Volume 2 — A · Dictionary · of Slang · and · its · Analogues. (continued 11)

Double-header, subs. (common).—A false coin with a head on the obverse and reverse, made by soldering two split coins. Cf., Cover and Heading ’em.

1887. Walford’s Antiquarian, p. 252. A double-header is the usual property of the gutter sharper.

Double-juggs, subs. (old).—The posteriors (Burton). For synonyms, see Blind cheeks, Bum, and Monocular eyeglass.

Double-lines, subs. (nautical).—Ship casualties. So called from the manner of entering at Lloyd’s.

Doubler, subs. (pugilistic).—A blow in the side or stomach, causing a man to bend from pain or lack of wind. Cf., Double up, sense 1. For synonyms, see Dig.

1821. The Fancy, vol. I., p. 255. In the fourth round he came in all abroad, and got a doubler in the bread-basket, which spoiled him for the remainder of the fight.

Double-ribbed, adj. phr. (common).—Pregnant. For synonyms, see Lumpy.

Double-shotted, adj. (colloquial).—Said of a whiskey (or brandy) and soda, containing twice the normal quantity of alcohol.

Double-shuffle, subs. (common). 1. A hornpipe step in which each foot is shuffled twice in succession, the more rapidly and neatly the better.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 47. The waterman … is dancing the double shuffle, in front of the pump, to keep his feet warm.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. i., p. 542. I used to talk to him and whistle. I can just whistle … and to dance him the double-shuffle.

1871. Echo, 11 Dec., ‘Sunday among the Silk Weavers.’ The clumsy high low with which they execute scientific ‘elephant dances’ and double-shuffles.

2. subs. (common).—A trick or fakement.

Double-Slang.—See Slangs.

Double-Sucker, subs. (venery).—A term descriptive of an abnormal development of the tissues of the labia majora.

Doublet, subs. (thieves’).—A doctored diamond or other precious stone. Cf., Triplet. [The quots. show derivation.]

1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Doublet, a precious stone of two pieces joyned.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxxi. Your een are sharp enough to look after gowd and silver, gems, rubies, and the like of that.… Look at them—they are a’right and tight, sound and round, not a doublet crept in amongst them.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iv., p. 273. Most jewellers and pawnbrokers are well acquainted with what are called doublets. These are rubies or emeralds made of two pieces. The face is a real ruby, emerald, or sapphire, as the case may be, and this is backed up by a piece of coloured glass.

Double-Thumper, subs. (common).—A prodigious lie.

Double-Tongued, adj. (colloquial).—Mendacious; given to change opinions in changing company.

Double-tongued Squib, subs. phr. (common).—A double-barrelled gun. For synonyms, see Squib.

1864. G. W. Reynolds, Pickwick Abroad. A double-tongued squib to keep in awe The chaps that flout at me.

Double-up, verb (pugilistic).—1. To punish. Also to be collapsed. Cf., Doubler.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 20. Doubled him up, like a bag of old duds.

1827. Reynolds (‘Peter Corcoran’), The Fancy, note on p. 89. Randall doubles up an opponent, as a friend lately declared, as easily as though he were picking a flower or pinching a girl’s cheek.

1830. S. Warren, Diary of a Late Physician, ch. xii. Accompanied by a tremendous doubling up body-blow, as in an instant brought him senseless to the ground.

1845. Punch, vol. IX., p. 163. Ben’s reference to the Premier’s friend, Canning, completely doubled him up.

1849. Thackeray, Dr. Birch, p. 6. I reflect as I go up and set him a sum, that he [Champion] could whop me in two minutes, double up Prince and the other assistant and pitch the Doctor out of the window.

1866. London Miscellany, 5 May, p. 202. Doubled you up, I mean, sir. Smashed you.

2. (common).—To pair off, to chum with.

1885. W. Westall, Larry Lohengrin, ch. iii. He … promised the steward a handsome tip if nobody were doubled up with him,—i.e., if no other person were put into the same cabin.

Dough, subs. (public schools’).—Pudding.

Dough-baked, adj. phr. (colloquial).—Deficient in intellect. U.S.A. = Easily moulded: said of politicians. For synonyms, see Apartments.

1675. Wycherley, Country Wife, IV., iv. in wks. (1713), 212. These dow-baked, sensless, indocile animals, women.

Doughy, subs. (common).—A baker.—See Burncrust, and for synonyms, master of the rolls.

Douse.—See Dowse.

Dover, subs. (hotel).—A made dish; hash; rechauffé.

Dovers, subs. (Stock Exchange).—South Eastern Railway Ordinary Stock. [From one of the termini on the line.]

Doves, subs. (University).—Members of St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge.—See quot. Obsolete.

1888. C. Whibley, Three Centuries of Cambridge Wit, p. xxix. It is said that the members of St. Catharine’s Hall were first of all called ‘Puritans,’ from the derivation of the name of their patroness from καθαίρειν. The ‘dove’ being the emblem of purity, to change a name from ‘Puritans’ to doves was but one short step.

Soiled-Doves, subs. (common).—High-class prostitutes. For synonyms, see Barrack-Hack and Tart.

Dove-Tart, subs. (colloquial).—A pigeon pie. (Doo-tairt is excellent Scots for the same thing.) Cf., Snake Tart = eel pie.

1857. Rev. E. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Verdant Green, pt. II., ch. vii. Why, a dove tart is what mortals call a pigeon-pie.

Dowlas, subs. (common).—A draper. [From dowlas, now a kind of towelling, but mentioned by Shakspeare (1 Henry IV., III., iii., 1597) as a material for shirts. Popularised as a sobriquet by Colman’s Daniel Dowlas in The Heir at Law.—See Dickey Diaper, and cf., Dripping = cook; Grindo = miller; Gallipot = chemist; Lint-scraper = surgeon, (q.v.).

Dowling, subs. (public school).—See quot.

1871. Newspaper Report, 18 Feb., of a charge of assault against the head boy of Shrewsbury School. Mr. Chandler addressed the Bench for the defence. He said the game of dowling was practised at Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Westminster and other large schools, etc.

1877. Everyday Life in our Public Schools. There are four or five compulsory games a week (football) known as dowlings δοῦλος.

Down, subs. (thieves’).—1. Suspicion; alarm; a diversion. There is no down = All is quiet, it is safe to go on.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171. Down, alarm; rose the down, gave the alarm.

2. (American).—Small beer. Up = bottled ale.

Adv. (colloquial).—1. Dispirited; hard-up; in disgrace. Found in various combinations: e.g., down in the mouth, or dumps = dejected; down on one’s luck = reduced in circumstances; down at heel = shabby; down on one’s back-seam = out of luck; down to bed-rock (American) = penniless, etc., etc.

1608–11. Bishop Hall, Epistles, i., 6. The Roman orator was down in the mouth; finding himself thus cheated by the money-changer.

1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, Act iv., Sc. 9. Sir J. Witt. Now am I slap-dash down in the mouth, and have not one word to say!

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. xlix. He … told the physician that he was like the root of the tongue, as being cursedly down in the mouth.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 6, (ed. 1857). I see—never ruined—accidents will happen—best regulated families—never say die—down upon your luck—pull him up.

1840. Comic Almanack, p. 208. Let’s not be down upon our luck Nor out of heart at our condition.

1846. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, vol. II., ch. xxix. They say, that when Mrs. Crawley was particularly down on her luck, she gave concerts and lessons in music here and there.

1851. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 58. If the hucksters know that the person calling the raffle is down, and that it is necessity that has made him call it, they will not allow the property put up to be thrown for.

1861. Marian Evans (G. Eliot), Silas Marner, ch. viii. Well, here’s my turning, said Bryce, not surprised to perceive that Godfrey was rather down; so I’ll bid you good-day.

1864. Edmund Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. x. What won’t do? asked Prescott, with flaming face, Why, this Kate Mellon business, Jim. It’s on hot and strong, I know. You’ve been down in the mouth all the time she was away.

1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, ch. xlvii. I’m sorry you’re so down in the mouth. Why don’t you try again?

1880. Jas. Greenwood, Veteran of Vauxhall in ‘Odd People in Odd Places,’ p. 40. Then I got down at heel, as the saying is; and when a man is reduced to one bare suit of black, and that one so shaky with long wear that it wants as tender handling as an invalid, he hasn’t got much of a chance to get on well as a waiter.

2. (old).—Acquainted with; ‘fly’ (q.v.); up to (q.v.). Also in combination: down to, down on, and down as a hammer.

1610. Jonson, Alchemist, IV., iv. Thou art so down upon the least disaster! How would’st thou ha’ done, if I had not help’t thee out?

1825. The English Spy, vi., p. 162. Dick’s a trump, and no telegraph—up to every frisk, and down to every move of the domini, thoroughbred and no want of courage.

1839. W. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, p. 138, [ed. 1840.] Awake! to be sure I am, my flash cove, replied Sheppard, I’m down as a hammer.

1850. F. E. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, ch. iv. You’re about right there, Mr. Lawless, you’re down to every move, I see, as usual.

1865. G. F. Berkeley, Life, etc., II., 103. Crib. I said … I’m down on it all; the monkey never bit your dog.

3. (old).—Hang-dog. Cf., adv., sense 1.

1703. Ward, London Spy, pt. xv., p. 353. He describes a swarthy, black, ill-looking Fellow, with a down look, or the like.

1879. Jas. Payn, High Spirits (Number Forty-seven). ‘Well, he was rather a down-looking cove.’ ‘Hang-dog?’ said I. ‘Well, yes, to be frank, hang-dog.’

4. Verb (common).—To put on one’s back: whether by force or by persuasion: e.g., to down a woman = to lay her out for copulation.—See also quot.

1874. Henley, Unpublished Ballad. Then I downs my bleedin’ Judy, And I puts a new head on her.

To be down a pit, verb. phr. (theatrical).—To be very much ‘taken’ with a part.

To be, or come down upon one, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To berate; to attack; to oppose. Sometimes with a tag: e.g., like a thousand, or a load, of bricks; like one o’clock; like a tom-tit on a horse-turd, etc.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxviii. I think we should be down upon the fellow one of these darkmans, and let him get it well.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry (Dicks’ ed., 1889), p. 6. Prime. From the cut of the gentleman’s clothes, I presume he’s lately come from the Esquimaux Islands. Tom. Ha! ha! very good, Primefit; I say, Jerry—you see he’s down upon you.

1864. London Review, 28 May. There are no loungers in this mortal sphere who so nicely judge a horse’s points, or who are so inexorably down upon any blemish as this careless fringe of observers upon those two fashionable promenades.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 167. Let him only find out a man in some artful little game, and he would be down on him and hunt his life out almost.

To be down pin, verb. phr. (skittle alley).—To be out of sorts, or despondent. Cf., Down, adv., sense 1.

To drop down to one, verb. phr. (old).—To discover one’s character or designs.

To put a down upon one, verb. phr. (old).—To peach so as to cause detection or failure.

To put one down to [a thing], verb. phr. (old).—To apprize, elucidate, or explain; to coach or prime; to ‘let one into the know.’

To take down a peg.—See Peg.

Downed, ppl. adj. (common).—Tricked; beaten; ‘sat upon.’ [Cf., down, adv., sense 1.]

Downer, subs. (old).—1. A sixpence. In U.S.A., a five-cent. piece. [Cf., deaner (q.v.); now corrupted into Tanner (q.v.).] For synonyms, see Bender.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3rd ed., p. 444. Sixpence, downer, also sprat.

1861. Whyte Melville, Good for Nothing, ch. vi. It’s not the first downer I’ve had by a good many; and if it was not for leaving you I shouldn’t care so much about it!

1885. Household Words, 20 June, p. 155. Two more names for a sixpence are a downer and a ‘tanner.’

2. (pugilistic).—A knock-down blow. Cf., Bender, Doubler, and Dig, for synonyms.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Mem. Cong., p. 25. In the twelfth and last round Sandy fetch’d him a downer.

