ed.). s.v. =a wicked rascal.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist. (To Oliver). Now, young gallows.

1838. Jas. Grant, Sketches in London, ch. ii., p. 58. Blow me tight, young gallows, if I don't pound your ribs to powder !

2. (common : generally in. pi. — Gallowses). —A pair of braces

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, i S., ch. xv. Chock-full of spring, like the wire end of a bran new pair of trouser galluses.

1848. Durivage, Stray Subjects, p 168. If I wouldn't spile his picter bust my boots and gallowses.

1851-61. H. mayhew,Zö«öf. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. 1., p. 431. The braces, which in some parts of the country are called ' gallowses.'

c. 1852. Traits of American Humor, p. 58. Hole on, dod drotyou, wait till 1 unbutton my gallowses.

1864. James, etc, Italian-English Diet. Gallowses, batilla.

1883. G. A. S[ala], in Lond. News, Sept. 22, p. 275, c. i. Biaces (which, when I was young, used, in the north of England, to be known by the expressive name of gallowses.)

Adv. (old).—Excessively; same as bloody, bleeding, (q.v.), etc. (As adj.) great ; uncommon ; real.

c. 1551. L. Shepherd. John Bon in Arber's Garner, Vol. IV., p. 109. Ye, are much bound to God for such a spittle holiness. A gallows gift !

1789. Parker, Life's Painter, p. 120. Some they pattered flash with gallows fun and joking.

1827. Egan, Anecdotes of the Turf, etc., p. 44. Then your blowen will wax gallows haughty! [Also quoted in notes to Don Juan.]

Gallows-bird.

Galoot.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 293.(ed. 1854). Ah, Dame Lobkin, if so be as our little Paul vas a vith you, it would be a gallows comfort to you in your latter hend !

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, III., 90. I'll be smothered if I'm going to look down that gallows long chimney.

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. xii. And the pleece come in, and got Gallus well kicked about the head.

1869. Greenwood, Seven Curses of London, p. 244. Put it on your face so Gallus thick that the devil himself won't see through it.

Gallows-bird (also NewgateBiRu),^.(common).—1. A son of the rope ; an habitual criminal ; a vagabond or scoundrel, old or young ; a crack-rope or waghalter (Cotgrave ; a gallowsclapper (Florio). Fr., gibier de Cayenne, or de potence.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongiie, s.v. One that deserves hanging.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xi. That very gallows-bird were enough to corrupt a whole ante-chamber of pages.

2. (common).—A corpse on, or from, the gallows.

1861. Reade, Cloister and Hearth, ch. xxviii. I ne'er minced (dissected) ape nor gallows-bird.

Gallows-faced, adj. (old)—Evillooking ; hang-dog. Also gal •

lows-looking.

1766. H. Brooke, Fool of Quality, ii. 16. Art thou there, thou rogue, thou hang-dog, thou gallows-faced vagabond ?

1768. Goldsmith, Good-natured Man, Act v. Hold him fast, he has the gallows in his face.

1837. Barham, I. L. (Misadv. at Margate). A little gallows-looking chap—dear me ! what could he mean ?

Gallows-minded, adj. (colloquial).—Criminal in habit and idea ; also, evil-hearted.

Gallowsness, subs. (old).—Rascality; recklessness; mischievousness.

1859G. Eliot, Adam Bede, ch. vi. I never knew your equal for gallowsness.

Gallows-ripe, adj. (old).—Ripe

for the rope.

1837. Carlyle, French Revolution, Pt. II., bk. v., ch. iii. Loose again, as one not yet gallows-ripe.

Gallus.—See Gallows. Gally-foist—See Galley-foist.

Gallyslopes, subs. (Old Cant).— Breeches. For synonyms, see Kicks.

Galoot (also galloot and geeloot), subs, (general).—A man (sometimes in contempt) ; also (in America) a worthless fellow (or thing, see quot. 1888) ; a rowdy; a cad (q.v.).

1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xxxiv. Four greater galloots were never picked up, but never mind that.

1869. S. L. Clemens (Mark Twain) Innocents at Home, p. 22. He could lam any galoot of his inches in America.

1871. John Hay, Jim Bludso. I'll hold her nozzle agin the bank Till the last galoot's ashore.

1885. Saturday Review, Feb. 7, p. 167. I'll never draw a revolver on a man again as long as I live.' . . . ' Guess I'll go for the galoot with a two-scatter shoot-gun.

1888. New York Tribune, May 16. It is better to have a Carrot for a President than a dead beat for a son-in-law. In this way we again score a live beat 011 the galoot.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 137. 'My dear boy, I may be a galoot about literature, but you'll always be an outsider in business.

On the gay galoot, adv.

phr. (common).—On the spree,

1892. Milliken, 'Arry Ballads, p. 3. I'm off on the gay galoot somewheres.

Galoptious. 107 Gambler.

Galoptious or Galuptious, adj. (popular).—Delightful ; a general superlative.

1887. Judy, 21 Sept., p. 140. Four young ladies represented the galopshus sum of 20,000,000 dollars.

Galore (also gallore and golore), adv. (old ; now recognised).—In abundance ; plenty. [Irish and Gaelic go leor — in plenty.]

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p 14. Galore of alcohol to ratify the trade.

1856. C. Reade, Never Too Late, ch. lx. He found rogues galore, and envious spirits that wished the friends ill.

1891. IÀcensed Vic. Mirror, 30 Jan., p. i, c. 1. Of chit-chat this week we have galore, and the difficulty is how to sift the wheat from the chaff.

Galumph, verb. (American).—To bump along (Onomatopoeia).

1888. New York World, 13 May. The young man tackled the driver of a green bobtail car that galumphed through Lewis Street at a high rate of speed.

Galvanised Yankee, subs. phr. (American Civil War).—A Greyback (q.v.) who took the oath to the North and served in its armies.

Gam, subs, (thieves').—i. Pluck; gameness.

1888. Cassel!s Saturday Journal, 8 Dec, p. 260. i'm not so sure about his lack of cunnin', speed, or gam.

2. (American thieves')—Stealing (Matsell, 1859).

Verb. (American thieves').—i. To steal.

2. (American). — To engage in social intercourse ; to make a call ; to have a chat. See Gamming.

Gamaliel, subs, (colloquial).—A pedant ; a person curious of the letter and the form : e.g., ' these Gamaliels of the theory ' = these ultra-puritans, to whom the spirit is nothing.

Gamaruche, subs, (venery).—See

Cunnilingist and CockTeaser. Verb (venery). —To irrumate ; to Bag-pipe (q.v.). Also to cunnilinge (q.v.). Fr.,

gamahucher.

Gamb (or Gam), subs. (old).—A leg. In use also in this sense as an heraldic term. [It., gambe ; Fr., jambe ; probably through Lingua Franca.] For synonyms, see Drumsticks and Pins.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life's Painter, p. 143. If a man has bow legs, he has queer gams, gams being cant for legs.

1796. Grose, Vulg. Tongue (3rd ed.),

s.v.

1819. Moore, Memorial, p. 61. Back to his home, with tottering gams.

1887. Henley, Villon's Good Night. At you I merely lift my gam.

[To flutter a gam = to dance ; to lift a gam = to break wind ; to gam it = to walk ; to run away ; to leg it (q.v.)].

Gamble, subs, (colloquial).—A venture : a flutter (q.v.).

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 250. And you know the Flying Scud was the biggest gamble of the crowd.

Gambler, subs, (old, now recognised). See quots.

1778. Bailey, Eng. Diet. Gambler, a guinea-dropper ; one class of sharpers.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Gambler, a sharper ; a tricking gamester.

1816. Johnson, Eng. Diet, (nth ed.). Gambler, a cant word, I suppose. A knave whose practice it is to invite the unwary to game and cheat them.

Gambol.

Game.

1890. CasselFs Enc. Diet. Gambler, one given to playing for a stake.

Gambol, subs, (booking clerks'). A railway ticket.

1882. Daily News, 6 Sept., p. 2, c. 5. ... Mr. Chance [the magistrate] asked what gambols meant. The inspector said doubtless the railway tickets.

Gam-cases, subs. (old). Stockings (Parker, Life's Painter). [From gam = leg + case. ]

Game, subs. (old).—1. The proceeds of a robbery ; swag [q.v.).

1676. Warning for Housekeepers. Song. When that we have bit the bloe, we carry away the game.

2. (old). — A company of whores. A game-pullet = a young prostitute, or a girl inclined to lechery ; cf., adj., sense 8.

1690. B.E., New Dictionary, s.v. . . also a Bawdy house, lewd women.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. game . . . Mother, have you any game, Mother, have you any girls?

3. (old).—A gull; a simpleton. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1690. B. E., New Dictionary. Game, c. Bubbles drawn in to be cheated.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

4. ( thieves' ). — Specifically, the game = thieving ; also (nautical), slave trading ; and (venery), the practice of copulation {e.g., good at the game = an expert and vigorous bedfellow. Cf., Shakspeare, Troilus, iv., 5, 'Spoils of opportunity, daughters of the game '). In quot. (1639) it would seem that hen of the game = a shrew, a fighting woman.

1639-61. _ Rump, ii., 185. 'Free Parliament Litany.' From a dunghill Cock and a Hen of the Game.

1640. Ladies' Parliament. Stamford she is for the game, She saies her husband

is to blame, For her part she loves a foole, If he hath a good toole.

1668. Etheredge, She Would if She Could, i., 1. A gentleman should not have gone out of his chambers but some civil officer of the game or other would have . . . given him notice where he might have had a course or two in the afternoon.

17(?). Burns, Merry Muses, ' Jenny Macraw ' (old song). Jenny Macraw was a bird of the game.

1839. Brandon, Poverty, Mendicity, and Crime, Glossary. On the game— thieving.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 263. Whether the game got stale, or Peter became honest, is beyond the purport of my communication to settle.

1852. Snowden, Mag. Assist. (3rd ed.), p. 444, s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum or Rogue's Lexicon, s. v. The particular line of rascality the rogue is engaged in ; thieving ; cheating.

1860. Chambers' Journal, Vol. 13, p. 281. I asked him if he meant by a trading voyage, the game.

5. (colloquial).—A source of amusement ; a lark {q.v.) : a barney {q.v.); as, e.g., It was such a game !

6. (colloquial). — A design ; trick ; object ; line of conduct : e.g., What's your l'ttle game = What are you after ? Also, None of your little games ! = None of your tricks ! See High Old Game. *

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. ix. Honesty, indeed ! if honesty's the game, you've a right to your share, what Mrs. Kettering intended you should have.

1857. Ducange Anglicus, The Vulg. Tongue, p. 9. Game n. Intention. ' What's your game ? ' or, ' What are you up to ? ' (very generally used).

1870. Standard, 27 Sept. If we accept the meaner game which the Times indicates for us, it can only be by deliberate choice.

1879. Justin McCarthy, Donna Quixote, ch. xiii. Come, what's your little game ?

Game. 109

Game.

1883. Edw. E. Morris, in Longmans Mag., June, p. 176. A youth, who left England, and then carried on the same game in Australia.

1889. Standard, 1 May, p. 5, c. 1. The ' game of law and order ' is not up, in Paris.

1890. Punch, 30 Aug., p. 97. Mug's game ! They'll soon find as the Marsters ain't going to be worried and welched.

1891. J. Newman, Scamping Tricks, P46. She knew ho»v to work the game of fascination right.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 349, ' It was the thing in your times, that's right enough ; but you're old now, and the game's up.

Adj. (old).—i. Plucky; enduring ; full of spirit and bottom (q.v.). [Cock-pit and pugilists'. The word may be said to have passed into the language with the rise to renown of Harry Pearce, surnamed the Game Chicken.]

1747. Capt. Godfrey, Science of Defence, p. 64. Smallwood (a boxer) is thorough game, with judgment equal to any, and superior to most.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib's Memorial, p. 57. Pitying raised from earth the game old man.

1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry (ed. 1891), p. 38. Tom, however, was too game to acknowledge any sort of alarm at this slight visitation.

1823. E. Kent, Mod. Flash Diet. Game, s.v. Sturdy, hardy, hardened.

1827. Reynolds, Peter Corcoran, The Fancy. 'The Field of Tothill.' The highest in the fancy—all the game ones, Who are not very much beneath her weight.

1855. A. Trollope, The Warden, ch. viii. He was a most courageous lad, game to the backbone.

1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 19 June, p. 395. The round had lasted sixteen minutes, and no one present had ever seen gamer or more determined fighting.

2. (common).—Ready ; willing ; prepared. [Also from cock-fighting. See sense 1].

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, p. 99, (ed. 1857). 'All alive to-day, I suppose?' ' Regular game, sir.¹

1856. Reade, Never Too Late ch. xxi. I'm game to try.

1865. Bentley, p. 182, ⁴ The Excursion Train.' Again to London back we came The day the excursion ticket said, And really both of us felt game To travel round the world instead.

1880. Punch's Almanack. Got three quid ; have cried a go with Fan, Game to spend my money like a man.

1891. Farjeon, The Mystery 0/ M. Felix, p. 103. ¹ I'm game,' said Sophy, to whom any task of this kind was especially inviting.

1891. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up! p. 51. 'Yes, I am gamey, you bet I ' exclaimed the Chinaman, softly.

1891. J. Newman Scamping Tricks, p. i2r. It is nearly midnight. I am game for another hour, are you ?

3. (old). —Lame ; crooked ; disabled : as in Game Leg.

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary. Gameleg, a lame leg.

1825. Scott, St. Ronan's Well, ch. i. Catching hold of the devil's game leg with his episcopal crook.

1851. G. Borrow, Lavengro, ch. lxvii., p. 204 (1888). Mr. Platitude, having what is vulgarly called a game leg, came shambling into the room.

1875. Jas. Payn, Walter's Word, ch. i, Well, you see, old fellow, with a game-arm (his left arm is in a sling), and a game-leg (he has limped across the platform with the aid of his friend, and also of a crutch), one feels a little helpless.

4. (thieves').—Knowing; wideawake ; and (of women) Flash (q. v. ), or inclined to venery. E.g., Game-cove = an associate of thieves ; game-woman = a prostitute : i.e., a woman who is game (sense 2) ; Game-pullet (Grose) = a girl that will show sport, a female game-cock ; game-ship (old) = a ship whose commander and officers could be corrupted by bribes to allow the cargo to be stolen (Clark Russell).

Game. ¹¹⁰ Gamester.

1676. Etheredge, Man of Mode, ii. Go on, be the game mistress of the town and entice all our young fops as fast as they come from travel.

Cock of the Game, subs. phr. (old).—A champion; an undoubted blood ; a star of magnitude (cock-pit).

1719. Durfey, Pills, iii., 329. Now all you tame gallants, you that have the name, And would accounted be cocks

of the game.

1822. Scott, Nigel, xiv. I have seen a dung-hill chicken that you meant to have picked clean enough ; it will be long ere his lordship ruffles a feather with

a cock of the game.

To make game of, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To turn into ridicule ; to delude ; to humbug.

1671. Milton, Samson, 1331. Do they not seek occasion of new quarrels, On my refusal, to distress me more ; Or make a game of my calamities?

1690. B. E., New Dictionary. What you game me? c. do you jeer me, or pretend to expose me to make a May-game of me?

1745. Hist, of Coldstream Guards, 25 Oct. If the militia are reviewed tomorrow by his Majesty, the soldiers of the third regiment of Guards are to behave civilly and not to laugh or to make any game of them.

To die game, verb. phr.

(colloquial). — To maintain a

resolute attitude to the last ; to

show no contrition.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. To die game, to suffer at the gallows without showing any signs of fear or repentance.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. liv. The ruffian lay perfectly still and silent. ' He's gaun to die game ony how,' said Dinmont.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick (ed. 1857), p. 303. I say that the coachman did not run away ; but that he died game— game as pheasants ; and I won't hear nothin' said to the contrary.

1869. Spencer, Study of Sociology, ch. viii., p. 183 (9th ed.). Nor should we forget the game-cock, supplying, as it does, a word of eulogy to the mob of

roughs who witness the hanging of a murderer, and who half condone his crime if he dies game.

1871. TimeSj 30 Jan. Critique on London, etc. The principal was acquitted, and though his accomplices were hung in Pall Mall at the scene of their act, they died game.

TO get against the game,

verb. phr. (American).—To take a risk ; to chance it. [From the game of poker].

To play the game, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To do a thing properly ; to do what is right and proper.

1889. Geoffrey Drage, Cyril, ch. vii. I really think he is . . . not pi Aying the game.

the firstgame ever played,

subs. phr. (venery).—Copulation. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

Gamecock, adj. (old).—Hectoring; angry ; valiant out of place.

1838. Lever, Handy Andy. Smoke and fire is my desire, So blaze away my gamecock squire.

Gam en ess, subs, (colloquial).— Pluck; endurance; the mixture of spirit and bottom.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xxiv. There was no doubt about his gameness.

1884, Referee, 23 March, p. 1, c. 4. Carter fought with great gameness, but he never had a look in.

Gamester, subs. (old).—i. Aprostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1598. Shakspeare, AIVs Well, v. 3. She s impudent, my lord, and was a common gamestek to the camp.

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair ii. i. Ay, ay, gamesters, mocke a plain soft wench of the suburbs, do.

Gamey. 11i Gammon.

1620. Percy, Folio MSS., p. 404. Be not att ffirst to nice nor coye when gamsters you are courtinge.

2. (old).—A ruffier ; a gallant;

a wencher ; a man fit and ready

for anything ; also a player.

1639-61. Rump, i., 253, 'A Medley.' Room for a gamester that flies at all he sees.

1676. Etheredge, Man of Mode, v., t. Live it also like a frank gamester, on the square.

Gam ey,adj. (colloquial).—1. Highsmelling ; offensive to the nose ; half-rotten.

2. (colloquial). — Frisky ; plucky.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xi. There's something gamey in it, young ladies, ain't there.

1869. S. Bowles, Our New West, p. 275. Horses are fresh and fat and gamey.

Gamin ess, subs, (colloquial). — The malodorousness proceeding from decay and—by implication —filthiness.

Gaming-house, subs. (old).—A house of ill-repute—hell, tavern, or stews.

1611. CoTGRA\'K,Dietionarie, Berlan, a common tippling house, a house of gaming, or of any other disorder.

Gammer, subs, (old ). —An old w ife ; a familiar address ; the correlative of gaffer (q.v.).

1551. Gammer Gurions Needle Title).

1706. Hudibras Redivivus, Part VI. And monkey faces, yawns, and stammers, Delude the pious dames and gammers To think their mumbling guides precation So full of heavenly inspiration.

1842. Tennyson, The Goose. Ran Gaffer, stumbled gammer.

Gamming, subs, (nautical).—A whaleman's term for the visits paid by crews to each other at sea.

1884. G. A. Sala, in Illus. Lon. News, July 19, p. 51, c. 2. When two or more American whalers meet in midocean, and there are no whales in sight, it is customary to tack topsails and exchange visits. This social intercourse the whalemen call gamming ... I cannot help fancying that ' gam ' is in greater probability an abbreviation of the Danish 'gammen,' sport, or that it has something to do with the nautical ' gammoning," the lasting by which the bowsprit is bound firmly down to the cutwater.

1890. Century, Aug. To gam means to gossip. The word occurs again and again in the log-books of the old whalers.

Gammon, subs, (colloquial).—1. Nonsense ; humbug ; deceit. Sometimes gammon and

spinach. No gammon = no

error, no lies.

[Skeat says from Mid. Eng. Garnen =a game ; but R. Sherwood (Eng. Diet., 1660), gives ' a beggar or seller of gammons of Bacon; and in Cotgrave (1611), jambonnier — a beggar, also a seller of bacon, or gammons of bacon.']

c. 1363. Chester Plays, i. 102. This gammon shall begin.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, I. 208. I thought myself pretty much a master of gammon, but the Billingsgate eloquence of Mrs. P.....exceeded me.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Gamon. What rum gamon the old file pitched to the flat.

1823. Mod. Flash Diet. Gammon— Falsehood and bombast.

1828-45. Hood, Poems (ed. 1846), vi., p. 96, Behold yon servitor of God and Mammon, Who, binding up his Bible with his ledger, Blends Gospel texts with trading gammon.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxvii. Lord bless their little hearts, they thinks its all right, and don't know no better, but they're the wictims o' gammon, Samivel, they're the wictims o' gammon.

Gammon.

1837. Barham, I. L. Blasphemer s Warning. When each tries to humbug his dear Royal Brother, in Hopes by such gammon to take one another in.

1839. Comic Almanack, Jan. But if you wish to save your bacon, Give us less gammon.

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. xxii., p. 199. 'Oh, my goodness, how polite we are ! ' exclaimed Miss Mowcher. . . . . ' What a world of gammon and spinnage it is ! '

1890. Hume Nisbet, Bail up ! p. 92. I'm real grit and no gammon.

2. (thieves').—A confederate whose duty is to engage the attention of a victim during robbery ; a bonnet {q.v.) or cover {q.v.).

Verb (colloquial). — I. To humbug : to deceive ; to take in with fibs ; to KID {q.v.).

1700. Step to the Bath, quoted in Ashton's Soc. Life in Reign of Queen Anne, v. ii., p. 111. We went to the Groom Porters .... there was Palming, Hodging, Loaded Dice, Levant, and Gammoning, with all the Speed imaginable,

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, ii., 6. Vile I can get fifteen bob a day by gammoning a maim, the devil may vork for me.

1825. Buckstone, The Bear Hunters, ii. There ! that's just the way she gammons me at home.

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle s Log, ch. ii. Why, my lad, we shall see tomorrow morning; but you gammons so bad about the rhino that we must prove you a bit ; so Kate, my dear,—to the pretty girl who had let me in.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xiii. So then they pours him out a glass o' wine, and gammons him about his driving, and gets him into a reg'lar good humour.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsly Legends, ' Misadventures at Margate.' And 'cause he gammons so the flats, ve calls him Veeping Bill !

1840. Hood, Tale of a Trumpet. Lord Bacon couldn't have gammoned her better.

1890. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up! p. 70. Oh, don't try to gammon me, you cunning young school-miss.

English Synonyms.—To bam; to bamblustercate ; to bamboozle ; to bambosh ; to barney ; to be on the job ; to best ; to bilk ; to blarney ; to blow ; to bosh ; to bounce ; to cob ; to cod ; to cog ; to chaff ; to come over (or the artful, or Paddy, or the old soldier over) one ; to cram ; to do ; to do brown ; to doctor ; to do Taffy ; to fake the kidment ; to flare up ; to flam ; to flummox; to get at (round, or to windward of) one ; to gild the pill ; to give a cock's egg ; to gravel ; to gull ; to haze : to jimmify ; to jaw ; to jockey ; to jolly ; to kid ; to make believe the moon is made of green cheese (Cotgrave) ; to mogue ; to palm off on ; to pickle ; to plant ; to plum ; to poke bogey (or fun) at ; to promoss ; to put the kibosh on ; to put in the chair, cart, or basket ; to pull the leg ; to queer ; to quiz ; to roast ; to roorback ; to run a bluff, or the shenanigan ; to sell ; to send for pigeon's milk ; to sit upon ; to send for oil of strappum, etc. ; to shave ; to slum, or slumguzzle ; to smoke ; to snack ; to soap, soft soap, sawder, or soft sawder ; to spoof; to stick ; to stall ; to string, or get on a string ; to stuff ; to sawdust, or get on sawdust and treacle ; to suck ; to suck up ; to sugar ; to swap off ; to take a rise out of ; to rot ; to tommy-rot; to take in, or down ; to take to town ; to take to the fair ; to tip the traveller ; to try it on ; tq throw dust in the eyes ; to throw a tub to a whale ; to pepper ; to throw pepper in the eyes ; to use the pepper box ; to whiffle ; to work the poppycock racket (IrishAmerican). [Note.—Many of the foregoing are used substantively, e.g., a bam, a barney, a

Gammon. 113 Gammon.

sell, bambosh = nonsense ; deceit ; a hoax, etc.]

French Synonyms.—Donner un pont à faiteher (also, thieves' = to lay a trap); dindonner (popular: from dindon = 2. gull, a gobbler) ; battre à la Parisienne (thieves' : = to cheat ; to come the cockney) ; se ficher de la fiole, or de la bobine, de quelqu'un (popular : to get on with it, i.e., to try to fool) ; envoyer chercher le parapluie de r escouade (military : parapluie de t escouade = the squad's umbrella : to send on a fool's errand ; cf., to send for pigeon's milk, etc.) ; la faire à quelqu'un (popular) ; faucher (thieves' = to best) ; enfoncer ( familiar : to let _w in : also to surpass ) ; cabasser (popular) ; monter des couleurs, le Job, or un schlösse ( = to do up brown) ; faire le coup, or monter le coup, à quelqu'un (popular : = to take a rise) ; bouffer la botte (military :■— to sell (q.v.) or bilk, as a woman refusing congress after receiving the socket-money (q.V.) in advance) ; bouler (popular : also to vvhop(^.^.J); etreTautre (popular: = to get left (q.v.)); mettre dans le sac (thieves' : = to bag, i.e., to trap) ; coller or poser tin lapin (popular : = to make a hare of (q.v. ) ; also more generally, to bilk (q.v.)); emblémer (thieves' : = to stick) ; faire voir le tour (popular : -=to show how it's done ; connaître le tour = to know the game) ; faire la qiteue à quelqu'un (popular : = to pull one's leg) ; tirer la carotte (thieves') ; canarder (popular : = to bring down) ; empaler (popular : = to stick); passer des curettes (popular : = to befool) ; monter une gaffe (popular: gaffe —z. joke, a hoax) ; jobarder (popular: job — simpleton, and is the same as jobelin); mener

en bateau un pante pour le refaire (thieves' : = to take a man on) ; monter un bateau (popular) ; promener quelqu'un (popular : cf., to take to town) ; compter des mis touffes (fam. : mi s touffe = a scurvy trick) ;gourrer (popular : = to bosh) ; affluer (from flouer=to cheat, to diddle); rotester (popular and thieves') ; affûte? (thieves' = to run down, also to make unlawful profits) ; bouler (popular) ; juiffer (popular = to Jew) ; pigeonner (popular to pluck a pigeon (q.v )); flancher (popular —to kid (q.v.) ); faire la barbe (popular = to shave (q.v.)); monter or hisser un gandin (thieves' = literally to hoist a swell) ; fourrer or mettre dedans (popular = to take in and do for) ; planter un chou (fam.) ; être marron (popular) ; interver dans les vannes ( = to let oneself be sucked-up) ; monter un godan à quelqu'un (popular) ; griller quelqu'un (popular = to cuckold); passer en lunette (popular) ; goujonner (i.e.), to hook like a gudgeon); fourguer (thieves' = also to fence (q.v.)); pousser une blague (popular = to cram) ; paqueliner (thieves') ; se baucher (thieves') ; balancer popular).

German Synonyms.—Zinkennen an Almoni peloni ( = to send one after Cheeks the Marine [q.v.]. Almoni and fehni are used mockingly in combination and also singly for a non-existent person) ; anbeulen ( = to fool) ; jemanden arbeiten ( — to haze, to cram); bekaspern, or bekaschpern, or beschwatzen ( = to fool : from Heb. ko s aw = to cheat).

Spanish Synonyms.—Disparar ( = also to talk nonsense ; to

Gammon. "4 Gammoner.

blunder) ; hacer à uno su dominguillo, or hacer su domingiiillo de uno (colloquial : dominguillo = a figure made of straw and used at bull fights to enrage the bulls) ; freirsela d alguno (freir — to fry : to deceive: Cf., to roast, or have one on toast) ; pegar una tostada a alguno ( = to put one on toast : more generally to play a practical joke) ; echar de baranda ( = to embroider {q.v.)); bola {subs. = humbug ; a hoax); borrufalla {subs. — bombast ) ; chicolear ( = to jest in gallantry) ; engatusar {= to rob, or hurt ; also to trick without intention) ; candonguear (also = to jeer); abrir d chasco (also to jeer) ; encantar ( = to enchant).

Italian Synonyms. Ganezzarre ; dar la stolfa ; traversare (cf., to come over); scamuffare = to disguise oneself).

2. (thieves').—To act as bonnet {q.v.) or cover {q.v.) to a thief.

Intj. (colloquial). —Nonsense ; Skittles ! {q.v.).

1827. _# R. B. Peake, Comfortable Lodgings, i., 3. SirH. (aside). Gammon !

1836. _M. Scott, Tom Cringle's Log, ch. vii. Gammon, tell that to the marines : you're a spy, messmate.

1854. Thackeray, The Rose and the Ring, p. 100. Ha ! said the king, you dare to say gammon to your sovereign.

1861. A. Trollope, Framlcy Parsonage, ch. iv. Gammon, said Mr. Gowerby ; and as he said it he looked with a kind of derisive smile into the clergyman's face.

Gammon and Patter, subs, phr. (thieves'). — 1. (old).— The language used by thieves ; 2. (modern). —A meeting; a palaver, (q.v.). 3. Commonplace talk of any kind.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life's Painter, p. 150. Gammon and Patter is the language of cant, spoke among themselves : when one of them speaks well, another says he gammons well.

1811. Lex. Bai. s.v. Gammon and Patter. Commonplace talk of any kind.

To give (or keep) in gammon. verb. phr. (thieves').—To engage a person's attention'while a confederate is robbing him.

1719. Capt. Alex. Smith, Thieves' Grammar, s.v.

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 51. Bagrie called the woman of the house, kept her in gammon in the back room, while i returned and brought off the till. Ibid., p. 68. I whidded to the Doctor and he

gave me gammon.

To Gammon Lushy (or queer, etc.). verb. phr. (thieves'). — To feign drunkenness, sickness, etc.

To Gammon the Twelve. verb. phr. (thieves').—To deceive the jury.

1819. Vaux, Life. A man who has been tried by a criminal court and by a plausible defence has induced the jury to acquit him, or to banish the capital part of the charge and so to save his life, is said by his associates to have gammoned the twelve in prime twig, alluding to the number of jurymen.

Gammoner, subs. (old).—i. One who gammons (q.v.) ; a nonsense-monger. Fr., bonisseur de loßtttdes ; blagueur; mangeur de frimes.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry i. Fly to the gammoners, and awake to everything that's going on.

2. (thieves').—A confederate who covers the action of his chief; a bonnet, a cover, a stall, all which sec.

Gammy. "5 Gamp.

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 66. The Doctor played the part of the gammoner so well that I made my escape without being observed.

Gammy, suds, (tramps').—I. Cant.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Do you stoll the gammy? Do you understand cant ?

2. (common).—A nickname for a lameter ; a Hopping Jesus ; {q.v.).

3. (Australian).—A fool.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushrangers Sweetheart, p. 191. Well,of all the gammies you are the gammiest, Slowboy, to go and string yourself to a woman, when yoa might have had the pick of Melbourne.

Adj. (tramps'). — 1. Bad ; impossible. Applied to householders of whom it is known that nothing can be got. See Beggars' Marks. Gammy-vial = a town in which the police will not allow unlicensed hawking. (ViAL = Fr., Ville).

1839. Brandon, Poverty, Mendicity, mnd Crime, Glossary, s.v.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., L, 466. No villages that are in any way gammy are ever mentioned in these papers. Ibid., i., 404. These are left by one of the school at the houses of the gentry, a mark being placed on the door post of such as are bone or gammy, in order to inform the rest of ' the school ' where to call, and what houses to avoid.

2. Forged ; false ; spurious : as a gammy-moneker = a forged signature; gammy-lour = counterfeit money, etc.

1839. Brandon, Poverty, Mendicity, and Crime, s.v.

1852. Snowden, Mag. Assistant (3rd. ed.), p. 445. Spurious medicine, gammy stuff, bad coin, gammy lower, p. 446.

1889. C. T. Clarkson and J. Hall Richardson, Police, p. 321. Bad money (coin). . . . Gammy lower.

3. (theatrical).—Old ; ugly.

4. (common). — Same as Game, sense 3 : e.g., a gammy arm = an arm in dock. Gammyeyed = blind ; sore-eyed ; or afflicted with ecchymosis in the region of the eyes. gammy-leg = a lame leg. Also (subs.) a term of derision for the halt and the maimed.

Gamp, subs, (common). — 1. A monthly nurse ; a fingersmith (q.v.). [After Mrs. Sarah Gamp, a character in Alartin Chuzzlewit (1843).] Also applied to a fussy and gossiping busybody.

1864. Sun, 28 Dec. A regular gamp ... a fat old dowdy of a monthly nurse.

1868. Brewer, Phr. and Fab. (quoted from Daily Telegraph). Mr. Gathorne Hardy is to look after the gamps and Harrises of the Strand.

2. (common).—An umbrella ; specifically, one large and looselytied ; a lettuce (q.v.). [The original Sarah always carried one of this said pattern.] Sometimes a Sarah Gamp. For synonyms, see Rain-napper.

1870. Lond. Figaro, 15 J une. Though —shattered, baggy, shivered gamp !

1883. G. R. Sims, Life Boat. He donned his goloshes and shouldered his

gamp.

1890. Daily Chron., 5 Mar. Sainte-Beuve insisted that though he was prepared to stand fire he was under no obligation to catch cold, and with his gamp over his head he exchanged four shots with his adversary.

1892 Ally Sloper, 2 Apr., p. 106, c. 3. I never had a brand new tile, a glossy silk or swagger brown, But I left home without a gamp, And rain or hail or snow came down

3. (journalists').— The Standard.

Adj. (common). — Bulging. Also Gampish.

Gang.

1864. Derby Day, p. 18. i wasn't joking, there is an air of long-suffering about you, as if you had been mortifying the flesh by carrying a gampish umbrella up Piccadilly, and back again.

1881. Mac. Mag., Nov., p. 62. Grasping his gamp umbrella at the middle.

Gamut, subs, (artists').—Tone; general scheme; swim (q.v.). Thus in the gamut = a picture, a detail, or a shade of colour, in tone with its environment.

3an (also Gane), subs. (old).—The mouth. [A.S.,£tf;zzVm = toyawn.] Occasionally = throat, lip. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

1512-13. Douglas, Virgil, 250, 29. To behald his ouglie ene twane, His teribill vissage, and his grislie gane.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 64. Gan, a mouth.

1610. Rowland, Martin Mark-all, p. 38. (H. Club's Rept., 1874). Gan, a mouth. Ibid. A gere peck in thy gan.

1656. Broome, A Jovial Crew, Act ii. This bowse is better than rombowse, it sets the gan a giggling.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, Pt. i., ch. v., p. 49. (1874J Gan, a lip.

1690. B. E., Cant. Crew. Ganns, the lips.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1881. New York Slang Diet., s.v.

GANDER, subs, (colloquial). —A married man ; in America one not living with his wife ; a grasswidower (q.v.).

Verb^ (old).—To ramble ; to waddle (as a goose). Also, to go in quest of women ; to grouse (q.v. ).

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoff. Hamllyn, ch. x. Nell might come gandering back in one of her tantrums.

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. xlvii. She gandered upstairs to the dressing-room again.

Gone Gander. — See Gone Coon.

To see how the gander hops, verb. phr. (American.)— To watch events. A variant of To see how the cat jumps.

1847. Porter, Big Bear, p. 96. Seein' how the gander hopped i jumped up and hollered, Git out, Tromp, you old raskel !

What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, phr. (common).—A plea for consistency.

Gander-month, subs, (common). —The month after confinement ; when a certain license (or so it was held) is excusable in the male. Also Gander-moon, the husband at such a period being called a Gandek-mooner. Cf., Buck-hutch and Goosemonth.

1617.. Middleton, A Faire Quarreil, iv., 4. Wondering gander-mooners.

1653. Brome, English Moor in Fiue New Playes. I'le keep her at the least this gander-month, while my fair wife lies-in.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Gander-party, subs, (common).— A gathering of men ; a stagparty (q.v.) ; also Bull-dance, Gander-gang, etc. Cf., Henparty = an assembly of women.

Gander-pulling. See Gooseriding.

Gander's Wool, subs. phr. (common. )—Feathers.

Gang, subs, (old : now recognised). —A troop ; a company.

1639-61. Rum/, 1, 228. ' The Scotch War. ' With his gay gang of Blue-caps all. Ibid ii., 104, 'The Gang; or, the Nine Worthies, etc'

1690. B. E., Cant. Crew, s.v. Gang, an ill knot or crew of thieves, pickpockets or miscreants ; also a society of porters under a regulation.

Ganger. ^Il7 Gapes.

1704. Cibber, Careless Husband, i., i. Sir C. Who was that other? More. One of Lord Foppington's gang.

1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, bk. i., c. 14. What then have I to do in the pursuit of greatness, but to employ a gang, and to make the use of this gang centre in myself? Idem. bk. iii., c. 14. Kut in an illegal society or gang, as this of ours, it is otherwise.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum. Gang, company, squad, mob.

G a n g e r, subs, (old : now recognised ). —An overseer or foreman of a gang of workmen ; one who superintends. For synonyms, see Governor.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., ii., 487. The ganger, or head of the working gang, who receives his orders from the inspector, and directs the men accordingly.

1884. Cornhill Mag., June, p. 614, The mother and boy do the work, while the father constitutes himself contractor for and ganger over their labour.

Ganymede, subs. (old).—i. A sodomist. For synonyms, see Usher.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wördes, Catamito, a ganimed, an ingle, a Loie hired to sinne against nature. [And in Cotgrave (1611) under Ganymedes ; Any boy that's loved for carnal abuse, an Ingle.]

1598. Marston, Satyres, ii. But Ho ! What ganimede is it doth grace The gallant's heels.

2. (popular).—A pot-boy (i.e., a cup-bearer). The masculine of hebe (q.v.).

1659. Florio-Torriano, Vocabolario. Mescitore, a skinker or filler of wine ; also a mingler, a ganimede.

1841. Punch I., p. 101, c 1. Lo ! Ganymede appears with a foaming tankard of ale.

Gaol-bird, subs, (old : now recognised).—A person who has been often in gaol ; an incorrigible rogue. Fr., un chevronné. For synonyms, see Wrong 'Un.

1680. Hist, of Edward II., p. 146. It is the piety and the true valour of an army, which gives them heart and victory; which how it can be expected out of ruffians and gaol-birds, I leave to your consideration.

1701. Defoe, True Born Englishman, part II. In print my panegyrics fill the street, And hired gacl-biros, their huzzas repeat.

1762. Smollett, L. Greaves, vol. IL, ch. ix. He is become a blackguard gaol-bird.

1857. C. Reade, Never Too Late ch. xi. The gaol-birds who piped this tune were without a single exception the desperate cases of this moral hospital ; they were old offenders.

1882. Pall Mall Gaz., 5 Oct. Liberating the gaol-birds in Alexandria.

Gaoler's Coach, subs. phr. (old). —A hurdle -to the place of execution.

1785. Grose. Vulg. Tongue, s.v. 1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Gap, subs, (venery).—The female pudendum: also Sportsman's gap and water-gap (q.v.). For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

d. 1746. Robertson of Struzn, Poems, p. 84. O gracious Hymen ! Cure this dire Mishap, Sew up this mighty rent, or fill the gap.

To blow the gap, verb. phr. (old).—The same as to blow the gaff (q.v.).

1821. Egan, Real Life, etc., i., 557 He should like to smack the bit without blowing the gap.

Gaper, subs, (venery).—The

female pudendum. Also, Gaper (and Gape) over the Garter. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Gapes, subs, (colloquial).—A fit of yawning ; also the open mouth of astonishment.

1818. Austen, Persuasion. Another hour of music was to give delight or th<î

'gapes.

Gapeseed.

1838. Haliburton, Clockmaker (ed. 1862), p. 373. But what gave me the gapes was the scenes (at the theatre).

Gapeseed, subs, (common). — 1. A cause of astonishment ; anything provoking the ignorant to stare with open mouth. Also to

seek a gape's nest.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wördes. Ansanare ... to go idly loytring vp and downe as we say, to go seeking for a halfepenie worth of gaping seede.

16U0. Nashe, Summer's Last Will, in wks. (Grosart), vi., 144. That if a fellow licensed to beg, Should all his life time go from faire to faire, And buyGAPEseede, having no businesse there.

1690. B. E., Cant. Crew. Gapeseed, whatever the gazing crowd idly stares and gapes after ; as Puppet-shows, Rope-dancers, Monsters and Mountebanks, anything to feed the eye.

1694. Poor Robin. 'Tis plainly clear, They for their gapes-seed do pay dear.

1856. N. andQ., 2 S 1., 362. Plenty of persons were sowing gapeseed.

1870. B. F. Clark, Mirthfulness* p. 24. Do you wish to buy some gapeseed ?

1884. Daily News, 8 Oct. Title (at head of sporting column).

2. ( common ). — An openmouthed loiterer.

1885. Sportsman, June 23, p. 2, c. 4. The yearlings bred by Messrs. Graham were offered to a rather select audience of buyers, though the ring was surrounded by a fairly strong crowd of gapeseeds.

Gapped, ppl. adj. (old).—Worsted; floored (q.v. for synonyms).

1753. Richardson, Sir C/ias. Grandison. I will never meet at hard-edge with her ; if I did ... I should be confoundedly GAPPED.

Gap-Stopper, subs. (old).—i. A whoremaster. For synonyms, see Molrower.

2. ( venery ). — The penis.

[Gap = female pudendum"]. For synonyms, see creamstick and Prick.

Gar. See by gar !

Garble, to garble the coinage, verb. phr. (old).—See quot. [Garble = to pick and choose.]

1875. Jevons, Money, etc., p. 81. A practice amongst money-lenders of picking out the newest coins of full weight for export or re-melting, and passing the light ones into circulation.

Garden, subs. (various). — I. (greengrocers', fruiterers', etc.) = Covent Garden Market ; 2. (theatrical) = Covent Garden Theatre ; 3. (diamond merchants') = Hatton Garden. Cf., House, Lane, etc.

[The Garden (=Covent Garden) was frequently used for the whole neighbourhood, which was notorious as a place of strumpets and stews. Thus, GardenHOusE = a brothel; Garden-goddess = a woman of pleasure ; Garden-gout = the pox or clap ; Garden-whore = a low prostitute, etc.]

1733. Bailey, Erasmus. When young men by whoring, as it commonly falls out, get the pox, which, by the way of extenuation, they call the Common Garden-gout.

1782. Geo. Parker, Humorous Sketches, p. 90 No more the Garden female orgies view.

1851-61. W. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. i., p. 85. Not only is the Garden itself all bustle and activity, but the buyers and sellers stream to and from it in all directions, filling every street in the vicinity.

1884. J as. Payn, in Cornhill Mag., Mar., p. 257. She [Miss O'Neill] talked of the Garden and ' the Lane,' and was very fond of recitation.

1890. Tit-Bits, 29 Mar, p. '389, c. i. Let me describe the Garden. A long, straight street, stretching almost due north and south, from Holborn Circus to Clerkenwell Road. Ibid. c. 2. The cut stones are chiefly sold to the large dealers in the Garden.

Gardener. . ii9

Gam.

2. (venery).—The female pudendum. [The simile is common to all nations, ancient and modern. Shakspeare, in Sonnet 16, seems to play upon this double meaning ; e.g., Now stand you on the top of happy hours ; And many maiden-gardens, yet unset, With virtuous wish would bear you living flowers.] Also garden of eden.

For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

to put one in the garden, verb. phr. (thieves').—To defraud a confederate ; to keep back part of the Regulars (q.v.), or Swag (q.v.).

Gardener, subs, (common).—i. An awkward coachman. [In allusion to the gardener who on occasion drives the carriage.] Cf., Tea-kettle Coachman.

1859. Sala, Twice Round the Clock. Noon : Par. I. He can drive neither to the right nor to the left, nor backwards nor forwards. ... A sarcastic saloon omnibus driver behind jeeringly bids him keep moving, accompanying the behest by the aggressive taunt of gard'ner.

2. (venery). — The penis. Garden (q.v.) = female pudendum. Also Garden-engine. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Gard en-gate, subs. phr. (rhyming).—i. A magistrate. For synonyms, see Beak.

2. (venery).—The labia minora. [Garden-hedge = the pubic hair.]

GardenLati n , subs, (colloquial). — Barbarous or sham Latin. Also Apothecaries', Bog, Dog, and Kitchen-Latin.

Garden-Rake, subs. phr. (common).— A tooth-comb. Also scratching-rake or rake.

Gardy-Loo, subs, (old Scots).— A warning cry; 'take care ! ' [Fr. gardez¹ (vous de) F eau ! Used before emptying slops out of window into the street. Hence the act of emptying slops itself, as in quotation dated 1818.]

1771. Smollet, Humphry Clinker, (British Novelists), xxxi., p 57. At ten o'clock the whole cargo is flung out of a back windore that looks into some street or lane, and the maid calls gardy-loo to the passengers, which signifies ' Lord have mercy on you ! '

1818. Scott, Heart 0/ Midlothian, ch. xxvii. She had made the gardy-loo out of the wrong window.

Gargle, subs, (formerly medical students', now common).—A drink; also generic. Cf., Lotion, and for synonyms, see Go.

1889. Sporting Times, 3 Aug., p. 3, c. r. We're just going to have a gargle —will you join us ?

Verb, (common).—To drink; to 'liquor up.' For synonyms, see Drinks and Lush.

1889. Sporting Times, 3 Aug., p. 5.

c. 5We gargled . . .

1891. Morning Advertiser, 2 Mar. It's my birthday ; let's gargle.

Gargle-Factory, subs, (common). —A public house. For synonyms, see Lush Crib.

Garn, intj. (vulgar).—A corruption of Go on ! Get away with you !

1888. Runciman, The Chequers, p. 80. Garn, you farthin' face ! She your neck.

1892. Ally Sloper, 19 Mar., p. 90, c. 3. Gar'n, you men ain't got no sense.

1892. National Observer, 6 Feb. p. 307, c. 2. And so simple is the dictum, so redolent of the unlettered Arry that we long to add garn, oo're you gettin' at?

Garnish.

120

Garret-master.

Garnish, subs. (old).—1. A fee or footing {q.v.) ; specifically one exacted by gaolers and old prisoners from a newcomer. The practice was forbidden by 4 Geo. IV., c. 43, sec. 12. Also Garnish-Money.

1592. Greene, Quip, in works, xi., 256. Let a poore man be arrested into one of the counters [prisons] ... he shall be almost at an angel's charge, what with garnish [etc.].

1606. T. Dekker, Seven Deadly Sinnes, p. 28 (Arber's ed.). So that the Counters are cheated of Prisoners, to the great dammage of those that shoulde have their morning's draught out of the garnish.

1632. Jonson, Magnetic Lady, v. 6. You are content with the ten thousand pounds Defalking the four hundred garnish-money ?

1704. Steele, Lying Lover, Act iv., Sc. iv. But there is always some little trifle given to prisoners, they call garnish.

1752. Fielding, Amelia, Bk. I., ch. iii. Mr. Booth . . . was no sooner arrived in the prison, than a number of persons gathered round him, all demanding garnish.

1759. Goldsmith, The Bee, No. 5, p. 385 {Globe ed.). There are numberless faulty expenses among the workmen— clubs, garnishes, freedoms, and such like impositions.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xliv. [Jailor loq.} Thirty shillings a week for lodgings, and a guinea for garnish.

2. (thieves').—Fetters ; handcuffs. For synonyms,^Darbies.

Verb, (thieves').—To fit with fetters ; to handcuff.

Garret, subs, (common).—1. The head ; cockloft (q.v. ) ; or upper storey (q.v.). For synonyms, see crumpet.

1625. Bacon, Apothgm, No. 17. My Lord St. Albans said that wise Nature did never put her precious jewels into a garret

four stories high, and therefore that exceeding tall men had ever very empty heads.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum., s.v.

1837. Barham, Ingold. Leg. What's called the claret Flew over the garret.

2. (old).—The fob-pocket.

To have one's garret unfurnished, verb. phr. (common). To be crazy, stupid, lumpish. For synonyms, see Apartments and Balmy.

Garreteer, subs, (thieves'). A thief whose speciality is to rob houses by entering skylights or garret-windows. Also dancer and dancing-master. For synonyms, see thieves.

2. (journalists' ). — An impecunious author ; a literary hack.

1849-61, Macaulay, Hist, of Eng., eh. xxv. Garreteers, who were never weary of calling the cousin of the Earls of Manchester and Sandwich an upstart.

1886. Shelley (quoted in Doivdens Life), i., 47. Show them that we are no Grub-street garreteers.

1892. National Observer, 18 Mar., p. 453. Has proclaimed urbi et orbi that *

governments have no business to manufacture specious sentiment by greasing the palms of ignorant and greedy garreteers.

Garret-master, subs, (trade).— A cabinet-maker who works on his own account, selling his manufacture to the dealers direct.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., ii., p. 376. These trading operatives are known by different names in different trades. In the shoe trade, for instance, they are called ' chamber-masters,' in the cabinet trade garret-masters, and in the cooper's trade the name for them is 'small trading-masters.'

Garrison-hack. 121 Gas.

Garrison-hack, subs, (common). — i. A woman given to indiscriminate flirtation with officers at a garrison.

1889 Daily Telegraph, 14 Feb. Lord Normantower, Philip's dearest friend, to whom she, when a garrison-hack, had been engaged, and whom she had thrown over simply because he was poor and prospectless.

1890. Athenceum, 8 Feb., p. 176, c. i. The heroine is a garrison-hack, but the hero is an Australian.

2. (common).—A prostitute ; a soldier's trull. For synonyms, see Barrack Hack and Tart.

