Part 31

~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 scoring a tippler’s indebtedness on the inside of a public-house door.

~Scorf~, to eat voraciously.

~Scot~, a quantity of anything, a lot, a share.—_Anglo-Saxon_, SCEAT, pronounced SHOT.

~Scot~, temper, or passion,—from the irascible temperament of the Scotch; “Oh! what a SCOT he was in,” _i.e._, what temper he showed.

~Scotch coffee~, biscuits toasted and boiled in water. A gross calumny on the much-enduring Scotians; a supposed joke on their parsimony.—_Sea._

~Scotch fiddle~, the itch; “to play the SCOTCH FIDDLE,” to work the index finger of the right hand like a fiddlestick between the index and middle finger of the left. This provokes a Scotchman in the highest degree, as it implies that he is afflicted with the itch. It is supposed that a continuous oatmeal diet is productive of cutaneous affection.

~Scotch greys~, lice. Our northern neighbours were calumniously reported, in the “good old times” of ignorance and prejudice, to be peculiarly liable to cutaneous eruptions and parasites.

~Scotches~, the legs; also synonymous with notches.

~Scout~, a college valet, or waiter.—_Oxford._ _See_ GYP.

~Scout~, the male servant, who generally has a staircase under his charge, and waits on the men in each set of rooms. The female servant (not unfrequently his wife or daughter) is the bedmaker.—_University._

~Scrag~, the neck.—_Old Cant._ _Scotch_, CRAIG. Still used by butchers. Hence, SCRAG, to hang by the neck, and SCRAGGING, an execution,—also _Old Cant_.

~Scran~, pieces of meat, broken victuals. Formerly the reckoning at a public-house. SCRANNING, or “out on the SCRAN,” begging for broken victuals. Also, an Irish malediction of a mild sort, “Bad SCRAN to yer!” _i.e._, bad food to you.

~Scran-bag~, a soldier’s haversack.—_Military Slang._

~Scrap~, to fight. Also used as a substantive. Prize-fighters are often known as SCRAPPERS.

~Scrape~, a difficulty; SCRAPE, low wit for a shave.

~Scrape~, cheap butter; also butter laid on bread in the thinnest possible manner, as though it had been laid on and scraped off again. “Bread and SCRAPE,” the bread and butter issued to schoolboys,—so called from the manner in which the butter is laid on.

~Scratch~, an imaginary meeting-point in a fight, or verbal contest; “coming up to the SCRATCH,” preparing to fight—literally approaching the line which used to be chalked on the ground to divide the ring. According to the rules of the prize ring, the toe should be placed at the SCRATCH, so the phrase often is “toeing the SCRATCH.”

~Scratch~, “no great SCRATCH,” of little worth.

~Scratch~, to strike a horse’s name out of the list of runners in a particular race. “Tomboy was SCRATCHED for the Derby at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, from which period all bets made in reference to him are void.” _See_ P.P.—_Turf._ One of Boz’s characters asks whether horses are “really made more lively by being SCRATCHED.”

~Scratch-race~ (on the turf), a race at which the horses run at catch weights, a race without restrictions. In boating, a race in which the crew are picked up anyhow. A SCRATCH crew is a crew of all sorts.

~Screaming~, first-rate, splendid. Believed to have been first used in the Adelphi play-bills; “a SCREAMING farce,” one calculated to make the audience scream with laughter. Now a general expression.

~Screed~, an illogical or badly-written article or paper upon any subject.

~Screeve~, a letter, a begging petition.

~Screeve~, to write, or devise; “to SCREEVE a fakement,” to concoct, or write, a begging letter, or other impostor’s document. From the _Dutch_, SCHRYVEN; _German_, SCHREIBEN, to write.

~Screever~, a man who draws with coloured chalks on the pavement figures of our Saviour crowned with thorns, specimens of elaborate writing, thunderstorms, ships on fire, &c. The men who attend these pavement chalkings, and receive halfpence and sixpences from the admirers of street art, are not always the draughtsmen. The artist or SCREEVER draws, perhaps, in half-a-dozen places in the course of a morning, and rents the spots out to as many cadaverous-looking men, who, when any one looks hard at them, will commence to dabble clumsily with the short pieces of chalks they always keep at hand. There are impostors of this kind in higher walks of art.