Down-hills, subs. (old).—Dice cogged to run on the low numbers. [1785, Grose.]

Downs, subs. (thieves’).—Tothill Fields Prison. For analagous terms, see Cage.

1856. H. Mayhew, Great World of London, p. 82, note, s.v.

Downstairs, subs. (old).—Hell.

1837. Barham, I. L. (Brothers of Birchington.) Now if here such affairs Get wind unawares, They are bruited about, doubtless much more downstairs, Where Old Nick has a register-office they say, With commissioners quite of such matters au fait.

Down the Road, abj. and adv. phr. (common).—Vulgarly showy; ‘flash.’

1859. Sala, Tw. Round the Clock, 4 p.m., par. 9. A knot of medical students, who should properly, I take it, in this sporting locality, have a racing and down-the-road look, but who, on the contrary, have the garb and demeanour of ordinary gentlemen.

Down to Dandy.—See Up to Dick.

Down to the Ground, adv. phr. (old).—Entirely; thoroughly; to the last degree. Formerly, up and down. Cf., up to the knocker or the nines, up to the handle, up to dick, etc. [Literally, from top to bottom.]

1542. Udal’s, Erasmus’s Apophth., p. 324 [ed. 1877]. He [Phocion] was euen Socrates vp and downe in this pointe and behalfe, that no man euer sawe hym either laughe or weepe.

1606. John Day, Ile of Guls, Act v., p. 98. For, saies my mother, a thinge once wel done is twice done: and I am in her mind for that, vp and downe.

1878. M. E. Braddon, Cloven Foot, ch. xlv. Some sea coast city in South America would suit me down to the ground.

1883. Echo, 6 Aug., p. 4, col. 1. A post which would suit the noble lord … down to the ground.

1889. John Strange Winter, That Imp, p. 3. A name that suited him well—down to the ground, the officers of the Royal Horse said.

Down upon the nail.—See Nail.

Downy, subs. (common). A bed. Cf., Downy flea pasture.

1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, ch. ix. I’ve a deal to do before I get to my downy.… Good night, Mr. Scott.

Adj. (common).—Artful; knowing (q.v., for synonyms). [Cf., down, adv., sense 2, of which downy is a derivative.]

1823. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 3. Bob. You’re a downey von—you’ll not give a chance avay if you knows it.

1842. Punch, vol. II., p. 217, c. 2.

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. xxii., p. 198. Up to mischief, I’ll be bound. Oh, you’re a downy fellow.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. x. I’m not clever, p’r’aps, but I am rather downy; and partial friends say I know what’s o’clock tolerably well.

1860. Punch, vol. XXXVIII., p. 230. You never come across A cove more downier, I’ll be bound, But you knows that ’ere ’oss.

1869. H. J. Byron, Not Such a Fool as He Looks [French’s acting ed.], p. 12.… Sharp old skinflint, downy old robber as he is, he’s under Jane Mould’s thumb.

To do the downy.—See Do.

Downy Bit, subs. phr. (venery).—A half-fledged girl.

Downy Cove, (or Bird, or in pl., The Downies), subs. phr. (common).—A clever rogue.

English Synonyms.—Mizzler; leary bloke or cove; sly dog; old dog; nipper; file; Greek; one that knows what’s o’clock; one who knows the ropes, or his way about; don; dodger; dab; doll’s-eye-weaver; dam-macker; shaver; dagen; chickaleary-cove; ikey bloke; artful member; one that is up to the time of day; fly cove; one that’s in the know; one that has his eye-teeth skinned, or that has cut his wisdoms.

French Synonyms.—Un gaspard (popular); un fouinard (pop.: fouiner = to slink off); un ficellier (popular); être d’affût (thieves’ = to be on the track or scent); un arcasien (thieves’: from arcane = a secret); un pante désargoté (thieves’: one ‘fly to the time of day’); un mariolle (thieves’ = English file [q.v.]); un lapin (popular); un écopeur (pop.: a safe hand); un emberlificoteur (O.F., popular).

German Synonyms. Barje or Borje (from the Hebrew birjah: also = a fop); Bochur, Bacher, or Bocher (from Hebrew bochur: also an official who understands thieves’ lingo); Chochom, Chochem, or Chochemer (more frequently spelled with ‘k’: from Hebrew chochom); Lowon (also = silver, shining).

Spanish Synonyms.—Candonguero (applied to one who is mischievous as well as cunning); zarapeto; zorrastron; perro viejo; estuche (also = a pair of scissors); guitarron (also = a large guitar); perillan; pua (also = a sharp point: es buena pua = he is a keen blade); carlancon; es un buen sastre (= he is a sly dog or cunning blade. Sastre = tailor); soga; alpargatilla; sobon or sobonazo (also = a lazy fellow).

Portuguese Synonym.—Tinente.

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry (ed. 1890), p. 95. Mr. Mace had long been christened by the downies, the ‘dashing covey.’

1841. Leman Rede, Sixteen-String Jack, ii., 4. Tom Bullock, the downiest cove, the leary one that never goes to sleep.

1877. Greenwood, Dick Temple, Downy-looking Cove, the fair ’un; a mug like that ought to be worth a fortune to him.

Downy Flea-pasture, subs. phr. (common).—A bed. For synonyms, see Bug Walk and Kip.

Dowry, subs. (common).—A lot; a great deal; dowry of parny = lot of rain or water.

Dowse or Douse, verb (old).—1. A verb of action.—See quots.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulgar Tongue. Dowse your dog vane = take the cockade out of your hat. Dowse the glim = put out the candle. Dowse on the chops = a blow in the face.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering. Dowse the glim!

1860. Punch, vol. XXXVIII., p. 252. ‘The Death and Burial of poor little Bill.’ And who’ll put on mourning ‘Not we,’ said the House ‘The Reform flag we’ll douse, But we won’t put on mourning.’

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, I., 212. At nine p.m., all the lights were ordered out. Mrs. Beresford had brought a novel on board and refused to comply;… The master-at-arms, finding he had no chance in argument, doused the glim—pitiable resource of a weak disputant—then basely fled the rhetorical consequences.

Dout, verb (provincial).—Literally = to do out; as Dup (q.v.) = to do up, and don = to do on. Cf., Hamlet, iv. Then up he rose and donned his clothes, And dupped the chamber door.

1874. Mrs. H. Wood, Johnny Ludlow, 1 S., No. VIII., p. 131. The guard seemed not to hear it, so lost was he in astonishment at there being no light. Why, what can have douted it? he cried aloud.

Doxology-Works, subs. (common).—A church or chapel. For synonyms, see Gospel Mill.

Doxy, subs. (old).—A mistress; a prostitute; occasionally, a jade, a girl, even a wife. In West of England, doxy = a baby. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 14. And thither repayre at accustomed tymes, their harlotes which they terme mortes and doxes.

1592. Greene, Quip, in wks., xi., 283. The Pedler as bad or rather worse, walketh the country with his docksey at the least.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark all, p. 14 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). You decypher and point out a poore Rogue, or a doxie that steale and rob hedges of a few ragged clothes.

1611. Chapman, May-Day, Act IV., p. 299 (Plays, 1874). He called me … pandar, and doxy, and the vilest nicknames.

1617. C. Shadwell, Fair Quaker of Deal, Act v. Thou couldst not have picked out a wife so fit for thee, out of a whole regiment of doxies.

1694. Dunton, Ladies’ Dict. Prostitute doxies are neither wives, maids, nor widows; they will for good victuals, or for a very small piece of money, prostitute their bodies, and then protest they never did any such thing before, that it was pure necessity that now compell’d them to do what they have done, and the like; whereas the jades will prove common hacknies upon every slight occasion.

1727. John Gay, Beggar’s Opera, Act III., Sc. 3. Finale. Thus I stand like the Turk, with his doxies around, From all sides their glances his passion confound.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Doxy (s.) a she-beggar … the female companion of a foot-soldier, travelling tinker, etc.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 231. List of patterers’ words. Doxy—a wife.

Dozing-crib, subs. (old).—A bed. For synonyms, see Bug Walk and Kip.

D.Q., On the D.Q., phr. (American).—On the dead quiet. Cf., Strict Q.T., etc.

Drab, subs. (common).—1. Poison; also medicine. [From the gypsey.] Also used as a verb.

1851. G. Borrow, Lavengro, ch. lxxi., p. 226 (1888). At him, juggal [a dog], at him; he wished to poison, to drab you.

2. (colloquial).—A strumpet. Also drabbing = strumming.

Drabbut, verb (provincial).—A vague and gentle form of imprecation. Drabbut your back = Confound you.

Draft on Aldgate Pump, subs. (old).—A fictitious banknote or fraudulent bill. See N. and Q., 7 S., i., 387–493.

17(?). Fielding, Essay on Character of Men, in wks., p. 647, ed. 1840 (b. 1754). This is such another instance of generosity as his who relieves his friend in distress by a draught on Aldgate pump. [A footnote says] A mercantile phrase for a bad note.

1828. Jon Bee, Picture of London, p. 187. Why, he might as well have accosted Aldgate-pump with a bill for payment.

Drag, subs. (old: now recognised).—1. A cart of any kind; now usually applied to a four-horse coach.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 11. While Eld—n, long doubting between a grey nag And a white one to mount, took his stand in a drag.

1820. Reynolds (‘Peter Corcoran’). Glossary at end of The Fancy, s.v.

1839. Lever, Harry Lorrequer, ch. x. He turned out what he calls a four-in-hand drag which dragged nine hundred pounds out of my pocket.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxviii. Lord Kew’s drag took the young men to London; his lordship driving, and the servants sitting inside.

2. (old).—A chain.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171, s.v.

3. (old).—A street or road; Back-drag = a back street.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 232. He ‘patters’ very little in a main drag (public street).

4. (thieves’).—Three months’ imprisonment; also three moon. For synonyms, see Dose.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 233. Sometimes they are detected, and get a drag (three months in prison).

1883. Horsley, Jottings from Jail. But neither Snuffy (Reeves, the identifier), nor Mac (Macintyre) knew me, so I got a drag and was sent to the Steel.

1884. Greenwood, Seven Years’ Penal Servitude. Well, sir, as I was saying, I only got a drag for the last job. Oh, I beg pardon, a drag means three months. Three weeks is called a drag, too—a cadger’s drag.

5. (general).—Feminine attire worn by men. To go on, or flash the drag = to wear women’s attire for immoral purposes.

1870. Reynold’s, 29 May, ‘Police Proceedings.’ He afterwards said, that instead of having a musical party he thought he would make it a little fancy dress affair, and said, We shall come in drag, which means men wearing women’s costumes.

1870. London Figaro, 23 June. There is a good deal about Tom and Jerry which our superior refinement might term low—not quite so low though, as going about in drag or consorting with creatures who do.

6. (common).—A lure; trick; stratagem.

7. (hunting).—A fox prepared with herring or aniseed and brought to covert in a bag.

1869. W. Bradwood, The O.V.H., ch. v. He subscribed to the drag at Oxford, though his first season had taught him to seek a less emulous scene of horsemanship.

1887. Cassell’s Mag., Dec, p. 27. He was thrown from his horse, near London, they say, huntin’ with a drag.

8. (old).—See Dragging.

Done for a drag, phr. (old).—Convicted of dragging (q.v.). Cf., drag = term of imprisonment.

To put on the drag, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To ease off or go slow; also to put on pressure.

Drag-cove, subs. (old).—A carter or driver of a drag (q.v., sense 1).

Dragging, verb. subs. (old).—Robbing vehicles.

Drag-lay, subs. (old).—The practice of robbing vehicles. [Grose, 1785.]

Dragon, subs. (common).—1. A sovereign. [From the device.] For synonyms, see Canary.

1827. Maginn, Translation of Vidocq. And collar his dragons clear away.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.

2. (venery).—A wanton. Cf., St. George (q.v.).

d. 1625. Fletcher, How our St. George’s will be stride the dragons! The red and ramping dragons!

