A Dictionary of Slang and its Analogues. (continued 12)

Bub, subs. (old).—1. Strong drink of any kind, but usually applied to malt liquor. [It is suggested that this term is onomatopoetic, an imitation of the sound of drinking; others, however, incline to regard the word as a derivative of the Latin bib-ĕre, to drink. Sometimes spelt bubb.] A common expression for eating and drinking is ‘to take bub and grub,’ a French equivalent for which is se caresser l’Angoulême.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. iv., p. 36 (1874). In a short time these four return’d laden with bub and food.

1748. Dodsley, Collection of Poems, III., 262.

Tho’ beef twice boil’d his meal, with P—n’s bub,

And sixpence chang’d defrays the frugal club.

1839. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, ep. II., ch. xi. ‘Och! many a mug o’ bubb have I drained wi’ the landlord.’

2. (common.)—A woman’s breast; generally used in the plural—bubbies (q.v.).

3. (old.)—A brother.

4. (American.)—Also bubby. A term of affection applied to a little boy. [Said to have originated in Pennsylvania from the German Bube.] Likewise used figuratively as a familiar mode of address.

1872. S. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Roughing It. The cayote turns smiles blandly upon him once more, and with a something about it which seems to say: ‘Well, I shall have to tear myself away from you, bub—business is business, and it will not do for me to be fooling along this way all day.’

1888. San Francisco Weekly Examiner. When she was ready to go home, she did so without carriage or baby. Shortly after bubby kicked up high jinks, and the joker clerk was sent for to take him away.

5. (old.)—An abbreviated form of bubble, subs.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Bub or bubble, one that is cheated. [M.]

Verb (old).—1. To drink.—See substantive.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. vi., p. 54 (1874). We straight betook ourselves to the Boozing Ken; and having bubb’d rumly, we concluded an everlasting friendship.

2. (old.)—To bribe; to cheat. Cf., Bubble.

1719. D’Urfey, Pills, II., 54. Another makes Racing a Trade.… And many a Crimp Match has made, By bubbing another Man’s Groom.

Bubber, subs. (old).—1. A hard drinker; a confirmed tippler. [From bub (q.v.) = drink + er.] A synonymous French term is un bibassier, but for analogous terms generally, see Elbow crooker.

1653. Middleton, Sp. Gipsy, ii., 1. Though I am no mark in respect of a huge butt, yet I can tell you great bubbers have shot at me. [There is a play in the word ‘butt.’]

1674. R. Head, Canting Acad., 191. A bubber … goes to the Alehouse, and steals there the Plate.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bubber, … a great drinker. A thief that steals plate from publick houses.

2. (old.)—A drinking bowl. Cf., derivation of previous sense.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Bubber, a drinking Bowl; also a great Drinker, and he that used to steal Plate from Publick-houses.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bubber, a drinking bowl, etc.

3. (old.)—A public house thief.—See quotation 1690, sense 2; also mentioned by Grose [1785].

4. (American.)—A nickname for an old woman with large pendulous breasts. Rarely heard.

1848. Bartlett, Americanisms. Bubber. A stout or stoutly mammalated old woman. Used in Salem, Mass., in 1820, and since. ‘Bubber Jones.’ (Fr. poitron, old woman; Old Fr. pect. poitron; Lat. pectus, the breast.)

Bubbies, subs. (common).—A woman’s breasts. An old term of which the derivation is somewhat doubtful, though it may be noted that the ancient cant has bub in the sense of ‘to drink,’ and also as an abbreviated form of bubby. Arber says that ‘bu bu’ is the cry of a child needing its mother’s milk.—For synonyms, see Dairies.

1686. D’Urfey, New Poems (1690), 206.

The Ladies here may without Scandal shew,

Face or white bubbies, to each ogling Beau.

1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, Act v., Sc. 7. Did not her eyes twinkle, and her mouth water? Did not she pull up her little bubbies?

1712. Arbuthnot, Hist. of John Bull, pt. III., ch. viii. ‘To see a handsome, brisk, genteel, young fellow so much governed by a doating old woman! Why don’t you go and suck the bubby?’

1715. Vanbrugh, Country House, II., v. He talked to me of you, and said you had the charmingest bubbies.

1748. Dodsley, Collection of Poems, III., 191. And snowy bubbies pull’d above the stays.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2 ed. Bubbys, a woman’s breasts.

Bubbing, subs. (old).—Drinking; tippling.

1678. Poor Robin’s Char. of Scold, 6. She clamours at him so long … which makes him seek Bubbing-schools to hide himself in from her fury. [M.]

Bubble, subs. (old).—A dupe; gull; also caravan (q.v.); and rook (q.v.). Grose thinks from the party cheated being like an air-bubble filled with words which are only wind instead of real property. Also apparently used of anything not genuine. Applied to persons, it is older than appears from Murray.

1598. Shakspeare, All’s Well, iii., vi., 5. Sec. Lord. On my life, my lord, a bubble. Ber. Do you think I am so far deceived in him?

1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia, III., in wks. (1720) IV., 62. This kinsman a most silly bubble first, and afterwards a betrayer of young heirs.

1697. Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, V., iii. If her conduct has put a trick upon her virtue, her virtue’s the bubble, but her husband’s the loser.

1711. Swift, Conduct of the Allies. We are thus become the dupes and bubbles of Europe.

1712. Arbuthnot, History of John Bull, pt. II., ch. iii. He has been my bubble [tool] these twenty years; and to my certain knowledge, understands no more of his own affairs than a child in swaddling clothes.

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. I., ch. vii. ‘This would be to own herself the meer tool and bubble of the man.’

1788. G. A. Stevens, Adv. of a Speculist, I., 69. He persuades his bubble, that he will insure him a certain safe way of getting a sum of money.

1795. R. Cumberland, The Jew, Act iii., Sc. 2. If he attempts to raise money upon expectancies, be at their peril who are fools enough to trust him: No prudent man will be his bubble.

1805. G. Barrington, New London Spy (4 ed.), p. 24. The shame of being thought a bubble, and exposed to the town, frequently prevents gentlemen from making use of the statute provided in such cases.

Verb (old).—To cheat; humbug; delude as with bubbles; to overreach. Cf., substantive sense.

1664. Etheridge, Comical Revenge, II., iii., in wks. (1704), 24. I believe he’s gone down to Receive money; ’twere an excellent design to bubble him.

1685. Dryden, Prol. to Albion and Albanius, 23.

Freedom and zeal have choused you o’er and o’er;

Pray give us leave to bubble you once more.

1711. Spectator, No 89. That she has bubbled him out of his youth … and that he verily believes she will drop him in his old age, if she can find her account in another.

1752. Fielding, Amelia, bk. XI., ch. iv. He … actually bubbled several of their money by undertaking to do them services, which, in reality, were not within his power.

1777. Sheridan, Trip to Scarborough, Act ii. Help the gentleman with a chair, and carry him to my house presently—that’s the properest place—[aside]—to bubble him out of his money.

1788. G. A. Stevens, Adv. of a Speculist, I., 75. And this was the language which the pretenders to the Philosopher’s Stone used to bubble their pigeons with.

1880. McCarthy, Own Times, III., xli., 235. Some critics declared … that the French Emperor had bubbled him [Mr. Cobden].

Bubbleable, adj. (old).—That can be duped; gullible. [A very rare form from bubble, to cheat, + able.]

1669. Nicker Nicked, in Hart. Misc. (ed. Park), II., 109. If the winner be bubbleable, they will insinuate themselves into his acquaintance, and civilly invite him to drink a glass of wine; wheedle him into play, and win all his money.

Bubble and Squeak, subs. phr. (common).—A compound of cold meat fried up with potatoes and greens. [From the hissing sound produced by the frying; originally nautical.]

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bubble and squeak, beef and cabbage fried together; it is so called from its bubbling up and squeaking whilst over the fire.

1786–89. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’), Lousiad, ch. i., line 366.

Such is the sound (the simile’s not weak)

Form’d by what mortals bubble call, and squeak,

When ’midst the frying-pan, in accents savage,

The beef so sorely quarrels with the cabbage.

1853. Lytton, My Novel, bk. VIII., ch. viii. ‘Rank and title! bubble and squeak! No, not half so good as bubble and squeak. English beef and good cabbage.’

Bubble Buff, subs. (old).—A bailiff.

Bubble Company, subs. (common).—A swindling association, enterprise or project. [From bubble, to cheat, + company.] The South Sea Bubble will occur to mind in this connection.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2 ed.). Bubble … 5 (in Commerce), a cant name given to certain projects for raising money on imaginary grounds.

1880. Hawley Smart, Social Sinners, ch. xix. ‘My inheritance disappears as if it had been invested in a bubble company.’

Bubbled, ppl. adj. (old).—Gulled; deceived; befooled. [From bubble, to cheat, + ed.]

a. 1683. Oldham, Wks. and Rem. (1686), 66. Bubled Monarchs are at first beguil’d … at last depos’d, and kill’d. [M.]

1701. Defoe, True Born Englishman, Introd.

Who shall this bubbled nation disabuse,

While they, their own felicities refuse?

1889. Gentleman’s Mag., June, p. 598. Towards the end of the century [xvii] a person easily gulled, or bubbled was known as a ‘caravan,’ but earlier the term ‘rook,’ which is now restricted to a cheat or sharper, appears to have been applied to the person cheated.

Bubbling Squeak, subs. (army).—Hot soup.

Bubbly Jock, subs. (old Scotch).—1. A turkey-cock; a ‘gobbler.’ [Probably in allusion to the cry of the bird.]

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bubbly jock, a turkey-cock.

1843. Thackeray, Irish Sketch Book, ch. xv. He took but one glass of water to that intolerable deal of bubbly jock.… Three turkey-wings and a glass of water.

1877. Besant and Rice, Son of Vulcan, pt. II., ch. xviii. Puffing his cheeks like some infuriated bubbly jock in a stable-yard.

2. (common.)—A stupid boaster.

3. (popular.)—A pert, conceited, pragmatical fellow; a prig; a cad.

1883. G. A. Sala, Living London, p. 113. Mr. Benjamin Bunny (Mr. J. L. Toole) is the good-natured husband of a pretty young wife (Miss Winifred Emery). Mr. Bunny is, to use a Scotticism, ‘sair owerhanded,’ not by a ‘bubbly jock,’ but by his wife’s aunt.

Bubby.—See Bub and Bubbies.

Bucco, subs. (American thieves’).—A dandy. [A corruption of buck (q.v.).]

Buck, subs. (common).—1. In the first instance a man of spirit or gaiety of conduct; later a fop, a dandy. [A transferred sense of buck, the male of the fallow deer.] In the form ‘old buck’ it is merely a familiar mode of address. The epithet, as applied to a man about town, is somewhat obsolete; masher, dude, and swell having taken its place. Cf., Blood.

1725. New Cant. Dict. Buck, as a bold buck, is sometimes used to signify a forward daring Person of either Sex.

1752. Fielding, Amelia, bk. X., ch. ii. A large assembly of young fellows, whom they call bucks.

1846–48. Thackeray, V. Fair, ch. vi. She had sate by him on the box of his open carriage (a most tremendous buck he was, as he sat there, serene, in state, driving his greys).

1889. Answers, Feb. 9. The ancient buck was last seen (at the age of eighty-four) wearing a wig, a pair of stays, ‘plumpers,’ rouge, and padding, and he daily anointed his face with a compound called ‘skin-tightener.’ ‘Skin-tightener’ removes wrinkles, and after the face has been washed with ‘bloom of roses,’ the wearer can strut forth with the consciousness that all the world takes him for a quarter of a century younger than he is.

