A Dictionary of Slang and its Analogues. (continued 6)

Among English Synonyms may be included:—In a jiffy; in two two’s; in a brace of shakes; before you can say Jack Robinson; in a crack; in the squeezing of a lemon.

Between you and me and the bedpost, phr. (familiar).—A humorous tag to an assertion; i.e., ‘between ourselves’;—‘I know what you say, but, between you and me, etc. … the thing is absurd.’ Sometimes the last word is varied by ‘post,’ ‘door post,’ or ‘gate post’—any prop seems to serve.

1831. Bulwer Lytton, Eugene Aram, p. 234. Ah, sir, all very well to say so; but, between you and me and the bedpost, young master’s quarrelled with old master.

1838. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, p. 127. And between you and me and the post, sir, it will be a very nice portrait too.

1879. Punch, March 8, p. 108. Discussing an absent friend. ‘Yes, Robinson’s a clever feller, and he’s a modest feller, and he’s a honest feller; but betwixt you and i and the post, Mr. Jones,’ said Brown, confidentially, picking his wisdom tooth with his little finger nail, ‘Robinson ain’t got neither the Looks, nor yet the Language, nor yet the Manners of a Gentleman.’

‘Right you are, sir!’ said Jones, shovelling the melted remains of his Ice Pudding into his Mouth with a Steel Knife (which he afterwards wiped on the Table Cloth). ‘You’ve ’it ’im orf t’ a T!’

Bedrock. To get down to bedrock [in anything; whether in an enquiry, or in one’s circumstances, etc.].—To the bottom; to the lowest level. A miner’s term, alluding to the solid rock underlying superficial and other formations. Therefore, metaphorically, ‘to reach bedrock’ is to attain a solid basis or foundation; bedrock facts are the ‘chiels that winna ding’—the incontestible and uncontrovertible truth.

1870. Bret Harte, Poems and Prose, p. 113. ‘No! no!’ continued T. hastily. ‘I play this yer hand alone. To come down to the bedrock it’s just this,’ etc.

1875. Scribner’s Magazine, p. 277. Getting to the real character of a man is coming to the bedrock.

1888. Louisiana Press, March 31. Thomas J. Whiteman, of Carrol county, is a Republican candidate for Governor of Missouri. You can bet your bedrock dollar that the next governor of Missouri will be a white man, although his first name isn’t apt to be Thomas.

Bee. To have a bee in the head or bonnet, phr. (familiar).—To be possessed of queer ideas; ‘half-cracked’; flighty. This phrase is of considerable antiquity, being traced back to a Scotch writer, Gawin Douglas by name [1474–1521], Bishop of Dunkeld, who used it in a translation of Virgil’s Æneid.

1512–3 (translated: published in 1553). Gawin Douglas, Æneis, VIII., Prol. 120. Quhat bern be thou in bed with heid full of beis.

1657. Samuel Colvil, Whigg’s Supplication, or Scotch Hudibras [1710]. Which comes from brains which have a bee.

1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s, ch. xvii. ‘Maybe ye think the puir lassie has a bee in her bonnet; but ye ken yoursell if naebody but wise folk were to marry, the warld wad be ill peopled.’

1853. Bulwer Lytton, My Novel, III., 307. It is not an uncommon crochet amongst benevolent men to maintain that wickedness in necessarily a sort of insanity, and that nobody would make a violent start out of a straight path unless stung to such disorder by a bee in his bonnet.

For synonyms, see Apartments to let.

1868. Dr. Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, p. 77, col. 2. You have a bee in your bonnet or your head is full of bees; [i.e.] full of devices, crotchets, fancies, inventions, and dreamy theories. The connection between bees and the soul was once generally maintained … the moon was called a bee by the priestesses of Cerës, and the word lunatic or moon-struck still means one with ‘bees in his head.’

Beef, subs. (common).—1. Human flesh (a transferred sense); i.e., obese; stolid; or fleshy like an ox.

1862. Cork Examiner, March 28. Chelmsford stood higher in the leg, and showed less beef about him. [M.]

2. (nautical.)—By a further transition beef has also come to signify men; strength; or ‘hands’; ‘More beef!’ a bo’sun’s exhortation to extra exertion.

1863. Cornhill Magazine. Feb., ‘Life on Board a Man of War.’ Useful at the heavy hauling of braces, etc., where plenty of beef is required. [M.]

3. (common.)—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick.

To be in beef, phr. (old)—Said only of women. It means to have carnal knowledge.

To be in a man’s beef, phr. (old).—To wound with a sword.—Grose.

To cry or give beef, or hot beef, phr. (thieves’).—To give an alarm; to pursue; to set up a hue and cry. It has been suggested that beef in this case is a rhyming synonym to ‘thief.’ For synonyms, see To guy.

To be dressed like Christmas beef, phr. (common).—To be decked out in one’s best raiment; in allusion to the ‘dressing’ of Christmas beef by butchers.

To make beef, phr. (thieves’).—To run away; to decamp. For synonyms, see Amputate.

Beef! intj. (Australian).—‘Stop thief.’ Cf., To cry or give beef.

Beef up! phr. (common).—‘Put on your strength!’ ‘Give a long pull and a strong pull!’

Beef-Brained, adj. (common).—Doltish; obtuse; thickheaded; a reference to the heavy, dullness of appearance of oxen.

Beef-Head, subs. (common).—A dolt; a stupid, thickheaded person. Cf., Beef-brained.

Beef It, verb (common).—Considered originally a provincialism, but now common. The lower classes in the East End of London frequently speak of beefing it, either in reality or anticipation (mostly latter), when referring to a meat meal, more particularly when it happens to be beef.

Beefment. On the beefment, adv. phr. (thieves’).—On the alert; on the look out.

Beef-Stick, subs. (military).—The bone in a joint of beef. At mess it is ‘first come, best served’; and those who come last sometimes get little more than the beef-stick.

Beef Straight.—See Straight.

Beef to the Heels, like a Mullingar Heifer, phr. (Irish).—A stalwart man, or a fine woman; i.e., one whose superiority is manifest from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot; literally, all beef down to the heels.

c. 1880. Rhoda Broughton, Cometh up as a Flower, p. 193. Dolly was not a fine woman as they say, at all; not beef to the heels, by any means; in a grazier’s eye she would have had no charm whatsoever.

Beef-Witted, adj. (common).—See Beef-brained.

1594. Nashe, Terrors of the Night, in wks. (Grosart) III., 257. Liues there anie such slowe yce-braind beefe-witted gull.

1863. Reader, 22 Aug. This British bull-neckedness, this British beef-wittedness. [M.]

Beefy, adj. (common).—Fleshy; unduly thick, or obese. [From beef + y: a transferred sense.] Also beefiness, subs., fleshy development. The ankles of women are sometimes ungallantly spoken of as beefy, with which compare beef to the heels. A run of luck and good fortune, generally, is likewise referred to as beefy.

1859. Sala, Gaslight and Daylight, ch. xi. To see him in his huge shirt-sleeves, with his awkward beefy hands hanging inanely by his side, and his great foolish mouth open.

Bee-Line. To take or make a bee-line [for a place or object], phr. (originally American; now common).—To go direct; ‘as the crow flies’; without circumlocution. Bees, when fully laden with pollen, make for the hive in a straight, or bee-line. One of the American railways is called the Bee-Line Road from the direct route it takes between its termini. Cf., Straight shoot.

1848. J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers.

The field of Lexin’ton where England tried

The fastest colors thet she ever dyed.

An’ Concord Bridge, thet Davis, when he came,

Found was the bee-line track to heaven an’ fame,

Ez all roads be by natur’, ef your soul

Don’t sneak thur shun-pikes so’s to save the toll.

1874. M. Collins, Frances, ch. v. How they could follow an enemy’s trail, or strike a bee-line through unpathed woods to the point they sought!

1875. Miss Bird, Six Mos. in Sandwich Islands, Lett. xxix., p. 275 (1886). Horses cross the sand and hummocks as nearly as possible on a bee-line.

1884. Aldridge, Ranch Notes, p. 78. The cattle are in great dread of this pest [the heel-fly], and the instant an animal feels one, it hoists its tail in the air, and takes a bee-line for the nearest water.

Beelzebub’s Paradise, subs. (popular).—Hell; the infernal regions. Beelzebub is a frequent mis-reading for Beelzebul, the name given by the Jews to the prince of demons. The usage occurs in the New Testament at Matthew x., 25, and xii., 24–27, where Beelzebub should read Beelzebul. The former is properly the god of the Philistines, worshipped as the destroyer of flies [from Hebrew baal, lord + zebub, a fly]; whilst the latter is an opprobrious change on the former [from Hebrew baal, lord + zebul, dung].

Been in the Sun, adv. phr. (common).—A synonym for ‘drunk,’ in connection with which see Screwed. An allusion to a flushed, heated appearance.

Been Measured for a New Umbrella, phr. (American).—Said sportively of anyone appearing in new, ill-fitting clothes, or who has struck out a new line of action, the wisdom of which is doubtful. The joke is an old one and refers to a man of whom it was said that nothing fitted him but his umbrella.

Been There. Oh, yes, I’ve been there, phr. (American), i.e., ‘I know what I am about.’ A popular exclamation. When it is said of a man that he has been there, shrewdness, pertinacity, and experience are implied. A variant may be found in the equally slang expression, ‘he got there all the same.’—See Got there.

1888. Atlanta Constitution, May 4. The Japanese say: ‘A man takes a drink; then the drink takes a drink, and next the drink takes the man.’ Evidently the Japanese ‘have been there.’

2. Another and more invidious meaning, however, is attached to the phrase. Women suspected of clandestine meetings with men are said to have been there.

Beer, subs. (familiar).—To do a beer, i.e., to take a drink of beer.

1880. Punch’s Almanac, p. 3.

Quarter-day, too, no more chance of tick,

Fancy I shall ’ave to cut my stick.

Got the doldrums dreadful, that is clear,

Two d. left!—must go and do a beer!

1889. Sporting Times, July 6. It was the old tale of stony, pebble-beached, block granite Wednesday, and money on the staff there was none. ‘Pitcher,’ said Shifter, brushing the dust off his tongue, ‘got enough for a beer?’ ‘Enough for a beer?’ repeated Pitcher. ‘Good heavens, I wish I had. If Bass’s ale was a ha’penny a barrel I couldn’t buy enough to soak a fly-paper!’

Verb.—To drink beer; also, to get drunk.

1780–6. Wolcot (‘P. Pindar’) Odes R. Acad., wks., 1794, I., 105. He surely had been brandying it or beering, that is, in plainer English, he was drunk. [d.]

To think no small beer [of oneself], phr. (common).—Small beer is weak beer; hence, figuratively equivalent to a trifle. The expression, to think no small beer of oneself, indicates, therefore, a good measure of self-esteem.

1840. De Quincey, Style, wks. XI., 174. [I] should express her self-esteem by the popular phrase, that she did not think small beer of herself.

