Volume 2 — A · Dictionary · of Slang · and · its · Analogues. (continued 13)

1842. Comic Almanack, p. 306. Precluding the possibility of anyone, at any time, showing a white feather.

Feather-bed and Pillows, subs. phr. (venery).—A fat woman.

Feather-bed Lane, subs. phr. (old).—A rough or stony lane.

Feather-bed Soldier, subs. phr. (old colloquial).—A practised and determined whoremonger.

Feck, verb (old).—To discover the safe way of stealing or swindling.

1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London, p. 106, s.v.

Feed, subs. (colloquial).—A meal; spread (q.v.), or blow-out (q.v.). Fr., une lampie (from lamper = to gulp down). [From the stable usage = an allowance of provender. An analogue, however, is found in Milton: ‘For such pleasures till that hour At feed or fountain never had I found.’]

1830. Bulwer Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 22, ed. 1854. Like most single men, being very much the gentlemen so far as money was concerned, he gave them plenty of feeds, and from time to time a very agreeable hop.

1853. Rev. E. Bradley (‘C. Bede’), Verdant Green, pt. III., p. 90 (q.v.).

1861. A. Trollope, Framley Parsonage, chap. iii.… It’s deuced shabby of him, not hunting here in his own county. He escapes all the bore of going to lectures, and giving feeds to the neighbours; that’s why he treats us so.

1864. E. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. xxxiii. He had been accustomed to describe Mr. Schröder as ‘a good old cock, sir; a worthy old party; kind-hearted, and all that, and giving no end of good feeds.’

18(?). Bret Harte, The Man of no Account. When the ‘Skyscraper’ arrived at San Francisco we had a grand feed.

1883. G. A. S[ala], in Illustr. L. News, 7 July, p. 3, col. 1. To be able to escape from a large public feed is, indeed, a sweet boon; but there are some big dinners at which attendance is a case of ‘must.’

Verb (football).—1. To support; back up.

2. (theatrical).—To prompt.

3. (university).—To teach or cram (q.v.) for an examination.

At feed, subs. phr. (colloquial).—At meat.

1890. National Observer, V., p. 138, col. 1. Statesmen at feed.

d. 1674. Milton. For such pleasures till that hour At feed or fountain never had I found.

To be off one’s feed, verb. phr. (common).—To have a distaste for food. [From the stable.]

1836. M. Scott, Cringle’s Log, ch. ix. Shall I fill you a cup of coffee, Obed?… Why, man, you are off your feed.

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, ii., 218. No, doctor; I’m off my feed for once.

1881. Jas. Payn, Grape from a Thorn, ch. liii. I won’t take a rasher this morning, thank you; nor yet any pigeon pie. I’m rather off my feed.

To feed the dummy or the dumb-glutton (q.v.), verb. phr. (venery).—To have connection. For synonyms, see Ride.

To feed the fishes, verb. phr. (common).—To be sea-sick; also to be drowned.

1884. Home Tidings, 22 Nov., p. 398. Although I fed myself shortly before arriving abreast of Eddystone, I fed the fish shortly afterwards.

To feed the press, verb. phr. (journalistic).—To send up copy slip by slip.

Feeder, subs. (common).—1. A spoon; among thieves a silver spoon. To nab a feeder = to steal a spoon.

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

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

2. (university).—A tutor; crammer (q.v.); coach (q.v.).—(See Dr. Blimber’s Mr. Feeder in Dombey and Son).

1766. O. Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield, chap. vii. (ed. 1827), p. 41. Mr. Thornhill came with a couple of friends, his chaplain and feeder.

1864. Glasgow Herald, 9 Nov. [Review of Hotten’s Slang Dictionary.] Feeder is given here as ‘old cant’ for a spoon.

Feeding-bottle, subs. (colloquial).—The paps. For synonyms, see Dairy.

Feel, verb (venery).—To take liberties with a woman. For synonyms, see Firkytoodle.

Feel a Thing in One’s Bones.—See Bones.

Feele, subs. (common).—A girl or daughter. For synonyms in the former sense, see Titter. [Fr., fille; It., figlia.] Feeles = mother and daughter.

Feeler, subs. (colloquial)—1. A device or remark designed to bring out the opinions of others.

1841. Tait’s Mag., Sept. ‘Political Register.’ The Times is putting out feelers on the corn-law question.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 29 Nov., p. 6, col. 3. The efforts made to purchase the Halliwell-Phillips collection by private subscription in Birmingham, have (says the local Times) utterly failed. A feeler was sent out by the Free Libraries Committee.

2. (common).—The hand. For synonyms, see Bunch of fives and Daddle.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iv., p. 259. I one day asked a man … if the hard work of prison did not spoil his hands for delicate manipulations. ‘Oh, bless you, no!’ he replied;… ‘In a week or two a man can bring his hooks and feelers into full working trim again and no mistake.’

Feet. Making feet for children’s stockings, verb. phr. (old).—Begetting or breeding children.

Officer of feet, subs. phr. (old military).—An officer of infantry.—Grose [1785].

How’s your poor feet? phr. (common).—A street catch phrase in the early part of the sixties. [For suggested derivation cf., quot., 1890.]—See Street cries.

1863. All the Year Round, p. 180, col. 1. ‘How’s your poor feet?’ a year ago cheated half the natives of Cockaigne into the belief that they were gifted with a special genius for repartee.

1890. Town and Country (Sydney), 11 Jan., p. 19, col. 4. Henry Irving’s revival of ‘The Dead Heart’ has revived a bit of slang.… When the play was brought out originally, where one of the characters says, ‘My heart is dead, dead, dead!’ a voice from the gallery nearly broke up the drama with ‘How are your poor feet?’ The phrase lived.

To lie feet uppermost, verb. phr. (venery).—To ‘take’ a man.

Feet-Casements, subs. (common).—Boots or shoes. For synonyms, see Trotter-Cases.

Feeze [also Feaze, Feize, and Pheeze], verb (old).—1. To copulate. For synonyms, see Ride.

1612. Beaumont and Fletcher, The Coxcomb (q.v.).

2. (old).—To beat.

Feint, subs. (old).—A pawnbroker. For synonyms, see My Uncle.

1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London, s.v.; 1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.

Feker, subs. (American thieves’).—Trade; profession; cf., Feck.

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

Fell a Bit on, verb. phr. (tailors’).—To act craftily; in an underhand manner.

Fell-and-didn’t, phr. (tailors’).—Said of a man walking lame.

Fellow.—See Old fellow.

Fellow-Commoner, subs. (university).—An empty bottle. For synonyms, see Dead man.

1794. Gent. Mag., p. 1084. One [student at Cambridge] was a Harry Soph; another a fellow-commoner and senior Soph, and occasionally jocularly called an empty bottle, whilst è contrà, a bottle decanted was, from time to time, denominated a fellow-commoner.

Felt, subs. (old).—A hat of felted wool. For synonyms, see Golgotha.

1609. Dekker, Gul’s Horne-Booke, chap. iv. For, in my opinion, ye braine that cannot choose his Felt well (being the head ornament) must needes poure folly into all the rest of the members.

1614. J. Cooke, Green’s Tu Quoque, in Anc. Brit. Drama (1810), ii., 567. Sir Lion. Aye, but son Bubble, where did you two buy your felts? Scat. Felts! by this light mine is a good beaver.

1823. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act ii., Sc. 5. Don’t nibble the felt, Jerry.

1841. Thynne, Deb. between Pride and Lowliness. A faire cloke on his backe, and on his head a felt.

Fem.—See Famble.

Fen, subs. (thieves’).—A prostitute or procuress.—Grose [1785].

Verb (schoolboys’).—(also Fend, Fain, Fainits, etc.). A term of warning, or of prohibition: as to prevent any change in the existing conditions of a game; e.g., at marbles, Fen-placings = no alteration in position of marbles is permissible; fen-clearances = removal of obstacles is forbidden. [Fend = M. E. defend in sense of ‘to forbid.’] Fain, Fain I, (with which cf., Bags I) are corruptions. At Winchester, Fingy you or Fingy that are analagous; but at Christ’s Hospital Fin = ‘I won’t have,’ the reverse of Bags I.

ante. 1815. E. C. Harrington, in N. and Q., 5 S., vii., 98. Respecting the word fen … I can testify to the use of the term by schoolboys prior to the battle of Waterloo … meaning that we protested against an exceptional action.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House. ‘I’m fly,’ says Jo. ‘But fen larks, you know.’

1877. Notes and Queries, 5 S., vii., 178. A comical application, was, I remember well, ‘Fen live lumber’! which, if pronounced in time, would disable your opponent from moving a bystander out of the way of his shot.

Fence, subs. (common).—1. A purchaser or receiver of stolen goods.—See verbal sense, and Thieves.

English Synonyms. Fencing master, or cully; billy-fencer; angling cove; stallsman; Ikey; family-man; father.

French Synonyms. Une crosse (thieves’); un carreur (thieves’); un attriqueur or une attriqueuse (thieves’); un franc de maison (also = landlord of a thieves’ lodging-house or ‘flash ken’); un fourgue, fourgat, or fourgasse (thieves’); une nourrice (a female fence; = nurse); un meunier (= a miller; porter au moulin = to fence the swag); un ogre (thieves’).

German Synonyms. Pascher or Verpascher (from paschlnisenen = to peddle illegally); Sarser, or Sasser (= a go-between); Tschorrgoi (gypsy).

Portuguese Synonym. Entrujão.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4th ed.), p. 3. The Fence and he [a thief], are like the Devil and the Doctor, they live by one another.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Fence (s.) … and in the Canting Language, signifies one who receives and disposes of stolen goods for the robbers.

1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. 171 (ed. 1864). The fence and he are like the devil and the doctor, they live by one another; and, like traitors, ’tis best to keep each other’s counsel.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, p. 60. What are you up to? Ill-treating the boys, you … insatiable old Fence.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, vol. II., p. 106. In one of my inquiries among the young thieves and pickpockets in the low lodging-houses, I heard frequent accounts of their selling the metal goods they stole to fences, and in one particular instance to the mistress of a lodging house, who had conveniences for the melting of pewter pots (called ‘cats and kittens’ by the young thieves according to the size of the vessels).