2. (common.)—An unlicensed cabdriver. Apparently also applied to a sham fare.—See last quotation.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 362. The long-day men are the parties who mostly employ the bucks … they are glad to avail themselves of the services of a buck for some hours at the end of the day. Ibid. The bucks are unlicensed cabdrivers, who are employed by those who have a license to take charge of the cab while the regular drivers are at their meals or enjoying themselves.

1865. Morning Star, 14 Sept. What is the prisoner? Constable: He is a buck, who hangs about an omnibus stand. [M.]

1887. Daily News, 5 October, 5, 4. At Bow Street something was further heard of the buck. This person … is the sham fare whom a cabby drives past the police in order to get up to the theatre doors out of his proper turn, and so increase his chance of securing a legitimate fare.

3. (old.)—A sixpence. [Thought to be a corruption of fyebuck (q.v.).] The word is rarely used by itself, but generally denotes the sixpence attached to shillings in reference to cost, as, ‘three and a buck,’ three shillings and sixpence. For synonyms, see Bender.

1885. Household Words, June 20, p. 155. ‘Buck’ is most likely a corruption of ‘fyebuck,’ a slang name for sixpence, which is now almost, if not altogether, obsolete.

4. (schoolboys’.)—A large marble. Cf., Alley, Bonce, Mivey.

1885. Household Words, June 20, p. 155. Readers whose school-days are still green in their memories will also recognise in buck the name for the large marble once dear to their boyish hearts.

5. (American.)—A term used in poker (q.v.). Cf., Tiger.

Adj. (American University).—At Princeton College anything which is of an intensive degree, good, excellent, pleasant or agreeable, is called buck.

Verb (American).—1. To oppose; to run counter to. [Possibly a corruption of butt, or from buck as applied to a horse.—See sense 2.]

2. (Western American.)—As applied to horses this term is used to describe the action of plunging forward and throwing the head to the ground in an effort to unseat the rider—a motion of which probably no domesticated beast is capable, aside from the Texan miserable and treacherous species of horse. A raw hand thus relates his experience:—‘When I was told how hard he could buck, I only laughed, my impression being that no pony standing on four legs could throw me off. I mounted my new horse, and waving my bran new hat about my head, galloped away in a dignified style. Suddenly the horse stopped. His ears went back, and his hind legs went between his front. The motion was a curious one. But I did not fall. Realizing that the man on his back could ride a little bit, the pony got right down to business. My stomach seemed to fly up into my mouth, and millions of stars floated about my head. I am not prepared to state what kind of hold the pony got on me, but I went sprawling on the ground, my nose making an irrigating ditch. It was all done not more than one hundred yards from where my girl was standing. I stuck on well, however, as the saddle, blanket, gun and bridle came off with me. The wild yell that greeted my exploit nearly drove me mad. While I spit the dirt and curses out of my mouth, I thought that if I had that pony back I’d break him in or break my head. It ran out on the prairie and joined the Government herd. When an old-timer tried to fix things for me in front of my girl by saying, “It’s no disgrace, pardnr, that horse can buck off a porus plaster,” I thanked him from the bottom of my heart.’

3. (commercial.)—A variant of to cook (q.v.), as applied to accounts.

4. (Western American.)—To play against the bank, usually ‘to buck the tiger.’—See following.

1879. Bret Harte, Gabriel Conroy, p. 375. I don’t like your looks at all. I’d buck against any bank you ran, all night.

1880. Bret Harte, Brown of Calaveras. (Tales of the Arg., p. 81). Why don’t you say you want to buck agin’ faro?

1888. Hotel Mail.

A man may hunt the wildest game

Along the Nile or the Niger,

In woods or ranch;

But he will find the sport most tame

Compared with bucking the tiger

At dear Long Branch.

5. (Western American.)—To put forth one’s whole energy. [An extension of meaning from sense 4.]

1870. San Antonio Paper. ‘You’ll have to buck at it like a whole team, gentlemen, or you won’t hear the whistle near your diggings for many a year.’

To run a buck, verbal phr. (old Irish).—To poll a bad vote at an election.—Grose.

Buck or fight the tiger, verbal phr. (American).—To gamble. [There are two derivations suggested:—(1) that the phrase is derived from the parti-coloured division or stripes on a gambling table; (2) that it is of Chinese origin. A favourite figure of one of the Chinese gods of gambling is a tiger standing on his hind-feet, and grasping a large cash in his mouth or his paws. Sometimes the image is made of wood or clay, or drawn on a piece of paper or board. The title of the beast, His Excellency the Grasping Cash Tiger, is frequently written on a piece of paper, and placed in the gambling rooms between two bunches of mock-money suspended under the table or on the wall behind it. This figure is the sign for a gambling house: ‘The Fighting Tiger.’]

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, Feb. 14. Last night and to-day they have succeeded in placing under arrest six of the gaming-house keepers of the city and subpœnaed thirty citizens as witnesses, among whom are said to be prominent city officials and business men. The affair has caused a good deal of talk already, and if reports are anywhere near true, it will create a great sensation when the cases are called, and more than one unsuspecting wife will have her eyes opened to the fact that the wicked tiger, and not legitimate business has been detaining her husband out so late at night.

Buck Bait, subs. (thieves’).—Bail given by a confederate. Cf., Bait.

Buck Down, verbal phr. (Winchester College).—To be sorry; unhappy. Cf., Buck up and Bucksome.

Bucked. To be bucked, verb (Uppingham).—To be tired. Cf., Buck up.

Buckeen, subs. (Irish).—A bully.—Grose. Properly a young man of the poorer aristocracy.

Bucket, subs. (American).—An anonymous letter.

Verb (general).—1. To ride hard; not to spare one’s beast.

1856. Whyte Melville, Kate Coventry, ch. xi. ‘I had rather give Brilliant a good bucketing’ [Aunt Horsingham shuddered—I knew she would, and used the word on purpose] ‘over an even heath or a line of grass, than go bodkin in a chariot.’

1864. Yates, Broken to Harness, II., p. 218. There’s room in the Row to give him [the horse] a very good bucketing.

1868. Tottenham, C. Villars, I., 243. Bucketing his wretched horse home to Cambridge. [M.]

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 342. ‘Ten thousand pardons, Dollie, dearest; but I only got your message an hour or so ago, and am so busy I couldn’t get here before. As it is I have had to bucket my hack unmercifully.’

2. (old.)—To cheat; ruin; deceive.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v. To bucket a person is synonymous with putting him in the well.

1828. Scott, Diary, in Lockhart (1839), ix., 253. Thurtell … must in slang phrase have bucketed his palls.

3. (rowing.)—To take the water unfairly—with a scoop at the beginning of the stroke instead of a steady even pull throughout.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xv., p. 130. He was not so straight in the back as an Oxford stroke; and he bucketed about a good deal, but he got along.

To give the bucket, phr. (old).—To dismiss from one’s employment; to ‘send a person about his business.’—Cf., Bag and Sack.

1860. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia’s Lovers, ch. xxi. He were sore put about because Hester had gi’en him the bucket.

To kick the bucket, phr. (general).—To die. [The bucket here is thought to refer to a Norfolk term for a pulley.] When pigs are killed they are hung by their hind legs on a bucket.—For synonyms, see Aloft.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bucket; to kick the bucket; to die.

1796. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’), Tristia, wks. (1812) V., 242. Pitt has kicked the bucket.

1840. Marryat, Poor Jack, xxx. He drained it dry … and kicked the bucket.

1849. Kingsley, Alton Locke, ch. ii. ‘Fine him a pot’ roared one, ‘for talking about kicking the bucket. He’s a nice young man to keep a cove’s spirits up, and talk about a short life and a merry one.’

1876(?). Broadside Ballad, ‘Ten Little Niggers.’

Eight little niggers never heard of heav’n,

One kicked the bucket, and then there were seven.

1889. Answers, July 27, p. 141, col. 3. The high-school girl explained to her particular friend yesterday that He kicked the bucket was slang, and that the polite expression was, ‘He propelled his pedal extremities with violence against a familiar utensil used for the transportation of water and other fluids.’

Bucket Afloat, subs. (rhyming slang).—A coat.

Bucket Shop, subs. (American).—1. Primarily a petty stock gambling den carried on in opposition to regular exchange business, and usually of a very doubtful character. The New York World recently investigated the whole question, and gave some very interesting details as to the many tortuous ways of these crooked corners of the money world. The conclusion arrived at was that Wall Street and its vicinity did not contain a single ‘square and honest’ bucket-shop; all their dealings were nothing but ‘a brace gambling game.’ By their schemes the customer had ‘not the ghost of a chance to win.’ Their quotations were obtained surreptitiously, and, in handling them, the bucket-shop keepers in several ways take unfair advantage of their clients. The term bucket shop has become common in England, but, fortunately for the community at large, no comparison can be drawn between the establishments known by that name in England, and those which flourish in America under the same title, though in very truth the proceedings of some of the former are scandalous enough. [Possibly from bucket (q.v.), to cheat, + shop. As an alternative derivation, the ‘bucket’ into which the tape falls may be suggested.]

1887. Daily News, 14 April, 7, 1. Mr. Charles Fisher said that he carried on business as an agent.… He did Stock Exchange business, for clients. Mr. Besley: Commonly called a bucket shop, I think.

1888. Missouri Republican, Feb. 12. New York, Feb. 11.—(Special).—Inspector Brynes was seized with another spasm of indignation against the bucket-shops this morning, and, accompanied by detectives and a squad of officers, he swooped down upon the lairs of these enemies of the Stock Exchange that abound on Lower Broadway and New Street.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 12 Nov., p. 3, col. 1. ‘The tape is credited with fostering gambling.’ ‘Well, we know that there are bucket-shops, but we have for some time refused to entertain any proposal for a machine if there is the least prospect of its being used for bucket-shop purposes. There is gambling, of course, but it is unfair to say that the tape is responsible for it. The tape was not originated for that purpose, but in order to inform the public, through the newspapers or otherwise, how securities were going, and it does that. In practice it serves as a check between client and broker, and broker and jobber.’

2. Also applied generally to low groggeries; lottery offices; gambling dens, etc.

Buck Face, subs. (old).—A cuckold; one who in French slang is said to be un loger rue du Croissant.

Buck Fitch, subs. (old).—An old roué; a lecherous old man.

Buckhara, subs. (American).—A name given in California to a cattle-driver or cowboy.

Buckhorse, subs. (pugilistic).—A smart blow or box on the ear. [Derived from the name of a celebrated ‘bruiser’ of that name. Buckhorse was a man who either possessed or professed insensibility to pain, and who would for a small sum allow anyone to strike him with the utmost force on the side of the face. His real name was John Smith, and he fought in public 1732–46.]

French Synonyms. (For the blow itself.) Une boffete (from the old word buffet); une bouffe; une châtaigne; une accolade; une pamure. To receive a buckhorse, encaisser un soufflet; to give a buckhorse; donner la savate.

1864. Blackwood’s Mag., II., p. 463 (the Public Schools’ Report, 1864—Westminster School). One of the Seniors informs us that the common punishment was buckhorsing. ‘That was boxing the ears, was it?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Buckhorsing was rather severe, was it not?’ etc. ‘I got buckhorsed pretty often.’

1876. Lord Albemarle, Fifty Years of my Life, quoted in Temple Bar, August, 1884, p. 517. He then felled me to the ground by a swinging buckhorse on my right cheek.

Buckish, adj. (old).—Foppish; dandyish. [From buck (q.v.) + ish.] Now colloquial.

