Part 42

Doodlesack, subs. (old).—The female pudendum. Also Doodle-case and Doodle-trap. For synonyms, see Monosyllable.

Doog, adj. (back-slang).—Good.

Dookie, subs. (theatrical).—A penny show or unlicensed theatre. Cf., Gaff.

Dookin and Dookering, subs. (thieves’ and gypsies’).—Fortune-telling.

1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3rd ed., p. 444.

Dookin-Cove, subs. (common).—A fortune-teller. [From dookin = fortune-telling + cove, a man.]

Door-nail. Dead as a door-nail.—See Dead.

Doorsman, subs. (common).—See Barker and Clicker.

Doorstep, subs. (common).—A thick slice of bread and butter. Fr., une fondante.

1885. Miss Tennant, in Eng. Ill. Mag., June, p. 604. Doorsteps, I found, were thick slices of bread spread with jam.

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 doorstep and a sea-rover,’ i.e., for a halfpenny slice of bread and butter and a herring, &c.

Dooteroomus or Doot, subs. (American).—Money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, s.v.

Dope, verb (American).—To drug with tobacco. Also doping = the practice.

Dopey, subs. (old).—1. A beggar’s trull.

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

2. (old).—The podex.

Dor, subs. (Old Westminster School).—1. See quot.

1715. J. Kersey, English Dictionary. Sub voce, a term used at Westminster School for leave to sleep awhile.

2. (old).—An affront.

1600. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels.

Doras, subs. (Stock Exchange).—South-Eastern Railway Deferred Ordinary Stock, sometimes applied to the ‘A’ Stock.

Dorbie, subs. (Scots Masonic).—An initiate.

The Dorbies’ knock, subs. phr.—A peculiar rap given by masons as a signal amongst themselves. It may be represented by the time of the following notes: [Music notes].

Dorcas, subs. (colloquial).—A sempstress; especially one employing herself for charitable purposes.

Dorse.—See Doss.

Dose, subs. (thieves’).—1. A sentence of imprisonment; specifically three months’ hard labour.

English Synonyms.—Spell, time, drag, three moon, length, stretch, seven-pennorth, sixer, twelver, lagging.

French Synonym.—Une marque.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 22. ‘What’s yer dose?’ looking on to my badge; ‘five, oh, you can do that little lot on yer ’ed easy.’

2. (thieves’).—A burglary.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.

3. (pugilistic).—A beating.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress p. 17. Sandy tipp’d him a dose of that kind, that, when taken, It isn’t the stuff, but the patient that’s shaken.

4. (colloquial).—As much liquor as one can hold.

To have a dose of the balmy, verbal phr. (common).—To ‘do a sleep.’—See Balmy and Doss.

To take a grown man’s dose, verb. phr. (common).—To take a very large quantity of liquor.

Doss or Dorse, subs. (vagrants’).—A bed, or lodging; also a sleep, or lib (q.v.). [Origin uncertain.] For synonyms, see Kip and Balmy.

1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 165. Dorsed. The place where a person sleeps, or a bed. ‘I dorsed there last darkey.’

1858. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, p. 118. Into this branch curtained retreat, the lads crept on all fours, one after another, to enjoy their doss, as, in their slang, they called sleep.

1883. Daily News, 3 April, p. 3, col. 5. He replied that he had only come there to have a doss (sleep).

1889. Pall Mall Gazette, 9 Sep., p. 3, col. 2. If you want a doss, a doss is provided. A wooden framework, about as wide as the widest part of a coffin, and a wooden pillow and a blanket of leather.

Verb (vagrants’).—To sleep. For synonyms, see Balmy and infra. Also Dorse.

English Synonyms.—To go to the arms of Murphy (q.v.); to have forty winks; to go to Bedfordshire; to take a little (or do a dose) of the balmy; to chuck (or do) a doss; to snooze; to go to by-by; to read the paper; to shut one’s eyes to think; to retire to the land of Nod.

