Slang and its analogues past and present, volume 2 [of 7]
Part 49
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.
1869. Whyte Melville, M. or N., p. 189. Dick Stanmore took his punishment with true British pluck and pertinacity. It was a facer.
3. (Irish).—A dram.
4. (old).—A bumper. [Grose, 1785.]
5. (common).—A tumbler of whiskey punch.
6. (American thieves’).—An accomplice; a stall (q.v.) or fence (q.v.).
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.
1881. New York Slang Dict., s.v.
Facey, subs. (tailors’).—A fellow workman vis-à-vis. Facey on the bias = one in front either to right or left; Facey on the two thick = one working immediately behind one’s opposite.
Facings.—To be put, or go, through one’s facings, verb. phr. (popular).—To be called to account or scolded; to exemplify capacity; to ‘show off.’ [Military.]
Silk-facings, subs. (tailors’).—Stains upon work caused by droppings of beer. [In allusion to the ‘watered’ silk trimmings in front of a regimental jacket or coat.]
Fad-cattle, subs. (old).—Easy women. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack and Tart. [Cf., Faddle = to toy + cattle (q.v.).]
Faddist (also Fadmonger), subs. (colloquial).—A person (male or female) devoted to the pursuit of public fads: as ‘social purity,’ moral art, free-trade in syphilis, and so-forth.
Faddle, verb (obsolete).—To toy or trifle: as a subs. = a busybody; a ‘nancified’ affected male. Also Faddy = full of fads.
Fadge, subs. (common).—A farthing.
English Synonyms.—Fiddler; farden; gig, or grig; quartereen.
1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 178, s.v.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London, s.v.
Verb (old).—To suit; to fit; to agree with; to come off. [A.S., fégan, fégean, to join, to fit. Nares says, ‘probably never better than a low word: it is now confined to the streets.’]
1593. Nashe, 4 Lett. Conf., in wks. (Grosart) II., 215. They haue broght in a new kind of a quicke sight, which your decrepite slow-mouing capacitie cannot fadge with.
1594. Shakspeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost, V., i., 154. We will haue, if this fadge not, an Antique.
1599. Massinger, Old Law, IV., ii. Clean. My Lord! Sim. Now it begins to fadge.
1636. T. Heywood, Love’s Mistress, Act IV. Vulcan ... I keep a dozen journeymen at least, besides my Ciclops and my Prentises, yet ’twill not fadge.
1639. Beaumont and Fletcher, Wit without Money, III., iv. Clothes I must get; this fashion will not fadge with me.
1678. Quack’s Academy; in Harl. Misc. (ed. Park), ii., 32. That could never make their untoward handicrafts fadge to purpose.
1750. Walpole, Lett. to Mann, 18 Oct. (1833), vol. II., p. 485. Alack! when I came to range them, they did not fadge at all.
1819. Scott, in C. K. Sharpe’s Correspondence (1888), ii., 197. Pray let me know ... how matters fadge in the great city of Edinburgh.
1830. Scott, Doom of Devorgoil, Act II., Sc. 1. If this same gear fadge right, I’ll cote and mouth her, And then! whoop! dead! dead! dead!
1851. G. Borrow, Lavengro, ch. lv., p. 173 (1888). Any new adventure which I can invent will not fadge well with the old tale.
Fadger, subs. (glaziers’).—A glazier’s frame; otherwise a ‘frail.’
Fadmonger, subs. (colloquial).—A Faddist (q.v.). Fadmongering, verb. phr. (colloquial) = dealing as a Faddist (q.v.) with fads.
Fag, subs. (public schools’).—1. A boy who does menial work for a schoolfellow in a higher form. [From Fag, to grow weary.]
1855. Thackeray, Newcomes, ch. xviii. Bob Trotter, the diminutive fag of the studio, who ran on all the young men’s errands, and fetched them in apples, oranges, and walnuts.
1857. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, ch. i. Is still enumerated among the feats of the brave days of old, by the fags over their evening small beer.
