Part 18

~Fix~, a predicament, or dilemma; “an awful FIX,” a terrible position; “to FIX one’s flint for him,” _i.e._, to “settle his hash,” to “put a spoke in his wheel.”

~Fixings~, an Americanism, equivalent to our word “trimmings,” which _see_.

~Fiz~, champagne; any sparkling wine.

~Fizzing~, first-rate, very good, excellent; synonymous with “stunning.”

~Flabbergast~, or FLABBERGHAST, to astonish, or strike with wonder; literally, to strike aghast.—_Old._

~Flag~, a groat, or 4_d._—_Ancient Cant._

~Flag~, an apron. People who wear their aprons when not at work, are called “flag-flashers.”

~Flag of distress~, any overt sign of poverty; the end of a person’s shirt when it protrudes through his trousers.

~Flam~, nonsense, blarney, a lie, humbug. “A regular FLAM,” a tale devoid of truth.

~Flame~, a sweetheart.

~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 of Goldsmith helping to drink a quart of FLANNEL in a night-house, in company with George Parker, Ned Shuter, and a demure, grave-looking gentleman, who continually introduced the words “crap,” “stretch,” “scrag,” and “swing.” Upon the Doctor asking who this strange person might be, and being told his profession, he rushed from the place in a frenzy, exclaiming, “Good God! and have I been sitting all this while with a hangman!”

~Flap~, lead used for the coverings of roofs.

~Flapper~, or FLIPPER, the hand.

~Flare up~, a jovial social gathering, a “breakdown,” a “row.”

~Flash~, showy, smart, knowing; a word with various meanings. A person is said to be dressed FLASH when his garb is showy, and after a fashion, but without taste. A person is said to be FLASH when he apes the appearance or manners of his betters, or when he is trying to be superior to his friends and relations. FLASH also means “fast,” roguish, and sometimes infers counterfeit or deceptive—and this, perhaps, is its general signification. As it is used by those who best understand it nowadays, the word means that which is not what it appears to be—anything spurious, as jewellery and shoddy clothes. “FLASH, my young friend, or slang, as others call it, is the classical language of the Holy Land; in other words, St. Giles’s Greek.”—_Tom and Jerry_, by Moncreiff. Vulgar language was first termed FLASH in the year 1718, by Hitchin, author of “_The Regulator of Thieves, &c., with account of flash words_.” “FLASH” is sometimes exchangeable with “fancy.”

“My FLASH man’s in quod, And I’m the gal that’s willin, So I’ll turn out to-night, And earn an honest shillin’.

“Tooral, looral la, What are wealth’s possessions? Bless the man we love, And blow the b---- Sessions.”—_Lyra Flagitiosa._

~Flash it~, show it—said when any bargain is offered.

~Flash o’ lightning~, the gold band on an officer’s cap.—_Sea._ Also in street slang, a glass of gin.

~Flat~, a fool, a silly or “soft” person; the opposite of “sharp.” The terms appear to be shortenings for “sharp-witted” and “flat-witted.” Or, maybe, from musical notes.

~Flat-feet~, the battalion companies in the Foot Guards.

~Flats~, playing cards; sometimes called “broads.” Also the storeys of large houses, built on the “independent” principle, each flat having its separate and peculiar offices, street-door, &c.

~Flatty~, a rustic, or uninitiated person.

~Flatty-ken~, a public-house the landlord of which is ignorant of the practices of the thieves and tramps who frequent it.

~Flay the fox~, to vomit. Now replaced by the more popular “shoot the cat.”

~Flemish account.~—_Old._ Still used by sailors for a tangled and unsatisfactory account or reckoning.

~Flesh and blood~, brandy and port in equal quantities.

~Flesh bag~, a shirt. American humourists call a white shirt a “clean biled rag.” In the mining camps, and rough parts generally, a white shirt is called a “biled shirt” to distinguish it from the usual woollen garment, which cannot be boiled.

~Flick~, or OLD FLICK, a comical old chap or fellow. Term of endearment among low people.

~Flick~, or FLIG, to whip by striking, and drawing the lash back at the same time, which causes a stinging blow. A flicking is often administered by schoolboys with a damp towel or pocket-handkerchief.

~Flies~, trickery, nonsense. “There are no FLIES about me, sir.” Softening of lies.

~Flim-flamn~, idle story.—_Beaumont and Fletcher._

~Flimp~, to hustle, or rob.

~Flimsy~, a bank-note. Bank of Elegance notes are sometimes called soft flimsies. In this particular case two good terms make a bad one, as both “soft” and “flimsies” used separately refer to good notes.

