A Dictionary of Slang and its Analogues. (continued 4)

Well, Venus shortly bagged, and ere long was Cupid bred.

To get baggy, phr. (common).—Said of clothes when loosened by the stretching which arises from wear and tear. Trousers get baggy at the knees.

Bag and Baggage, phr. (common).—To clear one out bag and baggage is to get quit of one entirely. A deprecatory expression indicating complete riddance.

Bag and Bottle, subs. phr. (old).—Food and drink. The former from being carried in a bag as by beggars and vagrants; the latter also being of similar derivation.

1671. Eachard, Observations. An ill-contriving rascal that in his younger years should choose to lug the bag and the bottle a mile or two to school; and to bring home only a small bit of Greek or Latin most magisterially construed.

Baggage. Heavy baggage, subs. phr. (old).—1. Women and children.—Grose.

2. Baggage is also a familiar colloquialism for a pert, saucy, young woman; like ‘wench,’ ‘rogue,’ ‘gypsy,’ it is often used endearingly.

1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, I., iii. I believe the baggage loves me.

1732. Fielding, The Miser, Act i., Sc. 9. Here’s a baggage of a daughter, who refuses the most advantageous match that ever was offered.

1863. Alex. Smith, Dreamthorpe, p. 12. And Beauty, who is something of a coquette … goes off in a huff. Let the baggage go!

3. (old).—A whore or strumpet; a woman of loose morals.

4. (old).—Rubbish; ‘rot.’

1575. Touchstone of Complexions, p. 118. For throughe cruditye and lacke of perfect concoction in the stomacke is engendered great abundance of naughty baggage and hurtful phlegme.

1576. Gascoigne, The Steele Glas, p. 79. When brewers put no bagage in their beere.

Adj. (old).—Used contemptuously of individuals and things. Cf., Baggage—a worthless, good-for-nothing woman.

1593. G. Harvey, Pierees Superero, in works (Gresart) II., 273. Bibbing Nash, baggage Nash, swaddish Nash, rogish Nash, the bellweather of the scribling flocke.

1692. Hacket, Life of Williams, ii., 128. For four cellars of wine, syder, ale, beer, with wood, hay, corn, and the like, stored up for a year or two, he gave not account of sixpence, but spent it upon baggage, and loose franions. Ibid., p. 123. Booth himself confest, in the hearing of those witnesses, that Pregion had nothing to do with that baggage woman.

Baggage-Smasher, subs. (American).—1. A railway porter. The why and wherefore of this nickname is abundantly apparent from the following quotations.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 358. The baggage-smasher, as the porter is commonly called, handles his burdens with appalling recklessness, and responsibility there is none.

1880. New Virginians, i., 37. ‘Called baggage-smashers.’ [M.]

1888. Texas Siftings, Nov. 3. Fashionable people who have spent the summer at the watering places or at the seaside, but have now returned to the cities, assert that the baggage-smasher has become more destructive than ever. The baggage-smasher is indeed a terror. In fact there are two of them: the one who flits from station to station and dumps your poor dumb trunk with force enough to drive piles in a government breakwater, and the one who loiters around the depôt watching for his chance to shatter your baggage. The depôt baggageman is the most culpable of the two species. In his long and dark career of smashing trunks, he has, evidently, knocked the hoops off his conscience, and there is no remorse brave, foolhardy and reckless enough to tackle his heart-strings and play on them.

2. Also a thief who hangs about ‘depôts,’ with a view to robbery of luggage.

1861. New York Tribune, Nov. 23. Gamblers, ticket-swindlers, emigrant robbers, baggage-smashers, and all the worst classes of the city.

Bagged, ppl. adj. (American).—A term used to signify imprisonment and victimization—probably only an extension of the idea of capture as derived from sport, through the slang ‘to bag,’ i.e., to steal. Cf., To bag.

Bagging, subs. (provincial slang).—In the first instance, food taken between regular meals; now generally applied, especially in Lancashire, to what is known in the South of England as ‘high tea.’

1750. J. Collier, in Lancashire Glossary (E.D.S.). Hoo’l naw cum agen till baggin’ time. [M.]

1870. Chambers’ Journal, Oct., p. 661. Lancashire adopts the whole-board or partial-board system very extensively. The local term of bagging implies bread and cheese, or pies; and there are all the varieties of board and lodging, dinner of potatoes and bacon with buttermilk, bagging in the forenoon and afternoon, dinner and lunch, and rations allowed for women.

1879. In Temple Bar Mag., 4 Jan. Baggin’ is not only lunch, but any accidental meal coming between two regular ones.

Bagging the Over.—See Jockeying the over.

Bagman, subs. (popular).—1. A commercial traveller. Formerly of respectable usage; now only employed contemptuously.

1765. Goldsmith, Essays, I. The bagman was telling a better story. [M.]

1840. Thackeray, Paris Sketch Book, p. 20. When all the rest of mankind look hideous, dirty, peevish, wretched, after a forty hours’ coach-journey, a bagman appears as gay and spruce as when he started.

The term bagman took its rise in the saddle-bags in which the commercial traveller of the past century carried his patterns and goods. These saddle-bags being of larger dimensions than those usually carried by travellers on horseback, would designate the commercial traveller par excellence as the bagman.

2. In sporting slang, a ‘bag-fox.’

1875. Stonehenge, Brit. Sports, I., II., iv., § 5. If … wild cubs cannot be found, a bagman or two must be obtained. [M.]

Bagnio, subs. (old).—A brothel. [From Italian bagno, a bath, properly a hot bath; whence an application as in the case of stew (q.v.), for a house of prostitution.]

1624. Massinger, Parliament of Love, II., ii. To be sold to a brothel or a common bagnio.

1851. Thackeray, English Humour, V. (1858), 243. How the prodigal drinks and sports at the bagnio.

1861. Wright, Domestic Manners in England during the Middle Ages, 491. They were soon used to such an extent for illicit intrigues, that the name of a hothouse or bagnio became equivalent to that of a brothel.

Bag of Bones, subs. phr. (familiar).—A lean, attenuated person; sometimes called a ‘walking skeleton.’ The French have un sac à os (often contracted into sacdos)—a literal translation. The term is quite modern, being traced by Murray no further back than 1838, when Dickens used it [in Oliver Twist, iv., 64].

Bag o’ Moonshine, subs. phr. (common).—Nonsense.—See All moonshine.

Bag of Nails, subs. phr. (American thieves’).—A state of confusion or topsy-turveydom. [Qy. from ‘bacchanals.’]

Bag of Tricks, phr. (common).—Generally, the whole bag of tricks; i.e., every expedient.

Bagpipe, subs. (common).—A windy talker; a senseless chatter-box. The derivation is obviously from the musical instrument of the same name.

Verb. (old).—A lascivious practice; too indecent for explanation.

Bags, subs. (popular).—An ironical nickname for trousers, thought by some to be of University origin, and borrowed from ‘the variegated bags’ of Euripides—τους θυλάκους τους ποικίλους (Cyclops., 182).

1853. Rev. E. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Adventures of Verdant Green, p. 51. Just jump into a pair of bags and Wellingtons. Ibid., p. 5. His black go-to-meeting bags.

1870. Chambers’ Journal (Christmas Number). ‘But, holloa!’ he cried, as he caught sight of his legs. ‘Parsons don’t wear light tweed bags!’… Jack had to unpack his portmanteau and get out his evening inexpressibles.

1874. M. Collins, Frances, ch. xv. His well-shapen hip and calf were hidden in loose-fitting bags of corduroy.

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.” ’

When made of startling material, or ‘cut’ in an exaggerated style of fashion they become howling bags.

English Synonyms. Dittoes; kicks; kicksies; bum-bags; sit-upons; unmentionables; continuations; hams; inexpressibles; abridgements; drumstick-cases; and ducks (when made of white material).

French Synonyms. Dalzar; falzar.

Intj. (schoolboy).—Bags! or bags I! is frequently used to assert a claim to some article or privilege. Analogous schoolboy slang is fains or fain it (q.v.) for demanding a truce during the progress of a game, and which is always granted by the opposing party. In other schools pike I or prior pike serve to lay claim to anything, or for asserting priority of claim. Also bar! e.g., ‘He wanted me to do so and so, but I barred not.’ Cf., Fain, Pike, and Bar.

To have the bags, phr. (popular).—This phrase is erroneously given by Hotten (and Barrère has followed suit), as to have the bags off. The meaning is to be of age, and thus to possess all the rights and privileges of adultship; also to have plenty of money. Obviously an allusion to the transition from child’s attire to the garments of manhood.

Bags of mystery, subs. phr. (common).—Sausages and saveloys are so called—from the often mysterious character of their compounds. Presumably composed of minced ‘meat,’ but so highly flavoured and seasoned that no man can tell whereof they are made.

To take the bags (athletic).—To act as ‘hare’ in ‘Hare and Hounds,’ a game too well known to need description in this place.

(Stock Exchange).—Buenos Ayres Great Southern Railway Bonds.—Formed from the initial letters, thus B-A-G-S.

Baijan.—See Bejan.

Bail. Straw-bail or straw-shoes, subs. (common).—A nickname for a person willing for a consideration, to give evidence, or act as bail. Formerly men were much more ostentatious in plying a vocation of perjury than is now happily possible. It was no uncommon thing for such openly to perambulate the entrances to the law-courts ready for any chance customer. They made known their occupation by wearing a piece of straw just sticking out of their shoes. The Quarterly Review (xxxiii., 344) points out that the practice is a very ancient one, Athens having abounded in straw-shoes. The modus operandi was much the same then as in later days. When it was ‘desirable’ to season Attic testimony with bribery and perjury, the scene outside a Greek court of justice might be thus described. An advocate or lawyer who wanted a convenient witness knew by these signs [the straws in the sandals] where to find one, and the colloquy between the parties was brief. ‘Don’t you remember’ said the advocate—(the party looked at the fee and gave no sign: but the fee increased and the powers of memory increased with it). ‘To be sure I do!’ ‘Then come into the court and swear it.’ And straw-shoes went into the court and swore it. As b.c., so A.D. 1754—before and after.

1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, book I., chap. ii. Charity took to husband an eminent gentleman whose name I cannot learn; but who was famous for so friendly a disposition, that he was bail for above a hundred persons in one year. He had likewise the remarkable honour of walking in Westminster Hall with a straw in his shoe.

At present lawyers use straw-bail to designate insufficient bail. Closely allied to this term, and used much in the same manner, is ‘a man of straw.’ The figure is the effigy of a man, stuffed with straw; hence, ‘a man of straw,’ the semblance of a man—a person of neither substance nor responsibility; or one put forward to screen a real delinquent. A curious usage, akin to the foregoing, is also sometimes heard among sailors. For example, a strike for wages having taken place amongst the crew of a ship, ‘blacklegs’ (q.v.), or ‘straw-yarders’ as they were called in nautical phraseology, took the place of the strikers. On the meaning of the expression being asked, it was explained that a ‘straw-yarder’ was a man about the docks who had never been to sea, and knew little or nothing of the duties of a seaman.

To give or take leg-bail, phr. (common).—To escape, either from arrest, or from prison; literally, to be indebted to one’s legs for flight. For exhaustive list of synonyms, see Amputate.

1775. Adair, American Indians, 277. I had concluded to use no chivalry, but give them leg-bail instead of it, by … making for a deep swamp. [M.]

