WITH SYNONYMS IN ENGLISH, FRENCH, GERMAN, ITALIAN, ETC. (continued 4)

5. (Christ’s Hospital).—Boiled fat beef. Gag-eater = a term of reproach.

1813. Lamb, Christ’s Hospital, in wks., p. 324 (ed. 1852). L. has recorded the repugnance of the school to gags, or the fat of fresh beef boiled; and sets it down to some superstition.… A gag-eater in our time was equivalent to a ghoul … and held in equal estimation.

6. (Winchester College).—An exercise (said to have been invented by Dr. Gabell) which consists in writing Latin criticisms on some celebrated piece, in a book sent in about once a month. In the Parts below Sixth Book and Senior Part, the gags consisted in historical analysis. [An abbreviation of ‘gathering.’]

1870. Mansfield, School-life at Winchester College, p. 108. From time to time, also, they had to write … an analysis of some historical work; these productions were called gatherings (or gags).

Verb, trs. and intrs. (theatrical).—1. To speak gags (q.v.), sense 2. Fr., cascader.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, III., 149. He has to gag, that is, to make up words.

1852. Dickens, Bleak House, ch. xxxix. The same vocalist gags in the regular business like a man inspired.

1883. Referee, 15 April, p. 3, c. 1. Toole … cannot repress a tendency to gag and to introduce more than is set down for him by the author.

2. (old).—To hoax; to puff.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 154. Having discovered the weak side of him he means to gag.

1823. Jon Bee, Dict. of the Turf, etc., s.v. A showman cries ‘Walk in, ladies and gentlemen, they’re all alive,’ but the spectators soon perceive ’tis all stuff, reproach Mr. Merryman, and he, in excuse, swears he said ‘they were’ and not ‘are alive’ He thus gags the public.

1876. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 325. Then they gag the thing up, and send their bills out about the immense cost of scenery and dresses, and other expenses they are at, etc.

3. (thieves’).—To inform; to round on (q.v.); also to blow the gag. Cf., Gaff, Gab, etc. For synonyms, see Peach.

1891. Morning Advertiser, 28 Mar. She … besought them with (crocodile) tears not to gag on them, in other words not to give information to the police.

On the high gag. adv. phr. (old).—On the whisper; telling secrets; cf., verb, sense 3.

1823. Kent, The Modern Flash Dict., s.v.

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

On the low gag, adv. phr. (old).—On the last rungs of beggary, ill-luck, or despair.

1823. Kent, The Modern Flash Dict., s.v.

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

To strike the gag, verb. phr. (old).—To cease from chaffing.

1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard (ed. 1889), p. 43. ‘A clever device,’ replied Jonathan; ‘but it won’t serve your turn. Let us pass, sir. Strike the gag, Blueskin.’

Gage (Gauge or Gag), subs. (old).—1. A quart pot (i.e., a measure). Also a drink or go (q.v.).

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 65. A gage, a quart pot.

1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Rept., 1874). Gage, a quart pot.

1622. J. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush. I crown thy nab with a gage of benbouse.

1656. Broome, Jovial Crew, Act ii., I bowse no lage, but a whole gage Of this I bowse to you.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Cant. Crew. Gage, c. A pot or pipe. Tip me a gage, c. give me a pot, or pipe.

1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4th ed.), p. 12. Gage, a pot.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Gage, a quart pot, also a pint (cant).

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 40. We drank our gauge and parted good friends.

2. (18th century).—A chamber-pot.

3. (old).—A pipe.

1690. B. E., New Dict. of the Cant. Crew (See quot. 1690 under sense 1).

1796. Grose, Vulg. Tongue (3rd Ed.), s.v.

1834. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, Bk. III., ch. v. In the mean time, tip me a gage of fogus, Jerry.

4. (American).—A man. For synonyms, see Cove.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogues Lexicon. Deck the gage, see the man.

Gagers, subs. (American).—The eyes. For synonyms, see Glims.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.

Gagga, subs. (old).—See quot.

1796. Grose, Vulg. Tongue (3rd Ed). Cheats who by sham pretences and wonderful stories of their sufferings impose on the credulity of good people.

Gagger, subs. (theatrical).—A player who deals in gags (q.v.), sense 2. Also Gaggist, Gagmaster, and Gagster.

1841. Punch, Vol. I., p. 169. Men with ‘swallows’ like Thames tunnels, in fact accomplished gaggers and unrivalled ‘wiry watchers.’

1887. Burnand and a’Beckett in Fortn. Review, April, p. 548. Robson … was an inveterate gagger.

1890. Globe, 3 March, p. 1, c. 4. The low comedy was much toned down.… In other words, the gaggers were gagged.

Gaggery, subs. (theatrical).—The practice of Gagging (q.v.), sense 3.

Gagging, subs. (old).—1. Bluff (q.v.); specifically, bunco-steering (q.v.), the art of talking over and persuading a stranger that he is an old acquaintance. Cf., Gag, verb, sense 2.

1828. G. Smeaton, Doings in London, p. 28. One of the modes of raising money, well known in town by the flash name of gagging, has been practised of late to a considerable extent on simple countrymen, who are strangers to the ‘ways of town.’

2. (cabmen’s).—Loitering about for ‘fares’; ‘crawling.’

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. III., p. 366. The means used are gagging, that is to say, driving about and loitering in the thoroughfares for jobs.

3. (theatrical).—Dealing in gags (q.v.), sense 1. Also as ppl. adj.

1883. The Echo, 5 Jan., p. 2, c. 3. A protest, by no means unneeded, against the insolence or ignorance of some playwrights, and gagging actors.

1889. Answers, 27 July, p. 143, c. 2. Gagging is a thing about which the public know little.

Gaggler’s Coach, subs. phr. (old).—A hurdle.

1823. Kent, Modern Flash Dict., s.v.

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

Gail, subs. (old).—A horse. For synonyms, see Prad.

Gaily-like, adj. (American).—Showy; expensive: bang-up (q.v.).

1872. Clemens (Mark Twain), Undertaker’s Chat. Now, you know how difficult it is to roust out such a gaily-like thing as that in a little one-horse town like this.

Gain-pain, subs. (old).—A sword; specifically, in the Middle Ages, that of a hired soldier. [From Fr., gagner = to gain + pain = bread. Cf., Breadwinner (prostitutes’) and Potboiler (artists’).] For synonyms, see Cheese-toaster and Poker.

Gait, subs. (colloquial).—Walk in life; profession; mode of making a living; game (q.v.).

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum. ‘I say, Tim, what’s your gait now?’ ‘Why, you see, I’m on the crack’ (burglary).

Gaiters, subs. (American colloquial).—Half boots; shoes.

Gal, subs. (common).—1. A girl; a servant-maid; a sweetheart. Best girl = favourite flame.

2. (common).—A prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, I., p. 535. Upon the most trivial offence in this respect, or on the suspicion of an offence, the gals are sure to be beaten cruelly and savagely by their ‘chaps.’

3. (American).—A female rough.

Galaney. See Galeny.

Galanty (Gallanty or Galantee) Show, subs. phr. (common).—A shadow pantomime: silhouettes shown on a transparency or thrown on a white sheet by a magic lantern. Specifically, the former. See Punch and Judy.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. III., p. 81. The galantee show don’t answer, because magic lanterns are so cheap in the shops.

1884. Cassell’s Technical Educator, pt. 10, p. 244. That reminiscence of the nursery, the galanty show.

1888. Notes and Queries, 7 S. v., p. 265. A flourish on the panpipes and a rumble on the drum was followed by the cry, galanty-show!

Gal-boy, subs. (American).—A romp; a tom-boy (q.v.).

Galen, subs. (common).—An apothecary. For synonyms, see Gallipot.

Galena, subs. (American).—Salt pork. [From Galen, Ill., a chief hog-raising and pork-packing centre].

Galeny (or Galany), subs. (old).—The domestic hen; now (West of England) a Guinea fowl. [Latin, gallina]. For synonyms, see Cackling-cheat.

1887. Temple Bar, Mar., p. 333 It’s a sin to think of the money you’d be spending on girls and things as don’t know a hen’s egg from a galeeny’s.

Galimaufrey, subs. (old).—1. A medley; a jumble; a chaos of differences. [Fr., gallimaufrée = a hash].

1592. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, in wks., ii., 93. Coblers, Tinkers, Fencers, none escapt them, but they mingled them all on one gallimafrey of glory.

1592. John Day, Blind Beggar, Act iv., Sc. 1, p. 75. Can. Let me be torn into mammocks with wilde Bears if I make not a gallemaufry of thy heart and keep thy Skull for my quaffing bowl.

1604. Shakspeare, Winter’s Tale, Act iv., Sc. 4. And they have a dance which the wenches say is a gallimaufry of gambols, because they are not in’t.

1690. Durfey, Collin’s Walk, ch. ii., p. 58. But, like thy Tribe of canting Widgeons, A gallimaufry of Religions.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, i., 207. A compound of Player, Soldier, Stroller, Sailor, and Tinker! An odd gallimaufry!

1860. Haliburton (Sam Slick), The Season Ticket, No. 7. This portion of my journal, which includes a variety of topics and anecdotes, some substantial like solid meat, some savoury as spicy vegetable ingredients, and some fragments to swell the bulk, which, though not valuable as materials, help to compound the gallimaufry.

2. (old).—A hodge-podge of scraps and leavings.

1724. Coles, Eng. Dict.; 1728. Bailey, Eng. Dict.; 1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue; 1811. Lexicon Balatronicum.

3. A mistress.

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives, ii., 1. He loves thy gallymawfry; Ford, perpend.

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

Gall, subs. (common).—Effrontery; cheek (q.v.); brass (q.v.); e.g., ‘Ain’t he got a gall on him?’

1789. Grose, Vulg. Tongue (3rd Ed.), s.v. His gall is not yet broken, a saying used in prisons of a man just brought in who appears melancholy and dejected, [i.e., ‘He is not yet embittered enough to care for nothing, and meet everything with a front of brass.’]

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

a 1891. New York Sun (quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant, s.v.). ‘What do you think he had the gall to do to-day?’ Brown: ‘He has the gall to do anything.’ Dumley: ‘He asked me to drink with him; but he’ll never repeat the impudence.’

Gallant, subs. (old).—A dandy (q.v.); a ladies’ man; a lover; a cuckold-maker, whether in posse or in esse (Shakspeare).

1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives, ii. One that is well-nigh worn to pieces with age to show himself a young gallant!

1598. Shakspeare, 1 Henry IV., ii., 4. Gallants, lads, boys, hearts of gold, all the titles of good fellowship come to you.

1663. Dryden, The Wild Gallant [Title.]

1690. B. E., A New Dict. Gallant a very fine man; also a Man of Metal, or a brave Fellow; also one that Courts, or keeps, or is Kept by, a Mistress.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., iv., 110 There’s never a gallant but sat at her hand.

1751–4. Jortin, Eccles. Hist. (quoted in Encyclopædic Dict.). As to Theodora, they who had been her gallants when she was an actress, related that dæmons, or nocturnal spirits, had often driven them away to lie with her themselves.

Adj. (old).—(1). Valiant (2) showy; (3) amorous.

1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., i., 40. O London is a fine town, and a gallant city.

Verb. (old).—To sweetheart; to squire; to escort; to pursue or to enjoy.

To Gallant a Fan. verb. phr. (old).—To break with design, to afford an opportunity of presenting a better.—B. E. (1690).

Gallant Fiftieth, subs. phr. (military).—The Fiftieth Foot. [For its share in Vimiera, 1808.] Also, blind half hundred (q.v.); and dirty half hundred (q.v.).

Gallantry, subs. (1). Sparkishness (q.v.); dandyism; (2) the habit, or pursuit, of the sexual favour. A life of gallantry = a life devoted to the other sex.

Gallery, subs. (Winchester College).—A commoner bedroom. [From a tradition of galleries in Commoners.] See gallery-nymphs.

To play to the Gallery, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To act so as to win the applause of the vulgar: i.e., to abandon distinction and art for coarseness of means and cheapness of effect. Said indifferently of anyone in any profession who exerts himself to win the suffrages of the mob; as a political demagogue, a ‘popular’ preacher, a ‘fashionable’ painter, and so on.

