WITH SYNONYMS IN ENGLISH, FRENCH, GERMAN, ITALIAN, ETC. (continued 3)

1885. Austin Dobson, At the Sign of the Lyre, 83. And the Rabelais foxed and flea’d.

7. (theatrical).—To criticise a ‘brother pro’s’ performance.

8. (common).—To mend a boot by ‘capping’ it.

To set a fox to keep one’s geese, phr. (common).—To entrust one’s money, or one’s circumstances, to the care of sharpers. Latin, Ovem lupo commisisti.

To make a fox paw, verb. phr. (common).—To make a mistake or a wrong move; specifically (of women) to be seduced. [A corruption of the Fr. faux pas.]

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue.

Fox’s Sleep, subs. phr. (common).—A state of feigned yet very vigilant indifference to one’s surroundings. [Foxes were supposed to sleep with one eye open.]

1830. Sir J. Barrington, Personal Sketches, Vol. III., p. 171 (ed. 1832). Mr. Fitzgerald, he supposed, was in a fox’s sleep, and his bravo in another, who, instead of receding at all, on the contrary squeezed the attorney closer and closer.

Foxy, adj. (colloquial).—1. Red-haired; cf., carrotty.

1828. G. Griffin, Collegians, ch. ii. Dunat O’Leary, the hair-cutter, or Foxy Dunat, as he was named in allusion to his red head.

2. (colloquial).—Cunning; vulpine in character and look. Once literary. Jonson (1605) calls his arch-foist volpone, the second title of his play being ‘The Fox;’ and Florio (1598) defines Volpone as ‘an old fox, an old reinard, an old, crafty, sly, subtle companion, sneaking, lurking, wilie deceiver.’

d. 1536. Tyndale, Workes, p. 148. Oh, foxy Pharisay, that is thy leuen, of which Christ so diligently bad vs beware.

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. xlix., p. 429. Whatever his state of health may be his appearance is foxy, not to say diabolical.

3. (American cobblers’).—Repaired with new toe-caps. See fox, verb, sense 8.

1877. M. Twain, Life on the Mississippi, ch. lvii., p. 503. It was the scarecrow Dean—in foxy shoes, down at the heels; socks of odd colours, also ‘down.’

4. (booksellers’).—A term applied to prints and books discoloured by damp; see Fox, verb, sense 6.

5. (painters’: obsolete).—Inclined to reddishness.

d. 1792. Sir J. Reynolds, Notes on Dufresnoy. That (style) of Titian, which may be called the Golden manner, when unskilfully managed, becomes what the painters call foxy.

6. (common).—Strong-smelling. Said of a red-haired man or woman.

Foy, subs. (old).—A cheat; a swindle.

1615. Greene, Thieves Falling Out. You be crossbites, foys, and nips.

Foyl-cloy, subs. (old).—A pickpocket; a rogue—B. E. [1690].

Foyst, subs. and verb. See Foist.

Foyster. See Foister.

Fraggle, verb. (Texas).—To rob.

Fragment, subs. (Winchester College).—A dinner for six (served in College Hall, after the ordinary dinner), ordered by a Fellow in favour of a particular boy, who was at liberty to invite five others to join him. Obs. A fragment was supposed to consist of three dishes.—Winchester Word-book [1891].

Framer, subs. (American thieves’).—A shawl.

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

Frater, subs. (old).—A beggar working with a false petition.

1567. Harman, Caveat, s.v. Frater, a beggar wyth a false paper.

1622. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii., 1. And these what name or title e’er they bear, Jarkman, or Patrico, Cranke, or Clapper-dudgeon, Frater, or Abramman, I speak to all That stand in fair election for the title Of king of beggars.

1791. Life of Bamfylde Moore-Carew. ‘Oath of Canting Crew.’ Rogue or rascal, frater, maunderer, Irish toyle, or other wanderer.

Fraud, subs. (colloquial).—A failure; anything or body disappointing expectation; e.g., an acquaintance, a picture, a book, a play, a picture, a bottle of wine. Actual dishonesty is not necessarily implied.

1882. Punch, LXXXII., p. 177, col. 1. A fraud, Charlie!

Fraze. See Vessel.

Freak, subs. (American showmen’s). A living curiosity: as the Siamese Twins, the Two-headed Nightingale. [Short for ‘freak of nature.’]

Free, adj. (Oxford University).—Impudent; self-possessed.

1864. Tennyson, Northern Farmer, (Old Style), line 25.—But parson a coomes an’ a goos, an’ a says it eäsy an’ freeä.

Verb. (old).—To steal; cf., annex and convey. For synonyms, see Prig.

1857. Snowden, Magistrates’ Assistant, 3rd ed., p. 444. To steal a muff. To free a cat.

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

1882. McCabe, New York, ch. xxxiv., p. 509. (Given in list of slang terms.)

Free-fucking, subs. (venery).—General lewdness. Also the favour gratis. Also fidelity to the other sex at large.

Free of Fumbler’s Hall, adv. phr. (venery).—Impotent; unable to do ‘the trick.’ [Fumbler’s Hall = female pudendum.]

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue s.v., A saying of one who cannot get his wife with child.

Free, gratis,—for nothing, phr. (common).—A pleonastic vulgarism. Cf., On the dead.

To make free with both ends of the busk, verb. phr. (venery).—To take liberties with a woman. Cf., Both ends of the busk.

Free of the house, adj. phr. (colloquial).—Intimate; privileged to come and go at will.

Free of the bush, adj. phr. (venery).—On terms of extreme intimacy. See Bush.

[For the rest, the commonest sense of free is one of liberality: e.g., free of his foolishness = full of chaff; free-handed = lavish in giving; free-hearted = generously disposed; free of her favours = liberal of her person: free of his patter = full of talk.]

Free-and-Easy, subs. (common).—A social gathering where you smoke, drink, and sing; generally held at a public house.

1796. (In Bee’s Dict. of the Turf, published 1823, s.v.). Twenty seven years ago the cards of invitation to that (free-and-easy) at the ‘Pied Horse,’ in Moorfields, had the notable ‘N.B.—Fighting allowed.’

1810. Crabbe, The Borough, Letter 10. Clubs. Next is the club, where to their friends in town, Our country neighbours once a-month come down; We term it free-and-easy, and yet we Find it no easy matter to be free.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Free-and-easy Johns. A society which meets at the Hole in the Wall, Fleet Street, to tipple porter, and sing bawdry.

1821. Egan, Tom and Jerry (ed. 1890), p. 91. Blew a cloud at a free-and-easy.

1843. Macaulay, Essays: Gladstone on Church and State. Clubs of all ranks, from those which have lined Pall-Mall and St. James’s Street with their palaces, down to the free-and-easy which meets in the shabby parlour of the village inn.

1869. Mrs. H. Wood, Roland Yorke, ch. xii. He tilted himself on to a high stool in the middle of the room, his legs dangling, just as though he had been at a free-and-easy meeting.

1880. Jas. Greenwood, Odd People in Odd Places, p. 64. A roaring trade is done, for instance, on a Saturday evening at the ‘Medley’ in Hoxton, a combination of theatre and music-hall, and serves as a free-and-easy chiefly for boys and girls.

1891. Cassell’s Saturday Journal, Sept., p. 1068, col. 3. The free-and-easy of to-day among us is a species of public-house party, at which much indifferent liquor and tobacco are consumed, songs are sung, and speeches are got rid of.

Freebooker, subs. (journalists’).—A ‘pirate’ bookseller or publisher; a play on the word freebooter.

Free fight, subs. (colloquial).—A general mellay.

1877. W. Mark, Green Past. and Picc., ch. xxx. That vehement German has been insisting on the Irish porters bringing up all our luggage at once; and as there has been a sort of free fight below he comes fuming upstairs.

Free-fishery, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Freeholder, subs. (venery).—1. A prostitute’s lover or fancyman. Cf., Free-fishery, and for synonyms, see Joseph.

2. (old).—A man whose wife insists on accompanying him to a public house.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Canting Crew, s.v. 1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulg. Tongue, s.v.

Free-lance, subs. (common).—An habitual adulteress.

c. 1889. (Quoted from Spectator in ‘Slang, Jargon, and Cant’). Sooner than be out of the fashion they will tolerate what should be most galling and shaming to them—the thought that by these they are put down among the free-lances.

Also said of a journalist attached to no particular paper.

Freeman, subs. (venery).—A married woman’s lover.

Freeman of bucks, subs. phr. (old).—A cuckold. [In allusion to the horn.] Grose.

To freeman, or to make a freeman of, verb. phr. (schoolboys’).—To spit on the penis of a new comer. Also To Freemason.

Freeman’s Quay. To drink, or lush, at freeman’s quay, verb. phr. (old).—To drink at another’s expense. [Freeman’s Quay was a celebrated wharf near London Bridge, and the saying arose from the beer that was given to porters, carmen, and others going there on business.]

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Freeze, subs. (colloquial).—1. The act or state of freezing; a frost.

2. (old).—Hard cider.—Grose.

Verb. (American).—1. To long for intensely; e.g., ‘to freeze to go back,’ said of the home-sick; ‘to freeze for meat.’

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West (1887), p. 129. Threats of vengeance on every Redskin they met were loud and deep; and the wild war songs round their nightly camp-fires, and grotesque scalp-dances, borrowed from the Indians, proved to the initiated that they were, one and all, half-froze for hair.

2. (thieves’).—Hence, to appropriate; to steal; ‘to stick to.’

3. (old).—To adulterate or balderdash (q.v.) wine with freeze (q.v. sense 2).—Grose.

To freeze to (or on to), verb. phr. (American).—To take a strong fancy to; to cling to; to, keep fast hold of; and (of persons) to button-hole or shadow.

1883. Graphic, 17 March, p. 287, col. 1. If there was one institution which the Anglo-Indian froze to more than another, it was his sit-down supper and—its consequences.

1888. Daily Inter-Ocean, 2 March. The competence of a juror was judged by his ability to shake ready-formed opinions and freeze on to new ones.

To Freeze Out, verb. phr. (American).—To compel to withdraw from society by cold and contemptuous treatment; from business by competition or opposition; from the market by depressing prices or rates of exchange.

Freezer, subs. (common).—1. A tailless Eton jacket; cf., Bum-perisher. For synonyms, see Monkey-jacket.

2. (colloquial).—A very cold day. By analogy, a chilling look, address, or retort.

French-elixir (cream, lace, or article), subs. phr. (common).—Brandy. [The custom of taking of brandy with tea and coffee was originally French.—Whence French Cream. Laced tea = tea dashed with spirits].

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. ix. ‘Get out the gallon punch-bowl, and plenty of lemons. I’ll stand for the French article by the time I come back, and we’ll drink the young Laird’s health.’

1821. Real Life, i., p. 606. Not forgetting blue ruin and French lace.

English Synonyms.—Ball-of-fire; bingo; cold tea; cold nantz; red ribbon.

French Synonyms.—Le parfait amour du chiffonnier (i.e., ragman’s happiness = coarse brandy); le trois-six (popular: = rot-gut); fil-en-quatre, fil-en-trois, fil-en-six (specifically, old brandy, but applied to spirits generally); le dur (= a drop of hard: common); le raide (popular = a drop of stiff): le chenique or chnic (popular:); le rude (popular: = a drop of rough, i.e., coarse brandy); l’eau d’affe (thieves’); le pissat d’âne (popular: = donkey’s piss; sometimes applied to bad beer, which is likewise called pissat de vache); l’avoine (military = hay, as who should say ‘a nose bag’); le blanc (popular = brandy or white wine); le possédé (thieves’: bingo); le raspail (popular:); le cric (popular: also crik, crique, or cricque = rough brandy:); le schnaps (popular); le schnick (common: = bad brandy); le camphre (popular: = camphor; applied to the coarsest spirit); le sacré-chien or sacré-chien tout pur (common: = the vilest sold); casse-poitrine (common: = brandy heightened with pepper; cf., rot-gut); le jaune (rag-pickers’: = a drop of yellow); tord-boyaux (popular = twist-gut); la consolation (popular = a drop of comfort); requiqui (workmen’s); eau de mort (common: = death-water); le Tripoli (rank brandy); casse-gueule (= ‘kill-the-carter’; applied to all kinds of spirits).