Beer and Bible, phr. (political).—An epithet applied sarcastically to a political party which first came into prominence during the last Beaconsfield Administration. It was called into being by a measure introduced by the moderate Liberals in 1873, with a view to placing certain restrictions upon the sale of intoxicating drinks. The Licensed Victuallers, an extremely powerful association, whose influence extended all over the kingdom, took alarm, and turned to the Conservatives for help in opposing the bill. In the ranks of the latter were numbered the chief brewers; the leaders of the association, moreover, had mostly strong high church tendencies, while one of them was president of the Exeter Hall organization. The Liberals, noting these facts, sarcastically nicknamed this alliance the Beer and Bible Association; the Morning Advertiser, the organ of the Licensed Victuallers, was dubbed the Beer and Bible Gazette; and lastly, electioneering tactics ascribed to them the war cry of beer and bible! This so-called beer and bible interest made rapid strides: in 1870 the Conservatives were at their low water mark among the London constituencies; but, in 1880, they had carried seats in the City, Westminster, Marylebone, Tower Hamlets, Greenwich, and Southwark. A notable exception to this strange fellowship was Mr. Bass [afterwards Lord Bass], of pale-ale fame, who held aloof from opposition to the measure in question. Anent the nickname Beer and Bible Gazette given to the Morning Advertiser, it may be mentioned that it had already earned for itself a somewhat similar sobriquet. For a long time this paper devoted one-half of its front page to notices of publicans and tavern-keepers; while the other half was filled up with announcements of religious books, and lists of preachers at the London churches and chapels. This gained for the paper the equally singular sobriquet of the ‘Gin and Gospel Gazette.’

Beer and Skittles. Generally, Not all beer and skittles, phr. (familiar), i.e., not altogether pleasant, or couleur de rose. A tap room simile, the allusion being to drinking beer and playing at skittles at one and the same time.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 138. But football wasn’t all beer and skittles to the Fags. There was an institution called ‘Kicking in,’ which, while it lasted, was much worse than ‘watching out’ at cricket, although it had the very great merit of not continuing so long; for, even on a whole holiday, we seldom had more than two hours of it.

1889. Pall Mall Gaz., Aug. 13, p. 6. Prince George of Wales is ‘learning his profession,’ and finds it is not all beer and skittles. That run across the Channel into Queenstown harbour showed our young naval officer the difference between an ironclad and a torpedo boat. The latter is an uncommonly lively craft, and in a choppy sea under a fresh breeze was surprisingly nimble. The commander of No. 79 arrived in the harbour, having shown that at least in one respect he has already something in common with the late admiral, Lord Nelson. The officers of the Revenge had the honour to request the pleasure of the company of the Prince and his brother officers to breakfast. The brother officers went, His Royal Highness spent the day in his hammock, and towards evening wrote to his Royal Father a description of the perils of the deep.

Beer-Barrel, subs. (common).—The human body. Cf., Bacon.

Beeriness, subs., Beery, adj. (common).—Pertaining to a state of, or approaching to drunkenness; intoxicated; fuddled with beer. For synonyms, see Screwed.

1857. Dickens, Dorrit, bk. I., ch. viii., p. 56. The stranger was left to the … beery atmosphere, sawdust, pipe-lights, spittoons, and repose.

1877. D. C. Murray, in Belgravia, July, p. 73. There was a beery and bloated captain, resident in the inn, who had left the army, as the rumour ran, under disreputable auspices.

1889. Modern Society, July 13, p. 838. It is a fact that does not seem to have struck anyone, that Shakspeare’s first appearance as a sporting tipster was in the words, ‘Lay on Macduff.’ We believe, however, that they could at that time have got five to one against him. So sure was the bard of his tip, that he added, in his own classical language, ‘Damn’d be he that first cries, Hold, enough,’ which is vulgarly translated by the beery oracle of the kerbstone, ‘Put yer shirt on ’im, cuffs an’ all.’

Beer-Jerker, subs. (American).—A tippler.—See Jerker and Slinger.

Beerocracy, subs. (common).—The brewing and beer-selling interest. [A humorous appellation in imitation of aristocracy. From beer + [o] cracy, from Greek κρατέω, to rule, to hold.]

1881. World, 19 Jan., p. 10, col. 2. The startling mixture of peerage and beerocracy … was absent this time. [M.]

Beer-Slinger.—See Slinger; also Jerker.

Beeswax, subs. (old).—1. Poor, soft cheese. Sometimes called sweaty-toe cheese (q.v.).

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 3. Bob: Now, landlord, ’arter that ’ere drap of max, suppose we haves a drain o’ heavy wet, just by way of cooling our chaffers—mine’s as dry as a chip—and, I say, do you hear, let’s have a twopenny burster, half a quartern of beesvax, a ha’p’orth o’ ingens, and a dollop o’ salt along vith it, vill you? Mace: Bellay! a burster and beesvax—ingens and salt here. (Calling as he fetches the porter from the side wing, l.). Now, then, here you are, Master Grimmuzzle.

1849. Bell’s Life. [From Baumann.] A burster with a slice of beeswax.

2. A bore; one who ‘buttonholes’ another. Generally, Old beeswax.

Beeswaxers, subs. (Winchester College).—Thick boots used for football. Probably from being smeared with beeswax or other substitute for rendering footgear supple. Pronounced Bĕswaxers.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 137. Our costume consisted of a jersey, flannel trousers, beeswaxers (lace-up boots), or ‘High-lows’ (low shoes), with two or three pairs of ‘Worsteders’ (thick worsted stockings), the feet of all but one pair being cut off.

Beeswing, subs. (common).—A gauzy film or ‘crust,’ in port wines, the result of age. [From bees + wing; so called from its appearance when broken up in the process of decanting.] Hence also beeswinged.

1846. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, III., p. 26. Scott from under bushy eyebrows winked at the apparition of a beeswing.

1850. D. Jerrold, The Catspaw, Act i. Whereupon, the animal spirits are held in suspense, like—like the beeswing in port.

1873. Fitzedward Hall, Modern English, p. 32. This port is not presentable unless beeswinged.

Old beeswing, subs. (common).—A nickname for anyone, but especially for one who ‘takes to his liquor kindly’ as the saying goes.

18(?). Mark Lemon, Golden Fetters, II., p. 74. Mr. Clendon did not call Mr. Barnard ‘old cock,’ ‘old fellow,’ or old beeswing.

Beetle-Crusher or Beetle Squasher, subs. (popular).—1. A large foot. The term was popularised by Leech in the pages of Punch. For synonyms, see Hoof.

2. In a transferred and now more common sense to that originally obtaining, a large boot or shoe. Also Beetle-cases. For synonyms, see Trotter-cases.

1869. W. Bradwood, The O.V.H., ch. xxi. Writhing yet striving to look pleasant on the infliction which the beetle-crusher of a recent arrival had just inflicted on his pet corn.

c. 1880. Rhoda Broughton, Cometh up as a Flower, II., p. 200. Yes, but what horrible boots! Whoever could have had the atwocity to fwame such beetle-crushers.

3. (military.)—An infantry soldier; the term is applied to them by the cavalry. A variant is Mud-crusher, which see for synonyms.

Beetle-Crushing, adj. (popular).—With solid tread, such as comes from large heavy feet encased in boots or shoes to match; e.g., the marching of infantry. Cf., Beetle-crusher, sense 3.

1876. Anteros, I., p. 188. The possibility floated before him, now, of sending all his live and dead stock into the market,—of exchange into a sedate beetle-crushing corps.

Beetles, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Colorado mine shares.

1887. Atkins, House Scraps.

Oh supposing our creamjugs were broken,

Or beetles were sowing the babies.

Beetle-Sticker, subs. (common).—An entomologist.

Before the Wind, phr. (colloquial).—In prosperous circumstances; out of debt or difficulty. From the nautical expression.

Begad! intj. (common).—A corruption of ‘By God!’ and, as such a euphemistic oath.—See Oaths.

1742. Fielding, J. Andrews. Begad! madam … ’tis the very same I met.

1848. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, II., iv., 39. Only one, begad! in the world.

Beggared. I’ll be beggared if, etc., phr. (common).—An emphatic form of asseveration; i.e., ‘I’ll give up everything, even to being reduced to beggary, if,’ etc.

Beggar-Maker, subs. (old).—A publican.

Beggars, subs. (cards’).—The small cards from the deuce to the ten are so called.

Beggar’s Bolts.—See Beggar’s bullets.

Beggar’s Bullets or Bolts (old).—Stones.

1584. Hudson, Judith, in Sylvester’s Du Bartas (1608), 698. A pack of country clowns … that them to battail bownes, with begger’s bolts and levers. [M.]

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. ‘The beggar’s bullets began to fly’; i.e., they began to throw stones.

Beggar’s Bush. To go home by beggar’s bush, phr. (old).—To go to ruin; otherwise explained as follows.

1686. Twelve Ingenious Characters. He throws away his wealth as heartily as young heirs, or old philosophers, and is so eager of a goal, or a mumper’s wallet, that he will not wait fortune’s leisure to undo him, but rides post to beggar’s bush, and then takes more pains to spend money than day-labourers to get it. [N.]

1868. Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, p. 78. Beggar’s Bush. To go by beggar’s bush (or) go home by beggar’s bush, i.e., to go to ruin. Beggar’s bush is the name of a tree which once stood on the left hand of the London road from Huntingdon to Caxton, so called because it was a noted rendezvous for beggars. These punning phrases and proverbs are very common.

Russell Hill, near Croydon, where the Warehousemen’s and Clerks’ Schools are, is locally known as Beggar’s Bush.

Beggar’s Plush, subs. (old)?—Corduroy.—See quotation.

1688. London Gazette, No. 2379, page 4. A person … in a dark grey Cloth Coat.… Breeches of Beggar’s Plush. [M.]

Beggar’s Velvet, subs. (common).—Downy particles which accumulate under furniture from the negligence of housemaids. Otherwise called sluts’-wool (q.v.).

Beggar the Thing! intj. (common).—Equivalent to ‘confound’ or ‘hang the thing’—used to give additional emphasis to a word or action.

Begin Upon [a Person], verb (common).—To attack; to assault.

Begosh! B’gosh! intj. (American).—An expletive, probably of negro origin; a half veiled oath; a corruption of ‘By God!’—See Oaths.

1888. The Epoch, May 5. Art dealer (descanting on the virtues of the picture). ‘You will observe, sir, that the drawing is free, that—’ Agriculturist. ‘Well, if the drawin’s free an’ you don’t tax me too much for the frame b’gosh I’ll take it.’

Behind, subs. (common).—1. The posterior; the rump.

c. 1830. George IV., in Saturday Review (1862), 8 Feb. Go and do my bidding—tell him he lies, and kick his behind in my name. [M.]

2. (Eton and Winchester Colleges.)—A back at football. At Eton called short behind and long behind, usually abbreviated to ‘short’ and ‘long.’ At Winchester, second behind and last behind. These answer to the half-back and back of Association football. At Winchester, in the Fifteens, there is also a third behind.

Behind One’s Side, adv. phr. (Winchester College).—Said of a man when nearer the opponent’s goal than the player of his team who last touched the ball.

Beilby’s Ball, subs. (old).—An Old Bailey execution.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Beilby’s Ball,—‘he will dance at Beilby’s Ball, where the sheriff pays [for] the musick: he will be hanged. Who Mr. Beilby was, or why that ceremony was so called remains with the quadrature of the circle, the discovery of the philosopher’s stone, and diverse other desiderata yet undiscovered.’

Bejan, Baijan, etc., subs. (Scotch University).—A freshman; a student of the first year at the Universities of St Andrew’s and Aberdeen: it is now obsolete at Edinburgh. [From the French bec jaune, yellow beak, in allusion to the color of the mandibles of young birds.] The term was adopted from the University of Paris; but, signifying ‘a novice’ it has been in more or less general use for nearly three hundred years. At Aberdeen, the second-class students are ‘semi-bejans’; in the third ‘tertians’; while those in the highest rank are ‘magistrands.’ In the University of Vienna the freshman is called beanus, and in France ‘footing money’ is bejaunia. For synonymous terms for freshmen and raw recruits, see Snooker.