1872. Standard, 23 Oct. ‘New York Correspondence.’ His dispatches were, indeed, too long and too swelling in phrase; for herein he was always playing to the galleries.

Hence, Gallery-hit, shot, stroke, etc. = a touch designed for, and exclusively addressed to, the non-critical.

To play the Gallery, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To make an audience; to applaud.

1870. Echo, 23 July, p. 5, c. 4. He seemed altogether a jovial, amusing sort of fellow, and as we were close by him, and constantly called in to play the gallery to his witty remarks, we asked him, when his friends left him, to join our party.

Gallery Nymph, subs. phr. (Winchester College).—A housemaid. See Gallery.

Galley—put a brass galley down your back, verb. phr. (printers’).—An admonition to appear before a principal; implying that the galley will serve as a screen.

Galley-foist, subs. (old).—The state barge, used by the Lord Mayor when he was sworn in at Westminster.

1609. Ben Jonson, Silent Woman, iv., 2. Out of my doores, you sons of noise and tumult, begot on an ill May day, or when the galleyfoist is afloate to Westminster.

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

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Galley-growler or -stoker, subs. (nautical).—A loafer; a malingerer (q.v.); a grumble-guts (q.v.).

Galley-halfpenny, subs. (old).—A base coin, tempus Henry IV. [So called because it was commonly imported in the Genoese galleys. See Leake, English Money, p. 129; Ruding, Annals of Coinage, i., 250; and Stow, Survey (ed. 1842) p. 50.]

Galley-Slave, subs. (printers’).—A compositor. [From the oblong tray whereon the matter from the composing stick is arranged in column or page.] For synonyms, see Donkey.

1683. Moxon, s.v.

Galleywest, adj. or adv. (American).—An indefinite superlative. Cf., About-east.

1884. Clemens, (M. Twain) Huck. Finn, xxxvii., 382. Then she grabbed up the basket and slammed it across the house, and knocked the cat galleywest.

1887. Francis, Saddle and Mocassin (quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant). I’ll be darned if this establishment of yours, Hunse, don’t knock any one of them galley-west!—galleywest, sir, that’s what it does.

Galley-yarn (or news), subs. phr. (nautical).—A lying story; a swindle or take-in (q.v.). Frequently abbreviated to ‘G.Y.’

1884. Henley and Stevenson, Admiral Guinea, iii., 4. What? lantern and cutlass yours; you the one that knew the house; you the one that saw; you the one overtaken and denounced; and you spin me a galley-yarn like that.

Gallied, ppl. adj. (old).—‘Harried; vexed; over-fatigued; perhaps like a galley-slave’ (Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v.). In Australia, frightened.

Gallinipper, subs. (West Indian).—A large mosquito.

1847. Porter, Big Bear, etc., p. 119. In the summer time the lakes and snakes … musketoes and gallinippers, buffalo gnats and sandflies … prevented the Injins from gwine through the country.

1888. Lippincott’s Magazine. I thought the gallinippers would fly away with me before the seed ticks had sucked all my blood.

Gallipot, subs. (common).—An apothecary.

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

1836. M. Scott, Cringle’s Log, ch. xiv. In truth, sir, I thought our surgeon would be of more use than any outlandish gallipot that you could carry back.

1848. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ch. xxvii. ‘Half a-dozen little gallipots,’ interposed Miss Wirt.

English Synonyms.—Bolus; bum-tender; clyster-giver; clyster-pipe; croaker; crocus; drugs; Ollapod (from a creation of the Younger Coleman’s); gage-monger; Galen (from the great physician); jakes-provider; pill-box; pill-merchant; pills; squirt; salts-and-senna; squire of the pot.

French Synonyms.—Un mirancu (obsolete: a play on mire en cul, respecting which cf., Béralde, in Molière, Malade Imaginaire: ‘On voit bien que vous n’avez pas accoutumé de parler à des visages’); un limonadier de postérieurs (popular: cf., ‘bum-tender’); un flûtencul (common); un insinuant (popular: one who ‘insinuates’ the clyster-pipe).

German Synonyms.—Rokeach, Raukeach, or Raukack (from the Hebrew).

Gallivant, verb. (colloquial).—1. To gad about with, or after, one of the other sex; to play the gallant; to ‘do the agreeable.’

1838. Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, ch. lxiv. You were out all day yesterday, and gallivanting somewhere, I know.

1862. H. Beecher Stowe, in The Independent, 27 Feb. What business had he to flirt and gallivant all summer with Sally Kittridge?

1886. Hawley Smart, Struck Down, xi. The ramparts is a great place for gallivanting.

1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, i., 112. It’s them gals, Mr. Austin. Come in afore she sees you, else she’ll not be at home. She is gallivanting in the paddock with Captain Hertford.

2. (colloquial).—To trapes (q.v.); to fuss; to bustle about.

1859. Boston Post, 10 Dec. Senator Seward is gallivanting gaily about Europe. Now at Compiègne, saying soft things to the Empress and studying despotism, now treading the battle-field of Waterloo, then back at Paris, and so on.

1871. C. D. Warner, My Summer in a Garden. More than half the Lima beans, though on the most attractive sort of poles, which budded like Aaron’s rod, went gallivanting off to the neighboring grape trellis.

1848. Ruxton, Far West, p. 145. The three remaining brothers were absent from the Mission … Fray Jose, gallivanting at Pueblo de los Angeles.

1863. Norton, Lost and Saved, p. 255. A pretty story, if, when her services were most wanted by the person who paid for them, she was to be gadding and gallivanting after friends of her own.

1865. M. E. Braddon, Henry Dunbar, ch. x. A pretty thing it would have been if your pa had come all the way from India to find his only daughter gallivanting at a theaytre.

1870. London Figaro, 6 Dec. You’re never content but when you’re galavanting about somewhere or other.

Gallivate, verb (American).—To frisk; to ‘figure about’; cf., Gallivant.

Gallon. What’s a gallon of rum among one? phr. (American).—The retort sarcastic; applied, e.g., to those with ‘eyes too big for their stomach’; to disproportionate ideas of the fitness of things, and so forth.

Gallon Distemper, subs. phr. (common).—1. Delirium tremens; (2.) the lighter after-effects of drinking.

English Synonyms.—(1) For the former, barrel-fever; black-dog; blue-devils; blue Johnnies (Australian); B. J’s. (idem.); blues; bottle-ache; D. T.; horrors; jim-jams; jumps; pink-spiders; quart-mania; rams; rats; shakes; snakes in the boots; trembles; triangles; uglies.

2. For the latter: a head; hot-coppers; a mouth; a touch of the brewer; a sore head (Scots).

French Synonyms.—Avoir mal aux cheveux (familiar = the hair-ache); les papillons noirs (Cf., pink spiders; also = hypochondria); avoir fumé dans une pipe neuve (= sick of a new clay).

Galloper, subs. (old).—1. A blood horse; a hunter.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. The toby gill clapped his bleeders to his galloper and tipped the straps the double.

2. (military).—An aide-de-camp.

Gallow-grass, subs. phr. (old).—Hemp. [i.e., halters in the rough.]

1578. Lyte, Trans. of Dodoens History of Plantes, fol. 72. Hempe is called in … English, Neckweede, and gallowgrass.

Gallows, subs. (old).—1. A rascal; a wretch deserving the rope.

1594. Shakspeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost, v., 2. A shrewd unhappy gallows too.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2nd ed.). s.v. = a wicked rascal.

1837. Dickens, Oliver Twist. (To Oliver). Now young gallows.

1838. Jas. Grant, Sketches in London, ch. ii., p. 58. Blow me tight, young gallows, if I don’t pound your ribs to powder!

2. (common: generally in. pl. = Gallowses).—A pair of braces.

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch. xv. Chock-full of spring, like the wire end of a bran new pair of trouser galluses.

1848. Durivage, Stray Subjects, p. 168. If I wouldn’t spile his picter bust my boots and gallowses.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. I., p. 431. The braces, which in some parts of the country are called ‘gallowses.’

c. 1852. Traits of American Humor, p. 58. Hole on, dod drot you, wait till I unbutton my gallowses.

1864. James, etc., Italian-English Dict. Gallowses, batilla.

1883. G. A. S[ala], in Ill. Lond. News, Sept. 22, p. 275, c. i. Braces (which, when I was young, used, in the north of England, to be known by the expressive name of gallowses.)

Adv. (old).—Excessively; same as bloody, bleeding, (q.v.), etc. (As adj.) great; uncommon; real.

c. 1551. L. Shepherd. John Bon in Arber’s Garner, Vol. IV., p. 109. Ye, are much bound to God for such a spittle holiness. A gallows gift!

1789. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 120. Some they pattered flash with gallows fun and joking.

1827. Egan, Anecdotes of the Turf, etc., p. 44. Then your blowen will wax gallows haughty! [Also quoted in notes to Don Juan.]

1830. Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 293. (ed. 1854). Ah, Dame Lobkin, if so be as our little Paul vas a vith you, it would be a gallows comfort to you in your latter hend!

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, III., 90. I’ll be smothered if I’m going to look down that gallows long chimney.

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. xli. And the pleece come in, and got gallus well kicked about the head.

1869. Greenwood, Seven Curses of London, p. 244. Put it on your face so gallus thick that the devil himself won’t see through it.

Gallows-bird (also Newgate-bird), subs. (common).—1. A son of the rope; an habitual criminal; a vagabond or scoundrel, old or young; a crack-rope or wag-halter (Cotgrave); a gallows-clapper (Florio). Fr., gibier de Cayenne, or de potence.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. One that deserves hanging.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xi. That very gallows-bird were enough to corrupt a whole ante-chamber of pages.

2. (common).—A corpse on, or from, the gallows.

1861. Reade, Cloister and Hearth, ch. xxviii. I ne’er minced (dissected) ape nor gallows-bird.

Gallows-faced, adj. (old).—Evil-looking; hang-dog. Also gallows-looking.

1766. H. Brooke, Fool of Quality, ii. 16. Art thou there, thou rogue, thou hang-dog, thou gallows-faced vagabond?

1768. Goldsmith, Good-natured Man, Act v. Hold him fast, he has the gallows in his face.

1837. Barham, I. L. (Misadv. at Margate). A little gallows-looking chap—dear me! what could he mean?

Gallows-minded, adj. (colloquial).—Criminal in habit and idea; also, evil-hearted.

Gallowsness, subs. (old).—Rascality; recklessness; mischievousness.

1859. G. Eliot, Adam Bede, ch. vi. I never knew your equal for gallowsness.

Gallows-ripe, adj. (old).—Ripe for the rope.

1837. Carlyle, French Revolution, Pt. II., bk. v., ch. iii. Loose again, as one not yet gallows-ripe.

Gallus.—See Gallows.

Gally-foist.—See Galley-foist.

Gallyslopes, subs. (Old Cant).—Breeches. For synonyms, see Kicks.

Galoot (also galloot and geeloot), subs. (general).—A man (sometimes in contempt); also (in America) a worthless fellow (or thing, see quot. 1888); a rowdy; a cad (q.v.).

1835. Marryat, Jacob Faithful, ch. xxxiv. Four greater galloots were never picked up, but never mind that.

1869. S. L. Clemens (Mark Twain) Innocents at Home, p. 22. He could lam any galoot of his inches in America.

1871. John Hay, Jim Bludso. I’ll hold her nozzle agin the bank Till the last galoot’s ashore.

1885. Saturday Review, Feb. 7, p. 167. ‘I’ll never draw a revolver on a man again as long as I live.’… ‘Guess I’ll go for the galoot with a two-scatter shoot-gun.’

1888. New York Tribune, May 16. It is better to have a Carrot for a President than a dead beat for a son-in-law. In this way we again score a live beat on the galoot.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 137. ‘My dear boy, I may be a galoot about literature, but you’ll always be an outsider in business.’

On the gay galoot, adv. phr. (common).—On the spree.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 3. I’m off on the gay galoot somewheres.

Galoptious or Galuptious, adj. (popular).—Delightful; a general superlative.

1887. Judy, 21 Sept., p. 140. Four young ladies represented the galopshus sum of 20,000,000 dollars.

Galore (also gallore and golore), adv. (old; now recognised).—In abundance; plenty. [Irish and Gaelic go leor = in plenty.]

