The slang dictionary

~Dutch auction~, a method of selling goods, adopted by “CHEAP JOHNS,” to evade the penalties for selling without a licence. The article is offered all round at a high price, whi...

~Piece~, a contemptuous term for a woman; a strumpet.—_Shakspeare._ Not always objectionable nowadays. A “barber’s clerk” does not object to hear his sweetheart or wife called “...

There is one source, however, of secret street terms which in the first edition of this work was entirely overlooked,—indeed, it was unknown to the original compiler until point...

Thomas Moore, in a humorous little book, _Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress_, 1819, says, “The Gipsy language, with the exception of such terms as relate to their own peculiar cus...

~Dog cheap~, or DOG-FOOLISH, very or singularly cheap, or foolish. Latham, in his _English Language_, says:—“This has nothing to do with dogs. The first syllable is god = _good_...

~Grace-card~, the six of hearts, so termed in Ireland. A Kilkenny gentleman, named GRACE, being solicited, with promises of royal favour, to espouse the cause of William III., g...

~Class~, the highest quality or combination of highest qualities among athletes. “He’s not CLASS enough,” _i.e._, not good enough. “There’s a deal of CLASS about him,” _i.e._, a...

~Kibosh~, nonsense, stuff, humbug; “it’s all KIBOSH,” _i.e._, palaver or nonsense; to “put on the KIBOSH,” to run down, slander, degrade, &c. To put the KIBOSH on anything is, l...

~Spunks~, lucifer-matches.—_Herefordshire_; _Scotland_. SPUNK, says Urry, in his MS. notes to Ray, “is the excrescency of some tree, of which they make a sort of tinder to light...

~Sun in the eyes~, too much drink. A person who is tipsy is said to have the SUN IN HIS EYES. He is also said to have been “standing too long in the SUN.”

~Babes~, the lowest order of KNOCK-OUTS (which _see_), who are prevailed upon not to give opposing biddings at auctions, in consideration of their receiving a small sum (from on...

~Cut~, to run away, move off quickly; to cease doing anything; CUT AND RUN, to quit work, or occupation, and start off at once—_Sea_ phrase, “CUT the cable and RUN before the wi...

~Ullages~, the wine of all sorts left in the bottoms of glasses at a public dinner. This is emptied into a measure, and drunk behind the screen or in any convenient place by the...

MR. ROBSON AT BELFAST.—We (_Northern Whig_) suspected a little bit of what is professionally termed GAG in Mr. Robson’s _Daddy Hardacre_ last night. He had occasion to say that...

Operatives’ or workmen’s Slang, in quality, is but slightly removed from tradesmen’s Slang. When belonging to the same shop or factory, they “graft” there, and are “brother chip...

~Score~, a reckoning, “to run up a SCORE at a public-house,” to obtain credit there until pay-day, or a fixed time, when the debt must be “wiped off.” From the old practice of s...

~Namby-pamby~, particular, over-nice, effeminate. This was possibly of Pope’s invention, and first applied by him to the affected short-lined verses addressed by Ambrose Phillip...

~Mike~, to loiter; or “lazy about.” The term probably originated in St. Giles’s, which is thronged with Irish labourers, who rarely or never labour (MIKE being so common a term...

~Over~, in cricket, four balls delivered from one end to another. After an OVER has been bowled, the fielders, wicket-keepers, &c., change ends, and the bowling goes on from the...

~Black and White~, handwriting or print. “Let’s have it in BLACK AND WHITE,” is often said with regard to an agreement when it is to the advantage of one or both that it should...

~Wooden spoon~, the last junior optime who takes a University degree; denoting one who is only fit to stay at home, and stir porridge.—_Cambridge._ The expression is also parlia...

“The same conduct of keeping close to their ranks was observed at table, where the ladies seated themselves together. Their conversation was here also confined wholly to themsel...

~Smoke~, London. From the peculiar dense cloud which overhangs London. The metropolis is by no means so smoky as Sheffield, Birmingham, &c.; yet country-people, when going to Lo...

Fashionable or Upper-class Slang is of several varieties. There is the Belgravian, military and naval, parliamentary, dandy, and the reunion and visiting Slang. English officers...

~Net roaf gen~, fourteen shillings. It will be seen by the foregoing that the reckoning is more by tens than by “teens.” This is, however, matter of choice, and any one wishing...

~Bullet~, to discharge from a situation. To shake the BULLET at anyone, is to threaten him with “the sack,” but not to give him actual notice to leave. To get the BULLET is to g...

“PUFF has become a cant word, signifying the applause set forth by writers, &c. to increase the reputation and sale of a book, and is an excellent stratagem to excite the curios...

~Shop~, to discharge a shopman. In military slang, to SHOP an officer is to put him under arrest in the guard-room. In pugilistic slang, to punish a man severely is “to knock hi...

~Lionize~, to make much of any visitor with small or moderate claims to distinction; to conduct a stranger round the principal objects of attraction in a place; to act as cicerone.

~Tipster~, a “turf” agent who collects early and generally special information of the condition and racing capabilities of horses in the training districts, and posts the same t...

“I will not weary you by further examples, with which most of you are better acquainted than I am myself, but merely express my satisfaction that there should exist bodies of me...

~Flannel~, or HOT FLANNEL, the old term for gin and beer, drunk hot, with nutmeg, sugar, &c.; a play on the old name “lambswool.” Also called “flip.” There is an anecdote told o...

~Hedge~, to secure oneself from loss over one bet by making others. HEDGING, as a system of betting, is entirely dependent upon what happens in the market after a horse has been...

~Rogue’s yarn~, a thread of red or blue worsted, worked into the ropes manufactured in the Government dockyards, to identify them if stolen. Also a blue thread worked into canva...

~Case~, a bad crown-piece. HALF-A-CASE, a counterfeit half-crown. There are two sources, either of which may have contributed this slang term. CASER is the Hebrew word for a cro...

“Gipsies follow their brethren by numerous marks, such as strewing handfuls of grass in the daytime at a four lane or cross roads; the grass being strewn down the road the gang...

~Cooper~, “stout half-and-half,” _i.e._, half stout and half porter. Derived from the coopers at breweries being allowed so much stout and so much porter a day, which they take...

Slang has a literary history, the same as authorized language. More than one hundred works have treated upon the subject in one form or other,—a few devoting but a chapter, whil...

Slang, like everything else, changes much in the course of time; and though but fifteen years have elapsed since this Dictionary was first introduced to the public, alterations...

It has been said there exists a literary Slang, or the Slang of Criticism—dramatic, artistic, and scientific. This is composed of such words as “æsthetic,” “transcendental,” “th...

An excellent exponent of the false and forced “high life” which was so popular during the minority of George IV. The farce had a run of a hundred nights, or more, and was a gene...