Garrotte, subs, (common).—A form of strangulation (see verb). [From the Spanish la garrota — a method of capital punishment, which consists in strangulation by means of an iron collar.]

Verb, (common).—1, A method of robbery with violence, much practised some years ago. The victims were generally old or feeble men and women. Three hands were engaged : the frontstall who looked out in that quarter, the back-stall at the rear, and the ugly or nastyman who did the work by passing his arm round his subject's neck from behind, and so throttling him to insensibility.

1869. Greenwood, Seven Curses 0/ Lond. Committed for trial for garrotting and nearly murdering a gentleman.

1873. Trollope, Phineas Redux, ch. xlvi. In those days there had been much garrotting in the streets.

2. (cards).—To cheat by concealing certain cards at the back of the neck.

Garrotter, subs, (common).—A practitioner of garrotting (under verb, sense 1.)

1869. Greenwood, Seven Curses of London, p. 201. The delectable epistle was written by garrotter Bill to his brother.

Garrotting, i. See Garrotte (verb, sense i).

2. (gamblers'). — Hiding a part of one's hand at the back of the neck for purposes of cheating.

Garter, subs, (nautical).—i. in. pi. the irons, or bilboes. For synonyms, see Darbies.

to get over the garter,

verb. phr. (venèry). — To take liberties with a woman.

To Fly or Prick the Garter. See Prick the Garter.

Garvies, subs. (Scots').—i. Sprats. Sometimes Garvie-Herring.

1845. P. Alloa, Stalls. Acc., viii., 597. They are often very successful in taking the smaller fish, such a« herrings, garvies or sprats, sparlings or smelts.

2. (military). — The Ninetyfourth Foot. [From the small stature of the earlier recruits.]

1869. Notes and Queries, 4 S. iii., p. 349. Garvie. The soubriquet points to the low average height of the recruits in the Fifeshire regiments, which, however, may not now be the case, since recruiting has become less local.

Gas, subs, (common). — Empty talk ; bounce ; bombast.

1847. Porter, Quarter Race, etc., p. 120. The boys said that was all gas to scare them off.

1867. Chambers Jour., 29 June. I've piped off Sabbath gas in my time I don't deny, but under the woods we mostly tell the truth.

1868. Chambers' Jour., 15 Feb., p. no. I don't, an' never could splice ends with them as blow off gas about golddigging—saying it's plunder easy come an' easy gone, seeking the root of evil, an' other granny talk which hasn't no meaning.

Gas.

Gaspipecraivler.

a. 1871. Emerson (quoted in De Vere's Amer."). 'Tis odd that our people should have not water on the brain, but a little gas there.

1889. Globe, 31 Oct., p. 4, c. 4.

It went on to state that the petitioner's talk about a divorce was all gas, and made a further appointment.

Verb, (common). — 1. To talk idly; to brag; to bounce; to talk for talking's sake. Fr., faire son cheval de corbillard (in American 'to be on the tall grass.') See Long Bow.

1872. Lond. Figaro, 14 Dec. There is no good to be got out of gassing about rallying around standards, uniting as one man to resist, etc.

1875. 'American English ' in Chambers' Jour., 25 Sept., p. 610. To gas is to talk only for the purpose of prolonging a debate.

1885. Society, 7 Feb., p. 7. Agitators and place-seekers may gas as much as they please, but they cannot make black appear white.

2. (common).—To impose on by 'gas'; to till (q.v.) ; to splash (q.v.). For synonyms, see Gammon.

To take the gas out of one, verb. phr. (common).—To take the conceit out of ; to take down a peg.

TO turn on the gas, Verb.

phr. (common).—To begin bouncing; also to Gas (q.v.).

To turn off the gas, verb, phr. (common).—To cease, or cause to cease, from bouncing, vapouring, or Gas (q.v.).

To gas round, verb. phr. (common).—To seek information on the sly ; also to Gas (q.v.).

Gas-Bag, subs, (common).—A man of words or gas (q.v.); a

gasconader. Also gasometer. For synonyms, see Mouth Almighty.

1889. Referee, 6 Jan. That great gas-bag of modern days.

Gash, subs. (American).—1. The mouth. For synonyms, see potato-trap.

1878. H. B. Stowe, Poganuc People, ch. xiv., p. 122. Ef Zeph Higgins would jest shet up his gash in town-meetin', that air school-house could be moved fast enough.

2. ( venery ). — The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Gashly, adj. (common).—A vulgarism for ghastly.

Gaskins, subs. (old).—Wide hose ; wide breeches. [From Galligaskins. Johnson says, 'an old ludicrous word.']

Gasp, subs, (common).—A dram of spirits. For synonyms, see Go.

Verb, (common).—To drink a dram, e.g., 'Will you gasp?' = Will you take something neat.

Gaspipe, subs, (nautical).—1. An iron steamer, whose length is nine or ten times her beam. [At one time a ship's length but rarely ex• ceeded four and a half to five times the beam.]

2. (printers').—Bad rollers.

3. (common).—A rifle; specifically the Snider.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 9 July, p. 5, col. 7. The old Snider — the despairbreeding gas-pipe of our Volunteers — continues to be used in many of the competitions.

Gaspipe-crawler, subs. phr. (common).—A thin man. Cf., Lamp-post.

Gasser. "3 Gate.

Gasser, subs. ( common ). — A braggart. For synonyms, see Mouth Almighty.

Gassy (or Gaseous), adj

(common). — I. Likely to take umbrage or to flare-up.

1863. North American Review, cxliii., p. 220. Gassy politicians in Congress.

2. (colloquial).— Full of empty

talk or gas (q.v.).

1872. Whitney, Life and Growth of Lang., p. 17. As when we call an empty and sophistical but ready talker gassy.

Gaster, subs, (nonce-word).—A fine and curious eater (Thackeray). In Rabelais = the belly and the needs thereof : a coinage adopted by Urquhart.

Gat, subs. ( schoolboys' ). — A

quantity; e.g., a gat of grub =

plenty to eat. Also gats.

1803. Every-day Life in our Public Schools. They are called up in gats of three at a time.

Gate, subs, (colloquial).—i. The attendance at a race or athletic meeting, held in enclosed grounds; the number of persons who pass the gate.

1888. Sportsman, 20 Dec. The Birmingham man, on account of the large gate that would be! secured, wanted the affair to be brought off in that town, whereas Regan favoured Wolverhampton.

2. Money paid for admission to athletic sports, race course, etc. ; the same as gate-money (q.v.).

1891. Telegraph, 21 Mar. The leading clubs are now commercial corporations, dependent tor revenue on the gates at the matches.

3. in. pi. (University).—The being forbidden to pass outside the gate of a college. See verb, sense 1.

18(?). Bradley, Tales of College Life, p. 19. That's the ticket ; that will just land me in time for gates.

1881. Lang, xxxii. Ballades, 'Of Midsummer Term.' When freshmen are careless of gates.

Verb. (University). — To confine wholly or during certain hours within the college gate for some infraction of discipline.

1835. The Snobiad (Whibley, Cap and Gown, p. 141). Two proctors kindly holding either arm Staunch the dark blood and gate him for the term.

1853. Bradley, Verd. Green, I., ch. xii. He won't hurt you much, Giglamps ! Gate and chapel you !

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xii. Now you'll both be gated probably, and the whole crew will be thrown out of gear.

1865. Cornhill Mag., p. 227. He is requested to confine himself to college after a specified hour, which is familiarly termed being gated.

1870. Morning Advertiser, 23 May. The two least culpable of the party have been gated.

The gate, subs. phr. (various). —Among fishmongers, Billingsgate ; among thieves, Newgate. Cf., Lane, Row, Garden, etc.

1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, ch. i., p. 5. The ' steel,' a slang name of the large metropolitan prisons, as the gate is tor Newgate.

To break gates, verb. phr. ■—(University).—To stay out of college after hours.

To be at Gates, verb. phr. (Winchester College).—To assemble in Seventh Chamber passage, preparatory to going Hills or Cathedral.

1870. Mansfield, School Life, p. 14c. Soon after morning chapel on a holiday or a remedy all the boys assembled at gates.

On the gate, adv. phr. (thieves').—On remand.

Gate-Bill.

124 Gatter.

GATE-Bill, subs. (University).— The record of an undergraduate's failure to be within the precincts of his college at, or before, a specified time at night.

1803. Gradus ad Cant., p. 128. To avoid gate-bills he will be out at night as late as he pleases . . . climb over the college wall, and fee his gyp well.

Gate-money, subs, (colloquial).— The charge for admission to a race-meeting. See Gate, subs., sense 1.

1885. Daily News, 25 May, p. 3, c. 2. The truth of the matter is, that so far as sport goes, open meetings like those at Bath and Salisbury cannot stand up against gate-money meetings such as Manchester.

1888. Snorting Life, 10 Dec. The comfort that is brought home at our great gate-money meetings gatherings to every visitor.

Gate-of-Horn, subs.phr. (venery). The female pudendum. Cf., Horn, and for synonyms, see Monosyllable.!

Gate-of-Life,«/^. (venery).—The female pudendum. Also Gateof-Horn. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Gat er, subs. (Winchester College), —A plunge head foremost into a pot (q.v.).

Gate-race (or -meeting), subs. (sporting).-Formerly, a contest not got up for sport but entrance money ; now a race or athletic meeting to which admission is by payment.

1881. Daily News, 14 July. Few of these athletics care to compete at gatemeetings.

Gath, subs, (colloquial).—A city or district in Philistia (q.v.) ; often used, like Askelon {q.v.) for

Philistia itself. Hence, to be

mighty in gath = tobe a philistine {q.v. ) of the first magnitude; to prevail against gath = to

smite the Philistines hip and thigh, as becomes a valiant companion of the Davidsbund ; and so forth.

Tell it not in Gath, verb, phr. (colloquial).—An interjection of derision, signifying that the person exclaimed against has done something the knowledge of which would bring on him the wrath, or the amazement, of his friends.

Gather. To gather up, verb, phr. (American).—To lead away.

1847. Chronicles of Pineville, p. 182. ' Gather him up, boys,' said the judge, ' the sentence of the law must be executed.'

To gather the taxes, verb, phr. (tailor's). —To go from workshop to workshop seeking employment. Hence, Tax-gatherer = a man out of work and looking for a job. Cf., Inspector of

public buildings.

Out of gathers, adv. phr. (colloquial).—In distress. Cf., Out at elbows.

Gatherings. See Gags.

Gatter, subs, (common).—Beer ; also liquor generally. Shant of gatter = a pot of beer. Fr., la moussante. For synonyms, see Drinks.

1818. Maginn, Vidocq Versified. Lots ot gatter, says she, is flowing. Lend me a lift in the family way.

1841. Punch, I., p. 243, Gatter is but threepence a pot, and that's the price of a reasonable 'pike ticket.

1851-61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor_i Vol. i., p. 232. They have a ' shant of gatter ' (pot of beer) at the nearest ' boozing-ken ' (alehouse).

Gaudeamus. 125

Gawk.

Gaudeamus, subs, (colloquial).—A feast ; a drinking bout ; any sort of merry-making. [ German students', but now general and popular.] From the first word of the medkeval (students') ditty. For synonyms, see Jamboree.

Gau dy (or Gau dyday), subs, (common).—A feast or entertainment: specifically the annual dinner of the fellows of a college in memory of founders or benefactors ; or a festival of the Inns of Court. (Lat. gaudere = to rejoice.)

1721. E. Coles, Eng. Diet. Gaudy days, college or Inns of Court festivals.

1754. B. Martin, Eng Diet., 2nd ed. Gaudies, double commons, such as they have on gaudy or grand days in colleges.

1760. Foote, Minor, Act i. Dine at twelve, and regale, upon a gaudy day, with buns and beer at Islington.

1803. Gradus ad Cantab., p. 122. Cut lectures . . . give gaudies and spreads.

1820. Lamb, Elia {Oxford in the Vacation). Methought I a little grudged at the coalition of the better Jude with Simon—clubbing (as it were) their sanctities together, to make up one poor gaudyday between them.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxiii. We had a carouse to your honour ... we fought, too, to finish off the gaudy.

1878. Besant and Rice, By Celids Arbour, ch. xxxiii. Champagne . . . goes equally well with a simple luncheon of cold chicken, and with the most elaborate gaudy.

Adj. (colloquial). — Good ; frolicsome; festive. Cf., Shakspeare's ' Let's have one other gaudy night.'—Ant. and Cleo., iii, 13.

1884. Hawley Smart. From Post to Finish, p. 176. ' Yes,' answered the trainer, slowly, ' he's right enough ; but a Leger's a Leger, and I don't think they are likely to give him a very gaudy chance.'

Neat but not gaudy, as the devil said when he painted his bottom pink, and tied up his tail with peagreen, phr. (common).—A locution used to ancient ladies dressed in flaming colours.

Gauge. See Gage.

TO get the gauge OF. verb. phr. ( colloquial ). — To divine an intention ; to read a character ; to size, (or reckon) up {q.v.). Hence, That's about the gauge of it = That's a fair description.

Gau ley. See by golly.

Gawf, subs, (costers'). — A redskinned apple.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., i., 63. A cheap red-skinned fruit, known to costers as gawfs, is rubbed hard, to look bright and feet soft, and is mixed with apples of a superior description. Gawfs are sweet and sour at once, I was told, and fit for nothing but mixing.

Gawk, subs, (colloquial).—A simpleton, especially an awkward one, whether male or female. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head. [Scots Gowk = a cuckoo ; a fool ; whence, to gowk = to, play the fool. As in the ' Derision of Wanton Women ' (Bannatyne, MS., 1567,), 'To gar them ga in gucking' = to make them play the fool.]

1837. H. Martineau, Soc. in America, i., 299. They proved such gawks that they were unable to learn.

1882. McCabe, New York, p. 217. I wasn't half as awkward as some of the gawks about me.

1887. H. Frederic, Seth's Brother's Wife, ch. iv. Girls brought up to be awkward gawks, without a chance in life.

Verb, (colloquial).—To loiter round ; to play the goat. [The same verb is used by Jonsox

Gawkiness. 126 Q_ay Tyke Boy.

(Magnetic Lady, iii., 4, 1632) in the sense of amazed, or bamboozled, i.e., absolutely befooled : Nay, look how the man stands, as he were gowked !]

1888. F. R. Stockton, Rudder Grange, ch. xvi. That afternoon we Gawked around, a-lookin' at all the outside shows, for Jone said he'd have to be pretty careful of his money now.

Gawkiness, subs, (colloquial).— Awkwardness ; silliness ; greenness (q.v.).

1873. Miss Broughton, Nancy, ch. xxxvii. The crude gawkiness of the raw girl he has drifted into marrying.

Gawking, subs, (colloquial).— Loitering and staring ; gathering hayseed (q.v.).

Gawky, subs, (colloquial), —An awkward booby ; a fool. ' Now squire gawky'-a challenge to a clumsy lout. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1686-1758. Ramsay, Poems, ii., 299. Or, gentle born ye be ; but youths in love you're but a gawky.

1777. Sheridan, School'forScandal, Act ii., Sc. 2. Crab. Yes, and she is a curious being to pretend to be censorious— an awkward gawky, without any one good point under heaven.

1825. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, ii., ch. 18. Great, long, slab-sided gawkeys from the country.

1878. C. H. Wall, tr. Molière, ii., 197. Our big gawky of a viscount.

Adj. (colloquial). — Lanky ; awkward ; stupid.

1759. Townley, High Life Below Stairs i., 1. Under the form of a gawky country boy I will be an eye-witness of my servants' behaviour.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xlviii. Even for his cousin Samuel Newcome, a gawky youth with an eruptive countenance, Barnes had appropriate words of conversation.

Gawney (or Goney), subs, (common).—A fool. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

Gay, adj. (colloquial).—i. Dissipated ; specifically, given to venery : As in the French, avoir la cuisse gaie■ = to be addicted to the use of men. Hence gay woman, or girl, or bit = a strumpet ; gay house = a brothel; to be gay = to be incontinent; gay in the legs, in the groin, in the arse = shortheeled (q.V.); gaying instrument = the penis [Lexicon Balatronicum, 1811, s.v.] ; gay man = a wencher ; gay ladie (old) = a mistress ; gaying it = copulating.

1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, 3767. What eyeleth you? Some gay girl, God it wot, Hath brough you thus upon the very trot.

1754. Adventurer, No. 124. The old gentleman, whose character I cannot better express than in the fashionable phrase which has been contrived to palliate false principles and dissolute manners, had been a gay man, and was well acquainted with the town.

1854. Leech, Pictures of Life and Character. How long have you been gay?

1857. J. E. Ritchie, Night Side of London, p. 40. Here in Catherine-street vice is a monster of a hideous mien. The gay women, as they are termed, are worse off than American slaves.

1868. Sunday Times, 19 July. As soon as ever a woman has ostensibly lost her reputation, we, with a grim inappositeness, call her gay.

2. (common).—In drink. For synonyms, see Screwed.

All Gay (or All so Gay). adv. phr. (common).—All right ; first-rate ; all serene (q.v.).

To feel gay. verb. phr. (colloquial).—Inclined for sport, venereal or other ; To feel naughty (q.v.).

Gay Tyke Boy, subs. phr. (old).— A dog fancier. 1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London,

8.v.

Gazebo. ^I27 Gee-gee.

Gazebo, subs. (old).—A summerhouse commanding an extensive view. [Dog-Latin, gazebo = I will gaze.]

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. 1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

G each, subs, (thieves').—A thief. For synonyms, see Thieves.

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 56. He was a tolerable geach.

Verb, (thieves').—To steal. For synonyms, see Prig.

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 73. A small dross scout . . . which I knew had been geached.

Gear, subs, (venery). — 1. The piivate parts, both male and female. [' Geere, besognes ; aussi les parties honteuses' (Robert Sherwood's Dictionaries English and French, appended to Cotgrave, 1660). ' Besongner . . . also to do or leacher with ' (Cotgrave). Anglo-Saxon : gearwe (strong feminine plural) ornaments. Skeat says original sense of gear was ' preparation.']

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wördes, Mozza, a wench, a lasse, a girle. Also a woman's geere or cunnie.

1620. Percy, Folio MSS. ' Ffryar and Boye.' I sweare, by night nor day thy geare is not to borrow.

1659. Torriano, Vocabulario, s.v.

2. (obsolete).—Work, business (q.v.). Thus: Here's goodly gear = Here's fine doings; Here's a pretty kettle of fish. As in Romeo and Juliet (ii., 2, 106).

Gee, subs, (colloquial).—See Geegee.

Verb, (colloquial).—i. To go or turn to the off side ; used as a direction to horses. Cf. : It. : gio-— Get on !

1480. Dialogus Creaturum. Et cum sic gloriaretur, et cogitaret cum quanta gloria duceretur ad ilium virum super equum, dicendo, 'Gio! Gio!' cepit pede percutere terram quasi pungeret equum calcaribus.

2. (colloquial). —■ To move faster : as a teemster to his horses, ' Gee up ! '

1824. Blackwood s Mag., Oct. Mr. Babb ge-hupped in vain, and strove to jerk the rein, Nobbs felt he had his option to work or play.

3. (colloquial). —To stop : as ' Gee whoa ! '

To gee with, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To agree with ; to fit ; to be congenial ; to go on all fours with ; to do.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. Crew, Gears, s.v. ... It won't gee, it won't hit or go.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Gee, it won't gee, it won't hit or do, it does not suit or fit.

1850. Seaworthy, Nag's Head, ch. v., p. 35. It don't seem to gee ! said Isaac, as he was trying to adjust the stove.

1888. Missouri Repub.,% April. He and Mrs. Barnay did not gee.

Gee-gee (or Gee).—subs, (common).—i. A horse. See Gee, verb, in all senses. For synonyms, see Prad.

1888. Referee, 15 April, 1/2. In nearly all other races they see most of the gees do a canter on their way up the course.

1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 14 April. He knows as much about gee-gee's as a professional trainer.

1890. Licensed Vict. Gaz. 8 Feb. The gees were all broken to the stable.

2. (colloquial). — The nickname among journalists (of the interviewer, type) of Mr. G(eorge) G(rossmith), better known, perhaps, as the Society Clown.

Gee-gee Dodge.

Gemini.

Gee-gee Dodge, subs. phr. (trade). —Selling horseflesh for beef.

1884. Greenwood, Veiled Mysteries. The gee-gee dodge . . . was seldom or ever practised ... it was impossible . . . to bargain for a regular supply.

Geekie, subs. (Scots thieves').—A police-station.

Geeloot. See Galoot.

Geese, All his geese are swans, phr. (colloquial).—He habitually exaggerates, or embroiders (q.v); or, He is always wrong in his estimates of persons and things.

The old woman's picking her geese (proverbial).—Said of a snowstorm. [The other leg of the couplet (schoolboys') runs : ' And selling the feathers a penny a piece.']

Like geese on a common (colloquial).—Wandering in a body, aggressive and at large : e.g., as faddists (q.v.) in pursuit of a fad ; or members of Parliament in recess, when both sides go about to say the thing which is in them.

Geewhilikens 1 intj. (Western American).—An exclamation of surprise ; also jeewhi likens.

1888. Detroit Free Press. It is on time ? No ? Three hours late ? Geewhilikens !

Geezer, subs, (popular). — An appellation, sometimes, but not necessarily, of derision and contempt ; applied to both sexes, but generally to women. Usually, old geezer. For synonyms, see Witch.

1885. Truth about the Stage, p. if. [f we wake up the old geezers we shall get notice to quit without compensation

1886. Broadside Ballad. 'Her Mother's Got the Hump.' This frizzleheaded old geezer had a chin on her as rough—well, as rough as her family, and they're rough 'uns.

1890. A. Chevalier, ' Knocked 'Em in the Old Kent Road.' Nice old geezer with a nasty cough.

1892. Anstey, Voces Populi, p. 82. Our old geeser's perdoocin' the custimary amount o' sensation.

Gelding, subs. (old).—A eunuch.

1380. Wycliffe, Trans, of the Bible, Acts viii. 39. . . . the spirit of the Lord ravysched Filip, and the geldynge say him no more.

1659. Torriano, Vocabolario, s.v. 1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. 1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

to enter for the geldings' stakes, verb. phr. (old).— To castrate a man ; also used to describe a eunuch.

Gelt, subs. (old).—Money; gilt

(q.V.). Also gelter.—(dun

combe, 1848).

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. Crew, s.v. There is no gelt to be got, Trading is very dull.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Gemini! (or Geminy! or Jiminy I)

intj. (common).—An exclamation of surprise ; a mild oath. [Generally referred to the Lat. : Gemini = the Twins (i.e., Castor and Pollux, the objects of an old Roman oath) ; but Palmer (Folk Etymology), traces the interjection to the German, O Gemine ! ; Dutch, Jemy Jeminil ; both abbreviated from the Latin, O Jesu Domitie!; or merely from Jesu meus!; Italian, Giesu mio! It seems to have come in at the Restoration.] Also O Jimminy ! ;

Gemman.

i29 Geneva Print.

O Jimminy Figs ! O Jimminy Gig ! etc. : for the phrase has pleased the cockney mind, and been vulgarised accordingly.

1672. Dryden, The Assignation, Act ii., Sc. 3. Ben. O gemini ! is it you, sir?

1704. Steele, Lying Lover, Act iv., Sc. 3. Sim. I stay with you? Oh gemini ! Indeed, I can t.

1731. Fielding, The Lottery, Sc. 2. Lord Lace ! Oh gemini ! who's that?

1780. Mrs. Cowley, The Belles Stratagem, iv., 2. Oh gemini ! beg the petticoat's pardon.

1797. M. G. Lewis, Castle Spectre, iii., 3. Oh gemini ! what would he use with me, lady ?

1798. Morton, Secrets Worth Knowing, i., 1. A parcel of lazy chaps, I dare say—but I'll make them stir their stumps. Well, here we are at last.—Oh gemini gig how my poor bones do ache !

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle's Log, ch. i. ' Gemini ! what is that now?' quoth Tip again.

1863. Reade, Hard Cash, I., 125..

0, jiMiNY ! This polite ejaculation was drawn out by the speaker's sudden recognition of Alfred.

Gemman, subs, (vulgar).—A contraction of gentkman.

1550. Docteur Double-A II (the. word occurs in this play).

c. 1551. L. Shepherd, John Bon in Arber's Garner, iv., 107. Ye be the jolliest gemman that I ever saw in my life.

1767. Colman, Oxonian in Town, I.,

1. I am glad to see your honour's well. I hope you left all the gemmin well at Oxford.

1818. Byron, Beppo, st. 86. At home our Bow-street gem men keep the laws.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. iii., ch. v. . . . but knock down a gemman.

1851. Borrow, Lavençro, chi 26. Here the gipsy gemman see.

Gen, subs, (costers').—A shilling. Back slang, but cf. Fr., argent. For synonyms, see Blow.

1851-61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. i., p. 19. I'll try you a gen (shilling) said a coster.

1887. Saturday Review, 14 May, p. 700. The difficulty of inverting the word shilling accounts for ' generalize,' from which the abbreviation to gen is natural as well as affectionate.

Gender, verb. (old).—To copulate. [An abbreviation of Engender.] For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

1602. Shakspeare, Othello, iv., 2. A cistern for foul toads To knot and gender in.

1659. Torriano, Vocabolario, s.v.

1778. Bailey, Eng. Diet., s.v.

1816. Johnson, Eng. Diet., s.v.

1892. Bible, Lev. xix., 19. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind.

Feminine Gender, subs, phr. (schoolboys').—The female pudendum. [As in the old ( schoolboys' ) rhyme : Arno, amas, i loved a lass, And she was tall and slender,. Amas, am at, i laid her flat, And tickled her feminine gender. Quoted (with modifications) by Marryat in Jacob Faithful, 1835.]

Generalize, subs, (costers'). A shilling. See Gen.

Generating Place, subs. phr. (venery). —The female pudendum.

Generation Tool, subs. phr. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Geneva Print, subs. phr. (old).— Gin. For synonyms, see Drinks. and Satin.

1584-1640. Massinger (quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant). And if you meet an Officer preaching of sobriety, Unless he read it in Geneva Print, Lay him by the heels.

Gen-net. ^l3° Gentleman.

Gen-net, subs. phr. (back slang). —Ten shillings.

Gennitraf, subs, (back slang).— A farthing.

G en ol, adj. (back slang).—Long.

Gent, subs, (once literary: now vulgar). — I. A showily-dressed vulgarian. [A contraction of ' gentleman.']

1635. [Glapthorne], Lady Mother, in Bullen's Old Plays, ii., 114. Hees not a gent that cannot parlée. I must invent some new and polite phrases.

1785. Burns, Epistle to J. Lapraite, st. 11. Do ye envy the city gent, Behint a kist to lie and sklent ?

1843. Thackeray, Irish Sketch Book, ch. viii. The crowd of swaggering gents (I don't know the corresponding phrase in the Anglo-Irish vocabulary to express a shabby dandy), awaiting the Cork mail.

1844. Disraeli, Coningsby, bk. IV., ch. ii. 'Ah, not in business! Hem ! professional?' 'No,' said Coningsby, ' I am nothing.'—' Ah ! an independent gent ; hem ! and a very pleasant thing loo.'

1846. Sunday Paper, 24 May. Mr. Rawlinson (Magistrate at Marylebone Police Court). What do you mean by gent ? There is no such word in our language. I hold a man who is called a gent to be the greatest blackguard there is.

1848. Punch, vol. XIV., p. 226. His aversion for a gent is softened by pity.

1869. Blue Budget. The gent indicates a being who apes the gentility without the faintest shadow of a claim to it.

2. (Old Cant). — Money. [From Fr., argent.] For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1864. Revue des Deux Mondes, 15 Sept., p. 470. Les voleurs anglais disent gent pour 'argent.'

3. (colloquial).—A sweetheart, a mistress : e.g., My gent = my particular friend.

Adj. (old literary).—Elegant

comely ; genteel.

1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales. ' Miller's Tale.' [Skeat, 1878, i., 194]. As any wesil her body gent and small.

1553-99. Spenser. He loved as was his lot, a lady gent. Idem. A knight had wrought against a lady gent.

1704. Mad. Knight's Jour., p. 44. Law you, sais she, it's right gent, do you take it—'tis dreadfull pretty.

Gentile, subs, (colloquial). Any sort of stranger, native or foreign ; among the Mormons, any person not professing the Gospel according to Joe Smith. Hence, In the Land of the Gentiles —(1) in foreign parts; and (2) in strange neighbourhoods or alien society.

Gentle, subs, (anglers').—A maggot ; vulgarly, Gentile.

1811. Songs of the Chase. 'The Jolly Anglers.' We have gentles in our horns.

Gentle Craft, subs. (old).—i.

The trade of shoemaking. [From

the romance of Prince Crispin,

who is said to have made shoes.]

1662. Rump Songs. ' A Hymn to the Gentle Craft,' etc., ii. 152. Crispin and he were nere akin : The gentle craft hath a noble kin.

2. (anglers').—Angling. 1892. Milliken, 'Arry Ballads,

p. 65. Sez I, gentle craft, Said I.

Gentleman, subs, (thieves').— A crowbar. For synonyms, see

jemmy.

To put a churl (or beggar) upon a gentleman, verb. phr. (old). — To drink malt liquor immediately after wint.—Grose.

Gentleman of the (Three, or Four, or Five) Outs (or Ins), subs. phr. (old). — A

Gentleman. 13¹ Gentleman-ranker.

varying and ancient wheeze, of which the following are representative :—

Out of money, and out of clothes ; Out at the heels, and out at the toes ; Out of credit, and in debt.

A man in debt, in danger, and in poverty ; or in gaol, indicted, and in danger of being hanged.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. iv. Paul became a gentleman of three outs—out of pocket, out of elbows, and out of credit.

1834 H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, ßk. III., ch. v. Jerry Juniper was what the classical Captain Grose would designate a gentleman with three outs, and, although he was not entirely without wit, nor his associates avouched, without money, nor certainly, in his own opinion, had that been asked, without manners.

Gentleman of the Back (or Backdoor), subs. (old).—A sodomist. For synonyms, see Usher.

Gentleman of fortune, subs. phr. (common). — An adventurer.

1890. R. L. Stevenson, Treasure Island, p. 149. ' Why, in a place like this, where nobody puts in but gentlemen of fortune, Silver would fly the 'oily roger, ycu don't make no doubt of that.

Gentleman of Observation, subs. phr. (turf).—A tout.

Gentleman of the Round, subs. phr. (old).—An invalided or disabled soldier, making his living by begging.

1596. Jonson, Every Man in, etc., 2. Your decaied, ruinous, wormeeaten gentlemen of the round.

Gentleman of the Short Staff, subs. phr. (old). — A constable.

1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard (1889), p. 12. In the language of the

gentleman of the short staff an important caption could be effected.

Gentleman of the Fist, subs. phr. (pugilists').—A prizefighter.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 44. Furnish such gentlemen of the fist.

Gentleman in Brown, subs, phr. (common). — A bed bug. For synonyms, see Norfolk Howard.

1885. G. A. Sala in Daily Telegraph, 14 Aug., 5/3. Bed bugs, the convertible term for which is ' chintzes,' are the disagreeable insects known in modern polite English as ' Norfolk Howards,' or gentlemen in brown.

The Little Gentleman in Brown Velvet, subs. phr. (obsolete).—A mole. [The Tory toast after the death of William III., whose horse was said to have stumbled over a mole-hill.]

Gentleman of the Green Baize Road, subs. phr. (gamesters').—A card sharper.

Gentleman Commoner, subs, phr. (University). — 1. A privileged class of commoners at Oxford, wearing a special cut of gown and a velvet cap.

2. (common). — An empty bottle. Also fellow-commoner (q.v.). [A sarcastic allusion to the mental capacity of this class of student.] For synonyms, see Dead-man.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Gentleman-rank er, subs.

(military).—A broken gentleman serving in the ranks.

1892. Kipling, Barrack Room Ballads. ' Gentlemen Rankers.' Gentleman-rankers out on the spree, Damned from here to eternity, God ha' mercy on such as we, Baa ! Yah ! Bah !

Gentleman's. *32 George.

Gentleman's Companion, subs, phr. (common).—A louse. For synonyms, see Chates.

1785. Gsose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Gentleman's Mäste«, subs. phr. (old).—A highwayman.—Grose.

Gentleman's (or Ladies') Piece,

subs. phr. (colloquial).—A small or delicate portion ; a tit-bit.

Gentleman's Pleasure-gar-den, subs. phr. (venery).—The female ptidendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable. [Hence, Gentleman's Pleasure-Garden Padlock = menstrual cloth ]

Gentlemen's Sons, subs. phr. (common).—The three regiments of Guards.

Gently I intj. ( stables' and colloquial).—An interjection = stand still (û.v.) ; hence, colloquially, = don't get into a passion, go slow, [q.v.).

Gentry Cove (or Cofe), subs. (old cant). — A gentleman ; a nib-cove (q.v.). Fr., un messire de la haute. 1567. Harman, Caveat, s.v.

1650. Brome, Joviall Crew,. Act ii. For all this bene Cribbing and Peck let us then, Bowse a health to the gentry cofe of the Ken.

1654. Witts Recreations. As priest of the game, And prelate of the same. There's a gentry cove here,

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. Tour the bien mort twiring the gentry Cove.

1837. Disraeli, Venetia, p. 71. The gentry cove will be ramboyled by his dam.

Gentry Cove's Ken (or GentryKen), subs. phr. (Old Cant).—A gentleman's house.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65. A gentry cofe's ken, a noble or gentleman's house. A gentry cofe, a noble or gentle man.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club's Rept., 1874). Gentry cove's ken, a gentleman's house.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Gentry Mort, subs. phr. (old cant).—A lady.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65. A gentry mort, a noble or gentle woman.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club's Rept., 1874). Gentry mort, a gentlewoman.

1728. Bailey, Eng. Diet., s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Genuine, subs. (Winchester College).—Praise.

Adj. ( colloquial ). — Trustworthy ; not false nor doublefaced.

Verb. (Winchester College).— To praise. ' He was awfully quilled and genuined my task.' [Probably from calling a thing genuine. Cf., to blackguard, to lord, etc. But fifty years ago it was a subs. only.—Notions. ]

Geordie, subs. (North Country).— i. A pitman ; also, a Northumbrian in general.

2. ( nautical ). — A North Country collier.

3. See George.

George (or Scots' diminutive Geordie), subs. (old). 1.—A half crown. Also (obsolete), the noble = 6.?. 8d., temp., Henry VIII

George Home. 133 Gerrymander.

1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Ahatia, List of cant words. george., half-acrown.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. Crew. He tipt me Forty Georges for my earnest, He paid me Five Pounds for my Share or Snack.

1785. Grose, Vulg: Tongue, s.v.

2. (old).—A guinea; also more frequently Yellow George.

1785 Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1787. Burns, The Tzva Dogs. The yellow-lettered Geordie keeks.

3. (old).—A penny.

1820. Reynolds, The Fancy, Glossary. A Penny-piece—a georgy.

Brown George.—See Ante.

By Fore, or By George.— See By George.

George Horne, intj. (printers').— A derisive retort on a piece of stale news. Also G. H. ! [From a romancing compositor of the name.]

Georgy-Porgy, verb (colloquial).— To pet ; to fondle ; to beslobber.

1883. R. L. Stevenson, The Treasure 0/' Franc hard, ch. iii., in Longman's Magazine, April, p. 685. He must be spoken to with more respect, I tell you ; he must not be kissed and georgy-porgy'd like an ordinary child.

German. TheGerman, sttbs.phr. (New York).—A round dance.

German Duck,subs.phr. (obsolete). — i. Half a sheep's head, stewed with onions.—Grose.

2. (common). —A bed bug. For synonyms, ^Norfolk Howard.

German Flutes, subs. phr. (rhyming).—A pair of boots.

Germantowner, subs. (American billiards'). — A pushing shot— when the balls played with, and at, are jarred together. Cf., Whitechapeller.

Gerry, subs. (Old Cant).—Excrement.

1567. H arm an, Caveat, s.v.

Gerry Gan, intj. (Old Cant).—A retort forcible. S tow it ! (q.v.). . [From Gerry = excrement + Gan = mouth, i.e., literally, Shit in your mouth.] The common form is : Shit (or a turd) in your teeth; as in Ben Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, 1614. Fr., Tais ta gueule ou fte chie dedans.

1567. Harman, Caveat. Gerry gan, the ruffian cly thee.

Gerrymander (pronounced with the 'g' hard, as in 'get'), verb. (political American).—To arrange the electoral subdivisions of a State to the profit and advantage of a particular party.

[The term, says Norton, is derived from the name of Governor Gerry, of Massachusetts, who, in 1811, signed a Bill readjusting the representative districts so as to favour the Democrats and weaken the Federalists, although the last-named party polled nearly two-thirds of the votts cast. A fancied resemblance of a map of the districts thus treated led Stuart, the painter, to add a few lines with his pencil, and say to Mr. Russell, editor of the Boston Sentinel, ' That will do for a Salamander.' Russell glanced at it : 'Salamander,' said he, 'call it a Gerrymander ! The epithet took at once, and became a Federalist war-cry, the caricature being published as a campaign document.]

1871. Boston Daily Advertiser, 6 Dec. Gerrimander was the name printed under a picture of a pretended monster, whose shape was modified from the distorted geography which Mr. Gerry's friends inflicted on part of the State for the sake of economizing, majorities.

Gerrymandering. ^!34

Get.

Gerrymandering, subs, (political American). See Gerrymander.

1872. New York Sunday Mercury, 31 March. The Legislature of Ohio intends to prove itself a veritable master in the gerrymandering business.

1890. Athenäum, 22 Feb. p. 23 8, c. 1. Whatever faults can be found with Sir John'sadministration, it has been good and successful enough to afford excuse for all the gerrymandering with which he is charged by his critics.

1891. Belfort's Mag., Aug., p. 439. The Democrats of Michigan have carried the art of gerrymandering to such an extent that they have thoroughly disgusted their opponents.

Gerund-Grinder, subs, (common).—A schoolmaster, especially a pedant. Also GerundGrinding.

1759-67. Sterne Tristam Shandy, iv., 112. Tutors, governors, gerundgrinders, and bear-leaders.

1788. Knox, Winter Evenings, 59. A pedant, a mere plodder, a petty tyrant, a

gerund-grinder.

1825-7. Hone, Every Day Book, II-> P' 33Gerund-Grinding and parsing are usually prepared for at the last moment.

Gej,subs. (old).—I. A cheating contrivance ; a Have (q.v. ).

2. (old).—A child ; the result, that is, of an act of procreation or begetting. Thus, one of his gets = one of his making ;

WHOSE get IS that ?= Who's

the father? It's his get, anyhow = A t all events he got it.

1570. Scottish Text Society, Satirical Poems, I., 171, 'Treason of Dumbarton' (1891). Ganelon's gets, relicts of Sinon's seed.

<fl796. Burns, Merry Muses. 'For a' that.' O' bastard getts some had a score, An' some had mair than a' that.

1891. N„ Gould, Double Event, p. 41. This, again, is unusual for a Chester, as his get are generally quiet and docile, but a bit lazy.

Get ! (or You Get !) intj. (American).—Short for Get out! Usually, GlT ! (q.v.).

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushrangers Sweetheart, p. 176. None of your damned impertinence. Get !

To get at, verb. phr. (colloquial).—i. To quiz ; to banter ; to aggravate ; to take a rise out

of. Also TO get back at.

1891. Slopers Half Holiday, 3 Jan. 'Your family don't seem to get on, missie.' 'On!' replied the child, with dignity flashing from her great blue eyes ; ¹ on ! I've got a father on the booze, a sister on the music 'all, an' a brother on the treadmill. On ! who're ye gettin' at ? '

2. (racing and colloquial).—To influence ; to bribe ; to nobble (of horses), and to corrupt (of persons) ; applied to horse, owner, trainer, jockey, and vet. alike.

1870. Spectator, 23 April. That, of course, makes it profitable for owners to withdraw horses they have secretly betted against, and for scoundrels to get at horses.

1871. Saturday Review, 9 Sept. It is quite clear that some of the foreign working men have been got at.

1883. Graphic, 17 March, p. 262, c. 2. The House of Commons . . . can also be trusted to decide in local questions without any suspicion of being got at, as is sometimes the case elsewhere.

1883. Badminton Library, Steeplechasing, p. 404. Suspicions that the mare had been got at, that is to say, drugged, were afterwards noised abroad.

1888. Daily Telegraph, 17 Nov. It was strongly suspected that he had been got at.

1890. Globe, 11 Aug., p. 1, c. 1. Fancy the professional agitator trying to get at such men as these—men who gloried in being soldiers and nothing else !

1892. Pall Mall Gazette, May 10, p. 3, c. 3. The scoundrels (verily of the lowest form) who have tried to get at Orme.

1892 National Observer, vii. 630. If the horse were got at, then a bookie who stood heavily to lose is probably assumed.

Get. 135 Get.

To get about. verb. phr. (venery).—To do the act of intromission. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

To get back at, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To satirise ; to call to account.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean. The newspapers are getting back at Sam.

Get back into your box ! phr. (American).—An injunction to silence ; stow it ! (q.v. for synonyms).

To get encored, verb. phr. (tailors').—To have a job returned for alterations.

To get even with, verb. phr. (common).—To take one's revenge ; to give tit for tat.

To get it, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be punished (morally or physically); to be called over the coals. Also (venery) to catch a clap.

To get off, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To (1) escape punishment, to be let off ; (2) to utter, to deliver oneself of, to perpetrate —as to get off a joke ; and (3) to get married.

To get on, verb. phr. (colloquial).—i. To back a horse ; to put a bit on (q.v.).

2. (colloquial).—To succeed ; or, simply, to fare. Thus,

how are you getting on ?

may signify (1) To what extent are you prospering? or (2) How are you doing?

1871. Pall Mall Gaz., 29 Dec. That great Anglo-Saxon passion of rising in the world, or getting on — that is, rising into the class above him.

1892. A. W. PiNERO, The Times: a Comedy, v. 1. We used to go very early to such places and stay right through, now that papa has got on, we arrive late everywhere and murmur an apology !

TO get one IN the cold,

verb. phr. (American).—To have at an advantage ; to be on the windward side (q.V.) \ to have on toast (q.V. ).

To get one on, verb. phr. (pugilists').—To land a blow.

TO get down fine (or close),

verb. phr. (American).—To know all about one's antecedents ; and (police) to know where to find one's man.

To get into, verb. phr. (venery).—To occupy (q.v.). Also To get in and To get up. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

1620. Percy, Folio MSS., p. 197. Gett vp againe, Billy, if that thou louest me.

To get over, verb. phr. (col loquial).—To seduce, to fascinate, to dupe. Also To come over and To get round.

To get outside of, verb,

phr. (colloquial).—I. To eat or

drink ; also to accomplish one's

purpose.

1892. S. Watson, Wops the Waif, p. 9. Tickle urged Wops again and again to drink, but Wops's only reply was, 'Yer go on, Tickle ; git outside the lot, if yer can ; it'll do yer good, Cully.'

2. (venery).—To receive the sexual embrace : of women only.

TO get out of bed ON the

wrong side, verb. phr. (colloquial). — To be testy or crossgrained. [A corruption of an old saying, ' To rise on the right side is accounted lucky ' ; hence the reverse meant trials to temper, patience, and luck. ]

1607. Marston, What You Will. You rise on your right side to-day, marry.

1608. Machin, Dumb Knight, iv., 1. Sure i said my prayers, ris'd on my right side, Wash'd hands and eyes, put on my

Get.

Getter.

girdle last ; Sure I met no splea-footed baker, No hare did cross me, nor no bearded witch, Nor other ominous sign

1614, Terence in English. C. What doth shee keepe house alreadie? D. Alreadie. C. O good God ! ; we rose on the right side to-day.

1647. Beaumont and Fletcher, i. Women Pleased. You rose o' your

right side.

1890» Globe, 15 May, p. 2, col. 2. Some of them had—if we may employ such a vulgar expression—got out of bed on

the wrong side.

To get out (or Round), verb, phr. (racing).—To back a horse against which one has previously laid ; to Hedge (q.v.).

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 318, He had an idea Johnson was this time cleverly working a very well authorised commission, and that he personally had taken more than one opportunity of what is termed getting out.

To get set, verb, phr, (cricketing)* — !• To warm to one's work at the wicket, and collar the bowling ; to get one's eye well in.

To get there, verb. phr. (colloquial). — To attain one's object ; to be successful ; to

make one's jack (q.V.) ; to get there with both feet = to

be very successful.

1887. Francis, Saddle and Mocassin. He said as he'd been gambSng, and was two hundred dollars ahead of the town. He got therewith both feet at starting.

1888. Neiv York Herald, 29 July. Although not a delegate he got there all the same.

2. (common).—To get drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

3. (venery). — To enjoy the sexual favour.

To get through, verb. phr. (colloquial). —To pass an examination ; to accomplish.

1853. Bradley, Verd. Green, II. ch. xii. So you see, Giglamps, I'm safe to get through.

TO get up and dust, verb.

phr. (American). — To depart hastily. For synonyms, see Skedaddle and Amputate,

To get up behind (or get behind) a man, verb. phr. (common).—To endorse or back a bill.

1880. Life in a Debtor's Prison, p. 87. In other cases he figured as the drawer, or simply as endorser. This, Mr. Whipper described as getting up behind.

TO get up the mail, Verb.

phi. (thieves').—To find money (as counsels' fees, etc.) for defence.

1889. Clarkson and Richardson, Police, 322, s.v.

[Get enters into many other combinations. See back teeth ; bag or sack ; bead ; beans ; beat ; big bird and goose; big head; billet; bit; boat; bolt; books; bulge; bullet; bull's feather ; crocketts ; dander; and monkey; dark; drop; eye; flannels ; flint j game ; grand* bounce ; gravel-rash ; grind ; grindstone; hand; hang; hat; head j hip or hop ; home j h03n ; hot ; jack j keen \ length of one s foot ; measure *, mitten ; needle ; religion ; rise ; run ; scot, swot, or

scrape ; set ; shut of ; silk ; snuff; straight ; sun ; ticket of leave.; wool ; wrong box.j

G e t a w a y , subs. (American thieves').—A locomotive or train; a puffer (q.V.).

Getter. A sure getter, subs, phr. (Scots).—A procréant male with a great capacity for fertiliza*tion.

Get-up.

137 Ghost.

Get-up, subs, (colloquial). — 1. Dress ; constitution and appearance ; disguise. See Get-up, verb, sense 1.

1856. Whyte Melville, Kate Coventry, ch. xiv. Is that killing get up entirely for your benefit, John ? I asked.

1865. G. A. Sala, Trip to Barbary, ch. x. Altogether the get up of a Mauresque en promenade is livelier and smarter than that of a Turkish woman.

1866. G. Eliot, Felix Holt, ch. xii. The graceful, well-appointed Mr. Christian, who sneered at Scales about his get up, having to walk back to the house with only one tail to his coat.

1882. Graphic, 9 Dec, p. 643, c. 2. Comic gets up, which will make the house roar presently, are elaborated with the business air of a judge in banc, or a water-rate collector.

1889. Mirror, 26 Aug., p. 2, c. 1. I cannot, however, congratulate F. C. G. on his sketch of Blowitz ; it isn't much like the great man, and the get up is quite too absurd.

1890. Daily Telegraph,-!*, Feb., p. 7. col. 7. Dressed as a copurchic, and, giving himself out as an Italian count—thinking to entrap some Transatlantic heiress by his title, fascinating appearance, and gorgeous get up.

Verb. phr. (colloquial).—(1). To prepare (a part, a paper, a case) ; (2) to arrange (a concert) ; (3) to dress (as got

up regardless, to the nines, to the knocker, to kill, within an inch of

one's life) ; (4) to disguise (as a sailor, a soldier, Heriry VIII., a butcher, a nun). See also Get into.

1828. L. Hunt, Essays (Camelot ed.), p. 13. The pocket-books that now contain any literature are got up, as the phrase is, in the most unambitious style.

1S56. Whyte Melville, Kate Coventry, ch. xviii. Three very gentlemanlike, good-looking men, got up to the utmost extent of hunting splendour.

1864. Eton School Days, ch. xviii., p. 207. He felt confident in his power of cetting up so that no one would recognise him.

1866. New York Home Journal, Jan. While that admirable old dame, Nature, has been strangely neglectful of much which might be conducive to our comfort, she has gotten up, regardless of expense, a few articles which are good for some purposes, as the witty Hood has told us.

1871. London Figaro, 11 Mar. It is got up very much in the style of the Paris journals, and is very inferior compared with any respectable journal in England.

1889. Polytechnic Magazine, 24 Oct., p. 261. He came specially got up in piebald trousers.

1892. Chevalier. ' The Little Nipper.' I've knowed 'im take a girl on six feet tall ; 'E'd git 'imself up dossy, Say ¹ I'm goin' out wi' Flossie.'

G.H. George Horne.

Ghastly, adj. and adv. (colloquial).—Very : a popular intensive ; Cf., Awful, Bloody, Fucking.

Ghost, subs, (common). — One who secretly does artistic or literary work for another person taking the credit and receiving the price. [The erm was frequently used during the trial of Lawes v. Belt in i88(?).] Cf., devil.