1611. Cotgrave. Bejaune, a novice … or young beginner, in a trade or art.

1865. G. Macdonald, Alec Forbes, ch. xxxiv. The benches were occupied by about two hundred students, most of the freshmen or bejans in their red gowns.

1887. Standard, Feb. 10, p. 5, col. 2. The term baijan, used in one of the Scottish universities to designate a freshman, is from the French bec jaune, yellow beak—young birds having usually bills of this hue.

Belch, subs. (common).—Beer, especially poor beer. So called because of its liability to cause eructation. The term is probably much older than indicated by quotations. One of Shakspeare’s characters in Twelfth Night is Sir Toby Belch, a reckless, roystering, jolly knight of the Elizabethan period. For synonyms, see Swipes.

1698. Ward, London Spy, pt. XV., p. 347. Those Poor Sots who are gussling belch at his own Ale-house.

1705. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, vol. I., pt. VII., p. 18.

I sneak’d into a little house,

Where porters do their belch carouse.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Belch (s.), common beer or ale sold in publick houses is so called.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Belch, all sorts of beer, that liquor being apt to cause eructation.

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. iii., p. 265. ‘Let’s have a pot of that fourpenny English Burgundy of yours, and, whilst my mates are drinking the belch, I want to talk business with you.’

Belcher, subs. (pugilistic).—A neckerchief named after Jim Belcher, a noted pugilist. The ground is blue, with white spots. Also, attributatively, to any handkerchief of a similar pattern. For synonyms, see Fogle.

1812. Examiner, 21 Sept., 607, 1. The traverser … tied a belcher handkerchief round his neck.

18(?). Dickens, The Ghost of Art, in Reprinted Pieces, p. 215. I saw that the lower part of his face was tied up, in what is commonly called a belcher handkerchief.

1874. Macmillan’s Magazine, April, p. 506. The spotted blue and white neckerchief, still called a belcher, bears the name of a famous prize fighter.

2. (thieves’.)—A ring. Described in quotation.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 399. The best sort of rings for fawney dropping is the belchers. They are a good thick looking ring, and have the crown and V.R. stamped upon them.

3. (circus and showmen.)—A drinker of beer; generally a hard drinker. Cf., Belch.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 99. Now it is well known that travelling mummers are all rare belchers … I kept them in conversation … until the drink took the desired effect, and one by one the princes and kings dropped on the grass floor, and were sound drunk and asleep.

Belial, subs. (Oxford University).—A nickname of Balliol College.

Believe. I believe you, phr. (common).—This phrase is frequently employed to signify general assent; ‘yes.’ Sometimes colloquially ‘I believe you my boy’; once a favourite catch-phrase of a well-known actor.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 286. ‘Now confess: were you not a little surprised?’—‘I believe you,’ replied that illustrious person.

1849–50. Thackeray, Pendennis, I., p. 140. ‘Miss Rouney, I gather, was the confidante of the other.’ ‘Confidant? I believe you.’

1860. George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss, p. 199. ‘Is she a cross woman?’—‘I believe you.’

1879. Dudley Costello, The Millionaire of Mincing Lane, p. 204. ‘And she hates that fellow?’—‘Hates him? I believe you.’

Bell, subs. (vagrants’).—A song. Tramps’ term. Simply diminutive of bellow.—Hotten.

Verb (schoolboy).—To bell a marble is to run away with it, but the action scarcely amounts to actual theft.

To ring one’s own bell, phr. (American).—A variation of ‘to blow one’s trumpet’; to sound one’s praises personally.

Bell-Bastard, subs. (provincial slang).—In the West of England the illegitimate child of a woman who is herself illegitimate; why and wherefore is obscure, though possibly a corruption of ‘double bastard.’

Bellmare, subs. (American).—A political leader, mostly used contemptuously. The term is a slang appropriation from the terminology of Western life, where it seems to be used in regard to mules much in the same way as bell-wether is employed in England in reference to sheep. Why the grey mare, says the author of A Ride with Kit Carson, should be the better horse in the estimation of mules I cannot say, but such is certainly the fact. Though very cautious animals when relying solely on their own judgment, they would appear to have a consciousness of their own inferiority, which induces them to entertain a great regard for the sagacity of the horse, and especially for that of a white mare. The wily Californians, taking advantage of this amiable weakness, employ a steady, old, white mare of known gentleness and good character, to act as a kind of mother and guide to each drove of unruly mules.

Bellows, subs. (popular).—The lungs. This, etymologically, is the same as ‘belly,’ both words having passed through a most complicated history. Properly speaking a bellows is an instrument constructed to produce a strong current of air, and the word itself can be traced back to about A.D. 800. Its figurative and slang signification is recorded as follows:—

1615. Latham, Falconry (1633), 115. The lungs doe draw a breath.… When these bellowes doe decay, then health from both doth fade away, [M.]

1730. Jas. Miller, Humours of Oxford, Act v., Sc. 2., p. 75 (2 ed.). Heark you, madam, don’t abuse my wife—slut quotha! i’gad let me tell you, she has done a cleaner thing than you’ll ever do while your bellows blow, old lady.

1821. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 3.

A plague on those malty cove fellows,

Who’d have us in spirits relax;

Drink, they say, and you’ll ne’er burn the bellows,

Half water instead of all max;

A glass of good max, had they twigg’d it,

Would have made them, like us, lads of wax;

For Sal swigg’d, and Dick swigg’d,

And Bob swigg’d, and Nick swigg’d,

And I’ve swigged, and we’ve all of us swigg’d it,

And, by Jingo, there’s nothing like max.

All Max!

By Jingo, there’s nothing like max!

1843. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), Sam Slick in England, ch. xxii. He [the servant] is so fat and lazy … walkin’ put him out o’ breath.… How I would like to lick him … round the park … to improve his wind, and teach him how to mend his pace. I’d repair his old bellowses for him, I know.

Though regarded as slang in England, the word is colloquially used in many parts of America, in the duplicated plural form—bellowses.

1848. J. R. Lowell, in Biglow Papers, I., p. 23. His bellowses is sound enough.

Bellowsed, ppl. adj. (old).—Transported; lagged. Cf., Bellowser, sense 2.

Bellowser, subs. (pugilistic).—1. A blow in the pit of the stomach, or wind—one that takes the breath away.

2. (old.)—A sentence of transportation for life.

1856. Novels and Tales (from Household Words), Tauch. ed. vi., p. 187. A sigh of the kind which is called by the lower classes a bellowser.

Bellows to Mend, phr. (common).—It is said of a broken-winded horse that it has bellows to mend; likewise of a man whose lungs are affected, or one who from any cause is ‘out of health.’

1856. Cuthbert Bede, Verdant Green, pt. II., ch. iv. To one gentleman he would pleasantly observe, as he tapped him on the chest, ‘Bellows to mend for you, my buck!’

Bell-Rope, subs. (common).—The same as aggerawators (q.v.).

1868. Brewer, Phrase and Fable, s.v., ‘Love lock.’ When men indulge in a curl in front of their ears, the love-lock is called a bell-rope—i.e., a rope to pull the belles after them.

Bells Down! intj. (Winchester College).—See quotation and Bells go single!

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 62. The junior in chamber had a hard time of it; … while endeavouring to get through his multifarious duties, he had to keep a sharp ear on the performance of the chapel bell, and to call out accordingly, ‘first peal!’ ‘second peal!’ and bells down!

Bells go Single! intj. (Winchester College).—A single bell is rung for five minutes before the hour at which chapel commences. For College evening chapel three three’s are rung, and then follows a ‘bell,’ one for every man in College—70.

1878. Adams, Wykehamica, p. 256. At a quarter to six the peal again rang out, and the cry of bells go was sounded in shrill tones through every chamber of College and Commoners.… After ten minutes the peal changed, and only a single bell continued to ring. This was notified by the cry bells go single, and five minutes afterwards, by that of ‘bells down.’… Presently the head-master … would descend from his library: or the second master … would appear at the archway near Sixth Chamber, and the warning voice would be heard ‘Gabell’ or ‘Williams through,’ ‘Williams,’ or ‘Ridding in.’ Straightway there would be a general rush, the college-boys darting across the quadrangle in the rear of the Præfect of Chapel; while the Commoners hurried in, keeping up a continuous stream from their more distant quarters.

Bellswagger.—See Belswagger.

Bell-Topped, Bell-Knobbed, ppl. adj. (harlotry).—Said of a man whose penis is considerably thicker at the top end than at the root or middle.

Bell-Topper, subs. (popular).—A silk hat. [From bell, alluding to the shape, + top, from its position when worn, in relation to the rest of the body + er.] For synonyms, see Golgotha.

1885. G. A. Sala, in Daily Telegraph, Aug. 5, p. 5, col. 4. His very bell-topper hat had been garlanded with flowers.

Belly-Ache, subs. (vulgar).—A pain in the bowels; a colic.

1881. New York Times, Dec. 18, quoted in N. and Q., 6 S., v., 65. Bellyache. To grumble without good cause. Employés bellyache at being overworked, or when they fancy themselves underfed, etc.

Belly-Bender, subs. (American).—A boy’s term for weak and unsafe ice.

Belly-Bound, adj. (vulgar).—Constipated; costive.

Belly-Bumper or Belly-Buster. To take a belly-buster, phr. (American).—To ride down a hill in a sled lying on one’s stomach, an amusement confined, it hardly needs saying, to young America. The idea of toboganning was derived from this boyish pastime, and the oaken board has been succeeded by the fleet-winged toboggan, made of seasoned maple with handsomely upholstered seats. With the advent of improved ice vehicles the interest in these sports has increased, and instead of being confined to the vulgar boys who used to ride down hill belly-buster fashion, men and even the most fashionable women now partake of this pleasant and invigorating pastime. Also belly-bumbo, belly-guts, or gutter, belly-flounders, belly-flumps, and belly-plumper.

1888. Chicago Inter-Ocean. Barney has a sled, on which he hauls the fish in snowy weather. Barney had his sled out yesterday, belly-bumping on a little patch of ice and snow.

Belly-Button, subs. (American).—The navel.

Belly-Can (political).—Explained by quotation.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, Mar. 28. Whatever ultimately comes of the Sunday Closing movement, it will at any rate leave behind it a curious addition to the English language. This is the word ‘belly-can,’ which is (according to the opponents of Sunday Closing) the plebeian counterpart of the more genteel ‘small cask’—both things being, of course, contrivances for getting round the legal prohibition of Sunday drinking. Lexicographers may perhaps be glad to have the definitions of the two phrases as given yesterday afternoon by Mr. Cavendish Bentinck:—The ‘belly-can’ was a tin vessel not unlike a saddle in shape, which men and women, generally the latter—let hon. members note that—got filled with beer and secreted about their clothes, an averaged-sized can holding about four quarts. A more aristocratic method of private Sunday drinking was by means of the ‘small cask.’ The small cask industry was said to be an exceedingly prosperous one in certain districts. Grocers advertised for casks as a speciality, and one grocer advertised on a Saturday fifty and sixty and sometimes even 100 empty casks.

Belly-Cheat or Belly-Chete, subs. (old).—An apron; also food. [From belly + slang cheat, a thing; from Anglo-Saxon ceat, a thing.]

1609. Dekker, Lanthorne and Candlelight, wks. (1885) III., 196. A belly-chete, an apron.

1622. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, II., i. Each man shall eat his own stol’n eggs and shall possess what he can purchase—back or belly-cheats.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Belly-cheat, an apron.