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

1848. Ruxton, Life in the Far West, p 14. Galore of alcohol to ratify the trade.

1856. C. Reade, Never Too Late, ch. lx. He found rogues galore, and envious spirits that wished the friends ill.

1891. Licensed Vic. Mirror, 30 Jan., p. 1, c. 1. Of chit-chat this week we have galore, and the difficulty is how to sift the wheat from the chaff.

Galumph, verb. (American).—To bump along (Onomatopœia).

1888. New York World, 13 May. The young man tackled the driver of a green bobtail car that galumphed through Lewis Street at a high rate of speed.

Galvanised Yankee, subs. phr. (American Civil War).—A Grey-back (q.v.) who took the oath to the North and served in its armies.

Gam, subs. (thieves’).—1. Pluck; gameness.

1888. Cassell’s Saturday Journal, 8 Dec., p. 260. I’m not so sure about his lack of cunnin’, speed, or gam.

2. (American thieves’).—Stealing (Matsell, 1859).

Verb. (American thieves’).—1. To steal.

2. (American).—To engage in social intercourse; to make a call; to have a chat. See Gamming.

Gamaliel, subs. (colloquial).—A pedant; a person curious of the letter and the form: e.g., ‘these Gamaliels of the theory’ = these ultra-puritans, to whom the spirit is nothing.

Gamaruche, subs. (venery).—See Cunnilingist and Cock-Teaser. Verb (venery).—To irrumate; to Bag-pipe (q.v.). Also to cunnilinge (q.v.). Fr., gamahucher.

Gamb (or Gam), subs. (old).—A leg. In use also in this sense as an heraldic term. [It., gambe; Fr., jambe; probably through Lingua Franca.] For synonyms, see Drumsticks and Pins.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 143. If a man has bow legs, he has queer gams, gams being cant for legs.

1796. Grose, Vulg. Tongue (3rd ed.), s.v.

1819. Moore, Memorial, p. 61. Back to his home, with tottering gams.

1887. Henley, Villon’s Good Night. At you I merely lift my gam.

[To flutter a gam = to dance; to lift a gam = to break wind; to gam it = to walk; to run away; to leg it (q.v.)].

Gamble, subs. (colloquial).—A venture: a flutter (q.v.).

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 250. And you know the Flying Scud was the biggest gamble of the crowd.

Gambler, subs. (old, now recognised). See quots.

1778. Bailey, Eng. Dict. Gambler, a guinea-dropper; one class of sharpers.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Gambler, a sharper; a tricking gamester.

1816. Johnson, Eng. Dict. (11th ed.). Gambler, a cant word, I suppose. A knave whose practice it is to invite the unwary to game and cheat them.

1890. Cassell’s Enc. Dict. Gambler, one given to playing for a stake.

Gambol, subs. (booking clerks’).—A railway ticket.

1882. Daily News, 6 Sept., p. 2, c. 5. … Mr. Chance [the magistrate] asked what gambols meant. The inspector said doubtless the railway tickets.

Gam-cases, subs. (old). Stockings (Parker, Life’s Painter). [From gam = leg + case.]

Game, subs. (old).—1. The proceeds of a robbery; swag (q.v.).

1676. Warning for Housekeepers. Song. When that we have bit the bloe, we carry away the game.

2. (old).—A company of whores. A game-pullet = a young prostitute, or a girl inclined to lechery; cf., adj., sense 8.

1690. B. E., New Dictionary, s.v. … also a Bawdy house, lewd women.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. game … Mother, have you any game, Mother, have you any girls?

3. (old).—A gull; a simpleton. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1690. B. E., New Dictionary. Game, c. Bubbles drawn in to be cheated.

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

4. (thieves’).—Specifically, the game = thieving; also (nautical), slave trading; and (venery), the practice of copulation (e.g., good at the game = an expert and vigorous bedfellow. Cf., Shakspeare, Troilus, iv., 5, ‘Spoils of opportunity, daughters of the game’). In quot. (1639) it would seem that hen of the game = a shrew, a fighting woman.

1639–61. Rump, ii., 185. ‘Free Parliament Litany.’ From a dunghill Cock and a Hen of the Game.

1640. Ladies’ Parliament. Stamford she is for the game, She saies her husband is to blame, For her part she loves a foole, If he hath a good toole.

1668. Etheredge, She Would if She Could, i., 1. A gentleman should not have gone out of his chambers but some civil officer of the game or other would have … given him notice where he might have had a course or two in the afternoon.

17(?). Burns, Merry Muses, ‘Jenny Macraw’ (old song). Jenny Macraw was a bird of the game.

1839. Brandon, Poverty, Mendicity, and Crime, Glossary. On the game—thieving.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, i., 263. Whether the game got stale, or Peter became honest, is beyond the purport of my communication to settle.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assist. (3rd ed.), p. 444, s.v.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v. The particular line of rascality the rogue is engaged in; thieving; cheating.

1860. Chambers’ Journal, Vol. 13, p. 281. I asked him if he meant by a trading voyage, the game.

5. (colloquial).—A source of amusement; a lark (q.v.); a barney (q.v.); as, e.g., It was such a game!

6. (colloquial).—A design; trick; object; line of conduct: e.g., What’s your little game = What are you after? Also, None of your little games! = None of your tricks! See High Old Game.

1854. Whyte Melville, General Bounce, ch. ix. Honesty, indeed! if honesty’s the game, you’ve a right to your share, what Mrs. Kettering intended you should have.

1857. Ducange Anglicus, The Vulg. Tongue, p. 9. Game n. Intention. ‘What’s your game?’ or, ‘What are you up to?’ (very generally used).

1870. Standard, 27 Sept. If we accept the meaner game which the Times indicates for us, it can only be by deliberate choice.

1879. Justin McCarthy, Donna Quixote, ch. xiii. Come, what’s your little game?

1883. Edw. E. Morris, in Longman’s Mag., June, p. 176. A youth, who left England, and then carried on the same game in Australia.

1889. Standard, 1 May, p. 5, c. 1. The ‘game of law and order’ is not up, in Paris.

1890. Punch, 30 Aug., p. 97. Mug’s game! They’ll soon find as the Marsters ain’t going to be worried and welched.

1891. J. Newman, Scamping Tricks, p. 46. She knew how to work the game of fascination right.

1892. R. L. Stevenson and L. Osbourne, The Wrecker, p. 349, ‘It was the thing in your times, that’s right enough; but you’re old now, and the game’s up.’

Adj. (old).—1. Plucky; enduring; full of spirit and bottom (q.v.). [Cock-pit and pugilists’. The word may be said to have passed into the language with the rise to renown of Harry Pearce, surnamed the Game Chicken.]

1747. Capt. Godfrey, Science of Defence, p. 64. Smallwood (a boxer) is thorough game, with judgment equal to any, and superior to most.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 57. Pitying raised from earth the game old man.

1821. P. Egan, Tom and Jerry (ed. 1891), p. 38. Tom, however, was too game to acknowledge any sort of alarm at this slight visitation.

1823. E. Kent, Mod. Flash Dict. Game, s.v. Sturdy, hardy, hardened.

1827. Reynolds, Peter Corcoran, The Fancy. ‘The Field of Tothill.’ The highest in the fancy—all the game ones, Who are not very much beneath her weight.

1855. A. Trollope, The Warden, ch. viii. He was a most courageous lad, game to the backbone.

1891. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 19 June, p. 395. The round had lasted sixteen minutes, and no one present had ever seen gamer or more determined fighting.

2. (common).—Ready; willing; prepared. [Also from cock-fighting. See sense 1].

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, p. 99, (ed. 1857). ‘All alive to-day, I suppose?’ ‘Regular game, sir.’

1856. Reade, Never Too Late, ch. xxi. I’m game to try.

1865. Bentley, p. 182, ‘The Excursion Train.’ Again to London back we came The day the excursion ticket said, And really both of us felt game To travel round the world instead.

1880. Punch’s Almanack. Got three quid; have cried a go with Fan, Game to spend my money like a man.

1891. Farjeon, The Mystery of M. Felix, p. 103. ‘I’m game,’ said Sophy, to whom any task of this kind was especially inviting.

1891. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up! p. 51. ‘Yes, I am gamey, you bet!’ exclaimed the Chinaman, softly.

1891. J. Newman, Scamping Tricks, p. 121. It is nearly midnight. I am game for another hour, are you?

3. (old).—Lame; crooked; disabled: as in Game Leg.

1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary. Game-leg, a lame leg.

1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ch. i. Catching hold of the devil’s game leg with his episcopal crook.

1851. G. Borrow, Lavengro, ch. lxvii., p. 204 (1888). Mr. Platitude, having what is vulgarly called a game leg, came shambling into the room.

1875. Jas. Payn, Walter’s Word, ch. i. Well, you see, old fellow, with a game-arm (his left arm is in a sling), and a game-leg (he has limped across the platform with the aid of his friend, and also of a crutch), one feels a little helpless.

4. (thieves’).—Knowing; wide-awake; and (of women) Flash (q.v.), or inclined to venery. E.g., Game-cove = an associate of thieves; Game-woman = a prostitute: i.e., a woman who is game (sense 2); Game-pullet (Grose) = a girl that will show sport, a female game-cock; game-ship (old) = a ship whose commander and officers could be corrupted by bribes to allow the cargo to be stolen (Clark Russell).

1676. Etheredge, Man of Mode, ii. Go on, be the game mistress of the town and entice all our young fops as fast as they come from travel.

Cock of the Game, subs. phr. (old).—A champion; an undoubted blood; a star of magnitude (cock-pit).

1719. Durfey, Pills, iii., 329. Now all you tame gallants, you that have the name, And would accounted be cocks of the game.

1822. Scott, Nigel, xiv. I have seen a dung-hill chicken that you meant to have picked clean enough; it will be long ere his lordship ruffles a feather with a cock of the game.

To make game of, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To turn into ridicule; to delude; to humbug.

1671. Milton, Samson, 1331. Do they not seek occasion of new quarrels, On my refusal, to distress me more; Or ake a game of my calamities?

1690. B. E., New Dictionary. What you game me? c. do you jeer me, or pretend to expose me to make a May-game of me?

1745. Hist. of Coldstream Guards, 25 Oct. If the militia are reviewed to-morrow by his Majesty, the soldiers of the third regiment of Guards are to behave civilly and not to laugh or to make any game of them.

To die game, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To maintain a resolute attitude to the last; to show no contrition.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. To die game, to suffer at the gallows without showing any signs of fear or repentance.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. liv. The ruffian lay perfectly still and silent. ‘He’s gaun to die game ony how,’ said Dinmont.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick (ed. 1857), p. 363. I say that the coachman did not run away; but that he died game—game as pheasants; and I won’t hear nothin’ said to the contrary.

1869. Spencer, Study of Sociology, ch. viii., p. 183 (9th ed.). Nor should we forget the game-cock, supplying, as it does, a word of eulogy to the mob of roughs who witness the hanging of a murderer, and who half condone his crime if he dies game.

1871. Times, 30 Jan. Critique on London, etc. The principal was acquitted, and though his accomplices were hung in Pall Mall at the scene of their act, they died game.

To get against the game, verb. phr. (American).—To take a risk; to chance it. [From the game of poker].

To play the game, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To do a thing properly; to do what is right and proper.

1889. Geoffrey Drage, Cyril, ch. vii. I really think he is … not playing the game.

The first game ever played, subs. phr. (venery).—Copulation. For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

Gamecock, adj. (old).—Hectoring; angry; valiant out of place.

1838. Lever, Handy Andy. Smoke and fire is my desire, So blaze away my gamecock squire.

Gameness, subs. (colloquial).—Pluck; endurance; the mixture of spirit and bottom.

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xxiv. There was no doubt about his gameness.

1884. Referee, 23 March, p. 1, c. 4. Carter fought with great gameness, but he never had a look in.

Gamester, subs. (old).—1. A prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart.

1598. Shakspeare, All’s Well, v. 3. She’s impudent, my lord, and was a common gamester to the camp.

1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, ii. 1. Ay, ay, gamesters, mocke a plain soft wench of the suburbs, do.