~Flimsy~, the thin prepared copying-paper used by newspaper reporters and “penny-a-liners” for making several copies at once, which enables them to supply different papers with the same article without loss of time.

~Flint~, an operative who works for a “society” master, _i.e._, for full wages.

~Flip~, corruption of FILLIP, a light blow. Also a hot drink. _See_ FLANNEL.

~Flip-flap~, a peculiar rollicking dance indulged in by costermongers when merry or excited—better described, perhaps, as the “double-shuffle” danced with an air of extreme _abandon_. Also, a kind of somersault, in which the performer throws himself over on his hands and feet alternately.

~Flipper~, the hand; “give us your FLIPPER,” give me your hand.—_Sea._ Metaphor taken from the flipper or paddle of a turtle.

~Floater~, a small suet dumpling put into soup.—_Whitechapel._

~Floating academy~, the hulks.

~Flog~, to whip. Cited both by Grose and the author of _Bacchus and Venus_ as a cant word. Many efforts have been made to ascertain the earliest use; Richardson cites Lord Chesterfield. From _Flagellum_. “Flawged,” for whipped, occurs in “The Presbyterian Lash, or Nockhoff’s Maid Whipt,” published in 1663. Nockhoff was the anagram for the name of the Rev. Zachary Crofton, who had scandalized the town by subjecting his servant-maid to the discipline of the nursery. There is a good story on the proper orthography of the convertible term for castigation related in a newspaper of 1841. A county magistrate, who had sentenced a boy to be birched, wrote in his warrant that the boy was to be “floged.” The scrupulous gaoler hesitated to inflict the punishment, and sent back the warrant to the justice for amendment, who thereupon drew his pen through “floged,” and ordered the boy to be “wiped.”

~Flogger~, a whip.—_Almost obsolete._ FLOGGER is still the term applied to a number of strips of cloth attached to a handle, and used in theatrical painting rooms to beat off the dust of the charcoal used in sketching a scene.

~Flogster~, one addicted to flogging. William IV., who was accused of unduly and excessively punishing the sailors whom he commanded when in the navy, was nicknamed in the newspapers “Prince William Henry FLOGSTER.”

~Floor~, to knock down.—_Pugilistic._

~Floored~, when a picture is hung on the lowest row at the Exhibition of the Royal Academy, it is, in artistic slang, said to be FLOORED, in contradistinction to “skyed,” which _see_.

~Floorer~, a blow sufficiently strong to knock a man down, or bring him to the floor. Often used in reference to sudden and unpleasant news.

~Flop~, to plump; “to go FLOP down,” to fall suddenly, with violence and noise.

~Flowery~, lodging, or house entertainment; “square the omee for the FLOWERY,” pay the master for the lodging.—_Lingua Franca._

~Flue-faker~, a chimney-sweep.

~Fluff it~, a term of disapprobation, implying “take it away, I don’t want it.”

~Fluff~, railway ticket clerks’ slang for short change given by them. The profits thus accruing are called “fluffings,” and the practice is known as “fluffing.”

~Fluke~, at billiards, playing for one thing and getting another. Hence, generally what one gets accidentally, as an unexpected advantage, “more by luck than judgment.”

~Flummery~, flattery, gammon, genteel nonsense. In American ships a peculiar kind of light sweet pudding.

~Flummux~, to perplex or hinder.

~Flummuxed~, done up, sure of a month in quod, or prison. In mendicant freemasonry, the sign chalked by rogues and tramps upon a gate-post or house corner, to express to succeeding vagabonds that it is unsafe for them to call there, is known as ⦿, or FLUMMUXED, which signifies that the only thing they would be likely to get upon applying for relief would be a “month in quod.”—_See_ QUOD.

~Flunkey~, a footman or other man-servant.

~Flunkeyism~, blind worship of rank, birth, or riches, or of all three; toadyism.

~Flush~, the opposite of “hard up,” in possession of money, not poverty-stricken.—_Shakspeare._

~Flush~, to whip; “FLUSHED on the horse,” to be privately whipped in gaol; to deluge with water, as in “FLUSHING the sewers;” to come upon suddenly and completely,—“I came FLUSH upon him.”

~Flush~, a term in cribbage, signifying a hand of cards composed entirely of one suit.

~Flutter~, to try hard in defence or pursuit of an object. “I’ll have a FLUTTER for it,” means I’ll have a good try for it. Also to toss for anything. Probably from the spinning of the coin.

~Fly~, knowing, wide-awake, fully understanding another’s meaning.

~Fly~, TO BE ON THE, to be out for a day’s drink or pleasure.