1890. Daily Telegraph, 8 Feb. The sculptor's ghost is conjured up from the vasty deep of byegone lawsuits.

1892. National Observer, vii., 327 Would not the unkind describe your ' practical man ' as a ghost?

Verb, (common).—To prowl ; to spy upon ; to shadow (q.v.).

The ghost walks (or does not walk) phr. (theatrical). — There is (or is not) money in the treasury.

1853. Household Words, No. 183. When no salaries are forthcoming the

ghost doesn't walk.

GJioul.

138

Gibberish.

1883. Referee, 24 June, p. 3, c. 2. An Actor's Benevolent Fund box placed on the treasurer's desk every day when the ghost walks would get many an odd shilling or sixpence put into it.

1885. The Stage, p. 112. • The rogues seldom appear at a loss for a plausible story when it is time for the ghost to walk. Ibid. The next day the ghost declines to walk.

1889. J. C. Colman (in Slang, Jargon, and Cant), p. 405. Ghostwalking, a term originally applied by an impecunious stroller in a snaring company to the operation of ' holding the treasury,' or paying the salaries, which has become a stock facetiae among all kinds and descriptions of actors. Instead of enquiring whether the treasury is open, they generally say — ' Has the ghost walked ?¹ or ' What, has this thing appeared again ? ' (Shakspeare).

1890. Illustrated Bits, 29 Mar., p. 11, c. i. And a few nights with empty benches laid the ghost completely. It could not even walk to the tune of quarter salaries.

The ghost of a chance, subs. phr. (colloquial). — The faintest likelihood, or the slightest trace : e.g., He hasn't the

ghost OF a chance.

1891. Sportsman, 26 Mar. He did not give the ghost of a chance.

Ghoul, subs. (American.)—1. A spy ; specifically a man who preys on such married women as addict themselves to assignation houses.

2. (journalistic). — A newspaper chronicler of the smallest private tittle-tattle.

Gib, subs, (colloquial). — 1. Gibraltar. Once a penal station : whence—2. A gaol.

1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 221. I did a lagging of seven, and was at the gib three out of it.

1892. Pall Mall Gazette, 23 Mar., p. 6, c. i. 'Stormy Weather at gib.' The weather here has been fearful ; 51 inches of rain have been registered, and

the land for miles round Gibraltar is submerged.

To hang one's gib, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To pout. See Jib.

Gibberish (or Gebberish, Gibberidge, Gibrige, etc.), subs. (old : now recognised).—Originally the lingo of gipsies, beggars, etc. Now, any kind of inarticulate nonsense. [From gibber, a variant of Jabber.] See Cant, Slang, Pedlar's French, etc.

1594. Nashe, Unf. Traveller, in wks., v., 68. That all cried out upon him mightily in their gibrige, lyke a companie of beggers.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wördes. Gergare, to speak fustian, pedlers french,. or rogues language, or gibbrish.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie. Jargon, gibridge fustian language, pedler s French, a barbarus jangling.

1638. H. Shirley, Martyr d Souldier, Act iii., Sc. 4. Feele my pulse once again and tell me, Doctor, Tell me in tearmes that I may understand.—I doe not love your gibberish,—tell me honestly Where the Cause lies, and give a Remedy.

1659. Torriano, Vocabolario, s.v.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Gibberish (s.) an unintelligible jargon, or confused way of speaking, used by the gipsies, beggars, etc., to disguise their wicked designs ; also any discourse where words abound more than sense.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xxx. He repeated some gibberish which by the sound seemed to be Irish.

1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. viii.

Since that d-d clerk of mine has taken

his gibberish elsewhere.

1850. D. Jerrold The Catspaw Act i. Odds and ends . . . writ down in such a kind of gîbberish that I can't make out one of 'em.

1858. G. Eliot, Mr. Gilfit's Love Story, ch. iv. It'll learn to speak summat better nor gibberish, an' be brought up i' the true religion.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 129. It was Fo'c's'le Jack that piped and drawled his ungrammatical gibberish.

Gibble-Gabble. i39 Gibus.

GiBBLE-GABBLE, subs, (colloquial). —Nonsense; gibberish [q.v.). [A reduplication of gabble (q.v.).]

1600. Dekker, Shoemakers Holiday, in wks. (1873) i., 21. Hee'ssome uplandish workeman, hire him good master, That I may learne some gibble gabble, 'twill make us worke the faster.

1659. Torriano, Vocabolario, s.v.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary {^Cn. ed.). Gibble-gabble (s), silly, foolish, idle talk.

Gib-cat, subs, (old),—A tom-cat. [An abbreviation of Gilbert = O. Fr. : Tibert, the cat in the fable of Reynard the Fox.]

1360. Chaucer, Romaunt of the Rose, 6204 (Thibert le Cas is rendered by gibbe, our cat).

1598. Shakspeare, i Henry IV., Act i., Sc. 2. I am as melancholy as a gibcat.

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, i., i. Before I endure such another day with him, I'll be drawn with a good gibcat through the great pond at home.

1663. Rump Songs. ' Rump Carbonadoed,' ii., 71. As if they had less wit and grace than gib-cats.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Gibe, verb. (American).—To go well with ; to be acceptable. See Gee.

Gl BEL, verb, (thieves').—To bring.

1837. Disraeli, Venetia, bk. i., ch. xiv. Gibel the chive, bring the knife.

Gib-face, subs, (colloquial).—A heavy jowl ; an ugly-mug (q.v.).

Cf., to hang one's gib.

Giblets, subs, (common).—i. The intestines generally; the manifold (q.v.). Cf., troubleg1blets.

1864. Browning, Dramatis Personce ' Flight of the Duchess.' Is pumped up briskly through the main ventricle, And floats me genially round the giblets.

2. (colloquial).—A fat man ;

forty-guts (q.V.). Also DUKE

of Giblets.

To join giblets, verb. phr. (venery) — To copulate. Also

to have or do a bit of giblet

pie. For synonyms, see Ride. Hence to cohabit as husband and wife; to live tally. Cf.,

plaster of warm guts.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1887. Notes and Queries, 7 S., iv., 511. 'To join giblets.'—This expression may occasionally be heard in this district, among the lowest and vulgarest, and has a very offensive meaning.

To fret one's giblets, verb, phr.—See Fret.

Gibraltar, subs. (American).—A party stronghold: e.g., the Gibraltar of Democracy. — Norton.

Gibson (or Sir John Gibson),

subs, (old coachbuilders').—A rest to support the body of a building coach.

Gibus, subs, (colloquial).—i. An opera, or crush hat. Fr., un accordéon. [From the name of the inventor.]

1867. Jas. Greenwood, Unsent. Journeys, iii., 21. West-End aristocrats, with spotless jean coats and Gibus hats.

1871. Figaro, 2 Sept. Much fun may be made by wearing a Gibus, and collapsing it at the moment of contact with the funnel.

1885. Punch, 4 Apr., p. 160. Giving his comic, shiny, curly-brimmed hat to the swell who couldn't by any possible chance have mistaken it for his own Gibus.

1887. Atkin, House Scraps, p. 144. Their Gibus hats are cockd awry.

Giddy. 140 Gig.

Giddy, adj. (colloquial).—Flighty ; wanton: e.g., to play the giddy goat = to live a fast life ; to be happy-go-lucky.

1892. Ally Sloper, 19 Mar., p. 91, c. 2. Fanny Robinson was flighty ; she played the giddy ox — i mean heifer.

GiFFLE-gaffle, subs, (old).—Nonsense ; a variant of gibble-gabble (q.v.).

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary. Giffgaff, unpremeditated discourse.

Gif-gaf (or Giff-gaff), subs. (Scots'). —a bargain on equal terms. Whence the proverb : Gif-gaf maks guid friens. Fr. :

Passe-moi la casse et je f enverrai la senne.

Gift, subs, (colloquial).—i. Anything, lightly gained or easily won.

j2. (common).—-a white speck on the finger nails, supposed to portend a gift.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

3. (printers'). — See ,Gifthouse.

as full of gifts as a

BRAZEN HORSE of farts, pkv.

(old). — Mean ; miserly ; disinclined to part (q.v.).

1811 Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v

Gift of the Gab.—See Gab.

Gift -house (or Gift), subs. (printers').—a club; a house of call ; specifically for the purpose of finding employment, or providing allowances for members.

Gig (Gigg, Gigge), subs, (old).—a.

a wanton ; a mistress ; a flighty • girl. Cf., GlGLET.

1373. Chaucer, House of Fame, iii. 851. This house was also ful of gygges.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. Crew. A young gig, a wanton lass.

1780. D'Arbley, Diary, etc.,(i876), i.,

286. Charlotte l-called, and the little

gig told ... of the domestic life she led in her family, and made them all ridiculous, without meaning to make herself so.

1825. Planché, Success in Extravaganzas (1879) i., 26. He! he! What a gig you look in that hat and feather !

1832. Macau lay in Life, by Trevelyan (1884), ch. v., p. 188. Be you Foxes, be you Pitts, You must write to silly chits, Be you Tories, be you Whigs, You must write to sad young gigs.

2. (old).—A jest ; a piece of nonsense ; anything fanciful or frivolous. Hence, generally, in contempt.

1590. Nashe, Pasquils Apologie, in wks. Vol. I., p. 234. A right cutte of the worde, withoute gigges or fancies of haereticall and newe opinions.

1793. Butt, Poems. . . . Fograms, quizzes, treats, and bores, and gigs, Wer« held in some account with ancient prigs.

1856. Whyte Melville, Kate Coventry, ch. xiv. Such a set of gigs, my dear, I never saw in my life ; large underbred horses, and not a good-looking man amongst them.

3. (old).—The nose. For synonyms, see Conk. To

snitchell the gig = tO pull the

nose. Grunter's GiG = a hog's snout.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

4. (venery). — The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable. [Possibly from GiG = atop, i.e., a toy; possibly, too, from It. giga = 3. fiddle (q.v.) ; but see post sense 8.]

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. 'Crew, s.v.

1785 Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Gig.

141

Giggles-nest.

5. (old : now recognised).—A light two-wheeled vehicle drawn by one horse.

1785. Grose, Vulg: Tongue, s.v.

1809. Windham, Speech, 25 May. Let the former riders in gigs and whiskeys, and one horsed carriages continue to ride in them.

6. (old). — A door. See

GlGGER.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. It is all bob, now let's dub the gigg of the case : now the coast is clear, let us break open the door of the house.

7. (Eton).—A fool ; an overdressed person. For synonyms, see Sammy-soft.

1797. Colman, Heir at Law, iv., 3. Dick.—What a damn'd gig you look like. Pangloss.—A gig ! umph ! that's an Eton phrase — the Westminsters call it Quiz.

1870. Athenœum, 16 Apr. He would now be what Eton used to call a gig, and Westminster a Quiz.

8. (old).—Fun; a frolic ; a spree. [Possibly from Fr. : gigue-^a. lively dance movement. Cf., gigue et jon = a. Bacchanalian exclamation of sailors. In Florio, too, frotto/are—* to sing gigges, rounds, or . . . . wanton verses.'] Full of gig = full of laughter, ripe for mischief.

1811. Moore, Twopenny Post-bag, Letter 3. We were all in high gig—Roman punch and tokay travelled round, till our heads travelled just the same way.

1820. Randall, Diary. In search of lark, or some delicious gig, The mind delights on, when 'tis in prime twig.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, i., 3. I hope we shall have many a bit of gig together.

1888. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 134. A laughter-loving lass of eighteen who dearly loved a bit of gig.

9. (old).—The mouth. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

1871. Finish to Tom and Jerry, p. 175 [ed. 1872). The bit of myrtle in his

gig.

10. (old).—A farthing. Formerly grig (q.V.).

11. American).—See Policy Dealing.

Verb. (old).—To hamstring.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. To gigg a Smithfield hank, to hamstring an overdrove ox.

By Gigs ! intj. (old). — A mild and silly oath. See Oaths.

1551. Gammer Gurions Needle, ii.. 51. Chad a foule turne now of late, chill tell it you, by gigs !

Gigamaree, subs. (American).—A thing of little worth ; a pretty but useless toy ; a gimcrack (q.v.).

1848. Jones, Sketches of Travel, p. 9. Byin' fineries and northern gigamarees of one kind or another.

Ibid. I ax'd the captain what sort of a gigamaree he had got up there for a flag.

Gigantomachize, verb. (old). —

To rise in revolt against one's

betters. Gr., Gigantomachia =

the War of the Giants against the

Gods. [Probably a coinage of

Ben Jonson's.]

1599. Jonson, Every Man Out, Act v., 4. Slight, fed with it the whoreson, strummel-patched, goggle-eyed grumbledores would have gigantomachized their Maker.

Gigger, subs, (tailors') —i. A sew• ingmachine. (In allusion to noise and movement).

2. See Jigger. Giggles-nest. Have you found

a giggles-nest? phr. (old).—

Asked of a person titterering, or one who laughs immoderately and senselessly.

Gig-lamps.

M2 Giles¹ Greek.

G ig-lam ps, subs, (common).—i. Spectacles. For synonyms, see Barnacles.

1848. Bradley, in Letter to J. C. H. Gig-lamps (certainly a university term. I first heard it in 1848 or 1849, long before Mr. Verdant Green was born or thought of).

1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, ch. ii., p. 140. You with the gig-lamps, throw us your cigar.

1887. Punch, 30 July, p. 45. Jack's a straw-thatched young joker in gig-lamps.

1892. F. Anstey, Voces Po/uli. ' At the Tudor Exhibition.' Stop, though, suppose she has spotted me ? Never can tell with giglamps.

2. (common).—One who wears spectacles; a four eyes [q.v.). [Popularised by Verdant Green.]

Gig ler (or Giglet, Goglet, Gigle, Gig), subs. (old). — A wanton ; a mistress. Giglet (West of England) = a giddy, romping girl ; and in Salop a flighty person is called a giggle. Cf., Gig, sense 1.

1533. Udal, Floures for Latine Spekynge, fo. 101. What is the matter, foolish Giglotte ? What meanest thou ? Whereat laughest thou ?

1567. Harman, Caveat, leaf 22, back. Therefore let us assemble secretly into the place where he hath appoynted to meet this gyleot that is at your house.

1603. Shakspeare, Measure for Measure, v., 1. Let him speak no more : away with those giglots too, and with the other confederate companion.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie. Gadrouillette, minx, gigle, flirt.

1620. Massienger, Fatal Dowry, Act. iii. If this be The recompence of striving to preserve A wanton gigglet honest, very shortly 'Twill make all mankind pandars.

1690. B. E., Cant. Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Gigclers, wanton women.

Adj. (old). — Loose in word and deed. Also giglet-like,

and giglet-wise = like a wanton.

1598. Shakspeare, i Henry IV., Act v., Sc. i. Young Talbot was not born To be the pillage of a giglot wench.

1600. Fairfax, Jerusalem Delivered, vi., 72. That thou wilt gad by night in giglet-wise, Amid thine armed foes to seek thy shame.

Gild, verb. (old).—To make drunk ; to flush with drink.

1609. Shakspeare, Tempest, Act v., Sc. i. This grand liquor that hath gilded them.

1620. Fletcher, Chances, iv., 3' Is she not drunk, too? A little gilded o'er, sir.

TO gild the pill, phr. (colloquial).—To say, or do, unpleasant things as gently as may be ; to impose upon ; to bamboozle (q.v.).

Gilded Rooster, subs. pht. (American).—A man of importance ; a howling swell [q.v.); sometimes the gilded rooster

on the top of the steeple. Cf., big-bug ; big dog of the tanyard, etc.

1888. New York Herald. We admit that as a metropolis Chicago is the

gilded rooster on top of the steeple,

but even gilded roosters have no right to the whole corn bin.

Gilderoy's Kite. To be hung higher than gilderoy's kite, verb. phr. (old).—To be punished more severely than the very worst criminals. ' The greater the crime the higher the gallows ' was at one time a practical legal axiom. Hence, out of sight ; completely gone.

Giles' Greek. See St. Giles' Greek.

Gilguy. !43 Gill-flirt.

GlLGUY, subs, (nautical). —Anything which happens to have slipped the memory ; equivalent to what's-his-name or thinga

mytight.

Gilkes, subs. (old). — Skeleton keys.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club's Rept., 1874). Gilkes for the Gigger, false keyes for the doore or picklockes.

Gill (or Jill), subs. (old).—i. A girl; (2) a sweetheart: e.g., ' every Jack must have his Gill ' ; (3) a wanton, a strumpet (an abbreviation of gillian). For synonyms, see Jomer and Titter.

1586-1606. Warner, Albion's England, bk. vii., ch. 37. The simplest gill or knave.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wördes, Palandrina, a common queane, a harlot, a strumpet, a gill.

1620. Percy, Folio MSS., p. 104. There is neuer a Jacke for gill.

1659. Torriano, Vocabolario, s,v.

2. (common).—a drink ; a go (q.v.).

1785. Burns, Scots Drink. Haill breeks, a scone, and whisky gill.

3. in. pl. ⁽ g ' hard (colloquial).—The mouth or jaws ; the face. See Potato-trap and Dial.

1622. Bacon, Historia Naturalis. Redness about the cheeks and gills.

1632. Jonson, Magnetic Lady, i. He . . . draws all the parish wills, Designs the legacies, and strokes the gills of the chief mourners.

£.1738. Wolcot, Pindar s Works (1809), i., 8. Whether you look all rosy round the gills, Or hatchet-fac'd like Starving cats so lean.

1820. Lamb, Elia (Two Races of Men). What a careless, even deportment hath your borrower ! what rosy gills !

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. viii. Binnie, as brisk and rosy about the gills as chanticleer, broke out in a morning salutation.

1884. Punch. He went a bit red in the gills.

4. in. pi. (common).—A very large shirt collar ; also stick-ups and sideboards. Fr. : cachebonbon-à-liqueur =%. stick-up.

1859. Sala, Twice Round the Clock, 6 p., in Part 7. With a red face, shaven to the superlative degree of shininess, with gills white and tremendous, with a noble white waistcoat.

1884. Daily Telegraph, July 8, p. 5, c. 4. Lord Macaulay wore, to the close of his life, ' stick-ups,' or gills.

TO grease the gills. —

verb phr. (common).—To have a good meal; to wolf (q.v.).

TO look blue (or queer, Or

green) about the gills, verb, phr. (common).—To be downcast or dejected ; also to suffer from the effects of a debauch. Hence, conversely, to be rosy

about the gills = tO be

cheerful.

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle s Log, eh. ii. Most of them were very white and blue in the gills when we sat down, and others of a dingy sort of whitey-brown, while they ogled the viands in a most suspicious manner.

1892. G. Manville Fenn, Witness to the Deed, ch. ii. You look precious seedy. White about the gills.

A cant (or dig) in the gills, phr. (pugilists'). — A punch in the face. See Bang.

Gill-flirt, subs. (old).—A wanton; a flirt. Fur synonyms, see Barrack Hack and Tart.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wördes

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarit. Gaultiere, a whore, punke, drab, queane, gill flirt.

Gilly.

144

Gilt.

1690. B. E., Diet. of the Cant. Crew, s, v. A proud minx.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Gilly, suds. (American).—A fool. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

Gilly-gaupus, subs. phr. (Scots). —A tall loutish fellow.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Gilt, subs, (popular).—1. Money. [Ger. : Geld. ; Du. : Gelt.]

English Synonyms.—Add to those under Actual :—Charms ; checks ; cole or coal ; coliander seeds ; corn in Egypt ; crap ; darby ; dots ; ducats ; gingerbread; kelter; lowie; lurries; moss ; oil of palms ; palm-oil ; peck ; plums; rhino; rivets; salt; sawdust ; scad ; screen ; scuds ; shigs ; soap ; spoon ; Steven ; sugar ; tea-spoons ; tinie.

French Synonyms. — Le galtos (popular) ; f odeur de gousset (obsolete) ; F onguent ( = palm grease, Sp., unguento; the simile is common to most languages) ; le morlingue (thieves') ; la menouille (popular) ; le miction (thieves' : from miche, a loaf, cf., Loaver) ; les monacos (popular) ; le monarque (prostitutes' : primarily a five franc piece) ; le blé = corn or loaver) ; les étoffes (thieves').

Spanish Synonyms.—Lalana ( = wool) ; la morusa (colloquial) ; la mosca ( = the flies) ; lo numerario ; la pelusa ( = down) ; lozurraco (colloquial) ; lo unguento de Mejico ( = Mexican Grease) ; a⁵ toca teja (colloquial : ready money) ; caire.

Italian Synon yms.—Cucchi ; cuchieri ; cucchielli ; lugani.

German Synonyms.—/^//j ( = fox: an allusion to the ruddy hue of gold pieces ; fuxig or fuxern = golden, red ; fuchsmelochener = goldsmith) ; gips or gyps (Viennese thieves', from the Latin, gypsum) ; hora { = ready-money : from the Hebrew heren) ; kail (Han : especially small change : from Heb. kal= lowly light); kis_tkies, kiss (applied both to money in general and the receptacle or purse in which it is carried) ; lowe, love (Han.) ; mepaie (from the Fr., payer) mesumme, linke mesumme = counterfeit money) ; moos (from Heb., mèo = a little stone) ; pich, picht, or peek ; staub ( = dust).

1599. Shakspeare, Henry V., Act ii. Chorus. These corrupted men . . . have for the gilt of France (O guilt, indeed) Confirmed conspiracy.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4th ed.), p. 9. And from thence conducted (provided he has gilt) over the way to Hell.

1885. Daily News, 25 May, p. 3, c. i. Disputatious like mobs grouped together to discuss whether Charrington or Crowder had the most gilt.

2. subs, (old ). — a thief ; a pick-lock ; also GILTor RUM

DUBBER, GILTER, etc.

1669. Nicker Nicked in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), ii., 108 (given in list of names of thieves).

1673. Character of a Quack Astrologer. For that purpose he maintains as strict a correspondence with gilts and lifters.

1676. Warning for Housekeepers, p. 3. The gilter is one that hath all sorts of picklocks and false keys.

1680. Cotton, Complete Gamester, P333Shoals of muffs, hectors, setters, gilts, pads, biters, etc. . . . may all pass under the general appellation of snobs.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Gut-dubber. 145 Gimcrack.

1882. McCabe, New York, ch. xxxiv., 509. Gilt-dubber, a hotel thief.

3. (thieves'). — Formerly a pick-lock or skeleton key ; now a crow-bar. For synonyms, see Jemmy.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, Pt. i, ch. v., p. 50 (1874). Gilt, a picklock.

1724. E. Coles, Eng. Diet. Gilt, c. a pick-lock.

1839. W. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, p. 183 (ed. 1840). We shall have the whole village upon us while you're striking the jigger. Use the gilt, man !

TO take the gilt off the gingerbread, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To destroy an illusion ; to discount heavily.

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 171. You see we had a rattling good year all round last, bar the Dancing Master. He took the gilt off the gingerbread considerably.

G1 lt-duBBer, see gilt, sense 2.

Gilt-edged, adj. (American). — First-class ; the best of its kind ; a latter-day superlative. For synonyms, see Ai and Fizzing.

c. 1889. Chicago Tribune (quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant). He's a giltedged idiot to play the game.

1891. Standard, 18 June, p. 2, c. 1. ' Gilt-edged mutton ' is the latest of glorified and ' boomed ' American products.

1891. Tit Bits, 8 Aug., p. 286, c. 2. Another accomplishment, peculiar to the gilt-edged academy, is learning to eat asparagus, oranges, grapes, etc.

Gilter, see gilt, sense 2.

Gilt-tick, subs, (costermongers'). Gold.

GlMBAL(or GIMBER-) jawed,

adj. (common). — Loquacious ; talking nineteen to the dozen (q.v.). [Gimbals are a combination of rings for free

suspension ; hence applied to persons the joints of whose jaws are loose in speech.]

Gimcrack (Gincrack, or Jimcrack), subs. (old). — i. A showy simpleton, male or female ; a dandy (q.V.).

1618. Beaumont and Fletcher, Loyal Subject, iv., 3. These are fine gimcracks ; hey, here comes another, a flagon full of wine in his hand.

1637. Fletcher, Elder Brother, iii.,3. You are a handsome and a sweet young lady, And ought to have a handsome man yoked to ye. An understanding too ; this is a gimcrack That can get nothing but new fashions on you.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Canting Crew. Gimcrack, a spruce wench.

1706. Mrs. Centlivre, Basset Table, II., Works (1872), i., 122. The philosophical gimcrack.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

2. (colloquial). — A showy trifle ; anything pretty to look at but of very little worth.

1632. Chapman and Shirley. The Ball, Act iv. Lu. There remains, To take away onesample. Wi. Another gimcrack ?

1678. Butler, Hudibras, pt. 3, ch. i. Rifled all his pokes and fobs. Cf., gimcracks, whims, and jiggumbobs.

1698-1700. Ward, London Spy, pt. 7, p. 148. I suppose there being little else to lose except scenes, machines, or some

SUCh jim-cracks.

1843. Thackeray, Irish Sketch Book, ch. i. There was the harp of Brian Boru, and the sword of some one else, and other cheap old gimcracks with their corollary of lies.

1892. Milliken, 'Arry Ballads, p. 63. Such rum-looking gimcracks, my pippin.

3. (provincial).—A handy man ; a jack-of-all-trades (q.V.).

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. A gimcrack also means a person who has a turn for mechanical contrivances.

Gimcrackery. '46

Ginger.

4. (venery). — The female pudendum. [A play on sense 2, and crack, (q.v.).] For synonym, see Monosyllable.

Adj. (colloquial). — Trivial ; showy ; worthless.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. ix. No shops so beautiful to look at as the Brighton gimcrack shops, and the fruit shops, and the market.

1891. W. C. Russell, An Ocean Tragedy, p. 30. Soberly clothed with nothing more gimcrack in the way of finery upon him than a row of waistcoatbuttons.

1892. Tit Bits, 19 Mar., p. 425 c. 2. A large cabinet or wardrobe, beautifully carved, and very substantial, no gimcrack work.

Gimcrackery, subs, (colloquial). — The world of gimcrack (q.V.).

1884. A. Forbes, in Eng. Illustr. Mag., Jan., p. 230. The inner life of the Empire was a strange mixture of rottenness and gimcrackery.

Gi m let-eye, subs, (common).—A squint-eye; a piercer (q.v. ). Fr. : des yeux en trou de pine.

Gimlet-eyed, adj. (common).— Squinting, or squinny-eyed ; cockeyed. As in the old rhyme : ' Gimlet eye, sausage nose, Hip awry, bandy toes.'

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Gl m m er, subs. (Scots').—An old woman. A variant of ' cummer. '

Gin, subs. (Australian). — An Australian native woman.

1857. Kingsley, Two Years Ago, ch. xiii. An Australian settler's wife bestows on some poor slaving gin a castoff French bonnet.

1890. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up, p. 30.

2. (Australian). — An old woman. For synonyms, see Geezer.

GlN-and-gospel gazette, subs, phr. (journalists').—The Morning Advertiser : as the organ of the Licensed Victualling and Church of England party. Also the Taptub and beer-and-bible

gazette.

Gin-and-tidy, adv. phr. (American). — Decked out in ' best bib and tucker.' A pun on ' neat spirits.'

Gin-crawl, subs, (common).—A

tipple (q.v.) on gin.

1892. A. Chevalier, ¹ The Little Nipper. ' I used to do a gin crawl ev ry night, An' very, very often come 'ome tight.

GlNGAMBOBS (or JlGGUM BOBS),

subs, (common).—1. Toys; baubles.

1690. B. E. Diet, of the Cant. Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

2. (venery). — The testicles ; also Thingambobs. For synonyms, see Cods.

Ginger, subs, (common).—1. A fast, showy horse ; a beast that

looks figged (q.V.).

1859. Notes and Queries, 17 Dec. p. 493. A ginger is a showy fast horse.

2. (common).—A red-haired person; carrots (q.v.). [Whence the phrase (venery) 'Black for beauty, ginger for pluck. ']

1885. Miss Tennant in Eng. Illustrated Magazine, June, p. 605. The policemen are well known to the boys, and appropriately named by them. There is ' Jumbo,' too stout to run ; ginger, the red-haired.

3. (common).—Spirit; dash;

go (q.V.). TO want ginger =

to lack energy and pluck (q.v.).

1888.' The World, 13 May. You will remark that your spinal column is requiring a hinge, and that considerable ginger is departing from your resolution to bear up and enjoy yourself.

Gingerbread. ^ltf Ginger-snap.

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 124. If father objects send him to me, I'll take the ginger out of him in short order.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Oskourne, The Wrecker, p. 207. Give her ginger, boys.

Adj. (common).—Red-haired ;

foxy (q.V.); judas-h aired (q.V.). Also ginger-pated, ginger-hackled, and gingery.

1785. Grose, Vulg: Tongue, s.v. Red-haired ; a term borrowed from the cock-pit, where red cocks are called gingers.

1839. H. Ainsworth, JackSheppard, ch. xii. Somebody may be on the watch —perhaps that old ginger-hackled Jew.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xix., p. 160. The very learned gentleman who has cooled the natural heat of his gingery complexion in pools and fountains of law, until he has become great in knotty arguments for term-time.

1878. M. E. Braddon, Cloven Foot, ch. iv. The landlady was a lean-looking widow, with a false front of gingery curls.

Gingerbread, subs. (old).—1. Money : e.g., ' He has the gingerbread' = he is rich.

1690. B. E. Diet, of the Cant. Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookivood. Your old dad had the gingerbread.

1864. Standard, 13 Dec. We do not find . . . the word gingerbread used for money, as we have heard it both before and within the last six months. The origin of the use of the word may probably be the old fairy legends wherein the coin obtained over night from the elves was usually found in the morning to have turned into little gingerbread cakes.

2. (colloquial).—Brummagem (q.v.) ; showy, but worthless ware.

Adj. (colloquial).—Showy but worthless ; tinsel. Fr., en pain dépice. Gingerbread work (nautical) = carved and gilded decorations ; gingerbread

quarters (nautical) => luxurious living.

1757. Smollett, Compendium 0/ Voyages and Travels. The rooms are too small and too much decorated with carving and gilding, which is a kind of

gingerbread Work.

To take the gilt off the

gingerbread. See gilt.

Gingerly, adj. and adv. (old: now recognised).—As adj., delicate ; fastidious ; dainty ; as adv., with great care ; softly.

1533. Udal, Floures for Latine Spekynge. We stayghe and prolonge our goyng, with a nyce or tendre and softe, delicate, or gingerly pace.

c. 1563. Jacke Jugeler, p. 40 (ed. Grosart). We used to call her at home Dame Coye, a pretie gingerlie pice [piece].

1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, in Wks., ii., 32. That lookes as simperingly as if she were besmeared, and sits it as gingerly as if she were dancing the Canaries.

1611. Chapman, May-Day, Act iii., p. 294 (Plays, 1874). Come, come, gingerly ; for God's sake, gingerly.

1659. Torriano, Vocabolario, q.v.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. Crew, s.v. Gently, softly, easily.

1759-67. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vol. V., ch. v. My mother was going very gingerly in the dark.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. To go gingerly to work, i.e., to attempt a thing gently, or cautiously.

1874. Mrs. H. Wood, Johnny Ludlow, i S. 12, p. 207. The Squire went in gingerly, as if he had been treading on a spiked ploughshare.

Ginger-pop, subs, (colloquial).— i. Ginger-beer.

2. (rhyming).—A policeman ; a slop (q.v.).

1887. Dagonet, Referee, 7 Nov., p. 7, c. 3. Ere her bull-dog I could stop, She had called a ginger-pop.

Ginger-snap, subs. (American).— A hot-tempered person, especially one with carrotty hair.

Gingham.

148

Gin-twist.

Gingham, subs, (common).—An umbrella ; specifically one of this material. For synonyms, see Mushroom.

1868. Miss Braddon, Trail of the Serpent, Bk. I., ch. vii. Mr. Peters therefore took immediate possession by planting his honest gingham in a corner of the room.

1889. Sportsman, 2 Feb. It would really put a premium on the many little mistakes of ownership concerning ginghams at present so common.

GlNGLE-boy, subs. (old).—A coin ; latterly a gold piece. Also Gingler. See Actual and Canary.

1622. Massinger and Dekker, Virgin Martyr, ii., 2. The sign of the Gingleboys hangs at the door of our pockets.

GiNGUMBOBS. See Gingambobs.

GiNicoMTWlG, verb, (venery).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Ride.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wördes, Scuotere ilpellicione. To ginicomtwig or occupie a woman.

Gin-lane (or Trap), subs (common).—i. The throat. For synonyms, see Gutter-alley. Gin-trap, also = the mouth. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

1827. Egan, Anecdotes of the Turf, p. 67. Never again could ... he feel his ivories loose within his gin-trap.

2. (common). — Generic for the habit of drunkenness.

1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 8. Let me advise you on no account to fly to strong waters for consolation, Joan. One nail drives out another, it's true ; but the worst nail you can employ is a coffin nail. Gin Lane's the nearest road to the churchyard.

Gin-mill, subs. (American).—A drinking saloon. For synonyms, see Lush-crib.

1872. Belgravia, Dec. * A Presidential Election.' Then goes off to rejoin his comrades, to adjourn to the nearest gin-mill.

Gin ni fi ed, subs, (common).— Dazed, or stupid, with liquor.

Gin nu ms, subs, (common).—An old woman : especially one fond of drink.

Gin ny, subs. (old).—A housebreaker's tool ; see quot., 1754«

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. Crew, s.v.

1754. Scoundrels' Diet. An instrument to lift up a grate or grating, to steal what is in the window. ' The ninth is a GiNNY, to lift up the grate, If he sees but the Lurry, with his Hooks he will bait.'

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Gin-pen ny, subs, (costermongers'). —Extra profit, generally spent in drink.

GlN-SLiNGER, subs, (common).—A gin-drinker. For synonyms, see Lushington.

Gin-spinner, subs. (old).—A distiller ; a dealer in spirituous liquors. Cf., Ale-spinner.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1827. Egan, Anecdotes of the Turf, p. 179. Just as she was about to toddle to the gin-spinner's for the ould folk and lisp out for a quartern of Max.

1888. F. Green, in Notes and Queries, 7 S., vi., 153. I have always understood that a gin spinner is a distiller who makes gin, but could never find out why so called.

Gin-twist, subs, (common).—A drink composed of gin and sugar, with lemon and water.

1841. Comic Almanac, p. 271 What, for instance, but gin-twist could have brought Oliver Twist to light?

Gin up. 149 Give

Gin Up, verb.( American),—To work hard ; to make things lively or hum (q.v.). For synonyms, see Wire in.

1887. Francis, Saddle and Moccassin. They were ginning her up, that's a fact.

Gip, subs. ( American thieves' ).—1. A thief. 2. Also (Cambridge University) a college servant. See Gyp. Forsynonyms, ^Thieves.

Girl, subs, (common). — 1. A prostitute ; in. pi. =the stock in trade of a brothel. See Barrack Hack, Tart, and Gay. Fr., fille.

2. (colloquial).—A mistress ; a mash (q.v).

3. In. pi. (venery). — The sex—or that part of it which is given to unchastity—in general ; hence the girls = lechery.

After the girls. He's

been after the girls, verb.

phr. (common).—Said of one with clap or pox.

Girl andBoy,«^.phr. (rhyming). A saveloy.

G i r l e r y, subs, (colloquial). —A brothel. Also a theatre for burlesque and comic opera.

Girl-getter, subs, (colloquial).— A mincing, womanish male.

Girling. To go Girling, verb, phr. (venery). — To quest for women ; to go on the loose (q.v.).

Glrlometer, subs, (venery).—The penis. Also, GlRL-catcher. For synonyms, see Cr*eamstick and Prick.

Girl-shop, subs. phr. (common).— A brothel.

Girl-show, subs. phr. (common). —A ballet, a burlesque, a legPIECE (q.V.).

Girl Street. In Hair Court, Girl Street, subs. phr. (common).—Generic for fornication. Also the female pudendum.

Girl-trap, subs.phr. (common).— A seducer ; a mutton-monger (q.v.).

Git! (orYouGiTl),z'«//. (American). —Be off with you ! An injunction to immediate departure ; walker ! (q.v.). Sometimes a contraction of get out ! Also

get OUT AND DUST !

1851. Seaworthy, Bertie, p. 78. Thrue as the tin commandhers ! G it

aout !

TO HAVE no GIT UP AND git, phr. (American). — To be weak, vain, mean, or slow— generally deprecatory.

Give, verb, (vulgar).—1. To lead to ; to conduct ; to open upon : e.g., ' The door gave upon the street.' Cf. the idiomatic use, in French, of donner.

2. (American).—An all-round auxiliary to active verbs : e.g., to give on praying = to excel at prayer ; to give on the make = to be clever at making money, etc.

To give it to, verb. pht. (old).—i. To rob; to defraud. — Grose.

2. (common).—To scold ; to thrash. Also to give what

FOR ; TO GIVE IT HOT ; TO GIVE SOMETHING FOR ONESELF ; TO GIVE one IN THE EYE, etc.

Give.

Fr., aller en donner. For synonyms, see Wig and Tan respectively.

1612. Chapman, Widow's Tears, Act i., p. 312 {Plays, 1874). This braving wooer hath the success expected ; the favour I obtained made me witness to the sport, and let his confidence be sure, I'll give it him home.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 134. ' Take that,' exclaimed Mr. Samuel Wilkins. . . . 'Give it him,' said the waistcoat. . . . Miss J'mima Ivins's beau and the friend's young man lay gasping on the gravel, and the waistcoat and whiskers were seen no more.

1889. J. M. Barrie in Time, Aug. p. 148. When he said he would tell everybody in the street about there being a baby, I gave him one in the eye. Ibid. If it's true what Symons Tertius says, that Cocky has gone and stolen my reminiscences about Albert's curls, putting it into his reminiscences like as if it was his own, I'll give him it hot.

To give in (or out), verb, phr. (colloquial). — To admit defeat; to yield; to be exhausted; to throw up the sponge. See Floored and Cave in.

_1748. Smollett Rod. Random, ch. xviii. Strap, after having received three falls on the hard stones, gave out, and allowed the blacksmith to be the better man.

1760-1. Smollett, L. Greaves, vol. II., ch. viii. By this time the doctor had given out, and allowed the brewer to be the better man.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 25. Poor Georgy gave in.

1837. Lytton, Ernest Maltravers, bk. IV., ch. ix. Your time is up . . . you have had your swing, and a long one it seems to have been—you must now give in.

1847. Robb, Squatter Life, p. 99. Jest about then both on our pusses gin out.

1850. Buffum, Six Months in the Gold Mines, p. 73. After working three days with the machine, the earth we had been washing began to give out.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xxiv., p. 217. I am surprised to hear a man of your energy talk of giving in.

To give away, verb. phr. (American).—To betray or expose inadvertently ; to blow upon (q.V.) : to peach (q.v. for synonyms). Also to give dead away. Largely used in combination : e.g., giveaway = an exposure; giveaway cue = an underhand revelation of secrets.

1883. F. M. Crawford, Doctor Claudius, ch. vi., p. 100. It always amused him to see sanguine people angry. They looked so uncomfortable, and gave themselves away so recklessly.

1886. A, Lang, Longman's Mag., VII., 321. I know not whether the American phrase, to give a person away, to give yourself away, meaning to reveal your own or another's secret, is of provincial English origin. Did it cross over with the Pilgrim Fathers in the May Flower, or is it a recent bit of slang ?

' Who giveth this woman away? ' asked

the rural American parson in the wedding service. ' I could, came the voice of a young man from the gallery, 'but I'd never be so mean.'

1888. Detroit Free Press, Aug. Careful what we say, For it will givb us

dead away.

1889. A nswers, 20 Apr., p. 326. My closely cropped hair, however, gave me away.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 195. For the sake of the joke I'll give myself away.

To give one best, verb. phr. (schoolboys'). — 1. To acknowledge one's inferiority, a defeat. Also (thieves') to leave, to cut (q.v.).

1887. Horsley, /ottings from Jail. But after a time I gave him best (left him), because he used to want to bite my ear (borrow) too often.

To give the collar, verb, phr. (American).—To seize; to arrest; £0 collar (q.v.). For synonyms, see Nab.

TO give the bullet (sack, bag, kick-out, pike, road,

etc.), verb.phr. (common).—To discharge from an employ.

Giver. 15¹ Glanthor ne.

Give us a rest ! phr. (American). — Cease talking ! An injunction upon a bore.

TO give nature a fillip, verb. phr. (old).—To indulge in wine or women.—B.E. (1690).

To give way, verb. phr. (colloquial).—Topermitthe sexual embrace : by women only.

1870. Weekly Times, 1 May. She was sorry to say, she gave way to him. (Laughter.) Mr. Maude remarked she was a foolish woman, and, being a widow, ought to have known what giving way would come to.—Complainant said of course she did, but she thought he meant to marry her.

[Other combinations will be found under the following ; auctioneer ; back cap ; bag ; bail ; baste ; beans ; beef ; biff ; black eye ; bone \ bucket ', bullet j bull's feather ; clinch ; double ; fig ; gas ; go by ; gravy ; hoist ; hot beef ; jesse ; kennedy ; key of the street ', land j leg up ', lip j miller ; mitten ', mouth ; needle j office j points j pussyj rub of the thumb j sack; sky-high; slip j tail *, taste of cream ; turnips ', weight j white alley \ word.]

Giver, subs, (pugilistic).—A good boxer ; an artist in punishment (q.v.).

1824. Reynolds, (' Peter Corcoran '), The Fancy, p. 73. She knew a smart blow from a handsome giver Would darken lights.

Gixie, subs, (obsolete).—A wanton wench ; a strumpet ; an affected mincing woman.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wördes. Faina, a mincing, coie, nice, puling, squeamish woman, an idle huswife, a flurt, a GiXGi. Also as Foina [I.e., ' a polecat'; while Foirare=' to lust for beastly leacherie, to be salt as a bitch.']

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie, s.v. Gadrouillette, a minx, gigle, flirt, callet gixie : (a fained word applyable to any such cattell). [See further, gadriller (a wench)=' to rump or play the rig'].

Gizzard, to fret one's gizzard, verb. phr. (common).—To worry oneself. See Fret.

To stick in one's gizzard, zerbphr. (common).—To remain as something unpleasant, distasteful or offensive; to be hard of digestion ; to be disagreeable or unpalatable.

c. 1830. Finish of Tom and Jerry, p. 241. It had always stuck in his gizzard to think as how he had been werry cruelly used.

TO grumble in the gizzard,

verb. phr. (common).—To be secretly displeased. Hence,

grumble-gizzard (q.V.).

Gladstone, subs, (common)—1. Cheap claret. [Mr. Gladstone, when in office in 1869, reduced the duty on French wines.] See Drinks.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. ix. Claret certainly good, too—none of your Gladstone tap ; sherry probably rather coarse.

1885. A. Birrell, Obiter Dicta, p. 86. To make him unbosom himself over a bottle of Gladstone claret in a tavern in Leicester Square.

2, colloquial).—A travelling bag. [So named in honour of Mr. Gladstone.]

Gladstonize, verb (colloquial).— To talk about and round ; to evade or prevaricate ; to speak much and mean nothing.

Glanthorne, subs. (old). — Money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1789. Parker Life's Painter, p. 42. Drop the glanthorne = part with money.

Glasgow Greys. 5²

Glaze

Glasgow Greys, subs. phr. (military). — The 70th Foot. [Which in the beginning was largely recruited in Glasgow.]

1886. Tinsley's Mag., Apr., p. 321. The 70th were long known as the Glasgow Greys.

Glasgow Magistrate, subs. phr. (common).—A herring, fresh or salted, of the finest. [From the practice of sending samples to the Baillie of the River for approval.] Also glasgow Baillie.

1855. Strang, Glasgmu and its City Clubs. This club .... better known by the title of the Tinkler's club, particularly when the brotherhood changed the hour of meeting .... and when the steak was exchanged for a ' Welsh rabbit ' or Glasgow magistrate.

English Synonyms (for herrings generally). — Atlantic ranger ; Californian ; Cornish duck ; Digby chicken ; Dunbar wether ; gendarme ; Gourock ham ; magistrate ; pheasant (or Billingsgate pheasant) ; reds ; sea-rover ; soldier ; Taunton turkey ; two-eye'd steak ; Yarmouth capon. Fr. : gendarme.

Glass, subs. (American thieves').— An hour. [An abbreviation of ' hour-glass.']

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. The badger piped his Moll about a glass and a half before she cribbed the flat.

There's a deal of glass about, phr. (common). — 1. Applied to vulgar display = 'It's the thing' (q.v.).

2. (common).—Said in answer to an achievement in assertion. A memory of the proverb, ' People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.'

Who's to pay for the broken glass? verb. phr.

(colloquial).—See Stand the Racket.

Been looking through a glass, adv. phr. (common).— Drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

G lass-eyes, subs. (old).—A man wearing spectacles ; four-eyes (q.V.) ; gig-lamps (q.V.).

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Glass-house. To live in a glass house, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To lay oneself open to attack or adverse criticism.

G lass-wo R k, subs, (card-sharpers'). —An obsolete method of cheating at cards. A convex mirror the size of a small coin was fastened with shellac to the lower corner of the left palm opposite the thumb, enabling the dealer to ascertain by reflection the value of the cards he dealt.

Glaze, subs. (old).—A window.

1690. B. E._f Diet, of the Cant. Crew, s.v.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4th ed.), p. 12. Glaze, a Window.

1754. Discoveries of John Poulter, p. 43. Undub the Jeger and jump the glaze. •

1852. Snowden, Mag. Assistant (3rd ed.), p. 445. A window, glaze.

c. 1830. Finish to Tom and Jerry [1872], p. 82. A random shot milling the

glaze.

Verb (old).—To cheat at cards. See quot. and Glass-work.

1821. P. Egan, Real Life, I., 297. If you take the broads in hand in their company, you are sure to be work'd, either by glazing, that is, putting you m front of a looking glass, by which means your hand is discovered by your antagonist, or by private signals from the pal.

Glazier. i53 Glim.

TO mill (or star a glaze),

verb. phr. (old). — To break a

window.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry. iii., 2. Jerry. What are you about, Tom? Tom. I'm going to mill the glaze—111

-(Is about to break the glass, when

Kate and Sue appear as the Miss Trifles.)

1823. Jon Bee, Diet, of the Turf. Glaze, s.v., to mill the glaze, the miller may adopt a stick or otherwise, as seems most convenient.

On the glaze, adv. phr.

(thieves'). — Robbing jewellers'

shops by smashing the windows.

See Glazier.

1724-34. C. Johnson, Highwaymen and Pyrates, q.v.

1889. Ally Sloper, 4 May. Getting a reprieve he went to Dublin on the glaze.

Glazier, subs., in. pi. (old).—i.The eyes. For synonyms, see Glims. Fr. : les ardents.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 64. Glasyers, eyes.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club's Rept., 1874). Glasiers, eyes.

1611. Middleton and Dekker, Roaring Girl, v., 1. These glasiers of mine, mine eyes.

1656. Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. You're out with your glaziers.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. Crew, s.v. The cove has rum glaziers, c. that Rogue has excellent Eyes, or an Eye like a Cat.

1724. E. Coles, Eng. Diet. Glaziers, c. eyes.

1725. New Canting Diet. _# ' Song.' Her glaziers, too, are quite benighted.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue s.v.

2. (old).—A window thief. Cf., Glaze.

1725. New Cant. Diet. Song. 'The Twenty Craftsmen.' ... A glazier who when he creeps in, To pinch all the lurry he thinks it no sin.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Gleaner, subs. (old).—A thief. Cf., Hooker, Angler, etc. For synonyms, see Thieves.

Glib, subs, (common).—1. The tongue. Slacken your glib=» loose your tongue. For synonyms, see Clack.

2. (old).—A ribbon.

1754. Discoveries of John Poulter, p. 42. A lobb full of GLiBBS, a box full of ribbons.

Adj. (old, now recognised).— Smooth; slippery ; voluble; glib

tongukd or glib-gabbit (cf.,

Gab) = talkative ; ready of speech.

1605. Shakspeare, Lear, Act i., Sc. i. I want that glib and oily art, To speak and purpose not.

1659. Torriano, Vocabolario, s.v.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. Crew, s.v. Smooth, without a Rub. Glib-tongued. Voluble or Nimbletongued.

1890. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 31 Jan. The rest who were so glib with their promises.

G Li be, subs. (American thieves').— Writing ; specifically, a written statement.

Glim (or Glym), subs. (old).—1. A candle, or dark lanthorn ; a fire or light of any kind. To douse the glim = to put out the light. Fr. : estourbir la cabande. Also short for Glimmer or Glymmar (q.v.).

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. Crew, s.v. A Dark Lanthorn used in Robbing Houses ; also to burn in the Hand.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4th ed.), p. 12. Glim, a Candle.

1728. Bailey, Eng. Diet. Glim, s.v. A candle or light.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Bring bess and glym ; i.e., bring the instrument to force the door, and the dark lanthorn.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, ii., 2. Tom. Then catch—here's the gentlemen's tooth-picker, and here's his glim( Throws stick and lanthorn to Jerry.)

Glim.

154

Glim.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. 5. Every star its glim at hiding.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. 16. Let's have a glim ... or we shall go breaking our necks.

1837. Lytton, Ernest Maltravers, Bk. I., ch. 10. ' Hush, Jack ! ' whispered one ; ¹ hang out the glim and let's look about us.'

