act i., scene 1. This was used sometimes as a defensive weapon.
BEE, “to have a BEE in one’s bonnet,” _i.e._, to be not exactly sane.
BEERY, intoxicated, or fuddled with beer.
BEESWAX, poor soft cheese.
BEETLE-CRUSHERS, or SQUASHERS, large flat feet.
BELCHER, a kind of handkerchief.—_See_ BILLY.
BELL, a song.
BELLOWS, the lungs.
BELLOWSED, or LAGGED, transported.
BELLOWS-TO-MEND, out of breath.
BELLY-TIMBER, food, or “grub.”
BELLY-VENGEANCE, small sour beer, apt to cause gastralgia.
BEMUSE, to fuddle one’s self with drink, “BEMUSING himself with beer,” &c.—_Sala’s Gas-light and Day-light_, p. 308.
BEN, a benefit.—_Theatrical._
BEND, “that’s above my BEND,” _i.e._, beyond my power, too expensive, or too difficult for me to perform.
BENDER, a sixpence,—from its liability to bend.
BENDER, the arm; “over the BENDER,” synonymous with “over the left.”—_See_ OVER. Also an ironical exclamation similar to WALKER.
BENE, good.—_Ancient cant_; BENAR was the comparative.—_See_ BONE. _Latin._
BENJAMIN, a coat. Formerly termed a JOSEPH, in allusion, perhaps, to Joseph’s coat of many colours.—_See_ UPPER-BENJAMIN.
BENJY, a waistcoat.
BEONG, a shilling.—_See_ SALTEE.
BESTER, a low betting cheat.
BESTING, excelling, cheating. BESTED, taken in, or defrauded.
BETTER, more; “how far is it to town?” “oh, BETTER ’n a mile.”—_Saxon_ and _Old English_, now a vulgarism.
BETTY, a skeleton key, or picklock.—_Old cant._
B. FLATS, bugs.
BIBLE CARRIER, a person who sells songs without singing them.
BIG, “to look BIG,” to assume an inflated dress, or manner; “to talk BIG,” _i.e._, boastingly, or with an “extensive” air.
BIG-HOUSE, the work-house.
BILBO, a sword; abbrev. of BILBOA blade. Spanish swords were anciently very celebrated, especially those of Toledo, Bilboa, &c.
BILK, a cheat, or a swindler. Formerly in frequent use, now confined to the streets, where it is very general. _Gothic_, BILAICAN.
BILK, to defraud, or obtain goods, &c. without paying for them; “to BILK the schoolmaster,” to get information or experience without paying for it.
BILLINGSGATE (when applied to speech), foul and coarse language. Not many years since, one of the London notorieties was to hear the fishwomen at Billingsgate abuse each other. The anecdote of Dr. Johnson and the Billingsgate virago is well known.
BILLY, a silk pocket handkerchief.—_Scotch._—See WIPE.
⁂ A list of the slang terms descriptive of the various patterns of handkerchiefs, pocket and neck, is here subjoined:—
BELCHER, close striped pattern, yellow silk, and intermixed with white and a little black; named from the pugilist, Jim Belcher.
BIRD’S EYE WIPE, diamond spots.
BLOOD-RED FANCY, red.
BLUE BILLY, blue ground with white spots.
CREAM FANCY, any pattern on a white ground.
GREEN KING’S MAN, any pattern on a green ground.
RANDAL’S MAN, green, with white spots; named after Jack Randal, pugilist.
WATER’S MAN, sky coloured.
YELLOW FANCY, yellow, with white spots.
YELLOW MAN, all yellow.
BILLY-BARLOW, a street clown; sometimes termed a JIM CROW, or SALTIMBANCO,—so called from the hero of a slang song.—_Bulwer’s Paul Clifford._
BILLY-HUNTING, buying old metal.
BIRD-CAGE, a four-wheeled cab.
BIT, fourpence; in America 12½ cents is called a BIT, and a defaced 20 cent piece is termed a LONG BIT. A BIT is the smallest coin in Jamaica, equal to 6d.
BIT, a purse, or any sum of money.
BIT-FAKER, or TURNER OUT, a coiner of bad money.
BITCH, tea; “a BITCH party,” a tea-drinking.—_University._
BITE, a cheat; “a Yorkshire BITE,” a cheating fellow from that county.—_North_; also _old slang_, used by _Pope_. Swift says it originated with a nobleman in his day.
BITE, to cheat; “to be BITTEN,” to be taken in or imposed upon. Originally a Gipsey term.—_See Bacchus and Venus._
BIVVY, or GATTER, beer; “shant of BIVVY,” a pot, or quart of beer. In Suffolk, the afternoon refreshment of reapers is called BEVER. It is also an old English term.
“He is none of those same ordinary eaters, that will devour three breakfasts, and as many dinners, without any prejudice to their BEVERS, drinkings, or suppers.”—_Beaumont and Fletcher’s Woman Hater_ 1–3.
Both words are probably from the Italian, _bevere_, _bere_. Latin, _bibere_. English, _beverage_.
BLACK AND WHITE, handwriting.
