Part 35

LIMOUSIN, or LIMOUSINANT, _m._ (popular), _mason_. It must be mentioned that most of the Paris masons hail from Limousin.

LIMOUSINE, _f._ (thieves’), _sheet lead on roofs_, or “flap.” Termed also “saucisson, gras-double.”

LIMOUSINEUR, _m._ (thieves’), _thief who steals sheet-lead roofing_. Called also “voleur au gras-double,” a “bluey faker,” or one who “flies the blue pigeon.” See GRINCHE.

LINGE, _m._ (familiar and popular), faire des effets de ----, _to display one’s body linen with affectation_. Un bock sans ----, or sans faux-col, _a glass of beer without any head_. A request for such a thing is often made in the Paris cafés, where the microscopic “bocks” or “choppes” are topped by gigantic heads. Se payer un ---- convenable, _to have a stylish mistress_, an “out-and-out tart.” (Popular) Un ---- à règles, _a dirty, slatternly woman_. Resserrer son ----, _to die_. (Thieves’) Avoir son ---- lavé, _to be caught_, _apprehended_, or “smugged.”

LINGÉ, _adj._ (popular), être ----, _to have plenty of fine linen_.

LINGRE, or LINGUE, _m._ (thieves’), _knife_, or “chive.” From Langres, a manufacturing town. The synonyms are “linve, trente-deux, vingt-deux, chourin or surin, scion, coupe-sifflet, pliant.” Jouer du ----, _to stab_, “to stick, or to chive.”

LINGRER, or LINGUER (thieves’), _to stab_, “to stick, or to chive.”

LINGRIOT, _m._ (thieves’), _penknife_.

LINGUARDE, _f._ (popular), _woman with a soft tongue_.

LINGUE, _m._ (thieves’), _knife_, or “chive.”

LINSPRÉ, _m._ (thieves’), _prince_. See LIMONADE.

LINVÉ, _m._ (popular), loussem, _twenty sous_. The words “vingt sous” distorted. Un ----, _a franc_: “un lenquetré” _being one franc and fifty centimes, or thirty sous_, and “un larantqué,” _two francs, or forty sous_. These expressions are respectively the words un, trente, quarante, disguised.

LION, _m._ (familiar), _dandy of 1840_. Fosse aux lions, _box at the opera occupied by men of fashion_. For synonymous terms see GOMMEUX.

LIONNERIE, _f._ (familiar), _fashionable world_.

LIPÈTE, _f._ (popular), _prostitute_, “mot,” or “common Jack.” See GADOUE.

LIPETTE, _f._ (popular), _mason_. Termed also ligorgniot.

LIPPER (popular), _to visit several wine-shops in succession_.

LIQUETTE, or LIMACE, _f._ (thieves’), _shirt_, in old English cant “commission.” Décarrer le centre d’une ----, _to obliterate the marking of a shirt_.

LIQUEUR, _f._ (popular), cache-bonbon à ----, _dandy’s stick-up collar_. A malevolent allusion to scrofula abcesses on the neck.

LIRE (familiar), aux astres, _to muse_, “to go wool-gathering;” (familiar and popular) ---- le journal, _to go without a dinner_; ---- le Moniteur, _to wait patiently_. (Printers’) Lire, _to note proposed alterations in a proof_; ---- en première, _to correct the first proof_; ---- en seconde, or en bon, _to correct a second proof on which the author has written “for press.”_ (Thieves’) Savoir ----, _to have one’s wits about one_, “to know what’s o’clock.”

LISETTE, _f._ (thieves’), _long waistcoat_; _sword_, or “poker.”

LISSERPEM (roughs’), _to void urine_. The word “pisser” disguised by prefixing the letter “l,” and adding the syllable “em” preceded by the first letter of the word.

LISTARD, _m._ (journalists’), _one in favour of “scrutin de liste,” or mode of voting for the election wholesale of all the representatives in parliament of a “département.”_ For instance, the Paris electors have to vote for a list of over thirty members.

LIT, _m._ (popular), être sous le ----, _to be mistaken_.

LITHOGRAPHIER (popular), se ----, _to fall_, “to come a cropper.”