~Screw~, an unsound or broken-down horse, that requires both whip and spur to get him along. So called from the screw-like manner in which his ribs generally show through the skin.

~Screw~, a mean or stingy person.

~Screw~, salary, or wages.

~Screw~, “to put on the SCREW,” to limit one’s credit, to be more exact and precise; “to put under the SCREW;” to compel, to coerce, to influence by strong pressure.

~Screw~, a small packet of tobacco. A “twist” of the “weed.”

~Screw~, a key—skeleton, or otherwise.

~Screw~, a turnkey.

~Screw loose.~ When friends become cold and distant towards each other, it is said there is a SCREW LOOSE betwixt them; the same phrase is also used when anything goes wrong with a person’s credit or reputation.

~Screwed~, intoxicated or drunk.

~Scrimmage~, or SCRUMMAGE, a disturbance or row.—_Ancient._ Probably a corruption of SKIRMISH.

~Scrimshaw.~ Anything made by sailors for themselves in their leisure hours at sea is termed SCRIMSHAW-WORK.

~Scrouge~, to crowd or squeeze.—_Wiltshire._

~Scruff~, the back part of the neck seized by the adversary in an encounter. “I seized him by the SCRUFF of the neck, and chucked him out.” Originally SCURF.

~Scrumptious~, nice, particular, beautiful.

~Scufter~, a policeman.—_North Country._

~Scull~, or SKULL, the head, or master of a college.—_University_, but nearly obsolete; the gallery, however, in St. Mary’s (the Oxford University church), where the “Heads of Houses” sit in solemn state, is still nicknamed the “Golgotha” by the undergraduates.

~Scurf~, a mean fellow. Literally a scurvy fellow.

~Sea-connie~, the steersman of an Indian ship. By the insurance laws he must be either a PYAH Portuguese, a European, or a Manilla man,—Lascars not being allowed to be helmsmen.

~Sea-cook~, “son of a SEA-COOK,” an opprobrious phrase used on board ship, differing from “son of a gun,” which is generally used admiringly or approvingly.

~Seals~, a religious slang term for converts. Also a Mormon term for wives. _See_ OWNED.

~See.~ Like “go” and “do,” this useful verb has long been supplemented with a slang or unauthorized meaning. In street parlance, “to SEE” is to know or believe; “I don’t SEE that,” _i.e._, “I don’t put faith in what you offer, or I know what you say to be untrue.”

~See it out~, to stay out late or early, and see the gas put out. Also to complete an undertaking.

~See the king.~ _See_ ELEPHANT.

~Seedy~, worn-out, poverty-stricken, used-up, shabby. Metaphorical expression from the appearance of flowers when off bloom and running to SEED; hence said of one who wears clothes until they crack and become shabby. “How seedy he looks,” said of any man whose clothes are worn threadbare, with greasy facings, and hat brightened up by perspiration and continual polishing and wetting. When a man’s coat begins to look worn-out and shabby he is said to look SEEDY and ready for cutting. This term has been in common use for nearly two centuries, and latterly has found its way into most dictionaries. Formerly slang, it is now a recognised word, and one of the most expressive in the English language. The French are always amused with it, they having no similar term.

“Oh, let my hat be e’er sae brown, My coat be e’er sae SEEDY, O! My whole turn-out scarce worth a crown, Like gents well-bred, but needy, O!”

_Fisher’s Garland for 1835._

~Seeley’s pigs~, blocks of iron in Government dockyards. Mr. Seeley, M.P., was the first to call attention in the House of Commons to the scandalous waste of pig-iron in the dockyards. Some of the yards were found to be half paved with blocks of metal, which were thence called “SEELEY’S PIGS.”

~Sell~, a deception, or disappointment; also a lying joke.

