A DICTIONARY OF MODERN SLANG, CANT, & VULGAR WORDS; MANY WITH THEIR ETYMOLOGIES TRACED. (continued 2)

FATHER, or FENCE, a buyer of stolen property.

FAWNEY, a finger ring.

FAWNEY BOUNCING, selling rings for a wager. This practice is founded upon the old tale of a gentleman laying a wager that if he was to offer “real gold sovereigns” at a penny a piece at the foot of London Bridge, the English public would be too incredulous to buy. The story states that the gentleman stationed himself with sovereigns in a tea tray, and sold only two within the hour,—winning the bet. This tale the FAWNEY BOUNCERS tell the public, only offering brass, double gilt rings, instead of sovereigns.

FAWNEY, or FAWNEY RIG, ring dropping. A few years ago, this practice, or RIG, was very common. A fellow purposely dropped a ring, or a pocket book with some little articles of jewellery, &c., in it, and when he saw any person pick it up, ran to claim half. The ring found, the question of how the booty was to be divided had then to be decided. The Fawney says, “if you will give me eight or nine shillings for my share the things are yours.” This the FLAT thinks very fair. The ring of course is valueless, and the swallower of the bait discovers the trick too late.

FEATHERS, money, wealth; “in full FEATHER,” rich.

FEEDER, a spoon.—Old cant.

FEELE, a daughter, or child.—Corrupted French.

FELT, a hat.—Old term, in use in the sixteenth century.

FENCE, or FENCER, a purchaser or receiver of stolen goods; FENCE, the shop or warehouse of a FENCER.—Old cant.

FENCE, to sell or pawn stolen property to a FENCER.

FERRICADOUZER, a knock down below, a good thrashing. Probably derived through the Lingua Franca from the Italian, FAR’ CADER’ MORTO, to knock down dead.

FIB, to beat, or strike.—Old cant.

FIDDLE, a whip.

FIDDLE FADDLE, twaddle, or trifling discourse.—Old cant.

FIDDLE STICKS! nonsense.

FIDDLER, or FADGE, a farthing.

FIDDLER, a sixpence.—Household Words, No. 183.

FIDDLER, a sharper, a cheat; also one who dawdles over little matters, and neglects great ones.

FIDDLERS’ MONEY, a lot of sixpences;—6d. was the remuneration to fiddlers from each of the company in old times.

FIDDLING, doing any odd jobs in the streets, holding horses, carrying parcels, &c., for a living. Among the middle classes, FIDDLING means idling away time, or trifling; and amongst sharpers, it means gambling.

FID FAD, a game similar to chequers, or drafts, played in the West of England.

FIDLUM BEN, thieves who take anything they can lay their hands upon.

FIELD-LANE-DUCK, a baked sheep’s head. Field-lane is a low London thoroughfare, leading from the foot of Holborn-hill to the purlieus of Clerkenwell. It was formerly the market for stolen pocket handkerchiefs.

FIG, “to FIG a horse,” to play improper tricks with one in order to make him lively.

FIG, “in full FIG,” i.e., full dress costume, “extensively got up.”

FIGURE, “to cut a good or bad FIGURE,” to make a good or indifferent appearance; “what’s the FIGURE?” how much is to pay? Figure-head, a person’s face.—Sea term.

FILCH, to steal, or purloin. Originally a cant word, derived from the FILCHES, or hooks, thieves used to carry, to hook clothes, or any portable articles from open windows.—Vide Decker. It was considered a cant or Gipsey term up to the beginning of the last century. Harman has “FYLCHE, to robbe.”

FILE, a deep, or artful man, a jocose name for a cunning person. Originally a term for a pickpocket, when TO FILE was to cheat or rob. File, an artful man, was used in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

FILLIBRUSH, to flatter, praise ironically.

FIMBLE-FAMBLE, a lame prevaricating excuse.—Scand.

FIN, a hand; “come, tip us your FIN,” viz., let us shake hands.—Sea.

FINDER, one who FINDS bacon and meat at the market before they are lost, i.e., steals them.

FINUF, a five-pound note. Double Finuf, a ten-pound note.—German, FUNF, five.

FISHY, doubtful, unsound, rotten—a term used to denote a suspicion of a “screw being loose,” or “something rotten in the state of Denmark,” in alluding to an unsafe speculation.

FISH, a person; “a queer FISH,” “a loose FISH,” &c.

FIX, a predicament, dilemma; “an awful FIX,” a terrible position; “to FIX one’s flint for him,” i.e., to “settle his hash,” “put a spoke in his wheel.”

FIZZING, first-rate, very good, excellent; synonymous with STUNNING.

FLABERGAST, or FLABBERGHAST, to astonish, or strike with wonder.—Old.

FLAG, a groat, or 4d.—Ancient cant.

FLAG, an apron.

FLAG OF DISTRESS, poverty—when the end of a person’s shirt protrudes through his trousers.

FLAM, nonsense, blarney, a lie.—Kentish; Anglo Saxon.

FLAME, a sweetheart.

FLANNEL, or HOT FLANNEL, the old term for gin and beer, drank hot, with nutmeg, sugar, &c. Also called FLIP. There is an anecdote told of Goldsmith helping to drink a quart of FLANNEL in a night house, in company with George Parker, Ned Shuter, and a demure grave looking gentleman, who continually introduced the words CRAP, STRETCH, SCRAG, and SWING. Upon the Doctor’s asking who this strange person might be, and being told his profession, he rushed from the place in a frenzy, exclaiming, “Good God! and have I been sitting all this while with a hangman?”

FLARE UP, a jovial social gathering, a “break down,” a “row.”

FLASH, showy, smart, knowing; a word with various meanings. A person is said to be dressed FLASH when his garb is showy, and after a fashion, but without taste. A person is said to be FLASH when he apes the appearance or manners of his betters, or when he is trying to be superior to his friends and relations. Flash also means “fast,” roguish, and sometimes infers counterfeit or deceptive,—and this, perhaps, is its general signification. “Flash, my young friend, or slang, as others call it, is the classical language of the Holy Land; in other words, St. Giles’ Greek.”—Tom and Jerry, by Moncreiff. Vulgar language was first termed FLASH in the year 1718, by Hitchin, author of “The Regulator of Thieves, &c., with account of FLASH words.”

FLASH IT, show it—said when any bargain is offered.

FLAT, a fool, a silly or “soft” person, the opposite of SHARP. The term appears to be shortenings for “sharp-witted” and “flat-witted.” “Oh! Messrs. Tyler, Donelson, and the rest, what FLATS you are.”—Times, 5th September, 1847.

FLATTIES, rustic, or uninitiated people.

FLATTY-KEN, a public house, the landlord of which is ignorant of the practices of the thieves and tramps who frequent it.

FLESH AND BLOOD, brandy and port in equal quantities.

FLESH-BAG, a shirt.

FLICK, or OLD FLICK, an old chap or fellow.

FLICK, or FLIG, to whip by striking, and drawing the lash back at the same time, which causes a stinging blow.

FLIM FLAMS, idle stories.—Beaumont and Fletcher.

FLIMP, to hustle, or rob.

FLIMSIES, bank notes.

FLIMSY, the thin prepared copying paper used by newspaper reporters and “penny-a-liners” for making several copies at once, thus enabling them to supply different papers with the same article without loss of time.—Printers’ term.

FLINT, an operative who works for a “society” master, i.e., for full wages.

FLIP, corruption of FILLIP, a light blow.

FLIP-FLAPS, a peculiar rollicking dance indulged in by costermongers when merry or excited—better described, perhaps, as the DOUBLE SHUFFLE, danced with an air of extreme abandon.

FLIPPER, the hand; “give us your FLIPPER,” give me your hand.—Sea. Metaphor taken from the flipper or paddle of a turtle.

FLOG, to whip. Cited both by Grose and the author of Bacchus and Venus as a cant word. It would be curious to ascertain the earliest use; Richardson cites Lord Chesterfield.—Latin.

FLOGGER, a whip.—Obsolete.

FLOOR, to knock down.—Pugilistic.

FLOORER, a blow sufficiently strong to knock a man down.

FLOWERY, lodging, or house entertainment; “square the omee for the FLOWERY,” pay the master for the lodging.

FLUE FAKERS, chimney sweeps; also low sporting characters, who are so termed from their chiefly betting on the Great Sweeps.

FLUFF IT, a term of disapprobation, implying “take it away, I don’t want it.”

FLUKE, at billiards, playing for one thing and getting another. Hence, generally what one gets accidentally, an unexpected advantage, “more by luck than wit.”

FLUMMERY, flattery, gammon, genteel nonsense.

FLUMMUX, to perplex, hinder; FLUMMUXED, stopped, used up.

FLUMMUXED, done up, sure of a month in QUOD, or prison. In mendicant freemasonry, the sign chalked by rogues and tramps upon a gate-post or house corner, to express to succeeding vagabonds that it is unsafe for them to call there, is known as , or FLUMMUXED, which signifies that the only thing they would be likely to get upon applying for relief would be “a month in QUOD.”—See QUOD.

FLUNKEY, a footman, servant.—Scotch.

FLUSH, the opposite of HARD UP, in possession of money, not poverty stricken.—Shakespere.

FLY, to lift, toss, or raise; “FLY the mags,” i.e., toss up the halfpence; “to FLY a window,” i.e., to lift one for the purpose of stealing.

FLY, knowing, wide awake, fully understanding another’s meaning.

FLY THE KITE, or RAISE THE WIND, to obtain money on bills, whether good or bad, alluding to tossing paper about like children do a kite.

FLY THE KITE, to evacuate from a window,—term used in padding kens, or low lodging houses.

FLYING-MESS, “to be in FLYING MESS” is a soldier’s phrase for being hungry and having to mess where he can.—Military.

FLYING STATIONERS, paper workers, hawkers of penny ballads; “Printed for the Flying Stationers” is the imprimatur on hundreds of penny histories and sheet songs of the last and present centuries.

FLYMY, knowing, cunning, roguish.

FOALED, “thrown from a horse.”—Hunting term.—See PURLED, and SPILT.

FOGEY, or OLD FOGEY, a dullard, an old-fashioned or singular person. Grose says it is a nickname for an invalid soldier, from the French, FOURGEAUX, fierce or fiery, but it has lost this signification now. Fogger, old word for a huckster or servant.

FOGGY, tipsy.

FOGLE, a silk handkerchief—not a CLOUT, which is of cotton. It has been hinted that this may have come from the German, VOGEL, a bird, from the bird’s eye spots on some handkerchiefs [see BIRD’S-EYE-WIPE, under BILLY], but a more probable derivation is the Italian slang (Fourbesque) FOGLIA, a pocket, or purse; or from the French argot, FOUILLE, also a pocket.

FOGUS, tobacco.—Old cant. Fogo, old word for stench.

FOONT, a sovereign, or 20s.

FOOTING, “to pay FOOTING.”—See SHOE.

FORAKERS, a water-closet, or house of office.—Term used by the boys at Winchester school.

FORK OUT, to bring out one’s money, to pay the bill, to STAND FOR or treat a friend; to hand over what does not belong to you.—Old cant term for picking pockets, and very curious it is to trace its origin. In the early part of the last century, a little book on purloining was published, and of course it had to give the latest modes. Forking was the newest method, and it consisted in thrusting the fingers stiff and open into the pocket, and then quickly closing them and extracting any article.

FORKS, or GRAPPLING IRONS, fingers.

FORTY GUTS, vulgar term for a fat man.

FOUR AND NINE, or FOUR AND NINEPENNY GOSS, a cheap hat, so called from 4s. 9d., the price at which a noted advertising hat maker sold his hats—

FOU, slightly intoxicated.—Scotch.

FOURTH, or FOURTH COURT, the court appropriated to the water-closets at Cambridge; from its really being No. 4 at Trinity College. A man leaving his room to go to this FOURTH COURT, writes on his door “gone to the FOURTH,” or, in algebraic notation, “GONE 4”—the Cambridge slang phrase.

FOX, to cheat or rob.—Eton College.

FOXING, watching in the streets for any occurrence which may be turned to a profitable account.—See MOOCHING.

FOXING, to pretend to be asleep like a fox, which is said to take its rest with one eye open.

FOXY, rank, tainted.—Lincolnshire.

FREE, to steal—generally applied to horses.

FREE AND EASY, a club held at most public houses, the members of which meet in the taproom or parlour for the purpose of drinking, smoking, and hearing each other sing and “talk politics.” The name indicates the character of the proceedings.

FREEMAN’S QUAY, “drinking at FREEMAN’S QUAY,” i.e., at another’s cost. This quay was formerly a celebrated wharf near London Bridge, and the saying arose from the beer which was given gratis to porters and carmen who went there on business.

