Slang & Its Analogues Vol. 7 (1904)

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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 & W. E. HENLEY

VOL. VII.—STRA-Z

PRINTED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

mcmiv.

A Oictiomiairy of
lang and its Analogues.

trada Reale
High lan ders,

subs. phr. (military). — The ist
Batt. Gordon
I Highlanders, late
¹ The 75th Foot
(King). [Ini8i2
the regiment was detailed for
Mediterranean service, and for
some time formed the Main Guard
of the Governor's residence in
the Strada Reale, Valetta. ]

Straddle, subs. (Stock Exchange).
—A contract in which the holder
can call for (or the signatory can
deliver) stock at a fixed price : a
speculation covering both a put
and a call {q.v.) : cf. Spreadeagle. Also as verb.

Verb. (American political).—
To adopt a non-committal attitude ; to favour both sides ; ' to
sit on the fence' {q.v.) : also as
subs.

1884. Nation^ 3 July, 4, The platform contains the well-known plank
straddling the tariff question.

Straights (the), subs. (old
London).—See quot. 1816.

[Nares : ' formerly frequented by
profligates ; a Cant name.] See
Bermudas.

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Faire,
ii. 6. Look into my angle o' the town (the
streights, or the Bermudas) where the
quarrelling lesson is read. Ibid. Turn
pirates here at land, Ha' their Bermudas,
and their straights i' th' Strand.

1816. Gifford, Jonson. Note to
above. Cant names then given to the
places frequented by bullies, knights of
the post, and fencing masters. . . . These
streights consisted of a nest of obscure
courts, alleys, and avenues, running between the bottom of St Martin's Lane,
Half Moon, and Chandos Street.

Adj. (colloquial).—Straight,
generic for honesty, has, like
round (q.v.), and square {q.v.),
a large colloquial vogue. Thus
a straight ( = an exact)
thinker ; a straight ( = a chaste)
piece {q.v.); a straight ( =
an out-and-out) Tory : hence
straight-out = thorough-going ;
straight ( = neat : also dutypaid) whiskey; straight ( =

candid) speech; straight ( =
honest) people, living, etc. ;
straight ( = honestly acquired)
goods : also of persons = square
{q.v.); a straight ( = a trustworthy) tip, griffin,etc. {q.v.);

Straights.

4

Strain.

a straight ( = an unsmiling)

face; straight (or straightout — outright, thorough ;
straight up and down (in the
straight, or on the straight)

= plain, honest, free from crookedness of all kinds ; out of the
straight = dishonest, crooked.

1848. Lowell, Biglow Papers, 88.
I'm a STRAiGHT-spoken kind o' creetur,
That blurts right out what's in his head.

1856. New York Courier, Sept. In
the Presidential contest of 1844, ^no man
was more fierce in his hostility to Henry
Clay than the present candidate of the
straight Whigs for the Vice-Presidency.

1872. New York Tribune, 7 Mar.
When . . . Blair . . . declared, in a
speech from the steps of the Manhattan
Club, that the main plank in the Democratic platform was whiskey straight, he
probably shocked a few of his more
orthodox and respectable hearers.

1886. Fort. Rev., n.s., xxxix. 76.
Dissipating their rare and precious cash on
whiskey straight in the ever-recurring
bar-rooms.

1886. St James's Gaz., 11 Nov.
' The husband of Lady Usk, a virtuous
lady, who, as we are frequently told, is
perfectly straight and all that sort of
thing.'

1887. Referee, 17 Ap. 'But going
to first principles, nothing can be straighter or more likely to work to an employer's
interest than for his jockey to back his own
mount.'

1872. Nation, 22 Aug., 113. Other
straight-outs, as they call themselves
. . . cannot take Grant and the Republicans. Ibid. (1888), 6 Dec, 459.
He shows himself to be a man of wide
reading, a pretty straight thinker, and a
lively and independent critic.

1891. Gould, Double Event, •2-2.
He's got the straight griff for something.

1897. Marshall, Pomes, 9. ' If
that isn't a good 'un,' the bookie cried,
' I'll forfeit a fiver, straight.'

1901. Free Lance, 30 Nov., 217. 1.
Uncommonly sharp sons, who, if they live,
and run straight, may get into the
Cabinet or do anything else.

1902. Lynch, High Stakes, xxix.
When he had me locked in with him he
gave me the straight tip.

1903. Kennedy, Sailor Tramp, xix.
What do I know about him? Why that
he's all right. That he's straight goods.

In the straight, adv. phr.
(common).—Nearing the end ;
within sight of a finish ; orig. a
racing term.

1903. T. P.'s Weekly, 2 Jan., 248. 1.
Good, I'm in the straight now . . .
Thank Heaven that's done.

Straight as a pound of
Candles (or as a loon's leg),
adv. phr. (common).—As
honest as may be. Also 'as
straight as the backbone of a
herring (Ray), as a die, arrow,'
etc.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, xiii.
My hair . . . hung down upon my
shoulders, as lank and straight as a

pound of candles.

1865. Downing, Letters, 42. They
were puzzled with the accounts ; but I saw
through it in a minit, and made it all as
straight as a loon's leg.

Straight! intj. (common).—
Fact ! Honest Injun !

1890. Chevalier, Costers Courtship. Straight ! ses I, I'm on the job for
better or for wuss.

Straight-laced, adj.phr. (B.E.
and Grose). — ' Precise, squeemish, puritanical, nice.'

Strain, verb. (venery).—To
copulate : see Ride.

1383. Chaucer, Cant. Tales,
(Tyrwhitt), 9627. ' Merchant's Tale.' He
that night in armes wold hire streine.

1601. Shakspeare, Hen. VIII., iv. 1.
Our King has all the Indies in his arms,
And more and richer when he strains
that lady.

To strain hard, verb. phr.
(B. E.)—'To ly heavily.'

Straw. 5 Strappado.

To strain one's täters, Verb.

/^r. (common).—To urinate: see
Piss.

Stram, subs, (colloquial).—i. A
walk ; spec, a society parade. As
verb = to walk stiffly: also (provincial : Halliwell) = to dash
down violently, to beat.

1869. Stowe, Oldtown, 508. I hed
sech a stram this mornin'.

2. (venery).—See Strumpet.

Stram ash, subs, (colloquial).—A
disturbance ; a rough and
tumble (q.v. ). As verb = to beat,
bang, destroy.

1837. Barham, Ingo Ids. Leg.
'House Warming.' More calling and
bawling, and squalling and falling, Oh,
what a fearful stramash they're all in.

1855. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, xxxvi.
I and three other University men . . .
had a noble stramash on Folly Bridge.
That is the last fighting I have seen.

Stram m el. See Strummel.

Strammer, subs, (colloquial).—
Anything exceptional : see Whopper. Stramming = huge, great.

Stranded,^, (colloquial).—Penniless; friendless.

1897. Marshall, Pomes, 26. Novy,
the bank was a trifle dyspeptic—a quid
was its longest reach—And Yiffler could see
himself stranded, for he sighted a pebbly
beach.

Stranger, subs, (common).—1.
A sovereign : formerly a guinea
(Grose) : see Rhino.

2. (common. )—A visitor : cf.
the folk-saying of a badly burning
candle, or a stalk in tea : ' A
stranger's coming.'

Strangle-Goose, subs.phr. (old).
—A poulterer (Grose).

Strap, subs. (old). — i. A
barber. [Strap, a barber in
Smollett's Roderick Random,
1748.]

2. (common).—Credit: orig.
credit for drink. On strap =
'on tick' {q.v.); strapped^
penniless, bankrupt. See Hardup.

1857. Nat. Intelligencer, Oct.
Lowndes is strapped ; had to pay his
wife's cousin's last quarter's rent, which
consumed what he had reserved for current
expenses.

1903. Kennedy, Sailor Tramp, \.
ix. 'Say, . . . are you strapped?' 'Oh
. . . I'm not hard up. I'm all right.'
Ibid., 11. i. Why didn't you come to me
when you were strapped ?

Verb, (venery). — 1. 'To lie
with a woman ' : see Greens and
Ride (B.E. and Grose).

2. (common).—To flog ; to
beat. Hence strapping (or a
dose of strap-oil or oil of
strap'em) = a thrashing ; an
April fool joke is to send a lad for
' a penn'orth of strap oil' : cf.
Stirrup-oil.

3. (Scots).—To hang.

1825. Scott, St Ronans Well, xiv.
It's a crime baith by the law of God and
man, and mony a pretty man has been
strapped for it.

4. (old).—To work (Grose).
See Blackstrap.

Strappado, subs. (old).—A form
of torture : the culprit, his legs
tied, was hoisted by a rope
fastened to his arms behind his
back, and was given a rapid
descent stopped so suddenly that
the jerk often dislocated the joints
of arms and shoulders. This was
repeated once or twice. Cf.
Scavenger's Daughter.

Strapper. 6

Straw.

1587. Hakluyt ; Voyages, 11. 253.
It was told vs we should have ye strappado.

1598. Shakspeare, Hen. IV., ii.
4. An I were at the strappado, or all
the racks in the world, I would not tell
you on compulsion.

c. 1603. Heywood, Woman Killed,
etc. [Pearson, Works (1874), 11. 141]. I
would ... Be rack'd, strappado'd, put
to any torment.

1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage, 341.
They vse also the strappado, noising
them vp and downe by the armes with a
corde.

1622. Markham, Epist. of Warre.
Strappado [enumerated with] gallow,
gibbets, and scaffolds [which the Provost
Marshall was bound to provide on occasion.]

1633. Callot, Misères. [In this
work there is a sketch of a culprit suspended
from a high beam, the executioner holding
with both hands the end of one of four
spokes which act like a wheel and lever for
hoisting or lowering the culprit, the executioner's right foot pressing against a
lower spoke, his left foot on the ground.]

1688. R. Holme, Acad. Armory, in.
vii. 310. [Holme writes as though the
stkappado were still in use in the army]
the jerk not only breaketh his arms to
pieces, but also shaketh all his joynts out
of joint ; which punishment is better to be
hanged, than for a man to undergo.

Strapper, subs. (old).—' Aswingeing two-handed woman ' (B. E.
and Grose) ; anything big or
bulky: cf. Whopper. Strapping = tall, robust, well-made.

1678. Cotton, Virgil Travestie
{Works (1725), iv. 105]. At last a crew of
strapping jades, That were, or should have
been her maids.

1681. Radcliffe, Ovid Travestie,
3. Has he not got a Lady that's a
strapper? Ibid., 26. A strapping Lass,
She must be marry'd, or she'll grow too
busy.

1694. Congreve, Double Dealer, iii.
10. Then that other great strapping
Lady.

1700. Farquhar, Constant Couple,
i. i. There are five-and-thirty strapping
officers gone this morning.

1751. Smollett, Pereg. Pickle,
lxxxvii. Ah, you strapper, what a jolly
bitch you are.

1778. Darblay, Diary (1893), i. 88.
' You who are light and little can soon
recover, but I who am a gross man might
suffer severely.' . . . Poor Lady Sadd,
who is quite a strapper, made no answer.

1847. Bronté, Jane Eyre, xx.
'She's a rare one, is she not, Jane?'
'Yes, sir.' 'A strapper, a real strapper, big, brown and buxom.'

1885. D. Tel., 25 Aug. 'The police,
fine strapping fellows, usually Irish, wear
white ducks in fine weather.'

Stravag (or Stravaig), verb.
(Scots and Irish).—To tramp;
to loaf ; to abscond. Hence
stravaiger = a vagabond.

1887. Henley, Villon's Straight
Tip. Your merry goblins soon stravag.

1888. Black, Far Lochaber, vii.
Prancing down to the shore and back from
the shore—and stravayging about the
place.

Straw, subs. (old).—1. Generic
for worthlessness. Thus, not
worth a straw = of no appreciable value ; to care not a
straw = to care not at all ; a man
(or face) of straw = a man of no
standing or substance, a sham : in
quot. 1700 = a fumbler ; strawbail = professional security ;
straw-shoes (man or witness)
= a perjured witness ; strawbid = a fictitious offer; strawbidder = a buyer who cannot
fulfil his contract ; straw-vote
= a snatch vote; strawyarder
(nautical) = a land-lubber playing
the sailor ; spec, a blackleg doing
shipboard duty during a strike.

d. 1400. Chaucer, Tale of Melibeus.
And whan that they ben accompliced, yet
ben they not worth a stre.

. . . Nugœ Poeticœ, 48. Whatesoevery
he be, and yf that he Whante money to
plede the lawe, Do whate he cane in ys
mater than Shale not prove worthe a
strawe.

Straw. 7 Straw.

c. 1500. Roberte the Deuyll [Hazlitt,
Early Pop. Poetry, i. 229, 261]. The
Duke . . . asked Robert, iff he woulde
lyue vnder awe Of God, and the order of
knight-hode beare, He aunswered : I sett
not thereby a strawe.

1534. Udal, Ralph Roister Doister
[Dodsley, Old Plays (1874), iii. 128].
Then a straw for her. . . . She shall not
be my wife were she never so fair.

c. 1540. Doctour Doubble-Ale, 10.
Popish lawes ; That are not worth two
strawes, Except it be with dawes.

1604. Shakspeare, Winters Tale,

iii. 2. Mistake me not ; no life, I prize
it not a straw, but for mine honour.

1675. Wycherley, Country Wife,

iv. 3. I will not be your drudge by day,
to squire your wife about, and be your
man of straw or scarecrow only to pies
and jays that would be nibbling at your
forbidden fruit.

1700. Dryden, Wife of Bath's Tale.
When you my ravish'd predecessor saw
You were not then become this man of
straw.

170s. Ward, Hud. Rediv., 1. i.
9. No Zealot valu'd if a straw. But
mounted . . . like Hunter's o'er a fivebarr'd Gate.

1740. North, Examen, 508. Off
drops the vizor, and a face of straw
appears.

1753. Richardson, Grandison, vi.
387. All those, however, were men of
straw with me.

1754. Fielding, Jon. Wild, 1.
ii. . . . He had likewise the remarkable
honour of walking in Westminster Hall
with a straw in his shoe.

1772. Bridges, Burlesque Homer,
198. To me how all your matters go,
Don't signify a single straw.

1809. Malkin, Gil Bias [Routledge], 104. The players are not men of
straw as I foolishly believed.

1827. Lytton, Pelham, iii. He
cared not a straw that he was a man of
fortune, of family, of consequence ; he
must be a man of ton, or he was ... no
man.

1848. Thackeray, Snobs, xviii.
Why the deuce should Mrs Botibol blow
me a kiss? ... I don't care a straw for
Mrs Botibol.

1876. Telegram from Washington,
13 Mar. [Bartlett]. The House postoffice committee has agreed to report
Luttrell's bill to prevent straw-bidding
for mail contracts, and to punish strawbidders when caught.

1892. Sydney, England and English, ii. 275. Perjury at this time [c. 1750]
was a regular trade. . . . The lawyer who
required convenient witnesses . . . going
into Westminster Hall . . . would address
a straw-man with a ' Don't you remember?' (at the same time holding out
a fee).

1902. Sp. Times, 1 Feb., 21. I do
not care two straws what alleged
people write about myself.

2. (common).—A long clay
pipe ; a churchwarden.

3. (common).—A straw hat.
Also strawyard, and (schools)
strawer.

Phrases. In the straw =
in childbed (Grose) ; to break
a straw = to quarrel ; to lay a
straw = to pause ; to draw (or
pick) straws = to show signs of
sleep ; a pad in the straw =
anything amiss ; to throw
straws against the wind
(Coles) = to essay the impossible. Also (proverbial) ' A
straw shows which way the
wind blows ' ; ' He gives straw
to his dog, and bones to his ass '
(of one given to absurdities) ;
' To make a block of a straw ' ;
' To stumble at a straw and
leap over a block,' etc., etc.

1526. Pilgr. Perf. [W. de W., 1531],
93. Lest of a strawe we make a block.

1551. Still, Gammer Gurton's
Needle, v. 2. Ye perceive by this lingring
there is a pad in the straw.

15 [?] Collier, Old Ballads [Halliwell]. Here lyes in dede the padde

within the strawe.

1562. j. Heywood. Prov. and Epig.
(1867), 76. s.v. Ye stumbled at a strawe,
and lept ouer a blocke.

Strawberry. 8 Streak.

1564. Udal, Erasmus's Apoph., 68.
I prophecie (quoth he) that Plato and
Dionysius wil erre many daies to an ende
breake a strawe betwene them.

1637. Holland, Cajnden, 141. But
lay a straw here, for in a trifling matter
others as well as myselfe may thinke these
notes sufficient, if not superfluous.

1662. Fuller, Worthies, 'Lincoln.'
Our English plain Proverb de Puerperis,
' they are in the straw,'shows FeatherBeds to be of no ancient use among the
common sort of our nation.

1705. Ward, Hud. Rediv., 1. iv. 18.
We sipp'd our Fuddle As Women in the
straw do Caudle.

1710. Swift, Pol. Conv., iii. Lady
Ans. I'm sure 'tis time for all honest
folks to go to bed. Miss. Indeed my eyes
draw straws. (She's almost asleep.)

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Straw. One eye draws straw, and
t'other serves the thatcher.

1786. Burgoyne, Heiress, i. 1. Mrs
Blandish. You take care to send to all the
lying-in ladies? Prompt. At their doors,
madam, before the first load of straw.
(Reading his memorandum, as he goes
out.) Ladies in the straw, ministers,
etc.

1796. Wolcot, Peter Pindar, 213.
Their eyelids did not once pick straws,
And wink and sink away ; No, no, they
were as brisk as bees.

1839. Hood, Miss Kilmansegg. Although, by the vulgar popular saw, All
mothers are said to be in the straw,
Some children are born in clover.

Strawberry, subs, (common).—
A nevus ; a birthmark.

c. 1866. Burnand and Sullivan, Box
and Cox. Have you a strawberry mark
on your left arm ? No ! Then you are
my long lost brother.

To cut down an oak, and
set up a strawberry, Verb.

phr. (old).—To waste ; cf. Ital.
Cavar un chiodo e plantar una
cavicchia ( = To dig up a nail and
plant a pin).

Strawberry-leaves, subs. phr.
(common).—A dukedom : a ducal
coronet is ornamented with eight
strawberry-leaves.

Strawberry-preacher, subs,
phr. (old).—A non-resident ; one
who visited his cure only once a
year.

Strawboots, subs, (military).—
I. The 7th Dragoon Guards ;
also Old Strawboots, and The
Straws. Also (2) the 7th Hussars. [Tradition says from these
regiments having been employed
in quelling agricultural riots. ]

Straw-chipper, subs. phr. (old).
—A barber ; cf. Strummelfaker and Nob-thatcher.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry,
i. 5. Our dashing straw-chippers . . .
in Burlington Arcade.

Strawing, subs, (streets').—See
quot.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., 1.
229. Strawing, or selling straws in the
street, and giving away with them something that is really or fictionally forbidden
to be sold, as indecent papers, political
songs, and the like.

Straw-ride, subs. phr. (American).—A driving excursion in a
strawed-down van or sleigh.

Strawyard, subs, (tramps').—
See quot.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., 11.
138. They come back to London to avail
themselves of the shelter of the night
asylums or refuges for the destitute (usually
called straw-yards by the poor).

Hence, like a strawyard
bull, phr. (common).—A jocose
retort to the question, ' How are
you ? ' ' Like a strawyard bull,
full of fuck and half-starved.'

See Straw, subs. 3.

Streak, subs. (American).—1. A
mental peculiarity : cf. Twist,
Kink, etc. Also a fit of temper :
whence streaky, adj. = (1)

Streak.

9 Street.

irritable ; short-tempered ; (2)
mean ; (3) flabbergasted
{q.v.); and (4) variable. Also
streaked.

1647. Cowley, The Mistress, 'Wisdom.' Some streaks, too, of Divinity
ran, Partly of Monk, and partly Puritan.

1848. Lowell, Big low Paßers. 1 S.
ii. But wen it comes to bein' killed, I tell
ye I felt streaked, The fust time 'tever I
found out wy baggonets wuz peaked.

1855. Haliburton, Human Nature,
i S. Daniel Webster was a great man, I
tell you ; he'd talk King William out of
sight in half an hour. If he was in your
house of Commons, he'd make some of
your great folks look pretty streaked.

i8[*?]. Widow Bedott Papers, 121.
You know almost everybody has their
queer streaks.

1856. Stowe, Dred, 1. 120. Justact,
now, as if you had got a streak of something in you, such as a man ought for to
have who is married to one of the very first
families in old Virginia.

1888. Eggleston, The Graysons,
xviii. Mrs Button had been churning, and
the butter ' took a contrary streak,' as
she expressed it, and refused to come.

2. (common). — A run ; a
sequence of prosperities or adversities.

Verb. (common).—To decamp swiftly ; to go with a rush :

also to make streaks, to
streak off like greased
lightning, Or to go like a
streak.

1604. Heywood, If You Know Not
Me [Pearson, Works (1874) 1. 292].
Have you beheld the like [a blazing star] ?
Look how it streaks.

1768. Ross, Helenore. O'er hill and
dale with fury she did dreel, A' roads to
her were good and bad alike ; Nane o't she
wyl'd, but forward on did streak.

1843. Carlton, New Purchase, 1.
78. I was certain it wasn't no fox or wolf,
but a dog ; and if I didn't streak off like
greased lightnin'.

1845. Simms, Wigwam and Cabin,
85. ' Twas a satisfaction to have such a
horse, and ' twas a pleasure to crop him,
and streak it away, at a brushing canter,
for a good five miles at a stretch.

1847. Ruxton, Far West, 79.
What brings a duck a streaking it down
stream, if humans ain't behind her? and
who's in these diggins but Indians?

1850. Porter, Tales of South-west,
165. When I did get near, he'd stop and
look, cock his ears, and give a snuff, as if
he'd never seen a man afore, and then
streak it off as if I had been an Indian.

1855. Haliburton, Human Nature,
59. As soon as I touched land, I
streaked it for home, as bard as I could
lay legs to the ground.

1856. Dow, Sermons, in. 108. The
way they are streaking it down the
dark road to ruin is sorrowful to steam
locomotives.

1865. Downing, Letters, 91. I
streaked it for Washington, and it was
well-nigh upon midnight when I reached
the White House.

1869. Stowe, Oldtown, 172. They
jest streaked it out through the butterydoor.

1886. Field, 25 Sep. Mayflower,
first to take the breeze, went streaking
away from Galatea.

Streamers, subs. pi. (common).—
The Aurora Borealis ; Northern
Lights.

1805. Scott, Lay of Last Minstrel,
ii. 8. He knew, by the streamers that
shot so bright, That spirits were riding the
northern light.

Stream's-Town, subs. phr.
(venery). — The female pudendum : cf. Monosyllable
(Grose). See Tipperary fortune.

Street, subs, (old colloquial).—
i. The people living in a street.

1594. Shakspeare, Love's Lab.
Lost, iv. 3, 281. The street should see
as she walk'd overhead.

Street-ganger. io

Stretch.

1620. Middleton, Chaste Maid, v.
2. All the whole street will hate us,
And the world point me out cruel.

2. (colloquial). — A capacity,
a method; a line (q.v.)'. e.g.
' That's not in my street '= ' I
am not concerned ' or ' That's
not my way of doing,' etc. ; in
the same street = (1 ) on (or
under) the same conditions ; and
(2) equal with.

1362. Chaucer, A.B.C., 70. Than
makest thou his pees with his sovereign,
And bringest him out of the croked

streete.

1900. Kennard, Right Sort, xx.
Though not in the same street with
King Olaf, it won't do to estimate Singing
Bird's chance too lightly.

The Street, subs. phr. (old).
—A centre of trade or exchange ;
spec. (American) Wall Street ;
cf. House, Lane, etc.

1612. Peter Martyr [tr. Eden,
First Books on America [Arber], 186].
Common places whyther marchauntes
resort as to the burse or streate.

See Grub Street ; Key ;
Queer Street ; Spin.

Street-ganger, subs. phr.
(thieves').—A beggar.

Street-hound, subs. phr. (American).—A rough, bully, or loafer.

1872. Sacremento Weekly Union,
24 Feb., 2. Pettifoggers, polite loafers,
street-hounds, hoodlums, and bummers.

Street-pitcher, subs. phr. (common).—Anyone who stands, or
takes a pitch (q.v.), in the
streets—vendor, mendicant, etc.

Street-walker, subs. phr. (common).—i. A harlot working on
the pavement ; see Tart. Hence
street-walking = questing for
men.

2. (old).—See quot.

1618. Mynshul, Essays on a Prison
(1821), 59. [Oliphant, New Eng., ii. 64.
He has the new substantives key-turner
(turnkey) and street-walker ; these are
both used of jailers.]

Strength. On the strength,
phr. (colloquial : military).—On
the muster roll.

1889. Forbes [Eng. Illus. Mag., vi.
525]. The colonel had put the widow
woman on the strength ; she was no
longer an unrecognised waif, but had her
regimental position.

Streperous. ^Obstreperous.

Stretch, subs. (Old Cant).—1. A
yard.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Stretch . . . The cove was lagged for
prigging a peter with several stretch of
dobbin from a drag.

2. (thieves').—A year ; three
stretch = three years' imprisonment.

1877. Horsley, Jottings from Jail.
I did not fall again for a stretch. This
time I got two moon for assaulting the
reelers when canon.

1888. Greenwood, Undercurrents
of Lond. Life. ' All right, Sam.' ' How
much, Toby?' 'Three stretch,' by
which the sympathetic Sam knows his
friend means 'three years.'

1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, xiv.
Before you can open a paddin-ken, you
must get a licence from the charpering
carsey which lasts for a stretch.

1897. Marshall, Pomes, 116. I
wished I'd been doing a stretch, sir, the
year that we nobbled the crack.

1900. Griffiths, Fast and Loose,
xix. You know me ; if you don't you
ought, for I got you that last stretch in
Tothill Fields.

3. (orig. University : now
general).—A walk. To stretch
a leg (or one's legs) = to walk.

1653. Walton, Complete Angler, 43.
I have stretched my legs up Tottenham
Hill to overtake you.

Stretch. 11 'Strewth.

Verb. (old).—i. To hang ; to
swing \q.v.)\ see Ladder.
Stretching (stretchingmatch, or stretching-bee) =
a hanging (B. E. and Grose).

1623. M abbe, Spanish Rogue (1630),
7. He should stretch for it.

c. 1816.] Mayer, Song, 'The Night
Before Larry was Stretched.' The
rumbler jugg'd off from his feet, And he
died with his face to the city.

