Part 3

German Synonyms. Antoniklosterl (Viennese thieves’ = a prison in Vienna); Drillbajis or Drillhaus (a house of drill or correction); Echetel (Viennese thieves’); Erbsien (Viennese thieves’: from the staple of diet—Erbsen = peas. Cf., Graupenpalais); Graupenpalais (a prison in Berlin, from the staple of diet—barley); Grannigebais (Granigire Marochum = a fortress); Gymnasium (Cf., college, academy, lycée); Kaan or Kân (from the Hebrew; im Kaan scheften, to be in prison); Kue or Kuh (in die Kue sperren; to imprison); Kitt or Kittchen (from the Hebrew Kisse = a chair, throne, roof, common lodging-house, brothel, workhouse, and prison); Kille (literally an assembly); Kühle (im Kühlen sitzen, literally to sit in the ‘cooler’ or in the shade; Cf., être à l’ombre, and ‘to be under a cloud’); Leck (Viennese thieves’ M.H.G., luken, to lock up); Mifzer (Hebrew pozar, a fortress or prison); Schofelbajis (from the Hebrew schophal, bad, common, low, or unfortunate. Also a brothel); Stube (this, according to Zimmermann, signifies a prison); Tallesmasky (Hanoverian: from tallo, gallows, + masky from Maskopei, society, i.e., gallows-birds); T’fise (from the Hebrew tophas).

Italian Synonyms. Basta; casa (a house. The forms casaccia and cazanza are also used); cavagna; travagliosa (literally laborious); sentina (properly a sink of vice); viscola or visco losa.

Spanish Synonyms. Madrastra; angustias or ansias (literally grief or anguish); banasto (literally a large round basket); banco (properly a bench); temor (i.e., fear); trena (f).

Portuguese Synonyms. Estarim or xelro; limoeiro (a cant name for a prison in Lisbon).

2. (common).—An ‘improver,’ or bustle. See Bird-cage.

3. (venery).—A bed; also Breeding-cage.

1875. W. E. Henley, Unpublished Ballad. ‘In the breeding cage I cops her, With her stays off, all a’blowin’!—Three parts sprung.’—

4. (parliamentary).—The Ladies’ Gallery in the House of Commons; sometimes called the chamber of horrors, which appertains more properly to the Peeresses’ Gallery in the Upper House.

1870. London Figaro, 10 June. ‘The Angels in the House.’ Mr. Crauford’s Motion for the expulsion of strangers (during the debate on The Contagious (Women’s) Diseases Act) had reference to the cage and not to the Reporters’ Gallery.

Cagg, verb (old military).—Grose says ‘a military term used by the private soldiers, signifying a solemn vow or resolution not to get drunk for a certain time; or, as the term is, till their cagg is out, which vow is commonly observed with the strictest exactness: e.g., “I have cagg’d myself for six months. Excuse me this time, and I will cagg myself for a year.” Common in Scotland, where the vow is performed with divers ceremonies.’

Cag-Mag, subs. (vulgar).—Primarily a provincialism for a tough old goose; now a vulgarism for refuse, or rubbish, or scraps and ends. The transferred sense is older than given in the N.E.D. Cf., Keg-meg. [Brewer derives it, ‘from the Gaelic and Welsh,’ cag magu, whilst others consider it as originally a University slang term for a bad cook, κακὸς μάγειρος. The Latin magma (Pliny), = dregs or dross.] Also a plain or dirty woman.

1769. Pennant, Tour in Scotland, 1774, p. 10. Vast numbers [of geese] are driven annually to London; among them, all the superannuated geese and ganders (called here [Lincoln] cag-mags).

1839.—Comic Almanack, Sept., p. 188, But here’s the greatest grief, and sure it makes one choke to put on A libel to one’s neck, just like cheap cag-mag-scrag of mutton.

1851–61.—H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 133. ‘Do I ever eat my own game if it’s high? No, sir, never, I couldn’t stand such cag-mag.’

1864.—Temple Bar, vol. X., p. 185. No kag-mag wares are sold, no cheap articles are retailed.

Cain. To raise cain, phr. (American).—To proceed to extreme measures; to be quarrelsome; to make a disturbance. Of Western origin; primarily applied to men who would have shown no hesitation in shooting or stabbing; generally = merely disputatious or quarrelsome. Variants are to raise hate, hell, or hell and tommy, and to raise ned (q.v.). [An allusion to the anger of the first fratricide.]

1849.—Ruxton, Scenes in the Far West, p. 117. He had been knocking around all day in every grog-shop and bar-room in town, and when evening came he was seen swaggering down Main Street, his head bare, his eyes bloodshot, and his revolver in hand, shouting: ‘Who’ll hinder this child? I am going to raise Cain! Who’s got anything to say agin it?’