FRENCH CREAM, brandy.

FRENCH LEAVE, to leave or depart slyly, without saying anything.

FRESH, said of a person slightly intoxicated.

FRISK, to search; FRISKED, searched by a constable or other officer.

FRISK A CLY, to empty a pocket.

FRIZZLE, champagne.

FROG, a policeman.

FRONTISPIECE, the face.

FROW, a girl, or wife. German, FRAU; Dutch, VROUW.

FRUMMAGEMMED, annihilated, strangled, garotted, or spoilt.—Old cant.

FRUMP, a slatternly woman, a gossip.—Ancient.

FRUMP, to mock, or insult.—Beaumont and Fletcher.

FUDGE, nonsense, stupidity. Todd and Richardson only trace the word to Goldsmith. Disraeli, however, gives the origin to a Captain Fudge, a great fibber, who told monstrous stories, which made his crew say in answer to any improbability, “you FUDGE it!”—See Remarks on the Navy, 1700.

FULLAMS, false dice, which always turn up high.—Shakes.

FULLY, “to be FULLIED,” to be committed for trial. From the slang of the penny-a-liner, “the prisoner was fully committed for trial.”

FUNK, to smoke out.—North.

FUNK, trepidation, nervousness, cowardice. To FUNK, to be afraid, or nervous.

FUNNY-BONE, the extremity of the elbow—or rather, the muscle which passes round it between the two bones, a blow on which causes painful tingling in the fingers. Facetiously derived, from its being the extremity of the humerus (humorous).

FYE-BUCK, a sixpence. Nearly obsolete.

GAB, GABBER, or GABBLE, talk; “gift of the GAB,” loquacity, or natural talent for speech-making.—Anglo Norman.

GAD, a trapesing, slatternly woman.—Gipsey. Anglo Saxon, GADELYNG.

GADDING THE HOOF, going without shoes. Gadding, roaming about, although used in an old translation of the Bible, is now only heard amongst the lower orders.

GAFF, a fair, or penny-playhouse.—See PENNY GAFF.

GAFFING, tossing halfpence, or counters.—North, where it means tossing up three pennies.

GALENY, old cant term for a fowl of any kind; now a respectable word in the West of England, signifying a Guinea fowl.—Vide Grose. Latin, GALLINA.

GALLAVANT, to wait upon the ladies.—Old.

GALORE, abundance. Irish, GO LEOR, in plenty.

GALLOWS, very, or exceedingly—a disgusting exclamation; “GALLOWS poor,” very poor.

GAME, a term variously applied; “are you GAME?” have you courage enough? “what’s your little GAME?” what are you going to do? “come, none of your GAMES,” be quiet, don’t annoy me; “on the GAME,” out thieving.

GAMMON, to hoax, to deceive merrily, to laugh at a person, to tell an untrue but plausible story, to make game of, or in the provincial dialect, to make GAME ON; “who’s thou makin’ thy GAM’ ON?” i.e., who are you making a fool of?—Yorkshire.

GAMMON, deceit, humbug, a false and ridiculous story. Anglo Saxon, GAMEN, game, sport.

GAMMY, bad, unfavourable, poor tempered. Those householders who are known enemies to the street folk and tramps, are pronounced by them to be GAMMY. Gammy sometimes means forged, as “GAMMY-MONEKER,” a forged signature; GAMMY STUFF, spurious medicine; GAMMY LOWR, counterfeit coin. Hants, GAMY, dirty. The hieroglyphic used by beggars and cadgers to intimate to those of the tribe coming after that things are not very favourable, is known as , or GAMMY.

GAMMY-VIAL (Ville), a town where the police will not let persons hawk.

GANDER MONTH, the period when the monthly nurse is in the ascendant, and the husband has to shift for himself.

GAR, euphuistic corruption of the title of the Deity; “be GAR, you don’t say so!”—Franco-English.

GARRET, the head.

GARRET, the fob pocket.

GARGLE, medical student Slang for physic.

GAS, “to give a person GAS,” to scold him or give him a good beating. Synonymous with “to give him JESSIE.”

GASSY, liable to “flare up” at any offence.

GATTER, beer; “shant of GATTER,” a pot of beer. A curious street melody, brimful and running over with slang, known in Seven Dials as Bet, the Coaley’s Daughter, thus mentions the word in a favourite verse:—

GAWFS, cheap red-skinned apples, a favourite fruit with costermongers, who rub them well with a piece of cloth, and find ready purchasers.

GAWKY, a lanky, or awkward person; a fool. Saxon, GEAC; Scotch, GOWK.

GAY, loose, dissipated; “GAY woman,” a kept mistress, or prostitute.

GEE, to agree with, or be congenial to a person.

GEN, a shilling. Also, GENT, silver. Abbreviation of the French, ARGENT.

GENT, a contraction of “gentleman,”—in more senses than one. A dressy, showy, foppish man, with a little mind, who vulgarises the prevailing fashion.

GENT, silver. From the French, ARGENT.

GET-UP, a person’s appearance, or general arrangements. Probably derived from the decorations of a play.

GHOST, “the GHOST does’nti.e., the manager is too poor to pay salaries as yet.—Theat.; Ho. Words, No. 183.

GIB-FACE, properly the lower lip of a horse; “TO HANG ONE’S GIB,” to pout the lower lip, be angry or sullen.

GIBBERISH, unmeaning jargon; the language of the Gipseys, synonymous with SLANG, another Gipsey word. Somner says, “French, GABBER; Dutch, GABBEREN; and our own GAB, GABBER; hence also, I take it, our GIBBERISH, a kind of canting language used by a sort of rogues we vulgarly call Gipseys, a gibble gabble understood only among themselves.”—Gipsey. See Introduction.

GIFFLE GAFFLE, nonsense.—See CHAFF. Icelandic, GAFLA.

GIFT, any article which has been stolen and afterwards sold at a low price.

GIG, a farthing. Formerly, GRIG.

GIG, fun, frolic, a spree.

GIGLAMPS, spectacles. In my first edition I stated this to be a University term. Mr. Cuthbert Bede, however, in a communication to Notes and Queries, of which I have availed myself in the present edition, says—“If the compiler has taken this epithet from Verdant Green, I can only say that I consider the word not to be a ‘University’ word in general, but as only due to the inventive genius of Mr. Bouncer in particular.” The term, however, has been adopted, and is now in general use.

GILL, a homely woman; “Jack and GILL,” &c.—Ben Jonson.

GILLS, the lower part of the face.—Bacon. “To grease one’s GILLS,” “to have a good feed,” or make a hearty meal.

GILLS, shirt collars.

GILT, money. German, GELD; Dutch, GELT.

GIMCRACK, a bijou, a slim piece of mechanism. Old slang for “a spruce wench.”—N. Bailey.

GIN AND GOSPEL GAZETTE, the Morning Advertiser, so called from its being the organ of the dissenting party, and of the Licensed Victuallers’ Association. Sometimes termed the TAP TUB, or the ’TIZER.

GINGER, a showy, fast horse—as if he had been FIGGED with GINGER under his tail.

GINGERLY, to do anything with great care.—Cotgrave.

GINGER HACKLED, having flaxen light yellow hair.—See HACKLE.

GINGUMBOB, a bauble.

GIVE, to strike or scold; “I’ll GIVE it to you,” I will thrash you. Formerly, to rob.

GLASGOW MAGISTRATES, salt herrings.—Scotch.

GLAZE, glass—generally applied to windows.

GLIM, a light, a lamp; “dowse the GLIM,” put the candle out.—Sea, and old cant.

GLIM LURK, a begging paper, giving a certified account of a dreadful fire—which never happened.

GLOAK, a man.—Scotch.

GLUMP, to sulk.

GLUMPISH, of a stubborn, sulky temper.

GNOSTICS, knowing ones, or sharpers. Nearly obsolete in this vulgar sense.

GO, a GO of gin,GO is also synonymous with circumstance or occurrence; “a rummy GO,” and “a great GO,” signify curious and remarkable occurrences; “no GO,” no good; “here’s a pretty GO!” here’s a trouble! “to GO the jump,” to enter a house by the window; “all the GO,” in fashion.—See LITTLE GO.

GO-ALONG, a thief.—Household Words, No. 183.

GOB, the mouth; mucus, or saliva.—North. Sometimes used for GAB, talk—

GOB, a portion.

GODS, the people in the upper gallery of a theatre; “up amongst the GODS,” a seat amongst the low persons in the gallery—so named from the high position of the gallery, and the blue sky generally painted on the ceiling of the theatre; termed by the French, PARADIS.

GODS, the quadrats used by printers in throwing on the imposing stone, similar to the movement in casting dice.—Printers’ term.

GO IT, a term of encouragement, implying “keep it up!” Sometimes amplified to GO IT, YE CRIPPLES; said to have been a facetious rendering of the last line of Virgil’s Eclogues—

“Ite domum Saturæ, Venit Hesperus, ite capellæ;”

or, “GO IT, YE CRIPPLES, CRUTCHES ARE CHEAP.”

GOLDFINCH, a sovereign.

GOLGOTHA, a hat, “place of a skull.”

GOLOPSHUS, splendid, delicious, luscious.—Norwich.

GOOSE, to ruin, or spoil. Also, to hiss a play.—Theatrical.

GOOSE, a tailor’s pressing iron.—Originally a slang term, but now in most dictionaries.

GOOSEBERRY, to “play up old GOOSEBERRY” with any one, to defeat or silence a person in a quick or summary manner.

GOOSECAP, a booby, or noodle.—Devonshire.

GOOSER, a settler, or finishing blow.

GORMED, a Norfolk corruption of a profane oath. So used by Mr. Peggotty, one of Dickens’ characters.

GORGER, a swell, a well dressed, or gorgeous man—probably derived from that word.

GOSPEL GRINDER, a city missionary, or tract distributor.

GOSS, a hat—from the gossamer silk with which modern hats are made.

GONNOF, or GUN, a fool, a bungler, an amateur pickpocket. A correspondent thinks this may be a corruption of gone off, on the analogy of GO-ALONG; but the term is really as old as Chaucer’s time. During Kett’s rebellion in Norfolk, in the reign of Edward VI., a song was sung by the insurgents in which the term occurs—

GOUROCK HAM, salt herrings. Gourock, on the Clyde, about twenty-five miles from Glasgow, was formerly a great fishing village.—Scotch.

GOVERNMENT SIGNPOST, the gallows.

GOVERNOR, a father, a master or superior person, an elder; “which way, GUV’NER, to Cheapside?”

GRABB, to clutch, or seize.

GRABBED, caught, apprehended.

GRABBERS, the hands.

GRACE-CARD, the ace of hearts.

GRAFT, to work; “where are you GRAFTING?” i.e., where do you live, or work?

GRANNY, to know, or recognise; “de ye GRANNY the bloke?” do you know the man?

GRANNY, importance, knowledge, pride; “take the GRANNY off them as has white hands,” viz., remove their self-conceit.—Mayhew, vol. i., p. 364.

GRAPPLING IRONS, fingers.—Sea.

GRASS, “gone to GRASS,” dead,—a coarse allusion to burial; absconded, or disappeared suddenly; “oh, go to GRASS,” a common answer to a troublesome or inquisitive person,—possibly a corruption of “go to GRACE,” meaning, of course, a directly opposite fate.

GRASS-WIDOW, an unmarried mother; a deserted mistress. In the United States, during the gold fever in California, it was common for an adventurer to put both his GRASS-WIDOW and his children to school during his absence.

GRAVEL, to confound, to bother; “I’m GRAVELLED,” i.e., perplexed or confused.—Old.

GRAVEL-RASH, a scratched face,—telling its tale of a drunken fall.

GRAY-COAT-PARSON, a lay impropriator, or lessee of great tithes.

GRAYS, or SCOTCH GRAYS, lice.—Scotch.

GRAYS, halfpennies, with either two “heads” or two “tails,”—both sides alike. Low gamblers use GRAYS, and they cost from 2d. to 6d. each.

GREASE-SPOT, a minute remnant, the only distinguishable remains of an antagonist after a terrific contest.

GREASING a man is bribing; SOAPING is flattering him.

GREEKS, the low Irish. St. giles’ greek, slang or cant language. Cotgrave gives MERIE GREEK as a definition for a roystering fellow, a drunkard.—Shakespere.—See MEDICAL GREEK.

GREEN, ignorant, not wide awake, inexperienced.—Shakespere. “Do you see any GREEN in my eye?” ironical question in a dispute.

GREEN-HORN, a fresh, simple, or uninitiated person.

