Part 20

~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., gave the following answer, written on the back of the six of hearts, to an emissary of Marshal Schomberg’s, who had been commissioned to make the proposal to him:—“Tell your master I despise his offer; and that honour and conscience are dearer to a gentleman than all the wealth and titles a prince can bestow.” This would have been a much better story had James II. been a better King, and had he not earned for himself, even among Catholic Irishmen, a disgraceful name, through his craven conduct at the Battle of the Boyne.

~Graft~, work; “where are you GRAFTING?” _i.e._, where do you work? “What GRAFT are you at?” what are you doing? Perhaps derived from gardening phraseology; or a variation of _craft_.

~Granny~, a knot which will not hold, from its being wrongly and clumsily tied.—_Sea._

~Granny~, to know, or recognise; “do ye GRANNY the bloke?” do you know the man?

~Grappling irons~, fingers.—_Sea._

~Grass~, “gone to GRASS,” dead,—a coarse allusion to burial; absconded, or disappeared suddenly; also, gone to waste; it is said of wasted limbs that they have “gone to GRASS;” “oh, go to GRASS,” a common answer to a troublesome or inquisitive person,—possibly a corruption of “go to GRACE,” meaning, of course, a directly opposite fate.

~Grass~, to knock down. Also to throw in a wrestling-match. “He GRASSED his man with a heavy righthander,” or “He brought his man to GRASS by means of a swinging hipe.”

~Grass-comber~, a country fellow, a haymaker.

~Grasshopper~, a waiter at a tea-garden.

~Grass widow~, an unmarried mother; a deserted mistress. In the United States, during the gold fever in California, it was common for an adventurer to put both his wife (termed in his absence a GRASS-WIDOW) and his children to school during his absence. Also a married woman, resident in England, whose husband is in India or the colonies.

~Gravel~, to confound, to bother; “I’m GRAVELLED,” _i.e._, perplexed or confused.—_Old._ Also, to prostrate, to beat to the ground.

~Gravel-rash~, a scratched face,—telling its tale of a drunken fall. A person subject to this is called a GRAVEL-GRINDER.

~Gravesend sweetmeats~, shrimps. GRAVESEND TWINS are solid particles of sewage.

~Gray~, a halfpenny, with either two “heads” or two “tails”—both sides alike. They are used for cheating the unwary at “Tommy Dodd,” or pitch and toss. They are often “rung in” with a victim’s own money, so that the caller of “heads” or “tails” cannot lose. Thus if A has to call, he or a confederate manages to mix the selected GRAYS with B’s tossing halfpence. There are various and almost obvious uses for them.

~Gray-coat parson~, a lay impropriator, or lessee of great tithes.

~Gray mare~, a wife who “wears the breeches.” From an old story in which the point is to show that the “GRAY MARE,” the wife’s choice, “is the better horse,” and by parity of reasoning that the wife is superior to the husband.

~Grays~, or SCOTCH GRAYS, lice. These pretty little things are called by many names, among others by those of GRAY-BACKS, and GOLD-BACKED UNS, which are popular among those who have most interest in the matter.

~Grease spot~, a minute remnant, humorously the only distinguishable remains of an antagonist after a terrific contest.

~Greasing~, bribing. Sometimes called “GREASING the palm” of a man’s hand.

~Grecian bend~, modern milliner slang for an exaggerated bustle, the effect of which is generally assisted by unnaturally high-heeled boots.

~Greek~, a wide-awake fellow, a sharper.

~Greek kalends~, an expression signifying an indefinite period; never. Term used in making promises never intended to be carried out. The Greeks had no KALENDS.