Belly-Cheer or Belly-Chere, subs. (old).—Food. This term is of considerable antiquity, as also is belly-cheering for eating and drinking. For synonyms, see Grub.

1559. Eliotes Dictionarie. Abdomini indulgere, to geve hym selfe to bealy-chere.

1612. Rowlands, Knaves of Spades, etc. Gluttonie mounted on a greedie beare, To belly-cheere and banquets lends his care.

1699. Coles, English Dictionary. Belly-cheer, Cibaria.

Belly-chere.—See Belly-cheer.

Belly-Chete.—See Belly-cheat.

Belly-Full, subs. (old).—1. A sound drubbing; a thrashing.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, in wks. V., 265. The churlish frampild waues gaue him his belly-full of fish broath.

1605. Chapman, All Fooles, Act ii., p. 58 (Plays, 1874). Walk not too boldly; if the serjeants meet you, you may have swaggering work your belly-full.

1666. Pepys, Diary, Oct. 28. He says that in the July fight, both the Prince and Holmes had their belly-fulls, and were fain to go aside.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xvi. Bunker’s Hill, where, Mr. Slick observed, ‘the British first got a taste of what they afterwards got, a belly-full.’

2. A woman with child was also formerly said to have her belly-full.—See Belly-up.

Belly-Furniture, subs. (old).—Food; something wherewith to furnish the belly. Cf., Belly-timber, Back-timber, etc.

1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, bk. I., ch. v. (Bohn’s), i., 110. Then did they fall upon the victuals, and some belly-furniture to be snatched at in the very same place.

Belly-go-Firster, subs. (pugilistic).—An initial blow, generally given, say some authorities, in the stomach—whence its classic name!

Belly-Gut, subs. (old).—A lazy, greedy fellow.

1540. Morysine, transl., Vives’ Introd. Wisd., viij. Such as be skoffers, swell feastes … bely guts. [M.]

1733. Bailey, Erasmus, p. 346. Since then thou would’st not have a belly-gut for thy servant, but rather one brisk and agile, why then dost thou provide for thyself a minister fat and unwieldy?

Belly-Guts, subs. (American schoolboys’).—1. In Pennsylvania, molasses candy.

2. (American.)—Equivalent to belly-bumper (q.v.).

Belly-Hedges, subs. (Shrewsbury School).—In school steeple-chases, obstructions of such a height that they can easily be cleared—i.e., about ‘belly-high.’

Belly-Piece, subs. (old).—1. An apron. Cf., Belly-cheat.

1689. Shadwell, Bury Fair. If thou shoulds cry, it would make streaks down thy face; as the tears of the tankard do upon my fat host’s belly-pieces.

2. A mistress; a concubine; a whore.

1630. Randolph, Jealous Lovers. Asot: Come, blush not, bashfull belly-piece—I will meet thee: I ever keep my word with a fair lady. I will requite that jewell with a richer.

Belly Plea, subs. (old).—A plea of pregnancy, generally adduced by female felons capitally convicted. This they took care to provide for, previous to trial; every gaol had, as the Beggars’ Opera informs us, one or more child-getters, who qualified the ladies for that expedient. The plea still holds good, execution of female convicts in ‘an interesting condition’ being deferred until after accouchement. In practice, it really means a commutation of the death penalty for life imprisonment. All chances, however, of becoming enceinte after arrest are sedulously guarded against by the rules of modern prison life.

Belly-Plumper, subs. (American).—See Belly-bumper.

Belly-Timber, subs. (old).—Food; provisions of all kinds. [From belly + timber.] This, like many other words of its class (e.g., back-timber, q.v.), was once in serious use, but for a long period it has been going down hill, and it is now a thorough-going vulgarism, only surviving dialectically, and as slang. Massinger and the older dramatists employed it seriously; toward the end of the seventeenth century it began to be used in a ludicrous and vulgar sense. Butler employs it thus, and in Charles Cotton’s Scarronides (1678), the hero we are told—

Lay thinking now his guts grew limber,

How they might get more belly-timber.

For synonyms generally, see Grub.

1614. Terence in English, Annona cara est. Corne is at a high price; victuals are deare; belly-timber is hard to come by.

1637. Massinger, Guardian, III., iii.

Ador. Haste you unto my villa, and take all provisions along with you.…

Car. Trust me for belly-timber.

1663–78. S. Butler, Hudibras.

Through deserts vast,

And regions desolate they pass’d,

Where belly-timber, above ground

Or under, was not to be found.

1719. Poor Robin’s Almanack, Feb. On the 10th day of this month, being Shrove-Tuesday, is like to be a great innundation of belly-timber.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.). Belly-timber (s.), all sorts of food.

1820. Scott, Monastery, ch. xv. ‘Yonder comes the monkish retinue … I hope a’gad, they have not forgotten my trunk-mails of apparel amid the ample provision they have made for their own belly-timber.’

Belly-Up, adv. phr. (old).—Applied to women when enceinte. From the protrusion of the abdomen which takes place under such circumstances.—See Belly-full.

Belly-Vengeance, subs. (common).—Sour beer, apt to cause gastralgia. The French call this pissin de cheval, i.e., ‘horse urine.’ For synonyms, see Swipes.

Belongings, subs. (colloquial).—1. Qualities; endowments; faculties.

2. Relations; one’s kindred.

3. One’s effects; or possessions. In sense 1 belongings has long been an accepted word; senses 2 and 3 are given by Annandale as ‘colloquial and vulgar.’

1852. Dickens, Bleak House. I have been trouble enough to my belongings in my day.

1866. Saturday Review, 24 Feb., p. 244, col. 2. The rich uncle whose mission is to bring prosperity to his belongings. [M.]

4. (American.)—Used by the prudishly inclined for trousers.—See Bags.

Below the Belt, adv. phr. (popular).—To strike a man below the belt is to hit him unfairly, a term derived from the pugilistic arena. Hence, underhand dealing, and the taking of mean advantage generally. It is akin with ‘To stab a man in the back.’

Belswagger, subs. (old).—1. A lewd man; a whoremaster; a pimp. [Thought to be a contracted form of belly + swagger, i.e., a man given up to bodily pleasure. Ash has both forms.]

1775. Ash, Dictionary. Belswagger, a whoremaster.

2. A bully; a hectoring fellow. This is the older, but least important usage.

1592. Greene, Defence of Coney-Catching. … the belswaggers of the country.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bellswagger, a noisy, bullying fellow.

Beltinker, subs. and verb (common).—A beating; a drubbing. To thrash; to beat soundly.—For synonyms, see Tan.

Bemused, ppl. adj. (common).—Fuddled; as in the stupid stage of drunkenness. [From be + muse + ed, originally to be sunk in reverie, or contemplation.] The expression as generally used now is bemused with beer. This phrase, originally used by Pope, was given a new impetus by G. A. Sala (in Gaslight and Daylight). In America, especially, it caught the popular fancy and ran a brief but riotous course throughout the Union to signify one who addicted himself to ‘soaking’ with beer. The transatlantic usage naturally reacted upon the Mother Country, and from being occasionally employed it became much more popular, and was heard on all sides—a striking instance of ‘fashion in words.’

1735. Pope, Prol. Sat., 15. A parson much be-mus’d in beer.

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. viii. A fat little man, primed with port, but who, when not thus bemused, is an influential member of his committee.

1883. R. L. Stevenson, The Treasure of Franchard, ch. iv., in Longman’s Mag., April, p. 694. So while the Doctor made himself drunk with words, the adopted stable-boy bemused himself with silence.

For synonyms generally, see Screwed.

Ben, subs. (theatrical).—1. A benefit; a performance of which the receipts, after paying expenses, are devoted to one person’s special use or benefit.

1872. Miss Braddon, Dead Sea Fruit, I., 190. ‘I have played clown for my ben,’ murmured the great Dr. Mortemas.

1880. G. R. Sims, Ballads of Babylon (Forgotten). You saw me as Hamlet, Charley, the night that I had my ben.

2. (old cant.)—A fool.—Grose.—See Benish.

3. (common.)—A shortened form of Benjamin (q.v.), a coat; also of benjy (q.v.), a waistcoat.

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 252. Being at Hailsham, a small market town in Sussex, about the year 1846, I attended the club feast, which was held on the common. At that time we used to buy men’s waistcoats of Michael Riley, of Manchester, at £5 per gross, and sell them at 1s. 6d., 1s. 3d., and the lowest price at a shilling each. I had a bale containing twelve dozen arrive that morning, they were red ones; and in offering these bens, the plan was to put them on to show how well they fitted.

To stand ben (popular).—To stand treat.

Benar.—See Bene.

Benbouse, subs. (old cant).—Good beer. [From the Latin bene = good + bouse or booze.]

1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), p. 85. The vpright cofe canteth to the Roge: ‘I saye by the Salomon I will lage it of with a gage of benebouse; then cut to my nose watch.’ [‘I sweare by the masse, I wull washe it of with a quart of good drynke; then saye to me what thou wylt.’]

1622. John Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush.

I crown thy nab with a gag of benbouse,

And stall thee by the salmon into clowes,

To maund on the pad and strike all the cheats,

To mill from the Ruffmans, and commission and slates.

Twang dell’s, i’ the stiromel, and let the quire cuffin

And Herman Beck strine and trine to the Ruffin!

i.e.,

I poure on thy pate a pot of good ale,

And by the Rogue’s oath, a Rogue the install,

To beg on the way and rob all thou meets,

To steal from the hedge both the shirt and the sheets,

And lie with thy wench in the straw till she twang,

Let the Constable, Justice, and Devil go hang!

Bencher, subs. (old).—A frequenter of taverns; one who hulks about public houses; perhaps with an allusion to the Benchers of the Inns of Court.

Ben Cull or Cove, subs. (thieves’).—A friend; a ‘pall’; a companion. [From old cant bene or ben, good + cull, a man.] For synonyms, see Cove.

Bend, verb (Scotch).—To tipple; to drink hard. Jamieson, the first lexicographer to draw attention to the word in its slang sense, illustrates his example by quotations from Alan Ramsay. Murray suggests that it is derived from that sense of to bend, signifying ‘to pull,’ ‘to strain,’ ‘to apply oneself.’

1758. A. Ramsay, Poems (1800), I., 215. Brawtippony … which we with greed bended, as fast as she could brew. Ibid, ii., 73. To bend wi’ ye, and spend wi’ ye, an evening, and gaffaw. [1860. Ramsay, Remin., Ser. 1 (ed. 7), 47. Bend weel to the Madeira at dinner, for here ye’ll get little o’t after.]

Above one’s bend, phr. (common).—Above one’s ability, power or capacity; or out of one’s reach. Probably a corruption of ‘above one’s bent.’ Shakspeare puts the expression in the mouth of Hamlet, ‘to the top of my bent’ (iii., 2). In the Southern States [U.S.A.], its place is generally taken by above my huckleberry (q.v.). An English equivalent is ‘above one’s hook.’

1848. J. F. Cooper, The Oak Openings. It would be above my bend to attempt telling you all we saw among the red skins.

Grecian bend (popular).—A craze amongst women which had a vogue from about 1872 to 1880. It consisted in walking with the body bent forward.

1876. Chambers’ Journal, No. 629. Your own advocacy for the Grecian bend and the Alexandra limp—both positive and practical imitations of physical affliction.

On the bend, phr. (common).—In an underhand, oblique, or crooked way—not ‘on the square.’