LITRER, or ITRER (thieves’), _to have_.

LITRONNER (popular), _to drink wine_. From litron, _a wine measure_.

LITRONNEUR, _m._ (popular), _one who is too fond of the bottle_.

LITTÉRATURE JAUNE (familiar), _the so-called Naturalist literature_.

LITTÉRATURIER, _m._ (familiar), _a literary man after a fashion_.

LIVRAISON, _f._ (popular), avoir une ---- de bois devant sa porte, _to have well-developed breasts_, _to be possessed of fine_ “Charlies.”

LIVRE, _m._ (popular), des quatre rois, _pack of cards_, “book of briefs,” or “Devil’s books;” ---- rouge, _police registration book in which the names of authorized prostitutes are inscribed_. Etre inscrite dans le ---- rouge, _to be a registered prostitute_. (Freemasons’) Livre d’architecture, _ledger of a lodge_. (Sharpers’) Livre, _one hundred francs_.

LOA VIHAN (Breton cant), _coffee_.

LOCANDIER, _m._ (thieves’). Called also “voleur au bonjour,” _thief who visits apartments in the morning, and who when caught pretends to have entered the wrong rooms by mistake_. See GRINCHE.

LOCHE, _f._ (popular), mou comme une ----, _slow_, _phlegmatic_, “lazybones.” (Thieves’) Loche, _ear_, or “wattle.” Properly _loach or groundling_.

LOCHER (thieves’), _to listen_; (popular) _to totter_, “to be groggy.”

LOCOMOTIVE, _f._ (popular), _great smoker_.

LOF, LOFF, LOFFARD, LOFFE, _m._ (popular), _fool_, or “bounder.” “Lof” is the anagram of “fol.”

A lui le coq,... pour inventer des emblèmes ... quand j’y pense, fallait-il que je fusse loff pour donner dans un godan pareil!--_Mémoires de Vidocq._

LOFFAT, _m._ (popular), _apprentice_.

LOFFIAT, _m._ (popular), _blockhead_, or “cabbage-head.”

LOFFITUDE, _f._ (thieves’), _stupidity_; _nonsense_. Bonisseur de loffitudes, _nonsense-monger_. Solliceur de loffitudes, _journalist_.

LOGE INFERNALE, _f._ (theatrical), _box occupied by young men of fashion_.

LOGER RUE DU CROISSANT (familiar and popular), _is said of an injured husband_, or “buckface.” An allusion to the horns of the moon.

LOGIS DU MOUTROT, _m._ (thieves’), _police court_.

LOIR, _m._ (thieves’), _prison_, “stir, or Bastile.” See MOTTE.

LOKARD (Breton cant), _peasant_.

LOKO (Breton cant), _brandy_.

LOLO, _m._ (thieves’), _chief_, or “dimber damber;” (popular) _cocotte_, or “mot.” See GADOUE. Fifi ----, _large iron cylinder in which the contents of cesspools are carried away by the scavengers_. (Military) Gros lolos, _cuirassiers_.

LOMBARD, _m._ (popular), _commissionnaire of the “Mont de Piété,” or government pawning establishment_.

LONCEGUÉ, _m._ (thieves’ and cads’), _man_, “cove;” _master of a house_, “boss.” The word gonce disguised.

LONCEGUEM, _f._ (thieves’ and cads’), _woman_, or “hay-bag;” _mistress of a house_.

LONG, _m. and adj._ (popular), _simpleton_, _greenhorn_. Etes-vous logé et nourri? Oui, le ---- du mur. _Do you get board and lodging? Yes, at my own expense._ (Thieves’) Long, _stupid_; _blockhead_, or “go along.” Abbreviation of long à comprendre.

LONGCHAMPS, _m._, _a long corridor of w.c.’s at the Ecole Polytechnique_; (popular) _a procession_.

LONGE, _f._ (thieves’), _year_, or “stretch.” Tirer une ----, _to do one_ “stretch” _in prison_.

LONGÉ, _adj._ (popular), _old_.

LONGIN, or SAINT-LONGIN, _m._ (popular), _sluggard_.