GRIDDLER, a person who sings in the streets without a printed copy of the words.

GRIEF, “to come to GRIEF,” to meet with an accident, be ruined.

GRIFFIN, in India, a newly arrived cadet; general for an inexperienced youngster. “Fast” young men in London frequently term an umbrella a GRIFFIN.

GRIND, “to take a GRIND,” i.e., a walk, or constitutional.—University.

GRIND, to work up for an examination, to cram with a GRINDER, or private tutor.—Medical.

GRINDERS, teeth.

GROGGY, tipsy; when a prize-fighter becomes “weak on his pins,” and nearly beaten, he is said to be GROGGY.—Pugilistic. The same term is applied to horses in a similar condition. Old English, AGGROGGYD, weighed down, oppressed.—Prompt. Parvulorum.

GRUB, meat, or food, of any kind,—GRUB signifying food, and BUB, drink.

GRUBBING-KEN, or SPINIKIN, a workhouse; a cook-shop.

GRUBBY, musty, or old-fashioned.—Devonshire.

GULFED, a University term, denoting that a man is unable to enter for the classical examination, from having failed in the mathematical. Candidates for classical honours were compelled to go in for both examinations. From the alteration of the arrangements the term is now obsolete.—Camb.

GULPIN, a weak, credulous fellow.

GUMMY, thick, fat—generally applied to a woman’s ancles, or to a man whose flabby person betokens him a drunkard.

GUMPTION, or RUMGUMPTION, comprehension, capacity. From GAUM, to comprehend; “I canna GAUGE it, and I canna GAUM it,” as a Yorkshire exciseman said of a hedgehog.

GURRELL, a fob.

GUTTER BLOOD, a low or vulgar man—Scotch.

GUTTER LANE, the throat.

GUY, a fright, a dowdy, an ill-dressed person. Derived from the effigy of Guy Fawkes carried about by boys on Nov. 5.

GYP, an undergraduate’s valet at Cambridge. Corruption of GYPSEY JOE (Saturday Review); popularly derived by Cantabs from the Greek, GYPS (γύπς), a vulture, from their dishonest rapacity. At Oxford they are called SCOUTS.

HACKLE, “to show HACKLE,” to be willing to fight. Hackles are the long feathers on the back of a cock’s neck, which he erects when angry,—hence the metaphor.

HADDOCK, a purse.—See BEANS.

HALF A BEAN, half a sovereign.

HALF A BULL, two shillings and sixpence.

HALF A COUTER, half a sovereign.

HALF A HOG, sixpence; sometimes termed HALF A GRUNTER.

HALF A STRETCH, six months in prison.

HALF A TUSHEROON, half a crown.

HALF AND HALF, a mixture of ale and porter, much affected by medical students; occasionally Latinized into DIMIDIUM DIMIDIUMQUE.—See COOPER.

HALF BAKED, soft, doughy, half-witted, silly.

HALF FOOLISH, ridiculous; means often wholly foolish.

HALF JACK.—See JACKS.

HALF ROCKED, silly, half-witted.—Compare HALF BAKED.

HALF SEAS OVER, reeling drunk.—Sea. Used by Swift.

HAND, a workman, or helper, a person. “A cool HAND,” explained by Sir Thomas Overbury to be “one who accounts bashfulness the wickedest thing in the world, and therefore studies impudence.”

HANDER, a second, or assistant, in a prize fight.

HANDLE, a nose; the title appended to a person’s name; also a term in boxing, “HANDLING one’s fists.”

HAND-SAW, or CHIVE FENCER, a man who sells razors and knives in the streets.

HANDSELLER, or CHEAP JACK, a street or open air seller, a man who carries goods to his customers, instead of waiting for his customers to visit him.

HANG OUT, to reside,—in allusion to the ancient custom of hanging out signs.

HANGMAN’S WAGES, thirteenpence halfpenny.

HANSEL, or HANDSALE, the lucky money, or first money taken in the morning by a pedlar.—Cocker’s Dictionary, 1724. “Legs of mutton (street term for sheep’s trotters, or feet) two for a penny; who’ll give me a HANSEL? who’ll give me a HANSEL?”—Cry at Cloth Fair at the present day. Hence, earnest money, first fruits, &c. In Norfolk, HANSELLING a thing, is using it for the first time, as wearing a new coat, taking seizin of it, as it were.—Anglo Saxon. N. Bailey.

HA’PURTH OF LIVELINESS, the music at a low concert, or theatre.

HARD LINES, hardship, difficulty.—Soldiers’ term for hard duty on the lines in front of the enemy.

HARD UP, in distress, poverty stricken.—Sea.

HARD-UPS, cigar-end finders, who collect the refuse pieces of smoked cigars from the gutter, and having dried them, sell them as tobacco to the very poor.

HARRY, or OLD HARRY (i.e. Old Hairy?) the Devil; “to play OLD HARRY with one,” i.e., ruin or annoy him.

HARRY-SOPH (ἐρίσοφος, very wise indeed), an undergraduate in his last year of residence.—Cambridge.

HASH, a mess, confusion; “a pretty HASH he made of it;” to HASH UP, to jumble together without order or regularity.

HATCHET, “to throw the HATCHET,” to tell lies.

HAWSE HOLES, the apertures in a ship’s bows through which the cables pass; “he has crept in through the HAWSE-HOLES,” said of an officer who has risen from the grade of an ordinary seaman.—Navy.

HAY BAG, a woman.

HAZY, intoxicated.—Household Words, No. 183.

HEAD OR TAIL, “I can’t make HEAD OR TAIL of it,” i.e., cannot make it out.

HEAP, “a HEAP of people,” a crowd; “struck all of a HEAP,” suddenly astonished.

HEAVY WET, porter or beer,—because the more a man drinks of it, the heavier he becomes.

HEDGE, to secure a doubtful bet by making others.—Turf.

HEEL-TAPS, small quantities of wine or other beverage left in the bottom of glasses, considered as a sign that the liquor is not liked, and therefore unfriendly and unsocial to the host and the company.

HEIGH HO! a cant term for stolen yarn, from the expression used to apprize the dishonest manufacturer that the speaker has stolen yarn to sell.—Norwich cant.

HELL, a fashionable gambling house. In printing offices, the term is generally applied to the old tin box in which is thrown the broken or spoilt type, purchased by the founders for re-casting. Nearly obsolete.

HEN AND CHICKENS, large and small pewter pots.

HEN-PECKED, said of one whose wife “wears the breeches.”

HERRING POND, the sea; “to be sent across the HERRING POND,” to be transported.

HIDING, a thrashing. Webster gives this word, but not its root, HIDE, to beat, flay by whipping.

HIGGLEDY-PIGGLEDY, all together,—as hogs and pigs lie.

HIGH AND DRY, an epithet applied to the soi disant “orthodox” clergy of the last century, for whom, while ill-paid curates did the work, the comforts of the establishment were its greatest charms.

Though often confounded with, they are utterly dissimilar to, the modern High Church or Anglo-Catholic party. Their equally uninteresting opponents deserved the corresponding appellation of LOW AND SLOW; while the so-called “Broad Church” is defined with equal felicity as the BROAD AND SHALLOW.

HIGH FLY, “ON THE HIGH FLY,” on the begging or cadging system.

HIGH JINKS, “ON THE HIGH JINKS,” taking up an arrogant position, assuming an undue superiority.

HIGH-FLYER, a genteel beggar, or swindler.

HIGH FLYERS, large swings, in frames, at fairs and races.

HIGH-LOWS, laced boots reaching a trifle higher than ancle-jacks.

HIGHFALUTEN, showy, affected, tinselled, affecting certain pompous or fashionable airs, stuck up; “come, none of yer HIGHFALUTEN games,” i.e., you must not show off or imitate the swell here.—American slang from the Dutch, VERLOOTEN.

HIP INSIDE, inside coat pocket.

HIP OUTSIDE, outside coat pocket.

HIVITE, a student of St. Begh’s College, Cumberland; pronounced ST. BEE’S.—University.

HOAX, to deceive, or ridicule,—Grose says was originally a University cant word. Corruption of HOCUS, to cheat.

HOCKS, the feet; CURBY HOCKS, round or clumsy feet.

HOCUS, to drug a person, and then rob him. The HOCUS generally consists of snuff and beer.

HOCUS POCUS, Gipsey words of magic, similar to the modern “presto fly.” The Gipseys pronounce “Habeas Corpus,” HAWCUS PACCUS (see Crabb’s Gipsey’s Advocate, p. 18); can this have anything to do with the origin of HOCUS POCUS? Turner gives OCHUS BOCHUS, an old demon. Pegge, however, states that it is a burlesque rendering of the words of the unreformed church service at the delivery of the host, HOC EST CORPUS, which the early Protestants considered as a species of conjuring, and ridiculed accordingly.

HODGE, a countryman or provincial clown. I don’t know that it has been elsewhere remarked, but most country districts in England have one or more families of the name of HODGE; indeed, GILES and HODGE appear to be the favourite hobnail nomenclature. Not in any way writing disrespectfully, was the slang word taken from Hog—with the g soft, which gives the dg pronunciation? In old canting dictionaries HODGE stands for a country clown; so, indeed, does ROGER, another favourite provincial name.—Vide Bacchus and Venus.

HOG, “to go the whole HOG,” to do anything with a person’s entire strength, not “by halves;” realised by the phrase “in for a penny in for a pound.” Bartlett claims this to be a pure American phrase; whilst Ker, of course, gives it a Dutch origin.—Old.

HOG, a shilling.—Old cant.

HOISTING, shoplifting.

HOLLOW, “to beat HOLLOW,” to excel.

HOLY LAND, Seven Dials,—where the St. Giles’ Greek is spoken.

HOOK, to steal or rob.—See the following.

HOOK OR BY CROOK, by fair means or foul—in allusion to the hook which footpads used to carry to steal from open windows, &c., and from which HOOK, to take or steal, has been derived. Mentioned in Hudibras as a cant term.

HOOK IT, “get out of the way,” or “be off about your business;” “TO HOOK IT,” to run away, to decamp; “on one’s own HOOK,” dependant upon one’s own exertions.—See the preceding for derivation.

HOOKS, “dropped off the HOOKS,” said of a deceased person—derived from the ancient practice of suspending on hooks the quarters of a traitor or felon sentenced by the old law to be hung, drawn, and quartered, and which dropped off the hooks as they decayed.

HOOKEY WALKER! ejaculation of incredulity, usually shortened to WALKER!—which see. A correspondent thinks HOOKEY WALKER may have been a certain Hugh K. Walker.

HOOK-UM SNIVEY (formerly “hook and snivey”), a low expression meaning to cheat by feigning sickness or other means.

HOP, a dance.—Fashionable slang.

HOP THE TWIG, to run away, or BOLT, which see.—Old.

HOP-MERCHANT, a dancing-master.

HOPPING GILES, a cripple. St. Ægidius or Giles, himself similarly afflicted, was their patron saint. The ancient lazar houses were dedicated to him.

HORRID HORN, term of reproach amongst the street Irish, meaning a fool, or half-witted fellow. From the Erse OMADHAUN, a brainless fellow. A correspondent suggests HERRIDAN, a miserable old woman.

HORRORS, the low spirits, or “blue devils,” which follow intoxication.

HORSE, contraction of Horsemonger-lane Gaol.

HORSE CHAUNTER, a dealer who takes worthless horses to country fairs and disposes of them by artifice. He is flexible in his ethics, and will put in a glass-eye, or perform other tricks.—See COPER.

HORSE NAILS, money.—Compare BRADS.

HORSE’S NIGHTCAP, a halter; “to die in a HORSE’S NIGHTCAP,” to be hung.

HORSE MARINE, an awkward person. In ancient times the “JOLLIES” or Royal Marines, were the butts of the sailors, from their ignorance of seamanship. “Tell that to the MARINES, the blue jackets won’t believe it!” was a common rejoinder to a “stiff yarn.” Now-a-days they are deservedly appreciated as the finest regiment in the service. A HORSE MARINE (an impossibility) was used to denote one more awkward still.

HOT COPPERS, the feverish sensations experienced next morning by those who have been drunk over night.

HOT TIGER, an Oxford mixture of hot-spiced ale and sherry.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, a water-closet.

HOXTER, an inside pocket.—Old English, OXTER.

HUEY, a town or village.

HUFF, to vex, or offend; a poor temper.

HUFF, a dodge or trick; “don’t try that HUFF on me,” or “that HUFF won’t do.”—Norwich.

HULK, to hang about in hopes of an invitation.—See MOOCH.

HULKY, extra sized.—Shropshire.

HUM AND HAW, to hesitate, raise objections.—Old English.