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. iii. ‘I e’en gae them leg-bail, for there’s nae ease in dealing wi’ quarrelsome fowk.’

1848. Marryat, Poacher, xxii. Given them leg-bail, I swear.

The phrase is sometimes amplified thus:—to take leg-bail and give land security.

Bail Up! also Bale Up! intj. (Australian).—A bushranger’s phrase for ‘stand and deliver’! ‘Shell out’!

1880. Blackwood’s Mag., July, p. 91. [Australian loq.] ‘Bail up! Bail up!’ shout the two red-veiled attackers, revolvers in hand.

1887. G. L. Apperson, All the Year Round, July 30, p. 68, col. 1. In times gone by, it was by no means an uncommon occurrence [in Australia] for a coach to be ‘stuck up’ by a band of bushrangers, whose shouts of bail up, an invitation equivalent to our ‘shell out,’ supported by revolver barrels, terrified the hearts of the passengers. But a coach is now seldom interfered with, and to ‘stick up’ is applied to less daring attempts to rob.

2. Hence, colloquially, a demand for instant payment. Equivalent to the English fork out! stump up! etc. For synonyms, see Shell out.

Bait, subs. (common).—Anger; rage; indignation. Derived from the figurative sense of ‘to bait,’ i.e., to worry; harass; or tease.

1882. F. Anstey, Vice-Versâ, ch. v. ‘I went calmly on, smoking my cigar as if nothing was the matter. That put the Proctor in a bait, I can tell you!’

Baitland, subs. (nautical).—Admiral Smyth in his Sailors’ Word Book quotes this as ‘an old word, formerly used to signify a port where refreshments could be procured.’

Bake, verb. (Winchester College).—To rest, or lie down.

Baked, ppl. adj. (common).—Collapsed; exhausted; done up; e.g., ‘toward the end of the course the crew were regularly baked.’ A common colloquialism at the beginning of the present century; but the punning idea involved is very ancient. To bake one’s bread in the sense of ‘to do for one’ occurs as early as 1380, as will be seen from the following quotation.

1380. Sir Ferumb, 577. For euere my bred had be bake; myn lyf dawes had be tynt.

Half-baked (common) is said of a dull-witted or imbecile person, i.e., one who is ‘soft’ or inexperienced, in contrast to one who is baked in the sense of ‘seasoned,’ quick-witted, etc.

1864. Notes and Queries, 3 S., vi., 494, 2. He is only half-baked—put in with the bread, and taken out with the cakes.

Baker, subs. (Winchester College).—A cushion. These were of two kinds; that used in ‘College’ was of large size, oblong in shape, and green in colour. The other used in ‘Commoners’ was thin, narrow, much smaller, and of red colour. The term baker is also applied to anything placed upon a form to sit upon, e.g., a blotting book or other article; in short, anything comfortable to sit upon.

(American).—A loafer. The word is generally attributed to Baron de Mandat Grancey, who, in his work Cowboys and Colonels, innocently translated the word ‘loafer’ as baker.

To spell baker (colloquial).—To attempt a difficult task. In the old spelling books ‘baker’ was frequently the first word of two syllables to which a child came when learning to spell.

Baker-Kneed, also Baker-legged, adj. (common).—1. Knock-kneed; disfigured by crooked legs. This deformity, incident to bakers, arising from the constrained position in which they knead bread, is said to be the almost certain penalty of habitually bearing any burden of bulk in the right hand, or of excessive force constantly exerted by the right side of the body. The knees gradually incline inwards until they closely resemble the right side of the letter K.

1607. Dekker, Westward Hoe, Act ii., Sc. 2. Will women’s tongues, like bakers’ legs, never go straight?

1692. L’Estrange, Life of Æsop. Æsop … was … flat-nos’d, hunch-back’d, blabber-lipp’d, a long misshapen head; his body crooked all over, big-belly’d, baker-legg’d, and his complexion so swarthy that he took his very name from ’t; for Æsop is the same with Æthiop.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2 ed. Bakes-legg’d, straddling, with the legs bowing outward.

1812. Colman, Poetical Vagaries, p. 13. His voice had broken to a gruffish squeak. He had grown blear-eyed, baker-kneed, and gummy.

2. Effeminate. Either an attributive usage of the foregoing, or an allusion to the popular belief that a woman’s legs are never straight. Compared physiologically with those of a man this is doubtless true; but otherwise most women would resent the imputation as a libel.

1652. Gaule, Hagastrom, 186. Baker-kneed signifies effeminate.

Baker Layer, subs. (Winchester College).—A Junior who used to take a prefect’s green baker (q.v.) in and out of ‘Hall’ at meal times. The term is now obsolete.

Baker’s Dozen, subs. (colloquial).—Thirteen reckoned as twelve. Formerly, so careful were ‘the powers that be’ regarding the supply of bread, that bakers were liable to heavy penalties for any deficiency in the weight of loaves. So hedged in, indeed, was the sale of bread, that the weight of loaves was fixed by law, for every price from eighteenpence down to twopence, but penny loaves or rolls were not specified in the statute. Bakers, therefore, when selling the latter, in order to be on the safe side, gave, for a dozen of bread, an additional loaf, known as ‘inbread.’ A similar custom of giving extra quantity was formerly observed with regard to coal, and publishers nowadays reckon thirteen copies of a book as twelve. That the term baker’s dozen was thoroughly colloquial at the latter end of the sixteenth century is apparent from the first of the following quotations:

1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, in works III., ii. Conioyning with his aforesaid Doctor Brother in eightie eight browne baker’s dozen of Almanackes.

1639. Will of Francis Pynner, of Bury, Gent., dated April 26 [Camden Society’s ‘Bury Wills’]. The yerely sume of ffiue pounds p’cell of the said yerely rents to be bestowed in wheaten bread, to be made into penny loaves, and upon eu’y Lord’s day, called Sonday, throughout eu’y yere of the said terme [40 years or thereabouts], fowre and twenty loaves of the said bread, with the inbread allowed by the baker for those twoe dosens of bread, to be timely brought and sett vpon a forme towards the vpp’end of the chancell of the said p’ish church of St. Marie, and … the same twoe dosens of bread to be giuen and distributed … to and amongst fowre and twentie poore people.… And they, the said clarke, sexton, and bedell, shall alwaies haue the inbread of all the bread aforesaid ovr and besides their shares in the said twoe dosens of bread.

1733. Fielding, Don Quixote, III., vi. I could not number them. I dare swear there were a good round baker’s dozen, at least.

1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ch. xxviii. ‘As to your lawyer, you get just your guinea’s worth from him—not even so much as the baker’s bargain, thirteen to the dozen.’

Baker’s dozen is occasionally used in a somewhat more figurative sense, and is not confined to the technicalities of trade. It is employed to signify thirteen or fourteen. It is so quoted in Grose (1785), but the usage is apparently much older than that, for Hudson, the navigator, when he discovered the bay to which his name is given, designated a cluster of thirteen or fourteen islands on the east shore of it. The Baker’s Dozen, as may be seen on the charts; and even French atlases exhibit these islands as La Douzaine du boulanger.

To give one a baker’s dozen is to pummell a man well; to thrash him soundly—a humorous allusion to the good measure implied by the phrase.

Bakes, subs. (American thieves’).—A schoolboy.

Bakester, subs. (Winchester College).—One who bakes (see Bake); a sluggard. The term is now obsolete.

Baking Leave, subs. (Winchester College).—Permission to bake (q.v.) in a study in ‘Commoners,’ or in a ‘scob’ place in College. In this sense the term is obsolete; but it is now used of leave to sit in any other person’s ‘toys’ (q.v.)—a sort of bureau.

Baking Place, subs. (Winchester College).—A kind of sofa in ‘Studies’ of ‘Commoners.’

Balaam, subs. (journalistic).—A term applied to all kinds of miscellaneous matter, generally of a trumpery and indifferent character, used as ‘padding’ in periodical publications. Evidently from Numbers xxii., 30, in which the ass spoke ‘with man’s voice.’ Balaam hence denotes ‘the speech of an ass,’ and is well applied to the stupid jokes, and silly paragraphs with which odd corners and short columns are often lengthened out. Brewer claims an American origin, but Webster only calls it ‘a cant term.’ In any case the term has clearly reference to nonsense to be thrown in to fill space, or nonsense thrown out as refuse. The curious point in the story of Balaam is that the ass talks like a philosopher and the prophet behaves like a donkey. The term was popularised by its frequent use in Blackwood’s Magazine.

1826. Scott, Mal. Malagr. iii., 3. How much Balaam (speaking technically) I have edged out of your valuable paper.

1839. Lochart, Scott, lxx. (1842), 622. Balaam is the cant name for asinine paragraphs about monstrous productions of nature and the like, kept standing in type to be used whenever the real news of the day leave an awkward space that must be filled up somehow. [M.]

Balaam-Basket or Balaam-Box, subs. (journalistic).—1. The receptacle for Balaam (q.v.).

2. When articles or other contributions are rejected they are put in the Balaam-basket, which may either be a pigeon-hole (to await return to the author); the waste paper basket; or, as the readiest mode of extinction, the flames. In any case, the destination is said to be the Baalam-basket or box.

1827. Blackw. Mag., xxi., 340. Several dozen letters on the same subject now in our Balaam-box.

1873. Hall, Modern English, p. 17. An essay for the Edinburgh Review, in ‘the old unpolluted English language,’ would have been consigned by the editor to his Balaam-basket.

1877. Notes and Queries, 5 S., vii., 270, 2. At the risk of getting into your Balaam-box, I venture to record the whole contents of my bundle as they lie before me.

Balaclava-Day, subs. (military).—A soldier’s pay day. Balaclava, in the Crimean War [1854–6], was the base of supply for the English troops; and, as pay was drawn, the men went down to make their purchases.

Balance, subs. (American).—A balance properly is that which balances or produces equilibrium. It is the difference between two sides of an account—the amount of which is necessary to make the one equal to the other. It is not the rest or the remainder, yet we continually hear of the balance of this or that thing. In the sense of ‘rest,’ ‘residue,’ or ‘remainder,’ balance is the purest slang.

1846. Albany Journal, Jan. 7. The yawl returned to the wreck, took ten or eleven persons and landed them, and then went and got the balance from the floating cabin. [b.]

1861. Boston Transcript, Dec. 27. ‘We listened to Wendell Phillips for about half an hour, and having an engagement elsewhere, we were forced to leave, and so lost the balance of his oration.’ [de v.]

The word is thus used very much like the Scottish lave (what is left), employed by Burns in the line—

‘I’ll get a blessing with the lave,

And never miss it.’

In some parts of Virginia the word ‘shank’ is quaintly used for the same purpose, and one friend will say to another, ‘Suppose you come in and spend the shank of the evening with me?’ The vulgarism is becoming common in England, as witness the following:—

1875. Blackwood’s Magazine, April, 443. Balance, long familiar to American ears, is becoming so to ours. In an account of a ship on fire we read ‘Those saved remained the balance of the night watching the burning wreck.’ [M.]

1883. P. Fitzgerald, Recreations of a Literary Man, 170. Everyone is away shooting or riding; a balance of the ladies is left. [M.]

Balbus, subs. (University).—A Latin prose composition. In Arnold’s well-known text book, Latin Prose Composition, balbus turns up at every corner; he is here, there, and everywhere; he appears to be willing and able to do anything, and go anywhere; in fact it is balbus this, and balbus that, until the wonder is whether balbus was not something of a prig or bore, or both. At all events those who used the text book in question, cannot fail to remember that doughty old fossil of a Roman to their dying day.