2. (old).—To exaggerate ; to
lie: 'He stretched hard' =
' He told a whistling lie ' (B. E.
and Grose). Hence stretcher
= an exaggeration, a falsehood.

d. 1844. Field, Drama at Pokerville.
Whenever Mrs Oscar Dust told a
stretcher, old Waters was expected to
swear to it.

d. 1879. Clifford, Lectures, 1. 229.
It is only by a stretch of language that
we can be said to desire that which is
inconceivable.

On (or at) a stretch, adv.

phr. (colloquial).—Continuously ;

at one and the same time.

c. 1832. Haliburton, Traits of
American Humour. Chunky used to
whistle three days and nights on a
stretch.

1841. Bulwer, Night and Morning,
ii. 8. She could not entertain the child
long on a stretch.

1885. St James's Gaz., 23 Sep.
Drivers and others frequently make twentyfour hours at a stretch.

To stretch leather, verb,
phr. (venery). — To possess a
woman : see Ride. Leather
= mutton {q.v. ); leatherstretcher = thepems: see Prick
and cf. Kid-stretcher.

1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, 1. vi.
note. The vigour and stretchingleatherness of the suffering part ; for we
see but very few women, however weakly
they be, but what happily get over the
condition you are in.

1678. Cotton, Virgil Travestie
(1725), iv. 74. If they once do come together, He'll find that Dido's reaceing

leather.

To stretch one's legs according to the coverlet,
verb. phr. (old).—To adapt oneself to circumstances ; ' to cut
one's coat according to the cloth '
(Ray).

To stretch (or strain) a
point, verb. phr. (colloquial).—
To exceed a limit : see Point.

Stretcher, subs, (common).—1.
In pi. = braces. Hence
stretcher-fencer = a vendor
of braces.

2. (University).—A University
Extension student.

3. See Stretch.

4. (B. E.).—'The piece of
Wood that lies cross the Boat
where on the Water-man rests his
Feet.'

Stretch-halter (or Hemp), subs,
phr. (old).—A scoundrel ; one
who badly needs a hanging : cf
Crack-rope, Wag-halter ;
Scape-gallows, etc.

1604. Heywood, If You Know Not
Me [Pearson, Works (1874), 1. 283].
Look here, I know this is the shop, by that
same stretch-halter.

1629. Schoo le of Good Manners
[quoted by Nares]. To mocke anybody
by blabboring out the tongue is the part of
stretch-halters and lewd boyes, not of
well mannered children.

Stretchy, adj. (colloquial).—
Sleepy ; languid ; inclined to
stretch and yawn.

1872. Clemens, Roughing It, xxvii.
In the night the pup would get stretchy
and brace its feet against the old man's
back.

'Strewth, intg. (common).—
' God's truth ! '

1892. Kipling, Barrack Room
Ballads, ' C. B.' Drunk and resistin' the
guard ! 'Strewth ! but I socked at 'em
'ard.

Stride.

12

Strike.

1897. Marshall, Pomes, 7.
'Strewth ! I'll have a drink, And wish all
pals a prosperous New Year.

Stride, subs, (theatrical).—In
= trousers : see Kicks.

To stride a pot, verb. phr.
(common).—To piss (of women) :
hence as good as ever strode
a pot = as good as ever pissed

To take in one's stride,
verb. phr. (common). — To do
easily, and without an effort, as a
hunter or a steeple-fencer takes a
fence.

Stride-wide, subs. phr. (Old
Cant). — Ale. [Halliwell :
' mentioned in Harrison's England, 202'.]

Strike, subs, (common).—A
sovereign ; 20s. (Grose).

2. (American political).—See
quot 1890. Whence striker =
a blackmailer.

1883. Nation, 6 Sep., 200. If he can
elect such a ticket even in Virginia alone
he will take the field after election as a
striker, and will offer his electoral votes to
whichever candidate will give the highest
terms.

1890. Century Diet., s.v. Strike, n.
13. Any unscrupulous attempt to extort
money or to obtain other personal advantage by initiating an attack with the
intention of being bought off, as by introducing a bill into a legislature hostile ' to
some moneyed interest, with the hope of
being paid to let the matter drop.'

Verb. (old).—Generic for getting money : to steal (Harman,
B. E. ) ; to beg, to borrow {e.g. ' to
strike (or spring, ç.v.) a man
for a quid ') ; to get into debt {cf.
to strike a light = to run up an
alehouse score) : see quot. c. 1696.
Hence striking = a robbery,
• swindle, or imposition ; and
striker = a robber with violence.

1591. Greene, Art o/Cony Catching
[Nares]. The cutting a pocket, or picking
a purse, is called striking.

1598. Shakspeare, i Hen. IV., ii.

1. 82. I am joined with no foot-land rakers,
no long-staff sixpenny strikers.

1628. Earle, Microcos, Appen. 254.
' Now we have well bousd, let us strike
some chete.'

1655. Shirley, Gent, of Venice
[Nares]. I must borrow money, And that
some call a striking.

c. 1696. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v.
Strike . . . Strike all the Cheats, c.
Rob all you meet. Strike the Cull, c.
Beg of that Gentleman. Strike the Cly,
c. get that Fellow's Money from him. He
has struck the Quidds, c. he has got the
Cole from him. He strikes every Body,
c. he borrows Money every where, he runs
in every one's Debt.

2. (venery).—To copulate :
see Ride. Hence striker = a
wencher.

1620. Burton, Anat. Melan., III.
in. iv. i. Gave her a familiar touch with
his wand, which she mistaking for her
lover, said Ah, Landre, a good Knight
should strike before, and not behind.

1639. Massinger, Un. Combat, iv.

2. That, if the sign deceive me not, in
time, Will prove a notable striker, like
his father.

Strike me blind ! intj.
(common).—An oath.

Strike me luck (or lucky),
phr. (old).—Originally used in
clenching a bargain : the hands
were struck together, and the
buyer left a luck-penny in the
hands of the seller. Hence an
oath or ejaculation (Bee).

1616. Beaumont and Fletcher,
Scornful Lady, ii. Come strike me
luck with earnest and draw the writings.
There's a God's-penny for thee.

1664. Butler, Hudibras, 11. i. 540.
But if that's all you stand upon, Here,
strike me luck, it shall be done.

To make a strike, verb. phr.
(colloquial).—To achieve, succeed, or be lucky : at ninepins :
to knock all the pins down with
one ball.

Strike-me-blind. 13

Stripe.

See Bright ; Heap ; Jigger ;
Oil ; Rich ; Rose.

Strike-me-blind, subs. phr.
(nautical).—Rice.

Strill, subs. (provincial).—A
cheating lie (Hotten).

String, subs. (printers'). — A
hoax ; a! discredited story.
Hence as verb = to hoax, to deceive. Also (Bee) on a string
(or line) = hoaxed, bamboozled ;
stuffed (q.v.).

1897. Marshall, Pomes, 68. You
can't kid me . . . they've been having you

on string.

Verb, (billiards).—To cast for
play : each player to the top of
the table to return to balk ; the
one nearest the bottom cushion
has then the choice.

In a string, phr. (old).—At
command.

1706. Ward, Wooden World, 27. 'A
Sea Lieutenant.' In fine, he is the
Captain's humble Pig in a string.

TO harp upon one string,

verb. phr. (colloquial).—To repeat incessantly (heywood,
Proverbs, 1546).

1640. Two Lancashire Lovers, 14.
But her parents, ever harping upon one
string, expounded this aversenesse and
declining of hers to a modest bashfull
shame.

TO feel like going to

heaven in a string, verb. phr.
(old).—To feel blindly and confusedly happy.

Stringer, subs. (old). — 1. A
wencher : see Mutton-monger.

1611. Beaumont and Fletcher,
Kn. Burning Pestle, i. 1. A whoreson
tyrant, hath beene an old stringer in his
days, I warrant.

2. (cricket).—A difficult ball to
play.

Stringy-bark, subs. phr. (Australian).—See quot.

1890. A. J. Vogan, Black Police,
217. Stringy-bark, a curious combination of fusil oil and turpentine, labelled
'whisky.'

Adj. (Australian). — Rough,
uncultured ; hence mean, ne'erdo-weel : equivalent to 'bush,'
and usually in contempt.

1833. New South Wales Magazine,
Oct., i. 173. I am but, to use a
colonial expression, a stringy-bark
carpenter.

1853. C. Rudston Read, Australian Gold Fields, 53. After swimming
a small river about 100 yards wide he'd
arrive at old Geordy's, a stringy-bark
settler.

1892. Nisbet, Bushranger s Sweetheart, 30. He was a Larikin of the
Larikins, this tiny stringy-bark, who
haunted my thoughts.

Strip, verb. (old).—1. See quot.

c. 1696. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v.
Strip, c. to Rob or Gut a House, to unrig
any Body, or to Bite them of their Money.
Strip the ken, c. to Gut the House.
Strip the table, c. to Winn all the
Money on the Place. Ibid. ' Poor, naked ' :
e.g. 'We have stript the Cull' = 'We
have got all the Fool's Money'; 'The
Cove's stript ' = ' the Rogue has not a
Jack left to help himself.'

Stripe, subs, (colloquial). — A
characteristic ; kind ; kidney
(q.v.). Spec. (American) = persons of the same political colour.

1613. W. Browne, Britannia's
Pastorals, i. 2. I shall go on ; and
first in differing stripe The flood-god's
speech thus tune an oaten pipe.

1856. New York Herald, j July.
The call of the Soft-shell Convention was
signed by twelve men of the Free-Soil
Buffalo stripe.

1875. Stedman, Vict. Poets, 256.
Various poems are of a democratic, liberal
stripe.

The Stripes, subs. phr.
(American).—Short for 'Stars
and Stripes' {q.v.).

Strip-me-naked. 14

Strum.

strip-me-naked, subs. phr. (old).

— Gin. Also stark-naked
(q.v.).

c.1820. Egan, Rändle's Diary. Then
shall young Bacchus see his glittering
shrine Delug'd with strip-me-naked 'stead
of wine.

Stripped, adj. and adv. (colloquial). — Unadulterated ; neat
(q.v.).

Stripper, subs, (gaming).—In pi.
= high cards cut wedge-shape, a
little wider than the rest, so as to
be easily drawn in a crooked
game : cf. concaves and convexes, longs and shorts, etc.

Strive, verb. (Christ's Hospital).—
To write with care : cf. Scrub.

Stroke, verb, (venery).—1. To
copulate : see Ride ; also as
subs. = the act of kind (Grose).

2. (venery). To grope (cf.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, viii.,
xxii. ).

Stroker, subs. (old).—A flatterer ;
a sycophant.

1632. Jonson, Magnet. Lady, iv. i.
Dame Polish, My lady's stroker.

Stroller, subs. (B.E. and Grose).
—See quots.

c. 1696. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v.
Strowlers, c. Vagabonds, Itinerants, Men
of no settled Abode, of a Precarious Life,
Wanderers of Fortune, such as, Gypsies,
Beggers, Pedlers, Hawkers, Mountebanks,
Fidlers, Country-Players, Rope-dancers,
Juglers, Tumblers, showers of Tricks, and
Raree-show-men.

1785. Grose, _ Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Stroller . . . itinerants of different
kinds.

Strolling-mort, subs. phr. (Old
Cant).-—See quot. 1696 (Harman, Grose).

c. 1696. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v.
Strowling-morts, c. pretending to be
Widows, sometimes Travel the Countries,
making Laces upon Ewes, Beggers-tape,
&c. Are light Finger'd, Subtil, Hypocritical, Cruel, and often dangerous to
meet, especially when a Rufner is with
them.

1707. Shirley, Triumph of Wit,
' Maunder's Praise of His Strowling
Mort. Doxy, oh ! thy glaziers shine As
glimmar ; by the Salomon !

Strommel, subs. (Old Cant).—1.
Straw (Harman, Dekker, B.E.,
and Grose). Also Strammel.

1567. Harman, Caveat, 84. Bene
Lightmans to thy quarromes, in what
lipken hast thou lypped in this darkemans,
whether in a lybbege or in the strummell?

1641. Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. The
bantling's born ; the doxy's in the strummel, Laid by an Autumn mort of their
own crew That served for midwife.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, xxviii.
Sleep on the strammel in his barn.

2. (old).—Hair (Grose and
Vaux). Hence to have one's
strummel faked in twig = to
have it dressed in style ; strummel-faker = a barber : cf.
Straw-chipper.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood. 'Jerry
Juniper's Chant.' With my strummel
faked in the newest twig.

Strong. See Come and Go.

Strong Man. To play the part
of the strong man, verb. phr.
(old).—' To be whipped at the
cart's tail ' ; i.e., ' to push the cart
and horses too ' (Grose).

Strue, verb, (schools').—' Construe.'

Strum, subs. (old).—1. A wig
(B. E.). [Grose: 'Cambridge'.]

2. See Strumpet.

Strumpet. 15 Stubble.

Verb. (Grose). —'To play
badly on the harpsichord or any
other stringed instrument. A
strummer of wire, a player on any
instrument strung with wire.'

Strumpet (or Strum),subs. (old).
—A harlot : see Tart (B. E. and
Grose). As adj. = wanton ; as
verb = ( I ) to play the whore ; and
(2) to hold up to contempt as
a strumpet ; also strum = to
copulate (Grose and Byron) ;
Strumpetocracy = government
by the privities ; and the strum
(or stram), subs. — street-walking.

1593. Shakspeare, Com. Errors, ii.
2. 146. Strumpeted by the contagion.
Ibid. (1602). Othello, v. i. 'I am no
strumpet ; but of life as honest, As you
that thus abuse me. '

1594. Nashe, Unf. Trav. (1890),
101. Out whore ! strumpet . . . away
with her to prison.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wördes,
Palandrina, a common queane, a harlot,
a strumpet, a gill.

1608. Middleton, Trick to Catch,
v. i. Daintily abus'd ! you've put a just
upon me—a common strumpet.

1611. Cotgrave, Diet., s.v. Gaultière, A whore, drab, queane, strumpet.

1622. Marmion, Holland's Leaguer,
ii. 2. Didst thou think that I could be
corrupted To personate a strumpet's
dalliance ?

1630. Times Whistle [E. E. T. S.],
88. Shameless strumpets, whose vncurbéd swing Many poor soules vnto confusion bring.

1633. Ford, Broken Heart, iv. 2.
Poor Penthea's name is strumpeted.

1681. Radcliffe, Ovid Travestie,
75. You now Have caught a most notorious
strumpet.

d. 1704. Brown, Works, ii. 52. Keeping a saucy strumpet under my nose.

1818. Byron, Beppo, ii. Guitars, and
every other sort of strumming. Ibid.
'To Thomas Moore.' Guitarring or
strumming, now? O, Thomas Moore,

c. 1857. Carlyle, Misc., iv. 80. The
strumpetocracy sits at its ease, in highcushioned lordliness.

1887. Henley, Villon's Good Night.
You judes that clobber for the stram.

Strunt, subs. (Old Cant).—The
penis : see Prick.

1608. Middleton, Epig.andSatyres.
Consenting she, his art'rizde strunt he
drew, And to 'es venereous game he hastily
flew.

2. (Scots).—Liquor.

1787. Burns, Hallowe'en, xxviii.
Syne, wi' a social glass of strunt, They
parted aff careerin'.

Strut-noddy, subs. phr. (old).—

A mincing fool.

Stub, subs. (old).—1. A fool: see

Buffle.

1632-74. Milton, Letters on Education. Our dullest and laziest youth, our
stocks and stubs.

2. (American).—A counterfoil of a cheque. Hence stubbook = a book of counterfoils of
cheques or other duplicate records.

1886. Report of Secretary ofTreas.,
700. The filed stub-books of stamps.

1896. Lillard, Poker Stories, 136.
Miss Hill's attorney . . . endeavoured to
have produced in court, in evidence of
Senator Sharon's maintenance of the
plaintiff, the millionaire's check stubs.

Verb. (Felsted).—To kick a
football about.

Stubble, subs, (venery). — The
pubic hair : see Fleece. To
shoot over the stubble (or
in the bush) = to ejaculate before intromission ; to take a
turn in the stubble = to copulate : see Ride and Greens.
Cf. The Sportsman's Toast :
'Pointer and Stubble,'

Stubbs. 16

Stuff.

TO stubble one's whidds
(or to stubble it), verb. phr.
(Old Cant). — To hold one's
tongue (B. E. and Grose).

1827. Lytton, Pelham, bcxxii.
Stubble it, you ben, you deserve to cly
the jerk for your patter. Ibid. (1830),
Paul Clifford. Stubble your whids,
you wants to trick I.

Stubbs, adv. (Old Cant).—Nothing (Grose and Vaux).

Stub-faced, adj. phr. (old).—
Pitted with small pox (Grose).

Stuck. See Stick in various
senses : also Pig.

Stuck-up, adj. phr. (colloquial).—
Conceited ; purse-proud ; assuming airs, dignity, or importance.
Also (rare) as subs.

i8[?]. Betsy Bobbet, 272. She was
dressed up like a doll, but she didn't act
stuck-up a mite.

1839. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby,
ix. ' He's a nasty stuck-up monkey,
that's what I consider him,' said Mrs
Squeers, reverting to Nicholas. ' Supposing he is,' said Squeers, 'he's as well
stuck-up in our schoolroom as anywhere
else.'

1847. A. Smith, The Natural
History 0/stuck-up People [Title!

1863. Oliphant, Salem Chapel, L
Them stuck-up ways may do with the
Church folks as can't help themselves, but
they'll never do with us Dissenters.

1879. Eggleston, Hoosier Schoolmaster. She was so dog on stuck-up
that she turned up her nose . . . because
I ruck a sheet off the bed to splice out
the tablecloth.

1892. Milliken, 'Arry Ballads, 68.
These stuckuppy snipsters as jaw about
quiet and peace.

1899. Westcott, Daz>id Harum.
xiL Air Robinson instantly arrived at
the determination that the stranger was
stuck-up.

Study, subs. (B. E.).—' A Closet
of Books.'

Stc Brown Study.

Stuff, subs, (once literary, now
colloquial). — 1. Belongings :
furniture, goods, utensils : generic. The literary usage lingers in
' household-stuff,' and in such
a tributary sense as ' foodstuffs,' ' bread-stuffs ' ( = raw
material).

1360. Anturs 0/ Arther and Sir
Amadace [Camden Soc.], 21. [Oliphant,
New Eng., i. 67. Stuffe stands for
equipment ; this led to its sense of furniture.]

1427-9. Wills and Inventories

[Surtees Soc], 75. Stuffe of myn houses
of offices as panetre and buttre.

c. 1430. Destr. Troy [E.E.T.S.], 5775.
Assemblit were some the same in the fight,
And restorit full stithly the stuff of the
Grekes.

1593. Shakspeare, Comedy of
Errors, iv. 4. 162. Away, to get our
stuff aboard. Ibid. (1609), Tempest, L
2. Rich garments, linens, stuffs, and
necessaries.

2. (old colloquial).—Money:
generic (Bee).

1774. Bridges, Burlesque Homer,
261. Hector had got no great store of
stuff Called cash, but ancient blood
enough.

1778. Sheridan, Rivals, L 1. Has
she got the stuff, Mr Fag? Is she rich,
hey?

1891. Gould, Double Event, 160.
When his party plank the stuff down it's
generally a moral.

1896. Lillard, Poker Stories, 50.
Every sport with stuff in his pockets and
lots of good clothes.

1903. Kennedy, Sailor Tramp, 1.
iv. The sailor had spent over ten dollars
by this time. ' How did—did yoush get
the stuff, Sailor?' he asked.

3. (old: still colloquial).—In
contempt for anything to be
swallowed : spec, medicine.

1605. Shakspeare, Cymbelùu, v.
5. 255. A certain stuff, which being
ta en, would cease The present power of
life.

ly Stuling-ken.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, 17. Sandy
tipp'd him a dose of that kind, that, when
taken, It isn't The stuff, but the patient
that's shaken.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., i.
429. They carry . . . pint bladders of
stuff, or jigger-stuff (spirit made at an
illicit still) . . . and a tidy sale some of
them had.

1897. Marshall, Pomes, 114. I
was to doctor the stuff, And be somewhere on hand with a pistol if the hocussing turned out a muff.

4. (colloquial). —Twaddle ;
fustian ; trash—spoken or written.
Spec, in such phrases as ' Stu ff ! '
= 'Rubbish!' 'Stuff and
nonsense ! * = ' What rot '
(q.v.) ! (B. E. and Grose). As
verb=to gammon (q.v.): to fill
full of lies, prejudice, statistics,
victuals, etc. Whence stuffing
(journalists') = superfluous matter,
used to fill a given space ; padding (q.v.).

1579. Gosson, School of Abuses
[Arber], 66. What stuffe is this?

1701. Farquhar, Sir Harry
Wildair, iii. 1. Sir Harry. There is a
repose, I see, in the next room. Lady
Lure. Unnatural stuff ! Sir Harry.
... As fulsome as a sack-posset.

1725. Bailey, Erasmus, 1. 27S.
A Deal of such stuff they sung to the deaf
Ocean.

1770. Foote, Lame Lover [Oliphant, New Eng., ii. 184. Some is pronounced to be nonsense and stuff ; here
we transpose].

1802. W. Taylor, Roberds, Men., i.
425. If these topics be insufficient
habitually to supply what compositors call
the requisite stuffing, recourse is to be
had to amusive anecdotes.

1809. Mai.kin, Gil Bias [Routledge], 109. If they commended a piece
I was ravished . . . but suppose they pronounced it bad? why, then I maintained
that it was infernal stuff.

1823. Bee, Diet. Turf s.v. Stuff.
. . . Ridiculous or deceitful talk ... if
meant to harm another ... is bloody
stuff. She hearkened to his stuff, and
got ruinated. . . . Bawdry is stuff, that's
certain.

1853. Taylor, SHU Waters, i. Youll
allow me to observe it's anything but stuff
and nonsense. ... I have not paid a
farthing of the money yet. . . .

1809. Whiteing, John St., xix. It's
all stuff to say Sally's shoulders are too
much loaded.

5. (prison).—Tobacco.

6. (American).—(a) A simpleton, a weakling ; and (b) a
respectable citizen (thieves').

7. (legal).—A Junior Counsel :
as distinguished from silk (q.v.) :
also stuff-gown.

1903. Pall Mall Gas., 19 Feb., i. 2.
⁴ Silk and stuff ' [Title of Legal Column].

Verb, (colloquial).—To gorge ;
to wolf (q.v.).

1809. Mai.kin, Gil Bias [Routledge], 31. My drinking kept pace with
my eating, and when I could stuff no
longer, I went to bed.

1838. Beckett, Paradise Lost, 58.
He eat as long as he could stuff.

1868. w. S. Gilbert, Etiquette.
He longed to lay him down upon the
shelly bed, and stuff ; He had often eaten
oysters, but had never had enough.

To stuff a ballot-box, verb,
phr. (American political).—To
tamper with returns by the surreptitious introduction into the
ballot-box of bogus voting papers.
Hence stuffer = a cheating
teller.

Stuffer. See Heeler, quot. 1SS8,
and Stuff.

Stuffing. See Knock and Stuff,
sense 4.

Stuffy, adj. (American). — 1.
Angry, sulky, obstinate.

2. (colloquial).—Close ; airless ; malodorous.

Stuling-ken. See Stall, subs, 5.

Stumble. 18 Stump.

Stumble. 6"^ Truckle-bed.

Stumer, wk(common),—Generic
for sham : spec, a worthless
cheque.

1897. Marshall, Pomes, 8. ¹ The
Merry Stumer ' . . . stumer tricks . . .
stumer stake . . . stumer note . . .
stumer cheque.

1902. Sp. Times, 1 Feb., 3. 1. He
had borrowed a few hundred franks from
her, and had given her as security a
stumer in the shape of an unfinished
history of Corsica.

Stump, subs. (old).—1. In pi. =
legs. As verb = to walk : spec,
stiffly, heavily, or noisily ; whence
to stir one's stumps = to bestir
oneself, to increase one's speed.

c. 1609. Webster, Appius and Virginia, ii. 3. I can bestir my stumps as
soon as another, if fit occasion be offered.

1617. Braithwaite, Law of Drinking, 70. His long practice of the pot has
exempt him from being prest a souldier :
hee has quite lost the use of his stumps,
how should he then possibly keepe his
march ?

1633. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iii. 1.
How should we bustle forward ? Give
some counsel How to bestir our stumps
in these cross ways.

1640. Two Lancashire Lovers, 262.
This makes him stirre his stumps, and
to answer her letter with such speedy
cheerefulnesse, as Mellida can expect no
lesse then all successe to her desires.

1663. Butler, Hudibras, 1. ii. 926.
Getting up on stump and huckle, He with
the foe began to buckle.

1675. Cotton, Burl, on Burl. (1770),
247. Those fat stumps thou walkst upon.

1705. Ward, Hud. Rediv., 1. ii. 17.
I had not long, on City Stones, Bestirr'd
my Stumps and Marrowbones.

1774. Bridges, Burlesque Homer, 5.
Then cease your canting sobs and groans,
And stir your stumps to save your
bones.

1798. Morton, Secrets Worth Knowing, i. i. A parcel of lazy chaps, I dare
say — but I'll make them stir their
stumps.

1809. Malkin, Gil Bias [Routledge], 344. The reader may guess
whether I did not stir my stumps.

1818. Scott, Heart of Midlothian,
xii. He rose from his seat, stumped
across the room.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S.
xxvi. I guess our great nation may be
stumped to produce more eleganter liquor
than this here. It's the dandy, that's a
fact.

1841. Lytton, Night and Morning,
ii. 2. Stump it, my cove ; that's a Bowstreet runner.

1857. Hughes, Tom Brown's Schooldays, i. 4. The guard picks him off the
coach top, and sets him on his legs, and
they stump off into the bar.

i860. Funny Fellow, 7 May, 1.
Hallo, my kiddy, stir your stumps. . . .
Make haste, young chip, my boots to
shine.

1891. Marriott-Watson, Web of
Spider, xiii. I'll go bail we wouldn't ha'
got another half-mile on our stumps.

2. (old). — Money : generic ;
also stumpy (Grose). Hence as
verb (or to stump up) = to pay ;
stumped (or put to one's
stumps) = poor, hard-up, put to
shift (Grose) ; to pay on the
stump = to disburse readily and
promptly.

1821. Egan, Real Life, 1. 142. She
shall stump up the rubbish before I leave
her.

1836. Dickens, Sk. by Boz, ¹ Walkins
Tottle.' Why don't you ask your old
governor to stump up? Ibid., ' First Cabdriver.' Reduced to despair, they ransomed themselves by the payment of
sixpence a head, or, to adopt his own
figurative expression . . . forked out the
stumpy.