HUMBLE PIE, to “eat HUMBLE PIE,” to knock under, be submissive. The UMBLES, or entrails of a deer, were anciently made into a dish for servants, while their masters feasted off the haunch.

HUMBUG, an imposition, or a person who imposes upon others. A very expressive but slang word, synonymous at one time with HUM AND HAW. Lexicographers have fought shy at adopting this word. Richardson uses it frequently to express the meaning of other words, but omits it in the alphabetical arrangement as unworthy of recognition! In the first edition of this work, 1785 was given as the earliest date at which the word could be found in a printed book. Since then I have traced HUMBUG half a century farther back, on the title-page of a singular old jest-book—“The Universal Jester; or a pocket companion for the Wits: being a choice collection of merry conceits, facetious drolleries, &c., clenchers, closers, closures, bon-mots, and HUMBUGS,” by Ferdinando Killigrew. London, about 1735–40.

I have also ascertained that the famous Orator Henley was known to the mob as Orator Humbug. The fact may be learnt from an illustration in that exceedingly curious little collection of Caricatures, published in 1757, many of which were sketched by Lord Bolingbroke—Horace Walpole filling in the names and explanations. Halliwell describes HUMBUG as “a person who hums,” and cites Dean Milles’ MS., which was written about 1760. It has been stated that the word is a corruption of Hamburgh, from which town so many false bulletins and reports came during the war in the last century. “Oh, that is Hamburgh [or HUMBUG],” was the answer to any fresh piece of news which smacked of improbability. Grose mentions it in his Dictionary, 1785; and in a little printed squib, published in 1808, entitled Bath Characters, by T. Goosequill, HUMBUG is thus mentioned in a comical couplet on the title page:—

Gradually from this time the word began to assume a place in periodical literature, and in novels not written by squeamish or over-precise authors. In the preface to a flat, and, I fear, unprofitable poem, entitled, The Reign of HUMBUG, a Satire, 8vo., 1836, the author thus apologises for the use of the word—“I have used the term HUMBUG to designate this principle [wretched sophistry of life generally], considering that it is now adopted into our language as much as the words dunce, jockey, cheat, swindler, &c., which were formerly only colloquial terms.” A correspondent, who in a late number of Adersaria ingeniously traced bombast to the inflated Doctor Paracelsus Bombast, considers that HUMBUG may, in like manner, be derived from Homberg, the distinguished chemist of the court of the Duke of Orleans, who, according to the following passage from Bishop Berkeley’s “Siris,” was an ardent and successful seeker after the philosopher’s stone!

“§ 194.—Of this there cannot be a better proof than the experiment of Monsieur Homberg, WHO MADE GOLD OF MERCURY BY INTRODUCING LIGHT INTO ITS PORES, but at such trouble and expense, that, I suppose, nobody will try the experiment for profit. By this injunction of light and mercury, both bodies became fixed, and produced a third different to either, to wit, real gold. For the truth of which FACT I refer to the memoirs of the French Academy of Sciences.”—Berkeley’s Works, vol. ii., p. 366, (Wright’s edition).

The universal use of this term is remarkable; in California there is a town called Humbug Flat—a name which gives a significant hint of the acuteness of the first settler.

HUM-DRUM, tedious, tiresome, boring; “a society of gentlemen who used to meet near the Charter House, or at the King’s Head, St. John’s street. They were characterised by less mystery and more pleasantry than the Freemasons.”—Bacchus and Venus, 1737. In the West a low cart.

HUMP, to botch, or spoil.

HUMP UP, “to have one’s HUMP UP,” to be cross or ill-tempered—like a cat with its back set up.—See MONKEY.

HUMPTY DUMPTY, short and thick.

HUNCH, to shove, or jostle.

HUNTER PITCHING, cockshies, or three throws a penny.—See COCKSHY.

HUNTING THE SQUIRREL, when hackney and stage coachmen try to upset each other’s vehicles on the public roads. Nearly obsolete.

HURDY-GURDY, a droning musical instrument shaped like a large fiddle, and turned by a crank, used by Savoyards and itinerant foreign musicians in England, now nearly superseded by the hand-organ. A correspondent suggests that the name is derived from being girded on the HARDIES, loins or buttocks.—Scotch; Tam o’Shanter. In Italy the instrument is called VIOLA.

HUSH-MONEY, a sum given to quash a prosecution or evidence.

HUSH-SHOP, or CRIB, a shop where beer or spirits is sold “on the quiet”—no licence being paid.

HYPS, or HYPO, the blue devils. From Hypochondriasis.—Swift.

IN, “to be IN with a person,” to be even with, or UP to him.

IN FOR IT, in trouble or difficulty of any kind.

IN FOR PATTER, waiting for trial.

INEXPRESSIBLES, UNUTTERABLES, UNWHISPERABLES, or SIT-UPONS, trousers, the nether garments.

INNINGS, earnings, money coming in; “he’s had long INNINGS,” i.e., a good run of luck, plenty of cash flowing in.

INSIDE LINING, dinner, &c.

INTERESTING, “to be in an INTERESTING situation,” applied to females when enceinte.

INTO, “hold my hat, Jim, I’ll be INTO him,” i.e., I will fight him. In this sense equivalent to PITCH INTO or SLIP INTO.

INVITE, an invitation—a corruption used by stuck-up people of mushroom origin.

IPSAL DIXAL, Cockney corruption of ipse dixit—said of one’s simple uncorroborated assertion.

IT’S GOOD ON THE STAR, it’s easy to open.

IVORIES, teeth; “a box” or “cage of IVORIES,” a set of teeth, the mouth; “wash your IVORIES,” i.e., “drink.” The word is also used to denote DICE.

JABBER, to talk, or chatter. A cant word in Swift’s time.

JACK, a low prostitute.

JACK KETCH, the public hangman.—See KETCH.

JACK SPRAT, a diminutive boy or man.

JACK TAR, a sailor.

JACK-AT-A-PINCH, one whose assistance is only sought on an emergency; JACK-IN-THE-WATER, an attendant at the watermen’s stairs on the river and sea-port towns, who does not mind wetting his feet for a customer’s convenience, in consideration of a douceur.

JACKS, HALF JACKS, card counters, resembling in size and appearance sovereigns and half-sovereigns, for which they are occasionally passed to simple persons. In large gambling establishments the “heaps of gold” are frequently composed mainly of JACKS.

JACKETING, a thrashing.

JACKEY, gin.

JACOB, a ladder. Grose says from Jacob’s dream.—Old cant.

JAGGER, a gentleman.—German, JAGER, a sportsman.

JAIL-BIRD, a prisoner, one who has been in jail.

JAMES, a sovereign, or twenty shillings.

JANNOCK, sociable, fair dealing.—Norfolk.

JAPAN, to ordain.—University.

JARK, a seal, or watch ornament.—Ancient cant.

JARVEY, the driver of a hackney coach; JARVEY’S UPPER BENJAMIN, a coachman’s over-coat.

JAW, speech, or talk; “hold your JAW,” don’t speak any more; “what are you JAWING about?” i.e., what are you making a noise about?

JAW-BREAKERS, hard or many-syllabled words.

JAZEY, a wig. A corruption of Jersey, the name for flax prepared in a peculiar manner, and of which common wigs were formerly made.

JEAMES, (a generic for “flunkies,”) the Morning Post newspaper—the organ of Belgravia and the “Haristocracy.”

JEHU, old slang term for a coachman, or one fond of driving.

JEMMY, a crowbar.

JEMMY, a sheep’s head.—See SANGUINARY JAMES.

JEMMY JESSAMY, a dandy.

JERRY, a beer house.

JERRY, a chamber utensil, abbreviation of JEROBOAM.—Swift. JERRY-COME-TUMBLE, a water-closet.

JERRY, a fog.

JERUSALEM PONY, a donkey.

JESSIE, “to give a person JESSIE,” to beat him soundly.—See GAS.

JEW’S EYE, a popular simile for anything valuable. Probably a corruption of the Italian, GIOJE; French, JOUAILLE, a jewel. In ancient times, when a king was short of cash, he generally issued orders for so many Jew’s eyes, or equivalent sums of money. The Jews preferred paying the ransom, although often very heavy. We thus realise the popularly believed origin of JEW’S EYE. Used by Shakespere.

JEW-FENCER, a Jew street salesman.

JIB, the face, or a person’s expression; “the cut of his JIB,” i.e. his peculiar appearance. The sail of a ship, which in position and shape corresponds to the nose on a person’s face.—See GIB.—Sea.

JIB, or JIBBER, a horse that starts or shrinks. Shakespere uses it in the sense of a worn out horse.

JIBB, the tongue.—Gipsey and Hindoo.

JIFFY, “in a JIFFY,” in a moment.

JIGGER, a secret still, illicit spirits.—Scotch.

JIGGER, “I’m JIGGERED if you will,” a common form of mild swearing.—See SNIGGER.

JIGGER, a door; “dub the JIGGER,” shut the door. Ancient cant, GYGER. In billiards the bridge on the table is often termed the JIGGER.

JIGGER-DUBBERS, term applied to jailors or turnkeys.

JILT, a crowbar or housebreaking implement.

JINGO, “by JINGO,” a common form of oath, said to be a corruption of St. Gingoulph.—Vide Halliwell.

JOB, a short piece of work, a prospect of employment. Johnson describes JOB as a low word, without etymology. It is, and was, however, a cant word, and a JOB, two centuries ago, was an arranged robbery. Even at the present day it is mainly confined to the streets, in the sense of employment for a short time. Amongst undertakers a JOB signifies a funeral; “to do a JOB,” conduct any one’s funeral; “by the JOB,” i.e., piece-work, as opposed to time-work. A JOB in political phraseology is a Government office or contract, obtained by secret influence or favouritism.

To JOE BLAKE THE BARTLEMY, to visit a low woman.

JOEY, a fourpenny piece. The term is derived (like BOBBY from Sir Robert Peel) from Joseph Hume, the late respected M.P. The explanation is thus given in Hawkins’ History of the Silver Coinage of England.

“These pieces are said to have owed their existence to the pressing instance of Mr. Hume, from whence they, for some time, bore the nickname of JOEYS. As they were very convenient to pay short cab fares, the Hon. M.P. was extremely unpopular with the drivers, who frequently received only a groat where otherwise they would have received a sixpence without any demand for change.” The term originated with the London cabmen, who have invented many others.

JOG-TROT, a slow but regular trot, or pace.

JOGUL, to play up, at cards or other game. Spanish, JUGAR.

JOHN THOMAS, a generic for “flunkies,”—footmen popularly represented with large calves and bushy whiskers.

JOLLY, a word of praise, or favourable notice; “chuck Harry a JOLLY, Bill!” i.e., go and praise up his goods, or buy of him, and speak well of the article, that the crowd standing around his stall may think it a good opportunity to lay out their money. “Chuck a JOLLY,” literally translated, is to throw a shout or a good word.

JOLLY, a Royal Marine.—See HORSE MARINE.

JOMER, a sweetheart, or favourite girl.—See BLOWER.

JORDAN, a chamber utensil.—Saxon.

JOSKIN, a countryman.

JUG, a prison, or jail.

JUMP, to seize, or rob; “to JUMP a man,” to pounce upon him, and either rob or maltreat him; “to JUMP a house,” to rob it.—See GO.

JUNIPER, gin.—Household Words, No. 183.

JUNK, salt beef.—See OLD HORSE.

KEEL-HAULING, a good thrashing or mauling, rough treatment,—from the old nautical custom of punishing offenders by throwing them overboard with a rope attached and hauling them up from under the ship’s keel.

KEEP IT UP, to prolong a debauch, or the occasion of a rejoicing—a metaphor drawn from the game of shuttlecock.—Grose.

KEN, a house.—Ancient cant. Khan, Gipsey and Oriental.

⁂ All slang and cant words which end in KEN, such as SPIELKEN, SPINIKEN, BAWDYKEN, or BOOZINGKEN, refer to houses, and are partly of Gipsey origin.

KEN-CRACKERS, housebreakers.

KENNEDY, to strike or kill with a poker. A St. Giles’ term, so given from a man of that name being killed by a poker. Frequently shortened to NEDDY.

KENT RAG, or CLOUT, a cotton handkerchief.

KERTEVER-CARTZO, the venereal disease. From the Lingua Franca, CATTIVO, bad, and CAZZO, the male generative organ.

KETCH, or JACK KETCH, the popular name for a public hangman—derived from a person of that name who officiated in the reign of Charles II.—See Macaulay’s History of England, p. 626.

KIBOSH, nonsense, stuff, humbug; “it’s all KIBOSH,” i.e., palaver or nonsense; “to put on the KIBOSH,” to run down, slander, degrade, &c.—See BOSH.