1870. Quarterly Review. Balbus was in constant use.

Balderdash, subs. (old).—1. Adulterated wine; a mixture of liquors such as wine and beer, milk and beer, etc.

2. (colloquial).—Frothy talk; nonsense; a jumble of words.

1885. Murray, New English Dictionary, Art. Balderdash, vol. I., p. 633, col. 3. From the evidence at present, the inference is that the current sense was transferred from 1 or 2 [i.e., Froth, frothy liquid, or a jumbled mixture of liquids] either with the notion of ‘frothy talk,’ or of ‘a senseless farrago,’ or ‘jumble of words.’ Most etymologists have, however, assumed 3 [nonsense; frothy talk, etc.] to be the original sense, and sought its explanation in the obvious similarity of balder to dialectical balder, ‘to use coarse language’; Dutch, balderen, ‘to roar, thunder’; Norwegian, baldra; Icelandic, baldrast, ballrast, ‘to make a clatter,’ and of -dash to the verb dash in various senses. The Welsh baldorddus, adj., f. baldordd, ‘idle, noisy talk, chatter,’ has also been adduced.… Other conjectures may be found in Wedgwood, Skeat, and E. Müller.

Bald-Face, subs. (American).—New whiskey; so villainous is the compound, that only by courtesy can it be recognised as at all approaching the Simon Pure. For synonyms, see Drinks.

Bald-Faced Shirt, subs. (American).—In cowboy lingo, a white shirt; from the fact of being white on the face or front. Ordinarily bald-face is used of animals, e.g., a bald-faced stag. Hereford cattle, too, have white faces, and as cowboys are brought into close contact with all kinds of cattle, the term as applied to a linen shirt is possibly a mere transference in sense. Cf., Boiled shirt.

Bald-Faced Stag, subs. (common).—A bald-headed man; [from bald-faced, having white on face + stag, a slang term for a man. Cf., Stag party.] For synonyms, see Bladder of lard.

Baldheaded.—To go it baldheaded, phr. (American).—With eager impetuosity, or great haste; to do a thing with all one’s might and main. A suggestion of action without stopping to cover one’s head, i.e., on the spur of the moment.

1848–62. J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers, p. 6.

It ain’t by princerples nor men

My preudunt course is steadied,—

I scent which pays the best, an’ then

Go into it baldheaded.

1869. Our Young Folks. Whenever he had made up his mind to do a thing he went at it baldheaded. [de v.]

1888. Pall Mall Gazette, June 22. The Chicago Republicans, to use an Americanism, have gone baldheaded for protection. If shouting could win a Presidential contest, Blaine and Protection would be certain.

To snatch baldheaded, phr. (American).—To defeat a person in a street fight.

1871. R. Grant White, Words and Their Uses.

The crowd than gave a specimen of calumny broke loose,

And said I’d snatched him baldheaded, and likewise cooked his goose.

Bald-Headed Row, subs. phr. (American).—The first row of stalls at theatres, especially those which make a feature of ballets. The term is a cynical allusion to the fact that these seats are generally occupied by men of mature age; the innuendo is obvious.—See Frog-salad.

Balditude, subs. (American).—A state of baldness. Probably a nonce word.

1882. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, p. 187. Trouble has done it, Bilgewater, trouble has done it; trouble has brung these gray hairs and this premature balditude.

Baldober or Baldower, subs. (thieves’).—A leader; a head man; a spokesman. This term has been imported into the lingo of English thieves from the German Gaunersprache, in which it has very much the same meaning.

Balductum, subs. (old).—Nonsense; rubbish. Cf., Balderdash.

Baldy, subs. (American).—A colloquial vulgarism for a bald-headed man. Cf., Balditude.

Balfour’s Maiden, subs. (Parliamentary).—A nickname given to a kind of covered battering-ram used by the Royal Irish Constabulary in carrying out evictions in Ireland in the years 1888–9. On many estates the tenants made most desperate resistance to all attempts on the part of the landlords to recover possession, upon which the latter appealed for, and obtained the assistance of the authorities. This but served to intensify the struggle, and the tenants, driven to extremities, in some cases resisted all endeavours, even to throwing boiling water over the soldiers and police employed against them. To protect the evictors, and also to render easier the demolition of the cabins of the wretched people, a kind of covered battering-ram was made, whereupon the Home Rule Party sarcastically gave it, amongst other nick-names, that of Balfour’s maiden. The term was first used by Sir Wm. Harcourt in a speech at a monster Home Rule meeting, held at St. James’s Hall, on Wednesday, April 10, 1889. An account of the incident runs as follows:—

1889. Daily News, April 11. Resolute government has not been absolutely extinguished. Now at Letterkenny, Mr. Balfour has introduced a new invention, the latest development of resolute government. The Government were questioned on the subject, and they accepted the responsibility for the facts. It stated that in view of the Olphert estate evictions, there reached there an iron-headed spiked battering-ram to be used in carrying out the evictions. Why, really, gentlemen, when you read of these things they are like the pictures one sees of the Siege of Jerusalem—(loud laughter)—of the implements, which the Latins called tormenta. We are familiar with them in old mediæval castles. You find instruments called ‘The Scavenger’s Daughter,’ and ‘The Maiden,’ and other implements of that character. I think this last pattern of ram of Mr. Balfour’s might be called ‘The Unionist’s Daughter’—(loud laughter)—or it might be christened ‘Balfour’s Maiden.’ (Cheers and laughter.) But not to deprive the Liberal Unionists of their share we might call it ‘Chamberlain’s Tenants’ Protector.’ (Renewed merriment.)

Ball, subs. (thieves’).—1. A prison ration. 2. A drink.

To open the ball, phr. (common).—To commence an undertaking; to start off.

1876. Eton Chronicle, July 20.

… Whatever may seem the mishaps of his team,

Whatever their failings and sinnings,

He who opened the ball and who saw them all fall,

Scarce deserved that defeat in one innings.

Ballad-Basket, subs. (old).—A street singer.—See Street pitcher. A French equivalent is un braillard.

Ballambangjang, subs. (nautical).—The Straits of Ballambangjang, though unnoticed by geographers, are frequently mentioned in sailors’ yarns as being so narrow, and the rocks on each side so crowded with trees inhabited by monkeys, that the ship’s yards cannot be squared, on account of the monkey’s tails getting jammed into, and choking up, the brace blocks.—Hotten.

Ballast, subs. (common).—Money. For synonyms, see Actual.

Well-ballasted, adj. (common).—A rich man is said to be well-ballasted.

English Synonyms. ‘To be flush’; also ‘to have brass; brads,’ etc. See synonyms for money generally under Actual.

Among French equivalents for the solidity arising from the possession of wealth may be mentioned:—Être zingué (popular: literally ‘to be covered with zinc’); avoir des monacos (popular: monaco is an ironical term for a sou); daim huppé (popular: daim, a slang term for a swell, is properly a ‘buck,’ and huppé also signifies high in station, well-off); homme au sac (familiar: ‘a man with a bag,’—presumably of money); avoir des picaillons (popular: picaillons is thought to be a corruption of picarons, a Spanish coin); être de la fête (popular: i.e., ‘to be in luck’s way’); être sacqué (popular: meaning obvious); rupin (thieves’ term); avoir de ce qui sonne (popular: ‘to have that which chinks’); tailler en plein drap (popular).

In the Spanish Germania a rich or well-ballasted man is florido, i.e., ‘flowery’ or ‘agreeable.’

Ball Face, subs. (American).—A contemptuous epithet applied by negroes to white persons. Salem, Mass., 1810–1820.

Ball-Keeper, subs. (Winchester College).—In ‘Commoners’ an ‘Inferior’ appointed to look after cricket and footballs. In return for this service he was exempted from ‘kicking in’ and ‘watching out.’ ‘Junior in College’ has to bring through balls every evening.—See Balls.

Ball of Fire, subs. phr. (popular).—A glass of fiery and pungent brandy. For all synonyms, see Drinks.

Ballooning, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Inflating the price of stocks by fictitious means, such as newspaper articles, bogus sales, etc.

Balloon It, verb. (American).—To indulge in rhodomontade; to draw the long bow; to talk big. Obviously from ‘to puff or swell out’ as a balloon.

1878. T. Sinclair, Mount, 33. Gas-brained, ballooning wandering men. [M.]

Ball O’ Wax, subs. (common).—A snob, or shoe-maker.—See Snob.

Balls. To bring through balls, phr. (Winchester College).—‘Junior in College’ collects footballs from the lockers in school, and brings them through at six o’clock to be blown, or repaired, if necessary.

To make balls of, verb. phr. (popular).—To go wrong; to do what ‘lands’ one in trouble; generally, to make a mistake.

All balls, adv. (popular).—All rubbish; nonsense. For synonyms, see All my eye.

Ballum Rancum, subs. (old).—A hop or dance, where the women are all prostitutes; a dance at a brothel. These orgies sometimes take the form of ‘buff-balls,’ all present dancing in the nude.

Bally, adj. (popular).—A comparatively recent coinage, it is said, of the Sporting Times, from ‘bally-hooly.’ Generally, though not always, used as is ‘bloody,’ in the lower strata of the body politic. It also signifies intensity, and in cases where the vocabulary at command is limited, bally does yeoman’s service for such words as ‘fearful,’ ‘dreadful,’ ‘terrible,’ ‘outrageous,’ ‘confounded.’

1889. Sporting Times, July 6 (Answers to Correspondents). H. G. Steele.—Thanks. What a bally idiot you must be.

1889. Bird o’ Freedom, Aug. 7, p. 5. Newman Noggs, bringing small boy to carry master’s bag, and inculcating manners at the same time, ‘Now, what would you say if I was to give you sixpence for taking it?’ ‘I should say ’twasnt half enough, and you can bally well take it yourself,’ was the prompt reply. Boys are boys nowadays, and no error, thinks Newman.

Bally-Bounder.—See Bally and Bounder.

Bally-Fellow.—See Bounder and Bally.

Bally Flat.—See Bounder and Bally.

Bally Fool.—See Bounder and Bally.

Ballyrag.—See Bullyrag.

Balm, subs. (old).—A lie.—Duncombe.

Balmy, subs. and adj. (common).—Sleep; sleepy. [From the figurative sense of balmy, i.e., deliciously soft and soothing.]

To have a dose of the balmy; i.e., ‘to go to sleep.’

1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ch. viii., p. 42. ‘As it’s rather late, I’ll try and get a wink or two of the balmy.’

English Synonyms. To doss; to go to Bedfordshire (q.v.)—a play upon words.