French Synonyms.—Battre la couverte (military); se foutre un coup de traversin (= to have a little turn up with the bolster); se bâcher, pagnotter or percher (to roost); se mettre dans la bâche; se bourser (popular); éteindre son gaz (popular: to put out one’s light; = also to die); entrer aux quinze-vingts (Les Quinze-vingts = a government hospital for the blind); dormir en chien de fusil (i.e., to sleep sitting, the head between the knees); dormir en gendarme (popular: ‘to sleep with one eye round the corner’); fermer les châssis (to put up shutters or ‘peepers’); se coller dans le pieu (popular).

Spanish Synonyms.—Acostarse con las gallinas (= to go to bed by cock-light); encamarse; tomarle á uno el sueño; tumbar (literally, to tumble down).

1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v. To dorse with a woman signifies to sleep with her.

1846. Punch, vol. XI., p. 165. Then silent flowed the tears of those maidens as perforce, Each saw her favourite champion sent, as Bell’s Life says, dorse.

1850. Lloyd’s Weekly, 3 Feb., ‘Low Lodging House of London.’ One said, Mate, how long have you been knocking about; where did you doss? I didn’t know what they meant, and when they’d told me, they meant, where did I sleep?

Dosser, subs. (vagrants’).—One who frequents a doss house (q.v.).

’Appy-dossers, subs. (vagrants’).—Houseless vagrants who creep in, sleep on stairs, in passages, and in empty cellars.

1880. G. R. Sims, How the Poor Live, p. 43. A ’appy dosser can make himself comfortable anywhere. I heard of one who used to crawl into the dust-bin, and pull the lid down.

1883. Referee, 15 July, p. 7, col. 2. The Lazaruses of to-day don’t lie exactly at Dives’s front door—the police are too active to allow such happy dossing as that.

The dosser, subs.—The father of a family.

Doss-house or Dossing-crib or Ken, subs. (vagrants’).—A common lodging-house. [From doss, to sleep + crib, or ken, a place of abode.] Fr., un bastengue and un garno. English variants: Libken, two-penny-rope, padding-ken, and kidden (all of which see). Doss-money = the price of a night’s lodging.

1838. Comic Almanack, April. The hulks is now my bowsing-crib, the hold my dossing-ken.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 150. When their funds are insufficient to defray the charge of a bed, or a part of one, at a country dossing-crib (his lodging-house).

1885. Daily Telegraph, 22 August, p. 2. col. 1. Her’s is no common dossing-crib, with a squalid kitchen, common to all comers.

1889. Globe, 29 Aug., p. 2, col. 2. Various other smart people who are at present residing in the doss-houses of London.

1890. Speaker, 22 Feb., p. 211, col. 1. Equally bad doss-houses exist in Notting Hill and near Drury Lane.

Dossy, adj. (common).—Elegant, ‘spiff’ (q.v.).

Dot, subs. (old).—A ribbon. Dot-drag = a watch ribbon.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171, s.v.

Dot-and-Carry-, or Go-one, subs. phr. (common).—1. Properly, a man with a wooden leg; by implication, a hopping-giles or limping jesus (q.v.). Fr., un (or une) banban. Cf., verbal sense.

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

1822. Scott, The Fortunes of Nigel, ch. v. That was his father.... You old dotard. Dot-and-carry-one that you are.

1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (Lay of S. Nicholas). How he rose with the sun, limping dot and go one.

1841. Leman Rede, Sixteen-String Jack, Act i., Sc. 4. Kit. Of all the rummy chaps I ever did see, that dot-and-carry-one-of-old poetry is the queerest; he’s as green as a babby, and as deep as a wooden spoon.

2. (old).—A writing-master or teacher of arithmetic. [Grose, 1785.]

Verb (old).—To ‘hirple’; especially applied to a person with one leg shorter than the other, or, ‘with an uneven keel.’