1869.—Mrs. Beecher Stowe, Old Town Folks, p. 116. ‘I’ll tell you what, Solomon Peters,’ said Miss Asphyxia, ‘I’d jest as soon have the red dragon in the Revelation a comin’ down on my house as a boy! If I don’t work hard enough now, I’d like to know, without having a boy around raisin’ gineral Cain.’

Cain and Abel, subs. phr. (rhyming slang).—A table.

Cainsham-Smoke, subs. phr. (old).—The tears of a wife-beaten husband.—Dunton. Ladies’ Dictionary [1694].

Cake or Cakey, subs. (popular).—1. A fool or dullard. Quoted by Grose in his Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue [1785], in various provincial glossaries, and generally colloquial in the lower strata of society. [In punning allusion, some have thought, to the doughy softness of a cake, a name given at first to any ‘flat’ kind of sweetened breadstuff. Hence variants, such, for example, as ‘flat,’ ‘soft,’ and ‘muff.’ Others, however, trace it to the Greek κακὸς, bad, and point out that in University slang a clever man is called a good man and the opposite a bad one, or a cake.] For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1841. Comic Almanack, ‘Twelfth Night,’ p. 256. And ever since, on fair Twelfth Night, A wand’ring form is seen: A female form, and this its cry:—‘Vy vot a cake I’ve been!’

1842. J. R. Planché, The White Cat, II., iv. Your resignation proves that you must be The greatest cake he in his land could see!

1862. Mrs. H. Wood, Channings, ch. xxix. If Pye does not get called to order now, he may lapse into the habit of passing over hardworking fellows with brains to exalt some good-for-nothing cake with none, because he happens to have a Dutchman for his mother.

2. (American thieves’).—A stupid policeman.

3. subs. (Christ’s Hospital).—A stroke with a cane.

Verb (Christ’s Hospital).—To cane.

To take the cake, phr. (common).—To rank the highest; to carry off the honours; to be the best of a kind; ‘to fill the bill’ (theatrical). [Cake has long been employed symbolically in this connection; in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, ‘to get one’s share of the cake’ was a common colloquialism. The special application has been popularised in the U.S.A. In certain sections of the country ‘cake walks’ are in vogue among the coloured people. The young bucks get themselves up most elaborately, and walk from one end of the hall to the other, under the gaze of beauty and the critical glance of the judges. The marking is done on a scale of numbers, and the ties are walked off with the utmost finish and a rare attention to style. The prize is a cake and the winner takes it.] Whimsical variations are to take or yank the bun; to slide away with the banbury; to annex the whole confectioner’s shop. Cf., to take the kettle = to take the prize for lying.

1885. San Francisco News Letter, Between you ’n me, red stockings ain’t becomin’ to all—ahem—limbs, ’n for cool cheek ’n dash. I back some o’em against any saleslady ’t makes a livin’ by it, the way ’t some o’ those girls ’d pin on a boutonnière took the cake.

Hurry up the cakes! phr. (American) = Look sharp! Buckwheat and other hot cakes form a staple dish at many American tables, but the phrase has now become pure slang.

Like hot cakes, phr. (American).—Quickly; with energy; a variant of like winking, or like one o’clock (q.v.).

1888. Punch’s Library, p. 15. ‘Will go like hot cakes.’ Book Seller (to Clerk). ‘Haven’t we an overstock of “Jack, the Giant Killer,” on hand, James?’ Clerk. ‘Yes, sir.’ Book Seller. ‘Well, take ’m up to the Polo Grounds this afternoon; they’ll sell fast enough there.’

Cakey-Pannum Fencer.—See Pannum fencer.

Calaboose, subs. (American and nautical).—The common gaol. [This word comes into popular use from the Spanish calabozo through the French calabouse.] So also to calaboose = to imprison.

1840. R. H. Dana, Two Years before the Mast, ch. xxi. A few weeks afterwards I saw the poor wretch sitting on the bare ground, in front of the calabozo, with his feet chained to a stake, and handcuffs about his wrists.

1888. Santa Ana Blade. Charley Read struck an old tramp in the calaboose the other day, who looked disgusted at his headquarters and remarked ‘Well I’ve been in every jail from Portland to Santa Ana, but this is the d—nest snide of a calaboose I ever struck yet.’

Calculate, verb (U.S. colloquial).—To think; expect; believe; intend; indeed, almost any sense save the legitimate, which is ‘to estimate by calculation.’ It belongs to the same class of colloquialisms as guess and reckon. Calculate is sometimes, especially in New England, corrupted into cal’late.