1620. Percy, Folio MSS., p. 404. Be not att ffirst to nice nor coye when gamsters you are courtinge.

2. (old).—A ruffler; a gallant; a wencher; a man fit and ready for anything; also a player.

1639–61. Rump, i., 253, ‘A Medley.’ Room for a gamester that flies at all he sees.

1676. Etheredge, Man of Mode, v., 1. Live it also like a frank gamester, on the square.

Gamey, adj. (colloquial).—1. High-smelling; offensive to the nose; half-rotten.

2. (colloquial).—Frisky; plucky.

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xi. There’s something gamey in it, young ladies, ain’t there.

1869. S. Bowles, Our New West, p. 275. Horses are fresh and fat and gamey.

Gaminess, subs. (colloquial).—The malodorousness proceeding from decay and—by implication—filthiness.

Gaming-house, subs. (old).—A house of ill-repute—hell, tavern, or stews.

1611. Cotgrave, Dictionarie, Berlan, a common tippling house, a house of gaming, or of any other disorder.

Gammer, subs. (old).—An old wife; a familiar address; the correlative of gaffer (q.v.).

1551. Gammer Gurton’s Needle (Title).

1706. Hudibras Redivivus, Part VI. And monkey faces, yawns, and stammers, Delude the pious dames and gammers To think their mumbling guides precation So full of heavenly inspiration.

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

Gamming, subs. (nautical).—A whaleman’s term for the visits paid by crews to each other at sea.

1884. G. A. Sala, in Illus. Lon. News, July 19, p. 51, c. 2. When two or more American whalers meet in mid-ocean, and there are no whales in sight, it is customary to tack topsails and exchange visits. This social intercourse the whalemen call gamming … I cannot help fancying that ‘gam’ is in greater probability an abbreviation of the Danish ‘gammen,’ sport, or that it has something to do with the nautical ‘gammoning,’ the lasting by which the bowsprit is bound firmly down to the cutwater.

1890. Century, Aug. To gam means to gossip. The word occurs again and again in the log-books of the old whalers.

Gammon, subs. (colloquial).—1. Nonsense; humbug; deceit. Sometimes gammon and spinach. No gammon = no error, no lies.

[Skeat says from Mid. Eng. Gamen = a game; but R. Sherwood (Eng. Dict., 1660), gives ‘a beggar or seller of gammons of Bacon; and in Cotgrave (1611), jambonnier = a beggar, also a seller of bacon, or gammons of bacon.’]

c. 1363. Chester Plays, i. 102. This gammon shall begin.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, I. 208. I thought myself pretty much a master of gammon, but the Billingsgate eloquence of Mrs. P. … exceeded me.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Gamon. What rum gamon the old file pitched to the flat.

1823. Mod. Flash Dict. gammon—Falsehood and bombast.

1823–45. Hood, Poems (ed. 1846), vi., p. 96, Behold yon servitor of God and Mammon, Who, binding up his Bible with his ledger, Blends Gospel texts with trading gammon.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xxvii. Lord bless their little hearts, they thinks its all right, and don’t know no better, but they’re the wictims o’ gammon, Samivel, they’re the wictims o’ gammon.

1837. Barham, I. L., Blasphemer’s Warning. When each tries to humbug his dear Royal Brother, in Hopes by such gammon to take one another in.

1839. Comic Almanack, Jan. But if you wish to save your bacon, Give us less gammon.

1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, ch. xxii., p. 199. ‘Oh, my goodness, how polite we are!’ exclaimed Miss Mowcher.… ‘What a world of gammon and spinnage it is!’

1890. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up! p. 92. I’m real grit and no gammon.

2. (thieves’).—A confederate whose duty is to engage the attention of a victim during robbery; a bonnet (q.v.) or cover (q.v.).

Verb (colloquial).—1. To humbug: to deceive; to take in with fibs; to kid (q.v.).

1700. Step to the Bath, quoted in Ashton’s Soc. Life in Reign of Queen Anne, v. ii., p. 111. We went to the Groom Porter’s … there was Palming, Hodging, Loaded Dice, Levant, and gammoning, with all the Speed imaginable.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, ii., 6. Vile I can get fifteen bob a day by gammoning a maim, the devil may vork for me.

1825. Buckstone, The Bear Hunters, ii. There! that’s just the way she gammons me at home.

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. ii. Why, my lad, we shall see to-morrow morning; but you gammons so bad about the rhino that we must prove you a bit; so Kate, my dear,—to the pretty girl who had let me in.

1836. Dickens, Pickwick, ch. xiii. So then they pours him out a glass o’ wine, and gammons him about his driving, and gets him into a reg’lar good humour.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, ‘Misadventures at Margate.’ And ’cause he gammons so the flats, ve calls him Veeping Bill!

1840. Hood, Tale of a Trumpet. Lord Bacon couldn’t have gammoned her better.

1890. Hume Nisbet, Bail Up! p. 70. Oh, don’t try to gammon me, you cunning young school-miss.

English Synonyms.—To bam; to bamblustercate; to bamboozle; to bambosh; to barney; to be on the job; to best; to bilk; to blarney; to blow; to bosh; to bounce; to cob; to cod; to cog; to chaff; to come over (or the artful, or Paddy, or the old soldier over) one; to cram; to do; to do brown; to doctor; to do Taffy; to fake the kidment; to flare up; to flam; to flummox; to get at (round, or to windward of) one; to gild the pill; to give a cock’s egg; to gravel; to gull; to haze; to jimmify; to jaw; to jockey; to jolly; to kid; to make believe the moon is made of green cheese (Cotgrave); to mogue; to palm off on; to pickle; to plant; to plum; to poke bogey (or fun) at; to promoss; to put the kibosh on; to put in the chair, cart, or basket; to pull the leg; to queer; to quiz; to roast; to roorback; to run a bluff, or the shenanigan; to sell; to send for pigeon’s milk; to sit upon; to send for oil of strappum, etc.; to shave; to slum, or slumguzzle; to smoke; to snack; to soap, soft soap, sawder, or soft sawder; to spoof; to stick; to stall; to string, or get on a string; to stuff; to sawdust, or get on sawdust and treacle; to suck; to suck up; to sugar; to swap off; to take a rise out of; to rot; to tommy-rot; to take in, or down; to take to town; to take to the fair; to tip the traveller; to try it on; to throw dust in the eyes; to throw a tub to a whale; to pepper; to throw pepper in the eyes; to use the pepper box; to whiffle; to work the poppycock racket (Irish-American). [Note.—Many of the foregoing are used substantively, e.g., a bam, a barney, a sell, bambosh = nonsense; deceit; a hoax, etc.]

French Synonyms.—Donner un pont à faucher (also, thieves’ = to lay a trap); dindonner (popular: from dindon = a gull, a gobbler); battre à la Parisienne (thieves’: = to cheat; to come the cockney); se ficher de la fiole, or de la bobine, de quelqu’un (popular: to get on with it, i.e., to try to fool); envoyer chercher le parapluie de l’escouade (military: parapluie de l’escouade = the squad’s umbrella: to send on a fool’s errand; cf., to send for pigeon’s milk, etc.); la faire à quelqu’un (popular); faucher (thieves’ = to best); enfoncer (familiar: to let in: also to surpass); cabasser (popular); monter des couleurs, le Job, or un schtosse (= to do up brown); faire le coup, or monter le coup, à quelqu’un (popular: = to take a rise); bouffer la botte (military: = to sell (q.v.) or bilk, as a woman refusing congress after receiving the socket-money (q.v.) in advance); bouler (popular: also to whop (q.v.)); être l’autre (popular: = to get left (q.v.)); mettre dans le sac (thieves’: = to bag, i.e., to trap); coller or poser un lapin (popular: = to make a hare of (q.v.); also more generally, to bilk (q.v.)); emblémer (thieves’: = to stick); faire voir le tour (popular: = to show how it’s done; connaitre le tour = to know the game); faire la queue à quelqu’un (popular: = to pull one’s leg); tirer la carotte (thieves’); canarder (popular: = to bring down); empaler (popular: = to stick); passer des curettes (popular: = to befool); monter une gaffe (popular: gaffe = a joke, a hoax); jobarder (popular: job = simpleton, and is the same as jobelin); mener en bateau un pante pour le refaire (thieves’: = to take a man on); monter un bateau (popular); promener quelqu’un (popular: cf., to take to town); compter des mistoufles (fam.: mistoufle = a scurvy trick); gourrer (popular: = to bosh); affluer (from flouer = to cheat, to diddle); rouster (popular and thieves’); affûter (thieves’ = to run down, also to make unlawful profits); bouler (popular); juiffer (popular = to Jew); pigeonner (popular to pluck a pigeon (q.v.)); flancher (popular = to kid (q.v.)); faire la barbe (popular = to shave (q.v.)); monter or hisser un gandin (thieves’ = literally to hoist a swell); fourrer or mettre dedans (popular = to take in and do for); planter un chou (fam.); être marron (popular); interver dans les vannes (= to let oneself be sucked-up); monter un godan à quelqu’un (popular); griller quelqu’un (popular = to cuckold); passer en lunette (popular); goujonner (i.e., to hook like a gudgeon); fourguer (thieves’ = also to fence (q.v.)); pousser une blague (popular = to cram); paqueliner (thieves’); se baucher (thieves’); balancer (popular).

German Synonyms.—Zinkennen an Almoni peloni (= to send one after Cheeks the Marine [q.v.]. Almoni and peloni are used mockingly in combination and also singly for a non-existent person); anbeulen (= to fool); jemanden arbeiten (= to haze, to cram); bekaspern, or bekaschpern, or beschwatzen (= to fool: from Heb. kosaw = to cheat).

Spanish Synonyms.—Disparar (= also to talk nonsense; to blunder); hacer á uno su dominguillo, or hacer su dominguillo de uno (colloquial: dominguillo = a figure made of straw and used at bull fights to enrage the bulls); freirsela á alguno (freir = to fry: to deceive: Cf., to roast, or have one on toast); pegar una tostada á alguno (= to put one on toast: more generally to play a practical joke); echar de baranda (= to embroider (q.v.)); bola (subs. = humbug; a hoax); borrufalla (subs. = bombast); chicolear (= to jest in gallantry); engatusar (= to rob, or hurt; also to trick without intention); candonguear (also = to jeer); abrir á chasco (also to jeer); encantar (= to enchant).

Italian Synonyms. Ganezzarre; dar la stolfa; traversare (cf., to come over); scamuffare (= to disguise oneself).

2. (thieves’).—To act as bonnet (q.v.) or cover (q.v.) to a thief.

Intj. (colloquial).—Nonsense; Skittles! (q.v.).

1827. R. B. Peake, Comfortable Lodgings, i., 3. Sir H. (aside). Gammon!

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. vii. Gammon, tell that to the marines: you’re a spy, messmate.

1854. Thackeray, The Rose and the Ring, p. 100. Ha! said the king, you dare to say gammon to your sovereign.

1861. A. Trollope, Framley Parsonage, ch. iv. Gammon, said Mr. Gowerby; and as he said it he looked with a kind of derisive smile into the clergyman’s face.

Gammon and Patter, subs. phr. (thieves’).—1. (old).—The language used by thieves; 2. (modern).—A meeting; a palaver. (q.v.). 3. Commonplace talk of any kind.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 150. Gammon and Patter is the language of cant, spoke among themselves: when one of them speaks well, another says he gammons well.

1811. Lex. Bal. s.v. Gammon and Patter. Commonplace talk of any kind.

To give (or keep) in gammon. verb. phr. (thieves’).—To engage a person’s attention while a confederate is robbing him.

1719. Capt. Alex. Smith, Thieves’ Grammar, s.v.

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 51. Bagrie called the woman of the house, kept her in gammon in the back room, while I returned and brought off the till. Ibid., p. 68. I whidded to the Doctor and he gave me gammon.

To Gammon Lushy (or queer, etc.). verb. phr. (thieves’).—To feign drunkenness, sickness, etc.

To Gammon the Twelve. verb. phr. (thieves’).—To deceive the jury.

1819. Vaux, Life. A man who has been tried by a criminal court and by a plausible defence has induced the jury to acquit him, or to banish the capital part of the charge and so to save his life, is said by his associates to have gammoned the twelve in prime twig, alluding to the number of jurymen.