~Greeks~, the low Irish. St. Giles’s GREEK, slang or cant language. Cotgrave gives merrie GREEK as a definition for a roystering fellow, a drunkard. The GREEKS have always been regarded as a jolly, luxurious race; so much so, that the Latins employed the verb _Græcari_ (lit. to play the GREEK) to designate fine living and free potations, a sense in which Horace frequently uses it; while Shakspeare often mentions the merry GREEKS; and “as merry as a grig” (or GREEK) was long a favourite allusion in old English authors. It is said by some that grig is in this sense intended to represent the small eel of that name which from its lively movements is supposed to be always merry; while others incline to the belief that the cricket, which is also in some parts of the provinces known as a grig, is meant. Readers may take their choice.

~Green~, ignorant, not wide-awake, inexperienced.—_Shakspeare._ “Do you see any GREEN in my eye?” ironical question in a dispute.

~Greenbacks~, the paper money issued in the United States during the war. The term was at first applied only to the notes for small amounts, which were backed with green, but eventually the one word represented all descriptions of what is now known in America as “currency.”

~Green-horn~, a fresh, simple, or uninitiated person.

~Greenlander~, an inexperienced person, a spoon. Sometimes an Irishman.

~Greenwich goose~, a pensioner of the Naval Hospital.

~Griddler~, a person who sings in the streets without a printed copy of the words.—_Seven Dials._

~Gridiron~, a County Court summons. Originally a summons to the Court of Westminster only; from the GRIDIRON arms. The Grafton Club is nearly always known as the GRID or GRIDIRON, that instrument being brought into requisition whenever possible in the cuisine.

~Gridiron and dough boys~, the flag of the United States, in allusion to the stars and stripes.—_Sea._

~Grief~, “to come to GRIEF,” to meet with an accident, to be ruined.

~Griffin~, in India, a newly-arrived cadet; general for an inexperienced youngster.

~Grind~, “to take a GRIND,” _i.e._, a walk, or constitutional. The daily grind is a term representing employment containing much routine. At Oxford college sports are called sometimes the GRIND.

~Grind~, to work up for an examination, to cram by oneself, or with a private tutor.

~Grinder~, private tutor, a coach.—_University._

~Grinder~, a tooth.

~Grindoff~, a miller. From _The Miller and his Men_.

~Gripes~, the stomach-ache. _See_ TRIPES.

~Grist to the mill~, money to the pocket, food to the family; anything which is supposed to add to a man’s immediate prospects, to his income, or to his benefit in any way, is said to “bring GRIST TO THE MILL.”

~Grizzle~, to fret or cry continuously.

~Grog blossoms~, pimples on the face, caused by hard drinking. Of such a person it is often said, “He bears his blushing honours thick upon him.”

~Grog-fight~, a drinking party.—_Military._

~Groggy~, tipsy; when a prize-fighter becomes “weak on his pins,” and nearly beaten, he is said to be GROGGY. The same term is applied to horses that are overworked and unsteady. From similarity of appearance to the peculiarity of gait consequent on imbibing too much GROG.

~Grove of the Evangelist~, a facetious name for St. John’s Wood.

~Growler~, a four-wheeled cab. It is generally supposed that drivers of these vehicles take a less favourable view of life than do their Hansom brethren.

~Grub and bub~, victuals and drink of any kind,—GRUB signifying food, and BUB, drink.

~Grubbing ken~, or SPINIKIN, a workhouse; a cook-shop.

~Grubby~, musty, or old-fashioned.—_Devonshire._

~Gruel~, “to give a person his GRUEL,” to kill him. An expression in all probability derived from the report of a trial for poisoning, or from the easiest manner of administering a dose of poison. In the old days a similar phrase was “to drug a posset.” Compare “to settle his hash,” and “cook his goose.”

~Guardevine~, a cellaret.—_Scotch._

~Guinea pigs~, habitual directors of public companies; special jurymen; and engineer officers doing civil duty at the War Office, and paid a GUINEA per diem.

~Guinea to a goose~, a sporting phrase, meaning long odds in favour of, or against, anything under notice. In the City this state of things is represented by the phrase, Lombard Street to a China orange. There are also other colloquialisms on this subject, but their power is, as a rule, mainly dependent upon their indecency.