1852. Judson, Myst., etc., of New York, ch. iv. Old Jack bade Harriet trim the glim.

1883. R. L. Stevenson, Treasure Island, p. 89. Sure enough, they left their glim here.

1884. Henley and Stevenson, Admiral Guinea, ii., 6. Nowhere is my little glim ; it aint for me because I'm blind.

2. (old).—A sham account of a fire as sold by flying

stationers (q.V.).

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 233. His papers certify any and every ' ill that flesh is heir to ' . . . . Loss by fire is a glim.

3. in. pi. (common). — The eyes.

English Synonmyms.— Blinkers ; daylights ; deadlights ; glaziers ; lights ; lamps ; ogles ; optics : orbs ; peepers ; sees ; squinters ; toplights ; windows j winkers.

French Symonyms. — Les qtiinquets (popular = bright eyes, Vidocq) ; les mirettes (popular and thieves' ; Italian : mira = sight) ; lesreluits^hieves' : alsoD aymans—or lightmans [q.v.]); les calots (thieves' = marbles) ; les châsses or les châssis (popular = hunters' ) ; les lampions (thieves'= lamps (q.v.) ; Italian: lanterna and lampante) ; les apics (thieves') ; les ardents (thieves' = piercers ) ; les eillets (popular = eyelets; les lanternes de cabriolet (popular = giglamps ) ; les dig

not s ( popular = winkers ) ; les carreaux (thieves' — windows) ; les clairs (thieves' = shiners) ; les coquards (thieves').

Italian Synonyms. — Lan-terna ( = a lamp) ; calchi; bale hi ; brunotti ( = brownies ) ; lavi' pante.

Spanish Synonyms.—Fanal ( = lantern); lanterna ( — idem); visantes (vulgar) ; vistosos (vulgar).

German Synonyms. — Dierling (from slieren = to stare); Linzer; Scheinling(hom Schein = daylights (q.V.)).

1824. P. Egan, Boxiana, iv., 417. His glims I've made look like a couple of rainbows.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 47 [ed. 1854]. Queer my glims, if that ben't little Paul !

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II., 339. Harold escaped with the loss of a glim.

1892. Milliken, 'Arry Ballads, p. 56. A pooty gal, gentle, or simple, as carn't use her glims is a flat.

4. in. pi. (common).—A pair of spectacles. For synonyms, see Barnacles.

5. (common).—Gonorrhoea or clap (q.v.). [From sense 1 = fire.]

Verb (old).—To brand or burn in the hand.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. Crew, s.v. As the cull was Glimm'd, he gangs to the Nubb, c., if the Fellow has been Burnt in the Hand, he'll be Hang'd now.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall, p. 15. Profligate women are glimm'd for that villany, for which, rather than leave it, they could freely die martyrs.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

To puff the glims, verb, phr. (veterinary).—To fill the hollow over the eyes of old

G lim-Fenders. ¹S 5

Glistner.

horses by pricking the skin and blowing air into the loose tissues underneath, thus giving the full effect of youth.

Glim-fenders, subs. (old). — i. Andirons, or fire-dogs.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. Crew, s.v. Glimfendeks, c. Andirons. Rum Glim fenders, Silver Andirons.

1728. Bailey, Eng. Diet. s.v. 1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

2. (old). — Handcuffs. [A pun on sense I.] 1823. Jon Bee, Diet, of the Turf

s.v.

1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London,

s.v.

Glimflashly (or Glim-flashey),

adj. (old). — Angry. See Nab the Rust and Hair.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. Crew, s.v. Glimflashly, c., Angry, or in a Passion. The Cull is Glimflashly, c. the Fellow is in a Heat.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, ch. xxxi. No, Captain, don't be glimflashey ! You have not heard all yet.

Glim-jack, subs. (old).—A link boy ; a moon-curser (q.v.) ; but, in any sense, a thief.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Glim-lurk, subs, (tramps'). — A beggars' petition, based on a fictitious fire or glim (sense 2).

1851-61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 233. The patterer becomes a ' lurker,'—that is, an imposter ; his papers certify any and every ' ill that flesh is heir to.' Shipwreck is called a shake-lurk ; loss by fire is a

GLIM

Glimmer (or Glymmar), subs. (old).—Fire. See quot.

1567. Harman, Caveat. These Demaunders for Glymmar be for the moste parte wemen.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38. (H. Club's Rept., 1874). Glymmer, Fire.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 49 (1874). Glymmer, Fire.

1724. E. Coles, Eng. Diet., s.v.

1725. New Canting Diet., Song, ' The Maunder's Praise of his Strowling Mort.' Doxy, Oh ! thy Glaziers shine, As Glymmar by the Solomon.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

G LIMMERER, stibs. (old).—A beggar working with a petition giving out that he is ruined by fire. Also glimmering mort = a

female glimmerer.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant Crew, s.v. Glimmerer, c., the Twentysecond Rank of the Canting Tribe, begging with Sham Licences, pretending to Losses by Fire, etc.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

GLIMSTICK, subs. (old).—A candlestick. [From glim = a light + stick.] Fr. : une occasion.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. Crew, s.v. Glimstick, c., a Candlestick. Rum Glimsticks, c., Silver Candlesticks. Queer Glimsticks, c., Brass, Pewter, or Iron Candlesticks.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Glister, subs. phr. (thieves').—,5V*

quot., glister of fish-hooks.

1889. Clarkson and Richardson, Police, p. 321. A glass of Irish whiskey

. . . . a glister of fish-hooks.

Glistner, subs. (old).—A sovereign. For synonyms, see Canary.

Gloak. 156 Gloves.

Gloak (or Gloach), subs. (old).— A man. For synonyms, see Chum and Cove.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, pp. 48 and 172. Gloach, a man ; cove.

Globe, subs. (old).—1. A pewter pot ; pewter. 1714. Memoirs of John Hall, s.v. 1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

2. in. pi. (common). — The paps. For synonyms, see Dairy.

Globe-rangers, subs, (nautical). —The Royal Marines.

Globe-trotter, subs, (colloquial). — A traveller ; primarily one who races from place to place, with the object of covering ground or making a record. Fr. : un pacquelineur.

1886. Graphic, 7 Aug., 147/1. Your mere idle gaping globetrotter will spin endless pages of unobservant twaddle, and will record his tedious wanderings with most painful minuteness.

1888. Academy, 17 Mar. The inevitable steamboat, the world, and the omnivorous globe-trotter.

1889. Echo, 9 Feb. The British globe-trotter knows Japan as he knows England, and English books about Japan are turned out by the ton.

1890. Pall Mall Gaz., 27 Jan., p. 5, c. 2. This popular definition of a quickmover has now become effete. Miss Bly is a globe-galloper or she is nothing.

Globe-trotting, subs, (colloquial). —Travelling after the manner of globe-trotters (q.V.).

1888. Academy, 22 Sept. In fact, globe-trotting, as the Americans somewhat irreverently term it, is now frequently undertaken as a mere holiday trip.

Glope, verb. (Winchester College). —To spit. (Obsolete).

Glorious, aaj. (common). — Excited with drink ; ' in one's altitudes ' ; boozed. For synonyms, see drinks and screwed.

1791. Burns, Tarn o' Shanter. Kings may be blessed, but Tam was glorious, O'er a' the ills of life victorious.

1853. Thackeray, Barry Lyndon, ch. xviii.j p. 252. I knew nothing of the vow, or indeed of the tipsy frolic which was the occasion of it ; I was taken up glorious, as the phrase is, by my servants, and put to bed.

1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 9 Feb. But as they all began to get glorious, personalities became more frequent and very much stronger.

Glorious Sinner, subs. phr. (rhyming).—A dinner.

Glory, subs, (common).—The after life ; kingdom come (q.v.). Usually, the coming glory.

1841. Punch, 17 July, p. 2. Clara pines in secret—Hops the twig, and goes to glory in white muslin.

In one's glory, adv. phr. (colloquial).—In the full flush of vanity, pride, taste, notion, or idiosyncracy.

Gloves, to go for the gloves, • verb. phr. (racing).—To bet recklessly; to bet against a horse without having the wherewithal to pay if one loses—the last resource of the plunging turfite. The term is derived from the well-known habit of ladies to bet in pairs of gloves, expecting to be paid if they win, but not to be called upon to pay if they lose.

1877. Hawley Smart, Play or Pay, ch. xi. One of the boldest plungers of the day, who had begun badly, was going for the gloves upon this match.

Glow. 157 Glutton.

1886. Badminton Library, ' Racing,'

E. 255. Hardly worth mentioning are the ackers who come in for a hit-or-miss dash at the ring—to go for the gloves, as it is called in ring parlance.

1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 3 Apr. Although we frequently read in stones of the hero backing the right horse at a long price, and so getting out of sundry monetary difficulties, we rarely find the idea realised in practice. Many a bookmaker has gone for the gloves.

Glow, adj. (tailors').—Ashamed.

Glue, subs, (common).—1. Thick soup. (Because it sticks to the ribs. )

English Synonyms. — Deferred stock ; belly-gum ; gibletstwist ; gut-concrete ; rib-tickler ; stick-in-the-ribs.

French Synonyms. — La menêtre (thieves') ; la lavasse ( = a mess of pot liquor) ; la laffe (thieves') ; la jajfe (popular) ; Vordinaire (popular : soup and boiled beef at an ordinary) ; le fond d estomac ( = thick soup) ; la mousse; la mouillante ( = the moistener).

German Synonyms.—Jauche; Polifke.

2. (common).—Gonorrhoea.

G lue-pot, subs, (common).—A parson. [Because he joins in wedlock.] For synonyms, see Devil-dodger and Sky-pilot.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Glum, adj. (old : now recognised). —Sullen ; down in the mouth ; stern. Fr. : faire son nez — to look glum ; also, n'en pas mener large.

1712. Arbuthnot, Hist, of John Bull, pt. IV., ch. vii. Nie. looked sour and glum, and would not open his mouth.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v

17(?). Broadside Ballad. ' Sam Hall, The parson he will come, And he'll look so bloody glum.

1816. Johnson, Diet, of the English Language. Glum, s.v., a low cant word formed by corrupting ' gloom.'

1847. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ii., ch. vi. ' I wonder whether Lady Southdown will go away ; she looked very glum upon Mrs. Rawdon,' the other said.

1888. Referee, 21 Oct. Who found him looking glum and gray, And thought his accent gruff and foreign.

1892. A. W. PiNERO, The Times, v., i. What are you so glum about.

G lu mp, verb, (provincial). —To sulk. Hence glumpy, glumping, and glumpish = sullen or stubborn.

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary. Glumping, sullen, or sour looking. Exm.

1835. Th. Hook, Gilbert Gurney. He was glumpy enough when I called.

1860. G._ Eliot, Mill on the Floss, Bk. VI., ch. iv. "An it worrets me as Mr. Tom 'ull sit by himself so glumpish, a-knittin' his brow, an' a lookin' at the fire of a night.

Glutman, subs. (old).—See quot.

1797. Police of the Metropolis, p. 64. An inferior officer of the Customs, and particularly one of that class of supernumerary tide waiters, who are employed temporarily when there is a press or hurry of business. These glutmen are generally composed of persons who are without employment, and, being also without character, recommend themselves principally from the circumstance of being able to write.

Glutton, subs, (common).—1. A horse which lasts well ; a s tayer (q.v. ).

2. (pugilists'). — A pugilist who can take a lot of punishment (q.v.).

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, xvi. Thus Theocritus, in his Milling Match, calls Amycus a glutton, which is well known to be the classical phrase at MoulseyHurst for one who, like Amycus, takes a deal of punishment before he is satisfied.

Gnarler. JS⁸ Go.

1891. Licensed Vict. Mirror, 30 Jan., p. 6, c. 3. He was known to be an awfully heavy hitter with both hands, a perfect glutton at taking punishment.

Gnarler, subs, (thieves').—A watch dog. For synonyms, see Tike.

Gnasp, verb. (old).—To vex. For synonyms, see Rile.

1728. Bailey, English Diet. s.v. Gnoff.—See Gonnof.

Gnostic, subs, (colloquial). — A knowing one ; a downy cove (q.v. ) ; a whipster (q.v.). [From the Gr., gnosis = knowledge. ]

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 27. Many of the words used by the Canting Beggars in Beaumont and Fletcher's Masque are still to be heard among the gnostics of Dyot Street and Tothill Fields.

adj. (colloquial). — Knowing, artful (q.v.).

gnostically, adv. (colloquial).— Knowingly.

1825. Scott, St. Ronan's Well, ch. iv. He was tog'd gnostic ally enough.

Go, subs, (common).—i. A drink ; specifically a quartern of gin. (Formerly a go-down, but Cf., quot. 1811.

[For other combinations^ abroad—

all fours—aloft—aunt—baby—back on—bad—bail— baldheaded — bath— batter—bedfordshire—beggar's bush —better — blazes — blind — board — bodkin — bulge — bungay—bury—bust —by-by—call—camp—chump—college —cracked—dead broke — devil—ding

— ding-dong — dock — doss — drag — flouch—flue—gamble—glaze—glory

— gloves — grain — grass — ground — hairyfordshire — hall — halves — hang — hell—high fly—high toby— hooks—hoop—jericho—jump—kitchen —man — majority —mill — murphy — pace — pieces — pile — pot — queen— raker — range — rope-walk — salt river — shallow — shop — slow—smash —snacks—snooks—spout—star-gazing —sweet violets—top—walker's bus

west — whole animal — woodbine — woolgathering—wrong.

English Synonyms. — Bender ; caulker ; coffin nail ; common-sewer ; cooler ; crack ; cry ; damp ; dandy ; dash ; dewhank ; dewdrop ; dodger ; drain ; dram ; facer ; falsh ; gargle ; gasp ; go-down ; hair of the dog, etc. ; Johnny ; lip ; liquor up ; livener ; lotion ; lounce ; modest quencher ; muzzier ; nail from one's coffin ; night-cap ; nip or nipper ; nobbier ; old crow ; a one, a two, or a three ; out ; peg ; pick-me-up ; pony ; quencher ; reviver ; rince ; sensation ; settler ; shift ; shove in the mouth ; slug ; small cheque ; smile ; snifter ; something damp ; something short ; swig ; thimbleful; tiddly ; top up; tot ; warmer ; waxer ; wet ; whitewash ; yard.

French Synonyms. — Un bourgeron (popular = a nip of brandy) ; un asticot de cercueil (= a coffin-worm, a play on verre and bière) ; un coup d'arrosoir (popular : a touch of the watering pot); un gargarisme (popular : = a gargle [^.z^.]); un galopin ( = a pony [q.v.'] of beer; un larme ( = a tear); un mistiche (thieves') ; un misérable (popular : a glass of spirits costing one sou ; une demoiselle = two sous ; un monsieur ={o\xx sous ; un poisson = five sous) ; un mince de chic (popular : in contempt) ; une coquille de noix (popular = a thimbleful ; a very small go ; a drain) ; un jeune homme (familiar = in capacity four litres) ; un Kolback (popular = a small glass of brandy, or large glass of wine) ; une flûte (familiar) ; un extravagant (popular = a long drink) ; un fil ( = a drain) ; un

Go. 159 Go.

distingue (popular) ; une douleur (popular = a comforter or pickme-up) ; tin ballon (popular).

Italian Synonym.—Schioppa ( = a long drink : also a large beer glass).

Spanish Synonyms.—C/n'sguete (colloquial) ; enjuagadientes (also = a mouthful of water or wine for rinsing the mouth after eating) ; espolada( = a. long drink).

Portuguese Synonym.— Quebrado ( = broken : a small glass).

1690. D'Urfey, Collins Walk,canto 4. And many more whose quality Forbids their toping openly, Will privately, on good occasion, Take six go-downs on reputation.

1793. Grose, Vulg-. Tongue, s.v. Go-shop .... The Queen's Head in Duke's Court.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Goshop, s.v. 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.

1823. Jon. Bee, Diet, of the Turf,

s.v.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, The Streets : Night. Chops, kidneys, rabbits, oysters, stout, cigars, and goes innumerable, are served up amidst a noise and confusion of smoking, running, knifeclattering, and waiter-chattering, perfectly indescribable.

1841. Punch, Vol. I., p. 11, c. 1. Waiter, a go of Brett's best alcohol.

1849. Thackeray, Hoggarty Diamond, ch. ii. Two more chairs, Mary, two more tumblers, two more hot waters, and two more goes of gin !

1850. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, p. 54. Drinking alternate goes of gin and water with a dustman for the purpose of insinuating myself into the affections of Miss Cinderella Smut, his interesting sister.

1853. Diogenes, Vol. II., p. 271. Shall I spend it in theatres? shows? In numerous alcohol goes ?

1870. Figaro, 28 May. Their musical performances are evidently inspired by goes of gin.

1883. Echo, 7 Feb., p. 4, c. 3. Witness asked him what he had been drinking. He replied, ' Two half-goes of rum hot and a half-pint of beer.'

2. (colloquial).—An incident ; an occurrence : e.g., a rum go = a strange affair, or queer start ; a pretty go = a startling business ; a capital go = a pleasant business.

1803. Kenney, Falsing the Wind, i., 3. Ha ! ha ! ha ! Capital go, isn't it ?

1820. Jack Randalls Diary. Gemmen (says he), you all well know The joy there is whene'er we meet ; It's what I call the primest go, And rightly named, 'tis— quite a treat.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 251. A considerable bustle and shuffling of feet was then heard upon the stage, accompanied by whispers of ' Here's a pretty go!—what's to be done?'

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends. ' Misadventures at Margate.' ' O, Mrs. Jones,' says I, ' look here ! Ain't this a pretty go !'

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 162. Stating his conviction that this was rayther a

rummy go.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. lxxiii. Master Frank Clavering . . . had only time to ejaculate the words, ' Here's a jolly go ! ' and to disappear sniggering.

1869. Mrs. H. Wood, Roland Yorke, ch. xli. ' I am about to try what a month or two's absence will do for me.' ¹ And leave us to old Brown ?—that will be a nice go !'

1876. George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, ch. vii. A rum go as ever I saw.

1880. G. R. Sims, Three Brass Balls, pledge xvi. He . . . exclaimed, ' Well, I'm dashed if this isn't a rum go ! '

1883. R. L. Stevenson, Treasure Island, p. 55. A pretty rum go if squire aint to talk for Doctor Livesey.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 305. ' It was a near go,' said Jack.

3. (common).—The fashion ; the cheese (q.v.) ; the correct thing. Generally in the phrase

all the go.

Go. 160 Go.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. He is quite the go, he is quite varment, he is prime, he is bang up.

1821. Egan, 7^7« and Jerry [ed. 1891], p. 35. Tom was the go among the

goes.

1835. Haliburton (' Sam Slick '), The Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xiv. Whatever is the go in Europe will soon be the cheese here.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, I., 251. It was rather the go With Pilgrims and Saints in the Second Crusade.

1846. Punch, vol. X., p. 163. From lowly Queen's quadrangle, Where muffins are the go.

1880. G. R. Sims, Ballads of Babylon 'Beauty and Beast). And all day long there's a big crowd stops To look at the lady who's all the go.

4. (colloquial).—Life ; spirit ; energy ; enterprise ; impetus : e.g., PLENTY of go = full of spirit and dash. Fr. : avoir dti chien.

1825. The English Spy, i., 178. She's only fit to carry a dean or a bishop. No go in her.

1865. Macdonald, Alec Forbes of How-glen, II., 269. All night Tibbie Dyster had lain awake in her lonely cottage, listening to the quiet heavy go of the water.

1882. Daily Telegraph, 9 Oct. Mr. Grossmith's music is bright and tripping, full of humour and go, as, under such circumstances, music should be !

1883. Illustrated London News, 10 March, p. 242, c. 3. There was any amount of dash and go in their rowing.

1887. Paton, Down the Islands. Barbadian may therefore be said to mean a man with go and grit, energy and vim.

1889. Sportsman, 19 Jan. It all lent a certain zest and go to the proceedings.

1890. Pall Mall Gaz., 21 Feb., p. 7, c. i. There was so much heartiness and go (so to speak) in the work that it reminded me of what I had read about peasant proprietors labouring in Switzerland and elsewhere under a Home Rule Government.

5. (colloquial).—A turn ; an attempt ; a chance. Cf., No go.

To have a go at, verb. phr. — to make essay of anything : as a man in a fight, a shot at billiards, and (specifically) a woman.

1836. C. Dickens, Picktvick Papers (about 1827), p. 377 (ed. 1857). Wot do you think o' that for a go ?

1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 221. I've twelve this go. I did a lagging of seven, and was at the Gib. three out of it.

1878. Jas. Payn, By Proxy, ch. iii. ' I would practise that in the seclusion of my own apartments,' observed Pennicuick; ' and after a few goes at it, I'll bet a guinea I'd shake the right stick out first.'

1888. Haggard, Mr. Meesoris Will, ch. x. You have had seven goes and I have only had six.

6. (American).—A success. To make a go of iT = to bring things to a satisfactory termination.

1888. Harpers Mag., vol. LXXVI I., p. 689. Determination to make the venture a go.

7. (gaming). The last card at

cribbage, or the last piece at dominoes. When a player is unable to follow the lead, he calls a go !

8. (old.)—A dandy {q.v. for synonyms) ; a very heavy swell indeed, one in the extreme of fashion.

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry [people's ed.], p. 35. In the parks, Tom was the go among the goes.

Verb (American political).—I. To vote ; to be in favour of. Cf., Go for.

2. (colloquial).—To succeed ; to achieve. Cf., Go down.

1866. Public Opinion, 13 Jan., p. 51, c. i. His London-street railway scheme didn't go.

Go. i6i Go.

1870. H. D. Traill, 'On the Watch.' Sat. Songs, p. 22. Eh, waddyer say ? Don't it go ? Ho, yes ! my right honnerble friend. It's go and go over the left, it's go with a hook at the end.

3. (colloquial).—To wager ; to risk. Hence to stand treat ; to afford.

1768. Goldsmith, Good Natured Man, Act iii. Men that would go forty guineas on a game of cribbage.

1876 Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, Prologue ii. The very dice on the counter with which the bar-keeper used to go the miners for drinks.

1877. S. L. Clemens (M. Twain), Life on the Mississippi, ch. xliii., p. 390. There's one thing in this world which a ptrson won't take in pine if he can go walnut ; and won't take in walnut if he can go mahogany. . . . That's a coffin.

c. 1882. Comic Song, ' The West End Boys,' verse 3. Another bitter I really can't go.

1887. World, 20 Apr., p. 8. While making up his mind, apparently whether he would go ' three ' or ' Nap.'

4. (racing). — To ride to hounds.

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 219. There would be far too many there who had seen Gerald Rockingham go with the York and Ainstey not to at once know that he and Jim Forrest were identical.

5. (colloquial).—To be pregnant.

1561-1626. Bacon, (quoted by Dr. Johnson). Women go commonly nine months, the cow and ewe about six months.

1601. Shakspeare, Henry VII/., iv., i. Great bellied women that had not half a week to go.

Go down, verb. phr. (colloquial). — i. To be accepted, received, or swallowed ; to wash (q.v.).

1609. Dekker, Lanthorne and Candle-Light, in wks. (Grosart), III., 272. For the woorst hors-flesh (so it be cheape) does best goe downe with him.

16.^r9. Massinger, City Madam, i., i. But now 1 fear it will be spent in poultry ; Butcher's-meat will not go down.

1663. Pepys, Diary, 9 Nov. The present clergy will never heartily go down with the generality of the commons of England.

1742. Fielding, Joseph Andrews, bk. II., ch. xvii. 'O ho ! you are a pretty traveller,' cries the host, ' and not know

the Levant !.....you must not talk of

these things with me, you must not tip us the traveller—it won't go here.¹

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xxi. He . . . shook his head, and beginning with his usual exclamation said, ' That won't go down with me.'

1885. W. E. Norris, Adrian Vidal, ch. vii. In fashion or out of fashion, they always pay and always go down with the public.

2. (University).—To be under

discipline ; to be rusticated.

1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, i., 179. How dare you say 'deuce in my presence? You can go down, my Lord.

3. (common). — To become bankrupt. Also, to go under.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 19. Some one had certainly gone down.

To go due north, verb. phr. (obsolete). — To go bankrupt. [That is, to go to White-cross Street Prison, once situate in north London]. See Quisby.

To go on the dub, verb, phr. (old).—To go house-breaking ; to pick locks. See Dub.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. Crew. Going upon the dub, c. Breaking a House with picklocks.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

To go to the dogs, verb, phr. (colloquial).—To go to ruin. [Cf., the Dutch proverb ' Toe goê, toe de dogs ' = money gone, credit gone too.] See Demnition bow-wows.

1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, ch. i. The service, he said, would go to the dogs, and might do for anything he cared and he did not mind h w soon.

Go.

1863. H. KiNGSLEY, Austin Elliot, i, 179. 'Got a second! — bah! The

University is going to the '-' Deuce ! '

suggested Lord Charles, who was afraid of something worse. ' Dogs, Sir, dogs !

c. 1879. Broadside Ballad, ' Old CloV My line of business is played out,

it's going to the dogs.

TO go off on the ear,

verb. phr. (American).—To get

^arig^ry î ^to Ay ^mto ^a tantrum. See Nab the rust.

To go for, verb. phr. (colloquial). — i. To attempt ; to tackle ; to resolve upon ; to make for (q.v. ).

1871. John Hay, Jim Bludso. He see'd his duty, a dead-sure thing—And he went for it thar and then.

1890. Athenceum, 22 Mar., p. 366, c. i. The authors have spared neither their creatures nor the reader one iota ; whenever an unpleasant effect was obtainable, they straightway seem to have gone for it with unflinching zest.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 221. Some men had gone for half a dozen, others for two or three, and very few for a single.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger's Stveetheart, p. 118. We are strong, my boy, strong now, and are going in for the slugging of books also, as well as the immorality of trade.

2. (colloquial). — To attack with violence and directness, whether manually or with the tongue.

1871. Morning Advertiser, 2 Feb., 'A curtain lecture.' On . . . arrival home the derelict husband is to be gone for in the most approved style of the late lamented Mrs. Caudle.

1883. James Payn, Thicker than Water, ch. xxxvii. There were occasions . . . when Charley could hardly help going for the legs of that lofty philosopher, for higher he could not hit him.

1889. Polytechnic Magazine, 24 Oct., p. 261. He went for the jam tarts unmercifully.

1889. Star, 24 Aug., p. 4, c. 2. As the enlightened tailor still declined to pay the blackmail one of the anti-machinists went for him with a chopper.

1892. Tit Bits, 19 Mar., p. 424, c. i. So it comes to much the same thing,

with the exception that you cannot indulge in the sad delight of going for Master Bertie sometimes as you might do were he a member of your own household.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushrangers Sweetheart, p. 123. " Well mate, go for him, and we'll keep the cops off till you settle his hash."

3. (colloquial).—To support ; to favour ; to vote for.

4. (theatrical).—To criticise ; specifically, to run down. [An extension of sense 2.] For synonyms, see Run down.

To go in for (or at), verb, phr. (colloquial).—To enter for; to apply oneself to (e.g., to go in for honours). Also to devote oneself to (e.g., to pay court); to take up (as a pastime, pursuit, hobby, or principle). Closely allied to go for.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 18 (ed. 1857). This advice was very like that which bystanders invariably give to the smallest boy in a street fight ; namely, ' Go in, and win ' : an admirable thing to recommend, if you only knoiv how to do it.

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. xviii., p. 162. Sometimes I go in at the butcher madly, and cut my knuckles open against his face.

1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend,

iii., 3. Go in for money-Money's the

article.

1869. Whyte Melville, M, or N , p. 31. Long before he had reached his uncle's house, he had made up his mind to go in, as he called it, for Miss Bruce, morally confident of winning, yet troubled with certain chilling misgivings, as fearing that this time he had really fallen in love.

1870. Agricultural J our.,Y <t\>. Men who go in for bathing, running, etc.

1872. Besant and Rice, My Little Girl (in Once a Week, 14 Dec, p. 508). He had, after a laborious and meritorious career at Aberdeen, gone in for Scotch mission work in Constantinople.

1873. Miss Broughton, Nancy, ch. xlv. His cheeks are flushed ; he is laughing loudly, and going in heavily for the champagne.

Go. 163 Go.

1883. James Payn, Thicker than Water, ch. xx. This is very nice, but I do wonder, Mrs. Tidman, that you never go in for curries.

1890. H. D. Traill, 'A Noble Watchword,' Sat. Songs, p. 58. To go in solid for the cause how noble ! (though, 'tis true, We must hope at next election that you'll go in liquid, too).

To go in unto, verb. phr. ( Biblical ). — To have sexual intercourse with. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

1892. Bible, Gen. xxx. 3. Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her.

To go it, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To act with vigour and daring ; to advocate or speak strongly ; to live freely. Also to

go it blind, fast, baldheaded, strong, etc. Cf.,

Dash.

1689 (in Arber, Eng. Garner, vol. VII., p. 365). When these had shared her cargo, they parted company : the French with their shares went it for Petty Guavas in the Grand Gustaphus.

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry [people's ed.], p. 67. Logic, under the domino, had been going it on a few of his friends with much humour.

Ibid., p. 22. To go it, where's a place like London?

1837. R. H. Barham, The Ingoldsby Legends (Ed. 1862), p. 375. For of this be assured, if you go it too fast, you'll be ' dished ' like Sir Guy.

1846-48. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, vol. I., ch. 26. 'He's going it pretty fast,' said the clerk.

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. 6. I say young Copperfield, you're going it.

1841. Dow, Sermons, vol. I., p. 176. I would have you understand, my dear hearers, that I have no objection to some of the sons and daughters of the earth going it, while they are young, provided they don't go it too strong.

1864. Fräsers Mag., Aug , p. 54. But what if that O, brave heart? Art thou a labourer? Labour on, Art thou a poet? Go it strong.

1880. Milliken, \n Punch's Almanack Apr. Nobby togs, high jinks, and lots o' lotion, That's the style to go it, I've a notion.

Intj. (common). — Keep at it ! Keep it up !—a general (sometimes ironical) expression of encouragement. Also go it ye

gripples, crutches are cheap !

(or Newgate's on fire) ; go it,

my tulip ; go it my gay and

festive cuss ! (Artemus Ward) ; or (American) go it boots ! go

it rags ! i'll hold your

bonnet! g'lang ! (usually to a man making the pace on foot or horseback.) For similar expressions see Mother. Fr., hardi I

1840. Thackeray, Cox's Diary. Come along this way, ma'am ! Go it, ye cripples !

1854. Thackeray, The Rose and the Ring, p. 92. ' Go it, old boy ! ' cried the impetuous Smith.

1868. Miss Braddon, Trail of the Serpent, bk. L, ch. üi. Three cheers for red ! Go it—go it, red !

1890. Tit Bits, 1 Mar., p. 325. ' Not for Joe ' . . . came from a once popular song. So did go it, you cripples.

To go out, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To fall into disuse.

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 113. Pockets, ... to use the flippant idiom of the day, are going out.

To go over, verb. phr. (colloquial).—i. To desert from one side to another ; specifically (clerical) to join the Church of Rome ; to vert {q.v.).

1861. Thackeray, Lovel the Widiver, ch. ii. I remember Pye, of Maudlin, just before he went over, was perpetually in Miss Prior's back parlour with little books, pictures, medals, etc.

1878. Miss Braddon, Open Verdict, ch. vi. Mr. Dulcimer is a horrid person to tell you such stories ; and after this, I shouldn't be at all surprised at his going over to Rome.

2. (colloquial).—To die ; i.e., to go over to join the majority. Also to go off. To go off

Go.

164

Go.

the hooks, to go under, to

go aloft, and to go up.

1818. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 4. 'A sight, marm, this coon's gone over.' Ibid., p. 3. Them three's all gone under.

3. (thieves')—To attack, rifle, and rob.

1889. Referee, 2 June. A few who had . . . gone over the landlord, left him skinned.

To go off, verb. phr. (colloquial).—i. To take place ; to occur.

1866. Mrs. Gaskell, Wives and Daughters, ch. xiv. The wedding went off much as such affairs do.

2. (colloquial). —To be disposed of (as goods on sale, or a woman in marriage).

1835, Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 208. Miss Malderton was as well known as the lion on the top of . Northumberland House, and had an equal

chance of going off.

3. (colloquial).—To deteriorate (as fish by keeping, or a woman with years).

1883. Pall Mall Gazette, 16 Apr., p. 3, c. 2 Shotover rather went off in the Autumn, and her Leger preparation was not altogether satisfactory.

1892. Tit-Bits, 17 Sept., p. 422, c. 3. To those . . . who are apt to go off colour, so to speak, through injudicious indulgence at table.

4. (colloquial).—To die. For synonyms, see Aloft.

1606. Shakspeare, Macbeth, v., 7. i would the friends we miss were safe arrived : Some must go off.

1836. C. Dickens, Pictouick Papers (about 1827), p. 368 (Ed. 1857). She's dtad, God bless her, and thank him for it ! —was seized with a fit and went off.

Go as you please, adj. phr. (athletics'). — Applied to races where the competitors can run, walk, or rest at will: e.g., in time and distance races. Hence, general freedom of action.

1884. Punch, 11 Oct. ' 'Arry at a Political Picnic' 'Twas regular go as

you please.

To go to Bath, Putney, etc.—See Bath, Blazes, Hell, Halifax, etc.

To go through, verb. phr. (American). — 1. To rob: i.e., to turn inside out. Hence, to master violently and completely ; to make an end of.

1872. Evening Standard, 21 June. The roughs would work their will, and, in their own phrase, go through New York pretty effectually.

1888. Baltifnore Sun. He was garrotted, and the two robbers went through him before he could reach the spot.

Ibid. It was a grand sight to see Farnsworth go through him ; he did not leave him a single leg to stand upon.

2. (venery). —To possess a woman. For synonyms, see Ride.

To go up (or under), verb, phr. (colloquial).—1. To go to wreck and ruin ; to become bankrupt ; to disappear from society. Also, to die. For synonyms, see Deadbroke.

1864. Tlie Index, June. Soon after the blockade, many thought we should go up on the salt question.

1879. Jas. Payn, High Spirits (Finding His Level). Poor John Weybridge, Esq., became as friendless as penniless, and eventually went under, and was heard of no more.

1890. Pall Mall Gaz., 29 May, p. 5, c. i. He asks us further to state that the strike is completely at an end, the society having gone under.

2. (colloquial).—To die : Cf. Ger. : tmtergehen. For synonyms, see Aloft.

18(?). Hawkeye, The Ioiva Chief p. 210. Poor Hawkeye felt, says one of his biographers, that his time had come, and

Go. ^l65 Goaler's Coach.

knowing that he must go under sooner or later, he determined to sell his life dearly.

1849. Ruxton, Life in the far West, p. 2. Them three s all gone under.

1888. Daily Inter. Ocean, Mar. All solemnly vowed to see that the mine should be worked solely for the benefit of the girl whether Jim lived or had gone under.

To go up, verb. phr.

(American).—To die ; specifically

to die by the rope.

1867. Hep worth Dixon, New America, i., n. Unruly citizens are summarily hung on a cotton tree, and when any question is asked about them, the answer is briefly given, gone up — i.e., gone up the cotton tree, or suspended from one of its branches.

To go up for, verb. phr. (common).—To enter for (as an examination).

1889. Globe, 12 Oct., p. 1, c. 4 Always, it seems likely, there will be men going up for examinations ; and every now and again, no doubt, there will be among them a wily ' Heathen Pass-ee ¹ like him of whom Mr. Hilton speaks—who had cribs up his sleeve, and notes on his cuff.

To go with, verb. phr. (colloquial). — i. To agree or harmonise with. See Gee.

2. (colloquial).—To share the sexual embrace. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

On the go, adv. phr. (cojlo. quial).—On the move; restlessly active.

No go, adv. phr. (colloquial).— Of no use ; not to be done ; a complete failure. Frequently contracted to N.G.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by^ Boz, p. 18. I know something about this here family, and my opinion is, it's no go.

1853. Diogenes, vol. II., p. 271. Dear master, don't think of me ill ; If I say—as the lists are no go — You've in future no fear for the till !

1884. Notes and Queries, 6 S., x., p. 125. There were on the occasion so many rounds and so many no goes.

1888. Puck's Library, May, p. 12. He thought a moment, and shook his head. It's no go was the dictum.

169U. Punch, 22 Feb., p. 85. He's a long-winded lot, is Buchanan, slops over tremenjous, he do ; . . . But cackle and splutter ain't swimming ; so Robert, my nabs, it's no go.

1892. J. McCarthy and Mrs. Campbeli.-Praed, Ladies' Gallery, p. 84. She sees it is no go with the baronet.

A little bit on the go,

adv. phr. (old). — Slightly inebriated ; elevated. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry [peoples' ed.], p. 58. The Corinthian had made him a little bit on the go.

Goad, sztbs. (old).—i. A decoy at auctions ; a horse-chaunter ; a peter funk {q.v.). [One who goads (i.e., sends up) the prices.]

16U9. Dekker, Lanthorne and Candle light, ch. x. They that stand by and conycatche the chapman either with out-bidding, false praises, etc., are called

goades.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. Crew, s.v. Goads, those that wheedle in Chapmen for Horse-coursers,

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. 2. in. pi. (old).—False dice.— Chapman. For synonyms, see Ivories.

Goal, subs. (Winchester College). — i. At football the boy who stands at the centre of each end, acting as umpire ; and (2) the score of three points made when the ball is kicked between his legs, or over his head without his touching it.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 138. Midway between each of the two ends of the line was stationed another boy, as umpire (Goal, he was called) who stood with his legs wide apart, and a gown rolled up at each foot : if the ball was kicked directly over his head, or between his legs, without his touching it, it was a goal, and scored three for the party that kicked it.

Goaler's Coach. See Gaoler's Coach.

Go-along.

Goatish.

Go-along, subs, (thieves'). — A fool; a flat {q.v.). For synonyms, see Büffle and Cabbage Head.

1851-61. II. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 460. In four days my adviser left me ; he had no more use for me. I was a flat. He had me for a go-along, to cry his things for him.

1853. Household Words, No. 183. s.v. ' Slang.'

Goat, subs. (old).—A lecher; a molrower (q.v.).

1599. Shakspeare, Henry V., iv., 4. Thou damn'd and luxurious mountain

goat.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. Crew, s.v. Goat, a Lecher, a very lascivious person.

1717. Cibp.er, Nonjuror, \., 1. At the tea-table I have seen the impudent goat most lusciously sip off her leavings.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Verb (common).—1. To thrash. For synonyms, see Tan.

1864. Derby Day, p. 70. You won't goat me ? Not this journey.

TO play the goat. verb.

phr. (common). — i. To play the fool; to monkey (q.v.). Fr., faire Voiseatt.

2. (venery).—To lead a fast life ; to be given to molrowing (q.v.).

To ride the goat, verb. phr. (common).—To be initiated into a secret society. [From the vulgar error that a live goat, for candidates to ride, is one of the standing properties of a Masonic lodge.]

Goatee, subs, (colloquial). — A tufted beard on the point of a shaven chin. [In imitation of the tuft of hair on a goat's chin.]

English Synonyms (for a beard generally).—Charley; imperial ; Newgate (or sweep's) frill, or fringe.

French Synonyms. — Une marmouse (thieves') ; un impériale (colloquial : formerly une royale) ; un bouc or une bouquine ( = a goatee) ; bacchantes (thieves' : the beard, but more especially the whiskers, from bâche = awning).

German Synonym. — Soken (from the Hebrew ; also = old man).

Italian Synonyms. — Bosco di berlo (the forest on the face) ; settosa ( = full of hair) ; spinola ( = thorny).

Spanish Synonym.—Bosque ( = wood).

1869. Orchestra, 18 June. Working carpenters with a straggling goatee on the chin, and a mass of unkempt hair on the head.

Goater, subs. (American thieves'). — Dress. For synonyms, see Togs.

Goat-house, subs. (old). — A brothel. [From Goat, subs., sense 1.] For synonyms, see Nanny-shop.

Goatish, adj. (old, now recognised).— Lecherous. [Asvieing with a goat in lust.] Hence Goatishly, adv., and Goatishness, subs.

1622. Massinger and Dekker, Virgin Martyr, iii., 1. Give your chaste body up to the embraces of goatish lust.

1605. Shakspeare, King Lear, i. 2. An admirable evasion of whoremasterman, to lay his goatish disposition to tho charge of a star.

Goat-milker. ^T67 Gob.

Goat-Milker, subs, (venery).—i. A prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

2. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Goat's Jig (or Gigg\ subs. (old). — Copulation. For synonyms, see Greens.—Grose.

Go-away, subs. (American thieves'). —A railway-train.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. The knuck was working the goaways at Jersey City.

Gob (or Gobbett), subs, (old: nowvulgar). I. A portion ; a mouthful ; a morsel. Also a gulp ; a bolt (q.v. ). [Latin, gob = mouth : Old Fr., gob —a gulp.] Skeat says the shorter form gob is rare.

1380. Wycliffe, Trans, of Bible. Thei token the relifis of broken gobetis tweh e cofres full.

1542. Apop. of Erasmus [1878], p. 14. A bodie thinketh hymself well emende in his substaunce and riches, to whom hath happened some good gubbe of money, and maketh a great whinyng if he haue had any losse of the same.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in wks., v.. 261. And thrust him downe his pudding house at a gobbe.

1605. Chapman, All Fools, Act iii., p. 62 (Plays, 1874). Ri. And do you think He'll swallow down the gudgeon ? Go. O my life, It were a gross gob would not down with him.

1611, L. Barry, Ravi. Alley, I., i. That little land he gave, Throate the lawyer swallowed at one gob For less than half the worth.

1689. Sei.den, Table-Talk, p. 50 (Arber's ed.). The meaning of the Law was, that so much should be taken from a man, such a gobbet sliced off, that yet notwithstanding he might live in the same Rank and Condition he lived in before ; but now they Fine men ten times more than they are worth.

1690. B. E., Diet. Canting Crew, s.v. Gob(c) . . . also a Bit or Morsel ; hence gobbets, now more in use for little Bits.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Gob or gobbet (s.) a piece just big enough, or fit to be put into the mouth at once.

1774. Foote, Cozeners, ii., 2. The venison was over-roasted, and stunk—but Doctor Dewlap twisted down such gobs of fat.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1816. Johnson, Eng. Diet. (12th ed.) Gob, a small quantity, a low word.

1869. S. L. Clemens (M. Twain), Innocents Abroad, ch. vii. It is pushed out into the sea on the end of a flat, narrow strip of land, and is suggestive of a gob of mud on the end of a shingle.

2. (common). — The mouth. Shut your gob = an injunction to silence. See Gab. A spank on the gob = a blow on the mouth. Gob-full of claret = a bleeding at the mouth. Gift of the gab or gob, see Gab. For synonyms see Potato-trap.

1690. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v. Gob, the Mouth.

1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib's Me. viorial, p. 18. Home-hits in the bread* basket, clicks in the gob. Ibid, p. 30.

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle's Log, ch. i. ' All right—all right,' I then exclaimed, as I thrust half a doubled-up muffin into my gob.

1851-61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab, and Lond. Poor, vol. L, p. 469. I managed somehow to turn my gob (mouth) round and gnawed it away.

3. (common),—A mouthful of spittle. Fr., un copeau ; It,, smalzo di cavio ( = gutter-butter). For synonyms, see Sixpences.

Verb, (common). — 1. To swallow in mouthfuls ; to gulp down. Also gobble (q.v.).

Gobble.

168 Gob-box.

1692. L'Estrange Fables. Down comes a kite powdering upon them, and gobbets up both together.

2. (common). — To expectorate. Fr., glavioter (popular) ; molarder.

Gobbie, subs, (nautical).—A coastguardsman ; whence gobbieship, a man of war engaged in the preventive service.

1890. Scotsman, 4 Aug. When a meeting takes place the men indulge in a protracted yarn and a draw of the pipe. The session involves a considerable amount of expectoration all round, whereby our friends come to be known as gobbies, and in process of time the term came to be applied to the ships engaged in the service. Ibid. There are no fewer than three other gobbie ships in the channel fleet, each of which carries a considerable number of coastguardsmen putting in their annual period of drill.

Gobble (or Gobble up), verb. (vulgar).—To swallow hastily or greedily ; hence (American) to seize, capture, or appropriate. Also gob : e.g., gob that !

1602. Dekker, Satiro-mastix, in wks. (1873) i. 233. They will come to gobble downe Plummes.

1728. Swift, Misc. Poems, in wks(1824) xiv. 232. The time too precious now to waste, The supper gobbled up in haste.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. cvi. Summoned in such a plaguy hurry from his dinner, which he had been fain to gobble up like a cannibal.

1846-48. Thackeray, Vanity Fair,

vol. i, ch. v. Mr. Jos.....helped

Rebecca to everything on the table, and himself gobbled and drank a great deal.

1860. Thackeray, Philip, ch. xiii. There was a wily old monkey who thrust the cat's paw out, and proposed to gobble up the smoking prize.

Gobble-prick, subs. (old).—A lecherous woman.—Grose.

Gobbler, subs. (old).—i. A duck. —Harman.

2. (colloquial). — A turkey cock ; a bubbly-jock (q.v.). Also Gobble-cock.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1851. Hooper, Widow Rugby's Husband, etc., p. 94. Her face was as red as a gobbler's snout.

3. (vulgar).—The mouth. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

4. (colloquial). — A greedy eater. For synonyms, see Stodger.

Gobbling ,subs. (vulgar). —Gorging.

1846-48. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch. iii., vol. i. His mouth was full of it, his face quite red with the delightful exercise of gobbling ¹ Mother, it's as good as my own curries in India.'

Go-between, subs, (old).—A pimp or bawd. Now an intermediary of any kind.

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, Act ii., sc. 2. Even as you came into me, her assistant, or go-between, parted from me.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Goblin, subs. (old).—A sovereign. For synonyms, see Canary.

1887. W. E. Henley, Villous Straight Tip. Your merry goblins soon stravag : Boose and the blowens cop the lot.

Gob-box, subs, (common).—The mouth. [From gob, subs. ] For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

1773. Forster, Goldsmith, Bk. IV., ch. xiv., p. 414 (5th ed.). Shuter protesting in his vehement odd way that ' the boy could patter,' and ' use the gob-box as quick and smart as any of them.'

1819. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor, ch. i. Your characters .... made too much use of the gob-box ; they patter too much.

Gob-stick. ^i6q God.

Gob-stick, subs. (old).—A silver table-spoon. (In use in America = either spoon or fork) ; (nautical), a horn or wooden spoon.

1789. Parker, Life's Painter, s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Gob-st ring (or Gab-string), subs. (old).—A bridle. 1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. 1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Go-by, subs, (colloquial). — The act of passing ; an evasion ; a deception. To give one the go-by = to cut; to leave in the lurch. Cf., Cut (subs, sense 2, verb, sense 2).

1876. Hindley, Cheap Jack, p. 214. When we came in contact with a travelling bookseller we could give him the go-by with our library.

1892. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, ch. ix. She gave us the go-by in the fog — as I wish from the heart that ye had done yoursel' !

1892. Sala's Journal, 25 June, p. 194. Now can you understand how it is possible, and, I think, expedient, to give politics the go-by, so far as one conveniently can?

Go-by-the-Ground, stibs. (old). —A dumpy man or woman.— Grose.

God, subs, (common).—1. in. pl., the occupants of the gallery at a theatre. [Said to have been first used by Garrick because they were seated on high, and close to the sky-painted ceiling.] Fr., paradis = gallery ; also poulailler. In feminine, Goddess.

1772. Cumberland, Fashionable Lover [probably spoken by printer's devil]. 'Tis odds For one poor devil to face so many gods.

1812. J. and H. Smith, Rejected Addresses, p. 128 [ed. 1869]. Each one shilling god within reach of a nod is, And plain are the charms of each gallery goddess.

1843. Thackeray, Irish Sketch Book, ch. xxvii. The gallery was quite full . . . one young god, between the acts, favoured the public with a song.

1872. M. E. Braddon, Dead Sea Fruit, ch. xiv. There come occasionally actors and actresses of higher repute, eager to gather new laurels in these untrodden regions, and not ill pleased to find themselves received with noisy rapture and outspoken admiration by the ruder gods and homelier goddesses of a threepenny gallery.

1890. G lobe, ^ 7 Apr., p. 2, c. 2. The gods, or a portion of them, hooted and hissed while the National Anthem was being performed.

1892. Sydney Watson, Wops the Waif, iii., iv. It is only when we have paid our ' tuppence ' and ascended to the gallery just under the roof, known as 'among the gods,' that we begin to understand what is meant by the lowest classes, the 'great unwashed.'

1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 20 Apr., p. 2, c. 3. If theatre managers would only give the public the chance of as good a seat as can be got at the Trocadero or the Pavilion, at the same price, and manage the ventilation of their houses so as not to bake the gods and freeze the ' pitites,' I venture to think that fewer people would go to the music halls.

2. in. pi. (printers'). — The quadrats used in jeffing (q.v.).

3. (tailors').—A block pattern. Gods of cloth = ' classical tailors.'—Grose. See Snip.

4. (Eton).—A boy in the sixth form.

1881. Pascoe, Life in our Public Schools. A god at Eton is probably in a more exalted position, and receives more reverence than will ever afterwards fall to his lot.