~Fly~, to lift, toss, or raise; “FLY the mags,” _i.e._, toss up the halfpence; “to FLY a window,” _i.e._, to lift one for the purpose of stealing.

~Fly-boys~, men employed to clear the printed copies from the Hoe machines, on which daily papers are “worked.” So called to distinguish them from the “machine boys,” a superior grade of labourers who “lay on” the sheets.

~Flying mare~, a throw in wrestling.

~Flying mess~, “to be in FLYING MESS” is a soldier’s phrase for being hungry and having to mess where he can.

~Flying stationer~, a paper-worker, hawker of penny ballads; “Printed for the Flying Stationers” is the _imprimatur_ on hundreds of penny histories and sheet songs of the last and present centuries.

~Flymy~, knowing, cunning, roguish.—_Seven Dials and Low Life._

~Fly the kite~, or RAISE THE WIND, to obtain money on bills, whether good or bad, probably in allusion to tossing paper about as children do kites.

~Fly the kite~, to evacuate from a window,—term used in padding-kens, or low lodging-houses.

~Fobbed~, old slang for robbed. From FOB, the ancient breeches-pocket for the watch.

~Fogey~, or OLD FOGEY, a dullard, an old-fashioned or singular person. Grose says it is a nickname for an invalid soldier, from the French _fougueux_, fierce or fiery, but it has lost this signification now.

~Fogger~, old word for a huckster.

~Fogger~, a farm servant who feeds cattle. Probably a corruption of fodderer.

~Foggy~, tipsy.

~Fogle~, a silk handkerchief,—not a clout, which is of cotton. It has been hinted that this may have come from the German _Vogel_, a bird, from the bird’s-eye spots on some handkerchiefs, but a more probable derivation is the Italian slang (_Fourbesque_), FOGLIA, a pocket, or purse; or from the French Argot, FOUILLE, also a pocket.

~Fogus~, tobacco.—_Ancient Cant._ FOGO, old word for stench.

~Follow-me-lads~, curls hanging over a lady’s shoulder.

~Foont~, a sovereign, or 20_s._ Probably a corruption of vingt.

~Footing~, “to pay FOOTING.” _See_ SHOE.

~Forakers~, the closet of decency, or house of office. Term used by the boys at Winchester School. Very likely from “four acres,” the original necessary having been in all likelihood a field behind the school.

~Force the voucher~, a term in use among sporting tricksters, who advertise to send certain winners, and on receipt of letters enclose vouchers similar to those sent out by respectable commission agents, but with double or treble the current odds marked thereon, in reference to the horse named. A plausible letter is sent with the voucher, and the victim is informed that on account of early investments made by the firm, which has of course a high-sounding title, the extra odds can be laid by them, and a remittance to the amount named, or part of it, is requested. Of course the firm “dries up” when claims become heavy, and, with a new name and new address, appears in the next week’s advertising columns. FORCING THE VOUCHER was a fine game when it was first started, but it was soon overdone, as it required no particular ingenuity, and offered special immunities, theft of this kind being rather favoured than otherwise by the authorities. Certainly the law that punishes honest betting men seems powerless with regard to these plunderers, otherwise we should hardly be treated as often as we are to the spectacle of one man being fined for honest dealing, while another escapes simply because he is not a betting man, but a welcher.

~Fork out~, to bring out one’s money, to pay the bill, to “stand for” or treat a friend; to hand over what does not belong to you—old cant term for picking pockets, and very curious in its origin. In the early part of the last century, a little book was published on purloining, and of course it had to give the latest modes. FORKING was the newest mode, and it consisted in thrusting the fingers stiff and open into the pocket, and then quickly closing them and extracting any article thus caught.

~Forks~, or GRAPPLING-IRONS, fingers. Costermongers and other clumsy feeders have a proverb which seems to justify their taking bones and choice morsels in their hands during the progress of a meal. It is, “Fingers were the first FORKS;” sometimes varied to “Fingers were made before FORKS.”

~Form~, condition, training. “In good FORM” or “in bad FORM” refers to a man’s or horse’s state of being in the sporting world. FORM has also had a moral significance of late years, and with the qualifying adjectives attached as occasion requires, is extensively used in general conversation. As, “It was bad FORM of Brown to do that.” “That article was bad FORM.” In the latter cases the word “in” rarely appears.

~Forty foot~, a derisive appellation for a very short person.

~Forty guts~, vulgar term for a fat man.

~Forty-twa~, the common place of retirement on a well-known French plan at Edinburgh, so called from its accommodating that number of persons at once.

~Forty winks~, a short sleep or nap.