Gammoner, subs. (old).—1. One who gammons (q.v.); a nonsense-monger. Fr., bonisseur de loffitudes; blagueur; mangeur de frimes.

1823. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry i. Fly to the gammoners, and awake to everything that’s going on.

2. (thieves’).—A confederate who covers the action of his chief; a bonnet, a cover, a stall, all which see.

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 66. The Doctor played the part of the gammoner so well that I made my escape without being observed.

Gammy, subs. (tramps’).—1. Cant.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Do you stoll the gammy? Do you understand cant?

2. (common).—A nickname for a lameter; a Hopping Jesus; (q.v.).

3. (Australian).—A fool.

1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger’s Sweetheart, p. 191. Well, of all the gammies you are the gammiest, Slowboy, to go and string yourself to a woman, when you might have had the pick of Melbourne.

Adj. (tramps’).—1. Bad; impossible. Applied to householders of whom it is known that nothing can be got. See Beggars’ Marks. Gammy-vial = a town in which the police will not allow unlicensed hawking. (Vial = Fr., Ville).

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

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., i., 466. No villages that are in any way gammy are ever mentioned in these papers. Ibid., i., 404. These are left by one of the school at the houses of the gentry, a mark being placed on the door post of such as are bone or gammy, in order to inform the rest of ‘the school’ where to call, and what houses to avoid.

2. Forged; false; spurious: as a gammy-moneker = a forged signature; gammy-lour = counterfeit money, etc.

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

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant (3rd. ed.), p. 445. Spurious medicine, gammy stuff, bad coin, gammy lower, p. 446.

1889. C. T. Clarkson and J. Hall Richardson, Police, p. 321. Bad money (coin).… Gammy lower.

3. (theatrical).—Old; ugly.

4. (common).—Same as Game, sense 3: e.g., a gammy arm = an arm in dock. Gammy-eyed = blind; sore-eyed; or afflicted with ecchymosis in the region of the eyes. Gammy-leg = a lame leg. Also (subs.) a term of derision for the halt and the maimed.

Gamp, subs. (common).—1. A monthly nurse; a fingersmith (q.v.). [After Mrs. Sarah Gamp, a character in Martin Chuzzlewit (1843).] Also applied to a fussy and gossiping busybody.

1864. Sun, 28 Dec. A regular gamp … a fat old dowdy of a monthly nurse.

1868. Brewer, Phr. and Fab. (quoted from Daily Telegraph). Mr. Gathorne Hardy is to look after the gamps and Harrises of the Strand.

2. (common).—An umbrella; specifically, one large and loosely-tied; a lettuce (q.v.). [The original Sarah always carried one of this said pattern.] Sometimes a Sarah Gamp. For synonyms, see Rain-napper.

1870. Lond. Figaro, 15 June. Though—shattered, baggy, shivered gamp!

1883. G. R. Sims, Life Boat. He donned his goloshes and shouldered his gamp.

1890. Daily Chron., 5 Mar. Sainte-Beuve insisted that though he was prepared to stand fire he was under no obligation to catch cold, and with his gamp over his head he exchanged four shots with his adversary.

1892 Ally Sloper, 2 Apr., p. 106, c. 3. I never had a brand new tile, a glossy silk or swagger brown, But I left home without a gamp, And rain or hail or snow came down.

3. (journalists’).—The Standard.

Adj. (common).—Bulging. Also Gampish.

1864. Derby Day, p. 18. I wasn’t joking, there is an air of long-suffering about you, as if you had been mortifying the flesh by carrying a gampish umbrella up Piccadilly, and back again.

1881. Mac. Mag., Nov., p. 62. Grasping his gamp umbrella at the middle.

Gamut, subs. (artists’).—Tone; general scheme; swim (q.v.). Thus in the gamut = a picture, a detail, or a shade of colour, in tone with its environment.

Gan (also Gane), subs. (old).—The mouth. [A.S., ganian = to yawn.] Occasionally = throat, lip. For synonyms, see Potato-trap.

1512–13. Douglas, Virgil, 250, 29. To behald his ouglie ene twane, His teribill vissage, and his grislie gane.

1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 64. Gan, a mouth.

1610. Rowland, Martin Mark-all, p. 38. (H. Club’s Rept., 1874). Gan, a mouth. Ibid. A gere peck in thy gan.

1656. Broome, A Jovial Crew, Act ii. This bowse is better than rombowse, it sets the gan a giggling.

1671. R. Head, English Rogue, Pt. I., ch. v., p. 49. (1874.) Gan, a lip.

1690. B. E., Cant. Crew. Ganns, the lips.

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

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

Gander, subs. (colloquial).—A married man; in America one not living with his wife; a grass-widower (q.v.).

Verb. (old).—To ramble; to waddle (as a goose). Also, to go in quest of women; to grouse (q.v.).

1859. H. Kingsley, Geoff. Hamblyn, ch. x. Nell might come gandering back in one of her tantrums.

1861. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, ch. xlvii. She gandered upstairs to the dressing-room again.

Gone Gander.—See Gone Coon.

To see how the gander hops, verb. phr. (American.)—To watch events. A variant of To see how the cat jumps.

1847. Porter, Big Bear, p. 96. Seein’ how the gander hopped I jumped up and hollered, Git out, Tromp, you old raskel!

What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, phr. (common).—A plea for consistency.

Gander-month, subs. (common).—The month after confinement; when a certain license (or so it was held) is excusable in the male. Also Gander-moon, the husband at such a period being called a Gander-mooner. Cf., Buck-hutch and Goose-month.

1617. Middleton, A Faire Quarrell, iv., 4. Wondering gander-mooners.

1653. Brome, English Moor in Fiue New Playes. I’le keep her at the least this gander-month, while my fair wife lies-in.

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

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Gander-party, subs. (common).—A gathering of men; a stag-party (q.v.); also Bull-dance, Gander-gang, etc. Cf., Hen-party = an assembly of women.

Gander-pulling. See Goose-riding.

Gander’s Wool, subs. phr. (common.)—Feathers.

Gang, subs. (old: now recognised).—A troop; a company.

1639–61. Rump, i., 228. ‘The Scotch War.’ With his gay gang of Blue-caps all. Ibid., ii., 104, ‘The Gang; or, the Nine Worthies, etc.’

1690. B. E., Cant. Crew, s.v. Gang, an ill knot or crew of thieves, pickpockets or miscreants; also a society of porters under a regulation.

1704. Cibber, Careless Husband, i., 1. Sir C. Who was that other? More. One of Lord Foppington’s gang.

1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, bk. i., c. 14. What then have I to do in the pursuit of greatness, but to employ a gang, and to make the use of this gang centre in myself? Idem. bk. iii., c. 14. But in an illegal society or gang, as this of ours, it is otherwise.

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

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum. Gang, company, squad, mob.

Ganger, subs. (old: now recognised).—An overseer or foreman of a gang of workmen; one who superintends. For synonyms, see Governor.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., ii., 487. The ganger, or head of the working gang, who receives his orders from the inspector, and directs the men accordingly.

1884. Cornhill Mag., June, p. 614, The mother and boy do the work, while the father constitutes himself contractor for and ganger over their labour.

Ganymede, subs. (old).—1. A sodomist. For synonyms, see Usher.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes. Catamito, a ganimed, an ingle, a boie hired to sinne against nature. [And in Cotgrave (1611) under Ganymedes; Any boy that’s loved for carnal abuse, an Ingle.]

1598. Marston, Satyres, ii. But Ho! What ganimede is it doth grace The gallant’s heels.

2. (popular).—A pot-boy (i.e., a cup-bearer). The masculine of hebe (q.v.).

1659. Florio-Torriano, Vocabolario. Mescitore, a skinker or filler of wine; also a mingler, a ganimede.

1841. Punch I., p. 101, c. 1. Lo! Ganymede appears with a foaming tankard of ale.

Gaol-bird, subs. (old: now recognised).—A person who has been often in gaol; an incorrigible rogue. Fr., un chevronné. For synonyms, see Wrong ’Un.

1680. Hist. of Edward II., p. 146. It is the piety and the true valour of an army, which gives them heart and victory; which how it can be expected out of ruffians and gaol-birds, I leave to your consideration.

1701. Defoe, True Born Englishman, part II. In print my panegyrics fill the street, And hired gaol-birds, their huzzas repeat.

1762. Smollett, L. Greaves, vol. II., ch. ix. He is become a blackguard gaol-bird.

1857. C. Reade, Never Too Late, ch. xi. The gaol-birds who piped this tune were without a single exception the desperate cases of this moral hospital; they were old offenders.

1882. Pall Mall Gaz., 5 Oct. Liberating the gaol-birds in Alexandria.

Gaoler’s Coach, subs. phr. (old).—A hurdle to the place of execution.

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

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Gap, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum: also Sportsman’s gap and water-gap (q.v.). For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

d. 1746. Robertson of Struan, Poems, p. 84. O gracious Hymen! Cure this dire Mishap, Sew up this mighty rent, or fill the gap.

To blow the gap, verb. phr. (old).—The same as to blow the gaff (q.v.).

1821. Egan, Real Life, etc., i., 557. He should like to smack the bit without blowing the gap.

Gaper, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. Also, Gaper (and Gape) over the Garter. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Gapes, subs. (colloquial).—A fit of yawning; also the open mouth of astonishment.

1818. Austen, Persuasion. Another hour of music was to give delight or the gapes.

1838. Haliburton, Clockmaker (ed. 1862), p. 373. But what gave me the gapes was the scenes (at the theatre).

Gapeseed, subs. (common).—1. A cause of astonishment; anything provoking the ignorant to stare with open mouth. Also to seek a gape’s nest.

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes. Ansanare … to go idly loytring vp and downe as we say, to go seeking for a halfepenie worth of gaping seede.

1600. Nashe, Summer’s Last Will, in wks. (Grosart), vi., 144. That if a fellow licensed to beg, Should all his life time go from faire to faire, And buy gapeseede, having no businesse there.

1690. B. E., Cant. Crew. Gapeseed, whatever the gazing crowd idly stares and gapes after; as Puppet-shows, Rope-dancers, Monsters and Mountebanks, anything to feed the eye.

1694. Poor Robin. ’Tis plainly clear, They for their gapes-seed do pay dear.

1856. N. and Q., 2 S 1., 362. Plenty of persons were sowing gapeseed.

1870. B. F. Clark, Mirthfulness p. 24. Do you wish to buy some gapeseed?

1884. Daily News, 8 Oct. Title (at head of sporting column).

2. (common).—An open-mouthed loiterer.

1885. Sportsman, June 23, p. 2, c. 4. The yearlings bred by Messrs. Graham were offered to a rather select audience of buyers, though the ring was surrounded by a fairly strong crowd of gapeseeds.

Gapped, ppl. adj. (old).—Worsted; floored (q.v. for synonyms).

1753. Richardson, Sir Chas. Grandison. I will never meet at hard-edge with her; if I did … I should be confoundedly gapped.

Gap-Stopper, subs. (old).—1. A whoremaster. For synonyms, see Molrower.

2. (venery).—The penis. [Gap = female pudendum]. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Gar. See by gar!

Garble, to garble the coinage, verb. phr. (old).—See quot. [Garble = to pick and choose.]

1875. Jevons, Money, etc., p. 81. A practice amongst money-lenders of picking out the newest coins of full weight for export or re-melting, and passing the light ones into circulation.

Garden, subs. (various).—1. (greengrocers’, fruiterers’, etc.) = Covent Garden Market; 2. (theatrical) = Covent Garden Theatre; 3. (diamond merchants’) = Hatton Garden. Cf., House, Lane, etc.

[The Garden (= Covent Garden) was frequently used for the whole neighbourhood, which was notorious as a place of strumpets and stews. Thus, Garden-house = a brothel; Garden-goddess = a woman of pleasure; Garden-gout = the pox or clap; Garden-whore = a low prostitute, etc.]

1733. Bailey, Erasmus. When young men by whoring, as it commonly falls out, get the pox, which, by the way of extenuation, they call the Common Garden-gout.