1883. Daily Telegraph, 13 June, p. 7, col. 2. The criminal who, without the aid of the professional fence, would experience much difficulty in disposing of his booty.

1885. Indoor Paupers, p. 73. The articles bore the workhouse stamp, were much worn, and would not have brought the thief more than a couple of pence, even supposing that he could find a fence, who would venture to purchase.

2. A place where stolen goods are purchased or received. [From sense 1.] Also a Dolly-, leaving-, or swag-shop—(q.v.); Fencing-crib. Fr., un moulin.

1847. Illus. Lon. News, 2 May. The keeper of the fence loves to set up in business there [Clerkenwell]—low public-houses abound, where thieves drink and smoke—Jew receivers work the corners.

1848. Punch, vol. xiv., p. 149. If Citizen Blanc hold to his opinions of 1839, we may expect no law of international copyright from the Republic. Let M. Galignani rejoice; and let his Bibliotheque in the Rue Vivienne still remain the greatest literary fence in Europe.

Verb (old).—1. To purchase or receive stolen goods.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). To fence property, to sell any thing that is stolen.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 153. Fenced. Is disposing of anything stolen for a quarter of the value.

1828. Jon Bee, Picture of London, p. 212. Even though he be a thief himself, or more harmfully engaged in fencing others’ thefts.

1830. Bulwer Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 298, ed. 1854. Vell, ven ve came out, you minds as on the voman had a bundle in her arms, and you spake to her, and she answered you roughly, and left us all and vent straight home; and ve vent and fenced the swag that wery night, and afterwards napped the regulars.

1885. Chamb. Journal, 21 Feb., p. 126. Moreover, he was strongly suspected of fencing—that is, purchasing stolen property.

2. (common).—To spend money.

1728. Bailey, Dict., s.v.

To be, sit, or ride on the fence, verb. phr. (American).—To be neutral; to be ready to join the winning side; to wait ‘to see how the cat will jump.’ Also, To sit on both sides of the hedge. [Cf., Latin prævaricato = straddling with distorted legs.]—See Jumping Cat.

1862. J. Russell Lowell, Biglow Papers, II., p. 97. A kind o’ hangin’ round an’ settin’ on the fence, Till Providence pinted how to jump an’ save the most expense.

1887. ‘Political Slang,’ in Cornhill Mag., June, p. 626. Those who sit on the fence—men with impartial minds, who wait to see, as another pretty phrase has it, ‘how the cat will jump.’

1888. Texas Siftings, 7 July. While Democratic papers will claim that Judge Thurman is as hearty and well at seventy-five as he was at fifty-five, journals on the other side of the fence will represent him to be a weak, feeble old man, much better fitted for the invalid than the vice-presidential chair.

Those who thus seek to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds are called fence-men. The operation is fence-riding, which sometimes qualifies for rail-riding (q.v.).

1848. New York Herald, 14 Oct. All the fence-men, all the doubters, all the seekers after majorities, will now bustle up, come out, and declare that General Taylor is the most popular man in the country, and that he was always their first choice.

1868. Congressional Globe, 17 July. This question is one of clear right and wrong, and there can be no fence-riding, when the rights of four millions of men are at stake.

Fencer, subs. (tramps’).—A hawker of small wares; a tramp: generally used in connection with another word; thus, driz-fencer (q.v.) = a pedlar of lace.

Fencing-Crib or Ken, subs. (thieves’).—A place where stolen goods are purchased or secreted.—See Fence, subs., sense 2.

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

1839. W. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, p. 277, ed. 1840. ‘It only leads to the fencing crib,’ replied Wild. ‘There’s no outlet that way.’

Fencing-Cully, subs. (thieves’).—A receiver of stolen goods.—See Fence.

1720. Bailey, Dict., s.v.

Fen-Nightingale, subs. (common).—A frog. Also Cambridgeshire, and Cape Nightingale.

Ferguson. You can’t lodge here, Mr. Ferguson, phr. (street).—A street cry, popular about 1845–50; used in derision or denial. [Mr. J. H. Dixon, writing to Mr. John Camden Hotten, under date Nov. 6, 1864, says the phrase originated thus:—A young Scotsman, named Ferguson, visited Epsom races, where he got very drunk. His friends applied to several hotel keepers to give him a bed, but in vain. There was no place for Mr. Ferguson. He was accordingly driven to London by his companions, who kept calling out, Ferguson, you can’t lodge here. This was caught up by the crowd, repeated, and in a week was all over London, and in a month all over the kingdom. Mr. Dixon states he was introduced to Mr. Ferguson, and that two of his companions were intimate friends.]—See Street-cries.

Ferm, subs. (Old Cant).—A hole; with Spencer = a prison.

1632. Dekker, English Villanies. He [an angler for duds] carries a short staff in his hand which is called a filch, having in the nab or head of it a ferme (that is to say a hole).

Ferret, subs. (thieves’).—1. A barge-thief.

2. (old).—A dunning tradesman.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

3. (common).—A pawnbroker. For synonyms, see My Uncle.

1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London, s.v.

Ferreting, subs. (venery).—The act of connection.

Ferret Out, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be at pains to penetrate a mystery of any kind by working underground.

Ferricadouzer, subs. (pugilist).—A knock-down blow; a thrashing. [From the Italian fare cadere, to cause to fall + dosso, back.] For synonyms, see Dig.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 244. Then there wasn’t no risk with Haynan … no fear of a ferricadouzer for the butcher.… What does it mean? It means a denskitch (a good thrashing).

Fess, verb (colloquial).—To confess; to own up. Fr., norguer.

Adj. (school).—Proud.

Festive, adj. (colloquial).—Loud; fast; a kind of general utility word. Gay and festive cuss (Artemus Ward) = a rollicking companion.

Fetch, subs. (old).—1. A stratagem; indirectly bringing something to pass.

1576. J. Skelton, Merie Tales, xiii. Yea sayde Skelton, if thou have such pretie fetchis, you can dooe more then thys; and therefore if thou dooeste not one thynge that I shel tell thee, I wil folowe the lawe on thee. What is that sayde the Myller. If that thou dooeste not stele my cuppe of the table when I am sette atte meate thou shalt not eskape my handes.

1727. John Gay, Beggar’s Opera, Act II., Scene 2. Mac. Be pacified, my dear Lucy; this is all a fetch of Polly’s, to make me desperate with you, in case I get off. If I am hanged, she would fain have the credit of being thought my widow. Really, Polly, this is no time for a dispute of this sort; for whenever you are talking of marriage, I am thinking of hanging.

1780. Mrs. Cowley, Belle’s Stratagem, v. 1. Why, my illness was only a fetch, man, to make you marry Letty.

1848. Lowell, Fable for Critics, p. 19. But as Cicero says he won’t say this or that (a fetch, I must say, most transparent and flat), After saying whate’er he could possibly think of.

2. (colloquial).—A success.

3. (old).—A likeness: e.g., the very fetch of him = his very image or spit (q.v.). Also an apparition.

Verb (colloquial).—1. To please; to excite admiration; to arouse attention or interest.

1607. Dekker, Westward Ho! Act ii., Sc. 2. Earl. Ha! Bird. O, I thought I should fetch you: you can ‘ha’ at that; I’ll make you hem anon.

1610. Jonson, Alchemist, II. This will fetch ’em, And make them haste towards their gulling more. A man must deal like a rough nurse, and fright Those that are froward, to an appetite.

1727. Gay, Beggar’s Opera, Act I., Sc. 8. Polly. Give her another glass, Sir; my Mama drinks double the quantity whenever she is out of order. This, you see, fetches her.

1864. E. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. v., p. 48 (1873). But now he was certainly fetched, as his friends would call it, and began to feel an interest in Miss Townshend, which he had never felt for any other person.

1867–70. C. G. Leland, Hans. Breitmann’s Ballads. Dot fetched him. He shtood all shpell-bound.

1879. Justin McCarthy, Donna Quixote, ch. xvii. She was quite clever enough to take on any part that might best commend her to the people she sought to please; and she thought she had hit upon the best way to fetch Gabrielle, as she would herself have put it.

1882. Besant, All Sorts and Cond. of Men, ch. xxx. You shall be my assistant: you shall play the piano and come on dressed in a pink costoom, which generally fetches at an entertainment.

1883. Referee, 1 April, p. 2, col. 4. There were scenes, though, wherein she fairly fetched her audience.

1884. S. L. Clemens (‘M. Twain’), Huckleberry Finn, xxi., 205. Hamlet’s soliloquy, you know; the most celebrated thing in Shakespeare. Ah, it’s sublime, sublime! Always fetches the house.

1884. G. A. Sala, in Ill. Lon. News, 17 May, p. 470, col. 3. The maritime conflagration fetched the audience, especially the pit and gallery.

2. (colloquial).—To get; to do.

[Some combinations are To fetch the farm = to get infirmary treatment and diet; To fetch a stinger (colloquial) = to get in a heavy blow; To fetch a lagging (thieves’) = to serve one’s term; To fetch a howl = to cry; To fetch a crack = to strike; To fetch a circumbendibus = to make a detour; To fetch the brewer = to get drunk.]

To fetch away, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To part; e.g., ‘a fool and his money are soon fetched away.’

To fetch up, verb. phr. (common).—1. To stop; to run against.

2. (popular).—to startle.

3. (American).—To come to light.

4. (common).—To recruit one’s strength after illness.

Fetching, ppl. adj. (colloquial).—Attractive (as of women); pleasing (as of a dress or bonnet).

c. 1882. Broadside Ballad. ‘You May Lay Odds on That.’ Some most fetching dresses the ladies now wear, You may lay odds on that.

1889. Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday, 17 August, p. 262, col. 2. How can they show off a pretty figure and a fetching bathing costume if they go in further than knee deep?

1889. Bird o’ Freedom, 7 Aug., p. 3. Quite delighted at being at last understood and appreciated by one of the fetching sex, Stewart made the running so fast that I couldn’t see the way he went.