1837. Barham, Ingolds. Leg. ' Old
Woman in Grey.' (Save its synonyms,
' Spanish,' ' Blunt,' ' Stumpy,' and
' Rhino '), 11. 47. [He] . . . was stumped
and hard up. Ibid., 48. My trusty old
crony, do stump up three thousand once
more as a loan.

183t?]. Hood, Tale of a Trumpet.
But common prudence would bid you
stump it, For not to enlarge, It's the
regular charge At a Fancy Fair for a
penny trumpet.

Stump. 19 Stump.

1835. Hook, Gilbert Gumey, in.
ii. 'Don't you know our history?—
haven't you heard, my dear fellow, we are
stumped!' 'Stumped,' said I, almost
unconsciously repeating the quaint, but
wofully expressive word. ' Positively
stumped,' said Daly. ' Don't speak loud.
I thought, of course, you had heard of it.
Blinkinsop has bolted.'

1849. Kingsley, Alton Locke, ii.
Down with the stumpy ; a tizzy for a pot
of half-and-half.

1882. Blackmore, Christowell, 1.
xxiii. How much is the captain going to

stump up?

1897. Marshall, Pomes, 63. In
the annals of the absolutely stumped.

3. (common).—A blockhead :
see Buffle.

4. (venery).—The penis : see
Prick. Also carnal stump.

1694. Motteux, Rabelais, v. xlv.
I hope To see some brawny, juicy rump
Well tickled with my carnal stump.

Verb. (old).—I. To boast;
to swagger (q.v.). Hence
stumpers a braggart (Bailey
and Dyche).

1748. Dyche, Diet., s.v. Bounce
. . . to swagger, boast, crack, stump, or
pretend to great matters.

2. (colloquial). —To challenge,
defy, puzzle, or confound ; and
(in an absolute sense) to ruin.
As subs. (American) = an attempt
to puzzle or confound ; stumper
= a puzzler ; up a stump = confounded, up a tree (q.V.).

1837. Barham, Ingolds. Leg. To be
all 'abroad,' to be stumped, not to know
where To go, so disgraced as not to be
'placed,' Or, as Crocky would say to Jem
Bland, ' to be nowhere.'

1838. Neal, Charcoal Sketches. Instead of stumping his antagonist by
launching out his cash, he shakes a portentous fist under his nose, and the affair
is settled.

1844. Major Jones's Courtship, 135.
Heavens and earth ! thinks I, what does
all this mean? I knowed I hadn't done
any thing to be put in prison for, and I
never was sp stumped.

1847. Robb, Squatter Life. My
note was a stumper to Sally ; so she got
Jess to explain it.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green, 11.
xi. That beastly Euclid altogether
stumps me. . . . Ibid. They say it ain't
a bad thing ... to get your head shaved.
. . . I think I shall try the dodge . . .
when I've stumped the examiner I can
wear my own . . . locks again.

1900. Savage, Brought to Bay, ii.
' And my father and mother ? ' breathlessly
demanded Julian. ' There I'm stumped,'
carelessly answered Sir Aubrey.

3. (American).—To travel the
country for the purpose of making partizan or personal speeches
from stumps or other improvised
platforms. Originally backwoods
electioneering, and spec, on one's
own account : now general.
Frequently, but not necessarily,
in a derogatory sense. Also to

go on the stump (or to take

the stump). Hence stumper
(stump orator or stumpspeaker) =(1) an electioneer;
and (2) a bombastic spouter
(q.v.), with such derivatives as

stump-orator, stump-speech,

etc. [Worcester : ' A cant
phrase '. ]

1843. Carlton. New Purchase,
i. 211. We had of course a passion for
stump speaking. But, recollect, we often
mount the stump only figuratively ; and
very good stump speeches are delivered
from a table, a chair, a whiskey-barrel,
and the like. Sometimes we make the
best stump speeches on horseback.

1848. New York Herald, 21 June,
' Letter from Washington.' The Hon. W.
R. Thompson of Indiana, one of the most
popular stump speakers of the day.

1856. Dow, Sermons, 1. 132. When
you see a politician extra full of patriotism,
and stuffed with stump speeches, you
may take it for granted he wants office
either for himself or for some particular
friend.

1862. Punch, 5 Ap. Though not
clear which stump I'll take, That
stump shall be colossal ; Whether I'm
Slavery's advocate, Or Liberty's apostle,

Stumper. 20 Sturdy-beggar.

1872. Figaro, 30 Nov. Greeley's too
great a roarer, and depended too much

on the stump.

1884. Phillipps-Wolley, Trottings
0/a Tenderfoot. If a constitution was to
grow up strong, it didn't want forcing
with a lot of stump-spoutek's rubbish,
and so on, and so on.

1884. Punch, 11 Oct. Fancy, old
chump, Me doing the sawdusty reglar,
and follering swells on the stump.

Stump and rump, adv. phr.
(colloquial). — Completely : cf.
Stock and Block ; Root and
Branch ; Stick and Stone,
etc.

Stumper, subs. (Tonbridge
School). — i. Small cricket:
played with a stump. At
Harrow stumps.

2. (colloquial). — A wicketkeeper.

3. (common).—Anything that
bowls out ; a corker (q.v. ) : see
Whopper.

See Stump.

Stump-of-the-gutter, subs. phr.
(old).—See quot. with an eye on
stumpy = short, squat, dumpy.

1764. O'Hara, Midas, i. 5. You
stump-o'-the-gutter, you hop-o'-mythumb, A husband must for you from
Liliput come.

Stump-tail Currency, subs. phr.
(American).—Currency issued by
certain banks of doubtful credit
prior to the Civil War (Bartlett).

Stun, verb, (thieves').—To cheat ;

to do (q.V.). TO stun out of

the regulars = to swindle a
man of his share of booty.

Stun law, subs, (back slang).—
Walnuts.

Stunner, subs, (colloquial). —
Generic for astonishment : see
Whopper. Stunning = amazing, strikingly large, good, etc. ;
to put the stunners on = to
perplex, confound, astonish.

1848. Thackeray, Snobs, xxv. For
the performance of ' Gettin' up Stairs,' I
have no other name but that it was a
stunner.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., 1.
471. He wears a stunning fawny on his
finger.

1853. Bradley, Verdant Green.
You get on stunningly, Giglamps.

1857. Whitty, Fr. Bohemia. 193.
' He had seen her at the Crystal Palace ?
and she was sure he had applauded—so
kind!' 'Why—yes,' said Jack ... 'I
think you are a stunner.'

1863. Ouida, Held in Bondage, 1.
245. The girl is stunning, the blokes
say.

1874. Siliad, 102. 'Golden Nell,'
the idol of the West, the peerless belle
. . . she is a stunner.

1877. Boston Jo., 19 May. This is a
stunner,—a sockdolager, so to speak.

1890. Boldrewood, Squatters
Drea7Jt, 29. She's a smart gin when she's
away from grog, and a stunner at cutting
out on a camp.

1900. Free Lance, 6 Oct., 16. 1.
Lady Dashout. ' Those short skirts . . .
must be simply delightful to walk in.'
Lady Jack. ' They're perfectly stunning.'

Stupid (or Stupe), subs, (colloquial).—A blockhead : see
Buffle.

1762. Bickerstaff, Love in a
Village, ii. 2. Was ever such a poor

stupe ?

i860. Eliot, Mill on the Floss, i. 9.
Tom . . . inconsiderately laughed . . .
and told her she was a stupid.

Sturdy-beggar, subs. phr. (Old
Cant).—'The fifth and last of
the most ancient Order of
Canters' (B. E.); 'beggars that
rather demand than ask' (Grose).

Sturiben.

21 Suburb.

1569. Strype, Order of City of
London. Those that were Vagabonds, and
Sturdy Beggars, they were to carry to
Bridewel.

1572. [Encyclo. Diet., s.v.]. A term
occurring in the Act 14 Eliz., c. 5, and used
to distinguish ' beggars able to work ' from
'beggars impotent to serve'; hence = a
vagrant or tramp. By a statute of the
Commonwealth, 1656, 'all and every idle
and dissolute persons, vagrant and wandering from their usual place of living or
abode without sufficient cause or business,
and fiddlers and minstrels,' were adjudged
rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars
within the meaning of the Act of Elizabeth.

Sturiben (or Sturibin), subs.
(thieves').—A prison ; spec.
(American) a State prison. Also
Stir.

Styx, subs. (The Leys School).—A
urinal.

Sub, subs, (colloquial).—(1) A subaltern ; (2) a subordinate ; (3) a
subscription ; (4) a subject ; and
(5) see quot. 1866. As verb
(workmen's) = to draw money in
advance.

1838. Beckett, Paradise Lost, 8.
No longer was he heard to sing, Like
loyal subs, ' God Save the King ! '

1862. Thackeray, Philip, xxvi.
When we were subs together in camp in
1803.

1866. Harris [Evidence before Totness Election Commission]. The voters
ask for sub, which is the term used here
for money, as sugar and paint are used
elsewhere.

1887. Henley, Villon's Good-Night,
2. You bleeding bonnets, pugs, and subs.

Sub-beau (or Demi-beau), subs,
phr. (B. E.). —'A wou'd-befine.'

Sublime Rascal, stibs. phr. (old).
—A lawyer : see Greenbag.

Sub Rosa, subs. phr. (colloquial).
—Secretly ; confidentially.

Substance. See Shadow.

Suburb, subs, and adj. (old colloquial).—Generic'for disorder and
loose-living. [See quot. 1822.]

Thus house in the suburbs

= a brothel ; suburb-wench
(drab, sinner, etc.) = a whore;
suburb ( = wanton) tricks ;
suburb ( = blackguard) humour ;
minion of the suburbs = a

stallion (q.V.) ; suburb-trade

= harlotry ; suburb-justice =
' money is right ' ; suburb -

garden (or garden-house) =

a petite maison : (a) a lodging for
a keep (q.v.), and (b) a private
fuckery (q.V.) \ suburban -

roarer = a bawdy-house bully.
See quots.

1583. Stubbs, Anat. Abuses, 57.
In the fields and suburbes of the cities,
they have gardens wherein they may
(and doubtless do) many of them play the
filthy persons.

1596. Jonson, ev. Man in Humour,

i. 2. It will do well for a suburb humour.

1603. Shakspeare, Measure for
Measure, i. 2. But shall all our houses
of resort in the suburbs be pulled down?
Ibid. (1607), Julius Cœsar, ii. 1. Dwell I
but in the suburbs of your good pleasure?
If it be no more, Portia is Brutus' harlot,
not his wife.

1605. London Prodigal, v. 1. Sweet
lady, if you have any friend, or gardenhouse, I am yours to command in all
secret service.

1607. Beaumont, Woman Hater, ii.
This is no garden-house, in my conscience she went forth with no dishonest
intent.

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair,

ii. i. Ay, ay, gamesters, mock a plain,
plump, soft wench of the suburbs, do ;
because she's juicy and wholesome.

1632. Massinger, Emp. of the East,
i. 2. Infor. The minion ok the suburbs.
Pul. What hath he to do in Constantinople? Ibid. (1659). City Madam, iii.
I know them, swaggering, suburban
roarers, Sixpenny truckers.

1632. Rowley, New Wonder, i.
Come, we'll dine together, after walk
abroad Unto my suberb garden ; where,
if thou'lt hear, I'll read my heart to thee.

Succuba. 22 Suck.

1633. Marmion, Fine Companion,
iv. i. There's a wench has her suburb
tricks about her, I warrant you.

1640. Brome, Sparagus Garden, ii.
3. Some suburbe justice that sits o' the
skirts o' the city and lives by't.

1661. Middleton, Mayor of Quin.
[Dodsley, Old Plays (Reed), xi. 120.]
Man, who in some garden-house, Taking
his lustful time, Surprizes her.

1678. Cotton, Virgil Travestie
(1770), 132. Or else some dirty suburbdrab, Has help'd the Rascal to a Clap.

1682. Radcliffe, Poems, 25. A
Guiney to me was no more Than Fifteen
Pence to a Suburb Whore.

1822. Nares, Glossary, s.v. Suburbs.
In the suburbs the citizens had their
gardens and banqueting houses, where,
unless they are much slandered, many
ntrigues were carried on.

Succuba, subs, (venery).—A mistress ; a harlot.

1610. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1. My
glasses Cut ... to multiply the figures,
as I walk Naked between my succub^e.

Succubus, subs. (old).—A thieving hanger-on ; a scoundrel.

1700. Farquhar, Constant Couple,
iv. 3. Here's an old succubus, madam,
that has stole two silver spoons.

Suck, subs. (Old Cant).—i. ' Wine
or strong Drink ' (B. E. and
Grose). Also (2) a small
draught : see quot. 1625. Hence
rum-suck = excellent tipple ;
sucKY = drunkish ; suck-spigot
(-pint, -pot, -bottle, or -can)
= a confirmed tippler : also
sucker ; sucKERDOM = theworld
of topers ; sucK-casa = a public
house. As verb =■ to tipple, to
soak {q.v.). Also to suck
one's face = ' to delight in drinking' (B. E.) ; suction = booze
(q.v.): hence to live on suction = to drink hard ; power of
suction=capacity for boozing.

1585. Nomenclator. Ebriosus . . .
A dronkard : a suckspigget : a great
drinker.

1611. Cotgrave,Z?zV:z?.,s.v. Humeur,
a sucke-pinte or swill-pot, a notable
drunkard.

c. 1696. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v.
Suck. We'll go and Suck our Faces,
but if they toute us, we'll take rattle and
brush, c. let's go to Drink and be merry,
but if we be Smelt, by the People of the
House, we must Scower off.

c. 1709. Ward, Terrœfilius, ii. 9.
Out upon you, for a Damn'd Derby-Ale
Sot . . . such a Swill-Belly Suckbottle.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, xxiii.
Wery good power o' suction, Sammy.

1862. N. Y. Tribune [Bartlett].
In resisting the tax on whiskey, it has
been shown that one distiller in Ohio, who
makes 8000 gallons a day, would pay into
the treasury $375,600 a year, if suckerdom
continued thirsty.

2. (old).—A breast pocket
(Grose).

1625. Massinger, New Way, etc., i.
i. ' No house? nor no tobacco?' ¹ Not a
suck, sir ; nor the remainder of a single
can.'

3. (University).—A toady:
cf. sucker. Whence to suck
up to = to insinuate into one's
good graces : cf. bumsucker.

1900. Kipling, Stalky &* Co., 43.
That little swine Manders . . . [is] always
suckin' up to King.

4. (common).—A cheat ; a
trick : also suck-in. To suck
iN = to take in (q.v.) ; and
sucker (q.v.) = a greenhorn, a
dupe : see Sucking.

d. 1758. Ramsay, General Mistake.
This sucker thinks nane wise But him
than can to immense riches rise.

1842. Clavers, Forest Life, 1. 109.
' I ain't bound to drive nobody in the
middle of the night,'said the driver; 'so
you don't try to suck me in there.'

1856. Dow, Sermons, 11. 316. I
can't help saying it confidentially, and before man alone, that life is all moonshine,—a monstrous humbug,—a grand
suck in.

Suck. 23

Sucker.

1887. Francis, Saddle and Mocassin. Such men always take it for
granted that an Englishman is a sucker.

1887. New York Semi-Weekly Tribune, 11 Jan. The . . . suckers . . .
despite . . . oft-repeated warnings, swallowed the hook so clumsily baited.

1888. Cincinnatti Enquirer. The
goldasted . . . mugwump has made
suckers of us again with his cracks
about coming into the league.

1896. Lillard, Poker Stories, 54.
A sucker had no more chance against
those fellows than a snowball has in a redhot oven. Every deck was marked.

1900. Savage, Brought to Bay, v.
Anyone who will get those French and
English suckers to invest good money out
here, ought to live.

Verb, (common). — 1. To
extract ideas or money ; to pump
(q.v. ) : e.g. to suck one's brains
= to find out all one knows
(Grose). See sucker, subs. i.

2. (American University).—To
use a crib (q.v.). Hence sucker
= a pony (q.v.).

TO teach one's grandma

(or grannie) to suck eggs,
verb. phr. (common).—To instruct an expert ; to talk old to
one's elders (Ray, Lex. Bal.).
See Grandmother and add the
following quotation and analogous
phrases : — To teach one's
grannie to grope her ducks, to
sup sour milk, to sard or to spin ;
to teach one's father to get
children. Also // ne faut pas
apprendre aux poissons à nager—
You must not teach fish to
swim.

1897. Marshall, Pomes, 23. Some
buds of youthful purity . . . Were engaged
to lecture grandmas on the art of
Sucking Eggs.

See Monkey and Sugarstick.

Sucker, subs, (common).—1. A
parasite; a sponger (q.v.).
Also bumsucker (q.v.). Spec.
(American political) = a blackmailer. Also Suck, verb = to
sponge upon : whence to suck
dry = to exhaust : cf. proverbial
saying, * Children suck the
mother when young, and the
father when old.'

1856. Dow, Sermons, in. Of the
scaly tribe, I may mention those suckers
belonging to the body loaferish, that never
rise to the surface of respectability, whose
sole study appears to be to see how much
they can get without the least physical
exertion.

2. (trade).—A sucking pig.
Also (old) = any youngling: e.g.
a rabbit-sucker = a young
rabbit, etc.

1591. Lyly, Endymion, v. 2. I
prefer an olde cony before a rabbetsucker, and an ancient henne before a
young chicken peeper.

1598. Shakspeare, i Hen. IV., ii.
4. If thou dost it half so gravely, so
majestically, both in word and matter,
hang me up by the heels for a rabbitsucker.

1599. Porter, Two Angry Women
of Abingdon [Steevens]. Close as a
rabbit-sucker from an old coney.

1882. Standard, 3 Sep. For
suckers the demand was not very brisk.

3. (American).—A native of
Illinois (which = the Sucker
state : see State).

1848. Durivage, Stray Subjects^ 79.
There is a swarm of suckers, hoosiers,
buckeyes, corncrackers and wolverines
eternally on the qui vive in those parts.

1854. N. Y. Tribune, 19 Oct. A
band of music was sent thirty miles to
wake up the sleepy suckers, and draw
them, by the magic of their music, to the
Douglas gathering at Quincy, Illinois.

4 (venery).—The penis: see
Prick. Also suck-and-swallow = the female privity.

Suck-fyst. 24 Sugar.

1730. Broadside Song, 'Gee ho,
Dobbin ' [Farmer, Merry Songs and
Ballads (1897), ii. 204J. I worked at her
pump till the sucker grew dry, And then
I left pumping a good Reason why.

See Suck and Sucking.

Suck-fyst, subs. (old).—A parasite
(Cotgrave, s.v. Hume-vessié).

Sucking, adj. (old colloquial).—
Young, unexperienced, callow :
cf. sucker = a greenhorn, and
sucking dove = a dupe or simpleton (Grose and Bee). Cf.
sucking-Nelson ( = a midshipmite), poet-sucker, etc.

1680. Dryden, Spanish Friar, iii.
2. This is no Father Dominie, no huge
overgrown abbey-lubber ; this is but a
diminutive sucking friar.

1668. Dryden, All for Love. Preface. My enemies are but sucking
criticks, who would fain be nibbling ere
there teeth are come.

1849. Brönte, Shirley, xiv. The
very curates . . . she . . . looked upon as

sucking saints.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, xxv.
Mr. Wagg . . . said, ' Rather a shy place
for a sucking county member, ay,
Pynsent?' Ibid. (1855), Newcomes, v. I
suppose you're a young barrister, sucking
lawyer, or that sort of thing, because you
was put at the end of the table, and nobody
took notice of you.

Suckster (and Suckstress),

subs, (venery).—A practitioner of
irrumation ; a cunnilingist
(q.v.).

Suction, subs. (Winchester).—
Sweetmeats: cf. (prov.) Sucker
and Sucket.

Suction. See Suck.

Sudden Death, subs. phr.
(common).—See quot.

b. 1842. Maginn, Bob Burke s Duel.
. . . Which is it to be—two out of three,
as at Newmarket, or the first toss to
decide? Sudden death, said I, and there
will soon be an end of it.

2. (University).—A crumpet
or Sally Lunn.

3. (colonial).—See Spatchcock.

Suds. In the suds, phr. (old).—
Troubled ; perplexed ; angry
(Grose).

1617. Letter [Nares]. The lord
Coke is left in the suds, but sure it is
Gods doing, according to the old saying,
Perdere quos vult Jupiter prius dementat.

1619. Fletcher, Wild Goose Chase,
ii. 3. Will you forsake me now and leave
me 1' the suds?

1622. Good Newes and Bad Newes.
Now land is sold, and money gone in
goods, He calls out, Andrew, I am in the
suddes.

1706. Ward, Wooden World, 7.
How fond soever ... of his dear Duck's
Company, he makes no tiresome stay with
her ... so taking . . . Farewell, he
leaves her i.< the sudds.

1730. Swift, Death and Daphne.
Away the frighted spectre scuds, And
leaves my lady in the suds.

1737. Fielding, Tumble-down Dick,
or Phaeton IN THE SUDS. [Title.]

1774. Bridges, Burlesque Homer,
459. Whene'er he wanted to deceive you,
And helpless in the suds to leave you.

Suetty-Isaac, subs. phr. (prison).
—Suet pudding : also SoapyIsaac.

Suffer, verb, (colloquial). — In
mock pity — ' Do you suffer
much ? '

Sufferer, subs, (common). — I.
A tailor.

2. (common).—A loser.

Sugar, subs, (common). — i.
Money : generic : see Rhino.
Also (rhyming) sugar-andhoney.

1862. Cornhill 71/^., Nov. 648. We
have just touched for a tattling stake of
sugar at Brum.

Sugar-candy. 25

Sukey.

1887. BoNWicK, Romance of Wool
Trade, 273. I hear him sing out 'sold
again, and got the sugar ' ; ' half a sheep
for a shilling.'

2. (old).—Flattery ; gammon
(q.v.). Also as verb, etc.

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, iii. 1.
48. With devotion's visage And pious
action we do sugar o'er The devil himself.

Verb, (rowing).—To malinger
at the oars ; to shirk while pretending to row hard.

To sugar off, verb. phr.
(American).—To amount to : in
speaking of large sums of money.

Sugar-candy, subs. phr. (rhyming).—Brandy.

Sugar-basin. See Sugar-stick.

Sugared, adj. (common).—Astonished ; perplexed ; gammoned
(q.v.).

1901. Troddles, 38. He stood there
aghast with his mouth wide open . . . and
ever and again he murmured in profound astonishment . . . 'Well—I'm —
sugared !'

Sugar-loaf, subs. phr. (old).—
A high-crowned hat : conical
like a sugar-loaf.

Sugar-stick, subs. phr. (venery).
—The penis : see Prick (Grose).
Sugar-basin = the îema\epudendum : see Monosyllable. To
suck the sugar-stick = to
receive a man.

Sugar-stick Brigade, subs. phr.
(military).—The Ordnance Store
Corps.

Suicide, subs. (old). — Four
horses driven in a line ; harumscarum. See Tandem, Random, Unicorn, etc. (Grose).

Suit, subs. (old).— i. See quot.

1785. Grose, Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
Suit. In general synonymous with game ;
as, what suit did you give it to 'em upon?
in what manner did you rob them, or upon
what pretence, etc., did you defraud them?
One species of imposition is said to be a
prime suit, another a queer suit : a man
describing the pretext he used to obtain
money from another, would say, I draw'd
him of a quid upon the suit of so and so,
naming the ground of his application. A
person having engaged with another on
very advantageous terms to serve or work
for him, will declare that he is upon a
good suit. To use great submission and
respect in asking any favour of another,
is called giving it to him upon the
humble suit.

2. (thieves').—See quot.

1839. AiNSWORTH, Jack Sheppard.
Bargaining with a pickpocket for a suit,
or to speak in more intelligible language, a
watch and seals.

3. (colloquial). — Generic for
completeness : e.g. a suit ( = full
head) of hair; a suit ( = a
complete set) of teeth ; a suit
of mourning = two black eyes
(Grose). See subs. 2.

1870. Judd, Margaret, ii. 1. The
face of this gentleman was strikingly
marked by a suit of enormous black
whiskers that flowed together and united
under his chin.

Suit-and-cloak, subs. phr. (Old
Cant).—' Good store of Brandy
or any agréable Liquor, let down
Gutter-lane ' (B. E. and Grose).

Suit to a Hair. See Hair.

Sukey, subs, (common).—1. A
kettle (Bee).

2. (common). — A common
name for a general servant or
slavey (q.v.) : cf. Jeames = footman. Sukey-tawdry= 'a slatternly female in fine tawdry '
(Grose).

Sulky. 26

Sun.

Sulky, suds. (old).—'A one-horse
chaise or carriage, capable of
holding but one person : called
by the French a désobligeante '
(Grose).

d. 1892. Whittier, Countess. The
country doctor's ancient sulky.

Sullen, subs, (colloquial).—In
= the sulks. Sick of the
sullens (or sullen-sick) = very
gloomy.

1580. Lily, Euphues, 258. [A lady
is] sick of the solens.

1597. Shakspeare, Rich. II., ii. 1.
139. Let them die that age and sullens
have.

1632. Massinger, Emp. of East, iii.
4. If she be not sick ok the sullens, I
see not the least infirmity in her.

1650. Fuller, Pisgah Sight, 11. vii.
7. On the denyall Ahab falls sullensick.

d. 1655. Adams, Works, 1. 330. If
the state ... lie sullen-sick of Naboth's
vineyard, the lawyer is perchance not sent
for, but gone to.

1692. Hacket, Williams, i. 84. _ If
his Majesty were moody, and not inclin'd
to his propositions, he would fetch him out
of that sullen with a pleasant jest.

1833. Lamb, Pop. Fallacies, xvi. A
long and desperate fit of the sullens.

Sultry, adj. (colloquial).—Lively,
exciting, perhaps unpleasant : cf.
Hot, Warm, etc.

1901. Walker, In the Blood, 156.
Anyway, the possession of it will make it
more sultry for you.

Summer-complaint, subs. phr.
(colloquial). —Diarrhoea.

Summer-bird, subs. phr. (old).—
A cuckold [Cuckoo, q.v.\ Also
summer-cabbage = a woman [cf.
supra and cabbage (or greens)
= copulation],

1560. Scholehouse of Women, 317.
Some other knave Shall dub her husband a
summer-bird.

1673. Sackful of News. So the poor
man was cruelly beaten, and made a
summer's bird.

Summer-game, subs. phr. (American gaming).—A game for amusement only, or with another's
money.