To water the dragon, verb. phr. (common).—To urinate; ‘pump ship;’ ‘rack off.’

Dragsman.—A coachman; also a Drag-sneak (q.v.).

1832. Egan, Book of Sports, p. 2. The Swell dragsman or in plain English a well-dressed stage coachman.

1851. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, IV., 332. This locality is much infested with pickpockets and also with dragsmen, i.e., those persons who steal goods or luggage from carts and coaches.

Drag-Sneak, subs. (old).—A thief who makes a speciality of robbing vehicles.—[See Drag, sense 1.] Also Dragsman and Dragger, see quot., 1781.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 151. Draggers [named and described in].

1856. H. Mayhew, Gt. World of London, p. 46. Belonging to the first variety, or those who sneak off with goods, are drag-sneaks, who make off with goods from carts or coaches.

Drag the Pudding, verb. phr. (tailors’).—To ‘get the sack’ just before Christmas-time.

Drain, subs. (common).—A drink. For synonyms, see Go. To do a drain, wet (q.v.), or Common Sewer (q.v.) = to take a friendly drink.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 106. Those two old men who came in just to have a drain, finished their third quartern a few seconds ago.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 2 July, p. 5, col. 3. The drinking portion of the Americans are excessively partial to perpendicular drains of cocktails and other drams with more or less preposterous names.

2. (old).—Gin. [From its diuretic qualities.] For synonyms, see Drinks.

3. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Drains, subs. (nautical).—A ship’s cook; otherwise the doctor (q.v.).

Drammer.—See Drummer.

Draper.—See Gammon the Draper.

Drat, verb, and Dratted, adj. (colloquial).—A mild and indefinite imprecation of contempt, or impatience. [A corruption of ‘God rot it.’] For synonyms, see Oaths.

1846. Punch, vol. XI., p. 40, col. 2.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xxi., p. 178. Drat you, be quiet! says the good old man.

1864. Churchman’s Family Magazine, Nov., p. 420.

1869. Mrs. H. Wood, Roland Yorke, ch. v. If that dratted girl had been at her post indoors … it might never have happened.

1883. James Payn, Thicker than Water, ch. xxix. An observation which, I am sorry to say, … she supplemented with ‘Drat the girl!’

Draught, subs. (colloquial).—A privy. For synonyms, see Mrs. Jones.

1602. Shakspeare, Troilus and Cressida, v. 1. Sweet draught! Sweet quoth ’a! sweet sink, sweet sewer!

1633. Harrington, Epigrams. A godly father sitting on a draught, To do as need and nature hath us taught, Mumbled (as was his manner) certaine prayers.

Draw, subs. (popular).—1. An undecided contest. [An abbreviation of ‘drawn game.’]

2. (common).—An attraction; e.g., an article; a popular preacher; a successful play; and so forth.

1883. Saturday Review, 21 April, p. 497, col. 2. The insinuation that umbrellas are the creation of the devil to tempt otherwise honest men … is an unfailing draw, whether in a comic paper or an after-dinner speech.

3. (cricket).—A stroke with the surface of the bat inclined to the ground.

Verb (common).—1. To attract public attention.—See subs., sense 2.

1883. Hawley Smart, At Fault, III., xv., 238. Like a judicious theatrical manager, he usually kept ‘his show’ running as long as it would draw.

2. (thieves’).—To steal; to pick pockets. To draw a wipe or ticker = to prig a handkerchief or watch; to draw a damper = to empty a till.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v. To draw a swell of a clout, To pick a gentleman’s pocket of a handkerchief.

1878. Charles Hindley, Life and Times of James Catnach. Chorus. Frisk the Cly and fork the rag, Draw the fogles plummy, Speak to the tattler, bag the swag, And finely hunt the dummy.

3. (common).—To tease into vexation; take in; make game of.

4. (colloquial).—To bring out; to cause to act, write, or speak, by flattery, mis-statement, or deceit. Also to draw out; Fr., tirer les vers du nez.

1860. Thackeray, Philip, ch. vi. The wags who call upon Mrs. Brandon can always, as the phrase is, ‘draw’ her father, by speaking of Prussia, France, Waterloo, or battles in general.

1883. Greenwood, Tag, Rag, and Co. The older tramp was in conversation with him, and evidently drawing him out.

1889. Colonies and India, 24 July, p. 11, col. 1. Any libel or unjust criticism on Western Australia is sure to draw that sturdy friend of the Colony in London, Mr. Charles Bethell.

1890. Pall Mall Gazette, 16 July, p. 4, col. 2. They had the satisfaction last night of seeing him regularly drawn by Mr. Morley.

5. (colloquial).—To ease of money: e.g., ‘I drew him for a hundred’; ‘She drew me for a dollar’!

6. (venery).—Cf., Dog-drawn (q.v.).

To draw on [a man], verb. phr. (common and American).—To use a knife.—See Bead.

1885. Saturday Review, 7 Feb., p. 167. I’ll never draw a revolver on a man again as long as I live.

To draw a bead on, verb. phr. (common and American).—To attack with rifle or revolver.

1886. World, 11 August, p. 12. It is said that twice a bead was drawn upon him, but fortunately the shots missed.

To draw a straight furrow, verbal phr. (American).—To live uprightly.

To draw one’s fireworks (or to draw one off), verb. phr. (venery).—To cool one’s ardour by coition (said of men by women).

To draw plaster, verb. phr. (tailors’).—To ‘fish’ for a man’s intentions.

To draw straws, verb. phr. (old).—See quot.

1738. Swift, Polite Conversation (conv. iii). Lady Ans. I’m sure ’tis time for all honest folks to go to bed. Miss. Indeed my eyes draw straws (she’s almost asleep).… Col. I’m going to the Land of Nod. Ner. Faith, I’m for Bedfordshire.

To draw teeth, verb. phr. (old).—To wrench knockers and handles from street doors.

To draw the badger.—See Badger, verb.

To draw blanks, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To fail; to be disappointed. [From drawing a blank in a lottery.]

To draw the bow up to the ear.—See Bow.

To draw or pull the long bow, verb. phr. (colloquial).—See Bow and quots., infra.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. xxx. What is it makes him pull the long bow in that wonderful manner?

1883. A. Dobson, Old World Idylls, p. 134. The great Gargilius, then, behold! His long bow hunting tales of old Are now but duller.

To draw the cork, verb. phr. (pugilistic).—To make blood to flow; to tap the claret (q.v.).

1860. Chambers’ Journal, vol. XIII., p. 348.

To draw the King’s or Queen’s picture, verb. phr. (common).—To manufacture counterfeit coins.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

To draw wool or worsted, verb. phr. (tailors’).—To irritate; to foment a quarrel. Cf., Comb one’s hair.

Draw it mild! phr. (common).—An interjection of (1) derision; (2) incredulity; (3) supplication. Cf., Come it strong.

1837. R. H. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (ed. 1862), p. 322. It was not so much for myself as for that vulgar child, And I said, ‘A pint of double X, and please to draw it mild.’

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 60, col. 2. Draw it mild! as the boy with the decayed tooth said to the dentist.

1841. Comic Almanack, p. 271. Vehement cries of ‘bravo!’ and ‘draw it mild!’ here interrupt the speaker; but he declares he cannot draw it any milder.

1850. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, p. 10. Draw it mild, old fellow! interrupted the young gentleman in question.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 154. This caused angry words, and Nancy was solemnly requested to draw it mild, like a good soul.

1854. Martin and Aytoun, Bon Gaultier Ballads. ‘The Biter Bit.’ And if you’d please, my mother dear, your poor desponding child, Draw me a pot of beer, mother, and mother! draw it mild.

Draw-boy, subs. (trade).—A superior article ticketed and offered at a figure lower than its value. Cf., Draw, sense 2.

Drawer-on, subs. (colloquial).—An appetiser: used only of food as puller-on (q.v.) of drink. Both are in Massinger.

Drawers, subs. (old).—Embroidered stockings. Fr., bas-de-tire; tirants brodanchés. Spanish, demias; tirantes. German, Zehnling. It., tiranti.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65, s.v.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874), s.v.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 48 (1874), s.v.

1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v.

Draw-fart (or Doctor Draw-fart), subs. (common).—A wandering quack.

Draw-latch, subs. (old).—A thief; also a loiterer.

1631. Chettle, Hoffman. Well, phisitian, attend in my chamber, heere, till Stilt and I returne; and if I pepper him not, say I am not worthy to be cald a duke, but a drawlatch.

1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Draw Latches, Roberdsmen, Night thieves.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

[Date uncertain]. Nursery Rhyme. Cross-patch, draw the latch, sit by the fire and spin.

Draw-off, verb (pugilistic).—To throw back the body to strike; ‘he drew off, and delivered on the left peeper.’ A sailor would say, ‘he hauled off and slipped in.’

Dreadful, subs. (common).—A ‘sensational’ story, newspaper, or print. For variants, see Awful, and Shilling Shocker.

1890. Academy, 1 Feb., p. 78, col. 1. Mr. George Manville Fenn is an old hand at a story with an alarming title, and he seldoms fails to live up to it. The only thing we can say against his last ‘dreadful’ is that it is a little deficient in ‘body.’

Dredgerman, subs. (common).—Explained in quot.

1857. Dickens, Down with the Tide, in Reprinted Pieces, p. 269. Besides these, there were the dredgermen, who, under pretence of dredging up coals and such like from the bottom of the river, hung about barges and other undecked craft, and when they saw an opportunity, threw any property they could lay their hands on overboard: in order, slyly, to dredge it up when the vessel was gone. Sometimes, they dexterously used their dredges to whip away anything that might lie within reach. Some of them were mighty neat at this, and the accomplishment was called dry dredging.

Dress, subs. (Winchester College).—The players who come next in order after Six or Fifteen. [So called because they come down to the matches ready dressed to act as substitutes if required.]

Dress a Hat, verb. phr. (common).—To exchange pilferings: e.g., to swap pickings from a hosier’s stock with a shoemaker’s assistant for boots or shoes.

Dress Down, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To beat; also to scold.—See Tan and Wig respectively for synonyms. Cf., Dressing.

1715. Mrs. Centlivre, Gotham Election, Sc. v. I’ll dress her down, I warrant her, and she be for fighting.

Dressed Like Xmas Beef.—See Beef.

Dress-house, subs. (common).—A brothel. Cf., Dress-lodger.

Dressing, or Dressing-down, subs. (colloquial).—Correction, whether manual or verbal; also defeat. Cf., Baste. For synonyms, see Tanning.

1811. Jane Austen, Sense and S., ch. xxx. If ever I meet him again I will give him such a dressing as he has not had this many a day.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxviii. The Scourge flogged him heartily … and the Penny Voice of Freedom gave him an awful dressing.

Dress-lodger, subs. (common).—A woman boarded, fed, and clothed by another, and paying by prostitution.

1836. Kidd, London and all its Dangers, p. 32. Dress ladies are a class of Cyprians who deserve no pity. They are voluntarily the property of an old hag who clothes them elegantly for the wages of their prostitution, and their only aim is to enjoy themselves, and cheat her of half her perquisites.

1869. Greenwood, Seven Curses of London. You would never dream of the deplorable depth of her destitution if you met her in her gay attire.… She is absolutely poorer than the meanest beggar that ever whined for a crust. These women are known as Dress lodgers.

Dress to Death, Dress Within an Inch of One’s Life, or Dress to Kill, verb. phr. (colloquial). To dress in the extreme of fashion.

1859. Notes and Queries, S. 2, viii., 490. ‘He was got up very extensively,’ said of a man who is dressed within an inch of his life or dressed to death.

Dressy, adj. (colloquial).—Fond of dress.

Drilled, ppl. adj. (old).—Shot through the body.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple [ed. 1846], I., iv., 17. And what is winged and drilled? enquired I.

Drinks.—The subjoined lists will be of interest.