~Gulfed~, originally a Cambridge term, denoting that a man is unable to enter for the classical examination from having failed in the mathematical. These men’s names appeared in the list of “Degrees Allowed.” The name GULF for this list is said to have arisen from the boast of a former “wooden spoon.” “I would have you to know there is a great GULF between _me_ and the captain of the poll.” Candidates for classical honours were compelled to go in for both examinations. From the alteration of the arrangements, the term as thus applied is now obsolete. The expression is common now in Oxford as descriptive of a man who goes in for honours, and only gets a pass. An Honorary Fourth is when a candidate who only tries for a pass does so well that he is raised to the honours’ list.

~Gull~, to cheat, to deceive; also one easily cheated. From the easy manner in which the bird of that name is deceived.

~Gullyfluff~, the waste—coagulated dust, crumbs, and hair—which accumulates imperceptibly in the pockets of schoolboys.

~Gully rakers~, cattle thieves in Australia, the cattle being stolen out of almost inaccessible valleys, there termed GULLIES.

~Gulpin~, a weak, credulous fellow, who will GULP down anything.

~Gummy~, thick, fat—generally applied to a woman’s ankles, or to a man whose flabby person betokens him a drunkard.

~Gumption~, or RUMGUMPTION, comprehension, capacity. From GAUM, to comprehend; “I canna gauge it, and I canna GAUM it,” as a Yorkshire exciseman said of a hedgehog.

~Gun~, a magsman or street thief. Diminutive of gonnuf or gunnof. A GUN’S practice is known as GUNOVING.

~Gunner’s daughter~, a term facetiously applied to the method of punishing boys in the Royal Navy by tying them securely to the breech of a cannon, so as to present the proper part convenient for the cat, and flogging them. This is called “marrying” or “kissing” the GUNNER’S DAUGHTER.

~Gup~, gossip.—_Anglo-Indian._

~Gurrawaun~, a coachman, a native Indian corruption of the English word coachman. For another curious corruption of a similar kind, _see_ SIMPKIN.—_Anglo-Indian._

~Gusher~, one overflowing with sentiment, a rhapsodizer. Romance-reading young ladies are generally described as GUSHING, and of late years the word GUSH has done duty as representing the newspaper work necessary for a continuance of the “largest circulation.”

~Gut scraper~, a fiddler.

~Gutter blood~, a low or vulgar man.—_Scotch._

~Gutter lane~, the throat. Probably from GUTTUR.

~Guttle~, _see_ GUZZLE.

~Guy~, a fright, a dowdy, an ill-dressed person. Derived from the effigy of Guy Fawkes carried about by boys on Nov. 5. “Hollo, boys, another GUY!”

~Guy~, to get away. Same as HEDGE in street phraseology, which _see_.

~Guzzle~, to eat or drink to excess; to eat loudly, hastily, and clumsily.

~Gyp~, an undergraduate’s servant at Cambridge. Popularly derived by Cantabs from the _Greek_, GYPS, (γύψ), a vulture, from the dishonest rapacity peculiar to GYPS. At Oxford servants are called scouts.

~Hackle~, pluck; “to show HACKLE,” to be willing to fight. HACKLES are the long feathers on the back of a cock’s neck, which he erects when angry,—hence the metaphor.

~Hackslaver~, to stammer in one’s speech, like a dunce at his lesson.

~Haddock~, a purse.—_See_ BEANS.

~Hair of the dog~, a “modest quencher,” taken the morning following a debauch. Originally a “HAIR OF THE DOG that bit you.” This is very old, and seems to show that homœopathy is by no means new, so far as topers, at all events, are concerned.

~Half-a-bean~, half-a-sovereign.

~Half-a-bull~, two shillings and sixpence.

~Half-a-couter~, half-a-sovereign.