2. (Christ’s Hospital).—See quot.
1850. L. Hunt, Autobiography, ch. iii. Fag, with us [at Christ’s Hospital], meant eatables. The learned derived the word from the Greek phago, to eat.
3. (American thieves’).—A lawyer’s clerk.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.
Verb (public schools’).—1. To do menial work for a schoolfellow in a higher form. Cf., Fag, subs., sense 1.
1884. Temple Bar, August, p. 514. He must have completely marred his chance of happiness at the school when he refused to fag and took countless thrashings, snivelling.
2. (old).—To beat.
1754. B. Martin, Eng. Dict. (2nd ed.).
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Fag the bloss, beat the wench.
Fagger, Figger, or Figure, subs. (old).—A boy thief whose duty is to enter houses by windows and either open the doors to his confederates (as Oliver Twist with Bill Sykes), or hand out the ‘swag’ to them; also little snakesman (q.v.); cf., Diver.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1848. Duncombe, Sinks of London, s.v.
Fagging, or Faggery, subs. (public schools’).—Waiting upon and doing menial work for a school-fellow in a higher form. Also used adjectively.
1853. De Quincey, Autob. Sketches, i., 210. Faggery was an abuse too venerable and sacred to be touched by profane hands.
1873. Pall Mall Gazette, 17 May. The Winchester ‘tunding’ system, with all its faults, is hardly less objectionable than the fagging system pursued in the Scotch endowed hospitals.
Faggot, subs. (common).—1. A term of opprobrium applied to women; a ‘baggage.’ [At one time a faggot was a popular symbol of recantation of opinions thought worthy only of burning (Bailey, 1728), and heretics who had thus escaped the stake were required either to bear a faggot and burn it in public, or to wear an imitation on the sleeve as a badge.] Also used in combination: e.g., Bed- (or Straw-) Faggot = a wife, or mistress; Tumble-faggot = a whoremaster; Carry-faggot = a mattress; and Spike- (or Tickle-) faggot (obsolete) = the penis.
1820. Reynolds (‘P. Corcoran’), The Fancy, p. 16. I have got a faggot here, Aye, and quite a bad one; Were I married, p’rhaps my dear Might think that he too had one.
2. (common).—See quot., 1851.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. ii., p. 255. He then made his supper, or second meal, for tea he seldom touched, on fagots. This preparation ... is a sort of cake, roll, or ball, a number being baked at a time, and is made of chopped liver and lights, mixed with gravy, and wrapped in pieces of pig’s caul. It weighs six ounces, so that it is unquestionably a cheap [it costs 1d. hot] and, to the scavager, a savoury meal, but to other nostrils it’s odour is not seductive.
1870. London Figaro, 2 July. Have you more than a penny? A glorious perspective opens out before you of all the delicacies of the season, commencing with trotters—the harmless mutton, or the succulent swine; ‘faggots,’ etc.
1884. Cornhill Mag., June, p. 615. They can obtain hot faggots, hot baked potatoes, hot fried fish, or a cut of pork with hot pease-pudding.
3. (old).—A ‘dummy’ soldier; one hired to appear at a muster to hide deficiencies. Many names of dummies would appear on the muster-roll: for these the colonel drew pay, but they were never in the ranks.
1672–1719. Addison [quoted in Imperial Dict.]. There were several counterfeit books which were carved in wood, and served only to fill up the number like fagots in the muster of a regiment.
1728. Bailey, Dict., s.v.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Verb (old).—1. To bind hand and foot; to tie [as sticks into a faggot]. Fr., un fagot = a convict, because bound to a common chain on their way to the hulks.
1728. Bailey, Dict., s.v.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Faggot the culls, bind the men.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.
2. (venery).—To copulate; also to frequent the company of loose women.
Faggot-briefs, subs. (political).—Bundles of dummy papers sometimes carried by briefless barristers. [Cf., Faggot, sense 3.]