A sight for the gods, phr. (common).—A matter of wonderment.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger's Sweetheart, p. 31. Stringy Bark prepared to greet his native land, was a sight for the gods to behold with satisfaction, and men fo view from afar with awed respect.

Goddess Diana. ^l7°

Go-easier.

God Pays ! phr. (old).—An expression at one time much in the mouth of disbanded soldiers and sailors (who assumed a right to live on the public charity). The modern form is, ' If I don't pay you, God Almighty will.'

1605. London Prodical, ii., 3. But there be some that bear a soldier's form, That swear by him they never think upon ; Go swaggering up and down, from house to house, Crying, God pays.

1630. Taylor, in wks. These feather'd fidlers sing, and leape, and play, The begger takes delight, and God doth pay.

1640. Ben Jonson, Efiigr. XII. To every cause he meets, this voice he brays, His only answer is to all, God pays.

God (or Bramah) Knows : I

don't, phr. ( common ). — An

emphatic rejoinder.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of IVordes. Come Iddio vel dica., a phrase, as wee would say : God himselfe tell you, I cannot.

Goddess Diana, subs. phr. (rhyming). A sixpence. For synonyms, see Tanner.

1864. The Press, 12 Nov. Goddess Diana is the rhyming equivalent for a tanner which signifies sixpence.

G od-dot I intj. (old).—An oath. By God ! [A contraction of ' God wot ! '] For synonyms, see Oaths.

Godfather, subs. (old). — A juryman.

1598. Shakspeare, Merchant of Venice, iv. 1. In christ'ning thou shalt have two godfathers, Had I been judge, thou should'st have had ten more, To bring thee to the gallows, not the font.

1616. Ben Jonson, Devil's An Ass, v., 5. Not I, If you be such a one, sir, I will leave you To your god-fathers in law. Let twelve men work.

1638. Randolph, Muses' Looking Glass, ix. 251. I had rather zee him remitted to the jail, and have his twelve godvathers, good men and true, condemn him to the gallows.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

To stand Godfather, verb, phr. (common). — To pay the reckoning. [Godfathers being the objects of much solicitude and expectation.]

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Will you stand godfather, and we will take care of the brat ? = repay you another time.

Go-down, subs. (old). — i. A draught of liquor ; a go (q.v.).

2. (American).—See quot.

1881. New York Times, 18 Dec, quoted in ' N and Q' 6, s.v. 65. Go Down. —A cutting in the bank of a stream for enabling animals to cross or to get to water.

God-permit, subs. (old).—A stage coach. [Which was advertised to start Deo volente. ]

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. God-permit, a stage coach, from that affectation of piety, frequently to be met with in advertisements of stage coaches or waggons, where most of their undertakings are promised with if God permit, or God willing.

1825. Modern Flash Diet., s.v.

God's-mercy, subs. (old).—Ham (or bacon) and eggs. ['There's nothing in the house but God's mercy': at one time a common answer in country inns to travel lers in quest of provant.]

God's-penny, subs. (old).—An earnest penny.

1690. B. E., Diet, of the Cant. Crew, s v. God's Penny, Earnest Money, to Bind a Bargain.

1765. Percy, Religues, ' The heir of Linne.' Then John he did him to record draw, And John he cast him a God's pennie.

Go-easter, subs. (American cowboys'). — A portmanteau ; a peter (q.v.). [Because seldom used except in going cityor east-wards.]

Goer. 171 Goldarn ed.

Goer, subs. (old).—1. The foot. For synonyms, see Creepers.

1557-1634. Chapman, in Encyclop. Diet. A double mantle, cast Athwart his shoulders,his faire goers grac't With fitted shoes.

2. (colloquial).—An expert or adept ; as in drawing, talking, riding ; one well up to his (or her) work : generally with an adjective, as e.g., a fast (or hell of a) goer = a good goer.

1857. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. xx. Nevertheless, she was always deeply engaged, and generally to the best goers in the room.

Goff. See Mrs. Goff.

Goggles, subs, (common).—1. A goggle-eyed person. Also Gog

gler.

1647. Beaumont and Fletcher, Knight of Malta, v., 2. Do you stare, goggles ?

1891. Clark Russell, Ocean Tragedy, p. 51. No use sending blind man aloft, gogglers like myself, worse luck.

2. in. pi. (common). — The

eyes : specifically those with a

constrained or rolling stare ; also

Goggle-eyes. Goggle-eyed =

squint-eyed.

1598. Florto, A Worlde of Wördes, Strabo, he that looketh a squint or is goggle-eide.

c. 1746. Robertson of Struan, Poems, 69. An eagle of a dwarfish sue, With crooked Beak, and gogle eyes.

1691-1763. Byrom, Dissection of a Beau's Head. Those muscles, in English, wherewith a man ogles, When on a fair lady he fixes his goggles.

1785. Grose, Vulg, Tongue, s.v.

1821. Pierce Egan, Life in London, p. 241. Rolling your goggles about after all manner of people.

3. in. pi. (common).—Spectacles. For synonyms, see Barnacles.

Verb (colloquial).—Goggle — to roll the eyes ; to stare.

1577-87. Holinshed, Desctiption of Ireland, ch. i. They Goggle with their eyes hither and thither.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Goggle, to stare.

1820-37. Walpole, Letters, iii., 174. He goggled his eyes.

1880. MiLi.iKiN, Punch's Almanack, April. Scissors ! don't they goggle and look blue.

Gogmagog, subs, (colloquial).—A goblin ; a monster ; a frightful apparition.—Hood.

Going, subs, (colloquial). —The condition of a road, a piece of ground, a cinder-path: i.e., the accommodation for travelling. E.g., the going is bad.

1872. Morning Post, 19 Aug. The Lamb's starting in the Frankfort steeplechase will depend upon the state of the giound, and, avoiding Wiesbaden, where the going is indifferent.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 23 Nov. The going was wonderfully clean for the time of year.

Goings-on, sicbs. (colloquial). — Behaviour ; proceedings ; conduct. Cf., Carryings on.

1845. Douglas Jerrold, Mrs. Caudle, Lecture viii. Pretty place it must be where they don't admit women. Nice goings-on, i daresay, Mr. Caudle.

1870. Lloyds Newspaper, 11 Sept. ' Review.' Elsie is beloved by Gawthwaite, the village schoolmaster, and he takes her to task for her goings-on.

Goldarned (or Goldurned, Goldasted, etc.), adj. (common).— A mild form of oath : = Blamed [q.v.) ; Bloody (q.v.). See Oaths. As intj., Goldarn it ! etc.

1888. American Humorist. 'Bill, are you hurt ? ' ' Yes, by gum ; i've broke my goldarned neck.'

Gold-backed ' Un. 17² Goldfinch's Nest.

1888. Cincinnati Enquirer. Finally, Deacon Spalding broke out with : ' That goldasted St. Louis mugwump has made suckers of us again with his cracks about coming into the league. I move we adjourn.'

Gold-backed '\Jh,subs, (common). —A louse. Also Grey-backed 'un. For synonyms, see Chates.

Gold Bug, subs. phr. (American). —A man of wealth and (inferentially) distinction ; a millionaire. See Bug.

1888. St. Louis Globe Democrat, Mar. 5. I do not think the feeling against silver is anything like as strong as it was. Of course, a few gold bugs might fight him.

gold-dropper, subs. (old).—A sharper. An old-time worker of the confidence trick. See quots. Also Gold-finder.

1690. B. E., Cant. Crew, s.v. Gold-droppers, Sweetners, Cheats, Sharpers.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Gold-finder (s.) . . . also a cant name for a cheat, who under the pretence of finding a piece of money, and inviting a by-Stander to partake of a treat, etc., out of it, endeavours to get him to play at cards, dice, etc., in order to win or cheat him of his money ; they are sometimes also called guinea-droppers.

1785. Gkose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. 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.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Golden-cream, subs, (thieves').— Rum.

1889. Clarkson and Richardson, Police, p. 321, s.v.

Gold-end Man, subs. phr. (old). —An itinerant jeweller ; a buyer of old gold and silver. [Golden d = a broken piece of

jewellery.] Also Goldsmith's

Apprentice. See Eastward Hoe.

1610. Jonson, Alchemist, ii., 1. I know him not, he looks like a gold-end

man.

1622. Fletcher, Beggars Bush, iii., i. Hig. Have ye any ends of gold or silver ?

Golden Grease, subs. phr. (old). —A fee ; also a bribe. For synonyms, see Palm Oil.

Goldfinch, subs. (old).—i. A well-to-do man ; a warm 'un (q.v.).

1690. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v. Goldfinch, c. He that has alwaies a Purse or Cod of Gold in his Fob.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1852. Judson, Mysteries, etc., of New York, ch. iv. ' Was the swell a goldfinch ? ' ' He wasn't nothin' else. Got a clean ten times ten out of him.'

Ibid. ' It'll be a great lay, if the game's fat. Is it a goldfinchï' 'Fifty thousand, hard dust.'

2. (common). — A guinea ; a sovereign. For synonyms, see Canary.

1700. Farquhar, Constant Couple, ii., 2. Sir H. Don't you love singingbirds, madam? Angel {aside). That's an odd question for a lover ; (aloud) Yes, sir. Sir H. Why, then, madam, here is a nest of the prettiest goldfinches that ever chirped in a cage.

1822. Scott, The Fortunes of Nigel, ch. iv. Put your monies aside, my lord ; it is not well to be seen with such goldfinches chirping about one in the lodgings of London.

1826. Buckstone, Luke the Labourer, iii., 4. Good-night, noble captain. Pipe all hands at five o'clock, for I've a day's work to do. We'll jig it to-morrow, to the

piping Of gold-finches.

1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. 101 (ed. 1864). Here's a handful of goldfinches ready to fly.

Goldfinch's Nest, subs, (venery). —The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

1827. The Merry Muses, p. 70. And soon laid his hand on the goldfinch's nest.

Gold-finder. *73 Golgotha.

•Gold-finder, subs, (old).-—i. An ' emptier of privies. Also Tomturd-man ; Gong-man ; and Night-man. Fr., un fouillemerde; un fifi. Also passer la jambe à Jules = to upset Mrs. Jones, i.e., to empty the privy tub.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie, Gadouard, a gould-finder, Jakes-farmer.

1635. Feltham, Resolves. As our goldfInders .... in the night and darkness thrive on stench and excrements.

1653. Middleton, Sp. Gipsy, ii., 2, p. 398 (Mermaid series). And if his acres, being sold for a maravedii a turf for larks in cages, cannot fill this pocket, give

'em tO gold finders.

1659. Torriano, Vocabolario, s.v.

1704. Gentleman Instructed, p. 445 (1732). We will commit the further discussion of the poet to a committee cf goldfinders, or a club of rake-kennels.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v

2. (old).—A thief ; a golddropper (q.v.).

Gold Hat-band, subs, (old University).—A nobleman undergraduate ; a tuft (q.v.).

1628. Earle, Microcosmography. . His companion is ordinarily some stale fellow that has been notorious for an ingle to gold hatbands, whom hee admires at first, afterwards scornes.

1889. Gentleman's Mag., June, p. 598. Noblemen at the universities, since known as ' tufts,' because of the gold tuft or tassle to their cap, were then known as

gold hatbands.

goldie-locks, subs. (old). —A flaxen-haired woman. Goldylocked = golden haired.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wördes. Biondella .... agolden-lockt wench, as we say a goldilocks.

1605. Ben Jonson, The Fox, i., 1. Thence it fled forth, and made quick transmigration to goldy-locked Euphorbus.

Gold Mine, subs. phr. (common). — A profitable investment ; a store of wealth, material or intellectual.

1664. H. Peacham, Worth of a Penny, in Arber's Gamer, vol. VI., p. 249. Some men . . . when they have met with a gold mine, so brood over and watch it, day and night, that it is impossible for Charity to be regarded, Virtue rewarded, or Necessity relieved.

1330 Tennyson, Dream of Fair Women, p. 274. Gold-mines of thought —to lift the hidden ore.

1882. Thormanby, Famous Racing Men, p. 81. Mendicant . . . ran nowhere in the Cup ... in reality she was destined to prove a gold mine, for ten years afterwards she brought her owner ;£8o,ooo through her famous son, Beadsman.

1883. Sat. Review, 28 Apr. 533/2. His victory proved a gold mine to the professional bookmakers.

1887. Froude, Eng. in West Indies, ch. v. Every one was at law with his neighbour, and the_island was a gold mine to the Attorney-General.

Golgotha, subs. (old).—i. The Dons' gallery at Cambridge ; also applied to a certain part of the theatre at Oxford. [That is, ' the place of skulls ' : Cf., Luke xxiii. 33, and Matthew xxvii. 33, whence the pun : Dons being the heads of houses.]

1730. Jas. Miller, Humours of Oxford, Act ii., p. 23 (2nd ed.). Sirrah, I'll have you put in the black-book, rusticated,— expelled—I'll have you coram nobis at Golgotha, where you'll be bedevilled, Muck-worm, you will.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1791. G. Huddesford, Salmagundi, (Note on, p. 150). Golgotha, ' The place of a Scull,' a name ludicrously affixed to the Place in which the Heads of Colleges assemble.

1808. J. T. Conybeare in C. K. Sharpe's Correspondence (1888), i., 324. The subject then, of the ensuing section is Oxford News . . . we will begin by golgotha . . . Cole has already obtained the Headship of Exeter, and Mr. Griffiths ... is to have that of University.

Golgotha. *74

Göll

2. (common). — Hence, a hat.

English Synonyms.—Battle of the Nile (rhyming, i.e., a tile {q.v.) ; bell-topper; billycock ; beaver ; box-hat ; cady ; canister cap ; castor ; chummy ; cathedral ; chimney ; chimneypot ; cock ; colleger ; cock-andpinch ; cowshooter ; David ; deerstalker ; digger's delight ; fantail ; felt ; Gibus ; gomer (Winchester); goss ; moab ; molocher ; mortarboard ; muffin-cap ; mushroom ; nab ; nap ; napper ; pantile ; pimple-cover ; pill-box ; plughat ; pot ; shako ; shovel ; sleepless hat ; sou'wester ; stove-pipe ; strawer ; thatch ; tile ; topper ; truck ; upper-crust ; wash-pot ; wee-jee ; wide-awake.

French Synonyms. — Un accordéon (popular : an opera hat) ; une ardoise ( = a tile) ; une bâche (thieves' : also an awning) ; une biscope or viscope (vulgar) ; un Mockaus (vulgar : a shako) ; un blownard or une blottme (popular) ; une boîte à comes (a horn case; i.e., a cover for a cuckold) ; un Bolivar (from the hero of 1820) ; un boisseau (also = a bushel) ; un bosselard (schoolboys' : from bosselé = bruised or dented) ; un cabas (popular : = old hat ; also basket or bag) ; un cadratin (printers'= a stove-pipe) ; un caloquet (thieves') ; cambriau, cambrieux, or cambriot (popular) ; un capet (from old French, cape I) ; une capsule (popular = a percussion cap) ; un carbeluche galicé (a silk hat); une casque ( = helmet); un chapska ( = a shako) ; une cheminée (popular : = chimney-pot) ; une corniche (popular : = a cornice) ; un couvercle (popular : = potlid) ; une couvrante ; un couvre-amour (military) ; un

cylindre ( = a stove-pipe) ; un Des» foux (from the maker's name) ; un epicéphale (students' : from the Greek) ; un gadin (an old hat) ; un galure or galurin (popular) ; tin Garibaldi; un Gibus (from the inventor's name) ; un lampion (thieves' : = grease-pot) ; un loubion (thieves') ; un mar quin (thieves') ; un monument (popular) ; tin nid d'hirondelle ; un niolle (thieves' : an old hat) ; un tromblon (obsolete = blunderbuss) ; un tubard, tube, or tube à haute pression ( = a cylinder) ; une tuile ( = a tile) ; une tuyau de poêle ( = a stove-pipe).

German Synonyms. — Bte (Viennese) ; Kou,e (from the Hebrew, kowa).

Italian Synonyms.—Bufala, baccha or biffacha ; cresta or cristiana ( = a cruet) ; fungo ( = mushroom).

Spanish Synonyms. — Tejado or techo ( = tiled roof).

Goliath, subs, (colloquial).—1. A big man.

2. A man of mark among the Philistines (q.v.). [Mr. Swinburne described the late Matthew Arnold as ' David, the son of Goliath.']

Göll, subs. (old).—The hand ; usually in. pi. See Bunch of Fives and Daddle.

1601. B. Jonson, Poetaster, v., Bring the whoreson detracting slaves to the bar, do ; make them hold vp their spread golls.

1602. Dekker, Satiro-Mastrix, in wks. (1873), i., 203. Holde up thy hand : I ha seene the day thou didst not scorne to holde vp thy golles.

1611. MiDDLETON, Roaring Girl, Act i. This is the goll shall do't.

Gollop. ^l75 Gone.

1620. Middleton, Chaste Maid, ii., 2. What their golls can clutch.

1634. S. Rowley, Noble Souldier, Act ii., Sc. 2. Bal. Saist thou me so ? give me thy goll, thou art a noble girle.

1659. Massinger, City Madam, iv., i. All the gamesters are ambitious to shake the golden golls of worshipful master Luke.

1661. T. Middleton, Mayor of Quinborough, v., i. Down with his golls, I charge you.

1672. Dryden, The Assignation, Act iii., Sc. i. A simperer at lower end of a table, With mighty golls, roughgrained, and red with starching.

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary. Goll, a hand or fist ; give me thy goll.

1803. C. K. Sharpe in Correspondence (1888), i., 17;. Miss Reid with her silk coat and greasie golls.

gollop, verb, (common). — To swallow greedily ; to gulp. For synonyms, see Wolf.

Gollumpus, subs. (old). —A clumsy lout.—Grose.

Golly 1 — A contraction of By Golly ! (q.v.).

1890. R. L. Stevenson, The Wrong Box, p. 275. Golly ! what a paper !

Goloptious (or Golopshus), adj. (common).—Splendid; fine; delicious ; luscious.

1888. Sporting Life, 7 Dec. It would better scoop the situation if it were described as goloptious.

Goloshes, subs, (colloquial).— India rubber overshoes. But see Grose.

1796. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Goloshes, i.e. Goliah's shoes. Large leathern clogs, worn by invalids over their ordinary shoes.

Gom been-man, subs. (Irish).—A usurer ; a money-lender ; a sharking middleman. For synonyms, see Sixty-per-cent.

Gom er, subs. (Winchester College). — i. A large pewter dish used in college.

2. (Winchester College). — A new hat. See Golgotha.

Gom my, subs. (old).—i. A dandy. Fr., gommeux. [Anglo-Saxon, guma = a man ; a person : gomme =gommer=gammer. Cf., Gomus. Beaumont has gom = a man.]

2. (colloquial).—See quot.

1883. Weekly Dispatch, 11 Mar., p. 7, c. 4. There has recently been considerable debate as to the meaning of the term gommie. It is very simple. A GOMMiE is one who calls Mr. Gladstone a G. O. M. [Grand Old Man], and thinks he has made a good joke.

3. (colloquial).—A fool. P'or synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

Gom us, subs. (Irish).—A fool. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

Gondola, subs. (American).—i. A railway platform car, sideless or low-sided. Also a flat-bottomed boat.

Gondola of London, subs. phr. (common).—A hansom cab ; a shoful (q.v.). [The description is Lord Beaconsfield's.]

Gone, adj. (colloquial).—1. Ruined; totally undone. Also, adv., an expression of completeness, e.g., Gone beaver, corbie, coon, gander, or goose = a man or an event past praying for : Cf., Go up and Go down.

1604. Shakspeare, Winters Tale, iv., 3. He must know 'tis none of your daughter nor my sister ; we are gone else.

Goner. *76

Gonof.

1843-4. Haliburton, Sam Slick in England, ch. xviii. If a bear comes after you, Sam, you must be up and doin', or it's a gone goose with you.

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 40. From that moment he was gone beaver ; he felt queer, he said, all over.

1857. Notes and Queries, 2 S. iii., 519. To call a person a gone corbie, is only to say in other words, it's all up with him.

1862. Clough, Poems. He had been into the schools ; plucked almost ; all but a gone-coon.

1863. C. Reave, Hard Cash, I., 178. I shall meet her again next week ; will you come ? Any friend of mine is welcome. Wish me joy, old fellow ; I'm a gone coon.

Gone on, adv.phr. (colloquial).

— Enamoured of ; infatuated

with; mashed on [q.v.); sweet

on (q. v. ). Generally in contempt.

Fr., aimer coi?ime ses petits boyaux.

For synonyms, see Sweet on.

1887. John Strange Winter, That Imp, p. 44. He was a fine fellow, and no mistake. And was gone on Lady Lorrimor !

1890. Illustrated Bits, 29 Mar. p. 10, c. 3. He must have been terribly gone on this woman.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 113. 'Poor chap, he's very far gone,' thought Jack.

1892. Mii.liken, 'Arry Ballads, p. 31. I'll eat my old boots if she isn't dead gone on.

Goner, (or Gones, Gonus, or Goney), subs. (American). — 1. A fool; a simpleton. Also Gauney [q.v.). For synonyms, see Buffle or Cabbage-head.

1857. Punch, 31 Jan. But the lark's when a goney up with us they shut, As ain't up to our lurks, our flash patter, and smut.

1860. Haliburton, Sam Slick, 'The Season Ticket,' No. X. ' It's only grief, Nabby dear, my heart is broke.' ' Is that all, you goney ? ' says she, ' it's lucky your precious neck ain't broke.'

a. 1871. The Dartmouth, vol. iv. One day I heard a Senior call a fellow a gonus. ' Gonus,' echoed I, 'what does that mean?' Oh,' said he, ' you're a Freshman, and

don't understand. A stupid fellow, a dolt, a boot-jack, an ignoramus, is here called a gonus. All Freshmen,' he continued gravely, ' are gonuses.'

2. (colloquial).—A person past

recovery, utterly ruined, or done

for in any way.

1876. S. L. Clemens (Mark Twain), Tom Sawyer, p. 99. ' Yes, but she ain't dead ; and, what's more, she's getting better too.' 'All right, you wait and see. She's a goner, just as dead sure as Muff Potter's a goner.'

1888. Cincinnati Enquirer. Fortunately, she did not see me, or else I should have been a goner.

1891. N. Gould. Double Event, p. 261. 'Make a noise or follow me, and you're a goner,' said Smirk.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushrangers Sweetheart, p. 212. A few more of her meddlings and she's a goner, that's what she is.

Gong (or Gong-house), subs. (old).—A privy. For synonyms, see Mrs. Jones.

1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales. 'The Parsons Tale' [Riverside Ed. (1880)], ii., 241. Thise fool wommen, that mowe be likned to a commune gong, whereas men purgen hire ordure.

gong-farmer (or gong-man),

subs, (old).—An emptier of cesspools ; a gold-finder (q.v.).

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wördes. Curadestri, a iakes, goong, or doong farmer.

Gonof (or Gonnof or Gonoph or Gnof), subs, (thieves').— 1. A thief; specifically a pick-pocket, and especially an adept. [From the Hebrew. Ancient English ; a legacy from the old time Jews. It came into use again with the moderns who employ it commonly. Cf. ,gonov = thief in Ex. xxii, 2 and 6, viz., ' if the gonov be found. '] See Thieves.

1857. Dickens, On Duty zvith Inspector Field, in 'Reprinted Pieces' p. 256. If the smallest gonoph about town were crouching at the bottom of a classic bath Inspector Field would nose him.

Gonophing.

177

Good.

1319. Morning Chronicle, 2 Nov. A burglar would not condescend to sit among pickpockets. My informant has known a housebreaker to say with a sneer, when requested to sit down with the gonoffs, ' No, no, I may be a thief, but at least I'm a respectable one.'

1851-01. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. III., p. 325. The gonaff (a Hebrew word signifying a young thief, probably learnt from the Jew ' fences ' in the neighbourhood).

1852. Judson, A fyst., etc., 0/ New York, ch. vii, He next assumed his present profession, and became a gnof or pickpocket.

1876. Hindley, Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 146. Oh, you tief! you cheat ! you gonnof !

1889. Referee, 12 May. Gonophs .... were frequent in Tattersall's on Friday.

1889. C. T. Clarkson and J. Hall Richardson, Police, p. 321. Boys who creep into houses . . . Young gunneffs or gonophs.

2. (old).—A bumpkin ; a churl; a clumsy hand ; a shameless simpleton.

1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, 3187-8. Whilom there was, dwelling in Oxenforde, A rich gnof, that gertes helde to borde.

c. 1547. Song (quoted by Hotten). The country gnoffes, Hob, Dick, and Hick, With clubbes and clouted shoon, Shall fill up Dussin Dale With slaughtered bodies soone.

Verb (old).—To wheedle ; to cheat ; to steal.

Gonophing, subs, (thieves').— Ticking pockets.

1857. Dickens, The Detective Police, in ' Reprinted Pieces,' p. 240. From the swell mob, we diverge to the kindred topics of cracksmen, fences .... designing voung people who go out gonophing, and other ' schools.'

Goo by, subs. (common). — A simpleton ; a blockhead. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1892. Ally Sloper, 19 Mar., p. 00, c. 3. Why, you old gooby, Mister Sloper will pay us twice as much for the ducks.

Good I subs, (printers').—An abbreviation of ' Good Night ! '

Adj. (colloquial). — Responsible ; solvent ; principally now with ' for ' ; e.g., He is good for any amount. Also, expert.

1598. Shakspeare, Merchant of Venice, i., 3. Antonio is a good man : my meaning in saying that he is a good man, is to have you understand methat he is sufficient.

1824. Reynolds, Peter Corcoran, 91 Good with both hands and only ten stone four.

Good goods, in. pl., subs. phr.. (sporting). — Something worth trying for ; a success. In the superlative, 'best' goods.

1886. Sporting Times, 17 July, 1/4. He was a nice young man for a small tea party, And rather good goods at a Sunday-school treat.

1892. Milliken, 'Any Ballads, p. 39. There s Warner in ' Drink ' ; now, that's business, good goods and no error;

Bit (or Piece) of Goods, subs. phr. (common).—A woman. For synonyms, see Petticoat.

Good old . . . adj. phr. (popular). —A familiar address, derisive or affectionate according to circumstances. See quots.

1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 16 Sept., p. 6, c. i. It was Mephisto's greeting to Mary Anne — in Marguerite's garden— ' Good old Mary Anne ! ' ! ! !

fbid. The famous medico craned his neck out of the window, and, sniffing in the smoke, cried, good old London. This is a true story.

fbid., 17 Sept. Mr. Chirgwin . . . rouses mirth by . . . exclaiming good old spot ! as he discloses the large white ace of diamonds painted ever his right optic.

Good.

178 GoodfelloW.

1892. Chevalier «The Little Nipper.' 'E calls'is mother 'Sally,' And 'is father ' good old pally,' And 'e only stands about so 'igh, that s all !

To feel good, verb. phr. (American).—To be jolly; comfortable ; ' in form ' ; to be on perfect terms with oneself.

1887. Proctor [in Knowledge, i Dec, p. 29]. A friend of mine tells me a proposition was once invitingly made to him which, to say the least, involved no virtuous self-abnegation, and he was urged to accept it by the plea that it would make him feel good.

1888. Texas Siftings, 15 Sept. The saloons are going Saturday afternoon, and the men feel pretty good before they come abroad.

to be IN one's good books, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be in favour ; in good opinion. Conversely, to be in one's BAD books = To be in disfavour. See Book.

Good at it (or at the Game), adj. phr. (venery).—An expert bedfellow, male or female.

To have a good swim.— See Swim.

For good (or For good and all), adv. phr. (colloquial). — Completely ; entirely ; finally.

1673. Wycherley, Gent. Dane. Master, ii., in wks. (1713), 276. If I went, I would go for good and all.

1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, Act i., Sc. 3. Sharp. Faith, e'en give her over for good and all : you can have no hopes of getting her for a Mistress.

1875. Ouida, Signa, vol. IL, ch. v., p. 66. So the child went up to the hüls with Bruno, and stayed there for good and all.

Good as Wheat. —See Wheat.

Good as ever pissed, phr. (venery).—A qualification of extreme excellence.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., ii., 260. And she is as good for the game as e'er pissed.

Good as a Play.—See Play.

Good as Gold, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Very good ; usually of children.

As good as they make 'em. —See Make 'em.

Good-bye, John ! phr. (Amer* ican).—It's no go ; all's U.P.

Good cess, subs. phr. (Irish). —Good luck. (Probably an abbreviation of 'success.') Bad Cess = the reverse.

1845. Buckstone, Green Bushes, i., i. All. Bravo, Paddy! Good cess to ye, Paddy ! Hurrah !

• Goodfellow (or Good Boy, or Good Man), subs. (old).—i. A roysterer ; a boon companion.

1570. Ascham, Scholemaster. Sir Roger had been a good fellow in his youth.

1690. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v. Good Fellow, a Pot companion or Friend of the Bottle.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. 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.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvii. Rattling Reginald Lowestoffe of the Temple—I know him ; he is a good boy.

2. (old).— A thief. See Thieves.

1608. Middleton, Trick to Catch the Old One, ii., 1. Luc. Welcome, good fellow. Host. He calls me thief at first sight. [Footnote in ' Mermaid Series ' Ed. Good fellow was then the cant term for a thief.]

Good Gift.

^T79 Good Time.

1870. Evening Standard, \\ Feb. ' Police Report.' Police detective said that he believed the two prisoners were good men. In reply to the magistrate he explained that he meant they were old thieves.

Good Girl (or Good One), adj. phr. (old). —A wanton. 1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie. Gaultière—A whore, punke, drab, queane, gill, flirt, strumpet, cockatrice, mad wench, common hackney, good one.

Goodman, subs. (old).—1. A gaoler ; a dubsman (q.v.).

1721-2. Woodrow, History, ii., 636. The Goodman of the Tolbooth came to him in his chamber, and told him he might save his life, if he would sign the petition.

2. (colloquial). — The devil. For synonyms, see Skipper.

Goodman-turd, subs. (old).— A contemptible fellow j a badegg (q.v.).

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wördes. Dometa, an old worde for a shitten fellow, or goodman-turde.

Good Night! intj.phr. (general). —A retort to an incredible statement or a delightful piece of news. See Carry me out !

Good-people, subs, (old colloquial).—The fairies.

1828. G. Griffin, Collegians, ch. v. An nothin' shows itself now by night, neither spirits nor good people.

1848. Forster, Oliver Goldsmith, bk. I., ch. i, p. 8 (5th ed.). A small old parsonage house (supposed afterwards to be haunted by the fairies, or good people of the district).

1891. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 168. 'Did ever ye hear tell of the story of the Man and the Good People '? '—by which he meant the fairies.

Good (or Good Old) Sort, subs, phr. (popular).—A man of social and other parts.

1892. Hume Nisdet, Bushranger s Sweetheart, p. 149. Had we not better make a clean breast of it, and trust to his generosity ; he seems a good sort ?

Good Thing, subs.phr. (colloquial). —Something worth having or backing ; a bon mot ; good goods (q.v.). In racing a presumed cert (q.v.).

1844. Puck, p. 63. Here's to the good thing whose neatness we prize.

1884. Saturday Review, 2 Aug., p. 147, c. 2. The Goodwood Stakes was considered a good thing for Florence, who has proved herself to be an extraordinary mare.

1888. Sporting Life, 10 Dec. In a field of four, Livingstone, who was voted a good thing, was served up a warm favourite.

1891. Daily Telegraph, 21 Mar. It had been generally anticipated that this was a good thing for Oxford.

1892. Ally Sloper, 19 Mar., p. 90, c. 3. That them as trades in rags and bones Makes more than them as writes good things.

Good Time, subs. phr. (old).—A carouse ; a friendly gathering ; an enjoyable bout at anything.

To have a good time, verb, phr. (old).—To be fortunate or lucky ; to enjoy oneself ; to make merry. See Cocum.

1596. Jonson, Every Man in His Humour, i., 2. As not ten housewives pewter, again a good time, shews more bright to the world than he ! [ = some festival, ' when housewives are careful to set out their furniture to the best advantage. '— Note by Whalley, given in Cunningham's Gifford's Jonson (1870)].

1863. A. Trollope, Rachel Ray, ii., 6., 109. Eating cake and drinking currant wine, but not having, on the whole, what our American friends call a good time of it.

1864. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. xxxviii. And what have you been doing ? Had a good time ?

1883. Bret Harte, In the Carauinez Woods, ch. ix. But we must keep it dark until after I marry Nellie, don't you see. Then we'll have a good time all round, and I'll stand the drinks.

Good 'un.

180

Goodyear.

1802. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 14. My idea

o 'man's chief end was to enrich the world with things of beauty, and have a fairly

ood time myself while doing so.

Good 'un, subs. phr. (colloquial).— i. A man, woman, or thing of decided and undoubted merit. Cf., Good-girl.

1828-45. T. Hood, Poems, vi., p254 [ed. 1846]. A good 'un to look at but bad to go.

1854. Martin and Aytoun, Bon Gaultier Ballads. ' The Dirge of a Drinker.' Like a good 'un as he is.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 160. He's a real good un, and when his party plank the stuff down it's generally a moral.

2. (colloquial).—An expression of derisive unbelief: e.g., a lie. See Whopper.

Good-wooled, adj. phr. (American). — Of unflinching courage ; of the greatest merit ; thoroughly dependable. 1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Goody, subs, (popular). — 1. A matron : the correlative of goodman = husband. (Used like auntie, and mother, and gammer, in addressing or describing an inferior.) (A corruption of good-wife).

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wördes. Mona, . . . Also a nickname for women as we say gammer, goodie, goodwife, such a one.

1689. Accts. of the Churchwardens of Sp?-owston. Paid goody Crabbin for washing the surplis and church powrch, is. 3d.

d. 1732. Gay. Swarm'd on a rotten stick the bees I spy'd Which erst I saw when goody Dopon dy'd.

d. 1745. Swift. Plain goody would no longer down: 'Twas Madam in her grogram gown.

1802. Bloomfield, Rural Tales, ' Richard and Kate.' Come, Goody, stop your humdrum wheel.

1816. Johnson. Eng. Diet. s.v. A low term of civility used to mean persons.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, ' The Witches' Frolic.' Old Goody Price, Had got something nice.

Hence Goodyship = 'ladyship.'

1663. Butler, Hudibras, pt. 1, c. 3. The more shame for her goodyship, To give so near a friend the slip.

2. (colloquial). — A religious

hypocrite, male or female ; the

' unco guid ' of Burns.

1836. Kidd, London Ambulator, p. 14. Clapham is celebrated for goodies —ladies of a certain age, who not having succeeded in finessing for husbands, betake themselves to a religious life as a dernier resort.

Hence goody-goodyism =

sentimental piety.

1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 23 Nov., p. 3., c. i. The Christmas tale of adventure .... has perhaps cast off its element of goody-goodyism, but the general features and cast are as of old.

3. generally in. pi. (colloquial).

—Sweetmeats ; bon-bons ; cakes

and buns.

1853. Mayhew, Letters Left at a Pastrycook's. Propped up on each side with bags of oranges, cakes, and goodies.

1855. H. A. Murray, Lands of the Slave and the Free, ch. xii. Adjourning from time to time to some café for the purpose of eating ices or sucking goodies.

4. (American).—The kernel of a nut.

Adj. (colloquial). — Wellmeaning but petty ; officiously pious. Also goody-goody.

1864. D. W. Thompson, Daydreams of a Schoolmaster, p. 230. I would rather they were not too good ; or goody. Let us have a little naughtiness, sprinkled in at intervals.

1892. S. Watson, Woßs the Waif, p. 7. He knew well enough the whole of this enterprise had sprung from a goodygoody idea of ' doing something,' born of impulse and whim.

Goodyear, subs. (old). — The pox. (A corruption of gougeer, from gouge = a soldier's trull). For synonyms, see Ladies' Fever.

1605. Shakspeare, Lear, v., 3. The goodyears shall devour them.

Gook. i8i

Goose.

GOOK, subs. (American).—A low prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack Hack and Tart.

Goose, subs, (common). — i. A tailor's smoothing iron. (Whose handle is shaped like the neck of the bird. ) Hence the old ditton, ' A taylor be he ever so poor is sure to have a goose at his fire. —Grose. Fr., un gendarme.

1606. Shakspeare, Macbeth, ii., 3. Come in, taylor ; here you may roast your

goose.

1606. Dekker, Neives from Hell, in Wks. (Grosart) ii., 114. Every man being armed with his sheeres and pressing Iron, which he calls there his goose.

1638. Randolph, Hey for Honesty. . . . Tailor. Oh ! it is an age that, like the Ostrich, makes me feed on my own goose.

1703. Ward, London Spy, pt. xii., p. 276. He grew as hot as a Botcher's goose.

1748. T. Dvche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Goose (s.) . . . also the large, heavy iron used bv taylors, to press down their seams with when heated very hot.

1766. Kenrick, Falstaff's Wedding, iii., i. Although they had been hissing all the way like a tailor's goose.

1861. Sala, Twice Round the Clock, Noon, Par. 12. An Irish tailor who has had a slight dispute with his wife the night before, and has corporeally chastised her with a hot goose — a tailor's goose, be it understood—to the extent of all but fracturing her skull.

1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, ch. ii., p. 89. On the return of the warders from their own breakfast, the tools — scissors, sleeve-boards, irons, or geese—are served out.

2. (common). —A simpleton : usually only of women. Also Goosecap [q.v.).

1591. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, ii., 4. Mercutio. Was I there with you for the goose? Rom. Thou wast never with me that thou wast not for the goose.

1696. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v.

3. (venery).—.SW? Winchester Goose.

4. (colloquial).—A reprimand ; a wigging {q.v.); cf., verb, sense 1.

I860. G. F. Berkeley, My Life etc., i., 276. On the adventure reaching the ears of the Duke of Wellington, the active experimentalist received considerable goose.

5. (printers'). — See Wayz goose.

6. (colloquial).—A woman : whence, by implication, the sexual favour.

Vei'b. (common).—1. To hiss ; to condemn by hissing. Also to get the goose or the big bird (q.v.). Among Fr. equivalents are : appeler or sifßer Azor ( = to whistle a dog, Azor being a common canine appellation) ; boire une goutte ( = to be goosed) ; attrapper ; reconduire ; se faire travailler ; empoigner ; éreint er ; polis onner ; égayer.

1854. Dickens, Hard Times, ch. vi. He was goosed last night, he was goosed the night before last, he was goosed today.

1858. Dickens Xmas Stories {Going into Soc,), p. 67 (House. Ed.). Which makes you grind your teeth at him to his face, and which can hardly hold you from goosing him audible when he's going through his War-Dance.

1873. Hornet, 29 Jan., p. 211, c. 2. Ferdin. Fact ! My soul is sick on't. Goosed last night ; My salary docked.

1875. T. Frost, Circus Life, p. 281. An artiste is goosed, or gets the goose, when the spectators or auditors testify by sibillant sounds disapproval or dissatisfaction.

1886. Graphic, 10 Apr., p. 399. To be goosed, or, as it is sometimes phrased, ' to get the big bird,' is occasionally a compliment to the actor's power of representing villainy, but more often is disagreeably suggestive of a failure to please.

2. (colloquial).—To ruin; to spoil. See Cook one's goose.

Goose. ^I§2 Gooseberry.

1888. Cassells Saturday Journal, 22 Dec, p. 301. We was pretty nigh

GOOSED.

3. (cobblers'). — To mend boots by putting on a new front half-way up, and a new bottom ; elsewhere called footing boots. Cf., Fox.

4. (venery). —To go wenching ; to womanize (q.v.).

5. (venery). — To possess a woman.

Goose Without Gravy, subs. phr. (nautical).—A severe but bloodless blow. See Wipe.

TO be sound on the goose.

veib. phr. (American).—Before

the civil war, to be sound on the

pro-slavery question : now, to

be generally staunch on party

matters ; to be politically

orthodox.

1857. Providence Journal, 18 June. To seek for political flaws is no use, His opponents will find he is sound on the goose.

1857. Gladstone, Kansas : or Squatter Life, p. 43. One of the boys, I reckon ? All right on the goose, eh ? No highfaluten airs here, you know.

1862. Lowell, Biglow Papers, II. Northern religion works wal North, but it's ez suft ez spruce, cornpar'd to our'n for keepin' sound, sez she, upon the goose.

1875. American English in Chamb. Journal, 25 Sept., p. 610. A man who can be depended upon by his party is said

tO be sound on the goose.

1892. MiLLiKEN, 'Arry Ballads, p. 22. He didn't appear quite so sound on the goose as he ought to ha' done.

TO find fault with A fat goose, verb. phr. (old). — To grumble without rhyme or reason. —B.E. (1690).

TO kill the goose for the golden eggs, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To grasp at more than is due ; to over-reach oneself. (From the Greek fable. )

Everything is lovely and

the goose hangs high, phr.

See Everything.

He'll be a man among the geese when the gander is gone, phr. (old).—Ironical ; = ' He'll be a man before his mother.'

GO ! shoe the goose, phr.

(old).—A retort, derisive or incredulous —the modern 'To hell and pump thunder. '

Unable to say boh ! to a goose, phr. (colloquial).—Said of a bashful person.—Grose.

1892. MiLLiKEN, 'Arry Ballads, p. 76. And now .... he can hardly say uoh to a goose.

See also Wild-goose Chase.

Goose-and-Duck, subs. phr. (rhyming).—A fuck.

Goose and Gridiron, sub. phr. (political American). — The American eagle, and the United States flag. See Gridiron.

1891. Standard, 3'Jan., p. 3, c. 1. This is curious, considering the almost fetish-like veneration entertained by the modern American for his Standard, which, coupled with the national bird, tempted the Loyalists in the early days of the war to vent endless rude witticisms on the goose and gridiron.

Gooseberry, subs, (common).—1. A fool. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head. [Perhaps from Gooseberry Fool ; as in Goldsmith's Retaliation : — ' And by the same rule Magnanimous Goldsmith's a gooseberry fool.']

2. (common).—A chaperon ; one who takes third place to save appearances or play propriety (q.v.) ; a daisyor goos.eberry

picker.

Gooseberry. 183 Gooseberry-picker.

3. (common). — A marvellous tale ; a Munchausen (q.v.) ; a flim-flam. Also gigantic, and giant goosberry. Hence Gooseberry season = the dull time of journalism, when the appearance of monstrous vegetables, sea serpents, showers of frogs, and other portents is chronicled in default of news. Cf., silly season (q.V.).

1870. Figaro, 22 June. If we have no big gooseberries this season, we have at least a big salmon.

1871. Graphic, 22 Apr. Mr. Tupper excited a great deal of incredulity a few years ago by announcing in the prodigious goosberry season that he had discovered an ancient Roman coin embedded in the heart of an oak tree.

1885. III. London News, 18 July, p. 50, c. 2. Amongst journalists there is popularly known what they call ' the giant gooseberry season,' the meaning of which is, that when Parliament has risen and the Law Courts are shut and subjects on which to write become scarce, adventurous spirits are apt to discourse in their newspapers of fruit of abnormal size, and other natural prodigies, which, according to current banter, exist only in their own imagination.

4. in. pi. (venery).—The testicles. For synonyms, see Cods.

To play (or do) gooseberry, verb. phr. (common).—To play propriety ; also to sit third in a hansom.

1877. Hawley Smart, Play or Pay. ch. vi. To take care of a pretty girl, . . . with a sister to do gooseberry.

1880. G. R. Sims, Jeph, p. 8. Mamma always played gooseberry on these occasions.

1883. Globe, 6 July, p. i, c. 5. They will be compelled in self-defence to have a shorthand writer present to play gooseberry, and to be able to furnish proof that their discourse was innocent.

1892. J. McCarthy and Mrs. Campbell-Praed, Ladies' Gallery, p. 51. Well, I am not a good hand at playing gooseberry, and I don't like spoiling sport.

TO play old gooseberry,

verb. phr. (colloquial).—To play the deuce ; to upset or spoil ; to throw everything into confusion ; but see quot. 1811. Old Gooseberry = The devil (see Skipper). [See Notes and Queries, 2 S x., 307, 376 ; xii., 336.]

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. 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.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 22. Will play up old gooseberry soon with them all.

1823. Bee, Diet, of the Turf. To play up gooseberry ; children romping about the house or the parent rating them over.

1837. Ingoldsby Legends. 'Bloudie Jacke of Shrewsberrie.' There's a pretty todo ! All the people of Shrewsbury playing old gooseberry With your choice bits of taste and virtu.

1865. H. Kingsley, Hillyars and the Burtons, ch. lxii. Lay on like old

gooseberry.

1892. Globe, 12 July, p. 2, c. 2. We all know his capacity for playing old goosberry with things in general.

Gooseberry-eyed, adj. (old).— Grey-eyed. (Lex. Bal., 1811).

Gooseberry-grinder, subs. (old). —The breech. For synonyms, see Monocular eyeglass.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Gooseberry-grinder, s.v. Ask Bogey the gooseberry-grinder, ask mine a-e.

Gooseberry Lay, subs. phr. (thieves').—Stealing linen from a line.

Gooseberry-picker, subs, (colloquial). — i. A person whose labour profits, and is credited to, another; a ghost (q.v.).

. Gooseberry-pudding. ^l84 Goose's Gazette.

2. (common). — A chaperon. See Gooseberry, subs, sense 2.

1884. Corn/till Mag., Dec, p. 578. The good host experienced the sensations of being gooseberry-picker. He sat under a tree, ^te, drank, smoked, and finally fell asleep, whilst the Prince and Ottilie explored the Gaulish city and the convent.

Gooseberry-pudding, subs. (rhyming). — A woman. For synonyms, see Petticoat.

Gooseberry-wig, subs. (old).—A large frizzled wig. ' Perhaps,' says Grose (s.v.), ' from a supposed likeness to a gooseberry bush.'

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Goosecap, subs, (common).—A booby, male or female ; a noodle. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1593. G. Harvey, Pierce's Super, in wks. II., 72. A foole, an idiot, a dolt, a goose-capp, an asse, and soe fourth.

1604. Dekker, Honest Wh. in wks. (1873), ii., 81. Out, you guiles, you goose-caps, you gudgeon-eaters !

1622. Beaumont and Fletcher, Beggars Bush, iv., 4. Why, what a goose-cap wouldst thou make me !

1763. Foote, Mayor of Garratt, Act i. My husband is such a goose-cap that I can't get no good out of him at home or abroad.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. A silly fellow or woman.

Goose(or Goose's) Egg, subs. (American). — No score. Also Gooser. See Duck.

1886. New York Times, July. With nine unpalatable goose-eggs in their contest.

1889. Modern Society, 12 Oct., p. 1264. An enthusiastic lady cricketer has just bowled over Mr. Jones in a matrimonial match. ' No, Mr. Brown, I cannot marry you. You score a gooser this time.'

Goose-flesh (or Goose-skin),

subs, (colloquial). — A peculiar tingling of the skin produced by cold, fear, etc. ; the sensation described as ' cold water down the back ' ; the creeps (q.v. ).

1824. Miss Ferrier, Inheritance, ch. ii. Her skin began to rise into what is vulgarly termed goose-skin

Goose-gog (or Goose-gob), subs. (common).—A gooseberry.

Goose-grease, subs. phr. (venery).—A woman's spendings (</. v. ). See Goose, subs., sense 6.

Goose-month, subs. (old).—The lying-in month. Cf, Gandermonth.

Goose-persuader, subs, (common).—A tailor. For synonyms, see Snip.

Gooser, subs, (popular).—1. A settler ; a knock-out blow ; the act of death. See Dig and Wipe.

1851-61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. III., p. 133. It was he who saved my life. If it hadn't been for hirn it would have been a goosek with me.

1857. Morning Chronicle, 9 Sept. In the event of my getting a gooser.

2. (sporting).—No score ; a goose-egg (q.v.).

3. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Goose-RibiNG. See Ganderpulling.

Goose's Gazette, subs. (old).—A lying story ; a flim-flam tale ; that is, a piece of reading for a goose, sense 2.

Goose-shearer. ^l8S

Gorge,

1815. ^ Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxxiv. Lieutenant Brown .... told him some goose's gazette about his being taken in a skirmish with the land-sharks.

Goose-shearer, subs, (common). —A beggar. For synonyms, see Cadger. [From goose = simpleton + shearer = a cheater.]

Goose's-neck, subs, (venery).— The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Goose-step, subs, (common).— Balancing on one foot and moving the other back and forwards without taking a step. [A preliminary in military drill, the pons asmorum of the raw recruit.] Also (more loosely) * marking time ' : that is, lifting the feet alternately without advancing.

1840. Tate's Mag., Sept., p. 607 Whether the remarkable evolution [the goose step] was called . . . from the nature of the operation requiring the exhibitor to stand on one leg, in imitation of the above-named animal, I am totally at a loss to say.

1890, Licensed Vict. Gaz., 7 Nov. He won his spurs at Punchestown before he had mastered the goose step.

Goose-turd Green, adj. (old).

— A light-yellowish green. — Cotgrave.

Goosey-gander, subs, (common). —A fool. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

Goosing-slum, subs. (American).

— A brothel. [Goosing = womanizing ; also copulating.] For synonyms, see Nanny-shop.

Gopher, subs. (American). — 1. A young thief ; especially a boy employed by burglars to enter houses through windows, skylights, etc. [In natural history gopher = a burrowing squirrel.]