1782. D’Arblay, Diary, etc. (1876), i., 463. A buckish kind of young man of fashion.

1785. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’), Apolog. Postscript to Ode upon Ode, in wks. (Dublin, 1795), vol. I., p. 365. Did not good Nathan tell that buckish youth, David the King, that he stole sheep?

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 57. Having beat the rounds (as buckish spirits phrase it) of that bustling microcoser, the British metropolis, for eighteen months.

1812. Coombe, Dr. Syntax, Picturesque, ch. xvii.

A buckish blade, who kept a horse,

To try his fortune on the course.

1858. G. Eliot, Janet’s Repentance, ch. v. ‘I’ve made him as neat as a new pin this morning, and he says the Bishop will think him too buckish by half.’

1873. W. D. Howells, A Chance Acquaintance, ch. xiii. A very buckish young fellow, with a heavy black moustache and black eyes, who wore a jaunty round hat, blue checked trousers, a white vest, and a morning-coat of blue diagonals.

Buck-Jump, subs. (stable).—A jump made in buck (q.v., verb, sense 2) fashion.

1864. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. ix. The instant the chestnut was mounted he reared, and indulged in two or three ‘buck-jumps’ that would have made a weaker man tremble for his backbone.

Buckle, verb, trans. and intrans. (colloquial).—1. To unite or be united in wedlock—a humorous term. For synonyms, see Splice. French thieves call such a union l’amadouage.

1693. Dryden, Juvenal, vi., 37. Is this an age to buckle with a bride?

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. lxvii. Who … declared himself well satisfied with the young man’s addresses, and desired that they might be buckled with all expedition.

1822. Scott, The Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxxii.

‘Buckle them, my Lord Bishop, as fast as you can.…

‘The Bishop accordingly opened his book and commenced the marriage ceremony.’

1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, ch. xlvi. ‘We could have half a dozen married couples all separating, getting rid of their ribs and buckling again, helter-skelter, every man to somebody else’s wife.’

Buckle-Beggar, subs. (old).—A Fleet prison ‘clergyman’; one who celebrated marriage ceremonies therein; thence, one who celebrated irregular marriages; a hedge priest; one who undertook similar offices for gypsies and tramps—a buckle the beggars.—See Couple-beggar. [Of Scotch derivation, but Cf., Buckle, verb, sense 1.]

c. 1700. Ld. Fountainhill, Diary, in Larwood, Bk. Cleric. Anecd., 294. He after turn’d a buckle-beggar, i.e., one who married without license. [M.]

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvii. (II., p. 86). A hedge parson, or buckle-beggar, as that order of priesthood has been irreverently termed. Ibid, ch. xxvii. (III., p. 22). Dr. R., who buckles beggars for a tester [sixpence] and a dram of Geneva.

Buckled, ppl. adj. (thieves’).—Arrested; taken into custody; ‘scragged.’

Buckle Down, verb (common).—To ‘settle down’; to become reconciled to; a variant of to ‘knuckle down’ (q.v.).

1874. Jos. Hatton, Clytie, bk. III., ch. iv. ‘But you do not buckle down to your position,’ said Cuffing … ‘you wrangle, you higgle.’

Buckler, subs. (American thieves’).—A collar. Cf., All-rounder.

Buckles, subs. (old).—Fetters of any kind. For synonyms, see Darbies.

Buckle To, verb (familiar).—To undertake; grapple with; ‘slip in’; work vigorously.

1557. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. xcvi., st. 84, p. 187 (E.D.S.).

Then purchase some pelfe,

by fiftie and three:

or buckle thy selfe,

a drudge for to bee.

1663. Butler, Hudibras, pt. I., ch. ii., l. 926.

And fitting it for sudden fight,

Straight drew it up, t’attack the Knight,

For getting up on stump and huckle,

He with the foe began to buckle.

1712. Arbuthnot, Hist. of John Bull, pt. IV., ch. viii. At last Esquire South buckled to, to assist his friend Nic.

1883. James Payn, Thicket than Water, ch. xxvii. ‘Of course it could never have been taken up as a serious occupation; the way you buckled to at it, as I told Mr. Payton, was something amazing.’

1889. Modern Society, 19 Oct., p. 1302. (‘How the Nobility live in Germany.’) Though, as a rule, courteous to ladies at dinner, when a course is served all buckle to, and conversation is at an end. Each gentleman forgets his fair neighbour, and minds only number one. Between the courses, when nothing better is on, they converse, and always everything is served à la Russe.

Bucksome, adj. (Winchester College).—Happy; in a state of ‘buck-uppishness.’—See Buck-up.

Buck Up, verbal phr. (Winchester College).—To be glad; pleased. Cf., Buck down. The usual expression is ‘Oh buck up,’ a phrase which at Westminster School would have a very different meaning, namely, ‘exert yourself.’ At Uppingham to be bucked (q.v.) is to be tired.

Budge, subs. (old).—1. A pickpocket; a general thief.—See quots., and for synonyms, Area-sneak and Thieves.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 48 (1874). Budge, one that steals cloaks.

1674. R. Head, Canting Acad., 95. The Budge … his employment is in the dark of the Evening, to go into any door that he seeth open, and … take whatever next cometh to hand.

2. (thieves’.)—Also called sneaking budge (q.v.). In more modern times an accomplice who gains access to a building during the day for the purpose of being locked in. When night comes he is thus easily able to admit his fellow thieves. For synonyms, see Area-sneak, and Cf., Standing bridge.

1752. Fielding, Amelia, bk. I., ch. iii. ‘I find you are some sneaking budge rascal’ [cant term for pilfering].

3. (old.)—Drink; liquor.—See Drinks. [Thought to be a corruption of booze.] There are several derivatives—Budgy, ‘drunk’; Budging-ken, ‘a public house’; Cove of the budging-ken, ‘a publican’; Budger, ‘a drunkard’—all of which see.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171. Budge, drink.

Verb (old slang, but now colloquial).—To move; ‘to make tracks.’ For modern synonyms, see Amputate, and Cf., Budge-a-beake.

Budge-a-Beake, verbal phr. (old).—To run away (presumably from justice). There seems some connection in meaning between this expression and a modern phrase—‘to bilk the blues’ (q.v.). [From budge (q.v.), ‘to move away,’ ‘to decamp,’ + a + beak (q.v.), a policeman.] For synonyms, see Amputate.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). Budge-a-beake, runne away.

Budger, subs. (old).—A drunkard. [From budge, subs., sense 3, ‘drink’ (q.v.) + er.] For synonyms, see Elbow crooker.

Budging-Ken, subs. (old).—A public house.—See Budge. [From budge, drink, + ken (q.v.), a place or house.] For synonyms, see Lush crib.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171. Budge kain, a public-house.

Budgy, adj. (old).—Drunk; intoxicated. [From budge (q.v.), sense 3, drink.] For synonyms, see Screwed.

Bud of Promise, subs. phr. (American).—A facetious term for a young, unmarried woman.—See Rosebud.

1889. Charlestown Enterprise.

The young, unmarried girl, in sport,

Is called a bud of promise;

She blooms each year at some resort,

The weather when it warm is.

And in the Fall a score of men,

Whose hearts till now have harm missed,

Compare sad notes, and find out then

To each the bud is promised.

Bud Sallogh (Old Irish).—A term applied to one who practises unmentionable vices.—See Jesuit.

Buenos Ayres (provincial).—The Royal Crescent at Margate at the extreme end of the town used to be so called. The houses remained unfinished for a very considerable time.—H. J. Byron.

Bufe, subs. (old cant).—A dog. [Murray says, from the sound of its bark.]—See Buffer, and Tike for synonyms.

1567. Harman, Caveat, 84. Bufe, a dogge.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bufe, a dog; Bufe’s nob, a dog’s head.

Bufe-Nabber or Napper, subs. (old).—A dog thief. [From bufe, old cant for a ‘dog,’ + nabber, one who steals or ‘nabs.’] For synonyms, see Area-sneak.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bufe-nabber, a dog-stealer.

Buff, subs. (common).—1. The bare skin. [An allusion to the colour.]

1654. Chapman, Revenge for Honour, I., i.

Then for accoutrements you wear the buff,

As you believed it heresy to change

For linen: surely most of yours is spent

In lint.

1749. H. Fitzcotton, Homer, I., 38. If you perplex me with your stuff—All that are here shan’t save your buff. [M.]

1760. Johnston, Chrysal, II., 235. ‘I have got as many clothes and things of all kinds as would serve to set up a Monmouth-street merchant: if the place had held out but a few days longer, the poor devils must have done duty in their buff; ha! ha! ha!’ ‘And the properest dress for them,’ returned the admiral; ‘who wants any clothes in such a climate as this?’

1824. Hughes, Magic Lay of the One-horse Chay (Blackwood). When our pair were soused enough, and returned in their buff.

1856. H. Mayhew, Gt. World of London, p. 223. ‘There’s a fine young chap there, stript to the buff, and working away hard!’

1872. C. King, Sierra Nev., viii., 176. Stripping ourselves to the buff, we hung up our steaming clothes. [M.]

2. (old.)—A man; a fellow; also buffer (q.v.).

1708–15. Kersey, Buff … a dull Sot, or dronish Fellow. [M.]

1709. Brit. Apollo, II, No. 8, p. 3, col. 2. Tell me Grave Buffs, Partly Gods, partly men. [M.]

1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v. Buff, a Newgate Cant Word used in familiar Salutation as, How dost do, my Buff?

1748. Smollett, Roderick Random, ch. iv., p. 15. Mayhaps old buff has left my kinsman here his heir.

1764. Brydges, Homer Travest. (1797), II., 420. You seem afraid these buffs will flinch.

Buff it, verb (common).—1. To swear to; to adhere to a statement hard and fast; to stand firm. [Query from ‘to bluff.’] To buff it is sometimes enlarged—to buff it home.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v. Buff, To buff to a person or thing, is to swear to the identity of them.

1881. New York Slang Dictionary. Buffing it home is swearing point-blank to anything, about the same as bluffing it, making a bold stand on no backing.

2. (common.)—To strip; to bare oneself to the ‘buff’ or skin.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II., p. 416. ‘You had better buff it, Jim,’ says I; but Jim wouldn’t do it, and kept his trowsers on. Ibid, p. 417. So I locks the door, and buffs it, and forces myself up, etc.

In buff, phr. (common).—Naked; in a state of nudity. Among English equivalents are Abram (q.v.) and birthday suit (q.v.), but for all synonyms, see Nature’s garb.

1602. Dekker, Satiro-Mastix. I go in stag, in buff.

1855. Notes and Queries, 1 S., xi., p. 467. We say of one in a state of nudity, ‘he is in buff.’

To stand buff, verbal phr. (old).—To stand the brunt; to pay the piper; to endure without flinching. [From buff, an old pugilistic term for a blow.]

a. 1680. Butler, Hudibras’s Epitaph. And for the good old cause stood buff ’Gainst many a bitter kick and cuff.

1697. Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, I., i. Would my courage come up to a fourth part of my ill-nature, I’d stand buff to her relations, and thrust her out of doors.

1737. Fielding, The Miser, Act ii., Sc. 2. Love. How! rascal, is it you that abandon yourself to those intolerable extravagancies? Fred. I must even stand buff, and outface him.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). To stand Buff (v.), to stand stoutly to a thing, to be resolute and unmoved, though the danger be great.

1761. Colman, Jealous Wife, V., i., 139. Stick close to my advice and you may stand buff to a tigress.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xii. ‘Stand buff against the reproach of thine over-tender conscience.’

