Slang and its analogues past and present, volume 2 [of 7]

1876. Academy, 4 Nov., p. 448, col. 2. The use or translations, ‘cribs,’ or ‘cabs’ as boys call them, must at some time or other engage the serious attention of schoolmasters. [m.]

French Synonyms. Un prètre (thieves’: literally ‘a priest’: a curious sidelight on the views concerning religious orders of the criminal classes); un raze or razi pour l’af (thi...

German Synonyms. Antoniklosterl (Viennese thieves’ = a prison in Vienna); Drillbajis or Drillhaus (a house of drill or correction); Echetel (Viennese thieves’); Erbsien (Viennes...

Canack, Canuck, Kanuck, K’nuck, subs. (American).—A Canadian, usually a K’nuck. [Obscure, and limited in its application within the Canadian frontier. There, a Canuck is underst...

1630. Taylor, (‘Water Poet’), wks. II., 239, i. Two leash of oyster-wives hyred a coach on a Thursday after Whitsontide ... they were so be-madam’d, be-mistrist, and ladified by...

1871. London Figaro, May 13, p. 4, col. 2. Coster Ballads, ‘Found Drowned.’ ‘Well, sir, to cut it short, she ’ad the chap—’Twos cruel ’ard on me—I don’t believe he cared for ’er...

1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., chap. xvi. Though I say it, that shouldn’t say it, they [the U.S. Americans] fairly take the shine off creation—they are actilly equal to cash.

Catch or Cut a Crab, verbal phr. (common).—There are various ways of catching a crab, as for example, (1) to turn the blade of the oar or ‘feather’ under water at the end of the...

Caution, subs. (popular).—A colloquialism used both of men and things. Anything out of the common, or that conveys a warning; something wonderful or staggering; something to be...

To be able to walk a chalk, phr. (popular).—To be sober. [The ordeal on board ship of trying men suspected of drunkenness is to make them walk along a line chalked on the deck,...

18(?). R. M. Jephson, Girl He Left Behind Him, ch. i. Dolly himself was occupied in nursing a tuft of hair on his chin termed, grandiloquently, an imperial, familiarly, a Charley.

1851. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I., p. 471. They [the Crocusses] ’d actually have the cheek to put a blister on a cork leg. Ibid, p. 404 (provided with) a noggin o’...

To count one’s chickens before they are hatched, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To reckon beforehand upon a successful issue. The Latins said, ‘Don’t sing your song of triumph before...

1821. Moncrieff, Tom and Jerry, I., vii. Log. Come along, then. Now, Jerry, chivey! Jerry. Chivey? Log. Mizzle! Jerry. Mizzle? Log. Tip your rags a gallop! Jerry. Tip my rags a...

1850. Lloyd’s Newspaper, Oct. 6. ‘Inquest on murder of Rev. Mr. Hollest, Frimley Grove, Surrey.’ Macey, the village constable, stated that the prisoner, upon coming to his cotta...

1876. Besant and Rice, Golden Butterfly, ch. xxix. Why not keep a clerk to read for you, and pay out the information in small chunks? I should like to tackle Mr. Carlyle that way.

1866. London Miscellany, 19 May, p. 235, col. 2. Surely these men, who win and lose fortunes with the stolidity of a mynheer smoking his clay yard, must be of entirely different...

1870. Mansfield, School Life at Winchester College, p. 117. We had some singular customs at the commencement of Cloister time. Senior part and Cloisters, just before the entranc...

1825. The English Spy, vol. I., p. 215. The low-bred, vulgar, Sunday throng, Who dine at two, are ranged along On both sides of the way; With various views these honest folk Des...

Cock-Loft, subs. (old).—The head. [A cock-loft is properly a small loft, garret, or apartment at the top of a house. Cf., Garret, Upper Storey, etc.] An old proverb runs, ‘All h...

Coffee-Milling, subs. phr. (common).—1. Grinding; working hard. Cf., To cock snooks (see Snooks) or ‘take a sight’ by putting the thumb of one hand to the nose and grinding the...

1830. Marryat, King’s Own, ch. viii. He always carried in his pocket a colt (i.e., a foot and a half of rope, knotted at one end, and whipped at the other), for the benefit of t...

Comp, subs. (printers’).—A compositor. [An abbreviated form of ‘companion’ now peculiar to compositors, but originally applied to pressmen who work in couples, as well as to com...

Cony-Catch, verb (old).—To cheat; deceive; trick; or ‘bite’ (q.v.). [Literally ‘to catch conies.’] Dekker, in his English Villainies, describes the system which is obviously the...

French Synonyms. Empioler (thieves’); tomber au plan (thieves’ = to be apprehended); étre mis au plan (thieves’ = to be imprisoned); enfourailler (thieves’); bâcler or boucler (...