Invitations to Drink.—What’ll you have? Nominate your pizen! Will you irrigate? Will you tod? Wet your whistle? How’ll you have it? Let us stimulate! Let’s drive another nail! What’s your medicine? Willst du trinken? Try a little anti-abstinence? Twy (zwei) lager! Your whiskey’s waiting. Will you try a smile? Will you take a nip? Let’s get there. Try a little Indian? Come and see your pa? Suck some corn juice? Let’s liquor up. Let’s go and see the baby.

Responses to Invitations to Drink.—Here’s into your face! Here’s how! Here’s at you! Don’t care if I do. Well, I will. I’m thar! Accepted, unconditionally. Well, I don’t mind. Sir, your most. Sir, your utmost. You do me proud! Yes, sir-ree! With you—yes! Anything to oblige. On time. I’m with you. Count me in. I subscribe.

Synonyms for a Drink [i.e., a portion], generally, or when taken at specified times.—Anti-lunch; appetiser; ball; bullock’s eye (a glass of port); bead; bosom friend; bucket; bumper; big-reposer; chit-chat; cheerer; cinder; corker; cobbler; damper, or something damp; dannie; drain; dram; deoch-an-doras; digester; eye-opener; entr’acte; fancy smile; flash; flip; facer; forenoon; go; gill; heeltap; invigorator; Johnny; joram; morning rouser; modicum; nip, or nipperkin; night cap; nut; pistol shot; pony; pill; quantum; refresher; rouser; reposer; shout; smile; swig; sleeve-button; something; slight sensation; shant; sparkler; settler; stimulant; soother; thimble-full; tift; taste; toothful; Timothy. For other synonyms, see Go.

General Synonyms for Drink.—Breaky-leg; bub; crater (also = whiskey); fuddle; gargle; grog; guzzle; lap; lush; neck-oil; nectar; poison; slum-gullion; swizzle; stingo; tipple; tittey; toddy. For other synonyms, see Tipple.

Synonyms for Beer (including stout).—Act of Parliament; artesian; barley; belch; belly-vengeance; bevy or bevvy; brownstone; bum-clink; bung-juice; bunker; cold-blood; down (see up); English burgundy (porter); gatter; half-and-half; heavy-wet; John Barleycorn; knock down or knock-me-down; oil of barley; perkin; ponge, pongelow, or ponjello; rosin; rot-gut; sherbert; stingo; swankey; swipes; swizzle; up (bottled ale or stout). For other synonyms, see Swipes.

Synonyms for Brandy.—Ball of fire; bingo; cold-tea; cold-nantz; French elixir or cream. For other synonyms, see French Elixir.

Synonyms for Whiskey.—Aqua vitæ; bald-face; barley-bree; breaky-leg; bottled-earthquake; bum-clink; caper-juice; cappie; curse of Scotland; family-disturbance; farintosh; forty-rod lightning; grapple-the-rails; hard stuff; hell-broth; infernal compound; kill-the-beggar; lightning; liquid fire; moonlight; moonshine; mountain-dew; old man’s milk; pine-top; railroad; red-eye; rotgut; screech; Simon pure; sit-on-a-rock (rye whiskey); soul-destroyer; square-face; stone-fence; tangle-foot; the real thing; the sma’ still; white-eye. For other synonyms, see Old Man’s Milk.

Synonyms for Gin.—Blue ruin; blue-tape; Brian O’Lynn (rhyming); cat-water; cream of the valley; daffy; diddle; drain; duke; eye-water; frog’s wine; juniper; jackey; lap; max; misery; old Tom; ribbon; satin; soothing-syrup; stark-naked; strip-me-naked; tape; white satin, tape, or wine. For other synonyms, see Satin.

Synonyms for Champagne.—Cham or chammy; boy; fiz; dry; bitches’ wine.

Synonyms for Port.—Red fustian (q.v.).

Synonyms for Sherry.—Bristol milk; white wash.

Terms Implying Various Degrees of Intoxication.—All mops and brooms; at rest; Bacchi plenus; battered; be-argured; beery; been at a ploughing match, crooking the elbow, drowning the shamrock, having a cooler or warmer, having the eyes opened, in the sun, looking through a glass, lifting the little finger, making fun, on sentry, talking to Jamie Moore or trying Taylor’s best; bemused; been bit by a barn mouse; blued; boosed or boosy; bosky; bright in the eye; buffy; canon; can’t see a hole in a ladder; can’t say National Intelligencer; chirping-merry; clear; corned; croaked; crooked; cup-shot; cut; damaged; dipped rather deep; disguised; doing the lord or emperor; done over; down with barrel fever; dry; electrified; elevated; elephant’s-trunk (rhyming); far-gone; feeling right royal; flushed; flustered; flawed; been flying rather high; foggy; fou’, or fou’ as a piper; fuddled; full; foxed; glorious; got a drop in the eye; got the back teeth well afloat; greetin’ fu’; groggy; got the gravel rash; half-cut; half-seas-over; hard-up; hazy; hearty; helpless; in a difficulty; in liquor; in the altitudes; in one’s cups; inspired; in the blues, shakes, or horrors; jolly; kisky; been lapping the gutter; loose; looking lively; lumpy; lushy; mellow; miraculous; mortal; moony; muggy; muddled; muzzy; nappy; obfuscated; on; on his fourth; on the batter, beer, bend, fuddle, loose, muddle, ramble, ran-tan, ree-raw, rampage, skyte, or spree; off his nut; out of funds; overcome; overtaken; paralysed; peckish; ploughed; podgy; pruned; pushed; raddled; rather touched; reeling; roaring; salubrious; screwed; scammered; sewed-up; shaky; slewed; smeekit; smelling of the cork; soaked; spiffed; spreeish; sprung; stolling; starchery; swipey; tavered; taking it easy; thirsty; three-sheets-in-the-wind; tight; tipsy; top-heavy; unco’ happy; under the influence; up a tree; waving a flag of defiance; with the mainbrace well spliced; got the sun in the eyes; whittled; wet; winey; yaupish, yappy, or yaupy. For other synonyms, see Screwed, and cf., Drunk as Davy’s sow.

See also lists under Elbow-crooker; Drunk; Lush; Gallon Distemper; Gladstone; Pistol; Flesh and Blood; and Razors.

Dripper, subs. (old).—A gleet.

Dripping, subs. (common).—A cook; especially an indifferent one. Fr., un fripier and une daube. Cf., doctor and slushy (q.v.) = a ship’s cook.

Drive, subs. (common).—A blow. Cf., ‘let drive’ = to aim a blow; to strike. ‘Four rogues in buckram let drive at me.’—Shakspeare. For synonyms, see Dig.

1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, ch. xix. Lord Charles, after three or four attempts, had managed to give him a violent ‘drive’ on the shins under the table.

Verb (cricket).—To send a ball off the bat with full force horizontally.

To drive at, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To aim at: e.g., What are you driving at? = What do you mean?

1697. Vanbrugh, Relapse, Act iii., Sc. 2. I can’t imagine what you drive at, Pray tell me what you mean.

1730. Jas. Miller, Humours of Oxford, Act iii., p. 41 (2 ed.). Tru. What does the coxcomb drive at?

1752. Fielding, Amelia, bk. IX., ch. iii. ‘O, your servant, sir,’ said the Colonel, ‘I see what you are driving at.’

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. xii. Howld yer impudence, ye young heretic doggrel-writer; can’t I see what ye are driving at?

To drive a bargain, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To conduct a negotiation; to make the best terms you can; to dispute a condition or a price; to succeed in a ‘deal.’ Cf., to drive a humming trade.

1580. Sidney, Arcadia. My true love hath my heart, and I have his, There never was a better bargain driven.

1638. Ford, Lady’s Trial, V., ii. Love drove the bargain, and the truth of love confirmed it.

1668. Etherege, She Would if She Could, V., in wks. (1704), p. 172. How … goes the business between you and these ladies? Are you like to drive a bargain?

1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia, ii., in wks. (1720), iv., 43. He never … drinks hard, but upon design, as driving a bargain, or so.

1697. Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, II., i. Why, madam, to drive a Quaker’s bargain, and make but one word with you, if I do part with it, you must lay down your affectation.

1712. Spectator, No. 450. I do not remember I was ever overtaken in drink, save … five times at driving of bargains.

1837. Lytton, Ernest Maltravers, wks. IV., ch. vii. You’ll drive a much better bargain with me than with her.

1855. Mrs. Gaskell, North and South, ch. xxvii. As it affected his branch of the trade he took advantage of it, and drove hard bargains.

To drive a humming or roaring trade, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To do well in business.

1625. Jonson, Staple of News, II. And as you say, drive a quick pretty trade still.

1736. Fielding, Don Quixote, III., iv. You are to drive a humming trade here.

1883. Hawley Smart, Hard Lines, ch. vii. The vendors of apples, oranges, and gingerbread … were driving a roaring trade.

1883. A. Dobson, Hogarth, p. 71. The gentleman at the sign of the ‘Three Balls’ is driving a roaring trade.

To drive oneself to the wash, verb. phr. (common).—To drive in a basket-chaise.

To drive pigs to market, verb. phr. (common).—To snore.—See quot. Fr., jouer à la ronfle or de l’orgue; also fumer.

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary, &c., p. 64 (1811). He is driving his hogs over Swarston-bridge. This is a saying used in Derbyshire, when a man snores in his sleep. Swarston-bridge (or bridges, for there are several of them, one after another) is very long, and not very wide, which causes the hogs to be crowded together, in which situation they always make a loud grunting noise.

To drive turkeys to market, verb. phr. (common).—To reel and wobble in drink.

To drive French horses, verb. phr. (common).—To vomit. [From the ‘Hue donc’ of French carters to their teams.] For synonyms, see Accounts.

Driver’s pint, subs. phr. (military).—A gallon.

Driz, subs. (thieves’).—Lace. Fr., la miche (pop., in allusion to the holes in a loaf of bread); la gratouse (thieves’: gratousé = adorned with lace); la paille (thieves’: also, straw, or chaff); la galuche (thieves’); le rayon de miel (thieves’).

1812. De Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. [see Camesa].

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 233. Scotch Mary, with ‘driz’ (lace), bound to Dover and back.

Driz-Fencer, subs. (thieves’).—A seller of lace; also a receiver of stolen material. [From Driz + Fence.]

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 429. Among street-people the lace is called driz, and the sellers of it driz-fencers.

Dr. Johnson, subs. phr. (old).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick.

Droddum, subs. (Scots’).—The posteriors. For synonyms, see Blind cheeks, Bum, and Monocular eyeglass.

1786. Burns, To a Louse.—O for some rank mercurial rozet, Some fell, red smeddum, I’d gie ye sic a hearty doze o’t, Wad dress your droddum!

Dromaky, subs. (provincial).—A prostitute: north of England, particularly N. and S. Shields. [From a strolling actress who personated Andromache.]

Dromedary, subs. (old).—A bungler; specifically, a bungling thief. Also purple dromedary (q.v.).

Drop, subs. (old).—See Drop-game.

Verb (common).—1. To lose, give, or part with.

1812. Vaux, Flash Dict. He dropped me a quid, He gave me a guinea.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. xliii. That rascal Blackland got the bones out, and we played hazard on the dining-table. And I dropped all the money I had from you in the morning.

1870. London Figaro, 7 June. The money dropped by the turf prophets in the investment of advertisments, postage-stamps, and ‘an office for the transaction of the increasing business of their numerous clients,’ is quickly returned to them.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xxxi. Ladds is hard at work at ecarté with a villainous-looking stranger. And I should think, from the way Tommy is sticking at it, that Tommy is dropping pretty heavily.

1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, ch. lxiii. Nobody could have been more sorry than me that your Lordship dropped your money.

2. (colloquial).—To relinquish; abandon; leave: e.g., to drop an acquaintance = to gradually withdraw from intercourse. Cf., Cut, verb, sense 2. To drop the main Toby = to turn out of the main road.