Do tell! intj. (American).—A useful interjection, for listeners who feel that some remark is expected; equivalent to the English Really? and Indeed? A similar phrase in the South is the old English, You don’t say so? which a Yankee will vary by, I want to know! Do tell is also used with inexperienced Munchausens who by its means may often be lured to repeat themselves.

1824. R. B. Peake, Americans Abroad, Act I., Sc. ii. Mrs. L. But when they order nothing at all— Dou: What then, du pray tell?

1854. N. and Q., 1 S., x., p. 84, R. Does Jeremiur behave well now? S. No, he’s very ugly. He tried to burn the barn. R. do tell!

1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 598 s.v.

Dots, subs. (American journalist).—1. Items of news.

2. (popular).—Money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.

Dotter, subs. (common).—A reporter; penny-a-liner. Cf., Dots, sense 1.

Dottle, subs. (common).—The same as Dodder (q.v.).

1885. John Coleman, in Longm. Mag., VII., 69. During the performance of ‘It’s Never Too Late to Mend,’ some gentleman of the proletariat, in knocking out the burning dottle of his pipe, succeeded in setting the gallery on fire.

Dotty, adj. and adv. (common).—1. Feeble; dizzy; idiotic; e.g., dotty in the crumpet = weak in the head; dotty in the pins = unsteady on the legs. [Totty is given in Cole’s Eng. Dict. (1724) = dizzy, but cf., dotish and dotage.] For synonyms, see Apartments, Balmy, and Cf., Cabbage-head.

1870. Sportsman, 9 April. Although he begins to go a little stiff in his limbs and dotty on his feet he enjoys good health.

1884. Daily Telegraph, 9 April, p. 2, col. 6. His bad leg grows worse ... and, as usual, he [a race-horse] pulled up in a dotty condition.

1889. Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday, 3 Aug., p. 242, col. 3. As poor Doody on his knees had dropt In front of lovely Tottie, And the fatal question just had pop’t. He really look’d quite dotty.

Subs. (common).—The fancy man of prostitutes of the lowest type.

Doubite, subs. (old).—A street.

1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.

Double, subs. (colloquial).—1. A trick.

2. (theatrical).—An actor playing two parts in the same piece; used also as a verb.

1825. Egan, Life of an Actor, ‘The Country Manager.’ I make no reserve for myself, like all other managers; indeed, I am to double any character, and only anxious to make the most of every little bit.

3. (thieves’).—See quot.

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., xl., 501. I piped a slavey (servant) come out of a chat (house), so when she had got a little way up the double (turning) I pratted (went) in the house.

4. (printers’).—Repetition of a word or sentence.

[Double, adj. and adv., is also used as an intensitive in many obscene or offensive connotations: e.g., double-arsed = large in the posteriors; double-duggs (and double-dugged or diddied) = heavy breasted; double-guts (and double-gutted) = excessively corpulent; double-cunted = stretched beyond service; double-hocked = abnormally thick ankled; double-shung = extravagantly large in the genitals; double-mouthed = mouth-almighty (q.v.); and so forth.]

To put the double on, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To circumvent.

To tip or give the double, verb. phr. (common).—To run or slip away openly or unperceived; to double as a hare; formerly to escape one’s creditors. Also to tip one the Dublin packet. For synonyms, see Amputate and Skedaddle.

1781. G. Parker, View of Society, I., 174, s.v.

1860. The Druid, ‘Post and Paddock.’ Alas! my innocent rural police, Your fondest hopes were a bubble; Your attempts to prevent a breach of the peace, Your race o’er the Derbyshire stubble; You must freely own that you felt like geese, When Sam Rogers gave you the double.

1870. Daily News, 26 May. ‘The Metropolitan Police.’ The policeman must do his best to ‘keep square’ with the sergeant who looks after him and his beats, who can be down upon him at any moment and double upon him three or four times a-night.

1884. Hawley Smart, Post to Finish, ch. i. Old Gregson would never put the double upon us. No, it’s right enough, you may depend upon it.

Double-back, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To go back upon oneself; an action; an opinion.