Fettle. In good or in proper fettle, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Drunk. [From provincial English fettle = a state of fitness.]

Few. A few, or Just a few, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Originally (cf., quot., 1778) a little. Hence, by implication, on the lucus a non lucendo principle, considerably; e.g., ‘Were you alarmed?’ ‘No, but I was astonished a few!’ i.e., ‘I was greatly surprised.’ Cf., rather = a good deal.

1778. D’Arblay, Diary, etc., 6 July, vol. I., ch. i., p. 15 (1876). So I trembled a few, for I thought, ten to one but he’d say: ‘He?—not he—I promise you!’

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xx., p. 173. I appeal to our mutual friend, Smallweed, whether he has or has not heard me remark, that I can’t make him out. Mr. Smallweed bears the concise testimony, a few.

Fib, verb (Old Cant).—1. To beat; specifically (pugilism) to get in a quick succession of blows, as when you get your man round the neck (i.e., into chancery) and pommel his ribs or face.

1665. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 49 (1874). Fib, to beat.

1724. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Fib, to beat.

1811. Southey, Letters (ii., 236). I have been taking part in the controversy about ‘Bell and the Dragon,’ as you will see in the Quarterly, where I have fibbed the Edinburgh (as the fancy say) most completely.

1853. Thackeray, Men’s Wives, Frank Berry, ch. 1. For heaven’s sake, my boy, fib with your right, and mind his left hand!

1853. Rev. E. Bradley (‘C. Bede’). Verdant Green, pt. I., p. 106. His whole person put in chancery, stung, bruised, fibbed, propped … and otherwise ill-treated.

1865. G. F. Berkeley, My Life, etc., I., 311. As there was no room to hit out, in the phraseology of the ring, I fibbed at half a dozen waistcoats and faces with all my might and main.

2. (colloquial and recognised).—To lie.

1694. Congreve, Double Dealer, Act iv., Sc. iii. You fib, you baggage, you do understand, and you shall understand.

1712. Arbuthnot, Hist. of John Bull, pt. IV., ch. iv. Whereby one may know when you fib, and when you speak truth.

1755. Johnson, Dict. of Eng. Lang., s.v. Fib, a cant word amongst children.

1863. Alex. Smith, Dreamthorp, p. 11. Could I have fibbed in these days; Could I have betrayed a comrade?

Also, used substantively = (1) a lie; (2) a liar; see quot., 1862.

1738. Swift, Polite Convers., Dial. 2. If I had said so I should have told a fib.

1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, bk. III., ch. iv. Those who will tell one fib will hardly stick at another.

1773. Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, Act iii. Ask me no questions, and I’ll tell you no fibs.

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, chap. 58. ‘Oh! you dreadful fib,’ said Flora.

1883. Hawley Smart, Hard Lines, ch. xix. Mrs. Charrington saw no harm … in the utterance of a pretty fib; but she refused to place a deliberate lie upon paper.

Fibber, subs. (colloquial).—A liar. [From Fib.]

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Fibber (s.) a liar, one who speaks falsely, etc.

1785. Wolcot, Lyric Odes, No. 6, in wks. (1809), i., 67. Your royal grandsire (trust me, I’m no fibber) Was vastly fond of Colley Cibber.

1882. Jas. Payn, For Cash Only, ch. xxvi. For one’s lover to be a fibber is bad enough, but to be a forger

Fibbery, subs. (colloquial).—Lying.

1857. Ducange Anglicus, Vulg. Tongue. ‘The Leary Man.’ And if you come to fibbery You must mug one or two.

Fibbing, subs. (pugilist).—1. Pummelling an opponent’s head while ‘in chancery’; a drubbing. Fr., bordée de coups de poings. [From Fib (q.v.).]

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Mem. to Cong., p. 2. And if the Fine Arts Of fibbing and loving be dear to your hearts.

1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. 268 (ed. 1864). Resolved his fibbing not to mind.

1837. Barham, I. L. (The Ghost). Whom sometimes there would come on a sort of fear his Spouse might knock his head off, Demolish half his teeth, or drive a rib in, She shone so much in ‘facers’ and in fibbing.

2. (colloquial).—Lying.

Fibbing-Gloak, subs. (Old Cant).—A pugilist. For synonyms, see Hittite. [From Fib, sense 1 + Gloak, a man.]

Fibbing-Match, subs. (thieves’).—A prize-fight.—See Fib, sense 1.

Fibster, subs. (colloquial).—A liar. [From Fib, verb, sense 2.]

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. xx. You wicked old fibster! Didn’t you hesitate, stammer, and blush, when you said that?

Fiddle, subs. (common).—1. A sharper; sometimes old fiddle. For synonyms, see Rook.

2. (American).—A swindle. For synonyms, see Sell.

3. (thieves’).—A whip.

4. (thieves’).—See quot.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. i., p. 44. The taskmaster warder came in, bringing with him the fiddle on which I was to play a tune called ‘Four pounds of oakum a day.’ It consisted of nothing but a piece of rope and a long crooked nail.

5. (Stock Exchange).—One-sixteenth part of a pound.

1887. Atkin, House Scraps. Done at a fiddle.

6. (old).—A watchman’s or policeman’s rattle.

1832. W. T. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, Act II., Sc. 2. There’s one! go it, Jerry!—Come, Green. Log. Aye, come, Jerry there’s the Charlies’ fiddles going. Jerry. Charlies’ fiddles?—I’m not fly, Doctor. Log. Rattles, Jerry, rattles! you’re fly now, I see. Come along, Tom! Go it, Jerry!

1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London, s.v.

7. (colloquial).—A sixpence; also a fiddler; Cf., fiddler’s money.

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

Verb (colloquial).—1. To trifle, especially with the hands.

1663. Pepys, Diary, 13 July. Where all the ladies walked, talking and fiddling with their hats and feathers, and changing and trying one another’s by one another’s heads, and laughing.

1738. Swift, Polite Convers., Dial. 2. He took a pipe in his hand, and fiddled with it till he broke it.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.). Fiddle (v.) … also to spend a person’s time about matters of small or no importance.

1883. Hawley Smart, Hard Lines, ch. iii. That second charger of Mr. Harperley’s is smart, but they’ve had him fiddling about so long in the school, he’s most likely forgot how to gallop.

2. (thieves’).—To cheat; specifically, to gamble.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 140. She is supposed to bring in all the money she has taken, but that we don’t know, and we are generally fiddled most tremendous.

3. (common).—To earn a livelihood by doing small jobs on the street.—See Fiddling.

4. (American).—To intrigue.

5. (common).—To take liberties with a woman; for synonyms, see Firkytoodle.

6. (pugilistic).—To strike.

Scotch-fiddle, subs. (common).—The itch.

To hang up the fiddle.—To abandon an undertaking.

To play first or second fiddle, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To take a leading or a subordinate part. Among tailors second fiddle = an unpleasant task.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xii., p. 122. To say that Tom had no idea of playing first fiddle in any social orchestra but was always quite satisfied to be set down for the hundred and fiftieth violin in the band, or thereabouts, is to express his modesty in very inadequate terms.

1847. Thackeray, Letter, 2 Jan., to W. E. Ayton in Memoirs. If my friend will shout, Titmarsh for ever, hurrah for etc., etc., I may go up with a run to a pretty fair place in my trade, and be allowed to appear before the public as among the first fiddles.

1886. Jas. Payn, Grape from a Thorn, ch. xi. She had inherited from her mother an extreme objection to playing, in any orchestra whatsoever, the second fiddle.

Fit as a fiddle, phr. (colloquial).—In good form or condition.

1886. Jas. Payn, Heir of the Ages (Ry. ed. 1888), p. 63.

Intj.—See Fiddle-de-dee.

Fiddle-bow, subs. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick.

Fiddle-faced, adj. (colloquial).—Wizened, also substantively.

1885. W. Westall, Larry Lohengrin, ch. v. Tell me how far, in your opinion, I answer to this flattering description of yours—white-chokered, strait-laced, and fiddle-faced?

Fiddle-faddle, subs. (colloquial).—Twaddling; trifling; ‘little nothings’; rot (q.v.). Fr., oui, les lanciers!

1593. G. Harvey, Pierces Super. in wks. II., 98. Or who of judgment, will not cry? away with these paultringe fidle-fadles.

1657. Political Ballads (ed. Wilkins, 1860), vol. I., p. 139. After much fiddle-faddle The egg proved addle.

1712. Spectator, No. 299. Their mother tells them … that her mother danced in a ball at Court with the Duke of Monmouth; with abundance of fiddle-faddle of the same nature.

1876. C. H. Wall, trans. Molière, vol. i., p. 157. I see nothing about here but white of eggs, milk of roses, and a thousand fiddle-faddles that I know nothing about.

Adj. Trifling; fussing; fluffing.

1712. Arbuthnot, Hist. of John Bull, pt. III., ch. viii. She was a troublesome, fiddle-faddle old woman, and so ceremonious that there was no bearing of her.

b. 1811, d. 1863. Thackeray, Character Sketches (Fashionable Authoress). She interlards her works with fearful quotations from the French, fiddle-faddle extracts from Italian operas, German phrases, fiercely mutilated, and a scrap or two of bad Spanish.

Verb. To toy; to trifle; to talk nonsense; to gossip; to make ‘much cry and little wool.’

1761. Dr. Hawksworth, Edgar and Emmeline, I., ii. Here have I had a young, tempting girl fiddle-faddling about me these two hours to dress me.

1873. Miss Broughton, Nancy, ch. xxxvii. I am idly fiddle-faddling with a piece of work.

Also Fiddle-faddler, one inclined to fiddle-faddles.

Fiddle-head, subs. (nautical).—A plain prow as distinguished from a figure-head. Hence fiddle-headed = plain; ugly.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, III., i., 316 (ed. 1846). She has a d——d pretty run; but I hope Captain O’Brien will take off her fiddle-head and get one carved: I never knew a vessel do much with a fiddle-head.

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. v. ‘Zounds! you’ve broke it, you fiddle-headed brute!’ exclaimed a choleric voice …, startling the ladies most unceremoniously, and preparing them for the spectacle of a sturdy black cob trotting rebelliously down the farm-road.