KICK, a moment; “I’ll be there in a KICK,” i.e., in a minute.

KICK, a sixpence; “two and a KICK,” two shillings and sixpence.

KICK, a pocket.

KICK THE BUCKET, to die.—Norfolk. According to Forby, a metaphor taken from the descent of a well or mine, which is of course absurd. The Rev. E. S. Taylor supplies me with the following note from his MS. additions to the work of the East-Anglian lexicographer:—

“The allusion is to the way in which a slaughtered pig is hung up, viz., by passing the ends of a bent piece of wood behind the tendons of the hind legs, and so suspending it to a hook in a beam above. This piece of wood is locally termed a bucket, and so by a coarse metaphor the phrase came to signify to die. Compare the Norfolk phrase “as wrong as a bucket.”

The natives of the West Indies have converted the expression into KICKERABOO.

KICK-UP, a noise or disturbance.

KICK UP, “to KICK UP a row,” to create a tumult.

KICKSHAWS, trifles; made, or French dishes—not English, or substantial. Corruption of the French, QUELQUES CHOSES.

KICKSIES, trousers.

KICKSY, troublesome, disagreeable.

KID, an infant, or child.

KID, to joke, to quiz, to hoax anybody.

KID-ON, to entice, or incite a person on to the perpetration of an act.

KID-RIG, cheating children in the streets sent on errands, or entrusted with packages. Nearly obsolete.

KIDDEN, a low lodging house for boys.

KIDDIER, a pork-butcher.

KIDDILY, fashionably, or showily; “KIDDILY togg’d,” showily dressed.

KIDDLEYWINK, a small shop where they retail the commodities of a village store. Also, a loose woman.

KIDDY, a man or boy. Formerly a low thief.

KIDDYISH, frolicsome, jovial.

KIDMENT, a pocket-handkerchief fastened to the pocket, and partially hung out to entrap thieves.

KIDNAPPER, one who steals children or adults. From KID, a child, and NAB (corrupted to NAP), to steal, or seize.

KIDNEY, “of that KIDNEY,” of such a stamp: “strange KIDNEY,” odd humour; “two of a KIDNEY,” two persons of a sort, or as like as two peas, i.e., resembling each other like two kidneys in a bunch.—Old. “Attempt to put their hair out of KIDNEY.”—Terræ Filius, 1763.

KIDSMAN, one who trains boys to thieve and pick pockets successfully.

KILKENNY CAT, a popular simile for a voracious or desperate animal or person, from the story of the two cats in that county, who are said to have fought and bitten each other until a small portion of the tail of one of them alone remained.

KILLING, bewitching, fascinating. The term is akin to the phrase “dressing to DEATH.”

KIMBO, or A-KIMBOA SCHEMBO, Italian; but more probably from KIMBAW, the old cant for beating, or bullying.—See Grose.

KINCHIN, a child.—Old cant. From the German diminutive, KINDCHEN, a baby.

KINCHIN COVE, a man who robs children; a little man.—Ancient cant.

KINGSMAN, the favourite coloured neckerchief of the costermongers. The women wear them thrown over their shoulders. With both sexes they are more valued than any other article of clothing. A coster’s caste, or position, is at stake, he imagines, if his KINGSMAN is not of the most approved pattern. When he fights, his KINGSMAN is tied either around his waist as a belt, or as a garter around his leg. This very singular partiality for a peculiar coloured neckcloth was doubtless derived from the Gipseys, and probably refers to an Oriental taste or custom long forgotten by these vagabonds. A singular similarity of taste for certain colours exists amongst the Hindoos, Gipseys, and London costermongers. Red and yellow (or orange) are the great favourites, and in these hues the Hindoo selects his turban and his robe; the Gipsey his breeches, and his wife her shawl or gown; and the costermonger his plush waistcoat and favourite KINGSMAN. Amongst either class, when a fight takes place, the greatest regard is paid to the favourite coloured article of dress. The Hindoo lays aside his turban, the Gipsey folds up his scarlet breeches or coat, whilst the pugilistic costermonger of Covent Garden or Billingsgate, as we have just seen, removes his favourite neckerchief to a part of his body, by the rules of the “ring,” comparatively out of danger. Amongst the various patterns of kerchiefs worn by the wandering tribes of London, red and yellow are the oldest and most in fashion. Blue, intermixed with spots, is a late importation, probably from the Navy, through sporting characters.

KING’S PICTURES (now, of course, QUEEN’S PICTURES), money.

KISKY, drunk, fuddled.

KISS CURL, a small curl twisted on the temple.—See BOW-CATCHER.

KISS-ME-QUICK, the name given to the very small bonnets worn by females since 1850.

KITE, see FLY THE KITE.

KNACKER, an old horse; a horse slaughterer.—Gloucestershire.

KNAP, to receive, to take, to steal.

KNAPPING-JIGGER, a turnpike-gate; “to dub at the KNAPPING-JIGGER,” to pay money at the turnpike.

KNARK, a hard-hearted or savage person.

KNIFE, “to KNIFE a person,” to stab, an un-English but now-a-days a very common expression.

KNIFE IT, “cut it,” cease, stop, don’t proceed.

KNIFE-BOARD, the seat running along the roof of an omnibus.

KNIGHT, a common and ironical prefix to a man’s calling,—thus, “KNIGHT of the whip,” a coachman; “KNIGHT of the thimble,” a tailor.

KNOCK ABOUT THE BUB, to hand or pass about the drink.

KNOCK DOWN, or KNOCK ME DOWN, strong ale.

KNOCK OFF, to give over, or abandon. A saying used by workmen about dinner, or other meal times, for upwards of two centuries.

KNOCKED UP, tired, jaded, used up, done for. In the United States, amongst females, the phrase is equivalent to being enceinte, so that Englishmen often unconsciously commit themselves when amongst our Yankee cousins.

KNOCK-IN, the game of loo.

KNOCK-OUTS, or KNOCK-INS, disreputable persons who visit auction rooms and unite to buy the articles at their own prices. One of their number is instructed to buy for the rest, and after a few small bids as blinds to the auctioneer and bystanders, the lot is knocked down to the KNOCK-OUT bidders, at a nominal price—the competition to result from an auction being thus frustrated and set aside. At the conclusion of the sale the goods are paid for, and carried to some neighbouring public house, where they are re-sold or KNOCKED-OUT, and the difference between the first purchase and the second—or tap-room KNOCK-OUT—is divided amongst the gang. As generally happens with ill-gotten gains, the money soon finds its way to the landlord’s pocket, and the KNOCK-OUT is rewarded with a red nose or a bloated face. Cunning tradesmen join the KNOCK-OUTS when an opportunity for money making presents itself. The lowest description of KNOCK-OUTS, fellows with more tongue than capital, are termed BABES,—which see.

KNOCKING-SHOP, a brothel, or disreputable house frequented by prostitutes.

KNOWING, a slang term for sharpness; “KNOWING codger,” or “a KNOWING blade,” one who can take you in, or cheat you, in any transaction you may have with him. It implies also deep cunning and foresight, and generally signifies dishonesty.

KNOWLEDGE-BOX, the head.—Pugilistic.

KNUCKLE, to pick pockets after the most approved method.

KNUCKLE TO, or KNUCKLE UNDER, to yield or submit.

KNUCKLER, a pickpocket.

KNULLER, old term for a chimney-sweep, who solicited jobs by ringing a bell. From the Saxon, CNYLLAN, to knell, or sound a bell.—See QUERIER.

KOTOOING, misapplied flattery.—Illustrated London News, 7th January, 1860.

KYPSEY, a basket.

LA! a euphuistic rendering of LORD, common amongst females and very precise persons; imagined by many to be a corruption of LOOK! but this is a mistake. Sometimes pronounced LAW, or LAWKS.

LACING, a beating. From the phrase “I’ll LACE your jacket.”—L’Estrange. Perhaps to give a beating with a lace or lash.

LADDER, “can’t see a hole in a LADDER,” said of any one who is intoxicated.

LADDLE, a lady. Term with chimney-sweeps on the 1st of May. A correspondent suggests that the term may come from the brass ladles for collecting money, always carried by the sweeps’ ladies.

LAG, a returned transport, or ticket-of-leave convict.

LAG, to void urine.—Ancient cant.

LAGGED, transported for a crime.

LAGGER, a sailor.

LAME DUCK, a stock jobber who speculates beyond his capital and cannot pay his losses. Upon retiring from the Exchange he is said to “waddle out of the Alley.”

LAMMING, a beating.—Old English, LAM; used by Beaumont and Fletcher.

LAND LUBBER, sea term for a See LOAFER.

LAND-SHARK, a sailor’s definition of a lawyer.

LAP THE GUTTER, to get drunk.

LARK, fun, a joke; “let’s have a jolly good LARK,” let us have a piece of fun. Mayhew calls it “a convenient word covering much mischief.”—Anglo Saxon, LAC, sport; but more probably from the nautical term SKYLARKING, i.e., mounting to the highest yards and sliding down the ropes for amusement, which is allowed on certain occasions.

LARRUP, to beat, or thrash.

LARRUPING, a good beating or “hiding.”—Irish.

LATCHPAN, the lower lip—properly a dripping pan; “to hang one’s LATCHPAN,” to pout, be sulky.—Norfolk.

LAVENDER, “to be laid up in LAVENDER,” in pawn; or, when a person is out of the way for an especial purpose.—Old.

LAY, to watch; “on the LAY,” on the look out—Shakespere.

LED CAPTAIN, a fashionable spunger, a swell who, by artifice ingratiates himself into the good graces of the master of the house, and lives at his table.

LEARY, to look, or be watchful; shy.—Old cant.

LEARY, flash, or knowing.

LEARY BLOAK, a person who dresses showily.

LEATHER, to beat or thrash. From the leather belt worn by soldiers and policemen, often used as a weapon in street rows.

LEAVING SHOP, an unlicensed house where goods are taken in to pawn at exorbitant rates of interest.—Daily Telegraph, 1st August, 1859.

LEEF, “I’d as LEEF do it as not,” i.e., I have no objection to do it.—Corruption of LIEF, or LEAVE. Old English, LIEF, inclined to.

LEG IT, to run; LEG BAIL, to run off; “to give a LEG,” to assist, as when one mounts a horse; “making a LEG,” a countryman’s bow,—projecting the leg from behind as a balance to the head bent forward.—Shakespere.

LEGGED, in irons.

LEGS, or BLACKLEGS, disreputable sporting characters, and race-course habitués.

LEGS OF MUTTON, inflated street term for sheeps’ trotters, or feet.

LENGTH, forty-two lines of a dramatic composition.—Theat.

LENGTH, six months’ imprisonment.—See STRETCH.

LET DRIVE, to strike, or attack with vigour.

LET IN, to cheat or victimise.

LET ON, to give an intimation of having some knowledge of a subject. Ramsay employs the phrase in the Gentle Shepherd. Common in Scotland.

LETTY, a bed. Italian, LETTO.

LEVANTER, a card sharper, or defaulting gambler. A correspondent states that it was formerly the custom to give out to the creditors, when a person was in pecuniary difficulties, and it was convenient for him to keep away, that he was gone to the East, or the LEVANT; hence, when one loses a bet, and decamps without settling, he is said to LEVANT.

LICK, a blow; LICKING, a beating; “to put in big LICKS,” a curious and common phrase meaning that great exertions are being made.—Dryden; North.

LICK, to excel, or overcome; “if you aint sharp he’ll LICK you,” i.e., be finished first. Signifies, also, to whip, chastise, or conquer. Ancient cant, LYCKE.

LIFER, a convict who is sentenced to transportation for life.

LIFT, to steal, pick pockets; “there’s a clock been LIFTED,” said when a watch has been stolen. The word is as old as the Border forays, and is used by Shakespere. Shoplifter is a recognised term.

LIGHT, “to be able to get a LIGHT at a house” is to get credit.

LIGHT-FEEDERS, silver spoons.

LIGHTS, a “cake,” a fool, a soft or “doughy” person.

LIGHTS, the eyes.

LIGHTNING, gin; “FLASH O’ LIGHTNING,” a glass of gin.

LIMB OF THE LAW, a lawyer, or clerk articled to that profession.

LINE, calling, trade, profession; “what LINE are you in?” “the building LINE.”

LINGO, talk, or language. Slang is termed LINGO amongst the lower orders. Italian, LINGUA.

LIP, bounce, impudence; “come, none o’ yer LIP!”

LIQUOR, or LIQUOR UP, to drink drams.—Americanism. In liquor, tipsy, or drunk.