~Half-a-hog~, sixpence; sometimes termed HALF-A-GRUNTER.

~Half-and-half~, a mixture of ale and porter, much affected by medical students; occasionally Latinized into “dimidium dimidiumque.” Cooper is HALF-AND-HALF, made of stout and porter. The term of HALF-AND-HALF is also applied to the issue of marriages between gipsies and “white people.”

~Half-a-stretch~, six months in prison.

~Half-a-tusheroon~, half-a-crown.

~Half-baked~, soft, doughy, half-witted, silly. HALF-ROCKED has a similar meaning.

~Half-foolish~, ridiculous; means often wholly foolish.

~Half Jack.~ _See_ JACKS.

~Half-mourning~, to have a black eye from a blow. As distinguished from “whole-mourning,” two black eyes.

~Half-rocked~, silly, half-witted. Derived from a vulgar idea that in the Westcountry children are nursed in a peculiar manner, which in afterlife affects their wits. They are said to be nursed bottom upwards, so as to sleep without much rocking. If this is inconsequent it is the fault of the saying and not of the dictionary. Compare HALF-BAKED.

~Half-seas-over~, reeling drunk.—_Sea._ Used by Swift.

~Hall~, THE, Leadenhall Market, among folk who get their livings there, in the same way as “The Garden” refers to Covent Garden.

~Hand~, a workman or helper, a person. “A cool HAND,” explained by Sir Thomas Overbury to be “one who accounts bashfulness the wickedest thing in the world, and therefore studies impudence.”

~Hander~, a second, or assistant. At some schools blows on the hand administered with a cane are so called.

~Handicap~, an arrangement by which, in any description of sport, every competitor in a race is supposed to have a chance of winning equal to the chances of his opponents. HANDICAPPING, in horse-racing signifies the adjudgment of various weights to horses differing in age, power, and speed, so as to place them as much as possible on an equality. At other sports this equalization is managed by means of starts.

The old game of HANDICAP (hand i’ the cap) is a very different affair; and, as it is now almost obsolete, being only played by gentlemen in Ireland, after hunting and racing dinners, when the wine has circulated pretty freely, merits a description here. It is played by three persons, in the following manner:—A wishes to obtain some article belonging to B, say a horse; and offers to “challenge” his watch against it. B agrees; and C is chosen as HANDICAPPER to “make the award”—that is, to name the sum of money that the owner of the article of lesser value shall give with it, in exchange for the more valuable one. The three parties, A, B, and C, put down a certain stake each, and then the HANDICAPPER makes his award. If A and B are both satisfied with the award, the exchange is made between the horse and watch, and the HANDICAPPER wins, and takes up the stakes. Or if neither be satisfied with the award, the HANDICAPPER takes the stakes; but if A be satisfied and B not, or _vice versâ_, the party who declares himself satisfied gets the stakes. It is consequently the object of the HANDICAPPER to make such award as will cause the challenger and challenged to be of the same mind; and considerable ingenuity is required and exhibited on his part. The challenge having been made, as stated, between A’s watch and B’s horse, each party puts his HAND into a CAP or hat [or into his pocket] while C makes the award, which he purposely does in as rapid and complex a manner as possible. Thus, after humorously exaggerating the various excellences of the articles, he may say—“The owner of the superior gold lever watch shall give to the owner of the beautiful thoroughbred bay horse, called Flyaway, the watch and fifteen half-crowns, seven crowns, eighteen half-guineas, one hundred and forty groats, thirteen sovereigns, fifty-nine pence, seventeen shillings and sixty-three farthings. Draw, gentlemen!” A and B must instantly then draw out and open their hands. If money appears in both, they are agreed, and the award stands good; if money be in neither hand, they are also agreed, but the award is rejected. If money be only in one hand, they are not agreed, the award is off, and the stakes go as already stated. Very frequently, neither A nor B is sufficiently quick in his mental calculation to follow the HANDICAPPER, and not knowing on the instant the total of the various sums in the award, prefers being “off,” and, therefore, “draws” no money. As in this event the HANDICAPPER gets the stakes, the reason for the complex nature of his award is obvious.