Summer's-day. As nice (proper, goodly, etc.) as one can

see in a SUMMER'S-DAYj phr.

(old).—As nice (proper, etc.) as
may be : cf. Day's-MARCH.

1592. Shakspeare, Mid. Night's
Dream, i. 2. A proper man as one

shall see in a summer's day. Ibid.

(1599), Henry V., iii. 6. As prave words

as you shall see in a summer's day.

1594. Lily, Mother Bombic (1632),
§ x. They say hee is as goodly a youth
at the pridge as one shall see in a
summer's day.

1742. Fielding, Joseph Andrews,
iv. xv. As fine a fat thriving child as

you shall see in a summer's day.

Sumph, subs. (Scots).—A simpleton : see Buffle. Hence sumphish = stupid.

1821. Scott, Pirate, i. 104. ' And
you, ye silly sumph,' she said to poor
Yellowley, ' what do ye stand glowering
there for ? '

1837. Barham, Ingolds. Leg., ' Lord
of Thoulouse.' Put your conjuring cap
on, consider and see, If you can't beat that
stupid old sumph with his tea.

1844. Naylor, Reynard the Fox, 37.
A very sumph art thou, I wis.

1849-50. Thackeray, Pendennis,
Captain Sumph (one of the characters in
this novel].

Sumpsimus. See Mumpsimus. j

Sumpsy, subs, (legal).—An action

of assumpsit.

Sun. Been in the sun (or sunshine, or got the sun in one's
eyes), phr. (common). —Drunk :
see Screwed (Ray, Grose).

Sunburnt. 27 Sunday' s-fellow.

1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop,
ii. Last night he had had ' the sun
very strong in his eyes ' ; by which expression he was understood to convey to
his hearers, in the most delicate manner
possible, the information that he had been
extremely drunk.

1857. Eliot, Janet's Repentance, i.
He was in that condition which his groom
indicated with poetic ambiguity by saying
that ' master had been in the sunshine.'

1897. Marshall, Pomes, 75. She
was thick in the clear, fairly sosselled on
beer.—In the sun is poetical license.

TO make hay while the

sun shines, verb. phr. (old
proverbial).—To seize an opportunity.

1509. Barclay, Ship of Fools (1874),
ii. 45. Be besy about your hay while
Phebus is shining.

1546. Heywood, Proverbs. When
the sunne shineth, make hay.

1809. Malkin, Gil Bias [Routledge], 296. Make hay while the
sun shines. You are on the high road to
fortune ; push forward.

TO get the sun over the

fore yard, verb. phr. (nautical).
To drink before noon.

See Knight ; Shoot.

Sunburnt, adj. (old colloquial),
i. Superficial ; hackneyed ; unbeautiful.

1570. Ascham, Schoolmaster, 137.
But to dwell in epitomes and books of
common places, and not to bind himself
daily by orderly study . . . maketh so
many seeming and sunburnt ministers as
we have ; whose learning is gotten in a
summer heat, and washed away with a
Christmas snow again.

1612. Webster, White Devil, v. 1.
It is a dowry, Methinks should make that
sun-burnt proverb false, And wash the
^Ethiop white.

1881. Davies, Supp. Glossary, s.v.
Sunburnt. Ascham applies the word
curiously to superficial scholars, whose
mind receives as transient an impression
from what they read as the face does from
exposure to the gummer sun.

2. (old). — ' Having many (male)
children' (B. E. and Grose) ;
and (3) ' clapped ' (Grose).

Sunday. See Show-Sunday;
Month of Sundays and Queen
Dick.

Sun day-best (or -clothes), subs.

phr. (colloquial).—I. Clothes kept

for use on Sundays and holidays ;

best clothes.

1838. Beckett, Paradise Lost, 30.
In his Sunday jacket drest, And perch'd
up higher than the rest.

1866. Gaskell, Wives and Daughters, xlv. Mrs Gibson was off, all in her
Sunday best.

1897. Marshall, Potties, ' Her Sunday Clothes,' 105. Her Sunday best
was her week-day worst, 'Twas simply a
caution to snakes.

2. (venery). —An erecto penis :
as in the phrase, ' the old man
( = the penis) has got his Sunday
clothes on ' : see Horn.

Sunday Face, subs. phr. (common).—The posteriors: see Bum.

Sun day-man, subs. phr. (old).—1.
' One who goes abroad on that
day only, for fear of arrests '
(Grose).

2. (common).—A prostitute's
bully. Also Sunday girl=a
week-end (q.v.) mistress.

Sunday-saint, subs. phr.

(common). — One who roisters

through the week and pulls a
long face on Sunday.

Sun day's-fellow, subs. phr.

(old).—See quot.

1611. Tarleton, Jests. One asked
Tarlton why Munday was called Sundaies
fellow ' Because he is a sausie fellow,
saies Tarlton, to compare with that holy
day. But it may be Munday thinkes himselfe Sundayes fellow because it followes
Sunday, and is next after ; but he comes a
day after the faire for that.

S under land-fitter. 28

Supe.

Sunderland-fitter, subs. phr.
(provincial).—The Knave of
Clubs (Halliwell).

Sun-dodger, subs, (military).—A
heliographer.

1900. Illust. Bits, 22 Dec, 10. A
first-class trooper with over three years'
service to his name, and a qualified sundodger according to the regimental
signalling instructor.

Sun-dog, subs. phr. (nautical).—A
mock sun.

189t?]. Kipling, Three Sealers
[Works (1898), xi. 256]. The good fog
heaved like a splitten sail, to the right and
left she bore, And you saw the sundogs in
the haze.

Sundowner, subs. (Australian).—
See quots. and Overlandman.

1880. Oakley, Victoria in 1880, 114.
[Title of poem] The Sundowner.

1888. Macdonald, Gum Boughs, 32.
When the real sundowner haunts these
banks for a season, he is content with a
black pannikin, a clasp knife, and a platter
whittled out of primaeval bark.

1890. Argus, 20 Sept., 13. 5. Sundowners are still the plague of squatocracy, their petition for ' rashons ' and a
bed amounting to a demand.

1891. Adams, John Webb's End, 34.
' Swagsmen ' too, genuine, or only ' sundowners,'—men who loaf about till sunset,
and then come in with the demand for the
unrefusable 'rations.'

1892. Scribner s Magazine, Feb., 143.
They swell the noble army of swagmen or
sundowneIrs, who are chiefly the fearful
human wrecks which the ebbing tide of
mining industry has left stranded in
Australia. [This writer does not differentiate between Swagman {q.v.) and Sundowner.]

1893. Sydney Morning Herald, 12
Aug., 8. 7. Numbers of men who came to
be known by the class name of sundowners, from their habit of straggling
up at fall of evening with the stereotyped
appeal for work ; and work being at that
hour impossible, they were sent to the
travellers' hut for shelter and to the storekeeper or cook for the pannikin of flour,
the bit of mutton, the sufficiency of tea for
a brew, which made up a ration.

1896. Windsor Magazine, Dec, 132.
'A sundowner ? ' I queried. 'Yes; the
lowest class of nomad. . . . They approach
a station only at sunset, hence the name.'

Sunny-bank, subs. phr. (old).—
' A good rousing winter fire '
(B. E. and Grose).

Sunny South, subs. phr. (rhyming).—The mouth.

1887. Referee, 7 Nov., 7. 3. She'd
a Grecian, ' I suppose,' And of ' Hampstead Heath ' two rows, In her Sunny
South.

Sunshades, subs. pi. (Stock
Exchange).—The Sunehales Extension of the Buenos Ayres and
Rosario Railway Company shares.

Sunshine. See Sun.

Supe (or Super), subs, (theatrical).
— I. A supernumerary: whence
super-master = the director of
the supernumeraries : also as verb.
2. (Australian) = the superintendent of a station.

1870. Gordon, Bush Ballads, 23.
What's up with our super to-night? The
man's mad.

1884. Yates, Fifty Years of London
Life, i. ii. Preternaturally stupid people
as . . . the supers are found to be.

1890. Boldrewood, Colonial Reformer, ix. That super's a growlin' ignorant beggar as runs a feller from daylight
to dark for nothing at all.

1890. Argus, 10 June, 4. 1. He
. . . bragged of how he had bested the
super who tried to 'wing him' in the
scrub.

3. (old).—A watch : supe and
slang = watch and chain ; superscrewing = stealing watches.

c.1866. Vance, Chickaleary Cove.
How to do a cross-fan for a super or a
slang.

4. (American University).—A
toady : spec, one who bum-sucks
(q.v.) the professors.

Superannuate. 29 Supper.

Superannuate, verb. (Winchester).—See quot.

c.1840. Mansfield, School Life (1866)
237. Superannuate—a boy who was
obliged to leave at Election, owing to
his being past eighteen years of age.
Founders were not superannuate till
they were twenty-five.

Superfine Review, subs. phr.
(literary). — The Saturday Review.
[A coinage of Thackeray's (18603) in The Roundabout Papers. ]

Supernaculum, subs, and adv.
(old).—i. See quots. [Garden
Latin : super naculum = on the
nail.] Whence (2) right liquor;
and (3) see quot. 1823.

1592. Nashe, Pierce Pennilesse, G. 2
v. a. Drinking super nagulum, a devise
of drinking new come out of Fraunce :
which is, after a man hath turned up the
bottom of the cup, to drop it on his naile,
and make a pearle with that is left ; which
if it slide, and he cannot make it stand on,
by reason ther's too much, he must drinke
againe for his penance.

1598. Jonson, Case is Altered, viii.
348. I confess Cupid's carouse, he plays
super-negulum with my liquor of life.

1617. Braithwaite, Law of Drinkingi ^z7They without any difficulty at
all can soake and sucke it èv rov vvv, to a
nayle [margin, super-naculum].

1622. Massinger, Virgin Martyr,
ii. i. Bacchus, the god of brewed wine
and sugar, grand patron of rob-pots, upsyfreesy tipplers, and super-naculum takers,
headwarden of Vintners' Hall, ale-conner.

.... Timon [Dyce], 38. I drinke
this to thee super naculum.

1630. Taylor, Works, 2,Aaa, 3, r° 1.
As when he drinkes out all the totall
summe, Gave it the stile of super-

nacullum.

1678. Cotton, Virgil Travestie
(1770), 61. Says, Look, here's supernaculum.

c. 1696. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v.
Supernaculum, not so much as a Drop
left to be poured upon the Thumb-nail, so
cleaverly was the Liquor tipt off.

1704. King, Orpheus. Their jests
were supernaculum, I snatch'd the rubies
from each thumb.

1719. Swift, To Dr. Sheridan, Dec.
14. But I doubt the oraculum is a poor

supernaculum.

1746. De Supernaculo Anglorum.
' Est vox hybrida, ex Latina prepositione
super et Germano nagel (a nail) composita ' ; [Nares : which agrees with the
account in Pierce Penilesse, and accounts
for the nagulum, and negulum].

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Supernaculum. Good liquor, of which
there is not even a drop left sufficient to
wet one's nail.

1822. Byron, Werner, i. 1. The
supernaculum ! twenty years of age, if
'tis a day.

1823. Bee, Diet. Turf, s.v. Supernaculum. Any article of consumption
unusually good—as a superior pinch of
snuff, a 'drop of brandy like a nosegay,'
or port vintage 1816.

1835. Edin. Rev., lxii. 41. Drinking
supernaculum.

d. 1891. Lowell, Eurydice. And
empty to each radiant summer A supernaculum of summer.

Superstitious-pie, subs. phr.
(old).—See quot.

c. 1696. B. E. Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v.
Superstitious-Pies, Minc'd, or Christmas-Pies, so Nick-nam'd by the Puritans,
or Precisians, tho' they can Eat em, but
affecting to be singular, make them a
Month or six Weeks before Christmas, or
the Feast of Christ.

Su pouch, subs. (Old Cant).—'An
Hostess or Landlady' (B. E.).

Supper, subs, (venery).—1. The
female pudendum : see Monosyllable. TO give the old
man His supper = to confer the
conjugal embrace ; to warm
the old man's supper = to sit
before the fire with petticoats
lifted : Fr. faire petite chapelle.

TO set one his supper, verb,
phr. (colloquial).—To perform a
feat impossible for another to
imitate.

Supple. 30 Suresby.

Supple. To supple both ends
of it, verb. phr. (Scots venery).
—To knock down a prick {q.v.).

d. 1796. Burns \Merry Muses (1800),
93]. I soupled it Tho bauldly he did
blatter.

Supple Twelfth, subs. phr.
(military).—The 12th Lancers.

Su rat, subs, (provincial). — See
quot.

1864. Hotten, Slang Diet., s.v. An
adulterated article of inferior quality.
Since the American Civil War, it has not
been unusual for manufacturers to mix
American cotton with surat, and, the
latter being an inferior article, the people
in Lancashire have begun to apply the
term surat to any article of inferior or
adulterated quality.

Sure. To make (or be) sure to,

verb. phr. (old colloquial.—To

betroth ; to be engaged to marry.

d. 1535. Sir T. More, Hist. Rich. III.
The King was sure to Dame Elizabeth
Lucy, and her husband before God.

1608. Middleton, Trick, etc., iii. 1.
I am but newly sure yet to the widow.

1611. Cotgrave, Diet., s.v. Accordailles . . . The betrothing or making
sure of a man and woman together.

1665. J. Cotgrave, Wits Interpreter,
177. She's that's made sure to him she
loves not well, Her banes are asked here,
but she weds in hell.

1632. Brome, Northern Lass. I
presumed you had been sure, as fast as
faith could bind you.

Sure as the creed (as eggs,
fate, death, a gun, etc.), phr.
(colloquial).—As sure as may be ;
of a certainty. [See Eggs and
Gun for numerous quots.]
1393. Gower, Confessio A mantis.

SlKER as THE crede.

1672. Ray, Proverbs, ' Prov. Similes.'
As sure as check or Exchequer pay.
This was a proverb in Queen Elizabeth's
time ; the credit of the Exchequer beginning in, and determining with her reign,
saith Dr Fuller. Ibid. As sure (or as
round) as a juggler's box. ... As sure as
a louse in bosom. ... As sure as a louse
in Pomfret. ... As sure as a coat on one's
back.

1703. Steele, Tender Husband, iii.
2. She's distracted, as sure as a gun.

1772. Bridges, Burlesque Homer,
439. But sure as eggs, whilst folks are
sleeping We both again should catch thee
peeping.

d. 1774. Goldsmith [Oliphant, New
Eng., ii. 188. I may mention as idioms of
this age ... as sure as eggs is eggs,
handsome is as handsome does . . . from
Goldsmith].

1809. Malkin, Gil Bias [Routledge], 143. As sure as a gun then he
is going to make a night of it.

Sure Card (or Thing), subs. phr.
(colloquial).—A certainty ; anything entirely trustworthy (B. E. ).

1537. Thersites [Dodsley, Old Plays
(Hazlitt), i. 363]. This is a sure card,
this piece of work.

1579. Lyly, Euphues (1636), A. iv.
A cleere conscience is a sure card.

1589. R. Harvey, Plain Perc, 12.
To get a sure card on their side, Either
calles for Iustice.

1593. Shakspeare, Tit. Andron. v.,
i. 100. As sure a card as ever won the
set.

1613. Fletcher, Captain [quoted
by Gifford, Jonson, ii. 284]. For. You
know the juggling captain ? Clown. Ay;
there's a sure card.

1672. Ray, Proverbs, ' Entire Sentences.' A clear conscience is a sure
card.

c. 1696. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v.
A sure Card, a trusty Tool, or Confiding
Man.

1725. Bailey, Erasmus, i. 'Of a
Soldier's Life. ' To be sure that Christopher
the Collier was a sure card to trust to.

1742. Fielding,/. Andrews, iv. iii.
We have one sure card, which is to carry
him before Justice Frolick.

Suresby, subs, (old).—A dependable person : cf. Rudesby, Wigsby, etc.

1586. With als, Diet., 564. Lydius
sive Herculeus lapis ; hee is old sureby.

1611. Coryat, Crudities, i. 42. Old
suresbyes, to serue for all turnes,

Surf.

31

Swabber.

1614. Terence in English. You are
the same man that you were : old surebie,
no flinsher.

1657. Bradford, Sermons [Rept.].
Yes, there is one which is suresby as they
say, to serve if anything will serve.

Surf, sub. (theatrical).—A halfand-half professional (q.V.)
player or musician : combining
some daily occupation with
nightly duty on or in connection
with the boards.

Surly, As surly as a butcher's
dog, phr. (old).—Very surly
(Ray).

Surly-boots (or Surling), subs,
phr. (old).—A grumpy morose
fellow : cf. Lazy-boots.

rf.1623. Camden, Remains, 176. And
as for these sowre surlings, they are to be
commended to Sieur Gaulard.

1812. Coombe, Syntax, 1. xxii. A
sudden jolt their slumbers broke, They
started all, and all awoke ; When surlyboots yawn'd wide and spoke.

Surprisers (The), subs. phr.
(military).—The 46th Foot, now
the 2nd Batt. of the Duke of
Cornwall's Light Infantry.

Surtout, subs. (B. E.).—'A loose,
great, or riding Coat ' (B. E. ).

Surveyor of the Highway, subs,
phr. (old).—A man reeling drunk
(Grose) : see Inspector.

Surveyor of the Pavement,

subs. phr. (old).—A man in the
pillory (Grose and Bee).

Suspense. In deadly suspense, adv. phr. (old).—Hanged
(Grose).

Sus. per Coll., phr. (old).—
' Hanged by the neck '—Lat. suspensus per collum. [Grose :
' persons who have been hanged
are thus entered in the jailer's
books.']

1850. Thackeray, Pendennis, 11.
xxv. That lamentable note of sus. per
coll. at the name of the last male of her
line. Ibid. (1867), Denis Duval, i. None
of us Duvals have been suspercollated
to my knowledge.

Suspicion, subs, (colloquial).—A
very small quantity : cf. Fr.
soupçon.

1863. Hawthorne, Our Old Home.
A mere spice or suspicion of austerity
which made it all the more enjoyable.

1867. Trollope, Last Chronicles of
Barset, xlix. He was engaged in brushing a suspicion of dust from his black
gaiters.

1886. D. Tel., 25 Sep. With just a
suspicion of Irish brogue that only serves
to increase the interest of her piquancy
and fun.

Verb. (American).—To sus
pect.

1889. Harper's Mag., lxxx. 349.
They somehow suspicion'd he wasn't
quite sound on hell.

1899. Westcott, David Harum, i.
Didn't ye suspicion mithin' when he took
ye up like that ?

Sut, adj. (tailors').—Satisfactory ;
fortunate.

Swab, subs. (old). — i. See
Swabber.

2. (nautical).—A naval officer's
epaulet : jocose or in contempt :
cf. Swabber, sense i.

Swabber, subs. (old).—i. 'The
sorriest sea-men put to wash and
clean the ship' (B. E. and
Grose : in this sense good Shakspearean English) ; hence (2) a
term of contempt. Also Swab.

1602. Shakspeare, Twelfth Night,

1. 5. 216. Mar. Will you hoist sail, sir?
. . . Vio. No, good swabber ; I am to
hull here a little longer. Ibid. (1609), ii.

2. 48. The master, the swabber, the
boatswain, and I.

Swack. 32 S wad.

1609. Beaumont and Fletcher,
Scornful Lady, iii. 1. My lady speaks
with no such swabbers.

1634. Ford, Perkin Warbeck, i. 1.
More fit to be a swabber to the Flemish,
After a drunken surfeit.

1678. Cotton, Virgil Travestie
(1770), 33. This being said, our lusty
swabber Groan'd like a Woman in her
Labour.

1725. Bailey, Erasmus, 42. I am
his swabber ... his brawl, his errand
boy.

1748. Smollett, Roderick Random.
xxiv. He swore accordingly at the lieutenant, and called him . . . swab and
lubbard.

1886. Besant, World Went Well,
etc., xxix. Luke was a grass comber and
land swab.

3. (old).—' The ace of hearts,
knave of clubs, ace and deuce of
trumps at whist' (B. E. and
Grose) : the holder was entitled to a portion of the
stakes. [These four cards were
only incident to betting at
whist.]

c. 1700. Swift [quoted by Strutt,
Sports and Pastimes (1801, etc.), 436].
The clergymen used to play at whist and
swobbers ; playing now and then a sober
game at whist for pastime, it might be pardoned ; but he could not digest those
wicked swobbers.

1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, 1.
iv. As whisk and swabbers was the game
then in the chief vogue, they were oblig'd
to look for a fourth person, in order to
make up their parties.

1817. Scott, Rob Roy, 1. 225. The
society of half a dozen of clowns to play at
whisk and swabbers would give her more
pleasure than if Ariosto himself were to
awake from the dead.

Swack, subs. (Christ's Hospital).—
Deception. Hence to swack
up = to deceive ; to take in
(q.v.). Also swack-up = a
falsehood.

Swad, subs. (old).—i. A reproach : generic ; spec. (1) a rustic
or clodhopper ; and (2) a disbanded soldier (Grose), now-adays a militiaman. Also swadder, swadkin, swadgill, and

swaddy.

1534. Holinshed, Chron. of Ireland. Three drunken swads that kept the
castell thought that this showt was nought
else but a dreame.

1588. Greene, Perimedes. Let
countrey swaines and silly swads be still ;
To court, yoong wag, and wanton there
thy fill.

1592. Lyly, Midas, iv. 3. I'll
warrant, that was devised by some country

swad.

1593. Peele, Honour of the Garter.
There came a pilfring swad And would
have prayd upon this ornament.

1606. Return from Parnassus.
But hang them, swadds, the basest corner
in my thoughts is too gallant a roome to
lodge them in.

1622. Taylor, Motto. I have
opinion, and have ever had, That when I
see a stagg'ring drunken swad, Then that
a man worse then an asse I see.

1633. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii. 1.
Now i remember me, There was one busie
fellow was their leader, A blunt squat

swad.

1638. Braithwaite, Survey of
History. A squeazed swad without
either meanes, manners, or mannor.

1640. Two Lancashire Lovers, 22.
How should the reasonable soule (unlesse
all his prime faculties were drowned and
drenched in the lees of sense) affect such a
swad ?

1656. Blount, Glossog., 627. Swad,
in the North, is a pescod shell ; thence
used for an empty shallow-headed fellow.

d.1701. Dryden, Counter Scuffle
[Misc., iii. 340]. Wer't not for us, thou
swad, quoth he, Where wouldst thou fog
to get a fee?

2. (common).—A lump, bunch,
crowd, mass : also swod.

Swadder.

33

Swag.

1840. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, 3 S. vi. How is a colonist able to
pay for this almighty swad of everlasting
plunder, seein' he has no gold or silver?

1865. Major Downing s Letters, 35.
There was a swad of fine folks, and the
house was well-nigh upon chuck full.

1869. Overland Monthly, iii. 131.
A Texan never has a great quantity of any
thing, but he has scads of it or oodles or
dead oodles, or scadoodles, or swads.

Swadder, subs. (Old Cant). —i.
See quot.

1567. Harman, Caveat, 72. These
Swadders and Pedlars be not all evil, but
of an indifferent behaviour.

2. See Swad.

Swaddle, verb. (old).—To cudgel ;
to rope's end (B. E. and Grose) ;
to swathe round with lash or
stick. Hence swadler (Old
Cant) = ' The tenth Order of the
Canting Tribe' (B. E.) 'who not
only rob, but beat and often
murder passengers ' (Grose).

c.1570. Wife Lapped in Morels Skin,
845. [Hazlitt, Early Pop. Poet., iv. 214].
I sweare by God, and by saynt John, Thy
bones will I swaddle, so have I blisse.

1611. Cotgrave, Diet., s.v. Chaperon. Hee bangde, belammed, thumped,
swadled her.

1612-3. Fletcher, Captain, ii. 1.
Were it not for taking So just an execution
from his hands, ... I would swaddle
ye, 'Till I could draw off both your skins
like scabbards.

1636. Davenant, Wits, iii. 1. (1673).
How now, housewife? Do you slight
authority? Behold this staff! in very
truth I shall swaddle you with the
King's wand of office.

1663. Butler, Hudibras, I. 1. v. 23.
Great on the bench, great in the saddle,
He could as well bind o'er as swaddle.

d.iyoi. Dryden, Counter-Scuffle
[Misc., iii. 347]. Behind the door he stood
to hear, For in he durst not come, for fear
Of swadling,

Swaddler, subs. (Irish).—1. A

Methodist (Grose). Hence spec.
(2) those who in winter play
the Protestant, for the sake of
the blankets, coals, etc., given
by proselytisers. Also (3), in
America, a street preacher, spec.
(American thieves') a preaching
confederate.

1820. Southey, Life of Wesley, ii.
153. It happened that Cennick, preaching
on Christmas Day, took for his text these
words from St. Luke's Gospel, ' And this
shall be a sign unto you ; ye shall find the
babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes, lying
in a manger.' A Catholic who was present,
and to whom the language of Scripture was
a novelty, thought this so ridiculous that
he called the preacher a swaddler in
derision.

1845. Coke and Moore, Life of
Wesley, 288. Butler and his mob were
now in higher spirits than ever ; they
scoured the streets day and night, frequently hallooing as they went along,
' Five pounds for a swaddler's head ! '

1889. Academy, 11 May, 317. To
revive Sir W. Petty's Colony by importing Northern Presbyterians and Cornish

swaddlers.

2. See Swad and Swaddle.

Swag, subs. (Old Cant). — 1.

A shop : spec, a mart for stolen

goods. Whence a rum-swag = 'a

shop full of rich goods ' (B. E.) ;

and swag-barrow = a coster's

cart. Hence (2) generic for

property ; spec, booty : see quots.

1785, 1819, and 1823. Also

SWAG-chovey bloke=a marine

store dealer; swagsman = (i) a

receiver of stolen goods, and (2)

a miscellaneous dealer in ' City

penn'orths' and other cheap stuff,

wholesale or retail.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Swag, a bundle, parcel, or package ; as a
swag of snow, etc. The swag, is a term
used in speaking of any booty you have
lately obtained, be it of what kind it may,
except money, as Where did you lumber
the swag? that is, where did you deposit
the stolen property? To carry the swag is
to be the bearer of the stolen goods to a

c

Swag. 34

Swag.

place of safety. A swag of any thing,
signifies emphatically a great deal. To
have knap'd a good swag, is to have got a
good booty.

i8iq. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v. Swag.
Wearing-apparel, linen, piece-goods, etc.,
are all comprehended under the name of
swag, when describing any speak lately
made, etc., in order to distinguish them
from plate, jewellery, or other more portable articles.