LONGINE, or SAINTE-LONGINE, _f._ (popular), _sluggish woman_.

LONGUETTE DE TRÈFLE, _f._ (thieves’), _roll of tobacco_, or “twist of fogus.”

LOPHE, _adj._ (thieves’), _false_; _counterfeit_, “flash.” Un fafiot ----, _a forged bank-note_, or “queer screen.”

LOPIN, _m._ (popular), _spittle_, or “gob.”

LOQUE, _m._ (thieves’), parler en ----, _mode of disguising words_. The word is preceded by the letter “l,” and the syllable preceded by the first letter of the word is added. Thus “fou” becomes “loufoque.”

LOQUES, _f. pl._ (thieves’), _pieces of copper_.

LORCEFÉ, _f._ (thieves’), _old prison of “La Force.”_ La ---- des largues, _the prison of Saint-Lazare, where prostitutes and unfaithful wives are confined_.

Eh bien! si je te la fourrais à la lorcefé des largues (Saint-Lazare) pour un an, le temps de ton gerbement.--=BALZAC.=

LORDANT. See LOURDIER.

LORET, _m._ (popular), _lover of a_ lorette.

LORETTE, _f._ (familiar), _more than fast girl_, or “mot,” _named after the Quartier Notre Dame de Lorette, the Paris Pimlico_. See GADOUE.

LORGNE, or LORGNE-BÉ, _m._ (thieves’), _one-eyed man_. In English slang “a seven-sided animal;” _the ace of cards_, or “pig’s eye.”

LORGNETTE, _f._ (thieves’), _keyhole_, this natural receptacle for a key being considered by thieves as an aperture convenient only for making investigations from the outside of a door. Etui à ----, _coffin_, or “cold-meat box.” Eteindre ses deux lorgnettes, _to close one’s eyes_.

LORQUET, _m._ (popular), _sou_.

LOT, _m._ (popular), _venereal disease_.

LOU, or LOUP, _m._ (popular), faire un ----, _to spoil a piece of work_.

LOUANEK (Breton cant), _brandy_.

LOUAVE, _m._ (thieves’), _drunkard_. Être ----, _to be drunk_, “to be canon.” Faire un ----, _to rob a drunkard_. Rogues who devote their energies to this kind of thieving are termed “bug-hunters.”

LOUBAC, _m._ (popular), _apprentice_.

LOUBION, _m._ (thieves’), _bonnet or hat_. See TUBARD.

LOUBIONNIER, _m._ (thieves’), _hat or bonnet maker_.

LOUCHE, _f._ (thieves’), _hand_, or “duke.” La ----, _the police_, or “reelers.” La ---- le renifle, _the police are tracing him_, _he is getting a_ “roasting.”

LOUCHÉE, _f._ (thieves’), _spoonful_. From louche, _a soup ladle_.

LOUCHER (popular), de la bouche, _to have a constrained, insincere smile_; ---- de l’épaule, _to be a humpback_, or a “lord;” ---- de la jambe, _to be lame_. Faire ---- un homme, _to inspire a man with carnal desire_.

LOUCHERBEM, _m._ (popular and thieves’), the word boucher disguised, see Lem; BUTCHER. Corbillard des ----, see CORBILLARD.

LOUCHON, _m._, LOUCHONNE, _f._ (popular), _person who squints_, _one with_ “swivel-eyes.”

LOUFFER (popular and thieves’), _to foist_, “to fizzle.” Si tu louffes encore sans dire fion je te passe à travers, _if you_ “fizzle” _again without apologizing I’ll thrash you_.

LOUFFIAT, _m._ (popular), _low cad_. Termed in the English slang a “rank outsider.”

LOUFOQUE, _adj. and m._ (popular and thieves’), _mad_, or “cracked, balmy, or one off his chump.” The word fou disguised by means of the syllable loque. See LOQUE.

Si nos doch’ étaient moins vieilles, On les ferait plaiser, Mais les pauv’ loufoques balaient Les gras d’nos laisées.

=RICHEPIN.=

LOUILLE, _f._ (thieves’), _prostitute_, or “bunter.” See GADOUE.