Fiddler, subs. (old).—1. A trifler; a careless, negligent, or dilatory person. [From Fiddle, to trifle.]

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.) s.v.

2. (common).—A sharper; a cheat; also fiddle (q.v.).

3. (pugilistic).—A prize-fighter; one who depends more on activity than upon strength or ‘stay.’

4. (common).—A sixpence. [From the old custom of each couple at a dance paying the fiddler a sixpence. Cf., Fiddler’s money.]

1885. Household Words, 20 June, p. 155. Why a sixpence should be a ‘magpie’ it would be hard to say. A more easily explained name … is a fiddler. This probably from the old custom of each couple at a dance paying the fiddler sixpence, and, moreover ‘fiddler’s money’ is generally small money.

5. (common).—A farthing. For synonyms, see Fadge.

1885. Household Words, 20 June, p. 155. fiddler. This same word also does duty as an equivalent for a farthing.

Fiddlers’-Fare, subs. (old).—Meat, drink, and money—Grose, 1785.

Fiddlers’-Green, subs. (nautical).—A sailor’s elysium (situate on the hither and cooler side of hell) of wine, women, and song.

1837. Marryat, Snarley-Yow, ch. ix. At Fiddler’s Green, where seamen true, When here they’ve done their duty, The bowl of grog shall still renew, And pledge to love and beauty.

1842. Lover, Handy Andy, ch. xii. ‘He would as soon go into Squire Egan’s house as go to Fiddler’s Green.’ ‘Faith, then, there’s worse places than Fiddler’s Green,’ said Andy, ‘as some people may find out one o’ these days.’

1884. Henley and Stevenson, Admiral Guinea, iv., 4. Jack Gaunt, … it’s thanks to you I’ve got my papers, and this time I’m shipped for Fiddler’s Green.

Fiddlers’-Money, subs. (old).—Sixpences. [From the custom at country merry-makings of each couple paying the fiddler sixpence.] Also generically, small silver.

Fiddlestick! intj. (colloquial).—Nonsense; sometimes fiddle-stick’s end and fiddle-de-dee.

1600. Nashe, Summer’s Last Will, in wks. (Grosart) VI., 130. A fiddle-sticke! ne’re tell me I am full of words.

1701. Farquhar, Sir Harry Wildair, Act IV., Sc. ii. Golden pleasures! Golden fiddlesticks—What d’ye tell me of your canting stuff?

1834. Southey, The Doctor, ch. clxxxix. At such an assertion he would have exclaimed, a fiddlestick! Why and how that word has become an interjection of contempt I must leave those to explain who can.

Subs.—1. See quot.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 172. Fiddlestick, a spring saw.

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

3. (old).—A sword.

1595. Shakspeare, Romeo and Juliet, iii., 1. Here’s my fiddlestick: here’s that shall make you dance.

Fiddling, subs. (streets’).—1. A livelihood got on the streets, holding horses, carrying parcels, etc.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 211. A lad that had been lucky fiddling (holding horses, or picking up money anyhow).

2. See quot. and cf., quot., subs., sense 1.

1850. Lloyd’s Weekly, 3 Feb. ‘Low Lodging Houses of London.’ I live on 2s. a week from thieving, because I understand fiddling—that means, buying a thing for a mere trifle, and selling it for double, or for more, if you’re not taken in yourself.

3. (colloquial).—Idling; trifling.

4. (gamesters’).—Gambling.

Adj. (colloquial).—Trifling; trivial; fussing with nothing.

b. 1667, d. 1745. Swift [quoted in ‘Annandale’]. Good cooks cannot abide what they call fiddling work.

1802. C. K. Sharpe, in Correspondence (1888), i., 152. He is a mighty neat, pretty little, fiddling fellow, and exceedingly finely bred.

1880. Hawley Smart, Social Sinners, ch. xiii. I will look in at that time, and trust to find you have settled all these fiddling preliminaries.

Fid-fad, subs. (old).—A contracted form of fiddle-faddle (q.v.); also applied to persons.

1754. The World, No. 95. The youngest, who thinks in her heart that her sister is no better than a slattern, runs into the contrary extreme, and is, in everything she does, an absolute fidfad.

1874. E. L. Linton, Patricia Kemball, ch. xvi. The fidfads, called improvements, which were not wanted and seldom properly managed.

Fidlam-Bens or Coves, subs. (thieves’).—Thieves who steal anything they can lay hands on. Also St. Peter’s Sons.

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

Fie-for-shame, subs. phr. (schoolgirls’).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Field. To chop the field, verb. phr. (racing).—To win easily [Field = the horses taking part in a race.]

Fielder, subs. (betting).—A backer of the field [i.e., the ruck (q.v.). as against the favorite]. At cricket, a player in the field as against the team at the wickets.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. vi. I accommodate a vociferous fielder with 6 to 4 in hundreds as my concluding stake.

1883. Graphic, 11 August, p. 138, col. 2. As a batter, bowler, and fielder combined … he has yet no equal.

Field-lane Duck, subs. phr. (common).—A baked sheep’s head.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London, s.v.

Fient, intj. phr. (Scots colloquial).—An expression of negation: e.g., fient a hair care I = Devil a hair I care.

Fieri Facias. To have been served with a writ of fieri facias, verb. phr. (legal).—Said of a red-nosed man. [A play upon words.]

1594. Nashe, Unf. Traveller, in wks. v., 44. Should I tell you how many pursenants with red noses, and sargeants with precious faces, shrunke away in this sweat, you would not belieue me … a pursenant or a sargeant at this present, with the verie reflexe of his firie facias, was able to spoile a man a farre of.

1608. Penniles Parl, in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), I., 182. They that drink too much Spanish sack, shall, about July, be served with a fiery faces.

1663. Dryden, Wild Gallant, Act ii. Vour. You are very smart upon one another, gentlemen. Fail. This is nothing between us; I was to tell him of his title, fiery facias; and his setting dog, that runs into ale-houses before him.

Fiery Lot, subs. phr. (common).—Fast (q.v.); rollicking; applied to a hot member (q.v.).

Fiery Snorter, subs. phr. (common).—A red nose.

Fifer, subs. (tailors’).—1. A waistcoat ‘hand.’

2. (Scots’ colloquial).—A native of the Kingdom (q.v.), i.e., the county of Fife.

Fi-fi or fie-fie, adj. (common).—Indecent; ‘blue’ or ‘smutty.’ [From Fie = an exclamation signifying contempt, impatience, or disapproval.] A Thackerayean term.

1861. A. Trollope, Framley Parsonage, ch. vi. And then Mrs. Proudie began her story about Mr. Slope, or rather recommenced it. She was very fond of talking about this gentleman who had once been her pet chaplain, but was now her bitterest foe; and, in telling the story, she had sometimes to whisper to Miss Dunstable, for there were one or two fie-fie little anecdotes about a married lady, not altogether fit for young Mr. Robart’s ears.

1874. M. Collins, Frances, ch. xviii. Flood was a gay bachelor, with a few fie-fie stories floating through club atmosphere about him.

Fifteener, subs. (bibliographical).—A book printed in the 15th century.

1890. ‘Grangerising’ in Cornhill Mag., Feb., p. 139. Some of them torn from fifteeners, or ‘incurables,’ books of the fathers of printing.

Fifth Rib. To hit, dig, or poke one under the fifth rib, verb. phr. (common).—To deliver a heavy blow; to dumbfound.

1890. Globe, 26 Feb., p. 1, col. 5. It strikes the man who has been dallying with strange tailors … under the fifth rib.

Fig, subs. (colloquial).—1. A gesture of contempt made by thrusting forth the thumb between the fore and middle fingers: whence the expression ‘I do not care, or would not give, a fig for you.’ Fr., je ne voudrais pas en donner un ferret d’aiguillette. Cf., Care, and for other similes of worthlessness, see Curse, Straw, Rush, Chip, Cent, Dam, etc. [Italian: When the Milanese revolted against the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, they set his Empress hind before upon a mule, and thus expelled her. Frederick afterwards besieged and took the city, and compelled all his prisoners, on pain of death, to extract with his (or her) teeth a fig from the fundament of a mule and, the thing being done, to say in announcement, ‘ecco la fica.’ Thus far la fica became an universal mode of derision. Fr., faire la figue; Ger., die Feigen weisen; It., far le fiche; Dutch, De vÿghe setten.

1599. Shakspeare, Henry V., iii., 6. Pistol. Die and be damned and fico for thy friendship. Fluellen. It is well. Pistol. The fig of Spain.

1610. Ben Jonson, The Alchemist, i. 1. Subtle. What to do? Lick figs out of mine arse.

1821. Pierce Egan, Tom and Jerry [ed. 1890], p. 106. A fig for each bum.

1861. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. vi. A fig for Poll Ady and fat Sukey Wimble; I now could jump over the steeple so nimble; With joy I be ready to cry.

1882. Punch, vol. LXXXII., p. 185, col. 2 (q.v.).

2. (common).—Dress. [From Fig, verb. sense = that which shows off a man or woman, as a fig of ginger shows off a horse. Cf., quot., 1819, in Fig up.] In full fig = in full dress.

1861. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. i. He waits on me in hall, where we go in full fig of cap and gown at five, and get very good dinners, and cheap enough.

1873. Cassell’s Magazine, Jan., p. 246, col. 2. ‘London Cured.’ They are rather prone to dress flashily, and wear when in full fig no end of jewellery.

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

Verb (stable).—To ginger a horse. [For origin, see subs. sense.]

To fig out, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To show off; to dress; to don one’s war paint (q.v.). [From the verb.]

1825. The English Spy, vol. 1, p. 177. Eglantine (to the ostler). Well, Dick, what sort of a stud, hey? Come, fig out two lively ones.

1884. W. C. Russell, Jack’s Courtship, ch. vi. He began to inveigh against the waiter’s costume, as he styled the dress I had figged myself out in.

To fig up, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To restore; to reanimate (as a gingered horse).

1819. T. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 24. In vain did they try to fig up the old lad, ’Twas like using persuaders upon a dead prad.