1711. Spectator, No. 89. He verily believes she will drop him in his old age, if she can find her account in another.

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. lxxxi. They attempted to make a proselyte of me; but finding the task impracticable on both sides, we very wisely dropped each other.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xxiv. What do these people mean by asking a fellow to dinner in August, and taking me up after dropping me for two years?

1872. Dr. Doran, A Lady of the Last Century. ‘Mrs. Montague, sir,’ said Dr. Johnson, ‘has dropt me.’

3. (pugilistic).—To knock down. Cf., to drop into = to thrash.

4. (sporting and duelling).—To bring down with a shot.

1852. F. E. Smedley, Lewis Arundel, ch. v. But when you do make a hit, drop your man if possible; it settles him and frightens the rest.

To drop anchor, verb. phr. (racing).—To pull up a horse.

To drop one’s anchor, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To sit (or settle) down.

To drop a cog.—See Drop-game.

To drop one’s flag (colloquial).—To salute; also to submit; to lower one’s colours.

To drop, hang, slip, or walk into, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To attack. Cf., Drop on to.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xxiv., p. 217. He’s welcome to drop into me, right and left, if he likes.

1884. Punch, 10 May, p. 217, col. 2. If I ever drop into tune, I deserve to be dropped into by the critics afterwards.

To drop off the hooks, verb. phr. (common).—To die. For synonyms, see Aloft and Hop the twig.

1857. Ducange Anglicus, The Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

To drop one’s leaf, verb. phr. (common).—To die. [From the ‘fall of the leaf’ in nature.] For synonyms see Aloft and Hop the twig.

To drop on one, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To accuse or call to account without warning. Also = to thrash. Cf., To drop into.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iv., p. 268. During the weeks or months that the siege is going on, and the plans are working, do the police ever drop upon the parties and frustrate their plans?

To drop the scabs in, verb. phr. (tailors’).—To work buttonholes.

To drop one’s wax, or to drop a turd (vulgar).—to evacuate or ‘rear.’

To get or have the drop on, verb. phr. (American).—To hold at disadvantage; to forestall.

1888. Troy Daily Times, 8 Feb. I also kept my revolver handy and did not propose that he should get the drop on me. When he found that I was prepared for him, he did not try to shoot me.

1888. Texas Siftings, Aug. At any rate, we will not let Arcturus get the drop on the reading public.

To have a drop in the eye, verb. phr. (common).—To be slightly drunk. For synonyms, see Screwed.

1738. Swift, Polite Conversation. O faith, Colonel, you must own you had a drop in your eye, for when I left you you were half-seas over.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Drop it! phr. (colloquial).—Cease! Cut it! Cheese it (q.v. sense 2).

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. xxvi. A jackdaw on the roof brings their hearts into their mouths; were it not for the case-bottle they would drop it even now.

1859. Dickens, Tale of Two Cities, bk. II., ch. xix. You might as well flop as meditate. You may as well go again me one way as another. Drop it altogether.

1872. Public Opinion, 24 Feb., p. 241. ‘Inside Newgate.’ Do you know Newgate? I said to a cabman whom I hailed in Piccadilly on Saturday afternoon. He looked at me angrily, and briefly answered, drop it.

Drop-game, subs. (old).—A variety of the confidence trick:—The thief picks out his victim, gets in front of him, and pretends to pick up (say) a pocket-book, (snide) which he induces the greenhorn to buy for cash. The object is a Cog, and the operator a Dropper or Drop-cove.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.

Dropped on, adv. phr. (tailors’).—Disappointed.

Dropper, subs. (old).—A specialist in the drop-game (q.v.). Also drop-cove.

1669. Nicker Nicked, in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), ii. 108. [In list of names of thieves.]

Dropping, verb. subs. (old Royal Military Academy).—A beating; ‘I’ll give you a good dropping’ i.e., I’ll thrash you severely. For synonyms, see Tanning.

Dropping-member, subs. (old).—The penis; specifically one affected with gonorrhœa.

Droppings, subs. (vulgar).—The excrement of horses and sheep.

Drown the Miller.—See Miller.

Drudge, subs. (American).—Whiskey in its raw state, as used in the manufacture of alcohol. For synonyms, see Drinks.

1869. S. S. Haldeman, Pennsylvania Dutch. Drudge, another name for raw whiskey, originating in the Eastern States. I doubt whether the word drudge is thirty years old.

Drug, verb (colloquial).—To administer a narcotic.

A drug in the market, subs. phr. (colloquial).—Anything so common as to be not vendible.

Drum, subs. (old).—1. An entertainment; now a tea before dinner; a kettle-drum (q.v.).

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. XVII., ch. vi. A drum, then, is an assembly of well-dressed persons of both sexes, most of whom play at cards and the rest do nothing at all, while the mistress of the house performs the part of the landlady at an inn.

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. i. We recollect it well, not so many years ago, lit up for one of those great solemnities which novelists call ‘a rout,’ but which people in real life, equally martially as well as metaphorically designate ‘a drum.’

2. (thieves’).—A road, street, or highway. [From the Gr. δρομός through the Gypsy drom.]

English Synonyms. Drag; toby; high or main toby; pad; donbite; finger and thumb (rhyming).

French Synonyms. La trime (thieves’); le Général Macadam (popular, also = the public).

Spanish Synonym. Calca.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. i., p. 231. We … slink into the crib (house) in the back drum (street).

3. (pugilistic).—The ear. For synonyms, see Hearing-Cheat.

4. (old).—A building; Hazard-drum = a gambling hell; Flash-drum = a brothel; Cross-drum = a thieves’ tavern. For synonyms, see Ken. In U.S.A., a drinking place.

1867. Jas. Greenwood, Unsent. Journeys, xxvi., 204. ‘Come along; I shall be a pot to your pot.’ ‘Where shall we go?’ ‘Oh, to the old drum, I suppose.’

1890. Illustrated Bits, 29 March, p. 11, col. 1. The two chums were footing it to the ‘ancient drum,’ as they called the Norwich theatre.

5. (Australian).—A bundle carried on tramp; generally worn as a roll over the right shoulder and under the left arm. Also Bluey and Swag (q.v.). Cf., Swagsman.

1887. G. A. Sala, in Ill. London News, 12 March, 282/2. Here are a few more items of Australian slang kindly forwarded to me by a correspondent:—‘To hump one’s swag,’ or ‘drum,’ i.e., to pack up a bundle to be carried on the shoulders.

1890. Family Herald, 8 Feb., p. 227. I was just debating whether I had better ‘hump my drum.’

6. (tailors’).—A small workshop. Cf., sense 4.

Drummer, subs. (old).—1. A horse, the action of whose forelegs is irregular. [Grose—1785.]

2. (old).—A thief who before robbing narcotises or otherwise stupifies his victim.

1856. H. Mayhew, Great World of London, p. 46. Those who hocus or plunder persons by stupifying; as ‘drummer’ who drug liquor.

3. (general).—A commercial traveller; also Ambassador of Commerce or Bagman (q.v.); Fr., un gaudissart (from one of Balzac’s novels); une hirondelle (= a swallow). [Cf., Drum = a road; and old-time pedlars announced themselves by beating a drum at the town’s end.]

1827. Scott, to C. K. Sharpe, in C. K. S.’s Correspondence (1888), ii. 398. Dear Charles,—I find the Nos. of Lodge’s book did not belong to the set which I consider yours, but were left by some drummer of the trade upon speculation, so I must give you the trouble to return it. [In another letter on next page S. again refers to the ‘scoundrelly drummer.’

ante 1871. [in De Vere], A Country Merchant out West, p. 217. Look at that man, he’s drummer for A. T. Stewart.

1877. M. Twain, Life on the Mississippi, ch. xxxix., p. 365. It soon transpired that they were drummers—one belonging in Cincinnati, the other in New Orleans.

1885. G. A. Sala, Daily Telegraph, 14 August, 5, 3. Among whom were conspicuous sundry drummers, or representatives of American commercial firms, bound for Australasia, there to push their wares.

4. (tailors’).—A trousers’ maker, or Kickseys’-builder (q.v.).

Drumstick-Cases, subs. (common).—Trousers. [From drumstick = a leg + case, a cover.] For synonyms, see Bags and Kicks.

Drumsticks, subs. (common).—1. The legs—especially of birds.

English Synonyms. Cheese-cutters (bandy legs); stumps; cabbage-stumps; pins; gams; notches; shanks; stems; stumps; clubs; marrow-bones; cat-sticks; trap-sticks; dripping sticks; trams; trespassers; pegs; knights of the garter.

French Synonyms. Les brancards (popular, les brancards de laine = weak or lame legs); des baguettes de tambour (popular = thin legs; properly drumsticks); un bâton de tremplin (mountebanks’ = a leg; tremplin is properly a spring-board); des cotrets (popular: ‘a fagot’; jus de cotret = stirrup-oil, a ‘lathering’); des flûtes or flûtes à café (popular); des flageolets (popular); des gambettes (popular: from O. F. gambe = leg; des gambilles is of similar derivation); des fumerons (popular); des fuseaux (popular: also = a spindle or distaff); des jambes en manche de reste (popular = bandy-legs; des jambes de coq = spindle-shanks; des jambes de coton = weak legs); numéro onze (popular = Shank’s mare); des guibes, guiboles, guibolles, or guibonnes (popular and thieves’); des merlins (popular); des fourchettes (popular, literally, forks; fourchettes d’Adam = fingers); les chevaux à double semelles (popular. Cf., English Shank’s mare).

Italian Synonyms. Ramo (literally, ‘a branch’); calcha; colonna (literally, ‘a column’).

Spanish Synonym. Gamba (Cf., O. F. Gambe).

1770. Foote, Lame Lover, I. What, d’ye think I would change with Bill Spindle for one of his drumsticks.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby, ‘Lay of St. Nicholas.’ He helped his guest to a bit of the breast, And he sent the drumsticks down to be grilled.

2. In sing. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick.

Drunk, subs. (vulgar).—A debauch; by implication, a drunkard. On the drunk = ‘on the drink,’ i.e., drinking for days on end.

1871. Philadelphia Inquirer, 6 July. It seems that Gamble went on a drunk last Monday evening.

1879. G. R. Sims, Dagonet Ballads (told to the Missionary). I was out on the drunk and caught it—lor, what a cuss is drink!

[Among other meridians are drunk as a brewer’s fart; drunk as Bacchus; drunk as Chloe; drunk as the devil; drunk as hell; drunk as buggery; drunk as a Gosport fiddler; drunk as a fly; drunk as he (or she) can stick (or hang together); drunk as a lord; drunk as an owl (American, a biled owl); drunk as a tapster; drunk as a piper; blind drunk; crying drunk; pissing drunk; dead drunk; so drunk that you can’t see a hole through a ladder; drunk as blazes; and so drunk that he opens his shirt collar to piss; tumbling drunk].

Drunk as Davy’s sow.—Excessively drunk.—See Davy’s Sow.

Drunkard. To come the drunkard, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To feign drunkenness; also to be drunk.

To be quite the gay drunkard (colloquial), verb. phr.—To be more or less in liquor.

Drunken-Chalks, subs. (military).—Good conduct badges.—See Chalk.

Drunks, subs. (colloquial).—An abbreviation of ‘drunk and disorderly.’

1883. Daily Telegraph, 26 March, p. 2, col. 8. Of the twenty-nine night charges, by far the greater number were of drunks.

1884. W. D. Howells, Lady of the Aroostook, ch. xvii. If you could see how my mother looks when I come out of one of my drunks.

1890. Globe, 26 Feb., p. 1, col. 4. ‘A Short Way with drunks.’ At Buenos Ayres it is customary to punish drunkards, … by setting them to sweep the public streets for eight days or so.

Drury-Lane Ague, subs. phr. (old).—A venereal disease.—See Ladies’ Fever.