When HANDICAPPING has once commenced in a convivial party, it is considered unsportsmanlike to refuse a challenge. So when the small hours draw on, and the fun becomes fast and furious, coats, boots, waistcoats, even shirts are challenged, HANDICAPPED, and exchanged, amidst an almost indescribable scene of good humoured joviality and stentorian laughter. This is the true HANDICAP. The application of the term to horse-racing has arisen from one or more persons being chosen to make the award between persons, who put down equal sums of money, on entering horses unequal in power and speed for the same race. So that the HANDICAP has ultimately come to be regarded as an arrangement of a purely business-like nature, by which means affairs, no matter how much they may differ in degree, may be arranged satisfactorily by all parties. The use of the word is spreading rapidly, and it has already a sense beyond that of mere sporting.

~Handicap~, to make even, as a Roland for an Oliver. Not long since in a pedestrian enclosure, a pugilist who had been specially retained on one side struck a member of the other party, who not being a fighting-man received the blow with apparent contentment. The injured person had, however, determined on being revenged, and about an hour afterwards he knocked the professional down with a big stick, using the words at the same time, “that HANDICAPS us” (that makes us even). The word is often used thus also: A man finding himself inferior to another at fisticuffs will, seizing a weapon, exclaim, “I’ll HANDICAP you,” _i.e._, I’ll bring you to my level (or “level myself up”) with this.

~Handle~, a nose; the title appended to a person’s name; also a term in boxing, “to HANDLE one’s fists,” to use them against an adversary.

~Handling~, a method of concealing certain cards in the palm of the hand, or in fashionable long wristbands; one of the many modes of cheating practised by sharpers.

~Hand-me-downs~, second-hand clothes. _See_ REACH-ME-DOWNS.

~Hand-saw~, or CHIVE FENCER, a man who sells razors and knives in the streets.

~Handseller~, or CHEAP JACK, a street or open-air seller, a man who carries goods to his customers, instead of waiting for his customers to visit him.

~Hanging~, in difficulties. A man who is in great straits, and who is, therefore, prepared to do anything desperate to retrieve his fortunes, is said, among sporting men, to be “a man HANGING,” _i.e._, a man to whom any change must be for the better.

~Hangman’s wages~, thirteenpence halfpenny.—_Old. 17th century._

“’Sfoot, what a witty rogue was this to leave this fair thirteenpence halfpenny, and this old halter,” intimating aptly—

“Had the hangman met us there, by these presages Here had been his work, and here his wages.”

_Match at Midnight._

The clothes of the culprit were also the hangman’s wages. See one of Lord Bacon’s aphorisms, beginning “A cursed page.”

~Hang out~, to reside,—in allusion to the ancient custom of hanging out signs.

~Hang up~, to rob with violence, to garrotte. Most likely from throttling associations in connexion with the practice of garrotting.

~Hannah~, “that’s the man as married HANNAH,” a Salopian phrase to express a matter begun or ended satisfactorily. Meaning actually, “that’s the thing.”

~Hansel~, or HANDSEL, the lucky money, or first money taken in the morning by a pedlar.—_Cocker’s Dictionary_, 1724. “Legs of mutton (street term for sheep’s trotters, or feet) two for a penny; who’ll give me a HANSEL? who’ll give me a HANSEL?” Hence, earnest money, first-fruits, &c. In Norfolk, HANSELLING a thing is using it for the first time, as wearing a new coat, taking seisin of it, as it were. Danish, HANDSEL; _Anglo-Saxon_, HANDSELEN.

~Ha’porth o’ coppers~, Habeas Corpus.—_Legal slang._

~Ha’porth o’ liveliness~, the music at a low concert, or theatre. Also a dilatory person.