Figaro, subs. (common).—A barber. [From Le Nozze di Figaro.]

1886. Globe, 18 March, p. 3, col. 2. [Referring to recent order of French War Minister permitting soldiers to wear their beards.] There is wailing and weeping among a certain section of that army, the figaros, which has been despoiled at one fell swoop.

Figdean, verb (old).—To kill. For synonyms, see Cook one’s goose.

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

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

Figged.—See Jigged.

Figger or Figure.—See Fagger.

Figging- or Fagging-lay, subs. phr. (old).—Pocket-picking: cf., Fagger.

Fight, subs. (common).—A party; e.g., Tea fight, Wedding-fight, etc. Cf., Scramble, and Worry: also Row (q.v.).

To fight or play cocum.—See Cocum.

To fight or buck the tiger.—See Buck and quots., infra.

1870. London Figaro, 20 July. The other day a gentleman of San Francisco, hitherto only noted for deeds of daring in fighting the tiger, was seated asleep in the smoking-car of the evening train from Sacramento on the Vallejo route.

1886. Daily Telegraph, 18 Oct., p. 5, col. 3. If they subsequently fight the tiger at the games of faro or roulette.

One that can fight his weight in wild cats, subs. phr. (American).—A brilliant desperado.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly. John Halkett, as I learned afterwards, could fight his weight in wild cats.

Fighting-Cove, subs. phr. (tramps’).—A professional pugilist: specifically one who ‘boxes’ for a livelihood at fairs, race-meetings, etc.

1880. Greenwood, Odd People in Odd Places, p. 56. You see them two there, sitting on t’other end of the table and eating fried fish and bread. That’s their mittens they’ve got tied up in that hankercher. They’re fighting coves.

Fighting Fifth, subs. phr. (military)—The Fifth Foot. [So distinguished in the Peninsular.] Other nicknames were the shiners (in 1764 from its clean and smart appearance); the old bold fifth (also Peninsular); and Lord Wellington’s body guard (it was at head-quarters in 1811). Cf., Fighting Ninth.

1871. Chambers’ Journal, 23 Dec., p. 802, col. 2. The Fighting Fifth was distinguished by its men wearing a white plume in the cap, when the similar ornament of the other regiments was a red and white tuft.

1890. Standard, 25 April, p. 3, col. 4, ‘St. George’s Day.’ With the exception of the annual observances by the Northumberland Fusiliers, better known as the Fighting Fifth, and a concert at the Crystal Palace, there does not seem to have been the smallest notice taken of what was, not a hundred years ago, a recognised popular festival throughout the length and breadth of once merrie England.

Fighting Ninth, subs. phr. (military).—The Ninth Foot. [Also Holy Boys (Peninsular), from its selling its Bibles for drink.] Cf., Fighting Fifth.

Fighting Tight, adv. phr. (American).—Drunk and quarrelsome. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

Fig-leaf, subs. (common).—An apron. In fencing, the padded shield worn over the lower abdomen and right thigh. Fr., une petite bannette. Cf., Belly-cheat and Flag.

Figs (also Figgins), subs. (colloquial).—A grocer.

Figure, subs. (colloquial).—1. Appearance; conduct; e.g., to cut a good or bad figure, a mean figure, sorry figure, etc.

1712. Spectator, No. 479. Men cannot, indeed, make a sillier figure, than in repeating such pleasures and pains to the rest of the world.

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. xvii. Peradventure our youth is fast, and aspires to be a man of figure.

2. (colloquial).—Price; value; amount.

d. 1863. Thackeray [quoted in Annandale]. Accommodating the youngster, who had just entered the regiment, with a glandered charger at an uncommonly stiff figure.

1864. London Society, Oct., p. 480. She had saved … about four hundred a year out of the wreck … and so, on the whole, did not do badly in life. Happiness has been found at even a lower ‘figure.’

1883. Sala, Living London, p. 184. The ‘figure’ to be paid to Madame Adelina Patti for her forthcoming season.

1886. Cornhill Mag., March, p. 304. ‘About what is their figure?’ asked Mr. Corder. ‘Slim and graceful,’ answered the lady. ‘I don’t mean that,’ said the ex-smoked-mother-of-pearl-button manufacturer; ‘I mean, what is each of them worth in money?’

3. (colloquial).—Paps and posteriors; said only of women. No figure = wanting in both particulars.

Verb (billiards’).—To single out; to spot (q.v.).

[Figure, like fetch, comes in for a good deal of hard work in America. It is colloquially equivalent to ‘count upon’; as, ‘you may figure on getting a reply by return mail’; also = to strive for. To figure on [a thing] = to think it over; to figure out = to estimate; to figure up = to add up; to cut a figure, see cut; to go the whole figure = to be thorough; to go the big figure = to launch out; to miss a figure = to make a mistake.]

Figure-dancer, subs. (thieves’).—A manipulator of the face value of banknotes, cheques, and paper security generally.—Grose [1785].

Figure-fancier, subs. (venery).—An amateur of large-made women.

Figure-head, subs. (nautical).—The face. For synonyms, see Dial.

Figure-maker, subs. (venery).—A wencher. [In allusion to the enlarged ‘figures’ of pregnant women.] For synonyms, see Molrower.

Figure (or Number) Six, subs. phr. (thieves’).—A lock of hair brought down from the forehead, greased, twisted spirally, and plastered on the face. For synonyms, see Aggerawator.

1851. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, v. I., p. 36. As for the hair, they [coster-lads] say it ought to be long in front, and done in figure-six curls or twisted back to the ear, ‘Newgate-knocker style.’

Filbert. Cracked in the filbert, adv. phr. (common).—Crazy; a variant of wrong in the nut (q.v.) or upper storey. For synonyms, see Apartments to let and Tile loose.

Filch, verb (Old Cant: now recognised).—1. To steal: specifically to pilfer in small ways [Dekker: from the ‘filches’ or hooks used by thieves in stealing out of open windows; Skeat: for filk from O.E. fele, Icel. fela, to steal, like talk and tell, stalk (verb) and steal where k is a formative element.—See Phil. Soc. Trans., 1865, p. 188.] For synonyms, see Prig. Filch, properly filchman (q.v.), = a hooked staff; on the filch or filching = stealing.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 66. To fylche, to robbe.

1580. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. 63, st. 13, p. 143 (E.D.S.). The champion robbeth by night, And prowleth and filcheth by day.

1611. Middleton, Roaring Girl, Act iv., Sc. 1. What she leaves Thou shalt come closely in and filch away.

1729. Swift, Intelligencer, No. 4, p. 35 (2nd ed.). The servants having all that time to themselves to intrigue, to junket, to filch and steal.

1830. Marryat, King’s Own, ch. x. I could filch a handkerchief as soon as I was high enough to reach a pocket, and was declared to be a most promising child.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 246. She were an out-and-outer in going into shops on the filch.

2. (old).—To beat. For synonyms, see Baste and Tan.

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

Subs. (old).—A thief. [From the verb.] Also Filcher (q.v.). For synonyms, see Area-sneak.

1810. Poole, Hamlet Travestie, II., iii. A very filch, that more deserves to hang, Than any one of the light-finger’d gang.

Filcher or Filch (q.v.). subs. (Old Cant: now recognised). A thief. [From filch (q.v.) = to steal + er.] For synonyms, see Area-sneak and Thieves.

1580. Tusser, Husbandrie, ch. 10, st. 54, p. 25 (E.D.S.). Purloiners and filchers, that loveth to lurke.

1596. Jonson, Every man in his Humour, IV., ix. How now, Signior Gull! are you turned filcher of late? Come, deliver my cloak.

1636. Davenant, The Wits, Act. V., The old blade Skulks there like a tame filcher, as he had New stolen ’bove eggs from market-women, Robb’d an orchard, or a cheese-loft.

1887. J. W. Ebsworth, Cavalier Lyrics (In Alsatia, etc.). Filchers, who grabble at other folks’ chink.

Filchman or Filch, subs. (old).—A thief’s hooked staff used as described in quot., 1632.

1567. Frat. of Vacabondes, p. 3. The trunchion of a staffe, which staffe they cal a filtchman.

1589. Nashe, Countercuffe to Martin Junior, in wks., vol. I., p. 80. Pasquill met him … with a Hatte like a sawcer vppon hys crowne, a Filch-man in his hande.

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

1632–48. Dekker, English Villanies. He carries a short staff in his hand, which is called a filch, having in the nab or head of it a ferme (that is to say a hole) into which, upon any piece of service, when he goes a filching, he putteth a hooke of iron, with which hooke he angles at a window in the dead of night for shirts, smockes, or any other linen or woollen.

1665. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 49 (1874), s.v.; 1724. E. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v.

File, subs. (old). 1. A pickpocket. Also file cloy or bung-nipper; cf., Buttock. Fr., une poisse à la détourne.

1754. Fielding, Jon. Wild, bk. IV., ch. xii. The greatest character among them was that of a pickpocket, or, in truer language, a file.

1837. C. Dickens, Oliver Twist, p. 123. You’ll be a fine young cracksman afore the old file now.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon. The file is one who is generally accompanied by two others, one of whom is called the ‘Adam tyler,’ and the other the ‘bulker,’ or ‘staller.’ It is their business to jostle or ‘ramp’ the victim, while the file picks his pocket, and then hands the plunder to the ‘Adam tyler,’ who makes off with it.

2. (common).—A man: i.e., a cove (q.v.). Thus silent file (Fr., un lime sourde) = a dumb man; close-file = a miser, or a person not given to blabbing; Hard-file = a grasper (q.v.); old file = an elder; and so forth.

1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry (ed. 1890), p. 54. He was one of the deepest files in London; indeed, he was ‘awake’ on every suit.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 360 (ed. 1857). ‘Wot a perverse old file it is!’ exclaimed Sam, ‘always agoin’ on about werdicks and alleybis, and that. Who said anysthings about the werdick?’

1837. C. Dickens, Oliver Twist, p. 233. The Dodger … desired the jailer to communicate the names of them two files as were on the bench.