Drury-Lane Vestal, subs. (old).—A prostitute. Cf., Covent Garden Nun, and Bank-side ladies.

Dry as a Lime-basket.—See Lime-basket.

Dry-bob, subs. and verb (venery).—Coition without emission (said of men only).

Dry-boots, subs. (old).—A dry humorist. [Grose—1785.]

Dry-hash, subs. (Australian).—A miser; or bad egg; also, by implication, a loafer.

1887. All the Year Round, 30 July, p. 66. In Australian parlance … a dry hash, or a stringy bark, that is, a ne’er-do-weel.

Dry-land! intj. (rhyming).—‘You understand!’

Dryland Sailor.—See Turnpike Sailor.

Dry-lodging, subs. (common).—Accommodation without board.

Dry-nurse, subs. (old).—A guardian; a bear-leader, or tutor; a junior who instructs an ignorant chief in his duties.

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fayre, I. Quar. Well, this dry nurse, I say still, is a delicate man.

c. 1640. [Shirley], Captain Underwit, in Bullen’s Old Plays, ii. 322. Tho. But, sir, you must have a dry nurse, as many Captaines have. Let me see: I can hire you an old limping decayed sergeant at Brainford that taught the boyes.

1747. Walpole, Lett. to Mann, 10 May (1833), vol. II., p. 292. This curious Minister … used to … walk in the Park with their daughters, and once went dry nurse to Holland with them.

1852. F. E. Smedley, Lewis Arundel, ch. xxv. Oh, some poor devil old Grant has picked up cheap as dry-nurse to his pet idiot … half valet, half tutor.

1868. Brewer, Phrase and Fable, s.v. When a superior officer does not know his duty, and is instructed in it by an inferior officer, he is said to be dry-nursed. The inferior nurses the superior as a dry nurse rears an infant.

Dry-room, subs. (thieves’).—A prison. For synonyms, see Cage.

Dry-shave, subs. (common).—Rubbing the chin with the fingers; also used as a verb. The action implies a certain effrontery.

Dry-up, subs. (theatrical).—A failure or Columbus (q.v.); contrast with draw, sense 2.

Verb (colloquial).—To cease talking; to abandon a purpose or position; to stop work. As an interjection = Hold your jaw!

1865. The Index, 2 Feb. With which modest contribution we dry up with reference to the subject.

1872. Daily Telegraph, 4 July. An audience which should cause defeated Boston to hang her diminished head, dry up, and feel small.

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 69. I must dry up for the fellow’s bested me.

1884. Cornhill Mag., June, p. 617. Dry up! is the slangy and impatient exclamation with which he cuts short the occasional attempts of his mother to lecture him.

1887. O. W. Holmes, Our Hundred Days, p. 131. There were frequent … interruptions, something like these: ‘That will do, sir!’ or, ‘You had better stop, sir!’… With us it would have been dry up! or Hold on!

1888. R. Haggard, Mr. Meeson’s Will [in Illus. Lond. News, Summer No. p. 3, col. 1]. He … suddenly dried up as he noticed the ominous expression on the great man’s brow.

Dry-walking, subs. (military).—A hard-up soldier’s outing.

D. T’s., subs. phr. (common).—Delirium tremens. For synonyms, see Jim-jams. Also The D. T. = Daily Telegraph.

1864. Soiled Dove, p. 266. I wish to God I could get d. t., and then I should go mad and cut my throat, or pitch myself out of the window.

1868. Public Opinion, 1 Aug. Frightful diseases, one of the commonest of which is jocularly spoken of by tipplers as d. t.

1880. G. R. Sims, Ballads of Babylon (Beauty and Beast).—And had sold her child to a titled churl, Who had just got round from a bad d.t.

1883. Globe, 7 July, p. 1, col. 5. One of the daily papers, which boasts the largest circulation in the world, is familiar to all as the d.t.

1887. Jas. Payn, Glow-worm Tales, vol. i., p. 209. As certain as d.t. is the end of drinking.

Dub, subs. (old).—1. A key; specifically a master key. [From dup or dub, to open; to do up; see verb, sense 1.] For synonyms, see Locksmith’s daughter.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 153. A bunch of young dubs by her side, which are a bunch of small keys.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171. Dub, a key.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 39. That’s the kinchin as was to try the dub for us, ain’t it? muttered Smith.

Verb (old).—To open, ‘Dub your mummer’ = Open your mouth. Cf., Dubber; ‘Dub the jigger’ = open the door.—See quot., 1848. Also by confusion, to shut or fasten.

1567. Harman, Caveat [E.E.T. Soc., 1869], p. 85. Dup the gygger, and maund that is bene shyp.

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, Act iv. Sc. 5. Then up he rose and donned his clothes, and dupped the chamber door.

1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London Laid Open, p. 106. Dub the jigger, fasten the door.

Dub at a Knapping Jigger, subs. phr. (old).—A turnpike keeper.

1812. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v.

Dubber, subs. (old).—1. The mouth or tongue; mum your dubber = hold your tongue. (Cf., dub your mummer, under dub).

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 150. Dubber mum’d. To keep your mouth shut, or be obliged to hold your tongue.

2. (old).—A picklock. [From dub, a key + er.]—Grose, 1785.

Dub-Cove.—See Dubsman.

Dub-lay, subs. (old).—Using picklocks. [From Dub (q.v.), a key + lay (q.v.).]—Grose, 1785.

Dublin-dissector, subs. (medical students’).—A cudgel.

1841. Punch, vol. I., p. 154. At first he perpetually carries a Dublin dissector under his arm.

Dubs, adj. (Winchester College).—Double.

Dubsman, or Dubs, subs. (old).—A turnkey or gaoler. [From dub (q.v.) = key + man.]

1812. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v.

1887. Henley, Villon’s Good Night. For you, you coppers’ narks, and dubs, What pinched me when upon the snam.

English Synonyms. Jigger-dubber; screw.

French Synonyms.—Un gaffier (thieves’); un gaffe (thieves’ = boat hook); un oncle (thieves’ = uncle); un boye (thieves’: also an executioner at Cayenne or New Caledonia); le Duc de Guiche (thieves’: from guichettier = jailer); un artoupan (thieves’); un barbeaudier (thieves’); le Comte de Castue (thieves’: Castue = prison); un chat (thieves’ = a cat); le Comte de Canton (thieves’: Canton = prison or ‘stir’); le Comte de la Caruche (thieves’).

Spanish Synonyms.—Banastero (= basket-maker); banquero (= banker).

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], 30. Quoth a dubsman, who gazed on the shattered wall, ‘You have carved your epitaph, Claude du Val, With your chisel so fine, tra la!’

Dub up, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To hand over; pay; fork out. [Cf., provincial dubs = money.] Fr., foncer; abouler. Formerly, to lock up or secure; to button one’s pocket.

1840. Comic Almanack, p. 237. Come, dub up! roars a third: and I don’t mind telling you, in confidence, that I was so frightened that I took out the sovereign and gave it.

Ducats, subs. (theatrical).—1. Money. [Probably from Shylock and The Merchant of Venice.] For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. vi. The Jews have always appeared to me a calumniated race. From spendthrift King John downwards, the Christian has ever pocketed the ducats, and abused the donor.

2. (thieves’).—Specifically a railway ticket; also pawnbroker’s duplicate; raffle-card, or brief (q.v.). Also ducket.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., xl., 501. So I took a ducat (ticket) for Sutton in Surrey.

Duce, subs. (old).—Twopence. [From the Latin.]

1812. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, ii., 6. If any body offers you less nor a mag, or a duce, vy, you may say with the poet, Who vou’d his farthings bear? ven he himself might his quivetus make vith a bare bodkin.

Duck, subs. (common).—1. Scraps of meat; otherwise block-ornaments, stickings, faggots, manablins, or chuck (q.v.).

2. (Winchester College).—The face. To make a duck = to make a grimace. For synonyms, see Dial.

3. (common).—A ‘draw’ or decoy. [An abbreviation of decoy-duck.]

4. (colloquial).—A term of endearment; also used in admiration; e.g., a duck of a bonnet. Also ducky: duck of diamonds being a superlative. For synonyms, see My tulip.

1837. Comic Almanack, p. 78. You won’t grudge your poor rib a few ribbons, will you, Duck?

1841. Leman Rede, Sixteen-String Jack, i., 2. Nel. Oh, isn’t he a duck of a fellow? Bob. He’s the very flower of the flock.

1846. Punch, vol. XI., p. 164. Though somewhat out at elbows, he’s what the ladies call a ‘duck.’

5. (cheap jacks’).—A metal-cased watch; i.e., old watch movements in German silver cases.

1876. C. Hindley, Life and Advent. of Cheap Jack, p. 38. What appeared to the roughs a fine old English and valuable watch, but what in reality was an almost worthless duck.

To make a duck, or duck’s egg, verb. phr. (cricketers’).—To make no score; Cf., To crack one’s egg, and pair of spectacles. [From the shape of the ‘O.’]

1868. St. Paul’s Magazine, Aug. You see by the twitch of the hand, the glove rapidly raised to the face, and replaced on the bat-handle, the jerk of the elbow, and perhaps the uneasy lifting of the foot, that his fear of a duck—as, by a pardonable contraction from ‘duck’s-egg,’—a nought is called in cricket play—etc.

1870. London Figaro, 21 June. J. C. Shaw is a host in himself; he took six wickets, and all of them for ducks.

1872. Weekly Dispatch 9 June. The next ball from Brice sends Caffyn’s bails flying: and out comes the last man—Southerton—and he is used to duck’s eggs.

1883. Echo, 15 May, p. 4, col. 2. Out of the eleven Surrey batsmen who played against Notts yesterday, no less than five were credited with ducks.

Duck that runs, or grinds the gospel mill, subs. phr. (American).—A clergyman. For synonyms, see Devil-dodger.

1869. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’) Innocents at Home, p. 17, 18. Are you the duck that runs the gospel mill next door?

Lame Duck (q.v. post).

German Duck (q.v. post.).

To do a duck, verb. phr. (thieves’).—To hide under the seat of a public conveyance with a view to avoid paying the fare. [From duck = to bow or stoop.]

1889. Sporting Times. Doin’ a duck, macin’ the rattler, ridin’ on the cheap, on the odno, under the bloomin’ seat.

Ducket.—See Ducat.

Duck-footed, adj. phr. (common).—Said of people who walk like a duck; i.e., with the toes turned inwards.

Ducking. To go ducking, verb. phr. (common).—To go courting. [From duck (q.v.) = a term of endearment + ing.] See Goose-and-Duck.

Ducks, subs. (colloquial).—1. Linen trousers; generally white ducks. [From the material and colour.] At Eton worn only by men in the boats. For synonyms, see Bags and Kicks.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 248. There’s our man, Tom; he can have a pair of ducks of mine, and a check shirt of Bob’s.

1846. Punch, vol. X., p. 263. I wore my Russian Ducks, In their beautiful whiteness.

1888. Mrs. Musgrave, Savage London. Billy should do the thing proper, and be married in a pair of white ducks.

2. (Stock Exchange).—Aylesbury Dairy Co. shares.

3. (Anglo-Indian).—Officials of the Bombay service.

Chance the ducks (q.v., ante.)

To make ducks and drakes of one’s money, verb. phr. (common).—To squander money as lavishly as stones are squandered at ‘ducks and drakes.’ [In allusion to the childish game. Lemprière (Art. Scipio Africanus the Younger) refers to Scipio and Lælius taking to ‘ducks and drakes’ as a supplementary recreation to shell-gathering, and an early notice of the game occurs in Minucius Felix (Octavius cap. iii.):—From the beach they choose a shell, thin and polished by the waves; they hold it in a horizontal position, and then whirl it along as near the surface of the sea as possible, so as to make it skim the surge in its even motion, or spring up and bound from time to time out of the water. That boy is conqueror whose shell both runs out farthest and bounds oftenest.] Variants are To Blue One’s Pile; to Sweat (q.v.). Fr., galvauder; manger sa légitime.