LOUIS, _f. and m._ (bullies’), une ----, _a bully’s mistress_, _a prostitute_. Abbreviation of Louis XV., women in brothels often powdering and dressing their hair Louis XV. fashion. See GADOUE.

J’couch’ que’qu’fois sous des voitures; Mais on attrap’ du cambouis. J’veux pas ch’linguer la peinture Quand j’suc’ la pomme à ma Louis.

=RICHEPIN.=

(Popular) Un ---- d’or, _lump of excrement_, or “quaker.”

LOUISETTE, _f._ _old appellation of the guillotine_.

LOUIZA (Breton cant), WATER.

LOUP, _m._ (popular), _mistake_; _debt_; _creditor_, or “dun;” _misfit, or piece of work which has been spoilt_; (printers’) _lack of type_; _debt_; _creditor_. Faire un ----, _is to buy on credit_.

Le jour de la banque, le créancier ou “loup” vient quelquefois guetter son débiteur (nous allions dire sa proie) à la sortie de l’atelier pour réclamer ce qui lui est dû. Quand la réclamation a lieu à l’atelier, ce qui est devenu très rare, les compositeurs donnent à leur camarade et au créancier une “roulance” accompagnée des cris: au loup! au loup!--=BOUTMY.=

LOUPATE, _m._ (popular), the word “pou” disguised, _a louse_, or “grey-backed ’un.”

LOUP-CERVIER, _m._ (familiar), _stockjobber_.

LOUPE, _f._, _laziness_, “loafing.” Camp de la ----, _vagabonds’ meeting-place_. Chevalier de la ----, _a lazy rambler or gad-about who goes about pleasure seeking_. (Thieves’) Un enfant de la ----, _a variety of the vagabond tribe_.

Les Enfants de la loupe et les Filendèches habitaient de préférence l’extérieur des carrières, leurs fours à briques ou à plâtre.--_Mémoires de Monsieur Claude._

LOUPER (popular), _to idle about pleasure seeking_.

LOUPEUR (popular), _lazy workman_, _or one who is_ “Mondayish.”

LOUPIAT, _m._ (popular), _lazy_, or “Mondayish,” _workman_; _vagrant_, or “pikey.”

LOUPIAU, or LOUPIOT, _m._ (popular), _child_, or “kid.”

LOUPION, _m._ (popular), _hat_, “tile.” See TUBARD.

LOURDE, or LOURDIÈRE, _f._ (thieves’), _door_, “jigger.” Bâcler la ----, _to shut the door_, “to dub the jigger.”

LOURDEAU, _m._ (thieves’), _devil_, “ruffin,” or “darble.”

LOURDIER, _m._ (popular), _door-keeper_.

LOUSSE, _f._ (thieves’), _country gendarme or corps of gendarmerie_.

LOUSSÉS, _m. pl._ (cads’), dix ----, _fifty centimes_. The word sous disguised.

LOUSTAUD, _m._ (thieves’), _prison_, or “stir.” See MOTTE. Envoyer à ----, _to send to the deuce_, “to pot.”

LOUTER (popular). See FAIRE UN LOU.

LOUVETEAU, _m._ (freemasons’), _son of a freemason_.

LOUVETIER, _m._ (printers’), _man in debt_.

Ce terme est pris en mauvaise part, car le typo auquel on l’applique est considéré comme faisant trop bon marché de sa dignité.--=BOUTMY.=

LUBRE, _adj._ (thieves’), _dismal_. Lubre comme un guichemard, _as dismal as a turnkey_.

LUC, _m._ (popular), messire ----, _breech_, or “tochas.” “Luc” is the anagram of “cul.” See VASISTAS.

LUCARNE, _f._ (popular), _woman’s bonnet_.

Autrefois on assimilait le capuchon des moines à une fenêtre, d’où le proverbe: défiez-vous des gens qui ne voient le jour que par une fenêtre de drap.--=MICHEL.=

LUCARNE, _monocular eye-glass_. Crever sa ----, _to break one’s eye-glass_.

LUCQUES, _m. pl._ (thieves’), _documents_. Porte ----, _pocket-book_, “dee,” or “dummy.”