~Sell~, to deceive, swindle, or play a practical joke upon a person. A sham is a SELL in street parlance. “SOLD again, and got the money,” a patterer cries after having successfully deceived somebody. Shakspeare uses SELLING in a similar sense, viz., blinding or deceiving.

~Sensation~, a quartern of gin.

~Serene~, all right; “it’s all SERENE,” a street phrase of very modern adoption, the burden of a song. SERENE, ALL SERENE! from the _Spanish_ SERENO, equivalent to the English “all’s well;” a countersign of sentinels, supposed to have been acquired by some filibusters who were imprisoned in Cuba, and liberated by the intercession of the British ambassador. The Sereno, the Spanish night watchman, cries out, with the hour, the state of the atmosphere. He was called the Sereno (clear), from his announcing the usual fine (sereno) night—quite different from the work of our old “Charlies,” whose usual call was one of foul weather.

~Serve out~, to punish, or be revenged on any one.

~Setter~, sevenpence. _Italian_, SETTE. _See_ SALTEE.—_Lingua Franca._

~Setter~, a person employed by the vendor at an auction to run the bidding up; to bid against _bona-fide_ bidders. Also the man who takes the box at hazard, and “sets a go.”

~Setting jewels~, taking the best portions of a clever book not much known to the general public, and incorporating them quietly with a new work by a thoroughly original author. The credit of this term belongs to Mr. Charles Reade, who explained that the process is accountable for the presence of some writing by one Jonathan Swift, in a story published at Christmas, 1872, and called _The Wandering Heir_.

~Settle~, to kill, ruin, or effectually quiet a person.

~Settled~, transported, or sent to penal servitude for life; sometimes spoken of as WINDED-SETTLED.

~Set-to~, a sparring match, a fight; “a DEAD SET” is a determined opposition in argument, or in movement.

~Sevendible~, a very curious word, used only in the North of Ireland, to denote something particularly severe, strong, or sound. It is, no doubt, derived from sevendouble—that is, sevenfold—and is applied to linen cloth, a heavy beating, a harsh reprimand, &c.

~Seven-pennorth~, transportation for seven years.

~Seven-sided animal~, a one-eyed man, as he has an inside, outside, left side, right side, foreside, backside, and blind side.

~Seven-up~, the game of all-fours, when played for seven chalks—that is, when seven points or chalks have to be made to win the game.

~Sewed-up~, done up, used up, intoxicated. _Dutch_, SEEUWT, sick.

~Sewn-up~, quite worn-out, or “dead beat.”

~Shack~, a “chevalier d’industrie.” A scamp, a blackguard.—_Nottingham._

~Shack-per-swaw~, every one for himself,—a phrase in use amongst the lower orders at the East-end of London, derived apparently from the _French_, CHACUN POUR SOI.

~Shackly~, loose, rickety.—_Devonshire._

~Shady~, an expression implying decadence. On “the SHADY side of forty” implies that a person is considerably older than forty. SHADY also means inferiority in other senses. A “shady trick” is either a shabby one, mean or trumpery, or else it is one contemptible from the want of ability displayed. The SHADY side of a question is, and fairly enough too, that which has no brightness to recommend it.

~Shake~, a disreputable man or woman.—_North._ In London a SHAKE is a prostitute.

~Shake-down~, an improvised bed.

~Shake-lurk~, a false paper carried by an impostor, giving an account of a “dreadful shipwreck.”

~Shake the elbow~, TO, a roundabout expression for dice-playing. To “crook the ELBOW” is an Americanism for “to drink.”

~Shaker~, a shirt.

~Shakers~, a Puritanical sect, almost peculiar to America, and not similar to our Quakers, as is generally believed. They have very strange notions on things in general, and especially on marriage and the connexion of the sexes.

~Shakes~, a bad bargain is said to be “no great SHAKES;” “pretty fair SHAKES” is anything good or favourable.—_Byron._ In America, a fair SHAKE is a fair trade or a good bargain.