1605. Chapman, etc., Eastward Hoe! Act i. Do nothing, be like a gentleman, be idle … make ducks and drakes with shillings.

1664. H. Peacham, Worth of a Penny, in Arber’s Garner, vol. VI., p. 259. I remember, in Queen Elizabeth’s time, a wealthy citizen of London left his son a mighty estate in money; who, imagining he should never be able to spend it, would usually make ‘ducks and drakes’ in the Thames, with Twelve pences [= 5/– now], as boys are wont to do with tile sherds and oyster shells.

d. 1680. S. Butler, Character of a Miser, in Remains, vol. II., p. 343 (ed. 1759). And he that made Ducks and Drakes with his Money enjoyed it every way as much.

1698. Ward, London Spy, pt. xvi., p. 372. They hook in the old fool again to make ducks and drakes with his money.

1700. Gentleman Instructed, p. 18. I would neither fawn on money for money’s sake, nor duck and drake it away for a frolick.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. lviii. We’ve tied up the property, so that he can’t make ducks and drakes with it.

1858. Marian Evans (G. Eliot), Janet’s Repentance, ch. xxv. They say Mrs. Dempster will have as good as six hundred a year at least.… It’s well if she doesn’t make ducks and drakes of it somehow.

Duck’s-Bill, subs. (printers’).—A tongue cut in a piece of stout paper and pasted on at the bottom of the tympan sheet. [From the shape.]

Ducky or Duck of Diamonds.—See Duck, sense 4.

Dudder, Dudsman, or Duffer, subs. (old).—A pedlar of so-called smuggled wares—gown-pieces, silk waistcoats, etc. The term and practice are both obsolete, though in a few seaports, London especially, they survived till recently in a modified form. [From duds (q.v.) = clothes.] Fr., un marottier (thieves’). See also Whispering Dudder and Barrow-man.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 160. A dudder happened some time ago to meet a countryman in a dark lane, and sold him a waistcoat-piece for two guineas and a half, which stood himself in only four-and-sixpence.

Dude, subs. (American).—A swell; fop; ‘masher.’ For synonyms, see Dandy. [From Scots duds = clothes; Cf., quot., 1870.] Derivatives are Dudette and Dudinette = a young girl affecting the airs of a belle; Dudine = a female masher.

1870. Putnam’s Magazine, Feb. Think of her? I think she is dressed like a dud; can’t say how she would look in the costume of the present century.

1883. Graphic, 31 March, p. 319, col. 1. The one object for which the dude exists is to tone down the eccentricities of fashion.… The silent, subfuse, subdued ‘dude’ hands down the traditions of good form.

1889. Puck’s Library, April, p. 3. For the front rows two styles are recommended—dude, No. 16, and Bald-headed Man, No. 41—both original in design and exquisite in finish.

Dude Hamfatter, subs. phr. (American).—A wealthy pig-jobber. [From Dude, a swell + Hamfatter, in allusion to occupation.]

1888. New York National Police Gazette. It seems that the dude hamfatters, after trying various games to skip unseen, conceived the idea of making up as a couple of well-dressed women.

Duds, subs. (colloquial).—Clothes; sometimes old clothes or rags. [Scots dud, Dutch todde, a rag; O.E. dudde = cloth. Duddery = a clothiers’ booth (De Foe’s Tour of Gt. Brit., p. 125).] In America applied to any kind of portable property (Cf., quots., 1622, 1780, and 1884). To angle for duds, see Anglers; To sweat duds = to pawn (see Sweat).

1440. Prompt. Parv., ed. Way, i, 134. Dudde, cloth.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), p. 86. When we byng back to the deuseauyel, we wyll fylche some duddes of the Ruffemans.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). Dudes, clothes.

1622. Head and Kirkman, English Rogue. ‘Canting Song.’ For all your duds [goods] are binged avast.

1780. R. Tomlinson, Slang Pastoral, IX. No duds in my pocket, no sea-coal to burn.

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary. Dudds, rags. Also clothes.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 20. Doubled him up, like a bag of old duds!

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. v. A ragged rascal, every dud upon whose back was bidding good-day to the other.

1841. Leman Rede, Sixteen-String Jack, ii. 3. Crissy, odsbuds! I’ll on with my duds.

1871. New York Tribune, 23 Jan. The three [railway] Commissioners, in whose appointment you had no choice, decide that you must get out, leave your house, bundle out your duds, and be off.

1881. A. Trollope, Marian Fay, ch. iii. To see her children washed and put in and out of their duds was perhaps the greatest pleasure of her life.

1884. Athenæum, 19 July, p. 74, col. 2. A writer in 1784 [in Gent. Mag., Gomme, vol. II.] says, for instance, that duds signifies rags, tatters, and that it comes from the Celtic. We do not believe in the derivation, but will not at present endeavour to refute it; we are sure the meaning is given wrongly, though it has the authority of Halliwell and Wedgwood in recent times. Duds, in the northern dialects means small things, or things of little account, whether articles of clothing, trade, or merchandise. We have frequently heard the word applied to workmen’s tools; and in an unprinted churchwarden’s account of an eastern shire we find in the year 1501 mention of ‘clocke-dudes.’ From the context it is evident that the small wheels belonging to the town clock are meant.

Dudsman.—See Dudder.

Dues, subs. (old).—Money. To tip the dues = to pay; to hand over a share. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt. [A colloquial extension of due = toll, tribute, fee, etc.]

1812. Vaux, Flash Dict. So a thief, requiring his share of booty from his palls, will desire them to bring the dues to light.

1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 13. Will he come down with the dues.

Duff, verb (thieves’).—1. Specifically, to sell flashy goods as pretended contraband or stolen; hence to cheat. Duffers, or Men at the duff = pedlars of flash. (Cf., Dudder). Duffing = the practice; used as an adjective = spurious.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 158. ‘The Duff’ [smuggled goods, so named and described in.]

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Duffers: cheats who pretend to deal in smuggled goods, stopping all country people, or such as they think they can impose on; which they frequently do, by selling them Spital-fields goods at double their current price.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. II., p. 23. They have been regularly ‘duffed’ out of the streets, so much cheap rubbish is made to sell.

1888. G. R. Sims, in Cass. Sat. Journal, 31 March, p. 7. The man at the duff palms off false jewellery as real.

2. (common).—To rub up the nap of old clothes so as to make them look almost as good as new.

Duffer = one who performs this operation, whilst the article operated upon is also a duffer by virtue of the fact itself. Cf., Duffer.

Duffer, subs. (old: now recognised).—1. A pedlar; specifically a hawker of Brummagem (q.v.), and so-called smuggled goods (hence senses 2 and 3). In the population returns of 1831 duffer = one who gets a living by cheating pawnbrokers.—See Dudder and Duff.

1796. Colquhoun, Police of the Metropolis, p. 176. A class of sharpers who are known by the name of duffers, who go about from house to house, and attend public-houses, inns, and fairs, pretending to sell smuggled goods.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xxxvii., p. 361. Nor did it mark him out as the prey of ring droppers, pea and thimble-riggers, duffers, touters, or any of those bloodless sharpers, who are, perhaps, a little better known to the police.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. lx. Now it is a fact that Colonel Altamont had made a purchase of cigars and French silks from some duffers in Fleet Street about this period.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 413. An intelligent street-seller, versed in all the arts and mysteries of this trade, told me that he understood by a duffer, a man who sold goods under false pretences, making out that they were smuggled, or even stolen, so as to enhance the idea of their cheapness.

2. (colloquial).—Anything (or person) worthless; anything sham. [From sense 1.]

d. 1845. Hood [quoted in Annandale]. Duffers (if I may use a slang term which has now become classical, and which has no exact equivalent in English proper) are generally methodical and old. Fosset certainly was a duffer.

1869. Mrs. H. Wood, Roland Yorke, ch. xi. Don’t you think, Hamish, he must have been a great duffer to go and marry before he knew how he could keep a wife?

1872. Standard, 12 Sept. ‘Who is to blame?’ we ask, in the interests of our government, and natural curiosity. ‘That duffer in feathers’ is the curt reply, pointing with the finger of scorn at one hero whom we had mistaken for something little short of a field marshal.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iv., p. 264. I’d several sovs.—good ones—with me, and also a whole lot of duffers.

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 10. He made no bones about calling her stupid, and was more apt to call her a little duffer than to sympathise with her when she got into trouble.

1889. Answers, 29 June, p. 66, col. 1. If the note is a genuine one the water-mark will then stand out plainly. If a duffer it will almost disappear.

3. (nautical).—A female smuggler.

Duffer-out, verb. phr. (Australian miners’).—To get exhausted.

1887. Finch-Hatton, Advance Australia. He then reported to the shareholders that the lode had duffered out, and that it was useless to continue working.

Duffing, ppl. adj. (colloquial).—False; counterfeit; worthless; Cf., Duff and Duffer.

1862. London Herald, 27 Dec. ‘Answers to Correspondents.’ Houses burdened with ninety years’ repairing leases and heavy ground rents are run up by the ‘duffing’ builder, merely for sale.

1873. Times, Jan. We know now that so-called ‘duffing’ jewellery is scattered far and wide over the land.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 239. A ‘shise’ half-bull and a ‘duffing’ tanner: half-a-crown and a sixpence quietly palmed off on this man out of his half-sovereign.

Dugs, subs. (old).—The paps; once used without reproach of women; now only in contempt, except of animals. [From same stem as ‘daughter.’] For synonyms, see Dairy.

Duke, subs. (old).—1. Gin. For synonyms, see Drinks.

1859. Sala, Gaslight and Daylight, ch. xxiii. The stuff itself, which in the Western gin-shops goes generally by the name of ‘blue ruin,’ or ‘short,’ is here called … duke.

2. (cabmen’s).—A horse. For synonyms, see Prad.

3. (thieves’).—Any transaction in the shape of a burglary; e.g., ‘I was Jemminy to their duke’ = ‘I was privy to the robbery.’

Duke Humphrey. To dine with Duke Humphrey.—See Dine.

Duke of Limbs, subs. phr. (common).—An awkward, uncouth man; specifically one with ungainly limbs. [Grose, 1785.]

Duke of York, verb. phr. (rhyming slang).—To walk; also, to talk.

Dukes, subs. (common).—The hands. For synonyms, see Bunch of fives and Daddle.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., xl., 501. So I said I would not go at all if he put his dukes (hands) on me.

1888. Lic. Vict. Gazette, 27 Jan., p. 55, 3. The men … put up their dukes to fight for supremacy.

To grease the dukes, verb. phr. (common).—To bribe; also to pay.

1883. J. W. Horsley, Jottings from Jail. I went to him and asked him if he was not going to grease my duke.

To put up the dukes, verb. phr. (common).—To put up one’s hands for combat.

1885. Home Tidings, p. 369. ‘Boxing Club Report.’ The two contestants put up their dukes, and soon warmed up to their work.

Dukey.—See Dookie and Gaff.

Dulcamara, subs. (colloquial).—A quack-doctor. [From the name of a character in Donizetti’s l’Elixir d’Amour (1845).]

Dull in the Eye, adv. phr. (common).—Intoxicated. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

Dull-swift, subs. (old).—A sluggish messenger.

Dumb-fogged, ppl. adj. (common).—Confused.

Dumb-foozled, ppl. adj. (common).—Confounded; puzzled.

1883. Hawley Smart, At Fault, I., x., 240. Considering you built the theatre, it struck me you weren’t very good at finding your way about, you seemed regularly dumbfoozled.

Dumbfound, Dumfound, verb (Also Dumbfounding, subs., Dumbfounded or Dumfoundered [Scots], adj. [Old Slang, now colloquial]).—To perplex; to confound.

1690. Dryden, Prologue to Prophetess. Then think on that bare bench my servant sat. I see him ogle still, and hear him chat. Selling facetious bargains, and propounding That witty recreation called dumbfounding.