LITTLE GO, the “Previous Examination,” at Cambridge the first University examination for undergraduates in their second year of matriculation. At Oxford, the corresponding term is THE SMALLS.

LITTLE SNAKES-MAN, a little thief, who is generally passed through a small aperture to open any door to let in the rest of the gang.

LIVE-STOCK, vermin of the insect kind.

LOAFER, a lazy vagabond. Generally considered an Americanism. Loper, or LOAFER, however, was in general use as a cant term in the early part of the last century. Land-loper, was a vagabond who begged in the attire of a sailor; and the sea phrase, LAND-LUBBER, was doubtless synonymous.—See the Times, 3rd November, 1859, for a reference to LOAFER.

LOAVER, money.—See LOUR.

LOB, a till, or money drawer.

LOBB, the head.—Pugilistic.

LOBLOLLY, gruel.—Old: used by Markham as a sea term for grit gruel, or hasty pudding.

LOBLOLLY BOY, a derisive term for a surgeon’s mate in the navy.

LOBS, words.—Gipsey.

LOBSTER, a soldier. A policeman from the colour of his coat is styled an unboiled, or raw LOBSTER.

LOBSTER-BOX, a barrack, or military station.

LOLLY, the head.—See LOBB.—Pugilistic.

LONG-BOW, “to draw,” or “shoot with the LONG BOW,” to exaggerate.

LONG-TAILED-ONES, bank notes, or FLIMSIES, for a large amount.

LOOF FAKER, a chimney-sweep.—See FLUE FAKER.

LOOSE.—See ON THE LOOSE.

LOOT, swag, or plunder.—Hindoo.

LOP-SIDED, uneven, one side larger than the other.—Old.

LOPE, this old form of leap is often heard in the streets.

LORD, “drunk as a LORD,” a common saying, probably referring to the facilities a man of fortune has for such a gratification; perhaps a sly sarcasm at the supposed habits of the “haristocracy.”

LORD, a hump-backed man.—See MY LORD.

LORD OF THE MANOR, a sixpence.

LOUD, flashy, showy, as applied to dress or manner.—See BAGS.

LOUR, or LOWR, money; “gammy LOWR,” bad money.—Ancient cant, and Gipsey.

LOUSE-TRAP, a small tooth comb.—Old cant.—See CATCH ’EM ALIVE.

LOVE, at billiards “five to none” would be “five LOVE,”—a LOVE being the same as when one player does not score at all.

LOVEAGE, tap droppings, a mixture of spirits, sweetened and sold to habitual dram-drinkers, principally females. Called also ALLS.

LUBBER, a clown, or fool.—Ancient cant, LUBBARE.

LUBBER’S HOLE, an aperture in the maintop of a ship, by which a timid climber may avoid the difficulties of the “futtock shrouds”—hence, a sea term for any cowardly way of evading duty.

LUCK, “down on one’s LUCK,” wanting money, or in difficulty.

LUCKY, “to cut one’s LUCKY,” to go away quickly.—See STRIKE.

LUG, “my togs are in LUG,” i.e., in pawn.

LUG, the ear.—Scotch.

LUG, to pull, or slake thirst.—Old.

LUG CHOVEY, a pawnbroker’s shop.

LULLY PRIGGERS, rogues who steal wet clothes hung on lines to dry.

LUMBER, to pawn or pledge.—Household Words, No. 183.

LUMMY, jolly, first-rate.

LUMPER, a contractor. On the river, more especially a person who contracts to deliver a ship laden with timber.

LUMP THE LIGHTER, to be transported.

LUMP WORK, work contracted for, or taken by the lump.

LUMPERS, low thieves who haunt wharves and docks, and rob vessels; persons who sell old goods for new.

LUMPY, intoxicated.

LUNAN, a girl.—Gipsey.

LURK, a sham, swindle, or representation of feigned distress.

LURKER, an impostor who travels the country with false certificates of fires, shipwrecks, &c.

LUSH, intoxicating drinks of all kinds, but generally used for beer. The Globe, 8th September, 1859, says “LUSH and its derivatives claim Lushington, the brewer, as sponsor.”

LUSH, to drink, or get drunk.

LUSH-CRIB, a public house.

LUSHINGTON, a drunkard, or one who continually soaks himself with drams, and pints of beer. Some years since there was a “Lushington Club” in Bow-street, Covent Garden.

LUSHY, intoxicated. Johnson says “opposite to pale,” so red with drink.

MAB, a cab, or hackney coach.

MACE, a dressy swindler who victimizes tradesmen.

MACE, to spunge, swindle, or beg, in a polite way; “give it him (a shopkeeper) on the MACE,” i.e., obtain goods on credit and never pay for them; also termed “striking the MACE.”

MADZA, half. Italian, MEZZA. This word enters into combination with various cant phrases, mainly taken from the Lingua Franca, as MADZA CAROON, half-a-crown, two-and-sixpence; MADZA SALTEE, a halfpenny [see SALTEE]; MADZA POONA, half-a-sovereign; MADZA ROUND THE BULL, half-a-pound of steak, &c.

MAG, a halfpenny.—Ancient cant, MAKE. Meggs were formerly guineas.—B. M. Carew.

MAG, to talk. A corruption of NAG.—Old; hence MAGPIE.

MAGGOTTY, fanciful, fidgetty. Whims and fancies were formerly termed MAGGOTS, from the popular belief that a maggot in the brain was the cause of any odd notion or caprice a person might exhibit.

MAGSMAN, a street swindler, who watches for countrymen and “gullable” persons.

MAHOGANY, “to have one’s feet under another man’s MAHOGANY,” to sit at his table, be supported on other than one’s own resources; “amputate your MAHOGANY,” i.e., go away, or “cut your stick.”

MAIN-TOBY, the highway, or the main road.

MAKE, a successful theft, or swindle.

MAKE, to steal.

MAKE UP, personal appearance.—Theatrical.

MANG, to talk.—Scotch.

MARE’S NEST, a Cockney discovery of marvels, which turn out no marvels at all. An old preacher in Cornwall, up to very lately employed a different version, viz.: “a cow calving up in a tree.”

MARINATED, transported;—from the salt-pickling fish undergo in Cornwall.—Old cant.

MARINE, or MARINE RECRUIT, an empty bottle. This expression having once been used in the presence of an officer of marines, he was at first inclined to take it as an insult, until some one adroitly appeased his wrath by remarking that no offence could be meant, as all that it could possibly imply was, “one who had done his duty, and was ready to do it again.”—See HORSE MARINE.—Naval.

MARRIAGE LINES, a marriage certificate.—Provincial.

MARROWSKYING.—See MEDICAL GREEK.

MARYGOLD, one million sterling.—See PLUM.

MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS, when the leader of the House of Commons goes through the doleful operation of devoting to extinction a number of useful measures at the end of the session, for want of time to pass them.—Vide Times, 20th July, 1859: Mr. C. Foster, on altering the time of the legislative sessions.—Parliamentary slang.

MATE, the term a coster or low person applies to a friend, partner, or companion; “me and my MATE did so and so,” is a common phrase with a low Londoner.—Originally a Sea term.

MAULEY, a signature, from MAULEY, a fist; “put your FIST to it,” is sometimes said by a low tradesman when desiring a fellow trader to put his signature to a bill or note.

MAULEY, a fist, that with which one strikes as with a MALL.—Pugilistic.

MAUND, to beg; “MAUNDERING on the fly,” begging of people in the streets.—Old cant. Maung, to beg, is a term in use amongst the Gipseys, and may also be found in the Hindoo Vocabulary. Maund, however, is pure Anglo Saxon, from MAND, a basket. Compare “beg,” which is derived from BAG, a curious parallel.

MAW, the mouth; “hold your MAW,” cease talking.

MAX, gin; MAX-UPON TICK, gin obtained upon credit.

M. B. COAT, i.e., Mark of the Beast, a name given to the long surtout worn by the clergy,—a modern Puritan form of abuse, said to have been accidentally disclosed to a Tractarian customer by a tailor’s orders to his foreman.

MEALY-MOUTHED, plausible, deceitful.

MEDICAL GREEK, the slang used by medical students at the hospitals. At the London University they have a way of disguising English, described by Albert Smith as the Gower-street Dialect, which consists in transposing the initials of words, e.g., “poke a smipe”—smoke a pipe, “flutter-by”—butterfly, &c. This disagreeable nonsense is often termed MARROWSKYING.—See GREEK, St. Giles’ Greek, or the “Ægidiac” dialect, Language of ZIPH, &c.

MENAGERY, the orchestra of a theatre.—Theatrical.

MIDDY, abbreviation of MIDSHIPMAN.—Naval.

MIDGE NET, a lady’s veil.

MIKE, to loiter; or, as a costermonger defined it, to “lazy about.” The term probably originated at St. Giles’, which used to be thronged with Irish labourers (Mike being so common a term with them as to become a generic appellation for Irishmen with the vulgar) who used to loiter about the Pound, and lean against the public-houses in the “Dials” waiting for hire.

MILKY ONES, white linen rags.

MILL, a fight, or SET TO. Ancient cant, MYLL, to rob.

MILL, to fight or beat.

MILL, the treadmill, prison.

MILL-TOG, a shirt—most likely the prison garment.

MISH, a shirt, or chemise. From COMMISSION, the Ancient cant for a shirt, afterwards shortened to K’MISH or SMISH, and then to MISH. French, CHEMISE; Italian, CAMICIA.

“With his snowy CAMESE and his shaggy capote.”—Byron.

MITTENS, fists.—Pugilistic.

MIZZLE, to run away, or decamp; to disappear as in a mist. From MIZZLE, a drizzling rain; a Scotch mist.

MOB. Swift informs us, in his Art of Polite Conversation, that MOB was, in his time, the slang abbreviation of Mobility, just as NOB is of Nobility at the present day.—See SCHOOL.

MOBILITY, the populace; or, according to Burke, the “great unwashed.” Johnson calls it a cant term, although Swift notices it as a proper expression.

MOBS, companions; MOBSMEN, dressy swindlers.

MOKE, a donkey.—Gipsey.

MOKO, a name given by sportsmen to pheasants killed by mistake in partridge shooting during September, before the pheasant shooting comes in. They pull out their tails, and roundly assert they are no pheasants at all, but MOKOS.

MOLL, a girl; nickname for Mary.—Old cant.

MOLL’D, followed, or accompanied by a woman.

MOLLISHER, a low girl or woman; generally a female cohabiting with a man, and jointly getting their living by thieving.

MOLLSACK, a reticule, or market basket.

MOLL-TOOLER, a female pickpocket.

MOLLYCODDLE, an effeminate man; one who caudles amongst the women, or does their work.

MOLLYGRUBS, or MULLIGRUBS, stomach-ache, or sorrow—which to the costermonger is much the same, as he believes, like the ancients, that the viscera is the seat of all feeling.

MOLROWING, “out on the spree,” in company with so-called

MONEKEER, a person’s name or signature.

MONKEY, spirit, or ill temper; “to get one’s MONKEY up,” to rouse his passion. A man is said to have his MONKEY up, or the MONKEY on his back, when he is “riled,” or out of temper; also to have his BACK or HUMP up.

MONKEY, a padlock.

MONKEY, the instrument which drives a rocket.—Army.

MONKEY, £500.

MONKEY WITH A LONG TAIL, a mortgage.—Legal.

MONKEY’S ALLOWANCE, to get blows instead of alms, more kicks than half-pence.

MONKERY, the country, or rural districts. Old word for a quiet, or monastic life.—Hall.

MOOCH, to sponge; to obtrude yourself upon friends just when they are about to sit down to dinner, or other lucky time—of course quite accidentally.—Compare HULK. To slink away, and allow your friend to pay for the entertainment. In Wiltshire, ON THE MOUTCH is to shuffle.

MOOCHING, or ON THE MOOCH, on the look out for any articles or circumstances which may be turned to a profitable account; watching in the streets for odd jobs, scraps, horses to hold, &c.

MOOE, the mouth; the female generative organ.—Gipsey and Hindoo. Shakespere has MOE, to make mouths.

MOON, a month—generally used to express the length of time a person has been sentenced by the magistrate; thus “ONE MOON” is one month.—See DRAG. It is a curious fact that the Indians of America and the roaming vagabonds of England should both calculate time by the MOON.

MOONEY, intoxicated.—Household Words, No. 183.

MOONLIGHT, or MOONSHINE, smuggled gin.

MOONSHINE, palaver, deception, humbug.

MOP, a hiring place (or fair) for servants. Steps are being taken to put down these assemblages, which have been proved to be greatly detrimental to the morality of the poor.

MOP UP, to drink, or empty a glass.—Old.