Buff-Ball, subs. (vagrants’).—A dancing party in which both sexes dance together naked. [From buff (q.v.), naked, + ball.] Cf., Ballum rancum.

1880. Greenwood, In Strange Company. The most favourite entertainment at this place is known as buff-ball, in which both sexes—innocent of clothing—madly join, stimulated with raw whiskey, and the music of a fiddle and a tin whistle.

Buffer, subs. (old).—1. A dog. [Considerable obscurity surrounds the origin of this term. It occurs in varying forms from 1567 down to the present time. Harman gives it as bufe (1567) and bufa (1573); Rowlands as buffa (1610); Head as bugher (1673); whilst in The Memorials of John Hall it first appears as buffer.] Synonymous terms will be found under Tike.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65. Bufa, a dogge.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). Buffa, a Dogge.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.), p. 11. Buffer, a Dog.

1842. Lover, Handy Andy, ch. iv. ‘It is not every day we get a badger, you know.… Reilly the butcher has two or three capital dogs, and there’s a wicked mastiff below stairs, and I’ll send for my ‘buffer’ and we’d have some spanking sport.’

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 162. They had a dog belonging to them that would be sure to begin a quarrel with another buffer, whenever his master or mistress found a match.

2. (common.)—A man; a fellow—sometimes used with a slightly contemptuous meaning; generally speaking a familiar mode of address, as in Old Buffer, although even this form may be used disparagingly.

1749. H. Fitzcotton, Homer, I. (1748), 23. You’re a buffer always rear’d in The brutal pleasures of Bear-garden, [M.]

1837. Barham, I. L. (The Bagman’s Dog).

So I’ll merely observe, as the water grew rougher,

The more my poor hero continued to suffer,

Till the Sailors themselves cried, in pity, ‘Poor buffer!’

1882. F. Anstey, Vice Versâ, ch. xiv. ‘I made a first-rate booby-trap, though, one day for an old yellow buffer who came in to see you.’

3. (pugilistic.)—A boxer; one of ‘the fancy.’ [Hotten gives this as of Irish origin, but it would rather seem to come from O.E. buff, a blow.]

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 7.

Last Tuesday, at Moulsey, the Balance of Power

Was settled by twelve Tightish Rounds in an hour,

The Buffers, both ‘Boys of the Holy Ground.’—Ibid, p. 51:—

Yet, sprightly to the Scratch both Buffers came,

While ribbers rung from each resounding frame,

And divers digs, and many a ponderous pelt,

Were on their broad bread-baskets heard and felt.

With roving aim, but aim that rarely miss’d,

Round lugs and ogles flew the frequent fist;

While showers of facers told so deadly well,

That the crush’d jaw-bones crackled as they fell!

4. (old.)—See quots.

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Buffer, a Rogue that kills good sound Horses only for their Skins.

1737. Bacchus and Venus. Buffer, a rogue that killed good sound horses for the sake of their skins, by running a long wire into them.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Buffer, one that steals and kills horses and dogs for their skins.

5. (old.)—One who took a false oath for a ‘consideration.’ Cf., Bail.

6. (old.)—A pistol. Cf., Barker.

1824. Sir W. Scott, Red Gauntlet. ch. iii. Here be a pair of buffers will bite as well as bark.

7. (old.)—A smuggler; rogue; or cheat.

8. (nautical.)—A navy term for a boatswain’s mate, one of whose duties it is—or was—to administer the ‘cat.’ Cf., O.E. Buff, a blow.

Buff Howards, subs. (military).—The Third Regiment of Foot; now contracted into Buffs. It was nicknamed the Buff Howards, from its facings and Colonel from 1737 to 1749; also the Nut-crackers (q.v.); and the Resurrectionists (q.v.), from its re-appearing at the Battle of Albuera after being dispersed by the Polish Lancers; also the ‘Old Buffs,’ from its facings, and to distinguish it from the 31st, the ‘Young Buffs’; but the most ancient ‘Old Buffs’ were the ‘Duke of York and Albany’s Maritime Regiments,’ raised in 1664, and incorporated into the 2nd or Coldstream Guards in 1689.

1886. Tinsley’s Mag., ‘Our Regimental Mottoes and Nicknames,’ April, p. 319. The Buffs—a corps which enjoys the almost unique privilege of marching through the city of London with bayonets fixed. The 3rd Foot owes its immortal cognomen to the fact of its having originally been clad in scarlet, lined and faced with buff; its members also had buff waistcoats, buff breeches, and buff stockings. Being the senior regiment thus clothed, they were occasionally styled the ‘Old Buffs’; and the 31st, raised in 1702, and dressed in a precisely similar fashion, were known as the Young Buffs. The following tradition, however, offers a more circumstantial account of the latter appellation. Having earned in some hotly-contested action, the good opinion of a general under whom they were serving, and who expressed his approbation by calling out to the 31st, ‘Well done, Old Buffs!’ A few of the men, somewhat excited by close combat, replied, ‘We are not the Old Buffs, Sir.’ Whereupon the general cried, ‘Then well done, Young Buffs!’ And so the ‘Young Buffs’ they became, and have since remained, although the days of buff waistcoats and stockings have long passed away.

Buffle, subs. (old).—A fool; a stupid person. Cf., Buffle-head and Buff, sense 2. Murray quotes it as occurring in 1655, but the term is, as will be seen, nearly a century older. [After French buffle.] For synonymous terms, see following:—

English Synonyms. Buffle-head; Sammy-soft, often contracted into Sammy; sheep’s head; crock (the original meaning is rather concerned with a slow worthless horse, but in sporting phraseology it has also come to mean a foolish, good-for-nothing person); duffer; dotty (also used by prostitutes of a low class to designate their protector or fancy man); cuckoo; calf; cabbage-head; cake; block; greenhorn; old curmudgeon; doddering old sheep’s head.

French Synonyms. Un échappé de Charenton (échapper = to escape; Charenton is the name of a lunatic asylum in Paris; hence one escaped from Charenton. Cf., English colloquial use of the names of Hanwell, Colney Hatch, and Bedlam in describing idiotic or foolish conversation or behaviour); échappé d’Herode (Cf., foregoing); un vieil embaumé (this term is applied to a foolish person well advanced in years; an old curmudgeon); un actionnaire (literary: properly a shareholder).

German Synonyms. Amhorez (literally a countryman; from Hebrew om, the people, + erez, country); Blechseppel (a soldier’s term); Chammer (a butcher’s or knacker’s word; it also signifies a donkey, and is derived from the Hebrew chamor); Dilmisch, Dilledapp, Dilldapp, Dilledali, Dellemelle, Dirledapp, Didel, Tatidel, Dudeldop, Dilldan (all these are popular expressions for a stupid fellow. Cf., dildalfen = to exhaust); Ewil (from the Hebrew owal; the term also stands for a sinner); Godeschaute (a great fool, a perfect fool; from the Hebrew godol, great, strong, celebrated, + schoto, a fool); Gomol (used only as a nickname; from the Hebrew gamal, a camel); Hanne or Hannes (a shortened form of Johannes, the German for the English John; it is curious that in both languages the nicknames Hanne and Jack should, as applied to men, always be used depreciatingly, see Jack); Harbogen, Hornickel, Hornigel (besides signifying a fool or weak-headed one, these words are used to designate an ox; they are employed indiscriminately); Heckel, Häckel, Hegel (also a fop; heckeln = to fool anyone, probably from hacken or hecheln, to hew, to hackle); Koppel (a diminutive of Jacob; sometimes written Jockel); Ksil (from the Hebrew kossal; variations in spelling are Kessil, Kessel, and in students’ slang Theekessel); Nebbich or Newich (among thieves employed to designate the clumsy, stupid fellow who is only entrusted with unimportant tasks connected with a robbery, such for instance as holding the sacks in which the stolen property is placed, or in carrying off the plunder); Nille or Knolle or Nolle (these terms are used to signify a fool, jester, or the male penis); Nowel or Newil or Nebel (also a cunning fellow, a rogue or ‘sly blade’; das ist ein Newele, the equivalent of the Low German dat is een Aas vun Kêrl might be rendered by the English ‘he is a devil of a fellow’); Oochbram or Ogbrôm (a fool or rather one whose craziness resembles in extent the traditional stature of Og, King of Bashan—at least authorities agree in thinking this the most likely derivation of the word. Among the Jews Og is taken as an image of gigantic size. When the Israelites advanced on Edrëi, Og sat on the wall of the town, and his feet reached to the ground, so that Moses at first thought he was part of the wall, but when he discovered that it was a man he was seized with terror. Rum = on high, therefore Og b’rum = the [great] Og on high. Er hat die Grösse von Og Melech haboschon, he has the size of Og, King of Bashan. A corresponding expression is found in the Low German, de lange Rick, i.e., a tall, slenderly built fellow); Schote or Schaute or Schotte (from the Hebrew schoto; used especially of one who can be cheated or robbed with his eyes open; a tradesman or money changer who can be robbed while transacting business at the counter or while exchanging money); Sonof (a Hebrew word signifying properly a tail, and mostly used proverbially of things low and contemptible. It is also employed to designate the male penis; the German Gaunerspräche offers frequent examples in which contemptible names are also used synonymously for the male and female organs of generation).

Italian Synonyms. Fiadetto (besides its meaning of a dolt or duffer, this term is also applied to a thief, rogue, or indeed a villain of any description); ribeba or ribecca (a goose or simpleton; properly a violin or Jewish harp); cordovano (this also means in the Fourbesque, a big man; properly it is the name of Morocco or Spanish leather); furlana; marietta or marietto (a dolt or dunce).

Spanish Synonym. Dupa (Cf., English dupe).

1580. Beehive of the Romish Churche, fo. 66 b. An unlearned buffle did babble.

1655. Comic Hist. Francion, iv., 22. He said to the three buffles who stood with their hats in their hands. Tell me you Waggs, etc. [M.].

1710. Pol. Ballads (1860), II., 90. To see the chief attorney such a buffle.

Buffle-Head, subs. (old).—An ignoramus; a stupid obtuse fellow. Cf., Buffle, and which see for synonyms.

1659. Lady Alimony, I., ii., in Hazl. Dodsley, xiv., 278. What a drolling buffle-head is this!

1663. Pepys, Diary, March 17. But my Lord Mayor a talking, bragging, buffle-headed fellow.

1668. Pepys, Diary, Jan. 29. He tells me that Townsend, of the Wardrobe, is the veriest knave and buffle-head that ever he saw.

1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, Act ii. Oliv. You know nothing, you buffle-headed stupid creature you.

1686. D’Urfey, Commonwealth of Women, I., i. A damn’d huffing fellow yonder, a Rebel, Whiggy buffle-head.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2 ed. Buffle-head, an ignoramus, or dull sot.

1887. Dead Man’s Rock, bk. I., ch. v. ‘Jonathan’s a buffle-head … a daft fule like Jonathan.’

Buffleheaded, adj. (old).—Stupid; idiotic; foolish. [From bufflehead, a foolish fellow (q.v.), + ed.]

1883. Baring Gould, John Herring, vol. II., ch. xxv., p. 275. (Tauchnitz ed.) ‘A buffleheaded sort of a chap,’ said Joyce.

Buffs, subs. (military).—The Third Regiment of Foot in the British army. From their facings.—See Buff Howards.

1849. Macaulay, Hist. England, I., 295. The third regiment, distinguished by flesh-coloured facings, from which it derived the well-known name of the Buffs.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 232. His father was a captain in the Buffs, and himself a commissioned officer at seventeen.