French Synonyms. La pionce or pionçage (popular: subs., see pioncer); le somno (popular: an abbreviated form of somnolence); piquage de romance (a military term); casser une canne, or sa canne (popular: this also means ‘to die.’ In French as in other languages the analogy between Sleep and Death is fully recognised. Many of the French slang phrases for the former are also used to express the latter. Mors janua vitæ!); casser son pif (popular: pif in French argot = ‘the nose.’ Amongst the peasants of Normandy and Berry it signifies a ‘grog-blossom’); pioncer (popular: from piausser, a provincialism for ‘to sleep’); piquer un chien (popular: piquer a canting verb of action, ‘to do’; therefore ‘to do as a dog’); piquer une romance (popular); faire son lézard (popular: Cf., piquer un chien); faire son michaud (thieves’: i.e., ‘to rest one’s head or knowledge box’); roupiller (this term is in general colloquial use); se recueillir (popular: ‘to wrap oneself in meditation’); compter des pauses (musicians’: ‘to count the beats.’ Cf., various suggested remedies for overcoming insomnia; e.g., counting slowly up to a hundred, etc., etc.); taper de l’œil (popular: ‘to rub the eyes.’ Cf., English ‘to have sleepy dust in one’s eyes’); mettre le chien au cran de repos (popular: ‘to curl oneself up like a dog’); souffler ses clairs (popular: ‘to blow or put out one’s light,’ i.e., ‘to shut the eyes’); fermer maillard (popular: to close one’s shutters, i.e., eyelids. Maillard was the inventor of a particular kind of shutter. Other analogous expressions are être terrassé par maillard, i.e., ‘to be extremely sleepy.’ Sleep is expressed by fermeture); faire schloff or schloffer, from the German schlafen.

Spanish Synonym. In the Germania difunto, properly ‘defunct,’ is used for asleep.

A Portuguese Synonym for sound sleep is a bom sornar, i.e., ‘to sleep on both ears.’

2. Dull-witted; thick-skulled. In this sense balmy is used up and down the whole gamut of imbecility from mere stolidity to downright insanity. Popularly used, it signifies in most cases little more than shallow-brained or muddle-headed; or, to use slang equivalents in their most familiar sense, ‘to be touched,’ ‘to be wrong in the upper story,’ ‘dotty.’ Among thieves, however, it is usually applied to insanity, to put on the balmy stick being, among convicts, to feign madness.

1851. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 231. List of patterers’ words. Balmy—Insane.

A large number of synonyms will be found under apartments to let, but in addition to those there mentioned may be instanced the following in the French slang:—Demenager (popular: ‘to remove one’s furniture.’ It also means ‘to die’); paumer la sorbonne (i.e., ‘to punch the head,’ sorbonne being a slang term for that part of the human body. The Sorbonne is a well-known university and seat of learning. Among thieves, too, sorbonner is used in the sense of ‘to think’); être un peu toc (i.e., slightly crazy; toc in slang = ridiculous); avoir une pomme de canne felée (popular: a rather opprobrious expression, meaning ‘to have a slate off.’ Cf., ‘to have a tile loose’); avoir une fissure (literally ‘to have a crack’); avoir un grain.

Balmy Cove, subs. (common).—A weak-minded individual; one who has ‘a tile loose.’ [From balmy (q.v.) + cove, a man.] Among French thieves such an individual is called un hurlubier (hurlublu is an obsolete term used jestingly for a giddy goose or hair-brained person); also biscayen from the Bicêtre prison which has a lunatic ward for demented convicts. The prison itself is called La Biscaye, but this name has no connection with the province of Biscay as might be supposed.

Balsam, subs. (thieves’ and popular).—One of the many generic names for money. A full list of synonyms will be found under Actual. The allusion of course is obvious, i.e., a healing soothing agent or agency; but, in its secondary signification of impertinence, ‘brass,’ ‘cheek,’ etc., the reverse of the shield is given. Such reversals in the legitimate meanings of words are not uncommon in slang.

Bam, subs. (old slang).—1. A cheat; an imposition; a story intended to hoax the credulous; what nowadays generally goes under the name of chaff or humbug [bam is thought to be an abbreviated form of bamboozle (q.v.)]. Murray has traced it back to 1762, but it appears nearly twenty years previous in Dyche’s dictionary, and also in Martin’s, the second edition of which was published in 1754.—See verb To bam.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Bam (s.), a sham or pretence, a lying excuse.

1762. Foote, Orators, Act ii. Why I know that man, he is all upon his fun; he lecture—why ’tis all but a bam.

1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. ix. ‘It’s all a bam, ma’am—all a bamboozle and a bite, that affair of his illness.’

Verb.—To hoax, to bamboozle; to wheedle; to cheat. [Of same formation as substantive, which see above, and Cf., Bamboozle.] The first trace of it appears in Cibber’s Double Gallant [1707], and is discussed by Swift in his introduction to Polite Conversation [1738], where he mentions among ‘the exquisite refinements’ then in vogue,—bam for bamboozle, and bamboozle for, God knows what. Whereupon a correspondent of Notes and Queries [2 S., Jan. 10, ’57, p. 31] alluding to the despair of etymologists in regard to these words remarked that if from was put in the place of for, it would describe the predicament in which philologists are placed.

1754. H. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2 ed. To bam, or to bamboozle, to fun, to fib, to sham.

1760. Colman, Polly Honeycombe, in wks. (1777) IV., 43. Lord, how well he behaves! We shall certainly bam the old gentleman.

1830. Marryat, King’s Own, ch. xlix. ‘Now, you’re bamming me—don’t attempt to put such stories off on your old granny.’

1874. E. L. Linton, Patricia Kemball, ch. xxxix. For a moment the thought flashed across him whether ‘that tale of Gordon Frere was all a bam, and had the girl taken a liking for himself?’

Bamblustercate, verb. (nonce-word).—A factitious creation signifying to embarrass; confuse; or hoax in a blustering manner. [From bam, to hoax, or confuse + bluster, noisy assertion + cate, a termination in imitation of ‘conglomerate’.]—See also Comflogisticate.

Bamboo, verb. (American).—A corruption of bamboozle. To cheat; to victimize; to hoax.—See, however, Bam and Bamboozle.

Bamboozle, verb. (familiar).—To hoax; deceive; or impose upon. Philologists are all confessedly at sea in regard to the derivation of bamboozle and its attributive forms, but the general tendency of evidence is to refer it to a gypsy origin. Johnson states it to be a cant word; and Bouchier, in his glossary says, ‘it has with great propriety long had a place in the gypsy or canting dictionaries,’ it being in his opinion ‘the sole invention of gypsies or vagrants.’ Leland thinks it ‘possibly’ the Hindu word bambhorna, to humbug, with the gypsy terminative āsel. Wedgwood suggests its origin in the Italian bamboccio, a young babe, and metaphorically an old dotard or babyish gull; imbambolare, to blear or dim one’s sight, also with flatteries and blandishments, to inveigle and make a fool of one. If a verb were made of bambocciolo in the same way as bambocciolare, it would have much the sense of bamboozle. A. E. Quekett (N. and Q., 5 S., xii., 488) throws a side-light upon this last theory by pointing out that in Shakspeare’s Taming of the Shrew, Katharina says, ‘Belike you mean to make a puppet of me,’ and Petruchio replies, ‘Why true; he means to make a puppet of thee.’ Comparing this passage with the rest of the scene it would seem that Petruchio’s answer is not a mere repetition of Katharina’s words, but contains a double entendre of some kind. He (Quekett) then hazards that perhaps she meant to say, ‘Perhaps you mean to treat me as a doll without a will of its own,’ while Petruchio appears to mean something very like, ‘He wishes to bamboozle you.’

Be all this as it may, bamboozle first came into vogue during the early part of the last century; for in the Tatler No. 230 [1710], we read, ‘The third refinement observable in the letter I send you consists in the choice of certain words invented by some pretty fellows, such as banter, bamboozle, country-put, and kidney, some of which are now struggling for the vogue, and others are in possession of it’!

So also with the derivatives; e.g., bamboozle (subs.); Bamboozled; bamboozlement; bamboozler; bamboozling.

1703. Cibber, She Would and She Would Not, II., i. (1736), 34. Sham proofs, that they propos’d to bamboozle me with. [M.]

1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 31. But, says I, sir, I perceive this is to you all bamboozling.

1712. Arbuthnot, History of John Bull, pt. III., ch. vi. There are a sort of fellows that they call banterers and bamboozlers, that play such tricks; but it seems these fellows were in earnest!

1731. Coffey, Devil to Pay, Act i., Sc. 3. You juggler, you cheating, bamboozling villain!

1754. Foote, Knights, Act ii. You are tricked, imposed on, bamboozled!

1779. R. Cumberland, Wheel of Fortune, Act ii., Sc. 1. You know I love you, Emily, … and therefore you baffle and bamboozle and make a bumpkin of me.

1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. ix. ‘It’s all a bam, ma’am—all a bamboozle and a bite, that affair of his illness.’

1827. Lytton, Pelham, ch. xxxvi. ‘One does not like to be bamboozled out of one’s right of election, by a smooth-tongued fellow, who sends one to the devil the moment the election is over.’

1886. Sat. Review, No. 1587, p. 423. The public is a great bamboozable body.

(Nautical).—To decoy the enemy by hoisting false colours—merely an extension of the popular sense.

English Synonyms. ‘To throw dust in the eyes’; ‘to use the pepper-box’; ‘to gild the pill’; ‘to throw a tub to a whale’; ‘to make believe the moon is made of cream cheese’; ‘to jockey’; ‘to stick’; ‘to bilk’; ‘to do’; ‘to best’; ‘to do brown’; ‘to bounce’; ‘to take in’; ‘to kid’; ‘to gammon.’

French Synonyms. Une monteuse de coups (a woman who bamboozles her lovers); monter des couleurs (popular: ‘to deceive by false representations’; couleur signifies ‘pretence,’ ‘semblance’); faire la queue à quelqu’un (popular); tirer la carotte (thieves’); faire voir le tour (popular); canarder (popular: literally ‘to shoot at one from a sheltered position’; i.e., to have an advantage, and thus to be able to hoax or humbug); dindonner (popular: from dindon, a ‘goose’); faire le coup, or monter le coup à quelqu’un (popular: coup in French slang is ‘a secret process,’ ‘a knack’ or ‘dodge’—hence ‘to deal one an underhand blow,’ or ‘to serve one a trick’); empaler (popular: ‘to deceive by false representations’; literally ‘to empale’); passer des curettes (popular: ‘to make a fool of one’); monter une gaffe (popular: gaffe in French slang = ‘a joke’; a piece of deceit); monter le job or jobarder (popular: job is equivalent to ‘simpleton’ or ‘flat,’ and is the same as jobelin); mener en bateau un pante pour le refaire (thieves’: ‘to deceive a man in order to rob him’); monter un batteau (popular); donner un pont à faucher (thieves’: ‘to lay a trap or snare’); promener quelqu’un (popular: ‘to make a fool of one.’ Cf., ‘to rush’); compter des mistouffles (familiar: mistouffle = ‘a scurvy trick’; ‘a joke’); gourrer (popular: ‘to stick’; ‘to kid’; ‘to deceive’); affluer (from à flouer, ‘to cheat’; ‘to diddle out of’); roustir (popular and thieves’: ‘to cheat’); affûter (thieves’: ‘to make unlawful profits’); bouler (popular); juiffer (popular: literally ‘to Jew’ as in English); pigeonner (familiar: ‘to do,’ ‘to pluck.’ In English slang the victims of card and other sharpers are called ‘pigeons’); flancher (popular: ‘to laugh at’ or ‘ridicule’); faire la barbe (popular: Cf., faire la queue); hisser un gandin (thieves’: literally ‘to hoist a dandy’ or ‘swell’); mettre dedans (popular: to take a rise out of one; literally to ‘take in’); être l’autre (popular: Cf., ‘to get left.’ The phrase also signifies ‘to be the lover,’ the mistress); planter un chou (familiar).

German Synonyms.—See Jockey.

Italian Synonyms. Traversare (literally ‘to cross over’); dar la stolfa.

Spanish Synonym. Encantar (literally ‘to enchant,’ ‘to entertain with soft words’).