1849. Thackeray, Hoggarty Diamond, ch. xi. ‘You beat Brough; you do, by Jove! for he looks like a rogue—anybody would swear to him: but you! by Jove, you look the very picture of honesty!’ ‘A deep file,’ said Aminadab, winking and pointing me out to his friend, Mr. Jehoshaphat.

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xiii. If you were not such a steady old file I should think you were in love with her.

Verb (old).—To pick pockets.

Filing-lay, subs. (thieves’).—Pocket-picking. [From file = to steal from the person + lay = business, occupation.]

1754. Jon. Wild, bk. IV., ch. ii. I am committed for the filing-lay, man, and we shall be both nubbed together.

Filling at the Price, adv. phr. (common).—Satisfying.

1870. London Figaro, 28 May. ‘Penny Pleasures.’ We believe that baked taturs are accepted as Penny Pleasures, and as being filling at the price.

Fill One’s Pipe, verb. phr. (obsolete).—To attain to easy circumstances.

1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry (ed. 1890), p. 32. It has often been the subject of sincere regret that such persons, with very few exceptions, have lived just long enough, according to a vulgar phrase, to fill their pipe, and leave others to enjoy it.

Fill the Bill, verb. phr. (theatrical).—To excel in conspicuousness: as a star actor whose name is ‘billed’ to the exclusion of the rest of the company. Hence, by implication, out of the common run of things; e.g., That fills the bill = ‘that takes the cake,’ for a lie, an effect, an appearance—anything.

Fill the Bin, verb. phr. (American).—To be beyond question; to come up to the mark; e.g., ‘Is the news reliable?’ Yes, it fills the bin. Cf., To Fill the Bill.

1862. Speech of W. G. Brownlow of Tenn. in N. Y. Herald, 16 May. ‘Sir,’ said he,—and he [W. L. Yancey] is a beautiful speaker and personally a very fine-looking man,—‘are you the celebrated Parson Brownlow?’ ‘I’m the only man on earth,’ I replied, ‘that fills the bin.’

Fillupey, adj. and adv. (obsolete).—Satisfying. [From fill + up + y.]

1853. Diogenes, II., 195. Champagne is fillupey, so is Auber’s music.

Filly, subs. (common).—A girl; specifically a wanton. Among thieves, a daughter.

1668. Etherege, She Would if She Could, II., ii. (1704), p. 112. I told you they were a couple of skittish fillies, but I never knew ’em boggle at a man before.

1846. Thackeray, V. Fair, ch. xi. Well, I heard him say, ‘By jove, she’s a neat little filly!’ meaning your humble servant, and he did me the honour to dance two country dances with me.

Filly-hunting, subs. (venery).—Questing adventures; grousing (q.v.).

Filth, subs. (old venery).—A prostitute.

1602. Shakspeare, Othello, v., 2. Iago, Filth, thou liest!

1609. Shakspeare, Timon of Athens, iv., 1. To general filths Convert, o’ the instant, green virginity.

Fimble-Famble, subs. (common).—A lame excuse; a prevaricating answer.

Fin, subs. (common).—1. The arm; also the hand. [Fr., nageoire, but for synonyms, see Daddle. To tip the fin = to shake hands.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Fin, an arm.

1836. Michael Scott, Cruise of the Midge, p. 116. I wagged my head at this one, and nodded to another, and salaam’d with my fins with all the grace of a wounded turtle, to a third.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxxvii., p. 323. ‘Smauker, my lad, your fin,’ said the gentleman with the cocked hat. Mr. Smauker dovetailed the top joint of his right hand little finger into that of the gentleman with the cocked hat, and said he was charmed to see him looking so well.

1844. Puck, p. 134. The sun shines fair in Carey Street, And eke in Lincoln’s Inn, When Brown and Johnson gaily meet And shake the friendly fin.

1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. lv. The young surgeon … succeeded in getting the General’s dirty old hand under what he called his own fin.

1850. F. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, p. 152. I’ll drive you there instead; it will be better for your scorched fin (pointing to my injured arm), than jolting about outside a horse.

2. Also Finn or Finnie.—See Finnup.

Intj.—See Fain.

Find, subs. (Harrow).—A mess of three or four upper boys which teas and breakfasts in the rooms of one or other of the set. Find-fag = a fag who provides for or ‘finds’ upper boys.

Finder, subs. (thieves’).—1. A thief; specifically a meat-market thief.

2. (Oxford University).—A waiter; especially at Caius’.

Fine, subs. (thieves’).—Punishment; a term of imprisonment. For synonyms, see Dose. To fine = to sentence. [From the payment of money imposed as a punishment for an offence.]

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

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon. The cove had a fine of two stretches and a half imposed upon him for relieving a joskin of a load of cole.

To cut it fine.—See Cut fine.

To get one down fine and close, verb. phr. (American).—To find out all about a man; to deliver a stinging blow.

All very fine and large, adj. phr. (common).—An interjection of (1) approval; (2) derision; and (3) incredulity. [The refrain of a music-hall song excessively popular about 1886–88.]

Fine as fivepence.—See Fivepence.

Fine day for the young ducks, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A very wet day.

Fine words butter no parsnips, phr. (colloquial).—A sarcastic retort upon large promises.

Fine-drawing, subs. (tailors’).—Accomplishing an end without discovery.

Fineer, verb, Fineering, subs. (old).—See quot.

1765. Goldsmith, Essays, VIII. The second method of running into debt is called fineering; which is getting goods made in such a fashion as to be unfit for every other purchaser, and if the tradesman refuses to give them on credit, then threatens to leave them upon his hands.

Fine-Madam, subs. phr. (common).—An epithet of envy or derision for a person (feminine) above her station.

Finger, subs. (American).—A ‘nip’; usually applied to spirituous liquors. Thus, Three fingers of clear juice = Three ‘goes’ of whiskey.

1888. Newport Journal, 25 Feb. ‘Which is correct, spoonfuls or spoons-ful, uncle?’ Denver uncle—‘Um—er—the fact is I don’t know, my boy. In Denver, we don’t use either, we say fingers.’

Verb (venery).—To take liberties with a woman. For synonyms, see Firkytoodle.

To put the finger in the eye, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To weep. For synonyms, see Nap a bit.—[Grose, 1785.]

A bit for the finger, phr. (venery).—A lascivious endearment.

Finger and Thumb, subs. phr. (rhyming slang).—A road or highway, i.e., ‘drum.’ For synonyms, see Drum.

Finger-Better, subs. (American).—A man who bets on credit; also one who points out cards.

Finger-fucking, subs. phr. (venery).—Masturbation (said of women only). For synonyms, see Frig.

Finger-post, subs. (common).—A clergyman. For synonyms, see Devil-dodger.

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. A parson: so called, because.… Like the finger-post he points out … the way to heaven.

Finger-Smith, subs. (thieves’).—1. A pickpocket.

1883. Horsley, Jottings from Jail [in Echo], 25 Jan., p. 2, col. 4. The delicate expression fingersmith, as descriptive of the trade which a blunt world might call that of a pickpocket.

2. (common).—A midwife. Fr., Madame tire-monde or tire-pouce (Rabelaisian); Madame tire-mômes (môme = ‘kid’); une mômière (thieves’); Madame tâte-minette, Madame guichet or Madame portière du petit guichet (17th century phrases). Cf., Carver and Gilder.

Finish, verb (common).—To kill. For synonyms, see Cook one’s goose.

Finisher, subs. (colloquial).—Something that gives the last, the settling touch to anything. Cf., Corker, Clincher, etc.

1788–1841. Th. Hook [quoted in Annandale]. ‘This was a finisher,’ said Lackington.

Finjy! intj. (Winchester College).—An exclamation excusing one from participation in an unpleasant or unacceptable task, which he who says the word last has to undertake.

Finnuf.—See Finnup.

Finnup, (also finnip, finnuf, finnif, finnie, finn, or fin), subs. (thieves’).—A five-pound note or flimsy (q.v.). [A Yiddish pronunciation of German fünf = five.] Also finnup-ready (ready = money). In America finnup = a five dollar bill. Double finnup = a ten pound note.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. III., p. 396. The notes were all finnies (£5 notes), and a good imitation.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3rd ed., p. 444. Five-pound notes, Finnips, ten-pound notes, Double finnips.

1883. Horsley, Jottings from Jail. When we got into the rattler they showed me the pass. Yes, there it was, fifty quids in double finns.

Fippenny, subs. (Australian thieves’).—A clasp knife. For synonyms, see Chive.

Fire, subs. (thieves’).—Danger.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon. This place is all on fire; I must pad like a bull or the cops will nail me.

Like a house on fire, adv. phr. (common).—Easily and rapidly. Cf., house, winking, one o’clock, cake, brick, etc.

To fire a shot, verb. phr. (venery).—To emit. Fr., tirer un coup.

To fire a slug, verb. phr. (old).—To drink a dram. [Grose, 1785.]

To fire in the air, verb. phr. (venery).—To shoot in the bush (q.v.).

To fire a gun, verb. phr. (old).—To introduce a story by head and shoulders; to lead up to a subject.—[Grose, 1785.]

To pass through the fire, verb. phr. (venery).—To be clapped (q.v.), or poxed (q.v.).

To set the Thames on fire, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be clever, or the reverse; used in sarcasm.

Fire and Light, subs. phr. (nautical).—A master-at-arms.

Fired, adj. (American).—Arrested; turned out; and (among artists) rejected.

Fire-eater, subs. (common).—In Old Cant a quick-worker; and in modern English, a duellist or bully. Also Fire-eating.

1841. Savage, Dict. Art. of Printing, s.v. A quick compositor.

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. xii. Sir Ascot was none of your sighing, despairing, fire-eating adorers.

1868. Ouida, Under Two Flags, ch. xv. A soldier, who … was one of the most brilliant fire-eaters of his regiment.

Fire-escape, subs. (common).—A clergyman. For synonyms, see Devil-dodger.

Fire-prigger, subs. (old).—A thief whose venue is a conflagration.—Grose [1785].

Fireship, subs. (old).—A tainted whore. For general synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

Fire-spaniel, subs. (military).—A soldier who ‘nurses’ the barrack-room fire. Some English synonyms are, fire-dog; fire-worshipper; chimney-ornament; fender-guard; and cuddle-chimney.