1884. Editor of Notes and Queries [in ‘Answers to Correspondents’ (6 S., ix., 120), says that]. ‘To corpse ... is one of many customary and coarse ways of menacing the inflictio...

1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch. xxv. In case there should be such a thing as a cowcumber in the house will you be so kind as bring it, for I’m rayther partial to ’em mysel...

Crackle or Crackling, subs. (University).—The velvet bars on the gowns of the Johnian ‘hogs’ (q.v.). [From their resemblance to the scored rind on roast pork.] The covered bridg...

English Synonyms. Dew-beaters; beetle-crushers; understandings; trotters; tootsies; stumps (also the legs); everlasting shoes; hocks; boot-trees; pasterns; ards (Old Cant: now u...

1867. A. Trollope, Claverings, ch. xxx. I always suppose every horse will run to win; and though there may be a cross now and again, that’s the surest line to go upon.

To cry [or call] a go, verbal phr. (common).—To give in, as one unable to proceed. An expression borrowed from cribbage signifying that the player who makes use of it has nothin...

1843. Thackeray, Irish Sketch Book, ch. xx. For what a number of such loud nothings, windy, emphatic tropes and metaphors, spoken, not for God’s glory, but the preacher’s, will...

1836. Michael Scott, Cruise of the Midge (ed. 18), p. 363. Oh, I see—there is a smart hand, in the gay jacket there, who does not seem to belong to your crew—a good seaman, evid...

1817. Scott, Rob Roy, ch. iii. I should like to try that daisy-cutter of yours upon a piece of level road (barring canter) for a quart of claret at the next inn.

German Synonyms. Mittelaile (midnight); Choschech, Chauschech, or Koschech (from the Hebrew choschach = a moonless night); Eref (specifically the eve of a Sabbath or festival);...

1872. Globe, 1 Aug. ‘In the House,’ For full twenty minutes by the clock the Premier ... might be said to have rehearsed that particularly lively operation known as flogging a d...

1854. Thackeray, The Rose and the Ring, p. 69. There has been such a row, and disturbance, and quarrelling, and fighting, and chopping of heads off, and the deuce to pay, that I...

1837. R. H. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (ed. 1862), p. 181. Her tears had ceased; but her eyes were cast down, and mournfully fixed upon her delicate little foot, which was beatin...

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 171. The miner in California and Nevada has been known, in times of a rush, to speak of a place where he could stand leaning against a stout post...

1843. Comic Almanack, p. 373. England expects every man to do his duty, a strong recommendation to every man ‘to do’ the authorities who collect the duty at the Custom-house.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 369. (ed. 1857). Curse me, they’re friends of mine from this minute and friends of Mivins, too. Infernal pleasant, gentlemenly, dog Mivins,...

1890. Spectator, 3 May, Rev. of vol. I., ‘Slang and its Analogues.’... The extraordinary ‘bouncer’ that a very common request at Lockhart’s coffee-houses in London is for ‘a doo...

To be, or come down upon one, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To berate; to attack; to oppose. Sometimes with a tag: e.g., like a thousand, or a load, of bricks; like one o’clock; like...

1857. Dickens, Down with the Tide, in Reprinted Pieces, p. 269. Besides these, there were the dredgermen, who, under pretence of dredging up coals and such like from the bottom...

French Synonyms. Les brancards (popular, les brancards de laine = weak or lame legs); des baguettes de tambour (popular = thin legs; properly drumsticks); un bâton de tremplin (...

1872. Standard, 12 Sept. ‘Who is to blame?’ we ask, in the interests of our government, and natural curiosity. ‘That duffer in feathers’ is the curt reply, pointing with the fin...

English Synonyms.—Mollisher; rib; grey-mare; warming-pan; splice; lawful blanket; autem-mort; comfortable impudence; comfortable importance; old woman; evil; missus; lawful jam;...

Elegant-Extracts, subs. (military).—1. The Eighty-Fifth Foot. [This regiment was remodelled in 1812, after a long sequence of court-martials: when the officers were removed, and...

1860. Thackeray, Philip, ch. xl. In the battle of life every man must meet with a blow or two, and every brave one would take his facer with good humour.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 36. We, who’re of the fancy-lay, As dead hands at a mill as they, And quite as ready, after it, To share the spoil and grab the bit.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 29 Nov., p. 6, col. 3. The efforts made to purchase the Halliwell-Phillips collection by private subscription in Birmingham, have (says the local Times)...

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. i., p. 44. The taskmaster warder came in, bringing with him the fiddle on which I was to play a tune called ‘Four pounds of oakum a day.’...

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

Fix, subs. (common).—A dilemma; frequently in conjunction with awful (q.v.) and regular (q.v.), e.g., an awful fix = a terrible position. Variants are cornered; up a tree; up a...