1830.—Galt, Lawrie, T., II., v. (1849), 56. I calculate, that ain’t no thing to make nobody afeard.

1848.—J. R. Lowell, Biglow Papers. The Sarjunt he thout Hosea hedn’t gut his i teeth cos he looked a kindo’s though he’d jest come down, so he cal’lated to hook him in, but Hosy woodn’t take none of his sarse.

1851.—Miss Wetherell, Queechy, ch. xix. ‘Your aunt sets two tables, I calculate, don’t she?’

Caleys, subs. (Stock Exchange).—Caledonian Railway Ordinary Stock.

1881.—Atkin, House Scraps. ‘If anything tickles our fancy We buy them, Brums, Caleys or Apes.’

Calf, subs. (colloquial).—An ignoramus; a dolt; a weakling. Cf., Calf lolly. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1553.—Udall, Royster D., II., iv., in Hazl. Dodsley, III., 94. You great calf, ye should have more wit, so ye should.

1627.—Drayton, Nymphid (1631), 171. Some silly doting brainless calfe.

1872. Hamilton Aïdé, Morals and Mysteries, p. 60. She had a girlish fancy for the good-looking young calf who had so signally disgraced himself.

To eat the calf in the cow’s belly, phr. (common).—A variant of ‘to count one’s chickens before they are hatched.’

1748. Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe [ed. 1811], III., 135. I ever made shift to avoid anticipations: I never would eat the calf in the cow’s belly, as Lord M’s phrase is.

Calf-Clingers, subs. (common).—Pantaloons; i.e., close-fitting trousers. [Derivation obvious.] For synonyms, see Bags and Kicks.

1884.—J. Greenwood, Little Ragamuffins. Knee-breeches were just going out of fashion when I was a little boy, and calf-clingers (that is, trousers made to fit the leg as tight as a worsted stocking) were ‘coming in.’

Calf, Cow, and Bull Week, subs. phr. (operatives’).—Before the passing of the Factory Acts it was customary in manufacturing districts, especially for men, women, and children, to indulge in the practice of working very long hours for a period of three weeks before the Christmas holidays. In the first, which was called ‘calf week,’ the ordinary hours of work were but slightly exceeded; in the second, or ‘cow week,’ they were considerably augmented; and in the third, or ‘bull week,’ it was common for operatives to spend the greater portion of the twenty-four of each day in their workshops. The practice resulted in extreme exhaustion and—naturally—indulgence to excess in stimulants.

1871.—Echo, 4 Dec. Calf, cow, and bull week. We find a good illustration of the beneficial influence of the Factory Acts in the reports of the Government Inspectors just issued. The district inspector expresses the hope that the measures which he took against some offenders in bull week last year will extinguish for good and all this absurd and illogical custom.

Calf’s Head, subs. (common).—A stupid, witless individual. For synonyms, see Buffle and Cabbage-head.

1600.—Shakspeare, Much Ado about Nothing, V., i., Claudio: ‘I’ faith, I thank him; he hath bid me to a calf’s head and a capon; the which if I do not carve most curiously, say my knife’s naught.’

Calf-Lick.—See Cow-lick.

Calf-Lolly, subs. (old).—An idle simpleton; a general term of reproach.

1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, bk. I., ch. xxv. Jobbinol goosecaps, foolish loggerheads, flutch calf-lollies.

1708. Motteux, Rabelais, iv., xvii. I was a Calf-lolly, a doddipole.

Calf-Love, subs. (common).—A youthful, romantic fancy. [A sarcastic allusion to the blind unreasoning character of boy and girl attachments.]

1823. Galt, Entail, I., xxxii., 284. I made a calf-love marriage. [m.]

1863. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia’s Lovers, II., 104. It’s a girl’s fancy—just a kind o’ calf-love—let it go by.

1884. Longman’s Mag., IV., 50. I was still at the early and agonising stage of the passion which is popularly known as calf-love.

Calfskin-Fiddle, subs. (old).—A drum.

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

Calf-Sticking, subs. (thieves’).—Explained by quotation. [Cf., Calf and Stick].

1883. Daily Telegraph, 25 July, p. 2, col. 1. The venerable oarsman grinned, and set me right by explaining that what was called calf-sticking by those who practised it was the putting off of worthless rubbish, on the pretence that it was smuggled goods, on any foolish or unscrupulous person who could be inveigled into treating for the same.

Calibogus, subs. (American).—A very old name for a mixture of rum and spruce beer, being quoted by Grose in 1785 as ‘an American beverage.’ The last two syllables of the word are thought to be derived from the French bagasse, the refuse of the sugar cane. This view would seem to be supported by the fact that rum is itself a product of the sugar cane.