1823. Bee, Diet, of Turf, s.v.
Swag (the)—store of money. ' The swag
lies upstairs, in a chest of" drawers. . . .
Rum-swAG—A good deal of it.

1827. Cunningham, Two Years in
New South Wales, ii. 59. A number of
the slang phrases current in St. Giles's
Greek bid fair to become legitimatized in
the dictionary of this colony : plant, swag,
pulling up, and other epithets of the Tom
and Jerry school, are established—the
dross passing here as genuine, even among
all ranks.

1837. Mudie, Felonry of New South
Wales, 181. In short, having brought
with her a supply of the swag, as the convicts call their ill-gotten cash, a wife seldom
fails of having her husband assigned to her,
in which case the transported felon finds
himself his own master.

1838. Dickens, Oliver Twist, xix.
' It's all arranged about bringing off the
swag, is it ? ' asked the Jew. Sikes nodded.

1840. Barham, Ingolds. Legends,
' Misadv. at Margate.' He said ' he'd done
me wery brown, and neatly stowed the

swag.'

1851-61. Mayhew, London Lab., ii.
93. Swagmen who sell low-priced
millinery.

1856. Reade, Never too Late, etc.,
xlvi. He will shake all that nonsense to
blazes when he finds himself out under the
moon with the swag on one side and the
gallows on the other.

1861. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, xxxvii.
If any enterprising burglar had taken it
into his head to crack that particular crib
known as the Bridge Hotel, and got clean
off with the swag, he might have retired
on the hard-earned fruits of a well-spent
life into happier lands.

1897. Marshall, Pomes, 121. The
gentleman swore he'd been bested, And
Sam had passed on the swag.

1900. Flynt, Tramps, 282. ' It
ain't such a bad lot,' he said ; ' I chew
every day, get a big swag once in a while. '

3. (Australian). — A tramp's

bundle in a eluey {q.v.) ; hence
personal luggage; traps (q.v.).
As verb = to tramp the bush carrying a swag ; swagman (swagger or SWAGGlE) = a man travelling in search of work : cf. Sundowner.

1853. Sidney, Three Colonies, 361.
His leathern overalls, his fancy stick, and
his swag done up in mackintosh.

1861. McCombie, Australian

Sketches, 5. There was the solitary
pedestrian, with the whole of his supplies,
consisting of a blanket and other necessary
articles, strapped across his shoulders : this
load is called the swag and the mode of
travelling swagging it.

1865. JO. Tucker, Australian
Story, i. 86. The cumbrous weight of
blankets that comprised my swag.

1873. Trollope, Australia and
New Zealand, i. 285. Swag, which consists of his personal properties rolled up in
a blanket.

1875. Lady Barker, Station A musemcnts in New Zealand, 154. Describing
the real swagger, clad in flannel shirt,
moleskin trowsers, and what were once
thick boots.

1879. J. Brunton Stephens,
Drought and Doctrine (Works, 309).
Rememberin' the needful, I gets up an'
quietly slips To the porch to see—a swagsman—with our bottle at his lips.

1883. Keighley, Who are You? 36.
Then took a drink of tea . . . Such as the
swagmen in our goodly land Have with
some humour named the post-and-rail.

1890. Argus, 2 Aug., 4, 2. He
strapped the whole lot together, swAG-like.
Ibid. (1896), The Argus, 23 March, 5, 1.
The minister's house is the sure mark for
every stone-broke swagger in search of
clothes or victuals.

1891. Boldrewood, A Sydney-side
Saxon, 156. We pulled up a swagman.
He was walking very slow ; he was a bit
lame too. His swag wasn't heavy, for he
had only a rag of a blue blanket, a billy of
water in his hand, and very little else.

1902. Pall Mall Gaz., 26 July, 2. 1.
The unmarried shearer, roaming, swag on
back, from station to station, chasing
summer down the latitudes, leads an
active, pleasant life enough.

Swag-belly. 35 Swagger,

Swag-belly, subs. phr. (old).—
A very fat man or woman ; a
swing-paunch. [Swag = to weigh
heavily.] Hence swaggy (or
swag-bellied) = fat, fortygutted (q.v.).

1530. Palsgrave, Langue Francoyse. I swagge, as a fatte persons belly
swaggeth as he goth.

1602. Shakspeare, Othello, ii. 3.
I learned it in England, where, indeed,
they are most potent in potting : your
Dane, your German, and your swagbellied Hollander . . . are nothing to
your English.

1646. Browne, Vulg. Errors, in. iv.
His swaggy and prominent belly.

1694. Motteux, Rabelais, v.
' Pant. Prog.,' v. However, so many
swagbellies and puff-bags will hardly go
to St Hiacco, as there did in the year 524.

1886. Oliphant, New English, i.
462. The swagge of 1303 [see quot. 1530]
is here used of a fat man's belly ; hence
the swag-bellied Hollander, and also the
later swagger.

Swagger, subs, and verb, (once
literary : now colloquial : B. E.
and Grose).—Bluster ; bravado ;
roaring insolence ; side (q-v.).
As verb■ = to strut defiantly ; to
boast ; to bluster ; to affect or
obtrude superiority : see quot.
1898. Also derivatives such as
swaggerer and swaggering.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wördes,
s.v. Ruffo . . . Also a ruffling roister or
ruffian, a swaggrer.

1598. Shakspeare, 2 Hen. IV., ii.
4. Your ancient swaggerer comes not in
my doors. Ibid. (1599), Hen. V., iv. 7.
131. A rascal that swaggered with me
last night.

1607. Dekker, Northward Ho, iv.
i. A swaggering fellow, sir, that speaks
not like a man of God's making, swears he
must speak with you, and will speak with
you.

1612. Rowlands, Hist. Rogues
[Ribton-Turner, 582]. They chose a
notable swaggering rogue called Puffing
Picke to reuell over them.

c. 1622. Heywood, Fair Maid of the
West [Pearson, Works, (1894), ii. 279].
Can we not live in compassé of the Law,
But must be swaggered out on't ?

1636. Davenant, Wits, i. 2. And
swagger in the wool [that] we shall borrow
from our own flocks.

1678. Cudworth, Intellectual System, 61. It was Atheism openly swaggering, under the glorious appearance of
wisdom and philosophy.

1699. Dryden, Cox and Fox, 443.
[He] swaggereth like a lord about his
hall.

1725. Swift, Will Wood's Petition.
The butcher is stout, and he values no
swagger. Ibid. Court and Empire of
Japan. He would swagger the boldest
man into a dread of his power.

1765. Goldsmith, Essays, x. The
bunters who swagger in the streets of
London.

1809. Malkin, Gil Bias, 136. She
could put on as brazen-faced a swagger
as the most impudent dog in town.

1835. Marryatt, Pacha of Many
Tales. ' The Water Carrier.' It requires
but an impudent swagger and you are
taken on your own representation.

1844. Thackeray, Barry Lyndon,
xv. As for the swagger ... I deny it
in toto, being always most modest in my
demeanour.

1880. Payn, Confid. Agent, xi. The
captain [put] ... a good deal of side on,
which became a positive swagger as he
emerged into the more fashionable street.

1898. Warner, Harrow School, 280.
The rules of ' swagger ' or [side] are most
complex . . . And a new boy is apt to
find himself entangled. He goes out with
his umbrella rolled up ... or carries it by
its middle, or under his arm, or he walks
on the middle terrace after chapel, or he
innocently wears his ' blues ' open when it is
hot, or turns his trousers up when it is wet,
and . . . he is swaggering. Lady visitors
sometimes think small boys at Harrow
rude ... to stick close to the wall . . .
and shoulder the world into the gutter—it
is modesty ; to walk in the road is swagger.
To loiter at the house door, or to sing or
whistle in the passages, and to wear a hat
in the house are also forms of swagger.

1901. Walker, In the Blood, 107.
He wore a new cricketing belt round his
loins, as low down as he could get it to go ;
the lower down the greater assumption of
' push ' swagger.

Swaining. 36 Swallow-tail.

Adj. (common). — Tip-top
{q.v.); swell (q.v.); extremely
new.

1886. New York Tribune (SemiWeekly), 2 Nov. His gambling parties
were so swagger that rich money-lenders
who wanted to extend their social relations
did not mind to what extent they . . .
lost money at them.

1897. Ouida, Massarines, 8. Lord,
ma'am, they'll pocket the marrons glacés at
the table d'hôte and take the matches away
from their bedrooms ; but, then, you see,
ma'am, them as are swagger can do them
things.

1900. White, West End, 43. ' We
are now living in a very different style.'
. . . ' It looks a great deal more swagger
certainly.'

Swaining, subs, (common). —
Love-making; spooning (q.v.).

1839. Mrs. Trollope, Michael Armstrong; i. His general manner had a good
deal of what in female slang is called
swaining.

Swallow, subs, (once literary :
now vulgar or colloquial).—1.
The throat : also swallowpipe ; (2) the act of swallowing ;
and (3) a mouthful : hence (4)
taste, relish, inclination, or
capacity. As verb = to receive,
endure, or embrace credulously,
patiently, without examination,
scruple or reserve ; occasionally
to swallow whole. (B. E.).
Hence swallowable = credible.

1596. Shakspeare, King John, iv.
2. 195. I saw a smith stand . . . With open
mouth swallowing a tailor's news. Ibid.
(1603), Meas. for Meas., iii. 1. 235. Left
her . . . swallowed his vows whole,
pretending in her discoveries of dishonour.

1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage, 92. The
mother (not able to swallow her shame
and grief) Cast herselfe into the lake to bee
swallowed of the water.

1616-25. Court and Times Jas. I., ii.
442. [A man] swallows indignities.

1690. Locke, Human Understanding, iv. xx. 4. Here men . . . must . . .
swallow down opinions as silly people
do empiric pills, without knowing what
they are made of.

1703. Farquhar, Inconstant, iii. 1.
I have swallowed my words already ; I
have eaten them up.

1796. Wolcot ('Peter Pindar'),
Works, 147. Each paunch with guttling
was so swelled, Not one bit more could
pass your swallow-pipe.

1834. Wilson, Nodes Ambros., Dec.
Attend to the differences between a
civilized swallow and a barbarous bolt.

1841. Punch, i. 169. Men with
swallows like Thames Tunnels, in fact
accomplished gaggers and unrivalled wiry
watchers.

1849. Maitland, Essays on the Reformation, 315. An anecdote in its
hundredth edition, and its most mitigated
and swallowable form.

1885. Buck, Handbook of Med. Sei.,
v. 4. A swallow or two of hot milk
sometimes aids in coughing up tenacious
mucus.

1899. Westcott, David Harum,
xxiii. She took a swallow of the wine.
' How do you like it?' asked David.

Phrases. — ' One swallow
does not make a spring¹ (Heywood, 1546 = proverbial) ; to
swallow a spider = to become a
bankrupt (Ray) ; ' You say true ;
will you swallow my knife ? ' (a
sarcastic retort on an impossible
story) ; to swallow a tavern
token = to get drunk ; to
swallow the cackle = to learn
a part (theatrical) ; ' He has
swallowed a stake, and cannot
stoop ' (of a very upright unbending person).

1596. Jonson, Ev. Man in Humour,

i. 3. Drunk, sir ! you hear not me say so :
perhaps he swallowed a tavern token
or some such device.

Swallow-tail, subs. phr. (old).—
i. See quot. 1544.

1544. Ascham, Toxophilus [Giles,

ii. 130]. Having two points or barbs, looking backward to the stele and the feathers,
which surely we call in English a broad
arrow head, or a swallow-tail.

1828. Scott, Fair Maid of Perth,
ii. 223. The English then strode forward,
. . . and sent off their volleys of swallowtails before we could call on St. Andrew.

Swan. 37 Swap.

2. (nautical).—The points of
a burgee.

3. (common).—A dress coat ;
a steel-pen coat (q.V.).

1886. Referee, 29 Aug. He is stripped
of his swallow-tail and his pseudonym,
and marched off to the guard-room again.

1888. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, 50.
Here is one of the new police, with blue
swallow-tail coat tightly buttoned, and
white trousers.

1902. Lynch, Unseen Hand, i. He
passed his hand caressingly over the lapel
of an immaculate swallow-tail.

4. ( ? punning nonce-word).—
A tongue always wagging.

1690. D'Urfey, Collins Walk, i.
He'd tire your ear with pentagons . . .
And all your outworks would assail With
his eternal swallow's tail.

Swan. I swan, intj. (American).
—' I swear ! ' Also (more emphatically), ' I swan to man ! '

1842. Clavers, Forest Life, 1. 29.
' Well, I swan ! ' exclaimed the mamma,
giving a round box on the ear to a dirty
little urchin.

1862. Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2 S.
i. But they du preach, I swan to man,
it's pufkly indescrib'le. Ibid. vi. I swan,
You half forgit you've gut a body on.

1899. Westcott, David Harum, xiv.
' You c'n git round on your pins 'bout's
lively 's they make 'em, I guess, I swan,'
he exclaimed.

Swank, verb, (public school).—
To work hard : cf. SwiNK.
S wanker = a hard-working student.

Swan key, subs, (common).—Any
weak tipple : spec, small beer.
Also (fishermen's) a mixture of
water, molasses, and vinegar.

Swannery. To keep a
swannery, verb. phr. (old).—
To boast of one's own doings,
possessions, etc. ; to make out
that all one's geese are swans
(Grose).

Swan-SLINGER, subs. phr. (theatrical.—A player fond of or
famous for Spouting Bill (q.v. ) ;
a Shakspearean actor : the same
as 'slinging the Swan of Avon.'

Swap (or Swop), subs, (colloquial).—An act of barter ; an
exchange. As verb = to exchange ; to strike a bargain.
(B.E.) Grose [= ' Irish Cant.']
and Bee.

1360. Sir Gawayn [E.E.T.S]. 35.
[Oliphant, New. Eng., i. 58. The old
swap gets the new sense of ' make an
exchange.'

1594. Lyly, Mother Bombie, v. 3.
Soft, ' l'le not swap my father for all this.'
. . . ' What, doe you thinke l'le be coz'ned
of my father ? '

1692. Dryden, Cleomenes. I would
have swopp'd Youth for old age, and all my
life behind, To have been then a momentary man.

1707. Ward, Hud. Red., 11. ii. 5.
Those, who to preserve their Health, Had
swop'd their little Store of Wealth.

1724. Swift, Wood's Half pence. A
fine lady swapping her moles for the
mange.

1781. Parker, View of Society, 11.
48. The hostler then says he has a choice
nag or daisy-kicker to sell or swap.

1819. Scott, Bride of Lammcrmoor,
xxvi. For the pouther, I e'en changed it
... for gin and brandy ... a gude swap
too.

1830. Cobbett, Rural Rides, (1886),
i. 199. It is barter, truck, change, dicker,
as the Yankees call it, but as our horse
jockies call it, swap, or chop.

1853. Reade, Gold, i. Carry out a
cargo of pea-jackets and four-penny bits
to swap for gold dust.

1862. Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2 S.
v. We'd better take maysures for shetting
up shop, And put off our stock by a vendoo
or swop.

1887. Eggleston, Graysons, x.
Farmers frequented the town, to meet old
friends and get the better of them in
swapping horses.

1894. Baker, New Timothy, 187.
Not even the greasy cards can stand
against the attractions of a swap of horses,
and these join the group.

Swapper. 38 Swash.

1899. Whiteing, John St., xiv.
You two countries ought to swap grandmothers, and then you'd match.

1900. Savage, Brought to Bay, ii.
Don Andres proposes to swap herd for
herd, taking our cattle as they run, at
fifteen dollars, and giving us half-breed
sheep at three.

TO get the swap (or swop),
verb. phr. (common). — To be
dismissed.

To swap off, verb. phr.
(American). — To cheat ; to

sell (q.V.).

1880. Harris, Uncle Remus, iv.
Den Brer Fox know dat he been swap off
mighty bad.

Swapper, subs, (common).—Anything large or big : see Whopper.
Hence swapping = huge ;
strong; Al.

1589. Countercuffe given to Martin
Junior. A filch-man in his hande, a
swapping ale dagger at his back, containing by estimation some two or three
pounds of yron in the hyltes and chape.

1624. Middleton, Game at Chess,
iv. 2. Ay, marry, sir, here's swapping
sins indeed.

Swarm, verb, (colloquial). —To
climb ; to shin up.

. . . Syr Isumbras, 351. He swarmed
up into a tree, Whyle eyther of them
might other se.

1888. Spectator {Century Diet.].
Swarming up the lightning conductor of
a great church to fix a flag at the top of
the steeple.

Swarry, subs, (common). — A
boiled leg of mutton and trimmings.

1837. Dickens, Pickwick, xxxviii.
Honourably accounts for Mr. Weller's
absence by describing a . . . swarry
... a boiled leg of mutton, hot, with
caper sauce, turnips, and potatoes.

Swartwout, verb. (American).—
To abscond. [From the name
of a public defaulter in New
York.]

Swash, verb. (old).—i. To make
a noise : see quot. 1662. Hence

swash-buckler (swash,

swasher or swinge-buckler)

= a sworder good at a lively peal
on his opposite's target ; and,
therefore, by implication, a ruffler,
bully, Hector. As subs. = bluster,
vapouring, roaring ; swashing
(or swashy) = (i) noisy (a swashing blow) ; and (2) = loudmouthed and quarrelsome.

1560. Pilkington, Works [Parker],
151. A drunkard, a whore-hunter, a
gamer, a swash-buckler, a ruffian to
waste his money in proud apparel.

1577-87. Holinshed, Chron. Ireland, 87. Whereby a man maie see how
manie bloudie quarels a bralling swashbuckler maie picke out of a bottle of
haie, namelie when his braines are forebitten with a bottle of nappie ale,

1582. Stanyhurst, JEneid, ii. 220.
Their tayls with croompled knot twisting
swash lye they wrigled.

1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and
Juliet, i. i. Draw, if you be menGregory, remember thy swashing blow.
Ibid. (1598), 2 Henry IV,, iii. 2. 24.
Shallow. You had not four such swingebucklers in all the inns o' court again.
Ibid. (1599), Henry V., iii. 2. As young as
I am, I have observed these three swashers
[Nym, Pistol, and Bardolph]. I am boy
to them all three. Ibid. (1601), As You
Like It, i. 3. We'll have a swashing and
a martial outside, As many other mannish
cowards have.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wördes,
74. A bravo, a swash-buckler, one that
for mony and good cheere will follow any
man to defend him and fight for him, but
if any danger come, he runs away the first
and leaves him in the lurch. Ibid., 127.
To fence, to swash with swords, to
swagger.

1609. Holland, Am. Mar. Leo,
a notarié afterwards, master of the offices,
a very swash-buckler at every funerall,
a knowne robber, and a Pannonian ; one
who breathed foorth of his savage mouth
crueltie, and yet was neverthelesse greedie
still of mans bloud.

1611. Coryat, Crudities, 1. 54.
Their men are very ruffians and swashbucklers, having exceeding long blacke
haire curled, and swords or other weapons
by their sides.

Swash-bucket. 39

Swear.

1611. Cotgrave, Diet., s.v. Bravache. A roister, cutter, swaggerer, swash
buckler, one thats ever vaunting of his
owne valour.

1625, Jonson, Staple of News, v. i.
I do confess a swashing blow.

1636. Heywood, Love's Mistress, 25.
Ille ipse, the same ; I desire no more than
this sheep-hook in my hand to encounter
with that swash-buckler.

1637. Davenant, Brit. Triumph.
[Nares.] With courtly knights, not
roaring country swashes.

1662. Fuller, Worthies, 'London.'
A ruffian is the same with a swaggerer, so
called, because endeavouring to make that
side to swag or weigh down whereon he
ingageth. The same also with swashbuckler, from swashing or making a noise
on bucklers.

1677. Ovid de Arte Amandi, 141.
Or score out husbands in the charcoal
ashes, With country knights, nor roaring

city swashes.

1809. Malkin, Gil Bias [Routledge], 143. The lovely Aurora metamorphosed herself in a twinkling, and
resumed her swashing outside.

Swash-bucket, suds. phr. (common).—A slattern.

Swat, subs. (old).—i. A blow.
As subs. = to strike ; to hit.

Verb. (school). — To work
hard; to sweat (q.v.). [Orig.
dialectical.] Also as subs. = hard
study : spec. (Royal Military
Academy) — mathematics.

Swatch el, subs. (Punch and
Judy).—Punch. Hence swatchel (or schwassle)-box = the
Punch and Judy show ; swatchel-covE = a Punch and Judy
man : spec, the patterer. The
other terms connected with this
drama of the streets are :—
Mozzy = Judy ; darkey = the
negro ; vampo = the clown ;
VAMPiRE = the ghost ; buffer =
the dog; buffer-figure = the
dog's master; crocodile = the

demon; FiLio = the baby; the
frame = the street arrangement ;
PEEPSiES = the panpipes; nobbing-slum = the bag for collecting
money ; the letter cloth =
the advertisement; tambour =
the drum ; the stalk (or prop)
= the gallows ; the slum fake
= the coffin; the slum = the
call.

1887. Henley, Villon's Good Night.
You swatchel-coves that pitch and
slam.

Swattled, adj. (common).—
Drunk : see Screwed.

Swear, subs, (colloquial).—An
oath ; a cuss (q.v. ) : also swearword. Also (colloquial) to
swear at (said of anything
incongruous) : e.g. ' His frock
coat swore at his bowler-hat ;

to swear like a lord

(trooper, etc.) = to volley oaths,

to make the air blue (q.V.) ;
to swear through a nine

inch plank (nautical) = to back
up any lie (C. Russell : ' a
favourite expression of Lord
Nelson when referring to American skippers ').

1531. Elyot, Governour (1834), 87.
He that sweareth deep, sweareth like a

lord.

1651. Cartwright, Ordinary [Dodsley, Old Plays (Reed), x. 295]. Gull'd
by my swear ; by my swear, gull'd.
Ibid. I lose the taking, by my swear, of
taking As much, whiles that I am receiving
this.

1672. Ray, Proverbs, ' He'll swear
through a nine inch board, a dagger out
of sheath, the devil out of hell, 'till he's
black in the face.'

1756. Foote, Eng. Returned from
Paris. [To] swear like a trooper.

i8[?]. Elect. Review (Amer.). {Century.] There has been in the past an
immense quantity of scolding, occasionally
a swear-word.

Sweat.

40 Sweat.

1887. StJames s Gaz., 4 June. It
is a dreadful thing to say, but I felt that if
I didn't utter a big swear at that moment
something would happen.

1889. Harpers Mag., lxxviii. 258.
What is new in it . . . may swear at the
old furniture and the delightful old
portraits.

Sweat, verb, (once literary ; now
colloquial).—1. To work hard ;
to drudge ; to put in licks
(q.V. ) ; also to sweat one's guts
out. Cf. modern (public school)
swat (or swot) = fagging, hard
study, especially mathematics,
whence swot also = a mathematician ; and as ve?-b, to fag, or
study hard (see quot. 1864).

1551. Robynson, More's Utopia, ii.
11. Watching, waiting, and sweating;
hoping shortly to obtain it.

1597. Shakspeare, Richard III., v.

3. 255. If you do sweat to put a tyrant
down, You sleep in peace the tyrant being
slain.

1612. Chapman, Widow's Tears, v.
5. Come, brother, thank the Countess ;
She hath sweat to make your peace.

1622. Fletcher, Spanish Curate,
iii. 3. I could out-plead An advocate, and
sweat as much as he Does for a double
fee.

d. 1667. Cowley, Tree of Knowledge,

4. Henceforth, said God, the wretched
Sops of Earth Shall sweat for Food in
vain.

1864. Hotten, Slang Diet., s.v.
Swot. This word originated at the Royal
Military College, Sandhurst, in the broad
Scotch pronunciation of Dr. Wallace, one
of the Professors, of the word ' sweat.'

1881. Pascoe, Everyday Life in
Our Public Schools. So much for work
or swot, as the Harrovian, in common
with other boys, somewhat inelegantly
terms the more important part of instruction he receives at school.

1900. Kipling, Stalky and Co., 135.
Fags bully each other horrid ; but the
upper forms are supposed to be swottin'
for exams.

2. (common).—To suffer ; to
pay the penalty. Also (trans. ) to
beat ; to pay out.

1610. Beaumont and Fletcher,
Coxcomb, v. i. Well, Jarvis, thou hadst
wrongs, and, if I live, Some of the best
shall sweat for't.

3. (old).—See quots.

1712. Steele, Spectator, 332. These
sweaters . . . seem to me to have at
present but a rough kind of discipline
among them.

c. 1780. Ireland Sixty Years Ago,
(1847), ^x3Others were known by the
sobriquet of ' Sweaters and Pinkindindies.' It was their practice to cut off a
small portion of the scabbards of the swords
which every one then wore, and prick, or
' pink ' the persons with whom they quarrelled with the naked points, which were
sufficiently protruded to inflict considerable pain, but not sufficient to cause death.

1823. Grose, Vulg. Tongue (3rd
ed.), s.v. Sweating. A diversion practised by the bloods of the last century, who
styled themselves Mohocks : these gentlemen lay in wait to surprise some person
late in the night, when surrounding him,
they with their swords pricked him in the
posteriors, which obliged him to be constantly turning round : this they continued
till they thought him sufficiently sweated.

4. (common).—To extort, lose,
or squander money freely ; to
fleece (q.v). ; to bleed (q.v.)'.
see quot. 1784. Also to sweat
one's purse = to cause one to
spend everything.

1784. Ireland Sixty Years Ago,
(1847), ^J4They determined to amuse
themselves by sweating him, i.e., making
him give up all his fire-arms.

5. (common).—To work for
(or employ labour at) starvation
wages ; to submit to extortion (or
to extort). Hence Sweater = an
employer of underpaid labour :
usually a middleman between the
actual employer and employed ; a
grinding taskmaster. Whence

sweating-system, sweater,
sweated, etc.

1850. C. Kingsley, Cheap Clothes
and Nasty. At the honourable shops the
master deals directly with his workmen ;
while at the dishonourable ones, the work
is let out to contractors or middle-men—

Sweat.

41 Sweep.

'sweaters,' as their victims significantly
call them—who, in their turn, let it out
again, sometimes to the workmen, sometimes to fresh middle-men, so that out of
the price paid for labour on each article,
not only the workmen, but the sweater,
and perhaps the sweater's sweater, and
a third, and a fourth, and a fifth, have to
draw their profit.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., 1.
64. I have many a time heard both husband and wife—one couple especially who
were sweating for a gorgeous clothes
emporium—say that they had not time to
be clean.