LUCRÈCE, _f._ (popular), faire sa ----, _to put on a virtuous look_.

LUCTRÈME, _m._ (thieves’), _skeleton key_, “screw,” “Jack in the box,” or “twirl.” Filer le ----, _to open a door by means of a skeleton-key_, “to screw.”

LUGNA (Breton cant), _to look_.

LUIRE, _m._ (old cant), _brain_.

LUIS, or LUISANT, _m._ (thieves’), _day_.

Je rouscaille tous les luisans au grand haure de l’oraison.--_Le Jargon de l’Argot._ (_I pray daily the great God of prayer._)

LUISANT, _m._, see LUIS; (familiar) _dandy_, “masher.”

Voici d’abord le pschutt, le vlan, les luisants, comme nous les nommons aujourd’hui.--=P. MAHALIN.=

For synonymous terms see GOMMEUX.

LUISANTE, or LUISARDE, _f._ (thieves’), _moon_, or “parish lantern;” _window_, or “jump.”

LUISARD, or LUYSARD, _m._ (thieves’), _sun_. Luysard estampille six plombes, _it is six o’clock by the sun_.

LUISARDE, _f._ (thieves’), _moon_, “parish lantern, or oliver.”

LUMIGNON, _m._ (thieves’), le grand ----, _sun_. Properly lumignon is _a lantern_.

LUMINARISTE, _m._ (theatrical), _lamp-lighter_.

LUNCHER (familiar), _to have lunch_. From the English.

LUNE, _f._ (thieves’), one franc; ---- à douze quartiers, _the wheel on which criminals were broken_. (Familiar and popular) Lune, _the behind_. See VASISTAS. Lune, _large full face_. Amant de la ----, _man with amatory intentions who frequently goes out on nocturnal, but fruitless_ “caterwauling” _expeditions_. Voir la ----, _is said of a maiden who is made a woman_.

La petite a beau avoir de la dentelle, elle n’en verra pas moins la lune par le même trou que les autres.--=ZOLA=, _L’Assommoir_.

LUNÉ, _adj._ (popular), bien ----, _in a good humour_, _well disposed_.

LUNETTE, _f._ (popular), d’approche, _guillotine_. Passer en ----, _to take in_, “to do;” _to harm_. Etre passé en ----, _to fail in business_. Les lunettes, _posteriors_, or “cheeks.” (Popular) Lunettes, _small fry_. Je vais à la chasse aux ----, _I am going to fish for small fry_.

LUQUE, _f._ (thieves’ and mendicants’), _certificate_; _false certificate, or false begging petition_, “fakement;” _passport_; _picture_. Je sais bien aquiger les luques, _I know well how to forge a certificate, or to make up pictures_. Porte ----, _pocket-book_, or “dummy.” It seems probable that the term “une luque,” a picture, is derived from Saint-Luc, who formed the subject of the pictures used formerly by mendicants to ingratiate themselves with monks and nuns, as mentioned by _Le Jargon de l’Argot_.

LUQUET, _m._ (thieves’ and mendicants’), _forged certificate_, _or false begging petition_, “fakement.”

LURON, _m._ (thieves’), avaler le ----, _to partake of communion_. The term was probably, in the origin, “le rond,” corrupted into its present form (Michel).

LUSIGNANTE, _f._ (popular), _mistress_, or “moll.”

LUSQUIN, _m._ (thieves’), _charcoal_.

LUSQUINES, _f. pl._ (thieves’), _ashes_.

LUSTRE, _m._ (thieves’), _judge_, or “beak.” (Theatrical) Chevaliers du ----, _men who are paid to applaud at a theatre_. Termed also “romains.” The staff of romains is termed “claque.”

LUSTRER (thieves’), _to try a prisoner_, _to have him in for_ “patter.”

LUTAINPEM, _f._ (thieves’ and cads’), _prostitute_, or “bunter.” See GADOUE. The term is nothing more than the word “putain” distorted by means of the syllable “lem.” See LEM.

LYCÉE, _m._ (thieves’), _prison_, “stir, or Bastile.” For synonyms see MOTTE.