1861. L. de Boileau, Recoll. Labrador Life, p. 162. Callibogus, a mixture of Rum and Spruce-beer, more of the former and less of the latter.

Calico, adj. (old).—Thin; wasted; attenuated. [Calicut is the name of the Indian city whence the material of the comparison was brought. The earliest reference for original signification given by Murray is 1505; but he omits the cant meaning.]

1733. Nathaniel Bailey, Colloquies of Erasmus (translated), p. 37. In such a place as that your callico body (tenui corpusculo) had need have a good fire to keep it warm.

1861. Sala, Seven Sons of Mammon. A shrewd, down-east Yankee once questioned a simple Dutchman out of his well-fed steed, and left him instead a vile calico mare in exchange.

Calico-Bally, adj. (common).—Somewhat ‘fast’; applied to one always on the look out for amusement. [Primarily used of frequenters of calico-balls.]

18(?). Broadside Ballad, ‘The Flipperty-Flop Young Man.’ I once was a cabby and hack young man, And a little bit calico-bally; A picture card out of the pack young man, And frequently music hally.

California.—See Californian, sense 2.

Californian, subs. (common).—1. A red or hard-dried herring. Further explained by quotations. Also Soldier, Atlantic ranger and Glasgow Magistrate.

1873.—Cassell’s Mag., Jan., p. 245, Very large quantities of cured herrings came from North Britain at that time, and, excepting those from the Firth of Forth, they were more cured, dryer and salter than those from Norfolk. Some were sent very dry indeed, as hard as a stick, and of a very deep red colour; such were used, as similar fish now are, for exportation. About the time of the gold discoveries, some one applied the term Californian to these. The word was appropriate, and Californians such highly-coloured herrings are called to this day.

2. [Generally used in the plural—Californians.] Generic for gold pieces.

California Widow, subs. phr. (American).—A married woman whose husband is away from her for any extended period; a grass widow (q.v.) in the least offensive sense. The expression dates from the period of the Californian gold fever, when so many men went West, leaving their wives and families behind them.

Calk, verb (Eton College).—To throw.

Call, subs. (Eton College).—The time when the masters do not call absence (q.v.).

To have or get a call upon, phr. (American).—To have a preference, or the first chance.

1888.—Puck’s Library, May, p. 23, Picture Dealer (to Professional’s Husband): ‘No, sir; I can’t sell no more of your wife’s pictures unless she gets down some of that flesh, and looks kinder æstheticker. The ethereal and intellectual has got the call on the old style of beauty now-a-days.’

To call a go, verbal phr. (vagrants’ and street patterers’).—To change one’s stand; to alter one’s tactics; to give in at any game or business. [From the go ‘call’ in cribbage.]

1851–61.—H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 252. To call a go, signifies to remove to another spot, or adopt some other patter, or, in short, to resort to some change or other in consequence of a failure.

To call a spade a spade.—See Spade.

To call over the coals.—See Wigging.

Put and call.—See Put.

Calle, subs. (old and American thieves’).—A cloak or gown. Quoted by Grose [1785], and still in use in the U.S.A. amongst the criminal classes. For synonyms, see Caster.

Calp or Kelp, subs. (old).—A hat. [Origin unknown.] For synonyms, see Golgotha.

Calvert’s Entire.—The Fourteenth Foot. [Called Calvert from their colonel, Sir Harry Calvert (1806–1826), and entire, because three entire battalions were kept up for the good of Sir Harry, when adjutant-general. A play upon words in reference to Calvert’s malt liquors.] This regiment was also called the Old and Bold.

1780. R. Tomlinson, Slang Pastoral, canto viii. Gin! What is become of thy heart-chearing fire, And where is the beauty of Calvert’s Intire?

1871. Chambers’ Journal, 23 Dec., p. 803, col. 1. The 14th Foot, Calvert’s Entire.

1886. Tinsley’s Magazine, April, p. 322. A very curious name, Calvert’s Entire, used to be attached to the 14th, but this as well as the circumstances which gave rise to it are forgotten.

Calves. Calves gone to grass, subs. phr. (old).—Said of spindle shanks; i.e., slender, undeveloped legs, with lack of calves.

There are many ways of dressing calves’ heads, phr. (old).—Many ways of saying or doing a foolish thing; a simpleton has many ways of showing his folly; or, generally, if one way won’t do, we must try another.

Calves’ heads are best hot, phr. (common).—A sarcastic apology for one sitting down to eat with his hat on.—See Stand-up.