1703. Ward, London Spy, pt. xvi., p. 379. This unexpected retort of the parsons, quite dumb-founded the Quaker.

1706. R. Estcourt, Fair Example, Act. III., Sc. i., p. 30. And if I can but dumb-found my husband with a dream, I shall be able to make my word good.

1714. Spectator, No. 616. They grew a little mutinous for more liquor. They had like to have dumfounded the justice; but his clerk came in to his assistance.

1766. Mortimer, Falstaff’s Wedding, I., ii. They let fly their jests so thick at me, and peppered me so plaguily with small wit, that I was dumfounded.

1855. A. Trollope, The Warden, ch. xi. At any other time how exquisitely valuable would have been that touch! but now he was distraught, dumb-founded, and unmanned.

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. v. He utterly dumfoundered Charley, by asking abruptly ‘How’s Jim?’

1880. G. R. Sims, Three Brass Balls, Pledge xx. White as a ghost, dumbfoundered, and trembling, Dan attempted to explain that he was innocent.

1882. Democracy, ch. vii. She lost her command of thought, and sat dumbfounded.

1883. W. E. Norris, Thirlby Hall, ch. ix. I was too dumbfoundered to speak.

Dumb-glutton, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Dumb-squint, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Dummacker, subs. (old).—A knowing person. For synonyms, see Downy Cove.

Dummerer.—See Dommerar.

Dummock, subs. (common).—The posteriors. For synonyms, see Monocular Eye-glass.

Dummy, subs. (colloquial).—A deaf mute; also an idiot; sometimes a Duffer, sense 2.

c. 1884. G. R. Sims, Dagonet Ballads (Mott Jarvis). And she left us like open-mouthed dummies a-waggin’ our heads at the moon.

2. (colloquial).—Generic for sham substitutes for real objects: e.g., empty bottles and drawers in an apothecary’s shop; wooden half-tubs of butter, bladders of lard, hams, cheeses, and so forth; Dummies in libraries generally take the form of works not likely to tempt the general reader. Hence, by implication, anything sham.

1846. Punch, vol. XI., p. 185. A Dummy list of Causes has long since been preferred, to enable Thompson to ascertain whether ‘we are retained on the other side’ when a brief is brought on behalf of either party.

1856. H. Mayhew, Gt. World of London, p. 112. The doorway is set round with sprucely-dressed ‘dummies’ of young gentlemen that have their gloved fingers spread out like bunches of radishes.

1869. Mrs. H. Wood, Roland Yorke, ch. ix. The large imposing stock turned out to be three parts dummies.

1871. Daily News. ‘Leader,’ 28 April. The Bill is not yet in the hands of members or public, the document placed on the table of the Lords being what is, in parliamentary slang, called a ‘dummy.’

3. (cards’).—The open hand at an imperfect game of whist.

1853. Lytton, My Novel, bk. XI., ch. iv. We might cheer the evening with a game at whist—double dummy.

4. (thieves’).—A pocket book.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Frisk the dummee of the screens = take all the bank notes out of the pocket book: Ding the dummee, and bolt, they sing out beef = Throw away the pocket book, and run off, as they call out ‘stop thief.’

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. He is caught—he must ‘stand and deliver’; Then out with the dummy, and off with the bit [money].

1878. Charles Hindley, Life and Times of James Catnach. (Chorus)—Speak to the tattler, bag the swag, And finely hunt the dummy.

[Other colloquial usages are: (1) = dumb-waiter; (2) = a locomotive furnished with condensing engines, and hence without the noise of escaping steam; (3) = a fireman’s term for a jet from the main or chief water pipe; (4) = a hatter’s pressing iron: Cf., tailor’s Goose; (5) = a piece of cloth rolled tight and saturated with oil, for rubbing hard places to be cut; (6) = an actor or actress who has nothing to say, etc.]

Dummy-Daddle Dodge, subs. phr. (thieves’).—Picking pockets under cover of a sham hand or daddle (q.v.).

1883. Greenwood, in Daily Telegraph. Asked by the friendly warder what he thought of the dummy-daddle dodge, Mr. Mobbs said he rather thought that game was played out. A woman, he proceeded to explain, can work with a dummy-daddle in an omnibus or a railway carriage much better than a man, because, without appearing conspicuous, she can wear any kind of loose shawl or cloak as concealment for her real hand.

Dummy-hunter, subs. (old).—A pickpocket who confined his operations to pocket-books. [From dummy (q.v.) = a pocket book + hunter.]

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood [ed. 1884] p. 89. No dummy hunter had forks so fly, No knuckler so deftly could fake a cly.

1843. Punch, vol. IV., p. 129. While ears are cramm’d with humbug, boys! The dummy-hunters ply An easy trade.

Dump, subs. (old).—A metal counter.

Verb (colloquial).—1. To throw down so as to produce a heavy noise: e.g., to dump down coals.

2. (Winchester College).—To put out. ‘Dump the tolly!’ = Extinguish the candle!

Dump Fencer, subs. (old).—A button-merchant.

Dumpies, subs. (military).—The Nineteenth Hussars. [From the diminutive size of the men when the regiment was first raised.] Obsolete. Dumpy = squat or undersized.

Dumpling-depôt, subs. (common).—The stomach. For synonyms, see Bread-basket.

Dumpling-Shop, subs. (common).—The paps. For synonyms, see Dairy.

Dumps, subs. (common).—Money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (Sir Rupert). May I venture to say when a gentleman jumps In the river at midnight for want of the dumps He rarely puts on his knee-breeches and pumps.

In the dumps, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Cast down; ill at ease; unpleasantly situate.

1592. Greene, Groatsworth of Wit, in wks. xii., 115. Whence spring these dumps?

1596. Jonson, Every Man in His Humour, III., iii. How now, Master Knowell, in dumps, in dumps! Come, this becomes not.

1600. Shakspeare, Much Ado about Nothing, ii., 3. Sing no more ditties, sing no mo Of dumps so dull and heavy.

1711. Spectator, No. 176. When I come home she is in the dumps, because she says she is sure I came so soon only because I think her handsome.

1717. Mrs. Centlivre, Bold Stroke for a Wife, v., 1. What art thou in the dumps for?

1771. Foote, Maid of Bath, II. She seems got quite i’ the dumps.

1847. W. B. Rhodes, Bombastes Furioso, p. 19. My happiness is chang’d to doleful dumps, Whilst, merry Michael, all thy cards were trumps.

1855. Trench, English, Past and Present (2nd ed.), p. 131. In the great ballad of Chevy-Chase a noble warrior, whose legs are hewn off, is described as being in doleful dumps. Holland’s translation of Livy represents the Romans as being in the dumps after the battle of Cannæ. It was in elegant use then.

1885. Daily Telegraph, 19 Jan., p. 5, col. 2. Everybody who suffers now and then from a fit of the dumps is counselled to read amusing books.

Dun, subs. and verb (originally slang: now recognised).—An importunate creditor; to persist in demanding payment. [A.S. dynian = to clamour, to din; possibly influenced by the memory of a certain Joe Dunn, a famous English bailiff, temp. Henry VII.] Fr., un loup (= wolf); un Anglais (= an Englishman). Also dunner and dunning.

1663. T. Killegrew, Parson’s Wedding, III., v., in Dodsley, O.P. (1780), xi., 452. We shall have the sport, and be revenged upon the rogue for dunning a gentleman in a tavern.

1675. Wycherley, Country Wife, I., in wks. (1713), 136. The most insatiable sorts of duns, that invade our lodgings in a morning.

1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, Act V., Sc. ii. Man. No, no. Those you have obliged most, most certainly avoid you, when you can oblige ’em no longer; and they take your visits like so many duns.

1678. C. Cotton, Scarronides, bk. i., p. 43 (ed. 1725). Have what you want, nor will I dun ye, But pay me when you can get mony.

1707. Farquhar, Beaux Stratagem, Act III., Sc. iii. I remember the good days when we could dun our masters for our wages, and if they refused to pay us, we could have a warrant to carry ’em before a Justice.

1712. Spectator, No. 454. Though they never buy, they are ever talking of new silks, laces, and ribbons, and serve the owners, in getting them customers as their common dunners do in making them pay.

1731. Daily Journal, 9 Jan. [‘List of the officers established in the most notorious gaming-houses.’] 9th.: A dunner, who goes about to recover money lost at play.

1742. Fielding, Joseph Andrews, bk. III., ch. iii. Poverty and distress, with their horrid train of duns, attorneys, bailiffs, haunted me day and night.

1777. Sheridan, Trip to Scarborough, Act I., Sc. ii. What, hast spent all, eh? And art thou come to dun his lordship for assistance?

1821. Scott, Kenilworth, ch. xv. I refused him admittance as flatly, Blount, as you would refuse a penny to a blind beggar; as obstinately, Tracy, as thou didst ever deny access to a dun.

1838. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, ch. ix., p. 66. To fetch three new boys, and dun the relations of two old ones for the balance of a small account.

1888. C. J. Dunphie, The Chameleon, p. 6. Dunning for payment which may not be convenient to them, and which would in no sense conduce to the honour of the dunners.

Dunaker, subs. (old).—A cattle-lifter.

16(?). Poem of 17th Century (quoted by Nares). The seventeenth a dun-aker, that maketh his vows To go i’ the country and steal all their cows.

1693. Herrick (‘Poor Robin’). Mercury is in a conjunction with Venus, and when such conjunctions happen, it signifies a most plentiful crop that year, of hectors … donnakers, cross-biters, etc.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Dunderhead, subs. (old).—A fool. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

Dundreary, subs. and adj. (colloquial).—Specifically, a stammering, foolish, and long-whiskered fop—the Lord Dundreary of Our American Cousin (1858)—generally, a foppish fool. Cf., Jubilee Juggins.

1876. Jas. Grant, One of the Six Hundred, ch. iii. His whole air had the ‘used up’ bearing of those miserable dundrearys who affect to act as if youth, wealth, and luxury were the greatest calamities that flesh is heir to, and that life itself was a bore.

Dundrearies, subs. (colloquial).—A pair of whiskers cut sideways from the chin, and grown as long as possible. A fashion (now obsolete) suggested by Sothern’s make-up in Our American Cousin.

1882. F. Anstey, Vice-Versâ, ch. xvii. Bushy black whiskers, more like the antiquated dundreary type than modern fashion permits.

Dung, subs. (workmen’s).—An operative working for less than ‘society’ wages. Formerly, according to Grose, ‘a journeyman taylor who submits to the law for regulating journey-men’s taylors’ wages, therefore deemed by the flints (q.v.) a coward.’

Dung-Fork (also Dung-Cart), subs. (colloquial).—A country bumpkin. For synonyms, see Joskin.

Dun-in-the-Mire, subs. phr. (obsolete).—An antiquated game.

1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, i., 4. Mercutio. If thou art dun we’ll draw thee from the mire Of this (save reverence) love, wherein thou stick’st Up to the ears.

Dunnage, subs. (nautical).—Baggage; clothes. Cf., Duds. [Properly wood or loose fagots laid across the hold of a vessel, or stuffed between packages to keep cargo from damage by water or shifting.]

1849. J. F. Cooper, The Sea Lions, ch. v. Not only was the chest more than half empty, but the articles it did contain were of the coarsest materials.… ‘There is little here to pay a man for crossing from the Vineyard,’ observed Roswell Gardiner.… ‘What is to be done with all this dunnage, deacon?’

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. i., p. 262. If they can meet with … the young ladies, they ‘put it on them for dunnage’ (beg a stock of general clothing.)

Dunnakin or Dunnyken, subs. (old).—A privy; in U.S.A., a chamber-pot. For synonyms, see Bury and Mrs. Jones.—[Grose—1785.]

Dunop, subs. (back-slang).—A pound.

Dup, verb (old).—To open.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 66. To dup ye gyger, to open the dore.

1596. Shakspeare, Hamlet, iv. And dupped the chamber door.