1874. Saturday Review, p. 95. This regiment [the First or Grenadier Guards] has almost the longest record of any in the service, only yielding, we believe, to the 1st Royals, and to the 3rd Buffs, which were originally raised for the service of the States-General of Holland.

Buffy, adj. (common).—Intoxicated. For synonyms, see Screwed.

1866. Yates, Land at Last, I., p. 85. Flexor was fine and buffy when he came home last night, after you was gone, sir.

1872. Besant and Rice, R. M. Mortiboy, ch. xlii. ‘My ideas take me first of all unawares. They generally begin, like a toothache, when I least expect them. Perhaps when I feel a little buffy, in the morning; mayhap, after an extra go of grog the night before. Then one comes all of a sudden.’

Bug, subs. (thieves’).—1. A breast pin.

2. (Old Irish.)—A jeering name for an Englishman—Grose says ‘because bugs were introduced into Ireland by Englishmen!!’

3. (American.)—The term bug is, in the United States, not confined merely, as in England, to the domestic pest, but is applied to all insects of the Coleoptera order, which includes what in this country are generally called beetles. The English bug (Cimex lectularius) is, in the Southern States, known as the chinch. It may be mentioned, however, that at Winchester College a usage akin to that prevailing in America exists. There a bug merely means an insect, whether belonging to the Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, or any other order. Synonyms for the English domestic pest will be found under Norfolk Howards.

1642. Rogers, Naaman the Syrian, 74. Do not all as much and more wonder at God’s rare workmanship in the Ant, the poorest bugge that creeps.

1888. Grass Valley (Cal.) Tidings. Entomology, or bugology, is now taught to some extent in our public schools. This is well, and is of use. The children ought to learn about the bugs that are destructive to useful vegetation. It is better to learn much about bugs than so much about how to solve those arithmetical problems that will never face anybody in the practical affairs of life.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, March. The Insane Asylum Board some time ago discontinued a bug-killer’s employment, and the doctor avers that the old hospital building is swarming with cockroaches, and that these bugs will soon be large and fat enough to carry out the inmates and take their food and clothes.

4. (American.)—Bug is also used idiomatically in various combinations, as big bugs (q.v.), a jocose and vulgar name for persons of wealth or distinction. Thence, similarly, cattle-bugs, that is, wealthy stock-raisers; gold-bugs, or monied men, etc.

1843. Haliburton, Sam Slick in England, ch. xv. The great guns and big bugs have to take in each other’s ladies. Ibid, p. 24. Pick out the big bugs and see what sort of stuff they’re made of.

1888. St. Louis Globe Democrat, March 5. ‘Would Senator Allison’s well-known views on silver coinage operate materially against him in New York.’ ‘I think not; I do not think the feeling against silver is anything like as strong as it was. Of course, a few gold-bugs might fight him, but any of the men I have mentioned are reasonably certain to carry New York.’

That beats the bugs, phr. (American).—A phrase conveying a high mead of praise; ‘that beats cock-fighting.’

Verb (old).—1. A cant word among journeymen hatters, signifying the exchanging some of the dearest materials of which a hat is made for others of less value. Hats are composed of the furs and wools of diverse animals, among which is a small portion of bever’s fur. Bugging is stealing the bever, and substituting in lieu thereof an equal weight of some cheaper ingredient. Bailiffs who take money to postpone or refrain the serving of a writ, are said to bug the writ.—Grose.

2. (thieves’.)—To bribe. In old slang, bailiffs accepting money to delay service were said to bug the writ.

3. (thieves’.)—To give; hand over; to deliver. Cf., sense 2.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict. ‘He bug’d me a quid.’ ‘Bug over the rag.’

Bugaroch, adj. (Old Irish).—Pretty; comely; handsome.—Grose.

Bug-Blinding, subs. (military).—Whitewashing operations.

Bugger, subs. (old).—1. A thief whose speciality is stealing breast-pins from drunken men. [From bug, a cant term for a breast pin, + (g) ger.] Also called a bug hunter. For synonymous terms, see Area-sneak and Bug-hunter.

2. (low.)—A man; a fellow. A coarse term of abuse without, however, any reference to the legal meaning—a sodomite. The French has an exact equivalent in Bougre, which Littré says is une terme de mépris et d’injure, usité dans le langage populaire le plus trivial et le plus grossier. The term, as applied to a man, is equivalent to bitch (q.v.), as applied to women. Hence also buggery (q.v.).

1719. D’Urfey, Pills, I., 59. From every trench the bougers fly. [M.]

1854. M. Holmes, Tempest and Sun, 203. ‘If I’d known all you city buggers was comin’, I’d a kivered my bar feet.’ [M.]

Buggery, adj. (low).—An indefinite expression signifying disgust; or disapprobation. Of the same type as bloody, blamed, blasted, etc. (q.v.), but conveying a somewhat intenser meaning.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 23. A buggery fool, why don’t he let people go to hell their own way? Ibid, p. 180. Here mother, give us one of your buggery trotters.

Buggy, subs. (old).—A leather bottle.

Bugher.—See Buffer.

Bug-Hunter, subs. (thieves’).—A thief who plunders drunken men. The same as bugger, sense 1.

French Synonyms. Un poivrier (popular and thieves’); un allumeur (this term is also applied to an auction room ‘button’ or confederate, and to a card-sharper’s decoy); faire un louave, or faire les gavés (to go bug-hunting. Louave and gavé = drunkard, the latter from gaver, to glut).

1856. H. Mayhew, Gt. World of London, p. 46. Those who hocus or plunder persons by stupefying; as ‘drummers,’ who drug liquor, and ‘bug-hunters,’ who plunder drunken men.

2. subs. (old).—An upholsterer.—Lexicon Balatronicum.

Bug-Juice, subs. (common).—1. Ginger ale.

2. (American.)—The Schlechter whiskey of the Pennsylvania Dutch—a very inferior spirit. Also called bug-poison. These terms are now applied to bad whiskey of all kinds. For synonyms, see Drinks.

1888. Texas Siftings, 7 July. It is a singular fact, that nearly every character introduced by Charles Dickens into his numerous novels, was addicted to drinking … each and every individual took his bug-poison with surprising regularity and eminent satisfaction.

Bugle It, verb (American cadets’).—To abstain from going into class until the last moment—i.e., until the bugle sounds.

Bug Walk, subs. (common).—A bed. [Derivation obvious.]

English Synonyms. Bedfordshire; Sheet Alley; Blanket Fair; Land of Nod; doss; rip; Cloth Market.

French Synonyms. Un portfeuille (familiar: properly ‘a portfolio’); la boîte à puces (popular: this almost exactly corresponds to the English ‘bug walk,’ the French phrase signifying ‘the flea box’); le pucier (popular: from puce = flea); le tremblant (popular); le plumard (popular); le fournil (popular and thieves’); la halle aux draps (popular: literally, Sheet Market or Fair. Cf., English ‘Blanket Fair’); le pagne; le panier aux ordures.

Build, subs. and verb (popular).—Properly ‘to build is to construct,’ says Murray, ‘for a dwelling and by extension of meaning … to construct by fitting together of separate parts; chiefly with reference to structures of considerable size … (not, e.g., a watch or a piano).’ Difficult as it may be at times to draw a dividing line between a literary, or even a colloquial usage and a slang signification, there can be little doubt that when build is applied to the make or style of dress, that it is the purest slang—‘It’s a tidy build, who made it?’ A tailor, it may be noted, is sometimes called a ‘trousers’ builder.’ In the United States, this verb is used with much more latitude than in England. There, as Fennimore Cooper puts it, everything is built. The priest builds up a flock; the speculator a fortune; the lawyer a reputation; the landlord a town; and the tailor, as in England, builds up a suit of clothes. A fire is built instead of made, and the expression is even extended to individuals, to be built being used with the meaning of formed. ‘I was not built that way’; and hence in a still more idiomatic sense to express unwillingness to adopt a specified course or carry out any inconvenient plan.—See Not built that way.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. xx. That creator of manly beauty, who builds your coat on the model of an Apollo.

1853. Rev. E. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Verdant Green, pt. I., ch. x. If he forswore the primitive garments that his country-tailor had condemned him to wear, and adapted the build of his dress to the peculiar requirements of university fashion.

1871. A. Forbes, My Experience of the War, etc., II., p. 19. I met a gentleman who had got a dress coat built in the place [Versailles].

1880. Punch, Jan. 10, p. 6. The spread of education and liberal ideas.—His Grace the Duke of Poplar and Bermondsey. ‘Just look at these bags you last built me, Snippe! J’ever see such beastly bags in your life? I shall always be glad to come and dine with you, old man; but I’ll be hanged if you shall ever measure me for another pair of bags!’ Mr. Snippe (of Snippe and Son, St. James’s Street). ‘You’ve always grumbled about your bags, as you call ’em, ever since you were my fag at Eton; and at Christchurch you were just as bad, even though my poor dear old governor used to come all the way down and measure you himself. It ain’t the fault of the bags, my dear Popsy—it’s the fault of the legs inside ’em! So, shut up, old Stick-in-the-mud, and let’s join the ladies—the duchess has promised to give us “Little Billee.” ’

Build a chapel, verbal phr. (nautical).—To steer badly, and so cause a ship to veer round.

Not built that way, phr. (general).—Not to one’s taste, in one’s line—a general expression of disapproval or dissent, whether said of persons or things.

1881. American Humorist, May 12. We cannot shut our eyes to the fact that mankind is passing through a great era of change; even womankind is not built as she was a few brief years ago.

1888. Missouri Republican, Jan. 25.

‘Why didn’t you roll down?’

‘I wasn’t built that way.’

Bulgarian Atrocities, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Varna and Rutschuk Ry. 3 per cent. obligations.

1887. Atkin, House Scraps.

And we’ve really quite a crew

Of fancy names to represent a share.…

But fancy, by the way,

Now, in the present day,

A Varna’s a Bulgarian atrocity.

Bulge, verb (American).—The legitimate meaning is extended in many odd ways. ‘Bags’ bulge, but do not get baggy; and in a similar fashion when a man is ‘all attention,’ his eyes are said to bulge.

1888. Puck’s Library, May, p. 31. A Phenomenal Fee. ‘Yes,’ said a pompous young lawyer, on a street-car, to a friend: ‘I hadn’t been downtown half an hour this morning, before I got a fee of ten dollars!’ Then the eyes of a man who was hanging on to a strap began TO bulge. ‘I say, young feller,’ he whispered earnestly: ‘what saloon d’ye work at? I’m a waiter, myself!’

To go or be on a bulge, verbal phr. (American).—To drink to excess.

To get the bulge on one, verbal phr. (American mining slang).—To obtain an advantage over; an equivalent is to get the drop on one.

1869. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Innocents at Home, p. 18. Well, you’ve rather got the bulge on me. Or maybe we’ve both got the bulge, somehow.

1885. Household Words, Oct. 10, p. 466. ‘Smart chap, that Jacob, for a nig!’ remarked he, as we told him the outlines of our story. ‘I guess now he’s had the bulge on you pretty considerable this trip.’

1888. American Humorist, May 12. ‘Pop! are you up there?’ ‘Yes, my son.’ ‘I saw he had the bulge on you and I got the gun and dropped him!’ ‘Right, my boy. That’s what I was praying for.’

Bulger, adj. (common).—Large; synonymous with buster (q.v.).

Bulk, subs. (old).—See quots.—See also File and Bulker, sense 2.