2. (Southern States).—A rude wooden plough.

Goree, subs. (old). — Money; specifically gold or gold-dust. From Fort Goree on the Gold Coast. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1696. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v. 1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. 1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Gorge, subs, (vulgar).—i. A heavy meal; a tuck-in (q.v.) ; a blow-out (q.v.).

1553. Wilson, Arte of Rhétorique, p. 112. The counseler heareth causes with Jesse pain being emptie, then he shal be able after a ful gorge.

1883. Daily Nezus, March 24, p. 3, c. 4. The keeper tries these brutes once a week to see whether they are ready for a gorge, and the python has been known to devour eight ducks at one meal, feathers and all, before signifying enough.

2. (theatrical). — A manager ; an abbreviation of gorger (q.v.).

Verb (vulgar).—To eat voraciously ; also to gulp as a fish does when it swallows (or gorges) a bait. For synonyms, see Wolf.

1572. Satirical Poems, Scottish Text Society, 1889-9T, ' Lamentacioun,' ii., 232. Gorged waters ever greater grows.

1633. Massinger, New Way to Pay Old Debts, iii., 2. Mar. Come, have patience If you will dispense a little with your worship, And sit with the waiting women, you'll have dumpling, Woodcock, and butter'd toasts too. Greedy. This revives me : I will gorge there sufficiently.

1654. Chapman, Revenge for Honour, Act i., Sc. i. Here men o' th' shop can gorge their musty maws With the delicious capon, and fat limbs of mutton.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Gorge (v.), to eat over-much, to cram, glut, or fill unreasonably.

Gorger.

Gospel.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xxxiv., p. 336. No man had spoken a word ; every one had been intent, as usual, on his own private gorging ; and the greater part of the company were decidedly dirty feeders.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. iii. Who might be such a fine race, if they would only not gorge their food so rapidly.

Gorger, suas, (vulgar). — 1. A voracious eater ; a scruncher {q.v.). Rotten gorger = a lad who hangs about Covent Garden eating refuse fruit.

2. (common).—A well-dressed man ; a gentleman. [Gypsy, gorgio — gentlemen.] Fr., tin gratiné.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Mung the gorger ; beg child beg, of the gentleman.

3. (common).—An employer ; a principal : especially the manager of a theatre. [Perhaps because he takes (or gorges) all the fat {q.v.).] Also cully-gorger. Fr., amendier.

1872. M. E. Braddon, Dead Sea Fruit, ch. xiv. The gorgek's awful coally on his own slumming, eh ?.. . I mean to say that our friend the manager is rather sweet upon his own acting.

4. (old). — A neckerchief. [From gorge = throat.]

1320-30. Gawaine, 957. That other wyth a gorger watz gored ouer the swyre.

Gorgonzola Hall, subs. phr. (Stock Exchange). — Formerly the New Hall ; now the corporation generally. [From the colour of the marble.]

1887. Atkin, House Scraps, Gorgonzola Hall got turned into New Billingsgate.

Go rm, verb. (American University). —To gorge {q.v.). For synonyms, see Wolf.

I'm gormed, phr. (popular). —A profane oath. See Gaum.

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. iii. If it [his generosity] were ever referred to, . . . he struck the table a heavy blow with his right hand (had split it on one such occasion), and swore a dreadful oath that he would be gormed if he didn't cut and run for good, if it was ever mentioned again.

1883. Punch, May 19, p. 230, c. 2. Why, of course I hardly expects to be believed, but I'm gormed if there was more than six of one and half-a-dozen of the other.

1884. Julian Sturgis, in Longman's Mag., iii., 623. 'Gormed if there ain't that old parson again ! ' cried Henry, with enthusiasm.

Gormagon, subs. (old). —See quots.

1785. Grose, Vttlg. Tongue, s.v. A monster with six eyes, three mouths, four arms, eight legs, five on one side and three on the other, three arses, two tarses, and a cunt upon its back ; a man on horseback with a woman behind him.

1892. Fennell, Stanford Diet., s.v., Gormagon .... a member of an English Secret Society which existed in the second quarter of 18 c.

Gormy-ruddles, subs, (common). —The intestines.

Gorram (or Goram).—See By

Goldam

Gorry.—See By Gorry !

GoscHENS.-rafo. (Stock Exchange). —The 2| per cent. Government Stock created by Mr. Goschen in 1888.

1889. Man of the World, 29 June. The nickname Goschens is going out of fashion. The new 2| stock is now called by the old name.

1891. Punch, 4 Apr. Securities yielding a larger return than 2j Goschens.

Gosh, see by gosh.

Gospel, subs, (colloquial). — 1. Anything offered as absolutely true. Also gospel-truth.

Gospel-gab. 187

Goss.

1862. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. Ix. She is a good young woman, and a honest young woman in her way, and what she says this night about her brother is

gospel-truth.

1864. Derby Day, p. 35. Apparently unable to resist the powerful influences brought to bear upon him, he replied, in a tone which carried the impress of veracity with it, ' Gospel.'

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 175. It was true as gospel.

To do gospel, verb. phr. (common).—To go to church.

Gospel-gab, subs, (common).—Insincere talk concerning religion ; cant.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger's Sweetheart, p. 146. Yes ; when I saw I was in for it, I told them my name and all about my father without any reserve ; that, with a little gospel-gab and howling penitence, got the church people interested in me, and so I was let off easily.

Gospel-Grinder (-postillion, -sharp, or -shark), subs. (common). — A clergyman or missionary. For synonyms, see devil-dodger and skypilot ;—

French Synonyms. — La forêt noire (thieves' = the black forest) ; tine entonne ramparte (thieves'); entonner =to intone) ; tine antiffle (thieves') ; une cavée (thieves'= a black hole) ; une chique (thieves').

Spanish Synonym.—Salud.

Italian Synonyms.—Baha ; balzana.

1869. S. L. Clemens, Innocents at Home, p. 19. ' A what ! ' ' Gospelsharp—parson.' ' Oh ! why did you not say so before? I am a clergyman—a parson.'

1877. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. viii. Else we should be as stagnant as a Connecticut Gospelgrinder in his village location.

Gospeller, subs, (colloquial). — An Evangelist preacher ; in contempt. Also Hot-gospeller = a preaching fanatic.)

Gospel-mill (or -shop), subs. (common).—A church or chapel. Also schism-shop and doxology-works (q.v.).

1782. Geo. Parker, Humorous Sketches, p. 88. From Whitfield and Romaine to Pope John range ; Each Gospelshop ringing a daily change.

1791. Life of J. Lackington, Letter xix. As soon as I had procured a lodging and work my next enquiry was for Mr. Wesley's Gospel-shops.

1852. Judson, Mysteries of New York, pt. IL, ch. ii., p. 13. On about that ere gospel-shop as you was agoin for to crack last week.

1869. S. L. Clemens ( Mark Twain) Innocents at Home, p. 17, 18. Are you the duck that runs the gospel-mill next door.

1892. MiLLiKEN, 'Arry Ballads, p. 35. It's all gospel-shop gruel.

Goss (or Gossamer), subs, (common).—A hat. (At first a make of peculiar lightness called a four-and-nine (q.v.).) In quot. 1836 = a white hat. For synonyms, see Golgotha.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xii. 'That's one thing, and every hole lets in some air, that's another — wentilation gossamer I calls it.' On the delivery of this sentiment, Mr. Weiler smiled agreeably upon the assembled Pickwickians.

1838. Jas. Grant, Sketches in London, ch. ix., p. 294. Another passenger inquired whether the hat was ' a vashing beaver von ? ' while a fourth inquired whether it was 'a gossamer ventilator?'

1851. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. IL, p. 49. I have sold hats from 6d. to 3s. 6d., but very seldom 3s. 6d. The 3s. 6d. ones would wear out two new gossamers, I know.

1884. A. Lang, Much Darker Days, p. 25. Yes, the white hat, lying there all battered and crushed on the white snow, must be the hat of Sir Runan ! . . . who else would wear the gay gossamer of July in stormy December?

Gossoon.

Go-to-meeting Bags.

1888. Harder s Magazine, LXXVII., 139. Flinging off his gossamer and hanging it up to drip into the pan of the hat rack.

To give (or get) goss, verb, phr. (American).—To requite an injury ; to kill ; to go strong ; to get an opportunity ; to put IN big licks (q. v. ). Sometimes ejaculatory, as ' Give me goss and let me rip ! '

1847. Robb, Squatter Life, p. 75. Gin him goss without sweetin.

1847. Darley, Drama in Porterville, p. 114. Divers hints passed from one to another among the more excitable citizens, that 'Old Sol' was going to get goss, sure.

1847. Porter, Quarter Race, etc., p. 115. Shouts of ' Fair play,' 'Turn 'em out,' ' Give him goss,' were heard on all sides.

a. 1852. Traits of American Humour, II., 261. Ef I don't, the old man will give me goss when I go back.

Gossoon, sttbs. (colloquial Irish).— A boy. [A corruption of Fr., garçon = a boy.]

gotch-gutted, adj. (old).—Potbellied ; ' a gotch in Norfolk, signifying a pitcher or large round jug.'—Grose.

Got 'em Bad, phr. (common). —A superlative of earnestness or excessiveness : e.g., anyone doing his work thoroughly, a horse straining every nerve, a very sick person, especially a patient in the horrors {q.v.), is said to have got 'em bad.

Got 'em On (or All On), phr. (common).—Dressed in the height of fashion. See Rigged Out.

1880. Punch, 28 Aug., p. 90.

188(?). Broadside Ballad, "Arry.' Where are you going on Sunday. 'Arry, now you've got 'em on?

188(?;. Broadside Ballad. 'He's got 'em on.'

Goth, subs. (common). — A frumpish or uncultured person ; one behind the times or ignorant of the ways of society.

1712. Spectator, No, 367. But I shall never sink this paper so far as to engage with Goths and Vandals.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. lxi. You yourself are a Goth ... to treat with such disrespect a production which . . . will, when finished, be a masterpiece of its kind.

1865. Ouida, Strathmore, ch. ii. For God's sake don't suppose me such a Goth that I should fall in love with a dairymaid, Strath !

Gotham, subs, (common).—New York City. Gotham ite, a New Yorker. [First used by Washington Irving in Salmagtmdi (1807).]

1852. Jutson, Mysteries of New York. ch. xiii. One of the vilest of all hells in Gotham.

1852. Bristed, Upper Ten Thousand, p. 37. The first thing, as a general rule, that a young Gothamite does is to get a horse.

Gothic, adj. (old). — See Goth.

1700_#> Congreve, The Way of tlte Wo?-ld, iv. 4. Ah, rustic, ruder than Gothic !

1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, ii., 8. Why, with his usual Gothic vivacity, he said I only wanted him to throw off his wig to convert it into a tête for my own wearing.

Go-to-meeting Bags (or Clothes, Dress, etc.), subs, phr. (common). — Best clothes. [As worn on Sundays, or holiday occasions.]

1S37-40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 243 (Ed. 1862). If he hadn't his go-to-meetin' dress and looks on this day to the jury, it's a pity.

1854. Bradley, Verdant Green, Pt. II., p. 5. Besides his black go-to-meeting bags please to observe the peculiarity, etc.

Gouge.

Governor.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown s Schooldays, pt IL, ch. v. I want to give you a true picture of what every-day school life was in my time, and not a kid-glove and go-to-meeting-coat picture.

1857. Kingsley, Two Years Ago. Looks right well in her go-to-meeting clothes.

Gouge, sues. (American). — An imposture ; a swindle ; a method of cheating.

18-15. New York Tribune, io Dec.

Rand H-will probably receive

from Mr. Polk's administration $100,000 more than respectable printers would have done the work for. There is a clean, plain gouge of this sum out of the people's strong box.

Verb. (old).—I. Grose says, ' To squeeze out a man's eye with the thumb, a cruel practice used by the Bostonians in America.'

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 49. His eyes having been gouged in a mountain fray.

2. (American). — To defraud.

1845. New York Tribune, 26 Nov. Very well, gentlemen ! gouge Mr. Crosby out of the seat, if you think it wholesome to do it.

1874. W. D. Howells, Forego7ie Conclusions, ch. iii. The man's a perfect Jew—or a perfect Christian, one ought to say in Venice ; we true believers do gouge so much more infamously here.

1885. Bret Harte, A Ship of '49, ch. i. He's regularly gouged me in that 'ere horsehair spekilation.

Gouger, subs. (American). — A cheat ; a swindler. For synonyms, see Rook.

Gouging, subs. (American). — Cheating.

Goujeers. See Goodyear.

Gourd, subs. (old). — False dice with a cavity within, which in Fullams (q.v.) was filled with lead to give a bias. See also High-men and Low-men.

1544. Ascham, Toxophylus. What false dyse use they? as dyse stopped with quicksilver and heares, dyse of vauntage, flaues, gourds, to chop and chaunge when they liste.

1596, Shakspeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, i., 3. Let vultures gripe thy guts ! for gourd and fullam holds, And high and low beguiles the rich and poor.

1616. Beaumont and Fletcher, Scornful Lady, iv. And thy dry bones can reach at nothing now But gourds or nine-pins ; pray go fetch a trencher, go.

Gourock Ham, «<k (common).— A salt herring (Gourock was formerly a great fishing village). For synonyms, see Glasgow Magistrate.

Government-man, subs, (old Australian).—A convict.

1864. Smythe, Ten Months in Fiji Islands, q.v.

1883. Graphic, 17 Mar., p. 262, c. 3. They never settle down as thousands of our Government men cheerfully did in Australia after they had their freedom.

Government-securities, subs. (common). — Handcuffs ; fetters generally. For synonyms, see Darbies.

Government-signpost, subs. (old).—The gallows. For synonyms, see Nubbing-cheat.

1887. A. Barrere, Argot and Slang, p. 272. Montagne du géant. Fr. (obsolete), gallows, scrag, nobbing cheat, or government signpost.

Governor (or Guv), subs, (common).— i. A father. Also relieving officer ; old 'UN ; pater ; NiBSO ; and his nibs. Applied to elderly people in general. Fr., le géniteur and r ancien ( = the old 'un).

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xx. p. 169. ¹ You're quite certain it was them, governor?' inquired Mr. Weiler, junior. ' Quite, Sammy, quite,' replied his father.

Governor. ^l§° GowH.

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 28. But— mind ! don't tell the governor !

1852. Comic Almanack, p. 19. Your father : Speaking to him, say ' Guvnor,' or ' Old Strike-a-light ; ' 0/ him, 'The old un.'

1859. Witty Political Portraits, p. in. Unconscious of the constitutional delusions on which his governor has thrived.

1889. Answers, 20 Apr., p. 323. To call your father ' The Governor ' is, of course, slang, and is as bad as referring to him as ' The Boss,' ' The Old Man,' or ¹ The Relieving Officer.'

1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 9 Jan. It was mortifying to be done in that manner by a low fellow like Muggins, that I had always looked upon as a fool, and had made a butt of when the guv. was out of the way.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger's Sweetheart, p. 118. The Governor is in an awful funk about him.

2. (common). — A mode of address to strangers. Fr., bourgeois.

1892. Anstey, Voces Poßuli (Second Series). ' At the Guelph Exhibition.' Right, guvnor ; we'll come.

3. (colloquial).—A master or superior ; an employer.

English Synonyms.—Boss ; captain of the waiters ; captain ; chief ; colonel ; commander ; chief bottle-washer; ganger; head-butler; head-cook and bottle-washer; gorger; omee ; rum-cull.

French Synonyms. — Le pantriot (popular and thieves' : also = a young nincompoop) ; le, or la, pâte (popular : properly paste or dough) ; le naif (printers' : obsolete) ; le herz or hers (thieves' : obviously from the German) ; le lonceguê (thieves' : Fr., back-slang ; = gonce, itself a slang term for a man) ; le galeux (popular) = one with the itch) ; le grêle (popular : specifically a

master-tailor) ; le singe ( = monkey) ; le troploc ; le noztrisseur= the grubber); l'ogre (specifically a fence) ; le notaire ( = publican) ; le patron (colloquial : = governor).

Italian Synonyms. — Chielmiero (vulgar).

GOVERNOR's-stiff, subs. (American).—A pardon.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Gower-street Dialect. See

Medical Greek.

Gowk, subs, (prison).—A simpleton. (Scots' gowk — a cuckoo). For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head. Also a countryman. For synonyms, see Joskin.

1816. Scott, Antiquary, ch. x. ' Hout awa', ye auld gowk,' said Jenny Rintherout.

TO hunt the gowk, verb, phr. (common). — To go on a fool's errand.

Gowler, subs. (old). —A dog; specifically a howler.

Gown, A (Winchester College). — I. Coarse brown paper, (obsolete).

2. (University).—The schools as distinguished from the town {q.v.)., e.g., Town and Gown.

1847. Thackeray, Punch's Prize Novelists, ' Codlingsby,' p. 232. From the Addenbrooke's hospital to the Blenheim turnpike, all Cambridge was in an uproar— the College gates closed—the shops barricaded—the shop-boys away in support of their brother townsmen—the battle raged, and the Gown had the worst of the fight.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, II., ch. iii. When Gown was absent, Town was miserable.

1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 30 May, p. 4, c. 3. Town and Gown joined in harmony.

Gôwnsman. 19¹ Grabble.

Gownsman (also Gown), subs. (university).—A student.

1800. C. K. Sharpe, in Correspondence (1888), i., 96. A battle between the gownsmen and townspeople .... in spite of the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors.

1850. F. E. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, ch. xxv. The ancient town of Cambridge, no longer animated by the countless throngs of gownsmen, frowned in its unaccustomed solitude.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford. The townsmen .... were met by the gownsmen with settled steady pluck.

Grab, subs, (vulgar).—1. A sudden clutch.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, ist S., ch. viii. He makes a grab at me, and 1 shuts the door right to on his wrist.

2. (American).—A robbery ; a steal (q.v.). Cf., Grab-gains.

3. (old). —A body-stealer ; a resurrectionist.

1830. S. Warren, Diary of a Late

Physician, ch. xvi. Sir-'s dressers and

myself, with an experienced grab—that is to say, a professional resurrectionist—were to set off from the Borough.

4. (gamesters').—A boisterous game at cards.

Verb (vulgar).—i. To PlNCH (q.v. ) ; to seize; to apprehend ; to snatch or steal. Grabbed = arrested.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. The pigs grabbed the kiddy for a crack.

1818. Maginn, Vidocqs Song. Tramp it, tramp it, my jolly blowen, Or be grabbed by the beaks we may.

1837. Lytton, Ernest Maltravers, Wk. L, ch. x. There, man, grab the money, it's on the table.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. xiii. Do you want to be grabbed, stupid ?

1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 39. Don't muddle your brains with any more of that Pharaoh. You'll need all your strength to grab him.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 396. I was grabbed for an attempt on a gentleman's pocket.

1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 236. I watched a movement, till one of the servant girls had brought another load of grub out, and as she turned her back and went into the house I grabbed the key, and so they couldn't lock it nohow.

1886. Baring Gould, Golden Feather, p. 23 (S.P.C.K.). There are some folks .... so grasping that if they touch a farthing will grab a pound.

2. (thieves').—To hold on; to get along ; to live.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 149. I do manage to grab on somehow.

Grab-all, subs, (colloquial). — 1. An avaricious person ; a greedyguts (q.v.).

1872. Sunday Times, 18 Aug. This gentleman, it is well known, has worked with indomitable energy on behalf of the millions, and has succeeded in wresting from the mean and contemptible graballs of that government which professes to study the people's interest those portions of the Embankment which the public money has paid for.

2. (colloquial). — A bag to carry odds and ends, parcels, books, and so forth.

Grabber, subs, (common). — In. pl., the hands. For synonyms, see Daddle and Mauley.

Grabble, verb. (old).—1. To seize: a frequent form of grab (q.v.).

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. To grabble the bit ; to seize any one's money.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum. You grabble the goose-cap and I'll frisk his pokes.

2. (venery). — To grope ; tô fumble ; to fam (q.v.).

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., 193. When Nelly, though he teized her, And grabbled her and squeezed her.

G tabby. ^l$²

Graft

Grab by, subs, (military). — An infantry-man. [Used in contempt by the mounted arm.] Fr., marionnette.

1868. Whyte Melville, White Rose, ch. x ' Is it a good regiment? How jolly to dine at mess every day ! ' 'I shouldn't like to be a grabby though' (this from the Dandy) ; ' and after all, I'd rather be a private in the cavalry than an officer in the regiment of feet ! '

Grab-gains, subs, (thieves').—The trick of snatching a purse, etc., and making off.

Grab-game (or-coup,or-racket),

sztbs. (old).—Amode ofswindling: the sharpers start by betting among themselves ; then the by-standers are induced to join ; then stakes are deposited ; lastly, there is a row, when one of the gang grabs the stakes, and decamps. But see quot., 1823.

1823. Bee, Diet, of the Turf, s.v. Grab-coup, modern practice of gambling, adopted by the losers, thus the person cheated, or done, takes his opportunity, makes a dash at the depository of money, or such as may be down for the play, and grabs as much as possible, pockets the proceeds, and fights his way out of the house.

18C?). Scenes in the Rocky Mountains, p. 282. ' I'll bear you company. What d'ye say to that ? ' ' Just as you like,' responded his two companions, ' that is provided you won't attempt the grab game on us.'

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 219.^ ' Now, boss ! ' he cried, not unkindly, ' is this to be run shipshape ; or is it a Dutch grabracket ?

Grace-card, subs. (Irish).— The Six of Hearts. [For origin see N. and Q., 5th Series, iv., 137].

Gracemans, subs. (old).—Gracechurch Street Market.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (W. Club's Rept., 1874). Gracemans, Gratious Streete market.

Graduate, subs. (turf). — i. A horse that has been run.

2. (colloquial).—An adept J an artful member {q.v.).

3. (venery). —An unmarried woman who has taken her degree in carnal lore.

Verb, (colloquial).—To seek and acquire experience : in life, love, society, or trade ; and so on.

Gradus, subs, (gamesters'). —A mode of cheating : a particular card is so placed by the shuffler that when he hands the pack to be cut, it projects a little beyond the rest ; the chance being that it is the turn-up. Also the step (q.v.). [From the Latin.]

Gradus-ad-parnassum, subs. (old literary). — The treadmill. For synonyms, see Wheel-oflife.

Graft, subs, (common).—Work; employment; lay (q.v). : e.g. W^That graft are you on now ? Great-graft = profitable labour; good biz (q.v.). Also Grafting and Eleow-grease.

French Synonyms.—Le bastimage (thieves') ; le goufinage (thieves') ; la laine (tailors') ; le maquillage (thieves') ; le massage (popular) ; la masse ; le mèche (printers').

1878. Graphic, 6 July, p. 2. According to the well-known maxim in the building trade, ' Scotch masons, Welsh blacksmiths, Englishbricklayers, Irish labourers' .... Perhaps in a generation or two Paddy will fail us. He will have become too refined for hard grafting.

1887. Henley, Villon's Straight Tip. The merry little dibbs you bag At my graft, no matter what.

Grampus, i93 Granger.

1892. Tit Bits, 19 Mar., p. 417, c. 1. Millbank for thick shins and graft at the pump.

Verb (common).—1. To work. Fr., bausser ; membrer.

2. (American).—To steal.

3. (old). — To cuckold ; to plant horns.

1690. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v. 1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s v.

4. (American).—To sole old boots. Cf, Goose and Translate.

Grampus, subs, (colloquial).—A fat man. For synonyms, see Forty-guts.

To blow the Grampus. (nautical). — To drench ; and (common), to sport in the water.

Grand, subs, (colloquial). — Short for ' grand piano. '

1891. Morning Advertiser, 28 Mar. A precocious young relative is now about to take the dais. There she stands, violin in hand, and there begins the preliminary scramble on the hired grand.

Adj. (colloquial).—A general superlative.

1892. Milliken, 'Arry Ballads, p. 19. Wot we want in a picter is flavour and ' fetch,' and yours give it me grand.

To do the Grand, verb. phr. (common).—To put on airs. For synonyms, see Lardy-dah.

Grand Bounce. .SV<? Bounce.

Grandmother. To see one's grandmother, verb. phr. (common).—To have a nightmare.

To see (or have) one's grandmother (or little friend, or auntie) with one. verb. phr. (common).—To have the menstrual discharge. See Flag.

To shoot one's grandmother, verb. phr. (common).— To be mistaken ; to have found a mare's nest ; to be disappointed. Commonly ' You've shot your grannie. '

To teach one's grandmother (or grannie) how to suck eggs, verb. phr. (common).—To instruct an expert in his own particular line of business; to talk old to one's seniors.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1892. Globe, 27 Jan., p. 1, c. 5. Evidently he did not consider, as Englishmen seem to do, that grandmothers possess no more knowledge than is required to efficiently suck eggs.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger s Siueetheart, p. 210. ' Confound you stupid, what do you take me for, that you try to teach your grandmother to suck eggs.

1892. Milliken, 'Arry Ballads, p. 77. She's a teaching 'er grandmother, she is, although she's a littery swell.

My grandmother's review. subs.phr. (obsolete).—The British J^evitw. [The nickname was Lord Byron's.]

Grand-strut, subs, (old).—The Broad Walk in Hyde Park.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, i., 4. We'll start first to the show shop of the metropolis, Hyde Park ! promenade it down the grand strut.

Granger ,subs. (American political). —i. A member of the Farmers' Alliance ; a secret society, nominallynon-political, but really tal-ing a hand in politics when occasion offered to favour agricultural interests. [During the decade of years ending 1870, it attained to great numerical strength, and extended throughout the United States.] See Agricultural Wheel.

Grangerise.

194

Grape-vine.

2. (American). — Hence, a farmer ; a countryman ; anyone from the rural districts. For synonyms, wJoskin.

Grangerise, verb, (literary).—To fill out .1 book with portraits, landscapes, title-pages, and illustrations generally, not done for it.

1883. Sala, Living Wonders, p, 497. Mr. Ashton's Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne . . . would be a capital book to grangerize.

Grangerism, subs, (literary). — The practice of illustrating a book with engravings, etc., from other sources. [From the practice of illustrating Granger's Bibliographical History of England. ]

1883. Saturday Reviezu, Jan. 27, p. 123, c. 2. Grangerism, as the innocent may need to be told, is the pernicious vice of cutting plates and title-pages out of many books to illustrate one book.

Grangerite, subs, (literary).—A practitioner in grangerism (q. v. ).

1890. ' Grangerising,' in Cornhill Mag., Feb., p. 139. Another favourite subject, and suitable also for the Grangerite, is ' Boswell's Johnson.' It must be admitted that this delightful book may gain a fresh chance by being thus treated, but ' within the limits of becoming grangerism.'

G ran nam, .sv/Ar. (old). Corn. [From the Latin.]—Fr., le grenu, or grelu. It., re di granata ; staffle ; corniole : Sp., grito.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65. Grannam, corne.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club's Rept., 1874). GraNiMer, corne.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 49 (1874). Grannam, corn.

1706. E. Coles, Eng. Diet. Grannam, c. corn.

1737. Bacchus and Venus. 'The Strowling Mort.' Grannam ever filled my sack.

Grannam's-gold. subs. (old).— Wealth inherited. [Grannam = grandmother : cf., Beaumont and Fletcher, Lover's Progress, iv., i. 'Ghosts never walk till after midnight, if I may believe my grannam. ']

Granny, subs, (nautical).—1. A bad knot with the second tie across ; as opposed to a reef knot in which the end and outer part are in line. Also Granny's Knot or Granny's Bend.

2. (common). — Conceit of

superior knowledge.

1s5i-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 404. To take the granny off them as has white hands.

Verb (thieves').—To know; to recognise. Also to swindle.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 461. The shallow got so grannied in London.

Ibid., p. 340. If they granny the manley (perceive the signature) of a brother officer or friend.

Grant. To grant the favour, verb. phr. (venery).—To confer the sexual embrace; to spread (q.v.).

1720. Durfey, Pills, etc., vi 58. If at last she grants the favour, And consents to be undone.

175L Fielding, Jonathan Wild, iv. 7. I . . . . never would grant the favour to any man till I had drunk a heavy glass with him.

Grape-shot, adj. (common).— Drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

Grape-vine, subs. (American).—A hold in wrestling.

Grape-vine Telegraph, subs, phr. (American). — News mysteriously conveyed. [During the Civil War bogus reports from the front were said to be by the Grape-vine Telegraph.] Also Clothes-line Telegraph.

Grapple.

^IQ5 Grass.

Grapple, subs, (common).—The hand. Also grappler. For synonyms, see Daddle and Mauley.

1852. Hazel, Yankee Jack, p. 9. Give us your grappler on that, old fellow.

1877. Five Years" Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 246. Anything she once put her grapples on she slipped inside.

grapple-the-rails, subs. (Irish). Whiskey. For synonyms, see Drinks and Old Man's Milk.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Grapple-the-rails, a cant name used in Ireland for whiskey.

Grappling-irons (or -hooks),

subs. (old). — I. Handcuffs. For synonyms, see Darbies.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1830 Buckstone, Wreck Ashore, \. 4. I hope the bailiffs have not laid their grappling irons on young Miles.

2. (nautical). — The fingers. For synonyms, see Fork. Also Grapplers and GrapplingHooks.

Grass, subs. (Royal Military Academy).—1. Vegetables. Cf., bunny-grub. Fr., gargousses de la canonnière.

2. (American).—Fresh mint.

3. ( common ). — Short for

sparrow-grass ( q.V. ) =

asparagus.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab and Lond. Poor, I., 539. He sold grass, and such things as cost money.

4. (Australian printers'). — A

temporary hand on a newspaper ;

hence the proverb, ' a grass on

news waits dead men's shoes.'

Cf., Grass-hand = a raw

worker, or green hand.

a. 1889. Fitzgerald, Printers' Proverbs, quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant. Why are the grass, or casual news hands not put on a more comfortable footing ?

Verb (pugilistic).—To throw (or be thrown) ; to bring (or be brought) to ground. Hence, to knock down ; to defeat ; to kill.

1818. Egan, Boxiana, ii., 375. He had much the worst of it, and was ultimately grassed.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 57. The shame that aught but death should see him grassed.

1846. Dickens, Dombey, xliv., 385. The Chicken himself attributed this punishment to his having had the misfortune to get into Chancery early in the proceedings, when he was severely fibbed by the Larkey One, and heavily grassed.

1881. Daily Telegraph, 26 Nov. The Doctor had killed twenty out of twentyfive, while his opponent had grassed seventeen out of the same number.

1883. W. Besant, All in a Garden Fair. Intro. It was a sad example of pride before a fall ; his foot caught in a tuft of grass, and he was grassed.

1888. Sporting Life, 11 Dec. Just on the completion of the minute grassed his man with a swinging right-hander.

1891. J. Newman, Scamping Tricks, p. 119. I saw I was grassed, so I took his measurement.

1892. F. Anstey, Voces Populi. ' The Riding-Class,' p. 108. Didn't get grassed, did you?

To give grass, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To yield.

To go to grass, verb. phr. (colloquial). — 1. To abscond ; to disappear. Also to hunt grass.

2. (common).—To fall sprawling ; to be ruined ; to die.

1876. Hindley, Cheap Jack, p, 237. Elias was sent to grass to rise no more off it.

3. (common).—To waste away (as of limbs).

To hunt grass, verb. phr. (common).—1. To decamp.

2. (cricket). — To field ; to hunt leather {q.V.),

Grass.

196

Grass-widow.

3. (American). To fall ; to go

to ground; hence, to be puzzled or

bewildered.

1869. S. L. Clemens, Innocents at Home, p. 21. You're most too many for me, you know. When you get in with your left I hunt grass every time.

To cut one's own grass.

verb. phr. (thieves').—To earn

one's own living.

1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, c iii., p. 242. 'Cut her own grass! Good gracious! what is that!' I asked. ' Why, purvide her own chump—earn her own living,' the old man replied.

TO be sent to grass, verb.

phr. (University).—To be rusticated ; to receive a travelling scholarship (q.V.).

1794. t>ent. Mag., p. 1085. And was very near rustication [at Cambridge] merely for kicking up a row after a beakeringparty. ' Soho, Jack ! ' briskly rejoined another, ' almost presented with a travelling fellowship ? very nigh being sent to grass, hey?'

Go to grass ! phr. (common). —Be off ! You be hanged ! Go to hell !

1848. Du rivage, Stray Subjects, p. 95. A gentleman who was swimming about, upon being refused, declared that he might go to grass with his eld canoe, for he didn't think it would be much of a shower, anyhow.

1865. Bacon, Handbook of America, p. 363 Go to grass ! be off¹ get out !

TO let the grass grow

under one's feet, verb. phr. (colloquial). — To proceed or work leisurely. Fr., Iwier.

To take Nebuchadnezzar out 10 grass, subs. phr. (venery). — To take a man. [Nebuchadnezzar = penis.] For synonyms, see Greens.

Grass-comber, subs, (nautical).— A countryman shipped as a sailor.

1886. W. Besant, World Went Very Well Then, ch. xxix. Formerly, Jack would have leplied to this sally that, d'ye see, Luke was a grass comber and

a land swab, but that for himself, there was no tea aboard ship, and a glass of punch or a bowl of flip was worth all the tea ever brought from China.

Grasser, subs, (sporting). — A fall.

Grasshopper, subs, (common).— i. A waiter at a tea-garden.

2. (rhyming).—A policeman, or copper (q.v.).

3. (thieves').—A thief. See Gunner.

1893. Pall Mall Gaz., 2 Jan., p. 4., c. 3. Quite a '' school ' of youthful grasshoppers are in possession of one corner of the ice, but on the Westminster side of the park 'pon bridge there is a good sprinkling of old hands.

Grassing, subs. (printers').— Casual work away from the office. See Smouting.

Grassville, subs. (old). — The country; cf., Daisyville.

Grass-widow, subs. (old).—i. An unmarried mother ; a deserted mistress. See Barrack-hack and Tart.

1690. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v. Widow's weeds, a grass-widow, one that pretends to have been married, but never was, yet has children.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Widow's weeds ; a grass-widow ; a discarded mistress.

2. (colloquial). —A married

woman temporarily separated

from her husband.

[The usually accepted derivation that grass = Fr., grâce is doubtful. Hall (says J. C. Atkinson, in Glossary of Cleveland Words) gives as the definition of this word ' an unmarried woman v/ho has had a child ' ; in Moor's Suffolk Words and Phrases, grace-widow, 'a woman who has had a child for her cradle ere she has had a husband for her bed ' ; and corresponding with this is the N. S. or Low Ger., gras-wedewe. Again, Sw. D., gras-anka, or -^«/{a = grass-widow, occurs in the same sense as with us : 'a low, dissolute, unmarried woman living by herself.' The original meaning of the word seems to

Grass-widow. 197 Gravel-grinder.

have been 'a woman whose husband is away,' either travelling or living apart. The people of Belgium call a woman of this description haeck-wedewe,

from haecken, to feel strong desire.....

It seems probable, therefore, from the etymology, taken in connection with the Clevel. signification, that our word may rather be from the Scand. source than from the German; only with a translation of the word enka into its English equivalent. Dan. D., graesenka, is a female whose betrothed lover (fastman) is dead ; nearly equivalent to which is Germa.n,strohwittiue, literally straw-widow. See N. and Q. 6 S viii., 268, 414 : x. 333, 436, 526 ; xi. 78, 178.]

English Synonyms. — Cali

fornian widow; widow-bewitched;

wife in water colours.

1700. Congreve, Way of the World, Act iii. If the worst come to the

worst,—I'll turn my wife to grass

—I have already a deed of settlement of the best part of her estate, which I wheedl'd out of her.

1877. Chamb. Journal, 12 Mar., p. 173. Mrs. Brittomart was one of those who never tolerated a bow-wow—a species of animal well known in India—and never went to the hills as a grass-widow.

1878. London, a grass-widow. And so, you see, it comes to pass That she's a widow out at grass And happy in her freedom.

1882. Saturday Review, 11 Feb. She is a grass-widow, her husband is something in some Indian service.

1885. W. Black, White Heather, ch. xli. Mrs. Lalor, a grass-widow who was kind enough to play chaperon to the young people, but whose effective black eyes had a little trick of roving on their own account.

1889. Daily Telegraph, 12 Feb. She had taken up her residence at a house in Sinclair-road, Kensington, where she passed as a grass-widow. She represented that her husband was engaged in mercantile pursuits.

Grass-widower, subs, (common). —A man away from his wife.

1886. New York Evening Post, 22 May. All the grass-widowers and unmarried men.

Gravel, verb. (old).—1. To confound ; to puzzle ; to floor {q.v.).

1593. G. Harvey, Pierus Supererog, in wks. II., 296. The finest intelligencer, or sagest Politician in a state, would undoubtedly have been gravelled in tl.e execution of that rash attempt.

1597. Hall, Satires, III., vi., 14. So long he drinks, till the black caravell Stands still fast gravelled on the mud of hell.

1600. Shakspeare, As You Like It. When you were gravelled for lack of matter.

1604. Marlowe, Faustus, Act i., Sc. i. And I, that have with conci e syllogisms gravell'd the pastois of the German church.

1659. Torriano, Vocabulario, s.v.

1667. Dryden, Sir Martin Marrall, Act iii. Warn. He's gravelled, and I must help him out.

1663. Dryden, An Evening's Love, Act ii. A difficult question in that art, which almost gravels me.

1857. A. T;:ollope, Three Clerks, ch. xxxiv. He was somewhat gravel led for an answer to Alaric's earnest supplication, and therefore made none till the request was repeated.

1886. R. L. Stevenson, Kidnapped, p. 206. I thought Alan would be gk/-velled at that, for we lacked the means cf writing in that desert.

1893. National Observer, 11 Feb , p. 32r. In truth to talk of Burns as the apotheosis of Knox is really to gravel ai d confound your readers ; and but for tl e context one might be suspected that the innuendo hid a touch of sarcasm.

2. (American).—To go against the grain.

1887. Clemen s, Life on tie Mississippi, ch. xiv., p. 138. By long habit, pilots came to put all their wishes in the form of commands. It gravei s me to this day, to put my will in the weak shape of a request, instead of launching it in the crisp language of an order.

Gravel-crusher, subs, (military). —A soldier doing defaulter's drill.

Gravel-grinder, subs, (popular). —A drunkard. For synonyms, s. t Lushington.

Gravel-rash. ^ G ray-beard.

G ravel-rash, subs, (colloquial).— The lacerations caused by a fall.

TO have the gravel rash,

verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be reeling chunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and .Screwed.

G raves end-bus, subs, (common). —A hearse.

Gravesend-sweetmeats, subs. (popular).—Shrimps.

Gravesend-twins, subs, (common).—Solid particles of sewage.

Grave-yard, subs, (common).—i. The mouth. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

to keep a private graveyard, verb. phr. (American).— To affect ferocity ; to bluster.

Gravy, subs. (venery). — The sexual discharge ; the spendings {q.v.) both male and female. [Hence gravy-giver = the penis and the female pudendum ; and gravy-maker = the female pudendum. Hence, too, to give one's gravy = to spend {q.v.). Cf., Beef and Mutton.]

d. 1796. Burns, ' Dainty Davie,' in Merry Muses. I wot he cam atween my thie, An' creeshed it weel wi' gravy.

Gravy-eye, subs, (common)—A derisive epithet : e.g., Well Old gravy-eye.

Grawler, subs. (old).—A beggar. For synonyms, see Cadger.

182], D. Haggart, Life, Glossary p. 62. Not so much as would sweeten a grawler in the whole of them.

Gray, subs, (thieves').—1. A coin showing either two heads or two tails ; a pony {q.v.).

1828. G. Smeeton, Doings in London, p. 40. Breslaw could never have done more upon cards than he could do with a pair of grays (gaffing-coins).

1851-til. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. II , p. 154. Some, if they can, will cheat, by means of a halfpenny with a head or a tail on both sides, called a gray.

18*8. Temple Bar, Vol. XXIV., p. 539. They have a penny with two heads or two tails on it, which they call a grey, and of course they can easily dupe flats from the country. How do they call it a grey, I wonder? I suppose they have named it after Sir George Grey because he was a two-faced bloke.

2. (common).—Grayback, sense 1.

3. in. pi. (colloquial).—Yawning ; listlessness. Cf., Blues.

Grayback, subs, (common). — 1. A louse. Also Scots Greys. Fr., un grenadier. For synonyms, see Chates.

2. (American).—A Confederate soldier. [Partly from the colour of his uniform, and partly because of its inhabitants. Cf., sense 1.] See Blue-bellies.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 9 Feb., p. 5, c. 4. The Confederate armies, during the great Civil War in America . . . were known ... as Greybacks, whereas their Federal opponents, from the light-azure gaberdines which they wore, were dubbed ' blue-bellies.

1890. Scribners Mag. Mar., p. 283. Mrs. Rutherford stood in such abject fear of the graybacks that she regarded the possession of so large a sum as simply inviting destruction.

Gray-beard, subs, (colloquial).— i. An old man. Mostly in contempt.

1593. Shakspeare, Taming of the Shrew, Act ii., Sc. 1. Grey-beard, thy love doth freeze.

a. 1845. Longfellow, L uck of Eden Hall. The gray-beard, with trembling hand obeys.

2. (old).—Originally a stoneware drinking jug ; now a large earthenware jar for holding wine or spirits. [From the bearded face in relief with which they were ornamented.]

Gray-cloak.

199*

Gray-mare.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, Greybeard, s.v. Dutch eanhen jugs, used for smuggling gin on the coasts of Essex and Suffolk, are at this time called greybeards.

1814. Scott, Waverhy, ch. lxiv. There's plenty of brandy in the greybeard.

_ 1886. The State, 20 May, p. 217. A whisky or brandy which is held in merited respect for very superior potency is entitled [in America] 'reverent,' from the same kind of fancy which led the Scotch to call a whisky jar a grey-beard.

Gray-cloak, subs, (common).— An alderman above the chair. [Because his proper robe is a cloak furred with grey amis.]

Gray-goose, subs. (Scots'). —A big field stone on the surface of the ground.

1816. Scott, Black Dwarf, ch. iv. Biggin a dry-stane dyke, I think, wi' the grey-geese as they ca' thae great loose stones.

Grayhound, subs, (general).—1. A fast Atlantic liner ; one especially built for speed. Also ocean

grayhound.

1887. Scientific American, vol. LVI., 2. They [ships] are built in the strongest possible manner, and are so swift of foot, as to have already become formidable rivals to the English grey hound.

2. (CambridgeUniversity).—An obsolete name for a member of Clare College ; a clarian.

1889. Whibley, Cap and Gown, xxviii. The members of Clare . . . . were called grayhounds.

Gray-mare, subs, (common).—A wife ; specifically one who wears the breeches (q.v.). [From the proverb, ' The gray mare is the better horse ' = the wife is master : a tradition, perhaps, from the time when priests were forbidden to carry arms or ride on a

male horse : A^ron enim lie iterate pontiäceni sacroruni vel anna fare, vel praeter quam in equuâ cquitarc. — Beda, Hist. Eccl. ii., 13. Fr., mariage d'epervier=a hawk's marriage: the female hawk being the larger and stronger bird. Lord Macaulay's explanation (quot. 1849) is the merest guess-work. ]

1546. John Haywood, Proverbs [Sharman's reprint, 1874]. She is (quoth he) bent to force you perforce, To know that the grey mare is the better horse.

1550. A Treaty sc, Shewingand Declaring the Pry de and Abuse of Women Now a Day es (in Hazlitt's Early Popular Poetry, iv., 237). What ! shall the graye mayre be the better horse, And be wanton styll at home ?

1605. Camden, Remains Concerning Britain [ed. 1870, p. 332]. In list of proverbs. (Is said to be the earliest in English.)

1670. Ray, Proverbs, s.v.

1693-1750. Ward, London Spy, part II., p. 40. Another as dull as if the grey mare was the better Horse ; and deny'd him Enterance for keeping late Hours.

1705-1707. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. II., pt. iv., p. 5. There's no resisting Female Force, Grey mare will prove the better Horse.

1717. Prior, Epilogue to Mrs. Mauley's Lucius. As long as we have eyes, or hands, or breath, We'll look, or write, or talk you all to death. Yield, or shePegasus will gain her course, And the grey mare will prove the better horse.

1719. Durfey,, Pills, etc., p. 240. For the grey mare has proved the better horse.

1738. Swift, Polite Convers., dial. 3. I wish she were married ; but I doubt the gray mare would prove the better horse.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xix. By the hints they dropped, I learned the gray mare wa~ the better horse—that she was a matron of a high spirit.

Gray-parson.

Grease.

1819. Macaulay, Hist. England. The vu'gar proverb, that the grey mare is the better horse, originated, I suspect, in the preference generally given to the gkey mares of Flanders over the finest coach horses of England.

1883. G. A. S[ala], in Illustr. London News, 14 Apr., p. 359, c. 2. She [Mrs. Romford], did not overaccentuate either her strong-mindedness or her jealousy of her flighty husband ; but she let him and the audience unmistakably know that she was in all respects the grey mare in the Romford stable.

Gray-parson (or Gray-coat parson, subs. (old).—A lay impropriator, or lessee of tithes.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, grey parson, s.v. A farmer who rents the tythes of the rector or vicar.

1830 in Cobbett's Rural Rides, vol. I., p. 123 note (ed. 1886). The late editor says, that, having been a large holder of lay tithes, the author applied to Mr. Nicholls, the name of the grey-coated parson.

Grease, subs, (common).—1. A bribe ; palm-oil (or -grease). {q.v. for synonyms). In America Boodle {q.v.). greasing = bribing.

1823. Bee, Diet. 0/ Turf, s.v. A bonus given to promote the cause of anyone.

2. (printers'). — Well-paid work ; fat {q.v.).

3. (common. — Fawning ; flattery (a figurative use of sense i).

Verb (old).—i. To bribe ; to corrupt by presents ; to tip {q.v.). Also more fully to grease in the fist, hand, or palm. Fr., coquer la boucanade. For synonyms, see Square.

1557. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. 68, pt. 2, p. 159 (E.D.S.). How husbandrie easeth, to huswiferie pleaseth, And manie purse greaseth With silver and gold.

1578. Whetstone, Promoss and Cassandra, ii., 3. Grease them well in their hands.

1592. Greene, Quip in wks., xi., 261 That did you not grease the sealers of Leaden Hall throughly in the fist, they should never be sealed, but turned away and made forfiet by the statute.

1619. Fletcher, Wild Goose Chase. Am I greased once again ?

1649. F. Quarles, Virgin Widow, IV., i., p. 40. Greaze my fist with a Tester or two, and ye shall find it in your penny-worths.

1678. C. Cotton, Scarronides, Bk. IV., p. 70 (ed. 1725). Him she conjures, intreats, and prays, With all the Cunning that she has, greases his Fist ; nay more, engages Thenceforth to mend his Quarters-wages.

1693. Dryden, Persius, iii., 139. And after, envy not the store Of the greas'd advocate, that grinds the poor.

1698-1700. Ward, London Spy, pt. xv., p. 364. But the Gay Curteyan who trades for gold, That can but grease a palm when she's in hold, No Justice need she dread.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1878. Jas. Payn, By Proxy, ch. x. His Excellency, your master, has given orders, I presume, that after I have made my compliments — as delicate a phrase as he could think of for greasing the hands of justice — I shall be at liberty to visit my friend.

1879. Horsley, in Macmillans Magazine, Oct. When I went to the fence he bested (cheated) me because I was drunk, and only gave me £8 10s. for the lot. So the next day I went to him and asked him if he was not going to grease my duke (put money into my hand).

1891. Pall Mall Gaz., 2 Sept., p. 7, c. 2. Did other people having business with the printing bureau tell you that it would be necessary to grease Sénécal ?

2. (common).—To fawn ; to flatter. Formerly, to grease one's boots.

1598. Florio, A Worlde cf Wördes. Onger i stivali, to grease ones bootes, id est, to flatter or cog with, to faune vpon one.

3. (old).—To gull ; to cheat ; to do.

Greased Lightning. ²⁰¹ Great Go.

TO grease a fat sow in

the arse, verb. fhr. (old).— To bribe a rich man.—Grose.

To grease one's gills, verb, phr. (common). — To make a good or luxurious meal.

Greased Lightning, subs. phr. (American).—An express train.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 359. The usual Express Train is not half fast enough for the impatient traveller ; he must have his Lightning Express Train, and in the Far West improves still farther by calling it greased lightning, after a favourite Yankee term.

Like Greased Lightning, adv. phr. (American). — Very ouick. See Bed-post.

1848. Durivage, Stray Subjects, p. 72. Quicker than greased lightnin', My covies, I was dead.

1890. Globe, 27 Aug., p. 2, c. 5. He is drawn along at a rapid rate, or, as the correspondent puts it, he is whisked all over town like greased lightning.

1891. J. Newman, Scamping Tricks, p. 98. He measured again, and then off went his coat like greased lightning, and we all followed suit.

Greaser, subs. (American). — 1. A Mexican in general ; also a Spanish American : see quots. 1848 and 1888. The term originated during the Mexican war.

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 3. Note. The Mexicans are called Spaniards or greasers (from their greasy appearance) by the Western people.

1855. Marryat, Mountains and Mole Hills, p. 236. The Americans call the Mexicans greasers, which is scarcely a complimentary soubriquet ; although the term greaser camp as applied to a Mexican encampment is truthfully suggestive of filth and squalor.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, Prologue i. Behind the leadeis followed a little troop of three, consisting of one English servant and two greasers.