~Shakes~, “in a brace of SHAKES,” _i.e._, in an instant.

~Shakester~, or SHICKSTER, a female. Amongst costermongers this term is invariably applied to ladies, or the wives of tradesmen, and females generally, of the classes immediately above them. Amongst Jews the word signifies a woman of shady antecedents. Supposed to be derived from the _Hebrew_, SHIKTZA. It is generally pronounced “shickser.”

~Shaky~, said of a person of questionable health, integrity, or solvency; at the Universities, of one not likely to pass his examination.

~Shaler~, a girl. Corrupt form of _Gaelic_, CAILLE, a young woman.

~Shalley-gonahey~, a smock-frock.—_Cornish._

~Shallow~, the peculiar barrow used by costermongers.

~Shallow~, a weak-minded country justice of the peace.—_Shakspeare._

~Shallow-cove~, a begging rascal, who goes about the country half naked, with the most limited amount of rags upon his person, wearing neither shoes, stockings, nor hat.

~Shallow-mot~, a ragged woman,—the frequent companion of the SHALLOW-COVE.

~Shallows~, “to go on the SHALLOWS,” to go half naked.

~Sham~, contraction of champagne. In general use among the lower class of sporting men. Sometimes extended to SHAMMY.

~Sham Abraham~, to feign sickness. _See_ ABRAHAM.

~Shandrydan~, an old-fashioned or rickety conveyance of the “shay” order.

~Shandy-gaff~, ale and gingerbeer. Origin unknown, but use very common.

~Shanks~, legs.

~Shanks’s mare~, “to ride SHANK’S MARE,” to go on foot.

~Shant~, a pot or quart; “SHANT of bivvy,” a quart of beer.

~Shanty~, a rude, temporary habitation. The word is principally employed to designate the huts inhabited by navigators, when constructing large lines of railway far distant from towns. It is derived from the _French_ CHANTIER, used by the Canadians for a log hut, and has travelled from thence, by way of the United States, to England.

~Shanty~, a song. A term in use among sailors. From CHANTER.

~Shapes~, “to cut up” or “show SHAPES,” to exhibit pranks, or flightiness.

~Shark~, a sharper, a swindler. Bow Street term in 1785, now in most dictionaries.—_Friesic_ and _Danish_, SCHURK. _See_ LAND-SHARK.

~Sharp~, or SHARPER, a cunning cheat, a rogue,—the opposite of FLAT.

~Sharp~, a similar expression to “TWO PUN’ TEN” (which _see_), used by assistants in shops to signify that a customer of suspected honesty is amongst them. The shopman in this case would ask one of the assistants, in a voice loud enough to be generally heard, “Has Mr. SHARP come in yet?” “No,” would probably be the reply; “but he is expected every minute.” The signal is at once understood, and a general look-out kept upon the suspected party.

~Sharp’s-alley blood-worms~, beef sausages and black puddings. Sharp’s Alley was, until City improvements caused it to be destroyed, a noted slaughtering-place near Smithfield.

~Shave~, a false alarm, a hoax, a sell. This term was much in vogue in the Crimea during the Russian campaign,—that is, though much used by the military before then, the term did not, until that period, become known to the general public.

~Shave~, a narrow escape. At Cambridge, “just SHAVING through,” or “making a SHAVE,” is just escaping a “pluck” by coming out at the bottom of the list.

“My terms are anything but dear, Then read with me, and never fear; The examiners we’re sure to queer, And get through, if you make a SHAVE on’t.”

_The Private Tutor._

~Shave;~ “to SHAVE a customer,” charge him more for an article than the marked price. Used in the drapery trade. When the master sees an opportunity of doing this, he strokes his chin, as a signal to his assistant who is serving the customer.

~Shaver~, a sharp fellow; there are young and old SHAVERS.—_Sea._

~Shebeen~, an unlicensed place where spirituous liquors are illegally sold. A word almost peculiar to Ireland.