~Happy-go-lucky~, careless, indifferent as to the favours or reverses of fortune.

~Haramzadeh~, a very general Indian term of contempt, signifying base-born.—_Anglo-Indian._

~Hard lines~, hardship, difficulty. Soldiers’ term for hard duty on the lines in front of the enemy. LINES was formerly synonymous with _Lot_, _see_ Ps. xvi. 6.—_Bible version_—“The LINES are fallen unto me in pleasant places;” _Prayer-Book do._—“The LOT is fallen unto me in a fair ground.”

~Hard mouthed un~, any one difficult to deal with, a sharp bargainer, an obstinate person. Derivation obvious.

~Hard tack~, ship biscuits. This is a term used by sailors to distinguish their ordinary sea-bread from that obtained on shore, which is called soft TACK, or soft tommy. HARD TACK is also a phrase used by the London lower classes to signify coarse or insufficient food.

~Hard-up~, a cigar-end finder, who collects the refuse pieces of smoked cigars from the gutter, and having dried them, smokes them, or sells them as tobacco to the very poor. _See_ TOPPER.

~Hard-up~, in distress, poverty-stricken.—_Sea._

~Hardy~, a stone.—_North._

~Harebrained~, reckless, unthinking.

~Harry~, or OLD HARRY, (_i.e._, Old Hairy?) the Devil; “to play OLD HARRY with one,” _i.e._, ruin or annoy him.

~Harry-soph~, (ἐρίσοφος, very wise indeed), a student of law or physic at Cambridge who, being of the same standing as the students in arts in his year, is allowed to wear a full-sleeved gown when they assume their B.A. gowns, though he does not obtain his actual degree so soon. An undergraduate in his last year is a Senior Soph, in his last term a Questionist.

~Harum-scarum~, wild, dissipated, reckless; four horses driven in a line. This is also called SUICIDE. _See_ TANDEM, RANDEM, UNICORN, &c.

~Hash~, a mess, confusion; “a pretty HASH he made of it;” to HASH UP, to jumble together without order or regularity. The term also occurs in the phrase “to settle his HASH,” which is equivalent to “give him his gruel,” or “cook his goose,” _i.e._, to kill him.

~Hatchet~, “to throw the HATCHET,” to tell lies. Same as “to draw the long bow.”

~Hatchet~, “to sling the HATCHET,” to skulk.—_Sea._

~Hawbuck~, a vulgar, ignorant, country fellow, but one remove from the clodpole.

~Hawse holes~, the apertures in a ship’s bows through which the cables pass; “he has crept in through the HAWSE-HOLES,” said of an officer who has risen from the grade of an ordinary seaman, whose original position in the vessel was forward—before the mast.—_Navy._

~Hay bag~, a woman.

~Haymarket Hectors~, bullies who, in the interest of prostitutes, affect the neighbourhood of Leicester Square and the Haymarket.

~Haze~, to confuse and annoy a subordinate by contradictory, unnecessary, and perplexing orders.

~Hazy~, intoxicated, also dull and stupid.

~Head-beetler~, the bully of the workshop, who lords it over his fellow-workmen by reason of superior strength, skill in fighting, &c. Sometimes applied to the foreman.

~Header~, a plunge head foremost into water, or a fall in the same posture from accident. Nowadays a theatrical expression for any supposedly daring jump of hero or heroine in sensational dramas.

~Head or tail~, “I can’t make HEAD OR TAIL of it,” _i.e._, cannot make it out. Originally a gambling phrase.

~Head-rails~, the teeth.—_Sea._

~Head-serag~, a master, overseer, or other important personage; from SERANG, a boatswain.—_Bengalee_, and _Sea_.

~Heap~, “a HEAP of people,” a crowd; “struck all of a HEAP,” suddenly astonished.

~Heat~, a bout, or turn, in horse or foot racing. By means of heats the field is gradually reduced.