1674. R. Head, Canting Acad., 35. Bulk and File. The one jostles you, whilst the other picks your pocket.

1725. New Cant. Dict. Bulk, an assistant to a File or Pickpocket, who jostles a Person up against the Wall, while the other picks his Pocket.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bulk and file, two pickpockets; the bulk jostles the party to be robbed, and the file does the business.

Bulker, subs. (old).—1. A prostitute of a low type—generally one who had no settled home; one who slept on a ‘bulk,’ a kind of sill projecting from a window. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack.

1691. Shadwell, Scowerers, Act i., Sc. 1. ‘Every one in a petticoat is thy mistress, from humble bulker to haughty countess.’

1728. Baily, Bulker, a Common Jilt; a Whore.—Canting term. [In a later edition (1790) he adds ‘one who would lay down on a bulk to anyone.’]

2. (old.)—A thief. Cf., Bulk.

1669. Nicker Nicked, in Hart. Misc. (ed. Park), II., 108. Bulker occurs in a list of names of thieves.

1678. Four for a Penny, in Hart. Misc. (ed. Park), IV., 147. He is the treasurer of the thieves’ exchequer, the common fender of all bulkers and shop-lifts in the town.

Bulky, subs. (provincial).—A police constable. Said to be a northern term. For synonyms, see Beak.

1821. Edinburgh Mag., August, p. 156. This enterprising ruffian boasts of his success in deceiving the bulkies on a search, by concealing his stolen notes in the cape of his coat.

1841. Lytton, Night and Morning, bk. V., ch. ii. ‘Inquiries about your respectability would soon bring the bulkies about me.’

Adj. (Winchester College).—Rich or generous, or both. The opposite of brum (q.v.).

Bull, subs. (colloquial.)—1. Formerly a blunder or mistake; now generally understood as an inconsistent statement; a ludicrous contradiction, often partaking largely of the nature of a pun. [Bull in M.E. = to befool; to mock.] The term was current long before the form Irish bull is met with.

1642. Milton, Apol. for Smect., § 6. But that such a poem should be toothless, I still affirm it to be a bull, taking away the essence of that which it calls itself. For if it bite neither the persons nor the vices, how is it a satire? And if it bite either, how is it toothless?

1673. Dryden, The Assignation, Act iii., Sc. 1. Ben. Faith, lady, I could not sleep one wink, for dreaming of you. Lan. Not sleep for dreaming? When the place falls, you shall be bull master general at court.

1689. Selden, Table Talk, p. 96 (Arber’s ed.). We can make no notion of it, ’tis so full of intricacy, so full of contradiction: ’tis in good earnest, as we state it, half-a-dozen bulls one upon another.

1705. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. II., pt. I., p. 6. With Stale Quibbles, Puns, and Bulls.

1841. Lever, Charles O’Malley, ch. i. ‘I have got into such an infernal habit of making bulls, that I can’t write sense when I want it.’

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffrey Hamlyn, ch. xxxix. He was telling the most outrageous of Irish stories, and making, on purpose, the most outrageous of Irish bulls.

In this connection it may be noted that in French cavalry regiments portez! and remettez! are mock commands given upon the perpetration of a bull. La calinotade signifies in the popular speech a ludicrous or foolish saying, whilst one given to uttering them is termed un calino.

2. (thieves’.)—A crown or five shilling piece. Formerly bull’s eye (q.v.). [The origin is doubtful. It may be a mere allusion to the circular shape, or it may be of classical derivation, and be a reference to the herds and flocks which at one time constituted a man’s wealth. Cf., Latin pecunia, from pecus, cattle or oxen.]

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dictionary. Bull, a crown, or five shillings.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 232. List of patterers’ words. Bull, a crown.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xlvi. Four half-bulls, wot you may call half-crowns.

1857. Notes and Queries, 2 S., 4 July. And therefore much as a bull (or a hog) stand arbitrarily for a five-shilling-piece, half-a-bull for half a-crown, a bob for a shilling, a tanner for sixpence, etc., with equal propriety might a plum stand for £100,000.

1889. Answers, July 27, p. 136, col. 2. Once found, the ‘lurker’ is pretty sure to draw a bull (five shillings), or even a ‘counter’ (pound).

3. (Stock Exchange.)—Originally a speculative purchase for a rise; i.e., a man would agree to buy stock at a future day at a stated price with no intention of taking it up, but trusting to the market advancing in value to make the transaction profitable. Bull is the reverse of bear (q.v.). The term is now more frequently applied to the person engaged in the above-mentioned tactics, i.e., to one who tries to enhance the value of stocks by speculative purchases or otherwise. Also used as a verb and adjective.

b. 1671, d. 1757. Cibber, The Refusal, or The Ladies’ Philosophy. Granger (to Witling, who has been boasting of his gain): And all this out of ‘Change Alley’? Witling: Every shilling, Sir, all out of stocks, Pulls, Bulls, Rams, Bears, and Bubbles.

1768. Foote, Devil upon Two Sticks, Act i. A mere bull and bear booby; the patron of lame ducks, brokers, and fraudulent foot bankrupts.

1774. Coleman, Man of Business, IV., i., in wks. (1777) II., 179. My young master is the bull, and Sir Charles is the bear. He agreed for stock, expecting it to be up at three hundred by this time; but, lack-a-day, sir, it has been falling ever since.

1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. iv. The hum and bustle which his approach was wont to produce among the bulls, bears, and brokers of Stock Alley.

1860. Peacock, Gryll Grange, ch. xviii. In Stock Exchange slang, Bulls are speculators for a rise, Bears for a fall.

1881. Mark Lane Express, Aug. 8, p. 1085. The speculative movement which has, so far, exerted a bull influence on the maize market.

On the French Bourse a bull is called un haussier; in Berlin he is known as liebhaler; and in Vienna the term used is contremine.

4. (nautical.)—See Bull the cask or barrel.

5. (common.)—Explained by quotation.

1887. G. R. Sims, How the Poor Live, p. 148. In these places, too, the lodgers divide their food frequently, and a man, seeing a neighbour without anything, will hand him his teapot, and say, ‘Here you are, mate; here’s a bull for you.’ A ‘bull’ is a teapot with the leaves left in for a second brew.

6. (thieves’.)—Prison rations of meat, an allusion to its toughness; also generally used for meat without any reference to its being either tough or tender. A French equivalent is la bidoche. [Its derivation is suggested in the following quot.]

1883. Echo, Jan. 25, p. 2, col. 3. Thus from the French ‘bouilli’ we probably get the prison slang term bull for a ration of meat.

7. (American.)—A locomotive; the word is sometimes lengthened into bullgine.

8. (Winchester College.)—Cold beef, introduced at breakfast about 1873.

Verb (American University).—At Dartmouth College to recite badly; to make a poor recitation. [From the substantive bull, a blunder or contradiction, or from the use of the word as a prefix, signifying large, lubberly, blundering.]

Stale bull, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Stock held over for a long period with profit.

Bull and Cow, subs. (rhyming slang).—A row.

Bull-Bait, verb (? nonce word).—To bully; hector; badger. [Clearly a figurative usage of the legitimate word.]

1860. Dickens, Great Expectations, ch. xviii., p. 82. ‘Which I meantersay,’ cried Joe, ‘that if you come into my place bull-baiting and badgering me, come out!’

Bull-Beef, subs. (old).—A frequently recurring term of contempt. Prisoners apply it to the hard, stringy meat supplied to them, and formerly the expression was in general use. ‘As ugly as bull-beef’; ‘as big as bull-beef’; ‘go and sell yourself for bull-beef’; were common colloquialisms at the end of the last and the beginning of the present century. Sometimes contracted into bull. Cf., Bully beef.

1579. Gosson, Apol. of the Schoole of Abuse, p. 64 (Arber). I vnderstand they are all in a fustian fume.… They haue eaten bul-bief, and threatned highly too put water in my woortes whensoeuer they catche me.

1607. Rowlands, Diogines Lanthorne, p. 8 (H. Cl. Repr., 1873). How lookes yonder fellow? what’s the matter with him trow? has a eaten bul-beefe? there’s a lofty slaue indeede, hee’s in the altitudes.

1738–1819. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’), Rights of Kings, Ode I., in wks. (Dublin, 1795), vol. II., p. 219. The Cooks, Bluff on th’ occasion, put on bull’s-beef looks.

1782. Wolcot, Lyric Odes, No. 3, in wks. (1809) I., 62.

Yet thou may’st bluster like bull-beef so big.

1860. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Season Ticket, x. Which look as cheap as bull-beef at one cent a pound.

1868. Brewer, Phrase and Fable, p. 524. To look as big as bull-beef. To look stout and hearty, as if fed on bull-beef. Bull-beef was formerly recommended for making men strong and muscular.

1888. Ashton, Mod. Street Ballads, p. 61.

For soon he will his trial take,

And hard bull-beef be munching.

Bull Calf, subs. (old).—See quot.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bull calf, a great hulkey or clumsy fellow.

Bull Chin, subs. (old).—Explained by quotation.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bull chin, a fat, chubby child.

Bull-Dance, subs. (nautical).—A dance in which only men take part. Cf., Stag-dance, Gander-party, Hen-party, etc.

1867. Smyth, Sailors’ Word Book. Bull-dance. At sea it is performed by men only when without women. It is sometimes called a stag-dance.

1887. Graphic, March 26, p. 315, col. 3. It is obliged to be a bull-dance. Gentlemen dance with gentlemen, and the pianist is, of course, a gentleman also.

Bull-Dog, subs. (old).—1. A sheriff’s officer; a bailiff.

1698. Farquhar, Love and a Bottle, iii., 2. Mock. But pray what’s the matter, Mrs. Lyric?

Lyric. Nothing, sir, but a shirking bookseller that owed me about forty guineas for a few lines. He would have put me off, so I sent for a couple of bull-dogs, and arrested him.

2. (old.)—A pistol; in the naval service a main-deck gun. Cf., Barker and Bull-dog blazer.

1700. Farquhar, Constant Couple, iii., 2. He whips out his stiletto, and I whips out my bull-dog.

1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ii., 191. ‘I have always a brace of bull-dogs about me.’… So saying, he exhibited a very handsome, highly-finished, and richly-mounted pair of pistols.

1867. Smyth, Sailors’ Word Book. Bull-dog or muzzled bull-dog, the great gun which stands housed in the officer’s ward-room cabin. General term for main-deck guns.

1881. Daily News, Oct. 27, p. 6, col. 2. Revolver cartridges of the ordinary ‘bull-dog’ pattern.

3. (old.)—See quot.

1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict. Bull-dog, a sugar-loaf.

4. (University.)—A proctor’s assistant or marshall. Cf., quot. from Brewer’s Reader’s Handbook.

1823. Lockhart, Reg. Dalton, I., x. (1842), 59. Long forgotten stories about proctor’s bit and bull-dogs baffled. [M.]

1841. Lytton, Night and Morning, bk. III., ch. iii. ‘The proctor and his bull-dogs came up … and gave chase to the delinquents … the night was dark, and they reached the College in safety.’

1847. Tennyson, Princess, Prologue.

We unworthier told

Of college: he had climb’d across the spikes,

And he had squeezed himself betwixt the bars,

And he had breath’d the Proctor’s dogs.

1880. Brewer, Reader’s Handbook. Bull-dogs, the two servants of a university proctor, who follow him in his rounds, to assist him in apprehending students who are violating the university statues, such as appearing in the streets after dinner without cap and gown, etc.

5. (University: obsolete.)—A name for a member of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Bull-Dog Blazer, subs. (American).—A revolver. [Probably a mere amplification of the kindred English canting term; bull-dog, a pistol, + blazer, an allusion to the flash attendant upon firing.] For synonyms, see Meat in the pot.