Double-barrel, subs. (popular).—A field or opera glass.

1890. H. D. Traill, Saturday Songs, p. 61. Intently as the masher plies O’er all the stage his double-barrel That Eightyer mute had fixed his eyes Upon his honoured guest’s apparel.

Double-barrelled, adj. (venery).—Said of a harlot working both before and behind.

Double-bottomed, adj. (colloquial).—Insincere; saying one thing and meaning another.

Double-breasted feet, subs. phr. (common).—Club feet. Also Double Breasters.

Double-cross or Double-double, subs. (sporting).—Winning or doing one’s best to win after engaging to lose or ‘mike’; (q.v.).

1887. Referee, 21 Aug., 1, 3. When the pair raced before, Teemer declared, and Hanlan did not deny, that a double cross was brought off. Teemer promised to sell the match, and finished by selling those who calculated on his losing.

Double-distilled, adj. (colloquial).—Superlative: e.g., ‘a double-distilled whopper’ = a tremendous lie.

Double-dutch, adj. (colloquial).—Unintelligible speech; jargon; gibberish. ‘It was all Double-dutch to me’ = I didn’t understand a word of it.

Double-event, subs. (sporting).—1. Backing a horse for two races.

1883. Grenville Murray, People I Have Met, p. 155. His lordship, who had won largely on a double event.

2. (venery).—Gonorrhœa and syphilis at once. Said also of simultaneous defloration and impregnation.

Double-finn, subs. (common).—A £10 note.—[See Finn.]

1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag., xl., 505. Yes, there it was, fifty quid in double finns (£10 notes).

Double-header, subs. (common).—A false coin with a head on the obverse and reverse, made by soldering two split coins. Cf., Cover and Heading ’em.

1887. Walford’s Antiquarian, p. 252. A double-header is the usual property of the gutter sharper.

Double-juggs, subs. (old).—The posteriors (Burton). For synonyms, see Blind cheeks, Bum, and Monocular eyeglass.

Double-lines, subs. (nautical).—Ship casualties. So called from the manner of entering at Lloyd’s.

Doubler, subs. (pugilistic).—A blow in the side or stomach, causing a man to bend from pain or lack of wind. Cf., Double up, sense 1. For synonyms, see Dig.

1821. The Fancy, vol. I., p. 255. In the fourth round he came in all abroad, and got a doubler in the bread-basket, which spoiled him for the remainder of the fight.

Double-ribbed, adj. phr. (common).—Pregnant. For synonyms, see Lumpy.

Double-shotted, adj. (colloquial).—Said of a whiskey (or brandy) and soda, containing twice the normal quantity of alcohol.

Double-shuffle, subs. (common). 1. A hornpipe step in which each foot is shuffled twice in succession, the more rapidly and neatly the better.

1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 47. The waterman ... is dancing the double shuffle, in front of the pump, to keep his feet warm.

1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. i., p. 542. I used to talk to him and whistle. I can just whistle ... and to dance him the double-shuffle.

1871. Echo, 11 Dec., ‘Sunday among the Silk Weavers.’ The clumsy high low with which they execute scientific ‘elephant dances’ and double-shuffles.

2. subs. (common).—A trick or fakement.

Double-Slang.—See Slangs.

Double-Sucker, subs. (venery).—A term descriptive of an abnormal development of the tissues of the labia majora.

Doublet, subs. (thieves’).—A doctored diamond or other precious stone. Cf., Triplet. [The quots. show derivation.]

1706. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Doublet, a precious stone of two pieces joyned.

1822. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, ch. xxxi. Your een are sharp enough to look after gowd and silver, gems, rubies, and the like of that.... Look at them—they are a’right and tight, sound and round, not a doublet crept in amongst them.

1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iv., p. 273. Most jewellers and pawnbrokers are well acquainted with what are called doublets. These are rubies or emeralds made of two pieces. The face is a real ruby, emerald, or sapphire, as the case may be, and this is backed up by a piece of coloured glass.