French Fake. subs. phr. (nautical).—The fashion of coiling a rope by taking it backwards and forwards in parallel bands, so that it may run easily.

French Gout (or Disease, Fever, etc.), subs. phr. (common).—Sometimes clap (q.v.), but more generally and correctly syphilis, Morbus Gallicus, especially with older writers. For synonyms, see Ladies Fever. Also The Frenchman. French Pox = a very bad variety of syphilis. The French themselves always refer to the ailment as the mal de Naples, for which see Marston (1598) and his ‘Naples canker,’ and Florio (1598) mal di Napoli = French pocks. Cf., Shakspeare, Henry V., v., 1. News have I that my Nell is dead i’ the spital Of malady of France.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Lue, a plague.… It is also used for the French poxe.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie. Mal de Naples, the French Pocks.

1690. B. E. Dict. of the Canting Crew. (s.v.).

1740. Poor Robin. Some gallants will this month be so penurious that they will not part with a crack’d groat to a poor body, but on their cockatrice or punquetto will bestow half a dozen taffety gowns, who in requittal bestows on him the French pox.

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. He suffered by a blow over the snout with a French faggot-stick; i.e., he lost his nose by the pox.

Frenchified, adj. (old).—Clapped; more generally and accurately poxed.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew, s.v.

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. Frenchified, infected with the venereal disease; the mort is frenchified = the wench is infected.

French Leave, To take French leave. verb. phr. (colloquial).—(1) To decamp without notice; (2) to do anything without permission; (3) to purloin or steal; (4) to run away (as from an enemy). [Derivation obscure; French, probably traceable to the contempt engendered during the wars with France; the compliment is returned in similar expressions (see Synonyms) + leave = departure or permission to depart. Sense 1 is probably the origin of senses 2, 3, and 4. See Notes and Queries, 1 S. i, 246; 3 S. vi, 17; 5 S. xii, 87; 6 S. v, 347, 496; viii, 514; ix, 133, 213, 279; 7 S. iii, 5, 109, 518.]

English Synonyms.—To retire up (one’s fundament); to slope; to smouge; to do a sneak; to take the Frenchman; to vamoose.

French Synonyms.—S’escarpiner (popular: = to flash one’s pumps); escarpin = a dancing shoe; jouer de l’escarpin = to ply one’s pumps, (16th century); s’échapper, s’esquiver, filer, disparaître, s’éclipser, se dérober, se retirer, and s’en aller à l’anglaise (= to take English leave); pisser à l’anglaise (= to do an English piss, i.e., affect a visit to the urinal); prendre sa permission sous son coude (popular: literally to take one’s leave under one’s arm); ficher or foutre le camp.

German Synonyms.—Französischen Abschied nehmen (= to take French leave: from Gutzkow, R., 4, 88, etc., born 1811); französischer Abschied (Iffland, 1759–1814, 5, 3, 117); auf gut französisch sich empfehlen (Blumauer, 2, 72, 1758–1798: also Gutzkow, R., 4, 88); hinter der Thur urlaub (= to take leave behind [or outside] the door, i.e., after one has got outside it: quoted by Sanders, from Fischart, 1550–1589); hinter der Thüre Abschied nehmen (= to say good-bye outside, to take French leave); also, er beurlaubte sich in aller Stille, explained as er stahl sich, schlich sich davon, and translated ‘he took French leave’; also, sich aus einer Gesellschaft stehlen.—Hilpert’s Dict., 1845.

Spanish Synonym.—Despedirse á la francesa (= to take French leave).

1771. Smollett, Humphrey Clinker, p. 54. He stole away an Irishman’s bride, and took a French leave of me and his master.

1805. Newspaper (quoted in Notes and Queries, 5 S. xii., 2 Aug., 79, p. 87, col. 2). On Thursday last Monsieur J. F. Desgranche, one of the French prisoners of war on parole at Chesterfield, took French leave of that place, in defiance of his parole engagement.

1854. F. E. Smedley, Harry Coverdale, ch. lviii. ‘I thought I would avoid all the difficulties … by taking French leave, and setting off in disguise and under a feigned name.’

1885 Stevenson, Treasure Island, ch. xxii., p. 178 (1886). My only plan was to take French leave, and slip out when nobody was watching.

1892. Globe, 25 Mar., p. 5, col. 1. They finally resolved to go on French leave to the place.

French- (also American, Spanish, and Italian) Letter, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A sheath—of india-rubber, gold beater’s skin, gutta-percha—worn by a man during coition to prevent infection or fruition. Usually described in print as specialities (q.v.). or circular protectors and (in U.S.A.) as safes (q.v.). See Cundum. Fr., capote anglaise.

French Pigeon, subs. phr. (sportsman’s).—A pheasant killed by mistake in the partridge season. Also moko and oriental (q.v.).

French Pig, subs. phr. (common).—A venereal bubo; a blue boar (q.v.), or Winchester goose (q.v.).

French Prints, subs. (colloquial).—Generic for indecent pictures.

1849–50. Thackeray, Pendennis II., ch. xxxi. Young de Boots of the Blues recognised you as the man who came to barracks, and did business, one-third in money, one-third in eau-de-Cologne, and one third in French prints, you confounded, demure, old sinner.

French Vice, verb. phr. (venery).—A euphemism for all sexual malpractices; Larks (q.v.). First used (in print) in the case of Crawford v. Crawford and Dilke.

Frenchy, subs. (colloquial).—A Frenchman.

Fresh, adj. (University).—1. Said of an undergraduate in his first term.

1803. Gradus ad Cantabrigiam, s.v.

1866. Trevelyan, Horace at Athens. When you and I were fresh.

2. (common).—Slightly intoxicated; elevated. For synonyms see Drinks and Screwed, (Scots’ = sober).

1829. Marryat, Frank Mildmay, ch. xiii. Drinking was not among my vices. I could get fresh, as we call it, when in good company and excited by wit and mirth; but I never went to the length of being drunk.

3. (Old English and modern American).—Inexperienced, but conceited and presumptuous; hence, forward, impudent.

1596. Shakspeare, King John, iii., 4. How green you are and fresh in this old world.

1886. Francis, Saddle and Mocassin. ‘Has Peggy been too fresh?’ Her sunburnt cheeks flushed.

4. (common).—Fasting; opposed to eating or drinking.

Fresh as paint, as a rose, as a daisy, as a new-born turd, etc., phr. (common).—Full of health, strength, and activity; fit (q.v.).

1864. E. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. xix. This is his third day’s rest, and the cob will be about as fresh as paint when I get across him again.

1880. Punch’s Almanack, p. 12.

Fresh on the graft, adj. phr. (common).—New to the work. Cf., Fresh bit.

Fresh Bit, subs. phr. (venery).—A beginner; also a new mistress. Cf., Bit of fresh = the sexual favour: meat, or mutton, or fish (q.v.), being understood.

Freshen One’s Way, verb. phr. (nautical).—To hurry; to quicken one’s movements. [The wind freshens when it rises.]

Freshen Up, verb. phr. (colloquial). To clean; to vamp; to revive; to smarten.

Fresher, subs. (University).—An undergraduate in his first term.

Freshers. The Freshers, subs. (University).—That part of the Cam which lies between the Mill and Byron’s Pool. So called because it is frequented by freshmen (q.v.).

Freshman (or Fresher), subs. (University).—A University man during his first year. In Dublin University he is a junior freshman during his first year, and a senior freshman the Second year. At Oxford the title lasts for the first term. Ger., Fuchs.

1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, in wks. iii., 8. When he was but yet a freshman in Cambridge.

1611. Middleton, Roaring Girl, Act iii., Sc. 3. S. Alex. Then he’s a graduate. S. Davy. Say they trust him not. S. Alex. Then is he held a freshman and a sot.

1767. Colman, Oxonian in Town, ii., 3. And now I find you as dull and melancholy as a freshman at college after a jobation.

1841. Lever, Charles O’Malley, ch. xiv. ‘This is his third year,’ said the Doctor, ‘and he is only a freshman, having lost every examination.’

1891. Sporting Life, 20 Mar. The mile, bar accidents, will be a gift to B. C. Allen, of Corpus, who has more than maintained the reputation he gained as a fresher.

Adj. (University).—Of, or pertaining to, a freshman, or a first year student.

Freshmanship, subs. (old).—Of the quality or state of being a freshman.

1605. Jonson, Volpone, or the Fox, iv., 3. Well, wise Sir Pol., since you have practised thus, Upon my freshmanship, I’ll try your salt-head With what proof it is against a counter-plot.

Freshman’s Bible, subs. phr. (University).—The University Calendar.

Freshman’s Church, subs. phr. (University).—The Pitt Press at Cambridge. [From its ecclesiastical architecture.]

Freshman’s Landmark, subs. phr. (University).—King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. [From the situation.]

Freshwater Mariner (or Seaman), subs. phr. (old).—A beggar shamming sailor; a turnpike sailor (q.v.).

1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), p. 48. These freshwater mariners, their shipes were drowned in the playne of Salisbury. These kynde … counterfet great losses on the sea.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Freshwater seamen, that have never been on the Salt, or made any Voyage, meer Land-Men.

Freshwater Soldier, subs. phr. (old).—A raw recruit.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, Biancone. A goodly, great milke-soppe, a fresh water soldier.

1603. Knolles, Hist. of the Turkes. The nobility, as freshwater soldiers, which had never seen but some slight skirmishes, made light account of the Turks.

1696. Nomenclator. Bachelier aux armes, nouveau ou jeune soudard. A freshwater souldier: a young souldier: a novice: one that is trayned up to serve in the field.

Fret, To fret one’s gizzard, guts, giblets, kidneys, cream, etc., verb. phr. (common).—To get harassed and worried about trifles; to tear one’s shirt (q.v.).

Friar, subs. (printers’).—A pale spot in a printed sheet. Fr., un moine (= monk).

Frib, subs. (old).—A stick. For synonyms, see Toko.

1754. Discoveries of John Poulter, p. 43. A Jacob and frib; a ladder and stick.

Fribble, subs. (old).—A trifler; a contemptible fop. [From the character in Garrick’s Miss in her Teens (1747)].

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1860. Thackeray, Four Georges. George IV. That fribble, the leader of such men as Fox and Burke!

Friday-face, subs. (old).—A gloomy, dejected-looking man or woman. [Probably from Friday being, ecclesiastically, the banyan day of the week.] Fr., figure de carême.

1592. Greene, Groatsworth of Wit, in wks. xii., 120. The Foxe made a Friday-face, counterfeiting sorrow.

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

1889. Gentleman’s Mag., June, p. 593. Friday-face is a term still occasionally applied to a sour-visaged person; it was formerly in very common use.

Friday-faced, adj. (old).—Mortified; melancholy; ‘sour-featured’ (Scott).

1592. John Day, Blind Beggar, Act iii., Sc. 2, p. 57. Can. No, you Friday-fac’d frying-pan, it was to save us all from whipping or a worse shame.

1606. Wily Beguiled (Hawkins Eng. Dr., iii., 356). Marry, out upon him! What a Friday-fac’d slave it is! I think in my conscience his face never keeps holiday.

Friend (or Little Friend), subs.—The menstrual flux or domestic afflictions (q.v.), whose appearance is sometimes announced by the formula ‘My little friend has come.’ Conventionalisms are queer; poorly; changes (Irish); ‘the Captain’s at home’ (Grose). See Flag.

To go and see a sick friend, verb. phr. (venery).—To go on the loose. See Greens.

Friend Charles. See Charles his friend.

Friendly Lead, subs. phr. (thieves’).—An entertainment (as a sing-song) got up to assist a companion in trouble (q.v.), or to raise money for the wife and children of a ‘quodded pal.’