1782. Geo. Parker, Humorous Sketches, p. 90 No more the Garden female orgies view.

1851–61. W. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. I., p. 85. Not only is the Garden itself all bustle and activity, but the buyers and sellers stream to and from it in all directions, filling every street in the vicinity.

1884. Jas. Payn, in Cornhill Mag., Mar., p. 257. She [Miss O’Neill] talked of the Garden and ‘the Lane,’ and was very fond of recitation.

1890. Tit-Bits, 29 Mar., p. 389, c. 1. Let me describe the Garden. A long, straight street, stretching almost due north and south, from Holborn Circus to Clerkenwell Road. Ibid. c. 2. The cut stones are chiefly sold to the large dealers in the Garden.

2. (venery).—The female pudendum. [The simile is common to all nations, ancient and modern. Shakspeare, in Sonnet 16, seems to play upon this double meaning; e.g., Now stand you on the top of happy hours; And many maiden-gardens, yet unset, With virtuous wish would bear you living flowers.] Also garden of eden. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

To put one in the garden, verb. phr. (thieves’).—To defraud a confederate; to keep back part of the Regulars (q.v.), or Swag (q.v.).

Gardener, subs. (common).—1. An awkward coachman. [In allusion to the gardener who on occasion drives the carriage.] Cf., Tea-kettle Coachman.

1859. Sala, Twice Round the Clock. Noon: Par. I. He can drive neither to the right nor to the left, nor backwards nor forwards.… A sarcastic saloon omnibus driver behind jeeringly bids him keep moving, accompanying the behest by the aggressive taunt of gard’ner.

2. (venery).—The penis. Garden (q.v.) = female pudendum. Also Garden-engine. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Garden-gate, subs. phr. (rhyming).—1. A magistrate. For synonyms, see Beak.

2. (venery).—The labia minora. [Garden-hedge = the pubic hair.]

Garden-Latin, subs. (colloquial).—Barbarous or sham Latin. Also Apothecaries’, Bog, Dog, and Kitchen-Latin.

Garden-Rake, subs. phr. (common).—A tooth-comb. Also scratching-rake or rake.

Gardy-Loo, subs. (old Scots).—A warning cry; ‘take care!’ [Fr. gardez’ (vous de) l’eau! Used before emptying slops out of window into the street. Hence the act of emptying slops itself, as in quotation dated 1818.]

1771. Smollet, Humphry Clinker, (British Novelists), xxxi., p. 57. At ten o’clock the whole cargo is flung out of a back windore that looks into some street or lane, and the maid calls gardy-loo to the passengers, which signifies ‘Lord have mercy on you!’

1818. Scott, Heart of Midlothian, ch. xxvii. She had made the gardy-loo out of the wrong window.

Gargle, subs. (formerly medical students’, now common).—A drink; also generic. Cf., Lotion, and for synonyms, see Go.

1889. Sporting Times, 3 Aug., p. 3, c. 1. We’re just going to have a gargle—will you join us?

Verb. (common).—To drink; to ‘liquor up.’ For synonyms, see Drinks and Lush.

1889. Sporting Times, 3 Aug., p. 5. c. 5. We gargled.…

1891. Morning Advertiser, 2 Mar. It’s my birthday; let’s gargle.

Gargle-Factory, subs. (common).—A public house. For synonyms, see Lush Crib.

Garn, intj. (vulgar).—A corruption of Go on! Get away with you!

1888. Runciman, The Chequers, p. 80. Garn, you farthin’ face! She your neck.

1892. Ally Sloper, 19 Mar., p. 90, c. 3. Gar’n, you men ain’t got no sense.

1892. National Observer, 6 Feb. p. 307, c. 2. And so simple is the dictum, so redolent of the unlettered Arry that we long to add garn, oo’re you gettin’ at?

Garnish, subs. (old).—1. A fee or footing (q.v.); specifically one exacted by gaolers and old prisoners from a newcomer. The practice was forbidden by 4 Geo. IV., c. 43, sec. 12. Also Garnish-Money.

1592. Greene, Quip, in works, xi., 256. Let a poore man be arrested into one of the counters [prisons] … he shall be almost at an angel’s charge, what with garnish [etc.].

1606. T. Dekker, Seven Deadly Sinnes, p. 28 (Arber’s ed.). So that the Counters are cheated of Prisoners, to the great dammage of those that shoulde have their morning’s draught out of the garnish.

1632. Jonson, Magnetic Lady, v. 6. You are content with the ten thousand pounds Defalking the four hundred garnish-money?

1704. Steele, Lying Lover, Act iv., Sc. iv. But there is always some little trifle given to prisoners, they call garnish.

1752. Fielding, Amelia, Bk. I., ch. iii. Mr. Booth … was no sooner arrived in the prison, than a number of persons gathered round him, all demanding garnish.

1759. Goldsmith, The Bee, No. 5, p. 385 (Globe ed.). There are numberless faulty expenses among the workmen—clubs, garnishes, freedoms, and such like impositions.

1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xliv. [Jailor loq.] Thirty shillings a week for lodgings, and a guinea for garnish.

2. (thieves’).—Fetters; handcuffs. For synonyms, see Darbies.

Verb. (thieves’).—To fit with fetters: to handcuff.

Garret, subs. (common).—1. The head; cockloft (q.v.); or upper storey (q.v.). For synonyms, see crumpet.

1625. Bacon, Apothgm, No. 17. My Lord St. Albans said that wise Nature did Never put her precious jewels into a garret four stories high, and therefore that exceeding tall men had ever very empty heads.

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

1837. Barham, Ingold. Leg. What’s called the claret Flew over the garret.

2. (old).—The fob-pocket.

To have one’s garret unfurnished, verb. phr. (common). To be crazy, stupid, lumpish. For synonyms, see Apartments and Balmy.

Garreteer, subs. (thieves’). A thief whose speciality is to rob houses by entering skylights or garret-windows. Also dancer and dancing-master. For synonyms, see thieves.

2. (journalists’).—An impecunious author; a literary hack.

1849–61. Macaulay, Hist. of Eng., ch. xxv. Garreteers, who were never weary of calling the cousin of the Earls of Manchester and Sandwich an upstart.

1886. Shelley (quoted in Dowden’s Life), i., 47. Show them that we are no Grub-street garreteers.

1892. National Observer, 18 Mar., p. 453. Has proclaimed urbi et orbi that governments have no business to manufacture specious sentiment by greasing the palms of ignorant and greedy garreteers.

Garret-master, subs. (trade).—A cabinet-maker who works on his own account, selling his manufacture to the dealers direct.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., ii., p. 376. These trading operatives are known by different names in different trades. In the shoe trade, for instance, they are called ‘chamber-masters,’ in the cabinet trade garret-masters, and in the cooper’s trade the name for them is ‘small trading-masters.’

Garrison-hack, subs. (common).—1. A woman given to indiscriminate flirtation with officers at a garrison.

1889. Daily Telegraph, 14 Feb. Lord Normantower, Philip’s dearest friend, to whom she, when a garrison-hack, had been engaged, and whom she had thrown over simply because he was poor and prospectless.

1890. Athenæum, 8 Feb., p. 176, c. 1. The heroine is a garrison-hack, but the hero is an Australian.

2. (common).—A prostitute; a soldier’s trull. For synonyms, see Barrack Hack and Tart.

Garrotte, subs. (common).—A form of strangulation (see verb). [From the Spanish la garrota = a method of capital punishment, which consists in strangulation by means of an iron collar.]

Verb. (common).—1. A method of robbery with violence, much practised some years ago. The victims were generally old or feeble men and women. Three hands were engaged: the front-stall who looked out in that quarter, the back-stall at the rear, and the ugly or nasty-man who did the work by passing his arm round his subject’s neck from behind, and so throttling him to insensibility.

1869. Greenwood, Seven Curses of Lond. Committed for trial for garrotting and nearly murdering a gentleman.

1873. Trollope, Phineas Redux, ch. xlvi. In those days there had been much garrotting in the streets.

2. (cards).—To cheat by concealing certain cards at the back of the neck.

Garrotter, subs. (common).—A practitioner of garrotting (under verb, sense 1.)

1869. Greenwood, Seven Curses of London, p. 201. The delectable epistle was written by garrotter Bill to his brother.

Garrotting. 1. See Garrotte (verb, sense 1).

2. (gamblers’).—Hiding a part of one’s hand at the back of the neck for purposes of cheating.

Garter, subs. (nautical).—1. in. pl. the irons, or bilboes. For synonyms, see Darbies.

To get over the Garter, verb. phr. (venery).—To take liberties with a woman.

To Fly or Prick the Garter. See Prick the Garter.

Garvies, subs. (Scots’).—1. Sprats. Sometimes Garvie-Herring.

1845. P. Alloa, Statis. Acc., viii., 597. They are often very successful in taking the smaller fish, such as herrings, garvies or sprats, sparlings or smelts.

2. (military).—The Ninety-fourth Foot. [From the small stature of the earlier recruits.]

1869. Notes and Queries, 4 S. iii., p. 349. Garvie. The soubriquet points to the low average height of the recruits in the Fifeshire regiments, which, however, may not now be the case, since recruiting has become less local.

Gas, subs. (common).—Empty talk; bounce; bombast.

1847. Porter, Quarter Race, etc., p. 120. The boys said that was all gas to scare them off.

1867. Chambers’ Jour., 29 June. I’ve piped off Sabbath gas in my time I don’t deny, but under the woods we mostly tell the truth.

1868. Chambers’ Jour., 15 Feb., p. 110. I don’t, an’ never could splice ends with them as blow off gas about gold-digging—saying it’s plunder easy come an’ easy gone, seeking the root of evil, an’ other granny talk which hasn’t no meaning.

a. 1871. Emerson (quoted in De Vere’s Amer.). ’Tis odd that our people should have not water on the brain, but a little gas there.

1889. Globe, 31 Oct., p. 4, c. 4. It went on to state that the petitioner’s talk about a divorce was all gas, and made a further appointment.

Verb. (common).—1. To talk idly; to brag; to bounce; to talk for talking’s sake. Fr., faire son cheval de corbillard (in American ‘to be on the tall grass.’) See Long Bow.

1872. Lond. Figaro, 14 Dec. There is no good to be got out of gassing about rallying around standards, uniting as one man to resist, etc.

1875. ‘American English’ in Chambers’ Jour., 25 Sept., p. 610. To gas is to talk only for the purpose of prolonging a debate.

1885. Society, 7 Feb., p. 7. Agitators and place-seekers may gas as much as they please, but they cannot make black appear white.

2. (common).—To impose on by ‘gas’; to pill (q.v.); to splash (q.v.). For synonyms, see Gammon.

To take the gas out of one, verb. phr. (common).—To take the conceit out of; to take down a peg.

To turn on the gas, verb. phr. (common).—To begin bouncing; also to Gas (q.v.).

To turn off the gas, verb. phr. (common).—To cease, or cause to cease, from bouncing, vapouring, or Gas (q.v.).

To gas round, verb. phr. (common).—To seek information on the sly; also to Gas (q.v.).

Gas-Bag, subs. (common).—A man of words or gas (q.v.); a gasconader. Also gasometer. For synonyms, see Mouth Almighty.

1889. Referee, 6 Jan. That great gas-bag of modern days.

Gash, subs. (American).—1. The mouth. For synonyms, see potato-trap.

1878. H. B. Stowe, Poganuc People, ch. xiv., p. 122. Ef Zeph Higgins would jest shet up his gash in town-meetin’, that air school-house could be moved fast enough.

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

Gashly, adj. (common).—A vulgarism for ghastly.

Gaskins, subs. (old).—Wide hose; wide breeches. [From Galligaskins. Johnson says, ‘an old ludicrous word.’]

Gasp, subs. (common).—A dram of spirits. For synonyms, see Go.

Verb. (common).—To drink a dram, e.g., ‘Will you gasp?’ = Will you take something neat.

Gaspipe, subs. (nautical).—1. An iron steamer, whose length is nine or ten times her beam. [At one time a ship’s length but rarely exceeded four and a half to five times the beam.]

2. (printers’).—Bad rollers.

3. (common).—A rifle; specifically the Snider.

1883. Daily Telegraph, 9 July, p. 5, col. 7. The old Snider—the despair-breeding gas-pipe of our Volunteers—continues to be used in many of the competitions.