Bull-Dose, subs. (American).—A severe castigation or flogging. Verb.—To thrash; to intimidate; to bully. A term of Southern political origin, originally referring to an association of negroes formed to insure, by violent and unlawful means, the success of an election. The phrase has now passed into general use, political and otherwise, to signify the adoption and use of coercive measures. [The derivation is almost literal—a bull-dose, a flogging with a strip of hide; the action itself being represented by the verb to bulldose. Though indifferently spelt both with single and double ‘l’ and with ‘s’ and ‘z,’ the correct version is bulldose.] Also derivatives bulldoser (q.v.), and bull-dosing, mutatis mutandis, of a kindred meaning.

1876. New York Tribune, Dec. There was a bad case of ‘bulldozing’ in Cincinnati on Monday night. A handful of bold Democrats had gathered to let out their pent-up desire for Tilden or blood.… Mr. C—— was in the chair, and was warming up the faithful with an address, when the Republicans crowded around him in so threatening a manner that he mounted the table, shook his address in their faces, and declared, like a true hero, that he was not to be ‘intimidated.’

1880. Illust. London News, vol. LXXVII., p. 587, col. 1. The Americans have lately been using a strange word, ‘bull-dosing,’ which signifies, I believe, political intimidation, but not personal molestation.

1881. Sat. Review, July 9, p. 40, col. 2. To ‘bull-dose’ a negro in the Southern States means to flog him to death or nearly to death.

1881. Sat. Review, July 9, p. 40, col. 2. A ‘bull-dose’ means a large efficient dose of any sort of medicine or punishment.

1887. Cassell’s Mag. (Art. on ‘Americanisms’), June, p. 412. To ‘bulldoze’ is to intimidate, and the word was originally used respecting the alleged interference with negro voters in Louisiana.

1888. Detroit Evening Journal, 20 Feb. The Democrats complain of the amounts of money they had to face, but that was not such a source of trouble as the bulldozing of voters by the mining bosses. They were driven to the polls, and compelled to vote for Seymour.

A French equivalent is faire son fendart (fendart signifies ‘braggart’ or ‘swaggerer’; fendant in literary French means a hector or bully).

Bull-Doser, subs. (American).—1. A bully; braggart; swaggerer. Cf., Bull-dose. French printers call a bully un mata, an abbreviation of matador. It is curious that this term in the original Spanish not only signifies a killer of bulls (as in a bull-fight), but also a murderer.

1878. N. American Review, vol. CXXVII., p. 426. The great ‘bulldozer’ of Europe.

1882. New York Tribune, 3 May. The hotel where he was staying was visited … by a mob of bull-dozers. [M.]

2. A pistol.

1881. Sat. Review, July 9, p. 40, col. 2. A Californian bull-doser is a pistol which carries a bullet heavy enough to destroy human life with certainty.

Bullet. To give the bullet, verbal phr. (common).—To discharge an employé. Cf., To give the bag, sense 2, under Bag, and Sack. [Possibly a punning allusion to the word ‘discharge.’] The term is variously used. To shake the bullet at anyone, is to threaten with ‘the sack,’ but not to give actual notice to leave. To get the bullet is to get notice, while to get the instant bullet is to be discharged upon the spot.

1841. Savage, Dict. of Art of Printing. A workman was said to have got the bullet when he was discharged instanter—without the customary notice on either side.

1872. Chamb. Jour., March 9, p. 147. When a fellow gets the bullet from his work, he mostly has a spell at cab-driving.

1887. Punch, Sept. 17, p. 126. I have just got the ‘bullet,’ Mate—sacked without notice.

Bullfinch, subs. (old).—1. A stupid fellow.

2. (hunting.)—A high thick hedge; one difficult to jump or rush through. [Most authorities agree in suggesting the origin of this term in a corruption of ‘bull-fence,’ i.e., a fence capable of preventing cattle from straying.]

1832. Quart. Rev., Mar., 226. The bull-finch fence … is a quickset hedge of perhaps fifty years’ growth, with a ditch on one side or the other, and so high and strong that [one] cannot clear it. [M.]

1864. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. ix. The third is a teaser—an ugly black bull-finch with a ditch on the landing side, and a drop into a ploughed field.

1880. The Times, Nov. 2, p. 4, col. 5. They are almost invariably attired in double-stitched shooting coats, that will stand the ordeal of ‘bull-finches’ and brambles.

1889. Man of the World, June 29. See Harrington, the belted earl, bear down an opponent in the jousts, charging with lance or sword as if he were riding at a South Notts bull-finch.

Bull-Jine, subs. (nautical).—A sailor’s term for a locomotive. [Thought to be of American origin, New York thieves using the same term, as also an abbreviated form—bull.]

Bull Money, subs. (harlotry).—Money extorted from or given by those who in places of public resort have been detected in flagrante delicto with a woman, as a bribe to silence.

Bull-Nurse, subs. (nautical).—See quot.

1885. Graphic, April 4, p. 326, col. 3. ‘Bull-nurses.’ Perhaps we ought to apologise for using this word; but years ago (it may be so still) it was the sailors’ phrase to indicate a male-attendant on the sick.

Bullock, subs. (schoolboys’).—1. See quot.

1855. J. K., in Notes and Queries, 1 S., v., 12, 3 Nov., p. 344. Bullock, a cheat; but as I think, only when cheating at marbles.

2. (Australian.)—A countryman or bushman. Cf., Bullock-puncher.

Verb.—To bully; to bounce over; to intimidate. [Query from bully.]

1716. M. Davies, Ath. Brit., I., 272. Upon the evidence of that bullocking Fryer Campanella. [M.]

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. II., ch. vi. ‘And then you have charged me with bullocking you into owning the truth.’

1763. Foote, Mayor of Garratt, Act ii., Sc. 2. She shan’t think to bullock and domineer over me.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bullock, to hector, bounce, or bully.

Bullock’s Heart.—See Token.

Bullock’s Horn, verb (rhyming slang).—To pawn. For synonyms, see Pop.

Bull Party, subs. (old).—A party of men only. Cf., Bull-dance, Stag-party, Hen-tea, etc.

Bull-Puncher.—A variant of cow-puncher (q.v.).

Bull’s Eye, subs. (schoolboys’).—1. A sweetmeat of which peppermint is an important ingredient. [It received its name in allusion to its globular shape.]

1825. Hone, Every-day Bk., I., 51. Hardbake, brandy-balls, and bull’s-eyes. [M.]

1882. Punch, vol. LXXXII., p. 83. Dr. Switcher (who had discovered bull’s eyes about, and traced them to the original donor). ‘Don’t you know, Muggins, there’s an old proverb that “Fools give feasts and Wise men eat them” ’? Muggins. ‘Yes, Sir, and there’s another one, sir.’ The Doctor. ‘What’s that, sir? Now, Sir?’—(noticing a reticence)—‘What is it, Sir?’—(sternly)—‘or else—!’ Muggins (seeing no escape). ‘Please, Sir, “W—— wise men make proverbs and F—— Fools repea——.” ’ [Catches it!]

2. (old.)—A five-shilling piece, otherwise known as a bull (q.v.).

1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. [Mentioned as a cant term for a crown.]

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.), p. 11. Bull’s-eye, a Crown.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bull’s-eye, a crown piece.

Bull’s-eye Villas, subs. (military).—A nickname given to the small open tents used by the Volunteers at their annual gathering. [An allusion to bull’s-eye in its meaning of the centre of a target.]

Bull’s Feather. To give [or get] the bull’s feather, verbal phr. (old).—To be made, or be a cuckold. Cf., Acteon. The French say also planter des plumes de bœuf.

16(?). Song of the 17th Century, quoted by Nares—‘The Bull’s Feather.’

It chanced not long ago as I was walking,

An echo did bring me where two were a talking,

’Twas a man said to his wife, dye had I rather,

Than to be cornuted and wear a bull’s feather.

Then presently she reply’d sweet, art thou jealous?

Thou canst not play Vulcan before I play Venus;

Thy fancies are foolish, such follies to gather,

There’s many an honest man hath worn the bull’s feather—

Though it be invisible, let no man it scorn,

Though it be a new feather made of an old horn,

He that disdains it in heart or mind either,

May he be the more subject to wear the bull’s feather.

1748. Richardson, Cl. Harlowe, v., 295. A good whimsical instrument, take it altogether! But what, thinkest thou, are the arms to this matrimonial harbinger?… Three crooked horns, smartley top-knotted with ribands; which being the ladies’ wear, seem to intimate that they may very probably adorn, as well as bestow, the bull’s-feather.

Bull the Cask or Barrel, verbal phr. (nautical).—To pour water into a rum cask when empty, with a view to keeping the wood moist and preventing leakage. The water, receiving after some time a strong impregnation, is very intoxicating. The authorities, not looking with much favour upon a wholesale brewing of grog in this way, sometimes use salt water as a deterrent, though even this ‘salt water bull’ as it is called, when again poured out, has often proved too attractive for seamen to resist. Again it is common to talk in the same way of ‘bulling a teapot,’ ‘coffee-pot,’ etc.; that is; after the first ‘brew’ has been exhausted, by adding fresh water, and boiling over again, to make a second brew from the old materials. This probably was derived from bulling the cask, but whether the bulling originally applied to the preserving the water-tight qualities of the cask, or to the making of the second brew is not quite certain. Taking, however, the present acceptation of the term, together with its probable derivation (see below), the latter would appear to be the case. [Thought to have its origin in French boullir, whence bouilloire, a tea-kettle; bouillon, a decoction of meat to which vegetables, salt and pepper have been added.]

1824. Cochrane, Narrative of a Pedestrian Journey through Russia and Siberian Tartary, p. 225. My liquor was at end from the effects of a very common sort of leak—it had been tapped too often. I could do nothing but bull the barrel, that is, put a little water into it, and so preserve at least the appearance of vookey.

1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xx. ‘Why, Jacob, a bull means putting a quart or two of water into a cask which has had spirits in it.’

1887. G. R. Sims, How the Poor Live, p. 148. In these places, too, the lodgers divide their food frequently, and a man, seeing a neighbour without anything, will hand him his teapot, and say, ‘Here you are, mate; here’s a bull for you.’ A ‘bull’ is a teapot with the leaves left in for a second brew.

Bull-Trap, subs. (American thieves’).—A personator of a police constable.

Bully, subs. (old).—1. A ‘protector’ of a prostitute; a ‘fancy man.’ The name is often well applied, inasmuch as violence and swagger form the main staple of the stock-in-trade of such men in levying blackmail upon the victims enticed by their women companions.