Bambosh, subs. (nonce word).—Apparently a variation of bamboozling, as follows. [Bam + bosh.] Humbug; deceit; hoaxing.

1865. Day of Rest, Oct., 585. I was deaf to all that bambosh. [M.]

Bambsquabbled.—This coined word, which is, however, rarely used except in humorous writings, first saw the light in The Legend of the American War. It signifies discomfiture and defeat, or stupefaction; sometimes written bumsquabbled.

1835–40. T. C. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 2 S., ch. ii. The judge said, ‘He had got too much already, cut him off the other two-thirds, and make him pay all costs.’ If he didn’t look bumsquabbled it’s a pity.

Banaghan. He beats Banaghan, phr. (old).—An Irish saying of one who tells wonderful stories; Banaghan, thought Grose, was a minstrel famous for dealing in the marvellous—a kind of prototype of Baron Munchausen. Of this, deponent knowing nothing, says the same.

Banagher, verb. (old).—To bang.

Bananaland, Bananalander, subs. (Australian).—Queensland, and a native of Queensland respectively. Apparently from a large portion of that section of the fifth continent lying within the tropics, thus allowing of the cultivation of the banana tree (Musa sapientum).

1886. Chamb. Journal, Feb. 20, p. 124. Booted and spurred ‘Cornstalks’ and Banana-men (natives of New South Wales and Queensland respectively).

1887. Melbourne (Victoria) Sportsman, 23 March, p. 7, col. 2. Paddy Slavin came from Queensland with the reputation of having beaten all the Bananalanders.

1887. Sydney (N.S.W.) Bulletin, 26 Feb., p. 6. His friends rallied up to congratulate him, and see him through, after the custom of the simple Bananalander.

It may be interesting to note that a native of New South Wales is nicknamed a ‘cornstalk’ because built somewhat tall and thin. Those whose stature is shorter, with circumference of wider dimensions in proportion to their height are said to be ‘nuggety.’ The gum trees of Tasmania give the elegant nickname ‘gumsucker’ to its inhabitants. In this practice antipodean colonists follow suit with their cousins across the Atlantic.—See Nicknames.

Banco, subs. (Charterhouse School).—Evening preparation down at ‘house’ each day, superintended by a monitor. It answers to the Winchester toy-time.

Banco-Steerer.—See Bunco-steerer.

Bandanna, subs. (common).—Formerly a silk handkerchief with white, yellow, or other coloured spots on a dark ground. Now applied to handkerchiefs of all kinds. The name is thought to come from the Spanish bandano, a neckerchief.

1752. J. Long, Bengal (1870), 31. Plain taffaties, ordinary bandannoes, and chappas.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. iv. The Colonel was striding about the room in his loose garments, puffing his cigar fiercely anon, and then waving his yellow bandanna.

Banded, ppl. adj. (old).—Hungry. To mitigate the pangs of hunger, starving men tighten the belt round the ‘middle.’ Bamfylde Moore Carew, the king of the beggars, mentions the practice. Cf., Caffre’s tightener and bands.

Bandero, subs. (American).—Widows’ weeds; a corruption of the now obsolete ‘bandore,’ a widow’s head-dress. Bandore was itself a corruption of the French bandeau, given by Littré as anciennement, coiffure des veuves. The term was current about the beginning of the last century, but in 1785 we find it quoted as slang. It appears, however, to have survived in America whilst dropping entirely out of use in the Mother Country. In the English drapery trade mourning goods are sometimes called afflictions (q.v.).

Ban-Dog, subs. (old).—A bailiff, or his assistant. Originally, says Murray, a dog tied or chained up either to guard a house, or on account of its ferocity; hence generally a mastiff or bloodhound. The transition from this point to the slang sense is clear.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 12. ‘But where are the lurchers?’ ‘Who?’ asked Wood. ‘The traps!’ responded a bystander. ‘The shoulder-clappers!’ added a lady, who, in her anxiety to join the party, had unintentionally substituted her husband’s nether habiliments for her own petticoats. ‘The ban-dogs!’ thundered a tall man whose stature and former avocations had procured him the nickname of ‘The long drover of the Borough market.’ ‘Where are they?’ ‘Ay. where are they?’ chorused the mob, flourishing their various weapons, and flashing their torches in the air; ‘we’ll sarve ’em out.’

Bands, subs. To wear the bands (old cant).—To be hungry.—See Banded.

B. and S. (popular).—An everyday colloquialism, in the abbreviated form, for brandy and soda.

1868. Whyte Melville, White Rose, ch. xiii. Before the b. and s.—signifying a beaker of brandy and soda-water—could make its appearance.

1881. W. Black, Beautiful Wretch, ch. v. ‘Come away, and I will get you some tea, though what would be better for you still, would be some b. and s.’

1882. Punch, vol. LXXXII., p. 69, col. 1.

I’ll sing you a fine new song, all about a fine young spark,

Who’s a fine young London gentleman, quite up to any lark,

Who takes supper very early, and breakfasts in the dark;

Who’s a real ‘dear old chappie,’ as I needn’t perhaps remark.

* * *

He will say that port and sherry his nice palate always cloy;

He’ll nothing drink but ‘b. and s.’ and big magnums of ‘the

boy’;

He’s the darling of the barmaid and the honest waiter’s joy,

As he quaffs his Pommery, ‘Extra Sec,’ his ‘Giesler,’ or ‘Ivroy.’

Bandy, subs. (thieves’).—A sixpence; so called, in the first instance, from these coins being often thin, worn, and bent. Also called a cripple and bender, but, for synonyms, see the latter. The term appears in Grose [1785].

1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 25, n. A bandy or cripple, a sixpence.

1885. Household Words, June 20, p. 155. The sixpence is a coin more liable to bend than most others, so it is not surprising to find that several of its popular names have reference to this weakness. It is called a bandy, a ‘bender,’ a ‘cripple.’

Bang, subs. (colloquial).—1. A blow; Old Norse, bang, a hammering. Though a dictionary word, bang has not yet succeeded in passing from the limbo of vulgarism in many of its uses. For example, a ‘bang of the door’ sounds legitimate enough, and is an expression to which even the most pronounced stickler for linguistic purity would scarcely object; yet, a ‘bang on the nose’ or ‘jaw’ would, doubtless, be looked upon as low and vulgar. Only to illustrate such variations, can the word find a fitting entry into these pages. Amongst pugilists and the vulgar, bang is, without doubt, closely identified with personal castigation; and, in this connection.

English Synonyms are not rare. To bang one in the jaw; to spoil one’s picture; to give a wipe on the nose; to fetch one a stinger, etc. The blow itself is designated a whopper; wipe; clout; prop; cant; dig; corker; shooting stars (in allusion to the dazed condition of a person so struck, stars being seen dancing before one’s eyes).

French Synonyms. Un gnon (popular); un écopage (familiar); une dandine (popular); un cabochon (common); un estaffion (popular: may be rendered ‘a bang on the nut’); un coup de gilquin (popular); un renfoncement (colloquial: ‘a blow with the fist’; lit. ‘an indentation’); une beugne (common); une beigne (popular); une dariole (familiar: properly a kind of pastry); un coup de tampon (popular: ‘a hard shove’; tampon, ‘a buffer’); une balle de coton (popular); une baffre (popular: ‘a blow in the face with the fist’); un pétard (familiar: either ‘a box on the ear’ or ‘a cant on the gills’); une paraphe (popular: paraphe is properly the flourish added to one’s signature); dégrader le portrait à quelqu’un (popular: ‘to fetch one a bang in the mug.’ Cf., ‘to spoil one’s picture’); détacher un coup de pinceau sur la frimousse (popular: ‘to make pencil marks upon the face’; i.e., ‘to spoil one’s physiognomy,’—the allusion presumably being to the face as the work of the Divine Artist). For other synonyms, see Wipe.

2. A style adopted by women in dressing the hair upon the forehead, generally curled and frizzed, the process being thus described. To make the bang, one must begin by dividing the front hair at half-inch distances from ear to ear, combing the rest back. This is repeated until the whole front hair has been successfully banged. In England these fringes are also called toffs (q.v.).

1880. W. D. Howell, The Undiscovered Country, ch. viii. When one lifted his hat to wipe his forehead, he showed his hair cut in front like a young lady’s bang.

1883. Pall Mall Gazette, Dec. 19, p. 4, col. 1. It was no doubt unfortunate that when the Empress Eugenie cut her hair across her forehead from sorrow of heart, the women of five continents should imitate her until the bang became universal.

Verb.—1. To deliver a blow as described under bang (subs. 1); generally, to thump or strike violently; to thrash.

1588. Marprelate’s Epistle, p. 4 (ed. Arber). His grace will cary to his grave I warrant you the blowes which M. Cartwright gave him in this cause: and, therefore, no marvell though he was loth to have any other so banged as he himselfe was to his woe.

1592. John Day, Blind Beggar, Act ii., Sc. 2, p. 37. I am sure my cloak cannot go without hands; and I’ll have it again, or I’ll bang it out of the coxcombs of some of them.

b. 1719. H. Carey, Sally in our Alley, st. 3.

My master comes, like any Turk,

And bangs me most severely.

1731. Fielding, The Lottery, Sc. 2. Ah, think, my lord! how I should grieve to see your lordship bang’d.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. II., p. 47. ‘It was good stuff and good make at first, and hasn’t been abused, and that’s the reason why it always bangs a slop, because it was good to begin with.’

1884. Cornhill Mag., April, p. 442. ‘Davis,’ said Toddy, ‘you haven’t had a banging this term, and you’re getting cocky.’

2. To dress the hair with a fringe on the forehead, cut squarely across, so that it ends abruptly.

1882. Century Mag., XXV., 192. He was bareheaded, his hair banged even with his eyebrows in front.

1888. Detroit Free Press.

Bang, Sister, bang with care;

If your poker’s too hot you’ll lose your hair.

3. To surpass; to excel. So also banging, adj., great or thumping.

4. (Stock Exchange.)—To loudly offer stock with the intention of lowering the price.

To be banged up to the eyes, phr. (common).—To be drunk. For synonyms, see Screwed.

Bang-Beggar, subs. (old).—A constable or beadle. It is not quite clear whether this is not merely a dialecticism. In Lowland Scotch it signifies a strong staff.

Banger, subs. (common).—A lie. Generally, that’s a banger! This elegant phrase is sometimes varied by ‘that’s a whopper’ (q.v.); or the now classical ‘thumper’ (q.v.), an invention of the late Lord Iddesleigh.

(Yale College).—A club-like cane or stick; a bludgeon. This word is one of the Yale vocables.—Hall’s College Words and Customs.

Yale Lit. Mag., vol. XX., p. 75.

The Freshman reluctantly turned the key,

Expecting a Sophomore gang to see,

Who, with faces masked and bangers stout,

Had come resolved to smoke him out.

Bang-Off, adv. (familiar).—Without stopping; right away; e.g., ‘I wrote as promised bang-off,’ i.e., without delay. [From bang, a loud, sudden sound + off, movement from a place or thing.]

Bang-Out. To bang-out, verbal phr. (common).—To depart hurriedly and with noise.

Adv. phr.—Completely, entirely, combined with suddenness; e.g., ‘the candle went bang-out.’

Bang-Pitcher, subs. (old).—A drunkard. Possibly only dialectical.