MOPS AND BROOMS, intoxicated.—Ho. Words, No. 183.

MOPUSSES, money; “MOPUSSES ran taper,” money ran short.

MORRIS, to decamp, be off. Probably from the ancient MORESCO, or MORRIS DANCE.

MORTAR-BOARD, the term given by the vulgar to the square college caps.

MOTT, a girl of indifferent character. Formerly Mort. Dutch, MOTT-KAST, a harlotry.

MOUNTAIN-DEW, whisky, advertised as from the Highlands.

MOUNTAIN PECKER, a sheep’s head.—See JEMMY.

MOUNTER, a false swearer. Derived from the borrowed clothes men used to MOUNT, or dress in, when going to swear for a consideration.

MOUTHPIECE, a lawyer, or counsel.

MOVE, a “dodge,” or cunning trick; “up to a move or two,” acquainted with tricks.

MRS. JONES, the house of office, a water-closet.

MRS. HARRIS and MRS. GAMP, nicknames of the Morning Herald and Standard newspapers, while united under the proprietorship of Mr. Baldwin. Mrs. Gamp, a monthly nurse, was a character in Mr. Charles Dickens’ popular novel of Martin Chuzzlewit, who continually quoted an imaginary Mrs. Harris in attestation of the superiority of her qualifications, and the infallibility of her opinions; and thus afforded a parallel to the two newspapers, who appealed to each other as independent authorities, being all the while the production of the same editorial staff.

MUCK, to beat, or excel; “it’s no use, luck’s set in him; he’d MUCK a thousand.”—Mayhew, vol. i, p. 18. To run a muck, or GO A MUCKER, to rush headlong into certain ruin. From a certain religious phrenzy, which is common among the Malays, causing one of them, kreese in hand, to dash into a crowd and devote every one to death he meets with, until he is himself killed, or falls from exhaustion—Malay, AMOK, slaughter.

MUCK OUT, to clean out,—often applied to one utterly ruining an adversary in gambling. From the Provincial MUCK, dirt.

MUCK-SNIPE, one who has been “MUCKED OUT,” or beggared, at gambling.

MUCKENDER, or MUCKENGER, a pocket handkerchief.—Old.

MUDFOG, “The British Association for the Promotion of Science.”—University.

MUD-LARKS, men and women who, with their clothes tucked above knee, grovel through the mud on the banks of the Thames, when the tide is low, for silver spoons, old bottles, pieces of iron, coal, or any articles of the least value, deposited by the retiring tide, either from passing ships or the sewers. Occasionally those men who cleanse the sewers, with great boots and sou’ wester hats.

MUFF, a silly, or weak-minded person; MUFF has been defined to be “a soft thing that holds a lady’s hand without squeezing it.”

MUFFIN-WORRY, an old ladies’ tea party.

MUFTI, the civilian dress of a naval or military officer when off duty.—Anglo Indian.

MUG, to fight, or chastise.

MUG, “to MUG oneself,” to get tipsy.

MUG, the mouth, or face.—Old.

MUGGING, a thrashing,—synonymous with slogging, both terms of the “ring,” and frequently used by fighting men.

MUGGY, drunk.

MUG-UP, to paint one’s face.—Theatrical. To “cram” for an examination.—Army.

MULL, “to make a MULL of it,” to spoil anything, or make a fool of oneself.—Gipsey.

MULLIGRUBS.—Vide MOLLYGRUBS.

MULTEE KERTEVER, very bad.—Italian, MOLTO CATTIVO.

MUMMER, a performer at a travelling theatre.Ancient. Rustic performers at Christmas in the West of England.

MUMPER, a beggar.—Gipsey. Possibly a corruption of MUMMER.

MUNDUNGUS, trashy tobacco. Spanish, MONDONGO, black pudding.

MUNGARLY, bread, food. Mung is an old word for mixed food, but MUNGARLY is doubtless derived from the Lingua Franca, MANGIAR, to eat.—See the following.

MUNGARLY CASA, a baker’s shop; evidently a corruption of some Lingua Franca phrase for an eating house. The well known “Nix mangiare” stairs at Malta derive their name from the endless beggars who lie there and shout NIX MANGIARE, i.e., “nothing to eat,” to excite the compassion of the English who land there,—an expression which exhibits remarkably the mongrel composition of the Lingua Franca, MANGIARE being Italian, and Nix an evident importation from Trieste, or other Austrian seaport.

MUNGING, or “MOUNGING,” whining, begging, muttering.—North.

MUNS, the mouth. German, MUND.—Old cant.

MURERK, the mistress of the house.—See BURERK.

MURKARKER, a monkey,—vulgar cockney pronunciation of MACAUCO, a species of monkey. Jackey Macauco was the name of a famous fighting monkey, which used about thirty years ago to display his prowess at the Westminster pit, where, after having killed many dogs, he was at last “chawed up” by a bull terrier.

MURPHY, a potato. Probably from the Irish national liking for potatoes, MURPHY being a common surname amongst the Irish.—See MIKE. Murphies (edible) are sometimes called DUNNAMANS.

MURPHY, “in the arms of MURPHY,” i.e., fast asleep. Corruption of MORPHEUS.

MUSH, an umbrella. Contraction of mushroom.

MUSH, (or MUSHROOM) FAKER, an itinerant mender of umbrellas.

MUSLIN, a woman or girl; “he picked up a bit of MUSLIN.”

MUTTON, a lewd woman.—Shakespere.

MUTTON-WALK, the saloon at Drury Lane Theatre.

MUZZLE, to fight or thrash.

MUZZLE, the mouth.

MUZZY, intoxicated.—Household Words, No. 183.

MY AUNT, a water-closet, or house of office.

MY LORD, a nickname given to a hunchback.

MY TULIP, a term of endearment used by the lower orders to persons and animals; “kim up, MY TULIP,” as the coster said to his donkey when thrashing him with an ash stick.

MY UNCLE, the pawnbroker,—generally used when any person questions the whereabouts of a domestic article, “Oh! only at MY UNCLE’S” is the reply. Up the spout has the same meaning.

NAB, to catch, to seize; “NAB the rust,” to take offence.—Ancient, fourteenth century.

NABOB, an Eastern prince, a retired Indian official,—hence a slang term for a capitalist.

NAIL, to steal, or capture; “paid on the NAIL,” i.e., ready money; NAILED, taken up, or caught—probably in allusion to the practice of NAILING bad money to the counter. We say “as dead as a DOOR-NAIL;”—why? Shakespere has the expression in Henry IV.—

A correspondent thinks the expression is only alliterative humour, and compares as “Flat as a Flounder,” “straight as a soldier,” &c.

NAM, a policeman. Evidently back slang.

NAMBY PAMBY, particular, over nice, effeminate. This, I think, was of Pope’s invention, and first applied by him to the affected short-lined verses addressed by Ambrose Phillips to Lord Carteret’s infant children.—See Johnson’s Life of Pope.

NAMUS, or NAMOUS, some one, i.e., “be off, somebody is coming.”—Back slang, but general.—See VAMOS.

NANNY-SHOP, a disreputable house.

NANTEE, not any, or “I have none.” Italian, NIENTE, nothing.—See DINARLY.

NANTEE PALAVER, no conversation, i.e., hold your tongue.—Lingua Franca.—See PALAVER.

NAP, or NAB, to take, steal, or receive; “you’ll NAP it,” i.e., you will catch a beating!—North; also old cant.—Bulwer’s Paul Clifford.

NAP, or NAPPER, a hat. From NAB, a hat, cap, or head.—Old cant.

NAP ONE’S BIB, to cry, shed tears, or carry one’s point.

NAP THE REGULARS, to divide the booty.

NAP THE TEAZE, to be privately whipped in prison.

NARK, a person in the pay of the police; a common informer; one who gets his living by laying traps for publicans, &c.

NARK, to watch, or look after, “NARK the titter;” watch the girl.

NARP, a shirt.—Scotch.

NARY ONE, provincial for NE’ER A ONE, neither.

NASTY, ill-tempered, cross-grained.

NATION, very, or exceedingly. Corruption of DAMNATION.

NATTY, pretty, neat, tidy.—Old.

NATURAL, an idiot, a simpleton.

NECK, to swallow. Neck-oil, drink of any kind.

NECK OR NOTHING, desperate.—Racing phrase.

NEDDY, a life preserver.—Contraction of KENNEDY, the name of the first man, it is said in St. Giles’, who had his head broken by a poker.—Vide Mornings at Bow Street.

NEDDY, a donkey.

NEDS, guineas. Half-neds, half-guineas.

NED STOKES, the four of spades.—North Hants.—See Gentleman’s Magazine for 1791, p. 141.

NEEDFUL, money, cash.

NEEDY, a nightly lodger, or tramp.

NEEDY MIZZLER, a shabby person; a tramp who runs away without paying for his lodging.

NESTS, varieties.—Old.

NEVER-TRUST-ME, an ordinary phrase with low Londoners, and common in Shakespere’s time, vide Twelfth Night. It is generally used instead of an oath, calling vengeance on the asseverator, if such and such does not come to pass.

NEWGATE FRINGE, or FRILL, the collar of beard worn under the chin; so called from its occupying the position of the rope when Jack Ketch operates. Another name for it is a TYBURN COLLAR.

NEWGATE KNOCKER, the term given to the lock of hair which costermongers and thieves usually twist back towards the ear. The shape is supposed to resemble the knocker on the prisoners’ door at Newgate—a resemblance that would appear to carry a rather unpleasant suggestion to the wearer. Sometimes termed a COBBLER’S KNOT, or cow-lick, which see.

NEWMARKET, in tossing halfpence, when it is agreed that the first toss shall be decisive, the play is said to be NEWMARKET.

NIBBLE, to take, or steal. Nibbler, a petty thief.

NIBS, the master, or chief person; a man with no means but high pretensions,—a “shabby genteel.”

NICK, or OLD NICK, the evil spirit.—Scandinavian.

NICK, to hit the mark; “he’s NICKED it,” i.e., won his point.

NICK-KNACK, a trifle.—Originally cant.

NIGGLING, trifling, or idling; taking short steps in walking.—North.

NIL, half; half profits, &c.

NILLY-WILLY, i.e., Nill ye, will ye, whether you will or no, a familiar version of the Latin, NOLENS VOLENS.

NIMMING, stealing. Immediately from the German, NEHMEN. Motherwell, the Scotch poet, thought the old word NIM (to snatch or pick up) was derived from nam, nam, the tiny words or cries of an infant, when eating anything which pleases its little palate. A negro proverb has the word:—

Or, in the buckra man’s language—

NINCOMPOOP, a fool, a hen pecked husband, a “Jerry Sneak.”—Corruption of non compos mentis.

NINE CORNS, a pipeful of tobacco.

NINES, “dressed up to the NINES,” in a showy or recherché manner.

NINEPENCE, “right as NINEPENCE,” all right, right to a nicety.

NIP, to steal, take up quickly.

NIPPER, a small boy. Old cant for a boy cut-purse.

NIX, nothing, “NIX my doll,” synonymous with NIX. German, NICHTS, nothing.—See MUNGARLY.

NIX! the signal word of school boys to each other that the master, or other person in authority, is approaching.

NIZZIE, a fool, a coxcomb.—Old cant, vide Triumph of Wit.

NOAH’S ARK, a long closely buttoned overcoat, recently in fashion. So named by Punch from the similarity which it exhibits to the figure of Noah and his sons in children’s toy arks.

NOB, the head—Pugilistic; “BOB A NOB,” a shilling a head. Ancient cant, NEB. Nob is an early English word, and is used in the Romance of Kynge Alisaunder (thirteenth century) for a head; originally, no doubt, the same as knob.

NOB, a person of high position, a “swell,” a nobleman,—of which word it may be an abbreviation.—See SNOB.

NOBBA, nine. Italian, NOVE; Spanish, NOVA,—the b and v being interchangeable, as Sebastópol and Sevastópol.

NOBBA SALTEE, ninepence. Lingua Franca, NOVE SOLDI.

NOBBING, collecting money; “what NOBBINGS?” i.e., how much have you got?

NOBBLE, to cheat, to overreach; to discover.

NOBBLERS, confederates of thimble-rigs, who play earnestly as if strangers to the “RIG,” and thus draw unsuspecting persons into a game.

NOBBY, or NOBBISH, fine or showy; NOBBILY, showily.—See SNOB for derivation.

NOMMUS, be off.—See NAMUS.

NO ODDS, no matter, of no consequence.—Latimer’s sermon before Edward VI.

NOSE, a thief who turns informer, or Queen’s evidence; a spy or watch; “on the NOSE,” on the look out.