1871. Daily Telegraph, 4 Dec. This was the secret business, the tremendous conspiracy, to compass which it was deemed necessary to act with infinitely more caution than the friends of Bill Sikes feel called on to exercise when they distribute tickets for a friendly lead for the benefit of Bill, who is ‘just out of his trouble.’

1889. Cassell’s Saturday Journal, 5 Jan. The men frequently club together in a friendly lead to help a brother in distress.

1892. Ally Sloper, 2 Apr., p. 106, col. 3. My father takes the chair at friendly leads.

Friends in Need, subs. phr. (common).—Lice. For synonyms, see Chates.

Frig, verb trans. and refl. (venery).—To masturbate. Also subs. = an act of masturbation. Known sometimes as keeping down the census. [Latin, fricare = to rub.]

English Synonyms.—To bob; to box the Jesuit [‘St. Omer’s lewdness,’ Marston, ‘Scourge’ (1598)]; to chuff; to chuffer; to claw (Florio); to digitate (of women); to eat (or get) cock-roaches; to bring up (or off) by hand; to fight one’s turkey (Texan); to finger or finger-fuck (of women); to friggle (Florio); to fuck one’s fist (of men); to fetch mettle (Grose); to handle; to indorse; to jerk, play, pump, toss, or work off; to lark; to milk; to mount a corporal and four; to mess, or pull about; to play with (schoolboys’), to rub up; to shag; to tickle one’s crack (of women); to dash one’s doodle; to touch up; to play paw-paw tricks (Grose); to wriggle (old). For foreign synonyms, see Wriggle.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Fricciare … to frig, to wriggle, to tickle.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie. Branler la pique, To Frig.

1728. Bailey, Dict., s.v. Frig, to rub.

c. 1716–1746. Robertson of Struan. Poems, 83. So to a House of office … a School-Boy does repair, To … fr—— his P—— there.

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

Frigate, subs. (common).—A woman.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Friggat well rigg’d, a woman well drest and gentile.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. A well-rigg’d frigate, a well-dressed wench.

Frigging, subs. (venery).—1. The act of masturbation; the ‘cynick friction’ (Marston, Scourge); otherwise simple infanticide.

2. (old).—Trifling [Grose, 1785.]

Adj. and adv. (vulgar).—An expletive of intensification. Thus, frigging bad = ‘bloody’ bad; a frigging idiot = an absolute fool. See also Foutering and Fucking.

Frightfully, adv. (colloquial).—Very. An expletive used as are awfully, beastly, bloody, etc. (q.v.).

Frig-pig, subs. (old).—A finnicking trifler.

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

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Frigster (in fem. Frigstress) subs. (venery).—A masturbator; an indorser (q.v., also = a Sodomite).

Frillery, subs. (common).—Feminine underclothing. For synonyms, see Snowy. To explore one’s frillery (venery) = to grope one’s person.

Frills, subs. (American).—Swagger; conceit; also accomplishments (as music, languages, etc.); and culture; cf., Man with no frills.

1870. Sacramento Paper (quoted in De Vere). ‘I can’t bear his talk, it’s all frills.’

1884. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’), Adventures of Huck Finn. 33. I never see such a son. I bet I’ll take some of these frills out of you before I’m done with you.

To put on one’s frills, verb. phr. (American).—To exaggerate; to chant the poker; to swagger; to put on side (q.v.); to sing it (q.v.). Fr., se gonfler le jabot, and faire son lard.

1890. Rudyard Kipling, National Observer, March, 1890, p. 69. ‘The Oont.’ It’s the commissariat camel putting on his blooming frills.

2. (venery).—To get wanton or prick-proud (q.v.); in a state of must (q.v.).

To have been among one’s frills, verb. phr. (venery).—To have enjoyed the sexual favour. For synonyms, see Greens.

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

1821. Real Life in London, i., p. 566.

Frisco, subs. (American).—Short for San Francisco.

1870. Bret Harte, Poems, ‘Chiquita.’ Busted hisself at White Pine, and blew out his brains down in Frisco.

1890. Sporting Life, 8 Nov. The battle … took place in the theatre, Market St., Frisco.

Frisk, subs. (old).—1. A frolic; an outing; a lark (q.v.); mischief generally.

1697. Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, iii., 1. If you have a mind to take a frisk with us, I have an interest with my lord; I can easily introduce you.

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

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.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xx., p. 171. ‘When you and I had the frisk down in Lincolnshire, Guppy, and drove over to see that house at Castle Wold.’

2. (old).—A dance.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 274. Let’s have a neat frisk or so, And then rub on the law.

1782. Cowper, Table Talk, 237. Give him his lass, his fiddle, and his frisk, Is always happy, reign whoever may.

1880. Ouida, Moths, ch. xiv. And her fancy-dress frisks, and her musical breakfasts, were great successes.

3. (venery).—The act of copulation. See Greens and Ride.

Verb (thieves’).—1. To search; to run the rule over (q.v.); Especially applied to the search made, after arrest, for evidence of character, antecedents, or identity. Hence, careful examination of any kind.

1781. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 179. They frisk him? That is search him. Ibid., p. 122. Putting a lap-feeder in our sack, that you or your blowen had prig’d yourselves though we should stand the frisk for it.

1828. Jon. Bee, Pict. of London. p. 69. The arms are seized from behind by one, whilst the other frisks the pockets of their contents.

1852. Judson, Mysteries, etc., of New York, ch. vii. Vel sare, the offisare ’ave frisk me: he ’ave not found ze skin or ze dummy, eh?

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, p. 21. ‘The knuck was copped to rights, a skin full of honey was found in his kick’s poke by the copper when he frisked him’; [i.e.] the pickpocket was arrested, and when searched by the officer a purse was found in his pantaloons pocket full of money.

2. (thieves’).—To pick pockets; to rob. To frisk a cly = to empty a pocket.

1852. Judson, Mysteries, etc. of New York, ch. iv. You’re as good a knuck as ever frisked a swell.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 13 June, p. 7, col. 3. The ragged little wretches who prowl in gangs about the suburbs, who crawl on their hands and knees into shops in order to ‘frisk the till.’

3. (venery).—To ‘have (q.v.) a woman.’ For synonyms, see Ride.

To dance the Paddington frisk, verb. phr. (old).—To dance on nothing; i.e., to be hanged. [Tyburn Tree was in Paddington.] For synonyms, see Ladder.

Frisker, subs. (old).—A dancer.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., ii., 20. At no Whitsun Ale there e’er yet had been Such Fraysters and Friskers as these lads and lasses.

Frivol or Frivvle, verb. (colloquial).—To act frivolously; to trifle. [A resuscitation of an old word used in another sense, viz., to annul, to set aside].

1883. W. Black, Yolande, ch. xx. ‘Mind, I am assuming that you mean business—if you want to frivole, and pick pretty posies, I shut my door on you but, I say, if you mean business, I have told Mrs. Bell you are to have access to my herbarium, whether I am there or not.’

Frog, subs. (common).—1. A policeman. For synonyms, see Beak and Copper.

1881. New York Slang Dict., ‘On the Trail.’ I must amputate like a go-away, or the frogs will nail me.

1886. Graphic, 30 Jan., p. 130, col. 1. A policeman is also called … a ‘frog,’ the last-named because he is supposed to jump, as it were, suddenly upon guilty parties.

2. (common).—A Frenchman. Also froggy and frog-eater. [Formerly a Parisian; the shield of whose city bore three toads, while the quaggy state of the streets gave point to a jest common at Versailles before 1791: Qu’en disent les grenouilles? i.e., What do the frogs (the people of Paris) say?]

1883. Referee, 15 July, p. 7, col. 3. While Ned from Boulogne says ‘Oui mon brave,’ The Froggies must answer for ‘Tamatave.’

3. (popular).—A foot. For synonyms, see Creepers.

To frog on, verb. phr. (American).—To get on; to prosper frogging-on = success.

Frog-and-Toad, subs. (rhyming).—The main road.

Frog-and-Toe, subs. (American thieves’).—The city of New York.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, p. 35. Coves, let us frog-and-toe, coves, let us go to New York.

Froglander, subs. (old).—A Dutchman. Cf., frog, sense 2.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew, s.v.

1852. Judson, Mysteries, etc., of New York, ch. xiv. The funny swag which they raised out of the froglander coves.

Frog-salad, subs. (American).—A ballet; i.e., a leg-piece (q.v.).

Frog’s March. To give the frog’s march, verb. phr. (common).—To carry a man face downwards to the station; a device adopted with drunken or turbulent prisoners.

1871. Evening Standard, ‘Clerkenwell Police Report,’ 18 April. In cross-examination the police stated that they did not give the defendant the frog’s march. The frog’s march was described to be carrying the face downwards.

1884. Daily News, Oct. 4, p. 5, col. 2. They had to resort to a mode of carrying him, familiarly known in the force, we believe, as the frog trot, or sometimes as the frog’s march.… The prisoner is carried with his face downwards and his arms drawn behind him.

1888. Daily Telegraph, 22 Dec. Whether the ‘bobbies’ ran the tipsy man in, treating him meanwhile to a taste of the frog’s march, and whether he was fined or imprisoned for assaulting the police, is not upon the record.

1890. Bird o’ Freedom, 19 Mar., p. 1, col. 1. And then he gets the frog’s march to the nearest Tealeaf’s.

Frog’s Wine, subs. phr. (old).—Gin. For synonyms, see Drinks and Satin.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Frolic, subs. (common).—A merry-making.

1847. Robb. Squatter Life, p. 133. At all the frolicks round the country, Jess was hangin’ onter that gal.

Frosty-face, subs. (old).—A pox-pitted man. Grose (1785).

Front, verb (thieves’).—To conceal the operations of a pickpocket; to cover (q.v.).

1879. J. W. Horsley in Macmillan’s Mag., XL., 506. So my pal said, ‘Front me (cover me), and I will do him for it.’

Front-attic (or -door, -garden, -parlour, -room, or -window). subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable. To have (or do) a bit of front-door work = to copulate.

1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. Mrs. Fubb’s front-parlour (vide Tom Rees) is not to be mistaken for any part of any building.

Front-door Mat, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pubic hair. For synonyms, see Fleece.

Front-gut, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Frontispiece, subs. (pugilists’).—The face. For synonyms, see Dial.

1818. P. Egan, Boxiana, I., p. 221. Tyne put in right and left upon the Jew’s frontispiece two such severe blows, that Crabbe’s countenance underwent a trifling change.

1845. Buckstone, Green Bushes, i., 1. It’s a marcy my switch didn’t come in contract with your iligant frontispiece.

1860. Chambers’ Journal XIII., p. 368. His forehead is his frontispiece.

1864. A. Trollope, Sm. Ho. at Allington (1884), vol. ii., ch. V., p. 47. He said that he had had an accident—or rather, a row—and that he had come out of it with considerable damage to his frontispiece.

1891. Sporting Life, 28 Mar. It must be confessed that the ludicrous was attained when Griffiths subsequently appeared with a short black pipe in his distorted and battered frontispiece.

Front-windows, subs. (common).—1. The eyes; also the face.

2. In sing. (venery).—The female pudendum. Cf., front-attic; and for synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Frost, subs. (common).—A complete failure. Cf., Fr., un four noir. Also un temps noir = a blank interval; a prolonged silence (as when an actor’s memory fails him).

1885. Saturday Review, 15 Aug., p. 218. He is an absolute and perfect frost.

1885. Bell’s Life, 3 Jan., p. 3, col. 6. We regret we cannot write favorably concerning this matter, the affair being almost as big a frost athletically as it was financially.

1889. Star, 17 Jan. The pantomime was a dead frost.

2. (common).—A dearth of work; to have a frost = to be idle.

Froudacious, Froudacity, adj. and subs. See quots.

1888. Colonies and India, 14 Nov. The word ‘Froudacity,’ invented by Mr. Darnell Davis in his able review of The Bow of Ulysses, recently published, has reached the height of popularity in the Australasian Colonies, where it has come into everyday use. In the Melbourne Assembly the other day an hon. member observed—speaking of some remarks made by a previous speaker—that he never heard such froudacious statements in his life. The colonial papers are beginning, also, to spell the word with a small ‘f,’ which is significant.