188.3. Bret Harte, In the Carquin z Woods, footnote to ch. vii. Greasers, Californian :.lang for a mixed race of Mexicans and Indians.

1888. Century Mag., October. To avenge the murder of one of their number the cowboys gathered from the country round about, and fairly stormed the greaser—that is, Mexican—village where the murder had been committed, killing four of the inhabitants.

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody, ch. 2. Don't let the greaser git his fingers in your ha'r.

2. in. pi. (Royal Military Academy). — Fried potatoes, as distinguished from boilers = boiled potatoes.

To give one greaser, verb, phr. (Winchester College).—To rub the back of the hand hard with the knuckles.

Grease-spot, subs, (common).— The imaginary result of a passage at arms, physical or intellectual.

1844. Haliburton, The Attaché, ch. xvi. If he hadn't a had the clear grit in him, and showed his teelh and claws, they'd a nullified him so you wouldn't see a grease-spot of him no more.

Greasy-chin, subs. (old). — A dinner.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, 'Lay of St. Gengulphus.' And to every guest his card had express'd * Half past ' as the hour for a greasy chin.

Great Cry and Little Wool.—

See Cry.

Great Go (or Greats), subs. (Cambridge University). — The final examination for the B.A. degree ; cf., Little-go. At Oxford, greater.

1841. Prince of the New-matte Baccalere, Oxford. Great-go is passed.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. x. Both small and great are sufficiently distant to be altogether ignored, if we are that way inclined.

Great Gun. 202 Great Scott.

18567. Thackeray, King of B> cutford's Test., st. 7. At college, though not fast, Yet his little-go and great-go, He creditably pass'd.

1871. Morning Advertiser, 28 Apr. Yes, Mr. Lowe has been plucked for his great go.

18S3. Echo, 3 May, p. 2, c. 4. But few, indeed, are the men who have been in for greats during the last twenty years, and who have not blessed Mr. Kitchin for his edition of the Novum Organum.

Great Gun, subs. phr. (common). — i. A person of distinction; a thing of importance.

English Synonyms.—Big bug ; big dog of the tanyard ; big dog with the brass collar; big gun ; big head ; big one ; big (or great) pot ; big wig ; biggest toad in the puddle ; cock of the walk ; don ; large potato ; nob ; rumbusticator ; stunner ; swell ; swellhead ; topper ; top-sawyer.

French Synonyms.— Un gros bonnet (familiar = big wig) ; un fiérol (a stuck-up) ; un herr (îxova the German); Monsieur Raidillon or Monsieur Pointu ( = Mr. Stuck-up).

1836.^ M. Scott, Tom Cringle's Log, ch. ii. A Spanish Ecclesiastic, the

Canon of-. Plenty of great guns, at

any rate—a regular park of artillery.

1843. Haliburton, Sail Slick in England, ch. xv. The great guns and big bugs have to take in each other's ladies.

Ibid., p. 24. Pick out the big bugs and see what sort of stuff they're made of.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. x. The great guns of the party, the rector of the parish, the member for the county.

2. (pedlers'). — A peculiar practice ; a trick of particular usefulness and importance ; a favourite wheeze (q.v.).

1851. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 256. The street-seller's great gun, as he called it, was to make up packets, as closely resembling as he could accomplish it those which were displayed in the windows of any of the shops.

To Blow Great Guns, verb, phr. (nautical).—To blow a gale; also to blow great guns and small arms.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], 23. ' Curse me, if I don't think all the world means to cross the Thames this fine night ! ' observed Ben. ' One'd think it rained fares as well

as blowed great guns.

1854. H. Miller, Sch. and Schm. (1858), 14. It soon began to blow great guns.

1865. H. Kingsley, Hillyars and Burton, ch. lxxvii. It was blowing pretty high guns, sou' eastern by east, off shore and when we came to the harbour's mouth there was Tom Wyatt with his pilot just aboard.

1869. Arthur Sketchley, Mrs. Brcnon on Things in General. I never did see such' weather, a-blowin great guns as the savin' is.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 34.0. It blew great guns from the seaward.

Great-house. See Big-house.

Great-Joseph, subs. (old).—An overcoat.

Great Scott! intj. (American).— An exclamation of surprise ; an apology for an oath. [Possibly a memory of the name of Gen. Winfield Scott, a presidential candidate whose dignity and style weie such as to win him the nickname "Fuss-and-Feathers."] Also Great C^sar.

1388. New York Mercury. Great Scott ! you don't say so.

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 98. Bob, what's the matter with you ? Great Scott ! the mine hain't give out.

Great Shakes. 203 Greedy-gut.

1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 19 June, p. 396, c 2. Great Scotch !—no, we mean Scott—well, language worthy of the great Harry prevailed for awhile.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 305. ' Great Scott ! what the deuce is Wells up to ? ' said the Squire.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 106. Great

C.tSAR!

1892. Tit Bits, 19 Mar., p. 416, c. 1. He. Great C*:sar ! There you go again ! She. James will you please remember that it is your wife to whom you are speaking, sir? He. No other woman could drive me raving, distracted, crazy, asking silly questions about— She. James !

Great Shakes. See Shakes.

Great Smoke, subs, (thieves') — London.

Great Sun, intj. (common).—An exclamation.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly. Great Sun ! I think I see it now.

Great-unwashed, subs, (colloquial).—The lower classes; the rabble. Also the unwashed. [First used by Burke ; popularised by Scott. ]

1892. Sydney Watson, Wcps the Waif, ch. iii., p. 4. We begin to understand what is meant by the lowest classes,

the great unwashed.

Great Whipper-in, subs. phr. (common). — Death ; old floorer {(J.V.).

Grecian, subs. (old). — i. A roysterer ; a greek {q.v.).

2. (Christ's Hospital). — A senior boy.

3. (popular).—An Irishman.

Grecian Accent,subs, (popular).— A brogue.

Grecian-bend, subs, (common).— A stoop in walking. [Affected by some women c. 1869-80.] Cf., Alexandra Limp, Roman Fall, Italian Wrigglk, Kangaroo Droop.

1821. Etonian, ii., 57. In person he was of the common size, with something of the Grecian bend, contracted doubtless from sedentary habits.

1869. Daily Telegraph, 1 Sept. I do not, however, think the ' stoop ' our girls now have aribes from tight-lacing. Some affect what is called the Grecian bend.

1870. Orchestra, 25 Mar. ' Grand Comic Concert.' The ladies have their Grecian bend, our typical gentleman explains a correspondent masculine affectation which he dubs ' The Roman Fall—The Roman Fall.'

1871. Morning Advertiser, 4 Dec. A lady of live feet becomes, s,ay, five feet two inches per heels, five feet six inches per hair, five feet again, per Grecian bend.

1876. Chambers Journal, No. 629. Your own advocacy for the Grecian bend and the Alexandra limp—both positive and practical imitations of physical affliction.

1886. CornhillMagazine, Dec, p. 618. You ain't nearly fine enough for a waitress or for 'im, neether. He likes a smart young woman with a Grecian bend.

Greed, subs, (thieves). — Money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1857. Ducange Anglicus, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Greedy-gut (or -guts), subs. (old). — A voracious eater ; a glutton. [As in the old (schoolboys') rhyme : ' Guy-hi, Greedygut, Eat all the pudding up.'] For synonyms, see Stodger. Fr., un glafâtre.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wördes, Edace, an eater, a devourer, a greedigut. Ibid. Putti occhi, greedie eies.

1772. Coles, Eng. Diet., s.v.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Greek.

204

Greek Kalends.

Greek, subs. (old).—1. Slang, or flash (q.v.) ; usually St. Giles' Greek (q.v.). Cf, Cant, Gibberish, etc.

2. (colloquial).—A card-sharper; a cheat.

152?. Roy and Barlow, Rede 711e and be not wrothe, p. 117 [ed. Arber, 1871]. In carde playinge he is a goode Greke And can skyll of post and glycke, Also a prayre of dyce to trolle.

1568. Satirical Poems, ' Scottish Text Soc.' [1889-91] i., 77. A cowle, a cowle, for such a greek were fittter far to wea're.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wördes. Grecheggiare .... to play the Greek.

1602. Shakspeare, Troilus and Cressida, v. 6. Come, both you cogging Greeks ; have at you both.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, xxviii. Most of the cant phrases in Head's English Rogue, which was published, I believe, in 1666, would be intelligible to a Greek of the present day.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom arid Jerry, ii., 5. Come lads, bustle about ; play will begin—some of tbe pigeons are here already, the Greeks will not be long following.

1831. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. IV., ch. i. Jerry was a Greek by nature, and could land a flat as well as the best of them.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxxvi. He was an adventurer, a pauper, a blackleg, a regular Greek.

1861. Once a Week, 25 May, p. 97. As the Greek places the packet [of cards] on the top of the other, he allows it to project the least bit in the world.

1834. Saturday Review, 16 Feb., p. 202. Without a confederate the now fashionable game of baccarat does not seem to offer many chances for the Greek.

3. (old).—An Irishman.

1823. Bee, Diet, of the Turf. Greek, s.v. Irishmen call themselves Greeks.

1851-61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. i., p. 240. We had the Greeks (the lately arrived Irish) down upon us more than once.

1872. Standard, 3 Sept. ' Melbourne Correspondence.' The most noticeable point of comparison between the two Administrations is the presence or the absence of the Greek element from the Cabinet. Greek, as some of your readers are aware, is colonial slang for 'Irish.'

4. (thieves').—A gambler. ALo a highwayman.

Merry Greek, subs. phr. (old).—A roysterer ; a drunkard. Cotgrave. [In Latin, Graecare = to play the Greek—high-living and hard drinking.]

1602. Shakspeare, Troilus and Cressida, iv., 4. A woful Cressid 'mongst the merry Greeks.

Greek Fire, subs. phr. (thieves').— Bad whiskey ; Rotgut (q.v.).

1889. Clarkson and Richardson, Police, p. 321, s.v.

Greek Kalends, subs. phr. (colloquial). — Never. To defer anything to the Greek Kalends is to put it off sine die. (The Greeks used no kalends in their reckoning of time.)

c. 1619. Drumm. of Hawth. Cousid. Parlt., wks. (1711) 185 . That gold, plate, and all silver, given to the minthouse in these late troubles, shall be paid at the Greek Kalends.

1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, bk. I., ch. xx. The judgment or decree shall be • given out and pronounced at the next Greek Calends, that is, never.

1823. Byron, Don Juan, c. xiii., st. 45. They and their bills, ' Arcadians both,' are left To the Greek Kalends of another session.

1825. Scott, Betrothed. Intro. Will you speak of your paltry prose doings in my presence, whose great historical poem, in twenty books, with notes in proportion, has been postponed ad Gr^ecas Kalendas ?

1872. O. W. Holmes, Poet Breakf. T. i., 18. His friends looked for it only on the Greek Calends, say on the 31st of April, when that should come round, if you would modernize the phrase.

Green.

205

Green.

1882. Macmillaris Mag., 253. So we go on . . . and the works are sent to he Greek Calends.

English Synonyms.—In the reign of Queen Dick ; when the devil is blind ; when two Sundays come in a week ; at Doomsday ; at Tib's Eve ; one of these odd-come-shortlys ; when my goose pisses ; when the ducks have eaten up the dirt ; when pigs fly; in a month of Sundays; once in a blue moon.

French Synonyms.—Mardi s'il fait chaud (obsolete) ; Dimanche apres la grande messe (popular) ; quand les poules pisseront ; semaine des quatre jeudis (popular : when four Thursdays come in a week).

Green, subs. (common). — 1. Rawness ; simplicity. Generally, ' Do you see any green in my eye'? = Do you take me for a fool ? See adj. sense.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, 247. I'm not a tailor, but I understands about clothes, and I believe that no person ever saw anything green in my eye.

1892. Ally Sloper, 19 Mar., p. 95, c. 2. Ally Sloper the 'cute, Ally Sloper the sly, Ally Sloper, the cove with no green in his eye.

1s92. Illustrated Bits, 22 Oct., p. 14, c. 2. Sindin' both shlips is it? How wud Oi have a check on ye ? Do ye see inny green in me oi?

Adj. (colloquial). — Simple ; inexperienced ; gullible ; UNsalted {q.v.).

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, Act i., Sc. 3. Pol. Affection ! pooh ! you speak like a green girl.

1605. Chapman, All Fools, Act iv., p. 67 {Plays, 1874). Shall I then say you want experience? y'are green, y'are credulous ; easy to be blinded.

1748. T. Dvche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Green (a) . . . so likewise a young or unexperienced person in arts, sciences, etc., is sometimes said to be green, raw, etc.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry. Tom. No; you're green! Jerry. Green ! Log. Ah ! not fly ! Tom. Yes, not awake !

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. viii. ' My eyes, how green ! ' exclaimed the young gentleman. ' Why a beak's a madgst'rate.'

1841. Punch, July 17, p. 6. What a green chap you are, after all. A public man's consistency ! It's only a popular delusion.

1850. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, p. 19. Eh ! why ! what's the matter with you ? have I done anything particularly green, as you call it?

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown's School Days, pt. I., ch. ii. You try to make us think . . . that you are, even as we, of the working classes. But bless your hearts, we ain't so green.

1869. Literary World, 31 Dec, p. 129, c. 2. His fellow-passengers laughed at him for being so green.

1879. Punch's Almanack, p. 7. Seasonable Slang. For Spring.—You be blowed! For Summer.—I'll warm yer! For Autumn. —Not so blooming green ! For Winter —An ice little game all round.

1887. Lippincott, July, p. 104. Within the last day or so a young fellow has arrived who is in danger of being eaten by the cows, so green is he.

1890. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 7 Nov. Being quite green at the time, I rather lost my head over my good fortune.

Verb (colloquial).—To hoax ; to swindle. At Eton to green up. For synonyms, see Gammon.

1836-41. T. C. Buckland, Eton. I was again catechized on many points personal to myself, and some mild attempts were made to green me, as boys call it.

1889. Answers, 2 Mar., p. 218, c. 1. Whereupon the old humbug burst into a loud guffaw, as though he were rejoicing at having greened the toff.

1892. Anstey, Voces Populi (Second S"e ies). ' Bank Holiday,' 147. The Damsel {giggling). You go on—you don't green me that w'y.

Greens. 206

Greens.

Greens, subs. (old).—1. Chlorosis: /. e., the green sickness.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 313. The maiden takes five, too, that's vexed with he greens.

2. iii.pl. (printers').—Bad or worn out rollers.

TO have, get, Or give one's

greens, verb phr. (venery).—To enjoy, procure, or confer the sexual favour. Said indifferently of both sexes.

Hence, also, on for one's greens = amorous and willing;

after one's greens = in quest

of the favour; green-grove = the pubes ; green-grocery =. the female pudendum ; the price of greens = the cost of an embrace ; fresh greens = a new piece (q.v.). [Derived by some from the old Scots'grene = to pine, to long for, to desire with insistence : whence greens = longings, desires ; which words may in their turn be referred, perhaps, to Mid. Eng., zernen, A.S., gyrnan, Icelandic, gima = to desire, and Gothic, gairns = desirous. Mod. Ger., begehren = to desire. See Dalziel, Darker Superstitions of Scotland, 1835, p. 106:—* He answered that he wald gif the sum Spanyie fleis callit cantarides, quhilk, gif thou suld move the said Elizabeth to drynk of, it wold mak hir out of all question to grene eftir the.' Trial of Peter Hay, of Kirklands, and others, for Witchcraft, 2$lh May, 1601. But in truth, the expression is a late and vulgar coinage. It would seem, indeed, to be a reminiscence of garden (q.v.), and the set of metaphors—as Kail, Cauliflower, Parsley Bed, and so forth (all which see) •-suggested thereby.]

English Synonyms.—To be all there but the most of you ; in Abraham's bosom ; up one's petticoats (or among one's frills) ; there ; on the spot ; into ; up ; up to one's balls ; where uncle's doodle goes ; among the cabbages.

To dance the blanket hornpipe ; the buttock jig ; the cushion dance (see Monosyllable) ; the goat's jig ; the mattress jig ; the married man's cotillion ; the matrimonial polka ; the reels o' Bogie (Scots') ; the reels of Stumpie (Scots') ; to the tune of the shaking of the sheets ; with your arse to the ceiling, or the kipples (Scots').

To go ballocking ; beard-splitting ; bed-pressing (Marston) ; belly-bumping (Urquhart) ; bitching (Marston); bum-fighting; bum-working ; bum-tickling; bumfaking ; bush-ranging ; buttockstirring ( Urquhart ) ; bird'snesting ; buttocking ; cockfighting ; cunny-catching ; doodling ; drabbing ; fleshing it ; fieshmongering ; goosing : to Hairy-fordshire ; jock-hunting ; jottling ; jumming (Urquhart) ; leather• stretching ; on the loose ; motting ; molrowing ; pile-driving ; prick-scouring ; quim-sticking ; rumping ; rump-splitting ; strumming ; twatting ; twat-faking ; vaulting (Marston, etc.) ; wenching ; womanizing ; working the dumb (or double, or hairy) oracle, twat-raking ; tummy-tickling ; tromboning ; quim-wedging ; tail-twitching ; button-hole working ; under-petticoating.

TO have, or do, a bit of

beef (of women) ; business

Greens. 207 Greens.

(Shakspeare);bum-dancing; cauliflower ; cock ; cock-righting; cunt ; curly greens ; fish ; on a fork ; fun ; off the chump end ; flat ; front-door work ; giblet pie ; the gut(or creamor sugar-) stick (of women) ; jam ; ladies' tailoring ; meat ; mutton ; pork ; quimsy ; rough ; sharp-and-blunt (rhyming slang) ; stuff ; split-mutton ; skirt ; summer cabbage.

To have, or do, or perform, the act of androgynation (Urquhart) ; a ballocking ; a bit ; a lassie's by-job (Burns) ; a bedward bit (Durfey) ; a beanfeast in bed ; a belly-warmer ; a blindfold bit ; a bottom-wetter (of women) ; a bout ; a brush with the cue ; a dive in the dark ; a drop-in ; a double fight ; an ejectment in Love-lane; a fourlegged frolic ; a fuck ; a futter ; a game in the cock-loft ; a gooseand-duck (rhyming) ; the culbatizing exercise (Urquhart) ; a grind ; a hoist-in ; a jottle ; a jumble-giblets ; a jumble-up ; an inside worry ; a leap ; a leap up the ladder ; a little of one with t'other (Durfey) ; a mount ; a mow (David Lyndsay, Burns, etc. ) ; a nibble ; a plaster of warm guts (Grose) ; a poke ; a put ; a put-in ; a random push (Burns) ; a rasp ; a ride ; a roger ; a rootle ; a rush up the straight ; a shot at the bull's eye ; a slide up the board ; a squirt-and-a squeeze; a touch-off; a touchup ; a tumble-in ; a wet-'un ; a wipe at the place ; a wollop-in.

Specific.—To have, or do, a back-scuttle, {q.v.) ; a buttered bun {q.v.); a dog's marriage {q.v.); a kneetrembler, perpendicular, or

upright {q.v.) ; a matrimonial {q.v.) ; spoon-fashion {q.v.) ;

a st. george (q.V.).

To play at, All-fours ; Adam-and-Eve ; belly-to-belly (Urquhart) ; brangle-buttock ( Urquhart) ; buttock-and-leave-her; cherry-pit (Herrick); couple-your-navels ; cuddle-my-cuddie (Durfey) ; Hey Gammer Cook (C. Johnson) ; fathers-and-mothers ; the first-game-ever-played ; Handie-Dandie; Hooper's Hide (q.v.); grapple-my-belly ( Urquhart) ; horses-and-mares (schoolboys') ; the close-buttock-game (Urquhart); cock-in-cover ; houghmagandie (Burns) ; in-and-in; in-andout ; Irish-whist (where-the-jACK (</.z>.)-takes-the ace [see Monosyllable] ) ; the-loose-coatgame (Urquhart); Molly's hole (schoolboys') ; pickle-me-tickleme (Urquhart) ; mumble-peg ; prick-the-garter ; pully-hauly (Grose) ; put-in-all ; the-sameold-game ; squeezem-close ; stable-my-naggie ; thread-theneedle ; tops-and-bottoms ; two-handed-put (Grose) ; uptails-all.

General.—To Adam and Eve it ; to blow the groundsels ; to engage three to one ; to chuck a tread ; to do (Jonson) ; to do it ; to do ' the act of darkness ' (Shakspeare), the act of love, the deed of kind, the work of increase, ' the divine work of fatherhood ' (Whitman) ; to feed the dumbglutton ; to get one's hair cut ; to slip in Daintie Davie (Scots'), or Willie Wallace (idem) ; to get Jack in the orchard ; to get on top of ; to give a lesson in simple arithmetic (i.e., addition, division, multiplication and subtraction) ; to give a green gown (q.v.) ; to go ' groping for trout in a peculiar

Greens.

208

Greens.

river' (Shakspeare) ; to go facemaking ; to go to Durham (North Country) ; to go to see a sick friend ; to have it ; to join faces (Durfey) ; to join giblets ; to make ends meet ; to make the beast with two backs (Shakspeare and Urquhart) ; to make a settlement in tail ; to play topsawyer ; to put it in and break it ; to post a letter ; to go on the stitch; to labor lea (Scots) ; to tether one's nags on (idem) ; to nail twa wames thegither (idem) ; to lift a leg on (Burns) ; to ride a post (Cotton) ; to peel one's end in ; to put the devil into hell (Boccaccio) ; to rub bacons (Urquhart) ; to strop one's beak ; to strip one's tarse in ; to grind one's tool ; to grease the wheel ; to take on a split-arsed mechanic ; to take a turn in Bushey-park, Cock-alley, Cocklane, Cupid's-alley, Cupid'scorner, Hair-court, ' the lists of love ' (Shakspeare), Love-lane, on Mount Pleasant, among the parsley, on Shooter's-hill, through the stubble ; to whack it up ; to wollop it in ; to labour leather ; to wind up the clock (Sterne).

Of women only.—To get an arselins coup (Burns) ; to catch an oyster ; to do the naughty ; to do a spread, a tumble, a backfall, what mother, did before me ; a turn on one's back, what Eve did with Adam ; to hold, or turn up one's tail (Burns and Durfey) ; to get one's leg lifted, one's kettle mended, one's chimney swept out, one's leather stretched ; to lift one's leg ; to open up to ; to get shot in the tail ; to get a shove in one's bind eye ; to get a wet bottom ; what Harry gave Doll (Durfey) ; to suck the sugar-stick ; to take in beef; to

take Nebuchadnezzar out to grass; to look at the ceiling over a man's shoulder ; to get outside it ; to play one's ace ; to rub one's arse on (Rochester) ; to spread to ; to take in and do for ; to give standing room for one ; to get hulled between wind and water ; to get a pair of balls against one's butt ; to take in cream ; to show (or give) a bit ; to skin the live rabbit ; to feed (or trot out) one's pussy (q.v.) ; to lose the match and pocket the stakes ; to get a bellyful of marrow pudding ; to supple both ends of it (Scots) ; to draw a cork ; to get hilt and hair (Burns) ; to draw a man's fireworks ; to wag one's tail ( Pope ) ; to take the starch out of ; to go star-gazing (or studying astronomy) on one's back ; to get a green gown (Herrick and Durfey) ; to have a hot pudding (or live sausage) for supper ; to grant the favour ; to give mutton for beef, juice for jelly, soft for hard, a bit of snug for a bit of stiff, a hole to hide it in, a cure for the horn (q.v.), a hot poultice for the Irish toothache ; to pull up one's petticoats to ; to get the best and plenty of it ; to lie under ; to stand the push ; to get stabbed in the thigh ; to take off one's stays ; to get touched up, a bit of the goose's-neck, a go at the creamstick, a handle for the broom.

Conventionalisms. — To have connection ; to have carnal, improper, or sexual intercourse ; to know carnally ; to have carnal knowledge of ; to indulge in sexual commerce ; to go to bed with ; to lie with ; to go in unto (Biblical); to be intimate.

Greens: 209

Green Bag.

improperly intimate, familiar, on terms of familiarity with ; to have one's will of ; to lavish one's favours on ; to enjoy the pleasures of love, or the conjugal embrace ; to embrace ; to have one's way with ; to perform connubial rites ; to scale the heights of connubial bliss ; to yield one's favours (of women) ; to surrender, or give one the enjoyment of one's person (of women) ; to use benevolence to ; to possess. For other synonyms, sec Ride.

to send TO dr. green,

verb. phr. (old).—To put out to grass.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.vMy horse is not well, I shall send him to Doctor Green.

S'elp me greens ! (or

taturs !) intj. (common).—A veiled oath of an obscene origin ; see Greens. For synonyms, see Oaths.

1851-61. H. Mayhew. Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. iii., p. 144. They'll say, too, s'elp my greens ! and ⁴ Upon my word and say so ! '

1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 23 Jan. * Well, s'ei.p me greens,' he cried, wiping his eyes and panting for breath, ' if you arn't the greatest treat I ever did meet ; you'll be the death o' me, Juggins, you will. Why, you bloomin' idiot, d'ye think if they had'nt been rogues we should have been able to bribe 'em? '

Just for greens, adv. phr. (American).—See quot.

1848. Jones, Sketches of Travel, p. 7. LVe made up my mind to make a tower of travel to the big North this summer, jest for greens, as we say in Georgia, when we hain't got no very pertickeler reason for anything, or hain't got time to tell the real one. 1

Green-apron, subs, (old).—A lay preacher. Also adjt ctively. For synonyms, see Devil-Dodger and Sky-pilot.

1654. Warren, Unbelievers, 145. It more befits a green-apron preacher, than such a Gamaliel.

1705. Hickeringill, Priestcraft, I. (1721) 21. Unbeneficed Noncons. (that live by Alms and no Paternoster, no Penny, say the green-aprons).

1765. Tucker, Lt. Nat., II., 451 The gifted priestess amongst the Quaker is known by her green apron.

Green-back, subs, (common).—i A frog.

2. (University). —One of Todhunter's series of mathematical text-books. (Because bound in green cloth. Cf, Blue-ruin.)

3. (American). — The paper issue of the Treasury of the United States ; first sent out in 1862 during the civil war. [From the backs being printed in green.] Hence green-backer = an advocate for an unlimited issue ot paper money.

1873. Echo, 8 May. This was accomplished by the issue of legal tender notes, popularly known as greenbacks.

1877. Clemens, Life on the Mississippi, ch. lvii., p. 499. Anything in the semblance of a town lot, no matter how situated, was saleable, and at a figure which would still have been high if the ground had been sodded with greenbacks.

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 228. Gussie can near the crinkle of the greenbacks as he folds them up.

Green Bag,subs. (old).—A lawyer. [From the green bag in which robes and briefs were carried. The colour is now blue, or, in cases of presentation from seniors to juniors, red.]

1690. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Green-bonnet, ^2I° Green-gown.

English Synonyms. — Black box ; bramble (provincial); devil's own ; gentleman of the long robe ; land-shark ; limb of the law ; mouth-piece; Philadelphia lawyer (q.v.); quitam; six-andeightpence ; snipe ; sublime rascal.

French Synonyms. Un bavard (pop. =a talker or mouthpiece) ; un blanchisseur ( — whitewasher) ; un brodancheur à la plaque, aux macarons, or à la cymbale (thieves' : a notarypublic) ; un getbier (thieves') ; un grippemini (obsolete : grippeminaud = thief) ; un inutile ( thieves' : a notarypublic) ; une éponge d'or ( = a sucker-up of gold: in allusion to the long bills) ; un macaron huissier (popular).

Italian Synonyms.—Dragon del gran soprano ; dragonetto ( = a dragon, or suck-all).

Spanish Synonyms.—Rentedio ( = a remedy) ; la letraderia ( = a body or society of lawyers) ; cataribera (jocular).

Green-Bonnet, to hwe (or

wear) a green bonnet, verb, phr. (common). — To fail in business ; to go bankrupt. [From the green cloth cap once worn by bankrupts. ]

Green Cheese. See Cream Cheese and Moon.

Green Cloth. See Board of Green Cloth.

Green Dragoons, subs, (military).

—The fifth Dragoon Guards ; also known as the Green Horse. [From their green facings.]

Greener, subs, (common).—A new, or raw hand ; specifically employed of inexperienced work

men introduced to fill the place of strikers ; Dung (q.v.). Cf., Flint. For synonyms, see Snooker.

1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 14 Oct., p. 6, c. 3. A howling mob of Hebrew men and women .... in their own Yiddish jargon criticised the new arrivals, or greeners, in language that was anything but complimentary.

Green-Goods, subs. (American).

—i. Counterfeit greenbacks.

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 223. In his opinion Stillman Myth, and Co., were in the green goods business.

2. (venery).—A prostitute new to the town. ; a fresh bit(</.^.).

Green-goods Man (or Operator), subs. (American).—• i. A counterfeiter of spurious greenbacks ; a Snide-pitcher (q.v.).

1888. Troy Daily Times, 3 Feb. Driscoll was hung, but the green goodsman escaped, for the only proof against him was that he sold a quantity of paper cut in the shape of bills, and done up in packages of that size.

2. (venery).—A Fresh Bit {q.v.) fancier. Also an amateur of defloration ; a minotaur (q.v.).

Green-goose, subs. (old). — i. A cuckold.

2. (old).—A prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1594. Shakspeare, Loves Labour Lost, iv., 3. This is the liver vein, which makes flesh a deity ; a green goose, a goddess, pure, pure idolatry.

1607. Beaumont and Fletcher, Woman Hater, i., 2. His palace is full of

green geese.

Green-gown. To give a greengown, verb. phr. (old).—To tumble a woman on the grass ; to copulate. For synonyms, se; Greens and Ride.

Green-he ad. ²¹¹ Greenness.

1647-8. Herrick, Hesf>erides. 'To Corinna To go a Maying.' Many a green gown has been given.

1690. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew. Green gown, s.v. A throwing of young lasses on the grass and kissing them.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 277. Kit gave a green gown to Betty, and lent her his hand to rise.

1719. Smith, Lives of Highwaymen, i , 214. Our gallant being disposed to give his lady a green gown.

1742. C. Johnson, Highwaymen and Pyrates. Passim.

1785 Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Green-head, subs. (old).—A greenhorn. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1690. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew. Greenhead, s.v., A very raw novice or inexperienced fellow.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Greenhorn (or Green-Head, or Greenlander), subs, (common). —A simpleton ; a fool ; a gull (q.v.); also a new hand. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head. To come from Greenland = to be fresh to things; raw (q.v.). Greenlander sometimes = an Irishman.

1^53. Adventurer, No. 100. A slouch in my gait, a long lank head of hair and an unfashionable suit of drab-coloured cloth, would have denominated me a greenhorn, or in other words, a country put very green.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xliv. 'Why, wha but a crack-brained greenhorn wad hae let them keep up the siller that ye left at the Gordon-Arms V"

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist. A new pall . . . Where did he come from? Greenland.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. ix. All these he resigned to lock himself into a lone little country house, with a simple widow and a greenhorn of a son.

Greenhouse, subs. (London'busdrivers').— An omnibus.

Green Howards, subs. phr. (military). —The Nineteenth Foot. [From its facings and its^Colonel's name (1738-48), and to distinguish it from the Third Foot, also commanded by a Col. Howard. ] Also Howard's Garbage.

Green Kingsman,subs.(pugilistic). — A silk pocket-handkerchief : any pattern on a green ground.

Green Linnets, subs. phr. (military). — The 39th Foot. [From the facings.]

Green ly, adv. (old).—Like a greenhorn ; foolishly.

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, Act iv., Sc. 5. King. . . . We have done but greenly, In hugger-mugger to inter him.

Greenmans, subs. (old). — 1. The fields ; the country.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark all, p. 38 (H. Club's Rept.) 1874. Greenemans, the fields.

2. sing, (builders').—A

contractor who speculates with other people's money.

Green-meadow, subs, (venery).— The female pudendum. For synonyms, see monosyllable.

Greenness, subs, (colloquial).— Immaturity of judgment ; inexperience ; gullibility.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Greenness (s) . . . also the rawness, unskilfulness, or imperfection of any person in a trade, art, science, etc.

1838. Jas. Grant, Sketches in London, ch. vi., p. 205. Instances of such perfect simplicity or greenness, as no one could have previously deemed of possible existence.

Green-rag.

212

Grey.

Green-rag.—See Greeny, sense i.

Green-river. To send a man up grefn-river, verb. phr. (American).—To kill. [From a once famous factory on Green River, where a favourite huntingknife was made.] For synonyms, see Cook One's Goose.

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 175. A thrust from the keen scalpknife by the nervous arm of a mountaineer was no baby blow, and seldom failed to strike home up to the green river [i.e., the mark] on the blade.

Green-sickness, subs. (old).— Chlorosis.

Green-turtle. To live up to green-turtle, verb. phr. (American).—To do, and give, one's best. [From the high esteem in which the green fat of turtle is held.]

1888. Paton, Down the Islands. People who, as hosts, live up to their

green turtle.

Greenwich Barber, subs. (old). —Aretailer of sand from the Greenwich pits. [A pun upon ' shaving' the banks.]

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Greenwich-Goose, subs. (old). —A pensioner of Greenwich Hospital.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Greeny, subs, (old theatrical).— i. The curtain. [From the colour.] Also Green-rag.

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry, p. no [ed. 1890]. It is far more difficult to please the company behind Greeny ; I beg pardon, sir, i should have said than the audience before the curtain.

2. (University).—A freshman. For synonyms, see Snooker.

1834. Southey, The Doctor, ch. i. He was entered among the greenies of this famous University.

3. (common). —A simpleton ; a Greenhorn [q.v.). For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbagehead.

1^52. Judson, Myst., etc., of New York, pirt III., ch. 9, p. 58. Anybody could know that these was took by a

greeny.

1887. Congregationalist, 7 April. Jim said I was a greeny . . . [and] that he had a lot of houses.

Greetin' Fu\ adv. phr. (Scots'), Drunk : literally 'crying drunk.' For s)nonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

Greeze, subs. (Westminster School).—A crowd ; a push (q.v.).

Gregorian, subs, (old).—A kind of wig worn in the 17th century. [After the inventor, one Gregory, a barber in the Strand.]

1658. Honest Ghost, p. 46. Pulling a little down his Gregorian.

Gregorian-tree, subs. (old).— The gallows. [After a sequence of three hangmen of the name.] For synonyms, see Nubbingcheat.

1641. Mercurius Pragmaticus. This trembles under the black rod, and he Doth fear his fate from the Gregorian tree.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Gregorine, subs, (common).—A louse ; specifically, head vermin. [From the Italian.] For synonyms, see Chates.

Greshamite, subs. (old).—A Fellow of the Royal Society.—B.E. [1690.]

Grey.—See Gray, passim.

Griddle.

213

Griffin.

Griddle, subs, (streets').—To sing in the streets. Whence, Griddling = street-singing ; griddler = a street-singer.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor. Got a month for griddling in the main drag.

1877. Besant and Rice, Son of Vulcan, pt. I.. ch. xii. Cardiff Jack's never got so low as to be griddling on the main drag—singing, I mean, on the high-road.

1888. W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, ch. iv., p. 53. They [street singers] have not yet invented Moody and Sankey, and therefore they cannot sing ' Hold the Fort ' or ' Dare to be a Daniel, but there are hymns in every collection which suit the

GRIDLER.

1890. Daily Telegraph, 20 May. Singing or shouting hymns in the streets on Sundays. To this system the name of GRiDLiNG has been applied. The gridlers, it was stated, were known to boast, as they returned to their haunts in Deptford and Southwark, how much they could make in a few hours.

Gridiron, subs. (American). — i. The United States' flag ; the Stars and Stripes. Also Stars and Bars ; Blood and Entrails ; Gridiron and Doughboys ; and, in speaking of the Eagle in conjunction with the flag, the Goose and Gridiron.

2. (common). — A County Court Summons. [ Originally applied to Writs of the Westminster Court, the arms of which resemble a gridiron.]

1859. Sala, Gaslight and Daylight, ch. x.xi. He collects ^.;bts for anybody in the neighbourhood, .akes out the abhorred gridirons, or County Court summonses.

3. (thieves').—The bars on a cell window. Fr., les gaules de Schtard.

The Gridiron, subs. phr. (common).—The Grafton Club. [Where the grill is a speciality.]

On the Gridiron, adv.phr. (common).—Troubled ; harassed ; in a bad way ; on toast {q.v.).

The Whole Gridiron, subs, phr. (common). — See Whole Animal.

Grief, To Come to Grief, verb, phr. (colloquial). — To come to ruin ; to meet with an accident ; to fail. In quot., 1891 trouble.

1855. Thackeray, Newcoiues, ch. x. We drove on to the Downs, and we were nearly coming to grief. My horses are yr.ung, and when they get on the grass they are as if they were mad.

1888. Cassells Saturday Jour., 8 Dec, p. 249. In the United States he bad started a ' Matrimonial Agency,' in which he had come to grief, and he had been obliged to return to this country for a similar reason.

1891. Sportsman, 28 Feb. The flag had scarcely fallen than the grief commenced, as Midshipmite and Carlo rolled over at the first fence, Clanranald refused at the second, and Dog Fox fell at the third.

Griffin (orGriff), subs, (common). — i. A new-comer ; a raw hand ; a Greenhorn {q.v.) See Snooker and Sammy Soft. [Specific uses are (Anglo-Indian) = a new arrival from Europe ; (military) = a young subaltern ; (Anglo-Chinese) = an unbroken horse. Griffinage (or Griffin ism) = the state of greenhornism.

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffry Hamlyn, ch. xxviii All the griffins ought to hunt together.

1878. Besant and Rice, By Celia's A fbour, ch. xxx. We were in the Trenches ; there had been joking with a lot of griffs, young recruits just out from England.

1882. Miss Braddon, Mount Royal, ch. xxii. There was only one of the lads about the yard when he left, for it wa* breakfast-time, and the little griffin didn't notice.

Griff-metoll.

214

Grin.

1883. Graphic, 17 March, p. 286, c. 3. Many a youngster has got on in his profession .... by having the good fortune to make a friend of the old Indian who took him in as a griffin or a stranger.

2. (colloquial).—A woman of forbidding manners or appearance ; a Gorgon. Also a caretaker, chaperon, or sheep-dog (q.v. ) [A reflection of the several griffins of ornithology and of heraldry : the former a feeder on birds, small mammals, and even children ; the latter (as in Milton) a perfection of vigilance.]

1824. R. B. Peake, Americans Abroad, i., 2. It is always locked up by that she-GRi ffin with a bunch of keys.

3. (thieves').—A signal : e.g., to tip the griffin = to warn;

to give the office (q.V.), OX T\V (q.V.). the straight griffin = the straight tip.

1888. Casse/l's Sat. Jour., 22 Dec, p. 305. Plank yourself at the corner to give the griffin if you hear or see owt.

1891. N. Gould, Double Event, p. 22. He's got the straight griff for something.

1891. J. Newman, Scamping Tricks, p. 95. When he wanted to give the chaps in the office the straight griffin, he used to say, ' Nelson's my guide.'

4. in. pi. (trade).—The scraps and leavings from a contract feast, which are removed by the purveyor.

Griff-metoll, subs. (old).— Sixpence. For synonyms, see Tanner.

1754. Discoveries of John Poulter,

s.v.

Grig, subs. (old). — 1. An active, lively, and jocose person : as in the phrase 'Merry as a Grig.' [An allusion to the liveliness of the grasshopper, sand-eel, or to grig ( = Greek : cf., 7retins and C res sida i. 2 ; iv. 4).

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie. Galebon-temps. A merry grig.

1673. Wychekley, Gent. Dane. Master, i., 1., wks. (1713) 251. Hah, ah, ah, cousin, dou art a merry gkigg — ma foy.

1690. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, Grig s.v. A merry grig ; a merry fellow.

1719. Du rfey, Pills, etc., i., 43. The statesman that talks on the Woolsack so big, Could hustle to the open as merry

as a grig.

1765. Goldsmith, Essays VI. I grew as merry as a grig, and laughed at every word that was spoken.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xi.x , p. 159. The learned gentleman . . . is as merryasa grig at a French wateringplace.

2. (thieves'). — A farthing ; a gigg (q.v.). For synonyms, see Fadge.

16P0. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v Not a grig did he tip me, not a farthing would he give me.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth. Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 15. ' He shall go through the whole course,' replied Blueskin, with a ferocious grin, 'unless he comes down to the last grig.'

Verb. (American).—To vex ; to worry.

1855. Haliburton [S. Slick], Human Nature, p. 83. That word 'superiors' grigged me. Thinks I, 'My boy, I'll just take that expression, roll it up in a ball, and shy it back at you.'

Grim, subs. (American thieves').— A skeleton. Also Grin.

Old Mr. Grim, subs. phr. (common). — Death. For synonyms, see Old Floorer.

Grin, verb. (American University, Virginia).—See quot.

1887. Lippincott, July, p. 99. If here are many ' old men ' in the room they immediately begin to grin him ; that is, they strike on their plates with their knives and forks, beat with their feet, and shout at the top of their voices, in the effort to make their victim grin. Woe to him if they succeed ; for in that event the same thing will be repeated three times a day-, until he ceases to notice it.

Grinagog. ²¹5

Grind.

To grin in a Glass Case. verb. phr. (old).—To be shown as an anatomical preparation. [The bodies and skeletons of criminals were once preserved in glass cases at Surgeon's Hall.—Grose.]

To flash the Upright Grin, verb. phr. (venery).—To expose the person (of women).

Grinagog, the Cat's Uncle,

subs. phr. (old). — A grinning simpleton. —G rose.

grincums, subs. (old).—Syphilis. For synonyms, see Ladies' Fever.

1608. Middleton, Family of Love, B. i. I had a receipt for the grincomes in his own hand.

1635. Jones, Adrasta orthe Woman's Spleen, c. 2. You must know, sir, in a nobleman 'tis abusive ; no, in him the serpigo, in a knight the grincomes, in a gentleman the Neapolitan scabb, and in a serving man or artificer the plaine pox.

1637. Massinger, Guardian, iv. The comfort is, I am now secure from the grincomes, I can lose nothing that way.

Grind, subs, (common). — 1. A walk ; a constitutional : e.g., ' to take a grind ' or (University) ' to go on the Grandchester (or Gog Magcg Hills) grind.'

2. (common).—Daily routine; hard or distasteful work.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, pt. III., ch. xi. To a University man, a grind did not possess any reading signification, but a riding one. In fact, it was a steeple-chase, slightly varying in its details according to the college that patronised the pastime.

1870. London Figaro, 28 July. The world is a wearisome grind, love, Nor shirk we our turn at the wheel.

1880. A. Trollope, Tfie Dukes Children, ch. xxv. ' Isn't it a great grind, sir?' asked Silverbridge. ' A very great grind, as you call it. And there may be the grind and not the success. But-'

1880. One and All, 27 Mar., p. 207. Soul-weary of life's horrid grind, I long to come to thee.

3. (schools').—Study; reading up for an examination ; also a plodding student, i.e., a grinder.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brozvns School Days, pt. II., ch. v. ' Come along, boys,' cries East, always ready to leave the grind, as he called it.

1887. Chambers' Jour., 14 May, p. 310. Smalls made just such a goal as was required, and the grind it entailed was frequently of no slight profit to him.

4. (medical students'). — A demonstration : as ( 1 ) a ' public grind ' given to a class and free to all ; and (2) a ' private grind ' for which a student pays an individual teacher. In America, a quiz [q.v.).

5. (Oxford University). — Athletic sports. Also, a training run.

1872. Chambers' Jour., April. Joe Rullock, the mighty gymnasiarch, the hero of a hundred grinds, the unwearied haunter of the palaestra, could never give the lie to his whole past life, and deny his own gymnastics.

6. (venery), — An act of sexual intercourse : e.g., To do a grind. [Mill and grind, stone (venery) = the female pudendum.] For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wördes. Macinio, the grinding of grist. Also taken for carnal copulation.

1647. Ladies Parliament. Digbie's lady takes it ill, that her Lord grinds not, at her mill.

Grind.

216

Grinder.

Tue grind, suis. phr. (Cambridge University). — The ferry-boat at Chesterton.

Verb. (University). — 1. To prepare for examination to study: to read.

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Browns Sehool Days, pt. IL, ch. vii. ' The thing to find out,' said Tom meditatively, ' is how long one ought to grind at a sentence without looking at the crib.'

2. (University).—To teach ; to instruct ; to coach {q.v.).

3. (common).—To do a round of hard and distasteful work ; to apply oneself to daily routine.

1880. Punch, 5 June, p. 253. ' Fred on Pretty Girls and Pictures.' And the pars in the Scanmag—he does them—are proper, and chock full of ' go.' Only paper I care to grind though.

4. (venery).—To copulate.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Grind, s.v.

5. trails. (American). — To vex ; to ' put out.'

1879. W. D. Howells, Lady 0/ the Aroostook, ch. vii. After all, it does grind me to have lost that money !

Also grinding = (1) the act of reading or studying hard ; (2) the act or occupation of preparing students, for an examination ; and (3) the act of copulation.

On the grind, subs. phr. (venery).—Said of incontinent persons of both sexes. Also of prostitutes.

To grind an axe.—See Axe.

TO get a grind on one,

verb. phr. (American).—Toplay practical jokes ; to tell a story against one ; to annoy or vex.

To grind wind, verb. phr. (old prison).—To work the treadmill. See Everlasting Staircase.

1889. Clarkson and Richardson. Police, p. 322. On the treadmill . . .

grinding wind.

Grinder, subs, (college).—i. A private tutor; a coach {q.v.). Cf., Crammer.

1812. Miss Edgeworth, Patronage, ch. iii. Put him into the hands of a clever grinder or crammer, and they would soon cram the necessary portion of Latin and Greek into him.

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 201. Then contriving to accumulate five guineas to pay a grinder, he routs out his old note books from the bottom of his box and commences to read.

18J1. A. Smith, 'The London Medical Student' in Punch, i., p. 229. G was a grinder, who sharpen'd the the fools.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. v. She sent me down here with a grinder. She wants me to cultivate my neglected genius.

2. Usually in. pi. (common).— The teeth.

English Synonyms.—Bones; chatterers; cogs; crashing cheats; dining-room furniture (or chairs) ; dinner-set ; dominoes ; front-rails; Hampstead Heath (rhyming); head rails ; ivories; park-palings (or railings) ; sna^glers ; tushes (or tusks) ; tomb-stones.

French Synonyms. — Les soeurs blanches (thieves' = the 'white sisters' or ivories); les chocottes (thieves') ; les cassantes (thieves'= grinders) ; les broches (popular =■ head-rails) ; les crocs (popular = tusks) ; le clou de giroße (common = a decayed, black tooth) ; les branlantes (popular = the quakers : specifi

Grinder.

²¹7 Grinding-house.

cally, old men's teeth) ; le mobilier (thieves'= furniture) ; les meules de moulin (popular = millstones) ; le jeu de dominos (thieves'= dominoes) ; les osanores (thieves'); les osselets (thieves'= bonelets) ; les palettes (popular and thieves') ; la batterie ( = the teeth, throat, and tongue).

German Synonyms.—Krückling ( = grinderkin ; from krachen = to crush).

Italian Synonyms.—Merlo ( = battlement) ; sganascio; rastielhera ( = the rack).

1597. Hall, Satires, iv., i. Her grinders like two chalk stones in a mill.

1640. Humphrey Mill, Night's Search, Sect. 39, p. T94 Her grinders white, her mouth must show her age.

1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, bk. IV. Author's Prologue. The devil of one musty crust of a brown George the poor boys had to scour their grinders with.

1690. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew. Grinder, s.v. The Cove has Rum Grinders, the Rogue has excellent Teeth.

1693. Dryden, Juvenal, x., 365. One, who at sight of supper open'd wide His jaws before, and whetted grinders tried.

1740. YV a l p o l e, Correspondence. A set of gnashing teeth, the grinders very entire.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. xiv. Like a dried walnut between the grinders of a Templar in the pit.

1817. Scott, Ivanhoe, c. 16. None who beheld thy grinders contending with these peas.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 23. With grinders dislodg'd, and with peepers both poach'd.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. iv., ch. i. A grinder having been dislodged, his pipe took possession of the aperture.

1836. M. Scott, Cruise of the Midge, p. 83. Every now and then he would clap his head sideways on the ground, so as to get the back grinders to bear on his prey.

1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs ch. xiii. Sir Robert Peel, though he wished it ever so much, has no power over Mr. Benjamin Disraeli's grinders, or any means of" violently handling that gentleman's jaw.

1871. Chambers' Jour., 9 Dec, p. 772. My grinders is good enough for all the Wittels I gets.

1888. Sporting Life, 28 Nov. Countered heavily on the grinders.

TO take a grinder, 7Jerb.

phr. (common).—To apply the left thumb to the nose, and revolve the right hand round it, as if to work a hand-organ or coffee-mill ; to take a sight (q.V.) ; to work the coffeemill (q.v.). [A street boy's retort on an attempt to impose on his good faith or credulity.]

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxxi. Here Mr. Jackson smiled once more upon the company ; and, applying his left thumb to the tip of his nose, worked a visionary coffee-mill with his right hand, thereby performing a very graceful piece of pantomime (then much in vogue, but now, unhappily, almost obsolete) which was familiarly denominated taking a grinder.