1863. J. C. Jeaffreson, Live It Down, II., 152. I never have paid anything yet on the square, and I never will. When I die, I’ll order my executor to buy my coffin off the square. He shall get it on the bend somehow or other.

Bender, subs. (popular).—1. A sixpence. Thought to be an allusion to the ease with which these coins were liable to be bent in use. At one time the currency was not of such good quality as now.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 178. Sixpence. A bender.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xlii., p. 367. ‘Will you take three bob?’ ‘And a bender,’ suggested the clerical gentleman.… ‘What do you say, now? We’ll pay you out for three-and-sixpence a week. Come!’

1869. Whyte Melville, M. or N., p. 66. A ragged boy established, at the crossing, who had indeed rendered himself conspicuous by his endeavours to ferry Puckers over dry-shod, was accosted by a shabby-genteel and remarkably good-looking man, in the following vernacular—‘On this minnit, off at six, Buster; two bob an’ a bender, and a three of eye-water, in?’ ‘Done for another joey,’ replied Buster, with the premature acuteness of youth foraging for itself in the streets of London.

Among synonymous terms for this coin may be mentioned cripple; bandy; crookback; downer; fyebuck; lord of the manor; tanner; sprat; kick; half a borde; tizzy.

2. (Scotch.)—A hard and persistent drinker; a tippler. This should be compared with bend.

1728. Ramsay, Poems (1848), III., 162. Now lend your lugs, ye benders fine, wha ken the benefit of wine.

1810. Tannahill, Poems (1846), 53. Or benders, blest your wizzens weetin’.

3. (public schools’.)—In public school phraseology a bender is a stroke of the cane administered by the master while the culprit bends down his back.

4. (common.)—The arm. In connection with this see the following, and for synonyms, see Chalk Farm.

5. (American.)—A drinking bout or spree, in the course of which, to use another slang expression, ‘the town is painted red,’ and the participants decidedly unbent. This is possibly derived from any one of the three following sources:—(1) from the Scotch usage; (2) from the facetious name given to the arm, which becomes a bender from being so frequently bent or ‘crooked’ to lift the glass to the mouth; (3) from the Dutch bende, an assembly, party, or band.

1854. Putnam’s Monthly, Aug.

I met her at the Chinese room;

She wore a wreath of roses,

She walked in beauty like the night,

Her breath was like sweet posies.

I led her through the festal hall,

Her glance was soft and tender;

She whispered gently in my ear,

‘Say, Mose, ain’t this a bender?’

1864. Richmond Dispatch, 3 Jan. ‘Most of the owners of these names had been tempted by the festivities of the day to go on a regular bender, and had to pay the penalty for their New Year’s frolic by appearing this morning in the police-court.’

1888. Detroit Free Press, 4 Aug. He was a character noted for going on frequent benders until he came very near having the jimjams and then sobering up.

6. (American.)—A euphemism employed by the squeamishly inclined for the leg. A similar piece of prudishness is displayed in an analogous use of ‘limb.’ With a notorious mock-modesty American women decline to call a leg a leg; they call it a limb instead. This tendency is the more remarkable when the great freedom extended to American girls and women is borne in mind; unless, indeed, it arises from guilty knowledge. White, who, perhaps, was rather given to excessive incisiveness of speech, remarked that perhaps such persons think that it is indelicate for women to have legs, and that therefore they are concealed by garments, and should be concealed in speech. Professor Geikie, during one of his Canadian tours, also found out that both sexes had limbs of some sort; the difficulty was to discover whether they were used to stand on or to hold by. Sensible people everywhere, however, have little part in such prudery.

1849. Longfellow, Kavanagh. Young ladies are not allowed to cross their benders in school.

7. (schoolboys’.)—The bow-shaped segment of a paper kite.

1873. Dr. Blackley, Hay Fever, p. 145. The first kite was six feet in length by three feet in width, and was made of the usual form, namely, with a central shaft or ‘standard,’ and a semi-circular top or bender.

Over the bender, phr. (common).—A variant of ‘over the left shoulder’; the connection between bender, a slang term for the arm, and the shoulder is sufficiently apparent. There are many analogous expressions, which see under Over the left.

Intj.—An exclamation of incredulity; also used as a kind of saving clause to a promise which the speaker does not intend to carry into effect. Probably an abbreviated form of over the bender.

Bendigo, subs. (common).—A rough fur cap named after a notorious pugilist.

Bend Over, intj. (Winchester College).—A direction to put oneself into position to receive a ‘spanking.’ This is done by bending over so that the tips of the fingers extend towards the toes, thus presenting a surface as tight as a drum on the part to be castigated.

Bene, Ben, adj. (old cant).—Good. This belongs to the most ancient English cant, and is probably a corruption from the Latin. Benar and benat appear to have been used as comparatives of bene.—(See quots.)

1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), p, 86. What, stowe your bene, cofe, and sut benat whydds, and byng we to rome vyle to nyp a bong. [i.e. What, hold your peace good fellow and speak better words, and let us go to London to cut, or steal a purse.]

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). Ben, good.

1611. Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker, The Roaring Girl or Moll Cut Purse.

A gage of ben Rom-bouse,

In a bousing ken of Rom-vile

Is benar than a Caster, Peck, pennam, lay

Or popler.

i.e.,

A quart pot of good wine

In a drinking house of London

Is better than a cloak, meat, bread, butter milk (?) or porridge.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.), p. 11, list of cant words in. Bien, good.

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, bk. III., ch. iii., p. 265. ‘I’ve brought a couple of bene coves, with lots of the Queen’s pictures in their sacks’ [pockets].

Subs. (old cant).—‘Stowe your bene,’ i.e., ‘hold your tongue.’ See quotation above from Harman’s Caveat.

Bene-Bouze.—See Benbouse.

Bene-Cove.—See Ben-cull.

Bene Darkmans! intj. (old cant).—Good night! French thieves say sorgabon, an inversion of bonne sorgue.

Benedick, subs. (familiar).—1. A sportive name for a newly-married man; especially one who has long been a bachelor. Apparently, however, there is some confusion in the usage (see sense 2). The name was derived from Shakspeare’s character in Much Ado About Nothing.

1599. Shakspeare, Much Ado About Nothing, v., 4, 100. Don Pedro. How dost thou, benedick, the married man?

1805. Rev. J. Marriott, in C. K. Sharpe’s Correspondence (1888), I., 239. From what I have seen of his lordship, both as a bachelor and as a benedick.

2. A bachelor. Cf., foregoing.

1843. Life in the West. He is no longer a benedic, but a quiet married man.

1856. C. Bronté, Professor, ch. xxiv. ‘Are you married, Mr. Hunsden?’ asked Frances, suddenly.

‘No. I should have thought you might have guessed I was a benedick by my look.’

Bene Feakers, subs. (cant).—Counterfeiters of bills.—Grose.

Bene Feakers of Gybes, subs. phr. (cant).—Counterfeiters of passes.—Grose.

Bene or Bien Mort, subs. (old cant).—A fine woman; a pretty girl; a hostess. [From bene, old cant for ‘good,’ + mort, a canting term for a woman.]

1567. Harman, Caveat, p. 85 (ed. 1869). A bene mort hereby at the sign of the prauncer. [i.e., The Horse.]

1671. Richard Head, The English Rogue.

Bing out, bien morts, and ture and ture,

Bing out, bien morts, and toure;

For all your duds are bing’d awast,

The bien cove hath the loure.

i.e.,

Go forth, brave girls: look out, look out,

Look out, I say, good maids,

For all your clothes are stole, I doubt,

And shar’d among the blades.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xvii. ‘Tour out,’ said the one ruffian to the other; ‘tour the bien mort twiring at the gentry cove.’

1823. Scott, Peveril of the Peak, ch. xxxvi. Why the bien morts will think you a chimney-sweeper on May-day.

1881. New York Slang Dictionary. [See first stanza of canting song on page 80 ante.]

Beneship.—See Benship.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), p. 86. The vpright man canteth to the Roge. Man! ‘That is beneshyp to our watche.’ [That is very good for vs.]

Beneshiply, adv. (old cant).—Worshipfully.—Grose.

Ben-Flake, subs. (thieves’).—A steak.

Bengal Tigers, subs. (military).—The Seventeenth Foot; so nicknamed from its badge of a royal tiger granted for services in India from 1804–1823. Also called ‘The Lily-Whites’ from its facings.

1874. Chambers’ Journal, p. 801. The 17th … the Bengal Tigers, from their badge—a tiger.

Bengi, subs. (military).—An onion.

Bengy.—See Benjy.

Benish, adj. (old cant.)—Foolish.—See Ben, sense 2.

Benjamin, subs. (Winchester College).—1. A small ruler.

2. (thieves’.)—A coat. It is said to have been derived from a well-known London advertising tailor of the same name. Formerly this garment was called a Joseph, but for synonyms, see Capella. An upper Benjamin = a great coat.

1815. T. Peacock, Nightmare Abbey, p. 159. His heart is seen to beat through his upper Benjamin. [M.]

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. ii. Benjamins, and great-coats, and cloaks of all sorts and sizes.

1851. G. Borrow, Lavengro, ch. lix., p. 181 (1888). The coachman … with narrow-rimmed hat and fashionable Benjamin.

1865. Pall Mall Gazette, 7 March, p. 3, col. 2. [Quoting East-end slang.]

Ben Joltram, subs. (provincial).—Brown bread and skimmed milk; a Norfolk term for a ploughboy’s breakfast.—Hotten.

Benjy, subs. (nautical).—1. A low crowned straw hat having a very broad brim.

1883. W. Clark Russell, Sailors’ Language, p. 14. Benjie, the name of a straw hat worn by sailors.

2. (common.)—A waistcoat. Also ben (q.v.). For synonyms, see Fan.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171. Benjy, a vest.

Bens, subs. (American).—A workman’s slang term for his tools. In England called alls.

Benship or Beenship, subs. (old cant).—Worship; goodness. This word, evidently from beneship (q.v.), is given by Bailey in his Dictionary [1728], and by Coles in 1724.

Adv. (old cant).—Very good.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65. Benship, very good.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 37 (H. Club’s Repr.). Benship, very good.

1665. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 47 (1874). Benshiply, very well.

Beong, subs. (thieves’ and costermongers’).—A shilling. [From Italian bianco, white; also the name of a silver coin.] For full list of synonyms, see Deaner.

Beray, verb (old cant).—To defile; to befoul; to abuse.

Berkeleys, subs. (common).—A woman’s breasts. [It may be noted that in the gypsy, berk, or burk = breast; plural, berkia.] For synonyms, see Dairies.

Bermudas, subs. (old).—A district in London, similar to Alsatia in Whitefriars (q.v.), and the Mint in Southwark, privileged against arrests. The Bermudas are thought to have been certain narrow and obscure alleys and passages north of the Strand, near Covent Garden, and contiguous to Drury Lane; see, however, the second quotation where the Mint would seem to be indicated.

1616. Jonson, Devil’s an Ass, II., 1. Meercraft. Engine, when did you see my cousin Everhill? keeps he still your quarter in the Bermudas? Eng. Yes, sir, he was writing this morning very hard.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, p. 12. In short, every contrivance that ingenuity could devise was resorted to by this horde of reprobates to secure themselves from danger or molestation. Whitefriars had lost its privileges; Salisbury Court and the Savoy no longer offered places of refuge to the debtor; and it was, therefore, doubly requisite that the Island of the Bermuda (as the Mint was termed by its occupants) should uphold its rights, as long as it was able to do so.