1889. Graphic, 16 Feb. By exposing some of Mr. Froude’s manifold errors (the most dangerous is that which assumes the sour Waikato clays to be rich because they grow fern) he justifies the Australian adjective Froudacious.

Froust, subs. (Harrow School).—1. Extra sleep allowed on Sunday mornings and whole holidays. Fr., faire du lard.

2. (common).—A stink; stuffiness (in a room).

Frousty, adj. (common).—Stinking.

Frout, adj. (Winchester College).—Angry; vexed.

Frow (or Froe, or Vroe), subs. (old).—A woman; a wife; a mistress. [From the Dutch.]

1607. Dekker, Westward Ho, Act V., Sc. 1. Eat with ’em as hungerly as soldiers; drink as if we were froes.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew, V. Brush to your froe and wheedle for crap, c. whip to your mistress and speak her fair to give or lend you some Money.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2 ed.), s.v.

1789. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 119 A flash of lightning next Bess tipt each cull and frow.

Fruitful Vine, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Fruitful vine. A woman’s private parts, i.e., that has flowers every month, and bears fruit in nine.

Frummagemed, adj. (old).—Choked; strangled; spoilt.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, Pt. I., ch. v., 49 (1874). Frummagem, Choakt.

1724. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Frummigam, c. choaked.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Choaked, strangled, or hanged. Cant.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxviii. ‘If I had not helped you with these very fambles (holding up her hands), Jean Baillie would have frummagem’d you, ye feckless do-little!’

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 21. There he lay, almost frummagem’d.

Frump, subs. (old).—1. A contemptuous speech or piece of conduct; a sneer; a jest.

1553. Wilson, Art of Rhetorique, p. 137. (He) shall be able to abashe a right worthie man, and make him at his witte’s ende, through the sodaine quicke and vnlooked frumpe giuen.

1589. Greene, Menaphon, p. 45. For women’s paines are more pinching if they be girded with a frumpe than if they be galled with a mischiefe.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes. Bichiacchia, jestes, toyes, frumps, flim-flam tales, etc.

1606. T. Dekker, Seven Deadly Sinnes, p. 44 (ed. Arber). The courtiers gives you an open scoffe, ye clown a secret mock, the cittizen yat dwels at your threshald, a ieery frump.

1630. Taylor, Works. But yet, me thinkes, he gives thee but a frumpe, In telling how thee kist a wenches rumpe.

1662. Rump Songs, ‘Arsy-Varsy,’ etc., ii., 47. As a preface of honor and not as a frump, First with a Sir reverence ushers the Rump.

1668. Dryden, An Evening’s Love, Act IV. Sc. 3. Not to be behindhand with you in your frumps, I give you back your purse of gold.

2. (common).—A slattern; more commonly a prim old lady; the correlative of fogey (q.v.). Fr., un graillon.

1831. J. R. Planché, Olympic Revels, Sc. i. Cheat, you stingy frump! Who wants to cheat?

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, I., p. 157. Get into the hands of the other old frumps.

1857. Thackeray, Virginians, ch. xxxi. She is changed now, isn’t she? What an old Gorgon it is! She is a great patroness of your book-men, and when that old frump was young they actually made verses about her.

3. (old).—A cheat; a trick.

1602. Rowland, Greene’s Ghost, 37. They come off with their … frumps.

Verb (old).—To mock; to insult.

1589. Nashe, Month’s Mind, in Works, Vol. I., p. 158. One of them … maketh a iest of Princes, and ‘the troubling of the State, and offending of her Maiestie,’ hee turneth of with a frumping forsooth, as though it were a toie to think of it.

1593. G. Harvey, Pierces Super, in Works II., 107. That despiseth the graces of God, flowteth the constellations of heaven, frumpeth the operations of nature.

1609. Man in the Moone. Hee … frumpeth those his mistresse frownes on.

1757. Garrick, Irish Widow, I., i. Yes, he was frumped, and called me old blockhead.

Frumper, subs. (old).—A sturdy man; a good blade.

1825. Kent, Modern Flash Dict., s.v.

Frumpish, adj. (colloquial).—Cross-grained; old-fashioned and severe in dress, manners, morals, and notions; ill-natured; given to frumps. Also Frumpy.

1589. Greene, Tullies Love, in wks. vii., 131. Who were you but as fauourable, as you are frumpish, would soone censure by my talke, how deepe I am reade in loues principles.

1701. Farquhar, Sir Harry Wildair, Act. V., Sc. 5. She got, I don’t know how, a crotchet of jealousy in her head. This made her frumpish, but we had ne’er an angry word.

1757. Foote, Author, Act II. And methought she looked very frumpish and jealous.

1764. O’Hara, Midas, I., 3. La! mother, why so frumpish?

1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, Bk. I., ch. xi. ‘Don’t fancy me a frumpy old married woman, my dear; I was married but the other day, you know.’

1889. Modern Society, 12 Oct., p. 1271, col. 2. Quite an elderly and superannuated look is given to the toilette which is finished off by a woollen cloud or silken shawl, and only invalids and sixty-year-old women should be allowed such frumpish privileges.

Frushee, subs. (Scots’).—An open jam tart.

Fry, verb (common).—To translate into plain English. Cf., boil down.

1881. Jas. Payn, Grape from a Thorn, ch. xxx. ‘I shall repose the greatest confidence in you, my dear girl, which one human being can entrust to another,’ was one of its sentences, which, when it came ‘to be fried,’ meant that she should delegate to her the duties of combing Fido and cutting her canary’s claws.

Go and fry your face, phr. (common).—A retort expressive of incredulity, derision, or contempt.

Frying-pan. To jump from the frying-pan into the fire, verb. phr. (common).—To go from bad to worse. Cf., ‘from the smoke into the smother’ (As You Like it, i., 2.). Fr., tomber de la poêle dans la braise.

1684. Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, Part II. Some, though they shun the frying-pan, do leap into the fire.

To Fry the Pewter, verb. phr. (thieves’).—To melt down pewter measures.

F Sharp, subs. phr. (common).—A flea; cf., B flat.

Fuant, subs. (old).—Excrement.—B. E. Dict. of the Canting Crew.

Fub, verb. (old).—To cheat; to steal; to put off with false excuses. Also Fubbery = cheating, stealing, deception.

1598. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IV., II., 1. I have borne, and borne, and borne, and have been fubbed off, and fubbed off from this day to that day.

1604. Marston, Malcontent, i., 3. O no; but dream the most fantastical. O heaven! O fubbery! fubbery!

1619. Fletcher, Mons. Thomas, ii., 2. My letter fubb’d too.

1647. Cartwright, Ordinary. iv., 4. I won’t be fubbed.

Fubsey or Fubsy, adj. (old).—Plump; fat; well-filled. Fubsy dummy = a well-filled pocket book; fubsy wench = a plump girl.

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

1825. English Spy, I., p. 188. Old dowagers, their fubsy faces, Painted to eclipse the Graces.

1837. Marryat, Snarley-yow, I., ch. viii. Seated on the widow’s little fubsy sofa.

Fubsiness, subs. (common).—Any sort of fatness.

Fuck, subs. (venery).—1. An act of coition. For synonyms, see Greens.

2. (venery).—The seminal fluid. For synonyms, see Cream.

Verb. (common).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

c. 1540. David Lyndsay, ‘Flyting with King James.’ Aye fukkand like ane furious fornicator.

1568. Clerk, Bannatyne MSS., Hunterian Soc. Publication, p. 298. He clappit fast, he kist, he chukkit, As with the glaikkis he wer ourgane; Yit be his feiris he wald haif fukkit.

1568. Anonymous, Bannatyne MSS., Hunterian Soc. Publication, p. 399. ‘In Somer when Flouris will Smell.’ Allace! said sch, my awin sweit thing, Your courtly fukking garis me fling, Ye wirk sae weill.

1598. Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, Fottere. To jape; to sarde, to fucke; to swive; to occupy.

1620. Percy, Folio MSS., p. 459. [Hales and Furnivall, 1867.] A mighty mind to clipp, kisse, and to ffuck her.

1647–80. Rochester, ‘Written under Nelly’s Picture.’ Her father fucked them right together.

1683. Earl of Dorset, ‘A Faithful Catalogue.’ From St. James’s to the Land of Thule, There’s not a whore who f——s so like a mule.

c. 1716–1746. Robertson of Struan, Poems, 256. But she gave proof that she could f——k, Or she is damnably bely’d.

1728. Bailey, English Dict., s.v. Fuck … Feminam subigitare.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. F——k, to copulate.

c. 1790(?). Burns, Merry Muses. And yet misca’s a poor thing That fucks for its bread.

Fuckable, adj. (venery).—Desirable. Also Fucksome.

Fucker, subs. (common).—1. A lover; a fancy joseph (q.v.).

2. (common).—A term of endearment, admiration, derision, etc.

Fuck-finger, subs. phr. (venery).—A fricatrix.

Fuck-fist, subs. phr. (venery).—A frigster (q.v.); a masturbator. For synonyms, see Milkman.

Fuck-hole, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Fucking, subs. (venery).—Generic for the ‘act of kind.’

1568. Scott, Bannatyne MSS., Hunterian Soc. Publication, p. 363. ‘To the Derisioun of Wantoun Wemen.’ Thir foure, the suth to sane, Enforsis thame to fucking … Quod Scott.

1575. Satirical Poems, etc., Scottish Text Soc. Pub. (1889–90) i., 208. ‘A Lewd Ballat.’ To se forett the holy frere his fukking so deplore.

Adj. (common).—A qualification of extreme contumely.

Adv. (common).—Intensitive and expletive; a more violent form of bloody (q.v.). See Foutering.

Fuckish, adj. (venery).—Wanton; proud (q.v.); inclined for coition.

Fuckster, subs. (venery).—A good performer (q.v.); one specially addicted to the act. A woman-fucker (Florio), but in feminine fuckstress.

Fud, subs. (venery).—The pubic hair. For synonyms, see Fleece. Also the tail of a hare or rabbit.

1785. Burns, The Jolly Beggars. They scarcely left to co’er their fuds.

Fuddle, subs. (common).—1. Drink. [Wedgwood: A corruption of fuzz.]

1621. Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy. The university troop dined with the Earl of Abingdon and came back well fuzzed.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew, s.v. fuddle, Drink. ‘This is rum fuddle, c. this is excellent Tipple.’

1705. Ward, Hudibras Redivivus, I., Pt. iv., p. 18. And so, said I, we sipp’d our fuddle, As women in the straw do caudle, ’Till every man had drown’d his noddle.

1733. Bailey, Erasmus, p. 125 (ed. 1877). Don’t go away; they have had their dose of fuddle.

2. (common).—A drunken bout; a drunk.

1864. Glasgow Citizen, 9 Dec. Turner is given to a fuddle at times.

Verb. (colloquial).—To be drunk.

1720. Durfey, Pills, etc., vi., 265. All day he will fuddle.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2nd ed.). To fuddle. 1. To make a person drunk. 2. To grow drunk.

1770. Foote. Lame Lover, iii. Come, Hob or Nob, Master Circuit—let us try if we can’t fuddle the serjeant.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. x. He boxed the watch; he fuddled himself at taverns; he was no better than a Mohock.

1889. Echo, 15 Feb. If rich, you may fuddle with Bacchus all night, And be borne to your chamber remarkably tight.

Fuddlecap (or Fuddler), subs. (common).—A drunkard; a boon companion. For synonyms, see Lushington.

1607. Dekker, Jests to make you Merie, in wks. (Grosart) ii., 299. And your perfect fuddlecap [is known] by his red nose.

d. 1682. T. Browne, Works, iii., 93. True Protestant fuddlecaps.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew, fuddlecap, a drunkard.

1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5th ed.) Fuddlecap (S.) one that loves tippling, an excessive drinker, or drunkard.