1882. Contemp. Review, Ivi. 880. It is
possible that several of the minor industries
of the East End are absolutely dependent
upon the fact that a low type of sweated
and overworked labour is employed at
starvation wages.

1883. Pall Mall Gaz., 29 Oct.
Sweaters' hacks turning out frockcoats.

1886. Echo, i Dec. Recently a trade
journal published a list of sweating firms
in the clothing trade, each of which probably has grounds of action.

1887. Nineteenth Century, xxii. 489.
They declared that they were being
sweated, that the hunger for work
induced men to accept starvation rates.

6. (old).—To pawn.

c. 1811. Maher, The Night Before
Larry was Stretched. A bit in their
sacks, too, they fetched ; They sweated
their duds till they riz it.

Phrases.—In a sweat = (i)
in a hurry, and (2) in a state of
terror, impatient ; to sweat
coins = to remove part of the
metal from coins (chiefly gold) by
friction or acids, yet in »uch a
manner that the depreciation is
imperceptible.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Sweating. A mode of diminishing the
gold coin, practised chiefly by the Jews,
who corrode it with aqua regia.

1796. Wolcot, Peter Pindar, 109.
His each vile sixpence that the world hath
cheated, And his art that every guinea
sweated.

1875. Jevons, Money and Mcch. of
Exch., 115. No one now actually refuses
any gold money in retail business, so that
the sweater, if he exists at all, has all
the opportunities he can desire.

i8[?]. Thor Freduk, Sketches from
Shady Places [S. J. and C.]. By far the
most scientific form of smashing is that
which is called sweating—the modern
equivalent for the ruder art of 'clipping,'
so fully described in Macaulay's History.
Here the galvanic battery is brought into
requisition, the metal being dissolved
equally from all the surfaces of the coin
operated upon, and that, too, without
impairing the sharpness of ' image or
superscription.' Sufficient metal for the
sweater's purpose being removed, the
coin is polished afresh.

Sweat-box, subs. phr. The cell
used for prisoners while awaiting
appearance before a magistrate.

Sweater, subs. (Winchester).—1.
A servant. Hence sweatgallery — fagging juniors. See
Sweat and Swot.

2. (athletic).—A thick coat (or
flannel jersey) worn by contestants after a finish until they
can be rubbed down.

3. (Stock Exchange). — See
quot.

1871. Atkin, House Scraps
[Sweater]. A broker who works for
such small commissions as to prevent other
brokers getting the business, whilst hardly
being profitable to himself.

4. See Sweat in all senses.

Sweat-pits, subs. pi. (old).—The
arm-pits.

c. 1709. Ward, Terrcefilius, v. 27. By
nature she is almost as rank as a Red
Herring, yet . . . she so Rectifies the
Effluvia that arises from her Sweat-Pits,
that she smells as fragrant as a Perfumer'sShop next Door to a Tallow-Chandler's.

Sweep, subs, (colloquial).—1. A
sweepstakes.

Sweep's-Frill. 42

Sweetener.

2. (common).—A term of contempt : e.g. ' What a sweep the
man is ' ; ' You dirty sweep. '

To sweep the board, verb,
phr. (orig. gaming : now general).
—To take everything ; to pocket
all the stakes. Also to make a

clean sweep = tO clean out

(q.v. ) ; to remove entirely. Also
sweep = at whist, taking all the
tricks in the hand ; a slam
(q.v.).

1680. Cotton [Singer, Hist. Cards
(1816), 346]. He who hath five cards of a

suit . . . sweeps the board.

1711. Pope, Rape of Lock, iii. 50.
Spadillio first . . . Led off two captive
trumps, and swept the board.

1822. Scott, Fort. Nigel, xxi. 'Tis
the sitting gamester sweeps the board.

1868. Blunt, Ref. Church England,
316. The clean sweep which had been
made of so many ancient rights.

1869. Stowe, Oldtown, 163. They
[Indians] burnt thirty-two houses in Springfield . . . made a clean sweep on't.

The Sweeps, subs. phr. (military).—The Rifle Brigade. [Their
facings from formation ( 1800) have
been black.]

Sweep's-Frill, subs. phr. (common).—Beard and whiskers worn
round the chin, the rest of the
face being clean shaven.

1892. Tit Bits, 19 March, 421, 2.
The sweep's frill would, I imagine,
have made the Antinous, or the Apollo
Belvedere, look undignified and slovenly.

Sweet, adj. (old and thieves').—1.
Gullible ; easily deceived. 2.
Expert, dextrous, clever : e.g.
¹ Sweet's your hand ' (said of a
clever thief). Hence, to sweeten a victim = to allay his suspicions (Grose) ; to decoy, draw
in, and bite (B. E. and Grose) :
see Sweetener.

Sweetbread, subs. (old). — A
bribe ; a tip (q.v.).

1692. Hacket, Williams, ii. 163.
A few sweetbreads that I gave him out
of my purse.

Sweetbriar, subs, (venery).—The
female pubic hair : cf. Grove
of Eglantine (Carew). See
Fleece.

Sweeten, subs. (Old Cant).—A
beggar. Also as verb = to give
alms (Grose).

Verb, (cards: espec. poker).—
To contribute to the pool. Hence
sweetening = money paid into
the pool or kitty.

1896. Lillard, Poker Stories, 191.
Then along came a big jack pot that had
been enlarged by repeated sweetenings.

TO sweeten and pinch, verb.

phr. (old).—See quot.

1678. Four for a Penny (Harl.
Misc., iv. 147). A main part of his [a bumbailifFs] office is to swear and bluster . . .
and cry, ' Confound us, why do we wait ?
let us shop him ' ; whilst the other meekly
replies, ' Jack, be patient, it is a civil
gentleman, and I know will consider us ' ;
which species of wheedling, in terms of
their art, is called sweeten and pinch.

Sweetener, subs. (Old Cant).—i.

A guinea-dropper (q.V.) \ [A

coin is planted (q.v.), and a
likely passer-by is offered a share
because present at the discovery ;
to get change, ' drinks ' are suggested, and the victim goes out
fleeced].—(B. E. and Grose).

1699. Country Gentleman s Vade
Mccum, 97. Guinea dropping or sweetning is a paultry little cheat that was
recommended to the world about thirty
years ago by a memorable gentleman that
has since had the misfortune to be taken
off, I mean hang'd, for a misdemeanour
upon the highway.

Sweetheart. 43 Sweet-pea.

2. (auctioneers').—A runnerup (q.v.) of prices ; a bonnet
(q.v. ).

3. (common). — In //. = the

lips. TO fake the sweeteners = to kiss.

4. (old).—■' One who decoys
persons to game^: (Bailey). Also
sweeten, verb (B. E. and
Grose) = to decoy, to draw in.

Sweetheart, etc., subs, (old colloquial and literary).—1. A mistress, pour le bon motif ; and (2)
see quots. Also variants : sweet,
sweeting, sweetkins, sweetlips, etc. Also sweetkin, adj.
= delicate, dainty; and sweet
on = in love with ; partial to.

c. 1534. Milncr ofAbington [Hazlitt.
Early Pop. Poet., iii. 113]. Now, I pray
you, my lemman free, A gowne cloath then
buie you me . . . By Jesu, he saide, my
sweeting, I have but three shylling.

1552. Huloet, Abecdarium, s.v.
Darlynge, a wanton terme used in veneriall
speach, as be these : honycombe,
pyggisnye, swetehert, true love.

1593. Nashe, Choise of Valentynes,
89. Sweete heart, . . ., but thy self, true
lover I haue none . . . With that she
wanton faints, and falle's vpon hir bedd.

c. 1696. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew . . .
To be sweet on, cant, to coakse, wheedle,
entice or allure.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Sweet-Heart ... a girl's lover or a
man's mistress. Ibid. s.v. Sweetners . . .
To be sweet upon ; to coax, wheedle,
court or allure. He seemed sweet upon
that wench ; he seemed to court that girl.

1823. Bee, Diet. Turf, s.v. Sweet
(to be)—to talk kind, conciliating to the
other sex.

1865. Dickens, Mutual Friend, iv.
15. Missis is sweet enough on you,
Master, to sell herself up, slap, to get you
out of trouble.

1895. Oppenheim, Peer and the
Woman, 11. ii. I don't know that we
should have stopped so long, only Brown's
rather sweet on the place.

Sweetheart and bag-pudding! phr. (old: Ray).—
Said of a girl got with child.

1608. Day, Humour out of Breath,
ii. i. Farewell, sweet heart.—God a
mercy, bag-pudding.

Sweeties, subs. pi. (common).—
Sweetmeats: also sweet-stuff.

d. 1758. Ramsay, Poems, 11. 547.
Sweeties to bestow on lasses.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., 1.
216. The sweet-stuff maker (I never
heard them called confectioners) bought
his ' paper ' at the stationer's, or the old
book-shops.

1863. Thackeray, Roundabout
Papers, x. Instead of finding bonbons or
sweeties in the packets which we pluck
off the boughs, we find enclosed Mr.
Carnifex's review of the quarter's meat.

Sweet-lips, subs. phr. (common).
—i. An epicure ; a glutton.

2. See Sweetheart.

Sweet-m eat, subs. phr. (venery).
— i. The penis : see Prick.
Also (2) a kept mistress of tender
years.

Sweet meat must have sour
sauce,phr. (old).—.S^quot. It.
Se à mangiate le candele ora caga
gli stoppini.

1726. Bailey, Eng. Diet. s.v.
Sweet . . . After sweet meat comes
sour sauce ... an excellent monition to
temperance and sobriety.

Sweet-pea, subs, (women's). —
Urination : spec, in the open air.
Hence, to plant (or do) a
sweet pea = to piss (q.v.): cf.
to pluck a rose. Also in
Conundrums : ' What's the sweetest flower in the nursery ? ' or
' What flower does a woman like
after a long walk ? ' Ans. A
sweet-pea.

Sweet-scented Hole. 44

Swell.

Sweet-scented Hole, subs. phr.
(venery). — The female pudendum : see Monosyllable.

1690. Motteux. Rabelais, v. xxx.
With his nervous horn he removed all the
infection that might be lurking in some
blind cranny of the . . . sweet-scented
hole.

Sweet-tooth, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A liking for sweet things
or sweetmeats.

Swell, subs. (old).—1. See quots.
1785 and 1890. Hence, as adj.
(also swellish) = (1) elegant,
stylish, dandified ; and (2) firstrate, tip-top {q.v.). Also derivatives and combinations such
as swelldom = the world of
fashion ; to live in Swellstreet = to reside in the West
End ; a swell hung in chains
= a bejewelled man or woman ;

a howling swell (see howling) ; swell-head (or block)

= a vain coxcomb (Amer.).

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Swell, a gentleman ; but any well-dressed
person is emphatically termed a swell, or
a rank swell. A family man who appears
to have plenty of money, and makes a
genteel figure, is said by his associates to
be in Swell street. Any thing remarkable for its beauty or elegance, is called a
swell article ; so a swell crib is a
genteel house ; a swell mollisher, an
elegantly-dressed woman, etc. Sometimes,
in alluding to a particular gentleman,
whose name is not requisite, he is styled,
the swell, meaning the person who is
the object of your discourse, or attention ;
and whether he is called the swell, the
cove, or the gory, is immaterial, as in the
following (in addition to many other)
examples :—I was turned up at Chinastreet, because the swell would not
appear ; meaning, of course, the prosecutor : again, speaking of a person whom
you were on the point of robbing, but who
has taken the alarm, and is therefore on
his guard, you will say to your pall, It's of
no use, the cove is as down as a hammer ;
or, We may as well stow it, the gory s
leary.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
Cadge the swells, beg of the gentlemen.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib's Memorial.
. . . What madness could impel So rum
a flat to face so prime a swell.

1823. Bee, Diet. Turf, s.v. Non.
A . . . nob . . . differs from swell, inasmuch as the latter makes a show of his
finery ; whereas the nob, relying upon
intrinsic worth, or bonâ-fide property, or
intellectual ability, is clad in plainness.

1823. Byron, Don Juan, xi. 17.
Poor Tom was once a kiddy upon town, A
thorough varmint and a real swell. Ibid.,
xi. 19. So prime, so swell, so nutty, and
so knowing.

1835. Hook, Gilbert Gurney, 111. ii.
At the ball, my eldest girl danced with the
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and
found him very chatty, though a bit of a

swell.

1840-45. Barham, Ingo Ids by Legends
(1862), 70. No ! no !—The Abbey may do
very well For a feudal nob, or poetical
' swell.'

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., 1.
341. Not one swell in a score would
view it in any light than a ream concern.

1854. Thackeray [Leech's Pictures .
in Quarterly Review, No. 191]. Corinthian, it appears, was the phrase applied
to men of fashion and ton . . . they were
the brilliant predecessors of the swell of
the present period. Ibid. (1855), Ne%vcomes, xliii. This isn't the moment, when
all swelldom is at her feet, for me to come
forward. Ibid. (1862), Philip, xxiii. The
lady in the swell carriage, the mother of
the young swell with the flower in his
buttonhole.

c. 1864. Vance, Chickalcary Cove.
My tailor serves you well, from a perger to
a swell.

1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude,
iii. 244. It was the swell's russia—a
russia, you know, is a pocket-book.

1888. Runciman, Chequers, 38.
She's a screamer, she's a real swell.

1890. T. R. Oliphant, EtonCollege.
It is very hard to define exactly what is
meant by a swell at Eton ; but it usually
implies a boy who, brought into notice
either by athletic prowess or scholarship,
or high standing in the school, by this
means becomes acquainted with the leading members of the school, and is found on
acquaintance to develop considerable
social qualities, which make him hand and
glove with all the Eton magnates.

Swell-head. 45

Swig.

1897. Marshall, Pomes, 41. The
merest fool could tell that the lady was a

swell.

1900. Boothby, Maker of Nations,
ix. I'm no end of a swell at politics.

2. (Winchester).—In pl.—
Sunday Services ; Saints' days,
etc. : when surplices are worn.

Verb (Winchester).—To bathe;
'to swill.'

Swell-head, subs. phr. (common).— i. A drunken man: see

lushington.

2. See Swell and Swollen
head.

Swell-mobsman, subs. phr.
(common).—A well-dressed pickpocket. Hence swell-mob.

1843. Punch, iv. 129. Rich Charities
the Chapel throng, The swell mob they
are there, The Bishop's sermon is not long,
The fogle-hunter ware !

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., 11.
417. Swell-mobsmen, and thieves, and
housebreakers, and the like o' that ere.

1856. Quarterly Rev., June, 182.
The swell mobsman's eye is for ever
■ wandering in search of his prey.

c. i860. Dickens, Three Detective
Anecdotes, ii. Some of the swell mob
. . . kidded us.

1866. Hotten, Slang Diet., s.v.
Public patterers, swell mobsmen who
pretend to be Dissenting preachers, and
harangue in the open air to attract a
crowd for their confederates to rob.

Swelled-NOSE, subs. phr. (old).—
111 temper. ' Does your nose
swell (or itch) at that ? '= ' Are
you riled?'

Swell-nose, subs. phr. (old).—
Strong ale ; stingo {q.v.).

1515. De Generibus Ebriosorum, etc.
[Hodgkin, Notes and Queries, 3 S. vii.
163. In this treatise occurs names of fancy
drinks ... I select a few of the most presentable] slip-slop . . . raise-head . . .
swell-nose.

S'welp, intj. (common).—'So
help ' : usually in the adjurations,
' S'welp me bob,' or ' S'welp

my täters ' (bob, greens, etc.).

1837. Barham, Ingolds. Leg. (Dead
Drummer). For his jaw-work would
never, I'm sure, s'elp me bob, Have
come for to go for to do sich a job !

c. 1850. Old Rhyme. S'elp me bob,
My mother's a snob, My father takes in
washin'.

1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., iii.
144. They'll say, too, s'elp my greens !
and ' Upon my word and say so.'

1880. Jas. Payn, Confid. Agent, xix.
' Not another word will I say, s'help me
bob.'

1888. Runciman, Chequers, 86. I'll
pay it back, s'elp me Gord.

1891. Lie. Vict. Gaz., 13 Jan. Well,
s'elp me greens ... if you ar'n't the
greatest treat I ever did meet.

1891. Chevalier, Mrs 'Enery
'Awkins. Selp me Bob, I'm crazy, Liza,
you're a daisy.

1893. Emerson, Signor Lipfio, xiv.
So help my blessed tater if this isn't
our old Jose.

1897. Marshall, Pomes, 30. If I
wasn't sich a lidy, s'elp me bob, I'd give
the bloomin' magistrate a job.

1899. Whiteing, John St., vi.
Swelp me lucky, I ain't tellin yer no lie.

Swift, subs, (printers').—A quickworking compositor (Savage,
1841, Diet.).

Swig, subs, (colloquial).—A deep
draught: also as verb = to drink
heartily. (B. E. and Grose) ; to
pull hard (q.v.) Hence swiggled = drunk : see Screwed.

1623. Mabbe, Spanish Rogue,
(1630), ii. 208. [Oliphant, New Eng., ii.
82. Bale's swink (bibere) becomes swigge.]

1627. Middleton and Rowley,
Changeling, iv. 2. But one swig more,
sweet madam.

c. 1650. Roxburgh Ballads [Brit. Mus.,
C. 20, f. 8. 236], 'Jolly Welsh Woman.'
Now while she had gotten the jugg at her
snout, . . . Hur gave it a tug, till hur
swigg'd it half out.

Swigman. 46

Swim.

c. 1670. Old English Ballads [Brit.
Mus., C. 22, e. 2. 43]. ' Dead and Alive.'
He never left off swigging, Till he had
suckt all out.

d.ijoi. Creech, Virgil, 'Eclogues,'
iii. The flock is drained, the lambkins
swig the teat, But find no moisture, and
then idly bleat.

1706. Ward, Wooden World, 38.
Not but that he can fight, and that very
heartily too, after a lusty swig at the
Brandy.

1772. Bridges, Burlesque Homer,
246. When my landlord does not nick me
. . . But very fairly fills it full, I just can
swigg it at one pull.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib, 39. The
Hero that sits there, Swigging blue ruin
in that chair.

1835. Marryat, Pacha Many
Tales, ' English Sailor.' The sailor having taken a swig at the bottle.

1838. Beckett, Paradise Lost, 19.
Half-cocked with swigging ale and beer.

1851. Hawthorne, Seven Gables,
xi. The jolly toper swigged lustily at his
bottle.

1885. Harpers Mag., lxxi. 192.
Take a little lunch . . . and a swig of
whiskey and water.

1899. Whiteing, John St., xi. I
buy a ha'porth of bread, take a swig at a
fountain, and tramp the East End parks to
kill time.

Swigman, subs. (Old Cant).—See
quots. (Awdeley, Harman,
Dekker, B. E., and Grose).

1567. Awdeley, Frat. of Vacabondes, 5. A swygman goeth with a pedlers pack.

c. 1696. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v.
Swig-men, c. the 13th Rank of the Canting
Crew, carrying small HabberdasheryWares about, pretending to sell them to
colour their Roguery.

Swill, verb, (old colloquial : now
vulgar).—To drink (and, occasionally, to eat) piggishly : hence
as subs. = booze (q. v. ), the lap, or
the act : in contempt. Swillbowl (swiller, swill-pot,

swill-tub, or swill-belly)
= a heavy toper (or glutton) ;
swi lled = drunk : see Screwed
(B. E. and Grose).

^I53°' Jyl °f Brentford's Testament
[Furnivall], 7. [Oliphant, New Eng.,
i. 466. The verb swyll takes a new
meaning, that of bibere.]

1542. Udal, Erasmus's Apophth.,
367. Lucious Cotta . . . was taken for
the greatest swielbolle of wine in the
woorlde.

d. 1563. Bale {Works (Parker Soc),
193]. Their oiled swill-bowls and blind
Balaamites.

1580. Baret, Alvearie. Swilbolles,
potores bibuli.

1593. Harvey, Pierce's SuperogaHon, ii. 141. Wantonness was never such
a swiLLBOWL of ribaldry.

1597. Shakspeare, Richard III.,
v. 2. 9. The . . . usurping boar . . .
Swills your warm blood like wash.

1616. R. C, Times Whistle [E. E.
T. S.J, 20. They which on this day doe
drink and swill In such lewd fashion.

1652. Brome, Jovial Crew, 11. As
Tom or Tib When they at bowsing ken do

swill.

1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, 1. xxxiii.
What doth that part of our army in the
meantime which overthrows that unworthy
swill-pot Grangousier?

1725. Bailey, Erasmus, 198. The
husband, instead of my dear soul, has been
called blockhead, toss-pot, swill-tub, and
the wife sow, fool, dirty drab.

1775. Sheridan, Duenna, iii. 5. Ye
eat, and swill, and sleep, and gormandize,
and thrive.

1808. Scott, Marmion, i. 22. Let
Friar John, in safety, still . . . Roast hissing crabs, or flagons swill.

1866. Eliot, Felix Holt, xi. Swilling themselves with ale.

1899. Wyndham, Queen's Service,
xxxvi. He was swilling beer in the
canteen as if he had never done anything
else in his life.

Swim, subs, (common).—One's
particular pursuits, pitch (q.v. ),
or fancy. Hence in a good (or
bad) swim = lucky (or unlucky).

1883. Greenwood, In Strange
Company. Amongst themselves they are
skinners, knock-outs, odd-trick men, and
they work together in what . . . their profession calls a ' swim,'

Swim.

47

Swindle.

1900. Free Lance, 6 Oct., 16. 1.

Lady Dashout. ' The pity of it is that we
can't always keep the swim to ourselves.
The rich third-raters will dive in, make the
waters muddy, and copy our frocks. I
should like to make my own swim ! '

In the swim, phr. (commun).
— Participant in the times.
Hence (2) = in the 'inner circle'
or the know (q.v.); (3) = associated in any undertaking ; and
spec. (4) = a long time out of the
hands of the police (thieves').
Fr. dans le mouvement (or le
train).

1869. Macju. Mag., Nov., 71. 2. A
man is said to be in the swim when any
piece of good fortune has happened, or
seems likely to happen, to him. To have
rowed one's college-boat to the head of the
river, to have received a legacy, to have
made a good book on the Derby, are any of
them sufficient to have put one in the
swim. The metaphor is piscatorial, ' swim '
being the term applied by Thames fishermen to those sections of the river which are
especially frequented by fish. The angler
who casts his bait into these may depend
upon sport, whereas his neighbour at a
little distance may not have a nibble, being
out of the swim.

1874. Siliad, 30. 'He's in the
swim,' another Swift replies : ' Hot wather,
thin, he loiks,' Obroian cries.

1889. Harpers Mag., lxxviii. 313.
His neighbourhood is getting into the
swim of the real-estate movement.

1897. Ouida, Massarenes, 24.
Never remind me of anything I said.
I can't endure it : I believe you want to
get in the swim.

1900. Free Lance, 6 Oct., 16. 1.
Hon. Mrs. Worldley. ' Sounds distinctly appetising. Well, wherever / go,
I want to be in the swim.'

TO swim in golden grease

(oil, lard, etc.), verb. phr.
(old).—To 'roll' in bribes: see
Grease.

1605. Jonson, Fox, i. i. When you
do come to swim in golden lard.

TO make a man swim for it,

verb. phr. (thieves').—To cheat a
pal out of his share of booty.

how we apples swim,
quoth the horse-turd (ray).

See Apples.

Swimmer, subs. (Old Cant).—1.
¹ A Counterfeit (old) Coyn ' (B. E.
and Grose).

2. (old).—See quot. (also to

have a swimmer).

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Swimmer, a guard-ship, or tender ; a thief
who escapes prosecution, when before a
magistrate, on condition of being sent on
board the receiving-ship, to serve His
Majesty, is said by his palls to be

swimmered.

Swimming, adj. (common). —
Generic for plenty : thus a
swimming ( = a full or brisk)
market : cf. sick ; a swimming
( = an overfull) dish ; a swimming (= an extremely pleasant)
time, etc. Hence swimmingly
= successfully, prosperously.

1622. Fletcher, Prophetess, i. 3.
Max. Can such a rascal as thou hope for
honour ? . . . Geta. Yes ; and bear it
too, And bear it swimmingly.

1774. Bridges, Burlesque Homer,
180. Thus swimmingly the knave went
on, And killed two birds with every stone.

1809. Irving, Knickerbocker, 233.
And now, for a time, affairs went on
swimmingly.

1809. Malkin, Gil Bias [Routledge], 441. Your business is going

swimmingly.

Swindle, subs, (common). — 1.
Originally (and properly) a fraud
or imposition (in which sense see
Swindler). Also 2 (loosely
and frequently), any speculation
or matter of chance : e.g., a
lottery, a toss for drinks, a
sweepstakes, a race, etc. ; also
(more loosely still) any transaction
in which money passes : e.g.
' What's the swindle ' = ' What's
to pay (or the damage) ? '

Swindler.

4 8 Swine-dru nk.

' Why don't you pay the girl her
swindle?' = 'Why don't you
give the girl her price ? ' Swindler (q.v. ) is quite another matter,
and all quots. for it, for subs. i,
and the vei'bal sense are there
given for the sake of distinction.

1870. Legal Reports, ' Decision of
PiGOTT, J.' As to the second plea that
swindle had not a libellous meaning, this
was in a great measure carried out by
the plaintiff himself, who had advertised
that he was getting up a swindle. In
sporting circles they certainly did deal
with an extraordinary vocabulary, and
apparently did not use this word swindle
in Dr. Johnson's sense. Ibid. ' Evidence
in Davey v. Walmsley.' Mr. Hawkins—
' Is the word swindle commonly applied
to things like 1"specs."?' Witness (Mr.
Paul Walmsley, Editor, Racing Investigator)—' Certainly ! I never heard them
called by any other name. It is a
regular byword with us as a racing phrase.
Lotteries are announced and commonly
known as swindles.'

Swindler, subs. (old).—A cheat;
a rogue : spec, one who employs
petty or mean artifices, legal or
illegal, for defrauding others.
Hence swindle, subs.—a. fraud,
a deception, an imposition ; and
swindle, verb = to cheat, to
defraud. Whence, also, derivatives Such as swindleable,
swindlery, swindling, etc.

[Orig. used of German Jews who
settled in London, circa 1762.
Also by soldiers in the Seven
Years' War.]—Grose and Bee.

1776. Foote, Capuchin, ii. After
that you turned swindler, and got out of
gaol by an act for the relief of insolvent
debtors.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Swindler . . . used to signify Cheats of
every kind.