Double-Thumper, subs. (common).—A prodigious lie.

Double-Tongued, adj. (colloquial).—Mendacious; given to change opinions in changing company.

Double-tongued Squib, subs. phr. (common).—A double-barrelled gun. For synonyms, see Squib.

1864. G. W. Reynolds, Pickwick Abroad. A double-tongued squib to keep in awe The chaps that flout at me.

Double-up, verb (pugilistic).—1. To punish. Also to be collapsed. Cf., Doubler.

1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 20. Doubled him up, like a bag of old duds.

1827. Reynolds (‘Peter Corcoran’), The Fancy, note on p. 89. Randall doubles up an opponent, as a friend lately declared, as easily as though he were picking a flower or pinching a girl’s cheek.

1830. S. Warren, Diary of a Late Physician, ch. xii. Accompanied by a tremendous doubling up body-blow, as in an instant brought him senseless to the ground.

1845. Punch, vol. IX., p. 163. Ben’s reference to the Premier’s friend, Canning, completely doubled him up.

1849. Thackeray, Dr. Birch, p. 6. I reflect as I go up and set him a sum, that he [Champion] could whop me in two minutes, double up Prince and the other assistant and pitch the Doctor out of the window.

1866. London Miscellany, 5 May, p. 202. Doubled you up, I mean, sir. Smashed you.

2. (common).—To pair off, to chum with.

1885. W. Westall, Larry Lohengrin, ch. iii. He ... promised the steward a handsome tip if nobody were doubled up with him,—i.e., if no other person were put into the same cabin.

Dough, subs. (public schools’).—Pudding.

Dough-baked, adj. phr. (colloquial).—Deficient in intellect. U.S.A. = Easily moulded: said of politicians. For synonyms, see Apartments.

1675. Wycherley, Country Wife, IV., iv. in wks. (1713), 212. These dow-baked, sensless, indocile animals, women.

Doughy, subs. (common).—A baker.—See Burncrust, and for synonyms, master of the rolls.

Douse.—See Dowse.

Dover, subs. (hotel).—A made dish; hash; rechauffé.

Dovers, subs. (Stock Exchange).—South Eastern Railway Ordinary Stock. [From one of the termini on the line.]

Doves, subs. (University).—Members of St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge.—See quot. Obsolete.

1888. C. Whibley, Three Centuries of Cambridge Wit, p. xxix. It is said that the members of St. Catharine’s Hall were first of all called ‘Puritans,’ from the derivation of the name of their patroness from καθαίρειν. The ‘dove’ being the emblem of purity, to change a name from ‘Puritans’ to doves was but one short step.

Soiled-Doves, subs. (common).—High-class prostitutes. For synonyms, see Barrack-Hack and Tart.

Dove-Tart, subs. (colloquial).—A pigeon pie. (Doo-tairt is excellent Scots for the same thing.) Cf., Snake Tart = eel pie.

1857. Rev. E. Bradley (‘Cuthbert Bede’), Verdant Green, pt. II., ch. vii. Why, a dove tart is what mortals call a pigeon-pie.

Dowlas, subs. (common).—A draper. [From dowlas, now a kind of towelling, but mentioned by Shakspeare (1 Henry IV., III., iii., 1597) as a material for shirts. Popularised as a sobriquet by Colman’s Daniel Dowlas in The Heir at Law.—See Dickey Diaper, and cf., Dripping = cook; Grindo = miller; Gallipot = chemist; Lint-scraper = surgeon, (q.v.).

Dowling, subs. (public school).—See quot.

1871. Newspaper Report, 18 Feb., of a charge of assault against the head boy of Shrewsbury School. Mr. Chandler addressed the Bench for the defence. He said the game of dowling was practised at Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Westminster and other large schools, etc.

1877. Everyday Life in our Public Schools. There are four or five compulsory games a week (football) known as dowlings δοῦλος.

Down, subs. (thieves’).—1. Suspicion; alarm; a diversion. There is no down = All is quiet, it is safe to go on.