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

Fuddled, adj. (colloquial).—Stupid with drink. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

1661. Pepys, Diary, 8 March After dinner, to drink all the afternoon … at last come in Sir William Wale, almost fuddled.

1713. Guardian, No. 145. It was my misfortune to call in at Tom’s last night, a little fuddled.

1730. Thomson, Autumn, 537. The table floating round, And pavement faithless to the fuddled foot.

1838. Dickens, Nich. Nickleby, ch. lx., p. 485. You’re a little fuddled to-night, and may not be able to see this as clearly as you would at another time.

1841. Punch, I., p. 74. The Sultan got very fuddled last night with forbidden juice in the harem, and tumbled down the ivory steps.

1864. Glasgow Citizen, 19 Nov. No other word has so many equivalents as ‘drunk.’… One very common and old one has escaped Mr. Hotten—fuddled.

1888. Daily News, 28 Nov. Music halls would soon decrease in numbers if drink were not sold in them, for sober people would not go to see spectacles only attractive to those who were half fuddled.

Fudge, subs. (colloquial).—Nonsense; humbug; an exaggeration; a falsehood. [Provincial French, fuche, feuche; an exclamation of contempt from Low Ger. futsch = begone; see, however, quots. 1700 and 1712.] Also as an exclamation of contempt.

1700. Isaac Disraeli, Notes on the Navy. There was, in our time, one Captain Fudge, a commander of a merchant-man; who, upon his return from a voyage, always brought home a good cargo of lies; insomuch that now, aboard ship, the sailors, when they hear a great lie, cry out fudge.

1712. W. Crouch, A Collection of Papers. In the year 1664 we were sentenced for banishment to Jamaica by Judges Hyde and Twisden, and our number was 55. We were put on board the ship Black Eagle; the master’s name was Fudge, by some called Lying Fudge.

1766. Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield, ch. xi. Who … would cry out fudge! an expression which displeased us all, and, in some measure, damped the rising spirit of the conversation.

1841. Lytton, Night and Morning, Bk. II., ch. vii. Very genteel young man—prepossessing appearance—(that’s a fudge!)—highly educated; usher in a school—eh?

1850. Thackeray, Rebecca and Rowena, ch. i. Her ladyship’s proposition was what is called bosh … or fudge in plain Saxon.

1861. Cornhill Magazine, iv., 102. ‘A Cumberland Mare’s Nest.’ … Up jumped the worthy magistrate, And seizing ‘Burn,’ Of justices the oracle and badge, he straight Descended to his ‘lion’s den’ (a sobriquet in fudge meant) Where he, ‘a second Daniel,’ had often ‘come to judgment.’

1864. Tangled Talk, p. 108. It is fudge to tell a child to ‘love’ every living creature—a tapeworm, for instance, such as is bottled up in chemists windows.

1865. Morning Star, 1 June. Old as I am and half woor out, I would lay (too bad, Mr. Henley, this) upon my back and hallo fudge!

1882. Daily Telegraph, 5 Oct., p. 2, col. 2. Much that we hear concerning the ways and means of the working classes is sheer fudge.

Verb. (colloquial).—1. To fabricate; to interpolate; to contrive without proper materials.

1776. Foote, The Bankrupt, iii., 2. That last ‘suppose’ is fudged in.

1836. Marryat, Midshipman Easy, ch. xviii. By the time that he did know something about navigation, he discovered that his antagonist knew nothing. Before they arrived at Malta, Jack could fudge a day’s work.

1858. Shirley Brooks, Gordian Knot. Robert Spencer was hiding from his creditors, or fudging medical certificates.

1859. G. A. Sala, in John Bull, 21 May. I had provided myself with a good library of books of Russian travel, and so fudged my Journey Due North.

2. (schoolboys’).—To copy; to crib; to dodge or escape.

1877. Blanch, The Blue Coat Boys p. 97. Fudge, verb., trans. and intrans. To prompt a fellow in class, or prompt oneself in class artificially. Thence to tell; e.g., ‘fudge me what the time is.’

3. (common).—To botch; to bungle; to muff (q.v.)

4. (schoolboys’).—To advance the hand unfairly at marbles.

Fug, verb. (Shrewsbury School).—To stay in a stuffy room.

Fugel, verb. (venery).—To possess; to have (q.v.).

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 126. Who fugelled the Parson’s fine Maid.

Fuggy, subs. (schoolboys’).—A hot roll.

Adj. (Shrewsbury School).—Stuffy.

Fugo, subs. (obsolete).—The rectum, or (Cotgrave) ‘bung-hole.’

1720. Durfey, Pills, etc., vi., 247. This maid, she like a beast turned her fugo to the East.

Fulhams or Fullams, subs. (old).—Loaded dice; called ‘high’ or ‘low’ fulhams as they were intended to turn up high or low. Cf., gourd. [Conjecturally, because manufactured at Fulham, or because that village was a notorious resort of blacklegs.] For synonyms, see Uphills.

1594. Nashe, Unf. Traveller, in wks. v., 27. The dice of late are growen as melancholy as a dog, high men and low men both prosper alike, langrets, fullams, and all the whole fellowshippe of them will not affoord a man his dinner.

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives of Windsor, i., 3. Let vultures gripe thy guts! for gourd, and fullam holds, And high and low beguile the rich and poor.

1599. Jonson, Every Man out of His Hum., iii., 1. Car.: Who! he serve? ’sblood, he keeps high men, and low men, he! he has—fair living at Fullam. [Whalley’s note in Gifford’s Jonson, The dice were loaded to run high or low; hence they were called high men or low men, and sometimes high and low fullams. Called fullams either because F. was the resort of sharpers, or because they were chiefly made there.]

1664. Butler, Hudibras, Part II., C. i., 1. 642. But I do wonder you should chuse This way t’ attack me with your muse, As one cut out to pass your tricks on, With fulhams of poetic fiction. [Note in Dr. Nash’s Ed., vol. I., p. 272 (Ed. 1835). ‘That is, with cheats or impositions. Fulham was a cant word for a false die, many of them being made at that place.’]

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxiii. Men talk of high and low dice, Fulhams and bristles … and a hundred ways of rooking besides.

2. (colloquial).—A sham; a make-believe (q.v.). [From sense 1.]

1664. Butler, Hudibras, ii., 1, Fulhams of poetic fiction.

Fulham Virgin, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A fast woman. Cf., Bankside lady; Covent Garden nun; St. John’s Wood vestal, etc.

Fulk, verb (old schoolboys’).—To use an unfair motion of the hand in plumping at taw.—Grose.

Fulke, verb (venery).—To copulate. [A euphemism suggested by Byron in Don Juan, the first and last words of which, so adepts tell you, are ‘I’ and ‘fulke.’]

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

1566. Gascoigne, Supposes, ii., 3. The Fulker will not lend you a farthing upon it.

Full, adj. (colloquial).—1. Drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

1888. Detroit Free Press, 15 Dec. When he was full the police came and jugged.

2. (turf). Used by bookmakers to signify that they have laid all the money they wish against a particular horse.

Full-guts, subs. phr. (common).—A swag-bellied man or woman.

A Full hand, subs. phr. (American waiters’). Five large beers. For analogous expressions, see Go.

Full in the belly, subs. phr. (colloquial).—With child.

Full in the pasterns (or the hocks), subs. phr. (colloquial).—Thick-ankled.

Full team, subs. phr. (American).—An eulogium. A man is a full team when of consequence in the community. Variants are whole team, or whole team and a horse to spare. Cf. one-horse = mean, insignificant, or strikingly small.

Full in the waistcoat, adj. phr. (colloquial).—Swag-bellied.

Full of ’em, adj. phr. (common).—Lousy; nitty; full of fleas.

Full to the bung, adj. phr. (colloquial).—Very drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

To have (or wear) a full suit of mourning, verb. phr. (pugilists’).—To have two black eyes. Half-mourning = one black eye. For synonyms, see Mouse.

To come full bob, verb. phr. (old colloquial).—To come suddenly; to come full tilt.

1672. Marvell, Rehearsal Transposed (in Grosart, iii., 414). The page and you meet full bob.

Full against, adv. phr. 1. Dead, or decidedly opposed to, a person, thing, or place.

Full-bottomed (or -breeched, or -pooped), adv. phr. (colloquial).—Broad in the hind; barge-arsed (q.v.)

Full-flavoured, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Peculiarly rank: as a story, an exhibition of profane swearing, an emission of wind, etc.

Full-fledged, adv. phr. (venery).—Ripe for defloration.

Full-gutted, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Stout; swag-bellied.

Full of emptiness, adv. phr. (common).—Utterly void.

Full on, adv. phr. (colloquial).—Set strongly in a given direction, especially in an obscene sense: e.g., full on for it or full on for one = ready and willing au possible.

At full chisel, adv. phr. (American).—At full speed; with the greatest violence or impetuousity. Also full drive; full split. Cf. hickety split; ripping; staving along; two-thirty, etc.

In full blast, swing, etc., adv. phr. (colloquial).—In the height of success; in hot pursuit.

1859. Sala, Twice Round the Clock, 5 a.m., Part I. At five a.m. the publication of the Times newspaper is, to use a north-country mining expression, in ‘full blast.’

1884. Daily News, Feb. 9, p. 5, col. 2. If he visit New York in that most pleasant season, the autumn, he will find that the ‘fall’ trade is ‘in full blast.’

1888. Daily Telegraph, 17 Nov. By half-past ten o’clock the smoking-room was in full swing.

In full dig, adv. phr. (common).—On full pay.

In full feather, see Feather.

In full fig.—1. See Fig (to which may be added the following illustrative quotations).

1836. M. Scott, Cruise of the Midge, p. 178. In front of this shed—full fig, in regular Highland costume, philabeg, short hose, green coatee, bonnet and feather, marched the bagpiper.

1836. M. Scott, Cringle’s Log, ch. xi. Captain Transom, the other lieutenant, and myself in full puff, leading the van, followed by about fourteen seamen.

1838. Haliburton, Clockmaker, (2nd ed.), ch. viii. ‘Lookin’ as pleased as a peacock when it’s in full fig with its head and tail up.’

1841. Punch, i., p. 26, col. 1. Dressed in full fig—sword very troublesome—getting continually between my legs.

1874. Mrs. H. Wood, Johnny Ludlow (1st ed.), No. IV., p. 62. When our church bells were going for service, Major Parrifer’s carriage turned out with the ladies all in full fig.

2. adv. phr. (venery).—Said of an erection of the penis; prick-proud (q.v.). For synonyms, see Horn.

Like a straw-yard bull: full of fuck and half starved, phr. (venery). A friendly retort to the question, ‘How goes it?’ i.e., How are you?

Full of it, phr. (common).—With child.

Full of guts, phr. (colloquial).—Full of vigour; excellently inspired and done: as a picture, a novel, and so forth. See Guts.

Full of beans, see Beans.

Full of bread, see Bread.

Fuller’s Earth, subs. phr. (old).—Gin. For synonyms, see Satin.

1821. Real Life in London, i., 394. The swell covies and out-and-outers find nothing so refreshing, after a night’s spree, when the victualling office is out of order, as a little fuller’s earth, or dose of Daffy’s.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, iii., 3. Bring me de kwarten of de fuller’s earth.

Fullied. To be fullied, verb. phr. (thieves’).—To be committed for trial. [From the newspaper expression, ‘Fully committed.’] Fr., être mis sur la planche au pain.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, Vol. iii., p. 397. He got acquitted for that there note after he had me ‘pinched’ (arrested). I got fullied (fully committed).

1879. Horsley, ‘Autobiography of a Thief,’ in Macmillan’s Magazine, xl., 506. I … was then fullied and got this stretch and a half.

1889. Answers, 13 April, p. 313. At the House of Detention I often noticed such announcements as ‘Jack from Bradford fullied for smashing, and expects seven stretch,’ i.e., fully committed for trial for passing bad money, and expects seven years’ penal servitude.

Fulness. There’s not fulness enough in the sleeve top. phr. (tailors’).—A derisive answer to a threat.