1785-6. Varenne, [Carlyle, Diamond Necklace, xvi., quoted in note 9].
' Lamotte . . . under pretext of finding a
treasure . . . had swindled one of them
out of 300 livres.'

1837. Carlyle, French Revol., 11. vi.
Swindlery and blackguardism.

1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ii.
Bedloe, a noted swindler, followed.

1866. Howells, Venetian Life, i.
Let us take, for example, that pathetic
swindle, the Bridge of Sighs.

d. 1876. M. Collins, Thoughts in my
Garden, i. 283. I look easily swindleable.

1882. Wedgwood, Eng. Etym., s.v.
Swindle. In a figurative sense the German
schivindel is applied to dealings in which
the parties seem to have lost their head, as
we say, to have become dizzy over unfounded or unreasonable prospects of
gain. The word may be translated madness, delusion. Then, in a factitive sense,
schwindeler, one who induces delusions
in others. ' Einem etwas abschwindeln,'
to get something out of another by inducing delusions ; to swindle him out of
something.

Swine, subs, (common).—A term
of the utmost contempt. Hence
Swinish (B. E.)=*greedy, gluttonous, covetous.'

1597. Shakspeare, Richard III., v.
2. 10. This foul swine Lies . . . Near to
the town of Leicester. [The boar was
Richard's cognisance.]

1889. Lie. Vict. Gaz., 4 Jan. 'Aint
that the swine of a snob that rushed me
at Battersea?

1899. Whiteing, John St., ix. 'Git
out, yer silly swine,' is the maiden's reply.

1903. Kennedy, Sailor Tramp, 11.
iii. Sailor, it looks as if we were done for
. . . That swine'11 surely make us get
off.

Phrases and Proverbial
Sayings. ' Like a swine, never
good until he come to the knife '
(of a covetous person) ; to sing

like a bird called a swine =

to grunt (Ray) ; to cast pearls
before swine (of unappreciated
action or effort).

Swine-drunk, adj. phr. (old).—
Beastly drunk : see Screwed.

1592. Nashe, Works [Grosart, ii.
82]. Äpe drunke . . . Lion drunke . . .
Swine drunke . . . Sheepe drunke. . . .

Swing.

49 Swingè.

1598. Shakspeare, All's Well, iv.
3. 286. Drunkenness is his best virtue,
for he will be swine-drunk.

Swing, subs, (colloquial).—Bent ;
a free ' hand ' or course : e.g.
to have (or take) one's swing
(or full swing) = to do as one
likes. Also to swing (a matter)

over one's head, shoulders,

etc. = to manage easily ; to swing
a business (market, prices,
etc.) = to control; to manage.

1530. Tyndale, Works [Parker
Soc], i. 530. The sect [of heretics] goeth
now in her full swing. Ibid., ii. 219.
The devil hath a great swing among us.

1542. Hall, Henry VIII., f. 5. And
there for a certayne space loytred and
lurked with Sir Thomas Broughton
knyght, whiche in those quarters bare
great swynge, and was there in great
aucthoritie.

1592. Harvey, Four Letters. Let
them have their swing that affect to be
terribly singular.

1610. Sackville, Ind. Mirr. Mag.,
260. That whilom here bare swinge
among the best.

1620. Fletcher, Little Fr. Lawyer,
ii. 3. Take your whole swing of anger ;
I'll bear all with content.

1622. Dent, Pathway, 58. If they
will needs follow their lustes, their pleasures, and their owne swinge, yet in the
end, he will bring them to judgement.

1698. Farquhar, Love and a Bottle,
ii. 3. The fellow will have his swing
though he hang for't.

1805. Godwin, Fleetwood, vii. To
thrust the world aside and take his swing
of indulgence.

1809. Malkin, Gil Bias [Routledge], 267. It was my full determination
... to take my swing about town, and
look at men and manners a little.

1837. Lytton, Maltravers, iv. ix.
Your time is up . . . you have had your

swing.

1877-85. Dixon, Hist. Ch. of England, ii. Sacrilege was in full swing.

1881. J. C. Shairp, Aspects of Poetry,
132. In the great chorus of song with
which England greeted the dawn of this
century individuality had full swing.

Verb, (common). — 1. To
hang ; see Ladder. Hence,
the swiNG = the gallows: see
Nubbing Cheat (Grose).

1542. Udall, Erasmus [Oliphant,
New Eng., i. 486.] ' Among the verbs are
to gossip . . . swing in a halter, take his
heels,' etc.

1801. Poetry of Anti-Jacobin (4th
ed.), 7. For this act Did Brownrigg swing.
Harsh laws ! But time shall come When
France shall reign, and laws be all repeal'd.

1836. Dickens, Boz. 'Drunkard's
Death.' If I'm caught, I shall swing ;
that's certain.

1837. Barham, Ingolds. Leg., 1. 229.
And now they tried the deed to hide ; For
a little bird whispered, ' Perchance, you
may swing.' Ibid. 'The Execution.'
But to see a man swing At the end of a
string, With his neck in a noose, will be
quite a new thing.

1887. Henley and Stevenson,
Deacon Brodie, iv. And is he thundering
well corpsed? . . . Then, damme, I don't
mind swinging.

TO swing the monkey, verb.

phr. (nautical).—See quot.

1883. Clark Russell, Sailor's Language, s.v. Swing the monkey . . .
striking with knotted handkerchiefs a man
who swings to a rope made fast aloft. The
person the ' monkey ' strikes whilst swinging takes his place.

Swinge, verb, (old literary). — 1.
To beat ; to thrash ; to chastise ;
to punish (B. E. and Grose).
Hence (Charterhouse) swinger
(q.v.) — a box on the ears.
Swingeing = a thrashing ;
swinge-buckler (see Swash).

c. 1280. Havelok the Dane [Skeat,
E.E.T.S. (1868), 214]. An ofte dede him
sore swinge, And wit hondes smerte dinge ;
So that the blood ran of his fleys, That
tendre was, and s withe neys.

1579. Mariage of Witt and Wisdome.
O, the passion of God ! so I shalbe
swinged ; So, my bones shalbe bang'd !
The poredge pot is stolne : what, Lob, I
say, Come away, and be hanged !

D

Swinged off. 50 Swi

1590. Spenser, Fairy Queene, i. xi.
26. The scorching flame sore swinged all
his face.

1595. Shakspeare, Two Gentlemen,
ii. i. 87. I was in love with my bed : I
thank you, you swinged me for my love.
Ibid. (1596), King John, ii. i. 288. Saint
George that swinged the dragon. Ibid.
(1598), 2 Hen. IV., v. 4. I will have you
. . . soundly swinged for this ... if you
be not swinged I'll forswear half kirtles.

1599. Greene, George a Greene.
Once he swing'd me till my bones did
ake.

1607. Devil's Charter [Steevens].
When I was a scholar in Padua, faith,
then I could have swinged a sword and

buckler.

1611. Cotgrave, Diet., s.v. Dober.
To beat, swinge, lamme, bethwacke.

1614. Fletcher, Wit Without
Money, iv. 5. Be not too bold ; for, if you
be, I'll swinge you, I'll swinge you
monstrously, without all pity.

1621. Sylvester, Du Bar tas
[Nares]. Then often swindging, with
his sinnewy train, Somtimes his sides,
somtimes the dusty plain.

1637. D avenant, Brit. Triumphans,
[Dram. Best., Davenant, ii. 282]. In
Gaul he swinged the valiant Sir Amadis.

1663. Butler, Hudibras. Whether
it be direct infrynging An oath if I should
waive this swinging.

1709. Swift, Stella, xxxix. Walpole, late secretary of war, is to be
swinged for bribery.

1763. Foote, Mayor of Garratt, i.
I would . . . swinge and leather my
lambkin.

2. (venery).—To copulate : see
Ride. Hence swinger = a performer (q.v.).

153t?]. Lyndsay, Descriptioun
[Laing, i. 156, 17]. AneswYNGEOURcoffe
amangis the wyvis.

1622. Fletcher, Beggar s Bush, iii.
i. Give her cold jelly To take up her
belly, And once a day swinge her again.

1668. Dryden, Enemy's Love, v.
And that baggage, Beatrix, how I would
swinge her if I had her here.

Swinged off, adv. phr. (old).—
See quot.

nging.

c. 1696. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v.
Swinging. . . . He is swing'd off,
damnably Clapt.

Swinging (Swindging or
Swingeing), adj. (old).—Huge,
astonishing : generic for size :
anything that beats all else : see
Swinge, verb. Hence swinger
= anything of size ; a whopper
(q.v.). Spec, an unblushing
falsehood.

1623. Mabbe, Spanish Rogue (1630),
ii. 144. A swinging pastie.

1624. Fletcher, Rule a Wife, iv. 3.
A swinging storm will sing you such a
lullaby.

1648. Herrick, Twelfe Night.
Thus ye must doe To make the wassaile
a swinger.

1672. Dryden, Assignation, iii. 8.
Yours were but little vanities ; but I have
sinn'd swingingly against my vow.

1694. Motteux, Rabelais, v. xviii.
A swingeing ass's touch-tripe fastened to
his waist.

c. 1696. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v.
Swinging. Clap, Lye, Fellow, a very great
one. I swing'd him off, I lay'd on and
beat him well-favoredly. He is swing'd
off, damnably Clapt.

1703. Farquhar, Inconstant, 1. 1.
We have rid a swinging pace from
Nemours since two this morning.

1720. Echard, Obs. Cont. Clergy,
159. How will he rap out presently half
a dozen swingers, to get off cleverly.

1725. Bailey, Erasmus, 1. 271.
Did I not tell you a swingeing Lie,
then?

1730. North, Lives of Norths. [A
certain monstrous proposition is called] a
swinger.

1734. Carey, Chronon., 3. Now,
... for a swingeing lye.

1742. Fielding, Joseph Andrews,
ii. 5. If your jury were Christians, they
must give swingeing damages, that's
all.

1859. Sala, Twice Round Clock,
4 a.m. 17. Retailing the fish at a
swingeing profit.

1872. C. D. Warner, Blacklog
Studies, 264. A placid, calm, swingeing
cold night.

Swing-tail.

Swish-tail.

1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 7 July. A
good swingeing agitation against the
House of Lords.

Swing-tail, subs. phr. (old).—A
hog (Grose).

Swinny, adj. (common).—Drunk :
see Screwed. Also Swinnied.

Swipe, subs, (old : now colloquial).
— i. A blow delivered with the
full length of the arm. As verb
= to drive (q.v.); to bang.
Hence swiPER = a hard hitter, a
slogger (q.v.), a knocker-out
(q.v.). At Harrow = to birch.

c. 1200. Life St. Katherine [E.E.T.S.],
2452. Swipte hire of that heaned.

1857. Hughes, Tom Brown's Schooldays, 11. viii. Jack Raggles, the long-stop,
toughest and burliest of boys, commonly
called S wiper Jack . . . The first ball of
the over, Jack steps out and meets, swiping
with all his force.

1886. Field, 4 Sep. In driving for
Tel-el-Kebir, Kirk had a long swipe off
the tee.

1901. Free Lance, 9 Mar., 558, 2. I
am indebted to Mr. Gilbert Jessop, the
well-known bowler and swiper (I hope the
word has not gone out), for the excellent
and temperate article which he contributes
to another part of this number.

1903. Punch's Almanack, 11. Dicky
Sinclair . . . hit a tremendous swipe, and
ran eight before they had the sense to call
' Lost Ball.'

2. (common).—In pi. =thin,
washy beer ; small beer : also
(schools) any poor tipple. As verb
= to drink. Hence swipey (or
swiped) = drunk ; and swipes =
a potman (Grose). Also see
Purser's swipes.

1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, xiii.
Small swipes—more of malt than hop—
with your leave I'll try your black bottle.

1838. Beckett, Paradise Lost, 32.
I have nought to drink but swipes.

1843. Dickens, Chuzzlewit, xxviii.
He's only a little swipey, you know.

Verb. (American).—To steal :
see Prig.

1900. Flynt, Tramps, 43. Some
one suggested a clever plan by which even
a can of preserves could be ' swiped ' as
they called it.

1903. Kennedy, Sailor Tramp_K 1.
iv. That is rotten hard work. It's a job
I'd swipe from no man.

Swish, verb, (common).—To flog.
Hence swishing = a thrashing.

ss-?. Thackeray, Misc., ii. 470.
I pity that young nobleman's or gentleman's case : Dr. Wordsworth and assistants
would swish that error out of him in a
way that need not here be mentioned.

d. 1876. M. Collins, Thoughts in my
Garden, ii. 22. He has been known to
argue with the head-master as to whether
he ought to be swished.

1884. Yates, Auto., 1. ii. To smoke
a penny cigar with constant anticipation of
being caught and swished.

1891. Harry Fludyer, 47. He complained of us and Tipkins, and I got
swished the other day.

Swished, adj. (old).—Married
(Grose).

Swish-swash, subs. phr. (old).—
Any weak beverage ; slops
(q.v. ).

1577. Harrison, Descr. Eng.
[Holinshed], 170. There is a kind of
swish-swash made also in Essex, and
diverse other places, with honicombs and
water, which the homélie countrie wives,
putting some pepper and a little other spice
among, call mead, verie good in mine
opinion for such as love to be loose-bodied
at large, or a little eased of the cough ;
otherwise it differeth so much from the
true metheglin as chalke from cheese.

1884. Dowell, Taxes in England,
iv. 55. The small sour swish-swash of
the poorer vintages of France.

Swish-tail, subs. phr. (old
poachers'). — 1. A pheasant
(Grose). Also (2) a horse with
undocked tail ; and (3) a schoolmaster, a bumbrusher (q.v.).

Swiss Admiral. 52

Swoddy.

Swiss Admiral, subs.phr. (naval).
—A pretender to naval rank : cf.
Fr. amiral suisse = z. naval officer
solely employed on shore, or who
has never been to sea.

Switch, verb, (venery).—To copulate : see Ride and cf. Swinge.

1772. Bridges, Burlesque Homer,
297. If Paris had not got enough Of
trimming her bewitching buff, But longs
to switch the gypsy still.

To switch in, verb. phr.
(American).—To be expeditious in
movement.

Swive, verb. (venery). — To
copulate : see Ride (Grose).
Hence swiVER = a performer
{q.v.), a wencher(^.z>.); Queen
of Swiveland = Venus.

.... MS. Cantab., Ff. ii. 38, f.
136. A ! seyde the pye, by Godys wylle,
How thou art swyved y schalle telle.

.... MS. Lincoln, A. i. 17, f.
149. And now ere sary swywers brokyne
owte of bande, Thay fille alle fülle this
Ynglande, and many other lande. In
everilk a toune ther es many one, And
everilk wyfe wenys hir selfe thar scho hafes
one.

1383. Chaucer, Cant. Tales,
Miller's Tale, 666 [Skeat (1895), 1. v.,
in]. Thus swyved was the carpenteres
wyf, For al his keping and his Ialousye ;
and Absolon hath kist hir nether ye. Ibid.,
1. 4178. Yon wench wol I swive, etc.

c. 1508 [*?], Colyn Blowbols Testament,
[MS. Rawl., C. 86, fol. 106, verso]. Alle
tho that ben very good drynkers, And eke
also alle feoble swyvers, And they also
that can lyft a bole.

1598. Fi.orio, Worlde of Wördes,
s.v. Fottere. To iape, to sard, to fucke,
to swive, to occupy. [Also see=Fottarie,
Fottetrice, Fottitire, and Fottitura.]

1612. Cotgrave, Diet. s.v. Chevaucherie. A riding, a swiving.

c. 1620. Percy Folio MS., 455. Of all
the ffishes in the Sea Give me a woman's
swiving.

1656. Fletcher, Martiall, xi. 98.
I can swive four times in a night ; but thee
Once in four years I cannot occupie.
Ibid., Poems, 101. Nor will I swive thee
though it bee Our very first nights jollitie.
Nor shall my couch or pallat lye In common
both to thee and I.

1659. Legend Capt. Jones [Halliwell]. Knights, squires, fools, In every
town rejoice at his arrival, The townsmen
where he comes their wives do swive all.

d. 1680. Rochester, Ramble {Works,
1718). And so may that false woman thrive
That dares prophane the c-1 I swive.

1686. Dorset, Faithful Catalogue
[ Works (1718), ii. 33]. And from St James's
to the land of Thüle, There's not a Whore
who swives so like a Mule.

1741. Voyage to Lethe, 7. The
Charming Sally, built by the celebrated
Herman Swiveitt, on the River Medway.

Swivel-eyed, adj. phr. (old).—
Squinting (Grose). Hence
swivel-eye = a squint-eye ; a

BOSS-EYE (q.V.).

1865. Dickens, Mutual Friend, ii.
12. She found herself possessed of what is
colloquially termed a swivel-eye.

Swivelly, adj. (common). —
Drunk : see Screwed.

Swizzle (or Swizzy), subs.
(common). — 1. Generic for
drink ; also (2) various compounded drinks—rum and water,
ale and beer mixed, and (West
Indies) what is known in America
as a cock-tail. As verb —to
tope, to swill (q.v.) ; and
swizzLED = drunk ; also see

SCREWED.

1850. Hann ay, Singleton Fontenoy.
' It serves me right for deserting rum, my
proper tipple. Boy, the amber fluid ! '
Here Mr. Snigg mixed himself some
swizzle and consoled himself.

Swobber. See Swabber.
Swoddy. See Swad.

Swollenhead. 5 3

Syntax.

Swollenhead. To have a swollen head, verb. phr. (common).
—I. To put on airs ; to be filled
with a violent sense of one's own
importance. Also (2) to be
drunk : see Screwed. Also

swelled-head.

1898. Gould, Landed at Last, vi.
You have got a swollen head this morning. . . . Had too much to drink last
night.

1900. Nisbet, In Sheep's Clothing,
iv. iii. The candid friend is like a black
draught ; wholesome, perhaps, during
periods of plethora and swollen head,
but decidedly debilitating if too long
continued.

Swop. ''See Swap.

Sword-racket, subs. phr. (old).
—Enlisting in different regiments,
and deserting after taking the
bounty.

Swot. See Sweat.

In a swot, phr. (Shrewsbury).
—In a rage.

Sydney-sider (or Bird), subs,
phr. (Australian). —A convict.
[Sydney was originally a convict
settlement.]

Syebuck, subs. (old).—Sixpence
(Grose).

Syntax, subs. (old).—A schoolmaster (Grose).

To a T.

54 Tabernacle.

O a T, phr. (colloquial).— Exactly ;
to a nicety ; as
true as an angle
drawn with a Tsquare.

1698. Farquhar,
Love and a Bottle,
iv. 3. He answered the description the
page gave to a t, sir.

1700. Labour in Vain [Harl. Misc.,
vi. 387]. Having cajoled my inquirer, and
fitted his humour to a T.

1759-67. Sterne, Tristram Shandy,
ii. 5. We could manage this matter to
aT.

1899. Marsh, Crime and Criminal,
xxii. Levett turned out a regular trump,
and they hit it off together to a T.

TO be marked with a T,

verb. phr. (old).—Known as a
thief. [Formerly convicted thieves
were branded with a ' T ' in the
hand. ]

T. t.,phr. (American). — ' Too
thin ' or ' too transparent ' : e.g.
¹ The story is T. T.'

Tab, subs. (American). — 1. A
check ; an account. To keep
tab = to keep watch.

1884. Century, xxxviii. 882. There
are fellows in the office quietly keeping
tab on them.

2. (tailors').—In //.= the ears.

To drive tab, verb. phr. (old).
—' To go out on a party of
pleasure with a wife and family '
(Grose).

The Tab, subs. phr. (London).
—The Metropolitan Tabernacle
in Newington Causeway.

Ta bar der, subs. (Univ.). — A
scholar on the foundation of
Queen's College, Oxford. —Wood,
Athen. Oxon. (1692).

1822. Nares, Glossary, s.v. Tabard.
The name of tabarder is still preserved
in Queen's College, Oxford, for scholars,
whose original dress was a tabard. They
are part of the foundation, which consists
of, a provost, 16 fellows, 2 chaplains, 8
tabarders, 12 probationary scholars, and
2 clerks.—Oxf. Univ. Cal.

Tabby, subs, (colloquial). — r. An
old maid ; hence (2) a spiteful
tattler : cf. Cat (Grose).
Tabby-party = a gathering of
women.

1761. G. Colman, Jealous Wife, ii.
3. I am not sorry for the coming in of
these old tabbies, and am much obliged
to her ladyship for leaving us to such an
agreeable tête-à-tête.

1774. Bridges, Burlesque Homer,
246. This made th' old tabbies swear
they'd never Fall out, but live good friends
for ever.

d. 1855. Rogers [Trevelyan, Macaulay, i. 241]. When he can get into a
circle of old tabbies, he is just in his
element.

Tabernacle, subs, (religious).—
See quot.

1872. Hall, False Philology, 24,
Note. The shed in Moorfields which
Whitefield used as a temporary chapel was
called ' The Tabernacle ' ; and, in the
scornful dialect of certain Church-ofEngland men, Methodist and such-like
places of worship have, since then, been
known as tabernacles.

Table. 5 5

Tackle.

SeeTiN Tabernacle and Tab.

Table. To turn the Tables,
verb. phr. (colloquial). — To
reverse matters (B. E. ).

1692. Lestrange, Fables. They
that are honest would be arrant knaves, if
the tables were turned.

1694. Congreve, Double Dealer, iv.
13. I have an after-game to play that

shall turn the tables.

d. 1701. Dryden [Century Diet.]. If
it be thus the tables would be turned
upon me ; but I ghould only fail in my vain
attempt.

1809. Malkin, Gil Bias [Routledge], 217. The gang upon whom we
turned the tables were people of very
bad character.

1885. D. News, 28 Sept. The west
countrymen being victorious, but the
tables were turned in three following
years.

Table-cloth (The), subs. phr.
(colonial).—A white cloud covering the top of Table Mountain.

Tace. Tace is Latin for a
candle, phr. (old). — A cant
phrase in the 18th century
suggesting the expediency of
silence. [Latin, tacire. Grose.]

1710. Swift, Polite Cond., ii.
Brande is Latin for a goose, and tace is
Latin for a candle.

1751. Fielding, Amelia, i. x.
Tace, Madam, answered Murphy, is
latin for a candle ; I commend your
prudence.

Tach, subs, (back slang).—A hat:
see Golgotha.

Tachs, subs. (Tonbridge School).
—A fad ; a mental eccentricity.
[Cf. quots.]

1822. Nares, Glossary, s.v. Tade
or Tatch. A blot, spot, stain, or vice.

1847. Halliwell, Archaic Words,
s.v. Tache ... A quality or disposition ; a trick ; enterprise.

Tack, subs, (common).—Generic
for food: specifically (i)='bad
food ' or ' bad malt liquor ' ( Halliwell). Hence (2), in combination : e.g. hard-tack = coarse
fare or (army and navy) biscuit
as distinguished from bread ;
soft-tack = (a) good fare, and
(b) bread. Also Tackle. At
Sherborne School tack = a feast
in one's study.

i8[?]. Fish, of U. States, v. ii. 228.
For supper in the cabin : salt beef and
pork, warm soft tack, butter, sugar,
tea, etc.

TO tack together, verb. phr.
(common).— To marry : cf.
Hitch, Splice, Noose, etc.

1754. Foote, Knights, ii. She falls
in love with . . . her father's chaplain ;
... I slips on Dominie's robes . . .
passed myself on her for him, and we
were tacked together.

Tacker, subs, (provincial). — A
great falsehood (Halliwell).

Tacket, subs, (provincial).— The
penis : see Prick.

Tackle, subs. (old).—1. A mistress : see Tart (B. E. and
Grose).

2. (old). —'Good clothes'(B. E.
and Grose).

3. (venery).—The penis and
testes : see Cods and Prick.

4. (thieves').—A watch chain :
a red tackle = a gold chain.

1877. Horsley, Jottings from Jail.
One day I went to Croydon and touched
for a red toy and red tackle, with a
large locket.

1888. Sims, Plank Bed Ballad
[Referee, 12 Feb.]. A toy and a tackle
—both red-'uns.

Tad. 56 Tag.

Verb, (colloquial). — To do
with energy ; to set to work ; to
cope with ; to attack : generic.
Thus to tackle ( = to attempt
the solution of) a problem ; to
tackle ( = to attempt) a woman :
to tackle ( = to close with) a
burglar, etc.

1844. Major Jones's Courtship, 53.
It tuck a feller mighty wide between the
eyes to tackle that tree, for it was a
whopper.—Ibid., Travels [Bartlett]. I
shook the two fellows off my trunks
monstrous quick, and was going to tackle
the chaps what had my carpet-bag.

1858. New York Times, 9 Aug.
The people are no ways backward about
discussing the subject of Mormonism. . . .
One of the gentry tackled Governor
Powell the other day, determined to make
a convert.

1862. Thackeray, Philip, xxi.
Tackle the lady, and speak your mind
to her as best you can.

rf.1868. S. Lover \hnp. Diet.]. The
old woman . . . tackled to for a fight
in right earnest.

1869. Stowe, Oldtown, 168. They
was resolute, strong, hard-workin' women.
They could all tackle a hoss, or load
and fire a gun.

1885. Field, 4 April. A paid collector
would be infinitely more successful than
any number of printed appeals signed by
gentlemen who could not tackle people
personally.

1887. Punch, 10 Sep. in. Ifafeller
would tackle a feminine fair ... he 'as
got to be dabs at the cackle.

Tad, subs. (American).—"Perhaps
an abbreviation of 'tadpole.' A
very small boy, especially a small
street-boy" (Century)', "little
tads, small boys ; old tads, graybeards, old men" (Bartlett).

2. (provincial). — Excrement
(Halliwell).

3. (American).—A wencher ;
a mutton-monger (q.v.).

Taf, adj. (back slang).—Fat; e.g.,
ta f eno = a fat man or woman
(lit. =fat one).

Taff, subs. (Christ's Hospital).—A
potato.

Taffy, subs. (old).—I. A Welshman. Hence Taffy's Day = St.
David's Day, the ist March (B.E.
and Grose). [A Welsh pronunciation of ' Davy.']

1577. Harrison, Descr. Eng. 206.
[Oliphant, New Eng. i. 595. A Welshman is called a David (taffy)].

1661. Merry Drollery [Ebsworth].
taffie [a Welshman].

. . . Old Rhyme. Taffy was a
Weisham ; Taffy was a thief.

2. (American). — Flattery ;

blarney (q.V. \ soft-soap (q.V. ).

As verb = to flatter. [Taffy =
toffee.]