BLACKBERRY-SWAGGER, a person who hawks tapes, boot laces, &c.
BLACK-LEG, a rascal, swindler, or card cheat.
BLACK-SHEEP, a “bad lot,” “_mauvais sujet_;” also a workman who refuses to join in a strike.
BLACK-STRAP, port wine.
BLADE, a man—in ancient times the term for a soldier; “knowing BLADE,” a wide awake, sharp, or cunning man.
BLACKGUARD, a low, or dirty fellow.
“A cant word amongst the vulgar, by which is implied a dirty fellow of the meanest kind, Dr. Johnson says, and he cites only the modern authority of Swift. But the introduction of this word into our language belongs not to the vulgar, and is more than a century prior to the time of Swift. Mr. Malone agrees with me in exhibiting the two first of the following examples. The _black-guard_ is evidently designed to imply a fit attendant on the devil. Mr. Gifford, however, in his late edition of Ben Jonson’s works, assigns an origin of the name different from what the old examples which I have cited seem to countenance. It has been formed, he says, from those ‘mean and dirty dependants, in great houses, who were selected to carry coals to the kitchen, halls, &c. To this smutty regiment, who attended the progresses, and rode in the carts with the pots and kettles, which, with every other article of furniture, were then moved from palace to palace, the people, in derision, gave the name of _black guards_; a term since become sufficiently familiar, and never properly explained.’—Ben Jonson, ii. 169, vii. 250”—_Todd’s Johnson’s Dictionary._
BLARNEY, flattery, exaggeration.—_Hibernicism._
BLAST, to curse.
BLAZES, “like BLAZES,” furious or desperate, a low comparison.
BLEST, a vow; “BLEST if I’ll do it,” _i.e._, I am determined not to do it; euphemism for CURST.
BLEED, to victimise, or extract money from a person, to spunge on, to make suffer vindictively.
BLEW, or BLOW, to inform, or peach.
BLEWED, got rid of, disposed of, spent; “I BLEWED all my blunt last night,” I spent all my money.
BLIND, a pretence, or make believe.
BLIND-HOOKEY, a gambling game at cards.
BLINKER, a blackened eye.—_Norwich slang._
BLINK FENCER, a person who sells spectacles.
BLOAK, or BLOKE, a man; “the BLOAK with a jasey,” the man with a wig, _i.e._, the Judge. _Gipsey_ and _Hindoo_, LOKE. _North_, BLOACHER, any large animal.
BLOB (from BLAB), to talk. Beggars are of two kinds,—those who SCREEVE (introduce themselves with a FAKEMENT, or false document), and those who BLOB, or state their case in their own truly “unvarnished” language.
BLOCK, the head.
BLOCK ORNAMENTS, the small dark coloured pieces of meat exposed on the cheap butchers’ blocks or counters,—debateable points to all the sharp visaged argumentative old women in low neighbourhoods.
BLOOD, a fast or high-mettled man. Nearly obsolete in the sense in which it was used in George the Fourth’s time.
BLOOD-RED FANCY, a kind of handkerchief worn by pugilists and frequenters of prize fights.—_See_ BILLY.
BLOODY-JEMMY, a sheep’s head.—_See_ SANGUINARY JAMES.
BLOW, to expose, or inform; “BLOW the gaff,” to inform against a person. In _America_, to BLOW is slang for to taunt.
BLOW A CLOUD, to smoke a cigar or pipe—a phrase in use two centuries ago.
BLOW ME, or BLOW ME TIGHT, a vow, a ridiculous and unmeaning ejaculation, inferring an appeal to the ejaculator; “I’m BLOWED if you will” is a common expression among the lower orders; “BLOW ME UP” was the term a century ago.—_See Parker’s Adventures_, 1781.
BLOW OUT, or TUCK IN, a feast.
BLOW UP, to make a noise, or scold; formerly a cant expression used amongst thieves, now a recognised and respectable phrase. BLOWING UP, a jobation, a scolding.
BLOWEN, a showy or flaunting prostitute, a thief’s paramour. In _Wilts_, a BLOWEN is a blossom. _Germ._ BLUHEN, to bloom.
“O du _blühende_ Mädchen viel schöne Willkomm!”—_German Song._
Possibly, however, the street term BLOWEN may mean one whose reputation has been BLOWN UPON, or damaged.
BLOWER, a girl; a contemptuous name in opposition to JOMER.
BLUBBER, to cry in a childish manner.—_Ancient._
BLUDGERS, low thieves, who use violence.
BLUE, a policeman; “disguised in BLUE and liquor.”—_Boots at the Swan._
BLUE, or BLEW, to pawn or pledge.
BLUE, confounded or surprised; “to look BLUE,” to be astonished or disappointed.
BLUE BILLY, the handkerchief (blue ground with white spots) worn and used at prize fights. Before a SET TO, it is common to take it from the neck and tie it round the leg as a garter, or round the waist, to “keep in the wind.” Also, the refuse ammoniacal lime from gas factories.
BLUE BLANKET, a rough over coat made of coarse pilot cloth.
BLUE-BOTTLE, a policeman. It is singular that this well known slang term for a London constable should have been used by Shakespere. In