Calx, subs. (Eton College).—The goal line at football. [From a Latin sense of calx = a goal, anciently marked with lime or chalk.] At Eton calx is a space so marked off at each end of wall; good calx is the end at which there is a door for a goal; bad calx the end where part of an elm tree serves the purpose.

1864. Daily Telegraph, Dec. 1. The Collegers were over-weighted ... and the Oppidans managed to get the ball down into their calx several times. [m.]

Cambridge Oak, subs. (old).—A willow. [An allusion to the abundance of this tree in the county in question, which is situate in the Fen District.] Formerly many analogous sayings were in vogue; e.g., ‘A Cotswold lion’ for ‘a sheep,’ etc.—See also Cambridgeshire nightingale.

Cambridgeshire or Fen Nightingale, subs. phr. (common).—A frog. [The county is scored with canals and dykes; the allusion is to the natural preponderance of the croaking of frogs over the singing of nightingales.] Cf. Cambridge oak and Cape nightingale.

1875. Chambers’ Journal, No. 581, p. 107, col. 2. The male of the eatable frog is distinguished ... by ... a pouch.... These pouches increase the volume of the croak, and render it so powerful that the possessors have, from the county in which they are particularly plentiful, received the nickname of Cambridgeshire nightingales.

Camden-Town, subs. (rhyming slang).—A halfpenny, or ‘brown.’ For synonyms, see Mag.

Camel’s Complaint, subs. phr. (common).—Low spirits; the hump (q.v.).

Camesa, subs. (thieves’).—A shirt chemise, or ‘shimmy.’ [From the Spanish camisa, or Italian camicia.] The word appears in various forms from the beginning of the seventeenth century, e.g., ‘camisa,’ ‘camiscia,’ ‘kemesa,’ ‘camise,’ and in a more genuinely English dress as ‘commission’ (q.v.), which in turn is shortened into mish (q.v.). For synonyms, see Flesh-bag.

1690.—B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew. Camesa: a shirt or shift.

1785.—Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Camesa (cant, Spanish): a shirt or shift.

1812.—Byron, Childe Harold II., Tambourgi ii. Oh! who is more brave than a dark Suliote, In his snowy camese and his shaggy capote?

1834.—H. Ainsworth, Rookwood, bk. III., ch. v. With my fawnied famms, and my onions gay, my thimble of ridge, and my driz (laced) kemesa.

Camister, subs. (thieves’).—A preacher or clergyman. From the white gown or surplice. [From Latin camisia, a linen tunic, alb, or shirt, + (probably) a termination suggested by ‘minister.’] For synonyms, see Devil-dodger.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 231. [List of patterer’s words.] Camister = Minister.

Camp. To go to camp, phr. (Australian).—To go to bed; to take rest. [From the practice in the early settlers’ days of forming a camp whenever a halt for the night was called.]

1887. All the Year Round, 30 July, p. 66, col. 2. To go to camp, by a transference of its original meaning, now signifies, in the mouth of a dweller in houses, simply ‘to lie down,’ ‘to go to bed.’

To take into camp, phr. (Common).—To kill.

1878. S. L. Clemens (‘Mark Twain’) Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion, p. 66. Sure enough one night the trap took Mrs. Jones’s principal tomcat into camp, and finished him up.

To camp, phr. (Australian).—To surpass; to ‘floor.’

18(?) H. Kendall, Billy Vickers. At punching oxen you may guess There’s nothing out can camp him; He has, in fact, the slouch and dress Which bullock-driver stamp him.

Campbell’s Academy, subs. phr. (old).—The hulks, or lighters, on board of which felons were condemned to hard labour. Mr. Campbell was the first director.—Grose.—See Academy and Floating academy. For synonyms, see Cage.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, II., 11. He was tried at Guildhall, Westminster, and sentenced to improve as a pupil in Mr. Duncan Campbell’s Floating Academy for five years.

Camp-Candlestick, subs. (military)—An empty bottle, or a bayonet. Quoted in the Lexicon Balatronicum [1811]. For synonyms in the sense of ‘an empty bottle,’ see Dead-man.

Camp-Stool Brigade, subs. phr. (common).—Said in the first place of people who wait outside a place of entertainment to secure the best seats, and bring camp-stools with them to rest themselves.

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 23 Sept., p. 5, col. 2. The first night of the Gaiety Wanderers will not be forgotten in a hurry. Seats for the occasion were booked a year ago last April! Can you wonder that the camp-stool brigade besieged the pit door as early as 10 a.m.?

Can, subs. (American).—1. A dollar piece.

2. (Scots).—A ‘slavey.’