1879. New York Tribune, 16 Sep.
There will be a reaction, and the whole
party will unite in an offering of taffy.

Tag, subs. (Winchester football).—
An off-side kick : also as verb.

c.1840. Mansfield, School Life (1866),
237. Tag . . . When a player has kicked
the ball well forward, and has followed it,
if it was then kicked back again behind
him by the other side, he was then obliged
to return to his original position with his
own side. If the ball had, in the meantime, been again kicked in front of him,
before he regained his position, and he
was to kick it, it would be considered
unfair, and he would be said to tag.

Tag, rag, and bobtail See
Rag, senses 1, 2, 3, and add the
following quots.

(/.1599. Spenser, State of Irelana.
They all came in both tagge and
ragge.

1610. Jonson, Alchemist, i. 5.
Gallants, men and women, and All sorts,
tag-rag.

1637. Heywood, Royal King [Pearson, Works (1894), vi. 14]. Stood I but in
the midst of my followers, I might say I
had nothing about me but tagge and
ragge.

Tag-end.

57

Tail.

183t?]. Greville, Memoirs, 19 Jan.
He [William IV.] lives a strange life at
Brighton, with tagrag and bobtail about
him, and always open house.

1837. Barham, Ingolds. Leg. 11. 109.
Tag, Rag, and Bobtail are capering
there.

Tag-end, subs. phr. (colloquial).—
The fag-end ; the concluding
portion.

1891. E. L. Bynner, Begums
Daughter, xix. She heard the tag-end
of the conversation.

Taglioni, subs, [obsolete]. An
overcoat : named after the dancer.

1837. Barham, Ingolds. Leg., ' S.
Rom wold.' I've bought to protect myself
well, a Good stout Taglioni and gingham
umbrella.

Tagrhyme, subs. (old).—A

rhymester.

1698. Farquhar, Love and a Bottle
ii. 3. I long to see Mr. Tagrhyme . . .
these poets must have something extraordinary in their faces.

Tagster, subs, (provincial).—A
scold, a virago (Halliwell).

Tagtail, subs, (colloquial).—A
parasite ; a hanger-on.

Tail, subs, (vulgar).—1. The
lower or latter end ; the behind
(q.v.): see Arse. Hence, Kiss
my tail = Kiss my arse: a contemptuous retort ; to turn tail
= (1) to turn one's back on ; (2)
to run away, to shirk ; top over
tail = arse over head ; the

tail end = the fag-end (q.v.).

. . . Chester Plays, ii. 176. Thou
take hym by the toppe and I by the tayle,
A sorrowfull songe in faith he shall singe.

. . . MS. Harl., 1701, f. 59. Wyth
here kercheves the devylys sayle, Elles
shul they go to helle bothe top and
tayle.

[?]. MS. Cantab., Ff. ii. 38. f. 76.
Soche a strokk he gaf hym then, that the
dewke bothe hors and man turned toppb
ovyr tayle,

14 t?]. Turnament 0/ Totenhavi
[Hazlitt, Early Pop. Poet., iii. 97].
Thei did but ran ersward, And ilke a man
went bakward Toppe ouer tayle.

1460. Frere and Boye [Hazlitt,
Early Pop. Poet., iii. 79]. Lowde coude
she blowe. Some laughed without fayle,
Some sayd : dame, tempre thy tayle.

d. 1529. Skelton, Bouge 0/ Court.
[Chalmers, Eng. Poets, ii. 253]. What
reuell route quod he, and gan to rayle
How ofte he hit Ienet on the tayle . . .
How ofte he knocked at her klycket gate.
[Possibly sense 2.]

1551. Still, Gammer Gurions
Needle [Dodsley, Old Plays (Hazlitt),
iii. 216]. Thou wert as good kiss my

tail.

1562. Jack Juggler [Dodsley, Old
Plays (Hazlitt), ii. 130]. Jack Jugg. . . .
thy wits do thee fail. Care. Yea, marry,
sir, you have beaten them down into my
tail.

d. 1586. Sir P. Sidney (Latham).
Would she turn tail . . . and fly quite
out another way.

1595. Shakspeare, Two Gent. ii. 3.
Pan. Where should I lose my tongue?
Launce. In thy tale, Pan, In thy tail !

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wördes, s.v.
Culo. The arse, tail, fundament, or
bum.

1599. Hall, Satires, 1. i. 11. Nor
can I crouch and writhe my fawning tayle.
Ibid., iv. ii. And seven more plod at a
patron's tayle.

1611. Cotgrave, Diet., s.v. Cul.
An arse, bumme, tayle, nockandroe,
fundament.

1621. Sylvester, Du Barlos. 'The
Furies.' Our Sire . . . Turn'd tail to
God, and to the Fiend his face.

1632. Jonson, Magnetic Lady, v. 4.
Would thou had'st a dose of pills ... to
make thee turn tail t'other way. Ibid.
(1633), Tale opa Tub, iii. 3. Pup. Let me
take this rump out of your mouth. Dame
T. What mean you by that, sir? Pup.
Rump and taile's all one ... I would
not say sur-reverence, the tale Out of your
mouth, but rather take the rump.

1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, i. 117.
Barytonising with his tail.

1663. Butler, Hudibras, 1. iii. Yet
shame and honour might prevail To keep
thee thus from turning tail.

Tail.

58

Tail.

1673. Cotton, Burlesque upon
Burlesque (1770), 260. And every Goddess
lay her Tail As bare and naked as my
Nail.

1678. Cotton, Virgil Travestie, i.
(1770), 9. He was, in fine, the loud'st of
Farters, Yet could . . . Correct his Tail,
and only blow If there Occasion were, or
so.

1695. Congreve, Love for Love, i. 1.
Without a whole tatter to her tail.

d. 1704. Brown, Works, i. 164. Several
tails turned up at Paul's School, Merchant
Taylors, etc., for their Repetitions.

c. 1709. Ward, Terrœfilius, ii. 28.
Let your Servants do their Business without your Watching at their Tails.

1771. Smollett, Humph. Clinker
(1900), 105-9. An't you ashamed, fellow,
to ride postillion without a shirt to cover
your backside from the view of the ladies ?
. . . Try if you cans't make peace with
my sister. Thou hast given her much
offence by showing her thy naked tail.

1774. Bridges, Burlesque Homer,
53. Upstarts the king, and with his nail
Scratch'd both his head, and ears, and
tail.

1872. Black, Phaeton, xxii. The
tail-end of a shower caught us.

1874. Siliad, 15. A general Hubbub
all the force misled, And one, a Highland
Chief, turned tail and fled.

2. (venery). — (a) The penis :
see Prick ; (b) the femaleptidendum : see Monosyllable ; (c) a
harlot : see Tart (Grose). Also
(penis or pudendum) tail-gap,
tail-gate, tail-hole, tailpike, tail-pin, tail-pipe, tailtrimmer, tail-tree or tailtackle (penis and testes). Hence
tail-feathers = the pubic hair :
see Fleece ; tail-flowers = the
menses; tail-fruit = children ;
tail-fence = the hymen ; tailjuice = (a) the semen and (b)
urine : also tail-water ; tailwork (or tail-wagging) =
copulation; to tail ('to make
a settlement in tail,' 'to go
tail-tickling' or twitching,

'to play at up-tails all,' 'to
turn up one's tail,' or to ' get
shot in the TAiL') = to copulate ; tail-trading = prostitution ; a tenant-in-tail = (l) a

whore (a wag-tail), (2) a keeper
(q.v.) and (3) the penis; light

(hot, or warm) in the tail =

wanton ; hot-tailed (or with
tail on Fi re) = infected. See
Squirrel.

1363. Langland, Piers Plowman,
1619. For she is tikel of hire tail . . .
As commune as a cartway.

1383. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, 60478. For al so siker as cold engendreth
hayl, A likerous mouth most han a
likerous tayl.

c. 1400. Coventry Myst., 134. Of hire
tayle oftetyme be lyght, And rygh tekyl
undyr the too.

[?]. Commune Secretary and
/alozusye [Halliwell]. She that is fayre,
lusty, and yonge . . . Thynke ye her
tayle is not lyght of the seare.

d. 1529. Skelton, Bouge of Court
[Chalmers, Eng. Poets, ii. 253J. I lete
her to hyre that men may on her ryde . . .
She hath got me more money with her
tayle Than hath some shyppe that into
bordews sayle.

i5[?]. MS. Poem [Dr. Bliss],
quoted by Halliwell. Alyed was
countess would be, For she would still be
tenaunt in taile To any one she could
be.

1599. Hall, Satires, iv. iv. The
maidens mocke, and call him withered
leeke, That with a greene tayle hath an
hoary head.

1647-80. Rochester, Poems. Then
pulling out the rector of the females, Nine
times he bath'd him in their piping tails.

i6[?]. Old Song, 'John Anderson,
^mY Jo-' John Anderson, my Jo, John,
When that ye first began, Ye hae as guid
a tail-tree As ony ither man.

1694. Motteux, Rabelais, v. xxi.
They were pulling and hauling the man
like mad, telling him that it is the most
grievous . . . thing in nature for the tail
to be on fire. Ibid. xxx. I saw some
. . . more diligent in tailwagging than
any water-wagtail. Ibid. (1694), Pant.
Prog. Hedgewhores, wagtails, cockatrices.

Tail.

59

Tail.

1697. Vanbrugh, Prov. Wife, iv. 6.
You slut you—you wear an impudent lewd
face ; a damned designing heart ; and a

tail—a tail full of--(Falls fast

asleep).

c. 1704. Ward, Merry Observations,
88. Tail-trading tenants will have so
little to do that they won't be able to earn
a Week's Rent in ready Money in a
month. Ibid. (c. 1709), Terraflius, iii.
39. Destroys the Worm call'd Friskin,
very troublesome to the Tails of most
young Women.

d. 1704. Brown, Works, i. 170.
Women . . . busy with their Heads in the
Day-time, and Tails in the evening.
Ibid. ii. 104. Your lover, fair lady, is
so fast link'd to his old Duegna's tail
[Madame Maintenon] that he thinks no
more of you. Ibid. 187. 'Tis enough to
put musick into the tail of an old woman
of fourscore. Ibid. ii. 262. After a good
week's work send her home with foul linen
. . . no money, and perhaps a hot tail
into the bargain.

d. 1742. Somervile, Incurious Bencher
[Chalmers, Eng. Poets, xi. 238]. If you
will burn your tail to tinder, Pray
what have I to do to hinder?

d. 1744. Pope [Chalmers, Eng. Poets,
xii. 281]. 'To Mr. John Moore.' The
nymph whose tail is all on flame, Is
aptly termed a glow-worm.

1774. Bridges, Burlesque Homer,
103. We all are mortal men and frail,
And oft are guided by the tail.

1782. Stevens, Songs Comic and
Satirycall, ' The Sentiment Song.' The
nick makes the tail stand, the farrier's
wife's mark !

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Cab . . . Mother, how many tails have
you in your cab ? how many girls have you
in your nanny house ?

3. (colloquial).—A woman's
dress : espec. when trailing on
the ground.

1774. Bridges, Burlesque Homer,
264. Brimstones with their sweeping
tails.

1883. Century, xxxvi. 128. He
crossed the room, stepping over the tails
of gowns, and stood before his old friend.

4. (common).—The reverse of
a coin : spec, the side opposite
to that bearing a head (q.v.) :
chiefly in phrase ' heads or tails '
in tossing. Hence neither
head nor tai l = neither one nor
the other ; quite different.

1774. Bridges, Burlesque Horner,
115. 'Tis heads for Greece, and tails for
Troy . . . Two farthings out of three were
tails.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Harp ... is also the Irish expression for
' woman ' or ' tail ' used in tossing up in
Ireland.

1809. Malkin, Gil Bias [Routledge], 212. The horse was laden besides
with a large bundle of stuffs, of which we
could make neither head nor tail.
. . . He had rather toss up heads or tails
with them than oblige a plain citizen in
an honest way.

1821. Egan, Life in Lond. 279.
Note. If the party . . . calls heads or
tails, and all three coins are as he calls
them, he wins.

5. (common).—In pl.=-z. tailcoat, as distinguished from a
jacket. Charity-tails (Harrow)
= a tail-coat worn by a boy in the
Lower School who is considered
by the Headmaster to be tall
enough to require them.

1888. St. Nicholas, xiv. 406. Once
a boy has reached the modern remove
[Harrow], he puts on his tails or tail-coat.

6. (common).—A girl's hair,
curled, plaited, etc., and allowed to
hang down the back in a single
strand.

1887. Congregationalist, 4 Aug. I
noticed half a dozen groups of slender
damsels with short frocks and long tails.

7. (colloquial.—A line of
persons waiting in rank ; a
queue: as outside a theatre,
booking-office, etc.

8. (old colloquial).—.Sarquots.

Tail.

60

Tail.

1363. Langland, Piers Plowman
(C), iii. 196. Ich haue no tome to telle
the tail that hem folweth.

ï633. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii. 1.
Why should her worship lack Her tail of
maids, more than you do of men ?

1814. Scott, Waverley, xvi. 'Ah!
... if you . . . saw but the Chief with
his tail on!' 'With his tail on?'
echoed Edward. . . . ' Yes—that is, with
all his usual followers, when he visits those
of the same rank.'

d. 1845. Hood, Tale of a Trumpet.
Ay, now's the nick for her friend Old
Harry To come with his tail like the bold
Glengarry.

9. (Old Cant).—A sword (B.
E. and Grose); tail-drawer =
' a sword stealer ' (B. E.).

10 (cricket).—The last two or
three men in a batting eleven to
go to the wickets.

Verb. (Australian).—To tend
sheep ; to herd cattle.

1844. Port Phillip Patriot, 5 Aug.
3, 6. I know many boys, from the age of
nine to sixteen years, tailing cattle.

1855. Mundy, Our Antipodes, 153.
The stockman, as he who tends cattle and
horses is called, despises the shepherd as a
grovelling, inferior creature, and considers
' tailing sheep ' as an employment too
tardigrade for a man of action and spirit.

1890. Boldrewood, Colonial Reformer, xix. 239. The cattle, no longer
'tailed,' or followed daily, as a shepherd
does sheep.

Phrases and Combinations.
Tail of the eye = the outer
corner of the eye ; cow's-tail
(nauitical) = a frayed rope's-end,
one not properly knotted : hence
hanging in cow's tails (said
of a badly kept ship) ; tailend = the latter part, the windup ; with one's tail between
one's legs = cowed, humiliated,
conscious of defeat : also with

tail down ; with tail up = in

good form or spirits ; with tail

out = angry ; with tail in the
water = thriving ; to flee the
tail = to near the end ; to twist
the lion's tail = to gird at
England (or the English people) ;
to cast (lay or throw) salt
on the tail (see salt, and add
special quots. infra—Grose).

1670. Ray, Proverbs [Bohn], 427.
It is a foolish bird that stayeth the laying

salt upon her tail.

1838. Beckett, Paradise Lost, 66.
Or catching birds, which never fails, If
you put salt upon their tails.

1859. Reade, Love Me Little, xiv.
Miss Lucy noticed this out of the tail of
her eye.

1894. Baker, New Timothy, 264.
Tzed and Toad come, and very much as if
with their tails between their legs.

1899. Whiteing, John Street, vii.
Covey stands at the street corner with his
hands in his pockets, and observes out of
the tail of his eye.

Also proverbs and proverbial sayings: 'The devil
wipes his tail with the poor
man's pride ' (Ray) ; ' betweene
two stools my taile goes to the
ground ' (Heywood) ; ' To make
a rod for one's own tail '
(Heywood) ; ' Like lambs, you
do nothing but suck and wag
your tails ' ; ' She goes as if
she cracked nuts with her tail ' ;
' To look like a dog that has lost
its tail ' ; ' She's like a cat,
she'll play with her own tail ' ;
' Make not thy tail broader than
thy wings ' ( = Keep not too many
attendants) ; ' His tail will catch
the chin-cough ' (said of one sitting
on the ground) ; ^c As hasty as a
sheep, as soon as the tail is up
the turd is out' ; 'As free as an ape
is of his tail ' ; ' He that aught
the cow gangs nearest her tail ' ;
' He holds the serpent by the tail'

Tail-block.

61

Tailor.

(ofanythingabsurd or foolish); 'To
grow like a cow's tail' (i.e.
downwards) ; ' Lay the head of
the sow to the tail of thegrice';
' To have a slippery eel by the
tail ' (of anything uncertain) ;
' It melts like butter in a sow's
tail ' ; ' To swallow an ox, and
be choked with the tail ' ; ' The
higher the ape goes, the more he
shows his tail'; 'There is as
much hold of his word as of a wet
eel by the tail ' ; ' He hath eaten
a horse and the tail hangs out of
his mouth.'

Tail-block, subs. phr. (nautical).
—A watch.

Tail-board, subs. phr. (nursery).
—The back flap of a little girl's
breeches.

Tail-buzzer, subs. phr. (thieves').
—A pickpocket.

Tailer (or Taylor), intj. (old).—
A fall on the breech ; a pratfall (q.v.) ; and (2) an exclamation on falling, or unexpectedly
sitting down on one's tail (q.v.).

[Cf crupper (or cropper),
header, etc.].

1592. Shakspeare, Mid. Night's
Dream, ii. 1. Sometime for three-foot
stool [she] mistaketh me, Then slip I from
her bum, down topples she, And, tailer,
cries !

Tailor. Nine (ten, or three)

tailors make a man, subs. phr.

(old).—See quots.

1605. Shakspeare, Lear, ii. 2. 60.
Kent. A tailor made thee. Corn. Thou
art a strange fellow : a tailor make a
man?

1607. Dekker, Northward Hoe, ii.
i. They say three tailors go to the
making up of a man, but I am sure I had

four tailors and a half went to the
making of me thus.

1630. Taylor, Works, iii. 73. Some
foolish knave (I thinke) at first began The
slander that three taylers are one

man.

1635. Glapthorne, The Lady
Mother, i. 1. He was by trade a taylor,
sir, and is the tenth part of the bumbast
that goes to the setting forth of a man.

1635. Quarles, Emblems, iv. 15.
The nine sad knells of a passing bell.

d. 1643. Nabbes [quoted by Nares].
I would take the wall of three times
three tailors, though in a morning, and
at a baker's stall.

1663. Butler, Hudibras, 1. ii. The
foe, for dread Of your nine-worthiness,
is fled.

d. 1665. T. Adams, Soul's Sickness
[Works, i. 487]. God made him a man,
he hath made himself a beast ; and now
the tailor (scarce a man himself) must
make him a man again.

1671. Buckingham, Rehearsal, iii.
i. Why . . . marry? If nine Taylors
make but one man ; and one woman
cannot be satisfi'd with nine men : what
work art thou cutting out for thy self?

c. 1709. Ward, Terrœfilius, v. 31-33.
An old Wealthy Limb-trimmer . . . the
very ninth part of a man that put the
jest upon a Shoe-maker.

1763. Foote, Mayor of Garratt, ii.
A journeyman tailor . . . who is but the

ninth part of a man.

1767. Ray, Proverbs [Bohn], 135.
Nine tailors make but one man.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Tailor. ... A London tailor rated to
furnish half a man to the trained bands,
asking how that could possibly be done,
was answered, by sending four journeymen and an apprentice.

1822. Nares, Glossary, s.v. Tailor,
How old the sarcasm of nine tailors
making a man may be, does not appear ;
but it is very old.

1833-4. Carlyle, Sartor Resartus,
in. xi. An idea has gone abroad . . .
that Tailors are . . . not Men, but fractional
Parts of a Man. . . . [Did not] Queen
Elizabeth, receiving a deputation of
Eighteen Tailors, address them with a
¹ Good morning, gentlemen both ' ? Did
not the same virago boast ... a Cavalry
Regiment, whereof neither horse nor man
could be injured ; her Regiment, ... of
Tailors on Mares ?

Tailoring.

62

Take.

1838. Desmond, Stage Struck, i.
Instead of gallivanting a goddess to our
shores I had ... to usher from the boat

the ninth part of a man.

1868. Blackley, Word Gossip, 76.
Nine taillers (itself corrupted from
tellers) make it a man [i.e. nine counting
strokes at the end of a knell proclaim the
death of a male adult].

1877. Jewitt, Half-Hours Eng.
Antiq. 176. At Woodborough the Passing bell consists of three tolls thrice
repeated for a man, and two tolls thrice
repeated for a woman.

1882. Spectator, 26 Aug., mi.
'How many tellers make a man?'
asked a clergyman of a working man, as
they listened to the tolling of a deathbell. ' Nine,' replied he promptly.

1899. Whiteing, John St. vii. A
wrangling discussion . . . between '48
and a tailor . . . who ... it appears is
the ninth of a Conservative working
man.

The fag-end of a tailor,
subs. phr. (old).—See quot.

1600. Weakest to Wall, i. 3.
Zounds ! twit me with my trade ? I am
the fag end of a tailor, in plain
English, a botcher.

Phrases. ' A tailor's shreds
are worth the cutting ' ; ' Like the
tailor who sewed for nothing,
and found the thread himself ' ;
'Thieving and tailor go together' ; 'Put a tailor, a miller,
and a weaver into a sack, shake
them well, and the first that puts
out his head is certainly a thief '
(Grose).

i6[?]. PasquiVs Nightcap[Rept.], 1.
Theeving is now an occupation made,
Though men the name of tailor do it
give.

Tailoring. To do a bit of

tailoring, verb. phr. (venery).
—To get with child ; to sew
up (q.v.).

Tail-pipe, verb (colloquial).—i.
To fasten anything to the tail
of a cat or dog ; hence (2) to
annoy.

1857. Kingsley, Two Years Ago,
ii. Even the boys . . . tail-piped not
his dog.

1876. Blackmore, Cripps the
Carrier, xxix. He might have been tailpiped for seven leagues, without troubling
his head about it.

tail-pulling, subs. phr. (publishers'). The publication of
books of little or no merit, the
whole cost of which is paid by
the author : cf. Barrabas.

Take, verb (colloquial). — To
please ; to succeed. Hence
taking (or taky) = attractive,
captivating. Also to take to
(or with) or to have a take.

1340. _ Hampole, Works [E. E. T.
S.], 2. With whas lufe it es takyn.

1607. Beaumont, Woman Hater,
iv. 2. So I shall discourse in some sort

takingly.

1609. Jonson, Epicœne, i. 1. Such
sweet neglect more taketh me Than all
the adulteries of art.

1614. Anon., Faithful Friends, iii
3. There's something in thee takes my
fancies so I would not have thee perish
for a world.

1625-30. Court and Times Charles
I., i. 101. A young man . . . tenderly
and firmly affectionate where he takes.

d. 1667. Jer. Taylor, Artif Hand.
41 [Latham]. All outward adornings
. . . have something in them of a complaisance and takingness.

1677. Cotton [Walton, Angler, ii.
237]. To say the truth it is not very
taking at first sight.

1680. Aubrey, Lives, 'Samuel
Butler.' He printed a witty poem called
Hudibras ; the first part . . . tooke
extremely. Ibid. 372. A taking
doctrine.

c. 1696. B. E., Diet. Cant. Crew, s.v.
Take-time . . . very taking, acceptable, agreeable or becoming. It takes
well, or, the Town takes it, the Play
pleas'd, or was acted with Applause, or the
Book sells well. No doubt but it will
take, no question but it will sell.

Take.

63

Take.

d. 1732. Atterbury, Sermons, 1. iii.
He knew what would take and be liked ;
and he knew how to express it after a
taking manner.

1821. Lamb, Mrs. Battle on Whist.
She . . . was never greatly taken with
cribbage.

1854. Collins, Hide and Seek, i. 9.
Putting in taky touches, and putting in
bits of effect.

1857. Kingsley, Two Years Ago,
vii. The style takes ; the style pays ;
and what more would you have '?

1869. Stowe, Old Town Folks, 32.
Somehow or other, she took to Ruth, and
Ruth took to her.

1872. Holmes, Poet at Break. Table,

iii. Why do . . . your digestive contrivances take kindly to bread rather than
toadstools ?

1889. Oliphant, Poor Gentleman,
xxxiv. She's dreadful taking . . .
When she gets talking, you could just
stop there forever.

2. (old colloquial).—To blight ;
to injure : by infection, disease,
grief, etc. As subs. — a witch's
charm. Hence taking = infections (still colloquial or
provincial).

c. 1332. Joseph of Arimathie [E. E.
T. S.], 47. John Popes wyfe of comtone
Had a yong chylde, that was taken
sodenly.

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives,

iv. 4. 32. He blasts the tree and takes
the Cattle. Ibid. (1596), Hamlet, i. 1.
No fairy takes. Ibid. (1605), Lear, ii. 4.
166. Strike her young bones, You taking airs, with lameness.

1619. Fletcher, False One, iv. 3.
Come not near me, For I am yet too
taking for your company.

d. 1649. Winthrop, Hist. New England [Savage], i. 201. Two shallops . . .
were taken in the night with an easterly
storm.

1678. Quack's Acad. [Harl. Misc.
ii. 34.] He hath a take upon him, or is
planetstruck.

1768. Goldsmith, Good Natured
Man, i. A plague take their balderdash.

3. (old colloquial).—To deliver
a blow ; to strike.

c. 1430. Destr. Troy [E. E. T. S.],
6394. Ector . . . toke his horse with his
helis.

1619. Fletcher, Humourous Lieut.
ii. 2. a rascal takes him o'er the face,
and fells him.

1625-30. Court and Times Charles I.
i. 156. Mr. William Vaux took Mr.
Knightly a blow on the face.

4. (conventional. )—To admit
to sexual intercourse (of women) :

also to take up one's petticoats to = to receive a man : see
Ride and Greens for numerous
combinations. See Carrots.

1672. Ray, Proverbs, ' Proverbial
Sentences.' A maid that taketh yieldeth.
Ibid. A maid that laughs is half taken.
Ibid. Do as the maids do, say no, and
take it.

5. (conventional).—To be got
with child : see Hold.

Phrases and Colloquialisms.—Take has been, and still
is, much in colloquial use. Thus,
to take back = to retract ; to
take a breath = to consider,
to seek advice ; to take after
= to resemble; to take about
the neck = to embrace ; to
take anyone forth = to teach,
to give a start ; to be taken by
the face-to be put to the
blush; to take beef = to run
away; to take down = (i) to
humiliate (see Peg) ; (2) to best
(Australian); to take up = to
reprove (also to take to do, to

task, and a talking to) ; to

take heart = to pluck up
courage ; to take to heart = to
grieve; to take itout = (i) to
get value, to extort or compel satisfaction or reparation ; and (2) =
to exhaust; to take one (or it) =
to understand ; to take in = (i)