Gaspipe-crawler, subs. phr. (common).—A thin man. Cf., Lamp-post.

Gasser, subs. (common).—A braggart. For synonyms, see Mouth Almighty.

Gassy (or Gaseous), adj. (common).—1. Likely to take umbrage or to flare-up.

1863. North American Review, cxliii., p. 220. Gassy politicians in Congress.

2. (colloquial).—Full of empty talk or gas (q.v.).

1872. Whitney, Life and Growth of Lang., p. 17. As when we call an empty and sophistical but ready talker gassy.

Gaster, subs. (nonce-word).—A fine and curious eater (Thackeray). In Rabelais = the belly and the needs thereof: a coinage adopted by Urquhart.

Gat, subs. (schoolboys’).—A quantity; e.g., a gat of grub = plenty to eat. Also gats.

1803. Every-day Life in our Public Schools. They are called up in gats of three at a time.

Gate, subs. (colloquial).—1. The attendance at a race or athletic meeting, held in enclosed grounds; the number of persons who pass the gate.

1883. Sportsman, 20 Dec. The Birmingham man, on account of the large gate that would be secured, wanted the affair to be brought off in that town, whereas Regan favoured Wolverhampton.

2. Money paid for admission to athletic sports, race course, etc.; the same as gate-money (q.v.).

1891. Telegraph, 21 Mar. The leading clubs are now commercial corporations, dependent for revenue on the gates at the matches.

3. in. pl. (University).—The being forbidden to pass outside the gate of a college. See verb, sense 1.

18(?). Bradley, Tales of College Life, p. 19. That’s the ticket; that will just land me in time for gates.

1881. Lang, xxxii Ballades, ‘Of Midsummer Term.’ When freshmen are careless of gates.

Verb. (University).—To confine wholly or during certain hours within the college gate for some infraction of discipline.

1835. The Snobiad (Whibley, Cap and Gown, p. 141). Two proctors kindly holding either arm Staunch the dark blood and gate him for the term.

1853. Bradley, Verd. Green, I., ch. xii. He won’t hurt you much, Giglamps! Gate and chapel you!

1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, ch. xii. Now you’ll both be gated probably, and the whole crew will be thrown out of gear.

1865. Cornhill Mag., p. 227. He is requested to confine himself to college after a specified hour, which is familiarly termed being gated.

1870. Morning Advertiser, 23 May. The two least culpable of the party have been gated.

The gate, subs. phr. (various).—Among fishmongers, Billingsgate; among thieves, Newgate. Cf., Lane, Row, Garden, etc.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. i., p. 5. The ‘steel,’ a slang name of the large metropolitan prisons, as the gate is for Newgate.

To break gates, verb. phr.—(University).—To stay out of college after hours.

To be at Gates, verb. phr. (Winchester College).—To assemble in Seventh Chamber passage, preparatory to going to Hills or Cathedral.

1870. Mansfield, School Life, p. 149. Soon after morning chapel on a holiday or a remedy all the boys assembled at gates.

On the gate, adv. phr. (thieves’).—On remand.

Gate-Bill, subs. (University).—The record of an undergraduate’s failure to be within the precincts of his college at, or before, a specified time at night.

1803. Gradus ad Cant., p. 128. To avoid gate-bills he will be out at night as late as he pleases … climb over the college wall, and fee his gyp well.

Gate-money, subs. (colloquial).—The charge for admission to a race-meeting. See Gate, subs., sense 1.

1885. Daily News, 25 May, p. 3, c. 2. The truth of the matter is, that so far as sport goes, open meetings like those at Bath and Salisbury cannot stand up against gate-money meetings such as Manchester.

1888. Sporting Life, 10 Dec. The comfort that is brought home at our great gate-money meetings gatherings to every visitor.

Gate-of-Horn, subs. phr. (venery). The female pudendum. Cf., Horn, and for synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Gate-of-Life, subs. (venery).—The female pudendum. Also Gate-of-Horn. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Gater, subs. (Winchester College).—A plunge head foremost into a pot (q.v.).

Gate-race (or -meeting), subs. (sporting).—Formerly, a contest not got up for sport but entrance money; now a race or athletic meeting to which admission is by payment.

1881. Daily News, 14 July. Few of these athletics care to compete at gate-meetings.

Gath, subs. (colloquial).—A city or district in Philistia (q.v.); often used, like Askelon (q.v.) for Philistia itself. Hence, to be mighty in gath = to be a Philistine (q.v.) of the first magnitude; to prevail against gath = to smite the Philistines hip and thigh, as becomes a valiant companion of the Davidsbund; and so forth.

Tell it not in Gath, verb. phr. (colloquial).—An interjection of derision, signifying that the person exclaimed against has done something the knowledge of which would bring on him the wrath, or the amazement, of his friends.

Gather. To gather up, verb. phr. (American).—To lead away.

1847. Chronicles of Pineville, p. 182. ‘Gather him up, boys,’ said the judge, ‘the sentence of the law must be executed.’

To gather the taxes, verb. phr. (tailor’s).—To go from workshop to workshop seeking employment. Hence, Tax-gatherer = a man out of work and looking for a job. Cf., Inspector of public buildings.

Out of gathers, adv. phr. (colloquial).—In distress. Cf., Out at elbows.

Gatherings. See Gags.

Gatter, subs. (common).—Beer; also liquor generally. Shant of gatter = a pot of beer. Fr., la moussante. For synonyms, see Drinks.

1818. Maginn, Vidocq Versified. Lots of gatter, says she, is flowing. Lend me a lift in the family way.

1841. Punch, I., p. 243, Gatter is but threepence a pot, and that’s the price of a reasonable ’pike ticket.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. i., p. 232. They have a ‘shant of gatter’ (pot of beer) at the nearest ‘boozing-ken’ (alehouse).

Gaudeamus, subs. (colloquial).—A feast; a drinking bout; any sort of merry-making. [German students’, but now general and popular.] From the first word of the mediæval (students’) ditty. For synonyms, see Jamboree.

Gaudy (or Gaudy-day), subs. (common).—A feast or entertainment: specifically the annual dinner of the fellows of a college in memory of founders or benefactors; or a festival of the Inns of Court. (Lat. gaudere = to rejoice.)

1724. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Gaudy days, college or Inns of Court festivals.

1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict., 2nd ed. Gaudies, double commons, such as they have on gaudy or grand days in colleges.

1760. Foote, Minor, Act i. Dine at twelve, and regale, upon a gaudy day, with buns and beer at Islington.

1803. Gradus ad Cantab., p. 122. Cut lectures … give gaudies and spreads.

1820. Lamb, Elia (Oxford in the Vacation). Methought I a little grudged at the coalition of the better Jude with Simon—clubbing (as it were) their sanctities together, to make up one poor gaudy-day between them.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxiii. We had a carouse to your honour … we fought, too, to finish off the gaudy.

1878. Besant and Rice, By Celia’s Arbour, ch. xxxiii. Champagne … goes equally well with a simple luncheon of cold chicken, and with the most elaborate gaudy.

Adj. (colloquial).—Good; frolicsome; festive. Cf., Shakspeare’s ‘Let’s have one other gaudy night.’—Ant. and Cleo., iii, 13.

1884. Hawley Smart, From Post to Finish, p. 176. ‘Yes,’ answered the trainer, slowly, ‘he’s right enough; but a Leger’s a Leger, and I don’t think they are likely to give him a very gaudy chance.’

Neat but not gaudy, as the devil said when he painted his bottom pink, and tied up his tail with pea-green, phr. (common).—A locution used to ancient ladies dressed in flaming colours.

Gauge. See Gage.

To get the gauge of, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To divine an intention; to read a character; to size, (or reckon) up (q.v.). Hence, That’s about the gauge of it = That’s a fair description.

Gauley. See by golly.

Gawf, subs. (costers’).—A red-skinned apple.

1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., i., 63. A cheap red-skinned fruit, known to costers as gawfs, is rubbed hard, to look bright and feel soft, and is mixed with apples of a superior description. Gawfs are sweet and sour at once, I was told, and fit for nothing but mixing.

Gawk, subs. (colloquial).—A simpleton, especially an awkward one, whether male or female. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head. [Scots Gowk = a cuckoo; a fool; whence, to gowk = to, play the fool. As in the ‘Derision of Wanton Women’ (Bannatyne, MS., 1567), ‘To gar them ga in gucking’ = to make them play the fool.]

1837. H. Martineau, Soc. in America, i., 299. They proved such gawks that they were unable to learn.

1882. McCabe, New York, p. 217. I wasn’t half as awkward as some of the gawks about me.

1887. H. Frederic, Seth’s Brother’s Wife, ch. iv. Girls brought up to be awkward gawks, without a chance in life.

Verb. (colloquial).—To loiter round; to play the goat. [The same verb is used by Jonson (Magnetic Lady, iii., 4, 1632) in the sense of amazed, or bamboozled, i.e., absolutely befooled: Nay, look how the man stands, as he were gowked!]

1888. F. R. Stockton, Rudder Grange, ch. xvi. That afternoon we gawked around, a-lookin’ at all the outside shows, for Jone said he’d have to be pretty careful of his money now.

Gawkiness, subs. (colloquial).—Awkwardness; silliness; greenness (q.v.).

1873. Miss Broughton, Nancy, ch. xxxvii. The crude gawkiness of the raw girl he has drifted into marrying.

Gawking, subs. (colloquial).—Loitering and staring; gathering hayseed (q.v.).

Gawky, subs. (colloquial).—An awkward booby; a fool. ‘Now squire gawky’ = a challenge to a clumsy lout. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1686–1758. Ramsay, Poems, ii., 299. Or, gentle born ye be; but youths in love you’re but a gawky.

1777. Sheridan, School for Scandal, Act ii., Sc. 2. Crab. Yes, and she is a curious being to pretend to be censorious—an awkward gawky, without any one good point under heaven.

1825. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, ii., ch. 18. Great, long, slab-sided gawkys from the country.

1878. C. H. Wall, tr. Molière, ii., 197. Our big gawky of a viscount.

Adj. (colloquial).—Lanky; awkward; stupid.

1759. Townley, High Life Below Stairs, i., 1. Under the form of a gawky country boy I will be an eye-witness of my servants’ behaviour.

1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xlviii. Even for his cousin Samuel Newcome, a gawky youth with an eruptive countenance, Barnes had appropriate words of conversation.

Gawney (or Goney), subs. (common).—A fool. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

Gay, adj. (colloquial).—1. Dissipated; specifically, given to venery: As in the French, avoir la cuisse gaie = to be addicted to the use of men. Hence gay woman, or girl, or bit = a strumpet; gay house = a brothel; to be gay = to be incontinent; gay in the legs, in the groin, in the arse = short-heeled (q.v.); gaying instrument = the penis [Lexicon Balatronicum, 1811, s.v.]; gay man = a wencher; gay ladie (old) = a mistress; gaying it = copulating.

1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, 3767. What eyeleth you? Some gay girl, God it wot, Hath brough you thus upon the very trot.

1754. Adventurer, No. 124. The old gentleman, whose character I cannot better express than in the fashionable phrase which has been contrived to palliate false principles and dissolute manners, had been a gay man, and was well acquainted with the town.

1854. Leech, Pictures of Life and Character. How long have you been gay?

1857. J. E. Ritchie, Night Side of London, p. 40. Here in Catherine-street vice is a monster of a hideous mien. The gay women, as they are termed, are worse off than American slaves.

1868. Sunday Times, 19 July. As soon as ever a woman has ostensibly lost her reputation, we, with a grim inappositeness, call her gay.

2. (common).—In drink. For synonyms, see Screwed.

All Gay (or All so Gay). adv. phr. (common).—All right; first-rate; all serene (q.v.).

To feel gay. verb. phr. (colloquial).—Inclined for sport, venereal or other; To feel naughty (q.v.).

Gay Tyke Boy, subs. phr. (old).—A dog fancier.

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

Gazebo, subs. (old).—A summer-house commanding an extensive view. [Dog-Latin, gazebo = I will gaze.]

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

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Geach, subs. (thieves’).—A thief. For synonyms, see Thieves.

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 56. He was a tolerable geach.

Verb. (thieves’).—To steal. For synonyms, see Prig.