As regards the derivation of the name, Nares suggests it in the actual practice, which obtained of debtors fleeing to the Bermuda Islands, when first discovered, to elude their creditors. This fact is alluded to in the following. Cf., second quotation already given.

1616. Jonson, Devil’s an Ass, III., 3. There’s an old debt of forty, I ga’ my word. For one is run away to the Bermudas.

Berthas, subs. (Stock Exchange).—The nickname in the ‘House’ and among brokers for the ordinary stock of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company.

1889. The Rialto, Mar. 23. The week opened very badly on the Stock Exchange, and two or three days of utter stagnation followed, but yesterday afternoon a revival took place, which was quite dramatic in its suddenness and vigour. Between two o’clock and the closing of the doors at four o’clock, advances were made ranging from 2½ in Berthas to an average of 1 in Americans. Tintos climbed to 12¼, and even Kaffirs raised their sickly heads. All the little bulls went home happier than they have been for three weeks.

Berwicks, subs. (Stock Exchange).—The ordinary stock of the North Eastern Railway.

Bespeak-Night, subs. (theatrical).—A benefit.—See Ben.

Bess.—See Betty.

Bess-o’-Bedlam, subs. (old).—A lunatic vagrant.

1821. Scott, Kenilworth, ch. xxvi. ‘Why, what Bess of Bedlam is this, would ask to see my lord on such a day as the present?’

Best. To best one, verb (common).—1. To obtain an advantage; to secure a superior position in a contest or bargain. The meaning of to best, therefore, is really ‘to worst.’ In this sense, not necessarily to cheat.—See sense 2.

1863. Trafford, World in Ch., II., 77. As I am a staunch Churchman I cannot stand quiet and see the Dissenters best the Establishment. [M.]

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 69. Bob was a good salesman, but of bad temper, who if he could not get rid of any unruly fellow by his chaffing him, would invariably turn to Perdue and say, ‘Look at this man; I shan’t bother with him, why don’t you get him away? He’s interrupting me and the business. I can’t jolly him down, so you must settle and do away with him, or I must “dry up,” for the fellow’s bested me.’

c. 1879. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 92. His intimates were wont to say there was no trusting Cuddie Elliston, while, as for Sam Pearson, it was a current saying that ‘No one had ever bested him.’ Still, Yorkshire has a certain respect for this faculty; and though Pearson was regarded as a man who carried it rather far, and would have skinned his own brother upon occasion, yet public opinion did not get much further regarding him than that ‘Lawyer Pearson knew his away about; and you’d to get up main early in the morning to get a point the best of him.’

1883. Graphic, Feb. 24, p. 191, col. 1. So there are people who will not scruple to best a railway company, who would be loth to wrong a private person.

2. Sometimes, however, passing the ill-defined border line between sharp practice and down-right roguery, to best is an equivalent of to cheat; to swindle.

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 234. His game was besting everybody, whether it was for pounds, shillings, or pence. At one time he cheated a poor farming man out of his milch cow in exchange for another. The man was in liquor at the time, and when he came to his senses he went right away to another part of the country, and his poor wife took it so to heart that she died shortly afterwards.

1879. Horsley, in Macmillan’s Magazine, Oct. When I went to the fence he bested (cheated) me because I was drunk, and only gave me £8 10s. for the lot. So the next day I went to him and asked him if he was not going to grease my duke (put money into my hand). So he said, ‘No.’ Then he said, ‘I will give you another half-a-quid’; and said, ‘Do anybody, but mind they don’t do you.’ So I thought to myself, ‘All right, my lad; you will find me as good as my master,’ and left him.

1885. May, in Fortnightly Review, Oct., p. 578. The quack broker who piles up money by besting his clients. [M.]

To give one best (thieves’).—To leave one; to sever companionship.

1879. Horsley, in Macmillan’s Mag., Oct. While using one of those places [concerts], I first met a sparring bloke (pugilist), who taught me how to spar, and showed me the way to put my dukes up. But after a time I gave him best (left him) because he used to want to bite my ear (borrow) too often.

Bester, subs. (common).—A cheat; a swindler.—See Best, sense 2. Generally applied to a turf or gaming blackleg.

1851. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, IV., 24. Those who cheat the Public … ‘Bouncers and Besters’ defrauding, by laying wagers, swaggering, or using threats.

1885. Evening News, 21 September, 4, 1. The complainant called her father a liar, ‘a bester and a crawler.’

Besting the Pistol, phr. (pedestrian).—To get away before the signal for starting is actually given. [From besting, gaining an advantage, + pistol, the firing of which is the signal to ‘Go!’]

1889. Polytechnic Magazine, July 7, p. 330. The third man from scratch was evidently in too great a hurry; twice he tried to best the pistol, and as often the whole start had to be made afresh.

Bet. You bet! intj. (American).—You may depend on it; you may be sure; certainly! be assured! Originally a Californian phrase tacked on to an assertion to give it additional emphasis. So popular is the expression that it has been given as a name in the form of Ubet to a town in the Canadian Northwest. Oftentimes it is amplified into ‘you bet your boots,’ ‘life,’ ‘bottom dollar,’ and so on. The two former were used in New York and Boston as far back as 1840.

c. 1882. Stavely Hill, From Home to Home. We reached the settlement of Ubet. The name had been selected from the slang phrase so laconically expressive of ‘You may be sure I will’.… A night marauder took advantage of a good moon to place a ladder against a window, hoping to secure the property of a gentleman asleep within the chamber. As he lifted the window, and put his head in, the gentleman woke up, and with great promptness presented his six-shooter, shouting out ‘You get!’ With equal promptness the detected thief exclaimed you bet! and slid down the ladder,—et procul in tenuem ex oculis evanuit auram.

1870. Bret Harte, Poems, etc., The Tale of a Pony: Ah, here comes Rosey’s new turn-out! Smart! You bet your life ’twas that!

1872. S. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Roughing It, ch. ii. ‘The mosquitoes are pretty bad about here, madam!’ ‘You bet!’ ‘What did I understand you to say, madam?’ ‘You bet!’

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, Mar. 7. Congressional Report. Mr. Boutelle—That is the bravery to which you refer? (Applause on the Republican side.) Mr. O’Ferrall—Well, sir, it is the right kind of bravery: you may bet your bottom dollar on that.

(American.)—To bet one’s eyes is a gambler’s term for an onlooker who neither takes part in, nor bets upon the game.

Bethel, verb.—See quotation.

1740. North, Examen, p. 93. In the year 1680 Bethel and Cornish were chosen sheriffs. The former used to walk about more like a corn-cutter than Sheriff of London. He kept no house, but lived upon chops, whence it is proverbial for not feasting to bethel the city.

Be There, verbal phr. (common).—To be there is to be on the qui vive; alive; knowing; in one’s element.

Better, adv. (vulgar).—More; without any idea of superiority. A depraved word; once in good usage, but now regarded as a vulgarism.

1587. Fleming, Cont. Holinshed, III., p. 1382, col. 2. Woorth one hundred and twentie pounds and better. [M.]

1679. Plot, Staffordshire (1686), p. 239. The bodies … being better than an inch long. [M.]

1769. Gray, in N. Nichols’ Corr. (1843), p. 87. It is better than three weeks since I wrote to you. [M.]

1851. G. Borrow, Lavengro, ch. lxx., p. 217 (1888). Following its windings for somewhat better than a furlong.

1854. Ainsworth, Flitch of Bacon, pt. I., ch. v. ‘Pastor of Little Dunmow Church for fifty years and better.’

1857. Dickens, Dorrit, bk. I., ch. x., 75. ‘Yes. Rather better than twelve years ago.’

1860. Dickens, Xmas Stories (Mess. from Sea), p. 89 (H. ed.). ‘He shipped for his last voyage better than three years ago.’

Better Half, subs. (colloquial).—humorous term for a wife. The history of the phrase is thus given by Murray, ‘originally my better half, i.e., the more than half of my being; said of a very close and intimate friend’; (Cf., ‘the better part of me’ Shaks.; ‘meæ partem animæ,’ ‘animæ dimidium meæ,’ Horace; ‘animæ partem … nostra majorem’ Statius); especially (after Sidney) used for ‘my husband’ or ‘wife’; now, jocularly appropriated to the latter. Formerly also applied to the soul, as the better part of man.

1580. Sidney, Arcadia, III., 280. [Argalus to Parthenia, his wife.] My deare, my better halfe (sayd hee), I find I must now leaue thee. [M.]

Circa 1600. Shakspeare, Sonnets, xxxix., 2.

O how thy worth with manners may I sing,

When thou art all the better part of me?

What can mine own praise to mine own self bring?

And what is’t but mine own when I praise thee.

1720. Sheffield (Duke of Buckingham), wks. (1753) I., 274. My dear and better half is out of danger. [M.]

1842. Theodore Martin, in Fraser’s Magazine, Dec., p. 241, col. 2. I … shall look out for a better half. [M.]

Betting Round, ppl. adj. (racing).—Laying fairly and equally against nearly all the horses in a race, so that no great risk can be run. Commonly called getting round.—Hotten.

Bettor Round, subs. (racing).—One who is addicted to betting round (q.v.).

1882. ‘Thormanby,’ Famous Racing Men, p. 75. He [John Gully] worked on gradually as a layer of odds—a ‘bettor round,’ or ‘leg,’ as he was called in those days. [c. 1820.]

Betty or Bess, subs. (old).—A small instrument used formerly by burglars to force open doors and pick locks. Now called a jenny; also jemmy; tivvil; twist; or screw. For synonyms, see Thieves, etc.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 47 (1874). Betty, an instrument to break a door.

1705. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus. vol. II., pt. IX., p. 7.

So Ruffains, who, with Crows and Betties,

Break Houses, when it dark and late is.

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bring bess and glym; i.e., bring the instrument to force the door, and the dark lanthorn.

1851. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, IV., 339. Expert burglars are generally equipped with good tools. They have a jemmy, a cutter, a dozen of betties, better known as picklocks.

Verb (colloquial).—To potter about; to fuss about. Usually said of a man assuming the domestic functions of a woman.

All betty! intj. (thieves’).—cry of warning; ‘it’s all up; the game is lost!’

Betty Martin.—See All my eye.

Betwattled, ppl. adj. (old).—Surprised; confounded; out of one’s senses; also bewrayed.—Grose.

Between You and Me and the Bedpost.—See Bedpost.

Bever, Bevir, Bœver, subs. (Eton, Winchester, and Westminster Colleges).—An afternoon meal served in hall. An old time term for a repast or snack between meals, especially in the afternoon; it is still dialectical in some parts of England. Murray gives examples of its use dating back to 1500.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 83. In summer time we were let out of afternoon school for a short time about four p.m., when there was a slight refection of bread and cheese laid out in Hall. It was called beever-time, and the pieces of bread beevers.

1884. M. Morris, in English Illustrated Magazine, Nov., p. 73. [At Eton, we] came up from cricket in the summer afternoons for beaver.

Beverage or Bevy, subs. (old).—A tip; a vail; equivalent to the French pourboire; money for drink, demanded, says Grose [1785], of any one having a new suit of clothes. For synonyms, see Tip.

Beware, subs. (theatrical).—Explained by quotation.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, vol. III., p. 149. ‘We [strolling actors] call breakfast, dinner, tea, supper, all of them “numyare”; and all beer, brandy, water, or soup, are beware.’

B Flats, subs. (common).—Bugs. Cf., F sharps, and for synonyms, see Norfolk Howards.

1866. Dickens, Household Words, xx., 326. Mrs. B. beheld one night a stout negro of the flat-back tribe—known among comic writers as b flats—stealing up towards the head of the bed.