LYCÉEN, _m._ (thieves’), _prisoner_. Termed also “élève du château.”

LYONNAISE, _f._ (popular), _silk_, “floss.” Etre à la ----, _to wear a silk dress_.

M

MABILLARDE, _f._ (popular), _girl leading a dissolute life, an habituée of the Bal Mabille_. Called also “grue mabillarde.”

MABILLIEN, _m._, MABILLIENNE, _f._ (popular), _male and female habitués of the Bal Mabille_, a place much frequented by pleasure-seeking foreigners.

Les mabilliennes de 1863 se subdivisent en plusieurs catégories: la dinde, la solitaire, la grue.--_Les Mémoires du Bal Mabille._

MABOUL, _adj._ (general), _one_ “cracked,” _or one with_ “a screw loose.” From the Arab.

C’est-y que t’es maboul? dit l’chef.--J’suis pas maboul, que je réponds. --=G. COURTELINE.=

MAC, _m._ (popular), abbreviation of “maquereau,” _girl’s bully_, or “Sunday man.” For synonyms see POISSON. The term also applies to any man living at a woman’s expense.

MACA, _f._ (popular), _mistress of a bawdy-house_. Termed also “Mère Maca” or “macquecée.” Maca suiffée, _a rich proprietress of a house of ill-fame_. Maca, _the Paris Morgue or dead-house_. From machabée.

MACABÉE, _m._ (common). See MACHABÉE.

MACACHE (military), _no_; ---- bono, _no good_.

Allons, les deux rosses, debout!...--Pourquoi donc faire faut-y qu’on se lève?--Pour aller, reprit l’adjudant, casser la glace des abreuvoirs. Là dessus, assez causé: debout!...--Debout à trois heures du matin? Ah! macache.--=G. COURTELINE.=

MACADAM, _m._ (familiar and popular), faire le ----, _to walk to and fro on the pavement as a prostitute_. Fleur de ----, _street-walker_. See GADOUE. Le général ----, _the public_. (Popular) Macadam, _sweet white wine of inferior quality_.

Chez nous c’est sous le noir et bas plafond d’un bouge que les voyous blafards, couleur tête de veau, font la vendange. Ils ont pour vin doux et nouveau le liquide appelé macadam, une boue jaunâtre fade.--=RICHEPIN=, _Le Pavé_.

MACAIRE, _m._ (familiar and popular), un Robert ----, _a swindler_, _one of_ the “swell mob.” Robert Macaire is a character in a play called _L’Auberge des Adrets_.

MACAIRISME, _m._ (familiar), _any act referring to swindling operations_.

MACARON, _m._ (popular), huissier, _kind of attorney_; (thieves’) _informer, one who_ “blows the gaff,” a “snitcher.”

Cet homme qui criait si fort contre ceux que les gens de sa sorte nomment des macarons s’est un des premiers mis à table.--=VIDOCQ.= (_That very man who complained so much of those whom such people term traitors has been one of the first to inform._)

MACARONNAGE, _m._ (thieves’), _informing against_, “blowing the gaff.”

MACARONNER (thieves’), _to inform against_, “to blow the gaff,” or “to turn snitch.” Se ----, _to run away_, “to guy.” See PATATROT.

MACCHOUX, _m._ (popular), _prostitute’s bully_, or “Sunday man.” See POISSON.

MACÉDOINE, _f._ (engine drivers’), _fuel_.

MACHABÉ, _adj._ (popular), _drunk_. J’ai trop picté, je suis à moitié ----, _I have been drinking too much, I am half drunk_

MACHABÉE, _m._ (popular), _gay girls’ bully_, or “ponce”; see POISSON; _Jew_, “mouchey, Ikey, or sheney;” _body of a drowned person_.

Je ne vois d’autre origine à cette expression que la lecture du chap. xii. du deuxième livre des Machabées, qui a encore lieu aux messes des morts; ou plutôt c’est de là que sera venue la danse macabre, dont l’argot a conservé le souvenir.--=MICHEL.=

Case des machabées, _cemetery_. Le clou des machabées, the “_Morgue” or Paris dead-house_. Mannequin à machabées, _hearse_. (Thieves’) Machabée, _traitor_, or “snitcher.” Literally _a corpse_, the informer in a prison, when detected, being generally murdered by those he has betrayed by means of the punishment termed “accolade,” which consists in crushing him against a wall.