~Fou~, rather more than slightly intoxicated.—_Scotch._

“We are na’ FOU, we are na’ FOU.”

~Foul~, to jostle or bore unfairly in a race. _See_ BORE. To touch any foreign substance during a race—particularly a boat-race—is to FOUL it.

~Foul~, a touch, no matter how slight, of bodies or machinery in a race of any kind. FOULS in boat-racing are often inevitable, and are not always the result of boring or any other malicious practice.

~Foul riding~, riding which after a horse-race is made the subject of complaint, such as refusing to let a competitor pass, boring him against the rails, &c. Some jockeys are great adepts at this work, and are invaluable to a confederacy as a means, not so much of attaining victory themselves, as of preventing its attainment in others. Of course unless proof of jostling can be given, or evidence of malicious intent shown, jockeyship of this kind is not considered foul riding.

~Four-and-nine~, or FOUR-AND-NINEPENNY GOSS, a cheap hat, so called from 4_s._ 9_d._, the price at which a once noted advertising hat-maker sold his hats—

“Whene’er to slumber you incline, Take a short nap at 4 and 9.”

~Four-eyes~, a man or woman who habitually wears spectacles.

~Four kings~, HISTORY OF THE, an old name for a pack of playing cards. _See_ Sir Thomas Urquhart’s _Translation of Rabelais_. In _Argot_, LIVRE DES QUATRE ROIS.

~Fourth~, or FOURTH COURT, the court appropriated to the waterclosets at Cambridge; from its really being No. 4 at Trinity College. A man leaving his room to go to the FOURTH COURT, writes on his door, in algebraic notation, GONE^4, which expresses the Cambridge slang phrase, “gone to the FOURTH.”

~Fourth estate~, the complete body of journalists of all descriptions. This term is much in use among “liners.”

~Fox~, to cheat or rob.—_Eton College._ In London to watch closely and narrowly.

~Foxed~, a term used by print and book collectors to denote the brown spotted appearance produced by damp on paper.

~Foxing~, when one actor criticises another’s performance.—_Theatrical._ Also in street slang FOXING means watching slyly.

~Fox’s Sleep~, or FOXING, a purposely assumed indifference to what is going on. A fox, as well as a weasel, is said to sleep with one eye open.

~Foxy~, rank, tainted, from the odour of the animal.—_Lincolnshire._

~Foxy~, said also of a red-haired person.

~Frapping~, a beating. _French_, FRAPPER.

~Free-and-easy~, a club held at a low public-house, the members of which meet in the tap-room or parlour for the purpose of drinking, smoking, and hearing each other sing. These gatherings are generally called harmonic meetings by the landlord, but FREE-AND-EASY best indicates the character of the proceedings.

~Free fight~, a fight conducted on the Irishman’s principle—“Sure, wherever you see a head, hit it.” The term is, however, American, so the practice may be considered fairly general.

~Freeman’s quay~, “drinking at FREEMAN’S QUAY,” _i.e._, at another’s cost. This quay was formerly a celebrated wharf near London Bridge, and the saying arose from the beer which was given gratis to porters and carmen who went there on business.

~French cream~, brandy.

~French gout~, a certain disease, which is also known as “ladies’ fever.”

~French leave~, TO TAKE, to leave or depart slyly, without saying anything; or obtaining permission.

~Fresh~, said of a person slightly intoxicated.

~Freshman~, a University man during his first year. The official appellation for the students until they have passed the Previous or First Cambridge Examination, otherwise called the Smalls or Little Go, is Junior Sophs or Sophisters. After this they are Senior Sophs until their last term, when they are Questionists, or preparing “_ad respondendum quæstioni_.” At Oxford the title FRESHMAN lasts for the first term.

~Friday-face~, a gloomy-looking man. Most likely from FRIDAY being a day of meagre fare among Catholics and High Church Protestants.

~Frisk~, to search; FRISKED, searched by a constable or other officer.

~Frisk a cly~, to empty a pocket.

~Frog~, a policeman. Because, by a popular delusion, he is supposed to pounce suddenly on delinquents.

~Frog’s march~, the manner in which four or more policemen carry a drunken or turbulent man to the station-house. The victim is held face downwards, one constable being at each shoulder, while the others hold on above the knees. Often there is another active and intelligent officer who beats time to the march on the recalcitrant hero’s posteriors.

~Frontispiece~, the face.

~Frow~, a girl, or wife. _German_, FRAU; _Dutch_, VROUW.

~Frummagemmed~, annihilated, strangled, garrotted, or spoilt.—_Old Cant._

~Frump~, a slatternly woman, a gossip.—_Ancient._ In modern slang it is the feminine of FOGEY, and means a prim old lady, who is generally termed “a regular old FRUMP.”