1868. Brewer, Phrase and Fable, s.v. B flats.—Bugs. The pun is ‘B’ (the initial letter), and ‘flat,’ from the flatness of the obnoxious insect.

Bib. To nap a bib, or one’s bib, phr. (popular).—To weep; to ‘blubber’; to ‘snivel.’

French Synonyms. Lâcher les écluses (popular: ‘to let loose the floodgates’; the phrase also means ‘to void urine’); pisser des yeux (common: ‘to urinate with the eyes’); pleuvoir des châsses (thieves’: pleuvoir = ‘to rain’; in military slang to void urine; châsse = eye); verver (thieves’: a corrupted form of verser, ‘to pour out,’ to shed); viauper (popular: this argotic verb also means ‘to go molrowing’ or ‘to lead a dissolute life’); chasser des reluits (popular: chasser = ‘to expel,’ ‘to drive out’; reluits = ‘the eyes,’ or ‘ogles’); chier des châsses (popular: a coarse term); chigner (popular); baver des clignots (popular: literally ‘to drivel, slaver’ or ‘slobber the eyes’—cligner signifying ‘to wink’ or ‘blink’; hence clignots, ‘the blinkers’ or ‘winkers’); beugler (popular: properly ‘to bellow’ [like a bull]).

German Synonyms. Echen eichen (from the Hebrew echa, the first word in the Lamentations of Jeremiah); flonen, phlonen, flannen, flaussen, or flennen (to pull one’s mouth awry, either for laughing or crying, but among German thieves mainly in the former sense); jalen jaulen, or jolen machen (from the Hebrew jolal, whining; ‘to howl,’ to whine).

Italian Synonyms. Trignare (this also signifies to ‘rain’: Cf., the French, pleuvoir des châsses); slenzare or slenzire (also ‘to urinate’: Cf., French, lâcher les écluses); ventare (the primary slang sense of ventare is ‘to moisten,’ hence ‘to shed tears’: properly ‘to blow,’ ‘to be windy’); lenzare or lenzire (primarily, in a slang sense, ‘to soak,’ ‘to wet’; from this the meaning is transferred to signify ‘to make water,’ i.e., ‘to urinate,’ and also ‘to shed tears’: the word is properly written l’ance; the derivation will be found under the French synonyms for Adam’s ale, q.v.).

In Spanish there is one expression for ‘to cry’ which is full of poetry—fabricar las perlas, i.e., ‘to make pearls.’ Arabs likewise speak of tears as ‘pearls on the face.’

Bibables or Bibibles, subs. (American).—Drink, as distinguished from food. [A coinage on the model of ‘edibles,’ ‘eatables,’ ‘drinkables,’ etc.; from Latin bib-ĕre, to drink, + able, i.e., able to be drunk.]

1860. William Howard Russell (Special Correspondent of the Times), My Diary in India in the years 1858–9, I., p. 8. Could all the pale-ale, soda-water, sherry, porter, and vin ordinaire, and the feebler bibables be turned into nectar, etc.

1860. Pittsburg Despatch, Aug. The table was loaded and spread with edibles and bibibles of every possible kind. [de v.]

Bib-All-Night, subs. (old).—A toper; a confirmed drunkard. [From bib-ĕre, to drink, + all-night.]

1612. Sylvester, Lacrymæ Lacrymaram, p. 101. Bats, Harpies, Syrens, Centaurs, Bib-all-nights.

Bible, subs. (nautical).—See quotations.

1867. Admiral Smyth, Sailors’ Word Book. Bible, a hand-axe; a small holy-stone [a kind of sand-stone used in cleaning decks], so called from seamen using them kneeling.

1883. W. Clark Russell, Sailors’ Language, p. 14. Bibles. Small holy-stones, no doubt originally so called because they oblige those who use them to kneel. They are also termed ‘prayer books’ for the same reason.

That’s bible, phr. (common).—That’s the truth; that’s A 1.

Bible-Carrier, subs. (vagrants’).—A person who sell songs without singing them. Often heard in the neighbourhood of Seven Dials.

Bible-Clerk, subs. (Winchester College).—A College prefect in full power, appointed for one week. He keeps order in school, reads the lessons in chapel, takes round rolls (q.v.), and assists at floggings. He is absolved from going up to books (q.v.) during his term of office. The prefect of Hall need not act as Bible-clerk unless he likes, and the prefect of School may choose any week he pleases; the rest take weeks in rotation, in the order of their Chambers in College.—See Bibler and Bibling.

1864. Blackwood’s Magazine, vol. XCV., p. 73. [At dinner] portions of beef were served out to the boys … the Bible-clerk meanwhile reading a chapter from the Old Testament. Ibid, p. 87. An hour … is expected to be employed in working under the superintendence of the Bible-Clerk, as the præfect in daily ‘course’ is termed, who is responsible for a decent amount of order and silence at these hours.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 103. Order was kept during school hours by the Bible-clerk and Ostiarus, two of the Præfects, who held these offices in rotation—the former lasting for a week, the latter for one day only. They paraded School armed with sticks, and brought up to the Head and Second Masters (who alone had the power of flogging) the names of the delinquents which had been ‘ordered’ for punishment; the names of the more heinous offenders being confided to the Bible-clerk, the others to the Ostiarus.

1878. Adams, Wykehamica, p. 59. There appears to have been no regular Bible-clerk.… From this it has been inferred that the institution of these offices must have been subsequent, and (some think) long subsequent to the Founder’s time.

Bible-Pounder, subs. (common).—A clergyman. [From bible + pounder, from the practice indulged in by some excitable exponents, of pounding or beating their hands upon the book or desk while preaching.] For synonyms, see Devil-dodger.

Bibler, subs. (Winchester College).—Now called bibling (q.v.).

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 109. The first time a boy’s name was ordered, the punishment was remitted on his pleading ‘Primum tempus.’ For a more serious breach of duty, a flogging of six cuts (a bibler) was administered, in which case the culprit had to ‘order his name to the Bible-clerk,’ and that individual, with the help of Ostiarius, performed the office of Jack Ketch.

Bibler Under Nail, subs. phr. (Winchester College).—See Bibling under nail.

1870. Mansfield, School-Life at Winchester College, p. 109. If a boy was detected in a lie, or any very disgraceful proceeding—a rare occurrence, I am happy to say—he had to stand up in the centre of Junior row during the whole of the School time, immediately preceding the infliction of the flogging; this pillory process was called a bibler under the nail.

Bibling, subs. (Winchester College).—Formerly called a bibler (q.v.). A flogging of six cuts on the small of the back, administered by the head or second master. So called because the person to be operated upon ordered (q.v.) his name to the Bible-clerk (q.v.).

1864. Blackwood’s Magazine, vol. XCV., p. 79. Underneath is the place of execution, where delinquents are bibled. Ibid, p. 72. It need hardly be said that it [the rod] is applied in the ordinary fashion: six cuts forming what is technically called a bibling—on which occasions the Bible-Clerk introduces the victim; four being the sum of a less terrible operation called a ‘scrubbing.’

Bibling-Rod, subs. (Winchester College).—The instrument with which a bibling (q.v.) was administered. It consisted of a handle with four apple twigs in the end, twisted together. It is represented on ‘Aut Disce.’ It was invented and first used by Warden Baker in 1454. It is not used now.

Bibling Under Nail, subs. phr. (Winchester College).—A bibling (q.v.) administered for very heinous offences after an offender had stood under nail (q.v.).—See quot. in Bibler under nail.

Biddy, subs. (old).—1. A chicken; sometimes chick-a-biddy. Hence, figuratively.

2. (familiar.)—A young woman, not necessarily Irish. In both these senses the word appears in Grose [1785]. Since that time it would seem to have changed somewhat in meaning as follows.

3. (familiar.)—A woman, whether young or old.

1868. O. W. Holmes, Guardian Angel, ch. xxviii., p. 233 (Rose Lib.). ‘Don’t trouble yourself about Kitty Fagan, for pity’s sake, Mr. Bradshaw. The biddies are all alike, and they’re all as stupid as owls, except when you tell ’em just what to do, and how to do it. A pack of priest-ridden fools!’

1887. Cornhill Mag., May, p. 510. How he gave to one old biddy ‘five guineas to buy a jack,’ and to another substantial help towards her boy’s schooling.

4. (Winchester College.)—See Bidet.

5. (American.)—A servant girl—generally Irish.

Bidet, or Biddy, subs. (Winchester College).—A bath. Juniors fill these for Præfect. The Winchester term is the French word bidet, the name given to the low narrow bedroom bathing stools, used principally by women, but more frequently on the Continent than in England. They are of such a shape that they can be bestridden. In this connection it may be mentioned, that in French bidet also signifies ‘a small horse’ or ‘pony.’

1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Bidet, commonly pronounced biddy, a kind of tub, contrived for ladies to wash themselves, for which purpose they bestride it like a little French pony or post horse, called in France bidets.

Bien.—See Bene.

Biff, subs. (American).—A blow. ‘To give [one] a biff in the jaw’; Anglicé, ‘to wipe one in the chops.’ Cf., Bang, and for synonyms, see Dig.

Biffin, subs. (familiar).—‘My biffin!’ i.e., ‘my pal!’ A biffin is properly a dried apple: Norfolk biffins especially are considered great delicacies.

Big. To talk or look big, phr. (familiar).—To assume a pompous style or manner with a view to impressing others with a sense of one’s importance; to talk boastingly. A French equivalent is se hancher.

1579. Spenser, Shep. Cal., Sept., 50.

The shepheards swayne you cannot wel ken,

But it be by his pryde, from other men:

They looken bigge as Bulls.

1604. Shakspeare, Winter’s Tale, Act iv., Sc. 3. Not a more cowardly rogue, in all Bohemia: if you had but looked big, and spit at him, he’d have run.

1771. Smollett, Humphry Clinker, l. 26. The squire, in all probability, cursed his punctuality in his heart, but he affected to talk big.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xv. ‘You will gain nought by speaking big with me.’

1838. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 2 S., ch. viii. ‘He looked big, and talked big, and altogether was a considerable big man in his own consait.’

1855. Anthony Trollope, The Warden, p. 207. The Archdeacon waxed wrath, talked big, and looked bigger.

Big as All Outdoors, phr. (American).—An expression intended to convey an idea of indefinite size; hugeness; enormous capacity.

1838. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 2 S., ch. ii. The infarnal villain! Tell me who he is, and if he was big as all outdoors, I’d walk into him. Ibid, ch. iv. He is looking as big as all outdoors gist now, and is waitin’ for us to come to him.

Big-Bellied, adj. (colloquial).—Advanced in pregnancy.

1711. Addison [Referred to by].

1848. John Forster, Life and Times of Oliver Goldsmith, bk. II., ch. iv. My desires are as capricious as the big-bellied woman’s.

Big Ben, subs. (popular).—A nickname for the clock in the tower of the Houses of Parliament at Westminster. Named after Sir Benjamin Hall, the Commissioner of Works, under whose supervision it was constructed. It was commenced in 1856, and finished in 1857.

1869. The Register or Mag. of Biography, p. 213. With Sir Charles Barry’s sanction he designed the ornament cast on the Westminster Bell, familiarly known as big Ben.

1880. Punch, No. 2039, p. 51. Big Ben struck two, and the house adjourned.

Big Bird. To get or give the big bird, phr. (theatrical).—To be hissed on the stage; or, conversely, to hiss. When an actor or actress gets the big bird, it may be from two causes: either it is a compliment for successful pourtrayal of villainy, in which case the gods (q.v.) simply express their abhorence of the character and not of the actor; or, the hissing may be directed against the actor, personally, for some reason or other. The big bird is the goose. For synonyms, see Goosed.