MACHABER (popular), _to die_, “to kick the bucket.” See PIPE. Machaber quelqu’un, _to drown one_. Se ----, _to drink_. Je me suis machabé d’un litre, _I have treated myself to a litre bottle of wine_.

MACHICOT, _m._ (popular), _bad, mean player, or one who plays a_ “tinpot game.” In the _Contes d’Eutrapel_, a French officer at the siege of Chatillon is ridiculously spoken of as Captain Tin-pot--Capitaine du Pot d’Etain. Tin-pot as generally used means worthless.

MACHIN, _m._ (general), _expression used when one cannot recollect the name of a person_, “thingumbob, or what’s name.”

MACHINE, _f._ (literary, artists’, theatrical), _production_.

Cela m’est bien égal! Il n’est pas le seul à me dévisager. Je lui chanterai sa “machine” et il me laissera tranquille.--=J. SERMET=, _Une Cabotine_.

Grande ----, _drama_. Molière uses the word to describe an important affair or undertaking:--

J’ai des ressors tout prêts pour diverses machines.--_L’Etourdi._

(Popular) Machine à moulures, _breech_, or “bum,” see VASISTAS; ---- à lisserpem, _urinal_; lisserpem being the word pisser disguised.

MÂCHOIRE, _f._ (familiar and popular), _blockhead_. (Literary) Vieille ----, _dull, old-fashioned writer_; _ignorant man_.

L’on arrivait par la filière d’épithètes qui suivent: ci-devant, faux toupet, aile de pigeon, perruque, étrusque, mâchoire, ganache, au dernier degré de décrépitude, à l’épithète la plus infamante, académicien et membre de l’Institut.--=TH. GAUTIER.=

MACMAHON, _m._ (dragoons’), _head of a Medusa at top of helmet_.

MACMAHONNAT, _m._, _period of Marshal MacMahon’s sway as President of the Republic_. Everybody recollects the famous “J’y suis, j’y reste!” of the Marshal, and Gambetta’s reply, “Il faut se soumettre ou se démettre.”

MAÇON, _m._ (popular), _four-pound loaf_; (freemasons’) ---- de pratique, _mason_; ---- de théorie, _freemason_; (familiar) _disparaging epithet applied to any clumsy worker_.

MACQUE, MACQUET. See MAC.

MACQUECÉE. See MACA.

MACROTAGE, or MAQUEREAUTAGE, _m._ (familiar and popular), _living at a woman’s expense_; used also figuratively to denote agency in some fishy business.

MACROTER (familiar and popular), _to live at a woman’s expense_, ---- une affaire, _to be the agent in some fishy business_.

MACROTIN, _m._ (familiar and popular), _one living at a woman’s expense_, “pensioner” _with an unmentionable prefix_, _young bully_, _young_ “ponce.” See POISSON.

MACULATURE, _f._ (printers’), attraper une ----, _to get drunk_, _to get_ “tight.” See SCULPTER.

MADAME (popular), Milord quépète, _lazy woman, who likes to lie in bed_; ---- Tiremonde (expression used by Rabelais), or Tire-pousse, _midwife_; (shopmen’s) ---- Canivet, _a female customer who cannot make up her mind, and leaves without purchasing anything, after having made the unfortunate shopman display all his goods_.

MADELEINE, _f._ (card-sharpers’), faire suer la ----, _to cheat_, or “bite,” _with great difficulty_.

MADELEN (Breton cant), _salt_.

MADEMOISELLE MANETTE, _f._ (popular), _portmanteau_, or “peter.”

MADRICE, _f._ (thieves’), _cunning_. Il a de la ----, _he is cunning_, or “is fly to wot’s wot.”

MADRIN, MADRINE, _adj._ (thieves’), _cunning_, “leary, or fly to wot’s wot.”

MADROUILLAGE, _m._ (thieves’), _bungle_.