Fumbler, subs. (old).—An impotent man.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Fumbler, c., an unperforming husband; one that is insufficient; a weak Brother.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., vi., 312. The old fumbler (title).

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

c. 1790. Burns, ‘David and Bathsheba,’ p. 40. ‘By Jove,’ says she, ‘what’s this I see, my Lord the King’s a fumbler.’

Fumbler’s Hall, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum. See, however, quot. 1690. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Fumbler’s hall, the place where such (fumblers, q.v.) are to be put for their non-performance.

Free of Fumbler’s hall, phr.—Said of an impotent man.

Fumbles, subs. (thieves’).—Gloves.

1825. Kent, Modern Flash Dict., s.v.

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

1881. New York Slang Dict., s.v.

Fun, subs. (old).—1. A cheat; a trick.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew, s.v.

2. (old).—The posteriors, or Western End (Marvell). Probably an abbreviation of fundament. For synonyms, see Blind Cheeks and Monocular Eye-glass.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. I’ll kick your fun, c., I’ll kick your arse.

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

Verb. (old).—1. To cheat; to trick. Also to put the fun on.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. What do you fun me? Do you think to Sharp or Trick me? Ibid. He put the fun upon the cull, c., he sharp’d the Fellow. Ibid. I funn’d him, c., I was too hard for him; I outwitted or rook’d him.

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

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

To poke fun at, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To joke; to ridicule; to make a butt.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, i., p. 280. O fie! Mister Noakes,—for shame, Mr. Noakes! To be poking your fun at us plain-dealing folks.

1855. Haliburton (‘Sam Slick’) Human Nature, p. 124. I thought you was pokin’ fun at me; for I am a poor ignorant farmer, and these people are always making game of me.

1865. Neal, Charcoal Sketches (in Bartlett). Jeames, if you don’t be quit poking fun at me, I’ll break your mouth, as sure as you sit there.

To have been making fun, verb. phr. (common).—Intoxicated. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.

To have (or do) a bit of fun, verb. phr. (venery).—To procure or enjoy the sexual favour. For synonyms, see Greens.

Functior or Functure, subs. (Winchester College).—An iron bracket candlestick, used for the nightlight in college chambers. [The word, says Winchester Notions, looks like fulctura, an earlier form of fulture, meaning a prop or stay with phonetic change of l into n.]

1870. Mansfield, School Life at Winchester, p. 68. Beside the window yawned the great fireplace, with its dogs, on which rested the faggots and bars for the reception of the array of boilers. Above it was a rushlight, fixed in a circular iron pan fastened to a staple in the wall; it was called the functior.

Fundamental Features, subs. phr. (common).—The posteriors. For synonyms, see Blind Cheeks and Monocular Eye-glass.

1818. Moore, Fudge Family, ix., Aug. 21. O can we wonder, best of speechers, When Louis seated thus we see, That France’s ‘fundamental features’ Are much the same they used to be?

Funds, subs. (colloquial).—Finances; e.g. ‘my funds are very low.’

Funeral. It’s not my (or your) funeral, verb. phr. (American).—i.e., It is no business of mine, or yours. Fr., nib dans mes blots (= that is not my affair). Also used affirmatively.

1867. Mrs. Whitney, A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite’s Life, p. 183. ‘It’s none of my funeral, I know, Sin Saxon,’ said Miss Craydocke. ‘I’m only an eleventh-hour helper; but I’ll come in for the holiday business … that’s more in my line.’

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 239. This is none of your funeral is heard quite frequently as an indirect rebuke for intermeddling, with the ludicrous undercurrent of thought, that the troublesome meddler has no right to be crying at a strange man’s funeral.

1877. Hartford Times, 17 Oct. Senators Blaine and Barnum passed down to New York, en route to Washington, on Wednesday last, when Barnum asked Blaine how he liked the news from Ohio. ‘Oh, that isn’t my funeral, I want you to understand,’ replied the plucky Maine Senator.

1888. Missouri Republican, 8 Apr. After a lot of slides had been exhibited the audience howled for Miss Debar. It got so noisy that Mr. Marsh reluctantly exclaimed—‘Well, is this your funeral or mine?’

Fungus, subs. (old).—An old man.

Funk, subs. (old).—1. Tobacco smoke; also a powerful stink. Cf., Ger., funke; Walloon funki.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. What a funk here is! What a thick smoke. Smoak of Tobacco is here! Ibid. Here’s a damn’d funk, here’s a great stink.

2. (vulgar).—A state of fear; trepidation, nervousness, or cowardice; a stew (q.v.). Generally, with an intensitive, e.g., a ‘mortal,’ ‘awful,’ ‘bloody,’ ‘blue,’ or ‘pissing’ funk. Fr., la guenette; le flubart (thieves’); la frousse (also = diarrhœa). It., filo = thread.

1796. Wolcott, Pindarina, p. 59. If they find no brandy to get drunk, Their souls are in a miserable funk.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 21. Up he rose in a funk.

1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry (1890), p. 91. I was in a complete funk.

1837. Barham, I. L., Look at the Clock, ed. 1862, p. 39. Pryce, usually brimful of valour when drunk, Now experienced what schoolboys denominate funk.

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p. 9. The mules, which was a-snorting with funk and running before the Injuns … followed her right into the corral, and thar they was safe.

1850. Literary World (New York), 30 Nov. So my friend’s fault is timidity.… I grant, then, that the funk is sublime, which is a true and friendly admission.

1856. Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown’s School-days, p. 196. If I was going to be flogged next minute, I should be in a blue funk.

1859. Whitty, Political Portraits, p. 30. Lord Clarendon did not get through the business without these failures, which result from the intellectual process termed freely funk.

1861. Macmillan’s Magazine, p. 211. I was in a real blue funk.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xxxvi. I was in a real blue funk and no mistake.

1870. London Figaro, 19 Oct. After the Fire. He was in a mortal funk, no doubt.

1871. Maxwell, in Life (1882), xvi., 382. Certainly χλωρὸν θéος is the Homeric for a blue funk.

1888. Cassell’s Saturday Journal, 29 Dec., p. 305. You’re always in a funk about nothing at all.

3. (schoolboys’).—A coward.

1882. F. Anstey, Vice Versâ, ch. v. Bosher said, ‘Let’s cut it,’ and he and Peebles bolted. (They were neither of them funks, of course, but they lost their heads.)

Verb. (common).—1. To smoke out. See Funk the cobbler.

1720. Durfey, Wit and Mirth, vi., 303. With a sober dose Of coffee funks his nose.

1578. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. funk, to smoke, figuratively to smoke or stink through fear.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, ii., 2. Tom. But, I say, only see how confoundedly the dustman’s getting hold of Logic—we’ll funk him. (Tom and Jerry smoke Logic), Log. Oh, hang your cigars, I don’t like it; let’s have no funking.

1841. Punch, I., p. 172. Look here … isn’t it considerable clear they’re a all funking like burnt cayenne in a clay pipe, or couldn’t they have made a raise somehow to get a ship of their own, or borrow one to send after that caged-up coon of a Macleod.

2. (common).—To terrify; to shrink or quail through nervousness or cowardice.

1858. A. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, Bk. III., ch. vi., p. 294. Perhaps we’re only funking ourselves useless, and it mayn’t be the farm chaps at all.

3. (colloquial).—To fear; to hesitate; to shirk; and (among pugilists) to come it (q.v.).

1836. Smith, The Individual, ‘The Thieves’ Chaunt.’ But dearer to me Sue’s kisses far Than grunting peck or other grub are, And I never funk the lambskin men When I sits with her in the boozing ken.

1846. Punch, X., p. 163. But as yet no nose is bleeding, As yet no man is down; For the gownsmen funk the townsmen, And the townsmen funk the gown.

1848. J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers. To funk right out o’ p’lit’cal strife ain’t thought to be the thing.

1873. M. Collins, Squire Silchester’s Whim, ch. xvii. Come along! don’t funk it, old fellow.

English Synonyms.—To come it; to lose one’s guts; to shit one’s breeches; to get the needle (athletic).

French Synonyms.—Paniquer (thieves’: Panique = sudden fright); blaguer (familiar: = to swagger: Il avait l’air de blaguer mais il n’était pas à la noce = he put on a lot of side, but he didn’t like it); avec la cœur en gargousse (sailors’ = with sinking heart); avoir une fluxion (popular: fluxion = inflammation); avoir la flemme (popular: also = to be idle); avoir le trac or trak (general); foirer (popular: foire = excrement); léziner (popular: also = to cheat).

Spanish Synonym.—Pajarear.

Italian Synonym.—Filare (= to run: Fr., filer).

4. (colloquial).—To be nervous; to lose heart.

1827. ‘Advice to Tommy,’ Every Night Book (by the author of ‘The Cigar’). Do not go out of your depth, unless you have available assistance at hand, in case you should funk.

1856. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School Days, ii., p. 5. He’s funking; go in Williams!

1857. Moncrieff, The Bashful Man, ii., 4. Ah! Gyp, hope I sha’n’t get plucked; funk confoundedly: no matter, I must put a bold face on it.

1857. Hood, Pen and Pencil Pictures, p. 144. I have seen him out with the governor’s hounds: he funked at the first hedge, and I never saw him again!

1863. Reade, Hard Cash, ii., p. 135. I told him I hadn’t a notion of what he meant! ‘O yes I did,’ he said, ‘Captain Dodd’s fourteen thousand pounds! It had passed through my hands.’ Then I began to funk again at his knowing that.… I was flustered, ye see.

1865. H. Kingsley, The Hillyars and the Burtons, ch. xxxiii. The sound of the table falling was the signal for a rush of four men from the inner room, who had to use a vulgar expression, funked following the valiant scoundrel Sykes, but who now tried to make their escape, and found themselves hand to hand with the policemen.

1871. Morning Advertiser, 11 Sept. ‘Holy Abr’ham!’ mused he vauntingly, ‘shall British sailors funk, While tracts refresh their spirits, tea washes down their junk?’

1890. Pall Mall Gazette, 17 Oct. p. 2, col. 1. They wanted badly to get one steamer loaded and sent to New Zealand. The non-union men funked loading her on account of the union men.

1891. Licensed Vict. Gazette, 13 Feb. Smith’s friends thought he was funking, and shouted to Tom to go in and punch him.

5. (schoolboys’).—To move the hand forward unfairly in playing marbles; to fudge (q.v.).

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Funk, to use an unfair motion of the hand in plumping at taw.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., p. 144. I’ve noticed them, too, playing at ring-taw, and one of their exclamations is ‘Knuckle down fair, and no funking.’

To funk the cobbler, verb. phr. (schoolboys’).—To smoke out a schoolmate: a trick performed with asafœtida and cotton stuffed into a hollow tube or cow’s horn; the cotton being lighted, the smoke is blown through the keyhole.

1698–1700. Ward, London Spy, Pt. IX., p. 197. We smoak’d the Beans almost as bad as unlucky schoolboys us’d to do the coblers, till they sneak’d off one by one, and left behind ’em more agreeable Company.

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

See also Peter Funk.

Funker, subs. (old).—1. A pipe; a cigar; a fire. [From funk = to smoke + er.]

2. (thieves’).—A low thief.

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

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon. Funkers, the very lowest order of thieves.

3. (colloquial).—A coward.

4. (prostitutes’).—A girl that shirks her trade in bad weather.

Funking-room, subs. (medical).—The room at the Royal College of Surgeons where the students collect on the last evening of their final during the addition of their marks, and whence each is summoned by an official announcing failure or success.

1841. Punch, I., p. 225, col. 2. On the top of a staircase he enters a room, wherein the partners of his misery are collected. It is a long, narrow apartment, commonly known as the funking-room.

Funkster, subs. (Winchester College).—A coward; one that funks (q.v.).

Funky, adj. (colloquial).—Nervous; frightened; timid.

1845. Naylor, Reynard the Fox, 46. I do seem somewhat funky.

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, I., 143. On his retiring with twenty-five, scored in eight minutes, the remaining Barkingtonians were less funky, and made some fair scores.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheapjack, p. 237. The second round commences with a little cautious sparring on both sides, the bouncing Elias looking very funky.