1859. Sala, Twice Round the Clock, 10 a.m. Par. 10. The counsel chat and poke each other in the ribs; the briefless ones, in the high back rows, scribble caricatures on their blotting-pads, or pretend to pore over faggot briefs.
1887. Cornhill Mag., June, p. 627.
Faggot briefs ... those bundles of dummy papers sometimes carried by the briefless ones.
Faggoteer, (also Faggot-master), subs. (venery).—A whoremonger. For synonyms, see Molrower.
Faggot-vote, subs. (political).—A vote secured by the purchase of property under mortgage, or otherwise, so as to constitute a nominal qualification without a substantial basis. [Derived by some from Faggot, sense 3; by others from the mode of manufacture, i.e., by the purchase of property which is divided into as many lots as will constitute separate votes, and given to different persons.]
1854. Notes and Queries, vol. X., p. 403. Faggot-vote.—Can you inform me of the origin of the term used to denote a spurious or fictitious vote, formed usually by the nominal transfer of a sufficient qualification to an otherwise unqualified man; this is called a faggot vote.
1879. Gladstone, 1st Midl. Speech, 25 Nov. Why, gentlemen, quite apart from every question of principle, nothing, I venture to say, can be so grossly imprudent as that which is familiarly known in homely but most accurate phrase as the manufacture of faggot votes.
1887. Cornhill Mag., June, p. 627. Faggot votes ... the name is probably taken from an old military term.
Fains! Fainits! Fain it! intj. (schoolboys’).—A call for truce during the progress of a game without which priority or place would be lost; generally understood to be preferred ‘in bounds,’ or when out of danger. [Thought to be a corruption of ‘fend.’]—See Bags!
Fair-gang, subs. (old).—Gypsies. [From their habit of visiting fairs.]
Fair-rations, subs. (sporting).—Fair dealings.
Fair-shake, subs. (American).—A good bargain. [From a measure well shaken down.] Cf., Shake.
Fair-trade, subs. (nautical).—Smuggling.
Faithful. One of the faithful, subs. phr. (old).—1. A drunkard. For synonyms, see Elbow-crooker.
1609. The Man in the Moone. This fellow is one of the faithfull, as they prophanelie terme him, said Opinion; no Heliogabalus at meat, but he will drinke many degrees beyond a Dutchman.
2. (common).—A tailor giving long credit.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon. Faithful. A tailor that gives long credit. ‘I say, Sam, what kind of crib was that you cracked?’ ‘Oh! it belonged to one of the faithful.’
Faithful Durhams, subs. phr. (military).—The Sixty-Eight Foot.
Fake, subs. (common).—An action; a proceeding; a manœuvre; a mechanical contrivance—an affair of any kind irrespective of morals or legality: generally used in a sense specifically detrimental. In America, a swindler. [Origin dubious: Barrère says, ‘a very ancient cant word,’ but gives no evidence. Fakement (q.v.) appears to be the older subs. form (1785), while the verbal usage is traced to Ainsworth’s ‘fake away’! in Rookwood (1834). Conjecturally derived from the Latin facere, to make, to do: compare to which the French slang use of faire.]
1827. Maginn, in Blackwood’s Mag. ... the fogle-hunters doing Their morning fake in the prigging lay.
[Circa 1850, but date uncertain.] ‘Bates’ Farm.’ I’m up to every little fake, But in me there’s no harm.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 237. After that we had a fine fake—that was the fire of the Tower of London—it sold rattling.
1871. London Figaro, 21 Oct. Yet they’ve been known for many a fake To coolly set a trap.
1883. Greenwood, Tag, Rag, and Co. Naming the house in the ridiculous way it was named was merely a fake to draw attention to it.
1888. New York Mercury. Both ladies then came to the conclusion that the fortune-teller was a fake, and they decided to notify the police.
1889. Globe, 23 July, p. 2, col. 2. Good Gladstonites, flock up and take One bottle of the Parnell fake.
Verb (common).—1. To do anything; to fabricate; to cheat; to deceive, or devise falsely; to steal; to forge. A general verb-of-all-work. In America fix (q.v.) is employed much in the same way, whilst the French slang has faire; maquiller; aquiger or quiger; and goupiner.