Firewater, subs. (American).—Ardent spirits.

1861. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xiv. Yes. And awful firewater we used to get. The governor supplied me, like a wise man.

Fireworks, subs. (common).—A state of disturbance; mental excitement: e.g., fireworks on the brain = to be in a fluster.

Firk, verb (old).—To beat.

1599. Shakspeare, Henry V., iv., 6. Pistol. I’ll fer him, and firk him, and ferret him.

Firkytoodle, verb (common).—To indulge in sexual endearments. Also Firkytoodling = preliminary caresses.

English Synonyms.—To canoodle; to fiddle; to mess (or pull) about; to slewther (Irish); to spoon; to crooky; to fam; to dildo; to caterwaul; to feel; to finger; to fumble; to grope; to clitorize; to touch up; to tip the long (or middle) finger; to guddle (Scots.)

French Synonyms. Mignoter (popular); jouer de la harpe (familiar: Leroux, in Dict. Comique, says: ‘Jouer de la harpe signifie jouer des mains auprès d’une femme, la patiner, lui toucher la nature, la farfouiller, la clitoriser, la chatouiller avec les doigts’); la petite oie (= preliminary favours); faire des horreurs (popular: des horreurs = broad or ‘blue’ talk; dire des horreurs = to talk bawd); bécoter (popular: = to make hot love); chouchouter (familiar: chouchou = darling).

Spanish Synonyms. Garatusa (= an act of endearment); caroca (generally used in plural, carocas = endearments); amoricones (vulgar).

Firmed.—See Well-firmed.

First-chop, adj. (common).—First rate. [From Hind., chaap, a stamp, an official mark on weights and measures; hence used to signify quality.] Also second-chop (q.v.).

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. iv. ‘As for poetry, I hate poetry.’ ‘Pen’s is not first-chop,’ says Warrington.

1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, ch. lxviii. Old Beeswax thinks that if he can get me up to swear that he and his crew are real first-chop hands, that will hit the governor hard.

First Flight. In the first flight, subs. phr. (sporting).—Those first in at the finish; in fox-hunting those in at the death.

1852. F. E. Smedley, Lewis Arundel, ch. xxxix. Then you promise you will dine with me at Lovegrove’s, on Thursday, and I’ll pick up half-a-dozen fellows that I know you’ll like to meet, regular top-sawyers, that you’re safe to find in the first flight, be it where it may.

First-nighter, subs. phr. (journalistic).—An habitué of first performances.

1886. G. Sutherland, Australia, p. 125. The first-nighter is almost unknown in the colonies.

First-Night Wrecker.—See Wrecker.

Fish, subs. (common).—1. A man; generally in contempt or disparagement as odd fish, loose fish, queer fish, scaly fish, shy fish (all of which see). Cf., Cove.

2. (tailors’).—Pieces cut out of garments to make them fit close.

3. (venery).—Generic for the female pudendum: e.g., a bit of fish = a grind (q.v.); fish-market = a brothel; and to go fishing = to go grousing (q.v.).

Verb (colloquial).—To attempt to obtain by artifice; to seek indirectly; to curry favour.

Pretty kettle of fish, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A perplexing state of affairs; a quandary.

To have other fish to fry, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To have other business on hand.

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

1836. Michael Scott, Cruise of the Midge, p. 90. He shouted to us, and pointed to his cargo; but we had other fish to fry, and accordingly never relaxed in our pulling.

To be neither fish nor flesh, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be neither one thing nor another; said of waverers and nondescripts; sometimes extended to neither fish, flesh, fowl, nor good red herring.

1598. Shakspeare, II. Henry IV., iv., 3. Falstaff. Why, she’s neither fish nor flesh; a man knows not where to have her.

1631–1700. Dryden [quoted in Annandale]. Damned neuters in their middle way of steering, Are neither fish, nor flesh, nor good red herring.

Fish-Broth, subs. (common).—Water. For synonyms, see Adam’s ale, to which may be added: Fr., le bouillon de canard (thieves’); l’agout (thieves’): Four. vetta.

1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe. The churlish frampold waves gave him his belly-full of fish-broath.

Fisher, subs. (common).—A lickspittle; only used contemptuously.

Fishhooks, subs. (common).—The fingers. For synonyms, see Forks.

1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London, s.v.

Fishmarket, subs. (gaming).—The lowest hole at bagatelle; Simon (q.v.).—See also Fish, subs., sense 3.

Fishy, adj. (common).—Effete, dubious, or seedy (of persons); unsound, or equivocal (of things). Also Fishiness = unsoundness.

1858. Shirley Brooks, The Gordian Knot, p. 14. Highly fishy they were. Something about breach of trust, and the embezzling his brother’s money—a man in India.

1859. Punch, vol. XXXVI., p. 82. The affair is decidedly fishy. However somebody must have the place, and so our friend Sam Warren … takes the mastership, resigning his seat.

1868. Orchestra, 29 Feb., p. 365. When he commented on the words in the libel of Greek derivation, he professed to have forgotten all he ever learnt at school, said that ichthyophagous meant fishy, a word that thoroughly described the plaintiffs case.

1870. London Figaro, 31 Oct. Captain Spratt is the right man in the right place, though his appointment to such a post is certainly, on the face of it, fishy.

1884. F. Anstey, Giant’s Robe, ch. xxii. There’s something fishy about it all, and I mean to get at it.

1890. St. James’ Gazette, 9 April, p. 3, col. 1. Unfortunately the Bill is fishy; and there are ‘very awkward and stiff considerations about it.’

Fist, subs. (common).—1. Hand-writing. Fr., la cape.

1864. Derby Day, p. 8. Must say though that your friend writes a tolerable fist.

2. (tailors’).—A workman. Good fist = a good workman.

3. (printers’).—An index hand.

Verb. 1.—To apprehend.

1598. Shakspeare, II. Henry IV., ii., 1. Fang. An I but Fist him once! An a’ come but within my vice.

2. (colloquial).—To take hold, e.g., Just you fist that scrubbing-brush, and set to work.

3. (venery).—To fist it = to take a man by the penis, for intromission or masturbation.

To put up one’s fist, verb. phr. (tailors’).—To acknowledge a fact; cf., fill the bin and acknowledge the corn.

Fist-fucking, subs. phr. (venery).—Masturbation. For synonyms, see Frig.

Fit, adj. and adv. (colloquial).—Suitable; in good form.

1882. Punch, vol. LXXXII., p. 155, col. 1, (q.v.).

1884. A. Lang, in Longman’s Mag., IV., 140. The really best moment in life is that which finds us young and fit, bowling on a lively wicket, and conscious that we have considerable command of the ball.

1889. Evening Standard, 25 June. ‘Sir C. Russell’s Speech in Durham-Chetwynd Case.’ Now, Mr. Lowther, I am not suggesting—and I wish to be perfectly understood—that to run a horse that is not perfectly fit does not stand alone as an offence against the honourable conduct of any man on the turf.

Fit as a fiddle, adj. phr. (colloquial).—Awfully fit, i.e., in perfect condition.

To fit like a ball of wax, verb. phr. (common).—To fit close to the skin.

To fit like a sentry box, verb. phr. (common).—To fit badly.

To fit like a glove, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To fit perfectly.

To fit to a T, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To fit to a nicety. [In reference to the T square used in drawing.]

1791. Boswell, Johnson. You see they’d have fitted him to a T.

To fit up a show, verb. phr. (artists’).—To arrange an exhibition.

To fit ends (or end to end), verb. phr. (venery).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Ride.

Fitch’s Grenadiers, subs. phr. (military).—The Eighty-Third Foot. [From the small stature of the men and the name of the first colonel.]

Fits. To beat into fits, verb. phr.—See Beat and Creation.

Fitter, subs. (thieves’).—A burglar’s locksmith.

Fit up, subs. phr. (theatrical).—A small company. Also used adjectively; see Conscience.

1889. Answers, p. 40. One young fellow, who had come down with me, shook his head when he found that the company was one known as a fit up, that is to say, one where the stage is really carried about with the company.

Five-Fingers, subs. phr. (cards).—The five of trumps in the game of ‘Don’ or ‘Five Cards.’

1611. Chapman, May-Day, V., ii., in wks. (1873), ii., 401. For my game stood, me thought, vpon my last two tricks, when I made sure of the set, and yet lost it, hauing the varlet and the fiue finger to make two tricks.

1674. Cotton, Compleat Gamester [at the game of five-cards]. The five fingers (alias, five of trumps) is the best card in the pack … the Ace of Hearts wins the Ace of Trumps, and the Five Fingers not only wins the Ace of Trumps, but also all other cards whatever.

Fiver, subs. (colloquial).—Anything that counts as five; specifically a five-pound note. Cf., Finn.

1853. Wh. Melville, Digby Grand, ch. i. Spooner … loses a five-pound note, or, as he calls it, a fiver, to my antagonist.

1864. E. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. xxv. Wouldn’t lend me a fiver to save me from gaol.

1871. Daily News, 26 Dec. ‘Workhouse Xmas Depravity.’ Why, there’s Jemima Ann … has … been bleeding me of a fiver to send to some Christmas Dinner Fund for juvenile mudlarks.

1872. Fun, Sept. I lent a fiver unto a friend—He managed somehow that to spend.

1890. Tit-Bits, 8 Feb., p. 273, col. 2. Lend me a fiver, will you, Gus?

Five over Five, adv. phr. (common).—Said of people who turn in their toes.

Fivepence. As fine, (or as grand), as fivepence (or as fippence), phr. (colloquial).—As fine as possible. Cf., As neat as ninepence.

1672. Wycherly, Love in a Wood, V., wks. (1713), 421. Whilst his mistress is as fine as fippence, in embroidered sattens.

1720. Gay, New Song of New Similes. As fine as five-pence is her mien.

1738. Swift, Polite Convers., Dial. 3. Pray how was she drest? Lady Sm. Why, as fine as fi’pence.

1857. A. Trollope, Barchester Towers, ch. xxxix. There’s … the lot of ’em all sitting as grand as fivepence in madam’s drawing-room.