1706. Defoe, Jure Divino, i., 8. Mars the celestial bully they adore, And Venus for an everlasting whore.

French Synonyms. Poisson (familiar and popular: one who subsists on the gains of a prostitute, the latter being known as his marmite, i.e., ‘flesh-pot’; poisson signifies literally ‘a fish,’ and Michel says such a one was formerly known as poisson d’avril, a punning variation of maquereau [which see], mackerel being fit for food about that month. Poisson d’avril properly means a trick or fool’s errand; recevoir un poisson d’avril is to be made an April-fool); Alphonse (a French form of Alphonso, a ‘fancy name’ for a ‘fancy man.’ Cf., Adonis for a dandy. Alphonsisme is the calling of an Alphonse); baigne-dans-le-beurre (popular: another allusion to mackerel which is generally served with butter); barbise (popular); barbe (popular: lit. ‘beard’); barbille or barbillon (a young hand at the business); barbeau (popular: properly barbel, from L. L. barbellus, dim. from barbus, a barbel, i.e., the fish, from barba, a beard); marlou or marlousier (general: the second term is the oldest, and Michel derives it from marlier, formerly used in the sense of marguillier, signifying properly ‘churchwarden.’ Cf., Sacristain); benoît (popular); brochet (popular: properly this is ‘pike’ or ‘jack’); dos, dos vert, and dos d’azur (general: dos = back); casquette à trois ponts (popular: so called from a cap often worn by such persons); chevalier du bidet (bidet = pony; Cf., Omnibus); chevalier de la guiche (familiar); chiqueur de blanc (chiqueur = glutton, and blanc, a street-walker. Cf., mangeuse de viande crue); bouffeur de blanc (popular); costel (popular); cravate verte (popular); guiche (popular); dessous (thieves’: a man for whom ‘love’ is cherished by a prostitute); écaillé (literally ‘one with scales,’ like those of a fish—allusive of maquereau; fish, another reference to maquereau); foulard rouge (popular: lit. ‘red silk handkerchief’); gentilhomme sous marin (popular); ambassadeur (popular); gonce à écailles (gonce = man; à écailles = with scales, an allusion to maquereau); goujon (general: ? does this come from the Gascon gouie, whence comes gouge, a prostitute); lacromuche (popular); retrousseur (popular: retrousser properly means ‘to turn up,’ ‘to cock’); dauphin (popular: lit. dolphin); macchoux (popular); machabée (popular: lit. a corpse); mac or macque (popular; abbreviations of maquereau); macrottin (familiar); poisson frayeur (frayer [of fishes] signifies ‘to milt’); releveur de fumeuse (popular: Cf., relever le chandelier, i.e., to lift up the candlestick; from a practice of placing the fees of a prostitute under a candlestick); maquignon à bidoche (popular: maquignon is properly a ‘horsedealer,’ and bidoche = meat); mangeur de blanc (general: a devourer of prostitutes. Cf., chiqueur de blanc); tête de patère (popular); marloupatte, marloupin (see marlou); marquant (thieves’); mec (popular and thieves’); mec de la guiche (so called from his kiss-curls—des guiches = kiss-curls); monsieur à nageoires (lit. gentleman with fins); monsieur à rouflaquettes (popular: rouflaquettes = aggerawators, q.v.); neg en viande chaude (popular: neg is an abbreviation of négociant, i.e., merchant, dealer; viande chaude = hot meat); patenté (popular: patente is the name of a cap worn by the fraternity); porte-nageoires (see monsieur à nageoires); roi de la mer (popular: lit. king of the sea. Cf., maquereau, poisson, etc.); rouflaquette (Cf., monsieur à rouflaquettes); roule-en-cul, soixante-six (popular: insulting terms which might be translated by ‘pensioner,’ with an obscene prefix); un qui va aux épinards (popular: one who receives money from a prostitute, épinards = spinach. Cf., ‘to take one’s greens’); valet de cœur (popular: the lover of a prostitute); visqueux (properly this signifies ‘viscous,’ ‘slimy,’ ‘clammy’; the term is applied to the lowest type of bullies); bibi (popular); bras de fer (lit. ‘arm of iron’).

1729. Gay, Polly, Act ii., Sc. 7. Jimmy: Sure never was such insolence! how could you leave me with this bawdy-house bully?

1753. Adventurer, No. 100. I learned to pack cards and to cog a die; became a bully to whores.

1766. Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield, ch. xx. The lady was only a woman of the town, and the fellow her bully and a sharper.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act. ii., Sc. 4. M’L. Plaise your honour, I have brought before your worship a most notorious prostitute and common street walker, who, for her foul doings, has been cooped up in the Poultry Comptor, as often as there are years in a week.—I caught her charging these honest gentlemen (pointing to Tom and Jerry) in a most impositious manner, and when I civilly axed her, how she could think of getting drunk, and acting so, she called her bullies here. (Pointing to Kate and Sue.)

1883. A. Dobson, Fielding, p. 129. Probably a professed sabreur, if not a salaried bully like Captain Stab in the Rake’s Progress.

1887. Daily News, 15 July, 6, 5. It was not an uncommon thing for a prostitute to solicit a man, and if he refused her importunities, to call upon a ‘bully,’ and complain that she had been assaulted.

2. (Eton College.)—A melée at football; the equivalent of the Rugby ‘scrimmage’ and the Winchester ‘hot.’ It is where the majority of players play.

3. (nautical.)—A term of endearment in use amongst sailors. Equivalent to ‘pal,’ ‘mate,’ and similar terms. In this sense it has long been in use, Shakspeare often employing it. Probably hence arose the American and colonial adjectival use of the word in the sense of fine, ‘crack.’

4. (American thieves’.)—A weapon formed by tying a stone or a piece of lead in a handkerchief. This is used knuckleduster fashion.

Adj. (American).—Fine; capital; crack; ‘spiff.’ Applied to persons only, this adjective is traceable as far back as 1681; it seems, however, to have fallen into disuetude and to have been subsequently revived in a much more extended sense in the U.S.A., whence it has made the circuit of the English speaking world. Now applied to anything deserving of commendation, and used very much in the same way and with the same shades of meaning as ‘crack.’

English Synonyms. See A1.

French Synonyms. In addition to those given under A1 may be mentioned the following:—muche; pas piqué des hannetons (popular: literally not bitten or stung by May-bugs or cockchafers).

1681. Chetham, Anglers’ Vade Mecum (1689), pref. From such bully fishers this book expects no other reception.

1855. Cairo City Times. The bully steamboat ‘Crystal Palace’ passed up to St. Louis on Monday. We have no doubt she left papers.

1870. Meade, New Zealand, p. 331. The roof fell in, there was a ‘bully’ blaze.

1875. N. Amer. Review, vol. CXX., p. 128. ‘That,’ replied Earney, ‘is Mercury, the god of merchants and thieves.’ ‘Good! that’s bully!’ exclaimed Tweed.

1880. Bret Harte, A Lonely Ride. ‘I thought you changed horses on the road?’ ‘So we did. Two hours ago.’ ‘That’s odd. I didn’t notice it.’ ‘Must have been asleep sir. Hope you had a pleasant nap. Bully place for a nice quiet snooze,—empty stage, sir!’

That’s bully for you, phr. (American).—Grand or fine; this phrase, during the Civil War, had a remarkably popular run.

1873. Justin McCarthy, Fair Saxon, ch. xix. ‘Darling boy! I had thought of this already.’ ‘Bully for you, mamma! Of course you did.’

Bully boy or bully boy with the glass eye, phr. (American).—A good fellow.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxxiv. ‘Well said, my hearty captain!’ cried Glossin, endeavouring to catch the tone of revelry.… ‘That’s it, my bully boy! Why, you’re alive again now!—’

1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. viii. ‘And you, Mr. Frank Osbaldistone, are not the first bully-boy that has said stand to a true man.’

1869. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Innocents at Home, p. 20. You ought to seen him get started once. He was a bully boy with a glass eye.

Bully-Back or Bully-Buck, subs. (old).—Thus described by Grose: A bully to a bawdy house, one who is kept in pay, to oblige the frequenters of the house to submit to the impositions of the mother abbess or bawd, and who also sometimes pretends to be the husband of one of the ladies, and under that pretence extorts money from greenhorns, or ignorant young men, whom he finds with her. Cf., Bully-boss.

1626. Amherst, Terræ Fil., xxxiii., 179. They have spirtual bravves on their side, and old lecherous bully-backs to revenge their cause. [M.]

Bully Beef, subs. (military).—Tinned meat. Also called iron ration (q.v.). In the navy by bully-beef is meant boiled salt beef. [This may either be a corruption of bull beef or from the French bouilli, boiled meat.]

1883. Clark Russell, Sailors’ Language, pref., xii. Soup-and-bouilli is another standing sea dish, and, taking it all round, is the most disgusting of the provisions served out to the merchant sailor. I have known many a strong stomach, made food-proof by years of pork eaten with molasses, and biscuit alive with worms, to be utterly capsized by the mere smell of soup-and-bouilli. Jack calls it ‘soap and bullion, one onion to a gallon of water,’ and thus fairly expresses the character of the nauseous compound.

1887. Daily News, July 9, p. 6, col. 4. The rations will be of the kind known to Tommy Atkins as ‘bully beef.’ There may be in it a considerable proportion of mutton, but that makes no difference to him.

Bully-Boss, subs. (American).—The landlord of a brothel or thieves’ den. [From bully, sense 1 (q.v.), + boss, a master.]

Bully-Buck.—See Bully-back.

Bully Cock, subs. (old).—1. See quot.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bully-cock, one who foments quarrels in order to rob the persons quarrelling.

2. subs. (old).—A low round hat with broad brim.—See Billy-cock.

3. (old.)—A man who sets other people by the ears, so that, while they quarrel, he may rob them with impunity.

Bullyrag or Ballyrag, verb (colloquial).—To revile; abuse; scold vehemently—usually in vulgar or obscene language; also to swindle by means of intimidation. [The etymology is unknown.]

French Synonyms. Arranger aux petits oignons; monter une gamme (popular: gamme = thrashing or ‘walloping’); habiller quelqu’un de taffetas (popular: i.e., to clothe anyone with fear; Cf., ‘clothed with shame’); agonir (popular: ‘to haul over the coals’; properly ‘to pull to pieces’); secouer les puces à quel-qu’un (popular: secouer = to shake; puces = fleas. Cf., ‘to send one away with a flea in the ear’).

1760. T. Warton, Oxford Newsman’s Verses.

On Minden’s plains, ye meek Mounseers!

Remember Kingsley’s grenadiers.

You vainly thought to ballarag us,

Like your fine squadron off Cape Lagos.

1861. Charles Lever, One of Them, p. 36. He bullyragged me.

1876. S. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Tom Sawyer, p. 118. I don’t want nothing better ’n this; I don’t git enough to eat gin’ally,—and here they can’t come and pick a feller and bullyrag him so.

1880. Jas. Greenwood, Maids in Waiting, in Odd People in Odd Places, p. 143. You should have heard the bullyragging I got, ma’am, from the mistress and the master as well, and I was turned out in the shameful way I’ve already explained to you, for doing what was no wrong at all, but only what me good-nature tempted me to.

1884. Jas. Payn, Talk of the Town, ch. v. He had never been ‘bally-ragged’ in his own house for ‘nothing’—except by his wife—before.

Bullyragging, verb, subs. (colloquial).—Scolding; abuse; and sometimes swindling. [From bullyrag (q.v.) + ing.] For synonyms, see Wigging.

1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, ch. xviii. ‘It would be a good thing for she … if she could bully Miss Eleanor into marrying Captain Hertford, and then that the pair on ’em should have the bullying and bally-ragging of nine thousand a year.’

1880. Mrs. Parr, Adam and Eve, xxi., 292. There’ll be more set to the score o’ my coaxin’ than ever ‘all be to Adam’s bully-ragging.’ [M.]

1882. Daily Telegraph, Oct. 19, p. 3, col. 1. ‘And you should have heard the bully-ragging I got, ma’am, from the mistress and the master as well.’

Bully-Rook or Bully-Rock, subs. (old).—Originally this term seems to have been applied to a pleasant or boon-companion; later, however, to a swaggerer, a bully, a bravo. [Thought by most etymologists to be a combination of bully (q.v.) + rook (q.v.), a sharper.]

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, Act i., Sc. 3. Why says my bully-rook?

1633. Shirley, Wittie Faire One, Act iii., Sc. 4. Such in the spirit of sack, till we be delphic, and prophesy, my bully-rook.