~Shed a tear~, to take a dram, or glass of neat spirits; jocular phrase used, with a sort of grim earnestness, by old topers to each other. “Now then, old fellow, come and SHED A TEAR!” an invitation to take “summat short.” The origin may have been that ardent spirits, taken neat by younger persons, usually bring water to their eyes. With confirmed drinkers, however, the phrase is used with an air of mingled humour and regret at their own position. A still more pathetic phrase is—“putting a NAIL IN ONE’S COFFIN,” which _see_. The term SHED A TEAR is probably derived from “eye-water.”

~Sheen~, bad money.—_Scotch._

~Sheeny~, a Jew. This word is used by both Jew and Gentile at the East-end of London, and is not considered objectionable on either side.

~Sheep’s eyes~, loving looks, “to make SHEEP’S EYES at a person,” to cast amorous glances towards one on the sly.

“But he, the beast, was casting SHEEP’S EYES at her Out of his bullock head.”

_Colman, Broad Grins._

~Shelf~, “on the SHELF,” not yet disposed of; young ladies are said to be so situated when they cannot meet with husbands. “On the SHELF” also means pawned, or laid by in trust.

~Shell out~, to pay or count out money. Also a game played on a billiard table, a variation of pool.

~Shepherd~, to look after carefully, to place under police surveillance.

~Shice~, nothing; “to do anything for SHICE,” to get no payment. The term was first used by the Jews in the last century. Grose gives the phrase CHICE-AM-A-TRICE, which has a synonymous meaning. _Spanish_, CHICO, little; _Anglo-Saxon_, CHICHE, niggardly; or perhaps connected with the _German_, SCHEISSEN.

~Shicer~, a mean man, a humbug, a “duffer,”—a worthless person, one who will not work. This is the worst term one Jew can use to another. At the diggings it means a hole which yields nothing.

~Shickery~, shabby, bad. From SHAKY, SHAKERY.

~Shickster~, a lady. _See_ SHAKESTER.

~Shickster-crabs~, ladies’ shoes.—_Tramps’ term._

~Shigs~, money, silver.—_East London._

~Shikaree~, a hunter, a sportsman.—_Anglo-Indian._ An English sportsman who has seen many ups and downs in jungles of the East styles himself “an OLD SHIKAREE.”—_Anglo-Indian._ Also spelt SHEKARRY.

~Shilly-shally~, to trifle or fritter away time; to be irresolute. Corruption of “Shall I, shall I?”

~Shin~, an Americanism for walking. “I’m tired of SHINNING around.”

~Shindy~, a row, or noise. A SHINDY generally means a regular mêlée.

~Shine~, a row, or disturbance.

~Shine~, “to take the SHINE out of a person,” to surpass or excel him.

~Shiners~, sovereigns, or money.

~Shiney rag~, “to win the SHINEY RAG,” to be ruined,—said in gambling, when any one continues betting after “luck has set in against him.”

~Shin-plaster~, a bank-note. Originally an Americanism.

~Shins.~ “To break one’s SHINS,” figurative expression meaning to borrow money.

~Ship-shape~, proper, in good order; sometimes the phrase is varied to “SHIP-SHAPE and Bristol fashion.”—_Sea._ The latter portion of the expression went out with Bristol’s fame as a seaport.

~Shirty~, ill-tempered, or cross. When one person makes another in an ill-humour he is said to have “got his SHIRT out.”

~Shivering Jemmy~, the name given by street-folk to any cadger who exposes himself, half naked, on a cold day, to obtain alms. The “game” is unpleasant, but was, before exposure of a different kind spoilt it, exceedingly lucrative.

~Shockhead~, a head of long, unkempt, and rough hair.

~Shoddy~, old cloth worked up into new; made from soldiers’ and policemen’s coats. The old cloth is pulled to pieces, the yarn unravelled and carded over again. This produces shoddy, which is very short in the fibre, and from it are produced, on again twisting and weaving, cloth fabrics used for ladies’ mantles, &c. Also, a term of derision applied to workmen in woollen factories.—_Yorkshire._

~Shoddy~, the plutocracy created out of bogus contracts during the civil war in the United States. The SHODDYITES enriched themselves at the expense of their country in the most shameless manner, having most likely studied under those contractors who should have supplied our soldiers with necessaries during the Crimean War.