1821. D. Haggart, Life, Glossary, p. 171. Down, alarm; rose the down, gave the alarm.

2. (American).—Small beer. Up = bottled ale.

Adv. (colloquial).—1. Dispirited; hard-up; in disgrace. Found in various combinations: e.g., down in the mouth, or dumps = dejected; down on one’s luck = reduced in circumstances; down at heel = shabby; down on one’s back-seam = out of luck; down to bed-rock (American) = penniless, etc., etc.

1608–11. Bishop Hall, Epistles, i., 6. The Roman orator was down in the mouth; finding himself thus cheated by the money-changer.

1693. Congreve, Old Batchelor, Act iv., Sc. 9. Sir J. Witt. Now am I slap-dash down in the mouth, and have not one word to say!

1751. Smollett, Peregrine Pickle, ch. xlix. He ... told the physician that he was like the root of the tongue, as being cursedly down in the mouth.

1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, p. 6, (ed. 1857). I see—never ruined—accidents will happen—best regulated families—never say die—down upon your luck—pull him up.

1840. Comic Almanack, p. 208. Let’s not be down upon our luck Nor out of heart at our condition.

1846. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, vol. II., ch. xxix. They say, that when Mrs. Crawley was particularly down on her luck, she gave concerts and lessons in music here and there.

1851. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 58. If the hucksters know that the person calling the raffle is down, and that it is necessity that has made him call it, they will not allow the property put up to be thrown for.

1861. Marian Evans (G. Eliot), Silas Marner, ch. viii. Well, here’s my turning, said Bryce, not surprised to perceive that Godfrey was rather down; so I’ll bid you good-day.

1864. Edmund Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. x. What won’t do? asked Prescott, with flaming face, Why, this Kate Mellon business, Jim. It’s on hot and strong, I know. You’ve been down in the mouth all the time she was away.

1880. A. Trollope, The Duke’s Children, ch. xlvii. I’m sorry you’re so down in the mouth. Why don’t you try again?

1880. Jas. Greenwood, Veteran of Vauxhall in ‘Odd People in Odd Places,’ p. 40. Then I got down at heel, as the saying is; and when a man is reduced to one bare suit of black, and that one so shaky with long wear that it wants as tender handling as an invalid, he hasn’t got much of a chance to get on well as a waiter.

2. (old).—Acquainted with; ‘fly’ (q.v.); up to (q.v.). Also in combination: down to, down on, and down as a hammer.

1610. Jonson, Alchemist, IV., iv. Thou art so down upon the least disaster! How would’st thou ha’ done, if I had not help’t thee out?

1825. The English Spy, vi., p. 162. Dick’s a trump, and no telegraph—up to every frisk, and down to every move of the domini, thoroughbred and no want of courage.

1839. W. H. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard, p. 138, [ed. 1840.] Awake! to be sure I am, my flash cove, replied Sheppard, I’m down as a hammer.

1850. F. E. Smedley, Frank Fairleigh, ch. iv. You’re about right there, Mr. Lawless, you’re down to every move, I see, as usual.

1865. G. F. Berkeley, Life, etc., II., 103. Crib. I said ... I’m down on it all; the monkey never bit your dog.

3. (old).—Hang-dog. Cf., adv., sense 1.

1703. Ward, London Spy, pt. xv., p. 353. He describes a swarthy, black, ill-looking Fellow, with a down look, or the like.

1879. Jas. Payn, High Spirits (Number Forty-seven). ‘Well, he was rather a down-looking cove.’ ‘Hang-dog?’ said I. ‘Well, yes, to be frank, hang-dog.’

4. Verb (common).—To put on one’s back: whether by force or by persuasion: e.g., to down a woman = to lay her out for copulation.—See also quot.

1874. Henley, Unpublished Ballad. Then I downs my bleedin’ Judy, And I puts a new head on her.

To be down a pit, verb. phr. (theatrical).—To be very much ‘taken’ with a part.