1886. Graphic, 10 April, p. 399. To be goosed, or, as it is sometimes phrased, to get the big bird, is occasionally a compliment to the actor’s power of representing villainy, but more often is disagreeably suggestive of a failure to please.

Big Bug, subs. (popular).—A person of standing or consequence, either self-estimated or in reality. A disrespectful but common mode of allusion to persons of wealth or with other claims to distinction. Variants are Big-dog, Big-toad, Big-wig, and Great gun (which see for general synonyms).

1854. Widow Bedott Papers, p. 301. Miss Samson Savage is one of the big bugs,—that is, she’s got more money than a’most anybody else in town.

1857. N. Y. Times, February. The free-and-easy manner in which the hair-brained Sir Robert Peel described some of the big bugs at Moscow has got him into difficulty.

1872. Schele de Vere, Americanisms, p. 392. Persons of great wealth and distinction are irreverently called big bugs, and I-street, in Washington, is thus said to be inhabited by the foreign ambassadors and other big bugs. J. C. Neal makes a nice distinction when he says of a rich man without social importance: ‘He is one of your big bugs, with more money than sense.’

1888. Texas Siftings, Sep. 15. Don’t appear unduly surprised or flustrated if, on answering the front door bell, you find Mr. Gladstone wiping his feet on the door mat. Invite him to walk in in a cool, collected tone of voice.… Show him you have entertained big bugs before.

Big Country, subs. (hunting).—The open country.

Big Dog of the Tanyard, phr. (American).—A consequential, pompous individual; one who will neither allow others a voice in any matter, or permit dissent from his own views. The obvious derivation is from the customary guarding of tanyards by ferocious watch-dogs. For synonyms, see Great gun.

Big Dog with the Brass Collar, phr. (American).—The chief in any undertaking or enterprise; a leader. A simile evidently derived from the stable or kennel. The phrase is sometimes shortened to big dog. For synonyms, see Great gun.

1848. J. R. Bartlett, Americanisms, p. 42. In some parts of the country, the principal man of a place or in an undertaking is called the big dog with a brass collar, as opposed to the little curs not thought worthy of a collar.

1882. Alan Pinkerton, The Molly Maguires, p. 24. ‘Yes,’ said Dormer, ‘Lawler is the big dog in these parts now; besides he kapes a good tavern, and will see no old-timer, or young one either, for that matther, sufferin’ from want while he can relieve him!’

Big Drink, subs. (familiar).—1. The ocean; more particularly applied to the Atlantic. Also called the big pond, herring pond, the puddle (q.v.).

1882. Miss Braddon, Mount Royal, ch. xiii. ‘I was coming across the big drink as fast as a Cunard could bring me.’

2. (Western American.)—When a Western plainsman talks of the big drink, he is always understood to mean the Mississippi river.

To take a big or long drink is to partake of liquor from a large glass. It is very customary when calling for refreshment to state whether a long or short drink is required.

Big Figure. To go the big figure, phr. (common).—A variant of ‘to go the whole hog,’ or ‘to go the whole animal.’ It signifies embarking upon an enterprise of magnitude. The phrase is mainly current in the Southern States, and is derived from a term used in poker.

1868. Pickings from the Picayune, p. 226. When I saw that, I thought I might as well go the big figure, you see, and so I grabbed the bag; but mischief would have it, that just then the policeman grabbed me and took me to the caboose.

Biggest, adj. (American).—A superlative often used in the sense of ‘the best’ or ‘the finest.’

1848. Ruxton, Life in Far West, p. 129. The thermal springs are regarded by the trappers as the breathing-places of his Satanic majesty; and considered, moreover, to be the biggest kind of medicine to be found in the mountains.

1888. Washington (Pa.) Review. The Pittsburg Times is as breezy a journal as comes to this office. It is the biggest little paper we are acquainted with.

Biggest Toad in the Puddle, phr. (American).—One of the many bold, if equivocal metaphors to which the West has given rise. The biggest toad in the puddle is the recognised leader or chief whether in politics, or in connection with the rougher avocations of pioneer life. Equivalent to the big dog with the brass collar (q.v.).—See also Big bug, and for synonyms generally, Great gun.

1848. J. R. Bartlett, Americanisms, p. 42. Biggest toad in the puddle. A Western expression for a head-man; a leader of a political party, or of a crowd. Not an elegant expression, though sometimes well applied. Thus a Western newspaper, in speaking of the most prominent man engaged in the political contest for one of the Presidential candidates before Congress, says: ‘Mr. D. D. F.—is the biggest toad in the puddle.’

Biggin, subs. (Winchester College).—A coffee machine in two parts—a strainer, and a coffee-pot for the infusion. It took its name from the inventor, a Mr. Biggin, who received letters patent ‘some years’ previous to 1803. (Gent. Mag., lxxiii., p. 1094.)

Biggity, adv. (American).—Consequential; giving oneself airs. A negro term.

c. 1884. S. L. Clemens, Life on the Mississippi, p. 511. These railroads have made havoc with the steamboat commerce. The clerk of our boat was a steamboat clerk before these roads were built. In that day the influx of population was so great, and the freight business so heavy, that the boats were not able to keep up with the demands made upon their carrying capacity; consequently the Captain was very independent and airy—pretty biggity as Uncle Remus would say.

Big Gun, subs. (familiar).—A person of consequence. Possibly of sporting origin. For synonyms, see Great gun.

1888. Texas Siftings, Oct. 13. ‘Who’s a big gun? You don’t consider that insignificant ink-slinger across the way a big gun, do you?’ ‘My wife can hardly wait to get it out of the mail,’ shouted Jones, desperately.

Big-Head. To have a big-head, phr. (American).—1. To be conceited; bumptious. Also applied to men or youths who are ‘cocksure’ of everything, or affected in manner.—See also Swell-head.

1848. J. R. Bartlett, Americanisms, p. 43. Boys who smoke cigars, chew tobacco, drink strong liquors, gamble, and treat their parents and superiors as their inferiors—of such a boy it is said, ‘He has got the big-head.’

1888. Texas Siftings, Oct. 20. If we were to base our calculation upon the corpulency of his iron hat and helmet, we should say it was a case of big-head, while his legs were long as a pair of duplex pinchers, his arms like the fans of a windmill, his feet like the foot of Mont Blanc, while his digital annex is like an inverted ham.

2. The phrase also signifies the after effect of a debauch.

To get the big-head. To get drunk. For synonyms, see Screwed.

Big House, subs. (common).—The workhouse,—a phrase used by the very poor; sometimes called the large house.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 52. ‘As long as they kept out of the big house (the workhouse), she would not complain.’ Ibid, II., p. 251. The men hate the thought of going to the big house.

Big Mouth, subs. (American).—Excessive talkativeness; loquacity. Cf., All mouth. For synonyms, see Gas.

Big Nuts to Crack, subs. phr. (American).—An undertaking of magnitude; one not easy to perform. [From a presumed difficulty in cracking large nuts.]

Big One or Big ’Un, subs. (old).—A man of note or importance. The current colloquialism is big-wig, but at one time big-one was the more frequently-used expression. For synonyms, see Great gun.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 42. Then up rose Ward, the veteran Joe, And, ’twixt his whiffs, suggested briefly That but a few at first should go, And those, the light-weight Gemmen chiefly; As if too many big ones went, They might alarm the Continent!

Big People, subs. (familiar).—Persons of standing or consequence. Cf., Great gun.

1858. Anthony Trollope, Dr. Thorne, I., p. 43. He would in no way assume a familiarity with bigger men than himself; allowing to the bigger men the privilege of making the first advances. Ibid, p. 81. When one is absolutely in the dirt at their feet, perhaps these big people won’t wish one to stoop any further.

Big Pond, subs. (popular).—The Atlantic. Also called the big drink (q.v.).

1838. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’), The Clockmaker, 3 S., ch. xviii. He [old Clay] is all sorts of a hoss, and the best live one that ever cut dirt this side of the big pond, or t’other side either.

1883. Sala, Living London, p. 204. Next time Miss Ward crosses the big pond, I earnestly hope that she will cross the ‘Rockies,’ and triumphantly descend the Pacific slope.

Big Pot, subs. (familiar).—A person of consequence. For synonyms, see Great gun.

1880. Punch’s Almanac, The Cad’s Calendar. Lor! if I’d the ochre, make no doubt, I could cut no end of big pots out. Call me cad? When money’s in the game, Cad and swell are pooty much the same.

Big-Side, subs. (Rugby School).—The combination of all the bigger fellows in the school in one and the same game or run; also the ground specially used for the game so denominated. Used also at other public schools.

Big-Side Run, subs. (Rugby School).—A paper chase, in which picked representatives of all houses take part, as opposed to a house run.

Big Take, subs. (American).—That which takes the public fancy; a great success, etc.,—in short, anything that ‘catches on.’—See Take.

Big Talk, subs. (popular).—Pompous speech; a pedantic use of long words.

1874. Saturday Review, Feb., p. 280. [With regard to words like ‘psithurism,’ ‘cheirognomy,’ ‘scintillating eyes,’ ‘the phaesimbrotous sun’] perhaps they have been grown so accustomed to big talk that, etc.

Big-Wig, subs. (popular).—A person of consequence; one high in authority or rank. [From big + wig, an allusion to the large and ornate headgear of men of importance in former times.] The term is used both contemptuously and humorously. For synonyms, see Great gun.

1703. English Spy, p. 255. Most noble cracks, and worthy cousin trumps,—permit me to introduce a brother of the togati, fresh as a new-blown rose, and innocent as the lilies of St. Clements. Be unto him ever ready to promote his wishes, whether for spree or sport, in term and out of term,—against the Inquisition and their bull-dogs—the town-raff and the bargees—well-blunted or stiver-cramped—against dun or don—nob or big wig—so may you never want a bumper of bishop.

1846. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, ch. xx. We live among bankers and city big-wigs, and be hanged to them, and every man, as he talks to you, is jingling his guineas in his pocket.

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffrey Hamlyn, ch. xlv. So you are going to sit among the big-wigs in the House of Lords.

1876 circa. Broadside Ballad, ‘Justice and Law.’

The Penge Case you know took a curious twist,

But how it occurred, we can’t guess,

Unless, unexpected, some turn of the wrist,

Has got some ‘big-wig’ in a mess.

To some folks it seems rather queer, now, you see,

When ‘Sentence of Death’ had been passed,

That one of the four is allowed to go free,

And her prison doors wide open cast.

Chorus.

1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, ch. xxvi. ‘The Right Honorable gentleman no doubt means,’ said Phineas, ‘that we must carry ourselves with some increased external dignity. The world is bigwigging itself, and we must buy a bigger wig than any we have got, in order to confront the world with proper self-respect.’

Big-Wigged, ppl. adj. (popular).—Pompous; consequential. [From big-wig (q.v.) + [g] ed.]

1851. Carlyle, John Sterling, pt. I., ch. vii. And along with obsolete spiritualisms, he sees all manner of obsolete thrones and big-wigged temporalities.

Big-Wiggery, subs. (popular).—A display of consequence, or pomposity. [From big-wig (q.v.) + [g] ery, a condition.]

1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. ii. Whilst Louis XIV., his old squaretoes of a contemporary—the great worshipper of bigwiggery—has always struck me as a most undoubted and Royal Snob.