Bangster subs. (provincial).—According to Jamieson:—1. A violent and disorderly person, who regards no law but his own will. 2. A victor. 3. A braggart. 4. A loose woman.

1820. Scott, The Abbot, ch. xix. If the Pope’s champions are to be bangsters in our very change houses, we shall soon have the changelings back again, [h.]

1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ch. xxiii. If you are so certain of being the bangster—so very certain, I mean, of sweeping stakes, what harm will Miss Clara come to by your having the use of her siller.

Bang-Straw, subs. (old).—A nickname for a thresher of corn; a provincialism.

Bang-Tailed, adj. (popular).—Short tailed. Usually applied to horses.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. vi. ‘These bang-tailed little sinners any good?’ said Drysdale, throwing some cock-a-bondies across the table. ‘Yes, I never like to be without them and a governor or two.’

Bang-Up, adj. phr. (common).—First-rate; quite up to the mark; A 1; slap up; in the height of fashion. Also banged-up.

1812. H. and J. Smith, Rejected Addresses, p. 188. Dance a bang-up theatrical cotillion.

1842. Lever, Jack Hinton, ch. vii. His hat set jauntily on one side, his spotted neckcloth knotted in bang-up mode.

1844. Quarterly Review, XXIV., 368. We could not resist giving a specimen of John Thorpe … altogether the best portrait of a species which, though almost extinct, cannot yet be quite classed among the Palæotheria, the bang-up Oxonian.

1846. Thackeray, V. Fair, vol. I., ch. xxxiv. There appeared on the cliff in a tax cart, drawn by a bang-up pony … his friends, the Sutbury Pet and the Rottingdean Fibber.

Subs.—Also used substantively as in the following example; that which is quite right; the ‘thing’; the ‘go.’

1882. Punch, LXXXII., 185, 1. Modern Life in London, or Tom and Jerry back again. The trio turned into the Arcade, and saw a number of gay sparks and fair ones promenading. ’Twas a curious sight, a glimpse of Life in London, one of its primest features, and yet, as the Corinthian remarked to his Coz, these people seemed like the ‘ghosts of a former generation.’ ‘These then are the dandies, the fops, the goes and the bang-ups, these the Corinthians of to-day,’ was also Tom’s exclamation to young Bob, who said, ‘I don’t know about being Corinthians, but some of these fellows are very ‘good form,’ and as to being bang-up, a good many poor old chappies are deuced hard-up.’

Verb tr.—To make smart; produce in first-rate style.

1821. Coombe, Dr. Syntax, Tour iii., c. v.

Pat to his neckcloth gave an air

In style, and á la militaire;

His pocket too a kerchief bore

With scented water sprinkled o’er;

Thus banged-up, sweeten’d, and clean shav’d,

The sage the dinner-table braved.

Bangy, subs. (Winchester College).—‘Brown’ sugar. From Bangalore, a once coarse-growing sugar country.

Adj.—Colour of brown sugar; e.g., bangy bags, brown trousers. These were also called bangies. So universally was the term bangy used to designate a brownish hue, that a gate of that colour at Winchester College, formerly leading from Grass Court into Sick House Meads, was called the Bangy Gate. The name is now often used for the gate by Racquet Court, into Kingsgate Street.

Banian-Days or Banyan-Days, subs. (nautical).—Those days in which sailors have no flesh meat. Probably derived from the practice of the Banians, a caste of Hindoos, traders or merchants, who entirely abstained from all animal food.

1690. Ovington, in Yules’ Anglo-Indian Glossary. Of kitcheney (butter, rice, and dai) the European sailors feed in these parts, and are forced at such times to a Pagan abstinence from flesh, which creates in them an utter detestation to those banian-days as they call them.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xxv. They told me that on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, the ship’s company had no allowance of meat, and that these meagre days were called banyan-days, the reason of which they did not know; but I have since learned they take their denomination from a sect of devotees in some parts of the East Indies, who never taste flesh.

1820. Lamb, Elia (Christ’s Hospital). We had three banyan to four meat days in the week.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. lxiii. If he might be so bold as to carry on the Eastern metaphor, he would say, knowing the excellence of the Colonel’s claret and the splendour of his hospitality, that he would prefer a cocoanut day at the Colonel’s to a banyan-day anywhere else.

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack. [From Strolling Players’ bill.] Wooldridge’s Theatre. Wanted 700 men, to man that splendid first-class, Frigate, ‘The Theatre,’ commanded by A. J. Wooldridge, now lying at her moorings, in Cheapside. Mr. Wooldridge, with all due respects to his brother Tars, hopes they will lend a hand to man his Vessel. He cannot offer them a barrel of Ale, but he will make them a promise of his unfeigned thanks and gratitude for this and past favours, with his hearty good wishes for the prosperity of the Town and Trade of Brighton; that his Shipmates, wherever bound, may set sail with fair wind and good passage; that they may never have short allowance—banyan days; or a southerly wind in the Bread Basket.

Banjo, subs. (common).—A bed-pan; also called a fiddle or slipper (q.v.)—the latter from an improved shape which allows of its being slipped in without disturbing the patient.

Bank, subs. (common).—A lump sum of money; one’s fortune.

Verb (thieves’).—1. To secure; to obtain (in a pilfering sense).

2. To put in a place of safety.

3. To go shares; to divide fairly with confederates.

4. (prison.)—Millbank prison.

1889. Answers, May 25, p. 412. We approached our destination, Millbank—the bank in a convict’s parlance.

Bankers, subs. (old).—Clumsy boots and shoes; now called beetle-crushers. For synonyms generally, see Trotter-cases.

Bank Shaving, subs. phr. (American).—Before banks were regulated by Act of Congress, a practice prevailed among the least reputable of such institutions of purchasing notes of hand and similar documents at enormously usurious rates of discount. Many were the facilities for sharp practice of every kind. Such banks were called shaving banks, and the unfortunate wretch who thus ‘raised the wind’ was said to get his paper shaved. The origin of the phrase may be looked for in maritime nomenclature, a shaver from a sailor’s point of view being a man who is cute and unscrupulous—possibly from the unpleasant operation of shaving on board ship when crossing the line.

Bankside Ladies, subs. phr. (old).—Ladies of more complaisance than virtue. Bankside, Southwark, was once the fashionable theatrical quarter of London. There stood once the Globe, the Swan, the Rose, and the Hope theatres. On the boards of the first-named originally appeared most of Shakspeare’s plays. In Old London the neighbourhoods of the principal theatres appear to have been noted for anything but vestal virtue. Covent Garden and Drury Lane, like Bankside, have entered largely into the vicious slang of the past.

1638. Randolph, Muses’ Looking-Glass, O. Pl., 9., 206. Come, I will send for a whole coach or two of Bankside ladies, and we will be jovial.

Bank-Sneak, subs. (American).—A variety of the genus thief who confines his attention to bank robberies. Smart, clever, well-dressed, they usually work in gangs, two or three confederates being employed as cover whilst the leader does the work. In large towns considerable finesse is exhibited by these men in effecting their purpose; but in the more thinly populated districts polish and ruse are abandoned in favour of more drastic methods. The bank-sneak of the West pursues his depredations more as a bandit; his city confrère is more adroit, and therefore infinitely more dangerous. For synonyms, see Area-sneak.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, Feb. 16. Buffalo officers to-day picked out from a batch of Erie convicts Watt N. Jones, the notorious bank-sneak and burglar so widely known professionally in every city of the United States and Canada.

Banner, subs. (American news-boys’).—The money paid for board and lodging at the homes frequented by these flying mercuries. The origin of the term is unknown.

Bant, verb (common.)—To follow the dietary prescribed by Mr. Banting.—See Banting.

Banting, subs. (common).—A course of diet by which fat people seek to reduce their bulk. It consists in strictly discarding as food all articles known to favour the development of adipose tissue. It was introduced about the year 1864 by a Mr. W. Banting—hence the name. The dietary recommended was the use of butcher’s meat principally, and abstinence from beer, farinaceous food, and vegetables. Also figuratively, to reduce in any way.

1864. Times, 12 Aug., 4. The classics seemed to have undergone a successful course of banting.

1868. Miss Braddon, Only a Clod, p. 114. She was a rigid disciplinarian of the school formed by Mr. Banting. Ibid., p. 113. A parlour where all the furniture seemed to have undergone a prolonged course of banting.

1883. Knowledge, 27 July, p. 49, col. 2. Bantingism excludes beer, butter, and sugar.

Bantling, subs. (old).—A young, or small child. This word, once slang, is now a received dictionary word. It is stated in Bacchus and Venus [1737], and by Grose, to be a cant term. It was formerly synonymous with bastard. Appended are a few examples of its use when knocking for admittance at the doors of the dictionaries.

1593. Drayton, Eclog., vii., 102. Lovely Venus … smiling to see her wanton bantlings game.

1635. Quarles, Emblems, II., viii. (1718), 93. See how the dancing bells turn round … to please my bantling.

1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xlvii. ‘That he may at once deliver himself from the importunities of the mother and the suspense of her bantling.’

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. lxxx. ‘Let the bantlings,’ said she, ‘be sent to the hospital … and a small collection be made for the present support of the mother.’

1758. Goldsmith, Essays, x. Who follow the camp, and keep up with the line of march, though loaded with bantlings and other baggage.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxi. ‘Sell me to a gipsy, to carry pots, pans, and beggars bantlings.’

Banty, adj. (American thieves’).—Saucy; impudent.

Baptised or Christened, ppl. adj. (old).—Mixed with water; spirits and wines are said to be baptised when diluted. The French equivalent is chrétien; also baptisé.

1636. Healey, Theophrastus, 46. He wil give his best friends his baptized wine.

Bar, verb and prep. (colloquial and racing).—1. Used as a verb bar signifies to exclude; to prohibit; also to object to a person or action. Its lineage is of undoubted respectability, but its usage is now but little removed from the vulgar. As a preposition it is synonymous with ‘except’—mainly used in racing; e.g., ‘Four to one bar one.’

c. 1598. Shakspeare, M. of Venice, ii., 2, 207. Nay, but I bar to-night: you shall not gauge me by what we do to-night.

1672. Wycherley, Love in a Wood, wks. III. (1712), 382. That were as hard as to bar a young parson in the pulpit, the fifth of November,—railing at the Church of Rome.

1697. Vanbrugh, Æsop, Act ii. What I have in my mind, out it comes: but bar that; I’se an honest lad as well as another.

1752. Foote, Taste, Act ii. I don’t suppose now, but, barring the nose, Roubiliac could cut as good a head every whit.

1818. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. iii. ‘I should like to try that daisy-cutter of yours upon a piece of level road (barring canter) for a quart of claret at the next inn.’

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. lv., p. 483. ‘I’ll bet you ten guineas to five, he cuts his throat,’ said Wilkins Flasher, Esquire. ‘Done,’ replied Mr. Simmery. ‘Stop! I bar,’ said Wilkins Flasher, Esquire, thoughtfully. ‘Perhaps he may hang himself.’

2. (American thieves’.)—To stop; to cease. Obviously an attributive meaning of the legitimate word.

3. (American colloquial.)—A spurious verb, the signification of which is derived from the drinking-bar. Thus a tippler is said to bar too much when given to inordinate drinking.

Baragan Tailor, subs. (tailors’).—A rough-working tailor.

Barb, verb (old cant).—To barb gold was heretofore a cant term for clipping or shaving it. The modern term is to sweat (q.v.). [Apparently from to barber, to shave or trim.]