1891. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up! p. 51. ‘I’ll noy funky,’ returned the Chinaman impressively.

Funnel, subs. (common).—The throat. For synonyms, see Gutter Alley.

1712. Blackmore, Creation, Bk. VI. Some the long funnel’s curious mouth extend, Through which the ingested meats with ease descend.

Funniment, subs. (colloquial).—1. A joke, either practical or verbal.

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

Funny, subs. (nautical).—A clinker-built, narrow boat for sculls.

1837. Barham, I. L., Sir Rupert the Fearless. Sprang up through the waves, popped him into his funny, Which some others already had half-filled with money.

1882. Field, 28 Jan. The only obtainable craft, besides funnies, pair-oars, and randans, were a couple of six-oars.

To feel funny, verb. phr. (common).—To be overtaken with (1) emotion, or (2) drink: e.g., to wax amorous, or get the flavour (q.v.); to begin to be the worse for liquor.

Funny Bit, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum.

Funny Bone, subs. (popular).—The elbow, with the passage of the ulnar nerve connecting the two bones: the extremity of the humerus.

1837. Barham, I. L. (Blondie Jacke). They have pull’d you down flat on your back! And they smack, and they thwack, Till your funny bones crack, As if you were stretch’d on the rack.

1853. Thackeray, ‘Shabby Genteel Story,’ ch. ix. He had merely received a blow on that part which anatomists call the funny bone.

1870. Lowell Courier. Thanks for your kind condolence; I would write A merry rhyme in answer if I might; But then—confound the fall!—the very stone That broke my humerus hurt my funny bone!

Funny-man, subs. (common).—A circus clown. Also a joker in private life.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor., III., p. 129. What I’ve earned as clown, or the funny man.

Fur, subs. (venery).—The pubic hair. For synonyms, see Fleece.

To make the fur fly.—See Fly.

To have one’s fur out, verb. phr. (Winchester College).—To be angry. For synonyms, see Nab the rust.

Fur and Feathers, subs. phr. (sporting).—Generic for game.

Fur-below, subs. (venery).—The female pubic hair. For synonyms, see Fleece.

16(?). Old Catch. Adam caught Eve by the fur-below, And that’s the oldest catch I know.

Furioso, subs. (old).—A blusterer; Ital., furioso = raving.

1692. Hacket. Life of Archbishop Williams, ii., p. 218. A violent man and a furioso was deaf to all this.

English Synonyms.—Barker; blower; bobadil; bouncer; bulldozer (American); cacafogo; Captain Bounce; Captain Bluff; Captain Grand; Captain Hackam; cutter; fire-eater; hector; huff-cap; humguffin; gasser; gasman; mouth; mouth-almighty; pissfire; pump-thunder; ramper; roarer; ruffler; shitefire; slangwhanger; spitfire; swashbuckler; swasher; teazer; Timothy Tearcat.

French Synonyms.—Un avale-tout-cru (popular: = an eat-all-he-kills); un fendart or fendart (popular: = a cutter); un avaleur de charrettes fereés (popular); un mata (printers’: from matador = a bull-fighter); un bousineur (popular: bousin = uproar, shindy); un bourreau de crânes (military): = a scull-destroyer; un bœufier (popular: = an ugly customer); un mauvais gas (familiar: from garçon); un homme qui a l’air de vouloir tout avaler (familiar: a man who looks as though he’d swallow the world); un croquet (popular).

Spanish Synonyms.—Perdonavidas; fierabras (fiera = a wild beast); botarate; macareno cacafuoco (= a shitfire).

Furk, Ferk, Firk, verb. (Winchester College).—To expel; to send (as on a message); to drive away. Also to furk up and furk down. [Old English fercian, High German ferken, Middle English to lead or send away.]

Furmen, subs. (old).—Aldermen. From their fur-trimmed robes.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew, s.v.

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

Furmity-faced, adj. phr. (old).—White-faced (furmity is described by Grose as ‘wheat boiled to a jelly’). To simper like a furmity kitten (Grose), see Simper.

Furnish, verb. (common).—To fill out; to improve in strength and appearance.

Furniture Picture, subs. phr. (artists’).—A ‘picture’ sold not as a piece of art but as a piece of upholstery, such things being turned out by the score, as pianos are, or three-legged stools; the worst and cheapest kind of potboiler (q.v.).

Furrow, subs. (venery). Also Cupid’s (or the One-ended) furrow, etc.—The female pudendum. For synonyms, see Monosyllable. To draw a straight furrow. See Draw.

to fall in the furrow, verb. phr. (venery).—To achieve emission.

To fail (or die) in the furrow, verb. phr. (venery).—To do a dry-bob (q.v.).

Furry Tail, subs. phr. (printers’).—A non-unionist; a rat (q.v.). Specifically, a workman accepting employment at less than ‘Society’ wages. Cf., Dung, Flint, etc.

Further. I’ll see you further first, phr. (colloquial).—A denial. I’ll sooner die first (q.v.).

1861–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., p. 29. I gave a country lad 2d. to mind him (the donkey) in a green lane there. I wanted my own boy to do so, but he said, I’ll see you further first. A London boy hates being by himself in a lone country part. He’s afraid of being burked.

Fur Trade, subs. phr. (old).—Barristers.

1839. Reynolds, Pickwick Abroad, ch. xxvi. Let nobs in the fur trade hold their jaw, And let the jug be free.

Furze-Bush, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pubic hair. For synonyms, see fleece.

Fussock, and Fussocks, subs. (old).—Opprobrious for a fat woman.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Fussocks, a meer fussocks, a Lazy Fat-Arsed Wench, a fat fussocks, a Flusom, Fat, Strapping Woman.

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

Fust (or Fust out), verb. (American).—To end in smoke; to go to waste; to end in nothing. Cf., fizzle.

Fustian, subs. and adj. (old).—1. Bombast; bad rhetoric; sound without sense: bombastic; ranting. Now accepted.

1598. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IV., II., 4. Thrust him downstairs; I cannot endure such a fustian rascal.

1602. Shakspeare, Twelfth Night II., 5. A fustian riddle.

1602. Shakspeare, Othello, II., 3. And discourse fustian with one’s own shadow.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Fustian-verse, verse in words of lofty sound and humble sense.

1828–45. Hood, Poems, i., p. 105 (ed. 1846). The saints!—the bigots that in public spout, Spread phosphorous of zeal on scraps of fustian, And go like walking ‘Lucifers’ about These living bundles of combustion.

2. (common).—Wine; white fustian = champagne; red fustian = port.

1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, p. 51 (ed. 1864). I’m as dry as a sandbed. Famous wine this—beautiful tipple—better than all your red fustian. Ah, how poor Sir Piers used to like it!

Fustilarian, subs. (old).—A low fellow; a common scoundrel.

1598. Shakspeare, 2 Henry IV., II., 1. Away, you scullion! you rampallian! you fustilarian! I’ll tickle your catastrophe.

Fustilug (or Fustilugs), subs. (old).—A piece of grossness, male or female; a coarse and dirty Blowzalinda; a foul slut; a fat stinkard.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Fustiluggs, a Fulsom, Beastly, Nasty Woman.

1739. Junius (quoted in Encly. Dict.). You may daily see such fustilugs walking in the streets, like so many tuns.

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

Futter, verb. (venery).—To copulate. Fr., foutre. [A coinage of Sir. R. Burton’s, who makes continual use of it in the Thousand Nights and a Night.] For synonyms, see Greens and Ride. Also to do a futter.

1885. Burton, Thousand Nights, II., 332. Eating and drinking and futtering for a year of full twelve months.

1890. Burton, Priapeia, Ep. xii. Thee, my girl, I shalt futter.

Future, to deal in futures, verb. phr. (Stock Exchange).—To speculate for a rise or fall.

1862. Globe, 1 Dec. He deals in futures, i.e., speculates in cotton with Stock Exchange folks, or speculates in securities.

Fuzz, verb. (old).—1. ‘To shuffle cards minutely; also to change the pack.’ [Grose.]

2. (old).—To be, or to make, drunk.

1685. Life of Amb. Wood, 14 July. Came home well fuzd.

Fuzziness, subs. (old).—The condition of being in drink. Hence blurredness; incoherence; bewilderment.

Fuzzy, adj. (common).—1. Drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed. Hence blurred (as a picture); tangled; incoherent or inconsequent.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 324. Her husband or any other man might have drunk six glasses, with no more hurt than just making him a little fuzzy.

2. (popular).—Rough; as in a fuzzy head; a fuzzy cloth; a fuzzy bit (= a full-grown wench); a fuzzy carpet; etc.

Fuzzy-wuzzy, subs. (military). A Soudanese tribesman.

1890. Rudyard Kipling, National Observer, 8 Mar., p. 438, col. 1. So ’ere’s to you Fuzzy-wuzzy And your ’ome in the Soudan, You’re a pore benighted ’eathen but a first-class fighting man; And ’ere’s to you Fuzzy-wuzzy with your ’ay-rick ’ead of ’air, You big, black bouncing beggar, for you bruk a British square.

Fye-buck, subs. (old).—A sixpence. For synonyms, see Bender.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 56. You give a shilling to buy a comb, for which he gives sixpence, so works you for another fye-buck.

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

Fylche.—See Filch.

Fyst.—See Foist.

ab, subs. (vulgar).—1. The mouth; also Gob. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1785. Burns, Jolly Beggars. And aye he gies the touzie drab The tither skelpin kiss, While she held up her greedy gab, Just like an aumos dish.

1820. Scott, The Abbot, ch. xiv. ‘And now, my mates,’ said the Abbot of Unreason, ‘once again digut your gabs and be hushed—let us see if the Cock of Kennaguhair will fight or flee the pit.’

1890. Rare Bits, 12 Apr., p. 347. ‘Clap a stopper on your gab and whack up, or I’ll let ’er speak!’

2. (vulgar).—Talk; idle babble. Also Gabb, Gabber, and Gabble.

1712. Spectator, No. 389. Having no language among them but a confused gabble, which is neither well understood by themselves or others.

1811. Poole, Hamlet Travestied, I., 3. Then hold your gab, and hear what I’ve to tell.

1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, ch. xxxiv. ‘Hush your gab,’ said Mr. Green, roughly.

1887. Punch, 10 Sept., p. 111. Gladstone’s gab about ‘masses and classes’ is all tommy rot.

Verb. (vulgar: O. E., and now preserved in Gabble).—To talk fluently; to talk brilliantly; to lie.

1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales 1652. I gabbe nought, so have I joye or blis.

1402. [? T. Occleve], Letter of Cupid, in Arber’s Garner, vol. IV., p. 59. A foul vice it is, of tongue to be light, For whoso mochil clappeth, gabbeth oft.

1601. Shakspeare, Twelfth Night, Act II., Sc. iii. Mal. … Have you no wit, manners, nor honesty, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night.

1663. Butler, Hudibras, pt. I., ch. i., p. 5. Which made some think when he did gabble Th’ had heard three Labourers of Babel.

1786. Burns, Earnest Cry and Prayer, st. 10. But could I like Montgomeries fight, Or gab like Boswell.

1880. G. R. Sims, Zeph, ch. vii. An elderly clergyman … gabbled the funeral service as though he were calling back an invoice at a draper’s entering desk.

1887. Punch, 10 Sept., p. 111. Gals do like a chap as can gab.

Gift of the Gab (or Gob), subs. phr. (colloquial).—The gift of conversation; the talent for speech. Fr., n’avoir pas sa langue dans sa poche.

d. 1653. Z. Boyd, Book of Job, quoted in Brewer’s Phrase and Fable, s.v., ‘gab. There was a good man named Job, Who lived in the land of Uz, He had a good gift of the gob.’

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Canting Crew. Gift of the gob, a wide, open Mouth; also a good Songster, or Singing-master.

1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.