[In combination to fake a screeve = to write a begging letter; to fake one’s slangs = to file through one’s fetters; to fake a cly (q.v.) = to pick a pocket; to fake the sweetener = to kiss; to fake the duck = to adulterate, to dodge; to fake the rubber = to stand treat; to fake the broads = to pack the cards, or to work the three-card trick; to fake a line (theatrical) = to improvise a speech; to fake a dance, or a step, or a trip (theatrical) = to perform what looks like, but is not, dancing.]
1851–61. H. Mayhew, London Lab. and Lon. Poor, vol. I., p. 390. The ring is made out of brass gilt buttons, and stunning well: it’s faked up to rights, and takes a good judge even at this day to detect it without a test.
1861. Reade, Cloister and Hearth, ch. lv. There the folk are music-bitten, and they molest not beggars, unless they fake to boot, and then they drown us out of hand.
2. (sporting).—To hocus; to nobble; to tamper.
1872. Morning Post, 7 Nov. Since the faking of the scales in Catch-’em-alive’s year the oldest habitué of Newmarket cannot recall so sensational a Cambridgeshire week as the last one.
3. (theatrical).—Also to fake up. To paint one’s face; to make up a character.
1885. Sporting Times, 23 May. ‘The Chorister’s Promise.’ The landlady left, and the chorister fair Faked herself up, and frizzed her hair.
4. (American thieves’).—To cut out the wards of a key.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.
Fake away! intj. phr. (common).—An ejaculation of encouragement.
1834. Harrison Ainsworth, Rookwood. The knucks in quod did my schoolmen play, Fake away!
1846. Punch’s Almanack, ‘Song of September.’ The partridge on its tender wing Is up at break of day, But down the bird my gun shall bring: Bang! fizz, boys! fake away!
Fake-boodle.—See Boodle.
Faked, ppl. adj. (common).—Counterfeit; sometimes faked-up. Fr., lophe.
1889. Answers, 15 June, p. 41, col. 1. In order to prevent any chance of a dishonest person winning by means of a faked puzzle we shall provide a number of puzzles ourselves, and these will be used by all competitors.
Fakement, subs. (old).—1. A counterfeit signature; a forgery; specifically a begging letter or petition. Fr., brasser des faffes = to forge documents, i.e., ‘to screeve fakements’; un fafiot (also a bank note, or shoe); and une luque or un luquet.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Tell the macers to mind their fakements, desire the swindlers to be careful not to forge another person’s signature.
1856. H. Mayhew, Gt. World of London, p. 46. Dependents of beggars; as screevers or the writers of ‘slums’ (letters) and fakements (petitions).
1857. Ducange Anglicus, The Vulgar Tongue, p. 39. Lawyer Bob draws fakements up; he’s tipped a peg for each.
1889. Answers, 27 July, p. 137, col. 1. I have drawn up fakements for sham members of almost every trade, always using a leading name at the head of the list of donors.
2. (common).—Generic for dishonest practices; but applied to any kind of action, contrivance, or trade.—See Fake, subs., of which it is an older usage. Cf., Kidment.
1838. Glascock, Land Sharks and Sea Gulls, II., 4. That’s right; I see you’re fly to every fakement.
1857. Ducange Anglicus, The Vulg. Tongue, p. 44. For every day, mind what I say, Fresh fakements you will find.
1859. H. Kingsley, Geoffry Hamlyn, ch. v. I cultivated his acquaintance, examined his affairs, and put him up to the neatest little fakement in the world.
1876. C. Hindley, Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack, p. 232. Stow your gab and gauffery, To every fakement I’m a-fly. Ibid., p. 233. I have got a pair of highly polished steel spring snuffers with extra fakement; they will either snuff a candle out or snuff a candle in.
1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iv., p. 254. You worked that little fakement in a blooming quiet way, ... said my late neighbour.