1610. Ben Jonson, Alchemist, I., i. Ay, and perhaps thy neck within a noose, for laundring gold, and barbing it.

Barber, verb. (University).—When impositions are worked off by deputy they are said to be barberised. Tradition relates that a learned barber was at one time frequently employed as a scapegoat in working off this species of punishment inflicted on peccant students—hence the expression. A story ben trovato esd non e vero!

That’s the barber.—A street catch-phrase, says Grose, about the year 1760. There is nothing new under the sun; not even idiotic and wearisome street cries, which so many good philologists deplore as a sign of the depravity of the times. That’s the barber, like ‘Who’s your hatter?’ and ‘How’s your poor feet?’ meant nothing, save a general and indefinite comment on any action, measure, or thing. ‘All serene!’ (q.v.) is presumably its nearest modern street equivalent.

Barber’s-Cat, subs. (old).—A weak, sickly looking individual. In French such a person is called un faiblard and un astec, the latter an allusion to the Mexican dwarfs. According to Hotten, the term is also ‘used in connexion with an expression too coarse to print.’

Barber’s-Chair, subs. (old).—A prostitute; a drab; a strumpet. So called from a barber’s-chair being common to all comers. It will be remembered that Shakspeare in All’s Well [ii., 2.] likens an all-embracing answer to a question to ‘a barber’s-chair that fits all buttocks; the pin-buttock, the quatch-buttock, the brawn-buttock, or any buttock.’

1621. Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, III. iv., i, iii. (1651), 665. A notorious strumpet as common as a barber’s-chair. [M.]

1708. Motteux, Rabelais’ Pantagr., Prognost. v. Bonarobaes. Barber’s-chairs, hedge whores.

Barber’s-Clerk, subs. (common).—A term of reproach generally applied by mechanics and artisans to overdressed and vaunting clerks and shopmen. In a secondary sense it is used of anyone over-particular in his personal appearance. The phrases ‘oh, he’s just come from the barber’s,’ and ‘one of Truefitt’s young men’ are common enough.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 155. ‘Tailor!’ screamed a third. ‘Barber’s-clerk!’ shouted a fourth. ‘Throw him o-ver!’ roared a fifth, [d.]

Barber’s Music, subs. (old).—Harsh and roughly discordant music. Barber’s shops were formerly places of great resort, and the old plays are full of references to the means by which customers, while waiting their turn, wiled away the time. Amongst other things it was usual to provide a cittern, a musical instrument similar to a guitar, upon which any who chose could try their skill. Many of the old proverbs refer to this circumstance. Ben Jonson in The Silent Woman [iii., 5] makes Morose say of his wife whom his barber had recommended, ‘I have married his cittern that is common to all men’; and Matheo, in The Honest Whore, speaks of a barber’s citterne for every serving man to play upon. Therefore, it is little wonder that barber’s music should be synonymous with discord.

1660. Pepys, June 5. My lord called for the lieutenant’s cittern, and with two candlesticks with money in them for symbols (cymbals) we made barber’s music.

Barefooted on the Top of Ones Head, phr. (American).—Bald-headed. The application of the simile is obvious.

Bargain. Selling a bargain, phr. (old).—A species of low wit, much in vogue about the latter end of the reign of Queen Anne, but which is of much more ancient usage. It is frequently alluded to by Swift, who remarks that ‘the maids of honor often amused themselves with it.’ If so, it seems incredible; and one would say so much the worse for the ‘maids of honor.’ It is thus described: A person would come into a room full of company, apparently in a fright, crying out, ‘It is white, and follows me!’ On any of the company asking what? the bargain was sold by the first speaker naming a certain portion of the body. In another, and happily more decent form, this somewhat senseless ‘sell’ still has a vogue. This slang expression and practice was apparently well known to Shakspeare, who makes Costard use it in Love’s Labour Lost [Act iii., Sc. 1], ‘The boy hath sold him a bargain.’

Barge, subs. (printers’).—1. A ‘case’ in which there is an undue proportion of some letters, and a corresponding shortness of those which are most valuable.

2. The term is also applied among printers to a card or small box on or in which ‘spaces’ are put while correcting formes away from ‘case.’

Verb.—To abuse; to slang. Cf., Bullyrag. The allusion is, of course, to the rough mode of speaking peculiar to bargees or bargemen.

1861. Albert Smith, Medical Student, p. 102. ‘Whereupon they all began to barge the master at once; one saying “his coffee was all snuff and chick-weed.” ’

(Uppingham School.)—To knock against a person; to come into collision with.

Barge-Arse, subs. (common).—A man or woman of rotund development at the back. [From barge, a clumsy vessel, + arse, O.E., posterior or buttock.] A low term of ridicule. Also used as an adjective, barge-arsed.

Barge-pole, subs. (Winchester College).—A large stick or thick bough, of which there was one in each fagot. Also generally used for any large piece of wood.

Bark, subs. (common).—1. An Irishman or Irishwoman. Cf., Barkshire.

1869. Notes and Queries, 4 S., iii., 406. In Lancashire an Irishman is vulgarly called a bark.

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 191. Mike when asked by some of his countrymen why he called Fairbanks a ‘bark,’ i.e., an Irishman, said, ‘If I had not put the ‘bark’ on him he would have put it on me, so I had the first pull.’

2. The skin. This occurs also dialectically. In Alan Ramsay’s poems [1758] it is so used.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xx., p. 209. To the great detriment of what is called by fancy gentlemen the bark upon his shins, which were most unmercifully bumped against the hard leather and the iron buckles.

1876. Family Herald, 2 Dec., p. 80, col. 1. With the bark all off his shins from a blow with a hockey stick.

3. (colloquial.)—A cough. Cf., verb, To bark, sense 2.

Verb.—1. To scrape; or rub off the skin; to abraise.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, p. 227. So, after getting up [the tree] three or four feet, down they came slithering to the ground, barking their arms and faces.

1859. Macmillan’s Magazine, Nov., p. 18. The knuckles of his right hand were barked.

1872. Mark Twain, Roughing It, p. 16 (Routledge’s ed.). Every time we avalanched from one end of the stage to the other, the ‘Unabridged Dictionary’ would come too; and, every time it came, it damaged somebody. One trip it barked the Secretary’s elbow; the next trip it hurt me in the stomach, and the third, it tilted Bemis’s nose up till he could look down his nostrils—he said.

2. To cough; generally applied when it is persistent and hacking.

The word with the bark on it, phr. (American).—Without mincing the matter; without circumlocution.

1872. Mark Twain, Roughing It, chap. xv. If ever another man gives a whistle to a child of mine, and I get my hands on him, I will hang him nigher than Haman! That is the word with the bark on it.

To take the bark off, phr. (popular).—To reduce in value, either deliberately, or by accident; a figurative usage of ‘to graze,’ ‘to take the skin off.’

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, p. 310. I rode my gallant grey so close to the wheel, that I grazed his near foreleg against it and took the bark off, as his owner told me, to the tune of three pun’ sivin.

1853. Rev. Ed. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Further Adventures of Verdant Green, p. 31. That’ll take the bark from your nozzle, and distil the Dutch pink for you, won’t it?

To bark at the moon (colloquial).—To clamour uselessly; to agitate to no effect; to labour in vain.

1630. Taylor’s Workes. And thus my booke and comparisons end together; for thus much I know, that I have but all this while bark’d at the moone, throwne feathers against the winde, built upon the sands, wash’d a blackmore, and laboured in vaine.

Barker, subs. (popular).—1. A pistol. [From barker, a noisy assailant, i.e., one who barks like a dog.] Sometimes called barking iron (q.v.). The latter, as far as is known, is the oldest term. An early use of barkers bears date of 1815, whilst barking iron occurs in Parker’s Life’s Painter, 1789.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxxiii. ‘Had he no arms?’ asked the Justice. ‘Ay, ay, they are never without barkers and slashers.’

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. xxii. ‘Barkers for me, Barney,’ said Toby Crackit. ‘Here they are,’ replied Barney, producing a pair of pistols.

1857. C. Kingsley, Two Years Ago, ch. xxiv. I’ll give you five for those pistols … being rather a knowing one about the pretty little barkers.

English Synonyms. ‘Meat in the pot.’ (A Texan term, alluding to the means by which meat is literally provided for the pot. Texan figures of speech are often startling enough in originality and sententiousness. Nor is the moral ingenuity revealed by this vernacular less striking; e.g., when revolvers are said ‘to make all men equal.’) Other synonyms for revolvers of similar character are ‘my unconverted friend’; ‘a one-eyed scribe’ (an argument always persuasive and sometimes unanswerable); ‘blue lightning’ (sometimes a tragedy in three acts: Act i., a word; Act ii., a flash of blue lightning; and Act iii., certain death); ‘whistler’ (from the sharp hissing sound of a bullet in its flight); ‘peace-maker’ (a sarcastic commentary on the proverb that ‘short reckonings make long friends’); dag; pop; etc.

French Synonyms. Un aboyeur (popular: a literal translation of ‘barker’; also ‘a tout’); un pitroux (thieves’: in the old Provencal, pitrou bore the sense of a piece of wood or stick, and it is possible that French thieves have here merely transferred the name from one weapon to another); un pétouze (a play upon words. In the old cant pétouze signified the ancient coin known as a pistole); un bayafe (thieves’: formerly baillaf, a term employed by the robbers who infested the highways of Southern France. It is thought to be derived from two words bailler, to give, and affe or rather affre, signifying fear); un mandolet (thieves’); pied de cochon (military: literally ‘a pig’s foot’; a variety of weapon of large size and calibre); un crucifix or un crucifix à ressort (thieves’: literally ‘a crucifix,’ or ‘a crucifix with a spring’); un soufflant (thieves’: soufflet = to whisper); les burettes (thieves’ and popular: literally ‘phials’).

2. (common.)—A man employed to stand in front of shops and shows to attract the attention of passers-by, and if possible to entice them inside, where he can safely leave them to the tender mercies of the salesmen. The origin of the term is obvious; and, it is interesting to note that barker has its exact equivalent in the French aboyeur. Amongst touting photographers, in low neighbourhoods, this individual is called a doorsman, and the term is likewise applied to auction-room touts.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Barker (s.), a salesman’s servant that walks before his door, to invite customers in to buy cloaths.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Barker. The shopman of a dealer in second-hand clothes, particularly about Monmouth St., who walks before his shop and deafens every passenger with his cries of clothes, coats, or gowns, ‘what d’ye want gemmen, what d’ye buy?’

1828. Jon. Bee, Picture of London, p. 109. Mock-auctions and ‘selling-off’ shops are not the only pests where barkers are kept at the doors to invite unwary passengers to ‘walk in, walk in, sale just begun.’

1888. Texas Siftings, Oct. 13. I am a barker by profession. The pedestrian agility required to pace up and down before the ‘Half-dime Museum of Anatomy and Natural History,’ soliciting passers-by to enter, is of itself enormous; but where it gets in its base hit is when it increases the appetite. McGinty knows this. McGinty is my friend, but I wouldn’t serve a tenth of his unexpired terms for ten dollars. I have peddled clams with McGinty and have seen him eat three bushels of our stock. That is nothing. When the show isn’t paying, I have to go out and eat grass. This shows you what nickel-plated, back-action appetites we have.

3. A man with a troublesome cough; his complaint is otherwise known as a ‘churchyard cough,’ or a ‘notice to quit’ (q.v.).