1820. Shelley, Œdipus Tyrannus, Act I. You, Purganax, who have the gift o’ the gab, Make them a solemn speech.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. xliii. And we’ll have a big-wig, Charley: one that’s got the greatest gift of the gab: to carry on his defence.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, I., 250. People reckon me one of the best patterers in the trade. I’m reckoned to have the gift—that is, the gift of the gab.

1869. Whyte-Melville, M. or N., p. 29. I’ve got the gift of the gab, I know, and I stick at nothing.

1870. Lond. Figaro, 18 Sept. ‘Of all gifts possessed by man,’ said George Stephenson, the engineer, to Sir William Follett, ‘there is none like the gift of the gab.’

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 193. Others, although they have the gift of the gab when they are on the ground, as soon as they mount the cart are dumbfounded.

To blow the gab, verb. phr. (vulgar).—To inform; to peach (q.v.). Also to blow the gaff (q.v.).

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

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. 5. Never blow the gab or squeak.

To flash the gab, verb. phr. (common).—To show off (q.v.) in talk; cf., Air one’s vocabulary.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 2. While his Lordship … that very great dab At the flowers of rhet’ric is flashing his gab.

Gabble, subs. (colloquial).—1. A gossip. Also Gabbler, Gabble-grinder, Gabble-merchant, and Gabble-monger.

2. (colloquial).—A voluble talker.

Gabble-mill, subs. (American).—1. The United States Congress. Also Gabble-manufactory.

2. (common).—A pulpit. For synonyms, see Humbox.

3. (common).—The mouth. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

Gable, subs. (common).—The head. Also Gable-end. For synonyms, see Crumpet.

Gabster, subs. (common).—A voluble talker, whether eloquent or vain; one having the gift of the gab (q.v.).

Gab-string.—See Gob-string.

Gaby (also Gabbey and Gabby), subs. (common).—A fool; a babbler; a boor. Icl. gapi = a foolish person, from gapa = to gape.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1856. T. Hughes, Tom Brown’s School Days, pt. 1, ch. iii. Two boys, who stopped close by him, and one of whom, a fat gaby of a fellow, pointed at him and called him young ‘mammy-sick.’

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffrey Hamlyn, ch. ix. Don’t stand laughing there like a great gaby.

1875. Ouida, Signa, vol. I., ch. iv., p. 47. ‘You have never dried your clothes, Bruno,’ said his sister-in-law, ‘What a gaby a man is without a wife!’

Gad, subs. (common).—An idle slattern. An abbreviation of gad-about (q.v.).

Intj. (common).—An abbreviation of by Gad! Cf. Agad, Egad—themselves corruptions of by God, Lit.

On the gad, adv. phr. (old).—1. On the spur of the moment.

1605. Shakspeare, Lear, i., 2. All this is done upon the gad.

2. (colloquial).—On the move, on the gossip.

1818. Austen, Persuasion. I have no very good opinion of Mrs. Charles’ nursery maid.… She is always upon the gad.

3. (colloquial).—On the spree (especially of women); and, by implication, on the town.

To gad the hoof, verb. phr. (common).—To walk or go without shoes; to pad the hoof (q.v.). Also, more loosely, to walk or roam about.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3rd ed., p. 447. Going without shoes, gadding the hoof.

Gadabout, subs. (colloquial).—A trapesing gossip; as a housewife seldom seen at home, but very often at her neighbours’ doors. [From Gad = to wander, to stray (Cf., Lycidas: ‘the gadding vine’) + About.] Used also as an adjective; e.g., ‘a Gad-about hussey.’

Gadso, subs. (old)—The penis. Italian cazzo. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Intj. (old: still literary and colloquial).—An interjection. [A relic of phallicism with which many popular oaths and exclamations have a direct connection, especially in Neo-Latin dialects. A Spaniard cries out, Carajo! (—the member), or Cojones! (—the testicles); an Italian says Cazzo (the penis); while a Frenchman exclaims by the act itself, Foutre! The female equivalent, (coño with the Spaniard, conno with the Italian, con with the Frenchman, and cunt with ourselves), was, and is, more generally used as an expression of contempt, which is also the case with the testicles. (Cf., ante, All Balls!) Germanic oaths are profane rather than obscene; except, perhaps, in Potz! and Potztaufend! and the English equivalent Pox! which last is obsolete. See Catso. In Florio (A Worlde of Wordes, 1598), Cazzo = ‘a man’s privie member,’ and cazzo di mare = a pintle fish; while cazzica = ‘an interjection of admiration and affirming. What? Gad’s me, Gad forfend, tush.’]

1697. Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, iii., 1. Sir? Gadso! we are to consult about playing the devil to night.

1770. Foote, Lame Lover, i. Gadso! a little unlucky.

1838. Dickens, Oliver Twist, ch. iv. ‘Gadso!’ said the undertaker … ‘that’s just the very thing I wanted to speak to you about.’

Gadzooks! intj. (old and colloquial).—A corruption of Gadzo (q.v.).

Gaff, subs. (old).—1. A fair.

1754. Discoveries of John Poulter, p. 32. The first thing they do at a gaff is to look for a room clear of company.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. The drop coves maced the joskins at the gaff; the ring-droppers cheated the countryman at the fair.

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 22. We stopped at this place two days, waiting to attend the gaff.

1823. Jon. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, etc., s.v. A fair is a gaff as well as all the transactions enacted there.

2. (common).—A cheap, low music-hall or theatre; frequently penny-gaff, Cf., quot. 1823, sense 1. Also dookie. Fr., un beuglant (= a low music-hall; beugler = to bellow); un bouisbouis (boui = brothel); une guinche (popular). See also quot. 1889.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, I., p. 46. They court for a time, going to raffles and gaffs together, and then the affair is arranged.

1869. Greenwood, Seven Curses of London, p. 68. A gaff is a place where stage plays, according to the strict interpretation of the term, may not be represented. The actors of a drama may not correspond in colloquy, only in pantomime; but the pieces brought out at the gaff are seldom of an intricate character, and the not over-fastidious auditory are well content with an exhibition of dumb-show and gesture.

1870. Orchestra, 18 Feb. The absolute harm done by these gaffs does not consist in the subjects represented.

1889. Notes and Queries, 7 S. vii., p. 395. I have often heard the British soldier make use of the word when speaking of the entertainment got up for his benefit in barracks.

3. (prison).—A hoax; an imposture. Cf., Fr., gaffe = joke, deceit.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iv., p. 312. I also saw that Jemmy’s blowing up of me wos all gaff. He knew as well as I did the things left the shop all right.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 227. Can you put me up to this other gaff.

4. (old sharpers’).—A ring worn by the dealer. [From gaffe = a hook.]

5. (American cock-pit).—A steel spur.

6. (anglers’).—A landing spear, barbed in the iron.

Verb. (old).—1. To toss for liquor. See gaffing.

1823. Jon Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v.

2. (theatrical).—To play in a gaff (q.v. sense 2).

To blow the gaff, or gab (q.v.), verb. phr. (common). To give information; to let out a secret. For synonyms, see Peach.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. To blow the gab (cant), to confess, or impeach a confederate.

1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ch. xliii. One of the French officers, after he was taken prisoner, axed me how we had managed to get the gun up there; but I wasn’t going to blow the gaff.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. ii., p. 122. The prisoner, burning for revenge, quietly bides his time till the chief warder comes round, then asks to speak to him, and blows the gaff.

1891. Referee, 8 Mar. Under sacred promise not to blow the gaff I was put up to the method.

Gaffer, subs. (old).—1. An old man; the masculine of Gammer (q.v.). Also a title of address: e.g., ‘Good day, gaffer!’ Cf., Uncle and Daddy. Also (see quot. 1710), a husband.

1710. Dame Hurdle’s Letter (quoted by Nares). My gaffer only said he would inform himself as well as he could against next election, and keep a good conscience.

1714. Gay, Shepherd’s Week. For Gaffer Treadwell told us, by-the-bye, Excessive sorrow is exceeding dry.

1842. Tennyson, The Goose. Ran Gaffer, stumbled Gammer.

2. (common).—A master; an employer; a boss (q.v.); (athletic) a pedestrian trainer and ‘farmer’; and (navvies’) a gang-master or ganger (q.v.).

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., iv., 123. In comes our gaffer Underwood, And sits him on the bench.

1748. T. Dyche, Dict. (5th ed.) Gaffer (S.) a familiar word mostly used in the country for master.

1885. Daily News, 24 Jan., p. 3, c. 1. They go and work at fivepence, and some on ’em as low as threepence halfpenny, an hour; that’s just half what we get, and the gaffers keep ’em on and sack us.

1888. Sportsman, 20 Dec. Comic enough were some of the stories ‘Jemmy’ told of his relations with ‘the gaffer.’

1889. Broadside Ballad, ‘The Gaffers of the Gang.’ We are the boys that can do the excavations, We are the lads for the ’atin’ and the dhrinkin’, With the ladies we are so fascinatin’, Because we are the gaffers of the gang.

3. (old).—A toss-penny; a gambler with coins. From gaffing (q.v.).

1828. Jon Bee, Living Picture of London, p. 241. If the person calling for ‘man’ or ‘woman’ is not right or wrong at five guesses, neither of the gaffers win or lose, but go again.

Verb. (venery).—To copulate. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

Gaffing, subs. (old).—See quot.

1821. Pierce Egan, Life in London, p. 279. Gaffing was unfortunately for him introduced. Ibid. Note.—A mode of tossing for drinks, etc., in which three coins are placed in a hat, shaken up, and then thrown on the table. If the party to ‘call’ calls ‘heads’ (or ‘tails’) and all three coins are as he calls them, he wins; if not, he pays a settled amount towards drinks.

1839. Brandon, Poverty, Mendicity, and Crime, s.v.

Gag, subs. (common).—1. A joke; an invention; a hoax.

1823. Jon Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. Gag—a grand imposition upon the public; as a mountebank’s professions, his cures, and his lottery-bags, are so many broad gags.

1871. All the Year Round, 18 Feb., p. 288. You won’t bear malice now, will you? All gag of mine, you know, about old Miss Ponsonby.

1885. Daily News, 16 May, p. 5, c. 2. ‘The Mahdi sends you lies from Khartoum, and laughs when you believe them,’ said a native, lately. We need not gratify the Mahdi by believing any bazaar-gag he may circulate.

2. (theatrical).—Expressions interpolated by an actor in his part: especially such as can be repeated again and again in the course of performance. Certain plays, as The Critic, are recognised ‘gag-pieces,’ and in these the practice is accounted legitimate. Cf., Hamlet, iii., 2: ‘And let those, that play your clowns, say no more than is set down for them.’ Cf., Wheeze. Fr., la cocotte (specifically additions to vocal scores). A typical example is the ‘I believe you, my boy!’ of the late Paul Bedford. In the quot. under 1851–61, it is probable that gag = patter (q.v.)

1841. Punch, i., p. 105. I shall do the liberal in the way of terms, and get up the gag properly.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., p. 148. When I go out I always do my own gag, and I try to knock out something new.

1866. W. D. Howells, Venetian Life, ch. v.… I have heard some very passable gags at the Marionette, but the real commedia a braccio no longer exists.

1889. Globe, 12 Oct., p. 4, c. 4. In a high-class music hall it is a rule that no song must be sung till it is read and signed by the manager, and this applies even to the gag.

1890. Pall Mall Gazette, 5 Mar., p. 4, c. 3. Mr. Augustus Harris pointed out that if the clause were carried the penalty would, in many cases, be incurred twenty times in one scene, for actors and singers were continually introducing gag into their business.

3. (American).—A commonwealth of players in which the profits are shared round. Cf., Conscience.

1847. Darley, Drama in Pokerville, p. 124. The artist … merely remarking that he had thought of a gag which would bring them through, mounted a ladder, and disappeared.

4. (American).—A fool; i.e., a thing to laugh at. For synonyms, see Cabbage- and Buffle-head and Sammy Soft.

1838–40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 46. ‘Sam,’ says he, ‘they tell me you broke down the other day in the House of Representatives and made a proper gag of yourself.’