NOSE, “to pay through the NOSE,” to pay an extravagant price.

NOSE-BAGS, visitors at watering places, and houses of refreshment, who carry their own victuals.—Term applied by waiters.

NOSE EM, or FOGUS, tobacco.

NOSER, a bloody or contused nose.—Pugilistic.

NOUSE, comprehension, perception.—Old, apparently from the Greek, νοῦς.

NUB, a husband.

NUDDIKIN, the head.

For Cant Numerals, see under SALTEE.

NURSE, a curious term lately applied to competition in omnibuses. Two omnibuses are placed on the road to NURSE, or oppose, each opposition “buss,” one before, the other behind. Of course the central or NURSED buss has very little chance, unless it happens to be a favourite with the public. Nurse, to cheat, or swindle; trustees are said to NURSE property, i.e., gradually eat it up themselves.

NUT, to be “off one’s NUT,” to be in liquor, or “ALL MOPS AND BROOMS.”

NUTS, to be NUTS upon anything or person is to be pleased with or fond of it; a self-satisfied man is said to be NUTS upon himself. Nutted, taken in by a man who professed to be NUTS upon you.

NUTTY, amorous.

NYMPH OF THE PAVE (French, PAVÉ

OAK, the outer door of college rooms; to “sport one’s OAK,” to be “not at home” to visitors.—See SPORT.—University.

OBFUSCATED, intoxicated.

OBSTROPOLOUS, Cockney corruption of obstreperous.

OCHRE, money, generally applied to gold, for a very obvious reason.

O’CLOCK, or A’CLOCK, “like ONE O’CLOCK,” a favourite comparison with the lower orders, implying briskness; “to know what O’CLOCK it is,” to be wide awake, sharp, and experienced.

ODD MAN, a street or public-house game at tossing. The number of players is three. Each tosses up a coin, and if two come down head, and one tail, or vice versâ, the last is ODD MAN, and loses or wins as may have been agreed upon. Frequently used to victimise a “flat.” If all three be alike, then the toss goes for nothing, and the coppers are again “skied.”

OD DRAT IT, OD RABBIT (Colman’s Broad Grins), OD’S BLOOD, and all other exclamations commencing with OD, are nothing but softened or suppressed oaths. Od is a corruption of GOD, and DRAT of ROT.—Shakespere.

OFF AND ON, vacillating; “an OFF AND ON kind of a chap,” one who is always undecided.

OFF ONE’S FEED, real or pretended want of appetite.—Stable slang.

OFFISH, distant, not familiar.

OFFICE, “to give the OFFICE,” to give a hint dishonestly to a confederate, thereby enabling him to win a game or bet, the profits being shared.

OGLE, to look, or reconnoitre.

OGLES, eyes.—Old cant. French, ŒIL.

OIL OF PALMS, or PALM OIL, money.

OINTMENT, medical student slang for butter.

OLD GOOSEBERRY (see GOOSEBERRY), OLD HARRY (query, Old Hairy?), OLD SCRATCH, all synonymes for the devil.

OLD GOWN, smuggled tea.

OLD HORSE, salt junk, or beef.—Sea.

OLD TOM, gin.

OLIVER, the moon; “OLIVER don’t widdle,” i.e., the moon does not shine. Nearly obsolete.—Bulwer’s Paul Clifford.

OMEE, a master or landlord; “the OMEE of the cassey’s a nark on the pitch,” the master of the house will not let us perform. Italian, UOMO, a man; “UOMO DELLA CASA,” the master of the house.

ON, “to be ON,” in public-house or vulgar parlance, is synonymous with getting “tight,” or tipsy; “it’s Saint Monday with him, I see he’s ON again,” i.e., drunk as usual, or ON the road to it.

ON THE FLY, getting one’s living by thieving or other illegitimate means; the phrase is applied to men the same as ON THE LOOSE is to women.

ON THE LOOSE, obtaining a living by prostitution, in reality, on the streets. The term is applied to females only, excepting in the case of SPREES, when men carousing are sometimes said to be ON THE LOOSE.

ON THE NOSE, on the watch or look out.—See NOSE.

ON THE SHELF, to be transported. With old maids it has another and very different meaning.

ON THE TILES, out all night “on the spree,” or carousing,—in allusion to the London cats on their amatory excursions.

ONE IN TEN, a parson.

ONE-ER, that which stands for ONE, a blow that requires no more. In Dickens’ amusing work, the “Marchioness” tells Dick Swiveller that “her missus is a ONE-ER at cards.”

ORACLE, “to work the ORACLE,” to plan, manœuvre, to succeed by a wily stratagem.

OTTER, eightpence.—Italian, OTTO, eight.

OTTOMY, a thin man, a skeleton, a dwarf. Vulgar pronunciation of Anatomy. Shakespere has ’ATOMY.

OUT, a dram glass. The habitué of a gin-shop, desirous of treating a brace of friends, calls for a quartern of gin and three OUTS, by which he means three glasses which will exactly contain the quartern.

OUT AND OUT, prime, excellent, of the first quality. Out and outer, “one who is of an OUT AND OUT description,” UP to anything.

An ancient MS. has this couplet, which shows the antiquity of the phrase—

OUT OF COLLAR, out of place,—in allusion to servants. When in place, the term is COLLARED UP.—Theatrical and general.

OUT ON THE LOOSE, “on the spree,” in search of adventures.

OUT ON THE PICKAROON. Picarone is Spanish for a thief, but this phrase does not necessarily mean anything dishonest, but ready for anything in the way of excitement to turn up; also to be in search of anything profitable.

OUT-SIDER, a person who does not habitually bet, or is not admitted to the “Ring.” Also, a horse whose name does not appear among the “favourites.”

OVER! or OVER THE LEFT, i.e., the left shoulder—a common exclamation of disbelief in what is being narrated,—implying that the results of a proposed plan will be “over the left,” i.e., in the wrong direction, loss instead of gain.

OWNED, a canting expression used by the ultra-Evangelicals when a popular preacher makes many converts. The converts themselves are called his “SEALS.”

P’s AND Q’s, particular points, precise behaviour; “mind your P’S AND Q’S,” be very careful. Originating, according to some, from the similarity of p’s and q’s in the hornbook alphabet, and therefore the warning of an old dame to her pupils; or, according to others, of a French dancing master to his pupils, to mind their pieds (feet) and queues (wigs) when making a bow.

PACK, to go away; “now, then, PACK off there,” i.e., be off, don’t stop here any longer. Old, “Make speede to flee, be PACKING and awaie.”—Baret’s Alvearie, 1580.

PAD, “to stand PAD,” to beg with a small piece of paper pinned on the breast, inscribed “I’m starving.”

PAD, the highway; a tramp.—Lincolnshire.

PAD THE HOOF, to walk, not ride; “PADDING THE HOOF on the high toby,” tramping or walking on the high road.

PADDING KENS, or CRIBS, tramps’ and boys’ lodging houses.

PADDLE, to go or run away.—Household Words, No. 183.

PADDY, PAT, or PADDY WHACK, an Irishman.

PADRE, a clergyman.—Anglo Indian.

PAL, a partner, acquaintance, friend, an accomplice. Gipsey, a brother.

PALAVER, to ask, or talk,—not deceitfully, as the term usually signifies; “PALAVER to the nibs for a shant of bivvy,” ask the master for a quart of beer. In this sense used by tramps.—Derived from French, PARLER.

PALL, to detect.

PALM OIL, or PALM SOAP, money.

PALMING, robbing shops by pairs,—one thief bargaining with apparent intent to purchase, whilst the other watches his opportunity to steal. An amusing example of PALMING came off some time since. A man entered a “ready made” boot and shoe shop and desired to be shown a pair of boots,—his companion staying outside and amusing himself by looking in at the window. The one who required to be fresh shod was apparently of a humble and deferential turn, for he placed his hat on the floor directly he stepped in the shop. Boot after boot was tried on until at last a fit was obtained,—when lo, forth came a man, snatched up the customer’s hat left near the door, and down the street he ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Away went the customer after his hat, and Crispin, standing at the door, clapped his hands and shouted “go it, you’ll catch him,”—little thinking that it was a concerted trick, and that neither his boots nor the customer would ever return. Palming sometimes refers to secreting money or rings in the hand.

PAM, the knave of clubs; or, in street phraseology, Lord Palmerston.

PANNAM, food, bread.—Lingua Franca, PANNEN; Latin, PANIS; Ancient cant, YANNAM.

PANNAM-BOUND, stopping the prison food or rations to a prisoner. PANNAM-STRUCK, very hungry.

PANNIKIN, a small pan.

PANNY, a house—public or otherwise; “flash PANNY,” a public-house used by thieves; PANNY MEN, housebreakers.

PANTILE, a hat. The term PANTILE is properly applied to the mould into which the sugar is poured which is afterwards known as “loaf sugar.” Thus, PANTILE, from whence comes the phrase “a sugar-loaf hat,” originally signified a tall, conical hat, in shape similar to that usually represented as the head gear of a bandit. From PANTILE, the more modern slang term TILE has been derived. Halliwell gives PANTILE SHOP, a meeting-house.

PANTILER, a dissenting preacher. Probably from the practice of the Quakers, and many dissenters, of not removing the hat in a place of worship.

PAPER MAKERS, rag gatherers and gutter rakers—similar to the chiffonniers of Paris. Also, those men who tramp through the country, and collect rags on the pretence that they are agents to a paper mill.

PAPER WORKERS, the wandering vendors of street literature; street folk who sell ballads, dying speeches and confessions, sometimes termed RUNNING STATIONERS.

PARADIS, French slang for the gallery of a theatre, “up amongst the GODS,” which see.

PARISH LANTERN, the moon.

PARNEY, rain; “dowry of PARNEY,” a quantity of rain. Anglo-Indian slang from the Hindoo, PÃNI, water; Gipsey, PANÉ. Old Indian officers always call brandy and water BRANDY PAWNEE.

PASH, to strike; now corrupted to BASH, which see.—Shakes.

PASTE-HORN, the nose. Shoemakers nickname any shopmate with a large nose “old PASTEHORN,” from the horn in which they keep their paste.

PATENT COAT, a coat with the pockets inside the skirts,—termed PATENT from the difficulty of picking them.

PATTER, a speech or discourse, a pompous street oration, a judge’s summing up, a trial. Ancient word for muttering. Probably from the Latin, PATER NOSTER, or Lord’s Prayer. This was said, before the Reformation, in a low voice by the priest, until he came to, “and lead us not into temptation,” to which the choir responded, “but deliver us from evil.” In our reformed Prayer Book this was altered, and the Lord’s Prayer directed to be said “with a loud voice.”—Dr. Pusey takes this view of the derivation in his Letter to the Bishop of London, p. 78, 1851. Scott uses the word twice in Ivanhoe and the Bride of Lammermoor.

PATTER, to talk. Patter flash, to speak the language of thieves, talk cant.

PATTERERS, men who cry last dying speeches, &c., in the streets, and those who help off their wares by long harangues in the public thoroughfares. These men, to use their own term “are the haristocracy of the street sellers,” and despise the costermongers for their ignorance, boasting that they live by their intellect. The public, they say, do not expect to receive from them an equivalent for their money—they pay to hear them talk.—Mayhew. Patterers were formerly termed “mountebanks.”

PAWS, hands.

PAY, to beat a person, or “serve them out.” Originally a nautical term, meaning to stop the seams of a vessel with pitch (French, POIX); “here’s the d——l to PAY, and no pitch hot,” said when any catastrophe occurs which there is no means of averting; “to PAY over face and eyes, as the cat did the monkey;” “to PAY through the nose,” to give a ridiculous price.—whence the origin? Shakespere uses PAY in the sense of to beat, or thrash.

PEACH, to inform against or betray. Webster states that impeach is now the modification mostly used, and that PEACH is confined principally to the conversation of thieves and the lower orders.

PEACOCK HORSE, amongst undertakers, is one with a showy tail and mane, and holds its head up well,—che va favorreggiando, &c., Italian.

PEAKING, remnants of cloth.

PECK, food; “PECK and booze,” meat and drink.—Lincolnshire. Ancient cant, PEK, meat.

PECKER, “keep your PECKER up,” i.e., don’t get down-hearted,—literally, keep your beak or head well up, “never say die!”

PECKISH, hungry. Old cant, PECKIDGE, meat.

PEEL, to strip, or disrobe.—Pugilistic.

PEELER, a policeman; so called from Sir Robert Peel (see BOBBY); properly applied to the Irish constabulary rather than the City police, the former force having been established by Sir Robert Peel.

PEEPERS, eyes; “painted PEEPERS,” eyes bruised or blackened from a blow.