4. (nautical.)—Besides being used as a designation for a pistol, barker is also employed for lower deck guns on board ship.

1842. Cooper, Jack O’ Lanthorne, I., 151. Four more carronades with two barkers for’ard.

5. See quotation, as follows:—

1879. Greenwood, Outcasts of London. But what was barking? I thought a great deal about the matter, and could arrive at no more feasible conclusion than that a barker was a boy that attended a drover, and helped him to drive his sheep by means of imitating the bark of a dog.

6. (University.)—A noisy assertive individual; and, in a complimentary sense, a great swell.

7. (American.)—A noisy coward; a blatant bully.

Barkey (nautical).—A term of endearment in use amongst seafaring men when speaking of a vessel to which they have got attached. ‘She’s a barkey—she is, my lads!’

Barking-Irons, subs. (thieves’).—Pistols. Cf., Barker, sense 1. Barking-iron is, historically, an older term than barker by about a quarter of a century. Formerly applied, in the navy, to large duelling pistols.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 173. Pistols, barking-irons.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. II., ch. vi. ‘And look you, prick the touch-hole, or your barking-iron will never bite for you.’

Barking through the Fence, phr. (American).—A taking advantage of some obstacle or shield for saying or doing something, which, but for such protection, would not be said or done; or which if done or said might entail unpleasant consequences upon the sayer or doer.

Barkshire, subs. (common).—Ireland.—See Bark.

Bark up the Wrong Tree, verbal phr. (American).—Of trapper and pioneer derivation, and idiomatically used to signify that a person is at fault as to his purpose, or the means by which he is endeavouring to attain his object. The expression arose in this way: the Western huntsman found that his prey gradually became more and more wily and cunning in eluding pursuit, and frequently he and his dogs were at fault, supposing they had ‘treed’ their game when in reality, especially in the case of opossums and squirrels and such-like animals, it had escaped by jumping from the boughs of one tree to another. The dogs consequently were left barking up the wrong tree.

1835. Richmond Enquirer, Sep. 8. ‘You didn’t really go to old Bullion,’ said a politician to an office-seeker, ‘Why, he has no influence there, I can tell you. You barked up the wrong tree there, my friend, and you deserve to fail.’

1888. Detroit Free Press, Oct. Professor Rose who ‘hit’ this town last spring is around calling us a fugitive from justice, and asking why the police don’t do something. Gently, Professor. When we left Xenia, O., the Sheriff patted us on the back and lent us half-a-dollar. We are the only man in this town who doesn’t turn pale when the stage comes in, and the only one who doesn’t break for the sage brush when it is announced that the United States Marshal is here. We ain’t rich or pretty, but we are good, and the Professor is barking up the wrong tree.

Barnaby. To dance barnaby, phr. (popular).—To move expeditiously; irregularly.

Barnacle, subs. (old cant).—1. A pickpocket. For synonyms, see Area sneak.

b. 1809, d. 1870. Mark Lemon, Leyton Hall. The man that stood beside thee is old Crookfinger, the most notorious setter, barnacle and foist in the city.

2. (old.)—A good job, or snack easily got.—Lexicon Balatronicum (1811).

3. (old.)—A gratuity given to grooms by the buyers and sellers of horses.—Lexicon Balatronicum (1811).

4. (old.)—A constant attendant; he who, or that which sticks to one like a barnacle to a ship’s bottom.

1607. Dekker, Northward Hoe! III., wks., 1873, III., 39. Ile cashiere all my yong barnicles. [M.]

1868. Miss Braddon, Trail of the Serpent, I., i., 7. Slopper found him a species of barnacle rather difficult to shake off.

5. (old cant.)—A decoy swindler; from the pertinacity with which such a one fastens on to a victim, and will not be shaken off until the purpose in view is effected. Cf., senses 1 and 4.

1591. Greene, Notable Discovery of Coosnage (1859), 23. Thus doth the Verser and the Setter feign a kind friendship to the Cony.… As thus they sit tippling, coms the barnackle and thrusts open the doore … steps back again: and very mannerly saith I cry you mercy, Gentlemen. I thoght a frend of mine had bin heere.

1608. Dekker, Belman of London, wks. (1885) III., 131. He that … before counterfeited the dronken Bernard is now sober and called the barnacle.

6. (old.)—An individual speaking with a nasal twang; one who speaks through his nose.

1591. Percivall, Sp. Dictionary. Gango, a barnacle, one that speaketh through the nose, Chenolopex. [Chenalopex in Pliny, a species of goose.] [M.]

Barnacles, subs. (popular).—1. Spectacles. Formerly applied only to spectacles with side pieces of coloured glass, and used more as protectors from wind, dust, and glaring light than as aids to the sight. Hence used popularly for all kinds of glasses. The derivation seems uncertain. The principal suggested origins are:—(1) a corruption of binoculis [from Latin bini, double, + oculus, an eye]; (2) an attributive usage of barnacles, which, with ‘horse-twitchers’ or ‘brakes,’ are tools put on the nostrils of horses when they will not stand still to be shooed; and in support of this it has been pointed out [N. and Q., 1 S., v., 13] the figure of the barnacle borne in heraldry sufficiently shows why the term has been transferred to spectacles, which were formerly only kept in position by the manner in which they clipped the nose; (3) that barnacles are so called from the similarity in shape to the black streak which proceeds from the upper part of the beak in a line to the corner of, and right round the eye of the bernicle, or barnacle goose (Anser bernicla). There is a strong resemblance in the mark to a pair of spectacles.

1571. Damon and Pythias (Dodsley’s Old Plays), Hazlett IV., 81. These spectacles put on. Grim. They be gay barnacles, yet I see never the better.

1653. Sir Thomas Urquhart, Translation of Rabelais, bk. V., ch. xxvii. They had barnacles on the handles of their faces, or spectacles at most.

The difference between spectacles and barnacles seems to be indicated in this passage. In the original French the phrase reads ‘bezicles au nez.’ A later quotation illustrative of the usage is:

1822. Scott, The Fortunes of Nigel, ch. i. ‘Give me the barnacles, my good youth, and who can say what nose they may bestride in two years hence?’

English Synonyms. ‘Bossers’; ‘gig-lamps’; ‘goggles.’ A man wearing these aids to sight is sometimes called ‘four eyes’ (q.v.).

French Synonyms. Les persiennes (popular: properly ‘venetian shutters’); une vitrine (popular: literally ‘a shop window,’ or glass case in a museum).

2. (old cant.)—See quotation.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Barnacles (s.) … in the Canting Language, a pair of spectacles; also the irons or fetters worn by felons are so called; also the gratuity or reward that jockies have for buying horses for gentlemen.

Barndoor, subs. (sporting).—1. A facetious term for a target too large to be missed; i.e., as large as a barndoor. Hence barndoor practice as applied to organised battues, in which game is driven within a range from which it is impossible to escape. This can hardly be called sport; rather let it be known as ‘slaughter.’

2. (cricket.)—A player who blocks every ball.

Barnet! intj. (Christ’s Hospital).—Nonsense! humbug! Now obsolete.

Barnet Fair, subs. (thieves’).—The hair; part of the rhyming slang (q.v.). For synonyms see Top dressing.

Barney, subs. (popular).—1. A word which varies in sense according to the predelictions of the person using it. Generally speaking it means a jollification; ‘lark’; pleasurable outing; picnic. The ’Arries and roughs of London, however, always associate it with a certain amount of rowdyism. Its derivation is unknown, although Barrère gives a long dissertation concerning its origin in the Yiddish. As, however, this is founded mainly upon a misreading of a quotation from Punch, it is somewhat beside the mark.

2. Humbug; cheating; a hoax; something pre-arranged—not genuine. In sporting circles it signifies an unfair race of any kind.

1865. B. Brierley, Irkdale, II., 19. I won thee i’ fair powell one toss an’ no barney.

1882. Evening News, 2 Sept., p. 1, col. 6. Blackguardly barneys called boxing competitions. [M.]

Murray gives this last in illustration of the secondary sense which he applies to the word, viz., a prize-fight. Barney, it is true, does signify a prize-fight, but it means more than that. A fair contest would not be so named; there must be an element of chicanery in the matter. Besides which, barney is applied to unfair sporting competitions of any kind. A comparison of the different quotations given under this heading will clearly prove that point.

1884. Referee, April 13, p. 7, col. 4. Who would believe that Mr. Gladstone shammed being ill, and that Sir Andrew Clark issued false bulletins, and that the whole thing was a barney from beginning to end.

1885. Bell’s Life, Jan. 3, p. 3, col. 4. Few genuine matches have taken place this season on the Transatlantic waters, though exhibitions and barney contests have been plentiful.

3. (American.)—At Harvard College, about the year 1810, this word was used to designate a bad recitation. To barney was to recite badly.—Hall’s College Words and Customs.

Barn-Mouse. To be bitten by a barn-mouse, phr. (old).—To be tipsy; ‘screwed.’ The Lexicon Balatronicum says ‘it is probably an allusion to barley,’ presumably as the source of malt liquor. Cf., ‘To have on’ Or ‘wear a barley-cap,’ to be tipsy; also barley-cap = a tippler.

Barn-stormer, subs. (theatrical).—A deprecatory epithet applied to strolling players.

1884. Pall Mall Gazette, 6 June, p. 5, col. 1. If this be barn-storming, Betterton and Garrick were barn-stormers.

1886. Graphic, 10 April, p. 399. Travelling players who acted short and highly tragic pieces to audiences of clodpoles in any barn or shed they could get, used to be known as barn-stormers, and a ranting, noisy style of acting and speaking is still called ‘barn-storming.’

1887. Referee, 21 August, p. 3, col. 1. Mr. Edward Terry has again been elected at the head of the poll as trustee of the charities of Barnes. He is not the first clever actor who has been known as a Barnes-stormer.

The French term for one of such a troupe is cabotin.

Barnumese, subs. (American).—Barnum, the proprietor of ‘the greatest show upon earth,’ has at any rate one claim to immortal fame in having, like Boycot, Burke, and Balfour, added a new word to the English tongue. The ‘high falutin,’ bombastic style of the great man’s announcements are notorious; as much so, in fact, as is the diction of the great London newspaper which claims ‘the largest circulation in the world.’ From such circumstances we get words like barnumese and telegraphese, to signify exaggeration of style—what in slang parlance is known as the ‘putting on of side.’

Verb.—To Barnumize is to talk or assert oneself in the style popularly attributed to Barnum.

Baronet, subs. (old).—A humorous variation for sirloin [of beef].

1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. IV., ch. x. The sight of the roast beef struck him dumb, permitting him only to say grace, and to declare he must pay his respects to the baronet, for so he called the sirloin.

Barrack-Hack, subs. (familiar).—1. In an inoffensive sense applied to young women who attend garrison balls year after year. So used there is no such imputation of lax morals as occurs in sense 2.

2. A soldier’s prostitute. There are but few classes of persons to whom a greater number of slang epithets have been applied than to the poor wretched creatures, who from choice, bad-treatment, or as a means of subsistence abandon themselves to a life of prostitution. These names are to be found in plenty for all grades of semi-public or public women. They run the gauntlet from the gilded courtezan to the veriest drab in the last stages of destitution and disease. The list of synonyms is both long and grim; the names in many cases speaking volumes on a subject which it would be painful as well as needless to pursue farther in this place, inasmuch as the epithets both in French and English, and, it must be added, those of other languages as well, speak with a brutal cynicism to which it would be out of place to add a comment.