~Frump~, to mock or insult.—_Beaumont and Fletcher._

~F sharps~, fleas. Compare B FLATS.

~Fudge~, nonsense, stupidity. Todd and Richardson only trace the word to Goldsmith. Disraeli, however, gives the origin to a Captain Fudge, a great fibber, who told monstrous stories, which made his crew say in answer to any improbability, “You FUDGE it!”—_See Remarks on the Navy_, 1700. At page 87 of a collection of some papers of William Crouch (8vo, 1712), the Quaker, we find a mention of this Captain. Degory Marshall informed Crouch that—

“In the year 1664 we were sentenced for banishment to Jamaica by Judges Hyde and Twisden, and our number was 55. We were put on board the ship Black Eagle; the master’s name was FUDGE, by some called LYING FUDGE.”

Some persons believe that the word comes from the _Gaelic_, FFUG, deception.

~Fuggies~, hot rolls.—_School._

~Full against~, opposed to. As, “I’m FULL AGAINST him,” I decidedly object to, or dislike him, or I am opposed to him. The term originated with the bookmakers; who, when they have laid all their money against a certain horse, put a mark against his name, and reply to all inquiries, “FULL AGAINST him.” This grew to “FULL AGAINST his winning,” and was thus taken, when shortened, to express feeling the reverse of friendly.

~Fullams~, false dice, which always turn up high.—_Shakspeare._

~Full blast~, a term evidently borrowed from the technology of the engine-room, and now frequently used to express the heyday or apogee of anything. As, “By the middle of the day matters were in FULL BLAST, and proceedings generally were very satisfactory.”

~Full feather~, good condition, high spirits. Also any one gaily dressed is said to be in FULL FEATHER.

~Full fig~, full costume, male or female uniform or evening dress.

~Full of beans~, arrogant, purseproud. A person whom sudden prosperity has made offensive and conceited, is said to be too “FULL OF BEANS.” Originally stable slang.

~Fully~, “to be FULLIED,” to be committed for trial. Term in general use among thieves. Possibly from the reports which, in the slang of the penny-a-liner, say “the prisoner was FULLY committed for trial.” The magistrates often say FULLY committed also, whatever that may mean.

~Funk~, trepidation, nervousness, cowardice. To FUNK, to be afraid or nervous.

~Funk~, to smoke out, or terrify.

~Funking the cobbler~, a bold schoolboy trick, performed with assafœtida and cotton stuffed into a hollow tube or cow’s horn. The cotton being lighted, the smoke is blown in through the keyhole of a door, or the crannies of a cobbler’s stall. A funny song, much in vogue some years back, gave all the agonies of a drunken cobbler, who believed the devil had come for him, with all sorts of accessories, till

“He was told by a shout That ’twas only some boys who’d been FUNKING him out.”

~Funny~, a rowing boat with both ends pointed and out of the water.

~Funny-bone~, the extremity of the elbow—or rather, the muscle which passes round it between the two bones, a blow on which causes painful tingling in the fingers. Facetiously derived, from its being the extremity of the _humerus_ (humorous).

~Fye-buck~, a sixpence.—_Nearly obsolete._

~Gab~, GABBER or GABBLE, talk; “gift of the GAB,” loquacity, or natural talent for speech-making.—_Anglo-Norman_; GAB is also found in the _Danish_ and _Old Norse_.

~Gaby~, a simpleton, a country bumpkin. Probably from gape.

~Gad~, a trapesing slatternly woman.—_Gipsy._ _Anglo-Saxon_, GÆDELING.

~Gadding the hoof~, going without shoes. GADDING, roaming about, although used in an old translation of the Bible, is now only heard amongst the lower orders.

~Gaff~, a penny play-house, in which talking is not permitted on the stage. _See_ PENNY GAFF.

~Gaffer~, a master, or employer; term used by “navvies,” and general in Lancashire and North of England. Early English for an old man. _See_ “BLOW THE GAFF.”

~Gaffing~, tossing halfpence, or counters.—_North_, where it means tossing up three halfpennies. One man tosses, and another calls. Sometimes the coins are tossed from a stick, and the tosser keeps those which fall heads uppermost.

~Gag~, a lie; “a GAG he told to the beak.”—_Thieves’ Cant._

~Gag~, language introduced by an actor into his part. In certain pieces this is allowed by custom, and these are called GAG-PIECES. _The Critic, or a Tragedy Rehearsed_, is chief among these. Many actors, however, take French leave in this respect with most pieces.—_Theatrical slang._