1870. Athenœum, 8 July. 'Rev. of Comic Hist, of United States.' He finds himself confronted by a plumed and lightly-clad Indian, who salutes him with what street-boys term a grinder.

Grinding-house, subs. (old).— i. The House of Correction. For synonyms, see Cage.

1614. Terence hi English. The fellow is worthy to be put into the grinding-house.

2. (venery).—A brothel. For synonyms, see Nanny-shop. [Grinding-tool = the penis.]

Grinding-mill. ²¹⁸ Grist.

Grinding-mill, subs, (common). —The house of a tutor or Coach {q.v.) where students are prepared for an examination.

Grind-off (or Grindo), subs. (common).—A miiler. [From a character in The Miller and his A/en.]

Grindstone, subs, (common).—1. A tutor ; a coach {q.v.).

2. (venery). — The female ptidendum.

To bring (hold, put, or keep) one's nose to the grindstone, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To oppress, harass, or punish ; to treat harshly. To

have one's nose kept to the

grindstone = to be held to

a bargain, or at work.

1578. North, Plutarch, p. 241. They might be ashamed, for lack of courage, to suffer the Lacedcemonians to

hold their noses to the grindstone.

1690. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hold. Hold his nose to the grindstone, to keep him Under, or Tie him Neck and Heels in a Bargain.

TO have the grindstone

on his back, verb. phr. (common).—Said of a man going to fetch the monthly nurse.—Grose.

Grinning-stitch es, subs. (milliners'). — Slovenly sewing ; stitches wide apart ; ladders {q.v.).

Grip (or Gripsack), subs. (American). — A hand-bag or satchell.

To lose one's grip, verb. phr. (American). — To fail; to lose one's control.

Gripe, subs, (old). —i. A miser; a usurer. Also Griper or Gripe-fist {q.v.). For synonyms, see Hunks and Sixtyper-cent. Griping = extortion.

1690. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew.

Gripe, or griper, s.v. An old covetous wretch. Also a banker, money scrivener, or usurer.

2. in. pi. (colloquial).—The colic ; the stomach ache ; the Collywobbles. For synonyms, see Jerry-go-nimble.

1684. Bunyan, Pilgr. Prog., Pt. II. He concluded that he was sick of the

gripes.

1705. Char, of a Sneake, in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), ii., 356. He never looks upon her Majesty's arms but semper eadem gives him the gripes.

1714. Spectator, No 559. Meeting the true father, who came towards him with a fit of the gripes, he begged him to take his son again, and give back his cholic.

1812. Coombe, Toitr in Search of Picturesque, c. xxvi. That he who daily smokes two pipes, The tooth-ache never has—nor gripes.

Gripe-fist, subs, (common).—A miser ; a grasping broker. For synonyms, see Hunks. Also Gripe-penny.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Grist, subs. (American).—A large

number or quantity. [Swift uses

grist = a supply ; a provision.]

1818. Cooper, Oak Openings. There's an unaccountable grist of bees, I can tell you.

al852. Traits of A merican Humour, i., 305. I . . . got pretty considerable soaked by a grist of rain.

TO bring grist to the

mill, verb. phr. (colloquial).— To bring profitable business ; to be a source of profit.

1719. Poor Robin's Almanack'May. Lawyers pleading do refrain A while, and then fall to't again ; Strife brings grist unto their mill.

1770. Foote, Lame Lover, i. Well, let them go on, it brings grist to our mill.

1804. Horsley, Speech, 23 July. A sly old pope created twenty new saints, to bring grist to the mill of the London clergy.

1817. Scott, Ivanhoe, c. 16. Some three or four dried pease—a miserable grist for such a mill.

Gristle.

219

Grocery.

1838. Dickens, Nick. Nickleby, ch. xxxiv., p. 268. Meantime the fools bring grist to my mill.

Gristle, subs, (venery). — The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Grit, subs, (originally American : now colloquial).—1. Character ; pluck ; spirit ; sand {q.v.). Also

clear grit. NO grit =

lacking in stamina ; wanting in courage.

1825. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, bk. II., ch. xiv. A chap who was clear grit for a tussle, any time.

1848. Burton, Waggeries, etc., p. 13. The old folks . . . began to think that she warn't the clear grit.

1849. C. Kingsley, Alton Locke, ch. vi. A real lady— fair noble—the raei genuine grit, as Sam Slick says.

1852. H. B. Stowe, Uncle Toms Cabin, ch. vii You're a right brave old girl. I like grit, wherever I see it.

1860. Thackeray, Philip, ch. xxxi. If you were a chip of the old block you would be just what he called the grit.

1889. Referee, 6 Jan. They never did think there was any real grit about him.

1890. Scrib-ner, Feb., 242. 'Looks like he got grit, don't it ?' Lige muttered.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 249. I am as full of grit and work as ever, and just tower above our troubles.

2. (Canadian political). — A member of the Liberal party.

Gritty, adj. (American).—Plucky ; courageous ; resolute ; full of character.

1847. Robb, Squatter Life, p. 106. There never was a grittyer ciowd congregated on that stream.

Grizzle, verb, (colloquial).—To fret. Also To grizzle one's

guts.

1872. Miss Braddon, To the Bitter End, ch. xvi. ' If the locket's lost, it's lost,' she said philosophically ; ' and there's no use in grizzling about it.'

Grizzle-guts (or Grizzleor Glum-pot), subs, (common).— A melancholy or ill-tempered person ; a sulkington (q.v.).

Groan er, subs. (old).—A thief plying his trade at funerals or religious gatherings.

1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London,

s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Groaning, subs. (old).—The act of parturition. Also, adj., parturient ; or appertaining to parturition : as in groaning-malt (Scots') = drink for a lying-in ; groaning-pains = the pangs of delivery ; groaning-wife = a woman ready to lie-in.

1591. Nashe, Unfort. Trav. (Chiswick Press, 1892), p. 92. Assmoothe as a groaning-wive's bellie.

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, iii., 2. It would cost you a groaning to take off my edge.

1786. Burns, The Rantin' Dog the Daddie O't. Wha will bring the groaning-malt?

Groats, subs, (nautical).—The chaplain's monthly allowance.

To save one's groats, verb, phr. (old University).—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, are returned to him.—Grose.]

Grocery, subs, (common). — 1. Small change.

1728. Bailey, Eng. Diet., s.v.

2. (American). —A drinking bar. Also Confectionery and Groggery.

1847. Porter, Quarter Race, etc. 104. lie went into his favourite grocery.

Grog. ²²⁰ Groggy.

3. (common).—Sugar. [A restricted use of a colloquialism.]

1841. Lytton, Night and Morning, Bk. V., ch. ii. A private room and a pint of brandv, my dear. Hot water and lots of the grocery.

GROG, subs (old: now recognised). —Spirits and water ; strong drink generally. [Till Admiral Vernon's time (1745) ^rum ^wasserved neat, but he ordered it to be diluted, and was therefore nicknamed ' Old Grog,' in allusion to his grogram coat : a phrase that was presently adapted 10 the mixture he had introduced.] GROGGY = drunk.

Verb. (old).—To dilute or adulterate with water.

1878. Lincoln, Rutland, and Stamford Mercury, 8 Mar. The defendants had grogged the casks by putting in hot water.

TO have grog on board (or

TO be grogged), verb. phr. (common).—To be drunk. For synonyms, see Screwed.

1842. Comic Almanack, October. He stands and listens, sad and dogged, To ' fined five bob ' for being grogged.

Grog-blossom, subs, (common).— A pimple caused by drinking to excess. Also Copper-nose and Jolly-nose. Fr., un nez culotté and un nez de pompettes.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, Grog

blossom, s.v.

1883. Thos. Hardy, The Three Strangers, in Lcngmans Mag., March, p. 576. A few grog-blossoms marked the neighbourhood of his nose.

1888. W. Besant, Fifty Years Aeo, ch. xi., p. 169. The outward and visible signs of rum were indeed various. First, there was the red and swollen nose, next, the nose beautifully painted with grogblossoms.

Grog-fig ht, subs, (military).—A drinking party. Cf., Tea-fight.

1876. R. M. Jephson, Girl he Left Behind .Him, ch. 1. He had been having a grog-fight in his room to celebrate the event.

Groggery, subs. (American). — A public bar ; a grog-shop.

Groggy, adj. (colloquial). — 1. Under the influence of drink. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

1829. Buckstone, Billy Taylor, i., as a gay young woman, will delude Taylor away from Mary, make him groggy, then press him off to sea.

1863. Fun, 23 May, p. 98, c. 2. They fined drunkards and swearers, and there is a record in the parish-books, among others of a similar nature, of a certain Mrs. Thunder who was fined twelve shillings for being, like Mr. Cruikshank's horse at the Brighton Review, decidedly groggy.

1872. Echo, 30 July. A model of perfection had she not shown more than necessary partiality to her elder friend's brandy bottle during the journey, despite the latter's oft-repeated caution not to become groggy.

2. (colloquial). — Staggering or stupified with drink. Also (stable) moving as with tender feet. Also (pugilists') unsteady from punishment and exhaustion. Fr., locher = to be groggy.

1831. Youatt, The Horse, ch. xvi., p. 380. Long journeys at a fast pace will make almost any horse groggy.

1846-8. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, vol. ii., ch. v. Cuff coming up full of pluck, but quite reeling and groggy, the Fig-merchant put in his left as usual on his adversary's nose, and sent him down for the last time.

1853. Diogenes, vol. ii., p. 177. The anxiety is not confined to the metropolis ; as a respectable grazier, who rides a groggy horse, on hearing of it at a publichouse the other day, affirmed it to be the mysterious cause of the rise in the value of horseflesh.

1888. Sportsman, 28 Nov. In the tenth Thompson, who had been growing groggy, to the surprise of Evans began to force the fighting.

Gr ogham.

221

Ground.

tâROGHAM, subs. (old).—A horse; a daisy-kicker {q.v.). Now mostly in contempt. For synonyms, see Prad.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Grog-shop, subs, (common). —■ The mouth. For synonyms, see

potatoe-trap.

1843. Thackeray, Men's Wives, Frank Berry, ch. i. Claret drawn in profusion from the gown-boy's grog-shop.

Grog-tub, subs, (nautical). —A brandy bottle.

Groom, subs, (gamesters').—A croupier.

Groomed. See Well-groomed.

Groovy, subs. (American).—A sardine.

Adj. (popular). — Settled in habit ; limited in mind.

grope, verb, (venery).—To feel a woman; to fumble; to fam {q.v.).

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie. Mariolement. Groping of a wench.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc , i., 194. Smoking, toping, Landlady groping.

Groper, subs. (old). — i. A blind man ; hoodman {q.v ).

1690. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v. 1728. Bailey, Eng. Diet., s.v. 1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

2. (old).—A pocket. For synonyms, see Brigh and Skyrocket.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life's Painter, p. 143. Gropers. Pockets.

3. (old).—Amidwife; a fingersmith {q.v.).

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Grotto, subs, (venery). — The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Ground. To suit down to the ground, verb. phr. (common).— To be thoroughly becoming or acceptable.

1878. M. E. Braddon, Cloven Foot, ch. xlv. Some sea coast city in South America would suit me down to the ground.

1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 9 Feb. I knows the very bloke that'll surr you down to the ground.

1891. Sporting Life, 28 Mar. At Knowle he is suited down to the ground.

1892. MiLLiKEN, 'Arry Ballads, p. ii. They suit me right down to the

ground.

To wipe (or mop) up the

ground (or floor) with one,

verb. phr. (common). — To administer the very soundest thrashing ; to prove oneself absolutely superior to one's opposite.

1887. Henley and Stevenson, Deacon Brodie, i., 3. Muck ! that's my opinion of him ; . . . I'll mop the floor up with him any day, if so be as you or any on 'em '11 make it worth my while.

1888. Detroit Free Press, Aug. The Scroggin boy was as tough as a dogwood knot. He'd wipe up the ground with him ; he'd walk all over him.

To go (or get) well to the ground, verb. phr. (old colloquial).—To defalcate ; to rear {q.v.). For synonyms, see Mrs. Jones.

1608. MiDDLETON, Family of Love,

v. 3. Do you go well to the GROUND ?

1856. Notes and Queries, 2 S., i., p. 324. To get to the ground, in medical phraseology, means to have the bowels opened.

Grounder.

222

Growler.

Grounder, subs, (cricketers').— A ball with a ground delivery ; a sneak; a grub; and (in America) at base-ball, a ball struck low, or flying near the ground.

Ground-floor. To be let in

on the Ground-floor, verb, phr. (American).—To share in a speculation on equal terms with the original promoters.

Ground squirrel, subs. (old).— A hog ; a g runter—Lex. Bal. For synonyms, see Sow's Baby.

Ground-sweat. To have (or take) a ground-sweat, verb, phr. (old).—To be buried.

1690. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew. Ground sweat, s.v., a grave.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Grouse. To do a grouse (or to go grousing), verb. phr. (venery).—To quest, or to run down, a woman ; to molrow (q.v ). Groused = Molled

(q.v.).

Grouser, subs, (popular).—i. A grumbler. For synonyms, see Rusty-guts.

2. (venery). — One who goes questing after women ; a molrower (q.v.).

3. (sporting).—A rowing man ; a wet-bob (q.v.).

Grousing, subs, (venery).—Going in quest of women ; sparrowcatching (q.v.) ; molrowing (q.v. ).

G route, verb. (Marlborough and Cheltenham Colleges).—To work or study hard ; to swot (q.v.). For synonyms, see Wire In.

Grouty, adj. (common). -— Crabbed ; sulky.

Grove of Eglantine, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum; also the female pubic hair. For synonyms, see Monosyllable and Fleece.

1772. Carew, Poems. 'A Rapture.' Retire into thy Grove ofEglantine.

Grove of the Evangelist, subs, phr. (common). — St. John's Wood ; also Apostle's Grove, and the Baptist's Wood.

Grow, verb, (prison).—To be accorded the privilege of letting one's hair and beard grow. Also

to grow one's feathers.

Growler, subs, (common).—A four-wheeled cab. Cf., Sulky.

English Synonyms. — Birdcage ; blucher ; bounder ; fever-trap ; flounder-and-dab (rhyming); four-wheeler; groping hutch ; mab (an old hackney) ; rattler; nimbler.

French Synonyms. — Un bordel ambulant (common = a walking brothel) ; un char numéroté (popular) ; un flatar (thieves') ; un foutoir ambulant ( = a fuckery on wheels) ; un mylord (popular).

1870. Orchestra, 21 Mar. A recent enigmatical bill-poster on the walls, with the device 'Hie, Cabby, Hie!' turns out to be a Patent Cab Call—an ingenious sort of lamp-signal for remote hansoms and

growlers.

1873. Land and Water, 25 Jan. The knacker's yard is baulked for a time, while the quadruped shambles along in some poverty-stricken growler.

Grown-mouf s-dose. 223 Grub.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 8 Jan., p. 5, c. 3. But while a great improvement has been made in hansoms of late years, the four-wheeler or gkowler is still as a rule a disgrace to the metropolis.

1890. Daily Graphic, 7 Jan., p. 14, c. i. What with hansom cabs and growlers and private broughams ; what with bonded carmen's towering waggons.

1891. Globe, 15 July, p. 1, c. 3. Adapting the words of Waller to the condition of many of our growlers-The cab's dull framework, battered and decayed, Lets in the air through gaps that time has made.

TO rush (or work) the

growler, verb. phr. (American

workmen's).—See quot. [Grower

= pitcher.]

1888. New York Herald, 29 July. One evil of which the inspectors took particular notice was that of the employment by hands in a number of factories of boys and girls, under ten and thirteen years, to fetch beer for them, or in other

words to rush the growler.

Grown-man's-dose, subs, (common).—A lot of liquor. Also a long drink [q.v.). For synonyms, see Go.

Grown-up, subs, (colloquial).—An adult : among undertakers, a

grown.

1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, Bk. ii., ch. i. I always did like grown uhs.

grub, subs, (vulgar).—1. Food.

English Synonyms.—Bellycheer (or chere) ; belly-furniture ; belly-timber ; Kaffir's tightener (specifically, a full meal) ; chuck ; corn ; gorge-grease ; manablins ( = broken victuals); mouth harness ; mungarly ; peck ; prog ; scoff (S. African); scran ; stodge ; tack ; tommy (specifically, bread) ; tuck ; yam. Also, verbally, to bung the cask ; to grease the gills ; to have t\\t run of one's teeth ; to yam. See also Wolf.

French Synonyms.—La becquetance (popular = peck) ; le biffre (popular) ; la frigousse (popular) ; la fripe (popular, from O. Fr., fripper = to eat) ; la grin-gue (common) ; les matériaux (freemason's = materials); la briffe (popular); laloustifaille (popular); le harnois de gueule (Rabelais : = mouth-harness) ; le coton (popular, an allusion to a lamp-wick) ; les comestaux (popular = comestibles) ; le tortorage (thieves') ; la broute (popular = grazing) ; la morfe (O. Fr. Also, in a verbal sense = to feed) ; tortiller du bec (popular = to wag a jaw) ; se calfater le bec (nautical : also = to drink) ; becqueter (popular = to ' peck ') ; béquiller (popular) ; chiquer ( popular = to ' chaw ') ; bouffer (popular) ; boulotter (common); taper sur les vivres) popular = to assault the eatables) ; pitancher (common: also = to drink); passer à la tortore (thieves') ; se F envoyer ; casser la croustille (thieves' = to crack a crust); tortorer (thieves) ; briffer ; passer à briffe ( popular ) ; brouter (Villon = to browse); se caler, or se caler les amygdales (popular) ; mettre de r huile dans la lampe (common = to trim the lamp); se coller quelque chose dans le fanal, dans le fusil, or dans le tube (popular = to trim one's beacon-light ; to load one's gun, etc. ) ; chamailler des dents (popular = to 'go it' with the ivories ; jouer des badigoinces (common : badiçoinces = chaps) ; jouer des dominos (popular : dominos = teeth); déchirer la cartouche (military) ; gobichonner (popular); engouler (popular = to bolt); engueuler (colloquial = to gobble); friturer (popular : also = to cook) ; gonfler (popular: to blow out); morfiaillier (Rabelaisian); mor

Grub.

²²4 Grub.

figner, or morfiler (From O. Fr., morfier; cf., Ital., morfire or morßzzare) ; cacher (popular = to stow away) ; se mettre quelqtie chose dans le cadavre (popular = to stoke) ; se lester la cale (nautical: to lay in ballast) ; se graisser les balots (thieves' : to grease the gills) ; se caresser (to do oneself a good turn); effacer (popular = to put away) ; travailler four M. Domange (popular : M. Domange was a famous goldfinder or gong farmer {q.v.) ; clapoter (popular) ; débrider la margoulette (popular-to put one's nose in the manger) ; croustiller (popular) ; charger pour la guadalotipe (popular) ; travailler pour Jules (common: Jules — Mrs. Jones); se faire le jabot {popular, jabot = stomach) ; jouer des osanores (popular : osanores = teeth) ; casser (thieves') ; claquer (familiar = to rattle one's ivories) ; klebjer (popular) ; faire trimer les mathurins (popular = to make the running with one's teeth) ; se coller quelqiie chose dans le bocal (common : bocal = paunch ) ; estropier (popular = to maim) ; passer à galtos { nautical ) ; bourrer la paillasse { common = to stuff the mattress ) ; faire trimer le battant (thieves') ; jouer des mandibules (popular); s'emplir le gilet (popular —to fill one's waistcoat) ; se garnir le bocal (popular : to furnish one's paunch); se suiver la gargarousse (nautical : also = to drink) ; babou^;ner (popular) ; charger la canonnière (popular : canonnière — the breech) ; gousser (popular) ; goujfer (obsolete).

German Synonyms.—Achile, Achelinchen, or Acheliniken (from Heb. Ochal) ; Achelputz (from Heb. ochal + putzen from O.H.G. bizan or pizzan = to eat).

Italian Synonyms.— Artibrio ; and, verbally, sbattere ( = to beat, to struggle) ; intappare il fusto { = to bung the cask) ; smorfire.

Spanish Synonyms. — Papar (colloquial : from papa = pap) ; hacer el buche (low : buche = craw or crop) ; echar (colloquial) ; manducar ; meter.

1659. Dialogue betwixt an Exciseman and Death, transcribed from a Copy in British Museum, printed in London by J. C[lark]. I'll pass my word this night Shall yield us grub before the morning light.

1725. New Cant. Diet. Grub, s.v., victuals.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, Im 171. How did you procure your grub and Bub ?

1789. Geo. Parker, Life's Painter, p. 149. Bub and Grub. A mighty low expression, signifying victuals and drink.

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringles Log, ch. iii. Poor Purser ! de people call him Purser, sir, because him knowing chap ; him cabbage all de grub, slush, and stuff in him own corner.

d. 1842. Maginn, Vidocq's Song. Any bubby and grub, I say?

1857. Thackeray, Shabby Genteel Story, ch. i., p. 9. He used to . . . have his grub too on board.

1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, ch. i., p. 45. 1 at once congratulated myself on not being a large eater, as there was no doubt but my grub would run very short if it depended on my oakum-picking.

1889. Star, 3 Dec, p. 2, c. 6. Of course it was grub. It was for food, the food for which they beg, and steal, and go willingly to prison, for a certain good square meal of meat.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger's Sweetheart, p. 154. That sad, sad secret about Mary would keep him in grub for the next day or two at ' The Rose in Bloom.'

2. (old). — A short thick-set man ; a dwarf. In contempt. For synonyms, see Hop-o'-myThumb.

Grub.

225

G rubbing-crib.

3. (colloquial).—A dirty sloven; generally used of elderly people.

4. (American). — A careful student ; a hard reader.

1856. Hall, College Words and Phrases, quoted from Williams' Coll. Quarterly, ii., 246. A hard reader or student : e.g., not grubs or reading men, only wordy men.

5. (American). — Foots and stumps ; whatever is * grubbed up.'

6. (cricketers'). — A ball delivered along the ground ; a

grounder {(/.V.) J a daisy

cutter (q.v.). For synonyms, see Lob-sneak.

1823. Bee, Diet, of the Turf. Grub,

s.v.

Verb. (old).—1. To take or supply with food. For synonyms, see subs, sense 1.

1725. New Cant. Diet. Grub, s.v., to eat.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Grub, s.v., to dine.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxii., p. 184. I never see such a chap to eat and drink ; never. The red-nosed man warn't by no means the sort of person you'd like to grub by contract, but he was nothin' to the shepherd.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 18 May, p. 3, c. i. 'They are not bound to grub you, don't you know,' said Mr. Sleasey, ' and they try the starving dodge on you sometimes.'

2. (old).—To beg ; to ask for alms, especially food.

3. (American).—To study, or read hard ; to ' sweat. '

To ride grub, verb. phr. (old).—To be sulky ; crusty (q.v.) ; disagreeable.

1785. Grose, I'ulg. Tongue. To RIDii grub, to le sullen or out 01 temper.

To grub along, verb. phr. (common).—To make one's way as best one can ; ' to rub along.'

1838. Daily Telegraph, 19 Oct. When a youth left school to follow the pursuits of life he found that he had to grub along as best he could.

Grubbing, subs. (common).— Eating.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib. What with snoozing, high grubbing, and guzzling like Cloe.

G rubbery, subs, (common).—(i) an eating-house. Also (2) a dining-room, and (3) the mouth.

Grubbing-crib, subs, (general).— i. An eating-house. Grubbingcrib faker = the landlord of a cheap cookshop. Fr., le nourrisseur ; Sp., tin Oitalero. See Grub Shop, sense 2.

English Synonyms.—Grubbery ; grubby-, or grubbing-ken ; grub-shop ; guttle-shop ; hashhouse ; mungarly casa ; progshop ; slap-bang shop ; tuckshop ; waste-butt.

French Synonyms. — Un bourre-boyaux (popular — a stuff-your-guts) ; un claquedents (popular, also = a brothel, or punting-house) ; une guingette (general) ; une mangeoire (popular = a grubbery : manger — to eat) ; un maltais (popular) ; tin gargot (thieves').

German Synonym.—A" chilebajes (from Heb., Ochal= to eat).

Spanish Synonym.— Ostaleria, or Osteria (also = lushcrib).

Ic23. Bee, Diet, of the Tu-f s.v.

2. (tramps').—A workhouse. For synonyms, see Spinniken. Sometimes Grubbiken.

Grubble.

Gruel.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 416. I know all the good houses, and the tidy grubbikens— that's the unions where there's little or nothing to do for the food we gets.

Grubble, verb, (colloquial).—(1) To feel for at random or in the dark ; and (2) (venery) to grope {q.v.).

1684. Dryden, The Disappointment. ' Prologue.' The doughty bullies enter bloody drunk, Invade and grubble one another's punk.

Grubby, subs, (thieves').—Food. [A diminutive of Grub {q.v.).]

d. 1842. Maginn, Vidocq's Song. I

f)attered in flash like a covey knowing, Toi ol, etc. Ay, bub or grubby, I say.

Adj. (colloquial). — Dirly ; slovenly.

d. 1845. Hood, A Black Job, I.ikea grubby lot of sooty sweeps or colliers.

G rub-hunting, subs, (tramps').— Begging for food.

Grub-shite, verb. (old). —To make foul or dirty ; to bewray. —Grose.

Grub-shop, (or-crib,-trap, etc.), subs, (common).—1. The mouth; and (2) a g rubbery {q.v.). For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

1840. Thackeray, Comic Almanack, p. 229. ' That's the grub shop,' said my lord, ' where we young gentlemen wot has money buys our wittles.

3. See Grubbing-crib in both senses.

Grub-stake, subs. (American).—

Food and other necessaries

furnished to mining prospectors

in return for a share in the ' finds.'

Hence, to grub-stake — to

speculate after this fashion.

1884. Butterworth, Zig-zag Journeys. When miners become so poor that they are not able to furnish the necessary tools and food with which to ' go prospecting, a third party of sufficient means

offers to furnish tools and provisions on condition that he is to have a certain interest in anything that may be found.

1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody of Nowhere, p. 100. He grub-staked us and we used to work on the Tillie mine together.

Grub-street, subs, (colloquial).

—The world of cheap, mean,

needy authors. [Originally a

, street near Moorfields, changed in

1830 to Milton Street.

1690. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v. Grub-street news, false, forg'd.

1728. Pope, Dunciad, iii., 135. Shall take through grub-street his triumphant round.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. A Grub-street writer means a hackney author, who manufactures books for the booksellers.

1813. J. and H. Smith, Horace in London, 'The Classic Villa.' Grubstreet, 'tis called.

1821. Egan, Life in London, i. Few, if any, writers, out of the great mass of living scribblers, whether of GrubStreet fabrication, or of University passport . . . possess souls above buttons.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger's Sweetheart, p. 119. We are going it, have got our agents in Grub Street.

Gruel, subs, (common).—i. A beating; punishment {q.v.). For synonyms, Tanning. Hence, to get (or give) one's gruel = to castigate, or be well beaten ; also killed. In the prize ring=: to knock a man out for good. Gruelled = floored; also Gruelling.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxviii. He gathered in general, that they expressed great indignation against some individual. 'He shall have his gruel,'said one.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legenls. ' Babes in the Wood.' He that was mildest in mood gave the truculent rascal his gruel.

1849. C. Kingsi.ey, Alton Locke, ch. xii. They were as well gruelled as so many posters, before they got to the stile.

Grueller.

227

Grimier.

1888. Sporting Life, 15 Dec. Preferred to be easily knocked out to taking his gruel like a man.

1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz-, 23 Jan. Both men were badly punished, but George had, of courbe, the lion's share of the

gruel.

1891. Licensed Vict. Mirror, 30 Jan., p. 7, c. 3. All the advantage rested with the same side for some little time, Paddock getting such a gruelling t'iat his head swelled out like a pumpkin.

2. (American thieves'). -Coffee.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Grueller, subs, (common).—A knock-down blow ; a settler ; a floorer (q.V.).

Grumble-guts, subs, (popular).— An inveterate croaker. Also Grumble-gizzard.

Grumbles. To be all on the

grumbles, verb. phr. (popular). —To be discontented ; cross ; on the snarly-yow (q.V.).

Grumbletonian, subs, (common). —A pattern of discontent : one ever on the grumble. [Grumbleton (during the reigns of the later Stuarts) = an imaginary centre of discontent ; hence, Grumbletonian, a nickname of the County party, distinguished from the Court, as being in opposition.]

1690. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew. Grlmbi.etonians, malecontents, out of Humour with the Government, for want of a Place, or having lost one.

1705-7. Ward, Hudibras Kedivivus, vol. I., pt. i, p. 24 (,md Ed.). But all the grumhletonian throng Did with such violence rush along.

1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, Act 1. Now, if I pleased, I could be so revenged upon the old g::umbletonian.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Grumbletonian, s.v., a discontented person.

1849-61. Macau lay, Hist, of Eng., ch. xix. Who were sometimes nicknamed the grumbleton i ans, and sometimes honoured with the appellation of the County party.

Grummet, subs, (venery).—The female pudendtim. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Grumpy (or Grumpish), adj. (colloquial). — Surly ; cross ; angry.

1840. Mrs. Trollope, Michael Armstrong, ch. vi. If you blubber or look grumpish.

1859. Sala, Twice Round the Clock, 3 a.m., par. 13. Calling you a 'cross, grumpy, old thing,' when you mildly suggest that it is very near bed-time.

1868. Miss Braddon, Trail of the Serpent, bk. IV., ch. i. A grumpy old deaf keeper, and a boy, his assistant.

18S3. Punch, 19 May, p. 230, c. 2. They all looked grumpy and down in the mouth.

Grundy, subs. (old).—A short fat man; a forty-guts (q.v.).--See Mrs. Grundy.

1563. Fox, Acts and Monuments (London, 1844), iii., 1104. For that he being a short crijndy, and of little stature, did ride commonly with a great broad hat.

G runter, subs. (old).—i. A pig ;

a grunting-cheat (q.V.). In

quot. 1652 = pork. For synonyms, see Sow's Baby.

1656. Brome, Jovial Crew. Here's grunter and bleater, with tib-of-thebuttry.

1690. B. E., Diet. Car.!. Crew. Grunter, s.v. A sucking pig.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Grunter, s.v.

1841. Comic Almanack, p. 266. And the squeaking grunter is loose on the green.

1847-50. Tennyson, Princess, v. 26. A draggled mawkin, That tends her bristled grunters in the sludge.

Grunter* s-gig.

22S

Guerrilla.

2. (common).—A sixpence. In quot. 1785 = is. Cf., Hog and Pig.

1785. Grose, _ Vulg. Tongue Grunter, s.v. A shilling;.

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. iii., p. 267. One of the men . . . had only taken three ' twelvers ' [shillings] and a grunter.

1885. Household Words, 20 June, p. 155. The sixpence ... is variously known as a ' pig,' a ' sow's baby,' a grunter, and 'half a hog.'

3. (common).—A policeman ; a trap {q.v.) ; a pig {q.v. sense 2). For synonyms, see Beak.

1820. London Magazine, i., 26. As a bonnet against . . . grunters.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum. Grunter, s.v., a country constable.

4. (tailors'). — An habitual grumbler ; a grumble-guts {q.v.).

Grunter's-GIG, subs. (old).—A smoked pig's chap.—Grose.

Grunting-cheat, subs, (old).—A pig. See Chete. For synonyms, see Sow's Baby.

1567. Har.man, Caveat, p. 86. She has a cackling-chete, a grunting-chete, ruff pecke, cassan, and poplarr of yarum.

1622. Fletcher, Beggars Bush, v., i. Or surprising a boor's ken for grunting-cheats? Or cackling-cheats?

Grunting-peck, subs. (old). — Pork or bacon.

1690. E. E., Diet. Cant. Crew Grunting-I'ECK, s.v., pork.

1728. Bailey, Eng. Diet., s.v.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1836. Smith, Individual. 'The Thieves' Chaunt.' But dearer to me Sue's kisses far Than grunting peck or other grub are.

G ruts, subs, (common).—Tea; For synonyms, see Scandalbroth.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

G. T. T. Gone to Texas, phr. (American). — Absconded. [Moonshinirg gentry used to mark G. T. T. on the doors of their abandoned dwellings as a consolation for inquiring creditors.] Fr., aller en Belgique. For synonym?, see Swartwort.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 5 S., ch. viii. Before this misfortin' came I used to do a considerable smart chance of business ; but now it's time for me to cut dirt, and leave the country. I believe I must hang out the G. T. T. sign.'— ' Why, what the plague is that?' says I. ' Gone to Texas,' said he.'

Guage.—See Gage.

Gubbins, subs. (old). — Fishoffal.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie, q.v.

Gudgeon, subs. (old).—i. A bait ; an allurement. Hence, To gudgeon (or to swallow a gudgeon) = to be extremely credulous or gullible.

1598. Shakspeare, Merchant of Venice, i., 1. But fish not with this melancholy bait, For this fool's gudgeon, this opinion.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wördes, Bersela, s.v. To swallow a gudgeon % ... to believe any tale.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, Gudgeon, s.v. To swallow the bait, or fall into a trap, from the fish of that name which is easily taken.

1892. National Observer, 23 July, vii., 235. It has educated Hodge into an increased readiness to gorge any gudgeon that may be offered him.

2. (colloquial).-An easy dupe; a buffle {q.v.). 1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Guerrilla, subs. (American sharpers').—See quot.

Cuff.

229

Guinea-pig.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Th's name is applied by gamblers to fellows who skin suckers when and where they can, who do not like the professional gamblers, but try to beat them, sometimes inform on them, and tell the suckers that they have been cheated.

Guff, subs, (common).—Humbug ; bluff ; jabber. For synonyms, see Gammon.

1889. Sportsman, 19 Jan. Hereafter he can have the newspapers to himself, and with that windbag Mitchell fill them with guff and nonsense, but I won't notice them.

Guffy, subs, (nautical).—A soldier. For synonyms, see Mudcrusher.

Guiders,subs, (general). — 1.Reins;

ribbons (q.V.).

2. (common).—Sinews ; leaders (q.v.).

Guinea. A guinea to a gooseberry, phr. (sporting).—Long odds. See Lombard Street to a China Orange.

1884. Hawley Smakt, Post to Finish, ch. vli. What ! old Writson against Sam Pearson? Why, it's a guinea to a gooseberry on Sam !

Guinea-dropper, subs. (old).— A sharper. Specifically one who let drop counterfeit guineas in collusion with a gold-finder (q.v.). For synonyms, see Rook.

1712. Gay, Trivia, iii., 249. Who row the guinea dropper's bait regards, Tricked by the sharper's dice or juggler's cards.

Guinea-hen, subs. (old). —A courtezan. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1602. Shakspeare, Othello, i., 3. Ere I would say 1 would drown myself for the love of a guinea-hen, I would change mv humanity with a baboon.

1630. Glapthorne, A Ibertus Wallenstein. Yonder's the cock o' the game About to tread yon guinea-hen, they're billing.

Guinea-pig, subs. (old). — i, A general term of reproach.

1748 Smollett, Roderick Random, xxiv. A good seaman he is, as ever stepp'd on forecastle — none of your guinea-pigs,—nor your freshwater, wishywashy, fair-weather fowls.

2. ( old ). — Any one whose nominal fee for professional services is a guinea: as vets., special jurymen, etc. Now mainly restricted to clergymen acting as deputies, and (in contempt) to directors of public companies. Hence Guinea-trade = professional services of any kind.

1821. Coombe, Dr. Syntax, Tour III., c. iv. ' Oh, oh,' cried Pat, ' how my hand itches, Thou guinea-pig [a'vet.'], in boots and breeches, to trounce thee well.'

1871. Temple Bar, vol. xxxi., p. 320. A much more significant term is that of guinea pigs, the pleasant name for those gentlemen of more rank than means, who hire themselves out as directors of public companies, and who have a guinea and a copious lunch when they attend board meetings.

1880. Church Review, 2 Jan. Guinea pigs . . . are, for the most part, unattached or roving parsons, who will take any brother cleric's duty for the moderate remuneration of one guinea.

1883. Saturday Review, 25 Aug., p. 246, c. 2. A country parson was suddenly attacked with diphtheria, late in the week. Recourse was had in vain to the neighbours, and it was decided at last to telegraph to London for a guinea pig.

1884. Echo, 19 May, p. 1, c. 5. Let us apply the principle further, and imagine . . . limited liability swindlers tried by a jury of guinea-pigs and company promoters.

Guise s Geese. ² 3°

Gulf.

1884. Graphic, 29 Nov., p. 562, c. 3. And the guinea-tig, whose name is on a dozen different Boards, is justly regarded with suspicion.

1886. Chambers's Jour., 24 Apr., p. 258. In order to be considered of any value as Director of a Company, a guinea-pig ought to have a handle to his name.

1887. Payn, Glow Worm Tales. 'A Failure of Justice.' He is best known to the public as a guinea-pig, from his habit of sitting at boards and receiving for it that nominal remuneration, though in his case it stands for a much larger sum.

1889. Drage, Cyril, vii. The rector has, as usual, got the gout, and we live under a regime.....of guinea-tigs.

1890. Standard, 26 June, p. 5, c. 4. The least attempt to saddle responsibility for misleading statements upon Boards of Directors would drive prudent, ' respectable ' men out of what is vulgarly called the guinea-pig business.

3. (nautical).—See quot.

1840. Marryat, Poor Jack, ch. xxvi. While Bramble was questioned by the captain and passengers, I was attacked by the midshipmen, or guinea-pigs as they are called.

Guise's Geese, subs. phr. (military).—The Sixth Foot or ' Saucy Sixth.' [From its Colonel's name, i735-⁶3-]

GuiVER,subs.(theatrical).—( 1 ) Flattery, and (2) artfulness {q.V.). For synonyms, see Soft Soap.

Adj. (common). — Smart ; fashionable; on it {q. v.). Guiver lad = a low-class dandy ; also

an artful member (q.V.).

a. 1866. Vance, Chickaleary Cove. The stock around my squeeze of a guiver colour see.

Verb (sporting). — To humbug ; to fool about (q.V. ) ; to show off.

1891. Sporting Life, 25 Mar. He goes into a ring to fight his man, not to spar and look pretty, and run, and dodge, and guiver.

Gulf, subs. (old).—i. The throat ; also the maw. For synonyms, see Gutter-alley.

1579. Spencer, Shephearde's Calendar, Sept. That with many a lamb had glutted his gulf.

2. (Cambridge Univ.).—The bottom of a list of ' passes,' with the names of those who only just succeed in getting their degree.

1»52. Bristed, Five Years in an English University, p. 205. Some ten or fifteen men just on the line, not bad enough to be plucked, or good enough to be placed, are put into the gulf, as it is popularly called (the examiners' phrase is ' degrees allowed '), and have their degrees given them, but are not printed in the calendar.

3. (Oxford Univ.).—A man who, going in for honours, only gets . pass.

Verb (Cambridge Univ.).—To place in the gulf, subs., sense 2 (q.v.) ; to be gulfed = to be on such a list. [Men so placed were not eligible for the Classical Tripos]. Cf., Pluck and Plough.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, pt. iii., p. 89. I am not going to let them gulph me a second time.

1863. H. Kingsi.ey, Austin Elliot, p. 123. The good Professor scolded, predicted that they would all be either gulfed or ploughed.

1865. Sporting Gaz., 1 Apr. A man who was gulfed for mathematical honours was certainly, in olden time, unable to enter for the classical examination ; but though the arrangement is altered, the term is not obsolete. A man who is gulfed is considered to know enough mathematics for an ordinary degree, but not enough to be allowed his degree in mathematics only; he is consequently obliged to pass in all the ordinary subjects (excopt mathematics) for the ' poll,' before taking his degree.

Gulf-spin. 231

Gull.

1876. Trevelyan, Life of Macaulay (1884), ch. ii., p. 61. When the Tripos of 1822 made its appearance, his name did not grace the list. In short.... Macaulay was gulfed.

1852. Brlsted, Five Years in an English University, p. 297. I discovered that my name was nowhere to be found— that I was gulfed.

Gulf-spin, subs. (American cadet). —A rascal ; a worthless fellow ; a beat (q.V.) a shyster (q.V.).

Gull, subs, (old, now recognised). — i. A ninny. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1593. Sir J. Davies, Book of Epigrams. A gull is he whofeares a velvet gowne, And when a wench is brave dares not speak to her ; A gull is he which traverseth the towne, And is for marriage known a common wooer ; A gull is he, which while he proudly weares A silverhilted rapier by his side. Indures the lye and knockes about the eares, While in his sheath his sleeping sword doth bide, But to define a gull in termes precise—A gull is he which seems, and is not, wise.

1598. Florio, A World of Wördes, passim.

1609. Jonson, Case is Altered, '^v-i 3J un. Tut, thou art a goose to be Cupid's gull.

1609. Shakspeare, Timon of Athens. Lord Timon will be left a naked gull. Which flashes now a phoenix.

1614. Overbury, Characters. 'A Roaring Boy.' He cheats young guls that are newly come to town.

1618. Rowlands, Night Raven, p. 28 (H. C. Rept., 1872). I know the houses where base cheaters vse, And note what gulls (to worke vpon) they chuse.

1661. Brome, Poems, 'The Cure of Care.' Those gulls that by scraping and toiling.

1818. S. E. Ferrier, Marriage, ch. Ii. The poor gull was caught, and is now, I really believe, as much in love as it is in the nature of a stupid man to be.

1850. D. Terrold, The Catspaw, Act i. Pshaw f some rascal that lives on simpletons and gulls.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 231. I was a dweller under roofs; the gull of that which we call civilisation.

2. (old).—A cheat ; a fraud ; a trick.

1600. Shakspeare, Much Ado about Nothing, ii., 3. i should think this a gull, but that the white-bearded fellow speaks it.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionaric, q.v.

3. (OxfordUniv.).—Aswindler; a trickster. Cf., Gull-catchek, of which it is probably an abbreviation.

1825. The English Spy, v. i., p. i6r. ' You'll excuse me, sir, but as you are fresh, take care to avoid the gulls.' ' 1 never understood that gulls were birds of prey,' said i. 'Only in Oxford, sir, and here, i assure you, they bite like hawks.'

Verb (old : now recognised).— To cheat ; to dupe ; to victimise ; to take in (q.v.). in any fashion and to any purpose.

1596. Jonson. Every Man in his Humour, v. This is a mere trick, a device, you are gulled in this most grossly.

1602. Shakspeare, Twelfth Night, ii.,3. Mar. For Monsieur Maluolio, let me alone with him ; If i do not gull him into a nayword, and make him a common recreation, do not thinke i haue witte enough tc lye straight in my bed ; i know i can do it.

1607. Rowlands, Diogenes, his Lanthorne, p. n (H. C. Rept. 1873). He promist me good stuffe truly, a great pennyworth indeed, and verily did gull me.

1610. Jonson, Alchemist, v., 2. Hast thou gulled her of her jewels or her bracelets ?

1639. Selden, Table Talk, p. 98 (Arber's ed.). Presbyters have the greatest power of any Clergy in the world, and gull the Laity most.

1778. Sketches for TabernacleFrames, p. 25, note. These fanatica Preachers frequently squeeze out Tears to gull their Audience.

G ullage. 23 1 Gull-groper.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, I., 472. It's generally the lower order that he gulls.

1892. Henley and Stevenson, Deacon Brodie, ix. Pay your debts, and gull the world a little longer.

Hence Gullible, adj., = easily duped.

1841. Thackeray, CharacterSketches 'Fashionable Authoress.' And,gulled themselves, gull the most gullable of publics.

G ullage, subs, (old colloquial).— The act of trickery ; the state of being gulled.

1605. B. Jonson, Volpone, v., 5. Had you no quirk To avoid gullage, sir, by such a creature ?

1611. Chapman, May Day, Act II., p. 284 {Plays, 1874). For procuring you the dear gullage of my sweetheart, Mistress Franceschina.

Gull-catcher (or Guller,Gullsharper, etc.), subs. (old).—A trickster ; a cheat. See Gull, senses 1 and 3.

1602. Shakspeare, Twelfth Night, ii., 5. Here comes my noble gullcatcher.

gullery, subs, (old colloquial).— Dupery ; fraud ; a cheat's device. Cf., Gullage.

1596. Jonson, Every Man hi His Humour, iii., 2. Your Balsamum and your St. John's wort are all mere gulleries and trash to it.

1608. John Day, Humour out of Breath, Act iv., Sc. 3. I am guild, palpably guild . . . and mine owne gullery grieves me not half so much as the Dukes displeasure.

1630. Taylor, Works. Neverthelesse, whosoever will but looke into the lying legend of golden gullery, there they shall finde that the poore seduced ignorant Romanists doe imitate all the idolatrous fornication of the heathen pagans and infidels.

1633. He of Güls. Upon you both, so, so, so, how greedily their inventions like beagles follow the sent of their owne gullery, yet these are no fooles, God forbid, not they.

1633. Marmion, Fine Companion. Lit. What more gulleries yet? they have cosend mee of my daughters, I hope they will cheate me ot my wite too : have you any more of these tricks to shew, ha?

16S9. Selden, Table Talk, p. 38 (Arber's ed.). And how can it be proved, that ever any man reveal'd Confession, when there is no Witness? And no man can be Witness in his own cause. A meer

gullery.

1819. H. More, Defence of Moral Cabbala, ch. iii. The sweet deception and gullery of their own corrupted fancy.

1821. Scott, Kenilworth, ch. xx. Do you think, because I have goodnaturedly purchased your trumpery goods at your roguish prices, that you may put any gullery you will on me?

Gullet, subs, (old : now recognised).—The throat. For synonyms, see Gutter-alley.

1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, 12,477. [Quoted in Ency. Diet.] Out of the harde bones knocken they The mary, for they casten nought away, That may go thurgh the gullet soft and sote.

1690. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, Gullet, s.v. A Derisory Term for the Throat, from Gula.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. 15. So he puts a pistol to his mouth, and he fires it down his gullet.

1893. National Observer, x. 168. Through sympathetic gullets.

Gull-finch, subs. (old). — A simpleton ; a fool. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1630. Taylor, Works. For 'tis concluded 'mongst the wizards all, To make thee master of Gul-finches hall.

gull-groper, subs. (old). — A gamesters' money-lender.

1609. Dekker, Lanthome and Candle-light. The gul-groperi s commonly an old mony-monger, who having travaild through all the follyes of the world in his youth, knowes them well, and shunnes them in his age, his whole felicitie being to fill his bags with golde and silver.

1690. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew. Gull-groper, s.v. A Bystander that Lends Money to the Gamesters.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Gully. ²33

Gum.

Gully, subs, (common).—i. The throat. For synonyms, see Gutter-alley.

2. (venery). — The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

3. (old and Scots').—A knife. For synonyms, see Chive.

1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, bk. I., ch. xxvii. Fair gullies which are little haulch-backed demi-knives.

1785. Burns, Death and Dr. Hornbook. I r<_d ye weel, tak care o' skaith, See, there's a gully.

1789. Burns, Address to Captain Grose. The knife that nickit Abel s craig, He'll prove ye fully It was a faulding jocteleg, Or lang-kail gully.

Verb (common). — To gull (q.v.) ; to dupe ; to swindle. For synonyms, see Stick.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. I rode about and speechified, and everybody gullied.

Gully-fluff, subs, (colloquial).— Pocket-filth ; beggar's velvet (q.v.). Also Flue (q.v.).

Gully-gut, subs, and adj. (common).— A glutton. For synonyms, see Stodger.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wördes. Crapulatore, a surfeiter ; a gormand ; a glutton ; a gullie-gut.

1672. Lestrange, Fables. Agulligut friar.

Gully-hole (or Gully), subs. (common).—1. The throat, or gullet. For synonyms, see Gutter-alley.

2. (venery). — The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Gully-raker, subs. phr. (venery). — i. The penis ; and (2) a wencher. For synonyms, see Creamstick, Prick, and Molrower.

2. (Australian). A cattle-whip ; a cattle-thief.

1881. A. C. Grant, Bush Life in Queensland . . . following up his admonition by a sweeping cut of his gullyraker, and a report like a musket-shot.

Gulpin, subs, (common). — A simpleton; a gapeseed (q.v.). Fr., un gobemouche ; une éponge. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1886. W. Besant, World Went Very Well Then, ch. xxix. But Jack persisted, and i rose too. ' Go then ! ' the Admiral roared, with a great oath. ' Go then, for a brace of gulpins !'

Gulpy, adj. (common).—Easily duped.

Gulsh. To hold one's gulsh, verb. phr. (provincial).—To hold one's tongue ; to keep quiet.

Gum, subs. (old).—1. Chatter; talk ; jaw (q.v.). Also abuse.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. xiv. There's no occasion to bowse out so much unnecessary gum.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Come let us have no more of your gum.

1824. R. B. Peake, Americans Abroad, i., 1. Dou. Come, none of your gum—now you are but an underlin', tho' you are so uppish and twistical—where's the chair?

2. (American).—A trick ; a piece of dupery; a sell (q.v.).

Also gummation.

3. (American). — A golosh ; an india-rubber overshoe. [Short for ' gum-shoes.']

1872. Morning Post, 9 Jan. Forbidding him again to cross her threshold or to leave his gum-shoes in her hall.

Verb (common).—To cheat ; to take in (q.V.), to roast (q.V.) or quiz. For synonyms, see Gammon.