1883. Daily Telegraph, 7 Aug., p. 6, col. 2. Pair of moleskins [trousers], any colour ... with a double fakement down the sides, and artful buttons at the bottom.
3. (theatrical).—Small properties; accessories.
Fakement-Charley, subs. phr. (thieves’).—An owner’s private mark.
1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., s.v.
Faker, subs. (common).—1. One who makes, does, or ‘fakes’ anything; specifically a thief. Found in many combinations: e.g., Bit-faker; Flue-faker; Grub-faker; Sham-faker, Twat-faker, etc.
1851. G. Borrow, Lavengro, ch. xxxi., p. 112 (1888). We never calls them thieves here, but prigs and fakers.
1857. Ducange Anglicus, Vulg. Tongue. Faker, a jeweller (theatrical).
1869. George Macdonald, Robert Falconer, pt. III., ch. x. Them pusses is mannyfactered express for the convenience o’ the fakers.
1885. Daily Telegraph, 1 August, p. 2, col. 1. ‘I’ve turned faker of dolls and dolls’ furniture; like what you see us working on now.’ ‘And when you say faker you mean—‘Renowater,’ struck in Miss Menders.’
1887. Baumann, Londonismen, p. 5. Piratical fakers Of bosh by the acres.
2. (circus).—A circus rider or performer.
3. (venery).—A prostitute’s Fancy-man (q.v.).
Fakes and Slumboes, subs. phr. (theatrical).—Properties; accessories of any kind.
Faking, verb. subs. (common).—The act of doing anything. [From fake (q.v.) + ing.] Fr., le maquillage or le goupinage.
Fall, verb (thieves’).—1. To be arrested.
1883. Horsley, Jottings from Jail [in Echo]. A little time after this I fell again at St. Mary Cray for being found at the back of a house.
2. (venery).—To conceive. For synonyms, see Lumpy.
Fall of the Leaf, subs. phr. (old).—Hanging. [In allusion to the fall of the drop.] For synonyms, see Ladder.
1789. G. Parker, Variegated Characters. He was knocked down for the crap the last sessions. He went off at the fall of the leaf at Tuck’em Fair.
False-hereafter, subs. (American).—A bustle. For synonyms, see Bird-cage.
Fam.—See Fambling-cheat and Famble.
Famble, Fam, or Fem, subs. (old).—The hand. Cf., Fambling-cheat. For synonyms, see Bunch of fives and Daddle. [German slang has Fehm, Vehm, or Vehn, and is apparently the same word as the English Fam. A likely etymon is the Swed. and Dan. fem, five.]
1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 64, s.v.
1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). Fambles. handes.
1662. Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, ii., 1. We clapt our fambles.
1724. E. Coles, Eng. Dict., s.v.
1815. Scott, Guy Mannering, ch. xxviii. If I had not helped you with these very fambles (holding up her hands).
1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial, p. 28. Allowing for delicate fams, which have merely Been handling the sceptre, and that, too but queerly.
1878. C. Hindley, Life and Times of James Catnach. So kiddy is my famble.
Verb (old).—To touch; to handle; especially with a view to ascertaining the whereabouts of valuables. Also termed to fam for the plant, and to run a rule over. To fam a donna = to take liberties with a woman; to firky-toodle (q.v.); to cross-fam (q.v.).
Famblers, Fambling-Cheats (q.v.) or Fam-snatchers (q.v.), subs. (old).—Gloves.
1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874), s.v.
Fambling-cheat, Famble, or Fam, subs. (old).—A ring; also (about 1694) gloves, which later still were also called Fam-snatchers (q.v.). [From Famble, a hand + a.s. chete (q.v.), a thing.]
1567. Harman, Caveat (1814), p. 64. A fambling chete, a ring on thy hand.
1610. Rowlands, Martin Mark-all, p. 38 (H. Club’s Repr., 1874). Fambling Cheates, Rings.
1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia, II., in wks. (1720), iv., 47. Look on my finger, sirrah, look here; here’s a famble.