~Shoe~, to free or initiate a person,—a practice common in most trades to a new-comer. The SHOEING consists in paying for beer, or other liquor, which is drunk by the older hands. The cans emptied, and the bill paid, the stranger is considered properly SHOD. SHOEING is a variation of “paying one’s footing.”

~Shoe leather!~ a thief’s warning cry when he hears footsteps. This exclamation is used in the spirit which animated the friend who, when he suspected treachery towards Bruce at King Edward’s court, in 1306, sent him a purse and a pair of spurs, as a sign that he should use them in making his escape.

~Shoes~, “to die in one’s SHOES,” to be hanged. In the old hanging days a highwayman would often kick off his shoes when the rope was round his neck, so as—oh, vain and impotent attempt!—to defeat the prophecy that had foreshadowed his present position.

~Shoes, children’s, to make~, to suffer oneself to be made sport of, or depreciated. Commonly used in Norfolk.—_Cf._ Mrs. Behn’s comedy, _The Roundheads_.

_Hews._ “Who, pox! shall we stand MAKING CHILDREN’S SHOES all the year? No: let’s begin to settle the nation, I say, and go through-stitch with our work.”

~Shoful~, a Hansom cab. This favourite carriage was the invention of a Mr. Hansom, afterwards connected with the _Builder_ newspaper. It has been asserted that the term SHOFUL was derived from “shovel,” the earliest slang term applied to Hansoms by other cab-drivers, who conceived their shape to be after the fashion of a scoop or shovel. A logical friend of the present Editor’s argues thus:—SHOFUL, full of show, _ergo_, beautiful—handsome—Hansom. This is clever, but it certainly never entered into the heads of those who gave the name of SHOFUL to the Hansom cabs.

~Shoful~, bad or counterfeit money. Perhaps, as some think, from the _Danish_, SKUFFE, to shove, to deceive, cheat; _Saxon_, SCUFAN,—whence the _English_, SHOVE. The term, however, is possibly one of the many street words from the _Hebrew_ (through the low Jews); SHEPHEL, in that language, signifying a low or debased estate. _Chaldee_, SHAPHAL.—_See_ Psalm cxxxvi. 23, “in our low estate.” A correspondent suggests a very probable derivation, from the _German_, SCHOFEL, trash, rubbish,—the _German_ adjective, SCHOFELIG, being the nearest possible translation of our shabby. SHOFUL means anything mock, as SHOFUL jewellery. A SHOFUL is also a humbug, an impostor.

~Shoful-pitcher~, a passer of bad money. SHOFUL-PITCHING, passing bad money. “Snide-pitcher” and “Snide-pitching” are terms exchangeable with the preceding.

~Shoful pullet~, a “gay” or unsteady woman, especially a young woman.

~Sholl~, to bonnet one, or crush a person’s hat over his eyes.—_North._

~Shool~, to saunter idly, to become a vagabond, to beg rather than work.—_Smollett’s Roderick Random_, vol. i., p. 262.

~Shool~, Jews’ term for their synagogue.

~Shoot the cat~, to vomit. From a story of a man being sick in the back yard, and suffocating a cat and all her kittens.

~Shoot the moon~, to remove furniture from a house in the night without paying the landlord.

~Shop.~ In racing slang, to secure first, second, or third position in a race, is to get a SHOP. This is also known as a place, and as a situation. _See_ PLACE.

~Shop~, a house. “How are they all at your SHOP?” is a common question among small tradesmen.

~Shop~, the House of Commons. The only instance we have met with of the use of this word in literature occurs in Mr. Trollope’s _Framley Parsonage:_—

“‘If we are merely to do as we are bid, and have no voice of our own, I don’t see what’s the good of our going to the SHOP at all,’ said Mr. Sowerby.”