1821. Haggart, Life, p. 73. A small dross scout … which I knew had been geached.

Gear, subs. (venery).—1. The private parts, both male and female. [‘Geere, besognes; aussi les parties honteuses’ (Robert Sherwood’s Dictionarie, English and French, appended to Cotgrave, 1660). ‘Besongner … also to do or leacher with’ (Cotgrave). Anglo-Saxon: gearwe (strong feminine plural) ornaments. Skeat says original sense of gear was ‘preparation.’]

1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, Mozza, a wench, a lasse, a girle. Also a woman’s geare or cunnie.

1620. Percy, Folio MSS. ‘Ffryar and Boye.’ I sweare, by night nor day thy geare is not to borrow.

1659. Torriano, Vocabulario, s.v.

2. (obsolete).—Work, business (q.v.). Thus: Here’s goodly gear = Here’s fine doings; Here’s a pretty kettle of fish. As in Romeo and Juliet (ii., 2, 106).

Gee, subs. (colloquial).—See Gee-gee.

Verb. (colloquial).—1. To go or turn to the off-side; used as a direction to horses. Cf.: It.: gio = Get on!

1480. Dialogus Creaturum. Et cum sic gloriaretur, et cogitaret cum quanta gloria duceretur ad illum virum super equum, dicendo, ‘Gio! Gio!’ cepit pede percutere terram quasi pungeret equum calcaribus.

2. (colloquial).—To move faster: as a teemster to his horses, ‘Gee up!’

1824. Blackwood’s Mag., Oct. Mr. Babb ge-hupped in vain, and strove to jerk the rein, Nobbs felt he had his option to work or play.

3. (colloquial).—To stop: as ‘Gee whoa!’

To gee with, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To agree with; to fit; to be congenial; to go on all fours with; to do.

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, Gears, s.v. … It won’t gee, it won’t hit or go.

1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. gee, it won’t gee, it won’t hit or do, it does not suit or fit.

1850. Seaworthy, Nag’s Head, ch. v., p. 35. It don’t seem to Gee! said Isaac, as he was trying to adjust the stove.

1888. Missouri Repub., 8 April. He and Mrs. Barnay did not gee.

Gee-gee (or Gee).—subs. (common).—1. A horse. See Gee, verb. in all senses. For synonyms, see Prad.

1888. Referee, 15 April, 1/2. In nearly all other races they see most of the gees do a canter on their way up the course.

1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 14 April. He knows as much about gee-gee’s as a professional trainer.

1890. Licensed Vict. Gaz., 8 Feb. The gees were all broken to the stable.

2. (colloquial).—The nickname among journalists (of the interviewer, type) of Mr. G(eorge) G(rossmith), better known, perhaps, as the Society Clown.

Gee-gee Dodge, subs. phr. (trade).—Selling horseflesh for beef.

1884. Greenwood, Veiled Mysteries. The gee-gee dodge … was seldom or ever practised … it was impossible … to bargain for a regular supply.

Geekie, subs. (Scots thieves’).—A police-station.

Geeloot. See Galoot.

Geese, All his geese are swans, phr. (colloquial).—He habitually exaggerates, or embroiders (q.v.); or, He is always wrong in his estimates of persons and things.

The old woman’s picking her geese (proverbial).—Said of a snowstorm. [The other leg of the couplet (schoolboys’) runs: ‘And selling the feathers a penny a piece.’]

Like geese on a common (colloquial).—Wandering in a body, aggressive and at large: e.g., as faddists (q.v.) in pursuit of a fad; or members of Parliament in recess, when both sides go about to say the thing which is in them.

Geewhilikens! intj. (Western American).—An exclamation of surprise; also jeewhilikens.

1888. Detroit Free Press. It is on time? No? Three hours late? Geewhilikens!

Geezer, subs. (popular).—An appellation, sometimes, but not necessarily, of derision and contempt; applied to both sexes, but generally to women. Usually, old geezer. For synonyms, see Witch.

1885. Truth about the Stage, p. 16. If we wake up the old geezers we shall get notice to quit without compensation.

1886. Broadside Ballad, ‘Her Mother’s Got the Hump.’ This frizzle-headed old geezer had a chin on her as rough—well, as rough as her family, and they’re rough ’uns.

1890. A. Chevalier, ‘Knocked ’Em in the Old Kent Road.’ Nice old geezer with a nasty cough.

1892. Anstey, Voces Populi, p. 82. Our old geeser’s perdoocin’ the custimary amount o’ sensation.

Gelding, subs. (old).—A eunuch.

1380. Wycliffe, Trans. of the Bible, Acts viii. 39. … the spirit of the Lord ravysched Filip, and the geldynge say him no more.

1659. Torriano, Vocabolario, s.v.

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

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

to enter for the geldings’ stakes, verb. phr. (old).—To castrate a man; also used to describe a eunuch.

Gelt, subs. (old).—Money; gilt (q.v.). Also gelter.—(Duncombe, 1848).

1690. B. E., Dict. of the Cant. Crew, s.v. There is no gelt to be got, Trading is very dull.

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

1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.

Gemini! (or Geminy! or Jiminy!) intj. (common).—An exclamation of surprise; a mild oath. [Generally referred to the Lat.: Gemini = the Twins (i.e., Castor and Pollux, the objects of an old Roman oath); but Palmer (Folk Etymology), traces the interjection to the German, O Gemine!; Dutch, Jemy Jemini!; both abbreviated from the Latin, O Jesu Domine!; or merely from Jesu meus!; Italian, Giesu mio! It seems to have come in at the Restoration.] Also O Jimminy!; O Jimminy Figs!; O Jimminy Gig! etc.: for the phrase has pleased the cockney mind, and been vulgarised accordingly.

1672. Dryden, The Assignation, Act ii., Sc. 3. Ben. O gemini! is it you, sir?

1704. Steele, Lying Lover, Act iv., Sc. 3. Sim. I stay with you? Oh gemini! Indeed, I can’t.

1731. Fielding, The Lottery, Sc. 2. Lord Lace! Oh gemini! who’s that?

1780. Mrs. Cowley, The Belle’s Stratagem, iv., 2. Oh gemini! beg the petticoat’s pardon.

1797. M. G. Lewis, Castle Spectre, iii., 3. Oh gemini! what would he use with me, lady?

1798. Morton, Secrets Worth Knowing, i., 1. A parcel of lazy chaps, I dare say—but I’ll make them stir their stumps. Well, here we are at last.—Oh gemini gig how my poor bones do ache!

1836. M. Scott, Tom Cringle’s Log, ch. i. ‘Gemini! what is that now?’ quoth Tip again.

1863. Reade, Hard Cash, I., 125. O, jiminy! This polite ejaculation was drawn out by the speaker’s sudden recognition of Alfred.

Gemman, subs. (vulgar).—A contraction of gentleman.

1550. Docteur Double-All (the word occurs in this play).

c. 1551. L. Shepherd, John Bon in Arber’s Garner, iv., 107. Ye be the jolliest gemman that I ever saw in my life.

1767. Colman, Oxonian in Town, I., i. I am glad to see your honour’s well. I hope you left all the gemmin well at Oxford.

1818. Byron, Beppo, st. 86. At home our Bow-street gemmen keep the laws.

1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. iii., ch. v. … but knock down a gemman.

1851. Borrow, Lavengro, ch. 26. Here the gipsy gemman see.

Gen, subs. (costers’).—A shilling. Back slang, but cf. Fr., argent. For synonyms, see Blow.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. i., p. 19. I’ll try you a gen (shilling) said a coster.

1887. Saturday Review, 14 May, p. 700. The difficulty of inverting the word shilling accounts for ‘generalize.’ from which the abbreviation to gen is natural as well as affectionate.

Gender, verb. (old).—To copulate. [An abbreviation of Engender.] For synonyms, see Greens and Ride.

1602. Shakspeare, Othello, iv., 2. A cistern for foul toads To knot and gender in.

1659. Torriano, Vocabolario, s.v.

1778. Bailey, Eng. Dict., s.v.

1816. Johnson, Eng. Dict., s.v.

1892. Bible, Lev. xix., 19. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind.

Feminine Gender, subs. phr. (schoolboys’).—The female pudendum. [As in the old (schoolboys’) rhyme: Amo, amas, I loved a lass, And she was tall and slender, Amas, amat, I laid her flat, And tickled her feminine gender. Quoted (with modifications) by Marryat in Jacob Faithful, 1835.]

Generalize, subs. (costers’). A shilling. See Gen.

Generating Place, subs. phr. (venery).—The female pudendum.

Generation Tool, subs. phr. (venery).—The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.

Geneva Print, subs. phr. (old).—Gin. For synonyms, see Drinks and Satin.

1584–1640. Massinger (quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant). And if you meet an Officer preaching of sobriety, Unless he read it in Geneva Print, Lay him by the heels.

Gen-net, subs. phr. (back slang).—Ten shillings.

Gennitraf, subs. (back slang).—A farthing.

Genol, adj. (back slang).—Long.

Gent, subs. (once literary: now vulgar).—1. A showily-dressed vulgarian. [A contraction of ‘gentleman.’]

1635. [Glapthorne], Lady Mother, in Bullen’s Old Plays, ii., 114. Hees not a gent that cannot parlee. I must invent some new and polite phrases.

1785. Burns, Epistle to J. Lapraite, st. 11. Do ye envy the city gent, Behint a kist to lie and sklent?

1843. Thackeray, Irish Sketch Book, ch. viii. The crowd of swaggering gents (I don’t know the corresponding phrase in the Anglo-Irish vocabulary to express a shabby dandy), awaiting the Cork mail.

1844. Disraeli, Coningsby, bk. IV., ch. ii. ‘Ah, not in business! Hem! professional?’ ‘No,’ said Coningsby, ‘I am nothing.’—‘Ah! an independent gent; hem! and a very pleasant thing too.’

1846. Sunday Paper, 24 May. Mr. Rawlinson (Magistrate at Marylebone Police Court). What do you mean by gent? There is no such word in our language. I hold a man who is called a gent to be the greatest blackguard there is.

1848. Punch, vol. XIV., p. 226. His aversion for a gent is softened by pity.

1869. Blue Budget. The gent indicates a being who apes the gentility without the faintest shadow of a claim to it.

2. (Old Cant).—Money. [From Fr., argent.] For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1864. Revue des Deux Mondes, 15 Sept., p. 470. Les voleurs anglais disent gent pour ‘argent.’

3. (colloquial).—A sweetheart, a mistress: e.g., My gent = my particular friend.

Adj. (old literary).—Elegant; comely; genteel.

1383. Chaucer, Canterbury Tales. ‘Miller’s Tale.’ [Skeat, 1878, i., 194]. As any wesil her body gent and small.

1553–99. Spenser. He loved as was his lot, a lady gent. Idem. A knight had wrought against a lady gent.

1704. Mad. Knight’s Jour., p. 44. Law you, sais she, it’s right gent, do you take it—’tis dreadfull pretty.

Gentile, subs. (colloquial). Any sort of stranger, native or foreign; among the Mormons, any person not professing the Gospel according to Joe Smith. Hence, In the Land of the Gentiles = (1) in foreign parts; and (2) in strange neighbourhoods or alien society.

Gentle, subs. (anglers’).—A maggot; vulgarly, Gentile.

1811. Songs of the Chase. ‘The Jolly Anglers.’ We have gentles in our horns.

Gentle Craft, subs. (old).—1. The trade of shoemaking. [From the romance of Prince Crispin, who is said to have made shoes.]

1662. Rump Songs. ‘A Hymn to the Gentle Craft,’ etc., ii. 152. Crispin and he were nere akin: The gentle craft hath a noble kin.

2. (anglers’).—Angling.

1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 65. Sez I, gentle craft, said I.

Gentleman, subs. (thieves’).—A crowbar. For synonyms, see jemmy.

To put a churl (or beggar) upon a gentleman, verb. phr. (old).—To drink malt liquor immediately after wine.—Grose.

Gentleman of the (Three, or Four, or Five) Outs (or Ins), subs. phr. (old).—A varying and ancient wheeze, of which the following are representative:—

Out of money, and out of clothes; Out at the heels, and out at the toes; Out of credit, and in debt.