1694. Dunton, Ladies’ Dict., s.v. Famble-cheats, rings or gloves.
1724. E. Coles, Eng. Dict. Famble cheats, rings or gloves.
1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 180. Fam, A gold ring.
Fam-grasp, verb (old).—To shake hands. Also substantively, hand-shaking.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
Familiars, subs. (common).—Lice. For synonyms, see Chates.
Familiar-way, subs. (common).—With child.
Family Disturbance, subs. (American).—Whiskey. For synonyms, see Drinks.
Family-hotel, subs. (old).—A prison. For synonyms, see Cage. [Cf., Family-man.]
1857. Punch, 31 Jan. In a ward with one’s pals, Not locked up in a cell, To an old hand like me its a fam-ly hotel.
Family-man, subs. (old).—A thief; specifically, a fence (q.v.). [In allusion to the fraternities into which thieves were at one time invariably banded.]—See Thieves.
1749. Bamfylde Moore-Carew., ‘Oath of the Canting Crew.’ No dummerar, or romany; No member of the family.
1788. G. A. Stevens, Adv. of a Specialist, i., 221. Let the people say what they will against gamesters, gamblers, Or family-men.
1838. Glascock, Land Sharks and Sea Gulls, II., 100. This house ... was a favourite resort of the family, or, to speak with less reserve, it was a thieves’ house.
1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, [3rd ed.], p. 444. Thieves: Family-men.
Family of Love, subs. phr. (venery).—A company of prostitutes.
Family-plate, subs. (common).—Silver money. For synonyms, see Actual and Gilt.
Family-pound, subs. (common).—A family grave.
Fam-lay, subs. (thieves’).—Shop-lifting. [From fam, a hand + lay, a performance.]
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.
Fam-snatchers, subs. (old).—Gloves. Cf., Fambling-cheat.
c. 1824. Pierce Egan, Finish to Life in London. To Jerry Hawthorn, Esq., I resign my fam-snatchers, i.e., my gloves.
Fam-squeeze, subs. (old).—Strangulation.
Fam-struck, adj. and adv. (thieves’).—Baffled in ascertaining the whereabouts of valuables on the person of an intended victim; also handcuffed.
Fan, subs. (thieves’).—A waistcoat; said by Hotten (1864) to be a Houndsditch term, but quoted in Matsell (1859) as American.
English Synonyms.—Ben; benjie; M.B. waistcoat; Charley Prescot.
French Synonyms.—Un gilmont (thieves’); un georget (popular: = a breast-plate); un casimir (popular); une camisole (popular: properly, a kind of petticoat-bodice worn by women); un croisant (popular).
German Synonyms.—Brustmalbisch; Kreuzspanne (Hanoverian); Nefesch (Ave-Lallement suggests identity with the Fischness of Zimmermann, a word said to be derived from the English ‘fashion.’ Probably, however, the true etymon is the Hebrew nephesch, in allusion to a waistcoat covering the chest and heart, the seat of life. German ladies call a scarf or shawl [which protects the same region] Seelenwärmer; i.e., a soul-warmer); Zwängerling (= fitting closely to the body; cf., Weitling, Hanoverian Weitchen, the trousers = wide).
1857. Snowden, Mag. Assistant, 3rd ed., p. 444, s.v.
Verb (old).—1. To beat; to be-rate. For synonyms, see Baste and Tan.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. I fannd him sweetly, I beat him heartily.
1887. W. O. Tristram, in Eng. Ill. Mag., v., 228. The coachman now has recourse to all the dark arts of persuasion and the whip, fanning them, which, in the tongue of coachmen, is whipping them.
2. (thieves’).—To feel; to handle (with a view to ascertain if a victim has anything valuable about his person). [Cf. Fam, of which it is possibly a corruption.] Also to steal from the person.
1851–1861. H. Mayhew, Lon. Lab. and Lon. Poor, IV., 319. Before Joe said anything to me, he had fanned the gentleman’s pocket, i.e., had felt the pocket and knew there was a handkerchief.