1866. G. A. Sala, Trip to Barbary, ch. xiii. They [the Jews] continue to sit ‘all of a row’ with their daughters dressed ‘all in green,’ or all in pink or salmon-colour, and as fine as fivepence on their ceremonial days, waiting, waiting, always waiting, for the restoration of the Temple and the end of the dolour.

Fives, subs. (common).—1. The fingers. Bunch of fives = the fist. Formerly also = the feet. For synonyms, see Forks.

c. 1629. Ballad in Arber’s English Garner, vol. VII., p. 13. Her cheeks were like the cherry.… Her waist exceeding small. The fives did fit her shoe.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ii., 7. Smart chap that cabman—handled his fives well.

1887. Judy, 18 May, p. 236. Both the men of sin handled their fives with almost professional dexterity.

2. (streets’).—A fight. [From sense 1.]

Fix, subs. (common).—A dilemma; frequently in conjunction with awful (q.v.) and regular (q.v.), e.g., an awful fix = a terrible position. Variants are cornered; up a tree; up a close; under a cloud; in a scrape. Fr., avoir des mots avec les sergots = to run amuck of the police.

1837. R. H. Barham, The Ingoldsby Legends, (ed. 1862), p. 405. But, alas! and alack!—He had stuffed her sack So full that he found himself quite in a fix.

1840. Dickens, Old Curiosity Shop, ch. lxi. It can’t be helped you know. He ain’t the only one in the same fix.

1858. Shirley Brookes, The Gordian Knot, p. 88. John Claxton, what a fix I am in. That Mrs. Spencer will never go out of town.

1864. Tangle Talk, p. 271. Just as you are in a capital fix, exquisitely placed for being made a laughing stock, your friend will turn round upon you.

1869. Mrs. H. Wood, Roland Yorke, ch. xxi. Oh, but I could tell you of worse fixes than that.

Verb (old).—1. To arrest. For synonyms, see Nab and Cop.

1789. G. Parker, Variegated Characters. If any of us was to come in by ourselves and should happen to take a snooze you’d snitch upon us and soon have the traps fix us.

2. (American colloquial).—A general verb of action. Everything is fixed except the meaning of the word itself. The farmer fixes his fences, the mechanic his work-bench, the seamstress her sewing-machine, the fine lady her hair, and the schoolboy his books. The minister has to fix his sermon, the doctor to fix his medicines, the lawyer to fix his brief. Dickens was requested to ‘un-fix his straps’; eatables are fixed for a meal; a girl unfixes herself to go to bed, and fixes herself up to go for a walk. At public meetings it is fixed who are to be the candidates for office; rules are fixed to govern an institution, and when the arrangements are made the people contentedly say, ‘Now everything is fixed nicely.’ [This use is thought by Proctor to have arisen from some confusion between ‘fingency’ and ‘fixation’: as if the word had the meaning of the Latin fingo, fingere, instead of that of the Latin figo, figere. At least there is no use of fix in American which would not fairly represent the meaning of both.—See Philol. Soc. Trans. for 1865, p. 188.] The universality of the verb is only equalled by its antiquity, for, as J. R. Lowell points out, as early as 1675, the Commissioners of the United Colonies ordered ‘their arms well fixed and fit for service.’

To fix the ballot box = to tamper with returns.

1842. Dickens, American Notes, ch. x., p. 86. You call upon a gentleman in a country town, and his help informs you that he is fixing himself just now, but will be down directly: by which you are to understand that he is dressing. You inquire, on board a steamboat, of a fellow-passenger, whether breakfast will be ready soon, and he tells you he should think so, for when he was last below, they were fixing the tables; in other words, laying the cloth. You beg a porter to collect your luggage, and he entreats you not to be uneasy, for he’ll fix it presently, and if you complain of indisposition, you are advised to have recourse to Doctor so and so, who will fix you in no time.

1888. Scribner’s Mag. I do hope you’ll like everything; it’s the first time we ever took boarders, but we try to fix things nice.

Anyhow, or nohow, you can or can’t fix it.—See Anyhow.

To fix one’s flint, verb. phr. (American).—‘To settle one’s hash.’ For synonyms, see Cook one’s goose.

1835–40. Haliburton, Clockmaker, S., ch. xii. Their manners are rude, overbearin’, and tyrannical. They want their flints fixed for ’em as we did last war.

Fixings, subs. (American).—A noun of all work. Applied to any and everything.

1842. Dickens, American Notes, ch. x., p. 86. ‘Will you try,’ said my opposite neighbour, handing me a dish of potatoes, broken up in milk and butter, ‘will you try some of these fixings.’

1872. Daily Telegraph, 30 Sept. Still stoutly asserted by some sceptical Down-Easter to have been an itinerant dealer in hardware and kitchen fixings from Salem, Mass.

Fix up, verb. phr. (American).—To settle; to arrange. Cf., Fix.

Fiz, or Fizz, subs. (common).—Champagne; sometimes lemonade and ginger-beer. For synonyms, see Boy.

1864. Punch, vol. XLVII., p. 100. So away we went to supper For hungry we had grown, And ordered some fizz, which the right thing is, With a devilled turkey bone.

1869. St. James’ Mag., July. Her great object is to get one of these fellows to order the champagne. On each bottle of this stuff disposed of she has a percentage. She terms it fizz, and will pretend to fall into ecstacies at the prospect of a glass of the chemical essence of gooseberry sweetened up with tartaric acid and sugar of lead.

1871. Morning Advertiser, 11 Sept. Shall the Admirals of England now their former prowess drop, All courage ooze from tarry hands, like fiz from uncorked ‘pop?’

1879. Justin McCarthy, Donna Quixote, ch. xvii. I can open a bottle of soda or fizz … and never as much as wink.

1883. Referee, 22 April, p. 3, col. 3. I have seen you wince when it has come to your turn to stand treat, and you have been called upon to pay twelve shillings for a bottle of fizz.

Fiz-Gig, subs. (schoolboys’).—A firework.

Fizzer, subs. (common).—Anything first-rate. Cf., fizzing.

1866. London Miscellany, 19 May, p. 235. If the mare was such a fizzer why did you sell her?

Fizzing, adj. (common).—First-rate.

English Synonyms.—A1; cheery; clean wheat; clipping; crack; creamy; crushing; first chop; first class; first-rate, or (in America) first-rate and a half; hunky; jammy; jonnick; lummy; nap; out-and-out; pink; plummy; proper; real jam; right as ninepence; ripping; rooter; rum; screaming; scrumptious; ship-shape; slap-up; slick; splendacious; splendiferous; to rights; tip-top; true marmalade; tsing-tsing.

French Synonyms.—Aux oiseaux (pop.: very fine, very good); bath or bate (pop.: tip-top; for origin see under A1); c’est du flan (thieves’: it is excellent); c’est hurf (general: = true marmalade); c’est un peu ça (popular); c’est bath aux pommes (cf., bath ante); chenátre (thieves’); chic or chique (chique is literally a quid of tobacco); chicard, chicancardo or chicandard (superlatives of chic); chocnoso, chocnosof, chocnosogue or kosenoff (= crushing; nobby); chouette, chouettard, or chouettaud (chouette = literally a screech-owl); épatarouflant or êpatant (general = stunning); farineux (lit. farinaceous); flambant (lit. blazing, flaming); frais (used ironically); grand ’largue (largue = offing); mirobolant (fam. and pop. = slap-up); muche (= bully or ripping); numéro un (i.e., A1); obéliscal or obélisqual (common); ruisselant d’inouisme (familiar); rup (popular); schpile (popular); sgoff (popular); snoboye (fam. and pop.); superlificoquentieux (= splendiferous).

1885. Daily Telegraph, 1 August, p. 2, col. 2. ‘She’ll do fizzing,’ remarked Mr. Menders, regarding the transformed effigy admiringly, ‘to stick up at the head of the barrer.’

Fizzle, subs. (American).—A ridiculous failure; a flash in the pan. [The figure is adapted from wet powder which burns with a hiss, and then goes out.] In many of the United States colleges, the term = a blundering recitation. To hit just one third of the meaning constitutes ‘a perfect fizzle.’—Hall’s College Words. The ‘Brunonian,’ Feb. 24, 1877, defines the word to mean ‘where the student thinks he knows, but can’t quite express it,’ or ‘he tries to express it, and the professor thinks he doesn’t quite know.’

1849. Tomahawk, November. Here he could fizzles mark, without a sigh, And see orations unregarded die.

1851. National Intelligencer, 8 Dec. The speech was as complete a fizzle as has ever disgraced Congress, and we hope sincerely the honourable member from Massachusetts will take the lesson to heart.

1865. Letter in the D. Telegraph, 30 March. The famous ‘Jack o’ Clubs,’ from which so much was expected, is a dead fizzle. The half of the men had to leave the mines and go to the low country for want of work; and wages, which always were $10 a-day, were reduced to $80 per month, with board.

1883. Echo, 16 March, p. 4, col. 1. What promised at first to be a magnificent Parliamentary ‘row’ ended in a mere unsensational fizzle.

1890. St. James’ Gaz., 1 May, p. 4, col. 2. Altogether it begins to look as though the terrible demonstrations of down-trodden labour which were to shake society to its foundations would end in something like fizzle.

Verb (American).—To fail in reciting; to recite badly. Also (said of an instructor) to cause one to fail at reciting. At some American colleges flunk (q.v.) is the common word for an utter failure. To fizzle = to stumble through at last. In the ‘Yale Literary Messenger,’ ‘Fizzle = To rise with modest reluctance, to hesitate often, to decline finally; generally, to misunderstand the question.’ Also to flat out (q.v.). Four. Far une yappa.

1847. The Yale Banger, 22 Oct. My dignity is outraged at beholding those who fizzle and flunk in my presence tower above me.

1850. Yale Lit. Mag., p. 321. Fizzle him tenderly, Bore him with care; Fitted so slenderly, Tutor, beware.

End of Vol. II.

LONDON: HARRISON AND SONS, PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY, ST. MARTIN’S LANE.